Soulless–Gail Carriger

Book: Soulless
Author: Gail Carriger
Publisher: Hachette Book Group
Kindle Format (no pages)
My Rating:


Alexia Tarabotti is a preternatural—that is, she is soulless and has the effect of taking away supernatural powers from beings like vampires and werewolves. When a newly turned vampire attacks her, Alexia accidentally kills him with her silver tipped parasol. The newly turned vampire turns out to be part of a trend, and Alexia decides to figure out just why new werewolves and vampires have been running rampant throughout the city and turning up dead shortly thereafter.

Somehow, I got the itch to start blogging again while reading Soulless. It’s been about six months since I posted my last review, but here I am posting about a book I felt lukewarm about. Soulless is definitely a fun read, but there is not much to it. I purchased it as a Kindle Deal of the Day and while I think it was worth the $1.99, I wasn’t wowed by it. Alexia is an extremely likeable character which made the book worth reading, but it took about 2/3 of the way through the book for me to really begin enjoy reading it.

The beginning of the book focused too much on the obvious love interest between Alexia and Lord Maccon. There was a huge buildup between them and I felt like a lot of the scenes in the book focused on the two of them interacting. It wasn’t until about halfway through the book that the plot really started to get interesting when more information was given about the disappearances of some vampires and werewolves. I especially enjoyed the older vampire, Lord Akeldama, whose appearance in the book got the plot moving. It wasn’t until Alexia went to visit him after several strange occurrences in London that I was hooked on what was happening in the book.

I have to admit that I’m not a huge fan of romance so I think the relationship between Alexia and Lord Maccon was overdone. I was more interested in the main plot of the book and how the disappearances unfolded. I also really liked that Gail Carriger wrote Alexia to be a strong woman that was smart and capable despite her interest in Lord Maccon.

Overall, I enjoyed the book as a something I could read on the commuter train I take to work. It was a simple enough read that I could read through the distraction of my fellow commuters conversations and not miss any of what I was reading (I typically need absolute quiet to read with any efficiency). However, I think the book is also kind of typical of my “blah” reading year. I felt lukewarm about this one. It is definitely a fun book, but not necessarily a series that I will run out and read the next one right away. If you are looking for something quick and escapist and enjoy a little supernatural steampunk, this could definitely be the book for you. If you prefer more heady fare, you might save this book for a time when you are needing something quick and easy.

Ink Exchange–Melissa Marr

Book: Ink Exchange
Author: Melissa Marr
Publisher: Harper Teen
325 pages (Hardcover)
My Rating:



Leslie is a young woman who lives a troubled life. Her mother is gone, her father is absent, and her brother is a drug dealer. She has had to endure many hardships that cause her to seek out a different life for herself. She finds friends in the local tattoo shop and she longs to get a tattoo. Little does she know that the tattoo she picks out is about to change her life dramatically. Irial is a faerie who is King of the Dark Court. He longs to have Leslie for himself and plans to deceive her into becoming just that.

Ink Exchange is the second book in the Wicked Lovely series. I typically do not read a whole lot of YA, but I am actually enjoying this series. This book was better than the first book, Wicked Lovely. The story is told fairly simply—by that I mean it is a quick, easy reading. However, the story itself has quite a few really intense and complicated subjects in it including rape, drug addiction, and neglect. There were some incredibly profound moments in the book, and some of Leslie’s suffering was tangible while I was reading it. Melissa Marr did an excellent job describing what emotions people go through when abuse is occurring in and outside the home—the confusion and the pain. Leslie is an infinitely sympathetic character. She was not a perfect person by any means, but she did persevere and hold on to who she really was. She was a strong character even though she had moments of weakness and I liked that very human quality in her.

There is also a romance of sorts between her and another faery, Niall. He knows that he is forbidden to be with her, but he wants so badly to be a part of her life. It’s a story of unrequited love which was very touching in a lot of ways. Niall was also a pretty likeable character, but there was something a little lacking for me with him. There was a distance in his demeanor which surely was intentional, but it kept me from connecting with him entirely. Still, I did enjoy who he was and his desire to keep Leslie safe and stop her suffering at the hands of those that wanted to take advantage of her.

I will say that the culture in the book is something that is pretty foreign to me. I know absolutely nothing about tattoos and piercings so I actually enjoy reading about it. It gives me a little peak into how other people think. This culture is very much a part of the series and shows the humanity of people who choose to tattoo and pierce themselves. I like that because a lot of the time people are judged based on the ink and piercings they put on and in their body. People don’t look further than their appearance. This book breaks that stereotype and gives a human face to this culture.

Overall, this was a really enjoyable, quick read. I am definitely enjoying the easiness of YA books now that life is getting busier for me. Because of the nature of the subject matter in Ink Exchange, I did like it better than Wicked Lovely. I think it’s important for people to know that teens are exposed to things like rape, drugs, and abuse/neglect. Ink Exchange did a really good job of showing how it affects people who are exposed to these things and makes the subject matter accessible for younger readers that are in high school or junior high.

