Josephine Angelini is back with her second Starcrossed novel, Dreamless!

Now that Helen Hamilton knows of her connection to Helen of Troy, her abilities, and her role as the Descender (the only Scion who can enter the Underworld), she must figure out how to control her nightmarish descents even as she grows weaker from each one. Ignoring her weakness and exhaustion, Helen continues to slip into the Underworld to find a way to stop the Furies from further encouraging Scions to eliminate each other.

But just as she starts figuring out the ins and outs of the Underworld, she meets another (extremely attractive) Scion who helps her and makes her feel comfortable. Only she feels like she is betraying Lucas even though they have to try their hardest to stay away from each other.

Danger lurks in the Underworld and above that will change the Scions’ world indefinitely.

Not much time has passed between the end of Starcrossed and the beginning of Dreamless; only about a week. As usual, I will not give anything away that is not written or implied in the synopsis. Which means, I cannot share with you some of my notes (unless you want them privately)! I can say that there are multiple points-of-view in Dreamless, including Lucas and Daphne (and someone else), but it is mostly from Helen’s perspective. I can tell you that there is a prologue in which a very minor character from the first book makes a very stupid and big mistake. I can share with you that the mysterious Scion Helen meets (and whose presence creates the love triangle) is very attractive and easy-going and although I still like Lucas, I think I now prefer this new Scion. And finally, I can let you know that there is an evil character who took my fear of ants to a whole new level.

Dreamless is intense. Actually, I described it as “holy shit!”. There were definitely moments when I wanted to reach into the book and that world to shake Helen and tell her to listen to what people were telling her, but I could not blame her too much because she was in really bad shape. Plenty of times throughout Dreamless, I felt simultaneously relieved and anxious (seriously…imagine how that feels!) because so many of Helen’s actions had both good and bad consequences, which you will understand when you read this book. I guarantee you will know those exact moments. 

For you Lucas lovers, there was not any talk in the book about his and Helen’s status. I still refuse to believe in the connection that came up in Starcrossed and all of the relationships mentioned in here had me trying to figure out the family tree because I am pretty sure a character said or called Helen his/her niece and someone else said something about their father and the father was not who I thought it was - I know. I even confused myself. Anyway, I guess maybe we will see in book 3 if I really saw something or not.

Dreamless is a book that I could not put down. I was reading so fast at times that I had to go back and read some things I missed. It is definitely an exciting and intense journey. I know my heart rate picked up lots of times (it is even doing it just writing about the book!) and I kept slapping my hand to my mouth at certain parts. With the exciting and foreboding but not a cliffhanger ending, Dreamless sets up the third book which promises to be EPIC.

Recommended for readers fourteen and up who enjoy young adult fantasy in the Greek mythology realm and of course, for readers who are already fans of the Starcrossed trilogy.

Sixteen-year-old Finley Jayne and her young but important and useful friends, Emily, Sam, and Griffin (the Duke of Greythorne) are back again in this follow-up to The Girl in the Steel Corset.

After surviving each other’s strong wills and the threat of The Machinist, Finley and crew have no time to rest since some sinister men came to haul Jasper the cowboy back to America. Jasper is charismatic and though his past is unknown, his English friends mostly trust him (except maybe for Sam). Finley, Emily, Sam, and Griffin thought the strong arm of the law had come to take Jasper off, but no matter the reason, they resolve to follow Jasper to America.

And that is where The Girl in the Clockwork Collar begins, with Finley and Griffin taking the air on Griffin’s personal steamship as they cross the Atlantic two weeks after the end of the previous book. Sam and Emily are there too, of course, and they all catch their first sights of New York City. The trip and the new setting are exciting, but they have more pressing matters at hand.

It turns out Jasper was taken hostage by his former employer and friend. At some point in the recent past, Jasper stole an important object from Reno Dalton and Dalton wants it back at the potential expense of Jasper’s former (and maybe soon to be rekindled) love, Mei. Dalton also holds Mei hostage, but in a far more dangerous way: she wears a heavy clockwork collar about her neck that will tighten and choke her if she tries to escape or if she disobeys Dalton…or, now, if Jasper fails to return what he has stolen.

