"Dorothy Must Die" by Danielle Paige

Series: Dorothy Must Die #1
Genre: YA Fantasy/ Retellings
Format: Kindle
Publication: April 2014 by Harper Collins
Cover Rating: 3/5 Stars

Links: Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depo,

From Goodreads: I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't ask to be some kind of hero.

But when your whole life gets swept up by a tornado - taking you with it - you have no choice but to go along, you know?

Sure, I've read the books. I've seen the movies. I know the song about the rainbow and the happy little bluebirds. But I never expected Oz to look like this. To be a place where Good Witches can't be trusted, Wicked Witches may just be the good guys, and winged monkeys can be executed for acts of rebellion. There's still a yellow brick road - but even that's crumbling.

What happened? Dorothy.

They say she found a way to come back to Oz. They say she seized power and the power went to her head. And now no one is safe.

My name is Amy Gumm - and I'm the other girl from Kansas.

I've been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked.

I've been trained to fight.

And I have a mission.


My Thoughts: Dorothy Must Die has to be my least favorite fairytale retelling that I have ever read, and I had such high hopes for it to. I mean, just look at that cover! This book was designed to lure you in with a cover like that! But alas, I feel victim once again to my cover lust.

So, here's my issues with DMD:

1. Pacing- While this novel started off VERY strong, it quickly got boring fast... and slightly confusing. The story seemed to drag on and on, without bothering to really explain certain important plot elements. By the time I was half-way through, I was already wanting it to just be over with.

2. Characters- While our MC, Amy Gumm is pretty rad and awesome, the rest of the stories characters are FLAT and lame. I didn't feel any kind of connection or love for any of the side characters, or their relationship to Amy. Even Dorothy herself was just plain boring. And don't even get me started on the love interest, Nox (I could seriously punch myself in the face trying to get through reading scenes with him).

3. Immature writing, but with adult language- This was the real kicker for me. The story read for a young audience (think 14 and younger), but it felt like the author changed her mind by dropping the F-Bomb randomly throughout the story to "adult it up", which just came off as silly.

Bottom Line: I won't be recommending this one.

My Rating: 2/5 Stars

Top Ten Scariest Looking Book Covers!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

I love this weeks category! But in a surprising turn of events, I have only actually read one of these books! When I was in grade school, I picked up R.L. Stine's Night of the Living Dummy. I don't really remember it very well, but I remember being pretty freaked out by the cover! I hate those wooden dolls!

I definitely think the scariest cover on here goes to The Dead of Winter, though. Totally freaky.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a spooktacular Halloween!

 

Cover Reveal: Vision of Shadows!

Title: Vision of Shadows

Series: Vision series

Author: Vincent Morrone

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal Romance

Lenght: 210 pages

Release Date: December 30, 2013

Is Bristol Blackburn about to meet the love of her life...or her killer? 

After the death of her parents, Bristol Blackburn's life is thrown into chaos and she's forced to move to Spirit, a small town where shadows are stirring. As she learns to navigate her new school and figures out how to keep her psychic abilities secret from her family, Bristol comes face to face with the boy who makes a regular appearance in her dreams: the gorgeous, possibly deadly, Payne McKnight. Soon she’ll find out if Payne will be the love of her life, or the end of it — and she has no idea which possibility scares her more.

And that's not even the worst of it. Strange shadows are haunting her dreams, and they're up to something that could put Bristol and the lives of everyone she loves in jeopardy.

You can add Vision of Shadows to your to-read list on Goodreads:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18108617-vision-of-shadows

About the Author:

Born and raised in Brooklyn NY, Vincent Morrone now resides in Upstate NY with his wife. (Although he can still speak fluent Brooklynese.) His twin daughters remain not only his biggest fans, but usually are the first to read all of his work. Their home is run and operated for the comfort and convenience of their dogs.

Vincent has been writing fiction, poetry and song lyrics for as long as he can remember, most of which involve magical misfits, paranormal prodigies and even on occasion superheroes and their sidekicks.

As they say in Brooklyn: Yo, you got something to say to Vincent?

Check out http://vincentmorrone.com/ where you can learn about Vincent and leave him a comment.  You can also connect with Vincent on Twitter https://twitter.com/Vince524 and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Morrrone.

Wishlist Wednesday

Wishlist Wednesday is a book blog hop, hosted by Pen to Paper, where we will post about one book per week that has been on our wishlist for some time, or just added (it's entirely up to you), that we can't wait to get off the wishlist and onto our wonderful shelves.

From Goodreads: Velveteen Monroe is dead. At 16, she was kidnapped and murdered by a madman named Bonesaw. But that’s not the problem.

The problem is she landed in purgatory. And while it’s not a fiery inferno, it’s certainly no heaven. It’s gray, ashen, and crumbling more and more by the day, and everyone has a job to do. Which doesn’t leave Velveteen much time to do anything about what’s really on her mind.

Bonesaw.

Velveteen aches to deliver the bloody punishment her killer deserves. And she’s figured out just how to do it. She’ll haunt him for the rest of his days. 

It’ll be brutal... and awesome.

But crossing the divide between the living and the dead has devastating consequences. Velveteen’s obsessive haunting cracks the foundations of purgatory and jeopardizes her very soul. A risk she’s willing to take—except fate has just given her reason to stick around: an unreasonably hot and completely off-limits coworker.


Velveteen can’t help herself when it comes to breaking rules... or getting revenge. And she just might be angry enough to take everyone down with her.

Why I Want It: Look at this gorgeous cover!!! I mean, I know they say don't judge a book by it's cover, but come on! This is beautiful! Not to mention the description sounds awesome :)