Teaser Tuesday: A Darker Shade of Magic by Victoria Schwab {122}

Title: A Darker Shade of Magic
Author: Victoria Schwab

Release date: February 24, 2015

Kell is one of the last Travelers—rare magicians who choose a parallel universe to visit. 

Grey London is dirty, boring, lacks magic, ruled by mad King George. Red London is where life and magic are revered, and the Maresh Dynasty presides over a flourishing empire. White London is ruled by whoever has murdered their way to the throne. People fight to control magic, and the magic fights back, draining the city to its very bones. Once there was Black London—but no one speaks of that now.

Officially, Kell is the Red Traveler, personal ambassador and adopted Prince of Red London, carrying the monthly correspondences between royals of each London. Unofficially, Kell smuggles for those willing to pay for even a glimpse of a world they’ll never see. This dangerous hobby sets him up for accidental treason. Fleeing into Grey London, Kell runs afoul of Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She robs him, saves him from a dangerous enemy, then forces him to another world for her 'proper adventure'.

But perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, Kell and Lila will first need to stay alive—trickier than they hoped.

My teaser, from p. 131 in the hardcover:

It wasn't there.

He dug furiously through his pockets, every one of them, but it was no good. The talisman was gone. Breathless and bleeding and exhausted, Kell looked down at the kerchief clutched in his hand.

He couldn't believe it.

He'd been robbed.

So far I like this, but I'm not blown away yet. Hoping that's coming, since so many people loooove this one! :)

I'll be visiting around and visiting back, so leave me links to your teasers! :) Happy Tuesday!

Stacking the Shelves {124}

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews where we get to share the books we've bought, been gifted, or received for review!

How was everybody's week? Mine's been very good! :) Long time no see, eh? As y'all might have seen last week, I'm the cafe lead at my Barnes & Noble now and this week was the first at that position--with the increased hours--so I decided just to relax and see how I handled them for a week, without adding blogging into the mix. It was fine, though, so we'll be back to regular activity! In other exciting news, I won a $150 BARNES & NOBLE GIFT CARD from work. Yep, I died a little bit when I heard, so the purchased books will be plentiful in the coming weeks!

For review:

Young Widows Club by Alexandra Coutts
The Anatomical Shape of a Heart by Jenn Bennett
Dreamstrider by Lindsay Smith
Firewalker (The Worldwalker Trilogy #2) by Josephine Angelini
Tonight the Streets Are Ours by Leila Sales
The August 5 by Jenna Helland
The Detour by S.A. Bodeen
Signs Point to Yes by Sandy Hall
Sondheim: The Man Who Changed Musical Theater by Susan Goldman Rubin

Legacy of Kings by Eleanor Herman

The Nightmare Charade (Arkwell Academy #3) by Mindee Arnett

A recap of the week here on Paper Cuts:
Not a thing! :D

Books I read this week:
Chantress Alchemy (Chantress Trilogy #2) by Amy Butler Greenfield
Make It Count by Megan Erickson

I'm currently reading:
A Darker Shade of Magic by Victoria Schwab

So that's been my week! Just a little bit of mail, eh? There is nothing like coming home from a long day at work to find a massive package with 9 books in it. :) Have a lovely Sunday and a fabulous week!

Stacking the Shelves {123}

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews where we get to share the books we've bought, been gifted, or received for review!

How was everybody's week? Mine's been good! That news I've been teasing is official official. It's not, like, big news, but I'm excited. I'm the new cafe lead at my Barnes & Noble! Mostly, it's that I'm pretty much full time, at least 32 hours a week, but more responsibility too. It's not my permanent job, but it's a step up from just working part time, eh? :)

For review:

The Midnight Queen by Sylvia Izzo Hunter

Gifted:

Court of Fives by Kate Elliott

Montana is too nice, and included this with my trade books!

Traded:

Arclight by Josin L. McQuein

Lark Rising by Sandra Waugh

Make It Count by Megan Erickson

Purchased:

Chantress Alchemy (Chantress Trilogy #2) by Amy Butler Greenfield

A recap of the week here on Paper Cuts:
Tuesday - Teaser Tuesday: Uprooted by Naomi Novik
Wednesday - Waiting on Wednesday: When We Collided by Emery Lord
Friday - Review: Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Books I read this week:
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
Joyride by Anna Banks
Chantress by Amy Butler Greenfield

I'm currently reading:
Chantress Alchemy (Chantress Trilogy #2) by Amy Butler Greenfield

So that's been my week! I'm behind on comments again, but this week I have an excuse! Last night, we had a big party for my brother's birthday, so there's been a lot of prep all week for that. So, sometime this week I'll get all caught up. :) Have a lovely Sunday and a fabulous week!

