review: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

pub date: August 30, 2011
publisher: Tor Teen
pages: 316
appeals: horror, male protagonist, friendship, ghosts
content: swearing (including a few f-bombs), gruesome dead people, intense scenes

thoughts:
For a while now I've struggled getting onto books. And I don't think it's always the book. I think it's me. What is wrong with me? I don't know, but I suppose that is for a different post, not this one.

As I mentioned above, this is one of the books I struggled getting into. I think part of it was because I had so much going on and was also reading two other books at the same time. Whatever the reason, I don't really think it was the story itself, and once I got to about page 80, I was hooked. And once I reached the end, I was so bummed I had to wait until August to get the next installment of the story. I wanted more. Series books kill me sometimes.

This was a really well written book, populated by great, realistic, charismatic characters that I really liked. What I really enjoyed was the ghost lore. And Anna Dressed in Blood and her creepiness. And the surprises in the plot and the very cool and suspenseful ending. Especially the ending. The romance was a little blah, but I like romantic romance in my books and this didn't get all that romantic, so it's just me.

So, that was really vague. Kind of useless, too. But I read this book a few months ago and all I got left is vague. But since I wrote this review, I'm going to post it anyway. Enjoy!

summary:
Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn’t expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.


And she, for whatever reason, spares his life.

review: Wonder by R.J. Palacio

pub date: February 14, 2012
publisher: Random House Children's Book
pages: 313
source: for review at Kiss the Book
appeals: mulitple narrators, male protagonist, facial deformity, school, bullies, contemporary fiction, friendship, family
content: clean

thoughts:
I'm not sure why I picked this book up, since it's for a younger audience then I usually enjoy reading and I didn't know much about it beyond knowing it had gotten good reviews from professional reviewers.

But I'm glad I picked it up and I'm glad I then read it. It was amazing.

The story is told through 5 points of view, first person. Auggie has the largest 2 sections, the first and the last. But in the middle we get to read Auggie's story through four other people as well, his sister Via, Via's friend, and two of Auggie's friends at his new school. It gave a more complete picture of Auggie and really showed how remarkable this ten-year-old boy was. The multiple view points were one of the reasons I loved the book so much.

The novel is also extremely well-written and populated with real, flawed, and amazing characters. This is one of those books where the characters have these insights into their lives like a light bulb flashing on, but they're also insights into life in general. Just a really amazing book.

I am curious about the audience. Has anyone else read this book? Who do you think it's for? Auggie is ten, he's in fifth grade. But the level of reading for this book seems more like sixth or seventh. But would a six or seventh grader read this book about a fifth grader? Any opinons on that? I do think a teacher would need to direct students to this book. Doesn't seem like one they'd just pick up read on their own, and they should! It is a fantastic book.

summary:
I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.


August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school—until now. He's about to start 5th grade at Beecher Prep, and if you've ever been the new kid then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie's just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, despite appearances?

R. J. Palacio has written a spare, warm, uplifting story that will have readers laughing one minute and wiping away tears the next. With wonderfully realistic family interactions (flawed, but loving), lively school scenes, and short chapters, Wonder is accessible to readers of all levels.

review: The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda

pub date: May 8, 2012
publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
pgs: 304
source: LibraryThings Early Reviewer program
appeals: dystopic of sorts, evil vampires, a little romance, end of the human race, a hunt!
content: some gore and violence

thoughts:
I wish I'd written this review the moment I finished the book. I had some great thoughts about it. But I didn't write this review the moment I finished the book, it's actually been almost two weeks since I reached the last page. So all I have left are some vague thoughts. I'm sorry.

Vague thought #1: I should've liked this book. I should've LOVED this book. The premise (below) sounded exciting and the blurbs from authors were so promising. I should have found it exciting and unputdownable. Let me just say, it did not live up to my expectations. The last thirty pages, the climax of Gene's story, took me five days to finish. When faced with going to bed or finishing, I went to bed. When the choice was between washing dishes or finishing, I washed the dishes. Obviously, it was a struggle to finish. So why did I finish? So that I could write this review.

Vague thought #2: The world building left something to be desired.

