Kaede kicks ass in HUNTRESS by Malinda Lo

The ancient world in Huntress is dying.  The seasons won't change, the sky is a constant shade of grey, crops are dried up, and people are starving.  Kaede and Taisin are two teenage girls in an academy training to be sages.  Taisin is a gifted sage from a humble birth, while Kaede has remained in the academy despite any magical ability because she is the chancellor's daughter.

When the King receives an invitation from the Fairy Queen, Taisin's visions and a prophecy determine that Kaede and Taisin  must accompany Prince Con into the world of fairy.  Taisin's only worried about one thing: in her vision, she's in love with Kaede and sages must take a vow of celibacy. Taisin wants more than anything to be a sage and is determined to not let any feelings get in her way.

Huntress by Malinda Lo is a splendid fantasy full of both intense adventure and a sweet romance.  The love story in this book feels so genuine and pure.  I kept reading late into the night just to see more interaction between these two girls.

Huntress is technically a prequel to Ash, Lo's retelling of Cinderella.  Although I loved Ash as well, I feel like Huntress is the stronger book and is easy to read completely on its own.   If you like Graceling by Kristin Cashore ( I love it!) then I think you'll enjoy Huntress as well.

And for you writer-types, Lo does something interesting with point-of-view.  Huntress is told in 3rd person omniscient-ish.  We see inside several characters' heads.  I hadn't read a contemporary book that pulls this off until now.

So, check out Huntress and let me know what you think!

Ooh, also.  I just read this epilogue-ish short story by Malinda Lo here.

Amelia predicts you'll love THE VESPERTINE by Saundra Mitchell

I'm usually not a fan of historical fiction.  It's difficult for me to care about problems that don't exist today, like tight corsets and strict courting rules.  But Saundra Mitchell's writing is so pure and so real, I was sucked back in time.

Within the first few pages of The Vespertine, we know Amelia is "ruined."  Then the story jumps back a few months and we watch her ruination unfold.  I found myself (even with my staunch apathy towards courting rules of the past) constantly worried about Amelia's reputation.  Each time she bent the rules, I'd think, "Amelia!  Your virtue!  Protect your virtue!"  Somehow Mitchell's amazing words turned me into a Victorian grandma.

I think that's what I loved most about this book.  Mitchell creates a world so solid, so complete, that I was both shocked and exhilarated by Amelia's daring when she touched a boy's bare hand or asked for his address.

And really, I don't think the story would work as well in any other time period.  Amelia sees the future in the sunset.  She doesn't know when or where the images she sees will unfold, only that they will.  In a time when spiritualism was all the rave, Amelia's gift makes her very popular in Baltimore....until she's blamed for the tragedies she foresees.

I love how the characters readily accepted the supernatural occurrences in the novel.  And that makes sense, really.  There was so much we didn't know and didn't understand about our world in the Victorian era.  Now, we'd be concerned with the hows and whys, but back then, not knowing was just part of life.

Mitchell somehow manages to write both a beautiful and fast-paced story.  She also doesn't pull any punches, this is truly a gothic novel with its fair share of devastation.

I see in the vespers...you'll love it!

Annah is a fighter in THE DARK AND HOLLOW PLACES by Carrie Ryan

The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan is by far my favorite book in the Forest of Hands and Teeth series. And Annah is my favorite of the three heroines.  She's the strongest, but also the most damaged.

While Mary and Gabry both grew up in relative safety, Annah has been fighting to survive since she was five years old.  Both Mary and Gabry took risks while figuring out what they wanted out of life.  (Sometimes these risks made me want to yell at them and say, "No!  Just stay put!  There are zombies out there!  What are you thinking?!!! Ahhh!!!")

Annah, on the other hand, is less reckless but her world is so much more dangerous.  Everyday is a struggle to survive.  She doesn't need to take stupid risks to decide what she wants, she already knows.  She wants to be safe and she wants to be loved.  But in a world consumed by death, where even the living have lost their humanity, this might be too much to ask for.

I found The Dark and Hollow Places to be significantly darker and more terrifying than The Forest of Hands and Teeth or The Dead-Tossed Waves.  Ryan explores the cruelty of human nature and what we're capable of once order is stripped away--ideas just touched on in the previous two books.  At times, I didn't know if I was more scared of the Unconsecrated or the Recruiters.

And boy are there some scary scenes!  In real life, I'm totally scared of the dark.  Who knew that reading about the dark would make me so terrified?  I had to stop and catch my breath a few times, I was gasping and panting while reading, I was so scared.  (Note:  I'm a wuss)

Don't worry, though, it's not all doom, gloom, and fear.  I also think the love story in this book is the best of all three.  Unlike with Mary and Gabry's romances, it was clear from the start who Annah belonged with.  And there's nothing more satisfying than watching two characters learn to love themselves so they can begin to love each other.

I loaned my copy of the book to a student and when she finished, she told me, "And I'm so glad she fell in love with him because...well...yeah."
"Yeah," I said.
Sometimes sixteen-year-olds say it best.

You will not be disappointed in the conclusion to this amazing series.

I love Donia in DARKEST MERCY by Melissa Marr

So, it's like really hard to talk about the last book in a series without spoiling the preceding books.  So, if you haven't read them yet, go read the first four Wicked Lovely books by Melissa Marr, like now.  Of course I won't spoil Darkest Mercy, because that would be sick and wrong.

Now, Donia was one of my favorite characters from Wicked Lovely, so I was super excited to see her on the cover of Darkest Mercy.  I have to admit, though, I was a little nervous to read the last book in this awesome series, because I knew war was brewing and I feared a blood-bath.

Also, when I read Radiant Shadows many moons ago, I screamed at the last line of the epilogue.  Devlin tells Seth, "Try not to die, brother." Ahh!

I love Seth!  And really, he is near and dear to so many faeries that he's the perfect target for Bananach to start some trouble.  So yes, I was worried, but once I started reading, of course I couldn't stop.

