New Adult Review: Hushed, by Kelley York

Release date: November 11, 2013 (previously released Nov 30 2011)
Publisher: Entangled Embrace
Format: ebook, 244 pages

Goodreads description:
He’s loved her. Killed for her. Yet he may not be able to save her.
Eighteen-year-old Archer couldn’t protect his best friend, Vivian, from what happened when they were kids. Since then, he’s never stopped trying to shelter her from everything else. It doesn’t matter that Vivian only uses him when skipping from one toxic relationship to another. Archer is always there, reeled in and tossed out, waiting to be noticed.

Then Evan Bishop breezes into town with a warm smile and calming touch, and Archer can’t deny his attraction to him. Evan is the only person who keeps him around without a single string attached. And the harder Archer falls for Evan, the more he sees Vivian for the manipulative hot-mess she really is.

But Viv has her hooks in deep, and once she finds out Archer’s dark secret, she threatens to expose the truth if she doesn’t get what she wants. And what she wants is for him to end his relationship with Evan...permanently. 

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The following review is based on a copy provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. Thank you, Entangled :)


Review
I started Hushed this morning and just finished reading. I don’t quite know what to say… I kind of knew it would be good (I’ve wanted to read it for more than a year), but I wasn’t prepared for how intense this story would be. It definitely packs one hell of a punch. It’s an unconventional and courageous book on a number of levels. I’ll just try to give you an impression without spoiling anything.

Hushed begins with Archer, our main character, forcing a guy to kill himself via an overdose. He doesn’t like it, but he also feels no regrets. It wasn’t the first time. And it made me really uncomfortable as a reader, because we’re not used to being made complicit with a murderer. The murderer isn’t usually the main character, it’s the villain, right?

It took me a while to warm up to Archer, understand where he was coming from, why he did what he did. He remains controversial throughout the book, and I liked that. He also goes through a huge character development and I loved how complex he was, how the writing never tried to apologize for him or ‘force’ the reader to sympathize/throw a pity party. The style was sparse and straightforward and that worked perfectly. Even though everything is told in the third person, I never felt distant from Archer, I was right there, sometimes closer than I was comfortable being. But I think that’s a sign of good literature – it makes you uncomfortable. I was also unable to stop reading or ‘look away’, hence why I finished the story in half a day.

Archer is a withdrawn college freshman who’s gone through too much in his short life. He keeps himself on a tight leash. His whole life revolves around Vivian, the girl who’s been his best friend and only love for his entire life. He’d do anything for her. Really anything. If she’d only notice that he was the only guy who’s never hurt her, always been there for her… At first that didn’t make me like him. I had the impression that he was the typical friendzoned guy who wasn’t dealing well, but it soon turned out that the reasons for his behavior were different and more complex. He and Viv seemed to be chained together and their relationship was very very unhealthy and co-dependent. I had to keep thinking about that quote from Perks of Being a Wallflower: “We accept the love we think we deserve.” For Vivian apparently that meant running back to the guy who beat her up and using Archer to fall back on whenever she needed him inbetween.

Then there’s Evan, a new addition to their circle of friends. He is the only one not put off my Archer’s rather anti-social behavior. He seeks him out, wants to spend time with and listen to him. He makes him start to stand up for himself when it comes to Vivian; he makes him think he might be able to be a better person. That his whole life doesn’t have to revolve around a selfish person dragging him down and never giving anything in return. Their friendship and relationship evolves very naturally and gradually, it never felt forced or contrived and I never had the impression that the book/author tried to make a big deal out of it (the fact that they’re both guys, I mean). I really like that – that’s it’s simply two people finding each other and growing closer and not so much about Archer coming to terms with feeling something for a guy.

However, there’s the bodycount. And if you have a problem with violence, then maybe this isn’t the book for you. It’s never gratuitous, but it’s also unapologetic and at times graphic. At first I was almost shocked at how Archer just seemed to take the kills in stride… but then something changes, and he’s no longer sure he wants to go on as he did. The walls he’s built around himself begin to crumble. People get suspicious, questions are asked, lies told. How will Archer react when Viv goes off the deep end? Will Evan stay with him when he finds out what Archer’s done?

Despite the murder plot, Hushed is very character-focused, but it never felt slow. There was always a lot going on either on an emotional or a plot level. The book is perfectly structured and well-paced; never breathless, never boring. I was completely immersed. Hoping, fearing, hurting, not knowing what to think and who I wanted to get caught. There were dramatic scenes, but no ‘milking the drama’ or overdoing things in a ridiculous way to increase the tension.

If you’re looking for a dark New Adult read that deals with heavy themes and is well-written and gritty, go for it. If you want something fluffy and fun, look elsewhere. The ending was satisfying but realistic and as far as I know, there is no sequel planned. If you enjoy books that dare to push the limits a bit and have atypical characters that you can’t always root for unconditionally, I think Hushed is the book for you. It always forces you to reconsider your position to what is happening. In any case, I’m glad I’ve had the chance to read it. It was thought-provoking and cathartic and I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more of Kelley York’s work.


Have you read Hushed? What did you think? If not, do you think this might be a book for you? Have you read anything similar?

Book Blitz & Giveaway: Obscura Burning, by Suzanne van Rooyen

Hey guys! I'm excited to be part of the book blitz for Obscura Burning organized by Giselle from Xpresso Tours! Below you'll find the book cover, a description, a little bit more about the author, an interview with the main character, Kyle, and a giveaway!

Obscura Burning by Suzanne van Rooyen 
- December 7th 2012 / Etopia Press 

The world's going to end in fire…and it's all Kyle's fault.

Kyle Wolfe's world is about to crash and burn. Just weeks away from graduation, a fire kills Kyle's two best friends and leaves him permanently scarred. A fire that Kyle accidentally set the night he cheated on his boyfriend Danny with their female friend, Shira. That same day, a strange new planet, Obscura, appears in the sky. And suddenly Kyle's friends aren't all that dead anymore.

Each time Kyle goes to sleep, he awakens to two different realities. In one, his boyfriend Danny is still alive, but Shira is dead. In the other, it's Shira who's alive...and now they're friends with benefits. Shifting between realities is slowly killing him, and he's not the only one dying. The world is dying with him. He's pretty sure Obscura has something to do with it, but with his parents' marriage imploding and realities shifting each time he closes his eyes, Kyle has problems enough without being the one in charge of saving the world...

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First off, I think it's amazing that this book features homosexual characters! That's something that is way to rare in YA. Also, the idea of the two realities, the postapocalyptic setting, and the element of this strange planet really intrigue me! The cover doesn't hurt to look at either ;)

If you'd like to get to know our narrator Kyle Wolfe a little better - here's an interview with him:

1. What do you want to do with your life?
Which one? That’s the problem. In a perfect reality I’d be going off to Rice to study art and literature and I’d start doing my own comics and become an underground sensation and have kids dressing up as my characters on Halloween - that’s what I want; that’s what I probably don’t deserve.

2. What do you fear most?
That the world will end because of me, that it’ll be my fault that everyone will end up dead. I think maybe I fear the world not ending even more, fear me being stuck in one of these crappy realities and not able to do a damn thing about it.

3. Are you presently in love, or do you hope to find someone special?
I thought I was, thought I loved Danny but now I’m not so sure. Dan is special but I think he deserves better than me, someone who isn’t afraid to be with him, to kiss him and dance with him in public.

4. Sum up your life in the last few weeks in 150 words or less.
Can I use four letter words? No? Horrific, confusing, devastating, frustrating, unbelievable, terrifying – Do you really need another 144 words? The world’s gone crazy, man. And I think it’s all my fault.

5. If you could change one thing of your past would you? If so, what would it be and why?
I’d change everything. Change what I said to Danny, how I treated him. I’d change how I dealt with the parents too. Also, I’d like to go back to that very first fire, to that moment when I lit my first match and just not do it, just never fall in love with flames.

6. If you could be any animal, what would you be and why?
That’s easy, a wolf – just like my name. Why? Because wolves do just fine all by themselves. They’re badass and not afraid of anything – I wish I could be like that.

AUTHOR BIO
Suzanne van Rooyen:
Suzanne is a freelance writer and author from South Africa. She currently lives in Finland and finds the cold, dark forests nothing if not inspiring. Suzanne is the author of the cyberpunk novel Dragon’s Teeth (Divertir), the YA science fiction novel Obscura Burning (Etopia) and has had several short stories published by Golden Visions Magazine, Space and Time and Niteblade. Niteblade nominated her short story Where dreams are grown for the Pushcart Prize. Her non-fiction articles on travel, music and other topics can be found scattered throughout the Internet. Although she has a Master’s degree in music, Suzanne prefers conjuring strange worlds and creating quirky characters. When not writing you can find her teaching dance to ninth graders or playing in the snow with her shiba inu.

Suzanne is represented by Jordy Albert of the Booker Albert Agency.

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And now, on to the amazing giveaway! It's open INTERNATIONALLY and ends on January 31, 2013. Check the rules in the rafflecopter form. Only one entry per person / household.

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Review: Andy Squared, by Jennifer Lavoie

Expected Publication: September 18, 2012
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Format: Paperback, 264 pages

Goodreads description:

Seventeen-year-old twins, Andrew and Andrea Morris, have always been close. They share everything—from their friends to a room—and they both enjoy star positions on their high school’s soccer teams. All’s right with the twins...or is it?

When new student Ryder Coltrane moves from Texas to their small New York town, he spins Andrew’s world upside down. All of Andrew’s past relationship troubles begin to make sense and his true feelings start to click into place after Ryder comes out to him. His friendship with Ryder turns secretively romantic, but secrets, they soon find out, are hard to keep. Once rumors start to fly, so-called friends turn on them, and the boys’ relationship turns into a bomb about to explode. But Andrew never expected it would be his own twin, Andrea, holding a lighter to ignite it.

My review is based on a copy provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

Review:

This is a thoroughly enjoyable, cute read about a teenage boy who begins to question his place in the world as well as his sexual identity.

The Morris twins, Andrea and Andrew, share pretty much everything, even down to the nickname Andy (thus the title). They go to the same school in their small town, they both play soccer, they used to do everything together and not keep secrets from one another. If Andrea had her way, they would also go to the same college and continue playing soccer there. For the moment, they even live in the same room because Andrew’s is being remodeled. While their closeness never bothered Andy a lot, he has been growing weary of it as of late. For example, he is no longer sure he wants to continue playing soccer in college or even go to the one Andrea prefers. However, Andrea is deaf when it comes to that topic and blatantly ignores his opinion.

Things change after Andy breaks up with yet another girlfriend and Ryder Coltrane enrolls in the twins’ highschool. Andy does not understand his own reactions to Ryder at first, while Ryder, who has had experience with guys before, appears to catch on quite quickly but doesn’t pressure him and lets him discover the truth on his own. I enjoyed watching their friendship grow as they connected; it made their later relationship so much more real than if they had been instantly deeply in love with one another for no real reason.

Even though the novel is written in the third person, it is mostly focalized through Andy’s point of view and we get insight into his feelings and thoughts. That made it easy for me to empathize with him. I found myself rooting for him and Ryder and was happy to see their relationship develop slowly. The way they handled it was realistic to me. It becomes clear quite early in the novel that their environment isn’t exactly gay-friendly, and I understood that Andy was uncomfortable about coming out to everybody so soon after he realized his own feelings. The situation is slightly easier for Ryder – he is staying with his uncle and aunt because his father, who is in the army, is stationed in Germany at the moment and his mother went with him to live there. So whatever he does here, they are unlikely to hear about it.

The secrecy actually added to their romance for me, but it’s also quite clear to the reader that it cannot last forever. Something’s got to give, and the two of them begin slipping up and cutting it close. Tension mounts as Andrea feels threatened and the twins begin fighting about their college plans more fiercely. When Andrea discovers the leverage she needs, things turn ugly.

Andy and Ryder were well fleshed-out and I found them very likable. Andy’s coming out was realistic to me and I liked how it was woven into his general personal development as he grows more independent and sure of himself and what he wants. I liked that for once, the characters’ families were an active part of the story and their children’s lives. However, I sometimes had trouble understanding Andrea’s motives for her actions. She was extremely controlling and at times I wished Andy would stand up to her more. Nevertheless, the dynamic between the twins was just as interesting as the romantic part of the plot.

Their friends were less fleshed-out than the main characters, but that was okay since most of the story didn’t focus on their interactions that much and it didn’t bother me.

Overall I really enjoyed the story; the writing is fluid and engaging and the characters’ dialogue and actions realistic. One point of critique is that there was not all that much action in the novel. Apart from the blow up near the end, I would have liked it if there had been some more bumps in the road, so to speak. There is growing tension, but hardly any minor eruptions. I only realized that in retrospect though – the focus of the novel is simply more on character development than on plot, which, given the topic, is okay.

Andy Squared is a great story about coming of age and coming out, and I wish there were more LGBT characters in YA literature. The more physical aspect of the story is handled delicately – there are some steamy make-out scenes but nothing graphic. I would thus recommend the story to readers of any age interested in accompanying a gay teen on his journey of self-discovery.

Have you read Andy Squared, or a similar type of LGBT story? Is this something you enjoy? Feel free to discuss in the comments; however, I WILL NOT TOLERATE DEROGATORY REMARKS ABOUT LGBT PEOPLE. Any hateful comments will be deleted. I understand that this may not be everyone's thing, but if you think you have to share your thoughts instead of just ignoring this post, please be respectful.

Review: Witch Eyes, by Scott Tracey

Released: September 8, 2011 

Publisher: Flux

Format: Paperback, 330 pages

From the back of the book:

A boy who can see the world’s secrets and unravel spells with just a glance.

Braden’s witch eyes give him an enormous power. A mere look causes a kaleidoscopic explosion of emotions, memories, darkness, and magic. But this rare gift is also his biggest curse.

Compelled to learn about his shadowed past and the family he never knew, Braden is drawn to the city of Belle Dam, where he is soon caught between two feuding witch dynasties. Sworn rivals Catherine Lansing and Jason Thorpe will use anything – lies, manipulation, illusion, and even murder – to seize control of Braden’s powers. To stop an ancient evil from destroying the town, Braden must master his gift, even through the shocking discovery that Jason is his father. While his feelings for an enigmatic boy named Trey grow deeper, Braden realizes a terrible truth: Trey is Catherine Lansing’s son… and Braden may be destined to kill him.

Review (no spoilers):

From the intriguing opening to the final showdown, this book was a thrilling ride with a guessing game that kept me sorting through the possibilities to figure out what was happening.

Braden’s gift is unique – unless he wears heavily tinted sunglasses to focus his attention, he sees through all the layers of the world around him, resulting in sensory overload, nosebleed, and heavy migraines. The perks? He can work out and unravel any spell, unveil the memories attached to a place, widen his gaze to encompass whole cities and even see the dominant forces that make up the character of a person. Basically, there are few limitations to what he could do and the full scope of his gift is unknown as of yet.

For Jason Thorpe and Catherine Lansing, the two most powerful witches in the town of Belle Dam and sworn enemies, he is the perfect weapon to tip the scales in their conflict. As soon as Braden arrives in town, still clueless about the feud he has just stumbled into, everyone he meets keeps their own secrets and everyone has an agenda. While Braden struggles with the revelation that Jason Thorpe is his father and that his best friend Jade and his love interest, Trey, have turned out to be Catherine Lansing’s children, he also discovers that there is something foul going on in Belle Dam that no one else seems to be fully aware of.

Witch Eyes was a thrill-ride of plot twists and unique magic combined with the coming-of-age story of a boy who still has to master his powers and grow comfortable in his skin. Belle Dam is Braden’s first experience of highschool (he was homeschooled by his uncle in a remote area) and I enjoyed seeing him try to keep up with his normal life while trying to retain his independence as both his father and his new friends and their mother, Catherine, try to get him on their side of the feud. Does he tell his maybe-boyfriend the truth about his father and risk losing him? Or does he continue the lie and risk being exposed anyway?

Also, there is an ancestor of the Lansings who apparently had the same gift Braden does. Just what did she do to the town, and what does Lucien Fallon, Thorpe’s lawyer, have to do with all the goings-on? In a town where everyone is picking sides, can Braden pursue his own goals or has he been someone’s pawn all along?

If you’re looking for a paranormal read that is different and has an edge, as well as great writing and well-drawn characters driven by a plot full of intrigues, Witch Eyes should definitely go on your shelf! I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for Trey and Braden in the sequel, Demon Eyes, which will be released on October 8.

Personal thoughts (contains spoilers):

About half a year ago, everyone was raving about this book. Sometimes that makes me a bit wary – what if I don’t like it even though everyone else does? But the prospect of what appeared to be unique story combined with the chance to read a gay protagonist (this kind of diversity is still WAY too rare in YA. There might be a gay minor character but rarely a main one) convinced me that I had to read this novel.

Braden’s voice was very authentic and I liked that he was confident and proactive despite being thrown in the middle of a conflict without much information to go on and not sure who he could trust. The question which characters know how much, who is lying and who is simply deceived themselves always hovers over the book. In Belle Dam, no one does anything without a reason.

I loved how the magic worked in this book! Especially the concept of weaving it into the geometry and architecture of a place, but also the more traditional elements of summoning circles, drawing energy from nature and using focusing objects. I’m still not quite sure that we as readers know everything about Grace Lansing and what exactly she did at the end of the book. What exactly is the relation between her and Lucien? I think there are still pieces missing when it comes to her history and their bargain. I’m also curious about the hints at the greater supernatural world ‘out there’ that we’ve gotten so far. There are not just witches but also demons, vampires, and shifters, and I’m curious to know more about those.

Then of course, there’s Trey and Braden. Though Trey went on my nerves sometimes with how set he was on ‘protecting’ Braden and how blind when it came to his own mother, I’m still hoping the best for him and Braden. I liked the way their romance was handled. It was present and woven throughout the story, but it didn’t consume everything else that was going on and become the main focus. I’d really like to know more about Trey to understand him better, and I also think that both he and Jade will turn out to have some kind of power. I don’t know, it just doesn’t seem likely that they would inherit none of their mother’s gift.

And of course, I’m curious to see what Braden will do with his gift, and how he will handle the feud now that most everyone knows whose son he is. Basically, I want the sequel right now ^^’’

Have you read Witch Eyes? What was your impression? Can you recommend any other YA novels with gay/queer characters? Does this sound like the type of book you’d enjoy? As always, let me know in the comments :)