In My Mailbox (20)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at the Story Siren.

A blessedly small week...

FROM THE LIBRARY:
Aftertime by Sophie Littlefield

Classified as Murder by Miranda James (still have to read the first one, then this before it's due back)

PURCHASED:

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver ("signed") 

TOTAL TBR: 156

The Probability of Miracles

The Probability of Miracles
Wendy Wunder
357 pages
Publisher: Razorbill
Source: library
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

I inadvertently read two YA cancer novels in the past two weeks, The Probability of Miracles and The Fault in Our Stars.  They were both great novels, but you'll have to excuse me if I seem a little depressed because cancer is inherently depressing.

The Probability of Miracles follows the story of Campell who has been fighting cancer for seven years.  In a last-ditch attempt to save her, her mother takes her and her sister to Promise, Maine, where miracles have been said to happen.

The first thing I noticed and loved about this book: Cam's family lives near Walt Disney World and they all work at the Polynesian Resort.  At the beginning and towards the end of the novel there are forays into Disney World that made me want to go there.  I thought the whole Disney thing really balanced well with Cam's illness, even if some of the Disney fun seemed way out there.  As far as I know, no one is allowed to stay in that fancy suite in Cinderella's Castle, even for Make-A-Wish.

I also liked the concept of Promise, Maine - where no bad can happen.  It was an interesting concept was threaded throughout the novel without making the novel the least bit paranormal; it was definitely a contemporary novel, but the idea of Promise, there's just something magical about that.  Of course, that's not all sunshine and rainbows when the idea of Promise makes you afraid to leave Promise, a la Asher, Cam's love interest.

Four stars!  Highly recommend, though maybe take a lesson from me and space out your cancer novels a bit.  I know I have another one coming up soon from NetGalley... whoops.  If this is becoming a trend in YA lit, it's an awfully depressing one.

Soulless

Soulless
Gail Carriger
357 pages
Publisher: Orbit
Source: purchased
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Alexia is only twenty-six and already a spinster, but she's also soulless.  When a vampire attacks her at a ball (how rude!) and she accidentally kills him in self-defense, Lord Maccon is sent by the Queen herself to investigate.  Meanwhile, vampires and werewolves are going missing and suddenly it's up to Alexia to figure out what's happening to save her own butt.

This book has been on my TBR pile since last summer and it probably would have stayed there even longer if it weren't for the fact that my online book club is discussing this book tomorrow.  So I was finally able to give it a go and boy was I glad I did!

I loved so much about this book: the time period, the aspects of etiquette, the clothing, the paranormals, the idea of a "soulless" person, the technology and new inventions... I could go on and on, folks.  I appreciated that there were both werewolves and vampires in this novel, yet they were not embattled in a full out war against each other.

I also adored Alexia's characters- she was a "spinster" at only twenty-six and she was okay with that.  Fiercely independent and spunky, she could hold her own and I appreciate that in a heroine.  But at the same time, she still found herself in something of a love triangle with some steamier scenes and I was glad she was able to find some romance despite her self-proclaimed flaws and spinster-status.
The only thing I didn't like about this book was the language and author's voice.  Well, that's not entirely true because I did like those thing, I just found that they took some time getting used to and thus I wasn't able to read the book as quickly as I would have liked.

Four stars!  I wish I hadn't waited so long to start these series!  I loved the first book and I can't wait to read the rest of them.  Definitely check this out if you love paranormal romances and/or steampunk novels.  I also loved that this book had a hint of cozy mystery to it.

January Recap!

Can you believe the first month of 2012 is already under our belts?  Here's the list of everything I read this month:

Samantha and the Cowboy by Lorraine Heath
All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin
Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories edited by Kelly Link
Switched by Amanda Hocking
Everblossom by Larissa Hinton
Happy Birthday to You by Brian Rowe
A Cold Creek Secret by RaeAnna Thayne
Venture Untamed by R.H. Russell
Fateful by Claudia Gray
Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler
The Beautiful Code by Sadie Hayes
Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson
Allegiance by Cayla Kluver
Ugly to Start With by John Michael Cummings
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
New Girl by Paige Harbison
The Future of Us by Jay Asher
The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith
Playground by 50 Cent
The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams
Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers
The Book of Lost Fragrances by M.J. Rose