Melissa Marr blew me away once again with her brilliant prose.  What I loved about this final book, was its sense of humor.  We know these characters so well now and Marr slipped in all these inside jokes and great one-liners.  And Niall--oh how I love Niall--even when he's on the brink of madness and overwhelmed with grief, is pretty darn funny.

Marr uses so many point of views, I lost count.  But because we know almost all the characters so well, it was never dizzying.  We are introduced to two new faeries, Far Dorcha and Ankou.  And in the way only Marr knows how to craft characters, they are both dark and frightening, yet likable.

Darkest Mercy focuses a lot on forgiveness.  And as a reader I felt like I had to forgive some characters, for their actions in the previous books and for their trespasses in the course of this final installment.

I loved this book.  Donia was as strong as ever and Seth continued to serve as the moral compass for the faerie courts.  But there were some devastating parts.  The senseless death of war was deeply felt.  There were bloody battles and grief.

But Marr also has a marvelous knack for bringing her characters to the brink of doom and then getting them out of it in a way that feels natural.  Darkest Mercy is dark and bloody, but it's also the most hopeful of all five books.  I love the emotional ride of Darkest Mercy.  Read it!

Not so little-- SISTERS RED By Jackson Pearce

My, what big eyes you have!

I loved Jackson Pearce's modern retelling of "Little Red Riding Hood."  In Sisters Red, Scarlett March lives for two things, hunting werewolves and protecting Rosie, her younger sister.  Rosie owes Scarlett her life and forgoes school and all the trappings of a normal life to join her sister in the hunt.  But unlike Scarlett, who feels most complete when she's sinking her hatchet into a wolf's belly, Rosie longs for more.

The book alternates between the two sisters' perspectives.  At first Scarlett was my favorite.  She's the strong one, the fighter.  But as I read, I kept rooting for Rosie's happiness, even if it was at the expense of her sister's.

It took me a second to adjust to the world Pearce created.  The story takes place in our world, in Atlanta, Georgia.  But Scarlett and Rosie aren't really a part of the world you and I know.  They live in a cottage in the woods, and walk everywhere, and don't work or go to school, and have a woodsman for a neighbor, and hunt werewolves, and don't have cell phones.  (do you have any idea how many of their problems would've been solved if they had freaking cell phones?)

But, once I figured out the whole fairy-tale world within our world thing, I was hooked.  And that's a huge part of the story.  Rosie wants to be part of our world so badly, while Scarlett is stuck in her own world of the hunt.

Sisters Red is bloody and ferocious as the two heroines kick some major wolf ass.  Oh, I wish I could tell you my favorite ass-kicking part!  But it's at the end. And a big spoiler.  So, read it and you'll see.

I also loved the romance in this book.  I liked how the love wasn't TOO forbidden.  It felt right for the characters to be together and they didn't get all dramatic about the reasons they *shouldn't* be.  I liked that.  Their love felt real.

Ooh, and also, Ms. Pearce, you are the Queen of red herrings!  I'm very impressed.  At first, I knew.  Then I was, oh wait, I'm wrong.  But it turns out, I was right!  Sneaky, sneaky.  (Sorry Junkies, if you're confused, just go read it already).

So, if you like books with girls hacking up evil werewolves with hatchets, sisterly love, hot romance with kissing in the rain, and kick-ass girls who say, "I won't wait for the woodsman to save me."  Then, what are you waiting for?

Oh, and have you seen Jackson Pearce's amazing blog?  She does these great videos that are both funny and informative.

I want to smooch ANNA and the FRENCH KISS by Stephanie Perkins

I don't read much contemporary YA.  I mean, I'm not a teen, and I spend ALL day in a high school.  So I get my share of the drama, the awkwardness, the gossip, the cattiness, the bullying, the bad decisions, and all the icky coming-of-age-ness.  I generally don't want to read about that stuff unless there's a decent dose of magic, paranormal creatures, dystopian societies, and/or zombie apocalypses.

But enough of my fav authors who write about all those speculative things raved about Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins that I had to pick it up.  I'm so glad I read this book, because I'd forgotten about all the exciting things about being a teenager.

Secret crushes!  First kisses!  Delightfully awkward throat-clearing while your leg brushes his and you pretend you're paying attention to the movie and not stealing glances at him in a dark movie theater!

Perkins does a brilliant job of filling us with the tingly ache of falling in love.  I held my breath along with Anna as she shared her boarding school bed with Etienne.  (oh, not like that!  Remember that feeling?  That 17-year-old feeling that if you could just sleep, JUST SLEEP, with him then your world would be complete? Sigh)

I was afraid Anna and the French Kiss would be too light and fluffy, but I was relieved to find genuine characters with real problems and a wonderfully believable romance.  And even though she didn't beat-up vampires or kick zombie-ass, Anna is still a strong heroine who holds her own.

So, my challenge to you junkies:  What other YA contemporaries do you recommend?

I fell in love with THE REPLACEMENT by Brenna Yovanoff

OK Junkies, I'm breaking my own rules to tell you about how awesome The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff is, even though the main character is a boy.  But the girls in this book kick so much ass that I really think it makes up for it.

Mackie Doyle isn't like the rest of the people in Gentry, his small and gloomy town.  Actually, Mackie isn't even human.  His parents know it.  His sister knows it.  His best friend knows it.  Half the town might suspect it, but NO ONE talks about it.

In Gentry, babies sometimes get sick and die.  But the bodies in the tiny coffins aren't really the grieving parents' offspring.  They're replacements.

The creatures who live beneath the slag heap steal human babies and replace them with their own sick children.  The replacements all die in their cribs.  All except Mackie.

Thanks to his sister's love, Mackie has survived and grown into a teenager.  But he lives in fear that the town will learn his secret and persecute him.  He does his best to blend in, to be invisible.  He doesn't want to think or talk about the truth anymore than the next citizen of Gentry.

But when Tate's younger sister dies, she knows the corpse is not her sister.  Tate challenges Mackie to acknowledge who he is and how he can help.

