Poison: By Bridget Zinn

POISON

SUMMARY

Sixteen-year-old Kyra, a highly-skilled potions master, is the only one who knows her kingdom is on the verge of destruction—which means she’s the only one who can save it. Faced with no other choice, Kyra decides to do what she does best: poison the kingdom’s future ruler, who also happens to be her former best friend.

But, for the first time ever, her poisoned dart…misses.

Now a fugitive instead of a hero, Kyra is caught in a game of hide-and-seek with the king’s army and her potioner ex-boyfriend, Hal. At least she’s not alone. She’s armed with her vital potions, a too-cute pig, and Fred, the charming adventurer she can’t stop thinking about. Kyra is determined to get herself a second chance (at murder), but will she be able to find and defeat the princess before Hal and the army find her?

Kyra is not your typical murderer, and she’s certainly no damsel-in-distress—she's the lovable and quick-witted hero of this romantic novel that has all the right ingredients to make teen girls swoon.

REVIEW

Poison is fun, lighthearted, and full of action and comedy.

Unlike many “the world is ending unless mission x is completed” books, Bridget Zinn does a great job of infusing sarcasm, hijinks, and comedy in the book. I think of one my favorite characters is Rosie the pig. First off, just the fact that a book would a tracking pig, demonstrates the nature of the book, second the fact that Rosie would fall in love with a large dog, is further proof of light humor that is scattered throughout the book.

Of course, Poison has more than a Princess that doesn’t want to marry, a tracking pig, and a poisoner who would love a pie right about now, it also has lots of action. Kyra is action packed, besides knowing how to kick some serious butt, (which she’s given ample opportunity to do), she also is equipped with a number of awesome and exciting potions. Everything from a dish washer potion, to a sleep potion, to deadly potions. Coupled with the fact that she’s only missed once (when she went after the princess, her best friend), she’s a force to be reckoned with.

That said something else that really was quite appealing about the book, was the way it was laid out. Kyra tried killing her best friend and the princesses of the realm seemingly out of nowhere, but failed. Now she’s been on the run for three months and is trying to finish the job. As the book progresses readers will be introduced to the reasons behind Kyra’s actions, how she became best friends with the princesses, and even how she became the best potions master in the realm. It was nice to have the action start out right away, having the protagonist already failed once. It felt different, and helped establish the story in a way that swept the reader off in its currents.

All in all I really liked Poison. It’s a fantastic début and would love to read more by this budding new author.

INFO

Publisher: Hyperion Book CH

Published: March 12, 2013

Price: $16.99

Link to Buy: http://www.amazon.com/Poison-Bridget-Zinn/dp/1423139933/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1363156527&sr=1-1&keywords=poison

Strange Fates: By Marlene Perez

STRANGE FATES

SUMMARY

Brooding, leather jacket-wearing Nyx Fortuna looks like a 20-something, and has for centuries now. As the son of the forgotten fourth Fate, Lady Fortuna, he has been hunted his entire life by the three Sisters of Fate that murdered his mother.

Fed up and out for revenge, Nyx comes to Minneapolis following a tip that his aunts have set up a business there. His goal ­ to bring down his mother's killers and retrieve the thread of fate that has trapped him in the body of a twenty year old unable to age or die.

But when a chance meeting with the mysterious, dangerous and very mortal Elizabeth Abernathy throws off his plans, he must reconcile his humanity and his immortality.

REVIEW

When I picked up Strange Fates I really liked the premise. The son of the lost Fate, Luck, who had been killed by her sisters, is out for revenge. Plus, the Fates are not the only magical houses in town, there’s Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus. It seemed like there would be magic, action, and a cool plot. And a lot of that did happen.

I thought Nyx’s story was cool, that he was an immortal who wanted to die but couldn’t (side note: if you’re looking for a really good book that has done that story line REALLY well, then check out Jennifer Fallon’s Tide Lord series). And that was neat, it adds a nice flavor to the book. I also really liked some of the side characters Nyx meets such as Talbot, Ambrose, and Sawyer. Specifically, I really liked Ambrose’s back story (or what you learn of it in this book) and how it gave brief glimpses into the Nyx’s own history.

Of course, one very big drawback for me was the way that Nyx fell for Elizabeth. From page one anyone could tell it was all a trick, and the author kept hinting (actually hinting is to small of the word, it’s much closes to shouted from the rooftops) that this was going to blow up in Nyx’s face. Not only that but for him to STILL claim to be in love with her, after the truth really does come out that she’s been playing him was just a bit much for me to swallow.

All in all I wanted to like Strange Fates. It had some fun characters and  an interesting plot. But it was riddled with holes in the story (which I’m sure will be solved in books two and three, but still bothered me that things would be brought up and then never addressed) and had an unbelievable love story angle that weakened the book overall because it kept bringing me out of the story to groan about how ridiculous it was. Overall it left me more than a bit disappointed. 

INFO

Publisher: Orbit

Published: March 5, 2013

Price: $4.74

Link to Buy: http://www.amazon.com/Strange-Fates-Nyx-Fortuna-ebook/dp/B0095ZS0MG/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1362516104&sr=1-1&keywords=strange+fates