Book Review | Shutter by Courtney Alameda

Shutter (Shutter #1) by Courtney Alameda
Published by Feiwel & Friends on February 3, 2015
Genres: Young Adult, Horror, Paranormal
Pages: 384
Format: Hardcover
Source: Goodreads Giveaway
Goodreads: ★★★★ 1/2

Horror has a new name: introducing Courtney Alameda.

Micheline Helsing is a tetrachromat—a girl who sees the auras of the undead in a prismatic spectrum. As one of the last descendants of the Van Helsing lineage, she has trained since childhood to destroy monsters both corporeal and spiritual: the corporeal undead go down by the bullet, the spiritual undead by the lens. With an analog SLR camera as her best weapon, Micheline exorcises ghosts by capturing their spiritual energy on film. She's aided by her crew: Oliver, a techno-whiz and the boy who developed her camera's technology; Jude, who can predict death; and Ryder, the boy Micheline has known and loved forever.

When a routine ghost hunt goes awry, Micheline and the boys are infected with a curse known as a soulchain. As the ghostly chains spread through their bodies, Micheline learns that if she doesn't exorcise her entity in seven days or less, she and her friends will die. Now pursued as a renegade agent by her monster-hunting father, Leonard Helsing, she must track and destroy an entity more powerful than anything she's faced before . . . or die trying.

Lock, stock, and lens, she’s in for one hell of a week.

REVIEW

If you are a lover of young adult paranormal, run to the nearest bookstore and pick up Shutter. This horror novel is the first in a new series by Courtney Alameda, and features a great cast of characters as they go on an epic adventure to kill the ghost who has infected their bodies and is literally killing them from the inside out. I raced through this novel, and highly recommend it to anyone looking for a dark and thrilling tale. 

My favorite thing about Shutter is Alameda's writing style. She is able to create a dark aura surrounding her words that evokes a real sense of eeriness for the reader. The tone reminded me a bit of the Blood of Eden Series by Julie Kagawa, though the stories are quite different, of course. 

Alameda also excels in character development. Shutter has four main characters – our narrator is Micheline Helsing, a descendant of Van Helsing who is trained to hunt the undead. Her reaping team is made up of three young men, Ryder, Jude, and Oliver, who each have a distinct personality. These four characters work so well together, and each is likable both individually and as a team unit. 

My critiques of the novel are very few, and they are quite trivial. First, there are a few instances in the novel where traditional gender roles are accepted. However, these moments are fleeting one-liners, and probably only stick out to someone like me who is keenly aware of gender relations in all that I read. I also found the beginning of the novel to be a bit complicated, as the world building threw a lot of vocabulary and technology my way all at once. Luckily, as the novel progressed, I quickly grew to understand the world. 

Other than those small issues, I loved everything about Shutter, and I cannot wait for the next book in the series to be released. Whether you love ghost stories, or perhaps you're looking to break into the young adult horror genre, I highly recommend Shutter. It's a dynamic read that is sure to keep you turning pages to the very end. 

BUY THE BOOK

Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes & Noble 

When you buy a book through the Amazon or Book Depository links above, I earn a small commission through each website's affiliate program. All opinions are my own. See my Disclosure Policy for more information. 

Book Review | An Italian Wife by Ann Hood

An Italian Wife by Ann Hood
Published by W. W. Norton & Company on September 2, 2014
Genres: Adult, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Contemporary
Pages: 288
Format: ARC
Source: Goodreads Giveaway
Goodreads: ★★★★

An Italian Wife is the extraordinary story of Josephine Rimaldi—her joys, sorrows, and passions, spanning more than seven decades. The novel begins in turn-of-the-century Italy, when fourteen-year-old Josephine, sheltered and naive, is forced into an arranged marriage to a man she doesn't know or love who is about to depart for America, where she later joins him. Bound by tradition, Josephine gives birth to seven children. The last, Valentina, is conceived in passion, born in secret, and given up for adoption.