One of the things I love about this book is that Mackie is not a typical hero.   He's not brave, or strong, or selfless, or any of the things we expect our heroes to be.  Mackie is sickly, poisoned by the iron in the world around him.  Sometimes he can barely walk into a room without swooning, let alone fight off bad guys.  Also, all Mackie wants is to blend in, be left alone, and survive. He stonewalls Tate to protect himself and at first he won't stick out his neck for anyone.

So that's where the girls come in.  Erin, Mackie's sister, will do anything to protect Mackie.  She puts herself in danger to save him and her strong love is what has kept him alive in a world his body rejects.  And Tate definitely earns the title of kick-ass heroine.  I don't want to spoil all the ways she kicks ass, but let's just say she's not afraid to hurt someone in order to protect herself and save her sister.

Tate is fierce.  She won't keep quiet, she won't put up with Mackie's crap.  She won't back down.  I love her.

The Replacement is a dark, creepy story.  I mean, how much creepier can you get than dead babies?  But there are also tons of universal themes.  I think every teenager has felt the urge to just fit in and be unnoticed, the strong desire to be just like everyone else.  And I know I've definitely felt like an outsider in my own family and maybe even wondered, was I replaced at birth?

Read The Replacement.  You won't be disappointed.

MATCHED by Ally Condie lives up to the hype

I don't know why I'm always surprised when I fall in love with the latest hyped-up, buzzed-about YA novel.  I guess all you bookish people on the interwebs are pretty awesome and I should really learn to trust you.  And because y'all are so awesome, one of my goals for the new year is to spend more time with you and blog more.  I really feel like the guy at work who calls in sick EVERY Monday and then on Tuesday in the lunch room, everyone asks if he's feeling ok and he just looks away, nods, and changes the subject.

Soooo anyways....Matched!  It's awesome!  You should read it.

Ally Condie creates a dystopian world reminiscent of the classics.  The Society incinerates history, art, and literature a la Fahrenheit 451.  Similar to A Brave New World, citizens are controlled through extreme division of labor, regimented recreation, and mandated drugs.  The pervasive technology, misinformation, a mysterious and far away war, and the ever-present sense of being watched reminded me of Nineteen Eighty-Four.

But Matched leaves the classics in the dust and gives us what they don't: a strong heroine, passionate romance, and hope.

We meet Cassia on the eve of her Match banquet, where she'll find out who the society has matched her with for marriage.  The other 17-year-olds meet their matches from other cities and provinces via video phone.  But Cassia's screen is black because her match is in the same room.  It's her best friend, Xander.  She's thrilled, but when she takes her microcard home to learn more about her match, another face flashes on the screen.  Cassia confides in the only person she can, her grandfather, and he asks if she ever wonders...

Cassia's rebellion starts small and is thrilling to watch as it grows.  In the beginning, she honestly believes the Society knows best, but slowly she pulls back the curtain to catch a glimpse of the man behind the wizard.    

The Society differs from other dystopian governments in that it seems to actually believe it's acting in its citizens best interests.  For me, a good-intentioned but misguided fascist government is way more terrifying than a malicious one.  Cassia is savvy, intelligent, and tough enough to outsmart the oppressive Society.  And it's so much fun watching her do it.

Cassia experiences her first real choice and gets a small taste for freedom, which leaves her willing to risk everything for more.  Classic dystopian novels present characters with a life in which happiness and fulfillment are impossible.  Matched is wonderfully brave in that contentment is easily attainable for Cassia within The Society's walls.  Cassia knows she could have a loving marriage, a job she likes and is good at, and a happy healthy family if only she shuts up and goes along with The Society's plan for her.

But she's courageous enough to not settle and want more: true love.  And isn't that what all the best stories are about?  The battle for true love?

I read Matched during my ski vacation and I found myself on a chair lift, anxious to get back to see how Cassia will get herself out of trouble.  Matched is hard to put down and I recommend it to any fans of YA and/or Dystopia.

Rooting for the dark side in PERSONAL DEMONS by Lisa Desrochers

For some reason, the cover of Lisa Desrochers's Personal Demons didn't strike me as YA.  And being the idiot I am, this prevented me from reading it at first.  Even the hubby saw the book on my nightstand and said, "What? You're reading porn now?"  (Ok, hubby is definitely NOT an expert on all things literary).  All I'm saying is, listen to your mom and don't judge a book by its cover.

Personal Demons is the best angel/demon book I've read.  I loved that we got two perspectives: Fanny, the heroine's, and Luc's, the demon who's trying to tag her soul for hell.

I also loved that--unlike most paranormal romances--we don't spend half the book trying to figure out what kind of paranormal creature the hot new guy at school is, and what he wants.  We know on page 2 that Luc is a demon and he wants Fanny's soul in hell.  Fair enough.

It's hard for one's personal theology not to influence the reading of a book about hell, demons, angels, and heaven.  Luc is such a steamy character and the chemistry between him and Fanny is so hot, that it didn't take long for me to root for the demon.  Even when Luc himself hesitates in marking Fanny for eternal damnation, I was thinking, "Come on!  Just drag her to hell!  You can burn eternally together!"  Maybe more devout readers didn't go that far.

This book definitely gets better and better, the farther you get into it.  At first I was annoyed because Fanny's brain seemed to turn to mush when she was around Gabe and Luc (the two hot "new" guys in town).  I kept thinking, "OK, no one's THAT hot that you can't form coherent sentences."  But then I realized that it was Gabe's angelic and Luc's demonic powers that set Fanny's hormones
and thoughts all a flutter.

Then Luc started acting funny too and I thought, "OK, in his thousands of years of existence, this dude has to have seen a pretty girl, what's his deal?"  And this is the best part.  Luc acts strange around Fanny because she has a power that blows both his and Gabe's abilities out of the water.  You know I love me a powerful female.

The potential of Fanny's power and the spicy hot scenes with Luc kept me up at night reading.  Again, it was kind of strange rooting for Fanny to turn to the dark side.  "Come on Fanny, sleep with the demon already!  Commit the mortal sin of lust!  An eternity in hell is SO worth it!  He's so hot!"  This is definitely one of the sexiest YA novels I've read in a while.

