Having enjoyed The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima, I wasn't sure what to expect from the second book in the series, The Wizard Heir. It's billed as a "companion novel" rather than a sequel. This is an apt description. Although the book takes us back (some years later) to the lives of the characters from the first book, most of this book focuses on new character, Seph McCauley. Much of the action - at least the first half of the book - takes place outside the beloved town of Trinity, Ohio, now a sanctuary for Weirfolk.

My first impression of this book is that it's much darker than The Warrior Heir. The bad guys in this book are REALLY bad and they have the upper hand for much of the story. While this raises the stakes for Seph and his friends, it also shrouds the story in a sense of foreboding and hopelessness. The decisions faced by the good guys in this story carry major consequences. Seph and his comrades often appear to be painted into corners. Even the end of the book isn't as "hopeful" (if that's the right word) as the ending of the first book.

That's all to pave the way for the next book, The Dragon Heir. The pieces are all put in place for a major showdown amongst various factions of the Weir in the third book and, although the characters are given at least a temporary reprieve from conflict at the end of The Wizard Heir, there are obviously major battles brewing on the horizon. In many ways this is a typical "second book" in a series in the sense that there's not a powerful sense of closure because the stage is being set for the big finale. But there is at least enough closure for Seph in his personal journey that the ending feels satisfying and the reader isn't left feeling cheated out of a fully rounded storyline.

So now I have to go read The Dragon Heir.  Still loving Chima's writing.

I read some reviews of Susan Ee's sequel to Angelfall - World After - immediately after reading the first book so I knew what to expect in this one. This second book in the dystopian angel series is very much focused on Penryn and her family, and her attempts to come to terms with what happened to her sister Paige in the first book. Thus, gorgeous angel Raffe has a relatively small part in this book, although at the end of the book he's obviously primed to take on a much more significant role in the next book.

Penryn is as tough and kick-ass as she was in book one, and she still makes the same number/kind of mistakes through letting her heart rule her head and getting herself into sticky situations as she tries to play the hero others expect her to be. Her mother is just as crazy as ever, and her sister is having troubles of her own after the gory surgical experiments in book one.

We learn a bit more about bad-body angel/demon Beliel in this book and wonder if he's as bad as he's cracked up to be - he probably is. And Penryn continues to struggle with her attraction to Raffe and the challenges of being from different worlds, not to mention different species. When they are on the page together, their relationship sparks as much as it did in the first book, and I'm left wanting to see SO much more of Raffe in the next book.

Ee continues with fast-paced action adventure. Again, this book is easy to read quickly - it's short and fast-paced and there's plenty of adventure. As with the first book, I felt it lagged a tiny bit in the middle when Penryn makes several logistical mistakes and keeps ending up taking one step forward and two steps back. But that's not really a criticism because it's an authentic aspect of her character and the reader does need to see this aspect of her character.

I'm looking forward to the next book.

This week I'm delighted to be hosting an exclusive interview with Sharon Cameron, author extraordinaire and SCBWI heroine! She's the author of the critically acclaimed YA duology, The Dark Unwinding and A Spark Unseen, and has a forthcoming book soon to be released which she tells us a bit about in the interview ....

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Hi Kaleigh! Thanks so much for having me.

KC: I loved both The Dark Unwinding and A Spark Unseen. Steampunk seems an unusual genre for a debut author, particularly in the Y.A. context. What attracted you to the genre? 

SC: Actually, I don’t think I thought about “genre” at all when I was writing the story! At least not when I started. I was following my bliss, writing what spoke to me, and I have always found Victorian-era science super evocative and interesting. I really consider The Dark Unwinding as “steampunk-esque” rather than a full out steampunk novel. Even though Uncle Tully is using scientific concepts that were still many years away, all the machines in The Dark Unwinding –as fantastical as they feel– could have been real.

KC: It’s unusual to see two-book series launched by a debut author. Typically, new authors seem to write either stand-alone books or trilogies. Did you always plan this as a duology?

SC:  No, I didn’t know at all. All the way through the first draft I thought I was writing a standalone book, up until the last chapter. Then the concept for A Spark Unseen leapt right into my head. Surprise! Duology! I had to go back and revise the sequel into the second draft. I was so lucky to have Scholastic buy both stories!

KC: I love the relationships between the characters in these books, particularly the gentle romance between Katherine and Lane. What did you find were the biggest challenges not only in writing a romantic relationship for a younger audience, but also writing a romantic relationship in a manner true to the time period?

SC: Where the romance was concerned, I think being true to the time period and adhering to a certain content (or lack of it!) was actually the easy part. For me, the bigger challenge was creating a relationship based on growing respect rather than instant connection. Unless something amazingly life-changing is happening, a person just doesn’t naturally gain true respect for someone else the first time they see them. A deep relationship takes time, and that’s what I wanted to reflect in the books.

KC: Undoubtedly one of the most fun and original aspects of these books is the character of Uncle Tully and his crazy inventions. What was your inspiration for the character, and how did you come up with some of the inventions? Do you have a favorite invention of Uncle Tully's?

SC:  I am fascinated by people whose brains work differently from my own. I love to try and understand how they think.  Autistic savants are particularly amazing, and in a time like Katharine’s, tragically undervalued. I watched many hours of unedited film, documentaries and studies on savants. And I drew inspiration from inventors like Nikola Tesla and Oliver Heaviside, both geniuses and yet…just a bit different.

But the inventions were pure FUN. Some of them, like the girl playing the pianoforte, are based on real automatons (see examples here), others are my own ideas, then designed by my husband, to make sure they would really work. The schematic drawing of the mechanical fish and the drawing of the lightning machine in the front pages of the books are both by him. You can check out an example of the lightning machine he built here. Hoping someone will decide to build the fish someday!

KC: You set the first book in England and the second book in Paris. Your eye for detail is amazing in creating these settings, particularly within their historical context. How did you go about researching the settings?

SC: You know, I think I could answer this question in one word, or with a ten page essay. I’ll take pity on you and give you the word: Exhaustively!  Especially in A Spark Unseen. The only scene setting that was completely fictionalized in that book was the secret crypt beneath the crypt. Even Katharine’s street was real (though it has since been demolished), the house plans and furnishings based on personal letters and auction lists of the time. This kind of research is fiddly, but addictively fun.

KC: Who are some of your favorite authors? What are you reading now?

SC: Hmmm. Do I really have to choose? I adore Ruta Sepetys, and I just finished Faking Normal by Courtney Stevens, which I thought was great (so cool when your some of your favorites are also your friends!). I’m also a huge fan of Megan Whalen Turner and her Eugenides series.

KC: What are you working on now?

SC:  Right now I’m putting the finishing touches on my new novel Rook, which will publish from Scholastic Press in 2015. It’s a story of repeating history, set in a distant future where society has reformed but making all the same mistakes of the past. But really it’s all about corsets, swords, decapitations and a female spy, and is a huge homage to The Scarlet Pimpernel. Having a ton of fun with it!

Thanks for visiting with us, Sharon, and we'll be awaiting Rook with baited breath!!! 

I must preface this review by saying I'm a big fan of Gail Carriger's Soulless series, so I came to the Finishing School series in two minds. While I know it's becoming more and more popular for authors to set both grown-up stories and YA stories in the same fictional universe, I tend to prefer an author to make a decision one way or the other. I don't have a good reason for that other than sometimes I think a story better fits a particular genre/setting or the author is "milking it" by trying to get so many stories out of one setting. I can't raise either of those objections to Etiquette and Espionage. It's an extremely fun and enjoyable read. However, it didn't have the novelty value it would have had if I hadn't already read the Soulless series. Many of the situations and jokes feel a little recycled, although they play out differently in the finishing school context.

One thing I enjoyed very much about the Soulless series is how romance is handled in the steampunk world with wild and crazy inventions and schemes alongside Victorian manners. That's missing in the YA series because it's for younger readers and, in the first book at least, there isn't much in the way of romance. So that felt like a missing piece, although it may be developed in later books in the series. In both series I like the way Carriger balances the mannered society against the need for werewolves to be naked and for vampires to drink blood. And the fact that fashion sense seems to top everything else in terms of priorities.

Overall this is a highly enjoyable read, particularly for lovers of steampunk and those who are new to Carriger's work. If you like the genre and don't like YA, though, perhaps turn to Soulless first.

I'm embarrassed at how long it took me to get around to reading this book. But I was spurred on by the imminent release of the film version of The Fault in Our Stars and also by seeing a discount copy of Katherines at Half Price Books. Sad, I know. I think one reason I didn't prioritize this book was that I didn't really like the title - so how shallow am I? For some reason, any reference to "Katherines" (particularly in the plural) suggests a history text to me, so I kept blowing past it on the bookshelves without picking it up.

I'm glad that I did read it. I enjoyed this book so much more than the last John Green book I read, Paper Towns, although I have to admit that Fault in Our Stars is still my favorite. Katherines deals with a young man (Colin) who is struggling to break - or at least mathematically explain - his penchant for falling in love with girls called Katherine (must be spelled this way) and their ultimate dumping of him. It's happened 19 times for him and it's killing him. He goes on a road trip with his best friend to try and get over the latest breakup, and as they settle in a small rural town and pick up a kind of weird and cool summer job, Colin tries to create a theorem to explain his past romantic failures. In the process, he makes new friends and new enemies and comes to terms with who he truly is (and importantly who he isn't). A gifted child from a very young age, Colin is troubled by the fact that he hasn't made a significant mark on the world and he may never do so. He's hoping his theorem about his Katherine-failures may be the breakthrough he needs.

The story is written in Green's own tongue-in-cheek inimitable style. This one, however, makes use of footnotes, graphs and other things academic which are hysterical, particularly for those of us coming from an academic tradition generally - although, like Green, my strongsuit is definitely NOT math. It's a fun and easy read. I flew through it in an evening. But that doesn't mean it's a lightweight story. Even though the ending is kinda predictable, it's the themes and characters that make it unique and memorable. So I must berate myself for not wanting to read a book with "Katherines" in the title. Note to self - don't judge a book by its title!

The winners of the Geoffrey Girard autographed book giveaway contest are:

PROJECT CAIN: Judy D.
CAIN'S BLOOD: Monica Shaughnessy

Thanks to everyone for joining in. Stay tuned for the next giveaway ....
Coming up in June ....
Details to follow ...

Nobody who likes Y.A. time travel books with a penchant for sweet romance could fail to enjoy Kerstin Gier's Ruby Red, the first in a trilogy originally published in Germany, but set predominantly in London (at least the first book is - I haven't read the others yet). It's kind of a cross between The Time Traveler's Wife and Doctor Who, or something like that, but without the aliens. That isn't to say there isn't plenty of paranormal stuff (ghosts and gargoyles) going on in the background.

Our heroine, Gwyneth, comes from a family that carries a rare time travel gene. They are part of a mission to complete a puzzle that will potentially unlock the key to immortality. She has grown up believing that her cousin Charlotte will be the latest to manifest the gene and is surprised and shocked when it isn't Charlotte, but Gwyneth herself, destined to fulfill the family's genetic legacy.

Paired with apparently obnoxious, but oh-so-hunky Gideon de Villiers, Gwyneth is thrown into a series of adventures which, by the end of the book, appear to be only the beginning of her quest. Her BFF, Lesley, helps her with Google searching about time travel, but also spends a lot of time getting her in trouble with a mysterious teacher at their school who also seems to be involved in the historical mess.

I really didn't want to commit myself to reading any more trilogies right now, but I don't think I'll be able to resist the next book in this series ... aaarrrgghh!

I finally got around to reading the third and final book in Tahereh Mafi's "Shatter Me" series, Ignite Me. When I first read Shatter Me, I felt it had one of the most unique voices in dystopian YA fiction that I've read in recent years. The same is true for the final installment in the series. In fact, I would suggest that Ignite Me is somewhat of a return to Juliette's more distinctive voice from the first book, because her unique-ness became a little lost in the action in the second book.

Ignite Me was not exactly what I was expecting for the end of the trilogy in terms of plotting. After the big battle and action at the end of Shatter Me, I was expecting Ignite Me to be a very action-packed political book, focusing on battle tactics for the resistance to regroup. Instead, it was more of a character drama with heroine Juliette attempting to figure out who she really is, and with which of her potential beaus (Warner or Adam) she truly belongs. Because of this focus, the book gets a little soapy at times, and one of my favorite characters (Kenji) who has a very big role in this book, even remarks on the soap-like drama of Juliette's life in the middle of all the political turmoil. The book is around 400 pages overall. At least least 200 pages, if not closer to 300 pages, is devoted to relationship issues. While these issues parallel the political issues, they also distract from them to some extent. So readers have to come to the book prepared for this focus. It does mean that the actual action sequences are relegated to a pretty fast-paced ending. This is not necessarily a criticism, just not what I was expecting.

I did feel that some of the characters got short shrift here, particularly Adam and Castle. I would have liked to have seen more development in their respective characters. We see a lot more growth and introspection from Warner, Juliette and Kenji (and some of the other allies) than we do with Adam and Castle, who were two of my faves from previous books.

The ending is also intriguing. I won't give away any spoilers here, but it does leave some really big questions open, including what we might see in Juliette's future and who she's going to become in the future. I'll say no more for fear of spoiling the end for those who haven't read it yet.

Mafi's writing is as engaging and intriguing as ever. It's easy to fly through this book in one or two sittings. And even though there's plenty of relationship turmoil, there's nothing too graphic on the page for teen readers.