Judge A Book By Its Cover / Bite Me!

The Book / Bite Me! / Melissa Francis

At First Glance / The cover looks rather simple and dull compared to other vibrant and glamorous ones on the shelf. The back of girl's head, blond hair swept to the side, a pretty ginormous Bite Me! tattoo, and solid turquoise background - nothing really stellar, I'm afraid. I'm not sure if it would actually draw my eye enough to snatch it from the shelf if I had not stumbled upon Melissa Francis's blog of awesomeness and limericks - and knew I had to check out her book!

After Finishing The Book / Well, I'll spoil things here and say that the main character AJ does not have an obnoxious Bite Me! tattoo on her neck - I know, crushing spoiler: The title is not on her neck! :) But she does have that design that is behind the Bite Me! - what it means is really part of AJ trying to uncover her family history and I'm not going to spoil that secret at least!

I don't remember if AJ is a blonde - but if she is, I guess I'm a little surprised. AJ didn't strike me as a blonde - she seemed more daring than that. Yet if she was as goody-two-shoes as everyone else accused her of being, I suppose straight blonde hair could be indicative of that.

Furthermore, I guess the "clean" cover fits for AJ - it follows the rules, plain and simple. But then there's this wicked birthmark on the back of her neck - and the Bite Me! title that taunts at you. As if AJ is daring you to assume she's a good girl who doesn't know how to have fun - daring you to find out more about her.

The Verdict / The cover may make more sense - has more meaning, that is - after reading the book. However, if the simple cover is meant to catch the eye, I don't think it will attract a second lustful glance. Maybe a more side of the head silhouette with a little fang sticking out and the birthmark/title would have been more alluring enough and definitely reinforce that Bite Me! is a vampire book.

BkRv: Mistaken but not quite Miss Taken

Book Review / The Mistaken Wife / Rose Melikan

Historical | Series Book 3

First Line / Crea-eek, crea-eek, crea-eek: a sharp, tuneless treble pierced the rumble of wheels and the steady clip-a-clop of horses' hooves. It was enough to try the patience of even the most well disposed passenger, and that adjective did not apply to any of those traveling on the Ipswich to Cambridge coach on this particular afternoon.









The What About / from the publisher

It is the autumn of 1797. The war between the British and the French is being fought not just openly but also in secret by a network of spies. Reluctant heiress Mary Finch is no stranger to adventure, but even she hesitates before accepting this assignment: to travel secretly to Paris and disrupt vital Franco-American negotiations. She must rely wholly upon a stranger while deceiving her "dearest friend," Captain Robert Holland. Once in France, Mary’s safety rests on a knife-edge, and her colleague has secrets of his own. Undaunted, she sets about her task with wit, stealth, and determination. But she is not the only spy in Paris, and there is more than one British life in jeopardy if she fails. As implacable enemies join forces against her, Mary may lose everything.

The Review / When I first read the initial blurb about The Mistaken Wife, I immediately thought of The Agency series with Mary Quinn and was curious to see what Mary Finch was all about. I was a little hesitant with reading this without the 1st two books under my belt, but time was of the essence and I was assured that it was not a major necessity.

Well, my daring Readers, I can say that while it was not majorly important to read in order, I think it would have been nice to know Mary and company a little bit better before The Mistaken Wife. Especially the scoop between Mary and Captain Holland - not to mention, learn more about Cuthbert Shy, the man behind Mary's spy adventures, the man who knew everything and everyone. Anyhow, I think I would have reacted better if I stayed on English shores a little while longer and not lunge across the ocean to spy on France.

Historical fiction is a hit-or-miss for me, and The Mistaken Wife will be more "miss" than "hit" for me this time around. I still might check out the 1st two books to see if I'd like them better, but quite frankly I'm not sure if this time period suits me.

I did really enjoy one of the minor characters in The Mistaken Wife: Minta Vangenzen. Mary has to pretend to be Mrs. Vangenzen in order to safely enter France, but discovers that her "fake husband" is actually married to Minta who cannot be "Mrs. Vangezen" publicly for fear of being enslaved again. In the end, I was dismayed with Minta's untimely choices, but while she and Mary lived under the same French roof, there was one conversation between them that grabbed my attention.

From page 130 /

[Mary, to Minta:] "I was wondering...I expect it is terribly rude and prying but...why have you kept your marriage a secret? You cannot have liked...I mean, is such a thing necessary in France? ...In America, perhaps, the risk would have been too great. But have you not considered that your situation might be different in France? The law regarding slavery..."

"The law. What does the law matter? The trouble lies in people's hearts. Good, decent people who nevertheless do cruel, terrible things. I have been in the power of such people for most of my life - why should I run the risk of being so again?"

"But...if you remain afraid to show yourself as a free woman, are you not still in their power?" asked Mary. "And consider what you have lost..."

"I have lost very little. The world outside is nothing to me. I care only for the world inside, and there I know I am secure. And I am not a fool. I know that the outsiders may cause me great pain, so I make myself invisible to them. In that way I avoid the harm that the world may inflict, and I endure no hardship, for I merely do without that upon which I place no value... But you [take] risks! You have said so! That is what happens when one ventures into the world outside. In an instant one may lose all that one holds dear - and for what?"

"For friendship, I suppose," said Mary, "and to preserve other things more important than ourselves."

Really I'm not sure if either Mary or Minta are in the wrong - I think they have lived through different circumstances, and they each have their own separate ideas on happiness and civic duty. Anyhow, the passage stuck in my mind when I read it and I thought I'd share :)

---Disclaimer / Publisher / Blog Tour

Guest Post / Rose Melikan

Last month Rose Melikan celebrated the release of the 3rd installment of her Mary Finch series {The Mistaken Wife}. Since I was entrenched with zombies in September, I could not properly welcome Rose with proper decorum - so she graciously allowed me to host her this month! :)

Mary Finch is an Englishwoman who has the unbelievable opportunity to be a spy for her country during the French Revolutionary Wars. Not an "official" spy, but still more excitement than any other Englishwoman at the time!

Since I didn't know too much about the French Revolutionary Wars or how a woman spy would fare during that time period, Rose Melikan was kind enough to share her thoughts on the subject!

---Rose Melikan /

I’ve never met an historian who didn’t think that his or her period had something special going for it, and I’m no exception. For my “day job” I study 18th century British history, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I decided to set my Mary Finch stories in that period. Why the 1790s? To take advantage of the French Revolution, of course. The fall of the French monarchy led to a period of unprecedented danger for England. Republican France was hostile, aggressive, powerful, and only 30 miles away. More than once during the next two decades, England would stand virtually alone against her opponent, as French forces swept across Europe. Who could ask for a better setting?

Obviously, quite a few other authors have felt as I have. One need only mention Patrick O’Brian, C.S. Forester, and Bernard Cornwell among modern historical novelists, and Dickens and Thackeray among the giants of the nineteenth century. While not wishing to compare myself with any of them, I did want to do something different in my stories. Essentially, I turned to espionage as a way of taking advantage of the excitement and physical danger of the period while avoiding the obvious battlefields and sea-fights.

Espionage allowed me to set my stories in England and to explore the theme of the home front – especially during the years before Trafalgar, when the threat of invasion was very real. Espionage also provided considerable scope for characterization. Critics have pointed out that Jane Austen’s novels rarely mention the Napoleonic wars, and this is because she was concerned with an essentially female world. The war inspired anguish for husbands, brothers, and lovers away fighting, but could not offer active employment for the women themselves. A woman might, however, take part in the secret warfare between British and French agents – she might even become an agent herself. I particularly wanted to give my Mary Finch character an important wartime role that would feel believable (or almost believable) for a woman of her time. Despite her primacy, however, I have never considered The Blackstone Key, The Counterfeit Guest, and The Mistaken Wife as being solely about Mary. In particular, I wanted readers to feel that the central male characters had their own significance and their own concerns. Once again, espionage helped, in providing an outlet for Holland, Déprez, and Whittington that would keep them off the battlefield without reducing them in our estimation as men to be reckoned with.

