Waiting on Wednesday

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

This week I'm waiting on...

Goodreads Description:

The sky is dark with wings. . . .

In RAPTURE, the highly anticipated fourth and final novel in the FALLEN series, Luce and Daniel are together . . . but for how long? Can history be rewritten? Or are some punishments eternal?

Why I want it:

Take a look at the cover. I swear, Lauren Kate's novels have cornered the market on 'Covers That Make Me WANT'. The book could be about fishing in Maine or geography and if it looked like the book above - with the barren landscape, stormy grey sky, brunette in a white dress with the dark hair all fluttering in the breeze - I'd be all over it.

Plus, it doesn't hurt that I've read the first book of the series (actually, I bought it for a friend as a Christmas gift based SOLELY on the cover) and fully intend on reading the rest. I love tales of star-crossed lovers in pretty much any form.

From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris

Title: From Dead to Worse (Sookie Stackhouse #8)
Author: Charlaine Harris
Publisher: Ace
Pages: 321
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

By book 8 of The Southern Vampire series, I enjoyed the world of Bon Temps so much that I really didn't care about the plot. I just liked being at Merlotte's, hanging out with Sam, matching wits with Eric, turning up my nose at Bill, snickering along with Pam, wishing death on Arlene and the FotS freaks, and wondering what kind of trouble Amelia, Jason, Holly and all the rest are going to drag me into next.

And by me, of course, I mean Sookie.

When I started the series, I wasn't a huge fan of Sookie, but now that she's been immersed in the supernatural world long enough to feel old hat about it, I really enjoy her. From Dead to Worse actually addresses the question of whether or not Sookie would change things if she could and go back to the time where she didn't know vamps existed - let alone shifters, fairies, demons and the like. Much to my relief and without quivocating, Sookie said she would not. Despite the nearly constant threats to her life, Sookie no longer feels like a freak because of her telepathy and that is more important to her than anything else.

I appreciate that because I really didn't want to read book after book of a heroine bemoaning her lot in life.

In terms of story, From Dead to Worse felt like filler. Entertaining, enjoyable filler, but filler nonetheless. We learned about the interspecies politics of the Vamps, Weres and Hotshot Werepanthers. A new packmaster takes over in Shreveport, a new vampire becomes king of Louisiana and Sookie, of course, was right in the middle of it. Sam was also pretty heavily involved which I like because I've always liked Sam.

Sookie also meets more of her family - her great great grandfather as well as her...second cousin? Her cousin Hadley's son Hunter, who is a very cool little kid.

Ms. Harris ties up a significant number of loose ends in this book and I'm hoping puts them to bed permanently. I like that details spill over from one book to the other, but Bob the Cat eventually needed to go back to being Bob the Man.

On the Sookie Romance Front, Bill continued to annoy and Eric continued to be awesome. I LOVE the bond between Sookie and Eric, not just because I enjoy them together best, but because it's amusing to read how much it annoys Sookie at times. She doesn't have a problem being bonded to Eric, she just hates that the bond manipulates her emotions. So amusing.

I will say I was surprised by how abruptly Sookie ended things with Quinn. I don't blame her for deciding to do so, she just arrived at her conclusion SO much faster than I expected her to. I would have thought, considering the circumstances, she would have given him more of a chance. I suppose being so immersed in the world of the supes has toughened her up a bit.

This review is a bit all over the place and that's because the book is a bit all over the place. I'm not trying to hold back on spoilers, but if I were to be more detailed I'd have to basically recount the entire story and that's not my usual method of review. Suffice it to say, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the next one. In fact, I almost picked it up and started it right away. There is something infectious about Sookie's world and no matter how hard I tried to avoid being charmed by them, I have been.

Reading Goal for 2012

In 2010 I read a rather pathetic 24 books, so for 2011 I set my book reading goal at 48 in an attempt to double my showing.

With a grand total of 29 books read, I failed.

But, in the spirit of insanity, I have once again doubled my total from last year to set my goal for 2012 at 58 books.

I could have gone for a nice, round 60, but I figured my odds aren't all that great, so I'd be better off aiming low.

I'm off to an excellent start, however. I finished my first book of 2012 today!

I'm going to enjoy goodreads telling me I'm 2% ahead immensely. I don't expect to ever see it again. ;p

Have you set your reading goal for 2012?

