Review: Bitterroot Crossing By Tess Oliver

Title: Bitterroot Crossing
Author: Tess Oliver
Release Date: January 2011
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal
Source: Kindle Lending Club

A love triangle that crosses centuries . . .

For Nick Crush, the only thing cool about his town, Bitterroot Crossing, is the gang of outlaw ghosts that rise occasionally from the town’s swamp. But when he finds himself competing with the most notorious spirit and his own ancestor, Zedekiah Crush, for the affections of Jessie Sterling, suddenly the whole ghost thing isn’t so cool.

Jessie Sterling inherited her great-great-grandma’s shorter left leg and incredible beauty, a beauty that a century and a half earlier sparked a love triangle that ended in tragedy. Now Jessie leaves the safety of her grandma’s farm to attend high school in town . . . and Bitterroot Crossing will never be the same.


Bitterroot Crossing is the story of a town, haunted by a group of outlaw ghosts involved in a scandal 100 years ago, and what happens when the descendants of the original scandal fall in love.

WORLD BUILDING: 4
This town reminds me a classic little town in the middle of no where. I loved the tragic love story between Rebecca and Zedekiah. What I didn't like is that the town just accepts the fact that the ghosts haunt their town and never do anything to remedy it. In fact, when it is revealed what will stop the ghosts from haunting, its is so ridiculous to believe no one though of it before hand.

CHARACTER BUILDING: 4
All of the characters are well written and developed. I really Zedekiah, who turned out to be different than what legend said. Even the most insignificant characters had their own personalities and were not cookie cutter.

ROMANCE: 4
This is more of a sweet love story than a passionate one. I really enjoyed that and thought it was a good chance of pace. Jessie never loses her personality because she loves Nick, which is a refreshing change from some other YA literature.

KICK-ASS: 3
There are some altercations, but its not the focus of the book. It balanced the romance nicely.

OVERALL: 15/20
I really enjoyed this book, even if I couldn't tell where it was going at first. Oliver's writing style is different, and each chapter alternates between Nick and Jessie, but it doesn't tell you who is who so you have to figure it out for yourself. It was a nice, short, sweet, read.

Review: The Machine of Death by Ryan North et al.

Title: The Machine of Death
Author: Ryan North et al.
Release Date: October 2010
Genre: Anthology
Source: Kindle

"The machine had been invented a few years ago: a machine that could tell, from just a sample of your blood, how you were going to die. It didn't give you the date and it didn't give you specifics. It just spat out a sliver of paper upon which were printed, in careful block letters, the words DROWNED or CANCER or OLD AGE or CHOKED ON A HANDFUL OF POPCORN. It let people know how they were going to die."
MACHINE OF DEATH tells thirty-four different stories about people who know how they will die. Prepare to have your tears jerked, your spine tingled, your funny bone tickled, your mind blown, your pulse quickened, or your heart warmed. Or better yet, simply prepare to be surprised. Because even when people do have perfect knowledge of the future, there's no telling exactly how things will turn out.


I am not a fan of anthologies at all. This collection of stories is quite possibly my favorite anthology ever written. I love the idea that there is a death machine and all the stigma that comes along with it. The stories range from hilarious to heart wrenching, long to short, spanned across different cultures and times. It made me question that if there really was a death machine, would I find out how I died? I like to say no, that I'd be strong and resist, but the truth is, I'd find out in a heartbeat. And I hope it would be something exciting, but painless.

My favorite death from the anthology has to be death by Joy. That was not what I was expecting.

Review: Sleeping Beauty, Vampire Hunter by Maureen McGowan

Title: Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Hunter
Author: Maureen McGowan
Release Date: April 2011
Series: Twisted Tales #2
Genre: Young Adult
Source: NetGalley

In this thrilling story full of adventure and romance, Sleeping Beauty is more than just a lonely princess waiting for her prince—she's a brave, tenacious girl who never backs down from a challenge. With vampire-slaying talents that she practices in secret, Sleeping Beauty puts her courage to the test in the dark of night, fighting evil as she searches for a way to break the spell that has cut her off from her family. In a special twist, readers have the opportunity to make key decisions for Sleeping Beauty and decide where she goes next—but no matter the choice; the result is a story unlike any fairy tale you've ever read!
Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer is an entirely new type of fairy tale–one that will keep today's kids guessing and offer them hours of magical fun.

The idea behind this pick your own adventure is that Lucette, or Sleeping Beauty, is cursed by Natasha, the queen of the Sanguinia, a kingdom of Vampires. At the age of 16, as soon as she pricks her finger, she will sleep during the day and at night will be the only one awake while the kingdom sleeps around her. Her parents spend the first 16 years of her life trying to protect her life, and you, the reader, gets to choose how they protect her. At the end of each section, you're offered 2 choices, both which lead her to being a Vampire Hunter and finding her true love to lift the curse.

WORLD BUILDING: 4
I like the idea of different Kingdoms, especially Sanguinia. I would have liked to learn the history behind them and how they became Vampires.

CHARACTER BUILDING: 4
The characters were all well written. They all had depth and growth.

ROMANCE: 3
There was obviously going to be a fairy-tale romance involved, but I like how for awhile it was a love triangle. I truly did not know whether she was going to pick Alex or Tristian

KICK-ASS: 4
Lucy became a really great Vampire hunter. The scene where she gets up in the middle of the night to practice the kicks made me laugh a little bit

OVERALL: 15/20
This is definitely a good pick your own adventure for girls. I like the idea of the adapted fairy tale into something that is popular today.

Review: Ascend by Amanda Hocking

Title: Ascend
Author: Amanda Hocking
Release Date: Jan 2011
Series: Trylle #3
Genre: Young Adult, Urban Fantasy
Source: Kindle Lending Club

With a war looming on the horizon, Wendy’s fate seems sealed. But everything she sacrificed might be in vain if she can’t save the ones she loves. Her whole life has been leading up to this, and it’s all coming to an end.

'Ascend' is the 3rd and last novel in Amanda Hocking's Trylle Trilogy. This novel deals with Wendy being crowned queen and the war that erupts as a result of it. As the war against the Vittra rages on, Wendy has to deal with the war inside her heart, between her loyalty to Tove, her love to Finn, and her passion to Loki.

WORLD BUILDING: 3
At this point, the majority of the Trylle world has been built. You do get a short inside look into another Trylle compound, Oslinna, and there is now mention of 3 other Troll species besides the Trylle and the Vittra.

CHARACTER BUILDING: 3
Hocking could have done so much more with Wendy and Loki. Especially Loki. You never really learned about his personality, other than his stubbornness. I would have enjoyed if he was more like his namesake, Loki the Trickster. Finn, Elora, Tove, Duncan, Matt, Rhys and Willa were all written beautifully.

ROMANCE: 3
The final scene between Finn and Wendy was heart wrenching and well written. However, the romance between Wendy and Loki was rushed. It wasn't like she fell in love with him over the course of the trilogy. He showed up book 2 and she was instantly in love. I hope Matt and Willa ultimately have a happy ending

KICK-ASS: 3
Okay, what Wendy did to Oren at the end of the novel was awesome, but there wasn't anything in the rest of the novel to make it kick ass.

OVERALL: 12/20
This novel was a lot better than the other 2, just from the fact that it was edited pretty well. However, I thought it cleaned up the loose ends too neatly. In the epilogue, everything was tidy, right down to Wendy being with Loki and getting pregnant. I would have preferred a few loose ends, even if Hocking never plans on writing another novel in this world.