Best Laid Plans

Well, I did manage to finish "Alisa Hook" Friday.  I really had to as it was overdue and I needed to get it back to the library the following morning.  I had a book on hold and couldn't check it out with one overdue.  My library is awesome and does not impose fines until after 28 days late and I came nowhere near that.  So Saturday night, I sat down to read, finally glad that Hook was finally out of my life and what did I pick up off my recent TBR post - ABSOLUTLEY NOTHING!  Totally started an impulse read but I finished it the same night so I guess I didn't mess up my reading plans too much.  Anyways, here are a couple of reviews:

TITLE: Alias Hook
AUTHOR: Lisa Jensen
PUBLISHER: Thomas Dunne Books
RELEASE DATE :July 8, 2014 (OUT NOW)

FROM GOODREADS: "Every child knows how the story ends. The wicked pirate captain is flung overboard, caught in the jaws of the monster crocodile who drags him down to a watery grave. But it was not yet my time to die. It's my fate to be trapped here forever, in a nightmare of childhood fancy, with that infernal, eternal boy."

Meet Captain James Benjamin Hook, a witty, educated Restoration-era privateer cursed to play villain to a pack of malicious little boys in a pointless war that never ends. But everything changes when Stella Parrish, a forbidden grown woman, dreams her way to the Neverland in defiance of Pan’s rules. From the glamour of the Fairy Revels, to the secret ceremonies of the First Tribes, to the mysterious underwater temple beneath the Mermaid Lagoon, the magical forces of the Neverland open up for Stella as they never have for Hook. And in the pirate captain himself, she begins to see someone far more complex than the storybook villain.

With Stella’s knowledge of folk and fairy tales, she might be Hook’s last chance for redemption and release if they can break his curse before Pan and his warrior boys hunt her down and drag Hook back to their neverending game. Alias Hook by Lisa Jensen is a beautifully and romantically written adult fairy tale.

MY THOUGHTS: 
This book took much longer for me to read than anticipated. Although, looking back, I should have known. I never have much luck with fairies. Now I know neither Captain Hook nor Peter Pan are fairies, but there are enough of them running around in this book that it should have been a sign.

I have never enjoyed the story of Peter Pan...so much so I can say I have never watched it or read it. The only thing I know of Peter Pan comes from "Once Upon a Time" and going along with my fairy curse, that's about when I stopped watching it and I realize now I can blame him for having 25 episodes on my DVR waiting to be watched.

Ok, the book. I have a love/hate relationship with the book. Parts of it I really enjoyed, and parts I almost had to skim in order to complete. I enjoyed learning more about Captain Hook. It was nice to see him come full circle in the book and earn some kind of redemption. Jensen did a great job of making Hook seem humane and misunderstood, and perhaps he was. The ending was great and overall, I am glad that I read it. However, I am also glad I borrowed it from my library because I was sick of looking at that beautiful cover by the time I was finished. If you like action/adventure or anything related to Peter Pan, this book might be for you.

RATING: 3 PAWS

TITLE: Anya's Ghost
AUTHOR: Vera Brosgol
PUBLISHER: First Second
RELEASE DATE: June 7, 2011 (OUT NOW)

FROM GOODREADS: Anya could really use a friend. But her new BFF isn't kidding about the "Forever" part.
Of all the things Anya expected to find at the bottom of an old well, a new friend was not one of them. Especially not a new friend who’s been dead for a century.
Falling down a well is bad enough, but Anya's normal life might actually be worse. She's embarrassed by her family, self-conscious about her body, and she's pretty much given up on fitting in at school. A new friend—even a ghost—is just what she needs.
Or so she thinks. Spooky, sardonic, and secretly sincere, Anya's Ghost is a wonderfully entertaining debut from author/artist Vera Brosgol.

MY THOUGHTS: 
I absolutely loved this book. First of all, the artwork. This graphic novel is done entirely in shades of black, and this beautiful grayish-purple. The colors so suit the mood of the book that I don't think it could have been done any better at all. Anya is so much like an average teenager. She is only one of two kids of Russian descent stuck in a private prep school and as you can imagine, she is miserable. She falls down a hole one day and meets up with a ghost. She initially sees this ghost as her new best friend, but alas, an evil twist awaits.

I love the characters in this book. Anya is a brat in some ways, and treats poor Dima horribly at first, but then, weren't we all brats in high school at one point or another? Siobhan is a great friend. She tells things like they are and is not afraid to tell Anya the truth, when others want to sugarcoat things.

This book is a tad more scary and creepy than expected, but I love scary and creepy. I read it in one evening, only taking a break to watch a movie with the family and then going right back into it and staying up until midnight to complete it. Brosgol has high school down pat and I could easily remember the horrors of gym class right along with Anya. Read this....now!

And on a side note, is it me or does the ghost on the cover, hidden in Anya's hair, remind anyone else of the girl from the Frosty the Snowman cartoon?

RATING: 5 PAWS