Book Review: Drip Drop Teardrop

Author: Samantha Young
Title: Drip Drop Teardrop
Genre: Short story, Romance, YA, Fantasy
Pages: ebook
First Published: April 2011 
Where I Got It: On my shelf (Got from Amazon when it was a freebie. I think its still free.)

"Even Death Can Fall in Love...

Avery hasn’t had it easy. 

When she was ten years old her parents died in a car crash. Now nine years later her Aunt Caroline is the only family she has left. And Caroline is dying. 
So when Death comes knocking (quite literally) in the form of the damaged and dangerous, Brennus, Avery makes a deal with the reaper in order to save Caroline.

Brennus is an Ankou.

One of the many, once mortal men and women, who were given the choice to become an immortal in exchange for ferrying the dead over into their afterlife. 
Nine years ago Brennus took Avery’s parents and tried to take Avery, but she fought him and won. Amazed by her strength Brennus followed Avery and has watched over her. 
Now he knows Avery is the one to offer him freedom from his obligation to the dead. 
And he’ll stop at nothing to have her."

Honestly...it was a rather long short story. It was about 115 pages, so it's in that weird spot between short story and novel. I think it technically falls into the category of a "novella", but they have it under "short story" on Goodreads, so we will just smile and nod. *shakes head 'no*

ANYWAYS.

This was a random pick up for me, but I couldn't help but take it into my collection. One...it was free. Two, the cover dragged me in. Three, I wanted to know how and why "death" falls in love. Intriguing if you ask me.

Now "death" is not your a-typical "angel of death". There are many, many of ankous around that help fairy the dead to their afterlife. These ankous are dead people themselves that decided to volunteer for some reason. Brennus is an ankou and he volunteered when he sacrificed himself for a different woman who he taught he loved and she loved him in return. It's pretty sad...she was betraying him the whole time in many ways but one. Poor guy...I can see why he was a wee bit bitter. 

HOWEVER, it does NOT give him an excuse to pretty much blackmail Avery into going on a week long date with him. I won't tell you what the deal was, but it wasn't very cool of him. It was rather rude and cold-hearted of him. Honestly, did he think he could win her over so quickly even though she was sexually attracted to him? Granted...he had no choice, because its not like he can take too long of a break from being an Angel of Death and Avery is kind of a snob. I still don't get why he loved her...she's rude, shallow, and bitchy. *shakes my head* That must be his type, because his first wife was a bitch too. Excuse my french. 0.0 

I have a love-hate relationship with the ending. It was done well, but it made me sad and a little upset. WHY? *SPOILER ALERT* Why does she have to erased from everyone's memories and lives, because she chooses to stay with Brennus and be immortal? Maybe it's simpler that way, but its so tragic that she pretty much gives up her existences to be with a man she only knew for a couple of months. Meh *END OF SPOILER* 

ANYWAYS! This was a quick read and it was really interesting and I'm actually excited to see what Samantha Young has to offer, perhaps I should read more of her things (yes, this was my first taste of her writing) in the the future. She's rather good and she had me hooked. 

In the end, this was a pretty good short story (*cough novella *cough*) and I'm excited to see what else the author has out there. I would recommend this to those that like romance and fantasy and YA (for older YA readers though). I will put a reminder on here that it is technically a short story, so things happen rather quickly. Well, I shall stamp this with 4 stars. 

Favorite Character(s): Aunt Caroline, Brennus (when you look past the blackmail bit), and Jemima (I hope she gets her own story).

Not-so Favorite Character(s): Sarah (she annoyed me for some reason) and Jason (idiot)

Book Review: Such Wicked Intent by Kenneth Oppel

Author: Kenneth Oppel
Title: Such Wicked Intent (The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein #2) 
Genre: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Gothic, Fantasy, Mystery, & Paranormal
Pages: 310
First Published: January 1st, 2012
Where I Got It: Borrowed from library

"When his grieving father orders the destruction of the Dark Library, Victor retrieves a book in which he finds the promise of not just communicating with the dead, but entering their realm, and soon he, Elizabeth, and Henry are in the spirit world of Château Frankenstein, creating and growing a body."



First book of the year. Woot woot!

Well...this does well as a stand-alone, but it isn't. It's actually the second book of the series. However, if you read this first, there really is no reason to read the first due to the large amounts of spoilers. Yes, there are many references, but it all pieces in together and it all makes sense sooner or later.  

Anyways...

This was an interesting and fun book. Very different. I loved the fact that this played off the Frankenstein book, but with a huge twist. Victor is the ancestor of Dr. Frankenstein who discovered a way into the spirit world and who discovered a way to create life. It's way different though. No electricity, no machines. I won't say how they create this body, because its weird, but kinda cool and a little bit creepy, but different. 

The story was fun and the adventure addicting, buuuuuuut I hated the characters. They were flawed, which is always a plus, but I wanted to punch them all. Punch some sense into their thick skulls. GAH! Victor was an arrogant ass, Elizabeth was a hypocrite who keeps playing games with everyone's emotions, and Henry was okay sometimes, but he was annoying. The only one who I actually really liked was Victor's twin brother, Konrad who was truly just a victim throughout this whole story. After thinking about it for a while, I do think that the author purposely wrote the characters the way she did to make you squint your eyes at them and be in disbelief at their idiocy. It made the story. If they had used logic all would have been revealed. Granted...they are teenagers, so it all makes sense. At the end, there seems to be hope at the end for all the characters though.

Anyways...

The end left me wanting more and so far there is no more. Hopefully that changes soon, because there was a twinkle in Victor's eye for further adventure. There not only was hope for more adventures, but there was hope for all the characters. I also would like to see what is to come of them. Odd, because I wanted to punch them...*shakes head*

ANYWAYS!

This was good. I would recommend this to those that like darker books that will indeed keep you on the edge of your seats. This was a Young Adult novel, but it didn't feel like it at times. So don't let the fact that this is a YA keep you away. I recommend this that like historical paranormal books. And especially for those that like or just appreciate the story of Frankenstein. Out of five stars I shall stamp this with 4 stars. 

Favorite Character(s): Konrad
Not-so Favorite Character(s): Elizabeth (the other annoyed me, but I hate, HATE hypocrites) 

Book Review: Marika

Author: Andrea Cheng
Title: Marika
Genre: Historical Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 153
First Published: 2002
Where I Got It: My shelf (Goodwill)



(I'm a little upset right now, because for some reason my original copy of this review has "vanished" and so I had to re-type the whole thing. Ugh >_>)


"'I would be an explorer, a scientist, a writer. Did Andras really think that a man named Hitler in Germany would stop me?' In 1944, the Nazi invade Hungary, and Marika's family is forced into hiding. As her world shatters around her, the concerns of Marika's childhood suddenly seem very small and far away. Unspeakable acts of anti-Semitism are everywhere. Now Marika will need to call upon her sharp intelligence and an unexpected core of strength and courage-to keep herself and her family alive."


Marika is set in Budapest, Hungary during WWII. The book focuses around Marika (a young girl) and her family, who all happen to be Jews. The story is told in young Marika's viewpoint. Her parents are fully aware that the war and the Germans will be coming their way soon, so they have Marika and her brother, Andras, learn as much as they can; they even spend a lot of money to forge papers that "prove" their Catholic ancestry.


Before I began reading, many people have told me that this book is a lot like The Diary of Anne Frank and they weren't entirely wrong, but I found that this book was very different. For one Anne and Marika were completely different and their experiences were different. Marika was pretty much clueless the whole time, while Anne had to live in fear the entire time. Both are good stories who shared many similarities and differences.

Marika was a simple and quick read, but it was a pretty good read overall. I hate to say it was cute, because of the cruel times that it was set in. I say its cute because I love how Andrea Cheng used an innocent child's viewpoint and I really felt that Marika herself wrote it. I loved the innocence that Marika had and how her family tried to keep the truth from her for so long, because they didn't want her to grow up in fear.

Like I stated earlier, it was short read and I wished that some points had been expanded upon...especially the last couple of chapters. I felt that those experiences (if it was a real diary) would have been more detailed. However, I'm glad that it was a short, but bittersweet book.

All-in-all, I liked this book and I'll probably read it again in the future. I wished some points would have been expanded, but hey it was short and had a simple plot and I liked it. If you're looking for a small but good book you should check this out and if you're into the 1940s I think you would like this. Out of five stars, I grant this 4 stars.


Favorite Character(s): Andras (Marika's brother), Zsofi (Marika's best friend), and Marika...of course 

Not-so Favorite Character(s): Umm....the German SS? I don't know really...there wasn't really any characters that I disliked.

Quote(s) That Stuck With Me: "I would be an explorer, a scientist, a writer. Did Andras really think that a man named Hitler in Germany would stop me?".

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<3CR