Review + Giveaway: Rogue

Rogue
Croak, Book 3

Author: Gina Damico
Pages: 384
Publisher: Graphia
Publication Date: September 10, 2013
Read: August 3, 2013
Source: ARC from publisher

Description from Goodreads:
Lex is a teenage Grim Reaper with the power to Damn souls, and it’s getting out of control. She’s a fugitive, on the run from the maniacal new mayor of Croak and the townspeople who want to see her pay the price for her misdeeds. Uncle Mort rounds up the Junior Grims to flee Croak once again, but this time they’re joined by Grotton, the most powerful Grim of all time. Their new mission is clear: Fix his mistakes, or the Afterlife will cease to exist, along with all the souls in it.　

The gang heads for Necropolis, the labyrinth-like capital city of the Grimsphere. There, they discover that the Grimsphere needs a reboot. To do that, the portals to the Afterlife must be destroyed…but even that may not be enough to fix the damage. Things go from bad to worse, and when at last the fate of the Afterlife and all the souls of the Damned hang in the balance, it falls to Lex and her friends to make one final, impossible choice.

Prior Books in Series:
1: Croak
2: Scorch

First Sentence: "Grotton wondered, for a brief moment, if there were a special circle of hell reserved for someone like him, or if Dante would have to cobble together an entirely new one."

Review:

This review will be spoiler-free for the series.

Dear blog readers, today I shall exhort you to begin reading Gina Damico's Croak series, assuming you haven't already. If you stop by here often, then you probably know that I'm pretty stingy with my 5 star ratings, giving them out only in cases where a book has made me an emotional mess, sucked me in so much I forget the real world, AND been, from my limited perspective, unimpeachable in quality. Most series go out with more of a whimper than a bang, but, in this case, the finale is the strongest book in the series, which is why I am going to fangirl as hard as I can, and encourage all of you with good senses of humor to read this as soon as possible.

From Croak onward, Gina Damico has excelled at humor and narrative voice. She writes a mixture of black comedy and straight up silliness that I find positively enchanting. The sort of people who enjoy television shows like Dead Like Me and Pushing Daisies simply MUST read this series. Her style has a really unique flair. She chooses really weird terms or phrasing at times, but somehow they're completely perfect for the moment. A good example is her creativity in coming up with swear words. Ordinarily, I find invented swear words in novels irritating, rather than amusing or clever, but Damico's are perfection and likely to enter my actual vocabulary. Here are some examples: "shitballs," "everdeathing," and "douchecrate." While probably not to everyone's tastes, if those make you giggle, it's a sign that Damico's writing is meant for you.

However, there's more than just humor in this series. Though Croak is, so far as my memory can recall, largely a darkly comic fluffy book, with a bit of intensity right at the end, both Scorch and Rogue have far more serious moments. In Scorch, they weren't quite as well balanced and that ended up being my least favorite in the series. By Rogue, Damico's got it down, handling serious moments with proper seriousness, making me want to cry, and then lightening the mood on the next page so that I'm grinning like an idiot. It's a bit of an emotional roller coaster, with much of the comedy being of the sort to help keep them moving in the face of overwhelming odds.

The characters all sparkle with wit, vivacity and uniqueness. I love each and every one of them, basically, though Mort is my special favorite and going on my book boyfriend list. Gina Damico writes banter between characters like no one else. All of the grim reapers in their little group make fun of one another constantly, but there is real love underneath that, so completely evident through it all. Even better, Damico doesn't neglect the supporting cast at all. In fact, by book three, there almost isn't a supporting cast because they're all so important to the plot and accomplishing what must be done. There's an ending for all of the characters you've come to love, whether happy or sad, and it's not just about Lex and Driggs, who I do ship something fierce by the way.

Since I'm not going to delve into any spoilers for the series, I'll keep this high level and relatively brief (for me anyway). The last thing I need to say is that Damico has guts. She steps outside of traditional YA lines and takes big risks. The stakes are high and she kills a lot of characters, with rather a Whedonesque flair. She gets the utmost respect from me for that. The series also abounds with twists, some of which I called and some which totally blindsided me, all combining to make a wholly engrossing and emotional reading experience.

Gina Damico's Croak series is officially ranked among my favorite books ever, and rereads in the future will be essential. As of this writing, Damico has another book deal for a book called Hellhole about a devil, and I'm already wondering who I have to do what to in order to be able to read that ASAP. So, friends, if you have a similar taste in humor, then you want this in your life. Trust me. If you don't trust me, why are you here?

Rating: 5/5

Favorite Quote: "'My undercarriage is a national treasure.'"

