The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

I really enjoyed reading this book. It's a quick, relaxing read that's perfect for a lazy weekend. I give it a 4 out of 5 and here's why.

When I first opened the book, it wasn't to the first chapter, or even a prologue, it was a letter from the author, which was short and sweet just like the rest of the book. I liked that. Straight from the beginning, before the story even started, I already knew why this story was written and what it was really about; letting go of all inhibitions and just being yourself. That it's okay to love and be allowed to be loved just as you are, something that every person should remember.

The characters themselves were a lot of fun. Each one had a very distinct personality, each one adding it's own quirk to the story. I didn't feel that any of the characters were there to just fill up space, but were useful to the plot.

Overall, I found that the story moved smoothly and quickly. I didn't feel like there was a lot of useless information or characters, there wasn't too much going on and unlike our last book, I wasn't begging for the story to hurry up and end because I was bored. Instead, I found this read to be thoroughly entertaining, with it's brief love scenes, mystery, moments of suspense, and brief but enjoyable humor.

So, why 4 out of 5 instead of just an all out 5? I was able to predict the ending halfway through the book, but to be fair, there were no other options for the ending.

Right now the author only has two books out, The Replacement and The Space Between. I'll be adding The Space Between to my GoodReads list, "to-read" and will probably use it for the club at some point. But I really look forward to more of her books.

New Book: The Replacement

The next book selection for The Bookish Owl is The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff. A story based on changeling folk lore, which has always interested me. In case you don't know what a changeling is, it is a human-like thing, fairy, creature or whatever the story happens to be, that is put in place of a stolen human baby.

The Story:

Mackie Doyle is not one of us. Though he lives in the small town of Gentry, he comes from a world of tunnels and black murky water, a world of living dead girls ruled by a little tattooed princess. He is a Replacement, left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago. Now, because of fatal allergies to iron, blood, and consecrated ground, Mackie is fighting to survive in the human world.

Mackie would give anything to live among us, to practice on his bass or spend time with his crush, Tate. But when Tate's baby sister goes missing, Mackie is drawn irrevocably into the underworld of Gentry, known as Mayhem. He must face the dark creatures of the Slag Heaps and find his rightful place, in our world, or theirs.

You can read reviews of the book on Good Reads 

I'm excited to get started, I've never read a book based on changeling folk lore before so this is very different for me.

Have you ever read this book? What did you think of it?

And remember, if you have a book suggestion, be sure to email me @ thebookishowl@gmail.com and I'll get to the book as soon as I can.

77 Shadow Street: Review and Analysis

I know the title says "Review and Analysis" but we're going to start with the analysis and if you have some kind of condition where things have to be done in some specific order or else you go berserk, then I suggest you step away from the computer. I don't want to be sued for driving you into berserkness, causing you to destroy your computer, or iPad, or iPhone for that matter. Are there any other devices I need to mention?

Pressing on.

The Analysis.

77 Shadow Street is not the horror tale as one is lead to believe from the description of the story on the back cover. There are no ghosts, or demons in the general sense as society understands them today. The true terror lies in between the lines, within the moral of the story. Technology can be a wonderful thing, but is society advancing too quickly? The Roman Empire fell because it could not keep up with their own technological advancement. In this story (SPOILER ALERT!!!! TURN BACK NOW!!!!) a scientist comes up with a way to better human kind, but the science goes too far and is applied to other ideas with the best intentions, but instead creates a sort of Gaia, where the Earth is a living creature and in which no human lives because they were all destroyed by their own technology. Perhaps our future is not fated so dramatically, but how long will it be until we destroy each other with our iPods? (There's an app for that). <<<<< I'm joking here. I'm not a conspiracy theorist or paranoid. But I think you get the idea.

The Review

This book is only 607 pages in the large print yet I felt as though it dragged on. The story didn't start to pick up until about a third in, which up until that point I was having to force myself to read it. I felt the characters lacked depth and imagination. You had the scientist, who was nice enough but refused to admit he was at fault, you had the ex-marine who kept everyone alive, there was the conspiracy theorist, and the expert who through his thoughts revealed to the reader the history and nature of the house, and of course the children who had to be protected above all else. Then there were characters who really didn't need to be in the story at all and should have died much sooner than they did. Frankly, there were just too many characters for the story, and there was too much going back and forth between them.

During the last quarter, I was getting to the point where I was tired of reading the story and was ready to yell at the book, "JUST GET TO THE ENDING ALREADY AND TELL US WHAT HAPPENS!" I was skimming, and skipping passages. The story should have been wrapped up around page 500.

However, the monsters were unique, but not as terrifying as Mr. Koontz wanted them to be. Despite all this though, the ending was very satisfactory, and at the last moment the reader was lead to believe that there was going to be a last second plot twist, the last surprise; but with a sigh of relief, all was well with our heroes in the end. I enjoyed the twist though, it was refreshing, and made me gasp for about 5 seconds and before I phewed and wiped the sweat from my brow.

So, I give it 2.5-3 stars out of 5.

Announcement

I'm writing this Friday evening and I realize I still have don't have Owlets (AKA followers). So I really feel like I'm talking to myself here. So, INCASE I get even just one Owlet over the weekend, just so you know, that since there aren't many, or even any for that matter, there will not be a book discussion until there are at least three members, myself included. So until that day happens, I will just give a review of the books that have been read for the club. Thank you.

77 Shadow Street so far...

When I read the synopsis for the book, I was given the impression that the story was going to be told from the houses point of view, or even the thing that was killing everyone. Then as I started reading the book, I decided the story was going to be told in a series of events, much like a paranormal documentary. Now that I'm a little further into the book and certain characters keep making reappearances I am now able to pick out which characters will be the main characters, and who will probably form bonds and possibly even romances. However, since Dean Koontz's writing has changed since his older books, I haven't decided if this could end in absolute tragedy, or if there will a silver lining at the last chapter.

Also, I'm getting a House on a Haunted Hill vibe.

Oh and, I'm still waiting to be terrified.

Cutest Little Owl Bookmark

I'm always in need of bookmarks, I'm really bad about folding the corner pages of books. But when I do use bookmarks they fall out or I lose them, and I can never find any super cute ones.

Well, I went on Pinterest and decided to do a search for bookmarks, and this is what I found:

Isn't it just the cutest? The website it's from is in another language and I can't translate it. But from the looks of it it's actually apart of a card she made and the owl doubled as a bookmark. Now, I have a Cricut Machine and with the right cartridge I could probably do this. But I just found this so cute I had to share.

Felecia Day's Vaginal Fantasy Hangout

It's not as dirty as it sounds, really!

Vaginal Fantasy Hangout is the creation of Felecia Day (an actress who is better known for The Guild), starring Felecia Day (Well duh!), Veronica Belmont of Sword and Laser, Kiala Kazebee of Nerdist and Gameranx and last but certainly not least, the ever funny Bonnie Burton, who once worked for Lucas Films.

It is a pod cast book club that features mostly fantasy, but sometimes sci-fi and even steampunk novels that are chosen for they're tasteful, sexy scenes (Hints the title of the club) and good plots (of course).

If you want to know more about these lovely ladies and what it is that they do you can visit Veronica, Felicia Day, Kiala Kazebee and Bonnie Burton on their websites.

You can also visit the Vaginal Fantasy website to find out more about their book club, join their Good Reads group, follow each gal on Twitter and get caught up on the pod casts on YouTube.

Be sure to check them out and tell me what you think!