2011 Off the Shelf Challenge FAILED!

Awww. Sad face. At least I didn't miss it by one or two books. That would really piss me off. Nope. I missed it by 20 books. Eek! Check out that gap! But you know what I didn't do this past year that I'm going to do in 2012? Count the damn ARCs. I tally them in with my TBR pile count so why am I not going to count them here too? I don't know why I didn't count them to begin with. I think maybe I thought of the ARCs as a pile unto themselves that functioned separately. Not this time. They're getting lumped in there. Looking back, I doubt adding them in would have done anything to help me get to the finish line but it definitely would have gotten me closer. Here's to completing it in 2012!

The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima

Published April 1, 2007.

Before he knew about the Roses, 16-year-old Jack lived an unremarkable life in the small Ohio town of Trinity. Only the medicine he has to take daily and the thick scar above his heart set him apart from the other high-schoolers. Then one day Jack skips his medicine. Suddenly, he is stronger, fiercer, and more confident than ever before. And it feels great until he loses control of his own strength and nearly kills another player during soccer team tryouts.

Soon, Jack learns the startling truth about himself: He is Weirlind; part of an underground society of magical people who live among us. At the head of this magical society sit the feuding houses of the Red Rose and the White Rose, whose power is determined by playing The Game. A magical tournament in which each house sponsors a warrior to fight to the death, the winning house ruling the Weir. As if his bizarre magical heritage isn't enough, Jack finds out that he's not just another member of Weirlind, he's one of the last of the warriors at a time when both houses are scouting for a player. Jack's performance on the soccer field has alerted the entire magical community to the fact that he's in Trinity. And until one of the houses is declared Jack's official sponsor, they'll stop at nothing to get Jack to fight for them. (goodreads.com)

You know, with how big of a fan of THE SEVEN REALMS series I am, it really pains me to say that I wasn't too big of a fan of THE WARRIOR HEIR. I mean it really does. I tried. I really did. But I didn't love it like I do THE SEVEN REALMS. Considering THE SEVEN REALMS was written later, giving Chima time to hone her craft, and considering how effing awesome it is, maybe my expectations were too high. It's not often I start out with books that came out later in an author's career. But in this case I'm glad I did because I honestly don't know if I'd keep reading this series, let alone more of Chima's work, if I had started with THE WARRIOR HEIR.

It's not the writing. Not really. I found the same type of prose in THE WARRIOR HEIR as I did in THE SEVEN REALMS but the former was missing something. Heart, maybe? The story was decent enough but it felt like it was skimming the surface of what Chima is truly capable of. Again, something else that could be chalked up to higher expectations. It just felt kind of done before. There were some good original elements in there, like the sleeping dragon stone and the portrayal of the underground magical society and the whole battle between the Roses and the lengths they go to in order to sabotage each other. But I wasn't really into it. I found it kind of difficult to pick up the book again once I put it down. It was hard for me to get into.

Maybe it had to do with Jack. I think I felt him more like a pawn than an actual character. I felt the plot move him more than he moved the plot, like he was just coasting along and going with the flow. He wasn't a stand-out character to me. I found him blending into the background too easily, getting pushed out of the way for the big kids to handle it, getting a somewhat easy way out. I wasn't too big of a fan.

I was far more interested in Ellen, for all her standoffishness. And I was hoping there would be more going on with Will and Fitch. I will avoid spoilers but I think shifting into their POVs, in some cases more often, would have benefited the story, given it a little more depth. I did like Longbranch. She played her role well and came off as quite a likable villain. A bit cookie-cutter but I liked her attitude. And Linda was pretty cool too but I felt she was shunted to the side a little too easily. I would have liked to have seen her be more prominent in the story than what she was. She would have provided a good balance for female strength in the story.

Don't get me wrong; it's not a bad story. There's an excerpt of THE WIZARD HEIR at the end and that looked pretty interesting. Just the excerpt made me feel like I'd connect with it just a little more than I did with THE WARRIOR HEIR. But it's not THE SEVEN REALMS. I don't want to say skip the first series and go to the second because this one definitely has its merits. As opposed to what it's not, what it is is a really good fantasy story. If Chima does nothing else, she builds her worlds marvelously and even though I think we're cheated out of some of that world here, what bits and pieces you do get are exceptionally vibrant and stand out on their own. Plus I don't want what happened to me to happen to you: you read one of the most awesome series ever and then go backwards to the author's debut work which, while still good, still provides a pretty big gap.

I think it'd be neat to see Chima's writing improve through the series. I still don't think I'd continue with this particular series because I wasn't thrilled with it but it's not lacking in writing. That's for sure. THE WARRIOR HEIR is very well written and deserves applause for that. So if you, like me, weren't thrilled with THE WARRIOR HEIR, hang in there. I can't vouch for the rest of this series, although I do want to read it at some point, but I can vouch for THE SEVEN REALMS, which is amazing and so totally worth it.

But, you might like this one just as much. They're two different types of fantasy, this one being more urban while THE SEVEN REALMS is more high so you need to take those genre differences into account when reading them because if you lean to one or the other, it's obviously going to color which one you'll like more. But give THE WARRIOR HEIR a try. It definitely deserves it. Not my favorite but it could be yours.

Ban Factor: High - A fantasy world with no Christian godly influence. Big banner fail.

Shift by Charlotte Agell

Published September 30th, 2008.

In fifteen year-old Adrian Havoc's world, Homestate rules every aspect of society: identity cards need to be carried at all times, evolution is a forbidden topic of discussion, and religious education is enforced in daily "rapture" doses. If life weren't hard enough, now come the threats that the end of the world--SHIFT--is quickly approaching. But Adrian refuses to accept things as they are. He sets out for the toxic Deadlands on a trip that may very well alter the course of the universe. (goodreads.com)

SHIFT had such crazy potential if you're reading the blurb but getting into it, it just felt rushed. Scenes changed in a jolted, jerky sort of way and information was thrown at you without much explanation. Like how the US got to be in this Homestate situation to begin with. Apparently nuclear bombs dropped and took out all of Massachusetts. From what I could tell, Adrian was living in either Connecticut or Rhode Island. Based on driving distance and the directions they were talking about traveling and through which states, those are the only two options that made sense. What didn't make sense was how the entire region wasn't affected by nuclear fallout.

By the time I got to the end of the book I just felt like all of the information was dumped on me and then ran like water on Teflon. It could have been so much better if the pace was slowed down, situations were dwelling on a little more and things weren't so forced. Odd and awkward inserts of curse words throughout the story made it a little weird to read. Every time I came across it it just felt misplaced and it was jarring to read as a result. The psychic sister was nothing more than a tool that helped advance the plot more easily and the penguin was just an excuse to get them to travel. Once it was set free, it stopped serving its purpose and to me it ultimately felt like a sorry excuse to once again further the plot.

