Pitch Green by the Brothers Washburn TOUR

I received this one as an ARC from the publisher. And I am so glad to be on board with the tour! Below is my review, an interview with the authors, and an awesome giveaway!

Review:

This was a fun, quick, mystery! I’m not used to YA mysteries actually surprising me with the way they end, and this one definitely surprised me!

It’s about Camm and Cal, two best friends/next door neighbors who live in the middle of nowhere. They actually live in the desert, and it was really cool getting a different kind of setting for this book too. The book begins with a scary scene when the two are kids, trick-or-treating. Cal’s little brother goes missing. And because the Brothers Washburn go into the point of view of the villain, readers know that he was attacked –and most likely eaten.

Then, it’s seven years later. Cal is now a popular football player and Camm is kind of a brain. They’re thankfully still best friends becaue if it weren’t for Camm, Cal would have been another victim of whatever/whoever got his brother. Unfortunately, another kid does go missing. And while the local police have dismissed the case of Cal’s brother a long time ago, and seem to think nothing of the house he went missing in front of, Camm can’t get over her feeling that the creepy, abandoned mansion has something to do with it.

Then enters the FBI, who really seem to love Camm. They invite her to be an unpaid intern/helper. And this finally allows her the opportunity to go inside the mansion. One go around is not enough though, especially considering it was cut short by some angry townspeople, and Camm breaks back in with Cal to do some real investigating.

Camm and Cal come across some terrifying things in this house, things that link a whole lot of murders together. Between research at the library, interviewing witnesses, meeting with the FBI, school, and dealing with Cal’s need for revenge, Camm has a lot cut out for her. This book is jam-packed with action. There’s secret passageways to discover, skeletons to find, some really interesting town history that dates back to World War II, and plenty of narrow escapes! There’s deaths, kidnappings, and a lot of secrets in their town.

There’s a terrifying moment where the bad guy starts targeting Camm. There’s some creepy supernatural elements too that made everything even more creepy. There’s just a pinch of romantic tension between the two friends. But what will really have readers staying up late at night is the mystery. I needed to know what would happen!

I really enjoyed how realistic Camm and Cal were. Though, I kind of kept mixing them up because their names are so similar. I love how Cal was such a guy. He was hungry all the time and always thinking about hooking up with Camm. The authors were not afraid to throw in some guy humor about farts and vomit, and it gave everything a good sense of humor.  I was hoping for them to get together the whole time too.

I liked the desert setting. I haven’t read a lot of YA books that have taken place in the desert. I also really enjoyed reading the mystery. I was definitely put off course. I kept thinking the bad guy would end up being a werewolf, but I was so out of the ballpark on this one. And I love being surprised with stuff like this! There are still some things I’d like to know, but I have a feeling they will be addressed in later installments.

There was one thing I didn’t quite understand: all of the gun usage. Is it normal for two teens to be so knowledgeable of firearms? No one even seemed upset when Camm blasted through her house. Maybe it’s because I grew up in a very urban environment and I’m not used to teens knowing so much about guns and being allowed to use weapons. Though, I liked that both Camm and Cal wanted to take action into their own hands. They were both so brave and really just wanted to save their town from more heartache. Maybe if they were in some kind of club or in families that liked to hunt or something, it would have made more sense.

Overall, this was such a fun read. This book had great characters, a great mystery, and so much nonstop action! It was hard to put down. Between the missing children, the points of view shifts to the attacker, and all of the mystery behind the supernatural mansion, there was never a dull moment. I give this one a 8/10.

The Authors (Andy and Berk):

Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Goodreads
Blog

Interview:

Were there any scary stories/urban legends that particularly inspired this story?

