Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

Pub date: August 7, 2012.

Author website.

It's been months since the ghost of Anna Korlov opened a door to Hell in her basement and disappeared into it, but ghost-hunter Cas Lowood can't move on.

His friends remind him that Anna sacrificed herself so that Cas could live—not walk around half dead. He knows they're right, but in Cas's eyes, no living girl he meets can compare to the dead girl he fell in love with.

Now he's seeing Anna everywhere: sometimes when he's asleep and sometimes in waking nightmares. But something is very wrong...these aren't just daydreams. Anna seems tortured, torn apart in new and ever more gruesome ways every time she appears.

Cas doesn't know what happened to Anna when she disappeared into Hell, but he knows she doesn't deserve whatever is happening to her now. Anna saved Cas more than once, and it's time for him to return the favor.  (netgalley.com)

Now my main issue with GIRL OF NIGHTMARES is not turning into a blithering fangirl idiot in this review.  But that's going to be really hard because it's horror and YA and unforgiving and AWESOME.  I'll try, though.  I'll try.

This time around Cas, for the first time ever, is trying to be a normal teenager.  He has stayed in the same place for nearly a year and will even renew his tenure at his current high school.  A never for him.  As a result he's attempting to date (thanks to Carmel) and move on from the whole Anna issue.  Except she's not letting him move on.  Cas starts seeing her everywhere and it gets to a point where he starts questioning his sanity.  Lucky for him his marbles are all where they should be and something far deeper, and grander, is going on around him.

Blake doesn't spare punches in GIRL OF NIGHTMARES.  While it doesn't have the feel of "truer" horror (as in the genuine scare factor involved) to me there's still an unyielding, unforgiving horror to her storytelling that'll slot it in with the rest nicely enough.  Blake is unforgiving with her gore, the trials she puts her characters through and the means they need to meet in order to achieve their ends.  And she does it with such well-timed snark that I'm in awe of it.  It's not forced, it never feels like a contrivance and it fits in genuinely with it's surroundings.  Said snark is used sparingly but in just the right moments that it hits perfectly and it left me giggling more than once.

I had an issue with Cas referring to Anna as his girlfriend.  That's just a level of morbid that surpasses even my rather effed up capacities.  And it's also rather sad that the only girl Cas felt he could have a connection with was a murderous dead one.  I felt sorry for him on a few different levels but at least the entire story was realistic about it.  Yes, he referred to Anna as his girlfriend.  Creepy.  But it didn't delude anything.  There was no talk about bringing her back to fleshy life so her and Cas could live happily ever after.  Cas knew she was dead; Anna knew she was dead.  Different planes of existence.  Full stop.  Patrick Swayze got off back in Albuquerque.

I also had problems with Cas's mom and whether I was supposed to think of her as a good mom for letting Cas do his thing or a bad mom for letting him do his thing.  Probably one of the main reasons for them having to move so often was if they stayed in one place Cas's mom would have the Department of Children and Families wedged so far up her ass she wouldn't be able to walk.  At the rate he keeps ending up in the hospital (he tripped and fell into a campfire?  might as well just make him walk into doors too) all signs would start to point to child abuse.  But he's Cas and following in his dad footsteps and this is the family business blah blah blah.  But I really wanted his mom to be a real mom and be like, "EFF THAT.  You're grounded."  She wasn't though.  She made her candles and enabled his behavior and cleaned his wounds.  I don't know how I feel about that.  She fit the story and if there were a contrivance here she'd be it.  Luckily for the story as a whole I was able to suspend my disbelief enough to tuck it back.  She's not very prominent and I was so caught up in the action that I wasn't able to dwell on it long enough anyway.

There were tears at the end so beware.  It was shocking.  I kept trying to guess where it was going to go but, as you know, I kind of suck at that so I was nice and surprised by the ending.  It was unexpected and refreshing in that it didn't pander to the "norm" in YA.  All the more reason to love Blake.  She writes her story and everyone else be damned.  This is it and nothing else.

GIRL OF NIGHTMARES was an excellent continuation of the ANNA series.  Well worth the wait and not at all disappointing.  Just the right amounts horror, gore, fear, tears, snark and sass, GIRL OF NIGHTMARES hits all the right places at all the right times.  YA needs more horror and I'm so incredibly happy that Blake is a contributing factor to even that imbalance out.  It's nominally free of romance (except for Cas's, um, issue, I guess) but it has some hidden angst found in the likes of Thomas and Carmel, the comic reliefs in what is otherwise a pretty dark story.  I have no doubt GIRL OF NIGHTMARES will be a hit and will have people salivating for more ANNA.

Ban Factor: High - We see things getting tortured.  Shit comes back from the dead.  There are swears.  It's all over, folks.

Dragon Age, Volume 1: The Silent Grove by David Gaider & Alexander Freed, illustrated by Chad Hardin

Pub date: July 25th, 2012.

Author website.

Available in print for the first time, Dragon Age: The Silent Grove is the perfect introduction to BioWare's dark fantasy universe In this essential, canonical story from David Gaider, lead writer of the games, King Alistair, accompanied only by rogues Isabela and Varric, embarks on a quest deep inside the borders of Antiva - a nation of assassins Together, they will encounter a prison break, dragons, the mysterious Witch of the Wilds, and one of the greatest secrets in the history of the world. (goodreads.com)

I'm falling more and more in love with comics the more I read them.    This is such a great introduction to this whole world and it's left me feigning for more.  Between the artwork and the snark I really couldn't get enough of it.

It's a fully realized world that gives me everything I'm looking for in a fantasy (kind of like Gaider tapped into my head and pulled out my fantasy needs) without overdoing it.  There's magic and sorcery and dragons and villains and damaged heros and anti-heros but none of it seems overdone.  Unlike some fantasy it's not trying too hard at all.  In fact it's barely trying because it really doesn't have to.  The world feels effortless.  From the beginning I'm in the middle of it, I believe in it and it keeps me reading.

The three main character are all absolutely amazing.  Alistair is a total snarker which, for a king in fantasy, at least in my experience, is a no-go.  An unserious king?  No way.  Way, Ted!  It's like if Simon Pegg wrote a fantasy this would be it.  Alistair knows what he needs to do and tries his damndest to get it done but holy shit if things don't get in his way.  He emotes a little, cracks jokes to himself and then sets back out again barely feeling set back but maybe just a little.

Isabela is a total hardass chick that I'd like to get to know more about.  She's a pirate, captain of her own ship and damn it all if she doesn't remind you about her fists of glory and the fact that she can nail you to a wall.  But she's not so tough as to be obnoxious.She falls a few times and while she's not the kind of person to constantly take help she knows when she needs it and begrudgingly accepts.  She's also one to readily offer her help.  For a price, of course.

And Varric?  The snark-master dwarf?  I don't know how you have comedic relief in something that's kind of a comedy already but Varric is it.  The quips he kept coming out with had me laughing out loud.  Literally.

Here's some snarkxamples (snamples?) -

06/09	page 79		96.0%	""My name is Alistair Theirin and I'm king of Ferelden. Long live the king, long may he reign! And so forth. Pray to the maker he doesn't do something stupid…""
06/09	page 68		83.0%	""Evidently we're going to ask Claudio how it feels to be stabbed in the chest.""
06/09	page 39		48.0%	""That sound is coming closer." "What do we do?" "Brown our trousers.""

One is Alistair, two is Isabela and three is Varric.  I need more DRAGON AGE.  Sooner rather than later.  Like fantasy?  Like humor?  Like a story that doesn't take itself too seriously?  DRAGON AGE. Now.

Ban Factor: High - Fantasy world with no Christianity, magic and dragons.  It's just far to much for small minds to process.

YAckers Review: I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

Published April 3, 2012.

Author website.

Jasper (Jazz) Dent is a likable teenager. A charmer, one might say.


But he's also the son of the world's most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, Take Your Son to Work Day was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops wish they could--from the criminal's point of view.


And now bodies are piling up in Lobo's Nod.


In an effort to clear his name, Jazz joins the police in a hunt for a new serial killer. But Jazz has a secret--could he be more like his father than anyone knows?  (goodreads.com)

Lyga is demented.  And I love him so hard for it.  I HUNT KILLERS is unique and thoroughly disturbing and though all of us who read it, at times, questioned just where Lyga was when he wrote this, we had a lot of good to say about it.  So incredibly well-written, if you don't feel just a little repulsed as what's going on in these pages then something must be wrong with you.  Seriously.  I mean I wasn't as affected as some of my fellow YAckers were but there were moments where I pulled back a little.  I'm only human.  Mostly.

The Keeper of the Book this month was Holly so why don't you come stop by her site, Book Harbinger, and see what we had to say about I HUNT KILLERS.  CORNNUTS!

Ban Factor: High - OMG, are you kidding me?  The banners would burn this one alive.

Angels, Vampires & Douche Bags by Carla Collins

Published March 1, 2010.

Author website.

In this candid confessional, comedian Carla Collins divides the world into the angels who guide us, inspire us, and save our butts; the sexy and trendy vampires who suck the life out of us; and the douche bags who constantly annoy, disgust and taunt us. With a fast wit, fake breasts and real heart, Collins shares her unconventional journey from a small steel town in Ontario, Canada to Tinseltown L.A. On this wild and revealing romp, she navigates her way through seventy-two imaginary friends, multiple fianc s, eight dogs, two marriages, and one topless grandmother. Her hard-earned life lessons will show you that by taking risks, embracing humiliation and tapping into the power of laughter, anything is possible--and everyone is manageable. Attract more angels into your life, control your vampires, and keep all the douche bags at bay.  (goodreads.com)

I laughed my ass off reading ANGELS, VAMPIRES & DOUCHE BAGS.  Seriously, Carla has a wit and timing about her that just can't be beat.  She's a petite little blonde that's packed full of snark but never even comes close to toeing the line of being a snatch.  Her comedy doesn't stem from any kind of nastiness.  There isn't a bitterness to it.  Sure, some of the things in her life weren't all that great but even the seedier moments are spun on their head and given a humorous light.  Carla is exceptionally self-deprecating, something I can wholly appreciate.  Trust, no one's going to find you funny unless you can laugh at yourself first.

While having a nominally unhealthy obsession with hookers, Carla tells like it it is, her life spread eagle on the pages for all to see.  She doesn't try to hide anything and she certainly doesn't sugarcoat any of it either.  Her stories are told with a poignant voice that really only sprinkles in the snark but the lines are so well-timed that they kind of sneak up on you and you find yourself laughing before you can even really process what you read.  Seriously, I need to see this woman live because she's a damn good storyteller.  I can imagine her sitting around a table just chatting and just the WAY she tells the stories sucks you right in.  The tone, the voice, it's funny without actually being funny simply because you know there's going to be a line there that'll crack you right the hell up.

If I quoted all of my favorite lines I'd pretty much be duplicating the entire book but here are some of note enough that I stopped reading to plug into my Goodreads status thingy -

"I hesitated, because to me, tantric sex sounds like a Kevin Costner movie - it goes on forever and nobody comes." 

"I was at the counter and figured I needed a back of Mentos,  a copy of People magazine and a bag of boobies." 

"That Jerry Maguire movie was bullshit.  You need to become complete yourself first; then ideally, find another complete human to compliment you."

Between the most excellent pearls of wisdom and the snap, it could hardly go wrong.

Except it did.  Not at the fault of Carla, though.  From page 75 to 104 it duplicates from page 17 on 32 pages.  I'm not kidding.  And I'm not talking some extra pages shoved into the greater book.  I'm talking about these 32 pages replaced the greater part of the VAMPIRES portion of this book.  I was filled with chagrin.  I mean talk about total buzz kill.  And it cut me off in the middle of an epic story and I still have no idea how it ended!  I'm missing 23% of the book and that makes me cranky.  Cranky to the point where I don't know how to rate this.  I loved everything I read.  Carla has an intriguing life and a kick ass voice that'll make me want to read anything she's ever written.  But an inbred one-eyed, one-handed clown bound the book and robbed me of a chunk of it.  Cranky.

I believe I shall rate it based on writing alone even though missing that part of the book put a huge damper on it for me.  Like I said, not Carla's fault so I can't discount her for it.  But I can grumble.

Ban Factor: High - Did you miss the part about Carla having a nominally unhealthy obsession with hookers?  Or boobies?  Or the tantric sex?  The banners are swooning.  Someone get some accordion fans.

V Wars by Jonathan Maberry

Pub date: May 29, 2012.

Author website.

A sweeping, threaded narrative of the global phenomenon known as the Vampire Wars! Mankind is silently infected by a millennia-old bacteria unknowingly exhumed by a scientific expedition in Antarctica. Now, in some rare cases, a person’s so-called “junk DNA” becomes activated, and depending on their racial and ethnic heritage they begin to manifest one of the many diverse forms of the “others” that are the true basis for the legends of supernatural creatures. These aren’t your usual vampires and werewolves — it goes much deeper than that.  (netgalley.com)

V WARS is actually more of an anthology centered around a single spine of a plot.  Maberry is in the middle of it all, weaving the basis of the world with JUNK, ESCALATION, SPECIES, GENOCIDE, EMBEDDED and LAST BITES.  JUNK takes up the biggest chunk of the story, centering on Michael Fayne, aka Patient Zero (not Joe Ledger).  The guy that started it all.  I only know Jonathan for his zombies but let me tell you he can do vampires too.  I just LOVED the science behind it, how it was basically a virus that activated dormant, or junk, DNA in our genetic code giving humans vampire tendencies.  Unlike zombies most of these guys blended into society so you would have no idea if the person standing next to you on the subway is leering at you because you're hot or because they're hungry.  To pun terribly, it's a more evolved pandemic than something like a zombie virus, as that's what people with the mutations come to think of themselves as.  Evolved.  They've moved on to the next phase of humanity.

Each subsequent story of Maberry's moves on to how the reaction to this virus would escalate in the world, the breakdown of the species (which I loved because all of these authors delved into some seriously off the beaten path vampires, the variety was awesome), deeming the mutants enemies of the state by the government and thus sanctioning their slaughter, the vampires teaming up to fight back and then vampires hiding in plain sight.  These stories were sprinkled along the book, mixed in with other authors and they created an excellent complement to everything else going around.  Everyone really wrote so well within Maberry's imagined world that while the voices differed the stories seemed authentic.  Seriously loved it.

Nancy Holder authored ROADKILL about bikers defending the border and then ultimately losing their grip on reality and who is really the enemy.  I liked this one for the ambiance.  The story didn't hold me so much as its setting.  I could feel the grit and the grime of the desert and it ground out the unreality of the situations into something tangible.  Probably because I've been to Arizona and could actually picture it.  Made it all the more real.

John Everson wrote LOVE LESS about a talk show host that's pretty much a closet sociopath.  I liked this character for her ingenuity but that's where it pretty much ended.  She wasn't sympathetic although she presented a really interesting variety in the vampire species going around.

Yvonne Navarro wrote EPIPHANY which was quite possibly my second favorite story in this compendium.  Also set in Arizona, it focuses on a seventeen-year-old Native American girl still living on the reservation and ostracized from her society in part because her parents were nonconformists to their world but also because she was raped.  She begins to morph into a kind of snake-like vampire that was just super crazy from the beginning.  She even adopted slightly snake-like features (if you're thinking Voldemort you've gone too far) and made a pretty good job for herself because of her, um, talents.  Between the setting and the fantastic character in Mooney, I didn't want this particular narrative to end.

Scott Nicholson wrote HEARTSICK, a short I wasn't all that impressed with.  Loved the lore of the Raven Mockers that would eat people's hearts but the characters were a bit too stereotypical heehaws for my liking.

James A. Moore added STALKING ANNA LEI which had a not-so-appealing vampire (something kind of cat-like) but a great plot.  A brother is on a mission to find his sister who he thinks was kidnapped by an ogre-looking vampire.  Except this nasty vampire is leaving a blood trail that points right back to the MC.  Definitely suspenseful and an author that's rather unforgiving with his characters.  I liked it.

Keith RA Decandido wrote THE BALLAD OF BIG CHARLIE which deviated from the truer vampire line just a bit to add in shapeshifters.  Charlie is a Bronx DA who also happens to be a werewolf.  This is the story that, for me, really zeros in on something more political in terms of equality.  Is Charlie even human anymore?  Should he be allowed out of the house?  Is he safe?  Obvious parallels to society's current issues with gay people and their rights, or minorities, or any people in adversity really.  It takes place an extended amount of time after the zero event so society has had a chance to thoroughly react to the issue and polarize itself.  I normally don't like moralizing but I was okay with it here.  It didn't seem contrived and fit really well with the story as a whole.  This one probably came in a solid number three from the top for me.

And last but not least Gregory Frost wrote VULPES about a Romanian scientist getting exposed to the virus in Antarctica but it doesn't go where you think it might go considering her home (as people's mutations depend on their heritage).  She is actually the antithesis to the vampires, a protector of mankind.  A great way to end the book, really.  Her line of mutation is the medicine for the vampire virus.  It's not pretty but with the "bad" mutations come the "good" ones that'll help protect society.

With the ridiculous mix of vampire lore going on in V WARS, there is definitely something for every vampire lover in here.  From the scientific aspect (which I found believable) to the emergence of little known vampire species (and the authors' willingness to deviate from the beaten and cliched path) and the various effects it has on the world, V WARS kept me entertained from beginning to end.  This is a serious Christmas gift for at least a couple of my die hard vampire-loving friends.  And I'm not talking about Twihards either.  They can stuff it.  These vamps would devour Edward whole, pound his granite glitter skin into eyeshadow and hand it out at strip clubs.

Ban Factor: High - Vampires, gore and sex.  This one's not for the kiddies.

Human.4 by Mike Lancaster + Giveaway!

Published March 8, 2011.

Author website.

Kyle Straker volunteered to be hypnotized at the annual community talent show, expecting the same old lame amateur acts. But when he wakes up, his world will never be the same. Televisions and computers no longer work, but a strange language streams across their screens. Everyone’s behaving oddly. It’s as if Kyle doesn’t exit.

Is this nightmare a result of the hypnosis? Will Kyle wake up with a snap of fingers to roars of laughter? Or is this something much more sinister? (goodreads.com)

That cover kind of squicks me out a bit. Those tentacle-like things coming out of the hand? And then when it happens in the book . . . *shudder* Topics like what HUMAN.4 is about usually succeed in creeping me right the hell out, especially when written well. And this one is. Lancaster did a great job of posing the what-if question and making the execution believable. And again it's why we're back to the creepy part.

Another one of my favorite aspects of HUMAN.4 was giving an alternate explanation to something that could be supernatural. That something that you see out of the corner of your eye? What if it's not a ghost but something that came before? Something now rendered irrelevant and no longer worth our time? I don't want to give spoilers because the book is awesome and I don't want to ruin it but that irrelevance notion is totally horrifying to me. That something, someone, can still exist perfectly fine and as normally as we are, but we've rendered them so irrelevant that our eyes no longer recognize them. Now imagine you are that irrelevant thing . . .

I'm just enamored with the different road HUMAN.4 took on its quest to tell the story. Kyle turned out to be an excellent MC and someone that you can connect with almost immediately. He does have that natural young boy syndrome that makes him somewhat unlikable but when the fecal matter starts flying at the rotating device he, and his slightly jerky love interest, start taking on different tones and you get to see them in new light. Maybe their personalities adjust a little too quickly to the changing situation but I'm okay with it. The greater story was just so fantastic that I was able to overlook whatever might have been wrong with the rest.

The world that Lancaster built, while solidly anchored in our reality, is something otherworldly without being unrecognizable. He didn't have to alter it much but what had been changed was something shaped into a digital unreality. It leaves you wondering what if? Of course it's a comment on the digital revolution we're currently living in but it's so adeptly touched upon some of our current unknowns that the 'what if' couldn't be kept from your mind if you tried.

A little bit of horror, a little bit of digital, a lot of awesome, HUMAN.4 puts an excellent spin on our current dystopia craze, makes it something more relatable and a hell of a lot more horrifying. The 'what if' factor is so much more immediate and you won't be able to help but wonder . . .

Ban Factor: Medium - It's short on any kind of touchy subject but it does have a couple of kids bucking the trend and going against the "greater good." That might anger them. Assuming they can actually read.

Giveaway time!!!

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Last Stop by Peter Lerangis

Published March 20, 2012.

Author website.

It’s been six months since David Moore’s father disappeared. After months of strange behavior—baby talk, forgetfulness—he simply vanished forever. The Public Guardians searched Franklin City, but they couldn’t turn up a single clue. David is beginning to give up hope when his subrail train stops between stations at the abandoned Granite Street platform. On the other side of the glass he sees a crowd of people. In the middle is his father, waving.

When a psychic suggests that David may have the power to see into another dimension, he and his friends scour the city in search of a portal to the other side. To learn if his father is alive or dead, David will need to discover the secrets of the abandoned station. (netgalley.com)

I just wanna hug Open Road for re-releasing all of this epically awesome cheese. I'm loving it. And LAST STOP is at the top of the cheese pile in a good way.

It's a quick read in more of a middle grade way than in an old school YA way but aside from the age of the MC (13, I think) it could definitely pass for one of your Diane Hoh's or insert your favorite old school YA horror writer's name here. It's got a creepy element to it that'll have you thinking one way but end up on a completely different path by the end of it. I really liked the twist, the explanation as to why David was seeing what he was seeing and it definitely made me want to keep reading in the series. It had me asking, "where is this going, exactly?"

Like a lot of the other old school YA cheese I've been reading the characters aren't immensely likable, especially David's female friend, whose name escapes me at the moment. But they end up having this rapid growth spurt once the story really picks up that kind of washes away their childishness from the beginning and hands them this wisdom that's required to make it all the way to the end.

The whole psychic element that the blurb talks about I felt ended up being really contrived but I was easily able to overlook that for the greatness that is the rest of the premise. I like how it ended up not going where I thought it was going to go. I liked how it opened up these crazy new doors because of that derailment (no pun intended) and now it has me jonsing for the next installment. Thankfully this series is an older one so the titles are available now. But that doesn't erase the giddy of Open Road re-releasing them. It's like having a Christmas present that you already know about but you're still genuinely surprised to see it anyway.

LAST STOP is one of the few cheese books that I think the majority of people will genuinely like for something other than its cheese factor. The ending is the real beginning and it's such an effective hook that I'm mentioning how I want to keep reading the series for what, the third time now in this review? That's something.

Ban Factor: Medium - It could end up on their radar for children bucking the system but its innocuous enough to skate by them. This is one of those titles that they'd probably have to actually READ in order to get a feel for it and we all know that's not going to happen.

Tomorrow Land by Mari Mancusi

Published March 1, 2012.

Author website. Oh look! You can now buy the book!

Imagine finding your first love, only to be ripped apart by the apocalypse. Peyton Anderson will never forget the day she was forced to make a choice--between her family--and Chris Parker, the boy she'd given her heart. Now, four years later, as she steps from the fallout shelter and into a dead and broken world, he's the only thing on her mind.

All Chris "Chase" Parker wanted was to take Peyton away and keep her safe from harm. But he waited for hours in the rain on judgment day and she never showed--breaking his heart without ever telling him why.

Now the two of them have been thrown together once again, reluctant chaperones to a group of orphan children in a post-apocalyptic world where the dead still walk...and feed. As they begin their pilgramage to the last human outpost on Earth, can they find a way to let go of old hurts and find the love they lost--all while attempting to save what's left of the human race? (goodreads.com)

An updated and re-released version of Mari's Dorchester title RAZOR GIRL, TOMORROW LAND is a YA post-apocalyptic adventure that DOESN'T include a love triangle, is a stand-alone book and does include mutated zombie-like creatures that stalk the protags on their way to Disney World. How is this NOT totally awesome?

Mari pitched it to me for review in pretty much the same fashion and I was pretty much like, um, yes? Nao? And it's every bit as good and awesome as her BLOOD COVEN series. I will admit, the voice threw me a bit. I'm so used to the Rayne/Sunny voices (well, mostly Rayne) and I've only read Mari's BLOOD COVEN books so seeing something so drastically different kind of poked me in the eye a little. But once my vision cleared and I was able to makes heads, tails and claws of the story I was reading, I fell into it and didn't want to come out.

TOMORROW LAND alternates between the POVs of Chase/Chris and Peyton and they're both so heart-wrenchingly real that it's really hard to pull your eyes away from the pages. You get to see the same story from two different perspectives and really it's like reading two different tales for how they both see things. It's a definite advantage to being in both of their heads. If I wasn't then some scenes wouldn't translate very well and it'd be way more super teen angsty than what it really was. So I'm really glad for the shift that each chapter took.

Also the way the story was told was pretty freaking cool. The plot moved parallel to itself, telling past events and current events simultaneously. You'd probably think that it might make the story a little jerky but both elements wove together so seamlessly that it just ended up being one giant story. The two stories don't actually catch up to each other but they both end where it's respective moment needs to end; one with Peyton going into the bunker and the end at the actual end of the story. But I can't say enough how well those two pieces fit together. The events that happened before and after really hurdle each other.

The ending was the best. Don't worry. I won't spoil. I will say that it's quite possibly the most optimistic post-apocalyptic story ending I've read yet. And I'm not just talking about for the characters but for the destroyed world surrounding them. I was seriously so happy at the end that I ended up crying (I tend to do that a lot, don't I?). While I like my bleak endings and characters fighting for every little thing, it's really so nice to read a story like this where you actually KNOW everything's going to be okay. It's so obvious it'll be alright that it's pretty much hitting you in the face. Loved it.

Peyton and Chase? I want more of them. They're just two amazingly thought out, dynamic characters that really stood off the page. They were alive for me. I felt Chase's struggle with drugs and Peyton's struggle with herself (although I think her struggle was a little stronger pre-planetary flush). I do feel the ending was a bit abrupt character-wise. I would have liked to have felt Peyton's reaction to it all a little more, especially considering how strong she was throughout the story but her reaction is still fitting. Over and done with. Moving on. Still, I'm greedy and I wanted just a little more. And Chase, when he was dueling with himself over his life, drugs, the kids, the quest, his love for Peyton, his battle was on the inside and it was almost painful to watch. Zombies? Not a problem. Feelings? He couldn't run from those.

And I can't forget the zombies. They're not your typical risen from the dead type of beasts and you don't find out until later in the story what makes them unique so I won't say anything about that here. I'll just say it adds a whole new depth to Mari's monsters that'll make you think twice about grabbing the nearest shovel and swinging.

Overall, totally epic. I loved every second of it. The world, the characters, their lives, I wanted more. TOMORROW LAND is a stand-out edition to the world of post-apocalyptic fiction and I hope everyone gets a chance to read it. I can't say enough good things about it.

Ban Factor: High - A cybernetic chick? A godless post-apocalyptic world? Allusions to sex? BANNED!

Plain Kate by Erin Bow + Giveaway!

Published September 1, 2010.

Author website.

Plain Kate lives in a world of superstitions and curses, where a song can heal a wound and a shadow can work deep magic. As the wood-carver's daughter, Kate held a carving knife before a spoon, and her wooden talismans are so fine that some even call her “witch-blade”: a dangerous nickname in a country where witches are hunted and burned in the square.

For Kate and her village have fallen on hard times. Kate’s father has died, leaving her alone in the world. And a mysterious fog now covers the countryside, ruining crops and spreading fear of hunger and sickness. The townspeople are looking for someone to blame, and their eyes have fallen on Kate.

Enter Linay, a stranger with a proposition: In exchange for her shadow, he’ll give Kate the means to escape the angry town, and what’s more, he’ll grant her heart’s wish. It’s a chance for her to start over, to find a home, a family, a place to belong. But Kate soon realizes she can't live shadowless forever -- and that Linay's designs are darker than she ever dreamed. (goodreads.com)

I love it when stories like this get it right. The voice, the execution, the plot, it all just fit so nicely together that I couldn't imagine any other way it could have been written.

The voice itself is that older story-telling type of voice; kind of whimsical and fanciful but it's not patronizing. The voice serves a purpose, in an old timey sort of way, but it doesn't get in the way of the story itself. It stands out at the beginning when the setting's being set and the story is winding up but it knew when to draw itself into the background and let the story be itself. The writing didn't get in the way of the plot and I couldn't help but love the book more for it.

Plain Kate is your standard orphan that gets kicked around for most of the story. She falls on hardship after hardship but unlike other like-minded stories that may gloss over the facts, Bow didn't cut corners. She told what needed to be told regardless of how hard it might have been to tell. The things that happened to Kate were terrible but she carried on. But sometimes she wasn't so sure and during those times it wasn't clear what choices Kate would make. I was left guessing, but in a good way.

The world itself was both familiar and foreign at the same time. There are elements of magic in there with the shadows and the curses and the jinx-fighting talismans. But the use of familiar words like kopecs grounds out the surreal and makes me wonder if this is supposed to be some unnamed Eastern European village that PLAIN KATE is set in. It could be, but it might not. I really liked that. It's place wasn't set in stone so Kate could move around freely as she needed to but there was enough there to make it realistic. It wasn't so fantastical of a story that it was clear it was a story. PLAIN KATE could be real, what with the Roamers (an obvious homage to the Romas) and superstitions and the maybes/maybe nots of magic. I loved stepping on both sides of that line and wondering which I really belonged on.

Linay is really a tragic figure and it's kind of hard not to sympathize for him a little bit. Yeah, he's a tricky bastard and he left a lot of bodies in his wake. But the root of his problem is what drives that and it really made me wonder if . . . not so much that he was justified but I kind of understood it. What happened to his sister was starting to happen to Kate and I can see how that would drive someone insane to such a point. But it's all in the way one reacts to that and the way Kate reacted was beyond admirable.

She is such a lovely character I really can't say enough nice things about her. She has an air of naivete about her for a good portion of the book but you get to watch her grow and become wiser of the world. She saw good in people a lot of the time but she was level-headed about it. She reacted properly in the right situations. There was no absurd justification coming from her. When someone wronged her, and I mean really wronged her, she got it and that person got discarded. She's a survivor and she's proof that you can't go around thinking the best of people all the time, especially when they're so quick to turn on you.

PLAIN KATE is just a really good story. It's not lacking like some other books of like voice might be lacking. Meaning just because it's told in a simpler voice doesn't mean the story itself is simple. It's rich, full of depth and draws a world so vivid you can't help but get sucked into it. Now I'm all sorts of eager to get my hand on more Erin Bow books if this is what I get the pleasure of when I read them. Truly awesome.

Giveaway time!!!

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Afterlight by Elle Jasper

Published November 2, 2010.

Author website.

Savannah's most unconventional tattoo artist, Riley Poe, lives on the edge. Now she's put over the edge when her younger brother is taken by a sinister cult led by vampires. Her only ally is the hot-tempered vampire Eli Dupre, attracted to Riley's beauty and rare blood type. To save her brother from certain un-death, Riley faces dangers she's never dreamed of, ruthless bloodthirsty enemies, and an evil of endless hunger that wants to devour it all... (goodreads.com)

I stumbled across AFTERLIGHT purely by accident. I was searching Goodreads for one title, of course similar, but this one got stuck in my head. When I pulled it up I knew it wasn't what I was looking for but I was intrigued by the cover. I read the blurb and decided to add it to my want-to-read list. It sat there for a little while and when I went on one of my book-buying binges I picked it up, where it promptly sat in my tangible TBR pile for a while. When I finally got around to reading it I was SO, SO, SO happy that I came across it.

Now, when I think of an unconventional tattoo artist I think of someone wearing GAP that drives a yellow Volkswagen Beetle. But that's besides the point. But aside from that, that blurb really isn't anything different. It's not. A vampire attracted to a human because of her blood type? Yawn. Really. But there was something about it that kept me thinking that it wasn't quite the same as the rest. And I was right. To a point.

It had some vague TWILIGHT-ish similarities with the family of vampires (except this one is an actual family, not adopted) that are "humane" vampires, a couple of off the cuff rogue vampires and their pack of newlings going insane in a city, Riley's rare blood that drives vampires insane and that's kinda where it ends and the original pieces pick up. Like the hoodoo/voodoo stuff. That plays a very prominent role and I really ended up liking Riley's adoptive grandparents. They just had an unusual aspect to them that one doesn't tend to find in this kind of reading that really made it all stand out. It was set in Savannah, a place I'm not all that familiar with and it's not "typical." Meaning it's not your normal New Orleans/New York City get-up. Really, it's just a random city and I liked that. Plus it was really obvious that Jasper knows Savannah with the detail that she wrote about it. All the cemeteries, the moss, the smells. It just all popped off the page and it felt like I was there while reading it.

The writing isn't stellar. I've definitely read better. Riley toes the edge of being a bit of a Sue at times (she can fight with the best of them, in super high heels no less, has a six pack to die for, tiny little body, is an awesome tattoo artist, self-made, rare blood, etc.) but she's just enough not and someone that can really stand on her own that I give her a pass. Had not all of the outlying factors existed that made me love this book then I probably wouldn't have liked her and thought her a bit too much. Plus there's her being turned on by being nearly brutalized by Eli in the beginning. Weird and a bit contrived. As was some of the dialogue (it sounded just a bit TOO hip) and some phrases got way overused ("a totally guy laugh" was one of them and made me wonder if that's the only laugh guys make in Riley's world).

But I did love Riley, despite all of that. She had her life shit on when she was growing up and had enough brains left to reform herself (thanks, in large part, to her adoptive grandparents). Life rode her like a cowboy for a little while there and she bears the marks of that. But she's surprisingly well-adjusted and deeply committed to her brother. She sacrifices everything she has to save the last remaining blood family she has. And she doesn't do it stupidly. She trains, hard, to be able to do it. She's forced to face her own limitations and while, like all good heroines, she makes some dumb ass judgment calls, thankfully the Dupre family is there to hold strong where Riley falls short. It's not just her brother at stake but a greater threat to the whole city should they not succeed in stamping out this rogue vampire threat.

And did I mention the sexy times? Yes, there are sexy times, RIFE with heinously unattainable orgasm times and vampiric loss of control. The sexy times are good but there's a sinister aspect behind them. No pillow-biting and feather-flying going on here. Eli nearly loses his shit and Victorian wraps his metaphorical hands around Riley's throat by dream-raping her. The juxtaposition of the sexy times is definitely an intriguing aspect of the story, because it's sexy times with a deeper, Freudian meaning behind it. Thinking, I like.

And I liked Eli. He wasn't shy about calling Riley on some of her idiotic moves. Like when he told her to stay put and she didn't. He got all over that. I love it when stuff like that that's overlooked in other books gets almost ragged on in ones I like. I think it was fairly obvious that it was a jab at other heroines not listening to words of advise and not having to deal with their repercussions but Eli's not about to have that. For all his brooding (not Louis-level brooding, or Edward-level, but still a bit of a brooder) he's really solid when it came to calling people out. I squealed a little every time he did it.

Of course I can't forget the Lost Boys reference. That absolutely sealed the deal. Enter rose-colored glasses. Riley could have probably skipped off with Eli in wedded bliss on a rainbow to pink fluffy clouds at the end and I wouldn't have cared. Lost Boys reference. And a favorable one at that. Vampires giving kudos to an epic vampire movie? Yes, please.

So it's not the most well-written book I've ever come across but there's so much love in this story that I just couldn't stop. It's been a long time since I've come across a title that's sucked me in in all the right places that I could just roll around with it and read it over and over again. It just hit the absolutely right spots at absolutely the right time. There's no other way to explain it. The stars aligned, I found AFTERLIGHT and it was love from there on out. EVERDARK, the sequel is already out and EVENTIDE, the third installment, comes out in March so I'll be waiting until then to get those two copies. Seriously, can't wait.

Ban Factor: High - Vampire sex. That should about do it.

Trick or Treat by Richie Tankersley Cusick

Republished October 4, 2011.

Martha wants to be happy for her father. She likes his new wife-even if she's a terrible cook-but she doesn't understand why they had to leave Chicago and move to this horrible house in the country. It's big, broken-down, and miles from anywhere, alone in the woods with nothing on the property but an overgrown cemetery. But at night it doesn't feel empty.

Conor-her new, weird stepbrother-chose Martha's new room for her. It's dark and drafty, and no matter how she tries to fix it up, she can't sleep easily there. At night, whispers come from the closet, filling Martha with a sense that something terrible happened here. She's right. Not long ago, the house was the site of a gruesome murder. When Conor and Martha's parents leave town on their honeymoon, the two teens will find out why the dead don't rest easy at the old Bedford house. (netgalley.com)

Hooray! 90s YA cheese is re-emerging! My evil plan is working! What?

