Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

When I first heard about Rose Under Fire, I wasn't sure I was going to actually read it. Like so many reviews floating around have said, and Iris said so well, I have WWII fatigue. I thought Code Name Verity was a rare one off...the world war 2 book I still managed to fall for, feel deeply, and love.

But circumstances led to me reading it after all and I quickly became engaged with the story and ended up loving it. This is not a sequel to Code Name Verity, although Maddie is present, it's Rose's story. Rose is an American pilot who has something unfortunate happen to her on a flight which leads to her spending some time at a concentration camp. There she meets women who change her life and as much as this story is about survival, and World War II, it's also about close friendships and what we mean to each other.

I want to first discuss a few things I think Rose Under Fire does really well and then I want to discuss why that's important to me in light of some of the grumbling I've seen in other reviews. (this is why I should never read other reviews first, it makes me reactionary!)

One of the things Wein skillfully does is show pre-camp naive Rose who can barely believe the war is real vs. post-Camp Rose who has survived the worst humanity can do. She also writes these friendships in a very believable way...these women were surviving together and knew each other in ways human are rarely supposed to. There's a part where Rose talks about how you can love them so much but they also drive you crazy. She also shows the chaos of the organization, there's just no sure thing in war, nothing you can bank on. Even though things should go a certain way it doesn't mean they will. And even with limited resources people have a tremendous capacity to be cruel. And lastly, something Ana has already written about better than I ever could (as is usually the case!), is that Rose Under Fire is about how there are different ways to survive and just because society might expect one reaction or path, it doesn't mean you have to take it.

So I think Rose Under Fire is many things and a very good book.

Now I've seen some criticism? about how this book is a tired story of a privileged girl who falls into bad times. Wouldn't it be more interesting or better if someone else had narrated this same story? I'm not disagreeing with the idea that there might be an overabundance of stories like this, and yes I know this is fiction but I am always uncomfortable with the idea that there are ever too many stories. The idea of there being too many Holocaust stories is one I've heard before but I just can't agree because not every story is for every person, etc.

Secondly, there's a reason privileged protagonists exist and part of that reason is the feeling that "it could never happen to me." But when the protagonist is someone you can identify with closely, it's easier to begin to believe that it could. One of my absolute favorite parts of My Hands Came Away Red is when Cori is just stunned that people are trying to kill them and she has no comprehension of how people could be trying to hurt her, WHY WOULD THEY WANT TO. Part of what makes these stories effective is that terrible things happen to everyone, war happens to everyone, being rich, white, American won't save you.

Now, obviously that's not to say that I don't think stories about girls from underprivileged backgrounds aren't needed, they are! I just think Rose Under Fire has a lot to offer that is unique and relevant, that it actually stands apart from the crowd for reasons of its own.

In very general terms, I do agree with the idea about fatigue over World War II stories from an American/European perspective. I crave more stories about the war in Asia, for example. And I hope to bring some reading suggestions on that topic, soon!

Anyway, really great book, recommended!

So TV Doesn't Like YA Novels

This year two popular YA series landed pilots at the TV networks...Delirium and The Selection. It was the second go around for The Selection, it was actually made into a pilot last year as well and didn't get ordered. We learned this week that neither show, however, was ordered to series.

It's interesting to me for a couple of reasons. One is that the movies are HOT for YA books. I mean obviously you have Harry Potter and Twilight and now The Hunger Games. But Divergent, Ender's Game, Clockwork...whatever, and The Fault in Our Stars (which is not even genre just a contemporary!!) are all in the works. Beautiful Creatures was made into a movie. And we're hearing all the time about progress being made on more projects. I can't even keep up with it all anymore. Some of these are so believed in..such as Divergent, that the studios are already going about getting things ready for the sequels. And some of these movies have major weight talent in them. It's not as if popular YA books translate to instant success, though, Beautiful Creatures sort of bombed, as did Beastly and I Am Number 4 in recent years.

TV is of course a little different. Not much TV is fashioned for teens since they aren't the target demographic for advertisers. And it's true that both of these series, while popular, may not have the same pull as the ones being made into film. Delirium's concept always seemed a bit thin to me in novel form as well. (thought that might change throughout the books I only read the first one) Still I can't help but find it curious that TV is less willing to tap into existing fan bases when attempting to launch shows. I mean one of the most popular shows on TV right now was helped out greatly by already having a loyal fan base in comics. The CW's flagship show, The Vampire Diaries, was also helped by being based on a very popular book series. I mean that's the entire reason I kept watching the show in the beginning was because of loyalty to that series I had loved so much as a preteen. There was excitement and buzz as soon as it was announced. (as well as tons of nostalgia and then shock that Ian was playing Damon, lol)

I feel like The Selection pilot must have been terrible because it seems to me like it should have everything going for it. Based on a moderately successful book series. Hitting that sweet spot of what's popular right now...post-apocalyptic world, life on display, what's real/what's not, even a ridiculous love triangle, and so much more. The Selection had so much potential to be provocative and interesting. I just don't understand how it has failed so much twice.

Delirium almost never had a shot on Fox and looking at their new shows almost makes me want to fall asleep. But you know, the fans of Delirium organized a Twitter campaign to get it on air without even seeing it. I mean...does this count for nothing?

I'm disappointed about The Selection, but what can you do? The CW is moving towards genre shows (despite renewing The Carrie Diaries, a very strange decision to be honest) and for whatever reason The Selection isn't a part of that. And I guess I've outgrown what they are trying to do since none of the new shows sound that great to me.

I would like to see a currently popular YA novel or series be adapted for television, though! I feel like it could really work. How about Level 2?

Legend by Marie Lu

The market for dystopian books is really crowded nowadays thanks in large part to The Hunger Games. If you love dystopian stories, it seems as if you could have a never ending supply of stories to read. The problem for me has been that the premise of so many of them have been quite thin and the stories themselves seem to lack the magic that really makes them come alive. This is a problem with anything popular--more is published than needs to be. And as a result, I almost don't want to read anything anymore because it's too hard to find the books that really stand out. (several of the more popular series haven't really worked for me, either)

Legend seemed to rise above the noise, though. It received great reviews around the blogosphere and also from sources such as Entertainment Weekly. I was really looking forward to reading it because I do like a good dystopian story.

And you know what? It is a solid book. The premise works. It's loosely based on Les Miserables so you have the clever girl hunting down the criminal. All of this makes sense and sounds like a good story. The world itself is drawn well enough to be believable. You can sense, even in this first book, that there's a lot the reader doesn't know about what's really going on. There are enough questions and surprises to keep things interesting and the pace moves briskly along. So from a technical aspect it works.

Where it failed me was in being able to feel the motivations of the characters. Why is it so important for June to capture Day? The book gives a reason--and a really good one--but I never felt what June felt. Big horrific things happen and while the book makes record of the character's reactions, I still felt at arm's length from them throughout the book. This is problematic because it's a dual first person narrative. I should be feeling everything they do in the gut. But instead these motivations and feelings felt secondary to the plot. And it's because of that reason that even though I enjoyed the book well enough, I couldn't really love it.

