Review: Zero Tolerance by Claudia Mills

Zero Tolerance by Claudia Mills.

Published: June 18, 2013.
Published by: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR).
Source: Received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Goodreads Blurb:
Seventh-grader Sierra Shepard has always been the perfect student, so when she sees that she accidentally brought her mother's lunch bag to school, including a paring knife, she immediately turns in the knife at the school office. Much to her surprise, her beloved principal places her in in-school suspension and sets a hearing for her expulsion, citing the school's ironclad no weapons policy. While there, Sierra spends time with Luke, a boy who's known as a troublemaker, and discovers that he's not the person she assumed he would be--and that the lines between good and bad aren't as clear as she once thought. Claudia Mills brings another compelling school story to life with Zero Tolerance.

My Review:

As my new foray into middle grade fiction for the blog continues, I immediately picked this book out of the options Macmillan sent me because it looked like an example of the more intelligent and thoughtful side of MG lit. Thankfully, on this it absolutely delivered.

Zero Tolerance explores what it means to make a mistake and the ways in which different people deal with the consequences. I thought it was very smart to include some completely distinct and conflicting views on the situation Sierra finds herself in, including Sierra's father, her mother, the school principal and staff, some of the other students, and Sierra herself. Each character provides a slightly different opinion on how the situation should be dealt with and it was great watching Sierra try to understand and deal with each one.

While tackling the major difficult (and rather unusual) situation at hand, Mills also manages to weave in the kind of middle school troubles that almost everyone experiences. She explores friendships well with Sierra's best friends and helps to show the difference between a healthy friendship, which Sierra has with Em, and an occasionally toxic friendship, which Sierra has with Celeste. The friendship with Celeste was a great example for young readers of how sometimes you need to stand up for yourself, even against someone you consider your friend. Mills also handles the life-changing (and life-dominating) experience of first attraction with a respectful hand, because for young readers, this can be a huge event in their lives. Finally, she shows through Sierra's parents' relationship how people learn to deal with differences and how, with respect and understanding, love isn't as doomed as it may seem these days.

I really appreciated Mills' writing style in this one. It is clear that she knows her audience and how to write for them because while this is definitely a "thinking" book, I don't think it would go over the heads of the kinds of readers who would be interested in the storyline. Mills occasionally uses "smart words" or terms that the reader might not understand, but also takes the time to explain them in a way that is not condescending or talking down. I appreciated this and think it is a great way to help middle grade readers expand their vocabulary without forcing it on them.

With the more intelligent and focused storyline came a pace that could very well lose some readers who love action packed adventure books. This is definitely not one of those books, so I wouldn't recommend it for a reader who bores easily. I would say this is much more geared towards a reader who really cares about average people and their plights, one who doesn't always need something extraordinary to happen to enjoy a book, and maybe one who has a genuine interest in school. For readers like that who don't mind a pace that doesn't rush along, this really is a well crafted and thoughtful novel that might get a young reader thinking about the many issues brought up and how they would deal with some of the situations Sierra is placed in.

I give this slower paced but smart MG read 4 stars!

Review: Born of Illusion by Teri Brown

Born of Illusion by Teri Brown.

Published: June 11, 2013.
Published by: Balzer & Bray.
Source: Recieved an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. Thank you, Harper Collins Canada!

Goodreads Blurb:
Anna Van Housen is thirteen the first time she breaks her mother out of jail. By sixteen she’s street smart and savvy, assisting her mother, the renowned medium Marguerite Van Housen, in her stage show and séances, and easily navigating the underground world of magicians, mediums and mentalists in 1920’s New York City. Handcuffs and sleight of hand illusions have never been much of a challenge for Anna. The real trick is keeping her true gifts secret from her opportunistic mother, who will stop at nothing to gain her ambition of becoming the most famous medium who ever lived. But when a strange, serious young man moves into the flat downstairs, introducing her to a secret society that studies people with gifts like hers, he threatens to reveal the secrets Anna has fought so hard to keep, forcing her to face the truth about her past. Could the stories her mother has told her really be true? Could she really be the illegitimate daughter of the greatest magician of all?

My Review:

Born of Illusion combines two things I love: historical fiction and mystery. There was no way I was going to miss this book and I am so glad I didn't. It was anexciting story where the magic of the 20's really comes alive, but also has a prominent dark side of deception, family issues, and mysterious characters. The combination was fantastic and I hated to put it down!