From the time we were old enough to sleep over night at a friend’s house or have a friend sleep over at our house, an important part of the sleep-over ritual was the late-night telling of scary stories, and there was no better scary-story teller than our own mother.  Scary stories have always been a Washburn Family specialty, and from the time we were little, a family favorite was The Green Rat.  Variations of this twenty-minute story have been told to family, friends and complete strangers in many different settings over the years and were the basis for Pitch Green.  The general outline for the book came together one evening in November of 2010.  We were attending a writer’s seminar in Manhattan and as we rode the subway from one end-of-the-line stop across town to the opposite end-of-the-line stop, and back again, we mapped out the basic elements we would need to expand the childhood story into a full-length novel.  Andy wrote the first rough draft, and then Berk took it over to edit and expand the tale.  In writing the first book, the ground work was laid for the sequels and prequels in that horror series.

And what are some of your favorite scary stories/legends?

In addition to The Green Rat, there were other family favorites too, like Anna (about a nobleman’s beautiful, young wife, who eats human flesh) and the Fungus Man (about, well, a fungus man) and many others.  Glorious and wonderful were the stories of our childhood.

What are your top three favorite YA books right now?

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Cinder (Lunar Chronicles) by Marissa Meyer

And what top 3 YA books would you recommend to fans of your book?

The Maze Runner series by James Dashner

The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins

The Lightning Thief series by Rick Riordan

Who was your favorite character to write? Why?

Andy said the Guardian because he enjoyed thinking like a predator.

Berk said Camm because it was fun thinking of ways to make her smarter and tougher.

And was it hard writing in the perspective of the attacker?

Not really—it was a convenient way to add depth to the story.

If you could pick any actor/famous person to read your book in audio-book format, who would you pick?

Morgan Freeman

What are your top three favorite scary movies?

The Changeling (1980s movie with George C. Scott)

Alien vs. Predator (or any of the Alien or Predator movies)

Any of the Terminator or Tremors movies.

Giveaway time!

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A Good Week in Books (46)

So, I had another excellent book week. This is both good and bad because I’m moving and I’m sort of freaking out about my amount of books. On the plus side, I’ve been waiting a year for some of these lovelies to come out! I received two finished books for review (Thanks, Macmillan!). I purchased two new ones that I have been dying to get my hands on! And I lucked into four ARC’s from my co-worker. The other librarian at my school won a lot of new books/ARC’s, and I actually have a full bag of them that she told me I could donate to my volunteer library and keep what I wanted! I’m donating most of them, but there are a few I just have to read as soon as possible.

 
Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff (ARC)
Arclight by Josin L. McQuein (ARC/ April 23)
Born of Illusion by Teri Brown (ARC/ June 11)
Invisibility by Andrea Cremer and David Levithan (ARC/ May 7)
Fox Forever by Mary E. Pearson (Macmillan)
Marco Impossible by Hannah Moskowitz (Macmillan)
Requiem by Lauren Oliver
Fragments by Dan Wells

How was your week in books?

The Rising by Kelley Armstrong

So, I have the ARC for this. (It comes out April 2nd). And frankly I have no idea how I have held off reading this for so many weeks. I love Kelley Armstrong. I’ve super enjoyed her two YA series. And I knew this book was going to include my favorite characters from the first series!

Reading a final book in a series is really hard. I don’t ever want to finish it too soon because then I know its fully over. Though, with YA lately, do you ever really know when stuff is done? But, also I just wasn’t too impressed with the beginning.

It takes place not long after book two finished. Maya’s crew (which is now just Daniel and Corey because the others are gone, dead, or captured) reaches out to a contact that turns out to be a false lead. However, the false lead does end up brining the kids to Maya’s long-lost twin brother, Ash. So not all is lost. Her brother has clearly not had an easy life and doesn’t exactly bring any optimism to the already depressing life on the run.

There’s reunions, running, gun shot wounds, captures, and escapes! They also get the opportunity to witness their own funeral. And while the first half of the book is jam-packed with action, I couldn’t help but feel I’d read it all before. There were just a few too many similar plotlines to the other books that came before it. Again, the main character finds herself captured and needing to escape. Again the bad guys come off as not quite as bad as originally believed. Again, there’s someone on the inside helping the main character. And again, against all odds the character leaves the bad guys in her wake to return to another safe spot where she hopes her friends are still waiting.

