The WishKeeper by Maximilian Timm

The WishKeeper by Maximilian Timm

Self Published on October 17th 2013

354 Pages

I received this courtesy of Maximilian Timm in return for an honest review.

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The WishKeeper tells the story of a fairy named Shea and how her broken wings and inability to fly have kept her from being the one thing she always wanted to be - a WishKeeper.We, WishMakers, all have a WishKeeper assigned to us that protects and guides our wishes to fulfillment. Teenage, broken-winged Shea is determined to become one.Shea is a rebellious, punk rock dressed, tattooed teenage fairy with two mangled wings that draw ugly stares more often than sympathy. She is not looking for sympathy though, and would rather break a WishKeeper's pointed nose than accept an understanding pat on her handicapped back. Living with her disability for most of her angry life has kept Shea out of the Keeper force and therefore a loner (which she is perfectly fine with...or so she says). Until the day her family WishMakers, Grayson and Miranda, made a second True Love Wish, she was barely a blip on a WishRadar. The last time a True Love Wish was made, her mother destroyed it and in turn, Shea's life.All Shea wants is to prove herself - despite her disability, despite her anger, resentment and the all-too obvious chips on her shoulders - that she can be better than any WishKeeper. She sneaks off to the human world with the naive intent to wrangle a type of wish even the most skilled Keeper barely can. She's entitled, selfish, and has only one intention: wrangle a True Love Wish no matter the consequence.Further annoying her, a WishKeeper recruit named Thane is tasked by her military father to babysit her, or at least that's how Shea sees it. Through their impossible adventure in a land Shea had only ever dreamed about, she battles the difficult discovery of painful family secrets, a wish-mongering ex-king and his cursed zombie-like fairies, and the acceptance of her parents' imperfections as well as her own.

What is a better way to celebrate International Fairy day then to read a kick arse book that provides a take on fairy mythology.  After reading The WishKeeper I honestly don’t have much to say about this other than it has a really wonderful story arc and that I just love fairy books.

So to talk about the story arc a little is a very fun task because The WishKeeper as I said above provides a new take on the ‘little person with wings that fly around’ idea. Shea Evenstar is one of the most bad arse fairies I’ve ever had the awesome pleasure to read. Now Shea is really such a wonderful character because she has a disability compared to the other characters but she doesn’t let it hold her back at all.

A positive that came of Shea’s winglessness was most definitely Thane. He is a young want to be WishKeeper who is given the task by Beren, Shea’s father who happens to be the commander to look after Shea.  You really couldn’t get a sweeter or kinder character than Thane and I just love him for it.

My only criticism for The WishKeeper would be that at time it could be rather confusing as to what really was happening or who was who as a lot of characters were named.

Luckily enough to cerebrate International Fairy Day Max has granted my wish of letting me share part of the first chapter of The WishKeeper. Hopefully you will all snag a copy while its on sale for today for $1.09 which is completely worth it!

Goggles, Goggled 

Ten Years Ago

“Wings tucked, Private!” Shea’s mother playfully ordered.

The frozen sap of the evergreen clung to Shea’s bare feet as if the icy tree was trying to keep her in one place. It was Wishing Eve in the Makers’ world - The Other Side, as the WishKeepers called it. A night when all WishKeepers would leave their secret world of Paragonia and cross through the Gates to tend to their WishMakers in celebration of opportunity; the opportunity to collect millions of wishes and sustain the harmony between their world and the Makers’. It was the most important night of the year, but for Shea, it was a night that would define her.

It was the night a True Love Wish was destroyed. It was the night her wings were ripped from her delicate shoulders. It was the night her mother died. And the sap of the evergreen tugged at her toes, begging her not to move. She should have listened.

She played along with her mother’s orders as Elanor stood in front of her little fairy daughter, fists at her hips.

“Check! Yes, ma’am,” Shea replied, standing upright and tucking her wings straight behind her.

“Goggles goggled?” her mother asked, stern.

Shea adjusted oversized aviator goggles around her eyes, “Check!”

“Wishes made?”

“Wishes granted!” she said as she stiffened a salute at her forehead.

