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This is a new segment of The Blog I would like to introduce called Hey Now Book Disucssion. It’s a vlog with major spoilers about the book. I discuss plot and characters and ask for some opinions! Feel free to comment below on your thoughts and theories. 

This week I discuss Poison Princess by Kresley Cole, the first book in The Arcana Chronicles series. For a non spoilery review of the book check out my regular Hey Now Books review here

*Please note I meant disorder when I said disease at one point. My sincere apologies, but I was talking so fast I really didn’t realize it. 

Hey Now Books! Poison Princess by Kresley Cole

Title: Poison Princess (Book 1 of The Arcana Chronicles)

Author: Kresley Cole

Format: ebook 344 pgs. 

Rating: 4/5 Hey Nows 

                           

Poison Princess was the first book on my November Reading list, and I’m glad that it was. Firstly, the book is the first foray into YA Fiction for Cole whose other books are mostly in the adult fiction, paranormal romance genre. You can see this writing style in Poison Princess, there are semi-chaste moments in Princess that are hotter than some romance novels that have full on sex scenes. 

Princess centers around Evangeline “Evie” Green a wholesome, popular girl from a small town who has a big secret; she can hear voices and has foretelling visions of the apocalypse. Everyone, including her mother think she’s crazy, and Evie gets sent away to a mental institution so she can get better, but even with her medication the visions don’t stop. When Evie gets home all she wants is normalcy, but with the visions and whispers haunting her and the new bad boy in school that just doesn’t seem possible. After her visions, seemingly begin to come true and the event simply known as “The Flash” happens Evie, with the help of bad boy Jackson are on the road looking for her estranged grandmother who foretold the events that would come to pass. Evie soon realizes she is part of The Arcana, doomed to kill her own kind, with help from other Arcana that she meets along the way she must save the world or be consumed by it. 

Poison Princess is the type of book that has it all. It’s got mystery, a good heroine, a great anti-hero and a romance to root for. It took me a little bit of time to fully get into this book, when I first started it I surely was intrigued by it, but that is due to Cole’s fantastic prose style writing, and the commanding, yet nieve female voice she gives Evie. The first chapter might be a bit confusing as well until you realize what’s actually happening, but all and all it was a fun ride from beginning to end. 

Evie is a strong female character, although there are times you are annoyed by her naiveté and just want her to kick some serious ass you can’t help but still love her. By the time Evie finally gets her claws out it’s a little late in the book but you still are rooting for her. Evie is the Empress, one of the strongest cards in The Arcana she controls life, she can feel the trees, plants and vines all around her so when The Flash rids of that it also weakens Evie. It takes some time for her to actually start being badass again but she does it wonderfully and will for sure make her final show down with Death a whole lot of fun. 

Jackson is absolutely brilliantly written. I have both wanted to slap him and hug him all at the same time. Jackson is a man out of the Bayou, but a tough cookie. There is a mystery to him that I find to be very charming and fresh. He drives Evie crazy with his Cajun wit and his do or die attitude and in exchange I feel the same about him. There is a scene with him and Evie and that is so hot, I swear I was reading an adult novel. 

The first installment in The Arcana chronicles definitely leaves us wanting more. It resolves as much as it leaves open and the cliff hanger is not as much of a cliff hanger as it is a leg for the next installment of the series which should be out sometime next year. Overall Poison Princess is a fun ride, and great look into the world of the Tarot. It’s a stand out in the floded post-apocalyptic YA genre and definitely a good read. 


Hey Now Books! YA Reading List: November

Most people like to nestle up with a good book when the cold months come upon us, but unfortunately for me the T.V. season begins to call my name and with my DVR building up faster and faster I find little to not time to actually get my reading done; However, with the hiatus fast approaching I’ll be able to throw away the remote and put on my reading glasses. Here’s three books I’ll be checking out in November. 

                             

(Available on Kindle and Nook

No longer about babysitters and blonde twins from Sweet Valley High the Young Adult book genre has evolved into a juggernaut in the publishing world and everyone wants to get a taste out if. Adult Fiction writers have been trying their hand at YA for sometime now and the latest to join authors such as John Girsham and Sherrilynn Kenyon who have dipped their toes in the YA pool is Kresley Cole. Cole is a New York Times Best Selling Author mostly known for her  Immortals After Dark series. Although I haven’t read her adult series I was always hearing how great it was and that Cole knew how to write a steamy romance, but still kept her characters and plots as juicy as the sex scenes. When I found out she was writing something in a genre I love I had to give it a try.

Poison Princess is the first book in The Arcana Chronicles and follows the story of Evie Green, a pretty, popular, high school girl who just wants to be normal. Except as all stories go there is a hitch, Evie starts to see things, demonic, “we’re all doomed!” kind of things and she gets sent to a mental institution. When she comes back she tries to get back into her world of normal but things aren’t always what they seem. As with every YA book there is hunky, bad boy who steals our girls heart away, and in Poison Princess it’s Jack Deveaux. He’s cute, he’s Cajun, he’s got a bad attitude and a good heard. This makes him the perfect man for a tortured queen b princess, Evie. I’ve only read about 100 pages in the book and so far so good. When people said Cole knew how to write a good plot, they weren’t lying. I’m not nearly finished and I already want the second book in the series. 

                                 

(Available on Kindle and Nook

Libba Bray is one of The Goddess’s in the YA books industry. She writes some of the best period Young Adult Fiction out there, just read the Gemma Doyle series if you don’t  believe me.  When someone says, oh hey Libba Bray has a new book series out I simply jump for joy. This happened to me recently when my friend Sarin  tweeted me that her new series was out. 

The Diviners is about a girl named Evie. (The name Evie is such quite popular this year, huh?) who has been exiled from her home in Ohio to live with her uncle in 1920’s NYC, which is full of the hustle and bustle that one might expect. Her uncle is into the occult and Evie has an ability that scares her but is actually one that is mighty helpful. The book is mighty long and I haven’t started it at all but it looks like a good read filled with a great heroine, a fun mystery and just enough supernatural elements to keep the series  strong until the end. 

                                     

(Available on Kindle and Nook)                                

 I will admit that I have kept the Caster Chronicles on the back burner for years. I’ve always wanted to read it but I just couldn’t bring myself to it. When I learned that the first book of the series, Beautiful Creatures, was going to be a movie I knew that now was the time because I can’t help but be a sucker for source material when it comes to films, I just have to know the difference! 

Beautiful Creatures is rare in the sense that it’s told through the male perspective instead of the females, and it’s very interesting because I am sure the majority of Caster Chronicles fans are girls. The story centers around Ethan (yes every protagonist has either a name that starts with an E or is just named Evie. WHATEVAH, GUYS!)  who has a boring, small town life until he starts having a reoccurring dream about a girl he doesn’t know. Soon Ethan realizes the girl in his dream is Lana, the new girl in town. Ethan soon learns that Lana is a Caster (a person who can do a magic, pretty much a fancy terminology for witch if you ask me, but that’s okay.) Although Ethan is void of magic himself he can protect Lana from powerful magic which is a mystery of it’s own. It’s all very weird. But on her birthday Lana is to become claimed for light or dark. In the midst of all of this is supposed to be a lovely love cosmic love story between Ethan and Lana and I am once again a sucker for a good pairing and hope Ethan and Lana can do the trick while I try to stick through the Caster Chronicles. 

Well, there you have it folks. The books and series’s that will keep me occupied for the month of November. I hope these books can fill the void that the T.V. hiatus will ultimately bring and be sure to come back next month for my December list! 

*All images courtesy of Goodreads.com