Personal Demons does not read as young as other YA books, but since I'm a grown-up reading YA, I really didn't mind.  But if you're a 15-year-old looking for a story with prom, cheerleaders, and tons of teen angst, then this might not be the book for you.  Other than that, I'd recommend Personal Demons to any fan of the paranormal romance genre.

I can't wait to see what Fanny does with her power in the sequel, Original Sin.

Evie tases her way to normal in PARANORMALCY by Kiersten White

So, sometimes when there's tons of hype surrounding a book, I'm tempted to automatically discount it.  It can't be THAT good right?

So I'd heard Paranormalcy by Kiersten White was funny.  I'd heard Evie, the teen heroine, used a pink sparkly taser to "bag and tag" vampires.  I'd heard the book poked fun at the whole paranormal romance genre.

Guess what?  The peoples on the interwebs were right!

One quick stop at Kiersten White's amazing blog will confirm that this chick is funny.  Paranormalcy has the same light-hearted tone as White's blog, which is awesome.

Paranormalcy reminded me of the movie Clueless, in a way.  The main character and plot seem very superficial at first.  But it's written so intelligently that you can't help but laugh and root for the heroine as she learns to be less selfish and discovers something deeper about herself and about life.

I loved how White threw in a few jabs at YA vampire romances.  The opening scene is hilarious as Evie tases a vamp and rants about how ridiculous it is that vampires think they're sexy.  She even uses the word "shimmery" to describe a vampire in an ironic way and I couldn't help but think of that as a direct poke at a certain franchise.  I also loved when, towards the end of the book, a vampire tells Evie, "Why on earth would a vampire go to high school?"  Hilarious!

The romance is so sweet and refreshing.  There was no I-love-you-but-kind-of-want-to-kill-you,  No I-love-you-but-our-love-will-probably-destroy-the-universe, and No I-love-you-but-I'm-so-damaged-from-my-hundred-year-old-past-so-I'm-really-mean-to-you.

It was more like, I-really-like-you-I-hope-your-dad-doesn't-catch-us-making-out-on-the-couch and then some I-think-I-love-you-but-I hope-you-accept-me-for-who-I-am-with-all-my-weirdness.

White shows us that we can have a paranormal novel with NORMAL teens.  We can read about teens who get grounded, love shopping sprees, eat pizza, and go to prom.  They also happen to have paranormal abilities and, you know, murderous faeries hunting them.

If you love paranormal romaces, or hate them, read Paranormalcy.  You won't be disappointed.

I can't wait for Supernaturally!

  

Janie does it in her sleep in WAKE by Lisa McMann

Like any good addict, I have crazy dreams.  I fly, I swim, I bounce around from place to place.  I was a little disappointed with Inception and how normal the dreams were.

In Wake by Lisa McMann, Janie is sucked into people's dreams.  I loved the lyrical style of the book, especially the beginning when we slip in and out of people's dreams with Janie.  Our dreams can be very intimate and revealing, but McMann didn't hold back in describing the sleeping images flashing through teenagers' heads.

I also enjoyed the love story.  Cabel is my new literary crush, who knew scars could be so sexy?



I really enjoyed the first half of the book.  But the second half started becoming too unbelievable for me.

SPOILER ALERT!

I just didn't buy that Cabel was an undercover teenage cop.  The way that was handled came across as very unbelievable to me.  Sure, I can believe a girl can slip into someone's dreams and control them, but I can't believe law enforcement would behave that way.

But the well written dream sequences and the realistic romance were enough for me to enjoy Wake.

The sequel, Fade, on the other hand is a different story.  As a high school teacher, I can be very picky about the way high school is portrayed in YA.  High schools are already dramatic conflict-flled places, we don't need over-the-top and outlandish crimes to be committed in order for teenagers to experience conflict and feel unsafe.

I thought Fade was completely unrealistic.  I get it, it's a fantasy, but if the story is based in the real-world, I need something real in that world to hold on to.

There are teachers who do horrible things.  We didn't need the over-the-top, sensationalized villainy in order for Janie to be in danger.  I think the story would've been scarier if the high school setting was more realistic.

I also didn't buy the conflict between Cabel and Janie.  It wasn't consistent with Cabel's character and teenagers aren't usually that cognizant of their feelings and why they behave the way they do.

I liked Wake, but was disappointed with Fade.  I won't be reading Gone unless someone convinces me it has at least one foot in reality.

Hanna is crazy beautiful in BLEEDING VIOLET by Dia Reeves

This book is weird.
Don't get me wrong, I love weird.  Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves is a welcome relief from the swooning damsels, vampires, and werewolves plaguing the paranormal YA world.

Hanna talks to her dad everyday, even though he's been dead a year.  Hanna is bi-polar and has the stash of pharmaceuticals to prove it.  When threatened with hospitalization, Hanna beats her Aunt over the head with a rolling pin and flees to find her long lost mother.

When Hanna shows up on her mom's door step in Portrero, Texas, Rosalee is anything but happy to see her.  Hanna is determined to stay in Rosalee's house and make Portrero her home, no matter how many times Rosalee say she doesn't want her.

They strike a deal.  If Hanna can survive two weeks in Portrero--a town stranger and more dangerous than any of Hanna's hallucinations--then Hanna can stay.

Hanna encounters monsters lurking in the windows of her school, flying leeches on a walk home, and a man possessed by a serial-killing ghost while on a date.  Instead of running and screaming, Hanna decides she needs to hunt down a monster to prove her worth to Rosalee.  Hanna enlists the help of Wyatt, the cute boy sworn to protect the town and who is even freakier than Hanna.

I love Hanna's character in this book.  Her wild mood swings are fun and she's not easily rejected, no matter how many times her mother tells her she doesn't love her.

Hanna narrates the story through her girlish voice and overly simple view of the world.  And that's where it got weird.  These characters curse, have sex, and rip people's arms off, and it's all narrated in this childish tone.

The amount of blood in this book became so surreal that I stopped being concerned each time a character opened a vein.