Stuff really picked up for me though with the love triangle. I loved watching Maya realize that there were two boys in love with her. It was pretty hilarious. I also loved getting to know her rebellious brother. But what I loved most was the combining of the project Pheonix kids with the Edison group kids. Seeing my old favorite characters again was pretty epic! And I loved how they all interacted with each other. I also loved seeing what relationships/friendships developed there. (I was actually finally for once happy with the epilogue!).

Any way, when the two groups combine, a final outcome/possible solution is formed. And I guess I just felt so relieved and happy that these kids might possibly be able to have a life that wasn’t always about being on the run. I liked that the characters wanted more than that because I didn’t get the feeling that they did at the end of the first series. And I liked that there was no real black and white any more: good and bad were a little blurred. Getting to a possible solution though is hard. It involves more kids being shot, captured, and knocked out. But that little inkling of hope, made the story just pick up so much more.

What surprised me the most was actually that I enjoyed all the relationship drama over all the action/suspense. I think I’m just too used to Armstrong’s style, and I was wanting a little bit more. All the same, there’s a smorgasbord of supernatural powers, plenty of running for their lives, and lots of violence. I loved how Maya was still mostly in charge. I loved watching her interactions with Ash and not putting up with anyone’s complaints. It was also interesting to read more about Maya’s culture. It wasn’t really talked about except in respect to her being picked on/hit on for her appearances, but still. I like having a main character who’s different.

Armstrong is really great at interactions and dialogue. I loved all the scenes with all of the teens interacting. She just gets it. She’s also excellent at the love triangle. I never was too disgusted with it, like I can be sometimes with YA love triangles. And I loved how highly Maya valued friendship. She never let boys get in the way of her friends. And she just comes off as way cooler/more independent person for this. She was sometimes really oblivious and kind of stupid, but she kind of made up for this in her other strengths, like loyalty and bravery.

I’m not the biggest fan of any of the adults in these books. Even Maya’s adoptive family (which rocked) were a little unreal for me. I mean how can they be living where they did and not figure some things out? But still, having no adults around gave everything a big kid power kick, which I love.

I give this one a 9/10. I loved the ending. I really did. I pretty much loved the whole 2^nd half of the book. I just feel like the first half of the book was a little too formulaic/done before. All the same, I can say I’m happy with this ending. I can see the author possibly picking up this world/list of characters again in the distant future if she wanted to, but I like where it ended and it doesn’t need more –not that I would complain if there was.

Asunder by Jodi Meadows

Wow. So, more and more YA authors are surprising/shocking me with excellent sequels! And more and more of these sequels are turning out to be better than their originals. Asunder did no disappoint! Keep them coming, YA authors! Keep them coming! Seriously, if all the sequels that come out this year are even half as good as this one was, I’ll forget how to be disappointed.

The book begins not long after book 1 finished. Everyone in Ana’s world is attempting to cope with the drastic losses that happened at the end of the first book. Ana and Sam are off on a journey of sorts. Ana is on a knowledge hunt, in which she needs to figure out more answers to her questions about Janan and sylphs. The two rather tame love-birds head back to their city though when Ana gets invited to a birthing ceremony, something she has been curious about.

And just when it almost seems as though people are beginning to kind of accept Ana’s newness (she keeps making more friends), the baby is born as another new soul. The hatred for Ana and for the new baby is so intense that Ana can’t go anywhere alone without rocks being thrown at her. She gets rude phone calls and messages and everywhere she goes, she gets blamed for the tragedy of the fist book. She gets blamed for the new souls continuing to come in with the new babies. And nowhere is truly safe for her. There’s false gossip, prejudice, break-ins, abductions, bombs, rallies, and just so much hatred for what people do not understand!

With each bomb, Ana becomes more and more aware that she needs to do something that will protect the new souls from living the awfulness that she was forced to endure.  Between all the violence and cruelty, there’s all the romantic tension and all of the knowledge seeking that Ana started in the begining. There’s romance, politics, tear inducing speeches, reunions, new friends, beautiful music, and even more world building! Everything kind of ends with a bang, too. There’s a giant mob, a kidnapping, a humongous sacrifice, and then yet another setback before the book finishes with such a great promise for third installment!

We finally get some answers! A lot is learned about the history of this world of reincarnation. So much is learned about Janan. And so much is learned about sylphs. And every single one of these secrets shocked me. I was only predicting one thing and that is only because I’m 100% sure Meadows wanted me to predict it. There were just so many clues. The history of the souls and the secrets behind the temple were beyond fascinating! So much was explained.

And then there’s Ana. She’s gone from a self-hater, to a knowledge seeker, to a musician, to a best friend, to a leader! Wow, she is a main character a girl can just look up to! I was so much more emotionally attached to this book than I was the first one. I was outraged at the history. I was furious at the discrimination. The haters were targeting pregnant women, and bombing their houses! Seriously, I was beyond angry. And Ana was angry too, but as characters keep saying, she handled things so beyond and above how someone her age should. She was calm, brave, and, fierce in this sequel! And I wouldn’t want it any other way.

The only thing she wasn’t brave about was her relationship with Sam, though she became braver toward the end. I think this is understandable though, because of her upbringing and being told for so long that no one could possibly ever love her.

Some of the secrets learned are sickening, and Ana has to quickly decide if she can forgive those around her. She also has to decide what she is willing to do, what she is willing to give up, and what she can be brave enough to explain in front of everyone in order to do what she knows deep down in the right thing.

So much more of this world makes sense now. I get why there are so many other fantasy elements thrown in. I get a lot more things that I can’t really write about without seriously spoiling this book. Also, you’d think I’d be more grossed out with the age difference between Ana and Sam, but I’m not. They just seem to be right.

Sam wasn’t as strong in this one. I hated that there were so many things he couldn’t remember. In the first book, he had to protect Ana all the time. In this one, I felt like Ana was protecting him. Granted, his memories were taken from him and he went through a lot of loss throughout this book, but still something just seemed a little less appealing for me about him. I prefer him stronger, more like Ana!

I have very high hopes for the final installment. I loved this one, more than the first! The story was so good! The characters are developing in all sorts of ways. And the writing and world-building were just pure magic for me. I give it a 10/10.

Perfect Scoundrels by Ally Carter

I love this series by Ally Carter! This was definitely one of the books I purchased the day it came out! And to think I never would have started the series if I never picked up the first one at the first Borders I knew to close (a year and a half before they all closed). What a find I had!

These books are about Kat, a teen thief extraordinaire.  She is famous for robbing places that are meant to be impossible to steal from. She doesn’t do it on her own. She has a whole family of backup. Her “family” is made up of people also famous for various kinds of con jobs. The only non con in the group is Hale, Kat’s best friend, sort of turned boyfriend. And Hale has worked so hard for Kat’s family to accept him over the years, helping out on whatever missions he can. It helps that he is made of money and has his own jet too.

What I loved about this book (book 3) is how much we finally get to learn about Hale, the boy who leaves his wealthy life behind for the exciting life of crime (more like painting stealing). The book begins with Hale leaving Kat hanging, literally. She’s in a harness when he leaves a job all of a sudden. It’s because his one family member from his past life that he actually cared for (his grandmother) has passed away.

And before Kat realizes it, she’s at the center of one of the largest cons yet, a con she actually had nothing to do with. Hale ends up inheriting mass wealth in the form of the entire Hale company. And it’s up to Kat to explain to him that his grandmother’s will was a con. Hale’s family lawyer is involved in faking the last will and testament of Hale’s grandmother. There is another stunt at the Henley (an impossible to steal from art museum that Kat’s crew stole paintings form in book 1) and a lot of little gigs around Hong Kong, Paris, Canada, and New York. There’s a lot of relationship drama in this one too!

Kat really understands what Hale is going through because she remembers strongly the not too long ago loss of her mother.  There’s new inventions, cons within cons, plenty of international travel, and lots of old friends. And we get to learn so much about Hale’s story. His family is rather awful. And the more you learn about his past, the more you have to love the guy. And Kat’s family mostly seemed to feel the same way about him too.

There’s never a dull moment in this one. There are so many plot twists and secrets and I am only just beginning to get a feel for when a secret is about to be unraveled, so I was mostly surprised by them still. Carter writes these books almost as you’d expect to view a James Bone movie, one plot device sneakily leading up to another.

I could have used a little more romance. And I was slightly disappointed that a major heist in the works actually never ended up happening. A certain character leaked some hints to the FBI! But all in all, this book really got down into the nitty-gritty emotional factors of working in this world. I loved watching everyone team together to help Hale, who has essentially always been viewed as an outsider.

I absolutely love how strong Kat has become. She’s gone from a girl who just wants a normal life, to the best thief in the world, to someone the whole world turns to when there is a problem to be solved. The way she handled Hale and a newborn jealousy of another girl, I thought was remarkably mature. She always ends up doing what she believes in her heart to be the right thing, no matter how much it hurts her, and this just makes her one of the strongest, most kick-butt female main characters I have yet to meet!

I know I haven’t given too much plot away. It’s kind of hard to summarize a book with so many twists and then not spoil too much. The twists are just so much more fun to read about yourself. And you should definitely check out this series already, if you haven’t. It’s fun, fast, action-packed, and oh so addicting. I give it a 9/10.

Waiting on Wednesday (35)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that allows bloggers to share which books we are most anticipating.

This week, I am waiting on The Fiery Heart by Richelle Mead (11/19/13):

Description on Goodreads:

In The Indigo Spell, Sydney was torn between the Alchemist way of life and what her heart and gut were telling her to do. And in one breathtaking moment that Richelle Mead fans will never forget, she made a decision that shocked even her. . . .

But the struggle isn't over for Sydney. As she navigates the aftermath of her life-changing decision, she still finds herself pulled in too many directions at once. Her sister Zoe has arrived, and while Sydney longs to grow closer to her, there's still so much she must keep secret. Working with Marcus has changed the way she views the Alchemists, and Sydney must tread a careful path as she harnesses her profound magical ability to undermine the way of life she was raised to defend. Consumed by passion and vengeance, Sydney struggles to keep her secret life under wraps as the threat of exposure—and re-education—looms larger than ever.

Pulses will race throughout this thrilling fourth installment in the New York Times bestselling Bloodlines series, where no secret is safe.

First of all, can all other amazing YA authors learn from Mead and come out with two books in a series per year? I seriously don’t even know how to handle two books in this series is one year! At first I was like, “Is that a typo?” So, it’s not the best cover…None of the books in this series have great covers. But, I so, so, so don’t care. The romance is hot! The story is addicting. And I am so in love with all of these characters. I cannot wait to dive into the next book and learn more about Sydney’s decision and life with her sister! This author is one of my all time favorite YA authors and I have just recently reviewed book 3 in the series, so I am beyond excited for this next installment!

What are you waiting on this week?

A Good Week in Books (45)/ A Good Week in General

So, I’m kind of making this post on a Tuesday. And I’ve kind of gotten a little slow on the blog posts. However, I have a really good reason! The past few weeks have involved a lot of changes for me. I’ve traveled, had a friend come in from out of town, and most importantly, I have been offered a new job! I am officially now an Assistant Director/ Youth Services Librarian in Cape Cod! I am in my last week of work in IL (as a school librarian) and I am in the process of moving (aka: figuring out how to move all my books). I am so excited for this new job! I’m beyond excited for this move, for a new adventure!

Between a lot of parties, goodbyes, super/crazy organizing, and moving, I am still of course reading. Books just make everything easier. I need to share these beauties from the last week. I bought one book and I received a nice pile for review (Thank you Macmillan and Harper Collins!)

 
Cinders and Sapphires by Leia Rasheed
Blue Bloods the graphic novel by Melissa De La Cruz, adapted by Robert Venditti, and art by Alina Urusov
Shadowlands by Kate Brian
The Archived by Victoria Schwab
Unremembered by Jessica Brody
The Night She Disappeared by April Henry
Sever by Lauren DeStefano

How was your week in books? How was your week in general?