Quickie Review/Resenha Curta: O Desfiladeiro do Medo/Coldheart Canyon - Clive Barker

Surpreendente!!! 

Eu ganhei o volume em uma promoção no Twitter, então acabei começando a ler sem esperar muito, mas.... UAU!!! A história ficava cada vez melhor, e quando percebi já tinha passado da metade deste volume monstruoso. Mas nunca vi tantos erros gramaticais, de concordância e de digitação. O editor deve ter ficado com muita preguiça... Mas o que importa é o enredo!! Inédito, maluco, envolvente!

Um livro diferente, que mexe com as emoções, sensações, assusta e nos faz pensar em nossas ações. O primeiro que li deste autor, e estou seriamente inclinada a preferi-lo ao Stephen King. E eu AMO Stephen King.

Atualização: Reli em inglês e é ainda mais assustador! XD I <3 Barker.
Fiz minha mãe ler, ela é doida por terror, e acabei ficando sem meu livro! hehe. Tive que comprar outra edição, mas isso já diz tudo! Vá e frente e ache uma cópia.

Amazing!!! I won this book from a Twitter giveaway, so I began to read it without expecting much, but.... WOW!!!
This story just got better and better, and when I finally had to stop, I was already done with half of this monstrous volume.
Such an excellent plot !! Unprecedented, crazy and engaging! A different kind of book that stirs the emotions, scares you and makes you think about our own actions in certain situations.
This is the first I've read by this author, and I'm seriously inclined to say I like him better than Stephen King. And I LOVE Stephen King.

(Got my mom, a horror aficionado to try this, and she stole the book from me. So, yeah. Go read it!)

Quickie Review/Resenha Curta: We Need to Talk About Kevin/Precisamos Falar Sobre o Kevin - Lionel Shriver

Paciência para achar o tesouro... Admito que o começo foi bem enfadonho e por pouco não larguei a leitura... mas logo que me acostumei com a narrativa e estilo da mãe de Kevin, o gosto foi crescendo. 

Este livro é uma mistura de drama, com muito terror e pitadas de esperança...a vida de Kevin foi algo muito...estranho, ele era estranho, mas interessante por ser assim. 

O jeito como é descrito por sua mãe é bastante íntimo, cativante...assustador. A frieza dele como ser humano, que era demonstrada em certos episódios contados, te faria pensar nos livros de Stephen King. A ignorância de seu pai dava nos nervos... e sua irmãzinha, pobrezinha, dava raiva E pena. O mais interessante era a relação (?) dele com a mãe, que tinha diversos baixos e leves piques esperançosos...mas todos sabem o final disso... o que interessa é saber a origem do monstro.

Gostei muito do filme, também, que vi bem depois desta leitura. É o tipo de coisa que fica com você, e se já é chocante imaginar, conseguir visualizar é ainda mais... horrivelmente cativante.

Just keep on reading... I'll admit that the beginning was pretty boring and I almost quit reading... but then I eventually got used to the narrative and the style of Kevin's mother, which I quickly grew to enjoy.
This book is a mixture of drama, horror and pinches of hope... Kevin's life was very strange, but he was the strangest of all, interestingly so.
The way his mother describes him is quite intimate, captivating... scary. His coldness and heartlessness as a human being was demonstrated in several instances, bringing to mind something Stephen King might create. His father's ignorance was very irritating... and his little sister made me feel a mixture of rage and pity.
The most interesting was his relationship (?) with his mother. She would repeatedly think things were getting better, until they became worse. An we all know what happens at the end of it... but this is the story of how this monster was created.

I really enjoyed the movie, as well, after reading this. This story is the kind of thing that stays with you, and if it was already shocking to imagine what happened, it's even more... horribly captivating to watch things unfold in the big screen.

Review: The Heart of Hannen by Fawn Bonning

I'm reposting this review because the book now has a new cover!!! (Much improved!). The plot is really good, so give this baby a try. :) (Remember what they say... don't judge it by its cover.)

