Mini Reviews: The Vault of Dreamers and The Truth About Alice

Sooo...once upon a time I used to request ARCs.  Then I discovered I am THE WORST at reading and reviewing books on time. Lo and behold I still have 9 books I was supposed to have reviewed...almost a year ago.  These books have been HAUNTING me. So I figured late is better than never and maybe I should get these reviews out...and maybe the book ghosts will be exorcised.






The Vault of Dreamers - Caragh M. O'Brien



I really wish I had reviewed both of these books on time because they really deserved it.  Having just read The Vault of Dreamers, I can tell you it was basically a recipe of everything I love in a book: big on action, low on romance (although there is some); MC has a good relationship with her mom and sister, and a good platonic relationship with both a girl and a boy; conspiracies galore, a narrator who may or may not be progressively getting crazier. I mean it's got it all!  That being said, the prose tries a little too hard, particularly in the beginning, and I don't have a CLUE what happened at the end. Like not even a little.  Either way I'm definitely looking forward to the sequel.

The Truth About Alice - Jennifer Mathieu


I actually read this one last year, but just didn't have the time to write the review. So it should tell you just how important this book is that I still remember the impact it had on me clearly.  There were so many times I would come across a line in this book and think...oh my god. Whether I was 14 or now, at some point I have thought these words - almost exactly.  This book paints a fairly realistic portrayal of how something innocent can be turned into something dark and ugly and spread like wildfire, particularly in a small town. This book is powerful. If you like contemporary reads of the nonfluffy type - this is a book for you.

Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd - Holly Black & Co.

Summary:

Goodreads -  Acclaimed authors Holly Black (Ironside) and Cecil Castellucci (Boy Proof) have united in geekdom to edit short stories from some of the best selling and most promising geeks in young adult literature: M.T. Anderson, Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, John Green, Tracy Lynn, Cynthia and Greg Leitich Smith, David Levithan, Kelly Link, Barry Lyga, Wendy Mass, Garth Nix, Scott Westerfield, Lisa Yee, and Sara Zarr.

With illustrated interstitials from comic book artists Hope Larson and Bryan Lee O'Malley, Geektastic covers all things geeky, from Klingons and Jedi Knights to fan fiction, theater geeks, and cosplayers. Whether you're a former, current, or future geek, or if you just want to get in touch with your inner geek, Geektastic will help you get your geek on!


Thoughts

I rarely read short story anthologies because I have such a hard time getting into them, but I saw this was at the library so I thought...well why not?  And I'm so glad I did.  As I read each of these stories I kept feeling like "This is my home. These are my stories." - even when they were in a "geeky" matter I didn't know anything about.  With the exception of maybe two of the stories that I read, I wholeheartedly loved everything in this collection (even if I kept thinking all the characters were gay and then discovering I'd gotten the genders all wrong. Ah the pitfalls of short stories in first person).

This collection seriously has something for everyone - cosplaying, role playing, academic debate, LARPing, computer games, dinosaurs, fanfic, theater, Buffy - you name it, it's in here.  And I think it's amazing how drawn into each story I got into, even when I didn't have a clue about what they were talking about, I well and truly cared about the characters.  Which completely bypassed all my normal issues about short stories - since I tend to be pretty character centric, it's hard for short stories to be able to draw me in enough to really care about the characters because the stories are...well...short.  Some of them I actually would have LOVED to have gotten a whole novel out of the story - David Levithan's in particular. (Which shows me that I need to go pick up one of his books immediately. It's not like they aren't already all on my tbr list anyway, I just haven't done anything about it yet. Which will be remedied. Soon.) His was also the only one featuring anything other than a hetero relationship, which actually made me kind of sad because as I mentioned earlier, I actually assumed 75% of the relationships were same sex at the start of the stories haha.   A lot of the stories also had a focus purely on family or friend relationships, and you all know how much I go gaga over that sort of thing!

Sadly I didn't get this post up before the book expired on my kindle, so I lost all the notes I'd taken on the stories I loved, but since there were only two I didn't, just assume that the rest are all pure love for me, because they are.  The only two I didn't love were Scott Westerfield's and Barry Lyga's.  Scott Westerfields was just kind of...weird. And psychotic.  It creeped me out too much to love haha, and while I loved the concept of Barry Lyga's (his was about dinosaurs), the ending definitely didn't make me feel good.  But only two out of an entire collection is like a crazy difference than what I'm used to - I tend to be the reverse!  So I'm glad I picked it up and highly recommend this, regardless of how you feel about short stories or books about geeky things (because let's face it - if you're reading this blog, you definitely will be able to connect to at least a few stories in the collection regardless).


TL;DR

I don't read short stories. Ever. I get supremely bored by them.  But this collection was well worth picking up, and I'd recommend it to all readers because there's something a story in here for everyone.

Mini Reviews: Being Henry David by Cal Amistead

Soo...last week I got an e-mail from NetGalley being all like "Yo gurl where you been? Remember those books you got for free like a year ago? You totally owe us some reviews. PAY UP."  So I thought maybe I should get on that.  Unfortunately I actually DID mean to put up reviews for this before my hiatus...but now I've kind of forgotten a lot of stuff.  Commence mini review #1!

 

Summary

Goodreads: Seventeen-year-old "Hank" has found himself at Penn Station in New York City with no memory of anything --who he is, where he came from, why he's running away. His only possession is a worn copy of Walden, by Henry David Thoreau. And so he becomes Henry David-or "Hank" and takes first to the streets, and then to the only destination he can think of--Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. Cal Armistead's remarkable debut novel is about a teen in search of himself. Hank begins to piece together recollections from his past. The only way Hank can discover his present is to face up to the realities of his grievous memories. He must come to terms with the tragedy of his past, to stop running, and to find his way home.

