Waiting on Wednesday

Every week Breaking the Spine hosts the bookish meme for book bloggers to share what books they are waiting on to be released!  This week I’m waiting on: 

Release Date: March 25, 2014

Nearly Boswell knows how to keep secrets. Living in a DC trailer park, she knows better than to share anything that would make her a target with her classmates. Like her mother’s job as an exotic dancer, her obsession with the personal ads, and especially the emotions she can taste when she brushes against someone’s skin. But when a serial killer goes on a killing spree and starts attacking students, leaving cryptic ads in the newspaper that only Nearly can decipher, she confides in the one person she shouldn’t trust: the new guy at school—a reformed bad boy working undercover for the police, doing surveillance. . . on her. 

Nearly might be the one person who can put all the clues together, and if she doesn’t figure it all out soon—she’ll be next.

Waiting on Wednesday

Every week Breaking the Spine hosts the bookish meme for book bloggers to share what books they are waiting on to be released!  This week I’m waiting on: 

Release Date: April 15, 2014

Samantha is a stranger in her own life. Until the night she disappeared with her best friend, Cassie, everyone said Sam had it all-popularity, wealth, and a dream boyfriend. 

Sam has resurfaced, but she has no recollection of who she was or what happened to her that night. As she tries to piece together her life from before, she realizes it’s one she no longer wants any part of. The old Sam took “mean girl” to a whole new level, and it’s clear she and Cassie were more like best enemies. Sam is pretty sure that losing her memories is like winning the lottery. She’s getting a second chance at being a better daughter, sister, and friend, and she’s falling hard for Carson Ortiz, a boy who has always looked out for her-even if the old Sam treated him like trash. 

But Cassie is still missing, and the facts about what happened to her that night isn’t just buried deep inside of Sam’s memory-someone else knows, someone who wants to make sure Sam stays quiet. All Sam wants is the truth, and if she can unlock her clouded memories of that fateful night, she can finally move on. But what if not remembering is the only thing keeping Sam alive?

Waiting on Wednesday

Every week Breaking the Spine hosts the bookish meme for book bloggers to share what books they are waiting on to be released!  This week I’m waiting on: 

Release Date: April 15, 2014

What if all the crushes you ever had found out how you felt about them…all at once? 

Lara Jean Song keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. They aren’t love letters that anyone else wrote for her; these are ones she’s written. One for every boy she’s ever loved—five in all. When she writes, she pours out her heart and soul and says all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly, Lara Jean’s love life goes from imaginary to out of control.

Book Review: Inexcusable by Chris Lynch

Keir Sarafian knows many things about himself. He is a talented football player, a loyal friend, a devoted son and brother. Most of all, he is a good guy. 

And yet the love of his life thinks otherwise. Gigi says Keir has done something awful. Something unforgivable. 

Keir doesn’t understand. He loves Gigi. He would never do anything to hurt her. So Keir carefully recounts the events leading up to that one fateful night, in order to uncover the truth. Clearly, there has been a mistake. 

But what has happened is, indeed, something inexcusable.


My final book from Molly Horan’s list of 15 Young Adult Books Every Adult Should Read was Inexcusable by Chris Lynch. 

I did things a little different while reading this book. Instead of just reading it and writing a review after I kept a tab of my thoughts while reading the book. Below is what my thoughts were. 

Thoughts: 
• Oh man, is the main character going to be like Lenny from Of Mice and Men? 
• Is he supposed to come off slightly special? 
• Where is this book set? The dad sounds slightly Irish and the kids names (Keir, Mary, and Fran) are for sure Irish. 
• Oh look another parallel to Of Mice and Men, Didn’t mean to cripple that kid just like Lenny didn’t mean to hurt the cats. 
• Why is he calling his dad Ray? Who does that? 
• This kid is supposed to be in high school, how is he drinking beer in a restaurant? 
• Oh good the boy is drunk with his father and they drove around town. Now the book is talking about his hangover and not remembering playing Risk the night before. This is not a great example for young adults. 
• Halfway through and its boring me. Where is the plot? 
• Oh good now the football team is doing drugs, and pressuring the main character to do them too. 
• They might be in Canada, is Norfolk in Canada? That could be how he can drink and explain the language. 
• I finished the book. Still don’t know where the setting was. 
• The ending sucked. Very unsatisfying. 
• I thought they might shoot Keir at the end like Of Mice and Men. 

As you can tell I didn’t really like this book. Some of it made no sense and I still don’t know where the story took place. I thought the topic was interesting, you don’t hear about rape from the victim as to try to prove his innocence. I hated that the story felt unresolved. Like what happened to Keir? That was never addressed, as was the problem that disconnected the family to begin with. I hated Keir. I felt like he was supposed to be this loveable dumb jock kind of person, and I didn’t find that very relatable. 

