*Review* The Murmurings – Carly Anne West

 The Murmurings

Carly Anne West

384 pages

ISBN: 9781441798

Read 7-23-13

Format: Hardcover

Source: Library

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Everyone thinks Sophie’s sister, Nell, went crazy. After all, she heard strange voices that drove her to commit suicide. But Sophie doesn’t believe that Nell would take her own life, and she’s convinced that Nell’s doctor knows more than he’s letting on.

As Sophie starts to piece together Nell’s last days, every lead ends in a web of lies. And the deeper Sophie digs, the more danger she’s in—because now she’s hearing the same haunting whispers. Sophie’s starting to think she’s going crazy too. Or worse, that maybe she’s not…

Well, the cover looks kind of nice and creepy and the synopsis sounds like it would be a bit spooky, but…it just didn’t live up to what I was hoping for. The writing was okay, some of the descriptions were really good, but the dialogue could have been better since it didn’t feel very natural at some points.

Sophie was an okay character, she had a lot to deal with from the death of her sister and Evan was a good guy, but I didn’t see any kind of build up to a relationship or any kind of connection. I have no idea why they liked each other or why Evan decided to start hanging out with Sophie.

There were several instances were I don’t know how they came to conclusions on things, like who the “insider” was. They were talking about going somewhere and that the insider was there and suddenly Sophie somehow knew exactly who it was. There was also no explanation as to how Dr. Keller knew that Sophie was hearing the murmurings since she didn’t tell anybody.

The ending was kind of anticlimactic and also had no real explanation. I don’t really like unclear things like this. I like to know why it worked and how they knew this important information. I hate to say that this book was pretty disappointing.

No explanations, not creepy, no romantic connection, good descriptions.

*Review* Girl of Nightmares – Kendare Blake

 Girl of Nightmares (Anna #2)

Kendare Blake

332 pages

ISBN: 9780765328663

Read 11-29-12

Format: Hardover

Source: Own

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It’s been months since the ghost of Anna Korlov opened a door to Hell in her basement and disappeared into it, but ghost-hunter Cas Lowood can’t move on. 

His friends remind him that Anna sacrificed herself so that Cas could live—not walk around half dead. He knows they’re right, but in Cas’s eyes, no living girl he meets can compare to the dead girl he fell in love with.

Now he’s seeing Anna everywhere: sometimes when he’s asleep and sometimes in waking nightmares. But something is very wrong…these aren’t just daydreams. Anna seems tortured, torn apart in new and ever more gruesome ways every time she appears.

Cas doesn’t know what happened to Anna when she disappeared into Hell, but he knows she doesn’t deserve whatever is happening to her now. Anna saved Cas more than once, and it’s time for him to return the favor.

This was the book that was chosen for my first Random Reads with I’m Loving Books, and it was the perfect selection since I was wanting to read it anyway!  Anna Dressed in Blood was one of my favorite books last year and  wasvery excited for the sequel.  Kendare Blake is an excellent writer and makes wonderfully sassy female characters.  There probably isn’t any characters in her books that aren’t well-written and she does an amazing job of making them all feel like real people.

I enjoyed the way the story wrapped up and my heart went out to Cas with everything he had to go through.  The only real complaint I have is that we don’t get to see much of Anna, aside from the visions Cas has and the last 30 pages of the book, she is nowhere else in it.

The ghost scenes are great with incredibly vivid descriptions.  I loved it!  The hell that Anna is trapped in is such a strange and horrible place, and the Suicide Forest is quite creepy.  I can’t stress enough how great of a writer Kendare is.  If her other books are anything like the Anna books, I will get everything she writes.

Incredible writing, wonderful characters, fast read, not much Anna.

 

*Review* Something Strange and Deadly – Susan Dennard

 Something Strange and Deadly

Susan Dennard

388 pages

ISBN: 9780062083265

Read 10-24-12

Format: Hardcover

Source: Library

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The year is 1876, and there’s something strange and deadly loose in Philadelphia…

Eleanor Fitt has a lot to worry about. Her brother has gone missing, her family has fallen on hard times, and her mother is determined to marry her off to any rich young man who walks by. But this is nothing compared to what she’s just read in the newspaper—

The Dead are rising in Philadelphia.

And then, in a frightening attack, a zombie delivers a letter to Eleanor…from her brother.

Whoever is controlling the Dead army has taken her brother as well. If Eleanor is going to find him, she’ll have to venture into the lab of the notorious Spirit-Hunters, who protect the city from supernatural forces. But as Eleanor spends more time with the Spirit-Hunters, including their maddeningly stubborn yet handsome inventor, Daniel, the situation becomes dire. And now, not only is her reputation on the line, but her very life may hang in the balance.

Ok, so I know I am behind on my reviews, but NaNoWriMo takes up a lot of time!  Apparently more time than I am able to put toward it since I am only at 20k words and unless I get a ton of time to get the other 30k words out, I am not going to be able to finish it, sadly.  Though, I figured I probably wouldn’t be able to, but my story is about 70 pages started, so that’s a big accomplishment for me!  We will see what happens by November 30th 🙂  Now, on to the review!

I read this book while participating in the read along with Brittany at The Book Addict’s Guide, and I really enjoyed it.  This was my 2nd zombie YA book and my first book with steampunk elements.  I really liked the world of 1876 Philadelphia that the author showed us; there were really good descriptions for everything.

Eleanor is definitely like no other high society girl.  She is not afraid to get her hands dirty and certainly isn’t worried about how others see her life like her mother is.  I really didn’t care much at all for Eleanor’s mother; she was very materialistic and made her moves based on how she thought others would react.  Eleanor is very strong and does what she feels is right, even if she has to sneak around to do it.  And with how often she ends up making decisions that land her in danger’s way, she is either incredibly brave or incredibly dumb.

Daniel was kind of rude, but I eventually did warm up to him.  He has some secrets and we don’t get to learn too much about him until the second half of the book.  The second half also had a lot of surprises and twists.  I was actually quite surprised by a number of things that happened and I like it when an author can surprise me.

Romance is definitely not something you are going to find in this story, so those who dislike insta-love, no worries with this one.  But I am hoping for romantic development in the sequel.  I really like this cover and the overall darkness and feel of it.  The cover to the sequel is fitting and continues the same kind of style.  I am definitely looking forward to continuing this series.

Surprising, fast read, great descriptions, no romance.

 

*Review* Alice in Zombieland – Gena Showalter

 Alice in Zombieland

Gena Showalter

404 pages

ISBN: 9780373210589

Read 10-22-12

Format: Hardcover

Source: Borrowed

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She won’t rest until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.

Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real….

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies….

I wish I could go back and do a thousand things differently.
I’d tell my sister no.
I’d never beg my mother to talk to my dad.
I’d zip my lips and swallow those hateful words.
Or, barring all of that, I’d hug my sister, my mom and my dad one last time.
I’d tell them I love them.
I wish… Yeah, I wish.

This book was so awesome!  It is definitely not your ordinary zombie tale.  Instead of the usual sluggish, walking dead physical zombies, these are actually spirits that are infected and they are strong and fast.  Also, you can’t just shoot them in the head to kill them, it’s much harder.  It was definitely a book I could not put down, one of my favorites this year and I want the next one NOW.  Why must I wait an entire year?!

This book was very exciting in several different ways and there is so much more to learn and uncover.  The action scenes were really well-written and not at all confusing.  The whole thing reads so fast and I would have finished it sooner than I did if life had let me sit down to it more.

There are so many characters I liked.  Ali of course was awesome.  She had to deal with a huge tragedy and she bounces back well.  Her friend Kat is quite a character.  Incredibly upbeat, incredibly fiesty, and an awesome friend.  Ali’s grandparents were funny old folks who had some hilarious lines where they try to talk slang.

“You’re smart, pretty and you’re not a douche purse.”
If I’d had food in my mouth I would have spewed it.  Douche purse?  She must mean douche bag.  But okay, I could roll.  I was getting used to her filthy, funny mouth.  Pg. 265

As for Cole, I wasn’t too crazy about him at first.  I do like a confident, strong male lead, but in the beginning, he was a bit too forceful and a jerk.   It was like he was two different people at first, but eventually we got to see who he was and I definitely warmed up to him.

The cover of this book is one of my favorites because of the details in it; the little skulls, the symbolds of the card suits, and the skull & crossbone design on the inside of the hardcover.  All I have to say is READ THIS BOOK!  A great book and a great Halloween read.

Zombies, action, great characters, witty banter.

*Review* Anna Dressed in Blood – Kendare Blake

Anna Dressed in Blood

Kendare Blake

316 pages

ISBN: 9780765328656

Read 10-3-11

     Anna Dressed in Blood follows Thesius Cassio, known to everyone as Cas, a teenage ghost hunter, as he hunts down on of the most dangerous ghosts he has ever encountered.  Her name is Anna, and she is strong and angry, a very powerful and deadly combination.  Cas knows before he even meets her that she is different from any other ghost he has come across.  Anyone who steps into Anna’s house doesn’t come back out; except for Cas…
     This book is awesome!  I think of all the reviews I read, I never came across a single one that didn’t think this was a great book, and now I know why!  I loved this book.  It was a lot of fun to read and creepy in all the right places (especially the end of chapter 20).  I could feel my heart thumping from the scene I was reading!
     I really liked all the characters.  They were all so strong and real, easily visible in my mind.  Anna had such different sides of herself, and she was definitely one of the strongest characters.  Thomas I really liked a lot because he was one of those characters who are unexpectedly impressive.  Carmel is also a fun character and isn’t always what she seems.
     The plot of this book is not like any other of the books I’ve read and I really enjoyed this different take on a ghost hunter.  It’s not candy coated or fluffed up; it’s gruesome when the scenes call for it, an awesome horror read.  Even the words on the page were perfect for the book (you’ll see what I mean).  There were great descriptions and everything was so vivid.  I can’t wait until the sequel!

Awesome story, great detail, gruesome & creepy, loved it!    4.5 stars!