“I Capture The Castle” by Dodie Smith

A very English novel, written at a time when there was no genre called “Young Adult” and books were either for children or adults, and playwright Dodie Smith wrote this, her first novel and a story of teenagers and first love told by Cassandra about her eccentric family. Living in a gradually crumbling castle, her widowed father has remarried, but is struggling with writers block, leaving the family in financially dire straits.

I’d heard lots of people talk with affection for this book, so I’d settled in for a good read when I picked up my copy for my reading group, but I actually found it quite an unsettling read. Although the narrator says how old she is on the first page, I’d actually forgotten this fairly quickly, and struggled to place her. At times she seemed to talk as a young teenager, and at other times she spoke of things as though she was bordering on adulthood and in her late teens. And I didn’t only struggle with Cassandra, I also had problems with other members of the family. Her younger brother was spoken of as a child initially, then towards the end of the book, it seems as though the author suddenly needed him to be almost an adult, and he is shoe-horned into the plot with knowledge of psychiatric principles!

I didn’t like the development of the relationships between Rose and Cassandra with Simon and Neil, it all felt too staged and predictable, but I wonder if this was more original at the time it was written, and I’ve read many other books and seen films since which have similar stories.

An uneven narrative and I didn’t find any humour in the book which others have commented on. I didn’t feel satisfied by the book, and felt a bit discomforted by some of the story, and overall, I just didn’t enjoy it.

“Waking The Witch” by Kelley Armstrong

Waking The Witch is young witch Savannah’s first full length story, and follows her as she decides to cover her first solo investigation unbeknownst to Paige and Lucas who are enjoying a well deserved holiday. I loved how Armstrong shows Savannah trying to prove that she has conquered her hot-headed, impetuous nature and act like a mature, experienced investigator, all the while making some mistakes and some enemies along the way.

Lots of twists and turns to keep the reader on their toes, the story of the case is pacy enough to keep you turning the pages leading to an almost Scooby Doo style reveal at the end, something I certainly hadn’t seen coming, and it is left with the promise of more Savannah stories to come.

I’ve never been disappointed by a Kelley Armstrong book yet, and this was no exception. A worthy addition to the Women of the Otherworld series.

“Linger” by Maggie Stiefvater

I absolutely loved the first book in the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy, Shiver, and it was such a great story, I’d been hoping it would remain as a stand-alone book, so when I found out there would be two more I had mixed feelings. However, as time drew nearer to the release of Linger, my anticipation mounted and I couldn’t wait to read it when it was finally released.

What a wonderful book Linger turned out to be. Stiefvater plugs into the gamut of teenage emotions including Isabel’s anger, Cole’s depression, Sam’s insecurity and loneliness and Grace’s hidden sadness and worry. I did miss the closeness and intimacy of the story of Grace and Sam with the inclusion of Isabel and new character Cole as narrators, but both felt necessary as the story develops and leads up to a heart wrenching climax and cliff hanger for the final part of the story.

There is an undercurrent of sadness running through this book. It pervades every line of the writing, and left me with a feeling of melancholy as I finished the book. Stiefvater’s writing is beautiful yet measured, and her style is clean but emotive.

I was a little disappointed with one aspect in that one of the elements I loved most of Shiver was the descriptions of landscape and homes and even trucks, yet this was missing from Linger although I guess the setting hadn’t changed at all, so the need it wasn’t there, nevertheless, I missed them.

Overall though I loved it, and will wait eagerly for the final installment so I’ll be able to read the whole saga again in one fell swoop!

“What I Saw And How I Lied” by Judy Blundell

Not long after Evie’s stepfather, Joe, returns home after the end of the Second World War, he and the family decamp to Palm Beach for the summer. They become friends with the Graysons and Peter, an ex-GI who was in the war with Joe. But Evie notices that all is not as it seems between Joe and Peter, and while she gradually gets to know Peter, there seems to be an ominous undertone building up in his relationship with her mother and stepfather.

The cover of this book looks stunning, with a film noir feel, drawing me in to what I anticipated would be a thrilling book with a teenage [I]femme fatale[/I]. What I actually got, was a coming of age story for a teenager with the elements of mystery, war, prejudice and adultery, albeit on a fairly domestic scale.

I loved the sense of period that the author created, and the language and characters felt authentic for that period. Once the story moves to the setting of the hotel, it does start to feel slightly claustrophic, only adding to the general darkening atmosphere of the plot.

However, I don’t think it lived up to my expectations, and by the time I got to the end, I was a bit disappointed that the heroine hadn’t either been or developed into that [I]femme fatale[/I] I’d been hoping for.

“Shadow Kiss” by Richelle Mead

Back to St. Vladimir’s Academy for the third book of the [I]Vampire Academy[/I] series, and for me, this series has now kicked up a gear. Rose may have made her first Strigoi kills, but she still has to prove her skills at school, and guarding anyone other than Lissa is a struggle. But it’s not just being away from Lissa that’s hard, she thinks she’s starting to see ghosts …

The ongoing saga of Rose has ratcheted up a notch, and I read the story with my heart in my mouth a lot of the time, as the electrifying connection between her and Dimitri runs as a simmering undercurrent that eventually bursts up to the surface, while the menace from the Strigoi keeps the sense of peril mounting throughout to the thrilling conclusion.

