Late November TBR!

Today I thought I'd share with you some of the books I'd really like to try and read by the end of November, but as this is a very over-ambitious amount of books and I don't do well when it comes to TBRs, we'll see how it goes. The majority of these books are sci-fi, because there's no better time to read sci-fi than during Sci-Fi Month!

I received eARCs of both of these from NetGalley, so I'd really like to get them both under my belt soon. I'm actually reading The Only Woman in the Room right now, and I'm planning to get to The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet very soon because I've heard nothing but great things about it.

I love historical fiction, and I love it even more when it has fantastical elements, so The Falconer has been on my radar for a while. I picked it up a few nights ago after I received an eARC of the second book, The Vanishing Throne from NetGalley, and I'm hoping to finish it soon and then jump straight into the second book and whack out some reviews!

I love the White Trash Zombie books and I always find them so quick and fun to read. If I can cross these two off my TBR during Sci-Fi Month I'll be a happy bunny, as I'd like to focus on Christmassy books in December and some other books I'd really like to have read by the end of the year.

I'm hoping I get to all of these. The Falconer and The Only Woman in the Room I'll definitely finish, and if I can read The Vanishing Throne and The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, too, then I'll have crossed three of my eARCs off my TBR before I dive into my Christmassy eARCs! If I can, though, I'd love to get to those White Trash Zombie books, too.

What are you reading at the moment?

Review | White Trash Zombie Apocalypse by Diana Rowland

White Trash Zombie Apocalypse

by Diana Rowland

My Rating:

Our favorite white trash zombie, Angel Crawford, has enough problems of her own, what with dealing with her alcoholic, deadbeat dad, issues with her not-quite boyfriend, the zombie mafia, industrial espionage and evil corporations. Oh, and it’s raining, and won’t let up.

But things get even crazier when a zombie movie starts filming in town, and Angel begins to suspect that it’s not just the plot of the movie that's rotten. Soon she's fighting her way through mud, blood, bullets and intrigue, even as zombies, both real and fake, prowl the streets.

Angel’s been through more than her share of crap, but this time she’s in way over her head. She’ll need plenty of brainpower to fit all the pieces—and body parts—together in order to save herself, her town, and quite possibly the human race.

You can check out my reviews for the first two books in this series, My Life as a White Trash Zombie and Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues, here and here.

I love how shamelessly fun these books are. I loved this series since the moment I cracked open the first book, and that's all down to Angel; she jumps off the page and I love her. Seriously, if you're looking for a fresh urban fantasy series then I highly recommend this one!

I have to be honest, I didn't like this one quite as much as I liked the previous two books, but I still really enjoyed it. I fly through these books, and this one was no different; I'm pretty sure I managed to get through this one in just a couple of days, and if I hadn't been working I could have easily read it all in one sitting, that's how readable this series is.

Compared to the previous books, the plot of this one felt a little all over the place and ended up being very different to what I was expecting. A lot happens in this book, and yet I came out of it with more questions than answers. That's not an entirely bad thing, this, after all, is only the third book in what is an ongoing urban fantasy series, and urban fantasy series have the tendency to be quite long; I think of them as the literary equivalent of a TV show, and each book is a new season.

Still, this book felt like a bit of a filler compared to the others, but sometimes we need the fillers and we need to set the stage for the next big story arc. Angel's relationships seemed to take more of a centre stage in this book, particularly her relationship with her father; it was nice to see a little time dedicated to the two of them. I also appreciate that Angel still calls Marcus out on his bullshit when he's being a pain in the backside.

Having said that, I did feel like Angel was a little too forgiving in this book towards one particular character, one who I'm afraid is only going to continue to have a bigger part in the series. He treated her appallingly (not to worry, there's no love triangle in this book!) and, honestly, I really wanted her to drown him.

Something else I'd like is to see Angel have a few more relationships with women. Two new ladies were introduced in this book, one of whom seems to have the potential to become a good friend of hers. For the most part, however, all of Angel's relationships are with men and I'd like to see some more positive female relationships around as the series continues; particularly as two of the big antagonists of the series so far - Dr Charish and Angel's mother (granted, she's dead, but we know from what we've learned that she wasn't all that great) - are women.

So I didn't love this one quite as much as the others, but I still really like this series and I'm looking forward to picking up How the White Trash Zombie Got Her Groove Back soon!

Review | Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Signal to Noise

Silvia Moreno-Garcia

My Rating: 

Mexico City, 1988: Long before iTunes or MP3s, you said "I love you" with a mixtape. Meche, awkward and fifteen, has two equally unhip friends - Sebastian and Daniela - and a whole lot of vinyl records to keep her company. When she discovers how to cast spells using music, the future looks brighter for the trio. The three friends will piece together their broken families, change their status as non-entities, and maybe even find love...

Mexico City, 2009: Two decades after abandoning the metropolis, Meche returns for her estranged father's funeral. It's hard enough to cope with her family, but then she runs into Sebastian, reviving memories from her childhood she thought she buried a long time ago. What really happened back then? What precipitated the bitter falling out with her father? Is there any magic left?

I knew absolutely nothing about Signal to Noise until I was lucky enough to win a giveaway on Twitter which led to SciFiNow sending me a box full of SFF books. One of those books just happened to be Signal to Noise.

If the cover isn't enough to spark your interest then the blurb certainly should be. A teenager casting spells using music in the '80s? Yes please! I didn't know how much I wanted to read a story about that until I was holding it in my hand. Add to that the setting of Mexico City and I'm a happy bunny, because I've been trying to read more books set outside the UK and the USA.

If you're looking for a book all about magic and how it works then this probably isn't the book for you; Signal to Noise is much more along the lines of magical realism than urban fantasy, which basically means that it's our world, with teenagers who've discovered magic, and you just have to suspend your belief and accept it. I really loved the concept of magic Moreno-Garcia created; as much as this book doesn't dedicate pages and pages to how the magic works you aren't left completely in the dark either. We discover how it works at the same time Meche discovers it, because while she might be able to wield magic that doesn't make her an expert over night.

Signal to Noise is instead a lot more focused on the repercussions of magic, and how it might really be used if a bunch of confused teenagers discovered it. Moreno-Garcia handled this aspect of the novel so well. I really believed the characters she created; Meche, Sebastian and Daniela are divine and raw and real, and when I finally closed this book I was disappointed that their story was over. Meche and Sebastian's relationship in particular was exquisite. Though there were times in the novel when I grew frustrated with them I never disliked them, because everything they do is understandable even when it isn't excusable.

It would be foolish of me not to also mention the music, which is a constant throughout this book. I wouldn't consider myself particularly knowledgeable when it comes to music - unless it's a Disney soundtrack, in which case I probably know too much. In fact as much I love music I know nothing about music genres; music aficionados out there would wince at my complete inability to tell the difference between punk and rock. Genres have just never really mattered to me, I guess - if I like a song then I'll listen to it, regardless of what it is.

I do love people who love music, though; people who love it so much that they can't go a day without listening to it, who know everything about music genres and the history of music and who love to talk about it. So as you can imagine Signal to Noise was a lot of fun for me to read, because Meche practically lives for music. Honestly I wish I'd been as knowledgeable as her when I was 15. If you're a music lover, then you definitely need to read this book.

If you can't already tell I fell head over heels in love with this book. I love it when books surprise me, when I come across a book I've never even heard of before and then love it, and I'll definitely be adding this book to my favourites list.

Review | Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues by Diana Rowland

Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues

by Diana Rowland

My Rating: 

Angel Crawford is finally starting to get used to life as a brain-eating zombie, but her problems are far from over. Her felony record is coming back to haunt her, more zombie hunters are popping up, and she’s beginning to wonder if her hunky cop-boyfriend is involved with the zombie mafia. Yeah, that’s right--the zombie mafia.

Throw in a secret lab and a lot of conspiracy, and Angel’s going to need all of her brainpower--and maybe a brain smoothie as well--in order to get through it without falling apart. 

You can find my review for the first book in this series, My Life as a White Trash Zombie, here!

After finishing the first book in the White Trash Zombie series earlier this month I just had to jump straight into the second one. What can I say? This series is addictive because it's so much fun; it doesn't shy away from the inherent ridiculousness we often associate with zombie stories - especially those budget zombie movies that make us wonder how they ever got made in the first place - and yet Rowland fills her take on zombies with such endearing characters and tongue-in-cheek wit that it's impossible not to enjoy these novels even when they border on the bizarre.

Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues basically takes off immediately from where My Life as a White Trash Zombie left off. A couple of weeks have passed, but nothing more, and we see Angel still enjoying the new, better life she had to die to achieve. But hey, why get frustrated with being undead when you can just chow down on brains and carry on as normal?

Soon enough, however, it's clear that Angel's in for a rough ride. She's held up at gunpoint at work and barely anyone believes her, she meets her new boyfriend's uncle who turns out to have a huge stick up his ass, only made worse when she discovers her boyfriend will do pretty much anything he says; including pretending that the two of them aren't dating, and somewhere out there the person who's been chopping heads off zombies may still be after them.

And to top it all off, Angel only has a few weeks to study for and take her GED or she'll find herself in prison.

I didn't enjoy this book quite as much as the first one, mainly because I've grown very fond of Angel and I was frustrated with all the crap she was being put through. Having said that, I did love that she didn't just lie down and take it; whenever someone called her a liar she put them straight, and whenever Marcus started acting like his uncle's pet she called him out on it. Angel doesn't take any shit, and I love that about her.

I still recommend this series, whether you're a hardened zombie fan or you're a newbie to the genre, and I can't wait to read the others!