Review: Deadly Cool

Title: Deadly Cool
Author: Gemma Halliday
Series: Deadly Cool #1
Published: 2011 by HarperTeen
Version: Paperback
Obtained: Library

Hartley Grace Featherstone is having a very bad day. First she finds out that her boyfriend is cheating on her with the president of the Herbert Hoover High School Chastity Club. Then he’s pegged as the #1 suspect in a murder. And if that weren’t enough, now he’s depending on Hartley to clear his name. 
But as much as Hartley wouldn’t mind seeing him squirm, she knows he’s innocent, and she’s the only one who can help him. Along with her best friend, Sam, and the school’s resident Bad Boy, Chase, Hartley starts investigating on her own. But as the dead bodies begin to pile up, the mystery deepens, the suspects multiply, and Hartley begins to fear that she may be the killer’s next victim.

First Sentence:
“There are three things you never want to find in your boyfriend’s locker: a sweaty jockstrap, a D minus on last week’s history test, and an empty condom wrapper.”

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I’m a huge mystery fan. It was always a goal of mine to read all the yellow hardcover Nancy Drew books (I think I’m still missing two). Anyways, this series is a modern day Nancy Drew series. But instead of being naturally curious, Hartley is haphazardly thrown into this world of amateur crime investigation.

Throughout all of her investigation attempts, all on the down-low, Hartley remains hilariously upbeat. She’s literally living a horror movie, but the story comes across as humorous with great side characters, like her best friend Samantha (Sam) and her new acquaintance, Chase.

Although I probably should have figured out the culprit quickly, I didn’t. Not only is the mystery difficult, but it’s SO ADDICTING! I read this in one day because I could NOT stop reading.

The sequel is Social Suicide, and it’s equally perfect. This is just a fantastic series, so go read them if you love murder mysteries and hilarity.

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Content Warning: Language

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Review: Death Cloud

Title: Death Cloud
Author: Andrew Lane
Published: 2010 by Farrar Straus Giroux
Series: Sherlock Holmes: The Legend Begins #1
Version: Hardcover
Obtained: Library

It is the summer of 1868, and Sherlock Holmes is fourteen. On break from boarding school, he is staying with eccentric strangers—his uncle and aunt—in their vast house in Hampshire. When two local people die from symptoms that resemble the plague, Holmes begins to investigate what really killed them, helped by his new tutor, an American named Amyus Crowe. So begins Sherlock’s true education in detection, as he discovers the dastardly crimes of a brilliantly sinister villain of exquisitely malign intent.

First Sentence:
“'You there! Come here!'
Sherlock Holmes turned to see who was being called and who was doing the calling.”

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I love Sherlock Holmes. And by that I don’t just mean I love Robert Downey Jr., though I do, I really love the Arthur Conan Doyle stories of this unstable genius of a man. However, I wasn’t all that excited to read about Sherlock as a kid. Then something on the cover caught my eye and reassured me. This is the first series about young Sherlock Holmes to be endorsed/approved by the Arthur Conan Doyle Estate.

Everything about this book is amazing and CRAZY.
Sherlock has to go live with his uncle and aunt in the countryside during his school break. While there, bored out of his mind, Sherlock meets a new friend, Mattie, and together they attempt to solve a mystery concerning strange deaths. Soon Sherlock’s tutor, Amyus Crowe, and his daughter Virginia join in to solve the mystery.

The easiest way for me to explain the awesome behind this evil plot is to ask you to think of the Alex Rider series. If you’ve read any of them, you’ll know this type of completely ingenious but dementedly evil plots. This villain is just pure evil and when you finally see him . . .*shudder*. He’s perfect in his villain-ness. In order to beat him, Sherlock, Mattie, Amyus, and Virginia must travel around England and France and escape death over and over again. It’s intense.

This Sherlock is (obviously) younger and he’s beginning to gain the skills he perfected as an adult. It’s interesting to see him mess-up frequently because of inexperience. At the same time, he amazes me with his already budding genius.

I desperately want to read the next book, which has already come out. Consider this series if you love the Alex Rider series, if you love Sherlock Holmes, or if you just love mysteries/adventures.

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Content Warnings: Possibly mild language

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Review: Grave Mercy

Title: Grave Mercy
Author: Robin LaFevers
Series: His Fair Assassin #1
Version: Hardcover
Published: 2012 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Obtained: Bought

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Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?
Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.
Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?

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First Sentence:
“I bear a deep red stain that runs from my left shoulder down to my right hip, a trail left by the herbwitch’s poison that my mother used to try to expel me from her womb.”

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This book is intimidating. I don’t know about you, but when I saw the page count (549 pg) and tried to understand the complex summary, I felt like giving up right there. Boy, am I happy I didn’t. I LOVE THIS BOOK.

Ismae is rescued from an abusive husband/life and brought to the convent of St. Mortain, the god of Death. There she learns to fight and kill and destroy men. As she is sent on assignments, she learns different things about the convent and who she is.

First off, I adored Ismae. I loved the feminism she possessed. While she was all “women are powerful,” she didn’t think men were inherently horrible. I mean, she had to get over the evil men from earlier in her life, but she soon understood that not all men were like those. Some men can love you for who you are and not hurt you. It wasn’t the feminism of Graceling by Kristen Cashore, where the powerful heroine doesn’t want to tie herself to any man. This was a true embrace of feminine power without down-grading men, aside from showing their weaknesses when it comes to beautiful women.

Ismae was a force of nature. Most epic, amazing, frightening assassin ever. She knew her job as an assassin and she wasn’t going to let anyone get in the way of her “calling.” However, as her big assignment progressed, she realized that maybe the convent wasn’t as perfect as she thought and maybe her “calling” was different.

Gavriel Duval, by the way, is like, the greatest guy ever. Their romance, which happens at the most perfect speed, is real. I knew where the emotions they felt towards each other stemmed from and understood what it would take to get past their differences and hang-ups.

The sequels to this book will be about Ismae’s two “sisters,” Annith and Sybella. I cannot wait to read about them, as they are introduced as such potentially complex and fascinating characters. The court intrigue did get a bit confusing and I was lost amidst the millions of names and evil plots. Also, one moment had me completely heartbroken for Anne. I felt despair and hopeless during that moment and had no clue how things could get better. Thankfully that wasn’t the ending. :)

I wait with eager anticipation for the two sequels to this fantastic book. I love the length, the world, the writing, etc.

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Content Warning: Kissing, blunt talk of seduction, affairs, mistresses, etc., implied sex.

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Review: The Scorpio Races

Title: The Scorpio Races
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Version: Hardcover
Published: 2011 by Scholastic Press
Obtained: Library

Some race to win. Others race to survive.

It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line.

Some riders live.

Others die.

At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.

Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a choice. So she enters the competition – the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.

First Sentence:
“It is the first day of November and so, today, someone will die.”

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Oh my. This book was in my possession for SO long. I was very hesitant to read it for some reason I can’t remember. Now that I finally have, I’m ready to read more by Maggie Stiefvater.

The Scorpio Races is a novel of dual narrations and a unique mythology. Think killer mermaids, but as horses. Water horses swim underwater and come to shore around October every year. People try to catch these human-hating horses so they can ride one for the Scorpio Races on November 1st. For this island, the races are their only tourism pull. It’s a huge deal, which is a bit morbid because quite a few people die every year. So we have our two characters: Puck Connolly (real name is Kate) and Sean Kendrick. They both desperately need to win for specific reasons, and yet they find themselves working together.

After reading the synopsis, I assumed this was a Hidalgo-like race. One that would take a few weeks to complete. I WAS COMPLETELY WRONG. It takes until page 380 out of 409 pages to start the race. However, this does not mean the book is boring. No way. The racers are required to spend two weeks training on the beach. And trust me, it gets exciting.

Also along the way to the race, the reader gets to see the different motives that drive Puck and Sean to race. We see Puck’s family life (I want Finn to be my brother) and Sean’s love for “his” horse, Corr. And because they both are so perfect for each other, Sean and Puck begin to fall in love. Their romance in NO way dominates the storyline. The plot continues to revolve around the coming race. However, their connection gives them a different opinion on their desired outcomes.

I was concerned about the ending, but Maggie worked it out smoothly in a way I wasn’t even considering as an option. It’s refreshing to be unsure of a book’s ending. The writing style was fine, nothing much to complain about except that the action scenes were sometimes very confusingly written. I found myself having no idea of what just happened.

Hopefully there won’t be a sequel because it really doesn’t need one.

Definitely read this. I highly enjoyed it and found it entirely compelling.

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Content Warning: Occasional language and kissing.

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Review: Beguiled

Title: Beguiled
Authors: Deeanne Gist & J. Mark Bertrand
Published: 2010 by Bethany House Publishing
Version: Paperback
Obtained: Bought

Rylee Monroe, a dogwalker in Charleston's wealthiest neighborhood, never feared the streets at night. But now a thief is terrorizing the area and worse, someone seems to be targeting her. Reporter Logan Woods is covering the break-ins with the hope of publishing them as a true-crime book. The more he digs, the more he realizes this beguiling dogwalker seems to be at the center of everything.As danger draws ever closer, Logan must choose: Chase the girl, the story, or plunge into the shadows after the villain who threatens everything?

 

 

First Sentence:
“Something wasn’t right.”

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Ugh. I’m just going to say it right up front: I did not enjoy this book.

Imagine this scenario. Take Christian aspiring romantic fiction novelist. Combine her with an “acclaimed, yet has only written one book” Christian suspense writer. Now have them write a book combining both of their interests: suspense and describing attractive people.
Yeah. It didn’t work.

Not only was the descriptions of both Rylee and Logan cringingly awkward, but their entire romance was just…ehh. They were cute together and I appreciated his concern for her safety, but they went from zero to ninety in a week or two. Annoyingly, unbelievably fast. Obviously they were attracted to each other. I had to spend half the book listening to them moon on about each other’s stunning muscles, long legs, attractive figures, tempting lips, etc, etc, etc. It was like a trashy romance novel turned Christian.

The underlying message was not particularly compelling and the final moment of tension (like all intense novels have) was rather lame. The only reason I kept reading was to get closure about the mystery. With so many options for the culprit, I could not even begin to assume my guess was correct. Honestly, once I found out who it was…it was just disappointing.

But if you like an interesting suspense/mystery novel that’s Christian, and can cringe past the terrible descriptions like I did, read it. The portions that Mr. Bertrand contributed do work, while Ms. Gist needs to work on her writing.

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Content Warnings: Kissing

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Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

Title: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
Author: Michelle Hodkin
Series: Mara Dyer #1
Published: 2011 by Simon & Schuster
Version: Hardcover
Obtained: Library

Mara Dyer doesn’t think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.
It can.
She believes there must be more to the accident she can’t remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed.
There is.
She doesn’t believe that after everything she’s been through, she can fall in love.
She’s wrong.

 

First Sentence:
"The ornate script on the board twisted in the candlelight, making the letters and numbers dance in my head."

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As you may have guessed from the vague summary, this book relies on confusion, surprise, an unreliable narrator, and the reader never knowing what the heck is going on.

I don’t want to ruin too much of the plot for you because the book needs you to be confused, but essentially this is the concept: Mara Dyer has come back from a stint in the hospital after a terrible accident that she can’t remember. They’ve changed states and everything because of her, and now she’s going to a new high school. She has these really weird episodes where she sees things that aren’t there, and relives the accident (which you don’t fully understand until the end). At the same time there is tension with everyone in her life, her family, new friends, and potential boyfriend, Noah.

All of these little “episodes” just make the book SO CONFUSING; you don’t know if something really happened or not. Because Mara is telling us the story, it’s hard to understand what’s real and what’s not. There are certain long extended sequences (one in particular) which, even at the end of the book, aren’t revealed to be true or false. This type of story can be very annoying for the reader. . .

But, as it was supposed to, this book drew me in. I became immersed in Mara’s messed up mind and wanted to know all her secrets and find out all that she had forgotten. Noah was a great match for her. Even though his character was a bit of a cliché, he was still a good guy who turned out to be very helpful to her sanity and emotional health.

I might not have loved this as much as many others did, but I did enjoy the suspense and the ending was crazy and cliffhanger-y. I look forward to reading the sequel soon!

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Content Warning: Kissing. A bit of language.

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