Tag Archives: young adult

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

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Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices, Book 1)
Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices, Book 1)
Cassandra Clare

This is an ARC that I picked up at BEA. Cassandra Clare is an author who is relatively new to me. I’ve read a short story of hers but none of her full length books. I was assured however that while this new series (The Infernal Devices) is related to one that she has out (The Mortal Instruments), I could start Clockwork Angel without reading the other one.

The Premise: This is the story of Tessa Gray. Tessa’s aunt just died and because Tessa has no where else to go, she’s moving from her home in New York to join her brother Nate in Victorian London. Unfortunately, as soon as Tessa steps off the boat, she’s pretty much kidnapped by the Dark Sisters, members of the secretive Pandemonium Club, who tell her that she has to do what they tell her or her brother will be hurt. What they do is surprising – they train Tessa to shapechange. Tessa realizes that she may not be completely human, but what she is, she doesn’t know. What she does know is that the Dark Sisters are training Tessa for the mysterious head of their Club – the Magister. Tessa manages to escape with the help of yet another hidden organization – the Shadowhunters, who protect humanity by policing the Downworlders like the warlocks, demons and vampires who haunt London streets.

Read an excerpt of Clockwork Angel here

My Thoughts: I was going to be lazy and just cut and paste the blurb for this book because I thought that it would describe the world and the premise better than what I could come up with, but on second thought I decided not to. Why?  Well, it implies a love triangle that I didn’t really think was there for about 80 percent of the book. I think that it’s pretty clear who Tessa is most attracted to, and while she cares about Boy #2  and they have their private moments, I felt like that relationship is mostly in the friend territory, until bam, near the end. So: a little spoilery, that blurb (but go read it if you just want to see who is in the love triangle, I’m sure you can guess).

Since this is the first book in what I assume will be at least a trilogy, there’s a lot of what feels like set up for long running story arcs. Through Tessa we’re introduced to a whole world and to several characters that work and live in the London Institute. Among the Shadowhunters are other teens – the volatile Will, the zenlike James (Jem), and the spoiled Jessamine who are under the guidance of Charlotte and Henry Branwell. Then there are servants around the age of the teens – Sophie and Thomas, and an older cook – Agatha. Most of the characters have a past, and Tessa, as the nosy newcomer, discovers their individual personalities and nuggets of their backstory.  There’s a lot in this book that is hinted at and ambiguous, like a story sort of taking shape but leaving much hidden. The hints of the complex relationships between the characters is one example. The mysterious back story of every character is another (the best example of this is Will, but Jem, Jessamine, Sophie, even Tessa’s past is shrouded in mystery). This is all while the Shadowhunters try to figure out who is behind the Pandemonium Club and what their plans are with Tessa. Once the story is over, we discover very little of our questions as readers have been answered. The many dangling plot strings and Mysterious Pasts peppered throughout the story feel like manipulation so you have to pick up the second book. Usually I don’t mind being manipulated a little to read on, but Clockwork Angel seemed to take it to another level.

Setting that aside, the story was entertaining. Even with the length (the ARC is 476 pages, but big font), the pacing went at a fast clip with plenty going on. I can’t go into much here without spoiling it so I’ll just say there is lots of action – fights and chases, but also very interesting developments between characters. The world was described in lush detail, with lots of steampunky elements – little clockwork tokens, automatons, and Henry Branwell, an absentminded inventor, against a backdrop of the huge and amazing church on whose ruins the London Institute was built (there’s a lot of description, but I liked it). Tessa also has the mentality of someone of that era. She quotes books she’s read that come from that time, and was brought up thinking there are things that women do not do, although the Shadowhunters have her changing her mind on that. Jessamine’s anger seems related to this too – wanting to just be a Lady – someone who stays a home and isn’t expected to kill Demons. She and Will were the darkest and most interesting characters.  Jessamine for being unlikeable, but with the opportunity to grow, and Will for his tendency to push people away (sometimes cruelly if truth be told), although I think all the characters in this book had some depth.

Overall: Hmm. I had a hard time classifying how I felt about this book so I will settle for: diverting but feels like it’s target is teens. It’s fast paced and it has boys who are beautiful and a little mysterious, a plucky heroine who has something special about her, and I’m entertained and want to know what happens in the next book because it deliberately dangles carrots to make me want to. There’s something that kind of bothers me in that, but I was entertained, so I’m not sure how I feel about it.

Clockwork Angel comes out August 31st

Buy: Amazon | Powell’s | The Book Depository

Other reviews:
Wicked Walker – 4.5 stars

Websites:
The Infernal Devices

Jekel Loves Hyde by Beth Fantaskey

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Jekel Loves Hyde
Beth Fantaskey

This is another book that I picked up at BEA. If you’re wondering why I’m reading so many young adult books lately – there were a lot of young adult novels to pick up there and I’m trying to make a dent in the BEA TBR piles.

The Premise: This is a young adult story that is based upon the idea that the story Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was based on truth. Jill Jekel is one of Dr. Jekyll’s indirect descendants, while Tristen Hyde is descended from Mr. Hyde. Jill and Tristen are both in the same chemistry class but although they were teased because of their last names, they don’t really know each other. That begins to change after the murder of Jill’s father, a chemist. Tristen can relate because his mother has been missing for over a year and he’s sure she’s dead. When their teacher suggests they work together on a science competition, they work in secret on experiments Jill’s father was working on before he died. Experiments that are supposedly from the papers of the original Dr. Jekyll which Tristen believes are the only thing that can save him from his genetics.