This story about a young girl brought up in the world of magic and illusions definitely managed to hold my attention because there was just so much excitement. There were tense moments between characters, the illusion/psychical aspect was never dull, and many scenes had my heart just pounding in fear or anticipation. Teri Brown managed to combine wonderfully developed character relationships with a plot that just kept twisting and growing with each page turned. I loved how much I was kept in the dark about so many of the little mysteries, only given a little hint here and there. These hints also served as excellent chapter-ending grabs that made it so hard not to just keep reading until I was done! I was very impressed with how in-depth and enjoyable the plot of this novel really was.

One aspect of the book that really caught my attention was Anna's relationship with her mother. It is not an easy one for Anna; her mother is the star and she makes sure Anna knows it. It was very sad to see the way Anna is treated by her mother because it clearly takes a toll on her self-esteem and, along with the fairly nomadic and risky lifestyle her mother forces her to live, has made her an extremely cautious, lonely and often disappointed girl who has trouble trusting people. This clearly comes through in her character but it is nice to see her grow into her own a little as the novel progresses. Marguerite, Anna's mother, while easy to dislike for her treatment of Anna, is a very fascinating character herself. Brown has written her to have a captivating allure about her in public, but in private scenes with Anna we are privy to occasional chinks in her armor that reveal a jealousy of Anna, giving more reason to her hurtful behaviour. It was especially intriguing to see this all through Anna's eyes, because we see that Anna knows how impressive her mother is, yet there is a constant hurt from feeling rejected and pushed down that always follows, impacting the reader's view of both women.

Poor Anna doesn't only have her mother to deal with, but also multiple different attractive boys. Colin, Anna's new neighbour, and Owen, nephew of her and her mother's manager. Anna tends to have a hard time interacting with them, making a bit of a fool of herself, but it is easy as a reader to forgive her for that because not only is she well aware of her mistakes but because she hasn't had much chance to interact with boys, so this is new to her. Personally, I was often quite confused (in an intrigued way, though) by Colin, simply because of the impact he had on Anna's psychical abilities and he way he seemed to be well aware of it. Owen seemed to be the safer choice for much of the novel, but I felt like something was a little off about him, too. This really helped me want to keep reading because I was never fully behind one love interest or the other. I just kept needing to know more about them before I could say that one was better for her than the other and luckily Brown constantly gave little tidbits that helped encourage me along. There are other males in the book one can't help but be cautious about, including a man named Dr. Bennett, who claims he can help Anna, as well as her supposed father, Harry Houdini, whose role I think was played out marvelously. The constant suspicion and questioning was great for me because it meant I was invested and wanted answers! There is certainly no shortage of mystery in any part of this book, which is one of the things I loved.

With questions constantly swirling in my mind, some magic and spiritualism, and the 1920s as a setting, this book dazzled me while keeping me constantly racing ahead to try to learn everything I could.
4.5 stars to this fun and exciting (but thankfully not shallow) read!

Celebrating the Awesome Authors

I think we've all heard the stories of authors behaving badly. It feels like there have been a constant stream of them lately. I'm a devoted lurker at Cuddlebuggery who does a weekly "Buzzworthy News" in the book world update and it seems that there is always a story of an author not being very kind to bloggers/reviewers. Those authors are not who I am here to talk about.

I'm here to talk about the awesome authors. The authors who you can have wonderful conversations with on Twitter. The ones who are always thankful for a shoutout or feature or just some kind words. The ones who are as sweet or cool in person as they are online. Inspired by the fantastic posts by Shelver and Molli, here is my tribute to the authors who have rocked my world and who completely deserve all the love I have for them.

First I want to call out an author whose book destroyed my heart but still managed to have me be the first in line to meet her at BEA this year (until I was cut in front of, darn front-of-the-line passes. *grumbles*) - Elizabeth Wein. I think she knows how much she hurts her poor readers, but she always stops by on Twitter to sympathize. I was so inspired by Code Name Verity that I made her a themed bracelet to give her at BEA and the fact that she remembered me, plus her reaction to the bracelet resulted in the most incredible feeling when I met her. She has been such a wonderful person to talk to, even when I'm doing more wailing and sobbing than actual word-forming.

On a post of this nature, I can't not mention Fiona Paul. The number of times I have flailed over her books has reached the point of insanity and she still happily tweets and emails me back. She has also done some really wonderful things for me and as devoted reader I can't thank her enough. Really, she deals with my fangirling very well and I can't help but love her.

Siobhan Vivian is one I cannot forget because when I met this woman at the SimonTeen blogger party pre-BEA, she made what was probably the best first in-person impression I have ever experienced. I chatted with her with some other bloggers and she was so incredibly happy, excited, and genuine. She was never distracted or pulling away from the conversation, she seemed to be loving it just as much as we were. I have never felt like an author truly wanted to be there chatting with me more than with Siobhan, and I am so appreciative to her for that.

T. Michael Martin, who always replies to my flaily excited tweets about The End Games with a smile. He also completely made my day when he told me how much my support for the novel meant to him. That was just such a meaningful comment and I am so grateful he made it because I didn't realize that my excited tweeting and word-spreading was really so noticeable to an author. I knew authors appreciated their readers, but it wasn't until he made that comment that I really realized how authors can notice individual readers just like readers pick out favourite authors. Okay, I didn't exactly articulate that last bit very well, but just know that it meant a lot to me :)

Victoria Schwab was kind enough to select me to be one of her Keepers (like a street team) and not only has she treated us Keepers very well, but she has also been very gracious in responding to loving tweets. Plus I met her at BEA and she got very excited that she found the fourth Keeper present at the expo and gave me a hug and was just such a smiley, friendly person and I honestly couldn't help but smile in her presence. She made me feel sunny, and who doesn't love that!

Jennifer Castle kindly agreed to be interviewed on the blog and then when we were both at BEA she actually took the time to meet up with me and give me a digital download of her book because she knew I hadn't had a chance to read it yet. I was surprised she even remembered me, let alone that I hadn't read an arc of the book AND that I was at BEA. Then to seek me out to give me a free ecopy? It was so nice.

I also must mention Cat Winters (who kindly put up with my never-failing tweets of excitement over her debut for weeks before and after its publication), Katherine Longshore, and J. Anderson Coats. Not only have they all been so sweet on Twitter, but they also let me join in their epic History Geek-Off discussion which just further proved to me that I have found my people in the book world and I could not be happier about it.

Suzanne Young, Cat Patrick, and David Levithan I saw at Teen Author Carnival this year and not only were they awesome to listen to (and guys, David is absolutely hilarious), but I asked a them a question during the Q&A and, after the panel was finished, each of them thanked me for asking it! All three fantastic authors thanking me just for being curious and voicing my random in-head wonderings? It was so kind of them. Plus they were all so nice at the signing afterwards, too. Just really great people.

And some other wonderful ladies: Megan Crewe, who has been awesome about my requests for interviews and whatnot and whose street team I am proud to be a part of. Emmy Laybourne, who I have had some awesome Twitter chats with (and who is really quite good at bribery). Veronica Rossi, who kindly commented on my blue eyes when I met her but was so modest when I told her that she is even more beautiful in person (which is so true, oh my gosh). Elizabeth Miles, who sent me author love when I missed her in Toronto (so close yet so far) and has been unfailingly sweet (and funny) ever since. Katie McGarry, who never misses a chance to thank a blogger for kind words or a feature about any of her books. And Nova Ren Suma, who has said some of the best lines to me and taken every compliment I have ever paid her with grace and wit.

Sorry that was so long, but I have lots of love for these authors and I wanted to show it! I think a good relationship between author and blogger, or even author and average reader can do so much for the experience.

Do you have any authors you want to call out for being awesome? Please share your stories in the comments! I love hearing wonderful author stories and I want to share the love!

Tudor Tuesdays: Inspiration, Teaser & Giveaway!

In anticipation of the release of Tarnish by Katherine Longshore, which is book two in her Royal Circle series, I am very excited to be a part of Tudor Tuesdays! Big thanks to Katherine and especially to Kathy from A Glass of Wine for allowing me to take part!

To be published June 18th, 2013
by Viking Juvenile.

Goodreads Blurb:
Anne Boleyn is the odd girl out. Newly arrived to the court of King Henry VIII, everything about her seems wrong, from her clothes to her manners to her witty but sharp tongue. So when the dashing poet Thomas Wyatt offers to coach her on how to shine at court--and to convince the whole court they're lovers--she accepts. Before long, Anne's popularity has soared, and even the charismatic and irresistible king takes notice. More than popularity, Anne wants a voice--but she also wants love. What began as a game becomes high stakes as Anne finds herself forced to make an impossible choice between her heart's desire and the chance to make history.






First I have a teaser from TARNISH to share:

"If I help you,” Wyatt says, “if the two of us gain your acceptance to this most unaccepting of courts—before long in this pretty, showy dance, you will want me in your bed.”

I laugh right in his face. “Would you like to place a wager on that outcome?”

A glimmer of shock crosses his face—quick, like a sun shadow.

