]]> http://andreahall.info/smell-of-fear/feed 0 http://andreahall.info/the-replacement-book-review http://andreahall.info/the-replacement-book-review#comments Mon, 03 Oct 2011 21:46:38 +0000 Andrea Hall http://andreahall.info/?p=105 Mackie Doyle is not an average teenager. Even living in the small town of Gentry, he is not of this world. Doyle comes from a place filled with death, disease, and darkness. A world where its occupants are the living dead and it’s all ruled by a little tattooed princess. He is a replacement for the human baby boy that was taken sixteen years ago. Because of his fatal allergies to blood and iron, Mackie is slowly dying, while trying to live as a human. If he is ever going to survive the human world, he will first have to take on the underground world known as The House of Mayhem, and work for their undead princess.

Mackie becomes strangely drawn to the outcast girl, Tate Stewart, after being confronted by her, about her missing sister, Natalie. Even though Mackie may know more about Tate’s sister than he leads on, he is far from telling her anything. Tate is definitely not an approachable person, always putting on a cold face whenever anyone comes near her. Although Tate comes off as hating Mackie, he can’t help but want to be close to her.

It’s the month of October, and everyone has brought out the jack o’ lanterns and costumes. Attending Halloween parties with best friend Roswell, Mackie realizes that some of the girl’s costumes may not be as unreal as they seem. People all around the small town of Gentry don’t seem to realize that the undead are living among them, and are involved in their everyday lives. Even the local band, which Mackie joins, is a part of his ‘real’ world. As time goes on, he will have to learn to accept his new life, and the ugly creatures in it.

There is a secret about the small town of Gentry that not many people know about. Every seven years, a small child is taken from its crib and is replaced with an undead child.  Sometimes these undead children die, sometimes they grow up, but Mackie seems to realize he’s been one of the rare children that have grown up. With the never-ending love from his sister Emma, Mackie finds it in himself to try and save the town of Gentry from a terrible tragedy. He may need help from a few people along the way, but Mackie is willing to risk whatever it takes to get the town he’s always known as his home, back to normal.

Brenna Yovanoff does a brilliant job with the character of Mackie Doyle. The detail of his thoughts and feelings, are so in depth and clear, you will feel as though you are in his shoes experiencing what he is. The setting of the story, takes place in October around Halloween. Yovanoff goes into great detail to tie in a frightening and ghostly feel to the story that goes with the Halloween spirit.

This is a book to be read in the dark near Halloween, when all the ghost and goblins are running about. Yovanoff has an exciting way of drawing in her readers and making them feel as if they are in this frightening story about the small town of Gentry, the undead world of Mayhem, and the abnormal teenage boy caught in the middle. I highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy scary stories that will leave you wondering what hides in the dark when you go to sleep.

Not only Maya, but Daniel as well seems to show signs of a strange power that enables him to ‘read people’ just by touching them. He tries to help Maya as she attempts to uncover her hidden past with only her paw print birthmark as her lead. She can’t seem to figure out why she suddenly ended up with her adoptive parents in a medical research facility.

As Kelley Armstrong’s story unfolds, Daniel and Maya are taken on a surprising new adventure that may lead them to an unexpected truth. While Maya becomes more and more drawn to Rafe, their mission to the truth becomes more complex than necessary. Rafe comes with many secrets that Maya tries to figure out on her own. After she meets his sister, who could in fact be the key to all of Rafe’s secrets, Maya becomes more curious about his true identity. For some odd reason, Rafe wants to keep his sister in the dark and unknown to the ‘outside’ world.

When a sudden fire breaks loose in the forest surrounding their small town, many mysteries will be solved. A surprising twist brings Maya in touch with her ‘supposed’ twin brother. A shocking, yet questioning ending leaves Armstrong’s audience wanting to read her sequel in this intense, secretive, and bewildering saga.

The beginning of ‘The Gathering’ was slow and difficult to keep up with. But, as the story continued, the anticipation built up and it was easier to follow the plot. Armstrong does an amazing job with the imagery of this story. She pulls her readers along for a ride on the wild side with Maya, Daniel, and Rafe, as they go on the adventure of their lives. With her mysterious ending, Armstrong’s sequel is bound to go off with a bang. Readers who enjoy a story with anticipation, secrets, action, and slight romance will enjoy this book.

