For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in the palace and compete for the heart of the gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn’t want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she’s made for herself- and realizes that the life she’s always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

I picked up The Selection largely because I’m spending the week on the beach and wanted a book with a yummy cover to delve into. True to its nature, The Selection was a great beach read—although that may be because it was so awful that I couldn’t find any depth to associate to it, and so considered it to be light and fluffy.

Firstly, its premise is stupid and a bit sick. 35 girls competing for a prince and a crown in the goal to create some sort of entertainment for the people? Honestly? That’s why we have The Bachelor. And let me tell you, I am not the biggest fan of that show.

The fact that The Selection was sold as a Hunger Games hybrid only annoys me further; this book is nothing like The Hunger Games—unless, of course, you count that rip off of Claudius Templesmith. Sure, the girls tried to get each other eliminated, but in reality this book contained as much real drama as spilled milk. Which is, despite what people would have you believe, slim to none.

Cass’s world building was a bit far-fetched, to say the least. About halfway through the novel, we are given the explanation as to why her dystopian society exists in the way that it does. Needless to say, this explanation is contains a series of events that are completely implausible and hard to picture. The caste system, although a great dystopian concept and reflection on our society, is also horribly under-described. I love the idea of Illéa, with its provinces, palace, and rules, but ideas are, unfortunately, completely useless unless they’re well developed.

America Singer (who just happens to be a singer. How coincidental.) is certainly not the best developed heroine whom I’ve encountered. She’s supposed to be feisty and individualistic, and I can almost see that; she yells at Prince Maxon about the Selection’s sick nature, and refuses to wear big jewelry. However, she’s just so whiny all the time, and this just kills any other qualities. I mean, what kind of girl complains about being pretty? Come on!

“Please don’t call me gorgeous. First my mom, then May, now you. It’s getting on my nerves.” By the way Aspen was looking at me, I could tell I wasn’t helping my “I’m not pretty” case.

Aspen and Maxon are other excellent examples of poor characterization. Although Aspen claims to love America, he willingly risks her life so many this affirmation becomes questionable. And Maxon keeps telling America just how much he likes her, despite her rejection of him on more than one occasion. I find his insistence on this vulnerability very hard to believe given the fact that Maxon has never interacted with women his age before.

And as for the ending—no. Just no. You do not end a book in the way Kiera Cass ended this book. No. Let me ask you, what is The Selection about? Oh, right. It’s about a selection. And what do people do with selections? They select things. They do not narrow their options down to a few and leave the book at that. Cass could have easily added a hundred or so pages to the 327 existing ones and actually completed her plotline.

Although they didn’t affect my review in any way, the completely unprofessional actions stemming from Kiera Cass and her agent only add to my distaste for this novel. We get it, criticism is harsh—especially when it’s true. But that doesn’t give you any right as an author or an agent to ask all of your friends to like the more favourable reviews of your books on Goodreads, nor does it allow you to call your honest reviewers names (which are best left unsaid). No. You sit there, you keep your mouth shut, and you take it like a professional.

The Selection merits 2.8/5 stars. For fans of princesses, cliffhangers, and awful reality TV shows.

I’ll keep you posted,

Buy The 8th Dwarf on Amazon

Written in verse, this is the previously untold story of the previously unknown 8th dwarf, named Creepy. He is banished to the basement for being different and, well, weird. Yet he plays a vital – and of course previously unknown – role in the popular tale of Snow White – whose title character is an intruder Creepy refers to as “the Maid”. (Intended for YA readers and up)

Following Michael Mullin’s example, I’m going to limit this review to a short blurb (probably combined with some rude remarks about a certain novel, as well). After reading Snow White and the Huntsman –which definitely puts the filmy in based-on-the-film– just yesterday, I wasn’t terribly excited to read yet another spin on this classic story. (I guess fairy tales are coming back into style, right?) However, I decided to give 8 a shot. At only about 2,000 words, I figured that it wouldn’t have been that much of a waste of time if it turned out to be horrible. So I put my newly-wrought prejudices aside and dug in. And I am so glad that I did.

8 tells the story of Creepy, the emotionally abused, long-forgotten, and not-just-a-bit-nasty 8^th dwarf. His bitter personality and strange eating habits eventually led his fellow dwarves to reject him and now he remains locked-up in a basement, alone with musings.

