Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas | Second Look

I recently read Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas.  I know, I know: I'm waaaay behind the game on this series!  I'm kicking myself for not trying them sooner; they're excellent.  On the plus side, I get to binge-read them now, since I waited until so many were released to start reading them!  This is a Second Look on Tynga's Reviews- Tynga herself reviewed this right after it was released in 2013.  You can read her excellent review here.

WOW.  I feel like I've just been on the most amazing roller coaster!  The book's official summary hints at a secret being revealed, but there's no way you could see this one coming.  It's a whammy.  It's going to be so hard to write this review and tell you about this amazing book without telling you the secret!  You will need to go read the book so that we can discuss in the comment section.  ;)

I wholeheartedly agree with Tynga's assessment that the characters really make this book great.  (And the first book, and the third, which I've just started reading.)  Celaena is the most kickbutt heroine I've ever read, I think.  Remember in the first book how hard she worked to overcome immense odds to get herself in shape to win the king's contest?  Now that she's the king's assassin Champion, she isn't slacking!  He has her killing people left and right.  She's dispatching them completely silently- no one in the whole kingdom has any idea how they're happening.  One thing is changing about Celaena, though: she's allowing herself to be slightly (very, very, very slightly) more open.  We readers definitely get to know a lot more about her; Chaol and Dorian get to know her better as well.  I think I mentioned in my first review, of Throne of Glass, that I love how "real" Celaena is.  She has hobbies (books!) and interests (warcraft and martial arts) and favorite foods (chocolate and candy!).  Often this type of book will have a main character with a goal/mission, and that's all they ever focus on.  Maybe they'll have a little romance on the side.  I can't remember ever before reading about how much a character enjoys unwinding with a good book!  I love that.

Chaol and Dorian continue to get rounded out as well.  Especially Dorian!  I think we got to know sweet, tough, chivalrous, smart Chaol in Throne of Glass.  By the end of Throne of Glass I was 100% "Team Chaol."  Even though the books have an almost medieval-type feel to them, I don't feel like Chaol ever looks down on women just for being women.  He might look down on someone who "simpered" or acted foolish, but he totally respects Celaena, and encourages her development.  To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure how to feel about Dorian by the end of Throne of Glass.  He was already showing signs of being quite a complicated person.  That's good- no one likes 1D characters- but it also complicated my feelings toward him.  In Crown of Midnight, however, Celaena isn't the only one with a secret:  we also learn a very interesting fact about Dorian in the second half of the book!

Throne of Glass wrapped up nicely.  Sarah J. Maas almost could've simply ended there.  (We'd all be clamoring for more, because she built an awesome world with an awesome main character, but the plot wrapped up for the most part.)  So there was a blank slate for Crown of Midnight.  I had no clue what to expect!  The opening was just a tiny bit slow, but once it picks up (about a third of the way in) it REALLY picks up!  If anyone were able to make this into a movie, it'd gross millions.  There's action and adventure and fighting and subterfuge oh my!  Then, at the very end, the much-anticipated huge reveal!  I cannot stress enough:  you need to read this book!  You'll be totally surprised by the secret!

I listened to Crown of Midnight as an audiobook, and it was great.  The reader spoke clearly and at a good, even, natural pace.  I love doing sci-fi/fantasy books as audiobooks so that I don't have to think about how to pronounce all the totally-foreign-to-me place and person names!

I definitely recommend this book!

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Posted by Tynga at 01:00

 action, Action amp; Adventure, Bloomsbury Children's, Fantasy amp; Magic, Girls amp; Women, heroine, Library, Review, Sarah J. Maas, Throne of Glass, YA, young adult  5 People left their mark

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco + Giveaway

Every so often I read a book that perfectly matches up with the time of year, and this was one of those times.  What could be more perfect than reading a delightfully chilling Jack the Ripper story in October, right before Halloween?  I was hooked on Stalking Jack the Ripper from the moment I received the book.  The back of the cover is minimalist, with a picture of historic autopsy tools and

He murdered women in cold blood.  He terrorized an entire city.  He taunted those of us who hunted him down.  But despite all these horrors, in the end, I could not deny it... I was the girl who loved The Ripper."