Oh, and don’t get me started on the drug and alcohol use in the book. Ugh. I am fine with portraying teens as drinking, because I know they do. But let’s show some consequences to the actions, and how the drugs and alcohol affect your judgment. If someone took the amount of drugs as Keir did in this book they would be comatose and not walking around. Overall, it’s a short read, but really worth the effort. 

1 Bard.

Book Review: Gated by Amy Christine Parker

Appearances can be deceiving. 

In the Community, life seems perfect. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Pioneer invited Lyla’s family to join his group and escape the evil in the world. They were happy to be chosen, happy to move away from New York and start over in such an idyllic gated community. Now seventeen, Lyla knows that Pioneer is more than just their charismatic leader, he is their prophet . . . but his visions have grown dark. 

Lyla is a loyal member of the Community, but a chance encounter with an outsider boy has her questioning Pioneer, the Community—everything. And if there’s one thing not allowed in the Community, it’s doubt. Her family and friends are certain in their belief. Lyla wishes she could feel the same. As Pioneer begins to manipulate his flock toward disaster, the question remains: Will Lyla follow them over the edge?

First things first: this book is extremely intriguing, but it isn’t something that is sugar coated and tries to make it any easier to comprehend the occurrence of cults.  

Now, for some interesting background info.  In order to maybe get an idea of what Parker used for information, please go and do a little bit of research into The People’s Temple and Jim Jones, The Manson Family and Helter Skelter, and the Branch Dividians and David Koresh.  For the most part, many of you will know the basics of these stories, but it does give you another lens through which to read this novel. 

I think that the best part of this novel is the fact that we are reading the story from the point of view of a protagonist that was practically raised in the cult environment, and are given the unique ability to witness what it really could seem like from the inside.  We witness as the character undergoes preparedness drills (which is somewhat indicative of the tv show Doomsday Preppers), and we get to see exactly how life inside of a cult from day to day could possibly be.  

One of my favorite parts of this book is how each chapter starts with a quote.  Now, at the beginning all of these quotes were from Pioneer (the leader of the Community), but as Lyla’s doubt concerning her future and that of the Community the quotes at the beginning of the chapters shifted.  First they shifted to some Bible quotes, then to quotes from some famous cult leaders: Charles Manson and Jim Jones.  I like that it was a very subtle way for the author to let us know that things were beginning to change in the narrative. 

While I understand the use for some sort of love story in every young adult novel, I really liked that it wasn’t the main focus of the narrative.  However, it did seem a little odd that he would be so interested in sharing the truth with Lyla and being so interested after just one quick afternoon.  He also seemed very flat and without character flaws, which makes him seem too good to be true, but in essence he wasn’t really a character so much as he was a plot device.

The most disturbing part of this novel is how real it feels and how easily we realize it could be for people to become involved in organizations and communities like this.  We just have to be vigilant and remember the past so we can look to the future. 

I really enjoyed this book.  It was fast paced, it had all of the realistic elements it needed, and the majority of the characters were extremely relatable. 

4.5 Bards (minus .5 for Cody)

Book Review: Finding It by Cora Carmack

Sometimes you have to lose yourself to find where you truly belong… 

Most girls would kill to spend months traveling around Europe after college graduation with no responsibility, no parents, and no-limit credit cards. Kelsey Summers is no exception. She’s having the time of her life . . . or that’s what she keeps telling herself. 

It’s a lonely business trying to find out who you are, especially when you’re afraid you won’t like what you discover. No amount of drinking or dancing can chase away Kelsey’s loneliness, but maybe Jackson Hunt can. After a few chance meetings, he convinces her to take a journey of adventure instead of alcohol. With each new city and experience, Kelsey’s mind becomes a little clearer and her heart a little less hers. Jackson helps her unravel her own dreams and desires. But the more she learns about herself, the more Kelsey realizes how little she knows about Jackson.

Haven’t read any of Carmack’s other novels? You can check out my review of Losing It , and then decide to go out and buy copies, because you definitely need to!

Now, I can tell you honestly that I wasn’t totally impressed by Kelsey as a character in Losing It, but I think that is mostly because she was a somewhat flat character who served as the standard wild n’ out female to stand opposite the shy and proper protagonist, Bliss. Who, by the way, makes a limited appearance in Finding It. 

Anyway, Finding It is happening simultaneously with the end of Losing It and parts of Faking It. Kelsey is travelling across Europe, obviously running away from something in her past, in addition to just traipsing around spending her parents’ money.  Although, I’m not going to lie, I totally would do the same if my parents were as ridiculously rich as hers seem.  

Even at the beginning of this novel, Kelsey isn’t particularly like-able, and she’s definitely depicted with an alcohol problem.  And more than once I was super scared of her being drunk and crazy while alone in Europe.  I kept picturing the whole Taken scenario, and was worried that this story was going to take a turn.  I shouldn’t have worried.  The book has a very Jessica Sorensen feel to it, in my opinion.  

Now, this isn’t to say that it’s a bad thing, it just so happens that there are some serious emotional issues going on for both main characters is Finding It, which is a little bit different from the issues that Carmack’s previous characters endured in the other two novels.  Which is what made it Sorensen-esque to me, because Sorensen excels at creating broken characters that have to find an anchor in another character to help keep them together.  Carmack does this with Kelsey and Hunt. 

Overall, the story still ended the way I expected it to, but the getting there was much more interesting and tumultuous than Carmack’s previous two novels. 

4.5 Bards for being fun and heartbreaking at the same time. 

Book Review: If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson

Both Elisha (Ellie) and Jeremiah (Miah) attend Percy Academy, a private school where neither quite fits in. Ellie is wrestling with family demons, and Miah is one of the few African American students. The two of them find each other, and fall in love — but they are hesitant to share their newfound happiness with their friends and families, who will not understand. 

The next book I read from Molly Horan’s list of 15 YoungAdult Books Every Adult Should Read was If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson.

I was a little weary to read this book at first.  When I saw that it was about an interracial couple I thought it might have been written a while ago and would be outdated and antiquated.  But I was wrong; it is set in the present day and very real.  I had a hard time starting and getting into this book.  The initial language and having two POV’s was slightly confusing to me.  But I did warm up to all of that and ended up liking the book a lot. 

I thought it was important to show that racism still exists today.  The book didn’t sugar coat it but explained it in a way that was relatable and made you think twice about your own reactions when seeing an interracial couple.  I also really liked that both family’s had the same socioeconomic status.  I get a little bored with the stories where one person is wealthier than the other and it turns into a Cinderella story.  That idea is archaic.  I thought it helped show the reader that it didn’t matter how wealthy or poor you are that people still deal with stereotypes and prejudices in their daily lives.

I liked that the couple didn’t rush right into it.  They took it slow, even know they had this amazing connection, they still let love happen in its own time.  I read too many books where two people meet each other and bam they are in love.  That is not real life.  And if we are targeting young adults it is so important to set realistic expectations with relationships.  I think this book does a good job at that.

The tone of the book was very sad.  It was like you were just waiting for something bad to happen throughout the whole book.  I even stopped reading with 20 pages left in the book because I could tell something was going to happen.  And it did.  And while I knew something was going to happen, the ending came out of left field and I didn’t like it at all.  It felt too abrupt and unresolved.  We were given no explanation as to why, or what the consequences were for the other people involved.  The book just ended.  I feel like the epilogue didn’t do the story justice either.  There was so much that the author could have had the main character do, or learn, from this experience.  She could have had her become an advocate for racial profiling, or minority rights.  But instead the girl was sad.  I get that, but woman do something, right the injustice that happened in your life.  Fight for what is right.  

Overall, I liked the book.  The ending could have had a greater impact and it would have made the book more of a must read for me.  I would still recommend the book, but not as strongly as some other books I have read.

3.5 Bards

Book Review: Luna by Julie Anne Peters

Regan’s brother Liam can’t stand the person he is during the day. Like the moon from whom Liam has chosen his female namesake, his true self, Luna, only reveals herself at night. In the secrecy of his basement bedroom Liam transforms himself into the beautiful girl he longs to be, with help from his sister’s clothes and makeup. 

Now, everything is about to change-Luna is preparing to emerge from her cocoon. But are Liam’s family and friends ready to welcome Luna into their lives? Compelling and provocative, this is an unforgettable novel about a transgender teen’s struggle for self-identity and acceptance.

I am on the home stretch of Molly Horan’s list of 15 YoungAdult Books Every Adult Should Read.  The next book I read from the list was Luna by Julie Anne Peters

I was very excited to read this book.  I had not previously seen a young adult book that focused on the LGBT community, specifically on a Transgendered person.  Liam/Luna’s story is one that needed to be told.  I thought the concept of having the POV from the sister of a pre-trans woman (genetically male transitioning to female) was exceptional.  Because being a Trans affects the whole family and I thought this book did a great job showing that.  I really liked this book.  It was interesting, factual, captivating, heartbreaking, tragic, and a true must read for everyone. 

I liked that while the topic of the book was super heavy the author still managed to create levity by having the POV from the sibling (Regan) as opposed to Liam/Luna.  If the book focused on Luna it may have been too heartbreaking to read.  It was touching to see Luna come to terms with who she is while at the same time watching Regan live “normal” her life.  It shows how completely life altering decisions can affect one person so completely and yet the other person has to try to continue living their lives.  I love that it also shows the complete love and dedication that Regan has for her sister.  That bond between the two is priceless and beautiful. 

I thought the way Julie Anne Peters was able to portray a wide variety of emotions through her writings was phenomenal.  My emotions ran from scared for Luna, to relief for Regan for finally not having to keep this secret, to heartbreak for Aly (who discovers that she won’t get the man of her dreams) and then back to scared for Luna when she decides to be herself all within one sentence.  

I think that this is an important book for all teens to read, not just for an LGBT teen.  This can help people understand how hard this decision is for any Trans person and how hard it is for the family to come to terms with this change.  I also believe that it could help any LGBT teen feel less alone and like an outsider. 

4 Bards.

Book Review: The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden by Jessica Sorensen

Callie has grown up keeping her feelings locked away from the outside world, and as her painful past threatens to consume her life, most days it’s a struggle just to breathe. 

For as long as Kayden can remember, suffering in silence has been the only way to survive, until one night when Callie and Kayden’s worlds collide. 

After that moment, Kayden can’t stop thinking about Callie and when they end up at the same college, he does everything in his power to convince her that it isn’t coincidence – it’s fate.

This being my second Jessica Sorensen read, I’m beginning to think that her purpose in life is to break my heart and make me feel like epic love stories are waiting in the wings for heartbroken and screwed up people. 

Both Callie and Kayden have some serious baggage, which makes them have some serious compatability in understanding the position that the other is in.  Although, unlike in Breaking Nova, Callie and Kayden’s past is intertwined because they technically grew up together and she did manage to help him out of a tight spot at one time.  

Then Sorensen uses the typical “Journey” trope to explain and create a whole new world for Callie in her University setting, and to help bring her out of her protective shell.  I don’t want to give away any of the personal issues that both Callie and Kayden have, but I really think that Sorensen does a good job of explaining the post-traumatic stress and the unwitting coping mechanisms that both characters developed.  

The plotline of this novel truly followed the rising action, rising action, turning point, and quick resolution that led to a pretty decent cliffhanger at the end.  Do I wish that there had been a pretty solid resolution? Yes, but I suppose the set up for a sequel does mean that we get to spend more time with these two characters.  

Overall, I’m going to probably keep reading her stuff.  I really love the dynamics that she creates in her stories, and I really think that it would be beneficial for older teens and college students to read this story and enjoy it. 

3.5 Bards

Book Review: Breaking Nova by Jessica Sorensen

Nova Reed used to have dreams-of becoming a famous drummer, of marrying her true love. But all of that was taken away in an instant. Now she’s getting by as best she can, though sometimes that means doing things the old Nova would never do. Things that are slowly eating away at her spirit. Every day blends into the next . . . until she meets Quinton Carter. His intense, honey brown eyes instantly draw her in, and he looks just about as broken as she feels inside. 

Quinton once got a second chance at life-but he doesn’t want it. The tattoos on his chest are a constant reminder of what he’s done, what he’s lost. He’s sworn to never allow happiness into his life . . . but then beautiful, sweet Nova makes him smile. He knows he’s too damaged to get close to her, yet she’s the only one who can make him feel alive again. Quinton will have to decide: does he deserve to start over? Or should he pay for his past forever?

Out of the plethora of Jessica Sorensen books that I have heard of in the past year, it took Breaking Nova to take my Sorensen virginity and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. 

Nova is full of heartbreaking details and ridiculously real emotions.  The novel is told from the first person point of view of both Nova and Quinton, in which both of them express how broken they are.  Sorensen really did a great job with making the characters so relatable regardless of how hard their individual situations were.  

Warning: there are some very emotional topics in this novel and the main one is Death. What death does to those that it leaves behind after an accident or suicide. And how does one come to terms with feelings of fault and how to understand why someone would choose to end their life.  I broke out into tears a number of times, so make sure you have some Kleenex with you.  

Both Nova and Quinton’s tragedies are explained in the prologue of the novel, and then the meat of the story picks up about nine months later when fate or coincidence or whatever else you can believe brings the two together during the summer.  Both of these characters have a ton of layers and I commend Sorensen for making them both so damaged and realistic.  I wonder if she really studied some of the theories of grief management and the Kubler-Ross model, because she really employed these really well throughout the novel. 

Overall, we know going into the story that Quinton and Nova are going to have a relationship, but I think that the readers’ expectations are wonderfully thwarted and the story takes a turn that is best for the characters. 

I cannot wait for the next installment, and to see how Nova and Quinton continue in their story. 

4.5 Bards