Book Review: Hanging by a Thread by Sophie Littlefield

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers (11 Sep 2012)
• Language English
• ISBN-10: 0385741049
• ISBN-13: 978-0385741040
• The quaint little beach town of Winston, California, may be full of wholesome townsfolk, picturesque beaches, and laid back charm, but Clare Knight is about to uncover something underneath its thriving demeanor. Someone is hiding something, and it's as gruesome as the townsfolk, and their stately homes, are stunning. Amanda Stavros, fellow classmate and resident of Winston, is gone and there's no sign of her ever coming back. Everyone says she was taken and murdered, but where's the evidence? Why isn't there a single ounce of proof? And why is everyone okay with this, except for Clare? 
  
  
  Luckily—or as it's been turning out, unluckily—Clare possesses a gift, an ability to see visions from the clothes she works with. And since her clothes come solely from the townsfolk, Clare has become privy to some startling and disturbing memories of these townspeople. Will she uncover who killed Amanda Stavros? Or is she just moving herself up in line to be the next victim of Winston?

Clare has a talent. Where most people see a scrap of ruined fabric, Clare sees potential. She has a keen eye for fashion, able to take something old and discarded and turn it into something new and fresh. Not only does she make kick-ass clothes, but she also has a connection with any that she touches.

Clare gets visions when she touches the clothes people wear. She can see what they did when they wore it, especially if they were doing something they weren’t supposed to. As if that wasn’t enough to keep her busy, Clare has the added trouble of trying to fit in. Clare and her mother have returned to their old town of Winston just as the town is gearing up for their summer celebrations. But just when she thought all she had to worry about was figuring out the gorgeous Jack, Clare finds herself in the middle of a disturbing mystery that only she can get to the bottom of.

Hanging by a Thread is a welcome addition to the YA/paranormal genre. The paranormal element of the story was mild in comparison to other books, but it made the story as a whole more believable.

I struggled to connect with Clare as the protagonist of the story. While it had good plot developments and interesting twists and turns, Clare didn’t really bring a lot to the table for me. It felt more like she was a narrator, simply telling us the story rather than actually being a part of it.

This was a nice easy read but one I wouldn’t rush out to recommend to all my friends.  

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Series Showcase!

Recently it feels as though all the books I'm reading are series books. Some I have been a fan of from the beginning, but a lot are ones I'm only now getting around to.  It feels amazing to devour the whole series in a matter of days! No more waiting years for the end book to come...no more agonising wait for answers. 

To celebrate these amazing series, over the next few months I am going to showcase one series per month. Starting with..

Among the reviews there will also be a few giveaways over the coming months and I hope to get lots of follower involvement. Polls and chats about your favourite series and series characters. 

I will still be featuring my regular reviews also, so tune in for those and the series fun!

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Book Review: The Witches Lottery

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 204 KB
• Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
• Language English
• ASIN: B004IZLJSA

When Sophia and Drew McKibben's parents are killed in a tragic car accident, they are shipped off to live with an aunt they never even knew existed. Believing that they are moving to a privately owned island just off of the coast of Mystic, CT to live alone with her, they are surprised to find a sort of under-aged bed and breakfast.

Sophia draws the attention of one of the locals, Falen, immediately. He always seems to know exactly what she is thinking, and to her frustration, everything she does seems to amuse him. When a newcomer to the island brings with him a sense of deja vu, she begins to ask herself the ultimate question: Am I going crazy?

Sophia's world starts to unravel when she notices her own brother acting just as abnormal as the rest of them. When she begins to realize that the life she left behind looks even more bizarre then the one she was forced to leave it for, she's faced with a decision to make: embrace the new life that has been given to her, or drown in the past. Either choice brings with it more secrets and deceptions to unearth. The problem now is that the two worlds may actually be more intertwined than she thought.

In The Witches Lottery, our protagonist is Sophia. While still coming to terms with the loss of her parents, Sophia and her brother Drew, are shipped off to live with an aunt they never even knew existed…on a remote island with exactly one house.

Sophia knows there is something different about her aunt Celeste who looks so much like herself, and also the people staying with her. A few other teens Sophia’s age live with Celeste who all seem to know more than Sophia.

In the midst of her grief, Sophia’s worry for her brother Drew mounts day by day, as occurrences that she cannot explain increase. Bizarre dreams and even more bizarre behaviour leaves Sophia feeling like she’s losing her mind. And the constant teasing from gorgeous Falen doesn’t help any.

On the eve of her sixteenth birthday, Sophia finds out what everyone has been keeping from her. She is a witch. Along with this self discovery, Sophia finds out that her mother knew what she would become…and she would have powers unrivalled by any other. But someone would do anything to have for themselves.

I thought Sophia was an extremely enjoyable and charming character. She was well written and it was a pleasure to watch her grow as the novel progressed. Her interactions with both Falen and Nick were full of delicious tension and anticipation and perfect interludes to Sophia trying to figure out what her new found powers mean.

The first in a new series, the Enchanted Island series is sure to be popular with any YA lover. And without sounding clichéd, The Witches Lottery was simply…magical. 

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Book Review: The Girl With Glass Feet

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Atlantic Books (1 Jan 2010)
• ISBN-10: 9781843549208
• ISBN-13: 978-1843549208
• ASIN: 1843549204
• 
  

A novel to fall in love with - for anyone who loved the escapism of "The Time Traveller's Wife" and "The Memory Keeper's Daughter". A mysterious metamorphosis has taken hold of Ida MacLaird - she is slowly turning into glass. Fragile and determined to find a cure, she returns to the strange, enchanted island where she believes the transformation began, in search of reclusive Henry Fuwa, the one man who might just be able to help...Instead she meets Midas Crook, and another transformation begins: as Midas helps Ida come to terms with her condition, they fall in love. What they need most is time - and time is slipping away fast.

The Girl With Glass Feet is one of those rare reads that grab you and hold you hostage, unflinchingly until you have devoured the story. It has the eerie, almost ethereal qualities like the Time Traveller’s Wife, but also firmly footed in our reality.

Ida Maclaird returns to the strange St Hauda’s Land. The first time she visited, it was for a holiday. Now it’s for a cure. Ida encounters the reclusive and socially awkward Midas Crook as he is lost in his world of photography. As a native islander, Ida hopes Midas can help her find the one person she believes can give her the answers she has been searching for.

When Midas stumbles into Ida’s life, it opens up a life time of old wounds that had never healed, only scabbed partially over. The story flits effectively from the present to the past, revealing a loveless and often cruel father and a lifetime of regrets that come from almost every character. Except Ida herself.

It struck me as ironic that the Ida, the girl with glass feet, has nothing to fear. She has lived a full life and even though she is slowly turning into a hardened mineral, she is the wholest of all the cast of characters, the only one who does not fear what is to happening to her. She has no regrets.

The Girl With Glass Feet is a romantic story with a warm heart, but it wasn’t until I finished the book that I realized it was a cleverly disguised paranormal romance. With strange creatures that have the ability to turn anything it looks at to pure white, or the cattle-moths, or glass bodies hidden in bogs, St Hauda’s Land is like no other place. It has an other-wordly quality to it that at times feels fantastical, at others like it could easily happen.

I cannot recommend this book enough. Ali Shaw has created something very special, and it should be adored by everyone. Seriously. 

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Book Review: Deviant ARC

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Amulet Books (Oct 2011)
• Language English
• ISBN-10: 0810984202
• ISBN-13: 978-0810984202

Danny Lopez is new in town. He made a mistake back home in Las Vegas, and now he has landed at an experimental school in Colorado for “tough cases.” At the Cobalt Charter School, everything is scripted—what the teachers say, what the students reply—and no other speaking is allowed. This supercontrolled environment gives kids a second chance to make something of themselves. But with few freedoms, the students become sitting ducks for a killer determined to “clean up” Colorado Springs.

Initially, Deviant starts off seeming like a story about an angry kid, forced to move from a neighbourhood he was only just settling into. Danny is angry about a lot of things – his hippy/posh step-dad Walt, who insists he call him Dad, his Mom who got a new job, the move to a part of the country that can only be described as the polar opposite of what he is used to. Danny grew up in East L.A. before he was moved to Vegas. Now he is in Colorado, replacing desert sand for snow. Lots and lots of snow.

Danny reads like an average fourteen year old boy – angry at the world, becoming interested in the girl across the street, hating his new school. Only when you scratch the surface of this book and delve a little into its pages does its true nature appear. At the heart of it, Deviant is a mystery and a horror story about evil in the world and serial killers. And with correctional institutions after correctional institutions very close by, there isn’t exactly a shortage of them in Danny’s new hometown.

Little does Danny know, there is more to worry about than the weird new school rules he has to abide by, or how he is going to adjust to the bitter cold of Colorado. Something weird is going on in his new town. Someone is taking cats. And sacrificing them. 

At his new school, Danny is quickly targeted. He is protected by an elite group who manage to find ways around the strictly enforced school rules. And his new friends are very interested in what is going on with all the neighbourhood cats.

Deviant is primarily a mystery story but it has so many other elements thrown in. Great suspense, the blossoms of first love, the acceptance of the hand that fate has dealt us. What struck me as the greatest surprise was how much Danny himself grew on me. In the beginning he seemed like any other petulant teen boy – rude to everyone and never apologising for his passive aggressive attitude. But as the story and the mystery unfolds, so does Danny. He becomes a sympathetic character who only wants to have his old home life back, and when it is clear that isn’t going to happen, he fiercely protects the new one he has. Danny is a selfless character, with a brave heart and a very likeable nature.

Deviant is left wide open for a sequel – and I sincerely hope there will be one! This is a great book for anyone who wants a good mystery or who enjoys YA.  

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Book Review: Merciless ARC

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Harlequin Books (26 July 2011)
• Language English
• ISBN-10: 0373775792
• ISBN-13: 978-0373775798

Tall, dark and eligible? That’s all that matters to the women of Jacobsville when it comes to handsome and aloof FBI agent Jon Blackhawk. But if it were up to him, he would never settle down. Luckily, Jon has the best gatekeeper: his efficient and reliable assistant, Joceline Perry. Without her help, he’d be at the mercy of husband hunters — but the more he comes to rely on her, the more he notices how invaluable she really is....

While Joceline can’t deny that her boss is attractive, as a single mother with responsibilities she’s determined to be professional. But when Jon is accosted by a criminal seeking revenge, she comes to his aid — fueling the spark that is growing between them.

As the attempts on Jon’s life increase, Joceline stands by his side. But when the smoke clears, will the man who avoided love realize that all he ever needed was right there all along?

I went into Merciless thinking it would be another romance novel. Colour me surprised when I found out it was so much more than that. Merciless is a crime novel, a mystery, a thriller with a romantic twist.

When a criminal with an appetite for vengeance is released, he doesn’t waste time making his intentions clear. Both Jon and Jocelyn receive threatening phone calls, putting all their families at risk.

Merciless is full of secrets and revenge and double-crossing…not to mention the achingly sweet romance at the heart of it.

The characters of Jocelyn and Jon are at times beautiful to read, at others incredibly frustrating. They are both well written and complex characters, easily carrying the storyline and the reader along with it.  For comic relief there is the ever-loveable Markie. There’s nothing like a tell-it-like-it-is child to bring a laugh to the story. And every story needs a villain in the shape of Mother Dearest.

Merciless delivers a steady thump of fear throughout, adding to the mystery and the whodunit quality. But always on the periphery, is the growing attraction between the leading characters.

This story will get under your skin and stay there long after the book is finished. My mind constantly drifted back to it whenever I wasn’t reading, wondering what would happen next and how the pieces of the puzzle would all slot together.

Merciless is one book not to be missed this summer.

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Book Review: Day of Vengeance ARC

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Templar (1 Aug 2011)
• Language English
• ISBN-10: 1848771037
• ISBN-13: 978-1848771031

Schoolboy time-traveller Jack Christie is thrown back to 1940s Nazi-occupied France. With the Battle of Britain and the German Vengeance programme underway, the Second World War is at a crucial point. Jack and his best friend Angus take a more senior role in VIGIL's attempts to prevent intervention in history, attempting to stop the Revisionists from their highly volatile nuclear plan to stop the war. With spitfire dogfights, jeep races and thrilling chases, the boys have their most hair-raising adventure yet, including involvement in an assassination attempt on Hitler himself. Just as all seems lost, Jack's father returns and a nuclear disaster is averted in the nick of time.

In the latest instalment of the Jack Christie novels, there is no short of action and adventure for Jack and his good friend Angus. When VIGIL security is breached, the boys have no option but to travel back in time again – this time landing themselves smack bang in the Second World War.

Jack and Angus find themselves involved in an assassination attempt of Hitler, an underground rebel base in Paris and an extremely risky rescue mission. The boys get themselves in more than a few sticky situations, but the action is nicely balanced by the humour, which is not in short supply.

Day of Vengeance was an extremely enjoyable read. It is very well written, easily throwing the reader into the excitement and danger alongside Angus and Jack. What I enjoyed most, was the connections to the future, and how, unwittingly, the boys contributed to certain things in their present time.

This is a book that can be enjoyed by everyone – boys, girls and adults alike. I cannot wait to see where the author will take Jack and Angus, and me also of course, on their next adventure. 

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• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Harlequin Books; Original edition (19 July 2011)
• Language English
• ISBN-10: 0373775830
• ISBN-13: 978-0373775835

When the ton's most notorious heartbreaker…

Dangerously seductive and sinfully beautiful, Susanna Burney is society's most sought after matchbreaker. Paid by wealthy parents to part unsuitable couples, she's never yet failed to accomplish her mission of diverting a groom-to-be. Until her final assignment brings her face-to-face with the man who'd once taught her an intimate lesson in heartache….

Meets London's most disreputable rake…

James Devlin has everything he's always wanted: a title, a rich fiancée and a place in society. But the woman who's just met his eyes across a crowded ballroom threatens it all. Not because she'd once claimed his heart, or that every sinuous swirl of her ball gown takes his breath away. But because the secrets she carries could cost him everything. To put the past to rest once and for all, Dev just might have to play Susanna at her own wicked game….

Let the seduction begin!

Notorious is the fourth book in the Scandalous Women of the Ton series. I have not read any of the previous books and that did not spoil the read of Notorious. Each novel stands alone, though characters of the other books will crop up familiarly to fans of the series.

From the first page, the author transports you back in time to glittering ballrooms, handsome gentleman and elegant ladies. She paints the portrait of the time effortlessly, before ripping the rose-tinted glasses from out face and showing the world of seduction, greed and ambition the glammer cleverly disguises.

The story is told in multiple POV’s, which usually I find distracting. In the case of Notorious, I found it exhilarating. Jumping from Susanna’s perspective to Dev’s was intoxicating and only made me yearn for the book more in between my bouts of devouring this book.

I found myself bewitched by Susanna and Dev as they played out their bitter contempt for the other, which naturally progressed to deeper, more primal feelings. It was a pleasure to watch as the characters came undone, as they chipped away at the carefully erected exterior they had maintained so well in the past. Susanna and Dev grew as characters and evolved naturally as the story progressed.

I cannot praise this book enough. Notorious is one of those rare books that makes you itch when it is not in your hands – when a moment not reading is a wasted one. It will crawl beneath your skin (much in the way Dev does with Susanna) and stay there, unflinchingly.

Notorious has everything – intrigue, mystery, betrayal, sex, love, gambling, seduction, loyalty and honour. Grab it up as soon as you can. I guarantee after the first chapter you know exactly what I’m talking about.

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