Marie August's Blog, page 12

Book Review: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Fabulous young-adult, contemporary romance

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: April 30, 2013
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Pages: 397 pages
Source: Library
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

Echo Emerson is a senior in high school and almost 18. Her older brother Aires, a Marine, died in Afghanistan two years ago, and all she has left of him is his dog tags, which she wears constantly, and the non-working, classic car he had planned to rebuild when he returned from the war. Her mother assaulted Echo two years ago, around the time of Aires's death, resulting in disfiguring scars on Echo's arms. Due to selective amnesia, Echo can't remember the events of that terrible night, and various healthcare providers have insisted to Echo and her father that it would be detrimental for her to be told what happened--she should allow herself to remember naturally, on her own, when she is ready to remember.

There is a restraining order against Echo's mother whom, in spite of everything, Echo misses and wants desperately to talk to. Echo and her father were never as close emotionally as she was with her mother, and Echo feels alienated from him. Partly for refusing to let her talk to her mother and also because Echo strongly resents her stepmother, Ashley, who used to be Echo and Aires's babysitter, is much younger than Echo's father, and is expecting his child.

Echo has been mandated by Child Protective Services to attend counseling sessions ever since the tragedy with her mother, and the therapy is to continue until she graduates from high school in a few months. She has seen a long-line of counselors, none of whom have helped her amnesia and depression in any appreciable way, and she has recently been assigned to see a counselor at her high school. Mrs. Collins is nothing like the standard-issue high-school counselor whose only talents lie in helping students decide what they will do with themselves after they graduate high school. Instead, Mrs. Collins is a trained therapist who has received a special grant to help troubled students. She is determined to draw Echo out of the terrible social isolation she has imposed on herself since the trauma with her mother, and help an intellectually gifted but educationally disadvantaged fellow senior named Noah Hutchins at the same time by mandating that Echo tutor Noah and that Noah accept that tutoring.

Noah is a gorgeous "bad boy" who is a fellow senior at Echo's school. Three years ago, his parents died in a fire that burned down his home (we don't find out the cause of that fire until late in the book). Noah was 15 at the time, and his much younger brothers were 5 and 2. Noah was out on a date that night, and he has felt guilty ever since that he wasn't there to prevent the fire--even though that was clearly the responsibility of his parents, not that of a mere teenager. His two brothers are being fostered by a young couple who won't permit Noah to visit them. Noah has an unjustly earned bad reputation within the foster system, and they claim he would be a negative influence on his brothers. Noah has a vehement ambition to attain custody of his brothers when he turns 18 in a few months in June. At that time he will become a legal adult and age out of foster care. He has been working hard to gain a promotion at the restaurant where he has a job so that he can get health insurance to cover himself and his brothers and make enough money to rent an apartment where he can house his brothers.

Both Echo and Noah are initially extremely dismayed at Mrs. Collins's tutoring plan, until they realize they might be able to help each other in a major way. Noah wants the location of his brothers from the counselor's file on him, and Echo wants the facts about her mother's assault that are in the file Mrs. Collins has kept on her. If they conspire together, each may be able to find a way to peek into the other's file and report back the vital information they desire.

This is a powerful, contemporary, YA romance written in the classic, highly popular style of adult romance, including: alternating narration of the story from the point of view of the heroine and the hero; close-third-person, past-tense point of view rather than first-person, present-tense; avoidance of a distracting, superfluous male love interest in an irritating, romantic triangle; an uplifting, positive resolution to the romance.

There is a reason that adult romance novels are written this way. It works. The reader is allowed to focus with laser-like intensely on the courtship of the two protagonists as the main, A-Plot of the novel, and the secondary, B-Plot of the novel, though important, contributes to the A-Plot rather than overshadowing it. In the case of this story, the two B-Plots are the tragic family dramas of Echo and Noah. The A-Plot and B-Plots twine seamlessly into each other, and each is brilliantly written. All the subcharacters are colorfully and distinctly drawn, particularly Noah's best friends, Beth (who is the protagonist of the sequel to this book) and Isaiah (who is the protagonist of the third book in this trilogy), and the book as a whole is relentlessly compelling.

