Summer by Jeff Mariotte

 Series: Witch Season
Author: Jeff Mariotte
Page Count: 324
Published: July 6th, 2004
Publisher: Simon Pulse
  4 Stars ★★★★

Kerry is far away from home, working a summer job at a resort and staying with some new friends. One night, she returns home to find a man laying on her lawn, possibly near death. Against the wishes of her roommates, she brings him into their home for the night. 

His name is Daniel Blessing, and he explains that he is searching for a witch named Season. She's dangerous, she killed his brother, and she is now after Kerry and her friends. While Kerry starts to fall for Daniel, she realizes that they're all in danger, and she joins in on the hunt for Season. But a witch this powerful is hard to find, and even harder to kill. 

I was mostly impressed with this book, especially with it's take on witches and the conflict between Daniel and Season. Firstly, the powers that the witches had were often brutal or harmful, which is an interesting change from the generally more glamorous magic of witches in other books. For example, when Kerry finds Daniel, he's in horrible condition, with gashes and bleeding to the point that she fears that he will die. This violent style of magic added an air of horror to the novel, especially with Daniel's journals.

Daniel's journals, as mentioned, were provided to Kerry because she wanted to learn more about the whole situation. I really appreciated them, as a reader, because they filled in not only Kerry, but also myself, on the conflict between Daniel and Season. With great detail, often providing more clues to who Daniel was as a character and a person, it assisted in understanding Daniel's relationship with Season, and gave a great back story filled with death and vengeance. Several of Kerry's journal entries are also provided, which gives the reader a glance into her own mind and thoughts, which I also really enjoyed.

I had a bit of an issue with the length of the book. I feel like it was much too short for the story, and I wish that the events had taken place over a longer period of time, and that the author had devoted more effort to characterization. I say this because certain parts of the book felt way too rushed, and I didn't receive as much detail about the general happenings as I wish I had. While the journals and the third person narration went over the events adequately, I feel like something was missing. 

I also thought that the romance wasn't well thought out. Kerry seems to fall for Daniel far too quickly, and the author tries to frame her feelings for him as actual love, while they come across more as infatuation. Certainly, love can be evolved from infatuation, however the author did not convince me that Kerry's feelings for Daniel, and vice versa, were genuine as opposed to a crush.

I found this to be a very enjoyable read, and I am hoping that the issues I found within this first book will be solved in the second! I recommend this book to those who like stories about magic. If you're interested in a book including witches, vengeance, and a darker kind of sorcery, this is a great pick.

Find Summer on Goodreads

50/50 Friday - Sidekicks

This meme is hosted at The Butterfly Reader and Blue Eye Books

This week's topic is sidekick deserving of a spinoff / better off with the group

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

Sidekick Deserving of a Spinoff

Ghastly Bespoke from Skulduggery Pleasant most certainly deserves his own spinoff. Unfortunately, he is no longer with us *cries* but if he were, I think he'd deserve his own spinoff series. Or perhaps a prequel focusing on his life before the first Skulduggery Pleasant novel. 

Better Off with the Group

China Sorrows is much better off with the group, in my opinion. I might think this just because I hate her but.... I don't know if I'd enjoy a spinoff based on her. 

What characters would you like to see have their own spinoff, and which should stay with the group?

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

 

   Series: The Wolves of Mercy Falls
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Page Count: 360
Published: July 13th, 2010
Publisher: Scholastic Press
  4 Stars ★★★★ 

Sam believes that he's been cured of being a werewolf and that he's going to stay a human for good. He and Grace are happy about this, but they have to consider their pasts and what they want for their future. With Sam hopeful that everything will work out and Grace dealing with tensions within her family, things get a bit more complicated when a new werewolf is brought into the mix.

Cole is adjusting to life as a werewolf, but he seems happy to escape his human life and his status as a rock star. But beneath his arrogant and confident demeanor lies unresolved issues. With the worry that he'll be spotted and that his location will be revealed to the world, Grace and Sam have a whole other problem to deal with.

Personally, I found Linger to be a lot slower than Shiver, and I thought it seemed more character-driven than plot-driven. While it had a great cliff-hanger ending and has made me excited to read the next book, I feel that it didn't live up to it's full potential, especially compared to Shiver.

I was glad to read more about one of my favourite couples in YA, Sam and Grace. I think they're so sweet together! Sam is such a sweetheart, with his concern and love for Grace, and of course, his passion for music. I like Grace because she's so ordinary, she's just a girl who got swept up into a paranormal world because of her interaction with, and love for Sam, and I think that this is a nice change from the whole "chosen one" or "secret past" trends within many YA books. One thing that has made me excited to continue reading this series is my interest in Sam and Grace's relationship and my hope that everything works out for them! I have to know how it ends with them, so I know I will definitely finish this series, even if the rest of the books aren't as great as the first.

Cole was an interesting character because I couldn't decide whether I liked him or not. He was kind of annoying with his arrogance and cockiness, however he had more beneath the surface and his own personal struggles. I thought his evolving relationship with Isabel was a nice touch and I was worried that I might find it turning cliche in the end, but I never found it to be that way at all.

I really like Maggie Stiefvater's interpretation of werewolves because it's not just a paranormal phenomenon within her books, but there's a bit of a scientific basis to it. Discussions of a possible cure throughout the book intrigued me because I wanted to learn more about werewolves and how they worked in this book's universe. Along with Sam and Grace's relationship, I'm going to be reading the rest of the books in this series with an anticipation for the conclusion of Sam's research for a cure. 