Thoughts

This book was interesting...in a way that at times I didn't entirely love, but in the end did touch me. I think my biggest problem is that it reads like an MG book, but the main character is 17.  A lot of the romance here felt awkward and forced (that might be why it felt like MG to me...that's how I feel about most hints of romance in MG books). And some of the lines both grossed me out immensely and made me laugh - with gems like "Music creates a bond between us, an intimacy. Like touching her with music instead of fingers."  I just...eww! I could totally get behind everything the author was communicating here...until those last three words. And I felt like that was what a lot of the book was for me.  As a whole this book was a great coming of age novel that deals with all sorts of different issues that comes along with that - relationships with girls and family, choosing what to do when you graduate high school, how transformative music can be.  I can get behind all of that, and these parts were my favourites.  But then there would be something like the line above and it would jerk me out of the story.  I don't want to make this sound like I hated the book, or even really disliked it because I didn't. I think it has a really heart warming story - I definitely teared up in spots (although admittedly that isn't hard to do in my case) and I really ended up caring for the characters.  In fact, I really want to more about what happens when the book ends! As much as the romance didn't work for me as a whole, there is a part towards the end where the main characters really connect through music. It might sound corny, but I have been there, where someone you are performing with can specifically draw something out of you that you couldn't have done on your own.  Music really can just...electrify a relationship.  It's parts like these that I think are really powerful in this book (it's clear the author is a musician) and that really made it for me. 


TL;DR

Overall while I feel like this book can have success with the age group its marketed at, I think it will have more success with a slightly younger group (maybe early high school kids or middle school).  And I think it might be the perfect book for a specific kid and that it might really open things up for them. I just don't think it's as a whole going to hold a lot of interest across a wide audience.

Anna and the French Kiss - Stephanie Perkins

Summary

Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris--until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Étienne has it all...including a serious girlfriend.

But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss?


Thoughts

It's rare that I'll begin a book and have a ton of red flags raised in the beginning...and then end up loving loving the book.  In the beginning I was beginning to think that the blogging world had gone mad!  I mean you've got your stereotypical mean girl (which admittedly, was still one one of my least favourite bits), there's a set up that's guaranteed to pit friends against each other - even worse all over a boy, all the friendships all seem focused on said boy...needless to say I was pretty skeptical. And then I got to page 69 (I swear it's just chance it's that number!). And it all changed for me.

This is...kind of spoilerish?  Maybe? Light spoilers, in any case.  Throughout the book Anna proves that's she's really interested in Etienne for who he is as a person and as a friend, and she is really doing her best to not fall in love with him, because she doesn't want to be interested .  It's not like in a lot of books where the character just says it over and over - Anna shows it. And by page 69 I was completely convinced with their relationship.  And their love story evolves so slowly, with a solid foundation in friendship, which is everything I could ever want in a book centered around a love story.  It's totally swoon-worthy, but it's also slow burning and messy and imperfect.  And despite being centered around a love story, that's not all there is to this book.  It's also about finding yourself, navigating foreign waters both literally and emotionally, messy relationships - family, friends, and romantic.  It's basically just a story about life, and it's pretty much beautiful.  Was it perfect? No.  I wanted more show and less tell in her female friendships, and particularly just more Bridget in general.  But otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed it and as a debut novel it means everything is going to get even better in her other books.


TL;DR

If you're like me and were skeptical with the premise, and the opening of the book is totally not your thing...trust me. Just trust me and keep reading.  Contemporary lovers should read this for sure, anyone who's a sucker for romance, and if it influences you at all, this was on my top ten books I've read this year!

Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell

 

Summary

Goodreads:   In Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl, Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.
Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

A New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of 2013


Thoughts

Ohmygodohmygodohmygod

I was so excited about this book that I read 20 pages of it waiting in line at the library.  My hands were literally tingling with excitement about reading the book!  And now, 2 1/2 hours later,  I've finished it.  There are SO MANY OTHER THINGS I should be doing right now (read: I have auditions for the next month), but I just couldn't stop myself!  I shouldn't have read those 20 pages...I might have been able to resist...

I love this book so much. I love the characters so much.  It's everything I love about contemporary YA, and it added complete irrestistability with the addition of fanfiction.  In many ways I'm like Cath, and in some I'm like Wren.  Actually out of all the characters, I'm most likely to be Levi if you disregard the whole reading issue bit. And I think it's fantastic that I can relate in some way to every single one of her characters.  Wren and Cath drama felt so real.  Not melodramatic, and not shallow, but what it feels like in the situation.  And I love that they aren't the same, and they aren't opposites, they're simply their own people.  The character development in this is just so amazing (even if I feel like Wren more reverted to original self).  And I love Reagan/Levi's friendship with Cath in the beginning.  I laughed so hard at some of the parts.

Rainbow Rowell read fanfiction to research beforehand, and that makes me love her.  I've talked a little bit about my involvement in fanfiction, and how much I absolutely love it.  There's something amazing about reinterpreting someone's work, to reshape how we view certain characters, setting, and relationships.  I think I love fanfiction so much because since childhood I have loved fairy tale retellings easily as much as I love the original story.  But I digress.

I did have a few quibbles with the book - mostly about Wren.  It feels like she didn't go through character development so much as she was suddenly very different people.  And honestly I really disliked her for the better part of this book.  I think if we'd seen a little bit of what their relationship before college was like maybe I wouldn't have felt so confused by her sudden personality changes?  But honestly in the grand scheme of things, that still wouldn't be enough to lower my rating below 5 stars.  Everything in this book was so outstanding it more than makes up for it!

The Wolf Princess - Cathryn Constable

Summary

Goodreads: 

Alone in the world, Sophie dreams of being someone special, but she could never have imagined this.

On a school trip to Russia, Sophie and her two friends find themselves on the wrong train. They are rescued by the beautiful Princess Anna Volkonskaya, who takes them to her winter palace and mesmerises them with stories of lost diamonds and a tragic past. But as night falls and wolves prowl, Sophie discovers more than dreams in the crumbling palace of secrets.

