ARC Book Review: The Blood Keeper by Tessa Gratton

Title: The Blood Keeper
Author: Tessa Gratton
Publisher: Random House
Release Date: August 28, 2012
Rating: 2/5

Cover Impressions: On it's own, this cover might have been ok.  The imagery is nice, the colors work well together and the runes invite further examination.  But when compared with the cover for its predecessor, it is less than impressive.  I do not like it when the covers of a series do not fit with each other and this certainly does not fit with the gloriously gothic and unique cover for Blood Magic.

The Gist: Mab Prowd has been raised to be the Deacon of her family's blood land.  Magic to her is as natural as breathing and she has dedicated her life to the practice.  When she stumbles across Will Sanger and inadvertently allows him a glimpse into this world, Will finds both beauty and terror and Mab finds herself embroiled in the fight of her life.

Review: During the first half of The Blood Keeper I was disinterested but I couldn't quite pin down why.  The characters were ok, the writing was ok, the premise was ok.  As I continued, the fact that I neither loved nor hated ANYTHING got to be more and more annoying.  When I read Blood Magic, I was a little underwhelmed, but I gave points for originality and willingness to be a little more dark and delve into the nitty gritty of sacrifice in exchange for power.  However, with the second book in the series, these things are simply not enough.  This time, I expected strong characters, an exciting plot and some serious magic.  I did not get these things.

The Blood Keeper does not follow the same characters as Blood Magic.  Instead, we meet Mab - a child raised to be keeper of the land and master of magic and Will - a regular kid from a nearby town.  That's right, that is all I have to say about Will.  There is really nothing special about him that I could see and the time spent developing his family drama bored me to tears.  His family is suffering from the loss of their middle son to a car crash and the return of their oldest from Afghanistan.  This is the perfect backdrop for some moving scenes and serious character development.  However, that is not what we get.  Instead we have to suffer through Will's whining about how everyone wants him to join the Marines and his incredibly tame arguments with his parents.  Mab is only slightly more interesting, though she spends an inordinate amount of time discussing her love for the land and mooning over Will.  I did enjoy her quirkiness and lack of concern with how she is viewed by the more mainstream families (and teens) in town.  

While this is not exactly a sequel to Blood Magic, I would have appreciated some re-cap so that I could remember who the other characters were (they appeared as minor characters, popping in and out of the story).  As it was, I actually went back and re-read the last few chapters of Blood Magic and found that that helped me re-orient myself.  The narration switches between Mab, Will and Evelyn.  Evelyn's story is told through letters to Arthur, the former Deacon, and the change in narration style is a little jarring.  For their part, Will and Mab blended a little too well.  If I was away from the book for a time, it was difficult to tell who was speaking without going back to the beginning of the narration change.

The plot seemed to be split between three problems 1) The repercussions from Will's encounter with Mab's spell 2) Will's issues regarding his parent's desire for him to join the marines and 3) Lucas' curse from his father.  Both 1 and 2 seem to be resolved by the end of the book but 3 simply got a band-aid solution.  It bothered me that there wasn't further momentum on this issue, but perhaps it will be further explored in a third book?  I also felt that the plot seemed to get bogged down in ridiculously long magical preparation, from planning, to gathering ingredients, to prepping the area - only to culminate in a lackluster spell with very little in the way of excitement.

By the end of this book, I found myself skimming the pages.  I cared enough about the characters that I wanted to see what happened to them, but not nearly enough to put up with pages and pages of Gratton's flowery prose.  The Blood Keeper did not provide the emotional or entertainment pay-off that I was expecting and I do not think I will hang in there for a third in the series.

Teaching/Parental Notes:

Age: 15 and up
Gender: Female
Sex: Kissing
Violence: Bloodletting, Knifeplay, Poisoning, Violence towards animals
Inappropriate Language: Dick, FUBAR, Bullshit, Bitch, Douchebag, Shit
Substance Use/Abuse: Underage Drinking

Stacking the Shelves (8)

Stacking The Shelves hosted by Tynga's Reviews.  It is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

EARCS I Got This Week:

   
Books Bought This Week:

Feature & Follow Friday (10) - I'm Featured!

Feature & Follow is hosted by Parajunkee & Alison Can Read

I am so excited that I am featured this week!! Thank you Parajunkee & Alison Can Read!

