Review: Scarlet

Scarlet

by Marissa Meyer

The Lunar Chronicles, book two

Show less

Book Description:

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison--even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

 

Review:

I loved Cinder so much that I was actually a little nervous to read this book. However, I need not have been worried! Meyer manages to blend both storylines so well that both Cinder and Scarlet become and stay compelling heroines. This gives me great hope that the series will continue to be EPIC.

 

Anyway... Cinder's storyline continues to be intriguing and at the moment heartbreaking. In the chapters that alternated (one for every two or three Scarlet chapters) interspersed into the larger story, we get to see Cinder escape from prison and continue to learn more about her back story. As much as we learned here, I can't wait for the next book (Cress, 2014) to find out even more - what Cinder can do, who can help her, how exactly she became who she is today.

 

Scarlet's story not only brought in new characters, but also added dimension to Cinder's tale. We find out more about Queen Levana's plans and what she has in place on earth. Wolf's character is both there for his overall "hunkiness" and to help move that plotline along rather nicely. You can really see Meyer's talent as a storyteller and worldbuilder. Things that seemingly have no connection end up building upon one another to create a more fleshed world.

 

A fantastic addition to the Lunar Chronicles series.

Gold Star Review: Etiquette and Espionage

Etiquette and Espionage

by Gail Carriger

Finishing School, book one

Publication date: February 5, 2013

Book Description:
It's one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It's quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to Finishing School.

Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is a great trial to her poor mother. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners--and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. So she enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But Sophronia soon realizes the school is not quite what her mother might have hoped. At Mademoiselle Geraldine's, young ladies learn to finish...everything. Certainly, they learn the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but the also learn to deal out death, diversion, and espionage--in the politest possible ways, of course. Sophronia and her friends are in for a rousing first year's education.

Review:
Gail Carriger is awesome. I love her blend of steampunk and the paranormal. I LOVED this first book in the Finishing School series. 

The blend of proper behavior, the distinct ignoring of said proper behavior (LOL), adventure, friendships, and "mechanimals" was brilliant. There are airships, balls, poison classes, "sooties," werewolves, and of course, Bumbersnoot. Who is Bumbersnoot? Why he's the most fashionable little mechanical dachsund ever! He eats coal, produces ash, and can conceal a prototype for the proper Lady spy.

The tie-ins to Carriger's adult series had me giggling throughout. Hints dropped here, there, and everywhere. :) I don't want to give anything away, but if you've read her other series, you will find at least one or two familiar faces...

With wonderful witty word choices and frankly fashionable fetes, Etiquette and Espionage is a bang-up start to a new series that leaves me shouting, "HUZZAH!" I cannot wait to return to Finishing School!

 

A gold star book, indeed. And, just to whet the appetite, check out this awesome trailer that was created for the book! LOVE.  

 



Review: Bad Hair Day

Bad Hair Day

by Carrie Harris

Kate Grable series, book two

 

Book Description:

Kate Grable is geeked out to shadow the county medical examiner as part of her school's premed program. But after he's arrested for murder, she's left with the bodies. And when Kate's brother, Jonah, stumbles upon a dead gamer girl, Kate realizes that the zombie epidemic she cured last fall was only the beginning of the weirdness taking over her town. Someone—or something—is murdering kids. Something really hairy. And strong. Possibly with claws.

Could it be werewolves, like Jonah and his dorktastic friends think? Kate's supposed to be a butt-kicking, zombie-killing genius . . . but if she can't figure out what's behind the freakish attacks, the victims—or what's left of them—are going to keep piling up.

 

Review:

Oh, Carrie Harris... how do I love your books? Let me count the ways:
1. Sassy heroine
2. SMART heroine
3. Good friends
4. A great boyfriend
5. Funny, loyal brother
6. Viral Zombies
7. Hilarious LARP groupies
8. "Werewolves" (or are they...)
9. Nanobots
10. Geektastic internships with Doctors
11. A "Rock"-a-Thon

This book once again made me laugh out loud, even as I was marveling at the brilliant blend of the paranormal and hardcore science. I love that for every weird phenomenon that happens, there is a perfectly viable explanation and, of course...Kate is always right there to fix things!

The perfect vacation read (I tore through this one while I was in Martha's Vineyard, in fact), I am going to bestow a beautiful Gold Star to this book!

 

 

Bad Hair Day is coming out this November! 

Cover Craving...Bad Hair Day!!

Bad Hair Day

by Carrie Harris

sequel to Bad Taste in Boys

Publication date: unknown

LOVE this! Almost as much as I loved the weird cover for Bad Taste in Boys!

This is such a fun series and I am stoked to read this as soon as it finally comes out!!! 

AND...for a hilarious addition to your day, check out this post on Carrie Harris' blog to see a video of a ton of author's worst hair days!! :P

Review: Dead is Not an Option

Dead is Not an Option

by Marlene Perez

Dead Is series, book five 

Book Description:
It’s springtime of senior year, and psychic sleuth Daisy Giordano is preparing to say goodbye to Nightshade High. But no college acceptance letters have arrived yet, and she’s beginning to worry about where she’ll end up come fall—and if it will be anywhere near her boyfriend, Ryan. But that’s not the only uncertainty Daisy’s dealing with. There’s a vamps-versus-shifters war going on in Nightshade, and things are so tense that there is talk of canceling the prom. The conflict is carrying over to the Giordano home, since Rose and Daisy are both dating werewolves and Poppy’s new boyfriend is a vampire.

Can the paranormal community in Nightshade finally find peace?
And will Daisy and her friends survive graduation?

Review:
You know that feeling you get when you pick up a book and you have no doubts that you will love it...that you will lose yourself in it? That feeling when you meet an old friend. The feeling when you anticipate laughing out loud...

Yup. For me, this series is exactly THAT. I love these books. I love Daisy, the main character, and her friends and family. I love the paranormal elements - psychics, werewolves, vampires, and more! I love the mysteries, danger, excitement...

Okay, okay. I'll stop gushing. Let me just say, that I sincerely hope this is not the final book in the series.