Review: Fade Out vs. The Van Alen Legacy

By Rachel Caine
Released Nov 3 by Signet
Review copy provided by publisher
Read my reviews of CARPE CORPUS and LORD OF MISRULE

The Morganville Vampires is not my favorite vampire series, but it's one that holds steady and comes up with something interesting for each book. I expected FADE OUT to be the start of a new arc. Instead, Rachel Caine only teases with what is to come. FADE OUT focuses on a standalone story in addition to snipping a few loose ends. It works very well, as newcomers can pick up FADE OUT from the store without becoming too lost.

Claire's out of sorts because Eve has been cast in A Streetcar Named Desire, and now she's hanging out with her costar Kim. It doesn't help that Kim is clearly into Shane - who admits to Claire that they had a one-night stand. Michael has a shot at fame, but he can never leave Morganville. And Myrnin is more dangerous than ever, which makes me ridiculously excited. (Apparently, I am the kind of person who thinks daffy, mostly friendly characters who ultimately look out for number one and will stab you in the back without blinking are awesome to read about. In real life I avoid people who would betray me.)

The story moves along at a nice clip, which is good since Caine doesn't have many pages to waste. (The short page count always leaves me wanting more, but it does keep the story tight.) Amelie clearly has plans for Claire, and they aren't looking like plans anyone would want to participate in. Caine has always done a good job of keeping the vampires threatening even when they ally with the humans, and she continues in that vein not only with Amelie and Myrnin, but with Michael, who the readers and characters first knew as human.

I liked the breather of a standalone story, but FADE OUT has me ready for the next arc. I hope Caine continues to write books that deliver in and of themselves while contributing to the Morganville Vampire series as a whole.



By Melissa de la Cruz
Released Oct 6 by Disney Hyperion
Review copy provided by publicist

I thought the Blue Bloods series was awesome when I first came out. It was an interesting premise (reincarnation instead of eternal life), played with Christian mythology, and centered around a pun. All bonuses in my book. But while Caine has been dazzling me with her pacing, Melissa de la Cruz is lacking.

Part of the problem is the way she divides the novel between the narrators: Schuyler, Bliss, and Mimi. Each girl gets about five pages before the book zooms off to the next narrator. As soon as I would get into one girl's voice and story, I would be reading a different segment. I got frustrated wanting to know what would happen to someone who I wasn't reading about. Eventually I started reading by skipping and reading one girl's story as a whole, then reading the next. Short chapters are usually a ploy to keep you reading, but it felt like it slowed me down.

What helped even less? I didn't find all three of the stories compelling. Most of the story movement occurs in the last third of the novel. I think the most frustrating part is when everyone goes back to school. Who wants to read about the characters going to school when we could be reading about the battle for the fate of the world?

I'm not saying THE VAN ALEN LEGACY was a complete loss. There were some big developments at the end, and hopefully they'll cause big reactions in MISGUIDED ANGEL. de la Cruz built up some momentum, and now she needs to keep that up. Especially since the series began so promisingly.

Come back tomorrow for a short interview with Melissa de la Cruz.

Merry Christmas!

I'm saying it just a little early. (Also, I took this photo last year, but my part of Texas is having a white Christmas, oddly enough.)

Last Minute Gift Ideas

Everything I said last year stands.

Don't forget, you can always make a gift to charity in someone else's name. Here's some book related options:

Inside Books: Fight recidivism by providing Texas inmates with free books (Spanish textbooks are always in demand.)

Leave a Mark, run by The Page Flipper and Lauren: Buy a unique, marked up book to help First Book, or make a direct donation

Book Angel Michelle: Help a community build its first library (Details on where to send the books here, as well as details on the prizes offered by the awesome bloggers helping Michelle)

Book Wish Foundation: For two dollars, you can help build a library in a refugee camp

Now for book suggestions!
(Note: I haven't read most of these. They're things that I would find fun as a gift, and don't think are common enough that someone would already own a copy.)

HOW TO SEW A BUTTON: And Other Nifty Things Your Grandmother Knew by Erin Bried



I can sew a button (who can't?), but this book promises the secret to folding a fitted sheet perfectly. I would kill for my fitted sheets to not look like they were folded by a blind amputee.

BEST FOOD WRITING 2008 edited by Holly Hughes



I have a thing for food porn. Don't judge me.

WHO SHOT ROCK AND ROLL: A Photographic History, 1955-Present by Gail Buckland



Photography, music, and sociology. This book looks to be both beautiful and thought-provoking.

TOKYO VICE: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan by Jake Adelstein



Satisfying a love of East Asia and gangster stories in one fell swoop.

SHAKESPEARE AND MODERN CULTURE by Marjorie Garber



Doesn't the title say it all? Pop culture and one of the greats, two irresistable passions. (Like TOKYO VICE!)

MUSE AND REVERIE by Charles de Lint



Tired of formulaic urban fantasy? One of the fathers of the genre, de Lint once more writes stories set in the town of Newford. I'm sure his writing is as gorgeous as always.

OTOMEN by Aya Kanno



I've read this series, but don't own it. I love the way Kanno plays with gender. (Plus the art is cute.)

DEVIL'S KISS by Sarwat Chadda



Horror story with elements of paranormal romance for YA readers? Sounds awesome.

Of course, I'd also pick and choose from anything I reviewed favorably.

Review: Nanny Returns and The Real Real

By Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
NANNY RETURNS available in hardcover from Atria Books
THE REAL REAL available in hardcover and paperback from HarperCollins
Review copies provided by publicist



I adored THE NANNY DIARIES, once I finally read it. (In the interest of full disclosure, for years I thought it was a biography of Fran Drescher. While I loved The Nanny, I didn't particularly have the urge to read about the star.) It's exactly what satire should be: ruthless, yet hilarious. It skewed the rich and the way they treat the help, in a portrait that seemed at once over-the-top and authentic. NANNY RETURNS never quite reaches those heights, though I ultimately enjoyed the novel. The main problem lies in the fact that 95% or so of the book is a major downer. (My mom agrees, in case you care.)

NANNY RETURNS begins twelve years after the events of THE NANNY DIARIES. Nan and her husband Ryan (the Harvard Hottie) have just moved back to New York, buying a run down building they hope to renovate and partially rent out. But soon Ryan has to return abroad for his job and the repairs keep going wrong.

And Grayer X, the boy Nan used to nanny, has tracked her down after finding her goodbye video eviserating his father and pleading with his parents to pay attention to him. His life isn't going so hot either. The Xes are divorcing, leading his mother to retreat into substance abuse. He needs to get his little brother Stilton into boarding school where he'll have supervision and care. Pretty soon, Nan is once more wrapped in the life of the Xes.

And then it gets worse. And worse. And while things end on a positive note . . . Nan's house still isn't habitable. A woman wronged by her employers is never heard from again. Children in trouble don't get the help they need. (Not even Grayer. He may manage to help Stilton out, but kid needs therapy.) Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus manage to keep their writing light and to inject humor into the proceedings, but they can't entirely disguise that they're grim proceedings indeed.

(It occurs to me that THE NANNY DIARIES works in almost the exact opposite way: things keep getting better and better until a hella depressing ending.) I could've easily hated this one if McLaughlin and Kraus's writing weren't so enjoyable, or if they didn't make Nan, Grayer, and several others so worth rooting for. But while fans of THE NANNY DIARIES will want to pick this up, it might not make the best Christmas gift. That is, unless you have someone you want to make cry. (Disclaimer on the crying: Monsters, Inc. made me cry. I'm easy.)



On the other hand, THE REAL REAL is a much frothier confection, much like the drings protagonist Jesse once served at a faux-Starbucks. She's enlisted to star in a reality show, with the rich kid clique and her equally cash-strapped crush. Unfortunately, her best friend is left out. Reality isn't interesting enough for the producers and scripted scenes quickly follow.

