Review: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Tucholke

Title: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Tucholke

Published: August 15^th, 2013 by Dial

Source: Purchased for Audible

Format: Audio book narrated by Jorjeana Marie

Genre: Paranormal | Mystery | Horror

Group age: YA (older)

Grade rate: C+

You stop fearing the devil when you’re holding his hand… Nothing much exciting rolls through Violet White’s sleepy, seaside town… until River West comes along. River rents the guest house behind Violet’s crumbling estate, and as eerie, grim things start to happen, Violet begins to wonder about the boy living in her backyard.
 Is River just a crooked-smiling liar with pretty eyes and a mysterious past? Or could he be something more? Violet’s grandmother always warned her about the Devil, but she never said he could be a dark-haired boy who takes naps in the sun, who likes coffee, who kisses you in a cemetery... who makes you want to kiss back.
 Violet’s already so knee-deep in love, she can’t see straight. And that’s just how River likes it. Blending faded decadence and the thrilling dread of gothic horror, April Genevieve Tucholke weaves a dreamy, twisting contemporary romance, as gorgeously told as it is terrifying—a debut to watch.

My Review

Hmmm… I’m not sure how to go about describing this one. I think I was expecting something different from Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea.  It turned out to be quite creepy, with a touch of horror to boot.

The story is strange and unrealistic.  Yes, I understand it is fiction, but I just didn’t buy it.  For starters Violet and Luke’s parents just up and take off for Europe leaving the 16-year-old twins by themselves and that seems to be okay with everyone in the small town of Echo.  These teenagers seem to be gallivanting all over the place without any supervision.  Then Violet decides to put their guest house for rent and takes in the first boy that asks about the house (it happens to be River), a total stranger!  Then, even if strange things happen around River and Violet affirms that she doesn’t trust him, she still lets herself be kissed silly and then gets in bed with him (not what you’re thinking though)!  When a man commits suicide in front of everyone, Violet decides to go and get his son Jack to stay with them before the police takes him away and everyone is okay with this too. The unbelievable things just keep mounting one on top of the other. 

I’m not sure what to think about the characters either.  Violet is naïve and too trusting, but she tries to do her best since she was put in an impossible situation. Luke is a little more realistic, he gives his sister a hard time, but that’s what brothers are for, right? He is into girls (*duh*) and he honestly likes his sister and cares for her. River is very strange.  He has his own twisted sense of what is right and wrong and he loves to play god.  He is very conceited and not the best person to know either.  Let me spell something for you Violet: murder is wrong!!!  Instant-love just doesn’t work here at all. The only sensible person might have been Violet and Luke’s grandmother Freddie, and she has been dead for four years when the story starts.

The writing is good, but I found the over use of simile and metaphor exhausting to keep up with.  Maybe Tucholke was aiming for gothic and lyrical, but it didn’t quite accomplish it.  The plot is good, I did like the sense of urgency, and mystery and I did not see the ending coming at all.  Strange, creepy, horrific things happen at every turn. The ending is inconclusive, with River going away on his own to resolve a big problem; but hey! That’s what sequels are for, right?

All in all, I will still read Between the Spark and The Burn, due to be published in August, if only to know what happens with River and his glow at the end.

Blog Tour, Review and Giveaway: Nightmare City by Andrew Klavan

Hi gorgeous people and welcome to Reading with ABC's stop of the Nightmare City Blog Tour.  This tour is hosted by YA Bound and you can find the rest of the stops here.

Title: Nightmare City by Andrew Klavan
Published: November 5th, 2013 by Thomas Nelson Publisher 
Source: ARC provided for the tour
Format: eBook
Genre: Contemporary | Horror | Mystery
Group age: Young adult
Grade rate: B-

What should have been an ordinary morning is about to spiral into a day of unrelenting terror. As a reporter for his high school newspaper, Tom is always on the lookout for an offbeat story. But from the moment he woke up this morning, his own life has been more bizarre than any headline could ever tell. The streets of his town are suddenly empty and silent. A strange fog has drifted in from the sea and hangs over everything. And something is moving in that fog. Something evil. Something hungry. Closing in on Tom. Tom's terrified girlfriend Marie says the answers lie at the Santa Maria Monastery, a haunted ruin standing amidst a forest blackened by wildfire. But can he trust her? A voice that seems to be coming from beyond the grave is warning him that nothing is what it seems. "Only one thing is certain: with his world collapsing around him, Tom has only a few hours to recover the life he knew - before he, too, is lost forever in this nightmare city."

