Blog Tour: Reviews: Everneath | Hallowed

Everneath by Brodi Ashton Add it to Goodreads? Purchase: BookDepository Release Date: 1/24/12 Age Group: Young Adult Rating: Sud-Kissed Hover over Books in the navigation bar above to find a link to My Rating System In-Depth. + Hover for Summary »Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she's returned- to her old life, her family, her friends- before being banished back to the underworld... this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists. Nikki longs to spend these months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there's a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen. As Nikki's time grows short and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she's forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's...

Hallowed (#2) by Cynthia Hand Add it to Goodreads? Purchase: BookDepository Release Date: 1/17/12 Age Group: Young Adult Rating: Perfect Bed Partner Hover over Books in the navigation bar above to find a link to My Rating System In-Depth. + Hover for Summary »For months part-angel Clara Gardner trained to face the raging forest fire from her visions and rescue the alluring and mysterious Christian Prescott from the blaze. But nothing could prepare her for the fateful decisions she would be forced to make that day, or the startling revelation that her purpose—the task she was put on earth to accomplish—is not as straightforward as she thought. Now, torn between her increasingly complicated feelings for Christian and her love for her boyfriend, Tucker, Clara struggles to make sense of what she was supposed to do the day of the fire. And, as she is drawn further into the world of part angels and the growing conflict between White Wings and Black Wings, Clara learns of the terrifying new reality that she must face: Someone close to her will die in a matter of months. With her future uncertain, the only thing Clara knows for sure is that the fire was just the beginning. Described by Richelle Mead as “utterly captivating,” Unearthly received outstanding reviews, garnered accolades from New York Times bestselling authors, and was named an Indie Next Pick. In this heart-wrenching sequel, Cynthia Hand expertly captures the all-consuming joy of first love—and the agony of loss. This beautifully woven tale will appeal to fans of Lauren Kate, Becca Fitzpatrick, and Aprilynne Pike.

I honestly cannot think of two more complementary stories to throw together for a blog tour. I commented on a blog a couple of days ago that I had read both Hallowed and Everneath within a few days of each other and I feel like buckets of SAD has been dumped all over me. What's ironic is that they are two COMPLETELY different stories, with characters who are nothing alike, yet they left me feeling the exact same way--eager for what's next and a little bit hollow inside.

Both books are bursting with a melancholy tone right from the first couple of chapters. In Everneath, Nikki Beckett has just escaped the clutches of Ashton's variation of the Underworld, called (surprise!) the Everneath, and has one goal in mind: to say goodbye to her family, friends, and the boy who got her through the horrible ordeal she wishes to forget, in a somehow better way than her previous abrupt departure. We revisit Clara Gardner in Hallowed and Hand instantly sets the tone for the rest of the book with a touching goodbye between Tucker and pieces of himself he's forced to leave behind. And what's worse? Someone so vital to Clara's life, a character (and the not knowing whom is pure torture), who we've no doubt become immeasurably attached, will die in the pages that follow. Talk about torn heartstrings.

Pros for Everneath:

• The Seamless Blend of the Borrowed and the Unique

While Ashton may have taken from the Greek myths we were all taught at some point, she completely spins her own tale that stands strong and fresh among all the other retellings. Ashton incorporates what I was cheated out of in books like The Goddess Test, where I failed to see the connection, the innovation. It was such a paranormal (Yup, I went there.) take on the Hades/Persephone myth, what we perceive as the Underworld/Hell. Somehow Ashton cloaks Everneath in a deeper darkness than we've known in other retellings, adding a striking quality to this story.

• The Lack of Hope Until There's a Touch

Maybe this is just one of those "me" things, but the utter despair that washes the story really made Everneath memorable. It's that pain and hollowness that really strikes us down and causes our hearts to burn with sympathy for everyone involved. I mean, here we have a girl who went missing for months. Imagine how her family and the people closest to her reacted. And then, for a while, it almost felt as if her return only caused more suffering, when all Nikki herself wanted to do was remedy the mess she'd inadvertently made. Ripping our hearts is the knowledge that Nikki has gone through an inconceivable horror and no one knows, so bearing the rumors and accusations and the hurt is almost too much. Even though the story's wrap-up is bitter and wrenching, there's a faint hope that glistens in the promise of the next book.

