BOOK COVER - THE WOOD QUEEN by KAREN MAHONEY - THE IRON WITCH SERIES # 2

I found this on Goodreads, I can only assume it is the new cover for the sequel to The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney.
To be released February 2012 the 3rd book in The Iron Witch series currently has the title , 'The Stone Demon'.

Michelle

BOOK REVIEW - THE IRON WITCH by KAREN MAHONEY - THE IRON WITCH TRILOGY # 1

By : Karen Mahoney
Published By : Random House Australia
Released : Available Now
Details : Paperback , 289 Pages

RATING:  4 XAN STARS!!

Freak. That's what her classmates call seventeen-year-old Donna Underwood. When she was seven, a horrific fey attack killed her father and drove her mother mad. Donna's own nearly fatal injuries from the assault were fixed by magic—the iron tattoos branding her hands and arms. The child of alchemists, Donna feels cursed by the magical heritage that destroyed her parents and any chance she had for a normal life. The only thing that keeps her sane and grounded is her relationship with her best friend, Navin Sharma.



When the darkest outcasts of Faerie—the vicious wood elves—abduct Navin, Donna finally has to accept her role in the centuries old war between the humans and the fey. Assisted by Xan, a gorgeous half-fey dropout with secrets of his own, Donna races to save her friend—even if it means betraying everything her parents and the alchemist community fought to the death to protect.


BOOK REVIEW:



CHARACTERS :


Donna Underwood – 17 Years old. Daughter of 2 legendary Alchemists.


Navin Sharma – Donna’s bff. Navin lives nextdoor and is her closest and dearest friend.


Alexander Grayson – Guy Donna meets at party. A spark is ignited.


Maker – Alchemist who helped Donna when she needed it most.


Aunt Paige – Donna’s guardian.


Quentin Frost – Leader of the Order – Archmaster


Simon Gaunt – Adminstrator and partner of Quentin ( they are a couple)


The Iron Witch was a nice easy YA read. I had been eagerly awaiting this book by debut author Karen Mahoney. I am looking forward to reading book 2 in the series to find out more about Xan and Donna and how Navin’s relationship with Donna stands up to Xan being the other guy in the picture.


Xan has shown Donna a part of himself, she realises he has something in common with herself. I wanted to know more about Xan in this book. He has an interesting past .


Navin, I really liked his bff dialogue he had with Donna. He always called her Underwood. Very casual but , he had you feeling like he was starting to see another side to their relationship, even though he gave the pretence of being the ever loyal, buddy buddy bff kinda guy.


I had to laugh at Donna always giving Navin a shove or a thump on the shoulder. Guys, if you have a girl you have known for years and she is your bff and she is shoving and thumping you, the chances are you won’t get past bff status. They are 17 years old but they are comfortable in his bedroom tickling each other...lol!!! Donna only sees Navin as her bff. Navin is seeing Xan and Donna together and I think he not likey.


There is intrigue for me as Donna’s mum is someone I would like to know more about. I wondered why Donna didn’t ask for her mother’s lock of hair when she got Maker and Navin safe. She saw the locks of hair around the waist of the Wood Queen, but didn’t think to ask if her mother’s was amongst it to release it to her.


Simon has some hidden agenda which I assume we will find out in book 2 especially with that hidden mad scientist lab he has going on. Donna’s silver bracelet is another unknown.


Things were hinted at but not answered. Who is really the bad guy? The Wood Queen questions Donna as to why she was in the forest when she was seven and being attacked by the Striker that ended with her hands and arms being ruined and having to be saved by Maker and tattooed.


The book got off to a great start and then it mellowed out a bit, then picked up towards the end. It had a reasonably steady pace. It didn’t grab me and get my heart racing like some books do. I love Xan’s character as I found I wanted to know more. He has his history which was hinted at with the Wood Queen.


To be honest the way the book ends it feels all of a sudden cut off. Like 2 books have been written and then a spot has been found to sever book 1 from book 2. I think the book could have been longer as we are left dangling. Not a cliffhanger, just cut off. Ended abruptly, I didn’t like that at all. I was looking for more pages, to find there are none.


I did have a teeny pet peeve with Xan’s character. I know he was 19 years old, but I didn’t like that he smoked cigarettes. He only did it at the start of the book, but I didn’t think for a YA read that it was necessary. Just a personal peeve I have with smoking and knowing they are bad for you. I didn’t think it would make his character any less appealing if he didn’t smoke.

 FAVE QUOTE:


“ Come on, Donna. There’s weird , and then there’s completely bat-shit crazy.”



