Early Review: Alice in Wonderland by Gena Showalter

Alice in Zombieland
(White Rabbit Chronicles #1)
Gena Showalter
Release: September 25, 2012
Goodreads   Amazon

I wish I could go back and do a thousand things differently.I'd tell my sister no.I'd never beg my mother to talk to my dad.I'd zip my lips and swallow those hateful words.Or, barring all of that, I'd hug my sister, my mom and my dad one last time.I'd tell them I love them.I wish... Yeah, I wish.

She won’t rest until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.

Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.
Her father was right. The monsters are real….
To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies….

Review:

My reaction to Alice in Zombieland is this: Meh. After all the hype, the beautiful cover, and the promise of zombies Alice fell a little flat for me. This book has a lot of good qualities, but they just didn't shine brightly enough to outweigh all the problems I had.

Let's start with the Good:

Showalter's reimagining of the traditional zombie is intriguing. In this series, zombies are actually more like ghosts because they are the incorporeal spirits of dead people whose spirits have been infected with the zombie virus. This could be under my "Good" or "Bad" section because I love me some traditional zombies, but in the end I consider this "Good" because it was creative and different, especially when zombie books and movies are everywhere you look.

Alice's best friend Kat is hilarious and endearing. I totally love her and was glad that she was in the story a lot. She has great one-liners and I liked the subplot of her complicated relationship with her ex-boyfriend (one of the zombie hunters).

Cole, your typical run-of-the-mill YA bad boy. Even though he's a little generic, I still liked him a lot. I often wondered what he saw in Ali (more about that later), but I appreciated his uncompromising baddass attitude.

Okay, now for the Bad:

Alice is not really that interesting of a main character. Since the book is told in first person POV, this is disappointing. She didn't really have a lot of outstanding characteristics, unless you count being a complete moron when it comes to the book's hottie, Cole. Plus, she is a total wet noodle until all of the sudden. . . she's not. What? We're told that her paranoid dad who believed in the zombies had trained her to fight, but since we never see that happen and she is pretty much a wuss for half the book I found it hard to buy when she suddenly became a badass. Her training with the zombie hunting crew from her school was pretty much skipped over as well with only one or two scenes, so that didn't help me understand why could fight so well either. This falls under one of my pet peeves of authors telling the reader stuff about a character and expecting us to just believe it instead of showing us through good storytelling and the character's actions.

The zombies, which yes I DID list under the "Good" section, and the fight scenes with them aren't fully described and I couldn't really get a good picture in my mind. Even if you don't want to be gross and gory, there are ways to describe the monsters being fought that give that "Holy crap!" feeling (for a good example of this, read This Is Not A Test).

Another issue I had with the book was the writing and the plot itself. The story was not tight and I had a lot of questions. Some of the parts of the story that would have been most helpful or exciting were shoved to the side to make time for the constant back and forth between Ali and Cole. I love me some romantic tension. What I don't love is an annoying girl who asks herself questions like, "Wait. Was he saying he liked me?" Pull on your big girl panties and get a life. Either go for him or leave it alone, but my goodness don't be such a pitiful mess because then I wonder what the heck this supposedly hot, bad boy sees in you.


I'm giving the book a solid 3 stars because it did leave me wanting to know what would happen in the next book, however disappointed I was with the actual ending of this book. The big twist revealed toward the story's end was then subsequently wrapped up pretty quickly when I felt like it could have been a really interesting part of the plot. And the end-of-story fight scene was a little lackluster. I'm hoping some of my issues with this book hinge on it being the first in the series and that book two will get more stars from me.

Recommended for fans of: Showalter's other books, light YA, and witty side characters.


This review is based on an advance copy of the book.

  

Dangerous Alpha Heroes Giveaway Hop!

Dangerous Alpha Heroes Giveaway Hop!

Hosted by Full Moon Bites

September 17 - 24

This hop is to celebrate all of those sexy and dangerous Alpha heroes in books who make us pant and know how to protect their lady love (or male love) even if that love can protect her or himself quite well without him! No matter what time period they are from—or even if they are human. 

 For my stop on this hop I'm giving away the urban fantasy, Full Blooded (Jessica McCain #1) by Amanda Carlson. This adult debut came out of nowhere and rocked my world! You can read my five star review HERE. 

In this book there are SEVERAL hot alpha males to choose from - so take your pick!

This is a paperback, finished copy of the book. Since I will be shipping this book myself this giveaway is US/CAN only please. As always, you must be 13 or older to enter.

Enter on the Rafflecopter form below!

Then check out the other blogs on the hop!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Stacking the Shelves (12)

Stacking the Shelves is a *new* weekly meme to feature all the books that have made their way into our homes this week! 

