It just kills me that no one’s ever heard of these books.
The first one, The Melting Season by Celeste Conway, has kind of a girly, fluffy cover which does NOT match the tone of the novel AT ALL. I mean this is me, folks–you know if I like it, it’s got to have some element of darkness, right? It isn’t supernatural or anything, but it’s very gothic: there’s this frail beautiful heroine named Giselle who lives in old penthouse with a decaying garden–her father’s garden which hasn’t been touched since his death–and dark family secrets. And romance. When people ask me who my favorite YA crush is, I usually say Will, Giselle’s love interest. He’s sweet, but very straight-forward, even pushy, which is just what Giselle needs because there are many things in her life she doesn’t want to face. Here’s a cookie from The Melting Season, which is told from Giselle’s point of view:
My mind sort of blanked as Will (I absolutely loved his name–willpower; act of will; will to live) started giving directions. He used his hands to demonstrate. His beautiful right forearm represented the various streets, and he used his left hand, held in a karate chop position, to indicate the compass directions. It was very intense to watch.
Giselle comes from a family of famous ballet dancers and she herself is studying to become one. She’s worldly and well-traveled, but kind of embarrassed by her own sophistication. Her observations tend to be grim yet hilarious. She’s such a great character, and The Melting Season is an awesome read.
Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon has everything going for it that The Melting Season doesn’t from a marketing point of view–great cover and jacket copy, plus it’s paranormal which is huge right now–yet no one is reading it. It boggles the mind.
Silver Phoenix is about a girl named Ai Ling who decides to go to the Palace of Fragrant Dreams to try to find her father who has been missing for a long time. If Ai Ling finds her father, she can save herself from a forced marriage to a lascivious jerk. But while making the long journey to the palace, Ai Ling keeps getting attacked by monsters, almost as if she was attracting them in some way. Here’s a cookie:
[She] walked with her arms folded tightly around her, the hairs on her neck rising each time she heard the rustle of leaves or soft scrape of dirt. Ai Ling did not have the courage to look back, imagining dark shapes following her–Master Huang on a horse in pursuit or even lost ghosts, seeking the warmth of a living being.
She cursed herself for ever reading The Book of the Dead.
How can you not want to read something like that? Plus the writing is literally delicious; after reading all the food descriptions, I guarantee your mouth will be watering by the end of the book.
I think that people who like Bleeding Violet will really like Silver Phoenix because, like BV, there are monsters (there’s a monster in SP made out of CORPSES which is so twisted I can only bow to Cindy Pon in awe) and a few disturbing sexual situations, if you’re into that sort of thing–and admit it, you are–so seriously, if you liked BV even a little bit you’ll LOVE Silver Phoenix.
So go find The Melting Season and Silver Phoenix and give them a try, and then when you swoon from the awesomeness of these two books, send me a thank you note–it’s the least you can do. ;p
Tags: unheard of awesomeness
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I haven’t read a good old-fashioned fantasy novel in forever.
, people’s names, nonsense lyrics, mean boys, robots, spooky sh*t (I blogged about this particular playlist 