Red Glove by Holly Black

Summary/Cover Image from Publisher's Website:

Curses and cons. Magic and the mob. In Cassel Sharpe's world, they go together. Cassel always thought he was an ordinary guy, until he realized his memories were being manipulated by his brothers. Now he knows the truth—he's the most powerful curse worker around. A touch of his hand can transform anything—or anyone—into something else.

That was how Lila, the girl he loved, became a white cat. Cassel was tricked into thinking he killed her, when actually he tried to save her. Now that she's human again, he should be overjoyed. Trouble is, Lila's been cursed to love him, a little gift from his emotion worker mom. And if Lila's love is as phony as Cassel's made-up memories, then he can't believe anything she says or does.

When Cassel's oldest brother is murdered, the Feds recruit Cassel to help make sense of the only clue—crime-scene images of a woman in red gloves. But the mob is after Cassel too—they know how valuable he could be to them. Cassel is going to have to stay one step ahead of both sides just to survive. But where can he turn when he can't trust anyone—least of all, himself?

Love is a curse and the con is the only answer in a game too dangerous to lose.

Review:

Sometimes sequels are even better than prequels. It does not happen often, but when it does, it is nothing short of spectacular. Luckily, Holly Black’s Red Glove was one of those books. Spellbinding, unique, fast paced, Red Glove packs quite the punch to say the least.

It has been a while since White Cat left off, and Cassel is still dealing with the drama and mishaps that previously occurred. He is barley talking to his brothers- given the fact he can barely trust them-, and he is avoiding the girl of his dreams, thanks to the ridiculous curse of his mother’s, among other things. However, everything changes when the feds contact him after his older brother’s suspicious death. Learning things about the past as well as the current times, Cassel falls into yet another sketchy situation, leaving him torn between “good” and “bad.” What side of the game will Cassel fall on? Will everything with Lila ever get better? Only time and more pages will tell in this action-packed sequel.

In this addition, Cassel grew greatly as a character. He became someone I didn’t just “like” but “love.” For one, he is pretty kick-butt. He is cunning and manipulative at times, but he still is a huge sweetheart when it comes down to it. I especially loved seeing his relationship with Lila continue, as it caused lots of suspense and intrigue. Moreover, not only did the secondary characters in this also grew greatly, but they also played such a great role in the book as either the “bad” people or the “good” or even sometimes in between the two.

I also adored the plot of this one! It was filled with so many heart-stopping moments that continuously had me on the edge of my seat, dying to know what would happen next. There were many twists and turns involving not only the curse workers but the characters and their relationships as well. I especially loved the ending, as it completely amazed me becasue I did not expect it one bit.

Full of twists and turns, Red Glove is a book you simply cannot miss this spring season!

Now if I could only get the third one ASAP…

Grade: A-

Red Glove is now out!

Source: Galley Grab

White Cat (Curse Workers #1) by Holly Black

Summary/Image from Publisher website:

Cassel comes from a family of curse workers -- people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they're all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn't got the magic touch, so he's an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail -- he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago.

Ever since, Cassel has carefully built up a façade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his façade starts crumbling when he starts sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He's noticing other disturbing things, too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him, caught up in a mysterious plot. As Cassel begins to suspect he's part of a huge con game, he also wonders what really happened to Lila. Could she still be alive? To find that out, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen.

Holly Black has created a gripping tale of mobsters and dark magic where a single touch can bring love -- or death -- and your dreams might be more real than your memories.

Review:

When I was younger I read Holly Black's The Spiderwick Chronicles and absolutely loved them, so when the time began when I read YA novels, I couldn't wait to read her A Modern Faery's Tale series. Unfortunately I could never got into the first one, so as you can probably guess I was hesitant to read White Cat when I first heard of it, especially after hearing a lot of mixed reviews about it. Though when it ended up in my hands, I decided to put the negative things I heard about it aside and just see for myself what it was like. I mean it did look pretty great!

And while White Cat definitely was a lot better then I expected, I did have some problems with different aspects of it. 

One part I did enjoy was the whole premise behind White Cat. The idea of Curse workers was fascinating and something that I was always eager to learn more about. Since from the different kinds to where it got it's beginning to the political tension surrounding it, it always provided a new aspect to have me, as the reader, intertwined in the world of White Cat. At the same time, though, I felt there wasn't nearly enough explained about the whole idea and that bothered me in a way that brought down my overall enjoyment of this novel.

The characters were okay, not my favorite nor my least favorite. Cassel was someone who I could never personally find a connection to, but I can still see some readers relating to him in the way he always felt like the black sheep of his family. I liked his two friends- Sam and Dani- and Lila because they were somewhat fierce; sadly they were never fully developed, as were most of the characters in this book.

The plot always had different questions running through your mind. Such as 'Was Lila still alive' to 'Was Cassel more than he thought he was' to 'Would Cassel ever find a way to smart out the so-called villains in this story', and because of that, always had me flipping through the pages, eager to find out what was going to happen next. But after a while, I had the whole plot basically figured out because of predictability it had, which yet again brought down my enjoyment of the book. And while mentioning this, I often felt that Black's writing was somewhat choppy, always jumping from one scene to the next with no real transition.

As you can probably tell by now, I found a lot of different flaws within White Cat, though at the same time I did enjoy it in a way that will have me reading the next addition. Since in essence it's a good in between read that while has huge flaws, continues to have you entertained for the most part with some of the better aspects of it. And who knows, the next one could end up amazing me to no end.

Grade: C

White Cat is now out!

Source: Around The World Tours

Book Trailer: