Tag Archives: fiction

Review: Angel Eyes by Shannon Dittemore

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I received an ARC of Angel Eyes by Shannon Dittemore as a fun surprise from her agent, Holly Root. When I talked to Holly about getting my hands on a copy of Defiance, she mentioned she may throw a couple other goodies into the envelope. This was one of them.

I hadn’t heard anything about this book before I found myself holding it in my hands. But I trust Holly’s taste, since she represents some amazing authors. Plus she has met me and read my blog, so I was pretty sure she wouldn’t send me something unless she thought I would like it.

The Plot

Two years ago, Brielle Matthews left her small-town home of Stratus, Oregon for a prestigious boarding school in the big city, ready to make it big as a dancer and model. But now she is returning home, a fragile shell of her former self, after the brutal murder of her best friend, Ali.

As Brielle struggles to assimilate back into her life in Stratus, she can’t help but notice the handsome new boy who seems to have arrived in town at the same time as her. And the boy, Jake, seems absolutely determined to be a part of her life.

But soon into Brielle’s cautious new friendship with Jake, she realizes that there is more to him than meets the eye. He possesses miraculous powers that shouldn’t be possible. And he knows way too much about her.

Brielle’s eyes are opened — literally — when Jake reveals his secret. His mysterious guardian, Canaan, is an angel. He has given Jake certain powers from the Celestial realm. And somehow, although neither Jake nor Canaan fully understand why, Jake and Brielle’s paths were destined to cross.

There’s not a lot of time to process all this information, though. Because Ali’s killer is still on the loose. The stakes are higher than anyone imagined. And he’s coming for Brielle and Jake.

My Thoughts

I have to admit, I get a little dubious when I pick up something labeled “Christian Fiction.” It’s not that I don’t admire what the authors are trying to do; I do. And I’m firmly planted in their target audience — I’m a Christian, I read a lot, and I like stories where fantastical events take place. But so often, these books come across as cheesy and kind of lame. The writing is sub-par. The dialogue is hokey. The characters are unrealistic. The plots are forced. The reader feels completely steamrolled by the “moral of the story.” And I wind up disappointed.

However, I was pleasantly surprised with Angel Eyes. I liked Brielle and Jake. Brielle asked some hard questions. Jake didn’t always have all the answers. There was a wee bit of insta-love lurking around their relationship, but it’s mostly understandable considering the scenario they are in. I liked that Brielle wasn’t able to just bounce back from her friend’s murder, and that she didn’t just blindly accept everything that Jake told her. She struggled throughout the book, and I appreciated that.

The way Ms. Dittemore writes about her angels and demons, you can tell she put a lot of thought into their realm and how it functions. It was interesting and exciting and mysterious. I definitely kept in mind that this is a work of fiction, so I didn’t really mind if not everything matched up perfectly with what I believe to be true. She’s allowed some artistic license in how she chooses to portray her world, and the spiritual warfare portrayed in Angel Eyes was very compelling.

I did have a few minor complaints with the book. I wasn’t a fan of the perspective changes between Brielle, Canaan, and Damien (one of the demons). Brielle’s perspective was easy to read, natural, and engaging. The other two felt a little forced. I understand that it would have been impossible to completely portray everything that was going on in the Celestial realm without switching from Brielle’s POV, but it just didn’t feel right to me. I’m not sure how it could have been done better; I just know I wasn’t totally satisfied with the way it was. Probably part of the problem was that I just didn’t really connect with any of the Celestial characters. I loved all the human characters, but the supernatural ones fell a little flat to me.

There was a tiny bit of cheese. Just a bit, and not enough to overwhelm the book or take me out of the story. But occasionally, cheese reared its ugly head.

And there was a bit of a Touched By an Angel moment. If you already believe in God, it probably wouldn’t bother you. It didn’t bother me. But if you don’t, you may find it a bit much. But then again, if you don’t believe in God, you’re already taking a bit of a gamble in reading Christian Fiction. Only you can know your own tolerance level for that sort of thing.

I’d categorize Angel Eyes as kind of a cross between the books of Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker, but for the YA audience. It has likable characters, an intriguing story, beautiful descriptions, and a powerful spiritual message. Ms. Dittemore sets up the ending for a sequel, although the story from this book is wrapped up nicely, and I’ll be very interested to see what happens to Brielle and Jake.