My Thoughts: A comment about the cover: when you take the wrapper off the hardcover is a lovely silver-green-gray color. And the endpapers are bright neon green! This pleases me.

On to the review.

I really liked the idea of a young adult story based on Jekyll and Hyde, so I started this with high hopes. It began well with Jill’s father’s funeral and Jill trying to get back to her everyday life. I liked the writing style. It’s very smooth and I settled easily into the story.  Tristen and Jill are the narrators (each chapter’s narrator is clearly marked), and their voices sound like teens, although I thought they did sound very similar to each other, which was distracting. Things are not really OK with either teen, they both seem to have problems. Jill’s problems are obvious – her dad was murdered, he was involved in shady dealings, and her mom is not coping well, so JIll has to take care of things she shouldn’t be responsible for.  Tristen is pretending to be normal but has serious worries about the “Hyde curse” and questions about his mother’s disappearance, but his father, a prominent psychotherapist tells him not to be concerned.

The underlying issues that Jill and Tristen have and the suggestion that more is going on had me reading along at a happy clip. This was a relatively fast read for me, but as I was reading, I started feeling ambivalent. When the book begins, Tristen and Jill are up as opposites, which Jill being a plain, mousey type, while Tristen was a confident outsider.  I thought Tristen was interesting because of his confidence and hoped that Jill would come out of her shell, but after the set up of the story and the two began to interact as more than strangers, I realized something about their personalities. I think Tristen was supposed to be a dark hero and Jill a pure heroine, but this did not come out the way I think the author intended. Jill is plain, good girl, but she was often walked all over by other girls. Tristen is a leader with a dark side – he doesn’t really care what anyone thinks of him, including teachers, so he treats them without much respect. Can you already see my problem? Jill’s goodness and innocence reads as milquetoast. Tristen’s dark edge comes off as rudeness.  The disconnect between the way I perceived their characters and what the narrators were telling me their characters were like, was the issue. I wanted to see Tristen’s darkness and Jill’s purity but it didn’t really work (although Tristen comes closer than Jill does).

There are glimpses of more to these characters but they didn’t feel fully explored. For example, the dark other being that Tristen feels inside himself, telling him to do violent, despicable things is a threat that I never really feared. It just never evolves into something really dangerous within this story, despite all the warnings and flashbacks. Jill’s exploration of breaking out of her good girl mold was similarly disappointing and felt like an afterthought. I wanted more. I also wanted more from the way this story ended – which was rather abrupt and then we have an epilogue that was supposed to tie everything together.  I thought it was wrapped up rather too conveniently, but after mulling over it I think it can be interpreted in a much darker way, and I like the implications. It’s much more horrifying, but I’m not sure that the ending I think could be there is the one that IS there so I can’t really credit the author.

Overall: This young adult paranormal has an excellent premise (Jekyll & Hyde re-imagined as teens of opposite sexes!) but the execution did not meet my expectations, which puts the book into the “it was alright, but I had reservations with it” category.

Buy: Amazon | Powell’s | The Book Depository

Other reviews:
On the Nightstand – 4 out of 5
The Book Butterfly – “Jekel Loves Hyde is a novel that will not appeal to all readers. Yet it’s a book that can still be enjoyed for its unique premise and intriguing plot line.”
Steph Su Reads – 3 out of 5 (I found myself nodding when I read her review after writing up mine. I agree)
Lurv a la Mode – DNF (very well written explanation why this was a DNF)

Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready

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Shade
Shade
Jeri Smith-Ready

Jeri Smith-Ready is one of my autobuy authors, so this is a book that I’ve been looking forward to for a while. I picked up an autographed copy at this year’s BEA.

The Premise: Everyone born after what is now called The Shift (which happened sixteen years ago, December 21st, 1:08 Universal Time), can see and hear ghosts. For this generation, the ghosts are annoying and sometimes scary – trying to communicate with the kids and not moving on to the other world. Aura Salvatore was one of the many teenagers dealing with this ability and and it’s downfalls, when her boyfriend Logan dies suddenly and becomes a ghost himself. Now Aura and Logan’s family are left reeling from his death, and it may not be a good thing that Logan’s ghost is still around, because can they move forward when he can’t? And what should Aura do when another boy, Zachary, who is alive and interested in her, when she’s still involved with a ghost? Things are further complicated by Aura’s research into the Shift and her mother’s past, and Zachary reveals a secret which ties them together.

Read an excerpt of the first chapter of Shade

My Thoughts: I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: there is something in Jeri Smith-Ready’s writing that appeals to me. Maybe it’s because it strikes me as being carefully thought out. The prose is clear and simple yet the story and the world building reaches beyond the easy and superficial.  I liked that there are realistic problems for people with the ability to see ghosts, and that the phenomenon has influenced clothing colors, technology and other facets of society. Even laws have been affected by The Shift. It’s common for kids that work as interpreters for ghosts on the witness stand for example. The government’s reaction is yet another interesting aspect.

