Grace and the Guiltless (by Erin Johnson)

Posted on March 29, 2014 by setaian

Younger Readers (to Young Adult)

After her entire family is brutally murdered by the Guiltless Gang, Grace travels to Tombstone in search of justice. But what she finds is a sheriff who is being paid to turn a blind eye and a town full of people who would rather cheat her than offer help.

Leaving Tombstone she travels into the mountains on a vendetta to bring the bad guys to justice, dead or alive. But after only a day, she finds herself attacked by a bear and paralysed with violent stomach cramps after eating poisonous berries.

Rescued by Joe, she is taken to a Nde camp (The People…I’m presuming though it isn’t mentioned that they were Navajo), where she is healed and returns to strength, all the while learning skills that will help her in her quest for revenge.

Grace and the Guiltless is book one of what will be a series of Westerns aimed at young readers and possibly young adults –– I really want to give this book to my 10 year old niece because I think she will love it. The story is quite simple, the language is aimed at younger readers but I found myself really enjoying this book.

I guess the one caveat I would offer is there is some violence in this book and it is quite gruesome. It’s important to the story and not gratuitous but parents might want to keep that in mind if they have especially sensitive children.

OK…just have to say, that cover is sublime!!! I see so many covers that fall short and when I see one that nails it, I just have to say. Whoever the artist is who put that together is worth more money than they’re getting.

Many thanks to Capstone for providing me with this ARC

Yellow / Orange / Red –– What it means. http://wp.me/P2B7b5-9l

Night of Cake & Puppets (by Laini Taylor)

Posted on December 2, 2013 by setaian

Young Adult / Fantasy

Why am I sitting here tormenting myself, trying to write a review for this book?

Those who have read Daughter of Smoke and Bone and Days of Blood and Starlight will know and love Zuzana and Mik. But until now we’ve only been given fleeting glimpses of their lives. In this novella, on the shorter end of novellas, we finally see them star in their own story.

On a bleak winters night Zuzana, who has been quietly infatuated with Mik , finally gathers her courage to ask him out. With a treasure map, a couple of puppets and five wishes she sends him on treasure hunt around Prague.

If I could give this book 10 Stars I would. I just can’t put into words how masterful this book is. I read a fair bit of Young Adult fiction and a lot of it is kind of sub-standard…a bit like christian rock. Laini Taylor gives us a master class in how good the genre can be. This is what every author should strive to write.

Becoming Alpha (by Aileen Erin)

Posted on November 26, 2013 by setaian

Young Adult / Paranormal Fantasy

Tessa has a gift, though she would call it a curse. When she touches people or objects people have used, she is bombarded with visions. She goes through life avoiding touching anything that has been handled by others. Labelled as a freak, her family takes her from California to Texas in the hopes of fresh start, but the town they have moved to is also home to a pack of werewolves.

After escaping a disastrous party, she gets her first kiss from Dastien, and then Dastien’s wolf decides to claim her with a bite. Suddenly all her problems are multiplied ten fold with pack politics piling on top of schoolwork and being a new werewolf, and as an alpha strong enough to rival the other alphas in the pack she is definitely causing a stir.

Becoming Alpha is pretty damned good. As you expect of a debut novel the author has thrown everything into it and that occasionally doesn’t work, but it’s done with such enthusiasm…almost approaching glee that it’s hard to hold it against her. It’s a good fun story about werewolves and witches with interesting characters. It’s a lot of fun.

(I should note that while this book very much reads as young adult there is a bit of bad language which might make it unsuitable for younger teenagers.)

Many thanks to Ink Monster LLC and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC.

Tell the Wolves I’m Home (by Carol Rifka Brunt)

Posted on July 8, 2013 by setaian

Young Adult

June is a shy and awkward 14 year old. She lives in the shadow of Greta, her popular and gifted sister who hates her. The one person in her life who gets her –– her only friend –– is her uncle Finn. When he dies of AIDS she is left alone and bereft.

Then one day she receives a package containing a teapot that belonged to her uncle. His lover Toby has sent it to her and wants to meet her. But with her entire family blaming Toby for Finn’s death they need to meet in secret.

As the weeks pass they are able share in their grief and remember Finn who they both loved. But Toby also has AIDS and as their friendship grows, his health declines.

Tell the Wolves I’m Home is the heart-wrenching story of one young girl who is dealing with grief and loss. It really is one of the best books I’ve read this year. I loved it so much that I bought more than one copy for myself and have given copies to some close friends. I want everyone to read this book.

Robin in the Hood (by Diane J. Reed)

Posted on May 18, 2013 by setaian

Young Adult

“Okay, we’re gonna give out this money to whoever our hearts see fit.” His gaze was so keen now it made me quiver. “But Robin, I want you to take a really deep breath.” He paused, waiting for me. “‘Cause the feeling you’re about to get right now––well, you’e gonna remember this night for the rest of your life.”

After her father suffers a stroke Robin quickly discovers that her step-mother has run off, they have no money and both the mob and the police are after them. She bundles up her father, steals a Mazda Miata and goes on the run. They end up in a trailer park inhabited by a loveable bunch of misfits and miscreants.

They share what they have and care for each other and before long Robin starts to see them as family. But one of her neighbors has cancer and they desperately need money to pay for her treatment so Robin teams up with Creek to take a little money from the rich bad guys and redistribute it to the not so rich.

Robin in the Hood is a modern retelling of the Robin Hood story with a completely nutters band of merry men (and women). It’s light and fluffy Young Adult fiction with a very healthy dose of magic.

“Wait, what do I do?”
“You git on a helmet honey!” crackled a voice in the darkness. Granny Tinker appeared next to us with a pot on her head. She shoved one onto mine. “This here’s WAR.”

Adorkable (by Sarra Manning)

Posted on May 6, 2013 by setaian

Jeane has always been the weird girl at school. Her hair is often the result of failed dye jobs, she wears second hand clothes, the previous owner of which may or may not have had an incontinence problem. She stands out and is proud of it, but she is shunned by her classmates.

That has never been a problem for her, she is a blogger who has a worldwide following and is in high demand on the conference circuit where she speaks about youth-culture.

Michael is her exact opposite, he is in the cool group at school, wears designer labels and generally tries to fit in.

When Michael’s girlfriend hooks up with Jeane’s boyfriend they find themselves crashing into each other with increasing frequency. Both refuse to admit their attraction but they just can’t keep their hands off each other.

Adorkable is great. It’s intelligent, snarky and snappy young adult fiction about two mismatched people who actually fit together very well if they will ever admit it.

On the Jellicoe Road (by Melina Marchetta)

Posted on April 5, 2013 by setaian

At the age of 11 Taylor was abandoned by her mother on the Jellicoe Road. Now 17, the closest person she has had to a mother for the past 6 years, Hannah has disappeared without a trace. As Taylor starts to pull at the threads she finds that her past is interwoven with that of five friends who met on the Jellicoe Road nearly 20 years earlier.

It’s hard to avoid superlatives when talking about this book. It’s nothing short of a masterpiece. From page one I was completely drawn in and overwhelmed by Taylor and her friends.

5 Amazing Stars.

Eleanor & Park (by Rainbow Rowell)

Posted on February 9, 2013 by setaian

“I don’t like you Park, ” she said, sounding for a second like she actually meant it. “I…”––her voice nearly disappeared––”think I live for you.”

He closed his eyes and pressed his head back into his pillow.

“I don’t think I even breathe when we’re not together,” she whispered. “Which means, when I see you on Monday morning, it’s been like sixty hours since I’ve taken a breath.”

For Eleanor, the only thing worse than going to school is going home. Coming from a home where her violent and abusive step-father lords over the household, her life is one of hopelessness and despair.

Park is a fringe dweller, a person who is on the edge of the popular group but not really a part of it. When Eleanor starts sitting next to him on the bus to and from school their journeys are at first silent, but gradually they start to communicate in small ways. Over time Eleanor comes to depend on Park, and Park falls in love with Eleanor. But the price of saving her might be losing her.

Eleanor & Park is an amazing book. It is a poetic and beautiful book which occasionally made me ache with despair. In a world with an abundance of really great books, Eleanor & Park is somehow a little bit more. One of the best books I read in 2012.

Many thanks to St Martins Press and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC.

Shimmer of Angels (by Lisa M. Basso)

Posted on January 28, 2013 by setaian

His wings jerked, their immeasurable wingspan opening so quickly I didn’t have time to look away. The breeze they created shifted my hair into my eyes. I looked up at him from beneath its cover. With trembling fingers, I reached up and pushed my dark hair aside. Surprise jolted him.

Rayna sees angels. She has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals for years. Now sixteen, the doctors have finally given her the all clear and she returns to live with her father and sister at their home in San Francisco.

Her only desire in life is to go to school, make a few friends and lead a normal life. So when she sees an angel in one of her classes she thinks the crazy has returned and she desperately tries to hide it. When students at her school start dying and she is never far from the scene, she discovers that her visions are real and that she is right in the middle of a battle for the souls of her classmates. She joins forces with two very different angels in an attempt to stop an even greater evil.

Shimmer of Angels is great young adult paranormal fiction. Lisa M. Basso delivers a polished book with great characters and an entertaining story that I didn’t want to end. I’ll be eagerly waiting for the next instalment in this series.

Many thanks to Month9Books and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC

The Coven series (by Trish Milburn)

Posted on November 27, 2012 by setaian

Book 1, White Witch

Jax is no ordinary high-school girl. She’s a witch with a powerful darkness inside her. After fleeing from her coven she finds herself in the mountains of North Carolina where she can hopefully live a peaceful life. But Jax knows more than anyone what the coven will do to someone who leaves.

As she attends school she makes a couple of friends and actually starts dating. But things are never that simple especially when her boyfriend, Keller, comes from a family of supernatural hunters. Keller and his father have dedicated their lives to killing her kind, and she is struggling to keep her burgeoning powers under control.

Book 2, Bane

The darkness inside her is starting to assert more control and Jax travels to Salem in search of answers. She desperately needs to find the Bane, a shadowy group of witches who might just hold the secrets to containing her powers. But they are elusive and she’s not sure what kind of welcome she will get from them even if she does find them.

While she hunts for answers, somebody is hunting her. A supernatural hunter who is seen as a zealot even by other supernatural hunters. And her coven is suspiciously quiet which can only mean storm clouds are on the horizon.

Book 3, Magick

The Coven Series is Young Adult Urban Fantasy at its absolute best. It does everything I expect from books in this genre and does it superbly. The series is great fun and completely addictive.

The best urban fantasy I’ve read since Carolyn Crane’s The Disilluionists trilogy.

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