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.

Rating:

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

Rating:

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.

Rating:

Review: Maya Davis Series

Title: Cool Beans
              Latte Daze
              Double Shot
Author: Erynn Mangum
Published: All published in 2010 by NavPress
Version: Paperbacks
Obtained: Library

Cool Beans Summary:

Everything seems to be going perfectly for Maya Davis: She has a great job at a coffee shop, gets along with her parents, and is happily single. That is until her best friend unknowingly starts dating Maya’s high school sweetheart, her annoyingly perfect brother moves back to town, and her co-worker starts showing interest in her. What is God trying to teach her about life, love, and commiserating over coffee?

Latte Daze Summary:

When Maya Davis’ ex-boyfriend proposes to her roommate, Jen, their apartment becomes Wedding Central. As if that weren’t awful enough, Jen’s obnoxious mom moves in to help with the planning!
Maya's relationships really start to get crazy when her genius brother and sister-in-law announce their pregnancy, and then to top it off there’s Jack—could it be love? Who wouldn’t need a coffee break!

Double Shot Summary:

Now that Maya is engaged to Jack, the love of her life, everything should be perfect, but actually, it’s the opposite. Maya must trust that God is in control even when things seem to be a disastrous mess.

I now officially adore Erynn Mangum. I had thought that she couldn’t get much better than the Lauren Holbrook series, which was completely amazing (My review). However, apparently Erynn is just stock full of hilarious characters and great story lines that resonate with normal people like me.

Both of these series are about normal people. Normal people doing normal things. Dealing with normal problems. However, this becomes way more exciting than it sounds because Maya Davis (and Laurie Holbrook) is SUCH a character. Maya faces her insecurities like sibling rivalry, obsessive worrying, getting over long past relationships, telling the truth, etc. Yes, she’s a college graduate working at a coffee shop fulltime when she majored in English, but she’s a mostly normal 20-something Christian. As the series goes on, she matures, gets over past issues, learns to trust God more and more and commits to a relationship with none other than the dorkily amazing Jack.

I think that Maya should meet Lauren. They could bond over their love for chocolate, coffee, caffeine, junk food, and movies. Also they could tell stories of their adorable husbands. Essentially, I think Erynn writes herself, just with different issues, depending on the character.

Throwing this in here: I’m so glad these aren’t the contemporary stories that toss in a depressing death of a nice character just for drama. There is still plenty of drama in storylines that just sorta chill.

If you are a fan of contemporary Christian fiction, this series is DEFINITELY for you! Unless you like your stories all NicholasSparksian, full of drama. Then I would steer you towards historical Christian fiction (it’s either gonna be the dad or the newly married husband that dies).

:) Write on Mrs. Mangum, write on!

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Content Warning: Well, there’s some VERY NON-descriptive kissing.

Rating:

Review: Shadow and Bone

Title: Shadow and Bone
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Series: The Grisha Trilogy #1
Published: 2012 by Henry Holt
Version: Hardcover
Obtained: Bought

Alina Starkov doesn’t expect much from life. Orphaned by the Border Wars, the one thing she could rely on was her best friend and fellow refugee, Mal. And lately not even that seems certain. Drafted into the army of their war-torn homeland, they’re sent on a dangerous mission into the Fold, a swath of unnatural darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh.

When their convoy is attacked, all seems lost until Alina reveals a dormant power that not even she knew existed. Ripped from everything she knows, she is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling. He believes she is the answer the people have been waiting for: the one person with the power to destroy the Fold.

Swept up in a world of luxury and illusion, envied as the Darkling’s favorite, Alina struggles to fit into her new life without Mal by her side. But as the threat to the kingdom mounts, Alina uncovers a secret that sets her on a collision course with the most powerful forces in the kingdom. Now only her past can save her . . . and only she can save the future..

First Sentence:
“The servants called them malenchki, little ghosts, because they were the smallest and the youngest, and because they haunted the Duke’s house like giggling phantoms, darting in and out of rooms, hiding in cupboards to eavesdrop, sneaking into the kitchen to steal the last of the summer peaches.” (Prologue)

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Perfect.

I couldn’t even begin to start thinking of ways to explain my love for this novel. But I have thought of the word “perfect,” and I think it works pretty well.

The pacing? Perfect.
The characters? PERFECT.
The creativity of the plot? Perfect.
The writing style? Perfect for this story.
The cover? Perfect.
The ending? Perfect.
The “prologue” and “epilogue”? Perfect.

Also, I was just so emotionally invested in the story that I couldn’t handle reading it for but a few chapters at a time, and I wouldn’t pick it up until I knew I had time to read a chapter or two. This isn’t a bad thing, mind you. It’s a completely fantastic thing. Usually if I only half-care for a book, I can read a few pages and be fine. But for Shadow and Bone, I had to have time, time without distractions in which I could absorb every beautiful word in this beautiful book.

I was completely immersed in the world of Ravka. From the customs to the language, from the geography to the food. Every character, every moment, I was drawn into this creative world, fashioned mostly after Russian customs and languages. Please let the sequels come quickly because I want more than this taste.

