Raw Blue - Kirsty Eagar

I’d like to quickly apologise for the radio silence over the last week – our internet router died! As you can imagine, there was much distress and crying until it was back, but all is now fine and I’m very relieved to have access to the blog again! Normal service should resume from now...

Raw Blue – Kirsty Eagar

Pages: 280

Publisher: Catnip Books

Release Date: 1^st August 2012

Edition: UK paperback, purchased

Other Titles by this Author: Night Beach, Saltwater Vampires, Molasses

I have clear view of the surf and I feel an electric charge. It’s a glitter skin day. The ocean is a vivid emerald colour and the wind ruffles the waves faces so that they shatter the sunlight like glass.

Carly might be living but it’s not much of a life, working the late shifts in a kitchen in Manly, renting alone and trying to get by without being noticed. The only time she feels alive is when she’s out in the ocean, where she can forget about everything – forget her own dark secret – and enjoy the moment.

But Carly can’t surf forever.

I have heard some wonderful, wonderful things about Raw Blue, mostly from Carla’s review, and she was utterly right!

Kirsty Eagar has written some of the most gorgeously luminous descriptions of the ocean and surfing that I have ever read. They leaped off of the page and sent me straight to the choppy Australian coast and I didn’t want to leave. I developed a burning need to learn to surf despite my serious lack of sporting ability or co-ordination. To have a connection in the way that Carly does with the surf is something special and I hope I find something like that.

The pure happiness that surfing gives Carly is so genuine and intense. It is her escape from her mundane life and haunting past. The event that caused her to drop out of university, leave home and move to Manly, a suburb of Sydney, was heartbreaking. It had to be something serious and scarring enough for Carly to need to work herself around a daily surf. And it was. After the reveal, which was fairly early on, it wasn’t just forgotten. It had ramifications throughout the novel and it explained some of Carly’s actions and reactions perfectly.

Even with her desire to shut herself off from the world, Carly formed some surprisingly touching relationships. Possibly my favourite was her connection with fifteen-year-old fellow surfer Danny. The simplicity and honesty of it was exactly what she needed. And then Ryan came along. The relationship between him and Carly isn’t a traditional YA romance and I loved it for that. It’s a lot more grown-up, it’s real and there are problems and issues and nowhere near perfect. But it works. With this relationship came a sex scene that was more graphic than most in YA, but I think that Kirsty Eagar did it beautifully. It was tasteful and beautifully executed.

I really loved Raw Blue and I hope I can manage to get my hands on more by Kirsty Eagar!

For my 2012 Contemporary YA Challenge

Sophie 

Devil's Bargain - Rachel Caine

Devil’s Bargain – Rachel Caine

Pages: 331

Publisher: Harlequin Mira

Release Date: 5^th October 2012

Edition: UK paperback, review copy

Other Titles by this Author: Glass Houses, The Dead Girls’ Dance, Midnight Alley, Feast of Fools, Lord of Misrule, Carpe Corpus, Fade Out, Kiss of Death, Ghost Town, Bite Club, Last Breath, Black Dawn

Playing by the psychic underworld’s rules has a cost.

Jazz Callender’s whole life just got turned upside down. Her friend Ben’s been convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and Jazz is determined to clear his name, even if it means enlisting the help of dark forces.

Enter James, a stranger with a mysterious offer. If Jazz pledges to work for The Cross Society, a shadowy, secret organisation, he’ll help her save Ben.

But as she’s thrust into a world of psychic powers and dangerous magic, Jazz isn’t just bargaining for her friend’s freedom. She’s bargaining for her soul too.

And how high a price is she willing to pay?

Those of you who’ve been readers of this blog for a while will know that my love for Rachel Caine’s Morganville Vampires series is undying. Devil’s Bargain did nothing to lower my obsession level.

One of the strongest aspects of Caine’s novels is her heroines. She really knows how to write a character who’s completely bad-ass and who has you routing for her from the very beginning. Jazz Callender is up there with the best of them. She’s spunky and brave and can kick some serious ass. But Jazz also has a vulnerable side and she’s a bit of an underdog really.

James Borden sees all of these things in Jazz and more. I was shipping them from the moment he walked into the bar, head to toe in leathers. They have some seriously crackling chemistry and there were some very intense scenes that had me begging for them to finally, finally kiss! Alas, no. It took around three hundred pages for that to happen...

I have to admit that even though I championed Jazz and Borden from the beginning, I wasn’t always sure I could trust him until Jazz finally relented and began to trust him herself. In fact, Devil’s Bargain is the kind of novel where I rarely knew who to trust and what to believe which is always fun. The whole premise of a sketchy sounding company dealing in psychics, fate and destiny is very unusual and Rachel Caine kept the intrigue up throughout the novel.

Devil’s Bargain is the first of Rachel Caine’s adult books that I’ve read and it definitely won’t be the last. It was everything that I’ve come to love and expect from her: bad ass ladies, gorgeous guys, non-stop action, high stakes and captivating and original mythology.

I loved Devil’s Bargain and I’m really looking forward to the release of its companion, Devil’s Due.

Thanks to Mira for providing me a copy for review.

Sophie

The Wolf Princess - Cathryn Constable

The Wolf Princess – Cathryn Constable

Pages: 273

Publisher: Chicken House

Release Date: 4^th October 2012

Edition: UK paperback, unsolicited review copy

Alone in the world, Sophie dreams of being someone special. But she could never have imagined this...

On a school trip to Russia, Sophie and her two friends find themselves abandoned on a train. They are rescued by the glamorous Princess Anna Volkonskaya, who takes them to her winter palace and mesmerises them with stories of lost diamonds and a tragic past.

But as night falls and wolves prowl, Sophie discovers more than dreams in the crumbling palace of secrets...

The Wolf Princess is a magical, gripping and intriguing debut from Cathryn Constable.

This novel has made me desperate to go to Russia. It seemed like an utterly magical place. Piles and piles of thick, soft snow, bitter cold and crumbling palaces next to forests filled with white wolves – I mean, what more could you want? You know what else captured me? The trains. I know, worrying isn’t it, but the trip that Sophie, Delphine and Marianne took through Russia on the sleeper train reminded me of The Polar Express and I just wanted to be there. I think that Cathryn Constable really captured the essence of Russia and I love how evocative the sometimes stilted English of the Princess and Dr Starova is, I heard their accents perfectly.

Russia to me is a mysterious country and that preconception perfectly fit the tension and atmosphere of The Wolf Princess. I never knew who to trust, who had Sophie’s best interests at heart or what on earth anyone was up to. I felt constantly unsettled and on the edge of my seat. Occasionally it did frustrate me that I couldn’t lay my allegiance with anyone bar Sophie, but on the most part I enjoyed the mystery.

Though I loved the setting and the mystery, Sophie was the highlight of The Wolf Princess for me. She is the perfect fantasy adventure heroine: an unloved orphan who is perfectly ordinary with only extraordinary best friends. Though I don’t think that Marianne and Delphine were explored enough. Marianne was quiet and so far in the background that writing this I’m not even sure if Marianne is actually her name and as for Delphine, I hated her. She’s selfish and spoilt and she just really rubbed me up the wrong way.

I really enjoyed The Wolf Princess, though it didn’t blow me away like I expected it to, and I’ll be interested to see what Cathryn Constable comes up with next.

For my 2012 Debut Author Challenge

Thank you to Chicken House for providing me with a review copy.

Sophie 

In My Mailbox 133

This meme was started by Kristi of The Story Siren who was inspired by Alea from Pop Culture Junkie. Check out their blogs for more information. All summaries are from the book jackets unless otherwise stated.

For review:

Noughts and Crosses – Malorie Blackman

Callum is a nought – an inferior white citizen in a society controlled by the black Crosses.

Sephy is a Cross – and the daughter of one of the most powerful, ruthless men in the country.

In their hostile, violent world, noughts and Crosses simply don’t mix. But when Sephy and Callum’s childhood friendship grows into passionate love, they’re determined to find a way to be together.

And then the bomb explodes...

I got all four books in this series from the lovelies at Random House as (please don’t kill me) I’ve never read them before. It’s shamefuul, I know. I don’t want to write up the other three in case of spoilers!

Bought:

If you follow me on Twitter you may have seen that I had a seminar hosted by David Almond at university on Friday and after one of the most inspirational hours of my left, I was left with a hankering to buy books. I did!

My Name is Mina – David Almond

Mina’s a rebel.

She can’t be controlled and she won’t fit in.

People say she’s weird. Some say she’s just crazy.

But all she wants is to be free, to be happy, and to be herself.

One night, as she sits in the moonlight, she picks up an empty notebook and begins to write.

And here is her journal, Mina’s life in Mina’s own words: her stories and dreams, experiences and thoughts, her scribblings and nonsense, poems and songs.

Her vivid account of her vivid life.

The wonderful prequel to Skellig by the winner of the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the Whitbread Award and the Carnegie Medal.

I’ve been meaning to buy this for years so after David’s seminar seemed like the perfect time. I can’t wait to get lost in this.

Raw Blue – Kirsty Eagar

I have a clear view of the surf and I feel an electric charge. It’s a glitter skin day. The ocean is a vivid emerald colour and the wind ruffles the wave faces so that they shatter in the sunlight like glass.

Carly might be living but it's not much of a life, working the late shifts in a kitchen in Manly, renting alone and trying to get by without being noticed. The only time she feels alive is when she’s out in the ocean, where she can forget about everything – forget her own dark secret – and enjoy the moment.

But Carly can’t surf forever.

After Carla’s raving review and Non’s endless praise, I knew I had to get my hands on this. I’m expecting an extraordinary book.

That’s all from me this week! I hope you all got some lovelies as well.

Sophie

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares - Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares – Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Pages: 260

Publisher: Mira Ink

Release Date: 5^th October 2012

Edition: UK paperback, review copy

Other Titles by these Authors: Nick & Norah’s Infinate Playlist, Noami & Ely’s No-Kiss List

I’ve left some clues for you.

If you want them, turn the page.

If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.

At the urge of her lucky-in-love brother, sixteen-year-old Lily has left a red notebook full of dares on her favourite bookshop shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept.

Curious, snarky Dash isn’t one to back down from a challenge – and the Book of Dares is the perfect thing to keep him occupied this Christmas.

As they send each other on a snowbound scavenger hunt across Manhattan, they’re falling for each other on paper. But finding out it their real selves share their on-page chemistry could be their biggest dare yet.

I’ve been after this book since I first heard about it in 2010 when it was first published in the US and fell in love with the premise. I’m relieved to say that Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares definitely lived up to the reviews and my expectations.

With split narration novels I often end up looking forward to reading certain character’s perspectives more than others, even if I think I like them all equally. This didn't happen in Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares at all. Dash and Lily are so different, but equally as unique and awesome and it was impossible to choose one over the other. Dash is wordy and pretentious, but snarly and sarcastic with a dry sense of humour and I pretty much fell head over heels for him really. Lily is sweet, odd and loves Christmas so much that her enthusiasm leaks through the pages. After I finished reading this book all I wanted to do was watch Christmas movies all day – don’t worry, I didn’t. Well, not yet anyway...

I really do love the story that Rachel Cohn and David Levithan created. It’s fairly rare to find something so unique and different in contemporary novels and this is something I’ve never come across before. The idea of two people falling in love via books and words is something that makes me all kinds of happy. The way they emotionally and intellectually reveal themselves via the red Moleskine is just perfect. I love it.

As you can probably tell, I adored Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares so now I need to get my hands on Cohn and Levithan’s other two novels.

For my 2012 Contemporary YA Challenge

A massive thank you to Mira Ink for providing me with a review copy.

Sophie