Review: Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Release date: May 19, 2015
Author info: Website | Twitter | Facebook
Publisher: Del Rey
Pages: 438
Format: Egalley
Source: Publisher provided for review through Netgalley
Buy the book: Barnes & Noble | Amazon | The Book Depository

Naomi Novik, author of the bestselling and critically acclaimed Temeraire novels, introduces a bold new world rooted in folk stories and legends, as elemental as a Grimm fairy tale.

“Our Dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley. We hear them sometimes, from travelers passing through. They talk as though we were doing human sacrifice, and he were a real dragon. Of course that’s not true: he may be a wizard and immortal, but he’s still a man, and our fathers would band together and kill him if he wanted to eat one of us every ten years. He protects us against the Wood, and we’re grateful, but not that grateful.”

Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life.

Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood.

The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows—everyone knows—that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn’t, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her.

But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.

Just as I was so SO (so) hoping, Uprooted is awesome. Simply awesome. In so many ways, it reminded me of the books that made me fall in love with fantasy growing up. (Not kid's fantasy, at all. I wasn't reading for my age, just what caught my fancy.) Now, going into this, I really had no idea what would happen. I had kept away from reviews and only read the synopsis, so in the hopes that whoever is reading this won't be spoiled, I'm not going into details. It's more fun that way--and though I suspected most of what happened, it's still better if I don't just hand it to you.

Agnieska is the kind of protagonist you can't help but like, She's always dirty, always finding her way into a mess, even when she tries her hardest to stay out. And in everyone's eyes, she's unexceptional, especially compared to Kasia, her best friend, the girl who has always been slated to be taken by the Dragon when the time comes. But when Agnieska is instead chosen by the Dragon, her entire life takes a turn for the fantastic. And yet, even as she's brought into the larger and larger world outside of her village and she learns all that she does, she never loses her sense of where she comes from and her ability to look a mess.

As I said, this is the kind of fantasy I devoured when I was younger, It's intricate; layer after layer of complication and story is revealed as you read further. And it's the kind of book that once you finish, you feel like you've read a series. There are so many big moments, but they just keep getting bigger and bigger until you finally understand the breadth of the story and the Wood itself. And I loved it.

I could go into so many bits and pieces--Nieska and Kasia's friendship, political intrigue, THE WOOD, the romance, the writing--that were stand-outs, but it'd be the never-ending review. Nonetheless, this is the kind of book I want to sit on my shelf to revisit again and again, to pass on to friends, and to remind myself of what makes me love reading so much.

About the author:

An avid reader of fantasy literature since age six, when she first made her way through The Lord of the Rings, Naomi Novik is also a history buff with a particular interest in the Napoleonic era and a fondness for the work of Patrick O’Brian and Jane Austen. She studied English literature at Brown University, and did graduate work in computer science at Columbia University before leaving to participate in the design and development of the computer game Neverwinter Nights: Shadow of Undrentide. Over the course of a brief winter sojourn spent working on the game in Edmonton, Canada (accompanied by a truly alarming coat that now lives brooding in the depths of her closet), she realized she preferred writing to programming, and on returning to New York, decided to try her hand at novels.

Naomi lives in New York City with her husband and six computers. Her website is at naominovik.com.

Waiting on Wednesday: When We Collided by Emery Lord {97}

Title: When We Collided
Author: Emery Lord
Release date: April 5, 2016

Meet Vivi and Jonah: A girl and a boy whose love has the power save or destroy them.

Vivi and Jonah couldn't be more different. Vivi craves anything joyful or beautiful that life can offer. Jonah has been burdened by responsibility for his family ever since his father died. As summer begins, Jonah resigns himself to another season of getting by. Then Vivi arrives, and suddenly life seems brighter and better. Jonah is the perfect project for Vivi, and things finally feel right for Jonah. Their love is the answer to everything. But soon Vivi's zest for life falters, as her adventurousness becomes true danger-seeking. Jonah tries to keep her safe, but there's something important Vivi hasn't told him.

