A Brief Absence of Snark

Hey Everyone!

I just wanted to do a quick post letting you all know the blog is going to be quiet for the next week or so for reasons I can't yet share with you but very much look forward to doing so when the blog is up and running again. I have a few posts scheduled for next week, but I always have an attack of guilt when I can't return comments so there will only be two fun tour posts mid-week and then I'll be back to my normal everyday schedule the following week!

We're also inching ever closer to the return of my cover critiques, and I think I've found some rather epic ones that I can't wait to share with all of you. Just to be a tease I'll tell you there are a myriad of armpits, strange body hair, and things that are just generally inexplicable and make me so happy I can hardly contain myself when I see them. *dreamy sigh*

Talk to you all in a bit!

Review: The Scorpio Races

THE SCORPIO RACES
Maggie Stiefvater
Paranormal Young Adult
416 pages
Scholastic
Available October 18th
Received at BEA

THE STORY
Puck Connolly can't imagine living anywhere else but Thisby, watching as year after year people escape to the mainland to get away from the tragic deaths caused by the water horses that climb from the sea each year and attack anything in their way. Though both her parents fell prey to these beasts, she still has no desire to leave.

When her older brother Gabe informs her that he's abandoning both her and their younger brother Finn to go the mainland, Puck makes a desperate attempt to get him to stay by signing herself up for the Scorpio Races, a yearly event every November where those who have caught and trained some of the water horses race them in a bloody sprint for a substantial purse. Hoping the extra money from her win will sway Gabe's decision, Puck begins training on her regular island pony Dove.

Sean Kendrick has won the Scorpio Races four years in a row on his magnificent red mount Corr. Fascinated despite himself by the presence of Puck, not only the first woman to enter the race but also the first person to enter on anything other than a water horse, he begins to spend time with her and Dove. At first hoping to dissuade her from a race that will surely get her killed, Sean begins to admire Puck's determination, wanting to help them win even though losing himself will cost him what he wants most.

MY THOUGHTS
Quiet yet completely absorbing and intense, The Scorpio Races gradually draws us into a reality similar to ours but different in one shockingly fascinating way: the existence of water horses. Resembling regular horses in appearance aside from some more unusual colors like vibrant red, these creatures of the sea are predators to their core, attacking and killing humans or enchanting them with their magic and drowning them in their beloved sea. This story is not explosive or action-packed, progressing so slowly and evenly that at times we question our connection to the characters and plot, feeling as though we are traveling through a dense fog knowing we are surrounded by Puck and Sean and their horses, yet they slip through our fingers easily when we try to touch. It's not until we read further that we realize the swirling mist we thought we were desperately chasing has turned to solid shackles without our conscious knowledge, beautifully binding us to the outcome of the race as our investment becomes deep and moving and unforgettable.

Sean is one of the main reasons our attachment to this book takes us by surprise, his reserved quality and air of coolness and calm at first creating a wall between us since we can't seem to relate to such quietude when we're so used to noise. Once we continue with the story however, we develop the ability to read his stillness, understanding that he is neither detached nor unresponsive, but is rather telegraphing his emotions as loudly as if he were screaming, we just weren't listening correctly in the beginning. Every word spoken is laden with meaning given he speaks so few, an added weight placed on each syllable uttered that causes us to hold our breath while he's talking lest we miss even the tiniest piece of himself a small gesture or simple inflection might reveal. We learn to revel in his silence, knowing it's as ripe with feeling as if he had spoken aloud, and we find ourselves overwhelmed by his stunningly gorgeous simplicity.

In addition to the haunting and slowly-developed relationship between Puck and Sean, we also have the pleasure of experiencing their individual connections to their horses. Each animal is a reflection of the character who loves them–Corr's innate strength and desire to be free echoed in Sean just as Dove's determination and fear of the race shines through in Puck. Though they don't speak audibly, engaging us with words and conversations, their personalities are distinct nonetheless, bleeding through the pages and seeping into our hearts as surely as if they belonged to us personally. Our stomachs tie themselves in knots when we come to fully understand the stakes for both Puck and Dove and Sean and Corr in the race, and our eyes remain glued to the pages, wanting to stop reading before anything bad happens but unable to find any bliss in our ignorance due to the depth of our involvement.

Those looking for a page-turner will likely find themselves a touch bored with this tale, but those who love a story that shocks them with the the intensity of their emotional reaction will glory in the beautiful richness of a flavor that stems from something slowly simmered. Having experience with horses and being familiar with the joy a bond between horse and rider can bring, The Scorpio Races perhaps affected me more personally than it may some, ensuring its place on my shelf of favorites for some time to come.

