Book Review: DARKER STILL by Leanna Renee Hieber

In 1880's New York City, a young girl who is mute falls in love with a painting. This may seem like an usual plot, but actually there's a long tradition of stories and fables where art either comes to life, traps a live person, or seems to be alive to the point where someone falls in love the subject. What do they all have in common? They all have something to do with sex and the gaze. They all suggest that a truth lies in the image that's hidden by ordinary life. And they're all more interesting than Darker Still.

I really wanted to like this novel. Leanna Renee Hieber was one of the first authors to connect with my blog because I reviewed her first book, and I think she's a great writer. As an art historian, I tend to read every book that has something to do with art I come across and, in a very weird coincidence, I wrote about runes in painting for my master's thesis. Also, Colette from A Buckeye Girl Reads got a copy of Darker Still signed and then mailed it to me! Wasn't that nice of her?

With all that, one might think this book and I would be sure bets--I certainly thought so--but I wound up not finishing it. Perhaps it might be because I know too much about the subject, but I don't think so. I don't expect total historical accuracy from novels, especially in a subject as obscure as the occult in art. However, I DO expect a good story, and that simply didn't happen here.

Darker Still started out okay. It's "framed" in the way novels from the nineteenth century tend to be, as part of a police file that includes the main character's journal. At first I thought this was pretty brilliant and clever, but I was quickly bothered by the fact that the "journal entries" didn't read like journal entries, but like a regular novel in the first person.

When I really knew this book and I wouldn't get along, though, was the first time Natalie sets eyes on the portrait of Lord Denbury. This is basically the meet-cute of the book, yes? Even if it's just a painting, I expected something--some spark, some chemistry, or at the very least something interesting--to happen. But alas, nada. I read over the scene three times just to make sure I hadn't missed a key word or sentence that would tell me why everyone found this portrait to be so intriguing.



To be sure, the portrait has a somewhat curious history (although nothing sensational) and the subject is handsome--or so we're told. But the problem is that as a reader I cannot see this portrait. I'm told Denbury is handsome, but the way he's described makes him sound like Zoolander. The rest of the painting was related in a very stark, bare-bones manner, and sounded like a totally orndinary portrait. Rather boring and old-fashioned, in fact; certainly nothing to cause a Madame X-level of buzz.

Furthermore, while reading about the painting I kept being distracted by inconsistencies that pulled me out of the story. For example, Natalie describes Denbury thusly: "Tiny traces between his nose and the corners of his pursed and perfect lips indicated that his mouth would grow lines of an often wide smile as he aged." First of all, that's a pretty tortured sentence (one of many). And second of all, what seventeen-year-old thinks about how a person is going to age? The whole scene is wrapped up by Natalie declaring, "And yet, there was something terribly compelling about him." UHG. Insta-love much? Not only is that the romance cliche to end all romance novel cliches, but I don't find him compelling, and there's no reason why Natalie does beyond the fact that everyone else seems to.

I kept reading in the hopes the book would improve when Natalie went into the portrait, and it did a bit, but Denbury seemed silly rather than mysterious, and the villains were cartoonishly obvious. I was laughing a whole hell of a lot, and not because the book was trying to be funny. It was because of cheesy scenes like this:

I studied the particulars of the scene. The book The Girl remained jutting out from the shelf.

And then I noticed a new shift. Something else out of place. Different.

On his desk, the pristine blotter bore droplets of ink, and the quill was lying on its side rather than upright in the shaft of the inkwell. Two words seemed to scream up at me from a note that faced my direction on his desk.

Yes, you!

Haha! Denbury wants YOU! Yes, you! Just in case you thought he was telegraphing the cat. Or when Natalie finally meets this supposed 19-year-old heart-throb and he commences with the desk-pounding and exclamation-marking:

"Denbury pounded his fist on his desk in fury. 'The bloody bastard!'"

Two pages later...

"'I'd just begun to live!' He pounded his fist against the desk..."

At this point I'd started to feel like Darker Still was an adaptation of The Nutcracker and Mouse King, where a young girl becomes nonsensically obsessed with a painting instead of a nutcracker. But rather than turning out to be a prince, the guy is a bombastic octogenarian Whig; and instead of sweeping her off to an enchanted palace made of candy, he takes her to a 9x11 office cubicle with a fake fireplace. Très romantic.

