Fiendish by Brenna Yovanoff {guest review}

Fiendish 
by Brenna Yovanoff
♦publisher: Razorbill
♦release date: August 14th, 2014
♦hardcover, 352 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦source: from publisher for honest review
♦guest reviewer: Amy

Clementine DeVore spent ten years trapped in a cellar, pinned down by willow roots, silenced and forgotten.

Now she’s out and determined to uncover who put her in that cellar and why.

When Clementine was a child, dangerous and inexplicable things started happening in New South Bend. The townsfolk blamed the fiendish people out in the Willows and burned their homes to the ground. But magic kept Clementine alive, walled up in the cellar for ten years, until a boy named Fisher sets her free. Back in the world, Clementine sets out to discover what happened all those years ago. But the truth gets muddled in her dangerous attraction to Fisher, the politics of New South Bend, and the Hollow, a fickle and terrifying place that seems increasingly temperamental ever since Clementine reemerged.

Review: For ten years, Clementine lay buried in the cellar, eyes sewn shut, ensnarled in willow roots.  Bound by a magic so strong, no one even remembers her existence. Until one day a boy hears the faint magical pull of her breathing, unearthing not only a lost and forgotten girl but quite possibly the magical curse that may be responsible for trapping Clementine. 

Waking to a world that is scared of the craft that dwells in Wixby Hollow, Clementine rediscovers a world where magical beasts, hell hounds and fiends dwell. A coalition of townspeople are waiting to once again burn the magic from the Hollow to purify those who possess the craft, saving themselves from the plague that they call The Reckoning. This leaves Clementine to not only try to discover who trapped her in the cellar, but where she fits in a town where politics and truth are buried deeper than the cellar she has emerged from. 

Brenna Yovanoff, once again captures her readers with a gothic tale of horror and mystique. Painting a story that is both horrific as well as alluring, she combines old magic with witchcraft, unraveling a town that is built upon fear itself. Taking that which is seen as unnatural and wrong, it fits together to make a beautiful and enchanting story.

Find Brenna Yovanoff online: Website  •  Twitter  •  Facebook

Buy Fiendish:  BN.com  •  BookDepository  •  Indiebound

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are jumping-up-and-down excited for.

Fiendish

by Brenna Yovanoff 

hitting shelves June 26th, 2014 from Razorbill

description:
Clementine DeVore spent ten years trapped in a cellar, pinned down by willow roots, silenced and forgotten.

Now she’s out and determined to uncover who put her in that cellar and why.

When Clementine was a child, dangerous and inexplicable things started happening in New South Bend. The townsfolk blamed the fiendish people out in the Willows and burned their homes to the ground. But magic kept Clementine alive, walled up in the cellar for ten years, until a boy named Fisher sets her free. Back in the world, Clementine sets out to discover what happened all those years ago. But the truth gets muddled in her dangerous attraction to Fisher, the politics of New South Bend, and the Hollow, a fickle and terrifying place that seems increasingly temperamental ever since Clementine reemerged.

My thoughts: Point one: Brenna Yovanoff---love her stuff. Point Two:  Intriguing synopsis with magic and mystery and willow trees.  Point Three: FREAKING AMAZING COVER.  Just...wow.

Becky's View: Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff

Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff
♦publisher: Razorbill
♦release date: January 8th, 2013
♦hardcover, 368 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦stand-alone
♦source: from publisher for honest review

The city of Ludlow is gripped by the hottest July on record. The asphalt is melting, the birds are dying, petty crime is on the rise, and someone in Hannah Wagnor’s peaceful suburban community is killing girls.

For Hannah, the summer is a complicated one. Her best friend Lillian died six months ago, and Hannah just wants her life to go back to normal. But how can things be normal when Lillian’s ghost is haunting her bedroom, pushing her to investigate the mysterious string of murders? Hannah’s just trying to understand why her friend self-destructed, and where she fits now that Lillian isn’t there to save her a place among the social elite. And she must stop thinking about Finny Boone, the big, enigmatic delinquent whose main hobbies seem to include petty larceny and surprising acts of kindness.

With the entire city in a panic, Hannah soon finds herself drawn into a world of ghost girls and horrifying secrets. She realizes that only by confronting the Valentine Killer will she be able move on with her life—and it’s up to her to put together the pieces before he strikes again.

Review: Paper Valentine was my first taste of Brenna Yovanoff's writing.  I'd heard some great things about her previous books, and now I see what all the hype was about.  She knows how to spin a tale that just kind of swallows you up into it's world.  It was easy to fall into step with this small town community, baking in the unforgiving summer, and wondering what has happened to the safe little town they thought they lived it.  Someone is murdering young girls and everyone is living in fear of when the killer will strike again.  For Hannah, some of these girls are kids she grew up with, some are the same age as her little sister, but all of them seem to be trying to contact her, pushing her to find their killer. 