Rating: 5/5

Me and Alibi

Review: Amplified

AMPLIFIED
Tara Kelly
Contemporary Young Adult
304 Pages
Henry Holt & Co/Macmillan
Available October 25th
Received from publisher for review

THE STORY
Jasmine's on her own. When she told her wealthy cardiologist father she didn't want to follow up on her acceptance to Stanford but instead wished to take some time off to pursue her love of music, he asked her to leave.

Now she's in a new place with very little money, no job, no place to stay and a car that's just decided to die on her. Thankfully, it died in front of an auto repair shop where the good-looking but in-need-of-attitude-adjustment young mechanic informs her of the cost to fix it.

Temporarily ignoring the problem of her car, Jasmine shows up to a band audition that comes with the benefit of a room for rent should she be chosen. She's hoping the other members will consider her despite her lack of experience as well as the fact that she's a woman and the ad said men preferred. As it turns out, getting into the band is the easiest part, while the pursuit of her dream and a fledgling romance with the irritating mechanic who just happens to also be the bassist for the band prove to be far more difficult.

MY THOUGHTS
Amplified is a cute contemporary read, one that has us living vicariously through Jasmine as she starts down the path toward her goal of being self-sufficient and in her very own band only to find the road not as smoothly paved as she might have hoped. Though musical terms and descriptions of various instruments with their corresponding parts and pieces are prevalent, after our initial hesitation at their unfamiliarity they help draw us into the story, Jasmine's love of music creating a language we understand despite our lack of comprehension on certain specifics. Ms. Kelly writes in vivid pictures as opposed to words, the drama of a budding musical career combined with family disapproval as well as a crush on someone emotionally unattainable projecting from the pages and filtering directly into our minds and hearts as we simply sit back and enjoy.

Jasmine is a young woman of drive and determination, possessing the strength to leave a life full of expectations she has no desire to meet despite the fact that many would call her existence privileged, and chart her own course. She refuses to back down or allow people to walk all over her without ever being abrasive or off-putting, and while we admire that confidence we are also privy to her vulnerabilities and acute fears, making her as tangible and real as if she were standing right beside us. Her stage fright is intense, and there are several scenes where that fear wafts from the paper in waves so thick we practically choke on it, our hearts in our throats as we will ourselves to stay in place and not abandon Jasmine to make ourselves feel more comfortable.

Her romance with Sean is written beautifully, their epically antagonistic relationship ever-so-slowly progressing into one of mutual admiration and respect. There are no doe-eyed glances right off the bat nor any compulsions to be in the other person's presence every moment of the day, instead in their place are traded barbs and thinly veiled insults as they feel one another out as both roommates and bandmates. Their posturing and their generally argumentative natures are highly entertaining, and when the inevitable pain rears its ugly head we feel it to our core as Jasmine does, thinking to ourselves all the the things we wish we could say to Sean in her stead. Through all the ups and downs of her story, Jasmine remains steadfast, reacting to events without overreacting, and allowing for just the right amount of drama to keep us riveted.

Amplified is a quick, highly recommended read for lovers of contemporary young adult fiction, one that will likely keep readers up late just so they can discover for themselves how close Jasmine comes to attaining her dream. The relationship with her father could have been a bit more complex in nature, wrapping up rather anticlimactically after the volatility of it throughout, but overall this is a story that delivers on a variety of levels. The conclusion isn't handed to us with a pretty bow, ties instead hang loose, just begging us to pick them up and loop them together in our own minds as we read into Jasmine and Sean's future what we will.

Rating: 4/5

Review: The Iron Knight

THE IRON KNIGHT (Iron Fey #4)
Julie Kagawa
Paranormal Young Adult
386 Pages
Harlequin Teen
Available October 25th
Received via NetGalley for review

THE STORY
Ash made the girl he loves a promise when he became her Knight. He would be there to protect her with his sword and with his life against any and all enemies, but when she became queen of a realm that would slowly kill him should he stay in it with her, she banished him to save his life. Now, he's on a mission to earn his humanity so that he may return to her side and fulfill his vow.

With the enthusiastic help of trickster Puck and the somewhat reluctant assistance of cat sithe Grimalkin, Ash starts out on his journey to return to Meghan. A few new friends join them on their quest, fighting unusual creatures and traversing never before seen landscapes to get to the end of the world where the trials to earn a soul will be held.

While Ash knows the journey will not be easy, it proves more physically and emotionally difficult than he ever could have imagined, and his confidence in a joyful reunion with Meghan begins to wane. Ash has never been one to admit defeat though, and he leans on his friends for strength when the final steps to earning his humanity require more than he thinks he can give.

