Review: The Fall by Bethany Griffin

The Fall by Bethany Griffin

Release Date: October 7^th 2014
Publisher:  Greenwillow Books
Format: eArc
Pages: 400
Genre: Young Adult – Horror, Historical fiction
Source: Edelweiss
Author: Website | Twitter | Goodreads
Buy it: Amazon | The BookDepository
Add it: Goodreads

Madeline Usher is doomed.

She has spent her life fighting fate, and she thought she was succeeding. Until she woke up in a coffin.

Ushers die young. Ushers are cursed. Ushers can never leave their house, a house that haunts and is haunted, a house that almost seems to have a mind of its own. Madeline’s life—revealed through short bursts of memory—has hinged around her desperate plan to escape, to save herself and her brother. Her only chance lies in destroying the house.

In the end, can Madeline keep her own sanity and bring the house down? The Fall is a literary psychological thriller, reimagining Edgar Allan Poe’s classic The Fall of the House of Usher.

*This book was provided by Edelweiss and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Madeline Usher and her twin brother are cursed. They live in a house that is cursed. Only people who have Usher blood are drawn to the house all the way down to the servants and cooks. The house is falling apart and everyday something new is breaking, fraying, or covered in dust. The house chooses a new person to pass the curse onto. Madeline has always been close with the house. She feels what the house feels. She would fly high on the swing without her legs moving. Her father was slowly slipping into madness, her mother was an evil woman with a love for her brother, and her brother was afraid of the dark but never believed in the house. Her brother is sent off to a boarding school to protect him leaving Madaline with the relentless doctors that poke and proud her. All the while she is slowly slipping into the sickness.

The Fall is a retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” and it was wonderfully written. As for accuracy compared to Poe’s story, I don’t know because I haven’t read it but the settings were eerie (especially the attic) and I was totally pulled in by the prologue.  The chapters of the book jump time frames from when Madeline was a young girl to pages in a diary she found and then to her present day. This continues until about half way through the book and then it just stays in the present time. Since there is so much time jumping this results in a ton of short chapters. I am all for short chapters because I feel like I am reading really fast, which was good because I felt sort of just blah throughout the book. Now don’t get me wrong, it was a good book, but for some reason I just wasn’t feeling it as much as I had hoped I would. There were definitely some good parts but it wasn’t everything I thought it would be. I did read Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin and I had really enjoyed that one so I’m not sure what it was about this.

I recommend picking this one up If you enjoy Poe retellings, historical fiction, or if you have read Griffin’s books before. It was a quick read, even for the length. Now this is classified as horror but I wouldn’t put it quite that far. I was never scared while reading this book so don’t let that put you off. Even though this wasn't my favorite book I still plan on picking up whatever else Bethany Griffin writes next.

Review: Her Dark Curiosity by Megan Shepherd (28 Day of Reviews #8)

Her Dark Curiosity by Megan Shepherd

Series: The Madman’s Daughter, #2
Release Date: January 28th 2014
Publisher:  Balzer + Bray
Format: eBook
Pages: 420
Genre: Young Adult – Historical Fiction, Thriller
Source: Edelweiss
Author: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads
Buy it: Amazon | The Book Depository
Add it: Goodreads

To defeat the darkness, she must first embrace it.

Months have passed since Juliet Moreau returned to civilization after escaping her father's island—and the secrets she left behind. Now, back in London once more, she is rebuilding the life she once knew and trying to forget Dr. Moreau’s horrific legacy—though someone, or something, hasn’t forgotten her.

As people close to Juliet fall victim one by one to a murderer who leaves a macabre calling card of three clawlike slashes, Juliet fears one of her father’s creations may have also escaped the island. She is determined to find the killer before Scotland Yard does, though it means awakening sides of herself she had thought long banished, and facing loves from her past she never expected to see again.

As Juliet strives to stop a killer while searching for a serum to cure her own worsening illness, she finds herself once more in the midst of a world of scandal and danger. Her heart torn in two, past bubbling to the surface, life threatened by an obsessive killer—Juliet will be lucky to escape alive.

