Coming Soon - New Monthly Posts

Hi everyone, it's been a while but I have still been thinking about what I can do to update this blog on a more regular basis.  My book reviews are pretty few and far between these days - I like to do them but I just don't get a lot of time to sit down and write them. 

This year knowing how slack I have been I'm only doing the one book challenge - the 'Goodreads' one where you challenge yourself to read a certain amount of books in a year.  Last year I made the challenge 100 and did not even break 50 so I have realigned my expectations to something a bit more manageable.  I made the goal just 50 - I have my tracker posted on the sidebar so you can see how I am getting on.

I decided that I would try and post once a month and pick a book that has or is being released in that month that I want to read.  It will just be a showcase of the book and any information I can find about it and maybe why I want to read it. Hopefully this will keep me coming back and making regular posts and maybe also inspire me to keep reading even when it's  hard to find the time.

In the meantime, thanks for reading.

kiwigirl

The Willows by Krystal George (Review by kiwigirlreads)

The Willows Plot Overview:

Evelyn Magwire used to have it all, a happy family, great friends and a loving boyfriend. After her parents are killed in an accident things just keep getting worse and worse for Evelyn. Her grief isolates her from her friends and remaining family and it’s not until another tragedy strikes that she is forced to pull herself together.

When one of her brothers goes missing in mysterious circumstances Evie finds that she is the only one who believes he is still out there and wants to track down the truth. Her enquiry leads her to The Willows – what was her brother doing out there, could he really be a killer, and what dark secrets are hiding in the chilled and deserted woods?

Evie finds herself pulled deeper and deeper into a new world of darkness where it’s hard to tell who is friend and who is foe. In the end Evie must make a choice – will she give in to temptation and even if she can resist, will she ever be the same again?

What I thought:

I was provided an ebook copy of ‘The Willows’ by the author for reviewing purposes. I really like the cover of this book, it's one that I would certainly pick up in a book store if I came across it.

First off I’d like to point out here that my rating system veers towards the harsh, even for books that I absolutely loved, so while I have rated this a bit lower it does not mean that it is not a good book. My review will attempt to explain what I did and did not like and you can judge for yourself. If it sounds like something that you might like then I would certainly recommend you giving it a try.

The Willows is one of those books that had a lot of potential and although it was good you can see how it could have been so much better.  It was pretty short at 140 pages and it really could have done with some extra fleshing out of characters, motives and background. It is a paranormal young adult tale which also has a good mystery to it. I think that it will appeal to younger aged teenagers more than adults due to the plot construction being a bit flimsy.

I thought that the story started off slow, I found it a hard to get into as it went about the build up and background information. However once the action starts and the mystery begins to unfold it does get better, it quickly picks up and moves swiftly towards the conclusion. I did think that overall it was a good story with some interesting ideas and I enjoyed reading it.

The characters were likable but lacked depth; this is where some fleshing out was really needed.  I just never felt like I knew anyone especially well. The main character of Evie seemed to be rather shallow and well, a bit ‘fickle’ at times – she has feelings for a lot of boys during the course of such a short book and there does not really seem to be much of a reason for many of these feelings. I like a bit more grounding to my story lines rather than where a girl sees a handsome vampire and is immediately head over heels in love to the detriment of self preservation

In the same vein I felt that some of the reactions and emotions in the book were poorly executed. The main character has tragically lost her parents, when she breaks down with grief at their funeral people act like she is a freak. The same goes for later when she is back at school, people can’t understand why she is not back to her usual chipper self.  I can’t image that people would be so callous, such a loss would take quite a while to recover from and I would like to think that that most people would be a bit more accommodating especially her close friends.

The storyline was rather interesting, I liked the mystery of it and once it gets started there is enough to keep you interested. There are some twists and turns and at times it even gets to be a bit creepy as the protagonist gets closer and closer to the truth. Although there were some flaws and things that I thought could have been better it was an entertaining story and is a nice addition to the genre

There is a bit of swearing, some blood and a small amount of gore in this book.  It’s pretty minimal compared to others in the genre. There is not much in the way of sexual content either, there is some teenage kissing but it’s pretty tame.

Final Comments and Overall Rating:

I did like the story, and although though it might seem like I was harsh, this was mainly because I did like it and I could see the potential for it to be great. Overall ‘The Willows’ was a quick, easy and enjoyable read. If you like vampire or paranormal romance type books then I would recommend you checking it out.

You can check out more on the authors blog.

Rating: ☆☆

NaNoWriMo

As many of you know - today is the day. 

November 1st is the day that National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) begins.

Thousands of people around the globe will be busily typing or writing away, filled with optimism for the coming month. Many will fall by the wayside, as the days turn into weeks and the inspiration fizzes out or life intervenes, to mention but a few tales of the unfinished.

The goal is to write 50,000 words - it's a huge task and one that only a few achieve.  But even if you don't reach your goal at least you took part and you might have the start of something great.

If you are not doing NaNo this year but it sounds interesting, be sure to check out the site and see what goes on.  Maybe you might be inspired to try it out in 2013.

For those who are participants this year - best of luck.  If you feel like sharing your tips and or any other feelings about NaNo please do so in the comments.  I would love to hear from you.

Epic Fail :(

Well as you can see by my lack of posting recently, my resolution in July to read less books but actually finish and review them has not worked out very well. I definitely am reading less books that's for sure - but more like just not reading at all.

I'm still on the same place with the few books I have open and have been for about a month now. They are ones that I have promised to review so I really want to finish them and do the reviews.  So this is just a quick message to say I'm still here and I'm still trying.  I have another blog which I have been trying to get up and running and the content is a bit easier for me to write as it's just personal life stuff. I have been focusing a bit more on this one recently.

If you want to check it out it is called kiwigirl in Suwon, South Korea and it's about my life in South Korea, also some other random stuff like music I like and other things but mainly centered around Korea. It's going pretty well but harder to get followers as it lacks the community that you get with the book world - everyone visiting each other sites, commenting and following.  That's one thing I really love about my book blog, finding like minded individuals.  I am getting lots of page views however, so that is encouraging - I just hope some people find it useful or interesting.

One thing I did on my other blog to make sure I posted, even if it was just a few words, was to institute a 'Music Monday' post where every week I post a link to some music I like or think is interesting and worth sharing.  I think I might need to do that here also to give me something that I have to do every week - it needs to be something easy so that I do it even if I only have a short amount of time to post.

I'm thinking that it might be something to do with covers because I love cover art, there are a couple of artists that I've started to follow over the years as I kept recognising their work.  I think that they deserve more attention as for me the cover is what makes me want to look at the book in the first place. I know you are not supposed to judge a book by it's cover but - come on who doesn't?

Anyway I will keep thinking on it and get back to you soon with my (hopefully) brilliant idea for a regular segment.

That's all for now,
kiwigirl

Demon High by Lori Devoti (Review by kiwigirlreads)

Demon High Plot Overview:

There are demons attending Caldera High!

How does Lucinda Dent know?

Because she’s the one who called them and accidentally set them loose.......

Lucinda knew it was a bad idea to call demons - her Mom disappeared ten years ago after dabbling in demon calling for too long.  She’s seen what it can do, but with the bank about to foreclose on the only home she’s ever know, Lucinda needs to find some quick cash.
 
She and the local ‘acquisitions expert’ at her school work out a way to make some money putting on a ‘unique’ show for those who can pay.  When it all goes horribly wrong Lucinda finds herself in way over her head. 

Now Lucinda needs to find a way to clean up the mess she’s made, before she loses her heart, her soul, her life, or all of the above.

What I thought:

I think that Demon High was a decent enough book, I had a few issues with it but I liked the story well enough.  I did think the name let it down a bit, Demon High just makes it seem like it would be a much lighter kind of book where it is in fact in the dark paranormal spectrum. It is of course Young Adult, the characters are in high school as the name suggests.  I think that it’s one that still reads as a teenage book (albeit one with mature themes and language) but as an adult I still enjoyed it.

I have seen two cover art pictures for this book, I read it as an eBook and I have to say that the cover art on this edition was a much better reflection on the story.  The cover art with the girl with the long hair and white dress along with the name set quite a different tone.  I have used the cover art from the eBook edition that I read in this post, I think it might be a later one, and like I said it is much more appropriate.

I have been trying to figure out just what it was that made this book not as enjoyable as others I have read.  It was a combination of a few things which I will outline below but I do want to note that I did think it had some good qualities and I would not be reviewing it here if I did not think it was worth reading.

First off it was a bit slow starting, and then even once the demons were called and let loose it was all a bit underwhelming.  I felt that it did not really get interesting until they were finally tracking down the bad guy.  For me that part was the best, it was where the characters really shone and I began to get into the book.  In the beginning there was a lot of new information dropped that was not accompanied by much of an explanation.  I know that it’s hard to find a balance and the beginning was slow enough to start off with but some things need to be set up when introducing a new world – we need to know the lingo and the parameters.

Secondly Lucinda, I did not connect with her as a main character, she just seemed a little flat and lacking depth to me. I never ‘got’ how she fell in love like she was supposed to be, it was just never explained enough for me to really feel it.  On the other hand I really liked the character of Brittany; she was tough and I thought she was fresh and funny. I liked that she was a bit on the shady side which seemed incongruous with her perky popular girl personality.

I saw that on other reviews a lot of people did not like the ending; I had no issues with it.  I think that a lot of people reading may be too caught up in happy endings. I liked that this played out more ‘realistically’ if I can use that term when talking about paranormal fantasy.  Of course you have to suspend disbelief for most of the storyline but the human elements and plot continuity still need to work.  The world that was created by the author told us demons were bad news, if it had ended all happy fluffy bunnies I would have been disappointed.

Final Comments and Overall Rating:

Overall I liked the story, it was compelling and dark. I would certainly give another book in the series a chance just to see where it goes and perhaps it will improve on the aspects I did not find as appealing.

