[Review] Messenger of Fear by Michael Grant

Title: Messenger of Fear
Series: Messenger of Fear #1
Author: Michael Grant [ Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr | Website]

Publisher: HarperCollins

Genre: Young Adult Fiction - Fantasy, Horror

Release Date: September 23, 2014

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher, opinions are honest and my own. – review policy here.

I remembered my name – Mara. But, standing in that ghostly place, faced with the solemn young man in the black coat with silver skulls for buttons, I could recall nothing else about myself.

And then the games began.

The Messenger sees the darkness in young hearts, and the damage it inflicts upon the world. If they go unpunished, he offers the wicked a game. Win, and they can go free. Lose, and they will live out their greatest fear.

But what does any of this have to do with Mara? She is about to find out . . . - via Goodreads

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Well this is interesting...

Mara only remembers what the Messenger of Fear wants her to remember as she floats in some sort of between world doling out fear tests in exchange for justice. This is unlike anything I've ever read! 

The Messenger is perfectly broody and haunted by his sentence to his duty. While taking Mara in to train as the next Messenger he introduces her to two worlds. The world of being the Messenger and the Heptarchy, a group of seven gods whom all the messengers serve. The novel is relatively short with lots of plot driven action but I hoping for more world building in book two along with the vixen Oriax.

There's some spooky, grossness...

As a part of Mara's training the Messenger leads her on some jobs. The tests are a bit scary and even kind of gross. Most of all I just think about how real the scenarios are and that there's no justice like the Messenger to right all the wrongs of the world. This opened my eyes so much!

The various storylines keep it interesting and the plot dynamic. It has a Christmas Carol sort of feel to it alternating between the past and present.

On a 1 – 10 scale of spooks, I'd rate it around 5 or 6. Its actually milder than most Grant books but once again what scared me was the realism because you KNOW these things happen. O_O

Ugh, mean girls...

One of the main characters Mara and the Messenger observe is the suicide of Samantha after being terrorized by mean girl Kayla. This plotline becomes the one that Mara has little trouble with when it comes to how Kayla should be judged/tested. This is a 360 in comparison to the moral qualms Mara has when it comes to her training with other individuals who are visited by the Messenger of Fear. I would've liked to see her display the same doubts for this storyline too, versus the bullying outweighing all other wrongdoings. What's wrong is wrong.

But what the heck does all this mean...

As I stated earlier the world building and rules take the backseat to the action. It can be confusing at times but I'm holding out hope that this gets filled in during book two. Especially all of the gods and messenger business. It's almost random info dumps and I'm not sure I would tolerate it if the book was a standalone. 

Why I'll be reading book two...

I really loved the idea of the world, gods, messengers and Mara's conversion into becoming the next Messenger of Fear. The scenes were all spooky and totally drew me in. I want more because there's nothing else like this right now!!

4 Stars - Be good kids, be good.

Bloggiesta Wrap-Up!

So we're done with Bloggiesta!!!!! I really enjoyed this and needed it after a rough week to get back on track. I feel like I'm ready for the fall push now. :)

My To-Do List:

Re-organize/structure my to-review list. 
DONE! This was massive and took a few hours. I created a new spreadsheet and event split it in two. I now have a separate list for "to-reviews" past the publish date. I even found this awesome template over at Book Riot.

Put some ARCs up for guest review. 

DONE! With the reworking of the "to-review" list I think I have a handle on how much I can read per week. With reality in place there's just some ARCs I'm never going to get to. So instead of them going to waste I've added them on the blog for people who would like to be guest reviewers.

Update reviews on archive page, goodreads, netgalley, edelweiss, amazon, and pinterest.
DONE! I think I got everything in all the places.

Write two reviews.
SORT OF. Review of Messenger of Fear is up! I DNF'd a book and do not review DNFs, so...

Complete one mini-challenge.

DONE! I ended up doing the Riffle challenge. It's a cool mix between Pinterest and Goodreads, we'll see if it takes off. You can check out my Fall 2014 YA Must Reads list!

I attempted the anchor tag challenge but it was NOT working for Blogger. Blogger would change the html after I entered it. Anyone have any suggestions?

Participate in one Twitter chat.
SORT OF? I was a total lurker during the wrap-up Twitter chat and faved a bunch of good stuff. That's got to count for something, right!! ;)

Challenges:
I've chosen one mini-challenge for Bloggiesta but have * other challenges I may explore in the future.

• Amanda Shofner has a challenge giving us even more lessons on Google+. She’s calling it Google+201. For last Bloggiesta’s first Google+ challenge, check out Google+101 here.(@amshofner)
• Wesley from Library Educated brings us a tutorial on MailChimp. (@whoffs)
• *Allison from The Book Wheel teaches us how to make anchor links. (@TheBookWheel)
• April from The Steadfast Reader gives some hints about writing a negative review. (@steadfastreader)
• Come and learn about browser extensions from Brianna at The Book Vixen.(@TheBookVixen)
• Berls from Fantasy is More Fun brings us a challenge all about Flickr! (@BerlsS)
• Katie from Doing Dewey teaches us all about Riffle. (@DoingDewey) This is the one I did!
• *Stephanie from Cover 2 Cover shares her book organization tips with us. (@GoreLenore)
• Becca from I’m Lost in Books has many Instagram tips for us. (@imlostinbooks)
• *Aloi from Guiltless Reading encourages us to make a book map! (@guiltlessreader)
• Stacy from The Novel Life teaches us how to work with a blog designer. (@thenovellife)

Tackle Your TBR Challenge Wrap-Up!

Wrapping Up!

The last week of the read-a-thon totally did not go according to plan! Work was really hard. I was transferred to another department which was not in my life plans so I had to pack up the office and move across campus. Once I got settled in, needless to say it was emotional and I'm a bit frazzled... ergo, I did not meet my reading goals or get much else done in life this week.

My Goal Was Six Books:

1. Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld (38%)
2. Talon by Julie Kagawa
3. Messenger of Fear by Michael Grant (DONE! 9/13)
4. Blackbird by Anna Carey (I found the book! DNF on 9/18)
5. Get Even by Gretchen McNeil 
6. Made for You by Melissa Marr (DONE! 9/14)

Challenges:

Dream Character Challenge hosted by Wishful Endings

I'm choosing Made for You by Melissa Marr since I LOVE this book so hard! 

Character: Nate, teenage "man-whore" who helps care for his ill half-brother. Selfless and totally swoon worthy, drives a truck, super protective. I envision him as a farm boy type who's a bit rough around the edges, it is North Carolina afterall. ;) 

Daniel Sharman

Daniel Sharman is British and is most known for playing abused/parent-less Isaac on MTV's Teen Wolf. You may also know him from the movie Immortals where he played Ares alongside other gods played by Kellan Lutz, Luke Evans and demi-god Henry Cavill. This fall he'll appear as a witch on the CW's The Originals.  

Those eyes!!!! I trust those eyes :) 

Bloggiesta Update #1

So we're almost done with Bloggiesta so I thought I'd take a look to see where I am in order to make a big push for the final day!

My To-Do List:

Re-organize/structure my to-review list. 
DONE! This was massive and took a few hours. I created a new spreadsheet and event split it in two. I now have a separate list for "to-reviews" past the publish date. I even found this awesome template over at Book Riot.

Put some ARCs up for guest review. 

DONE! With the reworking of the "to-review" list I think I have a handle on how much I can read per week. With reality in place there's just some ARCs I'm never going to get to. So instead of them going to waste I've added them on the blog for people who would like to be guest reviewers.

Update reviews on archive page, goodreads, netgalley, edelweiss, amazon, and pinterest.
In progress. I went through NetGalley and Edelweiss so far.

Write two reviews.
Need to review Messenger of Fear. Debating whether to write a DNF review or not...

Complete one mini-challenge.

Participate in one Twitter chat.
I'm planning to participate in the End of Event Wrap Up: Sunday September 21 @ 1 p.m. Eastern

Challenges:
I've chosen one mini-challenge for Bloggiesta but have * other challenges I may explore in the future.

Amanda Shofner has a challenge giving us even more lessons on Google+. She’s calling it Google+201. For last Bloggiesta’s first Google+ challenge, check out Google+101 here.(@amshofner)

Wesley from Library Educated brings us a tutorial on MailChimp. (@whoffs)

Allison from The Book Wheel teaches us how to make anchor links. (@TheBookWheel)

This is the one I've chosen to take on and plan to code when I update my review archives. :)

April from The Steadfast Reader gives some hints about writing a negative review. (@steadfastreader)

Come and learn about browser extensions from Brianna at The Book Vixen.(@TheBookVixen)

Berls from Fantasy is More Fun brings us a challenge all about Flickr! (@BerlsS)

Katie from Doing Dewey teaches us all about Riffle. (@DoingDewey)

*Stephanie from Cover 2 Cover shares her book organization tips with us. (@GoreLenore)

Becca from I’m Lost in Books has many Instagram tips for us. (@imlostinbooks)

*Aloi from Guiltless Reading encourages us to make a book map! (@guiltlessreader)

Stacy from The Novel Life teaches us how to work with a blog designer. (@thenovellife)

[Review] Girl Defective by Simmone Howell

Girl Defective by Simmone Howell
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster
Release Date: September 2, 2014
Genre: Young Adult – Contemporary Mystery
Goodreads


Thanks to Andye for allowing me to be a guest blogger today! Read my full review of Girl Defective over at Reading Teen!

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In the tradition of High Fidelity and Empire Records, this is the literary soundtrack to Skylark Martin’s strange, mysterious, and extraordinary summer.

This is the story of a wild girl and a ghost girl; a boy who knew nothing and a boy who thought he knew everything.

It’s a story about Skylark Martin, who lives with her father and brother in a vintage record shop and is trying to find her place in the world. It’s about ten-year-old Super Agent Gully and his case of a lifetime. And about beautiful, reckless, sharp-as-knives Nancy. It’s about tragi-hot Luke, and just-plain-tragic Mia Casey. It’s about the dark underbelly of a curious neighborhood. It’s about summer, and weirdness, and mystery, and music.

And it's about life and death and grief and romance. All the good stuff.

3 Pieces - Find a record you would trade your house for... everyone deserves an anthem.