Josephine spends the rest of her life searching for her lost child, keeping her secret even as her other children go off to war, get married, and make their own mistakes. Her son suffers in World War I. One daughter struggles to assimilate in the new world of the 1950s American suburbs, while another, stranded in England, grieves for a lover lost in World War II. Her granddaughters experiment with the sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll in the 1970s. Poignant, sensual, and deeply felt, An Italian Wife is a sweeping and evocative portrait of a family bound by love and heartbreak.

REVIEW

I was extremely excited when I won An Italian Wife from Goodreads. I'm half Italian, and grew up surrounded by Italian culture. My grandma is one of fourteen children, so I'm familiar with the food and traditions that come with being an Italian-American. I could thus relate to the characters in An Italian Wife, and I think that is one reason why I found this story so emotionally beautiful. 

Hood is an amazing storyteller. Her writing is compelling, her characters are well-crafted, and her settings are pristinely described. I found An Italian Wife to be so interesting because of the dramatic events inside each chapter. I felt every emotion while reading this book – shock, sadness, happiness, relief, heartbreak, and so on. There is no denying that An Italian Wife is a great story, and one that I would definitely read again.

That being said, I did have a few problems with the organization of the book. The story is told in the third person, with the book being broken down into three parts, each based on a generation of Josephine Rimaldi's family.  In the first part, readers follow Josephine as she is married off as a teenager and moved to America where she begins her family. This first section is dedicated to Josephine, and then her children. Time flies by quite quickly, and I had to try to calculate the years in my head. 

Next, the second and third parts of An Italian Wife follow Josephine's grandchildren and great-grandchildren respectively. Each chapter will focus on a different character. We hear that person's story and learn about his or her life before moving onto the next family member. On the one hand, I really enjoyed this style of writing because I got to meet each of Josephine's family members on an individual basis. On the other, it was frustrating to become attached to a character only to have that person's story end on a cliffhanger and never find out what becomes of him or her. Overall, this organizational structure was quite difficult to get used to, but I did come to like it in the end. 

In addition, I was often confused by the characters in the book, and had to keep referencing the family tree in the front of the novel. This is because many characters have a nickname that is used interchangeably with his or her real name. Hood also assumes that readers will understand that "Mama Jo" is "Josephine" later on in the book without any explanation. I definitely would have appreciated, if not less characters, less nicknames. 

In the end, I thoroughly enjoyed An Italian Wife despite my problems with the novel's organization and confusing cast of characters. The story is just beautifully laid out, and I found it extremely touching. This is a book I would love to see adapted as a television program, as it would last several seasons thanks to the decades it spands and the great characters it follows. Producers take note!

BUY THE BOOK

Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes & Noble

When you purchase a book through the Amazon or Book Depository links above, I earn a small commission through each website's affiliate program. All opinions are my own. See my Disclosure Policy for more information.

Book Review | The Wolf by Lorenzo Carcaterra

I was really excited when I won an advance copy of The Wolf by Lorenzo Carcaterra from Goodreads a few months back. The cover looks amazing, and the plot was definitely intriguing.

The Wolf is a crime novel in which organized crime leader Vincent Marelli (the Wolf) is waging his own war on terror. Marelli's wife and daughters were killed in a terrorist act, and because he doesn't know exactly who is behind the crime, he decides to begin wiping out all of the known terrorists in the world until he can be sure the killers perish. In order to fulfill this goal, Marelli calls together all of the mafia and gang leaders around the world to work with him and attempt to complete his war without causing catastrophic results.

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy my reading experience with The Wolf. The first issue was with the points of view in the novel. For most of the story, the book is told from the first person perspective of Marelli. However, at times the perspective will switch to the third person so the reader can get a glimpse at another part of the action. While changing perspectives in a novel can be done well, here it was very confusing. It was never noted when the perspectives would be changing, and there were some chapters where I had to wait a paragraph or two to find out if it was Marelli talking or not. At one point, the story was in the third person, but one paragraph only was written in the first person. I am hoping this was simply an editing mistake that was corrected in the final copy.