Total books read in 2012: 23
Total pages read in 2012: 6201

The Book of Lost Fragrances

The Book of Lost Fragrances
M.J. Rose
370 ebook pages
Publisher: Atria Books
Source: NetGalley
★★★☆☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

So, this was the first book I've ever read by M.J. Rose.  I have The Hypnotist and I'm planning on getting that to that someday, but when I saw The Book of Lost Fragrances on NetGalley I knew from the description that I had to read it.  It sounded so intriguing!

Jac grew up in France with her brother Robbie, heirs to their family's perfume historic perfume house, the House of L'Etoile, but she moves to America after her mother's suicide.  Back in France, Robbie discovers something in the family archives and then goes missing, so Jac is back in France trying to solve the mystery and find her brother.

This book had so many interesting aspects -  vivid descriptions of different fragrances, reincarnation and past lives, Tibetan monks and their art, very interesting stuff, especially all mixed together. To that end, I really liked the author's note at the end of the novel that explained the fact from fiction.

Three stars!  Unfortunately, by the end of the book I was getting bored and just wanted it to be over.  I would recommend this book for readers who like mysteries like The Da Vinci Code; the book didn't have anything to do with secret societies, but it had that same kind of historical mystery vibe.

The Book of Lost Fragrances will be out March 13th.

In My Mailbox (19)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.

FOR REVIEW:

Starters by Lissa Price

WON:

the audiobook of Tempest by Julie Cross (Thank you Andrea at dark-readers.com!)

FROM THE LIBRARY:

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith (already read, reviewed, and LOVED!)

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Populazzi by Elise Allen

Forged: Writing in the Name of God by Bart D. Ehrman (I know this one looks out of place, but Ehrman is my favorite non-fiction writer and I love studying the history of religion, so here it is!)

PURCHASED:

Tomorrow is Today by Julie Cross (it's a short prequel to the book Tempest)

I think that's everything for this week...

Total TBR: 156

Some Girls Are

Some Girls Are
Courtney Summers
246 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Source: bought for myself
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Regina was part of "the fearsome five some," a group of girls who tormented other girls at school.   Then at a party, there is an unfortunate event invoking Regina and her best friend's boyfriend.  When the other girls in "the fearsome five some" find out, they play it like Regina did something wrong (when she in fact did not) and she gets frozen out.  Suddenly Regina is on the other side and it's really starting to affect her.

The first thing that struck me while reading this book was that the main characters name was Regina... also the name of one of the main characters in the movie Mean Girls.  Mean Girls was an entertaining movie about a serious situation, but Some Girls Are is a serious novel about the same thing.  This novel took bullying amongst teenage girls to a whole new level, a level that I never witnessed or experienced in my time in high school, but I know these things happen in real life and frankly, it's appalling.

The plot drew me right away.  That alone made me want to keep reading (for a long time I thought I would be giving the book five stars) but the formatting really kept me turning the pages.  There are no traditional chapters in this novel, instead there are sections that detail what's going on in Regina's life.  Some of them are a few pages, some are a few paragraphs, but I really felt like the formatting got me into Regina's mindset and it really aided in telling the story.

I also really liked that Regina became friends with Michael, a boy she and her friends used to torment.  I was rooting for them to get together though out the book.  I really liked that they both had to overcome their opinions of each other.

What I didn't care for was the climax and the ending.  Without giving too much away, I will say that things got very intense near the ending and, again, I know these things happen in real life, but I found it quite disturbing.  Then, the very end was a bit of a shock to me; things ended so abruptly I didn't feel like anything was really resolved after I closed the book.  That's where the book loses a star from me.

Four stars!  I loved reading this book.  The plot combined with the formatting left me turning the pages late into the night, but the end of the book was so intense and the ending came so abruptly, that I have to give it four instead of five stars.  If you liked the movie Mean Girls, you're going to want to check out this more intense and intellectual version.

PS: As of posting time, Amazon has this book bargain priced at just four dollars.  Seriously, it's worth it!