Over many decades of reading literally tens of thousands of romances, this is one of the best written romances I have ever had the privilege of reading. Ms. McGarry takes us on a highly emotional and extremely inspiring journey of healing and redemption for both Echo and Noah in this magnificently written book, and the story of the growth of their devotion for each other is deeply moving. I recommend this fantastic YA novel without reservation.

I have had the privilege of reading the sequel, Dare You To, and the novella about Echo's best friend, Crossing the Line, as well. They are also wonderful, and I am avidly awaiting the release of the third book in this series, Crash Into You.

I rate this book as follows:

Heroine: 5

Hero: 5

Subcharacters: 5

Romance Plot: 5

Family Drama Plot: 5

Writing: 5

Overall: 5

Book Review: Hyacinth (Book #2 in the Svatura Series) by Abigail Owen

Book 2 of the young-adult, Svatura, urban-fantasy, paranormal-romance series

Hyacinth (Book #2 in the Svatura Series) by Abigail Owen

Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: February 22, 2013
Pages: 254 pages
Source: Author
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

The Svatura are magically gifted humans who each tend to possess two or more superhero type powers. They are extremely long lived because they age very slowly. Their magical abilities usually begin to manifest in childhood, but most Svatura very slowly move toward complete mastery of their gifts across many decades.

Book 1, Blue Violet, centers on the romance of Ellie Aubrey and Alex Jenner. In this second book, Ellie and her brother Griffin are still living with Alex's family, the Jenners, and another Svatura family, the Pierces. Ellie and Alex are very much in love and planning their wedding, however, their romance is now in the background of the story and the primary romance is between Griffin and Selene, Queen of the Vyusher. The Vyusher were the villains of Book 1. They are essentially Svatura who have the ability, along with one or more other powers, to shapeshift into huge wolves.

In this book we learn in detail the history of the Vyusher. The villain who was killed by Ellie in Book 1, Gideon, was King of the Vyusher, and Selene's evil, older brother. His main magical power, other than shifting into wolf form, was mind control. He could force anyone to do what he commanded them to do while simultaneously causing them to believe that they were happy to comply. Selene could not resist the compulsion of Gideon's commands, but unlike everyone else, she retained the ability to know she was being compelled, a torturous state of mind to endure for even a short length of time. Selene is well aware that it is a miracle that she endured this heinous situation for 150 years and kept her sanity.

Selene is about 160 years old, almost exactly the same age as Ellie, Griffin and Alex. Gideon, her deceased brother, was only a year or so older than Selene. From the time she was ten years old, Gideon enslaved her and forced her to exert her main magical ability against others, starting with their own parents. Selene can turn off temporarily or, with huge effort on her part, completely eliminate the magical power of any other Svatura or Vyusher. Selene can also shift into a wolf, and she has the ability to hide Svatura from the Vyusher tracker whom Gideon had compelled for scores of years to track down Svatura so that he could have his wolves slaughter them. Gideon's obsessive goal was to destroy all Svatura who could not shift into wolves. He functioned as a kind of Svatura Hitler who was systematically creating a "master race" of wolf Svatura and committing genocide against all others.

In this story, the Vyusher are in disarray after Gideon's death, and a council of their elders cannot decide if they want Selene to be their queen. On top of that, Selene is not sure that she even wants the job, though it is hers by right of inheritance through her lineage.

Selene has been visiting Griffin's dreams since they were children--another magical gift of hers--and because she initiated her dream walking, she has always known who he was. This was not the case for Griffin. Until the end of the story in Book 1, when Griffin met her in person, he had never known his dream girl was real.

Griffin is painfully conflicted about his intense, emotional and spiritual attachment to Selene. He believes in his deepest self that she is his destined soul mate--in the same manner that Alex is Ellie's soul mate. But Griffin can't bring himself to forgive Selene, as Ellie has. Ellie believes Selene's story that only the mental enslavement by her evil brother could have caused her to aid him in his mass murder of Svatura, most especially Ellie and Griffin's family 150 years ago. In addition, one of their Svatura friends who can magically intuit truthfulness backs up Selene's story. Neither of these things is enough to turn the tide for Griffin. He feels tremendous guilt at the thought of having anything to do with Selene, even as a friend, let alone a potential mate, and he adamantly refuses to associate with her in person or allow her to continue to meet him in his dreams.

