Review: Spellbound by Cara Lynn Shultz

Title: Spellbound
Author: Cara Lynn Shultz
Published: 21st June 2011
Publisher: HarperTeen
Series: Spellbound #1
Source: Own Kindle Copy

What's a girl to do when meeting The One means she's cursed to die a horrible death?
Life hasn't been easy on sixteen-year-old Emma Connor, so a new start in New York may be just the change she needs. But the posh Upper East Side prep school she has to attend? Not so much. Friendly faces are few and far between, except for one that she's irresistibly drawn to—Brendan Salinger, the guy with the rock-star good looks and the richest kid in school, who might just be her very own white knight.
But even when Brendan inexplicably turns cold, Emma can't stop staring. Ever since she laid eyes on him, strange things have been happening. Streetlamps go out wherever she walks, and Emma's been having the oddest dreams: visions of herself in past lives—visions that warn her to stay away from Brendan. Or else. - From Goodreads

I was not blown away by the cover for this book, and I admit that it took me a while to getting round to reading it and clearing it out of my TBR pile. I picked it up when I received the second in the series from NetGalley! This book was not what I was expecting and in my mind it morphed during my reading of it from a romance to a paranormal romance.

Emma has moved in with her Aunt Christine in New York. After losing both her twin brother and her mother in the space of a year her alcoholic stepfather almost kills her in a car accident. It is at this point that Emma realised that she probably needs to be in a more stable environment. When she starts at the prestigious Upper East side school she meets Brendan, a mysterious guy she can't stop thinking about. As the school year progresses and Emma makes both friends and enemies and finds out that there may be more between her and Brendan than she first thought.

I liked Emma, she is a sweet, funny and strong character who does not dwell on her crappy past. There was the occasional niggle in the back of my mind that if it had been me that lost a twin and my mum that I might be a little more upset, but Emma just gets on with her life. Emma has a quick wit, that I often wish I had myself, coming back with brilliant one liners that often made her extra enemies. Brendan to me felt a little two dimensional. I don't think we get a good sense of Brandon and to an extent he feels a bit like an add on character. Now this is not to say that I did not thoroughly enjoy the scenes with him and Emma, I did, I just wish we knew more about him!

The rest of the characters were your standard characters for a YA paranormal romance. We had the cool and kooky aunt; the sweet and goofy younger cousin; the gay best friend; the bitchy blonde mean girl; the witchy best friend; and the douchey jock! Even though these characters were nothing new and we have seen them in books a thousand times before I liked reading them and thought they added to the story to make it richer and more enjoyable.

The story itself was a star crossed lovers type of story with a centuries old curse which would cause Emma's death if Emma and Brendan were together (not like that, just together! Tut-tut!). There was flash backs to the origin of the curse, for me this lasted a bit too long and I wanted to get back to the main story and find out what would happen next.

I liked this story. It started out a bit like a contemporary romance as there was practically no paranormal activity until a good way into the book and even then the paranormal takes a back seat to the romance in this story. I would be happy for this story to stop at the end of the book. I don't feel we were left with any cliffhangers, however this is part of a series and even though I feel no need to pick up the next book,  I will to see how the story continues next.

Review: The Ghost and The Goth by Stacey Kade

Title: The Ghost and The Goth
Author: Stacey Kade
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH
Published: 29th June 2010
Series: The Ghost and The Goth #1
Source: Own Kindle Copy

Alona Dare–Senior in high school, co-captain of the cheerleading squad, Homecoming Queen three years in a row, voted most likely to marry a movie star… and newly dead.

I’m the girl you hated in high school. Is it my fault I was born with it all-good looks, silky blond hair, a hot bod, and a keen sense of what everyone else should not be wearing? But my life isn’t perfect, especially since I died. Run over by a bus of band geeks—is there anything more humiliating? As it turns out, yes—watching your boyfriend and friends move on with life, only days after your funeral. And you wouldn’t believe what they’re saying about me now that they think I can’t hear them. To top it off, I’m starting to disappear, flickering in and out of existence. I don’t know where I go when I’m gone, but it’s not good. Where is that freaking white light already?

Will Killian–Senior in high school, outcast, dubbed “Will Kill” by the popular crowd for the unearthly aura around him, voted most likely to rob a bank…and a ghost-talker.

I can see, hear, and touch the dead. Unfortunately, they can also see, hear and touch me. Yeah, because surviving high school isn’t hard enough already. I’ve done my best to hide my “gift.” After all, my dad, who shared my ability, killed himself because of it when I was fifteen. But lately, pretending to be normal has gotten a lot harder. A new ghost—an anonymous, seething cloud of negative energy with the capacity to throw me around—is pursuing me with a vengeance. My mom, who knows nothing about what I can do, is worrying about the increase in odd incidents, my shrink is tossing around terms like “temporary confinement for psychiatric evaluation,” and my principal, who thinks I’m a disruption and a faker, is searching for every way possible to get rid of me. How many weeks until graduation? - From Goodreads

I knew nothing about this book when I picked it up, I just thought the title was cute and the cover adorable. So I was so surprised when I started reading this and found I couldn't put it down. It was not a story I had come across before and the book felt fresh and exciting and I loved reading it!

