Throwback Review: Green Heart

Another Throwback Review - this time from back in 2012! Enjoy!

Green Heart is the combination of two YA novels Green Angel and Green Witch by Alice Hoffman.

The day it happened, fifteen-year-old Green was angry and refused to speak to her family as they left. She had wanted to go with them to the city, but they needed her to stay home.

Her father, mother, and sister all died in the terrible disaster – leaving Green all alone, and plagued by the memory of her last moments with them.

She struggles to survive in a world turned topsy-turvy, a place where nothing wants to grow among the ashes. Green becomes one with the thorny, lifeless realm of her garden – but finds she must allow herself to open back up to life, to possibility… to magic.

Even though all she can see is pain.

Green Heart was a majestic read!

I read The Foretelling by Alice Hoffman years ago and was dumbfounded by it – so I had high expectations, and, my, were they reached!

The haunting, mournful, poetic sentences create an almost ethereal, atmospheric tone – a poem that goes on and on with grace and elegance.

As I read the Green Heart, or I should probably say absorbed, I hoped for a happy end, for healing, but I knew that anything Alice Hoffman created would be more complicated than that, more real.

Green Heart is a novel of lovely, wistful, staggering simplicity of words that brings a quiet power to this otherworldly tale. This is especially true when it comes to the allure and hypnotic pull of nature and animals (Animal lover, here!). There’s a sense of magic, of wonder, of hurt and hope intertwined.

Both Green Angel and Green Witch are beautiful, the sequel taking us deeper into a surprisingly revealing and exquisite story that is tonally the same.

If you’re a bit sick of reading about the apocalypse, various dystopias, that really just kind of depress you (I know that I have started to be), Green Heart is a refreshing read.

Here we have a book that is touching, transcends genres, and brings lightness to the dark.

If you haven’t already, you should definitely read Green Heart!

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Interview with the Vampire

Interview with the Vampire is the first book in Anne Rice’s adult horror fantasy Vampire Chronicles series.

When a young reporter gets a chance to interview with the enigmatic, pale man that claims to be a vampire, he takes it. Such begins the long, harrowing tale of Louis, his maker Lestat and his “child” Claudia.

Sweeping from pre-civil war Louisiana to the mists of Europe, Louis weaves his life story for the reporter from the tragic, defining moments before his transition and those bloody, unsettling moments immediately following his meeting with the vampire Lestat – and beyond.

Anyone who has seen the film starring Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise and a young Kirsten Dunst may know many details of the turns the novel will take – as it is a fairly strong adaptation, likely due to the fact that Anne Rice herself penned it. However, here we have the original book form where Rice lends that miserable, contemplative, gloomy voice of Louis who is a reluctant vampire, to put it lightly.

Desperately trying to hang on to his humanity, Louis is a conflicted character who is torn between caring for, and being dependent on, his relationships with Lestat and Claudia, while also being horrified by their easy killing and lack of conscience. He is, quite simply, not built to be a vampire but doomed to its fate.

Without providing further plot details, I will say that Interview with the Vampire had gorgeous descriptions and an eloquent, poetic language that was both very enveloping and also, at times, probably more than necessary. I won’t deny occasionally skimming some of the more longwinded narration describing the countryside or what have you.

However, the prose was affective in creating an absorbing atmosphere, a distinct first-person voice and some occasionally powerful emotional punches – from strangely, almost involuntarily, erotic to heartbreaking, tormenting sorrow.

Though Louis’s journey through vampirism was hypnotic, and its eventual conclusion titillated me on a pure character development level, I have been assured by a friend that the next books in the Vampire Chronicles series are far more satisfying. It sounds as though Lestat becomes much more in the spotlight and creates a vibe a little less depressive and a little more fun.

Either way, though, Interview with the Vampire was definitely worth the read and was a great experience. I would strongly recommend bibliophiles with an enjoyment of gothic stories to check it out! I look forward to diving into more novels in the series as soon as I am able.

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Tell Me Three Things

Tell Me Three Things is a YA contemporary novel by debut author Julie Buxbaum.

Jessie’s life has been turned upside down – and she was not consulted.

Being moved from her Chicago home to a prep school in Los Angeles to begin her junior year of high school is traumatizing enough without also having to try to become comfortable living with her new earnest stepmom and standoffish stepbrother.

How her dad could have done this to her, sprung this on her, without any notice… It is beyond her. To be saddled with people she doesn’t even know when it’s been barely two years since her mother’s death is not helping her relationship with her dad.

Without her best friend and without any frame of reference in Los Angeles, Jessie feels totally alone. That is, until she receives an email from someone calling themselves Somebody/Nobody (SN for short), providing an offer to help her navigate her new surroundings.
It’s weird but intriguing. And in a decision based on need rather than anything else, Jessie begins to interact with SN – and feels a little less alone. SN helps her, makes her laugh and just keeps things from going a little too dark… so much so that she would like to meet SN in person.

But are some things better left unknown?

Tell Me Three Things was a heartfelt, gripping human story. It wrapped me up and didn’t let me go until the final page. And even then, as I write this, I still feel in its grips a bit.

Jessie was a great character – she was very relatable. I love it when an author presents someone in a way where they have flaws and issues but they aren’t the biggest brat or obnoxious due to it. Sure, she may act out a little to her dad a couple times – but it was always within reason and understandable in the situation. She’s also smart and funny with just the right amount of insecurity/confidence.

It’s also a little bit like a mystery – throughout the book you find yourself, along with Jessie, trying to figure out who SN is. It’s fun, while also being touching, hilarious and memorable.

I really ended up loving Tell Me Three Things. It felt like a complete story – the end was highly satisfying and the narrative touched on everything it needed to, while never falling into a trap of clichés or being too predictable

Point: It made me happy.

I’d like to suggest you read Tell Me Three Things too – maybe it’ll make you happy too!

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The World Within: A Novel of Emily Bronte

The World Within: A Novel of Emily Bronte is the YA historical fiction novel by Jane Eagland.

Change is in the air. This is what worries Emily – as she loves spending all of her time with her sisters Charlotte and Anne, as well as her brother Branwell in their small, quiet village of Haworth. Their shared stories, often written down, spurs her imagination and takes her on grand adventures.

But when her father falls ill and Charlotte is sent away to school, Emily’s world begins to crumble. Branwell seems less and less interested in his little sisters and Anne may not be as dependable as Emily once thought…

The World Within: A Novel of Emily Bronte interested me in that I love historical fiction and I love Charlotte Bronte. I’ve never read Emily’s Wuthering Heights (though I do own it) and every time I start it I am put off by how much I dislike the characters. Yet I still thought this book may be intriguing.

Sadly, Eagland’s presentation of Emily’s unknown childhood with her fellow famous siblings was not very compelling. It was a very quiet, very straightforward story of siblings, with the dramatic, wild(ish) one at the center. Quiet and straightforward can be piercing and raw when done with the right words and arrangement – however, I never felt that with The World Within.

Though these words pain me to say, I found this book… boring. I kept waiting for something to happen.

Now I don’t mean vampires attacking, mind you. Nothing ridiculous. But some kind of emotion, some kind of harsh reality of life in that time period… something.

Eagland never managed to make me feel invested enough in any of the characters to relish the subtle story she writes here, unfortunately. The only part that affected me was a part involving a pet – which can almost always get to me emotionally.

Other than that, I didn’t care for the character of Emily and the lack of anything ever really happening made The World Within a book that I had to start skimming, due to the huge pile of other books calling my name.

There are likely plenty of you that would adore this book – so please do read it for yourself. I am one opinion among many, don’t let me dissuade you from giving it a try!

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The Game of Love and Death

The Game of Love and Death is a YA historical novel with a mythological twist by Martha Brockenbrough.

Throughout the centuries Love and Death have selected their players for the great Game. And always, always, Death wins…

This time new players have been carefully chosen as they lay as infants in 1920. One a white baby boy, Henry Bishop, adopted by a wealthy family with a secured future within their expectations. The other a black baby girl, Flora Saudade, orphaned almost as suddenly as she was born and to be raised by her grandmother.

Neither knows of the Game they are now a part of.

In 1937, Henry is looking to get a college scholarship during the Great Depression and Flora dreams of soaring the skies like Amelia Earhart while singing in her family’s jazz club at night.

Their fateful meeting is the catalyst to a Game like no other.

A Game that may take turns that even Love and Death do not foresee…

The Game of Love and Death was an elegant, ambitious story told from a classic yet fresh mythological point of view. It plays with the idea of humans being the playthings of immortal gods – yet is far more than that.

Love and Death are each fully fleshed, captivating characters of their own. They are dimensional, compassionate and enigmatic. Their stakes in the Game are ambiguous and fluid. They are truly entrancing to read about.

Then we have Henry and Flora – two young people placed in a position to fall for each other when such a thing is unheard of. The odds are stacked against them from the beginning. Yet the way in which it’s written, you ache with them and yearn with them.

These are two characters whose connection may have been chosen by immortal gods but whose choices are all their own. Even the secondary, side characters – such as Henry’s cousin Ethan and even Ethan’s parents to a lesser degree, have more depth than expected.

The Game of Love and Death is a lyrical, memorable, sweeping and gripping novel that is also beautifully romantic. Yet more proof that YA can transcend the genre and be utterly readable to any age.

And, in the case of The Game of Love and Death, should be.

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The Monstrumologist

The Monstrumologist is a YA historical horror novel by Rick Yancey.

Orphaned apprentice Will Henry lives and works with Dr. Warthrop – a man whose area of study is monstrumology, i.e. monsters.

Already Will Henry has seen terrors that many men three times his age could never imagine, but when a midnight caller drags in the corpse of a young woman entangled with the carcass of an Anthropophagus, the first of his most horrific cases begins.

A headless monster of extreme height and size, eyes deep in its shoulders and a mouth of razor-sharp teeth in its stomach, Anthropophagi are not supposed to exist in New Jerusalem. Yet, here one is.

Will and the monstrumologist now must race against time to put a stop to these horrors before they kill again. And again. And again…

The Monstrumologist is a gory, suspenseful, creepy novel that demands a strong stomach of its reader.

What’s wonderful about it is that as grisly and graphic as the novel is, as it delves into a monsterific mystery, it is written with an eloquent, elegant narration that delves into character development, subtle human emotion and an out-of-the-ordinary relationship.

This book can be deeply disturbing but also a page-turner with excellent characterizations, severe consequences and a sense of caring as we follow young Will Henry. I grew to have an affection for Will and even the eccentric, brilliant doctor.

I have to say that I am most determined to read the next three books in the series – though I did often feel rather nauseous at the detail of grossness in The Monstrumologist.

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Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron

Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron is the tenth historical mystery in the Jane Austen Mystery series by Stephanie Barron.

As I said last week regarding Jane and the Barque of Frailty, these are really books best read in order to get the full impact and understanding of relationships and such. However, I believe they could potentially work as stand-alone stories, as well.

When Henry’s adored, animated wife Eliza passes away from illness, Jane and Henry mourn her deeply.

Calling on the recuperative, distracting power of the ocean and sea air, the pair head to Brighton to enjoy the teeming, dazzling resort life favored by so many.

It is not long before Jane’s path crosses with the famous, possibly mad, undeniably magnetic poet and seducer of women: Lord Byron. His reputation is known to Jane, but even she cannot help but be shocked by the circumstances in which she meets him.

So, when a beautiful young girl barely out in society is found murdered and placed in Lord Byron’s bed, there are not many who do not think him capable. Including the shrewd mind of Miss Austen herself.

Yet Jane is not one to call a man guilty based off public opinion alone. Pursuing a private investigation, she seeks to discover if Byron is indeed the wrongdoer or if someone is taking advantage of his poor repute.

Another engrossing mystery! Full of period details, fantastic settings and a clue-finding whodunit, Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron is a great read!

The loss of Eliza is a sad one – and one of my favorite things about this series is that Jane, her family and friends are featured in such a way as to care. Some murder mysteries tend to forget about characters and focus primarily on the mystery – but the Jane Austen Mystery series always takes the time to allow for human emotions and relationships. I love that.

This is a captivating story and deals with a rather sad, creepy murder. The ending felt a little ambiguous but it was still satisfying. I am yet again ready for more Jane outings! Though, this time, I am going to pursue some other titles first and return again in a while.

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A Million Miles Away

A Million Miles Away is a YA contemporary novel by Lara Avery.

High school senior Kelsey’s life changes when her identical twin sister, Michelle, dies in a car accident. Her other half is gone. There’s an emptiness inside of her that she can only see reflected in her parents grief-filled eyes.

When Kelsey accidentally intercepts a broken Skype call from Michelle’s boyfriend Peter, deployed in Afghanistan and unaware of Michelle’s death, he thinks he’s seeing Michelle.

Immediately, Kelsey tries to correct him – but the call is so broken he cannot hear her. Soon she realizes that thinking of Michelle is one of the only things keeping Peter going and she finds the truth stuck in her throat the next time she has an opportunity to tell him.

So, she pretends to be Michelle. Emails, chat, written letters.

Initially she tries to write like Michelle – finds an odd comfort and connection to her twin by identifying with everything that made her who she was.

But it doesn’t take long before pretend becomes real – and Kelsey realizes she is falling for Peter…

A Million Miles Away is an absorbing, engrossing story of grief and loss. I scarfed it down very easily and very fast.

Written with a sensitivity that makes Kelsey immensely empathetic, the author manages to make the decision to not tell Peter the truth understandable. You feel Kelsey’s need to, essentially, bring her sister back to life every time she talks to him. And the sadness that comes with the end of each call, each time she has to face that Michelle is no longer there, is evident.

Though it sounds melodramatic for Kelsey to fall for Peter, it happens in a natural, sweet manner in the novel. I appreciated that though Kelsey has some guilt about falling for her sister’s boyfriend, she primarily knows that her twin would understand. That was rather refreshing.

The true worry is the shame of deceiving Peter. Once it’s done, it’s hard to undo.

Despite my captivation in this quiet, mournful story, I did feel that the secondary characters could have been more drawn. Everybody but Kelsey felt like faceless background characters, with the possible exception of Peter and Kelsey’s parents.

Also, though I felt A Million Miles Away was a lovely, heartfelt romance – I felt the end was a bit rushed and convenient, which was disappointing.

However, A Million Miles Away was an excellent, swift read that was worth every minute!

*I received a free review copy of A Million Miles Away from NOVL. Their generosity did not influence the honesty of this review in any way.

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The Sin Eater's Daughter

The Sin Eater’s Daughter is a YA fantasy novel by Melinda Salisbury.

Seventeen year-old Twylla is the Goddess embodied. This means she is impervious to poison but by simply touching another, she kills them.

When she was brought to the castle as a young girl, at the time an apprentice to her mother, the Sin Eater, she did not realize that being the Goddess embodied meant being the royal executioner.

She knows now.

Under constant guard to protect others from her divine, lethal touch, Twylla is avoided as much as she is tentatively revered. Even the royal family, including the prince she is betrothed to, shuns her company despite being the only ones immune to her poison.

Her loneliness is permeated only by her guard who has been with her since the beginning. It’s a professional relationship, but she feels that he actually cares for her.

But when he falls ill, Twylla is given a new, young guard. He throws her off balance with easy smiles, a lack of understanding of the boundaries meant to be established with them and a desire to be sociable. Somehow, he sees her as a girl – not a goddess. Not a blunt instrument of death.

It’s intoxicating.

Yet, Twylla knows that entertaining such ideas as friendship breach into treasonous activity in the eyes of the queen. The queen is not one to be trifled with – as someone who not only uses Twylla’s poisonous gift for execution but even crueler, nauseating means.

Is Twylla still up to doing what she must for the kingdom? Or is she falling into a doomed, hopeless love?

This cannot end well…

Wow – I *loved* The Sin Eater’s Daughter.

I mean - I really, really did.

Swiftly, the author creates a world that is twisted, disturbing and fascinating – with the worrying madness of royalty rivaling that of Game of Thrones.

Twylla is in the midst of it, whether she wants to be or not. And her situation is one that is terribly sad – yet she is wonderfully stoic about it. She doesn’t sit around and cry. She knows what she is and has accepted it as much as she can.

Yet she doesn’t like killing. She doesn’t like to be the weapon.

With a good deal of character development, Twylla’s first person narration is absorbing and compelling. I loved her and I loved where the plot went.

And the plot goes crazy!

I won’t say much here because I want it to all be a surprise for you. But I will say this: The Sin Eater’s Daughter is one of the most breathless, suspenseful, intriguing, romantic novels I have read this year.

It weaves together classic fairytales such as The Magic Flute, The Pied Piper and The White Bride and the Black Bride to create an entirely new tale that is epic in emotional scope.

It sounds like there is to be another book – and I am so very relieved!

Truly memorable.

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The Cake House

The Cake House is a contemporary novel by Latifah Salom.

When Rosaura Douglas’s father shoots himself, her entire life changes.

Suddenly she is living in “The Cake House”, a monstrously pink manor that is nothing like the small apartment she was recently calling home.

She has a step-father that wants to shower money on her with no clear explanation as to where the wealth comes from, and a new step-brother that keeps just as mum.

Soon Rosaura begins to see her father’s ghost – and he always seems to be warning her that her step-father is not to be trusted… That, perhaps, his death was not a suicide…

The Cake House was odd.

Rosaura was very difficult to try and relate to. First, trying to pin down her age was very difficult – the way she reacts to her father’s death made me initially think she was very young. Once it was revealed that she was thirteen/fourteen I found it a little bizarre. I know people deal with grief differently – but her reaction gave me an impression of definite instability… Her ongoing personality traits did not change my opinion of her.

Also, it was very difficult to try to determine what time period we are in – there are so many references to 80s and 90s music and very little reference to 21st century technology. I am still not absolutely certain, but I do think we’re supposed to be in modern times. Strange.

Anywho! With suspicions regarding the circumstances of her father’s death, a mysterious step-father and step-brother and a seemingly terribly unhappy mother – there was some interesting aspects to the plot. Yet… it never really latched on. It just felt disconnected to me. Not absorbing, not page-turning.

Plus, the ghost aspect was never really elaborated on. Was there a ghost? Was it Rosaura’s consciousness? Does this mean she is suffering from a mental illness? I read the whole book and I cannot really tell you.

Sadly, for me, The Cake House was not satisfying and overall just hard for me to invest in. In fact, it was kind of boring and felt pointless…

But – you know what I am going to say!!! Every book has a fan – and it could be you! Read The Cake House for yourself!

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Antebellum Awakening

Antebellum Awakening is the second book in the YA fantasy Network Series by Katie Cross.

I would strongly recommend that readers read Miss Mabel’s School for Girls before this – and warn that this review will contain inevitable spoilers for the first book. Therefore I recommend not reading this review until you’ve read Miss Mabel’s. Feel free to read my review of that first book here.

Half numb from the events at the end of Miss Mabel’s School for Girls and in deep mourning for her mother, Bianca finds herself suddenly at Chatham Castle – her father’s break in tradition in having a family known by all – and many not with a favorable outlook.

Though she’s surrounded by her friends, nothing can distract her from the uncontrollable chaos her powers have become since her mother’s murder. She’s putting everyone is danger by just being present.

Yet the most daunting thing is that she only has six months left before her seventeenth birthday – the day that her Inheritance Curse will kill her, as it’s killed others in her family.

Unless she can somehow break the contract with the cunning, powerful woman who killed her mother – her former teacher, Miss Mabel…

Miss Mabel’s School for Girls was very impressive to me – a suspenseful mix of intrigue, danger and magic. It was included on my Stand-Out Books of 2014, as you lovely bibliophiles know.

Antebellum Awakening was still good… but didn’t stand out to me as much.

It was still good and intriguing, the Network world is fascinating and I always want to know more about it, but the setting of Chatham Castle just wasn’t as gripping as the school in book one.

Whereas in the first book Bianca was in a sort of espionage position, confronting her enemy head on and having to be very sneaky to get away with it – this second novel is more focused on Bianca’s grief and education on controlling her powers.

This doesn’t mean it wasn’t good – it was! Great character development, definitely sympathetic and it’s realistic that Bianca would need to go through this – rather heartbreaking, really.

It just wasn’t edge-of-your-seat exciting and nerve wracking like Miss Mabel’s School for Girls was.

So, don’t expect the same level of suspense – but some relatively good development on the overall plot and a few new details about the Network and what was around before the Network came to be.

I’ll still be interested in book three.

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The Page Turners

The Page Turners is a YA contemporary horror novel, and the first in a trilogy, by Kevin T. Johns.

Nate, Danny and Spenser are outcasts – and they’ve found that this is far more apparent and dangerous now that they are freshmen in high school.

Daily they are victims of ridicule and, at least in Nate’s case, violence. For Nate, his home life is not much better.

One of the only bright moments the friends look forward to is their self-made club – The Page Turners.

Essentially they meet in the library to discuss their mutual passion for fiction – whether literature, movies or television – and present their opinions and thoughts in an organized, official manner.

It’s during one of these meetings that Nate happens upon a strange book in the library – something old, handwritten and brimming with mystery. He’s sure that it is real magic – but when they speak the incantation they find in English – nothing happens.

…or does it?

The Page Turners is a quickly paced book that is easy and fast to read – as well as surprisingly intriguing!

I felt that the rather creative plot – which I’m not giving away much of in the synopsis I wrote – was relatively well done, too. At times, the writing came across perhaps a little more self-important than needed – maybe a tad more serious than necessary…

Yet the characters were presented with having some rather dark family and personal issues, which gave the fantastical plotline a huge dose of realism as it was grounded in that edginess.

Sometimes I felt that the boys argued too much and I would’ve liked to perhaps see more bonds of friendship – but overall I felt The Page Turners was a very good contemporary horror book that didn’t skimp on character development!

I will be interested in what happens next, for sure.

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