Freefall by Mindi Scott

Freefall by Mindi Scott

Synopsis:
How do you come back from the point of no return? Seth McCoy was the last person to see his best friend Isaac alive, and the first to find him dead. It was just another night, just another party, just another time where Isaac drank too much and passed out on the lawn. Only this time, Isaac didn’t wake up. Convinced that his own actions led to his friend’s death, Seth is torn between turning his life around . . . or losing himself completely. Then he meets Rosetta: so beautiful and so different from everything and everyone he’s ever known. But Rosetta has secrets of her own, and Seth will soon realize he isn’t the only one who needs saving . . .

Review:
And so continues my love affair with debut authors. Mindi Scott strikes gold with her first novel, a beautiful contemporary book with a fantastic male protagonist. I decided to read the book after taking part in a chat with Mindi and genuinely being smitten with her and I was equally smitten with Freefall.

While Mindi oozes sweetness in her vlogs and tweets, her writing is full of angst and guilt and pain in the best possible way. Seth is broken, he found his best friend dead, he is drinking and doing drugs, about to fail out of school and has very little regard for life but he is able to turn it all around and going on the journey with him is very enjoyable.

Scott never hides from any of the painful emotions, drinking or drug use. Instead, she describes all of Seth’s vices with a beauty that allows the reader to feel empathy for him. When Seth meets Rosetta he begins to turn his life around but what I loved is that Scott doesn’t write a typical “good girl swoops in and rescues bad boy” book. Instead, she gives Seth other motivations to improve his life, including a great class and teacher, good friends and a supportive, although unorthodox, mother. Seth’s life improvements really come from within and it is because he is already putting in the work that his relationship with Rosetta is enjoyable to read about.
Rosetta has her own issues to deal with but I liked that they didn’t take the focus from the main character, but complimented him perfectly and when all was said and done her issues really weren’t resolved, although it was easy to sense she would get there…someday.

I also think Scott wrote amazingly complex supporting characters, particularly Kendall who is layered, complicated and lovable enough for her own book (hint, hint Mindi! I want a spinoff with Kendall).

Be sure to come back on October 1 when Mindi will stop by for a guest post as part of the Teen Book Scene blog tour! Mindi is also part of the wonderful new group, The Contemps, which I blogged about the other day.

I reviewed this book as part of 1 ARC Tours.

This book goes toward my Summer Break Reading Challenge and 2010 Debut Authors Challenge

Evermore by Alyson Noel (The Immortals #1)

Synopsis:
Since a horrible accident claimed the lives of her family, sixteen-year-old Ever can see auras, hear people’s thoughts, and know a person’s life story by touch. Going out of her way to shield herself from human contact to suppress her abilities has branded her as a freak at her new high school—but everything changes when she meets Damen Auguste… Ever sees Damen and feels an instant recognition. He is gorgeous, exotic and wealthy, and he holds many secrets. Damen is able to make things appear and disappear, he always seems to know what she’s thinking—and he’s the only one who can silence the noise and the random energy in her head. She doesn’t know who he really is—or what he is. Damen equal parts light and darkness, and he belongs to an enchanted new world where no one ever dies.


Review:
I had this book sitting on my shelf for over a year and had never read it. As a book I bought and not one for review it often got passed over. Well I decided it was a perfect day for it by the pool last week and I was correct (and mad at myself for waiting so long to start it).

I really enjoyed this book, I like Ever and I think the book is original and a really fast read. Ever is a great main character with quirky, fun friends and a scarred, haunting past. The fact that she regularly hangs out with her dead sister is really just the tip of the paranormal iceberg in this case.

Her relationship with Damen is somehow romantic, mysterious and frustrating all at the same time. The times they are together are amazing and so much fun to read about but his sketchy disappearing acts and lies kind of made me hate him at times. At the end it all made sense, although the drama in between is incredibly, but there were times early on when I wanted to jump in the story and demand answers. I figure a passionate reaction, even if it is partly frustration, is a good thing when reading. I want something that makes me care about the characters.

The plot is really original and I really didn’t see the ending coming, best of all I put down the book and couldn’t wait to get to the library and get The Immortals #2 Blue Moon. This is a promising start to a series that already has three more in the series available: Blue Moon, Shadowland and Dark Flame. I can already tell this angsty thrill ride is going to be an addiction for me.

