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Goddess in the Stacks (553 KP) rated Alice in Zombieland - White Rabbit Chronicles in Books

Feb 1, 2018

This was an interesting re-imagining of Alice in Wonderland. In Alice in Zombieland, Alice Bell's life has always been curtailed by her father's insistence that monsters exist. The family cannot leave the house after dark, she's been taught how to fight hand-to-hand and with a couple of weapons, and they never - NEVER - drive past the graveyard. All of this changes in one night - when Alice "falls down the rabbit hole" as it were - and discovers her father wasn't insane after all.

Now, living with her grandparents, haunted by visions of her little sister and glimpses of monsters in the dark, Alice - or Ali, as she insists on being called - finds herself being called on to fight the monsters alongside the roughest crowd in her high school. Falling in love with the leader of the bad boys doesn't help her social life, but might help her stay alive.

I enjoyed this book and will probably pick up the sequel, Through the Zombie Glass, if I can find it at the library. The writing flowed well most of the time, and while Alice began a little whiny, by the end of the book she was pretty bad ass. It felt.... a little more "young adult" than some young adult books I've read; the emotions seemed detached or damped down a bit. While she was dealing with grief over the loss of her family, and possible death at the hands of zombies, it just didn't feel as raw as I think those emotions should have felt. And the notion of a bunch of high school kids fighting zombies - with the support of adults, including the high school principal - was a little weird. Still an interesting book, and not a waste of time, but it felt a lot like "teenagers are special snowflakes!"

You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.wordpress.com

Kudos

Lindsay (1779 KP) rated When Grace Sings (The Zimmerman Restoration Trilogy, #2) in Books

Feb 15, 2018 (Updated Apr 9, 2019)

This story continues with Alexa Zimmerman. We are back with the Zimmerman family, with Alexa bed and breakfast known as Grace Notes. We meet the Brauns and their daughter Anna-Grace. Stephen is gifted his grandfather's land. Stephen and Anna-Grace are to stay in Arborville. Alexa seems to be feeling that she is not fitting into the Zimmerman family. Alexa is having doubt about herself and feeling like she an imposter.

We know about Anna-Grace birth parents for we dealt with them in the first book called "When Mercy Rains". When Mercy Rains introduces us to Anna Grace birth parents. Anna Grace is given an envelope that has her birth parents names. Anna-Grace cannot decide if she wants to know or not know her birth parents names and why they gave her up for adoption.

Stephen is dealing with what he wants to do in life. He does not know if he want's his grandfather land in Arborville. He seems to want to sell it, but he does not know for sure. He seems to want to be a teacher. Can he tell his parents or Anna Grace that he wants to be? Stephen decides to have Anna Grace decide if she can stay there or not live in Arborville and if he should keep or sell his grandparents farmland.

We also meet Bailey Forrester who is a reporter and is sent to Arborville to find a story on this community. There are four people looking in the wrong places. Bailey has his Aunt Marit that come through to him. He also tries to want to feel important. Will they all find Grace? What will happen with Stephen and Anna-Grace?

Kudos

Hazel (1853 KP) rated Captive in Books

Dec 14, 2018

This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Captive is the debut young adult thriller by British author A. J. Grainger. Set in contemporary Britain, sixteen-year-old Robyn, the daughter of the Prime Minister, is kidnapped and held hostage by three animal rights activists. Until the government agrees to release the person accused of the attempted assassination of the PM four month previously, they refuse to free Robyn from captivity. It soon becomes clear that a lot of lies and cover-ups have been occurring and it is difficult to know whom to trust.

The novel gets off to a great start with a lot of action as Robyn and her family is ambushed on their way to visit grandparents. The first half of the book is really exciting as the reader slowly gets to grips with what is going on.

Grainger writes really well with great use of descriptive words and phrases. To keep the reader engaged and to lengthen the story she includes other interesting details that are educational in a way – for example, knowledge about birds.

Unfortunately the second half of the book is not as exciting as the first. A relationship starts developing between Robyn and one of the captors, which is rather unoriginal and predictable.

One thing that I particularly liked about this novel was Robyn’s character. Naturally people may expect daughters of prime ministers to be snobbish and spoilt but Robyn was the complete opposite. She did not care about where her clothes came from or whether or not she went to parties. Robyn was the representation of the average teenage girl preparing for her GCSEs.

Despite the clichéd captor/hostage situation Captive is a very enjoyable novel with a few exhilarating twists in the plot.