The Extraordinary October Tour: Extraordinary October by Diana Wagman

Hi All!  Today is my stop on the Extraordinary October Blog Tour hosted by Xpresso Reads.  The minute I saw this beautiful cover and read the synopsis for the story, I knew I had to have this book.
A huge shout out goes to Giselle from Xpresso Reads allowing me to be a part of this tour.  And thanks to Diana Wagman for sharing the protagonist, October Fetterhoff, with the world. I think you will enjoy her as much as I did.

Title: Extraordinary October
Author: Diana Wagman
Publisher: Ig Publishing
Date of Publication: Oct. 11, 2016
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult


Synopsis:

October is an ordinary girl. From her plain looks to her average grades, there seems to be nothing special about her. Then, three days before her eighteenth birthday, she develops a strange itch that won’t go away, and her life is turned upside down. Suddenly, she can hear dogs talk, make crows fly, and two new and very handsome boys at school are vying for her affections. After she starts “transplanting” herself through solid rock, October learns that she is not ordinary at all, but the daughter of a troll princess and a fairy prince, and a pawn in a deadly war between the trolls and the fairies. Now October will have to use all of her growing powers to save her family, and stop a mysterious evil that threatens to destroy the fairy world.
In the fantastical vein of authors such as Julie Kagawa and Holly Black, Extraordinary October takes us on a magical journey from the streets of Los Angeles to the beautiful and mythical underground fairy kingdom.

My Thoughts:

Extraordinary October is an interesting book that's about a young girl about to turn 18, who gets a terrible itch and her whole world she knows gets flipped on its head! She slowly starts to realize elves, fairies, trolls, and magic is real.  And she, October, finds herself embroiled in all of it.  

First off, the protagonist's name is pretty cool and unique : October.  It's hip, fun, and festive!  

The one thing that I really admired about our main character, October, is that she isn't perfect.  She is immature, hormones going 100 miles an hour, and she makes mistakes.  Sometimes a lot.  There are times that she can learn from her mistakes; other times she doesn't.  I think this trait makes her more relatable to most teenagers than any other characters.  

Speaking of other characters, the supporting ones are very entertaining.  There were times I enjoyed them more than our main one. Especially, Luisa and Chris or Green.  They were honest and kind.

I also enjoyed seeing the magical world through October as she slowly accepted what she was seeing.  The little scenes that played out while she was out and about: the man talking to little buzzing creatures, the woman with the elf on her shoulder, and of course hearing animals talk.  

Who wouldn't want that little power?!!?  

Extraordinary October seems to be a character driven plot solely relying on our characters to get the story moving along.  Therefore at times I found it to be exciting but others it moved a tad bit slower than usual.

There were times I thought the "Ha, ha, ha" after every joke got old.  I would have liked less of those and more credit giving to the reader to reach the inference to the joke without the explanations pointed out each time.  

I also wasn't too happy with the obvious love triangle that was put out there from withing the first few chapters.   There was also a huge insta-love concept that could have been toned down a good amount and we could have still developed the blossoming relationship found there.

Other than these techniques, I found Extraordinary October to be a fun read, with a surprising twist about the villain and even her own parents.   The ending, I felt, was overall an enjoyable one with no noticeable cliffhanger.  It was well rounded and could be a stand alone or even the first book in a series.  

I would have to give this book a 3 heart rating!

Want to pick up your own copy?

Amazon| B&N| Kobo

Get to the know the Author:

Author Bio: 

I have always written and always wanted to be a writer, but didn’t think I could make a living at it. So I became a mime. (You can imagine what my father had to say about that.) I worked on the streets of NYC with two partners, stopping traffic in front of the Met and annoying tourists. When, to my great surprise, that didn’t work out, I returned to school in film–thinking screenwriters made a living. And when I had ten scripts and my agent had stopped returning my calls, I wrote a novel. I did it just because I wanted to love writing again and not think about selling or casting or marketability. That novel was Skin Deep, and it’s a testament to writing from your heart that the first person to read it, bought it. I’ve been trying to write from the heart ever since.

 Author links: 

http://www.dianawagman.com/

https://twitter.com/dianawagman

Giveaway Time:

We are super lucky today to be a part of this amazing giveaway going on right now!  You have up for grabs some beautiful fairy lights to help light your way in your darkest hour.  

Be sure to click on the link below to be taken to the rafflecopter for the giveaway!

 http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/d04251231433/

Book Review: The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

Title: The Darkest Part of the Forest
Author: Holly Black
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Date of Publication: Jan. 13 2015
Source: bought, hardcover, 324 pages, YA
Get your own copy:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble |

Book Synopsis:

Children can have a cruel, absolute sense of justice. Children can kill a monster and feel quite proud of themselves. A girl can look at her brother and believe they’re destined to be a knight and a bard who battle evil. She can believe she’s found the thing she’s been made for.
Hazel lives with her brother, Ben, in the strange town of Fairfold where humans and fae exist side by side. The faeries’ seemingly harmless magic attracts tourists, but Hazel knows how dangerous they can be, and she knows how to stop them. Or she did, once.
At the center of it all, there is a glass coffin in the woods. It rests right on the ground and in it sleeps a boy with horns on his head and ears as pointed as knives. Hazel and Ben were both in love with him as children. The boy has slept there for generations, never waking.
Until one day, he does…
As the world turns upside down, Hazel tries to remember her years pretending to be a knight. But swept up in new love, shifting loyalties, and the fresh sting of betrayal, will it be enough?

My Thoughts:

I love Holly Black!!!!!

I mean how can you not love her?? She takes these simple concepts, like fairy tales, that we have all read growing up and she flips them upside down to create something all new.
And scary.
I always feel so free and sophisticated reading her books; which I know doesn't make sense.  But her books just gives me these awesome feelings when I get immersed in her world building.
The Darkest Part of the Forest is simply beautiful!  I find myself slipping into my childhood memories wandering around in the woods behind my parents' house.  I remember pretending to  battle evil forces while riding my pretend white stallion as I rescued everyone that needed it.
Relating so strongly to the premise of this story, I found myself trying to savor each and every part of the story.  But being that I love the story so much I actually ended up reading through it within two days.

Holly Black does this amazing job of developing characters that can be so complex; so intriguing you wish they were real.  I adore Hazel and Ben; I think Jack is Prince Charming in a nutshell; and the Horned Boy is eerily seductive and mysterious.
She has this immense imagination and comes up with such creative creatures that it is hard not to wish there really was a Fairfield where magic happens all the time.  Black makes magic seem like it really can come true; even if it contains more of a darker side to it.

Besides doing a fantastic job of creating characters, Black has this incredible talent to paint a world that seems so real as if you could just reach out and touch it.  Her storytelling skills is unparalleled.  Through her imaginative storytelling she is able to make the words on the pages come to life and adds a more intimate dimension to the story.

The Darkest Part of the Forest channels some of our basic imaginations concerning fairy tales but then it delivers something else entirely.  It gives us the allure of the magic; but it also forces us to see the darkness the power can bring as well.  I love this book and I honestly wanted to read more and more with these characters.  I really hope that Ms. Black will take us back to Fairfield one more time in the future.
It is definitely a magical experience.

Connect with the author:

Goodreads | Twitter | Website | 

Book Review: The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

Title: The School for Good and Evil
Series: The School for Good and Evil # 1
Author: Soman Chainani
Publisher: HarperCollins
Date of Publication: May 14, 2013
Source: bought for the Kindle


Goodreads Summary:

“The first kidnappings happened two hundred years before. Some years it was two boys taken, some years two girls, sometimes one of each. But if at first the choices seemed random, soon the pattern became clear. One was always beautiful and good, the child every parent wanted as their own. The other was homely and odd, an outcast from birth. An opposing pair, plucked from youth and spirited away.”
This year, best friends Sophie and Agatha are about to discover where all the lost children go: the fabled School for Good & Evil, where ordinary boys and girls are trained to be fairy tale heroes and villains. As the most beautiful girl in Gavaldon, Sophie has dreamed of being kidnapped into an enchanted world her whole life. With her pink dresses, glass slippers, and devotion to good deeds, she knows she’ll earn top marks at the School for Good and graduate a storybook princess. Meanwhile Agatha, with her shapeless black frocks, wicked pet cat, and dislike of nearly everyone, seems a natural fit for the School for Evil.
But when the two girls are swept into the Endless Woods, they find their fortunes reversed—Sophie’s dumped in the School for Evil to take Uglification, Death Curses, and Henchmen Training, while Agatha finds herself in the School For Good, thrust amongst handsome princes and fair maidens for classes in Princess Etiquette and Animal Communication.. But what if the mistake is actually the first clue to discovering who Sophie and Agatha really are…?
The School for Good & Evil is an epic journey into a dazzling new world, where the only way out of a fairy tale is to live through one.

My Thoughts:

The minute I seen the cover of this book I went straight to Goodreads and put it on my "To Be Read" List right away.  This was months before it came out and then I promptly forgot about it.  Until I seen where it had been released and then purchased it for my Kindle.
I honestly think this story would have been great as a graphic novel or comic book idea.  It definitely has that feel to it anyways.  I know the Kindle had a few illustrations in it, but I think this book really needed many more for it to truly come into its own.  Did the actual copy have more of a comic book feel to it?  Not sure so feel free to leave me comments if you know.

So I realize this was written more for middle school aged children as the target audience than for adults but I still felt like this was done rather poorly.  It was really long, which I don't think many adults and some kids would mind, but I think there are a few kids that would have given up on it long before it ended.  I almost did but I still had hope for it.
I know it seems like I am just bashing the book and I am really not trying to; I just found some points of the book to be lost upon me.  Like the plot.  I understand the curse upon the town and I really liked the foreshadowing of how it plays out in the beginning but towards the end it seemed like everything just went haywire.  There were just way too many story lines in the plot and it made the book seem rushed together, instead of flowing gracefully.    I think we could have done without a few hooks and maybe a bit more understanding as to what is really going on in the story.
But after all that is said, I didn't hate the book.  There were areas that were pretty good and had potential to be even better.  I liked how the fairy tales had come alive, if you will, and combined with the Reader to really live out their own fairy tale.  That idea has promise.   What young person hasn't imagined living their own fairy tale?
I also liked the secrets behind the guards at the School, as well as the teachers and the headmaster as well.  The fantasy that was involved was also one reason I still held out hope for the book.  I loved the fairies, wolves, trolls, and the magic that decorated the pages of the book.
Since this was targeted towards middle-school ages, it does have some funny scenes in it involving farting, which I don't have a problem with since I have a house full of boys.  It was funny.
But being an adult, I found that The School for Good and Evil almost had a satirical edge to it.  I mean the way everything is over the top good and over the top evil almost seems like the author is aiming for satire.

Through it all, I did feel like the author was trying to point out a moral lesson here and there, albeit cliched moral lessons.  Obviously, beauty is only skin deep is at the forefront as we witness Sophie's transformation through the book.  And another is : Don't judge a book by its cover as we see everyone including Agatha herself, finally see what is truly inside Agatha.  Of course there are others....

The plot was weak but the characters were interesting and it was hard not to fall for some of them.  Although I found myself rooting for the Evil school kids more than I did the Good kids.  And the secondary characters are really what stole the show for me.  The witches, like Dot, Hester, and Anadil, were fun to watch interact with Sophie.
I didn't find myself  falling in love with the main characters too much at all.  Sophie irritated me to no end and Agatha took to long what everyone in the Reader world already knew.  I don't know if I agree with the ending or not.  I am really torn on it.  I think  there are some reasons an antagonist can come back from the dark side, so to speak, but I wonder if this antagonist had just did too much already?
Then I wonder if things will go back to the way they are or will our protagonist see their friend for what they truly are?
Many questions left unanswered for me.  I want the answers for them but at the same time  I just don't know if I can read the second book if it doesn't has more substance to it than the first.

I had to give The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani :

Get your own Copy:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble |

Connect with Soman Chainani:
Goodreads | Website | Twitter |

Book Review: Hank Mossberg, Private Ogre Death in the Hallows by Jamie Sedgwick

Title: Hank Mossberg, Private Ogre Death in the Hallows
Series: Hank Mossberg Private Ogre book 2
Author: Jamie Sedgwick
Publisher: Timber Hill Press
Date of Publication: June 9, 2012
Source: received e copy from author for my honest review
Get your own copy: Amazon 

Goodreads Summary:
Hank Mossberg, the world's first ogre private eye is back in action. Hank is throwing a bachelor party for his best friend and deputy-dwarf Butch O'Shea, when he gets a phone call from an old friend, a wood-elf journalist named Flick Hunter. Flick begs Hank to meet him in the seedy undercity neighborhood known as the Hallows. Hank agrees and travels to the undercity -the magical home of thousands of fae creatures hidden in a cavern underneath San Francisco- and arrives just in time to find Flick murdered. Hank finds the magical sword known as Excalibur driven through Flick’s chest and into the stone beneath him. 

The undercity's chief detective warns Hank to stay off the case and out of the way, but for Hank, it’s personal this time. Hank promises Flick’s widow that he’ll bring the killer to justice but little does he know that while he’s investigating the illegal black market of enchanted weapons, the undercity’s most powerful citizens are looking to end Hank’s investigation permanently. Crooked cops, power mad elites, and goblin gangsters are just the beginning of Hank’s troubles. He’ll stop at nothing to expose the killer, unless the killer finds him first.

My Feelings:

Imagine if you will, Dick Tracey, Indiana Jones, and Shrek (okay not Shrek but that fills in the Ogre part) combined into one person.  
Enter Hank Mossberg, the last known Ogre living in San Francisco who happens to be the Steward for the magical beings in the world too.  You ask what is a steward?  Well if you read the book you will get the idea but basically like a peacekeeper for Mother Nature.
Hank is a very lovable character who always tries to look out for his loved ones and friends, to the point of danger for him.  Hank isn't a very complex guy but I think that is the appeal of him.  He is a simple ogre with a lot of heart that is pretty lonely.  
  He always tries to keep the magical creatures in line and usually finds himself in the middle of murder investigations continuously.  Unfortunately this time it hits close to home.
There is a "whodunnit" theme running around in the story for the murder case and another mystery involving the adorable dwarf, Butch and his bride.  For the life of me, I could not figure out who the culprit was until Hank figured it out.  That is very refreshing to be in the dark , second guessing yourself with the protagonist until the end.  
There is a little bit of a love interest for Hank, even though it is physically impossible for him to snuggle up to any magical creatures because his one and only power zaps all their energy out.  That is great for defending yourself but not so good when you want to get freaky-deaky.   Annie is not my favorite person in this book.  Honestly, I can't stand her.  I just feel like Hank deserves someone very special.  
There is a new character introduced that I fell in love with, although she is a little scary and a tad bit evil.  Siva is a sexy dark elf who definitely has something up her sleeves.  She brings something mysterious to the table that is creepy yet seductive.  



Death in the Hallows could be read as a stand alone but come on guys you know it's more fun to read them in order.  
Mr. Sedgwick takes all the creatures you would find in a fairy tale and plops them down in modern day San Francisco creating an urban fantasy that is comical, sinister and just out of this world.  He takes our redeeming and not so redeeming qualities and works them into the magical creatures' personalities.  What we get is something quite unique and strangely entertaining.   
I gave Death in the Hallows four hearts and I cannot wait to see what is coming up in Hank's life.