Bea Reviews The Feral Child by Che Golden

Publisher: Quercus
Series: Feral Child Trilogy #1
Format Read: egalley
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: June 3, 2014
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

"Gripping, mystical and adventurous, young readers will be as hooked as Maddy was the minute she set foot inside that creepy as hell old castle," Irish World said of The Feral Child.

Maddy, an orphan, is sick of her Irish town, and sick of her cousin Danny, one of the nastiest people you could meet. Mad as hell one evening, she crawls inside the grounds of the castle, the one place she has always been forbidden to go. Once inside, she is chased by a strange feral boy, who she suspects is one of the faerie: cruel, fantastical people who live among humans and exchange local children for their own.

When the boy returns to steal her neighbor Stephen into his world, Maddy and her cousins set off on a terrifying journey into a magical wilderness, determined to bring him back home. To do so, they must face an evil as old as the earth itself.

Che Golden has created a gripping adventure that interweaves Maddy's modern Irish experience with the vivid fantasy of the region's ancient folklore. Readers will enjoy the frank and bold heroine of Maddy, and will be dazzled by The Feral Child's evocative rendering of Irish folklore and richly imagined alternate worlds.

The Friday 56 #35 The Feral Child by Che Golden

This is a fun meme to do hosted by Freda's Voice. If you'd like to join in the fun go to The Friday 56.

Rules:
*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader.
*Find any sentence that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Link it here.

I'm reading a middle grade urban fantasy set in Ireland,  "The Feral Child" by Che Golden. The quote is from 56%  in the eARC.

"Why do the trees behave like that?" asked Roisin as they stopped for what must have been the sixth time to watch the old trees groan and bed their creaking trunks slowly as Fionn talked to them.

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Spotlight & GC Giveaway: Labyrinth Society - The Versailles Vendetta by Angie Kelly

Today I have the pleasure of sharing a new Middle Grade fantasy, Labyrinth Society - The Versailles Vendetta by Angie Kelly, from my publisher, Astraea Press.

 Angie Kelly is the pseudonym of a former member of the Labyrinth Society. When she’s not writing about her adventures, or reading about other people’s adventures, she’s busy traveling the world and indulging her inner twelve year-old. Although she was last sighted lurking around the British Museum after hours, her current whereabouts are unknown.

Find Angie Online:

Pinterest * Blog * Twitter

Disclaimer: I am an employee of Astraea Press. I am not being compensated for publishing this post.

Quote-Tastic #48 Different and happy

Join us every Monday and share a favorite quote that's grabbed you for one reason or another. Everyone's welcome to join in - authors, bloggers, readers. The more the merrier! Just grab the button and put up your post :) Don't have a blog? No worries, just leave your favorites in the comment section.  Quote-tastic is hosted by Herding Cats & Burning Soup.

One of my all-time favorite books is "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle. I read it as a child and related so strongly to both Meg and her little brother Charles. Later, I was able to appreciate the scientific and philosophical concepts. Today's quote is one that most of us can relate to. Meg is trying to save her brother and their father but first has to defeat IT. IT wants all people to be identical and conformist, sort of baby Stepford wives.

Charles continued his lecture. "On Camazotz we are all happy because we are all alike. Differences create problems. You know that, don't you, dear sister?"

"No," Meg said.

"Oh, yes you do. You've seen at home how true it is. You know that's the reason you're not happy at school. Because you're different."

"I'm different, and I'm happy," Calvin said.

"But you pretend that you aren't different."

"I'm different, and I like being different." Calvin's voice was unnaturally loud.

"Maybe I don't like being different," Meg said, "but I don't want to be like everybody else, either."

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• Quote-Tastic

Bea Reviews Odin's Ravens by K.L. Armstrong & M.A. Marr

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Series: The Blackwell Pages #2
Format Read: hardcover
Source: owned by the reviewer
Release Date: May 13, 2014
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Seven kids, Thor's hammer, and a whole lot of Valkyries are the only things standing against the end of the world.

When thirteen-year-old Matt Thorsen, a modern day descendant of the Norse god Thor, was chosen to represent Thor in an epic battle to prevent the apocalypse he thought he knew how things would play out. Gather the descendants standing in for gods like Loki and Odin, defeat a giant serpent, and save the world. No problem, right?

