Review: Cruel Beauty

CRUEL BEAUTY
Rosamund Hodge
Paranormal Young Adult
352 pages
Balzer + Bray
Available January 28th
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.

With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle-a shifting maze of magical rooms-enthralls her.

As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.

MY THOUGHTS
Every page of Cruel Beauty lives up to its title, painting gorgeous images in our minds that encourage us to stare blatantly so captivated are we by what we see, but much as the rose that graces its cover, that beauty is not without thorns, and the deeper we journey into this story the more cuts and scratches we bear. The characters in this tale could never be described as likable; likable is far too bland a term for the Gentle Lord, his shadow, and his sacrificial wife. They are quite simply magnetic, drawing us to them with no promise we'll like what we see when we get close, but therein lies part of the appeal: The possibility that what's waiting for us at close range could either win us over completely or drive us away forever. They take the uglier parts of human nature and reflect them back at us unflinchingly, but just when we think they'll stride boldly across the line that will make them irredeemable, they take an enormous step back, casting a smug look over their shoulders in triumph at having led us to believe we'd finally reached the point at which our emotional response to them would become fixed rather than fluctuating.

It's apparent from the very beginning that Nyx is no Belle–no paragon of sweetness and light who charms everyone who crosses her path–instead we get a very angry young woman, caught up in a painful cycle of resentment and remorse as she struggles to make peace with the die her father cast for her. She is not so hateful as to be someone who pushes us away from the first page though, rather she sweeps us up in her beautiful storm of emotions and we don't find our footing again until well after we've closed the back cover. She both gets hurt and inflicts pain, provides comfort and rips it away, and finds love in one breath before betraying it the next, ensuring we dance a bruising jig in trying to keep up with her and the infinitely intriguing house of shadows and secrets she now calls home.

The Gentle Lord and his simultaneously obedient and defiant shadow–separate but inexorably linked entities–are as darkly complex as Nyx herself, daring us one chapter after the next to solve their seemingly unending riddles. They are striking illustrations with captions in an indecipherable language, forcing us at any one point to work with only half the information we need to figure them out completely, eyes open and searching for any clues every action or inaction might provide. Both play Nyx's heart to drastically different tunes, and while the presence of a romantic relationship divided into thirds is often something akin to nails on a chalkboard, in this case it is a dark symphony of discordant notes inexplicably blended together to make haunting and utterly memorable music.

Overall, Cruel Beauty is an unusual and twisted tale, pieces of the classic Beauty and the Beast fairytale combining with threads of Greek mythology to give us a story where love both saves and destroys in equal measure, leaving us wondering up to the very last page how things will end for our wickedly intriguing characters.

Rating: 4/5
 

Find Rosamund:

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon 

This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant: Excerpt + Giveaway

Today I'm excited to be part of the promotional tour for Joanna Wiebe's debut young adult novel, The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant. I have an excerpt to share with you all today, but it's not just any excerpt. Joanna is a big fan of what is called the Page 99 Test, so today we thought we'd see how her book fares when put to the challenge. Here's a quick explanation of what exactly the Page 99 Test is for those who are unfamiliar with it (you can read more about it on the website):

The Page 99 Test is simple: After reading page 99, would you WANT to turn the page?

There's a fantastic tour-wide giveaway as well, so be sure and check out the bottom of the post for all the details as well as a full list of participating blogs, but first I give you page 99 of The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant:


...friends? I’m just supposed to be this pathetic excuse for a teenager. In our stupid house. With our stupid fancy clothes.”

“I love your clothes! You’re lucky.”

“Lucky?” She shakes her head. “Try bought and paid for.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know, paid to lease the island to Villie and look the other way.” She waves her hand in the direction of the magnificent homes on the hillside. “As if getting the finer things in life washes away the need for an actual life.”

“What do you mean, look the other way?”

Pausing, Molly searches my face. Then she slides down, resting her head against me, fakes a yawn, and closes her eyes. “I’m just exaggerating. Blame the Devil’s Apple again. Forget I said anything.”

As if I could forget! I sit up straight, and her head bounces off my shoulder. She’s frowning when she looks up at me.

“Look the other way? Look away from what exactly, Molly?”

But Mr. Watso’s voice sails through the air before she can answer.

“My grandfather first welcomed the people of Cania to this island and signed the pact that would allow them access to this majestic land,” he bellows. “Even as our village shrinks around us, as the young wisely abandon this place, we who remain must never forget the necessity of this pact that spared the lives of so many casualties of war and, when the whales were denied us, saved our people from starvation. That pact remains intact with our enduring silence.”

Whoops and chants rise up around him, stretching across the ring of fire and through the smoke, into the murky darkness that hides me and Molly from sight.

“What’s he talking about?” I ask, talking through my thoughts. Torches begin to sizzle in the water as the festival winds down. “Pilot said that the school’s got a code of secrecy, but I assumed...