Shiver–Maggie Stiefvater

Book: Shiver
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Publisher: Scholastic Press
392 pages (Hardcover)
My Rating:


As a child, Grace was brutally attacked by wolves. She only remembers seeing a wolf with mysterious yellow eyes as she lapsed from consciousness. Over the years she watches this same wolf with amber eyes watching her from the woods. She feels drawn to him and has a real connection with him. Sam enters Grace’s life in the waning warm months of the year. He also has amber eyes and Grace immediately knows that there is more to Sam than most people think.

Rikki from The Bookkeeper and I decided to do a read-a-long together because I am not big on romance books and am trying to open myself up to different genres. She suggested Shiver because she hadn’t read it either and we have both heard good things about it. My review below will include some SPOILER type discussion so if you are interested in the book and don’t want to know anything about it, I would navigate away at this point.

Shiver has created a lot of dialogue between some of my book blogging friends and I. I found it enjoyable, but I also found that something was lacking for me. The writing had a distant quality to it, so connecting with the characters was actually quite difficult. I felt like even they felt like they were on the outside looking in on their own lives. I wonder if Maggie Stiefvater intentionally wrote the book this way or if this is just her writing style. Either way, it didn’t necessarily hamper my enjoyment of the book, but it was something that I noticed throughout the book. The chapters are divided into Grace and Sam point of view chapters

There is something about teen romance that I find problematic. I don’t know if things have changed that much since I was a teenager in the 90’s, but I feel like the YA books I’ve read to date are much more mature in teen language regarding romance and sex. For example, when Sam and Grace are having a “romantic” moment, Sam growls and Grace says:

‘That was so sexy,’ she said, voice uneven. ‘I didn’t think you could get any sexier.’

I find dialogue like this problematic between teens because as a teenager I frankly would have been too awkward to say something so bold to a boy. I also get uncomfortable reading scenes that include sex between teens (although I know in some books there is a sociological importance to confronting the issue) because frankly it makes me feel like a peeper in a inappropriate private moment between underage people. Can’t teens find something more constructive to do than fall into bed with each other? I know it’s just the reality of things, but I sometimes feel like sex between underage people is encouraged now. I was a teen in the time when it started being normalized, but we were introduced to the perils of it as well including teen pregnancy and STDs (which were both all too common at my high school). I feel like all forms of media now make teen sexuality less taboo than it probably should be. In this respect, I think Shiver is not alone in romanticizing teen sex rather than showing it for what it really usually ends up with—heartbroken young people who often make poor choices and give a part of themselves to someone.

However, this being said, I do think that Shiver dealt with parental neglect in a way that Twilight did not. There was actually discussion about the absentee parents Grace had to live with whereas in Twilight it was more taken for granted that Bella came from a neglectful home. Sam did confront Grace about her parents behavior and it was clear that she was hurt by them not being a major part of her life.

[Sam] ‘Does it bother you? That your parents are the way they are?’…[Grace] ’Why can’t I make them love me any more than they do?’…[Sam] ‘Grace, they love you. It’s not about you. It’s their problem.’ [Grace] ‘I’ve tried so hard. I never get into trouble. I always do my homework. I cook their damn meals, when they’re home, which is never—‘…”

Grace’s pain is tangible and real and is something that many teens deal with. I was glad for this discussion since essentially she was shacking up with Sam for a good deal of the book and her parents were none the wiser. I thought it gave a better understanding to her humanity and her desire to be loved. People might argue that Grace should not find her love and identity in a boy, but I think this is part of the human condition so I actually applauded this portion of the book because it is a situation I could see happening. However, I wonder how teens would deal with a passage like this. Are they mature enough to see that they don’t actually have to find their identity in a boy and that the fairy tale romance is not usually something that occurs?

Overall, I did enjoy the book. I will read Linger (the second book in the series) at some point in the future, but the disconnected feeling of the writing kept me from thinking this was a really good read. I also didn’t care for the song lyrics and poetry recitation in the book. What it boils down to is that I’m truly not a romantic for the most part. I think I would think it was corny if someone sang to me or recited a poem for me. I’m going to own that unromantic side of my personality. It may work really well for others though so if you enjoy those heartfelt declarations then Sam Roth is definitely a loveable male character. I definitely recommend Shiver as discussion material for teens and adults. I found that in the end it was definitely a worthwhile read because of the dialogue it created for me and my friends.

Links of Interest
Rikki at The Bookkeeper – Shiver Update #1
Rikki at The Bookkeeper's full Shiver Review
Chachic's Review of Shiver
Iris from Iris on Books' Review of Shiver


**I am a Book Depository and IndieBound afilliate so If you purchase any of the books I have featured through the links I posted or from the banners in my left hand sidebar, I get a small commission from them. I am in no way compensated for the reviews I post of my books.

The Gates–John Connolly

Book: The Gates
Author: John Connolly
Publisher: Atria Books
295 pages (Hardcover)
My Rating:


Samuel Johnson is ready for Halloween—so ready in fact that he and his dog Boswell have gone trick-or-treating a few days early. The first door he knocks on is the Abernathy house and he is rudely sent away. Little does he know that strange things are afoot at the Abernathy house and that all Hell is about to break loose. Literally!

