Review: Compulsion by Martina Boone

Title: Compulsion
Author: Martina Boone
Series: The Heirs of Watson Island, book #1
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: October 28, 2014
Source: received from publisher via Edelweiss
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Beautiful Creatures meets The Body Finder in this spellbinding new trilogy.

Three plantations. Two wishes. One ancient curse.

All her life, Barrie Watson had been a virtual prisoner in the house where she lived with her shut-in mother. When her mother dies, Barrie promises to put some mileage on her stiletto heels. But she finds a new kind of prison at her aunt’s South Carolina plantation instead--a prison guarded by an ancient spirit who long ago cursed one of the three founding families of Watson Island and gave the others magical gifts that became compulsions.

Stuck with the ghosts of a generations-old feud and hunted by forces she cannot see, Barrie must find a way to break free of the family legacy. With the help of sun-kissed Eight Beaufort, who knows what Barrie wants before she knows herself, the last Watson heir starts to unravel her family's twisted secrets. What she finds is dangerous: a love she never expected, a river that turns to fire at midnight, a gorgeous cousin who isn’t what she seems, and very real enemies who want both Eight and Barrie dead.

All it took for me to add Compulsion to my TBR was a look at that gorgeous cover and seeing a Southern gothic romance tag. I loved how this story started out, too...with Barrie who has a gift for finding lost things becoming a lost thing herself. What I didn't love was the fact that when I added this book to my must-read list, I was under the impression that it was a stand-alone. I should have known better, right? And maybe it's been a series since I first heard about it, I don't know, but I don't think Goodreads mentioned that at first or I wouldn't have been nearly as excited about the book. It's not that I didn't enjoy the novel -- I most definitely did -- but I'm trying to keep the number of new series I start to a minimum these days. Also, I read in the acknowledgements that the author had so-and-so to thank for helping her turn this into a trilogy. So, it wasn't a planned series to begin with. And I still don't think it needed to be. Anyway, that's more my issue than any fault of the story's.

Compulsion embodied everything I love about Southern gothic romances: the eerie setting, complete with old, decrepit mansions; restless spirits; peculiar townsfolk; and a romance that seemed destined in the stars. This book also includes a centuries old curse, warring founding families, and psychic abilities that have been passed down for generations. And yet, even with all of that, the story dragged its feet for the first half of the book or so. Not to the point that I was considering not finishing the book, just in the way that many a story from Southerners tends to require a lengthy build-up before getting to the good stuff.

That said, the romance took no time at all to develop between Barrie and Eight. But, I wouldn't exactly call it insta-love because their attraction is pretty much fated. While the Colesworths have always been feuding with the Watsons and the Beauforts, the latter two have always been drawn to each other. It's all curses and magic, but that doesn't make it any less real for these characters, despite how much Barrie fights her feelings for Eight. She's already lost so much before making it to Watson's Landing, and she doesn't want to add Eight to that list. Because of Eight's gift, Barrie can't be sure that what's going on between them is real, and she's just so afraid of being hurt, of being left behind. I did find Barrie's back-and-forth feelings -- her constant wavering and wondering if loving Eight would be worth it -- to be somewhat annoying in the beginning, but I forgave her that when it seemed like she was legitimately starting to trust him. Barrie just wouldn't allow herself to fall for Eight's Southern charm...at least not at first.

It impressed me how comfortable the author made these two with each other, despite their misgivings, even from their very first encounter. They just conversed so easily, had that easy banter of a couple who'd known each other all their lives. And I think that's part of the reason that this didn't seem like insta-love to me. The characters may have been initially attracted to each other, but they spent the entirety of the book getting to know one another. While I didn't immediately connect to these characters, I felt their connection.

I enjoyed all of the backstory for these families, even if it was slow-going getting to the bottom of the curse and how everything fit together. But it gave me time to get to know the side characters, as well, even the ones that weren't physically present. It was better that I was slowly introduced to them all because admittedly, the family histories were a tad confusing at times. Lots of brothers and sisters and betrayals and missing people to worry about. And after discovering all of the secrets and magic that had been hidden on Watson's Landing all those years, I thought the ending would be more suspenseful, but I guess that's where the beginning of a "spellbinding new trilogy" comes in.

I think that as far as meeting my expectations goes, this book succeeded. Based on my initial reasons for wanting to read Compulsion, I got exactly what I was hoping for. I really enjoyed this story, but I was hoping for a really compelling resolution in this book. Honestly, my biggest complaint is that I don't think a series is warranted here. I would have much rather gotten my ending here in this book and then moved on to read the next awesome story from Martina Boone.

GIF it to me straight:

Yep, that's what I'll be doing for the sequel since this is not the stand-alone I was hoping for. :(

About the author:

Martina Boone was born in Prague and spoke several languages before learning English. Her first teacher in the U.S. made fun of her for not pronouncing the "wh" sound right, so she set out to master "all the words”—she's still working on that! In the meantime she’s writing contemporary fantasy set in the kinds of magical places she'd love to visit.

If you like romance steeped in mystery, mayhem, Spanish moss, and a bit of magic, she hopes you'll look forward to meeting Barrie, Eight, Cassie, Pru, Seven and the other characters of Watson Island.

Find Martina:

Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Facebook | Tumblr | Pinterest

Read More

Labels: beautiful covers, book trailers, gothic mystery, magic, martina boone, reviews, simon schuster, southern gothic romance, the heirs of watson island

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Halloween Costume Ideas

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the awesome ladies at The Broke and the Bookish. Apparently, they are overly fond of list-making and love to share their bookish lists with the rest of us book nerds.  =) We're game.

This week's topic is the Top Ten Characters Who I Would Totally Want To Be For Halloween. Since we already did a post recommending spooky reads, we decided to go with book-inspired costumes for this week's Top Ten Tuesday post.

April's Picks:

Sydney

Wanda

 Anna

 Cassia

Lola

Jen's Picks:

I tend to go for costumes that are easily recognizable...I hate that awkward period where someone's trying to guess who you're supposed to be and then ends up guessing something that's vaguely insulting. But I've always wanted to dress like a character from a book, and I don't just mean Alice in Wonderland like my older sis always does. So, below I've picked some characters that I would love to dress up as if I didn't feel the need to worry about being identifiable.

I have always adored Audrey Hepburn, so yeah, this costume is tops on my want-to-be list.

LoveloveLOVE Veronica's snark. Always have. Always will. I think I'll probably rewatch the movie for the tenth time this week. =)

Chick is fierce, even in the face of certain death. Also, this is my favorite movie of EVAR!

Another fierce heroine to look up to. Also, that jacket looks like it has huge pockets for all that Halloween candy. =)

Are you sensing a pattern yet? :P Man, I don't just wish I could dress as Hermione...I want to be her.

Which bookish characters do you want to dress up as this Halloween? :D Be sure to share a link to your TTT post so we can visit!

Read More

Labels: characters we love, halloween, top ten tuesday

{Audiobook} Review: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

Title: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
Author: Holly Black
Series: Stand Alone
Narrator: Christine Lakin
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2013
Source: Borrowed Audio from Library
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in a decadently bloody mix of predator and prey. The only problem is, once you pass through Coldtown’s gates, you can never leave.

One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of this massacre are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them the only way she knows how: by going straight to the wicked, opulent heart of Coldtown itself.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a wholly original story of rage and revenge, of guilt and horror, and of love and loathing from bestselling and acclaimed author Holly Black.

This book was not even on my radar for the longest time. I read a few works by Black a few years back. It was the Modern Faerie Tales Trilogy. They were good, but not a favorite of mine so pretty much everything else I've seen her come out with, I've pushed to the bottom of my tbr list. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown though, Jen recommended, and when she recommends a book, I always like it. Most of the time I love it. 

In this case, it was definitely love. And she actually recommended I try the audio, and that was the best thing I ever did, but I'll get to that. First off, I want to talk about how freaking awesome this Vampire tale is. I loved the original spin on the creatures. Once you are bitten, you aren't necessarily turned. You are infected... but you can sweat it out.. as long as you can stay away from human blood. Neat right! It made for a totally different dynamic I think. 

The opening, whoa. This story opens up hard and keeps running. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. And there is gore. Lots of it. I can appreciate that, especially where vampires are concerned. I love the sparkly ones too, but it's nice to read about a more traditional version of the monsters. I really liked the whole coldtown thing too. So cool. 

Tana has to be one of the strongest female characters I have ever read about. And Gavriel is one sexy bad ass vamp. There is one particular kissing scene in here that had me swooning like crazy. So well written, I kept rewinding the audio and listening to it over and over. (does that make me a perv?) lol. Ahh, well.. :) 

Now to talk about the Audio. I have gained a few favorite Audiobooks over this year but The Coldest Girl in Coldtown blew it's way into those tops. Holy cow, this audio is good. Christine Lakin was incredible and then to top off her awesome narrating came all of the spooky music. SPOOKY MUSIC!!!! I was creeped out as it was, and then a really scary scene would come up and then a back track of music would come on, and it completely set the mood.

There is no better time to listen to this audio than now, with Halloween on our door step. And if you aren't into Audio, I saw that the kindle and nook versions are $2.99 at the moment. At least they were when I scheduled this a few hours ago. :) So check it out! So worth the money. Now I feel like I have to read some more stuff by Holly Black. 

About the author:

Holly Black is a best-selling author of contemporary fantasy novels for kids, teens, and
adults. She is the author of the Modern Faerie Tale series (Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside), The Spiderwick Chronicles (with Tony DiTerlizzi), and The Good Neighbors graphic novels (with Ted Naifeh) The Poison Eaters and Other Stories, a collection of short fiction, and The Curse Worker series (White Cat, Red Glove, and Black Heart). She is also the co-editor of three anthologies, Geektastic (with Cecil Castellucci), Zombies vs. Unicorns (with Justine Larbalestier), and Welcome to Bordertown (with Ellen Kushner). Her most recent works are the middle grade novel, Doll Bones, and the dark fantasy stand-alone, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown.
She lives in Massachusetts with her husband, Theo, in a house with a secret library.

Find Holly:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Read More

Labels: Audiobook, hachette, holly black, reviews, the coldest girl in coldtown, vampires

Stacking the Shelves #39

Stacking The Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews and is a way to share with everyone all the goodies you've received through out the week. 

Just click the covers to be taken to their goodreads pages. 

Purchased

 

I grabbed the kindle edition of this last week when it was on sale. I've listened to the audio and  it is fabulous. Slow book week! But that's good because I'm 11 books behind on my goodreads challenge. So sad. :( 

This weekend we had our Halloween Party. Every year we have one I never get a pic of the kids because it's crazyness in this house. Screaming girls galore. But I got some pics of the food. 

I can't believe Halloween is this coming week already! Do you have any spooky plans? 

Hope you all have a great week! 

Read More

Labels: stacking the shelves

The Weekend Update - 10.25.14

So, since my end-of-the-week post isn't just about what I got in my mailbox or on my Kindle each week -- though that is a big part of it, I won't lie -- I decided to change up the title and intro a bit.  I might tweak the format a bit over the next few weeks, but for the most part, it'll contain the same stuff: stuff I got, stuff I did, and stuff that's coming up on the blog.  Plus, I get to use the awesome GIF you see here and blow kisses to all the people who sent me lovely books and bookish things.  Oh, and I've started linking up to Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga's Reviews since I'm not using a specific meme title anymore.  April's also doing her own Stacking the Shelves posts on Sundays.  Stop by and say hi!  =)

So, Texas Teen Book Festival was kind of awesome. Ransom Riggs walked right by me as I was heading to the sales tent, and I momentarily forgot the camera around my neck and how to form coherent words and instead simply stared in open-mouthed awe as he strode passed. It's funny to me that you can chat online with authors day in and day out, but when it comes to meeting them in person, you freeze up. Or is that just me? :P

I headed out on Friday afternoon to ATX with this suitcase full of books to be signed by #TTBF14 authors. I'm glad my husband wasn't home when I packed because he already thinks I have a problem. (Wait till he notices the other stack of books that I purchased at the festival!)

It was a whirlwind of a trip, but I'm glad I went. It was my first time taking a road trip by myself, so I was a little nervous, especially with my car acting up right before I left, but it all worked out. And my sis and I went to a few different places that neither of us had ever been to before while I was in town, including Punch Bowl Social and Sway. (I love Thai food.)

The festival was a bit different from what I was expecting. I thought it would be indoors -- and the panels were held in ballrooms/auditoriums -- but the signings were all out in the parking lot at the university. In humid 90° Texas heat. And at first, there weren't even tents for the authors. I felt bad for them, stuck in one spot like that for an hour or so at a time. But they added little tents over each author awhile later. Still, everyone else waiting in line wasn't so lucky. The line for the book sales tent alone took me an hour and a half to get through. And before you say, "Jen, why didn't you bring books from home or buy them prior to the event?", please know that there's kind of an honor system in place, that for every three books you bring from home, you're expected to buy one from The Book People since they're a major sponsor of the festival. It all would have been fine if we hadn't stayed up drinking and catching up the night before and had gotten our asses to the festival and in line when it first started. Oh, well. It was my first year to attend...you live and learn, right?

