Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge by Paul Krueger

Publisher Description: College grad Bailey Chen has a few demons: no job and a rocky relationship with Zane, her only friend when she moves back home. But when Zane introduces Bailey to his fellow monster-fighting bartenders, her demons get a lot more literal.

Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge is a silly and entertaining tale of cocktails that give one the power to fight demons.

The fighting demons with cocktails conceit wore a little thin, but the robust plot kept me going as a reader. There was one shockingly out of place incident that won't make dog lovers happy, but otherwise the violence is of the over-the-top demon fighting kind. Overall, I’d rate this book a little gimmicky but amusing and fun. It definitely does not take itself seriously. (The demons are called tremens - a group of them? A delirium.) It also has a diverse cast of characters, always welcome.

I loved the Chicago setting and details. The cover says the writer lives in L.A., but I have to believe from the accurate Chicago vocabulary that he was a Chicagoan at one time. Some lines made me laugh out loud (off to fight demons and the bad guy, the main character’s hair was “styled to weather both Chicago winds and possibly the end of the world.” p. 327 of the advance reader copy).

Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge really feels like a “new adult” novel (although I do hate that label). (“She’d spent so much of the past two months running from her old self, but for the first time she felt maybe she didn’t have to. … What mattered was the future, and she still had plenty of that left.” (p. 276) This from a recent college graduate.)

Recommended for lovers of urban fantasy like Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files and for “new adult” Chicagoans who like quirky fantasy. In fact, if you are a Chicagoan or ex-Chicagoan of any age and the book’s description intrigues you, give it a shot. The opening of the author’s Acknowledgments give you an idea of what to expect: 

The hardest part about writing the acknowledgments for a book I wrote is finding a way to stretch the words “Great job, Paul!” See, that’s the thing about this book: I wrote it all by myself. If there’s anyone to acknowledge, it’s definitely just me and me alone. Well, me and Mira. I will definitely thank her. She’s my roommate’s cat, and she spent most of the draft process lying quietly in a nearby sunbeam. It was the single most inspiring thing I’ve ever seen. (p. 280 of the ARC)

 I read an advance reader copy of Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge. It will be published on June 7 and will be available at the Galesburg Public Library as a print book and an ebook.

The Story of Awkward by R.K. Ryals

Genres: Contemporary, Fantasy, New Adult
Release Date: April 11th, 2014

Source: Bought

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If you are looking for a happy book about beautiful people, this is the wrong story. 
If you are looking for a narrative without emotion, without regrets, and without mistakes, this is definitely the wrong story. 

This is by no means an uncomplicated tale about uncomplicated people. It is by no means sweet or light. 

This story is ugly. 
This story is complicated. 
This story is emotional. 
This story is tragic. 

In short, this story is about being awkward. 

Peregrine Storke is an artist with an odd sketchbook full of pictures she’s drawn since she was a child. It is a book full of strange sketches and awkward characters, for there is no better way to hide from bullying and life than to create a world of your own. With a stroke of her pencil, she has given life to a spectacled princess, a freckle-nosed king, a candy loving troll, a two-horned unicorn, and a graceless fairy. 

At nineteen, Peregrine leaves her home, her sketchbook, and awkwardness behind. But what happens when something goes wrong in the world of Awkward? Trapped inside of her complex realm with the bully she thought to leave behind, Peregrine discovers there is nothing worse than falling for your own villain.

You know what I would have thought improbable about two weeks ago? Falling in love with a freebie novel I snagged from Amazon. It happened though. The Story of Awkward made me feel all the feels. It was an emotional rollercoaster and it was 100% worth it.

This is a book many people will be able to relate to. Are you awkward? Do you sometimes have trouble embracing yourself? Is it hard to sometimes remember that you are perfect the way you are? Then you’ve come to the right place.

The Story of Awkward tells the story of a girl named Peregrine. She created the world of Awkward as a way to escape all the badness in her real life. From bullying to her emotionally abusive father to her in-different mother. The thing is, in spite of all these issues, the book doesn’t start off in a bad place. It starts off with Peregrine ready to go to college and excited for a fresh start.

But, a near death accident transports her, and her tormentor (who also happens to be her best friend’s brother) to the world she imagined as a kid. To Awkward. And Awkward is in trouble. It will be up to Peregrine and Foster (her tormentor) to save it.

Awkward was an awkward world. There will be some things about it that don’t make sense but I decided to go with the flow and ignore those tid bits because it is still a wonderfully imagined world and SO CREATIVE!

This book takes us on an adventure to save a prince who has been lured in by perfection but it also takes us on a journey of self-acceptance. The book also features a super cute romance between Foster and Peregrine.

I know what you might be thinking, “BUT HE TORMENTED HER”, and I felt that too but Ryals does such a fantastic job with the romance and makes the two SO EASY TO SHIP. Their romance is wonderfully developed and doesn’t turn into instalove when it easily could have. I loved watching them support one another and help each other feel accepted.

This is a fantastic book written in a unique voice and it so loveable. It features a strong yet awkward female lead, a cute romance, an interesting world and also a great message. Defintiely a book I’d recommend and it’s still a freebie on amazon SO GO CHECK IT OUT!

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses #1
Genres: Fantasy, Fairy tale retellings, New Adult

Release Date: May 5th, 2015
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's
Source: eARC from Netgalley

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When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

This book was everything I wanted it to be, yet there are aspects of it that didn’t work for me as well as I had hoped they would. 

The first half of the book was gorgeously written but at the same time, there wasn’t much happening. We saw relationships being built, which is important, and worlds being developed, which is also important yet it was slow paced and sometimes, I would have to force myself to read on.

Tamlin was definitely a highlight of the book for me and he is just such a beautiful creature. I loved seeing Maas’ take on the beast and I loved the neat ways in which she made the re-telling her own.

I am not big on fae, so going in, I was worried that my own bias would affect my enjoyment of the book and while there were things I wish that could have been different, I also really enjoyed the aspect. It gave the re-telling a very original outlook.

What I also loved was the cast of secondary characters, from Lucien to the sisters, they were such a varied (in terms of personalities) group and I enjoyed reading about them. They all undergo development over the course of the book and I love seeing the relationships Feyre had built with these characters.

They, in their own ways, brought about Feyre’s own growth process which was a beauty to watch. It’s so realistic too. The change within her doesn’t occur overnight, although calling her cold hearted from the start would be a lie. She has never been cold hearted, but her childhood has caused her to harden up and can you really blame her? From a young age she became in charge of people older than her. She had to risk her life on a daily basis to put food on their plates and was that fair to her? I don’t think so.

She is such strong character and while there are times, especially in the last quarter of the book, where I became frustrated her, I think overall, she is a character I cannot help but admire for her strength, loyalty, determination and kindness!

The romance is so beautifully developed in this book. I ADORED seeing Tamlin and Feyre become closer and I loved seeing them grow to trust one another. In a relationship like theirs, there is always that question of believability. I mean, Tamlin is old so out of all the women he has probably met and had relationships with, what makes Feyre special? A lot of things. Their relationship is fantastic. There might have been things that would have bothered me had I not been shipping them so hard but they work beautifully as a couple. They can confide each other, help each other and just lean on each other and it’s beautiful.

My biggest problem in this book came in the form of a creature named Rhys. I despised him and my problem with that is that I am not sure we are meant to despise him. I worry about where the author may choose to go with his character and the role he plays in Feyre's life. It seems as though things are being set up for something but I believe in Tamlin and Feyre’s relationship too much and hopefully, all my worrying will be for naught.

Another thing that didn’t work so well for me is the way things ended. I want to be more specific but I cannot be. One of the resolutions just didn’t work for me. It isn’t a fault with the book itself but something I, as a reader, have never enjoyed so it made that aspect really hard for me to roll with.

I realize I am being a little vague here but you got to deal with it. How will you ever know what I was talking about if you don’t read the book? *hint hint*

This is a gorgeously written re-telling, that did the original tale justice. I love the originality of it and I cannot wait to see what else awaits us in the future instalments (hopefully only good things).