I'll probably finish the series. I mean there's so much going for it and so many reason I wish I had really loved it. I do want to see where the story goes and find out more about this world. But I don't think it's a must read.

Rating: 3/5
Source of Book: Sent to me by a fellow blogger!
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

After being pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed The Changeover, I decided to read a few other books friends had been enthusiastic about that I was sort of on the fence about reading.

So first up was The Scorpio Races. This was kind of a safe choice since I did love The Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy by the same author, but on the other hand I'd had a real resistance to reading this I can't exactly explain. Renay really loves it, though, as does Jill, and so I decided to go for it. I think my hesitation in reading it before had a lot to do with the cover which I just find so incredibly dull. Also, I was like killer horses, what? (AMY WHEN WILL YOU LEARN YOU LIKE THIS STUFF YOU LOVE ZOMBIES AFTER ALL)

This book is just really unique. I don't think I've ever read anything quite like it, although at the same time it did make me think of other books (like the sense of urgency felt like The Hunger Games to me and the island setting made me pick up my next read which I'll talk about soon, plus the father preferring Sean over Mutt reminded me of The Ask and the Answer..well you get the idea). The world is so well realized and combines all these things I just really like about the connection of people to place, and also survival. It's one of the most atmospheric books I've read in a long time. And I was just so lucky because we don't often get rain here, but this year it rained and was cold off and on throughout the holiday week so I was able to sit out in my car (I'm weird, okay) where I could hear the rain pattering on the roof of my car and read this glorious book about people on an island where when it storms the killer horses come up from the sea and they might die.

Okay so basically this book is about the island of Thisby and how they have this problem that they also love--the capaill usice which are water horses. This is an actual myth I never heard of (no surprise there) about horses that rise from the water around November and eat flesh. But Maggie Stiefvater doesn't hold true to all the lore, she took what she wanted and wrote this book. Anyway on Thisby, these horses come up and they are wild and dangerous. And it's kind of funny because it fits in well with the werewolves tales as these characters feel half wild themselves and there's always this pervading sense throughout the book that civilization has a very weak hold on their lives. Like the capaill usice, they could go wild at any second.

Anyway, every November they hold the Scorpio Races where everyone gets on the back of one of these flesh eating horses and races. People die and some people win big amounts of money. And Puck, our heroine, decides to enter when her older brother says he's leaving the island. Puck doesn't get why he's leaving...she loves Thisby and their life there, but Gabe, her older brother doesn't actually like the threat of being eaten by horses. She really doesn't know what she's getting into, but she has the courage to want a different life and to succeed and she makes friends with Sean who is awesome, and he helps her and an awesome story awaits.

And it is really gripping, like I didn't want to put it down. And I loved the characters, I loved Sean and his relationship with his horse, and the ideas about happiness and getting what you need and courage and freedom. I loved the sense of urgency and all or nothing that pressed onto every page and interaction. I loved the strong family relationships, I loved that the tense scenes were actually that. Really, I don't know why I didn't read this a long time ago, it is so good. And now I need to read The Raven Boys!

Rating: 4.5/5
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Source of Book: Bought it

Review: The Changeover by Margaret Mahy

This review is dedicated to Maree of Just Add Books.

I have to admit I wasn't sure what to think about this book, and whether or not I would like it. The cover is so 80s and also it's described as being both sci-fi and a paranormal romance--things that typically I find to be a turn off. But alas this is a special case and a huge thing the book had going for it is that it's YA! So I plunged in.

It is not sci-fi. Also, I guess it's a paranormal romance? But that's really not the focus of the book just a side benefit. So those fears were unfounded. I actually ended up really enjoying this book and reading it in a day so it was a nice surprise.

In some ways it reminded me a bit of the only book I've read by Karen Healy which...well it might just be me lumping all books from New Zealand together, but they both had supernatural elements that were kind of strange/unique. But that was not the draw of this book to me, it's the very lovely writing, the deep and heartfelt relationships, the way Mahy nails so many of the details of growing up and the way you feel as you begin to change and attempt to understand yourself. It felt rich in that regard, so much more than a simple fantastical plot.

And also it was kind of different because while Laura was the main character, I felt her mother, Kate was often given a POV as well. She was painted really sympathetically and as more than just the parent figure that must be reacted to! While her actions certainly led to Laura having to think about a lot of stuff in her own life and make her own decisions, she was so much more than just the absentee mother or overprotective parent or whatnot. Like, I felt like the relationship just really accurately depicted the growing pains a young teen girl might face in her relationship with her mother in a way that was kind of unique.

Anyway, basic plot! Laura's younger brother get this funky mark and then becomes really sick and Laura's pretty sure something evil is afoot as he is getting worse and worse and she knows who has done it, but she doesn't know exactly what to do about it. And she knows, because she JUST KNOWS that this dude that is older and goes to her school and is called Sorry is a witch. So she goes to him and his family helps her and she takes on a great risk to herself, etc.

Let's discuss the romance in this because quite frankly it wasn't very romantic to me. And I don't think it was necessarily supposed to be? Like I don't think I was necessarily supposed to have swooney feelings over it, but what do I know it was written in the 80s. Oh I don't think I was supposed to have bad feelings about it either, though. Anyway it's just kind of a huuuge turnoff how Sorry is all touching her when she doesn't want it and putting pictures of her up in his room that he took in secret and talking about her sexy legs, etc and generally making her uncomfortable enough to suggest what he's doing borders on sexual harassment, lol. But at the same time, the text gives plenty of reasons why the reader should understand that Sorry didn't have a normal childhood and is just kind of struggling through it all himself. It doesn't excuse him, it just helps you understand where he's coming from in a way in which it's possible to have sympathy for him without thinking his actions are right. And he wants to change and sort of does and so...I don't know. Forgiven. Just no swooney feelings, lol.

I am very interested in how books hold up over time, particularly YA books because of how huge of a role technology plays in our lives NOW, but how it's sort of ignored in books that seem to want a lasting place. Like when I reread The Vampire Diaries a couple of years ago, I was like EVERYONE WOULD BE CALLING ELENA ON HER CELL PHONE NOW. They wouldn't be going around just wondering where she is, you know? But, one of the things that really works in The Changeover's favor are the financial troubles of the family. You can get away with no cell phones when you have no money! So yay for that. But even apart from that the book holds up really well for the simple reason that it addresses and explores timeless truth.

This is a delightfully rich book, by which I mean the writing and the characters feel full and true. The fact that the fantastical elements were sort of hard for me to buy is easily forgotten because of how wonderful the writing is. It was a very pleasant surprise because YES I WAS SKEPTICAL. I enjoyed the read! I wanted to share with you some of the pretty quotes, there is this gorgeous one about time and wounds, but alas I have already misplaced my copy. Why does this always happen to me?

Happy Holidays, Maree! I hope you enjoyed reading about my journey into New Zealand lit and that I didn't let you down!

