Disclosure first. I am Cat's boy/man/plaything.

Why 4 stars instead of 5? Well it appears that I don't quite understand goodreads, and have been using my own personal rating.

To me, a good book is worth 3 stars, an awesome book is 4. A book which I quite happily read over and over again is 5-stars... but 5-stars means very little as far as quality's concerned. If there're aeroplanes and flying, or King Arthur, then even if the book isn't that great, I still want to read it over and over again 'cau More...

See more of my reviews on The YA Kitten!

There are books out there that are so creepy/strange that they drive some readers away and draw in others who want to bask in its strange beauty. When the Sea is Rising Red is one of those books and I am one of the readers happily basking in it. The novel may have its issues with pacing and clarity, I enjoyed it. This is no paranormal love story, people. Ignore that jacket copy!

Felicita isn't the best person--she's rather spoiled and prejudiced and sometim More...

What a weird, beautiful little book. Review to come.

This photo is for Kate, who shares my love of tea and Victoriana:

First impressions: Fourteen pages. That's how long it took for this book to completely wow me. Cat Hellisen creates a beautifully unique world with full and vibrant characters that made it nearly impossible to put the book down.

Lasting impressions: There were a few moments that had me wailing, "Noooooo!" Despite some of the frustrations with the plot, I still found this to be a well-written and unique story.

Conflicting impressions: It always sucks when the love interest you want is not what you More...

Also Found On: A Book and A Record

This book wasn't really my cup of tea, it was very well written and the plot was well established. It held with the same ideas through the entire thing and I felt that all of the characters were justly motivated I just didn't really like any of the characters.
Dash can basically be caught as a player from a mile away. He’s a drunkard and a drug addict that likes to sleep around, and while Jannix is quite devoted to Firell (Felicita) he is still a vampire, and pr More...

It was bugging me that it kept showing that "I WANT TO READ" button underneath it because let's be quite honest, I do not want to read it.

I've read it a thousand times (only a slight exaggeration). When the final copies arrived I couldn't even look at them. Haha.

This is not a review. In case that's, like, not immediately obvious.

But here, have a song, it's the closest thing to a soundtrack I had for this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSpqj3...

I was at the hospital all morning getting all these funky tests done on my right hand (need surgery) and holding this book in my left hand (which is really hard to do- try flipping pages while holding a book without using your other hand- impossible). Long story short (my story-not the book), I really enjoyed this book. Obviously, I practically inhaled it.

Review coming in January.

People do not seem to like this one too much so obviously I, contrary creature that I am, like it a lot. I liked how courageous the book and obviously it's author are to present something that is so very different than what is flooding the market nowadays. All books try to be different but ultimately conform to the standard. Ms. Hellison's novel, in my not so humble opinion, succeeds in not just being different but being different in a good way.

Felicita is a very likable protagonist and as a wo More...

If I were to actually review this book and rate it, it'd be five stars. I absolutely adored this one. It's a quiet book and I love those ones. It's like having a secret that only a few handful of friends know. When The Sea is Rising Red reminds me of Cold Kiss, because they're both quiet and written gorgeously. And they both deal with death.

The characters in this book came to life, just like the world. I want to live in Pelimburg, it's that amazing. The entire Hobverse, as Cat Hellisen calls it More...

So...this was one of the most interestingly different books I have read. It took me a really long time to get into the story but I was never bored with it, just puzzled and intrigued. I was hoping to be instantly enthralled, and that did not happen. In fact, it was probably half way through the story that I really felt connected to the adventure. Over all, this was a satisfying reading experience that has given me lots to ponder, but it wasn't easy getting there...I had to work for it.

I would p More...

Beautiful, haunting, and endlessly imaginative, WHEN THE SEA IS RISING RED is a novel that will stick with me for a long time.

I like When the Sea is Rising Red.

*****

This book is so weird. Fortunately, I like weird. Having said that, When the Sea is Rising Red is not for everybody. and I meant that. I'm impressed with Hellisen because she is not afraid to tell a story that is a whole new level of different. So, the questions is: Are you bold enough to read this?

Felicita was stunned when her best friend Ilven committed suicide. When she realized she's facing the same situation that made Ilven jumped, she ran away after f More...

(Actual Rating: 3.5 stars)

I love books that surprise me. That may seem a strange thing to write from the perspective that, ideally, all the books you read should surprise you in some way. Given that we don't live in a perfect world, though, every reader is bound to come across plots, characters, and ideas that come across as predictable or derivative to them. That's just the way things are.

However, When the Sea Is Rising Red, debut novel from Cat Hellisen, is far from predictable or derivative. More...

I have had the privilege of reading the ARC of When the Sea is Rising Red.
This is one of those books that you end up saying to yourself, "okay, just one more page then I will go do..." and yet, you find that one more page turns into one more chapter. I identified well with the characters in the book, even finding myself talking out loud now and then to the main character Felicita.
This is one of those books that will appeal to the more mature reader as well as the YA group.
Sales in tea will mos More...

Felicita was born to a privileged magical family in Pelimburg, but as a woman, that means she has practically no power at all. Her family will control her life, right up to her arranged marriage, and after that, she will be controlled by her husband and his family. This is not the life that Felicita wants for herself, so when her best friend Ilven kills herself to escape her arranged marriage, Felicita follows suit—at least in appearance. She fakes her own death and runs away to the slums, where More...

I'm torn about my rating for this book. It was exquisite to read, but I spent far too much time being confused about the people, the hierarchy, the history, and the way of life in this world. Many things never really came clear unfortunately. Also, there were a lot of different fantasy/fairy and folk tale/paranormal elements mixed in, like the author wanted a mash-up of all make believe that appealed to her.

This was incredibly dark and really quite depressing. I liked that there were no neat, e More...

