YA Review: Broken by C.J. Lyons

Title: Broken

Author: C.J. Lyons

# of Pages: 336 

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Publication Date: November 5th 2013

Source: BEA

Level: Young Adult

Rating: 2 Hearts

Synopsis

New York Times bestselling author CJ Lyons makes her YA debut with a fast-paced thriller sure to keep readers guessing to the very last page

The only thing fifteen-year-old Scarlet Killian has ever wanted is a chance at a normal life. Diagnosed with a rare and untreatable heart condition, she has never taken the school bus. Or giggled with friends during lunch. Or spied on a crush out of the corner of her eye. So when her parents offer her three days to prove she can survive high school, Scarlet knows her time is now... or never. Scarlet can feel her heart beating out of control with every slammed locker and every sideways glance in the hallway. But this high school is far from normal. And finding out the truth might just kill Scarlet before her heart does.

My Verdict

I think it's going to be hard to judge this book for what it is rather than how it was marketed. The back of the book calls Broken a "riveting suspense and taut drama" a lot of reviews I read previously also talked about it as if it were a fast-paced thriller. This is not the case at all. It was basically your average contemporary romance with a slight mystery that doesn't turn suspenseful until the last few chapters. Had I just been expecting a contemproary romance going into it, I may have enjoyed it more than I did. Unfortunely, I was expecting an edge of your seat medical thriller that wasn't there.

The main character, Scarlet, has been diagnosed with Long QT disease, which means her heart beats irregularly and could kill her at any moment. After spending most of her life in the hospital, Scarlet decides she wants to take the time she does have left and go to high school like a normal kid. Her parents are dead set against it, but they decide to let her go on a trial basis.

Scarlet immedietly makes friends with Jordan, Nessa, Celina and Tony. The "wrong" crowd according to Scarlets mother. Ugh, her mother drove me nuts! She made all of Scarlet's decisions for her and did things like feed her vitamins in front of all her friends in the middle of the school cafeteria. Seriously?! I can't think of any teenager that would put up with that.

The book is divided into five sections set over the course of one school week (Monday - Friday). A lot of the time I was bored with the little details of Scarlet's school day, but I guess we were supposed to be overwhelmed by the experience as much as she was.

I was appaled by the bullying that went on at the school and that the students so easily got away with it. I was home schooled, so thankfully I never had to deal with bullying first hand or see it happening to those around me, but I know it's a big issue that is overlooked all too much!


With the ending came a big twist and a few fast-paced pages, but it was pretty short lived for a so-called "riveting suspense." If you're a contemporary lover looking for a romance with a little something different I'd check this one out. If you're looking for a fast paced medical thriller, keep looking. 

YA Review: Displacement by Thalia Chaltas

Title: Displacement

Author: Thalia Chaltas

# of Pages: 364

Publisher: Viking Juvenille

Publication Date: June 9th 2011

Source: Library

Level: Young Adult

Rating: 3 Hearts

Synopsis

Home is supposed to be a place you belong. It's supposed to be parents who are there and siblings who bug you and a life that feels comfortable. It's not supposed to be an absentee mother or a drowned sister. But that's Vera's reality, and she can't stand it anymore. So she runs. She ends up in an old mining town in the middle of the California desert. It's hot, it's dusty, and it's as isolated as Vera feels. As she goes about setting up her life, she also unwittingly starts the process of healing and-eventually- figuring out what home might really mean for her.

My Verdict

Having read Chalta's first book, Because I Am Furniture, I was a little worried this would be another heavy-subject story, beautifully written but upsetting. While Displacement does tackle the heavy subject of losing ones sibling it was not as emotionally upsetting as I was expecting. 

How often do you meet a main character who's a seventeen year old girl, studying geology, who runs away from home to the desert because she's excited about the geological possibilities? Vera was such a refreshing MC, super smart, honest, hot-headed at times but usually for good cause. 

Along with the dessert setting came some very unique characters; Milo, Pearl, Dempsey, and Tilly. Only one of them was a main-ish character so while the others weren't fully developed, they played their role of odd small town characters. The way Tilly talked was SUPER annoying, here's a short example of what I mean.