Alina’s journey was not unlike that of the average heroine in a fantasy adventure novel, but she succeeded in shining through her normalness. But then again, she isn’t normal at all. I mean, she thinks she’s normal. She’s weak, skinny, and clumsy, but she remains unaware of how amazing she is. She’s smart, quick, and confident. She’s honest, way more honest and snappy than you would think based on her outward appearance. I cheered when she stood up for herself or made a decision contrary to what others were telling her to do. She acted so spunky even when she was feeling ugly or weak. I don’t blame her for anything that happened. I completely stand behind her on all of her decisions, even those that turned into mistakes. She was an inspiring main character and I hope to see more of her story in future books.

I have officially found the next best love-hate character. I both love and hate the Darkling. Sometimes I found him completely hot and irresistible and other times I hated him. But it was still a love-to-hate thing.

Baghra and Genya were amazingly complex side characters. I’m still confused about Genya and where she stands on all the junk that went down at the end. I loved her so much and thinking that she might be a character I soon have to dislike, is not making me happy.

If there is ANYTHING inside of you that craves a magical fantasy full of great characters in a creative world and wonderful writing that makes you lovingly read each and every word, read Shadow and Bone. I don’t know why you wouldn’t want to. It’s just so beautiful.

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Content Warnings: Kissing.

Rating:
 
Just so much love for this book.

Review: Pretty Crooked

Title: Pretty Crooked
Author: Elisa Ludwig
Series: Pretty Crooked #1
Published: 2012 by HarperCollins
Version: Hardcover
Obtained: Bought

Willa’s secret plan seems all too simple: take from the rich kids at Valley Prep and give to the poor ones.
Yet Willa’s turn as Robin Hood at her ultra-exclusive high school is anything but. Bilking her “friends”-known to everyone as the Glitterati-without them suspecting a thing, is far from easy. Learning how to pick pockets and break into lockers is as difficult as she’d thought it’d be. Delivering care packages to the scholarship girls, who are ostracized just for being from the “wrong” side of town, is way more fun than she’d expected.
The complication Willa didn’t expect, though, is Aidan Murphy, Valley Prep’s most notorious (and gorgeous) ace-degenerate. His mere existence is distracting Willa from what matters most to her-evening the social playing field between the have and have-nots. There’s no time for crushes and flirting with boys, especially conceited and obnoxious trust-funders like Aidan.
But when the cops start investigating the string of burglaries at Valley Prep and the Glitterati begin to seek revenge, could he wind up being the person that Willa trusts most?

First Sentence:
“To the locals, it was probably a weird sight: a short blond girl in a miniskirt and laced-up boots, riding through the desert on a bright orange 1970 Schwinn Suburban on an early September morning.”

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This attempt at bringing a Robin Hood–esque plot into modern day succeeded in making me very ticked off at the main character, while still appreciating her kind heart.

Although this was an entertaining and funny book, the main character made a thousand idiotic mistakes in her attempts at “evening out the playing field.” I understand wanting to help those who are bullied. It’s a serious problem, and this book’s insight into the online bullying world was very depressing (I don’t understand people who want to hurt others…). However, I’m pretty sure that the way Willa went about it wasn’t very helpful at all. Instead of actually standing up to the BULLY, she just went about making the targets even bigger targets by giving them suspiciously expensive clothes. I mean, it was nice to think of them, and I’m sure the girls appreciated looking nice, but it didn’t accomplish much in the long run. Also, it took half the book before Willa decided to steal anything. The beginning was all her making friends with the rich kids and spending too much money while trying to keep up with their lifestyle. I kept getting mad at her through this portion because her mom had trusted her. Although I thought Willa was sweet to be so legitimately concerned with helping those who had less, she mostly got on my nerves for being so stupid in her plans. It was less “mischief” and more plain old “crime.”

I do not blame her one bit though for wondering about her mom. Seriously, what is up with that woman??? I need that to be resolved quickly in the next book.

Elisa Ludwig has a very firm grasp on the social world of high-schoolers. Willa’s one real friend, Cherise, is an example of girls who do things they don’t agree with just to stay friends with the popular kids. I kept wanting Cherise to REALLY stand up for what she believed in, instead of saying a few words to Kellie and Nikki, the bullies. Aidan Murphy was the love interest and I did like him. Although I never could see how he was drop-dead attractive based on the physical descriptions of him, his conversations with Willa made me like him. He was all flirtation (I never did see how he had that HUGE reputation though…) mixed with the insecurities and problems of all teenage guys. My absolute favorite character is Tre. I loved his friendship with Willa and the way he was there for her even though he didn’t agree with her (probably a lot like most of the readers actually).

The plotline just got more and more confusing and frustrating as Willa’s mom was very secretive and there was curiosity about Aidan that was never resolved. Actually, nothing was resolved in the end except Willa’s “fate” (which by the way worked out WAY too easily). It was all very ambiguous and annoying.

So bottom line: I enjoyed the perspective the author gave me and good heart of the main character, but I was rather put off by the unrealistic-ness and the stupid decisions of the main character. It was fun, and I will read the second book, Pretty Sly, which comes out May 2012, in hopes that Willa has changed a bit and the character mysteries are resolved.

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Content Warnings: Language, bullying, kissing

Rating: