TEotWaWKI Tour Stop!

Oh good, the world didn't end yesterday!  YAY!  The End of the World as We Know It will be referred to as TEotWaWKI from here on out. 

Review Time, but first a blurb:

They wanted to party like it was their last night on earth. They just might get their wish….

Meet the four most unlikely heroes ever:

Teena McAuley: Queen Bee, first-class problem solver, resident heartbreaker.

Leo Starnick: UFO conspirator, pizza delivery boy, all-around slacker.

Evan Brighton: Baseball all-star, extreme virgin, Teena-worshipper.

Sarabeth Lewis: Straight-A student, weekend hermit, enemy of the color pink.

When Teena locks Leo, Evan, and Sarabeth in the basement during her biggest party of the year, she doesn’t plan on getting trapped in the Loser Dungeon herself. She can barely imagine a night with these dweebs—let alone a lifetime. But when an alien invasion destroys their entire Midwestern suburb, it looks like these unlikely friends are the last people on earth. Now, it’s up to them to save the world….

 Published July 17th 2012 by Alloy Entertainment

On the surface, TEotWaWKI seems like a mash up of a lot of stories that have been done and redone.  We have a group of teens who wouldn’t normally be seen with each other thrown together in to faceoff with invading aliens.  So basically, The Breakfast Club meets The War of the Worlds.  To me, just that combination was intriguing and had me interested, but I was honestly surprised by how much I grew to love this book.  I thought it was brilliant how the author took two very different ideas, threw them together and created something that was completely her own.  

The book was in a lot of ways a demonstration on how extreme circumstances can lead to character transformations.  What first appeared to be shallow and selfish characters turn into a team full of depth that grow to genuinely care about each other.  At the beginning we are introduced to these characters that appear to be simple archetypes: the Queen Bee, the smart girl, the stoner, and the jock.  I thought it was really interesting how the author played with the archetypes and gradually added layers to each character.  But it wasn’t just the reader who these layers were being exposed to; it was also the other characters.  Each character discovered not only things about themselves, but also depth to each other that they never knew was there. 

What I was surprised by was how by the end of the book, I found some characters endearing where at the beginning I loved to hate them.  Teena in particular, who is our resident Queen Bee, starts out very typical: self-absorbed, catty, and mean.  Not a nice girl.  However, it’s not that she makes a 180 with her character; it’s that you start to see her from a different perspective and form sympathy for her because you begin to know her as a person and not as a simple archetype.  This also happens with the other characters in their own way.

Is TEotWaWKI a realistic interpretation of an alien invasion?  Who knows!  What seems to be the overall point is that we don’t know who we are going to be in extreme circumstances.  So who is to say that a group of teenagers thrown together from a party mishap couldn’t save their town from an alien invasion?  I personally loved the message and how it was humorously explored, but I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone.  Drugs and sex are casually talked about in the book, along with some swearing.  I didn’t think it was gratuitous, but if you’re sensitive to those things, I thought you might want a heads up.

Final Thought: 4 out of 5 toadstools

This review is also posted on GoodReads

But no, there's more goodies:

Top Ten Books You Should Read Before the End of the World by Iva-Marie Palmer

So, when I initially set out to write my top ten for Where the Mome Raths Outgrabe, I had in my mixed-up head that it was to be a list of my favorite books. Which freaked me out a little because I feel like choosing a limited number of favorite books is like choosing which body parts I’d most like to lose. (Yes, I’m alluding a Neil Gaiman quote.) But really, my Top Ten Books You Should Read Before the End of the World is a little different than that, no? With this list, I want to share some must-read books that might be new to some of you, I hope.  Nine are not-YA picks and one is a YA that I feel was somewhat under-read. I think they’re all good to have under your belt should the world bite it. (And yes, I know it didn’t happen yesterday or anything, but one never knows, really.)

I hope you find something new to check out, and in turn know that I’m always scouting book recs so please friend me on GoodReads and recommend away!

American Gods – If you haven’t read Neil Gaiman yet, it’s time you did. In this book, I felt like he exposed the cracks in the world and found magic in them. 

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart – I feel like I need to tell everyone I know about this book because I don’t feel like it blew up in the YA world the way it should have. Frankie’s not just a girl, she’s the girl. This has an awesome feminist, girl power message without seeming at all preachy. 

