Mini Reviews: After Math, Crash, & The Elite

Title: After Math (Off the Subject #1)

Author: Denise Grover Swank

# of Pages: 250

Publisher: Createspace

Publication Date: March 12th 2013

Source: BEA

Level: New Adult

Rating: 2 Hearts

My Verdict

I’m normally not a fan of the New Adult genre. I am one of those people who feels it is just an excuse to throw in some explicit content to what would normally be YA. As I read this book, I was beginning to think maybe I had misjudged the genre but than it took a turn for the predictable (a.k.a. explicit content.)

I loved the slow build of Scarlett and Tucker’s romance. It started out as a tutoring job, grew into a friendship, and then exploaded into a romance. I loved watching their relationship grow, the way they looked into one another's eyes and could see each others deepest secrets, the tutoring sessions, and gym workouts. Sadly, this all disappeared once they became a couple and the only thing they did was have sex.

Title: Crash (Visions #1)

Author: Lisa McMann

# of Pages: 233

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Publication Date: January 8th 2013

Source: Library

Level: Young Adult

Rating: 3 Hearts

My Verdict

Interesting concept but slow paced, fairly predictable, with average characters. Your typical Romeo & Juliet style romance with Jules and Sawyer being forbidden to see each other because their families run waring restaurants. As for the visions, one day all of a sudden Jules sees a vision and it just keeps playing over and over on every billboard, TV screen, window. Not only was the cause of Jules visions never explained, but it also got extremely monotonous to have her describe the same vision over and over for 200 pages. While the second book is on my TBR, I'm in no rush to read it. 

Title: The Elite (The Selection #2)

Author: Kiera Cass

# of Pages: 323

Publisher: HarperTeen

Publication Date: April 23rd 2013

Source: Purchased

Level: Young Adult

Rating: 4 Hearts

My Verdict

Ugh, America Singer you may just be the death of me! Your inability to choose who it is your in love with makes me SO angry. I thought a decision would finally be made in this book but no, America continues to bounce between Aspen and Prince Maxon like a ping pong ball. At this point, I'm going to feel bad for whatever guy gets kicked to the curb because they've both been lead on for so long. The one good thing about this infuriating love triangle is that I do like both guys, which pretty much never happens, so either way I'm happy. 

Cass continues to do a great job of drawing the reader into the world she has created and leaving us emotionally invested. After all that's what it's all about right? Getting lost in another world, caring about the characters as if they are real, feeling all the different emotions when things go bad or things work out. Even though it drives me crazy most of the time,  I still love it. 

Hope you enjoyed these mini reviews! I'll probably  be doing a few more before the year ends to help me catch up. 

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 Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider

Title: The Beginning of Everything
Author: Robyn Schneider
# of Pages: 330
Publisher: Katherine Tegen
Publication Date: August 27th 2013
Source: BEA
Level: Young Adult
Rating: 3 Hearts

Synopsis

Golden boy Ezra Faulkner believes everyone has a tragedy waiting for them—a single encounter after which everything that really matters will happen. His particular tragedy waited until he was primed to lose it all: in one spectacular night, a reckless driver shatters Ezra’s knee, his athletic career, and his social life.

No longer a front-runner for Homecoming King, Ezra finds himself at the table of misfits, where he encounters new girl Cassidy Thorpe. Cassidy is unlike anyone Ezra’s ever met, achingly effortless, fiercely intelligent, and determined to bring Ezra along on her endless adventures.

But as Ezra dives into his new studies, new friendships, and new love, he learns that some people, like books, are easy to misread. And now he must consider: if one’s singular tragedy has already hit and everything after it has mattered quite a bit, what happens when more misfortune strikes?

My Verdict

This was one of my absolutely must haves from BEA. I had read the synopsis for it way back when it was still "Severed Heads & Broken Hearts" and was really excited for it. While it was kind of strange how they changed both the title and cover so far along, I can understand why. I mean the original title is a bit of a turn off, the cover was cute though. Anyways let's talk about the book!

I was looking forward to a contemporary romance told from a guys perspective since most are the opposite. While I didn't dislike Ezra, I didn't care for him much either.

As for Ezra's love interest, Cassidy, she was hard to understand. I could never tell how she truly felt about Ezra, debate team, or anything really. I think her quirky personality came across as contrived rather than natural.

Overall, I didn't fall in love with this story as much as I expected too. It's an enjoyable contemporary romance, with okay characters but nothing that's going to stick with you once you've finished.

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MG Review: Love That Dog & Hate That Cat by Sharon Creech

Title: Love That Dog / Hate That Cat

Author: Sharon Creech

# Of Pages: 128/148

Publisher: HarperCollins

Publication Date: April 8, 2008/ September 23, 2008

Source: Library

Level: Middle Grade

Rating: 2 Hearts / 3 Hearts

Synopsis

(From Amazon)

Love That Dog-

Jack

Room 105 - -Miss Stretchberry

September 13

I don't want to

because boys

don't write poetry.

Girls do

But before he knows it Jack is creating his own poetry and a wonderful story emerges as he becomes interested in this thing that 'girls do'! Not only is Jack inspired to write to his favourite poet, but the poet agrees to visit, and Jack discovers how much more there is to poetry behind the words on the page. A lovely, loving and very impressive novel that defies definition.

Hate That Cat-

Jack

Room 204—Miss Stretchberry

February 25

Today the fat black cat


up in the tree by the bus stop


dropped a nut on my head


thunk


and when I yelled at it

that fat black cat said


Murr-mee-urrr


in a 


nasty


spiteful


way.

I hate that cat.

This is the story of 
Jack
words
sounds
silence
teacher
and cat.

My Verdict

There are two types of middle grade books; those specifically geared for middle graders, and those with enough depth for all ages. These books fell into the first category.

Told in a series of journal entries, Jack communicates to his teacher Miss Stretchberry about his thoughts on poetry. Every time his class learns about a new type of poem or famous poet, Jack writes a poem inspired by them about events in his own life.

Out of the two, I enjoyed Hate That Cat a lot more than the first. I think Jack’s personality came through a lot more than in the first. I liked his sense of humor, he definitely had me smiling =)

He also used the word tintinnabulation is a sentence, which was one of my Wordlover Wednesday Words!

As a 22 year-old, I didn’t particularly get a lot from these stories but I do think they would be good books for their specific age bracket. They both touch on different types of poetry, being embarrassed to put your name on something you’ve created, and most importantly it turns a boy who’s reluctant to write poetry into a boy who loves poetry.

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 Bridge by Jane Higgins

Title: The Bridge

Author: Jane Higgins

# Of Pages: 344

Publisher: Tundra Books

Publication Date: October 9, 2012

Source: LibraryThing

Level: Young Adult

Rating:  3 Hearts

Synopsis

(From Amazon.com)

The City is divided. The bridges gated. In Southside, the hostiles live in squalor and desperation, waiting for a chance to overrun the residents of Cityside. 
 


Nik is still in high school but is destined for a great career with the Internal Security and Intelligence Services, the brains behind the war. But when ISIS comes recruiting, everyone is shocked when he isn't chosen. There must be an explanation, but no one will talk about it. Then the school is bombed and the hostiles take the bridges. Buildings are burning, kids are dead, and the hostiles have kidnapped Sol. Now ISIS is hunting for Nik. 
 


But Nik is on the run, with Sol's sister Fyffe and ISIS hot on their trail. They cross the bridge in search of Sol, and Nik finds answers to questions he had never dared to ask. 
 

My Verdict

I don’t really have any strong feelings about this book. I mostly feel indifferent.  

The book is told from the perspective of main character, Nik, whom I thought was a girl for the first few pages before it told me otherwise. I didn’t dislike Nik, he was a good person who kept getting into trouble for nothing which made me mad; I felt so bad for him. My favorite character, however, was Fyffe, she was so brave in the face of danger, and willing to do whatever it took to get her brother back. The character names were all really original which I loved: Dash, Jono, Fyffe, Sol, Jeitan, Levkova, Coly, Lanya. I really loved Levkova, it was just fun to say.

The world building is a big thing in dystopian fiction. I find it really has the power to either make or break a book. While the war-torn City divided into Southside and Cityside is well described visually and easy to imagine yourself in, the politics behind it became really confusing to me, especially near the end. 

There is a lot of action to keep you turning pages and the ongoing search for Sol that keeps you interested. I was both happy and upset with the ending but you can’t always get the best of both worlds I suppose. I’m not really sure if this is a standalone novel or the beginning of a series? It works perfectly fine as a standalone but I could also see it going further.

Book Review: Wild Grace by Max Lucado

Title: Wild Grace: What Happens When      

      Grace Happens

Author: Max Lucado

# Of Pages: 176

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Publication Date: September 11, 2012

Source: BookSneeze

Level: Young Adult

Rating: 3 Hearts

Synopsis

(From Amazon.com)

Bestselling author Max Lucado explains that if teens let God’s grace change them, shape them, and strengthen them, their lives will never be the same.

Today’s teens are being shaped by the pressures and disappointments of the world. But Max Lucado encourages them to take a close look at what can shape their hearts and their futures from the inside out—God’s grace.

As Max explains, "God’s grace has a drenching about it. A wildness about it. A whitewater, riptide, turn-you-upside-downness about it. Grace comes after you." Wild Grace gives teens an understanding of how grace can change their lives in powerful ways, even when those lives are messed up, off track, or in trouble. Each chapter describes another miracle that happens when we allow God’s grace to work on us and through us:

“Grace is God’s decision to change everything. Good-bye, earthly labels. Stupid. Unpopular. Ugly. Failure. No longer. You aren’t who they say you are. You are who He says you are. Spiritually alive. Connected to God. Amazing.”

Teens will be convinced that God knew what He was doing when He made them and His grace is always there, ready to work wonders that are bigger than anything this world has to offer.

My Verdict

This is the first time I’ve read the teen edition of one of Mr. Lucado’s books and I’m sad to say I didn’t enjoy it as much as his adult books. Don’t get me wrong, he is still an incredible author and pretty much the only non-fiction author I will read, but I was a little disappointed.

The layout of the book was extremely nice, with fancy chapter headings, pop out quotations and such: really gorgeous. The story was adapted for teens by James Lund, but I felt the adaptation was a little too “hip” which I didn’t like, but I’m sure the younger crowd will appreciate, such as the references to Lady Gaga and other “teen” things.

One of the things I always LOVE about Mr. Lucado’s books is that he includes real life stories that he seamlessly weaves into the point he’s trying to make. These are usually the parts that really touch my heart. These stories were handled a little differently this time and instead of Max telling us about them himself, they come in the form of letters written directly by the person. I didn’t like this format as much and was actually most touched by the one story not in this format, the story of Barbara Leininger and her sister, Regina who were taken captive by Indians in 1775. As I read through this story on a bench in the school hallway I found myself blinking back tears and willing myself not to cry.

I enjoyed this book but I couldn’t help but wonder if I would have enjoyed the adult version Grace better. I want to read the adult one now so that I can compare the two. I think I’ll stick with what I know and love and continue to read his adult books and pass on his next teen edition.

Book Review: Fallen by Lauren Kate

Title: Fallen

Author: Lauren Kate

# Of Pages: 464

Publisher: Delacorte

Publication Date: December 8, 2009

Source: Purchased

Level: Young Adult

Rating: 3 Hearts

Synopsis

(From Amazon.com)

There's something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.

Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price's attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia. He's the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.

Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce--and goes out of his way to make that very clear--she can't let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret . . . even if it kills her.

My Verdict

There was something strangely addicting about this book! Even though I didn’t care for any of the characters and found the plot rather monotonous, I couldn’t stop reading. I don’t know what it was about it, but something kept me turning pages.

I found Luce to be a pretty annoying protagonist, she bounces between Daniel and Cam like a ping-pong ball. Oh my gosh Daniel, oh Cam is so sweet, look at how handsome Daniel is, oh my gosh Cam. That was pretty much her thought process the whole book.

I felt like I was intended to turn into a pile of mush over Daniel like Luce did but I really didn’t care for him either. The one character out of the whole book that I actually did like was Luce’s friend Penn who was funny, quirky and the only true friend Luce had, in my opinion. 

My favorite thing about this book was probably the setting. I always enjoy books where the characters live at boarding schools, it gives the author the ability to create this whole unique setting all their own.

The ending was nothing more than a bunch of chaos that left you unsatisfied and a little miffed about certain things. 

I know I’m in the minority here considering it was #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list, but I just wasn’t feeling it. I believe there are at least three or four more books in the series but I won’t be reading them. I will however look on Wikipedia to find out how the series ends. Mwuhahaha J the power of technology. 

Book Review: My Life Next Door

Title: My Life Next Door

Author: Huntley Fitzpatrick

# Of Pages: 304

Publisher: Dial

Publication Date: June 14, 2012

Level: Young Adult

Rating: 3 Hearts

Synopsis

(From Amazon.com)

“One thing my mother never knew, and would disapprove of most of all, was that I watched the Garretts. All the time.”

The Garretts are everything the Reeds are not. Loud, numerous, messy, affectionate. And every day from her balcony perch, seventeen-year-old Samantha Reed wishes she was one of them . . . until one summer evening, Jase Garrett climbs her terrace and changes everything. As the two fall fiercely in love, Jase's family makes Samantha one of their own. Then in an instant, the bottom drops out of her world and she is suddenly faced with an impossible decision. Which perfect family will save her? Or is it time she saved herself?

My Verdict

I feel like I really need to explain myself with this book, because it was really good I just don’t think it was a good fit for me personally. I think the main problem was that I went into this book expecting one thing and it ended up being something completely different. Maybe I would have enjoyed it better had I not heard so much about it beforehand, I don’t know.

For example, I had heard that this was a “wholesome” romance, but I guess everyone’s definition of wholesome is different. I was expecting one of those, spend the whole book anticipating their first kiss kind of romances, not a sex after a couple weeks romance. So that was one of the big things I was disappointed in. Don’t get me wrong, Sam & Jase are a cute couple and it was a sweet romance compared to a lot of relationships I’ve read about in YA, it’s just wasn’t what I had been expecting, so I couldn’t help but feel let down.

Another thing that was hard for me to get past was all the politics. Samantha’s mom is a Senator, so naturally there is campaigning talk and events. I’m going to be completely honest and say that I absolutely can’t stand politics. I’m one of those people whose eyes glaze over whenever people around me start talking about it.

There was one aspect of the storyline that really tugged on my heartstrings and that was Samantha and Nan’s friendship. I don’t want to go into too much detail or spoil anything for those of you who haven’t read it yet, so I’ll just say that it was a part of the story I was really able to connect with. The thoughts and emotions that Samantha experienced during this time were so spot on it was crazy.

While I may not have been a big fan of the story itself, I must say that I did enjoy Huntley Fitzpatrick’s writing, it’s emotional depth, and her ability to create unique and memorable characters. It’s no wonder that Samantha watched the Garretts all the time. They were such a personable, rowdy, fun, and loving family it was impossible not to like them. I will definitely be checking out her next novel.