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Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Ten- Gretchen McNeil




It was supposed to be the weekend of their lives—an exclusive house party on Henry Island. Best friends Meg and Minnie each have their reasons for being there (which involve T.J., the school’s most eligible bachelor) and look forward to three glorious days of boys, booze and fun-filled luxury.




But what they expect is definitely not what they get, and what starts out as fun turns dark and twisted after the discovery of a DVD with a sinister message: Vengeance is mine.



Suddenly people are dying, and with a storm raging, the teens are cut off from the outside world. No electricity, no phones, no internet, and a ferry that isn’t scheduled to return for two days. As the deaths become more violent and the teens turn on each other, can Meg find the killer before more people die? Or is the killer closer to her than she could ever imagine?(less)






Okay so I just finished Ten, which apparently is based on a Agatha Christie novel called And Then There Were None.Which I will now have to read.

I was less than impressed with this novel; I guess I expected a little scarier and a little less like reading the screenplay for Scream 29. *eye roll*

First off this plays on every stereotype in a slasher film and most of the little “rules” like the virgin lives so don’t have sex, don’t drink cause the person who lives is usually drug free, smart and pure.

The characters were as follows:

The Brain

The Virigin

The Slut

The Bitch

The Jock

The Funny Guy

The Nice Guy

The author did pick a varying degree of ethnicities, Asian, black, Samoan, which was nice to see. The twist wasn’t horrible, I didn’t have it quite figured out at the end (mainly cause I didn’t care) but since this wasn’t a ghost story I figured it had to be a Jason and his mom type plot.

I felt the characters were flat and the love plot between Meg and TJ was ridiculous, especially at the end where they are all mushy gooshy never-leave-me-love-me-forever, neither act traumatized that all their friends are fucking DEAD!

Now my biggest pet peeve with this novel. Meg and Minnie. Meg is the “heroine” and I use that term loosely. Having several BFF’s of my own their friendship pissed me right the fuck off. We start out the story with Meg mentioning how difficult a time Minnie has had since being diagnosed with a severe depression and anxiety disorder and is still getting used to her med. As someone who deals with this I can tell you it’s very frustrating and the irrational thoughts that go through your mind are so hard to manage.

Minnie and Meg have been BFF for five years; Minnie has come to her defense and chose to be Meg’s friend at the loss of her own budding popularity. However all Meg does in this book is think about how relieved she will be to go to college out of town and away from Minnie. Minnie, afraid her friend is abandoning her (and she is and just won’t admit it) is extra clingy.

From Meg’s POV you find she considers herself Meg’s care taker and such a GOOD FRIEND, but her inner monologue is anything but, we never see their friendship from Minnie’s POV. And to make matters worse Minnie and Meg are in luuuurrrv with the same boy who only has the hots for Meg, who lies to Minnie about being asked to the Home Coming Dance with the hottie McHotness. One) You NEVER go after your BF’s crush…big bad rule and two) if you do you don’t lie about it. Minnie might be the “slut” of this horror movie but she’s not dumb and I feel bad for her character (I mean someone steals her meds!) In the end she was the true victim on this novel.

The author also took a weird slant and poked fun at two girls who obviously had mental disorders, Minnie who was very depressed and Claire who committed suicide and just wanted to fit in. (Which was a little too Carrie for my taste.)

So if you want an easy silly read go for it, you know at the beach or while your sig other is watching something you hate. If you want something a with decent humor, and horror movie fun skip this and go watch a good horror film like Cabin in the Woods.





Waiting on Wednesday- Cruel Beauty

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by http://www.breakingthespine.blogspot.com/

Ah I am a sucker for a fairy tale retelling, especially one that looks dark and compelling. So this week’s Waiting on Wednesday is all about:


Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

A Beauty and the Beast retelling. I especially love that the main character is named Nyx, who is the Goddess of Night.

This novel is 352 pages long and come out in January 2013

Found here:


 

 


The romance of Beauty and the Beast meets the adventure of Graceling in a dazzling fantasy novel about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.




Betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom, Nyx has always known her fate was to marry him, kill him, and free her people from his tyranny.


But on her seventeenth birthday, when she moves into his castle high on the kingdom's mountaintop, nothing is as she expected—particularly her charming and beguiling new husband.



