Cinder by Marissa Meyer - review

Cinder
Marissa Meyer
young adult/SciFi
2012

***** (five out of six stars)

cover - I absolutely LOVE this cover.  The leg, the inner works, the Red SHOE.   That's a damn sexy SHOE.  OhMyGod, it's a hell of a cover.  :)


'prologue' I don't think I can truly say that I don't read much young adult fiction anymore...  When I met J.A. Campbell, I started reading her work, because she's a good writer and she concentrates on Young Adult.  So I read her stuff - woman is writing faster than I can keep up, but I love her Clanless series, as well as her Doc series.  Then I also became very interested in what kind of fiction Lilith Saintcrow would come up with for the young adult market.  Under the name of Lili St. Crow she has written an amazing series (Strange Angels).  Because I was familiar with Kelley Armstrong's adult fiction, I've read at least one of her young adult series...(plan to read more, one is waiting for me right now...).  And then, because of J.A. Campbell, again, I've read Need, and a few other novels.  Well, for the first time (discounting Lili St.Crow's work) I bought a young adult novel for myself to read ON PURPOSE.  And it kept me interested. 

Interested enough to finish reading.  I am always wary of reading teen-age angsty type of romance along with the inevitable personality that I've come to expect with a teen character...but I think I haven't been totally aware of how much writers have brought along the average teen character.  If other genres have been coming into the 21st century...if young people today are becoming mature faster than ever before, then why have I doubted that a teen character could also do so?  Thankfully, this book has a teen character that is just mature enough not to drive me crazy, and yet young enough to feel like a teen.  Yeah - I'm picky like that.  Having never been a very innocent or naiive teen myself, I never really had much patience for the truly naive and innocent, or unaware.

But I'm getting off track....Cinder was a fun take on the old Cinderella fairytale.  Of course Cinderella has be retold many times in a variety of ways, but I think I'm very partial to this SciFi cyborg version of Cinderella.  Cinder is a cyborg - a human with computer programming and metal parts.  Earth has undergone many changes - one of them being that the moon (Luna) has been colonized and is now treated as a planet, complete with an evil queen (the evil stepmother character).  And the city is New Beijing, where a plague has been spreading that has affected the palace, leaving the prince in line to be emporer before he's quite ready.  This is just a taste of what Cinder is about.  There's so much more.

Cinder is living as a ward of woman with two daughters of her own.  As a cyborg, and a ward, Cinder has less rights than a human.  And she is expected to turn over all her earnings to the 'stepmother'.  There is a twist on the stepsisters - only one really hates her, the other one loves her.  Cinder is a mechanic, one who many people rely on to fix things that others can't fix - this is how she comes into contact with her prince (THE PRINCE! )

Enough of the recap, or summary.  Marissa Meyer's narration is interesting.  Her dialogue is pretty good, very believable.  One of the things I really liked about the story is Cinder's anger - she wasn't the all suffering character that is usually part of a fairytale.  Nope, this girl has spirit, and even though she's stuck at the moment, she does let her anger out once in a while, even when she knows she shouldn't.  It's pretty fun.

The evil stepmother type of character is actually portrayed by two characters - Cinder's guardian and the queen of Luna.  The people of Luna have powers, the power to use a type of glamour, and the queen is one of the strongest.  This plays a part later in the novel. 

The book was fun to read - I got through it in one day.  I liked it enough to consider buying the sequel, Scarlett.  I want to find out what happens with Cinder, since even though the novel had a good ending, it wasn't a quite complete ending.  It's kind of left up in the air just how Cinder is going to get out of a certain predicament, and is she actually going to end up with the prince?  might not.

Angel Town by Lilith Saintcrow - review

Angel Town
Lilith Saintcrow

Jill Kismet series #6
urban fantasy

******
cover - this series is intense, the main character rarely has anything to be happy about, the fights are hard, life is hard, SHE is hard....is that the barest hint of a smile there? could something good be happening? What I like about this cover is the stark atmosphere remains, there's her sword, it's obvious she's going to a fight - the fight of her life? and yet there is this hint of a smile, like she knows something good is going to happen...

