Book Review: Timeless

Timeless (Parasol Protectorate #5)
Gail Carriger
(20 stars out of 5)

I'm a little sad. I love this series, and alas, it is over. Alexia has completed her journey (though her daughter's journey will be beginning in a new series coming out sometime in the nearish future SQUEE!).

Ok, so those of you who aren't familiar with the series (OHMYGOSHWHATISWRONGWITHYOUGOREADITRIGHTNOW!!!) Alexia lives in a world of vampires, werewolves, and ghosts. The common theory is that people with an excess of soul are able to be turned into a vamp or a wolfie, and if they aren't turned in life, they may stick around as a ghost. Alexia is an even rarer creature - she's a spinster without a soul. When a Soulless touches one of the vampires or werewolves, they revert to their mortal form: vamps can see the sun and lose their fangs, werewolves in wolf form are instantly changed back to (naked) humanity. And if a Soulless were to touch the dead body that used to house the ghost, the ghost is no more.

The world Gail Carriger created is set in Victorian England and is a lovely mix of Steampunk and Paranormal (with a bit of Romance thrown in). Alexia is the straight (wo)man surrounded by a colorful cast of characters: her love interest and head of BUR (a sort of supernatural affairs division of the government) and werewolf pack leader, Conall Maccon, who growls a lot and doesn't seem to mind that Alexia is too old (she's in her mid-to-late twenties while he's over 200 years old), that she's part-Italian, or that she has more curves than is considered popular (he really doesn't mind that bit). Her vampire friend, Akeldama, who is a rove (or loner) vampire, dresses with 18th century flair, and has a house full of pretty young men who act as his household staff and gossip collectors (called drones). There's also Lyall, Conall's second in command; Ivy Hisselpenny, Alexia's friend and wearer of atrocious hats; Biffy, Akeldama's head drone; two awful half-sisters and a flighty mother; and the ever present and effective butler, Floote.

Timeless neatly ties up all the loose ends in this five book series. I enjoyed every chapter, every page, and every word of each of these books. I can't wait for her new YA series, which begins with Espionage and Etiquette, and will be coming out in February.

Anyone who can turn a parasol into a multi-layered weapon, whose heroine believes that anything can be made better with liberal application of tea, and can slip in a "llama, llama, duck" reference into a book taking place in Victorian England, will always have me as a loyal reader!

"Waiting On" Wednesday

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:









The Casual Vacancy
By: J.K. Rowling
Publication Date: September 27, 2012

Description from Goodreads:
When Barry Fairweather dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock.

Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…Pagford is not what it first seems.

And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?

From Me:
I know this is probably on ever reader's to-read list, but I didn't realize it was coming out so soon! Sure, it's over a month away, but I honestly thought it'd be another 6 months to a year. Don't know why I thought that, but I've really excited that it's coming!

It's Monday: What are you reading?

It's Monday: What are you reading? is a weekly meme from Book Journey.

I'm currently reading:

Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry. My fellow-librarian-friend has been bugging me to read this book for months and I'm finally getting it done. I'm about a third of the way through it and it's really good so far. Unlike most zombie movies, this book looks at what zombies used to be - people - and the notion of dignity in death, despite the fact that they're dangerous and no longer sentient beings.

What I recently finished:

Croaked by Gina Damico (4 out of 5 stars) - see my full review below.

Peculiars by Maureen Doyle McQuerry (2 out of 5 stars) - see my full review below.

Ouran High School Host Club (Manga series books 1-18) by Bisco Hatori (5 out of 5 stars) - see my full review below.

What I'll read next:

I was recently contacted by Laurianne Uy to read and review her manga/graphic novel Polterguys. It has a sort of Ouran feel to it - according to Laur - so I'm excited to give it a shot!

Book Review: Croak

Croak (Croak #1)
by Gina Damico
(4 out of 5 stars)

“Life isn't fair. Why should death be any different?”

"'And what...did you mean when you said you're going to teach me how to Kill people?'
He snickered. 'You didn't really think you were going to spend the whole summer milking cows, did you?'"

Description from Goodreads:
Fed up with her wild behavior, sixteen-year-old Lex's parents ship her off to upstate New York to live with her Uncle Mort for the summer, hoping that a few months of dirty farm work will whip her back into shape. But Uncle Mort's true occupation is much dirtier than shoveling manure. He's a Grim Reaper. And he's going to teach Lex the family business. She quickly assimilates into the peculiar world of Croak, a town populated by reapers who deliver souls from this life to the next. But Lex can't stop her desire for justice--or is it vengeance?--whenever she encounters a murder victim, craving to stop the attackers before they can strike again. Will she ditch Croak and go rogue with her reaper skills?

From me:
Girl with anger-management issues becomes a grim reaper. That's the story in one sentence and it does a pretty good job of encapsulating the humor, snark, and action that happens in the story. Lex was a perfect kid, until she turned 14, and then she would erupt into rages that even she couldn't explain. In a last ditch effort to help their daughter, Lex's parents send her off to her Uncle Mort's farm. Lex thinks she's going to spend the summer milking cows and feeding chickens and other farm-type tasks, much to her dismay (she's not only a city-girl, she's a New York City-girl). But when she gets off the bus in the middle of nowhere and is approached by a guy in black leather, with skeletal hands, and riding on a motorcycle - claiming to be her uncle - she doesn't believe it. And that's only the first of the surprises.

Lex is taken to the small town of Croak, which turns out to be entirely populated by grim reapers. Their job is to release the souls of those that have just died to enable them to move on. Lex is a Killer - she touches the body to release the soul - and every Killer has a partner who is a Culler - who grabs the soul and takes it back to Croak to be released into an afterlife. As the story goes on, Lex's rage diminishes, except when she realizes that she can do nothing to stop the murderers who necessitate some of Lex's Kills.

This book was both fun, exciting, and at times heartbreaking. Damico has created an interesting take on an ancient idea - that of the grim reaper. Here, her reapers start young, and the sign that they're reapers is the strange and sudden rage they all develop in their teens. It's a quick read, definitely a page-turner. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who likes the paranormal or urban fantasy genres or anyone who likes their stories with a side of snark.

If you're still not convinced, check out this awesome book trailer!

Book Review: The Peculiars

The Peculiars
By Maureen Doyle McQuerry
(2 out of 5 stars)

"Maybe it was only goblin women who were restless and wanted to see the world. She didn't know.”

Description from Goodreads:
This dark and thrilling adventure, with an unforgettable heroine, will captivate fans of steampunk, fantasy, and romance. On her 18th birthday, Lena Mattacascar decides to search for her father, who disappeared into the northern wilderness of Scree when Lena was young. Scree is inhabited by Peculiars, people whose unusual characteristics make them unacceptable to modern society. Lena wonders if her father is the source of her own extraordinary characteristics and if she, too, is Peculiar. On the train she meets a young librarian, Jimson Quiggley, who is traveling to a town on the edge of Scree to work in the home and library of the inventor Mr. Beasley. The train is stopped by men being chased by the handsome young marshal Thomas Saltre. When Saltre learns who Lena’s father is, he convinces her to spy on Mr. Beasley and the strange folk who disappear into his home, Zephyr House. A daring escape in an aerocopter leads Lena into the wilds of Scree to confront her deepest fears.

My Review:
I had such high hopes for this book. I really like the steampunk genre, which this fits into, and the cover art was pretty great. However, I didn't get into the story. The main character, Lena, thinks she's a Peculiar. Her father was rumored to be a goblin, though most people in the city didn't really believe in that sort of thing. Lena is sure she is, though, because she has super long hands and feet, which both have a third joint. Lena has been told all her life by her grandmother that goblins are no good and implying that Lena has the same wild nature as her father (even though she's actually pretty meek and compliant). So Lena is never sure if her urges to see the world and find her father are normal or if they're part of her wild side.

Which would have been fine...except she's so whiny about it! And despite the fact that she's the heroine and you're supposed to like her, she did so many stupid things and acted so pathetically that I really couldn't stand her.

My other issue with this story is that the author was too heavy-handed with any element related to her brilliant inventor character - basically, he's so smart that he's figured out medicine, mechanics, etc, before their real 20th century inventors, and the same goes for the steampunk elements. I think it goes back to the first rule of writing: show, don't tell. And McQuerry did an awful lot of telling. I really don't know how to explain it any better than that, but suffice it to say, it took me out of the story and caused me to roll my eyes several times.

All that being said, this was an easy and quick read, and if you're into steampunk or fairy stories it may be worth it to give it a shot.

P.S. The character on the cover is not Lena. Lena has long hands and feet, not wings. The winged girl is a minor character who isn't in the story too much.

Manga Review: Ouran High School Host Club

Ouran High School Host Club (18 volumes)
By: Bisco Hatori
(5 out of 5 stars)

Let me preface this post by saying I am a total noob (aka newbie) when it comes to manga and anime (graphic novels and comics, too, for that matter). My friend, Mike, is always sending me links to anime clips and giving me lists of stuff I should watch. Most of the time I think it's completely wackadoodle (like the one where there's a princess who is a ballerina who turns into a duck...something like that...). I was hanging out with Mike and my other librarian friend, Lauren, and they teamed up and forced me to watch the anime of Ouran High School Host Club. We watched maybe two episodes before they had to leave, and the whole time I'm watching I'm thinking that this stuff is cray-cray. This was Sunday.

By Tuesday, I'd watched all 26 episodes.

Within 2 weeks I had read manga volumes 1-17, minus 4 and 8; volume 4 was missing from the library and had to be reordered and volume 8 was checked out. When I got to the end of 17, I was all "This is how the story ends?!? NOT COOL!" Then I found out there was one more volume, and it was going to be published within the month. (This is not the first time I've lucked out with book series and publishing dates; I didn't start reading the Harry Potter series until about 6 months before The Order of the Phoenix was published. Unlike most other HP fans, I didn't have to wait years after Goblet to find out what happened when He Who Must Not Be Named came back!)

See, here's the thing: every now and then I completely geek out over stuff. When I was in college, I watched the first two Mummy movies and the first two HP movies on a loop. My roommate would come into our dorm and just look at me, roll her eyes, saying without words, "Again?" Since then, other obsessions have included the new Doctor Who (this obsession is ongoing and is unlikely to ever stop), Leverage (an awesome TV show on TNT), the Marvel movies (I heart Tony Stark!), and most recently, the Ouran series.

Here's the deal:

A girl from a low to lower-middle-class home is super smart and gets into the uber-elite Ouran Academy in Japan. She's a girl with a plan for her future and she's determined to succeed. Since her dad doesn't have a lot of money, she couldn't afford one of the super expensive uniforms, so she wears some slacks and her dad's old sweater. Combine that with a short, shaggy haircut and old glasses, Haruhi's gender isn't apparent on first - or second - glance.

Trying to find a quiet place to study, she enters what she thinks is an empty music room. Alas, it isn't empty. Haruhi has mistakenly wandered in to the Host Club head quarters. (At this point, I should probably attempt to explain a host club. In this story, the Host Club is a group of super-rich and gorgeous guys who basically cater to the whims of the girls at Ouran by spending time with them at the club, telling them how pretty and talented they are, and basically being what every girl wants in a guy...while they're at the club. All this happens without dating or any kind of real relationships.) So while in the music room, Haruhi accidentally breaks the club's vase worth $80,000 and finds herself beholden to the club. The club president, unaware that Haruhi is a girl, decides that she will act as a member of the club to pay off her debt. Chaos and hilarity ensue when the boys realize Haruhi is a girl, but make her pretend to be a boy to continue paying off her debt.

So the plot sounds almost as wackadoodle as the princess-ballerina-duck story, but it's really well written (and illustrated) and there's so much character growth and emotional interactions that this series really is fully realized and a lot of fun. Over the course of the story, both Haruhi and the boys learn a lot about each other, friendship, and what's really important in life. I love the characters and the way they develop throughout the story, and the final book wraps up the loose ends and feels very satisfying (though I kinda wish she'd keep writing - it's always sad when a great series ends!).

I totally recommend this series, both the manga and the anime. I did enjoy the manga more, though - the anime was completed long before the manga series ended, and I like where the manga story went more than the anime version. That being said, they were both fun. This series may appeal a bit more to girls, but manga lovers will dig it, whatever their gender.

Liebster Blog Award

I've been tagged with the Liebster Blog Award by Bookworm8921. The Liebster Award is for bloggers with less than 200 followers. Award winners share 11 facts about themselves, answer the 11 questions asked by the blogger who tagged them, come up with 11 of their own questions and tag 11 more bloggers with the award.

11 Facts About Me:

1. I'm a Teen Librarian. 
2. My dog, Wrigley has a YouTube page.
3. I love tea and hate coffee.
4. I don't have enough shelves for all of my books.
5. I've ghost hunted at my library (and now I'm freaked out by our basement).
6. I'm an Anglophile.
7. I have a love/hate relationship with Steven Moffat. It's mostly love, but when it's hate, it really outweighs any of the love.
8. I find it impossible to choose a favorite book.
9. The #1 item on my Bucket List is to visit Ireland.
10. Books make me happy.


Questions from Bookworm8921

1. What is the first book you can ever remember reading?
Ohh, this is a hard one. My mom read to me all the time, so I have a lot of book memories. The book that stands out the most, though, is Arnold Lobel's Whiskers and Rhymes. It was also the first book for which I made a book trailer (I've made a grand total of two).

2. Do you re-read books? If so, which book have you re-read the most?
Absolutely! Sometimes they're better the 2nd, 3rd, 10th time around. I don't really know which ones I've read the most, though. My Chronicles of Narnia books from my childhood have clearly been loved hard, so I imagine they rank pretty high. Agnes and the Hitman may be the other - action, adventure, romance, and humor-har, all rolled into one fantastic book. I'm never NOT in the mood for that one!


3. Have you ever liked a movie based on a book more than the book itself?
Don't hurt me for saying this. I know there are some hardcore Jane fans out there, and this may come across as sacrilege, but Mansfield Park the book was rather slow, and I (unrealistically) wanted more 21st century feminism to be present. I ADORE Mansfield Park the movie, though. Frances O'Connor and Jonny Lee Miller were amazing - they even made me forget the squicky cousin bit - and this movie features the best almost-kiss of all time! Sooo good!


4. How did you decide on what to call your blog?
My name is Rachel, one of my friends called me Rae, and I repurposed the Rae to fit in the blog name.


5. How many books are you hoping to read this year?
At least 52 - enough to average 1 book per week.


6. Do you have plans to write your own book?
Kinda - I have a story idea. We'll see if I ever take the time to write it down.


7. What was the last book that you read?
Silence (The Queen of the Dead #1), by Michelle Sagara


8. What is your favourite movie?
This is such a difficult question - I don't generally have favorites; my love has no limits :) So I'll answer this in segments: Movie I've watched so many times I can quote it verbatim - French Kiss. Movie that makes me swoon - Don Juan DeMarco. Current obsession - The Avengers.


9. Who is your favourite actor/actress?
Again with the favorites! Most of my favorites tend to be British; bonus points for Sirs and Dames. Also, anyone from a Steven Moffat production. David Tennant. RDJ. The entire cast of Leverage and The Avengers. Lauren Graham. Rachel Weisz. Johnny Depp.


10. What TV shows do you enjoy?
Top 3: Leverage, Doctor Who, Coupling. Other favorites: The Big Bang Theory, SYTYCD, White Collar, Gilmore Girls, Psych, Stargate SG-1. (I'm rather eclectic in my tastes.)


11. Do you collect anything other than books?
I collected tea sets for a while; it was all in my grand scheme to own a cute, little tea room. Then I became a librarian instead. I still drink a lot of tea, though.



Questions I'd like to ask:

1. How do you mark your place in a book? A real bookmark, scrap of paper, dog-earring the page?

2. Do you judge a book by it's cover?

3. Do you have any quirky reading habits?

4. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be? And why?

5. Do you use any of the social networking sites for readers (like Goodreads or Shelfari)? Love it or hate it?

6. What's a book that you were really looking forward to, but it underdelivered? What book surprised you with it's awesomeness?

7. Do you have any hobbies outside of reading?

8. What is your fondest book memory?

9. What are you reading now?

10. What's your favorite book genre?

11. Pretend you meet a genie and he gives you three wishes (standard genie rule - you can't wish for more wishes): what would they be?



Blogs I'd like to tag:

Guerilla Librarian (though technically, I have no idea how many followers you have, your site is great. Power to the MPDGs!)
MPL's Book Nook
Reading Is Good For You (another blog I'm not certain of the follower count, but an amazing either way!)
The Turn of the Page
It's Time to Love Your Library
Pamela's Book Spot
Owl Book Reviews
Queen of All She Reads
Literary Lindsey
Living for the Books
young adult fiction & whiskey sours

Waiting on Wednesdays: Gunmetal Magic

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:









Gunmetal Magic (Kate Daniels #5.5)
By: Ilona Andrews
Publication Date: 7/31/2012

From Goodreads:

Some people have everything figured out — Andrea Nash is not one of those people. After being kicked out of the Order of Knights of Merciful Aid, Andrea's whole existence is in shambles. All she can do is try to put herself back together, something made easier by working for Cutting Edge, a small investigative firm owned by her best friend, Kate Daniels.

When several shapeshifters working for Raphael Medrano — the male alpha of Clan Bouda and Andrea's former lover — die unexpectedly at a dig site, Andrea is assigned to investigate ... and must work with Raphael. As her search for the killer leads her into the secret underbelly of supernatural Atlanta, Andrea knows that dealing with her feelings for Raphael might have to take a backseat to saving the world...


I'm so excited! I love the Kate Daniels urban fantasy series! This is a sort of spin-off title focusing on Kate's BFF, Andrea.

Can't. Wait.

Book Review: Silence

Silence (The Queen of the Dead #1)
By: Michelle Sagara
(*****)

"'Eric, why is it important to you that I--that I stop seeing the dead?'
'Because,' he replied slowly, 'then I won't have to kill you.'"

Description from Goodreads:

"It began in the graveyard... "

Ever since her boyfriend Nathan had died in a tragic accident, Emma had been coming to the graveyard at night. During the day she went through the motions at her prep school, in class, with her friends, but that's all it was. For Emma, life had stopped with Nathan's death. But tonight was different. Tonight Emma and her dog were not alone in the cemetery. There were two others there--Eric, who had just started at her school, and an ancient woman who looked as though she were made of rags. And when they saw Emma there, the old woman reached out to her with a grip as chilling as death....

Emma was not quite like others teenagers. It was true that other girls had experienced grief. Other girls had also lost their fathers, or had their boyfriends die in a senseless accident. But though she hadn't known it till that night in the graveyard, unlike those other girls, she could see, touch, and speak with the dead. In fact, Emma could draw upon the essence of the dead to work magic. That was what Necromancers did. But Emma had no desire to be a Necromancer. She just wanted to help the ghosts who walked the streets of Toronto, unable to escape from the land of the living. And that was just as well, because had she chosen the path of the Necromancer, Eric would have had to kill her.

Instead, Eric and his fellow Necromancer hunter Chase found themselves violating every rule they were sworn to follow, becoming part of Emma's group, helping her to stand against those who preyed upon the dead. But whether Emma and her friends could survive such a battle was anyone's guess. And whether Emma could learn to use the magic of the dead against her enemies without herself falling victim to the lure of such power remained to be seen. Eric seemed to think she could, and her living friends would never abandon her. But only time would tell what Emma's true destiny was....


My review:

I'm a big fan of Michelle Sagara; her fantasy series, The Chronicles of Elantra, are some of my favorite books. So when I found out that she was writing a YA novel, I got super-excited and had that sucker ordered for our library. Unlike Elantra, this book takes place in the present-day real world. Or as real as you can get when the heroine sees dead people.

This is a cool story of a girl coming to grips with the impossible. Emma understands death and grief after losing her father at a young age and losing her boyfriend within the year. She finds peace and quiet walking her dog (an overweight rottweiler named Petal) in the local cemetary at night, where she just sits at her boyfriend's grave. That peace is forever altered when she meets a boy named Eric in the graveyard and an ancient woman with a strang lantern. I'm not entirely sure if she's given the "gift" of seeing the dead, or if it's just awakened at this point, but this ability immediately puts Emma in danger. It makes Emma a necromancer and it's Eric's job to hunt and kill them.

In this world, necromancer's are BAD. They steal energy from the dead to create their magic, and generally they use that power for evil. Emma, though, has no desire to turn evil or use others for her own means; instead, she wants to help the dead move on. Figuring out how to do that whilst hanging out with the guy who may have to kill her is not exactly easy thing, but she somehow manages to do so, leading to a cool ending and an intriguing cliff hanger.

I really enjoyed this book. Michelle writes heroines that have a great depth of conviction and desire to help her fellow man. The story rolls along at a good pace and the characters are interesting and relatable. There is some language in this book, and though the book isn't flooded with cursing, if that's something you don't like, please be aware that it's there. This is a great addition to the paranormal genre and I highly recommend it.

It's Monday: What are you reading?

It's Monday: What are you reading? is a weekly meme from Book Journey.

I recently finished the latest Sookie Stackhouse novel, Deadlocked, and loved it! But then again, I'm completely hooked on this world and I probably would have loved it no matter what. I recently heard a rumor that Charlaine will be finishing up the series with the next installment. Kudos to her for not dragging the series on for.e.ver, but I'm still heartbroken by the fact that it may be concluding. Man I hope Sookie gets a nice "happily ever after" - one that's pretty boring...that poor girl could use some boring.

I also finished the YA book, The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman. This was a really cool ancient-relic-mystery-adventure type of story. Basically, there are some teens that read latin who help out a professor with some transcriptions. He's obsessed with this unbreakable code (that part is actually real - the code, not the professor's obsession), which after 400 years of nobody being able to crack it (also true), our heroine discovers the way to break it. Death and mayhem ensue, mostly in Prague. The story has a definite Da Vinci Code feel to it - the mysterious relic has religious implications, and the religious tone may or may not turn off readers. Still, the book was fascinating and I'd definitely recommend it.

See my full reviews for these titles in previous posts.

What I'm reading now: I'm currently trying to get through another YA novel, The Peculiars by Maureen Doyle McQuerry. It's slow going; I haven't been able to get into the story, and there are several things about it that bug me. I'm determined to finish it, but I'm sure (unless it totally turns around at this point) this book won't be a favorite. I'm pretty sure the cover art and title will be superior to the actual story, which is a shame.

What I'm going to read: Oh good heavens, I have no idea. So many books, so little time! And whatever I type here I'll mysteriously not be in the mood for when it comes time to pick up something new, so I won't even bother.