Yes, TRICK OR TREAT was originally 90s cheese of my now major obsession. No, it's not a total turd like some cheese is. I was actually really surprised reading this and realizing just how well it transcended time. Initially I thought it might have been updated but with the mention of records, cassettes and VHS tapes, my fears were eased.

I am always super giddy for horror and sometimes that eagerness comes around to bite me in the ass. Not this time. While TRICK OR TREAT may come off as your standard haunted house story, the twist at the end will have you totally creeped out. I certainly didn't see it coming. Then again I'm not really adept at spotting those kinds of things in advance so take that as you will.

Martha comes off a bit insufferable, a drama queen and a definite whiner to begin with so it's really not a surprise when no one believes her when she starts complaining about the creepy house and her cold bedroom. And Conor is a bit of a creep factor. He's really elusive and isn't straight forward when he speaks. Some people might find that mysterious. I pegged him as a baby serial killer. Enter the absentee parents that leave their teen kids alone in a house for weeks while they honeymoon (brilliant!) and you have the beginnings of a super horror story.

So while Martha comes off as a bit ingratiating eventually I did get past her initial complainer attitude and start to sympathize with her plight. The house was affecting her so badly that it was starting to show physically. And still no one believed her. But by the time people started seeing the forest for the trees, it might have been a little too late. Or was it?

TRICK OR TREAT is one of those old school YA horror books that actually has some genuine creepiness to it. Chances are you won't want to read it in the dark. Or during a thunder storm. Or around Halloween. Because who knows what you'll see when the lightening flashes on that old, dying oak in your front yard? Or equally creepy lawn element? TRICK OR TREAT is a good piece of nostalgia that transcends the current YA market and injects some honest to god horror back into the YA world. I love it. I need more.

Ban Factor: High - Horror and crazy bitches. A deadly combination.

Winter in Wartime by Jan Terlouw

Published October 3, 2011.

Michiel feels resentment towards his father, a mayor, seemingly only interested in maintaining the status quo between the town and the German Army. He worships his uncle Ben, an adventurer in contact with the local resistance. During the winter, Michiel's loyalties are tested. When he discovers an injured pilot in the woods, Michiel must find a way to keep the wounded man alive, hidden from the increasingly desperate occupying force.

As Michiel mounts his own small resistance, he becomes aware of the currents of Resistance that are swirling through the town. A German soldier is killed and his death must be revenged so they take six townspeople, threatening to shoot them if the murderer does not surrender. They compromise and shoot only one--Michiel's father. (netgalley.com)

I'm a total sucker for novels set in the European theater of World War II and the fact that this was autobiographical only fueled that fire. I don't know what it is about that war, but I'm drawn to it. It's like I can feel these experiences in my heart and it just keeps pulling me in.

Writing-wise it had a couple of things going against it: it's a translation so some of the beauty of the language was taken away; and, in my opinion, it's written by someone that had a story to tell but wasn't necessarily a writer. And that's okay. The writing as I read it could have been a result of the translation or it could have been the way in which the author told the story. Had it been anyone else, I might have been more critical of the writing but keeping these two factors in mind, coupled with the fact that the story was pretty short, I was able to push the flaws in the writing aside and just read the story. That's not something I'm able to do very often at all. Another testament to how much I love this era of story.

And the story was amazing. Just the notion that the author's real-life experiences fueled WINTER IN WARTIME was such a fantastical feat. That Michiel aided in hiding a British pilot in the woods. How someone so young was working for the underground movement. How he could lose his father simply because the Germans were being retaliatory. It's horrifying that this was real. And it's almost unbelievable. But I believe it. It's probably one of the reasons why I keep reading WWII-era works: writers can't make this stuff up. They really can't. What happened during that time was just so fantastical that creative liberties really need not apply.

It reminds me of THE THINGS THEY CARRIED by Tim O'Brien (who himself never went to war), which is a Vietnam-placed work of metafiction. And it's entirely fictional but it could have happened. And maybe it did. I guess that's true of any war story in general. While the stamp on the spine says fiction, there are things going on in war that one just can't imagine so who's to say it never really happened?

WINTER IN WARTIME is another excellent addition to any WWII nut's reading collection. The point of view is switched so you're not getting a war story in the sense that there's actual fighting (think BAND OF BROTHERS). You're getting the point of view of a boy living in a country occupied by the Germans. You see the daily life. The fear. The blackouts. It's a different aspect of such an expansive war. And you feel it. Despite the writing, despite the translation, it's an amazing story and it deserves to be read. If you're at all interested in WWII, you won't want to miss it.

Ban Factor: Low - It's an historical. Clean except for a couple background killings. Overlookable by those that don't read.

Lily Renee, Escape Artist by Trina Robbins

Published November 1, 2011.

In 1938, Lily Renée Wilheim is a 14-year-old Jewish girl living in Vienna. Her days are filled with art and ballet. Then the Nazis march into Austria, and Lily's life is shattered overnight. Suddenly, her own country is no longer safe for her or her family. To survive, Lily leaves her parents behind and travels alone to England. Escaping the Nazis is only the start of Lily's journey. She must escape many more times—from servitude, hardship, and danger. Will she find a way to have her own sort of revenge on the Nazis? Follow the story of a brave girl who becomes an artist of heroes and a true pioneer in comic books. (netgalley.com)

I'm always amazed by the survival stories that come out of occupied Europe, and Lily Renee's is no different. For such a young girl to have to leave home alone, travel to a foreign country where she barely knows the language and try to ride out the war, it's amazing adults were able to do it, let alone a girl that was barely a teenager. But she did it and it really puts the trials in one's life into perspective. Escaping from the Nazis, then from prejudiced English, traveling to America and then fighting adversity to become a pioneering name in comics kind of makes the daily grind of one's life pale in comparison.

But she did it without a thought about it. It was survival mode and Lily did what she had to do to make it. The story is a simple one, told in simple language but it doesn't need to be dressed up. The story itself is already grand. Flowery prose need not apply. Plus the illustrations to go along with it make it stand out all the more. As if you couldn't picture Lily's story in your head just from the words, the images were there to help. Rich and colorful and sometimes frightening, Robbins didn't hold the story back and Timmons and Oh were relentless with the illustrations. I couldn't have asked for anything more.

