Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin

title: Masque of the Red Death
written by: Bethany Griffin
genre: Young Adult, Apocalyptic Fiction
page count: 319
publication date: April 24th, 2012
publisher: Greenwillow books
rating: 4.5/5

Everything is in ruins.
A devastating plague has decimated the population. And those who are left live in fear of catching it as the city crumbles to pieces around them.
So what does Araby Worth have to live for?
Nights in the Debauchery Club, beautiful dresses, glittery make-up . . . and tantalizing ways to forget it all.
But in the depths of the club—in the depths of her own despair—Araby will find more than oblivion. She will find Will, the terribly handsome proprietor of the club. And Elliott, the wickedly smart aristocrat. Neither boy is what he seems. Both have secrets. Everyone does.
And Araby may find something not just to live for, but to fight for—no matter what it costs her.

Masque of the Red Death is one of my books that is out of 'my comfort zone', as far as I have a zone like that. It was horror-like, and I usually don't read horror. Not that I don't like it, because I really do, but just because there are other genres that appeal to me more than YA horror. Griffin made me question myself, should I read more YA horror? Because I simply loved this book! It was not really horror-y, and had just the right amout of everything a good book needs. I will definitely read future books by her, and I will also try the Edgar Allen Poe story this book was based on.

Araby, a girl who lives in a world of terror, disease and death, is the daughter of the inventor that invented the masque that prevents you from contagion of the all-destroying plague. This makes her one of the most important girls in town, and protects her from the plague. All the time she is looking for oblivion. She doesn't want to remember her brother, doesn't want to feel responsible for his death. Her raw emotions make her a very unique character. Then she meets Will, the beautiful boy working at the club. Once she starts to really get to know him, she wants to help him, although this seems impossible. 

The plot twisted in every way possible, it was madness! And I mean that in a positive way :) I don't believe I have read many other YA books as suspenseful as this one. And the romance was just perfect. Will is one of  those cute but broken boys you just want to give hugs, while Elliot is his exact opposite. So yes, love triangle. I know the idea sounds retarted and simply stupid, but this one was just so perfect! I  mean, love triangles usually are one of the most annoying phenomena in YA lit, but it improved this novel.

The writing style of Griffin is not really special, but easy to read. The dialogue was great, the characters had 'depth' and the entire story was told at a high pace to keep it all interesting. 

Griffin portrayed a horrible scenario that appears quite realistic. I absolutely loved everything about 'Masque of the Red Death' and I give this book 4.5 stars. My favorite YA horror novel!

Love,

Mar 

Solace of the Road by Siobhan Dowd

title: Solace of the Road
written by: Siobhan Dowd
genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
pages: 272
publication date: October 13th, 2009
publisher: David Fickling Books

Holly’s story will leave a lasting impression on all who travel with her.

Memories of mum are the only thing that make Holly Hogan happy. She hates her foster family with their too-nice ways and their false sympathy. And she hates her life, her stupid school, and the way everyone is always on at her. Then she finds the wig, and everything changes. Wearing the long, flowing blond locks she feels transformed. She’s not Holly anymore, she’s Solace: the girl with the slinkster walk and the supersharp talk. She’s older, more confident—the kind of girl who can walk right out of her humdrum life, hitch to Ireland, and find her mum. The kind of girl who can face the world head-on.

So begins a bittersweet and sometimes hilarious journey as Solace swaggers and Holly tiptoes across England and through memory, discovering her true self and unlocking the secrets of her past.

Sometimes, as a reader, I just randomly pick up a book by an author I have never heard about before, and it is so good that the experience of reading it is life-changing. Solace of the Road was one of those books, and I am incredibly saddened by the fact that Siobhan Dowd will never write a single word again, no more masterpieces written by her I will be able to look forward to in the future.

Holly Hogan is forced to go into foster care by the government. She just wants to live with her mom in Ireland. She doesn't want other parents, doesn't want to live in England, doesn't like life, and wants to just be happy again. And a wig gives her the oppotunity to be someone else. Someone fashionable, the girl she always wanted to be. She calls her new self Solace, after a jumping horse she and her mother always bet on back when they lived together. Then Holly decides she wants to go back to her own family. She takes her wig and stuff, and starts her journey to the wonderful green fields of Ireland.

I really liked Holly. She wants to be someone else, just like about every teenager, and does that by wearing a wig, behaving like someone else and being who she wants to be. She is a great actress, and she plays her part perfectly. The book starts of with Holly on a pont to Ireland, trapped in someone else's car, so you already know that somehow she's going to be able to go all the way to Ireland. But how is she going to do that. What is going to happen to her? Who is she going to meet? And most important of them all, how will she be influenced by her journey?