Find it Here:  Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | TBD | Kobo

My Review

Let me just start by stating that this book was not what I expected.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I think the synopsis is misleading.  All in all, Nightmare City is a fast paced mystery with horror thrown in for good measure.

Tom is our protagonist and he is the star reporter of his high school paper. He got in trouble due to a story that he wrote that has made him mighty unpopular and open a can of worms in the process. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you too much about the story because it has so many twists and turns that you must experience yourself first hand and I don’t want to spoil it for you. 

Review: 172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad

Arianne reviewed a book very appropriate for Halloween, sorry I post her review one day after :)

Title: 172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad

Release date:  April 5th 2013

Source: Sent by publisher for review

Format: Paperback

Age group: Young adult

Genre: Science fiction

Reviewer: Adrianne

Grade rate: C-

It's been decades since anyone set foot on the moon. Now three ordinary teenagers, the winners of NASA's unprecedented, worldwide lottery, are about to become the first young people in space--and change their lives forever.Mia, from Norway, hopes this will be her punk band's ticket to fame and fortune.Midori believes it's her way out of her restrained life in Japan.Antoine, from France, just wants to get as far away from his ex-girlfriend as possible.It's the opportunity of a lifetime, but little do the teenagers know that something sinister is waiting for them on the desolate surface of the moon. And in the black vacuum of space... no one is coming to save them.In this chilling adventure set in the most brutal landscape known to man, highly acclaimed Norwegian novelist Johan Harstad creates a vivid and frightening world of possibilities we can only hope never come true.

Review

72 Hours on the Moon is a book that truly stands out from the crowd. It is really, really different from anything we’ve seen before.  Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I’d hoped I would.

 Packed with action, fraught with tension and perforated by fear, it has ‘thriller’ written all over it. It’s an edge-of-your-seat story with a bleak backdrop and issue-driven characters. Johan Harstad has also embraced his science fiction side, however, so naturally, there are aliens involved.

I loved the opening. A multinational conglomerate re-investigating the possibility of putting people on the moon? It’s genius. The research and use of documentation, pictures and even the famous Wow! signal give it an especially plausible feel.

However, the characterization of the book let it down. Midori, Antoine and Mia are great main characters in theory but they just don’t live up to expectation. Mia in particular is given a lot of time on the page. She’s by no means a stereotypical female lead and may even be the last hope against the dreadful fate that appears to await all who dare set foot on the surface of the moon, but she never really came to life for me. I wanted to like her but there was nothing to like!

The pacing is also a problem. The author glosses over a romance and a several-month chunk of training in the first half of the book. This valuable time could have been used to develop the characters more, but instead they were left sketchy and vague. I know it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of the moon mission and perhaps that’s what most readers want to get to when reading a book like this, but I actually would have preferred it had the mission been delayed and the early parts of the story had been given more attention.

This trend of uninspiring writing continues throughout the book. I should mention that 172 Hours on the Moon was originally published in Norway and the lost-in-translation effect of English-language publishing could be easily to blame for the stylistic negatives of the story. As for the central plot and character mistakes, I’m not so sure.

The real downer of 172 Hours on the Moon is the fact that it soon turns into a horror story - and that wasn't what I wanted from it. Move over, plot concepts and character progression – it’s gore galore in here. I’d signed up for creepy; I got horrific.

I should talk about the ending, though. I did not see that one coming! Inherent bloodshed aside, it allowed me to at least enjoy one section of the book. I won’t spoil it for you, but let’s just say it’s worth sticking with 172 Hours on the Moon just to read it.