The blurb proclaims that Jesse struggles between telling "the difference between real and the real real." That's not quite true. Jesse never forgets that the show is bull. What she struggles with is the way the show affects her real image, and the way it's pressures cause her to act in real life. Participating in The Real Hampton Beach means Jesse can go to college she wants, but it may cost her everything else. To me, the plot McLaughlin and Kraus actually wrote is way more interesting than another nice girl becomes mean girl story. Jesse sometimes makes mean decisions, but she remains a basically decent person.

I breezed through THE REAL REAL. I assumed it would be a guilty pleasure, like the few reality TV shows I watch (The Bachelor(ette), Beauty and the Geek), but it quickly turned into a real pleasure. Unlike NANNY RETURNS, I fully recommened THE REAL REAL as a Christmas gift for a teen girl. At the very least, it may put her off ever wanting to appear on a reality TV show.

Review: Fallen

By Lauren Kate
Available Dec 8 from Delacorte
Review copy provided by publisher



I was excited about FALLEN, considering fallen angels are still fresh and I enjoyed HUSH, HUSH. Unfortunately, FALLEN is boring and there's no payoff.

Now, I know authors have little control over titles, so it may not be Lauren Kate's fault that the book is titled FALLEN. However, in a story in which you leave most of the plot threads dangling, what you resolve is important. Letting one of the reveals be that several of the characters are fallen angels just doesn't work in a story titled FALLEN. Nor does revealing that the heroine is a reincarnation doomed to die work when the prologue sets up the fact she is a reincarnation doomed to die.

However, I could forgive that if the plot and/or characters were interesting. Then I'd want to read the next book (tentatively titled TORMENT) in order to see how everything plays out. As for characters . . . well, everyone sympathetic is dead or evil by the end of FALLEN. Luce and Daniel, the leads, have no recognizable motivations.

Luce pursues Daniel (to the extent of stalking him) because she feels drawn to him. Daniel avoids her when possible and is rude when she's too persistant. I've gotten used to the mean urban fantasy crush, but that usually leads to witty banter (a la HUSH, HUSH). FALLEN plays it like Daniel needs to get a restraining order. And Luce's other option? Well, Cam invites her to social events as well as dates, gives her gifts, and generally acts nice. She sometimes gets a bad vibe, which I could buy, except she leads the guy on. FALLEN would be a lot more fun if it had the guts to make Luce a crazy obsessive who perhaps really did kill her former boyfriend. Instead, she's making the right choice by choosing the boy uninterested in her because he's secretly into her due to their past relationship. The supernatural elements make everything work out for her. (I believe nurture does affect nature. It would be neat if Daniel wasn't interested in her every life.)

Then there's Daniel's motives. He needs to be Luce's boyfriend or something bad happens. (Her dying is apparently better than the other bad thing. It's not explained why Luce's boyfriend is important.) She dies young, after falling in love, in every life. He's tried staying away before, and it never stops the cycle. So . . . he acts mean and keeps both of them unhappy even though it won't work and gives someone else a chance to step in and seduce her. That makes sense.

Cam's motives as the other guy are unexplained. Kate sets him up to be bad, but there's really only one scene where he acts it. Heck, the ending makes it look like he really does care for Luce. He's basically the bad guy because the good guys say he's bad. (Why are they good? Because they fight him.)

As you can see, pointing out the flaws in making the characters sympathetic also points out some of the plot holes. While there is some excitement in the end action scenes, they come too late. The rest is interminable Luce moping with perhaps two mysterious accidents. It would help if Luce acted worried and threatened instead of preoccupied with stalking someone.

I'm really not sorry for any spoilers. Just back away from the pretty cover before it's too late.

ETA: The writing isn't particularly great either. I think I lost it when Kate described the forest as "bosky." (For those who don't know, bosky is a great SAT word that basically means there are trees and/or shrubs. Y'know, those things that make a forest a forest.)