(ARC) YA Book Review: Crewel by Gennifer Albin

Release Date: 16 October 2012

Publisher: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux BYR
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Goodreads description:

Incapable. Awkward. Artless.

That’s what the other girls whisper behind her back. But sixteen year-old Adelice Lewys has a secret: she wants to fail.

Gifted with the ability to weave time with matter, she’s exactly what the Guild is looking for, and in the world of Arras, being chosen as a Spinster is everything a girl could want. It means privilege, eternal beauty, and being something other than a secretary. It also means the power to embroider the very fabric of life. But if controlling what people eat, where they live and how many children they have is the price of having it all, Adelice isn’t interested.

Not that her feelings matter, because she slipped and wove a moment at testing, and they’re coming for her—tonight.

Now she has one hour to eat her mom’s overcooked pot roast. One hour to listen to her sister’s academy gossip and laugh at her Dad’s stupid jokes. One hour to pretend everything’s okay. And one hour to escape.

Because once you become a Spinster, there’s no turning back.

My Thoughts...

(ARC) YA Book Review: The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke

Release Date: 2 October 2012

Publisher: Strange Chemistry
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher

Pre-order a copy! B&N | Amazon

Description:

When Ananna of the Tanarau, the eldest daughter of a highly-ranked family in the Pirate's Confederation, runs away from an arranged marriage, the offended parents hire Naji the assassin to murder her.

Ananna accepts the magical help of a mysterious woman to save herself from her assassin. Unfortunately, the woman's magic fails, but Ananna inadvertently saves the assassin's life in the skirmish, thus activating a curse that had been placed on him, binding them together. Follow Ananna and Naji as they sail across the globe in their desperate effort to lift the curse. 

My Thoughts...

YA Book Review: Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

Release Date: 22 May 2012

Publisher: Feiwel & friends
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Get a copy! Amazon | B&N

Goodreads description:

Galen, a Syrena prince, searches land for a girl he's heard can communicate with fish. It’s while Emma is on vacation at the beach that she meets Galen. Although their connection is immediate and powerful, Galen's not fully convinced that Emma's the one he's been looking for. That is, until a deadly encounter with a shark proves that Emma and her Gift may be the only thing that can save his kingdom. He needs her help--no matter what the risk.

My Thoughts...

YA Book Review: Welcome, Caller, This is Chloe

Release Date: 1 May 2012

Publisher: Amulet Books
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

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Goodreads description:

Big-hearted Chloe Camden is the queen of her universe until her best friend shreds her reputation and her school counselor axes her junior independent study project. Chloe is forced to take on a meaningful project in order to pass, and so she joins her school’s struggling radio station, where the other students don’t find her too queenly. Ostracized by her former BFs and struggling with her beloved Grams’s mental deterioration, lonely Chloe ends up hosting a call-in show that gets the station much-needed publicity and, in the end, trouble. She also befriends radio techie and loner Duncan Moore, a quiet soul with a romantic heart. On and off the air, Chloe faces her loneliness and helps others find the fun and joy in everyday life. Readers will fall in love with Chloe as she falls in love with the radio station and the misfits who call it home.

My Thoughts...

YA Book Review: Pretty Crooked by Elisa Ludwig

Release Date: 13 March 2012

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Goodreads description:

Willa’s secret plan seems all too simple: take from the rich kids at Valley Prep and give to the poor ones.

Yet Willa’s turn as Robin Hood at her ultra-exclusive high school is anything but. Bilking her “friends”-known to everyone as the Glitterati-without them suspecting a thing, is far from easy. Learning how to pick pockets and break into lockers is as difficult as she’d thought it’d be. Delivering care packages to the scholarship girls, who are ostracized just for being from the “wrong” side of town, is way more fun than she’d expected.

The complication Willa didn’t expect, though, is Aidan Murphy, Valley Prep’s most notorious (and gorgeous) ace-degenerate. His mere existence is distracting Willa from what matters most to her-evening the social playing field between the have and have-nots. There’s no time for crushes and flirting with boys, especially conceited and obnoxious trust-funders like Aidan.

But when the cops start investigating the string of burglaries at Valley Prep and the Glitterati begin to seek revenge, could he wind up being the person that Willa trusts most

My Thoughts...

