Book Review: Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices #1) by Cassandra Clare

Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices #1) by Cassandra Clare

Release Date: 31st August 2010

Publisher: McElderry Books
Format: Paperback
Pages: 476
Rating: 4.0/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2014 RC and 2014 SSC

Summary from Goodreads:

"In a time when Shadowhunters are barely winning the fight against the forces of darkness, one battle will change the course of history forever. Welcome to the Infernal Devices trilogy, a stunning and dangerous prequel to the New York Times bestselling Mortal Instruments series.

The year is 1878. Tessa Gray descends into London’s dark supernatural underworld in search of her missing brother. She soon discovers that her only allies are the demon-slaying Shadowhunters—including Will and Jem, the mysterious boys she is attracted to. Soon they find themselves up against the Pandemonium Club, a secret organization of vampires, demons, warlocks, and humans. Equipped with a magical army of unstoppable clockwork creatures, the Club is out to rule the British Empire, and only Tessa and her allies can stop them...."

Review:
** Spoiler Alert: Read at your own risk**

Overall, I rather enjoyed this. As to be expected, I've been trying to compare this with Clare's other offering, The Mortal Instruments. And whilst I probably enjoyed this one more than City of Bones, it gets a lower rating because overall, this pretty much followed a path a would have expected. 

- Pros -

• I really liked the majority of our characters. Tessa seemed a bit uptight at the beginning, but I liked how she turned out in the end. Will, whilst I actually don't like him as a person, I do enjoy reading about him. Jem, as his name implies, is a pure gem. And then there's also Charlotte, Henry, Jessamine, Sophie and Thomas, who I all liked for varying reasons
• Many interested questions were brought up, that I'm eager to get the answer to. Why exactly does The Magister want Tessa? How exactly did Tessa come to be? What exactly happened will Will's parents and this Cecily person? Questions like these are the type that urge me to continue reading a series on, and I definitely will be reading this series to figure it all out. 
• I appreciate the twists and turns. Whilst I wasn't entirely surprised by everything that happened, Tessa did truly surprise me at the end. I honestly thought she had stabbed herself, and what made it even more surprising was beforehand I thought there was no way she could stab herself, since she's a main character. And then she kinda did, and it surprised me. And I like being surprised. 
• I liked this more than City of Bones. I read City of Bones sometime last year, and whilst I quite enjoyed it, it didn't live up to the hype for me. This, however, I found more enjoyable. I think I just liked the character's more, and adding a historical setting never hurts for me. 

- Cons -

• Whilst I appreciate the twists and turn, I wasn't entirely surprised by them. The identity of The Magister, for example, didn't entirely surprise me. Whilst I was a little surprised when it was finally revealed who it was, I knew it couldn't have been de Quincy, because that came out way too early in the story to be true. It also didn't entirely surprise me when Nate flipped on Tessa, because betrayal happens all the time in books. And when I compare the big reveal of The Magister to the big revelation at the end of City of Bones, well, it just doesn't compare.  
• I didn't like it when Will acted like a complete and utter ass. The way he treated Tessa was downright disturbing. One minute he's showing her affection, the next he's lashing out at her. And he was unbelievably cruel to her at the end, which we all know he did for some sort of reason, but nothing warranted treating her like that. There were so many times that I just wanted to tell Will to STFU or GTFO.  

Overall, I quite enjoyed this read, and I will be continuing on with the series in the foreseeable future. If you had the same problem I had with City of Bones not living up to the hype, I highly suggest giving this series a go. 

Book Review: Diva (The Flappers #3) by Jillian Larkin

Diva (The Flappers #3) by Jillian Larkin

Release Date: 10th July 2012

Publisher: The Inkhouse
Format: Paperback
Pages: 306
Rating: 3.5/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2014 RC and 2014 SSC

Summary from Goodreads:

"Parties, bad boys, speakeasies—life in Manhattan has become a woozy blur for Clara Knowles. If Marcus Eastman truly loved her, how could he have fallen for another girl so quickly? Their romance mustn't have been as magical as Clara thought. And if she has to be unhappy, she's going to drag everyone else down to the depths of despair right along with her.

Being a Barnard girl is the stuff of Lorraine Dyer's dreams. Finding out that Marcus is marrying a gold digger who may or may not be named Anastasia? A nightmare. The old Lorraine would have sat by and let the chips fall where they may, but she's grown up a lot these past few months. She can't bear to see Marcus lose a chance for true love. But will anyone listen to her?Now that the charges against her have been dropped, Gloria Carmody is spending the last dizzying days of summer on Long Island, yachting on the sound and palling around with socialites at Forrest Hamilton's swanky villa. Beneath her smile, though, Gloria's keeping a secret. One that could have deadly consequences . . ."

Review:

Being the shortest book in this trilogy, I feel like I can sum this up with just a couple of words - it was just alright. There was nothing spectacular about this ending, nothing unexpected. All the character's ended up where you'd expect them to, in what is essentially just 300 pages of tying up lose ends. Character's are redeemed, couples end up together, everything ends exactly as you would have predicted it. Which makes for a fairly boring read, to be honest.

I did enjoy this story, but it was just following the motions. After falling completely in love with Vixen, and finding Ingenue a bit forgettable, it's a shame that this series came to a close with something so blasé. Let's take the Marcus and Clara storyline for example. After breaking up in Ingenue, Marcus is on the rebound and is engaged to some girl named Anastasia. As it turns out, Anastasia isn't all she claims to be. Which could have lead to an interesting storyline...if we heard a bit more from Anastasia. Besides one confrontation between her and Clara and Lorraine, you don't hear anything from her. Maybe exploring that storyline could have done more than just be the catalyst for Clara and Marcus getting back together, and Lorraine getting her redemption. There is another storyline in there, involving new character's, that could be interesting to some, but I didn't care enough about these character's lives to care much about their ending. So overall, blasé. 

In the end, I think this book was just lacking what I loved in it's predecessors. The romances and relationships I loved weren't there, with Jerome (Gloria's other half) hardly present at all, and interaction between Marcus and Clara only occurring twice in the book. Even though I knew it was bound to happen, I still enjoyed reading Lorraine's road to redemption. And I just simply adored Melvin. But, that's not enough to pull this book from mediocrity.

Book Review: The Lucky Ones (Bright Young Things #3) by Anna Godbersen

The Lucky Ones (Bright Young Things #3) by Anna Godbersen
Release Date: 27th November 2012

Publisher: Harper Collins
Format: Paperback 
Pages: 373
Rating: 3.5/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2013 ODY and 2013 BSR

Summary from Goodreads:

"In 1929, the Bright Young Things escape Manhattan's heat for the lush lawns and sparkling bays of White Cove, looking for leisure, love, and luck.

New York City's latest It Girl, Cordelia Grey, is flying high with celebrity pilot Max Darby. But Max is a private person with a reputation to uphold—and a secret to hide. A public romance with a bootlegger's daughter could cost him more than just his good name. . . .

Aspiring triple threat Letty Larkspur has finally gotten her big break, but will her talent—and special bond with the married silver-screen star Valentine O'Dell—make her a target in the cutthroat world of Hollywood? Perhaps the ingenue knows how to play the leading lady after all.

Newly married to her longtime sweetheart, socialite Astrid Donal finds herself spending more time with one of her husband's henchmen than with him. With so many secrets between man and wife, is the honeymoon already coming to an end?As summer reaches its hottest peak, these sun-kissed girls will find out if their luck can last . . . or if dark surprises are on the horizon."

Review:

I began this book remembering very few details of each girls storyline, and as a result, I at times found this book interesting, and at other times, I just didn't know what was going on. Partly that's my fault for not  skimming the previous book or looking up the main plot points in the preceding novels before I began reading, but I also think its a reflection on how I found this series overall - not really that enthralling.

For example, this series has featured three narrators who we change between quite frequently - Cordelia, Astrid and Letty. I could remember Cordelia's story, because it was by far the most interesting, so I always knew what was going on with her. With Astrid, I couldn't remember everything at the beginning, but it did come back to me as I read. And with Letty, I honestly couldn't remember anything about her storyline...not one thing. As a result I didn't enjoy Letty's story so much because I just couldn't remember its beginning. 

Whilst I didn't necessarily find the plot and characters all that interesting, I can't help but love the setting. Set in the 1920's, with the prohibition and the illegal speakeasy's, the glamorous lifestyle and the gansters - I can't help but enjoy the frivolous lifestyle, with that hint of danger ever so present. Overall, a fair ending to a series that I wasn't really that enthralled with. Should you read it? I probably wouldn't - if you'd like to read something by this author, I'd go with The Luxe series instead, it's much, much better. 

Book Review: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Release Date: 28th June 2011

Publisher: Baker and Taylor
Format: eBook
Pages: 544
Rating: 4.5/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2013 OTS, 2013 ODY, 2013 EBC and 2013 GVR

Summary from Goodreads:

"Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed."

Review:

Coming off from reading Days of Blood and Starlight, this was always going to have to fight an uphill battle. And, surprisingly, this book didn't fail to impress. 

The Help is set in the small town of Jackson, Mississippi during the early 1960s, during the time of the civil rights movement. We follow three ladies - Skeeter, a young aspiring author, and Aibileen and Minny, two black maids working for two white families - as they come together and try to make a difference, however small it may be. 

I've never read about this period of time before, so that it itself was quite interesting. The racism everywhere - from how the town is segregated into sections based on race, to Hilly's campaign to install additional bathrooms in all houses employing black maids because of their 'diseases' - it's just astounding to read that and think that people used to live like that. And nothing was ever done about it because either a) people had just come to accept the way things were (in Aibileen's case) or b) they just never thought about how wrong it all was (in Skeeter's case). Just that in itself was fascinating to read. 

I loved each of our three narrators for different reasons. Each had their own little story, and each grew throughout the novel and bridged the gap between the races. Minny grew to care for her employer on a personal level, for the first time. Skeeter grew to really appreciate her childhood maid, Constantine, and see her friends' true colours. And my favourite part by far, Aibileen decided to teach Maw Mobley, the little girl she looked after, that there was no difference between black people and white people. It may have gotten Maw Mobley in trouble a couple of times, but I loved that Aibileen taught her to see people for who they really are, not just the colour of their skin.

I loved so very many aspects of this novel, and it's a fascinating read - I'd suggest checking it out (or even just the movie, I heard that was pretty good too).    

Book Review: A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire #2) by George R.R. Martin

A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire #2) by George R.R. Martin
Release Date: 16th June 1999

Publisher: Harper Collins
Format: eBook
Pages: 752
Rating: 5.0/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2013 OTS, 2013 ODY, 2013 EBC and 2013 BSR

Summary from Amazon:

"In this thrilling sequel to A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin has created a work of unsurpassed vision, power, and imagination. A Clash of Kings transports us to a world of revelry and revenge, wizardry and warfare unlike any we have ever experienced.

A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. And from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns. Six factions struggle for control of a divided land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war. It is a tale in which brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside. Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, victory may go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel . . . and the coldest hearts. For when kings clash, the whole land trembles."

Review:
**This review has spoilers! (Sorry, I couldn't help myself). Read at your own risk!**

Everything I loved in the first book is delivered in this great sequel, and so, so much more. Lets take this one step at a time.

Firstly, along with the characters we all know and love, we're given two new narrators - Theon Greyjoy (who we've met before) and Davos, a knight (?) who serves Stannis Baratheon. This takes our narrator count up to 9 (those of you who have read my review for A Game of Thrones will know we had 8 narrators in that book). The range of narrators just makes this novel so much more interesting - not only do you get to see everything, but you get to know these characters much more so than if we had one narrator. Plus, you'll come to love (almost) every character, each for their own unique reasons.

With the range of narrators, balancing how much we hear from each one can be tricky. We need to know the full story, and some parts of that can only be provided by one narrator, so the balance is crucial. I think it's done pretty well, but I do wish that we heard more for Danaerys. I want to hear more about her dragons! And I'm eagerly awaiting the day that she makes her strike and begins the war to reclaim her throne. That will be some enthralling stuff. 

The plot itself is a solid follow on from what was established in the first novel. For a rather long novel, I was surprised that I did feel like the story lagged at all; the plot itself really was quite solid. Whilst I did find that I got weary with the story the more I read, that was more to do with the length of the novel itself, rather than the plot. Whilst I wish that maybe the books were just a little shorter, I don't think that could have been achieved - I think this book covered everything it needed to, none of which could have been left out. Each character's story forged ahead at a solid pace, and I am really looking forward to picking up the third novel to see where it leads them. If the TV series is any indication, I'm going to need to prepare myself. 

Book Review: Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame Smith

Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame Smith
Release Date: 19th April 2011

Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Format: Paperback 
Pages: 352
Rating: 3.5/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2013 OTS and 2013 ODY

Summary from Amazon:

"Indiana, 1818. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother's bedside. She's been stricken with something the old-timers call "Milk Sickness."

"My baby boy..." she whispers before dying.

Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother's fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire.

When the truth becomes known to young Lincoln, he writes in his journal, "henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose..." Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, Abe sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House.

While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.

Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time-all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War and uncovering the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation"

Review:
I have mixed feelings about this one.

On the one hand, I enjoyed how smart this book was. It was very clever to intertwine Abraham Lincoln as a Vampire Hunter with historical events such as the Civil War and the abolishment of slavery. And it's done brilliantly. It all makes perfect sense, and it really makes Ab Lincoln a more interested character - literally everything he does is influenced by vampires - his entire life is re-imagined. For that I have to give the book props.

On the other hand, it wasn't until the last third of the book or so that I actually really got into it. Until then, the book was plodding along, but I didn't find anything particularly thrilling about it. It was more like one account of a vampire killing after another, and that didn't particularly pull me in. Also, I have issues with the ending, major issues.

Overall, the last third of the book or so really made it for me. The way that vampirism was worked into the life and history of Abraham Lincoln was done so well, that you could almost finish the book believing that this all actually happened. I've no doubt that many, many people would enjoy this read.  

Book Review: A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire #1) by George R.R. Martin

A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire #1) by George R.R. Martin
Release Date: 1st December 1997

Publisher: Bantam Books
Format: eBook
Pages: 864
Rating: 5.0/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2013 OTS, 2013 ODY, 2013 EBC and 2013 BSR

Summary from Amazon:

"Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.

Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones."

Review:

It's been quite some time between reading this book and actually writing the review, so let me keep this short in order to actually get across what I really want to say.

I loved this book. I had no doubt that I wouldn't. For years I've had people telling me to read the series, or watch the TV show. I really do want to watch the show, but before I want to read at least the first two novels in the series. So I finally got around to reading A Game of Thrones, and I wish I had read it sooner.

I think what I enjoyed the most about this book was the number of different narrators it had. There were no less than eight different narrators, each having their time to shine (some more than others). Sometimes, when employing this technique you run the risk of having some chapters more interesting than others. But that didn't happen here. Everything was interesting, from Jon Snow at The Wall, to Eddard Stark in Kings Landing, even the chapters with Sansa, which I did find painful at times just because I found Sansa painful. 

I quite enjoyed everything about this book - the plot, the setting, the characters - everything! Can't recommend this book enough.

Book Review: The Crystal Cave (The Arthurian Saga #1) by Mary Stewart

The Crystal Cave (The Arthurian Saga #1) by Mary Stewart 
Release Date: 6th May 2003

Publisher: Harper Collins 
Format: eBook
Pages: 494
Rating: 4.0/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2013 OTS, 2013 ODY, 2013 EBC and 2013 BSR

Summary from Amazon:

"Born the bastard son of a Welsh princess, Myridden Emrys -- or as he would later be known, Merlin -- leads a perilous childhood, haunted by portents and visions. But destiny has great plans for this no-man's-son, taking him from prophesying before the High King Vortigern to the crowning of Uther Pendragon . . . and the conception of Arthur -- king for once and always."

Review:
For a start, I feel like the name of this series is misleading. For a series named 'The Arthurian Saga', the elusive Arthur himself isn't even born until the end of this novel. Since this story follows Merlin, from his young childhood up until his role beside Uther Pendragon and the birth of Arthur, I feel like this series should be called 'Merlin's Chronicles' or something like that. But, maybe in the second novel, we'll have more of an emphasis on Arthur himself.

That aside, I really enjoyed this book. It took a while to get into at first - Merlin's childhood wasn't all that interesting, and I didn't feel like much was happening. When it all changed for me, I think, was after Merlin's first experience in the crystal cave and that vivid vision he had. There was action, things were happening, it was getting interesting. And then I feel that the book basically continued on the same heightened wavelength right until the end. Every little plot point was interesting, and it all tied in really well with all my preconceived ideas about the characters - I think we've all heard of Merlin before, and I found that I particularly liked the way Merlin was portrayed in this novel.

Overall, a solid read. Maybe there was a bit too much emphasis on Merlin's early childhood for me, but I do understand why it was there - we saw some interesting tidbits about Merlin's family and his powers, things that we needed to know. In the end, I felt like the story was wrapped up pretty well, and I'm not dying to get onto the next novel, but I'm sure I will at some point or another.  

Book Review: Wolf Hall (Wolf Hall #1) by Hilary Mantel

Wolf Hall (Wolf Hall #1) by Hilary Mantel
Release Date: 1st April 2010

Publisher: HarperCollins
Format: Paperback 
Pages: 650
Rating: 4.0/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2013 OTS, 2013 ODY and 2013 GVR

Summary from Amazon:

"In the ruthless arena of King Henry VIII’s court, only one man dares to gamble his life to win the king’s favor and ascend to the heights of political power.

England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years, and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe opposes him. The quest for the king’s freedom destroys his adviser, the brilliant Cardinal Wolsey, and leaves a power vacuum.

Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell is a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people and a demon of energy: he is also a consummate politician, hardened by his personal losses, implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph?

In inimitable style, Hilary Mantel presents a picture of a half-made society on the cusp of change, where individuals fight or embrace their fate with passion and courage. With a vast array of characters, overflowing with incident, the novel re-creates an era when the personal and political are separated by a hairbreadth, where success brings unlimited power but a single failure means death."

Review:
I'm actually finding it a bit hard to sort out my thoughts on this book. On the one hand, I really like reading historical fiction and this book was definitely interesting. But on the other, nothing particularly surprised me in this book, and being surprised by the plot is one of the things I most enjoy about reading. Having already watched The Tudors on TV (which is amazing, by the way), I already had some understanding of the going-ons at the Tudor Court, and as a result, I pretty much knew the whole story. Granted, this was told from someone else's perspective, but it all boiled down to the same story. 

So now I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place, because I just cannot sort out my thoughts on this book. Would I have enjoyed it more had I not seen The Tudors first? Probably, but I really can't be sure. This book was very long and extremely dense for me, and that could have overwhelmed me if I didn't already know the plot. In this sense, having already seen The Tudors pushed me to keep reading this book, because I knew the plot would be interesting. 

Overall, I think that hardcore historical fans will really enjoy this book, but I wouldn't say this book is for everyone. What I would recommend is watching The Tudors - that show is seriously good. 

Book Review: The Girl in the Steel Corset (The Steampunk Chronicles #1) by Kady Cross

The Girl in the Steel Corset (The Steampunk Chronicles #1) by Kady Cross
Release Date: 17th April 2012

Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Format: Paperback 
Pages: 375
Rating: 4.0/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2013 OTS, 2013 ODY, 2013 GVR and 2013 BSR

Summary from Amazon:

"In 1897 England, sixteen-year-old Finley Jayne has no one…except the "thing" inside her

When a young lord tries to take advantage of Finley, she fights back. And wins. But no normal Victorian girl has a darker side that makes her capable of knocking out a full-grown man with one punch.

Only Griffin King sees the magical darkness inside her that says she's special, says she's one of them. The orphaned duke takes her in from the gaslit streets, against the wishes of his band of misfits. And Finley thinks she might finally be a part of something, finally fit in—until a criminal mastermind known as the Machinist threatens to tear the group apart…."

Review:

Overall, I thought this was a solid read, and an interesting introduction to the steampunk genre for me. This book had a bit of everything in it - romance, mystery, action and a bit of history - and it all worked really well together to form solid characters and plots. All the characters are likeable (even if they, or rather, one of them acts downright stupid at some points) and the plot, for the most part, is unpredictable. It's only downfall is how easy it is to pick out the villian - as soon as he is introduced, you know it's him.

Whilst I did enjoy this book, I didn't feel particularly involved with it as I read. I never really felt immersed in the story; I felt like an outsider just watching in. Quite possibly this is because I haven't read steampunk before, and I didn't find it a genre that was easy to take too. Maybe my next foray into the genre will be different (one can hope!)

Book Review: Ingenue (The Flappers #2) by Jillian Larkin

Ingenue (The Flappers #2) by Jillian Larkin
Release Date: 12th June 2012

Publisher: The Inkhouse
Format: Paperback 
Pages: 351
Rating: 4.0/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2013 OTS, 2013 ODY and 2013 BSR 

Summary from Amazon:

"In the city that never sleeps, Lorraine Dyer is wide awake. Ever since she exposed Clara Knowles for the tramp she was—and lost her closest confidante in the process—Lorraine has spent every second scheming to make her selfish, lovesick ex-best friend pay for what she did. No one crosses Lorraine. Not even Gloria.  

True love conquers everything—or so Gloria Carmody crazily believed. She and Jerome Johnson can barely scrape together cash for their rent, let alone have a moment to whisper sweet nothings in the dark. And if they thought escaping Chicago meant they'd get away with murder . . . they were dead wrong.

Clara was sure that once handsome, charming Marcus Eastman discovered her shameful secret, he'd drop her like a bad habit. Instead, he swept her off her feet and whisked her away to New York. Being with Marcus is a breath of fresh air—and a chance for Clara to leave her wild flapper ways firmly in the past. Except the dazzling parties and bright lights won't stop whispering her name. . . ."

Review:
I really enjoyed this second instalment in Jillian Larkin's 'The Flappers' series, but to be honest, writing this review about a week after finishing the book, I'm finding it to be a bit forgettable. When I was reading the story itself, I was enthralled with it. I enjoyed reading each girl's story, just as I had the first time, but I found this time around, their stories followed a much more predictable path. Lorraine tries to scheme again, but of course it all comes crashing down around her, Gloria continues on her tumultuous relationship with Jerome, and Clara is back on the wagon (sort of). Whilst I enjoyed reading each girl's story, it was pretty predictable. However, there was a little twist in there regarding Lorraine and a love interest, so there are still surprises to be had. 

What I did enjoy immensely was the setting. Historical fiction has to be one of my favourite genres, and this novel vividly depicts the 'Roaring 20s', both the good and the bad. The underground culture of speakeasies during the prohibition, the racial tension between black and white, the life of the high society - I can't really flaw on its portrayal of this era. Overall, Ingenue is a fitting second novel in this trilogy, and I'm interested to see where the third and final novel takes each girl's stories (especially Gloria's). 

Book Review: The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald
Release Date: 10th April 1925

Publisher: Scribner
Format: eBook
Pages: 144
Rating: 3.5/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2013 OTS, 2013 ODY, 2013 EBC and 2013 GVR

Summary from Goodreads:

"A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, Gatsby captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings. "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--" Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream.

It's also a love story, of sorts, the narrative of Gatsby's quixotic passion for Daisy Buchanan. The pair meet five years before the novel begins, when Daisy is a legendary young Louisville beauty and Gatsby an impoverished officer. They fall in love, but while Gatsby serves overseas, Daisy marries the brutal, bullying, but extremely rich Tom Buchanan. After the war, Gatsby devotes himself blindly to the pursuit of wealth by whatever means--and to the pursuit of Daisy, which amounts to the same thing. "Her voice is full of money," Gatsby says admiringly, in one of the novel's more famous descriptions. His millions made, Gatsby buys a mansion across Long Island Sound from Daisy's patrician East Egg address, throws lavish parties, and waits for her to appear. When she does, events unfold with all the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama, with detached, cynical neighbor Nick Carraway acting as chorus throughout. Spare, elegantly plotted, and written in crystalline prose, The Great Gatsby is as perfectly satisfying as the best kind of poem."

Review:
This took me longer than I thought it would to get through it. Probably because I didn't enjoy it all that much. Which I find strange, considering this novel is one of the great American classics. I really, really thought that I would like this book more. 

My problem was with the characters and the plot. The characters themselves, were not all that likeable. I hear that that's the point, but still - I tend to need characters I like, or maybe love to hate, in order to enjoy a book. These characters - I didn't love to hate them, I just disliked them. On top of that, I had some issues with the plot. Now, there were some twists and turns in there that I wasn't expecting - those parts of the novel I enjoyed. But that ending. I just didn't feel like anything had been resolved. We basically ended up back where we started from, and where we started wasn't that great to begin with. 

I am, however, looking forward to seeing this on film. I think this book could be adapted really well to film - with the added bonus of being able to see scenes not involving our narrator Nick. Overall, the novel was interesting. Read it if these sorts of novels interest you, but if you're like me who felt the need to read the book before you saw the movie, then you can probably give this novel a miss. 

Book Review: Newes from the Dead by Mary Hooper

Newes from the Dead by Mary Hooper
Release Date: 6th July 2010

Publisher: Baker and Taylor 
Format: eBook 
Pages: 272
Rating: 4.5/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2012 OTS Challenge

Summary from Amazon:

"WRONGED. HANGED. ALIVE? (AND TRUE!)

Anne can't move a muscle, can't open her eyes, can't scream. She lies immobile in the darkness, unsure if she'd dead, terrified she's buried alive, haunted by her final memory—of being hanged. A maidservant falsely accused of infanticide in 1650 England and sent to the scaffold, Anne Green is trapped with her racing thoughts, her burning need to revisit the events—and the man—that led her to the gallows.

Meanwhile, a shy 18-year-old medical student attends his first dissection and notices something strange as the doctors prepare their tools . . . Did her eyelids just flutter? Could this corpse be alive?"

Review:
I really liked the premise of this story. A girl, just a normal girl, survives her hanging. Her hanging. That's not something that happens. And, this story was based on a true story. Now I made sure to read the authors notes, and there was in fact a girl named Anne Green who survived her hanging. A person who actually did exist, survived a hanging. I'm sorry, I probably sound like I'm banging on about this, but don't you just find that amazing? That doesn't happen, people don't survive public executions, especially if they occurred the way it was described in this book. The fact that this book was based on a true story was a massive plus for me. It made the story so much more interesting.

So, to actually get to the story, I really, really enjoyed it. Granted, you know where the story is going to go from the beginning, but it was still really interesting to read the journey that took us from Anne's hanging to her revival. What I enjoyed was that the story had two narrators; Anne, who told us her story and established for us why she was hanged in the first place, and Robert, who details her (planned) dissection which turns into a resurrection. All of it was fascinating to read, and I found that I didn't have a preferred narrator either. Sometimes, I find that books with more than one narrator can have the problem where I don't like the narrators equally, and so I end up rushing through certain chapters or dragging through others. I'm glad to say that this wasn't the case for this novel.

Probably the only thing I didn't like was the character of Sir Thomas. He was in the background being very mad and angry, and it just annoyed me. I got to the point where I just skipped over whatever dialogue he had; his incessant yelling didn't need my attention. Overall, this novel was a great read - a solid plot, great characters, and a happy ending. 

Book Review: Asenath by Anna Patricio

Asenath by Anna Patricio
Release Date: 24th September 2011

Publisher: Imajin Books
Format: Paperback 
Pages: 215
Rating: 3.5/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2012 OTS Challenge

Summary from Amazon:

"In a humble fishing village on the shores of the Nile lives Asenath, a fisherman's daughter who has everything she could want. Until her perfect world is shattered. 

When a warring jungle tribe ransacks the village and kidnaps her, separating her from her parents, she is forced to live as a slave. And she begins a journey that will culminate in the meeting of a handsome and kind steward named Joseph. 

Like her, Joseph was taken away from his home, and it is in him that Asenath comes to find solace…and love. But just as they are beginning to form a bond, Joseph is betrayed by his master’s wife and thrown into prison. Is Asenath doomed to a lifetime of losing everything and everyone she loves?"

Review: 
I'm not entirely sure what to say about this book. From the start, it pulled me in - just being based on Joseph's wife (as in, the Joseph from the Bible as well as the protagonist in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat) had me interested. I didn't even know Joseph had a wife! So, to read about Asenath, albeit a fictionalised version of her life, interested me. Overall, however, the story was only, really, ehhhhh. I liked the storyline, but the romance seemed almost fabricated. I just didn't believe it. And the fact that the plot basically relies on this impacted the book greatly for me. Putting that aside, the book was enjoyable. I really enjoyed the beginning, really enjoyed the middle, and I enjoyed the ending but probably not as much as a should have. Overall, a satisfying read that fans of historical fiction (maybe not so much romance, in my opinion) will enjoy. 

Book Review: A Lasting Impression by Tamera Alexander

A Lasting Impression by Tamera Alexander
Release Date: 21th November 2011

Publisher: Baker and Taylor
Format: eBook
Pages: 432
Rating: 4.5/5.0

This books was read as part of the 2012 OTS Challenge

Summary from Amazon:

"To create something that will last is Claire Laurent's most fervent desire as an artist. It's also her greatest weakness. When her fraud of a father deals her an unexpected hand, Claire is forced to flee from New Orleans to Nashville, only a year after the War Between the States has ended. Claire's path collides with that of Sutton Monroe, and she considers him a godsend for not turning her in to the authorities. But when they meet again and he refuses to come to her aid, she realizes she's sorely misjudged the man. Trading an unwanted destiny for an unknown future, Claire finds herself in the middle of Nashville's elite society and believes her dream of creating a lasting impression in the world of art may finally be within reach.

All that Sutton Monroe holds dear lies in ruin. He's determined to reclaim his heritage and to make the men who murdered his father pay. But what he discovers on his quest for vengeance reveals a truth that may cost him more than he ever imagined.

Set at Nashville's historical Belmont Mansion, a stunning antebellum manor built by Mrs. Adelicia Acklen, the richest woman in America in the 1860s, A Lasting Impression showcases the deep, poignant, unforgettable characters that set Tamera's stories apart and provides an inspiring love story that will capture readers' hearts and leave them eager for more."

Review: 

This book had all the components to make me absolutely fall in love with it. I loved the characters; Claire, lovely young woman trying to move on from less than humble beginnings, and Sutton, the young lawyer with a heart of gold. I enjoyed reading the romance between these two characters - the slow build-up, that began as playful friends and evolved into something more. The plot, albeit predictable at times, was enjoyable. And the setting; the fact that the story was loosely (very, very loosely) based on fact, made the setting and the story overall much more interesting for me. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, although I do think it was missing that little bit of pizazz that would make it a 5/5. 4.5 out of 5 ain't bad though! I would definitely recommend this book to fans of romance and historical fiction.