Book Review: Queen of the Dead by Stacey Kade

AUTHOR: Stacey Kade
PUBLISHER:  Hyperion
PAGES: 304
STAND ALONE/SERIES: Series (The Ghost and the goth, Body and Soul)
SOURCE: bought
OUTLINE:
The Ghost

Okay, I admit it. I'm not perfect, no matter what you've heard. First off, I'm dead. Second, I got send back from the Great Beyond. I mean, seriously, who is running things up there? Now I have to spend the summer after my senior year working - and on behalf of a bunch of whiny spirits, no less. But a girl's got to what a girl's got to do.

It's a good thing Will Killian is still around. Even though he drives me crazy, and he could seriously do with a tan - Hello! It's summer! - I'm glad he's here to help me. Now he's all distracted by this frizzy-aired girl who can - big deal - communicate with the dead, too. Whatever. I don't need Will. But there are some things - like saving my parents from a couple of horrible mistakes - that would be easier with his assistance. Still, I will get what I want... with or without him.

The Goth
I'm still totally amazed that Alona Dare is my spirit guide and that it works. Yes, I've had a crush on her since sixth grade, but I also kind of hated her. And sure, she had to die before she'd talk to me - but I don't know, I kind of like having her around.

Things get confusing when I meet Mina, who's the first ghost-talker I've ever encountered (other than my dad). I always thought Alona and I were doing the right thing helping those other ghosts, but mina has me thinking otherwise. Plus, she might know stuff about my dad that even my mum doesn't. But if there's one thing I should have learned by now, it's not to ignore Alona. That's never a good idea.

MY THOUGHTS

I'm not going to lie the covers are what really had me interested in the series. Suffice to say that I've not had a problem with the first two books. The Ghost and the Goth was definitely a first book. We met the characters, we dove into the lives a little bit. We got just enough that we wanted to know more.

I really enjoyed Queen of the Dead. Alona and Will find new troubles as they continue to play ghost hunters. Although they begin their stories together in Queen of the Dead they start to drift and Will becomes invested in learning about this group of ghost talkers who claim to have known his dad. They want him to join their cause, and while doing so he neglects to  help Alona whose persistence to help her family not forget her causes more of a problem. She gets herself stuck in Will's comatosa friend.

You really got to hate to love Alona (yes I know it's love to hate, but go with me here.) even in death she knows what she wants. She'll step on people to get what she wants, but I love that she also knows how to show compassion when needed. I can't wait to read the next book to see how she gets outta the predicament shes in.

Poor Will is stuck between what he's always done, and what he's found out so which one is right?

Waiting on Wed:The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall by Katie Alender

Author: Katie Alender

Expected publication: August 25th 2015 by Point

Delia's new house isn't just a house. It used to be an insane asylum, a place to lock up "troubled" young women long ago. And a restless, wicked spirit is still at play--and it doesn't want defiant girls like Delia to go anywhere.

So the house kills her.

Now Delia is a ghost, trapped in her creepy home forever. As she meets the other ghost girls who haunt the narrow hallways, as well as the handsome ghost boy on the grounds, she learns shocking truths about the house's history. Delia also realizes that her alive and grieving sister might be the house's next target. Can Delia unlock the mystery of the old asylum, save her sister, and free herself?

Why I'm waiting on this?

OMG! I saw this last week on someones WOW and I think I screeched a little. I love Katie Alender's Bad GIrls Don't Die series (and the covers) so when I saw this I knew I needed it now! 

(On another note I'm thinking about doing a giveaway for when I reach 1000 followers on here. So if you're not a follower go ahead and click follow. I will follow back if I don't already.) 

Blog Tour: Liv, Forever by Amy Talkington

Readers

Today I would like to welcome Amy Talkington to the site.

Here are a few questions that I got to ask her.

If you haven't had the pleasure of reading the story I highly recommend it. It's an adorable story.

My review will be up soon.

QUESTIONS

1. I know this is a question always asked by bloggers, but how did you come up with the story to Liv, Forever?

First, I just had this character I wanted to write: Liv, an artist who has a lot of deep emotion but is pretty hardened on the outside. She wears emotional armor. Then, I thought it might be interesting if that girl actually had to die in order to learn how to love (and live). The story kind of evolved from there.