In the beginning I was intrigued with the quirky social behavior of the vampires. It was bazaar and original and wierd. Really wierd. Which made it interesting. (Though how they named each other was pretty odd and would be totally confusing outside of school). Gene just accepts their behavior as normal so when he's describing the vampires, it seems normal in this world. Though it really is wierd.
But there were parts of the world that didn't make sense to me. First, a human boy hiding around super fast and strong vampires without getting caught out? I didn't buy it.

Second, where did the vampires come from? Gene had been alone for many years (7?), but before that he had his dad and before that he had his mom and sister. They're gone because the vampires ate them. Gene is the last free human. But his dad remembered a time before the vampires. Or at least the dad understood what being "human" meant, which Gene doesn't understand. I just didn't understand when the world went from human to all vampire, and how.  

Aslo, did the humans really give up so easily that they all became meals in less than a generation? Okay, that last question is going to be answered in the next book, I'm sure, but I doubt that the vampires would overcome so many humans in such a short time, even with their uncontrollable bloodlust. We humans are experts at weapons and survival. So what happened?

Vague thought #3: Gene was a very unsympathetic character. He was fine in the beginning because he was all about surviving by not making waves. I found it interesting that he hated being human. He wanted to be "normal." But later, he was rather wimp. He didn't DO anything. He just went a long with the flow until someone else came along and told him what to do. I wanted him to think for himself.

And when he went on the hunt and met the hepers (vampire word for humans) he's just a jerk. I understood why he thought and acted the way he did. It made sense. But it also made me not like him. At all. Which is why the ending drug on and on for me. I didn't like the progagonist, a sure bet that I wasn't so interested in his survival.

Vague thought #4: the romance rather stunk. But that's because I'm a girl that likes girly romance. If you like more manly romance, then you probably wouldn't agree.

Okay, so that wasn't as vague as I expected. I take my apology back.

EDIT 4/11/12: I just reread this review and it is very negative. Which is why I should reread reviews before I post them. But I wanted to point out that there were good things about this book, too. It was well written, there was a lot of suspense, the vampires were interesting. I think it will definitely have an audience who will love it. I enjoyed most of it, up until the part I thought Gene was a jerk and and a wimp didn't care so much for him.

summary:
Don’t Sweat. Don’t Laugh. Don’t draw attention to yourself. And most of all, whatever you do, do not fall in love with one of them.

Gene is different from everyone else around him. He can’t run with lightning speed, sunlight doesn’t hurt him and he doesn’t have an unquenchable lust for blood. Gene is a human, and he knows the rules. Keep the truth a secret. It’s the only way to stay alive in a world of night—a world where humans are considered a delicacy and hunted for their blood.

When he’s chosen for a once in a lifetime opportunity to hunt the last remaining humans, Gene’s carefully constructed life begins to crumble around him. He’s thrust into the path of a girl who makes him feel things he never thought possible—and into a ruthless pack of hunters whose suspicions about his true nature are growing. Now that Gene has finally found something worth fighting for, his need to survive is stronger than ever—but is it worth the cost of his humanity?

review: The Scorpio Races by Maggie Shiefvator

pub date: October 18, 2011
publisher: Scholastic
pages: 409
source: library
format: audio
appeals: horses, romance, adventure, Printz Honor, male protagonist, multiple protagonist
content: a very few swear words (maybe 4?), some violence from the water horses

thoughts:
This is my new favorite book. Seriously. I LOVED it. I loved the characters, so, so, so much. I loved Thisby, this isolated island with it's own traditions and people set in a modern world. I loved the story. The romance was sudtle and sweet and perfect. And Maggie's words were rich and vivid and created this world I wanted to visit. I wanted it to be real.  

I listened to the audio in my car and by the time I reached the sixth disc (there are ten all together), I couldn't wait any longer. I had to know what was going to happen, how the races would end. So I took it inside and sat on my couch and spent all Saturday afternoon listening. I could've just picked the book up, but I loved the voices, I wanted to just listen.

Have you ever read a book that so involved your emotions, senses, imagination, that when it was over you felt bereft? Lonely? Sad?

That was this book, for me. When I reached the last chapter, I started to get teary-eyed. Not only because the ending was so wonderful and amazing and perfect, but because it was ending. I wanted more. More Thisby. More Puck. More Sean. More Corr and Dove. More, more, more. And there wasn't any more.

Have you ever read a book that so involved your mind that when you reached the last page, you weren't able to let it go? You just wanted to live in it a little longer? Immerse yourself in the story for the forseeable future?

That was this book, for me. I was gushing about the book to my sister and she wanted to listen, so I gave it to her, a bit begrudingly. I wasn't ready to let the story go. So I bought the book, even though I've been on a book buying freeze since the end of December. I reread my favorite parts until I got the audio back from my sister, and listened to the last few discs again. I never relisten to audios, not ever. But this one I wishe I'd listened to again from the beginning.

I want to tell you that the audio was phenominal. The story was wonderful, and the audio added to it so very much. Absolutely so. The two readers, one for Puck and the other for Sean, were amazing. To listen to Maggie's words, in their voices, added a texture to the story that I don't think I would've gotten otherwise. While browsing Maggie's blog, I came across an interview she'd had with the two who voiced Sean and Puck. I enjoyed it, so I thought I would share the link if you're interested.

Really, this book has a place of honor on my shelves. I loved it just that much.

summary:
It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die.

At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.

Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a chance. So she enters the competition — the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.

review: Curveball: The Year I Lost My Grip by Jordan Sonnenblick

pub date: March 1, 2012
publisher: Scholastic
pages: 304
source: for review on Kiss The Book blog
appeals: contemporary, male protagonist, sports, baseball, photography
content: nothing that would offend, at least in my opinion. Peter does drink at a party and has a horrible hangover afterward


thoughts:
I am a Sonnenblick fan. His books, After Ever After, and Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie are AMAZING. LOVE them. If you haven't read them, I recommend that you do.

So, as you might well imagine, I was super excited to get my hands on an ARC of Sonnenblick's next book, Curveball.

Peter has always played baseball, so when he screws up his arm and isn't able to play anymore, he isn't sure what to do with his life. There is a lot of heart in this book. As Peter has to deal with changing relationships with his family, friends, the girl in his photography class, he finds his way in an unexpected future. I enjoyed reading about Peter's growth.

Sonnenblick really is quite amazing. But I didn't feel as strongly connected to Peter as I did to his other characters, in other books. Also, Peter's parent's bothered me, as did some of the decisions Peter made, only because I didn't understand why. I didn't buy into the motivations given, especially in respect to the grandpa.

It was good. It was enjoyable. It just wasn't as good as Sonnenblick's other books. And that made me a little sad.

summary:

Sometimes, the greatest comebacks take place far away from the ball field.

Meet Peter Friedman, high school freshman. Talented photographer. Former baseball star. When a freakish injury ends his pitching career, Peter has some major things to figure out. Is there life after sports? Why has his grandfather suddenly given him thousands of dollars worth of camera equipment? And is it his imagination, or is the super-hot star of the girls' swim team flirting with him, right in front of the amazing new girl in his photography class? In his new novel, teen author Jordan Sonnenblick performs his usual miraculous feat: exploring deep themes of friendship, romance, family, and tragedy, while still managing to be hilariously funny.

review: Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber

pub date: October 25, 2011

publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

pages: 192

source: for review on Kiss the Book
appeals: adventure, death, male protagonist, comedy, hit woman, New York, prom :)
content: some swearing (20 words or so), some talk on sex/virginity, violence

thoughts:
What a FUN ride. I liked a lot about this book.

First, it's short! There are so many books that have come out/are coming out that are freakin LONG. It is so nice to find a fun, entertaining, quick, short read. I find that Very Appealing.

Second, Joe knows how to write! Wow. Do you ever read a book with such great words that the author's creation of setting and characters and plot seem almost effortless? But you know it wasn't because it is so well done? That was how I felt about this book. I loved it.

Third, lots of adventure.

Fourth, the novel's organization. Each chapter started with a question from college applications, and in the telling of Perry's night, he answers that question. It was so creative and fun.

Fifth, I loved the characters. I liked Perry a lot. And Gobi, too. Even when she was killing people for no apparent reason, I liked her.

Sixth, the Perry-Gobi relationship dynamics worked. The development of their relationship, from beginning to end, was spot on.

Overall, this book was FUN. Sure, there was a lot of blood and violence and death, but it was still FUN.

I'm very excited there's a sequel coming out this fall, Perry's European Playlist. It sounds like it's just as fun and full of adventure (and death), and it's just as short!

I think it has a lot of boy appeal, but there's plenty there for the girls, too.

summary:
Perry Stormaire is a normal high school senior– he is busy applying to college and rehearsing with his band –until he agrees to go to the prom with the Lithuanian exchange student who is staying with his family. It turns out that Gobi Zaksauskas is not the mousy teenager that she seems but rather an attractive, confident trained assassin. Instead of going to the prom, Perry finds himself on a wild ride through the streets of New York City as Gobi commandeers the Jaguar his father lent him for the prom in order to take out her targets. Perry learns a lot about himself – and ends up with some amazing material for his college application essays.

review: Reckless by Cornelia Funke

pub date: September 14, 2010
publisher: Little Brown Books 
pages:391
appeals: fairy tales, adventure, family
content: some violence and a lot of harsh stuff happens to the protagonists

thoughts:
I listened to this book immediately after reading Cloaked by Alex Flinn. Both books have many fairy tales meshed into one story. Both have contemporary characters dealing with fantasy creatures that they didn't know existed. And yet these two books were completely different in their execution. I just found the juxstiposion interesting in reading them back to back.

Anyway, I enjoyed this book. I picked it up for the first time last summer (I had an ARC from ALA), but didn't get past the second chapter. At the time, I just wasn't interested. I decided to give it another shot and I'm really glad I did because it was so interesting!

Funke is great at creating these alternate worlds where her everyday, modern characters escape to or have to deal with. The Mirrorworld is so cool! I loved how she revealed things about the world as the story went along. The characters are so original and interesting. The adventure is very exciting.

However...

Funke is not a very happy writer. There is always great loss to the main character, horrible sacrifice, and her endings don't end very happy. This book had a somewhat happy ending, the ties were mostly all tied, but it was still somber and sad in several instances. I cannot pick up the next in the series because I know that though the situation these characters are left in isn't the best, it will only get worse in the next installment. And I would rather leave them where they are now then have to watch them go through worse.

summary:
For years, Jacob Reckless has enjoyed the Mirrorworld’s secrets and treasures.


Not anymore.

His younger brother has followed him.

Now dark magic will turn the boy to beast, break the heart of the girl he loves, and destroy everything Jacob holds most dear. . . .

Unless he can find a way to stop it.

review: Cloaked by Alex Flinn

pub date: February 8, 2011
publisher: HarperCollins
pages: 342
source: library
appeals: fairy tale retelling, contemporary, romance, male protagonist,
content: none that I remember

thoughts:
This is only the second book I've ready by Alex Flinn, the first being Beastly, and that was many years ago. I remember enjoying Beastly, so I had hopes for this one. Hopes that were not realized.

I think Flinn does a good job of taking fairy tales and updating them to our modern times. It's great world building and entertaining. In Cloaked, I thought all of the fairy tales she brought in to this one story were fun and I enjoyed how they all entertwined.


However, I kind of thought seventeen-year-old Johnny was an idiot. Sorry, kind of harsh, but I really started to dislike him A LOT by the middle of the book. He lied, he stole, he was extremely dim-witted, and not a hero at all. He did such stupid things and got in such lame situations because of stupid decisions, that I had a hard time liking him, or even rooting for him to come out on top. I saw the consequences of his choices LOOOOONG before he did, as well as how to get out of situations he got himself into when he didn't, and it was annoying. I kept thinking, "this is who the princess chose to help her? She's just as dumb as he is." He was also extremely shallow.

At the end when they were praising how honest and upright Johnny was, I had to laugh. If that is the definition of honest and upright then the world is in a lot of trouble.

Overall, not a recommend.

summary:
I'm not your average hero. I actually wasn't your average anything. Just a poor guy working an after-school job at a South Beach shoe repair shop to help his mom make ends meet. But a little magic changed it all.

It all started with a curse. And a frognapping. And one hot-looking princess, who asked me to lead a rescue mission.

There wasn't a fairy godmother or any of that. And even though I fell in love along the way, what happened to me is unlike any fairy tale I've ever heard. Before I knew it, I was spying with a flock of enchanted swans, talking (yes, talking!) to a fox named Todd, and nearly trampled by giants in the Everglades.

