Playing Catch-Up

So I've read more than I've blogged lately, and I want to do a quick sum-up of what I've been reading.

I read River Marked by Patricia Briggs, and loved it as I have loved all of the Mercy Thompson books. I loved the foray into Mercy's Native American heritage and that she finally finds out more about her father. I was kind of hoping for more on Stefan, but at least he made a few appearances this go round. It leaves me hopeful that he might be back on board and ready for some vengeance in the next book.  All in all, 5 toes. Yes. I docked a whole toe for lack of Stefan the Scooby loving vampire. Come on. They can't all be sixes.

I've read Red Glove, which I blogged about. <3

Also, Defiance (Strange Angels) by Lili St. Crow was devoured. This has to be my favorite teen series. It is so deliciously enthralling. When I pick them up, I can't put them down again until the end. And this installment leaves you in very murky waters, wondering about the motives of a main character. I'm starving for more Strange Angels books. 5.5 toes.

And Abandon by Meg Cabot! (On shelves today!) I didn't really know what to expect from this book. I am a huge Meg Cabot fan, but I look to her for my funny fix. Since Abandon is a retelling of the myth of Persephone (You know, that chick that Hades kidnapped and took back to the underworld to be his bride? Only her mom towed her back out again and they made a deal where she'd spend half the year topside, and half the year down below, thus creating summer and winter?) I wasn't sure how funny the story would be. And really, it isn't funny at all. Not typical Meg Cabot stuff. But I loved it! I read straight through in one sitting. 5 toes.

My Easter read was Tangled Threads, the new Elemental Assassin book by Jennifer Estep. I'm loving the progression Gin Blanco is making from cold, hard assassin in the first book, to retired and world weary assassin, to retired assassin on the warpath for vengeance, into an almost superhero-esque figure fighting the evil crime queen of the fictional city of Ashland. I'm also loving that she's found a guy who gets who she is, and doesn't judge her for it. I'm kind of hoping Detective Donovan Caine will make a return cameo at some point so she can rub his nose in it. 6 toes!

 OH! I also read an ARC of her (Jennifer Estep's) new teen series Touch of Frost recently as well! Great stuff! Once again she's writing a supernatural series that is completely different from all the overdone vampire/were wolf mythology being churned out. This time it's a bunch of world myths thrown together in an elite private school. And there is a cute cameo from the Elemental Assassin series tossed in! 6 toes, more please!

Now I'm reading THIS:

So far, let me just say... squee!

Red Glove

I <3 Holly Black. Her new book, Red Glove returns readers to her Curse Workers world where transformation worker Cassel Sharp is struggling to find his place in the world now that he knows that he is a powerful worker. With his memories of the terrible things he's done gone, Cassel has to decide if he'll continue on the assassin's path his brothers set him on or let himself be recruited by a couple of ruthless feds intent on using his connections for their ends. None of this is made any easier by the presence of his childhood crush and the terrible guilt he feels at her having been cursed to love him. Can he resist the temptation to be with her until the curse wears off? Does he want to?

And all the time in the background, there is social and political unrest of a distopian nature threatening to change everything for this world where everyone wears gloves all the time to protect against unknown curse workers. There is a test that determines whether a person is a curse worker or not, and the government is proposing that the test be made mandatory for everyone. Cassel and his friends attend a protest where opposing placards read such phrases as "What do you have to hide?" and "Test everyone, Trust no one!" The tension feels very authentic and parallels civil rights protests of the past. One can even see similarities between the increasingly fear driven treatment of the curse workers and Nazi Germany's treatment of Jewish families. Pretty heady stuff to get teens thinking about the power of fear and ignorance in our own world.

That is Holly's gift, it seems. Writing fantastical works of fiction that feel real enough to live in. The emotions, visions and sensations she conjures up with her pen are nearly palpable in their authenticity. More please!

6 toes!