review: Irises by Francisco X. Stork

pub date: January 1, 2012 
publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books
pages: 288
sources: for review at Kiss the Book
appeals: sister, death, orphans, religion,
content: two swear words, some talk about sex but rather mild comparatively

thoughts:
This is the second book I've read from Francisco X. Stork. My first was The Last Summer of the Death Warriors. I didn't love that book (I gave it three apples), but it was interesting enough that I decided to try another Stork novel. The summary for Irises appealed to me, so I picked it up. I probably didn't need to bother.

What I have decided after reading Death Warriors and Irises is that Stork's style of writing doesn't appeal to me. I find it kind of boring. There's no beauty to his language. It's just...words on a page.

Also, I had a really difficult time keeping Mary and Kate straight. One was brilliant and studied a lot, one painted. That was it. The first thirty pages I was very confused on who was doing what because I couldn't figure out which was which. All the characters seemed very one dimensional. And sometimes behaved in odd ways...like Kate's best friend becoming her best enemy in just a day without much provocation. It was weird.

Religion is a large aspect of this novel and ties into the growth of the characters, and I did find that interesting. But...that's about all.

Without beautiful words or strong characters, the plot itself wasn't enough to keep me interested. I did finish it, but near the end I was reading just so that it was finished, not because I cared so much.

summary:

Two sisters discover what's truly worth living for in the new novel by the author of MARCELO IN THE REAL WORLD.

TWO SISTERS: Kate is bound for Stanford and an M.D. -- if her family will let her go. Mary wants only to stay home and paint. When their loving but repressive father dies, they must figure out how to support themselves and their mother, who is in a permanent vegetative state, and how to get along in all their uneasy sisterhood.

THREE YOUNG MEN: Then three men sway their lives: Kate's boyfriend Simon offers to marry her, providing much-needed stability. Mary is drawn to Marcos, though she fears his violent past. And Andy tempts Kate with more than romance, recognizing her ambition because it matches his own.

ONE AGONIZING CHOICE: Kate and Mary each find new possibilities and darknesses in their sudden freedom. But it's Mama's life that might divide them for good -- the question of *if* she lives, and what's worth living for.IRISES is Francisco X. Stork's most provocative and courageous novel yet.

review: Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood

pub date: February 7, 2012
publisher: Putnam
pages: 326
source: Library Thing Early Reviewer
appeals: historical, paranormal, witches, magic, family
content: some sweet kissin

thoughts:
I enjoyed this book. I thought Spotswood's world was interesting, as were her characters. I was mislead by the cover. I assumed the book took place in present times, but it's America in the past sometime (the mid 1800s or so?). Now, does that girl on the cover look like she lived 15o years ago? She's showing her knees! And has a seductive look in her (very make-uped) face! So, yeah, I felt a little mislead. But I still enjoyed the book.

Cate's world is controlled by the Brotherhood who preach against witches and accuse many innocent girls of possessing magic. Which makes it hard for Cate because she is a witch, as are her two younger sisters.

I liked the story. I appreciated what Cate was struggling with and the decisions she had to make and how she strived to protect her sisters. I especially, really, really liked the romance in the book. It was very well done.

I did have an issue with the magic possessed by some witches. I don't like magic that has the power to mess with other's minds. I just think it's too powerful. It makes it so there's no balance between good and evil. So that bugged me.  

Also, I am so FRUSTRATED!!

****Slight spoilers follow...proceed at your own risk...****

I am frustrated on two counts, the first being that Cate is an idiot at times. She finds this important information in her mom's journal that involves all three sisters AND SHE WAITS AND WAITS AND WAITS TO TELL HER SISTERS ABOUT IT because ... well, I'm not really sure why. Except that the plot depended on the misunderstanding between siblings. Withheld information to move the story along is a plot device I loath. The more I think about it, the more it bothers me.

(also, as a side note...what the heck is Cate's mother doing keeping a diary the last year of her life that says, explicitly, that her daughter is a witch? Information that can potentially kill her daughter? why write that out on paper and put her whole family in danger? Don't get it...)


Second, though I am okay with the unresolved ending (but only because I have to be and I have hope in the rest of the series resolving the mess that this book ends with), I am not okay with the way Cate handles herself. Similar to frustration #1, at the end Cate once again doesn't discuss things with her sisters, leaving it to a woman she hates to explain her actions--which will not bode well for the next book. ARG. I am soooo upset about it, and so the last two pages of the book rather tainted my opinion of the whole story.

****Okay, slightly spoilery part of this review is over****

I enjoyed book for the most part. Really, I did. I just get so frustrated at times with characters who do dumb things. And withheld information just to make the plot work.

summary:
Everybody knows Cate Cahill and her sisters are eccentric. Too pretty, too reclusive, and far too educated for their own good. But the truth is even worse: they're witches. And if their secret is discovered by the priests of the Brotherhood, it would mean an asylum, a prison ship—or an early grave.

Before her mother died, Cate promised to protect her sisters. But with only six months left to choose between marriage and the Sisterhood, she might not be able to keep her word . . . especially after she finds her mother's diary, uncovering a secret that could spell her family's destruction. Desperate to find alternatives to their fate, Cate starts scouring banned books and questioning rebellious new friends, all while juggling tea parties, shocking marriage proposals, and a forbidden romance with the completely unsuitable Finn Belastra.

If what her mother wrote is true, the Cahill girls aren't safe. Not from the Brotherhood, the Sisterhood—not even from each other

review: Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink

pub date: August 1, 2009
publisher: Little, Brown for Young Readers
pages: 352
source: library audiobook
appeals: historical fiction, sisters, paranormal, gothic, demons
content: clean

goodreads:
Sixteen-year-old Lia Milthorpe and her twin sister Alice have just become orphans, and, as Lia discovers, they have also become enemies.


The twins are part of an ancient prophecy that has turned generations of sisters against each other. To escape from a dark fate and to remain in the arms of her beloved boyfriend James, Lia must end the prophecy before her sister does. Only then will she understand the mysterious circumstances of her parents' deaths, the true meaning of the strange mark branded on her wrist, and the lengths to which her sister will go to defeat her.

me:
I actually own this book, but got the audio from the library and listened to it while on a road trip to Idaho this past weekend.  I liked the reader and enjoyed the book a lot. It wasn't what I expected, which is always fun because it keeps me guessing. I was surprised to find that it's kind of a fallen angel book--and I listened to it just days after I said I wouldn't read another one of those kinds of books. But it wasn't an angel romance, and the fallen were more demons than anything else, so it didn't bother me too much.

I thought the world Zinks created was really interesting, and Lia and Alice's roll in the prophecy was rather cool. The characters were well developed and I especially liked Lia's friends. Alice makes a nice foil for Lia, and I'm interested to see where it goes in the next book.

Something that did kind of irritate me were the secrets. Lia's father kept secrets from her, then died. So Lia is left to search out the secrets when he should've just told her long before. I understand that without the secrets, then there would've been no story, but still it was annoying how ignorant Lia was when everyone around her knew what was going on. 

Then at the end there is someone else that has information for Lia, and instead of just giving it to her, they hide it and evenually die. She then has to search out this other secret she spent half the book trying to find! I really don't get why this person didn't tell her sooner.

But Lia does the same thing--she doesn't tell her boyfriend what is going on, leaving him in the dark. Irritating! Nothing good ever comes of keeping secrets and it really bothered me that she wouldn't be honest with the boy she claimed to love. She had her reasons, but I thought they were kind of lame ones.

So besides all the secrets, I liked the book. This sets up the trilogy rather nicely.

Prophecy of the Sisters reminded me a lot of Libba Bray's A Great and Terrible Beauty.