YA Book Review: The International Kissing Club by Ivy Adams

Release Date: 3 January 2012

Publisher: Walker & Company
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Get a copy! Amazon |

Goodreads description:

Piper, Cassidy, Mei, and Izzy have been best friends their whole lives. And they've always agreed on one goal: to get out of tiny Paris, Texas, and see the world. The school's foreign exchange program seems like the perfect escape: Piper will go to the original Paris; Mei will go to China; Cassidy will go to Australia; and Izzy, unable to afford the program, will stay at home. To add spice to their semester away, and to stay connected to their best friends, the girls start The International Kissing Club, a Facebook page where they can anonymously update one another and brag about all the amazing guys they're meeting. After all, these girls are traveling abroad: amazing guys abound at every turn! But sometimes fun, flirty vacation flings turn into more serious romances, and sometimes you don't return from abroad the same person you were. Will the girls' relationships-and their friendships-be able to survive?

My Thoughts...

YA Book Review: The Gathering Storm by Robin Bridges

Release Date: 10 January 2012

Publisher: Delacorte BFYR
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Get a copy! B&N | Amazon

Goodreads description:

St. Petersburg, Russia, 1888. As she attends a whirl of glittering balls, royal debutante Katerina Alexandrovna, Duchess of Oldenburg, tries to hide a dark secret: she can raise the dead. No one knows. Not her family. Not the girls at her finishing school. Not the tsar or anyone in her aristocratic circle. Katerina considers her talent a curse, not a gift. But when she uses her special skill to protect a member of the Imperial Family, she finds herself caught in a web of intrigue.

An evil presence is growing within Europe's royal bloodlines—and those aligned with the darkness threaten to topple the tsar. Suddenly Katerina's strength as a necromancer attracts attention from unwelcome sources . . . including two young men—George Alexandrovich, the tsar's standoffish middle son, who needs Katerina's help to safeguard Russia, even if he's repelled by her secret, and the dashing Prince Danilo, heir to the throne of Montenegro, to whom Katerina feels inexplicably drawn.

The time has come for Katerina to embrace her power, but which side will she choose—and to whom will she give her heart?

My Thoughts...

(ARC) YA Book Review: Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

Release Date: 31 January 2012

Publisher: HarperTeen
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

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Goodreads description:

NEWSOUL
Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.

NOSOUL
Even Ana’s own mother thinks she’s a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she’ll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are suspicious and afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?

HEART
Sam believes Ana’s new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana’s enemies—human and creature alike—let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else’s life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?

My Thoughts...

Tween Tuesday: May B. by Caroline Starr Rose

Release Date: 10 January 2012

Publisher: Random House
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

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Goodreads description:

I've known it since last night:
It's been too long to expect them to return.
Something's happened.

May is helping out on a neighbor's Kansas prairie homestead—just until Christmas, says Pa. She wants to contribute, but it's hard to be separated from her family by 15 long, unfamiliar miles. Then the unthinkable happens: May is abandoned. Trapped in a tiny snow-covered sod house, isolated from family and neighbors, May must prepare for the oncoming winter. While fighting to survive, May's memories of her struggles with reading at school come back to haunt her. But she's determined to find her way home again. Caroline Starr Rose's fast-paced novel, written in beautiful and riveting verse, gives readers a strong new heroine to love

My Thoughts...

In her debut novel, Caroline Starr Rose bring to life the struggles of living on the early American prairie--the isolation, the poverty, and the unknown.  Life for May B. and her family has never been particularly easy, so when the opportunity for May to earn a little on a neighboring farm is presented, her parents would be crazy to pass it up. So May is sent to live with the Oblingers until Christmas to help the new missus get on her feet.  However, things go all wrong when Mrs. Oblinger up and leaves and Mr. Oblinger goes after her...leaving May B. to fend for herself as winter rapidly approaches.

Before Ma ties my ribbon,
I push outside and run.
My feet pound out
I won't go
I won't go
I won't go.

-p6, eARC

May B. is a fierce and resourceful young woman. I really enjoyed watching her develop as a character.  She refuses to be ruled by her learning disability--continuing to dream of someday being a teacher despite her struggles with reading.  Her determination to learn to read was also just one example of how strong she was.  When she's left alone by the Oblingers, she proves incredibly resourceful when it comes to survival, despite her initial elation at not having to answer to anyone else's demands.  When she finally leave the cottage in an attempt to get home, the reader senses that she truly feels that she has no choice.

