Review: What Kills Me (What Kills Me, #1) by Wynne Channing

What Kills Me (What Kills Me, #1) by Wynne Channing
Publisher: Jet & Jack Press
Released: June 6th 2012
Format: Kindle Ebook (308 pages)
Source: Amazon.com (US) - gifted by friend

The fight for survival begins.

An ancient prophecy warns of a girl destined to cause the extinction of the vampire race.

So when 17-year-old Axelia falls into a sacred well filled with blood and emerges a vampire, the immortal empire believes she is this legendary destroyer. Hunted by soldiers and mercenaries, Axelia and her reluctant ally, the vampire bladesmith Lucas, must battle to survive.

How will she convince the empire that she is just an innocent teenager-turned bloodsucker and not a creature of destruction? And if she cannot, can a vampire who is afraid of bugs summon the courage to fight a nation of immortals?

[Sherlyn's note: One of the shortest and sweetest synopses ever!]

This. Book. Is. AWESOME.

What Kills Me is filled with action, blood and romance. I was completely hooked from the first chapter. Wynne Channing is truly gifted and her writing made the whole story like a movie for me (I hope she gets a movie deal for her book someday!).

Axelia, our main character, is the most hilarious character I have ever come across in all the books I've read. I actually sat there guffawing at the insanely funny moments for a good five minutes before continuing the story, and this happened like SO many times!

That said, there was also gore and blood in this book. I say gore because I'm not a person who likes the horror/gore genre, and I turn squeamish when I see blood (except my own). There is killing, sword-fighting, awesome kung-fu moves and heads being lopped off. And I actually loved the action. Channing kills off characters as quickly as you get to know them – with the exception of Axelia and a few – which literally ripped my heart out as I'd grown to love some of them very much. It was, however, essential in reiterating how ruthless a world Axelia has been thrust into.

Another thing I loved was that part of the story is set in Taiwan. Having been there quite a number of times, I felt I was there again when Axelia explored Taipei.

There are a few major plot twists, especially the ending (which is totally ingenious). The tension was practically screaming out of my Kindle and I couldn't do anything except read on.

Axelia is a really loveable character and I admire her strength. She is perfectly flawed, and I love that as I hate seeing characters start out small and weak, then undergo a 360° transformation at the end of the book and become invincible or something. Axelia, while she grows stronger and surer of herself, takes a long time to adjust and is still very much vulnerable, especially when it comes to the people she cares for. Lucas complements her wonderfully and is her rock. It's amazing how these two realise their growing affection for each other.

I was already looking forward to the sequel when I wasn't even halfway through this book – which means you totally need to pick this up and read it! This is a vampire book like no other (nothing like Twilight, so don't compare) and is seriously worth your time. I'm absolutely looking forward to the sequel to see what Wynne Channing is going to come up with next!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Wynne Channing is an award-winning national newspaper reporter and young adult novelist. She started writing horror/fantasy tales as a girl. She still has the first novel that she wrote when she was 10. It’s (unintentionally) hilarious. Wynne loves telling stories and as a journalist, she has interviewed everyone from Daniel Radcliffe and Hugh Jackman to the president of the Maldives and Duchess Sarah Ferguson. The closest she has come to interviewing a vampire is sitting down with True Blood‘s Alexander Skarsgard (he didn’t bite). She briefly considered calling her debut novel “Well” so then everyone would say: “Well written by Wynne Channing.”

Get your copy of What Kills Me – it's FREE!

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Review: Sweet Venom (Medusa Girls, #1) by Tera Lynn Childs

Sweet Venom (Medusa Girls, #1) by Tera Lynn Childs
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Released: September 6th 2011
Format: Hardcover and Kindle ebook (owned)
Source: My local library and Amazon.com (US)
My Read Count: 2 (as of this review)

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 a school night, but what can she do? Sending the minotaur back to his bleak home is just another notch on her combat belt. She never expected to run into this girl who could be her double, though.