When Selene tells the Vyusher council that she wants to take a break from their clan to attend a university and moves to Estes Park, Colorado, where Ellie, Griffin, and the Jenners and Pierces are living, Ellie immediately befriends her. Griffin does his best to resist Selene, but the connection between them is so magically fated, he ends up following her around in the form of a falcon. Selene is well aware of his presence, because part of her ability to turn off magic in others is a constant, effortless awareness of any magic in play anywhere near her. Griffin's frequent presence gives her hope that they might, someday, have a future together.

This is a well-done YA urban fantasy series with strong female characters who are more than a match for the equally strong male characters. As a long-time fan of the adult romance genre, I am delighted to see a YA author employ the highly effective approach to a paranormal-romance series which has been used for decades by authors of adult romances. That is, having a different pair of lovers in each successive book in the series. What links the individual books is a shared magical world as well as close ties between the protagonists of all the books of the series, either by blood or friendship. Some classic examplse of this type of structure for adult, paranormal romance are The Edge series by Ilona Andrews and the Guardian series by Mary Jo Putney.

This book contains an excellent blend of romance, close friendship, and my favorite kind of action sequences in which success depends on a whole group of characters acting closely together to defeat a common enemy. The climax of the book is a battle scene as magically fast and furious as in Book 1, which will satisfy fans of action as well as romance in an urban fantasy book.

I look forward to reading the next entry in this thrilling series.

I rate this book as follows:

Heroine: 5

Subcharacters: 5

Fantasy World-Building: 5

Romantic Plot: 5

Action-Adventure Plot: 5

Writing: 5

Overall: 5

Disclosure: The author contacted me to review her book because I am a top reviewer on Amazon. I rarely accept such requests because I don't have a lot of time, but in this particular case I am very glad I did.

Book Review: Being Jamie Baker by Kelly Oram

Very entertaining debut, superhero, dramedy novel

Being Jamie Baker by Kelly Oram

Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: June 18, 2010
Publisher: Bluefields; 2nd edition
Pages: 362 pages
Source: Purchased
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

In true superhero-comic fashion, a combination of toxic waste and 40,000 volts of electricity invest teenage girl, Jamie Baker, with magical powers ranging from super speed, to super hearing, to throwing lightning bolts.

Jamie and her parents moved away from the town where this accident happened to escape the stalking of a paparazzo. They are scared that if the world finds out her super powers are for real, Jamie will be kidnapped by evil scientists and experimented on in a secret lab until she's dead. Because of this real danger, in her new school, Jamie avoids associating with any of the other students for fear of inadvertently giving away her secret. Since she's a beautiful girl, early on, many boys ask her out, but she coldly rebuffs all of them, earning the unflattering nickname, the "Ice Queen."

Then one day, gorgeous, popular quarterback, Ryan Miller, makes a bet with his best friend and teammate, Mike, that if Ryan can get Jamie to kiss him, Mike will back off and stop competing with Ryan to take the most popular girl in school, a lovely cheerleader, to the homecoming dance. Due to her super hearing, Jamie catches every word of this exchange, and is as amused as angry when Ryan saunters over to her table in the lunch room. But instead of trying to connive his way into a kiss, as she'd fully expected him to do, Ryan is completely up-front with Jamie about the bet he's made. Impressed with his honesty, she gives into a whim and plants a huge kiss on Ryan. But the joke's on her when she feels as if a gigantic magnet has plastered her to Ryan. It takes huge effort to extract herself from their mind-blowing connection, though she stubbornly refuses to admit to Ryan that their kiss has affected her in any way.

Ryan has no such qualms. He earnestly pursues Jamie--all thoughts of the cheerleader he'd kissed Jamie to obtain completely wiped from his mind. Jamie valiantly attempts to maintain her "I am an island" stance, but it's impossible for her to continually resist Ryan, and who can blame her? Far from being an egotistical jock, he's witty, kind, intelligent, and generally all-round adorable.

This is a terrific paranormal romance with an extremely entertaining use of the superhero concept--something I had not previously found in YA fiction and had been hoping some enterprising author would dare to offer. In addition to romance, this well-written story contains mystery, intrigue and some excellent action scenes. I particularly enjoyed the mayhem that results as Jamie practices controlling her super powers.