The Heart of Hannen
by Fawn Bonning

Paperback, 484 pages

Published March 22nd 2011 by Old Line Publishing, LLC

Christine, a troubled teen with a dark past, is miserable in her small town. Shadowed in shame, she feels destined to live her lonely life as an outcast. She has no idea that her true destiny lies in a different town, in a different world; a most brutal world called Atriia. There she learns the true meaning of misery, the true meaning of loneliness, the true meaning of shame. But she also learns that her bravery is boundless as she battles against a formidable foe, a dark shadow that tries to smother the land. And in the arms of a most unlikely candidate, she also learns the true meaning of love. He is Hannen Fallier, the one they call the foul fraigen dropper, revered by men for his fearless feats, but looked upon by women with open disdain. With a face horribly mauled, he hides behind a mask of shame, deeming himself unworthy of love. That he would seek acceptance from Christine is irony in its purest form. That he would seek her love . . . the ultimate betrayal.

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My Review:

I really enjoyed this book! I won it from my first Goodreads giveaway! *-*

I must admit I first judged it by its cover. I thought it might not be so well-written, but I was very mistaken. It was fantastic. I loved the story and the characters.

I really enjoyed seeing how the main character, Christine, grew up! She suddenly finds herself alone in this strange, unknown place called Atriia, where everything is different from Earth. She deals with rude, aggresive, male-chauvinists and strange social costumes, not to mention the weird food and language, but manages to adapt quickly, and very well. I'm not sure I would've been as strong as she was.

Hannen found his way into my heart from the very start. (and when you read it, you'll see exactly what I mean with 'from the very start'). Such a complicated, strong, sweet character. Very well thought of and developed.

I was a bit confused at first with the new 'language' the author introduces to us, but eventually I got the hang of it. (It was only afterwards that I noticed there was a glossary at the end of the book. Silly, slow little me. >.<)

It was a dark, dramatic and sad book, but also very touching. Needless to say, I cried. Hard.

Of course, I wish I could have changed the ending and maybe have seen a bit more of a couple of characters, but it was still great. The book is a bit long, but it's not tiring at all! This one is a keeper. :)

I'm SO glad I had the chance to review it, otherwise I might have never heard of it. Thank you, Fawn Bonning!!!

Now, you! Go ahead and get it, you'll love it too. It's an excellent pick for romance and fantasy lovers.

Early Review: If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch

If You Find Me
by Emily Murdoch

There are some things you can’t leave behind…

A broken-down camper hidden deep in a national forest is the only home fifteen year-old Carey can remember. The trees keep guard over her threadbare existence, with the one bright spot being Carey’s younger sister, Jenessa, who depends on Carey for her very survival. All they have is each other, as their mentally ill mother comes and goes with greater frequency. Until that one fateful day their mother disappears for good, and two strangers arrive. Suddenly, the girls are taken from the woods and thrust into a bright and perplexing new world of high school, clothes and boys.

Now, Carey must face the truth of why her mother abducted her ten years ago, while haunted by a past that won’t let her go… a dark past that hides many a secret, including the reason Jenessa hasn’t spoken a word in over a year. Carey knows she must keep her sister close, and her secrets even closer, or risk watching her new life come crashing down.

Genre: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction

Publication Date: March 26th, 2013

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Format: eARC, 256 pages 

Series: no

Source: Netgalley

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My Review

I have to admit that I chose to read this book because I saw somewhere that it was a survival story. And it was. But not in the sense I thought it would be. I expected to see people having to fend for themselves in the middle of the woods, all Hunger Games-like or something... but it was a different kind of survival. A much sadder and realistic one. Two girls had to survive their own mother and the terrible things she did to them. All the things she let others do to them.

Carey raised her little sister by herself, because she learned a long time ago not to count on her bipolar/meth-addict mother. A mother who only cared about making enough money for drugs, a woman who could not be bothered to bring food home for her children, or clothes, or even NOT bring strange, disgusting men over to rape her 7 year-old (until she finally got her period at 13) for pocket change to buy drugs.

Carey is, not surprisingly, extremely mature for her 14 years-old. She would do anything to protect her baby sister, Jenessa. So when a woman from Social Services and a strange man (who looks somewhat familiar) show up in the middle of the forest looking for them, she's ready to fight. But there's nothing she can do. If she wants to keep her sister close, she has to live with this man. Her father. The one her mother said was the reason they had to run away years ago.

Now the two sisters have to learn how to live with the comforts and novelties of modern life. Clean, comfortable, warm clothes. A nice place to sleep. Food whenever they're hungry. Running water. This is all heaven for them, but this new life won't be easy. There's a stepmother involved. Oh, and a very jealous stepsister. And let's not forget about high school. And boys. If only Carey didn't have so much to hide...

This was such a sad, sad book. I loved the way it was narrated. I could almost hear Carey's voice, with her accent and all the missing g's and es's ('don't it?' 'runnin' '). It was such a melodic, dreamy, sad narration. It broke my heart from the start, because I just knew there was something bad to be discovered. 

I wanted to kill Carey's mother. What a freaking monster! How can someone do those things to her own children? Ok, I get it, she was sick AND on drugs, but seriously? Completely unacceptable. At the end of this book I found myself very mad with the opposite sex. I can't even begin to describe how satifying it was to me to read what she did to that rapist. 

Anyway... it was very heart-warming to see them adapt to their new, love-filled life. If anyone deserved it, it was them. I loved this book. I really did. Even if Carey, a girl who lived in the woods ever since she as a child, without proper nutrients and hydration, with next to no protection from the elements, under constant stress and all, being described as 'OMG, the most amazingly beautiful girl ever, she should be on cover of magazines and movies'. That was completely unnecessary to the story and quite unrealistic, but I'm going to let that go. The rest of the book was terrific, so there you go.

*I received an eARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Review: State of Emergency (Book #1) by Summer Lane

State of Emergency (Book #1)
by Summer Lane

What would you do if the world as you know it ended in an instant?

How far would you go to survive?

Cassidy Hart is your typical High School graduate: a little shy, a little sarcastic, and a little naive. But when an electromagnetic pulse takes down the United States, she's forced to kick into full survival mode when she gets separated from her father.

Yeah. Things suck.

But with the help of a handsome soldier named Chris, she just might find her dad without getting into serious trouble.

Emphasis on might.

Oh. And there's the matter of avoiding getting killed in a world that's quickly turned into an active war zone.

It's going to change Cassidy's life.

It's going to be a major pain in the butt.

Genre: New Adult, Apocalyptic

Publication Date: Jan 18th 2013

Publisher: Writng Belle

Format: eARC, 360 pages 

Series: yes

Source: copy from the author

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My Review

Nobody knows how it started, only that, out of nowhere, technology turned on humans. Cellphones died, lights went out, car batteries wouldn't work... and chaos ensued.

Cassidy Hart finds herself in the middle of it all. But thanks to her well-prepared father, she has a working car, supplies and a scape plan. Until the moment she meets Chris Young, a very cute soldier who asks her for a ride... and then the whole plan starts to fall apart. Now they're both on the run from crazy starving civilians and an even crazier militia group called Omega. 

But why is Omega group so interested in them? And how come her father was so well-prepared for something like this? Was meeting Chris just a coincidence? What is really going on?

Cassie has no idea. But she will find out.

Wow. State of Emergency was pure undiluted action! I really liked the way the writing instantly sucked me into the story and just wouldn't let me go! It was the first I've read from this author and was pleasantly surprised to enjoy it so much. I love survival / post-apocalyptical stories, but they aren't always that well executed, so YAY for State of Emergency! I especially liked that it a New Adult book, meaning that the main character wasn't a teen anymore. We need some more heroines in the 19-25 age range.

However, it was not all flowers and rainbows. This book had many similarities to the TV series Revolution. There was the global shutdown of all electronic devices, the start of journey in search of a family member, the 'help of a handsome soldier', and a crazy militia group stalking them... so I really couldn't help but compare them both.

Cassidy did some really stupid stuff, too. She fell for obvious traps, she trusted people who were clearly untrustworthy, and, in my opinion, she was way too nice for someone in her situation. I'm sure that if it was real life she would have shot some people. Maybe even killed someone. I mean, come on, when people are trying their best to kill YOU at any cost, you're not just gonna stand there and do nothing to stop them when you have the chance to, will you? But, well, I suppose it wouldn't look good for the heroine to be bloodthirsty...