“I never pass up a bet.”

“And if you lose—which you undoubtedly will—you will not press me further?”

“If I lose this bet”—Wyatt holds a hand to his heart—“I will write a poem about you that will be passed down through the ages as a masterpiece of all time. And I will always remain your humble servant.”

He bows to me with a flourish, and I am able to affix a mask of nonchalance before he rises. I can’t let him see that he’s already charmed me. I can’t let him see how much I need him.

“So what is your strategy?” I ask.

“I will pursue you. And you will encourage it.”

“And what will that gain me?”

“The attention of all the other men at court. At least the ones that count.”

“Like Henry Norris? No thank you.”

“Norris can get you places. He’s a favorite of the king.”

“So is my sister.”

Wyatt looks at me as one would an idiot child.

“But women don’t matter at this court, Anne. In our world, women have no influence, carry no interest.”

Have no voice. Have no lives of our own.

“It’s the men that matter,” he continues. “And most men are too stupid to see what’s right in front of their faces. The only time they want something is when they can’t have it, a jewel in someone else’s bonnet. They take notice of something when it flashes a signal—like the white tail of a deer. The signal for pursuit.”

“So you intend to be the flag on my ass?”

His grin broadens to double dimples.

“I intend to hold you up so that you catch the light.”

Katherine has shared a bit about her inspiration and her thoughts on the Anne and Wyatt scenes:

"I loved writing scenes between Anne and Thomas Wyatt.  They were both wordsmiths, both highly intelligent, both played games of chance and skill with a certain amount of recklessness.  Surely they recognized this in each other—and played it for all it was worth.

Their bet—and Wyatt’s plan to get Anne noticed—are entirely a fabrication on my part.  I wanted to write about a girl who went from odd girl out to the toast of the court without having to change her looks or her personality to do so. Contemporary accounts gave mixed reviews of Anne Boleyn’s appearance.  Some said she was a dark-eyed beauty.  Others called her sallow, thin, uninteresting.  It’s possible that these differences of opinion were political—by the time they were written, many people knew of the king’s interest, and even of his desire to divorce Katherine of Aragon and make Anne his queen.  But it’s also possible that there was something else about her—something that couldn’t be seen at first glance.  Charisma, charm, eloquence, vivacity.  Things that might be invisible until something called attention to them. After all, we could all use a little poetic shine, right?"

Sounds fantastic! I'm so excited about this one and I hope you are too!

Be sure to enter the giveaways for Tudor Tuesdays for a copy of TARNISH! One is US/Can and below that is one open Internationally.

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Make sure you check out all the past Tudor Tuesday posts to get more insight into the story before you start reading!
May 7th - Emilie @ Emilie's Book World
May 14th - Katie @ BlookGirl
May 21st - Rachel @ Beauty and the Bookshelf
May 28th - Kathy @ A Glass of Wine
June 4th - Kelly @ Belle of the Literati

Event Recap: SimonTeen Blogger Party + Giveaway

This year I was lucky enough to attend Book Expo America. It was an incredible experience and I want to share my gushings with you, hence this post and its successors, which will all go up soon. This one is just about the first non-BEA event I attended, though: The SimonTeen Blogger Party. I was so terrible about taking pictures on this trip, so please forgive the lack of photos in this post. I was too busy gawking and whatnot.
So, without further ado...

SimonTeen Blogger Party

I was so lucky to have been invited to this party, so huge thank you to the SimonTeen/Simon Pulse team for the invite!

We started off the evening with some mingling and some drinks (for those of age, anyway... they looked so good!). Soon after we got there, we were invited to sit down for the author chats. Suzanne Young, author of The Program and the upcoming Just Like Fate with Cat Patrick, was the host for the evening and interviewed the other authors, including Corey Ann Haydu (OCD Love Story), Amy Butler Greenfield (Chantress), and Jason Reynolds (When I Was the Greatest). Then she brought out her co-author, Cat Patrick and chatted about their book for a bit, and then also brought out co-authors Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian (Fire With Fire), and they all discussed their co-authoring process.

I'll admit that I took some pretty lame notes because I was enjoying the chats so much, but here are some fun facts from the notes I did take:

Corey Ann Haydu:
~ Researched OCD Love Story with a lot of documentaries and memoirs.
~ If she were to re-write a classic, she would choose The Bell Jar or The Giver.
~ If she could take anyone to the premiere of the movie of her book, she would take Paul Rudd.
~ Her hypothetical karaoke song choice was Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler (Suzanne acted like it was "authors' night out" and insisted they would sing karaoke on such a night).