There are limits, of course, and I thought quite carefully about the assignments I could realistically expect my characters to undertake – particularly those involving Mary. Among the relevant considerations were her career path and her actual conduct. In her first adventure she is very much the amateur, while in the second she joins an on-going surveillance project because she knows the man concerned. Even the French assignment in The Mistaken Wife is only given to her because there is no alternative. It is also significant that she is not actually working for the British government, but for another amateur – albeit one with considerable experience and access to those in authority. Cuthbert Shy is an idiosyncratic, gentleman adventurer, and his decision to employ Mary is much less surprising than her recruitment by the Home Office would have been.

As regards her actual conduct, I wanted this to be challenging but also credible for a young woman of her time and with her background. Mary is thoughtful, clever, and keeps her nerve under pressure – and the situations in which she is placed are designed to capitalize on these traits. She is not, however, the equal of Captain Holland when dealing with physical violence. Nor does she have the expertise that comes from a military career. As the stories all relate to military affairs, there are times when Mary not only cedes authority to other characters, but even fades from the scene. The stories would be simpler if I focused solely on Mary and what she could plausibly achieve, but I think they would be less interesting. Hopefully readers feel the same!

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As they say, write what you know and/or write what you love - and I'm glad that Rose has created a nice little niche in this tumultuous time period!

Best wishes for you and Mary Finch and Captain Holland! :)

BkRv: Snack on a little twinkie of awesome

Book Review / Bite Me! / Melissa Francis

YA | Girls | Vampires | Series Book 1


First Line /

My mother's wedding day.

I should be thrilled she's getting hitched to the man of her dreams. And don't get me wrong; part of me is truly happy for her. Mr. Fraser - I mean, Rick - is a great guy. I like him. A lot.

But I like his oldest son, Ryan, even more.








The What About / in my own words

Life sucks for AJ - whatever you call "life" for a girl vampire-born. She didn't mind following the rules to be a "normal" teenager and keep her fangs in check. But shouldn't it be against the rules for her mom to be marrying her boyfriend's dad, thus forcing AJ to break up with Ryan to avoid any "icky incest" jibes at school? Talk about totally unfair - how does one change feelings from loverly to brotherly for a boy who makes her all gooey inside? AJ isn't sure if she'll survive this massive heartbreak, but when life starts to throw some more curveballs, she decides to throw some rules out the window in order to find out more about a classmate's death, the person who framed her for cheating, and the story behind her serpentine birthmark and dark family history.

The Review / The best way I can describe Bite Me! is that it is the love child between FAIRY TALE and I Kissed A Zombie, And I Liked It - snappy-happy with just enough snark and a little bit of sparkly. The sucky part was the disaster between AJ and Ryan which had delicious and heart-wrenching tension that seems to have no hope whatsoever.

Beyond doomed relationship angle, the rest of the story was all right. It mostly stayed afloat with the tongue-in-cheek humor and mystery that surrounded AJ's family history. It got a little weird near the middle-end - as in FADE weird-ish -but only for a moment. Which really makes me re-think the "that teacher is smokin' hot" daydreams when I was younger and wish I could take it all back now that I am wiser-ish. Blech. Not cool! Just date your age, young Readers, date your age!

Overall Melissa Francis concocted a pretty interesting vampire lore and simply gave us a little nibble with Bite Me! I am definitely salivating for its recently-released sequel Love Sucks!

---Disclaimer / Library

BkRv: Bobbing along in the beautiful briny sea

Book Review / Forgive My Fins / Tera Lynn Childs

YA | Girls | Fantasy | Series Book 1


First Line / Water calms me. It's like chocolate or hot tea or dulce de leche ice cream. After a rotten day, I lock the bathroom door, fill Aunt Rachel's old-timey tub with steaming water and bath salts, and then sink into a world where my problems all melt away.

Some days it's not enough.








The What About / in my own words

Lily feels like she was born with a mouth full of sand and two left feet whenever she crosses paths with Brody, the school's star swimmer and heartthrob extraordinaire. Which would be funnier if she wasn't the mermaid princess of the underwater kingdom of Thalassinia. Apparently land boys are harder to catch, but Lily is determined to win Brody's heart. Even if it requires her to work with her much-loathed next-door neighbor Quince to make her dream come true. True to form, however, Quince manages to mess things up and Lily gets trapped in the whirlpool of undesirable consequences that involves a trip back home to undo. Will she manage to stay afloat with the boy of her dreams - or sink into the abyss with a boy who makes her lose her cool all the time?

The Review / Forgive My Fins did not quite catch my fancy as expected, but all in all, it was quite a charming read if one is looking for bubbly fun. I could tell Tera Lynn Childs had a whale of a time with all the sea-themed quips and giggles - and after finishing such a read, I cannot help but roll with the puns as I type this review. Even horrible as they must be to you, my finless Readers.

Yet, as fun as Lily's aquatic phrases were, the story itself didn't sizzle and spark and all that good stuff. I wanted a little more tension within the love triangle between Lily, Brody, and Quince - it almost got to that delicious point, but then backed off too soon for me to get 110% committed to the characters. As far as characters go, Quince was by far my favorite. Misunderstood, overlooked, but absolutely irresistible and charming.

I'm debating whether or not I want to read the sequel Fins Are Forever when it comes out, but I think I probably will to find out how sweet the story ends - and to see if Quince gets uber-hotter :)

Compared to oh.my.gods. (review here), Forgive My Fins follows the same vein of funness of Tera Lynn Child's debut series, but without the Greek mythiness which might have colored my reaction since I am quite partial to the myths.

---Disclaimer / Borrowed

Hungry for... Stacey Jay?

Due to a 2-week hiccup during the end of Zombie Appreciation Month, I still have a handful of guests who so graciously spared some time to wave their zombie freak flags at the|EPIC|rat and so enjoy some leftover zombie love! :)
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I am totally pleased as punch to bring back Stacey Jay this year since she released TWO more zombie reads - Undead Much? and My So-Called Death - for us to feast upon earlier this year. The zombies, I know, could not wait to have her over to dinner, erm, interview!

So, without further ado, Stacey Jay!

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1. Who or what bit you and spread the infectious love for Team Zombie? How long have you been Team Zombie?
I've been Team Zombie since I watched NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD one weekend at my cousin's house when I was eight. (She got to watch scary movies and HBO. I was forbidden both because my mother feared cable and I feared everything else, especially horror movies. I couldn't sleep for weeks after watching that one.) From that night on, I've considered zombies the ultimate horror movie creature. What's scarier than a rotted dead person who wants to eat your brains? Werewolves and vampires have nothing on that.

2. If the zombie apocalypse starts tomorrow, what book would you like to read before your brain gets eaten and why?
MOCKINGJAY by Suzanne Collins! Please zombies don't take me until I've read MOCKINGJAY. (I've had to put it off because I'm in the middle of a rewrite and have no time to read. It's sitting there on my shelf, just waiting for the minute I send my new draft off to my editor.)

3. The zombified books have infected the entire book world from Jane Austen to the Beatles. What book would you zombify? Who would be the lucky zombie(s)?
Hmmm...I'm not sure. I'm not a huge fan of zombifying the classics or heroes of classic rock. I guess I'm a stick in the mud that way. But I wouldn't mind zombifying the anchors of Fox News if that gave me carte blanche to whack their heads off with a shovel.

4. What is your favorite zombie thing (book, movie, person, picture, idea, joke, etc)?
Zombie Unicorns. I want a shirt with a zombie unicorn on it. Doesn't that sound like fun?

5. Any last words before we spill your guts literally?
You can take my spleen*, but you can never take my dignity. Or something like that...

* Spleen image courtesy of I Heart Guts (an absolutely adorable gutsy website!)
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And because Stacey Jay rocks so much, she has offered to provide a signed copy of My So-Called Death here at the|EPIC|rat to one lucky commenter.

The rules?

Leave your name and email in the comments.
+ 5 if you also comment on my review for My So-Called Death here

Open to US and CANADA only!INTERNATIONAL

Ends October 15th

BkRv: Pink is the new zombie black!

Book Review / My So-Called Death / Stacey Jay

YA | Girls | Zombies

First Line / All in all, it was a good day to die. If there really is such a thing.









The What About / in my own words

Karen's life was all pom-poms and die-hard school spirit, basically living large as the freshman cheerleader who gets tossed up to the top of the pyramid. With the world at her feet, nothing can stop her - that is, nothing except an ill-timed pyramid crumble that ends with her death-defying undeath?! Suddenly Karen's life gets turned upside-down as she learns her family history of not dying by normal means - and then getting shipped to a boarding school for undead kids like her, although they don't seem to share her love for the pink. Then there's this little mix-up where her arrival coincides with mysterious brain-stealing that results in zombie death. As if Karen would do such a horrible thing! So Karen does whatever any wrongfully-accused person does, she gets to the bottom of this - even if it means suspecting the hottest zombie boy in school!

The Review / Fans of You Are So Undead To Me will find this zombie book full of familiar perkiness yet definitely cut in a different cloth - more along the lines of Generation Dead and I Kissed A ZOMBIE, And I Liked It. If you prefer an intelligent zombie with a little perk, then My So-Called Death will suit your zombie needs!

Stacey Jay really captured the voice of a perky, go-getter girl - so much that I could not help but laugh at how chipper Karen stayed despite being a zombie and enduring undeserved suspicion from her fellow undead peers due to her love of pink and possible involvement of the brain-snatching.

From page 33 / Over half the school had the creepy goth thing going on big time. Which, I'm sorry, but, cliché much? We were zombies. I was being way more rebellious and societal-norm-rejecting by wearing a pink bow than the goth minions were with their black eyeliner and purple fingernails.

From page 26 / Geez. I should have known me and the roomie weren't going to get along. My sweater might look like a unicorn puked on it, but Clarice's bed looked like the inside of an emo vampire's lair. And emo vampires and unicorns do not get along. One is a creature of light and the other a minion of angst-ridden darkness. (But a unicorn would totally win in a fight. One big, sharp horn trumps two tiny fangs any day.)

Not to mention, Stacey Jay definitely created an awesome high school for the undead with deliciously disgusting lunch menus that involves brains - animal, of course - and educational classes for those who could possibly live forever and may want to integrate back into the "living" society.

My So-Called Death is absolutely perfect for those who want to ease themselves into zombie books - especially light-hearted ones - and definitely if you instill zombie love into the younger generation (i.e. middle-grade / junior high). Karen has just started high school, so I think Stacey Jay hit the nail right on that age range!

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Seriously Karen was just too cute beyond words! Who knew zombies could rock the pinkness? :) My whole zombie world has been changed - for the better!






---Disclaimer / Borrowed

Waiting on... Enchanted Ivy (10.12.2010)

The Book / Enchanted Ivy
The Author / Sarah Beth Durst

The Out When / 10.12.2010

The What About / from the publisher

What Lily Carter wants most in the world is to attend Princeton University just like her grandfather. When she finally visits the campus, Grandpa surprises her: She has been selected to take the top-secret Legacy Test. Passing means automatic acceptance to Princeton. Sweet!

Lily's test is to find the Ivy Key. But what is she looking for? Where does she start? As she searches, Lily is joined by Tye, a cute college boy with orange and black hair who says he's her guard. That's weird. But things get seriously strange when a gargoyle talks to her. He tells her that there are two Princetons—the ordinary one and a magical one—and the Key opens the gate between them. But there are more secrets that surround Lily. Worse secrets.

When Lily enters the magical Princeton, she uncovers old betrayals and new dangers, and a chance at her dream becomes a fight for her life. Soon Lily is caught in a power struggle between two worlds, with her family at its center. In a place where Knights slay monsters, boys are were-tigers, and dragons might be out for blood, Lily will need all of her ingenuity and courage—and a little magic—to unite the worlds and unlock the secrets of her past and her future.

