Book: Hourglass by Myra McEntire

Book Info: Published by Egmont USA; 270 pages

Source: e-book via the public library

Genre: YA/Science Fiction, Paranormal and Romance

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Goodreads.com Summary: One hour to rewrite the past . . . 
 
For seventeen-year-old Emerson Cole, life is about seeing what isn’t there: swooning Southern Belles; soldiers long forgotten; a haunting jazz trio that vanishes in an instant. Plagued by phantoms since her parents’ death, she just wants the apparitions to stop so she can be normal. She’s tried everything, but the visions keep coming back.

So when her well-meaning brother brings in a consultant from a secretive organization called the Hourglass, Emerson’s willing to try one last cure. But meeting Michael Weaver may not only change her future, it may change her past.
Who is this dark, mysterious, sympathetic guy, barely older than Emerson herself, who seems to believe every crazy word she says? Why does an electric charge seem to run through the room whenever he’s around? And why is he so insistent that he needs her help to prevent a death that never should have happened?

What intrigued me the most about Hourglass was the blending of paranormal and science fiction.  Normally, I wouldn’t put the two genres together, but I thought it worked well.

I really liked the time travel and schools for people with different abilities.  There are rules to time travel and such- they aren’t explained, which didn’t irritate me like it normally would.  I thought it worked, though, because most of the novel was laying the groundwork for the rest of the series.

The romance was okay, with the seemingly required love triangle.  There is a definite (and immediate) connection between Michael and Emerson, which makes sense, given their abilities complement each other quite nicely.  But there’s also something between Kaleb and Emerson, but for now, I’m chalking it up to Kaleb being very empathetic.

There is something very epic about this book.  I also liked that it was slightly unpredictable.  And the setting?  Tennessee was interesting, but not what I pictured.  For some reason, I kept picturing Georgia or South Carolina.

I liked it enough to give it a 3 out of 5, but not enough to keep reading the rest of the series.

Book: The First Queen Of England: The Myth Of Bloody Mary by Linda Porter

Book Info: Published by St. Martin’s Press; 452 pages; hardcover

Source: borrowed from the library

Genre: Non-fiction/Biography

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Goodreads.com Summary: In this groundbreaking new biography of “Bloody Mary,” Linda Porter brings to life a queen best remembered for burning hundreds of Protestant heretics at the stake, but whose passion, will, and sophistication have for centuries been overlooked.

Daughter of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon, wife of Philip of Spain, and sister of Edward VI, Mary Tudor was a cultured Renaissance princess. A Latin scholar and outstanding musician, her love of fashion was matched only by her zeal for gambling. It is the tragedy of Queen Mary that today, 450 years after her death, she remains the most hated, least understood monarch in English history.

Linda Porter’s pioneering new biography—based on contemporary documents and drawing from recent scholarship—cuts through the myths to reveal the truth about the first queen to rule England in her own right. Mary learned politics in a hard school, and was cruelly treated by her father and bullied by the strongmen of her brother, Edward VI. An audacious coup brought her to the throne, and she needed all her strong will and courage to keep it. Mary made a grand marriage to Philip of Spain, but her attempts to revitalize England at home and abroad were cut short by her premature death at the age of forty-two.  The first popular biography of Mary in thirty years, The First Queen of England offers a fascinating, controversial look at this much-maligned queen.

I liked this book, and I really liked reading about Mary.  It was a nice change from reading about Henry VIII’s wives and about Elizabeth I.

I really liked that it didn’t focus too much on her childhood, her dislike of Anne Boleyn and her relationship with her sister.  It is a very good overview of Mary’s life and what was going on during her lifetime.  There were plenty of details about Mary without getting bogged down in them.

The one thing I noticed is that Porter sees Mary in a very positive light.  Porter is not completely objective in this biography, but I can appreciate that she is portraying Mary in a different way than what we’re used to.  I don’t see Mary any differently after reading this book, but you get a very good sense of who Mary is and the different people and events that influenced her.

It gets a 3 out of 5.  I liked it, and while it isn’t too detailed, it is a really good introduction to Mary Tudor.

Book: An Abundance Of Katherines by John Green

Book Info: Published by Puffin Books; 272 pages

Source: E-book via the public library

Genre: YA/Contemporary

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Goodreads.com Summary: When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton’s type happens to be girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact. He’s also a washedup child prodigy with ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a passion for anagrams, and an overweight, Judge Judy-obsessed best friend. Colin’s on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which will predict the future of all relationships, transform him from a fading prodigy into a true genius, and finally win him the girl.