Alona Dare is a ghost! On her way out of school one morning she dies in her gym clothes and she is stuck that way as a ghost. Alona was the most popular and beautiful girl in the school, but as she watches her friends and boyfriend talk about her and move on with their lives Alona realises she is all alone and has no one to talk to. That's until someone looks her way. Not just a glance, but actually looks at her, and it is none other than the school goth Will. Once Alona realises that Will can see, hear and touch the dead she tries to get him to help her, and in return she will keep all the other dead off his back! When a black cloud of negative energy starts to cause him physical harm Alona is determined to help him find out what is causing it.

This book is written with the chapters switching back and forward between Will and Alona. I really enjoyed this as both characters are having such wildly different experiences and both are so extremely different. It worked well as Alona really loves herself and has quite a unique and limited view of the world, and Will is so self contained but sees things with a completely different perspective to Alona. I really liked the use of this as both characters were a joy to read.

Alona was an amazing character. She was one of the characters that you love to hate and then eventually just love!! She is the bitchy girl who's comments are actually quite funny as long as you are not on the receiving end of them. She is not exactly thrilled that she has to spend the rest of her afterlife in her gym clothes, but that is the least of her worries. Alona is from a pretty messed up home and the more we get to see the rubble of her life the more I loved her. There was nothing too profoundly deep about Alona, but she is one character who's snarky comments are so much fun to read.

Will is a very sweet and caring guy who has a special gift... he can see, hear and touch the dead. usually the dead can't interact with anything in the living world, but around Will the ghosts manifest and things like ghost cigarettes can burn and the ghosts realise that they can touch something living for once. Will struggles with his gift and tries to stay afloat in school. Hiding behind his goth mask to avoid connecting with others he struggles with school as it can be hard to pay attention over the ghostly chatter. I thought Will was a great character and a fun sparring partner for Alona.

This book was so fun and light hearted. It was not a difficult read and there were no deeper meanings to things as far as I could see. As soon as I finished reading this book I wanted to know more and I wanted to see how a relationship between a ghost and a human would work exactly. I loved the characters in this book and I only wanted the best for Will and Alona and it was a breath of fresh air not to have any complicated love triangles. A great read that is fun and perfect to pick up any time you are looking for a heart warming, easy story.

Review: The Lifeguard by Deborah Blumenthal

Title: The Lifeguard
Author: Deborah Blumenthal
Published: 1st March 2012
Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
Source: eArc from Netgalley and publisher

It's an unsettled summer for Sirena. Back in Texas, her family's splitting apart, but here in Rhode Island, at the cottage of her aunt, it's a different world. There are long days at the beach and intriguing encounters with Pilot, the lifeguard with shamanic skills. Sirena explores her obsession with Pilot and discovers his mysterious--almost magical--gifts. - From Goodreads

I had absolutely no idea what this book was about when I started reading. I had skimmed the blurb, but honestly it was the cover that hooked me and the fact that I think the guy on the front looks like Lucas Scott (Chad Michael Murray) from One Tree Hill. It looked to me like it would be an easy going summer read but I found it to be quite different. I wanted to like this book so much, and I did to start with, but by the end of the book I was glad it was over.

Sirena's parents are getting divorced in Texas and to save her from dealing with the mess of this they decide to send her to spend the summer with her aunt in Rhode Island. Sirena uses this chance to spend time on the beach where she meets the Adonis lifeguard, Pilot. Confiding in her new friend and mentor Antonio, the 80 year old painter she spends her days painting with, Sirena discusses her home life and her obsession with Pilot. After an accident on the beach, we begin to see that there may be more going on with Pilot than we were first led to believe.

I actually liked Sirena at the start of the book. Her whole world as she knew it is beginning to fall apart, and she spends the beginning of the book being quite dark and moody. Then one day on the beach she meets the Lifeguard and everything about her I related to and liked disappeared. Suddenly she could think of nothing but him she stopped being so dark and twisty and started obsessing over Pilot all the time. I would not have too much of a problem with this, but I feel we never really get to know Pilot past how he looks and that left me feeling very detached from him as a character.

In terms of their relationship, I wanted there to be much more between the two of them since Sirena was so obsessed. I was waiting for the relationship to take off, and for a while it felt like it was building up to something good, and then.... it fizzled out!! If the relationship could have been pushed a little further, even if they had spent more time together and we had a deeper insight into what it was about Pilot (apart from his looks) that made him so amazing, then I probably would have understood a bit more and felt a bit happier.

My other problem was that I felt that the book did not know what it wanted to be. It started like most other contemporary romance / summer reads, however every so often some paranormal element would be introduced. The ghosts, magic healing or vengeful stingray all seemed like they were going to be explained, or even visited again later in the book, but then it would be dropped or have no explanation by then end of the book. So am I honestly to believe that there are people just wandering about on the beach that can magically heal people and this is not a magical power?