Giveaway:
Because I love this series so damn much, I'm giving away all of the books or however many you need to complete your collection. Winner's choice as to which books in the series you want, so that you can complete your collection or get it started!

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Review: The Death of Bees

The Death of Bees

Author: Lisa O'Donnell
Pages: 336
Publisher: Harper
Source: Publisher via TLC Book Tours

Description from Goodreads:
A riveting, brilliantly written debut novel-a coming-of-age story with the strong voice and powerful resonance of Swamplandia! and The Secret Life of Bees-in which two young sisters attempt to hold the world at bay after the mysterious death of their parents.

Today is Christmas Eve. Today is my birthday. Today I am fifteen. Today I buried my parents in the backyard. Neither of them were beloved.

Marnie and her little sister Nelly are on their own now. Only they know what happened to their parents, Izzy and Gene, and they aren't telling. While life in Glasgow's Hazlehurst housing estate isn't grand, they do have each other. Besides, it's only one year until Marnie will be considered an adult and can legally take care of them both.

As the new year comes and goes, Lennie, the old man next door, realizes that his young neighbors are alone and need his help. Or does he need theirs? But he's not the only one who suspects something isn't right. Soon, the sisters' friends, their other neighbors, the authorities, and even Gene's nosy drug dealer begin to ask questions. As one lie leads to another, dark secrets about the girls' family surface, creating complications that threaten to tear them apart.

Written with fierce sympathy and beautiful precision, told in alternating voices, The Death of Bees is an enchanting, grimly comic tale of three lost souls who, unable to answer for themselves, can answer only for each other.

First Sentence: "Eugene Doyle. Born 19 June 1972. Died 17 December 2010, aged thirty-eight."

Review:

For those of you who don't know, I have a sizable obsession with British pop culture. When I signed up for the tour, I, admittedly, didn't know how British this book is, but when I figured that out, oh my, was I ever excited. As odd as this book is, I can compare it to a couple of things. To get The Death of Bees, combine the darker, more disturbing family elements of Shameless with the murder and hijinks of Keeping Mum. If you appreciate the sort of dark humour that Brits excel at, do not miss O'Donnell's brilliantly odd debut.

One of my very favorite narrative styles is multiple first person points of view, but finding one done correctly happens rarely. O'Donnell succeeds with her first novel. The Death of Bees rotates through three perspectives: the two sisters, Marnie and Nelly, and their neighbor, Lennie. Each one of them has a very distinct personality and thought pattern. Telling them apart is quite simple. The narratives are stream of consciousness, and, thus, occasionally quite strange, like the section in which Nelly is singing a song to herself. Though not generally a fan of stream of consciousness style writing, O'Donnell wields this method well.

Marnie and Nelly's parents are useless, on the dole and drug-addicted, the father abusive. When both parents die, in somewhat sketchy circumstances, Marnie and Nelly do the obvious thing: bury them in the background in the middle of winter. Well, actually, the ground's really hard and they got tired, so they just get Gene buried and leave Izzy in the shed for a while. They plant strong-smelling lavender atop Gene's grave, in an effort to cover the stench. Because they bury the body too shallowly, and the other not at all, the neighbor's dog keeps coming over and trying to find the bodies, a continual source of worry for the girls.

Many of the scenes in The Death of Bees, particularly early on, are of a fairly graphic nature. The body-disposal chapters will haunt me for quite a while. If you cannot handle descriptions of fluids and ickiness, this book may not be for you. This is comedy of the very darkest colour. The book also includes drug use, statutory rape, abuse, and probably some other touchy subjects I'm forgetting to list.

Marnie and Nelly were thinking when they buried their parents in the backyard; they did not want to be put into foster care, an inevitability, so better to pretend their parents are on a perpetual vacation. Lennie, their nosy but well-intentioned neighbor notices that they seem to be all alone. An old man living alone after the death of his lover and harassed because he was caught trying to solicit a male prostitute, Lennie desperately desires company, and he adopts the two girls, unofficially serving as guardian and grandfather to them. He gives them the first real parenting they've probably ever gotten.

Marnie is a brilliant girl, pulling straight As, despite the fact that she never does homework and runs with a bad crowd. She's a sassy one, a both entertaining and tragic figure. With all her life experience, it's very difficult to fathom that she's only fifteen. Her sister, Nelly, on the other hand, acts incredibly posh, an affectation she picked up who knows where. She plays the violin with great skill and looks lovely, but is clearly touched in the head. Though Marnie makes a lot of disastrously terrible life choices, Nelly's the one you really have to worry about, because there is some seriously crazy stuff happening in her mind.

O'Donnell's debut plumbs dark depths of humanity, showing both the best and worst of human interaction. This is an ideal read for those with a slightly morbid sense of humor.