Me oh my! And I thought this would be short because of if you know me, I consider what is not in the synopsis as spoilers and there is not much in the synopsis! And really, my opinion is going to be short because I can only gush so much without inadvertently revealing anything.

So.

Kady Cross wrote The Girl in the Clockwork Collar from both Finley’s and Jasper’s perspectives which I looooooved. Like I said above, Jasper is super charismatic. Not only that, but since he is an American cowboy, I imagine him with one of those draaaawls, you know, and after delving deeper into his mind and motivations in this book, I loved him even more. This just occurred to me: Ryan Gosling would be perfect as Jasper Renn. He can do that southern thing and he pulls off period clothes extremely well. Excuse me while I drool daydream for a moment. Suffice it to say, even though I immensely enjoy Griffin King, I think if it came down to it, I would totally be Jasper’s girl.

I also loved being in Finley’s head again. She grew a lot over the events in the first novel, but she grows even more in this one. I enjoyed her wit and her strength but most of all I enjoyed that she was beginning to allow herself to be vulnerable when it counted.

Sam was Sam. He was a bit more perceptive, but he has not changed too much. It has only been two weeks between novels after all. I felt like I got to see Emily more, though, and she is an awesome spitfire. It was almost as if she traded some of her vulnerability to Finley for some of Finley’s strength because of what happened to her in the first novel.

There was still romance in the novel. Nothing beyond a kiss (and I will not tell you between who, but various characters saw a bit of action). Usually if a romance is slow to start in a first novel, it will all of a sudden speed up in the second novel. Not so in The Girl with the Clockwork Collar, which was just fine by me. Not everything has to happen fast and besides! These characters are young. That is not unusual in young adult literature but the thing with these books is that I often forget that the characters are teenagers or very early twenties because they are all mature in many ways, shaped by their time and their experiences.

HA! Well, it looks like I have managed to draw this out more than I thought I could. I thought this was going to be short because the only notes I took while reading were that the book begins two weeks after the first and that it was basically amazing. I was too busy reading for more notes than that!

I loved all of the characters, especially Finley, Griffin, and Jasper. Although it was told from two points-of-view, The Girl in the Steel Corset was very much Finley’s story while The Girl in the Clockwork Collar is very much Jasper’s story. I wonder what that means for the next book? This book showcased Jasper and it was such a stressful book for him. Poor Jasper. Kady, I am available to comfort him.

The Girl in the Clockwork Collar is even more interesting than its predecessor and I urge steampunk readers to run out and buy it on May 22!

Recommended for fans of steampunk novels who are sixteen or older. If you read the first, you must read this one! JASPER!

One land. Seven kingdoms. Graced people.

Not everyone is Graced and those who are, are feared by all no matter his or her particular ability. Most are innocent enough, Graced with cooking or something else benign. But Katsa is Graced with killing. She can kill with her bare hands and any weapon. People fear her and her uncle, the king of the Middluns, uses her to strong arm his subjects. Every time Katsa’s conscience threatens to compromise a mission, she dismisses it because a killer like her can not feel or judge, but solely obey.

That is, until she meets Prince Po of Leinid, who is Graced with superior fighting skills. Knowing Po changes Katsa and she ends up leading a rescue mission that also brings with it self-discovery and the knowledge of a dangerous secret that could destroy all of the kingdoms.

I really do not have much to say about Graceling. I have very few notes on it. I was indifferent to it for the majority of the book. I liked Po and Raffin (Katsa’s cousin) well enough, but Katsa was really hard to relate to (though to be fair, it was probably intended that way).

I found the idea of Graces quite interesting. Graced people were physically marked by heterochromatic eyes and the various Graces were crosses between extreme talent and power. Some Graced people seemed to get the short end of the stick when it came to Graces though.

Graceling became way more exciting for me during the last one hundred and fifty pages or so and I finally felt connected during those pages. I just with it had been like that for the whole book.

Recommended for fantasy lovers fourteen and up who are patient enough to hold on until the good stuff happens.

The Syrena need to ensure their survival and to do that they have sent their prince, Galen, to land to seek the rumored girl who can communicate with sea life. When Emma, that unaware and rumored girl, literally runs into Galen while on vacation at the beach in Florida, they immediately feel connected, but Galen’s twin sister, Rayna, ruins the mood. Rayna is not convinced Emma is the girl they are looking for but after a dangerous encounter with a shark and after that, wave after wave of incidents, Galen is convinced she is the one the Syrena need. He only has to make her believe.

Anna Banks wrote Of Poseidon from both Galen’s and Emma’s points-of-view. While I enjoyed being in both of their heads, the tenses threw me off. I cannot think of another book that I have read that did something like this. Emma’s point-of-view was in the first person present tense, which is common. But Galen’s point-of-view was in the third person present tense, which I found odd because usually the third person is paired with the past tense. I am not sure what Banks’ motives were for writing the characters this way, but I just found it hard to follow Galen’s parts…at first. More on that in a bit.

I cannot write much about the plot because the synopsis does not reveal much and I do not want to spoil it for anyone. I can say that one minor thing that bugged me was that over and over Galen and Rayna thought and/or talked about how much they hate humans, yet they interact closely with two humans and felt compassion for others, so I was not really convinced and found myself wondering why that was insisted upon when it did not seem to be true.

Alright, by now, a lot of you are probably thinking that I disliked this book. Not true! The hating humans thing was minor and yes, the tense thing was bigger because it slowed me down, but I really enjoyed the story! I regret that I have so many notes on Of Poseidon that I cannot share without spoiling things for you, because I think those would show you better how much I enjoyed it.

For the first few chapters, Galen’s unconventional point-of-view/tense thing distracted me from getting into the story, but after that I started to get used to it (or I was able to ignore it) and I was able to focus on the story properly.

Of Poseidon is really good and sucked me in to its pages. I almost felt like I was in the same places that the characters were, but as an invisible viewer. Even thinking about it now, my brain can call up the images of the sea and Galen’s house and the  experiences that made me feel like I was there.

I enjoyed the love story and the sleuthing because who does not love a good love story and while it was happening Galen and Emma were trying to find answers that would have satisfied everyone’s wants.

The ending completely threw me and shocked me because I followed the same false trails that the characters did. It gave me chills and goosebumps and I wanted to keep reading even though that was impossible because even this book is not officially out yet, so it will be even longer to wait for the second. Yes, there is a cliffhanger. A huge one! 

While the medium of Galen’s voice distracted me at first, the Of Poseidon’s story quickly overpowered all of that and drew me in deep. I am excited for book number two because I have to know what happens next!

Recommended for those fourteen and up who enjoy young adult fantasy having to do with mermaids Syrena and books with twists that crash over you like an unexpected wave. If cliffhangers are not your thing, you may want to wait until book two comes out, but that could be a looooong time since Of Poseidon releases in twelve days.

Tristan Hart enjoys his typical teenage life on Coney Island: he has his best friend Layla (who he is starting to look twice at), he is one of the best swimmers on his swim team, he is a lifeguard at the beach, and girls think he is hot - at least until he screws up big time.

But when a freak move wave sweeps him out to the ocean and relinquishes its hold on him three days later, Tristan’s life becomes weird. He keeps dreaming of a beautiful silver mermaid with shark teeth and he can suddenly smell the emotions of others. Not to mention, he grows a tail and some shiny scales.

Layla knows something is up and she is determined to figure it out. Tristan is not going to make it easy for her. He cannot just tell her that he is suddenly a merdude and the heir to the sea kingdom.

The Vicious Deep is pretty awesome. I expected it to be extremely sinister, but it was only something sinister, which was fine with me. The Vicious Deep still had its serious, dangerous moments, but what surprised and delighted me was Tristan’s humor. He was so funny without even trying.

Doesn’t that give you a sense of Tristan’s sarcastic humor? He, through Zoraida Córdova, made me laugh out loud numerous times. I also know that Córdova loves Disney’s The Little Mermaid and alluded to it many times throughout the book in the form of puns.

I loved having this male merman perspective! Tristan wonders what happened to his feet, then his manhood. He wonders if he can still eat fish or if it is now considered semi-cannibalism. He also grumbles about how out of all of the creatures in his mom’s fairy books, she had to go and be the girliest.

I have read mermaid books before and they have had merman in them or a love interest who gets to turn into a merman, but Córdova’s The Vicious Deep is the first mer novel I have read that features a male protagonist who is the sea creature. 