This book is not as blatantly comedic as the author's hilarious romantic comedy, V is for Virgin, but there is definitely a lot of lively, amusing repartee between the two attractive protagonists. Ryan is a simply irresistible romantic interest, and Jamie is a compelling female lead. It is wonderful to encounter a YA heroine who has zero wimp issues--on the contrary, Jamie's main struggle is to manage her easily-aroused anger so that she doesn't accidentally blow up any of the jerks and villains invading her life.

I purchased this book in a Kindle edition. It is well formatted and edited and easy to read.

I rate this book as follows:

Heroine: 5

Hero: 5

Subcharacters: 4

Writing: 5

Romance Plot: 5

Super Hero Plot: 5

Overall: 5

Book Review: Wake (Watersong, #1) by Amanda Hocking

An unusual YA, mermaid-type paranormal adventure

Wake (Watersong, #1) by Amanda Hocking

Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: August 7, 2012
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Pages: 320
Source: Amazon Vine
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

Teenage Gemma is an ambitious, Olympics-quality swimmer. She lives in a small fishing town named Capri with her father, who works on the docks, and her older sister, Harper. Their mother suffered brain damage in a car accident and is not living with them. Harper is very protective of Gemma, who causes Harper great worry by taking midnight swims alone in the local bay in spite of the fact that several boys have mysteriously disappeared there.

The story occurs during the summer, tourist season. When three beautiful, teenage girls named Lexi, Thea and Penn arrive in town, something about them makes Gemma very leery when she sees them on the beach during one of her late-night swims. Penn invites Gemma to be part of their exclusive little group. Though she resists at first, Gemma gets drawn into an association with them that changes Gemma and brings about situations that are far beyond the worst trouble Harper could have imagined Gemma would get herself into.

This book is told from the point of view of both Gemma and Harper. I really enjoy YA stories with multiple points of view, and these two sisters are particularly interesting. This is a very atmospheric story, and the mystery of the three sisters is filled with enough danger to make the story something of a YA paranormal thriller. For those who love romance, there are two romances, one for both sisters. Thank goodness there are no love triangles! There is no dark and brooding menace about the male love interests, and even some use of humor, which is really refreshing.

A great start to a fun new contemporary, paranormal, romantic, adventure series! I rate this book as follows:

Co-Heroines: 4

Romantic Leads: 4

Fantasy World-Building: 4

Writing: 4

Romantic Plots: 4

Mystery/Thriller Plot: 4

Overall: 4

Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book through the Amazon Vine program.

 

Book Review: Vulture's Wake by Kirsty Murray

Young adult dystopian novel

Vulture's Wake by Kirsty Murray

Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: April 1, 2010
Publisher: Holiday House
Pages: 256 pages
Source: Purchased
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

This dystopian, futuristic story is told in the alternating points of view of two teen protagonists, a boy named Callum and a girl named Boadicea, Bo for short. I really enjoy it when a young adult novel is written that way, and I also appreciated the fact that the story is told in past tense, which doesn't draw attention to itself as present tense does.

The story starts with a bang, literally, as Molotov cocktails rain on the roof of the compound where Callum lives. He's kidnapped by his family's enemies, the Outstationers, who sell him as a slave to the cruel owners of a circus who keep him in a cage when they are not training and using him as an acrobat. After several months, Callum manages to escape from his captors and flees into the desert on a motorcycle. When he crashes and is knocked out, Bo rescues him, takes him to the cave where she lives, and nurses him back to health.

Bo hasn't spoken to anyone but robots for years, since her guardian was murdered by Outstationers. She's a "techno-hunter" who survives in a hostile environment by hunting small, desert prey with the aid of a team of "roboraptors." These small, intelligent, highly skilled robots are named Chinky, Thumbelina, Cinderella, Silky and Mr. Pinkwhistle, and they seem almost human in their ability to respond to praise and affectionate pats from Bo.

In a world filled with dangerous, usually evil adults, Bo has been trained to trust no one. But Callum is her age, is lost and afraid, and clearly needs her help. Most importantly, they soon learn they share a common enemy, the Outstationers. When the small territory Bo has staked out becomes too dangerous because the Outstationers are after them, they set out together on a journey across a ravaged continent, seeking a safe haven in the city of Vulture's Gate, in the process relying on each other totally. During the journey, Callum learns something incredible, which causes him to question everything he's been taught by the men who raised him--Bo is a girl. Callum has been told all his life that there are no females on the planet because they were all wiped out by bird flu. Since that time, children have been created by a process that is, presumably, cloning. There are several types of people born that way, "cybrids" and "hybrids."

