Book Review: "Keeping the Castle"

Keeping the Castle

by Patrice Kindl

At the age of seventeen, beautiful Althea Crawley must marry well in order to support her mother and her little brother.  Her home, a crumbling castle, is in complete disarray, and her stepsisters refuse to help with the repairs or upkeep.  When Lord Boring arrives in their town, Althea devises a way to ensnare him in marriage.  The only hiccup in the plan is Mr. Fredericks, Lord Boring's clumsy cousin, who manages to get in Althea's way at every turn.  Althea herself never fails to remind us about how beautiful she is; while she may have good intentions, she comes off as manipulative and selfish throughout most of the book without ever really redeeming herself.  There are a few gems in the book, especially when Althea demands to know why it is acceptable that men marry for beauty, but women can't marry for wealth.  Althea's own stepsisters were also amusing in their wickedness.  Kindl works hard to imitate the wit and irony that Austen managed so capably, and fans of Regency romances may also enjoy this book.  I may have to read more of Austen novels and Regency romances to compare, but personally, I didn't enjoy this book as much as I had hoped.

Rating: ★★

Book Review: "Wicked Business"

Wicked Business  

by Janet Evanovich  

When a man is murdered and thrown off of his balcony, cupcake baker Lizzy Tucker is once again thrown into the race to find a second SALGIA stone before the forces of evil.  This time, Lizzy must help her partner, Diesel, find the Luxuria stone (the stone that embodies lust) before the forces of evil do - mainly Wulf, Diesel's cousin, and Anarchy, a mysterious new villain.  Lizzy and Diesel must use all resources on hand, including Carl the monkey, to decipher the clues and find the stone before Wulf and Anarchy.  Hilarity ensues as they leave behind mayhem and disorder, all while trying to battle their attraction for each other.  Evanovich once again has the reader giggling throughout the book as they try to puzzle out the mystery of the stone along with the characters.  Lizzy and Diesel make a great team, and while the book won't win any literary awards, it's still a lot of fun to read.

Rating: ★★★

Book Review: "Seraphina"

Seraphina

by Rachel Hartman

Goodreads Summary: Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty's anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.

Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered—in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen's Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.

Review: Not many books immerse me to the point where I feel as if I'm in the world along with the characters; Seraphina is one of the lucky few.  The world was highly imaginative and incredibly detailed, complete with full rituals and customs and religion.  Seraphina herself was a plucky and prickly heroine, with a core of strength, intelligence, and kindness.  Her garden of grotesques were fascinating, another detailed world within a world, and one that I want to know more about.  All the other characters were also wonderful in their own right: Orma, the cold and unfeeling dragon closest to Seraphina; Kiggs, the intelligent but slightly mischievous prince; Glisselda, the seemingly ditzy yet perceptive heir to the throne.  It might be too slowly paced for some people, but I enjoyed the intricate world and character building.  I'm looking forward to the next book.
 

Rating: ★★★★

This book was obtained as an eGalley from Random House Children's Books.  It's expected publication date is July 10, 2012.

In the News!

My library was mentioned in a recent TIME article about how libraries are re-inventing themselves to keep up with the current technology trends!  The Gimme Engine is our invention in the mobile app world as we try to connect customers with reviews and recommendations made by our very own staff members.  I feel very proud (and lucky!) to be part of a library system that is as forward thinking as Scottsdale.

Also, interestingly enough, my library did try to the "Text-a-Librarian" option a while back, but found that it was under utilized and therefore stopped using it.  I wonder if there's a secret that other libraries know to encourage usage that we haven't found yet.

Book Review: "The Girl in the Park"

The Girl in the Park

by Mariah Fredericks

Goodreads Summary: When Wendy Geller's body is found in Central Park after the night of a rager, newspaper headlines scream,"Death in the Park: Party Girl Found Strangled." But shy Rain, once Wendy's best friend, knows there was more to Wendy than just "party girl." As she struggles to separate the friend she knew from the tangle of gossip and headlines, Rain becomes determined to discover the truth about the murder. Written in a voice at once immediate, riveting, and utterly convincing, Mariah Frederick's mystery brilliantly exposes the cracks in this exclusive New York City world and the teenagers that move within it.

Review: I very rarely read mysteries but synopsis for The Girl in the Park seemed promising enough for me to risk it (also, I checked the book out through Overdrive for my Kindle, so the urge to peek ahead was pretty much gone).  I'm glad I did since it proved to be thoroughly enjoyable.  The unraveling of the mystery was done just right, and Fredericks does a good job at managing the pacing so that it wasn't extremely slow but didn't race through to the end.  Rain is an extremely fascinating character: a teenage girl who has her own personal problems but struggles through them to find the killer.  She's resilient and intelligent, which I was glad to see in a character.  I was a little bit disappointed because I was able to guess the identity of the killer fairly early, but the book did make me question my guess here and there.  All in all, The Girl in the Park was a solid and satisfying read.

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Book Review: "Painted Blind"

Painted Blind

by Michelle A. Hansen

Goodreads Summary: Seventeen years old and agoraphobic, Psyche Middleton vows her dad will never see the risqué photos she took during a summer modeling stint abroad, but one of them ends up on a billboard in her Montana hometown. Now everyone—especially her dad—can see it. And yet, somehow, those are the mundane things in her life because she is about to fall unexpectedly, head-over-heels in love with Erik, a mysterious young man who rescues her from a crowd of admirers, and who she’s never actually seen because…he can make himself invisible.

As strange as this may seem, it’s about to get even stranger. Erik takes her to his palace in an idyllic kingdom, and she is swept into the beauty and culture of his world, but his affection has one condition: she may not see him. Overtaken, intrigued, and still not wholeheartedly believing he’s real, Psyche is going to have to decide if she can love him blindly; because if she can’t, she may lose him forever.

Review: Painted Blind is a wonderful adaptation of the myth of Cupid and Psyche.  It remained faithful to the original story while mixing in some new elements that made it exciting and fun to read.  Psyche is an admirable female lead.  She knows she has her flaws and problems, and despite her beauty, she has been able to remain humble and level headed.  Her beauty is left to our imagination, and I only wished that Hansen had spent more time detailing the problems she's had with her appearance as well as her agoraphobia.  The relationship between her and Erik felt real, unlike some YA books I've read, and Hansen deals with the more mature parts of the relationship very well.  Erik himself was a great character.  He's not a typical male lead and I loved his mischievousness.  Hansen does a fantastic job developing the side characters as well, and the plot and main story was nicely balanced with the character development.  This is a must read for anyone who enjoys mythology!

Our library doesn't have a copy of the book, but I've put in a staff suggestion to purchase it.  Hopefully we'll get it soon so I can start raving to my co-workers and teens!

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

This book was obtained as an eGalley from Createspace Publishers. 

Book Review: "Heartless"

Heartless

by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Goodreads Summary: Princess Una of Parumvir has come of age and will soon be married. She dreams of a handsome and charming prince, but when the first suitor arrives, she finds him stodgy and boring. Prince Aethelbald from the mysterious land of Farthestshore has traveled far to prove his love--and also to bring hushed warnings of danger. A dragon is rumored to be approaching Parumvir. Una, smitten instead with a more dashing prince, refuses Aethelbald's offer--and ignores his warnings. Soon the Dragon King himself is in Parumvir, and Una, in giving her heart away unwisely, finds herself in grave danger. Only those courageous enough to risk everything have a hope of fighting off this advancing evil.

Review: It's not often that I come across a book that I really couldn't stand to read (of course, most of the time it's because I'm able to flip to the end - with my Kindle, unfortunately, I had to read through it if I wanted to know the ending).  Unfortunately, Heartless falls into this category.   

None of the characters were likable, especially Princess Una.  She was rude, shallow, and juvenile, with absolutely no redeeming qualities.  She's not very intelligent, courageous, or kind, and this doesn't change throughout the entire book.  For this reason, I have no idea what Prince Aethelbald was so in love with her.  Aethelbald himself could have been such a great character, but instead was reduce to a somewhat bland personality.  The evil Dragon King was fairly one dimensional too, and both Una's father and brother were not very interesting (the brother was somewhat of a whiny brat, to be honest).

The plot itself was okay, but there were things that are brought up but never mentioned again or explained.  It annoys me when authors throw in seemingly important hints but then never bother to fully address them later on, and unfortunately, this happens quite a lot in Heartless, both with plot and with other characters.  

I would have a very hard time recommending this book to anyone.  Una ruined the book for me, and unfortunately, the plot couldn't redeem her character.

Overall Rating: 1/5

Note: Apparently, this book was a giant Christian allegory.  I found this out after I had already written my review, so I'd like to put in a disclaimer that my rating and review have nothing to do with my personal beliefs.