Talking about the plot could get spoiler-y, but I will tell you that there is a very slow-building romance that may never go anywhere (but I hope it does), a dangerous quest, the existence of other creatures, some fights and death, and amazing side characters (especially Thalia and Kurt).

The Vicious Deep is definitely laugh out loud funny but it does not lack in danger and revelation. It was very cool and I am looking forward to Córdova’s second installment in the trilogy, The Savage Blue.

Recommended for lovers of mermaid stories fourteen and up. It is awesome from a guy’s point-of-view. It is not girly at all and there are lots of funny moments. Some language. Some violence.

Kate and Vincent survived the imminent numa threat in Paris as well as their own doubts about their blossoming relationship, but now they are dealing with a more long-term issue: how can they both ease Vincent’s compulsion to die for others when Kate realizes the potential lives that could be lost if Vincent does not act on his instincts?

Meanwhile, all has been quiet on the numa front and it has the revenants antsy. They send for reinforcements to fill in for Charlotte and Charles and amp up the safety measures in preparation for an unforeseen potential numa attack. Rumor indicates the numa have a new leader and it puts everyone jeopardy.

What a follow-up! I am telling you now, if you enjoyed Die For Me, you will want to buy Until I Die immediately! 

Until I Die begins in less than a month after the end of Die For Me. Kate is feeling guilty about Vincent’s agreement to try not to die, so he begins to search for a solution. Hating to feel useless, Kate also tries to find an ideal solution to their predicament by searching through her Papy’s old books.

Charles and Charlotte were still around, just not easily accessible, as they had to temporarily move because of Charles’ mistakes. Two new revenants were introduced in their stead: Arthur and Violette (who both lived in the fifteenth century). Jean-Baptiste and the others particularly desired Violette’s expertise on the numa and their activities.

One very minor thing bothered me: Kate’s research turns up very interesting results, but it seemed too convenient.

Other than that, I was more than satisfied with this riveting revenant sequel. Until I Die had a big twist at the end as well as lots of revelations throughout its pages. Ending on a bit of a cliffhanger, readers will nevertheless fall in love with Kate and Vincent and all the rest all over again in Until I Die.

Recommended for fans of Die For Me and young adult readers fourteen and up everywhere who enjoy paranormal romance. Minor violence.

Seventeen-year-old Emily Morgan is an air elemental, but thankfully for her, she is not a pure elemental which means she does not have much power. It is a good thing too. The ones with too much power are rarely, if ever, safe…for others and themselves.

But when Emily takes a summer job only to find that fellow senior and extremely powerful earth elemental, Michael Merrick, frequents the place, she is both excited and fearful. Michael is good-looking and the total brooding type, but he and his family are her family’s mortal enemies.

She should stay away from him. It could never work out between them with her family on the warpath. But their attraction is too hard to ignore.

I read Elemental after reading Storm. While it is not necessary, I recommend that you read Elemental first. I only read Storm first because I was trying to get it done to post the review during its release week (which I did) and I felt like I was racing the clock (which was my own fault for losing track of time haha). Otherwise, I would have switched the order because things that happened to Michael and Emily appeared in passing more than a few times throughout Storm and so I already knew what was going to happen. I just did not know what happened during the beginning and the journey to get there, which definitely colored my view of this fifty page novella. 

Like Storm, Elemental has two points-of-view: Emily’s and Michael’s. This is something I really like in novels because 1) I think young adult books need more male perspectives and 2) I really enjoy the pairing of a female’s and male’s point-of-view. I also really enjoyed getting to know Emily and for that matter, really getting to know Michael because he is almost a different person in Elemental. I really understood him more after reading it. It also really showed how there are always two sides to every story, but it was also frustrating because most of the characters in both books only want to know their sides. Only time and three more books in the series proper will tell if a resolution comes to pass. I am all too ready for that journey!

Elemental provides a concise yet more in-depth view of Michael and introduces the reader to Emily. It was very bittersweet and beautiful for me because I read Storm first.

Recommended for fans of Storm and those fourteen and older who are interested in a new young adult series that features male perspectives with the paranormal twist of controlling the elements. One instance of minor violence.

