all hearthfires & holocausts

I find myself fascinated by BDSM stories, though often more intrigued and entertained by the psychological aspects than the sexual. Unfortunately, most BDSM fiction is shallow at best, abusive at worst, and leaves me rolling my eyes and wishing I hadn't started yet another disappointing attempt at the new erotic trend.BEYOND EDEN, while far from perfect, explored the dynamics between slave and Master, and the lengths to which a Dominant will go to please and protect his submissive. The relationship between Danny, Evie, and Paul, while codependent to an unhealthy degree, was more interesting than any other BDSM book I've read. The emotional spectrum explored--from the needs of a masochist, to the chameleon-like role of a Master, to the new initiate, to the switch, to simply lovers, and the implications of admitting your chosen lifestyle--held a depth I've rarely read in this genre. I'll definitely be reading more from this author.

It was refreshing to read a BDSM erotica that featured a heroine already familiar with the lifestyle, and cognizant of her needs. I was so thankful to see the clear demarcation between what is abusive and what is a safe, sane, and consensual form of BDSM, when so many others in this genre have blurred the line to make it almost unrecognizable. And although I'm not an expert al all, it seemed a bit more realistic than anything else I've read.However, the writing itself was very clunky, and the dialogue completely unnatural. I think the story would have been more interesting without the focus on the melodramatic side plot.

Win a signed hardcover of ELEANOR & PARK by Rainbow Rowell on The Midnight Garden!Part of me wants to quote the entirety of John Green's NYT review of Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell and just call it a day, because he said everything I'm thinking anyway.But I'll just echo this: you've read this book before. You've read the Misfit Boy meets the New Girl With Issues story before. You know the Big Girl Finds Love book by heart. You've read all about The Struggles of the Minority Boy in Middle America. But you've never read it quite like this before.Set during one school year in 1986, Eleanor & Park is a revelation of what YA contemporary can be. It's gritty. It's foul-mouthed. It's awkward. It's real. There are no great philosophical speeches showcasing their elevated vocabularies. Neither of them do anything particularly special. Except love each other in such an ordinary way it makes you remember just exactly how extraordinarily, wonderfully painful that feeling of first love is.If he were to look up now, he’d know exactly how stupid she was. She could feel her face go soft and gummy. If Park were to look up at her now, he’d know everything.He didn’t look up. He wound the scarf around his fingers until her hand was hanging in the space between them. Then he slid the silk and his fingers into her open palm.And Eleanor disintegrated.---Holding Eleanor’s hand was like holding a butterfly. Or a heartbeat. Liking holding something complete, and completely alive.The build between Eleanor and Park is so quiet, so gradual, every tiny development is like a thunderclap shattering a still night. I want to fold up every hard-fought, hard-won word between them and carry them around in my pocket for safekeeping. (And their fragile, earnest little hearts, too.)I feel at once as though I could go on forever about this book, but I want you to experience it for yourself. (I feel bad even posting that quote.) I want you to experience every moment of tension, or hesitancy, of joy. Of pain, and fear, and bravado. I want you to feel their strength and their passion. I want you to feel UNSETTLED. And then, when you’re all done and are bursting to talk to someone about how much you loved it, I want you to come find me so we can discuss what is probably the most romantic line I’ve ever read. Sigh.

2.5 stars. Interesting premise that started strong, but eventually petered out with flimsy explanations that did not suspend disbelief in the slightest, and romantic moments that felt forced and out of place amid the life-or-death setting.

This review posted on The Midnight Garden. A harrowing sci-fi thriller about a teen who's survived horrors but lost her memory, for fans of Veronica Roth, Stephen King, and Justin Cronin.When I read that description, I actually groaned. Comparing anything to those authors is just as bad as every new dystopian being coined the next Hunger Games; it nearly always sets up the reader for disappointment. What could possibly live up to those standards?Well, Arclight kind of... does. It's got the dystopian feel of Divergent, the King creep-factor, and a serving of government experiment gone horribly wrong courtesy of Cronin. Marina woke up in the Arclight hospital, with no memory of how she got there. All she knows is what she's been told: they found her in the Grey, hiding from the Fades, and brought her back to the compound. She doesn't know who she is, or where she came from before that--no one does. The Arclight trains its children to fear the dark, but I can't fear the familiar. Darkness is all I know, and the passing weeks don't change that. I don't remember a world before the fluke of my survival was deemed a miracle.I don't feel like a miracle. I feel like a scared and lost little girl who doesn't remember her way home. As far as anyone in the Arclight knows, they're the only remaining survivors of the Fade, the vicious parasites who live in the dark and prey on humans, using their bodies as hosts. Or are they? When a Fade is captured and brought into the compound for observation and research, Marina senses that not everything is what it seems.Arclight is full of twists and turns, and while I did figure out where we were headed fairly early on, the end was still a surprise for me, which is hard to accomplish. McQuein built a solid world, and gave a depth to her characters that had me consistently changing my opinions. But what I enjoyed more than anything was the grey area she developed between good and evil, right and wrong. Dystopian/post-apocalyptic stories were what first drew me to YA, and my interest has yet to wane. But even so, I've been tiring of the same post-war/natural disaster, or social experiment gone wrong scenarios. With the addition of a sci-fi element, Arclight brings a refreshing change to the genre--one that tip-toes over the line of plausibility, but still has you asking yourself what if?