Oh, and there were these parts where Cassie went on and on and on about obesity in America. I was like, HELLO? It's the end of the world, people are killing and being killed all the time, there's no electricity anywhere, there's a militia group enslaving people, there's almost no food and water anywhere and all you think about is how all this is a good cure for obesity? Seriously? If she had mentioned it once or twice, it would be no biggie; sure, it does, in fact, make some sense when you think about it. But she elaborated on it over SIX times. I know, I counted. She didn't worry about people clearly losing their humanity around her as much as she worried about obesity. Well, that tells you a lot about her. Oh, and I'm not saying it's a good thing to be obese, but if Cassie had some more meat on her bones maybe she wouldn't have almost frozen to death that many times. >.<

Chris was an amazing character... he was smart, kind-hearted and unbelievably patient. I liked him a lot. Even if all he did was save our silly, self-desctructive little heroine most of the time. When he wasn't acting like total man-candy, that is. Not that I'm complaining about THAT part. 

Anyway, I actually learned quite a few survival tips from this book. Turns out I just have to do the opposite of whatever Cassie did. ha-har. Well, jokes aside, State of Emergency made me feel a bit worried about how I'd act if the same happened. I just know I'd be totally screwed. O.o It also makes you think about how people can be perfectly civil and kind one moment and then just slit your throat for an energy bar in the next. If the end of the world happens, of course. Or if they are crazy psychos. But you get my drift. It's an interesting, though frightening, concept.

Funny tidbit: All the time I was reading State of Emergency I was picturing Chris as Chris Hemsworth in the movie Thor. Coincidentally, author Summer Lane admitted in her interview to imagine him like that, as well. The guy IS incredibly hot. *-*

 (And, no, this wasn't just an excuse for me to post more pictures of Chris Hemsworth. Ok, maybe it was.)

All in all, State of Emergency does its job very well! It thrills you, it scares you, it keeps you reading like crazy because you just have to see what happens next, and, most important of all, it makes you feel. And that is not an easy feat for a book. I'm REALLY looking forward to reading what happens in the next book! XD

*I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.*

I'm curious. What would you do if the world as you know it ended in an instant?

Special X-Mas Review: Parallel Visions by Cheryl Rainfield

Parallel Visions (A Teen Psychic Novel #1)
by Cheryl Rainfield

Visions can kill you. Would you risk your life to save someone else’s?

Kate sees psychic visions of the future and the past—but only when she's having an asthma attack. When she "sees" her sister being beaten, she needs more visions to try to save her, along with a suicidal classmate—but triggering her asthma could kill her. Parallel Visions is the story of one brave, caring girl whose unusual gifts put her own life in danger.

A new YA fantasy from the award-winning author of SCARS and HUNTED.

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal

Publication Date: November 20th, 2012

Publisher: Rain and Sun Press

Format: e-book, 146 pages 

Series: yes

Source: author

________________________________

My Review

Parallel Visions is a wonderful, intense, quick read! I chose to post it today because it's very emotional. It deals with family issues and shows the protagonist overcoming obstacles and finding happiness by being herself. If that's not Christmas-sy, then I don't know what is. :) So here it goes:

Kate suffers from asthma. That means she always has to be careful fo her surroundings, always avoiding places with too much dust, pollen, smoke, well, pretty much anything with strong smells or fumes that might trigger off an asthma attack. Because of that, Kate also has to avoid strenuous activities. In other words, she misses a lot of school, and running with her classmates during Phys ED is pretty much out of question... not that THAT would stop her from trying to hang out with Gil, the kind-hearted and yummy guy from her school. Having asthma really sucks, especially when you have an attack in front of the guy you like and your class keeps standing there, staring at you while you try to stay alive. 

But you know what makes it even worse? Having visions while you're trying to desperately breathe in some oxygen while your airways are closing. Visions of the past and the future. Visions you feel bound to avoid happening, even knowing that no one will believe what you're saying will happen. Kate is very much used to that. However, this time it envolves people very close to her. Her own sister, Jenna, who is being abused and controled by her husband, and denying it; and Gil's sister, a depressed homosexual girl who was gang-raped and is now planning on committing suicide. Kate has a lot on her hands, trying to protect the people she cares about... but who'll protect her from those who want to stop her?

As if high school alone wasn't bad enough.

I was sucked into this story immediately! I never met anyone suffering from asthma, but I certainly herad a lot about it. I can't even imagine how terrible it must be, to be always short of breath, or constantly coughing and depending on medicine. How very helpless it must be. But Kate reminds us that it is not the end of the world. She doesn't let herself be dimished by it, even if her sister blames her for being an 'attention whore', keeing their parents all to herself, and when people would overreact everytime she had an attack, trying to keep her sheltered and protected, but failing to notice that they were, in fact, smothering her. Oh, and I have to say it: it was so unnerving when people wouldn't believe her visions, even with all the believable things she kept pointing out! ARGH!!! I just wanted to shake her parents. LOL.