PS. I really wanted to include the cover I had because it is DREADFUL. But alas I couldn't find it.

Review: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

It's like being in love, discovering your best friend.

I don't really like World War II stories. And it's not because they are bad or whatever, it's just that I think I've had an oversaturation of them. There are so many WWII stories out there and most of the ones I've been exposed to are told from a European or American perspective. Admittedly, I still have an interest in stories about the Asia Pacific part of the war and also even the Russian part. Or the experience of Japanese Americans in the States. Anyway, point is, a book about World War II in England is just not that interesting to me on the premise alone.

So despite a few early glowing reviews, I was just not that interested in Code Name Verity. (also I didn't like the title, tbh) But...I don't know I've been having such a rough reading year and the reviews were all SO good and then Ana mentioned in her review that it had some of the things I enjoy and look for in story...so I decided to give it a shot. I'm so glad I did, because despite the fact that this book feels very English and very World War II, I loved it.

I'm not going to bother with the premise too much because I agree it's best to go into this book knowing as little as possible. It does start a little slowly with a lot of details about planes and other confusing (kind of boring) things. But not in any way that's a slog to get through, just...the book isn't immediately riveting. It has a very beautiful and deep friendship at its heart, the kind that will make your heart explode. I mean this is what I'm talking about when I say I long for deep complex relationships that aren't romances in stories.

And it's exciting and it plays with your mind. And it's so heartfelt, but also goes all the places it needs to go. And the language is beautiful! And I think there are all kinds of other interesting things going on in the book--it's very rich. The sense of war and doom pervades the story, but so does the existence of hope.

There aren't a lot of books that I've really loved this year, but Code Name Verity is one that I really loved reading and completely enjoyed. Short review, I know, but what else can I say that hasn't been said? Read it!

Rating: 4.75/5
Source of Book: egalley
Publisher: Hyperion

Review: Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

I've been wanting to read Jellicoe Road forever. Or at least it seems like it, and so somewhere in this reading dry spell I decided I needed to spend my reading time on books that I really want to read. What an idea. But seriously, sometimes I remember just how short my life is and that books I've been wanting to read for ages should be my priority! Somehow I missed that this book is hard to get into even after Lenore's whole post about if YA isn't accessible is it a failure, etc. from a few years ago.

And it is. Hard to get into. The problem for me was that I HAD NO IDEA what was going on. Something about Townies and Cadets and school kids fighting a territory war that seemed really silly, but they were taking dead seriously. And the main character, Taylor, was a leader but sort of didn't want to be and yet did. Also she had no parents but this woman that sort of raised her suddenly disappeared. And this woman had been writing a book about some kids and Taylor wanted to finish reading it.

That book is interwoven with Taylor's narrative and anyone who has ever read a book ever knows there's a reason for that, ESPECIALLY considering there is so much mystery surrounding Taylor's parents and the dates line up...but I'll let you discover all of that when you read the book. Fortunately for me, there was enough intrigue to keep me reading despite the fact that I just wasn't getting the book. And then suddenly, I don't know, a little after two hundred pages in things started gelling in a big way (and the focus shifts from the territorial wars in what is a very smart element of the structure of this book, but I digress)

I couldn't put the book down at that point and I ended up WEEPING through the final pages and feeling big things. And then I proceeded to rave about it and admit my first impressions were wrong etc.

Part of the reason I think Jellicoe Road is so hard to understand at first is because Taylor doesn't understand herself. She's prickly and guarded and the reader finds themselves held at a bit of a distance and everything focusing on WARS because Taylor is in a war and fighting is what she knows best. But as Taylor slowly starts to put together the pieces of the past and gets to know the people around her and opens herself up to love, the book also softens. It's...god I know that sounds so cheesy but it's really rather beautiful.

Part of why I love this book so much is because it hits one of my favorite things to be explored in any story--close relationships formed with people that function as family. I love stories about community and friends, really close friends that become like a family and Jellicoe Road has that. And like The Sparrow it's utterly heartbreaking, and yet completely beautiful. Sometimes it just so happens in life that you fall in love with people, not romantically just in everything they are and the you that you are with them, but if you take one person out of that equation things change. Things can never stay the same but it can affect your whole life anyway. It burns true on the pages of Jellicoe Road and it's sad, but beautiful and good, too.

And Taylor gets answers and she gets a new look at life and just read it okay? It's good stuff. (There's a romance, too)

Some pretty quotes:
"My body becomes a raft and there's this part of me that wants just literally to go with the flow. To close my eyes and let it take me. But I know sooner or later I will have to get out, that I need to feel the earth beneath my feet, between my toes--the splinters, the bindi-eyes, the burning sensation of hot dirt, the sting of cuts, the twigs, the bites, the heat, the discomfort, the everything. I need desperately to feel it all, so when something wonderful happens, the contrast will be so massive that I will bottle the impact and keep it for the rest of my life."

"I remember love. It's what I have to keep on reminding myself. It's funny how you can forget everything except people loving you. Maybe that's why humans find it so hard getting over love affairs. It's not the pain they're getting over, it's the love."

Rating: 5/5
Things You Might Want to Know: I think there's some profanity. Oh and a little sex but nothing explicitly described.
Source of Book: Bought it
Publisher: HarperTeen

Review: How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr

How to review this book? When I finished it I was almost certain I wouldn't try because I just really really loved it and any description felt like it would be lacking. But alas, when I asked which books you'd be most interested in hearing about this is the one most of you picked.

How to Save a Life is a dual narrative book. It is both Jill's story and Mandy's story and how their stories intersect and what that ends up meaning for them. Jill's father died in a car crash and he was the parent she was closest to. And she was really close to him, and she's still grieving. It upset everything in her life and she hasn't been able to quite get back to normal. And now her mom wants to adopt a baby. It was something she and Jill's father always planned to do and now her mom, Robin, really wants to make it happen. She connects with Mandy via an internet forum and they reach an agreement. Mandy is a little bit different in her requests, she has really special circumstances, but Robin agrees to them. And so Mandy gets on a train and comes to live with Robin and Jill until her baby is born.

Jill does not want this at all, she doesn't want her mom to adopt another baby and she's not ready to have Mandy come live with them. So she's really resistant and prickly and things are tense between her and Robin. Meanwhile, she's still in an on again/off again relationship with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend, Dylan, knew her dad and it's just kind of hard for them to let each other go, even though it's pretty clear from the start of the book that's something that needs to happen. And Dylan knows about Mandy and actually really connects with her which increases the tension in their relationship.

Mandy is lying about a lot of things and as those things come up, tension increases. Jill wants to know the truth about Mandy and enlists a friend, this new guy she met, to help. As the truth comes out, everyone is forced to a crisis point where a decision must be made.

