Book Review: Haunting Violet by Alyxandra Harvey

Violet's mother is a fake medium and she uses Violet help have fake seances, so no one is more shocked then Violet herself when Violet actually starts seeing ghosts and spirits while on a visit to a wealthy estate for her mother's grand rising up in the world. Violet begins seeing the ghost of a girl who was murdered a year ago and starts to investigate which is difficult in a world where proper behavior and corsets rule the drawing room.

I should have read this such a long time ago as it's been sitting on my shelf for probably a year or more at this point. Harvey is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. I loved all of the details on how seances were faked and the slang of the day. Violet was definitely a kick butt heroine who knew to take help when it was needed. While I wasn't expecting the murder I do have to say that I felt Violet barked up the wrong tree for much too long. I also loved Colin. I like Harvey's romances a lot. Yes her characters fall in love but they don't get so lost in each other that the rest of the plot feels lost, which I really appreciate these days in a YA book.

Audiobooks

Now that I am working so much more (3 part time jobs), I spend a lot more time driving too and from work. When I got my new car with a cd player in it the one radio station that played music I actually liked had recently died and I had misplaced my ipod.  A few years ago I had done audiobooks but I had a hard time with them on my ipod.  This time I decided to check a couple out of the library.  I realized that when I listen to audiobooks I seem to get less anxious when I am stuck in traffic so I have decided to make good use of this time.

Since I started listening to audiobooks again I have listened to 20 books.  Sometimes I'll do a whole series and other times I'll do just one.  Unlike when I read paper books I don't seem to feel obligated to listen to entire audiobook until it's done (although I do sometimes decide to go back to somethings on paper).  I guess because the traffic is already making me miserable and I don't want to add to it.

I've listened to children's, YA and adult books and all different genres.  I float back and forth between things I want to reread but don't have time to and things I've been meaning to read but don't have time to.  There have definitely been times when I have sat in the car waiting to hear whodunnit, or the main characters great epiphany or even about a great first moment.

I am so glad I decided to give this another shot!

Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey

Charlie is a quiet nerdy kid and one night Jasper Jones, the town trouble maker shows up at his window asking Charlie for help. This leads to more trouble and difficulty then Charlie has ever experienced.

I thought this was going to be a murder mystery, but really it's a coming of age tale. More of the book focuses on Charlie growing up and coming to terms with himself, his best friend Jeffrey, his family and the town he is growing up in. Since I definitely did not like Charlie as much in the beginning as I did by the end I enjoyed watching him grow and change. 

Listening to this book was definitely a different experience. I guess it's the first time I've heard quite so much cursing in an audiobook since I had really been listening to a lot of children's stuff. I didn't realize how different it would sound then reading it if that makes sense. The cursing didn't take anything away and it is how teenagers talk sometimes so I don't fault the author for it, it was just different hearing it.  

Matt Cowlrick was the reader and even though his voices weren't all that different, he did a great job with different ways of speaking.  I always knew who was talking.

My bigger gripe was probably the long descriptions of the cricket game since I know nothing about cricket and it just felt like long stretches I didn't understand.

I've heard a lot of good things about Australian YA fiction.  I'm glad this made it's way here as I was definitely intrigued by it.  I'm a little bit behind on my Printz reading this year but I have two more months to wrap it up.