KTeen has made Elemental available for free at all the major eBook retailers until 6 May 2012. KTeen asks for readers to use the #Elemental hashtag when posting about books in this series.

Becca Chandler gets a lot of attention…for all of the wrong reasons, thanks to her no-good ex-boyfriend Drew. But all of that unwanted attention takes a sort of backseat when she saves Chris Merrick after two guys beat him up in the high school parking lot. Because of her good deed, she is suddenly mixed up with all of the Merrick brothers and their secrets. Despite her attraction to Chris, the new kid, Hunter, also makes her heart race. In the midst of everything, all of their lives could be in danger.

The Merrick brothers - Michael, Gabriel, Nick, and Chris - are pure Elementals. Each can control a different element: earth, fire, air, and water. In Storm, Brigid Kemmerer tells Becca’s and Chris’ stories from each of their points-of-view in the third person. Storm opened with Becca’s point-of-view and I was like, hold up a minute…I thought these books were supposed to be from a guy’s perspective?! I just had not realized that we lucky readers were going to be able to get into two different characters’ heads.

Becca is an only child and Chris is the youngest of his brothers and an orphan. Both of the protagonists are juniors in high school. Michael is the eldest brother and Gabriel and Nick are twins (yes, twins! Not only did I get to read a young adult novel with a male perspective, a rarity, it also featured male twins, another rarity!). The twins are seniors at the same high school and Michael is out of school and working (he is twenty-two).

When I was told about Storm, I was not only excited about the story, but also excited about the author, Brigid Kemmerer, when I learned that she is not only a Maryland resident, but one who basically lives a hop, skip, and a jump away from me in an area of the state I actually know. What I did not realize until I began reading, however, was that Kemmerer set her story in our area which meant that I got to squeal a little bit every time her characters went to a place I know.

As for the story and the characters, I enjoyed both immensely. I liked Chris and his brothers a lot (I would have to say that Gabriel is my type, but I will see if that assessment still holds up when I read book two, Spark). At first, Michael really bothered me and I am sure he will bother you too, but as more came to light about him, I just wanted to be there for him too. I really liked and related to Becca and I felt horrible for her obviously unearned bad reputation at school. I also really liked Hunter, the “New Kid”. He was deep and mostly let things roll off of him like water.

Since this is a lot about my feelings and opinions so I do not give anything important away, I want to let you know that chapter 28 was particularly amazing. Call me naïve or slow, but I was so caught up in the other elements of the story (see what I did there?) that when Becca’s story came to light, it brought tears to my eyes and I definitely had one hand clamped over my mouth. She also made me so proud.

Then, there was a betrayal. I had started to suspect it and I could not add it up, but it happened. My suspecting it did not lessen the effect though.

But wait! After that there was a huge twist that knocked me off my feet (figuratively, since I was laying in bed in the wee hours of this morning finishing the book). But I did actually smack my forehead. How did I not see it coming? Well played Mrs. Kemmerer!

Storm has a lot of tension, which I enjoyed (and it obviously fits the perfect title). And the emotions, Becca’s especially, were potent. I felt what they were feeling as I read. It was so cathartic. I felt like I forged this connection with this book because I know the places, the setting, in real life, and I used to hang out in this particular county a lot a few years back and any number of these characters could have been people I knew. It is a rare and special thing to have that kind of a connection with a book.

Brigid Kemmerer’s Storm is excellent. I am beyond impressed with the story, the history, and all of the characters, especially Becca and the Merricks. It is full of secrets, betrayal, and real teenage problems when you strip away the elements. I am burning (mmhmm, think about it! The next book is Spark!) for more!

Recommended for readers fourteen and up who enjoy paranormal young adult books, especially one like this that involves the four elements and a male point-of-view. Even without firsthand knowledge of the setting, I am positive that many people will be able to really connect to the characters and the story. Some language and alcohol use. Some minor violence, like fistfights and assault.

Werewolves are real - and everyone knows about them. Mackenzie’s best friend, Amy, was killed by a white werewolf and Mac’s dreams and waking moments have been haunted by it ever since. Amy gives Mac cryptic information in her dreams while the Trackers come to Hemlock to weed out those who are infected with lupine syndrome.

