A cliffhanger the likes of Mt. Everest!

Until I Die, the second installment in the Revenants series, by Amy Plum could challenge Mt. Everest for size based on the cliffhanger that we are left with at the end of this wonderful, awesome, incredible installment!  

Until I Die picks up right after where we left off at the end of Die for Me.  The numa’s old leader is dead, having been killed by Kate (who was possessed by a volant Vincent at the time).  Georgia is recovering, dating a musician now, and Charolette and Charles are heading out of town.  Leaving space for the newcomers, Arthur and Violette.  They are really old, together-but-not-together, and they seem to have a distaste for the humans they save.  The numa a quiet for a while, and Vincent and Kate are each on a search to make things easier for them to be together.  But they aren’t telling each other all the details (although at least they tell each other that much).  Only to have the numa under another leader and committing thefts.  Of course there’s the showdown with the new leader, and that leaves us with a killer cliffhanger!  Staring down a crevice from the top of Mt. Everest size cliffhanger.

**Spoiler Alert.  Really, like with the pages, if you don’t want to know what the major cliff hanger is, don’t read any more!**  

Is Vincent really dead?  Did Violette dispose of him?  And could Kate somehow be the Champion that the VictorSeer is supposed to find?  It might kill me having to wait a whole year for the next installment (conclusion?  Don’t know.  Haven’t seen an indication as to how many books will be in this series.)!  ‘Cuz if Kate hears Vincent talking to her, it would seem that maybe he’s just in his ghosty form… but could he be stuck that way forever?  I don’t usually use text talk, but here, OMG!!!

While some might criticize this installment for being a little slow, or the “twist” being a little obvious (it had to be somewhat easy to see if I saw it coming as early as I did), it was wonderful to see the continued development of the relationship between Kate and Vincent.  The struggle that they face wasn’t positioned as catastrophic yet was always something they did struggle with.  And, they deal with struggle with how to be together so much better than in a lot of the YA books like this.  They weren’t whiney annoying characters – they were thinking of ways to fix it and yet enjoyed being together.  It was great to see them spend time together too – so we aren’t faced with them in one instant barely knowing each other and the next being totally in love.  It’s a great change and makes the relationships feel so much more genuine then in a lot of books in this same category.

The author continues to build a universe where we learn about the supernatural aspects that we are intrigued as to what else there is to learn, yet not so in the dark so as to feel confused.  The dialogue between the characters and the smartness of Kate are also something other author’s should model after.  It is refreshing to have Kate be such an anti-Bella.  And while we can see another pines for Kate, there really is no love triangle, thank goodness.

If I have a complaint, there are two little ones.  First, I am always bothered by these books when they purport to teach a character martial arts or sword play really well in just a few short months and have it be so easy.  It takes much more work than a day or two a week to get good at it over what is less than 6 months.  Even for someone with inherent talent.  The other complaint is that it was way to easy to find the only two existing copies of an ancient book.  A little bit of a search and challenge here would have been fodder for more adventure and would have made the book a little more hefty (which I never mind… the longer the better!).

However, those two minuscule complaints aside, I loved this book.  I highly recommend it to fans of series like Twilight, Mortal Instruments, etc.  And with it ending the way it did, not knowing what has happened to Vincent, it is going to be extremely difficult to wait for the next installment.

P.S.  LOVE the cover art.  I really, really, hope that they don’t change the theme of the cover…  A green one (or other color) in the same style would be awesome.  I bought and read the e-book, but I will be buying the hard cover today at lunch, just so that the beauty of the cover can grace my book shelf at home.

What’s coming in 2012

In honor of the end of 2011, which is rapidly approaching, I thought I would work on some year end/new year lists to recap.  Especially since the end of 2011 means my little blog experiment is approaching its one year mark.  So, I might as well start recapping the events of the year and planning for what I am going to read next year.