Overall, while slightly disappointing, this was still an enjoyable read and I can't wait to see how everything works out in the end. I recommend this series to fans of werewolves and YA fiction! If you like romance with your werewolves, this series is a must-read. 

Find Linger on Goodreads

Twelve Days of Christmas Book Tag

So, I suppose I wasn't actually tagged specifically to do this feature, but a post at Metaphors and Moonlight technically tags anyone who wants to take part in it, so.....

A Partridge in a Pear Tree: Favourite Stand Alone Book?

 

This is a hard one, because there are many stand alone books that I've really enjoyed. I'm going to have to say Unnatural Deeds by Cyn Balog, though, because it kept me up reading all night and I think it was just amazing. 

Two Turtle Doves: Fictional OTP / Favourite Ship?

 

Oh my goodness, this is another hard one! I'm gong to choose Grace and Sam from Shiver because Sam is such a sweet guy and Grace loves him so much!

Three French Hens: Favourite Trilogy?

The Eve trilogy by Anna Carey is an amazing dystopian trilogy! Eve is a strong main character, Caleb is a great love interest, and the world that the book takes place in is amazing. 

Four Calling Birds: Favourite Fictional Beast / Creature?

The Nocs from Nevermore take this spot on the list! They're like no fictional creature I have ever read about before. 

Five Golden Rings: Show Five Golden Books

 

 

I haven't read most of these, but they look nice! And they've all got at least a bit of gold on the cover...whether that be the dress or the background. I know that Fever barely has any gold but I think her dress counts as gold. 

Six Geese a Laying: Rotten Egg - What's Your Least Favourite Book?

There are many books I have read that I really didn't like. Fallen Angel by Heather Terrell is only one of them. It wasn't the worst book in the history of books, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

Seven Swans a Swimming: Show a Book with Water on the Cover

This book has water on the cover, and it was good, too. 

Eight Maids a Milking: What Fictional Food do you Wish you Could Taste?

 

I honestly do not know. I can't recall any books with food that doesn't exist that I wish I could try. This sounds like a question for people who read a lot of fantasy? It makes me think of fantasy worlds with bizarre foods that don't exist in the real world. So, here is The Hunger Games, because I can't think of anything for this category 😜

Nine Ladies Dancing: Favourite Dance Between Two Characters?

 

I also haven't read a lot of books with characters dancing together, but Cinder and Kai's dance from Cinder was a great scene.

Ten Lords a Leaping: Favourite Book to Movie Adaptation?

 

So none of the book to movie adaptations that I've watched have been absolutely amazing, which makes this another tough question to answer, but I am going to have to choose Twilight. I just like the film, I like the atmosphere, I like the way it was filmed.

Eleven Pipers Piping: Favourite Book to Movie Soundtrack?

 

So I know that the version I am talking about here is technically the broadway version, so it's not originally a movie soundtrack in itself. However, it was eventually made into a movie. I would have chosen this for number ten, but because it was originally on broadway and doesn't actually stay very true to the original novel, in my opinion, I feel like it wouldn't fit.

Twelve Drummers Drumming: It's the End of the Song; What's Your Favourite Book Ending?

You didn't actually think that I'd get through such a long list without at least one book from the Skulduggery Pleasant series, did you? The ending of the ninth book was just amazing. It tore my heart apart and then haphazardly glued it back together again. Derek Landy is a cruel, cruel author, but he is one of the best authors I have ever come across. 

What do you think of my choices? If you've completed this tag, leave a link to your blog post in the comments!

Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready

 

Series: Shade
Author: Jeri Smith-Ready
Page Count: 309
Published: May 4th, 2010
Publisher: Simon Pulse
  3.5 Stars ★★★

Aura was born after the Shift, which means that she can see ghosts. She wonders why the Shift actually happened in the first place, and she wishes that she could reverse it so she could live without having to listen to ghosts tell her their stories or demand justice all the time.

When her boyfriend Logan suddenly dies, Aura is devastated. But because of the Shift, she finds herself able to talk with him, spend time with him, and pretend that he's still truly here with her. With the new boy, Zachary, being so supportive of everything that's going on, her feelings become conflicted and she's not sure if she really wants to be with Logan anymore. 

The idea of many people being able to see ghosts seemed very original to me. Upon reading this book, I can say that I was very interested in the theories that Aura had concerning the Shift, and I want to know what caused it! I think that was my favourite part about this book. 

However, I feel like the way that the world had evolved after the Shift didn't seem to really add up to me. I understand taking measures to keep ghosts out of public areas, I understand making new police or government forces to keep ghosts in line. But the way that people acted when their loved ones died seemed not to match up with what they had discovered.

You'd think that after learning that ghosts and an afterlife of sorts exists, people would be calmer concerning death. Yet, the culture surrounding death didn't really change, people still found themselves absolutely devastated and stuck on their personal beliefs surrounding death. This didn't make sense to me, and unfortunately it made the world that Aura lived in seem a little less real to me. 

Aside from that, I found it unrealistic how quickly Aura developed a crush on another guy after her boyfriend passes away. I mean, not only is she upset about his death, but she actually can still hang out with him and have some sort of relationship with him. So why would she start having all these feelings for Zachary? She barely knows him, yet she's getting butterflies in his presence. Meanwhile, she supposedly loves Logan with all her heart, and he's still there! This didn't add up to me either.

I'm not sure if I'll read the sequel, but I might decide to because I want to know more about the Shift! As I mentioned, this was the best aspect of the book, in my opinion. I can only hope that the world and character's relationships will start to make more sense to me in the next book. 

If you want a book about ghosts with original ideas, you'll like this one. If you're interested in romantic YA books, this novel is for you.

Find Shade on Goodreads