For those new visitors, I am a teacher and mom who loves to inspire young readers and to talk books with pretty much anyone.  I read mostly YA but throw in an adult novel or two every now and then.  I hope everyone enjoys their visit to my little slice of the internet.

This week's question is:

Q: Do your reading habits change based on your mood? Do you read a certain genre if you are feeling depressed or happy?

My reading habits definitely change based on my mood and whether or not I am working.  They also change based on the season.  During the summer, I love light, interesting reads that keep me coming back for more.  In the September, when I head back to work, I find my reading slowing down since I am so tired at the end of the day and need a really engrossing read to keep me going.  October leaves me craving creepy novels (and I sometimes save some special reads for this time) and the winter months are when I usually move from YA to the longer, and often more demanding, adult novels that have been languishing away on the bottom of my to-be-read pile.  And sometimes, within the seasons, it is my moods themselves that help me choose my next book.  If I am lonely or depressed, I look for comfort - usually through re-reading an old favorite or picking up something humorous.  Feeling happy tends to make me reach for Magical Realism where I know I can find a light romance and a little magic.   

I always find it really interesting in January to go back through my books on GoodReads over the previous year and see the changes from season to season and mood to mood.  

  If you want the whole Reading Between Classes experience, feel free to follow me on Twitter and Goodreads.  I can't wait to read all of your responses!  

ARC Book Review: The Stone Girl by Alyssa B. Sheinmel

Title: The Stone Girl
Author: Alyssa B, Sheinmel
Publisher: Random House
Release Date: August 28, 2012
Rating: 2/5

Cover Impressions: I do not believe that this cover would stand out on a shelf.  It is not particularly unique.  As for connection with the plot, the cover model doesn't look unhealthy or troubled and her expression does not evoke much of anything in the viewer.

The Gist: Sethie Weiss is determined.  Determined to be the perfect, sort-of girlfriend for Shaw.  Determined to ace the SAT and have her pick of colleges.  Determined to control her body and watch the number on the scale drop lower and lower.  She suffers from body dis-morphia and examines the other females around her, noting their perfect bodies and lamenting her own flaws.  Sethie revels in feeling hungry and will resort to any means necessary to get rid of every last ounce of fat. 

Review: The Stone Girl offers a glimpse into the mind of a girl not yet in the extreme danger zone but still, suffering from some major body (and self esteem) issues.  While the book tackles a very serious and important issue, I don't feel that it accomplished anything that hasn't already been achieved by its predecessors.

The writing itself is very choppy and the sentence structure just doesn't work.  The author seems to have an aversion to pronouns and sprinkles each paragraph with an abundance of names

"Sometimes he calls Sethie's father, who lives in California, for the money, as though it's the absence of a man that's making Rebecca late.  But Sethie knows that like Shaw, Rebecca can't always be hampered by dates and times.  Though her lateness isn't smooth the way Shaw's is.  Rebecca's lateness is always messy, choppy, harried.  Sethie knows the landlord would love an excuse to evict the tenants of 12A, Rebecca and her daughter, Sethie, the quiet girl who no one would have guessed might be a troublemaker."

This quirk is very jarring and interrupts the flow of the writing.  I also question the choice of third person narrative for this subject matter.  It is difficult to truly get inside Sethie's head and near impossible to see any type of growth by the novel's end.  Were we able to experience more closely with her, we might have gotten a better understanding of the way her mind works.

As a character, Sethie is not particularly likeable.  We are constantly reminded that she is smart, but never get to see this in action and instead are forced to watch as she makes a myriad of bad decisions and lets herself be led around by the males in her life.  I think I might have preferred the story if it had begun prior to Sethie's involvement with Shaw.  That way, we could have seen her as a determined (if damaged) individual and would have been able to lament at her downward spiral.  I did enjoy her budding friendship with Jane but the character seems to serve no other purpose.  The other secondary characters are pretty forgettable, in fact, I had to keep going back in order to remember their names and Sethie's mom plays the chiche absentee parent who doesn't seem to have a clue what is going on with her daughter (or at least doesn't have the guts to do anything about it).

Despite these issues, the book was a sold 3 stars for me.  That is, up until the ending.  I don't want to give too much away, but it was simply too easy.  Nothing had happened to make me believe that Sethie was about to take a step in the right direction and even her mother didn't make any brave moves toward saving her daughter.

As a final note, several times throughout the novel, Sethie mentions how lectures, books and articles on the subject of Anorexia and Bulimia had served as instruction manuals.

