Shiver Trilogy by Maggie Stiefvater

 

I read the Shiver Trilogy because my nine year old daughter asked me if she could read it, and I thought it might be a bit too old for her.

I expected to like the story, as it seems fairly popular. However, I wasn't really all that impressed.

As I was reading Shiver, I kept wanting her to get on with the story. It rambles and swerves and goes off on side tangents and it just didn't work for me. At the end of the book, there is a good chance I'd have not gone onto the second if I weren't reading this for my daughter. Though, to be honest, by the end of the book I'd already decided that I would rather she wait a few years to read it.

Linger was a much better book, and I began to get more involved in the characters.  It still had slow moments, but all in all, I enjoyed Linger.

And then comes Forever. I mostly enjoyed Forever, right up until the last twenty percent or so.  It was predictable, I knew how the author was going to play it, almost exactly.  It felt like a cheap way for her to create as much drama around the final events as possible, to be honest.

But I didn't expect her to weasel out of an ending the way she did. She didn't give us a satisfactory ending. At all. She left pretty much everything up in the air, which made me wish I hadn't started the series at all.

What did I tell me daughter? I don't believe in censoring books (with exceptions, she's not reading my erotica books, but she doesn't have access to them, so she doesn't realize she's being censored). Hmmm, let me try this again: If my daughter's friends are reading a book then I have a choice of letting her read it and keeping the conversation open so I can get my two cents worth in about the sensitive bits, or censoring it and letting her friends tell her about it (and there is no telling which parts they will feel are the juicy bits), or risking that she'll borrow it from a friend and read it and then won't be able to ask me questions because she wasn't supposed to have read it. So I told her the truth -- it's not that great of a series, it moves slow, and I didn't like the way it ended at all. I told her she can read it if she wants, but that I don't really think she'll like it. I warned her that if she decides to read it, that the girl and the boy sleep together and do a lot more than just kiss, but I also assured her that it doesn't detail more than the kisses, it just lets us know they do more. She's chosen not to read it, for now.

For the other parents deciding if they want their child to read this, here are some details -- minor spoilers, but they won't spoil the basic plot.  Her parents aren't around much, they seem to be the flighty creative sort, so she's left to her own devices much of the time. The boy sleeps with her, in her bed, every night for more than a month, but nothing much happens for a long time. He is ultra careful around her, and we find out later it's because he doesn't want her to see him as an "animal", so he doesn't want to give in to those urges. They do have sex in the first book though, and then they have an argument about it the next day, where he accuses her of having sex with him just to get even with her parents. She didn't, and she is hurt by the accusation.  Throughout the series we are only told when they have sex a few times, the rest of the time their sleeping together is more about intimacy and closeness than about sexual energy. However, when they can't sleep together, they often can't sleep without the other. Protection is only mentioned when they get caught and her mother asks if they used protection and she says they did. On the good side, education and school and learning is given high marks. Both kids are responsible about where their life is heading, and responsible for taking care of their friends.  The sex and kissing isn't a huge part of it, and for the most part it shows kids who are making plans for the rest of their life, and being very responsible as they attempt to maneuver their way through the challenges thrown at them in the books.

She is seventeen and he is eighteen, so I'm not sure how they got away with allowing a minor to have sex.

As for the writing elements:

• The plot had so much potential, but sadly wasn't really actualized.
• Pacing was horrible.
• Prose and dialogue were mostly okay.
• Character development was very well done. Perhaps too much in places.
• World-building was exceptionally well done.

• Book Rating: Shiver: 5 of 10
• Book Rating: Linger: 9 of 10
• Book Rating: Forever: 6 of 10
• Series Rating: 6 of 10

I would feel comfortable with my daughter reading this around 13 or after, I think. Before then, I will allow it, since at least two of her friends have read (or are reading) it, but I don't think it's a good book for her age. Still, my mom censoring my books didn't work, and I doubt it will work for my daughter, either. So I prefer to keep communication open, and that means allowing it and talking about it as she reads it. I am thankful she chose not to read it, though.

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Home for a Spell (A Bewitching Mystery #7) by Madelyn Alt

 

Home for a Spell is the seventh book in the Bewitching Mystery series. I've enjoyed the books in this series, even though I haven't rated them especially high. There is a good voice, decent description of magick (the way it is spelled when it's "real" and not sleight of hand), interesting characters, and interesting town.