If you thought Heaven's Spite was an intense book, this one is really intense! This takes off right after the events - those shocking, cliffhanger, "Oh My F=ng ***" events - of the last novel. Those final events of the last novel cause Jill to wake up in a strange place - without any clue or idea of what or who she is - what she was doing, what's going on. There is absolutely nothing. She somehow makes it to a diner, where a mysterious man buys her a meal...and she begins to remember a few things. Which just gives her a few more questions. Jill must figure out not only who she is, but she has to remember what she was in the middle of. Is she going to continue her previous life, are her memories true memories? Who are her allies and can they even trust her when she goes back? So many variables to work through; is there something else going on? Was she a pawn that unwittingly followed some Machiavellian script? Will she ever be free or safe? How did she get to where she woke up? Was she dead? {Will these questions ever END? Am I now doing what I hate to read? question after question after question?} Things begin to fall in place, puzzle pieces start to form a picture, and it's not a pretty picture.

With this final novel, as with all her novels, Lilith Saintcrow brings you into a story, as if you were inside a virtual video {or something like that} . With every scene, charms are jingling, smells are smelled, pains are felt, and the scar - her demon mark is basically a side character - makes itself felt. All of this combines to bring you right into the action. I like this about Saintcrow's writing - the demon mark isn't mentioned just once at the beginning of each book - it's used as a character and a mood detector. The same with the charms and all the other descriptive detailing. Plenty of atmosphere, the virtual reality without the tech.

I really enjoyed this final novel of the series. Though reading it was bittersweet, because I knew it was going to be the last and I was enjoying it so much. I wanted to get to the end, and yet I didn't want to finish it because it's the very last novel. Angel Town is a dark, compelling, gritty story. The storytelling is stellar and as the final in the series, Angel Town stood out with the shocking beginning, the intense situations Jill was in and the incredible ending. If you're a fan of dark, gritty storytelling with flawed, tough yet slightly vulnerable heroines, then you're going to enjoy this one. Saintcrow outdid herself with the ending to this series with its fitting - it's not Happily Ever After, it's more maybe we're going to be happy, definitely we're going to suffer more, but hey, here we are - ending.

Luckily for me and other die-hard fans of Saintcrow/St.Crow work, Ms Lilith is hard at work writing more novels. Unfortunately for me, some of these are only available in e-book form. One day I'm going to break down and get something that enables me to read e-books easily - but this is way in the future. I still prefer to hold a book in my hands, see the cover whenever I choose without having to scroll through or hit a button to take me to the cover pic - to SEE the covers in full color and to be able to simply riffle through the pages when I feel like it. Hell, even the SMELL of a book is important to me. This is my longwinded way of stating that there is definitely more coming from Lilith Saintcrow - for a complete list visit her homepage. I'm happily waiting to read more of her fantasy or urban fantasy work, and looking forward even to some more of her Young Adult work.

Reckoning by Lili St. Crow - review

**possible spoiler alert**

Reckoning

Lili St. Crow

******

YA/fantasy

cover- of all the other covers in this series, this is the ONLY one that even looks like a horror or urban fantasy. There is Dru, looking seriously pissed off and focused. There is that face in the background - and it's NOT a hollywood pretty boy face, nope - this is a horror face. And then there's the colors and misty stuff, or shadows....or swirly things representing the horror aspects of the story. FINALLY - the cover matches the genre of the books. FINALLY. so, ummm - good cover.

Young Adult is not my normal reading material. Having said that, there ARE some young adult books or authors that I follow. (J.A. Campbell....and ....um.....yeah - that's pretty much it). The other YA books that I've read, I've read because they happen to be written by authors that I already follow from fantasy or UF genre. Like Terry Pratchett's four book series featuring Tiffany Aching, or Lilith Saintcrow's Strange Angel series - writing under the Lili St. Crow name. There's a few more books here and there that I've read - Devin O'Branagan and Kelley Armstrong - although Armstrong falls under the "they're a writer I like to read, so I'll read YA books by them too". So in this rather rambling way, I'm saying that the only reason I even picked up the first book in the series was because I enjoy Lilith Saintcrow's other UF series - it certainly wasn't the COVER that made me want to read the series. If I hadn't already been exposed to the author, I wouldn't have even looked twice at the series because the covers looked like the average teen YA romance novels. Not my cuppa tea.

Reckoning is the final novel in the Strange Angels series. I have enjoyed each of the novels. I loved they way Dru found a new hardened resolve to take care of her self and her friends. Her character had been through so much, that she'd been dealing with things as they came along, kind of with blinders on - even so her character showed an amazing strength of character throughout the series, and through this final book. I liked that even though she didn't have a normal childhood, she didn't seem to whine about it - she acknowledged her differences from other teens and just went on with things. I also liked the way the author had Dru drawing strength from her gran's and father's voices when she needed their support the most. Dru seems to have a bit more than the "tetch" - she's more than a dhampir. She seems to have the ability to see or hear ghosts - which has helped her through out all her challenges.

In the last book - Dru has rescued one of her friends, and together with Graves and Ash (the broken werewolf) she escapes not only the vampires but leaves the order, not being sure just how safe she really is there. Even since she was brought under their protection (at the end of book one) it seems that she's been in even more danger than before. So now Dru has left everyone else behind and escapes to the place she feels the safest - only that little bit of a break doesn't last long.

Graves is behaving strangely - he doesn't quite seem himself. Dru is also dealing with her changing relationship with Graves, her insecurities and feelings about Christophe (the only part of the series I didn't quite like - the inevitable love trianglep-seems to be a requirement in all YA urban fantasies, and most adult UF - please, publishers, we really don't require this as readers. At least I don't) and her changing abilities as a blooming dhampir - or svetocha. The respite she finds doesn't last long, she finds herself almost succumbing to a darker nature of herself, they're attacked once again and she's found before she's quite ready to be found by the order. Things go downhill for Dru and her friends from then on - until it seems that everyone is captured and Dru ends up fighting one last fight with her archenemy - Sergei.

The dialogue between Dru and Graves was great - awkward at times, bitchy and angry at other times, and sweet in those rare instances (kind of like real life - y'know?). Ash - finally coming around, being able to shift back to boy form is slowly regaining his language skills, but it's almost like dealing with a four year old in a teens' ultra strong body. I think that St. Crow does a great job with switching back and forth between speech styles with all the different characters - the older dhampir have a definite way of formally speaking, the weres sound just like young men tend to sound and I think that Dru sounds just like a tough tom-boyish girl who's spent her formative years riding around with a monster-fighting father and acquaintances would sound. And whe Dru gets closer to her Gran's old place, her speech takes on the dialects and sounds of the Appalachian dwellers. Great job with dialog - this is very important when writing a book - your characters should sound their age, and should reflect where they grew up or came from.

There was plenty of action - lots of fighting, running, adventure and frights for Dru. She even ends up by herself - something she's been afraid of for a long time - without quite saying so. Even so, she perseveres and her old training takes over.

Reckoning is a kickass ending to a kickass series. There is a satisfying ending - not quite a Happy Ever After - this author doesn't do Happily Ever After endings. She does possibilities in the future type of endings. Enjoyed the whole ride and I read in Lilith Saintcrow's blog that she's already planning or working on a new YA series - I think she's working on both a YA series and another adult UF series, having just released the final Jill Kismet novel also. I'm looking forward to what she comes up with next - what ever she writes, I'm pretty sure it's going to feature a strong smart heroine with horrific problems to over come.

If you have not read any of Saintcrow's/St.Crow's work, you are missing out on some almost lyrical writing - very descriptive. The words bring you into the scene, you can almost smell what the characters smell, hear what they hear while running or fighting, feel what they feel. St. Crow has a way that pulls me right into what's happening in the novel, and I love the way she's constantly describing the action along with the atmospheric details - all the senses are included in her writing in an interesting way. This isn't always successful with other writers, I've been bored with words from other writers who attempt this, but I've never been bored while reading a book by Lilith Saintcrow/Lili St. Crow. If you're waiting just for this one, go get it, you'll love it. If you haven't tried any of the series and like your heroines strong and a bit dark, your characters strong yet a bit flawed, you'll love this series.

Waiting On Wednesday and Book B-Day coming up

I haven't posted a Waiting On Wednesday meme for quite a while...and I've been waiting for books! as always. LOL

Waiting On Wednesday is hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine. Full guidelines available at Breaking the Spine. I'm listing three books that I've been waiting for, and all three are established writers, all favorite authors. One was just released this week (getting myself to the bookstore very soon!), one comes out in November and the other one comes out

Snuff by Terry Pratchett came out in hardback October 11th. One of my rare auto in hardback buys now, as soon as I can, I'm treating myself to a copy. It's hard for me to describe just why I like Terry Pratchett's writing so much. Some of the complaints I've heard from readers are parts of the reasons I love reading his novels (varying pov, jumping from character to character and back again - love this type of writing, keeps you on your toes! and it's really not that hard to keep up.) This is one of the few series, that has over 30 books that I've enjoyed and am enjoying every single novel. This guy could keep going and going and I'd be happy. But he won't, since he's ended up with Alzheimer's which will eventually end his writing career long before it should have.

Reckoning by Lili St.Crow is another bittersweet wait - it's the final novel in the Strange Angels' series. The fifth and final. One of my rare young adult reads, I've enjoyed them since the first novel and have found it refreshingly dark, even with the inevitible teen angst. It all fits, and I enjoy the main character's attitude and teen anger. Due out October 27th, 2011.

Finally - Magic On The Line is the 7th Allie Beckstrom novel and very close to the end of this series. Smart of Devon Monk - to end the series while it's still popular. Seems like a hard call, also. On one hand, why end a good series, and on the other when do you end it, how do you tell when it might be going down hill, what if it would stay popular, etc? November 1st is the release date for this soon to end series' next novel. Bittersweet on all novels. I can honestly say that things won't seem the same without the Discworld novels, and it'll be a joyful shame to be reading the final novels of the other two series that I enjoy so much. On the other hand, with Devon Monk and Lili St.Crow always going in new directions and thinking with their writerly brains, I'm pretty sure that we're going to be treated to more from them. And then there's always my other favorite British author ....
Suzanne McLeod - who has a U.S. book b-day coming up. In December, The Bitter Seed of Magic will come out in paperback over here in the States. It's also coming out in mmppb (mass market ppb size). It's been out in the UK in hardcover - time to celebrate the ppb version! If you've been waiting for the US ppb to come out.

If you've been a fan, and have signed up for McLeod's newsletter, then you'll see that there is a special contest for newsletter subscribers. If you're not as subscriber, then you should definitely check this newsletter out ('cause the contest is very generous). It's very easy to join - just click here to sign up for her newsletter and the rest will follow. Or click here to find out more about being a part of her Spellcrackers.com Clan

Along with having book b-days and contest, Ms Suzanne is being interviewed - more information is on her blog. Seems she's sharing some interview space with Ann Rice, which is pretty cool. Hopefully Suzanne's part will survive the inevitable edits that always seem to take place with interviews, but how exciting for her.

I've just spent a very long time waiting for blogger to upload a short video of my grandchildren. I give up. It's taking so long that you're now either to be disappointed or spared (whichever you choose to be) the unbearable cuteness of my two grandchildren battling with two soft bowling pins (used them as swords). It was pretty cool, because this was from last winter, just about the time when Liliana started realizing that her cousin is pretty fun to play with. She was doing slow motion moves, he was fighting her pretty softly and waiting like a gentleman when her back was to him (could have taken her down, but he chose to wait. He's a very thoughtful, considerate opponent.) This is probably a good thing for y'all because, (snickerk shickWerk hahahaha). also had plans of sharing videos of them playing the drums, dancing in the kitchen, and in geneal being very cute, as grandchildren often are. And THEN I was going to share videos of the pets - playing, chasing the grandkids, etc.....you just barely escaped...

MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ....(but then - of course, there's always YouTube!!! go ahead - you know you want to. click on it. good rock blues)

Defiance by Lili St. Crow - review

Defiance
book four of the Strange Angels series

*****
Lili St. Crow

I did not like the cover of the previous book - because just looking at it, you had no idea that you would be reading an urban fantasy, it really looked like a very blah romance novel cover. The male model in no way resembled the character that I assume it was supposed to portray, and the hair! Her hair is supposed to be kinky curly, out of control curly on the female, but not in the latest covers. This one is a teeny bit better, though not much. Once again, if I weren't already on the look out for this particular book, or if I didn't already have an eye out for the author, nothing about this cover (except for the blue background) would have caught my eye to even take a look. It's boring, it's blah, and just barely surpasses the last cover. Maybe the publishers have a reason for this, but I think that having a more eye-popping cover would be a better draw for new readers. But that's just me, a person who buys books.....books that have covers, sometimes very interesting covers......I wonder what they were thinking. Hmmmmmmm... The cover of the next book, Reckoning, looks more promising.


Thankfully, I enjoyed Defiance very much. I've been a fan of Lilith Saintcrow ever since she first came out with Working For The Devil - one of her adult urban fantasies. In case you haven't heard of this series yet, Defiance is the fourth of the Strange Angels series; about a teen, Dru Anderson who has been traveling around the country with her father, searching out supernatural baddies to exterminate. If you haven't read this series yet, then the following will be spoilerish.

possible

spoilers

ahead

Dru has been learning how to fight as a svetocha (the female dhampir) , continuing with her classes in the "Schola" and missing Graves (her wulfen not quite declared boyfriend) terribly. She's been finding out about her in-consistant growth of powers and is also learning how to sit in meetings - meetings that she hates, because what sane person loves meeting anyway? and how would a teen love a meeting? Nope!

So Dru is becoming frustrated, feeling like nothing much is being done to find and save Graves. She's having issues with her feelings toward Christophe (frankly, so am I) and is not sure that she can trust him to really look for Graves. At the same time, it seems like she's building a stronger relationship with the wulfen, something that the dhampirs don't quite like. Ash, the broken wulfen is also continuing to try to shift all the way back, and is actually making progress - and at the same time showing a strong loyalty to Dru.

One of the things that made me give this novel five stars (really like, even love this novel) as opposed to six stars (Hell Yeah! this is amazing! It's the Shit! Everyone should read this, I want to read it again and again!) is something that brought the story to a grinding halt for me....The book starts out with Dru going on a hunt for vampires and being the bait. There's a part where after running and running and being almost worn out she ends up killing the vampire. She's a bit shaken after this, and it keeps bugging her that she killed this vamp, and the others are making comments and giving her high fives, etc. over her first kill. I'm pretty sure that from the very first book, she's been hunting and killing wulfen, other-worldly baddies and vamps. In fact, in the first book she ends up having to kill her own father - within the first few chapters as a matter of fact....so .....first kill? I'm pretty sure not. The other issue is her thing with Christophe. I know that it's the popular thing to have love triangles and more than one love interest, etc in urban fantasies...but Saintcrow usually doesn't quite "toe the line" in formulaic writing, so I'm surprised that this is coming up...maybe she wants it, I don't know, I'm not the writer....BUT it kind of squicks me out that there's this whole Christophe in love with Dru thing, and Dru being attracted to Christophe and all these furtive kisses and angst over them...the angst I understand...but the whole thing feels....Uncle Pervy to me. Yeah, all these older dhampirs (and vamps/weres in other novels) are all "young" looking and in great shape, etc. but they always end up having this relationship with these girls that are young enough to be their grandaughters (in some cases great-great-great granddaughters). In some books, they've BOUNCED THE BABY ON THEIR KNEE! PLAYED WITH THEM AS A CHILD.... and here they are years later wanting to sex them up. This has always gotten to me...sometimes more than others - I guess it depends on the author, the book, the storyline etc. In Dru's case, there were inferences of Christophe being in love with Dru's mom in the previous books....and suddently - no, he was never in love with her, simply respected her quite a bit, felt BFFish. This was the basis of the previous book - Ana's extreme jealousy over Dru and Christophe. This was strongly hinted at in the last two books. Only now, it's okay suddenly for Christophe to be in love with Dru. The one thing that kind of saves it (for me) is that even Dru mentions in her internal dialogue that she's a little spooked about the whole age/Christophe/mom/history thing. Besides, she is pretty sure that she loves Graves - although they haven't quite come out and said "You Mine, Me Yours" quite yet. I know this isn't a popular feeling if you're a reader of vamps and weres and even some historical romances (some of them have the whole older knight or lord in love with the young naiive thing that was a child when seen last...and God's Balls, look how they've, er she's grown!) I don't consider myself a prude (hell, some of my best friends are porn stars...lol, not really) but to be honest, I do get an Uncle Pervy vibe from this type of situation. And with the older housewives panting after the young actors in Twilight movies....LADIES! Control, Control! LOL. Those two issues made this novel for me a five star rating rather than a six star rating. Hell, most people only go up to five stars anyway, so possibly, BFD - right?