This is a bizarre, gritty fairy tale. Half urban fantasy, half Alice in wonderland morality tale. The world building is superb. (Too many fantasy authors seem to think that throwing in a few fantastic beasts and magically gifted individuals, then stirring in a thin plot equals a fantasy novel.) This is done much more cleverly. There's no big reveal as to why things are the way they are, much like life some things just happen. Magic comes at a heavy price and there are no white or black hats here More...

This book had my attention from the first chapter. The writing flowed, though I think that some of the characters could have been developed further.

I loved the premise, that magic is inborn to the noble class which is what keeps their control of society, but that in order to use their magic, they have to take an enabler called scriv. This is, of course, hard to come by.

The societal layers are interesting as well. That in the protagonist Felicita's upbringing the males are superior and extremely More...

This book holds a strange, bleak and wonderful story. When the Sea is Rising Red took me completely by surprise. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't this. I would've given it three stars, but the prose was so delicate and beautiful that I had to give it four. A liberating read, where the romance wasn't clichéd: there wasn't a pure, beautiful girl waiting for her one and only Prince Charming. (view spoiler)[I do have to say that I wouldn't have minded if Felicita found (ahh) true love, bu (hide spoiler)] More...

I am so very conflicted right now. I don’t know what I just read. Well, partly I do know, but it’s all confusing.

Being introduced to this new world was confusing and strange. It was like how societies used to be before we had democracies and republics. There are Houses that consider themselves superior than everyone else because they can do some magic using scriv which is more like being high on some dusted drug made by some magical being. There are Hobs and vampires and unicorns and so many ot More...

I almost gave up on this book as I thought there was way too much wording and details in the story for me. It just seemed that in the story, it could have been said with way fewer words and would have had more affect. Every last detail was written out and every thought was written out and I was just had too many words to read, ahhhh! The story itself was good and I thought if I could read it without all the details, I could probably enjoy it so I tried my best to forget every “faded purple” and More...

This was a strange, dreamy, mesmerizing book, and I have absolutely no idea how I’m going to talk about it, but I’m going to do my darndest.

Talking is what Monicas do best, after all!

So normally, guys, normally when I find a novel with a cover this amazing, I am totally let down by the actual text.

NOT IN THIS CASE!

It was written like… like… it was really, really well written, is what I’m trying to say.

Rin is lying stomach-down in the mud, one arm pillowing his cheek. His body is intact, strange More...

This is a striking debut novel. Cat Hellisen is already being compared to fantasy powerhouses Jacqueline Carey and Neil Gaiman. The rich detail Hellisen provides the patriarchy of Pelimburg -- rife with magic, supernatural creatures, and class strife -- reveals masterful world-building.

Felicita lives the life of Pelimburg’s magical elite. But when her best friend, Ilven, commits suicide to escape an arranged marriage, Felicita fakes her own death to avoid a similar arranged marriage and runs awa More...

A haunting YA fantasy by a debut author.

Seventeen-year-old Felicita, a sheltered aristocrat, flees the rigid traditions and stifling conventions of her caste, taking refuge in the slums and falling in with a rag-tag band of outcasts, grifters, and revolutionaries. Struggling to adjust to her new life, she plunges headlong into a dangerous infatuation, and is swept up in events she doesn't understand. By the time she realizes the true nature of what she's become part of, it's too late to escape.

T More...

I did finish this book, only because I wanted to know what was going to happen with Dash and Jannik, but mostly I skimmed through it because I couldn't understand what was going on most of the time. The language was impossible and irritating, the world created but not explained. Plus I also thought some things happened in the middle which cleared a couple of things up for me, but apparently I was wrong because at the end the characters talked about it as though it was a big mystery. Um, okay. Ju More...

I was really looking forward to this book, and i did like it, i just expected over-the-top love and it never really got to that point. It took me awhile to get a feel for the space, to understand the strange names and concepts, since it was written as if we had already been introduced to this new world. I thought i was missing something but no, the flyleaf clearly states this is a debut novel. So bold move new author, throw us right in there! And oh yeah, make it clear right from the start that More...

First of all, I didn’t rate this 2 stars because it’s a bad book. It’s more of a it wasn’t for me and I just didn’t really like it kind of book. I can appreciate the creativity it took to imagine this rather unique fantasy setting which was actually quite interesting and written well enough to evoke a very bleak and haunting atmosphere. Still, I could never really get a handle on many elements of the world and in the end, everything was just sort of a jumbled mess in my head. I hate infodumps as More...

This was a complex fantasy about a young woman who has to remake her life. She runs away from home in grief for her lost friend who commits suicide to avoid a forced marriage and to escape an unwanted marriage herself. She wants freedom and finds that it isn't so easy to claim. She runs to the poor part of town where her kind are not welcomed. There she makes friends and learns about the lives of the ordinary people of the city as she works doing dishes in a tea shop.

Felicita meets Dash - a hob More...

I'm really struggling with whether to give this book 3 or 4 stars. It's a really interesting book, with some major flaw, but I've decided that it derserves a 4 for creativity.

What works:
Voice, Setting, and Lenght.

What doesn't work:
Pacing, Lenght, a slightly confusing ending, and the cover

Bonus Points:
Vampries, sex, and drug addiction.

There is also a bit of oddness with some of the characterizations, but I don't know if it's a fatal flaw.

So the good parts:

Hellisen throws us into this reall intere More...

The more I read the greater the pull the book had over me. I was told this is a YA novel. This seems to be very much the case at the start of the book. But the ending is very adult.

Cat swipes away utopia and brings a raw reality to fantasy that speaks greatly of human nature and the underbelly of revolution. There are no saints. The is no absolute Right even in the face of obvious injustice.

I was also impressed how Cat refused to allow the old fashioned setting determine the story's politics. More...