This book goes toward my Summer Break Reading Challenge

Tweet Heart by Elizabeth Rudnick (ARC) Tours

Tweet Heart by Elizabeth Rudnick
Synopsis:
Claire is a #hopelessromantic. Lottie is determined to set up her BFF with Mr. Perfect. Will wants his #secretcrush to finally notice him. Bennett is a man with a plan. Claire can’t believe it when her dream guy starts following her on Twitter. She never thought he noticed her, and suddenly he seems to understand her better than almost anyone. But the Twitterverse can be a confusing place, especially when friends act differently online than they do in person. Things get even more complicated when Claire realizes she’s falling for someone else, the last person she ever would have expected…. Told in an innovative format combining tweets, emails, and blogs, Tweet Heart is a contemporary romantic comedy that will set your heart atwitter.

Review:
I really liked this book in theory, not so much in actuality. I really liked the idea of a book written in tweets and blog posts and I loved the look the text, each page set up like a real twitter conversation or fun blog design. However, to make a story written in 160 character blurbs the story has to be pretty simple or it would be too hard to follow, as a result I was a little bored by the story and the one-dimensional characters.

The book definitely had some funny moments and Bennett is a hilarious character and very well written but the simplicity of the novel hurt it, in my opinion. I do think Rudnick has a gift for comedy and I would be really interested to see what she does in a more traditional setting. I will definitely keep an eye out for what she does next, as this is her debut novel.

Now let me be clear, I didn’t hate the book or anything, in fact I found myself laughing and enjoying it but at the end I just felt it was a little too simple and predictable.

I reviewed this book as part of Good Golly Miss Holly's (ARC) Tour
This book goes toward my Summer Break Reading Challenge and 2010 Debut Authors Challenge

Love You, Hate You, Miss You by Elizabeth Scott

Love You, Hate You, Miss You by Elizabeth Scott Summary:

It's been seventy-five days. Amy's sick of her parents suddenly taking an interest in her. And she's really sick of people asking her about Julia. Julia's gone, and Amy doesn't want to talk about it. No one knew Julia like she did. No one gets what life is without her.

No one understands what it's like to know that it's all your fault.

Amy's shrink thinks she should keep a journal but instead, Amy starts writing letters to Julia. And as she writes letter after letter, she begins to realize that the past holds its own secrets--and that the present deserves a chance.

Review:

I hadn’t read a single book by Elizabeth Scott until just last month and now I am reading through her entire catalog at a rapid pace. So far no two are the same and they are all factastic.

The novel opens with Amy being released from rehab and struggling to deal with the guilt she feels over her the death of her best friend, Julia. She takes the journal she is supposed to be keeping and uses it to write letters to Julia. As she remembers more and more about the final weeks leading up to Julia’s death her emotions change constantly, loving, hating and missing her best friend.

The journal entries are interspersed with the main text and it adds an authentic layer to the text.

Amy’s voice is so honest and sarcastic that she makes a great protagonist, even if she is sometimes unreliable. We see everything through her eyes, through her guilt and her alcohol abuse so sometimes it is hard to know if it is the entire truth or her version but I loved every second of that.

Every character in the book, not just Amy and Julia, are incredibly detailed and well rounded. Amy’s well-meaning but self-indulgent parents and the people Amy connects with (or doesn’t) when she goes back to school are all nuanced and deep and make for a well-rounded world.

The novel is striking, authentic and moving and another great read from Elizabeth Scott.

This book goes toward my Summer Break Reading Challenge

The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting Summary:

Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her “power” to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes the dead leave behind in the world . . . and the imprints that attach to their killers.


Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find dead birds her cat had tired of playing with. But now that a serial killer has begun terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he’s claimed haunt her daily, she realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.


Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet on her quest to find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved to find herself hoping that Jay’s intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she’s falling intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer . . . and becoming his prey herself.


Review:

I have no clue why but I seem to absolutely fall in love with debut authors the last two years and The Body Finder quickly added itself to my favorite books of 2010. The book is incredibly original and the best mix of mystery and love story I have read in a while. It is the perfect combination of edge of your seat thrill ride and heart-melting love story and I couldn’t put it down.

Violet has a gift I can’t even begin to imagine dealing with, she can sense dead bodies and also the imprints left on those who have killed. They appear as colors, smells or sounds and every one is different. To me this is the most original paranormal ability that I have come across, and there is a lot of paranormal out there right now. Her ability lands her smack in the middle of a murder investigation but it is hardly her biggest problem.

She is also in love with her best friend Jay and their relationship is so much fun to read about and Jay might be one of the best book boyfriends ever, while still being realistic. He isn’t perfect but he is awesome and incredibly protective of Violet, which is good because she goes off chasing murderers and that can lead to some sticky situations.

I also really like how much the setting of the book plays in to the plot. Mount Rainier and Lake Tapps and all the other locations become another character in the book and it really adds a lot. Derting’s description of them is amazingly well done.

I don’t often talk about covers but I really love this one. I think it is gorgeous and to me it looks like it could be one of the colors of echoes Violet sees on somebody. I also love that the cover for the sequel, Desires of the Dead has been released and it keeps the same theme. So pretty!

This book goes toward my Summer Break Reading Challenge and 2010 Debut Authors Challenge

The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff: Book It Forward ARC Tours

Summary:
Mackie Doyle seems like everyone else in the perfect little town of Gentry, but he is living with a fatal secret – he is a Replacement, left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago. Now the creatures under the hill want him back, and Mackie must decide where he really belongs and what he really wants. A month ago, Mackie might have told them to buzz off. But now, with a budding relationship with tough, wounded, beautiful Tate, Mackie has too much to lose. Will love finally make him worthy of the human world.

Review:
The Replacement is creepy, and let me tell you I mean that in the most praise-worthy way possible. It isn’t like scary movie, hide under the pillow creepy. No it is creepy in a way that draws you in and makes you part of the town so you can literally feel the rain and sense everything Mackie does. Brenna Yovanoff creates a world that is so creepy and realistic it actually made me uncomfortable at times because the descriptions felt so real. She manages to write beautifully about a very ugly world.

I wasn’t sure I was going to like this book base on the description, but I really did think it is an incredibly original and imaginative novel. The first thing I loved is that the protagonist is a male, which I find is so rare in YA (see this post for more on that) and he is a complex, well-rounded character and not some simple stereotype.

Another thing I loved is that Yovanoff created a truly original setting in the town of Gentry. I have never read a book with a setting quite like this town and she did such an incredible job of describing it that I could literally feel like I was in the world. She described every scene using all the senses, I could smell the woodsy leaves she constantly talked about and felt damp and soggy from all the rain. She did an incredible job.

Yovanoff also drops the reader right in to the world and it does take about 90 pages to really figure out who everyone is and how they fit in to the town’s very strange dynamics. There were times early on that I was frustrated and confused but it all came together and became a very cohesive narrative.

Mackie’s supporting cast are also incredibly well-developed and realistic characters, I love his sisters Emma who is so loving and compassionate, his best friend Roswell who is steadfast and loyal and Tate who pushes Mackie toward the truth.

With this complex, original novel Yovanoff has set the bar incredibly high for whatever she comes out with next. I’m convinced she is the female version of Tim Burton and he will jump all over the chance to make this in to a movie.

The Replacement will be released on Sept. 21, 2010.
I reviewed this book as part of the Book It Forward ARC Tour.
This book goes toward my Summer Break Reading Challenge and 2010 Debut Authors Challenge

Summer Break Reading Challenge Activity #9 - Your Book In Pictiures

"A picture is worth a thousand words." We've all heard that quote over the years and now it is time to put it to the test. Here is what you have to do:


1. Think about the book you are reading right now (or one you just finished) and choose key scenes, settings, and characters that would give people a good idea what the story is about.
2. Using the Internet, find pictures to represent those scenes, settings, and characters.
3. Create a blog post using the pictures. Incorporate a little text to help out the reader, but remember, the pictures are the most important aspect of this activity.I chose the Scarlett Wakefield books Kiss Me Kill Me and Kisses and Lies which I just finished and reviewed. The main mystery is that a boy dies while kissing Scarlett and some of the most important clues to his death are an epipen, peanut oil and a designer handbag. The first book is set primarily in London and much of the action in the second book happens in a Scottish castle. Scarlett is a gymnast and it is a very important skill for her and finally the maze is a part of her school, the Wakefield Academy. So there it is, the books in pictures.