Shea eyed an identical smile that rimmed her mother’s lips as the setting sun of The Other Side silhouetted Elanor’s graceful wings.

“I have to go to work,” Elanor said with a deep breath. It was her daughter’s first time on The Other Side, and Shea could sense that her mom regretted not being able to stay with her all night.

Shea loved the feeling of the slow, gentle swipe of her mother’s fingers as they gently tickled her forehead, moving the thick red mane out of her eyes. Despite never wanting to admit it, there was an immeasurable eagerness within Shea’s little body to become her mother. Every ounce was desperately impatient to be just like her. Shea watched her mom buzz her wings and prep for a quick launch.

“Hey…Mom?” Shea stopped her. She felt compelled to say something, but the words dangled from her tongue.

Elanor waited for one last peep from her eager daughter.

“I…I mean. Never mind.” Shea smiled, bashful.

“I won’t be long,” she said, noticing the eagerness of adolescence pouring from her daughter’s eyes. “You are going to be a wonderful WishKeeper someday. But it’s not today, honey. Please…promise me you’ll stay here.”

Little Shea nodded as wishes darted through the park behind Elanor. The impulse to fly after each and every one of them was overwhelming as Shea watched her mother zoom out of the tree and into the sea of colorful wishes. Purple, blue, pink and green - the wishes danced and darted through the park. Their playfulness was intoxicating. The evergreen did its best to keep her little feet stuck to its branch, but as much as she wanted to be a good fairy and follow her mother’s orders, Shea couldn’t deny her innate impulse to explore.

Book Review:Summer on the Short Bus - Bethany Crandell

Pub. Date- April 1st 2014 Publisher- Running Press Teens

 Pages- 256 Genre- Contemporary/YA

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Cricket Montgomery has been thrown under the short bus. Shipped off to a summer camp by her father, Cricket is forced to play babysitter to a bunch of whiny kids—or so she thinks. When she realizes this camp is actually for teens with special needs, Cricket doubts she has what it takes to endure twenty-four hours, let alone two weeks.Thanks to her dangerously cute co-counselor, Quinn, there may be a slim chance for survival. However, between the campers’ unpredictability and disregard for personal space, Cricket’s limits get pushed. She will have to decide if suffering through her own handicapped hell is worth a summer romance—and losing her sanity.

Usually I’m all for thick books, the thicker the better in my opinion but Summer on the Short Bus takes that idea and proves me wrong. Taking a strong and completely blunt approach Bethany Crandell makes light in a positive way of how people can be completely uninformed about something out of their comfort zone, in Cricket’s case people with special needs. She honestly and oh so wittily tells a truthful tale about a young spoiled girl who learns to put others first and just generally become less of a nitwit.

So to get it right off the bat, Cricket isn’t the most endearing character but she is so well written terrible personality was completely natural to her, the book would have felt completely wrong if she wasn’t so shocking. Yeah, she was bratty, spoiled and so politically incorrect I but not enough to ever hate her or feel as though everything negative she said is just to be nasty. I’ve seen a lot of reviews bashing this book for being oh so incorrect but that is what makes it for me. Nothing is barred in this; there is no censorship of an uninformed young girl. Crandell writes about what I’m sure most people have thought at least once in their life, be maybe a more informed but still something that we wouldn’t say allowed. It really at times makes you feel uncomfortable in your skin with the way things are phrased only to be laughing at a hilarious joke the next minute.

The true beauty of Summer on the Short Bus is how quirky and hilarious it is, when looking past the all the faux pas Cricket makes, she and all the other character in this book are so funny in their own ways. Fantine made me crack up so many times with her sarcasm and Quinn being a Zac Efron look alike was just pure gold.

There were parts that I didn’t think were the best, but I wasn’t really fazed by them until I started to reflect more deeply on the book and everything in it. One was how quickly Quinn and Crickets relationship developed and was used to resolve everything but in such a short book it isn’t like there is 300 pages for them to become friends and get to know each other so I could come to terms with the pretty quickly. The relationship isn’t instalove level but it was getting close. Another problem was that I wish that there time to learn more about all the other characters! I ended up loving them all so much that I just wanted to know everything and see them all be as fully developed as characters as Cricket.

This could be taken as an offensive book but when read with an open mind and a liking for sarcasm I think it really gives everyone a chance to learn something new about people in general and how easy change can come about. I highly suggest you read this to see just how Cricket changes from the nitwit she was at the start.

Summer on the Short Bus is just want I picture when I think of a literal Summer, on a Short Bus (something we don’t have in Australia, the short buses not summer) Just a small space filled with fun, learning and happiness. Not quiet this isn’t an unrealistic perfect summer but still a 5 star book in my eyes. I’ve already told Bethany Crandell she can have my soul if I can be put on any list that comes up for her next book I liked it that much.

Book Review: Trouble by Non Pratt

I received this courtesy of Walker Books in return for an honest review.

Pub. Date- March 6th 2014 Publisher- Walker Books

 Pages- 384 Genre- Contemporary/YA  

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In this dazzling debut novel, a pregnant teen learns the meaning of friendship—from the boy who pretends to be her baby’s father.
When the entire high school finds out that Hannah Shepard is pregnant via her ex-best friend, she has a full-on meltdown in her backyard. The one witness (besides the rest of the world): Aaron Tyler, a transfer student and the only boy who doesn’t seem to want to get into Hannah’s pants. Confused and scared, Hannah needs someone to be on her side. Wishing to make up for his own past mistakes, Aaron does the unthinkable and offers to pretend to be the father of Hannah’s unborn baby. Even more unbelievable, Hannah hears herself saying “yes.”
Told in alternating perspectives between Hannah and Aaron, Trouble is the story of two teenagers helping each other to move forward in the wake of tragedy and devastating choices. As you read about their year of loss, regret, and hope, you’ll remember your first, real best friend—and how they were like a first love. 

Hannah is a 15-year-old student who doesn’t like to party and get with boys as much as her friends think she does. Aaron is the new kid at Hannah’s school. He’s just trying to fit in, not make waves or let anyone find out about his past. They are as different as two could possibly be or so they think but both are struggling to cope with accidents that changed their lives forever. Aaron is a shy boy who is just trying to fit in to make his parents happy after an accident and they outcome afterwards makes them worry continuously. He is as shocked as anyone when the basketball boys take him up as a friend and invite him to hang out at the park where everyone goes to drink and hook up.

This is where he meets Hannah in her element after just seeing her at school. Hannah is just a girl just trying to keep her family off back and have a good time. Even though Hannah goes out to the park and parties with everyone she’s not into it as much as everyone thinks. When combining Hannah’s terrible best friend Katie and terrible reputation, when Hannah secret comes out everyone is left talking except Aaron who against all odds steps up to be Hannah’s fake baby daddy to stop the harsh rumours. 

Now I will fully admit when picking up trouble I was 100% expecting for Aaron and Hannah to fall in love and have a happily ever, not that I wanted that but after reading so many contemporaries that make a relationship fix everything I didn’t really have hope and boy was I surprised. Trouble is a book about friendship above all else, how it can be ruined and fix, but most importantly how it can save a person.

Given that Trouble is told from both Hannah and Aaron’s point of view it is such a gorgeous book. When reading contemporaries is always really easy to tell UK ones from Australian or even US. UK contemporaries tend to tell everything in a more truthful be it grittier and rough manner, which is completely needed when talking about teen pregnancy. Who wants a book that the kids are clearly partying and having sex in but it’s never mentioned until the consequences happen.

Everything about Trouble hits the mark for me, from the writing to the plot everything was spot on. I really do think everyone should read this just to see how beautiful it is and if you love this cover as much as I do on Troubles tumblr page there is a series of posts about the making of it here.

Book Review; The 5th Wave - Rick Yancey

Pub. Date- May 17th 2014 Publisher- Penguin Books

 Pages- 457 Genre- Science Fiction/YA  Series- The 5th Wave #1

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After the 1st wave, only darkness remains.
After the 2nd, only the lucky escape.
And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive.
After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.
Now, it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother—or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

How do you survive when everyone you see could potentially be the thing the ends your life? That is the question everyone after the 4th wave faces. Trust is now a joke that only existed in the passed before the arrival happened.  Cassie lives by the motto trust no one, because aliens aren’t what we thought they were. They don’t have giant eyes and green skin, no they look, sound and feel just like us. The others as Cassie and her Dad calls them are set on destroying everything in their path be it a building or person. So when Cassie is separated from her family early on in this amazing book by death and crazy circumstances, this leads to her having one hell of a kick ass attitude. She is tough, yet vulnerable and basically a perfect mix of everything ever wanted in a character. 

