Magic Strikes

Be still my heart!

I am absolutely in love with this series.  In book 3, Magic Strikes, Ilona Andrews returns us to Kate Daniels' alternate Atlanta, and she has done a remarkable job of including many more styles of mythical creatures from other cultures, such as Viking, Hindu, Japanese and Chinese.

When Derek returns on the verge of death from a secret mission involving a fighting group called The Reapers, Kate takes a personal affront to it and demands vengence.  In order to get her revenge, she must fight in an underground tournament called The Midnight Games - a pasttime which Curran has strictly forbidden all shapeshifters from becoming involved in.  When Kate and Jim investigate The Reapers, they discover that they are rakshasas - born warriors who are masters of illusion and have no problem eating human flesh.  The rakshasa have also teamed up with Roland to destroy The Pack, with the aid of Hugh d'Ambray, past apprentice of Kate's dad.

Now Kate has the double worry of keeping her friends alive in the ring as well as keeping her identity a secret from Hugh - and by extension, Roland.

Kate is remarkable.  She cares so much about her friends that she is willing to impale herself on a sword to save her friends and destroy her enemies.  When Derek finally pulls through, Kate is so emotional that she dry heaves with relief.  She is also willing to step in to a ring and potentially face discovery, just so her friends don't have to fight short-handed.

Kate is reckless, impulsive and has authority issues; but she is also funny, protective and willing to put on airs so her ward will no longer be alienated at school.  She also has a cool head - when she stops to use it.  Despite the electricity flowing between her and Curran, she refuses to give, since she is convinced that Curran only wants her because she refused him.  And I love that aspect.  Eventually she'll give in, but she's making him work hard for it and it's fun to see her deny any sort of mutual attraction - even to herself.

I can't wait to read Magic Bleeds, and see what sort of fun Ilona will come up with next! 

Wicked Lovely

Wicked Lovely, written by Melissa Marr, is Book 1 in a Young Adult series by the same name.  It starred Aislinn, a normal teenager...who just so happened to see faeries, much to her chagrin.

Aided by Seth, her buddy-turned-boyfriend, Aislinn strives to figure out why faeries are suddenly paying attention to her.  Eavesdropping on faeries who believed themselves invisible, Aislinn discovers that the gorgeous guy following her around is the Summer King, Keenan, who believes Aislinn to be his missing Queen.  An unexpected friendship with Donia, the Winter Girl and also the last woman who tested to be the Summer Queen, enables Aislinn to understand that her mortality was surrendered when Keenan chose her.  And this would have worked out fine if it weren't for Beira, Keenan's mother, the Winter Queen.  Beira actively working to prevent Keenan from testing Aislinn actually helped convince Keenan and Donia that Aislinn was the Queen.

This was a cute story and the first one that I read on my new Kobo.  One of my good friends is an avid reader of Melissa Marr's work, which is one of the reasons why I chose this story.  I found Aislinn to be a great character and easy to relate to - even her relationship with Seth was delayed because she didn't want to be another notch on his bedpost.  This book did hint at sex between Seth and Aislinn, but it was a decision that wasn't taken lightly by either parties.  I found Aislinn to be a fair person who didn't let her prejudices against the faeries prevent her from helping them, despite the fact that she was totally screwed over by them.  She was also strong enough to demand the right to live her life as she sees fit.

I loved Seth.  He was patient with Aislinn as she discovered the potential between them.  He was also strong, and self-assured, enough to love Aislinn in her new role as Queen.  Keenan was annoying, whiny, and too pushy at first.  He did end up growing on me, but I still thought of him as a little pathetic; however I'm definitely happy with the way the book ended.  It was a happily ever after for everyone involved, I thought.

I also liked Ms. Marr's take on faeries and how they live in the modern world, but that they're invisible.  It makes it interesting to think that they live among us, only unseen.  It was also interesting to see how the author separated the courts into Summer, Winter, Dark and High Courts. I'm hoping that the next books will show the differences between the courts and how they interact.

I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series: Ink Exchange.

Magic in the Storm

It seems like I'm ripping through these books, but the truth is that I read some of them and just waited a few days before posting.  But I am finally caught up in the Allie Beckstrom series.  And wow, did it ever end in a cliff hanger!

The magic in Portland is being drained and a wild storm is approaching.  The Alliance is split into different factions and Terric, Shame's possible Soul Complement, has returned to help save the city.  Allie is called away to hound a scene involving one of her Hounds and at the hospital learns that Greyson has escaped.  Chase and Shame go to hunt Greyson while Zayvion goes to Allie to protect her on the off-chance that Greyson has found her there.  When they arrive to help Shame and Chase, they learn that Shame has been attacked by Chase.  Enlisting the help of Terric, they attempt to locate her.  In the process, Shame is manipulated by Chase to attack Allie and Zayvion takes a big hit, with his soul being sucked in to a gate.  Terric and Shame, both injured, help Allie to keep Zayvion's body alive.

When Allie wakes up the next day, magic is gone.  She learns that her step-mother's house has been ransacked for secret technology: disks that hold magic.  She also learns that the Authority is behind it.  Finally, there's a meeting in the park in St. Johns and Allie is ordered to ground the wild magic to the disks.  And that's when all hell breaks loose.

Chase and Greyson crash the party, splitting the Alliance down the middle.  With the help of Jingo Jingo (a death magic master), Greyson opens a solid gate and the only thing holding back the Hungers is the spirit of Cody.  Allie's dad convinces Allie to rescue Cody and that Allie's mom, of all people, will protect him.  Somehow, through the part of him still attached to Greyson, Allie's dad was able to talk to Allie's mom to strike a bargain.  Anyhow, Allie also learns that by closing the gate, Zayvion will be permanently stuck and will consequently die.  So, what does she do?  She goes in.  Of course.

Umm, yeah.  She has the same reckless attitude and she's still being manipulated by her dad, but at least her heart is in the right spot, even if her head isn't.  So, needless to say, I will be reading the next book, even if it's just to see what happens next.  Sometimes I really hate reading series.

Magic in the Shadows

Magic in the Shadows is book 3 in the Allie Beckstrom series by Devon Monk.  This time around, Allie is dealing with spirit of her dead father taking up residence in her head.  Nola, her best friend in the whole wide world, is also staying at Allie's place while she deals with the custody battle surrounding Cody.  And Zayvion?  He's helping Allie cope with the stresses and training involved with the Alliance, because if the Alliance decides that Allie is too unstable, they will Close off her magic, and memories, of anything to do with the Alliance, including Zayvion.

And Allie is definitely unpredictable.  Using tricks that she learned from her father, the Alliance is scared of her.  However, despite the fact that she opened a gate in a highly warded area, they need Allie and decide to keep her around (memories intact).  This has some of Allie's new found friends pleased (Shamus, Zayvion's best friend, and Maeve, Allie's teacher and Shame's mother) while pissing off others (namely Chase, Zayvion's ex-girlfriend and possible soul complement to Greyson, the fellow who killed Allie's dad and was also the necromorph running around town killing things and setting the Hungers free).  Did I mention that Allie animated a gargoyle that now lives with her and likes to talk to her sink?

Yeah, Allie's life does sound like a rather ludicrous soap opera, hey?  And it sort of reads as one, since Allie acts like a girl who has something to prove.  The Alliance is afraid of her because she holds the power of light and dark, on a scale that may be greater than Zayvion's (who is a Guardian of the Gates), but Allie is almost too stubborn to take the training properly, making her dangerous since she has a hard time controlling her magic.  Now that they are recognized Soul Complements (magic users who, on top of being able to use their magic in such a way to enhance the other's powers, are also able to touch each other's minds in the process - a technique that is rare and has the tendency to drive the couple involved insane) they are even more dangerous.  And Allie can't even take that seriously.

The storyline is interesting.  Some of the people are interesting.  But the rest of the time they're angsty and read like teenagers.  I keep thinking that they're around my age, but they're not (I think they're in their early 20s?) and that makes a world of difference.  And the main thing that annoys me, is that when Allie is thinking sex, she can't keep her head in the game.

I'm hoping that now that Allie is taking self-defense training and magic training that it'll make her a more capable character who won't rely on her tough girl attitude to bluff her way through situations.  I just hope she doesn't turn in to a character with superhero abilities.

I've already started book 4, Magic in the Storm, so I hope that I'm not getting in to things that haven't started since the end of book 3.

the perks of being a wallflower

the perks of being a wallflower is a story by Stephen Chbosky about an antisocial teenager who writes a series of anonymous letters to a recipient that is never named.  His advanced english teacher tells him to truly live life, instead of just watching it happen and so "Charlie" ends up befriending a guy in his shop class. 

As Charlie's friendship grows with Patrick, Charlie begins to party and use drugs, making friends and gaining a girlfriend in the process.  However, Charlie's home life, while stable with good parents, begins to deteriorate after he sees his sister get hit by her boyfriend.  A comment to his teacher, which in turn makes its way back to his parents causes his sister to alienate Charlie after their parents forbid her from seeing her boyfriend again.  There are continuous references to an Aunt Helen who was always in an abusive relationship, before she passed away due to a car accident on Charlie's birthday years ago.

As the reader delves further into the story, more carnal subjects appear: homosexuality and teenage sex (which, for one character, leads to an aborted pregnancy).  Charlie's life becomes more complicated as one of his friends puts the moves on him, and Charlie, for the sake of friendship, doesn't stop it.  Not even a girlfriend will prevent him from pining for his elusive Sam.

Charlie is brutally and whimsically honest with his friends, which they pass off as "Charlie-esque" and cute.  He is emotional and never truly tries to be someone he is not.  He is protective of his friends and will (literally) fight anyone who threatens them. 

He is damaged.

It is not until nearly the end of the story that you realize that he has been molested by someone close to him when he was a child.  It was buried in his subconscious until Sam attempts to be intimate with him. 

He is also a survivor.

His final accounts are of his rehabilitation and counselling.  He believes that he no longer needs the support of his unknown reader to live life.  And that he'll be just fine.  His final letter ends with: "So, if this does end up being my last letter, please believe that things are good with me, and even when they're not, they will be soon enough" (page 213).

I found this story to be bitterly sweet.  Charlie is a likeable character who is intensely in love with Sam, but was told to "not think that way" at the start, so he's truly fighting it every step of the way.  He's a good kid with a good family, but they have problems just like everyone else. 

There's a poem that I want to share with you, from the story (pages70-73) that I find mesmerizing and tragic.  You'll see why:

"Once on a yellow piece of paper with green lines / he wrote a poem /
And he called it "Chops" / because that was the name of his dog
And that's what it was all about
And his teacher gave him an A / and a gold star
And his mother hung it on the kitchen door / and read it to his aunts
That was the year Father Tracy / took all the kids to the zoo
And let them sing on the bus
And his little sister was born / with tiny fingernails and no hair
And his mother and father kissed a lot
And the little girl around the corner sent him a / Valentine with a row of X's / and he had to ask his father what the X's meant
And his father always tucked him in bed at night
And was always there to do it

"Once on a white paper with blue lines / he wrote a poem
And he called it "Autumn" / because that was the name of the season
And that's what it was all about
And his teacher gave him an A / and asked him to write more clearly
And his mother never hung it on the kitchen door / because of its new paint
And the kids told him / that Father Tracy smoked cigars
And left butts on the pews
That was the year his sister got glasses / with thick lenses and black frames
And the girl around the corner laughed / when he asked her to go see Santa Claus
And the kids told him why / his mother and father kissed a lot
And his father never tucked him in bed at night
And his father got mad / when he cried for him to do it

"Once on a paper torn from his notebook / he wrote a poem
And he called it "Innocence: A Question" / because that was the question about his girl
And that's what it was all about
And his professor gave him an A / and a strange steady look
And his mother never hung it on the kitchen door / because he never showed her
That was the year that Father Tracy died
And he forgot how the end / of the Apostle's Creed went
And he caught his sister / making out on the back porch
And his mother and his father never kissed / or even talked
And the girl around the corner / wore too much makeup
That made him cough when he kissed her / but he kissed her anyway / because that was the thing to do
And at three A.M. he tucked himself into bed / his father snoring loudly

"That's why on the back of a brown paper bag / he tried another poem
And he called it "Absolutely Nothing"
Because that's what it was really all about
And he gave himself an A / and a slash on each damned wrist
And he hung it on the bathroom door / because this time he didn't think / he could reach the kitchen"

This story reveals itself in bits and pieces.  When Charlie mentions a poem that he read, the reader doesn't imagine it could be anything so sad.  However, later, Charlie writes down the words and one of his friends comments on how it was a suicide note.

I really can't say too much more about it, except what I've already said: bitter sweet.  I loved this story; I read it in one night and honestly didn't feel like I could write a blog about it without thinking about it first.  Unfortunately, my internet went down and I subsequently forgot most of what I would've said.  The story is beautiful and joyful mixed with sad and tragic.  Which is pretty much the definition of adolescence.

Shalador's Lady

Shalador's Lady, by Anne Bishop, was a much anticipated continuation of the Black Jewels series that I've read in the past.  The Shadow Queen (the previous book in the series) started the story of Lady Cassidy and Gray, with this book continuing the story.

In this story, Theran Grayhaven has met Cassidy's rival, Lady Kermilla, and is determined to put Kermilla into position as Queen of Dena Nehele.  Cassidy is devastated when she learns this and runs away to Shalador, leaving her rival at Grayhaven.  Kermilla uses Cassidy's absence to abuse the staff, rack up huge bills with the local merchants and cause trouble.  However, in Shalador, Cassidy used her time to help enrich the land and the lives of the people around her.  Even Gray has started to flourish with the help of Daemon Sadi's tutelage and has taken it upon himself to learn the role of First Escort to prevent his cousin from disbanding Cassidy's court.

When Cassidy split Dena Nehele into two with her own Territory to rule (Shalador Nehele), the Warlords in the provinces left behind quickly join ranks with her.  The ones who do not give Theran an ultimatum: get rid of Kermilla or lose Grayhaven.  Since Kermilla has caused many of the Warlords to remember what it was like to live under the rule of bad Queens, the Warlords refuse to serve under her.  Taking Talon's advice, Theran breaks his own heart instead of breaking his honour.

While I think this story will continue, I think that Gray and Cassidy (as the main characters) are finished - now that Theran has a new Queen, a Sceltie by the name of Lady Rhahn.

I really like Anne Bishop's books - all of them.  She has strong female characters and tender males (which, I'll be honest, confuse me sometimes).  I'm used to male authors who have graphic war scenes; however, with Anne Bishop, her war scenes are more anti-climatic, simply because the issues are solved in only a page.  As such, I feel almost cheated when, instead of going to war, Cassidy's Steward solves the issue by dividing the Territory.

Another disclaimer: the later books are milder than the first three.  The witches in the Dark Jewels Trilogy are much crueler and the rule under those Queens involved rape and torture to control their subjects.  Sometimes graphic, sometimes just implied, it is a way of life for the characters until Jaenelle created the Witch-Storm.  So, if you can't stomach that sort of thing, don't read the Trilogy.  It is possible to fully enjoy the series without having read the Trilogy.

Having said that, I would call this a chick lit series as there is a huge focus on family and family ties.  There is brotherhood between brothers, comrades and strangers with common goals.  Though the men can rise to "the killing edge" they are also quick to rein in their brothers, as well as offer advice and friendship which is something that you don't normally see in books with warriors.  Unless it's written by a female author.  The one thing that I think the author has nailed is the dynamics of female cattiness and female friendships.

While I do recommend the book and the series, I do think a reader's preferences for a series should be taken into account.  I personally really enjoy the series, but others may not.

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig is a book within a book.

It starts out in contemporary times with Eloise Kelly, an Harvard grad student searching for information about the Purple Gentian for her dissertation "Aristocratic Espionage during the Wars with France: 1789-1815". However, her real passion lay with uncovering the true identity of the Pink Carnation. Luckily for her, a relation of the Purple Gentian had kept the correspondences and diaries of Lord Richard Selwick (the Purple Gentian) and Miss Amy Belacourt, a half French girl bent on joining the Purple Gentian's League.

Reading the papers, the focus shifts from Eloise's perspective to that of Amy and Richard. A chance meeting on a boat to cross the channel separating the French and English countries ignites a spark of interest between them that grows each time they encounter each other. Amy's discovery of Richard's work (he was Napoleon's Egypt Antiquities specialist) causes Amy to think of him as a traitor to the country; however, Richard decides that her dislike is for the best as it will prevent her from distracting him from his mission - which is to prevent Napoleon from invading England.

While hiding in her brother's study, Amy meets the masked Purple Gentian and offers help, without knowing that it is Richard. After that meeting, Richard is determined to keep her from his alter ego, but decides that courting her as himself is safe. Confused, Amy eventually discovers his true identity - after both her chaperone, Miss Gwen, and her beloved cousin, Jane, have figured it out.

In an attempt to thwart Amy from following him on a raid of Napoleon's treasure, Richard, as the Purple Gentian, repudiates her and breaks her heart in the process. So, after finding out who he really is, Amy and her cohorts decide to form the League of the Pink Carnation and to steal the treasure from the Purple Gentian. Unfortunately, Amy was captured and Richard was forced to reveal himself to the Assistant Minister of Police, Delaroche. A rescue was planned and executed, causing Richard and Amy to flee Paris for England.

At the end of the tale, Eloise finds out that there is more information to be found at Selwick Hall and agrees to a weekend jaunt with Colin Selwick, the current occupant of the hall. And the tale continues in the next book, The Masque of the Purple Tulip.

There's only one word to describe this book: cute. Or fun. They both work. The flavour of the stories as it switches between Richard and Amy to Eloise and Colin doesn't change. The bantering is equal in both, as is the behaviour between the couples. Since the relationship between Colin and Eloise develops much slower (being stretched out over the next several books), it will be interesting to see it play out in full as Eloise learns more about Colin's ancestors.

This book has been repeatedly referred to as chick lit, a genre that I had always associated with romance novels. Apparently the main difference is that the character's relationships with their family is just as important as their romantic relationship. Thank you, Wikipedia! And the other characters in this book are just as fun, especially Richard's family. Amy's brother is a deplorable toady (described as such several times), but Richard's family is warm, protective and hilarious. Jane, is refreshingly level headed, considering Amy's impulsiveness, and Miss Gwen is surprisingly romantic beneath her shrewish chaperone demeanour.

Like I said, it's cute and fun. I laughed, repeatedly, throughout the book at Amy's antics and the repertoire between the main characters. It is entirely fluffy and fictional, so if you are looking for a serious book based on historical events, you will be disappointed. But, if you're looking for brain candy, you will be well pleased. I really liked the story and will continue on with the series. And if Lauren Willig's other books have the same dialogue I will definitely venture into her other novels.