Coming Soon

Above by Isla Morley

“Reeled out with the chilling calmness of a Hitchcock film, Above haunts as it illuminates. Deftly told, this tale of human resilience in the face of madness is a horror classic for our times” (Lynn Cullen, bestselling author of Mrs. Poe).

Blythe Hallowell is sixteen when she is abducted by a survivalist and locked away in an abandoned missile silo in Eudora, Kansas. At first, she focuses frantically on finding a way out, until the harrowing truth of her new existence settles in—the crushing loneliness, the terrifying madness of a captor who believes he is saving her from the end of the world, and the persistent temptation to give up. But nothing prepares Blythe for the burden of raising a child in confinement. Determined to give the boy everything she has lost, she pushes aside the truth about a world he may never see for a myth that just might give meaning to their lives below ground. Years later, their lives are ambushed by an event at once promising and devastating. As Blythe’s dream of going home hangs in the balance, she faces the ultimate choice—between survival and freedom.**

**In debt to Barnes & Noble .com for the summary.

Fallen by Lauren Kate

 Fallen by Lauren Kate

Fallen is a 2009 young adult goth fantasy and romance novel written by Lauren Kate, telling the story of Daniel and Luce who had a love so strong that not even fate could keep them apart. 

So following in the footsteps of my last review, I once again fell in love with another frightfully beautiful cover and decided to read the book. And if that wasn't enough to convince me to bring the book home, ALL of the teenage girls who came into the library were raving about how awesome this book is and freaking out over winning it, as apart of our summer reading program.

And.... I can't say that I disagree with them.

In a lot of ways, this book reminded me of Hush, Hush. Of course, I wanted more. Of course, I felt that the main female character was giving me emotional whiplash. And of course, I thought that Daniel was being a real class one jerk.

 

As a female, some things really irked me. For example, Luce sees Daniel for the "first time" and after smirking at her, he flips her off. BUT the first thing she thinks to do is to fall completely obsessed with the guy. I mean for goodness sake, HE FLIPPED HER OFF! What about that screams romance? I understand that she had this strange feeling that she knew him from somewhere which gave her the desire to want to get to know him but honestly, no one can be blamed if they thought she was an idiot because at that point, I thought she was acting like an idiot. His smile couldn't have signaled something as wonderful as to make her think he meant anything more than screw you when he flipped her the bird. And let's not make the mistake of noticing that later in the book, he couldn't even explain himself when she brought it up. He just sat there fumbling over his words like a moron.

I can't say that I loved the way it all of a sudden dawned on her that she could just believe all that Daniel had told her. She literally thought it over for like thirty minutes. I would've thought when she freaked out back when they were talking, she may have needed just a little more time but hey, that's just me. 

 

However, even though the novel is clearly fiction- there was a more realistic approach to the idea of fallen angels that captivated me. Just the basics of their love story: being destined for one another but always being torn apart, made my heart swoon. 

I loved the horror and sadness that was constantly creeping about in this novel: the demon spirits that are always haunting Luce, the clear fact that their school (prison) was located on cemetery grounds, the idea that she was a deranged, fire starting murderer who killed her own crush and couldn't even remember it. It was perfect. The random death of Penn had me in tears though. That wasn't perfect. Girl didn't deserve that fate, but it's always the ones who don't deserve the short stick who end up picking it.

Anyway, of course now I'm hooked. All this fallen angel romance is definitely a guilty please so I'll be reading the next book in the series, as if you had to ask.

Until next time,

XOXOXOXO

-D

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Hush, Hush is a 2009 New York Times Bestselling young adult fantasy novel by Becca Fitzpatrick and the the first book in her Hush, Hush series.

Hush, Hush is the story of Nora Grey, a less than average teenage girl whose life becomes more complicated when her Biology teacher rearranges the class seating, taking her away from the side of her best friend, Vee Sky and landing her beside the new bad boy, Patch Cipriano.  Nora gets strange vibes from Patch and things continue downhill when she suspects that she is the target of a stalker who may even have intentions to kill her.  

Before I had even begun reading Hush, Hush, I was absolutely entranced with the cover. I mean, even besides the sexy hot man body that's falling from the sky, the dark intensity of it all complimenting with the dusting of red angel feathers and shimmer gave me high hopes; maybe even too high of hopes.

From the beginning, I could tell that the book was gonna be sorter of a slow read. At moments, I was completely enthralled in the book, needing to know what the next riddle Patch was gonna throw at us was or if he was finally going to tell Nora about his past-- but with a simple flip of the page, Nora left me with the strongest urge to strangle her. 

I couldn't tell if Nora was slightly mentally unstable, with the murder of her father constantly biting at her ankles- or if she was actually as stupid as she seemed to be for 75% of the book. One moment, she's freaking out because she thinks she's being stalked- but the next moment, she's walking straight into the face of danger. 

I can't even say that Patch was consistent because although I mentally threw him into my pile of hot, fictional characters that I love, his character had me wanting so much more. Before I had even read the book, I was in love with the idea of the fallen angel who was dark and dangerous; the man who even after falling from grace was determined to get the one thing he wanted most: to be human. I didn't feel enough of his struggle. He stated once that Nora was what changed his mind about killing her; first at the amusement park and then with the knife at her house but what was it that he saw in her to think that she was enough? I didn't feel they had even interacted enough for him to just BAM! decide she was all he wanted and being human didn't matter anymore. 

I guess all-in-all, I just wanted more from this book. 

I wanted more from the relationship, the personal character development, the horde of villains. 

Speaking of villains- I can't say that I have ever read a book with so many bad guys. You've got the jealous ex girlfriend who wasn't fallen but was trying to kill the girl that her ex-boyfriend was trying to kill (What?) , the guy who is bad but I guess doesn't know he's bad (WHAT?!), and then the guy who is upset because he has to keep giving up his body so that the fallen angels could feel something and wanted revenge (WHAT?!?!?!?!?). There were just too many ideas. Instead of being able to focus on one nemesis who was trying to make Nora's life a living nightmare- there were three, which means that there was literally not enough space in 391 pages to give a decent amount of detail for each point of view. 

Folks, I think I've got it- the book felt rushed. While yes, some parts contained wonderful writing- I felt overall, that I was attempting to put together a puzzle that was mixed with pieces from another puzzle. Things kinda fit together in areas, but some just didn't. 

I'm still extremely attached to the wonderful idea of a human girl being in love with a fallen angel, who is now her guardian- so I will read the other books of the series.

I'm hoping that I will see more of each character (that is still alive), and that there will be more development.

I didn't hate it. I just wasn't as impressed as I wanted to be. The cover filled me with so much hope that I literally went straight home, locked myself away, and read the entire thing. My excitement got me through the first book- I'm hoping that the writing and love for the story gets me through the next one.

Until Next Time

xoxoxo 

-D