Book Review: The Lonely Hearts Club (Elizabeth Eulberg)

Penny is sick of boys and sick of dating. So she vows: no more. It's a personal choice. . .and, of course, soon everyone wants to know about it. And a few other girls are inspired. A movement is born: The Lonely Hearts Club (named after the band from Sgt. Pepper). Penny is suddenly known for her nondating ways . . . which is too bad, because there's this certain boy she can't help but like. . . .

This book should be a staple in every secondary school library - not only is it the perfect book to empower teenage girls, it will also teach the boys out there a thing or two about what not to do! I'd love to see this on the big screen too - I mean, remember that song from Hot Chick : "Boys are cheat and liars, they're such a big disgrace..."? That song surfaced in my mind while I was reading this!

Ladies, admit it - at some point in our very colourful lives, we thought it best to swear off boys completely...or at least tried. How wonderful it could have been nursing a broken heart with not one, not two, but a whole club of girls who has been through the exact same heartache! Penny Lane's Lonely Hearts Club started as a one-person club, but its universal representation glues together ready to empower themselves and be there for each other. I wish there was a club like this when I was in school, because I'm sure it would have been needed - but since I did not have one, what a joy to read about it now!

Lonely Hearts Club is more than just a novel about swearing off boys or Venus alienating Mars. There is a strong theme about dedicated friendships, extending one's helping hand to others, trust and reconciliation and discovering who you truly are.

Penny is a great narrator and an inspirational person. I admire how strong she really is - I realised that while I thought I was strong, Penny stood defiant in cases where I would have just gone pliant and stupid. Her conflicting emotions and thought-process are recognisable, and her openness very admirable. Her friends Tracy and Diane are alive in every girls' heart and her fellow club mates make one cool club! The solidarity and support they all give to each other are more than a girl's dream. And of course, I think I should mention the boys too. You'll meet the jerks, the flirts, the mysterious, the cheaters, the ex-es and the swoon-worthy male specimen in the Lonely Hearts Club too - the girls will guide you through, worry not, and I'm sure you'll love the boys that do pass the inspection!

One other strong theme in the book are The Beatles. There is a lot of crazy Beatles references, and Penny's parents are the number one fans. It's hilarious!

Lonely Hearts Club is a meaningful book - girls, you have to read this book! Boys - don't worry, if you behave we still adore you :)

Four HEARTS! Stars.

* Book reviewed as part of the UK Book Tours.

Book Review: Personal Demons (Lisa Desrochers)

Frannie Cavanaugh is a good Catholic girl with a bit of a wicked streak. She's spent years keeping everyone at a distance—even her closest friends—and it seems her senior year will be more of the same...until Luc Cain enrolls in her class. No one knows where he came from, but Frannie can't seem to stay away from him. What she doesn't know is that Luc works in Acquisitions—for Hell—and she possesses a unique skill set that has the King of Hell tingling with anticipation. All Luc has to do is get her to sin, and he’s as tempting as they come. Frannie doesn’t stand a chance.

Unfortunately for Luc, Heaven has other plans, and the angel, Gabe, is going to do whatever it takes to make sure that Luc doesn’t get what he came for. And it isn't long before they find themselves fighting for more than just her soul.

But if Luc fails, there will be Hell to pay…for all of them.

FINALLY - a book with heroine that's far from being goody-two shoes! I have been waiting for one which so blatantly shows a heroine's flaws, without me being actually annoyed by or disliking the aforementioned heroine, and after a long wait, here it is! Personal Demons. Boy do I love it. I think this book might probably be a bad boy on its own, but I love it all the more for being so!

Let me start with the characters - Frannie, Luc and Gabe. Like I mentioned, Frannie is a character I feel I've long waited for, and she is fun to be with - she is easy to admire, but she is also easy to correct. She's unique, surprising, and whether girls out there admit it or not, we're all a bit like Frannie inside! I love her.

Speaking of characters I love, let me start with Gabe and end with a very gushy, explosive sigh over Luc. Gabe is truly heavenly and someone you'd want to devote yourself to. I did not feel he was a major character in the book; his role seem to only develop Luc more. And Luc? Luc is sinful and hotter than hell. He's sizzling both inside and out and really made me blush while reading. Yep, I like this guy.

As much as I love Frannie, I'd have to say I loved every word in Luc's narration. He's hilarious and unlike any demon I ever imagined. Though seven millennia old, he retains his teenage boy mind and sometimes act immaturely that it's difficult to differentiate him from his real, breathing earthly counterpart. He amused me to no end and spiced everything up. Have I mentioned he's hot? Or that I'm definitely, loyally Team Luc?

Now one of my issues about Personal Demons is the slight confusion behind the whole celestials against infernals tug of war. It dips immediately into Luc's perspective and since only he and Frannie alternately narrate the whole book, it is only really Luc who refers to the background and back story. However, he does not explain this quite well enough, which was why I kept wondering who some characters were, what certain words mean and how things generally work out. Perhaps a general prologue about the background of the whole celestial and infernal war and the tagging of souls would have been a better introduction.

I'm not sure how much this flaw affected the plot, but I found the book more romantic than suspenseful - not that I have any complaints about that. While I was not too bothered about Frannie shifting back and forth between Gabe and Luc, I felt the reason behind this was not thoroughly explained. I would have liked a little more elaboration about why Gabe is too irresistible for her (Luc, I can completely understand) - is it part of what he is?, etc. Perhaps this is because only two characters narrate the story, so I'd look out for the sequel in the hopes of discovering more and clearing out some of these issues.

Having said that, there's no reason why this book should be missed. It's sexy, it's hilarious, and IT HAS LUC. Full stop.

Four Stars.

* ARC copy courtesy of UK Book Tours.

Book Review: Faithful (Janet Fox)

Sixteen-year-old Maggie Bennet’s life is in tatters. Her mother has disappeared, and is presumed dead. The next thing she knows, her father has dragged Maggie away from their elegant Newport home, off on some mad excursion to Yellowstone in Montana. Torn from the only life she’s ever known, away from her friends, from society, and verging on no prospects, Maggie is furious and devastated by her father’s betrayal. But when she arrives, she finds herself drawn to the frustratingly stubborn, handsome Tom Rowland, the son of a park geologist, and to the wild romantic beauty of Yellowstone itself. And as Tom and the promise of freedom capture Maggie’s heart, Maggie is forced to choose between who she is and who she wants to be.

In many ways, Faithful can be seen as a modern re-telling of Kate Chopin's The Awakening. Both books are brought to life by heroines fighting - in their own way - against the manacles of the society of their time. Both books relay perfectly the struggle of these heroines and the extent of society's hold on them. It depicts the long road of their awakening. Both can be feminist and marxist texts, although debatable, of course. Faithful, however, is crafted more for the modern reader - for a young adult reader who has a penchant for classics, this book should not be missed.

I will be the first to admit I am one of those who have lived a sheltered life, but I know the thin line that defines that separates shelter and control. Margaret Bennet is on the other side of that line. Born within the high society of Newport in the late 1800s, Maggie's thoughts, actions and emotions are ruled by the confines of social etiquette. Her unconventional mother shames her in more ways than one - but her love and yearning for her is true. In her quest for answers, Maggie takes the reader with her back in time, immersed within the binds of her society. Maggie's narration is genuine, and with it is the ease in which I found myself understanding why and how she thinks, acts and feels like she does. The conflict between who she wants to be and who she has to be is clear in her words, and there is a real feel of entrapment in her decisions. She will earn your sympathy and admiration.

Secondary characters are worth mentioning too. As foils, they channel challenges to Maggie and invokes her to find herself amidst the chaos. Her father, who betrays and dictates her, can be seen as the epitomy of patriarchal society himself. Graybull is everything vile in that society, Mrs Gale what she can be, and Tom - Tom represents what Maggie can have if she chooses to be herself. He also represents what she will not have - riches, social standing - when she does. There are twists surrounding the characters, some will annoy, while some will clearly delight. Together, they pave way for Maggie's battle to find who she really is.

The narrative is outlined with a lot of connecting flashbacks cut to make readers wonder and thus highlighting the mystery of the disappearance of Maggie's mother. It is however, the setting that stands out in this book. It is so well described it takes your breath away. There is a huge emphasis on the beauty and importance of the landscape, as well as respect for nature. The dangerous and exhilarating feel of the wild is well described in the text; I myself wished to see Yellowstone after all I have read. For Maggie, Yellowstone is the picture of freedom - like nature, she desires to be unbidden. What more can be perfect to represent nature than Yellowstone itself?

The romance is not very integral to the plot - it is a tool used to depict Maggie's growth. Although of course, ever the romantic, I relished in the pure, innocent, 19th century (and unconventional) courtship that Tom and Maggie shared, including all the baggage that came with it.

Ultimately, Faithful is the tale of a young girl who journeys - both literal and metaphorical - far and wide to find herself and become what she wants to be, not what she has to be. It is a tale of finding love, loss and freedom.

Four Stars.


* Book received from UK Book Tours.

Book Review: The Eternal Ones (Kirsten Miller)

What if love refused to die?

Haven Moore can’t control her visions of a past with a boy called Ethan, and a life in New York that ended in fiery tragedy. In our present, she designs beautiful dresses for her classmates with her best friend Beau. Dressmaking keeps her sane, since she lives with her widowed and heartbroken mother in her tyrannical grandmother’s house in Snope City, a tiny town in Tennessee. Then an impossible group of coincidences conspire to force her to flee to New York, to discover who she is, and who she was.

In New York, Haven meets Iain Morrow and is swept into an epic love affair that feels both deeply fated and terribly dangerous. Iain is suspected of murdering a rock star and Haven wonders, could he have murdered her in a past life? She visits the Ouroboros Society and discovers a murky world of reincarnation that stretches across millennia. Haven must discover the secrets hidden in her past lives, and loves¸ before all is lost and the cycle begins again.

This book tested my patience in so many levels. I was constantly swinging between loving it and hating it, and it was not until the end that I realised it was all so very worth it. To say it's an engaging book is an understatement. The Eternal Ones will invoke readers to feel, think and try to guess all sorts of things.

Haven Moore is a protagonist I have not settled my mind about. She is like a swinging pendulum, constantly undecided and going back and forth about trusting, loving and believing. On the one hand, I think she is practical in keeping her walls up and not trusting Iain - the reincarnated Ethan - wholeheartedly until she finds the answers he cannot and will not give her. She is aware of her visions being only snippets and not the full picture of her past - and despite her yearning for him, she reserves her judgment on Iain until she finds those elusive answers. On the other hand, it seems rather stupid of her to trust fully someone else who she cannot recall at all nor is she related to, while not trusting Iain when she knows and feel their love and history. She wasn't a character easy to relate to, no. I could not imagine a toddler having visions from previous lives, let alone visions about a lover. Her reserved attitude and need for answers are believable, but her rationale and actions are sometimes questionable.

I was surprised to not have read much of Iain in this book. There is little characterisation on his part, and often times I found him overshadowed by the wonderful secondary characters - like Beau, Haven's best friend. I really would have liked to know more of Iain and to see more of Ethan in him too. He appears in crucial, defining moments but I felt the need for more romance. What Iain shared with Haven is brief but intense, and their connection well-played. The mystery and secrecy behind their relationship adds flavour to the romance, while the twists and turns that had me gaping is a good bonus.

The concept of reincarnation is fascinatiing to say the least, but The Eternal Ones takes that concept and wields it with mystery, romance and religion to become one bloody good book. I personally love how the characters connect with each other, and how they fit together in the greater scheme of things. It's worth noting that there are major religious undertones in this book. Haven springs from a small, close-knit and religious town in Tennesee and that, and her grandmother's religious fervor portrays a very realistic small town narrow-mindedness which I enjoyed reading. With the other half of the book being set in New York, the contrasts in the atmosphere and environment is well highlighted.

I had a small issue with the narrative. Don't get me wrong, the Eternal Ones is well-written, but I was not sure what the time frame was in the first few pages because the words used seem to indicate a usage in a different time. It took me some time to get used to it but when I did, it was a blessed relief. Although I thought the climax was not a climax at all, I can hardly complain - I really enjoyed this book. It ends in a way that is open and ready for the sequel.

Recommended!

Four stars.

* This book was received for review from UK Book Tours.

Book Review: Torment (Lauren Kate)

How many lives do you need to live before you find someone worth dying for? In the aftermath of what happened at Sword & Cross, Luce has been hidden away by her cursed angelic boyfriend, Daniel, in a new school filled with Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and humans. Daniel promises she will be safe here, protected from those who would kill her. At the school Luce discovers what the Shadows that have followed her all her life mean - and how to manipulate them to see into her other lives. Yet the more Luce learns about herself, the more she realizes that the past is her only key to unlocking her future...and that Daniel hasn't told her everything. What if his version of the past isn't actually the way things happened...what if Luce was really meant to be with someone else?

Fallen left me disoriented and grappling for answers, so I expected Torment to ease my confusion. In fact, I was pretty excited for it since I loved the idea of Luce and Daniel's enduring love across time.

Unfortunately, Torment just left me more frustrated.

There's a difference between leaving readers wanting more and leaving them in a totally disorienting limbo of confusion. What Torment did for me was dump more rather than answer some of the questions that was left hanging by the end of Fallen. There is a lot question rising up in this book that only made the whole series a little too overwhelming. While I like complex world building, sometimes there's just information overload. So, rather than marvel at the intricacy of the plot, I just found it too complicated to entangle. I won't even start on how frustrated I am to have to wait for the third book to (hopefully) find the answers I am looking for.

Hidden away at a school for Nephilims called Shoreline, Lucinda Price begins to question a lot more about her past, herself and why Daniel insists on her recluse. Feeling trapped, clueless and still racked with guilt about Penn's death, she explores more of her surroundings, which in turn places her in danger. She disregards Daniel's instructions and often other's too, choosing instead to find answers of her own accord. While I like this stronger, more courageous Luce, her erratic behaviour annoyed me. Her stubbornness got to me, and I found it hard to symphatise with Luce. Of course, a big part of the blame lies with Daniel, who - even more than Luce - is just a tad too distant to my liking. I found it hard to connect with Daniel in Fallen, but in Torment he becomes a lot more elusive. He keeps Luce in the dark and evades her questions, and then fails to understand why she uses her own devices to find the answers that she wants. There is a lot of misunderstanding between these two in Torment - it gets quite tiring.

I love the romantic aspect of Torment best, and I did love Daniel and Luce's interactions, no matter how quick and fragmented they come and go. There is something so endearing about their love story and general, and despite my dislike of the details surrounding it, I'm holding on and hoping the next book(s) will elaborate more on their destinies. One other part of this book that I like are the new characters introduced, some of whom wriggle their way between Daniel and Luce, and present one very good option at that. I enjoyed Luce's experiences and adventures with her new friends, who seem to understand her best. The best part is towards the end, when the angels and nephilim appear side by side. The ruckus and tension they caused is quite thrilling. I hope these characters play their parts in the next book, as I'm looking forward to them a lot!

Most of the action is centered towards the end of the book, although tension also heightens at many parts within the novel. Like Fallen, Torment has a very good action sequence, one which can make you feel as if the characters are trapped without a way out. It ends with a very frustrating cliff-hanger though, and that deprived me of fulfillment. I have been expecting something explosive as the blurb suggests a big discovery of some sort about Luce and Daniel, I guess. The book just did not live up to that.

Maybe some can gain a lot more from Torment than I did, so I won't necessarily say skip this sequel. However, I didn't think it was a good sequel. It seems to be the type of book I'd consider to be set between book one and book 2 of a series, and hence missable.

Two Stars.