What I really love is how this phenomenon is made personal and poignant because of the first person point of view of the narrator, Aura. We see her relationship with Logan through her eyes. They’ve known each other since they were six. His big brother and sister, Siobhan and Mickey, and his younger brother Dylan are used to her presence at their house all the time.  They fight, they make up. They share a love of music. What they have is tumultuous yet lovely, but Smith-Ready doesn’t pull any punches, and when Logan dies, on his seventeenth birthday, in a stupid, senseless way, Aura’s loss is palpable. Her grief felt real. It was not a dramatic dark depression (a la catatonic Bella in New Moon), but there are ups and downs and raw emotion. The process is slowed down considerably when Logan’s ghost is still there.

While Aura tries to keep going, grieving for Logan yet holding on to his ghost (despite her best friend Megan and her aunt Gina’s advice not to), Aura also develops a budding relationship with Zachary Moore, a new student from Scotland. Zachary understands that Aura is still dealing with Logan’s death and he’s there for her, but he makes it obvious that he likes her. He’s extremely patient, something which endeared him to me, although sometimes I wondered, could someone his age really be that together? His confidence definitely made him attractive though. This is a love triangle where both guys are equally likable, but because Logan was dead, I didn’t think that it was a healthy relationship to be in the long run (and that’s heartbreaking, but Aura needs to live her life). We shall see where that goes. I like that Aura is still figuring it out.

Another facet of the story was the mystery that Aura is trying to solve  – who her father is and what really happened when her mother took a trip to Ireland, over sixteen years ago. She wants to research the monuments at Newgrange for her school project because her mother mentions them in her diaries, but doesn’t want anyone to know what she’s up to. Zachary becomes involved in this research when he’s assigned as her project partner, but he proves to be a little secretive himself. This was a secondary storyline introduced later in the book which left a lot of questions which I’m sure will be further developed in the next book, Shift, which comes out May 2011.

Also – Shade has been optioned by the ABC Family network (doesn’t mean it will be a TV show, but it could be)!

Overall: I do recommend Shade. It’s a young adult story that’s as thoughtfully written as other Jeri Smith-Ready books, so it was as excellent as I was expecting, but perhaps tinged with more sadness. When the story is about ghosts and the death of a seventeen year-old, I would be dismayed if it wasn’t so.

Buy: Amazon | Powell’s | The Book Depository

Other reviews:
Presenting Lenore – positive review
Ramblings of a Teenage Bookworm – positive but wanted more
Steph Su Reads – 4.5 out of 5

Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson

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Suite Scarlett
Suite Scarlett
Maureen Johnson

This is a review for the audiobook of Suite Scarlett provided by Brilliance Audio in the goodie bags at the Book Blogger Convention
The Premise: The Martin family has owned and run the Hopewell, a small, struggling boutique hotel in the Upper East Side since the late 1920s.  The Spencer siblings Scarlett (15), Lola (18), Spencer (19), and Marlene (11), all have their roles in keeping the hotel running, and on her 15th Birthday, Scarlett inherits the Empire Suite and it’s eccentric guest, Amy Amberson.  Mrs. Amberson is a C-list starlet with a penchant for mischievousness and drama, and soon Scarlett’s summer is made very busy by Mrs. Amberson’s schemes. In the meantime, Scarlett’s brother, a struggling actor, has been given a deadline by their parents to find a job or go to culinary school, and he needs Scarlett’s help. Top this all off with a prospective romance and complex sibling dynamics, and you have Scarlett Martin’s crazy summer vacation.

My Thoughts: Things just seem to happen around Scarlett. She doesn’t go looking for trouble, but because of the impetuous plans of people around her (or just pure luck), Scarlett keeps finding herself involved in quirky capers. First there’s Mrs. Amberson. A woman with perhaps too much time on her hands, Mrs Amberson loves a project,  and just sweeps Scarlett into her vortex, ignoring any protests that Scarlett makes. Then there is Spencer. Spencer is Scarlett’s older brother, but he often relies on Scarlett’s ideas to creativity solve problems.  His current one is trying to avoid going to culinary school so he can fulfill his dream of being an actor. Spencer is a very good physical actor with excellent comedic timing, but he just can’t get a job except for a non-paying gig in a parking garage in a student production of Hamlet. Somehow he and Scarlett have to spin this to the Martin parents.  Between these two, Scarlett is very busy, and the charming story is propelled along.

While the story at it’s surface is about Scarlett’s job at the hotel and trying to help her brother fulfill his dream of being an actor instead of being forced into culinary school, it really feels like the book is about the Martin siblings. It’s obvious from the very beginning that Scarlett and her brother Spencer are very close – they hang out together and have a comfortable banter that you only get with prolonged exposure. Lola and Marlene are paired off in a similar way, but have a different dynamic – Lola is the one who has the most patience in the face of Marlene’s brattiness and takes Marlene to all Marlene’s functions. The dynamic between Lola and Spencer, and Marlene, Spencer, and Scarlett, is less clear cut. There’s the usual teasing, bartering, sharing and arguing among siblings, but there’s some history and underlying issues that sometimes surface. That they are all growing up together and things are not always simple and expected between them was something I really liked. I thought it was an accurate portrayal of siblinghood.

The best example of this sibling dynamics is Spencer’s reaction to his sister’s love interests. Spencer never seems to approve of Lola’s boyfriend – a very rich kid who has a chauffeured car, a yacht, and needs Lola to help him with everything. Then when Spencer introduces Eric, a fellow actor in the young college troupe, and he and Scarlett show signs of interest in one another, Spencer reacts oddly. The fallout between siblings because of the romances and the messiness of the romances themselves was well written and they felt real to me. Too often young adult stories simplify the process of liking someone and then being with them. In this book, romantic relationships are as complex and occasionally baffling as real life. As a older (ahem, I mean not a teen myself) reader I admit being concerned about the age difference between Scarlett and Eric (I think he’s 18 or 19 and she’s just turned 15 – when you’re a teen those years count), but I liked the way that their relationship was handled.

Now a couple of comments about the audiobook. I thought that the voice actor did an excellent job with the reading, but I preferred her voice when reading the dialog of female characters over males. There’s a very obvious difference between characters voices and I particularly liked the voice she used as Mrs. Amberson (it has a clear, decisive quality) and Lola (which was quieter and sounded nurturing), but the teen boys – Eric and Spencer sounded strange. Eric is supposed to have a North Carolina accent and I’m still not sure that what I heard was quite it. Spencer sounded very goofy, and I think I would have imagined his voice to be less exuberant and to have a softer wit.

This series continues with Scarlett Fever.

Overall: A charming young adult novel. It maintains an easy balance between quirkiness and moments of depth – particularly in the sibling dynamics and romantic relationships. Listening to this audiobook was the most pleasant 2 weeks I’ve ever had commuting.

Buy: Amazon | Powell’s | The Book Depository (PB)
Buy the Audiobook

Other reviews:
The Book Smugglers – 7 (Very Good)
Angieville – positive review
Tempting Persephone – positive review

The Rise of Renegade X by Chelsea M. Campbell

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The Rise of Renegade X
The Rise of Renegade X
Chelsea M. Campbell

This is a book that I picked up at BEA and got signed by the author 🙂 I love this cover!!

The Premise: In this young adult novel, the focus is on Damien Locke, a supervillian-in-training – or so he thought, until his 16th birthday when he discovers that he’s really half-superhero and his dad is one of the most moralistic Do Gooders out there. Disgusted and betrayed, Damien can’t believe that things can get worse – but they do. His father insists that Damien stay with him for six weeks so that Damien can learn about life among the Good Guys. His mom, a supervillian, agrees to the arrangement so that Damien can know the enemy and to get him out of the house while she works on her latest diabolical plan. There’s no way he would become a superhero, right? Except that Damien slowly begins to acclimatize to life with superheroes and when he finds out about a plan that could put his father and his step-family in danger, he’s strangely torn.  Damien’s always wanted to be a villian, but he also wants to protect his friends and family.

Read Chapter 1 of The Rise of Renegade X

My Thoughts: The story is told in the first person viewpoint of Damien and the setting is a fictional city – Golden City, where tourists flock hoping to run into a superhero or a supervillain. It is ultimately about the choices that people make in order to become who they are. In Damien’s case, his choices determine whether he will become a superhero or a supervillain. He has the genes for both, and the “X” that appeared on his thumb as a result can turn into an “H” (for hero) or a “V” (for villain) based on what he does.

This book made me laugh. Damien has a quick wit which he actively uses in surprising ways. He’s never got the lower hand for long, and when he’s annoyed at someone, he uses his smarts to get them. It was pretty funny how he kept needling his parents about their embarrassing hook-up at inopportune moments, or how he dealt with school bullies. I found myself looking forward to reading this book when I had to put it down because of the humor, especially in the first part of the book – Damien’s disbelief and how he handled the change in his life tickled me. Once he was more settled, the shenanigans Damien gets himself into with his sidekick (more about her later), were funny as well but didn’t entertain me as much as the first part of the book.

The humor is irreverent and not exactly a kid’s humor. Damien is less innocent than I was at sixteen (which I suppose isn’t hard). He’s comfortable with sexual situations and there’s a sort of love triangle in this book between Damien and two very different girls. The first is his ex-girlfriend, Kat, who is a supervillain who has the power to shapeshift. They broke up on his last birthday when he found her with another guy, but she seems sorry for that and they both have feelings for each other (they’ve gotten closer over the past year), although Damien can’t bring himself to forgive her. The second girl is Sarah – a strange girl in Damien’s new school who is a master inventor and wants to be his superhero sidekick.  One girl assumes he is a supervillain, one assumes he’s a superhero, and Damien plays the part each expects because he doesn’t want either to know about his half-hero, half-villain status.

These complex relationships with Damien and these girls, along with the relationship he develops with his father’s family (not an easy path), adds depth to the story that I wasn’t expecting but really liked. The sibling rivalry and fights that Damien has with his half-sibling closest to his age (Amelia, who is 15), was particularly endearing. They dislike each other at first sight but work their way through their differences. I thought the “teenage boy versus his younger sister” dynamics were cute and very much like how siblings work.  I also liked Damien’s commentary on how people have preconceptions of villians and heroes and how that influences how people respond to him.

Overall: An enjoyable read that blends humor, comic book tropes, and a teenage boy’s coming of age to produce a story with subtle depths. I liked it.

