Be Not Far From Me by Mindy McGinnis on Audiobook ★★★★☆

Mindy McGinnis does not write victims; she also doesn't pull punches when it comes to stories about poverty, hardship, survival and the damning effects of drink and drugs. I didn't know what to expect from McGinnis's latest novel Be Not Far From Me, I didn't even know what it was about, I just knew that I love her books and I wanted it the minute it was released.

The thing about Mindy McGinnis books? They are dark, darker than the majority of the books in the YA market, save for Courtney Summers. While it might seem that now is not the time for books like that, it turns out that now is the perfect time. Every single minute that I spent with a teenager lost in the Smokies was a minute that I didn't think about the outside world. It's pretty hard not to get sucked very deep into McGinnis's stories and Be Not Far From Me is no different.

Be Not Far From Me begins with a campfire in the mountains and protagonist Ashley walking in on her boyfriend with another girl. Drunk and in a fit of rage, Ashley punches her boyfriend in the face and storms off into the woods. Only she gets turned around and takes a brutal fall, severely injuring her ankle.

Ashley is no stranger to survival techniques, having learned everything there is to know from her hero (and long-time crush) Davey Beet. But survival techniques can only get you so far when your foot has a rotting, open wound and you're lost deep in the Smokies.

Be Not Far From Me is certainly hard work and I am so pleased that I listened to this one on audiobook. Brittany Pressley narrates with incredible depth and nuance, adding pace and gravity to a very desperate and harrowing story.

This is the fifth of Mindy McGinnis's books that I've read and I'm impatient to read the rest of her works. The only problem I'm keen on listening to The Female of the Species again on audiobook because I loved it so much the first time.

I give Be Not Far From Me an excellent four out of five stars and recommend to fans of contemporary young adult fiction with an edge.

★★★★☆

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Book Review: ‘Dearly, Departed' by Lia Habel

By the year 2195, the New Ice Age has wiped Great Britain off the map and generations of American pioneers have fled to the more temperate zones around the Equator. The high-tech nation of New Victoria has maintained the technological advancements of the 21st century but adopted the ideals of the Victorian age. Think high collars and ankle length dresses, parasols and calling cards mixed with cellular technology and electrical carriages.

Nora Dearly is just like any other New Victorian teenager. She is concerned with social mores and graces, polite society and appearances. Her aim in life is to meet a fine, upper class gentleman and become a proud wife and mother, for what more could a teenager want?

Within hours of arriving home for the holidays from St Cyprian's School for Girls, Nora is kidnapped by zombies and she is thrown into a world of steampunk design, armies of the undead and very surprising allegiances.

Let's face it, Lia Habel's debut novel Dearly, Departed has all the makings of a disaster. I was sceptical enough when I purchased it that it sat on my bookshelf for ages before I finally picked it up. It seems at first that Habel tossed a handful if genres into the air, hoping one would stick. In a sentence, Dearly, Departed is a post-apocalyptic, possibly dystopian (depending on your view of a repressive Victorian society), steampunk, young-adult,  zombie romantic fiction novel. You can understand why I was hesitant.

My verdict? It was bloody marvellous. Once Habel had created her world and introduced her characters, the story begins to pick up pace.  I found myself longing for the book when I wasn't reading it and now that I've finished it, I just plain miss it. The story was told in the first person from different characters’ points of view and I was increasingly impatient to finish chapters in order to return to other parts of the story.

I was certainly more invested in Dearly Departed than I had initially anticipated, an investment I managed to maintain despite Habel's rather grim and detailed descriptions of zombie physiology.

Most significantly, I enjoyed that there were two very strong, yet very individual female leads. Both Nora and Pam stole the show from the male characters in the book although Nora did have a serious Peggy Sue moment towards the end of the book.

Dearly, Departed is a lot of fun although the large cast of central characters can get a little overwhelming at times. I'll certainly pick up the sequel Dearly, Beloved if only to immerse myself once more in a world of steam-powered airships, zeppelins and holographic video displays.

Dearly, Departed is published by Random House and available to purchase from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

I was really interested to note that I liked both the US and UK covers for this book as usually I only like the UK covers.

US Cover	Original UK Cover	UK Paperback Cover

 

I give Dearly, Departed 4 out of 5 stars and recommend to all fans of post-apocalyptic, dystopian, steampunk, young-adult, zombie romantic fiction.

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Book review: The Peculiars by Maureen Doyle McQuerry

There is something really priceless in choosing a novel on a whim and then realising you have discovered an absolute gem.  I was fortunate enough to have this experience recently when I picked up The Peculiars by Maureen Doyle McQuerry.  The Peculiars is a young adult, steampunk fantasy set in an alternative America in the late 1800s.  If you like steam engines, Victorian-era fashions and wild and wonderful inventions, then you are going to love this fantastical adventure.

On her 18th birthday, Lena Mattacascar receives a small inheritance and an envelope from her father Saul.  She has not seen her father since he left for the northern wilderness of Scree, a land filled with Peculiars and other undesirables, when she was merely a child.  She decides to leave her mother and grandmother in the City and travel alone by train to Knob Knoster (on the border of Scree), a practice almost unheard of amongst well-bred young ladies.  Then again, Lena’s Nana Crane always warned her of her father’s goblin blood and the wild traits that she would inherit.

Lena has endured a lifetime of stares and mutters and has kept her very long hands and feet well gloved and booted as a result.  Cautious to avoid any unwanted attention, she tries all she can to dissuade young Jimson Quiggley from keeping her company when she meets him on the train to Knob Knoster.  Her discomfort is soon forgotten when there is an armed robbery on the train and her purse goes missing in the chaos.  What was to be a short stopover in Knoster while she secured a guide into Scree becomes an exercise in raising the funds she lost on the train.

Lena is soon charmed by the handsome lawman and marshal Thomas Saltre, who seems quite interested in everything she has to say and in her journey to Scree.  Assured that he is the best guide she could possibly find into Scree, Lena makes her way to the home of inventor Tobias Beasley where she runs into Jimson Quiggley again.  She secures work at Beasley's library while she tries to recoup her missing money and seems only too pleased to pass on information to marshal Saltre when she begins to notice strange happenings at the house.

Nothing is as simple as it seems though and Lena makes a significant error in judgement that puts all of the wrong people in danger.  What follows is a chase across air and land in an era where air travel was only beginning to be dreamed of.  We encounter goblins and people with wings; flying coaches, dirigibles and unscrupulous lawmen; indentured Peculiar labourers and precious Titantum mines; and all the while, Lena embarks on a journey that teaches her loyalty, integrity and the value of friendship.

McQuerry imparts an incredible amount of detail without weighing the story down.  She creates such a vivid impression that I could almost feel the stiff fabric of the Victorian clothing and the discomfort Lena experienced as she tried to fit her long, spidery hands and feet (each with additional joints on her fingers and toes) into formal gloves and boots. I could imagine the textures of the material and started to appreciate how many layers and accessories were required in proper Victorian attire.  McQuerry’s writing appealed to other senses too as I could almost smell the soup in the kitchen and feel the cold, wind and steam as they cascaded through the air in the coach. 

McQuerry has created a wonderful world with The Peculiars and I will certainly be looking out for her work in the future.  In fact, I enjoyed this book so much that I would investigate other works in the streampunk genre in future.  The Peculiars will be released on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk on May 1, 2012.

I give The Peculiars five out of five stars.

An advance, electronic copy of this book was provided to me for the purposes of this review and all opinions contain herein are my own. This review contains affiliate links.

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