Waiting on Wednesday: The Cadet of Cildor by Alex Lidell

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating.

The Cadet of Tildor by Alex Lidell

Release Date: January 13, 2013
Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers

Check it out on Goodreads!

Having already survived six years at the Tildor's top military academy, sixteen-year-old Renee De Winter is determined to graduate, training day and night to compete with her male classmates. When the boys overpower her parries, she works harder. When a bully sabotages her gear, she fights without it. But when an underground crime group captures her mentor for its illegal gladiatorial games, she must choose between her career and her conscience. Determined to penetrate the group's inner circles, Renee will leap from academia to the crime filled streets, pick up a sword, and weigh law against loyalty.

I always hear the booming tones of Christopher Lee's voice whenever I read this title. That, my reader friends, is a sure sign of something epic.

I don't know about the rest of you, but this book reminds me a lot of Alanna: The First Adventure; therefore, I wasn't surprised to read that Tamora Pierce is a big influence on the author's writing. Ass kicking girls with a slight Pierce flare? DONE. Where can I get one?

Happy Wednesday! What are you waiting for?

Oh. My. Gods. by Tera Lynn Childs

Oh. My. Gods. by Tera Lynn Childs

Release Date: May 1, 2008
Publisher: Speak
Pages: 264
Format: Paperback
Source: Author
Challenges: N/A

When Phoebe's mom returns from Greece with a new husband and plans to move to an island in the Aegean Sea, Phoebe's well-plotted senior year becomes ancient history. Now, instead of enjoying a triumphant track season and planning for college with her best friends, Phoebe is trying to keep her head above water at the überexclusive Academy. If it isn't hard enough being the new kid in school, Phoebe's classmates are all descendants of the Greek gods! When you're running against teammates with superpowers, dealing with a stepsister from Hades, and nursing a crush on a boy who is quite literally a god, the drama takes on mythic proportions!

You can learn most of what you need to know about Oh. My. Gods. from looking at the cover (maybe it's a faux pax of me to say so, but it's true). The book is cute but bland, a fast beach read that you start and finish in one sitting then walk away. You enjoy a lingering chuckle and a few daydreams about Grecian beaches, then you move onto the next book. The protagonist, Phoebe, is a run of the mill 17-year-old girl. She has one of those adorable rambling voices that borders on the verge of annoying but manages to stay endearing throughout, and an ability to stay true to herself that is admirable.

Also admirable was her restraint in dealing with her so-impulsive-it's-not-even-cute mother. I mean, I'm sorry, but true love or no true love, getting engaged to a man you've known for a week that your daughter's never met? Upending your family on a whim? Marrying a guy whose teenage daughter you don't know? I know she's supposed to be a psychologist, but I think Phoebe's mother needs a psychologist. If she was my mother, my meltdown would have been severely more aggressive than Phoebe's was.

Fortunately, because this is fiction, everything works out more or less. Which is good, because I enjoyed the strange family dynamics in the story. It was interesting seeing these four people who essentially know nothing about one another try to build a single family unit. Each relationship was unique: mother and daughter, father and daughter, father and step-daughter, step-sister and step sister. It was fun to watch the relationship between Stella and Phoebe evolve over the course of the book. Stella may appear to be your typical mean girl, but there is depth and compassion below the snide commentary, if you're willing to drag out the shovel and dig for it.

The depictions of the high school community were nothing earth shattering. Truthfully, I was disappointed at how dutifully cultural stereotypes were played into throughout the book. Decedents of Ares, the god of war, are all jocks; decedents of Hades, the god of the underworld, are all goths, and so on and so forth. Don't fit into a clearly delineated group and you're an automatic loser outcast (even bigger than the loser outcast decedents of Hephaestus, who are stereotypical WOW players and gamers). I'm not denying that the world--high school in particular--is filled with cliques, but this seemed overblown and comical. In a school with such established groups Phoebe is the worst kind of outcast; she's the only student in the entire school who does not possess any godly blood, so basically she's toast from the moment she sets foot on campus.