Buy: Amazon | Powell’s | The Book Depository

Other reviews:
The Book Smugglers – 7 (leaning towards an 8) – [I agreed with Ana’s review]
Steph Su Reads – 4 out of 5 (“The gem of this novel is Damien’s voice. A perfect balance of snark, sincerity, and your typical adolescent male stupidity”)
SciFi Chick – “pure fun from beginning to end.”

Book Trailer:



Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev

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Eyes Like Stars: Theatre Illuminata, Act I
Eyes Like Stars: Theatre Illuminata, Act I
Lisa Mantchev

Is this not a lovely cover? It made me want to read it. Who is this blue-haired girl, standing at a stage entrance, with fairies circling around her? I wanted to know her story. I’ve been eying this book for a while, saw a couple of good reviews, and I finally bought a copy a few months ago.

The Premise: Beatrice (Bertie) Shakespeare Smith is a young woman who grew up in a the Théâtre Illuminata. It is an enchanted theater: within it’s walls live every character from from every play ever written, and magically they are bound there, putting on their plays. Bertie sleeps on stage in a makeshift bed, her best friends are fairies (Peaseblossom, Mustardseed, Cobweb and Moth), and her family are the players and Managers of different departments. The problem is that Bertie is getting older, and she gets into a lot of trouble. After the latest debacle (involving a cannon), the irate Theater Manager decides that Bertie must Leave At Once. Bertie is desperate to stay and manages to convince the Manager that if she can prove herself useful, she won’t be thrown out into the street. Bertie’s friends the fairies and pirate Nate are helping, but elemental spirit Ariel wants her to escape and take him with her. In the meantime, the mystery of Bertie’s origins color the pot.

Read an excerpt of Eyes Like Stars here

My Thoughts: You know what this book reminds me of? One of those Disney cartoon movies. Bertie is a plucky orphan heroine, her fairies are the cute sidekicks (and comic relief), and Ariel and Nate are the handsome love interests.  To tell you who the villains are would give too much away, but they are worthy of Ursula and Frollo. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It means the book is entertaining and colorful, and there’s a lot of creativity, but it’s lighthearted fare made for a certain audience and not everyone may be in the mood for that. I have to be in a certain frame of mind for this kind of story I think, and so it took me a little while to read it all. It’s a fast read, but I read it in two spurts – the first half a month ago, and the second half this weekend.

One large facet of the humor in this book is knowledge of theater and of Shakespeare’s plays. I’m no theater geek but I know enough to pick up on some of the humor, although I suspect I may be missing some. When I get it, it’s amusing, so I think that a Theater/English buff will probably have fun with this book. One example that I loved is this (to set it up, Bertie’s fairy friends have smeared raspberry jelly all over the theater’s refreshment table):

“…pointed at MacBeth, who was holding up a cruller and muttering, “Is this a doughnut I see before me?”
Then he noticed the raspberry jam on everything and started to shriek. With a glare at the fairies, the Stage Manager bundled him off into the wings. ”

The love triangle in this book is one between Bertie,  Nate, a pirate who always looks out for her best interests (the good guy), and Ariel, a dark elemental spirit (the bad boy). Bertie is aware of both men physically, and she has a past with both of them (Ariel is more of a childhood favorite than a current one, while Nate is one of her best friends), but it seemed like Bertie treated the relationships with them as afterthoughts. It felt like she liked them for what they represented rather than for their own personal merits, but maybe this is because because the characters are sketched quickly and then didn’t grow past the first impression I had of them. There was more relationship development between Bertie and female supporting characters – Peaseblossom, Ophelia, and the Wardrobe Mistress, than there was between Bertie and her suitors.

The two things that dovetail to create the majority of the story in Eyes Like Stars are the Bertie’s adventures in trying to stay at the Théâtre, and the mystery of how she got there in the first place. The missteps that Bertie makes in trying to stay never seem to end, and much of the story is Bertie trying to keep on top of the latest disaster. At the same time that Bertie’s past comes to the surface. It’s mixed up in how the magic of the Théâtre works, which Bertie’s leaving brings up. The questions of Bertie’s past along with the magic of the Théâtre are world building elements that set up the start of a series. We don’t really get all the answers we want which leaves plenty of room for the next book, Perchance to Dream.

Overall: It’s a cute story, and good if you just want something entertaining (I think a theater and English background would help to enjoy the humor in the story), and not really dark (there are some low moments, but I felt detached from them). I found this above average for it’s original setting and premise, but the story itself didn’t truly grip me. You also may need some patience at the beginning when you’re thrown into life in the magical Théâtre Illuminata without knowing its rules.

Buy: Amazon | Powells | The Book Depository

Other reviews:
Dreams and Speculation – 9 out of 10
Angieville – mixed review (I share her sentiments – again)
Karissa’s Reading Review – 4 out of 5 stars
The Hiding Spot – 10 out of 10
Fantasy Book Critic – one of their top books for 2009
On the Nightstand – loved it
Fantastic Book Review – 5 out of 5
The Book Smugglers – 8 out of 10
Presenting Lenore – “it’s not enough to propel me into a standing ovation, but it does earn a round of appreciative applause nonetheless”
Steph Su Reads – 4.5 out of 5
Giraffe Days – “With a playful tone, it’s fun to read, but I did sometimes get confused about what was happening”
Calico_reaction – Must have (positive review)

The trailer for Perchance to Dream:

Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols

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Going Too Far
Going Too Far
Jennifer Echols

I think that every single reviewer that I tend to agree with has read and liked Going Too Far. I’ve been dying to read it but since my resolution is to keep the TBR down I’ve been holding off on buying books this year. Well I finally caved (and the TBR.. it isn’t shrinking).

