Hourglass (Hourglass #1) by Myra McEntire

Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Reading level: Ages 14 and up
Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: EgmontUSA; Reprint edition (May 8, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1606843842
ISBN-13: 978-1606843840

Summary:
For seventeen-year-old Emerson Cole, life is about seeing what isn't there: swooning Southern Belles; soldiers long forgotten; a haunting jazz trio that vanishes in an instant. Plagued by phantoms since her parents' death, she just wants the apparitions to stop so she can be normal. She's tried everything, but the visions keep coming back.

So when her well-meaning brother brings in a consultant from a secretive organization called the Hourglass, Emerson's willing to try one last cure. But meeting Michael Weaver may not only change her future, it may also change her past.

Who is this dark, mysterious, sympathetic guy, barely older than Emerson herself, who seems to believe every crazy word she says? Why does an electric charge seem to run through the room whenever he's around? And why is he so insistent that he needs her help to prevent a death that never should've happened?

So I enjoyed the story. It was an interesting Young Adult, Sci-fi mix. It felt fresh and interesting and made a change from vampires and other supernatural type YA romance books. I liked the concept and the execution which made sense and flowed easily.

However the characters felt a little cliched. Emerson the good looking but "damaged" heroine who is genuinely surprised a guy would be in to her, and has two guys vying for you attention. But she is also smart and athletic with a Buffy the Vampire Slayer attitude. Her bestie is artsy and funny but clearly has a secret. The two hot guys are different in that one is serious and one is funny but both are damaged. I think you get the picture. The characters didn't really grab my attention enough for me to really engage with them and look beyond the cliched stuff.

This was an easy read and not a lot of depth. But it was fun and fast paced and I did enjoy the sassy comments made by Emerson. This is the sort of book I would class as brain candy.

Yes I am still here!

Hi everyone! sorry I have been rather silent on the blogging front for the last few months. Life has gotten in the way of blogging of late but I am now slowly playing catch up.

I have been busy writing reviews, and I have been keeping tabs on your blogs (if not always commenting).

Lately I have not been on my laptop much and been browsing your blogs through my iphone. Which is why my commenting is sporadic at best. My iphone has been having issues with commenting. I have been experimenting with different blog readers such as feedly and now blog lovin (Follow my blog with Bloglovin) I hope to find one that will let me comment on all blogs (feedly does not like blogger blogs).

Hopefully you will start to see new posts again as I finalise the ones I have been working on. Plus I have my first author interview to post! very exciting.

Thanks for baring with me :)

The Forgotten Queen by D.L Bogdan

Rating: 3. 5 out of 5
Title: The Forgotten Queen
Author: D.L Bogdan
Series: No
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Kensington Publishing (29 Jan 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0758271387
ISBN-13: 978-0758271389

This is the story of Queen Margaret of the Scots, and the sister of King Henry VIII.

I really enjoyed the character Princess Margaret and her early life of childhood through to early adulthood. In fact I would say the first half of this book is the best reason to read it. I giggled when young Princess Margret was confessing her sins to the Cardinal. He asked her if there was anything else she wished to confess to which she replied "I'm sorry, Your Grace, it's just that I sin with such terrible frequency - I can't seem to keep track. I suppose I should make a list....""

As a Regent Queen and a mother to a future King she was really ill prepared. She had been raised to look pretty and pop out babies and that was it. I think she was a smart girl but she never seemed to think bigger picture or long term ramifications of her actions. For instance it was specifically spelled out that if she married again she would lose her regency and her soon could potentially lose the throne - so not even 6 months after the death of her husband she remarried, in secret, to a man and his family that is hated by nearly every clan in Scotland. From what I could tell she didn't even love him just wanted him to make her feel pretty.

But I really must say by the end of the book I was really very much over her and lost a lot of sympathy for her over her treatment of her closest friend and lady in waiting (or maid I am not sure now what she was but a lower station anyway) Ellen. But to be fair Margret was a pretty sad figure by then desperately clinging to the life she thought she was entitled to, with out realising she had it.

The book was quite good and seemed to follow the key points in Queen Margret's history closely. The author did a good job of bringing her to life and to be honest she had a bit of a sad and almost pathetic life.

When I first finished the book as you might have gathered I was not terribly impressed with her as a human being, but on reflection how else should she have acted? Her whole life had been tied into her position and her looks, she was used and abused by people she loved, and made some pretty bad decisions on her behalf. She didn't strike me as a strong willed person so I guess when her world gets taken away in the end (her son marries and there is a new Queen of Scotland) she would be resentful and bitter. Being a Princess is all nice and romantic in theory but their lives sucked being basically raised to be pawns in their countries (and fathers) ambitions and Alliances.

Plus it is all well and good to criticise her but by 35 she had been married, widowed, given birth to numerous children, ruled a country and fled a country. What I have done? well I started a book blog and I did create a whole new Records Keeping Policy for my work place. I think she kinda wins even if some of her decisions were pretty poor she probably had more impact on the history of her country then I ever will.

All in all it was an interesting read and for once a figure in history who isn't well known and hero or villain. She did the best with what she had, she wasn't much. It also gives another perspective to the Henry the VIII reign and the Tudor story.

The copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher and Netgalley. It did not influence my views or opinions of this book or give a favourable review.

2012 Round Up - Awards

Welcome readers to the first ever book awards for the best of the best in books that I have read in 2012.

A big congratulations to all my winners :)

Best Dragon in a book
Orma in Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Best Friendly Ghost in a book
The Sentinel in The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley

Best castle
The Glass Castle in Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas

Best evil fantasy creatures
The Harmings in Blood Song and Blood Storm by Rhiannon Hart

Best book made into a movie 
The Help by Kathryn Sockett

Book that left the biggest impression
The Happiest Refugee by Ahn Do

Most insane plan that actually worked
Anh Do's father rescuing his uncles from a concentration camp in The Happiest Refugee by Ahn Do

Best historical costumes
The Second Empress: A Novel of Napoleon's Court by Michelle Moran

Most fun to read aloud (with a cute animal)
Wonky Donkey by Craig Smith

Best villain in a book
Pauline Bonaparte from The Second Empress: A Novel of Napoleon's Court by Michelle Moran

Best female lead
Seraphina from Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Best male lead
Harry Dresden from Ghost Story by Jim Butcher

Best WWII ambulance driver
Midge from A Rose for the Anzac Boys by Jackie French

Most evil spirit
The Wanderer by Pippa Dee

Cutest characters in a children's picture book
You're Happy And You Know It (Aussie Edition) by P Crumble

Best Spy
Ally from Hell's Fury by PD Martin

Best Assassin
Female - Caleana from Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas
Male - Will Treaty - Ranger's Apprentice Series

Best set the pages on fire romance
Lilah and Brady in Animal Magnetism by Jill Shalvis

Best cliff hanger ending
Blood Storm by Rhiannon Hart

Best shadowy evil organisation
WICKED in The Maze Runner Series by James Dashner

Best mythological character
Athena from Goddess Girls: Athena the Brain by Suzanne Williams

Most predictable romance ever
Hex Hall Series

and finally

Best wee blue little men with crazy accents and would steal the award anyway if it wasn't given to them
The Mac Nac Feegle in Tiffany Aching Series by Terry Pratchett

Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1) by Sarah J Maas

Rating: 3 out of 5
Reading level: Ages 12 and up
Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens; 1 edition (August 7, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1599906953
ISBN-13: 978-1599906959
ASIN: B008BJ3RP2

Synopsis
After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin. Her opponents are men—thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the kings council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she’s bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it’s the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best. Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

My Initial Thoughts
A really promising start to a series that is a fun modern fantasy.

Digging Deeper
The Characters are interesting if a little stereotypical. The heroine, Calaena, is clever, athletic and sassy. She is not perfect and struggles with where her life has taken her. She is also, wait for it, a book reader. OMG YAY a heroine who is kick ass and READS and adores her library. The male leads are a little cliched you have the strong but silent Captain of the Guard and the flirty play boy Prince.

There is the stock standard love triangle, I am not sure you can escape them anymore in these books. But I think I am team Captain Westfall, Prince Dorian is a bit to shallow for my liking.

The author is clearly a huge book nerd as all her main characters are also book nerds *squee*

At first it bugged me a little that Calaena is a bit to perfect and I thought "is there nothing she can't do?" But then it clicked; she is an assassin, her job is to infiltrate and kill people. It would make sense she is proficient at a variety of things (not just killing) so she can close to her victims.

There are some well written action scenes, and some tantalising story threads started that have sparked my curiosity (think I have guessed Calaena's dark secret but shhhhh not telling).

The blurb seems to promise lots of action the story revolves more around Calaena recovering from her time in prison and getting through the trials. I also felt the author tried to fit to much in (there is a trials type game Calaena has to get through, political intrigue, a mysterious creature killing competitors, love triangle, back stories, world building......and more). All of these threads just distracted to much from the main story and, while it was interesting, left me wondering why we needed to know it all right now and not have it revealed later through the series. This book really had more of a set up feel to the series, almost a prequel. I suspect all the main story threads have been revealed and over the next couple of books all will be revealed and expanded on. I can see that being annoying for some but for me it was ok.

Interesting side note do you think the girl on the front cover strongly resembles the author herself? Am I the only one who has noticed this?

Conclusion

While this is isn't as ass kicking as the blurb would suggest it, has it's moments and is a promising start to the series. I will read the next book as I suspect the second book in this series is where things will really happen. I would recommend this book to fans of the genre.

The Second Empress: A Novel of Napoleon's Court by Michelle Moran

Rating: 4 out of 5
Title: The Second Empress: A Novel of Napoleon's Court
Author: Michelle Moran
Series: No
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Crown (August 14, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0307953033
ISBN-13: 978-0307953032
ASIN: B0074VPJFE

 Synopsis
After the bloody French Revolution, Emperor Napoleon’s power is absolute. When Marie-Louise, the eighteen year old daughter of the King of Austria, is told that the Emperor has demanded her hand in marriage, her father presents her with a terrible choice: marry the cruel, capricious Napoleon, leaving the man she loves and her home forever, or say no, and plunge her country into war. Marie-Louise knows what she must do, and she travels to France, determined to be a good wife despite Napoleon’s reputation. But lavish parties greet her in Paris, and at the extravagant French court, she finds many rivals for her husband’s affection, including Napoleon’s first wife, Joséphine, and his sister Pauline, the only woman as ambitious as the emperor himself. Beloved by some and infamous to many, Pauline is fiercely loyal to her brother. She is also convinced that Napoleon is destined to become the modern Pharaoh of Egypt. Indeed, her greatest hope is to rule alongside him as his queen—a brother-sister marriage just as the ancient Egyptian royals practiced. Determined to see this dream come to pass, Pauline embarks on a campaign to undermine the new empress and convince Napoleon to divorce Marie-Louise. As Pauline's insightful Haitian servant, Paul, watches these two women clash, he is torn between his love for Pauline and his sympathy for Marie-Louise. But there are greater concerns than Pauline's jealousy plaguing the court of France. While Napoleon becomes increasingly desperate for an heir, the empire's peace looks increasingly unstable. When war once again sweeps the continent and bloodshed threatens Marie-Louise’s family in Austria, the second Empress is forced to make choices that will determine her place in history—and change the course of her life.

Initial Thoughts
I must confess to not knowing anything about Napoleon other then he had a wife called Josephine, he conquered most of Europe, the battle of Waterloo, the British hated his guts (and vice versa), and he was exiled - twice. So I was most surprised to learn he had a second wife and this was who Michelle Moran's latest book was based on. This book covers the four years Marie-Louise is with Napoleon.

Liked

Michelle Moran always does really good research on her books and it shows through her writing. I almost felt like you are part of Napoleons court. The detail written into the book is astounding, from the clothes, to the people, to the places it is vivid and feels realistic. It probably helps most people have a vague idea of what places like Versailles, The Louvre etc all look like. 

As with most historical fiction Michelle Moran did change some aspects of historical fact to fit in with her story. Also Moran obviously made some conclusions for herself based on her research. She states on her website the biggest conclusion she made was Marie's attitude towards Napoleon. Some argue that there is evidence in Marie's letters that she loved Napoleon I agree with Michelle's assertion that of course Marie was going to say those things in letters knowing full well her husband's spies were reading them. Also I have seen arguments that state she was reluctant to leave her husband and France. However I suspect that she would not have liked her son being striped of his right to the throne being a Royal herself (I could imagine for a person born of Royal blood in those days having your title stripped would have been about as bad as being killed, maybe worse). But those are just my theories not based on any real evidence.

The Characters

I'll be honest I wasn't to fussed about Marie-Louise. I think the other characters over shadowed her a lot. Even the man servant Paul was more interesting.

I actually really enjoyed reading Pauline's perspective the most. Even though she is supposed to be the baddy. She is such a vain, selfish, ambitious and conniving creature. Yet, for me, she was the most interesting to read. I felt sympathy for her as her life had not been easy and her relationship with Napoleon was just weird and disastrous. They clearly had a love/hate (and possibly lover?) relationship that was so destructive to them both. If I had known her in real life I would dislike her intensely. But as a character to read she was delightful in her selfishness, depravity and excess. 

Disliked

I think telling the story from three different perspectives all in Napoleons court detracted from the story a little and it was hard for me to really connect to Marie-Louise. The story is told from Marie-Louise's perspective, Princess Pauline Borghese (Bonpoarte), and Pauline's Chamberlin Paul. 

Conclusion

This didn't click for me the way that her book Madame Tussaude: A Novel of the French Revolution  did (interesting note Josephine makes an appearance in this book), but I still greatly enjoyed this book and Michelle Moran has a wonderfully easy way of writing where you don't feel like you are being force fed her views on a person from history(indeed I felt she made the villains seem sympathetic at times).; or information dump on you as the reader. Which means you as the reader can just enjoy this story.

I would whole heartedly recommend this book to read if you love historical fiction as it gives you a fascinating peek into the life of someone history has largely forgotten about even though her contribution to French history was quite interesting.

Extras

This was the first book I searched for images and created a pinterest board for. This has images of the main characters and the places mentioned in the book. For me this really brought the story to life. If you would like to see the images please click on this link for my pinterest board of Images Relating To Fiction Books. 

Elemental: The First (Primord #1) by Alexandra May

Rating: 3 out of 5
Title: Elemental: The First
Author: Alexandra Ma
Series: Book 1
Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 509 KB
Print Length: 275 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1463708343
Publisher: Pauma Publishing (9 July 2011)
Language: English
ASIN: B005C1R1HM
ISBN-10: 1463708343
ISBN-13: 978-1463708344

Book Summary
Rose Frost is special. Her family has spent the last 16 years trying to hide her from the world. But now only her estrange grandmother can help her and she moves in to her grandmothers house near the tiny English town of Warminster. But then strange, terrifying and vivid dreams haunt her sleep and her migraines are getting more and more frequent. As if they were not troubles enough she has feelings for two local boys and is trying not to get on the wrong side of the local kids. But when her friend's father disappears it is up to her and her friends to find out what is going on and solve the mysterious disappearances and maybe solve the mystery that is Rose Frost.

Initial Thoughts
This is a hard book for me to review as I did like aspects of it but disliked other aspects. I have written and re-written this review over and over not happy with either version of my review. Having read the book in its entirety I think a significant point needs to be clarified upfront before someone reads this book; its part one. The ending is a to be continued. I strongly suspect if I had known this I would have enjoyed reading the book a lot better, but at the time I didn't so my review is a little on the negative side.

What I Liked
I found the premise interesting and refreshing for the young adult sci-fi fantasy romance genre (is that a genre? it is now). Rose has a really cool ability and there is a secret society doing battle for a long time. There is also super powers, aliens and romance (though the summary implies it is more of a fantasy book) which all come together for a fascinating story.

The world the author built is great. There is a great story surrounding  Halika Dacome and I wished we had learned about it sooner and explored it further (I am guessing that is where book two comes into it. I hope).

What I Disliked
I found the book to be quite slow to start with. Nothing really happened till about chapter four. Even half way through the book Rose and her Grandma had not had “that talk” about Rose’s abilities and the secret security surrounding her. They were supposed to have this talk virtually the second day Rose arrived but it never seemed to happen.

My biggest gripe with the book was the feeling that the relationships and even characters were “forced”  to fit the story. Rose in particular had really strange reactions to new friends and people, she acted like they had been best friends for years and got super offended and mad when they didn't trust her when she had only just met the person.

The two biggest offending scenes were (potential spoiler but I kept the information vague):

1. Where Rose had just met two new people, then precedes to have a major tanty and threaten to walk out because they didn’t trust her with their deepest darkest secret.
2. When Rose meets the acknowledged toxic girl from school who already hates Rose’s guts, for the first time. Toxic chick tells Rose she “almost got it on with the guy she likes” who is Morgan the guy who is so clearly into Rose. But the worst part was Rose believes her! Even cries about Morgans betrayal? OMG seriously? You would believe a girl who you have only just met, and had been warned to stay away from because she is one nasty over the guy who you have spent some time with and even spent the night with (not in that way)?

Those two scenes really had me struggling to believe the reactions of Rose and her friends. Especially the last scene, I wanted to just reaching into the book and slap the girl silly. There were a few other smaller incidences but they didn’t bother me as much as those two incidences.

In Conclusion
You might think I would say this is a terrible book but it isn't. It had faults for sure but it wasn’t terrible and I did enjoy the mythology the author created. Also I am pretty sure if I had known upfront this was a part one book I would have felt a little differently about the book.

I think for its target audience, young teenage girls, this would be a hit.

This copy of Elemental: The First was provided by Netgalley and in no way influenced my review.

Extras
I have added some images of Warminster to my Pinterest Board - Images Relating to Fiction.