[Review] The Girl in the Clockwork Collar by Kady Cross

The Girl in the Clockwork Collar

(#2, Steampunk Chronicles)
Steel Corset | Clockwork Collar

Author: Kady Cross

Publication (dd/mm/yyyy): 01/06/201

Publisher: Harlequin Teen Aus
Pages: 360

Source: For review

Violence | Sexual Content | Profanity

My Rating:

Good read

Summary (Spoilers if you have not read Steel Corset):

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.

My thoughts:

There is something so captivating about Kady Cross's storytelling that I can't quite put my finger on. Maybe it's the steampunk world that Cross has twisted out of Victorian Era London/New York. Or perhaps the characters that are so unimaginably, inhumanly untouchable but are still flawed in their very humanly humanness. Or even the fact that the villains are so delectably beautiful and evil that their eventual capture makes me both sigh in relief and long for their glorious, hideously malicious return. Whatever it may be, one thing is for certain: I want more.

Enter and win up to 3 blind dates/books!

I posted up my review for Between the Lines earlier today. I was half asleep while writing that, so I hope you forgive me. I just started clinicals yesterday and when I got home I realised that I needed to post the review since I actually read a book BEFORE its publication date! This will surely never happen again, haha!

 Anyway, on to the important part ~ you want to win free books! Hachette Australia's teen segment 'Date a Book' is turning THREE this year, and to celebrate they're giving away even more than ever!

You have to fill in a form, and the guys at Hachette will randomise what they send you - just like a blind date! I'm so stoked...  I really need something to get me through the rest of this month (a whole month of waking up before 6 am and doing my clinical placements when the other half of my cohort will be partying and on holiday).

Aussie residents, go over and submit your form and comment below, let me know what category date you selected!

I really cannot wait to find out what we all receive.

And, as an added bonus, there will be random giveaways on the Facebook page and Twitter (@DateaBook)!

* I personally chose tear-jerkers.

 

[Review] Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult

Between the Lines

Author: Jodi Picoult & Samantha van Leer

Publication (dd/mm/yyyy): 02/07/2012

Publisher: Allen & Unwin (AU)

Pages: 370

Source: For review

Violence | Sexual Content | Profanity

My Rating:

Good Read

 

The Review:

Wow. It's really been a while. Let me just note if I had read this book when I was 11-15, I would be giving this 5 stars, no questions asked. There's a lot to love about this book and I'm glad that this book exists. I truly hope that more people read it, and this experience and given me the push I needed to try some of Jodi's adult works.

Jodi Picoult worked in collaboration with her teenage daughter, Samantha, in making her latest novel for teens. Between the Lines follows Delilah, a fiften-year-old girl who is simply fed up with reality. That's why she spends much of her time inside books . . . and one book in particular. A fairytale book where she can empathise with the hero (Oliver) in the story as he'd lost his father. Of course, this fairytale hero's father died a brave and mighty hero. The same cannot be said for Delilah's dad, who left her and her mum. One day, Oliver speaks to her. And he wants out of the fairytale.