          "Thet down, hawney. I'll gitchyou thome tea." 

           OR

          "What kind of job you think we got in thith plate?" 

I really can't tolerate slang, dialect, and accents in books. I just can't, but luckily Tilly doesn't appear often.

Overall, this was refreshingly unique and totally unpredictable. The verse format lent itself perfectly to Vera's story of loss, family, friends, and ultimately how to move on after the death of a loved one. I look forward to whatever subject Chaltas decides to tackle in her next book!

YA Review & Giveaway: The Infinite Moment of Us by Lauren Myracle

Title: The Infinite Moment of Us

Author: Lauren Myracle

# of Pages: 336 

Publisher: Amulet Books

Publication Date: August 27th 2013

Source: BEA

Level: Young Adult?/ New Adult

Rating: 2 Hearts

Synopsis

For as long as she can remember, Wren Gray’s goal has been to please her parents. But as high school graduation nears, so does an uncomfortable realization: Pleasing her parents once overlapped with pleasing herself, but now... not so much. Wren needs to honor her own desires, but how can she if she doesn’t even know what they are?

Charlie Parker, on the other hand, is painfully aware of his heart’s desire. A gentle boy with a troubled past, Charlie has loved Wren since the day he first saw her. But a girl like Wren would never fall for a guy like Charlie—at least not the sort of guy Charlie believes himself to be.

And yet certain things are written in the stars. And in the summer after high school, Wren and Charlie’s souls will collide. But souls are complicated, as are the bodies that house them...

My Verdict

I think this one is being marketed as young adult but it seemed very much new adult in my opinion. The main characters Wren & Charlie both graduate from highschool within the first few pages, the rest of the book takes place over that summer as they try and decide what to do with their futures. Should they go to college? Take a year off? Do charity work?

The story was told through dual perspective of  main characters Wren and Charlie. Neither voice resonated with me, even though it was first person, I never really felt I knew either of them very well. Wren had a very weak personality. She was pretty much a people pleasing pushover who did and said whatever she thought people wanted her to do or say. Charlie's character wasn't as weak but I didn't like him any better. He always seemed to be stuck in the past, unable to leave it behind.

I'm the type who likes a sweet romance that is slowly built and has you on the edge of your seat waiting for that first kiss. The romance in this story was quite the opposite. While Charlie  had a crush on Wren for many years, she just took notice of him and then it all moved very fast, as the two felt "connected" from the start. The sex scenes were for mature readers only, having more detail than any of the New Adult titles I've read.

The ending was not what I was expecting nor was it satisfying. Overall, this was a complete miss for me.

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Book Review: Opal by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title: Opal (Lux #3)

Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout

# Of Pages: 382

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Publication Date: December 11, 2012

Source: Library

Level: Young Adult

Rating: 4 Hearts

Synopsis

(From Goodreads)

No one is like Daemon Black.

When he set out to prove his feelings for me, he wasn’t fooling around. Doubting him isn’t something I’ll do again, and now that we’ve made it through the rough patches, well... There’s a lot of spontaneous combustion going on.

But even he can’t protect his family from the danger of trying to free those they love.

After everything, I’m no longer the same Katy. I’m different... And I’m not sure what that will mean in the end. When each step we take in discovering the truth puts us in the path of the secret organization responsible for torturing and testing hybrids, the more I realize there is no end to what I’m capable of. The death of someone close still lingers, help comes from the most unlikely source, and friends will become the deadliest of enemies, but we won’t turn back. Even if the outcome will shatter our worlds forever.

Together we’re stronger... and they know it.

My Verdict

With the second book surpassing the first, I was expecting things to keep getting better and for this to be my new favorite, but unfortunately that didn’t happen. This was my least favorite of the three.

While it was nice that Katy and Dameon were finally an official couple, I got tired of reading page after page of them making out. The romance was really steamy in this one, a whole slew of descriptive make-out scenes along with one sex scene. I was really getting tired of hearing about Dameons rock-hard abs and great body. It’s book three, I’m pretty sure we all know what he looks like at this point and the fact that he’s hot! I don’t need Katy to go over these points every time he enters a room!

The story was pretty slow going. There was a little action at the beginning followed by a lot of training and build up for the big action scene at the end. And to make matters worse, that scene it had been building up to for 366 pages cuts off during the most intense moment of the book. Bam. Gone. Nothing. I cannot even believe it ended where it did. Probably one of the worst cliffhangers I’ve ever read! I was one Miss Cranky Pants that night, that’s for sure.

I loved getting to learn more about Dawson in this one. I wasn’t sure how I felt about him at first since he hardly ever talks, but he really started to grow on me by the end. I discovered that there’s a short story called “Shadows” that is all about Dawson and Beth before all the crap hit the fan. Hopefully that will give us a better look at what’s going on inside that brain of his ;)  I’ll definitely be reading it sometime during my three-month wait for book number four!

Book Review: Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title: Onyx (Lux #2)

Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout

# Of Pages: 366

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Publication Date: August 14^th 2012

Source: Purchased

Level: Young Adult

Rating: 5 Hearts

Synopsis

(From Goodreads)

Being connected to Daemon Black sucks…

Thanks to his alien mojo, Daemon’s determined to prove what he feels for me is more than a product of our bizarro connection. So I’ve sworn him off, even though he’s running more hot than cold these days. But we’ve got bigger problems.

Something worse than the Arum has come to town…

The Department of Defense are here. If they ever find out what Daemon can do and that we're linked, I’m a goner. So is he. And there's this new boy in school who’s got a secret of his own. He knows what’s happened to me and he can help, but to do so, I have to lie to Daemon and stay away from him. Like that's possible. Against all common sense, I'm falling for Daemon. Hard.

But then everything changes…

I’ve seen someone who shouldn’t be alive. And I have to tell Daemon, even though I know he’s never going to stop searching until he gets the truth. What happened to his brother? Who betrayed him? And what does the DOD want from them—from me?

No one is who they seem. And not everyone will survive the lies…

My Verdict

I almost gave this book four hearts instead of five because there were a few things I didn’t love about it. Then I was thinking, any book that roots you to a chair for eight hours because you can’t pull yourself away to sleep like a normal person, or has you seriously considering driving an hour to the nearest library that has a copy of the third book deserves the full five hearts!

Now down to business, I want to apologize upfront if a few of my details are a little off. I read all three of these book so close together that they have become one big blur in my mind.

It’s funny because Katy & Dameon pretty much switched places for me in this book. In the first one I really liked Katy and hated Dameon. In this one Katy bugged me a good three-quarters of the way through, while Dameon took a total 180 and was super sweet and not 98% jerk Dameon that we met in book one. 

We get introduced to some new characters in book two that bring along some interesting twists and turns I didn’t see coming. We also got to learn more about the Luxen race, their powers, and history, which I really enjoyed. Also, every little comment about book blogging brought a ridiculous smile to my face +D

There is SO much more I want to say but can't without spoilers so my lips are sealed!

Overall, while it got off to a frustrating start it really picked up and easily became my favorite one in the series so far. Bring on book number three! 

Book Review: Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title: Obsidian (Lux #1)

Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout

# Of Pages: 361

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Publication Date: November 23^rd 2011

Source: Library

Level: Young Adult

Rating: 4 Hearts 

Synopsis

(From Goodreads)

Starting over sucks.

When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I'd pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring.... until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.

And then he opened his mouth.

Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something...unexpected happens.

The hot alien living next door marks me.

You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon's touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I'm getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades.

If I don't kill him first, that is.

My Verdict

I can’t tell you how excited I was to read an alien book! Vampires, werewolves, zombies, there are plenty of books out there about them, but aliens? Not so many. I don’t know if any of you have seen the TV show Roswell (or read the books) it’s about a group of teenage aliens and my favorite show ever! If you haven’t seen it I highly suggest you go watch it immediately! Anywho, the synopsis of this book sounded very similar; boy saves girl, girl finds out boy is an alien, chaos ensues. So obviously I had to read it.