Isobel must try to balance her friends and her project with one of the most rumored, yet unpopular guys in school. Her overprotective boyfriend, Brad, doesn’t help matters when he decides to bully and threaten Varen. Brad is very set on the idea that Varen is controlling Isobel in some way.

After some time Isobel finds herself looking for any excuse just to be with Varen. The more time Varen spends with her, the more she is ripped from her friends and boyfriend. The deeper Isobel gets into Varen’s life, the more danger she puts herself in. As she ventures through the pages of Varen’s notebook, she discovers the realm he has created where the terrifying stories of Edgar Allen Poe come to be reality.  Isobel begins to have dreams about things that don’t seem to make any kind of sense to her.

Soon life itself becomes a struggle for Isobel as she realizes how fake her reality was. Finding new friends and trying to find love in the least expected person, Isobel will find the real person she is. Unexpectedly the project turns into a discovery of the real world of Edgar Allan Poe. Isobel will find out truths and lies throughout her adventure as well as love and friendship.

Creagh does a great job with the characters and storyline. It did seem like the story was drawing on too long, yet the book did not fail to keep my attention. The storyline is filled with mystery, anticipation, and the truth about the cruelty of friendships. Varen’s character is very well put together. Creagh shows his home life where he is psychologically abused by his father, and somewhat stranger than other Goths that Isobel encounters.

The character of Isobel is also very well portrayed as Creagh goes into detail with showing her readers how Isobel, the typical popular teenage girl, becomes one of the people outside of popularity. She tells how Isobel gets through her situations and drama with trying to recognize her real friends from her fake ones.

This story is well organized, understandable and relatable to an extent. I highly recommend this book to readers that enjoy a story with intense characters, mystery, some romance, drama and suspense.

Deceived by a letter that wasn’t real in the first place, Tessa is taken captive by the sisters and forced to learn how to use her power that she did not know she possessed. She is made to believe that if she does not cooperate with the sisters they will kill her brother.

While captive, she learns that the Dark Sisters are in an organization called the Pandemonium Club. The night she is meant to meet and marry the Magister, the head of the organization, she tries to run away only to be caught and punished by the sisters. When locked in her room waiting to meet the magister, a mysterious boy named Will, finds his way into the house and helps her escape. He takes her back to the London Institute where shadowhunters live.

At the London Institute, Tessa can feel normal again. She makes friends with the Shadowhunters. Yet, for some strange reason Tessa can’t understand why Will keeps her at such a distance, when there is clearly a mutual attraction.  He isn’t the only one that is attracted to her, and she isn’t the only one attracted to him either.

As Tessa and the Shadowhunters continue to try to figure out who the real magister may be, they are deceived by false facts that could lead everyone into their own death traps. Tessa is torn between trying to find her brother and helping her new friends save the world. The secrets of the past, present, and future lead the story into the revealing ending that answers all questions and strikes up new ones. This book was a great read. What made this book an enjoyable read was that Clare captured the imagery wonderfully with her detailed story. The plot was well developed and had plenty of twists. She built the climax and suspense of the story with every conflict that was introduced.  The element of a surprise ending only added to the reader’s anticipation of how Tessa was going to survive her fight against the Pandemonium Club. People who enjoy a book with mystery, suspense, and love triangles will like this book.

Clare has a talent for writing well-developed and entertaining characters and her ability when it comes to creating dramatic, complicated conclusions to her books will get Clockwork Angel plenty of attention and will leave the reader impatient for the sequel.

If this sounds like every other dark, supernatural, paranormal romance novel series saturating the teen market, think again. Halo by Alexandra Adornetto is for the reader who is looking for something different.

The book revolves around the character of Bethany, the young angel who is visiting Earth for the first time, her brother Gabriel, an Arch Angel, and sister Ivy, seraphim. The trio is sent to help humans combat the evil that is infiltrating humankind.