On top of all this, I really hated Natalie as a character. Her personality basically IS that she's mute. That's it. There doesn't seem to be any reason for what she does beyond the fact that someone else wants her to do it, or any reasoning behind her ideas other than someone else thought it. Of course, she never really NEEDS to think, seeing as how who is good and who is evil and what exactly is going on and what she needs to do about it is all telegraphed to her, in a painfully obvious fashion. Snorz!

I heard a saying the other day that "A cat sat on a mat is not a story. A cat sat on another cat's mat is a story." This book is about a cat who sat on a mat. Everything just happens, with no conflict or intrigue to keep the reader engaged. There's no sense of atmosphere, historical place and time, characters with personalities, or stakes. And this why it read so young to me--as if it was written for 8-11 year-olds rather than teens or adults--because there's really no depth to the story at all. What you see is what you get, and that's pretty damn boring in art, life, and literature.

Book Review: THE PERILOUS PROPHECY OF GUARD AND GODDESS by Leanna Renee Hieber

Something you should know about me: I hate prologues. Like I don't read them. Ever. Begin the story at the beginning, please. So it probably shouldn't come as any surprise that I hard time getting into Perilous Prophecy of Guard and Goddess, despite the fact that I love Hieber's writing and this series in general.

Perilous Prophecy is a prequel to the last two Guard books. In those novels, a reincarnation of the goddess Persephone helps a group called the Guard close the door between the Whisper World and the mortal world. For the most part, this book follows the Guard previous to the one we're familiar with, which was formed in Cairo, and gives us a more thorough understanding of the Goddess prior to her reincarnation.

At first I was excited about this, because the setting offers a ton of interesting venues for adventure. Tombs have got to be filled with ghosts, right?? And Beatrice's (the Cairo Guard's Leader) dad is even an archaeologist! But aside from one notable exception (which is one of the better scenes in the book), the setting wasn't really taken advantage of and the transition between mortal and Guard seemed fairly easy for these characters. They don't even have to explain things to their family, who are under some sort of spell to just accept whatever they're told. So no dramaz there, my friends! Then it's decided they have to go to London, and the book starts to rehash things we already know from the previous two books.

In other words, I'm not sure what the point of this book was...? Don't get me wrong, Hieber's style is as good as ever; but as far as the story's concerned, we're not shown anything new. And for some of the scenes I really wish I had been allowed to just imagine them. Of course I'm always happy to read about Alexi and the rest of the London Guard, but the scenes in which they appeared didn't really add anything to my understanding of their characters. We found out why Alexi wears a red cravat and where he got his feather ring from, and that's about it. Also, I struggled with the age Alexi was in this book--he's what, 16 or 17? He doesn't act like it. He acts like grown-up Alexi, and it was really frustrating for me. I hate it when kid characters in books and movies act too much like adults.

Aside from that, there were a hella lot of annoying characters in this novel. My big two were Ibrahim and the Goddess. Pardon me while my blood pressure rises.

Ibrahim  Okay, what is this dude's damage?!? 1. Stop whining about shit, you're not the only person with problems; and 2. man up for God's sake. Why on earth does Beatrice even find him remotely attractive? When he's not being boring, he's telling people not to do things because they're "dangerous." Okie dokie, Mom, thanks for the heads up!

Goddess  This one surprised me, because I really like Percy, the Goddess' mortal incarnation, in the other books. But the Goddess herself was a bitch! And not even a fun bitch, either, one of those passive-aggressive types. The Goddess is always going on and on about how she lost her true love, yada yada, don't really care. Erm, hello, but have you noticed the totally awesome Darkness that's super-devoted to you? Okay, so you were taken into the Whisper World against your will, but maybe you could make the best of it??? Because Darkness was pretty hawt. PS, the world doesn't revolve around you and you have no redeeming qualities-love, me. Again, I have to wonder what anyone sees in this "woman" other than sparkly rainbows--she just seemed very immature and selfish.


So, yeah, I wasn't too wild about this book. It did get considerably better in the second half, but by then I was too frustrated to enjoy it. I do, however, look forward to reading Hieber's next novel.

leanna renee hieber, perilous prophecy of guard and goddess, review

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A Christmas Carroll by Leanna Renee Hieber

In which the author Leanna Renee Hieber endeavors, in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put her readers out of humour....

