Lying Game #1

I was a huge fan of the Lying Game TV show, and when it was cancelled (ABC Family always seems to cancel the best shows without a conclusion to them), I decided that that best thing for me to do was to get the entire series and read them, that way I could at least have some idea of what the writers of the show were using as their basis for plots. As of yet, I have only read the first novel, and it was decent. Obviously written for a middle school (or less) reader, but that doesn’t make the story any less intriguing.

Emma couldn’t believe it when her foster brother showed her a YouTube video of her doing unspeakable things, and after the viewing her foster family kicker her out. Freaked about the look alike, Emma went online to find the girl, what she found was more than a look alike, she found a twin sister, separated from birth. Excited beyond all reason Emma heads to Arizona to meet her sister, only her sister never shows. Everyone in town is calling her Sutton, her sister’s name. Emma keeps waiting for her sister to pop up and yell surprise, only she never does. That’s when Emma starts to get strange notes and emails, telling her to keep her mouth shut or they’ll kill her to.

Emma is scared, and trying to fit into the mold that her parents and friends expect of wealthy, well-to-do Sutton. She can’t tell anyone what is really happening, but one person realizes she isn’t Sutton. A boy from the wrong side of the tracks, who Sutton had a secret relationship with, knows that Emma isn’t who she ways she is. Emma enlists his help is trying to figure out what happened to her sister, but at what cost?

I loved the show, and at least as of book one, it seems to somewhat follow the shows first episodes of season one. The only thing that I don’t like about this book series so far *****SPOILER: is that Sutton appears to actually be dead, and is seeing through Emma’s eyes and provides a somewhat annoying commentary throughout the book.*****

I will defiantly continue this series, when I have more time. Some week when I have nothing to do and can plow through a novel a day.

Endless Knight: The Arcana Chronicles

While I am not a huge fan of romance, especially the paranormal kind, I can get past it in this series because it is so good! I find myself looking at least once a week to see when the third novel is going to be published. While the first novel in the Arcana Chronicles was great, this sequel Endless Knight is even better.

Evie has accepted her powers and her fate, despite her feelings for the mortal Jack, she starts using her powers to keep herself and her current allies alive. Jack is scared and starts to see her only as a monster, that is until she is kidnapped by Death, aka Eric. While in his stronghold Evie learns more about not just her powers, but her previous selves, and her relationship with Death. He is not all he’s cracked up to be, rather a good guy. And Jackson, he isn’t the good guy that Evie thought he was.

Alliances are shifting, relationships are changing, and everyone that Evie thought was on her side have been lying to her since the beginning. I hate that the ending is a cliffhanger, but I love this series. I think the whole Tarot card exchange is amazing, and I love how complex and muti-layered the characters are.

Insanity (An Alice in Wonderland Retelling) by Cameron Jace

Keeping with the last posts theme of Alice in Wonderland retellings, Insanity by Cameron Jace is another semi-well rated novel on goodreads.com. I have very mixed feelings on the novel, when I first read it I gave it 2-stars, but its one of those novels that makes you think. I have found myself thinking about and ever talking about this book with friends.

            Alice Wonders is in a mental institution, she doesn’t remember anything before a few weeks ago. Apparently though she is responsible for the death on all her classmates, the final act that pushed her family and the courts to send her to Radcliffe Lunatic Asylum. Alice has been talking crazy for years though, ever since her sister lost her one afternoon when she was seven. Everyone thinks that Alice is crazy, but Alice knows that she isn’t. And there are others in the institution, others who believe her, who know the truth. Monsters of Wonderland are in the city, Lewis Carroll’s novels, while fanciful, are how he dealt with his encounters with the monsters, and a way to play down what he and a little girl actually had to do all those years ago to trap them in Wonderland.

            Now, people are being killed and Alice and the patient dubbed “Professor Caterpillar” are the only ones who believe (and know) that it is the Cheshire Cat, which means if one monster has escaped Carroll’s enchantments, more will follow. And the Cheshire Cat cannot be working alone, after all, he has never worked alone. Alice and the Professor have to find a way to get out of the asylum and stop Cheshire, but getting out isn’t the problem, its walking the fine line between crazy and wonderland.

            In retrospect, I actually liked this novel a lot more now than I did when I first read it, the ending was amazing! I mean, the last two pages, were awe inspiring. It makes me want to not only read the sequel when it comes out, but read some of Cameron Jace’s other fairytale retellings.

Death of the Mad Hatter by Sarah J Pepper (Review)

I have always loved fairy tale retellings, it is one of my favorite genres. While I’m not the biggest fan of Alice in Wonderland, not that it isn’t a good book I just think there are a lot better ones, Alice in Wonderland retellings tend to be the ones I gravitate toward the most. In large part I think it is because The Looking Glass Wars is one of my all time favorite series, and I am always trying to find another Alice In Wonderland like that. Usually I am left very disappointed, but when I read Death of the Mad Hatter, I was pleasantly surprised. It was fairly good, great characters, and full of intrigue.

            The fortuneteller foretold in one of his many prophesies, “If the king loses his head, then the Queen with a Bleeding Heart would rule the Red Court until Time ceased to move forward. When a second carried on for infinity, every creature in Wonderland would tip their Hat to the misfit girl with a Boy’s name (or was it a boy with a Girl’s name?) who’d end the Reign of Terror. However, it all hinged on the One-Eyed Hare being able to convince an inspirable Heir that the impossible was indeed possible—like stopping time—and that Love was worth a Beheading.” No one quite knew what it meant, all the creatures from Wonderland knew was that Alice was responsible for the Mad Hatters death, and she was one of the Queen’s lackeys. No one trusted her, why should they? All she ever seemed to do was get people killed, and keep the evil Queen in power.

The people had one hope, a hope that they didn’t even let themselves believe, that a son born from a Wonderlander in a foreign land would one day return and take the throne that should have been his.

            That is why Alice came back to the ordinary world. She had a mission, to find the would-be-heir and bring him back to Wonderland, so that the Queen might kill him. Only the boy was not what she expected, he cared with all his heart, and she soon found herself falling for him. But self-preservation had always been at the top of Alice’s list, and when it came down to betraying the Queen, she felt it best that her head stay attached to her body. Would things come to pass as the Jack prophesized? What did the prophecy even really mean? Alice has made a lifetime of mistakes, and she might be making one more.

            I thought this book was well written, with great humor and emotion. It was a great retelling, and a book that stands on its own without sequels. I loved the characters and how Wonderland and the regular world were connected in the oddest ways. I would recommend this novel to anyone loving the story of Alice in Wonderland, fairy tale retellings, and fantasy adventures.

Gilded by Christina L Farley REVIEW

This was one of the options a few months ago from Amazon Prime to try out for free. It took me a while to actually read it, one because there are so many books that I know I want to read and two because it was a little boring.

The story takes place in modern day Korea, and follows the journey of Sixteen year old Jae Hwa Lee who recently transferred from America after her mother’s death. Things is Korea are not easy for Jae, the school she attends is filled with the best and brightest, her crush isn’t Korean, and therefore off limits according to her father, her grandfather is dismissive and cruel, and a mythical immortal is trying to steal her soul.

Korean demi-god Haemosu has been terrorizing the women in her family for hundreds of years, ever since her ancestor refused his marriage proposal and escaped from his murderous clutches. Now Jae is the one he’s after, only this time he has more immortals and weapons at his disposal. He can travel whenever he wants, transform any place into one of his choosing, not to mention his obsession with taking Jae has caused her family and friends to be kidnapped, hurt and entombed in his other worldly fortress.

Jae knows that she has to stop Haemosu from taking any more of the people that she loves, enlisting the help of Marc (a fellow classmate who has mystic family secrets of his own) to save her family and break the curse.

*****SPOILER: Of course, they eventually beat back the demi-God, and because Jae proved how strong and willing to die for her loved ones the Gods save her life. They manage to save her family, and free the spirits of her ancestors.*****

I felt that the book was entirely predictable, and while I understand it takes place in Korea and with a Korean girl, I felt like the author spent more time proving how much Korean history she knew that it took me out of the story and into a textbook. I personally gave this book two stars, the story was a good one but so much emphasis was placed on the culture that I was bored.