Early Review - The Misty Circus by Victoria Frances (4.5/5 stars)

Reading Level: All Ages
Genre: Fantasy
Size: 80 pages
Publisher: Dark Horse
Release Date: June 25, 2013
ISBN: 978-1616550899
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Misty Circus series
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

I got an eGalley of this book to review through NetGalley(dot)com. Thanks to Dark Horse and NetGalley for giving me a chance to review this book. This book was full of absolutely stunning illustrations paired with a gothic and sweet story.

The story is about a young boy named Sasha who has been abandoned by his parents. He ventures into the woods and befriends a black cat. Together they stumble upon the Misty Circus. As part of the Misty Circus they go on a number of adventures.

The illustrations throughout this book are absolutely stunning and beautiful. They all have a very beautiful gothic, sweet, and melancholy tone to them which matches the story perfectly. I really enjoyed looking at these beautiful and somewhat odd pictures.

The story is simple, sweet, and magical. The story has a gothic flare to it with deep dark woods and witches. The Misty Circus is a magical place. This book features two smaller stories. The first is about Sasha finding the Misty Circus. The second is about Sasha journeying to a land full of witches and befriending a lonely young witch. The story has a heavy French overtone to it, the poems are in French (with translation to English) and the pictures have a French flare to them.

These are stories that would be appropriate for all ages. Younger children might be a bit scared at the idea of Sasha’s father abandoning him and also maybe a bit scared of the witches.

Overall I really really enjoyed this book. It has beautiful pictures and a gothically sweet story. Sasha is a young boy that is a bit different and finds his place in life at the Misty Circus. The friendship between him and his cat is touching as well. I highly recommend this to those who love fantasy graphic novels; although this is more of a picture book than a true graphic novel.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
- 150+ Reading Challenge
- Debut Author Reading Challenge

Early Review - The Prophet (The Graveyard Queen, Book 3) by Amanda Stevens (4/5 stars)

Reading level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 352 pages
Publisher: Mira
Release Date: April 24, 2012
ISBN: 978-0778313397
Stand Alone or Series: 3rd book in the Graveyard Queen series
Source: eARC through NetGalley.com
Rating: 4/5 stars

This is the third book in the Graveyard Queen series by Stevens. I've heard rumors that a fourth book is planned for this series but haven't found the title yet. I got an advanced reading copy of this book to review through NetGalley(dot)com. This was a very good addition to the series, I did think it was the weakest book of the series, but given how much I loved the last two book in this series...this book was still a good book.

Amelia returns to Charleston somewhat beat up about everything that happened during The Kingdom
. She is happy to be able to be near Devlin again, but unsure of her reception. Things start getting complicated for Amelia right away. Devlin's daughter constantly haunts Amelia pleading for help and then another ghost blackmails Amelia into hunting down his killer. The mystery draws Amelia deep into the dark side of Charleston; full of root doctors and other questionable magic.

The writing in this book is just as beautiful and haunting as in the previous books and I really enjoyed it. There is an interesting mystery and it ends up being somewhat complex but is intriguing to read about.

I did have some problems with this book though. Amelia doesn't spend much time doing cemetary restoration; not like she did in the last two books. The history and strange peacefulness that accompany the cemetary restoration scenes are part of what drew me to this series, it is just such an interesting career. So I was disappointed that we don't' get to read much about the cemetery restoration in this book.

This book also did not have as high of an eerie or creepiness factor as previous books in the series. I love that this series has been creepy and strange without getting super scary. This book was more of a mystery and had less of a creepy gothic overtone than previous books.

The last problem I had was Amelia herself. When she is around Devlin she gets so...well...weak. She lets Devlin make all of the decisions and her personality seems to fade in his presence. After all the backbone she shows in The Kingdom I didn't enjoy seeing her like this. It made me kind of sad that this was where she ended up. Devlin is kind of a secretive jerk at times in this book and I didn't like how Amelia just put up with it.

The above complaints aside, this book was still a beautifully written and well done mystery. A lot of the strands that were presented in the first two books are nicely tied together and wrapped up in this book. It was just that a lot of the things that made this series really special to me weren't as present as they were in the last two books.

Overall this was a good addition to the series. There is a lot of great mystery in here and a lot of questions answered. The writing is absolutely beautiful. Amelia seems weaker than in the last book and doesn't spend as much time doing cemetary restoration. The gothic creepiness factor was less than in previous books as well. So there is some good and some bad here; but overall I think this is the weakest book in the series so far. I am curious to see if there is a fourth book and, if so, where this story ends up going. I would recommend to people who were fans of the first two books. I also recommend to those who like a gothic tone to their urban fantasy.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Horror and Urban Fantasy Challenge
- 150+ Books Reading Challenge

Early Review - The Kingdom (The Graveyard Queen, Book 2) by Amanda Stevens (5/5 stars)

Reading level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 384 pages
Publisher: Mira
Release Date: March 27, 2012
ISBN: 978-0778312772
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Graveyard Queen series
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 5/5 stars

This is the second book in the Graveyard Queen series. The third book in the series, The Prophet, release in April 2012. I got an advanced reading copy of this book to review through NetGalley(dot)com. I absolutely loved the first book in this series, The Restorer, and was very excited to read this book. I loved the haunting setting, the beautiful writing, and the tragic characters. We learn a lot about Amelia's past in this book and it was a wonderful read.

Amelia is leaving Charleston behind to travel to the isolated mountain village of Asher Falls to restore a cemetery there. Upon arrival she meets the dashing Thane Asher who tells her about the first cemetary underneath what is now Bell Lake. Why did they flood this cemetary? Who hired Amelia to restore the newer, Asher cemetary? Why is Amelia so drawn to this town and to the secret grave she finds at the bottom of the cliffs? There is an evil the haunts this town and Amelia needs to solve the riddle behind it before the evil takes her too.

I love Stevens writing style; it is haunting, mysterious, and beautiful...just an absolute joy to read. The plot is creepy, compelling, and made the book impossible to put down. This book has a very southern gothic feel to it.

Amelia is a great character. She has a backbone and is brave, yet still comes across as vulnerable at times. There were a few times in this book where Amelia did some really stupid and dangerous things, these were those moments in a horror movie where you yell "No! Don't go into the dark forest by yourself!" So a couple times I was exasperated with her, but I still just love her character so much and love how her curiousity drives her.

Devlin isn't in this book at all. We see a couple letters to Amelia from him and Amelia pines for him, but he is never present. Instead the playboyish Asher Thane is the male lead. I enjoyed Asher; he was a complex character, that had mysterious motives. His character worked wonderfully with Amelia and he gives Devlin a run for his money.

The plot is wonderfully woven; elements from the first book are woven into the story seemlessly and you can really tell that Stevens meticulously planned this whole story out. I loved the mystery, the creepiness, and the way everything was woven so neatly together. Some of the things revealed in the second half of the book will absolutely blow you away; I was surprised and stunned. The book does end with a pretty big cliffhanger...so I am excited that I got the third book The Prophet for review last week....I will be reading it soon.

Overall I just loved this book. The writing is so beautiful and easy to read; it just flows so nicely. The characters are realistic, complicated, and absolutely endearing. The plot is complex, mysterious, and very well woven together. The book was incredibly engaging and I just had a ton of trouble putting it down. This book is very much a gothic paranormal mystery of sorts. It is different from all the other urban fantasy out there, but should really appeal to fans of that genre. I highly, highly recommend this series to fans of gothic literature or fans of urban fantasy/paranormal stories. This is seriously one of my favorite series right now. I cannot wait to read The Prophet!

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Horror and Urban Fantasy Challenge
- 150+ Books Reading Challenge