Bookish Recap

I'm joining Tynga's Reviews' meme Stacking the Shelves and The Story Siren's In My Mailbox meme today. Thanks for hosting Tynga and Kristi!

On the Blog This Week

Manga Mondays:

Skip Beat vol. 9 by Yoshiki Nakamura

Reviews:

Where Things Back by John Corey Whaley

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

Read Outside the Box:

Best Adult Historical Fiction

Books I Read This Week

Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
-Oh my gosh...So incredible!!!!

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
-Finally reading this one. It's great so far.

Books Received This Week

Library Stash

-I really shouldn't have gotten anything at the library with all my BEA books at home, but I couldn't help myself.

Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels by Ree Drummond

Off Balance: A Memoir by Dominique Moceanu, Paul Williams, Teri Williams

-A must read for any gymnastics fan. Sure makes the Karolyis look bad.

Books For Review:

The Kingmakers (Vampire Empire #3) by Clay Griffith and Susan Griffith

-Thanks to Prometheus Books! Did a happy dance when this one arrived.

  Songs Bought




Eyes Wide Open by Gotye



Some Nights by Fun.
-Same group that sings "We Are Young." I like this song much better. That's putting it mildly. I am wildly in love with this song!!! The video is great too.



Carry On by Fun. 
-The video is acoustic. I actually like the acoustic version a little better than the album version.

Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown

Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown
Release Date: June 12th 2012
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Source: Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Summary

Calder White lives in the cold, clear waters of Lake Superior, the only brother in a family of murderous mermaids. To survive, Calder and his sisters prey on humans, killing them to absorb their energy. But this summer the underwater clan targets Jason Hancock out of pure revenge. They blame Hancock for their mother's death and have been waiting a long time for him to return to his family's homestead on the lake. Hancock has a fear of water, so to lure him in, Calder sets out to seduce Hancock's daughter, Lily. Easy enough—especially as Calder has lots of practice using his irresistable good looks and charm on ususpecting girls. Only this time Calder screws everything up: he falls for Lily—just as Lily starts to suspect that there's more to the monsters-in-the-lake legends than she ever imagined. And just as his sisters are losing patience with him.(courtesy of Goodreads)

Review

Lies Beneath is like a sugar cookie. I like sugar cookies. They're buttery, sweet, and simply pleasant. But let's face it. A sugar cookie just isn't comparable to a chocolate chip cookie with its chiaroscuro-ish balance between the sugary dough and the bitter, rich, sweet chocolate chips. Chocolate chip cookies covers the whole flavor profile, giving it a complex taste that a sugar cookie lacks. I'll eat sugar cookies if they're the only thing around (and probably before an oatmeal raisin cookie), but they're just not as good. What exactly do I mean by that extended simile? I enjoyed Lies Beneath. It's a fun story, but lacking in substance of world building and some plot elements that could take it to the next level.

My favorite thing about Lies Beneath was the mermaid interpretation. It's more in line with traditional mermaid mythology. Think vampires with gills. Mermaids are killers, who devour humans' positive emotions rather than their blood or bodies. Culturally, mermaids resemble fish as much as humans. Your original family is a "school" that you can't leave even if you want to. You are compelled to migrate to your home waters each spring, much like salmon. It's a fascinating concept, but Lies Beneath fails to develop the mythology. How common are mermaids? We learn that humans can be changed into mermaids or born into it. How often does this happen? Why did it happen with Calder? There's question after unanswered question. It made the story feel one dimensional.

At first glance, Calder seems like a simple character, but you can read a lot into him. He's not overly nice or mean. He's not particularly empathetic. What he is definitely is stubborn. His stubbornness keeps him from killing humans for months on end, because he wants to believe that he can hold out. His stubbornness keeps him separated from his sisters who he both loves and hates, at least partly because he resents being compelled to join them every spring. His stubbornness attracts them to Lily, because she has no interest in him. His stubbornness pushes him to pursue Lily as relentlessly as a shark until she has no choice but to fall in love with him. While I can't say that I really liked Calder, I understood him. I felt bad that he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. His sisters literally rule his life. He's caught in an unrelenting net.

I had more trouble getting a read on Lily. She is laid out as a rebel who gets a line of poetry tattooed on her back. She wears crazy Victorian inspired outfits and spends her free time reading and writing poetry. She doesn't care what anyone thinks. She's stand-offish, but at the same time syrupy nice and deeply devoted to her family. As I'm writing this, it sounds like she's a great character. And she is, but as I was reading it, I sometimes felt like Lily was a different person depending on what was happening in the book. I especially disliked the insta-love between Calder and Lily. For all she holds herself out to be independent, she sure capitulated to his nagging, semi-braggy "you know you like me" attitude quickly. (On a slightly off note, I also disliked Calder's creepiness-tinged stalking of Lily).