I had hoped that A Witch in Time was a transition book, and that Home for a Spell would pick back up with some of the ongoing story arcs.  Instead, I believe we saw two books that took a bit of a break with the story arcs. We saw a hint that the next book will pick back up with the metaphysics, since we'll be back into October.

However, even with very little magick/metaphysics in this book, it was still a pretty good book. The plot was a good one, and the relationship "stuff" in this book is good.  

Here's the blurb:

As the newest witch in Indiana, Maggie O'Neill already has plenty to deal with. So being hobbled by a broken leg doesn't help. Neither does the fact that her best friend and upstairs neighbor is getting ready to tie the knot with her own boyfriend and move away. This leads Maggie to wonder if it isn't time to find herself a new pad.

But when she finds a place, Maggie's dream of new digs turns into a nightmare: the apartment manager is found dead before she can even sign the lease. And Maggie finds herself not only searching for a new home- but for a frightfully clever killer.

As for the writing elements: the plot was good and I didn't know who the killer was until the reveal, pacing was fine, prose and dialogue flowed nicely, and character development continues to be well done.

I'm going to give Home for a Spell an 8 of 10, but I'll be leaving the series rating at a 6 of 10.

• Book Rating: Home for a Spell: 8 of 10
• Series Rating: Bewitching Mysteries: 6 of 10

1. The Trouble with Magic
2. A Charmed Death
3. Hex Marks the Spot
4. No Rest for the Wiccan
5. Where There's a Witch
6. A Witch in Time
7. Home for a Spell
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Sizzling Sixteen (Stephanie Plum) by Janet Evanovich

 

Where do I start? I suppose I should start by saying that I once loved the Stephanie Plum series, and I think I'm only hanging on because I so want Stephanie to get together with Ranger, and I'm afraid I'll miss it.

But I'm beginning to face the fact that Ms. Evanovich is just going to keep Stephanie in stasis, as is, forever. She's as much as told us this, there was once a question on her site about how much Stephanie has aged, and she says Stephanie is like Homer Simpson, she stays the same age forever.

I want characters in a series to grow and learn and change, and that's not happening here. Sizzling Sixteen was slightly different than previous books, as the main plot in this book was in saving Vinnie, and there wasn't a lot of bounty hunting. And Connie got involved, which should have given us lots of laughs (remember when they kidnapped the bad guy and took him to the coast to 'rough him up' and none of them could do it?). Unfortunately, even bringing Connie in didn't help. I laughed one time in Sizzling Sixteen, and it was more of a chuckle than a laugh.

There were a few good moments, all involving Ranger, and I'll put them behind spoiler text for those who don't want to be spoiled.

Ranger admits he loves Stephanie, he's a little more touchy feely with her than he has been in the past, and there are a few kisses. But I seriously think this is just teaser fare, designed to get us to buy the next book. We end the book with even more ambivalence than usual between which guy she may end up choosing. (Select the spoiler text to view it.)

Here's the blurb:

Trenton, New Jersey, bounty hunter Stephanie Plum has inherited a “lucky” bottle from her Uncle Pip. Problem is, Uncle Pip didn’t specify if the bottle brought good luck or bad luck....

BAD LUCK:
Vinnie, of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds, has run up a gambling debt of $786,000 with mobster
Bobby Sunflower and is being held until the cash can be produced. Nobody else will pay to get Vinnie back, leaving it up to Stephanie, office manager Connie, and file clerk Lula to raise the money if they want to save their jobs.

GOOD LUCK:
Being in the business of tracking down people, Stephanie, Lula, and Connie have an advantage in finding Vinnie. If they can rescue him, it will buy them some time to raise the cash.

BAD LUCK:
Finding a safe place to hide Vinnie turns out to be harder than raising $786,000. Vinnie’s messing up local stoner Walter “Moon Man” Dunphy's vibe and making Stephanie question genetics.

GOOD LUCK:
Between a bonds office yard sale that has the entire Burg turning out, a plan that makes Mooner’s Hobbit-Con look sane, and Uncle Pip’s mysterious bottle, they just might raise enough money to save Vinnie and the business from ruin.

BAD LUCK:
Saving Vincent Plum Bail Bonds means Stephanie can keep being a bounty hunter. In Trenton, this involves hunting down a man wanted for polygamy, a Turnpike toilet paper bandit, and a drug dealer with a pet alligator named Mr. Jingles.