Rating: ☆☆☆

Dog Days by John Levitt (Review by kiwigirlreads)

Dog Days (A Dog Days Novel) Plot Overview:

In San Francisco not everything is what it seems. Mason is a talented Jazz guitarist who scrapes by playing the odd gig around town. He is also part of a secret community of magical practitioners and although he has tried to leave that life behind him he is about to be dragged right back into the thick of it.

Leaving a gig late one night Mason is attacked by a supernatural creature, he narrowly escapes thanks to his companion Louie (an Ifrit – a magical being that looks like a small dog) and his talent for being able to improvise with his magic.

Mason realises that he is out of his league and reports the incident to his former boss, the self-appointed law for the magical community in San Francisco. Mason learns that there is something seriously wrong in the magical community, practitioners and Ifrits are in danger. Despite Mason’s initial reluctance to get involved in the end it will all come down to him and Mason will find himself tested to his limits – will he be able to save those he cares about?

What I thought:

I really liked Dog Days and have since read the next three books in the series, I read this one a while ago, but I went back and reacquainted myself with it so I could do a review. I figure if you have not heard of the series or have seen it but not given it a go yet then you will be more interested in the first book, especially if you are like me and like to read things in sequence.

First off I really appreciated the clear amount of effort that John Levitt has put into the storyline and details of Dog Days. The book has a very good plot, lots of interesting characters, the setting is described in detail and the magic system is creative and interesting. Dog Days is a fun and entertaining read with a lot of depth.

If you find yourself thinking it’s a bit slow to start off with, all I can say is please stay with it. Compared with some contemporary urban fantasy it’s not as fast paced, but if you stick with it you will find that it has more than enough action to keep you entertained along with some great twists and turns. I also thought that overall it was a bit darker than some novels in the same field that try to wrap everything up in a neat little happy bow at the end, there are real repercussions even for the winners.

I liked the feeling that you get from the setting, there are a lot of descriptions in the story so you can really appreciate that they are in San Francisco – Levitt describes the landmarks, the neighbourhoods and the feeling of the city - for someone who has never been to America this is great and it really adds to the atmosphere. You can feel like you are there, or at least get an idea of what it is like there.

The magical system in the Dog Days universe is well constructed; it is creative and well thought out. There are lots of things that are still a mystery to the characters such as where Ifrits come from and why only some practitioners have them. I think this is great as I like a good mystery. There are quite a few variations on how the practitioners use their magic and some have more talent than others, this is all well explained and seems fairly coherent so far.

The characters on the whole were well written and you get to know them during the story, they all have their own personalities, rivalries and issues so they come across very human. I did think that the women in the story were a bit light and stereotypical however there were only really only two, so I guess it’s not a huge issue. I liked that the characters responded to most situations realistically and that magic is never the be all and end all, it’s used as a tool and they need the skills and talents of many to help resolve the situation.

Mason is the narrator of the story and is not your typical first person hero (compared to a lot of Urban Fantasy nowadays); he’s much more laid-back and less of a smart ass than many of his contemporaries. While I do like that kind of character I still found Mason likable for the most part, he comes across as very real. Differences are what make the world go round and if all books had the same characters then I am sure we would all get bored in no time. I did find him a bit whiny and judgemental at times but I liked that even though he is magical, he is not all that powerful; he knows how to use what he has to his advantage but suffers no delusions of grandeur.

I think for a lot of people the hero of the book is not Mason but his ‘dog’ – Louie. Louie is a magical being called an Ifrit - some practitioners have these creatures but no one knows why or where they come from. They look like normal pets but are smarter and have talents of their own. Louie loves food and acts just like a dog most of the time; he cannot talk either physically or mentally. I think that’s actually a good thing as it adds to the mystery of the Ifrits and makes his relationship with Mason all the more interesting. I liked that even though they can't talk you still get a very real idea of their personalities, the animosity between Louie and Victor's cat Ifrit is a good example of this.

As with all books there were a few things that did not work so well. I found that there were some ideas that got rehashed to often - the idea that Mason treats his magic like his music and is much better at improvisation than planned study and that he has a lot of undeveloped potential if he could just focus. I felt that these two ideas were talked about a bit much, we get the hint you don’t need to bash us over the head with it every five minutes.

The other thing I noticed was that many times in the middle of the action Mason would go off on a tangent and fill in back-story. I know that sometimes this is necessary if the information is really needed but it often ended up being a distraction from the action. When a character is about to have his face chewed off by a monster, I don’t really need to know about a conversation he once had with his mentor. This might be something that the character could reflect on once the action has finished if it is really important to the story.


Final Comments and Overall Rating:

Overall I really liked Dog Days; I thought it was intriguing, suspenseful and imaginative. John Levitt has a nice and easy to read writing style - the mood and the details of the novel are great and this all adds up to a compelling read.

Dog Days Series: Dog Days, New Tricks, Unleashed, Play Dead

Rating: ☆☆☆☆

Cartoon - Simon's Cat

This reminded me of a few cats I have known - love this series of cartoons.