Nyx knows she must save her homeland at all costs, yet she can't resist the pull of her sworn enemy—who's gotten in her way by stealing her heart.



For fans of bestselling authors Kristin Cashore and Alex Flinn, this gorgeously written debut infuses the classic fairy tale with glittering magic, a feisty heroine, and a romance sure to take your breath away




Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Revel- Maurissa Guibord



There’s an island off the coast of Maine that’s not on any modern map.




Shrouded in mist and protected by a deadly reef, Trespass Island is home to a community of people who guard the island and its secrets from outsiders. Seventeen-year-old Delia grew up in Kansas, but has come here in search of her family and answers to her questions: Why didn’t her mother ever talk about Trespass Island? Why did she fear the open water? But Delia’s not welcome and soon finds herself enmeshed in a frightening and supernatural world where ancient Greek symbols adorn the buildings and secret ceremonies take place on the beach at night.



Sean Gunn, a handsome young lobsterman, befriends Delia and seems willing to risk his life to protect her. But it’s Jax, the coldly elusive young man she meets at the water’s edge, who finally makes Delia understand the real dangers of life on the island. Delia is going to have to fight to survive. Because there are monsters here. And no one ever leaves Trespass alive.





So ANOTHER library book turned out to be really good.

When I picked up Revel I was thinking kind of a Wicker Man vibe, girl gets to island, is not allowed to leave and there is dark scary stuff around every corner.

What I found was a really cool book that merged small town prejudiced, Greek mythology, romance and the sea and turned it into something pretty interesting.

I cannot tell you how many mermaid/siren/water creature type books simply have been like YUCK. They just don’t appeal to me, about the same with books on fairies and angels; I just don’t care for them. So when this turned out to be similar I was like WOW, really? I LIKE this! Maybe it’s because I didn’t quite get that vibe a head of time so it was a nice wet surprise.

This story I felt was very different from a lot of the other YA around. The girl comes into magic and has to learn how to use it; she is a strong and independent. The story has great imagery, and the plot is good and kept me engaged.

There was an almost love triangle and some insta love, but it was easily over looked.

My only complaint was a felt while the MC and her love interest were flushed out the rest of the characters didn’t have a ton of depth. Though the vibe from the villagers was very reminiscent of how people in a cult, like a polygamist sect, are. They don’t know any better because this is how they are raised, they don’t feel like life could get better and that it is scarier outside than anything that might go on inside.

Be for warned there is an allusion of rape during the Revel, I mean girls present themselves to mystical god like water creatures called the Firsts (when they are 16!!!) who pick one and have sex with her, whether she wants it or not….The girls on the island just think this is how it is, they don’t really consider saying no….So that was a bit disturbing.

This was a good book and a fun read. Enjoy!








Top Ten Weirdest Names in Books I've Read



This week I am going with: Top Ten Weirdest Names Found in Books


Top Ten is Hosted By http://brokeandbookish.blogspot.com and it a super fun meme to play along with.

1) Reneeseme - from the Twilight Saga, uck, yuck….This name is one of those horrible mash up names…I mean come on they nickname her NESSIE

2) Acheron- From Dark Hunters, it’s kind of cool, but this is the river of sorrow in the underworld, super suck…His real name isn’t much better Aspostles.

3)Gorse - from Curse of the 13th Fey a sleeping beauty retelling from the fairy’s point of view.

4)Syrenka From Monstrous Beauty, though even with the weird mermaid name how can you not LOVE this book.

5) Eff from the Frontier Magic trilogy by Patricia C Wrede, weird name, great series!

6) Rhine from Wither….. Couldn’t get over that it made me think of orange peelings

7)Sorcha From Daughter of the Forest, odd name, cool character… Isn’t there a Game of Thrones character named Sorcha now too?

8) All of the names from Black Dagger Brotherhood Vishous, Rhage, Wrath etc…etc..

9)Manon The Book of Beings, was a self-published novel I reviewed this year. Yes that’s a GIRL’s name.

10) Verity The Caged Graves, it’s more old fashioned than weird, but still uncommon.



And just to let you all know if you enjoy books with weird or uncommon names you should check out my own novels. With characters like Hellebella, Ereshkigal and Rhodanthe I fit into this category quite nicely.