Review - LOW RED MOON

Low Red Moon - Ivy Devlin
Genre: YA Paranormal
# of pages: 196 (ARC)
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Recommended for: HS & beyond!
My Thoughts
This was a very fast read for me - I read it in just a few hours. The story intrigued me from page one and had me hooked until the very last page. Definitely an enjoyable reading experience in terms of action and excitement!
- Characterization was actually pretty good. There were times, though, when the MC (Avery) and the love interest (Ben) seemed to show emotions prematurely or a little too quickly, but I guess that's fair and understandable if you've got a plot that needs to keep moving. It just made it a little hard to get a feel for the characters because a lot of times, their emotions didn't really make a lot of sense.
One cool thing about Low Red Moon was that I read it with no idea what to expect, so I was able to keep a pretty open mind. I thought the story would be in-your-face WEREWOLVES! And while those creatures are part of the story, it's...it's just done in a very artful, subtle way. Props to the author for really maintaining suspense throughout.
- As much as I liked Low Red Moon, at times it was a little on the confusing side. At times I felt really unsure of what was supposed to be happening and how prior events were connected. In my opinion, the book could have been longer.
- The ending, for me, could have been better. I guess the ending twist wasn't "twisty" enough, if that makes sense...

Quick Say: Low Red Moon was a fun, paranormal mystery thrill ride, though the plot itself, while engaging, was a little foggy. However, this book was definitely a pleasure to read. It was EXCITING and OVERALL ENJOYABLE, and so I would recommend it!
Content: nothing mature teens couldn't handle: characters make out a lot. Just FYI :)

Final Grade:
Check out other reviews of Low Red Moon by:
The Fiction Enthusiast
Mindful Musings
Reading Addict
Reading Extensively

New layout!

Hey everyone - it's up!
What do you think?
The ever-amazing Danny @ Dreamy Blogs designed the new and improved Imagination in Focus, and I think she did a spectacular job!

Oh, and I have a new button! If you have the time, would you discard the old one and add the new one?
I'm also going to be going to all your sites and making sure I have your buttons, just to be reciprocal!

:D

Feedback Results & Quick Word on Reviews

About a month ago, I put together a feedback survey for my blog just to see if you guys had any thoughts that could help me with blogging in the future. First off, thanks so much to my followers who filled out the survey - I was really blown away by the number of folks who took time to fill it out, so thank you so much!

And the feedback itself was pretty positive. The #1 thing that you all said could do for a change was the blog format and layout. That's good, because I'm having a custom layout being made as we speak, and it'll be up before October, so that's exciting.

One other thing I wanted to touch on was reviews and my reviewing style. I've been a little bummed with my reviews, to tell you all the truth, because frankly I think they're too long. I think they're too long, and that might be why they don't get the kind of feedback (comments) that they used to. So I want you all to know that I will be working on shortening my reviews - hopefully that will make them more readable. Because, from the point of view of the one making the post, the best way to see feedback - and know that people actually give a hoot and read your stuff - is comments. I have a pre-New Year's resolution to get more active on the amount of comments I leave on yall's blogs. Even if it's just a quick "hey, great review/great post!," there's always something that can be said. So that's what I'm going to work on.

Thanks again, folks, for stickin' around. Right now I have 2 reviews and 2 other posts I'm working on. Have an awesome day :)

Full review - THE REPLACEMENT

My teaser review, originally posted August 18, can be found HERE.

The Replacement - Brenna Yovanoff
Genre: YA Fantasy/Horror# of pages: 343 (ARC)
Amelia's Age-Level Recommendation: 15+
My Thoughts:I absolutely adored the originality of The Replacement. I think the fact that this is the author's first published book is phenomenal. The story's major strength was in its imagery and attention to detail. The eerie town of Gentry and the House of Mayhem under the slag heap were so detailed, so vividly imaginative, that it turned Replacement from a fun book to an edge-of-the-seat thrill ride.
The characters were also fleshed out very well and very creepily, I might add. The Morrigan and the "creatures" of her court were so hideously delightful, unlike anything I've read before. I liked how they were portrayed, too. They weren't evil, and yet they were so creepy and so ominous that you couldn't help but feel apprehensive. Side note: Don't you just love it when books make you FEEL? Though the story deals with 'changelings' I liked how The Replacement seemed to have its own original, tailor-made folklore. Never once did the word 'faerie' get attached to any of the characters, therefore I felt like I was reading a brand-spanking new take on an old concept. I'm almost positive you haven't read anything like this before.
As to the MC himself, Mackie Doyle is one of the most endearing, likable and heroic guys I've seen in YA fiction in a loooooooong time. You could not find a better guy to root for in a story like this. His voice is perfect.
All these things being said...
I would be lying if I said that this book exceeded my expectations. I have a major bone to pick with whoever wrote the synopsis that goodreads posted for this book. What happened was I went into the book thinking it was going to be like "X" and what I got was "Z" instead. It's not the author's fault that I was expecting this book to be different... so I'd say don't pay a lot of attention to the synopsis on goodreads, because what it says the story is about is a little different from what's actually in the book, and so it made reading a little confusing. Also, once again (and I say this a lot) I had issues with the pacing of the story. Way too much high school melodrama subplots and not really enough of a focus on the "creatures" until halfway in.

Note: sometimes high school subplots or focus is a good thing, because it sets up the story and adds more of a flavor to what is going on, including backstory (a good example of this is NEVERMORE by Kelly Creagh) but here, in my opinion, it just proved distracting

Replacement's thriller/suspense tone was offset by high school popularity issues, two chapter-long parties (with drinking of course, because if you have a story about teens you HAVE to include beer) and 6 pages to describe 1 concert. It may sound like nitpicking, but in a fantasy story with horror overtones, those things got REALLY distracting and for me threw the pacing off. There were also a few characters who seemed to be thrown in for no real purpose (like Alice), and other characters who didn't seem very developed. For example, a large chuck of the story has to do with Mackie's relationship with his parents and sister, and I didn't think there were near enough scenes that really explored those dynamics, so when the climax rolled around...it kind of missed that emotional home run. **Plus it seemed like the book couldn't make up its mind about Mackie's characterization**: supposedly Mackie is so different from everybody else and also a "freak," yet he has a large support system of friends and at least two girls interested in him. That doesn't really say "freak" and "loner" to me, so it was hard for me to really wrap my mind around Mackie, because he seemed a little contradictory in character portrayal.
And to be real honest (which is why I have this blog), the ending segments were a little too convenient. **For those of you who have already read this, I'd love to get your thoughts on this, too** The story started out moderately-paced, then raced to finish itself. It just kind of seemed like the "confrontation" wimped out a little. That's not going to make a lot of sense, probably, unless you read the story.
I do want to remind everyone that the above opinions are just that, and reflect my reading experience. They are just things I noticed when I was reading that seemed to work for me, and seemed to not work quite so well. **As to content, be aware that there is strong language throughout this book, as well as some moderate-level sexual content, again just FYI for the viewer's discretion.

Final Rating:
I'm very grateful to Razorbill for sending me a copy of The Replacement, and I'm going to treasure my eerie-pretty ARC for a long time!

In My Mailbox [19]

Pretty steady week. I've still got 2 books in transit from Amazon

(PS - if you are a college student, this year you can sign up for *FREE* Amazon Prime)

I swapped with Natalie @ Mindful Musings and gotLow Red Moon by Ivy Devlin - which I finished and will review later this week.

What did you all get?

Ohh, PS again! The TOMS founder guy came to our school the other day:
He is one tan dude :) TOMS are awesome shoes, by the way. Hooray for TOMS!

Have a great week, everybody!

(Ecclesiastes 9:17)

Hip Hip Hooray for 400 Followers!

Hey everybody -
just want to say a big WOWEE because Imagination in Focus hit 400 followers yesterday!
I honestly can't believe it.
Thank you all very much - it means the world to me to have such loyal, fun followers who actually read all the weird stuff I post :)

Special thanks to Natalie at Mindful Musings who has been a mentor and friend from Follower #1, and to Juju @ Tales of Whimsy, Melissa @ I Swim for Oceans, Steph @ Steph the Bookworm, Christina @ Reading Extensively, and all the other fab folks who stop by to read, comment, and talk about books!

Have an awesome weekend, folks! Thank you AGAIN!

PS - watch for a GIVEAWAY coming soon!

Book Blogger Hop & Follow Friday!

It's almost Friday again!
This week, for the first time I'm doing Follow Friday, hosted by Parajunkee at Parajunkee's View
This week our hostess asks:

My question for you guys, favorite YA, or do you stick to the adult reads?

YA is definitely the bulk of what I read. A little variety is always good, and usually when I shake things up, it's either historical fiction or "basic grownup" fantasy. I usually consider YA & MG together, but sometimes when I get a little tired of "teen voices" I'll go hang out with middle-school age characters, and vice-versa. Young Adult fiction has enough variety as it is!

And I'm also doing the Book Blogger Hop!
If you're new to this site, welcome! Please let me know what your link is so I can follow you too!
Love to see you again :)