But that didn't stop this from being a really fun read.  I whipped through the pages.  I enjoyed losing myself in Hanna's warped head and I stopped guessing what would come next.

Bleeding Violet is a great summer read.  

I'm as conflicted as the characters of FALLEN by Lauren Kate

Just as Luce is inexplicably attracted to Daniel, I was unable to put down Fallen, despite so many things that normally bug me about a book.  I read this book while visiting my parents, so I'll show you a conversation between my mom and me so you see what I mean.

(SPOILER ALERT: I won't divulge anything that can't be figured out from the prologue, but if you're one of those people who need things spelled out for you, avert your eyes now.)

Mom: What's that book about?
Me: Um, I don't know.  It's a YA paranormal romance.  I'm pretty sure the characters knew each other in past lives or something.  I think the guy might be a fallen angel.
Mom: So, you're more than half-way through it and you don't know what it's about?
Me: Yeah, kinda sucks.
Mom: So are you going to write a negative review?
Me: No, I try not to do that.  I just won't blog about it.

You see Junkies, I WASN'T going to blog about Fallen, but I kept thinking about it.  Two days after I've finished the book, I can't get the characters out of my head.  I think that must mean I really liked it. Maybe I'm like Daniel, I act hot and cold towards Luce, but I'm secretly in love with her...

It's a toughy because really, Luce doesn't quite meet my minimum threshold for kick ass heroine, but at the same time, I'm jonesin' for the sequel.  I'll just break it down and let you decide.

Luce is a straight A student who finds herself at reform school after a mysterious incident with a fire in which Luce survived, but her male companion did not.  Luce is immediately attracted to Daniel, who gives her the bird when he first sees her.  Cam is a popular hotty at the school who tries to seduce Luce every chance he gets.

All her life, Luce has been plagued by shadows that creep up from dark places and terrify her.  Luce keeps struggling with this feeling she knows Daniel from somewhere and is confused by Daniel's hot and cold response to her.  And the book goes on like this for a while...

I got a little frustrated with all the mystery.  I don't like it when books seem to build forever and then so much happens at the end that it's hard to keep it straight.  It reminded me a little bit of the movie Dogma, where at the end, in the middle of an action scene, characters are shouting the rules of religious doctrine: "Kill Matt Damon, the angel"  "No!!!  You shot Ben Affleck's wings, now the world will end!"  "Shoot Ben Affleck!"  "Don't shoot Ben Affleck, then he'll be immortal!" All very confusing.

I didn't like how Luce was ALWAYS being saved by Daniel.  Couldn't she have saved herself a least once?  I also didn't like the punch-out-I'm-fighting-for-my-woman-while-she-stands-there-shocked-and-scared-scene.

But, the star-crossed lovers thing totally got me, as much as I hate to admit it.  For some reason, this is a couple I'm rooting for.  I also fell in love with all the minor characters.  Lauren Kate did a brilliant job creating vivid minor characters with only a few words.  And these girls are bad ass.

I can't get Arianne or Gabbe out of my head.  I even want more of Cam, Roland, and Molly.  So even though I can point out things that bothered me about Fallen, it left me with that feeling of wanting more.  The world and the characters are believable and seem so real that I can't wait for this story to continue.

Luce grew a lot in Fallen, so I'm really hoping she'll become a kick-ass heroine in Torment.

Gabry searches for meaning in DEAD-TOSSED WAVES by Carrie Ryan

OK Junkies, I had been waiting for Carrie Ryan's next installment in her post-apocalyptic, dystopian, zombie series (at least I hope it's a series, there better be more where this came from Ms. Ryan!) and now that I've finished Dead-Tossed Waves, I can't wait to tell you all about it.

I loved Ryan's first book, The Forest of Hands and Teeth and you can read my post about it here.
Dead-Tossed Waves is a companion to The Forest of Hands and Teeth and the main character is Gabry, Mary's daughter.  At first, I was afraid this book would be Zombies: The Next Generation--the same story only with new characters and a slightly different setting.  I'm so glad I was wrong.

Gabry is very different from her mother.  While Mary is brave and was willing to risk anything in pursuit of her dreams, Gabry is terrified of the world outside the walls.  While Mary felt trapped by the fences surrounding her village, Gabry welcomes the safety the walls around her provide.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth starts slow and thoughtful, building up to the blood, violence, death, and decapitations that plague the zombie-ridden world.  Dead-Tossed Waves begins with a bang.  Characters are attacked, infected, and killed as soon as we meet them.

What I loved about Dead-Tossed Waves was that the entire story is set in motion by Gabry's decisions.  In The Forest of Hands and Teeth, so much seemed to happen to Mary that was out of her control.  Other people's decisions and outside occurrences created the conflict.

Gabry and her choices are the driving forces behind Dead-Tossed Waves.  Ryan did such a good job of creating Gabry's character and setting up her decisions that I was yelling at the book each time Gabry made a choice.  I think my new barometer of how good a novel will be whether or not it makes me holler at it).  

Gabry is a perfectly flawed heroine and some of her decisions in the beginning drove me nuts.  I found myself intermittently shouting at her for being a pathetic coward and for taking dangerously stupid risks.

And that's part of what this book is about.  We all make mistakes, that's what makes us human--something that's easy to forget with Mudo pushing themselves against barriers, waiting to infect anyone who missteps.  Dead-Tossed Waves is so much more than an action-filled love story surrounded by zombies.  The book asks us to examine the distinctions between surviving and living and asks us to think about what it means to be human.

Dead-Tossed Waves is an amazing book that kept my heart racing and my mind whirring.  I really hope there is a sequel.

Vampires do it best in BLOOD SUCKING FIENDS by Christopher Moore

Hey there Junkies, I'm bending my own rules a bit.  Although Blood-Sucking Fiends: A Love Story is not YA, anything with vampires attracts the attention of teenagers, so therefore it totally counts.

Christopher Moore is a genius.  I don't know why no one gives him credit for starting the whole paranormal romance craze.  Blood-Sucking Fiends was published in 1995! (A man WAY ahead of his time!) I still think it has the best vampire sex of any fanged book out there. 

