Waiting On Wednesday (51)

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine, in which we highlight an upcoming book release we're eagerly awaiting.

This week I'm waiting on The Alchemy Of Forever by Avery Williams. Though admittedly it was the cover that caught my attention, the blurb was what really made me want to read this. It reminds me of a less melodramatic version of Juliet Immortal.

Seraphina’s first love made her immortal…her second might get her killed.

 After spending six hundred years on earth, Seraphina Ames has seen it all. Eternal life provides her with the world’s riches, but at a very high price: innocent lives. Centuries ago, her boyfriend, Cyrus, discovered a method of alchemy that allows them to swap bodies with other humans, jumping from one vessel to the next, taking the human’s life in the process. No longer able to bear the guilt of what she’s done, Sera escapes from Cyrus and vows to never kill again.

Then sixteen-year-old Kailey Morgan gets into a horrific car accident right in front of her, and Sera accidentally takes over her body. For the first time, Sera finds herself enjoying the life of the person she’s inhabiting—and falls for the human boy who lives next door. But Cyrus will stop at nothing until she’s his again, and every moment she stays, she’s putting herself and the people she’s grown to care for in great danger. Will Sera have to give up the one thing that’s eluded her for centuries: true love?

[Synopsis by Goodreads]

The Alchemy Of Forever is being released by Simon & Schuster on the 3rd of January, 2012.

Feel free to leave a link to your own Waiting On Wednesday post in the comments, and I'll be sure to have a look.

Review: Wherever You Go by Heather Davis

     

Wherever You Go by Heather Davis
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Pages: 320
Publisher: Harcourt Children's
Published: November 14th, 2011
IBSN: 9780547501512

Seventeen-year-old Holly Mullen has felt lost and lonely ever since her boyfriend, Rob, died in a tragic accident. The fact that she has to spend most of her free time caring for her little sister and Alzheimer’s-stricken grandfather doesn’t help. But Holly has no idea that as she goes about her days, Rob’s ghost is watching over her. He isn’t happy when he sees his best friend, Jason, reach out to help Holly with her grandfather—but as a ghost, he can do nothing to stop it. Is his best friend really falling for his girlfriend?

As Holly wonders whether to open her heart to Jason, the past comes back to haunt her. Her grandfather claims to be communicating with the ghost of Rob. Could the messages he has for Holly be real? And if so, how can the loved ones Rob left behind help his tortured soul make it to the other side?

After the death of Holly's boyfriend, Rob, she's despondent. But there isn't time to mourn alone with her mother working two crappy jobs to support their crappy lifestyle leaving her to care for her younger sister and now her senile grandfather. Rob's best friend, Jacob, falls for her, and hopes they can both move on and be together.

I'd heard of Heather Davis before, from her novel Never Cry Werewolf that I read an extended excerpt of a few years ago. It was, like you'd guess from the title, a light paranormal romance, so the premise of this confused me a little. And intrigued me. Could a writer of paranormal romance pull this off?

My answer is no. I found Wherever You Go, in a word, boring. It was about grieving and moving on, with a surprisingly large portion reminiscent of The Bucket List, but without the depth of emotion that would have made it interesting. The best way I can think to describe the story is by comparing it to the plot soap opera but without extremes that give it the can't-look-away kind of badness.

Plus, I can't for the life of me figure out why Rob's perspective was necessary. The revelation about his death felt like it was there simply there for shock value, when it wasn't in the slightest characteristic and it added nothing.

Heather Davis' writing style was smooth enough, and expressive, but even with three perspectives -- one in first person, one in second, and one in third -- no distinct character voices were created, and none sympathetic. The tone would sway from its natural slight sadness to sappiness often, giving spiels about love that could has easily been implicit instead and saved the gagging. Most notable was the line "Holly shut the door, rattling the birdhouse wreath and his heart." And his heart.

The romance between Jacob and Holly, which I guess was the main feature, felt completely devoid of chemistry, and Jacob's advances irritated more than they wooed me. He tried much, much too hard, and his almost obsession with her apparent in his perspective was -- did he talk about anything else? Even conversations with his friends and parents all came back to her -- strange.

Overall, Wherever You Go is something I'd recommend to those much more romantic than myself. Still, the story dragged, the emotions were not well-portrayed, and the sticky smarminess of some parts had me rethinking my decision to read this.

I give Wherever You Go a 2 out of 5.

Top 5 Uniquely Structured Books

There's absolutely nothing wrong with the standard structure of a novel, narrative split by chapters and occasionally sections, but sometimes an author follows a more creative format, and you're awe-struck. Five examples, in no particular order, of this that I've encountered include:

The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan:

Written, as you'd expect from the title, in dictionary entries, The Lover's Dictionary shed light on a relationship not too extraordinary in itself, but amazing through the fresh perspective.

 

Feeling Sorry For Celia by Jaclyn Moriarty:

Feeling Sorry For Celia is told through letters: exchanged notes with parents stuck to the fridge, to and from anonymous pen pals, left by mysterious boys, or to herself. The story was funny and touching, and the characters were so close they appeared real.

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky:

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower is a series of letters from Charlie to anonymous person --  "I am writing to you because she said you listen and understand and didn't try to sleep with that person at that party even though you could have." This book is one of my all-time favourites, written so candidly to this stranger in such an endearing voice.

All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin:

Although this is subtle one, All These Things I've Done is written like a confession; very fittingly. The result was a much more personal and honest novel: not a character narrating their story, but a person telling you their story.

Confessions Of The Sullivan Sisters by Natalie Standiford:

Another you can guess from the title, Confessions Of The Sullivan Sisters is written in confessions -- get this -- from each of the Sullivan sisters. This perspective occasionally went unnoticed, but then a character would address you -- or rather, their grandmother -- directly and draw you right back in.




Do you guys have any favourite oddly-structured books? I haven't read many and I'd love recommendations!

In My Mailbox (8)

Would you look at the Cold Awakening books! I love series covers that fit together like a puzzle, and especially when the larger picture is absolutely gorgeous, like this one.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer
A complete surprise from Penguin! A happy surprise, though. I'm looking forward to reading it.

First Kill by Heather Brewer
Also a surprise from Penguin. I've never read Heather Brewer, but this doesn't sound like my kind of thing. Has anyone read this already?

Wildcat Fireflies by Amber Kizer
More surprises -- this one from Random House. I'm not sure if I'll read it or not.

The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson
One of my favourites from Maureen Johnson! I bought this one to join my burgeoning collection of her books.

Cold Awakening series (Frozen, Shattered, Torn) by Robin Wasserman 
Originally under the names Skinned, Crashed, and Wired. This series has been raved about by some of my favourite authors, and reading an excerpt convinced me that this series will be amazing.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
One of my favourite books ever! Like many of my favourites, it came from my library, so I didn't own a copy until I bought this one.

Smoulder by Brenna Yovannoff
Also from Simon & Shuster, and under the title "The Space Between" elsewhere, I'm very excited to read this one as well. The Replacement was very good, and I have high hopes for this.


Did any of you guys get some of the same things in your mailbox? Or anything you were likewise excited about?

Review: Prized by Caragh O'Brien

     

Prized by Caragh O'Brien
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Series: Birthmarked (#2)
Pages: 368
Publisher: Simon & Shuster
Published: November, 2011
IBSN: 9780857074959

Striking out into the wasteland with nothing but her baby sister, a handful of supplies, and a rumor to guide her, sixteen-year-old midwife Gaia Stone survives only to be captured by the people of Sylum, a dystopian society where women rule the men who drastically outnumber them, and a kiss is a crime. In order to see her sister again, Gaia must submit to their strict social code, but how can she deny her sense of justice, her curiosity, and everything in her heart that makes her whole?

After her bittersweet escape from the Enclave -- she's away from their oppression, but she left Leon behind. She's safe for now, but her future is uncertain -- Gaia's saved by an outrider from Sylum, the place she's supposed to follow her grandmother to. She's fleed one terrible city to another, tough this one has an eerie force holding her there.

(Are you guys pumped for a review where I pretty much compare this to Birthmarked? On rereading that's all I've done here.)

Prized tests the characters, putting them through more difficult emotional and mental trials than the physical of Birthmarked. Gaia and Leon are more thoroughly fleshed out through the disagreements they have. I appreciated the way they pushed each other to be stronger and better, and formed a realistic and healthy relationship. They grew much more that I expected, and turned the series around from primarily plot-driven to placing emphasis on character development.

Their voices and personalities are defined clearly, and the setting and emotions are described smoothly and adeptly. Where in Birthmarked, I'd be bothered by the characters knowingly putting themselves in dangerous situations, something about the voice makes me worry about them instead.

The new setting of Sylum, so different from the Enclave yet fundamentally the same, was atmospheric and its history and settlement detailed thoroughly but not lengthily. In this new society where women lead, Gaia realistically felt briefly favourable towards the system that gave her a position of power for the first time in her life. This feeling warmed me to her, having a side to her beyond her once do-gooder nature revealed.

Prized has done an excellent job as the 'middle book'. The plot stands apart from the first, but leaves off with promises of returning to the Enclave. I appreciate that this series is beginning to feel different to other dystopia in that it carries a relevant message: that strength can be found through unity. I'm very excited to see where the trilogy heads, and confident that O'Brien won't let me down.

Prized definitely improved upon Birthmarked. It feels as though O'Brien's found her element now, with a much more arresting narrative voice and a justified and frightening setting. Readers like me, who only felt so-so about Birthmarked, shouldn't write Prized off so quickly.

I give Prized a 4 out of 5.

Thankful for...Shiver

You guys, of course, know that Beth Revis is the giveaway queen. You (hopefully) also know that she’s, if not the queen, one of the princesses of dystopia (I'm just going to drop this royalty metaphor right here). Her debut, Across The Universe, was an exciting and very well thought-out sci-fi adventure.

Her latest exercise of her giveaway prowess is in honour of Thanksgiving, and it asks us to share a book we're thankful for. It's got me thinking, which is good on its own, but in her usual style, she's offering a monster prize pack as well. You'd best check that our over at her blog, lest the list of prizes ends up being longer than my part and showing me up.

So, me, I’m thankful for Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater.

When I first got into reading – it must have been around three years ago now – it was after I’d read through the Twilight books over and over again. One day I began rereading them for the umpteenth time, and faults became clear and it lost the magic. But reading felt like my thing by then and I had no idea what else to try, and I had no idea how to find things to try, so it was flipping through featured books at the library or bookstore (R.I.P. local Angus & Robertson. It's a thirty minute train trip to the bookstore now). I was reading because it was just what I did, not because I was enjoying it.


I can't remember how it was that I found Shiver, but I remember that it changed books for me. It was engrossing like the books I was reading before weren't. It was a book to like, rather than just read. I just wanted more like it.

So the next year was spent reading all the books Amazon listed as what customers buying Shiver also bought, hoping that they were a) published here, and b) stocked by my library (though I eventually got to pestering them for the ones they didn't). Thankfully, I now have all of you guys for recommendation needs.

Short story: Everything I read while I was fleshing out my own reading tastes came from searches for similar titles to Shiver. It isn’t one of my favourites anymore, though I still love it, but it helped me settle into my genre and made reading fun again.

So what books are you guys grateful for? Have you already made a post about it like this one? If so, link it to me -- I'd love to read it!