Good YA book ( )

Being a Book Reviewer is not really easy as it appears to be as a considerable of effort goes into writing each review. Regardless of whether I’ve bought the book [cost not coming into play] or have won it in a giveaway, if I can’t give a rating of at least THREE STARS, I don’t post a review.

I had anticipated to get more from the book than had been realized when I got to the last page. What ruined the book’s storyline the most for me has been the age difference between the protagonist Lily, age thirteen; and the guy she got smitten by, aged seventeen. Come on now, she hasn’t even had her Sweet Sixteen birthday, the age for most girls where an interest in boys takes off. Lily is far too naïve to truly understand what love is all about and for this to happen so quickly between these two individuals. Perhaps being my age, I’m too old-fashioned to “appreciate” all this.

What makes all this even worse is that sexual relations with a prepubescent child, which I believe is what we have in the pages of this book, is generically called child sexual abuse or molestation, and is typically treated as a more serious crime. Given this, I feel a classification for this book as being one for young adults [YA] is definitely out of line, as is a classification of new adults [NA].

Don’t get me wrong; the book itself has a wonderful paranormal, page-turning storyline and had the ages been 17 and 21, the NA classification might be more appropriate for the readers it would attract.

Be advised the author has used British English in the writing this book, so the spelling and word usage might seem strange to those not familiar with it.

With the current ages of the two main characters in place, the dialogue being used, and the incorrect identification of the non-human characters in the book; the best I can give this book is 3 STARS. ( )

The Raven Sage: Part 1 Raven by Suzy Turner

This is one of those plots that sort of creeps along and holds you there for quite a while. Once you get to about 25% of the book it nails you. This does not have one of those page turner openings with the heart-pumping heart stopping hook. But Suzy Turner proves that you don't need that to make good stories work.

When we first meet Lilly Taylor- we don't know her name. In fact for all we know it might be eat- that's what her mother seems to say just as shes addressing her in the few times we witness any exchanges between them. I think this is to help jar the reader into understanding that Lilly's home life is nothing near normal. And, just when she thought things would continue in their horribly boring way her parents disappear. For Lilly this is equally as distressing as it should be for any young girl of thirteen years and yet it's somehow less so because she has a very strange relationship with her parents.

The one thing about Lilly is that she's always had this life and knows no other and she has had few friends up until December Moon, her newest classmate, shows up. Unfortunately due to circumstances Lilly will have to move away from December and from England to live with her grandfather in Canada until her parents are found.

Though the disappearance of her father and mother has some strangeness attached to it, Lilly doesn't know strange until she reaches Canada and her extended family in British Columbia near Vancouver. Lilly goes from a life of seeming imprisonment to a wide open wonderful colorful world that seems to have a magic to it that not only touches her heart but pulls her deep into it's mystique. What she doesn't realize is that she has a special connection.

Her grandfather Gabriel tries to slowly and carefully break some of the family secrets to her. Lilly is anxious and almost demands to know and soon she'll discover the deceptions that have been perpetrated on her and her world will be turned upside down. She's also destined to -at the age of fourteen- have her first true love.

Unfortunately the family secrets and new revelations about her life will begin to interfere with that part of her new-found happiness. It seems that Lillian's true surname is Tulugaq-not Taylor-and Tulugaq means Raven. Her family carry a gene for shape-shifting into Ravens. What's more her mother-that she grew up with-is not her mother at all. But the woman Vivian is a witch who has enchanted her father somehow and stolen both of them away from the family after her sister and mother died.(All of this occurred right after her birth.)

Lilly has the potential to shape-shift into one of two creatures. A raven or a cat (of some sort-usually determined by the persons character-I think). Lilly's true mother's family are cat shifters. Lilly is about to be be thrust into a secret world of vampires, werewolf, witches, shape-shifters and more.

You'll have to read to find out what Lilly might become.

Suzy Turner does an excellent job of creating her world where there is a special council of elders who make rules to govern all of these strange creatures. It turns out that more people than just Lilly have been victims of Vivian. And Lilly must come to terms with what she is so that she can begin to help in the search for her father who was being slowly brought to the brink of death by Vivian who uses certain special types of people to help extend her life ( at their expense).

This is a great story that proves once again that your hook can actually be your great ability to tell a great story and doesn't have to include a thrill ride introduction with several paced mind numbing thrills and terrors through out. There are plenty of conflicts and things to stimulate the readers imagination throughout this and Lilly is a truly engaging character from which we are introduced to the wonders of British Columbia and the rich world building of Suzy Turner.

This is definitely a great story for Young Adults and Mature Adults. I usually read science fiction but this fantasy with a small edge into the world of horror and the magical with potential for paranormal romance is quite a draw. It reads as though Lilly is growing up as the story begins to unfold and flower to maturity. I enjoyed it so much-when the last page arrived I was a bit heartbroken.

It's a good thing there are two more books. I got this one free as you may also be able to do and I'll definitely be purchasing the others.

J.L. Dobias ( )

I found this story an entertaining enough way to fill in a few hours of my time, but ultimately not enough to persist with it. I gave up about the bit where a 17 year old boy starts professing his interest in a 13-year old girl. Lily is seriously too young. I mean... I said to myself "I'm going to pretend she's fifteen" to force myself to continue with it.

She's also rather dull, and Turner's writing style is rather lacking (very much a this happened, and then this happened and here's why that happened - tell not show) and the conversations are unconvincing and stilted. It just feels awkward.

Lily deals with everything in a sort of meandering fashion, taking everything in her stride - from the neglect she experiences under her mother, to the disappearance of her parents, to being transported halfway around the world from the UK to Canada and being forced into a major social situation with more relatives than you can shake a stick at. Given her upbringing, I would suspect she would be severely socially retarded, but no, for some reason everyone likes her and she only gets tongue-tied when faced with the most gorgeous boy she has ever seen. Given she's only really gone between school and home, and doesn't watch tv, I can't imagine she's really seen much in the way of boys in general.

And then he announces that he is feeling drawn to her - for reasons we can only imagine. And I stopped reading and proceeded on to the next book in my reading pile. I might finish this at some point, but judging by the other reviews, it's not really worth the effort.

Was a free kindle book when I acquired it, so it's not like I'm not out of pocket anyway. I was only reading it because I finished the one I was reading (on my kindle) and didn't have my next (proper paper) book with me. I chose it randomly cos the author's surname started with T. I'm reading through the alphabet in order and it's time to read U. ( )

An interesting beginning to the Raven series, this book holds an air of mystery and intrigue that should appeal to most teens and tweens.

The main character, Lilly, is hard to connect with - not because the book is poorly written, but because it is indicative of her character. Lilly was kept protected and closely guarded, creating a socially backward child. When Lilly is finally socialized, she blooms but remains a difficult character to connect with. Her story is told from her point of view, but lacks much of the emotion I crave.

I enjoyed the story line and there is promise for the series, however, I was disappointed with the unoriginal vampire description and characters. Maybe this is because it is geared towards the younger audience with their craving to a kinder, more gentle vampire, but for me - it's already been done before.

This is still a decent read and did hold my interest. I wanted to see what exactly Lilly's story was, but at this point, I'm not sure I will continue with the series.

I received a copy of this book through the GR ER program. ( )