Perfect for fans of E. Lockhart and Jandy Nelson, When We Collided is a powerful story of two teens whose love is put to the test by forces beyond their control.

Na na na, all the Emery Lord for all of eternity! I'm kind of sad this cover doesn't really match her other books', though.

 So what are you guys waiting on this week? :)

Teaser Tuesday: Uprooted by Naomi Novik {121}

Title: Uprooted
Author: Naomi Novik

Release date: May 19, 2015

Naomi Novik, author of the bestselling and critically acclaimed Temeraire novels, introduces a bold new world rooted in folk stories and legends, as elemental as a Grimm fairy tale.

“Our Dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley. We hear them sometimes, from travelers passing through. They talk as though we were doing human sacrifice, and he were a real dragon. Of course that’s not true: he may be a wizard and immortal, but he’s still a man, and our fathers would band together and kill him if he wanted to eat one of us every ten years. He protects us against the Wood, and we’re grateful, but not that grateful.”

Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life.

Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood.

The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows—everyone knows—that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn’t, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her.

But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.

My teaser, from 43% in the egalley:

On the wall between the chains, above Jerzy's head, the Falcon's spell opened a window, and we all saw for one moment a tall old heart-tree, twice the size of the one Kasia had been inside. Its limbs were thrashing wildly in a crackling blaze of fire.

I actually finished this last night, and while it's looong (reads a lot longer than it is, in my opinion), it was also pretty dang good. :)

I'll be visiting around and visiting back, so leave me links to your teasers! :) Happy Tuesday!

Stacking the Shelves {122}

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews where we get to share the books we've bought, been gifted, or received for review!

How was everybody's week? Mine's been really good! I went to Page & Palette and got some pretty awesome ARCs from them, so you'll see. :) I also managed to have a life this week, and because of that, I didn't get a post up on Friday and this one is going up a couple of hours late. Oops! :)

For review:

Lair of Dreams (The Diviners #2) by Libba Bray

A Million Miles Away by Lara Avery

First & Then by Emma Mills

Da Vinci's Tiger by Laura Malone Elliot

Thank you to Little, Brown, Macmillan, and HarperCollins! :D

Gifted:

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

The Immortal Heights (The Elemental Trilogy #3) by Sherry Thomas

A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis

Blood and Salt by Kim Liggett

A recap of the week here on Paper Cuts:
Monday - Review: Church of Marvels by Leslie Parry
Tuesday - Teaser Tuesday: Tangled Webs by Lee Bross
Wednesday - Waiting on Wednesday: Until Friday Night by Abbi Glines
Thursday - Movie Musical Challenge: Beauty and the Beast

Books I read this week:
Church of Marvels by Leslie Parry
Tangled Webs by Lee Bross

I'm currently reading:
Uprooted by Naomi Novik

So that's been my week! SEE? Happy happy happy happy book week!:) Have a lovely Sunday and a fabulous week!

Movie Musical Challenge: Beauty and the Beast

Hoorah! It's Beauty and the Beast time! Don't expect anything but positivity, because I love this movie. It's my favorite Disney movie and, if y'all don't know, I'm a Disney freak--so to be my favorite Disney movie means I love it a lot.

To me, Beauty and the Beast is kind of the epitome of animated movies and movie musicals. It's got beautiful animation (some of my favorite of Disney movies--I mean, that whole opening sequence!) and I've always found the story to be kind of perfectly paced. At the same time, it's essentially a Broadway musical that was drawn. It's got all the same dramatic elements and songs. The "Belle" sequence feels just like the opening of a musical onstage, doesn't it?

I've seen the musical onstage, too, and I actually find the movie much better. While the movie lends itself so easily to being adapted for the stage and a couple of the added songs are wonderful ("If I Can't Love Her"--just go listen!), something about the story comes alive better in the movie.

Ohh, the music, too! What's interesting about Beauty and the Beast to me personally is that it doesn't really have what I would consider one of my favorite Disney songs in it. There's no "I'll Make a Man Out of You" like Mulan or "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" from The Lion King (two of my all-time favorites, probably because they're so ridiculously fun to sing), and yet it's the movie I love the most. Maybe it's because I love the story so much or relate to Belle so much better than the other princesses (don't we all?). But, if I have to pick a favorite, it's "Something There". It's such a turning point in the story and Belle and the Beast's relationship, where dislike turns to loooove, and I love it.