Adrian is a bit of a non-conformist with a mother that apparently doesn't care much about him because he disappears for days at a time without her so much as worrying. His whole character just felt like it was trying too hard so I never really connected with him. Shriek, as I said above, was just a plot-serving tool that made sure the pieces were set up for Adrian to nicely resolve the conflict. It felt way too easy and because it was so rushed I was left unsatisfied at the end.

There were some neat concepts and I think the world was broaching on something that could have been awesome but I just felt not enough time was spent in really digging into not only the story but the characters. They were caricatures in their own story instead of actual people. I couldn't believe a lot of it because of the distance I felt. SHIFT felt like a paint-by-numbers story created to ride on the dystopian wave. It had potential, but it's execution was weak and lacking. I can be left wanting in a book but there has to be some satisfaction there. Here there really isn't much. The writing was decent but in a simple kind of way. There wasn't much going on between the lines and I felt that was another area where it could have enriched the story more.

Ban Factor: High - With swearing and the breaking down of a devout Christian regime, the banners would be twitching.

Stupid Christmas by Leland Gregory

Published October 5, 2010.

From absurd 911 calls to presidential philosophizing and foolish felons, Leland Gregory generates the best laughs by exposing the worst of human nature. Following up his New York Times best-selling Stupid American History, Gregory sets his sights on the holidays as he exposes mind-numbing mistletoe maladies in Stupid Christmas: Idiots under the Mistletoe.

Perhaps it's the spiked eggnog or the multiple family members gathered around crazy-colored, twinkly lights, but the holidays are rife with idiocy by the daft and the dumb. Inside this latest collection, Gregory offers more than 200 accounts of holiday-induced stupidity, including:

* While smoke billowed out of the store, firefighters had to physically restrain enthusiastic shoppers from entering a Great Lakes Mall store during an electrical fire.

* In 1995, officials debated over whom to invite to the city's Christmas tree ceremony: President Bill Clinton or the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

* As a joke, Andrew Jackson sent formal invitations to his Christmas ball to a well-known mother-and-daughter prostitute team in Salisbury, North Carolina. (goodreads.com)

Overall it was a cute read. It got some chuckles out of me. No plot to speak of, of course, but I wouldn't necessarily call someone that just rehashes dumb stories pulled from other sources an author. I'm not trying to say that to be mean or anything. I'm just saying Gregory, in my eyes, is more of an editor than an actual author. Sure he retold these stories to the reader but I didn't feel the voice was all that amazing or anything. Cute, but that's about it.

STUPID CHRISTMAS works well as a stocking stuffer for that hard-to-buy-for person with the quirky sense of humor. There are outright funny stories in these pages, along with some that are slightly horrifying. But they're all interesting to read. And it's a quick read at that. Something that you zoom through, get your fill of human stupidity and set it aside. Maybe hand it off to someone else or else pull it out each holiday season and use it as coffee table fodder next to your dancing Santa Claus.

My favorite blurb, though, was all so poignant to us book lovers -

A public library in Oberlin, Ohio, unveiled a holiday display by conceptual artist Keith McGuckin that featured a legless Santa Claus in a wheelchair being pushed down the stairs by an evil Christmas tree. A narrative that accompanied the image explained that Santa had lost his legs when they got entangled in power lines during an alcoholic binge and that the sadistic tree is planning on stealing the money in a Salvation Army kettle and visiting a strip club. A December 4, 2008, article from United Press International quoted library director Darren McDonough as saying that the display would remain in place during the holiday season and to "Remember the old library saying - 'If we don't having something to offend you, we're not going our job.'"

Loved it. This one really tickled me so. This is also a good example of the length and style of the writing. Not bad, but not really indicative of any kind of stand out voice, in my opinion. I'm just getting retold some silly stuff. It's like of like giving Bob Sagat credit for the videos that's he simply replaying on America's Funniest Home Videos. You get the cute little asides but, at the end of the day, it's really someone else that provides the entertainment.

Like I said, STUPID CHRISTMAS is cute and works great as a stocking stuffer. I learned some mind-numbing stuff about my area as it's so featured in this snarky book. I just don't see anyone needing to read this one more than once, though. I wouldn't be surprised with its regifting potential. Hey, at least it's better than a singing fish.

Ban Factor: Medium - While free of swearing and lewdness, it is poking fun at anything and everything it can get its hands on, including religion. But then banners would need to READ it to see that. That may be asking too much.

Witchblade, Volume 1 by Ron Marz, illustrated by Mike Choi

Published January 30, 2008.

Sara Pezzini awakens from a coma and begins anew with a new partner, new precinct, and a new understanding of the Witchblade. (goodreads.com)

That blurb is a little misleading. Sara wakes up from a coma and both her and her current partner are on leave because of recent events. She doesn't actually have a new precinct but she sets out on her own to find out what happened to her. The guy that tags along is doing just that, tagging along. He's not actually her new partner but IAB that was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Beyond that I found the story pretty interesting although I couldn't help but think that I was walking into something that was already going on. Book-wise it doesn't actually appear to be that way but where the story starts, a pivotal moment has already happened and we're made to go along with the main character to figure out what was going on. But plot-wise I do feel like there's genuinely something missing because by this point Sara already has a grip on how to use the Witchblade. She already seems somewhat comfortable with it, leading me to believe that there is more to the story and maybe I'm not crazy thinking I missed a book. Ultimately I think it's just where the author chose to start the story.

Overall the story was pretty interesting. Your standard Catholic Church is plotting to overthrow the world type of story. I didn't mind it. Marz took it to a new extreme that I found entertaining. I would have liked to know more about the Witchblade but I'm guessing that happens in subsequent volumes. But what I did find out I enjoyed. The inklings of history behind it were enough to keep me reading and enough to get me to want to read further into the series.

The dialogue was a bit noir so some of the lines felt like they were pulled from something like Dick Tracey but I didn't disbelieve any of it. None of it was so over the top that it pulled me out of the story or anything. I really liked the characters. Sara was nice and strong with the men supporting her. Couldn't ask for more! :)

The art was beautiful, although I would have liked to see the chicks with bodies that were a little more attainable. I felt like I was looking at parodies of Barbie bodies, they were so disproportionate with measurements. That element had a chance of grating on me if I chose to read further into the series. Just because the women's bodies in this were so ridiculous.

Overall, I liked WITCHBLADE. Didn't take me long to read at all, the plot was engaging, I loved the art and the story was compelling. I may pick up the later volumes when my pile gets a little lower.

Ban Factor: High - The major boobage alone would get one on the banners' "to smite" list. Plus it's all supernaturally and all that. They don't like that. And boobs.

