Marie August's Blog, page 26

Book Review: Prom and Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg

Cute retelling of Pride and Prejudice

Prom and Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg
Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: January 1, 2011
Publisher: Point
Pages: 288
Source: Amazon Vine
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

Lizzie Bennet has just spent a grueling first semester at the ritzy, all-girl Longbourn Academy. She and her best friend Jane are scholarship students surrounded by the offspring of very rich parents. Jane has a crush on wealthy Charles, who attends a nearby, equally upper-class boys' academy. None of the male students there attract Lizzie, and when she meets Charles's best friend, Darcy, Lizzie is positive that he won't be an exception to the rule who can overcome her prejudice against arrogant, elitist boys.

This is a really fun read. It is extremely well written and highly entertaining with plenty of laughs. If you are looking for relief from all the gritty, dark reads dominating YA fiction these days, and especially if you have had enough of teen romance novels with instant obsession passing for love, you'll truly enjoy this terrific romantic comedy's approach. Much like her progenitor, Elizabeth Bennet of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (P&P), Lizzy is a strong, intelligent, independent and witty heroine who would never fall at any boy's feet the second she meets him, no matter how gorgeous he is.

The author has done a great job keeping the spirit of both Charles Bingley's personality and Fitzwilliam Darcy's in this book. Charles is very genial and sweet, and Darcy is very attractive and very proud. In addition, all the major subcharacters of P&P get excellent remakes for this story, contributing greatly to the comic mayhem.

Heroine: 5

Subcharacters: 5

Writing: 5

Chick-Lit Plot: 5

Romantic Plot: 5


Overall: 5

Book Review: Fang Me (Demon Underground, #3) by Parker Blue

Terrific third book in a superb YA urban-fantasy series

Fang Me (Demon Underground, #3) by Parker Blue
Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: March 14, 2011
Publisher: Bell Bridge Books
Pages: 194
Source: NetGalley
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

Eighteen-year-old Val Shapiro is one-eighth succubus demon. She and her sidekick, Fang, a half-terrier, half-hellhound dog who can talk to her telepathically, are still searching frantically for the enormously powerful Encyclopedia Magicka. They must locate it before either of the warring factions of vampires and part-demon humans within the city of San Antonio get their hands on it. If Val and Fang fail, there will be dire consequences for millions. Val's vampire enemies, who call her The Slayer, continue to attempt to kill her, and she is unsure who to trust among her fellow part-demons, because anyone who obtains the Encyclopedia Magicka will gain unimaginable powers of destruction.

As Val fights evil vampires and sorts out friends from enemies among the demonic community, she continues to resist her attraction to adorable, hunky Shade, a boy who is part shadow demon and was her romantic interest in Try Me, book two of this series. Val is of age and willing to become Shade's lover, whom she has come to care for deeply, but there are two consequences of that choice that she fears: Will Lola, her succubus-demon side, harm Shade? And will losing her virginity cause Val to lose her demonic superpowers as well, leaving her wide open to destruction by the vampires seeking to destroy her?

This YA urban-fantasy series continues in its outstanding course of combining great paranormal world-building with strong, sympathetic good-guy characters, and scary, believable bad-guy characters. I love all the action, and I adore the comic relief provided by Fang, but my absolute favorite part of this book is the growing romance between Val and Shade. He is one of my favorite of YA romance heroes in recent years, and it is a privilege to continue to follow this compelling duo along their conflict-riddled road to love.

Parental guidance note: Because of the violence contained in this book and the sexualized nature of Val's succubus-demon side, many parents may find the content of this book too mature for younger teens.

Heroine: 5

Subcharacters: 5

Fantasy World-Building: 5

Writing: 5

Action-Adventure Plot: 5

Romantic Subplot: 5


Overall: 5

Book Review: Try Me (Demon Underground, #2) by Parker Blue

Slam-bang opener of a YA urban-fantasy series suitable for older teens and adults

Try Me (Demon Underground, #2) by Parker Blue
Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: February 19, 2010
Publisher: Bell Bridge Books
Pages: 218
Source: NetGalley
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

In this second book of an outstanding young-adult, urban-fantasy series, eighteen-year-old Val Shapiro, who is one-eighth succubus demon, continues her efforts to keep the city of San Antonio, Texas safe from evil, magical beings. Her love interest from book one, Detective Dan Sullivan, who has been her human partner in her job working for the police department's Special Crimes Unit and her almost-boyfriend, has not forgiven her for beheading his former fiancée, even though the woman had become a vicious vampire.

