Fragile Spirits by Mary Lindsey

Caution, this may contain spoilers for this book, and the previous book in this series Shattered Souls.

What I Liked:

1. Alden and Lenzi! I was incredibly taken aback to open this book up to an unfamiliar character, having expected more of Alden and Lenzi's story, but I was SO excited to see them again, and their scenes were so powerful and so emotional and so heartwrenching, but then so happy, I can't enough and I loved it. 
2. Paul! I really liked Paul as a character and as a person. You don't really read any kind of love story from the guy's perspective, and it was really refreshing, and I feel like Paul was realistic and well-developed, while still being someone you could see yourself crushing on. (And I so did, he was adorable!)
3. Vivienne's characterization. I was really averse to her in the beginning, I couldn't get over how she treated everyone and such, and, having immediately loved Paul, I really felt like she didn't deserve him. However, and I really, really applaud Mary Lindsey for this, as I am generally loathe to change my opinions, the way in which she was written made her character arc so unbelievably believable...like, I'm still in awe of Mary Lindsey's authorial ability to make me love Vivienne, after hating her as strongly as I did. 
4. Supporting characters! It was really awesome to see Race and Maddi again, as well as Lenzi and Alden, and I loved how this book developed their relationship, and I feel like it really speaks to Mary Lindsey's world building skills that I really believed in the fabric of this world between the two novels. Plus, frankly, Race is just such a lovable rake, and I enjoy his scenes and his humor. 
5. Smith! I was so excited to see that he was being drawn as the principal antagonist of this work, as I really wanted more resolution of his character after having finished Shattered Souls. It was very unexpected, the way he was handles, but very satisfying. 
6. The style! This book was engaging, I read it in I think four or five hours, the writing is so accessible, while also being so very rich and vivid. 

What I Didn't Like: 

1. I will always want more Lenzi and Alden. Always. 
2. This was pretty short, about three hundred pages, and I wanted more! I mean, yes, the ending was great, but, you know, you always want more of a good thing. 

Final Thoughts: 

1. This really strikes me as more of a companion novel to Shattered Souls than a straight up sequel, or at least a hybrid of the two, but, either way, my point is that this was worthy of the book that preceded it. 
2. This is my third book by Mary Lindsey, and I always read the summary and think, "Hmmm, interesting, but, you know, I mean, ghosts...meh" because, I mean, ghosts have been done...but they haven't been done like this. I don't know what it is, but Mary Lindsey takes a topic area (like ghosts) that I'm not really interested in, and somehow makes it one of the most intriguing things on my shelf. She's a really great author, and I would highly recommend her works to anyone. 
3. I still prefer Shattered Souls, but this was an incredibly enjoyable read, it really drew me in, and it reminded me of why I love reading. 

Bite Size Book Rec #2

Who: Fans of classic literature, social novels, England, E. M. Forster, or modernism.

What: Howards End by E. M. Forster

When: Now! And always! Go forth!

Where: Your favorite book reading spot...I like my bed, with some tea.

Why: Because it is awesome! The language, the study of human understanding, the everything! Ah, it might be the greatest book ever written!

Into the Still Blue by Veronica Rossi

Caution, this may contain spoilers for this book and any others in the series.

Aaaaaaaah! The long awaited conclusion to Veronica Rossi's epic series, the previous two being Under the Never Sky and Through the Ever Night.

What I Liked LOVED:

1. Veronica freaking Rossi. I've said it before and I'll say it again: no author writing YA fiction today has as engaging a style as Veronica Rossi. I'm not even going to qualify that, it is hands down true. Every word she writes captures my imagination and makes me truly see what she is writing, and I cannot get enough. 
2. Aria and Perry. Ah, they were so good in this! I've loved them as a couple since the beginning, and I was happy to read their relationship throughout this book. I mean, of course, I LOVE dual-perspective novels, always have, so when you get that, then with a couple, then with Perry and Aria, it's awesome. They're the perfect relationship: they're sweet and cute (Night Crawler!), they're touching and romantic (when Loran lets Aria see Perry after Sable has had him with the mallet), and they're epic and tragic and heartfelt and one for the ages (when Perry boards the Dragonwing with Cinder), you know? I just cannot praise their relationship enough, it feels so real and true. 
3. Loran! I have been wondering since the beginning if this Chekhov's gun (or Chekhov's father, as it were) was going to appear, and, lo and behold, Veronica Rossi has done it again, AWESOME! It wasn't sappy or contrived at all, everything just worked. 
4. Deaths! I don't want to spoil you, but Veronica Rossi has done what few other YA authors dare to do: kill characters. Good characters, bad characters (morally, I mean, Veronica Rossi has never produced a badly written character), and some in between, not to mention the nameless extras that didn't make it. I found that she really, really made me believe the deaths, and the characters' (mostly Perry's) reactions to them. It really made my experience of this novel to know that death was so strikingly on the table. 
5. Aria. I feel like her character arc really, really made this novel for me. I have always really admired Aria as fictional character, and also really loved her as a person, and I feel like in Into the Still Blue, she really came into her own. It's hard to describe, but I feel like the new world is going to be built by a new Aria, compared to the Aria we met in Under the Never Sky. 
6. Soren. It's always nice to see a character develop into a human being instead of a fairly flat secondary antagonist. As much as I disliked him in the first book, Veronica Rossi really made me feel for him in this installment. Props. 

What I Didn't Like: 

1. Write more books, Veronica Rossi! We need more! Don't leave us devoid of your engaging characters, epic stories, and general awesomeness!

Final Thoughts:

• Epic. It was epic. The Under the Never Sky trilogy by Veronica Rossi is epic. Truly, as someone who has read epics, I mean that in every sense of the word. As an English major, as a YA lit fan, as a teenage/twenty-something girl, as a human being, this is epic. 
• I read Under the Never Sky when it first came out; I was in high school, and I remember raving about it to my friends in the locker room before gym class. I am so happy to have had the experience to read these books as they were released. 
• Just get this book. Get it and read it and love it, because it awesome and epic and you will love it. (That is the least contrived thing I've ever said)

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Caution, spoilers.

I read this for one of my English courses, and I loved it! I highly recommend this, both as an English major and purely for pleasure reading.

What I Liked:

• The language! It's so beautiful, really. Beautiful and terrible, but so eloquent and poignant. I find it especially interesting as English was apparently Conrad's third language. 
• Kurtz! I found Kurtz a fascinating character, really, something about the self and the darkness and his soul. I cannot even explain myself. 
• The message! I don't know what it is, but works with happy take-aways do not do it for me. Nothing like good old-fashioned "inherent darkness of humanity" to really get me going. 
• The resonance! I feel like this is one of those things to transcend time, you know? This message, of nightmares and darkness will always be relevant, and I feel like Conrad has so eloquently expressed it that his work will be read long after everyone has forgotten about places like the Congo and England and we all live on the moon or something. 

Final Thoughts:

• I loved reading this. It's so literary, and I feel like so much analysis can be done, but I also really enjoyed the plot and the language on a personal, pleasurable level. 
• Fair warning, I revel in the macabre, but if you are faint-hearted, be warned, this piece does contain graphic scenes. 
• Apocalypse Now does not do this work justice, in my opinion. Not to say that it was a bad movie, just that I feel like it doesn't capture the many layers of Conrad's piece. Basically, don't think that you don't need to read Heart of Darkness because you've seen the movie, and don't think that if you disliked that movie that you will necessarily dislike Conrad's original. 

Unthinkable by Nancy Werlin

Caution, this review may contain spoilers for this book and any others in its series.

As you know, this is the third book I've recently read by Nancy Werlin, the previous two being Impossible and Extraordinary.  I definitely liked this more than Impossible, and I believe I even liked it more than Extraordinary.

What I Liked:

• Faerie! There was a lot of time spent in their realm, and lots of instances of faerie lore were present! I loved that!
• Ryland as a cat! Ryland was adorable as a cat. I was kind of iffy about him after Extraordinary, since he kind of came off like a bad guy there, but I really felt for him here. He made me laugh, and, personally, the jealousy of his sister really endeared him to me. 
• Fenella telling Walker that Ryland was a manticore...that actually made me laugh. I didn't laugh out loud and any other instance in all of these books, but I did for this.
• Fenella in the modern era. Usually people from the past in the modern era frustrate me, as I don't believe they can truly imagine the scope of the modern world, and it just gets me. However,  I really like the way Nancy Werlin chose to portray Fenella, as a quick learner with some previous background information who grasped the mechanics of the future world. 
• The tree fey. I love trees. I really, really love the idea of trees being sentient and communicated and naming people as part of them. That gets me. 
• Padraig's back story. I do this all the time, and I know it's wrong, but I felt for him. Yes, he's a kidnapper and sadistic and cruel; however, when Fenella learned that his mother abandoned him, and he was only seventeen or eighteen, and everyone scorned him, and someone said he had a lonely life...I felt bad for him. It just breaks my heart. I have NO idea why I feel visceral pity for him, I just do. I don't know why, I just have the urge to comfort people who feel abandoned and unloved and lash out against others because of their pain; I also believe that I could fix them with my love. I've always done this; I wanted Christine to be with the Phantom in Phantom of the Opera, I read so much Dramione fanfiction, I always, always, ship Mina and Dracula instead of Mina and Jonathon...I'm one of those women who believe that they can fix tortured bad boys' with their love. Well, not really, not in real life, but it's my favorite kind of fictional story. Plus, you know, I'm glad he wasn't a one dimensional villain, there are enough of those around.
• Walker...I'm not sure how I feel about Fenella and Walker, but he's gentle with animals, warm, sweet, loving, forgiving and considers himself one with the trees...what more do you want in a man? (Besides the whole tortured soul thing, of course.)

What I Didn't Like: 

• Fenella's life choices. Come on girl, really? Kethalia warned you that the tasks would be painful, and you just rush into them? Not really a smart move. 

Final Thoughts:

• I enjoyed this book, but I don't think I will be rereading it. 
• I'm not certain what I will be reading next, though I have quite the stack. 

Extraordinary by Nancy Werlin

Caution, this review may contain spoilers for this books and any others in its series.

As you know, this is the companion novel to the book I previously reviewed, Impossible, and to the one I'm going to read next, Unthinkable, all by Nancy Werlin. You might remember that, while I enjoyed the author's style very much, Impossible wasn't really what I personally was looking for at the time I read it. However, Extraordinary was, well, extraordinary, if you'll pardon the pun.

What I Liked:

• Faeries! YES!!!! I was a bit nervous, since, like I said, I found there to be way less fae-related stuff in Impossible than I though there would be. This book seriously delivered in that respect. There were bargains being struck, faeries of all sorts being depicted, notations being made of the significance of dancing with the faeries, etc. etc. AND I LOVED IT! I love traditional folk faeries so very very much, and it is always wonderful to see them included in YA fiction, especially when it is clear that the author has done their research, which is completely the case with Nancy Werlin. (The edition I have, published by SPEAK in 2010, even has a cool flower/clover type design on the pages in which the faerie queen is speaking. I thought that was a really nice touch.)
• Literary references. At one point, Phoebe mentions Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice, which made me so exceedingly happy. On the one hand, I am an English major, so those two works are pretty close to my heart (the latter infinitely more so than the former). On the other, I find it so odd that book heroines live in a vacuum, sometimes. I live my life according to the principles of my fictional favorites all of the time, I draw inspiration from them, I try to anticipate what may happen from what I have learned about human behavior from them. So, when I see a heroine like Phoebe (or like Katy, from the Lux series) reference other literary characters, it just warms the cockles of my heart. 
• Subtle characterization. Phoebe and Ryland, together, man. Nancy Werlin is just so incredibly deft at letting the relationship between two characters open up before you. The same with Mallory and Mrs. Tolliver. There was never one moment where I realized Ryland was simply using Phoebe or that Mallory really cared about Mrs. Tolliver, it just gradually grew and grew until I couldn't imagine having ever not know it. It was amazing. Seriously, Nancy Werlin is an author to watch; something about her style just really fits with my psyche or something...it's hard to explain. 
• Ambiguity. As Phoebe went deeper and deeper into Faerie and learned everything about Mayer and all that, I really did find myself hoping that the fae world would be okay. I really, really liked that she didn't play it as solidly the faeries' fault or wholly Mayer's fault. That was a nice twist. 
• History. I'd heard of the Rothschild family before this, but I didn't know too much about them, however, I always love when an author references traditional history in their fantasy work. 

What I Didn't Like:

• Lack of romance. Obviously, there was Ryland, who was bad news, but then the relationship with Benjamin was simply characterized as in the cards, not really fully realized. I need my romance. Then again, I didn't care for Zach and Lucy of Impossible, so maybe Nancy Werlin's style of romance simply isn't really my cup of tea, generally. (Again, not a criticism, you might love it.)

Final Thoughts:

• The next book returns to the Scarborough girls, so I'm not uber-psyched, but I'm hoping I will love it as much as I did this one. 
• I highly recommend this book, it was an engaging, quick read, and faeries!

Impossible by Nancy Werlin

Caution, this may contain spoilers.

So, Impossible by Nancy Werlin. I saw the book Unthinkable in the bookstore, and it looked so intriguing, and I really wanted that, but I read it was part of a series, and so I read this first. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't really what I was expecting.

What I Didn't Like:

• (Major spoiler ahead.) Rape and teenage pregnancy. These are not things I like to see in my YA novels. I hate reading about things like that, serious, "issue" type things. It's why I avoid contemporary novels, because I assume they'll all be like Go Ask Alice or something. I just don't enjoy this type of reading. I like to identify with my heroines at the beginning, and have the person they are by the end be someone I can emulate. This is not the case with Lucy. 
• Lack of folklore. The inclusion of a seventeenth century ballad about elves at the beginning got me all excited. I was expected a level of "faerie" presence on par with Ballad and Lament by Maggie Stiefvater, and I did NOT get that. The "elfin knight" from the ballad, Padraig Seeley, has very little back story, and seems to function as a dark shadow in the back of the character's minds, as opposed to having a solid story arc. Little mention of the extent of his powers or motivations are present. He's just "the evil guy". Other than his character, there are no other aspects of the fae world in this book. (I've purchased the major works of Katherine Briggs, renowned folklorist, literally wrote the book on faeries etc. etc., so I kind of look out for those sorts of things.)
• Unrealistic attitudes. I'm sorry, I really am, but I cannot wrap my head around a twentysomething guy wanting to marry a girl who is pregnant with another man's child. Maybe I'm cynical, but I just can't see that happening. (Frankly, no one should have to take on all of someone else's baggage like that.) And he proposed to her out of the blue, and everyone's all happy about the baby...hello! High school, college, career? You know, the life you're supposed to be living? Both of their lives (all, really, considering the implications for the parents) have been derailed and their all sunshine and rainbows about it? I can't buy that.
• Pacing. The end felt rushed to me. A bit anti-climatic as well, when Padraig just sort of whooshes away. I wanted a little more about that. 

What I Did Like:

• I like that Pierre, their dog, immediately disliked Padraig. Always a good idea to avoid people the dog doesn't like in a supernatural environment. Also, that his last name was "Seeley," which looks a lot like "Seelie" and "Unseelie" (the two different fae "courts," which I'm sure you can look up)...that immediately let me know he was the "knight" from the ballad. I like things like that, little clues. 

Final Thoughts:

• I've purchased the other two companion books to this one, Extraordinary and Unthinkable, already. If I hadn't, I probably would not buy them after having read this one. 
• I suggest you give this a try, as it wasn't so much the book was bad as it was not what I expected and not something I would have picked up had I known what it was really about. 
• I'm trying to read the next one with an open mind, as I really, really wanted to like this series.