,

Publisher: Tor

Where did you get this book: Review copy from publisher

Release date: Available now

.

This review contains spoilers!

,

Blurb taken from Tor website:

Tess Livingston met Ian Ritter at a roadside stop high in the Andes, waiting for a bus to the mysterious town of Esperanza.

Tess is an FBI agent who remembers being on the track of a group of international counterfeiters. But she doesn’t remember booking a trip to Esperanza. Ian is a journalist who was planning to vacation to the Galapagos Islands. He, too, isn’t quite sure why he has a ticket to Esperanza.

Their meeting will change their lives forever. For they have been brought together because they hold the key in a mystical war between the kind spirits of the dead who guard humanity, and the hungry ghosts who exist only to possess living human bodies, and return however briefly to life.

In the midst of this war, Tess and Ian will find a love that can transcend time, and a cause that not even death will overcome.

When Tor offered to send this book, I jumped at it. Supernatural thriller? With sex? I’m in!

The premise was really fresh and interesting, and I wanted to like Esperanza so badly—but I just didn’t. There’s a sex scene in the prologue, but it felt glossed over and…not sexy. For me, when you’re talking about body-snatching ghosts (brujos) who do it to feed their sexual hunger and the sex is so intense it tends to leave the people dead, I expect it to be crazy hot. For me, the scene was just meh. Sure people ended up dead, but I never felt any of the wild passion that led to it.

I kept reading anyway because the premise still had my attention. Once the main characters were introduced at the bodega, I figured things would really get moving. Another dead body, a lot of fog and people not knowing what’s going on, but the protagonists seem okay.

The only problem is they never really moved up from okay for me. I bought into their attraction to each other well enough (I mean—he looks like George Clooney. Hello!), but I never connected with either of them. The one I liked the best was Nomad, the brujo sensing dog. And then I find out, not only are the main characters almost dead themselves (they are “transitionals” people who are on the verge of death) and not physically even in Esperanza, but the dog isn’t a dog—he’s a shapeshifter.

Even with all of that, I tried to keep reading. I made it about a third of the way through the novel before I realized I was forcing myself to read it. The author utilizes a lot of description that seemed unnecessary to me. And there’s also a lot of explaining that comes across as telling. For me, if the explanation doesn’t come about in a really organic way, it doesn’t work. Too much of Esperanza felt forced to me.

This is, of course, just my opinion, and based on a quick scan while looking for the blurb, a lot of people out there loved Esperanza. For this reviewer though, it wasn’t thrilling enough to warrant being called a thriller, and for that reason and those listed above, it was a DNF.

DNF Explanation: Esperanza by Trish J. MacGregor is a post from: The Book Pushers | Book Reviews | Book Chatter

Sometime early last year I was either browsing my favorite book related blogs or looking on Amaxon.com for their list of recommended upcoming releases when I came across a book called Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire.  The back cover blurb caught my eye with the mention of a half Sidhe-half human Private Investigator, October Daye, who had lost 14 years of her life.  At first I thought the 14 years were the price she had paid for working some magic spell.  Boy was I wrong.  Instead of paying a price, she was unwillingly transformed into something other then human or fae and spent those 14 years unable to sense or comprehend the passing of time. Intrigued I picked up a copy when it was published and Ms McGuire sucked me into a dark, complex enjoyable tale.

When The Bookpushers were contacted to see if there was interest in reviewing her upcoming book called A Local Habitation that just happened to be the sequel to Rosemary and Rue, I leaped on the chance.  Per the FTC I am obligated to inform you that I received an ARC of this book from the author for the purpose of reviewing it.  (Confidentially I will admit that I will purchase a copy release week.) I will attempt to avoid major spoilers from Rosemary and Rue but some smaller ones are inevitable.

Excerpt from the Back Cover as stated at http://seananmcguire.com/alh.php

“Half-human, half-fae, outsiders from birth, most changelings are second class children of Faerie spending their lives fighting for the respect of their immortal relations.  Toby is the only changeling who has earned knighthood, and she re-earns that position every day, undertaking assignments for her liege, Sylvester, the Duke of Shadowed Hills.

Now Sylvester has asked her to go to the County of Tamed Lightening – otherwise known as Fremont, California – to make sure that all is well with his niece, January O’Leary, whom he has not been able to contact.  It seems like a simple enough assignment – but when dealing with the realm of Faerie, nothing is ever as simple as it seems…For Tamed Lightening has somehow been cut off from the other fiefdoms, and now someone has begun to murder January’s key people.  If Toby can’t find and stop the killer soon, she may well become the next victim…”

Ms McGuire has succeeded in taking a common theme, the Sidhe, and adding some unique twists that sucked me back into October’s life.  Set once again in San Francisco, home to October “Toby” Daye, the opening scene showcases Toby in a much lighter mood then than readers of the first book are accustomed to seeing.  Fans of this series might also be interested in the fact that we also get to see Tybalt, a very powerful Cait Sidhe and the local King of the Cats *waggles eyebrows* very early on.  Don’t worry I promise you that Tybalt appears again.

Throughout the course of Toby’s investigation in A Local Habitation, I was treated to more information about the Sidhe culture, its various members and Toby herself.  I found it to be a mark of Ms McGuire’s skillful writing style that her character and world building were seamlessly merged with the pace of the story so I never lost my reading enjoyment as the story unfolded.  All of the characters showed unexpected depths, including those victims who died before Toby arrived at Tamed Lightening.  Based on the other characters statements about one of the victims I had painted a particular picture but when Toby examined their office area my mental picture drastically changed.  In another instance I thought I had figured out who one character was attracted to and found I was entirely wrong.   Toby and her sidekick (name is a major spoiler for Rosemary and Rue) also learned some interesting lessons and faced some situations when Toby’s connection to her liege wasn’t necessarily believed or even helpful.

The murder mystery was complex enough that while I guessed some of the roles the different characters played I was not expecting all of the twists nor did I accurately guess the culprit.  Despite the gritty nature of the investigation, Toby and the cast of assorted characters do experience some lighter moments.  Ms McGuire’s October Daye series does not shy away from showing how the Sidhe have a very different viewpoint on life and what death really means.   I also got to see the manifestation of power and what it means to have and control that power.  While dark and gritty A Local Habitation ends on a note of hope.  I enjoyed reading it and look forward to the next installment in October Daye’s life, An Artificial Night.  Ms McGuire has very kindly provided the reader with a sneak peek of into that third novel due to release in September 2010.

I give it a rating of 4 of 5 five stars for the slight predictability in some of the characters and their roles and the fact that I believe in order to fully enjoy the book and understand at least one key scene you need to read Rosemary and Rue.  A Local Habitation releases in North America on March 2 as a DAW Mass Market Paperback.

ARC Review: A Local Habitation is a post from: The Book Pushers | Book Reviews | Book Chatter

The Changeover by Margaret Mahy is a rich, multi-layered tale that I discovered as a teen, and quickly fell in love due to its relatability- in addition to being one hell of a good read! During each reread it has delivered a fresh meaning to me and it’s one of my all time favourite reads.

The Changeover focuses on the tumultuous changes that Laura, the heroine, endures throughout puberty and later in the story, supernaturally. The story begins when Laura finds herself and Jacko, her baby brother, caught up in the clutches of a demon (Carmody Braque) who has managed to imprint himself onto Jacko and who is feeding off his life-force. Laura is the only one who realises this and finds herself asking for help from a boy called Sorenson Carlisle at her school, who she knows instinctively is a witch. Sorenson is bemused by Laura’s intuition, but decides to help her and Jacko by getting his grandmother and mother involved who are also witches. Although the witches, who offer help to save Laura’s brother, make Laura pay a cost that would change her life forever. Laura has to become a witch in order to strengthen their coven by magically Changingover.

To Changeover Laura has to confront her personal as well as physical fears about puberty, prospective love and magical metaphorsis. She learns and realises that she is unable to stay in the confines of the past and her childhood. But she is resentful of the changes that growing up brings. There are also other obstacles from her own mother, who is moving on with her life post divorce with another man- even though at the same time there is something wrong with Jacko. However, these changes help Laura through her magical metaphorsis as it is the only way she is able to confront Carmody Braque, the demon who is killing her baby brother.

As a teen in the 1980s it was hard to come across books that had a leading female character I could relate to. One other book I think that came close to this was Alanna, from the Song of The Lioness Quartet (I will be blogging about this later). Her resentment, fears and ponderings of growing up were things I could understand and relate to. Here, is a supernatural tale of witches and demons in an ordinary setting. Laura may not be a kick ass warrior, but emotionally she is stubborn, resilient and loyal. She faces her fears to protect those she loves. Her relationship with Jacko and Sorenson fleshed her character out. It made her seem real. She is not perfect but she isn’t stupid or whiny.

One of the main strengths of this book was Sorenson. As a male witch he feels he is the odd one out in his triumvirate family of witches, who have rejected him for being a male witch- so he ends up being put in an abusive foster home. Due to this he calls himself Sorry, but despite his past and prickly relationship with his family, he does try to portray himself as the perfect, well behaved teen. Although Laura sees through this facade. Sorry is a true rebel at heart and because of his strange heritage, he doesn’t fit into the ideals or desires of what people want him to be. I think he was one of my first fictional crushes and his snarky anti-hero character was a joy to read about.

I think one of the scenes that stand out for me is when Laura and Sorry are at his library, and he shows her his collection of Harlequin/Mills and Boons books. His desire is to learn and understand what women really want in romance and love, yet he has a topless poster of a glamour model. I found this quite funny as I would have thought he would be the last person to read and collect romance books, especially dressed up in gothic clothing. Sorry then makes a pass at Laura, which has remained one of the most erotically charged moments I have read in a book.

Despite his anti-hero tendencies, Sorry wants a place to belong to and in addition to this, he has to face the feelings and angst of becoming an adult; and dealing with sexuality and love. Sorry isn’t an idealised romantic hero and at times he can be a complete arse, but I think his romance with Laura is intrinsically romantic. Its real and it’s messy. For me, he is one of the most captivating characters I have read about.

The Changeover is multidimensional and conveys many meanings, and my understanding of the tale as an adult is on a different level from when I read the book as a teen. It deals with the complicated factors of growing up, as well as being a dark and gritty read. It doesn’t shy away from messy issues and things aren’t tied up in a neat bow at the end. The writing is lush and rich, especially the description of the magical changeover that Laura goes through over the course of the tale. The imagery of rebirth and witchcraft elements was simply fascinating. Mahy juxtaposes the ordinary with the extraordinary, which make you believe that this could truly be real. This is a wonderful book that has remained with me throughout my teens and adult life, and it will always remain so. Only gripe I have is that I wish there is a sequel because I am definitely wanting and still wanting more from these characters.

I give The Changeover 4.5 out of 5.

The Changeover is available from The Book Depository.co.uk and from The Book Depository.com

Review: The Changeover by Margaret Mahy is a post from: The Book Pushers | Book Reviews | Book Chatter