See what other images people came up with for the books they are currently reading.

Grace by Elizabeth Scott: Traveling ARC Tours

Grace by Elizabeth Scott
Summary:

Grace was raised to be an Angel, a herald of death by suicide bomb. But she refuses to die for the cause, and now Grace is on the run, daring to dream of freedom.

In search of a border she may never reach, she travels among malevolent soldiers on a decrepit train crawling through the desert. Accompanied by the mysterious Kerr, Grace struggles to be invisible, but the fear of discovery looms large as she recalls the history and events that delivered her uncertain fate.

Review:

I never thought I would pick up a YA book about a suicide bomber and devour it in one sitting. Elizabeth Scott has crafted an incredibly original novel about a young girl born in to the type of ideological war that engulfs so much of the world and makes her story relatable, moving and downright brilliant.

Grace is on a train with a stranger, Kerr, both hiding in plain sight as they try to get to the border and escape their death-filled lives. As the plot moves forward, Scott peels back layer after layer of their pasts and how they have been intertwined for years.

Scott’s writing is minimal and poetic, revealing only the exact details that somehow form the big pictures. This is a piece of art where the whole truly is greater than the sum of its parts.

Grace is engaging and moving enough to be read for pleasure but also smart and insightful enough that I can see it being read in both history and English classes. It has genuine insight in to an all-to-relevant world and an ending that will leave you both hopeful and haunted.

Grace will be released on September 16. ARC was reviewed as part of Traveling ARC Tours.
This book goes toward my Summer Break Reading Challenge

Kisses and Lies by Lauren Henderson

Kisses and Lies by Lauren Henderson

Summary:

After discovering that someone saw what looked like Dan’s emergency EpiPen in A-lister Plum’s designer handbag, Scarlett and her tough American sidekick, Taylor, sneak into a posh London nightclub, where Plum has a private table. Scarlett is stunned to discover a piece of evidence that might implicate another girl in Plum’s exclusive circle, Lucy Raleigh. Which means Scarlett must cast a wider net in order to catch the right suspect.


Back at school, groundskeeper Jase is hoping to take Scarlett’s mind off her troubles with some heart-stopping kisses. Scarlett can’t help but feel guilty for indulging in romantic rendezvous when she should be hunting down Dan’s killer. However, once Scarlett finds out how Lucy is connected to Dan, she knows she must drop everything and travel to the McAndrew estate in Scotland to hunt for more clues. But when she arrives, Scarlett becomes the target of a dangerous hunt herself.


Review:

I was seriously frustrated with the first book of the series, Kiss Me Kill Me but Kisses and Lies fixed all the problems I had with book one. First of all there was a conclusion, the mystery was solved, I know who killed Dan and let me tell you it was a shocker.

Kisses and Lies had all the things I really enjoyed from Kiss Me Kill Me, Scarlett as a great main character, further development of her friends Taylor and Jase, it was fun and well written and then I got what I wanted the first time: plot development.

Scarlett’s trip to Scotland give the story motivation and development that never happened in book one and there is actually a resolution to who killed Dan. The clues from book one are important but we learn so much more in book two and this book could really stand on its own.

Dan’s family has some serious skeletons hidden in the castle and as Scarlett uncovers them and figures out who killed Dan the book is impossible to put down. It is entertaining and suspenseful with just enough humor. And I was totally surprised with who the killer ended up being and what the motivation was

This book goes toward my Summer Break Reading Challenge

Kiss Me Kill Me by Lauren Henderson

Kiss Me Kill Me by Lauren Henderson

Summary:

When 16-year-old Scarlett Wakefield transfers from St. Tabby’s to Wakefield Hall Collegiate, she is relieved that no one knows her dark, haunting secret. A few months ago, Scarlett was invited to an elite party with a guest list full of the hottest names in British society, including Dan McAndrew. Before the party, Scarlett had only imagined what it would be like to have her first kiss with Dan, but on the penthouse terrace, Dan leaned in close and she no longer had to wonder. Their kiss was beautiful and perfect and magical, and then . . . Dan McAndrew took his last breath as she held him in her arms. No one knows how or why Dan died, and everyone at St. Tabby’s believes Scarlett had something to do with it. But now that she’s safely hidden away at Wakefield Hall, Scarlett would rather forget that it ever happened. Only she can’t. Especially when she receives an anonymous note that will set her on the path to clearing her name and finding out what really happened to the first and last boy she kissed.



Review:

I had a hard time with the beginning of this novel but by the end I really loved it. It was a slow start for me, I felt like there was too much background information and not enough action to begin the book, especially since the synopsis tells us what the major conflict is going to be. I really felt like I was half-way through the book and hadn’t really learned anything new or important.

However, once Dan died the story really picked up and I was very interested. Scarlett is a great protagonist, and I love living this story through her. She is funny and brave but realistic enough that going through this ordeal with her is very understandable.

While I loved the characters in the book, and the idea of the story I was really frustrated at the end. I felt like nothing was actually resolved and at the end of the book I knew just about nothing more than I had from the synopsis. Its like this book existed merely as a prequel to Kisses and Lies. I love reading books in a series but the main conflict in this book is never resolved, it is all back story and no action which is really frustrating. Thankfully, I already had the second book in the series so I was able to read them consecutively which made me less angry but if I didn’t I would have been seriously ticked off. My review of the second book will come soon, and I really liked it.

I wanted to really like Kiss Me Kill Me. The writing is great, the characters are great but I was really frustrated with how the plot never amounted to more than the summary on the back of the book.

This book goes toward my Summer Break Reading Challenge

Tell Me A Secret by Holly Cupala

Summary:
Tell me a secret, and I'll tell you one...

In the five years since her bad-girl sister Xanda’s death, Miranda Mathison has wondered about the secret her sister took to the grave, and what really happened the night she died. Now, just as Miranda is on the cusp of her dreams—a best friend to unlock her sister’s world, a ticket to art school, and a boyfriend to fly her away from it all—Miranda has a secret all her own. Then two lines on a pregnancy test confirm her worst fears. Stripped of her former life, Miranda must make a choice with tremendous consequences and finally face her sister’s demons and her own.

Review:
It is very rare that I find a book so engaging that it literally pulls me in to the pages and the world around me stops. In my ridiculously busy schedule I can rarely pick up a book and read it cover to cover in one sitting, life just gets in the way.

However, life had to wait tonight as I started reading Tell Me A Secret and everything else literally disappeared. I didn't eat dinner, I didn't watch the Home Run Derby (if you have ever met me in real life you know this is a HUGE deal), I didn't do anything but read every word of this amazing novel.

Now if you are having trouble following what I am saying, I don't blame you, I am having trouble thinking clearly having finished this book just minutes ago but I will just lay it out there. THIS.BOOK.IS.BEYOND.PERFECT.

Cupala has managed to write a book that is both heartbreaking and full of hope, and impossible to put down. She writes about the secrets of a teenage girl, the trials of a family and how both birth and death can change everything in an instant.

Rand has lost her sister and is now pregnant and still in high school and the journey she takes the reader on is perfectly written. Cupala makes sure we feel every single emotion Rand does, from the happy to the sad to the angry to the heartbreaking, and yes I cried while I read this.

One of my favorite things about the book is that every character has multiple names, and they all represent different parts of their lives. It is in these small details that the book is even more incredible.

Every character, from Rand to her mother to her boyfriend and her best friend, has so many layers and twists that create a depth I've rarely seen in a single novel. It usually takes many books in a series to create the kind of well-rounded characters there are in Tell Me A Secret.

I can make you one promise, you will not be able to put this book down.

I was lucky enough to win a signed copy of this book at Cupala's website but everyone should go buy this book right now. It is a truly original YA novel from an incredibly talented debut author. I can hardly wait for whatever she puts out next.

This book goes toward my Summer Break Reading Challenge and 2010 Debut Authors Challenge

Summer Break Reading Challenge Activity #8

This Activity involves you creating a Read-a-Like List. You can choose any topic/theme that you want and there isn't any specific number of titles required. Just be sure there are enough so it can be considered a list.


Lately I have realized that I have been reading a lot of books set in schools. Now granted, they were both series but I really liked them and the school became a character, which I thought was great. Also, both times I have thought, this is great but it has nothing on Hogwarts!


The Gallagher Girls Series by Ally Carter: the Gallagher Academy is a very important character in itself and of course the main characters know every inch of the building, including the secret passages.



