Good. So do I. What started out as a place where I posted reviews, thoughts, and suggestions surrounding mostly young adult fiction has now turned into my personal venting space. I'm going to review books. I'm going to be honest. And I'm going to be snarky. You've been warned.
Here is the conclusion to my short vampire story. Will Edie finally get the revenge she so desperately wants? Read ahead to find out. Want to start from the beginning? Check it out here.
It didn’t take long, just two days. There was a sudden spike in violent deaths in the nearby towns. They were too random in sex, age, and type of person for authorities to declare the existence of a serial killer – or killers. The only connection between all the deaths was the mass amounts of blood loss. Edie knew exactly what was going on. It was the work of six others like her – the remaining members of the clan she belonged to. Including Warrick. We’re here, was the message.
Joel and Ruthie were close to sticking their heads in the sand. Damn cowards. Just because they left with her didn’t mean Warrick was going to do anything dire. Not unless he suspected they were going to turn on him. At least Nikolai wasn’t quivering. He had always been her favorite.
“He wants to see you.”
“Of course he does. He probably missed me.”
“This isn’t funny, Edie!” Nikolai’s grey eyes flashed with anger. The black leather he wore made his stark white face look as though it were floating in the darkness. “You know you have to.”
She didn’t like his tone. “I’m still here, aren’t I?”
They both tensed suddenly. It was instinct. They could feel his presence before they could even see or hear him. Warrick was there, in their temporary home among the homeless population.
“Ah, there you are.”
His polite, proper voice made Edie’s teeth grind together. She turned slowly to meet his smug countenance. Instead, she locked on Ruthie’s decapitated head in his left hand. Edie tried not to look shocked. He smiled widely.
“I found her trying to flee. From me. Now why would she do that?”
It was pictures like this that made me want to be a princess when I grew up.
But then I grew up. And I'm not a princess. That's fine by me, though. I'd rather read stories like Entwined than be a real life princess.
This story is based off of the fairy tale, The Twelve Dancing Princesses. I always liked this fairy tale because it was the first play I saw when I was in kindergarten -- brings me to a place of nostalgia. Also, I've never read a novel based off of a fairy tale, so why not start. Entwined seems to be just one of many. I chose this one specifically because it was 99 cents, and the Princess of the Midnight Ball -- also based off of the Twelve Dancing Princesses -- was not. Yeah, I know. I'm cheap.
So Entwined by Heather Dixon. Where to begin. This was a fun book -- not the greatest book I've ever read, but it was fun. I liked how I could see immediate connections between this story and the original tale. At first, the abundance of cheesy "surprised" or "disappointed" lines like Great Scott, or raspberries (they get better) annoyed me, but then I realized it was part of the image and world Dixon was trying to create. It grew on me. Something I couldn't get past, though, was how many times the phrase "he sucked in his cheeks" was used. It got to the point where I was like Why!? Use a different phrase, please! He's tense, I get it.
Because this is based off of a well-known tale, you know how it's going to end. What makes this so successful is how it's told and how the conflicts come about. Azalea, the oldest princess and main character, is a great lead. She's sweet, strong, and acts just how I'd imagine the oldest of 12 would act. I also like how she wasn't the prettiest sister, too. All the characters seemed real, developed -- even the King, who is supposed to come off as cold and distant. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about them all. Even the villain. You wanted to like him, even though you knew -- before everyone else -- how much of a creepy jerk he was. So if you want to be swept away to a Once upon a time land, then grab this one.
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Something else nostalgic? Barbies. And guess who did a movie about the 12 Dancing Princesses? Yep, Barbie.
So, Nicole, you might be saying, you keep posting stuffyou'vewritten, but what have you beenreading? Good question. I spent my winter break playing catch up. What does that mean? Well, I read books I said I was going to read a long time ago. I's about freakin time, right? Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I got around to reading three of them: Jane Jones: Worst. Vampire. Ever. by Caissie St. Onge, The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan, and Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. Here's what I thought, consolidated into one nifty post:
Book #1: Jane Jones: Worst. Vampire. Ever. I actually heard about this book from my special man friend. He told me he heard it was supposed to be good. And I like good vampire stories that don't deal with brooding, creepy, stalker vampires. Jane Jones had an interesting idea, but I just don't think it measured up. I didn't find it very believable -- believable for a vampire story, that is. First of all, I don't like vampires that can walk around in the sun. It's too easy. In Jane Jones, there are consequences for being in the sun, which I can handle. Here was my main gripe -- if you're a vampire who's a couple hundred years old, are you really going to waste your time at high school being some mean kid? I don't really think so. And let's say you're a vampire who isn't quite that old yet, but are you still going to listen to your parents like you're 16 instead of 80? Yeah, I didn't think so either.
I didn't really feel the main conflict, either. The bad guys could have been a little badder in my opinion. I did appreciate how the vampires in this story longed for a human life even though they were immortal. The grass isn't always greener on the other side. Overall, I'm glad I read this story, I was just expecting more.
Book #2: The Forest of Hands and Teeth. I love zombies. Okay, let me clarify. I like reading zombie stories and watching zombie movies. I in no way, shape, or form, want zombies to be real. So when I heard there was a zombie book for young adults, I was intrigued. I wanted to know how that worked, because when it comes to zombies, there's lots of gore and death. Lots and lots. Well, I gotta say I was again disappointed. Maybe I just expected too much. But I did not feel for the main character, Mary. In fact, she annoyed the hell out of me. Most of the characters did. Everything happened very conveniently. Don't get me wrong, though. There were things I liked -- like the beginning. I loved how it opened with a seemingly innocent scene, and then it erupted into fear and chaos. I enjoyed Mary's awakening and her time spent with Travis, but she does a lot of stupid things and I just want to shake her. And shake her some more. Sure, it's supposed to be scary and the things she does is supposed to show what kind of stress she's under and what her state of mind is, but her stupidity annoyed me more than anything. And then she ends up alone and with strangers.
For the most part, I liked the writing, but found myself thinking Man, there's a lot of sentence fragments. Which says a lot because I like fragments and run-ons. This book also made me have zombie dreams, which I thought I had been cured of. But that's not the book's fault.
This is the first in a trilogy (of course). I haven't decided if I'm going to read the others. I guess the next one, The Dead-Tossed Waves, is told from a new character's perspective. I'm currently on the library waiting list for it, so I'll decide when the time comes.
Book #3:Water for Elephants. Let me start off by saying that this is an adult book. There are some scenes that very explicit. So you've been warned. Anyway, I wanted to read this book before I saw the movie. I'm not an R Pat fan, but I do have some fascination with circuses and the Depression era. Out of the three books I read, I liked this one the best. Maybe that's because I didn't have any real expectations or perhaps because this isn't a part of a trend like vampires and zombies are. Everything seemed believable. I liked how there was a lot of detail put into the description of the animals -- the reader really got a sense of their personality. Rosie was an awesome elephant. I wish I had an elephant. And I felt so bad for her when she was mistreated.
The ending surprised me -- I wasn't expecting it to go in that direction, especially with all of the build up. Though I appreciated the parts of story told in the present, they were still my least favorite parts. The old man Jacob and the young man Jacob also seemed like two completely different people. I guess that's realistic, but it still would have been nice to see some similarity. Jacob was hilarious as a 90-year-old, though. I also thought the explanation for August being such a sleaze ball was cheap. Overall, great read. It was easy to tell how much research went into it. The book was better than the movie, FYI. Aren't books always better than movies? It's much more YA friendly, though. Quick thoughts on the movie: I hated Rob's narration, and I hated how they combined August and Uncle Al's characters. Also, I did not believe the chemistry between Reese and Rob. But I still want an elephant.
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In case you wanted a more detailed book review on Water for Elephants. This guy is fun to watch.
Happy New Year! I'm starting the year off with the second part of my short vampire story, Undead Memories. Want to read the first part? Then see the previous entry or click here!
The sun would not be back for a while still. Edie did not want to return to the others until she had to. She rather liked being alone and sought seclusion whenever she could. It was hard. There were always eyes trailing after her, following her for different motives. She had tried to stop noticing.
It was late for humans to be out, but she was suddenly aware that she was not isolated. Up ahead she spotted someone walking. His hands were jammed into his pockets and the collar of his black jacket was pulled up to protect his neck. After leaving Victoria so fresh with death, humans were the last thing she wanted to see. She could not ignore him, though. She began to trail behind, studying his movements and guessing his path. Edie prided herself as a good huntress.
But this was not a normal prey. He seemed to have better instincts than most. Like any good predator, she knew by his body language that he was aware of her presence.
He stopped walking. “I know you’re following me.”
Landon’s boldness continued to surprise her. As he turned to search for her, she made her move. Before he could finish turning, she was already standing before him. He gasped and jumped back at her sudden appearance.
“Holy shit!”
She grinned, but only for a second.
“Don’t do that.”
She watched the vein in his neck bulge and his jaw tighten. “I like to.”
He looked away from her. “Of course you do,” he mumbled.
“Are you still scared of me, Landon?”
“I don’t know what I am. You’re one fierce chick, you know that? I swear sometimes you’re going to rip out my throat, and then sometimes I feel . . . I don’t know.”
She couldn’t blame him for being on the fence. When they first met nearly two weeks before, upon first impressions she gave every indication that she despised him. She couldn’t help it. Never in a thousand years would she have expected to suddenly come face to face with the spitting image of the boy who had nearly succeeded in forcing himself on her. Her first teenage date would have ended very differently if Warrick hadn’t interrupted and tore him off of her. She had tried to forget that night and tried to forget that Warrick had done her some kind of service. He had not been acting out of the kindness of his nonexistent heart.