And true to expectation, underdog Phoebe falls for a guy she meets on the beach, with whom she exchanges exactly 26 perfunctory words, but of course, it's love at first sight. And, of course, she shows up to school a few hours later to learn that he's Mr. Uuber Popular, complete with a completely douchey attitude and the snottiest of petite and pretty girlfriends.

It's not like the 'really hot really popular jerk love interest who turns out to have a soft side and hidden depths' is a new angle, but it was really not working here. Phoebe? Darlin? Listen to me. I don't care if this guy has a face to set sail a thousand ships type hot with abs that inspired the world's first body shots or that the two of you have the same hobby (NEWS FLASH: lots of people like to go running), he's a big jerk. Not a little jerkish with the ability to be redeemed, he's just a big flaming bag of jerk. I didn't feel any chemistry between the two of them, and even in the moments when he showed interest in her, I just wasn't willing to forgive him for being such an ass hat before.

Even the best of us (and by the best of us, I obviously mean Mulan), bite off more than we can chew sometimes. At first I was perplexed that the publisher's summary seemed like such an inaccurate representation of what this book really is, but when I tried to think up a summary of my own, I had a lot of trouble. Oh. My. Gods. has a handful of central plot lines, so much so that I wasn't really sure what the book was about until the very end (and even still there remains some confusion). There were so many primary characters with their own backstories and issues that no one got the attention they deserved. I'm not one of those people that needs all of my questions answered and plot lines tied up in neat bows, but this book seemed to leave way more than the usual loose ends.

While I can see in the book some attempts to work past stereotypes (the "everyone has hidden depths and reasons for the person that they are" angle is worked really hard here), all it manages to do is play right into the hands of those very stereotypes, not to mention it does so badly. There is so much going on in the book that there isn't enough space for any event or person to develop, therefore everything seems flat. Maybe I wouldn't have hated Griffin (the love interest) if we could have gotten to know him better, but in the limited time we spent with him he seemed like nothing more than a shallow, image-conscious jerk. His "sudden reformation" felt either completely faked or completely unrealistic, and I thought so much less of Pheobe for liking him. I give Oh. My. Gods. 2 out of 5 Stars. There were definitely parts of the novel that made me laugh and smile, but I felt they were largely overwhelmed by the lack of depth and focus of the story.

Slush Sleuth's Rating:

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Release Date: September 29, 2011
Publisher: Dutton
Pages: 338
Format: Audiobook*
Source: Purchased

Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion . . . she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit -- more sparkly, more fun, more wild -- the better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood.

When Cricket -- a gifted inventor -- steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

Hello world, she's done it again. Stephanie Perkins has created complex, believable characters that make me wonder why I ever used to abhor Contemporary YA. Lola, Cricket, Max, Calliope, Lola's Dads and every character in this book felt fleshed out. That's one of the incredible things about Stephanie's writing: no character feels like a set piece or plot device. Like in Anna and the French Kiss (which, if you haven't read my review, I loved!), the characters were complex. No one was entirely lovable or blameless, but it was also really hard to fully villanize anyone--even when they acted terribly--because it was possible to understand why they were being irrational. Yes, that's how well formed these characters were.

The world, too, was wonderfully palpable. I have an absolute idea of what Lola's room, her house, her street, her work, and everything in between all look like. Once again, the setting of the book was an essential feature that added to, rather than pulled me out, of the book. There were no "Lord of the Fly-esque Million-page-landscape-descriptions" (ugh, don't get me started), rather the world seemed to just be sitting there, in complete HD, ready for me to hop on in.

I both enjoyed and was slightly uncomfortable with Lola's relationship with Max (she's 16 and he's 22 when they start dating), but the relationship was treated very fairly in the book. Don't get me wrong, I still seriously wanted to punch Max in the face. Repeatedly. But, I thought the portrayal of first love and Lola's desire to be and act older than she really is were both sensitively and realistically done. I also thought her relationship with Cricket was fun to watch re-blossom (they are so endearingly awkward, I couldn't help but giggle uncomfortably at multiple points myself).

