Review: Faking It

Faking It by Christine d'Abo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Riptide Publishing rarely steers me wrong when I want a little romance in my reading, and Christine d'abo's Ringside Romance series is one of my favorite Riptide discoveries. Working It, book one in the series, hooked me immediately as solid entertainment, with great characters, smooth pacing, and an engaging storyline. Those qualities continue here in book two, and Faking It is an excellent continuation of this delightful and delicious series.

Max, though only a minor character in Working It, was one of my favorites, and I was thrilled to see him get his own story. His nurturing nature, warm personality, and snarky sense of humor are all in excellent form here, and d'Abo pairs him with the perfect romantic foil -- Grady Barnes, failed reality TV star and the spoiled and troubled scion of wealth and privilege who needs an emergency fake fiancé to help escape his father's control of his life. Max needs money to help fund Ringside, and Grady's crazy offer might be the opportunity he needs to make a difference, and to escape the rut his life has become.

It definitely isn't smooth sailing to happily ever after, but the trip is a good one, with a strong storyline, fabulous protagonists, and great supporting characters (Justin, Grady's long-suffering handler, deserves his own book!) and a great blend of emotion and sexiness to keep the reader engaged and interested. Max and Grady's chemistry, both physical and emotional, is delicately crafted, and their shared legacy of troubled family relationships serves as a nuanced backdrop as both men seek to figure out themselves so they can figure out each other. Christine d'Abo is great not only at character development but at the highs and lows of relationships, and she takes her characters, and the reader, on a journey that is hilarious, sexy, and emotionally real as flawed people try to find those moments of connection that change I to we.

Zach and Nolan, the dynamic duo of Working It, both make minor appearances, reinforcing their own happily ever after, and the stage is set for the appearance of the mysterious Eli, the third member of Zach and Max's childhood boxing group, who is mentioned but as yet unseen in the series. I admit, I'm ridiculously excited for the next chapter in this series.

Advanced reader copy received from NetGalley.

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Mary: The Summoning Book 1

Monahan, Hillary.  Mary: The Summoning.  Disney Hyperion, Sept. 2014

Horror isn’t usually one of my favorite genres, simply because too often it seems silly rather than scary or trite rather than original.  And Mary: The Summoning could have easily fallen into either the trite or silly category, based as it is on the premise of the Bloody Mary urban legend/slumber party game.  But it doesn’t.  Instead, author Hillary Monahan takes her source material and weaves a tale that is genuinely creepy with characters who are authentic, interesting, and relatable.  Mary is one of the most intriguing examples of young adult horror I’ve read in recent years.

Shauna, the story’s narrator, is a part of a group of four high school friends who are encouraged/cajoled/badgered by group leader Jess McAllister into attempting to summon the ghost of Bloody Mary in a bathroom mirror.  Like Shauna, Kitty and Anna are somewhat reluctant but intrigued, and the attempt is made.  And, to their great surprise, Bloody Mary herself appears in the mirror.  Be careful what you wish for, they say, you just might get it. 

But once isn’t enough for Jess.  “It was supposed to be a cool thing,” Jess says later, “but it went weird.”  Weird is an amazing understatement for the horror that Shauna’s life quickly becomes.

The next summoning attempt is both a success and a disaster.  Mary appears again, but this time she is stronger and much more dangerous.  Shauna is more than physically hurt when Mary escapes the mirror; she’s haunted now, by an angry specter that can appear anywhere there is water or a reflective surface.  And she not only wants Shauna; she wants her to suffer…and everyone she knows is suddenly at risk.  And Shauna is desperate for help, and answers. 

But Monahan is careful to make Mary more than the villain of the piece.  How did this young woman from nineteenth century New England become the monster in the mirror?  And if Mary died in 1864, why do the legends of her hauntings not begin until the 1960s?  Letters written by Mary to her sister, letters about a young girl bullied and abused by the church pastor and others in the church, offer glimpses of a sweet young heart driven to madness, perhaps even dreams of vengeance?  But how did Mary die?  And where does her power come from?  Like Shauna, the reader needs the answers, needs to understand how this could come to be.  Is Mary a demon or a victim?  And can solving that mystery help Mary, and Shauna, find peace?

Mary is brilliantly paced; the story moves quickly as events unfold in a few short days.  Supernatural horror mixes seamlessly with teenage relationship drama, family relationships, and negotiating high school.  Shauna is an excellent narrator, an authentic teenage voice trying to hang on to sanity in the midst of a situation which makes no sense, but which must be endured and raged against if she wants to survive.  The supporting cast – Jess, who is keeping secrets that may prove deadly; Anna, quick to blame and anger, but still willing to fight to help Shauna; Kitty, distracted by her on and off relationship with football hero Bronx but firmly on Shauna’s side; and Cody, the last girl/woman to successfully summon Bloody Mary, whose willingness to help is tempered by a fear of Mary reattaching to her own life – all surround Shauna with actions and opinions that both help and hinder her fight to find the answers that will free her from Mary’s bony grasp.   

If I have a complaint about this novel, it’s the fact that it doesn’t end; it just stops.  Yes, I realize that the Book 1 subtitle implies that it’s part of a series.  I like series.  But, I like authors who write series books like J. K. Rowling.  I like books where each volume is both a complete story AND part of the larger story arc.  As a reader, I need a sense of resolution, some kind of closure to feel the author gave me at least part of the answer.  Cliffhangers annoy me on television, but they’re worse with books because book 2 may be a year or more away.  That’s a long time to wait for resolution, especially since book 2 may lead to book 3…or book 7. 

But, I confess I will be eagerly watching and waiting for Book 2, because I do want to know what happens next.  Monahan convinced me to emotionally invest in her story and her characters, not merely Shauna and her friends but in Bloody Mary too.  I want to know what happens next, and that, in my mind, is the proof of a story well-told.

ARC received from NetGalley.

Things That Go Bump in the Night

Stroud, Jonathan.  The Screaming Staircase: Lockwood & Co. Book One.  Disney Book Group.  September 2013.

I picked up this book, I confess, because I loved Stroud’s Bartimaeus Trilogy, and I was hoping for something in a similar vein.  And there are certain similarities.  The story is set in an alternate England, one in which the supernatural is normal, or at least expected.  The main characters are young, adolescents with exceptional and preternatural gifts.  And the adults whose lives intersect with those of Stroud’s young heroes are often antagonistic; certainly they are not helpful or supportive.  Indeed, the book’s narrator, Lucy Carlyle, her boss, Anthony Lockwood, and colleague George Cubbins must battle not only the ghostly Visitors who infest London and Britain, but against an adult world which tries to control how and when they can use their gifts.   

But it is the differences between this new series and Bartimaeus which are perhaps most compelling.  Missing is the wonderful snark that Bartimaeus himself provides the reader with his footnoted commentaries.  That trilogy, for all its action and moments of horror, is funny.  And it is/was that humor that made me such a fan of Stroud’s previous work.  The Screaming Staircase does have flashes of that wonderful humor, often in Lucy’s thoughts about her boss and George's commentary on life in general, but overall, it is definitely more horror than comedy.

And that is no way a criticism.  Indeed, I was reminded more of Rick Yancy’s Monstrumologist series (which I also love) than Stroud’s earlier works, though I must confess there is much less bloodshed here.  From the Lucy and Lockwood’s first encounter with an angry Visitor to the group’s terrifying night in one of England’s most haunted residences, this book is legitimately, absolutely must keep reading horrifying in the best sense of the word.  The adult reader knows, logically anyway, that if a book is marketed as first in a series, the heroes must survive to see the story through.  But, J. K. Rowling showed us that not all the heroes must or do survive, that main characters can be sacrificed for the greater good.  Stroud keeps the pages turning, through twists and tangles until the dramatic climax is reached.  And, like Rowling, he both gives the reader a sense of both resolution and anticipation, closing the chapter of this particular episode while also setting up a continuing story arc to tease the reader with the next possible adventure.

Interesting, likable, and multidimensional characters with potential for continuing growth combined with a deft touch at world-building makes this first in a series novel a definite winner for both teen and adult readers.  And while the male/male/female friendship triad has become a common one in young adult fiction in recent years, Stroud's characters do not fall easily into that kind of trusting dynamic.  Instead, their relationship(s) are ones in which everyone has secrets and bonds are slow to form, even as they face ghosts and death together.  Competition, ego, disparate personalities, and those secrets conspire against Lockwood & Co, but slowly they do begin to realize they are stronger together than they are as individuals.  The Screaming Staircase offers a hint of the kind of power team this oddball group could become;  I find myself already impatiently waiting for whatever adventures will next befall Lockwood & Company.