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote: "My guidance teacher Mrs. MacLeod (middle-aged yah trying to do good among the peasants of Maryhill) said the only thing keeping me from the abyss of total delinquency is my gift for learning. Like Nelly I appear to possess qualities she believes to be wasted on a girl 'so utterly destructive in temperament'—she actually wrote that in my report—meaning I smoke and drink and have abortions, actually one abortion, but still, I have an A average that I maintain with little or no effort on my part and they despise me for it, mostly because they can't take credit for it; in other words intelligence should be the reward of the virginal nonsmokers of the world, not some morally corrupt teenager with dead junkies in her back garden."

Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Book 1

Author: Laini Taylor
Pages: 417
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Source: Own

Description from Goodreads:
Around the world, black hand prints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grows dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages—not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.

When one of the strangers—beautiful, haunted Akiva—fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

First Sentence: "Walking to school over the snow-muffled cobbles, Karou had no sinister premonitions about the day."

Review:

One of the interesting things about being late to read a really hyped book is that everyone reports to you with their predictions of and hope for your reaction to the title. There's no doubt that Daughter of Smoke and Bone has been heavily hyped. Despite that, my expectations remained relatively low, because I'd heard of instalove and angels, neither of which generally work for me. While this book did not turn out to be a five star read for me as it has been for so many, DOSAB actually impressed much more than I ever could have anticipated.

Laini Taylor writes beautifully. Her prose has an edge to it that results in an entirely different atmosphere than I'm used to reading, and that was so unbelievably refreshing. Something about the phrasing really sold me on the foreign setting as well. The characters and setting and syntax did not feel American. Taylor's writing bursts with dark humor, which I just love. Seriously, the amount that I love her writing can hardly be overstated.

If I had to use a single word to sum up DOSAB, I met say 'refreshing,' because this book has a feeling all its own. Though on the surface, the plot seems somewhat ho-hum, another special snowflake set to fall in love with the super gorgeous paranormal hero, that barely scratches the surface. Laini has clearly put a ridiculous amount of thought into the building of this world. She has created an incredibly vivid landscape that came alive in my mind.

Karou sets herself apart from the garden variety heroine very quickly. Yes, she can make wishes and have them come true because of the chimaeras that raised her, and, yes, she will fall in instalove with a sexy paranormal, but she has so much verve that makes her just Karou and like no one else. Karou has blue hair (thanks to a wish), tattoos, and speaks numerous languages (also thanks to wishes). She attends art school in Prague, and has a clear passion for drawing. Brimstone, Karou's chimaera guardian taught her how to defend herself too, so she also kicks ass. When we meet her, Karou has recently dumped her first boyfriend Kaz, whom she thought she loved and with whom she had sex for the first time. Karou is a much edgier, darker heroine than can generally be found in young adult fiction and I loved her snark.

Her best friend, Zuzana, however, totally stole the show. I freaking adore Zuzana. For one thing, it's completely wonderful to get to read about a real friendship like theirs. They share ideas for projects, play delightful-sounding games together at their favorite cafe (for example How much would your life have to suck to want the Apocalypse?), and actually talk about stresses in Zuzana's life, not just those in Karou's. In fact, Karou cares so much that she scheduled a trip out of her way just to buy a present for Zuzana. This was such a delight after so many YA heroine using their supposed BFFs as doormats. Zuzana has an even darkier, dirtier wit than Karou. Also, she and Mik are so completely adorable, although a bit to prone to PDA.

As much as I geared up to hate the instalove in DOSAB, that aspect of the book really did not bother me. Karou and Akiva certainly do trade some eyerollingly cheesy lines, but they're not nearly as ridiculous as most instaloving characters. They do at least both show some evidence of a personality, which always help. What really made this okay, though, was Taylor's writing and the fact that there's sort of a reason for all of this.

Oh, also, I need to mention again how cool the creatures in here are. The chimaeras are like nothing I've read about before. More surprisingly, so are the angels. Taylor's seraphs are definitely my favorite angels thus far. Why? Because they have nothing whatsoever to do with religion! That reminds me of another thing I loved: each group of creatures had their own explanation for the creation of the universe.

Up to this point, I have pretty much been raving. Here's where I had to mark the book down. Through roughly the first half of the book, DOSAB could even conceivably have earned a 4.5 from me. However, most of the last half consisted of flashbacks to Akiva's relationship with his first love, the late Madrigal. While I see that these contained necessary information for the reader, they bored me quite a bit. Akive evinces a bit more personality, but does not have enough charisma to carry my interest. Madrigal, sadly, interested me not at all; she seems to have so little to her. Basically, as long as these flashbacks continued, I kept hoping that the end of the next chapter would bring me back to the present time with Karou. When they're finally over, so is the book. Le sigh.

