In My Mailbox #20

In My Mailbox was created by Kristi over at The Story Siren and is a great way to see what other bloggers are reading and reviewing. I always love seeing what everyone else got for their week!




FOR REVIEW:
Clarity by Kim Harrington
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
Red Riding Hood by Sarah Blakely-Cartwright, Catherine Hardwicke
Fairy Bad Day by Amanda Ashby
Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar (just finished this one and LOVED it)
The Samaritan by Fred Venturini

An enormous thank you this week to Scholastic, Little, Brown books for Young Readers, Penguin, Linds from Bibliophile Brouhaha and Kristy Eagar, and TLC Book Tours for sending me such wonderful books for review!

Winners!

Thanks so much to everyone who entered both my Haunted E-Book and Iron Queen giveaways. I've finally gotten around to picking winners and they, as chosen by Random.org, are listed below. Congratulations ladies!




WINNER: Melissa of Books and Things



WINNER: Ambur

You've both been emailed and should be receiving your prizes shortly. Thanks again to everyone who took the time to enter!

Cover Critique: Romance Cover Categories Part 3

Let me preface this post by saying that my design critiques of these covers are in no way, shape or form a reflection on the author, the content or the publisher. I know the authors have very little, if any, control over the design. These are strictly my thoughts meant simply to be humorous and not insulting.

Alright everyone, originally this was going to be the last week of the romance cover categories, but I've found too many good covers so I'm going to extend this series for just one more week. Until I find even more. Then I'll have to share because, really, these are too much fun to keep to myself. If you happened to miss the last two weeks, you can find them here and here. Hope you enjoy everyone!

CATEGORY: The Chest Appreciation




Ah, yes. The breast worship. What's sexier than that? Nothing I tell you! Look at him. He's in middle-sized, clothing-covered boob heaven isn't he? I don't think anyone has ever been as pleased to run their face through fabric as this bare-chested gentleman, he's down on one knee paying homage to this woman's shirt like it's the greatest thing that's ever happened to him. Maybe it's silk?

Since we've had a bit of an armpit theme these last few weeks, I just want to point out the location of his right hand. In her pit. What is going on with these romance heroes? I'm trying to give him the benefit of the doubt that he's trying to be respectful by not grabbing her breasts like a heathen (instead, he'll just breath on them and weirdly rub his face up against them–not sure that's any better Mr. Celtic Fire) so his hand is safely off to the side, however that leaves his thumb directly in her armpit. Why romance covers, why?

Now that I've drawn attention to the armpit situation, I would like to discuss just what is happening with this woman. She is flailing those arms about like it's nobody's business, swinging them above her head with impressive abandon. Maybe she's ticklish and that thumb-in-pit action has whipped her into a frenzy? And everyone take a quick look at her right hand up above the "A" in Nash. Sweet baby Jesus. What is wrong with it? Why does she have a mutant green hand? Are her extremities rotting? Does she morph into a troll or zombie when aroused? That would be a heck of a twist wouldn't it. Our boob-loving hero wouldn't see that coming would he? He'd just be going along, paying attention to her tits and pits (like any good lover does), then WHAM! her monster hand drops down to stroke his hair and puts that Celtic fire right out. Glorious.

One last thing on this cover: her hair. I have no words for it. She's got a poof and what looks like a receding hairline on the side there but I think it's just a play of the light. Love it. Good thing his eyes are closed so he doesn't have to see the brilliance of it, because as soon as he opens those bad boys and takes a gander at that hair along with her Frankenstein hand, I don't think even his obsession with her chest will be enough to keep him interested.

CATEGORY: The Dip




This is probably the most famous of classic romance cover poses. Always a man in various stages of undress towering over a woman who seems positively overcome with passion as he bends her down for a kiss (or just to stare at her, whichever). For how commonly this pose is used, I can honestly say I don't think I've read a single romance novel wherein the hero and heroine actually find themselves in this position, so I can't help but wonder why they are always pictured like this on the cover. Has anyone read a story where the hero, being shirtless of course, has dipped the heroine back with one leg in the air and then hovered as though he was going to kiss her?

Is it me or does she look like she's about to sneeze? She seems oddly congested, as though she's suffering from allergies and is about to blow snot all over that tawny skin of his. I almost wish this could be a moving picture so we could see that happen, I don't know that he'll want to be her beloved highlander after he's covered in spittle. She just looks uncomfortable doesn't she? Normally, the hero is the one lifting the heroine's leg up and supporting it, but not this fellow, nope, he's being the opposite of helpful and applying downward force on her knee so she has to strain to keep it in place–look at that calf muscle flexing! No wonder she's going to snot on him. Payback.

CATEGORY: The What Were They Thinking?




Where to start? Well, I'm not going to beat around the bush on this one, I'm just going to dive right in with the fact that there's lightning shooting from his junk. I'm going to gloss over the fact he's wearing strange and very short shorts at the moment and focus on the more disturbing issue–that the cover designer thought it would be a good idea to leave the bolts of lightning positioned as they are as opposed to moving them in any other direction so attention wouldn't immediately be drawn to his business. Now, I haven't read this book, so perhaps this gentleman can in fact shoot divine fire from his crotch and this is therefore a completely accurate cover image. If that's the case, I retract my snark entirely.

In addition to his, um, special ability, he also appears to be a giant given the way he's towering above the trees in the background. Maybe that's the explanation for his absurd shorts. He can't find clothes in his size because he's a lightning-wielding monstrosity of a man and the only thing he could wedge himself and his gifted manhood into were these very tight, very small shorts. Why wouldn't they have cropped him at the waist? That would have solved all the major issues with this image and we wouldn't be giggling or snorting or shooting liquid out our nostrils because we drank something before viewing this cover, we would instead most likely appreciate the man's pecs and be on our way. But no, he had to be shown in all his glory. Electric penis and all.

Happy Friday everyone!

Blog Hop February 4-6

This week's question: What are you reading now and why are you reading it?

Right now I'm reading Legacies by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill and it's a paranormal young adult story involving teenagers with magical gifts trying to solve the mystery of their missing classmates. I'm reading it because paranormal young adult is one of my favorite genres and somehow I never tire of stories dealing with magic and boarding schools!

Thanks so much to Crazy for Books for hosting the hop!

Review: Father of Lies

FATHER OF LIES
Ann Turner
Paranormal Young Adult
256 Pages
Harper Teen
Available February 8th
Received from publisher for review

THE STORY
It's winter in Salem, Massachusetts, and on the currents of the wind and blistering cold, some believe the devil himself has blown into town. Several young girls have fallen ill, subjected to fits in which their limbs flail about outside of their control and they claim to feeling needles stab at their skin. Those responsible for this witchcraft must be stopped before anyone else suffers.

Fourteen year old Lidda is unique among the girls of Salem. She doesn't wish to be a dutiful housewife, pregnant and obedient, but rather seeks the freedom to choose her own path. Adding to her unusualness is the arrival of a being in her room one night, granting her the ability to see truth from lie, and whispering to her that the girls of Salem Village are lying in their accusations.

Worried her admission to seeing a presence who calls himself Lucian and admitting she hears voices in her head will earn her a place in jail with the others accused of evil doings, Lidda struggles to get a grip on reality. She knows the girls are lying, but she's a single voice amidst a chorus of noise calling for the demise of the oppressors. Can one stand against many? Or will Lidda succumb to her affliction and go up in flames side by side with those who are innocent?

MY THOUGHTS
Father of Lies serves as a reminder of the extreme consequences when a voice is lent to untruths, shedding light on a period of history when the thrill of power and control overwhelmed reason and morality, leaving good people swinging from the end of a rope while the accusers spouted venom followed by half-hearted apologies. The story transports us to the middle of a brutally cold Salem Village, the freezing temperatures reflective of the icy cruelty of the young girls who vomit lies with little remorse. It is a study in fundamental human behavior, and though we are aware of the historical outcome, we can only read on with increasing anxiety as the young ladies get a taste for the influence typically denied girls of their station, and fight the bouts of nausea as the strength of their words has ramifications of epic and deadly proportions.

Lidda is an interesting protagonist, one who adamantly refuses to don the blinders the rest of the residents of Salem so eagerly wear, and refuses to easily fall prey to a dangerous mob mentality that results in irreparable damage. Though we're thankful to be privy to the mind of someone who sees the accusations as transparent falsehoods as opposed to solid truths, a connection to her never truly forms. Her thoughts are constantly churning as she struggles to discern fact from fiction and reality from hallucination, and we skip from thought to thought with little preparation for the move. Because she retreats into her mind at every opportunity, we are forced to live in the tangle of her mind with her, our access to the outside world and the other characters limited by the parameters of a possible bipolar disorder.

