Cursed to live out eternity in his rotted corpse, Romeo, known for his ruthless, cutthroat ways, is given the chance to redeem himself by traveling back in time to save the life of Ariel Dragland. Unbeknownst to her, Ariel is important to both the evil Mercenaries and the love-promoting Ambassadors and holds the fate of the world in her hands. Romeo must win her heart and make her believe in love, turning her away from her darker potential before his work is discovered by the Mercenaries. While his seduction begins as yet another lie, it soon becomes his only truth. Romeo vows to protect Ariel from harm, and do whatever it takes to win her heart and soul. But when Ariel is led to believe his love is a deception, she becomes vulnerable to Mercenary manipulation, and her own inner darkness may ultimately rip them apart.

Romeo has made a lot of mistakes. But he’s finally trying to atone for them by joining the side of the Ambassadors of Light. His mission? He must inhabit Dylan Stroud’s body and make Ariel Dragland fall in love with him…in three days. To make matters worse, Ariel hates Dylan. He made a bet with his friends that he could convince the school “Freak” to sleep with him and she very nearly fell for it. Romeo finds himself transported to Dylan’s body just as Ariel’s trying to kill the both of them. If that isn’t enough, Ariel has some very dark secrets of her own that prevent her from letting anyone get too close and Juliet is set on revenge for Romeo’s past transgression.

This book is likable simply because of how adorable Romeo is. I’m not one of those people who gets all hung up on the idea of immortals/vampires/what-have-you being old perverts attracted to teenagers. In my mind and for the sake of the story, they’re teenagers as well; brains not fully developed, raging hormones, the whole shebang. This book is purely a love story and you know that going in, so you can’t really complain about the fact that what you see is what you get. That being said, I appreciate the love-story aspect of this book, but not much else.

Like I said, Romeo is such a gem in Romeo Redeemed. He’s funny, repentant, charismatic, and moral (you know, unlike the Ambassadors of Light). While he says all the right things to make Ariel fall in love with him, he accidentally kind of falls for her in the process. And they’re pretty cute together, except for the whole falling in love in three days things. In my personal opinion, not possible. But then again, given the roots of the story-the love story to end all love stories-Romeo actually takes his time this time around. I’d say he gets to know Ariel far better than he ever knew Juliet.

As for Ariel, I have mixed feelings. She and Romeo are really great together sometimes. A lot of the strengths Romeo admires in her are her most likable characteristics. But Romeo tends to overlook her sociopathic tendencies. She considers and attempts to commit murder on multiple occassions. This girl is highly unstable and I don’t think she can blame that instability on the voices she occasionally hears. After all, she only hears them when she’s angry and even then, they’re so overwhelming that she passes out. The voices don’t make her angry and they don’t ask anything of her or force her to take action. All they do is overwhelm her. What begins as an interesting plot device ends in disappointing underdevelopment. According to the Ambassadors, Ariel holds the fate of the world in her hands…but how? Jay never really expands on this. Ariel hears voice…so what? She’s not really put off by the idea of killing people, but does that mean she’s a danger to the entire world?

The whole idea of the Mercenaries and the Ambassadors is hard to swallow. They’re also underdeveloped and it’s hard to believe that these protective beings of Light don’t mind manipulating people and killing innocent young girls. And Juliet really drew the short straw. Nurse claims to care about Juliet more than anyone else, but I don’t see any evidence of that. The ending of Romeo Redeemed feels very forced and unnatural. Even thinking about it now makes me cringe a little, but I suppose it suffices as a happy ending. Basically, I’d read Romeo Redeemed with a grain of salt. I appreciated the love-story aspects of it and enjoyed reading about Romeo’s attempts to seduce Ariel. The supernatural twists are just a little too much for me.

Read Nikki’s review of Juliet Immortal

Pages: 375
Publication Date: October 2012
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Source: NetGalley
Rating :

Teaser Quote: “Her laughter. It makes me so stupidly happy. Like a small child. Or a dog. I should be ashamed of myself-enjoying her so much when all I’ve done is lie and put her in danger-but I’m not.“

In an alternate London where magical creatures are preserved in a museum, two teens find themselves caught in a web of intrigue, deception, and danger.

Vespa Nyx wants nothing more than to spend the rest of her life cataloging Unnatural creatures in her father’s museum, but as she gets older, the requirement to become a lady and find a husband is looming large. Syrus Reed’s Tinker family has always served and revered the Unnaturals from afar, but when his family is captured to be refinery slaves, he finds that his fate may be bound up with Vespa’s—and with the Unnaturals.

As the danger grows, Vespa and Syrus find themselves in a tightening web of deception and intrigue. At stake may be the fate of New London—and the world.

The Unnaturalists is one of those books that starts out really strong, and you begin to think that it’s going to be the next big thing. As soon as I read page one, I was hooked. I had never read a steampunk book before, and I didn’t really know what to expect. All I knew was that steampunk was a wayyy different genre than I was used to.

I would say that The Unnaturalists stayed really good for about 3-4 chapters. After that, it started to sink downhill. I remember being really upset, because I expected so much out of this book. I wanted it to be brilliant. What I got was tolerable.

