Yzabel Ginsberg

Once upon a time, Yzabel Ginsberg made a deal with the God of Dreams, whom they might have swindled out of a few extra seeds of wild imagination. From their current home in London, this strange French being always clad in black weaves many webs of stories, whether on paper or through the delicate art of online storytelling. Rumour has it that they will only stop when Death comes to claim them, but even that is less than certain.

Website: http://www.yzabel.net
Twitter: @YzabelGinsberg
Facebook: Facebook profile
Wattpad: YzabelGinsberg
Blog: http://www.ylogs.com

angels    cellos    charity    dreams    fantasy    music    nightmares    postapocalypse    romance    singing    song    violin    wattpad   

• Mary on July 06, 2012
  
  Mary, a 17-year-old girl from London, moves to lovely Eires Green with her father, mother and grandmother. After a series of bad decisions that led to very dark moments in her life, this is her chance at starting anew: new town, new house, new school, new friends… maybe even a boyfriend! Things definitely seem to be looking up for Mary, who grows to enjoy Bell House more than she thought, and can finally hope to find a place of her own here. However, the more she discovers about her new home, the more she realizes that Bell House hasn’t always been devoid of tragedy… and that tragedy might strike again. As odd as my way of wording it might sound, this novella had a nicely refreshing spookiness. Little by little, the reader is presented with tiny, light touches of eeriness that help the tension build up in a discrete yet efficient manner; they contrast all the more, in restrospect, with the many apparent perfections of Eires Green. At the same time, it was a refreshing read, in that it didn’t leave me with the feeling of just any ghost story. I was pulled in from the beginning, always wanting to know what would happen in the next chapter, and trying to piece up the hints the author scatters along her story; this is not something I make the effort of doing when I’m not so interested in a book. If I should list one thing I couldn’t really wrap my mind around, unfortunately, it was the fast pace at which relationships evolved in the story. Although that pace made sense once I reached the end and realized why things came to be that way, it was still going too fast to my liking in terms of chronology (one week seemed too short a time frame to develop such relationships—I guess a few weeks would have felt more ‘natural’). Nevertheless, I really enjoyed reading “Mary”, and will heartily recommend it.
  
• Day Soldiers on July 08, 2012
  
  When I asked if I could read & review “Day Soldiers”, I did so because the pitched elicited some interest in me. The prospect of a war between humans and the creatures of darkness looked like something that would provide me with mild fun and a pleasant quick read. To be honest, I didn’t expect a lot from this novel—just that: being a fun and easy read. And then I got hooked. The prologue itself, in the form of a declaration of war, immediately grabbed me. The first chapters then pulled me into the action, as Lily and Leo, 18-year-old, decide to take on the vampires who’ve been threatening their small town, because the adults aren’t acting fast enough. As they come back victorious, little do they know that their single action is going to trigger a chain-reaction culminating into events they wouldn’t have suspected. And the both of them are going to pay a heavy price. We then get to see the two friends through their joining and training within the Day Soldiers, a corps specifically aimed at fighting vampires and werewolves. After what happened to them, is there any other path they could follow? Not really. I thoroughly liked Lily and Leo. Lily’s got a strong personality, and a definite ability to fall back on her feet. Even though she gets discouraged at times, she doesn’t let this stop her, and she doesn’t give in to throwing pity-parties for herself, not for more than a couple of minutes, which is always pleasant to see, in my opinion, in a character. She also has special skills, but I was glad to see that the author didn’t make them *that* special in the end. ***SPOILER*** [She doesn’t get to save the day all by herself, and she’s far from being the only one with such abilities; this makes that plot point more believable.] ***SPOILER END*** As for Leo, at first, I feared for his role in the story, wondering if he’d just be some uninteresting sidekick—because the kid *is* skilled, for sure, and he can pack a handful just as well as Lily can. ***SPOILER*** [I also feared what was in store for him. Until that moment, I hoped he’d get to find a way out. When I realized there wasn’t any, I must admit I shed a tear for him. Be awed. This very seldom happens.] ***SPOILER END*** The other characters were also enjoyable. Abbie does come off as unpleasant at first, but it’s clear that she is a good person, too, and that she doesn’t hesitate to act. The B-Team (no, really, this *is* a play on words on the A-Team, isn’t it? I can’t shake that feeling off!) is made of awesome, and I liked their take on events, how they always did their best to do what felt right to them. Their boldness and inventiveness roped me in (the way they tackle the rescue operation in Sneaker City was just so great!), and I could easily feel their sense of camaraderie, the strong bonds they managed to form among them, the instinct they had to stick to each other now matter the circumstances. And what about the story itself? I quickly was drawn into its pace: not too slow, packed with action, but not too fast either. Events fold into each other in a logical way; we get to see that every action has its consequences, and that the characters have to deal with those, make their decisions, and then live up to those decisions in the end. I don’t know if there will be a sequel to this novel: the ending could very well stand for itself the way it is, or open up towards a second book. What’s sure is that if there is one, I will definitely pick it.
  
