Deviant by Adrian McKinty

Published October 1, 2011.

Danny Lopez is new in town. He made a mistake back home in Las Vegas, and now he has landed at an experimental school in Colorado for "tough cases." At the Cobalt Charter School, everything is scripted-what the teachers say, what the students reply-and no other speaking is allowed. This supercontrolled environment gives kids a second chance to make something of themselves. But with few freedoms, the students become sitting ducks for a killer determined to "clean up" Colorado Springs. (netgalley.com)

DNF.

I tried. I didn't succeed. I found the opening chapter exceptionally disturbing and thankfully the rest of the story didn't carry on from that POV because I don't know if I would have been able to get through it. It's about an unknown boy (not Danny) about to kill and mutilate a cat. Pretty gross. But it's written succinctly. It roiled up a pretty strong reaction in me. So the writing did it's job. But that's where it left me.

After that, it snaps into Danny's head but it doesn't stay there. The whole story reads kind of schizophrenic in that it's kind of limited third but it's talking in an almost stilted, highly educated voice that is not befitting Danny at all. And then it head-hops something awful. It's jarring to switch POVs from one sentence to the next. Very few authors can do it and have it flow. McKinty isn't one of them. It just felt all over the place, I couldn't get a grip on any of the characters and from what I was seeing, I didn't like most of them.

Danny's a bit of a jerk, not bailing out his step-dad simply because he didn't want to (the thing with the cops was all a misunderstanding, easily solved should Danny have opened his mouth). His step-dad is the token hippy guy with some of the most cliched dialogue I've ever come across. Danny's mom is just as cliched and is barely a presence in the story up to the point where I stopped reading (about 100 pages in). The interaction between these three is something out of a paint-by-numbers lesson on parental dialogue. It was painful at times to read.

Info-dumps are set up through awkward dialogue (everyone's guilty of this) and there's far too much name-dropping going on. And then the interjections with the mystery boy and his cat obsession were really weird and didn't seem to be going where. I get it. It's funky and mysterious. Get on with it.

Just the whole thing felt forced and it eventually became a burden to read. It got to a point where I was begrudging having to read it. That's usually a good time to stop. The plot had great potential and the set-up for the school was well-played. It's definitely a bit of a creepy place. But the overall execution fell short for me. I just felt the writing wasn't up to snuff and the emphasis was usually in places it didn't really need to be, and was grossly lacking where it should have been. Maybe the story got more intriguing but I couldn't tough it out.

Ban Factor: High - Just judging by the beginning of this one and it's potential cat mutilation, that would be enough to make it highly offensive to baby eyes.

And the winner is . . .

The winner of a copy of THE IRON KNIGHT by Julie Kagawa is . . .

Xia!!!

Congratulations! I've already sent you an email. And a big thanks to everyone who entered!

November TBR Pile Update

*rubs hands together evilly* I think I did good this month! Mainly because I think I acquired a total of two books (in hindsight I think it was a little more than that but oh well). And I know I read far more than that. So let's prove it!

The original -

With my original NetGalley list -

1. CRAZY by Han Nolan
2. ALISON'S WONDERLAND by Alison Tyler
3. TYGER TYGER by Kersten Hamilton
4. THE SECRET OF KA by Christopher Pike
5. ANNEXED by Sharon Dogar
6. DEMON HUNTS by CE Murphy
7. EIGHT FOR ETERNITY by Mary Reed and Eric Mayer
8. LOVELY by Kris Starr
9. CAPTIVE SPIRIT by Liz Fichera
10. GHOST SHADOW by Heather Graham
11. THE WORLD ABOVE THE SKY by Kent Stetson
12. TRICKSTER'S GIRL by Hilari Bell
13. ROMAN GAMES by Bruce MacBain
14. F**K IT by John C. Parkin
15. VIEWS FROM THE LOFT by The Loft Literary Center
16. MY SOUL TO KEEP by Rachel Vincent
17. THE HYPNOTIST by MJ Rose
18. SPY GLASS by Maria V. Snyder
19. PAST MIDNIGHT by Mara Purnhagen
20. THE IRON KING by Julie Kagawa
21. CARRIE PILBY by Caren Lissner
22. LOSING ROMEO by AJ Byrd
23. THE FAIRY GODMOTHER by Mercedes Lackey
24. THE SEVENFOLD SPELL by Tia Nevitt
25. THE ABUSED WEREWOLF RESCUE GROUP by Catherine Jinks
26. THOSE THAT WAKE by Jesse Karp
27. THE LYING GAME by Sara Shepard
28. ANGELFIRE by Courtney Allison Moulton
29. DELIRIUM by Lauren Oliver
30. GRILLED CHEESE PLEASE! by Laura Werlin
31. SAVANNAH GREY by Cliff McNish
32. THE BETRAYAL OF MAGGIE BLAIR by Elizabeth Laird
33. AWAKEN by Katie Kacvinsky
34. MYSTIFY by Artist Arthur
35. LOST IN THE RIVER OF GRASS by Ginny Rorby
36. EVERYTHING I WAS by Corrine Demas
37. WHAT CAN'T WAIT by Ashley Hope Perez
38. ONE HUNDRED CANDLES by Mara Purnhagen
39. MY FAVORITE BAND DOES NOT EXIST by Robert T. Jeschonek

I ended up evening out last month with a not-too-cool 270. What did I end up with this month? 262! Woohoo! I'd call that a win! Shit, one down would be a win for me. But that's a pretty big jump compared to what I'm normally used to so I'll take it.

My current pile -

With my digital reads (from NetGalley unless otherwise stated) -

DREAMING ANASTASIA by Joy Preble (free copy from BN)
DITCHED by Robin Mellom
THE BUTTERFLY CLUES by Kate Ellison
TRICK OR TREAT by Richie Tankersley Cusick
101 THINGS YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW ABOUT THE TITANIC . . . BUT DIDN'T! by Tim Maltin
DROWNING INSTINCT by Ilsa J. Bick

MESMERIZE by Artist Arthur

ESCAPING TITANIC by Marybeth Lorbiecki

TITANIC by Philip Wilkinson

TIME VOYAGE by Steve Brezenoff

There's a slight theme going on with my digital copies (actually there are 4 like titles, the Brezenoff title is centered around Titanic). Believe it or not, I was wondering why so many Titanic titles were coming out in 2012. Duh. Not getting it? Google it.

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.

Giveaway Reminder!

Attention all! Today's the last day you'll have to enter to win a copy of THE IRON KNIGHT! So click on the link above before midnight, EST, tonight and be sure to enter for your chance to win! You don't want to miss it.