Greer has her life pretty well put together, thank you very much. But that all tilts sideways when two girls who look eerily like her appear on her doorstep and claim they're triplets, supernatural descendants of some hideous creature from Greek myth, destined to spend their lives hunting monsters.

These three teenage descendants of Medusa, the once-beautiful gorgon maligned by myth, must reunite and embrace their fates in this unique paranormal world where monsters lurk in plain sight.

Sweet Venom is the perfect mix of Greek mythology and total badass-ness. I mean, how often do you read a book about three sisters descended from Medusa who are destined to kick some major monster butt? I recently decided to re-read this book again a year later, and I was pulled in immediately as I'd been the first time I read it.

What made this book so special was how Childs' wrote three different POVs of the sisters. It must have been so tough, but each sister was extremely well-written and had so much personality inserted into her.  Each sister's voice is very distinct. I can almost believe they're real - Childs makes me wish I had triplet sisters!

The story starts off fast-paced with Gretchen getting rid of a beastie, which is totally badass and amazing. Gretchen is my most favourite character in this book because she's a girl so filled with courage and toughness. I admire her so much. And yet, when faced with Nick, we see her falter a little. She's not sure of herself for what's probably the first time ever and is unwilling to give in to what she feels for him, labeling that as utter weakness. There are times when I want to scream and yet hug Gretchen for how she treats Nick (I know, weird, right‽) but that is, rather oddly, also one of the reasons why I love her. She's a very tough, believable character with a weakness that she tries so hard to conquer and push away, but you can totally tell she's attracted to Nick as he is to her. I could connect with her and practically felt her embarrassment in some situations!

I have to admit that Grace's POV pales in comparison to Gretchen's, but she is equally loveable. I sometimes find myself wanting to skip the parts about Grace and her family and how she's having problems fitting in at school. But I also realise that all this is extremely vital for her characterisation and ultimately, showing how she builds up her confidence instead of being the old doormat-Grace. Things really start to pick up when she meets Gretchen.

I thought Childs set up Greer's family background and situation very well. Greer has some serious snobbish awesomeness there. Each sister's personality contrasts well with the others', and because of this, they work best when they're a team. There'll definitely be more Greer action in the sequel and I can't wait to see how she develops further.

The setting of San Francisco seems well-suited for the story. I've never been there before, but I do know of more tourist attractions there compared to other places in the USA. The descriptions in the story served to strengthen my visual knowledge of the city, and this is probably the first YA book set in modern-day USA which I could picture so well.

Childs' fresh take on the Gorgon myth is just terribly interesting. I'd been doing a Greek mythology module in school while reading Sweet Venom and it was a perfect mini-companion. I've always loved Greek mythology and Childs is a master at spinning YA Greek mythology stories. This book is a wonderfully entertaining read combining romance, mystery and lots of action. A must-read for anyone looking for an awesome Greek mythology series!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tera Lynn Childs is the award-winning author of the mythology-based OH. MY. GODS. and GODDESS BOOT CAMP, the mermaid tales FORGIVE MY FINS, FINS ARE FOREVER, and JUST FOR FINS (July 3rd, 2012), and a new trilogy about monster-hunting descendants of Medusa beginning with SWEET VENOM and SWEET SHADOWS (September 4, 2012). Tera lives nowhere in particular and spends her time writing wherever she can find a comfy chair and a steady stream of caffeinated beverages.

Get your copy of Sweet Venom!

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Review: Dearly, Departed (Gone With The Respiration, #1) by Lia Habel

Dearly, Departed (Gone With The Respiration, #1) by Lia Habel
Publisher: Del Rey
Released: September 29th 2011
Format: Hardcover (470 pages)
Source: My local library

Love can never die.

Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid’s arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the dead—or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie? 

The year is 2195. The place is New Victoria—a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country’s political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horrible—until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses. 

But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she’s suddenly gunning down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting “The Laz,” a fatal virus that raises the dead—and hell along with them. Hardly ideal circumstances. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble . . . and dead. But as is the case with the rest of his special undead unit, luck and modern science have enabled Bram to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there’s no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire.

In Dearly, Departed, romance meets walking-dead thriller, spawning a madly imaginative novel of rip-roaring adventure, spine-tingling suspense, and macabre comedy that forever redefines the concept of undying love.

The UK first edition

REVIEW
I have been wanting to read this book ever since I set eyes upon the UK first edition cover of Dearly, Departed about a year ago. A brunette in a Victorian-looking dress in the arms of a uniform-clad (*swoons*), handsome and pale guy? Insta-to-read. What's more, something told me that the pale guy wasn't a vampire. Lia Habel has given the world a zomance (term coined by Jen @ The Starry-Eyed Revue), guys. That's right. A zombie love story.

I'd never given zombies much thought before (c'mon, you know I love mermaids), nor pictured them to be possible romantic material (I'm so not a fan of horror and gore), but Habel has effectively proven the latter. As soon as I thought about the romance part, I found myself really intrigued by it. Dearly, Departed is a novel filled with zombies, steampunk, dystopian and romance.

Nora Dearly, our protagonist, is a girl who prefers warfare and history over dresses, behaving like a proper lady and finding a husband in New Victoria. A year ago, her father - a researcher of warfare and technology - died, and she's still in mourning. Throw in the zombies now. Nora fights for her survival, but she is captured - rescued, really - by them. Turns out that there are actually good and bad zombies. One of the parts I love about this book is how the good zombies (Bram Griswold in particular) try to gain her trust. It's amazing how much of this book focuses on the value and quality of a person's soul than their body, and this is clearly evident in Bram's personality. My heart broke when he told his backstory involving the most precious teddy bear to Nora. He is a zombie filled with so much courage, goodness and plenty of other admirable qualities. Given how "The Laz" virus makes zombies dream of chewing up humans almost all the time, that pretty much requires a lot of self-restraint from Bram, especially when Nora is a human. I love how there's no insta-love in this novel. Nora is a tough, unpredictable heroine - she does things when you really don't expect her to. She's so unique. Her relationship with Bram takes a great deal of trust and time to develop, and their affection for each other is incredibly sweet. Bram is totally one of my book boyfriends now.

Dearly, Departed isn't fully paranormal romance; it does focus quite a bit on military terms and warfare which I fought a little to understand. It was nice to have plenty of action happening instead of the usual I-love-you, you-love-me thing going on and on. The setting of New Victoria and its history took me some time to envision and immerse myself into, but once I got into it I discovered that it was really cool of the inhabitants to have adopted ways from the old Victorian era. Women actually went back to wearing long gowns! Let me just say that I've often fantasised about that happening like, now. And the gas lamp parasols. I WANT ONE. Oh, and digidiaries, anyone? Seriously, the added new technology and steampunk/futuristic elements have made me a fan of steampunk now (this is my first novel with steampunk in it).

The only problem I had with this book was its five POVs. It was a little hard getting used to the different characters and more often than not, I thought I was in Nora's head when I was in Bram's. However, I really grew to love Pamela's POV. She's a strong character on her own, with more spunk than I thought she would have. Personally, I think four POVs would be enough - you'll know which four are really necessary when you read the novel, and you seriously can't do without these four. Habel did a great job in writing the other supporting characters and made them really memorable for me. I especially love the humour the other zombies have.

Lia Habel has tackled the humanity part in her book extremely well and to me, that is the mark of a good author. It's one of the main themes in the story. You'll be surprised how much more humanity some zombies have than humans, and it does make you ponder deeply at some points. I've the sequel, Dearly, Beloved, on hand and I can't wait to read it. So go put Dearly, Departed on your to-read list like, now.

RATING
A solid four starfish. Loved this book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lia Habel was born in Western NY, and has lived there the majority of her life. Her first book, Dearly, Departed, is a sweeping tale of zombie-living romance set in a cyber-Victorian/steampunk future. Miss Habel enjoys attending anachronistic and steampunk events, watching zombie movies (she has watched over a hundred of them), commissioning ball gowns, and collecting Victorian and Edwardian books.

Get your copy of Dearly, Departed!

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