I actually really enjoyed Creepy’s afore-mentioned sarcastic musings.  I appreciate boys who aren’t fooled by beauty and digs at a princess who (in this case, anyway) is shallow, rude, and stupid. (Oh, wait. I guess this works for the case of Snow White and the Huntsman, too.)

Also, do you have any conception as to how hard it is to tell a story in an AABB poetic stanza? Any conception? I don’t, but it has to pretty freakin’ hard. The fact that Michael’s protagonist was a much deeper character than Snow and her Huntsman ever were is just a bonus at this point.

I’m going to rate 8 4.5/5 stars. It’s definitely worth the 10 minutes it takes to read it—and the 2 it takes to enter to win it!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Also, if you haven’t entered my giveaway for Wrecked by Elle Casey, you should.

I’ll keep you posted,

I’m beginning to think that books based on movies are forever doomed. From last year’s Red Riding Hood to this new gothic fairy tale remake, these types of books are setting the bar excruciatingly low for their kind.

I want to begin this review by saying that I have not yet seen the Snow White and the Huntsman movie. I do plan to see it when it comes out on DVD I’ve actually heard great things about it, which is why I picked up the book in the first place. Unfortunately, the book sucks.

I mean, Blake’s writing is really good. Her gothic style is quite gripping, and her imagery is lovely. But what good is a finely crafted tool that writes empty messages?

The characterization in Snow White and the Huntsman is horribly poor. The only definitive qualities we are given to attribute to Snow—I’m calling her Snow despite the book’s lack of this apparent nickname—are her courage, her mysteriousness, and the fact that she slants her eyes when she’s angry. I would add her scrawny physique to this list (she’s been locked up in a tower for 10 years), but she apparently develops high endurance and stamina after escaping her prison, because she traipses through the Dark Forest for days and fights off huge monsters.

The Huntsman is no better. I don’t understand why Snow holds him in such high regards; it’s not like he has much going for him. Let’s review his qualities, shall we? He’s a drunk. He can track animals. Oh, and he’s saved Snow White’s life a few times. He’s also almost killed her, but that’s beyond the point, isn’t it?

Now, the evil queen—she’s something else. If Ravenna wants something, she makes every attempt to get it, paying no heed to the consequences of her actions. Her motivations are crystal clear, her cruel personality is well shaped, and she is most certainly Snow White and the Huntsman’s best developed character. I could have used a little less evil laughing, but I still believe that she is the highest point of this novel. And you know it’s a bad sign when I’m rooting for the bad guy.

Blake’s protagonists are not the only element of hers that fell flat; her plot was also very disappointing. I think that the reason I’m so angry about this is because it held so much promise. The ideas which she had to go on were amazing—I’m told that the movie’s plot is flawless—and I feel as though if she would have developed it just a bit more, Snow White and the Huntsman would have been that much better. Its measly 200 pages are certainly not enough to do it justice.

Did I mention the fact that Snow White and the Huntsman’s ending is awful? Because it is. Let me put you in context here: Blake has a bit of a love triangle going on between Snow, the Huntsman, and a certain childhood friend. Now, in the last chapter, Snow White clearly chooses which option she prefers. However, this option leaves (in a self-deprecating type way) and Snow just lets him go. She just lets him go without even telling him of her feelings for him. Where is that decided evil queen when you need her?

I’m giving Snow White and the Huntsman 2.9/5 stars. It had so much potential but failed to measure up to its expectations, lacking real characters, a decent ending, and the imaginative plot details trademarked by YA novels.

I’ll keep you posted,

Experienced (and indie) author Elle Casey reveals her take on high school society, the imagination of adults, and Reese’s Pieces.

ANA: What inspired you to write Wrecked?

ELLE: I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be on a deserted island, trying to survive and if it would be even possible.  After years of living in Florida and actually visiting these kinds of islands, seeing they do actually have bananas and coconuts and bamboo and all the things I included in the book, I realized it was possible.  All I had to do then was find a way to get the castaways on the island and come up with some characters who I thought normally wouldn’t mix, and see what would happen when they didn’t have the pressures of school, parents, and regular life on them.

ANA: Huh. And here I thought the bananas and coconuts were forced into Wrecked’s world solely for the development of the plot. I guess deserted island clichés exist for a reason. Moving on, what’s your dream cast for Wrecked? If I had my way, Sarah would definitely be played by Rachele Brooke Smith (who just happens to be the mean girl in Bring it On: Fight to the Finish).

ELLE: Honestly, I’ve never thought much about it.  Probably because the chances of any of my work being turned into a movie would be like winning the lottery!  I love when fans do that though, send me pictures of who they’d like in different roles.  I get a special thrill when they pick someone just as I’ve described or seen in my mind.

ANA: You’ve written more than one YA novel, including My Vampire Summer and the War of the Fae series. How is Wrecked different from your other books?

ELLE: Wrecked is my only Action/Adventure novel.  But all of my books feature teen characters and a prominent theme is life without adult influence or very little adult influence.

ANA: This is a very intriguing theme. But why do you think it’s so important for teens to be removed from their environment in order to develop in such fantastic ways?

ELLE: I think it’s important for teens to be removed from their environment in order to change in such fundamental ways because it’s almost impossible for a person to see the influences on her/his life until they are removed and replaced with something different.  There is no motivation to change when nothing around you changes.  In fact, change seems impossible, as if you are just going with the flow of the world, of society, unable to do anything but move along with it.  Most people don’t see that their perspectives and opinions and thoughts, even, are influenced very strongly by the people they spend time with and the rules they function under (like at home or school or even social rules out with friends).  Sometimes it takes a fundamental shift in reality to get the brain to start thinking in different ways.  Sometimes, like in the movie The Breakfast Club all it takes is putting people together who would normally never be together, forcing them to spend so much time in isolation that you cause them to start having conversations they never would have considered before.  I knew for my characters, it would need to be something much more pronounced than an afternoon of detention.  :)

ANA: Wrecked was a great story, but do you believe that four teenagers could survive on a deserted island in real life? And what about four adults?

ELLE: Yes, I really believe four teenagers could survive on an island together.   People have a tremendously powerful instinct to survive that drives them to do any manner of things (even resorting to cannibalism so they won’t starve!)  I did a lot of research for Wrecked, much of it taken from my real-life experiences living in Florida in a tropical environment, and visiting tropical islands.  None of the items (food, flora, fauna) I mentioned in the book were “fantastic” or not possible. Yes, the book is fiction, but it’s as realistic as it could be, which was important to me.  I wanted readers to be able to fall into the story and feel as if there were there, not having to question everything that was happening, doubting it and losing track of the story.  Hence, the lack of elephants or other animals that don’t naturally occur in places like that.  :)  I think adults also would survive also, but maybe not in such creative ways as kids.  Adults tend to lose their imaginations as they get older, their grown-up brains always saying “that couldn’t happen” which blocks the creativity.

ANA: What new book are you currently working on?

ELLE: Apocalypsis, a 3-book series.  Sci-fi, post-apocalyptic/dystopian.

ANA: Who is your favourite YA author?

ELLE: That’s tough!  If I were to pick one author who really influenced me, I’d say Madeleine L’Engle.  A Wrinkle In Time was one of my favorites.  Loved Judy Blume too.   Loved JRR Tolkien.  There are many!

ANA: I agree wholeheartedly. Madeleine L’Engle is still one of my favourite authors. Speaking of which, when you were in high school, did you know that you were going to write books? What did you want to be?

ELLE: I had no idea I was going to write books.  I did a lot of writing though, for fun.  I probably should have pursued it more, but I was lazy in high school.  All I wanted to do was travel in Europe and goof around.  I was a lost soul in high school.  It took me a lot of years to feel comfortable in my own skin.

ANA: Can you tell us 3 random facts about yourself?

ELLE: I live in France.  I love Reese’s Pieces and anyone who visits me from the U.S. has to bring me a bag of them.  I love the beach but sit under an umbrella the entire time and complain about the sand.

ANA: The only items that your characters were able to grab before being wrecked are some standard survival supplies and a Louis Vuitton makeup case. (I approve.) But if you could take 5 things with you onto a deserted island, what would they be?

ELLE: A very sharp hunting knife, an axe, a thick plastic tarp, a satellite telephone, and a big-ass battery for the phone.

ANA: Wrecked’s ending was a bit of a cliffhanger. Are you planning a sequel for it? If so… please give us a teaser!

ELLE: Yes, there is a sequel, called “Reckless” that is planned for December, and all four characters will be in it.  And maybe a fifth.  :)

ANA: Oh, the drama. I can’t wait to see how this mysterious fifth character will shake things up in the tight-knit group. Thank you so much for the interview, Elle.

Have you read Wrecked yet? If not, what are you doing? Go enter to win it here!

I’ll keep you posted,

Buy Wrecked on Amazon

If you liked The Breakfast Club and The Swiss Family Robinson, you’ll love WRECKED! An ill-fated Caribbean cruise and four teenagers: a nerd, a jock, a mouse, and a beauty queen…an island, a treehouse, some nefarious interlopers…life and death…fear and loathing…love and laughter. Follow Jonathan, Kevin, Candi and Sarah as they find their typical high school lives and their worlds totally WRECKED.

Although it has been described differently, I think that Wrecked is more Swiss Family Robinson meets Barbie as the Island Princess than anything else. From the tree house-building to the convenient discovery of edible goodies to the Island Prom Night, I wouldn’t have been surprised if the group found a pet elephant and christened him Rocky. Quite frankly, I wouldn’t have been surprised if that pet elephant grew freakishly long eyelashes and Sarah sang him lullabies derived from the Gwen Stefani song about bananas– if only to annoy the rest of the island’s residents. What is that song called, anyway? Hollaback Girl?

Notwithstanding, I have decided that I couldn’t care less that Wrecked is so predictable. I may even have enjoyed it so much because of its predictability; it’s the summertime, I’m excited to be done with the ungodly depth of my school work– I could use a little bit of an escape. And if that escape means clichés, then I’m all for them.

What you may not understand is that when I say clichés, I mean serious clichés. In Wrecked, the literal only girls in the world suddenly become dating material on the island’s beautiful beach. Bananas and coconuts just happen to be available for scavenging. Pirates play a crucial role to the plot. Miss Casey’s characters rapidly become apt in convenient domains, such as spear-fishing, dreadlocks-creating, and bamboo-wielding.

However, as much as Wrecked supports the existence of clichés, it defies that of stereotypes. Ironically, it does so through their use: Sarah Peterson is her high school’s most prominent socialite; her twin brother, Kevin, is a popular jock who abuses of his good looks; Jonathan Buckley is an insanely intelligent nerd lacking most forms of social grace; Candi, his sister, is a completely average high school girl sporting a crush on a completely unaverage person.

Throw in an imposed cruise–courtesy of the Peterson’s–, some bad attitude–courtesy of Sarah– and a dash of untimely bad weather, and I believe we have a recipe for disaster, my friends. The problem is that when Sarah, Kevin, Jonathan, and Candi find themselves on a deserted island in the middle of the Atlantic, they realize that this so-called disaster may not be so disastrous, after all. Especially when they begin to see behind the unforgiviving molds of their high school stereotypes.

Yes, Wrecked‘s premise is priceless. I love the idea that when four teenagers are forced to spend months together, united in the battle for survival, they will ultimately ditch their conforming stereotypes in the favour of friendship. The character development here is invaluable, as is this life lesson presented to readers in a light, fluffy package.

Something else for which I would love to commend Elle is her bravery when it comes to her blatant acknowledgement of human bodily functions. If I had a dime for every time I read a high action, spy-type novel and wondered how the protagonist went for so freaking long without peeing, I would be in a Jacuzzi right now. I mean, if I ever had to case an art museum for a period of at least four hours straight (or, in this case, ride in a flimsy lifeboat across the Atlantic Ocean for a few days), I would need a washroom break. I’m just saying.

The one part of Wrecked with which I cannot come to terms is its ending. After finishing the last chapter, the only emotion I felt was shock. I could not believe that the novel just ended with Sarah in her *ahem* condition and Kevin in his *ahem* assholic attempts to win back his girl. I still cannot believe that the novel just ended like this. There is a fine line between cliffhangers and unsatisfying endings; Elle Casey has not only crossed this line, but repeatedly run over it with her car in the vain hope that her readers would be too confused by the wreckage to notice the fact that the novel didn’t even end. All I can do at this point is hope for a sequel. Please, Elle. Please.

I’m giving Wrecked 3.5/5 stars. It was a light, fun, and summery read. I don’t feel any terrible attachment to it, but this is not the type of book that’s expected to hit you on an emotional level. It’s predictable and it’s cliché, but it’s one helluva of an entertaining read. So, go read it.

Or go win it. Whichever works.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Having trouble entering this giveaway? It’s actually pretty simple. Click the ‘Log in with Facebook’ box and enter your email address and Facebook password. Hit the Log in button. Or, if you prefer to just use your email address, click on the ‘Use your email’ box. Enter your name and email address. Hit the Log in button. And voilà!

I’ll keep you posted,