Book Review :: Don't Breathe A Word

Been reading a lot more lately.  Almost back up to my normal amount of reading.  :)

Don't Breathe a Word, by Jennifer McMahon

Synopsis:  On a warm Midsummer's Eve night, Sam's sister Lisa disappears into the woods near their home, claiming that the King of the Fairies was coming to take her to be his queen.  Fifteen years later, Sam and his girlfriend, Phoebe, receive first a telephone call from a girl who says "I'm back from the land of the fairies, I'll be seeing you soon", then a series of mysterious notes claiming the same thing.  Phoebe is sucked into a past that Sam has never before been able to reveal to her--she becomes acquainted with estranged cousins, long-lost childhood friends, and a potentially insane aunt.  The worst part?  Sam and Pheobe don't know what to believe when a girl covered in stick figure tattoos and not an ounce of body fat on her, especially when the girl claims to be Lisa returned from the land of the fairies--and the rest of the family claim a completely different story.  Could Lisa's mother and aunt have imprisoned her for fifteen years in a basement bedroom?  Or is Lisa telling the truth--is Teilo, the King of the Fairies, real?  And if he is, is he really as sinister as she claims?  Because Phoebe doesn't only have to worry about herself and Sam.  She has to worry about the new life growing inside her.

My Rating:  *  *  *  *

I will be honest, I couldn't put this book down.  The story was definitely right up my alley!  I could have been  Lisa, wandering around in the woods, claiming to have found evidence of fairies, taking sweets from home to leave as gifts to placate them.  It's certainly a page-turner.  If you like being caught up in a story like this that will keep you up hours past your bedtime trying to find out what will come next, this is a good book for you.

Dislikes:  Could have done without all the swearing; quite a few too many f-bombs for my taste.  Also if you're not into reading about what happens to many little girls when they disappear (read: get pregnant) then this might not be something you'd be wanting to pick up.  If you are willing to overlook those things and get swept up in the adventure and the thrills of a tale that tells a darker side of the fairy folk, this is a pretty good choice.

Book Review :: "Cinder"

This was one I saw in the bookstore, and I was curious.  See, I have this rule.  I read the back cover (or the inside flap, whichever it happens to be) and if I'm hooked by the time I finish that, then the chances are good that I will enjoy the rest of the book too.  So that's what happened with this one.

Cinder, by Marissa Meyer

Synopsis:  Imagine a world many years in the future, when humans have established a colony on the moon and the number of countries on Earth has been diminished to six.  And, we have developed the technology to fuse human and machine.  Cyborgs are the outcasts of this society.  With their metal pieces, their machinated nervous systems, they are considered inferior by many of society.  And Cinder is one of them.  She also has to be the most renowned mechanic in all of New Beijing.  When the prince enlists her help in fixing an old android that has sentimental meaning--and possibly information that could change the course of the future of humanity--she doesn't think anything of it; after all, princes need mechanics too.  But then he asks her to his coronation ball.  On top of her confusing feelings--or not feelings?--for the prince, and her sister contracting letumosis (a terrible disease; contagious, lethal, and quick-acting), her stepmother volunteering her for letumosis research, and the strange encounter between the prince and the queen of the Lunar colony, Cinder's identity and life are turned upside down.

My Rating:  *  *  *

I really really loved the idea of this book, but it suffers what I have dubbed "the Twilight complex"--which means, essentially, a super good idea and a sub-par realization of that idea.  Don't get me wrong, the book was a fun read.  It was different, it was interesting, it was fun.  But it was a little too predictable for my taste.  (Maybe it's just because I read too much sci-fi.)  I tend to get bored with a book if I can tell exactly everything that is going to happen by the end of the third chapter, and even more so when all of it actually does happen.  It's a lot more fun when the book can surprise you and turn your assumptions inside out.  So, overall, a fun read, but not particularly challenging on an intellectual level.