Thoughts

Let's do something new!  We're going to make this review out of lists rather than cohesive paragraphs because I feel like this:

What I didn't like

-       The story is really predictable.  Like really.  I could tell you from the first chapter what was going to happen (more or less).   Which means no (or very few) surprises in the plot, and the same goes for the characters.  I could have forgiven the plot if the characters had something to offer, but they didn't.

-       I didn’t like the friendship between the girls.  Daphne comes off as catty and stuck-up, and Marianne isn't really with the program, and Sophie doesn't fit with the other two either.  It's like the author put the stereotypes together and made them all friends.  They do have their redeeming moments, but friendship, especially female friendship, in books is something I'm especially nitpicky about.

What I did like

-      Russia is a new twist.  I mean, I can't think of any books that set Russia as a dream place and that was refreshing.  The author made it sound so magical and beautiful!  The setting and description of the girls' surroundings was easily my favourite part of the book. 

-     In a lot of ways it reminded me of Anastasia, and I think the parallels are easy enough to draw that it was intentional.  That actually didn't bother me as I have a soft spot for the Disney version of this story and I've always enjoyed stories about Anastasia.  (I actually was secretly expecting Sophie to be Anastasia hahah)

Overall

It’s cute, and maybe younger readers will like it as it's got a sort of Chronicles of Narnia sense of wonder to it (as well as beautiful scenery), but it was too predictable and two-dimensional for my taste.

The Color Master - Aimee Bender

 

Summary

Goodreads:  The bestselling author of "The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake" returns with a wondrous collection of dreamy, strange, and magical stories. 

Truly beloved by readers and critics alike, Aimee Bender has become known as something of an enchantress whose lush prose is "moving, fanciful, and gorgeously strange" ("People"), "richly imagined and bittersweet" ("Vanity Fair"), and "full of provocative ideas" ("The Boston Globe"). In her deft hands, "relationships and mundane activities take on mythic qualities" ("The Wall Street Journal"). 

In this collection, Bender's unique talents sparkle brilliantly in stories about people searching for connection through love, sex, and family--while navigating the often painful realities of their lives. A traumatic event unfolds when a girl with flowing hair of golden wheat appears in an apple orchard, where a group of people await her. A woman plays out a prostitution fantasy with her husband and finds she cannot go back to her old sex life. An ugly woman marries an ogre and struggles to decide if she should stay with him after he mistakenly eats their children. Two sisters travel deep into Malaysia, where one learns the art of mending tigers who have been ripped to shreds. 

In these deeply resonant stories--evocative, funny, beautiful, and sad--we see ourselves reflected as if in a funhouse mirror. Aimee Bender has once again proven herself to be among the most imaginative, exciting, and intelligent writers of our time.

Notable quote:   

"He could feel it, just feel it, the glimmer of something that he did not understand. But he would never call it God. He would not call it prayer. But just beyond his sandwich, and the four TV shows he watched back to back, and his teeth brushing, and his face washing, and his nighttime reading of a magazine, and his light switching off, just the faint realization that there were many ways to live a life and that some people were living a life that was very different than his, and the way they lived was beyond him and also didn't interest him and yet he could sense it. Comfort and fear rose together inside him. Like standing in the middle of a meadow, where no one had his back." 

"The Doctor and the Rabbi" (probably my second favourite story in the lot after "The Devourings")


Thoughts

It's always hard for me to think of a way to review short stories (which is why I haven't so far), but I thought now would be as good as a time as any to start trying.  The Color Master is divided into three parts that all seem to be centered around a sort of theme.

  The very first story in the entire book titled "Appless" featured from what I can tell *spoilers* a gang rape.*spoilers*   I thought it was offensive, unnecessary, and it made it hard for me to have much patience for the other stories in Part I, which featured women who explore power/equality/other things like that with their sexuality.  I thought most of them were interesting, but none really stood out and captured me the way I had been expecting them to. 

Fortunately, Aimee Bender worked her magic and there were plenty of other stories to enjoy!  I thought "Bad Return" which featured a college student who wanders into a stranger's home pretty enjoyable, and "Origin Class" was thought provoking in a different way than many of Bender's other stories were.  "Wordkeepers" was more realistic than her usual works (no hint of magic realism or even just strange things).  In fact it describes me in pretty much every conversation.  What does it mean for us that we can't remember words?  That we're constantly replacing names with "stuff" or "thingie"?  It wasn't something I'd thought of before, but it struck a chord with me.  Because it is a new thing that we're forgetting words, and it affects all generations.  It might come off as a bit pedantic to some, but I enjoyed the questions it posed.

As someone who is madly in love with faerie tale retellings, I obviously loved "The Color Master" - a retelling of Donkeyskin which is one of my all time favourite fairy tales, as well as "The Devourings".  "The Devourings" is the very last story in the book and it follows the perspective of the troll's wife (or giant if you're thinking Jack in the Beanstalk) whose husband accidentally eats his own children.  It follows her past her death and the death of all civilization when all that is left is a magical self-replenishing cake.  If I hated the opening to this collection of stories, "The Devourings" couldn't have been a more perfect ending to it.  Easily my favourite short story of the lot, the writing is just magical in a way I've come to love and appreciate from Aimee Bender.  Even when I don't necessarily understand everything at play, there's this feeling of rightness to a lot of her writing.

If you're looking for a little more background on the individual stories, this review does a really great job of giving a brief summary of each story and how the reviewer felt about them.  I don't necessarily agree with all the ratings, but I've spotlighted the stories that I enjoyed the most here.


Overall

The collection was a bit of a mixed bag.  Part I didn't do much for me, whereas I enjoyed almost all the stories in Part II  and III immensely, and "The Devourings" is one now one of my favourite short stories of all time.  I definitely recommend looking into this if you are a fan of Aimee Bender at all (or even Neil Gaiman - there's some resemblances there even if I can't articulate exactly what they are) or enjoy short stories.  This isn't usually my scene as I rarely read short story collections, but I don't regret it for a minute.  Aimee Bender's stories are always refreshing and often take a turn for the completely unexpected.



