Mini Reviews: His Convict Wife and The Convict's Bounty Bride By Lena Dowling

His Convict Wife by Lena Dowling (via Netgalley)
I actually didn't realise this was the second book in this convict romance series - though both are only novellas and you can definitely read this one without having read the first, but certain references made more sense once I did read the other. This book focuses on Colleen Malone, an Irish convict forced into prostitution who gets pregnant and then manages to get virtuous settler Samuel Biggs to marry her. Samuel is still grieving the death of his first wife and wants Colleen more as a housemaid than an actual partner, but Colleen wants to pass her baby off as his, so she has other ideas. I quite liked Colleen's tenacity and the tension between her and Samuel, and the ups and downs of their relationship made for a pretty entertaining read. This is my first foray into romance set in colonial Australia, so I don't know if it's common in the genre, but one thing that put me off a little bit was Samuel's uptightness and slightly controlling behaviour at times. Aside from that he was pretty swoon-worthy.
Rating: 3.5/5

The Convict's Bounty Bride by Lena Dowling
This story actually comes before His Convict Wife, focusing on ex-convict James Hunter, who becomes Samuel Biggs' employer in the later book. James made a deal with a noble family to take the blame for a crime committed by their son in exchange for their daughter's hand in marriage. This is news to Lady Thea, who has no interest in marriage and only wants a career. James decides to show her how good being his wife could be... you can see where this is heading. This novella was half the size than His Convict Wife and there wasn't a great amount of development of the characters and their relationship. The insta-love was pretty unbelievable and I just wasn't invested in their story. Also the whole premise, and the inevitable outcome, left a really bad taste in my mouth.
Rating: 2.5/5

Audiobook Series Review: White Trash Zombie By Diana Rowland

This series is so, so fun. I picked up the first two books on sale on Audible and I was instantly hooked. The narrator, Allison McLemore, does an awesome job capturing all of the different characters - each voice was distinct and believable. As for story, I loved Angel, the heroine, who is a hot mess until she nearly dies and wakes up as a zombie. Becoming undead allows her to finally pull her life together. She's a strong, fierce, imperfect heroine who is easy to root for. She reminded me a little of Sookie Stackhouse - cute, Southern, uneducated but smart, caring, suddenly thrown into the supernatural world - but a way more awesome version. She doesn't get all dependent and stupid around guys. The romance is secondary to Angel's own journey, which I loved. OK, I would have liked a little more action in that department - just a little - because the love interest was pretty freaking hot. But I really appreciated that there was more to Angel and her story than guys.

My Life as a White Trash Zombie
The first in the series, this book focuses on Angel's transformation and her figuring out what the hell is happening to her. While she's dealing with her sudden craving for brains and adapting to her new job at the morgue (convenient for her meal supply), she finds out there's a serial killer on the loose who is decapitating victims. Her zombie senses are tingling and she gets entangled in the mystery. This is an awesome start to the series, establishing the world while also drawing you in to the story. It's a complete arc within itself, while also leaving room for continuation.
Rating: 4.5/5

Even White Trash Zombies Get The Blues
Angel is finally getting used to life as a zombie when things get even more complicated. Her past comes back to haunt her and she thinks there's a zombie mafia conducting experiments on people. This is another great mystery with some fun romance thrown in. It's awesome to see Angel develop as a character and become even stronger in herself. I really liked all the secondary characters in this, too. It's a very compelling story, completely addictive to listen to.
Rating: 5/5

White Trash Zombie Apocalypse
After racing through the first two books as fast as my ears could take me, I immediately bought the third in the series. I was a little disappointed in this one, and I think the narrator may have played a part in that. It was the same narrator as the previous two books (who had been awesome throughout both), but I feel like this one must have been recorded a fair time after the others, because the performance was pretty different. The voices were all slightly changed which, having just listened to the first two amazingly consistent books, was quite jarring. McLemore also sounded in parts like she had a cold, which was distracting. It was still a great book, with the mystery this time centering around a zombie movie being filmed in Angel's small town, with a worryingly authentic cast of extras. One thing that did annoy me was the suggestion of a couple of new love interests towards the end - it had been so refreshing to have no love triangle in the series thus far. I hope it stays that way. While I didn't love this book as much as the first two, it was still a lot of fun and I'm really looking forward to the next one, which is out later this year.
Rating: 3.5/5