Soldier Boys by Dean Hughes

Published May 1, 2003.

At the age of fifteen, Dieter's blind devotion gets him promoted from Hitler Youth into the German army. Dieter's determined to prove his allegiance and bravery at all costs.

Spence, just sixteen, drops out of his Utah high school to begin training as a paratrooper. He's seen how boys who weren't much in high school can come home heroes, and Spence wants to prove to his friends and family that he really can be something.

Their worst fear was that the war would end too soon - that they wouldn't get the chance to prove themselves. But when they finally see the action they were hoping for, it's like nothing they could have ever imagined. (book back blurb)

I have a super soft spot for historical fiction taking place in the European Theater of World War II. It doesn't take much for me to grab a title with even a hint of that topic in the blurb. And since Band of Brothers is one of my all time favorite shows, it really isn't surprising that I picked up a book about a paratrooper.

The only real qualm I had with SOLDIER BOYS was that it ganked a scene from Band of Brothers. See, when you know the show as well as I do, I can pick out nuances like that. So when Spence and his buddy get a spaghetti dinner on their day off only to have the tablecloth yanked out from under them and have to drill on a full stomach, puking all the way, my brain's going to go to episode 1, Currahee, of Band of Brothers. So I was kind of watered down bythat. Yeah, it's a good scene. In Band of Brothers. It just felt cheap seeing it somewhere else.

But other than that, the voices of both Spence and Dieter were immensely engaging. Spence is a bit of a podunk, high school drop out that, at the heart of his being, just wants to impress a girl. He keeps telling himself, even after getting word of her engagement, that what he's done wasn't for her but, well, the very fact that he kept mentioning her kind of speaks volumes. But I wasn't as engaged with Spence as I was with Dieter. Spence was a little cookie cutter for me. Not too much change going on. I liked his realism. His rationalizing basic training, considering quitting. It showed his weakness but he persevered.

Dieter, on the other hand, was static for most of the book, and ingratiatingly so. To the point where I wanted to put my hand into the book and slap the boy around. Hughes really nailed it home just how indoctrinated the HJ (Hitler Jugen/Hitler Youth) were. Dieter was unwavering until that earth shattering moment at the end of the book that completely rocked his world. I didn't get a sense of such a dramatic change in Spence as I did in Dieter, probably because Dieter was so unwavering in his beliefs. Spence rocked his own boat a little bit. He was never as steadfast in what he believed so when his tide turned, it was a little more expected. With Dieter, it was like getting hit by a truck.

I really liked the dual POVs because it's not too often that we get a story told from an Axis point of view. Hughes digs deep into the life of Dieter, makes him pop out on the page. Spence was easy and that kind of showed. His life was nonchalant for me. But Dieter's mindset must have been exceptionally hard to get into. Brainwashing is a mighty thing and the Nazis were phenomenal at it. That and the way they made people fear them. Hughes didn't hide that. The Nazis performed some serious atrocities right in front of Dieter and while it shook him, he never faltered. He still thought the same way. That's hardcore indoctrination right there.

SOLDIER BOYS is a good look into the lives of two World War II soldiers on different sides of the line. It's not like about the war but about life, about not just seeing an enemy but seeing another person doing the exact same thing you're doing on the other side of the field. It's about that realization that they're really not that different, not really. Hughes did a great job of diving into the psychology of war a little bit. If you're as interested in World War II history as I am, you'll want to pick up SOLDIER BOYS. Just beware of the Band of Brothers scene. That might throw you off a little bit if you're a fan. Otherwise, you'll sink right back in and get sucked into the story.

Ban Factor: Medium - It's a book about war so that alone to rankle their ass chaps but it's pretty tame when it comes to war books so it could very well fly under their radar. Very minor swearing and some up front horrors of war but nothing major.

Goosebumps: Ghost Beach by RL Stine

Published August, 1994.

Jerry can't wait to explore the dark, spooky old cave he found down by the beach.

Then the other kids tell him a story. A story about a ghost who is three hundred years old.

A ghost who comes out when the moon is full.

A ghost . . . who lives deep inside the cave!

Jerry knows that it's just another silly made-up ghost story . . .

Isn't it? (book back blurb)

Another piece of awesome from RL Stine. Even for a middle grade book, he really doesn't pull any punches.

Sure there are some cheesy moments. Some kooky senses of humor being thrown about. A lot of spooky moments that turn out to be something not so spooky after all. But it all comes back around in the end, leaving everything hanging, including Jerry and his sister!

Stine's got the MG voice down pat. He doesn't dumb it down for the reader and he doesn't skimp on the spook. He targets an age that he knows needs a bit of a goof but isn't afraid to get scared too. And I have to say it again, it all comes back to the ending. It was fantastic! You'll probably see it coming but where Stine leaves the story off, you have to give him credit for it. No nice neat, tidy endings for him.

GOOSEBUMPS is a great series to get the young ones hooked on horror early. It'll help develop their appreciation for the spookier things in life. My entry into the horror realm wasn't so subtle (Poltergeist at age 4, The Exorcist at age 6) so by the time I got to reading these books, they were old hat and far beneath my horror comprehension. But for the better protected youth who needs their horror a touch watered down but not entirely forgiving, GOOSEBUMPS is the way to go and GHOST BEACH is an excellent addition to that classic series.

Ban Factor: Medium - It's horror. It'll be on the banners' radar just for that. Age inappropriate or whatever. But there are sure to be other books at the front of their list. GOOSEBUMPS is a bit tame for them.

Fear: 13 Stories of Suspense and Horror, edited by RL Stine

Published September 2010.

Turn the pages if you dare. . . .In this collection of thirteen fabulously chilling stories--from thirteen true masters of suspense, including five New York Times bestsellers and a number of Edgar Award nominees, all edited by none other than R. L. Stine--nothing is what it seems. From cannibalistic children, to an unwitting date with a vampire, to a crush on a boy who just might be a werewolf, no scary stone is left unturned. A must-have for all fans of the genre! (goodreads.com)

Holy snot monkeys, I LOVE YA horror. The category is sorely lacking in all that is horror. Even if it's more compilations like FEAR, I'll take it. It makes me want to curl myself up in a blanket of nostalgia with a flashlight and read all night.

I always find it a little difficult to review anthologies like this because the writing in each story can vary so widely and quite frankly I don't want to nitpick short stories. So I'll review the book as a whole: phenomenal.

Stine knows his fear so when he rounded up his choices for this book, he hit each nail spot on the head in one single stroke. Each story was mired in creep factor but not all of them were your traditional horror stories, which I liked. As much as I love my classic horror, variety is always good. So while you have the creepy family living in the even creepier old Victorian next door, you have an issue with disappearing people on a planet filled with rich people. For each story the creep is distinct and will affect you in 13 different ways, each story with it's own unique bucket of creep.

My favorites were 'Welcome to the Club' by RL Stine (more of a psychological horror that makes you think, nothing paranormal which, I think, makes it scarier, using "normal" humans), 'Dragonfly Eyes' by Alane Ferguson (about a girl's death from her point of view post mortem), and 'Tagger' by James Rollins (about a Chinese girl dipping into her roots to destroy a demon intent on destroying her). Each are miles away from each other in terms of story but the creeper aspect brings them all back together.

If you have a night to yourself and are looking for a good scare with hints of nostalgia, pick up FEAR. It has every kind of horror story sampler you could want all wrapped up in 13 nicely pressed stories. The writing in each of them stands out as fantastic and each is written in such a way that it allows the horror to settled at the top, letting it be as spooky as it can be. I love it.

Ban Factor: High - I think horror gets an automatic high usually because it's dealing with something supernatural, usually has some kind of sex factor, swearing, and lots of killing. Banner heart attack central.

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

Published May 2001.

Sookie Stackhouse is a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. She's quiet, keeps to herself, and doesn't get out much. Not because she's not pretty. She is. It's just that, well, Sookie has this sort of "disability." She can read minds. And that doesn't make her too dateable. And then along comes Bill. He's tall, dark, handsome - and Sookie can't hear a word he's thinking. He's exactly the type of guy she's been waiting for all her life . . .

But Bill has a disability of his own: He's a vampire with a bad reputation. He hangs with a seriously creepy crowd, all suspected of - big surprise - murder. And when one of Sookie's coworkers is killed, she fears she's next . . . (book back blurb)

One night when I was at soldier boy's and we didn't have much to do, I told him to just go ahead and put on the latest episode of True Blood because I wanted to see if I liked it (I can usually tell if I'm going to like a show regardless of where I pick up an episode). So we watched it, I really liked it and I went and bought the first season. I devoured it and now I'm just waiting for the second season to arrive (which should be today, yay!). Late bloomer, I know. I haven't had HBO in years and I don't regularly watch TV. Story of my life. But I knew I had this book in the pile because I've had people bugging me to try it out for a while now. So after nomming Season 1 of the TV show, it was time I take a look at the books and see how they compare.

I like the show better. MUCH better. SO MUCH better. Now, I don't know if I like it better because I saw it before reading the books. HBO did fluff it up quite a bit: made it sexier, added more subplots and characters and Season 1 parallels DEAD UNTIL DARK really closely. I was just not nearly as excited about the book as I am about the show. I liked the authenticity of the voice. I really believed that, I could see Sookie's surroundings as she spoke and I could feel the setting. That was the most vivid part of the writing for me. Plus Sookie isn't made out to be some Plain Jane that all the boys drool after. Super kudos for that. She's cute with a big rack and she knows it. She just can't do much about it. I liked that.

DEAD UNTIL DARK was entertaining enough and it probably helped that I had images from the show to supplement my reading but overall, I felt the writing was kind of lackluster. Sookie, in the book, is a bit monotone for my taste. All of the descriptions are really simple (because of the character, not that she's simple, she's just not all that highly educated) and I felt that the story was more about spitting out the information that letting it simmer and seep in. I didn't feel all that engaged in her and Bill's relationship and when the murders kept happening, and then the final scene with the murderer, I just wasn't feeling it. I wanted to because I like the show so much but the writing just lacks this pizazz that I think HBO found and amped up.

Maybe I'm not being fair but it's not like I can take back that I've already started watching the show and re-read the book with virgin eyes. DEAD UNTIL DARK is pretty entertaining but I've read far more gripping books than this with characters that pop out instead of just amble around the plot.

Maybe it's because it's the first book in the series but it could be one of the reasons why I wasn't all that engaged was because there was hardly anything else going on other than Sookie and Bill. Yeah, you have Sam but that's kind of spit out at the end as an afterthought (whereas in the show it's foreshadowed a lot) but not much branches off of that one plot line. And because that one plot line wasn't all that thrilling for me, there wasn't much else I could latch onto to keep me going through it. I wouldn't say I was bored at all but I just wasn't all that jazzed about it.

I will absolutely keep watching the seasons as they come (hell, I have three to catch up on and I'm trying my damndest not to spoil myself with the ending of Season 4). As for the books? I'll have to dip into my trusted sources and see if they'd be worth my while. If they say the writing progresses and the stories get more involved, I might take a chance. As it stands now, I'm not leaning that way.

Ban Factor: High - While God is mentioned a couple of times, Sookie's bedding a vampire and it has a tendency of getting a little graphic, there's an ample amount of swearing and people are getting killed left, right and center. The banners, they pee themselves.

The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk: A Century by the Sea by The Santa Cruz Seaside Company

Published April 1, 2007.

Warm sand and cool surf. The sweet scent of cotton candy and the thrill of your first roller coaster ride. These are the kinds of memories the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk has inspired over its first hundred years as one of America's oldest and most beloved seaside amusement parks.Colorfully illustrated with archival images of famous attractions, unforgettable performances, and vintage memorabilia, THE SANTA CRUZ BEACH BOARDWALK tells the vibrant history behind this premier California tourist destination. Born in 1907 out of beachfront bathhouses and the ashes of Santa Cruz's first Casino, this "Coney Island of the West" is home to National Historic Landmarks like the enchanting Looff Carousel and the classic Giant Dipper roller coaster, as well as dozens of other rides, games, shops, and venues, including the historic Cocoanut Grove, the award-winning Casino Arcade, and Neptune's Kingdom. The origins of these Boardwalk treasures are detailed here, along with profiles of famous personalities and loyal concessionaires who have put a friendly face on the Boardwalk for more than a century. A dazzling pageant of Americana, pop culture, and amusement park history in the making, this delightful tribute to the Boardwalk will rekindle recollections of sea breezes and saltwater taffy for years to come. (amazon.com)

I know I've talked about it here before (I mean, I took a nice big long trip there a year ago) but I can't express enough how much I love Santa Cruz, California and it's Boardwalk. There's just something about it that keeps drawing me in and even now, I have a craving for Santa Cruz. It's been a year. I need to go again.

I was lucky enough to be in Santa Cruz in 2007 when they had their official centennial (it was also my first trip there) and I've been back nearly every year since and they continue to celebrate a century strong by the sea. While the Boardwalk and Municipal Wharf have kept up with the times, there's just this feeling in the air that keeps it all anchored in history. If you can appreciate that nostalgic feeling, then not only would you love Santa Cruz, you'd love this book as well, even if you've never been there.

The Lost Boys was what first introduced me to the Boardwalk and my love of seaside amusement parks blossomed from there. I've done research on a much closer seaside park, Coney Island, from it's beginnings until it's current state (unlike Santa Cruz, unfortunately, Coney Island is being eaten up by developers and slowly dismantled). So of course, why wouldn't I dive into Santa Cruz's history as well?

While A CENTURY BY THE SEA doesn't go into great detail about the Boardwalk's past, it offers enough of a glimpse into history to get a feel for what the area used to be. It shares not only company stories (the Seaside Company, that is) but stories from locals as well and it just roots you further in the nostalgia. And they're told as if someone were sitting across from you just talking about history. Nothing pretentious or showy about it. It just is what it is. The photos only add to all that is awesome about this book, bringing to life the past and showcasing how the Boardwalk morphed into what I've seen these last few years.

It's evident that The Santa Cruz Seaside Company takes great care in preserving the history of the Boardwalk. There is an unabashed pride simmering in the pages that's almost tangible. You can grab hold of it and actually feel the history of the Boardwalk. As someone non-local that has been there, I can root the history to its current map but even if you haven't, and you have a love of history, you'd be able to appreciate, and maybe even love, the fun times that this book relives.

If you have any interest in boardwalks or seaside towns, or want it to feel like summer no matter what time of the year it is, pick up A CENTURY BY THE SEA and relive the history of the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and roll around in its present. Then book your vacation because after reading this, if you've never gone, you'll want to remedy that as soon as humanly possibly. Just an FYI, there's a Chili Cook-off in October and a Clam Chowder Cook-off in February. Just saying.

Ban Factor: Low - For serious, if banners find anything objectionable about this book, then it must be a really slow news day for them. This book is friendly to people of all ages; no swearing, nothing lewd (unless you count the shamelessly exposed ankles in the pictures of the 20s-era women in bathing suits).

Shelter Me by Alex McAulay

Published 2009.

Maggie Leigh just wants to be a normal teenager, but when German bombs tear apart London during World War II, her ultra-religious mother sees the destruction as divine punishment. She sends Maggie to a remote boarding school in coastal Wales, supposedly to keep her safe, but also to keep her in line. The school is creepy, the headmistress is a lunatic, and the students range from spoiled rich girls to speechless trauma victims. But when a tragic accident happens on the beach, Maggie and three friends are forced to flee the school, plunging into the nightmarish world of Europe during wartime. Now every decision Maggie makes is fraught with danger, and living to see another day depends on how quickly she can thing and act . . . and how far she's willing to go. (book back blurb)

This was one of those books that I liked enough to keep reading until the end but when I got to the end, I was less than thrilled. Especially after finding that deus ex machina in the last chapter. But I'll get to that in a second.

I wasn't thrilled with the writing. I didn't connect with any of the characters, especially Maggie, which isn't a good position to be in. Plus I felt like this American author kept constantly trying to assert how much he knew about British culture that little drops like Lucozade and random colloquialisms felt contrived. They didn't blend in with the scenery. Plus there were so many of them that eventually I felt like I was getting slapped in the face by them. I get it, dude. You know about British culture. Congratulations. Let's move on.

I liked the premise. There isn't much that turns me away about the European theater of World War II so that was an automatic hook. But a girl getting sent to live with bat shit crazy nuns because her mother's insane? Yup, I'm interested. But the leaps of faith I kept having to make as I read just got larger and larger to the point where I just couldn't jump that far anymore. There were so many "twists" that Maggie should have been dizzy by the end of the book. The thing is, one twist I could suspend my disbelief for but the second had me going 'are you serious?" It was just so implausible for the relatively same twist to happen twice to the same person that I just couldn't swallow it.

And the ending? Super effing cheated. HERE THEY COME TO SAVE THE DAY! Let's start with the definition of a deus ex machina -

a plot device whereby a seemingly inextricable problem is suddenly and abruptly solved with the contrived and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability, or object.

Can also double as a *headdesk*. All of a sudden Maggie's in yet another impossible situation and enter the DEM to kill it all dead. For serious, in the last chapter everything resolved itself all nice-like by an impossibility. I hate DEMs. I invest all this time into the book. Despite the crazy implausible twists, I was sucked into it, especially towards the end because it really did look like Maggie was backed up against a wall. I was reading faster and faster and faster until I was met with massive disappointment as the last chapter was wrapped up in a pretty pink bow. Boo. What the hell's the point?

I wouldn't recommend this book for the DEM ending alone. Even if you like the rest, the ending will be a killer. You just feel so cheated when something like that happens. I did enjoy it up until then. Not for the writing because there was nothing all that great with that. The words got me from one end of the page to the other. That's about it. But the concept and the plot and the WWII aspect all had me hooked in. Just be warned if you do pick up this book. The ending is a MAJOR disappointment. In my opinion to the point where it kills whatever joy I garnered from the rest of the book.

The Midnight Guardian by Sarah Jane Stratford

Published October 2009.

It’s 1938, and the tentacles of Hitler’s terrifying Third Reich have commenced their stranglehold on Europe. The Nazi empire will soon be clean of all bloodlines deemed tainted or undesirable…including vampires.

London’s ancient tribunal of vampires is aghast at the destruction taking place on the Continent. Though vampires try not to interfere with human politics, Hitler’s terrible plans force them into action. They resolve to send five of their most formidable vampires to Berlin— millennials that have lived over 1000 years and whose age and wisdom make them close to invulnerable— to infiltrate, disrupt, and destroy the growing Nazi war machine.

The brilliant and beautiful millennial Brigit is loath to go, but her powers are needed if the mission is to have any chance of success. She must summon all her strength to endure the separation from her lover Eamon, whom she made almost eight centuries ago, but whose lack of millennial status makes him an unacceptable choice for this operation. Though he longs to join her, his duty to Brigit is best served from afar, by nurturing their deep psychic connection and reinforcing her spirit with his fierce devotion and memories of his tender embrace.

But as the millennials attempt to penetrate and sabotage Hitler’s armies, they discover that the Nazis are more capable than any human force they’ve yet encountered and more monstrous than they'd ever imagined. Forced to take bolder, more dangerous steps, they soon attract the attention of specially trained vampire hunters loyal to Hitler and his vision of a vampire-free Europe. Exposed, deep inside enemy territory, with vicious Nazi officers and hunters at her heels, Brigit must attempt a daring escape from the Continent, guarding precious cargo that marks the only hope of salvaging their mission. (goodreads.com)

Good lord that's a long blurb. Blurbal diarrhea. Anyway, DNF. The concept seems interesting enough. Anything about the European theater during World War II will catch my attention. Throw in vampires and I'm there. But the execution left much to be desired. It was just exceptionally slow-moving, a lot of contemplating on a train ride, talking at parties, and not much else. Frankly, I was bored. I don't like being bored reading a vampire book. Vampires aren't supposed to be boring. Yet authors continue proving me wrong on that front. I mean, this book had all the elements of being totally awesome: vampires, Nazis, plot to overthrow the Third Reich, the potential for slaughter. Sounds like a fanged up Quentin Tarantino movie.