The whole love/hate relationship between main characters Katy and Daemon is what really pulls you in. There is something addicting about their constant bickering that keeps you turning pages.

I really liked Katy most of the time. Her snarky comebacks, loyalty to her friends, and selflessness were admirable. Plus, she gains a few bonus points for being a book blogger =) However, there was one event, (a school dance) where she made some unbelievably STUPID decisions against her friends warnings just to spite them. I was like WHY are you being so stupid?! Listen to your friends, they’re trying to protect you!! Also the way she would totally melt down and believe Dameon hated her when he would lie about his feelings for her. It was obvious he liked her, but when he would say otherwise she totally believed him even though she denied her feelings for him as well.

Dameon was a piece of work. Looked like a Greek god, acted like the biggest jerk on the planet. His attitude was infuriating 98% of the time. There were a few moments where he was actually sweet, but those moments were far and few between!

I think the alien part could have been done better. The fact that Dameon and Dee had been hiding their true identities for years was hard to believe, considering they weren’t very good at it. They said completely obvious things to Katy like “You’re not one of us” and  “I want Dee to have friends like her” but didn’t expect Katy to pick up on the fact that something was off. How dumb did they think she was? Some of the alien aspects also weren’t explained enough for my liking but what can you do.

Overall, this book kept me turning pages and dying for the next installment, which I’m probably going to end up downloading on my Kindle because the library only has one copy that’s going to take way too long to arrive!! It was no Roswell, but I’ll take what alien love stories I can get thank you very much.

Book Review: The Fault In Our Stars

Title: The Fault In Our Stars

Author: John Green

# Of Pages: 313

Publisher: Dutton Books

Publication Date: January 10^th, 2012

Source: Borrowed from Mom

Level: Young Adult

Rating: 4 Hearts

Synopsis

(From Goodreads)

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 13, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumors in her lungs... for now.

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumors tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

My Verdict

I think I may literally be one of the last people on planet Earth to read A Fault In Our Stars. I'm going to keep this review fairly short because there is nothing I could say that hasn't already been said.

The characters in this book felt so real it’s insane. The dialogue between Hazel & Augustus is pretty much what made the whole book for me. I felt like the two of them spoke their own language, it was strange, quirky, philosophical, and almost always guaranteed to make you laugh. 

After I finished the book, the first thing I did was Google whether or not An Imperial Affliction was a real book. Deep down I knew the answer was no, but I was trying to sustain my disbelief because I really, really wanted it to be real. I wanted to read this spectacular book that meant so much to both Hazel & Augustus. I wanted to connect with them even more through this book they both loved. 

My one eensy, weensy, microscopic complaint was that some of the chapters were gargantuously long. The only reason this bothered me is because I'm one of those people who doesn't like to stop reading in the middle of a chapter. So on nights I only had time for a little reading before bed it always turned into a lot of reading because some of the chapters took like half an hour.

In conclusion, while I am happy I finally read this book and enjoyed it very much, I just didn’t fall head over heals in love with it like most people seemed to. Did I really enjoy it? YES. Do I want to read it over and over and name it my favorite book of 2013? No. 

Book Review: Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi

Title: Through the Ever Night

Author: Veronica Rossi

# Of Pages: 352

Publisher: Harper Collins

Publication Date: January 8, 2013

Source: Library

Level: Young Adult

Rating: 5 Hearts

Synopsis

(From Amazon.com)

It's been months since Aria learned of her mother's death.

Months since Perry became Blood Lord of the Tides, and months since Aria last saw him.

Now Aria and Perry are about to be reunited. It's a moment they've been longing for with countless expectations. And it's a moment that lives up to all of them. At least, at first. Then it slips away. The Tides don't take kindly to former Dwellers like Aria. And the tribe is swirling out of Perry's control. With the Aether storms worsening every day, the only remaining hope for peace and safety is the Still Blue. But does this haven truly exist?

Threatened by false friends and powerful temptations, Aria and Perry wonder, Can their love survive through the ever night?

My Verdict

I’ve seriously had this book from the library for eight weeks. It wasn’t until the day before it was due for the second time that I finally started it. I knew it was going to be good so I don’t know what took me so long to pick it up.