Mac decides to look into the details of Amy’s murder after she learns that everything and everyone has been keeping secrets from her: the town, Amy’s boyfriend Jason, their good friend Kyle, and even Amy herself.

She will learn secrets that will betray everything she knew and that will make her feel like she is losing Amy all over again.

Hemlock is a poisonous plant and I found it to be a fitting name for this town that becomes a place of grief after Amy’s murder and then turns into a place of poison when Mac learns of all the secrets and betrayal that were kept from her.

Hemlock began with a terrifying dream Mac has that was very real for Amy, followed by the funeral. Then the story proper started.

I was surprised and pleased when I learned that the whole world was aware of werewolves. I have found it rare and in fact I can only think of one young adult series that does that as well: Christine Johnson’s Claire de Lune books. These books could not be more different though.

I really liked Mac. She was at once sure of herself and stupidly brave when it counted, yet she also suffered from low self-esteem. I felt bad for her, trying to hold everyone together while she was falling apart inside. I liked her older cousin Tess as well, who was her legal guardian.

Kyle was awesome even though I did not approve of some of his decisions, especially the one at the end. He would definitely be the guy I would choose though.

I liked Jason as well, but not as much as Kyle, because he was so self-destructive and he made bad decision after bad decision. But I absolutely felt for him as well.

The side characters all play interesting roles. Serena and Trey Carson and Tess’ boyfriend Ben, and various Trackers all had more to them than I suspected at first.

Speaking of the Trackers, they hunted down the infected and were supposed to send them to government-run internment camps, but Kathleen Peacock implied through her characters that the Trackers sometimes killed werewolves and humans who might get in their way.

There was also a less influential counter group called the RfW - Regs for Werewolves. It was a national network of activists who lobbied for increased werewolf rights.

Between the humans and werewolves, I noticed an “us and them” mentality as Mac described them. The masses wanted to persecute all of the werewolves while a few, like Mac, just wanted the bad ones to pay for what they have done while treating the good ones like people rather than animals.

This was definitely a theme throughout the book, but the majority of Hemlock was about Mac digging into Amy’s murder and learning things she might have preferred to have kept buried. But in the end, it was better to know.

Hemlock was a paranormal murder mystery and thriller with a mostly satisfying conclusion (the mostly has to do with one of Kyle’s decisions) and the promise of more to come.

Recommended for readers sixteen and older who enjoy paranormal and werewolf books and who want a fresh take on the genre. Some language, murder, and drugs and alcohol.

Araby Worth’s world has been rocked by a devastating plague. Everyone who can afford them wears plague masks with special filters that keep out the contagion. Life is suddenly about death and dying rather than living. Araby and her friend April, among others, listlessly float along by hanging out at the Debauchery Club in skimpy dresses and lots of make-up with plenty of alcohol and drugs at their disposal to erase their memories for a few hours. Every time she sets foot in the club, she sees Will, but it is only when April’s brother, Elliott, trades her drugs for secrets that Araby’s life starts on a new path that involves both boys and one that may change her outlook from one of death and decay to one of survival.

I had been anticipating reading Masque of the Red Death for awhile and while it did not disappoint, it did not live up to my expectations. (Edit, 24 April 2012, 5:16 PM EST: That means, my expectation was a five star book, when it turned out to be a 4 star book for me. My ratings can be found on Goodreads.)

I looked around Bethany Griffin’s website when I finished reading and I want to make it clear that Masque of the Red Death is a re-imagining, not a re-telling, and while I have never read Edgar Allan Poe’s version (I really need to!), I know this is true. I also want to make it clear that you do not need to read Poe’s version to enjoy Griffin’s re-imagining.

The setting was bleak, of course, but very interesting. I followed Araby through each chapter, moving along with a dreamlike - almost nightmarish - quality. I do my best not to mention anything that does not appear in synopses, so I just want to share that Araby experiences a huge betrayal and there is also a huge twist for some other characters.

I enjoyed the dreamy/nightmarish quality of Masque of the Red Death. I could feel the despair of Araby’s world and I cared about what happened to her. I felt like I could trust her, unlike April or Will and Elliott, who I all distrusted for different reasons, but who I also really liked.

Recommended for young adult readers sixteen and up who enjoy books based on Poe’s work as well as steampunk books. Debauchery ensues, but not as much as you think.