The Premise: Meg is a teenage rebel who is bored with her town and looks forward to leaving for college after high school. Just before spring break she gets a little drunk and along with another couple, she and her sort-of boyfriend decide to hang out on the railroad bridge. Years ago a teen couple was killed there, so when Officer John After catches Meg and her friends, they’re in trouble. As part of their community service, the teens are made to ride with the fire truck, ambulance and police all through their spring break. Meg is not thrilled to find out that she got the shift with the cops, and has to ride around with Officer After.  But first impressions aren’t always the right ones, and turns out that Officer After is almost as young (and screwed up) as Meg is and together they push each other to think about what their choosing in their lives.

Excerpt of Chapter 1 of Going Too Far

My Thoughts: You know that feeling you get when you hear that a book is good and then you read reviews and it sounds *perfect* for your tastes? And then you read it and it IS just as good as you thought it would be? Well this book gave me that particular high. I stayed up till 2 am reading this book. I woke up the next day thinking about this book. I think I dreamed about this book. It was just happy-sigh-making and I’m so glad I bought it because if I had borrowed it, I would have had to go out and buy it.

OK, so WHY was this so good? Well. If you read this blog you may sometimes see me say I couldn’t fully get into a romance because there wasn’t enough of an emotional connection. This book has emotional connection. I raise this book above my head and say PLEASE LOOK AT THIS AS AN EXAMPLE OF DOING EMOTIONAL CONNECTION RIGHT! In fact, this book also has the physical connection – and because the emotional connection is there? It is awesome. This is how you do a sex scene people.

But I digress. Emotional connection. This is told from the first person viewpoint of Meg, and as the book starts, you see the first layer that Meg wants the world to see. A blue-haired girl. A rebel. She says what she thinks and does what she wants. She doesn’t make commitments and she doesn’t like her town. And Officer After – he’s a stodgy cop who is obsessed with keeping people off the bridge and following the rules. Meg at first thinks he’s a forty year old and imagines he has a wife and kids. This alone makes the two of them interesting, but what makes the story better is that slowly, Meg and John peel off the layers from each other. John finds out why Meg has blue hair, and is a rebel. Why she doesn’t make commitments. Meg finds out why John wanted to be a cop. And add to that that in the process of the two discovering the layers of the other person, they have to look at themselves. They both push each other to change. And that’s probably why this book is titled Going Too Far. They both cross lines. Things get messy, but it goes somewhere good.

I loved that there were all these clues in discovering Meg and John’s pasts that were kind of out in the open, but only if you understood what they meant do they become significant. And I loved that while John After was responsible and driven about his job, he was also a nineteen year old guy. At times he acted very mature, but then his youth would bleed out. Meg too – she acts her age, but she’s definitely different because she doesn’t really have friends. I enjoyed seeing that as she started to let John in, she learned how to let other people in.

There are so many quotable bits to this book. I have several passages I could bookmark and reread them happily forever. For example:

I sat back in my seat and watched the men inside the store. Where was John’s backup? If I sat here waiting much longer, I would panic. And I couldn’t hear John breathing. It was so quiet in the car, my ears rang.
“Are you scared?” I whispered.
“I’m well trained.”
Yes, he was well trained to enter a robbery in progress with three guns pointed at him. Or well trained to hide that he was scared.
His death-hold on the steering wheel gave him away.
“Do you want me to kiss you for luck?” I asked
His eyes cut to me for a split second, then returned to the store. He waited so long that I thought he wasn’t going to answer. He would ignore my inappropriate question.
Then he said, “Yes.”


Overall: A fantastic, perfectly written love story. I loved it – easily in my top five favorite books this year if not the favorite. The emotional connection in this one was one of the best I’ve read. Ever.

I’m so glad I don’t have to wait long for her next book, Forget You (it comes out in July)
I think if you like Sarah Dessen (exception: Angie), or Megan McCafferty, you will also like this author.

Buy: Amazon | Powells

Other reviews:
The Book Smugglers – 9 (Damn near perfection)
Angieville – positive review
Lurv a la Mode – 5 Insanely Huge and Indulgent scoops
Book Crazy – 5 out of 5 stars
Giraffedays – 4 out of 5 stars
My Favourite Reads – Excellent
The Hiding Spot (and extra here) -20 out of 10 stars
Pop Culture Junkie – 5 stars
See Michelle Read – positive review
Ramblings of a Teenage Bookworm – 5 stars
Katiebabs – B+

Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder

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Inside Out (Harlequin Teen)
Inside Out (Harlequin Teen)
Maria V. Snyder

I got a copy of this book for review from the publisher, HarlequinTeen, through NetGalley.

The Premise: Trella is a scrub, a worker who cleans pipes and air ducts in the world of Inside. She’s a loner and has been nicknamed The Queen of the Pipes because of her habit of hiding and sleeping in them. She hates the scrubs and her job, and her only friend is Cog, one of her care mates. Cog’s a dreamer and popular with the scrubs. He believes in Gateway, a way out of Inside, and one day introduces Trella to a prophet who claims he can prove it’s existence. Broken Man, the prophet, once lived among the Uppers, the group that lives above the scrubs, and he claims he hid some disks above his sleeping quarters before he was captured by the Population Control Police (aka the Pop Cops). He asks Trella to try to get the disks but when she’s almost caught, it unleashes a series of events that changes Inside forever.