My small disappointment aside, the novel was mostly very enjoyable to me. I've come to expect a certain amount of lyrical, descriptive writing. St.Crow is good at this. When you are reading a fight scene, you can almost feel the pain, hear the grunts (which aren't over done with descriptions of screams - I hate reading about how a person, especially a female, screams while fighting - yell, shout or bellow - cut down on the screams, okay? 'cause when I "hear" the screams, they sound ....shrieky to me, not like a strong angry...bellow), smell the surrounding scene, etc. When Dru is running, her locket (an important part of her) bounces, turning cold or hot. When she's getting angry her hair is curling with a life of its own - when danger looms, a taste blossoms in the back of her throat. Some would find this repetative, and in another hand, it might be - but here it's a complimentary part of the writing. You really get a feel for the complete atmosphere of the situation. With some items, Dru's hair - or the silver tinkling charms in another book's character's hair - the item is almost a secondary supporting character. The Locket that warms up or gets cold according to the danger level - or Dru's emotions. The taste of oranges when danger is coming. The flapping of the owl wings - Dru hears them often before she even notices her owl - the one she associates with her Gran. The changing colors and curling of Chrisophe's hair, and the fragrance of Christophe and Graves. (always a yummy smell - always better than the old sock smell that teen boys usually have in reality - *g*) This is a part of St. Crow's writing that I think is great.

Some subplots (I know there's a better word for this....story arc? conflict? this is where I prove that I am in no way a pro at reviewing or even of the english language! HAHAHA! - hand on hip!) are resolved in Defiance, and another plot point opens by the end of Defiance....I am really looking forward to the next novel. In fact, by the end of this book, Dru has pulled off a major feat, and has re-taken charge of her life! She rebels in a major way, kicking ass and asking questions later. You GO GIRL! KICK THEIR ASSES! Got my BLOOD UP!

From what I've read on Ms Saintcrow's blog, the next book - Reckoning - will be the final book. Lili St.Crow is a master at writing a series with a beginning and end. A lot of her books are five or six book series - Dante Valenting (five books) , Jill Kismet (five or six) and now the Strange Angels (five, I think). Although it's a bittersweet acknowledgement - this engaging series is ending, I'm also very curious - what is next? I wonder if there will be another kick-ass Young Adult series, or another adult series....Of the novels that I've read by Lili St.Crow (or Lilith Saintcrow), I've highly enjoyed all of them.
Also writes as:

• Anna Beguine


• Lilith Saintcrow
  

Reading Challenges:

• Horror and Urban Fantasy Reading Challenge 2011


• Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge 2011

Jealousy (review)

Jealousy ******

Lili St.Crow

Young Adult

I love this series, and I loved reading this book. In fact, I have so far enjoyed all the books that I've read written by Lilith Saintcrow/Lili St. Crow. However - I really don't like this cover. I mentioned this a few posts ago. If I knew nothing at all about this series, nothing at all about the writer, then looking at this cover and reading the title would make me think that this is a romance novel, and I wouldn't have picked it up long enough to find out that there are wulfen, vampires, dhampir, hunters....I would have missed out on a lot. The other two books (in the series) had covers that weren't quite as misleading, but they really didn't portray any fantasy, urban fantasy, or supernatural content of the series. So I'm wondering....What's up with the covers? Especially this one. I think that's also supposed to be Graves on the cover - Graves who is part Asian-American, with Goth looks and long black hair....This looks like an almost preppy young man from a boy-band....a tame (lame) boy band. She looks like a debutante from an upper crust ...well, you probably get the point. My point, besides misleading, is...Boring cover. YAWN! nothing draws my eye to it. How is it going to pop out at a teenager? Doesn't the publisher WANT to sell this book?

Thank god I already was looking forward to the sequel, because otherwise, I would never have picked this particular book with this cover up. The book was good. I am really enjoying this series It's first person narrative, with just the right amount of angst, first love confusion and strong girl trying to stay strong. Normally, I have no patience with angsty characters; there are a few exceptions, but in general I'm not fond of angsty characters. Lilith Saintcrow is one of the few authors that can write angst and still keep me interested in her novels. It must be the combination of angst and kick-ass that works for me. I've put down other books with a bit less angst. Ms Saintcrow strikes the right balance with her characters for me. From the first book to the the third, there's only been a passage of a few months - so Dru (main character) and Graves have been through quite a lot together in a short time. In the first book, Dru has to kill her zombified dad (hey - kill or be killed!) and through out the next few months has hardly had time to process this intense loss or the extreme changes that she's been through. Graves has had to deal with being changed into a wulfen, that's got to be tough for a teen boy. This third installment deals with her delayed grieving as well as a whole slew of other mental leaps that Dru has to navigate.

Dru and Graves have finally made it to the Schola that she was originally supposed to go. But she's still in quite a bit of danger. She is one of the few female dhampir who have made it to the ripe age of 16, and the other female dhampir seems to have an unreasonable hate on for her....is it jealousy? Being the only female dhampir for years and years must make a girl feel very special, and now here comes Dru. Even though Dru and Graves are supposed to be safer now, Dru knows that she's still in danger. She can feel it. She's also been having a lot of flashbacks of previous scenes from her childhood. They all tie together by the end of Jealousy. There is an absolutely heartbreaking happening - which will be the focus of the fourth book. One of Dru's enemies is finally dealt with, but there seems to be more.

A few of my favorite characters from the past two books who are still in Dru's life. Graves, of course; Ash the broken wulfen who seems to have formed an attachment to Dru; Dibs from the other schola (school) and Christophe. Although I have to admit here, that Christophe is not one of my favs. In fact, I find him, and his feelings for Dru just a bit creepy. He's way older than her, knew her mom and yet...Creepy. There are a few good things happening for Dru. Her relationship with Graves is progressing in a first love, awkward way. She's learning that she can make friends with some of the boys. She's learning a little more about her heritage, and putting two and two together - fitting some of the puzzle pieces of her past into place. I'm looking forward to reading more of Dru's story. I'd like to hear a little more about Graves and his past also.

Lili St. Crow is great at painting pictures with words. She's very good with dialogue, especially the different speaking patterns of a young girl, a teen boy, the wulfen, and the rather stuffy dhampir who have "been around" for a while. She's one the authors that can write a story where you can just picture the teen really saying the words. The narrative is also something that I enjoy from Lili St. Crow. She's good at all the little details - such as the way the hair changes with the moods of the dhampir, the little sounds the come and go, the tastes and smells of things. I think the word I'm looking for is atmosphere - she paints a wonderfully atmospheric picture with her words.

The fourth book, Defiance, is due April 2011. Thankfully, the cover looks a little less like a romance, but still is ambiguous. I catch myself wanting to make snarky comments about why she's looking up at the sky......

Reading challenges
2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge
Speculative Fiction Reading challenge

Betrayals - Lili St. Crow

I finished reading Betrayals (the sequel to Strange Angels) last night- er, early this morning. I posted my thoughts on Betrayals over here. I loved it and can't wait for the third book to come out. Luckily Jealousy will be released in July 2010.