Book Review- Dead Romantic by C J Skuse

Title: Dead Romantic 

 Author:  CJ Skuse

Series:  N/A

Published:  4 Feb 2013 by Chicken House

Length: 328 pages

Warnings: sex references, slightly disturbing things involving puppies/dead people

Source: Publisher

Other info: CJ Skuse has also written Rockoholic, Pretty Bad Things and Rock Addict.

Summary : Camille wants to find the perfect boy, with an athlete's body and a poet's brain. But when she's mocked at a college party, she kows there isn't a boy alive who'll ever measure up. Enter Zoe, her brilliant but strange best friend, who takes biology homework to a whole new level. She can create Camille's dream boy, Frankenstein-style. But can she make him love her?

Review: Camille isn’t the most popular girl in school. not by a long shot. But she wants a boyfriend, and when Zoe comes along, and suggests making one, they go for it. It’s not long before they’re raiding bodies and hooking them up to electrical things. But then things start going a little bit wrong.

I’ve not read anything by C.J. Skuse before, but I have read the original, plus many other takes on, Frankenstein, which have been generally awesome, so I was hoping that this would be one of them. And it definitely was.

The Frankenstein in this version was Zoe, who has more reason to want this to work than you realise at first. I really liked Zoe-she’s very determined, very clever, and a little insane. Loved her completely.

Camille is a very fun character. You feel sorry for her, because she’s the butt monkey of a huge prank at the start, her friends kind of drop her, and such. She’s still optimistic and cheery, partially due to Zoe resurrecting a dog, Pee Wee, for her, and I spent the whole book just wanting it to go right for her and to find the right guy.

The other two major characters are Louis and Damien. Damien, I did not like at all. I find it impossible to like anyone with such immense disrespect towards girls, like he has, even if he does develop further on. Louis, however, I liked. He was very sweet and I feel like I need to give him hugs at many points in the story.

I liked the way the story developed. Zoe and Camille break into all sorts of places, such as funeral parlours, hospitals and restaurants, and it’s all a lot of fun.

The romance in Dead Romantic is very sweet, though not for the reasons you may expect. There’s also some slightly darker moments where you truly are doubting Zoe and her methods, along with Camille.

Camille has a great voice. At first, it was a bit annoying, but it soon grew on me. It’s typically teenager, full of pop culture references and Camille’s own expressions. It definitely made me laugh a lot.

There’s also a bit of Lovecraft in Dead Romantic, I’ve been meaning to read some of his stuff for a long time, but haven’t got round to it. The choice quotes from Reanimator have definitely made me want to read it soon, though.

Apparently, this is going to be a standalone like CJ’s other books. Oh *disappointed, loves most of these characters* Oh well. Still, headcanon time. Which won’t be said, due to spoiler alert. But the ending is a good mix of cliffhanger and tied up, which leaves you thinking and carrying on the story. 

Overall: Strength 4 tea to the most fun take on one on my favourite classics.  

Links: Amazon | The Book Depository | Goodreads | Author twitter | 

Book Review- Broken by A. E. Rought

Title: Broken

 Author: A.E. Rought

Series:  N/A

Published:   8 January 2013 by Strange Chemistry

Length: 384 pages

Warnings:  graphic gore in places

Source: netgalley

Summary : Skip this if you don’t want too spoilers!

A string of suspicious deaths near a small Michigan town ends with a fall that claims the life of Emma Gentry's boyfriend, Daniel. Emma is broken, a hollow shell mechanically moving through her days. She and Daniel had been made for each other, complete only when they were together. Now she restlessly wanders the town in the late Fall gloom, haunting the cemetery and its white-marbled tombs, feeling Daniel everywhere, his spectre in the moonlight and the fog.
When she encounters newcomer Alex Franks, only son of a renowned widowed surgeon, she's intrigued despite herself. He's an enigma, melting into shadows, preferring to keep to himself. But he is as drawn to her as she is to him. He is strangely... familiar. From the way he knows how to open her locker when it sticks, to the nickname she shared only with Daniel, even his hazel eyes with brown flecks are just like Daniel's.
The closer they become, though, the more something inside her screams there's something very wrong with Alex Franks. And when Emma stumbles across a grotesque and terrifying menagerie of mangled but living animals within the walls of the Franks' estate, creatures she surely knows must have died from their injuries, she knows.

