HBIC Review on Blue Aspen by Tina

Blue Aspen by Tenaya Jayne: Posted by Tina at Tinasbookreviews

If you want to read the synopsis of this book....you can scroll down and watch the book trailer, enter the contest and browse the back cover synop....

ALERT...ALERT, fantastic book coming at you!!!!...............

I’m wondering what words can describe all the different emotions I went through reading this very intense page turner: let me see how about…, intrigued, freaked out, sad, angry, giddy, oh whatever and last but not least.......GASP, oh no he isn’t!!!!!!

When Dulcee arrives at Uncle Jacks it’s unreal. The prologue alludes to a dark, gothic feel but the magical atmosphere slowly pulls the reader into a world of madness. The house itself is like an entire character complete with indoor pool, library, greenhouse, bowling alley and her own giant master bedroom featuring a huge a** fireplace. What’s a girl not to love! Even with its castle like charms, and backdrop of winter; roaming the house with Dulcee made me feel its intense isolation and the vast loneliness seeped off the pages, no wonder a person could go mad. Just when the reader thinks Dulcee is being stalked by demon shadows in walks Vincent. .........A dark and mysterious Vincent romances Dulcee, he heals her heart, helps her sleep and has sexy blue eyes. I found it difficult to experience the romance between these two because frankly Vincent thoroughly freaked me out!! Vincent is seen largely in the dream world but he’s able to manifest into Dulcee’s reality. He comes off the page as a gentleman but underneath he is a dark predator. I was thinking the whole time “Oh Dulcee ……RUN”!!!!

Once we dive into the second part of the book we are introduced to Dr. Verell where the story gets even more mysterious. I was on the edge of my seat shifting between Dr. Verell and Dulcees perspectives. Once I thought I had it figured out... something would throw me off. Leaving me with that hmmmm feeling, I was seriously guessing until the last page. I think my favorite aspect of the book was the fact that Vincent is as much a mystery to us as he was to Dulcee, and Jayne keeps the reader wound tight with his identity.......until the very last words written on the page Vincent remains a conundrum . When I finally after all the emotion of Blue Aspen read who he was I shouted.....NO WAY.........I had no clue, even with the hints the author gives!!

The only negative that I’m sure will be said for some is the issue of unresolved issues, we don’t get a lot of info on Dulcee’s background. We see only glimpses of some side plots with her uncle, the murdered father and aunt………not to mention what the heck is up with Dr. Verell????? I normally don’t like unresolved issues but I think it really worked for this book, the story with Dulcee and Vincent is so sharp we really don’t need the answers to make connections. Im hoping Ms. Jayne uses these side characters for future stories.

I loved crawling and spiraling into Dulcee’s madness. It was beautifully written and well throughout. A savvy new author whose haunting words are not to be missed!!

Thanks to Tenaya Jayne for the review copy and for the opportunity to meet Dulcee and Vincent!
BWB Score 4/4 Dark Romance, Mental Illness,

BWB Contest! HBIC's Presents: Blue Aspen by Tenaya Jayne

The Blog with Bite HBIC feature for this week is Blue Aspen by Tenaya Jayne.

HBIC Parajunkee will be giving away her copy of Blue Aspen at the end of the week.  Scroll down for contest rules.

Synopsis: from amazon.com
When seventeen-year-old Dulcee Elders' mother embarks on a road trip from their home in California, Dulcee knows something odd is about to happen. Her suspicions are confirmed when they arrive at Uncle Jack's house outside of Durango, Colorado. Without another word, Dulcee's mother is gone, and Dulcee faces life with her reclusive and wealthy uncle in a looming rural mansion.

Dulcee has suffered from insomnia ever since her father died more than ten years ago. But once at home at Uncle Jack's, inexplicably Dulcee now can sleep; sleep brings not only strange and intricate dreams, but a dream lover. For now, Vincent Sands is only the silhouette of a man, but when Uncle Jack leaves town for business, Dulcee's dream world and reality collide. Once she is alone, the silhouette is no longer content to remain only in her dreams.

When Dulcee is asleep, Vincent can give her anything she wants, even the ability to talk to her dead father. Inevitably, Vincent must leave when Uncle Jack returns. Dulcee experiences the high price of loving Vincent-an addiction rivaling that of any hard-core drug. Desperate to bridge the gap between them, Dulcee faces a crucial decision that carries irreversible consequences. Purchase From Amazon.com




Contest Time!


The book being given away is Parajunkee's copy of Blue Aspen - what is the terminology used, slightly read??? 


Rules & Regulations:

• Must be 18 or older
• Must be US or Canadian resident (Mailing address)
• Please no PO Boxes
• You must be a follower of Blog with Bite
• Contest Ends December 12th 

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Ballad: A Gathering of Faerie by Maggie Stiefvater Review Deadline today!

Hey everyone if you have read / reviewed Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater get your reviews in today! Deadline to count your post as a Blog with Bite is today at midnight (CST)!

Click on the Submit Review link in the navigation above!

HBIC Review of Ballad- Emily

Title: Ballad: A Gathering of Faerie
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Page Count: 353 pages
Publisher: Flux
Genre: young adult, fantasy, paranormal romance
Copy for review was purchased by this writer

I'm not even going to attempt a 50 word summary, for this book, you get the whole enchilada, compliments of Goodreads: In this mesmerizing sequel to Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception, music prodigy James Morgan and his best friend, Deirdre, join a private conservatory for musicians. James' musical talent attracts Nuala, a soul-snatching faerie muse who fosters and feeds on the creative energies of exceptional humans until they die. Composing beautiful music together unexpectedly leads to mutual admiration and love. Haunted by fiery visions of death, James realizes that Deirdre and Nuala are being hunted by the Fey and plunges into a soul-scorching battle with the Queen of the Fey to save their lives.

Daaaaaaaang. After enjoying the bejesus out of Lament and Shiver, I started Ballad feeling pretty confident that I'd enjoy it. And enjoy it I did; so much so that frankly I'm at a loss for how to adequately describe the experience.

James is a heartbreaker of a character. He's like the onion from Shrek (or the parfait, if you prefer,) with layers and layers and layers. I really enjoyed watching him grow as a person and evolve into someone entirely unique. His counterpoint, Nuala, certainly is prickly, but only out of self-preservation, which is certainly something James can understand. I really enjoyed the fake drunk scene with Peter because Peter was able to articulate respect for James in a way that James had never really experienced before- certainly not in his relationship with Dee.

Oh, Dee. Everyone hates you, and from your performance in Ballad it's not hard to see why. Dee comes across here as neurotic, emotional, and nuttier than the proverbial fruitcake, but the unsent text messages give a little bit of insight into why she does some of the painful things that she does (and Lament provides a much deeper explanation.)

My favorite character in the book though, besides James, is definitely Nuala. She's creative, sassy, bold, and doesn't take what most would consider to be an extremely shitty and dysfunctional life script sitting down. No, she decides to do something about the chaos in her own life, even if it's crazy, and that's something I can admire in anyone.

James and Dee go through their share of ups and downs, and even without the supernatural elements of the story, theirs is a story that resonates with pain and loss, with love and meaning, and is generally about moving on and growing up when it becomes apparent that things are not turning out the way you expected or wanted. Everyone learns some tough lessons and ends the story in a different place emotionally than where they were at the beginning; it will definitely be interesting to see where the characters go in future books.

Maggie Stiefvater's prose here is lyrical and poetic, with just enough angst and emotion to make the writing flavorful and rich without being cumbersome and/or boring. My only criticism of the book, and it certainly is a minor one, is that the faerie politics percolated for a really long time and then BAM jumped up and bit me on the nose. It's like the story unfolded at one pace and the conclusion unfolded at another, with a mashup in the middle where the two elements collided. The story ended the way I wanted it to, however, so cheers to getting my own way.

If you're looking for a young adult book with nuance and atmosphere enough to appeal to readers of all ages, then Ballad is a good bet.

Overall Grade: A
Blog with Bite Grade: 4
*****

1. James is a flawed and heart broken character, do you find his mental peculiarities charming or annoying? Please do explain. I found his quirks and coping strategies to be endearing for the most part. I think that he perceives the world in a different way and consequently has to find a different way of expressing himself. I liked that the author found a way to make James unique without making him.....weird. Does that make sense?
   
2. What did you think of James and Dee's kiss? This being a pivotal moment for their relationship, how do you think it changed James? For me, this was the moment when James realized that he was only ever going to be Dee's friend, and that it was up to him to decide if he was okay with that or not. Prior to this, I don't think it occurred to James that Dee could not be interested in him romantically, but when she basically admitted to kissing him as a test to see if she'd think about another dude while she did it, the romance basically died. Unrequited love is pretty uncool, all things considered.
   
3. Whom do you prefer Dee or Nuala? As a fit for James? Nuala, because she's actually emotionally available, which is always a good thing. I also enjoyed her tenacity and sense of humor, her resiliency and her refusal to accept defeat or less than everything she wants (once she realizes what that is, of course.)
   
4. What's your verdict on the best way to read Ballad? Is it a stand alone book or do you need to read Lament first? If you read Lament, what did it add/not add to Ballad? If you haven't read Lament, do you think it would have added to your reading of Ballad? I think that Ballad can be a standalone book but that reading it like that gives a different perspective than the one you get from reading Lament first. The biggest example of that is definitely in how you see Dee: if you read Lament first than some of her neuroses stand explained; if you just read Ballad then you kind of want to smack the crap out of her. I read Lament first and I'm glad I did; I want to know what happened between her and Luke, among other things.
   
5. We've been reading a lot of stories with fairies as the central paranormal creatures. What are your thoughts on the "Fair Folk". Do you believe in faeries? I think that stories that center around fae worlds and fae characters have to be really well-crafted or they don't hold my interest. I love political powerplays as long as they're well done, I don't mind if characters are, shall we say, unorthodox-looking, and I always enjoy when a book combines myths and new ideas in unconventional ways. I do think that fae worlds are tricky though, as they require a lot of setup, so when I read a book with fae in the story it's important for there to be a good balance between worldbuilding and character development.
   

Ballad - HBIC Editor Review - Parajunkee

H B I C R E V I E W  - by Parajunkee

I have fallen in love tonight.  I have fallen in love with a voice, the voice of an author named Maggie Stiefvater.  Before now I hadn't had the pleasure of reading any of Ms. Stiefvater's works and now I feel like I have missed out. Such a shame that I have been wasting so much time...when I could have been partaking in the perfection that is the prose of Maggie Stiefvater. (That was me being poetic)

Ms. Steifvater weaves a tale of fairies, unrequited love and the chilling end-all of death. Ballad focuses on the story of James, whom was introduced in Lament. James has followed Dee to boarding school, his love for her almost unbearable as she avoids him in their first weeks in school.  They were best friends and now Dee is acting strangely and he barely sees her anymore.

James is a sociable lad though, and he makes friends and carries on without her.  But, Dee is always on his mind and when they happen to run into one another the meetings are almost painful. During this time Dee is becoming more and more unstable and James is being pestered by a strikingly beautiful yet, very dangerous girl that calls herself Nuala. James is pulled in two directions - and the two paths that stretch before him both seem to end in pain and death.

I must state that before reading Ballad I did not read Lament. I think I wasn't paying attention. My fellow BWB companions said here read this Rach - and so I read.  I'm actually kind of glad that I read Ballad first. I'm never one to read in order.  Odd but that is me.  I feel I might have found a new perspective because of my reverse reading.  My reverse perspective found me hating Dee.  I was introduced to the broken character that she was.  A girl whom James was madly in love with but whom couldn't even open the lines of communication with him.  Each time he would reach for her, she would do something stupid or selfish which would have me hating on her even more and falling harder for James.

Ms. Stiefvater's characters had so much depth I felt as if they are real and could walk in upon me at any moment. The intricacies that are James and Nuala made them so believable and relatable that I mourned their passing as the last page came to a close.  Even the side characters of Paul and Sullivan were striking in their depth - considering Paul was used as a comic sort of character - but was so much more.

The only flaw I found with this book was near the ending I found she circled around the inevitable a little too long when she could have just plowed through to the end.

Parents have no fear when passing this on to your child. There is a bit of violence, and a smidge of cursing.  But nothing that they wouldn't see on prime time.

My Blog with Bite Rating is 4 of 4

HBIC Seeker Review on Ballad

Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater: posted by Tina @ Tinasbookreviews

Im going to skip the Synop...because you all know what the basis is....

This series, beginning with Lament which introduces us to James through his best friend Dee's story was a wonderful book, but I just fell in love with James so much that Ballad is now my favorite of the two. The story is told through James and Nuala’s perspectives, and it flowed beautifully. If you didn’t read Lament first Dee might have seemed like a cold and distant character but her torture over losing Luke was so apparent I couldn’t help but feel depressed with her, but also was whooping with James who tremendously grows up in this book and then some. The always poor, poor James forever pinning over the heartbroken and intense Dee, is finally……FINALLY able to see past his unreturned love for her and opens his heart to true love and endless possibilities.

I can't say enough how much I loved this book. I can’t begin to say how much I love Maggie Stiefvater.....(please Maggie have coffee with me because I want to pick the brain of your awesomeness) The beautiful writing is so creative, she makes James so witty that you love him even if he is supposed to be arrogant...It just works for him. He is the type of character that you just can't get enough dialogue from! I was laughing through most of this because James is so hysterical and Nuala (funny and witty herself) was a perfect match for James and the two complemented each other well!

Like with all of Ms. Maggie’s writing thus far, each chapter wove poetic and haunting words. Her characters have so much depth they are hard to forget. I mean taste this little nugget from the King of the Dead:
I keep the dead and the dead keep me. We are cold and dark, we are one and we are many, we wait and we wait so sing the dead; So sing I, grow, rise follow……………….
Cernunnos’ music was beautiful but creepy dark and goose bump worthy, thinking about his big antler head and the dramatic and eerie words that he sang made me shudder just a bit.

Also, I loved that Maggie (because a lot of YA author’s adult characters are all bone-heads or so background you never get to know them) wrote in a fantastic adult character named Sullivan. I loved that he was able to connect with James and had maturity and wisdom that comes with living longer than a teen, but is also able to use his maturity and wisdom to help kids and be “guidance” to them. I loved who Sullivan was and absolutely love what this author did to his character. I want a book all about Sullivan Ms. Maggie!!!!!!
I dont want to put to much info in my review because I truly feel you need to experience all the oh's and ah's and gasps for yourself.Don’t miss out on this wonderful and mesmerizing new author. Due to language and content I’d recommend this to the mature teen and adult.
5/5 YA Faeries, love, poetry, beauty, creepy………almost as brilliant as Shiver……..I could on and on…….BWB Rating: 4/4

Discussion Questions:

1. James is a flawed and heart broken character, do you find his mental peculiarities charming or annoying? Please do explain. I loved James, I thought his wit and sarcaism worked well with the story, it gave the book its much needed humor, I thought James knew when to be serious and when to keep his mouth shut.

2. What did you think of James and Dee's kiss? This being a pivotal moment for their relationship, how do you think it changed James? Im so glad James got to kiss Dee.....dont get me wrong I think he still loves her, BUT I think James finally broke through some major chains that was his bondage to everything Dee.......After the kiss I think for the first time James feels free of her and is able to move on.

3. Whom do you prefer Dee or Nuala? So I loved James but I also loved Dee in Lament.....I liked Nuala, she was hard to get to know but I think shes perfect for James...however I like Dee better. The story between her and Luke was so awesome, Dee may have seemed very background to Ballad but she's a major character.

4. What's your verdict on the best way to read Ballad? Is it a stand alone book or do you need to read Lament first? If you read Lament, what did it add/not add to Ballad? If you haven't read Lament, do you think it would have added to your reading of Ballad? You can read it alone because the story is about James and Nuala....but reading Lament adds so many layers to the background of Ballad. Knowing Dee's story helps you understand why shes a cloverhand and also why James was almost killed.


5. We've been reading a lot of stories with fairies as the central paranormal creatures. What are your thoughts on the "Fair Folk". Do you believe in faires? I love Fairies....its my favorite in the urban and Paranormal, I like the nicer fey though...I loved Melissa Marrs world and Wings was a nice one.....the evil fairies are creepy.....and NO I dont believe in them, only on the page in my imagination, if I saw one for real I might S*** my pants.

Ballad: A Gathering of Faerie Discussion Questions

1. James is a flawed and heart broken character, do you find his mental peculiarities charming or annoying? Please do explain.
2. What did you think of James and Dee's kiss? This being a pivotal moment for their relationship, how do you think it changed James?
3. Whom do you prefer Dee or Nuala?
4. What's your verdict on the best way to read Ballad?  Is it a stand alone book or do you need to read Lament first?  If you read Lament, what did it add/not add to Ballad?  If you haven't read Lament, do you think it would have added to your reading of Ballad?
5. We've been reading a lot of stories with fairies as the central paranormal creatures.  What are your thoughts on the "Fair Folk".  Do you believe in faires?

Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill - Dec. Feature #1

SOME GIRLS BITE
by Chloe Neill


Blog with Bite December Feature #1

Some Girls Bite received 19 out of 47 votes. It was a close race, but the vamps beat out the wolves!


Author Web Site

If you loved Nancy Drew but always wished she was an undead sword-wielding badass, Merit is your kind of girl.  - Geek Monthly Magazine




Sign up deadline:
December 13th


Review deadline:
December 18th

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl - Dec Feature #2

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Blog with Bite December Feature #2

Beautiful Creatures received 40 our of 69 votes! Wow you guys really want to read this one.


From the books web site: 

Some loves are meant to be…
others are cursed.

There were no surprises
in Gatlin County.
At least, that’s what I thought.
Turns out, I couldn’t have
been more wrong.
There was a curse.
There was a girl.
And in the end,
there was a grave.

Beautiful Creatures Sign Up Deadline:
Decemeber 27th


Review Deadline: Jan 3 (because of holiday)

It's Time for Ballad!

Good morning everyone.  Just a heads up post.  Ballad week starts this week - so if you've read it we want to read it!

Deadline to get your reviews submitted is December 5th (This Saturday).  Reviews should be submitted through the Google Docs from HERE.

Don't forget to put a BWB banner on it - letting the world know that your review has bite!

Discussion questions will be posted tomorrow.  I have taken the discussion question input off the submit form - this go round - because it was making the spread sheet soooo big and they were very hard to read in that format.  Much easier to read on everyone's posts.

Any questions, just ask! It also looks like we have our Poll winners for December's books! Thanks for voting guys.

Oh and if anyone has read the book already and would like to make a suggestion for discussion questions... please post them in this comments sections!