This book you guys....it's so good. Please please ignore that it sounds like an after school special in description. It's so deep and true and beautiful and heartfelt. The characters feel so freaking real, I don't exactly know how Zarr does it, but Jill especially I felt like I knew so well, she was just so...ugh repetition, but REAL to me. I liked Jill a lot as a character because while she was flawed and sometimes cruel and selfish, she was also really self-aware and in a lot of pain. She pushes away the people who are kind to her, the people she most wants to be close to and she even knows she's doing it and it's wrong but she doesn't know how to stop and that's something I can really relate to. And she works in a bookstore! So of course she's really cool. And I felt so so much for Mandy, her story is totally heartbreaking. For how well Jill knows herself, Mandy doesn't know herself AT ALL. She lives her life by the terrible advice her mother gave her which all pretty much centered around how she could make herself useful and attractive to a man. If a man didn't take notice of her or love her than certainly she had no worth. So she's always thinking about the things her mother said and she's just so hungry to be loved and so desperately lonely and it's just the saddest thing ever and leads her to throw herself at people who don't really care about her. And she had this one night stand with a boy, and he treated her really well and she cared about him and she thinks her baby might have been conceived then..in love. On the best night of her life. And that's why she's keeping it. (the other option of who the father is easy to guess after just a few pages of the book)

But as Mandy sees the family Robin and Jill have she starts to wish for it for herself. She starts to think about her baby and she starts to get (rightfully) angry that she doesn't have the power to choose the life for herself that she really wants. Robin gets to make all the decisions because she has the money and she had all the love.

And Jill starts to fall for this new guy and she feels this thing every time she's around him, like this feeling of home and later on she realizes it's chemistry and I just loved loved loved that description of chemistry so much I had to mention it in my review.

How to Save a Life is this beautiful near perfect story about the pain we carry around inside us and the way that pain can be turned into something else, something life saving and live giving when we come together as people. It's about how we save each other, how there is always hope that we can save each other when we learn how to just reach out. This book is just overflowing with hope--urgent, beautiful, surprising hope waiting to just reach out and grab your heart, wrap its fingers all around it and never let go.

Read also my review of Once was Lost

Rating: 5/5
Things You Might Want to Know: mild profanity
Source of Book: ARC received from publisher
Publisher: Little, Brown




Affiliate Links are used in this post.

Review: This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

Zombie stories can be about any number of things...I mean sure they are about zombies, but usually the zombies are just a device used to tell some other more human story. Some books are more successful at this than others for sure. When I first read Courtney Summers new book was about zombies I was surprised and pleased. I enjoy zombie stories. A lot. And I also I love Summers' books. She depicts the inner world of her protagonists better than most authors I know, I always feel what they feel. And her books are tightly plotted, can't put em down stories full of intensity so a zombie book seemed perfect.

And I was right! I loved This is Not a Test, a zombie story that is about living. The will to live, the desire to live, the purpose and meaning of living. Not it's not a heavy philosophical book at all, it's just a very grounded story about a teenage girl who is happening to live through the zombie apocalypse, an event that pales in comparison to the kind of pain she is already living with on a daily basis.

Sloane is at home just trying to survive her abusive father when it happens. The world has gone to the zombies. A few days later the action picks up again and she's with a group of other students from her high school and they've managed to make it back to their...high school. (in other news, Sunnydale High was built on the Hellmouth y'all) But the high school is actually a really good place to go, there's tons of food and other resources, such as running water from the water tank and heavy furniture to blockade the doors. Sloane doesn't really know the other students that well...she once spent the night at Grace's house when she was younger, a night she often thinks of as perfect, because Grace had the perfect family she wanted. One of the boys once dated her older sister, Lily, who left Sloane behind six months ago. Sloane dealing with Lily leaving and what that meant to her as a person is a huge story line in the book. Otherwise, she doesn't know them that well and the days it took them to get in the high school led to some regrettable circumstances so tensions are high. Two groups from among the students, with divided loyalties.

So you have the outer, "surviving the zombies" story line going on, and then you also have Sloane's inner story. Sloane isn't actually sure she wants to live anymore, she's still grappling with the truth that her sister left her behind with their abusive father six months prior, and she's all alone. And she envies Grace and her twin brother Trace for their closeness and for anyone who has someone to live for, because Sloane doesn't actually know what she should be living for. She wants to die. And she tries to make that happen at one point in the book which leads to a whole bunch of stuff happening that CHANGES EVERYTHING FOREVER.

This is a book about zombies, and yet it's not. It's exciting and moving and it feels so real life. Anyone who has ever been lonely or felt betrayed by someone they loved or come to see someone they depended on in an entirely different way will relate to Sloane's story. It's about growing up and taking ownership of your own life. And there's all this other cool stuff in it, too, about the way we use people for our own survival. The characters in This is Not a Test take big risks and they get their hands dirty. They do "bad" things to get by and while they have to live with the weight of that, it doesn't make them irredeemable forever.

The book is fast paced, the emotions are real, it's everything I've come to expect from Courtney Summers. I'm just sad I have to wait so long of her next book, All the Rage.

This is Not a Test comes out in June, but you can preorder it now. (affiliate link)

Rating: 4.75/5
Things You Might Want to Know: profanity and sex..kind of.
Source of Book: Review copy via netgalley
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Read also my review of Fall for Anything and Some Girls Are

Review: The Survival Kit by Donna Freitas

Life was fragile and love was too. At any moment, even our happiest ones, our world could shatter and we wouldn't see it coming. There was only more loss ahead, showing its ugly face when we least expected it. The Rose I became when my mother died, the girl who didn't want to see people, who couldn't have fun, who didn't want to be touched, who refused her friends' help--the Rose I was before Will--was pulling me down again, an anchor tied to my legs, permanent and unforgiving, denying any effort I made to get away. I thought I had lost her but I was mistaken.

I loved Donna Freitas's This Gorgeous Game and since she is another one of those Catholic writers (but this book has nothing to do with faith whatsoever so don't be put off if you're not into that like I am) I'm drawn to I was pleased to learn she had a new book out. But I did not learn about this from book blogs, what happened there? I only learned about it by accident because I was looking her up on Amazon for another purpose. Anyway, I expected to enjoy the book, what I did not expect was to love it as completely and purely as I did. This Gorgeous Game was good, but The Survival Kit is everything that makes reading worthwhile.

Rose's mom died unexpectedly of cancer...sort of. She'd had cancer before so they always sort of knew it could come back, but it came back quickly. And Rose's life was overturned and ever since her mother died, she feels like she died too. She's distant from her boyfriend, she can't listen to music, she can't do the activities she used to love because she's grieving and she feels like she's lost herself. And then she finds that her mom has left behind a survival kit for her, like the survival kits she used to make for the parents of her kindergarten students. The kits holds several items to help Rose through her grief. The purpose of the items isn't obvious, and Rose's mom tells her in a note to use her imagination.

And so Rose starts with the items and tries to figure out their purpose and how they can help her. And that leads to new opportunities for her and introduces her to new people, and gives her courage to make decisions that were difficult for her to make before, decisions she needs to make. And it's not...easy, but the kit takes her a journey towards beginning to heal and maybe find a life again.