GOOD LUCK:
The job of bounty hunter comes with perks in the guise of Trenton’s hottest cop, Joe Morelli, and the dark and dangerous, Ranger. With any luck at all, Uncle Pip’s lucky bottle will have Stephanie getting lucky---the only question is . . . with whom?

Sizzling Sixteen . . . so hot, the pages might spontaneously combust!

Oh, the lucky bottle thing? That part was just silly.

As for my usual rundown... the plot is shaky at best, the dialogue is good, pacing has some problems, and there is no character development because we've known these characters a long time.The characters don't grow, they don't change, there is no further development. Nada. Zilch.

It takes a lot of skill to create a book that makes you laugh out loud until you cry - one that makes you lightheaded from lack of oxygen because you're laughing too hard to pull enough oxygen into your body. Janet Evanovich has that talent and that skill. She did it for a long time and I fell in love with her writing, and with her characters. But it's been a long time since I've seen it in the Plum series. There is a fine line between funny and silly, and a few of the last four or five books have gone past silly and into ridiculous. Sizzling Sixteen didn't head completely into ridiculous, so it was a little better than some of the more recent books, but it's still a far cry from the early books. And that's too bad.

I'm giving Sizzing Sixteen a 6 of 10, and I'm dropping the series down to 6 of 10.





One For the Money (1994)
Two For the Dough (1996)
Three to Get Deadly (1997)
Four to Score (1998)
High Five (1999)
Hot Six (2000)
Seven Up (2001)
Hard Eight (2002)
Visions of Sugar Plums (2003) (don't bother)
To the Nines (2003)
Ten Big Ones (2004)
Eleven on Top (2005)
Twelve Sharp (2006)
Plum Lovin' (2007) (don't bother)
Lean Mean Thirteen (2007)
Plum Lucky (January 2008) (don't bother)
Fearless Fourteen (June 2008)
Plum Spooky (January 2009)
Finger Lickin' Fifteen (June 2009)
Sizzling Sixteen (June 2010)

Chaos Bites (Phoenix Chronicles, Book 4) by Lori Handeland

 

I'm conflicted about this series. I like the characters, I mostly like the worldbuilding. I've talked about pacing issues in the past, but I'm pleased to say that the pacing was mostly okay in Chaos Bites.

But (you knew there was a but coming, right?) I've ranted before about cliffhangers, haven't I? And there are a lot of cliffhangers at the end of this book. I'm not talking "unanswered questions" here. I'm saying that the main plot of the book wasn't resolved. Several plots, actually. Major issues. More of a cliffhanger than "Who shot JR". This felt like the first half of a book, not an entire book. And that's really too bad, because I liked Chaos Bites, right up until the point that I realized that none of the plots of the book were going to be resolved.

Here's the blurb:

It’s not the end of the world—yet. But Doomsday once again lies in wait for demon-slayer Elizabeth Phoenix. Several weeks ago she had no choice but to kill a man she loved. Sawyer was a witch and shape-shifter, a sorcerer of incredible strength. And now he’s started to invade her dreams…in the most dangerous and sensuous ways imaginable.

Through her nighttime visits with Sawyer, Liz has acquired a new set of paranormal powers. She has also received a special new gift in the form of Sawyer’s baby. Now nothing is as it seems as Liz combs through the chaos of her new life while trying to outrun death at every turn. She’s going to need all the help she can get—even if that means dealing with her embittered ex-lover Jimmy Sanducci. He may be the only one left she can trust…since every other demon on earth is hell-bent on her destruction.

I'm giving Chaos Bites a 6 of 10. If the plots had been wrapped up it would have been a 9 of 10.

Lori Handeland's site says the next book will be called Demons at the Gates and is due out in 2011. I'm assuming that means we'll have to wait about another year for it. If the next book were due out in three or four months then I might have given Chaos Bites a 7 instead of a 6. Still annoying, but not so bad since there would already be hype about the next book, and not long to wait for the rest of the storyline.