When we last left The Guard--a group of seven people who keep the "Whisper-world" and "real world" separated--in The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker, everyone had lost their powers but was happily paired up--even Michael and Rebecca.  But how?  Why?  A Christmas Carroll explains exactly that.

I have to admit I came into this story with two major biases:  one, I never liked Rebecca that much.  I was totally okay with her being pathetically in love with Professor Alexi forever.  And two, even if she did fall in love with someone else, I couldn't see it being with Michael.  Alexi is the leader of The Guard; Elijah is the class clown; and Michael is just... the nice guy.  Nice. Safe. Boring.  Could someone who had carried a hopeless torch for Alexi for nearly her entire life really ever be attracted to someone like Michael?  I was doubtful.

Hieber, however, managed it.  She convinced me Michael was romantic hero material and that he and Rebecca belonged together in one hundred pages, and she did it in a way I never would have expected.  Á la Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Rebecca and Michael are taken on journeys into their respective pasts by their recently deceased friend and colleague, Jane.  Along the way they have a chance to repair the past and start anew in the present.

This isn't a perfect book--for about the first half I felt like I kept waiting for the story to start, and the conclusion was so sweet I thought I might have gotten a cavity--but it succeeds in its central purpose.  And I continue to be impressed by Hieber's writing.  Michael and Rebecca spend very little time together in the course of the narrative, which seems antithetical to a romance; but Hieber uses it as a creative way to bring them together. 

She's also writing much more lyrical prose than I recall from her earlier work.  Take the first sentence from the prologue, for example:  "Three spirits murmured to each other, standing in the luminous Liminal that separated the waiting Whisper-world from the dazzling, drawing light of the Great Beyond."  That's a lot of alliteration!  The entire story isn't that heavily poetical, but it does set the tone for the rest of the narrative.  Hieber is clearly expanding her repertoire on how to tell a story, not just what to tell, and overall I found it very effective.

I would definitely recommend this novella to anyone who likes the Percy Parker books, and am looking forward to seeing what the author does with her next novel!  Thank you so much to Hieber for sending me a galley copy of this anthology to read.

And if this review has confused the heck out of you, I suggest you pick up The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker.  Immediately.

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Fragment Friday: A Christmas Carroll

Fragment Friday is a weekly meme hosted at Book Chic, where you read an excerpt from either your current read or one of your favorite books and post it on your blog to share with others! It's a fun way to learn about new books or to hear a sample from a book you're dying to read.  Go to Book Chic to post your own fragment!

Leanna Renee Hieber Interview

This week (Tuesday), The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker is finally being released.  I loved the book (you can read my review here); and immediately after I finished, I asked Leanna Renee Hieber if she would mind doing an interview to answer some of my burning questions.

Heidenkind:  Who built Athens Academy?
 

Leanna Renee Heiber:  Here’s where I mix real history with fancy. Athens Academy never existed, but Quakers did and still do.

My fictional Athens was built in the mid 1800’s by Quakers in a style more lavish than they would have been comfortable with: a Romanesque style with rich sandstone detailing. They did so to blend in with central London and hide the fact they were a Quaker institution, Quakers being known for their more modest, Spartan structures. A Christian religious group formed in 17^th Century England as the Religious Society of Friends, the term “Quaker” comes from the idea of trembling before the Lord. Quakers were known for their progressive values such as their vehement abolitionist, anti-slavery stance and adamant equality for women both in religious practices and in education. They were ardent supporters of education of all kinds, suffrage movements and public services. They were also an often shunned and persecuted minority.

Making the school in a Quaker model is the only remotely historically realistic way for me to posit a co-ed school model that might include young women and educate them in all disciplines (including math, a rare subject for a woman to study). Athens was originally titled RFS Academy (Religious Society of Friends) but the school was closed after only a few years of operation due to religious intolerance and disdain for educating women. However in the 1860’s when Beatrice Tipton, former leader of the former Guard is instructed by the Goddess Persephone to ease the school into the future hands of Rebecca and Alexi, she has the name changed in honour of her legacy and the school reopened to pave the way for Prophecy and transfers some of the power of her beloved Phoenix unto the bricks. Many Quakers were also involved in the Spiritualist movement tied to ghosts and spirit-matters, which ties in nicely with the themes of my series.