OK, so Jody is a ho-hum gal until she wakes up beneath a dumpster with her exposed hand burnt to a crisp.  But that's ok, because after she gobbles a critter, it heals itself.  Eventually Jody figures it out.  Oh crap, she's been turned into a vampire.  Which sucks because that means she'll NEVER lose those 5 vanity pounds.

But Jody is a smart chick and she knows the first thing any good vampire needs is a human sex slave.  Or at least someone to find her an apartment and pick up her dry cleaning.  This is where Thomas Flood comes in.

Tommy is a mid-western corn-fed young man who came to San Francisco to pursue his dream of writing the great American novel.  So naturally, he spends his time turkey-bowling as an after-hours stocker at Safeway.  Jody meets Tommy and ya know, vampy shinanigans ensue.

You Suck: A Love Story is the awesome sequel and I can't wait for Bite Me: A Love Story to come out 3/23/10.

These books are so refreshing because they don't take themselves too seriously.  One of my favorite parts in Blood Sucking Fiends is when Tommy and Jody test out all the old vampire myths.  Jody does have a reflection in a mirror, who knew?

Moore creates a hilarious world with memorable characters.  The city of San Francisco almost serves as a character itself, and anyone who has spent a decent amount of time in the city will appreciate these books so much more for the setting's idiosyncracies.

Of course, my favorite character is Abby Normal.  She started as a minor character in Blood Sucking Fiends, narrates some of You Suck and I believe she is the central character in Bite Me.  Abby is a gothic teenager who wears Converse tennis shoes, reads Anne Rice, and fantasizes about meeting a vampire.  But you see, Junkies, Abby's real name is none other than, Alison Greene.  Her parents named her after the Elvis Costello song.  I wear Converses (my maiden name IS Converse), I read Anne Rice and fantasize about meeting a vampire (well, I did when I was a teenager).  My name is Alyson Greene and my parents named me after the Elvis Costello song.  I AM Abby Normal!

So, I told Christopher Moore this when I met him at a signing and he just looked at me, looked back at my name written on a post-it, and said "It's spelled wrong."  Sigh.  Well, at least he signed my book "To the real Abby Normal."

OK Junkies, so we're counting down the days until Bite Me comes out.  Remember, if you're going to read a vampire book, let it be one that makes you laugh.

A taste of middle-child-syndrome with CATCHING FIRE by Suzanne Collins

OK Junkies, confession time: my first couple of years teaching were so awful that I had to break up the school year with little things to look forward to.  I'd count the weeks/days/hours until each holiday.  Oh what, you think that sounds normal?  I'm not finished.  In addition to counting down to holidays, I'd also count down the days and weeks until other moments of joy.  I would know at any given day, how many months until the next Harry Potter book came out, or how many weeks until the next Lemony Snicket installment, or even how many weeks until the next Harry Potter movie was released (in theaters and on DVD).   I told you, I'm an addict.

Well, in an attempt to ease some of my bitterness at having to work on Presidents' Day, I've decided to reinstate the countdown.

As of today, there are exactly:

• 4 weeks until Spring Break
• 16 weeks until summer vacation
• 27 weeks until the release of Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins!

But Junkies, let's back up a second.  Before we can get all giddy about the third installment in the Hunger Games trilogy, we need to talk about Catching Fire, the sequel to The Hunger Games.

SPOLIER ALERT

You know that family member who yells at the TV during a sports game, or worse, the news?  Yeah, that was me while reading this book.

"No!  We can't go back into the arena.  Come on, Katniss, escape, revolt, go light stuff on fire with Gale. No!"  and "The watch!  Katniss, you saw the watch-with the bird, hello? Doh!" 

Suzanne Collins has created a great character with Katniss Everdeen.  Katniss is passionate and courageous.  She acts on instinct, but she can also be a little naiive.  None of these are great qualities for planning a secret revolution.  So Catching Fire is full of behind the scenes planning that Katniss is not aware of.  Unfortunately, because she's the first-person narrator, this means that the reader is also unaware of it. 

We get a few clues that Katniss doesn't understand the significance of, which can be a tad frustrating.  But, the thing is, Junkies, even though I shouted at the book and rolled my eyes a few times at Katniss's obliviousness, Collins knows what she's doing.

While The Hunger Games was full of physical suspense--is she going to die?  who is she going to kill?  Can she save Peeta?
Catching Fire is all about emotional suspense--what will she do?  When will she figure it out?  Who does she love?  Why won't Haymitch throw her a bone?

The middle book in any trilogy is tricky.  It struggles to compete with the excitement and originality of the first book, yet it has to continually build up to the climactic events to come in the third book.  It's like the middle-child-syndrome.  Or, I like to think of it as The Empire Strikes Back syndrome.  And like The Empire Strikes Back, in Catching Fire we spend a little too much time in the snow waiting for something to happen.

But in some ways, Catching Fire did surpass The Hunger Games.  Suzanne Collins is a genius at crafting characters and Haymitch and Cinna come alive in the sequel.  And we thought we knew Katniss and Peeta in the first book, but the second book really lets us see who they are, what they live for, and what they're willing to die for.

I do wish we got to know Gale a little more in this second book, though.  Because really, if we're going to have a love triangle, I need to know WHY Katniss loves Gale.  So as of right now, I'm in camp Peeta all the way, baby.

So, although I don't think it lived up to the awesomenes of The Hunger Games, Catching Fire is still a badass book and I can't wait until Mockingjay is in my hands 27 weeks from now.

BEAUTIFUL CREATURES by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl is dark, frightening, and wonderful

So Junkies, I'm not sure if I should write this review because a) I'm not sure if Lena is actually a heroine and b) the ending pissed me off.

I was, however, sleep deprived for an entire week because I stayed up WAY past my bedtime reading this book, I just couldn't put it down until I heard grumblings next to me, "You know what time it is, right?" (the circles under my eyes are all part of this addiction, baby)

I loved this paranormal romance, so I figured I might as well take a minute and tell you why.

Beautiful Creatures is narrated by a sixteen-year-old boy, Ethan, who falls for a supernatural  fifteen-year-old girl, Lena.  It was surprisingly refreshing to be inside the head of a teenage boy who hangs out with basketball players who spend their time commenting on the relative hotness of the girls around them.  These teens were very real, which is something I treasure in YA, because I spend all day with teenagers and I can spot a phony a mile away.  This book was realistic in showing that teens' day-to-day stresses are more about where they fit in on the social ladder and less about homework and what their parents are up to.

I loved the layers of conflict in this story.  Lena and Ethan struggle with their feelings for each other, the magic that surrounds them, and the small town with a mob-mentality working hard to make thier lives miserable.  For me, the Civil War worshiping Southerners and DAR women were way creepier than any black magic or voodoo.

That's what makes Beautiful Creatures so dark and frightening and wonderful.  The history of this small town is woven together with old prejudices, which is woven together with magic, which is woven together with secrecy, which results in a complex and compelling story.

I believed the magic, but more importantly, I believed the relationship.  Ethan and Lena share something so rare in YA: intimacy.

Granted, it helps to get to know someone when you share dreams and read each other's thoughts, but still.  Lena and Ethan talk, share secrets, talk about their hopes and fears.  They spend months together, building a relationship, starting off as friends, until it's clear they care so much for each other that as Ethan says, "there's no going back."

And when it's time, they're both terrified of their feelings because they know how vulnerable it makes them, know how much they stand to lose, know how much the other could hurt them.  I bought their love, hook, line, and sinker.

That's what teen love can look like, people.  Not "Hey baby, aren't I dangerous and smoldering?  I love you so much I peep through your window every night.'  'Ooh, I love you too, the world is a scary place, protect me?'  'Of course, I'll kill anyone who looks at you, that's how much I love you' Swoon."

Lena is one bad ass female who does what she can to protect Ethan from the curse that plagues her and, most importantly, from herself.  She's a wonderful mix of powerful and vulnerable.  She's only learning what she's capable of. She can cause a hurricane on a whim, but is terrified of the bitchy cheerleaders.  Lena is dark and dangerous and is balanced by Ethan's optimism.

So, Junkies, here I was, flipping pages, losing sleep, biting my nails.  Terrified for Ethan and Lena because of the magic, the danger, the secrecy, the prophecy, the sacrifices, the choices, the creepy Civil War reenactment.  Will they be able to hold on to their love through it all? 

And then what do I get?  Not an ending, not a resolution, but a postponement.  I'm sorry Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (side note how DO two people write a book together?  You must share dreams and thoughts like Ethan and Lena), your book is amazing.  It's beautiful and dark, but your ending pissed me off.  I mean, I kind of get it, maybe you wanted to leave us wanting more, priming us for the sequel.  And if that's the case, it worked.  But I read the last page like 10 times, mumbling to myself, "that's it?"

Ok, Junkies, I just did a litle tap-tapping on google and discovered that Beautiful Creatures is only the first in a FIVE book series.  The sequel will be out in December.  Phew!  Ok, my addict anger has slightly abated.  I will, however, be simmering until that sequel is in my shaky, scratchy hands.

RADIANT SHADOWS by Melissa Marr: The Ultimate Fairytale

OK Junkies, so I was fortunate enough to receive an Advanced Reader's Copy of Melissa Marr's 4th book in the Wicked Lovely series, Radiant Shadows, and can I just say: OMG!!!

I'll try to tread carefully here, because as much as I want to tell you how wonderful the book is, I really don't want to spoil anything, especially when you'll have to wait three months to read it (haha, suckers!).  I'm hesitant to even tell you about the existence of one of the characters, because, after all, if the High Queen doesn't know about her, should you?

Part of Melissa Marr's genius is the way she's structured her series.  She takes tiny pieces of information and marginal characters from one book and turns them into the central focus of the next book.

Now, when I met Ani in Ink Exchange, and I met Devlin in Fragile Eternity, I highly disliked both of them.  I just remember picturing Ani licking Irial's blood with a guilty look on her face and thinking, "Who is this chick?"  And how could I not be turned off by the cold calculating assassin in FE?

I still didn't immediately fall in love with them as I started reading Radiant Shadows.  Ani is consumed by need.  She needs touch, she needs emotion, and she's denied both, so what she really needs is a place to belong.  At first, it was hard to stomach a character who acts purely in response to her hungers, with little thought of anything else.

Devlin is calculating as he balances both the order and the chaos he's made of.  He simply shrugs as Bananach stabs a mortal next to him.  He's killed plenty of faeries and mortals and accepts that death is sometimes necessary to keep order.

Ani and Devlin are probably the least human of Marr's characters.  But as Ani discovers her strength and Devlin lets himself be weak, it's really hard not to root for them.  

At times, Radiant Shadows is bloody and violent, but it's by far Marr's most romantic book yet.  And by the end, Ani is definitely Marr's strongest heroine.  In a lot of ways, this read like a classic fairytale.  There's a prince, a horse, a fairy-godmother, a prophecy, an orphan, a wicked witch, revenge, and a to-die-for love.

But of course, Melissa Marr takes the classic fairytale and turns it on its head.  She's great at creating a world with impenetrable boundaries, impossible obstacles, and nonnegotiable rules.  Then Marr creates characters strong enough to knock them all down.

It's a story about finding one's place in the world, about fate, about destiny.  In a world where loyalty is everything, this story is about the characters with split identities. Ani is half-mortal and half-fey, which makes her dangerous to both worlds.  Devlin was created by Order and Chaos, but has nowhere to call home.  Rae is neither mortal nor fey and has secrets she cannot tell.  Seth is sometimes mortal, sometimes fey, and has allegiances everywhere.  The stakes are high as these characters struggle to find where they fit in and decide what they're willing to sacrifice for love.

Seth's small presence in the book is exhilarating.  I gasped out loud while reading when I remembered something from the end of Fragile Eternity that seemed trivial then, but proved pivotal in Radiant Shadows.  Marr has woven threads throughout all four books that have left me hankering for the final installment.

I've been repeating the last line of Radiant Shadows's Epilogue in my head over and over again since I finished reading.  And Ms. Marr, if you're out there, please, PLEASE let him take his advice.

Clary grows into bad-assness in Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series.

Hey there, Junkies. So, I first fell in love with City of Bones when I read it as an alternative to this other book that is very lacking in heroines, but for some reason is very popular. Like this other book, The Mortal Instruments has romantic and paranormal elements, includes a love triangle with a vampire, and has groups of vampires and werewolves who don't get along. So, if you're a fan of this other book, I'd get over it and put it down already, and read The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare.

Now Clary is not exactly a top-notch heroine. She grows into her bad-assness throughout the series. In City of Bones she starts off as really more of a methodone (heehee, get it?). Ok, seriously.

Clary lives in New York and hangs out with her best friend, Simon. One night Clary sees this hotty, Jace, and these two other teens kill a demon. Clary is not supposed to see demons. Clary is not supposed to see Jace. Jace, Alec, and Isabel, are Shadow-hunters, a special race of people designed to kill demons.

After some flirting with Jace, Clary goes home to find her apartment in ruins, her mom missing, and a demon waiting for her. Clary fights the demon and kills it. This is where her road to bad-ass heroinism begins.

It turns out, Clary was born a Shadow-hunter, but her mom has been hiding her from the Shadow-hunter world. She's been lying to Clary and taking her to Magnus Bane, a deliciously flamboyant warlock, to have her memory altered.

Well, now Clary's mom is kidnapped and Clary has to team up with the shadow-hunters to find her mom and fight some demons, and in the meantime, she falls inlove with Jace.

Although in City of Bones Clary depends a little too much on Jace and the shadow-hunters to save her, in City of Ashes she discovers her own power, and by City of Glass Clary reaches full heroine status and is powerful enough to fight the bad guy on her own.

These books are fun and action packed. There are some great characters, like Magnus Bane the flamboyant warlock, and Raphael the cross-wearing vampire. I love how in the middle of a demon war, the most difficult situation a 19-year-old boy can face is telling his parents that he's gay. I enjoyed the love triangle and appreciated the realistic portrayal of teen sex. There are some steamy moments in this series!

I also LOVED the Star-Wars-esque family dynamic (Luke...I am your father. I love you Princess Leia...as a sister). You want forbidden love? These books have some hot forbidden love.

So any and all urban fantasy/ paranormal romance fans must read these books. Let me know what you think.

FIRE by Kristin Cashore

OK Junkies, so her second book, Fire, definitely places Kristin Cashore on my read-anything-and-everything-by-this-author-list. I mean, Fire does suffer a little from middle-child-syndrome as it doesn't quite live up to Graceling, and now that I've finished Fire, I'm just really excited to have my third kid, ahem, I mean read Cashore's third book, Bitterblue.

Fire is a companion book to Graceling, but I really insist you read Graceling first, so get going. The two books have one character in common. Cashore brilliantly introduces him in the prologue and has the reader biting her nails in suspense waiting for him to reappear, knowing that when he does, it will be with devastating consequences (and it is).

Fire lives in the Dells, a kingdom left in chaos by the former King Nax and his evil adviser, Cansrel, Fire's father. There are monsters in the Dells, beautiful creatures with the ability to manipulate people's minds, typically with violent results. Cansrel was a monster who drove the kingdom to ruins for his amusement and left behind the only existing human-monster, Fire.

Fire is capable of enormous power, but she's terrified of using it and becoming the despicable creature her father was. Although Fire is powerful, being a monster makes her extremely vulnerable. She's the most gorgeous creature in the land and can control minds, but all the animal-monsters, and a great number of people, want to kill her. (It's kind of like the president, in a way. He has all this power, but can't even run to the corner market without an entourage of secret-service cuz some whack-job might shoot him).

So, while avoiding assassination attempts, Fire struggles for her independence and tries to find her place and purpose in a dangerous world. King Nax's two sons, Nash and Brigan, seek Fire out for her help, but the problem is while Brigan hates her, Nash likes her a little too much.

Cashore does a great job of interweaving all sorts of intriguing side plots and back story to keep the reader guessing, even when some other plot elements may be predictable and anticipated, such as the appearance of that Graceling character.

Even with all the war, sex, violence, and mind control, this story is really about family. It seemed very fitting to be reading it on Thanksgiving. The royal family of the Dells resembles most modern American families with half-brothers, step-sisters, adoptive fathers, love triangles, and illegitimate babies galore.

When men, raptors, and mountain lions want to kill her at the mere sight of her flowing red hair, Fire learns that the most dangerous thing she can do in the face of human mortality, is love someone.

Once again, Cashore brings us a young-adult fantasy with sophisticated grown-up relationships. (I mean, really, if I had to sum-up these relationships you'd think these people belong on Jerry Springer or One Life to Live, but Cashore's artful writing elevates all the baby-mommas up the literary ranks and turns them into one great story).

And I know this blog is about heroines, and Fire is pretty bad-ass, and Cashore does a great job of balancing Fire's power with her vulnerability. But can I just say one little thing about the men?

In addition to powerful heroines, Cashore writes great men. She writes horrible, misogynistic men, she writes good-intentioned but controlling and domineering men, and she writes men for her heroines to fall in love with who are...good. Both Katsa and Fire feared losing a part of themselves and sacrificing their independence to be in a relationship. But both of them fall for men who love them for the bad-ass independent heroines they are.

Also, one more thing. I like the sex in these books. Although Cashore barely describes a kiss, her characters have sex. Actually, in Fire, some of them have a lot of sex. The reader doesn't see it, it's barely mentioned, but it's there, and it's a part of life and normal messy relationships.

The combination of well-crafted male characters and a positive and realistic outlook on sex make Fire a breathtaking romance. Cashore sets up healthy adult relationships that young girls can look up to. Which is SO much more than I can say about some other YA books.

Anyways, go read Fire and let the countdown to Bitterblue begin!