The plot of Lies Beneath is like a lazy river with the occasional boulder in the middle. It moves slow and steady, but has a few dead stops. I love the concept that Calder builds a relationship with a girl to lure her father to his death, but falls in love with the girl instead. It's not a revolutionary plot line, but it's hard to go wrong with that kind of conflict. And it's handled well. There are a few surprises along the way, some good romantic moments between Calder and Lily, and a very interesting and screwed up family dynamic between Calder and his sisters. Thoroughly enjoyable. I suppose my main frustration with the book is that, while it's good, I feel like it could have been so much better with a bit more world development, less insta-love, and the addition of whatever intangible quality is necessary to make me believe the story. To forget that mermaids don't exist and that Calder and Lily aren't actually hanging out on the shore of Lake Superior. Lies Beneath almost gets there, but doesn't crest that final wave.

Rating: 3 / 5

Fins Are Forever by Tera Lynn Childs

Fins Are Forever by Tera Lynn Childs
June 28, 2011; HarperCollins Childrens Books

Summary

On Lily Sanderson’s eighteenth birthday she’ll become just a girl—still a mergirl, true, but signing the renunciation will ink Princess Waterlily of Thalassinia out of existence. That leaves plain old Lily living on land, dating the boy she loves, and trying to master this being-human thing once and for all.

Now that Lily and Quince are together, mer bond or not, she’s almost content to give up her place in the royal succession of Thalassinia. But just when she thinks she has everything figured out, the waves start to get rough. Lily’s father sends a certain whirlpool-stirring cousin to stay with her on land. What did Doe do to get herself exiled from Thalassinia and stuck in terraped form when everyone knows how much she hates humans? And why why why is she batting her eyelashes at Lily’s former crush, Brody?

The seafoam on the raging surf comes when a merboy from Lily’s past shows up—Tellin asks Lily for something that clouds her view of the horizon. There’s a future with Quince on land, her loyalty to the kingdom in the sea, and Lily tossing on the waves in the middle. Will she find a way to reconcile her love, her duty, and her own dreams?

Tera Lynn Childs’s sequel to Forgive My Fins offers another tail-flicking romance with plenty of fun, sun, and underwater adventure. (courtesy of Goodreads)

Reviews

Forgive My Fins was an adorable tail (spelling on purpose) of a mermaid discovering who she should love and whether love is worth giving up your home at sea for a landlocked life. It was light, fluffy, and loads of fun. Fins Are Forever, the sequel, is similarly adorable. It is not as good as the first book, but I still enjoyed it.

Things are going great at the start of Fins Are Forever. Quince and Lily are in love and swimingly happy. Pretty typical start to a second book. Then Lily's cousin Doe shows up and threatens to ruin everything.

Lily is floundering throughout much of this book. She always thought she'd go back to her sea home after school. Now that that isn't going to happen, she has to plan for a human future. That means college. But is that what she wants? She doesn't want to go back to the sea again or does she?

We meet new characters in this book and get to know old ones better. Doe's actions are pretty shocking. She thoughtlessly uses people. However, she isn't a flatly awful character. I was pleased that the author gives an explanation for her hatred toward humans and allowed her personality to grow. I also liked how Lily grew in this novel. She starts out much more confident than she was in Forgive My Fins, but she still has a long ways to go toward maturity. By the end of the book, she is beginning to have a grown-up, long-term view and makes decisions by thinking about someone else than herself. I was not a fan of Quince here. I loved him in the first book, but he's an after-thought in much of Fins Are Forever. Par for the second book course, I suppose, but since he was one of the main things that made Forgive My Fins loveable, it's extra disappointing to miss out on extra Quince moments. The main new character is Tellin, a guppyhood friend of Lily. I loved his character. Is he a good or bad guy? Honest or manipulative? It's hard to say for much of the book. Nice to have a complex character.

The plot is good and bad. On the good side, we learn more about the mermaid world. There are other kingdoms, for example. And the human world has affected mermaids more than we realized in the first book. Things aren't all sunny. The author did a great job of exploring how Lily has the potential to affect her subjects' lives for good and the consequences of doing so. It takes the book slightly beyond it's main fluffy nature. On the bad side of the plot, there were a lot of events that were too outrageous to be believed - even for a mermaid book. Doe and Brody's relationship ended up being a stretch. And certain conflicts were cleaned up too neatly at the end.

