Countdown to Heartless: Review

HEARTLESS
Marissa Meyer
Young Adult/Retelling
464 pages
Feiwel & Friends
Available November 8th
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Long before she was the terror of Wonderland — the infamous Queen of Hearts — she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love.

Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favorite of the yet-unmarried King of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, all she wants is to open a shop with her best friend and supply the Kingdom of Hearts with delectable pastries and confections. But according to her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for the young woman who could be the next Queen.

At a royal ball where Cath is expected to receive the king's marriage proposal, she meets Jest, the handsome and mysterious court joker. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the King and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into an intense, secret courtship.

Cath is determined to define her own destiny and fall in love on her terms. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.

MY THOUGHTS
Heartless returns us once again to the depths of Ms. Meyer's imagination, granting us access to a world of whimsy and darkness where we're able to view well-known characters through a looking glass all her own.

Catherine wants nothing more than to be covered in sugar and flour all day every day, creating recipes and baking to her heart's content alongside her lady's maid and closest friend, Mary Ann. Given she's the daughter of a marquess however, the path her life takes simply cannot be one of her own choosing, especially when the King of Hearts sets his sights on her. It's so very easy to sympathize with Catherine in the beginning–her dream one that's so simple yet so impossible at the same time– and once we're subjected to the giggly effervescence of the king, we can do nothing but wince along with her every time he opens his mouth and his tittering laugh escapes.

Cath's romance with Jest is full of tension both romantic and forbidden, and though we want to encourage her to follow her heart in this case, a knot of dread deep in our chests pulls tighter every time they're together, wondering when and how it's all going to come crashing down around them given who Cath is destined to become. Though Cath's descent into darkness is at times painful and we find ourselves futiley hoping for an ending we know can never come to pass, it's also a journey that holds us spellbound as Ms. Meyer leads us on a merry dance of wonder and madness. And when the moment comes that we reach the final page and are left with an infamous line ringing in our ears, we simply can't help the Cheshire-like grin that splits our cheeks.

Overall, Heartless is as enormously imaginative as all Ms. Meyer's previous books, and I cannot wait to see what retelling she takes on next.

Rating: 4.5/5

There are only 25 days left until Heartless! Pre-Order your copy:

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MARISSA MEYER

One of my first spoken words was “story” (right along with “bath” and “cookie”), my favorite toy as an infant was a soft, squishable book, and I’ve wanted to be a writer since I first realized such a job existed.

When I was fourteen my best friend introduced me to anime and fanfiction—over the years I would complete over forty Sailor Moon fanfics under the penname Alicia Blade. Those so inclined can still find my first stories at fanfiction.net. Writing fanfic turned out to be awesome fun and brought me in contact with an amazing group of fanfiction readers and writers. As Alicia Blade, I also had a novelette, “The Phantom of Linkshire Manor,” published in the gothic romance anthology Bound in Skin (CatsCurious Press, 2007).

When I was sixteen I worked at The Old Spaghetti Factory in Tacoma, Washington, affectionately termed “The Spag.” (Random factoid: This is also the restaurant where my parents met some 25 years before.) I attended Pacific Lutheran University where I sorted mail that came to the dorm, carted tables and chairs around campus, and took writing classes, eventually earning a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing and Children’s Literature. Knowing I wanted a career in books, I would also go on to receive a Master’s degree in Publishing from Pace University (which you can learn more about here). After graduation, I worked as an editor in Seattle for a while before becoming a freelance typesetter and proofreader.

Then, day of days, someone thought it would be a good idea to give me a book deal, so I became a full-time writer. CINDER is my first novel, though I have an adorable collection of unfinished ones lying around too.

I now live with my husband and our three cats (Calexandria Josephine, Stormus Enormous, and Blackland Rockwell III), who go in and out, in and out, about eight hundred times a day. My favorite non-bookish things include Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, re-watching episodes of Firefly, and playing all manners of dress-up.