Like most dystopian novels, the world that Callum and Bo attempt to survive in is utterly bleak. The author is from Australia, and in some ways the world of this story reminds me of the Mad Max films. But there's a big difference in that there are two protagonists whose relationship is fascinating and moving to read about. Callum and Bo are extremely sympathetic characters. They are both survivors who never give up, and they are willing to care and make sacrifices for others.

I rate this story in this way:

 
World-building for the post-apocalyptic terrain of the story: 5

Action, adventure and conflict: 5

Characters: 5

 

Book Review: Vesper, a Deviants Novel by Jeff Sampson

Are the horrifying changes in Emily's personality due to magic or madness?

Vesper, a Deviants Novel by Jeff Sampson

Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: January 25, 2011
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Pages: 309 pages
Source: Purchased
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

This young adult, contemporary-fantasy novel begins with an interrogation of the teenage heroine, Emily Webb, by a man named F. Savage who is part of a shadowy organization called the Vesper Company. This opening scene is presented in transcript format, and in it Emily is, for reasons unexplained, referred to as "Vesper 1." We learn within the first page of the book that Emily and several of her unnamed friends have been kidnapped and are being held in a secret facility. At the request of the powers-that-be in the Vesper Company, Emily has written out her story. She declares to Savage that she hopes that her cooperation will earn the release of both her and her friends, but it is by no means clear that her wish will be granted. Emily's written statement comprises the body of the novel Vesper, which is frequently interspersed with more transcripts of her ongoing interrogation with the Vesper Company man.

At the start of Emily's story, she is behaving like someone who is either suffering from a manic phase of bipolar disorder or hopped up on some kind of dangerous street drug. She is in the midst of climbing out her bedroom window because she wants to "dive into the darkness" beyond her bedroom window and "get filthy and carefree." She's interrupted by a phone call informing her that a girl from her school, Emily Cooke, has just been murdered. The shock of that announcement shakes her out of her manic state, and she behaves like someone waking from a trance. This version of Emily is appalled to find herself dressed in flashy, trampy clothes which, her thoughts tell us, are completely out of character. The real Emily Webb is a modest, very introverted geek.

As the book progresses, we experience the traumatizing pull between what Emily comes to call "Nighttime Emily" and her normal self, "Daytime Emily." Emily has three theories: She's either going insane, possessed by the vengeful spirit of the other, dead Emily, or she is relentlessly transforming into something unimaginable. Something that isn't entirely human.

This is an intriguing paranormal story which is equal parts action-adventure plot, murder-mystery plot, and a uniquely intense coming-of-age plot. There is also a romantic subplot, and those that like to be kept guessing a bit as to who the heroine in a YA novel will end up with will enjoy the unexpected way the author handles it.

This book definitely has the potential to produce, at the least, a trilogy, because the end of the book, though satisfactorily answering the main plot questions posed in this book, brings up multiple tantalizing new questions to be handled in the next book.

Some readers may experience the literary technique of beginning the story with an event that has happened after the main story has ended as lessening some of the story's suspense, as well as resulting in the main body of the book consisting of a massive flashback. It is also a bit disconcerting that the book is interrupted several more times with additional transcripts of the same interrogation that begins the book, which rather awkwardly breaks up the forward momentum of the story.

Though it works well for the plot itself, in terms of marketing this book, it is unfortunate that the major paranormal hook that would cause teen readers to want to pick up this book and read it is not revealed until the climax. That means that any reviewer or promoter of the book who reveals it to grab a potential reader's attention is committing a spoiler. Because that plot point is so interesting, though, beware that many readers who review this book, on Amazon and elsewhere, will be tempted to blurt out this important plot point in their reviews.

Regardless of the flaws in the structure of the novel which, of course, many readers may not find to be flaws at all, the particular strength that most recommends this book is the personality and characterization of the heroine Emily. She is a strong and dynamic heroine with a relentless drive to solve the mystery of her frightening split personality.

For parents and teachers concerned with the content of this book, I would rate it PG-13 for violence. There is no sex, but many of the scenes of "Nighttime Emily's" wild-child exploits are quite provocative and drenched in substance abuse. However, this is leavened by "Daytime Emily's" shock at these actions.  

