A Cold Legacy

Author: Megan Shepard
Series: The Madman's Daughter, #2
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Release Date: January 27, 2015

After killing the men who tried to steal her father's research, Juliet—along with Montgomery, Lucy, Balthazar, and a deathly ill Edward—has escaped to a remote estate on the Scottish moors. Owned by the enigmatic Elizabeth von Stein, the mansion is full of mysteries and unexplained oddities: dead bodies in the basement, secret passages, and fortune-tellers who seem to know Juliet's secrets. Though it appears to be a safe haven, Juliet fears new dangers may be present within the manor's own walls.

Then Juliet uncovers the truth about the manor's long history of scientific experimentation—and her own intended role in it—forcing her to determine where the line falls between right and wrong, life and death, magic and science, and promises and secrets. And she must decide if she'll follow her father's dark footsteps or her mother's tragic ones, or whether she'll make her own.

With inspiration from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, this breathless conclusion to the Madman's Daughter trilogy is about the things we'll sacrifice to save those we love—even our own humanity.

I can't remember how long I've put off finishing the Madman's Daughter trilogy, but I've finally done it. And what, might you ask, is the final verdict?

Eh, it's alright.

I feel like this book is sort of an attempt to right the wrongs in the previous books—and I can appreciate that—but it's not pulled off very well. There's a lot of noticeable repetition when it comes to themes, characterization, and writing in a way that doesn't feel unique. Juliet continues to whine about herself, Lucy keeps obsessing over Edward, and the list goes on.

At the very least, it's toned down much more than it was previously, and these issues are addressed in a more satisfying matter. If I had to give an example that wasn't spoiler-y, I'd say Lucy was a nicer character. I could understand her thinking better with her transition from a socialite to an fugitive. I still didn't root for her relationship with Edward, but I was more tolerant towards it.

Most of Juliet's problems seem to stem from her passing off her own suspicions, which was very annoying. It was hard for me to suspend my disbelief when it seemed like their conflicts could be solved much easier. Everything felt so long and drawn out that I found myself eager to hurry towards the end.

I could give the author points for a few things: Baltazar is still a lovable cinnamon roll. Jack Serra was the highlight out of the whole cast, although the female side characters, such as Moira, McKinna, and Elizabeth, were pretty great. I loved the observatory and Ballentyne being a place for disabled girls. There was a powerful message about identity and coming-of-age, which I thought was fit in splendidly. Keeping my personal taste aside and the story in mind, A Cold Legacy is an almost perfect conclusion.

The Forbidden Wish

Author: Jessica Khoury
Series: The Forbidden Wish, #1
Publisher: Razorbill
Release Date: January 24, 2017

She is the most powerful Jinni of all.

He is a boy from the streets.

Their love will shake the world.

When Aladdin discovers Zahra's jinni lamp, Zahra is thrust back into a world she hasn't seen in hundreds of years—a world where magic is forbidden and Zahra's very existence is illegal. She must disguise herself to stay alive, using ancient shape-shifting magic, until her new master has selected his three wishes.

But when the King of the Jinn offers Zahra a chance to be free of her lamp forever, she seizes the opportunity—only to discover she is falling in love with Aladdin. When saving herself means betraying him, Zahra must decide once and for all: is winning her freedom worth losing her heart?

As time unravels and her enemies close in, Zahra finds herself suspended between danger and desire in this dazzling retelling of the Aladdin story from acclaimed author Jessica Khoury.

I was not all impressed by the synopsis, but the writing style had me hooked. Khoury takes you on an extraordinary adventure through the city of Parthenia, where the people are restless, the jinni are hunted, and a rebellion brews in the horizon. In the midst of it all is Zahra, who only seeks her freedong.

[O]nce I am free to run, not even the shadows of the past will be able to catch me.

I love cunning age-old characters deft in the ways of magic. I love transformations into smoke, shadows, and cats. Zahra was a compelling character, whose only fault was her constant self-loathing.

"All I want is to avenge my parents, not start a war we can't win."

For a handsome thief, a character who's usually up right my alley, her love interest Aladdin was annoying. There were instances where I just wanted to take him by the shoulders and say, "Aladdin, my dude. Stop." Although he and Zahra had some cute scenes together, until the end, I could not see them as being anything more than friends. Their attraction to each other was almost convenient.

I loved you, Habiba, and in doing so, I betrayed you.

Instead, my ship lies with the Queen and the Jinni. I desperately hoped that Aladdin was the former's reincarnation, but alas. I was quickly taken with their relationship, which shares a tragic history, even though the author may not have intended for it to be romantic.

There was a lot of diversity and a lot of character in the rest of the cast as well. Princess Caspida and her handmaidens were truly badass. There were no love triangles involving her, only positive female relationships. I honestly wish the author would consider a sequel with Caspida. The weakest characters, on the other hand, were the villains. They were unremarkable, two-dimensional even.

I will grant the thief this: My time with him has been anything but dull.

Unfortunately, the story did not survive my tendency to become bored at the halfway point. I felt that something was lacking, although the writing was solid. I'd like to give heaps of praise for the characters' strong ideals. Overall, The Forbidden Wish was a memorable read.

Her Dark Curiousity

Author: Megan Shepard
Series: The Madman's Daughter, #2
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Release Date: January 28, 2014

Months have passed since Juliet Moreau returned to civilization after escaping her father's island—and the secrets she left behind. Now, back in London once more, she is rebuilding the life she once knew and trying to forget Dr. Moreau's horrific legacy—though someone, or something, hasn’t forgotten her.

As people close to Juliet fall victim one by one to a murderer who leaves a macabre calling card of three clawlike slashes, Juliet fears one of her father's creations may have also escaped the island. She is determined to find the killer, though it means awakening sides of herself she had thought long banished, and facing loves from her past she never expected to see again. As Juliet strives to stop a killer while searching for a serum to cure her own worsening illness, she finds herself once more in the midst of a world of scandal and danger.

With inspiration from Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, this is a tantalizing mystery about the hidden natures of those we love and how far we’ll go to save them from themselves.

The only way I can see Her Dark Curiosity in a positive light is to make a drinking game out of it. Take a shot whenever someone says "relatively simple". Or when Juliet bemoans her heritage. Or when she makes a comparison between herself and Edward. Oh, how different they are from the sheeple of London. Trapped in the struggle of man and beast. You're both monsters, caught between worlds. My heart weeps. The struggle is real.

Frankly, I don't care for Juliet's issues anymore. Her father's so-called madness runs through her veins. Can she please move on and accept it already? Because this drama has been drawn out for far too long. While the idea may have been intriguing in The Madman's Daughter, Juliet has to bring it up in every chapter, sounding more like a broken record every time.

"What you hate is what you are. An animal, just like me."

Of course, her inner demons play a huge part in muddling with her affections. As Juliet's desire to sin grows, so does her attraction to Edward. If he had been raised in captivity longer or as a boy that was turned into a beast, I would have fewer qualms with their relationship. But appearances aside, he's only a year old. And he's an amalgamation of heron, monkey, and jackal, apparently. Whenever they shared a sensual moment between the pages, I could feel nothing but disgust.

Edward and I were connected in a deep way—a primal way—that Montgomery would never understand.

My annoyance with this love triangle was furthered when Juliet made Montgomery out to be the bad guy, even though he's better than the lot of them. I couldn't help but laugh sometimes when Montgomery claimed he was the monster in this story. Like, dude. Maybe you're better off not knowing what the others have been doing.

The hopeful look in [Lucy's] eye told me her feelings for Edward hadn't dimmed despite the terrible truths I'd told her.