Read an excerpt of Ch 1-3 of Inside Out

My Thoughts: I *loved* Snyder’s first book Poison Study, but after that one I didn’t find myself as in love with the rest of the series and I didn’t really have high expectations of Inside Out. I was wrong. I started it late at night thinking I’d read a couple of pages and then go to bed, but before I knew it I was 60 pages in and not wanting to go to sleep. Eventually there were some lulls for me in the reading but for the most part I found the book an easy read.

I think it hits a few things that I personally like in my books:

  • A strong female protagonist with a great voice – I’m glad I liked the main character because it’s from her first person POV. At first Trella is a cynical loner who thinks she knows everything, but as the book continues she becomes more positive. She’s smart, she’s resourceful, and she’s also growing and learning that her preconceptions need to be questioned. I loved seeing how she changed from when we first meet her when Inside Out begins and when the book ended. I think it helps that I never disliked Trella even when she was negative. She had some bad experiences when she was young and she closed herself from others and she built a wall around herself. I couldn’t blame her for it.
  • Strong relationships – I liked how Cog’s personality was the complete opposite of Trella’s, but he still supported her and was a positive force in her life. I loved Cog. I think we should all have one in our lives – the friend who is open and genuinely LIKES people. I liked how he accepted Trella no matter what.
  • Great world building – At first I wasn’t sure what to make of Inside, but once I decided to imagine something like the City of Ember, I imagined the world as a maze of white corridors and rooms, lots of people wearing colored-coded jumpsuits and endless pipes and ducts. And it’s an integral part of the story. I already like science fiction so I warmed to the world quickly.
  • A little bit of romance – it’s not a big focus and the romantic interest has a small role, but it was a nice counterpart to all of Trella’s stress to have one person, Riley, a boy who is an Upper, who had her relaxing her constant guard.

When I look at some of the other blogger’s reviews of this book I was initially surprised to find negative reviews. The problem it seems is that the world building can feel too confusing and Trella can come off as unlikeable. I am more surprised that people didn’t like Trella than I am about the world building. I will agree that the dimensions of Inside plus imagining a three dimensional blueprint of it can get tedious at times. There is some awkwardness in describing Inside as a tic-tac-toe board in 3D, and then labeling each square, and I skimmed over the explanation of weeks and centiweeks, workdays of 10 hours on, and 10 hours off. I am still iffy on Trella’s age in our system.. I think it’s 17 years old. But Trella never really felt unlikeable to me. Anyway, it just illustrates how you never know what will make or break a book for people!

The ending to this book has a bit of a surprise to it, but in a good way I think. The book slowly adds up to the end, and I had my suspicions for a while but I still liked the way Snyder presented it. I felt that the book ended quite nicely and I am not sure what the author can come up with for the next book Outside In. I hope it’s something good because she set the bar high for me with Inside Out.

Overall: This went above my expectations and I really enjoyed this young adult science fiction story. I felt satisfied by the way things ended – it got a rare happy sigh from me. I recommend it highly, but I think you have to be a reader who likes imperfect protagonists and has patience for confusing world building.

Bonus – Check out the Inside Out website
(there’s a quiz to see what you’d be assigned to in Inside. I got ” INVALID: You are too confounding to place. Inside has no use for anomalies. Report directly to the Chomper.”  *CRY*!?)

Buy: Amazon | Powells

Other reviews (mix of disliked and really liked)
Book Love Affair (7 out of 10)
Genre Reviews – 4 pints of blood (out of 5)
Reading with Tequila (5 shots out of 5)
Lurv a la Mode – 4 out of 5 scoops
The Last Blog in the Universe – a negative review
Tez Says – found the concept befuddling
Presenting Lenore – 5 zombie chickens (out of 5)

Book Trailer:

Airhead by Meg Cabot

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Airhead
Airhead
Meg Cabot

I received this book for the Book Blogger Holiday swap from Marireads.

The Premise: Teenager Emerson Watts has always been a little bit of a outsider. A smart girl who likes to play video games and isn’t interested in fashion or girly things, she mocks the popular kids and despairs that her sister wants to be a cheerleader. Then one day, Em suffers a fatal freak accident. Well, almost fatal. In order to save her, her brain is transplanted into the body of supermodel Nikki Howard.

Read an excerpt of Chapter 1

My Thoughts: We’re introduced to Em in her old life, arguing with her younger sister, feeling resentful of the way the popular girls are treated just because they are pretty (even when they spout superficial things), and crushing on her best friend Christopher, a fellow geek. Then disaster strikes, and Em wakes up in a hospital and learns she’s in someone else’s body. Of course, despite her new celebrity status, this is not a dream for Em. Officially she’s dead -only her immediate family, and the Stark Corporation, Nikki’s main employer, knows that Em is still alive.  She has to learn how to be a model, figure out the complexity that is Nikki’s lovelife, and hide the fact that she’s not Nikki.  Turns out that being a teen-aged supermodel is not as simple as you’d think.

