Sweet Venom

Sweet Venom

by Tera Lynn Childs

Grace just moved to San Francisco and is excited to start over at a new school. The change is full of fresh possibilities, but it’s also a tiny bit scary. It gets scarier when a minotaur walks in the door. And even more shocking when a girl who looks just like her shows up to fight the monster.
Gretchen is tired of monsters pulling her out into the wee hours, especially on...

For once I truly do not know where to start. I am at a loss for words. Well maybe not a loss for words I have many, many, words to share if I can just decide whether this book deserves to be one of those books that people so disrespectfully "repurpose" or even used as some kindling for a nice winter fire. Or if it deserves to get praise and a decent rating. I will admit while Childs' writing was good, well written, average good writer level writing, a few pages in I began to hate her just a little not that deadly burning hate but that really irritated annoyed hate that you have for a well-respected best friend when they do something stupid and supremely annoying. By the end of the book I sat a scowling mess ready to read her the riot act, lecture her for hours on end it was that bad. I am a bit of a mythology buff so to speak a self-proclaimed expert. I know more about Greek and Roman mythology than any other I can tell you every version of every myth in their culture and a billion other random tidbits. A few pages in I realized well that is supremely stupid. The three main characters are supposedly decedents of Medusa. In literally every version of the Gorgon Medusa legends I have ever heard (There may be more but I doubt that they would differ quite so much.) Medusa has been an originally beautiful priestess of Athena who in some way had a situation with Poseidon making Athena jealous and so Athena cursed her to become so ugly that when a mortal looked her in the eyes they turned to stone. Medusa also had a head of snakes rather than hair. So if she turned people to stone, was ugly, and looked like a scary monster with snakes for hair how in the world did she ever have kids to have generations of decedents?! Then pages later I discover Childs has completely changed the myth leaving hardly any of the originally myth present! Then suddenly these supposed decedents can teleport, have fangs with venom and super strength and visionary abilities. Now the vision and strength stuff I guess I can understand and I suppose I could get used to the fangs and teleportation. However, I could never accept the fact that she rewrote the myth almost completely and not for the better and without fully fleshing her version out. It is one thing to put a spin on something but she did not do that she completely rewrote the entire thing! She might as well have written a myth of her own that had never been told before, a completely new and unheard of original myth. I did not like this in fact it was one of the things that made me dislike her just a little inside and dislike the story a whole lot. By the end of the book, when I was thinking back about the novel I realized her writing also irritated me and was in fact quite bad at times ruining the story often. One of her characters main was completely unlikeable, un-relatable and shallow and only changed the tiny, tiny, tiniest bit at the very, very, end and I mean the last few pages! The character was not introduced nearly soon enough or present, used or written about nearly as much as the other too leaving you feeling like you didn't really know her at all. Her writing left you quite confused many, many, times especially at times when teleportation was used.  Her ending was truly the last straw for me. It had no cliff hanger didn't make me want to read even a chapter more really and by the end of the book not one of the introduced problems was solved other than the three main characters not hating each other and avoiding a fire introduced at the last second.  All in all if you can find a way to look over the many irritating factors it is a fairly good read and I wouldn't discourage you from reading it. However, it is not an impressive read or a favorite of mine. I give it a generous two stars.

Briana

The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart

The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart

by Leanna Renee Hieber

I'm coming for you.
The whispers haunt her dreams and fill her waking hours with dread. Something odd is happening. Something...unnatural.
Possession of the living. Resurrection of the dead. And Natalie Stewart is caught right in the middle. Jonathon, the one person she thought she could trust, has become a double agent for the dark side. But he plays the part so well, Natalie has to wonder just how much he's really acting.

She can't even see what it is she's fighting. But the cost of losing her heart, her sanity...her soul.

The amazing Leanna strikes yet again. The second book of the Magic Most Foul Saga does not disappoint. With writing just as stunningly detailed and strong as in the first book, Darker Still. I read this book in one sitting it was that good. Now you should know that I have never ever read an entire book in one sitting except like Dr. Suess books when I was little. This book was outright amazing. I loved every delicious word of it. I would say that it is almost better than the first. Leanna's writing continues to astound me. The plot is exciting and deliciously twisted, not to mention stunningly executed. Natalie and Jonathon progress and develop wonderfully throughout the book as they learn to fully trust one another and find bravery and strength in love. Natalie learns to become more independent and take charge when Ms. Northe leaves to visit a friend in Chicago.  I also appreciated that Natalie and Jonathon's relationship was tested in new ways and that it wasn't perfect, flawless and sappy they had some issues not just of the paranormal kind. Their relationship was real. That is another thing I like about the Magic Most Foul Saga the non-paranormal aspects, and problems are real as well as the characters. Leanna also shows the social issues of the time period and her writing shows just how much she knows about the time period and her profound love for it. Even if you know nothing about New York or any other area during that time period you will feel as though you have lived there all your life. Leanna's writing is just that wonderful and that detailed. Leanna is really just that good. I loved everything about this book. The storyline, the plot, the characters and character development, every last WORD of this book I absolutely loved. Love, love loved this book. I give it 5 out of 5 stars and my recommendation to anyone who reads YA.

Briana