Mundie Moms

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Book Review - Sweetly


Written by: Jackson Pearce
Publisher: Little, Brown
Publishing Date: August 23, 2011
Source: ARC provided by publisher
4 out of 5 stars - I liked it a lot. If you loved Sisters Red, then Sweetly is a Must Read.

Synopsis (from Jackson's webpage): Sweetly is a companion book to Sisters Red, and a retelling of Hansel and Gretel.

Twelve years ago, Gretchen, her twin sister, and her brother went looking for a witch in the forest. They found something. Maybe it was a witch, maybe a monster, they aren’t sure—they were running too fast to tell. Either way, Gretchen’s twin sister was never seen again.

Years later, after being thrown out of their house, Gretchen and Ansel find themselves in Live Oak, South Carolina, a place on the verge of becoming a ghost town. They move in with Sophia Kelly, a young and beautiful chocolatier owner who opens not only her home, but her heart to Gretchen and Ansel.

Yet the witch isn’t gone—it’s here, lurking in the forests of Live Oak, preying on Live Oak girls every year after Sophia Kelly’s infamous chocolate festival. But Gretchen is determined to stop running from witches in the forest, and start fighting back. Alongside Samuel Reynolds, a boy as quick with a gun as he is a sarcastic remark, Gretchen digs deeper into the mystery of not only what the witch is, but how it chooses its victims. Yet the further she investigates, the more she finds herself wondering who the real monster is, and if love can be as deadly as it is beautiful.

Jackson Pearce's companion book to last year's Sisters Red plays with the familiarity of "Hansel and Gretel" while using Jackson's own world of the dark and disturbing Fenris. A stop in a small town and an introduction to the local chocolatier, Sophia, leads Gretchen on a journey of not just self-disovery but also of resolution. The mystery surrounding the disappearance of Gretchen's own twin sister is somehow connected to the identical strange disappearances of young girls in Live Oak. And these disappeances appear to be linked to the Chocolate Festival thrown by the sweetly alluring Sophia.

Jackson's world-building skills are well honed as she constructs the slow, hot days which build up to the festival. Just like Gretchen, I was lulled into the predictability of each day. I awaited the fragrance of the latest confections and happily watched romance develop between Sophia and Ansel. But just as I grew comfortable with the story, Jackson started to build an unexpected twist in Gretchen's character. And one that I liked a lot. Let's just say that Gretchen quickly became one of my favorite characters of 2011.

Don't let the slow build-up and the sweet smell of candy fool you, there is one heart-pounding climax in those last 100 pages. And how Jackson resolves the mystery of the disappearing girls pays tribute both to the original folklore as well as her own Fenris mythology. This tale is not at all a sugar-coated fantasy but a story which will surprise you with its dark, romantic nature. I encourage all of you who enjoy a well-crafted, fresh take on a folktale to pour a glass of sweet tea and pick up Sweetly when it's released this summer.

Book Review- Lost Voices


To Be Released on July 4th, 2011
Source- ARC from publisher for review
A dark read with a unique paranormal twist

Fourteen-year-old Luce has had a tough life, but she reaches the depths of despair when she is assaulted and left on the cliffs outside of a grim, gray Alaskan fishing village. She expects to die when she tumbles into the icy waves below, but instead undergoes an astonishing transformation and becomes a mermaid. A tribe of mermaids finds Luce and welcomes her in—all of them, like her, lost girls who surrendered their humanity in the darkest moments of their lives. Luce is thrilled with her new life until she discovers the catch: the mermaids feel an uncontrollable desire to drown seafarers, using their enchanted voices to lure ships into the rocks. Luce possesses an extraordinary singing talent, which makes her important to the tribe—she may even have a shot at becoming their queen. However her struggle to retain her humanity puts her at odds with her new friends. Will Luce be pressured into committing mass murder?

The first book in a trilogy,Lost Voicesis a captivating and wildly original tale about finding a voice, the healing power of friendship, and the strength it takes to forgive.

I don't know what it is about summer time reading that makes want to read a mermaid book, but it does. When I was offered the chance to read and review Lost Voices I was really looking forward to it, but it was not at all what I was excepting. Lost Voices is a very dark, raw, and at times an emotionally gripping read with a unique paranormal twist. Sarah Porter takes some very sensitive topics and gives her broken, abused, unloved, unwanted female characters an out from their emotionally, painful lives by turning them into mermaids.

I don't know if I was more shocked at some of the horrible things some the girls in endured while they were human, or how malicious many of them became as mermaids. In some cases I could sympathize with that, but I was hoping that by escaping the human life it would have made many of them change. The story itself is heartbreaking, especially for the story's main character Luce who's had to grow up in a broken family and on the run. Her mother died when she was born, and her father was constantly taking her on the run with him until his brother convinces him to settle down in their home town, a fishing village in Alaska. Everything changes when she father doesn't return from a fishing trip and she's forced to stay with an uncle who despises her and ultimately does something that sends Luce into the sea, searching for away to escape what she's just dwelt with.

One of the things I liked about what Sarah does with her story is how she incorporates music with the mermaids, and the way it helped Luce find her voice, and in a way helps her heal. Luce is a character who annoyed me at times, and other times I felt bad for. I wanted to help her escape the hand she was dwelt in life, and upon becoming a mermaid, Luce becomes a stronger character in my eyes since she's constantly battling the need to give into her siren side, and the urge to do whats right. With the tougher topics Sarah tackles in her story, I was surprised at how well the story flows, and how real some of the events felt. To say I was a little shocked to read about the horrible, unthinkable things that happen to many of the girls in the story would be an understatement. It's heartbreaking to read about this and normally I would have stopped reading it, but Sarah helped me to understand the girls and why they turned into the vengeful mermaids they became. I couldn't blame them for feeling the way they did, and really, I couldn't except them to act any differently.

Despite having a hard time with the subject matter of the story, I got to a point where I wanted to know how some of the characters would turn out. I didn't get the closure I wanted with all of them with the story's abrupt ending, but I can only assume that Sarah will provide more closure as the series progresses. Lastly, I liked how the story's setting plays a big part in the story. It not only helps with the feel of the story, but Sarah's vivid details helped make it come alive, and it wasn't hard to envision each place. This is a dark story with a lot of very sensitive topics and things that happen through out it. There is hope with Luce, as she learns she's the only one who can determine her outcome in letting go, moving on and finding strength from within. This is a story that won't be for everyone, and it's one I'd recommend to older teen readers.

Giveaway Winners


Congratulations to the following winners who each won some signed swag from our Chills & Thrills giveaway!

#116- Erika Max
#72- Kellye Ferguson

Both winners have been notified and have 48 hours to respond or new winners will be chosen. Thank you to everyone who entered. We have a lot more chances to win some great books and signed swag from the rest of our giveaways we have going on. They're all listed in our right hand side bar.

In My Mailbox #79

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren, where bloggers share what they've received this last week for review, bought, borrowed from the library or were gifted.


To Review:

* The Pledge by Kimberly Derting, published by Simon & Schuster, to be released on November 15th, 2011
* Bargains & Betrayals by Shannon Delany, published by St Martin's Press, to be released on August 16th, 2011, we received an extra copy for GIVEAWAY!!
* Damned, Wicked Series by Nancy Holder & Debbie Vigue, published by Simon & Schuster, to be released on August 30th, 2011
* Witch Song by Amber Argyle, published by Rhemalda Publishing, to be released on September 1st, 2011

To Review for Mundie Kids:

* The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann, published by Aladdin, to be released on August 30th, 2011
* The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman by Meg Wolitzer, published by Penguin, to be released on September 20th, 2011
* Secrets at Sea by Richard Peck, published by Dial Books, to be released on October 13th, 2011
* The Familiars: Secrets of the Crown by Adam Jay Epstein & Andrew Jacobson, published by Harper Collins, to be released on September 6th, 2011
* The 39 Clues: Cahills vs Vespers Book 1, The Medusa Plot by Gordon Korman, published by Scholastic, to be released on August 30th, 2011
* Dark Woods by Marta Stahlfeld, published by Book Publishers Network, released on April 18th, 2011

Misc:
An awesome Girls in the Stacks t-shirt & a poster of epic-ness from of Justin Bieber. This is totally an inside joke between Shannon and I that started back in December from here. *I can't get my other picture uploaded* I'll add it soon.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster, Penguin, Harper Collins, Adam Jay Epstein & Andrew Jacobson, Scholastic, St Martin's Press, Amber Argyle/Rhemalda Publishing, Marta Stahlfeld & Girls in the Stacks for this week's awesome reads.

What goodies did you receive?

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