The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross

Title: The Girl in the Steel Corset
Author: Kady Cross
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Pages: 473
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

The Girl in the Steel Corset was my first foray into the world of steampunk. I haven’t the slightest idea if it’s a good representation of the genre or not, so bear that in mind.

I enjoyed Ms. Cross’s world. I’ve been anxious to explore steampunk because the idea of a world in which the industrial revolution was fueled by steam, rather than coal fascinates me. I love the clothes, the culture, the technology…did I mention the clothes?

I very much enjoyed Finley. Coming on the heels of the last book I read where I really couldn’t tolerate the heroine by the end, I especially enjoyed Finley. Ms. Cross struck a perfect balance between Finley's fascination and fear of her darker self without going overboard in either direction.

All of Ms. Cross’s characters were enjoyable, although I never warmed to Cordelia. I know Griffin was able to appreciate the fact that his aunt only had his best interests at heart, but I’ve never warmed to the idea that acting out of concern for others gives one license to be horrible without recompense.

Speaking of Griffin, he ended up being a very capable, natural leader and romantic interest for Finley. While I enjoyed Jack and Finley's potential more than Griffin and Finley, I found both matches believable.

The Girl In The Steel Corset seemed to take a lot of cues from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in that there’s an element of the fantastic in both the characters abilities as well as the technology. Finley was a well-balanced version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, capable of amazing strength and fighting ability, Emily was able to talk to machines, Sam was inordinately strong and half automaton, Jasper had superspeed and Griffin was able to contact and bend the Aether to his whim. Cordelia was also a particularly skilled telepath - a talent that she used rather brazenly considering her class.

As far as technology was concerned, I found myself thinking “oh, that’s convenient” more than I would have liked. Personal telegraph devices, – basically cellphones – tiny ear pieces that amplify sound, and hand torches run by “power cells” made things just a little bit too easy for my taste. I would have either liked to learn more about how those things worked – many with the help of the amazing Organites that enhanced the characters special talents – or preferred the author to cut down on the number of ways she “modernized” the world.

Although, I had no problem with the velocycles. Must be my love of all things fast.

Getting used to the etiquette of Victorian England was a challenge at times because I wanted the characters to be a little harder, a little dirtier and a little more realistic. The good guys are so good, so noble and I prefer my characters to operate in the grey.

I supposed that’s why I enjoyed Jack Dandy so much.

I would have also liked the stakes to be a bit higher. I finished the book thinking that it read a bit young, although that might be the point. I don’t know what reading level it is.

All in all, The Girl in the Steel Corset passes my most important test in that I enjoyed it and am intrigued enough to read another of Ms. Cross’s novels – especially if she returns to these characters and this world.

The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

Title: The Devil Wears Prada
Author: Lauren Weisberger
Publisher: Broadway Books
Pages: 360
Rating: 2/5 Stars

Although I've never seen the movie, the hype surrounding it has made it impossible for me not to have heard about The Devil Wears Prada. A friend gave me the book years ago (years after the movie came out) and since chick lit is not my genre of choice it took me another few years to finally read it.

I think I could have kept waiting.

I have to give Lauren Weisberger credit because even though I found the main character completely annoying by the end, I still wanted to see what happened. As a story, The Devil Wears Prada was pretty refreshing for the genre. Andrea isn't a complete and total trainwreck, searching for Mr. Right in order for her life to be complete. She already has Mr. Right - or at least thinks she does - in her college boyfriend Alex. Andrea's parents aren't completely out of touch idiots. Andrea is not perfect - she smokes, drinks to excess at times, swears, succumbs to the glamorous perks of her job, lies when she has to, is a bitch when it serves her and in general is remarkably with it for the heroine of a chick lit novel.

Bridget Jones she's not. Thank god.

In the beginning of the novel, I liked Andrea. I actually liked all the characters, even the ones who were supposed to be horrible. I sympathized with Andrea and even congratulated her for understanding that at the beginning of ones career, sacrifices have to be made, butts have to be kissed and someone has to do the grunt work. She wasn't afraid to pay her dues. She also wasn't stupid and took advantage of a position at Runway - even though fashion is not her thing - in the hopes that it would let reduce her dues paying time down to one year instead of five. Okay, so far I congratulate her for her ingenuity as well as her determination and realistic outlook.

The problem, I discovered about halfway through the book, was not the plot, it's the characters. I soon grew to hate them. The first to go were Andrea's best friend Lily and her boyfriend Alex. For two people who supposedly knew Andrea better than anybody, they turned on her really freaking quick. Yes, Miranda Priestly was a ridiculous boss. Yes, Andrea's job was basically 24/7 slavery that meant she often had to cancel plans at the last minute and in general be unavailable to her friends a lot of the time.

You know what, though?

Alex and Lily knew this going into it. Nobody lied to Andrea about the demands of the job she was accepting and she certainly didn't hold back when talking about it to her friends. Plus, all involved knew it was only for a year. This wasn't a career for Andrea, it was a job, a stepping stone to help her get her career started. Thus, I ran out of patience for Alex and Lily's whining about Andrea's lack of availability pretty quickly. I didn't think it fair to support Andrea's decision in theory and then turn on her when the actuality of it wasn't acceptable to them. I don't think Alex or Lily should have put their lives on hold while they waited for Andrea's year of servitude to end, but I also think they had obiligations to her as a friend as well that they seemed to forget when they felt she'd slighted them. I intensely disliked Lily's neediness and Alex's guilt-tripping preachiness.

Plus, fyi, Ms. Weisberger, Andrea is not responsible for how Lily chooses to deal with her issues. Insinuating that Andrea's job demands were in some way to blame for Lily's choices is unfair and untrue. Lily needed to grow up and it wasn't Andrea's job to make it happen.

By the end of the book, however, most of my goodwill toward Andrea had disappeared in light of her attitude toward the fashion industry, her co-workers and her boss, as well as her overall sense of entitlement. In the beginning I understood that getting used to Miranda would have been a challenge - especially for Andrea, being a relative outsider to the fashion industry. I can see how the importance these people placed upon Fashion - yes, that's Fashion with a capitol F - would have seemed ridiculous and strange to her. Eleven months in, however, her disdain read as arrogance and I was done with her.

Andrea's unwavering antipathy for the Fashion industry was grating. I understand that she wasn't into it and found it all ridiculous, but the way she let it be known that she considered herself above such pettiness was so rude and disrespectful I lost all patience with her. Fashion may be irrelevant to you, Andrea, but it is not to the people at Runway who want to be there. Judging them for what you deem shallow and materialistic concerns is just as bad as them judging you for not wearing the right shoes with the right dress.

Now, I'm not going to lie, I wouldn't want to work for Miranda. The demands she placed upon...basically everyone were ridiculous. But that's what bosses do, especially the ones who are so far from where they started that they've lost all touch with the reality of being the lowest person on the totem pole. Andrea's incredulity toward Miranda made sense in the beginning, but by the time she had her meltdown in Paris it was just pathetic. Yes, Andrea, your boss's demands are outlandish, humiliating and inconsiderate, but it's not your job to tell her that, it's your job to accomdate them. You're getting paid. You're not doing Miranda a favor by showing up for work everyday, you're receiving money for a service you agreed to perform. Get over your entitled self.

Now, I realize that Andrea is young and as a result might not immediately understand that life is a lot different than college. I could forgive her for the entitled attitude if I felt that by the end she learned from her experience, but she hadn't. All she had was a sense of relief that she was free from Miranda's dictatorship.

This review is quickly becoming a rant, so I'll bring it to a close by saying that I think Lauren Weisberger is a talented storyteller. Given the fact that the only two characters I liked by the end were Miranda and Emily - the supposedly evil ones - I think she needs to work on her characters.

Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers

Title: Personal Demons
Author: Lisa Derochers
Publisher: Tor Teen
Pages: 365
Rating: 3 Stars

I really wanted to give this 3.5 stars. Personal Demons started out really, really well and I was reading it super fast - always a good sign. I enjoyed Frannie and loved Luc. I'm a sucker for a leather jacket and a pierced eyebrow. ;p The fact that he registered emotions as scents was a little odd and could have been awkward in its obvious attempt to be 'different', but for the most part it worked.

Although, I've never thought of ginger as being particularly lustful.

Lisa Desrochers walked the fine line of being a book about religious themes without becoming a religious book and I appreciated that. The only character that ever preached at me was Frannie's younger sister Grace and she was supposed to be zealous, so it worked.

I kind of felt like the switches between Luc and Frannie's first person POV were cheating a little, but I really liked getting into both of their heads, so I let it slide.