Val's newest wild adventures are rooted in several sets of enormous, competing demands. She needs to retrieve an earth-shakingly powerful object called the Encyclopedia Magica which has been stolen. If she fails, horrible demonic catastrophes will ensue. Alejandro, a vampire leader, continues his attempts to maintain peace between vampires, part-demon humans, and ordinary humans in San Antonio, and he continually pressures Val to help him with this vital mission. Unfortunately, the tenuous détente between part-demons and vampires is threatened by the fact that someone is poisoning vampires. Most interesting of all to readers who are big fans of paranormal romance, Val has a new partner in fighting paranormal crime, Shade, a teenage boy who is part shadow demon and, in spite of his demon nature, has the sweet temperament and gorgeous blond looks of an angel. Val's succubus side, which she has named Lola, is intensely attracted to Shade, and Val is worried both that Lola might harm Shade, and that Val's own purer feelings for Shade will be tainted by Lola's demonic lust.

Wow! There is no sophomore slump here! This book has it all. Fantastic world-building, engaging good guys, very scary bad guys, lots of exciting action, and a paranormal romance that is both innocent and hot at the same time. I personally prefer magical Shade immensely to merely human Dan, and I was delighted to see Dan ousted in Val's affections. I also continue to be wild about Fang, Val's half-terrier, half-hellhound sidekick. Fang can talk to Val telepathically, and their conversations provide hilarious comic relief to the book.

This second book has expanded Val's relationships in the part-demon community, providing her with an extremely compelling coterie of friends who are like a family to her. I thoroughly enjoyed all these relationships and the opportunity to widen my experience of Val's magical world.

Because of the violence contained in this book and the sexualized nature of Val's succubus-demon side, many parents may find the content of this book too mature for younger teens.

Heroine: 5

Subcharacters: 5

Fantasy World-Building: 5

Writing: 5

Action-Adventure Plot: 5

Romantic Subplot: 5


Overall: 5

Book Review: Bite Me (Demon Underground, #1) by Parker Blue

Slam-bang opener of a YA urban-fantasy series suitable for older teens and adults

Bite Me (Demon Underground, #1) by Parker Blue
Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: September 30, 2008
Publisher: Bell Bridge Books
Pages: 260
Source: NetGalley
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry


Eighteen-year-old Val Shapiro lives in San Antonio, Texas, and her life is anything but normal. She is one-eighth succubus demon and seven-eighths human. Most of her life she has fought against the demon part of her, which she calls Lola. Only two things satisfy the demon in Val: sex and killing. Val is a virgin and refuses to engage in sex because the one time she dared to merely kiss a human boy, Lola almost killed him. Lola can't be completely ignored, though, because when humans who are part demon suppress the demon within them, it drives them insane--a tragic fate which befell her father. He was one-fourth demon, refused to feed his demon, and ultimately committed suicide. In order to satisfy the demon side of her nature in the least destructive manner possible so that she can keep her sanity, Val's stepfather has encouraged her to hunt and kill evil, murderous vampires, a pursuit that Lola heartily enjoys.

Val loves her mother and younger half-sister, Jen, who is fully human, but her mother is terrified that Val's activities will get Jen killed. Jen idolizes Val and wants to be just like her--which is impossible since she is not part demon and has no magical powers. After Jen sneaks out of the house to follow Val on a vampire hunt, their mother kicks Val out of the house, hoping her influence on Jen will be lessened by distance.

Soon after Val leaves home, the police department hires her to be part of its Special Crimes Unit. She is assigned a twenty-something partner, Dan Sullivan, and finds herself very much attracted to him. She also connects with a part-hellhound dog named Fang whose other part is tiny terrier, an incongruity that is hilarious. Fang can talk to Val telepathically and his commentary provides additional, wonderful comic relief to the story.

