Book Review: Die For Me (Revenants #1) by Amy Plum

Title: Die For Me (Revenants #1)

Author: Amy Plum

Publisher: Atom

Publishing Date: May 5^th 2011

Length: 352 pages

Genre: YA, fantasy, paranormal romance

Source: ARC from publisher

My life had always been blissfully, wonderfully normal. But it only took one moment to change everything.

Suddenly, my sister, Georgia, and I were orphans. We put our lives into storage and moved to Paris to live with my grandparents. And I knew my shattered heart, my shattered life, would never feel normal again. Then I met Vincent.

Mysterious, sexy, and unnervingly charming, Vincent Delacroix appeared out of nowhere and swept me off my feet. Just like that, I was in danger of losing my heart all over again. But I was ready to let it happen.

Of course, nothing is ever that easy. Because Vincent is no normal human. He has a terrifying destiny, one that puts his life at risk every day. He also has enemies . . . immortal, murderous enemies who are determined to destroy him and all of his kind.

While I'm fighting to piece together the remnants of my life, can I risk putting my heart—as well as my life and my family's—in jeopardy for a chance at love?

Summary by Goodreads 

DIE FOR ME centres around a new concept of paranormal being, the revenants, whose existence is caused by nobility on the one hand and by hatred and anger on the other hand.

We get to meet protagonists Kate and Vicent and their families.Our heroine is very likely, with a modest and caring character, our male protagonist can be described as a very gentle, understanding and sexy Frenchman.

The relationship is really sweet , I am already eager to read more about them and how they are interacting together, always very cautious although there is not really a need to.

I sense a love triangle emerging, which could hold some difficulties since the potential charmeur is also a good friend of Vincent.

Set in Paris, DIE FOR ME takes us on a trip through the atmospheric and lovely capital of France. Amy Plum worked out a fantastic map of locations and settings by wandering the streets and sharing her favourite spots with her readers.

Plum's writing is solid and entertaining. She doesn't bore her readers with dragging dialogues, but keeps them sweet and short. She involves some popular culture references which make DIE FOR ME also a youthful read.

At some points DIE FOR ME was a bit slow paced, there are some moments with very few progress for the plot. But I see that DIE FOR ME as it is the first novel in a series is mostly to explain its concept of revenants and introduce its lovely characters. At the moment I cannot see where this story is heading, but that's exactly what makes it an exciting read.

1) we are all escapists at heart

2) we are already looking for our own reading spot in a cute Parisian cafe

3) we love French food
4) of many atmospheric and cute settings

5) of an engaging concept of new paranormal being

4/5 **** DIE FOR ME- A new paranormal concept mixed with the perfect setting and likeable characters resulsts in a sweet new YA novel with heart!

This novel by debut author Amy Plum is like a box of petit fours filled with sweet romance and Parisian esprit, layered with dark enemies and finished with a tasty fantasy frosting. Hungry? Go get DIE FOR ME and give this new taste a try.

* Watch the DIE FOR ME book trailer here. 

* Make sure to visit www.amyplumbooks.com

* Thanks to Atom for sending me a copy of DIE FOR ME by Amy Plum! 

Feature: Fashion & Literature

In my new feature "Fashionable Literature" I want to show you funny and fashionable items that can be bought or made to decorate yourselves or homes with.

Let's start with some very nice necklaces with literary ladies like Jane Austen and Charlotte or Emily Bronte. 

..............................................................................................................

 

Charlotte Bronte Necklace
 
"But life is a battle: may we all be enabled to fight it well!" 

~ Charlotte Bronte (The Letters of Charlotte Bronte)

..............................................................................................................

Emily Bronte Portrait Necklace

 

"I have dreamed in my life, dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas; they have gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the color of my mind." 

~ Emily Bronte

..............................................................................................................

 Jane Austen Pendant and Locket

"The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." 

~ Jane Austen (Northanger Abbey)

..............................................................................................................

You can buy these beautiful bookish necklaces in Nadine Whitney's Etsy Shop here ! How do you like them? Whose picture would you most like to have for your portrait necklace?

Teaser Tuesday #25

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading and it asks us to...

 "Why?" asked Roger. "Do you snore?" He smiled as he asked this, but I could see that he was blushing a little. "And it's just for tonight."

~ p. 48

Book Review: Low Red Moon by Ivy Devlin

Title: Low Red Moon

Author: Ivy Devlin

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Publishing Date: February 2011

Length: 256 pages

Genre: YA, fantasy, paranormal romance

Source: Finished copy from Publisher

The only thing Avery Hood can remember about the night her parents died is that she saw silver—deadly silver, moving inhumanly fast. As much as she wants to remember who killed them, she can't, and there's nothing left to do but try to piece her life back together. Then Avery meets the new boy in school—Ben, mysterious and beautiful, with whom she feels a connection like nothing she's ever experienced. When Ben reveals he's a werewolf, Avery still trusts him—at first. Then she sees that sometimes his eyes flash inhuman silver. And she learns that she's not the only one who can't remember the night her parents died. 

 Summary by Goodreads 

Avery, our main character and narrator, is as plain as the story she’s telling, revising the murder of her parents the whole time. Her thoughts are mostly marked by iteration loops of questions and thoughts. This girl has talents and because they are paranormal they need no further explanation, still they seem so weird.

We witness an immediate attraction between Avery and Ben, the male protagonist. I am a fan of magical first sight attractions but the relationship between Avery and Ben comes out very unreasonable and annoying. The make out scenes, although without further reason behind, are good but at some points a turn-off.

Secondary characters are also weakly constructed elements that only help to delay the already very short story a bit. During the whole read I didn't get to like one single character enough to care for his end. That might be because Devlin doesn't offer a profound background to their story or only involves them in hollow dialogues and meaningless actions.

Devlin’s writing style is average, defined by a low vocabulary diversity and a series of the same or similar phrase structures.

The murder case does have some potential, but Devlin only developed an obvious and boring conclusion. From the beginning I knew how LOW RED MOON was going to end. Facts and details that are hyped throughout the entire novel turn out to be rational explanations in the end, nothing paranormal. So I was confused about the involvement of paranormal creatures where it does not even fit or would be necessary to realise the plot.

I have got no idea what the low red moon is supposed to mean and why each time the word “moon” is mentioned in the text, it's highlighted in red ink.

What I appreciate is that Bloomsbury created a costly graphic design, working with the colors black, red and white and the picture of a forest.The story is set in a wooded landscape, so the layout definitely fits the story of LOW RED MOON.

1) of a very costly graphic page design

2) of its love of nature

3) we like to solve murder mysteries

4) it has good makeout scenes

5) grandmas are great

2/5 ** LOW RED MOON- A novel with costly appearance and unfortunately without substance! 

An average writing cannot save Devlin's hollow characters and dialogues. In this case I would suggest less trying to incorporate paranormal elements and a higher focus on the establishment of a serious murder case. Unfortunately not a 2011 UK debut I would recommend, but in the end you should try it yourselves to find out if you like it.

* If you want to visit Ivy Devlin's webspace, click here (last update in September 2010)

* You can watch the LOW RED MOON book trailer here! 

* Thanks to Bloomsbury for sending me a finished copy a LOW RED MOON! 

Book Blogger Hop #3

Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Crazy-for-Books and is an awesome way to for book bloggers to interact and find each other. This week's question is:

Which book blogger would you most like to meet in real life?

 
That would be Loni @ A Casual Reader. I would love to meet all the people behind the fantastic blogs I read everyday!!!