Review: A Curious Tale of the In-Between by Lauren DeStefano (ARC)

A Curious Tale of the In-Between (Pram #1) by Lauren DeStefano
Bloomsbury, 240 Pages
Expected US Release Date: September 1, 2015
Format/Source: ARC via Around the World Tours - thank you!

Pram Bellamy is special—she can talk to ghosts. She doesn’t have too many friends amongst the living, but that’s all right. She has her books, she has her aunts, and she has her best friend, the ghostly Felix.

Then Pram meets Clarence, a boy from school who has also lost a parent and is looking for answers. Together they arrive at the door of the mysterious Lady Savant, who promises to help. But this spiritualist knows the true nature of Pram’s power, and what she has planned is more terrifying than any ghost.

Lauren DeStefano is beloved by critics and readers alike, and her middle grade debut is lyrical, evocative and not to be missed.
-------------------Goodreads Summary

Notable Quote

Saying it aloud was an admission as well. No wonder she'd grown up in a house where nobody said they loved anyone; what a terrible pain that word caused.

If someone asked me to describe the perfect Middle Grade book, I would probably reference A Curious Tale of the In-Between now. I’m not sure what I would have said before (this is excluding Harry Potter of course, because that’s just all ages), but I can certainly tell you now that everything you’re looking for is probably found in this little book.

I’m not even a big “spooky” story lover. And it’s not like A Curious Tale was terrifying or nightmare inducing – it was just the right amount of spooky and creepy with adolescent curiosity and innocence. I thought DeStefano handled that weird middle-time of being a kid and learning there are bigger, sometimes better and definitely sometimes worse, things in life. It’s a very strange transitional stage, and she did fantastically well not only representing it, but also maneuvering through the Big Life Things and cutesy childhood moments.

Lauren DeStefano’s YA books always have this fantastic storytelling creativity to them. They’re original and unique but entirely relatable and human – and she’s carried this into her MG story as well. I never went through seeing ghosts as a kid, but I still felt like I could have been Pram in so many parts of this story. Her curiosity, her strangeness, her sadness and big heart and emotions…they were all so real to me and felt like it was a part of me, too.

I absolutely love love loved Clarence and Felix. If I were in High School English classes, I would have had so much fun analyzing them and who they represent to Pram and her stages in life – but this is a review, not a report, and I won’t. But trust that they are enjoyable from a literary analytics view, and just as characters from a reader. Both were unique and loveable in their own ways, and I wish I had them as friends when I was younger, too.

A Curious Tale of the In-Between was an adorable read, but also one I feel like is important to the Middle Grade book roster. It represents that time in life where you’re growing from a kid into a teenager and struggling to find your identity within your family, within your friends, and within yourself – and it represents it entirely well. The story is evocative and enjoyable, strong and so, so original. I highly recommend reading it.

4.5 stars

Review: The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd (ARC)

The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd
Balzar + Bray (an imprint of HarperTeen/HarperCollins), 432 pages
Expected US Release Date: January 29, 2013
Format: Print ARC
Source: Around the World ARC Tours - thank you!

In the darkest places, even love is deadly.

Sixteen-year-old Juliet Moreau has built a life for herself in London—working as a maid, attending church on Sundays, and trying not to think about the scandal that ruined her life. After all, no one ever proved the rumors about her father's gruesome experiments. But when she learns he is alive and continuing his work on a remote tropical island, she is determined to find out if the accusations are true.

Accompanied by her father's handsome young assistant, Montgomery, and an enigmatic castaway, Edward—both of whom she is deeply drawn to—Juliet travels to the island, only to discover the depths of her father's madness: He has experimented on animals so that they resemble, speak, and behave as humans. And worse, one of the creatures has turned violent and is killing the island's inhabitants. Torn between horror and scientific curiosity, Juliet knows she must end her father's dangerous experiments and escape her jungle prison before it's too late. Yet as the island falls into chaos, she discovers the extent of her father's genius—and madness—in her own blood.

Inspired by H. G. Wells's classic The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Madman's Daughter is a dark and breathless Gothic thriller about the secrets we'll do anything to know and the truths we'll go to any lengths to protect.
-------------------Goodreads summary

Notable Quote

Montgomery might already have a bullet in his skull. Maybe Father would kill me, too. Then again, maybe not. There were worse things on the island than dying.

Prior to reading The Madman's Daughter, I would never have said I like Gothic Horror/Thriller. Or that I read it. Or that I would consider reading it (I'm easily scared). But now? Oh hell yes. I am DOWN with this genre if it's all like Megan Shepherd's book!

There were so many fantastic elements to this book I have no idea where to start! I picked it up because I'd always wanted to read The Island of Dr. Moreau, and I figured a YA version had to be pretty awesome - plus, I'll admit that I'm buying into the hype. So many people had this book on their WoWs, or were talking about how badly they wanted to read it, and then so many people signed up for the ARC Tour, and I was like "What is up with this book?! What makes it so awesome?"

The answer: EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING, I TELL YOU.

It really is a creepy tale. The idea of experimenting on animals and vivisection (live dissection) to make them talk, act and think like docile humans is enough to make my squirm; and then the details that are given just make it that much more gruesome. Megan can reeeaaally paint a picture, guys - guts and body parts and heartbeats while a scalpel is cleanly slicing through. It is terrifying and heart-pumping and awesome all at once. Like I said, I scare easy, but there's something so captivating about the writing and how each scene is described as well as how it plays into the entire story that had me absolutely riveted.

I'm not sure what it is, but female MCs are a bit of a struggle with me most times - I'm very critical of them simply because I compare them to myself and I am quite self-criticizing, no matter how often we are told not to do it. That said, I was surprised at how much I liked Juliet! She's got a fantastic personality mixed with a great heaping of strength and realism and intelligence. At the same time, I found her completely relatable in how much she doubted and yearned for love from her father and how scared she was of this madness that might be within her. She's well-rounded and well-developed and I can't wait to get to know her more through the rest of the trilogy.

Who else do I want to get to know? MONTGOMERY. In an entiiiiiiiiirely different way than I want to know Juliet though, and a whole lot less ladylike. I am so in love with this character, it is ridiculous. It's something to do with how smart and hopeless and broken he is, how he hates himself but is proud and how compassionate and caring he is towards everyone - animals and humans and the unfortunate inbetweens. Every scene between him and Juliet was crackling with delicious tension, and I can't even formulate how jealous I was of her for having his intentions. Even though he's blonde (ech...not my kind of man!) and arguably as intelligently mad as the father sometimes, I love him. All of him. Every bit. Yes.

Anyway. What was I saying? Right.

This was a phenomenal story. I haven't read the original tale, so I don't know what is taken from there or what is original or added, but I was totally taken for a ride. Things I thought would happen either didn't at all, or did in a way I never expected. Every time I thought I had something figured out, I was thrown through a loop and reminded that I am just a pawn in Megan's writing game. The pacing and tone is unreal, and I was completely, totally lost in the story. I found myself immersed with no hope of getting out until I'd read the very last word, and I have absolutely no regrets.

Here's what the magic is in this book: yes, it's creepy. It's weird to think of hybrid animals and humans, especially when there are characters who are spelled out exactly what they are (one character is a sheep + 3 rabbits and completely resembled a human. Yeah. Dwell on that). Kinda makes the skin crawl, actually. Juliet's father really is a madman, and you have no idea the extent of it (I barely believe it and I read it!). But through all this violence and weirdness, you also immensely care about everyone involved. You completely understand how the Father would think he's not mad and how he believes his experiments will improve humanity. You don't blame Montgomery for assisting the father all these years, through all the horrors. You fall in love with him, in an all-encompassing way. You want to hug Juliet to you and help her struggle her way through figuring out her Father and the island. And even though Edward is...well, I can't quite say what his placement in the story is (I had a hunch about mid-way through, but it still shocked me how everything played out!), but you still love him a little bit and want to run after him to the jungle.

Read this book, guys. I can't recommend it enough. If you're like me and think nah, I'm not into Gothic Horror - GET OVER IT. THIS IS WORTH IT.

But that ending? OMG. WHERE IS BOOK 2?! MY HEART!

5 Stars

Review: Ten by Gretchen McNeil (ARC)

Ten by Gretchen McNeil
Balzer + Bray, 294 Pages
Expected US Release Date: September 18, 2012
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher at ALA Annual 2012 (thank you Harper Teen!)

And their doom comes swiftly.

It was supposed to be the weekend of their lives—an exclusive house party on Henry Island. Best friends Meg and Minnie each have their reasons for being there (which involve T.J., the school’s most eligible bachelor) and look forward to three glorious days of boys, booze and fun-filled luxury.

But what they expect is definitely not what they get, and what starts out as fun turns dark and twisted after the discovery of a DVD with a sinister message: Vengeance is mine.

Suddenly people are dying, and with a storm raging, the teens are cut off from the outside world. No electricity, no phones, no internet, and a ferry that isn’t scheduled to return for two days. As the deaths become more violent and the teens turn on each other, can Meg find the killer before more people die? Or is the killer closer to her than she could ever imagine?
---------------Goodreads summary

Notable Quote

"I know you, Meg Pritchard. You don't say anything unless you mean it."

Meg winced. That was true, the fip side being that she didn't say half of what she wanted to.

Fair warning, I'm a damn scaredy-cat. I don't watch scary movies, I don't do horror or thriller or any of those. I still jump while watching I Know What You Did Last Summer, I definitely scream during Scream (PUN!), I hid through most of The Ring, and you can tell how long it's been since I've even attempted terrifying movies by how dated those examples are. I read some scary books, but I learned my lesson when I was 11 and reading Stephen King's Misery at 1am (add in that I even wanted to be a writer then, and you can imagine my pure terror) and have not done that since.

So I went into Ten a wee bit scared. I'd heard it was nail-biting, and I wasn't even going to play with that. But I'd also heard great things, I think Gretchen is possibly the most adorable and awesome author I've ever seen (I was so close to meeting her at ALA! We were at the same party! But alas, it shall have to wait until the release party.), and when I realized it was reminiscent of And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie - one of the classic, well-deserved mystery thrillers that everyone needs to have read if they haven't - I knew I'd give it a shot. And I'm so glad I did!

Under the ruse of a party thrown by a popular girl, ten teens gather on a remote island for the weekend of a lifetime - unknowingly the last weekend for most of them. We focus mainly on Meg, who has her own connections to a few of the select ten teens, and only later learn how they are all interconnected. From the moment Meg and Minnie step off the ferry onto the rainy island, I think my heart jumped into my throat and never, ever came back down until I closed the book.

Truthfully, it wasn't as terrifying as I thought it would be. There were definite moments I had to remind myself to breathe, and the entire last 40 pages or so I had to make sure I read in daylight - but the majority is that twisted thriller type, where it's the anticipation and the thinking that messes with you the most.  That half-knowing but whole-wondering that drives a person absolutely mad.

In terms of the characters, I was a bit underwhelmed - they were mostly flat, I found Meg to be a bit forced, and I felt the story lacked a bit of "show." We were told details, told who they were, told everything - and that's fine in a sense, but I never connected with any of them. I just had to take it at face value, and I never believed in any of them. I much prefer seeing their stories, really understand who they are, rather than being presented with details - and I was disappointed, because there was so much potential here! It would have made the book much longer, yes, but done right? That background detail would have been awesome.

However, I do understand that in some ways, the author couldn't give those details because it would detract from how we're taken through the story: through the diary. I can't say much more about it, because it would spoil a lot of the book, but I get why this is written this way. I don't have to like it, but I get it.

The story totally makes up for my disappointment with the character development though. COMPLETELY. This is a classic whodunit type story, where everyone and no one is innocent and guilty. (Schrodinger's cat, WHATUP!) I was questioning, and even though some parts seem a bit predictable to me, I was completely wrapped up in everything. I wanted to scream when I got scared, I held my breathe whenever a chapter ended, and I was totally taken by the story as a whole. Bodies were piling up everywhere, and I kind of loved how quickly kids were dying, in a terribly twisted way. I also loved the creativity behind the book: how people died, why they were dying and why they were chosen to die that way...so good. All of it.

The scary touches of scenery and the DVD and slashes on the wall were a cherry on top of a thrilling novel. Like I said, I don't like scary things, but I do love this book. There's something so engaging and suspenseful about the whole thing, and I absolutely could not put it down or look away. I even may have maybe sorta possibly taken an extra few seconds (or a whole minute, whatever) during my work breaks and lunches just so I could keep reading. (If my bosses or co-workers are reading this: TOTALLY KIDDING NO I DIDNT I SAID MAYBE.)

Read this book. Even if you're like me and hate scary stuff and want to hide in a corner under a blanket and stick the book in the freezer* at the mere mention of darkness and an abandoned mansion and house boat on an island, you will love Ten. It is that good.

PS. Have you seen the trailer? Trust me when I say it portrays the feel of the book PERFECTLY. Plus, that's the author singing! How awesome is that?! (if you can't see the vid below, check out this post for it!)

PPS. Join the Army of Ten!

4 Stars

*if you get this reference, you are my new best friend.