Content Guide: Contains violence, spiritual warfare, and mentions of human trafficking. 

Coming soon: My interview with the author, Shannon Dittemore!

Review: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (@Markus_Zusak)

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The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I wasn’t sure what I was getting into when I picked this book up at the library. I was a bit apprehensive. Here’s what I knew:

1. It’s Holocaust fiction.

2. It’s narrated by Death.

3. It’s about a young girl who steals books.

You may have picked up on this little tidbit of my personality by now, but if not, let me clue you in: I like happy books. Oh, I’m fine if the characters have to go through some serious trials and tribulations to get there, and I’m even okay if some good characters bite the dust, but ultimately, I like happy endings. Good triumphs over evil. True love conquers all. Sunsets are ridden into, fat ladies sing.

I also like action. Daring escapes, epic battles, heart-pounding adventures. I read for fun, as escapism, because life is hard and complicated enough as it is. If I’m going to engage in some form of entertainment, I want it to be entertaining.

Obviously, I love some books that are exceptions to these these two rules. But by and large, that’s what I go for.

So, knowing this about myself, I was kind of nervous about starting a Holocaust book narrated by Death. Those two things reeeeally didn’t add up to “action-packed entertainment with a happy ending” to me.

But the book came highly recommended from several friends I trust, so I picked it up anyway.

I’m glad I did.

The Plot

The Book Thief is Death’s account of the life of Liesel Meminger, a young girl given into foster care by her desperate mother. Her foster parents, Rosa and Hans Hubermann, are struggling to make ends meet in Nazi-occupied Germany. Shortly before going to live with the Hubermanns, Liesel steals a book from her brother’s grave site: The Grave Digger’s Handbook.

One night, awakened by nightmares of her dead brother, her patient foster father begins to teach her to read the book. And once she has mastered The Grave Digger’s Handbook, Liesel begins to take other books. Not frequently, and never more than one at a time. It’s a compulsion she never fully understands, and rarely denies.

Liesel’s thievery spans several years in their small town of Molching. During that time, she befriends the miscreant boy next door, Rudy. Her Papa hides a Jew, Max, in their basement. She witnesses book burnings, rousing speeches, and parades of captive Jews through town. She struggles through school and her required Hitler Youth meetings. She forms a tenuous relationship with the mayor’s wife. She hides from bombings in a neighbor’s basement.

And through all of this, Death watches, fascinated by Liesel and her need to take books. But Death is never able to simply sit and watch. For this is Germany in the early 1940s, and Death has a job to do.

My Thoughts

This book is not for everyone. Not by a long shot. It’s not fast-paced (it took me an entire week to get through, which is like 5 years in book-reviewer world). It’s sad. It’s set during one of the darkest periods in human history. It’s narrated by Death. So even though I’m about to give a positive review, you have to consider all of these things before deciding whether this is a book you want to attempt.

That said, this was a wonderful book. It’s very different from most of the YA fiction out there. The writing style almost made me feel like I was floating above the story, or dreaming it. Death views everything happening in Liesel’s life calmly. Death doesn’t make many judgments about what he is witnessing. He is intrigued, and sometimes feels sorry for the people he is observing, but he is mostly detached from the events. It almost gave the book a hazy feel, if that makes any sense.

Also, since Death exists outside of our perceptions of time and space (and since he is Death), he sometimes jumps around in the narrative. A character will have something happen to him, and suddenly Death will interject his own thoughts about that character’s death, sometime later. And then we’ll be back in the present again. Sometimes a death is mentioned briefly early in the book, then explained fully later. Other times, Death merely alludes to the character’s later death, and that’s the last we ever hear of it.

Some people find this off-putting or spoiler-ish. But seriously, everyone dies, someday. And I imagine if I was Death, I’d view people’s actions through the lens of their eventual and inevitable deaths too.

As for the human characters, I never felt like I truly knew or completely understood them, because Death doesn’t fully know or understand them either. But I was able to feel them and sympathize with them. I could see many nuances and facets to each of them, but always with a slight sense of detachment. It’s a hard feeling to put into words. Normally, if I don’t feel fully connected with the characters, I can’t enjoy a book. But the detachment in this book seemed very deliberate, instead of the author just not knowing how to make me feel connected.

