Icons

Icons is my first Margaret Stohl novel. She writes young adult fiction and is the coauthor of the Beautiful Creatures series, the first book of which is now a movie (I didn't read Beautiful Creatures, but I saw the movie and was not too impressed; then again, I'm not really into witches and should have known better).

Icons is quite a different type of story, though still paranormal. Dol and Ro are not normal teenagers, and it's not just because they no longer live in a normal world. When they were infants, everything changed on The Day, when the Lords invaded from space and killed everything in 13 major cities across the globe. The survivors knew there was no hope in resistance. But Dol and Ro are special. They have abilities no one else has, abilities that feel more like curse than blessing. Dol feels everyone's emotions, and on Ro comes a rage so strong he becomes an unstoppable physical force. Only Dol can calm him. They've managed to stay out of site of the Icons and the Lords so far. But the truth of their existence is about to be revealed, and they will have to face their fears and the power of their emotions.

I enjoyed this book for the most part. The setting, though post-apocalyptic, manages to be different than what I've read before (though, granted, not much detail is given), and the paranormal powers are surprisingly (since so many books use them) unique in their presentation and use. I was intrigued about what Dol, who narrates, could or would do with her power, and information about her power is strung along little by little to pull the reader deeper into the story. Between chapters there are "classified memos" that relate to what's going on, often revealing an outside perspective to Dol's. Sometimes the memos' significance doesn't become clear until later. The story is interesting, particularly as new significant characters are added, broadening the plot.

But there was something lacking for me at the end. (Minor SPOILERS may follow.) I felt like there was the story and there was the ending: two separate things that didn't mesh well together. From a character development standpoint, it was fine. Dol got from one point to another, and all the connections were fairly clear. What wasn't as clear was the plot resolution. Not enough clues were provided on that front early on. The end just happened, and not everything necessarily followed from what had transpired earlier. Sorry for being vague, but I really try to avoid spoilers. So, there was that, and (this might be the SPOILER you want to avoid), I didn't like how the romance ended up. There's a love triangle, and I'm not sure Dol picks the right boy. It didn't make the best sense to me. I wasn't convinced of it working out that way, and I didn't understand it. So, the ending was a little rough for me.

I didn't have issues with the morals of the book, though no great attempt seems to have been made to discuss issues of morality. The biggest question raised is whether to risk lives for a chance to do greater good, but even that is not satisfactorily answered. Overall, the morality of the book is neutral, but there's nothing too offensive.

Other than that, I thought the story was unique and enjoyable and a worthy three-star beginning to a new series. Icons was published this past spring. Idols (Icons #2) will be published next summer.

A Quick Overview of Seven Young Adult Books I Read This Summer

The following young adult novels were all released this year, most of them this summer.

The Eternity Cure (Four Stars): I haven't read a lot of vampire stories, but I read the first one in this series, The Immortal Rules, by Julie Kagawa (author of The Iron Fey series), because it sounded intriguing and clean (a big must for me). I like that it leaves sex out of the story and deals with questions of right and wrong. The Eternity Cure is the second installment, and it doesn't disappoint. Allison is a young vampire who must team up with those who want to kill her in order to rescue her sire, the vampire who saved her and taught her how to survive this cruel world. She wonders, is there any hope left for the humanity in her, or will she be overcome by the monster within? Definitely worth reading if you like more edgy stuff but don't like the mixed morals that often come too.

The Testing (Four Stars): This novel, by Joelle Charbonneau, is so similar, in some ways, to The Hunger Games that some are calling it a rip-off. I think it's different enough to deserve its own credit. After all, The Hunger Games was not the first book to pit kids against one another. In The Testing, outstanding students are selected to be Tested for a chance to go to the University and get the best jobs in a post-apocalyptic/dystopian world. Cia is thrilled to be part of this opportunity, until she receives warnings from her father and others about what may be in store for her. Is there a darker reason that no one who's passed through a Testing is supposed to remember what transpired? And what happens to those who don't make it? If you are a die-hard Hunger Games fan, you will probably compare too much, but if you never got on the Hunger Games bandwagon, try this.

Reboot (Four Stars): Wren is a 178. That means she was dead for that many minutes before she was brought back as a Reboot, a weapon and a prisoner, considered less than human by the soldiers who give her orders. Dead the longest, she is also the least human, the most weapon. People fear her. She does what she's told and believes she's nearly incapable of emotion. Why, then, is the new 22, a number so small he's practically human, so intriguing to her? Reboot, by Amy Tintera, delves into what it means to be human, and it carries many of the same themes as dystopian novels (though I wouldn't consider this to be one). Still, though similar thematically to what's out there, it has a unique plot premise and is an enjoyable read.

Pivot Point (Three Stars): Addison is a member of a small community where everyone has a special mind power. Hers is to be able to see the two diverging paths a choice could lead her on and choose accordingly. But now the biggest choice of her life so far is upon her. Her parents are getting divorced, and she gets to choose whom she wants to live with: her mom within the hidden confines of their paranormal community or her dad out in the world where everyone is normal and no one uses powers in everyday life or even knows about them. In order to decide, Addison will have to go weeks into each future. The problem is, when she's there in her mind, it feels like she's there for real, and she might not be able to tell the difference. And then there are complications within each choice, decisions that will affect friends and people she's never even met...and of course the choice to erase from her mind the memories of her mental excursion into the future, once she's made her decision. How does one choose between parents and loves and evils?

I thought the premise of Pivot Point, by Kasie West, was a neat idea, and I really got into the book, especially as it wound toward the conclusion. It has a little bit of an Inception vibe to it: dream within a dream...what is real? It's a bit darker than I was expecting, and that's probably why I gave it only three stars when I read it earlier this summer.

Reached (Three Stars): This is the conclusion to Ally Condie's Matched trilogy. I enjoyed the dystopian series, though I didn't find the plot to be quite as intriguing as that of some other dystopian novels I've read, hence the three-star rating. In this third book (and I wouldn't recommend reading any further if you haven't read the other two yet and plan to; SPOILERS possible), Cassia is still undecided about the two boys she loves, but the three of them are scattered across the Society, each playing a different role in the overthrow of the Society and the beginning of The Rising. Cassia works underground for the Archivists, treasuring contraband pieces of writing. Ky is a pilot. Xander is a Medic. But a new form of the Plague causes more chaos than anybody could have dreamed, resting the hope for a better future on shaky ground.

There isn't just one reason I can pin down as to why this series wasn't outstanding to me. The love triangle annoyed me because both guys are perfectly good choices, and I hated that one of them would be disappointed and that Cassia wouldn't just make up her mind. Granted, she's more decided in this book than in the other two. Also, I thought the main characters were rather passive. They don't do anything particularly impressive. They are simply in the right place at the right time. Ky and Xander are more heroes than Cassia is and get their fair share of the spotlight, yet the central character really is Cassia, and all she can do is sort data. It's just kind of blase. Still, it's a popular series for a reason. The world is complex, and the way the Society functions and controls people is interesting.

In the After (Four Stars): In this post-apocalyptic novel, by Demitria Lunetta, the population has been nearly wiped out by an alien-looking species that's rather zombie-like in presentation. But unlike zombies, they are super fast with super hearing, and if you make even the tiniest noise, they descend as a pack and eat you to death. After three years, Amy is a seasoned survivor. She knows how to get food. She knows how to stay safe. She even has a companion, a little girl she found and took home and calls Baby, communicating through signing. She hasn't spoken aloud in years, and she's seen just enough people to know that she and Baby are better off alone. But everything Amy thought she knew about the After is about to change. I thought this was a particularly clever and well-thought-out book, even though I did anticipate the ending. The book is suspenseful with just enough mystery and clues to keep you guessing. Well written and fascinating.

Twinmaker (Three Stars): In Sean Williams's dystopian future, Clair and her friends daily go to school across the globe and can visit any place they wish in a matter of minutes. Technology can produce anything they want automatically per their specifications. Who needs to own possessions when you can get new ones exactly the same or better, if you wish, anytime you want? This instantaneous gratification is made possible by a technology that d-mats (dematerializes) objects, including people, and produces them exactly as they were in new locations. The one rule is that people must rematerialize exactly as they were, so everyone believes Improvement (a circulating note that says you can improve your looks by following specific instructions in d-mat) is just a prank...until Clair's friend Libby tries it and appears to succeed. But Libby is different after, and Clair's determination to find out why is about to d-mat her entire world.

I liked the concept. The suspense and mystery were interesting. I found the final revelations and explanations to be a little nonsensical, a little wibbly-wobbly or timey-wimey, as the Doctor (Doctor Who) might say. The story didn't come to a strong, believable resolution for me. There were logic gaps I couldn't make sense of in my mind. But getting there is half the fun, and this is quite a good journey.

Destiny Binds (Timber Wolves, Book 1)

First of all, thank you to my friend Nathan who picked up this book, signed and all, for me at Gen Con this year. It was very thoughtful of him, and it's right up the alley of what I read.

Tammy Blackwell's first book in her Timber Wolves trilogy, Destiny Binds, begins the story of a girl named Scout who thinks the weirdest thing in her life is her ghostly looks...until Alex and his dangerous-looking brother Liam come along. Then people start acting strangely. Her non-biological "twin" brother Jase and his cousin Charlie, Scout's lifelong crush, forbid her to go anywhere near Alex, which even though he's the hottest new thing in school, isn't a problem for Scout. After all, Liam scares her, too. But when, through circumstances outside her control, Scout gets to know Alex better, she realizes how much she likes him. What's more, he likes her...a lot. The fact that Alex turns into a wolf during the full moon isn't what makes Scout afraid. It's what her brother and cousin might do that worries her, especially since she hasn't quite decided if her love for Alex is enough to erase her love for Charlie.

The plot itself is rather standard for young adult paranormal romance (new kid in school, hot supernatural beings, love triangle, life-or-death secrets). And werewolves are a trend that has come and gone (to be fair, this book was published in 2011). Still, the book stands on its own two feet through well-defined characters readers can identify with.

One thing this book really has going for it is its focus on relationships. The ties between Scout and her loved ones are strong, well-developed, and believable. Scout isn't a loner who needs a boyfriend to fulfill her. She has an overprotective but caring brother, an annoying but loveable little sister, a close girlfriend who isn't just a prop, and peers with distinctive quirks (read the book's first line, and you'll know what I mean). The parents don't factor into this story much, but I suppose you can't have everything. Scout herself isn't one-dimensional. She's intelligent, studious, and athletic. She's into martial arts. She doesn't consider herself a beauty nor does she surround herself with people who are (it's a bonus that Alex is beautiful, but that's not what gets her).

I was pleased with the moral direction of the book. It doesn't pretend teenagers aren't hormonal, but neither does it cross the line. And every time it gets close to that line, the author has her teenagers think about what they are doing. Maybe that doesn't seem realistic in today's sex-driven culture, but I like it. What's unrealistic is accepting that teenagers can't help their sexual impulses. Hormones do not trump the ability to think. They make it harder, sure, but not impossible.

I know only a little about this author. I know she is a librarian who wrote the book for the young adults in her area. I don't want to assume anything about her, for instance if she's Christian or not. There are references to church in the book, which doesn't necessarily mean anything. What I'm getting at is that the book feels very family-friendly with the emphasis on family relationships, the mention of church, the kissing-only make-out sessions. Yet, I don't feel like it sacrifices anything by leaving out the sex. The romance is still as steamy as it needs to be (in fact, still more than I'm strictly comfortable with) for its young adult readers. I wish more authors would exercise this tact. I can't speak for the other books in the series, but this one, at least, passes the morality test.

Plot-wise, parts of this book made me skeptical. I thought, I've seen this in that book, and that in another. It didn't feel like anything new or unique. But as I read further, I got caught up in the lives of the characters, in the punchy dialog and Scout's humorous narrative voice, and in the secrets and drama. The end sets up the rest of the trilogy so tantalizingly, leaving me, at least, with burning questions! I can't share them with you because that would be spoiling. (What a terrible ending, and I mean that in the best possible way...I think. Aaagh!) But suffice it to say, I'm curious about where Tammy Blackwell goes from here. Luckily for us, the entire trilogy is now out, so if you read this book and enjoy it, you don't have to wait for more.

Tammy Blackwell's books are available on Amazon in paperback or for the Kindle, and you can look her up at misstammywrites.com.

A solid three-star read.

The City's Son

One of the weirdest books I've read recently is The City's Son (The Skyscraper Throne, Book 1), a young adult novel by Tom Pollock. It's written in Great Britain's English and has a very modern European feel even though it's fantasy, adding to its foreignness. But writing and author aside, this is still one of the odder ideas I've come across, an idea that, incidentally, works really well.

Beth is more than a tagger, but she does like to leave her mark wherever she goes, beautiful pieces of graffiti, works of art, all over London. Usually, her friend Pen is right beside her. But when Pen inexplicably turns against her, Beth finds herself alone on the streets in a London suddenly more wild than she'd ever imagined. It begins with the ghost of a train and leads to a boy with cement in his skin and oil in his veins, the teenage Prince of the streets. She's only human, something she took for granted before, but there's a whole city of non-human beings dying under the destructive forces of the Crane King, and Beth isn't about to turn her back on them, especially when she has no one else.

I confess, this book took some getting used to. It's dark and gritty and sometimes just plain gross. There's a creature who animates himself (sometimes herself) with garbage and vermin. The Prince sweats oil. Certain babies are born into stone skins, crying from hunger and thirst, not knowing why the world is dark and cold (as a mom, that got me the worst). But gross factor aside, it was rather fascinating to see the underbelly of a city like London come to life. Everything you might take for granted or downright ignore is what this book is about. A drunken bum actually plays an important role, and it has nothing to do with being drunk or a bum. This is imagination, and I haven't revealed the half of it. I wouldn't want to spoil it!

At the same time, I wouldn't recommend this book for everyone. It's dark. The presentation and ideas are sometimes mature. There's an implication of rape and another scene where two unmarried teens almost have sex (not nearly the same level as rape, but it's still on my list of moral degradation). There are gods and goddesses, but in this case, all that means is that they are super powerful beings who have followers and worshipers. (It's not really an attempt at explaining religion. For all intents and purposes, this is a strictly secular book, which I appreciate better than books that try to explain and rationalize the Christian God.) Finally, the dark roast icing on the espresso cake is one particular all-controlling, pain-inflicting villain I'd rather meet less than most other novels' bad guys.

If you're looking for something fresh, try this novel that conjures images of anything but. It's surprising, and surprises aren't so bad in a market inundated with trends.

Three and a half stars. Available in September.

The Peculiars

The Peculiars, by Maureen Doyle McQuerry, is a somewhat interesting gothic steampunk tale for young adults, though I don't think the book quite fits the target audience. The style matches young adult fiction, but the characters are a little old. Aside from that, I found the book to be a tad slow-paced and simplistic, but it's sort of pretty, too, in its own kind of dark way.

Lena's family thinks she is half goblin from her father's side, her father who abandoned them when she was a child but left her a short letter and a surprise gift upon her eighteenth birthday. Lena, herself, is afraid of what she might be. She has the physical characteristics of a goblin: long, tender feet and an extra knuckle in each finger on her hands. But goblins are also supposed to be evil, base creatures. Since Lena wants and enjoys things most girls her age don't, she is afraid her evil side is coming out, so with the money her father left her, she leaves home for the wilds of Scree where convicts, outlaws, and supposedly other Peculiars (if they even exist) live. She's determined to find her father and discover who he truly is and what that might mean for her.

But before Lena gets to Scree, she's waylaid in a border town where a mysterious marshal stirs her heart and asks for favors, where a young librarian seeks an escape from his family obligations and shows a genuine interest in Lena, and where an inventor hides a great secret Lena believes needs to be exposed to the world. Goblin or not, Lena can't help being thrilled at the prospect of an adventure, but she may be in more danger than she realizes.

It's a fun book, certainly not boring. There's mystery, adventure, romance, and danger. It's sort of a slightly post-Victorian paranormal romance with a bit of science fiction thrown in, but none of these genres fully encompasses or describes the book. I liked it well enough, but I thought there was just a little something missing. Higher stakes maybe. A more complex plot. A more satisfyingly romantic end. It was good, but not great. Still, it's not a bad story, and the idea is clever, if not fully fleshed out. Where the book's adventure really gets going is in the final third. Until then, there's a lot of internal conflict, some unnecessary, as Lena wonders whether Peculiars are even real and if she is one. Three stars.

This book is available in stores in May.

Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions

Paranormal is really big in teen fiction right now...and has been for quite awhile. It can be tiresome reading over and over again about vampires, angels, werewolves, and other creatures of the night. But put a new spin on it, and the subject comes to life again. I don't see this teen phenomenon coming to a close anytime soon, but if you want to see the subject in a new light (i.e. without all the romance), check out Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions, an anthology of short stories by sixteen different female authors, edited by Melissa Marr and Kelley Armstrong.

Short stories, yeah, I know. They get a bad rap because, well, they're short. But if that's a problem for you, Enthralled is different. Many of these short stories take place in worlds the authors have built in book series. In fact, I had my suspicions that some of the stories weren't standalones when I was reading at the beginning, but I knew it before I even looked up the authors' other books because I recognized characters from a young adult novel I'd read. So, if there's a story in this anthology that you really like, you can just look up the author and read more. You might even find a few new authors to try that you haven't before. And that's what this book is about for the authors, at least. It's a promotional tool, designed to spark your interest.

What I like about short stories is that they don't waste time. They have to get you interested immediately without a lot of set-up. They have to end quickly without a lot of time for frivolous details or drawn out romantic scenes. Romance is great, but paranormal romance tends to go off the deep end a lot of the time. There's only so many ways you can write about it, so many creatures you can use or make up. Have you been to a bookstore lately? What stands out first? That young adult section with covers of beautiful boys and girls, sometimes half naked, often with fangs or wings or colored smoke around them. You know what I'm talking about. Huge. Teen. Phenomenon.

Enthralled isn't about paranormal romance. When I picked it up, I thought it was, and I was more interested, at the time, in seeing if a book of young adult short stories could go off. The theme of the book, which holds all the stories together, is Journeys. In some way, each new set of characters has a journey to take. Often, to my surprise, the characters were siblings rather than romantic interests, though there were a few of those, too, the weaker stories, in my opinion.

Now, down to the nitpicking. The first half of the book is fascinating. Each new story is so different and not what I expected. In the latter half of the book, there are a far too many vampires and a few more romances. Plus, by then, I think I was getting tired of "starting over" with each new story, having to get into a whole new set of characters. Also, some of the stories were clearly from bigger worlds that the authors had written in other books. Part of that was cool. I liked having the sense that there was a bigger story, but sometimes, the short story didn't really have a satisfactory end. I guess that's where the promotional aspect of the book comes in. Like the story...buy the author's whole book. Great for the authors. Annoying for the readers unless you're looking for a bigger world to submerge in.

The theme of Journeys could have gotten old by story sixteen or even by story three, but it didn't. Each author approaches the subject very differently, and though a few road trips are actually taken in the stories, the paranormal aspect of it, in this case, is a plus, keeping the stories quite different from each other. The subtitle, Paranormal Diversions, describes this book perfectly. The title, Enthralled, not so much. I don't get it. Is the reader supposed to be enthralled? Are the characters enthralled with their own superhuman powers? Is anything paranormal supposed to be enthralling, simply because of what it is? I enjoyed the book, but I was hardly enthralled.

Three stars. If you are into paranormal teen fiction, check out this book to find new authors to read. The authors, alphabetically, are Kelley Armstrong, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Sarah Rees Brennan, Rachel Caine, Ally Condie, Kimberly Derting, Kami Garcia, Claudia Gray, Melissa Marr, Jackson Pearce, Mary E. Pearson, Carrie Ryan, Jeri Smith-Ready, Margaret Stohl, Jessica Verday, and Rachel Vincent.

Everneath

I apologize that I still present reviews on Paranormal Romances for your consideration in a market inundated with it, but the concept was intriguing enough to arrest my attention. If you are looking for top-quality fiction and your reading time is limited, skip this one, but if you are a fast reader craving quantity as well as quality, Everneath is not a bad choice. A young adult debut novel by Brodi Ashton, Everneath seems to be a stand-alone novel for once.

Nikki is a Forfeit. Because of unbearable pain in her life, she willingly chose to go with an Everliving to the Underworld for him to Feed off her soul for one hundred years. Now she has six months to say good-bye on the Surface, where time passes differently than in the Underworld, before she has to return for good. How do you say good-bye to the boy whose face kept you sane for one hundred years? And how do you resist a charming Everliving who wants you to be his queen at the price of your soul, especially when your only other alternative is to go to the Tunnels where the Shades will Feed off the remainder of your emotions until you are nothing?

There's a bit of teenage angst in this novel, but Nikki surprised me in some ways. Her dad thinks she's been in rehab for the past half year (all the time that's passed on the Surface), so he puts special demands on her when she returns. Nikki bears them all patiently in her desire to leave her family with good memories. Of course, she can't tell them the truth because who would believe her? If you don't like martyrs or people who keep themselves closed off from others, you won't like Nikki. But I think she might grow on you, especially when she attempts to fight her circumstances to the best of her ability. Her actions are realistic in light of the story.

I was also surprised to find this book to be fairly clean. For one hundred years, Nikki is entwined with the Everliving Cole, but there doesn't seem to be anything sexual about it. I did not like that Nikki's boyfriend on the Surface seems to have slept with quite a few girls and even seems to put a little pressure on Nikki at one point. He's supposed to be this nice boy she was friends with for years before he asked to be her boyfriend, and even though he and Nikki don't have sex, his image was tainted for me. Aside from that, he's the boy you want her to end up with.

I'm glad that the book doesn't play with the love triangle much. Nikki always recognizes that Cole is bad, or at least that he's manipulating her emotions, no matter how nice he is to her. For once, the human girl doesn't long for, or end up, with the paranormal being! So, I don't know if this would technically be considered Paranormal Romance, but that's about the closest thing it resembles, I think.

I do have to comment on the end of the book, though I will try not to spoil much. I didn't particularly like it. It's rather sad and a little mumbo-jumbo-ish. It implies the future could be better with this vague hopefulness. So, be prepared for that. Perhaps it's like that to leave room for a sequel, but I don't think so. Except for that, the book felt complete to me. I don't know where the author could go from there. It's nice to read a stand-alone young adult novel for once, not one meant to be a series, but it's annoying that the book had to substitute another modern story problem: the less-than-happy ending. I like a little tragedy in a story now and then, preferably in short stories. If I spend the time to read through a whole book, I'd rather have it be rewarded with something more satisfying.

Still, this story is interesting enough that if you are looking for quantity, as I said before, this isn't a bad one to put on your list of books to read. It makes no attempt to conceal the fact that's it's somewhat influenced by the story of Hades and Persephone, but it distinguishes itself, too.


Everneath is available this month. Three stars.

ADDENDUM: I read somewhere that this might be a series. Though that would make the ending better, I'm a little disappointed. Honestly, I don't know where the series would go from here. There's not enough at the end to interest me in reading more.

Stork

My husband playfully chides me for keeping 20 unread books on my shelf, especially when I frequently complain about how I can't find anything to read. How do these books even end up there? Since I get them for free, I'm not always picky. If the premise if remotely interesting, I take the book home. Lately, I've been curbing this tendency in the interest of clearing my shelf a little bit. I recently read two books (see my latest reviews) that I would never have missed if I'd left them alone, but on a rare occasion, a book surprises me, especially if it's low on my reading list. Stork was one of those.

I've been hanging onto Stork, a young adult novel by Wendy Delsol, for awhile. It came out in October 2010, and I got my advance reader's copy quite a bit earlier than that. In all the array of paranormal beings, a girl-Stork who could put souls into just-conceived babies didn't intrigue me like people who could turn into more furry creatures. I've always been more into wolves and least into birds. I like to call myself an animal person, but I think birds are the most boring of all pets. My apologies to all the bird-lovers out there. I know I'm making enemies.

Even the heroine of Stork had a strike against her for being into fashion. I'm not against fashion, but I'm the least fashionable kind of person, comfortable in jeans and a T-shirt, wearing the same shoes every day of my life.

Nonetheless, Stork grabbed me, and in two days, I'd read it from cover to cover. It wasn't so much the plot, which became surprisingly more interesting the more I got invested. Thankfully, Katla never actually turns into a stork, and there's no swaddled babies being delivered in handkerchiefs to people's doorways. But there is magic involved. Katla unexpectedly finds herself the youngest member of a secret group of old women, grannies all, who believe in the old myths and put souls into unborn babies. The souls are revealed to the members of this stork society in dreams, and the only weird physical transformation is an odd, fiery rash on their scalps, which is a physical signal for them to gather together.

But being a Stork is only one of many transformations Katla is undergoing. She's just moved from California to a small town in Minnesota after her parents' divorce, and everyone stares at her strangely in her new school. It doesn't help that the one guy she got to know before school ill-used her and pretends not to know her once school starts. And then there's the guy who keeps popping up wherever Katla goes, but he and Katla can't seem to get along.

Even with all this going on, the plot isn't what makes the book exceptional. It's Katla's voice throughout the story. Her thoughts and her dialog are always witty, packing in word plays and clever imagery in subtle ways you would almost miss if you didn't slow down to absorb them. It's not only Katla who's likeable either. The characters around her are quirky and loveable with their own brands of humorous witticisms. Stork was simply an enjoyable read.

It's hard to categorize this book. It has fantastical elements in it, but it's not fantasy. It has paranormal elements in it, and it certainly has romance, but it's not paranormal romance in the way you normally see. It's magical, but the magic is not domineering. The magical elements are almost a side plot for most of the book, and that's fine. But however you might categorize Stork, the facts remain, it was surprisingly captivating and downright satisfying.

Four bright, beautiful stars.