The Secret History by Donna Tartt – Even though I’d read other adult books before this one, this was the first book I read that made me feel like a grown-up. There’s something so seductive about Tartt’s storytelling. It seeps right into your blood. Okay, now I want to read this one again.

L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy – World-building is a skill attributed to fantasy and sci-fi writers, but I don’t understand why James Ellroy doesn’t get credit for being excellent at it, as well. No one does grimy, gritty, old Los Angeles quite the way he does, and you feel like you’re part of the action when you read him.

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach – I read this this year, and yes, it’s a bestseller, but it might not be a natural pick-up for YA fans. But you should pick it up, because Harbach is amazing at his craft. Every character matters. Every word matters. But the cool thing is, Harbach’s so skilled he doesn’t draw attention to how much it all matters, which is something only the best writers manage.

Vurt/Pollen by Jeff Noon – I am making clear how old I am, but I read these books right when the Internet was becoming a thing, and they’ve stuck with me. Really great science fiction makes us think not just about the future, but where we are now, and Vurt and its companion, Pollen – about the blurred lines between reality and virtual reality do just that. 

Automated Alice by Jeff Noon – A lot of people try to retell Alice in Wonderland (one of my favorite books), but Noon does it best, I think. In his version of things, Alice travels to the future (which, since this book is older, is now the past: 1998, to be exact.) I like digging this one up to reread every now and again. (Momo, I think you’ll like it, too.)

A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby – Four people show up on the same rooftop on New Year’s Eve all with the same idea: To jump off. Sounds cheery, right? Told in alternating points of view, something I’ve been wont to do in my writing (and in End of the World), every character feels unique and important. Plus, reading this makes me think Nick Hronby has as many voices in his head as I do.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood – Atwood was doing dystopian YA before that was even a thing. I’m forever grateful to the hip sociology instructor who assigned this to me. If you haven’t read it, do so soon. 

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens – This one is on here for me. I confess to never having read it but I always keep meaning to. Supposed to be a stellar example of first-person storytelling (my favorite, often), I’m putting this on my 2013 to-read list. Hold me to it.

Iva-Marie Palmer is the author of The End of the World as We Know It, a sci-fi action comedy from Alloy Entertainment (creators of Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girl, The Vampire Diaries).  Find her online on Twitter (@ivamarie), on Facebook (www.facebook.com/ivamariebooks) and at her website (www.ivamariepalmer.com).

Palmer lives in Los Angeles with her husband and son and lots of (filled) bookshelves.

The books are each linked for easy GoodReads access!  Go forth and read!  I think it's a stellar list and am definitely adding them to my TBR pile (especially Automated Alice -- I think I'll like it too).  Think the Iva-Marie Palmer seems pretty cool?  Stalk her by checking out these links:


Iva-Marie Palmer's Website
Author's Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads Author Page

These links are for TEotWaWKI:
Goodreads
Amazon
Facebook

Review: Dangerous Boy by Mandy Hubbard

A modern-day retelling of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with a chilling twist

Harper has never been worried about falling in love, something she is skeptical even exists. But everything changes when Logan moves to town, and to Harper's shock, the two tumble into an intense romance. It's everything she never thought she wanted.

Then she meets Logan's twin brother, Caleb, who was expelled from his last school. True, he's a bad boy, but Harper can't shake the feeling that there's something deeply sinister about him--something dangerous. When Logan starts pulling away, Harper is convinced that Caleb's shadowy past is the wedge being driven between them. But by the time she uncovers the truth, it may be too late.

262 pages, Hardcover

Published September 4th 2012 by Razorbill

(info grabbed from GoodReads)

I wanted so much more than I got out of Dangerous Boy.  I found it kind of shallow and predictable.  BUT I WANTED TO LIKE IT SO MUCH.  Hmph.  I’m going to pout like a child for a few minutes.

*a few minutes*

And we’re back.  I’ve never read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but I am betting that Dangerous Boy was only a loose retelling of the original, meaning that it only held onto the main idea of what Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde were.  I think most people know the main plot point of the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but if you don’t maybe you would enjoy the book more than I did.  I, however, was familiar with the storyline so the plot twist at the end of Dangerous Boy was over before it began.  Knowing this, I was still interested in how the book would tell the story in the modern world, which is why I read it.  Looking at it from that angle, I wasn’t incredibly wowed.

