Wonderful Only In the Dark

 



Published:  March 20th, 2012
Wonder Show
By: Hannah Barnaby
Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
ISBN-13: 9780547599809

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, step inside Mosco’s Traveling Wonder Show, a
menagerie of human curiosities and misfits guaranteed to astound and amaze!
But perhaps the strangest act of Mosco’s display is Portia Remini, a normal among
the freaks, on the run from McGreavy’s Home for Wayward Girls, where Mister
watches and waits. He said he would always find Portia, that she could never leave.
Free at last, Portia begins a new life on the bally, seeking answers about her father’s
disappearance. Will she find him before Mister finds her? It’s a story for the ages, and
like everyone who enters the Wonder Show, Portia will never be the same.

Review

 

     Portia Remini has always lived a life of uncertainty, with only one thing she knows to be true - even though her Father left her with Aunt Sophia, he will return for her someday.  So when Sophia sends her to live at McGreavy's Home for Wayward Girls because she can't deal with her wild spirit, Portia is angry and confused.  Add into the mix a sinister benefactor known only by the name "Mister" who might possibly be a Bluebeard-esque murderer and you have plenty of reasons for Portia to run away.   Joining together with Mosco's Traveling Wonder Show, Portia becomes an apprentice to the ballyhoo under the pretext of looking for her Father.  Along the way, Portia may just find something more important - who she is and what her place in the world happens to be.  But when Mister finally catches up to her, will Portia be able to make a stand for her future and set herself free once and for all?  I went into this book expecting a fun, thoughtful circus-oriented novel.  What I got was a book about a girl named Portia, the normal girl traveling with the freak show and on the run from a twisted benefactor she wants to escape from.  I liked the balance of vulnerability and snark in Portia and her familial issues made her very easy to relate to.  I wanted (alternately) to give her a hug and to smack her upside the head for making dumb decisions.  I think that her friend Caroline served as a portrayl of the road not taken in Portia's own life.  It felt like she was the contrasting side of Portia's personality.  The whole book gave off a dark, magical feeling like the world was trapped inside a snow globe with a dust storm raging around everything.  It was beautiful prose, that was on the verge of poetry.  Including narratives from so many characters was a bold choice for a debut author and even though I was disappointed that I couldn't get closer to Portia through perspective focusing, I did like the extra insights.  The ending was wonderful, and not overly cliched which made it all the better to me.  However, there was a very clunky plot twist explaining away Mister's 'graveyard' with the missing girls.  I felt that it came from nowhere and did not fit into the book, or his previous characterization at all.  My overall feeling is that this was an unusually haunting and strong debut novel and I am definitely putting this author on my watchlist; you should too!

 

VERDICT:  4.5/5  Stars

 

**No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book is now available in stores, online, or maybe even at your local library.**

Please Crash and Burn

Expected Publication: March 5th, 2013

Let the Sky Fall (Let the Sky Fall # 1)

By: Shannon Messenger

Simon Pulse

ISBN-13: 9781442450417

Seventeen-year-old Vane Weston has no idea how he survived the category five tornado that killed his parents. And he has no idea if the beautiful, dark-haired girl who’s swept through his dreams every night since the storm is real. But he hopes she is.

Seventeen-year-old Audra is a sylph, an air elemental. She walks on the wind, can translate its alluring songs, and can even coax it into a weapon with a simple string of commands. She’s also a guardian—Vane’s guardian—and has sworn an oath to protect Vane at all costs. Even if it means sacrificing her own life.

When a hasty mistake reveals their location to the enemy who murdered both of their families, Audra’s forced to help Vane remember who he is. He has a power to claim—the secret language of the West Wind, which only he can understand. But unlocking his heritage will also unlock the memory Audra needs him to forget. And their greatest danger is not the warriors coming to destroy them—but the forbidden romance that’s grown between them.

Review

     Vane Weston miraculously survived a tornado ten years ago that killed his parents, but he can't remember how he did it.  In fact he can't remember anything of his life before aftermath of the storm.  Now Vane is seventeen and has been adopted by loving parents and has a great life.  Other than the fact that some higher power seems to be sabotaging his love life.  Audra isn't a higher power, but she is a sylph (an air elemental) who has been charged with protecting Vane from Raiden, the evil sylph who killed his parents and now rules their world with an iron fist.  However, when Audra makes a serious mistake and gives away their location, she has no choice but to reveal herself to Vane and admit that he is a sylph like her - and possibly the only hope of saving their kind.  But will he submit to learn the ways of his people and can Audra resist his attempts at winning her heart, even though it is forbidden?  

     This book was horrible.  I only finished it out of courtesy to the tour site that graciously allowed me to read it.  For one thing, the minute the villain was revealed as being named Raiden, I couldn't think of anything other than Mortal Kombat for the rest of the book.  It made me laugh during parts the author probably intended to be very dramatic.  I couldn't stand Vane at all.  He was a spoiled, whiny, brat who only thought of himself.  He was constantly making things harder on Audra for his own amusement and I wanted to slap him for most of the book.  Audra was way too submissive and 'woe is me' to be appealing as a heroine.  The 'romance' that develops between them was entirely based on lies for about the first 2/3 of the book.  Then she finally tells him the truth and he doesn't care, so they stay together.  Yeah right!  Also, like the Gale Force would give up on their idea of Vane's arranged marriage that easily.  Vane's adoptive Mom gave a glimpse at why he was such an unfeeling prick.  I instantly disliked her and the way she treats Audra is unpardonable, unless she was deserving of it, and in those instances she wasn't.  The ending to the whole situation was not at all believable, but the twist about who was responsible for the death of Vane's parents was something I did NOT see coming.  So I can't entirely say the author completely bombed out with this one.  Overall though, not a book that I would ever recommend to anyone who likes to empathize and identify with characters and root for them.  I spent the whole book hoping Vane and Audra would get the Wicked Witch of the East treatment - and with the amount of high winds and tornadoes I am disappointed that they didn't. 

VERDICT:  1.5/5  Stars

**I received this book as part of Around the World ARC Tours, run by the lovely Princess Bookie. No favors or money were exchanged for this review. It will be available for purchase on March 5th, 2013.**

Dancing With Myself...

Expected Publication: August 21st, 2012

Beautiful Lies

By: Jessica Warman

Walker Children's

ISBN-13: 9780802723383

Rachel and Alice are an extremely rare kind of identical twins—so identical that even their aunt and uncle, whom they’ve lived with since their parents passed away, can’t tell them apart. But the sisters are connected in a way that goes well beyond their surfaces: when one experiences pain, the other exhibits the exact same signs of distress. So when one twin mysteriously disappears, the other immediately knows something is wrong—especially when she starts experiencing serious physical traumas, despite the fact that nobody has touched her. As the search commences to find her sister, the twin left behind must rely on their intense bond to uncover the truth. But is there anyone around her she can trust, when everyone could be a suspect? And ultimately, can she even trust herself? Master storyteller Jessica Warman will keep readers guessing when everything they see—and everything they are told—suddenly becomes unreliable in this page-turning literary thriller.

Review

   Rachel and Alice are identical twins.  That's not so abnormal, right?  Except for the fact that they're so identical that their parents were the only ones able to tell them apart.  They shared a placenta and an amniotic sac, both surviving against all odds.  They have a connection to each other emotionally that most people view as impossible.  But ever since their parents died and they were sent to live with their Aunt and Uncle, they've grown further apart than either girl dreamed could happen.  Alice has become wild and unpredictable, leaving Rachel stuck being the responsible and boring twin that everyone depends on.  No one other than the twins knows about the times they've switched places.  Not until Rachel is kidnapped while pretending to be Alice.  Than Alice must use all of her wits to find out what has happened to her sister, before the kidnapper comes looking for the twin they meant to take the first time - her.  Can Alice save Rachel from the darkness she brought her into?  Was Rachel who she pretended to be or will Alice uncover unimaginable secrets?  The ending will come sooner or later and it will be something you never expected.  This book had me gripped from the beginning, with the psychic twin connection and the kidnapping mystery.  It was astounding to me that Alice could get away with pretending to be Rachel for so long with no one noticing.  I wasn't shocked that Rachel felt trapped by Alice's irresponsibility and was keeping secrets from her.  NO siblings tell each other everything - even identical twins as close as Alice and Rachel are.  I liked the inclusion of the family life while Alice was searching for Rachel.  Each of the family members - Aunt, Uncle, Grandma, handicapped Cousin - added something intrinsic to the plot and furthered the story or character development in some way.  That said, I was pretty disappointed in the way the book ended.  The true facts about Alice's boyfriend Robin were so cliched it was unbelievable at first that the author chose that direction to go in with that thread of story.  I did like the side story with the twins' friend Kimber, who had all sorts of family issues of her own.  The identity of the kidnapper was a similar situation - so obvious and cliched that it really pissed me off.  Also, outcome for the twins made me angry as well.  Seriously, that's how Jessica Warman is going to end such a suspenseful and original mystery/paranormal story?  Overall it was worth reading if you're a mystery fan and fascinated by twins.  Otherwise, it was unfortunately forgettable.

VERDICT:  

*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book's expected publication date is August 21st, 2012.*