Review:  Emma’s still mourning for Daniel, once her boyfriend and now the last in a mysterious line of deaths. One day, a boy turns up at school. General badboy Alex fights to defend her from Josh, is very kind to her, and is also quite like Daniel. Quite a lot.

I heard about this somewhere, and requested it from netgalley because I thought it would be interested.  By the time I read it, I’d forgotten why I wanted it. So I went in remembering nothing  about this.

It’s really easy to pick up on the characters. Emma, it didn’t take me long to know I wanted to befriends with her.  Favourite book-Dracula. Cat-Renfield. Describing the gym as a torture chamber? Heck yes.

To start with, she goes on too much about Daniel. I get that he’s recently died, and that you loved him, and it’s all very relevant to the plot, but every few sentences talking about him to start with really gets on my nerves.

Alex is a dark tortured soul with good reason. He ends up nearly getting Emma’s heart, and he’s the kind of guy I really really want to give a hug.  Josh is horrible, and it’s a big plot twist when we discover exactly why he is like he is. The other characters are a good support cast for Broken. And I really lovet the cat.

The romance is really sweet. What with Alex coming out with words...that aren’t his own, but still having feelings of his own, as Emma and him try to understand what he keeps seeing, and other things, and seeing them support eachother throughtout things,  I liked seeing them fall in love.

The big thing around Alex is TOO DAMN PREDICTABLE. I guessed a few minutes after Emma’s comments on the way he moves and so the big reveal wasn’t that much of a big reveal. But other happenings, such as the deer scene and the bit in Alex’s house and the ENDING.

Definetly the best bit was the ending for writing, engagement, and tension.. The first three quarters- I’m kind of enjoying this  good book. The scene in the lab with the father onwards? HOLY DFJKLSDK WOW.              Once you get to that part (a very easy thing  to do), you won’t be able to put it down until the end.

Overall:   Definitely  a retelling, but not completely follow the line, more taking an idea and running in another direction. Strength 4 tea to a romantic twist on Frankenstein with a lot of mystery and tension. I’m not sure if this will get a sequel or not, but I’d definitely like to see more from A E Rought.  

Links: Amazon | The Book Depository | Goodreads | Author website | 

Book Review- Henry Franks by Peter Adam Salomon

Title: Henry Franks

 Author: Peter Adam Salomon

Series:  N/A

Published:   September 2012 by Flux

Length:  288 pages

Warnings: gory surgery scene,

Source: netgalley, and publishers

Other info: This is Peter’s first novel.

Summary : Four thousand, three hundred and seventeen stitches, his father had told him once. All the King's horses and all the King's men had put Henry Franks back together again.
One year ago, a terrible accident robbed Henry Franks of his mother and his memories. The past sixteen years have vanished. All he has now are scars and a distant father—the only one who can tell Henry who he is.
If he could trust his father. Can his nightmares—a sweet little girl calling him Daddy, murderous urges, dead bodies—help him remember? While a serial killer stalks their small Georgia town, Henry unearths the bitter truth behind his mother’s death—and the terrifying secrets of his own dark past. Sometimes, the only thing worse than forgetting is remembering.

Review: Henry Franks is a strange boy.  He’s lost most of his memory, dreams of a girl calling him daddy, cannot feel physical pain, and has rings of scars around his neck. Understandably, Henry wants to find out more about himself, his family and so on. With his kind of girlfriend Justine, he sets about uncovering family secrets, as a hurricane builds and a serial killer is on the loose.

The mention of mysterious scars was what drew me into this. Around the neck. I really don’t get how anyone can be that badly injured around the neck and survive. Then I started reading Henry Franks, and found a lot more than that to enjoy.

Henry is a very intriguing character. His dreams and his scares kept you interested, because there’s so many possible explanations and there’s lots of little revelations throughout that heighten the mystery. I really liked Justine because she’s smart and understanding, but I would have liked to see her develop a little more. William, the father, is a reclusive character with a LOT of secrets that get uncovered at the climax.

The ending. Oh my gosh. All the revelations. I can’t tell you what happened but it was one of the most amazing chains of events that I’ve read for a long time. it’s very improbably, and it’s one of those stories that you really have to suspend belief as to what is possible and what isn’t (a slight shock after a fairly realistic story where there horror is more psychological). And I highly doubt anyone would have seen it coming.

Or maybe it was just me being thick. The names! They should have been a bit of a giveaway, but there were enough other thing to put you off the scent. It’s really good storytelling.

The narration to star with seemed a bit detached, but I soon got used to it and really attached to the characters.

I enjoyed the development of the serial killer storyline. My first read of Henry Franks was with the Netgalley copy, which made it hard to pick it up (my kindle  didn’t handle it very well) but reading the physical copy made me get how the suspense around the killer built up well. I especially like the fact that this storyline intersected with Henry’s family story.

Overall:  Strength 4 tea to a really good novel with roots in another of my favourite books, but a fresh perspective on it all.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website | 

Book Review- Such Wicked Intent by Kenneth Oppel

Title: Such Wicked Intent

 Author: Kenneth Oppel

Series:  The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein #2

Published:  August 2012 by Random House

Length: 372 pages

Warnings: romantic situations, violence

Source: publishers

Other info: Book one in this series is called This Dark Endeavour. Review can be found here. Kenneth has written the Silverwing trilogy, the Airborn series and other things.

Summary : When does obsession become madness? Tragedy has forced sixteen year old Victor Frankenstein to swear off alchemy forever. He burns the Dark Library. He vows he will never dabble in the dark sciences again, just as he vows he will no longer covet Elizabeth, his brother’s betrothed. If only these things were not so tempting. When Victor and Elizabeth discover a portal into the spirit world, they cannot resist. Together with their friend Henry, they venture into a place of infinite possibilities where power and passion reign. But as they search for the knowledge to raise the dead, they unknowingly unlock a darkness from which they may never return.

Review: THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE END OF THIS DARK ENDEAVOUR, HOWEVER THERE SHOULDN’T BE ANY FOR SUCH WICKED INTENT.

Having thoroughly enjoyed Frankenstein and This Dark Endeavour, I knew I’d have to read this at some point. It starts quite quickly, with Victor’s first attempt at conversing and resurrecting the dead happening within the first twentyish pages. A very short time later, Victor is in the Spirit World, conversing with his dead brother. He then makes an even more feverent go at bringing his brother back to life.

Victor’s characterisation is extremely strong. In everything he does, you can see his longing for power, and the way he manipulates things is very clever. Elizabeth is a little bit more boring than she was, because now she’s really quite set on going to a convent to become a nun, but she still has a small touch of rebellion in her.  Konrad is once again likable, even though he’s dead. I like Henry best because he’s rational, clever, but still not boring. Victor develops the most, with him gradually acquiring knowledge and building up the want / need to bring back his brother. You can see his ambition growing from the start of This Dark Endeavour, through this, and you can see how it’ll end up in Frankenstein.

The butterflies are a very nice touch. As well as being pretty little things, they have a lot more meaning than you’d first think. Little details like seeing them in the painting are nice additions. As well as that, the Spirit Cards that Kenneth has been putting on facebook are really pretty.

The mystery-kind of...plot line maybe?-  concerning the dead housemaid and the big monster in the spirit world was good, but a little simple. Anelise was easy to see through and the big revelation wasn’t a revelation at all for me.

The writing style is consistent to the previous book, with Victor’s lust for power  coming through as well as the narration of what was happening. There’s also a bit of archaic language that makes this a bit more believable and interesting.

I really like the subplot with the growing a body for Konrad and that working out how it did.  I was wondering though how the thing they found ages ago got through to the spirit world and such. This is probably a result of my bad memory and quick reading, but I’d still like to know.

Like This Dark Endeavour, the last few paragraphs of Such Wicked Intent lead onto Victor’s next obsession. With it being what it is, I wonder if the next in this series (because the ending just screams for a next book) will be the final one before this series is meant to lead into Frankenstein. It’ll be interesting how this is played further down the line.

Overall: Strength 4 tea to a good follow on to a really good prequel.

Links: Amazon | The Book Depository | Goodreads | Author website | 

Book Review- Mister Creecher by Chris Priestly

Title: Mister Creecher

 Author: Chris Priestley

Series:  N/A

Published:  3^rd October 2011 by Bloomsbury

Length: 400 pages

Warnings: Gore, light romance 12+

Source: Library

Other info: Chris has also written The Dead of Winter and the Tales of Terror series.

Summary : Billy is a street urchin, pickpocket and petty thief. Mister Creecher is a monstrous giant of a man who terrifies all he meets. Their relationship begins as pure convenience. But a bond swiftly develops between these two misfits as their bloody journey takes them ever northwards on the trail of their target ...Victor Frankenstein. Friendship, trust and betrayal combine to form a dangerous liaison in this moving and frightening new book from Chris Priestley.