 
 

Michelle

BOOK REVIEW - KISS ME DEADLY - 13 TALES OF PARANORMAL LOVE

By: Trisha Telep (Editor), Maggie Stiefvater , Becca Fitzpatrick , Rachel Vincent , Karen Mahoney , Diana Peterfreund , Daniel Waters, Carrie Ryan , Justine Musk , Daniel Marks , Sarah Rees Brennan , Michelle Rowen , Michelle Zink , Caitlin Kittredge

Published By : RANDOM HOUSE AUSTRALIA
Released : Available Now
Details: Paperback ,  423 Pages

RATING: 3 STARS!!!


If  you can possibly thirst for more mysterious metaphysical accounts of love, Trisha Telep has organized some of the greatest and most thrilling tales of paranormal paramours since The Eternal Kiss. She presents the acclaimed literary talent of thirteen unique authors, creating a collection of stories that will undoubtedly capture the imagination of every soul who dares to read them. Werewolves, ghosts, zombies, vampires, and fallen angels drive the plot of these riveting romances.Kiss Me Deadly includes the exceptional writings of several authors, including: - Sarah Rees Brennan (faeries) - Becca Fitzpatrick (angels) - Caitlin Kittredge (witches) - Karen Mahoney (vampires: sequel to story from The Eternal Kiss) - Daniel Marks (ghost kids) - Justine Musk (sorcerers) - Diana Peterfreund (unicorns) - Michelle Rowen (demons) - Carrie Ryan (zombies) - Maggie Stiefvater (werewolves) - Rachel Vincent (banshees) - Daniel Waters (zombies) - Michelle Zink (gothic ghosts).

BY GUEST REVIEWER CAROLYN

BOOK REVIEW:

This is a book of short stories of paranormal romance by some well known authors. Each story is only about 20-49 pages long so is a great book for filling in time between books you have read and may be waiting for. This is why I started reading it. I was waiting for Fire to arrive after reading Graceling and didn’t want to start another book in case Fire arrived. I didn’t read this book in order but chose the stories by the authors I knew first then read the others randomly. I do like these books as you get a taste of what different authors writing styles are like. As a result of reading this and 'The Eternal Kiss' previously, I am now interested in reading some of the authors other work.



DUNGEONS OF LANGEAIS by Becca Fitzpatrick (24 pages)


This is the story of Chauncey who appears in Becca’s book 'Hush, Hush'. Anyone who has read that book will know who Chauncey is. The “Dark Angel” is mentioned throughout and this is about Chauncey’s hatred of said angel. He is never mentioned by name but we all know who it is. It did not change my opinion of Chauncey. I still don’t like him but now understand his motives towards Nora in 'Hush, Hush' and the “Dark Angel”, well somethings never change.


HARE MOON by Carrie Ryan (30 pages)


This story is about Sister Tabitha from Carrie Ryan’s book , 'The Forest of Hands and Teeth' (TFOHT) so I guess it is a backstory. At the beginning I felt sorry for the young Tabitha. She wants to know what is outside the fences and her parents don’t treat her very nicely. However by the end of it, I just went back to my original thoughts of her from TFOHT. She is just plain mean and nasty. I just can’t understand why she did what she did but can now understand her attitude towards Mary in TFOHT. She can see herself as a young girl in Mary and is jealous of her.


THE HOUNDS OF ULSTER by Maggie Stiefvater (20 pages)


I didn’t see the POW coming in this one. It was a bit of a weird short story, kept going back and forth and all over the place for the first few pages, then settled down into a really good story. It was interesting and I really wanted to know who “THEY” were. The main character wouldn’t name them but, wow,  I was surprised when I found out. I have read Maggie’s books 'Shiver' and 'Linger',  but haven’t yet read 'Lament' or 'Ballad' and she certainly likes to centre her characters around music.


MANY HAPPY RETURNS by Daniel Waters (26 pages)


This story was just plain weird. It starts off with 5 teenagers from a small town in a car crash. 3 of the boys and 1 girl die and the other girl survives but is in a coma. The parents all go to a counselling session where the counsellor tells them what to expect when if or when their children “return”. Apparently in this and surrounding towns when people die they quite often return within 7 days. The families are not allowed to bury the bodies of their loved ones before the 7 days is up. This is told from the point of view of Cal the local police officer. His daughter Mandy died in the crash, and it follows him for the 7 days after the crash. As I said before, just plain weird.


THE ASSASSIN’S APPRENTICE by Michelle Zink (22 pages)


When reading this I was thinking not another story about descendants of angels which is what this is about. Rose’s family are descendants of angels and have been killed by a demon named Bael and now she is planning on killing him herself. Enter Asher, an apprentice assassin sent to protect Rose and kill Bael. There is a bit of smexual tension between the two as they try to work together.


