Book Review: Until I Die, by Amy Plum (tenth review for The 2012 TBR Pile Reading Challenge)

Here's my tenth review for this

wonderful challenge!!

For the rules and a list of hosting blogs,

just click on the challenge button in my sidebar.

There are great prizes involved,

so be sure to check out the rules

and consider joining in!

Title: Until I Die
Author: Amy Plum
Format: Hardcover, 357 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: May 8, 2012
Genres: YA Paranormal Romance,
Urban Fantasy



Goodreads Synopsis

Kate and Vincent have overcome the odds and at last they are together in Paris, the city of lights and love.

As their romance deepens there’s one question they can’t ignore: How are they supposed to be together if Vincent can’t resist sacrificing himself to save others? Although Vincent promises that he’ll do whatever it takes to lead a normal life with Kate, will that mean letting innocent people die? When a new and surprising enemy reveals itself, Kate realizes that even more may be at stake—and that Vincent’s immortality is in jeopardy.

In Die for Me, Amy Plum created a captivating paranormal mythology with immortal revenants and a lush Paris setting. Until I Die is poised to thrill readers with more heart-pounding suspense, spellbinding romance, and a cliff-hanger ending that will leave them desperate for the third and final novel in the series.

CHARADE RELEASE PARTY!!!

In celebration of the release

of Charade,

the second book in the

Heven and Hell Series, YA author

Cambria Hebert and friends

are hosting a party!!!

Here are all the details:

The party is being hosted by Cambria and 5 of her friends, on Cambria's Facebook fan page.  Over 48 prizes will be given away, with chances to win every hour while the party lasts!  Some of the prizes include T-shirts, buttons, magnets, bookmarks, signed paperbacks, and more!

WHEN: Friday, June 1st, 3:00 to 9:00 PM, EST

WHERE: At Cambria's FB fan page.  Here's the link:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cambria-Hebert/128278117253138

HOSTED BY:  The folks shown above!!

Hope to see you all there!!

And please spread the word!!! 

Waiting On Wednesday #41: Through To You by Emily Hainswerth

This is a weekly book meme, hosted by

Jill @ Breaking the Spine,

which features future releases that
we book bloggers

are eagerly anticipating!

Here's my pick for
this week!!

Through To You
Emily Hainsworth
Hardcover, 272 pages
Balzer & Bray
Expected Publication:
October 2, 2012
Genres: Romance, Science Fiction

From the Goodreads Synopsis


Camden Pike has been grief-stricken since his girlfriend, Viv, died. Viv was the last good thing in his life: helping him rebuild his identity after a career-ending football injury, picking up the pieces when his home life shattered, and healing his pain long after the meds wore off. And now, he’d give anything for one more glimpse of her. But when Cam makes a visit to the site of Viv’s deadly car accident, he sees some kind of apparition.
And it isn’t Viv.The apparition’s name is Nina, and she’s not a ghost. She’s a girl from a parallel world, and in this world, Viv is still alive...

Aside from the gorgeous cover,

the plot of this novel sounds

absolutely enthralling!

I've always wondered if such things

as parallel worlds exist.

According to some scientists, they

definitely do.

Now how fascinating is that?

Imagine discovering your alter ego

living in another universe!

Actually, that's pretty mind-blowing...

not to mention seriously freaky!

I've just got to get this book!!

What mind-blowing books

are you all eagerly anticipating

this week?

And what do you think

of my choice?

Book Review: The Swan Kingdom, by Zoe Marriott (ninth review for The 2012 TBR Pile Reading Challnge)

Here's my ninth review for this

wonderful challenge!!

For the rules and a list of hosting blogs,

just click on the challenge button in my sidebar.

There are great prizes involved,

so be sure to check out

the rules and consider joining in!

Title: The Swan Kingdom
Author: Zoe Marriott
Format: Trade Paperback, 263 pages
Publisher: Walker Books
Published: March 5, 2007
Genre: YA Fantasy
Literary Awards: Cybils Award (2008), YALSA Popular Paperbacks (2010)



Goodreads Synopsis: 

When Alexandra’s mother is slain by an unnatural beast, shadows fall on the once-lush kingdom. Too soon the widowed king is entranced by a cunning stranger — and in one chilling moment Alexandra’s beloved brothers disappear, and she is banished to a barren land. Rich in visual detail, sparked by a formidable evil, and sweetened with familial and romantic love, here is the tale of a girl who discovers powerful healing gifts — and the courage to use them to save her ailing kingdom.

One look at this gorgeous cover was enough to get me interested in this book!  That interest increased when I read the above synopsis on Goodreads.  When I received the book in the mail and looked it over, I realized that this novel is a retelling of a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, titled "The Wild Swans".  The retellings I'm most familiar with are those of The Phantom of the Opera, which is not a fairy tale, but a 19th-century novel written by the French author, Gaston Leroux.  In the case of that particular book, I found the retellings to be much more engaging than the original novel.  In the case of Andersen's fairy tale, the retelling is, I think, just as wonderful as the original, although it departs markedly from the story as presented by Andersen.  It also contains some deeper elements not included in the original version.

Princess Alexandra has three brothers, instead of the original eleven of the fairy tale.  The evil stepmother is very much present, but in Marriott's hands, the story has become so much more -- it is a tale of female power, earth power, as the fertility of the lands of two neighboring kingdoms is linked to this power.

Alexandra's mother is 'a cunning woman', which is the term used in the novel for a healer and practitioner of folk magic.  This term, according to Wikipedia, was common mostly in southern England, the Midlands, and Wales, in the 15th and 16th centuries.  These people were also called 'wise women'.  According to the same source, there were also 'cunning men', but in The Swan Kingdom, it is the women who hold the greater power.  

Alexandra loves and admires her mother, who is able to heal those who are ill, and perform what are known as 'Great workings'.  Lady Branwen is widely sought for her expertise in healing, especially when nothing else has worked.  She draws her power from the currents of life -- 'the enaid' -- that ebb and flow across the land.  She also teaches her daughter to perform 'small workings', as well as herb and plant lore. 

Early in the novel, Marriott contrasts gentle Lady Branwen with her somewhat distant, harsh husband, a man who is blind to the beauty of his wife's powers, a man who thinks of the land as something he owns.  There are hints that their marriage is not a happy one.

Everything changes shortly after Lady Branwen's death, when Alexandra's father finds an enchanting young woman in the forest, during one of his hunts for the strange beast that had killed his wife.  Alexandra and her brothers watch in horror as this woman twists everyone to her will, making a puppet of their father, whom she soon marries.

Soon thereafter, the whole tale begins to unfold as Alexandra's quest is revealed.  She must somehow destroy this woman who is not only bent on destroying her family, but her beloved kingdom, as well....

Marriott transports us to the lands of her tale with a prose style that is lyrical, mesmerizing.  Here's an enthralling sample:  "The claustrophobic darkness of the forest, the looming shadows and the creature that moved among them disappeared; a screaming, flailing wind seemed to tear them away, and thrust another landscape into their place."  This style harks back to the classics, to the times when the sounds and rhythms of language were as important as the story and the characters.  Marriott weaves a spell of her own with her beautiful, descriptive sentences, and therein lies much of the charm of this novel.

As the tale unfolds, we discover a rich panorama of magic, as Alexandra becomes acquainted with the Circle of Ancestors, on a lonely faraway island.  Her powers grow as she becomes more and more attuned to the land, as she also strives to become her own person.  She will never bow to Zella's will, as her father and most of his subjects have.  Neither will her brothers, whom she must save, while she ironically waits and hopes for their return from a strange exile. 

This is a coming of age story, as well as a tale of rivalry for magical power.  Alexandra, having taken her mother's place, must battle against the evil Zella, against the slow death she has brought upon the land and its people.  Instead of bloody battles fought with sword and lance, this novel details a battle of wills.  One must emerge as victor, totally vanquishing the other. 

I see an elemental conflict here, as well, one dear to any feminist's heart.  It is the conflict between a woman who believes in using her magic and feminine wiles to manipulate men, and another who refuses to do so, preferring instead to use her powers to work along with men towards a common good.  As such, Alexandra and Zella are archetypes, or symbols, of concepts that are an intrinsic part of the human race.  As Carl Jung would say, they are part of humanity's collective unconscious. 

Gabriel, the young prince who falls in love with Alexandra, possesses some magical power, although not at the level of Alexandra.  He does not begrudge her this, however.  His love for her is pure and true, as hers is for him.  Neither one seeks to bend the beloved to his/her will. 

I find it fascinating, as well as very appealing, that Marriott would introduce such modern , although paradoxically ancient, psychological concepts into a fairy tale world.  This, for me, is also a great part of the novel's appeal.  Alexandra is not a typical fairy tale "damsel in distress', but neither is she bent on ensuring that others conform to her will.   Circumstances force her to grow as a person throughout the story, and she never shrinks from the challenges presented to her.  She is an admirable character, and indeed, the novel revolves entirely around her.  

If I had to find fault with anything about this wonderful book, I would have to say it's the ending, which I found to be anti-climactic.  I was expecting something much more dramatic, something more on a grand scale.  

Still, I greatly enjoyed this novel, which kept me turning pages, at times until the wee hours, one particular Saturday.  It's an excellent debut novel, and I will certainly be on the lookout for more of Marriott's work!   I also highly recommend it for adults as well as young adults, not only for the fascinating storytelling, but for its elegantly-written prose. 



MY RATING:



Where To Buy:  Amazon, The Book Depository, Barnes & Noble

Zoe Marriott

Shelf Candy Saturday #21: Twisted, by Gena Showalter

This book meme/blog hop

is hosted by

Stephanie @

Five Alarm Book Reviews!!

The purpose of this feature is to display

a beautiful book cover,

with information, if available,

about the cover illustrator,

photographer, and/or designer.

For all the participation rules,

just click

HERE.

 

Here's my choice for this week!

 

Twisted

(Intertwined #3)

Gena Showalter

Hardcover, 564 pages

Harlequin Teen

August 30, 2011

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

Why do I love this cover?

 

I love the realistic way this young couple has been depicted (this is most likely a photograph), even if I'm not too happy about the fact that the girl is desperately clinging to the young man.  (I guess we females lose some of our much-defended independence when we fall in love...)  He's fiercely protective of her, too.  Still, they look good together, with that storm brewing in the background.  Speaking of that, I also love the colors in the sky -- lilac subtly becoming hot pink.  Last but most definitely not least is the title.  This is what really makes this cover stand out!  The font used is an ornate, highly stylized version of medieval script writing.  The fact that it's all in caps makes each letter really pop (they're slightly raised, too), and yet, the whole title has a unified look.   Each letter is also set at a slightly different angle, instead of straight across.  The resulting effect obviously bears out the theme of the novel. 

I do own this book, but found no information on the cover design anywhere on it.  That's strange, too, because this information is usually available on the back flap of the dust jacket.  When I did a Google search, though, I did find out that the designer for the first book's cover was Art Director Erin Craig.

This is the first book in the series:

 

 

Intertwined

(Intertwined #1)

Gena Showalter

Hardcover, 440 pages

Harlequin Teen

September 1, 2009

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

I'm guessing that Erin Craig was also the designer of the cover for Twisted.  The following is from a statement he wrote, about the development of the cover for Intertwined.

For every cover we design we start the process with a meeting between Art, Editorial and Marketing.  We discuss everything from the story-line details to character descriptions to comparable titles. From that point the Art Department takes over to further develop options for the cover. For Intertwined, I worked initially with three different designers in order to come up with different concepts, each having its own voice.  We spent a lot of time researching what teenagers see, the magazines they read, movies and TV shows they watchm, music they download, Web sites they visit, cell phones they use -- all the types of cultural visual imagery they absorb.  From there, we used our research to come up with a variety of concepts that illustrated the story.

You can view the complete document,

which includes illustrations, 

HERE.

You can visit Gena Showalter's

Young Adult website

HERE.

So what do you think

of the cover of Twisted?

What beautiful cover(s)

are you featuring this week?