Anyway, I ordered Days of Blood and Starlight when I was only partway through and will be devouring that very soon. From the reviews and statuses I've seen about that one, I suspect it will be a much stronger read for me.

Rating: 3.5/5

Favorite Quote:

"'I don't know many rules to live by,' he'd said. 'But here's one. It's simple. Don't put anything unnecessary into yourself. No poisons or chemicals, no fumes or smoke or alcohol, no sharp objects, no inessential needles—drug or tattoo—and . . . no inessential penises, either.'
   'Inessential penises?' Karou had repeated, delighted with the phrase in spite of her grief. 'Is there any such thing as an essential one?'
   'When an essential one comes along, you'll know,' he'd replied."

Apocalypse Please - Muse

Deadline
Newsflesh Trilogy, Book 2

Author: Mira Grant
Pages: 581
Review Copy Provided by: Orbit

Description from Goodreads:
Shaun Mason is a man without a mission. Not even running the news organization he built with his sister has the same urgency as it used to. Playing with dead things just doesn't seem as fun when you've lost as much as he has.

But when a CDC researcher fakes her own death and appears on his doorstep with a ravenous pack of zombies in tow, Shaun has a newfound interest in life. Because she brings news-he may have put down the monster who attacked them, but the conspiracy is far from dead.

Now, Shaun hits the road to find what truth can be found at the end of a shotgun.

First Sentence: "Our story opens where countless stories have ended in the last twenty-seven years: with an idiot—in this case, Rebecca Atherton, head of the After the End Times Irwins, winner of the Golden Steve-o Award for valor in the face of the undead—deciding it would be a good idea to go out and poke a zombie with a stick to see what happens."

Review:
Do you ever read a book and think: "I just want to be best friends with the author. Can we just hang out and I can soak up her/his brillance? Pretty please?" Other people think this way, right? This is how I feel about Mira Grant. I declare myself a fan girl with pride.

Feed was one of my very favorite books that I read in 2011. I loved it, and it caught me largely by surprise, because anything with a designation of horror makes me skeptical, since I'm the biggest wimp ever. However, I was immediately charmed by Georgia's intelligence, sarcasm, and hatred of people. Whenever I love the first book in a series that much, I worry that the next one will be a disappointment. I mean, how can it be as good? Well, just let me say that literally from the quotes before the first chapter, my worries vanished.  I knew from the beauty of the writing that I would love this one just as much...and I did.

These books are pretty massive, roughly 600 pages each, so they take some reading, even for a speed demon like myself. The world building in this series is freaking mind-blowing. I cannot even put into words how good it is. Grant has so many details, all intricately woven so it never feels like you're sitting back for fifty years of exposition. Well, at least, that's how I feel. I know some readers have been turned off by all of the focus on politics and science, but I loved that, even though science and politics are pretty much at the top of the list of things I hate.

Despite the length, I really never felt like the plot of Deadline dragged. I was constantly eager to keep moving and find out what was going to happen next. This book made me cry, made me laugh, made me seriously concerned for the state of humanity, and made me go WTF just happened (Ending, you were cray...why do I not have Blackout now?). You should definitely watch out for Grant's humor, which can be found throughout. She has this great, dark sense of humor that just kills me. For example, she describes grocery shopping in the post-Rising world as "not an activity for the faint of heart" (345). Yes, you do learn about grocery shopping in a zombie-afflicted world. The characters are all vibrant and feel so real. In a lot of ways, her style reminds me of Joss Whedon. Just saying.

At this point, I'm going tell all you peeps who haven't read Feed to bounce. Either go read my review for that book or, even better, GO BUY FEED AND READ IT RIGHT NOW. The rest of this review will have crazy insane SPOILERS for Feed, so I really don't want anyone without any knowledge of book one continuing on. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Now, folks who read Feed, that ending was insane, right? Talk about a book that stayed with me. I usually forget endings but I did not forget that for sure. WAAAAHHHHH! I love that Grant wasn't afraid to kill off the MC. I mean, that's just badass, but it's also difficult to recover from, which is why you don't often see it. This, too, explains my initial fear of this book; a narrator switch was compulsory and I adored George. Well, thankfully, Shaun totally works as a narrator. You even get some George, because, check it, all those happenings have officially pushed Shaun over the edge of sanity into crazy town. He's now hearing George in his mind, and not just through memories.

Usually, this is not a plot line I would be able to handle, but Grant has done it so well. See, the thing is that George and Shaun had only each other for so many years. They are more closely bound to one another than Heathcliff and Catherine, on top of being a million times less obnoxious. Because of this, it makes sense that he can't let her go completely. In fact, the only thing keeping him going is his need for revenge on whoever orchestrated her death, because Shaun's not buying Tate as a mastermind. Where Feed delved into corruption in politics, Deadline focuses on the medical profession, and the truths of Kellis-Amberlee. I don't want to go into any more detail than that, because that might detract from your joy on the journey. Just know that it's amazing.

Mira Grant's Newsflesh Trilogy is, without a doubt, my favorite zombie fiction. With complete honesty, I can think of NOTHING that I would like to change about them. I could open the book up at random to any page, any of them, and find a quote I love. For me, the writing, tone, pacing, humor, world and characters are all absolutely perfect.

Rating: 5/5

Favorite Quote: "The one thing I have absolute faith in is mankind's capacity to make things worse. No matter how bad it gets, we're all happy to screw each other over. It's enough to make me wonder if we should have let the zombies win."

"Declare this an emergency
Come on and spread a sense of urgency
And pull us through
And pull us through
And this is the end
This is the end of the world"

Fashion - Lady Gaga

From the Memoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant

Author: Alex Gilvarry
Pages: 302
Review Copy Acquired from: Viking

Brief Summary:
Boy Hernandez has been interested in women's fashion since he was a young boy. His dream was to move to New York and take part in fashion week, then selling his incredibly successful line to the best stores in the world. He moved from his home in the Philippines to New York City and, after five years of struggle, he achieved his dream. Unfortunately, his backer was a shady guy and Boy got taken to Guantanamo Bay under suspicion of being a terrorist.

Review:
If you're a regular reader of my blog, you probably know that this is a bit out of my normal range of reading. This is not just because I have been reading so much YA literature, but also because I generally try to avoid anything political. However, when I got an offer to review this book, I took it, since who doesn't love a free book. Besides, it's always (note: this is hyperbole) good to push your boundaries and leave your comfort zone. I am so glad I did.

From the first, I loved this book. Boy has such a clear strong voice and a wonderful sense of humor, despite the darkness of many sections of the story. The bulk of the book is his confession to his interrogators, alternating between his current thoughts at the time and his memories of events in roughly chronological order. There are also humorous footnotes here and there that contain a fashion magazine writer's notes on what Boy got wrong in his statement.

From the Memoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant is like Ugly Betty meets Little Brother. What makes everything in this book so painful, and not just because you're laughing so hard at the dark humor, is that it is believable. I can totally imagine our government mistakenly ruining an innocent man's life and never owning up to their errors.

This is a most excellent read that I recommend highly to those who fear our country may be turning into a dystopia, who love black comedy, or adore high fashion. Also, the Gilvarry is adorable:

"J'adore Vivienne, La Vie et Moi
Gucci, Fendi, et Prada. Valentino, Armani too.
Merde I love them Jimmy Choo"

Gravity Rides Everything - Modest Mouse

Practical Jean

Author: Trevor Cole
Pages: 230
ARC Acquired from: HarperPerennial via NetGalley

Brief Summary:
Jane Vale Horemarsh has come to a startling revelation: Friends should not let friends grow old. This realization came to her in the wake of her mother's death, which came after three months of suffering and helplessness, during which time Jean had to care for her constantly. Jean has seen what happens to the human body when it gets old and now considers herself required, as a good friend, to save her friends from this fate...by killing them now.

Review:
For fans of black comedy, this novel is just about perfect. Of course, black comedy doesn't appeal to everyone; certainly, it did not appeal to me when I was younger. Now, however, I find that I quite enjoy dark humor. Basically, if you find the description to be amusing and want to read more, then you'll quite enjoy the book.

Jean, of course, is crazy. What else could one possibly expect of someone stuck with the last name of 'Horemarsh?' Cole does a great job of making her brand of craziness believable. He sets up that this idea and her hardness is not coming from nowhere. Her past enables her to do what most people, even those who agreed with her that it would be a mercy killing, would never be able to do.

The cast of characters is lively and quirky, each one providing elements of humor. Here's a sample of the kind of dark humor you can expect: one of her friends betrays her, and as punishment, she does not have the honor of being killed. As I said, dark humor. If you think that's awesome, do yourself a favor and read this!

P.S. Before you start thinking Jean was onto something, please let me recommend instead Natalie's (one of Jean's friends) brand of friendship: "What says 'love' like a chocolate cupcake?"

"It all will fall, fall right into place
As fruit drops, flesh it sags
Everything will fall right into place
When we die, some sink and some lay
But at least I don't see you float away"