Heidenkind:  Do the students and faculty of Athens Academy share a common trait that draws them there?
 

LRH:  Many Quaker and other progressive families quietly send their children there as well as families who have exceedingly shy or gifted children of both genders who didn’t do well in other school settings; similar motivation draws many parents to seek private education today. However even in a unique setting, Percy is still the ‘freak’ outsider and that was a dynamic I needed to maintain for her growth and context.

Heidenkind:  Does Persephone (the goddess) still exist?
 

LRH:  The Goddess as she once was is no more. The pure energy of her essence is eternal, however her form and specificity as an entity is now diluted. Her power (and one or two scattered memories) lives on in the body of Miss Persephone Parker, her legacy of choice and sacrifice. This power may yet pass on, it remains to be seen and I’m not about to say.

Heidenkind:  What will happen to the Whisper-World when Persephone doesn't come back?

LRH:  The end of Darkly Luminous sees a shift in the power balance. In the great liberty I take with this canonical story, I posit that she was never meant to be stolen away, that Darkness had no right, thusly the balance was always skewed. The Whisper-world as such will remain a restless purgatory, a bit in stasis. But as the world changes at the turn of the 20^th century, so does the Whisper-world. A world at war effects everyone and everything across all spiritual planes.

Heidenkind:  Darkness mentions that he and Persephone are just pawns.  Are we going to get a chance to see the major players at some point?

LRH:  At this point I can’t imagine dealing with the wider canon of Greek Gods, or tackling any sort of monotheistic notions as characters. I didn’t want to create any of my characters as omnipotent, so I relegate all of them to a bit of the ‘divine mystery’ that I don’t feel I can show at its highest levels. I do want the Strangely Beautiful saga to remain at its heart an ongoing tale of mortals dealing with choices, fate, free-will and phenomena as best they can.

Heidenkind:  If you only have sex with a god/goddess, does that make you a virgin?
 

LRH:  *grin* Beatrice Tipton, when she tells Percy about the Goddess “making Alexi a man” at age 16, Beatrice doesn’t exactly understand the dynamic that was established between the Goddess and Alexi as a youth – a dynamic he himself doesn’t remember beyond a vague sense. You’ll just have to decide for yourself what you think in Strangely Beautiful #3, the prequel. *tease, tease*

Heidenkind:  Will your next book be the start of a new series?
 

LRH:  My next release is “A Christmas Carroll” (Strangely Beautiful #2.5), a novella starring Headmistress Thompson and Vicar Michael Carroll, to be included in Dorchester’s Fantasy holiday anthology A MIDWINTER FANTASY (October 2010). And after that, it’s Strangely Beautiful #3 – a prequel that will likely release sometime around March 2011, then Strangely Beautiful #4 continues on with the Rychman familial legacy, with all our familiar cast of characters, to the broach of World War I. Separately from the Strangely Beautiful saga I have written the first in a YA Historical Dark Fantasy / Paranormal series that my agent is currently shopping around.

Heidenkind:  What is your ultimate goal when you're writing a novel?

LRH:  Having readers care enough about the characters and the world I’ve built to ask questions like these. So thank you for doing me that honour. There is no greater thrill for me than when readers champion and care for my characters.

Heidenkind:  What's your favorite thing about the Victorian era?

LRH:  The stoic struggle. The repression that makes a mere kiss on the hand cataclysmically sensual becomes a delicious writing tool. But to answer this question truthfully, my Victorian fascination is infinitely more complex than mere romanticism.

It was a charged time of beauty and sophistication coupled with desolation, hypocrisy and poverty.  The world was changing and remade before their eyes – everything was in question, God, science, morality, world domination, gender roles, the industrial revolution, the stirrings of social justice and awakening sensibilities. So much of the society was on some level at war with itself and yet doing so with grace, beauty, and veiled terror. I’m fascinated by this Jekyll and Hyde society; preened exterior, seething underbelly. This rich, aching struggle comes out startlingly clear in the literature of the time, which I credit for making me fall in love with the era in my pre-teen years.

The Victorians were also ardent spiritualists and neo-classicists, and so Strangely Beautiful’s fantastical threads of ghosts and Greek Mythology come plucked directly from the Victorian psyche itself.

Heidenkind:  Do you have a favorite work of art?