I never really connected with the main characters, Vespa and Syrus, which was a major problem. When I settle down to read a book, I need to connect and have a solid relationship with the main characters, if not all of the characters. This never happened at all. I had such a bad connection with the characters that, a month down the road, I barely even remember the book. I just know that The Unnaturalists and I did not get along.

Tiffany Trent had a brilliant concept when she came up with The Unnaturalists, but it didn’t quite work for me. This makes me nervous to read more books in the steampunk genre. Maybe that specific genre just is not for me? Or is it this specific book? That is a question that I am going to have to look into.

Overall, I would not recommend this book. I ended up finding it slightly boring and very forgettable.

Pages: 305

Publication Date: August 14, 2012

Publisher: Simon & Schuster BFYR

Rating: :

Teaser Quote: “Syrus waited for only a moment, looking back toward the dark entrance. He shifted from foot to foot before he finally opened his mouth.

And then everything–heart, breath, blood, thought–was ripped apart.

In New York City, 1897, life has never been more thrilling - or dangerous.

Sixteen-year-old Finley Jayne and her “straynge band of mysfits” have journeyed from London to America to rescue their friend Jasper, hauled off by bounty hunters. But Jasper is in the clutches of a devious former friend demanding a trade-the dangerous device Jasper stole from him…for the life of the girl Jasper loves.

One false move from Jasper and the strange clockwork collar around Mei’s neck tightens. And tightens.

The thrilling sequel to The Girl in the Steel Corset picks up right where the last book left off. After Jasper is apprehended by bounty hunters, his friends journey to America in an effort to rescue him and clear his name. But his friends soon realize it’s not the authorities who have Jasper, been an even more threatening enemy, one who knows Jasper’s weaknesses and exploits them in exchange for a powerful device that might endanger all of them.

Though I thoroughly enjoyed The Girl in the Steel Corset, the second book in The Steampunk Chronicles blows the first away. I enjoyed every minute of it and found it physically impossible to put the book down. The action is fast-paced and utterly relentless. It’s been awhile since I’ve read such a cinematic action-packed novel and I’d forgotten how much I missed this style of writing. Each character is fierce in their own way, so they each get their own shining moments in Clockwork Collar. Plus, we get a handful of new, equally fierce characters that give our beloved characters a run for their money.

The action is easily my favorite part of this series. I’m addicted to well-rendered fight scenes and Kady Cross’s descriptions are top-notch. I love that she points out all the differences and nuances that separate the characters; Sam’s brute strength, Finley’s penchant for literal fist-fighting, Jasper’s love of pistols, and Mei’s thorough background in martial arts. These small details not only act as characterization, but also set Cross’s books apart from all others. But of course, Cross also accomplishes this with her inclusion of steampunk elements. When I first picked up this series, I was wary because it was steampunk. Some steampunk authors bite off more than they can chew and the result is remarkably dissatisfying. But Kady Cross proves that when steampunk is done well, it’s absolutely amazing. And enthralling. And andrenaline-spiking.

Of course, the character development is so, so impressive. Now that both halves of Finley’s personality have been united, you’d think she’d feel less conflicted. But she still suffers from an understandable internal turmoil. She has to accept that this darker part of her is her and she’s not sure just how much she should give into it — and what she’d have to sacrifice if she does. But she cannot deny that a part of her is drawn to darkness and danger (which is why part of her is attracted to Jack Dandy), and Griffin can’t deny that that part of Finley leaves him unbelievably worried and distrustful.

Speaking of Jack and Griffin, I’m a sucker for love triangles and it was one of my favorite aspects of the first book in The Steampunk Chronicles. Oddly enough, the lack of development of the love triangle is one of my favorite aspects of this book. Finley, Griffin, Sam, and Emily travel to New York to rescue Jasper, which means that Finley leaves Jack Dandy at home in London. Therefore, her friendship with Griffin is what’s truly developed in this book and Cross certainly takes her time drawing out this relationship. I can’t even express how much I truly appreciate this. Finley and Griffin are such good friends and they both have valid reasons for being afraid of taking their relationship to a romantic level (Griffin more so than Finley). But the romantic tension is always there, especially when they argue, and their desire for each other practically sizzles off the page. Plus, Emily and Sam are completely adorable together and satisfy the “relationship quota” for the book.

There’s no one I wouldn’t recommend this series to. The inventions are extraordinary, the romantic tension is palpable, the plot is thrilling and unpredictable. The Girl in the Clockwork Collar is, quite simply, utterly engrossing. I love these characters and, once again, I can’t wait to fall back into their world. And for any science nerds, Nikola Tesla plays a pretty strong role throughout the book — a fact I was ecstatically surprised to discover. I am a huge Tesla fan and his inclusion as a character made me love the book that much more, if possible.

Pages: 416
Publication Date: May 2012
Publisher: Harlequin TEEN
Source: Provided by Publisher
Rating :

Teaser Quote: “Before, she could have blamed this sort of behavior on her darker half, but that was no longer the case. Griffin has helped her begin to unite her two sides, and now she was no longer one or the other, but both. Now it was up to her to decide what sort of person she wanted to be.“