Speaking of which, let's talk about Lucy. The possibility of romance between her and Edward disturbs me. Her affections were too underdeveloped, as well as her character. I didn't care for her as much as I should. I know she's sheltered and all, especially considering her background, but she acts like a child. I never looked forward to any of her appearances.

In short, I had a lot of laughs. I raged harder than I should have. Some descriptions were very repetitive, and revelations too sudden. The international edition was riddled with typos. My final say is that it should have been polished more, and it could have been better. Her Dark Curiosity has left me hesitant to read A Cold Legacy.

The Madman's Daughter

Author: Megan Shepard
Series: The Madman's Daughter, #1
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Release Date: December 23, 2013

Sixteen-year-old Juliet Moreau has built a life for herself in London—working as a maid, attending church on Sundays, and trying not to think about the scandal that ruined her life. After all, no one ever proved the rumors about her father’s gruesome experiments. But when she learns he is alive and continuing his work on a remote tropical island, she is determined to find out if the accusations are true.

Accompanied by her father's handsome young assistant, Montgomery, and an enigmatic castaway, Edward—both of whom she is deeply drawn to—Juliet travels to the island, only to discover the depths of her father’s madness: He has experimented on animals so that they resemble, speak, and behave as humans. And worse, one of the creatures has turned violent and is killing the island’s inhabitants. Torn between horror and scientific curiosity, Juliet knows she must end her father's dangerous experiments and escape her jungle prison before it's too late. Yet as the island falls into chaos, she discovers the extent of her father's genius—and madness—in her own blood.

When The Madman's Daughter was released all those years ago, I was completely uninterested. Love triangles are the bane of my existence, and horror is a genre I'm not too fond of. It was only until I had to research examples of the latter that I actually decided to pick it up. Inspired by classic Gothic literature—in this case, H. G. Wells's The Island of Dr. Moreau—The Madman's Daughter had left quite the impression.

I feel obligated to mention that I've already read Her Dark Curiosity, although I do plan to make a separate review for that. As much as possible, I'll try to constrain myself from muddling the two together. This review has been a long time coming, and I'm a little rusty. What I remember most of all were the surprises this story brought to the table, and even an ending that drew a tear to my eye.

Dead flesh and sharpened scalpels didn't bother me. I was my father's daughter, after all. My nightmares were made of darker things.

What had lessened my experience was Juliet, an unsympathetic heroine who tested my patience at the end of every chapter. I feel as if I'm getting tired of women who want to tear off their corsets. I get it. I get the symbolism. But it's starting to come off as, I don't know, edgy? Cliché? While I enjoy stories in which ladies break off the shackles of society, the analogy was very cringe-worthy to read, although it certainly does follow through with her personality.

Juliet is presented as being highly analytical. Her passions are constrained, yet they yearn to break free. I will concede that her character has been well fleshed-out. Her dynamic with her father adds an interesting dimension to her narrative. Even when he isn't in her presence, he keeps her toiling on a string. As his daughter, Juliet desperately wants to see past the monster the public has made him out to be, which prompts her to test the boundaries of her moral compass.

I had thought I was alone in the world. But here he was, the only person who knew me, the only one left who shared my dark secrets.

I want to make one thing abundantly clear: Fuck love triangles. Montgomery all the way. It was obvious who was the third wheel from the get-go, but then the said third wheel would keep popping up like an annoying mole. Juliet would be ripped out of an integral moment in the plot, simply because she was too enthralled in her strange romance with Edward, and there would be plenty of moments where I would shout, "Montgomery is still in danger, you assholes." Pulling out of my rant for a moment, am I the only one who thought Edward was a blonde and Montgomery was a brunette?

The first chapters kept me invested and the middle worried me when its ability to keep me sympathetic, but the second half had been a game-changer.

I was spooked when they went to the village, when it was revealed that the creations had cut the Caesar's tongue. Scary. Shit. And that ending! I did not expect that at all. But I do prefer Juliet going back home alone than Balthazar and the horse

The prose was simply haunting, capturing the essence of Gothic horror. Despite my disdain for its protagonist, The Madman's Daughter is a horrific yet delightful read.

The Star-Touched Queen

Author: Roshani Chokshi
Series: The Star-Touched Queen, #1
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Release Date: April 26, 2016

Fate and fortune. Power and passion. What does it take to be the queen of a kingdom when you’re only seventeen?

Maya is cursed. With a horoscope that promises a marriage of death and destruction, she has earned only the scorn and fear of her father’s kingdom. Content to follow more scholarly pursuits, her whole world is torn apart when her father, the Raja, arranges a wedding of political convenience to quell outside rebellions. Soon Maya becomes the queen of Akaran and wife of Amar. Neither roles are what she expected: As Akaran's queen, she finds her voice and power. As Amar's wife, she finds something else entirely: Compassion. Protection. Desire…

But Akaran has its own secrets—thousands of locked doors, gardens of glass, and a tree that bears memories instead of fruit. Soon, Maya suspects her life is in danger. Yet who, besides her husband, can she trust? With the fate of the human and Otherworldly realms hanging in the balance, Maya must unravel an ancient mystery that spans reincarnated lives to save those she loves the most... including herself.

Stars, soulmates, and supernatural cities hit hard on my aesthetic. Just add the promise of diversity, and you're practically guaranteed to have me on-board for the ride. The Star-Touched Queen is a fantastical retelling of Hades and Persephone—although I believe the more accurate comparison would be Cupid and Psyche—set in a world that has additional roots in Indian folklore.

"You do not trust me, do you?"

"No," I said. "I had no reason to lie. "I told you [...] that trust is won in actions and time. Not words."

"I wish you trusted me."

"I don't place my faith in wishes."

Maya is the princess of Bharata, but she is only one of the many daughters sired by the Raja. Her father's walls hold a strict hierarchy, and she lies at the bottom rung. Bharata, you see, places its faith in the stars. Entire lives have been designed by horoscopes, and Maya has been given the worst one, promising her a marriage of death and destruction.

"Come with me and you shall be an empress with the moon for your throne and constellations to wear in your hair. Come with me and I promise you that we will always be equals."

In order to pacify Bharata's enemies, the Raja arranges a match between her and a neighboring prince. Enter Amar of Akaran, who vows to lay the world at her feet. However, her handsome prince might not be entirely what he seems.

Straight off the bat, I thought the prose was beautiful. The author has woven a beautiful setting that drips with culture and magic on every page. There were times, though, when her descriptions were nonsensical. Shatter Me easily comes to mind as a comparison.

The romance was swoon-worthy, at first. I loved the emphasis on Amar's desire for them to be equals. As he says time and time again, he treasures her opinion and perspective. My only complaint would be that they fall in love with each other much too easily, even as I consider the conflict that presents itself later on.

The middle surprised me. Even if a story manages to suck me in, I usually get bored by the halfway point, but the author had snuck in an intriguing surprise. 

I was conflicted about Maya's choice to stab the heart of Akaran. The villain could have easily been seen from a mile away, and stupidity can make me drop a book in a flash. I do appreciate the bold move on the author's part, and the growth Maya received as a result.

Another relationship I would like to touch on is Maya's interactions with other women. She may have her half-sister Gauri and a flesh-eating horse, but The Star-Touched Queen suffers from a lack of positive female relationships. At the same time, the allegations of slut-shaming aren't really well-founded. Gauri's relationship with the harem women is evident of that, and the novella Death and Night explores Maya's bond with two of her best friends.

There was one line, I admit, that toed the line, but I believe it had stemmed more so in the heat of the moment and Maya's history with how she's been treated by those in the palace.

On a somewhat related note, I was disappointed that there was no redemption arc for Nritti. She had done some terrible things and yet, I still felt sorry for her.

Despite how well The Star-Touched Queen handled itself, the ending fell flat. Ultimately, it had been the deciding factor in whether to put it on my list of favorites or not. There were a number of unanswered questions. 

​What was that about Maya's stories coming true? Is it because she was a goddess? Because she was tapping on some hidden knowledge she once kept? What exactly curtails a goddess in this world?

At the very least, I liked The Star-Touched Queen enough to read the novella and give its sequel a chance.

Elixir

Author: Hilary Duff
Series: Elixir, #1
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's
Release Date: July 1, 2011

Clea Raymond is a talented photojournalist and the daughter of high-profile parents. Usually she's in total control of her camera, but after Clea's father disappears while on a humanitarian mission, eerie, shadowy images of a strange and handsome young man begin to appear in Clea's photos—a man she has never seen in her life. When Clea suddenly encounters this man in person she is stunned—and feels an immediate and powerful connection. As they grow closer, they are drawn deep into the mystery behind her father's disappearance and discover the centuries-old truth behind their intense bond. Torn by a dangerous love triangle and haunted by a powerful secret that holds their fate, together they race against time to unravel their past in order to save their future—and their lives.

Hate spoilers or rant-y reviews? Feel free to stop reading!

Never ever, ever, ever, ever will I read a book written by a celebrity again. Ever. Not even if it has a cheesy but cute cover. Not even if I feel sympathy for the celebrity writers that have been getting bad reception. Not even if it's written by a childhood favorite actress. I learned my lesson, dammit!

So Ever Lucy Lily I'm sorry, Clea is an outsider who is "different" from the usual teenage crowd. All that money and wealth, plus having uber-popular, rich, influential, and loving parents and friends who support her dreams isn't enough to keep her happy. Her assessment is reassured when something dastardly happens and leads her to meet a mysterious man. It's love at first sight, people, and she can't take her mind off the man who sparked warm feelings she never felt before. Turns out that he's actually much more than he seems, and their encounter starts a chain of events that change their lives forever.

Gasp! Shock! I'll spoil the surprise right here: Clea is actually a reincarnated soul and, lucky her, mysterious dude is her soulmate! He really, really wants to finally be with her forever this time. Unfortunately their last encounters have always ended on a bad note—Clea lying dead. Totally original, amirite?

Although they have very similar plots, Clea from Elixer beats Ever from Evermore. While Ever has only made idiotic decisions in every single book of the Immortals series, Clea has no sense of self-preservation, can barely put together a puzzle with only two pieces, and has the memory of a goldfish (the three second memory has been disproved but that's beside the point). She is suffering from a serious condition of being Too Stupid To Live. Not to mention that she has some messed up priorities that need to be straightened out! What happened to her missing-and-possibly-dead dad? The all-important Elixir?

All attempts that Hilary Duff tried to make the only love interest (there is no love triangle, as the summary claims) Sage romantic failed. Instead, I am very much afraid and creeped out by him. Really, he brought a condom and expected to give Clea her first time when they only met a few days ago. Clea actually agrees to do this in her best friend's car, right after seeing his various paintings of her dead body and suspecting that he is a serial killer.

Who would name their son Sage during the time of the Ancient Greeks? Who would think about their entire life so far while pushing through a crowd inside a bar? Why would Clea's soul have an entirely new talent that always gets her into stardom in every lifetime? How did Clea understand her visions of her past lives when they spoke in different languages? We will never know.

Switched

Author: Amanda Hocking
Series: Trylle Trilogy, #1
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Release Date: January 3, 2012

When Wendy Everly was six-years-old, her mother was convinced she was a monster and tried to kill her. Eleven years later, Wendy discovers her mother might have been right. She's not the person she's always believed herself to be, and her whole life begins to unravel—all because of Finn Holmes.

Finn is a mysterious guy who always seems to be watching her. Every encounter leaves her deeply shaken, though it has more to do with her fierce attraction to him than she'd ever admit. But it isn't long before he reveals the truth: Wendy is a changeling who was switched at birth—and he's come to take her home.

Now Wendy's about to journey to a magical world she never knew existed, one that's both beautiful and frightening. And where she must leave her old life behind to discover who she's meant to become...,

Don't be fooled. Behind this beautiful cover is yet another typical young adult, half-baked novel. I should have put this back on the shelf the moment I read "mysterious guy who always seems to be watching her." To be honest, Switched had so much wonderful potential, but that potential comes crashing down after the one-third mark.

A couple things made that day stand out more than any other: it was my sixth birthday, and my mother was wielding a knife.

It starts out the same way almost every magic-themed Disney Channel movie does, with a mysterious event that occurs in the protagonist's childhood leading to them going to a new school in the present day. Wendy sits on the lowest of the popularity chain.

Everywhere I went, kids never seemed to like me. Even before I said or did anything. I felt like I had something wrong with me and everyone knew it. I tried getting along with the other kids, but I'd only take getting pushed for so long before I pushed back. Principals and deans were quick to expel me, probably sensing the same things the kids did.

I just didn't belong.

Her parents are dead. The only reason she cares about graduating at all is because of her loving and overly protective brother Matt and aunt Maggie. To top it off, the other new kid is her own personal stalker, with handsome looks and mysterious airs to go with.

I was about to lose hope, until Wendy actually starts to interact with Finn and doesn't fall for him right off the bat. Had the author intended to subvert the nauseating, unrealistic tropes that run rampant in urban fantasy?

The idea of Finn being a romantic prospect hadn't crossed Matt's mind before, and he suddenly tensed up, looking at me with a new scrutiny. Fortunately for him, that idea hadn't crossed my mind either.

She confronts Finn for acting like a stalker.

"You're always staring at me," I persisted. "It's weird. You're weird."

When he continues with his behavior and begins to spout some silly troll nonsense, she tells him to high-tail it out of here.

"...after what I went through with my mother, I'm not read to let another crazy person into my life. So you have to go."

She feels reasonably scared, refusing to let any attraction between them blind her. Finally!

"You have lost your mind," I trembled in shock and fear, not knowing what to think. I should have thrown him out of my room, but then again, I never should've let him in.

Alright!

"I look at you because I can't look away," Finn answered finally.

"That's kind of creepy," I said at last, but my words came out weak instead of accusatory.

Yes—Wait, what.

I couldn't get a read on the way I felt about Finn. Most of the time he seemed weird and bordering on creepy. But then we had that glorious moment when we danced together, before he completely shattered it.

Even now, after the way he'd treated me, I couldn't shake how wonderful it had felt being in his arms like that. 

No, stop.

A very small part of me felt excited about the prospect of going to his room with him. That sounded like the start of a fantasy I might have. But the way he was looking at me now, I was afraid he might kill me once we were in private.

*sigh*

In the two meetings between himself and Wendy, Finn had done nothing but insult her. For the rest, he continued to act condescending toward her, showing disapproval over any action she makes, Sometimes he struck me as more of a father than a love interest, just like my feelings for a certain YA character *cough*Dimitri*cough*. When he genuinely returned Wendy's feelings, that was probably one of the biggest shocks of my life. When, where and how did this happen?

There is certainly no appeal in Wendy herself. Like I said, she was awesome in the beginning, but then insta-love happened, and she was taken to the Troll sanctuary. She had morphed soon into a whiny stereotypical princess that needed rescuing. Everyone kept raving all about her great abilities, but we only see a small, weak glimpse of it in the first couple of chapters. I doubted that she was as powerful as everyone thought she was. And to me, while it might be realistic for any teenage girl in her situation, what she did in the end was too cowardly for me to stomach. I lost all respect for Wendy right there and then.