Regardless of its flaws, Fins Are Forever was a cute continuation to the series. I don't take these books too seriously, so I'm willing to accept some silliness. I'm curious to see where the series goes from here.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Lost Voices by Sarah Porter

Lost Voices by Sarah Porter
July 4, 2011; Harcourt Children's Books

Summary

Fourteen-year-old Luce has had a tough life, but she reaches the depths of despair when she is assaulted and left on the cliffs outside of a grim, gray Alaskan fishing village. She expects to die when she tumbles into the icy waves below, but instead undergoes an astonishing transformation and becomes a mermaid. A tribe of mermaids finds Luce and welcomes her in—all of them, like her, lost girls who surrendered their humanity in the darkest moments of their lives. Luce is thrilled with her new life until she discovers the catch: the mermaids feel an uncontrollable desire to drown seafarers, using their enchanted voices to lure ships into the rocks. Luce possesses an extraordinary singing talent, which makes her important to the tribe—she may even have a shot at becoming their queen. However her struggle to retain her humanity puts her at odds with her new friends. Will Luce be pressured into committing mass murder? (courtesy of Goodreads)

Review

Lost Voices is my third mermaid/siren novel. I'm really enjoying this genre. Mermaids are such versatile paranormal creatures. They can be cute, fun-loving human-fish; breathtaking beauties; or evil man-killing monsters. The characters in Lost Voices basically fall into the third category.

The mermaids in Lost Voices are young girls who have had horrible lives - sexual, physical, and/or emotional abuse. Some horrible trauma flips the switch to magically change them from human to mermaids. It's an odd concept and not explained well at first, but by the end of the book, I felt that I understood the basics pretty well. Not surprisingly, many of these girls are bitter towards humans, especially men.

And then you have Luce. She lived a happy life with her father, even if he was poor and a criminal. Then he disappeared leaving her with her abusive uncle. When he tried to rape her one night, the switch flipped and she was suddenly in the ocean with a new life as a mermaid.

Luce is now unbelievably powerful. With her voice alone, she can lead dozens of men to their deaths. The other mermaids try to convince her that this is a good thing - humans are useless, evil creatures - but Luce isn't sure. She's known both love and hate.

Lost Voices is more than just a killing spree. The mermaids are a fascinating group of girls. Their culture promotes love and loyalty and forbids hurting one another. In practice, things are a bit more complicated, but I love the idea that abused girls now have a supportive girl-power group they can always rely upon.

This book was a mixed bag for me. On the up side, the book is well-written and the mythology is fascinating. I liked Luce, sympathized with her, and understood her character well enough to relate to her. On the down side, I felt the plot floundered (purposeful fish misspelling). More and more mermaids were created and more and more killing occurred. It felt directionless. Perhaps it will make more sense in the later books. Also, Catarina, the leader of the mermaids, was really inconsistent. She loved Luce and then she hated Luce. I partially came to understand the mood swings, but not entirely.

The biggest issue with Lost Voices is neither a down nor an up...it just is. This book is dark. There is carnage without purpose, there is emotional cruelty, horrible treatment of children, and no happy ending. I admire the author for being willing to go so dark when few modern fairy tales do so. Still, as a sucker for happy endings, the book is rather hard to take. The darkness is something a reader should be aware of before picking up the book.

Rating: 3 / 5

Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs

Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs

Summary

Lily Sanderson has a secret, and it’s not that she has a huge crush on gorgeous swimming god Brody Bennett, who makes her heart beat flipper-fast. Unrequited love is hard enough when you’re a normal teenage girl, but when you’re half human, half mermaid like Lily, there’s no such thing as a simple crush.

Lily’s mermaid identity is a secret that can’t get out, since she’s not just any mermaid – she’s a Thalassinian princess. When Lily found out three years ago that her mother was actually a human, she finally realized why she didn’t feel quite at home in Thalassinia, and she’s been living on land and going to Seaview high school ever since, hoping to find where she truly belongs. Sure, land has its problems – like her obnoxious, biker boy neighbor Quince Fletcher – but it has that one major perk – Brody. The problem is, mermaids aren’t really the casual dating type – when they “bond,” it’s for life.

