The Night Itself - Book Review

The Night Itself (The Name of the Blade #1)
by Zoë Marriott

What is it about:
When fifteen year old Mio Yamato furtively sneaks the katana - an ancestral Japanese sword - out of its hiding place in her parent's attic to help liven up her Christmas party costume, she has no idea of the darkness she is about to unleash on modern day London, or the family secrets that she is going to uncover.

The paralysing paranoia that descends on her before she gets to her friend's party is her first clue. The vivid and terrifying visions that nearly get her killed are a pretty good warning too.

The giant nine-tailed cat demon that comes after the sword and tries to rip her throat out? Overkill.

Seconds away from becoming kitty-food, Mio is saved by Shinobu, a mysterious warrior boy. But it's already too late. Mio has ruptured the veil between the mortal realm and the Underworld, and now the gods and monsters of ancient Japan stalk the streets of London, searching for her and the sword.

With the help of her best friend Jack, a fox spirit named Hikaru - and the devoted protection of the betwitchingly familiar Shinobu - Mio attempts to discover the true nature of the sword and its connection to the Yamato family. Because if she doesn't learn how to control the katana's incredible powers, she's in danger of being overwhelmed by them. And if she can't keep the sword safe from the terrible creatures who want it for their own, she'll lose not only her own life... but the love of a lifetime.

What did I think of it:
This is a really cool read.

I really liked the use of Japanese mythology combined with the London setting. The creature that's after Mio is creepy and fascinating at the same time. The story was suspenseful and full of action. Mio and her friends do get out of sticky situations a bit easy at times, but that didn't spoil my enjoyment.

The adults in Mio's life were all conveniently out of the picture, and apart from one scene at the start Mio and Jack are separated from the 'normal world' they usually interact with, but that didn't bother me too much either. I will confess I had wanted to know a bit more about why Mio and her father don't get along though.

I really liked Mio's best friend Jack, she is quirky and fun, although I wondered why she's introduced as only liking girls, but seems to be set up to end up with a boyfriend in later books. I seriously hope I'm reading this wrong, but am afraid to find out.

All in all this is a fun and action-packed YA read with an original use of setting and mythology. I will most probably pick up the next book in this trilogy somewhere in the future.

Why should you read it:
It's a fun Paronormal YA read.

Project 17 - Book Review

Project 17
by Eliza Victoria

What is it about:
Lillian is merely looking for a babysitting job for the summer, but a desperate man named Paul Dolores hires her to look after his 28-year-old brother, Caleb.

Caleb is suffering from schizoaffective disorder, and Paul, who is about to start on his first office job in a long while, wants to make sure his brother takes his medication on time.

Lillian, at first hesitant, accepts the job for the pay and the perks, but soon starts to wonder about the brothers she is working for. How come she can’t find any information online about the drugs Caleb is taking? And how come the national central database lists them as dead?

What did I think of it:
This should have been a novel instead of a novella.

The story is intriguing and suspenseful, but because of the length it is resolved too quickly.

While reading it I found myself thinking how this story could easily have been stretched into a longer one. I found myself plotting where I would have added scenes and events to build up even more tension before things happened or were discovered.

Maybe this makes it sound as if I didn't enjoy the story. I did! I just really wanted there to be more of it.

The characters were very interesting. I especially had wanted to find out even more about Caleb. The story is set in a near future and the world building was really good as well, but again: I wanted so much more than I got.

All in all this is a really enjoyable story that I finished much too soon. I would try other books by this author if I could easily get hold of them.

Why should you read it:
It's a really cool Futuristic read.

On Voodoo Bride's Wishlist

Both Voodoo Bride and I don't care much for most Contemporary Young Adult books, but this book has been named by several people as a book that brought them joy. Voodoo Bride thinks it might be worth giving a try.


Anna and the French Kiss (Anna and the French Kiss #1)
by Stephanie Perkins


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 Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Étienne has it all...including a serious girlfriend.

But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss?

Gotita de Dragon - Book Review

Gotita de Dragon and Other Stories
by Nick Joaquín and illustrations by Beth Parrocha

What is it about:
Here, in this collection of five short stories for both young and old, the great master uses both his whimsy and his sense of the gothic to re-imagine Philippine folktales.

The stories:
- "Lechonito the Holy Innocent"
- "The Mystery Sleeper of Balite Drive"
- "The Traveling Salesman and the Split Woman"
- "Balikbayan"
- "Gotita de Dragon"

What did I think of it:
Overall this is a beautiful collection of stories, but I will give my thoughts about each of them.

Lechonito the Holy Innocent
This is a Christmas story about self sacrifice.
It features a pig, so you can understand I very much enjoyed this story.
The one point of critique I have on this story, is that it seems to promote self sacrifice for the sake of self sacrifice, instead of letting the self sacrifice actually have meaning. But that might be my inner cynic speaking up.

The Mystery Sleeper of Balite Drive
This is a modern retelling of Snow White.
I thought it was really well written, and had some original spins on the original fairytale.

The Traveling Salesman and the Split Woman
Another retelling of a fairytale.
It had some elements I wasn't familiar with, and some that are used in several of the fairytales I know. I must say it intrigues me how universal some story elements are. It was interesting to compare this story to the stories I know.

Balikbayan
A boy talks about there being another room inside his room, and his mother tries to figure out where this fantasy comes from.
This is a really suspenseful and creepy story.

Gotita de Dragon
A story about a tiny lizard wanting to become a dragon.
This is a fun story, and I very much enjoyed the lizard's attempts at doing good deeds, so his wish will be granted.

All in all I very much enjoyed this book and it makes me want to find out more about Philippine folktales, and their connection to European tales. I can advice this book to anyone who likes folktales and fairytales.

Why should you read it:
It's a wonderful collection of short stories.

Teaser Tuesdays - Burn For Me

So far, I'm really enjoying this book.


The demonic, inhuman thing that was Mad Rogan tilted his head, watching me. He sat cross-legged.

(page 94, Burn For Me by Ilona Andrews)

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following: - Grab your current read - Open to a random page - Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) - Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Alice in Zombieland - Book Review

Alice in Zombieland (White Rabbit Chronicles #1)
by Gena Showalter

What is it about:
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...

What did I think of it:
Going by the title of this book and the title of this series I expected this book to be a zombie retelling of Alice in Wonderland.

Well... There are some references to Alice in Wonderland, but those are few and far between. And don't get me started on the zombies. I was not pleased with the zombies!

Once I let go of the disappointment that this wasn't a retelling, and that the zombies were not the kind of zombies I like, I did get into the story.

It does have a lot of teenage drama and some cool action. I didn't much warm up to Alice and her love interest Cole. Cole's friends weren't that nice either. Of all the characters in the book I liked Kat, one of Alice's new friends, the most. And even Kat didn't feel like a real person. All of the characters felt staged. Even when things got tense and heads started to roll, I wasn't invested enough in the characters to care.

In the end this was a moderately enjoyable read, but I won't read the other books in this series. I do have the first book of Showalter's Lords of the Underworld series in my TBR pile, so I will give that a try to see if that's more to my liking.

Why should you read it:
It's a nice Paranormal YA read

The Blue Girl - Book Review

The Blue Girl (Newford #16)
by Charles de Lint

What is it about:
Seventeen-year-old Imogene's tough, rebellious nature has caused her more harm than good—so when her family moves to Newford, she decides to reinvent herself. She won't lose her punk/thrift-shop look, but she'll try to avoid the gangs, work a little harder at school, and maybe even stay out of trouble for a change.

Her first friend at Redding High, Maxine, is her exact opposite. Everyone considers Maxine a straight-A loser, but as Imogene soon learns, it's really Maxine's overprotective mother whose rules about clothes and curfews make it impossible for her to speak up for her true self. Oddly, the friendship works. Imogene helps Maxine loosen up and break a few rules, and in turn, Maxine keeps Imogene in line.

But trouble shows up anyway. Imogene quickly catches the eye of Redding's A-list bullies, as well as the school's resident teenage ghost. Then she gets on the wrong side of a gang of malicious fairies.

When her old imaginary childhood friend Pelly actually manifests, Imogene realises that the impossible is all too real. And it's dangerous. If she wants to survive high school—not to mention stay alive—she has to fall back on the skills she picked up in her hometown, running with a gang.

Even with Maxine and some unexpected allies by her side, will she be able to make it?

What did I think of it::
I will confess: this book caught my eye because of the cover! It did sounds like a cool read as well, so I decided to give it a try.

Now you might notice this book is part of a series. But I can tell you it can easily be read as a stand alone. I haven't read any other book in this series, and didn't feel like missing out. From what I understand these books are mostly linked because they're all set in the same fictional town. Some of them are more closely linked, but this one stands pretty much on its own within the series. Some of these books are more Young Adult, others more Adult.

The story (being Young Adult) is told in multiple viewpoints and multiple tenses, differing between Then and Now. This might sound confusing, but when reading the book I didn't have any trouble in following the story.

I liked both Imogene and Maxine. They were a perfect fit in my opinion. They have a lot of things in common, and where they were different they could help each other out. I really liked reading about how they met and how they interacted.

The paranormal aspects of this story (the ghost, the fairies) were taken from traditional folklore and mythology, but de Lint gave them their own unique spin that made them very intriguing. I was gripped by the events and was rooting for Imogene and Maxine to solve all their problems.

All in all this is a really fun and suspenseful read, that I found hard to put down. I will most certainly give other books in this series a try. Luckily I got some suggestions from a friend which books to try next.

Why should you read it:
It's a really cool Paranormal (YA) read.