But they aren't the only ghosts that are pushing her to find the killer. Lillian, Hannah's best friend, died of anorexia  and has been constantly with her since.  I loved the relationship between Hannah and Lillian; from the very beginning you get a feel for their closeness.  Lillian's part in this story really gave the plot something completely unique, both as a ghost story and a story about eating disorders.  Lillian is much the same in death as she was in life, but every once in while, she slips into the emotions of dealing with what she did to herself.  We watch as she tries to come to terms with it, to justify it, to regret it, and to see firsthand just how much it hurt her best friend.  Hannah herself was a great complex character, creative and inquisitive, dealing with the loss of her friend with a mix of anger and sadness. She's drawn into the murder mystery in several different ways, by clues she comes across at her job and secrets that she only knows because of Lillian and her ability to see the murder victims.

The love story was a bit on the sidelines, but I really thought it was sweet.  It's born more from a curiosity about the aloof and generally misunderstood Finny Boone than just a plain attraction.  They'd grown up together in the same school, so there was all this history that seemed to both push them apart and draw then together.  

The one thing I didn't like is this..and it's a bit of a spoiler so I've whited it out.  Highlight at your own risk! * When we finally find out who the killer is, I completely get that she was trying to buy herself some time until help arrived, but I seriously didn't believe that the killer would sit with her in a meadow, chatting it up about why and how he did it all and who he worked with.  No matter how crazy he was suppose to be. *  BUT aside from that one small thing,  Yovanoff's writing is exceptional, her prose easily paint pictures in your head (be prepared for some pretty grisly descriptions of the ghosts and murder scenes).  Paper Valentine was an incredibly entertaining and well-told story of murder, ghosts, social structures, and most of all, love and loss.

Find Brenna Yovanoff online: Website  •  Twitter  •  Facebook

Purchase Paper Valentine:  Amazon  •  BN.com  •  BookDepository  •  Indiebound

Cover Story + A Peek Inside: The Curiosities by Maggie Stiefvater, Brenna Yovanoff & Tessa Gratton

Over at the Merry Sisters of Fate, a collaborative blog created by Maggie Stiefvater, Brenna Yovanoff, and Tessa Gratton, they have revealed the cover for their new book! The Curiosities looks amazing; it's a collection of the short stories that have been featured at Merry Sisters of Fate, which would be awesome all by itself, but the book also features little scribblings and illustrations by the authors. I just heard about this book for the first time yesterday and I can tell you, I am so excited to get my hands on it Fall 2012!!

The beautiful cover:

Synopsis:

A vampire locked in a cage in the basement, for good luck.

Bad guys, clever girls, and the various reasons why the guys have to stop breathing.

A world where fires never go out (with references to vanilla ice cream).

These are but a few of the curiosities collected in this volume of short stories by three acclaimed practitioners of paranormal fiction.

But The Curiosities is more than the stories. Since 2008, Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton, and Brenna Yovanoff have posted more than 250 works of short fiction to their website merryfates.com. Their goal was simple: create a space for experimentation and improvisation in their writing—all in public and without a backspace key. In that spirit, The Curiosities includes the stories and each author’s comments, critiques, and kudos in the margins. Think of it as a guided tour of the creative processes of three acclaimed authors.

So, are you curious now?

And a little peek at an annotated page and some of the fun illustrations inside:

And a trailer!

Doesn't this look incredible? Often I would say I don't go in for short story collections, but this looks too fun to pass up and involves three amazing authors! Be sure to stop by the Merry Sisters of Fate site---they are giving away a few ARC copies of The Curiosites this weekend!

Cover Story: The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff

A tiny sneak peek of this cover has been on Goodreads for awhile now, but I've been waiting for it to be posted in a decent size so we could see all the interesting detail to feature it here! Another cool cover for Brenna Yovanoff! The story sounds pretty amazing, too...I can't wait!

Everything burns in Pandemonium

Everything is made of steel, even the flowers. How can you love anything in a place like this?

Daphne is the half-demon, half-fallen angel daughter of Lucifer and Lilith. Life for her is an endless expanse of time, until her brother Obie is kidnapped—and Daphne realizes she may be partially responsible. Determined to find him, Daphne travels from her home in Pandemonium to the vast streets of Earth, where everything is colder and more terrifying. With the help of the human boy she believes was the last person to see her brother alive, Daphne glimpses into his dreams, discovering clues to Obie’s whereabouts. As she delves deeper into her demonic powers, she must navigate the jealousies and alliances of the violent archangels who stand in her way. But she also discovers, unexpectedly, what it means to love and be human in a world where human is the hardest thing to be.

This second novel by rising star Brenna Yovanoff is a story of identity, discovery, and a troubled love between two people struggling to find their place both in our world and theirs.

Coming November 15th, 2011 from Razorbill!