I will say that this book did not come close to living up to Anna for me. I had a very serious issue with it that made it somewhat inaccessible. Lola feels so unbelievably young. I'm sure that part of this has to do with the fact that Anna is at boarding school and Lola is living with two very overbearing fathers (I mean, seriously! I can appreciate the love, but back off a little puh-leaze). Part of this is that she whines constantly. Most of this, though, really had to do with her relationships with Max and Cricket. Where as in Anna I understood what was keeping Etienne and Anna apart--even though it drove me crazy--in Lola there didn't seem to be any major obstacle other than Lola's own immaturity. I became very quickly frustrated with her constant denial and back-and-forthing, and unfortunately, this seemed to go on foreeeeevver. Maybe it's easier to excuse Etienne for staying with his girlfriend because he wasn't the narrator, maybe he was easier to excuse because I understood his fear of being alone. In any case, while I liked each character in the book, the experience was a little frustrating at times. As someone who is the same age as Max, I could not understand why he would date someone who acts like a child and lies like she breathes (though perhaps it is because he possesses an equal level of maturity development)....

Overall, I found Lola spunky and funny and I enjoyed the characterizations. I teared up during multiple scenes between her and her mother, and I absolutely ah-dored her quirky dads (when they weren't going psycho patrol-men). The writing is just as wonderfully crafted in this one, I just didn't like Lola as much as I liked Anna, which is entirely personal preference. My reservations about Lola's immaturity aside, there is a lot positive going for this book (eeee! sparkly costumes!) I give it 3.5 out of 5 Stars, and would recommend it to any reader. And besides, we get multiple cameos from Anna and Etienne!

*Audiobook Note*

Shannon McManus did a very good job with this one, and I would suggest it for anyone interested.

Slush Sleuth's Rating:

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Release Date: December 22, 2010
Publisher: Dutton
Pages: 372
Format: Audiobook*
Source: Purchased

Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris - until she meets Etienne St. Clair: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he's taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home.

As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near - misses end with the French kiss Anna - and readers - have long awaited?

I adore this book. There was something very endearing, something very realistic about the characters and the relationships that developed. By all means I should not have liked this book; mushy romances often embarrass me to read, and the cover just screams cutesy and cringe-worthy.

But have no worries! What is contained between these questionable covers is a perfectly swoon-worthy, believable romance. I loved watching Anna escalate between a silly, unreasonable girl with a crush and a girl that values herself too much to get walked all over by some boy. Because, I mean, as much as we (or is this just me?) like to pretend we aren't hopeless romantics, many of us fall prey to getting all melty and obsessed about the guys we like. But, unlike (many) other YA protagonists, that mindless, agent-less girl isn't the only layer to Anna. She's smart, passionate, and has a lot of self respect.

I have never had so much fun watching a relationship develop over the course of any story. And it did develop: wonderfully, slowly, without any of that love at first sight nonsense. I really felt like I could relate to Anna. I simultaneously hated St. Claire for being a wimp, and loved him so, so much that I was constantly ready to forgive him if he would ever make the brave choice. His banter is super sexy (though, truthfully, I'm not sure I could date someone shorter than me). I loved that the characters in the book weren't all described as one kind of drop-dead gorgeous or another (cough-take a hint YA authors-cough) but like normal people. The friends in this book--both ones at boarding school and at home--felt fleshed out. Every relationship in the book was imperfect somehow, but that didn't mean they weren't worthwhile, and that's what gave them a depth that is so rare in secondary characters.

And, oh my gosh! How can you resist a book set in Paris? I couldn't believe it when I read that Stephanie Perkins doesn't actually live there, because her descriptions of the city were a wonderful part of the landscape of the narrative without getting distracting or slowing the pace.