And I look at that description and I think...gosh it sounds so cliche but this book is so deeply moving, it's so heartfelt, it's bursting in every word with hope and love and tenderness, I have no way to express how beautiful it is. I sat in the sunshine and read it and I felt things...like the stirrings of hope in my own heart, like the desire to embrace life in it's finest moments or better yet, to find those more meaningful moments in life.

Also it's romantic in the best possible way. The romance is convincing and feels so high school but in a really good way, and it's also not the entire point of the book which makes it even better, it's a wonderful part of a journey for Rose. And Rose is of course likable but not without her flaws. Some of her own struggles and shortcomings become apparent with the struggles over her father's alcoholism and some of the story line with her brother. But it's all so understandable.

I just can't recommend The Survival Kit enough, especially if you are looking for good contemporary YA, this is pretty much as good as it gets. It's not sentimental or cliche or trite. It is instead, life affirming, deeply felt, and honestly hopeful. It's not only a tale about grieving and healing, but also about finding the person you were meant to be all along.

Rating: 5/5
Source of Book: Bought it
Publisher: FSG

Review: Irises by Francisco X. Stork

"Love is not just what we are obligated to do. It is not just what we have to do. Love is also what we want to do. It is what we have to do and what we want to do with all the power of our being."

The start of 2012 found me in Kentucky helping my grandma sort through and pack up her belongings. It was an emotionally intense week and I was reading The Beautiful and Damned which was a book that required me to concentrate more than I usually do when I read, and on top of that I was having trouble sleeping. One night I finally got to sleep and immediately began to dream about Anthony and Gloria. Thankfully, I managed to somehow wake myself up from this nightmare and decided instantly I needed to start another book. I chose Irises thinking that it would be a good change of pace. This was a faulty assumption in many ways, because while The Beautiful and Damned was requiring brain power, Irises engaged my heart and emotions in a powerful way. I fell deeply into the book, and did not feel like I was exactly getting any recreational break in my reading!

Irises is about two sisters, Kate and Mary, whose father dies and leaves them in an uncertain predicament. Their mother is in a permanent vegetative state and requires a lot of care. Kate has dreams about her future that might be coming true but they hang in the balance with their uncertain future. Her boyfriend wants her to marry him, Mary will still be in high school, and there's no money. Adding to their stresses, their father was a minister and the church needs them to move out of the parsonage so that the new pastor can move in.

Both Kate and Mary are well defined characters. I felt like I knew who they were early on in my reading, Mary is the sensitive sister who is also an artist...and also the sister more likely to subjugate her own desires for her family. Very early in the book, for example, she has to miss a trip to the museum for her sister. And Kate kind of takes it for granted, not realizing it's one of the few things Mary finds joy in. And Kate is the more ambitious older sister, who is sort of rebelling against what the people in her world want for her. She's driven and desperate to leave behind the town she grew up in. And I have to say about a third of the way through the book, I really loved Mary and felt annoyed by Kate, but then I read this thought provoking blog post about female image and identity by Julie Clawson that made me rethink how I was reacting to Mary and Kate. But I also think this is something Stork wants the reader to consider as well, because as the story progresses Kate wrestles with whether or not wanting something for herself is being selfish and just how she can make the right decisions out of love.

Before he passes away, her father talks to her and tells her that he wanted her to be strong but that he's now worried he took it too far and that while she can withstand the blows life may throw her, what cost will it come at for her? He's worried about her soul, but he reminds her that love makes everything that is heavy light. He's not as worried about Mary, and Kate agrees with him, because it seems that faith was in Mary's blood. This conversation sets the stage for the journey Kate goes on through this book, and she returns many times to puzzle over the things her father said to her.

Kate has been in a long term relationship, but she's drawn to the new minister. He's young, handsome, and charismatic. The first sermon he gives after her father passes away is about truth and how he always promises to tell them truth. He goes on to say that to love is to sacrifice. Kate feels this sermon land on her which was one of my favorite parts because this isn't Christian fiction! "Kate remained very still. She saw Reverend Soto's eyes fall on her again, and for a moment she felt as if he had spoken directly to her, as if the whole sermon had been meant for her, urging acceptance of a truth that was unlike any truth she had ever heard." And it was like an instant change for Kate like it would be in Christian fiction, but she pulls this sermon in and begins to engage with this idea. So things are happening, Kate's boyfriend wants to marry her, but she's not sure she wants that at all and their aunt is visiting and pushing for them to get things worked out and refusing to stay with them. And Kate's been accepted to Stanford but she has to decide how she's going to go when their mother's care is such a huge burden on them. And that's when she starts to think that maybe they should let their mother go. But this is a decision she can't make on her own, and so she brings it to Mary.

And Mary is stuck, she can't paint since her mother's accident because she can no longer see the light in people in order to paint them, so she's lost the thing that makes her happiest. And she desperately wants to hold her family together and she's searching out solutions on her own for what can be done. And it's easy to feel super sympathetic towards her, she's younger and less in control in her life and artsy and I feel like her best friend Renata is the built-in cheerleader for her. Which is good because Kate DOES overlook her needs. One of the things I think is well done is how Mary is the one who finds her father, and lets his soul go. She knows what needs to be done, but the actual letting go is so hard. But Mary's willingness to hold on or to sacrifice her own desires for her mother are not necessarily framed as the best thing. And she also strikes up a friendship with a boy that sets a really nice contrast to the decisions she has to make herself. Between Mary holding on and suppressing her own wishes and Kate trying to figure out how to fulfill her own desires you have the perfect story for exploring what love really is.

So you have these two stories going on at the same time about these two sisters and how they are trying to figure out what to do about their futures and they are wrestling with the ideas of what's expected from them and what they actually want and need. And the book, in my opinion, does a really great job of probing into these questions about love and sacrifice and what makes someone selfish. Is there a way to love someone and do what's best for them and yourself at the same time when those things feel completely at odds? And there's also, of course, the idea of letting go and moving on and doing really hard things to give yourself freedom. And the conclusion friends, is very moving and freeing and beautiful and I cried. I loved this book a stinking lot. It's a beautiful story about finding hope and love in even in difficult and painful circumstances.

I should add this link to this post by the editor because she talks about some of the other things that might be interesting to some of you such as writing across identity and economic diversity in YA.

Rating: 4.75 (for structure, characters, themes, execution, pacing, etc. I want to give it 5 but the prose was a little choppy and at times distracting)
Things You Might Want to Know: Maybe a brief description of sex
Source of Book: ARC requested for review when I found out they were pastor's daughters
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine (Scholastic)

Review: LoveSick by Jake Coburn

I started LoveSick right before the end of the year because I wanted to read a book I was fairly certain would not become a favorite and miss out on my favorite books of the year list. I know it's wrong to head into a book with so much prejudice, but in this case it actually worked because I enjoyed it much much more than I thought I would*.