Well, I can't say this is the most productive or classically critical kind of post, but I've never got anything negative to say about Beauty and the Beast and that's that. I'm not sure how much I'd move it on my list because I'm obviously still way behind and I can objectively rate, but we'll see!

Next up, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, another I know NOTHING about! :D

Waiting on Wednesday: Until Friday Night by Abbi Glines {96}

Title: Until Friday Night
Author: Abbi Glines
Release date: August 25, 2015

To everyone who knows him, West Ashby has always been that guy: the cocky, popular, way-too-handsome-for-his-own-good football god who led Lawton High to the state championships. But while West may be Big Man on Campus on the outside, on the inside he’s battling the grief that comes with watching his father slowly die of cancer.

Two years ago, Maggie Carleton’s life fell apart when her father murdered her mother. And after she told the police what happened, she stopped speaking and hasn’t spoken since. Even the move to Lawton, Alabama, couldn’t draw Maggie back out. So she stayed quiet, keeping her sorrow and her fractured heart hidden away.

As West’s pain becomes too much to handle, he knows he needs to talk to someone about his father—so in the dark shadows of a post-game party, he opens up to the one girl who he knows won’t tell anyone else.

West expected that talking about his dad would bring some relief, or at least a flood of emotions he couldn’t control. But he never expected the quiet new girl to reply, to reveal a pain even deeper than his own—or for them to form a connection so strong that he couldn’t ever let her go…

I'm not the biggest fan of Abbi Glines, but I have to admit this sounds pretty darn awesome. Plus the cover is preeeetty. I just want the book version of Friday Night Lights, to be honest.

 So what are you guys waiting on this week? :)

Teaser Tuesday: Tangled Webs by Lee Bross {120}

Title: Tangled Webs
Author: Lee Bross

Release date: June 23, 2015

London, 1725. Everybody has a secret. Lady A will keep yours—for a price. This sumptuous, scandalous YA novel is wickedly addictive.

Lady A is the most notorious blackmailer in the city. With just a mask and a gown to disguise her, she sweeps into lavish balls and exclusive events collecting the most valuable currency in 1725 London—secrets.

But leading a double life isn't easy. By day Lady A is just a sixteen-year-old girl named Arista who lives in fear of her abusive master, Bones, and passes herself off as a boy to move safely through the squalor of London's slums. When Bones attempts to dispose of his pawn forever, Arista is rescued by the last person she expects: Jonathan Wild, the infamous Thief Taker General who moves seamlessly between the city's criminal underworld and its most elite upper circles. Arista partners with Wild on her own terms in the hopes of saving enough money to buy passage out of London.

Everything changes when she meets Graeden Sinclair, the son of a wealthy merchant. Grae has traveled the world, has seen the exotic lands Arista has longed to escape to her whole life, and he loves Arista for who she is—not for what she can do for him. Being with Grae gives something Arista something precious that she swore off long ago: hope. He has promised to help Arista escape the life of crime that has claimed her since she was a child. But can you ever truly escape the past?

My teaser, from p. 46 in the ARC:

The kiss should have fixed everything she thought was wrong inside her. Pieces should have fallen into place. Damaged parts miraculously fixed. Instead, hollowness remained and it only added to her confusion.

What did this mean?

Was she so broken that nothing could heal her anymore?

Could she not feeling anything?

I'm so excited to be reading this! Doesn't it just sound awesome? :D

I'll be visiting around and visiting back, so leave me links to your teasers! :) Happy Tuesday!

Review: Church of Marvels by Leslie Parry

Release date: May 5, 2015
Author info: Website | Twitter | Tumblr
Publisher: Ecco
Pages: 320
Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher provided for review
Buy the book: Barnes & Noble | Amazon | The Book Depository

A ravishing first novel, set in vibrant, tumultuous turn-of-the-century New York City, where the lives of four outsiders become entwined, bringing irrevocable change to them all.

New York, 1895. Sylvan Threadgill, a night soiler cleaning out the privies behind the tenement houses, finds an abandoned newborn baby in the muck. An orphan himself, Sylvan rescues the child, determined to find where she belongs. 