Stephanie Perkins is a craft master. I loved the way we moved through the school year, skimming over some parts, zooming in on others. The book is beautiful. The setting, beautiful. The friendships, the depiction of families, the emotions and romance all beautiful. Is the book light and young? Yes, but I think even older readers can find something to enjoy (heck, I made my mother read it, and she also had great things to say), therefore, I give Anna and the French Kiss 5 out of 5 Stars.

*Audiobook Note*

The audiobook was very cute, and Kim Mai Guest did an excellent job. The only objection I have was with her voice for St. Clair--he's supposed to be British for godsake, and her version sounded vaguely like a lisp--but truthfully, this was something that didn't bother me much after listening for a while. I would recommend this audiobook to any interested listeners.

Slush Sleuth's Rating:

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating.

The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead

Release Date: June 19, 2012
Publisher: Razorbill

Tough, brainy alchemist Sydney Sage and doe-eyed Moroi princess Jill Dragomir are in hiding at a human boarding school in the sunny, glamorous world of Palm Springs, California. The students—children of the wealthy and powerful—carry on with their lives in blissful ignorance, while Sydney, Jill, Eddie and Adrian must do everything in their power to keep their secret safe. But with forbidden romances, unexpected spirit bonds, and the threat of Strigoi moving ever closer, hiding the truth is harder than anyone thought.

Populated with new faces as well as familiar ones, Richelle Mead’s breathtaking Bloodlines series explores all the friendship, romance, battles and betrayals that made the #1 New York Times bestselling Vampire Academy series so addictive. In this second book, the drama is hotter, the romances are steamier, and the stakes are even higher.

Oh Richelle Mead, shall I count the ways? No, probably not, because I already went on a love-sick rant in my review below. Bloodlines is probably my least favorite of her YA novels, but that really only means that I love love loved the Vampire Academy books and I merely really liked Bloodlines... Rose is all action and high energy, so it felt a little drag-y to switch to Sydney, but Richelle laid a solid foundation for the rest of the series and things definitely started to heat up by the end (OMG surprise visitors). I am very excited to see what happens next and continue on this Palm Springs adventure

I really hate all of the covers that Razorbill has done for these two series. Enough that I think I might write an entire post to talk about it (am I alone in this opinion?), so the cover of The Golden Lily doesn't really spur me into a frenzy for the next book. Though I do find it interesting that the title is The Golden Lily and the cover very strategically hides Sydney's tattoo... Regardless, cover or no cover, the writing itself is enough to keep me going back again and again.

Bloodlines by Richelle Mead

Bloodlines by Richelle Mead

Release Date: August 23, 2011
Publisher: Razorbill
Pages: 421
Format: Audiobook*
Source: Purchased

The first book in Richelle Mead's brand-new teen fiction series - set in the same world as Vampire Academy.

When alchemist Sydney is ordered into hiding to protect the life of Moroi princess Jill Dragomir, the last place she expects to be sent is a human private school in Palm Springs, California. But at their new school, the drama is only just beginning.

Populated with new faces as well as familiar ones, Bloodlines explores all the friendship, romance, battles and betrayals that made the #1 New York Times bestselling Vampire Academy series so addictive - this time in a part-vampire, part-human setting where the stakes are even higher and everyone's out for blood.

Man, oh man do I love the world that Richelle Mead has created. In fact, I basically just all around love Richelle Mead. I am so jealous of her unborn baby; if she makes half the mother she does a storyteller that kid is going to be ultra-lucky.

But enough of my mooning over the author… I don’t want to make her husband jealous, after all.

The Vampire Academy series is (one of) my all time favorites, so when Richelle announced the spin-off series I felt equal parts fear and anticipation. It’s so much easier to destroy a good thing than create one, and spin-offs have a lot of potential to sully their parent-project. As any Tammy-fan knows, sometimes it works, sometimes it really doesn’t.

For those of you who have read the Vampire Academy books, understand that Sydney is an immensely different person than Rose, so if you read that series for her, you may not enjoy the cross over to Bloodlines. If you read the Vampire Academy series for it’s world building, intrigue, characterization, and of course, the requisite cliff-hanger, then you’re in luck, because all of these elements transfer into this new series.

For those of you who have not read the Vampire Academy books, you will get by just fine reading Bloodlines alone. Richelle Mead does a good job of quickly and neatly addressing any need-to-know elements for new readers, without bogging down old fans. I do, however, think that your reading experience is going to be immensely enriched if you read the series in the order that they were published (not to mention, if you ever want to go back and read Vampire Academy, Bloodlines will have spoiled some major plot points because it takes place after the end of the first series).

Sydney is a very thoughtful, intelligent narrator, which I appreciated. She feels very human (bad word choice, I know,) with her strengths, weaknesses, desires, and idiosyncrasies. Her cluelessness at social norms was endearing and never failed to make me laugh. Of all the books Richelle Mead has penned, this one had the most character development--both from Sydney and secondary characters--and that's exciting to be a part of. Though speaking of…

           “What,” demanded [censored] “are you guys talking about?”
           “Nothing of interest, I assure you,” said Abe, who was really enjoying this all too much. “Life lessons, character development, unpaid debts. That sort of thing”

I LOVE ABE. All in all, that was probably the best part of this book: getting to revisit those people that stole my heart the first time around. While I’m happy that Rose ended up with Dimitri, I am just as excited to continue spending time with Adrian on his path to finding himself and love. It’s reminiscent of The Bachelor, when they bring a boy from the previous season of The Bachelorette to star (speaking of, I hope ABC picks Ben F…). Also, I should probably mention that Richelle Mead is damned incredible at writing sexual tension… gives me shivers.

Bloodlines is an exciting continuation of where Vampire Academy left off. Because Sydney is brains and restraint where Rose is all brawn and impulse, the pacing of the novel is significantly slower than what you would find in the first series, but Richelle gives you other things to focus on. Between keeping track of Sydney, Eddie, Adrian, Jill, and all their new friends, we also have a couple of new characters that you can’t help but love to hate. It's no Vampire Academy, but I have faith that the series will get there; I give Bloodlines 4 out of 5 Stars.

*Audiobook Note*

For those of you who are ingesting these books via radio-waves, it should be noted that Penguin Audio picked Emily Shaffer to narrate again. Emily is wonderful, so I understand why they chose her, but she uses her Rose-voice for Sydney and her Lissa-voice for Jill, so I had a really hard time appreciating the unique voices Richelle gave her protagonists from series to series. For a fuller experience, I would absolutely suggest reading one of the series and listening to the other (or reading both).

Slush Sleuth's Rating:

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating.

Bloodrose by Andrea Cremer

Release Date: February 21, 2011
Publisher: Philomel

Calla has always welcomed war. But now that the final battle is upon her, there’s more at stake than fighting. There’s saving Ren, even if it incurs Shay’s wrath. There’s keeping Ansel safe, even if he’s been branded a traitor. There’s proving herself as the pack’s alpha, facing unnamable horrors, and ridding the world of the Keepers’ magic once and for all. And then there’s deciding what to do when the war ends. If Calla makes it out alive, that is. In the final installment of the Nightshade trilogy, New York Times bestselling author Andrea Cremer creates a novel with twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat until its final pages. A dynamic end to this breathtaking trilogy.

There are a lot of reasons why this book is wait-worthy. I just finished Wolfsbane a couple of nights ago (review to come!), so this series is fresh on my mind. I know cliffhangers tend to bother a lot of readers, but I usually enjoy the adrenaline and suspense of them... probably one of the many reasons that I love Richelle Mead. But (Damn You, Roger!) this one nearly killed me. I don't know that I'm thrilled about the first two covers in the series, but I absolutely love the color and feel of Bloodrose.

Normally I would try to sleuth my way into a little ARC-action, but Philomel is guarding those babies like the gates of hell. Better luck next time.

Oh, and Team Ren. Seriously, I don't even understand how there's a dispute about that.