Where I've Been...

Hey guys. I just wanted to apologize for disappearing without warning for the last couple of days and offer a bit of explanation.

I am sick. Nothing life-threatening, but sick enough that I don't want to do much of anything that requires thinking or moving or really doing much of anything, including blogging.

Obviously, I'm up enough to get this post up, but I'm going to take tomorrow off as well and use this weekend to get better. Hopefully I'll be back to business as usual by Monday. Hope you guys are having a great weekend! :)

Waiting on Wednesday: The Warlock

*Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.*

This week, I'm waiting on The Warlock by Michael Scott. It's the fifth book in The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series, and I'm not going to post a synopsis because I don't want to spoil the earlier books for those of you who haven't read them. But what I will say is this:

I love these books. They are so full of mythology and history and action and comedy, and I adore them. I can't wait for The Warlock to find out what happens to Josh and Sophie and the Flamels next! And Scatty. Scatty = FAVORITE. At any rate, The Warlock comes out on May 24th and I can't wait to read it!

What are you waiting on this week? Leave a link in the comments and I'll stop by to visit!

Release Day Reminder!

Today is the release day for Vesper by Jeff Sampson, which I reviewed last week. I know there have been a few copies spotted already because some stores put them out early, but today's officially the day! That book you read about last week? You can read it now. :)

Review: Hunger

Title: Hunger
Author: Jackie Morse Kessler
Publisher: Graphia
Pages: 174
Series: Horsemen of the Apocalypse #1
Rating: 3/5
From the back cover:
"Thou art the Black Rider. Go thee out unto the world."


Lisabeth Lewis has a black steed, a set of scales, and a new job: she's been appointed Famine. How will an anorexic seventeen-year-old girl from the suburbs fare as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?

Traveling the world on her steed gives Lisa freedom from her troubles at home -- her constant battle with hunger and the struggle to hide it from the people who care about her. But being Famine forces her to go places where hunger is a painful part of everyday life and to face the horrifying effects of her awesome new power. Can Lisa find a way to harness that power -- and the courage to fight her own inner demons?

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This review is a hard one for me to write. I had a lot of problems with this book, but at the same time I thought it had a really interesting premise and I loved Jackie Morse Kessler's writing style. The idea behind the story is simple enough: Lisa is anorexic, depressed, and one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Three pills into her suicide attempt, Death shows up at her front door and hands her the role of Famine. Lisa doesn't know how to handle the new job, especially not with all the pressure from her family and her boyfriend and her ex-best friend, but maybe, just maybe, it will teach her some important lessons.

My main objection to Hunger was at the very beginning. When Death shows up to hand her the Scales that are the symbol of the office of Famine, Lisa is three pills into a suicide attempt. He says a couple of weird sentences, hands her some scales, and leaves. Lisa decides that she is hallucinating (and fat), but says "At least I'm not depressed anymore." Not right-this-second suicidal I can understand. To be so torn up as to be in the middle of a suicide attempt and then decide after a brief interruption that she's not at all depressed anymore? It didn't seem realistic. At all.

My other problem was the characterization of Lisa and her friends. All we really know about Lisa is that she's anorexic. Everything we see about her character is directly related to anorexia. We don't know who she is as a person, we know who she is as an anorexic girl. By the end, we do see a few of her character traits, but it's still mostly about her anorexia. Tammy is just the bulimic friend. I'm still not quite sure how I feel about the way that subject was handled, but all we know about Tammy is that she's bulimic. The relationships with James and Suzanne are more interesting, but we don't know really anything about them, either.

That aside, I loved Jackie Morse Kessler's writing style, and the concept was really cool. Death was my favorite character by far, and it was interesting to see the way Lisa's role as Famine affected her personal life and vice versa. Despite my initial problems with the characters, I did enjoy the book and will most likely read the second one when it comes out. Hunger is not a book that I'm going to press into someone's hands and say "Read this!" but I do think it makes a good read.

Links:

Jackie Morse Kessler's website

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P.S. On a completely unrelated note, I'd like to take a moment today to wish my (not-so-)little brother a very happy birthday today!

In My Mailbox (10)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren which allows bloggers to share what books they got during the week.

This week I just have one new one, and it showed up rather unexpectedly in the mail (which is always the best way, in my opinion - nothing like a surprise book to make a day much better!). Thanks very much to Katie of Katie's Book Blog for my ARC of Torment by Lauren Kate.

Really looking forward to reading this! Although I might have to skim through Fallen again to get the details... it's been a while since I read it.

What did you guys get this week?

Books from Before (5)

*Books from Before is my own meme, in which I talk about a book or series that I read and enjoyed before I started blogging. You're welcome to use my meme, but credit me please!*

This week I want to share with you is one of my favorite dark-and-creepy novels. Bad Girls Don't Die by Katie Alender is basically a ghost story. It's incredibly creepy, and it's also incredibly well done. There is so much to love about this book. If you get scared easily, don't read it after dark! But definitely make time to read it, because it's awesome.

Description from Goodreads:

When Alexis's little sister Kasey becomes obsessed with an antique doll, Alexis thinks nothing of it. Kasey is a weird kid. Period. Alexis is considered weird, too, by the kids in her high school, by her parents, even by her own Goth friends. Things get weirder, though, when the old house they live in starts changing. Doors open and close by themselves; water boils on the unlit stove; and an unplugged air conditioner turns the house cold enough to see their breath in. Kasey is changing, too. Her blue eyes go green and she speaks in old-fashioned language, then forgets chunks of time.

Most disturbing of all is the dangerous new chip on Kasey's shoulder. The formerly gentle, doll-loving child is gone, and the new Kasey is angry. Alexis is the only one who can stop her sister -- but what if that green-eyed girl isn't even Kasey anymore?

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See, it even sounds awesome. Absolutely read it. And the sequel, From Bad to Cursed, is due out before too long, too. You won't even have to wait for the sequel.

Book Trailer Love!

A full length book trailer has been released for Lesley Livingston's Tempestuous and I LOVE it. I still haven't gotten to read the book (*glare at local bookstore and library*), although I want to ASAP, but in the meantime... I am seriously loving this trailer. And now I'll shut up and let you watch:



This is what a book trailer should look like. For real. (And if you haven't read Wondrous Strange, go do that right now. It's excellent.)