• • • • • • • • • • 

THE UNSEEMLY EDUCATION OF ANNE MERCHANT

After her mother’s death, 16-year-old art prodigy Anne Merchant moves from sunny California to the cold woodlands of Wormwood Island, Maine for what is supposed to be a fresh start. She is the newest student of Cania Christy, an elite boarding school that is as filled with secrets as it is with the world’s most privileged—and competitive—teens.

From the first day of school, Anne finds herself thrust into the Big V competition, an intense race to the top of the class. With enviable talents, she quickly becomes the enemy of every junior seeking the Big V—especially Harper, the presumed frontrunner.

Like every student, she is assigned a guardian, and a unique mission. Anne’s assignment is to “look deeper.” Anne is determined to succeed, and won’t let anything —not even her distractingly beautiful neighbor Ben—get in the way. But the deeper she looks the more questions arise, and the more she is forced to reexamine all of her assumptions—about the school, her classmates and even herself.

As layers of secrecy deepen, Anne leans on the friendship of Molly, a lifelong islander, and Pilot, the only junior not competing for the Big V, to make sense of this cloak-and-dagger world. But when people start disappearing, Anne uncovers a stunning truth that she must face head on—before she and everyone she loves is destroyed by it.

Goodreads • Amazon • B&N • BenBella • BooksAMillion
Chapters/Indigo • IndieBound

• • • • • • • • • • 

JOANNA WIEBE

By day, Joanna is a copywriter and the co-founder of CopyHackers.com and Page99Test.com, a critique site for published and unpublished writers. As an undergraduate student, Joanna won several academic awards for excellence in creative writing: Canada's James Patrick Folinsbee Prize, which she won twice, as well as the Godfrey Prize.

After graduating, she lived for a year on the remote northern island of Hokkaido, Japan, which is the inspiration for the verdant Wormwood Island of the V Trilogy. She holds a BA in Honors English and an MA in Communications from the University of Alberta and lives with her partner Lance in Victoria, British Columbia.

The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant is her first novel and the first installment in the V Trilogy.

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads

• • • • • • • • • •

GIVEAWAY

There's a very exciting giveaway as part of the promotional tour, with 15 finished copies of The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant up for grabs. Please enter via the Rafflecopter form below. Giveaway is open to US/Canada.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Monday, January 6th -Refracted Light Reviews
Tuesday, January 7th –  Dee’s Reads
Wednesday, January 8th – The YA Bookworm Blogger
Thursday, January 9th – Book Swoon
Friday, January 10th – Parajunkee

Monday, January 13th – Curling Up with a Good Book
Tuesday, January 14th - Bewitched Bookworms
Wednesday, January 15th – Such A Novel Idea
Thursday, January 16th – The Story Siren
Friday, January 17th – Book Whales

Monday, January 20th - Jump Into Books
Tuesday, January 21st – Supernatural Snark 
Wednesday, January 22nd – Donnie Darko Girl 
Thursday, January 23rd – Reading and Writing Urban Fantasy
Friday, January 24th – Literary Me 

Review: Snakeroot

SNAKEROOT
Nightshade Legacy #1
Andrea Cremer
Paranormal Young Adult
336 pages
Philomel
Available Now
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Fans asked for it, and now they've got it!

Andrea Cremer is continuing the story she began in in her internationally bestselling trilogy: Nightshade, Wolfsbane and Bloodrose.

Bosque Mar haunts the dreams of both Adne and Logan, trying to escape for the Nether, where Calla, Shay and the other Guardians trapped him in the final battle in the War of All Against All...

Will he turn Adne to the dark side? Will Logan reclaim his birthright? And will darkness take over our world?

MY THOUGHTS
Snakeroot is a story clearly written for lovers of the Nightshade series, providing a look at this world from a slightly different angle as secondary characters rise to the forefront and become the focus. This story does take a little while to really settle into–particularly for those of us who may not have read the entirety of the Nightshade series–our minds trying desperately to piece together the events of the previous books in order to understand the state of things in this first installment, but Ms. Cremer does a nice job of weaving helpful reminders into the fabric of this new story to help any who may be struggling to find purchase.

While the story itself is entertaining enough and many a reader will delight in seeing characters they thought they’d said goodbye to grace the pages with their presence, an emotional connection to neither characters nor events entirely forms. We follow several different characters in Snakeroot, but our time with them is spent directed outward–the roles they’re meant to play in facilitating Bosque Mar’s possible return outlined and the various pieces of the plot shuffled and moved into place–rather than inward (with perhaps the exception of Ren) where we would really be able to feel the pain of their losses in the previous books. This was perhaps a conscious decision given the dramatic events at the conclusion of Bloodrose, but those of us who didn’t experience that book and are picking this world back up anew are left a bit emotionally adrift with no one character really stepping forward to take our heart in their hands.