• Vengeance of the Wolf on Aug. 06, 2012
  
  3.5/5 stars. I might have given it a 4, only it was frustrating in some aspects. I was drawn to this book by the concept of dreams and nightmares, which is something that usually catches my interest, and I indeed found the method of killing quite interesting as well as thrilling. Troubling as this may be, seeing the killer in action, the way he picked at his victims and toyed with them, the way he thought, was just as interesting. The chilling feeling I got out of those scenes was reinforced by the descriptions, which were detailed enough to allow me to easily picture places and dreamscape. The ‘bad guy’ is clearly pretty deranged here; there was something almost touching to the reason behind his killing spree—a tiny spark that could’ve died quickly, that might even have seemed laughable to many people, yet blossomed instead into something terrifying, served by means beyond normal human scope. (The nursery rhymes quoted at the beginning of each chapter made me feel this even more strongly: they’re definitely reminiscent of something child-like, with an added creepy edge.) All the characters had their part to play in the plot, with more or less spotlight, of course. Although it took me some time to get a real liking to Yardley and Williams, they are interesting personae, with spunk and potential, along with willpower and resiliency (how many people would’ve gone on trying to put an end to such an eluding case?). There were a few moments when I was confused at whose point of view I was following (in instances where “IT” and “the man” appeared); otherwise, the dates, places and POVs were clear and evident. Overall, I had a good time reading this story, and wanted to know how it went from beginning to end (the epilogue was chilly, by the way—it screams for a catastrophe in the making, really). However, I remained frustrated at some things that I wished would have been more elaborated on. For instance, Celeste and her family (there’s something mysterious here, and I was hoping to learn more); the exact mechanism of the killer’s abilities; or Anthony’s motives and involvement, that were partly explained only, in my opinion. I think I’d have enjoyed the novel more if those loose ends had been tied. Last but not least, I managed to guess who the killer was fairly early; once I had it in my head, my hypothesis kept on being validated regularly. I’d have wanted that mystery to last longer.
  
• Reapers With Issues on Nov. 17, 2012
  
  I’m always up for stories that poke fun about serious themes, and ‘death’ and ‘angels’ have always been such themes for me. Reapers With issues deals exactly with those: the heavy celestial bureaucracy, with all the defects the latter term entails, and how figures of terror, the Four Horsemen, must deal with very day-to-day, down-to-earth problems regarding death. Their main problem being that there are only the four of them to do the job, while humanity keeps on multiplying. ‘Grim’ and his fellow horsemen go to quite a few lengths to keep their heads up, from filing up reports to indulging in buying weed from Saint Peter’s offspring. I found it very funny to see familiar figures of heaven and hell depicted under various, different colours here, within what is a nice satire of the corporate and bureaucratic world. Lucifer is exactly the kind of smart, manipulative bastard I’d expect him to be. Grim tries to tackle problems as seriously as possible, but let’s just say that between War’s antics and the new management imposed by God, this is proving harder and harder as the story progresses. The least I can say is that this novel made me smile and chuckle, a lot. Granted, there were a few times when the humour wasn’t very subtle; but I think the author also did a good job in not overdoing it, and when fun is being poked at sensitive themes, it is always done so in a good-natured way, not in a voluntarily offensive one. Also, I commend the editing work done on this book. I didn’t notice any of the usual typos and misprints that tend to spring, and the author’s writing style was fluid and pleasant, both in descriptions and in dialogues. Really, I can’t find many faults with this book. It made me spend a very good time, it was a short and fun reading, its characters made me laugh, and all in all, it’s a novel I’d easily recommend to my friends.