Sunday Street Team Review: The Year of Lightning by Ryan Dalton

Welcome to my first review as a part of Nori's Sunday Street Team. Today I'm going to be reviewing The Year of Lightning by Ryan Dalton. It's an interesting read full of mystery, time travel, and a whole lot of wacky stuff. Read on to see how I liked it and at the end, there's a Rafflecopter where you can enter to win your own ARC of this debut novel.

When 15-year-old twins Malcolm and Valentine Gilbert moved to a new town, they never imagined that the old house across the street could bring them so much trouble. A secret machine has reawakened inside, with the power to pierce time itself.

Meanwhile, lightning storms are breaking out all over town. They’re getting worse every week, and seem to enjoy striking kids who just want to pass science class and mind their own business. When Malcolm and Valentine discover a connection between the house and the storms, their situation goes from mysterious to crazy stupid dangerous. Someone is controlling the great machine, and their purpose is nearly complete.

In a race against time, the twins must uncover the chilling plan, the mastermind behind it, and the force that’s driving the deadly storms. They’ll hunt a powerful enemy that threatens their town’s existence, and the only clues are written in the sky. 

About the Author:

Ryan Dalton is author of the young adult Time Shift Trilogy. His debut novel THE YEAR OF LIGHTNING will be released on December 8, 2015. Ryan splits his time between writing books during the day, fighting crime at night, and hanging out in his awesome underground lair. Please do not tell anyone he's Batman. It's a secret.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

This book started out slowly for me. The premise sounded like something I would be interested in, so of course I jumped at the chance to read it. Once I settled down to read it, though, I had some issues getting to the real meat of the story. The first 25% of the story was fine, but there was something about the pacing that made me feel like it was taking forever to get to the plot. I wanted to keep reading, but I wasn't enormously excited anymore.

Once Malcolm began actively looking into the house across the street, the mysterious domicile with no doors, things began picking up and I wasn't sure what sort of book I was reading anymore.

The family dynamic was interesting. It wasn't that unusual to have a family where one parent is gone and the other is lost to depression or some such thing, but I did like that the twins got along. I'd usually expect to see them pitted against each other, vastly differing interests, that sort of thing. However, Valentine and Malcolm turned out to be something else and that was good, particularly considering the situation they find themselves facing.

The pacing was still a little bit slow for my taste, but the imagery and the plot really started picking up. The first moment was when Malcolm discovered the watch and began to examine it more closely. The description of it and what it did had me feeling Malcolm's wonder. That is when things started accelerating for me.

It felt like the plot went crazy. There's time travel, a bad guy, insane things that no teenager should be able to go through, but Mal, Valentine, and their friends managed it. I like books where, as unbelievable as it can be, teenagers face insurmountable odds and come out on top. Every once in awhile it's good to pick up a novel like The Year of Lightning and suspend your belief in the possible for 300+ pages.

Music Recommendation

Lindsey Stirling's Elements song felt like it had just enough deep, soulful meaning to it to remind me of The Year of Lightning. The house with no doors sounded like the beginning of a spooky old tale and there are several chords in this song that give me the same feeling.

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Top 5 Wednesday: Favorite Audiobooks

I like listening to audiobooks when I'm doing work in my office. It makes things go a lot faster and infinitely more enjoyable. These are some of the best ones I've found to date:

Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella, narrated by Emily Gray

I think that I borrowed this title from the library for a road trip. The book is funny enough as it is because, let's face it, Becky Bloomwood is ridiculous and mocking her is a great time. Emily Gray, the narrator, really captured the silliness of the main character.

4. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke, narrated by Lynn Redgrave

I always like this story, but hearing it read by Lynn Redgrave really brought these characters to life. It doesn't always happen, but sometimes the narrators can't find a rhythm that suites the story and that ruins the experience for the reader. Lynn, however, was excellent. If you closed your eyes, it was all the easier to picture the world of Inkheart and the people living within it.

3. Coraline by Neil Gaiman, narrated by Neil Gaiman

I love that Neil Gaiman narrates most, if not all, of his works. His voice works well across the board for so many genres, it's incredible. This one is my favorite for it's subtle creepiness factor and how eerie Neil manages to sound, especially on the other side of the door with the Other family.

2. The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer, narrated by Amanda Palmer

I still have a lot of problems being the kind of person I wish I was, but this book helped me figure a lot of things out, mainly what kind of person I want to be. I'm not brave enough yet to do all the things or be all the things I want, but hearing Amanda talk about her history helps me to think sometimes.

The thing I like about this audio book, besides the book itself, is that it is interspersed with Amanda's music from throughout her career. That's an added touch that I wasn't expected when I first listened to it.

1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling, narrated by Jim Dale

Jim Dale is one of the most talented narrators that I've ever come across. He was able to take the people within the Harry Potter series and make a unique voice for each of them. Considering the cast contains hundreds of characters, that is no mean feat! 

All pictures, quotes, and videos belong to their respective owners. I use them here solely for the purpose of review and commentary.

Top Ten Tuesday: 2016 Debut Novels We Are Looking Forward To

There are always books to look forward to, whether they're continuations of a series we love, brand new standalones, or debut novels from brand new authors. I'm very excited to share some of my favorite and most looked forward to debuts of 2016.

1. The Love That Split the World by Emily Henry

2. Learning To Swear in America by Katie Kennedy

3. The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig

4. The Reader by Traci Chee

5. These Vicious Masks by Tarun Shanker and Kelly Zekas

6. Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow

7. Shallow Graves by Kali Wallace

8. Burning  Glass by Kathryn Purdie

9. The Girl Who Fell by Shannon M. Parker

10. Firsts by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn

Monthly Recommendations: Books to Read in 2016

At first I wasn't sure what to include in this list. I'm part of two street teams for authors that have books coming out in 2016 and I will be posting a lot about those coming up. You may have seen two letters I've already done for two of them. Luckily, when I read the description for this month's "challenge" as it were, I found that I could include books that I think you ought to read rather than ones that are simply being published next year.

This is good because it'll allow me to share different books, allowing for a wider variety in my lists. So, for this month, here you are:

Nix, the main character, has a pirate ship that can travel through space and time. It's practically like having a TARDIS. I want to read this so much. For starters, the time travel aspect alone piques my interest. Second, at least one of the settings is Hawaii. I have only ever read one books that takes some place in Hawaii. It'll be cool to see more of that state, though in this book I think she visits it prior to statehood (late 1800's).

 

If you have not read The Wrath & the Dawn yet, I highly suggest you get on that. It is a tremendously wonderful book and you have to read it before May because that it when the sequel, The Rose & the Dagger, comes out! Do not expect to see me much in early May because I will be holed up at home devouring this!

A treat for next summer! When the heat's getting to you and you need to stay inside reading (because of course you need a reason), this looks like it is going to be perfect. I read the winter version earlier this year and the stories selected for the collection were so much fun. There are some spectacular authors in this volume, so many that I can't see how there couldn't be something for everyone.

 

This is another series that has the second book coming out in 2016. Shiny Broken Pieces is the second book in a frightening series about a prestigious ballet school, the teenage students that attend, and what they'll do to make sure they're the best. The characters are a bit scary because of how realistic they are; I wouldn't want to think that anyone is like that, but I know better and in knowing it I can see how truly scary the main characters are. I can't wait for the sequel to come out in July.

Review: Alice Takes Back Wonderland

After ten years of being told she can't tell the difference between real life and a fairy tale, Alice finally stops believing in Wonderland. So when the White Rabbit shows up at her house, Alice thinks she's going crazy.

Only when the White Rabbit kicks her down the rabbit hole does Alice realize that the magical land she visited as a child is real.

But all is not well in Wonderland.

The Ace of Spades has taken over Wonderland and is systematically dismantling all that makes it wonderful. Plain is replacing wondrous, logical is replacing magical, and reason is destroying madness. Alice decides she must help the Mad Hatter and all those fighting to keep Wonderland wonderful. 

But how can she face such danger when she is just a girl?

Alice must journey across the stars to unite an army. She discovers that fairy tales are real in the magical world beyond the rabbit hole. But they are not the fairy tales she knows. 

Fairy tales have dangers and adventures of their own, and Alice must overcome the trials of these old stories if she wants to unite the lands against Ace.

With the help of Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Snow White and heroes old and new, Alice may have the strength to take back Wonderland. 

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 3 Stars

I am usually up for a good fairy tale retelling and this was a good book in that sense. It brought Alice to life in a somewhat new way, or at least one that hasn't been explored very much. The idea of Wonderland being the result of mental illness was intriguing, especially when the beginning of the book showed how much Alice was struggling between whether she had really experience these things or whether she was truly mad.

There was also a good parallel here where Wonderland is having all of its Wonder sucked out in order to become a "logical" world like ours. The world can really feel like that at times. After a certain age you're expected to grow up and not imagine things as freely as you did when you're a child. I can see why Peter and Alice got along so well. They shared some similarities in that respect.

The plot moved along at a good pace. I didn't feel like it dragged too much. The only instances where it felt like things were becoming overbearing was when there was the continual onslaught of fairy tale characters showing up. If you like the show Once Upon a Time, then I can't see how you wouldn't like this book.

Maybe it is because I have watched that show, however, that I found the continual introduction of known fairy tale characters to get a bit ridiculous after awhile. I like these characters and it was nice to see them again, but around the 40% mark I found myself getting annoyed when yet another fairy tale person/creature showed up.

Music Recommendation

This song and its video are as surreal as I found parts of this book.

All pictures, quotes, and videos belong to their respective owners. I use them here solely for the purpose of review and commentary.

TAG: The Joy of Christmas

It's finally the day after Thanksgiving, the day when I can finally start watching Christmas movies and listneing to Christmas music without my husband giving me side eye and grumping about it. :D

To celebrate, I'm going to do The Joy of Christmas Book Tag, courtesy of Samantha from Novels & Nonsense. She created this tag; you should check it out here.

1) Anticipation: The Christmas excitement is real, what book release(s) are you most anticipating?

This title will be released shortly after Christmas and I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to reading more of it. I was lucky enough to read an excerpt via NetGalley. There are so many questions I have regarding the world building and the powers talked about in the story.

2) Christmas Songs & Carols: What book or author can you not help but sing it's praises?

Jim Butcher is a great author and has created a wonderful man in Harry Dresden. Sure the guy has problems (Harry, not Jim), but it gives him depth and makes him all the more interesting.

3) Gingerbread Houses: What book or series has wonderful world building?

This one is a bit odd as it technically takes place in our world, though mostly in the past. However, the circus is a whole world in and of itself. The world building in this book is fantastic. To a reader, I imagine it feels like being taken by the hand and led through the circus. You keep being shown wonderful and fantastical things while you're looking around, eyes as big as saucers, trying to take everything in at once.

4) A Christmas Carol: Favorite classic or one that you want to read

I'd like to read a lot more classics than I actually get to. One of them would have to be The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens. I should probably read The Christmas Carol at some point, but for some reason the former book grabs my attention just a bit more, probably because I haven't seen a million and one film adaptations of it.

5) Christmas Sweets: What book would you love to receive for Christmas

I would love to get this illustrated copy of the complete Lord of the Rings. Alan Lee had the best illustrations of any edition I've ever seen. I have his edition of The Hobbit and would love to round out my collection of the primary texts.

6) Candles in the Window: What book gives you that warm fuzzy feeling

The whole Blossom Street series give me that warm and fuzzy feeling, though none more so than the first book when Lydia is really starting to find her feet and get her business underway.

7) Christmas Trees & Decorations: What are some of your favorite book covers?

Since these are the covers that I find the most beautiful, I think I'll let them speak for themselves. :D

                                   

              

   

8) Christmas Joy: What are some of your favorite things about Christmas And/Or some of your favorite Christmas memories?

I love watching it snow. I love roasting marshmallows over the fire. I love reading a new book and looking up to see the Christmas tree alight. 

I love having a day off of work and waking up early like a little kid to open presents. I love eating a special breakfast and then stuffing myself with an early dinner wherever we're celebrating that year.

If only real life could be like the pictures. :)

I tag Aria Mia to do this tag next, as well as anyone else reading that would like to do so.

Harry Potter Thursday - 26 November 2015

Hermione is one of my favorite characters, tied only with Luna Lovegood. I've thought about this topic before and I'm glad it finally came around on Harry Potter Thursday.

Rename the books from Hermione's point of view.

Hermione Granger and the Year We Almost Died...or Worse, Got Expelled

Hermione Granger and the Year I Did Everything and Got No Special Award to the School

Hermione Granger and the Year I Was the Cleverest Witch of My Age

Hermione Granger and the Year Ron was a Jealous Prat

Hermione Granger and the Year I Finally Got Some Recognition

Hermione Granger and the Year The Chosen One Cheated

Hermione Granger and the Year I Skipped All My Classes and Saved the World