This book was equal parts good and bad, but it’s the extent of gore and horror that really tips it over the negative scale for me.  Overall, just not my style – though it is worth noting that around the same time as I was reading this, Lynx launched their Space Academy contest and commercials. I nearly fell off my chair when I realized how similar the premise was to the beginning of 172 Hours on the Moon. Perhaps science fiction isn’t so fictional after all…

Originally posted at: Daisy Chain Book Reviews

Waiting on Wednesday: Final Descent by Rick Yancey (The Monstrumologist #4)

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine in which we have the opportunity to let others know about books that we are eagerly waiting for.

Title: Final Descent by Rick Yancey

Published by: Simon & Schuster

Release date: September 10th, 3013

Will Henry and Dr. Warthrop have encountered many horrors together—but can Will endure a monstrumological terror without his mentor?Will Henry has been through more that seems possible for a boy of fourteen. He’s been on the brink of death on more than one occasion, he has gazed into hell—and hell has stared back at him, and known his face. But through it all, Dr. Warthrop has been at his side.When Dr. Warthrop fears that Will’s loyalties may be shifting, he turns on Will with a fury, determined to reclaim his young apprentice’s devotion. And so Will must face one of the most horrific creatures of his monstrumology career—and he must face it alone.Over the course of one day, Will’s life—and Pellinor Warthrop’s destiny—will lie in balance. In the terrifying depths of the Monstrumarium, they will face a monster more terrible than any they could have imagined—and their fates will be decided.

Why I want to read it:  Oh my goodness!  Finally, the last book of the Monstrumologist series!  I cannot tell you how excited I am about this one!  (maybe you can tell by all the exclamation points?)  I absolutely love this series, so please snap to September, please :)

What are you waiting for this week?

Review: The Isle of Blood by Rick Yancey (The Monstrumologist #3)

Title: The Isle of Blood by Rick Yancey

Published: September 13^th, 2011 by Simon & Schuster

Format: Audio book (14 hours and 29 minutes); narrated by Steven Boyer

Source:  Library

Challenge(s): Support Local Library

Grade rate: A

When Dr. Warthrop goes hunting the "Holy Grail of Monstrumology" with his eager new assistant, Arkwright, he leaves Will Henry in New York. Finally, Will can enjoy something that always seemed out of reach: a normal life with a real family. But part of Will can't let go of Dr. Warthrop, and when Arkwright returns claiming that the doctor is dead, Will is devastated--and not convinced.
 Determined to discover the truth, Will travels to London, knowing that if he succeeds, he will be plunging into depths of horror worse than anything he has experienced so far. His journey will take him to Socotra, the Isle of Blood, where human beings are used to make nests and blood rains from the sky--and will put Will Henry's loyalty to the ultimate test.

My Review

Another amazing addition to the Monstrumologist series!  I am so happy to have read The Isle of Blood, Rick Yancey is a very talented author. You can find my reviews for the previous books,  The Monstrumologist here and for The Curse of the Wendigo here.

The Isle of Blood starts a couple of months after the end of the previous book, and it finds our unstable hero, Dr. Warthrop, and our reluctant narrator, Will Henry, facing a new mystery in the form of a

Typhoeus Magnificum, delivered to their house.  This expertly crafted nest of human entrails is believed to be the creation of the Magnificum, The Faceless One of a Thousand Faces, a myth among mostrumologists and sort of the ‘holy grail’ of aberrant biology.  So starts their new adventure that goes from New York, to England, to Venice and halfway around the world to the Isle of Blood. 

It is very interesting to me how the characters have grown from the beginning of the series.  Pellinore Warthrop, once a completely hateful characters (at least to me), has grown to become an almost paternal figure for Will.  Although he does leave him behind, he does so because he believes it is the best for Henry.  His reluctant love for Will is fun to watch.  On the other hand, I am quite worried about the changes in Will Henry.  Not only does he seems to have an unhealthy connection to Dr. Warthrop, but also has become more callus, more cynical, and with much less regard for human life.  It is really worrisome that Will was unable to adapt to a perfect family life when it was offered (if it were me, I would have dropped the doctor in a heartbeat!).  I really have no idea where the story might go next and I hope Mr. Yancey finds a way to gives us a glimpse of what like was like for Will after and a way to recognize the dear doctor.

As you can probably tell from my rambling about our main characters above, that the characterization is truly a work of art.  All the characters are so alive, with distinct personalities and a unique voice.  Johh Kerns becomes a human monster, Lilly Bates such an interesting and unusual young lady, Mrs. Bates is an incredible force of nature to do what is ‘right’. 

The plot is marvelous, Mr. Yancey’s imagination knows no boundaries.  The pacing is slower than the previous books, especially the time that Will and Dr. Worthtop spent separated; in addition, this book is not as ‘bloody’ as the previous two.  The most incredible gift of the series is the writing.  I cannot tell you how outstanding it is, so instead I will share a bit of it:

“You may have fallen long ago over the edge of the world, John, but I    have not. Not yet anyway. To show mercy is not naïve. To hold out against the end of hope is not stupidity of madness. It is fundamentally human. Of course, the child is doomed. We are all doomed; we are all poisoned from our birth by the rot of stars. That does not mean we should succumb like you to the seductive fallacy of despair, the dark tide that would drown us. You may think I’m stupid…a madman and a fool, but at least I stand upright in a fallen world.” – Dr. Worthrop talking to John Kerns

This series is not for the weak hearted (or weak of stomach for that matter), but if you can handle the gore, the blood and the monsters, it is, in short, a work of art.  I cannot wait for The Final Descent, the last book in the series; but alas, wait I must since it is not due until September of next year.

About the cover: I like the cover.  I like the big “M” for monstrumologist and the font on the dark background.  It brings the eye to the creepy, faceless creature in green reaching out to the reader.  The tree represents the Isle of Blood and I take it these birds represent death.  

Have you read this series?  Would you give it a try?  Do you like to read horror books? 

Review: The Curse of the Wendigo by Rick Yancey (The Monstrumologist #2)

Title: The Curse of the Wendigo by Rick Yancey

Published: October 12, 2010 by Simon & Schuster

Source: Library

Format: Audio book

Challenge(s): Support Local Library,  ABC Challenge

Grade rate: A+

NOTE: This book falls in the genre of horror, I would recommend it to an older reader

While Dr. Warthrop is attempting to disprove that Homo vampiris, the vampire, could exist, his former fiancée asks him to rescue her husband, who has been captured by a Wendigo—a creature that starves even as it gorges itself on human flesh. Although Dr. Warthrop considers the Wendigo to be fictitious, he relents and performs the rescue—and then sees the man transform into a Wendigo. Can the doctor and Will Henry hunt down the ultimate predator, who, like the legendary vampire, is neither living nor dead, and whose hunger for human flesh is never satisfied? This second book in The Monstrumologist series explores the line between myth and reality, love and hate, genius and madness.

My Review

I’m sure that it doesn’t matter how hard I try I can never do this series justice.  The Monstrumologist is a masterpiece and it was hard to imagine that Mr. Yancey would be able to match it, but indeed he did.

The Curse of the Wendigo starts very soon after the end of The Monstrumologist with brave Will Henry as our narrator and protagonist. 

The book can be divided in two parts: first, the expedition to the Canadian forest in search for Dr. John Chandler, and second, the trip to New York City for the monstrumologist’s annual convention.  Both parts have their up and downs and we get introduced to many new characters and a new and perfectly horrid “monster”.  We learn in this book about Dr. Warthrop’s ex-fiancé and one of the reasons why he behaves the way he does (coupled with a very un-loving childhood).  We also meet many of Warthrop’s colleagues in the search for the “Wendigo”.

