Book Review: Vengeance Road

Title: Vengeance Road
Author: Erin Bowman
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Expected Publication Date: September 1st, 2015
Summary: When Kate Thompson’s father is killed by the notorious Rose Riders for a mysterious journal that reveals the secret location of a gold mine, the eighteen-year-old disguises herself as a boy and takes to the gritty plains looking for answers and justice. What she finds are devious strangers, dust storms, and a pair of brothers who refuse to quit riding in her shadow. But as Kate gets closer to the secrets about her family, she gets closer to the truth about herself and must decide if there's room for love in a heart so full of hate.


Review: **Copy provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

Vengeance Road was a quick read, though it was not at all light. It was packed with adventure and action, and of course, revenge - one of my favourite themes in novels.

While the language and tone used throughout the whole book was at first jarring, by the end of the third chapter it was not at all noticeable and did not take from the story at all. The story itself flowed decently, though the twist near the end hindered the story more than helped in my opinion. There is not that much that I can say about this book, aside from the fact it was okay.

It had all the trimmings of an amazing novel but fell a bit short with its characters. They seemed a little two-dimensional, not enough depth packed in to make me really feel something when tragedy struck them. I mean, they weren't bad characters, I liked them okay, they were just not lively enough or really even memorable.

Frankly, even though I am a little disappointed by Vengeance Road I'd still give it three and a half stars because as I said, aside from the characters and the twist, the story was alright. I really do hope Erin Bowman writes more in this universe - I would read it, as I do love westerns - because the world building was pretty good. Maybe others will feel differently about the characters, so I definitely do recommend anybody who likes revenge and adventure to pick up this book

Rating: 3/5 stars
★★★✰✰

Book Review: The Accident Season

Title: The Accident Season
Author: Moira Fowley-Doyle
Publisher: Corgi Childrens
Expected Publication Date: August 18th, 2015
Summary: The accident season has been part of seventeen-year-old Cara's life for as long as she can remember. Towards the end of October, foreshadowed by the deaths of many relatives before them, Cara's family becomes inexplicably accident-prone. They banish knives to locked drawers, cover sharp table edges with padding, switch off electrical items - but injuries follow wherever they go, and the accident season becomes an ever-growing obsession and fear.

But why are they so cursed? And how can they break free?

Review: **Copy provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

The Accident Season is one of those books that I can't quite decide whether I loved or hated. On one hand, I loved the queer aspects to this book and the eerie feeling that surrounded the story. On the other, sometimes the writing was quite pretentious, and as well as that vague. I had only the faintest clue what was happening for most of the book.

I feel like the writing style didn't allow me to connect with the characters at all, especially with the switching between points of view that happened randomly throughout the story between Cara and then that weird third person that sometimes happened. I couldn't really get a proper grip on this book because of that.

Other aspects of the book felt quite contrived, especially the parts with the masquerade ball. I found myself eye-rolling through quite a lot of the dance planning scenes, and then in the actual dance itself. Also, the whole thing was pretty idiotic - the house was most likely private property and it was in ramshackles. Something really bad could have happened which the main characters did not seem to care about in the slightest despite the fact that it was the accident season.

The metal statue man was another source of frustration later in the book. Was he or was he not Christopher? This was never resolved. Neither was the case of the disappearing shop that Cara and Sam went to. A lot of things happened in this book that seemed significant at the time but were barely mentioned again.

Overall, I'd have to give this book a solid three stars. It could have been better, but it also could have been worse.

Rating: 3/5 stars

★★★✰✰

Book Review: The Corridor

Title: The Corridor
Author: A.N Willis
Publisher: Alloy Entertainment
Year of Publication: 2015
Summary: Infinite worlds. Endless possibilities . . . 

Stel Alaster has never known life without the Corridor. It appeared suddenly seventeen years ago, the only portal to a parallel version of our world—Second Earth. Everyone on First Earth fears Mods, the genetically modified Second Earthers who built the Corridor. They are too smart, too strong, and have powers that can’t be controlled. Any Mod found on First Earth is branded, then detained in the Corridor’s research labs.

Only Stel has a dangerous secret. She has a power, too: She can open a portal to Second Earth . . . and several other parallel universes she’s discovered. If anyone ever finds out, she’ll be imprisoned, no better than a Mod or common lab rat.

