Hold Me Closer, Necromancer

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride
Published: 10-12-10 by Henry Holt and Co.

Sam leads a pretty normal life. He may not have the most exciting job in the world, but he’s doing all right—until a fast food prank brings him to the attention of Douglas, a creepy guy with an intense violent streak.

Turns out Douglas is a necromancer who raises the dead for cash and sees potential in Sam. Then Sam discovers he’s a necromancer too, but with strangely latent powers. And his worst nightmare wants to join forces . . . or else. 

With only a week to figure things out, Sam needs all the help he can get. Luckily he lives in Seattle, which has nearly as many paranormal types as it does coffee places. But even with newfound friends, will Sam be able to save his skin?

I loved this book! It's about a college-aged protagonist and it doesn't center around a romance, which is something that's way harder to find than I ever thought it would be. This book has it all: some paranormal, some romance (well...I'm not sure if romance is the right word), tons of action, and it's filled with comedy. 

• Sam - A sarcastic college dropout with a crappy minimum wage job and a smart mouth, Sam is awesome. He's funny even in the strangest of circumstances and all of his reactions to what's going on feel realistic.
• humor - Even beheadings are hilarious happenings in this book! Seriously, funny beheadings. Usually paranormal YA books take themselves pretty seriously and everything that happens is pretty dramatic. In this book, dramatic crazy things happen, but the mood is ridiculously lighthearted (in a good way). There are funny comments constantly.
• Ashley - Ashley is actually a pretty big reason I read this book out of all the books on my TBR list. I read the free ebook, Necromancer, which includes an excerpt from the book and the story Death and Waffles, which is about Ashley. I love waffles and this story has waffles and a dead girl with a serious hankering for them. She's the one who guides souls to wherever they go after death and she pops in and out of Sam's life and helps him out with a side a snark. 
• Sam's friends - When Sam disappears, his friends don't just freak out - they freak out and find ways to help rescue him, even though they are just normal people who either work in fast food, or were recently separated from their body. That's how awesome they are. Their freaking out is very entertaining and realistic, which makes me happy.
• butt-kicking - I love reading about action, but I'm not a fan of nonstop confusing action. This book has the perfect amount of butt-kicking, which is awesome, but still manages to be funny. It's action-filled and involves vicious lawn gnomes and skateboards used as weapons.

• basement - The only part of this book I wasn't a huge fan of was when Sam was trapped, for a large part of the book, in a basement. Of course, even then there were extremely entertaining situations, but I found that Sam was funnier when not confined to one place.

• "You don't have Hitler in your basement or anything, do you? Tabloids are always claiming he's still alive. Him and Elvis. Because I can't condone that sort of thing. The Hitler thing, not Elvis. I've got nothing against the King."       - Sam   pg. 101 (ebook)
• Ashley looked quickly about the room before she ran over to me. Despite her experience, I think my ability to get into new and life-threatening situations shocked her. Personally, I was hoping it was a phase that I would grow out of.       - pg. 287 (ebook)

5 robots

Extremely entertaining and hilarious story, highly recommended for fans of anything paranormal

1. Bass Ackwards and Belly Up

2. The Last Summer (of You and Me)

3. Footfree and Fancyloose

4. Hold Me Closer, Necromancer

Acquired: bought (ebook version)

Footfree and Fancyloose

Footfree and Fancyloose by Elizabeth Craft + Sarah Fain
Published: August 1, 2008 by Poppy

Best friends Harper Waddle, Sophie Bushell, and Kate Foster committed the ultimate suburban sin: bailing on college to pursue their dreams. Middlebury-bound Becca Winsberg was convinced her friends had gone insane until they reminded her she just might have a dream of her own.

Now the year is half-way through and their dreams seem within reach. Well, almost. Harper has managed to gain the freshman fifteen without ever being a freshman, though locked in her basement bathroom she finds inspiration and finally seems to be writing from the heart. Sophie is forced to leave her cushy Beverly Hills quarters and crashes on Sam's couch while looking for her big Hollywood break. Kate is doing aid work in Ethiopia, where she encounters family ghosts - along with Darby, the handsome but antagonistic Princeton student who thinks she's a dumb blonde who couldn't possibly care about Ethiopia "since there are no celebrities here." And when Becca finally emerges from her lovers' nest, it seems her relationship with Stuart isn't as perfect as she thought.

