Erasing Time by C.J. Hill

I have this one as an ARC, but it comes out at the end of the month (August 28^th). I’m really glad I read this one. A) It was pretty awesome. B) I’m trading it (along with another book) for two new dystopias! And C) It was just so unique and I’m not used to unique dystopias any more.

It’s about teen twins, Sheridan and Taylor. Taylor is the smart one. And when I say smart, I mean child prodigy –already working on her graduate degree in physics– smart. And Sheridan leans more toward reading novels. I kind of liked that for once it’s the smart sister that attracts the most boys. But, clearly Sheridan is the more centered around main character. She’s relatively normal and easy to relate to.

Any way, everything in the girls’ lives changes when a light appears in their bedroom. Both girls get sucked into what we learn later is a time strainer, an honest to goodness time machine. And they arrive hundreds of years in the future. They wind up in a lab filled with arguing scientists speaking a very different, evolved form of English that practically is a foreign language to the twins.

The scientists of the future wanted to bring back a scientist from the past: Tyler Sherwood who helped create the time machine in the future. In other words, they needed his help to improve the machine. But, clearly something went wrong when two teen girls showed up instead. The scientists bring in wordsmiths Jeth and his son Echo, to translate. They had been studying Taylor and Sheridan’s time period for a length of time and understood how to communicate effectively with them. Though apparently this doesn’t include them understanding metaphors, euphemisms, slang, or sarcasm.

The girls are sort of heralded from one dangerous place to another. There’s threats of memory swipes, murder, torture, and imprisonment. What made this book a dystopia was the very scary world Jeth and Echo live in. Everyone has crystals implanted in their arms that work as locators so the government always knows where you are. There’s rules and blocks on all kind of information. There’s propaganda commercials that won’t turn off in the cars. And there’s a mafia type group that seems just as interested in the twins as the government does.

It soon becomes clear to both Taylor and Sheridan that they need to get out before their memories are taken and before they can get trackers placed into them. It would be much easier to escape before they are too trapped. There’s a mafia type gang that captures them. There’s evil torturing scientists that interrogate them, there’s wild goose chases among the streets of the future, there’s romance between Sheridan and Echo (a boy who’s lost his twin brother to the gang, there’s outlawed religion, and plenty of plain old problem solving and quick thinking that make this book so much more believable.

This book is action-packed! I loved reading about the future! I loved how the girls could talk in metaphors and no one would understand them! I loved listening to the twins try to explain religion to the people of the future. I loved the romance. This would be a great book to turn into a movie, if anything just to be able to see all of these remarkable things that I have been imagining!

I also loved all the characters. I loved how smart Sheridan (the normal twin) was. I loved how strong and brave the girls were, and ho unwilling they were to give up on their beliefs even when laser boxes (kind of the new and improved shotgun) were being pointed at them.

I’m not a huge fan of the name, Echo. I also think both girls were sometimes a little too quick with things like picking up the future lingo. Though, this did come in handy. I was fascinated with the crazy world outside the city limits, and it was scary watching the girls learning the hard way that they couldn’t just go out on their own. I kind of would love to hear more about the one-handed killers (who seemed to eat people?) It was also a little slow for me in the beginning. I didn’t see how it was a dystopia till a little bit later, and then I think I liked it a lot more. After a relatively slow start, it was nothing but speed, adventure, escape, and survival –all great elements for a new YA dystopia!

I have to mention that the combo of time traveling, twins, dystopia, romance, the future, rebellion, mafia, and a pinch of zombie was just so awesome! What’s not to like? Really, this book was so much fun! I can’t wait to hear what more people have to say about it.  It gets a 10/10 from me!

Waiting on Wednesday (7)

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 Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead (2/12/13):

Description on Good Reads:

“After an event that changed Sydney and Adrian’s lives forever, Sydney struggles to draw the line between her Alchemist teachings and what her heart is urging her to do. Then she meets alluring Marcus Finch, a former Alchemist who pushes her to rebel against the people who raised her. And when Sydney comes face to face with an evil magic user, she finally begins to embrace the mysterious magic she knows she holds within . . .

Populated with new faces as well as familiar ones, the Bloodlines series explores all the friendship, romance, battles, and betrayals that made the #1 New York Times bestselling Vampire Academy series so addictive—this time in a part-vampire, part-human setting where the stakes are even higher and everyone’s out for blood.”

So, I know I’ve said this before, but Richelle Mead writes my all-time favorite vampire YA! I’m not quite as in love with this series as I was with The Vampire Academy series; however, I’m so excited for this book! Book 2 ended in such a spot! I’m dying to know more in regards to Adrian!! The description sounds amazing. I can’t wait to meet a new alchemist. I can’t wait to see what Sydney decides and learns. And of course I can’t wait to see more of my favorite characters from the earlier series again. But, how am I supposed to wait till February?

A Good Week in Books (16)

My book haul is a little light this week, but still really good. I only have 3 new books this week, but they are all books I’m really excited for reading! I was gifted one book, I won another book, and I received one new one from Net Galley. I have some pre-orders coming next week.

And I’m also attending a giant, wonderful Harry Potter Conference (Leaky Con) next week. I’m not sure if there will be books there, but I can guarantee you I will find them if they are there! So, next week seems a little more promising. I did sign up for the lit days at the conference, which feature some of my all time favorite people: John Green, Hank Green, Lev Grossman, Maureen Johnson, Amanda Hocking, Holly Black, Stephanie Perkins, Laini Taylor, Megan Whalen Turner, Robin Wasserman, Margaret Stohl, and more…There will be a lot of pictures coming soon!

But, back to this week, I got The Enchanted Truth by Kym Petrie (9/18/12) from Net Galley. I won an ARC of Drain You by M. Beth Bloom from Epic Reads. And I received The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern as a gift. (Technically, this one is adult and I don’t ever really mention adult books much on this blog, but I feel this is definitely one of those YA-Adult crossover books that a lot of teens read, so I probably will review it here at some point. It looks so amazing!) Thank you, Greenleaf Book Group and Harper Teen!

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

I have an ARC of this one, but the real deal comes out in a few days. This is another book that has gotten a ton of wonderful reviews. I didn’t know much about the story going into it besides there being one tough teen girl assassin proving herself, and frankly what else did I need to know?

The book begins with Celaena being retrieved from a harsh labor camp and forced into an audience with the crown prince. She’s famous for being Adarlan’s top assassin, and has been worked to the bone (literally) for the past year in the salt mines. Celaena first believes she’s finally been sentenced to death, but instead is surprised to receive an offer from the prince. He wants her to be come train and compete against the rest of the nations’s best assassins, thieves, and soldiers to win the place as the king’s champion. Each member of the royal council has picked a fighter to represent them, and the prince thinks Celaena could win it for him.

The prince (Dorian) and Celaena make a deal; if Celaena beats the rest of the competition and becomes champion, she will serve the king for four years, and then she can finally be free. Of course Celeana takes the deal. It wouldn’t be much of a book if she didn’t.  And Celeanea is then forced into court life, training sessions, and very little recuperating time. It takes her some time to regain her health after the labor camp, but the girl goes right into training mode, getting up even before my favorite character, the captain of the guard, Chaol, to work on her strength and agility.

And while Celaena pretends, in front of the other contenders, to be a mere jewel thief, it’s clear she takes her freedom seriously, spending extra hours in training sessions and working as hard as she can. At the start of the competitions though, random contenders are being murdered within the castle. And the further along the game goes, the more fighters are being killed. Celaena gets involved with trying to figure out who’s doing the murdering because she’s starting to fall for both Dorian and Chaol and wants them to be safe, and also because she’s now involved in some illegal magic activity where the ghost of an ancient fairy queen has requested her to get rid of the evil in the castle.

There’s a love triangle. There’s plenty of action-packed battle scenes. There’s balls, parties, holidays, fancy ball gowns, court snobbery, ghosts, secret passageways, fairy legends, forbidden magic, raised demons, poison, archery, and so much more! What didn’t this novel have? I loved the action! I loved the fight scenes! I loved watching a teen girl kick some serious soldier butt! I loved the boys! They seriously reminded me of George and Jonathan from a certain Tamora Pierce series.

But, I kind of wasn’t the biggest Celaena fan. I loved how arrogant she was. I loved how strong she was. She really epitomizes the word survivor. She’s been through hell and back, yet still manages to take her training so seriously. I love that she refused to give into court life, never taking that stuff too seriously. I mean the girl walked around with candy red stained teeth for a day around a court of jealous/corseted/uptight ladies! However, she was a bit contradictory. For someone constantly thinking of escape routes, best methods to incapacitate an enemy, etc, she also spent so much time thinking about dresses and parties and boys.

And I love dresses, and parties, and boys. I really do. It’s just that with Celaena, I kind of kept wishing she’d think about other things. I wanted more fights and more assassination attempts on her part, and less complaining while hanging out in her room. For such a tough person, she really was kind of whiny. I wanted her to actually escape her room instead of just talking about how she could escape her room.  I wanted her to beat up some of the awful court people instead of just talking about how she could. I know that she had to be in line or risk her place in the competition, but I really think being as smart as she is, or at least as smart as everyone keeps saying she is, could allow for her to figure out some ways around this.

Also, I think this was the first high fantasy I ever read that included billiards…I feel like I can’t read a teen romance without at least one learning-to-play-pool-scene. And I really don’t think that was necessary here. It just felt out of place.

I loved the plot, even though I guessed who was doing the murdering in the first quarter of the book, and was kind of hoping to be a little more shocked or surprised in the mystery aspect. I loved all the symbols, the magic, the books and the research that Celaena did in the library. I did like Celaena a lot more when I realized she loved to read…I loved the history and the magic. I loved the world building. And I loved the ending and its premise for book 2. So, even though Celaena is not my favorite, I still give this a 9/10. And I highly recommend it to Tamora Pierce fans!

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

I got this one on Net Galley (thanks Harlequin Teen!) and I normally wouldn’t have picked this one out to read. I have read so many fantastic reviews for this novel in the past few months though that I decided why not? I haven’t been in the mood for any intense contemporary fiction. Summers tend to be more on the fluffy side for me. And while the description for this one hinted at the majority of the plot being romance, I knew going in that stuff would be tough in this one. I was right, but I am so glad I read all those reviews because I seriously ended up loving this.

Echo goes from being most popular to most talked about behind her back all in one night. She comes back to school only wearing long sleeve shirts, having nothing to do with her now ex-boyfriend, and avoiding the cafeteria, the dance team, and even the art room. There’s rumors that she cut herself, and that she went crazy that one night she can’t remember. She literally can’t remember how she got the scars on her arms. She knows it has something to do with her bipolar mother. But every time she comes close to maintaining any memories of that night (in therapy sessions) she breaks down and ends up spending more time in the hospital.

That’s not even all of the messed up craziness that is Echo’s life at the start of the book. For starters, there’s a restraining order put out against her bipolar mother and Echo doesn’t even know why. Her dad has married the girl who used to babysit her, and now their unborn child seems to take all precedence over Echo. And her dad was definitely interested in the babysitter while still together with Echo’s mom. Echo’s big brother recently passed away on duty for the marines.  She idolized and loved her brother like no one else and is really feeling like the one person who could help her is gone. She has friends at school who tell her they can only be her friends when not in public.  Her father has forbidden her from taking art classes. And as tests and college acceptances are in full swing, Echo has no idea what she wants any more, besides escaping her home and figuring out what happened.

Then Noah comes in. Echo is assigned to tutor Noah. He’s known for being a player, always with a different girl on his arm. He’s also known as being a stoner, a foster kid, and has the ultimate “bad boy” image. He’s not stupid; he’s just not really motivated at school when he has so much else on his mind, and when he’s so angry. His parents died several years ago in a house fire. He and his two younger brothers got out, but his parents didn’t. The boys were separated in foster care. And when an abusive foster-father goes after Noah, Noah punches him back and builds a really terrible reputation. It doesn’t matter that the guy deserved it; no one wants to take Noah in and the family that has his brothers refuses to let Noah near him.

Noah and Echo work with the same counselor at school. The counselor really tries to dissuade Noah from taking legal action and trying to adopt his brothers, which he can do when he turns 18. He refuses to believe that his brothers are safe, when he really never has been safe since his parents died. His best friends have had it rough too, and he hangs out with people who can relate to him, all teens who have been screwed up in a system that really doesn’t like to give second chances.

So, it’s weird for both ex-popular Echo, and bad boy, Noah when they click as well as they do. They have “normal” tutoring sessions, work on Echo’s dead brother’s car together, and eventually grow into having a meaningful relationship and friendship where they can both share their lives with each other. They also eventually work together to try to get a hold of the counselor’s files on them.

Echo really wants to know what she can’t remember. But everyone refuses to tell her what happened and that she needs to remember on her own. And Noah needs to know the full names and address of the family that has his brothers, so he can make damn sure that his family is safe. Both characters have dealt with loss. Both have terrible scars from their experiences and both need to get into those files!

This book has parties, sizzling romance scenes, terrifying nightmares, therapy sessions, parental abuse, rumors, bullying, school dances, break-ins, memory loss and gain, and just so much growing. Echo needs to learn that just because her mom is crazy, doesn’t necessarily mean that she is too. And Noah needs to learn that it is okay to just be a kid once and a while, and that his dreams are important too. Both of these characters grow up so much in these pages.

I loved watching Echo get her memories back! That alone made this book so interesting! It was like the first season of Dexter, when you finally get to see what he’s forgotten about his childhood –the reason he became a killer. What happened to Echo was horrible and so is what happened to Noah –in different ways. I loved their chemistry and how they learned from each other.

There were two things though did kind of bother me. One being all the “baby” talk. Not all couples have to refer to each other as babe or baby. Echo is definitely not the kind of girl to call anyone that! She regrets an actual baby for most of the novel. And Noah, really couldn’t just call her Echo all the time? Really? And two, I just can’t believe that years could have gone by without anyone telling Echo what happened! There were moments when it seemed like the whole world knew, but her. Random art people knew! I can definitely see the ex-babysitter/stepmom spilling the beans to win back some kind of respect from Echo. Maybe if the book made it seem like a matter of months, as compared to years, this would have been more believable. I can see Echo not remembering for years, but I just can’t see that many people not telling her for that long.

Overall though, I loved it. The awful teenagers in her school made it so dramatic and wonderful! The romance was probably my favorite teen romance of the year so far. And the suspense and not knowing what happened to Echo was just too good. I read it really fast because I had to know! I give this one a 9/10. And I will definitely be keeping my eye on this debut author!

Waiting on Wednesday (6)

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 Scent of Magic by Maria V. Snyder (12/27/12):

Description on Good Reads:

“As the last Healer in the Fifteen Realms, Avery of Kazan is in a unique position: in the minds of her friends and foes alike, she no longer exists. Despite her need to prevent the megalomanical King Tohon from winning control of the Realms, Avery is also determined to find her sister and repair their estrangement. And she must do it alone, as Kerrick, her partner and sole confident, returns to Alga to summon his country into battle.

Though she should be in hiding, Avery will do whatever she can to support Tohon’s opponents. Including infiltrating a holy army, evading magic sniffers, teaching forest skills to soldiers and figuring out how to stop Tohon’s most horrible creations yet; an army of the walking dead - human and animal alike and nearly impossible to defeat.

War is coming and Avery is alone. Unless she figures out how to do the impossible ... again.”

At this point, I can say, “Maria V. Snyder’s name is on it? Time to buy!” Seriously, everything this author writes is magical. I love her strong female leads. I love the way she writes magic. And the first book in this YA series (which I reviewed here) was nothing short of fantastic! It’s not my favorite cover. But, that’s okay. The description sounds epic. And Snyder more than made up for herself with her awesome covers for adult fantasy series. If you like Tamora Pierce and Kirstin Cashore, by all means go check this author out.

The Diviners by Libba Bray

So, where to start? I borrowed this ARC from my friend, Eti! Thanks Eti, again, for just being so wonderful! I’ve had a lot of review deadlines to keep up with, but did this stop me from reading Bray’s latest as soon as I could? Absolutely not! There are a few authors I call trump authors, whose new books go first above almost all else. Not only is Bray a trump author, she is literally a YA author I would feel the need to bow down to if I ever met her, and quote Wayne’s World, “We’re not worthy. We’re not worthy.”

Her book Beauty Queens was my favorite book of 2011. Her first series that started with A Great and Terrible Beauty was the perfect book for me when I read it as a teenager. Her Michael L. Printz award winning book, Going Bovine blew my mind in its strange awesomeness. And now, she has impressed me to the max yet again with this one! Why do I feel like I’m announcing her to speak at some major event? I would just love to be at an event where Libba Bray I speaking! Maybe one day? I wish she was going to Leaky Con… ah well.

Any way, can you tell already how much I loved this book? It did take a while to read. Though, mostly this is because I borrowed the book, and then belatedly realized it was signed, and made the responsible decision to only read it at home (meaning, I did not take it to the beach or with me on my vacation even though I was already half way through it at that point).

It’s mostly about Evie, a girl with the ability to touch an object and sense things about the person who owns that object. She can see memories, hear hummed songs, and really get a feel for the person the object belonged to –sometimes even knowing what that person ate that day for lunch. It’s because Evie uses this ability at a party, bringing light to an affair no one was supposed to know about, that her parents send her to live with her eccentric uncle in New York City.

Little do Evie’s parents know that she is more than fine with such a punishment to avoid scandal. To small town Evie, a 1920’s NYC is all about parties, hair-do’s, illegal night clubs, and shining lights. And while the book revolves around Evie, there are plenty of chapters that follow other amazing characters. There’s my favorite character, Memphis, a young man who takes numbers for a living, who used to be able to heal people with the touch of his hands. He’s taking care of his little brother (along with his religious aunt). His brother can sometimes see the future and is learning to “see” the numbers of cards from their backs.

There’s Theta and Henry too. Theta is a showgirl and she lives with Henry, a young man that saved her from some seriously harsh circumstances. They pretend to be brother in sister in the building Evie’s uncle lives in. And it’s hinted at that they have abilities of their own as well.  And sometimes the book also shifts to the point of view Sam, a man head over heels for Evie, who has the ability to hide in front of people’s faces. All he has to do is tell them they don’t see him. He’s the perfect thief!

And while I’m making this book sound like a feast of supernatural elements, it’s not. The supernatural is a very small part of this novel, something most of the characters keep hidden for the whole thing. It’s just what connects all these people together, even though only a couple of the characters have seen any of this connection.

Evie’s uncle Will works for The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult (aka: The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies). Evie’s goal to bring more people into the mostly empty museum becomes rather easy to accomplish when Will gets involved with a police investigation of some rather occult sounding murders. The serial killer has gathered a lot of interest around NYC, having gone after all sorts of people from different backgrounds who don’t seem to be connected at all. But the creepy thing that gathers all the interest is the pieces of the bodies the killer takes with him (anything from hands to skin).

Evie talks to the papers and gets people interested in the museum again. She also realizes she has the ability to help with the murder investigation because she has some unique skills. It soon becomes clear that the serial killer doesn’t just seem supernatural, he is. He’s a ghost and it’s up to Evie, her uncle, and her new friends to stop the killings before more innocent people are killed and before some serious dark powers can come bring about the end of the world.

This book is part coming of age story, part murder mystery, part horror story, part romance, part historical drama, and part supernatural thriller. It literally had me laughing out loud at one point, on the edge of my seat –biting my nails another moment, terrified to turn the lights off before bed at another time, and crying for the dark circumstances war has brought to some of these characters another moment. This book just did so many things for me all at once.

There’s dancing in night clubs, getting arrested for alcohol consumption, supernatural powers, unfair politics regarding class, gender, and race, Harlem poetry, movie houses, religious cults, a resurrected dead serial killer, prophecies, love triangles, thieves, union organizing, just a tidbit of steam punk, death, and some pure awesome moments that I can’t eve put down on paper.

The best thing about this book was hands-down the fantastic writing. There were moments where I was like, “Am I reading Libba Bray or am I reading Sherwood Anderson?” There were fantastic descriptions of NYC that battled with some of the descriptions in Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio. There was this common thread of talking about all that the wind saw and heard, and it was just so beautiful. I literally paused after reading certain sections, thought for a bit, and then re-read out loud. Some of this writing is so good, it needs to be read out loud! Normally, I’d post a few of my favorite passages, but since it’s an ARC I really can’t quote it accurately. I might have to come back to this post once the book is out, and I have bought it, so I can throw in some amazing quotes!

The characters were amazing! All were flawed in some way that made them all the more believable. And all of them were connected so well! It took me a little while to warm up to Evie. Underneath all of her girly sarcasm and material obsessions (and love for booze), is a caring, loving human being who still has so much more to learn, experience, and grow. I absolutely loved Jericho, Uncle Will’s sort of apprentice/co-worker/ward. And I loved the history! The 1920’s came to life in this book for me more than the time period ever has before in a movie.

I need to stop writing. I could praise this book forever. Really. It is a little bit slow in the beginning. It took a while for the whole premise to be setup for all the characters. But, whatever you do, do not give up on this book because of its slow beginning. It will be worth your while to get to all the juicy, romantic, and terrifying scenes!

I love, love, loved this one. It definitely gets a 10/10 from me.  And I seriously can’t wait for its release. Libba Bray, I bow down to you. Really, I do. Please don’t ever stop writing.