Escape In A Book: 3.5 stars

Showing posts with label 3.5 stars. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Book Review: A Shimmer of Angels by Lisa M. Basso

Sixteen-year-old Rayna sees angels, and has the medication and weekly therapy sessions to prove it. Now, in remission, Rayna starts fresh at a new school, lands a new job, and desperately tries for normalcy. She ignores signs that she may be slipping into the world she has tried so hard to climb out of. But these days, it’s more than just hallucinations that keep Rayna up at night. Students are dying, and she may be the only one who can stop it. Can she keep her job, her sanity, and her friends from dying at the hands of angels she can't admit to seeing?

Since the death of her mother Rayna has been able to see angels. Most people don't consider such an ability as normal and it landed Rayna a spot in a mental health clinic. Now that she's out she doesn't plan to go back there and desperately tries to fit in. Just when she thought she was done with her past a winged boy shows up at her school. And guess what? He's real.

The little blurb and the stunning cover immediately caught my attention when I came across A Shimmer of Angels. I must say, the story didn't fail to intrigue me. Especially the first fifty pages. Basso's writing style was very pleasurable, drawing the reader into the story.

Rayna is real. She's a sixteen-year-old struggling to be normal, trying to get her life together. Jumpy and terrified yet sweet, gentle and strong. At the beginning of the book she seems to be crazy and as the book continues she carries the reader into her past filled with wings and starts to make sense more and more. But because she doesn't necessarily sees herself as a victim I didn't either.
Cam and Kade. Light and Dark. They both become entwined in Rayna's life. While I liked Cam, I feel like he didn't get the attention he deserves. There's nearly no characterization for him, while we get to know loads about Kade's past. Considering the gaps between the Winged and the Fallen I was personally very interested to see the difference between those two. I'm also fearing the neverending love triangle.
Other characters, such as Rayna's best friend Lee and classmate Luke, kept the story real. Everybody recognises the stiff relations between those teens.

A Shimmer of Angels has a very promising start, a shaky middle where Rayna handles certain things a little badly and a rather unexpected ending. Kade's past with Rayna's mother, Cam's struggle to keep distant from human emotions and Rayna's new future all opt for an awesome sequel. After reading A Shimmer of Angels I was disappointed to be left with a lot of questions, but those may all be explained in A Slither of Hope...
I must say I really enjoy saying those titles. :)

My rating of this book

Source

I received an ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Other links

Find this book on Goodreads
Visit Lisa M Basso's website here

Friday, July 27, 2012

Book review: Crossed by Ally Condie

Crossed by Ally Condie is a sequel to the book Matched and part of the Matched-trilogy. I've really been looking forward to this book since I liked Matched so much. I have to say I'm a little bit dissapointed. If you haven't read Matched you should stop here, because this review contains spoilers from the first book, and rather read Nina's review of it here or my review here (in norwegian.)

Chasing down an uncertain future, Cassia makes her way to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky--taken by the Society to his sure death--only to find that he has escaped into the majestic, but treacherous, canyons. On this wild frontier are glimmers of a different life and the enthralling promise of a rebellion. But even as Cassia sacrifices every thing to reunite with Ky, ingenious surprises from Xander may change the game once again. (Photo and summary from Goodreads)

My thoughts:
To tell you the truth this book bored me one time to many. There's a lot of talk and no play (isn't that how it's said?:-)). Even though Ally Condie's writing still is beautiful and low-key I wanted this book to be more filled with action than it is. The first book isn't excactly action-packed either but it presents the characters and the Society where it all takes place to us in a very satisfying way in my opinion. The ending of Matched built up some expectations of a more exciting second book and what we get is even more background history of the characters, the Society and the rebellion on the outside. I don't think there's anything wrong with that but it doesn't match (haha) my expectations. We get to know Ky a lot better and what's going on outside the Society and it's "safe" boundaries. I want to know more but I wish we got to "see" it with our own eyes instead of beeing told the story through someone else like Ky or some of the new charachters we meet (I'm not sure this make's sense). Instead of being where it's all happening we just hear about it.

