Book Review: Reboot by Amy Tintera

So I just finished reading an advance copy of REBOOT and . . . Wow. Just. Wow.

The blurb, from Goodreads:

Five years ago, Wren Connolly was shot three times in the chest. After 178 minutes she came back as a Reboot: stronger, faster, able to heal, and less emotional. The longer Reboots are dead, the less human they are when they return. Wren 178 is the deadliest Reboot in the Republic of Texas. Now seventeen years old, she serves as a soldier for HARC (Human Advancement and Repopulation Corporation).

Wren’s favorite part of the job is training new Reboots, but her latest newbie is the worst she’s ever seen. As a 22, Callum Reyes is practically human. His reflexes are too slow, he’s always asking questions, and his ever-present smile is freaking her out. Yet there’s something about him she can’t ignore. When Callum refuses to follow an order, Wren is given one last chance to get him in line—or she’ll have to eliminate him. Wren has never disobeyed before and knows if she does, she’ll be eliminated, too. But she has also never felt as alive as she does around Callum.

The perfect soldier is done taking orders.

Guys, real talk: this book is too good. I am reduced to one and two word sentences after reading this book.

-Badass

-Romantic

-Thrilling

-Fast-paced

-Sexy

-Callum so sexy

-Want Callum

-So bad

It’s hard to understand how one book could be this amazing. I loved every single minute of my life while reading REBOOT. Do yourself a favor and add this one to your Goodreads list. Preorder it. Stand in line at your local bookstore until it comes out in May. Stalk the author on twitter or in real life until she agrees to give you an advance copy (Okay, so maybe not that last one).

Just do whatever it legally takes to get this book into your life. You’ll thank me later.

IndieBound

Barnes and Noble

Amazon

Book Review: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

What to say about a book I’d give 10 stars to if I could? Sure, it’s touching, poignant, powerful, and absolutely, gut-wrenchingly heartbreaking, but none of these adjectives properly sum up this book. I don’t think such an adjective exists.

This book had me crying before I even delved into chapter one. I read the author’s introduction and learned that Patrick Ness was asked to write the book after Siobhan Dowd, a fellow YA author who came up with the concept, died prematurely of cancer before she got the chance to write it. That? Is just. Ugh. Seriously.

 The blurb of A Monster Calls, from Goodreads:

The monster showed up after midnight. As they do.

But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting. He's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming...

This monster is something different, though. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor.

It wants the truth.

So I cried. Lots. Gulpy, hiccupy, crying. Super ugly crying that left me with red puffy eyes and forced me to wear sunglasses to the park on an overcast day so that I looked like a hungover mommy. Am I properly conveying to you how much I cried?

It’s the type of book that makes you feel vulnerable and realize how fragile life is and how little control you have over it in the end. It makes you want to hold onto those you love and never let go. I’ve heard it even makes some people climb into their son’s cribs and sleep there for the night. Weird, huh?

Here’s the thing about Patrick Ness: a lot of authors try to convey emotion by using all sorts of fancy metaphors and similes and, let’s be honest, end up coming up a bit short. In A Monster Calls, Ness uses simple language and a quiet, lyrical type of storytelling that conveys raw emotion so amazingly well that it’s like he’s reading my mind and then translating onto paper everything I’ve ever thought about death in a way that I could never have done myself.  

Did I mention it’s illustrated? It is. And they’re absolutely stunning and powerful illustrations. Buy the hardcover for this one. You’ll thank me later.

A Monster Calls is categorized as a contemporary middle grade novel, but this isn’t a book that just children will enjoy. This is a book every single human being can understand, if not relate to. This is a book for anyone who would like to have their still-beating heart ripped from their chest, stomped on repeatedly with spiky-toed six-inch heels, pulverized with a meat tenderizer, and then shot at with an AK-47, only to be put back together in a completely different yet better shape, a shape that makes you feel like sort of like a baby bird emerging from its egg, hopeful and cautious at the same time, and…oh, who am I kidding?

Just read it.

Book Review: The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour

I don't often read contemporary YA, but I had to make an exception here. Firstly, because this book came highly recommended by a friend whose opinion I value. And secondly (Okay, firstly), the cover and title are awesome. And guess what? This book was awesome. Not just a great contemporary YA, but among the best YA of any genre that I've read in a long time. So I take this as direct evidence that I should continue to judge books by their covers and be otherwise very shallow. YAY!