One of the most fascinating things about this series is not only its mesmerizing story line and plot, but the brilliant writing by Mr. Yancey.   He makes images and pictures come to life just by stringing words together.  He makes a forest comes to life and be another living character, he describes monsters and the monstrosities they commit in a way that had me cringing in disgust and despair.  Take the following paragraph for example:

“There is no future in it, Will Henry,” he said pensively. “The future belongs to science. The fate of our species will be determined by the likes of Edison and Tesla, not Wordsworth or Whitman. The poets will lie upon the shores of Babylon and weep, poisoned by the fruit that grows from the ground where the Muses’ corpses rot. The poets’ voices will be drowned out by the gears of progress. I foresee the day when all sentiment is reduced to a chemical equation in our brains—hope, faith, even love—their exact locations pinned down and mapped out, so we may point to it and say, ‘Here, in this region of our cerebral cortex, lies the soul.’”

Needless to say, I cannot wait to read The Isle of Blood, the third installment in the series.   This series is not for the faint of heart, but it is so, so good.  If you like horror movies (which I do not) give The Monstrumologist a try.

About the cover:  The cover is a lot less scary than The Monstrumologist’s was, and still there is a scary face in the background, kind of sneaking on you.  We can also see the forest and the red symbolizing death and blood.

Review: The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey (The Monstrumologist #1)

Title: The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

Published: September 22nd 2009

Source: Library audio book

Challenge (s):  Support Local Library

Grade rate: A

These are the secrets I have kept. This is the trust I never betrayed. But he is dead now and has been for nearly ninety years, the one who gave me his trust, the one for whom I kept these secrets. The one who saved me . . . and the one who cursed me.

So starts the diary of Will Henry, orphan and assistant to a doctor with a most unusual specialty: monster hunting. In the short time he has lived with the doctor, Will has grown accustomed to his late night callers and dangerous business. But when one visitor comes with the body of a young girl and the monster that was feeding on her, Will's world is about to change forever. The doctor has discovered a baby Anthropophagi--a headless monster that feeds through the mouthfuls of teeth in its chest--and it signals a growing number of Anthropophagi. Now, Will and the doctor must face the horror threatening to overtake and consume our world before it is too late.

My Review

I finished listening to The Monstrumologist audio book a few days ago and since then I have been thinking on how to begin this review.  This book was a rich mix of horror, mystery and something else I quite can’t put my finger on, but that combined put together a masterpiece that I am afraid I lack the words to describe.

Our protagonist and narrator is Will J. Henry, a 12-year-old orphan that is the assistant to the monstrumologist, Dr. Pellinore Warthrop.  Will is such an endearing character, and by the end of the story I felt like we intimately knew him; his loyalty, his fears, his eagerness to please his master, his resourcefulness give us a glimpse of the great man he is sure to grow up to be.  Dr. Warthrop’s character is a mix of the good and the bad.  I would like to think that he really cares for Will, but he is such an unlovable character himself, so full of knowledge and self-evident genius, and at the same time lacking the common sense and basic empathy that most people have.  *SNAP TO Will Henry*.  What to say about Jack Kearns?  Only that monsters come in all shape and sizes.

What made this novel so fascinating to me was not only the original plot, the gothic experience, the feeling of jumping out of my skin every few minutes or making disgusted faces at everyone (remember I was listening to it while driving!), but the storytelling itself.  Mr. Yancey is a master, and I bow to you sir.  Words become the things that he uses to craft a magnificent story, in which the metaphor and simile become an art.  Read this expert from chapter one:

But nothing had prepared me for what the old man delivered that night. I daresay your average adult would have fled the room in horror, run screaming up the stairs and out of the house, for what lay within that burlap cocoon laid shame to all the platitudes and promises from a thousand pulpits upon the nature of a just and loving God, of a balanced and kind universe, and the dignity of man. A crime, the old grave-robber had called it. Indeed there seemed no better word for it, though a crime requires a criminal...and who or what was the criminal in this case?

I will most definitely snap to and read The Curse of the Wendigo (which I already own!) soon and The Monstrumologist has made Mr. Yancey one of my favorite authors.  

About the cover:  Creepy, uh?  Well, the book IS creepy, and not for the weak of stomach, that’s for sure!

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