Surrounding Em/Nikki are several secondary characters. At first they are what you’d expect – Nikki’s bubbly best friend, the rich boys who follow her around, the annoying kid sister, the quiet geek, but as the book progresses, you see that they are more than that. Lulu is the best example of this. She starts off as a perky ditz, but you discover that she really IS Nikki’s friend and has Nikki’s back. She listens and gives her own special brand of advice, and it may not be what you’d expect, but she’s very sweet nonetheless. She surprised me. Similarly, Nikki’s on-again, off-again boyfriend Brandon at first seems like the typical playboy, but there are hints about Brandon’s relationship with his father, the head of Stark Enterprises, which suggest that his life isn’t that golden. And Christopher, who is on the page very little, has one of the most interesting characters because whenever he does (or doesn’t) speak, his body language conveys volumes more.

This is the first book in a series, and there looks to be a lot of set up for the next books. The story really feels like a beginning and I didn’t feel as satisfied closing this book as I have with other Cabot stories. There seems to be more going on with this brain transfer than it would initially seem. Stark Enterprise is painted as doing some shady things – from doing this to Em and making her family sign confidentiality agreements and contracts, to spying on it’s employees.  Meanwhile, there are a gaggle of boys pursuing Nikki/Em (who discovers that in Nikki’s body, she gets addle-brained no matter who is kissing her), and Em still harbors her crush on Christopher. And that’s not even counting Em having to learn how to be a model and go to high school at the same time. There should be plenty of fodder there for an interesting series. I particularly like how Meg Cabot seems aware of the current celebrity news and fashion, and it’s reflected in this story. I found myself wondering what real life teen idols Cabot had in mind while she created some of these characters.

Also: The model in this cover looks a lot like Kate Bosworth, doesn’t she?

Overall: Well, this is Meg Cabot, so the story is a light bit of fun. Cabot has a way of writing that’s warm and entertaining and has the right voice for a young adult novel, but this one spends so much time setting up the premise for the series so I feel like I got just the beginning of a story. it made me feel unsatisfied, but maybe reading the next book will fix it.

Buy: Amazon | Powells

Other reviews:
xicanti – 4 out of 5 stars
Liv’s book reviews – “I would highly recommend it”
Ms. Bookish – B+

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

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Graceling
Graceling
Kristin Cashore

This is the copy of Graceling I bought on my trip to Boston and finished on the plane ride to AZ this week. My review of Fire, Cashore’s other book in this world, is here: livejournal | wordpress

The Premise: Graceling is the story of Katsa, who is a graceling — someone who has two different colored eyes and preternatural ability in a certain skill. Katsa’s grace is that of killing, and since this was discovered, she’s been nothing but her uncle the king’s enforcer; threatening and killing as he sees fit.  As Katsa grows up she dislikes herself and her role in the kingdom more and more. Things begin to come to a head when Katsa meets Po, a prince from another kingdom who is a Graceling too.

My Thoughts: I read Fire before Graceling. Graceling was published before Fire, but chronologically Fire happens before Graceling. I think you can read these books in either order, but I felt that I was a little more spoiled from reading Fire first than I may have been the other way around. I was less surprised about the villain of Graceling than I think I would have been if I’d read them in the other order.

I really LOVED Fire, I found myself just contentedly reading it and not wanting to move or do anything else, but I had a different reaction to Graceling. Graceling was an excellent fantasy with a sweet romance, but it didn’t enthrall me in the same way that Fire did. I found Graceling a slower read and I put it down more, especially in the first third of the book.  I think I connected to Katsa a little less than I did Fire.  She grew as the book progressed, and she learned to accept her Grace and believe that she wasn’t really a monster, but she was less emotionally available and had problems with opening herself up to people, and maybe that was why I couldn’t connect as well.  Or maybe the reason is that I read Fire first so I love that most? It’s hard to tell what makes me love one book more than another sometimes..

I think a few people have already commented on Katsa’s unwillingness to get married. I could understand the idea in general, but when Katsa kept trying to explain it she alienated me more. I don’t think I really needed to read that she felt that getting married was too similar to being owned by someone, the way she was with King Randa. After a while, her constant fearful explanations about it made me think she was just a chicken rather than someone who had a life philosophy and just didn’t want to get married. Why was it brought up so much?! Ug, it started to irk me.

On the other hand, I really liked Po, Katsa’s love interest. He was a lovely secondary character, especially in the way he responded to Katsa and her moods. Cashore really writes some great guys in her stories! Po has a way of accepting Katsa for exactly who she was that was refreshing. I also loved Bitterblue, who is one of the most levelheaded young ladies I’ve read of in a while. I’m glad to know she has her own book which is coming out sometime next year (word is we also can catch up with Po and Katsa in it too).

Final note: There are sexual situations in this book, but it was written in a very vague way;  nothing explicit.

Overall: I liked Fire better, but it’s another good young adult fantasy by this author. Brave heroines, understanding heroes and deep friendships make this series a recommended read. Cashore goes onto my autobuy author list.

Buy: Amazon | Powells

Other Reviews:
Book girl of Mur-y-Castell – “it was ok”
Book Love Affair – 9 out of 10
Lurv a la Mode – 4 scoops (out of 5)
Jawas Read , Too – Positive with some quibbles. I agreed with this review
Calico reaction – Worth the Cash