I only managed to catch the "Danger is My Middle Name" panel with Sarah J. Maas, Marie Lu, Garth Nix, and Joelle Charbonneau, but it was the one I was most excited for anyway. It was extremely adorable to see Sarah flail and fangirl over being on the panel with Garth. She even brought the copy of Sabriel she's had since she was twelve with her for him to sign!

I would also like to point out that at this point, Kat turns to me and says, "I want whoever does their author photos to take my picture from now on. Those pictures up there are great, but they look nothing like the actual people on stage." Lol. I paraphrased, but that was the gist of what she whispered. =)

I'm going to be honest. I got nervous and flustered a lot and totally forgot to take pictures. I posted a few on Instagram, but I wish I'd taken way more, especially when I was meeting the authors. But I still have the memories of bumbling and acting like a genuine idiot, so there's that. :) I hope I have the opportunity to attend next year, especially knowing what I do now. And maybe after another year of blogging and online interactions, I can come across as less of a crazy person. ;0)

Anyway, here's what I scored this week:

For Review:

The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord (ARC) - LovedlovedLOVED her debut, Open Road Summer, which April and I buddy-read and reviewed earlier this year. I hope we get the chance to do the same with this book!

Save Me by Jenny Elliott (ARC) - This book sounds like a lot of relationship drama, romantic and otherwise, but there seems to be a lot of mystery and intrigue leading to all that drama. I just hope it's not too angsty. :P

A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray (finished copy) - I am so excited for another multiverse/parallel worlds book! I need more of these in my life. And I've heard good things about this book, which has me doubly excited. And if I'm not mistaken, it's my first book by this author.


The Body Electric by Beth Revis (Netgalley) - I still need to read the last book in her sci-fi series, but I think this one is kind of supposed to be what's happening on Earth while Amy and Elder are travelling across the universe -- ha, see what I did there? -- and I love that it focuses on memory and seems like more of a psychological thriller. I can't wait to start it!

And I got these lovelies from Macmillan Kids. I can't wait to share these with Katie and then Aubrey & April so we can do another feature review with them! :)

Purchased:

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater - I already read, loved, and reviewed this third book in The Raven Cycle, but I had to have a gorgeous, signed, doodled-in copy from Fountain Bookstore. I always pre-order Maggie's books from there, so all of mine match. :) My Maggie shelf will never be complete, but I do love to see it grow:

(Ugh. I had a whole rant typed up because Fountain Bookstore neglected to put the suite number on my address, so even though the package showed as delivered by the USPS on Thursday, it was floating around the building somewhere and no one seemed to have a clue where it is. Until Friday at 4:10pm. If I hadn't had to stay at work late thanks to my boss, I wouldn't have gotten it until Monday. Grr. So far, I've seen about a 75% failure rate with this bookstore. If it weren't for the fact that I really love my Maggie-doodled books, I'd cease doing business with them. I'm all for supporting independent bookstores, but not to the point that I'll suffer bad customer service.)

I also purchased a ton of books at the #TTBF14 but I'll have to show those off next week...I'm too lazy to pull them back off the shelves and photograph them right now. :P

So, that's my haul. How about you? What did you get this week?

The Week in Review:

Reviews:

• This Night So Dark - novella (Jen)
• Rites of Passage - audio (Jen)
• Not in the Script (Jen)
• The Jewel - audio (Jen)

Current Giveaways: 

Promotional/Discussion Posts:  

• Kiddie Fall Favorites #1 - April & Aubrey share their favorite Halloween stories
• Series We Want to Start - the top series we hope to get to someday soon
• Tea Time with Ellie Marney - the Every Breath Blog Tour stops by
• Waiting on Wednesday - this week we're waiting on Crimson Bound & Things We Know By Heart

Jen's Currently Reading/Listening To:

It's happening!!! I haven't been in a reading slump, per se, but I haven't exactly read anything truly enthralling in a little while. I know this will be the book to change all that. My sister's been recapping me on Dark Triumph while she reads it, so I'm ready for this book now.

I really enjoyed Tucker's Ten Tiny Breaths series, and I'm kinda going to miss it. I'm not sure this new book will help with the pain, since it seems like another emotional read, but I'm willing to try. :) The audio will probably make it even worse...lol.

Upcoming Reviews:

Like honest reviews & giveaways?  Be sure to follow us on Bloglovin' so you never miss out!

Read More

Labels: in my mailbox (imm), stacking the shelves, the weekend update