Ash - Malinda Lo

Title: Ash
Author: Malinda Lo
Pages: 291
Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy
Publication Date: 3/4/2010
Rating: ****

In the wake of her father's death, Ash is left at the mercy of her cruel stepmother. Consumed with grief, her only joy comes by the light of the dying hearth fire, rereading the fairy tales her mother once told her. In her dreams, someday the fairies will steal her away, as they are said to do. When she meets the dark and dangerous fairy Sidhean, she believes that her wish may be granted.

The day that Ash meets Kaisa, the King's Huntress, her heart begins to change. Instead of chasing fairies, Ash learns to hunt with Kaisa. Though their friendship is as delicate as a new bloom, it reawakens Ash's capacity for love-and her desire to live. But Sidhean has already claimed Ash for his own, and she must make a choice between fairy tale dreams and true love.

Entrancing, empowering, and romantic, Ash is about the connection between life and love, and solitude and death, where transformation can come from even the deepest grief. (Goodreads)

Ash is a retelling of Cinderella with a twist - or two. Aisling, or Ash, is left orphaned and in the care of her not so fabulous stepmother and stuck up stepsisters. She tries to keep the warm memories of her childhood and parents alive through the fairy tales she grew up learning and reading. She keeps hopeful that one day a fairy will come and whisk her away from the miserable life she is in.

I really liked that even though it is a retelling of the classic, it is still unique and there are aspects of it that are definitely different. I love how Ms. Lo creates a beautiful fairy world and weaves the tales in and out along with Ash's own story. It was so easy for me to get lost in the world's that were created - Ash's world and the fairy world. I also like how in this story, there wasn't a predictable 'Prince Charming' to come riding in and save the day for Ash. Instead, the unexpected happens and Ash falls for the King's Huntress, while at the same time having a complex and mysterious relationship with the fairy, Sidhean.

The way Ms. Lo tells the story is beautiful and quite easy to get lost in, as I did. Ash felt like a mix of historical fiction, romance, and a fairy tale and I loved it! It was also full of emotion and mystery to boot. I would recommend this and I don't think you would be disappointed.

The only complaint I have is the ending. I wouldn't say it ended abruptly, but there is something about it I can't quite put my finger on. However, it didn't stop me from enjoying the story or feeling satisfied at the end.

2012 Challenges

Along with a new year comes new...

CHALLENGES!

There are a few challenges I am signing up for this year, one being the 2012 100+ books in a year challenge. I didn't meet that goal last year, but I will be trying again this year.



Here are some other challenges I'm participating in:

Here are the links to the sign up for these challenges:

100+ Books in a Year

Zombie Challenge 2012

Speculative Romance Challenge 2012

The Dystopia 2012 Challenge

Get Steampunked! 2012


Are you participating in any challenges this year? If so, what are they? :)

Songs for a Teenage Nomad - Kim Culbertson

Title: Songs for a Teenage Nomad
Author: Kim Culbertson
Pages: 204
Genre: Young Adult/Contemporary
Publication Date: 6/1/2007

After living in twelve places in eight years with her drifting mother, fourteen-year-old Calle Smith finds herself in Andreas Bay, California, at the start of ninth grade. Fearful of putting down roots anywhere, but armed with her song journal, she moves to her own sound track through a world that bounces her between the school drama crowd, a mysterious loner, and an unlikely boy who will become her first love. But it's the troubling truth she uncovers about her father that forces Calle to face the toughest choice of her young life. (Goodreads)

Calle (Call-ee) has spent most of her life bouncing around from town to town, watching her mother's many relationships fail. the only thing stable she has is her love of music, which she keeps in a song journal. Each time she moves, it is always the same -- no friends, no one to depend on, and no stability. However, things are seemingly changing for her when she moves to Andreas Bay.

This book drew me in originally because of the music aspect, I have an intense, lifelong love of music of all kinds. This ended up being a wonderful story about a girl coming into her own.

I can say that a lot of the time I had to stop and say, wait, she is only fourteen? Perhaps her character seemed a little older due to her life experiences, but most of the time I kept thinking she was around sixteen or seventeen. I think Calle handled things exceptionally well given her age and all the things she had been through, not to mention the things she would end up facing.

In Andreas Bay, Calle finds some things that she thought she wouldn't. Here, she makes some true friends and discovers that maybe she isn't completely alone in dealing with the pains of the world.

Although it was kind of short, it was paced well and there was plenty of emotion in it. Calle had to deal with some issues typical for a girl her age, the whole high school scene with friends and love, etc. but she also had to deal with things that she really shouldn't have with watching her mother go through so many relationships and then having to swallow not knowing her father or anything about him.

In Songs for a Teenage Nomad we get to see Calle grow and unravel some of the mysteries of her life and grow in the process. There were times I smiled, times I worried, and even times I teared up. It will pull at your heart for sure. It was a great read and I think others will enjoy it as well.

On another note, I would like to say I found this little treasure at Amazon for $0.99 for my Kindle. This is the link to it.


What I give this book:

Follow Friday - 1/6

This week's feature is:

Jennifer @ Book Den

Go count the number of unread books sitting on your shelf. How many?

I have 21 unread on my bookshelf... and that's not counting the tons on my Kindle I have yet to read.

To a new year :)

I am disappointed to say that I fell off the reading wagon last year, but I am hoping to get back into the swing of things this year.

I have tons of books on my TBR list and I'm ready to get to them! There are a lot of things I'm looking forward to this year, many releases that look promising, books coming out taht I have been waiting months for (like Pandemonium, Fever, and The Nightmare Garden), and who can forget... The Hunger Games movie in March! *fan girl squee*