Lauren Henderson's Kiss Me Kill Me and Kisses and Lies. The Wakefield Academy becomes its very own character and of course Scarlett's advantage is that she grew up on the grounds and knows them better than anyone.

I am sure there are more but these are the ones I have read recently and both times I have thought, I love when the school has its own personality. I wish I went to either of these schools, or Hogwarts!

Summer Break Reading Challenge Activity #7 - Reading Update

Here is what I have been up to this summer and I am only counting books read or reviewed after the first activity on June 24.

Read and Reviewed:
I'd Tell You I'd Love You But Then I'd Have To Kill You by Ally Carter
Bloom by Elizabeth Scott
13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
Trust Me by Brenda Novak
Stop Me by Brenda Novak
Watch Me by Brenda Novak
Two Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt
You Are So Undead To Me by Stacey Jay
Cross My Heart And Hope To Spy by Ally Carter
Don't Judge A Girl By Her Cover by Ally Carter
The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams
Beige by Cecil Castelluci
The Perfect Couple by Brenda Novak

Read and Not Yet Reviewed
Kiss Me, Kill Me by Lauren Henderson
Kisses and Lies by Lauren Henderson
The Perfect Liar by Brenda Novak

Currently Read
Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

I have only read 3/11 from my original reading list but I have read enough that I am okay with my list changing. Plus a lot of what I'm reading I am loving so it is really okay to change the game plan.

How is your progress?

The Perfect Couple by Brenda Novak

The Perfect Couple by Brenda Novak

Summary:

A mother faces her greatest fear.

Zoe Duncan’s thirteen-year-old daughter goes missing from her own backyard while she's home sick from school. The police suspect Samantha’s a runaway—she’s not happy about her mother’s upcoming marriage—but Zoe knows Sam would never do that.

Terrified of losing the person she loves most, Zoe is willing to do anything to bring Sam home, even if it means giving up her job, her nice home and her relationship with the man she thought she wanted….

A detective faces his hardest case.

Jonathan Stivers is a private investigator who donates his time to The Last Stand, a victims’ charity in Sacramento. He’s good at what he does, the best. Which is why he’s called on to help Zoe Duncan find her missing daughter. But never has he had fewer leads to work with—or been more attracted to a client. He’s sure of only one thing: Sam was taken by someone close to the family. He doesn’t realize how close until he realizes that the “perfect” couple next door is anything but…

Review:
Brenda Novak wrote the Last Stand series in two parts. The first three books, Trust Me, Stop Me and Watch Me are about the three women who opened the Last Stand, a non-profit that helps victims of violent crimes. The first three books were their stories and I was completely captivated by them, reading all three in a weekend.

After I finished them I learned three more books had been written, The Perfect Couple, The Perfect Liar and The Perfect Murder. They all have ties to the first three but are very different.

The Perfect Couple was a good book but I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as the first three books in the series. This time the book is much more about the villains then the members of the Last Stand. Jonathan, a private detective who has been a major help to the Last Stand is the tie in this time and while he is a major character he isn’t the focus.

He is helping a woman, Zoe, whose daughter was kidnapped by her neighbors, although she has no idea her daughter is so close. Naturally Jonathan and Zoe are attracted to each other and the moments they share are some of my favorite in the book.

Tiffany and Colin are the seemingly perfect couple next door who have more than a few secrets. None of this is a spoiler since you find out they are the kidnappers from the very beginning. What Novak does so well is tell the story with shifting points of view. We see the story from every character’s point of view which is both interesting and adds to the suspense. When Zoe is in the same house as her missing daughter you want to scream at her because she is sharing a meal with the kidnappers and we are getting the story from every possible angle.

While the changing points of view is consistent with the first three books, we get way more of the villains in The Perfect Couple and somehow is took something away for me. I really liked Jonathan as the link the The Last Stand but I didn’t get enough of him. He was completely overshadowed by Colin and Tiffany and their crazyness.

I think as a stand alone novel I would have really enjoyed The Perfect Couple but because I was expecting it to follow the same pattern as the first three books I didn’t like it as much. I am hoping that I will be able to readjust my expectations and enjoy the final two books in the series.

This book goes toward my Summer Break Reading Challenge.

Summer Break Reading Challenge Activity #6

The assignment for the Summer Break Reading Challenge today is to answer the ever important question: Who are your literature heart throbs?

Marcus Flutie
A major character in Megan McCafferty's Jessica Darling Series (Sloppy First, Second Helpings etc.) he is equal parts bad boy and soulful writer. In the FAQ on her website McCafferty said he is "the fantasy I hoped the real life guys would turn out to be–but didn’t. So in a way, I’m living through Jessica, just like you are." Yeah I have a big fat literary crush on him.

Alex Cross
A crime-fighting detective and super dad who loves his grandmother and still mourns the death of his wife. Yeah James Patterson nailed this man. I prefer not to picture Alex Cross as Morgan Freeman who played him in Along Came a Spider. I prefer the image in my head.

Damon Salvatore
What can I say, I am not immune to the vampires, I just prefer mine a little more badass than Edward. Damon from the Vampire Diaries is definitely my favorite vampire and Ian Somerhalder only made me love him more.

Of course I also love Harry Potter and I am firmly on team Jacob but I thought a lot of people would pick them so I tried to think a little outside the box. Apparently I like my fictional men a little on the brooding side. Who are your fictional crushes?

Beige by Cecil Castellucci

Summary:
When she’s exiled from Canada to sunny Los Angeles, Katy figures she’ll bury her nose in a book and ignore the fact that she’s spending two weeks with her father. Her father, Beaut Ratner—punk name: the Rat—is a recovered addict and the drummer of the famously infamous band, Suck. Even though she doesn’t want to be there, even though she feels abandoned by her mom, even though the Rat isn’t anything she’d call a father, Katy is a nice girl. She’s quiet and polite. She smiles. Another kind of girl, one like doom-and-gloom Lake—lead singer for an all-girl band and the Rat’s idea of a chaperone—might take off, break the rules, scrawl manifestoes on the walls. Or she might pound on the skins and cymbals, let it all out, because sometimes the beat’s better than crying. Sometimes it’s the same thing. But music is dangerous and Katy isn’t that kind of girl. So what kind of girl is she?

Review:
I bought this book last summer at The Strand when I was in NYC visiting my BFF. It made the move with me to North Carolina just a few weeks later and for the last year has been sitting on my bookshelf so modestly. I am not sure what finally made me pull it down and give it a shot but I am really glad I did and feeling a little dumb for having waited so long. I really enjoyed this book and any fan of Audrey, Wait! (which I clearly was) needs to read this.

Katy is beige. She is boring and blends in. That is until she goes to live with her rocker Dad, The Rat, and her whole world changes. Sure all the life changes and the ending are fairly predictable but the way Cecil Castellucci infuses the California punk rock scene in to the story is pure genius.

The book reads really fast, I finished it in one afternoon by the pool, but all the characters are fully developed and extreme. Either, extremely sweet and sentimental or extremely difficult, everyone in the novel is extreme. The characters are fully developed and easily relatable and The Rat, Lake, Garth and Trixie all add something amazing to the world Katy is thrown in to.

Each chapter title is the name of a song and there are so many references to music in the novel that it really made me want to download a ton of songs and name it the Beige playlist.

I also really appreciated that Castellucci tackled the darker sides of the music business head on. She didn’t dance around topics like sex and drugs, instead she made sure readers were aware that they were part of the world and showed the very real effect they have on people.

So many things to really love about this book and with that I am off to see if my library has any of Castellucci’s other books!

Has anyone read Beige or anything else by Castellucci? Leave your reviews in the comments.

This book goes toward my Summer Break Reading Challenge.

Summer Break Reading Challenge Activity #3

One of the best and most important things about blogging is building community and learning from others. Today I'm going to ask you to explore the Internet and find some things on other blogs. So, Activity #4 is a scavenger hunt. Head back to the challenge to see what everyone else found

1. A blog that is new to you that focuses on the same type of literature you do (ex: I read YA so the blog would need to focus on YA).
I learned about this blog on twitter from someone I always read so I checked it out and then saw that she was also participating in the Summer Break Reading Challenge. Now I have her in my google reader and can't get enough of her awesome reviews.
Kristen at Bookworming in the 21st Century

2. A book that is new to you that another blogger reviewed.
I learned about Firespell by Chloe Neill on OWL's blog during the second SBRC challenge. I had heard of Neill before but never read anything and this new book looks great.

3. A book set in Africa (in your preferred age category, if possible).
For me the ultimate novel set in Africa has to be Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. I have always had a love affair with the classics.

4. A book about a human/animal bond (in your preferred age category, if possible).
Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne

5. A book trailer for a book you want to read.
The master of all book trailers is Reverie and here is a great one for SEA by Heidi R. Kling

6. A book with a color in the title (in your preferred age category, if possible).
Sisters Red by Jackson Pierce

7. A blog that is new to you that is dedicated to a certain genre (ex: only books about vampires, only historical fiction, only urban fantasy, etc.)
a blog all about YA fantasy and is new (to me) and awesome is Bites

8. A book blog maintained by a librarian.
Green Bean Teen Queen was one of the first bloggers I started following and she is fantastic and a librarian

9. A book blog maintained by a teacher.
Miss Remmers' Reviews

10. The title of an upcoming book by an author you like (provide details - title, release date, synopsis).
Fixing Delilah Hannaford by Sarah Ockler will be out in November 201 and I am bursting with excitement! Here is an excerpt from Ockler's website

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

Summary:
Thirteen-year-old Kyra has grown up in an isolated polygamous community without questioning her father’s three wives and her twenty brothers and sisters. Or at least without questioning them much—if you don’t count her secret visits to the Mobile Library on Wheels to read forbidden books, or her meetings with the boy she hopes to choose for herself instead of having a man chosen for her. But when the Prophet decrees that Kyra must marry her 60-year-old uncle—who already has six wives—Kyra must make a desperate choice in the face of violence and her own fears of losing her family.

Review:

The Chosen One manages to somehow be sweet and disturbing at the same time. This book was captivating and touching and brutally honest. I am not sure I can find enough adjectives to describe to you the extreme mixture of emotions The Chosen One brought out in me.

Kyra is a character so full of complex emotions that she is the perfect vehicle to tell this story. It is so easy to relate to the love she has for her family and her desire to please them. It is also easy to understand her desire to rebel against her controlling environment but I can not even begin to relate to living in a polygamous compound. That combination of easy to relate to and complete mystery is part of what makes the book so captivating.

Williams also does a masterful job of explaining the compound in a way that doesn't make it completely evil. In fact, there are times in the book when you see the community through the eyes of Kyra's family, who truly love eachother and you can almost understand why they choose that lifestyle. It would be so easy to just cast these characters as monsters but Williams shows every facet of their personalities and it creates such a believable and interesting world.

The last third of the book is heartbreaking and I absolutely couldn't put it down. When I finished it all I could say is wow. I was completely blown away and loved the book so much.

Everyone needs to read this truly original and moving novel.

This book goes toward my Summer Break Reading Challenge.

Summer Break Reading Challenge Activity #2

Today's challenge is to create a wordle for one of the books you are going to read for the Summer Break Reading Challenge. I used an excerpt from Evermore by Alyson Noel from her website and this is the wordle I came up with.

Also, I made it a small personal goal to comment on everyone's reading lists from Activity 1. I went and left a thought with everyone who was in the Mr. Linky so I hope everyone knows I enjoyed seeing their summer reading lists. It must have been a little bit of good karma since I then won that challenge and get my own copy of Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver!

Summer Break Reading Challenge Activity #1

The first task is to post your reading goals to the summer and then head back to the Summer Break Reading Challenge and share it with the group.

I have decided to just pick a handful of books that I have been wanting to read, haven't gotten to and are available at my library. I have two entire series I want to read but obviously it is subject to change since I am at the whim of my local library and someone may get them checked out before me!

The final three books of the Last Stand Series by Brenda Novak. I have already read and reviewed the first three so I want to finish the series.

The Perfect Couple, The Perfect Liar and The Perfect Murder

I also want to read the Immortals Series by Alyson Noel.


Evermore, Blue Moon, Shadowland and Dark Flame. I have read great reviews of these books and just not gotten to them.

I also have a few random books to add to the list
The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams
We're Just Like You, Only Prettier: Confessions of a Tarnished Southern Belle by Celia Revenbark
Willow by Julia Hoban
If I Stay by Gayle Forman

It is a pretty long list but I get almost all my reading done in the summer so I think I can do it. What are you reading for the Summer Break Reading Challenge.