I wasn't sure if I'd continue with the series after Doomsday can Wait, and I almost didn't. I will likely wait for some reviews of Demons at the Gates before I decide whether to read it or not. I like most of the characters and I'm interested in what happens to them, but I don't need the frustration of cliffhangers without promise of the next book any time soon. Books in the Urban Fantasy genre are read for enjoyment and escape, not frustration. Authors can resolve the plots in their individual books and still have multi-book arcs stretching through the series that keep people anticipating what may happen next. The key is that an author needs to resolve the main plot in each book.

Book Rating: Chaos Bites: 6 of 10
Series Rating: Phoenix Chronicles: 6 of 10

1. Any Given Doomsday
2. Doomsday Can Wait
3. Apocalypse Happens
4. Chaos Bites
5. Demons at the Gates

A Witch In Time (Bewitching Mystery #6) by Madelyn Alt

 

I feel torn about giving this review, because it's not going to be a great review, and I really want to like this series. The Bewitching Mystery series has a lot going for it, but so far there is something that falls short. I'm not 100% sure I can define what doesn't work, but I'm going to try.

I've rated all of the books in this series a 6 of 10, with one exception, and that was a 7 of 10. And yet I continue to read new books as they come out. I like the characters, I like the basic premise of the series, and I enjoy the author's voice. There is some entertainment value, but the Bewitching Mysteries book are not what I'd call really good books.

Unfortunately, I think that A Witch in Time may be the weakest yet as far as plot goes, though there are a lot of good things that happen as far as series arcs go.

I originally thought I would give A Witch in Time a 5 of 10, but then I realize that Maggie is growing, and is accepting more and more of herself. I believe (or hope) that this book is a transition book in the series. There are conversations with Marcus that get put off for other, more pressing concerns. When Maggie and Marcus get around to having those conversations, Maggie is going to have to confront exactly what is happening with her powers, and she is going to have to 1) come to terms with them and 2) learn the best way to handle them.

I'm just going to assume I'm right about this being a transition book, the stage where Maggie gets new abilities but hasn't figured that out yet, and the next book will be about her dealing with them. With that assumption I can give the book a 6 instead of a 5.

Book Rating: A Witch in Time: 6 of 10
Series Rating: Bewitching Mysteries: 6 of 10




1. The Trouble with Magic
2. A Charmed Death
3. Hex Marks the Spot
4. No Rest for the Wiccan
5. Where There's a Witch
6. A Witch in Time

Scarpetta series Books 15-17 by Patricia Cornwell

I have gone from really enjoying this series, to being glad I've read the last book. When another is released I do not believe I will buy it. If someone else offers it to me to borrow, I'll read it, but I won't buy another one. The first books were incredibly well done. And the last two books in the series were getting close to the enjoyment level of those first books. But, not enough to make me anticipate the release of the next book.

I said in my last review of this series that I wasn't convinced that these books are being written by the same author who wrote the first four books of the series. The voice is different, the dialogue is different, the plots aren't anywhere near as well thought out, the procedures aren't being handled the same way within the text... they don't feel like the same series. Is that because the author has changed so much in the time since she wrote the first book? Probably.


Book Rating: Book of the Dead: 7 of 10
Book Rating: Scarpetta: 7 of 10
Book Rating: The Scarpetta Factor: 8 of 10

Series Rating: Kay Scarpetta Series: 6 of 10

As you can see, these latter books are getting higher ratings than some of the previous books in the series. But I didn't raise the series rating. Considering that the first six books in the series had five 9's and one 8 - that tells you that the series has gone through some drastic changes.

I do enjoy reading about how computers are being used to solve crimes. I've also enjoyed reading about various other crime fighting tools. And I love that Ms. Cornwell sometimes makes people's names fit their profession, and how Marino always points that out. There are parts of the books that I really enjoy. Unfortunately, the storytelling part has changed, and that's a pretty big part of why we buy books.. the author's voice, the character's dialogue, how many "threads" we are expected to keep up with at once. I suppose it's a given that as an author grows and changes that her work will as well. I've seen it with the Anita Blake series and with the Stephanie Plum series, too. Of course, I'm mostly okay with the changes in the Anita Blake series... but the Stephanie Plum series has gone from funny to silly, which hasn't worked for me. So, I guess it's just one of those things: Any series that spans 15 or 20 years of an author's life is going to go through changes, because the author is not the same person now that he or she was 15 or 20 years ago.


1 and 2. The Scarpetta Collection Volume I: Postmortem and Body of Evidence
3 and 4. Scarpetta Collection Volume II: All That Remains and Cruel & Unusual
5. The Body Farm
6. From Potter's Field
7. Cause of Death
8. Unnatural Exposure
9. Point of Origin
10.Black Notice
11.The Last Precinct
12.Blow Fly
13.Trace
14.Predator
15.Book of the Dead
16.Scarpetta
17.The Scarpetta Factor

Vampire Sunset (Delilah Street Bk 3) by Carole Nelson Davis

Vampire Sunset is the third Delilah Street book by Carole Nelson Davis. The second book, Brimstone Kiss, left us with a huge cliffhanger that really bothered me. It felt like she didn't finish the book, and I don't like it when an author does that. So, I waited a while to read the third book, as I wanted to make sure we weren't going to be left with another cliff hanger like that.

Once I decided to read it, I enjoyed Vampire Sunset. There are still some pacing issues, and some places where the writing is a touch awkward, but all in all, it was an entertaining book.

Here's the blurb:

WHEN THE STAKES ARE DEAD -- OR UNDEAD!

Werewolf mobsters and vampires run Vegas, but that's yesterday's news for Delilah Street, paranormal investigator. What's truly fearsome is her bloody discovery of an undead evil rooted in ancient Egypt. Now, with her lover Ric fighting for life after a grim battle, the chips are down.

But Delilah is a born winner who has never let a little danger throw off her game, and she's been learning fast since she came to Sin City. Her affinity for silver is making mirror-walking a real breeze, and being forced to accept the albino rock star sorcerer Snow's Brimstone Kiss has ramped up her powers to a startling new level. With the help of her trusty uber-wolfhound Quicksilver, not to mention the orange demon parking valet Manny, Delilah is determined to solve even more paranormal secrets, and hopefully save the few innocents left in town. But can Delilah win her high-stakes gamble for life and love against ancient gods and lethal supernatural odds?

I'm not sure the blurb actually tells us much of what happens in the book. I will say that some of it is far out there, even for something in the Urban Fantasy genre - but that's okay. It's a very different perspective on the genre, and I've enjoyed the concepts that the author explores.

Vampire Sunrise doesn't give us a whole lot of answers. We learn more about Ric's childhood, but we don't learn much more about Snow, and the breadcrumbs we pick up about Lilith don't really tell us anything, either. The plot is not a plot just for this book, it's a continuation of the same plot from previous books. In fact, these three books seem to me to be one book in three parts, more than three books. And it's possible that the next book will make it seem like one book in four parts.

I've given this series a 5 of 10 in the past. I'll give Vampire Sunset a 7 of 10, and I'll raise the series rating to a 6 of 10.

Book Rating: Vampire Sunset: 7 of 10
Series Rating: Delilah Street: 6 of 10







1. Dancing with Werewolves
2. Brimstone Kiss
3. Vampire Sunrise (Nov 24, '09)

Scarpetta series Books 9-14 by Patricia Cornwell

I try to always say something positive about a book, even if it is one I didn't really care for. Most of the time it's easy to say something positive amongst the negative, but with these five books I'm going to have to stretch.

To be honest, I'm not convinced that these books are being written by the same author who wrote the first four books of the series. The voice is different, the dialogue is different, the plots aren't anywhere near as well thought out, the procedures aren't being handled the same way within the text... they don't feel like the same series.

I have three books left to go in this series, and quite frankly I am only sticking with the series because the ratings for the latter books seem to be back up and I'm hoping to see something along the same caliber of the first four books. Oh, and because I've already bought the books.

Book Rating: Point of Origin: 7 of 10
Book Rating: Black Notice: 5 of 10
Book Rating: The Last Precinct: 5 of 10
Book Rating: Blow Fly: 5 of 10
Book Rating: Trace: 4 of 10
Book Rating: Predator : 4 of 10

Series Rating: Kay Scarpetta Series: 6 of 10



1 and 2. The Scarpetta Collection Volume I: Postmortem and Body of Evidence
3 and 4. Scarpetta Collection Volume II: All That Remains and Cruel & Unusual
5. The Body Farm
6. From Potter's Field
7. Cause of Death
8. Unnatural Exposure
9. Point of Origin
10.Black Notice
11.The Last Precinct
12.Blow Fly
13.Trace
14.Predator
15.Book of the Dead
16.Scarpetta
17.The Scarpetta Factor