The What For / Doesn't this sound delicious? Speaking for myself, I cannot resist gargoyles - and the one on this cover is beautiful! I loved Sarah Beth Durst's book ICE and cannot wait to get my hands on a finished copy of Enchanted Ivy. If it is as breathtaking and daring and heart-stopping as ICE, then I am certainly in for a treat! :)

This WoW meme is courtesy of Jill @ Breaking the Spine

Zombie Survival Rules: The Celia Edition

Due to a 2-week hiccup during the end of Zombie Appreciation Month, I still have a handful of guests who so graciously spared some time to wave their zombie freak flags at the|EPIC|rat and so enjoy some leftover zombie love! :)

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Earlier in September, we had Celia from Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia over for a 5-finger interview and she managed to distract our hungry zombies with some crazy fork-ninja maneuvers. Clearly she is a person to know when the zombie apocalypse arrives, and luckily the|EPIC|rat gathered some helpful advice on surviving such a disaster.

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5 rules to follow when faced with a zombie apocalypse
courtesy of Celia :)

Let’s suspend disbelief and imagine that you are facing the zombie apocalypse (hey, it could happen!). How do you survive? What do you need to do/have/prepare for so that you end
up alive, and the zombies end up, well, dead? Say hello to happiness, because I have some ideas. I hope you’re all taking notes!

1. Know ‘people.’
And no, I’m not talking about knowing just any random person out there. I mean ‘people’ with little ‘air quotes’ around them. The ones with guns, survival instincts, training and an attitude to match. Sure, they may not seem like safe friends right now (hello, that collection of firearms?), but when the zombie horde is coming, it certainly won’t hurt to have them on your side. Bonus points if they are still in the habit of hoarding non-perishables from the Y2K scare.

2. Carry an axe.
I’m not saying that this is going to help you avoid a zombie, but just that it’s a legit thing to do. You’ll look tough, feel safer, and have a genuine weapon at the ready. Effing bada$. Just beware the inevitable arterial spray. Axe-wielding is messy business.



3. Avoid safe houses, ball pits, and loved ones with ketchup stains on their shirts.
Because during a zombie apocalypse, none of those things means anything good (see this link). Unless it’s real ketchup. In which case…no, never mind. Still not a good idea, because once your beloved messy eater gets zombified, you won’t be able to tell the difference between ketchup and blood.



4. Choose appropriate footwear.
It’s not exactly the secret of the century that anyone wearing heels is the first to go in a zombie invasion, followed closely by anyone in flip-flops. I mean, it’s a given that you’re going to have to run faster than the undead. Zombies are going for your brain, not the latest style. And if you’ll be slowed down by your choice of footwear, think twice. And ALWAYS tie your shoelaces.

5. Keep the music inside your head. True: it hasn’t been objectively proven that zombies can actually hear anything. But if we assume that they can (even in their post-human
state), you won’t want to be blaring music or singing aloud, even if it’s making you happy, putting you in the mood to be a fighter (or a lover), or just filling the air with something besides groans and screams. If you do need music, charge your iPod batteries and put in those earbuds. Added plus side: you won’t annoy your inevitable new roommate with your
musical taste or lack thereof. Score!

Those are my rules. Can you think of anything I missed?

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I think Celia hit all the good rules - if only I can remember them while panicked and nearly bitten by a horde of zombies!

Stay tuned for more rules and other zombie niceties this month!

October GRaB begins!

Just a friendly reminder for those who like books and giveaways. Read my reviews this month, and get a chance to win any book that I have reviewed on this blog ever (see list here).

Check out the RULES (and how to earn more chances) here

If you post about October GRaB,
let me know in the comments below (with a link please!).

Getting up from the sickness!

So I had originally planned to do more reviews for ZOMBIE FEST than the measly 9 and had a few more guest posts, but the sickness got me real bad and let's just say that reading and blogging were the furthest things from my mind - I craved SLEEP like a zombie craves BRAINS!

Thank goodness October is spookily delicious - and I'll probably party with the zombies among other ghoulies. :}

Long story short, thank you to everyone who joined me and my fellow zombie bloggers for ZOMBIE FEST - I hope you had a blast!

GIVEAWAY RESULTS

• Zombie & Unicorn buttons - All who commented before the deadline became winners since I got a little button-crazy
• Zombie Kill Of The Week 1, 2, & 3 - Vampires and Tofu, Icedream, and Book Rat
• TEN LITTLE ZOMBIES and tote bag - Tales Of Delirium
  
• Zombie GRaB box - Ashley's Bookshelf
• September GRaB - throuthehaze reads