Bechdel Test

I was silly enough to return this to the library without marking any quotes at all which is a shame.  It's no surprise to me that Aimee Bender's work passes the Bechdel Test with flying colors.  Off the top of my head, I can think of at least two of the short stories that pass the test - Lemonade and Tiger Mending - simply because they only have women in the stories.  Other works like Americca, The Color Master, Bad Return, and The Red Ribbon pass the test in some form or another (I think, I can't guarantee as I don't have the book to check against).  It's amazing that in a book full of short stories, about half pass the test, whereas most full length novels can't manage it.  Something to ponder over...

Seeing Red - Kathryn Erskine

I received a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Summary

Goodreads:  National Book Award winner Kathryn Erskine delivers a powerful story of family, friendship, and race relations in the South.

Life will never be the same for Red Porter. He's a kid growing up around black car grease, white fence paint, and the backward attitudes of the folks who live in his hometown, Rocky Gap, Virginia.

Red's daddy, his idol, has just died, leaving Red and Mama with some hard decisions and a whole lot of doubt. Should they sell the Porter family business, a gas station, repair shop, and convenience store rolled into one, where the slogan -- "Porter's: We Fix it Right!" -- has been shouting the family's pride for as long as anyone can remember?

With Daddy gone, everything's different. Through his friendship with Thomas, Beau, and Miss Georgia, Red starts to see there's a lot more than car motors and rusty fenders that need fixing in his world.

When Red discovers the injustices that have been happening in Rocky Gap since before he was born, he's faced with unsettling questions about his family's legacy.



Thoughts

So I basically spent this entire book on the verge of tears.   I had NO idea what I was getting to with this book.  It's set during the 70's and it deals with the aftermath of the civil rights movement and the rampant sexism that was still in place.  This book is powerful.  It isn't that I was on the verge of tears because I was constantly devastated (although don't get me wrong, there are DEFINITELY heart breaking moments) - they were more tears of shock and frustration at what Red was dealing with.  And despite what we think about it now, this is barely even history.  It is a very, very close past.

I don't think I'm alone in seeing overt racism and sexism in the US as something in the distant past.  (I mean the kind where you get lynched or that domestic abuse was not really a police matter - OVERT overt) I'm not saying it doesn't still exist - unfortunately, I think that is part of being human.  A minority of people are always going to feel that way about us.  But a lot of giant steps were taken to solve many of these issues before I was born.  But when you say the seventies...that was not that long ago.  That was in my parent's time. That doesn't sound as long ago as it feels.

This book deals with so many issues - racism, sexism, loss of a parent, growing pains, domestic abuse, where blame stops, sins of your ancestors - I mean the list goes on.  Despite all of this, it's not a difficult book to get through.  I know that sounds hard to believe considering what that list is, but the writing is well-written, but simple, and the characters are so relateable I could NOT put it down, and stayed up til 3 am to finish it!

Every thing in this book is so layered - in a lot of ways it reminds me of To Kill a Mockingbird (I know I have said this about another book only a couple weeks ago - I promise not everything reminds me of TKaM!)  Sometimes the reader has things figured out way before the character in the same way that in TKaM, Scout might say something and not fully understand what it meant, whereas the reader knew exactly what was happening.  It's not like a mystery where it's unfortunate that you know things before the narrator does.  It really sets up different levels of understanding depending on the reader's experience, which is why I think it would be a great book for classrooms or from a parent as an introduction to issues.  This book is also a great example as to why the Bechdel test isn't a measurement of how well a book displays women in literature, it's simply an observation of their roles.  Seeing Red doesn't pass the test as the book is narrated in first person and our narrator is a boy, but it strongly advocates male/female equality (it's not preachy though, don't worry).  I'm not sure I've read a book that so strongly shows why we need it, and what it means when we don't have it, and it was very well done!

My only complaint is Thomas.  Yes, what Red did was awful.  But Thomas decided to stop being friends with him long beforehand, and Red stood up for him, even if he made some grievous errors directly beforehand.  He might have taken a second to recover, but he did what was right.  I don't see why Red is the only one to blame here, or that his sins are unforgiveable.  Most of my problem is not so much Thomas's reaction to what Red did (because I definitely get that), but more that he stopped being friends before that whole situation without a good reason.  Part of that is a me thing...I have loyalty issues.  You better have a damn good reason to stop being best friends with someone *spoilers* and that person being white is not a good reason.  Perhaps Thomas meant it as self preservation, but Red had done nothing at that point to deserve judgement because of his race.  That's racism as well. *spoilers*.  But other than an issue that is more of a personal complaint than an actual criticism of the book, this book is really amazing, and I really recommend it.  If you are looking for a book to expand your child's (I say child lightly, I don't think this is a book for someone who isn't ready for it) awareness of issues, or to have a book that might open up a dialogue between the two of you, this should definitely be at the top of your list!

Just Like Fate - Cat Patrick and Suzanne Young

Summary


Goodreads:  Caroline is at a crossroads. Her grandmother is sick, maybe dying. Like the rest of her family, Caroline's been at Gram's bedside since her stroke. With the pressure building, all Caroline wants to do is escape--both her family and the reality of Gram's failing health. So when Caroline's best friend offers to take her to a party one fateful Friday night, she must choose: stay by Gram's side, or go to the party and live her life.

The consequence of this one decision will split Caroline's fate into two separate paths--and she's about to live them both.

Friendships are tested and family drama hits an all-new high as Caroline attempts to rebuild old relationships, and even make a few new ones. If she stays, her longtime crush, Joel, might finally notice her, but if she goes, Chris, the charming college boy, might prove to be everything she's ever wanted.

Though there are two distinct ways for her fate to unfold, there is only one happy ending...


Notable quotes:

At two and a half she's all belly and bum; she stands like an adorable troll doll, beaming at me.


Because when it comes down to it, waiting for someone to die is like being told a tornado is coming.  You press pause on your life and brace yourself - but you don't know when it will hit, how bad it'll be.  You can prepare all you want, but in the end, you just don't know.



Thoughts

This book really hit me in a lot of ways that are purely personal, and have nothing to do with the book on its own.  I recently read a post by Jamie at The Perpetual Page Turner, that talked about how reviewing books is never an objective thing.  It's extremely personal, and how we relate to the book is filtered through our own experiences and opinions.  I completely agree with her, especially when it comes to books like these.  This book hits on a lot of things that I lived through, and it does so very well.  It's realistic - I would say that one or both of the authors have experienced everything they wrote about, because it feels true.  It's the right mix of feelings. 

The book starts out with a bang - Caroline finds out her grandmother is in the hospital because she's had a stroke.  We know what is going to happen in the story, but the authors really throw you in instead of working up to the pivot point.  And let me just say that this story TOTALLY didn't go where I was expecting it to.  I think I thought this was going to be more of a fast-paced thriller where she has to choose which reality she wants to live in, and not the exploration of human relationships that it was.  And I absolutely loved that that's what it was!  I was pleasantly surprised by the ending to this book, and the message it sent.  I won't say why, not even a hint because it's the sort of book you need to not know anything of the ending for it to work well as a book.  It wasn't the message I'd been expecting, and it's a message that I think will stay with me for a long time.

It has everything I love in a book - a wonderful best friend, a large focal point on family (and not only bad things about family), and a believable romance.  While at first I found it unlikely college guys would be at all interested in high school girls, but as I was going to type that I thought back to my own past and that of my friends and had to retract my statement.  I loved Chris.  He's definitely one of my favourite book boys!  I love his banter with Caroline (and in many ways it makes me reminisce over some of the more ridiculous conversations I've had with my boyfriend.  Apparently the first time we met I talked to him about giraffes for a good ten minutes.  I know.  I'm special)

I also loved the sister relationship.  A lot of people didn't understand that when I was younger, it wasn't just that my brother and I didn't get along.  That wasn't what it was.  We well and truly hated each other, and in many ways Caroline's relationship with her sister was like my relationship with my brother.  Obviously things have changed now, and we have had a pretty great relationship for quite a few years, but it took some time to get us there.  This falls under the personal category - it's nice to have an author understand that complicated sort of relationship (although my brother's and mine were not nearly so complex!)  I don't want to say too much more about the sisters because spoilers, but...ugh this is so limiting.  Everything is spoilers!

I think that things felt like they resolved a little too easily...but at the same time they didn't either.  I think it was just that book was very different from my expectations, and it didn't linger in being angsty overly long, nor did Caroline suddenly become magically ok.  It was the perfect pace for this story and I think that also surprised me.  Can you see how little faith I have in contemporary YA?  I am slowly broadening my horizons here.  Luckily I've been reading really good contemporary YA, and not the monstrosities I've come across in the past.

Overall

This book was beautifully written and surprising in so many ways.  Maybe it wouldn't get a 5 star rating from everyone, but it hit me on such a personal level, it 100% deserves it.

Sapphire Blue (Ruby Red #2) - Kerstin Gier

 Summary

Gwen’s life has been a rollercoaster since she discovered she was the Ruby, the final member of the secret time-traveling Circle of Twelve. In between searching through history for the other time-travelers and asking for a bit of their blood (gross!), she’s been trying to figure out what all the mysteries and prophecies surrounding the Circle really mean.

At least Gwen has plenty of help. Her best friend Lesley follows every lead diligently on the Internet. James the ghost teaches Gwen how to fit in at an eighteenth century party. And Xemerius, the gargoyle demon who has been following Gwen since he caught her kissing Gideon in a church, offers advice on everything. Oh, yes. And of course there is Gideon, the Diamond. One minute he’s very warm indeed; the next he’s freezing cold. Gwen’s not sure what’s going on there, but she’s pretty much destined to find out.

Thoughts

I feel like I can't give an honest review of this because I HATE Gideon.  I don't think I've ever hated a love interest this much.  I couldn't even tell you why I hate him more than all the other love interests over the years, I just do.  I think part of it is because there is SO MUCH "does he like me or not" angst here and it really stresses me out!  Seriously, I've ended up having to stop watching certain tv shows because there's so much over the top relationship drama that I get legitimately really stressed out, which pretty much defeats the purpose of watching tv.  And this book definitely took me to that point.  It's like Gideon is freaking bipolar!  Of course half the relationship insecurity is because of things Xemerius (a gargoyle only Gwyneth can see.  Or a demon?  Or all gargoyles are demons?  I've forgotten. ) tells Gwyneth about Gideon.  Also the timing.  At the end of the book they've known each other a week.  A week isn't near enough time for love to send me on a roller coaster of relationship stress!!!

I am probably one of the few people who really likes Gwyneth's character.  I feel like most people didn't like her character because she's acting like a silly sixteen year-old.  She reminds me so much of Lydia and Emily from Finding Cassie Crazy.  She's really funny, and I love her relationship with her best friend Lesley, who sadly didn't get much page time in this book.  Which is a shame because she's by far one of my favourite characters.  In fact, I actually really love many of the secondary characters here - like Aunt Maggie who is delightfully loopy and outspoken.  Unfortunately this book cut time from our secondary characters and focused on Gwyneth, who I really like, Gideon, who I loathe, and Xemerius who I found equally amusing and annoying.  Clearly this system isn't working for me.  And I thought we were going to get some info on Jack White, who I thought would have made a good grey character since he's so hostile in the beginning.  But this wasn't explored either.  Basically this book was "Oh Gideon, I love you!  Don't you love me too?  Oh what a passionate kiss!  Wait you don't love me?  Oh you're kissing me again.  Yay!  Just kidding we're totally not at all anything resembling dating, don't worry!"  And the cycle goes on.