I think I would have enjoyed this book much more if it had chosen a genre and stuck with it all the way! There were some great parts to this book, and as I said I loved the main character at the beginning and I thought some of the secondary characters were great. Unfortunately for me this book felt like it had a split personality disorder and it left me feeling frustrated that it did not quite deliver as a contemporary romance or a paranormal romance. It was certainly an unusual read and would be perfect for someone who may feel like they are stuck in a genre rut and need to read something completely different.

Review: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Title: Anna Dressed In Blood
Author: Kendare Blake
Published: 30th August 2011
Publisher: Tor Teen
Series: Anna #1

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.
When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn't expect anything outside of the ordinary: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.
But she, for whatever reason, spares Cas's life. - From Goodreads

It has been about 12 hours since I finished reading this book and I am still thinking about it. This book was exactly what I needed to get me back into the habit of reading in my lunch hour and going to bed slightly early to give me more time to read before I turn off my light! It was the perfect balance of spooky, gruesome and fun which made it an amazing read and left me wanting more.

For some reason for the first couple of chapters I had difficulty picturing the main character as a boy. It may just be because I have read so many books recently with female leads and, let's face it, it is more common for the main character to be a female. Once I could wrap my head round Cas being a boy I thought he was a great character and possibly one of the better male leads I have read in a long time. He was smart but still sometimes had trouble piecing together problems, he is charming but without trying to get all of the girls for himself and he is brave but not stupid.

I love the way the other characters in this booked worked as well. Carmel, Will, Mike, Thomas, Cas's Mum and Anna are all well written characters who seemed to come to life in my mind, warts and all. They were all integral to the story, but did not overpower the story lines which is very focused on Cas and how he thinks through and rationalises his decisions.

There was only one thing that did not feel quite right to me. Without giving too much away, something important is taken during the story. Now if I know if someone took something like that from me then I would fight to get it back. I felt that the character had a relaxed attitude to getting it back. To me the actions did not feel to match the words which was a tiny bit frustrating.

So with that little annoyance out of the way I absolutely loved this book. It was just creepy enough and the writing was fluid with an exciting story that kept moving the whole time. Bring on the next book, I'm not sure I can wait until 2012!

Review: Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead (VA3)

Title: Shadow Kiss
Author: Richelle Mead
Publisher: Razorbill
Published: 13th November 2008
Series: Vampire Academy #3
Source: Own Copy

Warning: Description and Review Contain Some Spoilers!!

Is Rose's fate to kill the person she loves most? It's springtime at St. Vladimir's Academy, and Rose Hathaway is this close to graduation. Since Mason's death, Rose hasn't been feeling quite right. She has dark flashbacks in the middle of practice, can't concentrate in class, and has terrifying dreams about Lissa. But Rose has an even bigger secret .... She's in love with Dimitri. And this time, it's way more than a crush. Then Strigoi target the academy in the deadliest attack in Moroi history, and Dimitri is taken. Rose must protect Lissa at all costs, but keeping her best friend safe could mean losing Dimitri forever... - From Goodread

If I could marry a series of books it would be this one!! I love them so much!! OK, so I will roll back on the loving and the exclamation marks but Richelle Mead is able to keep all of her story lines away from the obvious, but without seeming too crazy or off-the-wall. If that was not enough we have the smoking hot Dimitri, who makes you want to crawl into the book just to touch him... hmmm... Dimitri... OK, sorry I'm back!

We left off at the end of book 2 with the death of Mason after they had spent a good portion of the book in a ski lodge. This death has an impact on everyone involved, but for Rose Mason's death triggers something in her which means she can now see Mason and other ghosts. Now, I can't remember if this was covered, but why was she not seeing ghosts the last time she left protected grounds? Like when her and Lissa ran away, or when they were stuck in the Strigoi house at the end of the last book. I have the feeling the reason is that it was triggered with the trauma of losing Mason, but I'm not sure. I remember she was seeing them on the plane on the way to the ski lodge before mason was killed and they gave her a killer headache, why was this the first time?

Oh, how can I be 2 paragraphs in and not have mentioned Adrian. I am firmly in the camp of Team Dimitri and it is clear that Dimitri and Rose are supposed to be together, but I love an underdog. This means that secretly I am also rooting for Adrian. I mean it is clear that he is a damaged soul who just needs some love. Argh it makes me feel so torn! Also in this novel I think I lost a little bit of love for Lissa. I mean come on woman can't you see your BFF needs you?!?

I liked that this book was based back at the school on familiar turf we already knew about. In this book Rose also has training which puts her as Lissa's Guardian withing school where the trainers will jump out and attack like real Strigoli. What does this mean? It means some awesome fights!! This book takes you from highs to lows to a real attack on the school. One that is so bad, it leaves you shaking the book to try and change the outcome, then moving straight on to book 4 without stopping to even look at another book. Well done Richelle!