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

FOR REVIEW:

(Click on cover to go to Goodreads)

   
  
  

(Click on title to go to Amazon)

Touched (Sense Thieves) by Corine Jackson
Alice in Zombieland (White Rabbit Chronicles) by Gena Showalter
The Rise of Nine (Lorien Legacies, Book 3) by Pittacus Lore
Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone
Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet (Charley Davidson #4) by Darynda Jones
Death and the Girl Next Door (Darklight #1) by Darynda Jones
The Shattered Dark (McKenzie Lewis #2) by Sandy Williams
The Moonstone and Miss Jones (Paranormal Investigator #2) by Jillian Stone
Broken by A.E. Rough

GIFTED:

(Click on cover to go to Goodreads)

  

(Click on title to go to Amazon)

Blooded (Jessica McClain #0.5)

BOUGHT:

(Click on cover to go to Goodreads)

(Click on title to go to Amazon)

A Dark Kiss of Rapture (Fallen Angels #1.5) by Sylvia Day

What goodies did you add to your shelf this week?

Defiance by C.J. Redwine

Defiance
(Defiance #1)
C.J. Redwine
Release: August 28, 2012
Goodreads   Amazon

Within the walls of Baalboden, beneath the shadow of the city's brutal leader, Rachel Adams has a secret. While other girls sew dresses and obey their male Protectors, Rachel knows how to survive in the wilderness and deftly wield a sword. When her father, Jared, fails to return from a courier mission and is declared dead, the Commander assigns Rachel a new Protector, her father's apprentice, Logan--the same boy Rachel declared her love for two years ago, and the same one who handed her heart right back to her. Left with nothing but a fierce belief in her father's survival, Rachel decides to escape and find him herself. But treason against the Commander carries a heavy price, and what awaits her in the Wasteland could destroy her.

At nineteen, Logan McEntire is many things. Orphan. Outcast. Inventor. As apprentice to the city's top courier, Logan is focused on learning his trade so he can escape the tyranny of Baalboden. But his plan never included being responsible for his mentor's impulsive daughter. Logan is determined to protect her, but when his escape plan goes wrong and Rachel pays the price, he realizes he has more at stake than disappointing Jared.

As Rachel and Logan battle their way through the Wasteland, stalked by a monster that can't be killed and an army of assassins out for blood, they discover romance, heartbreak, and a truth that will incite a war decades in the making.

Review:

“Silent acquiescence in the face of tyranny is no better than outright agreement.”

Defiance is one of those young adult releases that has been steeped in hype. It has a beautiful cover and an exciting synopsis - two things that tend to leave bloggers in a drooling frenzy. Going in to this book I feared it wouldn't live up to its hype, ala Shadow and Bone, and I would be forced to painfully turn the pages in boredom.

After finishing this story from debut author C.J. Redwine, I feel elated to say that I loved this book! Redwine is a talented new author and I am now in the group of bloggers drooling for the sequel. The writing is strong and the characters are complete. I didn't feel like this book lacked for anything and there's nothing I could say could be added to make it better. I had knots in my stomach for several chapters and I was constantly anticipating what would happen next!

The book is told through the alternating points of view of our main characters Rachel and Logan and I wasn't surprised that I loved this decision. Rachel is fierce, stubborn, smart, and brave. There weren't any moments when she succumbed to "wimpy heroine syndrome", which is a big pet peeve of mine. Her decisions made sense and I appreciated that she was written as beautiful but tough at the same time. Her father has trained her to be able to take care of herself and she uses those skills throughout the story to show how extremely loyal she is to those she cares about. She is tender and scared when she should be and tough as crap when its called for. I really loved her.

But my love for Rachel cannot equal my love for Logan. He is everything the hero in this type of book should be. I'm tired of reading YA books where I'm told over and over again how great the male love interest is. I'm not an idiot, if the author writes him as admirable and swoon worthy I'll see him that way. Redwine doesn't keep pushing Logan's awesomeness in our face, instead she shows us how wonderful he is over and over again. He fights tooth and nail for Rachel even before he realizes his feelings for her. He's smart and calculating in an oddly sexy way. And, man, is he swoon worthy. He is emotional about his feelings for Rachel, but not in a sappy way. The things he does for Rachel are amazing and I just adored him.

“I ache to hear her tell me she loves me, but forcing her to put words to how she feels pushes her further into the silence she seems comfortable calling home now. I tell myself to be patient and understanding, but inside there's a longing only those words will fill, and it hurts to ignore it.”

This story is a kind of a dystopian fantasy. Set in a world many years after an apocalyptic type of destruction, the walled city of Baalboden seems more like the villages seen in fantasy stories but with the advanced technologies from dystopians. Baalboden is both a protection from the scary monster (a dragon-like creature) living just outside and a terrifying place governed by the mean and nasty Commander. The Commander is a wonderful villain and I hated him, of course. He does some things in this book that made me so angry, but then that's exactly what his character is supposed to do.

I highly recommend this book to those who love to read YA fantasy or dystopian, but also for those who have been burned in this genre in the past and need a book to redeem the genre as a whole. This is that book. Go, read it. Now!

Recommended for fans of: young adult fantasy, young adult dystopian, strong YA characters, deceitful and tyrannical leaders, and exciting stories that keep you on the edge of your seat.

     

This book is part of:

Waiting on Wednesday (34) - Hot Blooded

Hot Blooded

(Jessica McCain #2)

Amanda Carlson

Release: April 23, 2013

Goodreads     Amazon

It hasn't been the best week for Jessica McClain.
Her mate has been kidnapped by a Goddess hell-bent on revenge --- but Jessica is playing for keeps.
Because she's the only female werewolf in town...it comes with its own set of rules...and powers.
Aided by two vamps, two loyal Pack members, and one very reluctant human, Jessica must rescue her man while coming to terms with what being a wolf really means.
All in a day's work for a girl.
The second novel in the Jessica McClain series is a full on action adventure featuring one angry Goddess and plenty of monsters, demons, and a few newly risen beasties...

I recently finished the first book in this series and absolutely loved it! It left us with a bit of a cliffhanger so I am REALLY looking forward to book two!

What is your WOW pick this week!

Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

Girl of Nightmares
(Anna #2)
Kendare Blake
Release: August 7, 2012
Goodreads   Amazon

It's been months since the ghost of Anna Korlov opened a door to Hell in her basement and disappeared into it, but ghost-hunter Cas Lowood can't move on.

His friends remind him that Anna sacrificed herself so that Cas could live—not walk around half dead. He knows they're right, but in Cas's eyes, no living girl he meets can compare to the dead girl he fell in love with.
Now he's seeing Anna everywhere: sometimes when he's asleep and sometimes in waking nightmares. But something is very wrong...these aren't just daydreams. Anna seems tortured, torn apart in new and ever more gruesome ways every time she appears.
Cas doesn't know what happened to Anna when she disappeared into Hell, but he knows she doesn't deserve whatever is happening to her now. Anna saved Cas more than once, and it's time for him to return the favor.

Review:

“Anna, don’t - ” I almost said, Anna don’t die, but that’s stupid. She was dead when I met her.

Addicting, smart, and totally unputdownable, Girl of Nightmares exceeded my expectations and somehow managed to be even better than Anna Dressed in Blood.

I adored Cas, Anna, Thomas, and Carmel in the first in this two book series and didn't really know how that book could be topped. I also didn't really know what to expect with book two. What I got was an amazing young adult story with smart and well written teens and a clever mix of horror, fantasy, and Cas' sharp wit - which he basically keeps to himself. Kendare Blake is such a talented writer in the way that she manages to bring to life all of these horrific and serious events in a young adult book. . . and somehow makes everything seem realistic and not at all watered down.

I just adore Cas. He has got to be one of my all time favorite males in a YA book. Not because he's swoon worthy or cheesily romantic, but because he is sarcastic, self-depracating, serious when he needs to be, and fiercely protective of Anna, Thomas, and Carmel. I love how his relationships with others are written in the book - his awkward but heartfelt conversations with his mother, his deep friendship with Thomas, and his begrudged friendship with Carmel that somehow turned into an amazing camaraderie when he wasn't looking. Cas is not the typical YA book teen struggling to balance regular teenage life with a secret world. He goes through the motions of being a teenager, but really comes to life when he's hunting ghosts.

But this hunch is all we have to go on, and every time I question him about feasibility, he smiles at me like he’s Yoda and I’m just a dumbass without the Force.

I probably adore Thomas and Carmel equally as much as Cas, because they're such great side characters that aren't really side characters at all. Thomas is geeky and unassuming, but he's also really powerful and his magical/voodoo abilities are important in several parts of the story. Watching him get made fun of or teased at school is painful because you know he could do some serious damage to those haughty jocks and prom queen candidates. . . but he never would. His relationship with Carmel is complicated, as is Carmel herself in this one. Carmel experiences a split conscious about being a part of the ghost hunting world and I appreciated the way Blake wrote her and her issues because they were pretty damn spot on and believable. Thomas and Carmel's side stories are almost as gripping as the main focus of the book.

“Chef?" Carmel exclaims. "I could give a shit about a chef. I'm going to find the most expensive thing in that kitchen, eat one bite, and throw the rest on the floor. Then I'm going to break some plates.”

We meet some new characters in the second half of the book as our three heroes take a trip across the ocean to a new location. I don't want to talk about that too much because I just don't see how I can without giving away too much. I do love the new location for the story, all the characters we meet (even the ones I hated. . . and there will be some you hate), and all the background information we get about Cas' athame. Blake gives us a history of the weapon and the tradition of ghost hunting without an info dump or any boring, winded paragraphs. This just goes to show again how smart a writer she truly is and how smart she knows her audience to be.

Anna. Like in book one, she appears in the story a minimal amount but still manages to be such an important character. Something happened when she took down the Obeahman and she is trapped somewhere awful, being tortured in all kinds of horrible ways. Cas doesn't believe she got what she deserved and seeing her in these detached visions where she is all kinds of messed up really weighs heavy on his mind. How can he just let that go when he loves her and and she saved his life? Their situation, which by the way defines "long-distance relationship", is so interesting and heartbreaking.  When they get to speak to each other they suddenly because typical teens wrapped up sweet, first love. These brief moments help to keep the reader pulling for the two of them to somehow find a way to make things work. I won't lie, there were times when I got teary eyed.

“Cassio,” she whispers. “Get me out of here.”

This book does find plenty of ways to creep the reader out as well. Amidst the emotional scenes are plenty of scare-the-pee-out-of-you scenes. Ghosts are scary, Hell is scary, and visions of your tortured girlfriend are scary. I wasn't losing sleep or anything, but I was successfully spooked.

How many ways can you say something was amazing? Girl of Nightmares lived up to the first book and completed the series. If you loved the first you won't be disappointed with this one.

“She crossed over death to call me. I crossed through Hell to find her.”

Recommended for fans of: ghost stories, books with good friendships, heroes with a dry sense of humor, Anna Dressed in Blood, smart writing, and creepy cults.

This review is based on an early finished copy provided by the publisher.

    

Netgalley Knockout Extension!

(new button)

I have made the decision to extend the Netgalley Knockout challenge. I was unable to knock out as many Netgalley and Edelweiss books as I had hoped and although a few of the other participants have emailed or commented that you did really awesome, many more have commented that you are still WAY behind! So I am going to extend the challenge and make the new end of the challenge: 

October 15! 

If you are doing this challenge and did really great this month, then feel free to write your wrap up post and be done with it. But if you didn't get through more than a handful of your ebooks for review, then please feel free to join in on the extension and wait to wrap up until October 15! 

(If you have no idea what I'm talking about but think you might be interested in joining, check out the original Netgalley Knockout post HERE.)

I am going to post all of the books I currently have on my ereader from Netgalley and Edelweiss that I'd like to read from this point in the challenge on. Then I will be coming back to this post throughout the rest of the challenge to update with which books I have read!

 NO, I do not plan on reading ALL of these books. That would be insane. I just want to have the list all in one place so that I can pick and choose which books to read!

Also, I will be adding the Netgalley Knockout badge to each of my reviews that meet this challenge. Please feel free to do the same!

New list:

Edelweiss:

Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard

Tarnished (St. Croix Chronicles #1) by Karina Cooper

The Janus Affair (Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences #2) by Phillipa Ballentine

Kiss of Pride (Deadly Angels #1) by Sandra Hill

Dead Girls Detective Agency by Suzy Cox

What's Left of Me (Hybrid Chronilces #1) by Kat Zhang

Kept (A Coveted Novel #2) by Shawntelle Madison

Demon's Curse by Alexa Egan

___ / 8 books

Netgalley:

Death and the Girl Next Door (Darklight #1) by Darynda Jones

A Touch of Crimson (Renegade Angels #1) by Sylvia Day

A Hunger So Wild (Renegade Angels #2)

Romeo Redeemed (Juliet Immortal #2) by Stacey Jay

Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama

Velveteen by Daniel Marks

Silver (Bandia #1) by Talia Vance

Defiance (Defiance #1) by C.J. Redwine

Demon Hunting in the Deep South by Lexi George

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

Dark Star by Bethany Frenette

Kiss of Steel (London Steampunk #1) by Bec McMaster

In A Fix by Linda Grimes

Mystic City (Mystic City #1) by Theo Lawrence

Blade Song (Colbana Files #1) by J.C. Daniels

The Dead and Buried by Kim Harrington

Hounded (Iron Druid Chronicles #1) by Kevin Hearne

Dearly, Departed (Gone With the Respiration #1) by Lia Habel

Dearly, Beloved (Gone With the Respiration #2) by Lia Habel

Immortally Yours (Monster M.A.S.H. #1) by Angie Fox

The Shattered Dark (McKenzie Lewis #2) by Sandy Williams

The Moonstone and Miss Jones (Paranormal Investigations #2) by Jillian Stone

  5   / 23 books

Ebook for review:

Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet (Charley Davidson #4) by Darynda Jones

___/1 books

Total:   5    / 30 books  as of 9/10/12