2. Out of all the back stories for the ghosts whose did you enjoy writing the most?

Great question! I call them the “Ghost Death Statements.” For those who haven’t read LIv yet, let me explain. Throughout the book, in between chapters, there’s a series of first-person statements in which each of the ghosts tells the story of her death. I loved writing them all—assuming these different voices, researching the time period, layering in clues to the mystery—but I can pinpoint two favorites. Lydia is the first one I wrote. She died in 1985 and so I got to use some of my own late ‘80s high school references (hello, Echo and the Bunnyman on the Walkman!). And the other statement I loved writing was Dawn. That was the last one I wrote and I just went full tilt with her passionate, environmentalist voice.

3.Seeing as how you wrote a ghost story do you believe in ghosts and the afterlife?

Yes! I don’t necessarily imagine they’re fully formed like Liv but I really do feel that a spirit might sometimes linger if he/she/it feels the need to. Obviously this is not based on any scientific fact.

4. Do you watch ghost shows like Ghost Adventures or Ghosthunters?

No. I don’t want to give spoilers but I can say I’m less into the idea of scary ghosts (and that will make sense once you’ve read the book, I think).  The ghosts that I “believe in” are mostly kind spirits that need some kind of closure. Not haunting so much. My favorite show that had “ghosts” (at least one, sort of) was Six Feet Under.

5. What would you do if you could see and hear ghosts like Gabe?

Well, as much as I’m going on about how I believe in ghosts, I think I’d completely lose it if I heard one or  felt one. Like Gabe, I’d probably feel very isolated and freaked out. Unless, of course, it was someone I loved. I experienced a ghosty moment related to my grandmother and I found it very comforting, actually.

If you want to know all the latest on Liv, Forever

Twitter @amytalkington 

Tumblr http://amytalkington.tumblr.com

SoHo Press: Liv, Forever

When Liv Bloom lands an art scholarship at Wickham Hall, it’s her ticket out of the foster system. Liv isn’t sure what to make of the school’s weird traditions and rituals, but she couldn’t be happier. For the first time ever, she has her own studio, her own supply of paints. Everything she could want. 

Then she meets Malcolm Astor, a legacy student, a fellow artist, and the one person who’s ever been able to melt her defenses. Liv’s only friend at Wickham, fellow scholarship kid Gabe Nichols, warns her not to get involved, but life is finally going Liv’s way, and all she wants to do is enjoy the ride. 

But Liv’s bliss is doomed. Weeks after arriving, she is viciously murdered and, in death, she discovers that she’s the latest victim of a dark conspiracy that has claimed many lives. Cursed with the ability to see the many ghosts on Wickham’s campus, Gabe is now Liv’s only link to the world of the living. To Malcolm.

Together, Liv, Gabe, and Malcolm fight to expose the terrible truth that haunts the halls of Wickham. But Liv must fight alone to come to grips with the ultimate star-crossed love.

Book Review: Anna dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

AUTHOR: Kendare Blake
PUBLISHED: August 30,2011
PUBLISHER: Tor Teen
PAGES: 316
SERIES/STAND ALONE: Series
SOURCE: Won from Rachel at PaperCuts
CHALLENGES: 2011 Debut


OUTLINE:
Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.
So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.
When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn't expect anything outside of the ordinary: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.
But she, for whatever reason, spares Cas's life.

MY THOUGHTS:
First off, I have to say complete and total cover love. I absolutely love this cover and it represents the book perfectly. I've always been interested in ghosts, and stories about them. Whether they're real stories or made up.  So it's no surprise that I would come to love Anna Dressed in Blood. When you first read the synopsis you're thinking (or I was thinking) this is going to be a gory, dark, horror/thriller driven book. I mean with Cas going around killing ghosts. You know people who are suppose to be ALREADY dead? How can it not be a horror story, or a thriller? You never know what might pop out at you.

Kendare Blakes writing is to die for. (I know, I know I couldn't help myself) I love how descriptive she was with the ghosts, and Anna (and her dripping blood red dress). I fell in love. I know it's kind of hard to imagine falling in love with a book like this because it definitely did not hold anything back. When someone died a horrible death it described it perfectly. I'm not sure how I would know what a perfect horrible death is, but it read well. When an author can make you look over your shoulders while your reading that is a sign of awesome writing in my opinion. I kid you not I was sitting in my moms apartment building parking lot at like 10:30pm (I was waiting on my brother) and I started reading this, and I maybe got a chapter read and quit because I kept hearing things and looking in my backseat. Can we say chicken? (There's a shed and an old camper sitting  across the way which made it worse.) I loved the way it made a complete 180 or is 360? Anyways, I like how it went from one thing to something else. I was like okay this is not what I was expecting, but it worked for me. I like being completely wrong about things it makes it that much more fun to read.

