5 Stars for The Girl at Midnight

I was lucky enough to get an ARC of The Girl at Midnight about six weeks ago, and it's definitely one of my favorite YA Fantasy novels of the year. It's due out April 28. I suggest pre-ordering!

From Goodreads:

For readers of Cassandra Clare's City of Bones and Leigh Bardugo's Shadow and Bone, The Girl at Midnight is the story of a modern girl caught in an ancient war.

Beneath the streets of New York City live the Avicen, an ancient race of people with feathers for hair and magic running through their veins. Age-old enchantments keep them hidden from humans. All but one. Echo is a runaway pickpocket who survives by selling stolen treasures on the black market, and the Avicen are the only family she's ever known.

Echo is clever and daring, and at times she can be brash, but above all else she's fiercely loyal. So when a centuries-old war crests on the borders of her home, she decides it's time to act.

Legend has it that there is a way to end the conflict once and for all: find the Firebird, a mythical entity believed to possess power the likes of which the world has never seen. It will be no easy task, but if life as a thief has taught Echo anything, it's how to hunt down what she wants . . . and how to take it.

But some jobs aren't as straightforward as they seem. And this one might just set the world on fire.

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I can't comment on the similarities between  The Girl at Midnight and City of Bones because I haven't read it. (I know, I know, I'm probably the only one that hasn't read it yet). Of course there are similarities with Shadow and Bone as well as with Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and probably many other YA fantasies with female protagonists. It's a ubiquitous plot in adult fantasy as well. A human girl or woman is uniquely placed to become part of the hidden magical world, destined to become the crux of a war/battle/disagreement between factions of magical creatures. The difference is in the details. I don't think that's a bad thing. I make at least 10 dishes that all start out with a roux, onions, celery, bell peppers, and garlic. The magic is in what goes in next.

The Girl at Midnight stands out because Echo is a girl, and she acts exactly like a teenager that's in over her head would act. She has doubts, fears, and struggles. She's nothing like Karou of Daughter of Smoke and Bone, who is unlike any 17 year old I've ever known. I also find the cast of secondary characters compelling. Although it starts out as a very Echo-centered novel, I was just as interested in the entire group by the end. I expect (hope) that in the next book the secondary characters will all be primary ones.

I look forward to reading this book again, as I surely will just before the second book comes out!

Thank you NetGalley and Delacorte Press for a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

London like you've never seen it....

5 stars

I admit it, I am wowed by this book. It has so much of what I love, nothing that I don't, and it's put together amazingly well. This is a must-go-get-now kind of book. Science Fiction. Fantasy. Mythology. Conspiracies.

Our story begins after the death of Eiliff and Aedric Tenning. They leave three children behind in the care of Aedric's sister Arianne. Twins Eluned and Eleri Tenning are sixteen, younger brother Griff thirteen. All four believe the couple was murdered and an automaton, a secret commission, stolen. Arianne has to support the children financially and emotionally, which means helping them find out why their parents were killed. One of the few clues left behind leads her to Sheerside, the home of a powerful vampire. She plans to enter his service, no small commitment, in order to investigate and secure a place for her charges. It doesn't go at all as she planned.

Review: Dreamwalker

Dreamwalker by Rhys Bowen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Dreamwalker is the first book in The Red Dragon Academy fantasy series, written by mother/daughter team Rhys Bowen and C.M. Broyles for children grades 4 - 8. I am familiar with Bowen from her Constable Evans cozy mystery series.

Addy Walker is whisked off to boarding school in Wales after her mother dies, leaving her orphaned. The Red Dragon Academy is no ordinary, school, though. The school is a portal to a mirror world, a world both secret and dangerous.

Addy and her fellow students don't know about the mirror world or magic, and some of the students have their own secrets. As Addy settles in makes friends, bit by bit is revealed.

This isn't Harry Potter, but I don't believe it's supposed to be a Potter knock-off. At 284 pages, it's a much shorter book and both length and content are appropriate for new 'chapter book' readers. I would have absolutely loved this book at age 9 or 10. It's simple enough for the young reader but not silly.

My 4-star rating was given by my much younger self.

Thank you to NetGalley and Red Dragon Press for this free e-book in exchange for an honest review.



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Thanks NetGalley & Delacorte Press!

I'm currently reading an ARC of the The Girl at Midnight, a young adult fantasy that I'm loving. Each chapter takes me about 15 minutes to read, so it's the perfect length to grab and read in those in between times.

Publication date April 28, 2015

Pre-order from Amazon.com
Pre-Order from Amazon.uk

Review: Seven Kinds of Hell

Seven Kinds of Hell by Dana Cameron

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Although I can't rate this full length book as highly as I rated the short story The Curious Case of Miss Amelia Vernet, it was a good read and I give it 3.5 stars.

 A short story is spare, with little space for repeated reviewing of past decisions and lost love, but this isn't not so true of a full length novel.  Zoe Miller, protagonist of Seven Kinds of Hell (Fangborn, #1), spends the first few days following her mother's death thinking about her past. It's a quick way to show her history without jumping back and forth in time, but it makes the beginning of the book drag a bit. This is a book about werewolves and vampires and I was anxious to see them. (Of course, Bram Stoker made us wait even longer and nobody holds that against him).

The pace improves when the action starts, and I didn't find the twists and turns too implausible. (What exactly constitutes 'implausible' in a vampire/werewolf plot, anyway?) The basic story of the Fangborn is simple and I like that. I'd rather the thriller part of the plot have the complexity.

I plan to continue reading the series. The next book in line is Pack of Strays

This book is currently available in the Kindle Unlimited program, with narration. I didn't listen to it so I can't rate that.

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A Fantasy short story set in Victorian England....

Perusing NetGalley yesterday I came across the third title in Dana Cameron's Fangborn series, Hellbender. I'm entirely unfamiliar with this series, but at this time there are two short stories available on Amazon in the Kindle Unlimited program.

The Curious Case of Miss Amelia Vernet is Sherlock Holmes pastiche. Miss Vernet is Holmes' 16 year old cousin, no less! Like all Conan Doyle admirers, I was both drawn to the story and a little hesitant. Some Sherlock Holmes pastiche is better left unread. This is definitely not the case here! I loved this story.

Even a brief outline would reveal too much of this 49 page story, but I will say that it does include a full cast of well-known Holmes characters and is a complete tale. I can almost believe Conan Doyle wrote it himself. 

I found the story very entertaining. I would read a full series of Fangborn books or stories set in the Holmes world,  but this is the only one at present. The full length novels are set in present times.

There is another short story set in 13th century England, The Serpent's Tale.

I look forward to reading the entire Fangborn series.