ERRANT by Diana Peterfreund (33 pages)


Errant ,  is set several centuries ago in France and is about a nun that is also a unicorn hunter. She and her unicorn named Enyo. They are sent to train a young lady named Elise for a hunting ritual that is to be held as part of the Elise’s wedding festivities. Her family has the Unicorn hunting blood in their veins meaning that they can call unicorns with their minds. It was quite a good story, a little bit hard to follow early but ended quite well.


THE SPIRIT JAR by Karen Mahoney (45 pages)


This is the second story about Marie O’Neil or 'Moth' as she is referred to. The first story about 'Moth',  the eternal 18 year old vampire , I first read about in ,  'The Eternal Kiss'.  In this story, Theo her creator has sent her to London to retrieve an ancient magical book from an obscure occult bookshop. She meets Adam, then they have an adventure involving a spirit.


LOST by Justine Musk (22 pages)


Sasha is a girl who has the ability to find things that are lost. Her best friend Josh is in a coma after a terrible car accident three weeks before and now she is feeling lost herself. She has the urge to go to the big white abandoned house up on the hill and there she finds Haiden.

This was really interesting and completely different to what I thought it would be about and the ending was totally surprising. I am sure anyone reading it will make a comparison to something that I cannot name without giving away the plot.


THE SPY WHO NEVER GREW UP by Sarah Rees Brennan (27 pages)


A boy is hired as a Super Spy for Her Majesty the Queen of England’s secret service. Judging from the title, it is the story of ........  All he asks for in payment is a mother. There is actually quite a bit of humour in this story.  There are a few adult type comments in there for us “older” readers, and I really liked it. I do wonder if there is a little boy who doesn't want to grow up in a lot of the secret service agents . They do like to play with the “big boy” toys.


BEHIND THE RED DOOR by Caitlin Kittredge (39 pages)


Jo, is a teenage girl who decides to enter an abandoned property called Ash House. When she enters she sees the ghost of a young man and then starts having nightmares about the house.  This story has everything, smoking, drug taking, drinking, lesbian relationship. Not your typical YA short story but interesting nonetheless.


FAMILIAR by Michelle Rowen (32 pages)


Brenda is a teenage witch-in-training that has to pick a familiar. A familiar is a witch’s pet, such as a cat, bat, snake, ferret or rat. Brenda picks a scrawny half-dead looking runt of a kitten with a rhinestone collar on.  I liked this story it was different to the other stories it was a good short story. Would be interested to read some of Michelle Rowen’s other books.


FEARLESS by Rachel Vincent (48 pages)


Sabine, a fifteen year old girl who is in trouble with the law,  has no family, has been living in foster care but got into trouble with a baseball bat and somebody’s car. She is sent to Holser House after breaking her probation curfew by staying out all night. It is a halfway house for wayward teenage girls. If she messes up again she will be going to Juvenile Detention. It was very interesting read and different from the others about witches, vampires, werewolves etc. Kind of ended a bit abruptly though.


VERMILLION by Daniel Marks (49 pages)


This is about a place called Vermillion which is in Purgatory. Velvet and her boyfriend Nick are asked to accompany Aime to hunt down a ghost that is haunting the living.  It was quite interesting to look at things from the ghosts point of view, however I did feel that it was a little bit too long. Probably could have cut around 10 pages out of it and it still would have been good. I did like it although the ending was pretty obvious.

Carolyn

KAREN MAHONEY - THE IRON WITCH - RELEASE DATE 2011

KAREN MAHONEY - THE IRON WITCH - THE IRONBRIDGE CHRONICLES #1

My YA contemporary fantasy novel, THE IRON WITCH, will be published by Flux in early 2011. My story about a teen vampire called Moth, 'Falling to Ash', was published in THE ETERNAL KISS (July 2009). There's a follow-up story coming in the forthcoming KISS ME DEADLY (July 2010).

In my varied career I've been a professional Tarot reader, a college counsellor, a dating agency consultant and a bookseller. Ever since I was six years old what I really wanted to be was Wonder Woman, but have instead settled for being a writer which is the most fun you can have without bulletproof bracelets.
 
 
 
 

THE IRON WITCH


FREAK. That’s what her classmates call seventeen-year-old Donna Underwood. When she was seven, a horrific fey attack killed her father and drove her mother mad. Donna’s own nearly fatal injuries from the assault were fixed by magic—the iron tattoos branding her hands and arms. The child of alchemists, Donna feels cursed by the magical heritage that destroyed her parents and any chance she had for a normal life. The only thing that keeps her sane and grounded is her relationship with her best friend, Navin Sharma.

When the darkest outcasts of Faerie—the vicious wood elves—abduct Navin, Donna finally has to accept her role in the centuries old war between the humans and the fey. Assisted by Xan, a gorgeous half-fey dropout with secrets of his own, Donna races to save her friend—even if it means betraying everything her parents and the alchemist community fought to the death to protect.


Michelle