Once again author, Veronica Rossi, wastes no time diving right into the action, which I love! Since all the world building already took place in book one this book was able to focus more on the characters and developing their relationships with one another.

I wasn’t that big of a Perry fan in the first book but we really got to learn a lot more about him in this book and I started to like him a lot more! That said, Roar is still my favorite. He was a lot more prevalent in this book and we learned a lot about his past with Liv.

Once again the ending was both perfectly satisfying yet left you dying for the next installment!! When the third book comes out I won’t make the same mistake by letting it sit there for eight weeks, I’ll start reading while I’m still in the store.  

Book Review: The Wild Book by Margarita Engle

Title: The Wild Book

Author: Margarita Engle

# Of Pages: 144

Publisher: Harcourt Children’s Books

Publication Date: March 20, 2012

Source: Library

Level: Middle Grade

Rating: 3 Hearts

Synopsis

(From Amazon.com)

Fefa struggles with words. She has word blindness, or dyslexia, and the doctor says she will never read or write. Every time she tries, the letters jumble and spill off the page, leaping and hopping away like bullfrogs. How will she ever understand them?

But her mother has an idea. She gives Fefa a blank book filled with clean white pages. "Think of it as a garden," she says. Soon Fefa starts to sprinkle words across the pages of her wild book. She lets her words sprout like seedlings, shaky at first, then growing stronger and surer with each new day. And when her family is threatened, it is what Fefa has learned from her wild book that saves them.

My Verdict

I just have to express my absolute LOVE of this cover! The illustrations are just so colorful and beautiful. Now for the actual story: this is the third book I’ve read by Margarita Engle and unfortunately none of them have lived up to the first.

The Wild Book is about eleven-year old Fefa, who at the beginning of the book finds out she has “word-blindness” or what we now know as common day dyslexia. The book is about Fefa’s struggle and how she works to overcome it. It’s set in the Cuban countryside of 1912, and is a work of historical fiction loosely based on stories the author’s grandmother used to tell her.

I found it unbelievable how cruel Fefa’s own brothers and sisters treated her, making fun or her reading and writing, calling her ugly. Maybe it’s because I had a great relationship with my sister growing up, but I just couldn’t fathom them being so downright nasty to her.

As always the authors beautiful writing had me jotting down quotes as I went along. Here is my favorite:

“Words seem to float

and drift, changing

their strange shapes,

like storms clouds,

always ready to explode.”

Overall it wasn’t a personal favorite, but I think it serves as a great example for kids of perseverance and never giving up, because while Fefa got frustrated a lot near the beginning, she kept working to overcome her dyslexia.

Book Review: The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay

Title: The Sea of Tranquility

Author: Katja Millay

# Of Pages: 448

Publisher: Atria Books

Publication Date: June 4^th 2013

Source: NetGalley

Level: Young Adult

Rating: 2 Hearts

Synopsis

(From Amazon.com)

I live in a world without magic or miracles. A place where there are no clairvoyants or shapeshifters, no angels or superhuman boys to save you. A place where people die and music disintegrates and things suck. I am pressed so hard against the earth by the weight of reality that some days I wonder how I am still able to lift my feet to walk.

Former piano prodigy Nastya Kashnikov wants two things: to get through high school without anyone learning about her past and to make the boy who took everything from her—her identity, her spirit, her will to live—pay.

Josh Bennett’s story is no secret: every person he loves has been taken from his life until, at seventeen years old, there is no one left. Now all he wants is be left alone and people allow it because when your name is synonymous with death, everyone tends to give you your space.

Everyone except Nastya, the mysterious new girl at school who starts showing up and won’t go away until she’s insinuated herself into every aspect of his life. But the more he gets to know her, the more of an enigma she becomes. As their relationship intensifies and the unanswered questions begin to pile up, he starts to wonder if he will ever learn the secrets she’s been hiding—or if he even wants to.

My Verdict

While this story was very unique, mysterious, and occasionally sweet, the bad outweighed the good for me.

The story is told from alternating points of view; Nastya and Josh. Nastya survived a traumatic experience when she was fifteen that took away the one thing she loved most in life, her ability to play piano. Now, three years later she is still consumed by fear, anger, and hatred for what happened to her. It takes awhile for us to figure out what happened in Nastya’s past. We get small snippets here and there until the full story comes out at the end. I really couldn’t understand Nastya’s mindset most of the time. She didn’t respect herself at all and was so self-destructive it was painful to watch.

Then we have Josh, another person who’s past is full of pain and loss. New to school, Nastya tries her hardest to push everyone away, but there is something about Josh that draws her in. The two start to form this odd relationship that goes from hate, dislike, like, to love. I didn’t really love Josh either. I liked him most of the time but then he would do something stupid and really bug me.  He was also pretty self-destructive, not letting anyone into his life who he could later lose, because inevitably that’s what always happened.

My main issue with this book was the swearing and sexual comments every two seconds. There were more F-words in this book than I’ve probably heard in my entire life, and the disgusting sexual “jokes” they were constantly making were not funny. Had these two aspects not been so prevalent, I would have enjoyed this story a lot more!

Overall, this just wasn’t the right book for me.  

Book Review: The Language Inside by Holly Thompson

Title: The Language Inside

Author: Holly Thompson

# Of Pages: 528

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Publication Date: May 14, 2013

Source: Borrowed ARC

Level: Young Adult

Rating: 4 Hearts

Synopsis

(From Amazon.com)

Emma Karas was raised in Japan; it's the country she calls home. But when her mother is diagnosed with breast cancer, Emma's family moves to a town outside Lowell, Massachusetts, to stay with Emma's grandmother while her mom undergoes treatment.  

Emma feels out of place in the United States. She begins to have migraines, and longs to be back in Japan. At her grandmother's urging, she volunteers in a long-term care center to help Zena, a patient with locked-in syndrome, write down her poems. There, Emma meets Samnang, another volunteer, who assists elderly Cambodian refugees. Weekly visits to the care center, Zena's poems, dance, and noodle soup bring Emma and Samnang closer, until Emma must make a painful choice: stay in Massachusetts, or return home early to Japan.

My Verdict

Author, Holly Thompson uses free verse to weave together a great multi-cultural story about family, friends, love, hardship, and what to do when the language inside doesn’t match the language outside.

The main character, Emma, and her family move from Japan (the only home Emma’s ever known) when her mother is diagnosed with breast cancer. The family moves to Massachusetts to stay with a relative so that her mom can be treated in Boston. 

Her mother’s breast cancer, the move - it all leaves Emma with a lot of stress and she starts to suffer from severe migraines. Emma also experiences a lot of guilt having left Japan right after it was struck by the tragedy of a Tsunami. She feels she should be there with her friends to help clean up the destruction and start rebuilding.

Her grandmother signs Emma up to volunteer at a long-term care facility while she’s in town. She is there to help a patient named Zena , who suffers from locked-in syndrome, write poetry.  The only way Zena can communicate is with her eyes. Emma has to hold up an alphabet board organized by row and color, reading each one out until Zena looks up to select a letter. I found this dynamic of the story to be very heartwarming as we get to watch Zena and Emma’s relationship grow as they connect with one another through their mutual love of poetry.

There is also a small romance aspect to the story between Emma and Samnang, a fellow volunteer at the care facility. It’s a sweet relationship that develops slowly throughout the story but at times it was frustrating too because they weren’t even going out but Emma would get all worked up and upset if he hung out with another girl *insert eye roll*.

“I look at him

and he looks straight back at me

into me

and there’s a calm

between us

we are just sitting, breathing,

and I think we are smiling

with out eyes.”

As you can see, this book deals with a lot of different issues; breast cancer, locked-in syndrome, post traumatic stress disorder, and migraines, to name some, but it does so effortlessly, weaving them together into one coherent and touching story about one girl’s journey to find herself.

Book Review: Nobody by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Title: Nobody

Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes

# Of Pages: 400

Publisher: Egmont USA

Publication Date: January 22, 2013

Source: Library

Level: Young Adult

Rating: 2 Hearts

Synopsis

(From Amazon.com)

There are people in this world who are Nobody. No one sees them. No one notices them. They live their lives under the radar, forgotten as soon as you turn away.

That's why they make the perfect assassins.

The Institute finds these people when they're young and takes them away for training. But an untrained Nobody is a threat to their organization. And threats must be eliminated.

Sixteen-year-old Claire has been invisible her whole life, missed by the Institute's monitoring. But now they've ID'ed her and send seventeen-year-old Nix to remove her. Yet the moment he lays eyes on her, he can't make the hit. It's as if Claire and Nix are the only people in the world for each other. And they are--because no one else can really see them.

My Verdict

From the synopsis I was expecting this fast-paced, teenage assassin adventure, but what I found was a slow moving, overly complicated, sci-fi heavy book that failed to deliver.

Nix is a nobody, a person that is looked through rather than at, who will be instantly forgotten, someone who would make the perfect assassin. Nix always completes his mission no questions asked, but when he gets orders to kill sixteen-year-old Claire, he disobeys his orders. Why? She looked at him, not through him, but directly at him. Turns out, Claire’s a nobody too.

I feel like this plot held a lot of potential that fell flat during execution. The existence of the non-human characters like the nobodies, sensors, and nulls, weren’t really explained beyond “some people are born wrong.”

The story is told through the eyes of both Nix and Claire. Having been told he was nothing his whole life, Nix has a pretty degrading thought process, with a mantra of “You are less than air. Less than shadow.” How depressing is that?

Nix and Claire’s relationship was not one I could relate to or care about. I understand that they were supposed to have this deep connection because they were both nobodies, but their attraction to one another was just too hard to fathom. As Nix had his hands around Claire’s neck about to kill her, she was thinking about how much she liked his touch and wished he would kiss her. Um, hello?!? HE’S TRYING TO STRANGLE YOU, or did you miss that part?

For a 400-page book, I felt there wasn’t enough action or even pacing. Most of it went by really slowly and didn’t really do much to further the plotline. I think a significant cut could have been made without losing anything key.

For some unknown reason, I finished this book, though I’m not completely sure why… 

Book Review: Witness by Karen Hesse

Title: Witness

Author: Karen Hesse

# Of Pages: 161

Publisher: Scholastic

Publication Date: July 5, 2000

Source: Own

Level: Young Adult

Rating: 2 Hearts

Synopsis

(From Amazon.com)

Leanora Sutter. Esther Hirsh. Merlin Van Tornhout. Johnny Reeves . . .

These characters are among the unforgettable cast inhabiting a small Vermont town in 1924. A town that turns against its own when the Ku Klux Klan moves in. No one is safe, especially the two youngest, twelve-year-old Leanora, an African-American girl, and six-year-old Esther, who is Jewish.

In this story of a community on the brink of disaster, told through the haunting and impassioned voices of its inhabitants, Newbery Award winner Karen Hesse takes readers into the hearts and minds of those who bear witness.

My Verdict

It’s always disappointing when you read one book by an author and absolutely love it and then you read another by them and don’t like it. That is pretty much what happened here. I had just read Out of the Dust the night before and was expecting another great book but instead was very disappointed with what I found.

This is a work of historical fiction about a small town in 1924 and how it affects them when the Ku Klux Klan moves into town. Told in five “acts”, the story unfolds before us through the eyes of eleven different characters, each passage told from a different point-of-view. The cast of characters was just too large and hard to keep track of. There was a cast list in the front of the book with pictures of each character, which was nice but I got sick of flipping back and forth between pages every time I couldn’t remember who someone was.  Needless to say this really hindered me from connecting with any of them.

Another thing I didn’t like about switching between such a large number of characters was that their ages ranged from six to sixty-six so one minute your in the head of a six year old with her innocent thoughts and the next minute your in the head of an adult who’s plotting to poison someone.

I apologize for the really negative review but this book just wasn’t for me. I am still planning to read more of Hesse’s work in hopes they will be more like my first experience with her writing, which was the polar opposite of this one.