LoveSick is about two young college students who each have a huge demon they are battling in the form of an addiction. Ted is a recovering alcoholic. His alcoholism led to a drunk driving accident that ruined his life via an injury that would keep him from a basketball scholarship. Erica is a wealthy girl who is battling bulimia. Her father is very controlling and when Erica insists on going to college on her own, he devises a plan to hire someone to keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't return to binging and purging.

He hires a private consultant who locates Ted and offers to pay his way to college completely in exchange for keeping an eye on Erica. Ideally the situation shouldn't require Ted to do much except look for alarming signs that Erica is relapsing, and in exchange, he'll be able to attend college after all.

I'm pretty sure you can guess where the story is going. Ted goes to school but soon finds himself in a surprising friendship with Erica. And he feels more for her than friendship. He starts to feel guilt ridden about what he's doing. And Erica really likes Ted, too, she likes him more than she's ever liked anyone. After this is established, the story escalates in ways that feel REALLY BIG for the quieter story it felt like before. I guess I can understand the reasoning behind it, but to be honest it was my least favorite part of the book. Still, when you are messing around with big money, bad things are bound to happen.

I really loved the characters in LoveSick I thought both Ted and Erica were well developed and their individual struggles with their addictions fleshed out. The scenes where Erica is binging were just..I don't know described so well. She would carefully plan each second of her activity, from where she would buy her food, to the kind she would get, and the rush she would feel. Even in its nitty gritty horrific details, I could really feel the pull and hold it had over her. And I liked that she had a complicated view of herself, that she struggled with both wanting to be free from the shackles of worrying about how others saw her, to the reality that she wasn't. For example, I loved this part:

"Erica skipped hurriedly past his eyeline and then paused outside the door to the bathroom. She couldn't decide if she was embarrassed by her messy ponytail, or her swollen pores, but she suddenly felt like turning into the bathroom and meticulously inspecting herself." (She spends some time then trying to figure out what to do and talking herself into the fact that only she has a right to judge herself when..."Ten feet from the lounge, Erica realized she'd instinctively refastened her ponytail, and it infuriated her. Reaching again for the elastic, she yanked it from her hair.

Erica continues to meet her therapist from home, but because she doesn't trust him quite yet, or her father, she meets him in online chess games to chat about her life. The therapist is really endearing, but I loved how she described Ted to him at first, and how she didn't want the things Ted had done to be what defined him to anyone else.


DrMTRudas: Then how would you describe the 'real' Ted to me?
ep149846: i don't know...i guess i feel like i can be my alone self with him
DrMTRudas: I think that's a contradiction in terms, Erica.
ep149846: you know how you can't really feel like you know yourself unless you're alone....cause there're a million eyes on your or people telling you what to do or say or think...cause people are like static for the soul
DrMTRudas: I'm following you.
ep149846: well with a real person i can be myself around them...my alone self

I also really liked Ted and his struggle with the morality of what he was doing and his growing feelings for Erica. I never doubted that he wanted the best for Erica, but at the same time this money they were giving him represented his last real chance. His roommate drinks a lot, and Ted is never unaware of the temptation. He even thinks to himself that he could outdrink him, when his roommate looks down on him for not partying like everyone else. His emails with the private consultant who hired him are hilarious and reveal his level of discomfort with what's he's doing.

To be clear, when the truth comes out Ted faces the consequences of his actions. Ted and Erica don't save each other, the narrative holds that change can only happen when the individual is ready. But they do provide friendship and understanding for each other in a time when they don't have it anywhere else.

So while the plot is not all that original, I enjoyed LoveSick for the characters and the realistic depiction of their addictions.

Rating: 4.25/5
Things You Might Want to Know: Profanity
Source of Book: Paperbackswap
Publisher: Speak (Penguin)

*Jake Coburn writes for Gossip Girl and I never like his episodes they often include problematic elements and are sometimes offensive. I do not understand how the person that wrote the LoveSick characters gets the Gossip Girl characters and their issues so wrong though. Also, he's a recovering addict himself according to his website.

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

Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why was a big hit, a book people talked about for a long time and still talk about. I enjoyed it myself and thought it made a great book club read since there was a lot to discuss. So this new book, The Future of Us that he co-wrote with Carolyn Mackler got a lot of attention. To be honest, I didn't know much about the book except for that I wanted to read it and I was thrilled to get it for Christmas.

The premise of the book is very interesting, Emma gets an AOL CD ROM in 1996 and when she logs in, Facebook pops up. Of course, there is no Facebook yet, so at first she and her friend Josh are really perplexed by what's going on...is it a prank? But of course it can't be a prank, Josh thinks. Who would prank the future and talk about what people were fixing for dinner? (which LOL). They quickly become addicted to seeing their future, though, and surprised when choices they make in the present affect their future Facebook selves.

Of course there's more to the story....Emma and Josh have been best friends forever and just six months before they discover Facebook-from-the-future Josh misread their situation and believed that Emma wanted more from their relationship than she did. But...she didn't and so things were awkward and strained between them until Facebook came along. Sharing the Facebook secret brings them closer together again and forces both of them to examine what they really want from their lives.

I found this book to be utterly compulsive reading, once I started reading I didn't want to stop! Of course the idea of having the option to know your Facebook status in several years is really really appealing...but I think there was something else at work here...Emma was just a couple of years ahead of where I was in school so there was just tons of nostalgia. It was like reading a YA book about my youth! AOL! (lol I was always meant for the internet I got grounded from using it when we first got it because I always ran up the charges and I was kicked off AOL and forced to only use the free juno email. OMG the days! Thank god it's limitless now!), phone cards!, having a cell phone being a novelty!, Dave Matthews and Greenday! plus I mean I think it's obvious this is a story about best friends realizing they want to be more and so it was a fun love story from that respect, too.

It was also interesting to read how Josh and Emma dealt with learning surprising things from the future about the people they loved...things that very much affected the present and the way they saw their friends. The book is told in alternating viewpoints...and Emma first person chapter and then a Josh one. And both Josh and Emma have things they need to learn about themselves that Facebook helps them with.

The Future of Us is just a super fun read, like a window back in time but also a reflection on the value of living in the here and now and making good choices now that will obviously affect your future. I highly recommend it for a fun time.
Notes: What is this cover tbh? Did they not do any market research? Also, Emma is a runner which at first annoyed me b/c I thought it was going to be preachy about getting off the internet and spending more time outside but then that didn't happen. Yay! Rating: 4.5/5 Things You Might Want to Know: um....there might be some profanity? Definitely some talk about teen sex without actually describing anything Source of Book: Christmas present from my wonderful friend Thomas Publisher: Razorbill (Penguin)

Review: Bitter End by Jennifer Brown

Jennifer Brown's debut novel, Hate List, remains one of my favorite contemporary YA novels, and so I was anxiously awaiting her follow-up, Bitter End. Bitter End is certainly a lot different because it's about the devastating pain a single person faces in a relationship, and yet it's also similar to Hate List in that Brown tries to show us the way a relationship ultimately deemed BAD by the outside can at times feel good on the inside.

