Paranormal – Page 7 – My Good Reads

‘Freeks’ – Amanda Hocking

Sadly, this just didn’t get me as I’d like it to have done.

Mara is a necromancer and she travels as part of a Traveling Circus that has fallen on hard times. She dreams of living a normal life, one where she doesn’t have to worry about strange events. When the circus moves to the small town of Caudry it looks as though she’ll get her wish…at least initially.

The world of the circus was well-depicted and the characters we were introduced to intrigued me. They were a close-knit group thought it was clear that many of them were hiding secrets, sometimes for reasons that made little sense.

I couldn’t understand the haste with which characters occasionally fall for each other, and Mara’s relationship with local-boy Gabe had me on edge from the start. I’m pleased I was so off in my thoughts on where it was going with regard to the relationship, but the supernatural elements to this felt rather like they came out of nowhere.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance read and though it wasn’t exactly leaving me desperate to encourage others to read it, it will have its fair share of fans.

‘Demon Road 3:American Monsters’ -Derek Landy

In the third in the series, Amber and Milo are on the trail of her parents – while also trying to work out how to double-cross the demon Astaroth.

While I find the relationship between Milo and Amber fun, and there are some great humorous scenes here, I do feel that a lot of the violence is unnecessary and this detracts from the good elements of the book (sorry to those fans who are, no doubt, cursing me now).

As we watch Amber’s journey we see her relationships with a number of characters develop in rather unexpected ways. Unfortunately, there were just one too many incidental journeys/events that meant this felt a little dragged-out to me.

Towards the end, as we started to explore Amber’s reaction to events, I felt we got back on track. Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in advance of publication, but I’ve felt less engaged with this series as it’s progressed and it’s a shame as it started so well.

‘Carmilla’ – J. Sheridan Le Fanu

Carmilla

‘Carmilla’ is a short, yet strangely satisfying, novella that serves as a precursor to Gothic favourite ‘Dracula’.

In Le Fanu’s story we see the seduction of Laura, the young Englishwoman who lives in a remote scholss in Austria, by Carmilla. This strange young woman appears – seemingly out of nowhere – and is taken in by Laura’s father. Carmilla is not what she seems, and Laura is convinced she met her many years ago in a dream. Cue what have become vampiric favourites: the night-time visit; the bite; the yearning for a forbidden love; the wasting away and the sense of repressed sexuality.

While the style is rather melodramatic now, I was intrigued by Le Fanu’s attempt to explore distinctly antisocial feelings for the time in which he was writing. While I understand why he didn’t focus on the relationship between Carmilla and Laura, there was a part of me that wanted to know how that relationship would resolve itself.

‘The Darkest Part of the Forest’ – Holly Black

The Darkest Part of the Forest

Hazel and her brother Ben have always been drawn to the faerie world, and there are mysteries surrounding them that get revealed as time passes. Their hometown of Fairfold is a rather unusual place, and people there are unusually accepting of the odd things that occur.

Since they were children, Ben and Hazel have both been in love with the horned prince who sleeps in a glass coffin in the woods. His faerie past is guaranteed to cause trouble, but Hazel is convinced that she has the skills needed to stop this.
When the horned prince is released from his glass coffin it’s clear that the Alderking is determined to reclaim his own. Hazel and Ben get caught up in a series of unusual events in order to try and restore peace to their town.

This is fairly typical Holly Black fare. If you are a fan, you will find much to like about this book although I did feel that things were not always well-linked.

‘The Creeping Shadow’ – Jonathan Stroud

The Creeping Shadow

I can’t believe that we’re onto the fourth in the series already, but I’m very pleased to see Lockwood and Co return even though their circumstances have changed a little.

Stroud quickly recaps the events of the last novel, and we can see Lucy is trying her hardest to manage without Lockwood, George and Holly. Things are not going brilliantly though, and it doesn’t take long before we get into the inevitable situation where the group have to come back together in the interests of solving a paranormal investigation.

The humour in this was to the fore, which seems an odd thing to say in a book that does have quite a gruesome element to it. This was a cracking story and I honestly cannot wait for the final part of the series.

‘Girl of Nightmares’ – Kendare Blake

Girl of Nightmares

I’d really enjoyed ‘Anna Dressed in Blood’ and was keen to see how Blake moved things on in the sequel. Desperate to find out what happened to Anna, I have to say I felt a bit disappointed by this.

Though it’s been months since Anna made the decision to support Cas in the way she did, he remains unable to forget the love of his life. I felt the opening part of the novel focused on Cas mooning around, not really doing very much. In spite of the fact that Cas’s best friends, Thomas and Carmel, have joined him, his inability to forget Anna is causing problems.

At this point we are introduced to The Order, a shadowy group with their own agenda, who offer to help track the Obeahman and help Cas work out what is going on.

There were some great scenes within the book – the Suicide Forest was genuinely creepy, and the scene between Anna and Cas after the fight was touching – but, on the whole, this was not as good as I’d hoped it would be. For too much of the time my attention was wandering and that’s never a great recommendation.

