A Good Week in Books (48)

What a crazy week! I have officially moved to MA. This is my first post from my new home! I start my new, wonderful library job on Tuesday. And I have to share what it looks like across the street from where I am now living!

Okay, on to the books. I was actually gifted two wonderful books right before I left and I never got the chance to talk about them. Thanks to the wonderful Eti, who went to a library conference right before I left IL, I have a new signed copy of Unwholly by Neal Shusterman. It’s even addressed to me! Eti, you are the best! Also, she gave me the awesome sounding book, Shards and Ashes edited by Melissa Marr and Kelley Armstrong. I just purchased two pretties yesterday! And I received two awesome new titles on Net Galley!

Shards and Ashes edited by Melissa Marr and Kelley Armstrong (gifted)
Unwholly by Neal Shusterman (gifted)
Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers (purchased)
Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare (purchased)

The autograph!

School Spirits by Rachel Hawkins (NG)
Dare You To by Katie McGarry (NG)

How was your week in books?

Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill

I feel like it was “meant to be” for me to read this book at this moment in time. I have a way sometimes of finding the perfect novel to read before I embark on some major life change. I read Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares right before I went away to college. The girls in the book were spending one last summer together before they all kind of headed their separate ways. And I always felt so grateful to have read that at that exact same time in my life.

I feel kind of the same way with this one. Not that I’m in high school or going on a class trip to London any time soon. I actually did that in college, but not the point…This is my last post I’m making from my Chicago home. I’m about to make a big move east for a new job! And I guess there aren’t really too many literal connections between my life and the life of this main character. I just feel like her trip to London was an awakening. And I’m hoping for a similar experience with my trip.

Julia is on a class trip London. She unfortunately had to leave her best friend behind and spend her time in the city she has most wanted to go to with all the popular kids in her school that she absolutely can’t stand. But that’s no big deal. Julia can get through anything as long as she follows her rules. Her slight OCD tendencies have landed her a fantastic GPA and that’s more important than high school drama.

Julia kind of wants to go to England because of her parents. Their time there has amounted to some great stories. And Julia seriously misses her dad who passed away several years ago. And because of her love of reading and her ultimate ideal couple being her parents, Julia is a believer in MTB (meant to be). She thinks her parents were meant to meet when they did. And her long-lasting childhood crush who moved back to her hometown will one day come to realize that she and him were MTB as well.

The students are all given cell phones to only use for emergencies when they get to London. All the phones are identical and have the same amount of minutes on them. Of course the instructor isn’t exactly specific as to what constitutes emergencies. And Julia, while never breaking any rules ever, deems her besties’ texts about her MTB as being necessary.

Julia gets buddied off with her least favorite person, Jason. Jason is the kind of guy who hits on everyone, gets invited to a random parties thrown be strangers, gives little kids he doesn’t know pieces of gum, and really is not that avid a believer in rule following. And for no apparent reason to Julia, the two actually seem to quickly bond and become friends. Jason gets Julia out of her guidebooks and into actual life experiences. He drags her to parties, gets her to flirt with boys, and generally just lets her know that is okay to stray from the rules sometimes, to have fun. And Julia, in return keeps up with him. She doesn’t let him get away with things that everyone else in the world does. And she helps him when he needs her.

They kind of start by making this deal. Jason will help Julia flirt and meet up with a guy who has been texting her ever since that first night’s party if she agrees to write all his reflection papers. The deal is made. And the two go to the Globe Theater, to skateboard parks, to pubs, to music stores, and even to the London Eye together. Everything is leading up to 3 guys seeming to have feelings for Julia. And she has a lot to decide about MTB, about love, and about growing up (and possibly out of her shell).

I overwhelmingly relate to Julia, who lives more in her books than she does in reality. She’s so sarcastic, intelligent, and curious, and caring. She’s not the typical YA main character. She definitely has her flaws. She is so angry so much of the time. She misses her dad. And her way with dealing with her anger is by being active. She swims away her feelings or runs away her stress. She’s constantly falling down and embarrassing herself. And she’s always aware of what she looks like. I love that she loves to eat too! She doesn’t shy away from all the yummy foods in England.

I also super loved the setting. I spent a month in England for a January term at my college. I took a theater class, where my group saw 20+ plays. It was an amazing trip for me. I love recognizing all the places that Julia and Jason go. And the places I didn’t go to, like that park, make me want to go back there! Like Julia, I didn’t really have many friends on my trip. But also like her, this sort of worked to my advantage. I did a lot more exploring independently because of it and really got to see everything I wanted to (like Harry Potter tours, Abbey Road, the Sherlock Holmes museum, the Bodleian Library in Oxford, etc.)

I also loved Jason! He was so believable. I loved his up and down personality. I loved how much he wanted to get Julia out! He’s the guy who did cartwheels (literally) across London when Julia was meeting up with a certain guy he didn’t like. He was just so interesting to me. He had family dramas of his own and I like how this inadvertently brought the two together more.

Was the story original? No. It really reminded me of an old Olsen twin movie…but in a good way. I used to love those when I was a kid (don’t judge). Was the twist actually a surprise? Definitely not. I called it all from the beginning. But, in no way, shape, or form did any of this hinder my overall enjoyment of the book. It read like the recipe for a good romantic comedy. And I ate it up! I do think there were a few little loopholes in the plot with their teacher not being able to tell things (like that they were leaving the hotel every night, not really sick when they said they were, or not really present when they were hungover). I just don’t think their teacher could be that dumb or irresponsible.

But, that didn’t really bother me either. I loved this book. It is just what a needed: a great story about growing up, trying new things, and learning to live in a whole new way! I read it in one sitting. I give it a 10/10 and I hope to see more from the author.

Waiting on Wednesday (38)

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 Across a Star-Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund (10/15/13):

Description on Goodreads:

Centuries after wars nearly destroyed civilization, the two islands of New Pacifica stand alone, a terraformed paradise where even the Reduction—the devastating brain disorder that sparked the wars—is a distant memory. Yet on the isle of Galatea, an uprising against the ruling aristocrats has turned deadly. The revolutionaries’ weapon is a drug that damages their enemies’ brains, and the only hope is rescue by a mysterious spy known as the Wild Poppy.

On the neighboring island of Albion, no one suspects that the Wild Poppy is actually famously frivolous aristocrat Persis Blake. The teenager uses her shallow, socialite trappings to hide her true purpose: her gossipy flutternotes are encrypted plans, her pampered sea mink is genetically engineered for spying, and her well-publicized new romance with handsome Galatean medic Justen Helo… is her most dangerous mission ever.

Though Persis is falling for Justen, she can’t risk showing him her true self, especially once she learns he’s hiding far more than simply his disenchantment with his country’s revolution and his undeniable attraction to the silly socialite he’s pretending to love. His darkest secret could plunge both islands into a new dark age, and Persis realizes that when it comes to Justen Helo, she’s not only risking her heart, she’s risking the world she’s sworn to protect.

In this thrilling adventure inspired by The Scarlet Pimpernel, Diana Peterfreund creates an exquisitely rendered world where nothing is as it seems and two teens with very different pasts fight for a future only they dare to imagine.

How awesome does this sound? I love getting a long description for once too! I love, love, love this author. Everything she writes is wonderful. Her other book that took place in this universe was beyond amazing. I don’t know The Scarlet Pimpernel story as well as I know Persuasion; however, this sounds equally fun! It sounds a like a wonderful subterfuge story. I loved the futuristic world of her other book, and I’m so excited to go back there! I also don’t like this cover as much as the first one in the series because the girl looks kind of dead to me, but the sea is pretty! I cannot wait for this one!

What are you waiting on?

Fairy Tale Giveaway Hop

I haven’t done one of these hops in a very long time. How could I miss out on a fairy tale one though? Thank you: I Am A Reader, Not AWriter, The Book Rat, and A Backwards Story for hosting such a fantastic giveaway hop!

To see the rest of the blogs participating in the hope (aka: for more chances to win free books), scroll down to the bottom of the post.

I absolutely love fairy tales! And because I love fairy tales so much I am giving away two of the books listed below!

My standard rules: The winner will get an email from me as soon as one is randomly selected on Raffle Copter. My giveaway is open both to US and international followers (as long as either Barnes and Noble or The Book Depository can deliver to you). You will have 48 hours to respond to my winning notification email, and if I don’t hear from you by then, I will have to randomly select a different winner.

What’s up for grabs: your choice of any two of these fairytale books below:

Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan
Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier
Entwined by Heather Dixon
Beastly by Alex Flinn
Cloaked by Alex Flinn
Enchanted by Alethea Kontis
Wisdom’s Kiss by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
East by Edit Pattou
The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer
Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for stopping by! And, good luck!

Invisibility by Andrea Cremer and David Levithan

I was super excited to get my hands on this ARC! I absolutely adore David Levithan. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting the guy, and he’s totally awesome. His book, Every Day was one of my favorites of 2012, and probably of all time. Another one of my all time favorite books is one he co-wrote with John Green: Will Grayson, Will Grayson. And, I’ve read others that I love too! I’m safely at the point where I will just buy anything with his name on it. I haven’t read any of Cremer yet, though I have the first couple of books in her series in my TBR pile.

This book is about Stephen and Elizabeth. Stephen is invisible, literally. And all the wonderful narrative of Levithan shines through with this character. Stephen was actually born invisible and has spent his whole life not knowing why. He can make himself more solid, so people can touch him or hear him, but no one ever sees him. And it’s not the ideal life, but it works out for him, or it does at least until his mother dies. For the last year or so (following his mother’s death), he has had literally no one to talk to, to play board games with, to understand him. He has a dad that adds money to his bank account, but who has mostly been MIA since his younger childhood.

Everything changes though when Elizabeth moves into his apartment building. She sees him. Elizabeth is coming from a not so great situation herself. She just moved to NYC with her brother and her mom. They moved after her brother, Laurie, was brutally attacked and hospitalized by some teens in his town, for being gay. Elizabeth has grown accustomed to people ostracizing her and her family. Her best friends all kind of abandoned her after and even before the incident. And their sort of conservative father couldn’t accept Laurie for he is. I wouldn’t say Elizabeth wanted to be invisible, in so much as she wished people could be more accepting and genuine.

The two characters briefly have a “pretend” fantasy relationship where Stephen actually can pretend to be normal. He kind of lies to Elizabeth, who just assumes that everyone can see him. Why would she ever think otherwise? And by the time the secret is out of the bag, Elizabeth is already in love with him. And from that point on the book takes a different route. It becomes more about spell casters and curses. Stephen, Elizabeth and Laurie find out that Stephen has been cursed by his grandfather. His grandfather technically cursed his mother to only be able to have children she could never see.

With the help of a comic book store owner/magical mentor, the trio look into ways to breaking the rather impenetrable curse. Elizabeth learns a lot about her rather remarkable abilities. I kind of love that she could see Stephen because of a magical reason, and not just a true love reason. This just seemed more logical than what I was expecting, and I was grateful. Elizabeth learns about her abilities. The evil grandfather comes to town. Tons of New Yorkers are cursed (anything from cursed to not ever being to call a taxi to cursed to not being able to take care of themselves mentally or physically). Some of the curses are scary. And it comes to a point where Elizabeth really has to decide what she is willing to give up to possibly break Stephen’s curse, one of the strongest curses there is.

This book is loaded with family drama, comic books, relationship dilemmas, magic, terrible fates and curses, death, depression, and so many notions about what it really means to be alone.

As far as concepts go, this book was genius. I loved the beginning. Every single part of Stephen’s chapters was beautiful. His loneliness was so real, so intense, that my heart just melted for him. Elizabeth was harder to like. I liked her interest in comic books. I grew to love her curiosity for spells and curses. I also came to love her general need to help people, all people. For some reason though, her chapters just never captivated me. She was sort of a mediocre main character in my opinion. Nothing really stood out about her. Maybe I feel this way because the other main character stood out in all the right ways. I don’t know. It’s got to be hard to compete with Levithan’s character building.

I also just didn’t love this book as much as I wanted to. The beginning captivated me. I was dying to learn Stephen’s story. But once I did, the plot kind of went down hill. It kind of followed all the other YA supernatural plot lines. There’s the magical mentor, the learning of magic existing, the working hard to harness new powers, and then the big fight with the bad guy. I just wanted something a little different, after such a distinctive beginning. I was engrossed in the story again at the very end. Everything kind of culminates back on the rooftop and I could not put the book down until I read the last page. I also give the authors serious points for not ending this book exactly as I thought it would end. I was a little surprised, in a good way!

The writing was still unbelievable. I loved Stephen from the first chapter. He is such a unique, intelligent character! I was not a big Elizabeth fan (she needed a little more depth). Though, I loved her brother (who was my second favorite character after Stephen). I was not a fan of the stereotypical middle part of the book. It disappointed me after such a unique beginning to then get such a cliché plot line about magic and curses. However, the ending was fantastic. I also really enjoyed the New York setting. Overall, I give it a 7/10.

Crash by Lisa McMann

So, I really enjoy this author. I loved Wake, Fade, and Gone. I still need to read her dystopian series for the younger spectrum of the young adult audience because I have heard really great things about them. I got to meet this author when I was in library school. She actually came to the main branch of the public library to do a teen program. I (along with my wonderful librarian friend, Abby) were probably the oldest non parents to go to the program, and not actually be working it. We actually both received some free books for going! Though, we did wait to make sure all the teens got books first.

Meeting an author tends to make me more biased in my readings. It’s hard to hate a book when you know the person who wrote it is totally awesome. And Lisa McMann is totally awesome. I was not the biggest fan of Cryer’s Cross, but like I said, I loved her first series, and I was super looking forward to reading this one.

McMann definitely has a style. She likes the whole suspense thing. She loves the supernatural. She doesn’t shy away from writing characters with mental illness. And she likes to give dark qualities to her storylines. All things for me = a big plus. However, I’m sorry to say this, but I don’t think she’s very good with endings. But, I’ll get to that in a moment.

This one is about Jules, a girl who lives, works, and does pretty much everything with her family. Her family owns one of two competing pizza businesses in her town. Jules owns up in the beginning to not really having many friends. She does drive a pizza food truck to school every day that has two giant meatballs on the top…And she used to have a best friend. Unfortunately, he ended up blowing her off completely most likely because his family owns the other pizza business in town. And oh yeah, Jules is totally still in love with him any way.

Jules thankfully is very close to her siblings who are all close to the same age. None of them, including the mom, seem to be all that close to their dad. He’s a hoarder. He seriously has their whole apartment loaded with cookbooks, newspapers, and old electronics. And he’s also seriously depressed to the point where he only sometimes gets out of bed and goes to work.

Jules, while harboring her long crush, working at her family restaurant every day, working hard for good grades, and being there for her family, is also now starting to see a vision. She sees it in windows, on tv screens, plastered on billboards, taking over her computer screen at the library, etc. She can’t stop seeing it. And as the days go on and it becomes more and more clear that this will be an event that just hasn’t happened yet, and well, Jules becomes more and more determined to stop it.

Unfortunately for Jules, the vision involves a plow truck running into her crush’s restaurant and killing 9 people. One of those nine people is her crush. And she just can’t live without telling him, and without trying to stop it from happening. But how far is Jules willing to go to help a terrible accident from happening? Is it worth her family’s trust, her already declining popularity at school, her sanity, her life?

I know this sounds weird, but one of my favorite things about this book was Jules’ fear of mental illness, of becoming like her father. This becomes a theme of the book not just for her, but also for her crush who is afraid of becoming like his father too. I feel like this fear is so spot on for anyone living in a family with mental illness.

I also loved how close Jules was with her brother and sister. I wish she had more friends, but seeing such a close family was nice too. I loved her to pieces. Seriously, her sense of humor, her acceptance of all people, and her stalker-ish tendencies were just so believable and fun to read about. Sawyer (the crush) was not my favorite character. Yes, I understand why he didn’t believe her. And yes, I understand why he acted the way he did. But honestly, I didn’t get what was so special about him. He so did not deserve all that love, attention, and dedication from Jules for so many years!

This is all leading up to a not so good ending. I just feel like too much was resolved. I know this is a series and a lot of times I say how I hate not knowing things at the end of a book 1. But here, I’m actually complaining that I know too many things. I hate that Sawyer’s story was explained so quickly. The only really unbelievable thing for me (in a book filled with psychic visions) was how Sawyer told everything to Jules so quickly.

His story is sad and Jules deserved to hear it.  And I guess I would have hated Sawyer more without it, but I just don’t think that someone who has been what Sawyer has been through and hid it for so long would just burst out with everything the way he did. I just feel like this was handled too abruptly. Too many things were tied up with a nice bow in the end. Even stuff with Jules’ father was tied up a little more than I liked. I would have wanted to hold on to some more mystery. Though, her family drama/horror story was as good as the best kind of soap opera.

I liked the final twist at the end though. And I loved Jules and her siblings. McMann knows how to write fantastic main characters, suspense, supernatural twists, and romance. I just always seem to wish her endings were a little different. I give this one an 8/10.

Dark Star by Bethany Frenette

First, I need to comment on this absolutely gorgeous cover! The panoramic view of the city, (which we learn is Minneapolis) is so gorgeous and it continues on to the back cover as well. Plus, isn’t it perfect for a book about superheroes?

Audrey has grown up believing in super heroes. For starters, her mom is the famous Morning Star. And second, Audrey has a trick or two up her sleeves as well. As her grandma put it, she has a knowing. She can read people, situations, and cards better than most people. It doesn’t always work the same way, but when she gets a knowing for something, she’s usually right.

She has two best friends: Gideon (who knows all her secrets) and Tink (who doesn’t like to talk about weird things). The book pretty much begins when Audrey’s mom explains that Leon, her “side-kick” will be moving in with them. Leon has always had a knack for both protecting Audrey and annoying the hell out of her. But, Audrey can tell that something is up. Something big is going down in Minneapolis if her mom feels the need for Leon to move in.

Meanwhile, teen girls are disappearing and turning up dead. Audrey just knows everything is connected. After following her knowing instincts and repeatedly putting herself in danger, her mom finally starts to realize that it might be safer for Audrey if she knew more about who she is. Audrey meets family members she never knew she had, gets some history lessons about the Kin (people born with supernatural abilities like her and her mother), and the Harrowers (aka: demons) who take up most of her super mom’s and other Kin’s fighting time.

There’s all the normal, fun teen stuff: like dance clubs, Halloween parties, best friends, and movie nights. And then there’s all the demon fighting, back-stabbing, plot twists, and card readings that make this book so much more fun! Everything kind of ends with a big betrayal, secrets unleashed, and a seriously tough decision for Audrey.

This was such a fun book! It kind of reminded me of X-Men mixed with the show, The Nine Lives of Chloe King. There is so much kid power here! Kids seem to develop their abilities at different times, and only some of them get “called” to do what Audrey’s mom does, but everything happens for them all so young! I love the secret society/Kin thing. I loved learning about Harrowers and how the Kin have been dealing with them.

Some of this book was a little predictable. What superhero story isn’t though? Did I guess the whole family drama thing with her dad at the very beginning? Yes. Did I guess the twist early on? Yes. But, I still had a ball reading it. Really, the characters, the sarcasm, the witty banter between Audrey and Leon, the best friend time, and all of the normal teen stuff just made this book so much fun, and so much more than a normal cliché super hero story.

There is still a lot left unanswered. The author never said who a certain person the demons are looking for, actually is…Though I have a guess. I want to know more about Audrey’s powers. I want more time with Leon! And I want some things with her mother resolved! There will be a sequel out later this year though, and I have a feeling none of these things will be left unresolved for long. I give this one a 9/10. I really had so much fun reading it. And I cannot wait for book 2 to come out.