The Stolen Chapters by James Riley, 2016

This is just a heads-up that The Stolen Chapters is the sequel to James Riley's Story Thieves. If you haven't read that, you might not want to read this review if you're afraid of spoilers. You can click the links to check out Story Thieves on Goodreads and read my review of it.

Click to view
on Goodreads 

Owen Conners would never jump into a mystery. There are too many hidden clues, twists that make no sense, and an ending you never see coming. Mysteries are just not Owen’s thing. So how exactly did he end up in one with his memory erased? And that’s far from the only question.
How did Kiel Gnomenfoot, boy magician, lose all of his magic? Where’s Bethany, their half-fictional friend? And who’s the annoying guy wearing the question mark mask and Sherlock Holmes hat, taunting Owen and Kiel that Bethany is in grave danger?
Bethany is trapped in a hidden room that’s slowly filling with water, and she can’t escape until her friends find her. But is she imprisoned by more than just chains and a locked door? What’s she hiding from Owen and Kiel?
Maybe some mysteries just shouldn’t be solved…

(368 pages)

What a contradiction Jame's Riley's writing is: so juvenile and plastic one minute, and so clever and heartwarming the next. I alternately think he's one of the most over-rated authors I've read, and one of the most under-rated. The Stolen Chapters provokes this unique frustration most of any of his books yet, and I am still struggling to come to grips with how I feel about it.

Because at first, I kind of hated The Stolen Chapters. It felt dry and contrived and forced, chock-full of overused tropes and uninteresting dilemmas. I didn't care very much about the characters, and everything seemed somehow less lovable than it had in the first book.

But then, in the second half, I found myself falling back in love. And the really irritating thing is that I can't even say why or how, or just how clever everything really was and how Riley tricked me and I love it so much - and you know why I can't talk about any of that? Because it's all a spoiler! His books are so clever and awesome, so that one minute I can be positive I've figured the story out and the next he turns everything on its head. Authors are lauded all the time for "keeping things fresh" and writing a story with "unexpected turns," but Riley's books are some of the genuinely twistiest books I have ever read.

I still don't absolutely love Stolen Chapters to pieces, though, certainly not the way I love Riley's amazing Half Upon a Time trilogy. I forgive Stolen Chapters for not engaging me in the beginning, because it was for a good reason, but I'm not sure other readers will be able to make it to the point where everything goes from cliche to great. And I love all the amazing twists and turns, but - okay, no downside to that; I genuinely loved the twists. I haven't fallen completely in love with the characters in Story Thieves, but they've definitely grown on me since the first book. I've even come to like Bethany pretty well, after finding her so annoying in Story Thieves, and I really like the new characters added in this book (especially the villain - who I really wish I could discuss without spoiling the ending!).

The writing is by no means complex, but it's very humorous and both books were a big hit with my fourteen-year-old brother. I recommend these books to middle schoolers, and to older kids/adults like me who still enjoy a good middle-grade read that's deeper than it appears at first glance.

And don't you dare skip the acknowledgements section - it's honestly even more hilarious than the book itself!

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary ARC of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Teaser Tuesdays: The Stolen Chapters by James Riley (Jan 12)

Okay, so for those of you who are new to this meme, here's how it works:

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My current read is Story Thieves #2: The Stolen Chapters by James Riley, which comes out next Tuesday.

Owen Conners would never jump into a mystery. There are too many hidden clues, twists that make no sense, and an ending you never see coming. Mysteries are just not Owen’s thing. So how exactly did he end up in one with his memory erased? And that’s far from the only question.
How did Kiel Gnomenfoot, boy magician, lose all of his magic? Where’s Bethany, their half-fictional friend? And who’s the annoying guy wearing the question mark mask and Sherlock Holmes hat, taunting Owen and Kiel that Bethany is in grave danger?
Bethany is trapped in a hidden room that’s slowly filling with water, and she can’t escape until her friends find her. But is she imprisoned by more than just chains and a locked door? What’s she hiding from Owen and Kiel?
Maybe some mysteries just shouldn’t be solved…
(368 pages)

Here's this week's teaser, from page 14:

Owen turned to find himself staring at a short figure wearing a brown overcoat, a Sherlock Holmes hat, and a white mask with a black question mark where the face should have been.

Well. That wasn't good.

"Gentlemen," the masked figure said, crossing his arms over his chest. "I would say the game is afoot, but unfortunately, your game is already over." 

Let me know what you think of the book, and check back on Friday for my review!

Story Thieves by James Riley, 2015

Click to view
on Goodreads 

Life is boring when you live in the real world, instead of starring in your own book series. Owen knows that better than anyone, what with the real world’s homework and chores.
But everything changes the day Owen sees the impossible happen—his classmate Bethany climb out of a book in the library. It turns out Bethany’s half-fictional and has been searching every book she can find for her missing father, a fictional character.
Bethany can’t let anyone else learn her secret, so Owen makes her a deal: All she has to do is take him into a book in Owen’s favorite Kiel Gnomenfoot series, and he’ll never say a word. Besides, visiting the book might help Bethany find her father…
…Or it might just destroy the Kiel Gnomenfoot series, reveal Bethany’s secret to the entire world, and force Owen to live out Kiel Gnomenfoot’s final (very final) adventure.
(400 pages)

Hmm. I'm not really sure what to say about this one. Did I love it? Did I hate it? Well, neither. Not yet, anyway.

The plot seems all over the place at times, but it actually comes together pretty cohesively by the end of the book. My main trouble, when I really come down to it, is the characters. Bethany especially just isn't particularly realistic. She's more of a stock character: she's got magical powers, one of her parents is missing/dead, she has this huge secret she hides from the rest of the world, and on and on. The fact that she's been going into books for years behind her mother's back for years makes her, to me at least, a little too dishonest to really be that sympathetic. I also felt like there was no way she'd really open up to some random classmate the way she did, and I seriously started questioning her judgement when she agreed to take Owen into the Kiel Gnomenfoot series. I mean, hello? What did she think was going to happen if she took this kid into his all-time favorite book series? She did get better as the story went along, though. Bethany didn't exactly become my favorite character in the world, but I have hope for her development in the later books. Riley has prepared some great set-ups for the next books, and if I had to guess he'll make me absolutely adore Bethany, Owen, and Kiel (who, by the way, is probably my favorite character yet) by the end of the series.

And that's really the crux of this review: I think this book is a set-up for the books ahead. If Riley does a wonderful job with the later books (as I'm 95% sure he will, based on his Half Upon a Time trilogy), then someday I'll look back at Story Thieves and have a ball reading through it again, because there will be all sorts of hints and foreshadowing that I totally missed without foreknowledge. I'll go back to retrace the beginnings of whatever relationships Riley chooses to favor in the later books (my money's totally on Bethany and Kiel!), and watch characters in a different light because I know what secrets they're hiding, or what will happen to them down the road. In a few years, I think I'll love Story Thieves because it is a beginning of a new series by a writer who is amazing at making me laugh, cry, and fall in love. Until then, this is a so-so book that makes an okay standalone, one that holds potential but no concrete prize. The best part was probably the ending, because it sets the stage for awesomeness in the second book.

If you want to read a James Riley, I recommend starting with his wonderful Half Upon a Time series. Story Thieves has potential, but doesn't hold a candle to Riley's crazy-fun fairy-tale spin-off. Of course, that could change - like I said, everything hinges on the rest of the series.

Teaser Tuesdays: Story Thieves by James Riley (March 10)

Okay, so for those of you who are new to this meme, here's how it works:

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My current read is Story Thieves by James Riley.

Synopsis (from Goodreads):
Life is boring when you live in the real world, instead of starring in your own book series. Owen knows that better than anyone, what with the real world’s homework and chores.
But everything changes the day Owen sees the impossible happen—his classmate Bethany climb out of a book in the library. It turns out Bethany’s half-fictional and has been searching every book she can find for her missing father, a fictional character.
Bethany can’t let anyone else learn her secret, so Owen makes her a deal: All she has to do is take him into a book in Owen’s favorite Kiel Gnomenfoot series, and he’ll never say a word. Besides, visiting the book might help Bethany find her father…
…Or it might just destroy the Kiel Gnomenfoot series, reveal Bethany’s secret to the entire world, and force Owen to live out Kiel Gnomenfoot’s final (very final) adventure.
(400 pages)

Here´s my quote, from page 10:

As Bethany slowly pulled herself out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by her chocolate-covered hands, she sighed. Why had she stayed so long? She was beyond late now. It’d just been incredibly relaxing to sit hidden behind the chocolate river, watching the Oompa-Loompas work and not being yelled at by Mr. Barberry or her mom.

Does this interest you? Check back on Friday for my review!