And I am so excited for some of the books coming in 2012.  Getting through 2012 will be so exciting.  No, it’s not just about watching December 2012 come and go and watching another group of doomsday-sayers be wrong (the Mayan calendar is pretty cool, but I don’t believe in the end of the world scenarios and that’s part of why reading The Daykeeper’s Grimoire by Christy Raedeke was such a huge disappointment – review for that is forthcoming)… but it’s about some huge expectations for sequels in some of my favorite series.  Boy, I hope I am not disappointed.  There are so many books where the first one was great but the second, well, sucked.  And they didn’t get better after that.  So… with those high expectations in mind, here’s MY 5 (or so) most anticipated YA and PNR books coming in 2012, in no particular order!  I have a few hopefuls and a few that are fit in other categories too.  I would be interested in the ones you are looking forward to most!

YA:

1. The White Glove War (Magnolia League #2) by Katie Crouch
2. Until I Die (Revenants #2) by Amy Plum
3. The Enchantress (the conclusion 😦 to the Secerets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel) by Michael Scott
4. Spellcaster (Spellbound #2) by Cara Lynn Schultz
5. The Girl in the Clockwork Collar (Steampunk Chronicles #2) by Kady Cross
6. Make Me (Demon Underground #4) by Parker Blue

PNR:

1. Darker After Midnight (Midnight Breed #10) by Lara Adrian
2. Werewolf in Seattle (Wild About You #3) by Vicki Lewis Thompson
3. The Darkest Seduction (Lords of the Underworld #9) by Gena Showalter
4. Lover Reborn (Black Dagger Brotherhood #10) by JR Ward
5. Lethal Rider (Lords of Deliverance #3) by Larissa Ione
6. Accidentally Dead, Again (Accidental Friends #6) by Dakota Cassidy and Accidental Genie (Accidental #7)
7. Tempest’s Fury (Jane True #4) by Nicole Peeler

Others (note about the category:  some would put these into the PNR category but I most often see them in the mystery category.  And I put them in the mystery category for the blog, so… after all it is my blog so I can do it how ever I want! 🙂 And, there aren’t many of the “others” since I tend to stick pretty much to the YA/PNR/mystery/SciFi/Fantasy and for the most part the sub-generes I read end up looking like one big lump of a category because they all tend to have a paranormal bent!): 

1. Let Them Eat Stake (Vampire Chef #2) by Sarah Zettel
2. In a Witch’s Wardrobe (A Witchcraft Mystery, #4) by Juliet Blackwell

Those without listed (in goodreads anyway) sequels that I really hope get them:

1. Misfit by Jon Skovron
2. Out in Blue by Sarah Gilman
3. Strange Neighbors – a new one would be #4 – by Ashlyn Chase
4. Thirteen Hallows by Michael Scott and Collette Freedman (the synopsis says Thirteen Hallows is the first in a new saga, so…  sequel to come at some point!)
5. Runelight by Joanne Harris (the sequel to Runemarks – listed in goodreads as published in 2011, but not available on amazon or anywhere yet)
6. Bewitching Mystery – would be #9, what ever would come after In Charm’s Way – by Madelyn Alt

Next year end list to tackle – best covers and covers that suckered me in the worst!

End of the Headless Hunt!

This is a first – finishing a series while working on this little blog.  So, now I have a dilemma – do I put up a page that spoils it all?  Hmmm….  well, I won’t until this is published anyway!

Thanks to S&S for the galley of this one.  Jessica Verday’s conclusion to the Hollow trilogy, the Hidden was a surprising and pleasant way to wrap things up.

How to find a way to have a happy ending?  Where we left off, Vincent was after Abbey to keep Caspian from being completed, but we didn’t know why.  And while we know more about the revenants it is hard at first to see how Abbey is going to resolve her feelings for Kristen, how she and Caspian will – or will not – find a way to be together and how her choices will all play out.

One of the most wonderful things about this book is that it was in fact the conclusion of the story.  It would be hard to see how this could be changed to be something more than the trilogy.  A different set of books using some of the other characters would be one thing, but we do get the resolution to Caspian and Abbey.  And it was a relief to see that the author didn’t try to find a way to put that off.

After having read all three installments, so close to one another, it was easy to keep in mind a statement that I read somewhere that this is a modern twist to the Headless Horseman tale.  But I must disagree with that assessment.  While the legend of Sleepy Hollow is important to the plot, and we now know (after the first book) that Nikolas is the Headless Horseman from the legend, it’s not really a modern twist.  It’s more like an explanation or continuation of a story using some of the same characters.