 I loved pretty much each character: Anna, Carmel, Cas, Thomas, even the cat Tybalt.  I enjoyed how one of the main characters was a teenage boy named Cas. That's not something you see very often in YA. There were parts when I was like just stop being an ass and let people help you, make friends, be a teenager, but then I can see why he acted the way he did. I guess moving and killing ghosts isn't easy on the friend and life department. Anna, oh Anna dressed in blood. I think she was my favorite out of all of them. Despite her ghostly-ness she seemed more real then some of the others. We got to learn more about her and what made her the way she was. She just had this sadness to her. I wanted to be able to help her. Thomas was the geeky boy that quickly attached himself to Cas. You always have to have that sidekick, and he was one that enjoyed reading about.Then there was Carmel, the queen bee, at the high school yet she seemed down to earth. Then of course you have the jocks, but I won't bore you with them. :) Tybalt was Cas' moms cat. This cat reminds me of mine. This one hated pretty much everyone but the mom, and mine is the same way she hates everyone but me. Cats are so picky! it's weird though because this cat could sense when a ghost was around and he's stare off into space or do other weird things, and I'm like my cat does the same creepy stuff. Does that mean I have a ghost?

Quotes:
-I don't like the idea of you using these girls all the time. (Cas' mom)
You make it sound so dirty (Cas)

-Completely, She's bruce lee, the hulk, and Neo from The matrix all rolled into one. (Cas)
Yes, thank you for the entirely incomprehensible pop-culture reference. (Gideon)

-Yes, smashing you'll be just like those four chaps in the movie. You know the one, with the over-sized marshmallow. (Gideon)
-You've got to be kidding me. (Cas)

I can't wait for Girl of Nightmares (Anna #2) and it doesn't come out until next August.

I Heart You You Haunt Me Review

AUTHOR: Lisa Schroeder
PUBLISHER:  Simon Pulse
PAGES: 227
SERIES/STAND ALONE: Stand Alone

OUTLINE: Girl meets boy.

Girl loses boy.

Girl gets boy back...

...sort of.

Ava can't see him or touch him, unless she's dreaming. She can't hear his voice, except for the faint whispers in her mind. Most would think she's crazy, but she knows he's here.

Jackson. The boy Ava thought she'd spend the rest of her life with. He's back from the dead, as proof that love truly knows no bounds.

STARTED: 11-07-2010
FINISHED: 11-10-2010

MY THOUGHTS:
Bought at HPB

FYI- I love the book cover.

The story starts off with Ava at Jackson's funeral, and continues on with her fighting her guilt with what happened to him. Then she starts to notice a presence, things happen around her at her house like the music player turns on, candles flicker, cabinets open, the smell of sandlewood cream. At times it seems like he's actually a real person and not ghost with the tantrums he throws, the way he gets jealous, and being overprotective. A little creepy for a ghost right?
I just finished this book, and I have to admit at first I didn't think I would like it because it was written in versus. I actually had never seen a book written in poem like form (no rhyming involved though) beause it was written like that I looked over it at the bookstore, but everytime I went back there it was. I finally decided I would get it because I had seen good reviews about it. I'm very glad I did. It was beautifully written. I loved the way it just went together. Sorry can't think of a word for that. It's a good book to show how someone can hold on to something that's no longer there, and feel the guilt. It's about how to let go of that person/guilt and move on because holding on to it doesn't make life any easier and it won't bring them back.

I liked Ava as a character I had that kind of connection with the character that's good to have because it makes you understand them and to feel what they're feeling. I wasn't thrilled with her ex-boyfriend I didn't really see any point in him being it, but that's just me. I did however, like the other boy that showed up during it Lyric (I like that for a name). You'll have to read to find out about him. Then there were Ava's friends Jessa, Zoe, and Cal. I figured as friends they would've tried being there a little more for her even if she didn't want them.

One thing that I was a little disappointed about was how long it took for us to find out what happened to Jackson.  All we know is that Ava thinks it was her fault, but we don't know why she thinks that until almost the end. I guess I just like to know things sooner, but that just makes you want to read it quicker.

I'm definitely going to get some more books from this author. I actually watched a book trailer fan made for Chasing Brooklyn. It sounded like a good book.

QUOTES:
- Alone we were good, together we were fantastic (Ava)
- As we pull away, my eyes stay glued to the casket. It's proof that sometimes life does not go on. (Ava) 
- If I sacrifice my heart for Jackson, will I be dead too? (Ava)
- Not as hard as holding on to something that wasn't real. (Nick)

Well that is my diagnosis. Let me know what you think.