An Abundance Of Katherines was a disappointment after reading Looking For Alaska and The Fault In Our Stars.

I had some trouble getting into at first, but I felt the same way about Looking For Alaska at first, and then I fell in love with it.  Sadly, that did not happen with this book.

It wasn’t horrible, but I didn’t particularly care for any of the characters, especially Colin.  The Katherines were mildly interesting, but not enough to keep me interested.  I skimmed over the math portions, because I was bored and because I didn’t particularly care about Colin’s theorem.

I hate to give a 2 out of 5, but it was just okay.  As much as I love Green, this book didn’t do anything for me.

Book: Awakening by Karice Bolton

Book Info: Published by Purely Persistent; 220 pages; purchased for my Nook

Genre: YA: Paranormal- Angels

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Goodreads.com Summary: Alone in snowy, remote Whistler village, Ana tries to build a new life since losing her parents. With a cozy condo, a sweet-faced bulldog and an evening job to leave the days free for the slopes, life slips into a great routine. If only she could shake the guilt for not remembering anything about her parents and banish the night terrors that haunt her every dream.

On a whim, Ana goes out with Athen, a guy she’s just met in the Grizzly Pub… The only problem is that she feels like she already knows him. 

Within 48 hours of meeting Athen and his family, Ana’s world implodes. She falls for Athen quickly and before she knows it, a past life begins to resurface. As thrilling as the revelations appear at first, she fights against the chilling information that Athen is from the underworld. Soon she begins to struggle as her own supernatural gifts are slowly unveiled, and she realizes that the nightmares she’s been having might be premonitions and not dreams at all.
It is up to Ana to decipher between fact and fiction before it is too late, and her new love, Athen, follows in her same fate – one that is lost between two worlds.

I really struggled to get through this book.  I liked the angel lore, but the story seemed confusing at times.

I really felt like I was missing part of the story, like all the parts we needed were edited out or something.  It did feel like a lot of it was filler, and I kept waiting for something interesting to happen.  The love story was pretty unconvincing too.  There’s no explanation about what happens to Ana’s parents and how she ended up in Whistler with her own condo while working at the diner.

We were told what was happening, which made it hard to be engaged with and care about what was going on.  I didn’t feel like I was present to what was going on.  And the characters were really bland.  I just didn’t care about them, and I certainly didn’t care that Athen “died” at the end.

Everything just felt so forced, and that is why I have to give a 1 out of 5.  Interesting idea, but unfortunately, it didn’t keep me interested.

Book: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Book Info: Published by Feiwel & Friends; 387 pages; hardcover; borrowed from the library

Genre: YA: Science Fiction/Fairy Tale

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Goodreads.com Summary: Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, the ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . . 

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

I finally finished Cinder, and I really liked it.  But how could you not like a cyborg Cinderella?

Cinder is a really interesting and unique take on the story of Cinderella, with the story set in New Bejing, populated with the Lunar people, cyborgs and androids.  I love the science fiction element of it, and that it relies on the “magic” of science.  I liked that it took place in Asia, which is a nice change from a fairy tale re-telling being set in Europe.

I could see everything so clearly, and while there wasn’t a lot of backstory, I didn’t mind, because I was so engrossed with what was going on in the present.  I can’t help but wonder what happens to Cinder after leaving New Bejing, and how things will play.  The book did end on a cliffhanger, and I just wanted to know more!

It was clear that it was a Cinderella story, but at the same time, it is so clearly different than Cinderella.  One thing that I didn’t think about until I finished the book is the fact that there is no incorporation of Chinese culture.  The fact that the book mentions New Bejing is the only indication of its setting.  Otherwise, you’d have no clue of it’s setting.

It gets a 4 out of 5.  I didn’t love it, but it really is a different take on Cinderella.  While predictable, it was enjoyable and engrossing.  Plus, it started out as a NaNoWriMo novel, which is pretty awesome in my book.

Book: Vixen by Jillian Larkin

Book Info: Published by Listening Library, Inc.; downloaded from Overdrive Media via the public library

Genre: YA/Historical Fiction/Romance

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Goodreads.com Summary: Jazz . . . Booze . . . Boys . . . It’s a dangerous combination.
 
Every girl wants what she can’t have. Seventeen-year-old Gloria Carmody wants the flapper lifestyle—and the bobbed hair, cigarettes, and music-filled nights that go with it. Now that she’s engaged to Sebastian Grey, scion of one of Chicago’s most powerful families, Gloria’s party days are over before they’ve even begun . . . or are they?
 
Clara Knowles, Gloria’s goody-two-shoes cousin, has arrived to make sure the high-society wedding comes off without a hitch—but Clara isn’t as lily-white as she appears. Seems she has some dirty little secrets of her own that she’ll do anything to keep hidden. . . . 
 
Lorraine Dyer, Gloria’s social-climbing best friend, is tired of living in Gloria’s shadow. When Lorraine’s envy spills over into desperate spite, no one is safe. And someone’s going to be very sorry. . . . 
 
From debut author Jillian Larkin, VIXEN is the first novel in the sexy, dangerous, and ridiculously romantic new series set in the Roaring Twenties . . . when anything goes.

I liked the idea of Vixen more than I liked the actual book.  I was immediately reminded of The Luxe by Anna Godbersen..but in the 1920’s instead of the 1890’s.

I didn’t like most of the characters, because they felt very fake and very modern.  They didn’t fit into the time period, and it felt more like they were pretending to live in the 1920’s.  Lorraine was very petty, Clara couldn’t make up her mind about who she wanted to be, Gloria was (more often than not) an idiot, and Marcus kind of disappeared.  I thought Jerome, a piano player, and Vera, his sister, were the most realistic of the bunch.  Overall, the characters were really boring, cliche and super spoiled and bratty.

It also felt like there was no reason for why they acted the way they did.  Like the various romances and crushes: it felt like they were just there to move the story along.  A couple things felt out of place, like Clara’s story about donating her hair to a Locks Of Love-type charity and Marcus and Gloria’s friendship.  It just didn’t seem to fit with the 1920’s.

Speaking of the 1920’s, I just loved it as a backdrop for a YA novel.  I loved the descriptions of the clothes, the hair, the make-up and the speakeasies.  I also liked how there were 3 different narrators.  While their stories didn’t intersect as much as I thought, it still worked well for the novel,

I also liked the narrator.  While she didn’t vary her voice too much for the different characters, I still thought she did a great job narrating.

Overall, it gets a 2 out of 5.  I liked the time period, but I didn’t really care for the characters.

Book: Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson

Book Info: Published by Brilliance Corporation; downloaded from Overdrive, via the county library

Genre: YA/Contemporary

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Goodreads.com Summary: Her new summer job comes with baggage

 Scarlett Martin has grown up in a most unusual way. Her family owns the Hopewell, a small hotel in the heart of New York City, and Scarlett lives there with her three siblings – Spencer, Lola, and Marlene.

When each of the Martins turns fifteen, they are expected to take over the care of a suite in the once elegant, now shabby Art Deco hotel. For Scarlett’s fifteenth birthday, she gets both a room called the Empire Suite, and a permanent guest called Mrs. Amberson.

Scarlett doesn’t quite know what to make of this C-list starlet, world traveler, and aspiring autobiographer who wants to take over her life. And when she meets Eric, an astonishingly gorgeous actor who has just moved to the city, her summer takes a second unexpected turn.

Before the summer is over, Scarlett will have to survive a whirlwind of thievery, Broadway glamour, romantic missteps, and theatrical deceptions. But in the city where anything can happen, she just might be able to pull it off.

I thought Suite Scarlett was just okay.  High school me probably would have loved it, but unfortunately, 26 year old me did not.  There was something that made me think of The Suite Life of Zach and Cody.

The story itself was kind of interesting- a rundown hotel that’s not doing too well.  We only learn a handful of things about the hotel, none of which stuck with me.  The characters were boring, and while I thought the relationships between Lola, Scarlett and Marlene were interesting, their relationship with their brother Spencer got annoying.

By the end of the book, I was pretty annoyed with both Spencer and with Eric, who is Scarlett’s not-boyfriend.  They both acted like idiots, especially Eric.  Mrs. Amberson was over-the-top, but she probably had the most depth out of everyone.  What is a little sad is that we don’t know a lot about Scarlett, even though she is the main character.

As for the narration itself, it was okay.  The narrator did pretty well with the voices, and while her voice got really annoying by the end of it, her voice is how I would imagine Scarlett’s speaking voice.  Still, I’m glad I listened to it, because otherwise, I might have given up on it.

It gets a 2 out of 5.  It was just okay, and while I’m slightly curious as to how things work out for the Hopewell Hotel and its inhabitants, I won’t be rushing out to read the next book anytime soon.