Odile Church and her beautiful sister, Belle, were raised amid the applause and magical pageantry of The Church of Marvels, their mother’s spectacular Coney Island sideshow. But the Church has burnt to the ground, their mother dead in its ashes. Now Belle, the family’s star, has vanished into the bowels of Manhattan, leaving Odile alone and desperate to find her.

A young woman named Alphie awakens to find herself trapped across the river in Blackwell’s Lunatic Asylum—sure that her imprisonment is a ruse by her husband’s vile, overbearing mother. On the ward she meets another young woman of ethereal beauty who does not speak, a girl with an extraordinary talent that might save them both.

As these strangers’ lives become increasingly connected, their stories and secrets unfold. Moving from the Coney Island seashore to the tenement-studded streets of the Lower East Side, a spectacular human circus to a brutal, terrifying asylum, Church of Marvels takes readers back to turn-of-the-century New York—a city of hardship and dreams, love and loneliness, hope and danger. In magnetic, luminous prose, Leslie Parry offers a richly atmospheric vision of the past in a narrative of astonishing beauty, full of wondrous enchantments a marvelous debut that will leave readers breathless.

Church of Marvels is one of those books that sells itself easily. What reader wouldn't be interested after reading a synopsis that teases circuses, asylums, turn-of-the-century New York, and a twisting story? Though I can't say Church of Marvels delivered what I expected to read, I can certainly say it was constantly surprising, nuanced, beautifully written, and complicated in the best way.

Told in three narratives, the stories of Sylvan, Odile, and Alphie seem desperately far apart and completely unconnected. Slowly, and completely expertly, they come together to form one large story. What's so wonderful about this is that moments from the others' narration come into play in another's, making each vignette important, even if you don't know it yet. You're sure to miss little clues along the way, but it's so very delicately done.

While there are certainly reveals that I saw coming, the best and most shocking ones were completely unexpected. And I mean completely. As soon as you know the secret, however, little moments come back into play, and you realize there have been hints, but you didn't know they were hints. The foreshadowing feels like a master class in a lot of ways.

And don't come into Church of Marvels expecting perhaps your usual book involving a circus, the kind that hints at magical realism or a sense of the fantastic. None of that here. What is here is the nitty gritty of the hard-knock world. Parry's New York is dirty and her characters aren't all nice. The story's whole central drama is centered around secrets and the people's reactions to finding out they've been lied to. It's violent and dark, but it's also the stage for unconditional, all-powerful love and general human goodness.

There's so much I want to talk about in Church of Marvels, but too many twists would be completely ruined with too much foreknowledge. Admittedly, there's a lot going on, which could be a detractor for some, but certainly wasn't for me. I was absorbed by the lovely writing from the first pages and quickly entranced by the mystery until the final page.

About the author:

Leslie Parry is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Her work has received an O. Henry Award, a National Magazine Award nomination and an honorable mention in The Best American Short Stories 2013. Raised in Pasadena, California, she now lives in Chicago.

Stacking the Shelves {121}

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews where we get to share the books we've bought, been gifted, or received for review!

How was everybody's week? Mine's been really good! That good news I mentioned the other week is definitely coming to fruition, and once it's official I'll share--but I'm excited! Also, this week has been bookseller appreciation days at work, so we get a, even better discount. I might've gone overboard on what I bought, but I've been hoarding up what I wanted until we got this again. I got a couple of things I've read before but wanted hardcovers of, and a lot of things I just wanted. You'll see!

For review:

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Cue the flailing! Thank you to Random House Children's! :D

Traded:

Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson (!!! I'm dead of excitement, truly.)

Chantress Fury (Chantress Trilogy #3) by Amy Butler Greenfield

Purchased:

Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain

Royal Wedding by Meg Cabot

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson

Illusions of Fate by Kiersten White

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

Gifted:

Tangled Webs by Lee Bross

This was such a surprise! Becky is clearly the best. :) I was so excited, though, and hopefully I'll be starting it today or tomorrow!

A recap of the week here on Paper Cuts:
Monday - Review: 5 to 1 by Holly Bodger
Tuesday - Blog Tour: The Summer of Chasing Mermaids
Wednesday - Waiting on Wednesday: Tangled Webs by Lee Bross
Thursday - Movie Musical Challenge: Guys and Dolls
Friday - Blog Tour: The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly

Books I read this week:
P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han
The Summer of Chasing Mermaids by Sarah Ockler
The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes

I'm currently reading:
Church of Marvels by Leslie Parry

So that's been my week! So, yeah. Another week of a lot of books. But, it's likely all I'll be getting in the weeks to come are trade books. I just love working at a bookstore, though... :) Have a lovely Sunday and a fabulous week!

Blog Tour: The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes {Review + Favorite Quotes + Playlist + Giveaway}

Release date: June 9, 2015
Author info: Website | Twitter | Tumblr
Publisher: Dial/Penguin
Pages: 400
Format: Egalley
Source: Publisher provided for review
Buy the book: Barnes & Noble | Amazon | The Book Depository

With a harrowing poetic voice, this contemporary page-turner is perfect for fans of Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak, Julie Berry's All The Truth That's in Me, and the works of Ellen Hopkins.

The Kevinian cult has taken everything from seventeen-year-old Minnow: twelve years of her life, her family, her ability to trust.

And when she rebelled, they took away her hands, too.

Now their Prophet has been murdered and their camp set aflame, and it's clear that Minnow knows something—but she's not talking. As she languishes in juvenile detention, she struggles to un-learn everything she has been taught to believe, adjusting to a life behind bars and recounting the events that led up to her incarceration. But when an FBI detective approaches her about making a deal, Minnow sees she can have the freedom she always dreamed of—if she’s willing to part with the terrible secrets of her past.

The Sacred Lies of Minnow By is a hard-hitting and hopeful story about the dangers of blind faith—and the power of having faith in oneself.

Ohh, this book, this book, this book. The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly is everything it promised to be and more. It's deliciously dark, bloody, and violent, rife with gorgeous writing and slowly unveiled secrets.

While it's almost shocking in its violence, The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly is largely a case study of Minnow as she acclimates herself to the world away from the Prophet's influence and figures out who she is and how she can make her own choices. Minnow's journey into herself is one of learning how to value her own opinions and beliefs; these are things she has grown up being told are invalid, so to develop her own is a hard-fought battle.

And what's especially fascinating to read about (and what feels very authentic to me, though I can't say I'm an expert) is the mindset of the cult as a whole. How Minnow's father was persuaded to the Kevinian ideas and how the people wholeheartedly believed things they could disprove with fact. At times, what the Prophet says is so convincing and at others what he says is completely ridiculous, yet they always believe him. The unraveling of life at the compound is utterly engrossing.

The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly is the kind of book you can't take your eyes away from. Even as it's difficult to read at times because of its unflinching look at the brutality of Minnow's situation, you won't want to turn away. Powerful, thought provoking, and mightily impressive.

About the author:

Stephanie Oakes is a teacher and YA author from Washington State. Her debut novel, THE SACRED LIES OF MINNOW BLY (Dial/Penguin, June 9, 2015), about a girl who escapes from a religious commune only to find herself at the center of a murder investigation, is based on the Grimm fairy tale, "The Handless Maiden."

THE ARSONIST, her second YA mystery through Dial/Penguin, is scheduled for publication in fall 2016.

 

Favorite Quotes:

I am a blood-soaked girl.

-----

"Did you notice the color of his skin?"
"Of course I noticed it. That's a stupid thing to ask."
"Why?"
"Because...because if I didn't notice his skin, how would I be seeing him? If I missed that, what else would I have missed?"
"But, you were raised to hate people like Jude."
I shrug off the suggestion. "It's a good thing I hated the people who taught me to hate, then."

-----

It was the greatest battle of my childhood, trying to determine whether I was allowed to hate someone so full of God. I figured it out, in the end.

-----

"It might not be my business, but do you have a faith?" the doctor asked.
My father lifted his head. "Why?"
"It can help, sometimes, believing in something."
"How do you mean?"
"Well, do you believe people go to a better place when they die? To heaven?"
My father was pulling on his bottom lip. His face was full of extra skin that bagged bluely and made him look tired. "I don't know. I never asked."

-----

It is amazing that, though I am small and ungifted and barely educated, even I can appreciate the scale of the universe.

And from this perch in space, for this moment at least, it seems unimportant whether someone made it, or if it made itself.

Playlist:

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