Friday Link Dump: Men In Glasses, Shakespeare Rumours And Karl Stefanovic Fan Fiction

-Here's how Tumblr helped one person become a better (and published) writer. (Publisher's Weekly)

-Why YA deserves more recognition in mainstream media. (Kill Your Darlings)

-The Flowers in the Attic movie hasn't even aired yet, but Lifetime is already developing a sequel. And I am excited. (EW)

-Book Riot has some suggestions of activities you can do while listening to an audiobook. (Book Riot)

-Here are some entertaining and probably untrue rumours about Shakespeare. (Mental Floss)

-The Twitter trailer for the new Muppets movie is #amazeballs. Can't wait to see it. (YouTube)

-If you're attracted to men in glasses, this Tumblr is for you. (Tumblr)

-This Snickers bar slice has me drooooling. (Style Me Pretty)

-Hello Giggles addresses the question of why women (and men) prefer male bosses. (Hello Giggles)

-BuzzFeed stuff: How to create a good cheese platter; Great movies you may have missed in 2013; All of the BSC cover outfits ranked; What Are You Afraid of the Dark might be like if it was on now; This Alexander Skarsgard meme is the best ever; The best of the internet's reaction to Cory Bernardi; The adorable exchange between the CSIRO and a little girl who just wants a dragon; and the best moments from the Karl Stefanovic fan fiction you will never be able to unsee.

Review: The Returned By Jason Mott

One day, out of the blue, all the dead return to the living, as though they'd never left. For elderly couple Harold and Lucille, it means seeing their long-dead son again - or does it? Is it really their son? And does it matter? Such are the questions that create the central drama at the heart of The Returned. It's not so much about the dead coming back to life, as it is about the impact the event has on the people around them and society at large. It's about grief and hope and love and fear and horror and joy and death and life.

Going into this, I was expecting it to be creepy, and while there is an uneasy tension and building sense of horror that pervades the novel, as humans react as they always do - by locking away and even destroying what they fear - The Returned is, more than anything, a truly beautiful book.

The writing is lovely, but it's the characters that really get under your skin. I love, love, love the fact that the hero of this book is an old lady - an ordinary old lady, at that. Lucille is one of my favourite characters in a long time. I also appreciated the exploration of Harold's mixed emotions, and the intrinsic sense of good that ruled his behaviour no matter what. A lot of the secondary characters were great, too, and their varied reactions to the Returned felt incredibly realistic.

The setting of a small town in the US was really effective in creating a claustrophobic and increasingly oppressive atmosphere that conveyed the confusion and fear felt by everyone. I also enjoyed the interludes featuring the stories of the Returned around the world - some of them were truly gut-wrenching - but I have to say the subplot involving the Reverend kind of disappointed me. It was interesting at first but just fizzled out. The main story, on the other hand, started out slow but built to a fantastic and memorable climax.The bittersweet ending, and indeed the book as a whole, really makes you think a lot about what it means to be alive, and what it takes to let go of those we love. It's the kind of book that stays with you long after you've finished it.

Rating: 4/5

Fine Print
Published: 2013, Harlequin MIRA
Source: Netgalley
Get It: Book Depository

Related
The Returned has been adapted into a TV series that is apparently coming out in March. It doesn't look anywhere near as good as the book, judging from the trailer, but it still looks worth a watch.

Friday Link Dump: Tea, Gifs and Hiddles

It's been awhile since I've done one of these - or blogged at all, really - because real life has been kinda hectic. Part of this is because I left my old job and started a new one. Those who follow me on Instagram and Twitter will probably already know that I'm now working at BuzzFeed - and if you didn't, well, now you do! It's pretty much a dream come true. I just need to find a balance between work-internet and play-internet, if that makes sense. Part of that is finding time/motivation to do this blog, and also how to do it - for instance, I wasn't sure what to do with these link posts, because let's face it, half the links have always been from BuzzFeed, and I was worried that now it will just look like I'm pimpin' my place of work. But people always seem to like these posts (I think!), so I want to keep doing them, and unless anyone objects, I will include BuzzFeed links I think my friends will like. OK? OK.

In other news, I got a new Kindle for Christmas after my old one, Betsy, broke, and it finally arrived this week. Her name is Betty Paper-White.

Here's what I've enjoyed on the internet lately:

-Elizabeth at Devoted Eclectic explores what makes her review some books and not others (Devoted Eclectic).

-Steph Bowe released the original ending of All This Could End on her blog and WOW. It is beautiful but I am glad it was changed. Spoilers, obviously. (Steph Bowe)

-This sample of one couple's Christmas portraits over a 40-year period is fascinating and bittersweet. (Flavorwire)

-George Orwell describes how to make the perfect cup of tea. I am much easier to please: boiling water, Lipton black tea, a dash of skim milk, jiggle for 30 seconds and it's good to go. I'm such a heathen. (Brain Pickings)

-Cary Elwes is writing a book about the making of The Princess Bride and I can't breathe. (Time)

-Here's what some popular foreign songs are really about. (Mental Floss)

-The Official Princess Club is probably my favourite Tumblr ever. Someone has created a brilliant comic strip featuring Disney Princess dolls, using Snapchat. Hilarious. (Tumblr)

-Behind the Gifs is a very funny subreddit where people draw how the imagine famous Gifs came to be. (Reddit)

-From BuzzFeed: This person created outstanding visual puns with a cardboard cutout of The Rock; here's a list of the movies and TV shows to get excited about this year; this list of reasons why Tom Hiddleston is a life-ruiner will probably destroy you; here's 16 books to read if you love San Francisco and also my list of the best Australian books of 2013.

Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014!

Happy 2014! Hope it's a delightful year for everyone. 2013 had its ups and downs for me but I definitely ended the year much happier than I started it, so I'm excited to see where 2014 takes me! However, I didn't blog anywhere near as much as I wanted to in 2013, especially in the latter part of the year. One of my goals for this year is to get back into regular blogging, bring back some of my features, create new ones and review every book as soon as I've finished it! At the moment I'm about 14 reviews behind, eek! So expect a lot of reviews from me in the next week or so because I really want to catch up and start off on a good foot.

I did a lot better on my 2013 challenges than I did on the previous year. Still not perfect, but I'm pretty happy with my progress:

• Aussie Author Challenge: Aimed to read 12 Aussie authors, and I read 20! Yay!
• Australian Women Writers Challenge: Aimed to read 10 books by Aussie women and I read 17. An improvement on the year before.
• TBR Reading Challenge: Aimed to read 36 books from my 2012 TBR pile, and I got through 20. Not awesome.
• Goodreads Reading Challenge: Aimed to read 75 books, and I finished 71. So close!

All in all I think I did well. The key for me seems to be not doing too many challenges. So this year, I'm focusing on:

Aussie Author Challenge, hosted by Booklover Book Reviews.

Aim: "Kangaroo" level.

- Read and review 12 titles written by Australian Authors of which at least 4 of those authors are female, at least 4 of those authors are male, and at least 4 of those authors are new to you;
- At least 6 fiction and at least 2 non-fiction, and at least 3 titles first published in 2013 or 2014.

Australian Women Writers Challenge, hosted on its own dedicated page.

Aim: I want to read 20 books by Australian women this year. 

Audiobook Challenge, hosted by Hot Listens and the Book Nympho

Aim: "Stenographer" level.

-Listen to 10-15 audiobooks.

New Release Challenge (a personal challenge)

Aim: Keeping up with the Publishers 

-Read at least one new release a month, a total of 12 books published in 2014.

Goodreads Challenge

Aim: Read 75 books.

Here's to blitzing goals this year!

Top Ten Books I Read In 2013

1. Between the Lives by Jessica Shirvington. I wasn't expecting to like this, but the story drew me in and the characters stayed with me long after I'd finished.

2. Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan. This was definitely my favourite book of the year. Such a vivid, beautiful read.

3. The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner. The third book in the series finally made me see why everyone is so obsessed with it.

4. Dare You To by Katie McGarry. Silly, cheesy, awesome fun.

5. This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers. A zombie book that's more about humans. Gorgeous.

6. Red Dust Road by Jackie Kay. A wonderful memoir and audiobook narrated by the author herself.

7. Wildlife by Fiona Wood. This is YA perfection.

8. All the Truth That's in Me by Julie Berry. Unique and riveting. 

9. Stardust by Neil Gaiman. I can't believe it took me so long to read this book. I loved it!

10. Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues by Diana Rowland. A totally fun zombie story, done really well as an audiobook.

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the Broke and the Bookish.

P. S. I plan to do more 2013 round-up/2014 planning posts tomorrow but for now...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Audiobook Review: What Maisie Knew By Henry James, Narrated By Maureen O'Brien

Confession: I was drawn to What Maisie Knew because the movie adaptation stars Alexander Skarsgard. But I decided to read (or, in this case, listen) to the book because the story of a divorce/custody battle in the 19th century really intrigued me. It seems like such a modern issue that I was interested to see an earlier take.

What I learnt was that not much has changed. Granted, it's probably more common now, but I was surprised by just how relevant the ground covered in What Maisie Knew is today. No wonder it leant itself to a modern movie adaptation! The book begins with Maisie's divorced parents fighting a vicious legal battle to try and gain custody of their young daughter. They want to hurt each other as much as (or perhaps, more than) they actually want custody of the girl. They end up getting joint custody (something that I didn't expect - I had the idea that men automatically got it back in the day), and then each try to turn Maisie against the other, openly putting each other down in front of her and sending her back and forth with petty messages. But soon they have new partners, and their fight over Maisie turns into who can spend the least time with her. She becomes a burden to be inflicted on each other.

Maisie's parents are, needless to say, truly awful. My heart just broke for Maisie several times over. I actually quite liked Sir Claude, Maisie's stepfather, and it was so lovely to see her get some affection and attention from him. I didn't hate Mrs Beale, Maisie's stepmother, though I suspect I was supposed to - and I couldn't stand Mrs Wix, who I think was supposed to be an admirable, if slightly ridiculous, character. She was so self-righteous and silly - but this may just be my own modern morals framing my judgement.

What Maisie Knew is told from the third person perspective of Maisie herself, and I found it quite hard to understand at times. I'm not sure if this was intentional - as though Maisie herself didn't understand what was happening - or if it was just my modern brain not picking up the subtleties and assumed knowledge the contemporary reader would have had. This made the experience quite a frustrating one, something that wasn't helped by the repetitive plot. While at first I was quite captivated my Maisie's plight, by the time she was chucked back and forth, back and forth, again and again between her various parents and step-parents, I was pretty over it. There are only so many times you can bear what is essentially the same plot point repeated in the same story.

The narration by Maureen O'Brien was quite good, but by about the halfway mark, I found What Maisie Knew to be pretty unbearable. I was really tempted to quit, and only didn't because I had come so far. I was really disappointed with the ending, and unsatisfied overall. I don't know that I'll read another Henry James soon.

Rating: 2/5

Fine Print
Published: 2011, AudioGo
Get It: Audible

Top Ten New-To-Me Authors In 2013

1. Fiona Wood. Wildlife was one of my favourite reads of the year, it's such a wonderful, authentic teen novel. Its predecessor, Six Impossible Things, is great too.

2. Neil Gaiman. Yes, until a couple of months ago I had never read a Neil Gaiman novel. As it is I've still only read one. But it was an awesome one.

3. Jackie Kay. I discovered Jackie Kay at the Sydney Wrtiers' Festival earlier in the year and then listened to her memoir, Red Dust Road, on audiobook. It was amazing and I'd love to read some of her fiction soon.

4. Courtney Summers. This Is Not A Test is a fantastic zombie book, but the emotional heart of the story is what has really stuck with me. I'm really keen to read more of Summers' work.

5. Sarra Manning. Adorkable was such a fun read, I loved Mannings' voice, and I really want to read more of her stuff too.

6. Margo Lanagan. Sea Hearts is an exquisite, lovely, whimsical book and I instantly fell in love with Lanagan's writing.

7. Cath Crowley. I love finding new Aussie authors and Graffiti Moon definitely cemented Crowley in my mind as one to watch!

8. Julie Berry. All the Truth That's In Me is one of the few books I've stayed up all night reading. It's brilliant, and the fact that it's written in second person and works so effectively really shows how strong Berry's writing is.

9. Megan Whalen Turner. I loved the world and characters of her The Queen's Thief series - completely addictive.

10. Jessica Shirvington. I avoided Shirvington's first series because I can't stand angel books, but I adored Between the Lives so I want to go back and read what I've missed.

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Mini Reviews: The Jane Austen Academy Series by Cecilia Gray

The Jane Austen Academy series is a modern adaptation of the works of Jane Austen. Each book retells a different Austen novel, with the characters recast as teenagers all attending the Jane Austen Academy. It's kinda odd to have all the heroines and heroes interacting with each other, and it also means that the secondary characters of each book have been stripped back, to the point where most of the girls are only children, and one character becomes the equivalent of George Wickham, Henry Crawford AND John Thorpe. A minor point that bothered me was the fact that Jane Austen and her novels still existed in this universe - which doesn't make a lot of sense considering the characters in this series are supposed to be living the stories themselves. Theses are by no means perfect adaptations, but if you're after sweet, easy teen romances with a hint of Austen's characters, then you would probably enjoy them.

Fall For You (Book One), based on Pride and Prejudice
Source: Netgalley
Perhaps because Pride and Prejudice is my favourite Austen novel - or maybe because I was still getting used to the concept of the Jane Austen Academy - but I didn't really love this book. I found Lizzie actually drove me nuts, Dante made for a very poor Darcy (his name didn't help), and the story as a whole was pretty far removed from Pride and Prejudice. It actually reminded me a lot of The Hairy Bird with the way it centered around the uproar over an all-girls school letting in male students. I probably would have enjoyed the story more if it wasn't actually supposed to be connected to Pride and Prejudice. What was there that related to Austen's work felt very rushed. Fall For You was OK, but not great.
Rating: 2.5/5

So Into You (Book Two), based on Sense and Sensibility
Source: Netgalley
While this book is based on Sense and Sensibility, it actually only adapts Elinor's plot - Marianne has disappeared all together. That made me a little sad, as her story is great, but I quite liked what was done with Elinor - or Ellie, here - and her dramas. Her tuition troubles were a good way to modernise the way the Dashwoods fall on hard times, and I really liked Ed. The tension between Ellie and Ed was well developed and a lot of fun. Even with half the story missing, I felt like So Into You was a better adaptation than its predecessor.
Rating: 3/5

When I'm With You (Book Three), based on Northanger Abbey
Source: Netgalley
This was probably my favourite in the series (that's been released, anyway), and funnily enough it actually takes place away from the Jane Austen Academy. Kat is a budding actress who jumps at the chance to spend her holidays on a film set as the assistant for her celebrity classmate Josh Wickham (yes, THE Wickham, doubling here as John Thorpe). Kat's love of drama and overactive imagination are well done, and Josh and his female co-star as the scheming Thorpes works effectively. I really liked the love interest, Henry - he was cute and sensitive, and his scenes with Kat were lovely. It was kinda nice that he didn't go to the Academy, too - the whole hooking up within the one friendship group thing was already feeling like a bit of a stretch. I've always had a soft spot for romances involving celebs/Hollywood, so I enjoyed this.
Rating: 3.5/5

Suddenly You (Book Four), based on Mansfield Park
Source: Purchased on Amazon
I didn't feel like the main characters, Fanny and Tran, resembled their Austen counterparts much at all (side note: I find it incredibly odd that after modernising pretty much all of the names, Gray left Fanny). I still enjoyed their friendly but confused dynamic, and I also liked Fanny's connection with Josh (who took Henry Crawford's place here). I actually felt pretty bad for Josh at the end. I kinda hope he gets a happy ending before the series is over. He's much nicer deep down than any of his Austen influences, I think. Once again, I probably would have enjoyed this story more without the Austen connection, but it was still pretty fun.
Rating: 3/5

Overall, the Jane Austen Academy series is good for a light, quick read. It's not amazing, but it's enjoyable, and I'll definitely continue with the final two books when they come out.