Of course, the reader follows the characters through the trials and tribulations of adjusting to human life and their new school. Bethany especially embraces humanity as she enjoys the experience and becomes more “human” than the other angels. She is able to share the human emotion which eventually leads to a major obstacle as she begins to fall for a mortal boy, Xavier Woods. The story unfolds to be a beautiful love story filled with compassion and teen angst.

Complications begin to ensue for Bethany and Xavier’s budding romance, leaving Gabriel no choice but to take action and seek the advice of a higher power in regards to his sister’s relationship. Gabriel understands the importance of their original mission and never loses sight of the task at hand.

Adornetto writes an excellent cliffhanger, leaving the reader to wonder what is next for these characters. The ending left me eager to read her next novel, Hades.

The author’s use of imagery and vivid detail help bring the story to life. Adornetto weaves a beautiful story that is lighter and more romantic than many of the supernatural series.

Adornetto, who hails from Australia, really surprised me. For an author that published her first book when she was 15 years old, I expected less than what I actually received from this book. She is a talented writer and I anticipate that her future novels will be wonderful reads as well. She certainly shines as young adult author in Halo.

Adornetto had extraordinary descriptions of the angels in both their human form as well as their angelic form. The image she gives the reader is very captivating and simple to grasp. Her story line is well paced and flows for the reader. Being a teen herself, the author shows some similarities and experience when it comes to the life of a typical teenager.

I recommend this book to readers who enjoy a good novel about angels, forbidden romance and the supernatural genre. The story is a refreshing read from the angel novels that are available.

Her prom night was not one that most people would hear about and it was definitely not the greatest night of her life either. Prom night was the last night of her life. Madison makes the mistake of leaving her date fore the mysterious and handsome Kairos, who ends up being a dark reaper. She ends up stepping into the grasp of death itself. Kairos takes her out that night, and they und up in a fatal car accident. But before she dies, she takes a powerful amulet from Kairos which allows her to still remain present in her life.

Madison has a guardian angel assigned to her to help her keep her secret from her family and the people around her. Barnabas, her guardian, tries to train Madison on how to use her amulet, but there is something strange about the amulet that neither Barnabas nor Madison can figure out. Not only it being the only thing that keeps her here but also that she can’t grasp the knowledge of controlling her amulet the way Barnabas tells her she should be able to do.

With her guardian angel and Josh, her former prom date, she fights to get revenge for the life taken from her. Learning the truth behind her amulet and where she got it is going to take her on a much bumpier and dangerous road than she intended. While fighting for her soul and her ability to stay on earth, Madison enters a new world and path of destiny that will bring her the truth that lies beneath her death.

This book was a casual read. But it did not grasp my attention like other books in this genre. I read it when I had spare time, it wasn’t one of those “I can’t put it down,” type of books because of its slow start. Overall, I did enjoy this book, but lacked the attention grabbing characters and details that paranormal romances need. It is also easy to get lost in the sequence of things because the plot line jumps around a bit. If a little more time was on characters, back story, and transitions, the potential could have been better realized.

Overall, I would recommend this book to people that enjoy a casual read. The novel does have action, angels and crazy twists. But, for those readers who want a book that will give them that “edge of your seat” feeling, you might want to read something else.

“Fallen” is one of the best books I have read to date. It is one of those books that once you start reading, you can’t stop until you finish. I love everything about it but what’s there not to love; it’s full of love, lust, angels, demons, and the innocent human girl caught in the middle.

“Fallen did not disappoint as it met all my expectations for a paranormal story. Kate did an amazing job developing the characters of Luce and Daniel by giving them realistic and relatable personalities.

The plot line blew me out of the water; it kept me guessing and left me on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next. The suspense of not knowing is one of the great selling points of this book. It was a delightful read. Sure, it was the cover that originally caught my eye but the story is even better. Everything about this book is just absolutely wonderful.

Luce’s adventure starts from the moment she steps foot into her new school, Sword and Cross. Luce feels guilt over her ex-boyfriend’s suspicious death. As she walks through her new school, her dangerous and evil past still haunts her.

