Book Review: Within A Dream by Tempest C. Avery

I'm back from vacation so first things first! I gotta put up this review!

Book received in exchange for an honest review through Lovers of Paranormal

I'm going to need some help with this review...



Much better.

I don't even know how to start with this one.

On one hand, there's an interesting premise to the book. 4 teenagers are reincarnations of magical beings and have special powers. Bad people are after them and they have to try to protect themselves and learn more about their heritage and their powers.

On the other hand, it was everything but the kitchen sink when it came to the magical/supernatural beings and I was wondering when it would stop. Shall I list them?

You know it.

1) Witches
2) Faeries/Fae
3) Werewolves
4) Aliens
5) Shapeshifters
6) Reincarnations
7) Voodoo/Hoodoo
8) Celtic Mythology
9) Viking Mythology
10) Some Wiccan incorporated



Some bonus features:

A. Insta-love
B. Insta-love + love triangle
C. Insta-love for secondary characters
D. Hot guy on a motorcycle
E. Evil ex-lover type
F. Absentee Parental Units



The characters and the story was interesting enough but there was just too much going on. Too many histories and stories getting mixed together with far too many magical beings. It works in something like Harry Potter because as far as the first book goes, there aren't major characters that are different beings from different planets. You cannot introduce all of these different creatures into a book without it looking like you are trying too hard.

I liked Lily, the main character, fine though. She wasn't completely helpless and she liked to take charge which was nice. Her love interests both occupied the dark broody boy character which was a little typical but it wasn't a bad description of a relationship. It did feel like it was trying to pull on the Shattered series a bit with the old love interest coming to you in dreams but I was able to overlook that part of it.

But there's one thing that doomed this book for me.

PROOFREAD. NOW.

There were typos or misspellings every ten pages if not more frequently. This book desperately needed some editing and a lot of love because there is absolutely no excuse for spelling "melodramatic" as two words. "Mellow dramatic".



So yeah, real rating about a 1.8 so I'm rounding it up to 2 stars. The saving grace was the interesting idea behind the book but there was just too much going on with not enough editing.

Book Review: Phantom (Dark Musicals #1) by Laura DeLuca

I went through a stage of my life, right before college, where I was absolutely obsessed with Phantom of the Opera. It started with the movie that had Gerard Butler as the Phantom which led to reading the original novel, then Phantom by Susan Kay, and eventually having the pleasure of watching the musical on Broadway a couple of times.

I wanted a new interpretation of the novels with a high school twist, a character just as distorted and flawed as Erik but with more modern problems. I wanted the beauty of the prose of Susan Kay's Phantom with the wonderful storytelling of Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera but in the end, I was more disappointed than a child opening a Cracker Jack box and there not being a toy inside. 

First: the blurb from Goodreads since I'm not going to bother writing one

The “Phantom” was a musical phenomenon that Rebecca had always found enchanting. She had no idea that her life was about to mirror the play that was her obsession. When her high school drama club chooses “Phantom” as their annual production, Rebecca finds herself in the middle of an unlikely love triangle and the target of a sadistic stalker who uses the lines from the play as their calling card. 

Rebecca lands the lead role of Christine, the opera diva, and like her character, she is torn between her two co-stars—Tom the surfer and basketball star who plays the lovable hero, and Justyn, the strangely appealing Goth who is more than realistic in the role of the tortured artist. 

Almost immediately after casting, strange things start to happen both on and off the stage. Curtains fall. Mirrors are shattered. People are hurt in true phantom style. They all seem like accidents until Rebecca receives notes and phone calls that hint at something more sinister. Is Justyn bringing to life the twisted character of the phantom? Or in real life are the roles of the hero and the villain reversed? Rebecca doesn’t know who to trust, but she knows she’s running out of time as she gets closer and closer to opening night. Only when the mask is stripped away, will the twenty first century phantom finally be revealed.

 Alright...I should have known better from the blurb.

I am pretty much over most high school drama, mostly because my experience was incredibly different from a lot of these characters' that you read these days. I went to a small school with a graduating class of 55. Most of us were in the same classes for 8 years together so you sort of learn to live in harmony. Are other high schools this horrible where kids are attacking each other in the hallway and there are catfights and challenges being thrown about like confetti?

Anyways, Rebecca is one of those girls who has never done anything special in her life and then suddenly decides to try out for the main role of her favorite musical. She (of course) lands the role of a lifetime with Christine and she thinks that she connects to the character in a special way. After all, she has spent her life in the high school equivalent of the chorus dancers, staying out of the way and trying not to do anything to gather attention but she can't pass up this opportunity.

So she gets the role, pisses off the popular girl, gets the popular boy Tom to finallyOMG notice her and then the creepy goth guy shows up and steals all of attention. Justyn has a beautiful voice but a tendency towards lurking in the corners and singing lines from the musical to her. Carmen and Debbie, her best friends, think that he's strange and urge Rebecca to stay away from him but she can't resist him and finds herself drawn to him.

Tom, who is supposed to be the basketball player who surfs with an awesome voice is the most over done character I've seen in my life. He's supposed to be perfect and blonde and pretty and oh wait...

I've seen this character before somewhere! I wonder where...

Moving onto Justyn. The goth boy with inconsistent character descriptions. He was originally described with facial piercings, eyeliner and black lipstick. He wears fishnet shirts and chains on his boots. Now, with my obsession over KPOP, I've gotten over most reservations about guyliner but the black lipstick is too much. There was some hazing at my college where the girls in sororities made the pledges wear black lipstick so if they made out with a guy at a party, everybody would know. Sorry, but black lipstick + making out + creepy character role = taking it too far. 

And he loves his cape and takes every opportunity to hide in the corner and lurk. He takes himself too seriously and fucking calls himself LORD JUSTYN I SHIT YOU NOT. 

Not only that, but randomly the author decides to insert that he is Wiccan into the plot. It does nothing to further the plot but seems to be there just to make him a little bit more different and make it so that his mother won't take him to the hospital when he breaks his ribs. I'm all for natural healing but I'm speaking from personal experience that when you break your ribs, it fucking hurts. It is difficult to sleep, especially if you break them on your side and a little bit of willow bark tea is not going to help much as far as pain scale goes. Take him to the hospital and get him some decent medication and treatment so the boy can sleep!

THIS BOOK WAS TERRIBLE.

Want some quotes? Well, you're getting them anyways. Prepare yourself...

"Why are you so nervous, Becca?" Carmen Webber asked. "You've got to be the only person in the school who's had the entire script memorized since kindergarten. Besides, you have an amazing voice. You're going to be fine. Really!"

 I hate teenybopper pep talks, especially as an introduction. Off to a bad start.

"He's the stagehand the Phantom kills right before the intermission. He gets hung."

 Being hung is something completely different than being hanged. I get that they're in high school but the editor should have caught that.

"I'm not the one who's been upstaged by some usurping loser from the geek squad."

 Ahahahaha...I miss insults like these. It's like all the old teen movies are coming back to laugh at the modern world.

"The phantom always used a noose to kill his victims."

 No...he used a Punjab lasso that was utilized like a garrote. Educate yourself.

"I can't believe you two would actually read that dribble on purpose."

 This is dribbling. The word you are looking for is drivel.

"I've put up with your crap for long enough, Wendy. The jibes. The looks. The nasty comments. Well, I've had it. It stops now. I got the role of Christine. I have the better voice. And you have been upstaged. Get over it and get on with your life. Being a bitch isn't going to change things."

 Ugh, sassy standing up for yourself is soooooooo two thousand and late.

"His one cataract eye was oblique and almost glowing"

 Did you even try to edit this thing? Your eye can't be oblique. Cataracts can make your eyes opaque though.

"Willow bark is just a plant."

No, it is the bark off of a willow tree which is where aspirin is derived from. As stated earlier, if you have fallen and broken your ribs, you are going to want a little bit more than some diluted aspirin tea.

"I heard he hung himself in the bathroom stall."

 HANGED. He hanged himself. You can't "hung" yourself. It is grammatically incorrect and therefore impossible.

All of this is before even considering the plot, which felt like it was *insert yourself here* fanfiction. Rebecca has no obvious flaws besides being so stupid that you wonder who ties her shoelaces every morning. Her friends are bitchy and have an opinion about everybody and everything. Debbie is described as the scary Amazon (which I personally take offense to) and doesn't stand up for herself through the entire book. Tom and Justyn fighting over her is the most played out plot line ever and the bitchy horrible Wendy is the most stereotypical mean girl I've ever seen.

I honestly cannot fathom how this thing is rated so high on Goodreads. A 4.05? Are you fucking kidding me? The author can't even call the musical by its proper name, doesn't credit the quotes that she used correctly and spells Andrew Lloyd Webber's name incorrectly at the start of the book. For a fan of Phantom of the Opera, it sucked at being a good tribute to the work.

There are two redeeming qualities from this book. The plot twist was unexpected (but not well written). I can honestly say it surprised me. The other is that it has made me want to find some good Phantom of the Opera literature and reread Phantom and the original novel.

So skip this one. Don't come near it. I've more than warned you. If you are an avid fan of Phantom of the Opera you will be excessively disappointed.

Book Review: Illusions of Fate by Kiersten White

Have you ever read a book and the desire to rip it to shreds grows the more you think about it? You want to nitpick every error, every grammatical mistake, every character inconsistency until there is nothing left but a neatly shredded hamster home of literature on the ground. I've already written a concise review of this book on Goodreads but I'm not quite ready to leave this book alone and hopefully, I'm going to explore this in a little bit more depth.

Illusions of Fate was published in September, 2014.  This is relevant because the book it seems to rip off was published in 1986 and the subsequent animated movie was released in 2004. Now it has been years since I read the book since it is a children's book but I absolutely adore the movie. The director is one of the best story tellers of all time and when I have children, they will be watching Studio Ghibli instead of Disney.

I am, of course, talking about Howl's Moving Castle.

It's my goal to present this review as a detailed analysis and not a rage filled rant but this honestly makes me so mad. I can always understand if it is one thing that is similar or the main themes resemble each other but there was a lot in this book that was excessively close to Howl's. 

But first, let's start with a summary and move on from there. 

Downton Abbey meets Cassandra Clare in this lush, romantic fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Kiersten White.

“I did my best to keep you from crossing paths with this world. And I shall do my best to protect you now that you have.” 

Jessamin has been an outcast since she moved from her island home of Melei to the dreary country of Albion. Everything changes when she meets Finn, a gorgeous, enigmatic young lord who introduces her to the secret world of Albion’s nobility, a world that has everything Jessamin doesn’t—power, money, status…and magic. But Finn has secrets of his own, dangerous secrets that the vicious Lord Downpike will do anything to possess. Unless Jessamin, armed only with her wits and her determination, can stop him. 

Kiersten White captured readers’ hearts with her New York Times bestselling Paranormalcy trilogy and its effortless mix of magic and real-world teenage humor. She returns to that winning combination of wit, charm, and enchantment in Illusions of Fate, a sparkling and romantic new novel perfect for fans of Cassandra Clare, The Madman’s Daughter, and Libba Bray.

It's a cute idea and it is executed with an appropriate amount of fluff. Jessamin is likable enough and is clever. She likes to make her own way in the world and stay on the fringes of the society that she loathes. She is dragged into the magical world by Finn and she doesn't really want to be there. 

Their love story is cute. Finn wants to protect her and Jessamin is not the type to be protected. Her mother was seduced by an Albion man and she doesn't want to suffer the same fate but gets reeled in by his charm.

Ok...I can't hold this in any longer. I'm getting mad.

Illusions of Fate is a cheap disgusting rip off of Howl's Moving Castle. This was not accidental in any way as the author has claimed this book is a cross between Howl's and Pride and Prejudice. Link to Interview

This isn't a cross. This isn't a creative new blend. It is taking ideas that have already been fleshed out and explored in not one, but two different mediums and passing them off as your own.

Jessamin is an over simplified Sophie. Sophie is a strong young woman who works in her family's hat shop in honor of her father and to support her vapid social climbing mother. She recognizes herself as plain, especially when compared to her flamboyant relatives and is okay with that. Jessamin works to support herself and her education but she is (obviously) beautiful and unique and exotic. She's always been pretty and always will be. Sophie gets turned into an old lady and has to come up with a way to disguise herself. Jessamin gets stalked by a man because he thinks that she is desirable. 

Sir Bird is a mix of Turnip Head and Hime. And where Turnip Head is charming and Hime is adorable, Sir Bird is rather stagnant. Sure, he protects her from the other birds but he has no personality of his own. Where Hime is needy, Sir Bird just sits and watches. He can take care of himself and frequently gets forgotten. Sir Bird is loyal like Turnip Head but, besides being a book, he isn't helpful.

Finn as Howl. Once again, we see a watered down version of a fantastic character. Finn dyes his hair blonde, as does Howl, but he does it to make him look charming. Howl does it because he is intensely and deeply vain and has the most spectacular meltdown in the world when Sophie messes up his hair potions. He is a huge diva. Finn immediately falls in love with Jessamin where Howl has to gradually learn to let someone else into his life and not try to push them away. Howl has to grow to be brave and take action where Finn is already in the process of trying to prevent a war and is all noble and sacrificial from the beginning. He doesn't grow and he doesn't learn.

There's the house that has doors into different worlds where you can travel space without leaving your living room. 

There's the bird motif (even on the cover) that is extremely similar to Howl's.

This book seriously puts me into a massive rage. I want to throw my computer. I want to scream. I want to tell everybody in the world to not buy this book and just read or watch the original. These characters have no depth in comparison to the wonderful world of Howl's. Yes, I adore the movie and I'm a bit of a fangirl when it comes down to it but this is ridiculous.