As a result of Lidda's issues, we experience the events of the trials only on the periphery, receiving snippets of information and rumors from third party mouths instead of first person experience. Though Lidda witnesses some of the girls' behavior first-hand, it's often in very short bursts and then she withdrawals either physically or mentally, and our exposure to the events is abruptly halted. The individuals carted away destined for jail or a noose remain distant and almost unreal entities, little more than names on a page as Lidda's interactions with them are practically nonexistent. As a result, our emotional attachment to the horror of the witch trials isn't quite as profound as it could have been were we able to witness the proceedings in additional dimensions. Because this story is a fictional retelling of the events, the opportunity to thrust us mind and soul into the middle of the action is there, but instead we delicately tiptoe around the outside as though careful not to disturb the historical facts any more than necessary, and we therefore see and hear through Lidda without being fully absorbed in the world.

Overall, Father of Lies is fascinating in its subject matter, and Lidda's battle with the voices in her head are engrossing, but there is something small missing that's keeping our emotional involvement at bay. We are only ankle deep in the story while wishing to be fully submerged, and with each page we struggle to wade deeper only to find that despite our efforts, we haven't moved an inch.

Rating: 3/5

Review: The Ancillary's Mark

THE ANCILLARY'S MARK
Daniel Cohen
Paranormal Young Adult/Fantasy
244 pages
Black Rose Writing
Available Now
Received from author for review

THE STORY
Jacob has always been a voracious reader. He spends most of his free time in the library reading fantastical stories at the suggestion of the old librarian and a man he considers his friend, lost in worlds that promise fun and adventure. Little does he know he's about to embark on an adventure of his own.

When the old librarian regales Jacob with a tale of the Ancillary, a mythical flower thought to grant unbelievable gifts to those who come in contact with it, and informs him of his role in the ancient legend, he couldn't be more excited.

Soon he, the old librarian's grandaughter, and a hulking bodyguard set off for Tibet, the flower's probable location. What Jacob finds is an exhilarating voyage, an unusual town full of individuals with unique gifts, and a villain seeking the Ancillary for all the wrong reasons.

MY THOUGHTS
A quick read full of fantasy and mystery, The Ancillary's Mark is a story that asks us to suspend belief, bury our questions regarding plausibility, and just enjoy the journey. It doesn't require us to reach deep inside ourselves to find an emotional connection, instead content to skirt around such complexities and just focus on presenting a tale of ancient prophecy and myth, entertaining us as a fairly lighthearted hunt for famed mythical treasure unfolds. This story is certainly not without its darkness, but overall it introduces us to characters who are odd yet joyous, misfits who are outsiders yet are extremely accepting of others, and individuals who are humorous yet seriously dedicated to the well being of those around them.

Though the story is nicely paced and enjoyable, we can't help but want to feel a bit more attached to the events and revelations divulged from one page to the next. This book begins darkly and cryptically–a man scribing his dying thoughts into the ground as the strength leaches from his body–and while we eventually come to understand the fate of this soul when the details of the legend are gloriously revealed, our curiosity about this individual and others like him sparks to life with such intensity in the beginning only to wane as the myth of the Ancillary remains shrouded in vague text passages and rhymes. For the instant reaction the first page elicits, we read on with the wish for more history regarding the flower and those who bear its mark, as their stories, much in the way the opening passage does, could exponentially increase our overall involvement in this quest by giving us a touch more information to ground ourselves with as we settle in to wander out of the darkness and into enlightenment with Jacob and company.

As with the story, the characters leave us with the feeling of wanting just a little something more. Mr. Cohen has created a beautiful foundation, a solid mystery, and quirky characters, but our attachment to them is only superficial–not the bone deep connection that binds us to them permanently as their strengths and flaws embed themselves in our memories from the moment we meet them onward. Jacob is all youthful zeal, social awkwardness, and infectious enthusiasm, and while we laugh at his antics, we aren't entirely invested in his story. His romantic interest in Sophia is sweet, but again not the spine-tingling, skin-flushing, and nerve-wracking relationship that holds us transfixed as we suck in air during every interaction and hold that breath at the slightest hint of innuendo. In all fairness to this story, the romance is clearly not meant to be a prominent storyline, but it is alluded to often enough to have us wishing for that extra spark to make our hearts skip a beat as we read.

Overall, The Ancillary's Mark is an interesting tale that will inevitably appeal to younger fans of mystery and adventure who read mostly to be entertained and aren't necessarily looking for the same level of characterization and emotional attachment as I am. Mr. Cohen has written and created an impressive legend in that of the Ancillary flower, and I expect more of his intriguing fantasy tales will no doubt find their way onto blank pages and become published works.

Rating: 3/5