The world-building in this story is great, and once the vampires Val has been fighting target her family, the story becomes a constant rush of exciting action. The characters in this book are very well-drawn, and Val is a wonderful, sympathetic heroine. She is an extremely positive warrior, who protects and defends and is honorable and loyal. Fang is one of the best magical sidekicks I've seen in urban fantasy, right up there with Bob the Skull of the Dresden Files. I wasn't that wild about Dan as a love interest since he wasn't Val's physical equal and was too old for her, but other than that, I had no complaints at all about this book, and that one complaint did not spoil the book for me at all.

Because of the violence contained in this book and the sexualized nature of Val's succubus-demon side, many parents may find the content of this book too mature for younger teens.

Heroine: 5

Subcharacters: 5

Fantasy World-Building: 5

Writing: 5

Action-Adventure Plot: 5

Romantic Subplot: 3


Overall: 5

Book Review: Wolf Mark by Joseph Bruchac

Wonderful YA, urban fantasy with male protagonist

Wolf Mark by Joseph Bruchac
Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: September 15, 2011
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Pages: 392
Source: NetGalley
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry


Luke, the teenage male protagonist of Wolf Mark, is an American Indian of the Abenaki tribe. His mother died some years ago, and he lives in a dilapidated trailer with his alcoholic father who used to do some kind of highly secretive work in years past that left him emotionally scarred. Even so, Luke's father apparently is an amazing warrior, because at some point he taught Luke impressive skills of survival.

At school, Luke cares deeply for a Pakistani girl named Meena, but he is afraid to ask her out for fear her conservative family will not allow her to date. He is trying to live as normal a life as he can when seven mysterious Russian exchange students come to school, constantly wearing sunglasses. Then one day Luke's father is kidnapped, and Luke has to call on every skill he has to try and save him.

Given what the title of this book promises, it is not a spoiler for me to say there are werewolves in this book. There is a strong action/adventure plot, with a dastardly villain and evil, scary minions, and Luke is a very strong, sympathetic hero who is brave, loyal and never gives up.

It is great to see a YA novel written from a male point of view. This book would have strong appeal for boys, but girls--and adults of both genders, too--will enjoy this book if they like to read paranormal urban fantasy.

Hero: 5

Subcharacters: 5

Fantasy World-Building: 5

Writing: 4

Action-Adventure Plot: 5

Mystery Subplot: 5

Romantic Subplot: 4


Overall: 5

Book Review: Bitterblue (The Seven Kingdoms #3) by Kristin Cashore

The third book in the Graceling series

Bitterblue (The Seven Kingdoms #3) by Kristin Cashore
Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: May 1, 2012
Publisher: Dial
Pages: 576
Source: Library
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

This is the story of Bitterblue, whom we first met in Kristin Cashore's first novel, Graceling. It is now eight years after the events of that novel and 18-year-old Bitterblue has been queen all that time, after the death of her father, evil King Leck. The kingdom of Monsea is still struggling to overcome the mind-destroying magic of Bitterblue's father, and she is burdened with advisers whom she views as clueless. In an important plot point that reminded me of a similar device that I enjoyed very much in A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court, Bitterblue sneaks out of the castle to go out among her people incognito. In the process, she meets two young thieves, Saf and Teddy, who are Robin Hood type figures, stealing not for themselves, but to make right the atrocities perpetrated by Bitterblue's father.

Unlike the heroines of Cashore's first two novels, or Bitterblue's own father, the young queen has no magical powers herself. But we do meet again the two main protagonists of Graceling, Katsa and Po, who provide a magical element. Like Katsa and the heroine of Fire, Bitterblue has access to herbal birth control and is mistress of her own sexual choices. She is also emotionally confident enough to choose the mate she herself prefers in a medieval-type fantasy world where the vast majority of women don't get to make those kinds of choices.

It is very original and daring of Cashore to write a series of books occurring within the same fantasy world which are not truly sequential and are not based on the same heroine. Instead, they are mainly tied together by the ways in which evil Leck affects the three different female protagonists. Cashore has also gone out on a limb offering a heroine who is not magical or a strong, assertive warrior in the way that her other two Graceling-world heroines are. A heroine like that is something that most readers have come to expect from Cashore, as well as much more action than occurs in this book. It would also be hard to top the "meet cute" between Katsa and Po, which is one of the most amazing romantic collisions I've read anywhere, anytime. But even though the author did not choose to replicate those kinds of story triumphs in this book, I still consider this book well worth reading because no matter what approach she takes to a given story, Cashore is an excellent writer with fascinating characters, conflicts and fantasy world-building.