Another thing that bothered me - why do they suspect her more than any one else of being the traitor in the group?  I mean technically any of them could have been the traitor.  Why her?  I mean she hasn't even DONE anything yet - clearly they don't think her capable of much thought in general, so why are they suspicious of her masterminding a spy mission?  This is why I need more information!

I think I would have loved this series more if it had followed Paul and Lucy instead.  In fact I thought that in the first book too.  I think it would have given us more of the darker feeling I think many of us expected from this series.  Don't get me wrong, I actually love the lighter feeling and the fact that Gwyneth holds true to what a 16 year-old is actually like.  In fact, if there was no Gideon, I would probably really enjoy this series.  Here's what I would have needed to love it:  no Gideon, and lots more world building.  Because I think the whole concept behind the mystery is fantastic, but the execution is rather flawed.  Not enough is explained as to why there are 12 of them, where the prophecies came from, etc.  I have so many questions about the world that seem to be explained with a simple "the Count said so" - which since he's censored their information, makes sense.  BUT.  I think that's an easy way out and I wish more information was given to us.  I want to know more about the WORLD and the MYSTERY.  NOT. MORE. ROMANCE. NO MORE ROMANCE. IT'S NOT ALLOWED.

I'm going to go read the third book now.  Hopefully I like it more than this one!  I have good feelings, after all the mystery is finally going to get revealed so that should make me very happy :)

The Last Winter of Dani Lancing - P.D. Viner

I received this in exchange for an honest review.

Summary

Goodreads:  A riveting psychological thriller in the tradition of Before I Go to Sleep and Memento that introduces P. D. Viner as a master of suspense

Twenty years ago, college student Dani Lancing was kidnapped and brutally murdered. The killer was never found, and the case has long gone cold. Her parents, Patty and Jim, were utterly devastated, their marriage destroyed. While Jim fell apart, Patty was consumed by the unsolved case. She abandoned her journalism career and her marriage to spend every waking hour searching and plotting. She keeps contact with Tom, Dani's childhood sweetheart, who has become a detective intent on solving murders like Dani's. When he finds a lead that seems ironclad, he brings Patty in on it. After years of dead ends, her obsession is rekindled, and she will do anything for revenge, even become a killer herself-dragging her whole family into the nightmare once again, as lies and secrets are uncovered.

Thoughts

I really don't know how I feel about this.  Did I like it?  I honestly have no idea.  I think a big part of it is that it wasn't what I was expecting.  In some ways, that was a really cool thing, and in others..it's just not the sort of book I would have picked up knowing some things about it.  So take this review with a grain of salt.

Let me start by saying that I almost had to DNF the book in the beginning because it starts out with a bang.  And by with a bang, I mean lots of blood, and graphically so.  I wasn't expecting it to be so...graphic.  That was in part my difficulty getting into to story to begin with (along with a couple other things I'll talk about later).  Now this is a thing other people love, so it's definitely not a criticism of the book.  I've already mentioned on the blog what a baby I turn into when it comes to scary things.  So this is nothing against the book, and everything to do with my cowardly imaginative mind.  But I refuse to DNF books, so I pushed through and I'm glad I did, because there were things I didn't expect that I did like.

Most mystery novels I read or watch on tv focus on the investigators, not on the family itself.  This book chose to reverse that situation.  It gave a very interesting point of view on the story - especially with the story lines alternating between Dani's father, mother, and her best friend.  It gave a much more intense emotional impact because of this, and I think in part it's also why the gory parts bothered me so much.  It's a little easier to distance yourself from an investigator's part in all of this, because they see this sort of violence every day.  That being said, because it was character based, it is rather helpful if you actually like the characters.  From the start, I didn't like Pattie very much.  She's rather...driven, in an unattractive manner.  Tom is somewhat more likeable but the longer I spent with him the more I was equal parts repulsed by him and pitied him.  Neither are particularly pleasant emotions.  Jim is by far the most enjoyable character.  I was a bit thrown by *slight spoilers, you'd be fine if you chose to read this I think * the ghost of Dani hanging out with him, which is weird and definitely not what I would have expected in this sort of mystery novel.  I am not quite sure how I feel about this addition other than the fact that I liked this version of Dani much more than the glimpses of her past even if she didn't seem to do much to add the story so I'm not really sure what her purpose was *end spoilers*, but overall he's a well-meaning, likeable guy.  We see glimpses of Dani's past but you should read the slight spoilers to see my thoughts on that.

Some people might not like the different timelines being told simultaneously (well in alternating chapters) as well as a focus on different characters in each chapter (not first person, but third person limited), but I thought it was a really effective way of revealing just enough information with just enough bait to keep you going.  Others have criticized the book for being too twisty and convenient, but honestly in a mystery novel that doesn't bother me too much.  I will say that it's definitely not who/what you are expecting.  As soon as you think you know...trust me you don't!

So the characters are ok, and I enjoyed the way the plot was unfolded...but then...THE EPILOGUE.  Wtf was that??  Is this supposed to be a series?  Was that a conclusion?  WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!?!  It seriously felt like the story ended...but then it ended again like mid sentence!  What??  I don't read unfinished series. Or I at least wait until there's more than one book out.  And I hate discovering only at the the end of a book that it is not a standalone!  I mean it's definitely not marketed as a series - I checked.  I think that's more the fault of the business side of the book, but I can't say I would have been a fan of the way the author chose to write the epilogue anyway had I known this was going to continue.


Overall

I think this was an interesting way of writing a mystery novel.  I liked that it focused on the family and not  the investigators - I thought that was really effective.  It may have been more effective had I liked most of the characters, but that's a personal feeling as was the fact that parts of it were too gory for me (because really...I'm not exaggerating when I say that I can't handle scary/gory things!)  Basically this book wasn't so much for me, but I think there are plenty of people out there who will enjoy this.