LRH:  Oh, do I! My love-affair with the 19^th century is also a love-affair with its art, and so I’m thrilled by this topic because it’s inextricably tied to my work.

Pardon the list but I absolutely cannot pick just one! (Dad’s an art teacher, my fondest childhood memories are of poring over art books with him and discussing the contents) I geek-out rhapsodic over art, and this blog seems quite the place to do so, seeing I am in the presence of an Art Historian. Huzzah!

Favourite artistic movement: The Pre-Raphaelites and those who circled near their orbit. I’m particularly obsessed with Rosetti, Waterhouse, Millais and Moreau.

2^nd Favourite artistic movement: The Blue Rider (Der Blaue Reiter) Group of German expressionists, particularly Franz Marc.

Favourite ‘stand alone’ artists: Edvard Munch, George Seurat (love your header, Tasha) and John Singer Sargent.

Favourite piece to be in a room with: A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Grand Jatte – when visiting this piece in Chicago I just move closer then step back, repeating numerous times until satiated. I never cease to be amazed by Seurat’s patient talent and visionary mind as the pointillist abstraction becomes a lushly realized scene replete with bustles and parasols *sigh* (I also love the musical “Sunday in the Park with George”).

Favourite sculptor: Camille Claudel, Rodin’s lover and collaborator. Her “Waltz” / “La Valse” is a piece Percy (and I) want on our mantel.

Heidenkind:  If you were going to rewrite a "zombified" version of a classic novel, which one would it be?

LRH:  The Castle of Otronto (regarded as one of the first Gothic novels). Also I suppose a Les Miserables de Zombie might have its intrigue. *shudder*

Thank you so much for the great interview, Leanna!  And congratulations on turning Strangely Beautiful into a musical!

The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber

Pre-order this book at an independent bookseller near you (via IndieBound).

The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker is the sequel to The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, and picks up right where that book left off.  Because of this, I don't think it's possible to review the book without spoiling its predecessor (even the title is a spoiler to some extent)--so if you haven't read Strangely Beautiful yet, you might want to skip to the end of this review.

Now onto the good stuff, to wit:  I enjoyed the hell out of this book!  I think it's actually about ten times better than Strangely Beautiful: more romantic, and with a better story.  When the book opens, we're at Athens Academy right after Percy has tossed the Gorgon and Cerberus back into the Whisper World.  But instead of seeing things from the perspective of one of The Guard, we're introduced to Beatrice, a ghost and former Guard member herself.  This seems like little more than a creative way to do backstory, at first, but it actually sets up the entire plot of the book beautifully.

You see, even though Percy has found her goddess powers and closed the portals between the worlds, Darkness still wants his Persephone back.  Meanwhile, Alexi is insisting that he and Percy need to be married right away and they're going to have a honeymoon if it kills them.  Normally this would be problematic enough considering Alexi's job on The Guard; but unbeknownst to Percy, her goddess self had a much bigger purpose in becoming a mortal than just closing the seals between worlds and gettin' it on with the hawt prof.  When Alexi finds out about this--and discovers just how dangerous her mission is going to be--he is none too happy.

I think even if you had some problems with Strangely Beautiful, you're going to like Darkly Luminous.  My personal issue with the first book was Percy and Alexi's relationship, and how unequal it was.  In this novel, Hieber confronts the fact that Alexi is--or was--Percy's professor, and that he's almost double her age, more directly.  Percy is still very young and not entirely sure of herself, which is honestly something I found a bit disturbing at times; but she gets more assertive as the book goes on, and I thought Alexi's authoritarian moments were well-explained and handled by all the characters.

Plus, if you were interested in the story of the other guard members, that's nicely fleshed out and concluded here.  Elijah has several great scenes, and I actually really adored his relationship with Josephine.  We also find out more about Jane's ghostly romance.

The only part of the book I didn't like was the conclusion to Rebecca's story and her love for Alexi.  I just found it unbelievable and wayyyy to easy.  Michael's great, but is he really her equal in intellect and personality?  I just wasn't feeling it.  The book also dragged a bit in the middle, when everyone gets a time out for Alexi and Parcy's honeymoon; but otherwise, the beginning and end flew by with amazing swiftness.