Heroine: 5

Subcharacters: 5

Fantasy World-Building: 5

Writing: 5

Action-Adventure Plot: 5

Romantic Sub-Plot: 5


Overall: 5

Book Review: Dearly, Departed (Gone With the Respiration, #1) by Lia Habel

Young-adult, paranormal, dystopian romance

Dearly, Departed (Gone With the Respiration, #1) by Lia Habel
Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: October 18, 2011
Publisher: Del Rey
Pages: 480
Source: Amazon Vine
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

Dearly Departed is Book 1 in a new dystopian trilogy, pitched by the publisher as "steampunk romance meets zombie thriller." The publishers also bill this book as a story of "star-crossed lovers," which it certainly is. You don't get a much bigger romantic conflict than that the male lead is suffering from "the Laz," a disease that is slowly turning him into a zombie, one of the "walking dead." I myself view this book as "Beauty and the Beast" meets steampunk meets zombie apocalypse.

This story takes place in 2195. A hundred and fifty years prior, the Americas endured a civilization-crushing convergence of man-made and natural disasters, including plagues, volcanic eruptions, rising seas and a civil war in the U.S. in which both sides nuked each other. The small fraction of survivors in North and Central America surged as displaced refugees far into South America and warred with its inhabitants for control of their land and natural resources. Years later, the victors, many of whom were presumably native speakers of Spanish and Portugese, decided along with their English-speaking compatriots that the most desirable society to form out of the rubble of a destroyed world would be an English-speaking one that reinstated the customs of Victorian England of the late nineteenth century, including hot, cumbersome clothing worn in a tropical climate and a highly stratified social order. They chose to emulate this time and place in history because they admired its "conservative" values--with the notable exceptions that lesbianism (and presumably male homosexuality) were not frowned upon, and little girls were allowed to play, unchaperoned, with little boys who were not members of their family.

When the story opens, a group of rebels called Punks have been engaged for some time in insurrection against the very fabric of Nora's society. They are repulsed by its combination of advanced technology with a backward trip into the enforced social inequality of a caste system that was wiped out hundreds of years ago in the Americas. The Punks have qualities of the rebels of the French, American and Russian Bolshevik Revolutions of the historical past, but they also have similarities to guerilla warriors of our current real-world era in their use of improvised explosive devices (IED's).

Unlike the dystopian The Hunger Games, and essentially every YA dystopian I've read so far, this story is not told from the perspective of one of the downtrodden of society, but from the point of view of Nora, a teenage girl who is part of the privileged elites. Several things mitigate the potential unsympathetic nature of this choice: Nora is an orphan living with her aunt, with precarious family finances, and she is a strong, determined heroine that fans of Katniss from Hunger Games can root for. From earliest childhood Nora has been known for her stubbornness, her first word being, "No." She has been trained by her father to shoot extremely well and to physically defend herself. She states that if girls in her culture were not forbidden to enter the military, she would have wanted to join the army. These abilities serve her well on the night that her home is attacked by a horde of bloodthirsty zombies and the major action of this novel begins.

For fans of steampunk, Nora's world fully satisfies that genre's central convention of the intermingling of advanced and antiquated technology. For example, there are both electricity and gas lamps; the heroine carries a parasol in a complex underground community where there is neither natural sunlight nor rain to be shielded from; though email is available, Nora's aunt chooses to send snail mail letters and people use calling cards when they make social visits.

I'm not normally a fan of zombies because I'm a fairly squeamish reader. I'm also not a particular fan of steampunk. However, this author has so many literary strengths, including active, sympathetic protagonists, dynamic plotting with plenty of enthralling conflict, and excellent, basic writing and editing skills, that she won me over to enjoying her zombie story in spite of myself.

Heroine: 4

Hero: 4

Subcharacters: 4

Fantasy World-Building: 3

Writing: 5

Action-Adventure Plot: 4

Romantic Sub-Plot: 3


Overall: 4

Book Review: Me, My Elf & I by Heather Swain

Mean Girls Meets Elf, a fish-out-of-water, comic YA fantasy

Me, My Elf & I by Heather Swain
Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: June 11, 2009
Publisher: Speak
Pages: 279
Source: Library
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

Fifteen-year-old Zephyr Addler has just moved to Brooklyn with her five siblings, her naturopath mother, and her folk-rock-star father from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Switching from being home schooled in a cottage in the woods to attending a sophisticated arts high school in a big city isn't Zephyr's only culture shock. She's living for the first time among humans.