But when the Corridor starts to fail, emitting erratic bursts of energy that could destroy First Earth, Stel must risk everything to save the people and world she loves. With the help of an escaped Mod and an infuriatingly arrogant boy from a third universe, Stel sets out to unravel the mysteries of the Corridor and stabilize it before it’s too late. The fate of every world lies in the balance.

Review: **Copy provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

The thing that disappointed me most about The Corridor was that it had potential. So much potential. But it was let down by the character development and the progression of the story.

Probably the first thing that irked me about The Corridor was the time skip. Six whole months from the first chapter to the second. We are told later in the story that Estele did certain things in these six months, like exploring the Barrens and learning to control her powers. We are told a lot of things during this story, and I am left to wonder... why were we shown none of this? It would have made a huge positive impact on the novel if the author had included these things.

One of my biggest pet peeves is protagonists who seem to have the memory of a goldfish, especially when it comes to friends and love interests. That and instantly forging bonds with people without any sort of development. There were so many instances in this story where it happened that I don't know if it's possible to list them all. These were the main ones I can recall:

• Estele and her friendship group. The beginning of the story makes it seems like she has one friend - Lissa. Then suddenly an old friend pops in and she hangs out with them for a whole scene and references things they used to do together. Do you think we ever hear of any of them again? Nope. Well, one of them got a brief mention, but that is about it.
• Flinn. The moment Estele meets him she's totally falling head over heels in lust with him. Then she spends all of two scenes with his brother and it's like, Flinn who?
• And Ana. After spending one night with her and Cohl, they are suddenly bff. Do you know how much of that friendship we got to see? Zilch.
• Cohl! One moment he's this creepy guy who essentially stalks her, the next? Almost insta-love.

Estele and Lissa's friendship was also another source of frustration from this book. There was no substance to it! Absolutely none! We're told all these things about how their friendship was, and you know how much of it I believe? Zero. It felt very fake, as with most of her relationships, and in suit left the story feeling a little wooden.

Still, as much as these inconsistencies bothered me, the story was for the most part, bearable. I was intrigued by the different worlds and how they worked, even if the science behind it was a little vague, and this is essentially what kept me reading. Overall, I'd give this book 2.5 stars, rounding up to 3 for good measure.

Rating: 3/5 stars

★★★✰✰

Book Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

Title: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
Author: Michelle Hodkin
Year of publication: 2011
Summary:  Mara Dyer believes life can't 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 strangely unharmed.
There is. 

She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love.
She's wrong.

Review: Mara Dyer was one of those books that I really wanted to like. I did. It had everything that my book snob heart so very much desires - mysteries, murder, paranormal activity. It was, for the most part, well written, however the parts that were not were enough to make me dislike the whole story.

For example... Anna and Aiden. Why? What made the duo such heartless cretins? No one is that malicious over a dumb boy. I expected a proper answer by the end of the story, but nope. They were there only to play the part of the cliche bullies.

Also, Jamie. She knows this guy for all of one minute, he barely gets any screen time and suddenly when he's expelled he's her best friend, cue sobbing. If that was not bad enough, to top it all off once Mara has her little hissy fit she forgets all about him and isn't mentioned again! Some best friend, hey?

I can forgive Mara for her stupidity in this novel. Okay, she's just been through a very traumatic event, she's not thinking straight. I get it, I understand -it's realistic. PTSD is terrifying.  It was disappointing that she was, quoth herself, a "Whitey McWhiterson" when her brothers all shared their mothers skin tone. Alright, genetics and whatnot yada yada. But it would have been nice to have a PoC heroine. I don't see why she, like all the other YA heroines with few exceptions had to be as pale as Snow White's ass or whatever.

Noah annoyed me to no end. His behavior throughout the story was creepy and possessive and I just wanted him to go away. His one redeeming feature was that he helped Mara save Mabel. I am sucker for doggy sob stories. Stop stupid YA love interests 2k15 please.

Aside from the characters, I felt some things should have taken more of a major role over the story - such as the Jordana Palmer case. It really didn't get any attention til the very end of the book, when I think maybe it should have. Plus the Anna/Aiden vs Mara fiasco. Seriously, how am I supposed to believe that it was hate at first sight? Just dumb. At least give it more of an arc in the story. I don't need them to forgive each other at the end and become all buddy buddy besties or whatever. I just need it to be believable that Anna hates Mara so intensely that she would cause all of this drama, enough to get someone expelled.

