(ARC) YA Book Review: Stealing Parker by Miranda Kenneally

Release Date: 1 October 2012

Publisher: Sourcbooks Fire
Format: ARC
Source: Around the World ARC Tours

Goodreads description:

After a scandal rocks their conservative small town, 17-year-old Parker Shelton goes overboard trying to prove that she won't turn out like her mother: a lesbian. The all-star third-baseman quits the softball team, drops 20 pounds and starts making out with guys--a lot. But hitting on the hot new assistant baseball coach might be taking it a step too far...especially when he starts flirting back.

My Thoughts...

(ARC) YA Book Review: A Girl Named Digit by Annabelle Monaghan

Release Date: 5 June 2012

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
Format: ARC
Source: Around the World ARC Tours

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Goodreads description:

Farrah "Digit" Higgins may be going to MIT in the fall, but this L.A. high school genius has left her geek self behind in another school district so she can blend in with the popular crowd at Santa Monica High and actually enjoy her senior year. But when Farrah, the daughter of a UCLA math professor, unknowingly cracks a terrorist group's number sequence, her laid-back senior year gets a lot more interesting. Soon she is personally investigating the case, on the run from terrorists, and faking her own kidnapping-- all while trying to convince a young, hot FBI agent to take her seriously. So much for blending in . . .

My Thoughts...

(ARC) YA Book Review: Thou Shalt Not Road Trip by Antony John

Release Date: 12 April 2012

Publisher: Dial Books
Format: ARC
Source: Around the World ARC Tours

Goodreads description:

When sixteen-year-old Luke's book, Hallelujah, becomes a national best seller, his publisher sends him on a cross-country tour with his unpredictable older brother, Matt, as chauffeur. But when Matt offers to drive Luke's ex-crush, Fran, across the country too, things get a little crazy. Luke thinks he's enlightened, but he really needs to loosen up if he's going to discover what it truly means to have faith, and do what it takes to get the girl he loves.

My Thoughts...

(ARC) YA Book Review: Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

Release Date: 3 April 2012

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Format: ARC
Source: Around the World ARC Tours

Goodreads description:

Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae's most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?

My Thoughts...

Ismae's life has been a struggle to survive from before she was even born.  When someone tries to end your life before it begins, how much hope can you truly hold for your own future?  When Ismae is spirited away in the night from her brutal arranged marriage, she discovers that there's a whole world of opportunities waiting for her should she choose to join with the convent and dedicate her life to Death...

Ismae is a fierce young woman whose life hasn't been easy but she's made it through.  The sisters at St. Mortain offer her the chance of a lifetime--to seek retribution.  She's really a natural at it too.  She's immune to poisons and skilled in the arts that the sisters of St. Mortain teach her.  I thoroughly enjoyed her quick decision-making skills (even if she didn't always make the "right" choice) and her strong, take-no-crap personality.

The male love interest as it were was interesting to me and by the end I found that I really liked him.  His relationship with Ismae developed at a reasonable pace and her reactions to him felt fairly suited to someone unfamiliar with dealing with men (she did, after all, often skip out on that class).  She didn't simply bend to the wiles of a man either--her relationship with him felt like a natural extension of her personal development.

The combination of setting, action, and characters made this a stellar read for me.  I enjoyed the descriptions that Ms. LaFevers puts into your imagination ranging from the harsh countryside to the stark convent and then into the bustling court.  The characters each carry their own weight and fill their roles well and it reads much like a historical fiction novel, if you're into that sort of thing.  Full of religion, court politics, and romance, Grave Mercy is a book that I won't soon forget and I'm quite excited to read the sequel!

(ARC) YA Book Review: Life is But a Dream by Brian James

Release Date: 27 March 2012
Publisher: Fiewel & Friends
Source: Around the World ARC Tours

Goodreads description:

Alec and Sabrina are crazy in love. Problem is: Sabrina’s really crazy.

Sabrina, an artist, is diagnosed with schizophrenia, and her parents check her into the Wellness Center. There she meets Alec, who is convinced it's the world that's crazy, not the two of them. They are meant to be together; they are special. But when Alec starts to convince Sabrina that her treatment will wipe out everything that makes her creative, she worries that she'll lose hold of her dreams and herself. Should she listen to her doctor? Her decision may have fatal consequences.

My Thoughts...

Books set in psychiatric institutions fascinate me.  Their world is completely different from anything that we experience on a regular basis--the doctors, the regimens, the interactions.  It also takes a lot of careful consideration to craft a character living in a setting like this.  Brian James created a very interesting world here, but for some reason, something didn't 100% click for me with this one.

The main character, Sabrina, is locked up in a psychiatric facility and diagnosed as schizophrenic.  She's slowly progressing towards normal when Alex enters her life and turns everything upside down. She rather quickly spirals backwards into her delusions.

Sabrina is really a fascinating character to follow.  James really takes you straight into her head and determining the dreams and delusions from reality is next to impossible at times.  Seeing the world through Sabrina's eyes shows the reader both the beauty and the terror that can come with such a life.  It was really difficult for me, as a reader, to watch her stop taking the medications and for her delusions to beginning returning at full force.  I liked her so much as a character that I wanted her to recover and have a shot at a normal life.

Alex...well, as a love interest he was a bit of a disappointment to me at times.  I wanted Sabrina to have someone who loved her and her wacky way of thinking, feeling, and seeing things.  Alex seemed like that person...at least at first.  I don't think that he was ever able to grasp the severity of Sabrina's disease, and I didn't like how he convinced her that taking the medications and following the doctors' orders would take away her creativity and unique visions--i.e. everything that she feels makes her special and loved by him.  He redeemed himself quite a bit in the later parts of the story. 

I'm not exactly sure what makes this more of a three star than a four star book for me.  I definitely enjoyed reading it, but it wasn't the sort of book that I was racing to pick up each whenever I had time to read. The pacing is a bit slow and the world didn't pull me in as much as I was expecting.  The most exciting moments come rather late in the story, and while those moments were incredibly well-written, they were simply difficult to GET to because of the slower pacing at the beginning.  I wouldn't warn anyone away from this book if  they're interested, just be aware that it's not a fast-paced read.

(ARC) YA Book Review: Fever by Lauren DeStefano

Release Date: 21 February 2012
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Source: Around the World ARC Tours


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Goodreads description:

Running away brings Rhine and Gabriel right into a trap, in the form of a twisted carnival whose ringmistress keeps watch over a menagerie of girls. Just as Rhine uncovers what plans await her, her fortune turns again. With Gabriel at her side, Rhine travels through an environment as grim as the one she left a year ago - surroundings that mirror her own feelings of fear and hopelessness.

The two are determined to get to Manhattan, to relative safety with Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan. But the road there is long and perilous - and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and young men die at twenty-five, time is precious. Worse still, they can’t seem to elude Rhine’s father-in-law, Vaughn, who is determined to bring Rhine back to the mansion...by any means necessary.

My Thoughts...

In the rivieting sequel to her 2011 debut, Wither, Lauren DeStefano once again had me mesmerized by her beautiful writing and storytelling. From the beginning of the book, I was absolutely hooked to the continuing story of Rhine and Gabriel and the world outside of Housemaster Vaughn's experiments.

Rhine and Gabriel have escaped from the glamorous yet dangerous world of Housemaster Vaughn and the others living in the mansion. However, they are immediately thrust into a situation that may prove even more dangerous than being under Vaughn's thumb. How will they survive the trials of the real world? And will they ever truly escape Vaughn's clutches? Rhine is the same determined young woman that we knew in Wither. Having escaped the mansion, she is more determined than ever to return to NYC and be reunited with her twin brother. One thing that I love about Rhine is her undying devotion and fierce determination. This is countered by the realistic and heart-wrenching portrayal of her relationship with Gabriel and her lingering memories of Linden. She's torn between the two in what is, in my opinion, a REALISTIC love triangle. Gabriel is her freedom, her CHOICE, embodied in a person--a sweet, caring person. Linden represents her imprisonment, but the truth is that he absolutely loved and trusted her and had no idea what his father was doing and how Rhine came to be with him. I've always been just a little bit "Team Linden" so I understand her struggle to forget the sweet memories that she had shared with him.

Fever introduces us to quite a number of new characters, each of which I thought were really interesting. "Madame" drove me crazy and Lilac made me fall in love with her. Maddie and Silas intrigued me. I don't want to tell you too much because I think you need to discover these characters all on your own, but suffice it to say that the characters were definitely a factor in my love for DeStefano's second novel. And I can't forget Gabriel! Gabriel is obviously along for the wide ride of an adventure with Rhine.  There are many points when he is really the one suffering the most. Despite the page time that Gabriel got, I still felt like I didn't know him as well as I should/wanted to.

This book also gives a few more glimpses into the world that Rhine lives in, which I really appreciated. We get a glimpse of the President and his wives and we get a better sense of the society's struggle between pro-science and pro-naturalism and just how fervently each side believe in their battle.  I felt like I understood a bit better why things are the way they are, if that makes sense.  Some of my reservations from Wither didn't seem to bother me in Fever as I was allowed deeper glimpses into the society.

In some ways, Fever does feel a little bit like a bridge between Wither and book 3, but in the end, this book left me BEGGING for book three (one of the reasons that sometimes it's so hard to read advance copies)! DeStefano definitely knows how to pull her readers in and leave them hanging. If you thought Wither ended on a cliffhanger, Fever's ending will blow your mind. The beautiful writing pulls you into the world and makes you fall in love (and hate) with the characters, makes you cheer and cry and yell, and when it's over your heart is still racing and you NEED more. It's going to be a long wait for book #3, so be sure to have the first two books on hand to read a couple of times before then!

(ARC) YA Book Review: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

Release Date: 1 March 2012

Publisher: Amulet Books (Abrams Imprint)
Format: ARC
Source: Around the World ARC Tours

Goodreads description:

Up until senior year, Greg has maintained total social invisibility. He only has one friend, Earl, and together they spend their time—when not playing video games and avoiding Earl’s terrifying brothers— making movies, their own versions of Coppola and Herzog cult classics. Greg would be the first one to tell you his movies are f*@$ing terrible, but he and Earl don’t make them for other people. Until Rachel. Rachel has leukemia, and Greg’s mom gets the genius idea that Greg should befriend her. Against his better judgment and despite his extreme awkwardness, he does. When Rachel decides to stop treatment, Greg and Earl make her a movie, and Greg must abandon invisibility and make a stand. It’s a hilarious, outrageous, and truthful look at death and high school by a prodigiously talented debut author..

My Thoughts...

(ARC) YA Book Review: Rock On by Denise Vega

Release Date: 5 March 2012

Publisher: Little, Brown BFYR
Format: ARC
Source: Around the World ARC Tours

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Goodreads description:

Ori Taylor is the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of the Band To Be Named Later, a garage band he started with his friends. After years of being known as the mini version of his sports-star brother, Del, Ori is looking forward to stepping out of his older brother's shadow, learning to perform in public, and rocking the Battle of the Bands contest. Oh, and maybe finally working up the nerve to talk to a girl in person instead of just over e-mail. But when Del suddenly returns from college, he expects Ori to step back into his role of little brother, just when Ori is starting to come into his own.

With his confidence wavering, will Ori be able to overcome his stage fright and lead the band to rock glory? Will the Band To Be Named Later ever get a real name? Will their best performances remain in the garage?

My Thoughts...

(ARC) YA Book Review: The Girls of No Return by Erin Saldin

Release Date: 1 February 2012

Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books
Format: ARC
Source: Around the World ARC Tours

Goodreads description:

The Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area stretches across two million acres in northern Idaho. In its heart sits the Alice Marshall School, where fifty teenage girls come to escape their histories and themselves. Lida Wallace has tried to negate herself in every way possible. At Alice Marshall, she meets Elsa Boone, a fierce native Idahoan; Jules, who seems too healthy to belong at the school; and Gia Longchamps, whose glamour entrances the entire camp. As the girls prepare for a wilderness trek, Lida is both thrilled and terrified to be chosen as Gia's friend. But everyone has their secrets--their "Things" they try to protect; and when those come out, the knives do as well.

My Thoughts...

When Kirkus gives a book a starred review, I tend to sit up and take notice because anyone who follows Kirkus reviews knows that they tend to be a bit...harsh. The Girls of No Return received a coveted Kirkus star and I'm, well, for a good portion of the book I wasn't sure I agreed with that assessment.  While I enjoyed the story and eventually found myself fully engaged, it took awhile for me to really get into the story and at the beginning I found myself dragging my heels a bit to pick it up each night.  That being said, there really was a lot that I enjoyed about this book and the last quarter of the book was phenomenal.

Parents are too easily frightened by the world their children live in. We have to protect them from harm, keep them safe as long as we can, no matter how we feel about them. It's our duty.  I didn't know this going in, but I do now.

-p36, ARC

Lida is a very interesting character from page one.  Ms. Saldin does a really fantastic job showing us her journey without revealing too much along the way. The reader is strung along with glimpses of what's going on in Lida's head and in her life.  The "Epilogue" sections that pop up every so often allude to a BIG event that we haven't experienced yet as the reader. I really enjoyed what these sections added to the story--they added an element of and a reminder that the story we're reading is really a personal reflection of what happened to Lida at Alice Marshall.

That's the thing about secrets. Sometimes you have to keep the sharpest things hidden.

-p86, ARC

The girls that Lida meets at Alice Marshall are equally intriguing. Boone, Gia, Jules...they each play an interesting role in the story. From the beginning, I felt like Jules was someone worth knowing and I found myself wishing that Lida would accept her friendship and open up.  Boone was the "bad girl" that you couldn't help but liking.  She was very real and unafraid to be herself.  She was definitely tough, but I felt like she was willing to help Lida learn to open up and be herself.  It was upsetting that Lida couldn't see that.  And then there's Gia.  Gia is difficult to trust (as the reader) from the beginning.  She's too beautiful and too seemingly "put together" to be showing us who she really is.  Lida clearly takes a bit of a romantic interest in her, but Gia isn't willing to return the friendship in the same way. She seems to be someone looking to validate parts of herself through Lida (and others).

Sometimes the line between love and desperation is damn thin. ... You just have to hope you don't have a knife in your hand when you figure it out.

-p343, ARC

In the end, this book was on a bit of a "sliding scale" for me.  When I first started, I had so much trouble getting into it that I was convinced that this was going to be a three star book.  As I started to get into the story and the personalities, I felt that it had redeemed itself into a solid four star book.  But the end--the end was a 5-star wrap-up that was emotionally satisfying without being TOO cheesy.  It was a perfect blend of redemption without getting rid of the "mess."  So, there you have it, I'll give this one a solid four.  Give it a try and be sure to stick around through the beginning if you're having trouble.  This one is DEFINITELY worth your time.  It's descriptive, highly visual writing will potentially lose some readers, but the personalities of its characters and their paths toward redemption are worth immersing yourself in. For now, I'll leave you with this, something I consider the unifying theme in this novel...

Forgiveness is a work in progress.

-p344, ARC

(ARC) YA Book Review: Fracture by Megan Miranda

Release Date: 17 January 2012
Publisher: Walker & Company
Source: Around the World ARC Tours
(also received a copy via NetGalley & the publisher)

Goodreads description:

Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine--despite the scans that showed significant brain damage. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she's far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can't control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it?

Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she's reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy's motives aren't quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature-or something much more frightening?

My Thoughts...

(ARC) YA Book Review: Try Not to Breathe by Jennifer Hubbard

Release Date: 19 January 2012

Publisher: Viking
Format: ARC
Source: Around the World ARC Tours

Goodreads description:

Learning to live is more than just choosing not to die, as sixteen-year-old Ryan discovers in the year following his suicide attempt. Despite his mother’s anxious hovering and the rumors at school, he’s trying to forget the darkness from which he has escaped. But it doesn’t help that he’s still hiding guilty secrets, or that he longs for a girl who may not return his feelings. Then he befriends Nicki, who is using psychics to seek contact with her dead father. This unlikely friendship thaws Ryan to the point where he can face the worst in himself. He and Nicki confide in one another the things they never thought they’d tell anyone—but their confessions are trickier than they seem, and the fallout tests the bound of friendship and forgiveness.

My Thoughts...

(ARC) YA Book Review: Still Waters by Emma Carlson Berne

Release Date: 20 December 2011

Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Format: ARC
Source: Around the World ARC Tours

Goodreads description:

Hannah can't wait to sneak off for a romantic weekend with her boyfriend, Colin. He’s leaving for college soon, and Hannah wants their trip to the lake house to be one they’ll never forget.

But once Hannah and Colin get there, things start to seem a bit...off. They can't find the town on any map. The house they are staying in looks as if someone's been living t...moreHannah can't wait to sneak off for a romantic weekend with her boyfriend, Colin. He’s leaving for college soon, and Hannah wants their trip to the lake house to be one they’ll never forget.

But once Hannah and Colin get there, things start to seem a bit...off. They can't find the town on any map. The house they are staying in looks as if someone's been living there, even though it's been deserted for years. And Colin doesn’t seem quite himself. As he grows more unstable, Hannah worries about Colin’s dark side, and her own safety.

Nothing is as perfect as it seems, and what lies beneath may haunt her forever.

My Thoughts...

(ARC) YA Book Review: Wings of the Wicked by Courtney Allison Moulton

Release Date: 1 February 2012
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Format: ARC
Source: Around the World ARC Tours


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Goodreads description:

Life as the Preliator is harder than Ellie ever imagined.
Balancing real life with the responsibility of being Heaven’s warrior is a challenge for Ellie. Her relationship with Will has become all business, though they both long for each other. And now that the secret of who she really is has come out, so have Hell’s strongest reapers. Grown bold and more vicious, the demonic threaten her in the light of day and stalk her in the night.

She’s been warned.
Cadan, a demonic reaper, comes to her with information about Bastian’s new plan to destroy Ellie’s soul and use an ancient relic to wake all the souls of the damned and unleash them upon humanity. As she fights to stay ahead of Bastian’s schemes , the revelations about those closest to her awaken a dark power within Ellie that threatens to destroy everything—including herself.

She’ll be betrayed.
Treachery comes even from those whom she loves, and Ellie is broken by the deaths of those who stood beside her in this Heavenly war. Still, she must find a way to save the world, herself, and her love for Will. If she fails, there will be hell to pay.

My Thoughts...

I was going to wait until closer to the release date but I couldn't wait to share this one with you! I enjoyed Angelfire but if you read my review, then you know that it took me a good chunk of the book to really warm up to Ellie.  She bothered me for reasons I won't rehash, but Courtney Allison Moulton left me with a lot of hope for her character at the end of Angelfire, so of course I was excited when I got the chance to read this early!  Let me tell you--Ms. Moulton didn't disappoint me with Wings of the Wicked--not for one moment!

From page one, Ellie is kicking butt and taking names. Her personal growth from book one to book two is perfect.  She's totally coming into her power and it's awesome to watch.  She's a lot tougher than I think I gave her credit for in Angelfire.  She's still pining are Will, which is to be expected, but I liked that at the beginning we weren't bombarded with angsty teenager junk from her.  She was dealing the best she could with what she had learned about herself and trying to accept Will's reasons for staying away romantically, even though they are clearly into each other.

This book was also way more emotional for me than the previous.  On top of the forbidden love, Ellie is dealing even more with the struggle between being the Preliator and having a "normal" life with friends and family.  Things really hit home (um...literally) in this novel and the emotional and physical blow that's dealt Ellie is intense.  She has a lot to deal with and her grieving and pain is something that's relateable and real.  She is finally realizing just how much she really needs the support of her friends and family but how much danger she puts them in on a regular basis.  I can't imagine how torn she feels between her duty and her wants and desires.

Will is still the swoon-worth gentleman and kick-butt fighter that we experienced in Angelfire, but I felt like I learned a lot more about him and his history with Ellie in this book.  And when he finally got up the cajones to disobey Michael and follow this heart, well, I cheered. :)  There's too much violence and death and uncertainty in their world not to let yourself love.  (What's the saying? "It's better to have loved and lost then to have never loved at all"? Yeah, that describes it pretty much perfectly.)

If you're not into this for the romance, then pick it up for the action! When I said that Ellie is kicking but and taking names...well, I mean that pretty darn literally.  Ms. Moulton has provided her readers with intense action scenes that the adreneline junkie in all of us will most definitely appreciate.  Between the action scenes, the emotional scenes, and the sexy scenes, Wings of the Wicked will keep you turning the pages up until the very end--and then it will leave you breathless and absolutely begging for more.

(ARC) Ya Book Review: Unraveling Isobel by Eileen Cook

Release Date: 3 January 2012
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Source: Around the World ARC Tours

Pre-Order It! Amazon

Goodreads description:

Isobel’s life is falling apart. Her mom just married some guy she met on the internet only three months before, and is moving them to his sprawling, gothic mansion off the coast of nowhere. Goodbye, best friend. Goodbye, social life. Hello, icky new stepfather, crunchy granola town, and unbelievably good-looking, officially off-limits stepbrother.

But on her first night in her new home, Isobel starts to fear that it isn’t only her life that’s unraveling—her sanity might be giving way too. Because either Isobel is losing her mind, just like her artist father did before her, or she’s seeing ghosts. Either way, Isobel’s fast on her way to being the talk of the town for all the wrong reasons.

My Thoughts...

Unraveling Isobel was a delightful contemporary paranormal read! The story pulled me in from page one and I found myself turning page after page, finishing it in just a few hours one afternoon! It was highly engaging and impossible to put down. While the plot twists were not overly new or exciting, Ms. Cook has written a novel that truly keeps you on your toes.

When you're seventeen and the only friend you have in town is a stuffed animal that doesn't even belong to you, I think it's safe to say your life is officially in the shitter.

-p27, ARC

Isobel caught my attention from page one. She's so realistic--I'm totally convinced that we would have been BFFs in high school. Her sarcastic personality translates into her dialogue, both internally and externally. She's a strong young woman, but she's clearly susceptible to the same insecurities as all most high school girls. Thus, she has to deal with catty friends, a boyfriend, and parent issues, just like we all have at some point. I'm not really sure what else to say about her--I just really connected with her (well, except for the obvious...you know, seeing ghosts).

"Okay, fair enough. You're embarrassed and I made it worse. Do you want me to do something embarrassing to even the score? You want me to sing?"

-Nathaniel, p52, ARC

Nathaniel grew on me VERY quickly, once he got over being a bit of an ass. He sang "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" in the library and from that moment on, I was won-over. The relationship between him and Isobel is very sexy and realistic...with that hint of "forbidden love," because, uh, they're step-siblings. Let's just say...I got over that real fast. :) I think two of my final comments while I was reading were "Yay Nate!!! <3."

There were really only three options. Either Evie was intent on trying to send me a message, Dick was behind everything to get rid of me, or I was crazy.

-p203, ARC

This storyline overall felt fun and fresh. I enjoyed the way that the paranormal played into the story in little ways throughout, but I was left, in the end, wishing that the ghosts would have played just a slightly larger role in the story, especially toward the end. I suppose part of me wanted the ghost to swoop in and scare the hell out of some people who I wasn't too fond of. The only other thing that irked me a little bit was how Dick's accusations of Isobel's potential mental illness seems to pop up out of everywhere. I mean, I seriously disliked Dick throughout but it was a moment that seemed out of place regardless. I found myself flipping back a few pages to look for the set-up to that moment. It was totally a "Dick" move, but I think that it just came too suddenly out of seemingly nowhere.

I would definitely recommend this as a read to pick up in January! It was a fun read with realistic, relatable characters.  The story moves at a quick pace that keeps the reader turning page after page.  This is a fabulous contemporary read with a perfect blend of the every day and the paranormal--a little bit for fans of both!

(ARC) YA Book Review: The Secret Sisterhood of Hearbreakers by Lynn Weingarten

Release Date: 27 December 2011
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Around the World ARC Tours

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Goodreads description:

When her boyfriend breaks up with her on the first day of sophomore year, Lucy has no idea how she’s going to make it through homeroom, let alone the rest of her life. Enter three stunning girls with a magical offer Lucy can’t refuse. All she has to do is get a guy to fall in love with her in the next seven days, and then…break his heart and collect one of his brokenhearted tears. As the girls teach Lucy how to hook a guy (with the help of a little magic), she quickly discovers how far she is willing to go—and who she is willing to cross—to get what she wants.

My Thoughts...

The Secret Sisterhood of Heartbreakers was a surprisingly fun and moving story of a high school girl, romance, friendship, and magic.  Ms. Weingarten continually threw surprises my way and I found that I could NOT stop reading! It was one of those books that you pick up and all of the sudden, hours later, you find yourself turning the last page (and realizing that you're actually quite hungry...).

If there's an upside to having a broken heart, it's this: a broken heart makes you brave.

-p23, ARC

Lucy is a remarkably real young woman who I connected with over and over again throughout the book.  From the moment where she gets dumped, I felt a kinship with her.  Her pain felt so real and I think that it's the kind of first-love heartbreak that any girl can relate to on some level. When she's offered a chance at magic to help heal her heart forever, who could blame her for hoping to use it to get back the boy she loves?  The lessons that she learns along the way are priceless in every sense.

It's natural. Nature is dark and light, birth and death. Everything and its opposite. And in nature, there are predators and prey. The hunters and the hunted.  The heartbreakers and the heartbroken. The beautiful thing is that Nature lets us choose which we want to be. Most people never make the choice though because they don't even know they have it.

-p35, ARC

When Lucy meets the girls of the sisterhood, things really start to get going. The girls who recruit Lucy into their "sisterhood" took me on a roller coaster of emotions.  I would alternately love and hate them from page to page.  They really put Lucy through the ringer! Gil was my clear favorite, if for no other reason than she tried to really be there for Lucy throughout her tests.  Liza and Olivia were both incredibly intriguing characters throughout because you really felt like you were only getting surface glimpses of who they truly are.

The magical element of this story is incredibly well-done. The magic is a bigger part of the story than I expected but it flows into the storyline seamlessly. I also really liked how the magic was both readily and frequently used but it was balanced with the ideas of responsible and practical use. There were still points when I questioned how I personally felt about the ways that they used magic, but it didn't overall affect my enjoyment of the story. The magic combined with the budding friendships really help Lucy to grow-up throughout the book. I think I already said it, but I really enjoyed watching this process with her.  It was a joy.

The problem wasn't that she loved him too much; it was that she hadn't loved herself enough.

-p186, ARC

The Secret Sisterhood of Heartbreakers is a book that I truly enjoyed. The focus is on the sisterhood, not the ex-boyfriend or the friend-who-wants-more.  The ending was not at all what I was expecting when I started the book, and I liked that. It's always nice for a book to go for the slightly-less-predictable resolution.  I started thinking I knew how this book was going to "go" but I was wrong at so many turns.  Ms. Weingarten has written a wonderful book that I would definitely recommend to many readers of contemporary fantasy who lean more towards the contemporary (i.e. this is "fantasy-lite).

(ARC) YA Book Review: On the Fringe by Courtney King Walker

Release Date: 19 October 2011
Publisher: Lands Atlantic Publishing, Inc.
Source: Around the World ARC Tours

Goodreads description:

Claire is struggling to overcome the murder of her childhood friend and secret crush, Daniel. Everyone else seems to be moving on with their lives, but she's still trying to cope. The fact that she finds herself alone and drowning on her 16th birthday isn't helping. Neither is thinking she sees Daniel's face in murky water as she mysteriously resurfaces. But something happened during those four and a half minutes that will make her realize it was not just her imagination. As Claire and Daniel try to grasp a possible reconnection, other grudge-holding beings have plans of their own. Now, the two of them have to decide if their fleeting relationship is worth the possibility of Claire being trapped on the fringe forever.

My Thoughts...

I went into On the Fringe in the best possible way: with no expectations, pre-conceived notions, or opinions of others.  What I found in this book was a heart-warming story of first love intertwined with an intensely creepy story of revenge. This was really a ghost story like no other and I fell deeply, madly in love with the characters.

Claire = awesome.  I felt an instant connection with her character. Her emotions from the beginning were very raw, very real.  Who can't relate to that first crush that you're totally way to scared to tell (or to even have them figure it out)?  Her depression after his death is very honest and real. She doesn't wallow, but she can't let it go--partially because she never had the opportunity to tell him how she felt...and even no one among the friends and family knows how she really felt/feels.

The alternating POVs in this book were brillantly executed and allow a solid connection with Daniel.  Despite his death early on, I felt very drawn to him.  I loved watching him fall deeper in love with Claire and reliving his memories as he tries to figure out exactly when that switch in his feelings happened.  Done any other way this story probably would have had a feeling of desperate insta-love, but seeing the relationship develop over time, even without the other one knowing, it gave a very real sense of growth and gradual development of feelings.  This was a pair that had been friends forever and that friendship was on the verge of developing into something more.

The storyline is absolutely brilliant, alternating between the romance and the intensely creepy haunting. Claire is in serious danger and the reader has an ever-increasing awareness of just HOW MUCH danger she's in as the story goes on.  The interweaving of these stories is, well, PERFECT.  Throughout the book, you are constantly delving deeper into the story and making intense connections between Daniel's death, his connection to Claire, and her current haunting (you know, besides Daniel).

This is truly a beautiful story of first love and loss.

2012 (P)Review: Lovetorn by Kavita Daswani

Release Date: 17 January 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Around the World Tours

Goodreads description:

When Shalini’s father gets a new job in L.A., she is torn away from her life in India and the boy to whom she’s been betrothed since she was three. L.A. is so different, and Shalini dresses and talks all wrong. She isn’t sure she’ll survive high school in America without her fiancé, Vikram, and now she has to cope with her mom’s homesickness and depression. A new friend, chill and confident Renuka, helps Shalini find her way and get up the courage to join the Food4Life club at school. But she gets more than just a friend when she meets Toby—she gets a major crush. Shalini thinks she loves Vikram, but he never made her feel like this. In Lovetorn, Shalini discovers that your heart ultimately makes its own choices, even when it seems as if your destiny has already been chosen.

My Thoughts...


Life is about choices. And they aren't always your choices--sometimes it's the choices of others and how they can change your life.  Take Shalini for example.  She's perfectly happy living in India with her extended family and her fiance since she was 3, Vikram.  She's sure that she loves Vikram and looks forward to a happy future with him and the rest of her family in India.  Then, in what seems like a chance decision, her father moves the family to the United States and they are all forced to embrace a life-changing move.

Shalini's voice in this novel is authentic and relateable.  She's a teenage girl who was perfectly content with her life in India and then it was all pulled out from under her.  I think that any teen who ever felt like an outcast in high school can relate to her story.  She's forced into a world where people don't accept her exactly the way she is and she has to learn to adapt to find happiness.  At times it is difficult to watch Shalini struggle through school and I was SO happy when she decided to join the Food4Life club because you finally felt like she was really making an attempt to "fit in" (or at least to find happiness). 

Shalini's new American friends and her first real crush are a fun and realistic addition to the story.  While you don't see much of her Food4Life friends, you do get the sense that's what they are--friends, the first ones Shalini has found since coming to America.  Also, watching Shalini develop her first crush on Toby, the orchestra's flutist, was so cute.  Ms. Daswani truly captured the enraptured feeling that comes with that first crush when you're young, even though Shalini is a bit older than most girls experiencing that feeling.  It was something that really pulled me closer to the MC.

Shalini's family is a great mixture of success and frustration, portraying the range of emotions that can come with moving to a foreign place.  Shalini's sister fits right in and seems to immediately find her place in this new world, while Shalini's mom holes herself up in her room and refuses to even truly attempt to adjust. It's a very realistic situation and your heart really goes out to her mom, although by the end I have to admit that there were moments when I was so frustrated that she wouldn't even TRY for the sake of her daughters.

Overall, this was a very engaging read that I highly recommend to contemporary YA fans.  It is a story of love, loss, and the challenges of being a teenager, something we can all relate to, packaged in a world that many of us can't quite imagine.

(ARC) YA Book Review: Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally

Release Date:December 2011
Publisher:Sourcebooks Fire
Source: Around the World ARC Tours

Pre-Order It! Amazon

Goodreads description:

What girl doesn't want to be surrounded by gorgeous jocks day in and day out? Jordan Woods isn't just surrounded by hot guys, though-she leads them as the captain and quarterback of her high school football team. They all see her as one of the guys, and that's just fine. As long as she gets her athletic scholarship to a powerhouse university. But now there's a new guy in town who threatens her starting position... suddenly she's hoping he'll see her as more than just a teammate.

My Thoughts...

Catching Jordan was everything that I hoped it would be and more! This delightful contemporary read will truly tug at your heartstrings. It's the kind of book that you pick up to read and find that you can't put it down until you've turned the last page! I promise you'll fly through this one and it will leave you begging for more of Ms. Kenneally's engaging writing and storytelling.

Jordan is not your average high school girl.  She traded in her pompoms for cleats, pads, and helmets in Kindergarten and never looked back. Now, as a senior in high school, she is the football team's starting quarterback and team captain--confident in her abilities and driven to achieve her single-minded goal: a full-ride and a spot on the team at Alabama. Everything's looking like it's going her way when a new boy shows up in town--one who makes Jordan rethink her tomboy nature and want something more with a boy for the first time. How it all plays out...well, it's not at all what you expect and Jordan is put on an emotion roller coaster.

I loved Jordan instantly, despite lacking any real knowledge of football. She's tough and driven yet has the vulnerability of someone without much worldly experience. She's very much one of the guys and Kenneally does a great job depicting that relationship by showing her readers the "crude" side of boys--no sugar-coated "good boys" here. As a reader, I thoroughly enjoyed Jordan experience so many firsts throughout the book and I even enjoyed watching her struggles--not because I wanted her to struggle but because it made her that much more realistic. Early on Jordan also starts keeping a journal that I absolutely loved reading. It gave you this deeper perspective on her personality and inner struggles/conflict.

I really enjoyed the minor characters in this book as well. They aren't as well-developed, but they are still integral to the story. I would say that there's not a single character that didn't "belong" in the story. The two boys are, well, boys. They both have a sort of "damaged-goods-nice-guy" vibe to them. There is no easy solution to Jordan's relationship with either boy, and in the end, everything works out perfectly. Trust me when I say this is totally a feel-good happy ending type of book.

This is truly one of the most delightful books that I've read this year. It's a must read for YA contemporary fans--and trust me, you don't even have to LIKE football to get into this story.  The characters will endear themselves to you from page one. You should pre-order this book NOW (or put it on your Christmas list or something!).

2012 Tween (P)Review: The Book of Wonders by Jasmine Richards

Tween Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by GreenBeanTeenQueen focusing on MG literature. Do you read and review MG books? Hop on over and join the fun!

Release Date: 17 January 2012
Publisher: HarperCollins
Source: Around the World ARC Tours

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Goodreads description:

Magic, Djinn, Ogres, and Sorcerers. Thirteen-year-old Zardi loves to hear stories about fantastical beings, long banned from the kingdom of Arribitha. But anyone caught whispering of their powers will feel the rage of the sultan—a terrifying usurper who, even with his eyes closed, can see all.
When her own beloved sister is captured by the evil ruler, Zardi knows that she must go to any lengths to rescue her. Along with her best friend, Ridhan—a silver-haired, violet-eyed boy of mysterious origins—and an unlikely crew of sailors led by the infamous Captain Sinbad, Zardi ventures forth into strange and wondrous territory with a seemingly impossible mission: to bring magic back to Arribitha and defeat the sultan once and for all.

My Thoughts...

In this stunning MG novel, Jasmine Richards has brought life to a mesmerizing fantasy story of magic, friendship, and adventure. The world of Arribitha will pull you in and captivate you page after page. The characters, the magic, the journey, the settings--each element is woven together beautifully to create a magical story that will delight readers of all ages.

Enter the world of Arribithia--where magic is forbidden and everyone is at the mercy of the all-powerful Sultan--including his advisors.  This is the world we enter when we meet Zardi, a young tomboy of a girl who dreams of sailing the open seas and embarking on dangerous quests. Zardi's best friend (and basically adopted brother) Rhidan, her constant companion in her (mis)adventures, is a mystery in and of himself. He was simply left abandoned by his family, whoever them may be. In the span of a day both of their lives change drastically--Rhidan is given a clue to his past from a story Sinbad the sailor shares and Zardi's sister is taken by the Sultan to be the new "praisemaker"--a position that means eventual death for the girl unfortunate to hold the position. The two set off on a quest to discover the past and hopefully save the future.

Zardi and Rhidan are instantly loveable characters. Their sense of wonder at the world around them and their fierce determination to accomplish extraordinary things make them come alive as strong yet quite naive characters. Maybe it's their bright-eyed wonder and maybe it's their dreams of grandeur that make them seem this way, but whatever it is, these two are a pair to get to know and become friends with. As you accompany them on their journey, they each discover strengths they never knew they had and learn to lean on each other for support. Rhidan, who is definitely the quieter of the two at the beginning, really comes into his own as he discovers more about himself and gains the self-confidence that he seemed to lack at the beginning. He definitely becomes more than just Zardi's "side-kick."

The world itself is a site to see. Ms. Richards employs vivid imagery that truly immerses you in the various settings.  Whether it's on the docks in Taraket or on Desolation Island, the images that the story conveys are mesmerizing. You'll find yourself right there alongside Zardi and Rhidan as they embark on their journey. The fantasy world of magic truly comes alive for the reader.

My only regret with this book is that I don't get to keep it! I'll be sending it along for the ATWT very soon and I'm sad to see it go. The ending leaves me thinking that Ms. Richards plans to continue the story and I most certainly hope that she will! Trust me--I'll be first in line to read it if she does!

2012 (P)Review: Pure by Julianna Baggott

Release Date: 8 February 2012
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Source: Around the World ARC Tours

Pre-Order It! Amazon

Goodreads description:

We know you are here, our brothers and sisters . . .
Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost-how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers . . . to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run.

Burn a Pure and Breathe the Ash . . .
There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked. Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely. Different. He thinks about loss-maybe just because his family is broken; his father is emotionally distant; his brother killed himself; and his mother never made it inside their shelter. Or maybe it's his claustrophobia: his feeling that this Dome has become a swaddling of intensely rigid order. So when a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her.

When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again.

My thoughts...


The startling world that Julianna Baggott presents in her gripping post-apocalyptic novel pulled me in and refused to let go.  It's the kind of world that truly makes you think about what today's world is capable of because the stark and startling reality is that we are capable of bringing about this type of alternate reality with the push of a button.

This potential for fiction to become reality is really what makes Ms. Baggott's world so mesmerizing--like a wreck that you can't look away from. For me, the best post-apocalyptic novels bring to light the potential for disaster that already exists in our world and this novel did just that.  The potential for us to virtually destroy ourselves is an ever-present reality that we may forget on a daily basis.  Pure reminds us that it could happen and this world could be the disastrous result.  Ms. Baggott's world-building is truly excellent. It will pull you in and allow you to walk around in this fantasy world of Pures and wretches--to see the destruction of nuclear explosions and the world created in their wake.

Baggott's dual narrative threw me for a loop at first. I had trouble finding a rhythm with the switching POVs, but eventually I was so pulled into their stories that I couldn't put the book down. Watching their stories intersect and overlap made the initial disjoint completely worth it because I knew the characters as individuals before their lives intersected. I had a better understanding of the very different lives that each one led and that definitely contributed to my overall sympathy with the characters.

Now you may be wondering, who are these characters? First off we have Pressia--a "wretch" with a doll's head fused to one of her hands who lives outside the Dome with her grandfather.  The best way to describe her is this: SURVIVOR.  This girl is tough as nails. The connection that I felt with her character was instantaneous. I'm not sure why, but she truly pulled me into the story. Something in her character was simply irresistible. I found myself inside her head  and fighting her battles. Partridge was a different story and it took me awhile to truly connect with him--to really figure out what his part was in the bigger scheme of things.  His role became quickly apparent and as he developed I found him to be much more sympathetic that at first glance. He definitely revealed himself as a multi-faceted character later on in the novel.

I'm not sure what else to say about Pure at this point. It is a fabulously written YA/adult crossover novel that will appeal to a wide audience. Those accustomed to reading YA post-apocalyptic and dystopian novels should easily fall into Ms. Baggott's world and characters. This book left me breathless and waiting on pins and needles to follow my characters on their continuing journey. I know I will be first in line to buy this book and its sequel when they are released on the world.