With inspiration from Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, this is a tantalizing mystery about the hidden natures of those we love and how far we’ll go to save them from themselves.

Juliet is back in London after spending three weeks at sea before finally being rescued. She spends some time in a hospital before being discovered by the mean Dr. Hastings that caused her problems in the first book. He has her thrown in jail for when she cut open his wrist. A former friend of her father comes to the rescue and takes her in to his home. He says he feels bad for not stopping her father sooner. Now that she is living with a very important person she is living her rich lifestyle again and is able to come and go with her friend Lucy as often as she wants. She also doesn’t have to work.

She does however take some business from a flower shop in order to make money for the medicine that she has to take. She secretly rents a room at the top of store that she uses as her workshop at nights. Her medicine is starting to fail her and she is determined to find a cure. She fears that vivisection is the only way but refuses to become like her father, even though she may be becoming more and more like him every day.

Soon murders start happening throughout a section of White Chapel and this murderer is named the White Chapel Wolf. Soon she realizes that she knows all the people that are being murdered and that it may be someone that followed her back from the island. That isn’t the only person that has come back from the island though.

As with the first book, this book is also based off of an old story. This is based off of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which I own a copy of but have never actually read. I know the basis of the story and can definitely see some similarities. The writing in this novel is just as good as the first novel. There are still the dark and creepy parts but not as much gross scenes as the first book. I sometimes worry that the second books are just filler books and are sometimes not as good but this does not do that at all! It is a great sequel. So much starts to unravel at the end of the book and I totally didn’t see the ending coming. Juliet is clearly starting to go mad but I can’t wait to see what happens in the third book. I already know what story it is going to be retelling and I have a feeling that it is going to be really good.

If you read the first book then I highly recommend continuing the series. If you haven’t read them then you definitely should. Can't wait to add a physical copy to my shelf! If you want to check out my review of the first book, click HERE!

My Rating:

*This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

Review: The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd (28 Days of Reviews #7)

The Madman’s Daughter by Megan Shepherd

Series: The Madman’s Daughter, #1
Release Date: January 29^th 2013
Publisher:  Balzer + Bray
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 420
Genre: Young Adult – Historical Fiction, Thriller
Source: My Collection
Author: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads
Buy it: Amazon | The Book Depository
Add it: Goodreads

In the darkest places, even love is deadly.

Sixteen-year-old Juliet Moreau has built a life for herself in London—working as a maid, attending church on Sundays, and trying not to think about the scandal that ruined her life. After all, no one ever proved the rumors about her father's gruesome experiments. But when she learns he is alive and continuing his work on a remote tropical island, she is determined to find out if the accusations are true.

Accompanied by her father's handsome young assistant, Montgomery, and an enigmatic castaway, Edward—both of whom she is deeply drawn to—Juliet travels to the island, only to discover the depths of her father's madness: He has experimented on animals so that they resemble, speak, and behave as humans. And worse, one of the creatures has turned violent and is killing the island's inhabitants. Torn between horror and scientific curiosity, Juliet knows she must end her father's dangerous experiments and escape her jungle prison before it's too late. Yet as the island falls into chaos, she discovers the extent of her father's genius—and madness—in her own blood.

Inspired by H. G. Wells's classic The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Madman's Daughter is a dark and breathless Gothic thriller about the secrets we'll do anything to know and the truths we'll go to any lengths to protect.

The Madman’s Daughter is a story told from Juliet Moreau, the daughter of a very well-known London Doctor. Her father was run out of town when it was discovered that he was doing some very gruesome experiments. It was presumed that he was dead but nothing was ever confirmed. After her father left, it was just Juliet and her mom. They were forced to sell everything and move into a small apartment. Her mother was reduced to selling herself to keep them alive. Soon her mother passed away and all her things were sold and Juliet was left to find for herself. The daughter of a once very rich father was no reduced to a cleaning maid. She lost all her friends, except one who she actually wasn’t supposed to talk to, and had no family to turn to.

