The Treachery of Beautiful Things

The Treachery of Beautiful Things

by Ruth Francis Long

A darkly compelling mix of romance, fairy tale, and suspense from a new voice in teen fiction

The trees swallowed her brother whole, and Jenny was there to see it. Now seventeen, she revisits the woods where Tom was taken, resolving to say good-bye at last. Instead, she's lured into the trees, where she finds strange and dangerous creatures who seem to consider her the threat. Among them is Jack, mercurial and magnetic, with secrets of his own. Determined to find her brother, with or without Jack's help, Jenny struggles to navigate a faerie world where stunning beauty masks some of the most treacherous evils, and she's faced with a choice between salvation or sacrifice--and not just her own.

As soon as I read this synopsis I knew I just had to read it, and when my friend and I went out to pick it up I was ecstatic and hoped with all my heart that I would not be disappointed.  I read the excerpt on the back and was like, "OH MY GOSH! HER WRITING IT'S LIKE THE MOST AMAZING WRITING I HAVE EVER READ! IT'S LIKE POETRY!"  So naturally I was expecting her writing throughout the book to have the same style and be just as amazing as the excerpt paragraph on the back cover. Sadly I was sorely mistaken. The writing was average and then, much to my annoyance, there would be random times and sentences that were just like the writing on the back and extremely out of place. This I had to take off points for in my book. The storyline was amazing and I loved every bit of it. It was compelling, entirely original and creative, and used ideas from various fairy tales and characters from Irish and Celtic folk lure. Ruth put a creative twist on all of her fairytale inspired scenes and characters so that even those were original and it kept the story from becoming predictable.  The plot was great full of twists and turns that surprised you and cliffhangers. The characters were great. I loved fallowing Jenny and Jack's journey and they both changed so much during the book. I loved that Jack loved Jenny and thought she was beautiful because she wasn't perfect or as stunningly beautiful as the people in his world. I also liked that she wasn't perfect she was instead perfectly normal. I loved this book so so much. It is defiantly a must read. I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.              

Briana

Die for Me

Die for Me

by Amy Plum

In the City of Lights, two star-crossed lovers battle a fate that is destined to tear them apart again and again for eternity.
When Kate Mercier’s parents die in a tragic car accident, she leaves her life behind to live with her grandparents in Paris. For Kate, the only way to survive her pain is escaping into the world of books and Parisian art. Until she meets Vincent.
Mysterious, charming, and devastatingly handsome, Vincent threatens to melt the ice around Kate’s guarded heart with just his smile. As she begins to fall in love with Vincent, Kate discovers that he’s a revenant–an undead being whose fate forces him to sacrifice himself over and over again to save the lives of others. Vincent and those like him are bound in a centuries-old war against a group of evil revenants who exist only to murder and betray. Kate soon realizes that if she follows her heart, she may never be safe again.

Die for Me was an interesting step outside of my comfort zone as far as the types of books I like and tend to read. Yes, most of the books I read have a large romance element but this book was a straight up romance novel. It wasn't an adventure and then, "oh look these people are in love." It was instead more of, "oh look these people are in love oh well that might get in the way of there relationship. Oh look they are still in love." Now I am not a sappy, chick flick genre girl, of movies, books, and what ever else, I am just not into that kind of thing because to me it's just boring. Amy has managed to change my opinion on that. Her writing was great and she managed to make the story interesting even with the romantic relationship being the main aspect of the book. Also I liked that it was more of a true love and friendship, we can work this out kinda thing and not filled with any gross, TMI, passion moments. Thank you for that Amy! Kate's broken spirit and journey to find happiness and a somewhat normal life again is stunning and her relationship with her sister is one that many readers will connect with. The plot was...interesting. I couldn't decide how to approach the plot because while reading it was not until about three fourths of the way through the book I realized that yes there have been some minor problems, bumps in the road, but there hasn't been a climax, a large problem a main struggle. Usually by that point in the book they are working on solving the main problem so this was bizarre to me but I liked the book enough that it really didn't matter to me. It kept me interested despite the strange plot and I never got bored. I loved this book overall and give it a 4 star rating.

Briana