I also struggled with The Wolf because Carcaterra is assuming that the reader has some knowledge of organized crime to begin with, which I do not. I found myself a bit lost at points in the story because things weren't explained, but I think someone who is familiar with crime novels regarding the mafia, for example, might not have the same issues. Similarly, I found The Wolf to be very slow-paced, and I was waiting for a lot of the action to happen for much of the book. I was expecting a lot more thriller elements in the story, but even past the halfway point, the story was dragging.

My final issue with this book is that the ending did not wrap up in a way I would have expected. I will not give any spoilers, but I did feel as if this was the first book in a new series. There were many questions left unanswered, and the character's main goal was not fulfilled. As far as I know, The Wolf is a stand-alone novel, but if a second book were to come along I would not find that surprising.

I gave The Wolf a 2 out of 5 star rating on Goodreads. While there were many issues for me in this book, I did think the original plot idea was a great one, and the language itself was easy to read. I also really loved how this book was designed. The cover, title page, and even the font page in the back was very well done. I simply wished I enjoyed the story more and could recommend it to you all! If you've read The Wolf or any of Carcaterra's other books, please let me know your experience in the comments.  

I received this book for free in a giveaway from Goodreads. All opinions are my own. See my Disclosure Policy for more information. 

Book Review | Honor Bound & Two Alone by Sandra Brown

I recently won a copy of Honor Bound & Two Alone, a bind-up of two Sandra Brown novels, on Goodreads. While romance novels are not my usual cup of tea, I decided to read this book and give it a try. Unfortunately, I was not a fan of either of these stories.

Honor Bound is the first book in the bind up, and revolves around a young woman named Aislinn who is kidnapped by an escaped convict who happens to be an American Indian. Though she is frightened, she is somewhat enamored with Lucas, the convict. Of course, a love story ensues from there.

The other story is Two Alone, which revolves around Rusty and Cooper, the two lone survivors of an airplane crash. They rely on each other to survive in the woods until they can be rescued, and (you guessed it) a romance begins between the two.

These books were both written in the late 1980s, and are definitely products of their time. I think the stories were very cliché, and featured women in helpless roles, with men powering over them at all times. Even without the romance scenes, I really disliked how the women in these novels are portrayed. It also bothered me how these stories both touched on very serious topics, but just glided over them to get to the love scenes. While a happy ending can be nice, they were just extremely cheesy in these books and didn't necessarily wrap up the stories properly.

Suffice it to say that I don't recommend this book unless you really enjoy romance novels. I ended up giving this bind-up a 2 out of 5 stars on Goodreads, because I understand that these books are definitely a product of the late 1980s, and thus may have been received differently during their original release.

Do you read romance novels? Let me know what you think of this genre in the comments!

Book Review | The Devil in the Marshalsea by Antonia Hodgson

I am so excited to share my latest read with all of you! I won an advance copy of The Devil in the Marshalsea by Antonia Hogson on Goodreads, and made it my first priority during the Bout of Books 10.0 Readathon that is happening right now (check out my Day 1 and Day 2 posts for more information). I read all 380 pages within two days, and I am pleased to report it earned a full 5/5 star rating!

The Devil in the Marshalsea is a historical fiction book that takes place in 1727. The story is told through our main character's perspective. His name is Tom Hawkins, and he's a 25-year-old gentleman who studied to be a reverend, but was led astray due to his love for women, drinking, and gambling. The book opens with Tom scrounging together enough money to pay his landlord the debts he owes, but before Tom can pay his debts, he is robbed of every penny. The next day he is thrown into debtors gaol (pronounced "jail"), and the real excitement begins!