Alex's mother died when she was young and her dad checked out awhile ago. The closeness she used to share with her sisters is gone, but she does have two friends she's really close with and the three of them have planned a trip to Colorado for ages because that's the last place Alex's mother felt whole before she died. But Alex meets a new boy at school, Cole. Cole is really hot and best of all he's also really into her. They start dating and Alex is really happy. But Cole turns out to be really jealous and slowly starts isolating her from her other friends, he becomes physically violent, and soon Alex has to decide if Cole is ever really going to change or if she can get out the relationship.

This is the second book about an abusive relationship I've read this spring, and while Bitter End is about physical violence and Stay was about emotional abuse, they have some similarities. I think this is a really difficult subject to write about because we all sort of have Lifetime movies versions of domestic violence in our heads. And also, we live in a society that doesn't actually acknowledge much beyond, hitting your girlfriend/wife is bad, you shouldn't let a man treat you that way.

In fact, I was recently reading that women find it very hard to leave abusive relationships and acknowledge that they are IN one because women feel like they are supposed to be strong now and be smarter than letting that happen to them. I think Bitter End touched on this a bit. When Cole first hurts Alex, she absolutely refuses to acknowledge it's abuse. She knows in her head that's exactly what's happened, but it's such a shock to her. This is her relationship and she can't believe it's happening to them. I just found this so realistic and heartbreaking, that feeling when you know that you've isolated yourself from your friends and invested so much in a relationship and it is a sinking ship--it can't last, and yet you hang on. I found this scene, where Alex moves from disbelief to anger to desperation to hold onto Cole to be one of the best in the book.

Alex and Cole's relationship is not all bad. There are ways in which Cole demonstrates his love for Alex in a way she feels no one has cared for her before. I think this is so important, because even the other day in my post about abuse and Gossip Girl someone left a comment that there's no love in abusive relationships, and it's just not true.

If I had one complaint, it would be that it was hard for me to buy Cole as romantic. Brown shows some of his warning signs up front and so I was less invested. I knew what the book was about, therefore I didn't feel the same things as Alex felt them. Having said that, I still really felt for Alex a lot and found Bitter End to be emotionally honest and true.

Rating: 4.5/5
Things You Might Want to Know: Profanity
Source of Book: ARC received from publisher
Publisher: Little, Brown

Review: OyMG by Amy Fellner Dominy

Ellie Taylor loves debate and public speaking and is really excited to go to a summer program that will both help her develop her skills and also earn a chance for a scholarship at a private school with an excellent program. She's Jewish and the camp is Christian, but open to people of all faith. So she doesn't think it will be a big problem, even though her grandfather is upset she's doing this.

Once she gets to camp though, she faces an obstacle. She really likes this guy, Devon, who happens to be the grandson of the woman who provides the scholarship. And he really likes her, too, but he suggests she downplay the fact that she's Jewish. Ellie surprised, but she does it. Soon, though, she's going to have to make a decision about whether or not it's worth it to her to stand up for her faith, even if it means losing her scholarship.

I really enjoyed OyMG. It reminded me a lot of being a teenager and being a Christian and never knowing how open I wanted to be about that. I really think that this book will be relateable to anyone of faith who has been uncomfortable outing themselves. And I think it may be even more interesting for people of a minority faith.

I really liked that Ellie's faith was genuine. She really believed in God and thought about his place in her life. This wasn't an issue of just her family's faith, but her own which was important and dear to her. Even so there was definitely family pressure. And I could also really understand Devon's point-of-view as well. It's hard to be a few generations younger and figure out how to deal with our grandparents and parents, racism, homophobia, etc. It's so easy to assume we somehow know better about everything, and to figure out how to approach these things with the humility of less life lived, but the conviction of our beliefs can be a point of struggle.

There's a part in the book where Ellie goes to church with Devon's family that I loved, as she tries to find ways to connect her belief with theirs. She thinks about God during this part,
"I closed my eyes. The choir had started a song, but the music faded in my head as I pictured God. When I was little, I always though of him sitting in heaven on a chair, like Abraham Lincoln in his Washington Monument. Even though I knew it wasn't really like that, I still pictured him that way, right down to the beard."*

I couldn't believe it. That is exactly how I pictured God for years, sitting on a chair like Abraham Lincoln. I'm not exactly sure why this would be so common, maybe because we don't have many images of kings on thrones in the States as part of our history, maybe because Abraham Lincoln is as close as we come to someone deeply revered in our national history, a bit of a king or god to us. But I loved this, because the conceptualization of God is something we don't often talk about, and yet it's something that was a huge part of being a young person growing up in an environment where everything was rooted in faith. Something deeply personal.

I really enjoyed OyMG, I think it's another excellent example of how YA books manage to honestly explore the role of faith in our lives without resorting to preachiness or condemnation. It's also just a fun and cute read.

Rating: 4.25/5
Source of Book: *ARC provided by publisher
Publisher: Walker

Review: Abandon by Meg Cabot

World! I know Meg Cabot is a dearly loved author, twice nominated for BBAW's Best Author Blog Award and I have personally quite loved her blog for some time. But I had never read any of her books, so when I was invited to read Abandon, I thought, sure why not? Plus it's paranormal (well kind of) which I can really enjoy (and other times not enjoy)

Abandon is the story of Pierce a seventeen year old girl who had a near death experience when she was fifteen years old. She was whisked to the Underworld where she met John. John gave her a mysterious necklace that alerts her to when evil is around and when she fought to go back to the living and he let her or she was resuscitated or something, I wasn't exactly clear. In any case the diamond necklace alerts her to danger (the FURIES) and John is a constant presence.

Some bad things have happened to people around Pierce and now she's all suspicious of John and the necklace. Her mother has moved her back to the island where she grew up and there's a creepy cemetery there and also some creepy customs and I JUST REALIZED THIS REVIEW IS ALL OVER THE PLACE. I think that's because the book felt a bit all over the place to me. This was definitely a book setting up a series and while sometimes I don't particularly mind those, in this case I was pretty bored. This is a retelling of Persephone, and Pierce's backstory was like a big info dump and there wasn't any forward moving plot until the last 50 pages or so.

It's also a classic paranormal story in many ways, John, this death deity, is who knows how old, but for some unknown reason he's in love with Pierce. He's dark and mysterious, oozing sexual chemistry, and protective to the point of killing other people. We've heard this one before.

Also, I always thought Meg Cabot was more about the humor. She has such a light touch in her blog entries and so I assumed her books would be similar and while that is definitely going on in Abandon, it's not enough to save it and feels oddly out of place in a book about death and dying and the underworld.

Ultimately, this is a well written book but it's not all that unique, and I found it kind of boring. You may feel differently.

Rating: 3/5
Source of Book: Provided by publicist
Publisher: Point (Scholastic)



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Review: Sean Griswold's Head by Lindsey Leavitt

Payton Gritas discovers her father has a life altering disease and that her family has been keeping it a secret from her for months. She's scared and completely unable to deal with it, so her guidance counselor suggests she choose something else to focus on, and by focusing on something else she'll eventually be able to come to terms with this life changing information. Payton struggles to choose something as her focus object and eventually settles on the head of the boy who sits in front of her in biology class, Sean Griswold.

I'm pretty sure you can guess what happens...the more Payton focuses on him, the more she grows to like him, and it's all pretty awesome because he's a great guy who helps her deal with her problems and grow as a person. These are the kind of romances I like to read, and the kind I especially like to find in YA...healthy relationships that are still romantic and sweet and free of any soulmate burden..just a guy and a girl that like each other in that special way and get along and make each other better.

But lest you think this is only a romance, it's not. This is really about Payton and how she comes to term with life--the risk of loss in love and dealing with this new illness of her father's and growing up and making amends to her friends and family when she hurts them and learning to see that people are more than the image they project. It's a really sweet and positive book and I enjoyed reading it so much. Also, Payton is a girl athlete! She's both a basketball player and she takes up cycling in the book.

If you enjoy sweet contemporary romances in YA, then I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy Sean Griswold's Head.

Rating: 4.25/5
Source of Book: ARC sent for review
Publisher: Bloomsbury

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Review: Clarity by Kim Harrington and Giveaway

Clarity, who goes by Clare, has the gift of seeing the past when she touches an object. It's not an entirely reliable gift, she can't always force it to work, but when it does work, it's right on. For the most part, Clarity uses her gift to help run the family business..her mother can read thoughts, and her brother can talk to the dead. They live in a tourist town and work during the summer months.

But then someone is murdered in their safe little haven of a town and Clare is called on to assist with the investigation in an unofficial compacity. This is a little bit thrilling for her because the new detective's son is all kinds of hot and she has a thing for him. But it's also complicated because she's working with her ex-boyfriend-who-still-loves-her as well. This sets up a bit of triangle, but that's not the focus of the book, the mystery is truly the main focus.

Things become further complicated when she discovers her brother slept with the victim on the night of her death. He's terrified of being found suspect and Clare even finds herself suspecting his innocence. She's more desperate than ever to find the real killer.

I enjoyed Clarity, and thought it was a fun read. I liked Clare, I thought the love triangle was nicely done and well set-up with believable conflict, and even though I guessed the killer halfway through the book, I still enjoyed the journey.

There are a couple of times Clare's gifts are touched upon and the consequences they have--the way they interfere with what would normally happen in life and relationships. I'd love to see this conflict explored more deeply and the consequences it has on Clare as both an individual and her relationships. I'm hoping that the later books in the series will do this. I'm pretty sure this is a series as the love triangle remains unresolved and several plot points were set in motion to indicate more of the story would be coming.

Rating: 4/5
Things You Might Want to Know: a bit of crass language
Source of Book: Review copy
Publisher: Point (Scholastic)

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Trailer

Review: Darkest Mercy by Melissa Marr

I remember when I first read Wicked Lovely. I was so skeptical--a book about fey? A YA book? I thought neither of those things would be appealing to me. But I let the positive blurbs convince me. Oh how I loved it!

I've been a huge fan since then and I can't overstate what these books did for my reading life. They threw open the door to all of the YA I would grow to love. The best part, though, is that there were FOUR more books to come! I've loved them all, all of them. I adore the world of Huntsdale and it's fey, love the characters, love the themes. So it was not without a little sadness that I approached Darkest Mercy. First, can we all agree that the cover is stunning? It really gave me high hopes that the series would end well. And those hopes were well founded, the series ended brilliantly.

THE REST ASSUMES YOU HAVE READ THE FIRST FOUR BOOKS

By this point, four books, two short stories, and two manga in we have a really well developed world and many characters. A lot has happened and I've always been impressed with the way Marr tells a single story while pushing forward the overarching tale. There's a lot of tension and drama that has built up and a lot of characters that need some sense of resolution to their stories. So Darkest Mercy really had a tall order to fill.

Thankfully we get to see most of the characters we've grown to love to some degree in Darkest Mercy. I would say that this book focuses primarily on Seth and Aislinn and Keenan and Donia, bringing us full circle which is incredibly appropriate for the way the series has been structured. There is, luckily for me, a fair bit of time spent in the Dark Court, as well, with Niall.

Things ended dramatically in Radiant Shadows as you may recall, with the formation of the Shadow Court and the closing of Faerie from the mortal world. Banananch attacked and Irial is in dire shape. Niall is overwhelmed with grief. Things are out of balance, Banananch is gaining power, and no one's happy in their love life!

The events unfold with a sense of dread..a new guy is in town and his name is Death. And that's all I'll say about that, but the lingering presence of doom, the gathering threat of war, gives the narrative a stronger sense of urgency than ever before. The same conflicts that have always existed are becoming so important as to force our characters into decision points that have permanent consequences. And yes, sacrifices will be made.

This is the kind of book you race through because you must know what will happen, and yet, when I finished I wished I could discover the series all over again for the first time. I love this world and always wish I could get more of it, which is the very best compliment I know to give a series of books. It sets my imagination on fire and I love the characters. And yes of course there's romance, the same strong romantic tension and conflict and angst that is part of the reason I adore these books so.

I loved Darkest Mercy, was sorry to see it end, but I'm so thankful it ended well. I have every one of these books in hardcover in my permanent collection. It was a smart investment--they are beautiful books and now I can revisit them whenever I want.

Rating: 5/5
Things You Might Want to Know: profanity, and a fair bit of sexual behavior though nothing explicit
Source of Book: Received ARC from publisher but also pre-ordered hardcover
Publisher: Harper

My reviews of Ink Exchange, Fragile Eternity, Stopping Time and Old Habits, Radiant Shadows, and the first manga, Wicked Lovely: Desert Tales.



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Review: Fallen Grace by Mary Hooper

Grace and her sister Lily are among the most poor in Victorian London, struggling to survive day to day. After having a bad experience in a home for girls, they are determined to avoid ending up in a workhouse. A series of completely unfortunate events befall them, however, and they find themselves more and more desperate. When a local funeral and mourning company offers to give them employment, Grace sees it as a kind of charity and doesn't probe beneath the surface to discover what ulterior motives might exist.

Fallen Grace is a lot different from I think of most YA as being--it focuses on Grace and Lily and they are both very poor. Also it's very much historical fiction. Hooper really manages to get you to sympathize with the characters quite early--there's a scene where Lily is being swindled that just made me so uncomfortable to read. I hate reading about characters making obviously poor decisions that will cost them in the long run. It's hard not to care for Grace who is so deeply burdened with trying to protect and care for her sister and herself as well, and who is taken advantage of at every turn.

The story is very engaging and the setting quite lively. I couldn't help but feel the same sort of desperation as Grace and Lily and hope that things would take a turn for the better. And while times do indeed get quite dark, they certainly don't stay that way forever. Recommended for fans of historical fiction and books like The Good Thief.

Rating: 4.5/5
Source of Book: ARC received from publisher
Publisher: Bloomsbury