When Lily’s attempt to win Brody’s love leads to a tsunami-sized case of mistaken identity, she is in for a tidal wave of relationship drama, and she finds out, quick as a tailfin flick, that happily-ever-after never sails quite as smoothly as you planned. (courtesy of Goodreads)

Review

Total cute fluff. Lily is a typical teenage girl...except she's not. She is half-human, half-mermaid. What's more - she's a princess! She grew up in Thalasinnia, a mermaid kingdom of the coast of Florida. Upon discovering when she was 14 that she was half human, she decided to try out the human world. Now she's a regular high school student. Average looks, average intelligence, average popularity. The fact that she's a mermaid has to remain a complete secret. In Lily's mermaid world, if you kiss a mermaid, you are automatically bonded for life, unless you go through a rare separation. A case of mistaken identity leads Lily to bond with Quince, the next-door neighbor, biker boy who's teased her mercilessly for years, instead of Brody, the handsome swimmer with whom Lily is hopelessly in love. Quince and Lily have to travel to Thalasinnia to get their bond separated, which becomes more complicated than Lily expects.

I didn't think I was going to like Forgive My Fins at first. Lily is exactly the type of character I don't like: low self-esteem, hopelessly in love with uber-popular, uber-handsome, jerk boy, oblivious to cute boy who actually does like her, etc. But the story sucked me in. Pretty soon, I was flipping to the end of the book, because I just had to know what was going to happen - the suspense was driving me mad - and it's not even a suspenseful book. I was just invested in the characters and was desperately worried over what choice Lily would ultimately make.

Despite loving this book, I spent most of it wanting to slap Lily. Here she is, in love with an unreachable boy, when there's this incredible guy practically throwing himself at her. Quince is just wonderful. Lily can't see past Quince's teasing facade. Doesn't she know that boys who tease you are secretly in love with you?! Silly girl. I love Quince's sarcasm, his easygoing nature, his humor, and his sensitive, romantic side. A perfect guy (perhaps a little on the unrealistic side - but who needs realism when you're reading a story about mermaids).

Lily's mermaid world is richly developed. We learn a lot about the culture and the nature of mermaids in Forgive My Fins, but I get the feeling that we're only scratching the surface of the world the author has created. I really hope that her future books delve even more deeply into the mermaid world. The book is littered with little mermaid swear words, cliches, and proverbs that Lily learned throughout her life in Thalasinnia. Such as "son of a swordfish," "he's a blowfish," etc. The made up phrases toe the line cute versus annoying, occasionally crossing over the annoying line, but mostly remaining in the adorable category.

I really enjoyed Forgive My Fins. It is complete romance fluff. No real depth, but you'll read it with a smile on your face.

Rating: 4 / 5

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Summary

Weird as it is working for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, Evie's always thought of herself as normal. Sure, her best friend is a mermaid, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she’s falling for a shape-shifter, and she’s the only person who can see through paranormals' glamours, but still. Normal.

Only now paranormals are dying, and Evie's dreams are filled with haunting voices and mysterious prophecies. She soon realizes that there may be a link between her abilities and the sudden rash of deaths. Not only that, but she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.

So much for normal.

Review

I can't recommend Paranormalcy highly enough. It's one of my favorite discoveries all year long. The book hooked me from the first page. Evie works for the IPCA, an international organization that registers and controls paranormal creatures. She has the ability to see through glamours and recognize paranormals for what they are. This makes her vital to the IPCA. She's lived with them since she was 7 or 8 when they rescued her from foster care. She brings in paranormals to the IPCA, subduing them with her beloved Tasey. It's an exciting life, but Evie longs to be a normal teenager. She obsesses over a high school TV soap opera and glamorizes even the most simple facets of school life, such as lockers. Even though Evie has lots of friends and a caretaker at the IPCA, she is extremely lonely.

The IPCA is troubled by recent deaths of paranormals. At the same time, a mysterious paranormal ends up within the IPCA compound, overtaking several agents. Evie forms a friendship with him. Lend has the fascinating ability to instantly shape shift into any other person, clothes and all. As their friendship grows and the threat from the IPCA becomes stronger, Evie must question everything. Who or what is she? Who cares about her? What is the purpose of the IPCA?

I love the relationship between Lend and Evie. He's a great "leading guy," a nice friendly boy that any girl would love to bring home to her parents. It's nice to see that they become friends before their relationship becomes anything more. I also enjoyed the complexity of Evie's relationship with Raquel, who plays a mother role, but also doesn't, leaving Evie somewhat directionless. My only complaint about the characters or relationships in the book is Evie's connection to Vivian. I understand what it is, but I didn't emotionally relate to it as well as the others.

The plotting in Paranormalcy is fabulous. I was surprised to see a huge plot climax occur only halfway through the book. I'd assumed the entire book was going to be based on the initial plot arc, but Kiersten had lots more in store for us. There were so many different pieces to the story that I never got bored and always looked forward to the next page.

Rating: 4.5 / 5