MY THOUGHTS
The Iron Knight gives us the welcome opportunity to slip into the mind of a character whom we’ve previously only seen through the eyes of another, allowing us full access to the thoughts and feelings of the frigid winter prince who finally began to thaw in book three. Accompanying our highly anticipated new perspective is Ms. Kagawa’s unparalleled creativity, the journey she’s created for Ash and Puck glorious proof of her ability to stretch her characters and readers to their physical and emotional limits as we all find ourselves irrevocably invested in the outcome of the winter royal’s personal quest. At no point is a happy ending guaranteed, our fingers constantly twitching as they itch to flip the pages and skip ahead just to end the apprehension caused by our uncertainty. Part of the beauty of this world and these characters is the unpredictability however, and placating ourselves with any absolutes robs us of the true Iron Fey experience.

Spending an entire book with Ash is an absolute pleasure, our need to know more about his past and his feelings for Meghan straight from the source blissfully satisfied in this tale. Dark details of not only his relationship with Ariella, but also of life as a soulless fae are mixed with the action of the present-day adventure, crafting a stunning character portrait that starts from opposite edges and slowly works inward to reveal every facet of the Ash we've longed to see. We start out reading his story wondering if we’ll miss the romantic tension given Meghan’s noticeable absence, but Ms. Kagawa crafts a compelling and unexpected solution to that particular issue, and once again our hearts seem to swell until we’re full to bursting with conflicting fears and desires.

Puck is another highlight for us as readers, his normal humorous arrogance and big mouth present and accounted for, but we also get glimpses of a man whose life has not consisted entirely of jokes and pranks, the pain of his long and tangled history with Ash breaking through to dim his shining smile now and again. His fierce loyalty and unwavering friendship is both beautiful and tragic as he places Ash and Meghan’s happiness above his own repeatedly, proving himself to be a character we will hold dear for a long time to come in the hopes our feelings for him might magically make their way through the ink and paper to hit home.

The only mild complaint with this tale is to be found in the concluding pages as Ash faces his final trials before earning his soul. The trials themselves are brilliant–both emotionally and mentally intense–however Ash’s reaction to them is the tiniest bit disappointing. After each of the three, Ash reverts to the brooding prince we’ve seen pop up on occasion, needing one of his traveling companions to find him and remind him of the reasons they’ve all come as far as they have. The first time, and perhaps even the second, the melancholic reflection is understandable and the support of a good friend necessary, but it would have been nice if by the third time Ash could remember for himself his feelings for Meghan so that we might experience the renewal of his confidence in his love along with him, no outside assistance needed. That aside, The Iron Knight is a dream for fans of the series, each page a gift for the extra time it allows us in this world and with these characters.

Rating: 4/5

In My Mailbox #38 + Winners

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:
Bunheads by Sophie Flack
Drink Deep by Chloe Neill
In the Forests of the Night by Kersten Hamilton
Dreaming of the Wolf by Terry Spear

An enormous thanks goes out to Poppy, Penguin, Kersten Hamilton and Clarion Books, and Terry Spear, I can't wait to read all of these:)

I've hosted a couple giveaways this week and have a few winners to announce! Thanks to everyone who entered and a huge congratulations to the winners, you've both been emailed:)

BRIDGER

Winner:
Jacinda from The Reading Housewives of Indiana

DEADLY COOL TRADING CARDS

Winner:
Ashley from Book Labyrinth

Interview + Giveaway: Jennifer Estep and Spider's Revenge

I'm hugely excited (as always) to welcome author Jennifer Estep back to the blog today to talk a little about her latest urban fantasy release Spider's Revenge. Anyone that reads the blog with some frequency knows I harbor an intense amount of love for Gin and company, and this latest book is my favorite of the series thus far (you can read my review HERE). If you like damaged and flawed characters who draw you in with the dark beauty of their imperfections, then look no further than the Elemental Assassin books!

Warning: This interview does allude to certain events that take place in Spider's Revenge, so if you've yet to pick this one up, read with some caution.

In Spider’s Revenge we finally get the epic showdown between Mab Monroe and Gin. What made you decide to have it take place in book five as opposed to the final book in the series?

Well, I think I still have a lot of Gin stories left to tell, and I didn’t want readers to have to wait until the very end of the series (whenever that may be) to see Gin and Mab finally go toe-to-toe.

Besides, Gin and Mab have been circling around each other for five books now, including Spider’s Revenge. It just made sense to end their story arc here. Hopefully, readers will think that I delivered a truly epic battle between the two of them. Fingers crossed anyway.

Now that Gin is starting to find true happiness with Owen, do you think she would look back on her time with Donovan and change anything? Perhaps say something when she previously kept silent or let him really see how much his poor opinion hurt her?