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Review: Through the Zombie Glass

THROUGH THE ZOMBIE GLASS
The White Rabbit Chronicles #2
Gena Showalter
Paranormal Young Adult
480 pages
HarlequinTEEN
Available September 24th
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Inspired by the childhood classic Alice in Wonderland, this harrowing and romantic story features teen zombie slayer Alice Bell who has lost so much—family, friends, her home. 

After a strange new zombie attack, Alice fears she may be losing her mind as well. A terrible darkness blooms inside her, urging her to do wicked things. 

The whispers of the dead assault her ears and mirrors seem to come frighteningly to life. She’s never needed her team of zombie slayers more—including her boyfriend, Cole—than she does now. But as Cole strangely withdraws and the zombies gain new strength, Ali knows one false step may doom them all.

MY THOUGHTS
Through the Zombie Glass is a pulse-pounding sequel, the heat and action dialed up to an extraordinary degree so that the cadence of our rapidly beating hearts turns into a repetitive soundtrack that accompanies the dark and light, the highs and lows, and the love and pain on the page. Though there are some familiar second book elements–such as the dissolution of the main romantic pairing–they never stay confined to their neatly labeled boxes, instead spilling out in grand fashion to fit this story specifically, forcing us to evaluate what happens within in the context of this narrative and leave all comparisons to other books at the door. This second installment is a challenging read in many ways, a darkly foreboding prologue from Ali letting us know that the coming pages will leave marks, shaping and changing our emotional topography until we emerge from the concluding chapters different than we were when we went into the beginning ones.

The catalyst for our change in this book is Cole himself, a young man who has fully embraced his bad boy status and driven it to new heights, but in this story the pleasant sheen of fiction that grants us the freedom to crush on someone dangerous is startlingly removed, leaving behind the rough surface of reality we didn’t quite see in book one, too distracted were we by the heat and intensity of his presence. Where he was seemingly infallible he is now humanly flawed, where he was previously invincible he is now vulnerable, and where he was before a protector he is now the hand that delivers a staggering emotional blow, the force of which not only hits us where it hurts but also temporarily knocks him right off the pedestal of swoon-worthiness on which we had previously placed him.

While his fall from grace, so to speak, is a bitter pill to swallow, it’s also one of the highlights of the book for the effect it has on Ali, allowing her to step fully into the shoes she was testing out in book one and become the badass of this series we had mistakenly thought Cole to be. When Cole seems intent on pushing her away, blowing hot and cold, Ali remains even keel, refusing to stoop to his level and instead waiting patiently for him to find the strength and courage to meet her on the high road she’s currently walking. She has a few understandable rough patches in which she allows herself to feel the sting of his rejection, but she always pulls herself back from the edge, turning her focus to the other not-insignificant problems with which she’s currently dealing. She never wavers in her feelings for him, even when a new temptation presents himself, and she admirably continues to protect her heart even as Cole begins to realize his mistake, respecting herself enough to say no to him when it would be so very easy to just say yes.

The romance is certainly a prominent element, as it is in any of Ms. Showalter’s fabulous books, but there are also some significant developments with both the enemy and within the team of slayers, relationships changing and strengthening as Anima lays a few of their more terrifying cards on the table. The only thing keeping this book from a higher rating is the speed with which the issues of Ali’s darker half are resolved at the end, and though we’re certainly grateful it’s not an aspect that’s going to be drawn out unnecessarily, for all the problems it caused throughout the resolution seems a touch easy. That being said however, this second installment will likely delight and torture fans of the series at the same time, causing as much pain as it does pleasure as Ali and Cole battle for life and love.

*It should be noted that Ms. Showalter’s books are always on the sexy side. Sex is spoken of easily and casually, with lots of banter and innuendo amidst the teenage group of slayers, and while it’s in my opinion handled well and realistically, this series is recommended for older YA readers.

Rating: 4.5/5

Find Gena:

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If you didn't get a chance yesterday, be sure and check out my 5 reasons why Cole is worthy of swooning over (even if he made me want to smack him while simultaneously drooling over him in this book), plus enter to win a copy of either Alice in Zombieland or Through the Zombie Glass!

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

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