Sure Signs of Crazy - Karen Harrington

 Summary

Love can be a trouble word for some people. Crazy is also a trouble word.
 
I should know.
  You've never met anyone exactly like twelve-year-old Sarah Nelson. While most of her friends obsess over Harry Potter, she spends her time writing letters to Atticus Finch. She collects trouble words in her diary. Her best friend is a plant. And she's never known her mother, who left when Sarah was two.
Since then, Sarah and her dad have moved from one small Texas town to another, and not one has felt like home.

Everything changes when Sarah launches an investigation into her family's Big Secret. She makes unexpected new friends and has her first real crush, and instead of a "typical boring Sarah Nelson summer," this one might just turn out to be extraordinary.


Favourite Lines:

Lisa is wrong about kissing and love.  It might make you pretty at first, but it makes you look stupid, too.

It's funny how you don't know you are a bunch of pieces until someone hugs you together.


Thoughts

This book makes you feel so many things at the same time!  Sarah often wonders in the book if feeling two things in the same moment makes you crazy, and if that were the case this book would have definitely put me well into the category of madness.

It's definitely a character centric book.  Not a lot actually happens action wise.  A lot of what "happens" in the book are things that took place in Sarah's past, and observations of how the past has impacted the adults who surround her currently.  It's just amazing to see how all the characters grow - but you aren't seeing them grow, you are seeing Sarah seeing them grow without her always recognizing the growth.  Wow.  Isn't that just a mind ...word I can't find a substitute for?

Karen Harrington did an absolute fantastic job of writing a 12 year-old narrator.  There's a fine balance in showing the naivete of a preteen, but at the same time capturing the way children often know more than you'd think.  Or how they only understand a part of a more mature subject.  In a lot of ways Sarah reminds me of Scout from To Kill A Mockingbird.  I'd say this is likely on purpose, as Sarah confides in Atticus Finch through letters.  She's a little older than Scout was I think, but she still captures that sort of heartbreaking quality as she says things that show horrible events...but she says them in such a funny manner and with such a blunt focus that you're torn between laughter and feeling sort of horrified!  It's difficult to describe, but if you've read To Kill a Mockingbird, you should understand what I mean.  Sarah's voice is so incredibly sincere and it's just...well.  I've already said that it's perfect for a 12 year-old who is going through some incredibly heart breaking situations.  I don't have a better way to say it, other than that Sarah is probably the most sincere narrator I've come across in modern literature.  

The only criticism I have is that Charlotte, Sarah's babysitter, acts less like someone in her 20's and more like someone who is sixteen.  I mean, I'm in my 20's and she sounded like a kid I would have student taught.  I had a hard time remembering that she was getting her PhD!  But that is such a small quibble in the grand scheme of things.  This book is just a really special book.  It's a book that kids can read, and a book their parents will love too.  It would be a wonderful book to pair with To Kill a Mockingbird...and everyone should read this.  It's not just for people like me who read younger literature, it's the kind of book EVERYONE should read.

Overall

Read this.  This is easily in my top 10 books for the year.  Maybe even top 5? In any case.  I repeat:  read this!

Ruby Red - Kerstin Gier

Summary

Goodreads:  Gwyneth Shepherd's sophisticated, beautiful cousin Charlotte has been prepared her entire life for traveling through time. But unexpectedly, it is Gwyneth, who in the middle of class takes a sudden spin to a different era! 

Gwyneth must now unearth the mystery of why her mother would lie about her birth date to ward off suspicion about her ability, brush up on her history, and work with Gideon--the time traveler from a similarly gifted family that passes the gene through its male line, and whose presence becomes, in time, less insufferable and more essential. Together, Gwyneth and Gideon journey through time to discover who, in the 18th century and in contemporary London, they can trust.

Thoughts

First, a disclaimer.  I think you should take into account all the things I love in this book are pretty much all the things everyone else hates and vice versa.

Let me start with:  I LOVE Gwyneth's character!  She reminds me a lot of the girls from Finding Cassie Crazy, and considering that is one of my favourite books of all time, it's a huge compliment.   That being said, everyone else seems to hate that about her (I'm judging by Goodreads reviews), saying she acts like she's twelve.  Ummm...when was the last time you spoke to a 16 year old/were 16 years old?  Did YOU act like Katniss or Katsa when you were 16?  I know I didn't!  I was just as silly and chatty at 16 as Gwyneth is, and she IS 16.  I think we are just saturated with YA heroines who act older than their age (I usually pretend they are at least 18, if not older since I have hard time thinking of them as younger partially because I am no longer that young, but also because they act WAY more mature than any 16 year old I've ever met).  I'm in no way criticizing these heroines - they are perfect for their stories and I absolutely adore both heroines I named.  I just think we shouldn't expect ALL our heroines to act that way.  It's not like she has any sort of tortured background that would shape her to be anything OTHER than a normal 16 year old.  I thought it was absolutely refreshing that she doesn't transform from a silly 16 year old to a mature badass as soon as she finds out she is a time traveler, especially since this book only spans a few days!  I mean that would be ridiculous, people resist change, so no one is going to transform that quickly!  It was really great that the book didn't solely focus on the time traveler part, so you get lots of time with her family and best friend as well as school life.  I think she is likely going to start some character growth, but I love that it is being done gradually, and you are really being shown all aspects of her life.  I also loved that she doesn't know what makes her special to the love interest or anyone else, but she doesn't go on and on about how undeserving she is like a lot of other characters in these situations do (pointed look at Everneath).  Basically she reacts how I would imagine I would act:  still the same person she was before, just very confused and determined to make the best of it. 

On to other things I adore about this book - her best friend Lesley.  Lesley might be even MORE hilarious than Gwyneth is, it's hard to tell because they are PERFECT together!  And I love, LOVE so much that they are really best friends.  They tell everything to each other, Lesley is excited for Gwyneth about finding out she's a time traveler when Gwyneth is scared, Lesley is great for great brainstorming and general hilarity.  And as previously stated, they are REAL best friends, it's not one sided, so Gwyneth is constantly thinking of what Lesley would do, or trying to bring her back souvenirs from the past among other things.  I just...this is easily one of my favourite friendships of all time.  And again, their relationship is similar to that of the girls from Finding Cassie Crazy.  This is easily my favourite part of the whole book.

And then there's Gideon.  As soon I read the name Gideon, I knew it was him.  I mean honestly with a name like Gideon who else could be the love interest?  (And don't you think it's an awfully good name for a pet owl?)  I really disliked Gideon.  My bet is *SPOILERS* that he kissed her at the end because he's got some trick up his sleeve.  Otherwise WTH?  I mean they met in the span of what, two days?  And all of a sudden he's after Gwyneth instead of Charlotte?  Come on.  Not realistic. *SPOILERS*  He may be attractive, but he's arrogant, and not in an attractive way.  And he seems like a really two dimensional character at the moment.  I did like that Gwyneth was honest with herself about her feelings towards him.  She may have wanted to dislike him (in my opinion for good reason), but she knew that she found him attractive and accepted it instead of trying to deny it.  It was refreshing. I'll admit - I'm usually a total sucker for that.  The romance in Pride & Prejudice is one of my favourites...but it was really well done.  Too often I see authors try and spin out the hate/love for too long, even though it is SO CLEAR they know they are attracted and it's just dumb.  So basically I hate Gideon and I'm pretty sure everyone else loves him, so again take my opinions with a grain of salt. 

I feel like the book was too short, or the ending was abrupt, or both.  I liked the time spent with Gwyneth, meeting her friends and family, and the laying the foundation for what I'm sure is going to become important later (seeing ghosts).  At the same time I felt like Gwyneth was confused by the explanations and gave up trying to understand them too easily.  I also think it is why I don't really understand what is going on.  Honestly I feel like I didn't actually get a good grasp on what the mystery was just that there was one everyone kept talking about.  I mean I get the gist of it - evil guy, some mystery behind the joining of all 12 people, etc.  But I don't understand the how or why of anything.  And I think that's what this book needed to make me fall in love.  It was a great read, and I'm definitely reading the next book (which I hope will explain all my questions), but this book just didn't feel fleshed out enough.  Since I've been blogging, I've realized that perhaps I pay an abnormal amount of interest to world building.  It won't break a book for me, but it will absolutely make a book.  So in short, yes I think you should read this book, but you need to have an open mind for a silly heroine rather than a gung-ho sword toting one.  If you're cool with that, this is a really fun book!


Questions I have that you shouldn't read unless you've read the book because potential spoilers?

 - What role does seeing ghosts play?
- Are Paul and Lucy her parents?
- What's the secret that happens when you get all 12 together?
- How much does her mother actually know?  She had to have had the same reason as Paul and Lucy for not wanting her to see him

I am very intrigued to see how this is going to play out!  I can't wait to get to the next book.

Lock and Key - Sarah Dessen

 

Summary

Ruby, where is your mother?

Ruby knows that the game is up. For the past few months, she's been on her own in the yellow house, managing somehow, knowing that her mother will probably never return.

That's how she comes to live with Cora, the sister she hasn't seen in ten years, and Cora's husband Jamie, whose down-to-earth demeanor makes it hard for Ruby to believe he founded the most popular networking Web site around. A luxurious house, fancy private school, a new wardrobe, the promise of college and a future; it's a dream come true. So why is Ruby such a reluctant Cinderella, wary and defensive? And why is Nate, the genial boy next door with some secrets of his own, unable to accept the help that Ruby is just learning to give?

Best-selling author Sarah Dessen explores the heart of a gutsy, complex girl dealing with unforeseen circumstances and learning to trust again.


Thoughts

First let me start with this:  This unfortunately is going to be a short review.  I hit the CURSED COMMAND Z button again.  So of course it undid my entire post.  That I wrote a week or so ago, so I can't remember what I wrote.  I have got to stop doing that!  That's the second post in a week I've done that to!  In any case, on to my short review.

 
Why are there not more books like this out there?  Sarah Dessen has always played second fiddle to Deb Caletti for me, because as we all know I am an unapologetic fangirl for anything Deb Caletti has written.  That being said, this is the first Dessen novel that I've read that I feel is absolutely on par with any of Caletti's novels and would definitely give some competition for my favourite contemporary YA lit.

I'll be the first to say that I don't read very much contemporary YA.  In fact, disregarding my wild foray into Jenny Han's The Summer I Turned Pretty last month, I exclusively read Sarah Dessen and Deb Caletti.  I've been burned too many times.  They seem to feature backstabbing best friends (and they aren't even nice enough for it to seem legitimate that they ever would have been best friends!), and girls who abandon their friends and family for whoever the featured hot guy is.  The reason I love both Deb Caletti and Sarah Dessen, is that while any of these things might happen, it is usually a backdrop for a larger issue, like abuse, depression, family tragedy, etc.  For example, in this novel - it has all those things I said I hated about contemporary YA.  And it was a GREAT book!  It's how these characters are dealt with.  For example, because of Ruby's family background, she is extremely closed to other people.  She doesn't open herself up and invest any emotion into her relationships.  I don't want to say much more on the subject as there are spoilers, but there is a turning point in the book where Ruby realizes the situation she is in with said friend partially happened because of how she related to people.  I can't really say much of anything I want to about the book now that I think of it because of spoilers!  So I'll leave you with this.  While the book HAS hot boys and bad bffs, it's not what the book IS.  It's just like real life - the same sentence is so easily applied.  This book is really about Ruby's growth as a person, allowing herself to trust people.  It's about how families shape you, and how you shape yourself outside of your identity within a family.  It's about families are not always who you are born to, but who you choose to surround yourself.  All in all, it was a really powerful book and I absolutely would recommend it to the few of you out there who haven't read it yet!