Miss Sanders told us that lines never end,
and numbers go on forever.
Here,
in short-grass country,
I understand infinity.

-p18, eARC

As someone who has always been a bit leery of novels in verse, I have to say that Ms. Rose was immensely successful in telling her story with this method.  The novel lends itself to quick reading and an easy-to-imagine story.  What really caught my attention is that this would be a fantastic novel to give a young person who struggles with reading.  The words create vivid imagery and tell a compelling story without an overabundance of words.  The simplicity should appeal to struggling readers without making them feel like they're being given an easy book because they can't read well.

If stories were true,
I'd follow a bread-crumb path
all the way home.

But I have no heart for fairy tales
anymore.

-p90, eARC

May B. is a novel that has the potential to appeal to a vast group of readers. Whether you're looking for something to give to a struggling reader or that young fan of historical fiction, Caroline Starr Rose has created a gem that you'll love to share.

(ARC) YA Book Review: Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Release Date: 31 January 2012

Publisher: HarperTeen
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Get a copy! Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Goodreads description:

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she's returned- to her old life, her family, her friends- before being banished back to the underworld... this time forever.

She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there's a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen.

My Thoughts...

YA Book Review: Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Release Date: 3 January 2012

Publisher: HarperTeen
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Get a copy! Amazon|B&N

Goodreads description:

Aria is a teenager in the enclosed city of Reverie. Like all Dwellers, she spends her time with friends in virtual environments, called Realms, accessed through an eyepiece called a Smarteye. Aria enjoys the Realms and the easy life in Reverie. When she is forced out of the pod for a crime she did not commit, she believes her death is imminent. The outside world is known as The Death Shop, with danger in every direction.

As an Outsider, Perry has always known hunger, vicious predators, and violent energy storms from the swirling electrified atmosphere called the Aether. A bit of an outcast even among his hunting tribe, Perry withstands these daily tests with his exceptional abilities, as he is gifted with powerful senses that enable him to scent danger, food and even human emotions.

They come together reluctantly, for Aria must depend on Perry, whom she considers a barbarian, to help her get back to Reverie, while Perry needs Aria to help unravel the mystery of his beloved nephew’s abduction by the Dwellers. Together they embark on a journey challenged as much by their prejudices as by encounters with cannibals and wolves. But to their surprise, Aria and Perry forge an unlikely love - one that will forever change the fate of all who live UNDER THE NEVER SKY

My Thoughts...

Wow.  This book is truly fabulous. The world of young adult literature has been inundated in the last few years with an overabundance of dystopian novels that attempt to re-imagine the world that we live in somewhere and sometime in the future.  Some are more successful in their endeavors, that success hinging (for me) on world-building, characters, and unique ideas.  In my opinion, Under the Never Sky was a home-run.  Ms. Rossi's beautiful, descriptive writing dropped me right into the world and pulled me along for a fantastic adventure alongside her characters.

Aria, aptly named for her beautiful singing voice, goes on what seems like a harmless adventure with some friends in an attempt to get information about her mother.  When things go awry, Aria is saved by a stranger who doesn't belong and then kicked out of Reverie to hide the involvement of the Counsel's son.  Abandoned in the "Death Shop," Aria is sure that she is going to die on the outside...until an Outsider comes and saves her...again.

Aria was a fierce character who I loved seeing essentially grow up throughout this novel.  She's trust into a world that's strange and terrifying yet enticing.  She experiences so many firsts on the Outside, from seeing the Aether for real for the first time to becoming a woman.  She comes across as a naive but I think that supports her sheltered upbringing, where her mother's research was hidden from her and she basically lived in virtual Realms without real feelings and experiences.

In contrast, Perry is a character hardened by real-world loss and struggle.  His parents are dead, his nephew is dying, and his tribe is starving. Saving Aria's life costs him a lot when his nephew is kidnapped by the Dwellers and Perry is estranged from the tribe as a result.  His hardened exterior hides a good heart though, as evidenced from the very beginning when he saves Aria from the fires in Ag 6.  He tends to run hot and cold with Aria--a result of the ongoing battle between his head and his heart.

In terms of their relationship, I liked it a lot.  I enjoyed the progression from survival allies to friends to more.  I thought that it was well done and didn't develop unusually fast.  It's also not surprising seeing as how they had to struggle to survive together and battled through so much.  That kind of togetherness is bound to create a deep connection, despite (or possibly because of) the odds stacked against them. I felt like their trust in each other had a long way to develop from their first meeting and there wasn't a *BAM* we're in love moment--it was a gradual realization of feelings that just sort of developed.

I know it's early in the year and there are a lot of January releases vying for your attention and love, but I highly recommend that you put Under the Never Sky into your reading queue as soon as possible.  Fans of dystopias will fall in love with Rossi's world-building and devour this book.  The contrast that she creates between life in the domes and life on the Outside is phenomenal and I still can't get over the imagery that is evoked through the writing in this one. Truly stunning debut novel.

YA Book Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Release Date: 3 January 2012

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends (Macmillan)
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Get a copy! Amazon | B&N

Goodreads description:

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

My Thoughts...

2012 Reading Challenges - Tracking Post

This is the post that I will update with my challenge progress throughout the year for the three year-long challenges that I'm participating in.

Sensational Seconds YA Reading Challenge - hosted by ME! 

1. Hallowed by Cynthia Hand

2. Allegiance by Cayla Kluver

3. Until I Die by Amy Plum

4. Insurgent by Veronica Roth

5. Surrender by Elana Johnson

6. The Forgetting Curve by Angie Smibert

7. Thumped by Megan McCafferty

8. Goddess Interrupte by Aimee Carter

9. Once by Anna Carey

10. Stealing Parker by Miranda Kenneally

11.

12.

13.

The Debut Author YA/MG Reading Challenge - hosted by Kristi, The Story Siren.

1. Cinder by Marissa Meyer

2. Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

3. Everneath by Brodi Ashton

 4. Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

5. May B. by Caroline Starr Rose

6. The Invisible Tower by Nils Johnson-Shelton

7. The International Kissing Club by Ivy Adams

8. The Gathering Storm by Robin Bridges

9. Digit by Annabel Monaghan

10. The Vanishing Game by Kate Kae Myers

11. Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters by Meredith Zeitlin

12. Slide by Jill Hathaway

13. The Other Life  by Susanne Winnacker

14. Kiss the Morning Star by Elissa Jane Hoole

15. Pretty Crooked by Elisa Ludwig

16. Pretty Amy by Lisa Burstein

17. Chosen Ones by Tiffany Truitt

18. Breaking Beautiful by Jennifer Wolf Shaw

The Sophomore Reading Challenge - hosted by Shayn, Chick Loves Lit

1. Hallowed by Cynthia Hand

2. The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe

3. New Girl by Paige Harbison

4. The Fine Art of Truth or Dare by Melissa Jensen

5. Pieces of Us by Maggie Gelbwasser

6. Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard

7.

8.

9.

10.

1.Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel
2.  Epic Fail by Claire LaZebnik

3. Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

4. Between Sea & Sky by Jaclyn Dolamore

5. Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber

6. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan

7.I Am J by Chris Beam

8. The Duff by Kody Keplinger

9. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

10. Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

11. What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones

12. Saints of Augustine by P.E. Ryan

2012 Debut Author Challenge

It's time to get ready for the 2012 Debut Author Challenge, hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren! If you click on the above picture, it will take you directly to the information page that Kristi was awesome enough to create and from there you can find tons more information!

I'm super excited to sign up to participate in this challenge this year because it was the first challenge that I stumbled upon when I was new to the blogging world back in February/March, but it was  too late to sign up when I discovered it!

Next year I have big reading plans that might be in a little over my head considering what I have going on  with school in 2012, but I'm going to go for it anyway.  This post is basically to record for all to see one of my goals for 2012, which is to complete the DAC! (I'll have other forthcoming posts about some of my other goals, including the sequels challenge that I'm putting together)

So, the goal for the DAC is to read and review at least twelve 2012 debut young adult or middle grade books during the course of the year.  Considering how many fabulous books are on the debut list for next year, that shouldn't be a problem at all!  So, without further ado, here's my (preliminary) list!

1. The Catastrophic History of You & Me by Jess Rothenberg
2. Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood
3. Pretty Crooked by Elisa Ludwig
4. The Wicked and the Just by J. Anderson Coats
5. Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock
6. Shadow & Bone by Leigh Bardugo
7. Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard
8. Innocent Darkness by Suzanne Lazear
9. Auracle by Gina Rosati
10. Touching the Surface by Kimberly Sabatini
11. Time Between Us by Tamara Stone
12. Through to You by Emily Hainsworth