Title and Author: Time’s Twisted Arrow by Rysa Walker (Goodreads | Amazon)

Publisher: Gypsy Moon Books

Genre: YA Science Fiction

Publication Date: October 1, 2012

Pages: 351 pages

Source: Received review copy as part of tour

Kid-rating: Clean.

Star Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Synopsis

“Sharp writing, a flair for dialogue and a big, twisting imagination.” – Kirkus Reviews.

They weren’t panic attacks. Of that, seventeen year old Kate is certain, no matter what the shrink told her parents. But it’s even harder to accept the explanation offered by her terminally ill grandmother – that Kate has inherited designer DNA from the time-traveling historians of CHRONOS, who were stranded in the past by a saboteur. Kate knows that her grandmother’s story could easily be the brain tumor talking, but that doesn’t explain the odd medallion or the two young men – one of them hauntingly familiar — who simply vanish before her eyes on the subway. It doesn’t explain Trey, the handsome stranger who now occupies Kate’s assigned seat in trig class. And it definitely doesn’t explain why Kate is now in an alternate timeline, where leaders of a previously unknown cult hold great power and are planning a rather drastic form of environmental defense.

In this new reality, Kate’s grandmother was murdered at age twenty-two on a research trip to the past, which means that Kate’s mother was never born, her father doesn’t know her and, for all intents and purposes, she doesn’t exist. The only thing keeping her from disappearing entirely is the strange blue medallion around her neck, and the only thing keeping her sane is her burgeoning relationship with Trey. To restore the time line, Kate must travel back to 1893 and keep herself and her grandmother clear of H.H. Holmes, the serial killer who is stalking young women at the Chicago World’s Fair. But that choice comes at a price – she’ll remember the past few months with Trey, but when he looks at her, he’ll see a total stranger.

My review

Time travel can be so tricky: if you don’t build it and sell it well, it falls apart. Luckily, Ryse Walker built this one quite well, and I loved this book a lot. I was pretty thoroughly convinced by the world-building, the character-building, and even though we are dealing with the confusion the comes with the implications of time travel as presented by this book, I was thoroughly satisfied by the way the author led us through everything.

Although there are 2 swoon-worthy love interests for Kate, our main character, the circumstances did not read like a clichéd love triangle to me. Other readers might disagree, but know that I’m getting tired of the triangle thing, so my radar is tuned pretty high for that.

I like books that don’t end up giving me every single answer — there was a nice resolution, but not a cliffhanger, and the possibilities for future stories in this book’s universe are endless. I look forward to seeing where Walker takes us next. There were lots of things hinted at, or left open that would be nice to have answered. With the twists involved in this book, I can only imagine what twisty ways in which we’ll get those answers.

I don’t believe in going on and on and writing my own novel in response to the books I’ve read: I like to know what people thought, so that I can find out if this might fit with something I’d be interested in reading. I could write a longer review, but I’d rather just suggest that if you enjoy time travel novels, you should check this one out. I enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next installment!

Author Bio

RYSA WALKER grew up on a cattle ranch in the South. Her options for entertainment were talking to cows and reading books. (Occasionally, she would mix things up a bit and read books to cows.) On the rare occasion that she gained control of the television, she watched Star Trek and imagined living in the future, on distant planets, or at least in a town big enough to have a stop light.

When not writing, she teaches history and government in North Carolina, where she shares an office with her husband, who heroically pays the mortgage each month, and a golden retriever named Lucy. She still doesn’t get control of the TV very often, thanks to two sports-obsessed kids.

Author Links:
Website: http://chronosfiles.blogspot.ca/
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6581077.Rysa_Walker
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RysaWalker
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheChronosFiles

Giveaway

There are TWO giveaways you can participate in:

First is for one (1) ebook copy of Time’s Twisted Arrow. Open internationally. This giveaway is only here on my blog. In order to enter, you just need to comment on this post. Be sure to enter a valid e-mail address when you comment, as this is how I’ll contact you. Entries will be open until March 10th at midnight. One entry per person, I’ll use Random.org to pick a winner.

The second giveaway is for the grand prize for the entire tour and includes a signed copy of Walker’s book, as well as a $25 Amazon.com gift card! (See the Terms and Conditions in the Rafflecopter form for the details).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Especially since I’ve spent the last 2 and half days of you stuck at home thanks to this freak snowstorm that dumped more than a foot of snow on us. What is up with that?

You and your friend January and your lack of sunlight kinda mess with my brain. You make my mental health number drop in to the basement, and that’s not really very friendly.

March can be kind of nasty, too, but at least there’s the hope that comes from knowing that spring is almost here. Also, March is my anniversary month, so I’m kinda partial.

I’d like to stay it’s not personal, but I guess, really: it actually is. Go away. Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out. Unfortunately, I’ll see you again, but maybe next time you won’t be such a jerk.

Title and Author: 

Publisher: Avon

Genre: Romance

Publication Date: December 27th 2011

Pages: 367 pages

Source: Purchased ebook

Kid-rating: Not for kids. It’s a romance novel: lots of sexual innuendo and um, actual you-know-what.

Star Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Synopsis

(from GoodReads)
This Duke is Mine

He is a duke in search of a perfect bride.

She is a lady–but a long way from perfect.

Tarquin, the powerful Duke of Sconce, knows perfectly well that the decorous and fashionably slender Georgiana Lytton will make him a proper duchess. So why can’t he stop thinking about her twin sister, the curvy, headstrong, and altogether unconventional Olivia? Not only is Olivia betrothed to another man, but their improper, albeit intoxicating, flirtation makes her unsuitability all the more clear.

Determined to make a perfect match, he methodically cuts Olivia from his thoughts, allowing logic and duty to triumph over passion…Until, in his darkest hour, Quin begins to question whether perfection has anything to do with love.

To win Olivia’s hand he would have to give up all the beliefs he holds most dear, and surrender heart, body and soul…

Unless it’s already too late.

Don’t miss a new version of The Princess & the Pea, asking an age-old question: What is a perfect princess?

My review

The Project Fairy Tale folks were supposed to try to stick to Young Adult books, and I do have some YA Princess and the Pea that I’m going to try to read, but there really isn’t a lot of YA Princess and the Pea stories. Frankly, there aren’t a lot of Princess and the Pea novels at all. As near as I can tell, most retellings are picture books and are mostly just illustrated editions of the original story itself. I’ve seen a few that look to be variations, (a princess and a peanut allergy, or a princess and a packet of frozen peas, that sort of thing…)

This is one of several adult romance novels that I found. I have somewhat gotten away from reading romance novels because so often the sex scenes are so outrageously over the top and stupid I can’t stand it. I thought I’d give this one a try (for research), and I’m glad I did. A lot of why I liked this book is the humor — the whole thing had me laughing out loud. It was a quick read that did not even try to take itself seriously (even in the bedroom), and I had fun the whole time I was reading it.

There was some over the top stuff (especially the ending, the peril at the end was forced and unnecessary), and some of the tension was a little artificially drawn out.

Was it silly? Sure, but sometimes a person needs a silly enjoyable read.

Some of the reviews I read took issue with the way that Olivia, our main character, treated her betrothed, Rupert, who is mentally handicapped. I had actually read these reviews before starting, so I was paying attention, and I have to say that I think these reviewers didn’t give the book enough of a chance. I thought their concerns were dealt with as the book progressed.

As far as the Princess and the Pea elements go:  I though it was pretty cleverly done here. Our heroine’s sister is an aspiring duchess, not a princess, but she is being tested by the Duke’s mother for their suitability as his potential mate. There is a pile of mattresses involved in the story, but no peas, and it wasn’t the duke’s mother that piled them up. This was part of the ending that was a little over the top, and by this point, I could have done without her shoehorning the mattresses in. I’d say that’s a pretty minor quibble on my part, though.

I had never read any books by Eloisa James before, and I will probably read more in the future, I enjoyed her voice and humor. If you like adult romance novels and are looking for something quick and fun, you might give this one a try.

Synopsis

In this case, the princess is actually brought to the castle by Sir Harry, who desperately wants the Prince to get married, so he can marry is own love, Lady Larken. (The Queen has decreed that no one else in the kingdom may marry until the Prince does). The Prince he has found is named Fred, and she lived in a swamp. She truly is a princess, but not like any princess this kingdom has ever seen.

The prince is immediately taken with her, which scares the Queen, who is a domineering tyrant with a mute husband, and a son who is so pathetic, you feel quite sorry for him.

As the Prince and Princess Fred get to know each other (and fall in love?) we learn that Sir Harry and Lady Larken REALLY need to get married ASAP, because a little picnic they enjoyed has resulted in an impending blessing. (And one gets the feeling that they aren’t entirely sure how that happened…) Sir Harry is more worried about the impact on HIS reputation than on the consequences for his love, and frankly, one wonders what Lady Larken sees in him.

In the meantime, the Queen and her Wizard are devising tests to get rid of the completely unsuitable Princess Fred, and decide upon the mattress test.

A visiting minstrel, and the court jester turn out to be the heroes of the story because they (a) come up with a plan to help Lady Larkin escape her situation and go to the beautiful land of Normandy and (b) they overhear the Queen scheming with the wizard about the pea plot, and are able to “help” matters along — they stuff Princess Fred’s mattresses full of swords and armor and other bulky metal objects, so it’s no wonder she doesn’t sleep a wink.

Lady Larken is caught escaping, but it doesn’t matter, because Princess Fred has passed the test — the prince has a bride, and the King finally puts his stands up to wife, finds his voice again, and everyone lives “happily, happily, happily ever after.”

Broadway and TV

Carol Burnett was the Princess Fred in the Broadway production (1959) (and in 2 made for TV versions, 1964 and 1972). The musical has also been filmed more recently (2005), with Carol Burnett as the Queen, Tracey Ullman as Princess Fred, and even more notably: Glee’s Matthew Morrison (Will Schuester) as Sir Harry. It was fun to watch, especially when we were getting ready for the high school production, however it was only just OK. The Carol Burnett version was infinitely better…unfortunately, I’ve only ever seen the 1972 version, and that was many years ago: I haven’t found it on DVD, and YouTube only turns up some very bad screen captures of someone’s TV.

Suzanne’s Trip Down Memory Lane

I’ve mentioned that this has a special place in my heart: during my senior year of high school (a million years ago! OK, it was 1990), our school staged a production: and I was Lady Larken. And more recently, the high school that I am now working at staged it, and I was the accompanist for the show. Plus, I made a “quilt” that we draped over a metal bunk bed to be our 20 mattresses…my dogs still sleep on that “quilt.”

It has become very hard for me to separate the additions of “Once Upon A Mattress” from the original story when I think of the Princess and the Pea. The fact that Princess Fred was “helped” in the mattress test harkens back to versions of the story prior to Andersen’s most popular telling — she was often only able to pass the test because a helper had told her about the test beforehand. And the fact that the Queen is such a miserable person colors my perspective of her, even in the original.

As a musical, Once Upon A Mattress is a lot of fun, and lends itself well to high school productions. It’s not spectacular by any means, but it is a sweet and funny retelling, and I will always remember it fondly, not just for the story itself, but also for the high school memories.

It’s funny, the high school productions that I have helped with as an adult  have all been fraught with both highs and lows. Every single productions has been plagued by worries that the students won’t pull it off because they are still learning lines and stage directions and music and dancing right up until a week before the production. They always manage to pull it off, barely, but it makes me wonder back to my high school days — I suppose we were that way, too. In fact, I know we were: we had to make changes to one of the songs because some of us hadn’t learned the music in time!

Have you seen a production of Once Upon A Mattress? What did you think?

As I mentioned last week, my fairy tale posts this month are inspired by a group of bloggers who are writing about fairy tales and retellings this month, the host is The Cheap Reader. I am participating unofficially, as I did not get signed up (I didn’t hear about it until just a few weeks ago!)

However, I was lying in bed this morning, and it occurred to me that I have had plenty of cool bookish memories, I just needed to reset the way I was thinking about it. So here is my list:

1. Watching my boys (now 13) become readers. The books that got them to really be interested in reading on their own? The Captain Underpants series. Lately, their reading has gotten eclipsed by video game playing, so we need to work on balancing that back out. I’m so glad that they enjoy reading for pleasure.
2. Being a part of the renovation of our local library. One interesting memory is helping to move the library’s collection across the street to it’s temporary home. Books were carried across the street in boxes by a line of dedicated helpers. Of course, a year later, we had to reverse the process, but it was all worth it. The renovation/addition cost $3 million, but it looks like we spent $10 million. It is that gorgeous.
3. Watching the ALA awards last week, when The One and Only Ivan received the Newbery. I think my favorite thing to come out of the subsequent press is Katherine Applegate’s comment about wanting to write in “first person gorilla.” Yes, it’s from the view of a gorilla, and you are thinking something like…I don’t read middle grade…or I don’t read about animals…or…the viewpoint of a gorilla? Set aside your doubts, this is a must-read for everyone.
4. This sort of relates to number 1, but…I loved reading children’s books to my boys when they were little. Sure, there were some duds that I would have preferred not having to read ever again, but we read a lot of good books over the years. I miss going to the children’s section of the bookstore and library!! Like many parents, we had large portions of Dr. Seuss’s oeuvre memorized, and I bet there are some other books that I could probably still recite parts of. One of my favorites that comes to mind right away, is The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood. Come to think of it, I need to go find our copy and reread that one.
5. Reading a new book from my favorite author(s) for the first time. Sure, there’s always that trepidation: am I going to love this one as much as I have loved their past novels? Only a few times have I been disappointed. Mostly, I’m thrilled to have another visit with favorite characters and locations.
6. Finding new favorite books and authors (such as The Archived by Victoria Schwab).
7. The day that a teacher at my school brought me a stack of his favorite books (some of which were signed, and were prized possessions), and asked if I wanted to read them. I have teased him about him being a book pusher, and about how I have enough to read without his help, but I really did appreciate the trust he put in me (I was very careful!), and also the fact that he BROUGHT ME BOOKS. Books that he loved, and that I also ended up loving, too.

I hate to end on an odd number, but I’m running out of time, and that’s all I can think of for now. I hope to visit everyone else’s lists later tonight or tomorrow. I’m glad I kept thinking, because this was kind of a nice trip down memory lane. Happy Tuesday!

Title and Author:

Publisher: Disney Hyperion

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Publication Date: January 22, 2013

Pages: 336 pages

Source: Purchased at iBookstore

Kid-rating: Clean. No qualms about suggesting to my 13 year old family members. I’m going to encourage the boys to try to read, for something different.

Star Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Synopsis

(from GoodReads)
Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books.

Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive.

Da first brought Mackenzie Bishop here four years ago, when she was twelve years old, frightened but determined to prove herself. Now Da is dead, and Mac has grown into what he once was, a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often-violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Because of her job, she lies to the people she loves, and she knows fear for what it is: a useful tool for staying alive.

Being a Keeper isn’t just dangerous-it’s a constant reminder of those Mac has lost. Da’s death was hard enough, but now her little brother is gone too. Mac starts to wonder about the boundary between living and dying, sleeping and waking. In the Archive, the dead must never be disturbed. And yet, someone is deliberately altering Histories, erasing essential chapters. Unless Mac can piece together what remains, the Archive itself might crumble and fall.

In this haunting, richly imagined novel, Victoria Schwab reveals the thin lines between past and present, love and pain, trust and deceit, unbearable loss and hard-won redemption.

My review

I have read 19 books in January, and this is the first that is going on my Favorites shelf. And I have really enjoyed a lot of the books I’ve read this month.

This was SO good. A great strong main character, who is not without flaws. Interesting and unique premise that I thought was explained well, in just enough bits to keep me reading, but not in infodumps that were boring.

The secondary characters were also quite fascinating, and even though there is some love interest (and 2 boys), this was not a love triangle (thankfully). I was totally on board with how Mac was feeling about all of her relationships, and definitely have a new book crush in Wesley.

The mystery was well done and I did NOT see the solution coming at all. In retrospect, there was one moment when I wondered…but I shook it off. Silly me.

I’m trying to think if I have any quibbles to share, and I can’t think of any. At all.

I’d also like to say thank you to the author for making this a complete story without a big honking cliffhanger at the end. Is the door open for further stories? Absolutely. There was a lot left unresolved in terms of relationships, and maybe even the aftermath of what resulted from the mystery itself, but I am not left hanging — I’m getting tired of that. It does appear that this is first in a series, and I will definitely read whatever comes next.

The current inspiration actually came from a project that a group of bloggers are doing called Project: Fairy Tale. If I’d known about it at the time of sign-ups, I would have totally signed up, but I’m going to unofficially participate here on my own, and I think I’m going to be using a fairy tale this month that no one else is using….The Princess and the Pea.

I have a very soft spot in my heart for this particular fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, and I’ll share more about that as the month goes on.

To read the actual fairy tale as written by Andersen (it’s quite short), you can visit Sur La Lune Fairy Tales (which is, by the way, a very excellent resource for all things fairy tale…lots of commentary about the actual stories, as well as lists of retellings and re-imaginings and more). It’s interesting to note that there were other versions of this story before Andersen popularized it, I’ve always thought that it was his to begin with.

You are probably familiar with the tale: a prince needs a princess, and none of the candidates have been just right. The tale doesn’t tell us what is wrong with them, or how many there have been. A princess shows up in the middle of a storm, and the Queen decides to test her, to see if she really is a princess.

The test is the peas placed under the pile of 20 mattresses and 20 feather beds. (It’s actually 3 peas in this version). Our princess, of course, does not sleep a wink, proving she is truly a princess, since only a real princess would have been sensitive enough to feel the peas.

And then the prince and princess live happily ever after.

Knowing the details of some of the variations and adaptations of this story have probably skewed my thinking about it, because I am left only with questions. Did the princess really feel the peas? Or was she tipped off by someone? What’s with the prince and being so choosy? Is there something wrong with him? And where did the princess come from? Where is her family? If she’s a princess, why is she wandering around by herself in a storm?

I will admit that part of the reason I like this story is the image of the pile of beds and bedding. I’m a quilter — I have a lot of bedding in my house! (I’ve lost count of how many quilts are in my house. We use them all the time — often with multiple quilts on a bed at once…) The artwork that this scene inspires is probably the best part of what’s come out of this story!

**********************

For next week’s post, I’m actually going to cheat, and not post about a book retelling, but a musical — Once Upon a Mattress — the real reason that I’m such a fan of the Princess and the Pea story!

Happy Friday. Hopefully it is warmer and less snowy where you are.

Books read in January 2013

Grave Mercy

by R.L. LaFevers

I didn’t mean to do it, but I stayed up until all hours to finish, this one sucked me in!!

Splintered

by A.G. Howard

It’s always a little nerve-wracking to start watching or reading something that you have been waiting for with high hopes. And it’s even worse to have said the object of that anticipation start off slowly…but thankfully, Splintered won…

The Madman’s Daughter

by Megan Shepherd

There was a lot to love about this dark, creepy tale. As with other books that I’ve had on my “high-expectations” list, I was a little leery to start this one, but thankfully, the ice/fog day we had on Monday gave me the perfect opportun…

Across the Universe

by Beth Revis

Review to come.

The Archived

by Victoria Schwab

I have read 19 books in January, and this is the first that is going on my Favorites shelf. And I have really enjoyed a lot of the books I’ve read this month.This was SO good. A great strong main character, who is not without flaws. In…

Finnikin of the Rock

by Melina Marchetta

Review to come.

Beastly

by Alex Flinn

I wanted to like this more than I did.There were some interesting bits, and I liked it well enough to finish, but I spent most of the book thinking more about how I would review it, rather than getting lost in it.This is going to sound…

Beauty

by Robin McKinley

I have read this before, quite awhile ago, but after reading Beastly, I decided I needed to reread this one to see if it was as good as I remembered.Happily, the answer is yes. It’s funny, I couldn’t have told you exactly how it went, …

Jane

by April Lindner

Review to come.

Tempestuous: A Modern-Day Spin on Shakespeare’s The Tempest

by Kim Askew

This was cute, but a little like candy. Sweet, but doesn’t really stick with you.A few too many flowery descriptions, and the entire premise was a little on the silly side.Hmmm, it sounds like I hated it, and I didn’t — I finished …

Project Gutenberg’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

by Lewis Carroll

There’s a very good reason this is a classic. I don’t remember having actually ever read this, though. Oh sure, I had seen the Disney movie, and more recently, the Tim Burton movie, but read the actual book? Don’t remember.I loved it, …

The Woodcutter

by Kate Danley

I finished it, but I’m not sure I really enjoyed it. I’m trying to read a lot of fairy tale retellings, and I was fascinated by this one, but it really ended up being something I just slogged through to see where the author actually went…

Rapunzel Untangled

by Cindy C. Bennett

fun! review to come.

Anna and the French Kiss

by Stephanie Perkins

I don’t know why, but there’s just something about books set in boarding schools, especially ones in other countries. Unfulfilled dreams, maybe. Not that I’d want to go to one on Paris, myself, I think I’d rather it would have been in Lo…

The B-Team

by John Scalzi

I had a little trouble getting in to this, but once I did, I was hooked. I’m a big fan of Scalzi and his humor, and this was a great start of this new serial. I was just sad that I wasn’t near wi-fi and couldn’t download the next chapter…

Cinder

by Marissa Meyer

I am such a failure sometimes. I was supposed be reading this 2 chapters at a time, participating in a read-along.I read it all in like, two days. I meant to stop, but I couldn’t help myself.I’m also something of a failure, because …

Time’s Twisted Arrow

by Rysa Walker

Review to come.

Wait For Me

by Elisabeth Naughton

Review to come.

Eve and Adam

by Michael Grant

I really wanted to like this, and was really enjoying this one until about the last 100 pages-ish. I enjoyed the characters, the situations, the premise, and then…it just felt rushed and was a gigantic letdown. All of these amazing bal…

Nineteen books finished in January. I doubt that I’ll maintain that pace all year long: I credit a lot of it to the fact that I have spent many hours on bus rides and sitting in gyms (before and during basketball games…), which has meant a LOT of reading time. Add to that several snow/ice days off from school, and, yeah. 19 books this month.

Luckily, I have really enjoyed most of these books! I had four that I gave just 2 stars to. One 3 star, the rest 4 or 5 stars. Only one, though, managed to get itself on my Favorites bookshelf — and that was the book I read today, The Archived, by Victoria Schwab. (My review of that will post on Saturday).

How about you? Read any good books this month?

Title and Author: 

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Fairy Tale, Science Fiction

Publication Date: January 3, 2012

Pages: 276 pages

Source: Purchased, iBookstore

Kid-rating:My 13 year old boys would probably find the cyborg parts of this story quite interesting, but wouldn’t appreciate the fairy tale and romance parts of this quite as much as my 13 year old nieces will.

Star Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Synopsis

(from GoodReads)
Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a 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.

My review

I am such a failure sometimes. I was supposed be reading this 2 chapters at a time, participating in a read-along.

I read it all in like, two days. I meant to stop, but I couldn’t help myself.

I’m also something of a failure, because I waited so long to read this. I’m not sure why. I think it was because this book seemed to be getting an awful lot of hype, and I didn’t figure a Cinderella story about a cyborg mechanic could actually be any good.

It was, in fact, quite a bit of fun. I’m a fan of retellings/reimaginings, and this was a very unique take on the Cinderella story. I loved seeing how Meyer put bits of the story we know and love in to her very unusual tale.

I did enjoy the fact that this was set in a future China, rather than keeping it a purely Euro-centric story.

Yes, it’s Cinderella, so you are thinking you know how it’s going to turn out, but there are some twists and turns, some of which I thought were a little too obvious. So obvious that I thought it was pretty silly that Cinder herself didn’t make the connections once she learned part of the story of who she is. Also, it’s the first in a series, so of course, we don’t get a complete resolution at the end, we are left hanging on some points, as we head in to the sequel, entry, which is thankfully coming out soon.

I am looking forward to the sequel, Scarlet, which comes out in February. The reviews I’ve seen suggest that it is even better.

Title and Author: 

Publisher: Balzer & Bray

Genre: Young Adult, Horror, Gothic, Mystery

Publication Date: January 29, 2013

Pages: 432 pages

Source: ARC tour

Kid-rating: Would my 13 year old boys like this? Probably not, probably too much kissing (and talking about kissing and about love and mushy stuff). They might like the horror bits, but I think it would probably move too slow for them. How about my 13 year old nieces? Hmmm. I think they might be a little too grossed out by the horror parts of this right now. Maybe in a few years.

Star Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Synopsis

(from GoodReads)
In the darkest places, even love is deadly.

Sixteen-year-old Juliet Moreau has built a life for herself in London—working as a maid, attending church on Sundays, and trying not to think about the scandal that ruined her life. After all, no one ever proved the rumors about her father’s gruesome experiments. But when she learns he is alive and continuing his work on a remote tropical island, she is determined to find out if the accusations are true.

Accompanied by her father’s handsome young assistant, Montgomery, and an enigmatic castaway, Edward—both of whom she is deeply drawn to—Juliet travels to the island, only to discover the depths of her father’s madness: He has experimented on animals so that they resemble, speak, and behave as humans. And worse, one of the creatures has turned violent and is killing the island’s inhabitants. Torn between horror and scientific curiosity, Juliet knows she must end her father’s dangerous experiments and escape her jungle prison before it’s too late. Yet as the island falls into chaos, she discovers the extent of her father’s genius—and madness—in her own blood.

Inspired by H. G. Wells’s classic The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Madman’s Daughter is a dark and breathless Gothic thriller about the secrets we’ll do anything to know and the truths we’ll go to any lengths to protect.(

My review

There was a lot to love about this dark, creepy tale. As with other books that I’ve had on my “high-expectations” list, I was a little leery to start this one, but thankfully, the ice/fog day we had on Monday gave me the perfect opportunity to read this in one fell-swoop and it was a great read.

And by “great,” I mean very twisted and weird and scary. It’s no surprise that this is based on The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells, and I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that our main character’s father, Dr. Moreau, himself, is involved in some pretty horrifying science experiments involving animals and humans.

The choice to tell this story from the perspective of an imagined daughter (Juliet) who was abandoned by her father (and whose mother has since died), was an interesting one. She is very compelling, a young woman who is brighter and more capable than anyone will allow her to be. She does spend a little more time being dense than I would have liked, and not asking question sooner about some things that seemed to need questioning.

I was as surprised as she was, though, by the twists and turns her story takes.

The love triangle was a little overdone, in my opinion. That might just be me projecting, though, because I’m getting kind of tired of angsty love triangles. Books don’t always need triangles to hold my interest.

The cliffhanger-y ending of this didn’t bug me the way some of these 1st-book-in-a-trilogy tend to. Maybe because I actually figured out what was happening about 2 pages before Juilet did, which actually made the actual ending even more wrenching for me on her behalf.

This is a very excellent debut, and I will definitely be waiting for the rest of this story.

Also, I have to mention: I seriously hope all of the book covers are as gorgeous as this one. Love it.

(I read this as an ARC as part of an ARC tour. I will be mailing this book on to the next person in the tour just as soon as the weather allows me to actually leave my house. Also, the post office is now closed for the day).