‘Forget Tomorrow’ – Pintip Dunn

Forget Tomorrow

In this futuristic society once a person gets to their seventeenth birthday they are sent a vision – a memory sent from their future self, which is then used to help people make decisions in their present life. The context of the memory is not given, but it forms a crucial role in shaping the treatment someone receives from that point forwards.

Unfortunately, in Callie’s vision she sees herself murder her sister, Jessamine, and she is then imprisoned. With the help of family friend Logan, who is the somewhat inevitable love interest, Callie escapes and so begins the frantic race to change the course of the future.

As I was reading I was reminded of any number of science-fiction novels/films, but the story was just different enough to keep me interested. The interaction between the characters was interesting, but the thing that really got me curious to read the next instalment in the series was the ending. I did not see that coming!

Thank you to publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in advance of publication.

‘Nothing Tastes As Good’ – Claire Hennessy

Nothing Tastes as Good

Released in July 2016, this novel by Claire Hennessy has come in for criticism with some reviewers who dislike the sentiments expressed about body image and size. Perhaps I’m missing something, but the blurb hints strongly at the nature of the illness our main character, Annabel, has been living with. I think it’s unnecessarily provocative to seize on the thoughts and ideas she has (which are the product of her illness) and to see them as representative of the author’s views. Indeed, in response to me asking Claire Hennessy on Goodreads what she felt about those readers who had been critical of this novel she had this to say:

Hennessy quote

Annabel, our main character, is dead. As a ghost desperate for further contact with her family she is asked to complete an assignment. Her assignment involves helping someone she used to go to school with – Julia. Initially, Annabel is not told how she has to help Julia and it was a little confusing trying to work out just how the girls were linked and what Annabel would be required to do.

What I loved from the start was the way Hennessy portrayed the character of Annabel. Comments about her personal health and circumstances, and her comments about Julia and other girls she has met, suggest that Annabel is not quite as healthy and strong-minded as she believes herself to be. The gradual revelation of the extent to which Annabel and those around her have been affected by her anorexia was powerful.

Although Annabel is the main character, Julia’s role in the novel is equally important. Through Julia, Hennessy sensitively explores a number of issues that impact on many teenage girls today.

This is, in my view, a brave book and one that I feel any teenager – or adult working with teenagers – should be encouraged to read.

‘Shadow Kiss’ – Richelle Mead

Shadow Kiss

Third in the series, we begin the novel seeing the impact that Mason’s death has had on Rose and her peers. Everyone seemed to have lost their way, but with the Strigoi attacking in ways that nobody has seen before it was evident that something unusual would have to happen.

Watching Rose suffer the guilt she feels at surviving the attack was uncomfortable reading. Her flashbacks and visions suggests dark times are ahead. The only ‘fun’ that was apparent in this part of the series was the moments describing the field experience, where Rose is placed in charge of keeping Christian safe. There were some genuine laugh-out-loud moments here.

Of course, I was keen to see what would come of Rose’s crush on Dimitri. We already know that they fancy each other, but Dimitri is determined to show control and do the right thing. All I can say is I spent most of the novel hoping he would change his mind!

A number of characters were introduced, and it was interesting to see Rose’s relationship with her mother develop. While I understand the necessity of what happens towards the end of the novel, it did not make me happy…at all!

Part of me feels that as an adult I should know better than to get so caught up in a series such as this. However, it was a belter of a novel and Mead certainly delivers plenty to keep you interested and make you want to keep reading.

‘Frostbite’ – Richelle Mead

The second in the Vampire Academy series, I think this is one of those novels that you’ll either love or hate.

In some ways it reminded me of the House of Night series by P.C. and Kristin Cast. You have a tightly-knit group of students struggling to get on with their peers, a rather strong-minded female ‘leader’ and more than one or two males that she is interested in, vampires and problems with those in authority.

Ignoring the obvious similarities with other YA novels I have to say that I found the first in the series quite entertaining.

‘Frostbite’ picks up quite soon after the events of the first novel. Rose is still struggling to deal with her feelings for Dimitri, and she remains worried about Lissa. There are some nasty attacks by Strigori and the Moroi are worried – but nobody is quite sure what the best course of action will be.

Rose spends a large amount of the book sulking and being a bit of a bratty teenager. She resents her mother and the focus she has shown for her work. She dilsikes the fact that Dimitri seems immune to her charms and is talking about getting close to someone else. She is jealous of the closeness between Lissa and Christian, and she spends far too much time toying with the emotions of those around her.

However, once Rose gets to actually do something she is much more appealing. Not an awful lot actually happens in this novel, but there is a very real sense of lots of small pieces of a puzzle being put in place ready for what comes later. Rose gets the opportunity to show her potential towards the end of the novel, and you start to get a sense of how she will grow and develop over the course of the series. It also helped that Dimitri admitted to having feelings for her (which would definitely keep the majority of teen readers happy).