The Kayla Chronicles and Devil's Kiss

[anitabuchan.livejournal.com]

12. The Kayla Chronicles by Sherri Winston

Kayla is a young feminist and future journalist. She is pressured by Rosalie, her best friend, into trying out for her school's dance group, the Lady Lions, in an attempt to prove they discriminate against girls with small breasts. It all goes wrong when Kayla actually makes the team. I loved this book, and I loved Kayla: she's sassy and funny, and even while her views on feminism are being challenged (can she be a feminist and still wear high heels? Dance? Kiss a boy?) she stays true to herself. I also enjoyed seeing how she grew over the course of the book, going from a shy girl who let her best friend push her around, to becoming a leader in her local feminist group.

It's a book that made me laugh and cry, so I definitely recommend it.

13. Devil's Kiss by Sarwat Chadda

Devil's Kiss begins with 15-year-old schoolgirl Billi SanGreal undergoing her Ordeal to become a member of the Knights Templar. There are a few problems with this: she's a girl (all the other Knights are boys/men), she's half-Pakistani, and she was raised a Muslim. She also hates the idea of being a Templar, which mostly seems to involve getting up really early for matins before doing lots of fighting and bleeding. However, her dad's the Master of the Templars, so she hasn't really got a choice.

The plot is very fast-moving, and soaked in Biblical lore. There are ghuls, the return of the tenth plague, the Grigori and the Archangel Michael - not to mention the Devil himself. I liked Billi a lot. She was very kick-ass, but I still sympathised with her desire for a normal life. I think the book could have been improved - I think it could have done with a bit more suspense - but it is Chadda's debut. And I liked it enough to want to buy the sequel, when it comes out.

Although one thing I definitely didn't get was why all the characters (except Billi) had Arthurian names. The name of Billi's boyfriend was also a little obvious. Hopefully it'll all be explained in the sequel.

Comments

[kairia.livejournal.com]

Both of these books seem extremely interesting! I'll be keeping an eye out for them - thank you for reviewing =)

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Devil's Kiss sounds AWESOME.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

These sound really interesting. I'll be checking them out!

[lady-schrapnell.livejournal.com]

I'd heard about The Kayla Chronicles, and it sounded a very interesting premise, so it's nice to hear such a strong recommendation.