Don't believe me? I didn't believe it either. But you'll see. Because I knew it all was true, the second I got cloaked.

review: The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

pub date: November 21, 2011
publisher: Razerbill
page: 309
source: LibraryThing Early Reviewer program
appeals: the 90s, facebook, futurish stuff, slight romance, multiple narrators,
content: swearing, it seemed that the topic of sex was brought up a lot

thoughts:
I don't really know what to write about The Future of Us. Like a lot of people, I really wanted to get my hands on this book. This was JAY ASHER. And the premise sounded really cool. But there is so much hype around this book, that in actually reading it I was a little disappointed. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the book. It just didn't blow me away like I thought/hoped it would. It's good, but it's not going to change the world.

And now we get to me not knowing what to write besides the general, "this was a good book" stuff. But I will try...

All the 90s references were fun. Emma and Josh are my age, I was 16 in 1996. So I laughed a lot at their lives because that was me. It's amazing how much has changed in 15 years.

To go along with that, the way they interpreted what the future was through facebook posts was also fun. My favorite was Emma in 1996 wondering why she was writing such personal information on a public forum in 2011. I wonder that all the time about others.

Whereas I liked Josh a lot, Emma really irritated me, as I'm sure she was supposed to. But I never felt like she redeemed herself, not even at the end. I hope she learned her lesson, but I still have my doubts. Mostly I was left wondering what Josh saw in the girl. 

I liked how Emma and Josh changed their future. I would write more, but every thing I try to expand on that thought, I delete it because I think it gives too much away about the plot. So just know, I liked how what they read in the future influenced their present, which in turn influenced their future. Get it?

I thought it similar to Gimme a Call by Sarah Mlynowski which came out a few years ago.


summary:
It's 1996, and less than half of all American high school students have ever used the Internet.

Emma just got her first computer and an America Online CD-ROM.

Josh is her best friend. They power up and log on--and discover themselves on Facebook, fifteen years in the future.

Everybody wonders what their Destiny will be. Josh and Emma are about to find out.

review: Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt

pub date: April 5, 2011
publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
pages: 368
format: audio
appeals: historical fiction, realistic fiction, family, art
content: clean

thoughts:
Schmidt has a gift of writing real, fully developed characters, including those on the edges of the story.

In the beginning of the novel, there are some really jerky people in Doug's life. His brother and the gym coach at his new school being two examples. Yet Schmidt has a way of showing why a character is the way they are, and with that new insight, no matter how jerky they are, it's hard to hate them. Which is AMAZING storytelling. The only character that I never really understood, especially at the end, was Doug's father. I didn't feel forgiveness towards him. But all the rest...POW! What GREAT characterization.

He is also amazing at playing my heart strings. One chapter I was so happy because things were FINALLY going well with Doug. But by the next chapter, something would happen that made me cry, literally cry. Twice I had tears running down my cheeks, I was so involved with Doug and his story, I had to keep listening long after I arrived home (I listened to it in my car and the narrator was wonderful).

I was very happy in the way the book ended--very hopeful. There was a while there where I was wondering if that would be possible. But it was. Yay!

The organization of the novel was also AMAZING. I loved how Auduban's artwork tied in so well with the story and the lessons Doug learns throughout the year of the novel. And since I listened to the book, it was rather nice how well Schmidt described the bird paintings because I didn't have the book to seem the birds myself.

So, if you haven't figured out how I feel about this book, let me tell you right out. I LOVED it. LOVED it.

And I'm not lying.

summary:
Midwesterner Gary D. Schmidt won Newbery Honor awards for Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boys and The Wednesday Wars, two coming-of-age novels about unlikely friends finding a bond. Okay For Now, his latest novel, explores another seemingly improbable alliance, this one between new outsider in town Doug Swieteck and Lil Spicer, the savvy spitfire daughter of his deli owner boss. With her challenging assistance, Doug discovers new sides of himself. Along the way, he also readjusts his relationship with his abusive father, his school peers, and his older brother, a newly returned war victim of Vietnam.

review: Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles

pub date: August 16, 2011
publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers
pages: 308
source: library
appeals: romance, street fiction, realistic, gangs
content: sex, violence, lots of swearing (lots of it the f-word)


thoughts:
I was excited for this book for such a long time, but in the end I was disappointed. 

1) I felt like it was the same story as Perfect Chemistry and Rules of Attraction. Boy is involved in gang, girl wants to save him. They have a connection with each other that they've never felt with anyone else. Girl sleeps with boy the night before some big gang thing goes down so that he'll have a reason to leave the bad boy life and stay with her. It was great the first time. Okay the second time. The third time all I could say was, Really? What happened to that book rumor I heard at the beginning of the year about the girl being a gang member and Lois trying to get her to leave the bad girl life for him? I miss that book that never was.
 2) This also seemed cornier than the other two. They all, at times, have corny elements and dialog, but this one took the cake. Or should I say cob. (yes, this book was as corny as that joke).

3) I am a reserved person and I hate big scenes in life, I loath them in books. There are two of them in this book. The first was an embarrassing wedding scene where Alex and Brittany have a personal conversation just before being pronounced man and wife. The second was just in front of family, but it was still horribly embarrassing (to me as the reader) and that was between Carlos and Kiara. Both were seriously cringe worthy. And very corny.

4) Content was toooo much. I just wasn't in the mood for all that swearing. Sometimes I can handle it without a problem, but this time it jarred me out of the story.  And the sex in it seemed much more than the other two in the series, though I could be wrong because it has been a while.

On the plus side, it was fun to read about Alex and Britney and Carlos and Kiara. I love the family dynamic. It was also a fun romance, though it would've been more enjoyable if I hadn't felt like I'd read the main plot twice before. All three girls that fall for those trouble-making Fuentes boys, are different and original, which I really love. And the epilogue made me laugh, just like the other ones did.

This is a really harsh review of this book. I feel a little bad about it, but what can I say? I just wasn't feeling the attraction to this story. This is definitely the weaker of the three.

I remember reading an interview with Simone on someone's blog a long while ago (don't remember where or when exactly), and Simone said that the covers are stock photos and in Rule of Attraction she added a bit about kissing between cars so that the cover made sense with the story. Well, I think she did the same with this one. The shower scene in Chain Reaction didn't blend in as well with the plot, it didn't even really matter. It looks a lot sexier on the cover than it actually was. Which isn't really a critism, just an observation.

summary:
Luis Fuentes has always been sheltered from the gang violence that nearly destroyed his brothers’ lives. But that didn’t stop him from taking risks—whether he’s scaling a mountain in the Rockies or dreaming of a future as an astronaut, Luis can’t stop looking for the next thrill.

Nikki Cruz lives her life by three rules—boys lie to get their way, don’t trust a boy who says “I love you,” and never date a boy from the south side of Fairfield. Her parents may be from Mexico, but as a doctor’s daughter, she has more in common with her north-side neighbors than the Latino Blood at her school. Then she meets Luis at Alex’s wedding, and suddenly, she’s tempted to break all her rules.

Getting Nikki to take a chance on a southsider is Luis’s biggest challenge, until he finds himself targeted by Chuy Soto, the new head of the Latino Blood. When Chuy reveals a disturbing secret about Luis’s family, the youngest Fuentes finds himself questioning everything he’s ever believed to be true. Will his feelings for Nikki be enough to stop Luis from entering a dark and violent world and permanently living on the edge?

review: Variant by Robison Wells

pub date: October 4, 2011
publisher: HarperTeen
source: NetGalley
format: digital
appeals: mystery, boarding school, big-brother-is-watching
content: violence, but it's not graphic violence (for the most part)

thoughts:
Wow, wow, wow. What a great, exciting, wonderful novel! I really love this book.

Benson was a very sympathetic character. He was locked in a boarding school with high walls and lots of security. No one had ever escaped and those that try, die. All Benson wanted was to escape. It was his main focus for the whole book. And I am impressed with Wells, because Benson so easily could have become annoying and whiny. But he wasn't. He was focused and proactive and acted towards his goal.

There are a lot of twists in the plot and wow, how I loved them. I just had to keep reading to find out how Benson would handle everything. Maxfield Academy was a very believable environment, with believable teens dealing with their situation in a believable way.  

What makes it better is that Wells is a Utah author! Yay for Utah!

It reminded me of The Maze Runner by James Dashner, but way better. I wasn't a fan of the Maze Runner, but I so totally am a fan of Variant. 

summary:
Benson Fisher thought that a scholarship to Maxfield Academy would be the ticket out of his dead-end life.

He was wrong.

Now he’s trapped in a school that’s surrounded by a razor-wire fence. A school where video cameras monitor his every move. Where there are no adults. Where the kids have split into groups in order to survive.

Where breaking the rules equals death.

But when Benson stumbles upon the school’s real secret, he realizes that playing by the rules could spell a fate worse than death, and that escape—his only real hope for survival—may be impossible.

review: Witchlanders by Lena Coakley

pub date: August 30, 2011
publisher: Simon and Schuster
pages: 411
source: Simon and Schuster Galley Grab
format: digital
appeals: high fantasy, adventure, male protagonists
content: some mild violence

thoughts:
This is a fantasy novel with lots of dark magic and two male protagonists. Definitely a book that would appeal to boys. Now look at the cover. Are you as horrified as I am? ARG! Really, what fantasy loving teen boy is going to pick up a pretty blue cover with a girl on the front? It's pretty! It's a girl! It reflects nothing of the plot and tone of the story! I think the Simon and Schuster marketing department really screwed this cover up. And I'm not happy about it.

What I liked about this book:

--The writing was beautiful. I loved the way Coakley described places and people and situations. It was really beautiful.

--The world building was really original and enjoyable to read. The relations between the Baen and the Witchlanders was well established. To the point that they were true to their beliefs, even when I really didn't want them to be. I wanted things to resolve in a different way, but that wouldn't have been true to the characters.

--Which brings me to the characters. Two male protagonists. So awesome. I thought they were very believable. And I liked how their relationship developed through the book.

Overall, I think this is a good book. But having written all of that, it wasn't my kind of book. At least not the kind I adore. I wanted more physical action, but especially more magic action. And some romance. (I am a girl who likes some romance in her books). And I wanted a more conclusive ending. But that's just me. Like I said, overall, this is a great book with a very misleading cover. ARG!

summary:
High in their mountain covens, red witches pray to the Goddess, protecting the Witchlands by throwing the bones and foretelling the future.


It’s all a fake.

At least, that’s what Ryder thinks. He doubts the witches really deserve their tithes—one quarter of all the crops his village can produce. And even if they can predict the future, what danger is there to foretell, now that his people’s old enemy, the Baen, has been defeated?

But when a terrifying new magic threatens both his village and the coven, Ryder must confront the beautiful and silent witch who holds all the secrets. Everything he’s ever believed about witches, the Baen, magic and about himself will change, when he discovers that the prophecies he’s always scorned—

Are about him.

review: I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

pub date: August 3, 2010
publisher: HarperCollins
pages: 440
appeals: aliens, adventure, romance, male protagonist,
content: some swearing

thoughts:
Will you hate me if I admit I liked the movie better? Because I did.

I saw the movie first and really enjoyed it. I thought it was fun and exciting and romantic. I'd been meaning to read the book since it came out, but watching the movie made me finally pick it up.

Truth be told, I was rather bored by the book. It was different from the movie, but similar enough that I already knew the main story arch and plot points and the writing was not compelling. It was very bland writing and I got bored with it.

I did enjoy the depth the book brought to the story. There was a lot more about Four's legacies and his home planet. Who Henri is to him and what they're doing on earth. There were so many cool things in the book, it was just written so bland!

I thought the ending dragged on and on. I wish I had read the book first. I know I would've liked it better. Even if the writing was bland, the plot would've kept me interested.

The romance in the book made me laugh. Only because it is such a boy romance. If a girl had written this book or if it was from a girl pov, there would've been a lot more senses involved. And his descriptions of what people were wearing cracked me up. If I hadn't already returned the book to the library I would give you an example, but it was mostly because there was no detail, just a, "she was wearing a nice dress," sort of description. It sounds like I'm bashing it, but I'm not. I enjoyed it and just thought the contrast between the boy/girl pov was interesting.

summary:
In the beginning they were a group of nine. Nine aliens who left their home planet of Lorien when it fell under attack by the evil Mogadorian. Nine aliens who scattered on Earth. Nine aliens who look like ordinary teenagers living ordinary lives, but who have extraordinary, paranormal skills. Nine aliens who might be sitting next to you now.