REVIEW: Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs

Watch out, all you mythological beasties roaming the streets of San Francisco - There's a new kick-ass team of demon-fighters coming your way - Meet Grace, who just moved to San Francisco. It's a tiny bit scary, starting over, but it gets scarier when a minotaur walks in the door. And even more shocking when a girl who looks exactly like her turns up to fight the monster. Then, there's Gretchen, who is fed up of monsters pulling her out into the small hours, especially on a school night. Getting rid of a minotaur is just another notch on Gretchen's combat belt, but she never expected to run into this girl who could be her double in the process. And Greer, who has her life pretty well put together, thank you very much. But everything tilts sideways when two girls who look eerily like her appear on her doorstep and claim they're all sisters. These three teenage descendants of Medusa must reunite and embrace their fates in this unique paranormal world where monsters lurk in plain sight.

I  absolutely loved Tera Lynn Childs' 'Fins' series, and had pretty high expectations for Sweet Venom. And while I liked it, it did disappoint me. There were good and bad points to this book - I'll outline them all for you in this review.

I'll start with the negatives - I may as well save the best for last!

the characters: Grace, Greer and Gretchen were all likeable, (yes I liked Greer even though she was a snob!) but they were really typical characters. The plain, clumsy girl, the tough girl, the snob girl with the fragile inside layer - it's all been done before! I found them to be boring and predictable. I also didn't like Nick at all - he wasn't even cute, he was just annoying. I did like Milo though, and Thane seemed like an interesting enough character, but all round the characters didn't impress me. They felt very one dimensional - not real at all!

the plot: I honestly had no idea, even towards the end of the book, where the story was supposed to be going. We basically just heard about Gretchen and Graces' (quite boring) lives. Greer didn't come into the book till near the end, and I can't help wishing that she wasn't mentioned in the blurb - discovering that the three girls were triplets could have been a great twist, but it wasn't because we knew that it was coming. That's another thing - there were hardly any plot twists. There was the one about Una at the end, but I didn't really feel shocked - maybe it's because to be honest, I didn't care about the characters!

Now I'll move onto the positives:
 the writing: I love Tera Lynn Child's writing, and this book, despite all of it's flaws, was pretty fun to read! It was humorous and just all round quite enjoyable to read.

the Greek mythology: as some of you probably know, I'm a a huge fan of Greek mythology! The author took the myth of the monster Medusa, and portrayed her to be a guardian instead - not evil. It was a really interesting take on the story, which the author wrote cleverly. I also loved reading about the fights between the girls and the beasties, and learning about the monsters they fought - I would have loved if more information was included in the book, but that probably would have bored some people!

Conclusion: While Sweet Venom had a lot of flaws, I still liked it, and enjoyed it. The ending is a good one, and makes me want to read the next book soon! I think this is a series I will be continuing with - hopefully I'll enjoy the next book more!

                                                                Rating: 3/5

Source: For Review - a massive thanks to the publisher for sending me this in exchange for an honest review.

Format: Proof
Pages: 320

Age group: 12+

Official Publication Date: 1st September 2012 
Publisher: Templar Publishing

Letterbox Love #8

Letterbox Love is a weekly meme, hosted by Narratively Speaking. It's a great way of sharing what books you receive every week, and I'm delighted to be taking part! 

Hi everyone! I'm really sorry about now posting much this week, I though I would have more time :/ And I've just found out that my computer will be out of order for the next week (my dad is fixing something or other :L) so I won't be able to post this week either! And I also won't be able to read or comment on posts - sorry guys, I'll miss you all! 

Anyway, here are my books: (sorry for no pictures - didn't have enough time!)

For review:

Saving June by Hannah Harrington
I've been wanting to read this for so so long and now I have it and I'm so so happy! This sounds amazing, I was delighted when this and Pushing The Limits arrived in the post!

Pushing The Limits by Katie McGarry
I can't wait to read this one! It's gotten amazing reviews, and it sounds fab :) Thanks Mira Ink for this and Saving June!

For The Record
Billy Templar's War by Ellie Irving
I'd never heard of either of these before they turned up in the post, but I though For The Record sounded so good that I read it practically straight away when I got it! I liked it and will review it soon :) I'm also looking forward to reading Billie Templar War - I especially love that cover! Thanks Random House for these!

Sammy Feral's Diaries of Weird by Eleanor Hawken
This looks like a a fun read, maybe a bit young for me, but we'll see :) Thanks Quercus!

Icespell by C.J. Busby
I loved the other two books in this series, and I can't wait to read this one, it looks like so much fun! Thanks to Templar! 

What did you get in your letterbox this week?

REVIEW: Debutantes by Cora Harrison

It’s 1923 and London is a whirl of jazz, dancing and parties. Violet, Daisy, Poppy and Rose Derrington are desperate to be part of it, but stuck in an enormous crumbling house in the country, with no money and no fashionable dresses, the excitement seems a lifetime away. Luckily the girls each have a plan for escaping their humdrum country life: Rose wants to be a novelist, Poppy a jazz musician and Daisy a famous film director. Violet, however, has only one ambition: to become the perfect Debutante, so that she can go to London and catch the eye of Prince George, the most eligible bachelor in the country. But a house as big and old as Beech Grove Manor hides many secrets, and Daisy is about to uncover one so huge it could ruin all their plans - ruin everything - forever.

I really liked Debutantes by Cora Harrison. The characters are colourful and life-like, and it's a really fun book to read. During a lot of the book, there actually isn't much going on, but honestly, that didn't bother me, because it was written so beautifully that I just loved reading the book, even if there wasn't much happening in the story.

I loved the time period the book is set in, as well as the backdrop of Beech Grover Manor and London. The descriptions were wonderful, and I could picture clearly the big house and it's many rooms, as well as the city of London and the scenes of the dances the girls attended. The descriptions were precise but not boring, and the writing was one of my favourite features of the book!

Th characters were fab! I can't pick a favourite of the four girls, but I really loved Rose and Daisy. Rose was really funny, coming out with her newspaper headlines all the time, and I could relate to her (I want to be a journalist too!).  Daisy was so lovely! It was fascinating, hearing about her film-making - I knew nothing about film making before reading this book, and now I feel very clued in ;D. She was a good main character, and I felt for her when she was going through tough times!  Poppy and Violet were nice too, but Poppy didn't really stand out to me, and Violet could be a moan sometimes!

I didn't really know where the story was going for around three-quarters of the book, and that didn't really bother me, but luckily the story started to pick up just as I was getting a little restless. Something that bothered me about the book was the fact that there was this really big plot twist (I actually saw it coming, but that's ok :) ) and the characters didn't seem fazed at all! It was something that would be really shocking if it happened to you, and Daisy was semi-upset about it for like five minutes, and then just acted as if nothing had happened afterwards! That annoyed me :/

And of course I can't review this book without mentioning the stunning cover! It's GORGEOUS! It seems so perfect, and is probably one of my favourite ever book covers :D Is it just me or does that girl remind you of Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood)?! 

Debutantes has great characters, is brilliantly written, and is so fun to read. It's a really enjoyable read, and I'm delighted it's going to be a series!

                                                       Rating: 4/5

Source: For Review - a massive thanks to the publisher for sending me this in exchange for an honest review.

Format: Paperback
Pages: 320

Age group: 11+

Official Publication Date: 2 August 2012 
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books

Letterbox Love #7

Letterbox Love is a weekly meme, hosted by Narratively Speaking. It's a great way of sharing what books you receive every week, and I'm delighted to be taking part! 

I'm baaack! :) This is my LL for pretty much all of August, so I have a lot of books! I will be posting more regularly in September now that I'm back to school, so expect lots of reviews and hopefully an LL every week! :) Now, here are my books:

Won:

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
I've heard great things about this author, and this looks like an emotional read, one I've been wanting to erad for a while now! Thanks to Caroline at Portrait of a Woman for this!

For review: 

The City's Son by Tom Pollock
I hadn't heard anything about this before it turned up (thanks Quercus!) but I've since seen a few reviews, positive and negative! However, it's a beautiful hardback edition, and I hope to read it soon.

Breathe by Sarah Crossan (ARC)
This sounds so amazing! I'm been looking forward to this for aaaaaages :D I can't wait to read it! Thanks Bloomsbury :)

Jenny Q: Stitched Up by Pauline McLynn
I love Father Ted, and this book looks and sounds hilarious! Thanks Puffin :)

Dear Dylan by Siobhan Curham
I've been wanting to read this for ages, it's gotten rave reviews and the story sounds fantastic :) Thanks to the author and to Electric Monkey for this!

Crusher by Niall Leonard (ARC)
This doesn't sound like my usual thing, but I'm looking forward to giving it a go, it sounds quite different :) Thanks Random House!

Torn by David Massey
I haven't read many war book before, but this looks brilliant. Thanks Chicken House!

Debutantes by Cora Harrison
Tempest by Julie Cross
Starcrossed by Josephine Angilini
Abandon  by Meg Cabot
Thanks to Macmillan for these! I've already read and loved Debutantes, (how could I not, look at that cover!) and am looking forward to reading the others books too.

The Twice-Lived Summer of Bluebell Jones by Susie Day
This came with a candy cane thing, which was delicious ;) This looks fab, thanks Scholastic!

The awesome purple edges! :)

The Wolf Princess by Cathryn Constable
I hadn't heard of this before it turned up, but it came with a lovely letter from the publisher, and now I'm totally intrigued, it sounds amazing! It came in gorgeous purple packaging...with sparkles :') Thanks soooo much Chicken House!

Library:
Vampire Academy: Blood Promise by Richelle Mead
I've already read this (but won't be reviewing it). It was good, but a bit disappointing compared to the others books in the series. If any of you have read the VA series, which is your favourite and least favourite book? And are the fifth and sixth book better than the fourth?! ;)

Borrowed:

Losing Lila (not pictured)
REALLY looking forward to starting this :D I loved Hunting Lila, and I've heard this is just as good! yay :)

What did you get in your letterbox?