The plot has many twists that were sometimes very unexpected, which I really liked. Some new characters that were introduced really fascinated me. Then there was the psychological aspect of this book. Holly had her anger issues. She had to control them. Also, she had normal teenager issues. She was looking for her real self, and for the place where she belonged. The author did a great job describing Holly's journey to her happiness, and I think that is what I liked best about this book.

This is not a paranormal romance book, neither is it urban fantasy, or any other genre that I most often read. But still, this book belongs to my all-time favorites. I will read all Siobhan Dowd's other books she has published. I am also really looking forward to Patrick Ness's 'A monster calls', which was based on an idea by Siobhan Dowd.

Solace of the Road is a book written for all audiences. It is a book I'd recommend to everyone my age and older, to my friends, my mom, and everyone who just loves books. I give this book 5 stars and if it were possible I'd give it many more.

Love,
Mar

In memory of Siobhan Dowd In September 2004, Dowd was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. In spite of this, she continued to write prolifically. Siobhan died in August 2007, aged 47. In the very last days before she died, Siobhan set up the Siobhan Dowd Trust. It was the final act of someone who had spent so much of her life working on behalf of others.

The Metaphysical Double Life of Eri Lane by Jocelyn Nora Moore

title: The Metaphysical Double Life of Eri Lane
written by: Jocelyn Nora Moore
genres: Young Adult, Urban Fantasy
page count: 173 (ebook)
publisher: Self-Pub
publication date: March 18th, 2012

Everyone knows that fourteen-year-old Eri Lane is different. She is too intense, always tells the truth, and she somehow knows things she shouldn’t. Her confused teachers know she’s different. The means kids know. Her hardworking single mother knows. The cute, nerdy senior that she loves knows. There is just something about Eri Lane. But none of them know just how different, because absolutely none of them know that there are actually two worlds, the world of Dream and the world of Wake. Only Eri Lane and her best friend Malcolm Harris know that.

Eri and Malcolm never sleep, since they were twelve they have been among the special guardians of the boundary between the two worlds, known among themselves as the Awake. Now it’s November of their sophomore year, and Eri has been having a hard enough time trying to repair psychic leaks all night, and then navigate the ups and downs of being the black sheep of Marchland High School for the Gifted every day, (not to mention protecting Malcolm, who is openly gay, and their other best friend Ashley, who is too nice, from bullies), when a strange new creature shows up in the world of Dream, wreaking havoc and possibly even attempting to tear open the barrier between the two worlds. Now, Eri has to figure out how to stop it/him, how to save the world, and most importantly, whether or not the world is worth saving. 

The wonderful author of this novel, Jocelyn Nora Moore, provided me with a ecopy of her book in exchange for a honest review. 

The Metaphysical life of Eri Lane was a very unique book. I had quite a hard time getting into it and understanding it, but when I did it was awesome!

A book about 2 worlds always interests me, no matter if it's something like Narnia, or something like Wake and Dream. And I have no idea why, but the more fantastic world always interests me more. So that's why I prefered Dream over Wake. Wake was just so full of crazy things and still seemed real. I could easily believe that a world like Dream actually exsists.

The main characters of this book, Eri and Malcolm, both were very fun characters. They were very likeable, and they weren't boring to read about at all. However, I couldn't fully connect myself to either of them, which I really would have loved to be able to.

The plot of the novel was interesting, full of mystery and random things, but there were also some serious things discussed, although that wasn't very obvious. I really like it when a book is discussing more than you realise most of the times. Just like I love to get to know some random things when I'm not in school :)

Moore's writing style is pleasant, but not very special. There was one particular thing about it that fascinated me; there were no chapters. It was just wake-dream-wake-dream-... And I thing that was a good thing, bacause it kept it all very clear and made it easier to understand it. There weren't a lot of difficult words used, and the dialogue was kind of childish talk, which sometimes annoyed me.

Altogether I give this book 3 stars for being an extremely unique and awesome book. I didn't have high expectations of it, so when I liked it I was positively surprised :) And you should read it, too. You can read it for free @ goodreads. Check it out!

Love,
Mar

I'm Back!

Hey y'all :)

I just wanted to let you know that I'm back @ home
My holiday was EPIC, France is just so beautiful and the weather was so good. I could swim everyday, and read on beaches :) I made some new friends (yay, me making friends is fun) and bought clothes, and a French book, which I'm currently trying to read, but french is freakin' difficult u.u
I read so many amazing books I can't wait to share my opinion about (I'm 15 reviews behind :o)
I really missed my blog and realised exactely how important it is to me, so that's a great thing, right?
So now I'm going to catch up on all the news I missed in the past 3 weeks and I will perhaps do a review marathon for myself xD 

I have a lot of reviews coming up for you!

Hugs,
Mar

(lol sorry for the short pointless blog post but I can't think of something better at the moment, as I'm still freakin' tired from the 14-hour-drive back home)