Review: The Advice Girl by L.A. Shaw

Book: The Advice Girl by L.A. Shaw
Series: Dalara  #1
Pages:  173 
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal Romance 

Buy A Copy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Lulu | Smashwords

Available Formats: Ebook & Paperback
Publication Date: March 31st, 2011

How Did I Get This Book: From Author, For Review

Preview Book: Read the Prologue

Description: Kira and Sophia have been best friends since they were five years old. They share an apartment together, and tell each other everything.

Everyone loves Sophia, and she is often called the advice girl by people who know her. Kira believes she knows her friend better than anyone. But in a mysterious accident, Sophia loses her life.

Kira is mourning the devastating loss when she finds a note addressed to her from beyond the grave. Kira realizes she doesn't know her friend as well as she thought, as she starts to uncover the truth. She falls into a deep depression, confused and lost, until a visit from a strange man puts her in the middle of a war between two secret societies. Kira soon understands that she is in danger, and doesn't know who to trust. She has to fight for her own life now.

The Advice Girl is an incredibly interesting book. There are assassins, romance and action; but what really keeps the ball rolling is the suspense. The Advice Girl is full of questions to be answered; questions that keep you on the edge of your seat. Things like, “why is she so special?”, “can we trust these people” and “what do they really want with her?”. The suspense in this book is top-notch and will keep you turning the pages to find the answers.

The relationship between Sophia and Kira was incredibly believable. I think everyone can relate to a friendship like theirs; that person who knows you best, knows your deepest secrets, the one who has seen you at your best and your worst. The friendship between these two provided a great foundation for the story. You could understand Kira’s heartache over Sophia and you desperately wanted them reunited. Without that relationship, without that emotional connection, the story would not have to same weight to it.

I did have some issues with the relationship between Sophia and Ethan. While I am glad that they formed a romantic relationship, they seemed to move at light speed. I mean one minute they are chatting it up online, then they meet and two days later they are professing their love. I am all for romantic storylines, but this one was just too rushed. 

In connection with the rather quick romance, I found a few of the plot points to be somewhat unbelievable - the main one, being why Markus (leader of the Vindicated Saints) didn’t go after Sophia in the beginning.  The reason the book gives is as follows:

“the assassin we assigned to her was out best, but he was also the most passionate and slightly insane. So maybe the reason he hasn’t contacted us yet has something to do with the fact that he was so wrapped up in the ritual he set the fire before he could get out in time.”

I just don’t buy this. If they were really set on killing Sophia, then they would have been sure she was dead. The assassin would not have gotten too excited during the process and accidentally killed himself.

I thought the writing was beautiful, but some of the dialog seemed off. Especially the dialog between the Vindicated Saints; the way they talked did not sound realistic. However, like I said, the writing itself was beautiful. The way Shaw describes things is wonderful; it is incredibly easy to picture the story inside you head and to feel what the characters are going through. She has a wonderful way with words. 

I will say that I wish things could have been fleshed out more. I felt like we only tapped into the surface of things and that there could have been, should have been, so much more to the story.

On a side note, I am not really sure why The Advice Girl is billed as a young adult story, it comes off more as a suspense/paranormal romance book. The romance is certainly on the light side, more romantic than anything else, but I would still lean more towards Paranormal Romance than Young Adult. Sophia and Kira are the youngest characters in the book and they are both already out of college.

Overall, I would say that The Advice Girl  was an exciting, quick read. I did have a few issues with the story, but it was certainly still enjoyable. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series, which will hopefully include more suspense, excitement, action and romance!

 Favorite Quotes

"Love you too," I repeated automatically, halfway out the front door, not knowing it would be the last thing I said to her." 

"My world had stopped, but no one else's had."

"I looked around and found the home shopping network lady trying to sell me a brand name purse at a discounted price. It was cute, but I scoffed at her anyway and turned the television off."

"Put some clothes on woman, do you want to die naked as well?"

"Women are capable of breaking your heart without even knowing it."

"Absolutely divine, she thought, my guardian angel is a real, living, breathing human being."

"Absolutely dangerous, he thought, this angel will be the death of me."

"She drew in a sharp breath of panic, the realization that she had just committed murder swept over her, and she looked at me. I knew what this look meant, and I knew my friend was about to break down."

Review: Snow Burn by Joel Arnold

Book: Snow Burn by Joel Arnold
Stand Alone or Series:  Stand Alone
Pages: 72

Genre: Suspense / Young Adult

Buy A Copy: Amazon | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble
Publication Date: September 4th, 2010

How Did I Get This Book: Received from author, for review

First Line: “For the sake of argument let’s say – You’ve just escaped a sinking ship.”

Description: Seventeen-year old Tommy Connell knows he's in trouble when he goes winter camping with his friend Vince Nguyen without telling his folks. But when they're caught in a sudden blizzard, and the man they rescue from freezing to death turns out to be an escaped convict, Tommy's troubles are only beginning. Now Tommy and Vince must not only survive the blizzard, but also find a way to keep Quinn - who'll stop at nothing to stay out of prison - from killing them.

I haven't read that many suspense novels, but it is a genre that I enjoy. Snow Burn was a rather quick read that evoked a surprising amount of emotion and internal debate.

Both of the main characters (Tommy and Vince) are surprisingly well developed for a 70+ page story. True, they sometimes seem one-dimensional, but honestly, you cannot expect perfect characterization here. Like I said before, this is an extremely quick read and it is suppose to be a suspense novel. It simply would not work if the author was to drone on about the characters for pages at a time, it would mess up entire feel of the story.

The character of Tommy easy to relate to, I was the kid in high school that never really did anything. I wasn’t as extreme of a case as Tommy, but I definitely followed the rules. Tommy has lived an incredibly sheltered life and always does what he is told. He worries about everything and wants to spend his weekend of freedom in the safety of Vince's house. He wants to stay up all night, watch old scary movies and drink tons of pop. I would have been right there next to Tommy watching a horror movie marathon. No house parties in sight, no crazy shenanigans, nothing that could get me in a lot of trouble.That being said, I much preferred the character of Vince; Tommys best friend and partner in crime. He certainly isn’t perfect, in fact he is always the one to get the boys in trouble, but he is undeniably interesting.  There were plenty of times I wanted to smack him upside the head, but I was always waiting to see what he would do, or say next.

As far as the dialogue goes – it seemed realistic enough to me. It is what I always pictured teenage boys sounding like, right down to the hot mom comments.

There were a few elements of Snow Burn that I wasn’t crazy about. First of all, I wish Tommy would have shown a little bit of backbone. I do not know if teenage boys usually do things this – camping out in the dead of winter in a closed state park, but red flags were immediately going up for me. Tommy knew Vince’s plan was insane, but Vince easily talked him into it. I am sorry, nothing and no one would ever make me do something like that. Sure, I can see my seventeen year-old self being talked into a lot of things, but never something like that. If teenage boys are really that stupid, I really, truly fear for their safety and sanity.

Also, the suspense was rather slow to build.The story isn’t that long and the portion of it that really deals with the heavy stuff is rather short; the majority of the plot is build-up. Granted, I wouldn't say that the pacing was slow, I just would have preferred to have more action. 

Snow Burn is a story that makes you think. It makes you consider some extremely difficult questions about yourself. Nobody really knows how they would react in a situation like this – you can pretend you would always do the right thing, but you can’t really be sure.

 Favorite Quotes

“my B.S. detector was on heightened alert."

“The only way to overcome evil is through acts of goodness. Not through acts of revenge."

“My folks just didn’t seem to get that there was more to life than school, work, television and a good pot roast."

“The temperature dropped. The wind whistled through the trees. The snowflakes lost their charm, instead of being fat and lazy, they’d become tiny pellets that stung my cheeks.”

“My parents never bet me, never spanked me, hardly ever even gave me a time out. I watch too much TV. I still eat Peanut Butter Crunch for breakfast. I’ll pretend I’m sick at least three days a quarter just so I can stay in my pajamas all day long and read the newest Stephen King novel or watch moves on TCM. I am soft. I’ve always been soft.” 

“Sometimes you gotta take a few chances if life’s going to be worth living."

“The snow tried to pull us down. The wind tried to push us over. The branches of trees tried to beat us into submission. But we kept going. Soon, my body was on automatic pilot. It knew it had to keep moving, so it moved.”

Review: End of Days by Max Turner

Book: End of Days (Max Turner)
Series or Stand-Alone: Series - Night Runner #2
Pages: 288 
Genre: Young Adult
Publication Date: September 28th, 2010

Preview on Google Books
Description (From Goodreads): In this thrilling follow up to Night Runner, Zack Thomson is back with his friend Charlie, searching for answers all the while being hunted by a creature most deadly... While Charlie struggles with his vampirism, he, Zack, and their friends are pulled into a conflict with the mysterious Mr. Hyde, a creature who hunts vampires. As the story unfolds, and the ties between Zach and his girlfriend Luna intensify, the network of support around them collapses, forcing them to redefine their notions of good and evil and find a way forward.

 

 *WARNING, SPOILERS FOR BOOK 1 - NIGHT RUNNER!

End of Days by Max Turner was an absolute thrill ride of a book. It is everything a sequel should be - the characters are further developed - but they stay true to form, the pacing and tone are both similar to the first book and the plot continues to develop.

The book begins one year after the conclusion of Night Runner, and Zack and Charlie have been bunking together with Ophelia. Charlie has, understandably, been struggling with his new status as vampire. His old life revolved around the sun, as Zack puts it, he was a water baby in his first life. Now, Charlie has to adjust to life in the night. He, does not however blame Zack for this and he definitely enjoys some of the perks of being a vamp. 

Thankfully, Charlie has been fleshed out more in this book and I cannot tell you how happy this makes me. My only real gripe with the Night Runner was that the secondary characters were rather flat. Now, Charlie has a lot more going on mentally, and the character really benefits from it. Not only does he struggle with controlling his inner vamp, but he worries about Suki.

Suki still takes more of a backseat in End of Days, but I have a feeling she will be more relevant in the next book. At the start of the book, Suki and her sister, Luna are living with their parents. The household is in shambles and everyone is having a hard time of it. Suki wants to be a vampire, like her sister, boyfriend (Charlie) and friend (Zack). She feels really out of the loop and goes through a sort of depression. Luna is also extremely lonely, because she is the only vampire in the area. Their parents are also having a hard time coping - their father is desperately trying to find a cure for Luna and has been forcing her to get blood transfusions. He also is adamant about keeping the girls away from Charlie and Zack - especially Zack. He blames him for his struggling daughters and thinks him to be some sort of criminal and all around bad seed.

But, the real fun begins when a new monster comes to town. He is some sort of crazy vampire eating madman and causes some real trouble for our band of heroes. Not only do they have to worry about this monster, who is apparently unbeatable, but they have to worry about the cops and coven as well.

The cops are after Zack because they believe he murdered one of their men and the coven is after all of the teen vamps for being child vampires. However, they are really after Zack because of they believe he is the child from the prophecy. Supposedly, a son of a great vampire hunter will be orphaned. Then the boy will drink blood and will die and be brought back to life. Then, the kid will make a choice - either saving the vampire race or bringing about its destruction. Zack is widely believed to be the child from the prophecy and it puts a giant target on this back.

Once again, there is plenty of action, humor, suspense and a tiny bit of romance (more so than the first book). Zack and Luna's relationship continues to develop and something amazing happens between them. I don't want to spoil it, but it is a pretty awesome, sort of talent-for-two. Once again, Turner writes a humorous book with lots of twists and turns - I often found myself laughing along with the story. If you haven't picked this series up yet, I would suggest you do. I think that fans of The Darkest Powers series by Kelley Armstrong and The Strange Angels Series by Lili St.Crow would really appreciate this book - it has the same sort of adventure plot with teen characters that are sort of rebel outlaws. Anyways, my point is, start reading this series!