The Violet Corner

Wither - Impressions

2011-11-16T17:17:00.001-08:00

Hello again readers! Here I am with another book in my read pile. Enjoyed my 'weekend' by plowing through books, and relaxing. I have possibly avoided all the cleaning I said I was going to do, (okay I definitely did) whoops.

Book: Wither by Lauren DeStefano
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers; 1 edition (March 22, 2011)
The book was purchased by me for review purposes, I still don't blog enough to get ARCs or early releases.

From the Publisher - Dust Jacket blurb:
What if you knew exactly when you would die?

Thanks to modern science, every newborn has become a ticking genetic time bomb - males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.

When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape - to find her twin brother and go home.

But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant she is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limited time she has left.

Dust Jacket Impressions: Wow, whoever designed the cover should get a raise, I loved it. The fun little lines and circles, the little bird in the cage, and the test tube on the back with the hourglass, awesome.

Ticking genetic time bomb, when we die do we actually explode? I was getting hilarious visuals of people's heads exploding the exact minute they hit their 20/25th birthday. I'm quite positive that this does not happen, but admit it, it makes you giggle (or I may possibly need mental help). The large fact of the matter is, in this future world, I AM DEAD. Thanks ever so much Lauren, oh wait, so are you, how did you write this? I kid, obviously. So polygamous marriages? I get the impression women are bred like animals, it is also not a good visual. Also, ew, STDs much? If they kidnap women off the street I hope they clean them up first. I'm assuming this does not occur in the book it bares thought though.

Rhine is our main character, I love that she is named after a river. I see her twin brother is mentioned but barely, so I am assuming he plays little to no role in the actual book. If he does I assume it is in the beginning or via flashbacks. Her husband Linden sounds like he'll be decent, and it seems like her father-in-law will be our bad guy in this book. I suppose collecting corpses is better than eating corpses I guess. Being experimented on, and apparently lusting after a servant boy has got to be better than sleeping in the street and being eaten by zombies. No, as far as I know there are no zombies in this book.

Okay, I'm sold. Rhine apparently wants nothing more than to escape a creepy marriage she was kidnapped for. I want nothing more than to read an interesting story where the main character has to decide between a gilded cage, and the unknown of the outside world. She wants to get back to her brother and probably take Gabriel with her. Cool, romance, creepy in-law, death everywhere, dystopian world, yep I can't wait to read it.

Buy the book to read it with me!:

Shatter Me - Impressions

2011-11-15T13:13:00.001-08:00

Well Readers! I'm back, and have a giant pile of books to go through and review. Today I'm bringing my initial impressions of a book that has been getting TONS of press, including optioned movie rights months before it was even available in stores! Today is the release date, so it felt good to start my review of it!

Book: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
Publisher: HarperCollins (November 15, 2011)
The book was purchased by me for review purposes, I still don't blog enough to get ARCs or early releases.

From the Publisher:
"You can't touch me," I whisper.

I'm lying, is what I don't tell him.

He can touch me, is what I'll never tell him.

But things happen when people touch me.

Strange things.

Bad things.

No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal, but The Reestablishment has plans for her. Plans to use her as a weapon.

But Juliette has plans of her own.

After a lifetime without freedom, she's finally discovering a strength to fight back for the very first time—and to find a future with the one boy she thought she'd lost forever.

Dust Jacket Impressions:Well, I first heard about this book a few months ago, and since then it has steadily been getting more and more press. When I read the publisher's blurb I was intrigued, it sounds like X-men meets dystopian literature, therefore putting it to the top of my To-Read list when it released.

I don't know what is going on with the cover, I personally think it looks ridiculous, it looks more like a teen socialite book than a book about a girl with mysterious powers. I personally feel I'm going to be reading a book about prom, over a book with a dystopian feel. Quite frankly, had I just seen the book on a shelf and not heard about it, I never would have picked it out as something that interested me. Yes, I did judge this book by it's cover, thankfully I learned it was not a book about prom, or homecoming, or a coming out party for a New York socialite, but a book about a young girl who's touch can kill (far more interesting).

So, it look's like our main character is Juliette, if she happens to poison herself in the book, or stab herself over a boy, I will be sorely disappointed. I also hope that her love interest is not named Romeo. If she decides to change her name during the course of the book I also hope it does not change to Rogue. Yes, I made passes at both William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliette, and X-Men, those are the huge vibes I got from reading the book (Also, I somehow managed to spell Shakespeare wrong when I first typed this, blogger fail).

I'm hoping Juliette turns out to be a strong woman and not a dead fish, and that the book focuses more on her adventure in possibly saving the world and taking down whatever evil government is around, than her romance. I hope I am right readers, I don't want to run into zomgtrueloveforever in the book. Life doesn't happen that way, and although it is a marvelous thing to imagine in a perfect world we will all find our prince fall in love at first site then live our our lives, it just doesn't. Something that bothers me in a lot of YA is the zomgtrueloveforever trap. I suppose I could take it though, if Juliette is a strong character, and doesn't fall all over herself and 'woe is me' attitude, and she uses whatever cool power she has, and kicks butt... We shall see! I have high hopes for a book labeled as fodder for those waiting for The Hunger Games movie, and a book receiving so much buzz. Also, I WANT to love it, Tahereh Mafi is such a wonderful person, and tries to talk to as many of her fans as possible through Twitter, I adore her for that.

Buy the book to read it with me!:

Fun Friday!

2011-10-01T09:09:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Fun Fridays here at The Violet Corner! Now, apparently this never posted yesterday (probably because I fell asleep super early and was practically in a coma after work) and I never set this entry to auto-post, Whoops!
Anyway, today's fun Friday (Saturday lol) is about stupid customers. Now, I work retail, so I run into lots of wonderful people broken up by incredibly rude people, and really dumb people. If you have a story to share PLEASE DO SO NOW! E-mail thevioletcorner@gmail.com and I will post your stories today too!

My favorite story I have from working retail comes when I was working outside in the garden department at my store. A woman probably in her late 20's early 30's walks up to me and asks, "Excuse me, where can I find the bug killer."
Well, being the helpful cashier that I am, I pointed to the swinging doors and replied, "Our pesticides are just through the greenhouse there, and directly to the left."
Now, the customer nodded and walked towards the doors, so I went and rang out the person that had gone over to my register while I had bee giving directions. When I looked up after finishing the woman I had sent inside was still standing in front of the doors. Concerned I went over and asked "Miss, did you need any help still?" It had been somewhere between 2-5 minutea she had been there mind you.
Well, the woman turned to me and said "Well, I'm waiting for the magic to happen."
Incredibly confused I managed to ask "The magic?"
"You know, the MAGIC! For the doors to open, they muat be broken," she frowned.
"Miss, these arent automatic doors, you have to push them," I responded. Please keep in mind I am both trying not to burst into laughter, or call her an idiot to her face.
She looked sad, and said "oh," and then struggled with pushing the doors open. Seriously? They are really light plastic swinging doors.
I literally could not believe it just happened. I honestly wonder to myself just how dumb this woman was, and how she had managed to live so long without permanent supervision. Apparently being pretty is better than being smart?

Please! Share your stories, pictures, online videos, anything that you find funny for fun Fridays! Head to the contact tab above and email me!

Delirium - Final Review

2011-09-27T20:17:00.000-07:00

Hello Readers! Here I am with my final overall review for delirium by Lauren Oliver. I know I've been slow to post this, with my week hiatus and all, but here it is!

For the entire review experience: Read the first two posts for Delirium, Initial Impressions, and First 100 Pages Review

Book: Delirium by Lauren Oliver - 2011
My copy of delirium is the special edition, which contains a Q+A from the author, and an excerpt from the sequel.

Final Review: I would definitely say I enjoyed Delirium. Many of the things I would like to say in this review though, I can't, for fear of spoiling the book, therefore I have them jotted down in notes meant for when I do my initial impressions of the sequel. Delirium was a fun take on the saturation of romance and distopian literature in the YA market. In Delirium, love is the enemy, a disease meant to be cured. The book starts slow, not to say it is a slow read, just that it takes awhile for the book to take off into the main story. Oliver's writing however, is wonderful. She could probably write stereo installation instructions and it would be an easy and enjoyable read about nothing. The book flows, and even slow readers will have an easy time reading this book quickly.
I was incredibly taken on the idea of 'love is a disease' amor deliria nervosa as it is called by the characters in the book. As I stated in my first two posts this was what initially drew me into the book. Our main character, and narrator for the story Lena; starts out excited and ready for the cure. Part-way into the book though, she meets a guy, and of course, falls in love. I was originally rolling my eyes because I knew it was going to happen, but it wasn't the worst 'OMG true love at first sight' scenario that I was expecting. The romance seemed more a plot point, to get Lena to where she needs to be for the second book. I'm not going to lie, this book could have possibly been cut in half and still carried as much as it did, but as it flowed so well it wasn't too much of a problem.
As I said before, there is a lot I want to say, but I'm worried about spoiling it. The book was well written and interesting. Overall a good start to what I hope will be an exciting adventure starting in the next book. Pick it up, it's worth a read, and I am incredibly excited about the sequel coming out. I have incredibly high hopes for the next one, and the preview for Pandemonium (coming out March next year) will contain all the spoilers and things I wanted to talk about during this review. I REFUSE TO SPOIL AWESOME THINGS YOU NEED TO READ!

Overall: I'd give Delirium an 8/10, solid start to hopefully an interesting series.
I give my anticipation for book 2, Pandemonium a 10/10.

Go read it too!

Disappearance

2011-09-26T08:27:00.000-07:00

Hello dear readers! (I suppose all like, what? 3 of you? haha, okay, okay, I know I have more than 3 readers!) I'm sure you have been wondering where I went for a week! I promise I disappeared for a good reason, and here it is:
I. AM. WRITING. A. NOVEL! I decided to shut the hell up and just do it. I spend the past week gathering my ideas into an outline, doing what little research I needed, and starting. I needed a week with a clear head of nothing else, no advertising for the blog, no posting anything, just purely writing nothing but ideas and prose for the story. I will be back to my regularly scheduled updates starting well, now, with my final review for Delirium tomorrow.

Some of you may be wondering, "Hey, what caused you to FINALLY break down and start writing?" Well that is a fantastic question and my answer is simple: Jackson Pearce. No, I don't know her personally, I REALLY wish I did though, I feel we would totally be friends. Truthfully after reading Sisters Red I found her website, and thereby stumbled upon her vlog (Video Blog) and instantly fell more in love (Not in a creepy stalker way, I promise!). Jackson is fun, entertaining, barely older than I am, and does what she loves. I admire her for that. I spent hours watching her vlogs, all the way from the beginning and was inspired.
Jackson Pearce flat out says in one of her Vlogs (This is not a direct quote I'm summarizing) 'Hey, if you wanna write a novel, do it! Even if you only have time to write for 30 minutes a day, you still have time, everything else is just an excuse.' AND SHE IS RIGHT. I've been putting all my story ideas off for so long, I've forgotten how good it feels to write again, no matter how frustrating it is. I am the only one in my own way, and I stopped that!
I have given myself a deadline though. I gave myself a month (possibly a teeny bit of extra leeway) to finish the rough draft. Now this is not a draft I plan on showing to anyone (except for one person who is getting the unedited copy because I'm afraid of how much I'll trash it in edits), hell looking over what I wrote I possibly want to burn it, it needs a LOT of work. I am hand writing it to keep it safe from the DELETE key on my computer. As soon as I am done, in one month, I will then begin revising it to make it even marginally better for my first readers. I promise to keep all of you up to date with how I am doing, exact word counts when I type what I hand write once a week, and my frustrations and journey.
So, a BIG props to Jackson Pearce for inspiring me, THANK YOU, for entertaining me for HOURS with your Vlog, and book Sisters Red. Basically as soon as I had written the first 1000 words of my work in progress, I went and ordered her other two books. Even when The Violet Corner becomes popular, and publishers and authors send me their ARCs, books to review, and everything else, I will buy Jackson's books (even if I get a free review copy). Seriously, because even if it takes me years to get published, Jackson's words via videos, her motivation, she spoke to me, I can't help but want to support her for her hard work and dreams, and hope one day I can be following my dream as well. Her words were like a wake-up call and my brain is finally waking up.

Seriously, go buy her books now, she's awesome (and so are her books)!

*Please note, I apologize for who knows what kind of deplorable grammar is in this post. I am tired, I do not feel like editing it for hours because I am nitpicky! My new motto is JUST FRICKEN' GET IT DONE ALREADY!

*!UPDATE: I have made it so anyone can comment without registering with google, or openid or anything else, but I turned on moderation, so you can all leave comments, it just may take a little time to update and have your comment post!*

Fun Friday!

2011-09-16T20:11:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! Emily here at The Violet Corner, and I'm introducing something I've been wanting to do! Today, and every Friday from here on out will be a 'Fun Friday'! I will post something funny I find off the internet, whether I find it, or one of you, my wonderful readers sends it to me. This week I have a personal ad that I ran across and, well, I couldn't breathe I was laughing so hard. I sincerely hope it was fake, or else I've lost all hope for the world.

Personal Ad

Please note, I copy and pasted this directly, I have not altered it, spelling, content, anything in anyway whatsoever. This was written by a male, looking for a female.

Well. I am crazy superficial and shallow. When I am not being flaky I am ussually overly jealous and violent. In my free time I like to throw rocks at defenseless people, whether it is a small child or someone homeless. I am super mean, and generally angry. I will likely try to sabotage any connection we might make for the sake of making you cry. When I am not screaming and punching holes in walls I am ussually doing something more chill like self mutilation. I like to hit people for no reason, so if you enjoy being knocked unconscious because the sun got in my eye then I am your man. I am a clean freak and I shower at least 4 times a month. I expect you to be somewhat as clean. I need a girl that likes having one of my dirty socks shoved in her mouth while handcuffed to a public bench. What can I say? Romance is what I do best. When I meet your parents they will fall in love with me immediately. I am an excellent pathological liar and they will likely love the fact that you have met a charming validictorian who makes 40k a month with offshore dividend trading. When I invite them to my private villa in the heart of Italy for the summer they will immediately grant me your hand in marriage. I am not looking to jump into anything too fast, but I expect a fine looking child by the end of the year. That way if I leave you I will at least have a tax break to remember you by. Plus children make great housekeepers once they reach 3 or 4 years old. I like to plan for the future. If all of that sounds good to you, and you are good at explaining black eyes, then look no further. Act fast though, I look great in Ed Hardy clothes and I won't be on the market long.

I NEED YOUR HELP! I want to have readers send in things for Fun Fridays! If you find a funny picture, stupid personal ad, disturbing Craig's list posting, anything! Please email thevioletcorner@gmail.com with the subject line: FFTips! You will get credit for what you send in if I decide to post it, so please include the name you would like me to credit it with!

delirium - First 100 Pages

2011-09-15T18:07:00.000-07:00

Hello readers! I am back with part two of my 3 part review for delirium by Lauren Oliver. It was incredibly tough to put the book down because it is rainy and dreary, and all I wanted to do was read all day.

Read the first part of the review here: Initial Impressions - Delirium

Book: Delirium by Lauren Oliver - 2011
My copy of delirium is the special edition, which contains a Q+A from the author, and an excerpt from the sequel.

First 100 Pages: What can I say? I'm not entirely sure what I read. Not because it was bad, or anything else, because I read it too fast! Lauren Oliver has a wonderful grasp of writing in the first person, enough that I'm sure even a slow reader will have read the first 100 pages and never noticed they had read that far! I found myself so incredibly immersed that I looked down and realized I was on page 90, and that I needed to stop reading soon.

Delirium is a story about a girl named Lena, short for Magdalena, that takes place in the future in the city of Portland, Maine. Portland, Maine? Really? Awesome I've been there before, may times, it helped me visualize the landscape, the smell of the ocean, and even the color of how the sun sets. Lauren Oliver, writing as Lena in the first person, does a wonderful job describing the setting. She even ads in smells to help you visualize in, without it becoming a ridiculous monologue. Lena describes things as she sees them, not overly detailed, but just enough to make it believable as internal thoughts as well as giving the reader a good visualization on the story and what Lena sees.

The book is a fascinating view on what society would be like if love, the disease amor deliria nervosa, we not present. I giggled a lot when I read that they had declared it a disease, one that I think roughly means - a disorder of the delirium of love, you know, something like that. They claim it is like a plague that all of the human population can get, and if you don't get the procedure you can become infected. The society blamed mental disorders, war, murder, all kinds of things on the disease. In the story Lena talks about the book that their society is based The Book of Shhh or : The Safety, Health, and Happiness Handbook, which seems like some wonderful propaganda that blurs fiction, fact, and ideas into one book to make the population docile. Including having rules and reasons for the country to be walled in and defended, and each society walled in and defended.

Delirium starts with Lena counting down the days when she can have her procedure done and be disease free. We learn about her family, and that she lives with her aunt, and other family members, and eventually learn her mother had 3 procedures and was never 'cured'. Lena thinks herself plain, if not ugly, and compares herself to her beautiful friend Hana. She remarks though, that after the procedure she probably won't feel anything at all like that anymore. Well several pages in we see that Lena is getting ready for her evaluation, which is the most important day of her life. The girls and boys go in separately (they also go to school separately) and are evaluated to see what their future prospects are. For marriage, jobs, the amount of children they are assigned to have. Lena is standing in line with Hana waiting to go in and Hana pops out with the most interesting line in the first 100 pages, "You know you can't be happy unless you're unhappy sometimes, right?" Oh, is Hana in love, is she doubting the procedure? Well, Lena hasn't found out yet, and I'm really curious, but Lena also avoids bringing it up again, ever, although she thinks about it.

During the evaluation all hell breaks loose and cows run stampeding through the lab, the government says it was a delivery mix up, Hana decides it was done by the Invalids, the people of the wilds who refuse to bow down and get treatment. Lena sees a boy while the stampede is happening (I'm assuming this will be her love interest). Later on Lena and Hana run into the boy again, he names himself Alex, but pretends he has never seen Lena before. Of course if you are sneaking around in a government building, and are probably someone the government wants to get rid of, why not pretend to know nothing. Lena reflects upon Alex, having to take her evaluation over again, and having her graduation from high school in the rest of the first 100 pages.

The first 100 pages seems to sent the tone of the story up so far, of a girl questioning some aspects of her society. I am looking forward to reading more. Delirium is the first book in a series, so I'm hoping it has an ending that leaves me wanting more, but that actually ends. I hate super big cliffhangers!

Buy the book to read it with me!:

delirium - Impressions

2011-09-14T10:36:00.000-07:00

Hello again readers! Here I am with another book set to be reviewed by yours truly. The one was another from the pile of books I purchased when I was back home visiting family and friends. It also wasn't the next I had pulled out to review, in fact, I seem to be missing my copy of Wither which I had pulled out! Oh well, I guess this book wanted to be read first! Also: I am posting the blurbs from the publisher for my dust jacket impressions, I think it might make it easier to understand what I am reacting to.

Book: Delirium by Lauren Oliver - 2011
My copy of delirium is the special edition, which contains a Q+A from the author, and an excerpt from the sequel.

From the Publisher, dust jacket blurb:
Ninety-five days, and then I’ll be safe.
I wonder whether the procedure will hurt.I want to get it over with.
It’s hard to be patient. It’s hard not to be afraid while I’m still uncured, though so far the deliria hasn’t touched me yet.
Still, I worry.
They say that in the old days, love drove people to madness.
The deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don’t.

From the Publisher; back of the book blurb:
They say that the cure for love will make me happy and safe forever.
And I've always believed them. Until now.
Now everything has changed.
Now, I'd rather be infected with love for the tiniest sliver of a second than live a hundred years smothered by a lie.

Dust Jacket Impressions: Oh! The dust jacket is written in pretty fonts and the occasional word in blue, it reminds me of a poem I once wrote in high school. The publisher did a good job making this stick out, having never seen the original edition of the book I can't compare if it is the same thing.
So, here's what I'm getting from my impressions: the book will be in first person. I'm not saying it WILL be, I'm just assuming this. Most books with a blurb written in first person I tend to find are written in first person. Anyhow, it seems this book takes place in a world where we have cured love. Well, that for one would make my life a lot simpler, can I volunteer for trials in the real world? It looks as though our main character is all for obtaining her pseudo-lobotomy (it's totally what I've decided they do to people, I imagine I'll be disappointed if they get a shot and then a lollipop and are sent on their way), until she happens to fall in love. I mean, I'm guessing she falls in love, I can't imagine in this world she picks up a romance novel and goes, 'hey this sounds awesome, I totally want to fall in love, screw this cure.'
So, here's what I'm worried about: instant love. I suppose it is a YA novel, teenage girls adore thinking that love happens at first site and all that cute stuff, can we start calling it what it is? Infatuation. I'm perfectly okay if our main character sees some dude she wants to get hot and heavy with and then they realize they are in love. Quite frankly though, I am incredibly excited to pick up a book where love is seen as a disease, I am very intrigued to see where this is going.

Buy the book to read it with me!:

Awesome Deal! 9/13/11

2011-09-13T10:07:00.000-07:00

Hey readers! Fantastic deal today only on the Amazon Store, the Kindle Edition of Soulless, Parasol Protectorate Book 1 by Gail Carriger is $1.99 today (9/13/11)!

Soulless is a great read for those of you that like romance, steam-punk, vampires, and werewolves. The book starts off a little slow, but the series overall is a nice fun read (The last book will be out next year). I was told about these books by some friends, and then was won over by how kind and gracious Ms. Carriger is over twitter. I read the first 3 books in 3 days, waited for the 4th to be shipped, and read that just as fast.

So, check it out, this is a great way to get into the series for a great price.

Buy it now:

Also: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MOM! Today is her birthday.

Sisters Red Final Review

2011-09-11T18:11:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, sorry for the delay! My schedule has been so full I haven't gotten a chance to finish writing this. I'm trying to write as much as possible now to give me a buffer of space for when life takes a turn for the busy, as it does every now and then. Here's what you have been waiting for though, my final review impressions for Sisters Red.

Book: Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce : June 2010

For the entire review experience: Read the first two posts for Sisters Red, Sisters Red: Initial Impressions AND Sisters Red: The first 100 pages.

Final Review: As you, my readers, have been reading my reviews you have seen how intrested in the book I was, as well as how much I was enjoying it as I started reading it. Well, I can certainly say that I very much enjoyed it.
Sisters Red, was a fascinating tale of two young women struggling with their inner selves, and slaughtering some werewolves (called Fenris in this book). Scarlett March, the older sister, struggles with the past, her scars, and the fact that her hunting is her drive for living. Rosie March however, hunts because of her bond with her sister and it is expected of her, she sometimes dreams of a life not hunting but she feels guilty, she also deals with falling for Silas, Scarlett's best and only friend. As I've stated before the characters behave as real people would, none of them are perfect, and all of them are likeable.
I found while reading the book, that although my initial shock over the setting (see my 100 pages review), the setting worked out perfectly. Jackson Pearce has her character Scarlett reflect on the 'real world' and the one that we live in. The real world being the one where Fenris are real, and the one we live in being just the fact that we don't believe and have no idea what is actually going on the world around us, I loved this detail.
I can't even begin to sing enough praises for this book, other than go read it now. My only major fault from the book is that it wasn't longer, I could have continued reading about these characters for ages, but the book ended when the story did, and it ended fantastically.

Overall: I'd give Sisters Red a 9/10
Now excuse me, I'm off to add her other two books to my Read and Review list!

Go get your copy!

I also found Jackson Pearce has a website. Her blog is wonderful, go visit her! http://www.jacksonpearce.com/

Sisters Red 100 Pages

2011-09-06T19:10:00.000-07:00

Well, I've started Sisters Red and had to force myself to put down the book when I hit the 100 page mark to actually stop and start writing. Dear readers, I also pose a question for you, should I start posting the publisher's blurbs for my dust jacket impressions posts?

Book: Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce : June 2010

The First 100 Pages: Okay, I'm not gonna lie, I was instantly thrown out of the book two pages in from this: "...the Price is Right theme intrusive..." What? Price is Right? What book am I reading again? I was completely not expecting that, here I was thinking Ms. Pearce was going to put me in some classic setting, not in the middle of the modern age with televisions and phones and stuff! About a minute later I was done being stupid and reopened the book with an entirely different image in my head. The prologue is good, sets us up nicely for how the story comes across, you know, in a modern setting with Bob Barker... Okay, I promise I'll get over it! We begin when the sisters (Scarlett and Rosie) are young children seven years before the events in the main story take place. A Fenris (the name for werewolves in this story), comes into their home, murders their grandmother, and scars Scarlett March by maiming her face and causing her to loose an eye.
The main story opens with Scarlett luring a Fenris into chasing her and changing into a wolf whereupon she attacks, intending to kill. She is injured and her friend Silas, who has been gone for a year, has the fantastic timing to show up just then and help her kill the wolf. Great timing aside, Silias seems like a decent guy, with a really cruddy car. Thankfully there appears to be no romantic chemistry with him and Scarlett, although when they arrive at the girl's house and we meet Rosie again, well there we go with the romance. Rosie and Silias see each other again for the first time in a year and bam, they both seem to be attracted to each other. Amazingly the romance, albeit so far, is not overpowering or distracting, and very well done.
The reader then begins to see the life the sisters have been living, how they've avoided social services, and their sisterly arguing. Jackson Pearce has a wonderful grip on social situations and the character interactions all seem genuine and tell a lot about the characters. We get to see more werewolf hunting, and Rosie's first kill by herself. I was impressed with how well rounded both our main characters are, Rosie has some self esteem issues, and Scarlett has some post traumatic stress regarding the attack from when they were children.
The first 100 pages leaves off with the sisters and Silas making the decision to move to Atlanta to hunt the hundreds of Fenris wolves that have appeared. Apparently the werewolves are searching for someone with the potential to become a new wolf, and they can only do this once every so many years when the moon phase is just right. All the wolf clans (apparently there are many and the wolves are marked by tattoos) have converged and are searching for the new person to bite.
I have to say I am incredibly engrossed in this book. It's not a long book by any shot, I've read almost 1/3 of it already and I'm loving it. Jackson Pearce is a wonderful writer and I know as soon as I'm done with this I'll be off to pick up her other books. I also hate Ms Pearce because she's the same age as me and is published and all that good stuff (I don't really hate her I'm just incredibly jealous and super happy for her!). Wonderful writers like her make me wish I had more time to work on my fiction, maybe I'll start work on a short story. Now readers, excuse me while I rush off to finish the rest of this.

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New Stuff!

2011-09-06T12:03:00.000-07:00

I'm constantly going to be adding things here to The Violet Corner. So far I've posted a review format section, a section where you can check on books on my list to read and review, and now a contact section. I'll be getting an email address for the site for tips, ideas and suggestions soon. For now I have a link to the Facebook page so go ahead and check it out. If you have any ideas of things I should include, or add please feel free to post here, or on the wall of the page until I have an e-mail address for here.

Thank you everyone who has been so supportive of me while I get The Violet Corner off and running. I hope you will continue to enjoy it for years to come. Those of you also who have linked me, told people about me, and forced people to come visit here, thank you again. I hope I can help the world read a little more, one review at a time.

Sisters Red Impressions

2011-09-05T18:47:00.000-07:00

Spreading out my review this time. I think it'll be easier to read in segments. Let me know if you think this work better.

Book: Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce : June 2010

Dust Jacket Impressions: First off, let me state my friend Jenna handed me this book and I fell in love with the cover. I couldnt even open the book at first to read the blurb, I was very taken in with the cover art. The cover art in itself makes up for whatever drivel I'll have to read in the blurb.

My copy of Sisters Red

The dust jacket starts with what I'm assuming is a quote from the book, I am intrigued. Apparently the book is about two sisters: Scarlett and Rosie March. Scarlett lives to hunt werewolves called Fenris, wolves that took her eye. Awesome, a girl getting violent and that can stand up and fight for herself, I think I'll like this. Scarlett is an expert in the slaying of wolves and is determined to protect other young girls with her skills. Rosie however seems like she'll be a wet rag. She's suppose to be helping her sister but she's dreaming of life beyond the wolves, and its sugguested she falls in love witb Scarlett's only friend Silas. Oh man, is the sister going to ruin a friendship, and then everything gets magically fixed by the end? I hope not, I'm hoping to see some violence and an interesting plot and lots of drama. I can't wait to start this book, the blurb actually makes it sound interesting.
I'm looking forward to actually cracking open this book, and with a day off tomorrow, chances are I'll read the whole thing.

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Clockwork Angel

2011-09-04T22:52:00.000-07:00

I'm doing my first review here on a book given to me by a wonderful friend. She had an extra copy, and while I was home visiting I acquired 5 new books, this ended up being on the top of the pile to read. My friends have an easy way of getting me to read a book, it goes like this: "Read this you'll love it."

Book: Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare - Book One in The Infernal Devices series
Alright, I'm a huge fan of YA literature in general but with so many wonderful titles to read this is the first by Cassandra Clare I have read. Yes, I know her Mortal Instruments series is a best seller and I HAVE planned on reading her, apparently I just needed one of her books shoved in my face to do so.
This book is billed as a Prequel to the Mortal Instruments series, but I was told I did not need to read them first.

Dust Jacket Impressions: Clockwork Angel, according to the dust jacket, is about a girl named Tessa on a quest to find her brother, apparently in England in Victorian England (yay steam-punk). There are supernatural creatures, and some kind of police forced called Shadowhunters (okay not the most exciting name). Tessa ends of kidnapped (Really? A useless heroine please tell me that isn't the case), by Dark Sisters of the Pandemonium club. Reading on I find Tessa discovers she has her own magical abilities whereupon she can transform into another person, and the Magister wants Tessa's power, please please please tell me she's not a Mary-Sue. Apparently Tessa 'takes refuge' with the Shadowhunters of London and offer to help find her brother if she uses her power. It looks like she has some romantic interest between two best friends, some moody bad-boy, and some fragile dude, really? Apparently Tessa must choose between saving her brother and saving the world.
Alright, the dust jacket didn't exactly wow me, it made me feel that this is going to be some trite book with a Mary-Sue main character who is amazing and everyone loves her and she's the only one who can save the world. My friends don't shove crap like that on me, so I'm fascinated to read her work and hope the dust jacket reader gets a smack in the head for making the book sound ridiculous. Well, I hope it's just my negativity shouting at a terrible summary.

The first 100 pages: The book starts with a prologue, two characters Will and James (Jem) are introduced. I find myself incredibly interested in them. Will seems to have a charm about him, in a rebel sort of way, Jem appears to be his conscious. Half-way through the prologue we switched to Tessa the main character, disembarking a boat and being picked up by the Dark Sisters with a note from her brother saying they will take her to him. Alright, I'm intrigued: the first 100 pages covers the first 4 1/2 chapters in my copy of the book. I find myself liking Tessa unlike I thought I would from the dust jacket blurb. The story so far, while nothing groundbreaking, is well paced and interesting, it kept me turning pages and wanting to know what was going to happen next. Following Tessa the reader is drawn through her imprisonment, discovery of her powers, and her selflessness. We are told a bit about the world the book takes place in, but aren't thrown too much information we can't keep track, same with the characters we are introduced to. I was glad to see Will brought to the reader's attention again, he is a reckless and entertaining character, frankly I am more interested in him than I am Tessa, the main character. He has a story that Clare teases at, but so far we aren't learning much, damn authors keeping secrets! The reader is introduced to the Shadowhunters (of which Will is a member) and the mysteries of the book such as: what exactly is Tessa, who is the Magister, what is going on with all this crazy clockwork stuff? Overall the book grabbed me entertained me and held my attention. I am anticipating the rest of the book to be as good, if not better. I hope many of my arisen questions are answered by the end of the novel, I for one am incredibly impatient waiting for continuations of a series to be finished!

Overall Review: Read it. This book is a decent YA novel and will be enjoyable by readers of all ages, especially fans of steam-punk, fantasy, and occult. Vampires, werewolves, warlocks, magic, demons, angels, they all exist in this book and they fit in the world Clare wrote. If you are looking for a book with action, mystery, and a teeny bit of romance, check it out.
The characters that are focused on are decent and we learn enough of most of their back stories to care about them, or are teased enough about them that we want to know more. I found myself taken with Will, not because I liked him, but because I wanted to know his story. Tessa didn't interest me much because I was so focused everything happening around her and not on her. She is not a bad character, she grows from someone who is just trying to save her brother, and has to be saved, to a young woman who masters her own powers and actually saves herself. I spent more time trying to guess ahead of the story I missed Tessa take onto her own for a short time. She manages to get the attention of both Will and Jem, although neither one of them seems altogether right for her, much of her large plot points had me leaving a mild taste of a Mary-Sue in my mouth. The overall story of the Magister and his secret plays out well. He intends to build an army of clockwork men and take out the Shadowhunters, and the twists regarding his story were thankfully not seen a mile away. I was slightly disappointed with so many questions left unanswered, I was hoping for less loose ends to combine with my tidbit cliffhanger. I am looking forward to the Clockwork Prince which is coming out this winter and hopefully keeps me as entertained as Clockwork Angel did.
On a scale of 1-10 I'd give Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare a 7/10 for a fun mystery adventure, which will keep you turning pages until the book is done.

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An Introduction

2011-09-03T23:28:00.000-07:00

Ah, my first post! First off, welcome readers!
Now a short introduction into who I am, and what my blog is about.

My name is Emily. I am a writer in my mid-twenties and I generally spend the majority of my free time reading and playing World of Warcraft. I also play other video games, watch some tv (mostly what my wonderful friends tell me to watch), enjoy movies and comic books, oh, and I suppose I dabble here and there with writing. I started out as a teenager as mostly a genre snob, reading probably 90% fantasy novels, (I've expanded I promise!) however I can't ever seem to get out of writing fantasy.

Here at The Violet Corner you can expect to see various things that I find interesting and feel the need to write about. One of the main things I plan on doing here is book reviews. I want to share my love with reading with the world, and in turn shed light on as many wonderful writers that I can find. I shall not focus on new books, or fantasy books, or young adult novels, but a focus on anything and everything I read, including books that were published years ago. I will occasionally reflect upon life, and whether I love or hate it at the moment. Toss in some video game reviews, and possibly even some television or movie reviews. Occasionally I'll let you into a sneak peak into my own writing, and maybe even a guest writer or two!

I can't wait to let you all into my life, and my head, and I apologize ahead of time for my generally snarky attitude. You'll learn to love me I promise! (Or you'll block my site, but that would make me sad)

-Emily