Heather Ostler

I don't like it when the main character has a secret withheld from him or her that is supposed to be "for your own good." I think something as life altering as being able to turn into an animal would require some prep time to think about. There seems to be no good way to tell your teen, "oh hey, by the way, I'm a were and so are you, sorry you thought you were human." Seriously? There are too many stretches for me in this book. I DNF'd it. Julia, is so clueless and accepting of all these revelations, I was hard pressed to believe she'd have an actual friend, much less one who "coincidently" is also not human. I just couldn't buy it. Maybe if Julia had a "voice" worth listening to, or the writing did more showing then telling, or if she didn't seem so naive. I needed more everything.… (más)

4STARS

The Siren's Secret is book 2 in the Shapeshifter's Secret series. But I think it does do well to stand alone, because I forgot most of book 1 Shapeshifter's Secret. My memory is not what it used to be. Julia has lots of problems to deal with this year. She has some good friends and some new friends too. It is a exciting adventure with secrets, powers, love triangle, sword fights and school.
The characters are rich and not many of them are human.

Julia is in boarding school where she is learning about her weretiger learning how to shift faster and control herself. Her mother is at the head of the guild and wants to kill her or at least use her. Her father Lancer is in charge of soldiers union who are fighting the guild. Lancer is royalty but he gave up his chance to rule to save Julia's life years ago.

Julia is kidnapped and taken into a pond of water which is a portal to the Siren's home. She is taken to the Queen of the sirens. She is told she is half siren. Julia finds that hard to believe than realizes she has been breathing and talking in the water. She is taken back to school and told if she wants to visit again and have more questions just come to the pond and call Riley. She will help her.

Julia is found when she returns right away and taken to her father and tells him about her being a siren and that her mom was a siren as well. Lancer tells her not to tell anyone else about her being a siren. Siren's are not trusted and are dangerous. They knew she was gone because Caleb had been in her dreams. She can only tell her best friend and roommate Sierra because she knows she was missing. Not to tell her boyfriend Terrence.

Caleb tells Julia that he saw part of a prophecy that showed Caleb marrying Julia. Julia does not want to believe him. She loves Terrence.

Their is so much happening in this story. It goes from one problem to another and doesn't answer a lot of the questions I have. So hopefully the next book will and it will be out soon. I plan to read more of Heather's work in the future. I think we need to know more about Sierra's family and past.
I am sure you will want to read this book fast and won't want to put it down till your finished reading it.

I was given this ebook to read and asked to give honest review of it when I was done by Netgalley.
publication: June 11th 2013 by Cedar Fort 320 pages ISBN-10: 1462112234… (más)

Eh... Sometimes I read a book that I just can't connect with. I really wanted to like this book. I tried soooo hard. I even read the whole thing when I wanted to stop 3/4 of the way in. But I just couldn't get the warm fuzzies about this one.

First off, the characters fell really flat in my opinion. Totally predictable. I never felt like I learned anything about them throughout the book. They also never seemed "real"-- if you know what I mean. The only word I can think of is lackluster. That's how the characters felt to me. Julia was alright, but she didn't wow me. I even had a hard time believing the whole shapeshifter aspect of her life. (That really could have been thought out better.) The best friend was ok. She was supportive and attentive. I liked her well enough. But the "villains" of the books I just didn't get. There wasn't much attention given to them to help me understand why they were supposed to be so diabolical.

The plot also didn't wow me. I was promised a fast paced action-packed adventure, but that is not what I got. Yes, the plot moved quickly but it felt more like the cause of that was due to the jumpy nature of the story instead of the "action." There were many gaps and questions that I had during and after reading that were never answered. That's never a good feeling as a reader.

One positive that I can say about the book is that there is a nice little surprise towards the end concerning one of the characers. I was rather surprised by some events. You'll have to read to see how that one plays out. I also thought the author did a nice job with her descriptions.

Like I said, I really wanted to like this book but it just didn't work for me. I love the cover and the idea behind the book, but I know I won't be reading any other books in this series. They were not for me.… (más)

Background: Julia is a teenage girl who lives in New York with her single, over-protective father. One day strange things begin to happen to her, she cannot control her anger, and her father becomes more over-protective than ever before. She learns that she is not actually from New York but from another place entirely, and the humans do not know it exists. She is pulled from her home into a new reality where she learns that her mother wants her dead, and she can change into a werecat of the most prestigious kind.

Review: I really enjoyed reading this book. I think that Ostler did a great job writing it. I loved the characters and their stories, and the world she created for them. Now that being said, I also felt like I had already read a very similar much loved story.

Julia, is a YA version of Harry Potter... Before people freak out, let me explain... Prestigious girl finds herself in a new world learning she is a werecat, there is someone out to get her and kill her, and she is stubborn and does stupid things which make it seem like she is helping, only to get her into more trouble. Also, she is going to school in a castle. Ostler's characters are intriguing; Julia is entertaining, and Sierra and Gabe, her best friends, are constantly arguing over small things. These connections were so similar in my head while reading that I could not let them go.

Granted, I really liked the story, I also really LOVED Harry Potter, so I am not sure how much of that love was transferred because of the similarities. Very good, fast read.

Recommended for those who need a YA version of Harry Potter, Like shape-shifting, or need some teen drama in their lives.

Received from Netgalley for review.… (más)