Pros for Hallowed:

• A Book with Characters I Wish Were Flesh-n-Blood

For someone who's been thrust into the abnormal and near-incomprehensible in a surprisingly swift matter of months, Clara Gardner is a fighter; she doesn't go unappealingly batshit crazy when things stop making sense. She's real and she makes mistakes which piss us off at times, but we can't help but feel as if she's an embedded part of ourselves, which we can relate to with ease. Tucker is the guy we all want to notice us, the tough guy with a dazzling heart of gold and a romantic streak that only surfaces with the right girl. Wendy is the best friend we need and Angela is the sibling we love to hate. Toss in Clara's family, and we've got a winning cast in this series.

• What Did She Say About Angels?

I'm deep in the camp that believes if you've read one angel book you've read them all. But Hand waves away that notion and proves us all wrong, removing what we thought we knew about angels and implanting a whole different set of rules. Ones that send us flares of red-herrings, boggle our minds, and generally set out to confuse, fascinate, and intrigue.

• The Sads and Other Stuff

This installment's going-ons are tragic and bewildering and heartbreaking. There's SO MUCH EMOTION. It's as if Hand holds a gun and she plants bullet after bullet into our bodies and still somehow crazily expects us to stand up again. Despite the fact that our hearts are peppered with quarter-sized holes. Taking out our complementary Harry Potter cauldrons, throw in Clara and Tucker's Trouble in Paradise montage, the dying of a character that makes our hearts bleed, Clara's inner turmoil, fallen angels running amok for revenge and secret crushes, AND SO. MUCH. MORE. and we've successfully cooked up a batch of Hallowed. I even cried.

Not to mention the band of boys in both books who frustrated me, made me want to cry, smile, and every emotion in between. My feelings go something like,

And same thing applies to Jack Caputo (as Tuck) and Cole (as Christian).

Overall I enjoyed both Everneath and Hallowed, and although one clearly WOWed me more than the other, both met my expectations completely so that I wasn't disappointed in the least.

Tucker looks over my shoulder and seems to notice Christian for the first time.
"How you doing, Chris? Have a nice summer?" he asks.
"Yeah, fantastic," answers Christian, and his mind suddenly retreats from mine into a wave of forced indifference. "How about you?"
They stare at each other, one of those high-testosterone stares. "Amazing," Tucker says. There's a challenge in his voice. "Best summer of my life."
I wonder if it's too late to get out of this class.
"Well, that's the thing about summers, isn't it?" says Christian after a minute. "They have to end sometime." (3%) ~ Hallowed

ARC Review: Fracture

Fracture

by Megan Miranda

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Purchase: BookDepository
Release Date: January 17, 2012
Publisher: Walker/Bloomsbury
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal/Contemporary Romance
Source: NetGalley
Special: 2012 Debut Author Challenge
Rating: Sud Kissed

Hover over Books in the navigation bar above to find a link to My Rating System In-Depth.

About the Book:

Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine

—despite the scans that showed significant brain damage. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she's far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can't control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it?

Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she's reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy's motives aren't quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature-or something much more frightening?

For fans of best-sellers like Before I Fall and If I Stay, this is a fascinating and heart-rending story about love and friendship and the fine line between life and death.

The first time I died, I didn't see God. No light at the end of the tunnel. No haloed angels...

I'm not exactly certain why my brain repelled the idea of reading this book. It was like all the stress from this past week was being pinned onto this book and I instantly took several steps back. But when I finally hunkered down and started reading, I wanted to slap myself into a stupor for being so irrationally reluctant. A blend of two of my favorite genres, Fracture hit high scores for both its paranormal and contemporary facets. Anna at Anna Reads described it perfectly by connecting it to both The Body Finder and If I Stay, because that's one of the best ways to epitomize the sadness, guilt, and Delaney's miraculous recovery permeating the story.

The mystery of Delaney's unexplainable retraction from death kindles questions in our heads that we can't ignore while reading about her return to her once normal life. Our hearts go out to this young girl who was once carefree and happy, her only concern resting on where to hide during a game of manhunt while donning a bright red parka in the snowy white of her world, and who now has the role of the miraculous guilt-ridden survivor of a horror that has killed so many before her. What makes me so special? is her on-going dilemma that begins to fester and block out what's really important--like how her best friend has feelings that don't belong in someone who's just a friend. This survivor's guilt plagues her, and the sadness disarms us, clogs our throat as a result. Even when her guilt and sadness vaporizes her sense at times, we're subtly persuaded to sympathize with her, and all those around her who suffer alongside her.

Fracture is told entirely from Delaney's perspective, but the easygoing, simplistic connection running from us to Decker provides us with such insight into his feelings. Unlike half-done, far less appealingly written friendships, it's abundantly clear how well these two characters know each other, how deeply embedded they are into each others' lives. Their romantic spark just adds another delightful layer to their relationship, although at times we want to pull our hair out from the understandable, yet totally frustrating one-step-forward-two-steps-back transition. Their moments run from wrenching to heartwarming, and it's so hard to determine which their next scene together will fall under. At the same time, this aspect is so well-written and agonizing and genuine, that we're pleased when hope flourishes for what they may have together.

I expected to hate this one and was stupidly amazed when I realized I didn't once I hit the end. If the opportunity to read something else of Megan Miranda arises again, I won't waste time with foolish doubts.

"Are you insane?" Decker looked me over.
"What?" I asked, hands on hips.
"You're not serious."
We were on our way to play manhunt. Most kids played in the dark, wearing black. We played in the snow, wearing white. Unfortunately, Mom had gotten rid of last year's jacket and replaced it with a bright red parka.
"Well I'd rather not freeze to death," I said.
"I don't know why I bother teaming up with you. You're slow. You're loud. And you're target practice."
"You team up with me because you love me," I said.
Decker shook his head and squinted. "It's blinding." (1%)

Review: Tempest

Tempest

by Julie Cross

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Purchase: Amazon | BookDepository
Release Date: January 17, 2012
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Sci-Fi/Paranormal
Source: Requested from Publicist
Special: 2012 Debut Author Challenge
Rating: Perfect Bed Partner

Hover over Books in the navigation bar above to find a link to My Rating System In-Depth.

About the Book:

The year is 2009. Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there’s no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless fun.

That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future.

Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities.

But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveler. Recruit… or kill him.

Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he’s willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world.

Saturday, April 11, 2009: Okay, so it's true. I can time-travel. But it's not as exciting as it sounds.

ON THE STORY: I'm a major time-travel fan. In books, that is. So when a trace of Tempest flitted passed my eyes, I instantly knew that this book was something worth checking out. It's so exciting when a debut author whips around and dazzles you with their first book, and Cross's simplistic, insightful narrative in Jackson Meyer's point of view (big plus right there) and her fresh outlook on time-travel completely drew me in to the story and left me fascinated.

Constant questions flash in our minds as Jackson is suddenly thrust into the impossible time and again, and feelings of sympathy and pangs of grief worm into our hearts for this once seemingly normal boy, who's sanity and willpower are harshly tested. Each new addition to the puzzle is like being slammed by brutal fists from all corners with no real way of deflecting them. Watching as Jackson is forced to grow up and endure a lonely quest for answers makes us feel as though we have to stick close to him, a warm body to lend heat in the cold. From gazing at a near-lifeless Holly to being pressed into the past with no escape to home to unearthing confusing bits of the past of a father he thought he knew, Jackson's perseverance endears him to us further.

Although the other characters don't embed themselves deeply into our lasting memory, they still create a likable impression. Jackson's geeky, computer nerd side-kick, Adam, and his beloved girlfriend, Holly, who is pretty tolerant of Jackson's secretive ways, are a charming and fun and witty duo to read about and enjoy. And the twin sister Jackson lost years ago slashes at our hearts with her weak and fading reflection in the weeping portions of Jackson's memory.

As if Cross doesn't wrangle with our emotions enough, she builds-up for her final, wrenching blow, slicing our hope into almost irretrievable shreds. And despite the wit and hilarity and shocking truths, the pain and sadness woven into the story is its most memorable element. Tempest's finishing development is STILL dominating my thoughts.

ON THE AUDIOBOOK: In a previous IMM, I mentioned that I was an audiobook virgin, having never had the inclination to try one out. My expectations were of an unyielding, sterile voice just playing the story for me. I was happily surprised when Matthew Brown portrayed every inflection and created voices for every character which worked. I found that even while I was reading the book, Brown's voice came to me as Jackson. My only qualm, which may be for audiobooks in general, is that they appear to take forever, and, I, a very fast reader, am far too impatient to listen to audiobooks all the way through for every book I read. So, while it was a nice experience which I enjoyed, audiobooks aren't my preference.