ARC received through NetGalley.  

Auraria

Westover, Tim.  "Auraria: A Novel."  QW Publishers, July 2012.

Let me preface the actual review with this thought…Tim Westover can WRITE!  The language and phrasing here is just lovely, the descriptiveness brings to life a wonderful and charming world, one in which the reader, like James Holtzclaw, is completely and almost unwittingly seduced by until he (or she) realizes that s/he is as much a part of Auraria as the singing tree or the mist fish.  The novel is oddly reminiscent of an Appalachian “One Hundred Years of Solitude,” a magical and isolated world coupled with unique and fascinating characters, a world which moves at its own pace and which cannot be hurried or tamed despite the best efforts of man or technology.  It is character, not plot, which drives Auraria, a delightful cast of myths and topsy-turvy stereotypes who never quite react or behave as one might expect.  The novel’s protagonist, city-slicker James Holtzclaw, presents at first as a predictable middle management flunky, one who counts beans and follows orders, yet it is through Holtzclaw’s eyes that the wonders and mysteries of Auraria unfold until both the reader and the erstwhile Holtzclaw realize that perhaps what one thinks one wants is in fact no such thing and happiness may be found not in excess or success but in finding a place to belong and to tend.   Capturing with deft skill the constant tensions between the old and the new, between tradition and progress, and between Appalachia and the outside world, Westover’s novel is a stunning example of best of the Appalachian literary tradition.     

 Advance reading copy received through Netgalley.

Her Majesty's Will

Blixt, David. “Her Majesty’s Will.” Sordelet Ink, April 2012.

 Two confessions – I love good historical fiction and I am completely enthralled with Kit Marlowe, who I firmly believe would have been more famous than Shakespeare had he not met an untimely end, most likely due to his involvement in espionage.  Having said that, it is no wonder I was intrigued when I discovered this title in the NetGalley listings.  And Blixt does not disappoint with this fabulously fun frolic through Elizabethan London in which Shakespeare, a naïve country lad is pulled into a twisting and turning spy adventure through the city by a charmingly roguish and well-connected Kit Marlowe.  Mr. Blixt offers a intriguing explanation for Shakespeare’s “lost years” and his movement from Stratford to London as well as providing him with rich inspirational material for his future theatrical endeavors and an introduction to the London theatre community.  While there are spots of uneven writing and odd notes to the reader, these small flaws cannot distract from the overall delightfulness of this historical tale.  The plot is well-twisted and fast-paced with a cast of ruffians and wits that Shakespeare himself would have been proud to create and, indeed, many will seem familiar to the readers of Shakespeare’s most famous works.  It is in characterization that Mr. Blixt truly excels – both Shakespeare and Marlowe are crafted with a deftness that gives them depth and charm, seducing the reader into wishing success for their quests and the supporting cast of characters, from the lowest to the highest, teems with an authenticity that helps draw this irresistible portrait of London under Good Queen Bess.

 Advance reading copy received through Netgalley.

The Immortal Rules

Kawaga, Julie. “The Immortal Rules.” Harlequin Teen, April 2012.


 I love GOOD vampire fiction, have since I was pretty young. But too much bad vampire fiction in recent years, particularly some very popular young adult vampire fiction, was starting to rather taint the whole genre for me. And then this gem of a YA novel crossed my path. Julie Kagawa’s “The Immortal Rules,” the first book in a planned series, introduces one of the most captivating protagonists I’ve encountered in a novel. Allison Sekemoto is strong, determined, fiercely moral according to her own code of beliefs, and almost suicidal loyal to the families she makes or joins. Kagawa crafts a compelling dystopian future, one in which vampire overlords both enslave humanity as blood donors and protect them from a greater threat to survival in the form of feral “rabids.” This chaotic existence forces those, like Allie, who eschew the vampire protection to scavenge to survive in hostile and dangerous world and will soon demand that Allie make the choice to become what she hates in order to survive. Allie’s journey, and the people she meets, will force her to rethink what it means to be human and how exactly to separate what makes a person human and what makes a monster. And that journey will have consequences not only for Allie, but possibly for all of humanity. Kagawa’s heroine is a powerful representation of the human instinct to survive and to thrive even in the darkest circumstances. I eagerly wait for the next book to see how Allie’s story will continue to unwind.

 Advance reading copy received through Netgalley.