Charlotte Stein's characters are always a little (a lot) weird, and I can't figure out if I love her books because or in spite of that. I love her completely unstructured narrative style, and the way she can make laugh and squirm at the same time.

:(

Great premise I'd love to see explored with more nuance from a defter hand. This was very clunky.

Things I know About The Reece Malcolm List:1) It will make you laugh.2) If you are at all into musical theatre, it will make you sing. If you’re not into it, it’ll probably give you the urge to check it out.3) It will make you want to go to LA (even if you live in Southern California, and hate the traffic, like me).4) It will make you a little giddy.5) It will make you cry. (But mostly in the happy way.)This might be my favorite read of 2013, so far. I went in with zero expectations, but finished with cheeks that ached and were sporting a few tear trickles. Devan grew up in St. Louis with her dad and stepmother, knowing absolutely nothing of her mother--not even her name. It wasn’t until she happened upon one of her mother’s books with the dedication made out to her, that she began to suspect. And research.When her dad dies unexpectedly and she’s shipped off to LA to live with her stranger of a mother, she knows exactly five things:1. She graduated from New York University.2. She lives in or near Los Angeles.3. Since her first novel was released, she’s been on the New York Times bestseller list every week.4. She likes strong coffee and bourbon.5. She’s my mother.Things with Devan and Reece are awkward at first. Reece has no idea how to be a mom, and Devan has no idea how to relate to her famous, and a little abrasive mother. The only bright spot is her mother figuring out she’s into musical theatre, and enrolling her in a fancy performing arts high school.Which is pretty big for her. She’s always had a natural talent and affinity for performing, but going to school with other kids just as passionate as she is is a new for her. She’s used to being part of a small niche of geeks on campus--but now her entire school is made up of people just like her.And she’s one of the best.She expects to be treated with jealousy and bitterness for being the talented new kid, but instead finds she has friends almost immediately--another first for her. As is the fact that the seriously beautiful (and yet seriously nice) Sai, a fellow new kid, even talks to her, let alone pursues her friendship. While she finds her place in school, she and Reece begin to find their place together as well. Devan soon finds herself comfortable, if not on her way to actual happiness. Until she learns something about her mother that could break the tenuous bonds they’ve begun to forge.I really loved the relationships Amy Spalding created here. Devan isn’t the damaged, angry mourner I expected. She’s a lot awkward, and a little self-involved, both of which I found refreshingly accurate for a sixteen year old. And Reece may be a thirty-two year old famous author, but she’s almost as clueless as her daughter. She isn’t the absent, negligent parent we see in most YAs--she’s just not really sure how to go about being a mom. But she’s trying, and I liked watching them dance around one another until they found their rhythm.I loved the musical theatre focus, and can see it appealing to fans of Glee, even if they aren’t into theater. And although I think some may be turned off by Devan’s voice, as it’s very teenage girl, I found it endearing and authentic. (But maybe that’s just because I live in Southern California and have never quite outgrown the Valley Girl in me.)“Knowing they’re in, like, True Love is a weird thing to comprehend. I feel a weird surge of happiness for them, along with a lame zap of jealousy that I could have made it to sixteen without any boys even wanting to kiss me. Also, ugh, really? Dad is dead and my long-lost mother would have totally preferred to stay long-lost, and I’m feeling sorry for myself about boys?” Devan has the voice, and the wants / fears / dreams of a normal sixteen year old, but doesn’t come across superficial or vapid. Just real.I found The Reece Malcolm List very reminiscent of Anna and the French Kiss in some ways, which is about the highest praise I can give a contemporary YA. It’s not as swoony as Anna, as the main focus isn’t on the romance (though the romance is there, and it is swoony), but it left me with the same giddy, happy feeling as Anna did. Which is pretty much my favorite way to end a book. The Reece Malcolm List is Amy Spalding's debut novel, and will be followed up this December with Ink is Thicker Than Water, which sounds equally fun.

3.5 stars. Found some elements overdone, or unbelievable, but all in all a fast-paced story that brought up interesting ethical questions of what constitutes humanity.