But the descendants' journey grinds to a halt when their friend and descendant Baldwin is poisoned and killed and Matt, Fen, and Laurie must travel to the Underworld in the hopes of saving him. But that's only their first stop on their journey to reunite the challengers, find Thor's hammer, and stop the apocalypse--a journey filled with enough tooth-and-nail battles and larger-than-life monsters to make Matt a legend in his own right.

Authors K.L. Armstrong and M.A. Marr return to Blackwell in the epic sequel to Loki's Wolves with more explosive action, adventure and larger-than-life Norse legends.

Bea Reviews A World Without Princes by Soman Chainani

Publisher: HarperCollins
Series: The School for Good and Evil #2
Format Read: Hardcover
Source: PR firm in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: April 15, 2014
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

In the epic sequel to the New York Times bestselling novel, The School for Good and Evil, Sophie and Agatha are home, living out their Ever After. But life isn’t quite the fairy tale they expected.

When Agatha secretly wishes she’d chosen a different happy ending, she reopens the gates to the School for Good and Evil. But the world she and Sophie once knew has changed.

Witches and princesses, warlocks and princes are no longer enemies. New bonds are forming; old bonds are being shattered. But underneath this uneasy arrangement, a war is brewing and a dangerous enemy rises. As Agatha and Sophie battle to restore peace, an unexpected threat could destroy everything, and everyone, they love—and this time, it comes from within.

Soman Chainani has created a spectacular world that Newbery Medal-winning author Ann M. Martin calls, “a fairy tale like no other, complete with romance, magic, and humor that will keep you turning pages until the end.”

Review of Lucretia and the Kroons by Victor LaValle

Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Format Read: eGalley
Source: from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: July 23, 2012
Buying Links: Amazon* | OmniLit* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission for purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Lucretia’s best friend and upstairs neighbor Sunny—a sweet pitbull of a kid, even as she struggles with a mysterious illness—has gone missing. The only way to get her back is for Lucretia to climb the rickety fire escape of their Queens tenement and crawl through the window of apartment 6D, portal to a vast shadowland of missing kids ruled by a nightmarish family of mutants whose designs on the children are unknown. Her search for Sunny takes Lucretia through a dark fantasyland where she finds lush forests growing from concrete, pigeon-winged rodents, and haunted playgrounds. Her quest ultimately forces her to confront the most frightening specter of all: losing, forever, the thing you love the most.

Lucretia and the Kroons is a dazzlingly imaginative adventure story and a moving exploration of the power of friendship and the terror of loss. This all-new novella serves as the perfect companion piece to The Devil in Silver, a thrillingly suspenseful work of literary horror that continues the story of Lucretia.

Bea's Thoughts:

The story starts off slowly, laying the foundation. We meet Lucretia, Loochie, her family, and her ailing friend Sunny. Loochie is twelve and anxious to be older; she worries that she's not developing as quickly as other girls in her class and she's worried about Sunny's health while at the same time in denial about it. I was expecting a dark fantasy/horror story but what I got was a contemporary dark fantasy with hints of "Alice in Wonderland" set in an inner-city. It's both gritty and horrific. The Kroons sound like an urban myth but they are all too real.

"Lucretia and the Kroons" is a horror story, a love story, a story of friendship, loyalty, hope, and death. A mix of the expected and the unexpected, it's a dark story; some children might find the material difficult to deal with but many young teens and tweens will be able to relate to Loochie and her life. A plus for me was that both Loochie and Sunny are people of color, not white, and yet that wasn't the point of the story, it was just part of who they were. I appreciate stories where there's diversity but it's just part of the story and isn't the point.

Trigger warnings- children dying and cancer.

Review of Eliza's Forever Trees by Stephanie Lisa Tara

Publisher: Brown Books
Format Read: Trade paperback
Source: From the author in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: November 20, 2012
Buying Links:  Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

Blurb from goodreads:

Suddenly Mother jumped to her feet and ran to one of the trees, a three-hundred-foot-tall redwood. "Forever tree! Forever tree!" she cried, smiling. She swept the skinny girl up into her arms. The child's pale skin shimmered in the golden forest light. "Forever trees, forever trees," they sang, spinning in circles. The memory melted into the fog, and Eliza felt very tired. The question came again to her. It appeared out of the gray, out of the damp, out of the cold corners of this new house. The question whispered it always did the kind of whisper that sounded very loud indeed: Where had Mother gone? Shadows appeared and disappeared in Eliza's mind. Still, she couldn't remember. She simply could not remember anything after that last story in the forest. For some reason, she wasn't terribly worried. She was a little worried, for sure, but not terribly worried, because a strange calm held the shadows and the question. It held Eliza, too. Because love is forever. 

Bea's Thoughts:

This book just didn't hold my interest. I should have read it in a few hours, not a few days, but either I'd put it down and do other things or I'd doze off while reading it. Part of the problem was that I was just wasn't invested enough in Eliza, she didn't feel real to me. Maybe if the story had started before Mother went away and we had seen Eliza before instead of just after. The story felt too long and there were parts that weren't necessary such as the chapters with the frogs. I also questioned why bats were initially presented as bad guys; in the real world bats do fantastic job of controlling the mosquito population.

I did like the mythic overtones to the story and Eliza's journey and the use of different animals as helpers on her journey. The subplot of a storm and it's effects on the animals and how they react to it was sweet and, if not subtle, was not a too obvious commentary on cooperation. There is a generous helping of quotes from childrens books that are in the public domain; Tara clearly loves and knows childrens books. She also has a talent for words and language that children and adults can enjoy:

The memory melted into the fog, and Eliza felt very tired. The question came again to her. It appeared out of the gray, out of the damp, out of the cold corners of this new house. The question whispered-it always did-the kind of whisper that sounded very loud indeed

Even butterflies knew what she knew-that stories are forever friends; they speak a language any girl or butterfly could understand.

 Books give warmth. They warm us with their words.

"These are huckleblerries," she said. "Huckleblerries?" asked Eliza. "Yes. That's what they are called," declared the ladybug. "Not huckleberries?" asked Eliza. "No!" said the ladybug sharply. "Huckleblerries, with an l. Ladybug starts with l. It's a very important letter."

Gwooop went Eliza's foot as it sank into the mud. "Walooop," said the mud as she pulled her foot back out. "Gwooop!" cried Eliza. "Waloop!" echoed the butterfly.

Tara weaves themes of the treasure found in stories, the delicate balance of life, and the importance of working together along with a subtler theme of ecology and preservation. Despite my love of books and my belief in the themes that Tara uses, the book, as I said earlier, just didn't hold my interest. Then again, I'm not the intended audience and maybe a child in elementary school or middle school might enjoy the book more.

Children's Book Week Review of Loki's Wolves by K.L Armstrong and M.A. Marr

Publisher: Little, Brown
Series: The Blackwell Pages #1
Format: Hardcover
Source: I own it.
Release Date: May 7, 2013
Buying Links: Amazon  Barnes & Noble  The Book Depository

Blurb from goodreads:

In Viking times, Norse myths predicted the end of the world, an event called Ragnarok, that only the gods can stop. When this apocalypse happens, the gods must battle the monsters--wolves the size of the sun, serpents that span the seabeds, all bent on destroying the world.

The gods died a long time ago.

Matt Thorsen knows every Norse myth, saga, and god as if it was family history--because it is family history. Most people in the modern-day town of Blackwell, South Dakota, in fact, are direct descendants of either Thor or Loki, including Matt's classmates Fen and Laurie Brekke.

However, knowing the legends and completely believing them are two different things. When the rune readers reveal that Ragnarok is coming and kids--led by Matt--will stand in for the gods in the final battle, he can hardly believe it. Matt, Laurie, and Fen's lives will never be the same as they race to put together an unstoppable team to prevent the end of the world.

Bea's Thoughts:

Well, it's no secret I'm a Kelley fan. I've read just about everything she has ever published, regardless of genre. I haven't read anything by Melissa Marr but Kelley's name was enough to grab me; add in Norse mythology and I was sold. But...middle grade? I don't read it very often and much of it makes me want to gouge my eyes out. But, it's Kelley and it's mythology and it's a mythology that hasn't been done to death already. So, I ordered my copy.

