Becky's Book Reviews

A kickass story with more bite than the average vampire novel. Disclaimer: A shortened version of this review also appears on Women24.com , a South African women's lifestyle website where I manage, amongst other things, an online books section. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead (Razorbill) For the past couple of years, I’ve heard a tremendous amount of positive things about the Vampire Academy series, and yet I held back for two reasons: 1 – The book hype monster 2 – I felt like I had read every kind of vampire novel out there and my fear of this not being any different resulted in me holding back on picking this up. However, this year, I finally decided to delve into the book and lo and behold, what an unexpected and pleasant surprise. The first in a 6-book series, Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy offers something refreshingly different in a genre that has long since reached its saturation point. The book takes place in a Vampire boarding school and incorporates a whole new take o...

Raru , SA's new online retailer, is having a competition specifically for all the book lovers out there.  All you have to do is take a few seconds to register on the website , then browse through the book department and write a review on any book you've read. The best reviews each week will stand a chance to win a Samsung Galaxy Tab 3, and there are some great book hampers (Some of which include the following books: Behind Palace Walls - Cay Garcia , Dis Koue Kos, Skat - Marita van der Vyver and Huisgenoot Wenresepte 1 - Annette Human amongst others  ) up for grabs! Competition runs from 11 August to 24 August 2014, so get writing!  The more reviews you write, the better your chances! Click here to visit the Raru website. Terms and Conditions Competition is valid from 11 August to 24 August 2014 Winners will be notified via e-mail Prizes cannot be exchanged for cash Reviews are subject to approval by Raru staff – inappropriate reviews will not be published and won't be...

In today’s feature, I’d like to welcome K.M. Randall, author of Young Adult fantasy novel, Fractured Dream, to my blog today. In her guest post, K.M writes about a subject that is an absolute favourite of mine: mythology, magic and fairy tales. Given that her book, Fractured Dream, is very much rooted in the world of fairy tales, I couldn’t think of a better topic that would be more suited to her – so, without further ado - here are the top 5 reasons she loves these fantastical elements in fiction. Five reasons why I love myth, magic and fairy tales in fiction . . . I’ve loved anything supernatural, magical or mythical in stories as far back as I can remember from the Bunnicula series by James Howe to anything by Madeleine L'Engle. So here it is, my five reasons why I love myth, magic and fairy tales in fiction: Escape: I like to get lost for a bit sometimes and go to a world where magic exists. I read all genres of books—nature writing and religion-based novels are my non-fiction ...

So, given that this cover’s already been doing the rounds, my post today is not so much a cover reveal as it is a squeeing-over-the-cover kind of post. Yup, the long awaited cover to the fabulous Cat Hellisen’s forthcoming children’s novel, Beastkeeper has been unleashed (ahem, sorry) into the wild (again, sorry. Not really). Cat, who is the author of When the Sea is Rising Red , House of Sand and Secrets and a host of wonderful short stories (Um, you should so, so, so read The Girls who Go Below by the way),  has taken a tale as old as time (Ok, I've reached cheese overload, I know) and reinvented it entirely. In fact, Cat’s said that her version is very loosely based on the fairy tale, so you should definitely expect twists in the tale… I don’t know about you, but I certainly can’t wait to get my hands on a copy. In the meantime, and to tide us over while we wait, here’s the cover in all of its beauteous glory: Look at the pretty. Just look at it. It feels like such a homage to ...

The deadly lure of a siren’s call awaits those who venture too close to the sea.   Disclaimer: A shortened version of this review also appears on Women24.com , a South African women's lifestyle website where I manage, amongst other things, an online books section.   Wake by Amanda Hocking (Tor)  I was first introduced to Amanda Hocking when I heard about her book deal with Pan Macmillan publishers. For those of you who don’t know, Hocking was offered a book deal after her the sales of her self-published novels shot through the roof, resulting in her becoming one of the best-selling, self-made authors we’ve seen to date. Before that I had not heard about The Trylle Trilogy, so when I picked up Switched, the first book in said trilogy, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Surprisingly, I really ended up enjoying it, but still ended up taking a break from reading the follow up books to Switched. In retrospect, I think I actually made a good decision as my experience with Wak...

Today on The Book Fairy’s Haven, I’d like to welcome South African author Melissa Delport. Melissa, who’s the author of dystopian fiction novel, The Legacy, has kindly agreed to write guest post on dystopian and science fiction as part of her book tour stop on my blog. Strangely enough, her post coincides with my most recent author guest post from Georgia Clark who, in her article highlighted 5 reasons why she loves the genre so much . Melissa’s take, while certainly in the same vein, delves into why she thinks this genre is still so popular, especially given the fact that there’s such an over-abundance of it. Personally, I adore the genre, so I’m hardly complaining… but, enough rambling from me, and over to Melissa (You can scroll down for more information about both the book and the lovely author). Why the sci-fi and dystopian fiction genre continues to be so popular (despite the fact that there seems to be almost an over-abundance of it) Dystopias and Science Fiction may go together...