April Books

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The Splendour Falls by Susanna Kearsley
This one should have been on the March list but I somehow managed to forget all about it! Much as I love Susanna Kearsley's most recent books, her older ones don't always work for me, and this is one of those. The writing is excellent, of course, and the atmosphere is terrifically done, but the story just meanders along seemingly without a destination. Then all of a sudden there's a mystery to be solved, but it felt like too little, too late for me. And I found the romance unconvincing - Emily and "spoilery love interest" barely interact for most of the story, and she's ready to move to another country to be with him after a week?

Kat, Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis
Renegade Magic by Stephanie Burgis
Stolen Magic by Stephanie Burgis
I don't know why I waited so long to read these!  They're like a middle-grade version of Sorcery and Cecelia, which I love - witchcraft and Regency romance all in one.  I guess I thought the 12-year-old heroine was too young for me to relate to, but though I found Kat a little irritating in the first two books, by the third she's starting to grow up and think before she acts, and I loved her relationship with her sisters, especially the prickly Angeline, throughout the whole trilogy.  And my gosh, I can't remember the last time I came across such an irritating antagonist as Lady Fotherington. I wanted to strangle the woman every time she walked into the room!

Cress by Marissa Meyer
Oh my gosh, I loved this book!  I was so torn while I was reading it, between wanting to gulp it down as fast as I could to find out what happened, but also wanting to take my time and enjoy it for as long as possible.  Rapunzel has always been my favorite fairy tale, and I love this sci-fi twist on it, with Rapunzel trapped in a satellite orbiting Earth instead of locked away in a tower.  Cress and Thorne were so adorable together it hurts just thinking about it!  (Sorry - I'm trying to keep the squee to a minimum but it might leak out.)  I loved their whole adventure.  It's Scarlet and Wolf who have me counting down the days until book 4, though - I fell asleep thinking about their part in this story one night and woke up crying.  Make them happy again, Marissa Meyer, please!!!

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
This is my kind of science fiction - light on the science, heavy on the romance. ;-)  I've seen several reviews complaining about that very thing, but honestly...I'm not in it for the aliens or the space ships or the technology.  I just want that as a backdrop to characters I can root for.  I loved almost everything about this one, from the Titanic-in-space beginning to the eerie Otherness of the disembodied voices and visions on the alien planet to the hate-to-like-to-love relationship between Lilac and Tarver.  (I didn't like their names very much - Lilac LaRoux, in particular, sounds more like a stripper than a YA novel heroine, and I misread Tarver as Trevor almost every time.)  And that ending!  I didn't see the twist coming at all.

52 Reasons to Hate My Father by Jessica Brody
A spoiled brat socialite gets a rude awakening when her father asks her to complete 52 low-wage jobs - a week at each - before he'll hand over her trust fund check.  This was a cute, fluffy, at times frustrating read that was over too quickly.  I thought there was still quite a lot of story to tell, but it ended with a quick summary that left me wanting more.

Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood
I was so confused by this book!  The setting isn't very well done; one minute it seems to be set around the time of the Salem Witch trials, the next they're talking about gas lights.  And then they'll throw out a reference to some bit of alternate history and you realize it's more fantasy than you thought.  The main character frustrated me to no end, I couldn't figure out why she and her sisters didn't at least try to run away if life was so terrible in New England - why stay where you're miserable and hunted?  Neither of her love interests was that great, and the magic felt like a ripoff of Harry Potter.

Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt
I've tried about five times before to read this, and never made it past the first few pages.  It just didn't seem like the sort of book I'd enjoy!  Every time I'd delete it from my to-read list, though, it would pop up on someone else's list of favorite books, and I'd decide to give it yet another try.  This time I finally made it all the way through, and it was not at all what I was expecting.  Beautifully written, with a melancholy yet ultimately hopeful tone, this is not at all your typical YA paranormal romance.

Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama
A creepy, at times gory ghost-and-mermaid story that I wanted to like a lot more than I did.  Hester, the heroine, just wasn't very interesting.  Her insta-love with one of the ghosts came completely out of nowhere, and since she was pining for another boy just paragraphs earlier it was hard to feel any attachment to either romance.  The alternate chapters about the historical characters were much more interesting, but their part felt at times like more of a CSI recreation of a murder - how did A and B get in the room with C for X, Y, and Z to happen.  

My April reads

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George Eliot - Romola 3/5
Oh dear, what a chore it was to get through this book. It actually took me over a month to read this classic about a time of political unrest in Renaissance Florence and an intelligent young woman (Romola) married to a very unworthy man.

I do normally like Eliot's work, but this one was just sooo dry. Whole chapters of political and historical discussions and a small amount of plot and characters for such a big novel. I do think I also liked it less because it took place in a country and during a time in history I'm less interested in. I mean, Felix Holt was also rather heavy on the political front, but because it took part in 19th century Brittain, I was naturally more easily interested. But that one also had better characters, in my opinion!


Hester Browne - The vintage girl 4/5
Evie Nicholson works in an antique shop, but gets the chance of a lifetime when she's asked to value the family heirlooms in a Scottish castle. And when she meets the gruff, but handsome heir to the castle ánd gets invited to the yearly ball, she believes all her dreams are about to come true!

A sweet and funny chick flick set in a lovely Scottish settings. Throw in snow, dance lessons, a clumsy heroine and heirlooms with a story to tell and you've got a great relaxing read.

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