All in all, this made for a fantastic read! My only problem with it was that it was too short! I really can't wait for the next book, I want to see more of Gil!!! ;)

I would like to thank the author, the lovely Cheryl Rainfield. for giving me the chance to read and review her most recently published book. It was just as incredibly intriguing and intense as Scars. *-*

Give this one a chance, Paranormal YA, fans. It's not just another pretty cover (even if it HAS a pretty cover).

Review: Partials (Partials #1) by Dan Wells

Partials (Partials #1)

by Dan Wells

Published: February 28th 2012 by Balzer + Bray

The human race is all but extinct after a war with Partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the population. Reduced to tens of thousands by RM, a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island while the Partials have mysteriously retreated. The threat of the Partials is still imminent, but worse, no baby has been born immune to RM in more than a decade. Our time is running out.

Kira, a sixteen-year-old medic in training, is on the front lines of this battle, seeing RM ravage the community while mandatory pregnancy laws threaten to launch what’s left of humanity into civil war, and she’s not content to stand by and watch. But as she makes a desperate decision to save the last of her race, she will discover that the survival of humans and Partials alike rests in her attempts to uncover the connections between them—connections that humanity has forgotten, or perhaps never even knew were there.

___________________________________

My Review

It is the year of 2076. Sixteen-year-old Kira Walker works gathering data from dead human babies in order to help researchers find a cure for the deadly virus RM that killed most of the human race during the Break.

The Senate controls everything and everyone and has approved the Hope Act, which makes it obligatory for every fertile female to start breeding from the age of eighteen. They hope that the more babies are born, the bigger the chances one of them will survive longer than three days, becoming somehow immune to the RM.

When there is talk about the Senate wanting to drop the pregnancy age to sixteen, the Voice of People (a group of terrorists that disagree with the breach of human rights that is the Hope Act and all the intense control the Senate inflicts on people) start to attack the perimeter of the city, burning things and killing innocents

But even an even worse threat than the Voice are the Partials. Machines with human DNA built to be stronger and faster, made to protect the humans and fight for them during war times... until they turned against their makers and released the RM virus on all mankind.

Kira is tired of seeing babies die and mothers suffer from their yearly losses. So she decides to look for a cure herself. There are great amounts of data on how the virus works in the infants it infects, but not much in how the survivors became immune to it. After a lot of researching, she comes to the conclusion that the ones who created the virus should have the cure in their blood. Kira gathers all her most trustworthy friends and asks them for help with capturing a Partial for study. After a lot of debate and hesitation, they have it all planned out, but the Partials are so much more powerful than they could have imagined, and only with much luck do they get one as a prisoner... just so the soldiers of the Senate can have him killed. But the Partial is saved by the bell. The senators decide they want to 'interview'

Kira intervenes and is allowed to study him for five days, on the agreement that afterwards the specimen is to be exterminated. The Partial, Samm, turns out to be brighter, more complex and more human than she was led to believe. He may also carry the secret to cure the virus. A virus he insists his kind did not create. Samm starts to make Kira doubt everything she's ever been taught. He also needs her help. Their only hope, for either of them, is to work together.

Sometimes your enemies aren't as bad as you were led to believe... and your heroes aren't nearly as good as they claim to be.

Partials was just pure action, packed with a whole lot of tension, drama and polemic issues. Teenagers being forced to breed like cattle for the survival of the species, a government controlling every single breath you take, hiding and distorting every piece of information to keep you under their thumbs, machines that are also part human...

You won't regret it. I bet my firstborn on it. Well....maybe. LOL. Seriously, you'll love it. When I first saw that cover, I just knew I had to read it. The synopsis almost blew my head off, it sounded so good. I'm glad it delivered everything it promised and more!! I devoured the whole thing in one afternoon, in one sitting. I just wish I had the next volume in my hands already. Oh, the waiting!!! Dan Wells, will you hurry up, pretty please? *-* (BTW, a love triangle with Samm really wouldn't hurt, now, would it? ;))

If you like creative, fast-paced Young Adult books with science fiction,post Apocalyptic and dystopian themes, GO FOR IT. If you don't, just read it, anyway! Or you'll be missing out on a really awesome new series. ;P

Review: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Pushing the Limits
by Katie McGarry

Published August 3rd 2012 by Mira Ink

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal. But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.

Genre: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction

Publication Date: August 3rd 2012

Publisher: Mira Ink

Format: eARC, 416 pages 

Series: yes

Source: Netgalley
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My Review

First line: "My father is a control freak, I hate my stepmother, my brother is dead and my mother has... well... issues. How do you think I'm doing?"

Last line: "Yes, but I'm driving."

Favorite quote: Luke used to give me butterflies. Noah spawned mutant pterodactyls.

Two years ago, there was an accident... and now Echo Emerson is no longer the same girl she used to be. She has to do therapy, which was "strongly encouraged" by Child Protective Services. She can't see her bipolar mom, thanks to a restraining order her father filed for. She's still grieving for her brother, who died in Afghanistan. She can't stand her new stepmom, who is now pregnant, and her father, who seems eager to control her life for her. Oh, and she can't go anywhere without long sleeves or gloves, in order to hide the most horrible scars on her wrists and the inside of her arms. Scars of what happened two years ago... on the night she can't remember. A night nobody seems to want her to remember.

Echo's new school therapist seems like a good enough person, but Echo really isn't interested in therapy. She just wants to fix her dead brother's car and get over high school. But to fix said car, she needs money... money her rich father won't give her. So Mrs. Collins, her therapist, suggests a job. A tutoring job. Sounds easy enough, right? Except for the guy she's supposed to tutor....

Noah Hutchins is smoking-hot, super bad boy material. (Heavy emphasis on 'smoking'). He smokes pot, he skips school, he sleeps with a different girl every night, and his stepparents couldn't care less about him... and now he can barely see his brothers, because the State won't allow him visitation privileges. All because he hit his first foster father to stop him from hitting his own biological son. Go figure. Noah used to be the perfect, popular, good guy jock type, but after a fire killed his parents, life has been very different for him. Now he wants custody of his brothers, but to have that, he needs to change. Starting with his attendance and grades, which is why Mrs. Collins, his new social worker/therapist, talks him into being tutored. Like he has time to sit around and have some stupid brainiac tell him how dumb they think he is. 

Noah and Echo are two opposites... with a lot in common. And now they have to decide what they want from their lives. To either keep ignoring the feelings blossoming between them, or to accept them and fight for their right to be happy, and screw what others think of them.

I've been hearing praise for Pushing the Limits for months now... and I have to admit that neither the cover nor the blurb interested me... however, after getting tired of seeing people gushing over it, I decided to -finally- give it a try. And I really enjoyed it!

Echo is a walking, talking bomb, waiting to explode. I wanted her to just remember everything and be free! I loved how her art and talent were incorporated in the story so perfectly, I loved the mythological references, I loved to see her get over things. What I didn't love was how she just took the bullshit her father and so-called friends threw at her. Oh, and she forgave them way too easily... I'm pretty sure I'd still hold a grudge over her father, stepmom AND that bitch Grace. But maybe that's just my black/nonexistent heart talking. No. She really did forgive them way too soon.

Noah was a delight. Such a complex character! So strong, so self-confident, so grown-up, and, yet, so vulnerable and angry. Understandably so, of course. The State really did help make his life even more miserable than it already was after he lost his parents. It was funny seeing how he lost it everytime Echo was around. Very cute to see such a... hard person soften like that. He really needed some luv.

I like mature YA's liek this one becuase they don't try to pretend teenagers are saints, all pure and nice. No, they freaking fight, curse, drink, use drugs, and, OMG! O.O They have sex. Yup. Echo remained a virgin throughout the book, sure, but this was still a lot more believable than most YA's out there... but I guess that's what parents want, right? To pretend nothing like that is happening. If books don't have those things in them, then surely they don't happen in real life... Yeah, right. :P

Aaaaaaanyway, I digress. I really liked this book, with characters with real-life problems and feelings.... if not for some weak moments and stupid decisions from Echo, of course. I was also surprised to find out this one is a series. From the way the book ended, I would have never expected it to be. Things wrapped-up so nicely... but I might still check the next book.

If you like realist fiction with your YA, then you'll really enjoy Pushing the Limits.

* I received an eARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Early Review: Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama

Monstrous Beauty
by Elizabeth Fama

Expected publication: September 4th 2012 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

Fierce, seductive mermaid Syrenka falls in love with Ezra, a young naturalist. When she abandons her life underwater for a chance at happiness on land, she is unaware that this decision comes with horrific and deadly consequences. Almost one hundred forty years later, seventeen-year-old Hester meets a mysterious stranger named Ezra and feels overwhelmingly, inexplicably drawn to him. For generations, love has resulted in death for the women in her family. Is it an undiagnosed genetic defect . . . or a curse? With Ezra’s help, Hester investigates her family’s strange, sad history. The answers she seeks are waiting in the graveyard, the crypt, and at the bottom of the ocean—but powerful forces will do anything to keep her from uncovering her connection to Syrenka and to the tragedy of so long ago.

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Publication Date: September 4th 2012

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

Format: eARC, 295 pages 

Series: no

Source: Netgalley

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My Review

The mermaid Syrenka has loved before and only managed to find pain. But in the year 1872 she can't help but fall in love again, very hard, this time for Ezra, a very hadsome young marine biology student, who's fascinated by every sea creature. Needless to say, he's completely enchanted by her. They are quite happy for a while... but they could never imagine that their 'forbidden' romance would bring a lot of pain and suffering -to themselves and others- for years and years to come.

It's 2002 and seventeen-year-old Hester has just met a very strange, yet very charming man inside a cave by the beach. She is stragenly drawn to him, and can't help but come back and just be close to him. She's falling in love... and it's the worst thing she could ever do. Hester has promised herself to never fall in love. Ever since she was just a kid she's been hearing stories about the women in her family, who always seemed to die just after giving birth to their daughters. Including her mother. So, just to be safe, she decides to not love at all. But no doctor could ever find out what really happened to those women. Not even the modern medicine can tell. Is it some kind of genetic condition? Or could it be something more dangerous, like a curse?

When she mentions the mysterious deaths to the guy from the cave, he suggests she looks deeper into it. And when Hester starts to investigate, she discovers much more than she could ever expect to find. Is teh crypt where her ancestors are buried really haunted? Who is the little girl who used to play with her at the cemetery that no else can see but her? And why is it that everything always leads her back to the ocean? Are the myths of sea creatures really myths?

Gods. So much love, so much tragedy, so much sadness, violence and wasted lives. This book will break your heart and make you cry a freaking river. But you'll love it anyway. Elizabeth Fama is a complete genious. Her writing is perfectly fluid, clearly well planned and well thought of, her characters are very alive and almost spill out of the pages. It is, I daresay, an almost perfect tale. It has it all. Drama, tragedy, romance, true love, action, violence, magic, mystery and paranormal beings. And it all fits superbly.

I can't say I was terribly excited about starting this book. I didn't care much about the other mermaid books I've read recently (found them to be very childish, weak or even downright mediocre...), but, oh, boy. Was I surprised by Monstrous Beauty!!! It blew my mind. I just couldn't stop reading it. I could barely blink! (even bloodshot eyes are totally worth it, I promise!). It's not everyday I give a book 5 stars, so that alone should tell you how much I loved it.

Hester was so strong, so smart and likeable! I usually find main heroines annoying, but this one was just absolutely incredible. Ezra was definitely charming, if quite pitiable. He deserved so much more of life... Syrenka was one of the most fascinating characters I've ever read about. I really wanted her to find the happiness she had been looking for her very long life. Even if she did some very gruesome things while trying to achieve it. And the secondary characters were all captivating in their own ways. Peter, Sam, the priest, Nellie... they were all very complex, even if they had short appearances. Oh, and the double POVs were awesome.

There was nothing I didn't like in this book, except that it was too short. LOL. I wanted to keep on reading it forever. ;) Even if it did make me cry quite a bit.

If you like tales of true love with tons of mystery, drama and quite a bit of action and adventure thrown in the mix, you'll love Mostrous Beauty just like I did, especially if you're not a fan of mermaid books, like I was. And you'll follow my example and pre-order it right away, because it's so freaking good you have to have it. (My beautiful precioussssssss must be on its way. *-*).

* I'm so happy I received an eARC for this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

P.P. (Post posting): I sort of liked the eARC cover better, buuuut.... what's a girl to do, right?

So, do you think you'd like to read this book? If you've read it, what did you think? :3