Listen to Me When I Tell You to READ THIS BOOK!

Up until this point, the authors of this blog have yet to exploit our growing fan-base by trying to convince you to buy specific consumer goods.  That ends here!  Yes, this blog entry is not really going to talk about anything deep or soulful.  I just got through with finals…I’m mentally drained.  Deal.  It is, however, going to contain awesomeness the likes of which you may or may not have seen before.  I don’t know…I don’t really know what kind of awesomeness your specific life-journey has contained.  Anyway, this particular blog post is serving one purpose, and one purpose only: I want to convince you to read the book Poison Princess by Kresley Cole because I want it to become so popular they are forced to give into societal pressures and make it into a movie.  Okay, yes…it’s a book review.  BUT IT IS AN AWESOME BOOK!!  So read on and allow me to try and Jedi-mind-trick you into taking time out of your life to indulge in this particular literary adventure.

With the release of the Twilight books, the young adult paranormal romance genre has EXPLODED in popularity among readers.  Believe me, I’m a writer myself, and I do my homework on what's hot in the marketplace.  If you go into a Barnes and Noble, there is a subsection in the Young Adults book section just for paranormal romance.  Now, you’re probably thinking “Are you trying to sell us Twilight knockoffs or something?” That would be a huge NO my dear readers.  Let me explain.  The huge leap in popularity of the YA paranormal romance genre has started to draw in the heavy hitters, the world champions of the Adult Romance world…and these authors are no one-hit-wonders.  My favorite, as I’m sure you have gathered, is Kresley Cole. 

My idol.

This woman is my idol (sorry Rowling, but you’re a close second).  Since her debut in 2003, she has published NINETEEN novels in three different series, including a new tangent series with its first book having just been released this past November (I’ve practiced incredible self-control in not buying it before the end of finals).  Nearly all of her books have appeared on the New York Times bestseller list, with two of them hitting #1.  She has also won two RITA awards (look it up), her works have been translated into seventeen different languages, and she has written both historical and paranormal romance.  Cole has actually traveled all over the world, and does extensive research into history, mythology, culture, and whatever else she needs in order to create her characters and her worlds.  The series she is probably best known for right now is called the Immortals After Dark Series, which currently contains twelve books (plus the tangent series that interacts with it), with no end in sight!  I could go on and on about these books, but they aren’t the ones I’m trying to sell you on (yet).

The Major Arcana - The Tarot Trump Cards
Poison Princess, Kresley Cole’s first venture into the world of YA paranormal romance, is the first book of a series she has called The Arcana Chronicles.  Cole incorporates the Tarot cards into the story, focusing on the twenty-two trump cards, or the Major Arcana.  See that…Major Arcana…The Arcana Chronicles…yeah, Cole is brilliant.  The book’s main character is a sixteen-year-old girl named Evie Greene who lives in Sterling, Louisiana.  She is wealthy, pretty, popular…and has horrific hallucinations that she cannot begin to explain.  Having already been locked away for her “mental issues”, Evie is determined to have a normal, weirdness free life when she returns for her junior year of high school.  However, that wouldn’t make a good story now would it?  I don’t want to give too much away, but Evie’s hallucinations end up being visions of the future and a disaster of apocalyptic proportions decimates not only her hometown, but the rest of the world (this isn’t a spoiler because it says so in the front cover flap).  In order to survive, Evie has to turn to Jackson Deveaux, a rough-around-the-edges Cajun boy who has her on edge from the minute they meet.  I love him and want him to be real…that is all.  The story follows the two as they try to make their way across a ruined and dangerous southern United States, encountering other teens with strange powers similar to Evie’s along the way.

I read this book in two days.  I mean, I always fly through a Kresley Cole book, but this one grabbed me, shook me around a little bit, slapped me once or twice, and still wouldn’t let me go.  It kept me on my toes, making me laugh uncontrollably one second and chanting to myself “Don’t go in there, don’t go in there!” the next.  When I finished it, I almost cried because I wanted it to keep going (ask anyone who knows me…crying is not something I do).  I am not kidding you when I say upon completion of this book, I immediately hit up Google to see if there was news about a sequel (and yes there is a sequel coming out next year called Endless Knight).  The writing itself was fantastic, the story exciting, detailed, and from my perspective, flawless.  Cole doesn’t disappoint, throwing in quirky humor and adolescent angst amongst the mayhem and carnage.  Like all of her other books, she has done her homework, including such brilliant touches as Cajun French within the dialogue and incorporating the Tarot cards and characters into the story with ease.  Her characters are each unique individuals with developed personalities and characteristics, with their own goals and agendas to try and meet.  The romance parts aren’t cheesy or unrealistic, and will keep you on the edge of your seat as much as the action scenes.  Cole doesn’t hold back on detail, in any aspect of the story, which is a distinct trait of all of her books.  She keeps things pretty PG-13, though it does get pretty gory at times.       

Despite what you may think, this book is NOT just for crazy pubescent girls who scream a lot about nothing in particular.  This book has something for everyone (cliché, yes, but completely true).  Crazy awesome action, danger of apocalyptic proportions, coldhearted militia men, teenagers with freaking superpowers, a Ducati motorcycle, sexual tension, romance (of course), and on top of everything else that is going on there are zombie-like creatures roaming through all of the crazy.  They are called Bagmen, they are freaky, awesome, and perpetually thirsty (FYI, blood is an optional thirst quencher for these guys).  If that isn’t enough to convince you that you need to go buy this book, I’m pretty sure if you have an E-Reader, the E-book is on sale right now.

With Christmas time just around the corner, it is the PERFECT opportunity to go grab this book and lose yourself in it for a little while.  Actually, I don’t even really care if you read it…just go buy it and tell all of your friends and family to but so that movie-makers get the hint and start work on silver-screening this thing.  If ever a young adult book deserved to be movie-fied, it is this one (correctly, mind-you…no half-assing here)!  Seriously, though, if you are a fan of good writing and captivating plotlines that keep you wanting more, than Poison Princess is something you really should check out.  Trust me…I know what’s good for you.

Until Next Time World,

Erin B.        

Oh hey look at that...a handy-dandy link to take you to Amazon.com to find the book
Poison Princess at Amazon.com