There are flashes of truly evocative, eloquent writing in Kings & Queens, so much so that I found myself reading the book more for the words than the story. Unfortunately, it's the story people read books for. Kings & Queens manages to convincingly convey the self-important, self-contained, self-centered viewpoint of a teenage girl named Majesty who acts, speaks and even thinks like an actual teenager. We are quickly introduced to her friends, mostly boys - she is one of the managers of the school baseball team and spends much of her time in their company - and it's Majesty and the boys who carry this story.

And what a story. While there's a shooting, two kidnappings, druggings, satanic worship and so much, much more, the story itself feels rather light on plot, to me. There's too much stuff going on for the characters - or the author - to be able to focus on. Several scenes that should have been important and would have added weight to the story were done off-scene while other scenes were dealt with at length that added very little to the story as a whole. The big reveal of the 'plot twist' added nothing to the story and felt like a maguffin. The ending itself was so anti-climactic I had to re-read it to remember what exactly had happened. The plot was cluttered, the supporting characters were paper-thin and the ending was tacked on. It felt very much like a good writer was telling a story they'd heard from someone else.

Overall this was not a bad book. It was well written and Majesty came across as an actual teenaged person - not a cardboard cutout or a hollow i-guy. I just wish Majesty had been more interesting or sympathetic.

You know I love a great suspense novel. With the prologue, it just captured me because I wonder what was going on. It provided me the sense of mystery. And from that moment on, I knew I had to concentrate when reading the book. It kind of reminded me of those weird Tim Burton movies. No, I am not saying it was bad weird, I was like a rollercoaster with vines and darkness surrounding, and the track of the rollercoaster was chipped and broken. This book was a ride of emotion for me. I was kept on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next. And as the book went on, the list of suspect accumulate! Whoa! I barely breathed. This totally created an exciting, unexpected reading experiment. I felt like my brain was twisted and curled (in a good way) like by the LOST creators.

The characters were all amazing. Alec and Derek were gorg! There were the typical male characters, one harsh dark, one supporting. Majesty was a kickass female! Oh yeah!

But I have to mention that the writing style of Courtney need a little time to adjust to (kind of reminded me of After the Snow by S. D. Crockett). I seriously recommend readers to pay attention. I know that a lot of other readers got confused while reading the novel, I love how different it is but it was a little hard for me. That is basically the little flaw of this book. Great job. ( )

*Received e-book through Read It and Reap program from the Shut Up and Read! Goodreads group from author for an honest review;
**also posted on Amazon.com under Leanne

Kings and Queens is told from the point-of-view of Majesty Alistair, a 17 year-old still dealing with the recent loss of her father, who overhears a conversation involving a church massacre by two fellow students. She becomes their target as well and must figure out who in her circle are behind the plot before being silenced permanently.

Vail succeeds in writing a complex, engaging story with realistic teen characters. I loved the close friendships between Majesty and her two best friends, Alec and Derek. In addition, Vail should be commended for interspersing the sinister and gut-wrenching scenes with the funny and heartwarming ones. Lastly, I loved the shocking twists and turns throughout the book as Majesty attempts to solve the mystery, which i did not forsee.

The only issue I had with the book was the confusion in the beginning. Because of the unexplained references and convoluted dialogue, I felt thrown in the middle of things. I had to re-read the first chapters in order to understand the setting and figure out exactly waht was happening. Since I didn't read the synopsis beforehand, however, this can probably be avoided.

Overall, Kings and Queens was a surprisingly good read with complex characters and unexpected twists. I am definitely looking forward to seeing how Vail continues with this interesting premise in a more adult setting in the sequel. I would highly recommend this book to fans of mystery/suspense thrillers. ( )

Good mystery for young adults.

originally appeared on:Bookshelf Confessions

Cover: I loved the cover with its eerie way. I love the fusion of colors, the gothic text and brushes. But actually the lips did it for me. Cool!

Review: I admit, I was a bit confused reading the first pages. There was what we call information overload, like the author wanted to give us a heads-up on what was going on in the book. But after getting past it, I was confusedly hooked with the story.

The book was written with rich detail. The story itself has this complexity that makes me scratch my head. The idea/theme behind the book was also amazing and intriguing. And the characters? Well, mostly each of them has this back story that talks about their tragic and sad fates. The author wonderfully give each of them life and personality. Ms. Vail was a new, fresh, quirky voice in this genre.

Ms. Vail’s writing style was something I’ve never read before. I may not be a die-hard fan of the writing style but I truly appreciate when the characters speak the same language but they totally sounded different!

This is a fast, quick read with so many things going on at the same time.

But I felt like there was too much detail which was the drawback of this book. There would be times that if the readers hadn’t been paying too much attention, surely it would be hard to follow because somehow each detail is connected in solving the mystery.

I appreciate the author trying to incorporate a huge number of characters and giving their own stories and some (perspectives) so the reader might really think and analyze who the suspects are. But with this number, it could already be a series. Maybe that’s why some of the reviewers said, the story was a bit rushed because of the details and information given out in every turn.

What’s best about this book, is it’s truly a good mystery. The reader was confused in a good way that it seemed as if every character in the book could be the potential suspect except Maj of course. Even I, was fooled at the end!

I gave this 5 stars because even though the story takes some getting used to, but after really letting go of my imagination and giving the benefit of the doubt, I was totally into Maj’s world, guessing and analyzing the mystery with her!

King’s and Queens by Courtney Vail is a young adult mystery novel which was full of complexity, twists and turns, high school drama, conspiracies, mystery and depth. If you’re one of those who loves exciting rides with a story that would keep you guessing until the very end, then this one is for you! ( )