Under Different Stars (Amy A. Bartol)

Synopsis: 
Winner of four 2014 utopYA Awards, including Best Book of the Year and Best Sci-Fi Book of the Year
Kricket Hollowell never wished upon stars. She was too busy hiding in plain sight, eluding Chicago’s foster care system. As her eighteenth birthday approaches, she now eagerly anticipates the day she’ll stop running and finally find her place in the world.
That day comes when she meets a young Etharian soldier named Trey Allairis, who has been charged with coming to Earth to find Kricket and transport her to her true home. As danger draws close, he must protect her until she can wield the powers she cannot use on Earth…and he soon realizes that counting a galaxy of stars would be easier than losing this extraordinary girl.
Kyon Ensin knows the powerful depths of Kricket’s gifts—gifts he’ll control when he takes her for his tribe and leads the forces that will claim Ethar and destroy his enemies, starting with Trey Allairis. Now, Kricket faces the most difficult choice of her life: whether to wage a battle for survival or a fight for love.

Review:
I got this ebook from Netgalley in return of an honest review.
First of all, I have to admit that I first requested this book because of the cover. Whoever was in charge of that nailed it!
The plot also seemed extremely interesting and I was imediatly hooked when I started reading this.
Overall, Under Different Stars was a fascinatingly compeling and enjoyable read. It was fast paced and explosive and funny. Very funny, although also a little predictible at times.
I had a bit of a love-hate relationship with Kricket, the main character. Even though she was a bit annoying at times, and I still can't really figure out why, she came through as really strong, witty and intelligent. And, mostly, really sarcastic - that was my favourite thing about this book. The funny dialogue and deep characters. I particularly loved the main male character and his crew, Trey, Jax and Wayra. They were so lovable and, well, tall, dark and handsome aliens. The romance was expected, of course, and insta-love usually frustrates me to death, but Bartol was able to create an environment so perfect and ideal that we could help but fall in love with their love.
Lastly, I absolutely adored the writing. It made what could have been a quite okay book into a fantastic and adventurous story, making us root for the characters, want to get to know them and their world and read on, and on and on. I honestly couldn't put this book down and Amy A. Bartol is entirely to blame for that.
I will definitely be continuing this series, as that ending left me wanting and crying for more.
In the end, I must admit that this was a bit of a guilty pleasure kind of book, but I enjoyed it so much I don't even care. Recommend to anyone who loves a bit of romance in outer space.

The Room (Jonas Karlsson) UPDATED

Release Date: January 15th 2015

Synopsis:  
A quirky and unsettling tale, of dark humour and strange realities, about a bureaucrat, an open plan office and a secret room..
The Authority looks favourably upon meticulousness, efficiency and ambition. Bjorn has all of this in spades, but it's only in the Room that he can really shine. Unfortunately, his colleagues see things differently. In fact, they don't even see the Room at all.
The Room is a short, sharp and fiendish fable in the tradition of Franz Kafka, Samuel Beckett and Charlie Kauffman. If you have ever toiled in an office, felt like the world was against you or questioned the nature of reality then this is the novel for you.

Review:
I got this ebook from Netgalley in return of an honest review. 
This is nothing like I usually read and I was positive I wasn't going to enjoy it that much. I was right and so wrong at the same time.
On one side, the characters were all detestable and extremely unreliable narrators, but I absolutely loved every minute of this book.
A little introduction in the beginning of the book compares the style of 'The Room' to that of Kafka, and I totally agree. It has the same gift of being able to mess with your mind, leaving everything out of place, while making you question everything you thought was true and everything you believed in.
It points a finger at the reader directly, making sure we see our own faults in these flawed characters and that makes us uncomfortable, the best kind.It's a psychological journey through a story were nothing is certain and, by the end of the book, we get to take our own conclusions, based on what we got out of it. That's the magic of books of this kind (and books in general, but this one takes it to levels is almost impossible to describe).
Honestly, I read this in a day. It kept me wanting more, I couldn't think about anything else but to know how it ended, even though I knew, deep down, that the ending would only raise even more questions, as it did.This was just an immensely mind blowing, surral and desconcerning story that deserves to be read by everyone.

Plus, the publisher was kind enough to offer me some extra material to share on the release date!

First of all, Vintage hosted a competition for an animation promoting the novel, and I must say that the winning video is absolutely fantastic and captures the book so well. You can watch it here: http://youtu.be/4ssVuB2ALCE

And here is my favourite part of the email they sent me: audio links of the author, Jonas Karlsson, reading from his book! I will leave the links below, you can just click the name of the scenes to listen to this amazing gift from the publisher.

1 - Reprimand
2 - What are you doing?
3 - Door/Wall
4 - The meeting

Almost Famous Women (Megan Mayhew Bergman)

Release Date: January 6th 2015

Synopsis:  
From “a top-notch emerging writer with a crisp and often poetic voice and wily, intelligent humor” (The Boston Globe): a collection of stories that explores the lives of talented, gutsy women throughout history.
The fascinating lives of the characters in Almost Famous Women have mostly been forgotten, but their stories are burning to be told. Now Megan Mayhew Bergman, author of Birds of a Lesser Paradise, resurrects these women, lets them live in the reader’s imagination, so we can explore their difficult choices. Nearly every story in this dazzling collection is based on a woman who attained some celebrity—she raced speed boats or was a conjoined twin in show business; a reclusive painter of renown; a member of the first all-female, integrated swing band. We see Lord Byron’s illegitimate daughter, Allegra; Oscar Wilde’s troubled niece, Dolly; West With the Night author Beryl Markham; Edna St. Vincent Millay’s sister, Norma. These extraordinary stories travel the world, explore the past (and delve into the future), and portray fiercely independent women defined by their acts of bravery, creative impulses, and sometimes reckless decisions.
The world hasn’t always been kind to unusual women, but through Megan Mayhew Bergman’s alluring depictions they finally receive the attention they deserve. Almost Famous Women is a gorgeous collection from an “accomplished writer of short fiction” (Booklist).

Review:
I got this ebook from Netgalley in return of an honest review.
When I first saw this book I knew I needed to read it. There are too many people whose lives we ignore, especially women, and I love to see authors like Megan Mayhew Bergman that are trying to bring them to light.
First of all, I have to admit that, overall, this book was fascinating. It was truly a fascinating and engrossing book.
The writing was so graceful and raw and true and it was, in my opinion, what made these stories so special: the fact that the previously (virtually) unknown stories of these amazing and fantastic women were being told in such a delightful and bewitching way.
As for the stories themselves, I found that they left me wanting to know more about these women. Not only that, but I wanted to know them, know their stories from them, know how they became them in their own words, because I truly believe that these would have been amazing people to be around, to know and to have a conversation with. I really felt a connection with them through Bergman's writing.
My favourite, though, was, without a doubt, Who Killed Dolly Wilde?, not only due to my utter fascination with her uncle, Oscar Wilde, but also because I felt that this story was the most honest and personal. I was so heartfelt and I loved it to levels I can't begin to explain.
I found myself googling each and every women whose story was told here and I lost myself in my research. I encourage everyone to do the same, because it takes this book to other levels and is part of why I loved it: the way it made me want to know more, to read every book mentioned in the author's note.
Also, each story felt so different, so personal to it's main character, and it is prodigious, really, how the same author can make it so.
The only thing that misguided me a bit was the fact that I originally thought this was a nonfiction book, but, although that's not the case, it didn't, in any way, take way the magic of the book itself.
I recommend this to someone who, like me, has a passion for freaky history, the underground knowledge of non famous celebrities, sort of speak.

The Elementary Sherlock Holmes (Portico)

Synopsis:  
‘To a great mind, nothing is little’ Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes has become such an iconic figure that he’s almost real. He’s on our TV screens, he’s in our films and, of course, the books are still as popular as ever. This fascinating little miscellany tells you everything you need to know about this enduringly popular figure, and lots of stuff you don’t! It contains the plots of all the novels, character descriptions, details of some of the plethora of Sherlock websites, and highlights the best films and TV adaptations. Entertaining and engrossing, The Elementary Sherlock Holmes will satisfy the curious and enlighten even the most dedicated Holmes fan.

Review:
I got this ebook from Netgalley in return of an honest review.
Before I say anything else, I must admit that this book was not really what I was expecting. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed reading it, but I think that's because I am relatively new to this fandom. I reckon an 'old' fan of Sherlock Holmes would find this maybe a bit basic. They would definitely not enjoy it as much because this probably wouldn't reveal anything new for them.
That being said this was a very good guide to help one enter this magical world that is the Sherlock Holmes fandom. It presents the novels, the stories and gives some backstories on the main characters and adaptations.
I really appreciate the details and timelines this book provides and I loved seeing the most iconic adaptations of Conan Doyle's detective. There were some aspects that were analysed in ways I hadn't noticed before and that was a new perspective to add to the already complicated case of Sherlock.
However, I wasn't totally pleases with the way the author chose to organise the ideas. I though it was a bit confusing, constantly jumping from one thing to another with no apparent train of thought.
Overall, this was a cool, fun and fast book to read, but I still think that, to me, it fell short, in a way. It could have been a true Sherlock lexicon had maybe a bit more passion or effort from the author come through to the reader.I absolutely recommend this to someone who just started watching the most recent adaptations, like BBC's Sherlock starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman or the American Elementary (both amazing adaptations, in my opinion, yet not the most recognised by older Sherlock enthusiasts), and never had any other contact with the more classic Sherlock Holmes and wishes to understand more of what's behind it.

Horrorstör (Grady Hendrix)

Synopsis:  
Something strange is happening at the Orsk furniture superstore in Cleveland, Ohio. Every morning, employees arrive to find broken Kjerring bookshelves, shattered Glans water goblets, and smashed Liripip wardrobes. Sales are down, security cameras reveal nothing, and store managers are panicking.
To unravel the mystery, three employees volunteer to work a nine-hour dusk-till-dawn shift. In the dead of the night, they’ll patrol the empty showroom floor, investigate strange sights and sounds, and encounter horrors that defy the imagination.
A traditional haunted house story in a thoroughly contemporary setting, Horrorstör comes packaged in the form of a glossy mail order catalog, complete with product illustrations, a home delivery order form, and a map of Orsk’s labyrinthine showroom.

Review:
I got this ebook from Netgalley in return of an honest review.
First of all, this book deserves 50 starts for concept and originality. I loved the way it was done as a catalog. Now, I must say that this could have taken a comical turn, being designed the way it was, and I was kind of scared it would. Fortunately, Hendrix obviously knows how to deliver a good horror story and used the design in his advantage: even in the first pages of the chapters we could see the evolution of the story.
However, I was not expecting this book to be so graphic and horrifying. As the plot unfolds, it gets more and more gruesome and there were some parts where I found myself wanting to puke or looking behind my back to see if any hands were trying to grab me and put me in some horrific torturing device.
With each page we get more and more involved in this story, and I couldn't get my eyes of the pages. It's so mysterious and compelling and you want to get up, but there is no way out of the Beehive (see, you want to know what that's all about, don't you?)
I absolutely loved the rhythm of the book. The pacing increases more and more and once things start really going crazy there is no way to stop it. The fall is brutal and fast and you have no way to know exactly how much.
Also, I need to mention that this book features the creepiest séance I could ever have imagined. That was truly the turning point, when we started realising what we had gotten ourselves into. Well, us and the characters. They were such a pleasure to read about and I really appreciate the fact that there was some major character development going on. Amy and Basil were my favourites and I was rooting for them the whole time. Amy, particularly, was a very interesting character to follow, as she grew into what we wanted her to become, she realised she needed to stop quitting and she fought her way out of this horror story (and then in again). Ruth Anne also shows sides of her personality we didn't think we would get to see and I believe this is what made all these characters real and not just two-dimensional.
The ending was perfect and left me there desperately wanting more, to know what happened after they went inside, although I think it works amazingly the way it was done.
The only thing left to say is that I would love to see this as a movie, I think it could become a serious classic horror movie if it was done right, and I can't wait to see where this idea goes in the near future.
Quirk Books really knows how to make amazing and beautiful books and I thank them for doing this one specifically.