Book Review: In the Arms of Stone Angels by Jordan Dane

YA supernatural, murder-mystery thriller for older teens age 17 and above

In the Arms of Stone Angels by Jordan Dane

Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: April 1, 2011
Publisher: Harlequin Teen; Original edition
Pages: 316 pages
Source: Purchase
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

Two years ago, when she was fourteen, Brenna Nash stumbled upon her best friend, Isaac Henry AKA White Bird, of the Euchee tribe in Shawano, Oklahoma, in the aftermath of a brutal murder of a white, teenage girl. Though Brenna had known Isaac for over a year and had never seen him act in any but the gentlest manner toward animals and people, she instantly assumed he had committed the murder and turned him into the police. In spite of her status as a witness against her friend, her former friendship with him led to her and her mother, a real estate agent, being stigmatized in Shawano, and her mother soon moved them away.

After leaving town, Brenna sought no information about White Bird from her grandmother, who was still living in Shawano, and she descended into a rage-filled, self-destructive depression, manifesting as rebellion toward her mother, isolating herself, and deliberately mutilating herself by cutting her arms and legs.

Brenna's only comfort in her abject misery during that period post-trauma up to the present moment has been to visit graveyards. She has the gift of seeing ghosts and, far from frightening her, their presence feels comforting. No doubt in large part because they never speak, which prevents them from making demands as living people do.

Suddenly, when Brenna is sixteen, her mother informs her that her grandmother has died and left her home to Brenna's mother. Her mother insists that they must return to Shawano, prep the house and sell it. Brenna at first flatly refuses to return to the scene of the source of her despair, but eventually she succumbs to her mother's wishes.

Once she is back in Shawano, Brenna cannot resist finding out what happened to White Bird and discovers that he has not been sent to jail for murder, but is confined to a mental hospital where he has been in a catatonic state since the day of the murder. Brenna sneaks into the hospital, finds him sitting alone in a wheelchair staring into space, and touches his arm. She is instantly pulled into a hellish landscape and, since her paranormal ability has previous consisted only of seeing ghosts, she is terrified that she is going insane.

After this experience, Brenna feels guilty for her part in White Bird's terrible condition--and afraid for herself. Then, as if all that weren't awful enough, friends of the murdered girl make it their mission to confront Brenna on numerous occasions, letting her know that they blame her for the murder almost as much as White Bird because she was his friend.

Surrounded by enemies on all sides, with a mother who refuses to leave town, Brenna has nowhere to turn, and the dead--including the murdered girl--are no help at all.

In an unusual departure for YA--though not uncommon in adult thrillers--this book is written in many different points of view, at least four of them villains and several adults. To distinguish Brenna from the other point-of-view characters, her voice is in first person ("I said"), and all the rest are in third-person ("he/she said").

Though the heroine is presented as apparently suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), there is no mention that she has ever had therapy. Yet many of her thoughts are those of a mature adult who, from some distant time, is reflecting back on this awful moment in her youth from the perspective of someone who has had therapy. For example: "I could have spared Mom the attitude...but attitude was all I had left," and "I guess Mom had her reasons and I had mine. And maybe we both had something to prove." Some readers may find this pulls them out of the story, but for me personally, the distancing this provided from the main character helped me to deal with the many awful things done to the heroine, by herself and by others.

The author of this book, Jordan Dane, has written many best-selling adult thrillers which are best known for their "very damaged characters" in plots sometimes referred to as "21st century noir." She states on her website that when writing this book, she was determined to create a gritty story for teens. She has certainly succeeded in her goal. This YA thriller is by turns shocking and frightening. So much so, including a scene with sexualized brutality (though not outright rape), that this book is best suited to the R-rated, over-17 end of the extended YA age range of 11-19.

This book is strongly recommended to fans of thrillers. Fans of Jordan Dane, in particular, will find this book an exciting read.

Book Review: Unleashed by Nancy Holder, Debbie Viguié

Book One of YA paranormal romance/adventure series, the Wolf Springs Chronicles

Unleashed (Wolf Springs Chronicles, #1) by Nancy Holder, Debbie Viguié

Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: November 22, 2011
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Pages: 400
Source: Amazon Vine
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

Sixteen-year-old Katelyn McBride is used to city life in sunny California, and it is a second devastating blow on top of being tragically orphaned when she is forced to relocate to her grandfather's rustic home in the Ozark hills of Arkansas. Not only is the culture shock extreme because her grandfather lives in the middle of nowhere, but it is dangerous to go into the eerie woods surrounding his house at night--people have been murdered there.