Zephyr is an elf with the magical ability of casting spells and can potentially live hundreds of years. In addition, like all her fellow elves, Zephyr is a tall, gorgeous, green-eyed blonde who is fit and lean from a vigorous, outdoor lifestyle and a healthy, natural diet. She also shares to a great degree the elvish trait of empathetic kindness.

Zephyr's family plans to be away from Alverland, their secret. elvish home, for only a year while Zephyr's dad is making major strides in his musical career. But the adult elves in their close-knit community--especially Zephyr's grandmother--are very worried about what will happen to the Addler family in an "erdler" (human) city. Zephyr doesn't care about any of that. She's got big plans, and she can't wait to get started on them. She wants to act, sing and, most of all, have a date with a cute erdler boy!

This book is well written, and the story is a comic treat. I enjoyed very much learning about Zephyr's life as an elf. She is immensely likeable, as are her eccentric, lovable family. Zephyr's struggles to fit into the human world are at times funny and at others poignant. I also found it very clever the way the author uses Zephyr's virtues of kindness and innocent naïveté to get Zephyr--and her friends and family--into whacky messes.

Teen girls will gobble up this story! And parents will approve very much of the elvish lifestyle. They don't drink, smoke or engage in uncommitted sex, so the book is G-Rated and could safely be read by girls as young as 11.

Heroine: 4

Subcharacters: 4

Fantasy World-Building: 4

Writing: 4

Comedy Plot: 4


Overall: 4

Book Review: Hex, A Witch and Angel Tale by Ramona Wray

Enjoyable, sweet, YA paranormal romance

Hex, A Witch and Angel Tale by Ramona Wray
Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: January 29, 2011
Publisher: CreateSpace
Pages: 254
Source: Purchased
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

Seventeen-year-old Lily was born a witch with two main powers, the ability to touch people and know all about them, and the ability to create magical candles and potions that actually work for their intended purpose. Because the touching ability also makes her sick at the same time it causes her to know things about people she has no desire to know, she is something of a pariah in her community both by her own choice as much as the fearful avoidance of others. As part of that problem with touching, she has never had a boyfriend. Until the day that mysterious, gorgeous, motorcycle-riding Ryder asks her out.

This book is a quick, easy read with no sex, violence, alcohol or drugs, so parents may not mind if younger teens read it. Lily is an interesting heroine, and I particularly enjoyed the refreshing change that she loves her parents and has a close relationship with them. The story involves what seems to be a love triangle, but not a typical one where the heroine is strongly torn between two boys, which is also a pleasant change from most YA paranormal romances.

The cover makes it seem like this is a comedy, which is the main reason I bought the book. However, there is no comedy in it at all. It is a straight up drama, but not a really dark one.

I had assumed from the title that this might be a series, but it does not seem to be the author's intention, based on the fact that the ending is neatly tied up.

Heroine: 4

Subcharacters: 4

Fantasy World-Building: 3

Writing: 4

Paranormal-Romance Plot: 3



Overall: 4

Book Review: All About Daisy (Daisy Rose Brown #1) by O'Dell Hutchison

Social drama for young teens about bullying

All About Daisy (Daisy Rose Brown #1) by O'Dell Hutchison
Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: April 19, 2011
Publisher: CreateSpace
Pages: 378
Source: Purchased
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

Daisy Rose Brown is a 14-year-old freshman who has been the victim of bullying at school for years, beginning shortly after the death of her mother. She is determined to make a fresh start in high school and to reinvent herself.

Daisy has a very sad, tragic life, and as someone who rarely reads social dramas and much prefers comedy, I personally found this story very depressing. However, many readers enjoy sad stories, and I would not grade it down for that reason, especially since Daisy has a strong growth arc and the book has a positive, hopeful ending. The author also does a very good job of illustrating just how destructive bullying is by showing Daisy bullied by two main girls, from two different extremes of the social spectrum.
Heroine: 4

Subcharacters: 4

Writing: 4

Drama Plot: 4



Overall: 4