Liesl & Po Review

Liesl & Po
by Lauren Oliver
From Goodreads:

Liesl lives in a tiny attic bedroom, locked away by her cruel stepmother. Her only friends are the shadows and the mice—until one night a ghost appears from the darkness. It is Po, who comes from the Other Side. Both Liesl and Po are lonely, but together they are less alone.
That same night, an alchemist's apprentice, Will, bungles an important delivery. He accidentally switches a box containing the most powerful magic in the world with one containing something decidedly less remarkable
Will's mistake has tremendous consequences for Liesl and Po, and it draws the three of them together on an extraordinary journey.
From New York Times bestselling author Lauren Oliver comes a luminous and magnificent novel that glows with rare magic, ghostly wonders, and a true friendship that lights even the darkest of places.

My Thoughts: I posted on Twitter that I wanted to hug this book, and that pretty much sums up my feelings.  You know that tingle you get when you pick up a book, read the first few lines, and know immediately that you're going to love it?  Liesl & Po was that book for me. Liesl is a cute, sad little girl.  Her father has just died after a lingering illness, and she's been kept in her attic room for months and months by her selfish Stepmother.  The one solace left to her is her drawings, and she draws late at night.  Because of this talent, she attracts the attention of Po the ghost and Will, the alchemist's battered assistant.  When Will accidentally switches a box of magic with the ashes of Liesl's father, the adventure begins.

Liesl, Po and Po's ghostly animal companion, Bundles, set off to return what she thinks is her father's ashes to the place where her mother is buried, Will is on the run from Merv the alchemist and the Lady Premiere, to whom the magic was promised.  Joining in the chase is Mo, who just wants to give Will a hat, Augusta Hortense Varice Morbower, Liesl's scheming stepmother, a nosy old woman on a train, and a black-haired thief. 

It's a wonderful fairy tale, with a touch of Dickens, but more like A Christmas Carol than Oliver Twist.  The characters, especially the secondary ones, are wonderfully odd.  Merv the alchemist reminds me a bit of Vizzini the Sicilian from The Princess Bride, only instead of mumbling "Inconceivable!" all the time, Merv's favorite word, in regards to Will, is "useless".  I mentioned to someone on Goodreads that Liesl & Po was the type of book that I could almost hear Jim Dale, narrator of the Harry Potter books and The Night Circus, reading aloud.  Turns out, he does do the narration for Liesl & Po on Audible.  I plan on downloading it later since my copy of Liesl & Po is part of an ARC tour.  The same goodreads friend asked me how it compared to Lauren Oliver's other books, Before I Fall and Delirium, but I can't compare them, all are well written, all are good, and all three books have a completely different feel to them.  You might love one and not the other two, or love two (in my case Delirium and Liesl & Po) and just like one (Before I Fall).  I'm pretty impressed that Lauren Oliver has the ability to be such a writing chameleon but still keeps her awesomeness.

Here's some quotes I loved, but keep in mind that I read the ARC so I don't know if these made it into the final version that's on sale now:

"All children were the same to him: strange and sticky and best avoided, like an upright variety of jellyfish."

"It was a waste of time.  It was as the alchemist would have said, useless.  (Useless was one of the alchemist's favorite words, and he used it interchangeably to describe Will's plans, thoughts, work, appearance, and general self hood.).

"Coincidences; mix-ups; harmless mistakes and switches. And so a story is born."

"There was something very disturbing about hearing the Lady Premiere's voice so soft and slippery sounding.  It was off, somehow, like seeing a bunch of roses laid over a rotting corpse."

"They were fragile, too easily broken and dismantled: They had bones that broke and skin that tore and hearts that gave up with a sigh and rolled over."

"It did not help when Liesl began mummering to herself (or so it seemed to them; for when they saw a flicker or flash or shimmer of light, they thought Tick of the eyes instead of Ghost or Magic."

As much as I really loved Liesl, Po, Bundles and Will, my favorite character was Mo.  Mo is a guard for the Lady Premiere, and Mo (as in slow as Molasses), is a simple, sweet man who loves hot chocolate.  Because he's been teased by the other guards for drinking it, he hides his preference by sipping out of a thermos labeled Coffee.  I once ordered a Peppermint Hot Chocolate from coffee shop inside of a grocery store in Oklahoma.  I love Peppermint Hot Chocolate, I long for it all year round until it's fall/winter and it's readily available.  But on this occasion, the coffee shop worker asked if it was for my kid.  Now, I don't have any children and there weren't any standing around me, so I was confused why she was asking, so I just said no.  And she seemed surprised and told me that Peppermint Hot Chocolate was usually ordered by kids.  I felt vaguely offended, but forgave her as the drink was delicious.  Hot chocolate should not just be for kids!  So Mo won my heart, and it only took a few sentences.

Liesl and Po gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

*I received a copy of this ARC through Around the World ARC Tours, but all thoughts, opinions and snark are my own.

Hourglass Review

Hourglass
by Myra McEntire
From Goodreads:

For seventeen-year-old Emerson Cole, life is about seeing what isn’t there: swooning Southern Belles; soldiers long forgotten; a haunting jazz trio that vanishes in an instant. Plagued by phantoms since her parents’ death, she just wants the apparitions to stop so she can be normal. She’s tried everything, but the visions keep coming back.
So when her well-meaning brother brings in a consultant from a secretive organization called the Hourglass, Emerson’s willing to try one last cure. But meeting Michael Weaver may not only change her future, it may change her past.
Who is this dark, mysterious, sympathetic guy, barely older than Emerson herself, who seems to believe every crazy word she says? Why does an electric charge seem to run through the room whenever he’s around? And why is he so insistent that he needs her help to prevent a death that never should have happened?

Full of atmosphere, mystery, and romance, Hourglass merges the very best of the paranormal and science-fiction genres in a seductive, remarkable young adult debut.

 My Thoughts: Okay, first I must say that if I was just rating this book on cover alone then it would get a perfect Midnight Book Rating.  Love, love the cover art!  I remember seeing a lot of buzz about this book months ago, when the ARC was making it's rounds.  I don't know why, but I thought it was a ghost story, so I picked it up expecting a good spooky story for the month of October.  But Hourglass is much more complex than a haunted girl book (like I thought it was).  It deals with time travel.  I like that McEntire kept it simple, because honestly she could have gone very technical and scientific and completely lost my interest.  Of course, characters like Michael and Kaleb make it easy to overlook any talk of physics.  I liked Emerson's relationship with her brother Thomas, and sis-in-law Dru. I didn't get her friendship with Lily as much, but I have a feeling we will see more of Lily in future books (because I'm assuming there's going to be a sequel because if not than Lily was just wasted). 

Things I really liked: Guessing if characters were good or bad- some I got right, others I was surprised about.  It's nice to not immediately know who the knight in shining armor is, and who's going to be a friend. I liked the time travel story line, it's refreshing to have a book without vampires, werewolves, selkies, elves, pixies, mermaids, fairies, your choice of supernatural here, and still have it be a paranormal story.  I liked the outrageous amounts of caffeine sucked down by Emerson and crew because I am currently obsessed with coffee, especially Starbucks Salted Caramel Mocha.  It is yum.  I also liked that, unlike me, Emerson can down all these coffee drinks without gaining weight and shaking like a diseased squirrel (you'd think the shaking would burn off the extra calories, but you'd be wrong).  I liked how hot everyone was, but obviously this is a town I could never hope to fit into. Sigh.


Things I didn't like so much: The fact that everyone, and I do mean everyone, is drop dead gorgeous.  Em and her brother, Dru, Lily, Cat, Ava, Michael, Kaleb, Jack... um, is this an ugly free zone?  Or even just a average looking person free zone?  No one's nose is too big, no one's carrying a few extra pounds, no one has hangnails.  Okay, Em's short and allegedly has unruly hair, but the boys all seem to think she's hot enough so I'm not counting that.  It is simply not possible to have that many beautiful people in one place and not be  on the set of CW tv show.  I found that a bit unrealistic.  I know, you're thinking that I've just read a book about time travel and the thing I find unrealistic is how insanely attractive all the characters are.  You may have a point.  The other thing I didn't like, and I'll dislike it less if there's a sequel that addresses it, is some of the minor characters.  Lily and Ava really don't get as much book time as I felt their characters deserved, and I feel bad for those other two friends of Michael's whose names I can't remember because they really didn't have a whole lot to do other than be there when they were needed (and I think one of them might actually have been less than sexy).  I especially thought Lily was wasted in the book, but I'm just going to assume her particular gifts will be used in Hourglass Two: Like Sands Through the Hourglass, So Our the Days of Our Lives(note, this is not the actual title to the sequel I'm not even sure exists, I just made it up.  Well, with a little help from daytime television).

Still, Hourglass is a great read and I really liked it despite feeling that the ending was a bit rushed (would really have liked to hear more about Emerson's alternative life).  I didn't love it, but it was a perfect kick off for my Halloween reading. And kudos to Myra McEntire for writing a book on time travel, because my head starts to hurt when I start thinking about all the possibilities for changing the outcome to any given situation.  Next month I'll be reading Stephen King's time travel book, so thank you Hourglass, for getting me interested in the concept!  Of course, unlike Emerson, I would totally use my time travel skills for evil, but I promise, I'd be a very generous rich person after winning mega millions a few times!

Hourglass gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

 

Look, my first Frightful Reviewer's Challenge Review!