I did love the complexity of the side-characters, such as Tove and both of Wendy's mothers. Loki, a new character featured in the short story The Vitra Attacks, promises to be a lovely addition. Sorry, guys. I have a thing for fictional bad boys with a way with words.

But it wasn't enough. Just as I feared, Switched had ended up to be too clichéd and uneventful for me to enjoy, with nothing to make it stand out from others from its kind. Girl goes to new school, has a hard time making friends, falls in love with mysterious guy, gets stalked by mysterious guy, and discovers that he is more than meets the eye. Even discovers that she is different too. Together, they must fight against lame, non-threatening villains and their love being torn apart by a triangle. Lather, rinse, repeat. Yawn.

Hunting Monsters

Author: S.L. Huang
Series: None
Publisher: Book Smugglers Publishing
Release Date: October 7, 2014

"Happy birthday, child. Careful not to shoot any grundwirgen."

Ever since she was a small girl, she has learned to be careful on the hunt, to recognize the signs that separate regular animals from human-cursed grundwirgen. To harm a grundwirgen is a crime punishable by death by the King’s decree—a fatal mistake that her Auntie Rosa and mother have carefully prepared her to avoid.

On her fifteenth birthday, when her mother is arrested and made to stand trial for grundwirgen murder, everything she thought she knew about her family and her past comes crashing down.

Auntie Rosa has always warned her about monsters. Now, she must find and confront them to save her mother, no matter the cost.

Friggin' gorgeous. Just friggin' gorgeous. How dare you do this to me, S.L. Huang? How dare you?

In this retelling of Beauty and the Beast and Little Red Riding Hood. Xiao Hong is a young girl that comes from a family of hunters. She's raised by her mother Mei and her partner Rosa, who have given her everything she needs and everything she needs to know. Although her mother is distant and Xiao Hong spends more time with Auntie Rosa, she loves them both more than anything in the world. So when the King's Men break down the door and take her mother to court, tearing her family apart and accusing her of a terrible crime, Xia Hong does everything to prove them wrong. But the people seemed to have made up their mind, and there's little she could do without a hint of proof leading to her mother's innocence.

We all knew trials in this kingdom were swift and executions swifter.

How perfect can this be? People of Color represented in a medieval setting! A protagonist living in an unconventional household and raised by a same sex couple, one of whom is bisexual! Non-negative reinforcement of these elements! Calling out of abusive relationships! Likeable, human characters! Confrontations with moral questions! Beautiful, evenly-paced writing that hooks you in! People of Color! If I should have any complaints, it's that there should be a follow-up, spin-off novel after. I'd like to write a longer, coherent review, but I can't stop raving about how good it is, and anything I'll say will have me spoiling too much. You'll simply have to trust me when I say that Hunting Monsters is one of the most perfect, awesomesauce short stories I and almost every other reader have and will ever come across.

Shatter Me

Author: Tahereh Mafi
Series: Shatter Me, #1
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: October 2, 2012

I have a curse.
I have a gift.

I am a monster.
I'm more than human.

My touch is lethal.
My touch is power.

I am their weapon.
I will fight back.

No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal, but the Reestablishment has plans for her. Plans to use her as a weapon. But Juliette has plans of her own. After a lifetime without freedom, she's finally discovering a strength to fight back for the very first time—and to find a future with the one boy she thought she lost forever.

In this electrifying debut, Tahereh Mafi presents a riveting dystopian world, a thrilling superhero story, and an unforgettable heroine.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but Shatter Me... was a pretty decent book. It's not great by any means, but it's not terrible either. I had read the negative reviews and cringed at the first few pages, but by that time, I had already been given a signed copy of Shatter Me and Unravel Me. Passing them over to someone who might better appreciate them was out of the question, given my name was written in capital letters on each title page, so I decided to give them a shot before I would leave them on the shelf for dust to settle. You can imagine my surprise when I found it was nowhere near as awful as I expected.

I've been locked up for 264 days.

I have nothing but a small notebook and a broken pen and the numbers in my head to keep me company. 1 window. 4 walls. 144 square feet of space 26 letters in an alphabet. I haven't spoken in 264 days of isolation.

6,336 hours since I've touched another human being.

Juliette has spent most of her life imprisoned in an asylum, grasping at the remains of whatever sanity and goodness she still has inside of her. In her little room is a window, one that keeps her wondering how the outside has changed since she left it.

All I ever wanted was to reach out and touch another human being not just with my hands but with my heart.

Excuse me as I throw up in my mouth. Juliette is about as bland as young adult heroines come. Like I haven't read about skinny, white brunettes that don't have many friends and hate themselves for what they are. The only thing that marks her different is the purple prose metaphors and similes that run rampant through her mind, some of which don't even make sense. Sure, she's not all up there, but it gets to a point where it's too much. I'm not even sure if the author meant for the nonsensical metaphors to point to her mental state. As for the crossed-out lines that littered the pages, sometimes they bothered me, but not as much as I thought they would. Juliette's major fault is that she's generic.

Hello.

World.

You will forget me.

Sorry, synopsis. I'll have to agree with her on this one.

After the world was struck with a cataclysmic catastrophe, the people have been governed by The Reestablishment. Like others of its kind in dystopian fiction, the Reestablishment rules with an iron fist, reeking of greed, lies, and corruption. They had ripped Juliette from her family and placed her in the asylum all those years ago, waiting for the right moment to mold her as their weapon.

In other words, new government = bad. Rebels = good.

To avoid this terrible fate, Juliette must escape with a boy she loves and aid a revolution and blah, blah, blah, superpowers, blah, Adam, blah.

Yes, a boy she loves. There's a love triangle, guys. There's a love triangle.

[Adam's] lips soften into a smile that cracks apart my spine.

He repeats my name like the word amuses him. Entertains him. Delights him.

In seventeen years no one has said my name like that.

Adam is just as unremarkable as Juliette. He's a good guy, but there's nothing that really picks him apart from love interests like Quince from Forgive My Fins, Ben from Juliet Immortal, Hasani from Every Last Kiss, and so on. While it's easy to believe that Juliette, having been kept in isolation for weeks, fell in love with Adam in a matter of days, his declaration of love was kind of a shocker since I didn't believe that he spent enough time with her to reach that depth. That includes their past.

Warner, Juliette's other man, is messed up, which made his declaration was more understandable and his side of the corner more intriguing. The stars are mostly for him (and a little bit of Kenji) because, like I said, I am a sick, sick bastard who finds fictional psychopaths, unhealthy obsession, and heart-breaking desperation so interesting. It's always been my guilty reading pleasure, although I would, as I've also said before, be entirely against these kinds of things in a real life setting.

Off-topic, but I realized that my feelings for Juliette, Adam, and Warner are almost the same as my feelings for Juliet, Ben, and Romeo from Juliet Immortal. At least Shatter Me was better written.

Crushed

Author: Eliza Crewe
Series: Soul Eaters, #2
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date: September 22, 2014

Meda Melange has officially hung up her monstrous mantle and planted her feet firmly on the holy and righteous path of a Crusader-in-training. Or, at least, she’s willing to give it a shot. It helps that the Crusaders are the only thing standing between her and the demon hordes who want her dead.

The problem is, the only people less convinced than Meda of her new-found role as Good Girl are the very Crusaders she's trying to join. So when a devilishly handsome half-demon boy offers escape, how’s a girl supposed to say "no?"

After all, everyone knows a good girl's greatest weakness is a bad boy.

Way to pull on my heartstrings, Ms. Crewe. I hope you're happy, perhaps smirking behind a computer screen out there, while somewhere, one of your readers is—er, was doing everything from shouting profanities to making soundless expressions at an open book in the middle of a lecture hall.

Which is a good thing, I guess.

If the message wasn't clear when I wrote my review of Cracked, you, dear reader, need to pick up the Soul Eater series right now. Almost everything I loved about the first book carried on to Crushed—engaging writing, complex relationships, exceptional character development, characters diverse in race and disability, and fast-paced, action-packed plot. And it's just so nice to indulge in narrative that isn't so serious all the time. How do authors manage to do this so effortlessly?

No, Meda, you can't eat that guy.

Meda is back, bitches. She may have saddled herself with the Crusaders—with good intentions and as a true Beacon, this time—but she's not about to let herself be held on a tight leash. And she'll be damned before she becomes a pet for these goody-two shoes humans, ready to bark and roll over at their beck and call.

I am what I am and I am not ashamed.

But if the Crusaders are going to trust her, she'll have to keep her head bowed or lose the only protection she has against the army of pissed-off hell spawns who want her and their revenge. Or she could run away with a hot demon halfling for a weekend of superhero antics. Which sounds pretty good too. If a war's coming, might as well cherish these moments while it lasts, eh?

Meda's been through her share of growth, but that journey of hers is far from over. The demon and human halves of her personality still struggle to fit together. She feels guilty for causing her friends trouble, but she can't quite resist the temptation of being bad, which she doesn't feel sorry for and doesn't need to. If her friends are in a pinch, she'll stay good and true, being loyal to a fault.

No one else will know I snuck out, but [Jo's] stellar bullshit-o-meter always knows when I'm up to no good.

I can't ever get enough of Meda and Jo, one of the best friendships I've ever read about in literature. Their friendship, thankfully, wasn't torn apart over trivial matters. Jo still calls her out for her bullshit and Meda for hers. Honestly, I liked that these characters were so multi-layered. You can't really hate anyone for anything, even the villains.

"Well, if it isn't the delectable Meda Melange." [...] His name isn't nearly as memorable as his face, so I just gasp "You!" Rude, maybe, but I figure "half-demon-boy-from-the-demon-dungeon" would really give my ignorance away.

Smooth-talking Armand makes a comeback! Totally called it. But whenever he came into the picture, though no fault of the author's, I kept on thinking about this motherfucker. Not the same name, but similar enough. It was hard to imagine Armand being seductive and charming when I keep hearing Takahata101's voice from TeamFourStar's Attack on Titan Abridged. Still, the flirtation between Meda and Armand had me struggling to hold back a smile.

He grins at me and I grin at him, two Cheshire smiles brilliant in the dim and dingy living room...

I wish Armand and Meda had been given more scenes together to drive home their feelings for each other. I believed in it, but I felt like something was lacking.

Can we talk about that ending? Armand's betrayal and Meda's resolve hurt so much, but I'm a true masochist that eats these kinds of things up and I wouldn't have liked it more any other way. But I would totally take Armand back as a love interest. In the realm of fiction, of course. Anyone who does what he did in real life should be punished, no question. I may be sick, but I do have standards. Somewhere.

"How exactly do you see this..." I wave between the two of us, unable to come up with a descriptor.

"Beautiful friendship?" he supplies with a devilish grin.

"...going?" I finish, ignoring him. "Us being mortal enemies and all."

"I prefer the term 'star-crossed lovers'."

I snort. "Regardless, it can't end well."

"The best romances don't."

City of a Thousand Dolls

Author: Miriam Forster
Series: Bhinian Empire, #1
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: February 5, 2013

An exotic treat set in an entirely original, fantastical world brimming with deadly mystery, forbidden romance, and heart-stopping adventure.

Nisha was abandoned at the gates of the City of a Thousand Dolls when she was just a child. Now sixteen, she lives on the grounds of the isolated estate, where orphan girls apprentice as musicians, healers, courtesans, and, if the rumors are true, assassins. Nisha makes her way as Matron's assistant, her closest companions the mysterious cats that trail her shadow. Only when she begins a forbidden flirtation with the city's handsome young courier does she let herself imagine a life outside the walls. Until one by one, girls around her start to die.

Before she becomes the next victim, Nisha decides to uncover the secrets that surround the girls' deaths. But by getting involved, Nisha jeopardizes not only her own future in the City of a Thousand Dolls—but her own life.

To think I actually thought about turning away this novel because it had factions. Just another reason to curse the growing number of dystopian novels of late, and to thank the heavens for the book's beautiful cover, charming author, disability and South Asian representation convincing me otherwise. And don't worry, City of a Thousand Dolls comes nowhere near to the awfully-done Stormdancer.

"You have been invaluable to me as an assistant and as a source of information." [Matron] hesitated. "And I'm afraid that your value to me has put you in great danger."

Nisha is the Matron's bitch. She tidies her room, does her errands, and reports to her whenever something peculiar catches her eye, allowing Nisha to move freely between Houses. Shockingly, her recent report doesn't contain the usual out-of-stock hairpin notice or the occasional girl unhappy with her House, but a body found at the very center of the City of a Thousand Dolls. As the Redeeming, the most important event of the city, approaches and the Matron's hands become full with the new Council Head who seeks to take her city for himself, Nisha, with the help of a sarcastic clan of talking cats, is sent to investigate.

"There are more secrets in the City than you can possibly know. Which ones do you really care about?"

While City of a Thousand Dolls may sometimes lack the maturity or complexity of similarly-themed novels, I enjoyed reading it for what it was. Nisha, though a touch bland, had turned out to be a strong-willed protagonist that I've come to adore. She makes mistakes and she learns from them, a simple thing I can't say for most young adult protagonists. She tries so hard to do the right thing, no matter what tries to bring her down. I empathized strongly with her sense of loneliness and feelings of being trapped within the estate, finding parallels with my current situation to hers. I won't get into that, for obvious reasons, but I think you get the picture.

She was just Nisha. And she needed to be free.

Much of the first half of the book is comprised of world-building, and the synopsis was right. For once, the "entirely original, fantastical world brimming with deadly mystery" was not a lie. Miriam Forster's love for her work shone between the lines, a first for me, and I share in that love. The author had clearly done her research and expressed it in a respectful way. People of Color and disabled characters are in abundance, as well as powerful women and women of power. There's no shame in what the House of Pleasure does. I loved how she handled Nisha's romance with the men in her life and how it isn't the only kind of love that's touched upon. And if an author can make you ship a human with a cat, you know they have some serious skill. Although I wish there was something... more, City of a Thousand Dolls was amazing by itself and not a novel any reader should pass up. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to go draw some terrible fanart.

Stormdancer

Author: Jay Kristoff
Series: The Lotus War, #1
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Release Date: September 18, 2012

A DYING LAND
The Shima Imperium verges on the brink of environmental collapse; an island nation once rich in tradition and myth, now decimated by clockwork industrialization and the machine-worshipers of the Lotus Guild. The skies are red as blood, the land is choked with toxic pollution, and the great spirit animals that once roamed its wilds have departed forever.

AN IMPOSSIBLE QUEST
The hunters of Shima's imperial court are charged by their Shōgun to capture a thunder tiger—a legendary creature, half-eagle, half-tiger. But any fool knows the beasts have been extinct for more than a century, and the price of failing the Shōgun is death.