Amy Butler Greenfield:
~ For Chantress, the line/idea "Sing, and the darkness will find you," came very quickly to her. She wanted to write about someone who gets swept away by the power of music.
~ Suzanne called Amy's life a "Hugh Grant romantic comedy" after she told us a bit about meeting her British husband while in the UK.
~ Amy loves the cover for Chantress (says the girl on the cover looks like Lucy to her) and has already seen a draft for the sequel's cover. She's happy with it so far! She also just recently turned in revisions for book two.
~ Her karaoke song would be Take a Chance on Me by ABBA.

Jason Reynolds:
~ His first book was co-authored with a college friend and he said that experience taught him that the greatest gift you have is intuition.
~ The original title for his new book, When I Was the Greatest, was Jerk.
~ Two major things that went into his book:
1. Family is a major part of his life, and he explained that just because your family is broken or different doesn't mean it's bad.
2. Where he grew up, mental illness was never discussed. He wanted to show how communities can come together and love these people who are suffering.
~ He also discussed how he taught in a rough school in New York and that the experience showed him that the human will is an incredible thing and helped teach him persistence.

Cat Patrick and Suzanne Young:
~ There are two love interests in Just Like Fate (because of the split storyline). As a teen, Cat said she would have gone for Joel, the bad boy you pine after forever who doesn't give you the time of day. Suzanne said she would have gone after Chris, the jock you swoon over when he walks in the room (but said there would be a lot of pining on her part, too).
~ One of Cat's favourite parts of working with a co-author is that it was like reading and writing a book at the same time.
~ Their song is Jack and Diane by John Mellencamp (they replace "Jack and Diane" with "Cat and Suzanne").

Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian:
~ They met in David Levithan's writing class and bonded over Siobhan having a car, a mixtape that Jenny made, and a magical shopping day.
~ They explained that when it comes to co-writing, one is good at what the other isn't as strong at. Siobhan is good at making the plot work, whereas Jenny is good at the characters and their development.
~ They spent almost a year working out the structure for the Burn For Burn trilogy.
~ They promised that Fire With Fire is juicy and involves romance and lots of secret-telling. They also promised that all is revealed about Mary, so get excited!
~ They finished their interview by performing part of the Dirty Dancing dance for us, which was made all the more entertaining by the fact that Siobhan is very pregnant.

After the chats we had some time to mingle with the authors, which was so fantastic. I spent some time chatting with Siobhan Vivian who was the sweetest and most excited person. It was just a wonderful evening. Then, on our way out, we were spoiled by the SimonTeen staff, who sent us each home with a tote bag filled with each of the books featured that night, plus a bound manuscript of Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano. I feel so privileged to have been invited and I cannot thank the SimonTeen staff and all of the authors enough for a wonderful time.

I was lucky enough to find an extra copy of Just Like Fate by Suzanne Young and Cat Patrick in my goodie bag at Teen Author Carnival the next night, so I got it signed and want to share it with one of you!

Some Rules (aka the not so fun but important part):
~ This giveaway is open to residents of the continental US and Canada only.
~ No P.O. boxes.
~ Must be 13 or older to enter.
~ Winner will be chosen randomly and contacted via email. The winner has 48 hours to respond to my email, otherwise they forfeit their prize and I will choose another winner, who must abide by the same rules.
~  I am not responsible for lost or damaged packages.
~ No cheating! In this case, I have the right to disqualify entries as I see fit.
~ By entering the giveaway, you are agreeing to these rules.

Good luck!

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Two-Week Hiatus

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to let you all know that the blog is going to be very quiet for the next two weeks. I'm headed off to Book Expo America next week and since it'll be my first time not only at the expo but also in New York City, I'm making a vacation of it. I've decided that I don't want to stress about writing posts and making sure they get up and get promoted, I'd much rather just enjoy my time away. I've decided to extend it to go a little beyond my return from NYC so that I have a chance to get caught up. Since school ended there has been a large time-suck in my life called my first full-time job which has prevented me from getting ahead in reviews, so that's what I'm going to try to use the second week off for.

You can probably expect posts to resume around the second week of June (probably on Monday the 10th). In case you missed them, though, I have two exciting giveaways that will continue to run while I'm New York:
Interview with Katie McGarry & win a signed finished copy of Dare You To (US/Can).
Interview with Jennifer Castle & win a signed ARC of You Look Different in Real Life (US/Can).