This book is not a creative re-imagining of a story set in a different place and time where the characters are presented in new ways. This is not like taking Cinderella and setting it in modern Tokyo. This book is like taking Harry Potter, setting it in the USA and changing the names of the characters.

I've lost all respect for this author as soon as she said that she wanted to make it like Howl's. That's fine. But don't sell it as your own idea. Say it is a different take on the book instead of hoping that nobody notices. Because I noticed. And I'm pissed.

Don't buy this book. Seriously. Just watch the movie or read the book. I can't emphasize this enough.

Book Review: Hello, I Love You by Katie M. Stout

ARC received in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley.

If you know me, you know I love KPop. And I was so flipping pumped when I got approved for this book. But then the negative reviews started and I got a little bit apprehensive about it. But I charged ahead and I read this book anyways.  Let's just say that the negative reviews are well deserved.

Quick Summary: Grace moves to South Korea to get away from the drama of her family. It's spontaneous and crazy but she can't handle life anymore with her mother and her past. She enrolls in an international boarding school and finds herself immediately taking a liking to her exuberant roommate, Sophie. But Sophie's twin brother is a music star and is cocky beyond belief. He has a right to be though. He's famous, gorgeous and obviously talented. 

But Grace moved to Korea to get away from the music industry that her family is so entrenched in and she wants nothing to do with Jason. Being friends with Sophie means that she has to get along with her brother though and soon a grudging alliance forms. Grace realizes, after spending so much time with Jason, that not all is as it seems and not everything in his world is perfect. Their bonding sparks a romance that crosses language barriers and obvious fatal flaws in each other.

I'm just going to come out and say it: Grace is a ridiculous spoiled brat of a bitch. She's blonde, skinny, pretty, and is a princess in the music industry. She can't sing or play instruments but she's *awesome* at composing and is fantastic at everything.

She has trust and panic issues but it isn't really enough to make her relatable as a character. I wish someone in the book would have told her to lay off and actually be respectful of Korean culture and her friends but that never happens.

Grace repeatedly bashes Korean culture and shows such American elitism it made me want to gag.

"So people do play Western music"

She never really makes an attempt to dive in headfirst and opts to complain about everything that they do in Korea. Women wear skirts during winter? *Judgement* Girls are skinnier than her? *Judgement* They like to listen to bubbly pop music? *EXCESSIVE JUDGEMENT*

"I’m not sure what I expected--that they would be good? Pop is in the name of the genre. That never bodes well for the quality of the music. But I guess I’d hoped since they’re a big deal, they would be more than your average bubblegum band. After ten songs, my brain is ready to explode."

Get off your high horse. You sound like a baby. And it's not that I don't like her music taste. It's actually pretty good stuff in my opinion. But there's no need to be that person that judges everybody based off of what they are playing and listening to.

I guess that out of everything about Grace that bothers me, the worst is her obvious disdain for everything that she hasn't been exposed to. She tries to flaunt her hipster cred at every opportunity and it made me want to punch her in the face. 

Moving on now to some other flagrant flaws in this book.

Jason flip flops. He doesn't have any real personality to me. One second, he is cold and removed and then he is apologizing. This author started with what could have been a strong character in him but seemed to sort of give up and try to make him nice. I like him mean and rude. I liked how he pushed Grace and made her lose her cool. Jason clearly just didn't care and that was part of his character and all of that changes very quickly. He turns from outwardly aggressive to making snide comments and trying to push everybody away.

Sophie is obnoxious as well. She's happy and bubbly (which is fine) but for being a "best friend" she abandons Grace for a guy. And then tries to hide it from everyone. I can understand hiding a relationship with your brother's best friend from him just so it doesn't get awkward, but don't sneak around and act like nothing is going on and lie to your roommate. Everybody knows. Just be honest.

Honestly, out of all the characters, I liked Yoon Jae the most. He came closest to what I expected out of a book about KPop and he is thrown under the bus as far as character development goes. Yes, he's the drummer of the group but maybe he got roped into something he didn't want too. Everybody treated him like he was the one that caused the tension but really, he was just as unhappy as Tae Hwa and Jason in the band. Doesn't anybody else consider his dreams too? He wanted to be an Idol and he had to play backup to a sexy singer. Yoon Jae could have grown so much more and could have competed a bit more for Grace but he is one of the most passive characters I've ever encountered.

It's telling when your favorite character is a secondary character that has little to no personality. But hey, he danced and he sang and he was what I wanted when it came to a Korean star.