I would classify this YA novel as a contemporary fantasy. It is also a coming-of-age novel with a paranormal twist. Fans of romantic triangles in YA paranormal plots will have plenty to appreciate here. Trick and Justin are both worthy contenders for Katelyn's love, though one of them is far more dark and dangerous than the other, and that may tip the scales in his favor in a contest to win the hearts of female readers.

There are elements of mystery, thriller, and action-adventure in the exciting main plot, and the secondary romance plots have lots of tension and conflict to ramp up an emotional roller-coaster ride for Katelyn. The authors do a great job creating a spooky atmosphere, and their basic writing skills are excellent.

Potential readers might want to know that this is one of those series where there is a major cliffhanger at the end of the book. If you don't like that type of ending, you might want to wait to start reading this series until it is complete.

I rate this book as follows:

Heroine: 4

Romantic Heroes: 4

Fantasy World-Building: 4

Writing: 5

Action-Adventure/Thriller/Mystery Plot: 4

Romance Subplots: 3

Overall: 4

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book from the Amazon Vine program.

Book Review: Virgin on Her Wedding Night by Lynne Graham

Review of Audiobook Read by Steven Crossley

Virgin on Her Wedding Night by Lynne Graham

Reading Level: Adult Romance
Release Date: May 1, 2010
Publisher: Harlequin Presents
Pages: 188 pages
Source: Purchase
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

Fans of Harlequin Presents in general and Lynne Graham in specific will enjoy this contemporary romance.

Five years ago, Caroline Hale unavoidably left Valente Lorenzatto at the altar, and he assumed she had deserted him on purpose. He has been plotting ever since to both revenge himself on her family and get Caroline back in his life as his mistress.

Because Valente refused to allow Caroline to contact him after the aborted wedding ceremony, in a state of depression a few months later, she allowed her parents to pressure her into a marriage of convenience to a childhood friend, Matthew. Her aging father wanted Matthew to take over their family's trucking company so he could retire. Unfortunately, Matthew turned out to be an emotionally abusive and unfaithful husband, and he ran the trucking company into the ground.

When Valente knew Caroline in the past, he was a lowly driver for the trucking company, but in the intervening years, he has inherited a fortune from his Italian Count grandfather and multiplied that money enormously. After Matthew's death in an accident, Valente steps in and snaps up the Hale family trucking company as well as the family mansion from the Matthew-bankrupted Hales. Valente imperiously summons Caroline to see him at the trucking company and presents her with a horrifying choice: become his mistress or he will close down the family business and put all the employees out of work, as well as drive her aging parents from their home. Caroline is appalled by this cold-blooded offer, even more so because she knows she can't give Valente what he wants due to Matthew's awful treatment rendering her frigid.

The plot device of Valente blackmailing Caroline into his bed sounds outrageous if one isn't used to Harlequin Presents--this is a standard ploy for this series. What is unusual and interesting about this book is the idea of the heroine being frigid. I've read most of Lynne Graham's Harlequin Presents (HP) novels, and I've never seen her use this plot. It's a hard one to pull off and not aggravate HP fans because hot sex with a perfect lover, scattered throughout the book right from the beginning, is a major selling point of HP. However, from my point of view as a jaded romance reader, those kind of sex scenes can get pretty predictable. In contrast, the idea of Valente, in order to become Caroline's lover, having to "earn" the privilege by demonstrating amazing sensitivity to her sexual dysfunction produces some extremely caring and sensual sex scenes. A prime fantasy of many women is the lover who caters to the heroine's every whim, taking his time with the preliminaries in making love. Valente fulfills this fantasy by offering this type of generous treatment to Caroline to such an extent that it is quite convincing that he could fully restore her shattered self-confidence. It's very well done.

The overall plot of Valente's resentment of Caroline, however, is not nearly as interesting because it is based on an easily disproved misconception about her. Caroline could have cleared up Valente's wrong impression of her in short order if she had simply presented him with readily available documents that would have indicated exactly where she was on the day of their cancelled wedding.