Even if "the year that changed everything" has sometimes been less than dreamy, these four best friends will always have each other.

So I recently read and reviewed the 1st book in this series, Bass Ackwards and Belly Up. It was an alright read, but nothing new. This book was not as enjoyable as the first for me because I lost interest in Harper's story and I didn't suddenly care about Becca and Sophie's stories. That left me with Kate's story - the only one that I thought was better in this book than the 1st. Things are predictable and again, there are 2 authors here...why isn't this book better than the 1st?

• Kate - I love that Kate followed up her European trip, which was full of her trying to do things for herself, with a trip to Africa to help others. Even though her story felt so different from everyone else's, it was different in a good way. She still dealt with some drama, but she handled it while doing something worthwhile.
• awkward sex - Whaaaat? Yeah. Awkward sex. I liked that the physical relationships in the book weren't fantasy-perfect. They were awkward and uncomfortable, less than ideal. Which obviously isn't great, but is probably much more realistic for the vast majority of readers.

• friends with benefits - It's probably safe to say that we all know how these situations end up - they don't work and things get awkward. I wish Harper could have worked up some courage to begin an actual relationship, instead of dragging us through this predictable situation.
• Sophie - I can't stand Sophie's storyline. She's so self-absorbed and she hasn't grown any since the 1st book. Plus she and Sam are in the same place they were in before - not together.
• Becca - Becca's story was so dull and forgettable. She freaked out and ruined her fairytale ending from the 1st book. I don't even remember why Stuart was a good pick for her, and nothing stands out from her plot at all. 

• Whoa. Kate stopped in the middle of the road and gave herself a mental shake. Clearly, the lack of rich, comforting, familiar American food was getting to her. If she'd had mac and cheese at any time in the last three months, she would never have had such a thought.            -  pg. 196  (ARC version)
• "Truth is, if George and I had just started dating like normal people, we'd be snuggling up watching skateboard videos right now. Instead, I'm stuck playing a never-ending game of darts with a guy wearing a giant moose head."       - Harper + Poppy  pg. 355 (ARC version)

3 robots

Disappointingly similar to the 1st book, but I was desperate for a college age character.

Acquired: swapped for on swap.com

1. Bass Ackwards and Belly Up

2. The Last Summer (of You and Me)

3. Footfree and Fancyloose

The Last Summer (of You and Me)

The Last Summer (of You and Me) by Ann Brashares
Published: June 5, 2007 by Riverhead

Set on Long Island's Fire Island, The Last Summer (of You and Me) is an enchanting, heartrending page-turner about sisterhood, friendship, love, loss, and growing up. It is the story of a beach community friendship triangle - Riley and Alice, two sisters in their twenties, and Paul, the young man they've grown up with - and what happens one summer when budding love, sexual curiosity, a sudden serious illness, and a deep secret all collide, launching the friends into an adult world from which their summer haven can no longer protect them.






This book was so dull and weighed down by wishy-washy characters and their endless deep thoughts. It was hard to care about the characters and what happens to them, because they were shells of characters to me. I bought this book because it was on sale and I was hoping for a good story about twenty-somethings from an author I like...but I think I forgot how long ago I liked the Traveling Pants books, and how I really only cared about 1 or 2 of those girls anyways. 


*I didn't actually love anything in this book. These are the things that kept me reading til the end, though I admit there was some skimming.

• Alice + Paul - When they finally get together, Alice and Paul are a couple that seems like they could actually work. They make sense, and it was obviously a long time coming. I wish they were together for more of the book.
• Riley - Riley is the spontaneous and fun sister. It would be great if we got to see her with friends besides her sister and Paul. They spent every single summer on the island, shouldn't at least one of them have other friends? We are constantly told how fun Riley is, but all we see of Riley is when Alice is worrying about her. Even the chapters from Riley's point of view are dull.

• mood - This book's tone takes a lot of getting used to. It feels so contemplative and sad. The word that comes to mind is melancholy. There's so much thinking...deep thinking, introspection, etc. So much thinking and not a lot of anything else.
• characters - It's like they all want to be miserable! They just think and think about doing something they want to do, but they never act on it. It was very frustrating to read.
• plot - Unfortunately, the plot is buried deep under all of the characters' worrying and wondering. And when things do happen, the events are met by even more thinking and worrying. Every character seems so isolated and trapped in their own head, despite the fact that they are presented to us as people that have grown up joined at the hip.

• "Is there really nothing?" she asked. She fixed him with a glare, daring him to ask her what she meant. If he did, honest to God, she would punch him.         -  Alice   pg. 115
• He wasn't actually taking something out of his house that was his, he recognized as he bunched it up in his hand and walked down the stairs and out the back door. He was taking something that he'd stolen. Two wrongs supposedly couldn't make a right, but he felt in his heart that sometimes they could.     - Paul  pg. 271

2 robots

Too much thinking, not enough anything else. It was a struggle to care enough to finish.

Acquired: bought

1. Bass Ackwards and Belly Up

2. The Last Summer (of You and Me)

Bass Ackwards and Belly Up (New Adult Challenge)

Bass Ackwards and Belly Up by Elizabeth Craft, Sarah Fain
Published: April 1, 2007 by Poppy

Harper Waddle, Sophie Bushell, and Kate Foster are about to commit the ultimate suburban sin - bailing on college to each pursue their dreams: write the next Great American Novel, make it as a Hollywood, and backpack around the world. Middlebury-bound Becca Winsberg is convinced her friends have gone insane...until they remind her she just might have a dream of her own. So what if their lives are bass ackwards and belly up? They'll always have each other.

      This is a book in the same style as The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but more predictable. The girls are older and their plots aren't as interesting as the Pants books, but this was still a pretty enjoyable read. There is a sequel that I will probably read as well. 

Reasons I love this book:

• Harper - Harper is the Tibby of this book. She's the girl that stays at home. Harper, despite being the cause of the girls' college rebellion, struggles with her book writing endeavor and feels like her dream pales in comparison to what her friends are off doing. Honestly, between her job, living arrangement, and sleeping habits, Harper felt the most like a college student to me, even though she wasn't in college. And I usually don't like plots where the character crushes on a teacher, but this one was interesting because Harper's no longer his student in this situation.
• Becca - It felt like everything went wrong for Becca even though she's the only one who did the expected thing by going to school, which is probably why she was easy to identity with. Everyone's had that feeling of 'what did I do to deserve this?' 
• ending - Even though I thought much of this book was predictable, I was pleased that everything wasn't all wrapped up with a happily ever after. There is a sequel and I want to see where this story goes because at times it felt like I was waiting for the real story to begin.

Huh, what?:

• Sophie's story - I don't have a problem with Sophie herself really, it's just that her plot was something I've seen dealt with so often in movies and TV shows. It's just completely predictable. From the guy she should be with vs. the Hollywood jerk she is with to the struggling to find work actress, there's nothing new here.
• Kate's love interest - I understand that there's not much time to develop each girl's love story when each girl only gets 1/4 of the book, but Kate's was too quick for my taste. Sure, there are people who you meet and instantly click with, but this guy is literally one of the only people Kate's shown talking to at all during her trip. 
• plot development - This book has been called The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants for college-aged readers. I would say the comparison stops at 4 friends being apart on different journeys in life. This book left me wanting each girl's story to be so much deeper and more developed. I feel this could have been accomplished, especially between 2 authors.

Favorite quotes:

• There was something about a seventeen-year-old high school graduate sleeping on Harry Potter sheets that lacked dignity. In fact, created a vacuum of dignity. Nonetheless, Harper had spent an intimate night with Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the grungy, half-finished basement she now called home.                    - pg. 57  (I totally disagree with this statement, but it was funny!)
• Kate leaned her elbows on the counter and smiled. "Let me explain. I have to stomp on some grapes. Today. It's very important. Any grapes will do." The clerk opened and closed his mouth, unsure how to proceed. Then he held his finger up, seeming to have an idea. He searched behind the counter, found a calendar, flipped through it quickly. Revelation spread across his face. "This is...American Thanksgiving tradition?"       - pg. 260 - 261

3 Robots

Despite the predictability this is a good read and I want to read the sequel.

1. Bass Ackwards and Belly Up

Acquired: swapped for on swap.com