Despite this being very much an ensemble book with a handful of characters all playing major roles, Adne is arguably the most intrinsic part of this new installment, and she provides a challenge for most of the book. She’s clearly struggling in the aftermath of her brother and father’s deaths, and the addition of horrifying dreams in which Bosque Mar makes his presence known only deepen her misery. Instead of being honest with Connor who is clearly nothing but supportive however, she decides to keep everything to herself and deal with it on her own, a decision that is incredibly frustrating for all the unnecessary drama it causes. She’s given ample opportunity to confide in any of the people who love her, but every single time she pushes them away and, in doing so, only further opens herself up to Bosque Mar’s insidious influence.

Overall Snakeroot, while certain to be enjoyable for those who weren’t ready to leave this world behind in Bloodrose, feels like a preparatory story for what’s to come, a slow-build up culminating in an ending that’s more beginning than anything else. We’re left with what’s sure to be a long and arduous journey on the horizon, but the promise of a return to the very start of things in the highlands of Scotland does ratchet up the desire to see how events in the next installment will unfold.

Rating: 3.5/5
 

Find Andrea:

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

A New Beginning

I wanted to write a bit of a personal post today, sharing with all of you some news about which I'm extraordinarily excited. It's a new year, and while each new year is always something I look forward to for all the potential it holds, 2014 marks the launch of something that has been a long time coming for me. A new business. A new adventure. A new beginning.

My graphic design studio is not new, I started running it from home back in 2005 after spending time in the creative departments of both a magazine publisher and ad agency, but the past nine years have focused primarily on printed paper goods, with special emphasis on wedding invitations and related stationery. While I've loved being a part of the wedding industry, since I started the blog a few years ago I've longed for a change; one that would bring my love of graphic design and books together to create a dream job. For a time it seemed like a somewhat impossible aspiration unless I wanted to relocate to NYC and try for a design position at one of the big publishers, but with the rise of smaller publishing houses and self-publishing the past couple years, my dream is now suddenly within grasp.

It's with great pleasure–and no shortage of nerves–that I announce the shift in Seedlings Design Studio from weddings to book cover and promotional design. The new website is up and running with a full online portfolio as well as a list of services, and I hope if you guys have a few minutes you'll check it out!

Many of you who are frequent visitors to the blog have seen some of my cover work this past year as I've entered several design contests just for fun, and I hope to continue sharing my designs every now and then as I build this business. I've been so fortunate as to start 2014 off with some amazing clients already on board (I'm still reeling from the win for Damsel Distressed, hopefully I'll be able to share the official cover soon!), and I can't wait to see what the rest of the year might bring.

I want to say a huge thank you to the bloggers and readers who are everyday visitors of this blog, and to the authors whose books I've fallen madly in love with over the years, it's all of you who have kept me running Supernatural Snark and who have allowed me to reach out and grab this new opportunity. THANK YOU!

Before I dissolve into tears and get even mushier than I already have, I'm going to leave you with a little teaser look at the new website. I hope you all like it!

SEEDLINGS DESIGN STUDIO

Interview: Hannah Jayne + See Jane Run

Today I'm pleased to have author Hannah Jayne stopping by the blog to answer a few questions about her latest young adult thriller, See Jane Run, which is out now from Sourcebooks Fire. Welcome to Supernatural Snark, Hannah!

Riley stumbles across evidence that not everything in her life is exactly as it appears to be. If you found yourself in Riley’s shoes, would you feel compelled to investigate or would you be more of the “ignorance is bliss” type in this particular situation?

I can’t leave well enough alone. I’m a picker, a poker, a looker, a “just one more”-er. I’d have to investigate.

If a playlist was created with your teenage years as inspiration, what would the first song on that list be?

Oh, good Lord. Probably Total Eclipse of the Heart. I was an emotional teen and my whole life was a powder keg giving off sparks!

See Jane Run is full of secrets small and large between Riley and her parents. What’s one small secret you didn’t feel your parents needed to know when you were a teenager?

Just one?! I kept a lot of secrets that I probably shouldn’t have. But they specifically didn’t need to know that I got arrested for breaking and entering (a total misunderstanding, I promise!) when I was sixteen and attending a party at my best friend’s house. His mom was out of town and the neighbor thought that 60 kids were breaking in.

If Riley could request the assistance of any fictional detective in figuring out what her parents are keeping from her, whom would she most like to partner with?

Sherlock Holmes! But the one who’s on TV right now because he’s super hot. Okay, maybe that’s who I’d want to pair up with…

Let’s say after her investigative experience in See Jane Run, Riley decides to start her own detective agency. What would the name and tagline of her new business be?

See Jane Run Detective Agency: We run so you don’t have to!

• • • • • • • • • • • 

SEE JANE RUN

I know who you are.