In addition, I couldn't fathom why Caroline would choose to stay married for five years to her scum of a first husband. There was nothing for her or her family to gain and everything for the business and her personal self-respect to lose by her doing so.

I experienced this book in audio format, read by a male, which was a rather odd experience. I've heard many, many audiobooks of romance novels over the years and, other than this one, all were read by women. The narrator is Steven Crossley, a British actor who has been awarded the prestigious "Earphones" award for audiobook narration on multiple occasions. He has a rich, resonant voice, and his reading of the male parts, particularly Valente, the hero, is outstanding. However, his reading of the female parts comes out as a rather shrill falsetto that is a bit grating. This is almost always the case though, that male readers struggle with female voices, and female narrators struggle with male voices--with the notable exception of the late, great Anna Fields, who did a fabulous job with the voices of women, children and males of all ages.

 
Heroine: 3

Hero: 5

Romance Plot: 4

Writing: 4

Audiobook Narrator: 4

Overall: 4

Book Review: Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

Young-adult, contemporary fantasy with a part-angel heroine

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: January 4, 2011
Publisher: HarperTeen; First Edition
Pages: 448 pages
Source: Amazon Vine™
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

Sixteen-year-old Clara Gardner is one-quarter angel, born of a human father and a mother who is one-half angel and is over 120 years old but looks less than 40. Full-blooded angels are all male, and they sometimes mate with human females, producing offspring like Clara's mother.

Clara's angel blood allows her to speak any language, human or animal, and birds follow her wherever she goes. She can learn any physical skill easily and perform it effortlessly, and the most difficult advanced-placement classes are a breeze for her. She heals from wounds very quickly, is gorgeous and, best of all--she has retractable wings. Unfortunately, the one thing she doesn't excel at is flying, which is a really important skill for an angel-blood to develop.

Clara's father deserted her mother several years ago, and Clara resents him for that, but her mother is nurturing and protective. Clara has learned from her mother that one of the key elements of her angel heritage is her "purpose," a significant mission to help a person badly in need. The angel-blood purpose is typically revealed gradually through a series of visions when the angel-blood is in his or her teens. When Clara begins having visions of herself and a boy she has never met in a forest where there is a fire, it is immediately clear to her mother that Clara is beginning to receive spiritually imparted information on her purpose. When Clara sees a license plate number in one of visions, it provides enough information for her mother to figure out that the boy Clara needs to save is in Wyoming. Clara's mother immediately moves Clara and her fourteen-year-old brother to Jackson Hole from their long-time home in California so that Clara can fulfill her purpose.

Because this is the first book in a projected trilogy about angel-bloods, it deals mostly with Clara coming to terms with her angel heritage. In particular, she has a very hard time learning how to fly, and she finds this excruciatingly frustrating because her whole life she's instantly succeeded at everything else she's ever attempted. She also spends a great deal of time discovering the full extent of her "purpose" by meeting and attempting to get to know and understand the boy of her visions, Christian Prescott, who is in her class at the local high school. He is the most beautiful boy in the school and dating the most beautiful girl. Clara feels a strong pull toward him, and struggles with figuring out if she is supposed to merely rescue him or also fall in love with him.

In the process of dealing with both the flying and her confusion about her purpose, Clara is frequently torn between the two sides of her nature. The part of her that is human longs to live an ordinary teenage life, and this is also something that her mother encourages her to do. She warns Clara and her brother to never reveal their angel natures to humans, because if too much attention is put on them, it could summon the attention of "Black Wings." These fallen angels are virtually invincible, and they are a major threat to angel-bloods. Unfortunately for Clara's quest to act like an ordinary human, though, her angel qualities set her apart from everyone around her except her mother, brother, and a half-angel girl named Angela, whose father is a Black Wing who raped her mother.

The writing in this book is well done. The world-building with angel mythology is quite interesting, and Clara and her friends are all characters that are enjoyable to spend time with. My personal favorite is Angela, who has a strong, dynamic personality. In addition, the story's love triangle, a feature that is found in the majority of YA novels since Edward and Jacob first appeared in Twilight, is handled in a unique and refreshing way.

For those who are looking for a YA contemporary fantasy that has an intriguing setup, but avoids sex (other than mild kissing scenes), drinking, drugs, violence, and romance that borders on obsession--this book is for you. It can safely be read even by pre-teens, and many adults who read YA fantasy will enjoy it as well.