But the plot took itself far too seriously and the vampires were insanely TSTL. I'm not sure how one can live past 1,000 years and complain that their species nearly ran out of food during something like The Great War or the Black Death. For serious? Ever hear of a boat? You're effing vampires and you fail to grasp the concept of hunting and gathering? I was really taken aback by that, that the purpose of stopping the Reich from succeeding was to keep their food supply up. Does only Europe exist in this world? Really?

That was a big hurdle for me. The other was the talking heads. All they did was talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. Good mother's ass DO SOMETHING. You're effing vampires and you have to infiltrate the Third Reich like the other dissenting humans do? How about just laying the vampire smack down and ripping Hitler's throat out of his neck? Problem solved. Blame it on a rogue lawn mower to hide your identities, done. But nooooooooo. They have to go all Valkyrie and take it down like humans would. Lame. Why make them vampires to begin with if they're not actually going to act like vampires for something like this?

To their credit, they were vampires when it came to feeding. Merciless, brutal and without a concern for their victims. I applaud that in a land where vampires have all but been neutered. I only wish they applied this side of themselves more to the overall plot instead of just talking their way through things.

I don't know if this is an alternate historical fiction. It would make sense if it were, otherwise I already know the ending and the vampires are going to lose since their mission is to prevent the war from happening. Really, it's kind of like watching Titanic and not knowing the ship sinks at the end. But I don't know if this is the case because I obviously didn't get that far. I don't even think I made it until my token half-way point, I just started begrudging reading it so much. It was just dull. If you want to give me vampires, then give me the shit that goes along with them do. The book had so much potential . . . I want to see what Tarantino would do with it.

The Last Vampire 2: Black Blood by Christopher Pike

Published November 1994.

Alisa and her partner, Ray, thought that they were the last vampires. Suddenly, however, in one area of the United States, there is a series of brutal murders that can only be the work of other vampires. Who created these creatures? How can they be stopped? (book back blurb)

Another fantastic book where Pike doesn't pull any punches.

Sure, Alisa has Ray, but they aren't alone in the world anymore and this creep creating vampires at will has world domination on his mind. Trust Alisa to point out to him how a world of vampires would ultimately fail. One of the reasons why I love her: her logic. You can't beat that.

Pike is absolutely ruthless with his characters and drives it home with Alisa. I don't want to spoil but I will say that she gets her heart ripped open in a few different ways. It's sad to read because you want something good for her but it's constantly down one alley of horrors after another. Still, it makes for an exciting read.

Pike doesn't spare details when it comes to gore and maiming his characters so when you set out to read BLACK BLOOD, make sure you're not really squeamish. But again, I think it makes it all the more real and even horrifying. It makes Alisa feel real. All of the loss and gain stands out more on the pages because she truly has to fight for it. Nothing comes easy for her.

The books, though, BLACK BLOOD included, ends with a spattering of hope which I think ropes you in for the next one. I'm anxious to read it. I want to know what sludge Pike is going to drag his characters through next.

While not really YA (Alisa is 5,000 years old and definitely doesn't have a YA voice, even for the 90s), the appeal is still there. It's vampires and love ripped through the shredder. I'm not surprised that it was marketed to the YA audience. If you like REAL vampires with horror and blood and loss, you'll love these books. Just don't forget the hope. There's still hope.

Fat Vampire by Adam Rex + Giveaway!

Published August 1, 2010.

Doug Lee is undead quite by accident - attacked by a desperate vampire, he finds himself cursed with being fat and fifteen forever. When he has no luck finding some goth chick with a vampire fetish, he resorts to sucking the blood of cows under cover of the night. But it's just not the same.

Then he meets the new Indian exchange student and falls for her - hard. Yeah, he wants to bite her, but he also wants to prove himself to her. But like the laws of life, love, and high school, the laws of vampire existence are complicated - it's not as easy as studying Dracula. Especially when the star of Vampire Hunters is hot on his trail in an attempt to boost ratings . . . (book back blurb)

Absolutely fantastic. There is just no other way to say it. FAT VAMPIRE spoofs the hell out of everything that is vampire nowadays but maintains this underlying tone of seriousness that really hits home. Underneath it all it's about a kid fitting in in life. How many kids now are all vampire obsessed and want to turn into a vampire? Well Adam Rex takes that notion and slaps reality home like a puck into a net. If you're a meatball-looking geek in life, then guess what? You're going to be a meatball-looking geek in undeath. Except your lack of eating won't get you to lose any weight. Sorry.

It throws everything that pop culture has made of vampires right back in its face. Yeah, it sucks to have to go to school when you're a vampire because of that slight light sensitivity you have. The remedy? A poncho. Constantly. As if you weren't made fun of enough. And even as a vampire you can't get chicks to get with you because you're a bit of a creep factor. You take the je ne sais quoi that vampires are supposed to have and give it a holy water bath because that vampire blood didn't eradicate your inner comic book-loving goof.

The best part? The homage to The Lost Boys. Oh yeah, it's in there. And it's not very subtle if you're a fan of the movie. But it's awesome all the same.

There wasn't a character in FAT VAMPIRE that I didn't like. I thought Doug was an insanely complex character that even from the beginning wasn't your standard geek because he's never not a vampire in the book. So while he wants to geek out at Comic-Con, he needs to raid the local blood mobile in order to do it. And you can see him change; slip into his vampire skin a little better. And people notice it too, but it's not necessarily in a good way. And he has a hard time with this and it shows. Doug's just such a dynamic character; I really couldn't get enough of him.

Sejal was pretty cool too. There was really no bowing to American pressures at all and she really stood her ground when it came to Doug. She told him how it was without any pretenses and didn't back down. She's super girl for doing that, I think. But in the end she was there for him exactly how he needed her to be, which is different from how he wanted her to be. Read it and you'll see what I'm talking about.

The ending? Amazing. At first it starts off kind of quirky and goofy and then it just slams you with seriousness that leaves you going awww in a sad sort of way. It doesn't cut any corners, it doesn't sugar-coat anything. It ends exactly how the story should end and I love it all the more for it.

Again, absolutely fantastic. It's a satire without really being a satire but maintains it's seriousness about itself without taking itself too serious. It's funny (Doug is called Assferatu, win), it's witty and it puts vampires right back in the grave where they belong. Read it. You'll love it.