When Riley first gets the postcard tucked into her bag, she thinks it's a joke. Then she finds a birth certificate for a girl named Jane Elizabeth O'Leary hidden inside her baby book.

Riley's parents have always been pretty overprotective. What if it wasn't for her safety...but fear of her finding out their secret? What have they been hiding? The more Riley digs for answers, the more questions she has.

The only way to know the truth? Find out what happened to Jane O'Leary.

Goodreads • Amazon • B&N

• • • • • • • • • • • 

HANNAH JAYNE

Hannah is the author of the UNDERWORLD DETECTION AGENCY CHRONICLES from Kensington books and the upcoming young adult thrillers TRULY, MADLY, DEADLY and SEE JANE RUN available from Sourcebooks, Inc. When she's not battling the demons of the Underworld or tackling a murderer at Hawthorne High, Jayne kicks her feet up in her San Francisco bay area home and attempts to share couch space with two enormous cats.

Website • Facebook • Twitter

Cover Reveal + Giveaway: Thorn

Cover reveals are always fun for me because I'm mildly obsessed with photography, typography and graphic design, and I just love getting that first taste of a book through the artwork on the cover. Today's reveal is particularly exciting for me though because I had the great pleasure of working with author Intisar Khanani to create the design. I was lucky enough to collaborate with her on Sunbolt, the first book in her Sunbolt Chronicles series, so when she asked me to design the cover for Thorn I jumped at the chance.

Below the cover you'll also find a short excerpt and all the details on a fabulous giveaway. I hope you guys like the cover as much as I do, I was beyond thrilled with the final product!

THORN
(Young Adult Fantasy)

For Princess Alyrra, choice is a luxury she’s never had … until she’s betrayed.

Princess Alyrra has never enjoyed the security or power of her rank. Between her family’s cruelty and the court’s contempt, she has spent her life in the shadows. Forced to marry a powerful foreign prince, Alyrra embarks on a journey to meet her betrothed with little hope for a better future.

But powerful men have powerful enemies—and now, so does Alyrra. Betrayed during a magical attack, her identity is switched with another woman’s, giving Alyrra the first choice she’s ever had: to start a new life for herself or fight for a prince she’s never met. But Alyrra soon finds that Prince Kestrin is not at all what she expected. While walking away will cost Kestrin his life, returning to the court may cost Alyrra her own. As Alyrra is coming to realize, sometimes the hardest choice means learning to trust herself.

Goodreads • Amazon • Apple • B&N • Diesel • Sony

• • • • • • • • • • 

EXCERPT

“Princess Alyrra,” the king says. My eyes flick up to his, my legs frozen in their curtsy. He studies me as if I were a prize goat, his gaze sliding over me before returning to my face, as cold and calculating as a butcher. “We have heard tell of you before.”

“My lord?” My voice sounds unnaturally high even to me.

“It is said you are honest. An unusual trait, it would seem.”

I open my mouth, close it, force some semblance of a smile to my lips. My brother has gone rigid, his hands pressed flat against his thighs.

“You are most kind,” my mother says, stepping forward. The king watches me a moment longer, leaving my mother waiting. I cannot say what he thinks, why he would mention something sure to raise old grievances, why he would care. Or is he only toying with us? Laughing at us?

He turns to my mother, offering her a courtly smile, and at her words he accompanies her up the three stairs and through the great wooden doors of our Hall. My brother and I trail behind him, a mix of our nobles and the king’s entourage on our heels.

“Honest Alyrra,” my brother mocks, his voice loud enough for those nearest us to hear. “What a very clever, sophisticated princess you must be.”

I bite my lip. It is going to be a long week, watching my back and hiding down corridors. And with so many guests, the wine and ale will flow freely, which will make things even worse. Just leave, I think at the king’s back. Just go home and leave us alone.

• • • • • • • • • • 

INTISAR KHANANI

Intisar Khanani grew up a nomad and world traveler. Born in Wisconsin, she has lived in five different states as well as in Jeddah on the coast of the Red Sea. She first remembers seeing snow on a wintry street in Zurich, Switzerland, and vaguely recollects having breakfast with the orangutans at the Singapore Zoo when she was five.

Intisar currently resides in Cincinnati, Ohio, with her husband and two young daughters. Until recently, she wrote grants and developed projects to address community health and infant mortality with the Cincinnati Health Department—which was as close as she could get to saving the world. Now she focuses her time on her two passions: raising her family and writing fantasy.

Intisar’s latest projects include a serial novella project titled The Sunbolt Chronicles, about a young thief with a propensity to play hero, and her arch-nemesis, a dark mage intent on taking over the Eleven Kingdoms. She’s also developing a companion trilogy to her debut novel Thorn, which will feature a new heroine introduced in her free short story The Bone Knife.

Website • Goodreads • Facebook • Twitter

• • • • • • • • • •

GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway