Once Dead, Twice Shy by Kim Harrison

I could not find a blurb on the author's website, though I did find an excerpt.  I will attempt to summarize myself:  Madison Avery is a young dead teenage girl with several problems besides being dead.  While at the prom, she got killed by a reaper, and she found out that Barnabas, the angel in charge of guarding her, had failed.  However, she managed to grab her killer's magical amulet, and now she's trying to make it work and avoid getting her soul destroyed (and her unlife ended) by her killer.


Let's start with the bad and end with the good, shall we?  Harrison throws you into this story without a life vest.  She throws you in without swimmies.  You've got to fight through the first few chapters, trying to figure out what the hell is going on because you don't know the characters, the world, what's happened to the main character to get her into the situation she's in, and you probably don't care.  Perhaps she does this on purpose.

But, it's not well done. 

It's aggravating and I almost gave up reading.  Why did I continue?  The little I could understand was interesting and easy to read, so I kept going.  Around half-way through the book, I realized I was into the story.  I was into the Grace, the guardian angel who composes limericks.  I liked Madison when she wasn't vrooming wildly between goth and faux-aggressive Buffy-esque chick.  The plot, when you threw away all the overly-dramatic bits, was pretty darned good. 

By  the time I got to the end, I was happy I had stuck it out.  I liked the resolution of the action and I found the premise interesting enough that I added the sequel to my library wishlist, and I looked for the novella that probably came before! Sure, the last chapter was sort of cheesy, but the chapters that preceded it were so strong that I was willing to forgive and forget.

Verdict: 6.  I'm glad I kept reading this book, even though I struggled through the beginning chapters.  I think if I had not finished it, I would have mentally given it a 3 or 4, but the ending showed so much promise, that I ratcheted up the score.

Thoughts:  I know that Kim Harrison likes to write in anthologies, but this is ridiculous.  The beginning of this book practically required that you had pre-read Prom Nights From Hell.  And from the small excerpt I read of that short story, she greatly changed the supporting characters, such as Josh, around by the time she wrote this book.  I'm almost angered by this whole fact.

A Quick Review: Bones of Faerie by Janni Lee Simner

From the author's website:  "The war between humanity and Faerie devastated both sides. Or so fifteen-year-old Liza has been told. Nothing has been seen or heard from Faerie since, and Liza's world bears the scars of its encounter with magic. Corn resists being harvested; dandelions have thorns. Trees move with sinister intention, and the town Liza calls home is surrounded by a forest that threatens to harm all those who wander into it. Still Liza feels safe. Her father is strong and has protected their town by laying down strict rules. Among them: Any trace of magic must be destroyed, no matter where it is found.


Then Liza's sister is born with faerie-pale hair, clear as glass, and Liza's father leaves the baby on a hillside to die. When her mother disappears into the forest and Liza herself discovers she has the faerie ability to see--into the past, into the future--she has no choice but to flee. Liza's quest will take her into Faerie and back again, and what she finds along the way may be the key to healing both worlds."

This super fast read was pretty middle of the road.  I liked aspects of it, such as the world building and the supporting characters to Liza, but I never found myself getting fully immersed in the story.  I think part of the problem is that you come into the story without getting any time to get to know the main character before grand sweeping changes come into her world, and it's not handled well.  I never felt I really knew Liza and that made for a disconnect with her quest to find her mother.  I certainly think that this book was adequately written, but it just was not for me.

Verdict:  4.  Didn't mind reading it, but I'll never pick it up again for fun.

Thoughts:  I actually liked the werewolf in this book.  That never happens since I generally hate any type of shape shifter in any book whatsoever.  Good on you, author.  That and the inclusion of the cat bumped the grade of the book up a notch!

Fallen by Lauren Kate

From the author's website: "There’s something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.

Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price’s attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia. He’s the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.

Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce–and goes out of his way to make that very clear–she can’t let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret . . . even if it kills her."

After reading a few fairly negative reviews of Fallen, including one from a blogger I trust,  I was remarkably hesitant to read this novel. I wavered back and forth, back and forth. Did I want to read a novel that was receiving good reviews from people who mostly loved fated love and Twilight? The answer was no for a long time, and then I spotted it in my library and I couldn't resist that cover. God must really love his angels because he makes sure their books look the prettiest, even if the angels are fallen!

I started the book the day I got it and finished it rather quickly, perhaps several hours later. And my immediate reaction was, "Well, besides Luce and Daniel being kind of boring, that wasn't so bad. I don't know why it got such bad reviews." Then, I took the time to think about it, and here's why I think it got bad reviews.

Let's face it, Luce and Daniel are boring and that makes their romance kind of boring too. Besides being good looking and mysterious, what does Daniel got going for him? He both growls and stares at Luce in meaningful ways. He is mean to her, but also sweet to her. He's basically Edward Cullen in angel form, and I didn't like Edward Cullen either. (To be fair to Edward, Daniel isn't half so interesting as he never, not once, plays vampiric baseball, which is my favorite WTF moment from the first Twilight novel.)

The main villain of the novel is barely fleshed out, and the motivations behind the villainy are not explained in any meaningful way. They never explain why all these angels are hanging out at a reform school since they don't appear to expect the main character to show. Do angels just like hanging at reform schools?

The climax is rather a let down, and I think I'm growing to hate badly done love triangles. (Ask me how I feel about a good love triangle in which the guy I like wins or in which I like both guys and I'll give you a completely different answer.)

So, why the verdict of a four then, I'm sure you're asking. Because it has two redeeming characters who I very very quickly grew to love. Arianne and Penn. Those two characters are the reason I'll probably read Torment. (That, and the cover. Again, pretty.) Both of these friends of Luce made me interested in what was happening and what they were doing. The moment Arianne commanded Luce to chop her hair, I think I fell a bit in love with her. Why did Luce cut her hair? Because she was forced to, due to the 'incident'. Why did Arianne? Because she's got a will of iron and a strange impulsive nature! However, even better than Arianne, was poor poor Penn.

Penn deserved to be the real star of this show. She was odd, sneaky, an interesting friend, and not very impressed with the people at the school with her. Her back story gave her an interesting reason for being at the school, unlike ANY ONE else in the book. She stole every scene she was in with Luce.

In fact, trying to remember this book that I read over three weeks ago, the scenes I remember most clearly are those with Arianne, Penn, or Cam, and that's because they were the most interesting and most memorable scenes.

I am betting I'll read the second book in the series, but I'm hoping that Daniel and Luce get personality transplants between the books.

Verdict: 4.  Thinking about it and discounting Penn and Arianne, I wanted to punch every one of the characters.  Well, and besides Cam.  I'd totally make out with him before punching him.

Thoughts: No, seriously. Angel covers? The prettiest. I have read hideous reviews of Hush, Hush, but would I turn it down if I saw it at the library?  No. In fact, I want to buy these just to have them to be pretty on my bookshelf. I have the same problem with the Luxe series (especially Rumors) that is gorgeous, but rather boring.