From this point on is pretty much a ramble of my love but there are so many possible spoiler in this that I think it would kill me to try and write a detailed review without giving away something important. The 5^th Wave has to be one of the most excellently written multiple-points of view stories in young adult that I’ve ever read. One of the best driving forces behind the plot and character development was how all the characters shared be it love, friendship or hate. Each character had a completely different voice and way of understanding of what was going on in world the world. Not to spoiler anything but holy god if I don’t get a 'you know who if you’ve read this point of view' right at the start of the next book I’ll cry.

So I practically never write notes while reading. I like to be 100% in a book experiencing everything in a constant flow not thinking ‘wow, I need to write that down’ but with The 5^th Wave I was constantly changing my mind about if certain character were good guys, or who I was rooting for that I wanted a way to really keep track later on just how many times Rick Yancey tricked me with his greatness and boy did he ever. Champion of Red Herrings award goes to one Mr Rick Yancey.

I’ve never read a book with so many twists and turns that were so understandable and compelling that the way I usually think about books just didn’t work in this case. I would usually go through and point out specific parts of the book I loved or loved in this case but to spoil anything in this would be a crime. So I’m simple going to leave what is my craziest to date with, that you should read this. Like now.

Let me know if you’ve read this or make my day and say you will in the comments below.

Book Review: Winning the Player - Leesa Bow

Pub. Date- April 14th 2014 Publisher- Destiny Romance

Pages- 273 Genre- Contemporary/New Adult

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I received this courtesy of Destiny Romance through 

Netgalley in return for an honest review.

When injury destroyed her dream of playing college basketball, Aubree Taylor fled overseas. Now she's finally home again and ready to move on with her life. Until she runs into Hunter Stone on her first night out, the only guy who's ever meant anything to her – and the last person she wants to see.
Since she ran out on him two years ago, Hunter hasn't been able to get Aubree off his mind. The sexy football star has had girls all over him for years, but Aubree is the only one to have ever seen behind the cocky persona he puts on for the crowd.
Despite her attempts to keep her distance, Aubree is unable to resist the strong attraction between them and it isn't long before they fall into a passionate relationship. She has never been afraid of a challenge, but Hunter's arrogance and inablity to trust are testing her to her limits. Aubree must decide whether to follow her heart and lower her guard…or risk losing the best thing that's ever happened to her.

Being a professional athlete seems hard enough but when everything you’ve ever worked for to get there gets ripped away by an injury how do you carry on with life? This is exactly where Aubree Taylor is at the start of this debut New Adult novel. The hitting factor of this book is the ability it presented to connect to the plot and the characters lives. With the added bonus of being a relatively clean with only mild sexual scene that only came about due to the way the plot progressed.

The characters in the is story are what really makes it, yes the writing was nice and easy to understand but there was nothing particularly to make it stand out other than the use of Aussie slang which could bother people if it’s not something they understand. Aubree through the book is the type of girl that should be in all novels; she represented real women well. She was tough, understandable and knows how to pick herself up when her life takes a sharp down turn. On the other side of the line there was Hunter, as good-looking as a guy could get but with a personality of a brick.

Alpha male stereotypes are becoming more and more frequent in New Adult and I’m getting seriously over it. I wanted to do bodily harm to Hunter for a lot of this book. He was so rude and immature playing up that attitude that he’d slept with all the female population of South Australia. Being a superstar sports man is cool and all but why do they have to be portrayed as such butt heads. 

Even without having the straight love for stories set in Australia this book can hold its own, it has something for everyone. I know quiet a number of reviewer don’t share my dislike for Hunter. This was a fun easy read and I would recommend it to anyone wanting a pick me up book.

Have you read this or is it on your TBR? What sports do you follow?