Like the original book, the story did not follow the Dr. Jekyll character directly with the original being told from an investigator/friend’s perspective.  Dangerous Boy was told following Harper, a cautious girl who has recently started dating the mysterious new boy in town.  I liked Harper and her scared-y cat tendencies -- I could relate as I am also a bit terrified of everything.  She wasn't a weak character, just not willing to partake in activities that put her life in danger.  But I felt that with starting the book off with them already dating, you lost a bit of the intrigue and chemistry that happened when characters meet for the first time.  This was one of that main ways the story deviated from the original, so I thought it would have been played up a little more than it was.  I didn’t feel as attached to their relationship as maybe I should have and wanted to.

I did like that the story is taken out of Victorian London and into rural-ish Washington.  Our heroine actually lives on a dairy farm, with most of her friends also living/working on ranches and other farms.  I thought that was very cool and brought in a lot of originality for a retelling.  

In regards to how the author tied the paranormal elements of the original into the modern world and into teenagers, I was really disappointed.  Obviously Dr. Jekyll was a doctor, and you can’t have a teenage doctor (or can you?) but I really didn’t like the twist on the original twist of the ending -- it felt cheapened.  I was expecting more, but I think a lot of retellings of classic novels fall into that trap of not living up to the expectations of readers.   

So, if you are completely unfamiliar with the original The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, I recommend this book full heartedly.  It was lighter than I was expecting, considering the subject matter, but it was still a good and enjoyable read.  If you’re familiar with the original and are looking for something that will pick your brain a little more, Dangerous Boy may not be for you.  It may also not be for you if you don’t think you want to have to explain the title to anyone who happens to see you reading it.  I have never gotten more questions about what I was reading before this book.

Final Thought: 9 out of 16 toadstools

This review is also on GoodReads

Save a Word Saturday (#5)

Welcome to Save-a-Word Saturday, a new blog hop hosted by The Feather and the Rose.
The aim is to spread love of old and unusual words by sharing them with other bloggers and thereby saving these precious, wonderful, whirling words from the dusty, lonely corners of the oldest, least visited vaults of the Word Bank.

The rules run thusly:

1. Create a lovely blog post that links back to this one. The easiest way to do that would be to grab the code under our pretty Save-a-Word Saturday button. Just copy and paste it into the HTML part of your blog. 

2.  Pick an old word you want to save from extinction to feature in your blog post. It really must be an old word, not just a big one. We are trying to save lovely archaisms, not ugly giants (for example, "Dihydrogen Monoxide" is not an acceptable choice).

3. Provide a definition of your word. Use your word in a sentence (or even a short paragraph) vaguely related to the theme we have chosen this week. You may also add visual or musical interpretations of your word or your sentence. In fact, add anything that moves your creative spirit.

4. Add a link to your blog in the linky list below (it's down there somewhere). Then hop to as many other blogs as you can in search of as many wonderful words as possible!

5. Use as many of the words as you can on the people in your life. Do leave us a note or add something to your own post to let us all know what wonderful old word you whipped out to befuddle your friends and relations.

This week's theme is:

Freedom

And the word I have chosen is:

skirrv. -i. move, fly etc. rapidly; v.t. archaic, traverse rapidly; scour.

And my wondrous Freedom related sentences:

I threw down my pencil as I finished my last exam of the semester.  I skirr out the door of the classroom, shivering with joy at my new found freedom.

Feature and Follow Friday (#9)

 Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

Feature & Follow is hosted by Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read.  Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it’ll allow us to show off more new blogs!

Question of the Week:  What is the last book that made you cry?  Tell us about that scene...

A:  Wow, this happened last night.  It's not like I cry at every book though, promise.  ...maybe every other book. -- anyway!  So I was reading the last half of Feed by Mira Grant, and the rest is a huge spoiler.  Highlight to see if you don't mind spoiling anything: Georgia Mason, the main character AND narrator, dies.  Suddenly and tragically, she's murdered by a dart carrying the zombie-making virus.  That part wasn't what caused the tears to fall; it was the blog post she does while waiting to become a zombie.  All the while she's writing, her extremely co-dependent brother is holding a gun to her head waiting.  She descends into zombie madness going between telling her brother she loves him and nonsense, finally begging her brother to end it.

 Moose.  Found cursor.  Yay!  I also may have spilled some happy tears at the end of Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross and some devastated tears at the end of Delirium by Lauren Oliver (there's a terrible story that goes with that).  So maybe I cry a little less than every other book.  Or I'm lying. O_o

Let the hopping begin!

Notes From My Desk: On Integrity and Book Blasts

I was reading a post by Parajunkee that got me thinking: why do book bloggers do book blasts?  It is one thing if you’re getting paid (I understand money as a motivator), but a lot of us do blog posts about an upcoming book for free.  Is it for exposure for one’s blog?  Is it because one doesn’t have to think as much as a regular post?  I so far have not done a book blast with a group, but I have posted lists of upcoming books I want to read and participated in Waiting-on-Wednesday.  I’ve avoided doing a book blast because I personally feel kind of uncomfortable promoting a book I have not read.  There also seems to be something more official about doing a book blast versus posting what books you’re looking forward to reading and why.

I have done book tours where a group of bloggers all received a book to read for free, then post a review, but none explicitly stated that I had to post a positive review.  So I didn’t, necessarily.  I feel that signing up for positive-review-only-book-tours kind of degrades the integrity of the book blogger.  But I am still very new to book blogging, so maybe my opinions will change over time. 

Why should we promote a book that we don’t know for sure is as amazing as our promoting makes it out to be?  Is book blogging simply turning into free advertisement for publishers?  And if a book isn’t amazing, why should we promote it anyway and feed the ego of the author in question who may need to improve?  This is totally open to discussion in comments; I’m not just blogging so the internet can hear me think.  Please no flames.

 Thanks for reading,

Review: Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton

It starts off simply.

Draw a circle... place a dead leaf in the center... sprinkle some salt... recite a little Latin... add a drop of blood...

Maybe that last part isn’t exactly simple. Yet somehow it feels right to Silla Kennicott. And nothing in her life has felt remotely right since her parents’ horrific deaths. She’s willing to do anything to uncover the truth about her family—even try a few spells from the mysterious book that arrived on her doorstep ... and spill some blood.

The book isn’t the only recent arrival in Silla’s life. There’s Nick Pardee, the new guy next door who may have seen Silla casting a spell. She’s not sure what he saw and is afraid to find out. But as they spend more time together, Silla realizes this may not be Nick’s first encounter with Blood Magic. Brought together by a combination of fate and chemistry, Silla and Nick can’t deny their attraction. And they can’t ignore the dark presence lurking nearby—waiting to reclaim the book and all its power.

Hardcover, 405 pages

Published May 24th 2011 by Random House Books for Young Readers 

(summary grabbed from GoodReads)

I have a strange love of the sick and twisted.  Seriously.  I am totally squeamish, but I can't stop myself from reading things that make me squirm.  Blood Magic satisfied that wacked-out side to me.  And, you see, it would be easier for me (to cope) if I didn't like the book.  I feel kind of icky for liking it and I don't even want to start going into what it says about me that I enjoy this stuff. 

Actual review times now: first thing I want to say about Blood Magic (other than it being creepy) is that it is another book with an inability to stick with one perspective.  Very rarely do I ever think that alternating POVs is a good thing for a book, and Blood Magic falls into the big vat of books that would have benefited from sticking to one main perspective.  The biggest problem with the alternating between Silla and Nicholas was that it was disorienting to read, with the lesser problem being that the characters inner monologues bled into each other.  What I mean is, the perspective changed, but the voice of the character did not change to a degree that merited that they get their own part in the story telling.  Which brings me to my next point:

Silla was an interesting character.  She was over dramatic with her language (which made sense because she was the former president of the drama club), a little crazy, and a little dead inside since the deaths of her parents.  But I felt the story would have benefitted from being told with third person limited as opposed to first person switching between Nicholas and Silla.  It would have been less disorienting, as you wouldn’t need to change character every other paragraph, and Silla would have seemed more bizarre (and thus more interesting).  By being in Silla’s head, she rationalizes her actions while doing them, while if the reader was looking from outside the character, Silla would have been a bit more crazy.  I think it would have added to the book since the author was attempting to make super-creepy-deliciousness, but those are just my thoughts.  But at the same time, the changing POVs were done in a way that was almost artistic at times, so I feel like I can’t completely knock it.  However, I still stand by what I said previously: it was confusing and could have been better.

I would definitely not recommend Blood Magic to anyone younger than ...I don't know, I'm not good with ages.  There are a lot of adult... things.  Like this weird, oddly sexual master-captor relationship between the diary-girl-lab-assistant and Dr. Philip -- which by the way, I loved.  I think I could read a whole book just around them instead of just a chapter thrown in here and there, but I don't suspect it would be in the young adult section.  Actually, I loved how Tessa Gratton wrapped Josie’s journal into the main story in the end.  In the beginning it added a back story to the magic but you didn’t quite see how it related to the plot, and you gradually see how things are fitting together throughout the book and culminate in the finale.  Bravo!

If you have a love for the creepy and messed up, I recommend this book -- but with a few warnings: 

1.      There are animal sacrifices. 

Spoiler(?) (highlight to see)

animal death list:

-a kitten (and mome raths happen to love kittens)

-a rabbit

-a whole forest of animals including multiples of:

-raccoons

-squirrels

-rats

-foxes

-other woodland creatures, I assume.

The forest of critters was kind of a group thing and was not as horrific to read as the first two, but I thought I’d include it just in case someone has a specific affinity to one of the animals mentioned.  Just know that it happens.

2.      There's also a lot of blood obviously, but I think more people (including myself) would appreciate a warning about #1.  So go back and make sure for certain you read warning #1.

I liked Blood Magic in the same way I like Law and Order: SVU -- it’s disturbing and sickening and I don’t like to broadcast that I like it.  Good thing I blog under a pseudonym.  This is a book that is definitely not for everyone. 

Final Thought: 15 out of 19 toadstools

This review is also on GoodReads!

Review: Clarity by Kim Harrington

Don't close your eyes. Except when the truth is too dark to bear.

Clarity "Clare" Fern sees things. Things no one else can see. Things like stolen kisses and long-buried secrets. All she has to do is touch a certain object, and the visions come to her. It's a gift.

And a curse.

When a teenage girl is found murdered, Clare's ex-boyfriend wants her to help solve the case -- but Clare is still furious at the cheating jerk. Then Clare's brother -- who has supernatural gifts of his own -- becomes the prime suspect, and Clare can no longer look away. Teaming up with Gabriel, the smoldering son of the new detective, Clare must venture into the depths of fear, revenge, and lust in order to track the killer. But will her sight fail her just when she needs it most?

Paperback, 256 pages

Published February 1st 2012 by Scholastic Point. (first published March 1st 2011)

(summary grabbed from GoodReads) 

The best description of Clarity I can think of simply is "fluff mystery."  Let me explain, Clarity wasn't a Scooby-doo G-rated fun filled adventure with a "zoinks" or two thrown in; it was a real mystery novel -- just not of the edge-of-my-seat variety.  It was fun, and even though some actual scary things happen, I never had that "oh ma gawd what's going to happen next???" moment.  So it was enjoyable, but in a ride down a somewhat turbid river sort of way.  Not a smooth glide down a river -- I don’t know if I would have read the whole book if it were -- but also not a raging white-water river with bears flanking the water’s edge.

 

There were some things that made me raise an eyebrow at the plausibility of what was being suggested.  First, getting a psychic to aid in a murder investigation: the police have Clare’s mother read the minds of the suspect line up.  That was a stretch -- but wait! it gets better.  The new detective’s son, Gabriel, Clare, and her ex boyfriend (the mayor’s son) form a little group of junior investigators and are actually allowed to try and help solve the case.  That seems absurd.  However, I let it go, but I don’t have any investment in how law enforcement works.  Had I, and I might not have been able to enjoy the book beyond that point.

The romance might as well have been nonexistent.  There was no tension for me, no pulling at my heart strings, none of that.  In fact, I often wanted to throttle both love interests.  That’s really a minor point, though, as Clarity is way more mystery novel than YA paranormal romance, which suited me just fine.  I just ignored any pseudo-romantic parts and was all the merrier for it.

So, if you’re looking for a fun read for an afternoon and don’t mind a lack of cutesy-loveness, pick up Clarity.  Go ahead, do it.  I dare you.  But if you’re looking for something a bit more intense or romantic (or embedded in reality), this may not be what you’re looking for.  I personally did not get super emotionally invested in the characters, found it very quick to read (that’s not always a great thing), but I still found it enjoyable.  It was super fluffy, but sometimes fluff is welcome.

Final Thought: 8 out of 11 toadstools and plus one extra for main character being a red head

Review also on GoodReads