Thank you all for understanding, you guys are absolutely the best :) See you again after! Hopefully I can pick up some exciting titles to share with you all. Have a great two weeks, everyone!

Review: Showtime by Chloe Kayne

Showtime by Chloe Kayne.

Published: September 20, 2012.
Source: Received e-copy from author in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Goodreads Blurb:
The grandeur of the traveling circus is at its peak in the early 1920s when sixteen-year-old Laila Vilonia is searching for an escape from her bleak future. Behind the gates of the legendary Marvelle Circus, she is thrust into a mysterious world she never knew existed—a paradise populated with outcasts. It’s in this glamorous new home that Laila sparks a controversial romance with notorious sideshow performer, "The Disappearing Man," and learns just how dangerous her new life can be.

Touring the picturesque eastern coast of America, Laila’s immersed in friendship, vaudeville, festivals, sequins, and serial killers. But behind the curtain, a sadistic plan is brewing that will crack the very foundation upon which she’s become so dependent.

Review:
I was really intrigued by the idea of this one so when Chloe Kayne offered to send me a copy for review I was very excited. While I think this book has a lot to offer, I don't think it was right for me. There were different aspects of the novel that didn't work for me, however I don't think they made it a bad book. Just personal preference on this one. I truly this the story presented here could potentially appeal to a lot of readers, I'm just the wrong one.

Laila Vilonia begins her life at the circus very quickly, throwing readers right into what is a fairly quick paced story which is great for keeping the plot from lulling. She spends some time finishing school on the circus grounds along with her roommates, who become good friends of hers. I enjoyed having them around because Laila worried constantly about the troubled mother she abandoned for the circus and having these friends around gave me hope that she would find a new, healthier family. When she finally gets the opportunity to participate in the circus' shows, I felt the story gained more direction, which was great. However I also noticed a little more inconsistency once this part began because one day Laila was pretty terrible in her new role, but the next she had improved drastically. While impressive, I found it a bit too unrealistic to really get into it. It wasn't a huge deal though because there was a lot of drama going on in the plot to keep the reader's attention. This was kind of hit and miss for me, but I did like that it lent the plot some direction, the lack of which seemed to be an issue that cropped up occasionally for me.

As for the girl at the center of the story herself, I found myself often torn on the character of Laila. There were times I enjoyed her sense of humor and her interactions with her new circus friends, but there were other times I felt she was really rude and closed off to anyone outside her small group. This being despite her hating the way everyone treats the circus-pariah-turned-Laila's-bf, Dex (who actually has a reason to be disliked). She defends him to no end without even understanding why the rest of the circus dislikes him, yet takes quite the attitude with other performers for no real reason. That was a little frustrating to me. I can see, though, how that can happen with a teenage girl, so it may not get the same reaction out of other readers.

On the topic of Dex... Oh, Dex. I feel like a lot of readers will fall in love with Dex. He is mysterious and brooding and apparently very handsome, even winning Laila's affections over her friend James (who almost every other girl in the circus seems to lust after) and a few other guys. He is set up as the dark hottie that is a fan favourite in paranormal novels, so I think he has the potential to be a popular love interest for readers. I personally just didn't understand the fascination with him. I am almost never the one that goes for the troubled and/or bad boys. In Brodi Ashton's Everneath series, I like Jack over Cole. In Tahereh Mafi's Shatter Me, I like Adam over Warner. I'm a sucker for the good-boy-next-door. So I just didn't fall for Dex like I didn't fall for Cole or Warner. I also didn't understand where Laila's obsession with him came from; I wanted more development in that aspect. I was not intrigued in him like she was because I didn't see where she got it, however I don't doubt that there are many people who will be intrigued and would swoon for Dex!

One of the things I noticed that I wasn't crazy about is how this book is set in the early 1920s (even says so in the blurb), yet I didn't feel much of the historical setting come through at all. I was disappointed by this as I am a huge lover of history and was hoping to have that as part of the setting. I do think, though, that that is something that non-history lovers won't notice and may even actually appreciate, as I know that some people feel that history can get in the way of or bog down the story. It doesn't in this case, so many of you may actually enjoy that. I also noticed that Chloe Kayne has a way with words and some sections of the book I enjoyed purely for her writing, but I think a good editor would have made that truly shine throughout the novel as there were words misused or out of place, and some unnecessary repetition.

All in all, this was not a bad book. It had an interesting story and a lot of drama. I just wasn't a big fan of the characters and felt like some aspects were missing. These things were largely subjective, though, so though it wasn't for me, I'm sure there are others who would enjoy it more!
2 stars.