Juliet is invited to a party with her good friend Lucy but she doesn’t feel like she belongs with that crowed anymore. Soon she is talked into going to the university where she works to prove a point. They stumble upon a group of students doing a live dissection of a rabbit and it turns out they have something that once belonged to her father. From there on she is determined that her father is alive and does everything she can to find out. She ends up on a ship to an island located near Australia with a man, only a couple years older than herself who used to be a servant in her house when she was young. She has always admired him and now she feels even more connected. Then in comes a very mysterious castaway, who seems to be very interested in Juliet. When Juliet arrives at the island she learns quite a bit about her father and discovers some very disturbing things.

This is a retelling of H.G. Wells book The Island of Dr. Moreau. I have never read that story so I have no idea if it is a descent retelling or not. The book has a very creepy, dark mood to it and it does a very good job of maintaining that mood throughout. Even the happy parts still have a dark feel to them. This book was described as having some gross scenes and I would totally agree with that. They talk about vivisection (live dissection) of animals and even people and the details are rather gross. I don’t have a problem reading this but I could see how some people would. Most of the disturbing scenes involve animals but there are a couple scenes that involve people. Juliet’s father is definitely a madman and rightly earns that title. He is a horrible father or person in general.

I really enjoyed the writing, the characters, and everything about this book. The ending was so intense! Definitely the best part of the book. This is obviously a good thing because I couldn’t wait to pick up the second book! If you are into gothic thrillers then I highly recommend this. Just be prepared for the gross parts. I also sort of want to pick up the H.G. Wells book now!

My Rating:

Review: Incantation by Alice Hoffman

Incantation by Alice Hoffman

Release Date: October 1st 2007
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
Genre: Young Adult – Historical Fiction
Source: My Collection
Author: Website | Facebook | Goodreads
Buy it: Amazon | The Book Depository
Add it: Goodreads

Estrella is a Marrano: During the time of the Spanish Inquisition, she is one of a community of Spanish Jews living double lives as Catholics. And she is living in a house of secrets, raised by a family who practices underground the ancient and mysterious way of wisdom known as kabbalah. When Estrella discovers her family's true identity--and her family's secrets are made public--she confronts a world she's never imagined, where new love burns and where friendship ends in flame and ash, where trust is all but vanquished and betrayal has tragic and bitter consequences.

Infused with the rich context of history and faith, in her most profoundly moving work to date, Alice Hoffman's first historical novel is a transcendent journey of discovery and loss, rebirth and remembrance.

Incantation is a really tragic story set in Spain in the 1500s during the Inquisition. This story follows around Estrella who is a typical teenage girl of that time. She has a respected family and her best friend lives next door. The day the books were burned was the day that Estrella’s life began to change. The book is separated into three sections.

Estrella is a Spanish Jew. I didn’t know this going into the book because I didn’t read the synopsis, so that was actually a surprise to me. In Estrella’s town, being a Jew can get you killed, whether you really are one or not. Her family is one of the few that are living double lives as Catholics. Estrella slowly starts to learn who she really is and who her real friends are.

I will admit that I bought this book because its length, its cover, and the fact that it was on sale for a dollar. I am not sure when I would’ve gotten to it but I needed a short easy read for a read-a-thon I was participating in and I’m so glad I chose this book. Even though this is technically a young adult book, I would recommend it to everyone. This story has murder, love, and betrayal and it definitely didn’t disappoint.

Even though it is a really short book and it is pretty light on the plot it still packs in a lot in the few pages. There is not a ton of character development but there was just enough description in the characters that you still care about them. This book also has a different writing style, Italics are used instead of quotation marks for the conversations. I thought this might take some getting used to but I had no problem with it at all.

I definitely recommend this book for everyone but if you enjoy historical fiction then you should definitely pick this up.

My Rating: