Stolen Away by Alyxandra Harvey

For seventeen years, Eloise Hart had no idea the world of Faery even existed. Now she has been abducted and trapped in the Rath of Lord Strahan, King of Faery. Strahan was only meant to rule for seven years, as Faery tradition dictates, and then give up his crown to another. But he won’t comply, and now chaos threatens both worlds. The only one who can break his power is Eloise’s aunt Antonia-and Eloise has become his bargaining chip.

Eloise will need the help of her best friends Jo and Devin, along with the other Fae captives of Strahan’s hall. With a whole world of Faeries out to get her, Eloise, her Fae protector Lucas and the mysterious Eldric, must stop Strahan both worlds are thrust into complete chaos…

I completely forget how much fun it is reading an Alyxandra Harvey title. Stolen Away is no exception. She writes so easily and within seconds you know the set-up, who the main characters are and you just love them to bits.

Stolen Away is told from both Eloise and Jo's point of view in alternating chapters - something I did not expect but which I loved. Both girls have strong individual personalities and they are girls you want to be mates with. But they are also both flawed characters and it is a testimony to Ms. Harvey's writing that she so easily and so quickly gets you INTO their lives without much hassle. Some readers may think that things move too fast, that we only scratch the surface before things go pear shaped, but that is part of the appeal because we get to know the girls really well as they go through their travails.

Sadly, we do not get to know Devin very well and I had a tiny crush on him as he is my kinda guy. The story, as I mentioned before, moves really fast and yet we spend enough time to develop crushes on both Lucas and Eldric, the two (separate) love interests. Because not only does Eloise have her own knight in shining armour in the shape of Lucas, but Jo finds Eldric, the "enemy" a very tasty young morsel. I loved that there was no love triangle. I loved that Eloise doubted Jo's taste in boys, as Eldric was suitably dark, mysterious and a bit of an ass. But with a reason of his own and a destiny of his own.

Okay, I admit, this is a rubbish review as it is gushy but I just plain loved Stolen Away. I loved the plot, the characters and the writing. Voice is queen here and I genuinely admire Ms. Harvey for stealing me away from the mundane last few days of 2011 to let me play in Faerie, even if it is a bit dark and dangerous.

It reminded me strongly of Holly Black's Tithe but is far less gritty. But all the traits that made Tithe such a good read is in Stolen Away - great characters, strong world building and a plot that rockets ahead. Highly recommended!

Find Alyxandra Harvey's website here. Stolen Away is published on 5th Jan here in the UK by Bloomsbury Kids.

Haunting Violet Competition Winner!

Using Random.org I've picked a winner from the comments and the winner is …….

Bella

I'll be contacting you shortly by email to sort out where to send your copy of Haunting Violet to.

Congratulations!

Haunting Violet by Alyxandra Harvey Review and Giveaway

Synopsis

Violet Willoughby doesn’t believe in ghosts, especially since her mother has worked as a fraudulent medium for a decade. Violet has taken part in enough of her mother’s tricks to feel more than a little jaded about anyhting supernatural.

The ghosts, however, believe in Violet and she’s been seeing them everywhere. One ghost in particular needs Violet to use her emerging gift to solve her murder . . . and prevent the ghost’s twin sister from suffering the same fate.

I was lucky enough to meet Alyxandra Harvey last month and get an early copy of Haunting Violet which I started on the way home and devoured over the next couple of days. I'm a massive fan of Victoriana coupled with the paranormal so was super-excited to read it. Violet has had a difficult start in life - daughter of a single parent who turns to mediumship as a way to make ends meet. Gradually, Celeste Willoughby becomes more respected and her clients more famous. Her daughter Violet is not only dragged along to all of the seances but also has to take part rigging up all the gadgets which trick the desperate into believing that their loved ones really have returned from the grave.

Violet dreams of a life outside of the seances but can't see a way out. Her only friend is Colin, a boy who works for Celeste, and Elizabeth - daughter of Lord Jasper who was a keen member of the Spiritualist church. Violet, Celeste and Colin find themselves at Lord Jasper's country estate in Wiltshire to perform a seance for the best of society. It is here that the bulk of the action takes place. Violet is an interesting combination of the worldy-wise and the innocent. She would rather walk around in Whitechapel than the fields of Wiltshire but is shy around boys and unsure of her appeal. I really felt for her as she tried to remember the many rules that bound her when in society - she is only able to be herself around Colin. While Celeste is a terrible fraud using the sort of tricks that were common at this time Violet is completely unprepared when ghosts start to appear to her unbidden. At first she hopes that she is merely tired but one in particular keeps on appearing and it is clear that she needs Violet to help her.

Part ghost story and part murder mystery, Haunting Violet fair skips along. I am totally in love with all the Victorian detail that Alyxandra has included, from what a lady should and shouldn't do, wear or say to the books of the day. I was cheering for her when she finally works out how she can solve all her problems and sympathised alongside her as she dealt with her awful mother. At the moment I don't know if there will be a sequel to Haunting Violet but I really hope there will be. Violet is a fascinating character who I'd love to see more of.

GIVEAWAY!

To celebrate the release of this fabulous book we have one copy of Haunting Violet to give away. This competition is open to UK people only and one lucky winner will be taken from the comments. We'll pick a winner using random.org so please include an email address in your comment so we can contact you to let you know you've won and find out where to send your prize. The closing date for the competition is Tuesday 28th June.

Good luck!

Haunting Violet Book Launch

I was so excited to be invited by the lovely people at Bloomsbury to the Alyxandra Harvey meet and greet yesterday held at the Bloomsbury offices. I arrived, a bit overheated but right on time (I got a bit waylaid on Oxford Street and found myself having to rush!) to find a fabulous group of bloggers already there. I met the lovely Carly from Writing From the Tub Karen from Teenage Fiction For All Ages and Sammee from I Want To Read That. We were whisked upstairs to meet Alyxandra who is, quite frankly, one of the most inspirational young adult writers I've met.

Here we all are with a copy of her latest book, Haunting Violet.

From left to right: Sammee, Karen, Alyxandra, Carly and me. Massive thanks to Carly for this photo.

I knew Haunting Violet would be right up my street and I'm already a quarter of the way through having started it on the train home last night. Alyxandra said yesterday that she loves research so much that she sometimes gets carried away and could forget to write the actual book. This is so apparent in Haunting Violet and she gets the Victorian tone so right. One of my favourite authors is Sarah Waters and I'm getting exactly the same feel of authentic setting alongside a strong thread of the supernatural in this book. Anyway, I'll save this for the review and giveaway at the end of June!

We were lucky enough to have Alyxandra all to ourselves and asked a whole load of questions about her writing, the books she has planned and the upcoming next book in the Drake Chronicles. I was struck by just how hard Alyxandra has worked for her success. She began writing at fourteen and had written a massive twenty-six books before she landed an agent. Ironically it is Haunting Violet that got her her agent but the Drake Chronicles were published first (Bleeding Hearts, the fourth in the series is out in October in the UK by the way).

I was struck by just how passionate Alyxandra is about her fans. She obviously thoroughly enjoys interacting with them and discussing their ideas and thoughts. We all chatted for a while about her books, writing habits (an average size novel normally takes her around three months to complete) and interests (historical fiction from Egyptian to Regency and beyond and the paranormal genre). I think we could have happily talked to her for hours. To celebrate the upcoming Haunting Violet release there was an amazing cake which we all admired before devouring.

Haunting Violet is released on 4th July in the UK and, as I mentioned, MFB will be doing a giveaway at the end of June to celebrate. Alyxandra is currently doing a tour of the UK, details of which can be found here.

Alyxandra Harvey is coming to the UK

Fans of Alyxandra Harvey, author of the fantastic Drake Chronicles, watch out - she's coming to the UK! She's here to promote her new stand-alone novel Haunting Violet which I must say sounds brilliant. Check out the gorgeous cover and synopsis.

Violet Willoughby doesn’t believe in ghosts, especially since her mother has worked as a fraudulent medium for a decade. Violet has taken part in enough of her mother’s fake séances to feel more than a little jaded about anything supernatural. That is until she and her mother pay a visit to Rosefield House.

Suddenly Violet is seeing the dead all around her. She is haunted day and night, and one spirit in particular refuses to leave her alone. The ghost of a drowned girl needs Violet’s help to solve her murder. Violet must learn to use her new-found skills before the killer strikes again!

I'm incredibly excited as it's also set in Victorian England so I've got high hopes it'll be my cup of tea.

Here's where you can see her: -

7pm Tuesday 24th May
Alyxandra will be talking about Haunting Violet in the Simpson Room at Waterstone's, 203 / 206 Piccadilly, London W1J 9HD
Tickets priced £2 redeemable against a copy of Haunting Violet on the night
Tel: +44 (0)20 7851 2400

4:30pm Wednesday 25th May
Alyxandra will be signing copies of the Drake Chronicles and Haunting Violet at Waterstone's, 4 / 5 Milsom Street, Bath BA1 1DA
Tel: +44 (0)1225 448 515

11:30am Saturday 28th May
Alyxandra will be appearing at the world famous Hay Festival with Marcus Sedgwick, author of Revolver and White Crow
Tickets priced £4

I'm looking forward to this one and will be reviewing Haunting Violet later in the year.

My Love Lies Bleeding Competition Winners

And the two winners are:

Michaela D

and

Tam

Thanks so much for entering! Hope you enjoy MLLB as much as I did. And thanks to Bloomsbury for letting us run the comp.

My Love Lies Bleeding by Alyxandra Harvey

Synopsis:

The Drakes are rather different to your usual neighbours. They are vampires and some of the members of the family date back to the twelfth century. One of the children, Solange, is the only born female vampire known and, as such, she poses a direct threat to the vampire queen.
Her best friend Lucy is human, and when Solange is kidnapped Lucy and Solange’s brother, Nicholas, set out to save her. Lucy soon discovers that she would like to be more than just friends with Nicholas. But how does one go about dating a vampire?

Meanwhile, Solange finds an unlikely ally in Kieran, a vampire slayer on the hunt for his father’s killer . . .

WARNING: Walk away now if you have issues with clever humourous writing and a bit of reworking of the vampire genre. Nothing about this novel is what you expect, even if you've had your fill of Twilight and Lestat.

Do stay however if you're interested in this brand new novel from Bloomsbury written by the beautifully named Alyxandra Harvey who writes with (sickening) ease.

I rolled my eyes - I won't lie - when I read the back cover and thought: oh my goodness, another vampire novel! Do I need this in my life?

And well, you know, after the opening couple of pages, I realised that yes, I did need another vampire novel in my life because this one is laugh out loud amusing in certain sections and so well written - did I mention that already? - I had to finish it. So I did. One sitting.

The main character for me anyway, is Lucy. She's the BFF. She's the one that keeps Solange - the almost vamp - grounded. She's amusing, she's fierce, she's clever and boy, can she hold her own against an entire family of slightly dramatic vamps.

Solange on the other hand is the one who is not entire comfortable with becoming a vampire. She's equally unhappy about being "courted" by various male vamps, to the extent where some of them try to kidnap her on a regular basis. By claiming Solange they not only "own" the only female vampire to have been born in several generations, because of some prophecy she may in fact become queen of the vamps. Tres dramatic!

My Love Lies Bleeding could have gone so bitterly wrong, being overly dramatic and emo, but instead it's a testament to friendship, family and a can-do attitude. It took me by surprise and I actually emailed the Bloomsbury PR person to say thanks for sending it because it was unlike anything I expected and I can irrevocably say that I genuinely enjoyed reading it. Without being in a vamp camp at all.

Although it works with the standard tropes: vampire family with a hot selection of vampire boys, the beautiful female vamp about to become one for all eternity, the vampire politics...it's Lucy inclusion in the novel that spins the entire trope on it's backside, stopping it from becoming a pastiche and making it something different.

It should get quite a bit of acclaim. I hope it does. It's a fun read. Lucy kicks butt, she has insane ideas and she pulls them off. Solange is probably too sweet and maybe a bit too trusting when it comes to who her family is, but she's been protected by her group of older male siblings who treat her like some precious ornament, yet they forget that she's as feisty as they are. Something else I liked was the proactiveness of Solange's parents - her mother is tough and a fighter, giving as good as she gets when the house gets attacked by a bunch of hunters out to kill them. The dad is the calming influence, the peacemaker, which is nice role reversal and one I heartily approve of. The vampire politics are dealt with very quickly so you know pretty soon how everything fits together.

When Solange is kidnapped Lucy obviously rushes to the rescue with Sol's brother Nicholas in tow. I thoroughly enjoyed the way these two interacted. Their attraction is very apparent yet it grows slowly in an amusing and juvenile way that had me laughing and cringing at the same time. I think I was smiling more than anything else whilst I read MLLB.

The chapters are written alternatively from Lucy then Solange's point of view. The author manages to keep the voices separate and engaging. You can tell she had a blast writing MLLB - the writing flows well and it (unfortunately for me) made it too quick a read. On the one hand I would have loved for it to have been a bit longer but on the other hand, I appreciate the pace it was written to and there was no protracted dull bits, which is a big plus point. The two main characters - Lucy and Solange - are both interesting and fun to spend time with. Nicholas sounds like a real honey and never mind the rest of the vampire siblings! More books are in the pipeline, as far as I know and I for one can't wait to read 'em!

My Love Lies Bleeding is published by Bloomsbury here in the UK in January 2010. Find Alyxandra Harvey's website here.

**COMPETITION**

I have been sent TWO copies of My Love Lies Bleeding to give away. In order to be in for a chance to win, leave comments below on your favourite vampire story of all time. This competition is open to UK entrants only. I'll announce winners (and post them) on 4th January.