Review: Hollow City (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children #2) by Ransom Riggs

I was lucky enough to get to see Ransom Riggs back in January, when he was here with Rainy Day Books.  It was very interesting to hear him talk about how he started collecting the old photographs that he used for these books.  Enough that when I went to a flea market/antique store a few months ago I actually ended up buying old pictures, thinking maybe I could try to do a story like that myself.  I don't know that I will.  Maybe I should just send the ones I found to him and let him see if he can do anything with them.  That is where I actually got this book, got it autographed, but not personalized.  And then I took it in and donated it to the high school library where I work.  I just didn't know when I'd get around to reading it, even though I did enjoy the first one for the most part.  But, it just wasn't the kind of story that sucked me in right away, so it was harder to pick up and read.  Once I did, it still took a bit to remember bits of it, but eventually I got back into the story where it was at, and was able to read it quickly at that point.  There will be just a few spoilers in this review since it is a sequel but only if you haven't read the first one yet.

Jacob is our main character.  And he was from the present day.  But stumbled into what is called a "loop" which is kind of a time loop, that was used by children that were called peculiar.  The one that was near where his grandfather lived, and when he did that, he ended up getting involved with the group of children that were with Miss Peregrine.  And they are now being hunted by another form of peculiars, called wights.  These wights have captured all the other headmistresses like Miss Peregrine. They were even able to get her, until Jacob and his friends got her back.  But now they can't seem to get her to turn back from a bird. So they journey to London to try to get help.  They must deal not only with the dangerous wights, but also monsters called hollows, and other people that might be out to get them, as well as World War II that is going on at the time. 

As with the first book there are photographs worked in.  This time there are many that aren't as peculiar as the last book, but they fit in mostly with the story.  And we are left at the end hanging a bit, so that now I'm ready to read on in the next book.  Which I have no idea when it will come out.  One really cool thing though, is that supposedly Tim Burton might be making a movie of the first book, according to the author when I saw him in January.  I can think of no one else that would be as perfect to do this.  So I recommend this to those who read the first book and were intrigued with the characters and keeping up with their adventures. 

Ransom Riggs with me.

A to Z April - J: Journalism?

Okay, I'm kind of stretching for today.  Wasn't sure anyway what to do for J, journaling was my other idea.  But, I decided to use today's post to get some help from my followers and anyone else who stops by.  On May 8th, I am so excited to get to be a moderator for an author panel at the bookstore where I work part time.  It is the Pitch Black Dark Days Summer Tour, and includes the authors:  Kelley Armstrong, Kiera Cass, Kimberly Derting, and Danielle Paige.  I'm so excited because Kiera Cass is the author of one of my favorite series, The Selection series, and the final book in the series, The One, comes out this May and I can't wait to read it!  Danielle Paige is the author of the exciting new book, Dorothy Must Die.  Kimberly Derting is an author I just fell in love with from reading her latest book, The Taking.  And Kelley Armstrong is an author I have yet to read, other than short stories, but am still very excited to meet.


So, to me, journalism is reporters, telling the news, interviews, magazines, newspapers, etc.  So I feel like I would love to have some ideas of questions you think I should ask when moderating the panel with these awesome authors next month.  Here is what I'm asking.  Please give me some question ideas in the comments below.  I will also make this into a contest.  Whoever comes up with the most original question, that I think is appropriate and perfect to ask the authors, I will purchase one of the titles from these authors and have it signed for them as a giveaway.  So think hard about what you'd like to know or what you would ask these authors if you had the chance to moderate this.  And keep in mind, it can be a question for just one of them, but even better would be something I could have all of them answer.

Can't wait to read your ideas!!!

Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff

First I have to say thank you to Razorbill Publishing and Netgalley for allowing me to read the e-galley of this title.  I have been a fan of Brenna Yovanoff since I read her first novel The Replacement, and then I got to meet her at a Maggie Stiefvater event in my hometown.  Maggie had two friends there, who were also authors, Brenna and Tessa Gratton.  I hadn't  heard of Tessa before, but I had read Brenna's book and was disappointed that I didn't know she would be there or I'd have brought my book to get autographed!  I also have enjoyed her book The Space Between, and have one from BEA that I have yet called The Curiosities:  A Collection of Stories, which also includes stories from Tessa Gratton and Maggie Stiefvater, and I got to meet them all together again at BEA this past summer!

But anyway, on to this particular book.  I was unsure at first what the actual story was going to be.  A ghost story, a serial killer mystery solved by a teen, or even just a plain old teen angst story.  Really, a little of all of these was in the story.  The main character is Hannah.  Her best friend Lillian, who died about 6 months ago, is now haunting her.  The death was caused by anorexia or at least some form of eating disorder.  Ever since then, Hannah has not been the same.  She comes out around people and smiles, but doesn't let them know what is going on inside.  Her old crowd of friends are still mostly friends, although one of them is really straying from Lillian's ways, and Hannah is less and less wanting to be around her.  Part of the problem for Hannah is that she is trying to figure out how much of the blame for Lillian's death can be put on her for either not making sure she got help, or even kind of helping her in small ways.
Along with the stress from this, it's been one of the hottest summers in her town, and there has been a murder of a young girl.  Hannah's aunt runs a photo processing place, about the only one left in town, and so of course the police use her store to develop their crime scene pictures.  Hannah sneaks a look at the photos before anything is released to the press, and she and Lillian see something that reminds them of a death from earlier on, that isn't necessarily being listed as part of the same crime.  And soon there is another girl found dead, with similar markings.  The killer has left all kinds of toys and stuff on the ground around the place where they leave the dead body.  Hannah and Lillian begin to be detectives and try to figure out what they can.  Now of course, what would a teen book be without some kind of romance?  A school bad boy, Finny, has caught Hannah's eye.  She's not sure why at first, he's trouble, and Lillian warns her to stay away from him.  But when he gets her bracelet back from another creep for her, she begins to see that maybe Finny isn't quite the boy everyone thinks he is.  In fact, she goes to his house, and learns a lot about him.
But, as Hannah starts to find more and more clues to the killer's identity, she even has a moment where she wonders if it might be Finny.  Especially when he is walking Hannah and her sister Ariel home, and they take a shortcut through the park, and end up walking right by where another girl's body has been dumped and left with the trinkets.
A lot of times I can get a list of possible suspects in my head as the story goes along, but this one I was in the dark until Hannah figured it out herself.  I think that is a good thing for the author to have done.  Says a little that you are surprised.  Although, I wonder if there could have been clues that I might find if I go back and read it again.  But that would require extra time, and giving up reading other e-galleys and ARCs and other books sitting around in my house waiting to be read.  So, that'll have to happen when I win the lottery or retire I guess.  But I definitely think this was a good read.  If you've read any other books by this author, you'll enjoy it.  And if you haven't, go ahead and read this, then go back and check out the others.  This will be published at the beginning of January, so put it on your TBR list.