Review: Billy is a young thief on the streets of London when he meets Mr Creecher- a giant, mismatched man who is extremely mysterious. However, it doesn’t take long for them to form a strange friendship as together they journey north, following one man in particular- Victor Frankenstein.

In case you haven’t guessed Creecher is Frankenstein’s Creature, and (not so obviously) Billy is Oliver Twist’s Bill Sikes (but much younger). We also meet other characters such as Justine (the girl who hangs after Frankenstein’s Creature kills someone), and such. Points to Chris for including fictional characters into his own fiction. Extra points for including real life figures in this as well, such as Mary Shelley.

I enjoyed the Tales of Terror series of books, so I should have enjoyed this. And I’m glad to say I did. The atmosphere and world building, this time of Victorian London, is excellent, and elements of gothic horror come through a lot. The back end of London is portrayed fully and you get quite attached to the characters.

You don’t get that many teenage horror novels, and this is a good addition to the pool. If I hadn’t read Frankenstein by then, I would have probably done after reading this.

The writing is good. As well as building atmosphere and tension, there’s a nice quality to it that doesn’t censor gore, but keeps you thinking about the events,

Creecher is shown in a really pitiful light, more so than the original Frankenstein. There were many times throughout where I just wanted to hug him, but there were also enough times to remind us that at heart, he was a monster. Seeing him learn about things such as reading was really nice seeing him develop in ways that we take for granted.

Billy and Creecher’s relationship (non-romantic) is nice to watch develop. It grows slowly as both develop, and it’s nice seeing it happen. It also means that these two characters, both the antagonists in their respective classics, are really likeable in this book.

Overall:  Strength 4 tea to a strong horror novel for younger readers.

Links: Amazon | The Book Depository |

Book Review- This Dark Endeavour by Kenneth Oppel

Title: This Dark Endeavour

 Author: Kenneth Oppel

Series:  The Dark Endeavour #1

Published:  23 August 2011 by Simon and Schuster

Length: 304 pages

Warnings: Slight romance, gory/disturbing scene near end 13+

Source: Library

Other info: The sequel, Such Wicked Intent, will be out this August.  Oppel has also written the Silverwing series.

Summary : The purest intentions can stir up the darkest obsessions.
In this prequel to Mary Shelley’s gothic classic, Frankenstein, 16-year-old Victor Frankenstein begins a dark journey that will change his life forever. Victor’s twin, Konrad, has fallen ill, and no doctor is able to cure him. Unwilling give up on his brother, Victor, his beautiful cousin Elizabeth, and best friend Henry begin a treacherous search for the ingredients to create the forbidden Elixir of Life. Impossible odds, dangerous alchemy, and a bitter love triangle threaten their quest at every turn. Victor knows he must not fail. But his success depends on how far he is willing to push the boundaries of nature, science and, love -- and how much he is willing to sacrifice.

Review: Victor Frankenstein's twin brother Konrad has become ill and none of the doctors can think of anything to cure him. But Victor has found a book in the secret library detailing instructions on making the Elixir of Life. He, his cousin Elizabeth and friend Henry all go on a quest to find the ingredients. It's a quest he can't afford to fail, but many things get in his way-impossible tasks, alchemy, and a love triangle involving himself, his cousin, and his brother.

When I saw the summary, I was interested. Young Frankenstein? Heck yes. And a random twin and a love triangle? High hopes.

We start with a lighthearted intro to all the protagonists, which quickly moves on and keeps moving throughout.

The adventure kept me turning the pages wanting to know more at every turn.

I loved the romance in this. We get our fair share of love triangles in young adult literature, but none of them ever come from the boy's perspective. It was interesting seeing something we're used to from a different pov, and the fact the two boys in this look identical, leading to midnight deception, added a bit to the normal love triangle template.

The alchemy in this was thought out with clear rules. Our antagonist Polidori has a lot more to him than we first think, leading to a climactic showdown at the end.

The characters all developed in huge ways, with  Elizabeth coming more into her own and Konrad developing in a big way. Victor himself gains depth and complexity, and I can't decide if he's  a better or worse character by the end of the book.

By the very end, we're left on something in the middle of closure and a cliffhanger; This Dark Endeavour is clearly finished, but we have a clear motive for what will happen later in Victor's life-the part that Mary Shelley wrote about.

Overall:  Strength 4 tea to a prequel/retelling done excellently. I  can't wait to see  what Victor and co do next.

Links: Goodreads | Author website