If you're looking for an atmostpheric Victorian novel with adventure, ghosts, travels to the Underworld, and romance, this is pretty much it.  I don't recommend reading this one before Strangely Beautiful, but if you've already done so, dig right into Darkly Luminous as soon as you can.  In fact, re-read the first book before you start this one--you'll thank me later.



Thank you to Leanna Renee Hieber for providing me with an early copy of this book!  The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker will be released April 27th, 2010.

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The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker

This unusual and unique historical romance combines the paranormal, Greek mythology, and adventure into a very engrossing read.

It's 1888 London, and there is a group of six people possessed with the powers to banish spirits--Alexi, the leader of the group and a professor; Rebecca, the headmistress of Athens Academy; Michael, a vicar; Josephine, an artist; Elijah, a ne'er-do-well; and Jane, a healer.  These six people are awaiting the arrival of a seventh, prophecied from when they were first possessed, to help them fight... whatever it is they're fighting (they don't specifically know).  Unbeknownst to most of the rest of the group, Alexi is convinced that the seventh will be the reincarnation of his goddess and his true love.

So it's safe to say they're all a bit impatient for the seventh's arrival, especially Alexi.

Into all of this wanders Miss Percy Parker, an albino orphan raised in a convent who is very innocent, not very confident, and has a gift for languages.  Oh, and she sees and talks to dead people and has visions.  Could Percy be the seventh?  Gosh, I just don't know!  The other six dinglebats in this group certainly have a hard enough time figuring it out.

Anyway, Percy (who I imagine looking like Princess Nuala from Hellboy II:  The Golden Army) is thrilled to be attending Athens Academy, a progressive co-ed institution; and she's even more thrilled with her yummy math professor.  Rawrrr.  Too bad she sucks at the maths.  Aha, BUT, since she's so bad at it, she needs some private after-hours tutoring from the teacher.  Ohhh yeahhhhh.  If the office is a-rockin', don't come a-knockin'.

I became really, insanely involved in this book.  I loved the set-up with Percy entering the Academy and being a total romantic, and then being told she'll be expelled if she so much as touches a male.  You can't help but look forward to how things are going to shake out after that.  Athens Academy has an almost Harry Potter-like feel to it, especially with ghosts floating around everywhere and Alexi stomping about and swirling black professorial robes like Snape on a bender.  The relationship between the six Guardians, although only hinted at in the book, is also very complex and practically crying out for a sequel (or several).

The only part of the book that kind of freaked me out and that I would bother to take issue with was Percy and Alexi's relationship.  As Stacy pointed out in her review, Percy seems very meek.  I could see why that bothered Stacy, although I accepted it as part of the Gothic genre and expected Percy to grow more confident during the course of the story.  But it did bother me insofar as the balance of power between her and Alexi is so obviously in Alexi's favor.  Percy has nothing--no friends, no family, and no hope of every marrying because she believes she's horrific.  Alexi, meanwhile, has money, friends, family, a job in which he is her teacher... so of course she's going to be attracted to him.  And when it's a question of whether Percy is risking anything by being in a relationship with him, personally I don't think it's that much.  For most of the book, Percy's attraction to Alexi felt more like a silly crush to me than true love, although their relationship does eventually become deeper and seems more equal.  But the real question is, is there ever any danger that Percy is going to break off this relationship?  Hell to the no--she has too much to lose.

I'm sure there other various things in this novel that might bother people, but trust me when I say it doesn't matter.  This is the type of book that needs to be read in one sitting.  First of all, if you try to do anything (like drive) while you're reading this book, you're not going to be able to keep your mind on the activity in question, which could be dangerous (not that I'm speaking from personal experience or anything *cough*).  And second of all, the story in the book is very much like a suspended dream.  You don't want to stop reading and break the spell.  Sure, I could probably pick elements of the plot apart three ways to Sunday, but I won't because I bought into it completely while it was happening.  There were times when I was seriously bothered by the actions of the characters in this novel, but that was because I so deep into it; and I haven't been that involved in a book in a long time.  I have to say, it's a wonderful feeling. 

Much love to Katiebabs for introducing me to this novel and convincing me to read it with her review.  I would love to return to the strangely beautiful world of Percy Parker and learn more about it whenever I get the chance.



Other reviews in case you're curious:
Babbling About Books & More
Smexy Books
~Stacy's Place On Earth~
A Buckeye Girl Reads
Lurv a la Mode

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