Title: Sisters Red
Author: Jackson Pearce [Website] [Twitter] [Facebook]
Genre: Young Adult, Fairy Tale Retelling
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Source: Provided by Publisher
Parental Warning: references to drugs and alcohol, criminal activity, physical violence

“The Dragonflies laugh, sweet and bubbly, and I groan in exasperation.  They toss their hair, stretch their legs, sway their hips, bat their eyes at the club’s bouncer, everything about them luring the Fenris.  Inviting danger like some baby animal bleating its fool head off.  Look at me, see how I dance, did you notice my hair, look again, desire me, I am perfect.  Stupid, stupid Dragonflies.  Here I am, saving your lives, bitten and scarred and wounded for you, and you don’t even know it.  I should let the Fenris have one of you.”

Summary (from the publisher):
Scarlett March lives to hunt the Fenris — the werewolves that took her eye when she was defending her sister Rosie from a brutal attack.  Armed with a razor-sharp hatchet and blood-red cloak, Scarlett is an expert at luring and slaying the wolves.  She’s determined to protect other young girls from a grisly death, and her raging heart will not rest until every single wolf is dead.

Rose March once gelt her bond with her sister was unbreakable.  Owing Scarlett her life, Rosie hunts fiercely alongside her.  Now Rosie dreams of a life beyond the wolves and finds herself drawn to Silas, a young woodsman

Opinion:
Seriously!

No really, seriously!

So….you know that when I start a review with the word I over use most in the English vocabulary I have to be loving a book right?  Well seriously, I loved this book.  Not in an irrational and creepy way — you know like slipping it under my pillow at night so that it’s with me while I sleep.  But still, I loved me some Sister’s Red.

Ok, so let me pepper you with a few more questions to make my point further.

You know what I’m a fan of?  That is, more than awesome writing and great character development?  I’m a fan of taking great big giant leaps of faith.  The kind of risks that can either fail so epically or soar to the highest highs of success.

Guess where Sisters Red falls on that spectrum?  Yup, you got it, highest of highs baby.

The best example of both is Pearce’s ability to create a supernaturally themed story that feels so steeped in reality.  Many times throughout, I found myself questioning whether this situation could actually be happening in real life amongst my most familiar surroundings.  It was dark and brooding and at times mysterious.  Neither the events that transpired nor the places they lived felt mysticaly charged, though there were allusions to Little Red Riding Hood on which the story is very loosely based.

That, to me, these factors are the marks of a truly great story.  And make no mistake, Sisters Red is a fabulous story.

Another way Pearce demonstrates her exemplary skill is the fact, that though the story is built on the foundation of a well known fairy tale and includes shapeshifting werewolves, it is a story that is primarily about the love two sisters share.  It’s about growing up and growing apart and arriving at a point in your life when you no longer live for someone else but live for yourself.  It was emotional and filled with turmoil but in the very best ways.

I enjoy a little romance in a story, don’cha know, and the inclusion of one here wasn’t any different.  In the case of this story it was not the central focus which I appreciated.  Don’t get me wrong it played a big role and initiated it’s fair share of angst but it wasn’t overbearing.  It was sweet and brought a certain amount of lightheartedness to an otherwise dark story.

Fantastically written, amazingly plotted — even if you aren’t a fan of werewolves or paranormal fare I think picking up Sisters Red is well worth the endeavor.

Title: Manifest
Author: Artist Arthur [Website] [Twitter]
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Source: Provided by Publicist
Parental Warning: drugs, sexuality, criminal activity

“Concentrating in any of my classes is out of the question’ all my notes consist of idle lines and questions that don’t relate to any of the subjects.  Questions that I know nobody has the namers to.  At lunchtime I go to the library.  Yeah, Ricky would say running again.  This time I call it hiding.  I don’t want to see Sasha and Jake, don’t want to be near those weirdos.  So I sit way in the back, pull the hood of my jacket up over my head and lie down on the desk.  I try to put it all out of my mind.  But that is pointless because when I close my eyes, I see them — Sasha and Jake — with their marks that look just like mine.  I see, us, all three of us standing together, looking as if we have a purpose, a reason for being born.”

Summary (from the publisher):
When fifteen-year-old Krystal Bentley moves to Lincoln, Connecticut, her mom’s hometown, she assumes her biggest drama will be adjusting to the burbs after living in New York City.  But Lincoln is nothing like Krystal imagined.  The weirdness begins when Ricky Watson starts confiding in her.  he’s cute, funny, a good listeßner — and everything she’d ever want — except that he was keeled nearly a year ago.  Krystal’s ghost-whispering talents soon lead other “freaks” to her door — Sasha, a rich girl who can literally disappear, and Jake, who moves objects with his mind. All three share a distinctive birthmark in the shape of an M and, fittingly, call themselves the Mystyx.  They set out to learn what really happened to Ricky, only to realize that they aren’t the only ones with mysterious powers.  But if Krystal succeeds in finding out the truth about Ricky’s death, will she lose him for good?

Opinion:
In concept Manifest is a great story.  A group of high schoolers with different mystical abilities come together in Connecticut to investigate a series of local killings.  Unfortunately, for me, the story took too long to get to the real action that once we arrived I didn’t much care.  I just kinda wanted to be done with the book.

The foundation on which Krystal was built was the divorce of her parents, and while Arthur created a fabulously realistic portrayal of how that affected this fifteen year old, overall it couldn’t save the character.  Outside of the overwhelming resentment Krystal had for her mother and step-father, as well as the undying affection she had for her father, she came off as whiny everywhere else.  I was hoping at some point she would show more strength, and I guess in the end of the story she did, but sadly it was so are later that I was again left uncaring.

I honestly felt like the supporting characters of Sasha and Jake were far more interesting and dynamic.  We saw much less of them but perhaps in this case the mystery and desire for more information was more enticing for me. Ricky also had an enjoyable personality but since we know going in that he’s not a long term character it wasn’t worth investing all that much time in him.

Knowing the above, there were few surprises when it came to the relationship between Krystal and Ricky.  I admit, I was sad that there wasn’t more romance in this book, I was certainly anticipating it.  I mean, there was some don’t get me wrong, but nothing in the grand sweeping “I need these two to end up together” way.  I didn’t really feel a true connection between Krystal and the boy she ended up dating.  I can’t decide if it was only because I didn’t see a real spark from the start or if it was such a small part of the overall story and the lack of focus kept me from it.  Either way, it seemed a bit out of place since it didn’t really further the story at all.

Another area that I thought Arthur nailed was the high school life.  Her descriptions of the different cliques, the social hierarchy, and the way a new girl would navigate it all was spot on.  The way Krystal was written to handle all of the burgeoning changes in her life felt natural and slightly disconcerting.  It was as I would expect of any situation where a child was removed from everything she knew and loved and dropped into another circumstance entirely.

In the end, the few elements of Manifest I did like were not enough to overcome the ambivalence I felt overall.  I’ll say the book wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t great for me.  As I’ve mentioned before, this story….the concept of this story, has a great deal of promise.  It’s unfortunate that this first book didn’t make me invest enough to feel compelled to press on to the second.

Title: She’s So Dead To Us
Author: Kieran Scott [Website] [Twitter] [Facebook fan page]
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Source: Provided by Publisher
Parental Warning: sexuality, alcohol, criminal activity

“Jake Graydon was staring at me.  He was cocked back in a chair in his blue suit and dark orange tie, some sophomore girl in a low-cut dress nibbling on his neck, and he was staring at me.  Why?  Why was he looking at me like I was the gravy and he was the biscuit?  Had we not locked eyes just the other night in the OVC parking lot when he was making his getaway?  Did he not know that I knew he was an asshole of the first order?”

Summary (from the publisher):
Ally Ryan would rather be in Maryland.  She would rather be anywhere, in fact, than Orchard Hill, site of her downfall.  Well, not hers exactly, but when your father’s hedge fund goes south and all your friends lose their trust funds, things don’t look so sunny for you.  So her mother moved them away to flee the shame.  But now there’re moving back.  Back to the country club, new care every year, family came over on the Mayflower lifestyle that Ally has outgrown.  But there are bright sides.  Like gorgeous Jake Graydon.  Ally and Jake instantly like each other, but it won’t be easy for them to be together — not if his friends (her former friends) have anything to say about it.  Is Ally ready to get thrown back into the drama of the life she left behind?

Opinion:
Remember those bitchy girls in high school?  You know, the one’s who make everyone’s life miserable just by being alive.  Their beautiful, popular, and not short on horrible, bitter attitudes.  Yup, this book is chock full of them.  Mean girls to make other mean girls look, well, not so mean.

But it works y’all.

It works in a big way.

Oh, and did I mention a sexy studly jock type boy that every girl in school wants to get her hands on?  Yup, there’s that too.  Plus a quirky goth-like potential BFF, an emo alterna-boy with a sweet natured desire for friendship and love, and any number of other kinda stereotypical high school inhabitants crossing Ally’s path.  But you know what, those stereotypes fit here.  Because even though we get some good focus on these peripheral characters the bulk of the story is about Ally.

Who’s Ally, you ask?  She’s the girl whose father lost all of her ritch-bitch former best friend’s money.

Cue teenaged angst!

Let me tell you….boy, oh boy, there is no shortage of teenaged angst here.  Ally isn’t without her secrets, she has quite the cross to bare with her former friend Chloe. Jake, the boy she lusts after, has a doozy of his own too.  Heck there are loads of secrets and all sorts of nefarious activities to be had in this novel.

This is not a story where the reader doesn’t have a clue where certain paths are going.  But, I’ll add, that aspect isn’t such a bad thing as the story is more about the journey of getting to these points than making them these grand sweeping unexpected moments.  There was definitely no lessening of the impact when they occurred.

I’ll also add that there was at least one surprise at the end that I didn’t really see coming and it was a doozy of a cliffhanger to leave me with.  In fact, the ending was so abruptly cliffhangery that after the very last page and the very last line I thought for sure the ARC I was reading was missing pages.  I was so convinced of this that I immediately went out and purchased the book (which I would have done anyway as I always do for books I review that I love) to be sure!  Then when I realized the end was intended to be that way I started to madly look around online to see when the sequel is coming out.

Dude, I’ve got a long wait!

**pouts**

But I will wait, with bated breath even, for the second in the series to land in about a year because this first is just that good.  It’s a great piece of fun.  It’s angsty, emotional and delicious fare that the chick-lit, romance, contemporary fiction reader will love.

It’s time for me to announce the lucky winner who will receive a copy of Martin Chatterton’s The Brain Full of Holes.

Sue Mickelson

Sue, you have 48 hours to contact me via email with your shipping information to claim their prize. Should I not hear from you in that time period I will select an alternate. Congratulations, you’re getting your hands on a fabulous book!

In honor of the release of Linger I am totally stoked to have had the opportunity to interview the awesome Maggie Stiefvater.  Seriously, look at these answer can there be any debate about the fabulousness?  Please join me in welcoming Maggie to Galleysmith.

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Q: Your fans are aware of your love for all things artistic.  If you couldn’t be a writer what type of artist would be your “next best thing”?
A: Mmmm, well, I’ve already done the fine art thing; it’s how I made my living before I went full-time with my writing. Once upon a time, I really, really wanted to be a book illustrator. In fact, that was my first love, and I remember it shocking the snot out of me when someone wanted to buy a piece of my art to hang on their wall. I thought you had to be dead and possibly Dutch to have a career in fine art.

Anyway, I would love to go back to that. One day I will do a graphic novel — I love Shaun Tan’s work dearly and love the idea of doing an illustrated novel for teens.

Q: Art appears to play a huge role in your career and life.  Do you come by that inclination naturally, is it genetic, are you classically trained?
A: Here is a confession: I am very bad at classical training. I was thrown out of preschool for standing on my cot and refusing to nap and it all sort of went downhill from there. I’m one of those people that refuses to learn from anyone else’s mistakes, so I do better learning on my own.

But my mother, in particular, is very artistic, and she always drew very well — she also put us at the piano very young. I think most people probably are quite creative but they aren’t raised with it as a priority.

Q: Out of all the books you have published which two characters would you like to see crossover into a kind of “mash-up” novel and why?
A: I’d like to take James from Ballad and put him in any other book. He’s just terribly fun to write. I also really, really love Beck. But I don’t think a Beck-James mash-up would really do much for anyone, sadly.

Q: What is the craziest fan encounter you’ve experienced?
A: There was this girl at my first BEA who ran up to me and said “OH MY GOD YOU’RE MAGGIE STIEFVATER” and then she did this weird shimmy thing and I thought she was going to fall down. There have been other strange experiences since then, like getting accosted in an elevator and recognized in bookstores — but that first one stands out because of that — it was the first. I really did think she might pass out.

Q: Sam and Grace have this very epic Romeo and Juliet quality about them.  They too are quite tragic at times. You’ve made some very daring choices with these stories, can we expect to see more of the same in the last?
A: Oh, it’s only going to get worse. *grin* I’m a big fan of consequences and I’m also a big fan of balancing the dark elements of novels with light. So I can promise that there are happier moments in FOREVER than in either SHIVER or LINGER. But that also means that there are darker moments than either.

Q: The Wolves of Mercy Falls series has a very distinct visual style.  Any indication of what we can expect for the cover and color scheme for the last book?
A: I can tell you that there will be trees. And probably my name on the front. But that’s about all I can tell you.

Q: The addition of Cole into Linger brings in a bit of an edgier character to partner with an already angst-ridden Isabel.  Any potential for a spin-off series continuing on?
A: I’m really pleased with how well readers are taking Cole — I was afraid they’d hate him. I remember, at one point, telling my critique partners: “readers will never forgive Cole for this.”

I love writing about him and Isabel, but no, I think their story line will get wrapped up in FOREVER as well. SHIVER was just never intended to be an epic series. Hopefully readers will like where it ends!

Q: What is the one thing you want readers of The Wolves of Mercy Falls series to walk away from it with after they finish that final page?
A: Tissues.

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Thanks for stopping by Maggie, I’ve got my tissues in hand and ready to go when FOREVER hits the shelves (**sobs** it’s so far away!).

If you want to check out more about Maggie, join in on the awesome Twitter Party she and Kristi from The Story Siren are throwing on Thursday, July, 22nd from 8pm-9:30pm EST. Here are the deets:

• Be sure to follow Maggie @mstiefvater <http://twitter.com/mstiefvater>  and Kristi @thestorysiren <http://twitter.com/thestorysiren>  before the party!
• Join the fun! No one expects you or your tweets to be perfect; we’re just happy you made it to the party!
• Anyone who tweets during the party using #Linger is entered to win a limited edition Linger tank top!
• Watch for questions from @thestorysiren and win awesome prizes including an iPod Touch, Maggie’s artwork and gift cards!
• To join the party, you can use our official party tweetgrid <http://is.gd/dprSe>  or just search #Linger on Twitter.
• Ask Maggie questions or chat with other partygoers—just use the tag #Linger in all of your party tweets! (This is added automatically in TweetGrid.)
• Please don’t post any spoilers and don’t forget to pay attention to the time zones, the party starts at 8:30pm EST.