Giveaway Time!!!

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The Vampire Is Just Not That Into You by Vlad Mezrich

Published October, 2009.

Are you in love with a vampire? Are you worried that you might not be his (blood) type? Do you wonder whether that cold stare means he isn't interested . . . or if it's simply because he's been dead for centuries (nothing personal)? Have you tried to coax him out of his crypt with a flash of your neck or a near-death situation that requires him to save you at the very last possible moment? Have you ever considered what it would be like to introduce him to your mother?

• Even though your vampire's skin is transfixingly translucent, he still can be very hard to read. Sometimes he's simply holding back his true feelings, resisting the urge to bite you in the chance that one day you will truly love him. And other times . . . well, he's just not that into you.

• How can you tell? Undead dating specialist Vlad Mezrich has all the answers, utilizing quizzes, Top Ten lists, language analysis, real-life (and real-death) testimonials, and fancy charts to show you how to get your vampire and keep him forever. Once you go vamp, you never decamp - so let this eternally rewarding book show you the way to snagging the vampire of your dreams. (book back blurb)

I both really liked this book for its satire and was leery of it because, well, I can see sparkly-eyed teen girls taking the quizzes like they do in Cosmo and holding themselves to the results. Poor boyfriends. I just can't tell if the satire wasn't strong enough or if it's just me reading a little too much into it.

Either way it was pretty funny. It's pretty much a total rip on TWILIGHT and tells you how klutzy to be in order to snag a sparkly one, among other things. The breakdown of normal boys, goth boys and vampires was pretty funny, complete with diagrams with zits and fangs (not combined, of course).

The voice was awesome and the tone was consistent. Vlad did a good job of getting his expertise across without slaughtering any of the testimonial reporters. I think. Good for him if he did.

It was a super short read, meant to be light-hearted and silly. If you're a diehard TWILIGHT fan you probably won't like it because it makes no qualms about ripping the Edward-ish a new butthole. It maintains its "integrity" until the end and I think that might be what holds me back from really loving this book. I want to but the satire is at times hard for me to swallow because I can't help but think that a couple parts might not be satirical. Kind of absurd but that line between reality and satire is blurred which makes me leery.

Still, it's a funny book and if you're looking for a quick break from the vampire inundation, this is a good break to have.

Of All The Stupid Things by Alexandra Diaz + Contest!

Published December 22, 2009.

When a rumor starts circulating that Tara's boyfriend Brent has been sleeping with one of the guy cheerleaders, the innuendo doesn't just hurt Tara. It marks the beginning of the end for an inseparable trio of friends. Tara's training for a marathon, but also running from her fear of abandonment after being deserted by her father. Whitney Blaire seems to have everything, but an empty mansion and absentee parents leave this beauty to look for meaning in all the wrong places. And Pinkie has a compulsive need to mother everyone to make up for the mom she's never stopped missing. This friendship that promised to last forever is starting to break under the pressure of the girls' differences.

And then new-girl Riley arrives in school with her long black hair, athletic body, and her blasé attitude, and suddenly Tara starts to feel things she's never felt before for a girl—and to reassess her feelings about Brent and what he may/may not have done. Is Tara gay—or does she just love Riley? And can her deepest friendships survive when all of the rules have changed? (goodreads.com)

Loved it. I was hooked pretty much immediately. The book starts right at that moment when Tara finds out about Brent and it just keeps peddling from there. You watch as this once immovable friendship starts to crack and each of the three girls is chipping away at the glass, eroding its integrity. They all have the best of intentions but you know what road those are paved with. So those best intentions are the collection of hammers that ends up shattering the glass. But, in the end, at least someone's there that's willing to attempt to glue the pieces back together.

Tara I liked pretty much all the way through the story. I can't imagine what it would be like to hear a rumor that my boyfriend had cheated on me with another guy. Personally I expected to see a lot more self-doubt. You know, the kind of thoughts that go "did I turn him gay?" or others like it. It seems to be a natural reaction but Tara didn't have that. Instead she ran away, literally and figuratively. She ran until it hurt, she ran away from her friends and she ran to someone new and fresh that gave her a new lease on life. Someone else that she could relate to on a bunch of different levels. I liked Tara the most really because I thought she was the best character. I found her the most relatable and her story the most compelling.

Whitney (sorry, I refuse to call her by her full name, far too annoying), I didn't like her drama. Plus I thought she was too typical. The spoiled rich girl that gets everything she wants but what she really wants/needs are parents that love her. I was over it. I've been over it. While her drama to sabotage Riley kept me turning the pages rather quickly, I just didn't like her type. Her mould, I guess is what it would be. Her character was okay but she was a little too typical for me.

Pinkie got to a point where I just couldn't stand her. Overbearing, mothering, constantly apologizing. I can't stand those people. Spineless, weak-willed individuals that I want to just scream at. I will say, though, she did come around in the end. There is a redemption for Pinkie so if you find people/characters like this equally as grating, just wait it out. She gets a reprieve. She breaks the stranglehold she has on herself and realizes the type of person she is. Those types of people I love, even if they're new to it: self-realization. They have the ability to look at themselves from the outside and fix their shit. Pinkie gets there. Eventually.

Riley's just kind of there so I'm neither here nor there about her but her presence is what propels the plot. Riley really did shake up the threesome Tara, Whitney and Pinkie had. Without her, Tara would have just ran back to her friends like normal. Running to Riley was the catalyst of everyone's issues. Whitney's scheming rolls back to Riley. And because neither Tara nor Whitney are around, Pinkie is forced to stand on her own, something that she desperately needed.

I wanted something light and I definitely got it. It touches upon some pretty major issues but in a light way. Yeah, they can be major. But they don't have to be. Not everyone is going to throw feces at the fan when they get a wrench in their spokes. Some just brush themselves off and keep going. I'm glad this book didn't dive too deeply into what could have been some steep issues. It kept it light. Does that make it disingenuous? I don't necessarily think so. It just resolves the issues in a non-major way, since I'm sure that can be called realistic for some people. It had its dramarama moments, its blowout fights and its life-changing epiphanies. And I couldn't get enough of them. I swallowed them up and then greedily wanted more.

Yeah, it's a light read but it touches on subjects that a lot of teens are going through so I don't think it should be brushed aside as fanciful simply because it doesn't make you want to slit your wrists by the time you've finished reading it. It's a quick read but you'll remember a lot; about how the characters felt, how you felt reading them. I know they elicited some emotions in me. At work, of course. So if you're looking for something light, it's good for that. If you're looking for something realistic, it's good for that too. It's just an all around good book.

Contest Time!!!

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Num8ers by Rachel Ward

Published February 1, 2010.

Since the day her mother died, Jem has known about the numbers.

Numbers that pop into her head when she looks into someone's eyes. They're dates, the numbers. Dates predicting with brute accuracy each person's death.

Burdened by such grim knowledge, Jem avoids relationships. Until she meets Spider, another outsider, and takes a chance. Maybe they can find happiness together, if only in the brief time that remains before his expiration date.

But on a trip to London, Jem foresees a chilling chain of events:

The city's a target.

The clock's running out.

The countdown is on to a blowup! (book flap blurb)

DNF. I just couldn't get through it. The main reason was I was just so disgusted with Spider's lack of personal hygiene. It's not that he doesn't have the ability to shower; he just doesn't. So every time Jem mentioned his stank, I gagged a little. Great character but I couldn't get past that. How could you not smell your own muck? How can you be content to just wallow in your own filth? I didn't get it and after a while I didn't want to. It was made such a prominent point in the story that it seemed that that's what Spider was: dirty, more than anything else. It was mentioned more than anything else. Blech. Pass.

The other thing that made me put the book down was the numbers thing itself. Jem sees numbers in people's eyes. They're the days that they're all going to die. But . . . what? That numbers thing didn't seem to have a greater purpose. It just seemed like something to make the plot go forward. I felt you could have switched it out with something else entirely, or just plain bad timing, and it wouldn't have made a difference. There is an inkling of something with Spider's grandmother but she gets left behind, literally, so it continues to seem aimless.

That's pretty much it. Spider's need to shower and the seeming irrelevance of the numbers themselves made me stop. The writing was good. I mean, look at how it made me feel. But I didn't see the point to the numbers, which were the motivating factors of the story itself. I'm sure it goes somewhere but I'm just not patient enough to finish taking the trip.

I do think the writing is really strong and I definitely felt everything I read. I wouldn't pass this one up entirely. It just wasn't for me. I thought it was going to be more involved than what it was. Maybe I'm missing something at the end but I won't lose sleep over it.

A Season of Eden by JM Warwick

Published October 2008.

I let the door silently close at my back. He stared at me, and a taut quiet stretched between us.

"I like hearing you play," I said, moving toward him.

He turned, in sync with my slow approach. He looked up at me but didn't say anything. I rested my clammy hand on the cold, slick body of the baby grand. "May I?"

The muscles in his throat shifted, then he swallowed. "Eden."

My knees weakened, like a soft tickling kiss had just been blown against the backs of them. "Is it okay?" I asked.

His gaze held mine like two hands joined. He understood what I was really asking.

"Let me stay," I said. "Please."

"You're going to get me in trouble." (book back blurb)

I don't know about you, but that's one of the damn sexiest things I've ever read. It's dripping with this forbidden, strained, stressed sexual tension that permeates the pages and has me rooting for the two to just hook up already.

Is this a high school student/teacher relationship? Yes. Why do I find nothing wrong with this? Because the student, Eden, is 18. The teacher, James, is 22. Under any other circumstances, there'd be nothing wrong with this relationship. Is it undermining James's professional integrity? Absolutely. Is he still violating a code of conduct? Of course he is. But both parties involved are of the legal age of consent in any state so circumstances aside, I don't have a problem with it.

That out of the way, I absolutely devoured this book. Would I call it a romance? Not really. It doesn't fit any of the romance tropes. The ending is optimistic but not conclusive. It leaves you wondering, which romance, as I understand it, doesn't. But is it raw and passionate? Absolutely.

Every single fleck of emotion Eden emoted I could feel. From her jealously of other female students to her drive (and at times obsession) to be with James. Every single piece of it I felt. It was like I became Eden, I could feel her emotions so deeply. But there were times where I was able to step back, where I wanted to warn her to back away. Take it easy. Not so fast. Chill out. In a way I was kind of guiding myself.

Why? I was in a similar, albeit much less involved, situation in high school. I was a senior (17 until May of that year) and we had a student teacher that like every girl was drooling over. He wasn't even out of college although I can't accurately remember if he was getting his Masters or if he was finishing his teaching degree. Since he was externing in a classroom, I'm logically leaning towards the latter. So that made him . . . 21? 22? We flirted. Absolutely. We could have rightly shared a cafeteria table only a few years before so where was the problem, right? I knew things about his personal life that a student probably shouldn't have known. It never advanced to the degree that Eden and James did. Not even close. But reading this book made me remember everything I felt with that student teacher. All the jealously, striving to stand out in a group of girls so he'll notice me, structuring my day around his class. Of course. I felt like I was reliving a part of my high school life reading this and for a few hours, I absolutely loved it.

It's such raw emotion. It flames forth unabated, unchecked. Eden wants to find out where James lives so she stalks him a little. Just a little. There are no checks or balances there because it's something she always does with her friends when they want to know more about a new boy. Things like that are rationalized. The Id is prominent, clawing its way to the forefront and telling reason to shut the hell up. God, I couldn't get enough of it.

As I said before, the writing just drips with a vibrating, buzzing sexual tension that's just at the forefront of coming to a head. From the beginning it's there, mounting, and you keep reading because you're willing to do anything to sate that tension but will it go away?

I was a little over Eden's rich girl 'I get everything' attitude. Even though that was a major factor in the storyline, I kind of wished it happened to a, well, more deserving girl. One that didn't have everything handed to her on a silver platter, that couldn't manipulate her way into and out of anything to get her desired outcome. Like I said, it's all relevant in the end but I still couldn't help but wish she wasn't the little rich girl. The absentee parents kind of irked me as well. It was very convenient. Again, relevant to the plot as it all comes full circle but like the rich girl, I was over it.

There is also some pretty heavy religious undertones in the story. Eden - garden of forbidden fruit, Eve the temptress. It all fits. On top of that, Grove Creek Publishing in and of itself has a religious bent to it. They're not a Christian press but their mission statement is having "clean" YA absent of lewdness, etc. But reading A Season of Eden with all its ripe sexual tension, you wouldn't get that if you didn't look into the publisher beforehand. There's definitely some level of spiritual cleansing going on at the end (absent actual religion, I just want to be clear, this is not Christian literature) but honestly, it's something the character needs so it fits. I didn't mind it in the slightest.

So while there were a few things I could have lived without in A Season of Eden, those were easily enough stashed away under the rug and allowed me to read this flavorful piece of meat from beginning to end, running the entire way. The writing is glorious, the tension rips at your brain and it'll have you salivating for more the more pages you turn. If you want an nontraditional romance that'll leave you scratching at your face, but in a good way, you'll want to read A Season of Eden. And then you'll probably get writer envy because quite frankly, I've never read sexual tension written this well before. Makes me want to write a scene just to see how I measure up. And I don't even write romance-ish stuff.