[Review] The Book of Shade--K.C. Finn

I really should check my auto-approval section of Netgalley more often because sometimes there are real gems in there. “The Book of Shade,” is one of them. Our heroine, Lily Coltrane, heads off to university where she and her roomate Jazzy join a school club called The Illustrious Minds Literary Society. The society doesn’t seem to do too much except for once a month when members are invited to see the latest strange and magical show at the local Theatre Imaginique, which is run by performers with a variety of odd talents like levitating, hypnosis and shooting lighting bolts out of their hands. The owner and boss of the troupe is Lemarick Novel, a young man with white hair and an air of old world about him who performs all sorts of astounding tricks. Novel immediately sees that Lily has some gifts too and eventually tells her that she is a Shade like him. Shades are non-humans who can control the elements such as fire and water. In the process of mentoring Lily in all matters of Shade stuff, Novel also introduces her to his parents and tells her about the Shadehunters who want to kill all Shades.

Novel’s mean, creeptastic mother is a major character in the book and one of my favorites just because of how much she makes you hate her. I initially thought this book seemed much too long but it sucked me in and kept me wanting more of these strange people.

This book apparently was published several years ago and book 2 was released last year. I’m looking forward to reading that one as well. Thanks to Starstorm and Netgalley for auto-approving me for this very entertaining read.

[Review] Crimson Peak Novelization--Nancy Holder

I'm not sure that I've ever read a novelization of a screenplay before "Crimson Peak." It popped up in "things you may like" on my library account and although I hadn't had much interest in the movie I thought the book looked interesting. Holy crap! It's creepy and gothic and wintery and incestuous...and just sooooo darn good!

Edith Cushing is a young woman who aspires to be a novelist, specifically a horror novelist who uses her own supernatural experiences following her mother's death to fuel her stories. But when she meets the handsome and mysterious Sir Thomas Sharpe her life and the lives of those around her change drastically. Her wealthy father dies under suspicious circumstances, but before she can even discuss the matter with her faithful childhood friend Alan, she is spirited away to England with Thomas and his weirdly beautiful, but clearly sinister sister, Lucille. Cut off from the world at Allerdale Hall and surrounded by red clay that stains the earth, the snow and even the fog, she soon learns that nothing about Thomas and Lucille is as it appears. But never fear because there is still faithful Alan...and that's all I'm going to say.

Try it, you'll like it!