2.5 stars.A great idea, poorly executed. Flat, overly telling writing, poor pacing, and a convoluted plot that never quite made sense to me.

2.5 stars.I'm not sure I know what to say about this one. While I was only mildly impressed with Delirium, and found Lena to be a weak and indecisive character, I was incredibly impressed with her development in Pandemonium. Lena grew into a strong, determined character, with a cause far greater than somewhat ordinary teenage love. In Requiem all the momentum built in Pandemonium was halted. Despite the all out war brewing between the Regulators and the Invalids, the main focus of the story was Lena's feelings for Alex and Julian--which changed every other chapter or so. I found Requiem to be incredibly flat and boring, even with the many fighting scenes. They all seemed recycled, and took a backseat to Lena's dithering about the two boys. And the ending? The nicest word I have for it is abrupt. All in all, a disappointing conclusion to a promising series.Lena spent the entire story thinking about Alex. How she felt about him. How he might feel for her. How he felt for someone else. Meanwhile, she's still stringing Julian along, one minute running into his arms, the next emasculating him in front of their entire group. It was obvious she didn't respect Julian, and was using him to make Alex jealous, or to make herself feel better when Alex shunned her.And despite having maybe two actual conversations in the entire book, neither of which what you might call nice, when Alex says he still loves her that's it? That's the end of the whole story? The happy ending? We don't even get to see what happens with Julian, if he lives or dies? What happens with the Resistance? Nope. Alex and Lena are back together, so obviously everything's gonna be fine.

This review also appears on The Midnight Garden.I wasn't really sure what I was in for when I started Mind Games. I'd only read the first in Kiersten White's Paranormalcy series, and while it was cute with great world-building, it wasn't enough to get me invested in finishing the rest of the series. Evie just felt so young. (You know. Like how young sixteen year olds are, compared to a wizened spinster of 30...)But, you guys? Fia is no Evie. Not even close."The moment he bends over to help the sorrow-eyed spaniel puppy, I know I won't be able to kill him.This, of course, ruins my entire day."Sophia (Fia) is a trained assassin. A spy. A thief. She is whatever Keane needs her to be; an indentured villain with perfect instincts she doesn't always understand, but always follows. And she will never, ever be able to escape.Because if she tries, they'll hurt Annie, her sister who is blind to everything but the future. Her sister who is the reason they're trapped in the Keane Foundation anyway, whose abilities were the reason they were invited to the school after their parents' death. The reason they stayed even when Fia's instincts told her to run fast and far away from it.So, she has to kill this boy. Adam. She has to do it or they'll hurt her sister. But she can't. She can't kill the boy who is sweet to a puppy, who looks at her like she's a real girl without blood on her hands. Like she's clean and sweet, and maybe he wants to touch her.He wouldn't want to touch her if he knew.She can't kill him. So she follows her perfect instincts to hide him instead. And...well, that's about all I can tell you without spoilers.But I can tell you it's twisted and dark. It's sexy and violent--much more so than I would have previously expected from White. And it's sad. What impressed me the most about Mind Games was Fia's pain. Her absolute self-loathing and reluctance, even when she is vicious and ruthless. She hates herself, and part of her hates Annie too, but she'll do anything--anything--to protect her sister.I think some might be turned off by the structure and style of this book, though I happened to really enjoy it. It's told from both Annie and Fia's point of views, shifting back and forth from past to present. Fia's narrative style is a bit stream-of-consciousness-ish, which can be hard to follow, but I found it a perfect representation of how unhinged she is.And for me, Fia's borderline insanity is what makes the story live up to its title--well, that and the ending. Which was less a mind game and more a mind *expletive*.Mind Games was a fascinating and frenetic read, and I can't wait to see what White has in store for its sequel.

3.5 stars.I found SECRET to be an emotionally engaging and fun erotic read, and a very refreshing divergence from the Dominate Male Seducing the Weaker Female trend in recent romance and erotica. I'd like to see more written in this vein.

2.5 starsWhile I enjoyed the premise of PIVOT POINT very much--I loved the idea of a secret city housing a mentally advanced population with X-Men-esque abilities--I found it ultimately lacking in execution. The plot was buried for nearly 80% of the book, focusing instead on Addie's relationship with two different boys, and football conspiracies. I kept waiting for the actual story to start, but I suppose in the end that WAS the story--just not the one I was expecting given the summary, or frankly, would have ever chosen to read.

DNF.This is not for me, unfortunately. I found the writing flat and overly expository; all 10 chapters I got through were full of paragraph upon paragraph of info dump, and Tell. I hope the story becomes more engaging further on, but I have no interest in reading at this point, I'm sorry to say.