Mundie Moms

Friday, January 6, 2012

Book Review: The Name Of the Star by Maureen Johnson

So back in September I started a new meme for MM's called Flashback Friday, which was to be a series of posts that would contain a book review for a book that's already been out for awhile. I'm happy (heavy sarcasm) to report I failed miserably in this new meme of mine and only made about 6 posts for it. With the New Year comes new goals, and one of those is to be more diligent posting my Flashback Friday posts. With this year's FBF post, I'm going to be including the 2011 releases I've been wanting to read, but never got a chance to.

Today's flashback isn't a "old" release, but it's one that was released last year and sadly one I wasn't able to read before the year ended. Today's feature: The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson.
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Released on: September 29th, 2011
Source: Bought at the Austin Teen Book Festival
5 stars: A Thrilling Read
Read the first 78 pages here

The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it's the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper events of more than a century ago.

Soon "Rippermania" takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him. Even her roommate, who was walking with her at the time, didn't notice the mysterious man. So why can only Rory see him? And more urgently, why has Rory become his next target? In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humor, and romance, Rory will learn the truth about the secret ghost police of London and discover her own shocking abilities. -quoted from Goodreads

If you're looking for a hauntingly suspenseful read with the right amount of humor, a touch of romance and plenty of mystery than you need to go pick this book up!

The thing that I loved the most about this book is the way it's written. What Maureen does with her story line, the way she introduces her characters, and her ability to hold my attention from the moment I opened her book made me fall in love with the YA paranormal genre all over again. Maureen Johnson's writing is brilliant! She flawlessly brings her story's setting to life by not only vividly describing London, but I loved the way she merged together both modern day London with it's historical history. This not only adds an engaging element to the already thrilling murder mystery, but it makes me want to drop everything I'm doing and catch the new flight out there. Not that I would need much convincing to do that, but that's beside the point.


If I hadn't already fallen in love with the cover, I would have been sold on the synopsis. It's not hard to entice me with words like London, ghosts, romance, mystery, humor and Jack the Ripper. What's fascinating about this story is the way Maureen is able to paint the picture of how Jack the Ripper goes about terrorizing London all over again. Is he a wanna be Jack the Ripper or is he the ghost of Jack. Just who is Jack the Ripper really? As the plot thickens Maureen provides small glimpses of every angle from the historical references from back in the 1888 when these horrible crimes were first committed, to modern day news outlet, to the cops, the Ghosts, and the story's protagonist, Rory. I adored Rory! This southern girl finds herself not only in a new country learning new customs, but she finds herself at the heart of a terrorizing murder mystery. Boy does this girl hold her own, because if I had to deal with some of the things she does I would have ran away screaming, but instead Rory faces everything head on.

The Name of the Star is a book that's rich in historical references, refreshing with it's detailed story telling, enjoyable because of the characters and brilliant, because well, it's written by Maureen. Being that this is my first Maureen Johnson boo, I now understand why so many YA readers love her. She has the talent for mixing suspense, humor, and a tiny bit of romance together perfectly. There's plenty of nail bitting suspense, laugh out loud moments, and hauntingly good scenes. I highly recommend picking this book up! There are some vivid descriptions from the 1888 crime scenes in London mentioned in the story.

Pitch Dark Days Winter 2012 Tour


Are you ready for Pitch Dark Days? WE are and this year looks like it's going to be just as awesome as last years' tour. This Winter's tour will be making stops across the country for the next 4 months! Don't miss your chance to meet a variety of your favorite YA authors like:

* Tahereh Mafi
* Veronica Rossi
* Ellen Schreiber

* Brodi Ashton
* Jodi Meadows
* Cynthia Hand
* Courtney Allison Moulton

* Claudia Gray
* Lauren Oliver
* Alex Flinn

* Kimberly Derting
* Jill Hathaway

Be sure to go HERE to see what stops these authors will be at and don't forget to RSVP for the event you're going to. You can follow all the latest Pitch Dark events on their FACEBOOK page. Aside from the tour stops, you can also follow some LIVE chats on twitter with the Pitch Dark Days authors HERE.

Can't make it to an event? No worries, MM's along with a few other bloggers will each be representing one of the stops where we'll be either tweeting or blogging LIVE from the event. So you won't miss out on not being there in person.

TX Bloggers: Don't miss the three stops happening in TX!

Dallas: 2/16
Austin: 2/17 **
Houston: 2/18

** I'll be interviewing and tweeting LIVE from the Feb. 17th stop which will be held at the Arboretum Barnes & Noble at 7 pm! Come out and meet Brodi Aston, Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows & Courtney Allison Moulton! I'll also be giving away a fabulous Pitch Dark Days prize pack on the blog after the event! RSVP here and I look forward to seeing you guys there!


Check out the awesome upcoming releases that will be featured during this Winter's Tour:







I'll be posting more information about the 2/17 stop as it gets closer to the event. Don't forget get snag your samplers and RVSP to you local event!

Giveaway Winners!!!


I'm a little behind with posting our latest GIVEAWAY WINNERS!! The holiday break and this past week have been a little crazy. CONGRATULATIONS to the following winners:

#7- Lisa McG.


#76- Sarah S.


#277- D


Thank you to everyone who entered! All winners have been sent an email and have 48 hrs to reply to those emails in order to claim their winnings.

Don't forget about our other giveaways currently going on via our right hand side bar under Current Giveaways.

Clockwork Princess Teasers

To make it easier for us and for all of us I.D. fans, I'm creating one post that will continuously be updated with all CP posts that Cassie posts. I'm leaving the posts up I've already posted, but from here on our I'm going to reference this particular post.


Here's the teasers Cassie's recently shared:
  1. “Would you?” said Gabriel to Will, hotly. “If it was your family?” His lip curled. “Never mind. It’s not as if you know the meaning of loyalty —”

  2. “Gabriel.” Gideon’s voice was a reprimand to his brother. “Do not speak to Will in that manner.”

  3. “He began it,” Cecily said, jerking her chin at Will, though she knew it was pointless. Jem, Will’s parabatai, treated her with the distant sweet kindness reserved for the little sisters of one’s friends, but he would always side with Will. Kindly, but firmly, he put Will above everything else in the world. Well, nearly everything.
  4. "Jem knotted his fingers in the material of Will’s sleeve. “You are my parabatai,” he said. “You said once I could ask anything of you.”
  5. Jem drew the bow back and let the arrow fly; it struck the creature in the side. The massive demon worm writhed in agony, undulating as it swept its great, blind head from side to side, uprooting shrubbery with its thrashings. Leaves filled the air and the boys choked on dust, Gideon backing up with his seraph blade in his hand, trying to see by its light.

    “It’s coming toward us,” he said in a low voice.

    And indeed it was, the arrow still protruding from its wet, grayish skin, humping its body along with incredible speed. A flick of its tail caught the edge of a statue, sending it flying into the dry ornamental pool, where it shattered into dust.

    “By the Angel, it just crushed Sophocles,” noted Will. “Has no one respect for the classics these days?”

  6. And the gold of her ruined wedding dress.
  7. “A very magnanimous statement, Gideon,” said Magnus.

    “I’m Gabriel.”

    Magnus waved a hand. “All Lightwoods look the same to me.”


I'll continue to add to the list of teasers as more are posted. All teasers are posted in the time line they were posted by Cassie in. You can read Cassie's latest Unidentified Snippets here.

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