Overall, it was not terrible. But it just wasn't good. The ending was not enough of a cliffhanger to give me reason to want to read the second book after the first one was lackluster at best. Very disappointing, in my opinion. I expected better.

Rating: 3/5 stars
★★★✰✰

Book Review: Appaloosa Summer

Title: Appaloosa Summer
Author: Tudor Robins
Year of publication: 2014
Summary: Sixteen-year-old Meg Traherne has never known loss. Until the beautiful, talented horse she trained herself, drops dead underneath her in the show ring.

Jared Strickland has been living with loss ever since his father died in a tragic farming accident.

Meg escapes from her grief by changing everything about her life; moving away from home to spend her summer living on an island in the St. Lawrence River, scrubbing toilets and waiting on guests at a B&B.

Once there, she meets Jared; doing his best to keep anything else in his life from changing.

When Jared offers Meg a scruffy appaloosa mare out of a friend’s back field, it’s the beginning of a journey that will change both of them by the end of the summer.


Review:  **Copy kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

Appaloosa Summer delivers a light, charming, read that is suitable for both Middle-Grade and YA readers. The horse-training and casual running of a B&B was on point, and the atmosphere of the story was beautiful. Tudor Robins clearly has extensive knowledge of both subjects, as well as the Wolfe Island/Kingston area.

I liked the main character, Meg, a lot. She was somewhat sparky, and her journey through her grief was believable, and definitely not rushed through and forgotten about. She felt like a real teenage girl living on her own for the first time, even if it was only for the summer. Her relationships with the other characters were palpable, and reading through her life was an enjoyable experience.

I enjoyed Jared’s character too. It was great having a love interest in the story who did not solely exist to add romance to the novel. His grief and story felt real, too, and I identified with his fear of leaving the island. As someone who suffers from anxiety, it was great to find it in another character without it taking over the whole novel.

I would have enjoyed having more of Slate in the story. I felt like we didn’t really know her that well although she interacted with Meg via text through a lot of the novel, but my personal head-canon due to the last couple of chapters is that she is totally queer (or at least that Lacey is), and as a queer person myself, I would have enjoyed potential confirmation of the fact.

I only really have minimal complaints about this story. One would be the lack of action in the story, another would be how that at points the characters felt very two dimensional, and the last would be how the timing of the story really wasn’t clear. At the beginning, I thought the story was taking place at the end of a summer, but instead it was the opposite.

As this is apparently book one in a series, I would expect for the action to pick up substantially in the next in order to keep the pages turning, and perhaps a little more drama as Appaloosa Summer was virtually free of it. Overall though, it was a worthwhile read, solid enough to make me want to read book two whenever it comes out, and earn itself three stars.

Rating: 3/5 stars
★★★✰✰

Book Review: Frenemy of the People

Title: Frenemy of the People
Author: Nora Olsen
Year of publication: 2014
Summary: Clarissa and Lexie couldn’t be more different. Clarissa is a chirpy, optimistic do-gooder and a top rider on the school’s equestrian team. Lexie is an angry, punk rock activist and the only out lesbian at their school.

When Clarissa declares she’s bi and starts a Gay-Straight Alliance, she unwittingly presses all of Lexie’s buttons, so Lexie makes it her job to cut Clarissa down to size. But Lexie goes too far and finds herself an unwitting participant in Clarissa’s latest crusade. Both are surprised to find their mutual loathing turning to love.

A change in her family’s fortunes begins to unravel Clarissa’s seemingly perfect life, and the girls’ fledgling love is put to the test. Clarissa and Lexie each have what the other needs to save their relationship and the people they love from forces that could tear them all apart.


Review: **Copy kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

Frenemy of the People was such an adorable, light read. I wasn't so sure I would like it at the start - the first chapter felt clunky and claustrophobic but it got progressively better from the second chapter out.

The story did have it's flaws though. The characters were unique - but yes, they had their initial stereotypes, even if they quickly became so much more. Clarissa was such a naive airhead in the beginning of the story, reminding me a lot of Bianca Stratford a la 10 Things I Hate About You, but like Bianca she slowly revealed that she did indeed have a brain in there, even if her moods gave me whiplash sometimes, and her view on homeless people was kind of disgusting.

Lexie was pretty brash, and said a lot of things that could be interpreted offensively. Such as: "You just realised? How do you really know? Have you ever even kissed a girl?" Look… Lexie, you’re gay. You should know what it feels like when people say this to you. You do not need to have kissed or done anything else with a girl to know you are gay or bi or pan or queer or whatever. It’s about attraction. Most of the time though, Lexie takes it upon herself to be educated about why what she has said is offensive.

I identified strongly with Clarissa's fears after Lexie asked her how she really knew [that she was bi]. Being told by somebody in the LGBTQ+ community that you have to have kissed a girl to really know you like them is a really harsh blow, especially if you've been told the same thing by people outside the community previously.

That being said though, you should probably not go up to random strangers and ask them for a kiss.

And you should definitely not throw rocks through bank windows, or bulldoze houses, no matter how angry or in love you are. Seriously, don't. You will wind up in jail. I can't believe neither of the girls really got busted for either of their actions.

I can't believe Lexie's parents didn't forbid her from going to homecoming after what she did, either. I get that her parents are not really good ones, but still, sheesh. That's being awful lenient considering their daughter drove a bulldozer into a house.

Overall, the novel really was charming though, especially Desi. It definitely is the type of story that leaves you smiling for ages afterward, and I think that this one deserves a wider audience than what it currently has. Actual rating = 3.5 stars, but rounding down for the sake of uniformity.

Rating: 3/5 stars
★★★✰✰

Book Review: Adaption

Title: Adaption
Author: Malinda Lo
Year of Publication: 2012
Summary: Across North America, flocks of birds hurl themselves into airplanes, causing at least a dozen to crash. Thousands of people die. Fearing terrorism, the United States government grounds all flights, and millions of travelers are stranded.

Reese and her debate team partner and longtime crush David are in Arizona when it happens. Everyone knows the world will never be the same. On their drive home to San Francisco, along a stretch of empty highway at night in the middle of Nevada, a bird flies into their headlights. The car flips over. When they wake up in a military hospital, the doctor won’t tell them what happened, where they are—or how they’ve been miraculously healed.

Things become even stranger when Reese returns home. San Francisco feels like a different place with police enforcing curfew, hazmat teams collecting dead birds, and a strange presence that seems to be following her. When Reese unexpectedly collides with the beautiful Amber Gray, her search for the truth is forced in an entirely new direction—and threatens to expose a vast global conspiracy that the government has worked for decades to keep secret.


Review: Overall, Adaption was a good read. The characters were good, the story was good... it just wasn't as great as I thought it would be. It was very loosely wound, and though I read it in basically no time at all it never kept me on the edge of my seat. For as many pages as there was, there really wasn't enough steam.

Reese and Amber's relationship kind of read a little like one out of a Julie Anne Peters book - I just wasn't entirely convinced. It all seemed a little contrived, as much as I wanted to be totally on board with it and shipping it like crazy. Her relationship with David felt a little more real, though I think I like them better as friends.

I kind of wished there was more about the aliens, maybe a little spookiness, and perhaps a little more description. I'm hoping Inheritance will be better, maybe more fast paced.

Recommended for: Fans of Julie Anne Peters, LGBTQ+ Teens

Rating:  3/5 stars
 ★★★✰✰

Book review: Anna Dressed in Blood

Title: Anna Dressed in Blood
Author: Kendare Blake
Year of Publication: 2011
Summary: Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead. So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill.

Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. They follow legends and local lore, destroy the murderous dead, and keep pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

Searching for a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas expects the usual: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

 Yet she spares Cas's life.


Review: Okay, firstly for all the things I didn't like about this book, I do have to say parts of it genuinely gave me chills. The author spins a good story, one that kept me turning the pages. Most of the problems I had were with the characters, namely our protagonist, Cas.

Cas came off as extremely arrogant, making a lot of observations of people that never really shone through in the story. A lot of the background characters felt like they should have been fleshed out more - they never lived up to Cas's judgement of them, which by the way, jumped from place to place without even so much as a wink from the ones he was judging. Seriously, it kind of gave me whiplash.

A lot of the dialogue and interactions between the characters felt a little choppy, especially towards the beginning, though towards the end they did get a little better. To be honest, I didn't really give a hoot about most of the people the book centred on, with the exception of Cas's mom, I guess.

Nevertheless, it was still a pretty good read, and I am hoping the issues I had with the characters are resolved in book two, which I am looking forward to reading. Overall, I'd give this book a solid three stars.

Rating: 3/5 stars
★★★✰✰