The plot was rather weak as well (now that I've raged about the characters). Grace helps Jason with a music project and somehow ends up being her Korean tutor despite not being able to read Korean. And then later, magically, he can write in Korean. It doesn't make sense. Sophie drags Grace around the country following the guys like a groupie and it came off as desperate. Yes, you're there to support your brother but it's borderline stalker for the guy in the group you like. It seemed awkward and forced.

Grace's mother and father are obviously a point of contention throughout the book and Grace has some baggage that she's carrying around but it never felt real to me. It felt like a plot device throughout and it was too dragged out. She focused on it too much while there was other stuff going on. What about the concern for your roommate? Does she not matter anymore?

Ugh...sorry for the rage filled review. When I hate a book, I always find I have a lot more to say about it. I wanted sexy KPop. I got a little bit of drama and a whole lot of whining. Whatever, I'm over it. Crash and burn.

So this book definitely deserves the negative reviews. It portrays Americans as elitist and self centered. It barely shows any of the Korean culture. The main character is a complete bitch and her love interest is so contrived it's ridiculous.

All of that being said, if anybody has any suggestions for other books based on KPop, I'd love to hear them. I watch Korean dramas a lot and I love stuff like that so I would love some more input!

One Star

Book Review: The Deepest Cut by J.A. Templeton

I really need to stop rating books right after I read them. I find that I am often too generous with the ones I truly disliked and later bump them down a star.

The Deepest Cut could have been great. It was an interesting idea that was held back by the writing style and the characterization of the leads. It's not often in a book where you end up truly disliking the main characters but that happened for me with this one. The characters, plot, setting, conflict, and conclusion were all remarkably lackluster.



Riley Williams and her family have moved to Scotland to escape their past. Her mother died in a car accident and ever since then, Riley has been able to see spirits of those who have passed on. So the obvious logical conclusion is to move to a place where history/bloodshed/ghosts/legends are thick on the ground and this poor girl will be tormented. Her brother and father don't believe that she sees ghosts but still, that's a bit of a dick move.



So they move into a haunted inn in the haunted countryside of Scotland where everybody is going to get along and stay out of trouble. This is where Riley encounters Ian McKinnon, a young Scottish lad that was killed around 200 years ago.



Ian is the stereotypical Scottish man we see in every book written about the Highlands. He's tall, handsome with a stunning and sweet personality but the desire to protects his loved ones. As soon as he finds out that Riley can see him, he sticks close by her, desperate to talk to someone who can hear him.



Ian catches Riley cutting herself as a way of releasing the pent up anger, frustration, and hurt of being without her mother. She's sick of being medicated and treated but is still dealing with her past. And that's when everything goes downhill.

Because Ian isn't the only spirit sticking around. There is another ghost roaming around and this one isn't nearly as charming and has a thing for homicide. Riley is determined to save Ian from his eternal wandering but that puts her in danger from being cursed or whatever herself.

The idea is good with this book. The execution is excessively awful.

Riley learns everything about ghosts through Google, a couple of books, and the crazy old ladies in the neighborhood. None of which is actually effective. They really make things worse.

There is little to no consistency about the ghosts, meaning that the author basically ignored all of the standards for ghostliness (non-tangible, mysterious, not able to talk, being tied to one place, creepy as fuck) and fits her ghosts to her standards. Ghosts are able to fly through walls but Riley is able to kiss and cuddle them?

Riley is a whiner too.



I get that you're working through your mother's death and it's difficult but stop acting like such a martyr and step up a little bit. The cutting felt like it was added on as a schtick and it never felt genuine. Her brother and her father lost someone too and it felt like they were just so incredibly done with her.



The town they move into must be the Scottish version of Hollywood because everybody there is fucking gorgeous apparently.



Except the bad guys. Because bad guys can't be pretty ever. (Except Hiddleston. Exception to every rule) The important people are pretty. It was just so over the top cliched that it made me want to throw something. A bunch of teenagers running wild, drinking, partying, and being incredibly stupid with little parental supervision. Is this the YA Paranormal version of every high school teen movie made?

And finally, the romance...



It felt stupid and fake. There are better ways to do ghostly boyfriends and this was the worst rendition of it I've ever seen. The whole point of falling in love with a ghost is that you can't fucking touch them or have any sort of physical relationship. It's supposed to torture you. That never happened in this book. The only inconvenient part of him being a ghost is that he would lost energy. They nearly had ghostly sex which would have been awfully convenient since he couldn't get you pregnant. (OMG Ghost babies)



So yeah...don't waste your time or your money. I got the box set of the series but for the first time, I'm deleting something from my kindle library. It's not worth keeping.