The only problem I had with the book was Gabe. I understand why his character was important. There needed to be a player from Heaven in the mix, not only to give Luc a little competition, but to save Frannie. As much as I like the badboy, this was not a book where Hell was some misunderstood place for castoffs and outsiders. It was Hell in every sense of the word. Frannie did NOT belong there.

The issue comes with the fact that I never got a clear picture of Gabe's feelings for Frannie until I was told - by Luc - that yes, he was in love with her and yes, he'd risk his wings for her. That's all well and good and I was expecting as much, but having to be told something I should have been shown is never good. I think Ms. Derochers made a mistake with Gabe in one of two ways - either he shouldn't have really fallen for Frannie or she should have written from his POV as well.

I was hoping it would come out that while Gabe sincerely cared about Frannie and wanted her safe, the way he made her feel was all a ruse - that Gabe was pushing his power on her to woo her like Luc did to humans. Given the fact that we don't get a Gabe POV, I think this would have been the better way to go. In the sequel, Ms. Desrochers could have delved into Gabe's love for Frannie and surprised everybody with the fact that he really was in love with her.

Ms. Desrochers writing style was very accessible and easy to read. Personal Demons had quite a few references to Top 40 Pop which is fine, but it will date the book in a couple of years - it kind of already did - and I'm not sure that's worth the risk, so to speak.

While I'm not surprised there's a sequel, the book ends in a very satisfying way, so I'm curious where the next installment will take us. I'm assuming we'll learn more about how Frannie is supposed to use her Sway and how Luc deals with being human - a plot point I'm rather 'meh' about, but I'll deal with it as long as he doesn't lose his edge.

The Lodger by Marie Belloc Lowndes

Title: The Lodger
Author: Marie Belloc Lowndes
Publisher: Academy Chicago Publishers
Pages: 224
Rating: 4/5 Stars

I cannot believe how long it took me to read this. Really, it had nothing to do with the book and everything to do with other things occupying my attention.

I have an unhealthy fascination with true crime. I could watch Investigation Discovery 24/7 much to the dismay of my roommate - then again, she could watch Grey's Anatomy and Ugly Betty 24/7 with a healthy dose of Say Yes To The Dress thrown in there to torment me, so I'd say we're even - so it should come as no surprise that I'd be equally interested in reading what is considered to be the first true crime novel.

Written by a woman, no less.

I'm not a feminist in the strictest sense, but I love the fact that The Lodger was written by a woman. Considering the times Ms. Lowndes lived in, I find it wonderful that she was able to get this novel published.

The Lodger is a very obvious homage to the most notorious unsolved serial killer in London at the time - Jack the Ripper. Told mostly through the third person perspective of Mrs. Bunting - half of a married couple on the brink of financial disaster - The Lodger tells the story of The Avenger. A madman stalking the streets of London at night and savagely killing immoral women, specifically those who enjoy a little too much alcohol.

From the beginning, Ms. Lowndes leads the reader to suspect Mr. Sleuth, Mrs. Bunting's lodger who's serendipitous arrival saves the Bunting household from financial ruin, of being the perpetrator of The Avenger crimes. The point of the story is less who-dun-it and more psychological rollercoaster as we take the journey with Mrs. Bunting from mild suspicion to outright certainty that her savior is actually a psychotic killer. By the time the ending arrives - a marvelously open-ended conclusion - Mrs. Bunting is on the brink of complete emotional and physical breakdown.

Questions go unanswered in The Lodger: where did Mr. Sleuth get his money? What were his motivations? What experiments was he conducting in the second room he was renting from the Buntings? Still, I was not left unsatisfied. Perhaps it was from reading the entire book knowing Mr. Sleuth was the killer or perhaps it was my desire for Mrs. Bunting to get some relief from her emotional torment, but when Mr. Sleuth finally disappeared into the busy streets of London, I was simply glad to see him go. Mrs. Bunting wasn't the most likable character I'd ever read, but she was a good person and Ms. Lowndes did a marvelous job of making me understand her desperation and fear from the very first page.

From a technical standpoint, The Lodger did not feel as dated as I expected. I found it a very easy read, not bogged down by descriptions of the scenery or daily life as some pre-television/movie classics can be. Ms. Lowndes's pacing was also excellent, in my opinion, and she did not drag her story out unnecessarily. What's really commendable, though, is her characterization and using some truly horrific crimes as a framework for a psychological horror story.