As for the plot itself, this isn’t a typical Holocaust book, in that we don’t ever venture into the concentration camps (with the exception of Death’s haunting recollection of carrying souls away from the gas chambers) and the main character is too young to fully understand what is going on around her. Liesel’s main concerns are obtaining food, reading her books, and spending time with her friends and foster parents. The main exception to this is the time spent hiding Max in the basement. But even then, Liesel is more concerned with the stories he tells and the friendship they form. She doesn’t care that he is a Jew, and doesn’t spend much time pondering his fate if he is ever found out.

There’s a bittersweet innocence to her story. She can go to Hitler Youth meetings, attend book burnings, and hide a Jew in her basement, but she is still largely ignorant to the horrors of the world around her. Of course, even a child can’t be oblivious forever, and once the war finally comes directly to Liesel, it is heart-wrenching.

I cried towards the end of this book. I pretty much never cry during books (I think the last time I cried was when I read The Chamber by John Grisham in 1998, and I still can’t really explain that one), but I cried while reading this one. The only thing stopping me from a full-on gulping and hiccuping ugly-cry was the fact that my husband was sleeping in the bed next to me, and I didn’t want to wake him up (plus, I kind of thought that if I did wake him up, he may make fun of me for crying so hard at a book. And I didn’t feel like explaining why it was totally justified).

I wasn’t prepared for how hard it was going to hit me. As I mentioned before, I felt like I had gone through the bulk of the book as a detached observer. I didn’t feel completely connected to the characters, although I didn’t mind. And yet at the end, I could barely even breathe through the tears.

The Book Thief is a story of regular people doing the best they can during a period of unspeakable evil. It’s a story of Death being fascinated by life. And a story of a child being a child, in a world where innocence is a luxury few can afford.

I thought it was beautiful.

Content guide: Wartime and concentration camp imagery, Nazi propaganda, mild language, lots of death.

Review: Timepiece by Myra McEntire (@MyraMcEntire @EgmontUSA)

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Timepiece is the sequel to Hourglass, which is awesome and crazy and a wee bit over-the-top but not so much that I can’t love it anyway.

Whereas Hourglass is told from the point-of-view of reluctant time-traveler Emerson Cole, Timepiece‘s narrator is her boyfriend’s best friend, the dark and brooding Kaleb.

The Plot

[Spoilers from Hourglass ahead. Skip down to My Thoughts if you haven’t finished it yet. Then GO FINISH IT.]

Timepiece picks up shortly after the conclusion of Hourglass. Emerson and Michael have been reunited, much to Kaleb’s dismay. They have succeeded in their mission to rescue Kaleb’s father, Liam, the director of the Hourglass. The devious Jack Landers is still on the loose, and no one has any idea what his endgame is.

Additionally, Kaleb and the other young members of the Hourglass are starting to be able to see rips, something that only Emerson and Michael could do before. And the rips are getting bigger.

No sooner have we digested this information than a new, mysterious baddie shows up and hands Kaleb an ultimatum in no uncertain terms: Deliver Jack Landers, or life as he and his friends know it is over.

Soon Kaleb, Emerson, Michael and the entire Hourglass crew — complete with some new recruits — are searching for Jack, using every trick in their arsenal, both technological and supernatural. But Jack always seems two steps ahead. And time is running out.

My Thoughts

Timepiece starts with a bang. New, bigger bad guys are immediately introduced and the stakes are promptly upped. We were introduced to the basic mechanics of this time-slippy world in Hourglass; this time we get into details. We find out more about most of the secondary characters. The action increases significantly.

Bottom line: If you thought Hourglass was fun, Timepiece is going to blow your socks off.

I’ve got to admit, I was a little tentative at first about the switch to Kaleb’s point of view. I felt like I had developed a good relationship with Emerson in the first book, and I was comfortable viewing the world through her eyes. Plus, the Kaleb we meet in Hourglass, and at the beginning of Timepiece, is a crass, womanizing drunk. Charming, sure, but I spent a good portion of the first few chapters wanting to smack him upside the head.

[Also, as a side note, add some tattoos and piercings, and I was totally picturing Kaleb like this:

I know, Kaleb’s not a football player and probably doesn’t go around telling anyone “Texas forever,” but his personality screamed Tim Riggins to me. Anyone else?]

Okay, sorry, just had to throw that out there.

Luckily, while I can’t say that I wound up agreeing with all of Kaleb’s choices, I was able to understand him, sympathize with him, and really like him. Even when he was being a womanizing drunk. He was a great narrator, and it was really interesting viewing this crazy world through his eyes.

It was also fun to see Emerson and Michael from someone else’s point of view. In Hourglass, their relationship is all fluttery feelings and absurd chemistry and sparks of electricity. In Timepiece, we can see how that gets a little annoying to the people around them.

We get to know the secondary characters better, especially Emerson’s best friend Lily, which made me super happy. I was really hoping we’d find out more about her, since I really enjoyed her character in Hourglass. There’s still a few characters I would like to know more about. Maybe the third book will use one of them as narrator?

Jack Landers is a great villain. He’s evil and scary and dark, but not cartoonish. He’s given a solid back story, so that you understand him but still don’t like him. He’s smart and cunning and not given to extensive monologuing or pointless vendettas. You can really understand why he would be two steps ahead of our group of heroes, without making him ridiculous or them stupid.

As far as the story in Timepiece, I was riveted from the first chapter through the last page. There is a ton of action in this book. The stakes are higher, the powers more developed, the craziness heightened. Like Hourglass, it had a few twists that I absolutely did not see coming, yet none of them felt contrived.

There is a love story in Timepiece, but it is not a love triangle, thank goodness. I was scared, going in, that I was going to have to put up with Kaleb and Michael being all angsty and territorial about Emerson throughout the book (as Kaleb obviously has feelings for Emerson in Hourglass), but that fortunately did not happen. As it was, I really like the way the romantic angle was handled. It felt real. It wasn’t all sparks and sighs and fluttery feelings, which is nice, because I don’t think that’s the way romance normally happens.

Overall, Timepiece was a fun and exciting story. I really enjoyed the characters and was never quite sure what was going to happen next. The book ends with an obvious setup for a third book, but while I am itching to read more about the world of the Hourglass (which will probably be a while, since Timepiece hasn’t even been officially released yet), I still felt completely satisfied at the conclusion.

Content Guide: Contains some violence, mild sexual content/innuendo, mild language

Note: I received Timepiece as a digital review copy from NetGalley. Timepiece will be released on June 12, 2012. You can pre-order yours on Amazon now!

Review: Gifted by Liz Long (@LizCLong)

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I first heard about Gifted, a new urban fantasy novel by debut author Liz Long, when I heard on Twitter that she was giving away free Kindle copies in exchange for an honest review. Well, I love me a free book, so I read the summary on Amazon and instantly knew I wanted to check this one out. Circus performers with superpowers is too awesome a combo to pass up. So I emailed Liz, and she promptly got back to me with my review copy.

I even paused in the middle of my current books (I’m sorry, Kvothe!) to read this one, because there was a little voice in my head that kept chanting, “you need to read about circus performers with superpowers!”

I’ve got to say, I’m glad I did.

What it’s about:

Gifted is the story of Lucy Sullivan, a young woman grieving the semi-recent loss of both her parents. The book opens as she contacts Sheffield Donovan, owner and Ringmaster of the Donovan Circus, to ask if she can join up. Lucy was raised in the circus until her parents left to have a normal life. Now that her parents are gone, Lucy is anxious to re-enter a world where she can feel comfortable, accepted, and understood. She’s never felt truly at home in the world outside the circus, and knows that Donovan Circus is where she truly belongs.

You see, Donovan Circus isn’t your everyday circus. Because most of the performers in the Donovan Circus are Gifted. They have special powers that set them apart from the outside world. And Lucy is no exception. She is a Firestarter.

Lucy is quickly embraced by the young performers in the circus, a group that includes other Firestarters, a Telepath, a Runner, a Shape-Shifter, a Transporter, and more. She also quickly finds herself a (mostly) unwilling participant in a love triangle, which she does her best to ignore as she works on honing her abilities and developing her power.

But her new life with the circus is threatened when someone starts attacking and killing the Gifted. And she’s the prime suspect.

My Thoughts

After reading the synopsis of Gifted, I thought to myself, “okay, so it’s Water for Elephants meets X-Men.” And Gifted absolutely bears some similarities to both of those, as well as some other gems of pop culture. An orphan joins up with the circus. Everyone has superpowers. There’s a wise Professor X-ish mentor-type (sans wheelchair and bald head, and plus handlebar mustache). There’s an evil supervillain that’s kind of a cross between Magneto and Peter Petrelli, if Peter Petrelli was evil (did I just lose cool points with the Heroes reference? Admit it. The first season of Heroes was awesome) [Edit: Sylar would be a much better comparison. I realized this last night as I was falling asleep. It bothered me I didn’t make the comparison earlier. So now I’m correcting myself. He’s a cross between Magneto and Sylar]. And of course Lucy’s Firestarter ability calls to mind (duh) Firestarter. But even though Gifted bears similarities to several other more familiar works, I still found it to be a fresh take on the more traditional comic-y superhero tales.

Lucy was a great main character. She’s strong and smart and sarcastic; all traits I like in female protagonists. She’s not without her flaws. She tends to be a tad on the oblivious side (especially when it comes to men, and her own abilities). And, like most strong female protagonists, she also has a strong stubborn streak. But she kept learning and growing and struggling to understand the big picture throughout the book, and I admired that in her.

There is a very pronounced love triangle in this book, and it’s not like a lot of books where there’s an obvious frontrunner for Lucy’s affections. She flip-flops between them a good amount, and so did I. Truthfully, I’m still not sure whether I’m Team Gabriel or Team Keegan.

*gag* I can’t believe I just said that. Never mind. I’m not Team-anyone. I hate Teams. My point is that it’s really not obvious who she should/will choose (in large part because of the previously mentioned obliviousness). Honestly, I think that’s a more realistic way to portray a love triangle than a lot of books that have the poor, ignored, frustrated guy patiently waiting in the wings as the female protagonist displays zero interest in him while fawning over his rival.

The overarching murder mystery plot was intriguing. Ms. Long drops tiny hints here and there about what’s going on in the Big Picture, but mostly we discover tidbits of information right along with Lucy. I was kept guessing for a big chunk of the book, and right when I thought I had everything figured out, she threw me for a loop. It wasn’t chock-full of twists and turns, but the road to the end was winding enough that it kept my full attention.

As for the superhero action, it is abundant. There’s a good amount of action sprinkled in throughout the book, and the climactic showdown is really satisfying. It’s fun to watch Lucy develop her Firestarter ability, especially when all the Firestarters are training together. And since nearly every character in the book has some sort of “gift,” not a lot of time ever passes without something supernatural happening.

The only real problem I had with this book was that Lucy and her friends go through some experiences that I imagine would be horribly traumatizing in real life. There’s a couple instances of sexual assault, brutal beatings, and several of the characters are forced to kill. And yet, none of them seem all that bothered by what they’ve gone through, or what they’ve had to do. Even if the person that died is unequivocally a Bad Guy, I’d think taking a life would still take a heavy toll on a previously innocent circus performer.

Now, I’m not sure the book would have been that much fun to read if the characters were constantly in mental anguish after having attacked or having been attacked. But I think I would have appreciated if there was at least a bit more of a psychological price to pay for their actions and experiences.

I do want to mention that there’s a good amount of strong language in this book. If it was a movie, the MPAA would give it an R rating. I mention it because the plot and subject matter give it a YA feel (even though Lucy and her friends are all at least in their 20s), but as far as parents or teachers giving it to young readers, it has a lot more cursing than I’ve seen in other YA books. I understand why it’s in there — Ms. Long wanted to be true to how most adults traveling with a circus would actually talk — but I didn’t want a parent to give it to their young reader thinking, “little Sally loves X-Men!” (you go, little Sally), and then get mad at me because I didn’t warn them about all the f-words.

Overall, Gifted was a fun read, chock full of stuff I like (including X-Men and Star Wars references), with an exciting plot and really likable characters. I know Liz Long has some other stories for the Donovan Circus crew swimming around in her head, and I’ll be anxious to read them!

Content guide: Contains strong language, smoking by most of the main characters, some scenes of violence and sexual assault.

Also, Liz Long has agreed to let me interview her here on this blog sometime in the near future! Yay! I plan to ask her all sorts of geeky questions about X-Men and Star Wars. And I will probably ask her some stuff about Gifted as well. And maybe unicorns. Stay tuned!

Review: Insurgent by Veronica Roth (@VeronicaRoth @harperteen)

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Wow. Okay. I just finished Insurgent, the highly anticipated second book in Veronica Roth’s Divergent trilogy, and I’ve got to say…it’s good. It’s really good. In my opinion, better than Divergent. Let me try to get my thoughts in order and explain why.

The Story 

Insurgent picks up right where Divergent ends: on a train after the world has come crashing down around protagonist Tris Prior. The factions have turned on each other, and have taken massive casualties on all sides. Tris herself is reeling from the deaths of several close friends and family members, one of which was at her hands.

Tris and her boyfriend Tobias, a.k.a. “Four,” flee to the Amity headquarters, hoping to take refuge among the peaceful. But it quickly becomes clear that Amity and Dauntless don’t mix well.

As Tris, Four and their ragtag band of allies and enemies ping-pong around the different factions, a war breaks out. Sides are taken, lives are lost, and Tris and Four are right in the middle.

But Tris’ main concern isn’t with picking sides in the war. She just wants to know why they’re fighting a war in the first place.

My Thoughts

Like Divergent, Insurgent is a mile-a-minute roller coaster of a book. There is tons of edge-of-your-seat action and suspense that starts near the beginning of the book and doesn’t stop until the last page.

However, Insurgent takes what Divergent had going for it and takes it to a new level. The stakes are higher, the action is grander, and the payoff is bigger. In the first book, we watch as Tris discovers her inner Dauntless. She performs a lot of stunts that, from my boring-adult perspective, are reckless and stupid, and serve no purpose. However, that recklessness and fearlessness actually comes in handy in Insurgent, where her goals are far loftier than just making it into a horribly superficial faction and impressing a boy.

The love story between Tris and Four is definitely present throughout the book, but it’s not the main focus. It develops around the big events surrounding the characters, and does not usurp them, which is good. They’re both concerned with saving the world, and both realize that’s more important than their relationship drama. A good realization to have, especially when you remember that they are still both teenagers.

There are a lot of deaths in Insurgent. It’s like Deathly Hallows and Mockingjay all over again. No one is safe. On the one hand, I hate when authors kill off good characters (especially when the nasty ones survive), because it hurts my little reader feelings. On the other hand, it really helps me not to become complacent as a reader when I realize that any of these characters could die at any time. There’s not that feeling of, “well, this situation kinda sucks, but you know it’ll be okay because there’s no way she’d kill off that character.” Nope, she would kill off that character. She proved it in Divergent, and it’s even more prevalent in Insurgent.

As for Tris herself, I liked her a lot more in this book. She grew up a lot. She made more mature decisions, causing me to see for the first time that she really may have some aptitude for Abnegation (something I didn’t see at all in the first book). She still did some stupid things and made some poor choices, but it was nice to generally see her acting more reasonably and not just out of spite or anger or recklessness.

I also liked that she spent the entire book dealing with the consequences of her actions in the first book. I was concerned she would recover too quickly from the events in Divergent, but she dealt with them throughout the book. She had psychological trauma and battle scars. It made her seem a lot more real.

And remember all those questions I had about Divergent? How a lot of things weren’t explained and didn’t make sense and I hoped they would be explained in the next book? Well, they were. I didn’t even realize that we were going to get answers to those questions until I read the last chapter, and then boom, there they were. Not 100%, because this is book #2 in a trilogy and having all my questions answered would be an unreasonable expectation. But they were addressed, the answers were heavily hinted at, and I now have little doubt that we’ll get much more satisfying explanations in book #3.

All in all, I thought Insurgent was a great follow-up to Divergent. It was more thrilling, more mature, and generally more satisfying. I’m excited to see where it goes in what is sure to be an explosive finale.

Content Guide: Contains violence and numerous deaths, and mild sexual content.