Gaol in 18th century England is truly hell. In order to avoid the dreaded Common Side, where prisoners are packed in tight quarters and dying of gaol fever, one must pay room and board to live on the Master's Side – a difficult task to accomplish when one is thrown into gaol for owing money in the first place. Tom meets an interesting fellow named Samuel Fleet, who pays his rent. But Fleet is not a favorite in the Marshalsea, the gaol where Tom now stays. In fact, Fleet's last roommate was brutally murdered and it soon becomes Tom's job to find out who did the deed, or he will be unable to escape the Marshalsea.

The Devil in the Marshalsea is thus a murder mystery story filled with twists and turns. Hodgson does an amazing job of building complex characters, and also educating the reader about life in a debtors gaol in the 1700s. I was amazed to find out that many of the characters in this book are based off of real life personalities, and I am now interested to learn more about this culture that I never knew existed. But aside from the fascinating history, the story of The Devil in the Marshalsea is just pure awesome. If you're a fan of Clue, you will love this book. The ending was shocking, and every time I thought I knew what was going to happen next, I was quite surprised. According to Goodreads, this is the first book in the new Tom Hawkins series, and I just need to find out what happens next!

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed The Devil in the Marshalsea, and highly recommend it. It was definitely my favorite read of 2014 thus far. It comes out on June 10, so be sure to preorder your copy on Amazon HERE. You don't want to miss out on this thrill ride!

I use Amazon Affiliate links so you can find the books I talk about easily. All opinions are my own. See my Disclosure Policy for more information. 

Book Review | Time of Attack by Marc Cameron

Have you ever felt really accomplished upon finishing a book? That's how I feel about Time of Attack by Marc Cameron! I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway back in January, and began reading it on March 30th. Well, it took me just over a month, but I finally finished it, and I can't wait to share my thoughts on the story with all of you.

Time of Attack is a part of the Jericho Quinn series by Cameron, but can be read as a stand-alone novel. This book has two parallel story lines, the first centering on Special Agent Quinn. While attending a friend's wedding, his ex-wife is shot by a sniper who was aiming for his young daughter. Quinn then goes on a hunt to track down the mysterious woman who left his ex-wife without a leg. Along the way he encounters many interesting characters, and ends up traveling to Japan in an effort to find the shooter.

While Quinn finds himself in all sorts of crazy situations, readers are also following another storyline. A manmade disease is suddenly being given to American soldiers before they return home from Afghanistan. Soon dozens are infected, and doctors have no idea how to stop the illness from spreading, nor do they know how to cure it.

As you can imagine, these two plots are action-packed. A good way to describe Time of Attack is a James Bond book filled with extra adventure and mystery. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, though I did find it a bit slow going for me despite all the fast-paced scenes. The main reason I didn't like this reading experience was because of the book itself. It is very narrow and tall, but very wide. It was uncomfortable to hold the book. While this did not detract from the actual story at all, it definitely made me want to put it down more often that I would have in a better binding.

I'm also not a huge fan of violence, so be aware that if you read this book you'll be dealing with more mature themes. This genre is not my usual cup of tea, so it was great to escape from my norm and pick up something new, but I wouldn't want to read this type of book all the time.

My favorite aspect of Time of Attack was the character development. There are a lot of different characters in this book, but I didn't lose track of them due to Cameron's crafty writing. He does a great job at describing the characters just enough so you remember who they are, and builds strong background stories for those in the spotlight.

Overall, Time of Attack is a great read if you're looking for an action-packed thrill ride. I gave it a 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads, but would recommend the eBook version on Amazon HERE unless you don't mind a bulky book. I don't think I'll be rereading this one, but I will keep an eye out for more Jericho Quinn novels in the future, especially since this one had a bit of a cliffhanger ending! If you've read any of Marc Cameron's books, let me know what you thought in the comments!

I use Amazon Affiliate links so you can find the books I mention easily. All opinions are my own. See my Disclosure Policy for more information.