Ally Condies biggest strenght still is her poetic language and the moods she creates in her books. I still think it's a bit over the top for my taste in Crossed with all the poems and love declarations. Condie still writes in a way that makes this an easy read and I'm very excited about the third and last book. The pace surely must pick up in that one?

Source:
Review copy from the norwegian publisher Mangschou in exchange for an honest review

My rating:

Silje*

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Book review: The Gallows Curse by Andrew Hammond

Dangerous men are out hunting people in the streets of London, eyewitnesses tells unbelievable stories of 17th century highwaymen committing murder. The Police have no clues as to who the suspects are and it is time to call CRYPT. The Covert Response Youth Paranormal Team is a highly secret organization that works on cases where the paranormal just might be at work. Their best agent Jud Lester is on the case with newbie(or zombie as they call it in the CRYPT) Bex.

My thoughts:

I was a bit reluctant when I first started reading The Gallows Curse because the beginning of the story was so scary and contained some pretty gory murders. I'm not that big of a fan of blood, beetles and mess but I stuck with it and I'm glad I did. When the story first started I was sitting outside my house enjoying a beautiful day in the sun, after mere minutes I was transported to the streets of London looking over my shoulder to see if the scary ghosts were after me. I took the book to bed with me that night and lay awake hearing the house creak and turning the light full on just so I could make sure no highwaymen could sneak up on me, not unnoticed anyway.

Jud Lester was a guy with issues and rightfully so, his past has colored his behavior and he struggles to keep his act together. When Bex entered the scene she was like a fresh of breath air and she might just be the partner Jud needs, they made a great team(not boyfriend/girlfriend but as investigators, might be something in the air though).

A word I have to mention in this review is MOTORBIKES, both of the main characters were very passionate about their bikes. Jud rode a Honda Fireblade and Bex, I believe, rode a Suzuki GSX. I have to admit it I had a period in my life which I LOVED and obsessed over bikes. I actually rode a bike from the age of 16-18(we don't get to take our drivers license until we're 18 here), a bike classified as a light motorbike, at least here in Norway; a 125ccm Honda Shadow from the age 16-18. So needless to say I could connect with Bexs' love of bikes. I always wanted a bike like the one Jud rode but mine looked very different.

To the left a black Fireblade(nice, right?!) like Jud rides in The Gallows Curse, to the right a Honda Shadow just like my own <3

I would recommend The Gallows Curse to boys and girls who likes to be scared and aren't afraid of a bit of gore ;)

Come back tomorrow to read my interview with Andrew Hammond.

Book trailer:

Cover:
Fitting for a agent ghost story and I'm pretty sure it will appeal to the boys(and girls).

My rating of this book:

- I look forward to more adventures with Jud and Bex!

Want a second opinion?
Serendipity Reviews

Published: September 2011
Publisher: Headline
Full disclosure: Review copy from publisher in exchange for honest review.

This book can be purchased from a number of local retailers and on-line book stores such as Amazon or The Book Depository (I'm not an affiliate of either). The latter store does by the way have free shipping to about 100 countries.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Book review: Hearts At Stake/My Love Lies Bleeding by Alyxandra Harvey

Lucy fights for her best friend Solange's right to lead a normal life, but Solange's life is anything but normal. If Solange is lucky she'll wake up dead on her sixteenth birthday.

There are quite a few problems in Solange's life with seven overprotective brothers, a vampire queen afraid of her power being threatened and an anti-vampire league trying to stake Solange's entire family.

My thoughts:
Hearts At Stake was one of the very first books I read this year. I recommend this young adult novel for those of you looking for a fun and fast paced read about vampires.
The story is alternating from being told between Lucy and Solange. My favorite was Lucy, I loved Lucky's character, she was feisty and fab best friend. I liked the way Nicholas, one of Solange's older brothers, acted like some very real teenage boys do when they're in love, by trying to pushing the girl away.

Harvey threw in a real surprise for me at the end of this book which I loved. A series I definitely want to continue with.

Book trailer: