Let's Hear it for the Boys - V is for Villain by Peter Moore

Published: May 20th, 2014

Publisher: Disney Hyperion

Pages: 336

Copy: Publisher through Edelweiss

Summary: Goodreads

 

 

Brad Baron is used to looking lame compared to his older brother, Blake. Though Brad's basically a genius, Blake is a superhero in the elite Justice Force. And Brad doesn't measure up at his high school, either, where powers like super-strength and flying are the norm. So when Brad makes friends who are more into political action than weight lifting, he's happy to join a new crew-especially since it means spending more time with Layla, a girl who may or may not have a totally illegal, totally secret super-power. And with her help, Brad begins to hone a dangerous new power of his own.

But when they're pulled into a web of nefarious criminals, high-stakes battles, and startling family secrets, Brad must choose which side he's on. And once he does, there's no turning back.

Perfect for fans of The Avengers, Ironman, and classic comic books, V is for Villain reveals that it's good to be bad.

I have read several books in the last little while that have had a superhero theme, Brandon Sanderson's Steelheart is the first that comes to mind, and they have all been lots of fun, with the good guys always winning in the end.  What made V is for Villain stand out from the rest was the fact that it is written about the bad guys.  Well about the guys who don't agree with what the good guys are doing.  Not exactly bad - yet anyway, but questioning whether everything the good guys do is actually 'good'

I loved the characters in this book, Brad and Layla especially, mainly because they questioned.  They are both basically genius's and are not willing to take things at face value.  They actually think for themselves and come to the conclusion that bad can be good too.  There are some wonderful twists to this complex and entertaining storyline and there are some really spectacularly twisted bad guys to sink your teeth into. But not everything is exactly as it seems and the kids have to use every bit of their spectacular brain power and superpowers to get them out of harms way.

There should be enough action to keep fans of this type of novel very happy and leave them with a little to think about.  I already have several people I can think of to recommend this to.  Lots of fun.



Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves allows us to share the books we have added to our collections - physical, virtual, borrowed, bought or received. 

This week I received - 

 

Thank you Edelweiss, I'm really looking forward to finishing both of these trilogies.

Follow Friday

Friday Follow is a blog hop that was started by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.  Each week a different question is posted by our hosts and we will answer!  This is a great opportunity for bloggers to network and interact. 

This week’s question –

What are your non-book guilty pleasures? Like TV shows, food, websites, hobbies, etc.

I have so many guilty pleasures...I like to bake (I make cookies and then to try and give as many away as possible so I don't consume them all on my own).  I also get obsessive about a series.  For instance, we borrowed the Game of Thrones season 3 discs from a family member one weekend and finished it in 2 days. At night after my daughter went to sleep...watching til 3am. If I ever let myself become a couch potato, I can sit and watch HGTV for so long that the shows become re-runs.  Same with the Food Network.  Oh, and craft magazines...I used to buy them all the time.  Now I just go to Chapters with my daughter under the pretense of letting her play but read them all while I'm there.  I consider it "literal" therapy.... 

- Christinabean

 

Curlypow here - my non-book guilty pleasure is looking at knitting patterns and books.  I can lose myself for hours looking at pretty pictures and imagining the finished products.  Perhaps if I spent less time looking and more time knitting I'd have more to show for my time!  Actually I guess that's not really non-book is it?  Oh, and I'm with Christinabean on that binge watching of TV series - Walking Dead anyone?  Although I must admit, I do get a lot of knitting and embroidery done while I'm watching so I don't feel quite so guilty.

Welcome to the Paperback Princesses! Make yourself at home, take a look around our blog and let us know what you think in the comments section. We would love to hear what you have to say about our posts. We often try to comment on your comments as well so feel free to start a conversation! Since there are two of us running the show, we always have a variety of titles and event postings. Be sure to check out our own personal meme page. Check out Fantastic Fairytales, Let's Hear it for the Boys, In Case you Missed it and a few others. We try to not only focus on new YA books but also great titles from the past.

Free to Fall by Lauren Miller

Published: May 13th

Publisher: Harper Teen

Pages: 469

Copy: courtesy of Harper Teen

Summary: Goodreads

What if there was an app that told you what song to listen to, what coffee to order, who to date, even what to do with your life—an app that could ensure your complete and utter happiness? What if you never had to fail or make a wrong choice?

What if you never had to fall?

Fast-forward to a time when Apple and Google have been replaced by Gnosis, a monolith corporation that has developed the most life-changing technology to ever hit the market: Lux, an app that flawlessly optimizes decision making for the best personal results. Just like everyone else, sixteen-year-old Rory Vaughn knows the key to a happy, healthy life is following what Lux recommends. When she’s accepted to the elite boarding school Theden Academy, her future happiness seems all the more assured. But once on campus, something feels wrong beneath the polished surface of her prestigious dream school. Then she meets North, a handsome townie who doesn’t use Lux, and begins to fall for him and his outsider way of life. Soon, Rory is going against Lux’s recommendations, listening instead to the inner voice that everyone has been taught to ignore — a choice that leads her to uncover a truth neither she nor the world ever saw coming.

I can be a bit of an old fogey and I am sometimes a little slow to get with the program, at least according to my children - case in point, I don't tweet and I don't do Pinterest.  As far as I am concerned they are time stealers, and I don't have enough time in the day to accomplish everything I want to as it is.  Don't get me wrong, I can understand the appeal alright, but I know myself, and I would lose hours in the day if I succumbed to their siren lure.  So when I read Free to Fall, my first though after finishing it was - thank God! That will never happen to me, but I can really see it happening - and that positively alarmed me.

Lauren Miller has written a futuristic thriller that is so utterly plausible given today's environment that it is incredibly scary.  The idea that we could become slaves to a phone app - never gonna happen, r i g h t! It's already happening now, albeit to a much lesser degree.  Rory has to fight to maintain her independence, separate from her Gold - a new micro mini tablet that virtually everyone is becoming totally dependent upon, and she doesn't know who she can trust.  She was an interesting character that I found easy to like and root for and her relationship with North was real.  North's cageyness was a little surprising, but also rang true and I enjoyed watching their relationship develop. It was suitably confusing as to which adults could be trusted, if any and there were plenty of false trails to follow to confuse the true issues.

Although this story is set in an elite boarding school, which makes it perfect for teens, I could easily see it as an adult thriller, with only a few minor changes. There is a degree of tension that starts slowly and builds to a lovely crescendo, with a surprising little twist of a medical nature that I didn't see coming.  Free to Fall illustrates beautifully that the bogey man doesn't always come crashing through the door wielding an axe - sometimes he just slips quietly into your life through your phone!

Thanks so much to Megan at Goldberg McDuffie for sending me a copy of Free to Fall.  I probably wouldn't have picked it up on my own, and I would have missed a winner.

Waiting on Wednesday - Brazen by Katherine Longshore

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine,  that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating or books that are in our TBR pile.  This week’s “can’t-wait-to-read” selection is

Summary (by Goodreads)

Mary Howard has always lived in the shadow of her powerful family. But when she’s married off to Henry Fitzroy, King Henry VIII’s illegitimate son, she rockets into the Tudor court’s inner circle. Mary and “Fitz” join a tight clique of rebels who test the boundaries of court’s strict rules with their games, dares, and flirtations. The more Mary gets to know Fitz, the harder she falls for him, but is forbidden from seeing him alone. The rules of court were made to be pushed…but pushing them too far means certain death. Is true love worth dying for?

Ahhh...YA Historical Fiction.  I love it. When is the last time you read a book from this genre?

- Christinabean

In Case You Missed It - Eyes of Crow by Jeri Smith-Ready

 

Published: November 1st, 2006

Publisher: Luna

Pages 480

Copy: My own

Summary: Goodreads

 

 

For Rhia was bound to the Spirit of Crow, gifted with the foresight of Death's approach and doomed to the isolation of one feared and set apart.

There must always be one whose magic can ease the passage of the people of Asermos to the Other Side. But to be the guide her people require, to truly know the depth of her gift--her curse--Rhia must surrender herself to the wisdom of the Great Forest…and drink deeply of Death itself. And though two powerful men stand ready to aid her, even to love her, the Aspect of Crow demands unthinkable sacrifices from one who walks its path.

I was browsing the 'for sale' truck at work the other day and found this one.  I am a huge fan of her Shade series (YA) and WVMP radio series  so I thought to myself 'Self, you can surely afford the $1.50 for these three books!'  Two days later, I have the first one read and I'm ready to start on #2.

The blurb above is a little dramatic for the actual story I think, which was really a coming of age story.  The main character, Rhia, has to come to terms with her 'gift' - which is a little macabre to say the least- and she keeps putting off her apprenticeship.  Rhia keeps trying to escape her future, but she knows she can't and acts like many teens by thinking about it later.  Add in two good looking guys - Arcas and Marek - who are more than willing to offer Rhia a shoulder to cry on and the steam starts rising.  I kept imagining Marek as a younger Gerard Butler because that was his name in the movie 'Timeline'.

A really interesting factor in this story is that all inhabitants of Asermos and Kalindon have magic that is in some way related to animals.  But there are phases, or aspects to this magic.  The first is the 'Bestowing' when each person fasts for three days and meets their animal.  The second more involved aspect arrives when that person becomes a parent, and the third when they become a grand parent.  Cool eh!  Complications can arise with the magic if the 2nd Aspect is  reached before the person is 'ready'  (a lovely nod to having safe sex) and we see that with Marek  The way he overcomes those complications is interesting.

Eyes of Crow is a fantasy with a well explored mythos, relatable characters and good sex.  Yep, this one is not for teens, but it falls squarely into what is now being called New Adult - or it would if NA had fantasy, which it might but I haven't seen anything yet- and in 2006 when this was published, an NA designation was still just a spark in some unknown persons mind.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to following Rhia as she finds out more about what she is capable of.  Great story.

Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves allows us to share the books we have added to our collections - physical, virtual, borrowed, bought or received. 

This week I received - 

Summary (by Goodreads)

There are whispers of a ghost in the slaughterhouse where sixteen-year-old Wen assists her father in his medical clinic—a ghost who grants wishes to those who need them most. When one of the Noor, men hired as cheap factory labor, humiliates Wen, she makes an impulsive wish of her own, and the Ghost grants it. Brutally.

Guilt-ridden, Wen befriends the Noor, including their outspoken leader, a young man named Melik. At the same time, she is lured by the mystery of the Ghost and learns he has been watching her … for a very long time.

As deadly accidents fuel tensions within the factory, Wen must confront her growing feelings for Melik, who is enraged at the sadistic factory bosses and the prejudice faced by his people at the hand of Wen’s, and her need to appease the Ghost, who is determined to protect her against any threat—real or imagined. She must decide whom she can trust, because as her heart is torn, the factory is exploding around her … and she might go down with it.

I received this one from Simon and Schuster Canada (thankyou!) and it sounds SO interesting!  Unlike anything I have read before.  I haven't read many teen fiction novels based on Asian culture and ghosts so this one could be right up my alley!