Wild by Naomi Clark - e-book review

Wild
e-book
****
Naomi Clark

I really like this cover - the moon, the night, the whole feeling, definitely a fool moon type of book. I think it really captures the feel of the novel.

The main character of this book is a mess - a real mess. Lizzie is hitting rock bottom, in a huge way. She's living la vida loca, angry at her boyfriend (who she really doesn't even like), probably angry at herself, at her life...and just keeps on her merry-go-round of drugs, partying, being broke, more drugs, fighting with the boyfriend, more drugs, partying, more drugs.....

One night, she's attacked....she heals remarkably fast and begins to notice cravings and this rage that blossoms out of nowhere. It seems like she might have some help though with this one guy....Just when she thinks she's going to finally stop the rollercoaster and get off, she goes through a major change ....and begins to repeat her previous vida loca. Only this time, it's just a bit worse.

Wow. I believe that Naomi Clark captured very well, the feelings of hopelessness, the rage, the mess that this girl's mind is. It's painful, witnessing this girl try to think about getting off drugs, and then so easily slipping right back into it....cause stopping is hard. Especially when you think that's all you deserve and all you're capable of. Lizzie is to the point when it's easier to allow beatings and hide behind drugs. This guy who appears to be a lifesaver...is he really?

Well - maybe, maybe not.

I enjoyed reading about Lizzie's struggles and her frequent falls into the depths of despair...but there's this little spark in her that keeps her thinking about climbing out that pit...This is a good read with a interesting character. You may not like her, but she's interesting and she's a fighter. It's not apparent what a strong person she is right away, because she's been hiding from herself...but there's a strong character in Lizzie.

If you are ready to read something besides the standard good-girl-who-has-bad things happen to her, then this is a nice change of pace. The narration is good, the situations are gritty and believable - the dialog pretty good. Enjoyable, twisted read - which I liked. Because I like reading a wide variety of main characters - I like them sweet, I like them sour, I like them strong and brave, I like them good, and I like them twisted. Variety - the spice of life! :)

Wild is part of the Vargulf trilogy and can be found at Amazon
Naomi Clark is also the author of Afterlife (which I have in trade book form), Silver Kiss and numerous e-books. Go take a look at her website, she has some interesting pages up.

Teaser Tuesday, Tuesday Teaser - either way, it's a tease!

Hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading:

Where we tease each other and you with micro-excerpts of our current reads.

Guidelines are at Should be Reading.

I felt like going back to reading Moonshine, by Alaya Johnson. I hope to finish it this week.

Moonshine is an urban fantasy featuring the first person account of Zephyr Hollis. Zephyr is a former vampire hunter turned over-zealous social activist living sometime during prohibition years in an alternate New York. Alternate, as in vampires and "others" are common knowledge, although in this version they have absolutely NO rights - being treated as worse then second class citizens. There are a few other species mentioned here, but other than vampires and djinn, they are just mentions.

A teaser from page 160:

"..The kids were giggling and giving him sidelong glances, like they expected him to vanish or burst into flames at any moment. Which he very well might."

Received in the mail on Monday - and coming out for sale on Tuesday, July 27th is A Wild Light, the third book in Marjorie M. Liu's Hunter Kiss novels. I am glad now that I pulled Darkness Calls from by TBR shelf to read recently - because now I have A Wild Light to review. (The first novel was Iron Hunt)

In The Hunter Kiss novels, Maxine is a hunter - the last one on earth from a long line of women hunters who inherit five little demons. These demons live on Maxine's skin during the day while they sleep and at night they come off to hunt evils. Their favorite snack (besides evil beings) is metal. They are Hungry.

From the blurb on the back, in A Wild Light, Maxine finds herself covered in blood and beside her grandfather's dead body with "no memory of what happened or of the man she loves".

I'm starting this book tonight, so I'm using the first page for the teaser.

From page 1:

"It was my birthday, the anniversary of my mother's murder, and on the way to the party, I made a special point to stop and kill a zombie.

I did it every year. My secret. Only Zee and the boys knew. Our gift to each other.

Sun had been down for only an hour, but this was Seattle, the skies were black as midnight, and the rain pounded the windshield like each drop was trying to break the glass. Cyndi Lauper played on the radio, softly, because I wanted to hear Dek and Mal sing along. "True Colors," one of my mother's favorites.

The little demons were coiled around my shoulders, heavy and warm, their breath hot against my ears as they hummed the song in their high, sweet voices. Aaz and Raw sat in the backseat, uncharacteristically quiet, their little legs dangling over the floor as they clutched half-eaten teddy bears against their scaled, muscular chests."

Don't the little demons sound sweet and cute? Sweet, cute and deadly. One of the oddly sweet things in this series is the complete love and loyalty between the deadly little demons and Maxine. This is just one part of all the interesting parts that make up these stories by Marjorie M. Liu.

I find it prudent at times, to simply follow a cat's advice.

Really.