My Wolf's Bane by Veronica Blade -- YA review

My Wolf's Bane by Veronica Blade -- YA mini review

Different species. Mortal enemies. It'll never work, but they'll die trying.

Autumn Rossi thought she was a normal teenager. Suddenly, she can outrun every critter in the forest, making her wonder if she’s even human.

When the new guy at school, Zack de Luca, witnesses a questionable scene, he unfairly pins her as stuck-up. He acts like he hates her, yet he keeps bailing her out of trouble. Not only is Zack both insufferable and irresistible, he seems to sniff her anytime he gets close.

As passion flares between them, Autumn isn’t sure which is more dangerous: her psycho ex-boyfriend, or falling for Zack — who’s risking his life just by being near her.

(Blurb from Goodreads)

Details: Crush Publishing, Inc., Released January 28, 2013, ebook, 389 pages
Genre: YA
Source: Amazon Prime lending library
Links: Goodreads

Stars? 3/5

Review:

An often used ploy, new guy comes to town, girl discovers there is something different about her and drama, hijinks and chaos follow. I do think Blade has an interesting take on paranormals, the relationship between werewolfs and pack and other shifters. It's certainly not warm and fuzzy.

The relationship between Autumn and Zack wasn't easy, there was a lot of glaring, misconceptions, and outright dislike. So many YA books have instalove, that definitely wasn't the case for Autumn and Zack. Autumn was forgettable. I thought I'd have more empathy for her because of what she went through with her boyfriend and her best friend and with Zach always thinking the worst of her but it took until the very end of the book for me to care about her. Despite that, at the end, I'm rooting for her. I liked Zack from the beginning. Zack was likable, honorable, loyal, willing to defend Autumn even when he doesn't like her, even when he should stay very far away from her.

There were several discordant notes, most of all Autumn's relationship with her parents. They went from uber-overprotective parents to laizze-faire, 'we're going out of town and we'll be back at some point'. I'd assume that there's more to that story but we're not given any more clues in this book.

At the end I was wondering what would happen next, I think Blade has created a very interesting paranormal world inhabited with complex characters but I'm not biting my nails waiting for the next book.

Unleashed by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie -- YA mini review

Unleashed by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie -- YA mini review

Katelyn McBride’s life changed in an instant when her mother died. Uprooted from her California home, Katelyn was shipped to the middle of nowhere, Arkansas, to her only living relative, her grandfather. And now she has to start over in Wolf Springs, a tiny village in the Ozark Mountains. Like any small town, Wolf Springs has secrets. But the secrets hidden here are more sinister than Katelyn could ever imagine. It’s a town with a history that reaches back centuries, spans continents, and conceals terrifying truths. And Katelyn McBride is about to change everything.

Broken families, ageless grudges, forced alliances, and love that blooms in the darkest night—welcome to Wolf Springs.

(Blurb from Goodreads)

Details: Delacorte Books for Young Readers, Released November 22, 2011, ebook, 382pages
Genre: YA
Source: Library
Links: Goodreads

Stars? 2/5

Review:

It was forgettable.  I had to look up the blurb on Goodreads to find out the main character's name, she was that forgettable. She was also insipid, clueless, naive, easily swayed and seemed to forget everything that meant something to her.

I kept waiting for something interesting to happen. It didn't. At least not until the end of the book but it certainly wasn't the payoff I expected. Maybe the storyline will get more interesting in future books but this one wasn't intriguing enough for me to find out.

My Sister's Luck by Kate Oliver -- YA Review

My Sister's Luck by Kate Oliver -- YA Review

In this humorous retelling of a traditional folktale, Amy's older sister Kim was born with fabulous luck. Amy? Not so much. But when Amy accidentally meets Kim's luck--who turns out to be a really cute guy--she sets out on a mission to change her luck for good.

Details: Released March 15, 2012, ebook, 9 pages
Genre: YA
Source: Kindle
Links: Goodreads

Stars? 4/5

Review:

Amy has bad luck. As she says "My luck is so bad I should be walking around with one of those giant sandwich boards. It would say, "Danger: natural disaster in progress! Take Cover!" Seriously. If there's something to trip over, I fall flat on my face. If I'm running late, I hit all the red lights. If there's a cute guy within fifty feet of me, I have spinach in my teeth and toilet paper on my shoe. It never fails." (from Amazon.com) Her older sister Kim is the girl who gets away with everything, who has perfect grades and everything goes her way.

And then Amy meets Kim's luck. Lucks are actually people and Amy's luck just isn't as conscientious as Kim's luck.  With Kim's luck by her side Amy goes on a midnight adventure that leads her to a rave, where she encounters more bad luck, to Wal-Mart at 2 am (with the obligatory 'People of Wal-Mart' sighting), where she encounters, you can see it coming, right? more bad luck. But just maybe her luck will change.

This is a super short story, only 9 pages, but it's worth the few minutes it takes. I liked Oliver's writing style and I liked Amy. Amy is snappy and sarcastic and resigned to her sister's charmed   existence, if I were Amy I would have been plotting Kim's downfall, but Amy just keeps plodding along, dealing with what she's given.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas -- YA Review

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas -- YA Review

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin. Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best. Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

Details: Bloomsbury USA Children's, August 7, 2012, 404 pages
Genre: YA
Source: Library
Links: Goodreads

Stars? 4/5

In one sentence? A kick ass heroine.

Review: Celaena is a kick ass heroine. And likable. Despite being an assassin - and surprisingly that's even understandable in the context of the story - she's likable, even admirable. Her spirit was unbreakable despite what she's endured. Celaena is complicated, there are moments where we see her as a young woman who needs someone to look after her.

Throne of Glass raised more questions than it answered: who betrayed her, who was Sam, what's with the pianoforte, who is she's really, who is she going to love, where is her teacher/foster father, what's going to happen next. Like I said, lots of questions.

It wasn't a page turner. I wanted to know what happened next but I wasn't desperate to know. Neither did I obsess or think about the story after it was done like I do with the books I love. The story didn't move fast enough for me, it seemed like there was a lot of waiting around, waiting for something to happen.

I thought the romance was lukewarm. Though I liked both of her suitors, if you could call them that, neither made much of an impression. That being said, they both called to something in her but they were very different, either she could have a guy who challenged her training or one who can talk about books and appreciate her musical ability.

I had a few issues with the story but they were minor, I didn't understand how it was that no one recognized her if she had been tried in court. Also, from everything we understand that she's gone through and survived and a girl who has a mantra 'I will not be afraid' acted the way she did towards the King. Either there's more there to the story