I have never read John Connolly before and I don’t know much about him, but I have to say, my journey into YA has been quite fun because The Gates was AWESOME. I am not sure how to tell everyone that a book about the Gates of Hell being opened and demons wreaking havoc in England could be fun and hilarious, but this book was just that. Samuel is a really clever little boy and has the obligatory adorable and faithful dog, and his friends are pretty cool too. The book is a little reminiscent of The Goonies with the kids running around and having a great adventure, but instead of pirates, they are battling The Great Malevolence.

I like that the kids are at the forefront of the adventure and are basically put in place to save the planet because kids suspend disbelief more often than adults. This was pointed out to me at my book club and I wish I had thought of that while I was reading the book. There is a faith in children that adults just don’t have and The Gates truly showed that adventurous and creative spirit that kids have.

I didn’t find any of the demons to be scary. Some of them were downright funny. I don’t want to give any of their antics away, but there was one demon in particular that was a major character in the book that I feel ok to write about. Nurd, The Scourge of the Five Deities is the demon with the heart of gold. He’s a little rough around the edges, but he means well despite being a demon. He is the most loveable character in the book and he really is competing with Hellboy for my favorite demon of all-time!

In all, I thought this was a great book to read during Halloween or really any other time. It has more humor than horror and recommend it to people who want a light hearted, quick read. I will definitely be picking up more of John Connolly’s books in the future!




Link of Interest
Man of la Book's review of The Gates




**I am a Book Depository and IndieBound afilliate so If you purchase any of the books I have featured through the links I posted or from the banners in my left hand sidebar, I get a small commission from them. I am in no way compensated for the reviews I post of my books.

Leviathan – Scott Westerfeld

Book: Leviathan
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Trade Paperback/440 pages
My Rating:



It is the eve of WWI and a Hapsburg prince named Alek is unaware that his life is about to drastically change. The Germans have been itching to start a war and the assassination of the Archduke has given them the opportunity. To avoid capture, Alek flees his Austrian homeland in a “Clanker” called a Cyklop Stormwalker with a few loyal men that are entrusted with his safety. On the other side of Europe, Deryn is a young woman who desperately wants to serve in Britain’s military so she disguises herself as a boy and signs up to fly in “Beasties” and is assigned to Leviathan. Little do either of them know that the war will make them cross paths and set them on a dangerous mission together.

I do not read a lot of YA novels, but I was desperately looking for some steampunk to read. I picked up Leviathan because Scott Westerfeld is coming to the Texas Book Festival on October 16-17 this year and I am going to try to make it in to his event where he will talk about the second book of the Leviathan series, Behemoth. I really wanted to read this before his talk so that I won’t be completely lost!

I think Leviathan is a great introduction to steampunk. The novel reads really fast and has a compelling storyline that feels familiar since the events in the book roughly follow WWI. Alek and Deryn are both likeable characters that are struggling with their place in the world. Alek is a prince without a throne and Deryn is a girl that desperately wants to be seen as an equal. Together they form an alliance that quite possibly is not what their respective parties want. In this first book in the series, a good portion of the time is spent exploring their individual stories so I got a good feel for them as characters and what motivated them. Neither of them have the typical teenage angst that can weigh so heavily in some books. They are truly characters of their situations—thrust into very stressful situations and they show their strength of character throughout.

I also loved the world. I think I’m addicted to steampunk now! I especially like the way Westerfeld made the novel as a clash between Clankers v. Beasties. The Leviathan is simply awesome. The description of it was vivid—I felt like I could see and smell everything that went on in that giant ship. The illustrations by Keith Thompson add so much to the novel as well. They are simply beautiful drawings and lend such description to the scenes. A picture truly is worth a thousand words in this book. Being that it is my first foray into the genre, I found the artwork helped me imagine what the world was like—what the ships and land machines looked like. The novel is a clash between two types of technologies which are each unique and well thought out.

At the end of the novel, Scott Westerfeld writes an Afterword about the historical period and what artistic license he took with the history of WWI. These last few pages made the book more interesting to me and made me want to read more on The Great War. I will warn you that the book doesn’t really have a true ending so you will most likely want to run out and buy Behemoth after you finish. For parents who want their pre-teens and teens to show more interest in history class, this is a great novel to pick up and read. I also think this is a good novel for people wanting to expose themselves to steampunk without getting bogged down in complicated explanations of technology that might exist in adult novels. It’s a quick read, plot driven, and kept me turning the pages. I feel a little less intimidated by steampunk and look forward to reading Behemoth and further exploring the genre.


 Links of Note
Samples of the illustrations in Leviathan
Scott Westerfeld’s Webpage




**I am a Book Depository and IndieBound afilliate so If you purchase any of the books I have featured through the links I posted or from the banners in my left hand sidebar, I get a small commission from them. I am in no way compensated for the reviews I post of my books.



I read this book for the Steampunk Challenge.