 "Sethie is reading a memoir by a girl who was both anorexic and bulimic.  She gets some good ideas from it ..."

"The only thing Sethie had ever gotten from these articles is tips on how to be better at dieting"

This is a personal fear that I have in putting books like these in my classroom.  The last thing that I want to do is further aid a student in their self-destruction.

Due to the content and sexual nature, I would not recommend this book to my students and would probably steer them towards a book on anorexia that had more in the way of characterization.

Teaching/Parental Notes:

Age: 16 and up
Gender: Female
Sex: Described, but not graphically.
Violence: Self-harm
Inappropriate Language: Bitch, Ass, Fuck, Jesus Christ, Asshole
Substance Use/Abuse: Cigarette Smoking, Pot Smoking, Use of Cocaine, Underage Drinking

Stuff for Book Nerds: Harry Potter Wizards Collection

I have been waiting for a fantastic box set of all the Harry Potter movies since the first one came out and boy did they deliver.

With a ton of extras and hidden compartments it is a Harry Potter Fan's dream.

However, at $350.00 and with no special occasions between now and Christmas it may just stay a dream for me!

Waiting on Wednesday (15)

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is: The Ghost of Graylock by Dan Poblocki which is due to be released on August 1st. 

Everyone’s heard the stories about Graylock Hall.

It was meant to be a place of healing—a hospital where children and teenagers with mental disorders would be cared for and perhaps even cured. But something went wrong. Several young patients died under mysterious circumstances. Eventually, the hospital was shut down, the building abandoned and left to rot deep in the woods.

As the new kid in town, Neil Cady wants to see Graylock for himself. Especially since rumor has it that the building is haunted. He’s got fresh batteries in his flashlight, a camera to document the adventure, and a new best friend watching his back.

Neil might think he’s prepared for what he’ll find in the dark and decrepit asylum. But he’s certainly not prepared for what follows him home . . .

I love ghost stories.  The premise for this one seems like classic "don't read right before going to bed" nightmare fodder.  I LOVE the cover image, it is beyond creepy.  I may have to try and hold off on this one in order to enjoy it right around Halloween.

First Lines: July 2012

The first words you read can often set the tone for the entire story.  I thought it would be fun to keep track of the first lines of the books I read each month and share them with you.  Below are the first lines for all the books I read in June.

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

"By the time Jazz got to the field outside town, yellow police tape was everywhere, strung from stake to stake in a sort of drunken, off-kilter hexagon." 

The Kitchen Witch by Annette Blair

"Logan Kilgarven plucked a bright red leaf off the sleek black hearse in his neighbor's driveway." 

A Year In Provence by Peter Mayle

"The year began with lunch." 

Scarlett Dedd by Cathy Brett

"I am dead and there's nothing I can do about it."

Rape Girl by Alina Klein

"The police already knew about the party."

The Stone Girl by Alyssa B. Sheinmel

"It is September in New York City and Sarah Beth Weiss has just turned seventeen."

The Blood Keeper by Tessa Gratton

"This is a love letter.  And a confession." 

Even White Trash Zombies Get The Blues by Diana Rowland

"'So you hiding a body in here or sumthin?'"

 Deadly Cool by Gemma Halliday

"There are three things you never want to find in your boyfriend’s locker: a sweaty jockstrap, a D minus on last week’s history test, and an empty condom wrapper."

 The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

"It was as black in the closet as old blood."

Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan

"Every town in England has a story."

Sh*tty Mom by Laurie Kilmartin, Karen Moline, Alicia Ybarbo, Mary Ann Zoellner

"Children. They want everything you have, and they want it now." 

 Hanging by a Thread by Sophie Littlefield 

 "They say our house is cursed, and maybe it's true."

My favorite line this month came from The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, not only did it provide an immediate reference as to place, but the comparison of darkness to old blood did a wonderful job of setting the tone for this novel.

My least favorite line came from The Stone Girl.  This one just didn't grab me.  However, a few pages in there was a line that would have been PERFECT for the opening:

"There are two things that are true about Sethie: one is that she is always hungry, a mean, angry kind of hunger that feels like a piece of glass in her belly; the other is that she is always missing Shaw." 

This one would have really caught my attention as well as providing an introduction to our main character and a two of her issues.

I would love to see some of your favorite lines for July in the comments below!