YA Review: Find Me by Romily Bernard

Title: Find Me

Author: Romily Bernard

# of Pages: 307

Publisher: HarperTeen

Publication Date: September 24th 2013

Source: ARC from Goodreads

Level: Young Adult

Rating: 4 Hearts

Synopsis

“Find Me.”

These are the words written on Tessa Waye’s diary. The diary that ends up with Wick Tate. But Tessa’s just been found . . . dead.

Wick has the right computer-hacking skills for the job, but little interest in this perverse game of hide-and-seek. Until her sister Lily is the next target.

Then Griff, trailer-park boy next door and fellow hacker, shows up, intent on helping Wick. Is a happy ending possible with the threat of Wick’s deadbeat dad returning, the detective hunting him sniffing around Wick instead, and a killer taunting her at every step?

Foster child. Daughter of a felon. Loner hacker girl. Wick has a bad attitude and sarcasm to spare.

But she’s going to find this killer no matter what.

Because it just got personal.

My Verdict

I picked this up with the intention of just reading a few chapters before bed but once I started I couldn't put it down!! The story hooks you right away with a tension filled opening scene that keeps you flipping pages, honestly, until the very end.

I liked Wick, she had been through so much and was so fragile on the inside yet tough as nails on the outside. She keeps a lot of secrets thinking that she needs to deal with everything alone. That is, until Griffin. Griffin is really the only person Wick lets into her life, letting him see the good and the bad. He's also the only person Wick will ask for help. 

I thought their relationship was really cute. They have been sort of friends for awhile but Wick is always hiding who she really is. It's not until circumstances bring them together that they start falling for each other. Plus their witty banter was great. 

A lot of reviews I read beforehand said how predictable this book was and how they guessed the bad guy right from the start but I don't see how. The author did such a great job of making you doubt everyone, even those who didn't match what little evidence Wick did have. Yes, I may have guessed who it was at one point but my opinion was constantly changing.

What an intense ending! I love when books finish with a bang! I was sitting in bed at 1:45am tearing through the last few chapters. My heart started pounding out of my chest when the culprit was finally revealed and didn't stop until the book was over. 

One thing's for sure, Romily Bernard definitely left a mark on the YA suspense scene. I can't wait to see how the characters continue to develop, especially Wick & Griffins relationship in book 2, Remember Me! 

Book News: Panic by Lauren Oliver Cover Reveal and Excerpt

Panic began as so many things do in Carp, a dead-end town of 12,000 people in the middle of nowhere: because it was summer, and there was nothing else to do.

Heather never thought she would compete in Panic, a legendary game played by graduating seniors, where the stakes are high and the payoff is even higher. She’d never thought of herself as fearless, the kind of person who would fight to stand out. But when she finds something, and someone, to fight for, she will discover that she is braver than she ever thought.

Dodge has never been afraid of Panic. His secret will fuel him, and get him all the way through the game, he’s sure of it. But what he doesn't know is that he’s not the only one with a secret. Everyone has something to play for.

For Heather and Dodge, the game will bring new alliances, unexpected revelations, and the possibility of first love for each of them—and the knowledge that sometimes the very things we fear are those we need the most.

In addition to revealing the cover today Lauren also posted a couple videos of herself reading the first few chapters of Panic. You can check those out below!

  Chapter One
Chapters Two & Three
Be sure to add Panic to your Goodreads shelf, the more people who add it the more exclusive content Lauren will release! 

Book Review: Tiger Lily by Jodie Lynn Anderson

Title: Tiger Lily

Author: Jodi Lynn Anderson

# Of Pages: 304

Publisher: HarperTeen

Publication Date: July 3, 2012

Source: Library

Level: Young Adult

Rating: 2 Hearts

Synopsis

(From Amazon.com)

Before Peter Pan belonged to Wendy, he belonged to the girl with the crow feather in her hair . . .

Fifteen-year-old Tiger Lily doesn't believe in love stories or happy endings. Then she meets the alluring teenage Peter Pan in the forbidden woods of Neverland and immediately falls under his spell.

Peter is unlike anyone she's ever known. Impetuous and brave, he both scares and enthralls her. As the leader of the Lost Boys, the most fearsome of Neverland's inhabitants, Peter is an unthinkable match for Tiger Lily. Soon, she is risking everything—her family, her future—to be with him. When she is faced with marriage to a terrible man in her own tribe, she must choose between the life she's always known and running away to an uncertain future with Peter.

With enemies threatening to tear them apart, the lovers seem doomed. But it's the arrival of Wendy Darling, an English girl who's everything Tiger Lily is not, that leads Tiger Lily to discover that the most dangerous enemies can live inside even the most loyal and loving heart.

My Verdict

As much as I like to think I enjoy fairy tale retellings, the truth is I’ve yet to really fall in love with any I’ve read so far. I guess it’s the idea of them I like the most.

Tiger Lily is a new twist on the classic tale of Peter Pan. I was excited for this story, as most re-tellings are of princess stories like Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast.

As someone who’s never actually read the original story, the only thing I have to go off of is the Disney movie =) As most of you probably know, Tiger Lily isn’t in that version of the story. While I was excited to read the story from a new point-of-view, I didn’t think I could actually hope for someone besides Wendy to end up with Peter, but by the end of it I did.

The story was told by Tinker-Bell as a sort of all-knowing Narrator. I haven’t read a book from the perspective of a narrator in awhile and I found it kind of awkward and distant. As much as I didn’t feel connected to Tiger Lily, I still found myself rooting for her and wanting things to work out with her and Peter, even though I knew they couldn’t.

I thought Neverland was supposed to be this wonderful place where kids never grew up, fairies went around sprinkling fairy dust, and mermaids occupied the lagoon. This version of Neverland, however, was painted a lot darker. It was a land that held many known and unknown dangers. Tiger Lily and her tribe were only allowed to go to certain parts of the island for the rest were deemed too dangerous, with unknown beasts lurking in the dark. They even made Peter out to be this horrible person that everyone should fear.

As for the characters, can I just say there were a lot of really crazy character names in this book?! Ex. Pine Sap, Moon Eye, Giant, Aunt Agda, Magnolia Bud.

• Tiger Lily was hard to understand at times, her actions were out of the blue and I wasn’t able to understand why she was doing what she was because we couldn’t get inside her head.

• Peter was very distant, I felt like we never got to see what he was really thinking or how he truly felt until the very end.

• Tik Tok (Tiger Lily’s father) was a character I felt was thrown into the mix just to add something mainstream to the story line. He wore dresses and took pride in doing up his hair in braids and other styles. It just didn’t seem to fit naturally with the story to me.

• Pine Sap was definitely my favorite character. He and Tiger Lily have been friends for years, and he would do anything for her. He endured so much from his family and tribe beating him down but he always put up with it unbelievably well and still remained so sweet.  I really wanted Tiger Lily to fall in love with him instead of Peter! (But I guess there would have been no story that way huh?)

Overall, Tiger Lily was a quirky, strange, yet entertaining read.