A HIDDEN GIFT
Yukiko is a child of the Fox clan, possessed of a talent that if discovered, would see her executed by the Lotus Guild. Accompanying her father on the Shōgun's hunt, she finds herself stranded: a young woman alone in Shima's last wilderness, with only a furious, crippled thunder tiger for company. Even though she can hear his thoughts, even though she saved his life, all she knows for certain is he’d rather see her dead than help her.

But together, the pair will form an indomitable friendship, and rise to challenge the might of an empire.

I wanted diversity. But not like this. Never like this.

I would be willing to bet that the author had written this after reading a legion of manga and watching a shit ton of anime because honestly, I was at that stage too. I wanted to dash a book full of Japanese words I wasn't truly fluent in. I wanted to write a book full of East Asian mythology knowledge I found on Wikipedia, to lump them haphazardly together to suit my own needs. Unlike the author though, one day I took a step back from my idea and realized how terrible it was. I was acting like a writer version of a weeaboo.

There was a way for my story to get on paper, but the way I wanted to go about it was one of the worst, disgusting and offensive. Their country is not a prop. Proper research is a must. It's a sign of respect towards another person's culture. Someone outside of it will make mistakes, and people will and should call them out for it, but as long as that writer tries to correct it and show that they're making an honest effort, then it's part of the learning process. Jay Kristoff shows in his actions and his work that he is not that writer.

Yukiko has a gift, an ability that allows her to touch the thoughts of animals. This allows her to gives her the unique potential to become a Stormdancer, the rider of the mighty thunder tiger that roams the land and the sky. Too bad they're nigh extinct, and the one she has hates all humans and is highly coveted by the Shōgun, who will obtain him any cost. This unlikely pair will have to brave the coming turmoil of the Shima Isles, a fictional, steampunk'd feudal Japan.

Talk about one of the biggest disappointments I've ever had felt for a book. A gorgeous cover and intriguing concept wasted.

Yukiko is a completely unlikable protagonist, to put it mildly. She's skilled in the art of combat and not afraid to demonstrate. She holds wonderful relationships with other female characters. Yet she's heavily exotified, particularly when she fights against others, and her personality is shit. She's unreasonably disrespectful, overwhelmingly arrogant, and just all-around, hair-pulling infuriating. This attitude never changes and probably never will. I can't say much different for the rest of the characters, with the exception of Jin, who is adorable, despite his Gary Stu tendencies.

One hit, and she would never see the samurai with sea-green eyes again.

It's fine to put a non-Asian trait on an Asian character, such as green eyes, but to place a huge emphases on it and to make it so that it's one of the main reasons why anyone would be attracted to them is completely. Not. Fine. It's about as grossly offensive as having East Asian characters dye a strand of their hair purple to "spice them up."

I've come to the conclusion that Jay Kristoff can't write a romance. Yukiko and the green-eyed Iron Samurai, Masari and Kasumi. Even Yukiko and Buruu's platonic relationship. All forced and terribly-paced, with horrible reasons behind all of them. These relationships had even drove me to hate the cast even more. I wouldn't care if all of them died alone by the end of this.

"Sama, please. Enough for one day, hai?"

Yes, please, sama. Enough for one day. Why do you need to put a foreign word in if a perfectly suitable word in the English can replace it? Especially if that word has no significant importance? The abundance and misuse of Romaji thrown here and there had me slogging through the pages, sometimes having me at a loss at what the characters were referring to. The glossary at the back was a waste of space, since I'd rather not go back and forth to see what this and that meant.

With all the passion in my heart, I urge you not to pick this up. It's tempting, but not worth it. I'm sure plenty of others have pointed out these problems, and to support an author who will continue to perpetuate this-this insult while disregarding genuine concerns (look it up) would be just as bad. We need diverse books, but not these ones.

The Maze Runner

Author: James Dashner
Series: The Maze Runner, #1
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: October 6, 2009

Imagine waking up one day in total darkness, unsure of where you are and unable to remember anything about yourself except your first name. You're in a bizarre place devoid of adults called the Glade. The Glade is an enclosed structure with a jail, a graveyard, a slaughterhouse, living quarters, and gardens. And no way out. Outside the Glade is the Maze, and every day some of the kids—the Runners—venture into the labyrinth, trying to map the ever-changing pattern of walls in an attempt to find an exit from this hellish place. So far, no one has figured it out. And not all of the Runners return from their daily exertions, victims of the maniacal Grievers, part animal, part mechanical killing machines.

Thomas is the newest arrival to the Glade in this Truman-meets-Lord of the Flies tale. A motley crew of half a dozen kids is all he has to guide him in this strange world. As soon as he arrives, unusual things begin to happen, and the others grow suspicious of him. Though the Maze seems somehow familiar to Thomas, he's unable to make sense of the place, despite his extraordinary abilities as a Runner. What is this place, and does Thomas hold the key to finding a way out?

In The Maze Runner, Dashner has crafted a creative and engaging novel that's both mysterious and thought provoking.

Call me a dumb hipster, but I hate reading mainstream. There's no rational reason or tramatic childhood experience behind it. Every time I see a Gossip Girl or Uglies on a shelf, I have the sudden urge to make a face and walk in the other direction. For the last five years, Maze Runner was no exception. Until now, of course. So why the sudden change of heart?

Because the movie trailer was awesome, that's why.

It had won me over in a way that the book cover and summary hadn't, prompting me to buy myself a ticket on the last day of showing. Although my mind wasn't blown by the time the credits rolled, I've grown to love most of the characters and decided to give the source material a try. Was it worth it? After a week of letting both pieces of work settle in my mind, I'm still not sure. On some points, the movie was better, while on others, the book was.

And before you say it, no, this won't be one of those side-by-side comparison reviews. This is going to be all about the book. Starting now, anyway.

"Shouldn't someone give a pep talk or something?" Minho asked.

"Go ahead," Newt replied.

Minho nodded and faced the crowd. "Be careful," he said dryly. "Don't die."

Thomas wakes up in a place known as the Glade, devoid of any memories of the life he had before and left only with his name. As the inhabitants of the Glade help him adjust to his new home, he learns that they're trapped a giant, every-changing maze, their activity policed by deadly creatures called Grievers. Desperate to escape their situation, Thomas dreams of being apart of the Runners, the only ones permitted to leave the Glade and fin an exit. If only he can stop being annoying as fuck so I could sympathize with him.

... he had to do it. Somehow he KNEW he had to do it. It was such an odd thing to feel, especially after what he'd just seen... Thomas knew he was a smart kid—he somehow felt it in his bones. But nothing about this place made any sense. Except for one thing. He was supposed to be a Runner.

Look, I understand he has questions, like anyone would in his situation, and he wants to make himself useful. That's great. But to hear him whine about how he wants to be a Runner, and how no one will immediately stop what they're doing and answer all his questions for nearly two hundred pages gets really irritating really fast. Sure, a few characters call him out on it and he eventually learns to shut his mouth, but they take their sweet time going about it, and Thomas' character screamed of Gary Stu.

Another thing I disliked about him was his major relationships with Chuck, a young boy to come before him, and Theresa, the first girl and last person to come to the Glade. I simply cannot see anything in them that could warrant his strong attachment. Chuck was a creepy little brat, and Theresa... was a creepy little brat as well! Although I've been told that they serve a greater purpose in later books, as far as I can tell, Chuck was only put in to be the tragic kid who somewhat drives the protagonist to do things and Theresa the future love interest who shares an eye-rolling, forced connection with him. I had to keep myself from skimming whenever they shared a conversation.

Perhaps what saved The Maze Runner for me was Newt, the second-in-command of their settlement, and more importantly, Minho, leader of the Runners. Utterly charming and hilarious characters that stood out against a two-dimensional cast. I swear, Thomas shared more chemistry with them than Chuck and Theresa. In fact, from my standpoint, Thomas would faster fall in love with Minho, which I totally support. I also love that the author is an advocate for diversity and actually shows it in his works. Couple this with an enjoyable story, The Maze Runner turned out to be more-or-less on-par with the movie. With the questions I've been left with, I'll give the sequel a try as well.

Unspoken

Author: Sarah Rees Brennan
Series: The Lynburn Legacy, #1
Publisher: Random House
Release Date: September 11, 2012

Kami Glass loves someone she's never met... a boy she's talked to in her head ever since she was born. She wasn't silent about her imaginary friend during her childhood, and is thus a bit of an outsider in her sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale. Still, Kami hasn't suffered too much from not fitting in. She has a best friend, runs the school newspaper, and is only occasionally caught talking to herself. Her life is in order, just the way she likes it, despite the voice in her head.

But all that changes when the Lynburns return.

The Lynburn family has owned the spectacular and sinister manor that overlooks Sorry-in-the-Vale for centuries. The mysterious twin sisters who abandoned their ancestral home a generation ago are back, along with their teenage sons, Jared and Ash, one of whom is eerily familiar to Kami. Kami is not one to shy away from the unknown—in fact, she's determined to find answers for all the questions Sorry-in-the-Vale is suddenly posing. Who is responsible for the bloody deeds in the depths of the woods? What is her own mother hiding? And now that her imaginary friend has become a real boy, does she still love him? Does she hate him? Can she trust him?

Sarah Rees Brennan brings Gothic romance kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century with a heroine who can take care of herself, a boy who needs to be saved, and the magical forces that bring them together and tear them apart.

Witty, insightful, and definitely not one to mess with—these words can describe our main characters here perfectly. From Angela, Kami's best friend who hates everyone, to Jared's aunt Lillian, who thinks she's the queen of every blade of grass in Sorry-in-the-Vale, each are entirely likeable characters with kickass attitudes. I just want to applaud Unspoken for its excellent cast, complete with caring, non-absentee family and friends. Bonus points given for having a non-offensive portrayal of Asians and LGBT characters, with main roles to top it off!

"In love. That's how it sounds, doesn't it? His heart is my heart, nobody can ever take him away from me, I keep him in here!" [Kami] thumped her breastbone, so hard it hurt. "People say stuff like that but they don't mean it: they mean they're in love. All except me. I mean it." 

Kami and Jared have no secrets. Their minds have been latched together since the day they were born. For Kami, Jared was her imaginary friend, one she cherished and refused to let go. For Jared, in a household where he was hated and abused, Kami was something more. When he would get sick every fall and be confined to the space of his bed, she was there. When his father would beat him and his mother after drowning himself in bottles of alcohol, she was there. When he ran away from home and was forced to live on the streets because he had nowhere else to go, she was there. When his mother wrongly sent him to jail for killing his father after he decided to come back, she was there. Kami was his steady beacon of light that kept him sane in the darkest of times.

But given their unique and impossible circumstances beyond their control, how can you tell if they are more than friends and actually in love? Despite having learned to "build walls" between each other, it's a constant struggle to keep all their thoughts and emotions from slipping past it. Which ones are hers and which ones are his? What if it's none of theirs at all and just an unfortunate downside to their connection? Without their mental link, would they have been something special? Only time apart can tell.

If they could only bring themselves to sever the connection.

Or more importantly, survive long enough to stop a certain murderous sorcerer in town.

Ms. Brennan deliberately uses almost every trope expected of the young adult genre, and turns each and every one of them on its head. The characters may be shaped from cookie-cutters, but I love it when an author is able to make them grow beyond theirs. Unspoken isn't afraid to show the dark side of Sorry-in-the-Vale, its residents, and the secrets they keep. It isn't afraid to poke fun at the absurdness of some personas and situations as well.

"A leather jacket," Kami said as he shrugged into it. "Aren't you trying a little too hard to play into certain bad boy cliches?"

"Nah," said Jared. "You're thinking about black leather. Black leather's for bad boys. It's all in the color. You wouldn't think I was a bad boy if I was wearing a pink leather jacket."

"That's true," Kami said. "What I would think of you, I do not know. So what does brown leather mean, then?"

"I'm going for manly," Jared said. "Maybe a little rugged."

"It's bits of dead cow; don't ask it to perform miracles."

However, its brand of humor was sometimes a problem for me. My biggest complaint is that I wished the characters were more serious in situations that, well, demanded it. The first part of the novel is filled with many silly, one-liner jokes that are more often out-of-place than humorous. I can't help but feel they even go too well. Take a look at this particular quip from Kami's father. Note that this is the first thing he says while visiting Kami in the hospital after she was attacked and nearly killed by an unknown assailant.

"Kami, I know all the other kids are throwing themselves down wells now, but your mother and I have a firm policy of no danger sports until you're eighteen."

Although I haven't liked Unspoken as much as I'd wanted, being just before the line of love, I've gotta admit Ms. Brennan has a talent for weaving together her mysterious, hilarious, frightening, adorable, and heart-breaking scenes. She also has a talent to keep me not guessing at all. I had absolutely no idea who was causing the murders of Sorry-in-the-Vale. Rare, since I'd like to think I'm an excellent arm-chair detective since I have at least one suspect in mind, which is almost always the culprit. The romance takes a backseat in this murder mystery. All-in-all, I would definitely Unspoken for anyone's shelves.

Bloodlines

Author: Richelle Mead
Series: Bloodlines, #1
Publisher: Razorbill
Release Date: August 23, 2011

I wasn't free of my past, not yet.

Sydney's blood is special. That's because she's an alchemist—one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets—and human lives. But the last encounter Sydney had with vampires got her in deep trouble with the other alchemists. And now wither her allegiances in question, her future is on the line.

When Sydney is torn from her bed in the middle of the night, at first she still thinks she's being punished by her complicated alliance with dhampir Rose Hathaway. But what unfolds is far worse. Jill Dragomir—the sister of Moroi Queen Lissa Dragomir—is in mortal danger, and the Moroi must send her into hiding. To avoid a civil war, Sydney is called upon to act as Jill's guardian and protector, posing as her roommate in the unlikeliest places: a human boarding school in Palm Springs, California. The last thing Sydney wants is to be accused of sympathizing with vampires. And now she has to live with one.

The Moroi court believe Jill and Sydney will be safe at Amberwood Prep, but threats, distraction, and forbidden romance lurk both outside—and within—the school grounds. Now that they're in hiding, the drama is only the beginning.

There's nothing like reading a good book to wash the horrid taste of the last.

First, I must say that the series that preceded this, Vampire Academy, was nothing special for me. Every time I finished one book, I always would feel unsatisfied or annoyed by something Rose and the rest of the cast had done. I would skim through pages just to get it over with, stopping only when I spotted the odd interesting scene. When the final book Last Sacrifice was over and done with, the conclusion left a bad taste in my mouth, and I gave away the books, never wanting to see them again. I wouldn't have went on to read the spin-off at all if someone hadn't gifted it to me, and I thought it would have been a waste if I didn't give it a shot. So you can see how surprised I was to find myself loving Bloodlines all the way.

The author offers great, short recaps every so often in Sydney's narrative, but I think for new readers to fully appreciate the baggage these characters' carry and not be spoiled on the previous series's events, I suggest you read through Vampire Academy first.

Sydney has been raised to fear vampires and their half-breeds her entire life. Moroi, Strigori, Dhampirs—it didn't matter whether they were good or evil. They were all unnatural, bloodsucking creatures to be abhorred and hidden away from mankind. Any alchemist that was known to even think of them kindly would be sent to the Re-education Center to be tortured until their lesson was learned. For a while, Sydney was the same in alchemist thinking and had even been the perfect role-model for the profession with her cold, controlled, and responsible personality. Until Rose Hathaway entered the picture.

Little by little, the dhampir earned her trust and later embroiled her in a search to clear her name of murder, which marked Sydney as a traitor when she was caught. Rose had eventually found her evidence, but Sydney would now be looked upon with eyes of suspicion. Bloodlines deals with the aftermath of Last Sacrifice, of all the people Rose in some way hurt.

What makes Sydney different from Team Human's Mel is that Sydney was raised with her prejudice. She was brainwashed, never given time to think for herself or formulate her own opinions about these other species. I know firsthand how it feels to be raised to be intolerant, and it took me a while to realize how wrong I was and that the people I thought I hated for being different didn't deserve to be judged or mocked. And while Sydney has her reservations against vampires, at least she treats them almost as if they were the same and slowly but surely starts to grow to realize that Moroi and Dhampirs aren't the monsters the alchemists claim.

Laurel's words suddenly rang back to me. You know, you can be as scary as hell sometimes. 

I loved that where Rose is brash, impulsive, and insensitive, Sydney actually thinks about the situation and its consequences. She may have an aversion to violence, but this in no way makes her weak. In her own quiet, clever way, she fights back. She cannot verbally or physically rebel against her fellow alchemists without being severely punished or having her sister become a slave to them. Her supervisor, whom she holds a mutual distaste, is a golden boy who could have the higher-ups believe in any twisted version of the truth he says. She already is on thin ice due to the incident with Rose, and one misstep could have her sent to the Re-education Center. I wanted to console her whenever she was feeling frustrated, which was often when having to babysit a teenage princess and her overprotective and sometimes unreasonable entourage.

"Takes a lot of tries before you hit perfection." [Adrian] paused to reconsider that. "Well, except for my parents. They got it on the first try."

Her future love interest, Adrian, is still hung-up over Rose after a month of having broken up with her. There is no Sydrian yet, (which is terrific since that would be highly unrealistic) but the chemistry between them so far is great. I loved that they're just building up trust between each other and in turn, a friendship, which we so rarely see. I loved that they generally bring out the best in each other and help each other grow as a person. I loved knowing that in the next book there will most likely be them battling out forbidden feelings, because I love the desperation of wanting characters to be together than the satisfaction of them actually getting together. While reading Vampire Academy, I did not give a flying fudge bar on whether or not Rose and Dimitri would ever be together. Here, my inner shipper came to fore.

I had no problem with the rest of the characters. I even liked the recurring ones much better here than in the previous books, including Rose. I was immensely satisfied with how the secrets were strung together—I never would have guessed the answer to each one—and how the book was wrapped up. I have to say that Richelle Mead really stepped it up in Bloodlines, and I hope she keeps it up for the rest of the series.

Team Human

Authors: Justine Larbalestier, Sarah Rees Brennan
Series: None
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: July 3, 2012

Just because Mel lives in New Whitby, a city founded by vampires, doesn't mean she knows any of the blood-drinking undead personally. They stay in their part of town; she says in hers. Until the day a vampire shows up at her high school. Worse yet, her best friend, Cathy, seems to be falling in love with him. It's up to Mel to save Cathy from a mistake she might regret for all eternity!

On top of trying to help Cathy (whether she wants it or not), Mel is investigating a mysterious disappearance for another friend and discovering the attractions of a certain vampire wannabe. Combine all this with a cranky vampire cop, a number of unlikely romantic entanglements, and the occasional zombie, and soon Mel is hip-deep in an adventure that is equal parts hilarious and touching.

Acclaimed authors Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan team up to create a witty and poignant story of cool vampires, warm friendships, and the changes that test the bonds of love.

I never knew I could feel physical pain from giving a low rating to a book, if only a little. Team Human was sold to me as a detective, vampire parody lead by a headstrong, street-smart Chinese teen girl. It isn't often we get Asian protagonists in any novel and being Asian myself, I was more than ready to love this book. What can I say? I'm biased that way. Couple that with Sarah Rees Brennan's dry but witty writing style, I expected a fun, light read that would have me laughing out loud.

I have never been so wrong.

He was also cold. Not ice cold, but cool like water is at room temperature. It was wrong. People should be 98.6 degrees, not 72.

I gave creepy, cold Francis a bright smile, clapped my hands together, and said: "Can you believe summer is over? Hands up, who's going to miss the sunshine?

Mel is the equivalent of a racist. There is no denying that, and no one can convince me otherwise. Whenever she belittled or openly mocked Francis or vampires in general, for that matter, I saw red. Although I enjoy sneering at perfect, romanticized vampires as much as the next girl, it's one thing to make fun of them in fiction; it's entirely different to make fun of one that lives alongside you. If vampires were living, (non-)breathing creatures of our world, I sure as hell wouldn't start cracking jokes at their expense. I don't care if they have ridiculously archaic names. I don't care if they act like they live in the past. I don't care if they become the most disgustingly perfect beings that ever existed. If they led civil lifestyles and didn't hunt humans for food, there is no excuse to be treating them like dirt. Though not exactly people, they are pretty damn close to it and are certainly not animals.

"A true lady would never dream of discussing her health in mixed company," I told him.

"Is everything humorous to you?" Francis inquired with some asperity.
The would be Francis-speak for "snippy."

"Not everything," I said. "But it's really the only way to deal with you."

Francis's lip curled. "I deal with you, as you put it, but remaining courteous despite your ill-judged attempts at humor."

"Everyone else laughs at my jokes," I said. "Oh sorry, I forgot. You can't do that, can you?"

Because of Mel's cruel attitude against vampires, she was extremely hard to sympathise with, and I had to constantly fight the urge to throw the book against the wall for her prejudice. By the end, she does seem to have a change of heart to some extent but as they say, too little, too late.

Aside from the species-ism, I was appalled by a certain snide comment about the stereotypical mean girl, anorexic cheerleaders who threw themselves at Francis, and Mel's harsh judgments about dying patients that would rather live longer as a vampire than accept the embrace of death as a human. At this point, the only thing that potentially made Mel redeemable was her friendship with Cathy.

"Come on, Frankie, she's like a million years younger than you. Where's this going to lead except to breaking her heart?"

After a few days of embarking on her relationship with Francis, Cathy decides to become a vampire as soon as possible. Her friends and even Francis himself are astonished, and each make various attempts to dissuade her from making an incredible life-changing decision so soon. I understand that Cathy is beyond her years and she's given a considerable amount of thought of whether it's worth the risk but like everyone else, I wish she had waited longer. Not just for herself, but for her friends and her family to adjust to the idea. It is her choice, but her choice affects everyone around her.

Another human who looks forward to becoming a vampire is Kit, the boy who was raised by one. He and Mel hold strong attraction towards each other, but she turns him away because of his unwillingness to remain as he is. Their romance, although interesting, invoked little more than a shrug and a "meh" from me, with the exception of the cellphone scene, which I found adorable.

The authors managed to explain their alternate world very well, the humor present in the book was reminiscent of Cassandra Clare, and the detective-sleuthing was pulled off nicely. If not for Mel, Team Human might have been given a solid three.