[review] Level 2 (The Memory Chronicles #1) by Lenore Appelhans (2013)

Tags

afterlife, angels, book review, books, contemporary, death, fantasy, fiction, paranormal, religion, review, sci-fi, young adult, young adult fiction

Level 2 (2013)
by Lenore Appelhans
Hardcover Edition
Publication Date: January 15th, 2013
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Buy a copy via Amazon.
Synopsis from Goodreads.

Since her untimely death the day before her eighteenth birthday, Felicia Ward has been trapped in Level 2, a stark white afterlife located between our world and the next. Along with her fellow drones, Felicia passes the endless hours reliving memories of her time on Earth and mourning what she’s lost-family, friends, and Neil, the boy she loved.

Then a girl in a neighboring chamber is found dead, and nobody but Felicia recalls that she existed in the first place. When Julian-a dangerously charming guy Felicia knew in life-comes to offer Felicia a way out, Felicia learns the truth: If she joins the rebellion to overthrow the Morati, the angel guardians of Level 2, she can be with Neil again.

My Thoughts:
Level 2’s plot stands out as one of the most intriguing ones I’ve come across recently, with a blend of sci-fi, paranormal, and contemporary genres. In Level 2, the afterlife is where you rewatch memories in hi-tech pods, either your own or “rented” from others with credits. I’m drawn to creative world-building, and Level 2 has that. At least the beginning traces of one. Unfortunately, Level 2 desperately needs at least a hundred more pages to flesh out ideas, plot, setting, and characters. I have no idea how I read 288 pages without a solid grasp of any of these elements. One of the things that kept me reading was the fast pacing, but even that fell apart towards the end and felt like a cheap gimmick.

Faux “Suspense”:
It doesn’t take long to realize that Level 2 LOVES its cliffhanger chapter endings–to the point it’s overused. It was like the author made a list of all the plot twists she could have and started inserting them to the end of her chapters. Scene changes don’t signal a chapter break, instead plot twists or big revelations do. You know a chapter is ends when characters suddenly go missing, or something catches on fire. I understand that Appelhans wanted to retain the reader’s attention by not giving them a chance to break away from the story, but it felt like a gimmick. I love a good twist any day, but I grew tired of them in Level 2 because they were so abundant, as if the author didn’t have confidence in her story. It was cheap plot twists not characters that carried the story.

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[review] Enchanted, Inc. (Enchanted, Inc. #1) by Shanna Swendson (2005)

Tags

book, book review, chick-lit, magic, paranormal, romance, wizards

Enchanted, Inc. (2005)
by Shanna Swendson (blog.)
Paperback Edition
Publication Date: May 31st, 2005
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Buy a copy via Amazon.
Synopsis from Goodreads.

Katie Chandler had always heard that New York is a weird and wonderful place, but this small-town Texas gal had no idea how weird until she moved there. Everywhere she goes, she sees something worth gawking at and Katie is afraid she’s a little too normal to make a splash in the big city. Working for an ogre of a boss doesn’t help.

Then, seemingly out of the blue, Katie gets a job offer from Magic, Spells, and Illusions, Inc., a company that tricks of the trade to the magic community. For MSI, Katie’s ordinariness is an asset. Lacking any bit of magic, she can easily spot a fake spell, catch hidden clauses in competitor’s contracts, and detect magically disguised intruders. Suddenly, average Katie is very special indeed.

My Thoughts:
After reading a few dark novels about sociopaths and serial killers, I desperately needed a recovery book. So when Christina (A Reader of Fictions) mentioned recommended Enchanted Inc., I picked it up from the library immediately. It just sounded like oodles of fun with a dash of romance and magic thrown in…and that was exactly what it was. Although I adore a fun chick-lit novel any day, the last one I read was Sophie Kinsella’s I’ve Got Your Number about six months ago, and I didn’t realize how much I missed the genre until I devoured Enchanted Inc.

[review] I Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells (2010)

Tags

book, book review, demon, horror, killers, killing, lying, paranormal, psychotic, serial killers, sociopath, teenager

I Am Not a Serial Killer (2010)
by Dan Wells
Paperback Edition
Publication Date: March 30th, 2010
Publisher: Tor Books
Buy a copy via Amazon.
Synopsis from Amazon.
Goodreads.

John Wayne Cleaver is dangerous, and he knows it.

Obsessed with serial killers, he never wants to be one. Yet terrible impulses constantly tempt him.Having grown up helping his mom at the family mortuary, dead bodies are no big deal to John. He likes them, actually. They don’t ask for the empathy he’s unable to offer. Perhaps that’s what gives him the clarity to recognize that something is frighteningly different about the freshest body on the slab.
For the first time, John must confront a danger outside his own mind, a threat he cannot control, a menace to everything and everyone he would love, if only he could.

My Thoughts:
Since I enjoyed Dan Wells’s 2012 foray into Young Adult, Partials, I decided to go back and read his other work: The John Cleaver trilogy. The idea of getting into a mind of sociopath intrigued me; I expected a thought-provoking, character-driven novel with an complex, yet also unreliable narrator. I went in with high expectations, but although it was an exciting read filled with suspense, the John Cleaver’s character was too forced–nor did the plot twist that almost ruined the story. However, I still found the story enjoyable–a very easy read. I didn’t like John very much nor could I grasp his thinking, but I’ll let it go–he is a sociopath after all.

I’m Not Sure If I Would Classify It As An Adult Novel:
If it were up to me, this novel would be classified as Young Adult. Well to be fair, it was originally pitched as a YA novel, so maybe that’s why I didn’t get the adult vibe from it. Or because the protagonist was a high school freshman. Perhaps it was the horror, “gore” aspect that kept it from being in YA–but it really wasn’t that horrific. I’m the girl who got scared with that hanging man song from Suzanne Collin’s Mockingjay, but this novel…didn’t faze me at all. So even if you are a YA lover, don’t let the adult classification deter you.

[Book Haul] Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness + Perfume

Tags

all souls, all souls trilogy, book, book haul, cover, oxford, paranormal, perfume, sahdow of night, scents, vampires, witches

Today, something AWESOME that I’ve waited a while for came in the mail: a signed finished copy of Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness along with two All Souls Trilogy inspired perfumes sent by Penguin Viking. I was pleasantly surprised since I was expecting an ARC, not a finished copy. And damn, it looks GORGEOUS! I admit, even though I didn’t like A Discovery of Witches to the point I wanted to throw it across the room (don’t worry, I didn’t because it was a library copy), I am still very much tempted to read Shadow of Night now with its lovely cover (a big step up from A Discovery of Witches‘s cover for sure.) And it being signed makes me feel so special…I am so easily won over.

I was even more excited to find out the perfume was supposed to be Diana and Matthew’s scents. Now I can finally smell what Diana and Matthew are so obsessed with! Conclusion: Matthew smells better. But really they both smell kinda like Axe body spray. But he is supposed to smell like the undead–that makes me question my perfume tastes. Now the question is: if I rub Diana’s perfume all over myself, will I attract a super rich, super handsome vampire to be my eternal soulmate?

[review] A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (2011)

Tags

alchemy, book, book review, books, paranormal, psychics, romance, science, spells, vampires, witchcraft, witches

A Discovery of Witches (2011)
by Deborah Harkness
Hardcover Edition
Published Date: December 27, 2011
Publisher: Penguin Books
buy a copy via Amazon.
synopsis via Goodreads.

Deep in the stacks of Oxford’s Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.

My Thoughts:
I wonder if I picked up a copy of Twilight fanfiction by mistake because A Discovery of Witches felt like Twilight posing as an adult novel minus the werewolves. Actually, I daresay that Twilight was a better novel–at least you could finish the thing in two days, and the pacing was fine. A Discovery of Witches takes slow pacing to a whole new level (though I have to admit the writing was a lot more refined), and Bella can’t hold a flame to Diana’s annoying personality (before today, I didn’t even think it was possible.) I don’t even know how this made New York Times Bestseller lists. But if a forced love story between wimpy, annoying witches and extremely possessive, handsome vampires are your thing, this is your book.

[review] The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa (2012)

Tags

apocalypse, blood, book, book review, books, fantasy, humor, paranormal, post-apocalyptic, vampires, zombies

Being a vampire turns you white…literally. (Because I can’t resist joining in on the why-is-this-white-girl-on-the-cover-when-the-main-character-is-Asian thing)

The Immortal Rules(2012)
by Julie Kagawa (blog.)
Hardcover Edition
Publication Date: Apr 24, 2012
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
purchase a copy via Amazon.
synopsis via Goodreads.

Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a vampire city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten.
Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of them. The vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself is attacked—and given the ultimate choice. Die… or become one of the monsters.
Faced with her own mortality, Allie becomes what she despises most. To survive, she must learn the rules of being immortal, including the most important: go long enough without human blood, and you will go mad.
Then Allie is forced to flee into the unknown, outside her city walls. There she joins a ragged band of humans who are seeking a legend—a possible cure to the disease that killed off most of humankind and created the rabids, the mindless creatures who threaten humans and vampires alike.But it isn’t easy to pass for human. Especially not around Zeke, who might see past the monster inside her. And Allie soon must decide what—and who—is worth dying for.

My Thoughts:
Undeniably one of this years most anticipated YA releases, Julie Kagawa’s The Immortal Rules is a 500-page roller coaster, an heart-pounding thrill ride, that oddly doesn’t feel like 500 pages by the time you’re done. We are brought into a post-apocalyptic world where the undead live among the living and much of the living has been wiped out by a plague. Sword-wielding seventeen year old vampire, Allison Sekemoto, is determined lead a rebellion, to overthrow the vampire monarchy…until she becomes one of them herself. Allison knows how to be bold, but more importantly, how to slash a wild, rabid boar in half.

Throughout the novel, I kept wondering how it would work out: could vampires and humans coexist for vampires were once humans after all. Maybe vampires and humans were not so different after all. Humans (at least according to Allie) would not pause to sell out one of their own for survival anyway, so what’s so bad about a vampire taking a bit of blood for survival? And I don’t see how vampires can rule, when they can be killed so easily in the day; you basically have 12 hours of daylight to cut off their heads, or are vampire cities sealed so tight that UV rays can’t get through?

[review] Devoted (Elixir #2) by Hilary Duff with Elise Allen (2011)

Tags

afterlife, book, book review, hilary duff, mystery, paranormal, review, romance, soulmate, young adult

Devoted (Elixir #2) (2011)
by Hilary Duff with Elise Allen
Hardcover Edition
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
buy a copy via Amazon.
synopsis via Goodreads.

Since Sage was kidnapped, Clea has no way of knowing if he is alive or dead. And even though she has only just discovered they were soulmates, she feels like a part of her is lost forever. What’s worse, she can’t even turn to her best friend Ben—because every time she looks at him, all she sees is his betrayal. But waiting for something to happen is not an option, so Clea is ready for action. Suffering through dreams of seeing Sage with another woman, she makes an uneasy alliance with Sage’s enemies and sets out to be reunited with Sage…in this life or the next.

My Thoughts:
Elixir left us with an frustrating Clea Raymond. I knew it would happen, it’s not exactly rational to expect Clea to be “normal” again after having her soulmate, Sage, kidnapped by a group of shady men. Duff, in an interview with MTV, that Devoted is as exciting as Elixir. But Devoted shines more than Elixir in many ways. I wince every time I have to read through Clea declaring her undying, destined love to Sage, but the plot takes a huge twist with the introduction of new characters.

[review] Elixir (Elixir #1) by Hilary Duff with Elise Allen (2010)

Tags

afterlife, book, book review, hilary duff, literature, mystery, paranormal, review, romance, soulmate, young adult

Elixir (Elixir #1) (2010)
by Hilary Duff with Elise Allen
Hardcover Edition
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books
buy a copy via Amazon.
synopsis via Goodreads.

After Clea Raymond’s father disappears while on a humanitarian mission, Clea’s photos begin to feature eerie, shadowy images of a strange and beautiful man—a man she has never seen before. When fate brings Clea and this man together, she is stunned by the immediate and powerful connection she feels with him. As they grow closer, they are drawn deep into the mystery behind her father’s disappearance, and they discover the centuries old truth behind their intense bond.

My Thoughts:
Hilary Duff adds yet another title to her multifaceted resume as she delves into YA writing with her debut novel, Elixir. As a fan of Duff since her Lizzie McQuire days, I had to take a read (I LOVED when I was in third grade, playing her songs every day.) I admit to being a bit hesitant, not sure what to expect as I never thought of her as a writer but a celebrity who spent more time with her career than writing tedious essays. I knew about the book when it was first reached bestseller lists, but I dismissed it as just her name selling the novel rather than her literary merit. Regardless, I am glad I delved into Elixir.