I don’t know that Gin would change anything that happened between her and Donovan since Donovan leaving is what let her find Owen in the first place. But I do think there are some unresolved issues between Gin and Donovan, and I hope to explore those in a future book.

The Finn/Bria physical relationship progresses a bit in this tale though we don’t get to read too much about it. Is there any chance there might be a Finn/Bria short story in the works with a few more, um, details about their new dynamic?

A couple of folks have asked me about that. Everyone seems to love Finn, which I’m sure he would appreciate. LOL. I think it would be a fun story to write, and I may get to it someday, but I don’t have any plans to write it anytime soon. Right now, I’m pretty busy writing the Elemental Assassin books, along with my Mythos Academy young adult series. But I’ll never say never.

Some of my favorite aspects of Gin’s character are her flaws which are beautifully blended with her strengths to make her feel real and layered. If you asked Gin what she considered her greatest flaw, what might she say?

I think Gin would say that she’s not quite cold-hearted enough. Gin can be ruthless anytime she needs to be, but she just can’t turn away from someone who needs her help – no matter how much trouble it’s going to cause her or how much danger it puts her in.

We know what the runes for Gin, Mab, Owen, JoJo, Bria, and Gin’s late mother and older sister look like, but Finn is currently rune-less. What do you imagine his to be?

Well, Finn is rather shameless about his greedy nature, so it would probably involve money. Finn has a key ring shaped like a dollar sign, and he is very vocal in the books about how much he loves money and the finer things in life. So I think a dollar sign would be as good a rune as any for him. LOL.

Did you go through a lot of different scenarios and outcomes for the Gin/Mab battle, or did you know how things were going to play out all along?

I knew that I wanted Gin and Mab to have a huge battle, and as I’ve been writing the series, I thought about how things might play out and how Gin would pit her magic and wits against Mab’s. A couple of things have cropped up as I’ve been writing, things that I think make the battle even better, so I’ve added those in. I just hope that readers like Spider’s Revenge and think that I’ve done justice to the Gin-Mab story arc.

If Gin were to go on vacation, how many days (or hours) do you think it would take before she found trouble or trouble found her?

Funny you should ask that since that’s pretty much the theme/plot of By a Thread, the sixth book in the Elemental Assassin series that will be out in March 2012. In fact, I’ve been calling that one my Gin on vacation book. But the answer is not long at all. Trouble has a way of finding Gin, and she definitely has a way of dealing with it.

What are you most excited about moving forward with this series now that Gin and Mab have finally battled out their long-standing history?

I wanted to give readers a complete story arc with the first five books in the series, and I hope I’ve done that. But I am excited about moving forward because it gives me a chance to reboot the series a little and focus on some villains besides Mab. I think there are a lot of bad guys for Gin to battle, and I’m having a lot of fun coming up with them and their magic/powers.

Also, I like a happily ever after ending, but I’ve always wondered what really happens after the end of the story. What are the consequences of the heroine killing the villain or slaying the dragon or saving her kingdom? What happens next? What sort of new problems crop up because of the heroine saving the day the first time around?

So that’s definitely something that I’ll be exploring in By a Thread and the seventh Elemental Assassin book (untitled) which will be out in August 2012. Hopefully, folks will want to see what’s next for Gin.

Happy reading, everyone!

Thanks so much for stopping by Jennifer! For more on Jennifer, her Elemental Assassin series, and her fantastic young adult Mythos Academy series you can find additional information here:

Website
Blog
Twitter
Facebook
Amazon

GIVEAWAY

Jennifer is generously offering up a copy of Spider's Revenge to give away on the blog today, yay! To enter, please just leave a comment with a valid email address so I can contact you if you win. This giveaway is open to US residents only and will run through midnight EST on Tuesday, October 11th after which time a winner will be chosen and announced on the blog. Good luck everyone!

SPIDER'S REVENGE

Old habits die hard. And I plan on murdering someone before the night is through.

Killing used to be my regular gig, after all. Gin Blanco, aka the Spider, assassin-for-hire. And I was very good at it. Now, I’m ready to make the one hit that truly matters: Mab Monroe, the dangerous Fire elemental who murdered my family when I was thirteen. Oh, I don’t think the mission will be easy, but turns out it’s a bit more problematic than expected. The bitch knows I’m coming for her. So now I’m up against the army of lethal bounty hunters she hired to track me down. She also put a price on my baby sister’s head. Keeping Bria safe is my first priority. Taking Mab out is a close second. Good thing I’ve got my powerful Stone and Ice magic — and my irresistible lover Owen Grayson — to watch my back. This battle has been years in the making, and there’s a chance I won’t survive. But if I’m going down, then Mab’s coming with me … no matter what I have to do to make that happen.