I am now (not so) patiently waiting for the next book to be delivered to the library for me to collect and continue the story.

“Frostbite” by Richelle Mead

The second installment of this YA Vampire Academy series continues in much the same vein as the first one. After escaping from Lissa’s uncles scheming of the first book, Lissa and Rose are not long back at school before the threat of the Strigoi causes the majority of the student population to decamp to safety of the Moroi ski resort for winter break, but trouble is never far away …

I still find the unpronouncable names irritating, but the less than subtle pointing out clues to what’s going on seemed less obvious this time around.

I like the development of the characters, and I love that Rose is such a strong individual, determined to make herself the best dhampir she can, and even with her own doubts and failings, she still holds her own.

A nice change of scene as well, taking the students out of the school setting to the ski resort allowed for a look into the wider society of the vampires in this world, and broadened the story of Lissa and Rose, and where they might end up in the future.

Enjoyable story, and I’ll keep going with the series, although I’m only borrowing from the library, not buying them as I don’t think they’d stand up to multiple readings.

The “Airhead” trilogy by Meg Cabot

Em Watts is an intelligent, sensible, ordinary teenager. After a freak accident in a store, Em wakes up in hospital and is a completely different person. The Airhead trilogy follows Em’s story to find out what has happened to her (book 1), how to live with her new life (book 2) and how to bring justice the people responsible (book 3).

Meg Cabot writes in her easy, familiar way, with her usual flawed by sympathetic heroine, and it’s a great thrilling ride although quite far-fetched!

The story incorporates themes of family, friends, peer pressure, multi-billion dollar corporations and celebrity culture, but it’s overriding focus is how today’s society concentrates on looks and appearance. Meg does try to show how there is room for all types of look and being pretty or beautiful is not the be all and end all, and that everyone can look good by making the most of what they’ve been born with. She also tries to push the idea that everything you see in the media (newspaper, magazine, video and film) is faked to look perfect and that no-one looks that perfect naturally. Additionally, she endeavours to promote the importance of education which can only be a good thing!

I’ve decided to review the three books together because read as individual books, I’m not sure how much sense they make. Although Meg’s books tend to stick to around the 300 page mark, I actually think this would have benefited from being incorporated into a mega-thick single volume anthology to be read in one go. I read the first two one after the other, but unfortunately, the third one isn’t actually published in the UK yet, so I bought an import from amazon in order to finish the trilogy, so I guess that must give you some idea how much I enjoyed it!

“Burned” by P. C. and Kristin Cast

The latest in the House of Night series, Burned is told from various points of views, including Aphrodite, Stevie Rae, Rephaim and Stark, and I think the change to the perspectives is a welcome change to the series.

I think the series is definitely getting better again, after a good start, it started to go downhill when it became formulaic, but the last couple of books have really moved the story along and captivated my interest again.

I’ve never really been bothered by the awkward attempts at teenage vernacular in the previous books, but what I found irritating this time was the attempts to write in the accent of the characters. I know where the characters are from, so I don’t need the constant apostrophised words of Stevie Rae or the attempts at Scottish dialects of some of our new characters to know how they speak.

Just one final thing … I’m loving Aphordite more with each installment! She’s by far the funniest and most interesting of them all for me. Can’t wait for Awakened but 2011 seems too far away

“The Laughing Corpse” by Laurell K. Hamilton

The second book of the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series, and this time it’s much more about Anita’s job as an animator. Not really much to say about this one. It’s an enjoyable supernatural romp, but fairly disposable stuff.

Again, I was slightly worried by the level of violence and gory descriptions, but I liked the way the RPIT police team and Anita handled it with humour.

I’m a bit of a scaredy cat and I did find this one a bit creepy, particularly the sections with Dominga, but on the whole it was a good, fun read, and for the moment, I’ll keep going with the series.

“Shiver” by Maggie Stiefvater

Ever since Grace was attacked by the wolves in the woods behind her house, she’s been fascinated by them, especially the one with the yellow eyes, who seems to watch her throughout the winter. That wolf is Sam, a human boy who changes into a wolf as the summer turns to winter every year, running with his pack, living for those few precious, warm summer months when he can be human again.

A return to YA fantasy with a werewolf book this time. I absolutely loved it. Each of the chapters is written from the point of view of one of the two principle characters, so you see the story from each of their perspectives. The connection and the developing relationship between them felt very real and believable, and the sense of growing desperation builds as the story progresses.

I thought the descriptions were very good, and I had a very strong picture in my head of the landscape, the buildings and even the trucks and cars.

The only complaint I have is that the ending felt a little bit rushed, and I’m not sure I was 100% convinced by it, but I enjoyed the rest of the story so much that it didn’t spoil the book for me at all. In fact, I enjoyed it so much, it’s one of the few books from this genre I’ll be keeping to read again.