When Luce first sees Daniel she suddenly feels the need to stay at this school. Daniel, having not met her, gives off the sense of hating Luce. Luce becomes more attached to Daniel and tries to stay around him more because of this. In a way readers may see her as a stalker to Daniel but she is just obsessed with finding out the truth of his “hate” for her. She finds out that there is more to this and him than meets the eye. She falls into a situation that could be dangerous for them both. Trying to find out her past, that Daniel constantly hints towards, she doesn’t realize it could cost her life.

Even Daniel is taken on an emotional roller coaster with seeing Luce. He realizes that Luce wants to find out his past and why she feels connected to him, and he tries to run away from it., Always trying to run from the same things, in the end it finds him and Luce both.

We have all had enough of the sparkly Twilight-like stories, but Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick is different. Yes, the story is based upon a forbidden love and a mysterious, charming bad boy. However, Hush Hush’s main character is a fallen angel, with a little more edge and mystery surrounding him.

The story is told from the character Nora Grey’s point of view. She is an attractive, intelligent, and simple girl who is not particularly looking for love. Enter bad boy Patch Cipriano. Patch is extremely hostile, a bit dangerous, and may be a bit of a stalker. These qualities are only magnified the more time that Nora spends around him. Despite the unease that she feels in his presence, Nora can’t help but be attracted to him. His smile, his eyes that bore into her soul and somehow he manages to reel her in, creating some rather confusing feelings towards him that she never really expected.

For some strange reason she cannot understand why she feels attracted to him and terrified at the same time. He seems to be wherever she is and knows more about her than her closest friends. She doesn’t know who to trust or if she should run away from him.

Trying to get answers, Nora finds herself in a situation more complicated and frightening then she could have ever imagined. She’s caught in the middle of an ancient battle between the immortal and those like Patch, the fallen. But, when it comes to choosing her fate in the end, the choice is not as easy as it seems. Making the wrong choice could cost Nora her life.

The book is well written, and the characters are vivid. The plot has many twists and turns and Fitzpatrick does a good job of developing Nora and Patch’s relationship. She adds a lot of suspense and the reader is constantly left guessing as to what Patch is going to do next and how Nora will respond. There are also some great action sequences especially during the several attacks on some of the characters in the novel.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and it is a definite must read for those who enjoy love stories that have a dark, mysterious element to them.

Leslie is not a stranger to tragedy, she is not the typical happy, carefree teenage girl. She lives with her alcoholic father and her older brother, who is a drug addict and allows his dealer to rape her in lieu of payment for his drugs. Ever since her mother left, her family has been in complete chaos. Now she lives life trying to find ways to forget all her pain and suffering. But, be careful what you wish for, little does she know that her pain reliever is not far away.

For months, Leslie has had her mind set on getting a tattoo as way to reclaim her body. What she didn’t foresee was just how big of an impact it was going to have on her life. There’s more in store for her with this tattoo then just the design. The art she selected ties her to Irial, the King of the Dark Fairy Court. He, in turn, removes her emotions such as, pain, fear, panic, or anger and uses them to nourish his court. All Irial can think about is that his court will be nourished with the emotions of his new pet. He never expects to grow a lover for her.

Marr captivates the character of Leslie perfectly. She is broken and hurt on the inside but on the outside she is strong. AT first she is relieved at the fact that her bad emotions are taken away. But, the outcome of her story is different then what you would expect. Maybe the path she decides to take is one that the readers may not have wanted to see.

Irial must focus on his court to make them stronger as well as causing chaos between the other courts. He knows he must be strong and not let others influence. But the love that he grows towards Leslie is slowly bringing him down as The King of Dark. He sees that he is not as heartless and dark as he once was. He has become soft.

The book starts out strong and continues to build but the ending is a bit of a letdown. The novel is entertaining but I was looking for a happy ending. Most of the story is written beautifully and Marr creates many complex characters but fails to develop them to their fullest potential. There are also many conflicts in the story that could have been further developed. Marr had the potential to create something incredible with this novel but missed the mark by wasting some great opportunities with this story and the plot. Although I found the book is an interesting read, it is not one that I would highly recommend.