The grief is still present, so is the love story.  The action and chase is enough to keep a reader guessing until almost the end.  It was satisfying to see the payoff  – we get answers!  We understand the role of each of the characters and we learn about Vincent’s motivations and who his other half is.  At first, the trip to the asylum left me suspicious that we wouldn’t get the answers, but when we see how that all worked out I was happy that my suspicions proved false.

It was also sort of a relief to see that our happily ever after was based on the choice of a female character strong enough to make a sacrifice.  And while at first, it might seem that she is sacrificing all because she can’t live without a boy, to me, it was bigger than that.  She sacrificed herself for her best friend and to set things right.

Abbey’s passive aggressive mother is one of the most frustrating aspects of the series and the book.  Mom gives her presents and tells her how wonderful she is but she guilts her into things that make it hard for Abbey to deal with her grief.

Finally, I am so very happy with the way this all ended.  It clearly was a trilogy and will stay a trilogy.  So many of the series that were meant to be a certain number of books – but where then stretched to have additional books – are awful.  Because you can tell that the story has been stretched or distorted to add those additional books.  Here, we got an ending, tied up in a nice little bow.  It was such a relief.  Now, I wouldn’t object to different stories with the revenants….  And, the legend of Sleepy Hollow is a must read, either before or after this series (although I would recommend before).  It will bring new appreciation to these books – and vice versa.

The Headless Horseman!

Having grown up not far from Tarrytown NY where the Legend of Sleepy Hoolow was based! And having visited there while in elementary school, I was intrigued by the idea of a story that use Irving’s story as inspiration. I also must note that I am writing this review after having read the entire trilogy in one sitting (ok, on weekend, but that’s really not much different) so I have the benefit of having the story completed while forming my opinion of each book.

The story of the first book was clearly incomplete. It was such a cliffhanger that I think I would have had a hard time waiting for the second installment. Although, I will say that the”cliffhanger” wasn’t really all that unexpected. It is clear from the instant we meet Caspian that there is something off about him. When writing my synopsis for my log, I had to make Kristen a character even though it is really only her memory that we see since her memory plays such a large impact on Abbey and the events of the story (all the way through the trilogy too).

Kristen and Abbey were best friends from the time they were little. They grew up in a small, albeit famous, NY town that of Sleepy Hollow. Yes! Where the story of the Headless Horseman is set. Then, Kristen dies. But Abbey doesn’t really think that Kristen is dead. She won’t accept it until they find her body. And when they find her body she has trouble accepting that it was an accident. She meets Caspian, a young boy she’s never seen before. They start to meet and spend time together. And they fall in love.  But then she discovers that Kristen was keeping secrets. She was dating someone for quite some time and he didn’t want Kristen to tell Abbey. And then, we find out the truth about Caspian and that he is dead too.

It was easy to feel Abbey’s grief over loosing her best friend.  Anyone who has lost a friend or family member can indetify with Abbey. There were moments when the grief felt so real that I had tears in my eyes because I was reminded of loved ones that I have lost. The emotions shine through.

It was also very easy to feel like we get to know the characters of Abbey and Caspian. And there is enough mystery around Nikolas that it is easy for a reader to stay engaged. Unlike the other YA supernatural love stories it is clear from the moment (at the end of this book) we learn the truth about Caspian that while Abbey and Caspian face a huge problem when considering how to be together, we aren’t likely to get an easy or traditional just kill the bad guys kind of ending.

This book really is an introduction to the story. There is very little payoff and lots of questions asked or raised. While we learn the biggest part of the truth about Caspian, it seems like there might be more to the story and a reader needs to be patient throughout the trilogy to get the payoff as to what that all is.

The quotes from Irving’s story were clever although they sometimes got my hopes up having me thinking I would find something out in a chapter and but then not having the connection be very clear.  And Caspian’s big secret was pretty easy to guess too so I would like to have seen a little more subtly in the foreshadowing ability of the author.

The stuff that felt hard to swallow was how reckless Abbey was after having a friend who just died. And all of the totally swoon worthy things that Caspian says and does. What teenage boy is that awesome?  He is almost a little too thoughtful. But he is adorable at the same time and he is easy to root for. It was easy to see why Abbey would fall for him and at the end, I was left hoping that at the end of the series we would find a way to see Abbey and Caspian together. As for the potential love triangle with Ben, the second book will address this and I for one wasn’t disappointed.

This was a nice start to a new series. I do think it paid to read all three together back to back though. I am not sure I would have enjoyed the characters as much if I hadn’t read it that way. It would have been too hard to remember some of the little details about each character which weren’t really integral from a a plot perspective but were if you wanted to understand the characters and feel the emotions they dealt with.

Overall I enjoyed it. And it makes me nostalgic for a reread of Irving’s great ghost story.

Die for Me was to die for!

Finished it!  And it was awesome!  So, the page has been updated to reflect all information after completing the book.  And the review is there too.  For those who want to be spoiler free while reading a review, it is also below.

Must add:  LOVED the cover.  And I don’t feel suckered by it.  Thank goodness.  I was starting to really hate my addiction to awesome covers given how often lately they set high expectations.  Only to see those expectations dashed like they have been thrown off a 10 story cliff onto the rocks below where they shatter into a ga-zillion tiny pieces…

Kate and Vincent meet and Kate is dazzled by Vincent.  She soon discovers all about the revenants.  And, after a close call where Ambrose is “killed” Charles runs away.  It appears that he runs into the clutches of a numa, looking for a way to end the cycle of death and reanimation.  Kate and Vincent fall in love.  Kate runs from him at first, not being able to deal with all the death and the reminders of her parent’s death.  But, she can’t stay away and he promises to try to resist the urge to save others so he can be with her and not put her through that.  And then, we learn that we are going to have a show down with Lucien, the leader of this group of luma.  I won’t spoil here how that ends.  But we get a good and satisfying ending.

While fairly formulaic in nature (the description from my review of Misfit:  “there’s something that makes me different, so I can never be with you, but oooooohhhhhhh I need to be with you, and there is something magic/supernatural keeping us apart and miserable.  Oh, and by the way, one of us has wicked superpowers of some kind or is immortal and we need to figure out a way to fix one or both of us so we can be together.”), the book and the characters weren’t nearly as… whiney and gag-inducing about it as other couples from other books (I am a Twilight fan, so I say this with affection, Bella and Edward are the epitome of that whiney and gag-inducing tone and despite my love for the series, it has serious issues).  And I really liked them, for that and other reasons.

Despite the superficiality that much of this genre (the YA PNR specifically) relies on to kick start a series, this book was one of the few that showed a surprising depth of a relationship between Kate and Vincent.  Being told that they spent and afternoon together getting to know one another was a refreshing change in this genre.

Even more refreshing was Kate’s ability to attempt to live without Vincent.  Showing that while she may not want to be without the boy she loves, she can.  That’s something that is so often missing – leaving it virtually impossible to ignore the weakness associated with those female characters.   Vincent also wasn’t a whiney little girl about the whole thing.  Did he miss Kate – sure.  But he wasn’t doing the whole drastic expose myself to the sun thing.  And he wasn’t really all dark and brooding and creepy as a result.  It was a nice change.  I also think that the non-existance of a potential love triangle was a huge relief.  I really don’t want to have to chose a “team” here…

The story is unique (except with respect to the lack of parental supervision which apparently is a must in this genre **blinks in confusion as to why**).  While dealing with something supernatural, the idea of a “revenant” is different.  It is not the typical vampire or werewolf story.  And it is easy to root for the group of revenants as a whole.  The end was satisfying and yet there is clearly room to continue in the universe that was built.

I have seen comparisons drawn between this book and Shiver, because of the ability of the author to write romantic prose.  I must disagree.  The writing and the romance and the relationship here is much more subtle.  I didn’t find myself rereading sentences just because of who pretty they were or the emotions that they conveyed the way I did in Shiver.  But, overall, I think the romance and the relationship here was more satisfying and felt more lasting.  I also think that the world built is more interesting and leaves more room for the growth of the characters and the story.

I certainly hope that the author doesn’t let me down with the second in the series (like Lauren Kate, Becca Fitzpatrick, even Maggie Steifvater all have).  This has so much potential.