The authors didn't let me down. Armstrong and Marr wrote a fantastic adventure story full of heartbreak, betrayal, growing up, and learning to trust; trust yourself, trust your instincts, trust each other. The main kids, Matt, Laurie and Fen feel real but aren't obnoxious and the others they pick up along the way, Baldwin, twins Ray and Reyna, and Astrid, are also realistic. It's a struggle for everyone to learn to trust each other and to work together. Matt naturally steps into the role of leader but it's a role he struggles with as he lacks confidence in his ability to lead and to stop Ragnarok and of course he makes mistakes along the way.

If you're not up on Norse mythology, or if like me it's been years since you read any, don't worry, the authors weave it naturally into the story. If you find it piques your interest, try out Kevin Hearne's adult urban fantasy series, the Iron Druid Chronicles where he mixes Norse, Celtic and other mythologies.

The story is not all angst; there's lots of action as Matt, Laurie and Fen leave home to find their remaining companions, encounter adults who don't understand, trolls who want treasure, etc. They not only have to find their other companions but acquire certain objects and pass a test before they can actually stop Ragnarok. There's only two books left and still a lot of ground to cover. Will they be successful? Will Matt and the others save the world? Will they survive the process? Will I survive waiting a year for the next book? "Loki's Wolves" is a wonderful, engrossing tale smartly moves Norse mythology into the modern world. Go get a copy now!

COVER REVEAL! Loki's Wolves by K.L Armstrong & M. A. Marr

Speculative Fiction authors Kelley Armstrong and Melissa Marr are branching out into Middle Grade books with a new series, The Blackwell Files. It's a trilogy about 12-13 year old kids dealing with the Norse end-of-times story, Ragnarok. Kelley will write the POV for one main character, Matt, and Melissa will do the POV for the other one, Laurie. Today, they revealed the cover for the first book, Loki's Wolves.

According to Melissa's livejournal post the shield on the cover was designed based on the research they did into symbology, and they had real shields made according to the traditional Viking way. Now THAT'S cool!

Review: Noah Zark: Mammoth Trouble by D. Robert Pease

• Publisher: Walking Stick Books 
• Release Date: August 13, 2011
• Series: #1 Noah Zarc
• Buying Link: Amazon    Barnes & Noble
•  
• Book Blurb:
• Noah lives for piloting spaceships through time, dodging killer robots and saving Earth’s animals from extinction. Life couldn’t be better. However, the twelve-year-old time traveler soon learns it could be a whole lot worse. His mom is abducted and taken to thirty-first century Mars; his dad becomes stranded in the Ice Age; and Noah is attacked at every turn by a foe bent on destroying a newly habitable, post apocalyptic Earth.
  
  Traveling through time in the family’s immense spaceship, Noah, a paraplegic from birth, must somehow care for the thousands of animals on board, while finding a way to rescue his parents. Along the way, he discovers his mother and father aren’t who he thought they were, and there is strength inside him he didn’t know he had.

My Thoughts:

I’ve read a lot of YA novels and often found myself unable to relate to the drama they seem to    feel over every little thing. 

That never happened in this book. It’s a beautifully written YA Sci-Fi novel which seems to hit most of the standard archetypes without coming off as stale or trite. I was worried that this would be a religious book in Sci-Fi disguise, but it thankfully never happened. This book starts off with a bang and while it’s pace slows down after the initial attention grabber, but it never feels slow. There are fun Sci-Fi toys, sibling rivalry, parent issues, historic and current animal info, space and time travel, fights, and a light taste of romance. This book never left me saying ‘yes, but get on with the plot’ despite plenty of dialog, descriptions, and explanations. The character interactions are realistic, logical, and likely with one exception. That exception is the relation between the main character, his parents and the antagonist. I found that a little difficult to swallow, but that could be because I am over twice the target audience’s age. I would definitely recommend this novel to anyone in a preteen/young teen target audience with a taste for science fiction.

I felt that there could be more detail, a compliment since I don’t expect the level that I want as an adult in a YA novel. I thought the author did a wonderful job with this book and I’m waiting to see if this becomes a series. 

The reviewer, Liz, received a ePUB from the author for review.