Book review: The Radleys by Matt Haig

I wanted to share a few of the covers made for this novel. Leave a comment and let me know which one that ticks your box! I have to say that I don't think the "girl in a dress"-trend is suitable for every story...

The Radleys is trying to live life like a normal middle class family in a small English town. They have their problems just like any other normal family, but some problems are way out of normal.

Clara is on her way home from a party when she commits a cruel murder. Shortly after the murder an, until now, unknown uncle shows up at the Radleys to save the day. Helen and Peter, the parents, can no longer hide the dark family secret from their children....

My thoughts:

Among all the vampire novels out there I felt that The Radleys was a little treasure, it was different. This is a vampire story about being a family and accepting who and what you are. There is a bit of romance but the real thrill of the story is whether or not the family will go all dark side on us. Matt Haig's writing style was somehow very calming, making me relax and enjoying every second I was with the Radleys. All the characters are believable and you want to know what happens to them. My very favorite character was 'uncle Will', the dangerous guy with some serious issues.

The chapters in this book were fairly short, some of them no longer than tre-four pages. Each chapter starts with a quote from The Abstainers Handbook(second edition), the Radleys try their very best to be like everyone else(the humans).

The Radleys was a fun and entertaining read, it was a bit darker than some of the vampire stories we all have read in the past years but I feel that this was yet another thing that was very positive about this story. 

Some of you draw parallels to Twilight when reading my review but rest assured the only thing the vampires in the two stories have in common is their choice of lifestyle. I strongly believe that this book has a higher appeal to both genders than Stephenie Mayer's Twilight saga has.

I'm sure many of you instantly thought of Harper Lee's infamous novel To Kill A Mockingbird you noticed the title of this book. Let me tell you that there was no error in making that connection because Matt Haig said in an interview with Publishers Weekly that Boo Radley was his initial inspiration for writing this story:

Were you influenced by Boo Radley of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird?
Yes, Boo, pale-faced, misunderstood suburban outsider, was definitely my inspiration, though I later discovered Radley means "of the red meadow," which can have vampire connotations.

The Radleys is kind of a crossover novel between YA and adult, I know some countries has published both a YA and adult edition of the book.

A book that is well worth a few hour of your time! Before you go I have to tell you that a movie adaptation is in the works and the producer is Alfonso Cuarón. Alfonso is known, among other things, for having directed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Book trailer:

Cover:
My favorite one would be the German cover, the one with the tea cup. My least favorite is the girl in a dress cover.

My rating of this book:

- You should read it!

Want a second opinion?
Susan K.Mann 

The Book Smugglers

Want to know more?

Visit The Radleys homepage

Add The Radleys to your Goodreads wish list.

Visit Matt's homepage 

Follow Matt on Twitter 

Full disclosure: Review copy from the Norwegian publisher.

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.

Book Review: Darkness Unbound by Keri Arthur

Risa Jones is as extraordinary as her heritage. Born from a lab-enhanced clone mother and an Aedh father, she can not only talk to the souls of the dying and the dead, but she can see the reapers and walk the gray fields that divide this world from the next.

They are skill she rarely uses, however, preferring to concentrate on the business she shares with her two best friends. But when her mother asks her to help the parents of a little girl locked in a coma, she reluctantly agrees. What she discovers scares the hell out of her. Because the little girl’s soul no longer resides in her body, and it wasn’t death and the reapers that took her.

Someone had ripped her soul from her flesh.

As it turns out, a creature consuming the souls of the innocent–and not so innocent–is the least of her problems. Because someone wants to rip open the gates that divided hell from earth, and Risa is a key component in their plans. And the only person standing between her and disaster is a reaper who isn’t exactly on her side.

My thoughts:

Darkness Unbound is the first book in Keri Arthur's new series, Dark Angel, which is a spin-off from her Riley Jenson Guardian series. As a huge fan of all nine books about Riley I knew this was something I had to read, even if I was a little scared of it ruining the original series for me. It did not. I should also say that having read the original series first will give you more background for Darkness Unbound, but it is not necessary.

In Darkness Unbound, Keri Arthur introduces us to new supernatural beings unlike any other I have read about. I love how Risa is still exploring her Aedh heritage and what that means for her, but that she also has a clear limit as to how she will use her powers. It can't be easy seeing reapers, always knowing when someone is about to die, yet she tries to make the best of every situation, and will never hesitate if she has the opportunity to help a person; friend or stranger. Risa is a very strong female lead, and even if she occasionally makes bad choices, I always understood why.

The plot was very well executed, and far from predictable. It was just as hard for me as it was for Risa to know who to trust, and I always love not knowing what's happening until the characters discover it themselves. The ending had me crying several times, but it was also the perfect beginning to the rest of the series.

One of my favorite things about Keri Arthur's universe is how her female characters are completely unashamed of their own sexuality. There are a couple of very adult scenes in this book, and so I would not recommend it to anyone who blushes any time sex is mentioned, but everyone else should definitely check out Darkness Unbound the first chance they get.

Cover:

It has kind of a cheesy-romance look to it, but at the same time this is exactly what I imagined Risa to look like, so I'm happy with it.

My rating of this book:

Want to know more?

Add Darkness Unbound to your Goodreads wish list

Visit Keri Arthur's website

Follow Keri on Twitter

Full disclosure:
Checked out at my local library

This book can be purchased from a number of local retailers and online book stores like Amazon and The Book Depository (I'm not an affiliate of either). The latter store has free shipping to about 100 countries.

Book review: The Distant Hours by Kate Morton

A letter arrive 50 years too late and Edie Burchill reads it even though the letter is addressed to her mother. Edie sets out on a journey to Milderhurst Castle, where the Blythe spinsters live. During WW II Edie's mother came to live with the Blythe family. The oldest Blythe sisters, twins, has taken care of their youngest sister Juniper since 1941, Juniper lost her mind when her fiance left her in 1941.

Edie dig's deep down into her mother’s past, a past she has kept hidden all these years. What happened at Milderhurst castle?

My thoughts:

Welcome into Milderhurst castle and this wonderful Gothic inspired tale. I'm sure you do not wish to leave until you've closed the final page, at least I know I didn't. The Distant Hours was a true page-turner(perhaps a bad choice of word since I listened to the audiobook). I've heard incredible things about Kate Morton's books but The Distant Hours was the first one for meg. Kate is an incredible storyteller and she writes beautifully. I would say that this is is a book to save until winter and enjoy when the snow is falling heavily outside your windows. 

Sure The Distant Hours is a brick of a book but it doesn't feel that way when your all caught up in the mystery of the story. When I thought I knew something the story took an unexpected turn. Sometimes the setting was a bit eerie and it felt a bit like I was reading a ghost story thanks to Juniper, she was one scary character.

The Distant Hours is reminiscent of The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield and I feel pretty confident that those who loved TTT will fall for this book as well.

Although this is an adult title older young adults might like this one.


Book trailer:

Cover:
Lovely.


My rating of this book:

Want a second opinion? Check out these reviews written by some of my book blogging friends:
The Book Nerd Club
Confessions of A Book Addict
Beyond Books

Want to know more?

Add The Distant Hours to your Goodreads wish list.

Visit Kate Morton's homepage 

Read Kate's blog 

Check out Kate's fanpage on Facebook 

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton

Published: 2010
Pages(hardcover): 674
Publisher: Mantle
ISBN: 0230748325 (ISBN13: 9780230748323)
Full disclosure: I purchased the audiobook version of this novel from Audible

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.

Book review: Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh

The Psy is a people without feelings, if a Psy show any sings of desire they're punished. Psy Sascha Duncan struggles to keep her true nature hidden, if anyone ever discoveres that she feels Sascha will have to face "rehabilitation".

Several changeling women have been brutally killed and Lucas Hunter, changeling, is hell bent on hunting down the Psy killer. Sascha is his ticket to information about the Psy. Lucas soon discovers that Sascha is a unique Psy, she can feel and the beast in Lucas is intrigued and attracted to Sascha.

My thoughts:

I won one of the books in this series (book #6) from Teddyree over at The Eclectic Reader. Teddyree wrote about her love for the series and she gave the first book a five star rating. I decided that I had to buy the five first books in this series to start at the beginning. I get crazy just thinking about starting a series from say book #3.

The passion between the two main characters in this story was the sizzling kind; you could practically see the sparkles fly between Sascha and Luke. Nalini Singh knows how to create chemistry on page. For some reason I didn't think that adult paranormal romance books was for me but this proved me mistaken in my belief. Slave to Sensation actually made it to my honorable mention list last year. I guess I just have to admit to myself that even if the cover is clichéd the story can be very entertaining.

I haven't said all that much about the story but I didn't want to forget to write down a couple of lines about this book that I liked so much.

Cover:

Not my kind of cover at all.

My rating of this book:

Want a second opinion? Check out these reviews written by some of my book blogging friends:

Book girl of Mur-y-Castell
A Certain Slant of Light

Want to know more?

Add Slave to Sensation to your Goodreads wish list.

Visit Nalini Singh's homepage 

Read Nalini's blog 

Check out Nalini's fanpage on Facebook

Published: 2006
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Full disclosure: Purchased 

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.

Book Review: Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours.

Paris, May 2002: On Vel’ d’Hiv’s 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France's past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl's ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d'Hiv', to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah's past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life.

My thoughts:

I have had Sarah’s Key recommended to me by several friends, and so I actually went to a bookstore to buy a copy. (This is not something I do often, I'm usually a library kind of girl.) For some reason it ended up sitting in my bookshelf for a couple of months, but then yesterday I was finally out of library books and brought Sarah’s Key to work with me. Luckily the kids decided that yesterday was a good day for a 3,5 hour long nap; perfect for reading.

I love that Sarah’s Key tells a little known story from the Holocaust, of how the French police and authorities arrested over 13 000 jews during two nights in a raid code named “Operation Spring Breeze”. Out of these 13 000, 5800 were women and over 4000 were children, and they were all eventually sent to Auschwitz for execution. The youngest child sent to Auschwitz was only 18 months old. For decades after World War II the French government tried to pretend this never happened, until Jacques Chirac in 1995 finally gave a public speech acknowledging it, fifty-three years after the roundup.

Sarah’s Key is incredibly well written, and I was completely lost in the story from the first chapter. The language is simple and on the spot, and especially the chapters about Sarah have such a raw feeling to them that I found myself crying more than once. There were times when I was very annoyed with Julia; why did she have to keep digging in things better left forgotten? But by the end it all came together, and it was really the only way it could have ended.

The cover:

It's pretty, but I don't love it. I know this is picking at details here, but I wish the children on the cover had been ten and four years-old like Sarah and her brother, instead of looking so close in age. But that's just me being picky.

My rating of this book:

Want a second opinion? Check out these reviews from some of my book blogging friends:

Amused by Books
Mrs. Q: Book Addict

Want to know more?

Add Sarah's Key to your Goodreads wishlist

Visit Tatiana de Rosnay's website

Follow Tatiana on Twitter

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

Published: September 30 2008

Pages (paperback): 293

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

ISBN: 0312370849 (ISBN13: 9780312370848

Full disclosure: Purchased at my local indie bookstore

This book can be purchased from a number of local retailers and online book stores such as Amazon or The Book Depository (I am not an affiliate of either). The latter store has free shipping to about 100 countries.

Book review: Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs by Molly Harper

Jane Jameson gets fired, goes to a bar and on her way home she is mistaken for a deer and someone shots her. Jane wakes up craving blood.

The Newly Undead Welcoming Committee is on Jane's doorstep with a basket with useful things. It doesn't brighten Jane's mood.. how is she supposed to hide this from her family? And what will become of Jane's relationship with her hot maker? If this isn't enough problems Jane has a ghost for roomie, her auntie Jettie, and someone is trying to frame Jane for murdering a vampire.

My thoughts:
Poor Jane, it is not easy to adjust to a life as a vampire. I honestly have to say that I don't remember much details of this story, here is a short summary of what's left in my memory:

• Jane was a librarian that got fired.
• The story had humor in it, I saved I quote that I thought illustrated it in a good way
  

  Jettie was the one who undid some of the damage from my mother's "birds and bees" talk, entitled "Nice Girls Don't Do That. Ever."

• A dark, dangerous and sexy vampire.
• Mystery

Will I continue with this series? I think so, when I'm in the mood for some light paranormal entertainment.

Cover:
Ok I guess.


My rating of this book:




Want a second opinion? Check out these reviews written by some of my book blogging friends:
Blood Rose Books
Mystifying Paranormal Reviews

Want to know more?

Add Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs to your Goodreads wish list.

Visit Molly's homepage 

Follow Molly on Twitter 

Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs by Molly Harper

Published: 2009
Pages(paperback): 355
Publisher: Pocket Star
ISBN: 1416589422 (ISBN13: 9781416589426)
Full disclosure: I purchased the audiobook from Audible

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.

Book review: The Restorer (Graveyard Queen #1) by Amanda Stevens

Rule #1 - Never acknowledge their presence.

27 year old Amelia Gray is a cemetery restorer who sees ghosts. Amelia has followed her fathers strict rules all her life, rules meant to keep her safe from the ghosts.One dark evening Amelia notices a man following her, he introduces himself as a police detective. From that moment on Amelia's life is about to change forever, she is soon in way over her head in a murder case and a hunted cop.

Want to read a novel that is creepiliciously good? If so The Restorer is just the novel you have been looking for. Also a big plus that author Amanda Stevens' main character, Amelia, is a fellow blogger.

My thoughts:
I've just got back from a trip to the graveyard with Amelia, who knew such a peaceful place could be the scene for such horrible crimes? The Restorer has been an addictive read from start to finish. I barely had time to rise to the surface for air. Author Amanda Stevens has succeeded in creating that eerie feeling, it stays with you throughout the whole novel, and I regretted reading it in bed after everyone else had fallen to sleep.

The main character Amelia felt like a friend, I loved her and at times I felt so sorry for her. I guess I'm not spoiling anything by telling you that there is some serious chemistry in the air between Amelia and the police detective John Devlin.

No cliffhanger ending in this first book but the author leaves enough loose ends for you to start craving the second book the minute you've closed this first one. Thankfully the next installment, The Kingdom, will be out in October.

One more thing, I just found out there will be a tv-series based on these books. How great is that?!

Book trailer:

Cover:
It is both creepy and beautiful - very much like the feeling of the story.


My rating of this book:

- Loved it!

Want a second opinion?
The Eclectic Reader
Serendipity

Want to know more?

Add The Restorer  to your Goodreads wish list.

Visit Amanda Stevens' homepage 

Read Amanda's blog 

Follow Amanda on Twitter 

The Restorer (Graveyard Queen #1) by Amanda Stevens 

Published: 2011
Pages(paperback): 376
Publisher: Mira
ISBN: 077832981X (ISBN13: 9780778329817)
Full disclosure: Review copy from publisher via Netgalley

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.

Blood Rights by Kristen Painter - Waiting on Wednesday

Blood Rights by Kristen Painter. Release date: September 27th 2011. Published by: Orbit.

Why am I pining for Blood Rights?

I fell in love with the cover(I honestly don't know how anyone can resist it) and then I read the summary and it intrigued me. A special race of humans breed to feed vampires and a hookup between one of them and a outcast vampire, sounds like the receipt for a great paranormal romance for adults! 

Synopsis(borrowed from the Goodreads):

The lacy gold mapped her entire body. A finely-wrought filigree of stars, vines, flowers, butterflies, ancient symbols and words ran from her feet, up her legs, over her narrow waist, spanned her chest and finished down her arms to the tips of her fingers. 

Born into a life of secrets and service, Chrysabelle’s body bears the telltale marks of a comarré—a special race of humans bred to feed vampire nobility. When her patron is murdered, she becomes the prime suspect, which sends her running into the mortal world…and into the arms of Malkolm, an outcast vampire cursed to kill every being from whom he drinks. 

Now Chrysabelle and Malkolm must work together to stop a plot to merge the mortal and supernatural worlds. If they fail, a chaos unlike anything anyone has ever seen will threaten to reign.

Want to know more?

Add Blood Rights to your Goodreads shelf

Visit Kirsten Painter's homepage

Read Kirsten's blog

Follow Kirsten on Twitter

What are you waiting for this week?

"Waiting On" Wednesday" is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. This event spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. Please visit Jill's blog to find out what other book bloggers are waiting for.

AKA