Book Review - Doll Bones

Doll Bones
Author: Holly Black & Eliza Wheeler
Standalone
Genres: Horror, Mystery | Middle Grade
Release Date: May 7th 2013
Publishers: Margaret K. McElderry Books
No. Pages: : 247
Source: Review Copy - Margaret K. McElderry Books
Rating:

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Zach, Poppy and Alice have been friends for ever. They love playing with their action figure toys, imagining a magical world of adventure and heroism. But disaster strikes when, without warning, Zach’s father throws out all his toys, declaring he’s too old for them. Zach is furious, confused and embarrassed, deciding that the only way to cope is to stop playing . . . and stop being friends with Poppy and Alice. But one night the girls pay Zach a visit, and tell him about a series of mysterious occurrences. Poppy swears that she is now being haunted by a china doll – who claims that it is made from the ground-up bones of a murdered girl. They must return the doll to where the girl lived, and bury it. Otherwise the three children will be cursed for eternity

Book Review - Black Heart

Black Heart
Author: Holly Black
Series: Curse Workers #3
Genres: Paranormal, Urban Fantasy | Young Adult
Release Date: 19th April 2012
Publishers: Gollancz
No. Pages: 296
Source: Borrowed
Rating: 
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Cassel Sharpe knows he's been used as an assassin, but he's trying to put all that behind him. He's trying to be good, even though he grew up in a family of con artists and cheating comes as easily as breathing to him. He's trying to do the right thing, even though the girl he loves is inextricably connected with crime. And he's trying to convince himself that working for the Feds is smart, even though he's been raised to believe the government is the enemy. But with a mother on the lam, the girl he loves about to take her place in the Mob, and new secrets coming to light, the line between what's right and what's wrong becomes increasingly blurred.

When the Feds ask Cassel to do the one thing he said he would never do again, he needs to sort out what's a con and what's truth. In a dangerous game and with his life on the line, Cassel may have to make his biggest gamble yet - this time on love.

Book Review - Red Glove

Red Glove
Author: Holly Black
Series: Curse Workers #2
Genres: Paranormal, Urban Fantasy | Young Adult
Release Date: 14th June 2011
Publishers: Gollancz
No. Pages: 272
Source: Borrowed
Rating: 
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After rescuing his brothers from Zacharov's retribution and finding out that Lila, the girl he has loved his whole life, will never, ever be his, Cassel is trying to re-establish some kind of normalcy in his life. That was never going to be easy for someone from a worker family that's tied to one of the big crime families, and whose mother's cons get more reckless by the day. But Cassel is coming to terms with what it means to be a transformation worker, and he's figuring out how to have friends.

Except normal doesn't last very long. Soon Cassel is being courted by both sides of the law and is forced to confront his past- a past he remembers only in scattered fragments, and one that could destroy his family and his future. Cassel will have to decide whose side he wants to be on, because neutrality is not an option. And then he will have to pull off his biggest con ever to survive..

Book Review - The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

 The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

Author: Holly Black

Standalone

Genres: Vampires, Paranormal | Young Adult

Release Date: September 3rd 2013 

Publishers:  Little Brown

No. Pages:  419

Source: Purchased

Rating:

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Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in a decadently bloody mix of predator and prey. The only problem is, once you pass through Coldtown's gates, you can never leave.

One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of this massacre are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them the only way she knows how: by going straight to the wicked, opulent heart of Coldtown itself.

Book Review - White Cat

White Cat
Author: Holly Black
Series: Curse Workers #1
Genres: Paranormal, Urban Fantasy | Young Adult
Release Date: 4th June 2010
Publishers: Gollancz
No. Pages: 310
Source: Borrowed
Rating: 
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Cassel comes from a family of curse workers - people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, all by the slightest touch of their hands. Since curse work is illegal, they're all criminals. But not Cassel. He hasn't got the magic touch, so he's an outsider - the straight kid in a crooked family - as long as you ignore one small detail:
He killed his best friend, Lila.

Now he is sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat. He also notices that his brothers are keeping secrets from him. As Cassel begins to suspect he's part of one huge con game, he must unravel his past and his memories. To find out the truth, Cassel will have to outcon the conmen.