Chills, right?  And although the jacket copy refers to Aubrey Rose's love for The Ripper, the book is so much more than that.  It's about a wonderfully fierce and feisty independent young woman and a mystery too!

Aubrey Rose is an excellently well-developed main character.  She is complex and unpredictable.  Stalking Jack the Ripper is set in 1888, so the reader sees her daily struggle between what society expects of her and what she expects of herself.  Rather than going full-tilt rebel, we witness her desire to still befriend her much more feminine cousin and to not overly upset/scandalize her older brother.  I always find that it's a mark of great character development if the character grows or changes any over the course of the book, and Aubrey Rose definitely does.  At the beginning of the book she is a very bright young lady who is good at following her uncle's instructions to complete an autopsy.  By the end of the book, she is very much thinking for herself and making her own decisions both on the streets and in the autopsy room.

Stalking Jack the Ripper also has a secondary character, Thomas Creswell, who is an absolute bonus!  I just loved him to bits!  I'm a huge fan of "snark," and he has "snark" for days!  His demeanor and witticisms had me smiling often through this book.  I found myself especially looking forward to any extended dialog between him and Aubrey Rose- they both gave as well as they got in the sarcastic remarks!

Finally, the mystery- this was a really good mystery.  It kept me guessing straight up to the end... and maybe beyond.  ;)  I'm not giving anything away!  You HAVE to read this one yourself.  Kerri Maniscalco reveals only one clue at a time, with a couple of red herrings, to keep you hooked.  I work in a library and ended up reading the latter part of the book on the reference desk because I couldn't put it down!  Not only will you want to solve the mystery, but you'll also cheer for Aubrey Rose as she works through the clues in the male-dominated Victorian era.

This standalone book left me craving a lot more, so I was very glad to read an author interview in which it was revealed that there will be more standalone Aubrey Rose stories in the future.  Go read Stalking Jack the Ripper now so that you can gush about it with me, and keep your eyes peeled for further adventures!

Thanks to the publisher of Stalking Jack the Ripper, we're giving away one copy of the book and some lovely soap from Skull & Bones!  (Because stalking a murderer is dirty work!)  Enter here!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Posted by Tynga at 02:00

 Fiction, Girls amp; Women, giveaway, Historical, Jimmy Patterson, Kerri Maniscalco, murder mystery, Mystery, Publisher, Review, young adult  15 People left their mark

Wake by Amanda Hocking

There was so much to love about Wake! The main character, Gemma, is awesome: she's independent and fun and a good friend and a good sister and a good daughter. She's determined and she works hard, even under less-than-ideal circumstances. These less-than-ideal circumstances include a dad who works hard hours, a mom who lives nearly an hour away in a group home after suffering a traumatic brain injury, and an older sister who is having trouble letting go of her caretaker role as she transitions to college. Through it all, she remains a very active member of her school's swim team, maintains good grades, plan to go to college after graduation, and is a loyal friend who knows how to have fun.

I loved that Gemma and Harper, her sister, wasn't perfect. Because that's real. There is never, ever a question of whether or not they love each other: they love each other nearly to a fault. But that doesn't mean that they will always see eye to eye or never say a hurtful word to each other. That's just the way it is, and I love that Amanda Hocking is able to convey that fiercely loyal never perfect sisterly love.

I also love that there may or may not be mermaids in Wake. I love me some potential mermaidness. No spoilers! You'll have to read the book. Either way, the characters live on the coast, and there's lots of ocean interaction.

While I loved Wake and want to give it an enthusiastic five stars, there's one little thing holding me back a little: willing suspension of disbelief. Amanda Hocking does demand a little bit of willing suspension of disbelief at times. And by a little, I mean a good dose of willing suspension of disbelief. If you go into Wake fully committed to a great time and a fantastic story, you're in for a treat. If you're a skeptical person, this book may not be for you. But I loved it, and I also plan to hand over my copy to my own sister in the near future. I think she'll love it as much as I did.

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Posted by Tynga at 01:00

 Amanda Hocking, Fairy Tales amp; Folklore, Girls amp; Women, mermaids, Publisher, Review, St. Martin's Griffin, Watersong, YA, young adult  Leave your mark

A Magic Dark & Bright by Jenny Adams Perinovic

This was a really good book! I will admit, I was a little skeptical to read "ghost" in the book description, but A Magic Dark & Bright totally proved me wrong. There's a well-developed plot beyond "ghost story" and fantastic 3-dimensional character development. Even the setting is rich!

The book kicks off at the start of summer in Asylum, PA. Amelia is navigating a new normal after the death of her brother a year prior, and her parents' divorce soon after. Now a new boy has moved in next door, and she can't help but be attracted to him, even though she grew up thinking that his grandmother (her next door neighbor) is a bona fide witch. Oh, and just a side note: she occasionally sees a ghost, a woman in white, in the woods near their houses.

That's why I loved this book: yes, there's magic and a ghost, but it's just one part of a much richer story. There's also the story of healing, and how Amelia is finding a way to move on and develop her own personality without her brother or father. And there's the story of friendship, both between Amelia and her best friend Leah, and the blossoming friendship (or more?) between Amelia and Charlie, the new guy next door. There's history: their town, Asylum, is so named because it was originally founded as an asylum for French immigrants plagued by rumors of dark happenings. And last but not least, there's also mystery: a series of explainable deaths, which many residents want to pin on Charlie.

The author does a fantastic job of weaving all of these story lines together to create a captivating novel. There were no plot holes, and I never saw the ending coming. I see it listed as a "Book 1" on Goodreads.com, and I look forward to a potential sequel!

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Posted by Tynga at 02:00

 Bookish Group Press, Fantasy amp; Magic, ghost, Girls amp; Women, Jenny Adams Perinovic, Magic, Publisher, Review, The Asylum Saga  2 People left their mark

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

Bella is a DRAMARAMA MAMA in this third installment in the Twilight saga!  There's a mysterious string of murders in nearby Seattle, evil vampire Victoria is still after Bella, someone broke into Charlie's house... and all Bella does is agonize over Team Jacob vs Team Edward, and after-graduation plans.  She pushes Jacob away and then wants him back (on her terms)... then pushes him away, then wants him back.  Edward, lucky guy, gets to ride that emotional roller coaster by her side.

I was pretty optimistic about the first two books in this saga.  They were much better than I expected, and I chose Team Jacob.  Eclipse, however, seems to live up to the more negative reviews of the saga.  It's a bummer.  I was so hopeful!

The first 3/4 of the book is Bella's senior year.  She spends the year worrying about how soon she can let Edward make her immortal, and whining about his conditions.  (He is completely unreasonable.  He insists that she seriously consider the fact that she'll no longer be human, and to enjoy her last months as a human.  He also insists that they get married before they sleep before, and before he turns her into a vampire.  And that he gets to buy her a new, more reliable car.  He's obviously insane.)  She also spends time alternating between wanting Jacob to be her best friend, and wanting to never see him again.

If you're really into drama-filled romance, you'll probably enjoy the first half of the book.  Edward continues to be perfect, always-forgiving, and to make grand romantic gestures.  Jacob continues to try to court Bella too.  So she's getting lots of positive attention.

For me, the action really picked up in the last quarter of the book or so.  Things come to a head with the evil vampires in Seattle, and the Cullen family has to make some unusual alliances to fight them off.  The Cullens and Bella work together, using all their extra abilities, to plan a great counter-offensive when they hear that the other vampires are coming to the Forks area.  And then the battle itself!  Exciting!  It's fast-paced and unpredictable.  It had me on the metaphorical edge of my seat until the end.  (Remember, even though the saga is old, I managed to avoid nearly all spoilers.)

Like with the first two books, I listened to Eclipse as an audiobook.  It was good!  Same reader, so same good cadence and clear narration.

P.S. (Still Team Jacob at the end of Eclipse.)

P.P.S. Already began reading Breaking Dawn today.  Gotta see how the story ends!

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Posted by Tynga at 02:00

 Girls amp; Women, Library, Listening Library, Paranormal Romance, Review, Romance, Stephenie Meyer, Twilight Saga, vampires, werewolves, young adult  6 People left their mark