Whereas something like MAUS, while amazing, is probably too graphic for a younger audience, LILY RENEE tells a realistic story without being gruesome so it makes it a little more easily digestible for a younger reader that might not be able to handle the images in like comics. It'll make them see without making them see too much and it does it without sugarcoating. I'd like to see LILY RENEE, ESCAPE ARTIST in all classrooms as a teaching tool, it's just that good. It's just one of many stories coming out of that time and I'm glad it did. It shows a fight of will and of character and I think everyone should be reading stories like this, just to see what real survival is.

Ban Factor: Low - It's a vanilla historical graphic novel free of swears and anything lewd. Unless banners are offended by the troubles of a young girl escaping Nazi-occupied Europe, they're going to keep their grubby hands off of this one.

The Girl's Guide to Werewolves by Barb Karg

Published September 18, 2009.

The good news is: He's tall, dark, and handsome.

The bad news is: He's short-tempered, a bit hairy, and has a tendency to howl at the full moon.

. . . Which makes bringing him home to meet mom and dad a bit difficult. How do you expect him to meet the family when he's shedding on the furniture and sharpening his nails? Will he have more in common with the family dog than you? Will he leave you for a hairy hottie? No worries-in this guide, you will learn everything you need to know about these wild boys, including:

• How to spot a werewolf
• What to do when he changes shape
• How to avoid his animalistic mood swings
• How to destroy the savage beast (before he destroys you!)
• The best-and worst-werewolf books and filmsWith this book, all ladies in love with lycanthropes learn how to tame their creatures of the night!

If you find yourself crushing on these beastly bad boys, The Girl's Guide to Werewolves will teach you how to train and tame your creature of the night! (book back blurb)

See, that blurb is a bit misleading but ultimately in a good way: it's not as cutesy as it's made out to be. Thanks to the likes of certain glittering vampire movies, Karg's book is trying to cater to a particular female pubescent clientele that may or may not have an affinity for a particular shirtless "werewolf," of which she mentions constantly throughout the book. But THE GIRL'S GUIDE is actually a really good cliff notes source for all things werewolf, without pictures. Chagrin, Team Jacob. Chagrin.

From their very beginnings in legends and lore to their current cinematic manifestations, Karg covers them all in quick succession. If you're a writer looking for an easy way out but not willing to go all SMeyer-lazy, THE GIRL'S GUIDE is a great tool to use for those quick and easy look-ups. From how the varieties transform, to what they look like, to how they're killed and the celluloid offspring they spawned, you can find it here. Are there more comprehensive guides out there? Of course. But I'm sure none have the spunk of THE GIRL'S GUIDE.

So don't be fooled by the title, the cover or the book blurb. THE GIRL'S GUIDE is a good book to have when you're just getting into the werewolf lore. Don't be turned off at the notion that it actually plays into the same scheme as the likes of THE VAMPIRE IS JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU does. It doesn't. Like I said, the kitch is a ploy to bring in the Twihards. There's genuine information between these covers that you don't want to miss, especially if werewolves are your thing.

It just kind of saddens me that publishers think they need to strum the heartstrings of Twihards everywhere in order to get this to sell. Marketing it for the information bloom it is should have been enough, in my opinion. Sure it's snazzy and quirky and plays pretend really well. But it would be a shame for THE GIRL'S GUIDE to get thrown aside by the same market that actually wants to know how to bag a werewolf. Because girlies, this one doesn't actually do that.

So when you pick up THE GIRL'S GUIDE, just remember you'll get a fill of werewolf information when you read and you'll be fine. Then, if this has piqued your interest enough, move on to the meatier stuff. Just remember where you started.

Ban Factor: High - The supernatural always does it in. And since this one is talking about getting with a werewolf, they'd be salivating to kill it.

Summer's Crossing by Julie Kagawa

Published June 1, 2011.

A Midsummer's Nightmare? Robin Goodfellow. Puck. Summer Court prankster, King Oberon's right hand, bane of many a faery queen's existence—and secret friend to Prince Ash of the Winter Court. Until one girl's death came between them, and another girl stole both their hearts.

Now Ash has granted one favor too many and someone's come to collect, forcing the prince to a place he cannot go without Puck's help—into the heart of the Summer Court. And Puck faces the ultimate choice—betray Ash and possibly win the girl they both love, or help his former friend turned bitter enemy pull off a deception that no true faery prankster could possibly resist. (goodreads.com)

Of the two novellas (WINTER'S PASSAGE being the other), I definitely prefer SUMMER'S CROSSING. There's a bit more spunk to it, probably because it's told from Puck's point of view. What Kagawa has really showcased to me with her writing is just how well she knows her characters and just how different a single character can be portrayed. The first three books in The Iron Fey series are all from Meghan's POV so Puck is pretty harmless, quirky, the jokester. In THE IRON KNIGHT, it's from Ash's POV and Puck is coming off exceptionally annoying. But here he just is. He's neither too quirky because you're actually inside his head so his hijinks are tampered down and he's definitely not annoying because, well, why would he find himself annoying? You get to see a depth to Puck that you don't otherwise see in the rest of the series and I really liked that.

The overall story was really good and a great precursor to THE IRON KNIGHT. It threw a wrench into their spokes before the whole quest got started, plus it fleshed out some of the secondary characters a little more. You get to see a somewhat softer side of Mab that definitely hasn't been seen anywhere else. And while you probably already knew that Leanansidhe was as Fey as you could get, you get to see the lengths that she really goes to in order to get the pretty things she likes. Kagawa really knows how to develop her characters and make each one of them really stand on their own, no matter how small they are to the plot. Love it.

Getting to see Ash through a prankster's eyes was also really funny. It lightens the aura around the brooding love interest and it's a reminder to not take it all too seriously. Because he might be cross dressing when you're not looking.

If you don't read SUMMER'S CROSSING before THE IRON KNIGHT you won't be missing anything central to the greater plot of the series. It's just some really good extra information, and a new look into the Nevernever that you don't get in the regular series that'll just add more depth to an already dynamic story. It's an awesome extra and I'm glad I read it.

Ban Factor: High - I've said it before, I'll say it again: Faeries.