The blurb of The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour, from Goodreads:

Colby and Bev have a long-standing pact: graduate, hit the road with Bev's band, and then spend the year wandering around Europe. But moments after the tour kicks off, Bev makes a shocking announcement: she's abandoning their plans - and Colby - to start college in the fall.

But the show must go on and The Disenchantments weave through the Pacific Northwest, playing in small towns and dingy venues, while roadie- Colby struggles to deal with Bev's already-growing distance and the most important question of all: what's next?

Morris Award–finalist Nina LaCour draws together the beauty and influences of music and art to brilliantly capture a group of friends on the brink of the rest of their lives.

The Disenchantments is told from the perspective of Colby, brand new high school graduate cum roadie in an all girls band. Now I've read more than a few male-led YA novels and, to be honest, have had trouble connecting with the main characters. Don't ask me why, because I don't know exactly. And who cares, because that wasn't the case with this book. It was impossible to not connect with Colby. He was refreshingly complex, authentic, and engaging, and LaCour's brilliant writing made the intensity of the emotion in what I view as a coming-of-age novel really come to life. And holy eff were there emotions!


Not only has Colby just finished high school, which is overwhelming and scary in and of itself, but he is suddenly faced with the news that his best friend has been lying to him for years, has screwed him over royally, that in spite of this he's in love with her, that she doesn't love him back, and that life doesn't always turn out the way we've planned. And it was all so effing heartbreaking, and raw, and real that I just wished I could jump inside the book and hug Colby. Or else have a pity make out session with him. Or slap that Bev for doing all the hurtful things she'd done to him (Except that Bev's flaws were part of the charm of the book--she's imperfect, and Colby loves her anyway, which is endearing as well as true to life).

Anyone who's ever felt the horribleness of unrequited love will completely get this book. But that shouldn't make readers shy away from reading it. Because there's much more to this book than heartbreak. LaCour perfectly blends the fun and adventure of a road trip with the sadness of things coming to an end with the hope of new beginnings. How she did it, I've yet to discover. I may have to read more of her books to find out.


Other things I loved about this book:

-This book is so hip it made me want to dye my hair pink, get another tattoo, go on a road trip in a VW bus, graffiti a building, watch obscure French films, and listen to Sleater-Kinney.

-Jasper. He's not a main character by a long shot (in fact, he's maybe in 5 pages total of the book), yet somehow LaCour managed to make him so real that I burst into happy tears when a certain something happens in the book involving him which I shan't discuss further.

-A certain basement scene that made me laugh out loud

-The fact that Bev is bisexual, and it's not a big deal in the book, and Colby's friends Alexa and Meg have gay dads, and that isn't a big deal either.

-And...you know what? Just read it. I could go on forever here.

Book Review: Starters by Lissa Price

This book review is a special one: Lissa and I happen to share the same editor—Wendy Loggia from Delacorte Press/Random House. I’ll try not to let that fact affect the objectivity of my review (Confession: I’m caressing the book against my cheek at this very moment).

The blurb of Starters, from Goodreads:

‘Callie lost her parents when the Spore Wars wiped out everyone between the ages of twenty and sixty. She and her little brother, Tyler, go on the run, living as squatters with their friend Michael and fighting off renegades who would kill them for a cookie. Callie's only hope is Prime Destinations, a disturbing place in Beverly Hills run by a mysterious figure known as the Old Man.

He hires teens to rent their bodies to Enders—seniors who want to be young again. Callie, desperate for the money that will keep her, Tyler, and Michael alive, agrees to be a donor. But the neurochip they place in Callie's head malfunctions and she wakes up in the life of her renter, living in her mansion, driving her cars, and going out with a senator's grandson. It feels almost like a fairy tale, until Callie discovers that her renter intends to do more than party—and that Prime Destinations' plans are more evil than Callie could ever have imagined. . . .’

My completely objective verdict of Starters is in: this book was AMAZING! (Confession #2: I’m whispering sweet nothings to the beautiful, shiny cover at this very moment).

Now I have to admit, having read a ton of dystopian novels as of late, I was beginning to question just how one could be done in a way that I’d find intriguing. The answer to that below. 

Five reasons Starters intrigued me, despite it being a dystopian in a market saturated with dystopians:

1.     Body renting=creepy. I like creepy.

2.     The crackerjack plot. To say this book was action-packed would be a huge understatement—from murder, to political intrigue, to love triangles, there was constantly something new popping up that kept me turning the pages well into the night. An incredibly exciting read that would translate well to film.

3.     The brave, smart, and resourceful protagonist, Callie Woodland. I never get sick of reading about a kick-ass female.

4.     The whole thought-provoking-without-beating-the-reader-over-the-head-with-a-message aspect. Starters explored themes not common in YA, including our never-ending pursuit of youth and physical perfection, which I found incredibly refreshing, if not alarming, after my recent large purchase at MAC Cosmetics.

5.     It was just plain well written. An impressive debut.

Starters did leave me with a few unanswered questions (mostly backstory stuff regarding the Spore Wars), but that actually didn’t bother me. I don’t require an explanation for everything large and small and will gladly let myself me taken away by a great read. If you’re like me, then you’re in for a treat.

Waiting with bated breath for Enders, the conclusion of the series.

Book Review: Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

I feel like writing a review of this book is a huge injustice; there isn’t anything I can say about its greatness that could ever properly sum up how great it is. But, hey, I have this blog and I have you reading it, so I s’pose I’ll give it a try J

This book is great. Stunning. Amazing. Beautiful. Powerful. Touching. Provocative. Insightful. Every other complimentary adjective ever.

The blurb, from Goodreads:

“Samantha Kingston has it all: looks, popularity, the perfect boyfriend. Friday, February 12, should be just another day in her charmed life. Instead, it turns out to be her last.

The catch: Samantha still wakes up the next morning. Living the last day of her life seven times during one miraculous week, she will untangle the mystery surrounding her death--and discover the true value of everything she is in danger of losing.”

What the blurb doesn’t mention, however, is that Samantha is a bitch.

There, I said it.

Samantha and her three best friends are the mean girls in school. And while I’d like to say that their horrible behavior alienated me as a reader, it didn’t. It fascinated me. Call me a sadist. Whatever. Still, I can see how others might find Samantha difficult to relate to in the beginning.

READ ON!

Samantha’s growth as a character is such that anyone who once found her horrible will undoubtedly become Samantha Sympathizers. Each day she wakes up and is forced to relive the day of her death over again, Samantha learns more about her friends, herself, and what’s important in life. Which sounds cheesy when I say it like that (precisely why I shouldn’t write reviews), but just trust me when I say that it’s not. Same goes for Samantha’s bitchy friends. If you don’t sympathize with them by the end of the book, you’ll at least understand why they are the way they are.

Five things I love about Before I Fall:

1.     The AMAZING writing. Lauren Oliver is an incredibly talented author. Her descriptions are so beyond fantastic they almost, nearly encouraged me to give up writing YA forever and seriously pursue a career in board books for babies.

2.     The humor. Yes, I said the humor. It’s spot-on and fresh and laugh-out-loud funny.

3.     The characters. Every single one, from supporting to very, very minor, was authentic if not fully fleshed out.

4.     Kent McFuller.

5.     It was painful (in a good way). Samantha’s transformation is seriously heartbreaking. As in, my husband entered the room when I was reading the final pages and was convinced I’d just heard horrible news, like that Tostitos was discontinuing its Chunky Salsa line. Nope, just finished this awesome book.  

But really, I could have just said this:

It’s Groundhog Day meets Mean Girls. Except awesomer. 

Book Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Short review: this book is crazy awesome!

Longer review (because who wants to read a long review?): One my all-time favorite movies is Ever After, which, if you don’t already know (you should be ashamed of yourself), is another Cinderella retelling. I’ve seen it a thousand times, and it doesn’t matter that Drew Berrymore’s accent slips up tons, it’s effing amazing. So, despite this Cinderella retelling being worlds apart from Ever After (cyborgs, anyone?) I’d already sort of made up my mind before reading it that it wouldn’t compare. I was wrong.

Cinder takes place in a chaotic and crowded post World War 4 New Beijing. The world is struggling with a deadly and mysterious plague outbreak as well as rising tensions with the Lunar people (a race of mind-controlling people from the moon). Cinder, a cyborg teenager and gifted mechanic, meets Prince Kai when he visits her market stall with a broken android. Some serious flirting ensues. From this meeting, Cinder is launched into the middle of some dangerous interspacial politics, not to mention a forbidden love affair. I won’t say too much more, because I don’t want to ruin it for you all, but yes, there is a ball. Yes, there’s an evil stepmother. And yes, things get ugly.

Top five reasons I love this book.

1. Prince Kai. Now I know what you’re thinking, but it’s not because he’s hot and a prince. It’s because he’s not your standard YA love interest. He’s a teenager dealing with the sudden and overwhelming responsibility of leading a country in a time of political turmoil. He’s also charming and complex and funny and vulnerable. And okay, he’s hot.

2. Cinder. Props to Marissa Meyer for creating a unique and strong female main character who doesn’t lose all of her integrity and melt into a puddle the minute she falls in love.

3. The Romance. Forbidden love—need I say more?

4. The setting. I’m not a person that usually enjoys sci-fi stuff, and so I was really surprised to find that I loved this book’s setting immensely. I’m thinking it’s because it’s unique, but also close enough to what our world is like now that it was actually believable. Wait a minute—did I just say cyborgs, androids, moon queens, and hovers are believable? Okay, so maybe it’s just that Maybe Marissa Meyer is a talented author.

5. The supporting characters. Practically every single character in this book is insanely well-developed, from Cinder’s android, Iko, to the researcher, Dr. Erland, to the evil stepmother, Adri. No cardboard cutouts in this book.  

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention a few drawbacks. One is that the big reveal in the end was pretty obvious from the beginning—I enjoyed the book immensely anyway. Also, I was pretty p.o’ed about the cliffhanger ending. I NEED a firm ending to be fully satisfied. Now I have to wait until next year to find out what happens next. If I didn’t already know what was going to happen because this is a retelling, I’d be knocking on Ms. Meyer’s door demanding answers (Just kidding, Marissa! You can cancel that restraining order.)

Five stars, easy. Can’t wait to read book 2 in The Lunar Chronicles.

Also, that was a long review. 

Book Review: The Duff by Kody Keplinger

First off, let me start off by saying that this book is the reason my skin got all wrinkly and I probably acquired heat stroke from reading in the bath for hours (note: when I should have been doing many other things, like writing sequels and doing laundry and ironing my clothes for work). I couldn’t put The Duff down! It sucked me in right from the first page. And how could it not? It contained all the elements of a contemporary YA novel that typically make me read way too late into the night: awesome main character, gritty plot, hot boy, and some seriously steamy sex scenes (not the fade-to-grey stuff common in YA).  

So thanks, Kody Keplinger! Thank you very much.

The premise of The Duff is this: Bianca Piper is a cynical, sarcastic seventeen-year-old who doesn’t put up with crap. When her high school’s man-whore, Wesley, calls her the Duff (Designated Ugly Fat Friend), she throws her Coke in his face. But as the stressors in Bianca’s life begin piling up, she surprises herself by kissing him. And liking it. She throws herself into a secret enemies-with-benefits relationship with Wesley as a distraction from her life. Awesome plan, right? Wrong. And cue obsessive bath-reading.

I adored this book.

Bianca is blunt and sarcastic and funny and relatable and overall a great narrator. There was only a very brief moment in the beginning of the book when I questioned the authenticity of her actions, but then I remembered some of the friends I had as a teenager (not me! I was a perfect angel—I’m strictly talking about my friends here) and I was like, wait, who am I kidding? This book is very honest. Sure, Bianca makes some terrible decisions, but don’t a lot of teenagers? And the sex and swearing isn’t gratuitous by a long shot. In fact, they're vital to the plot and to the lesson that the book teaches.

And Wesley. Oh, Wesley! He started out being such a jerk (he called her the Designated Ugly Fat Friend TO HER FACE) so that when she kissed him for the first time I wanted to slap her. But Keplinger does such a great job developing his character throughout the book that I quickly found myself rooting for him. He felt so real he leapt off the page. And don’t get me started on their chemistry. Their love-hate relationship had me squealing and laughing out loud and frantically flipping the pages well into the night.

There were a few threads that weren’t quite resolved to my liking, such as the Jake-the-ex-boyfriend thing, but I loved the entire book and especially the chemistry between Bianca and Wesley so much that I can only deduct a quarter of a star for that. The Duff is a solid 4.75 stars out of 5.

I could say more, but already this blog post is nearing on too long, so I’ll finish with this fact: Kody Keplinger was only 18 when she wrote this book. That makes me want to crawl into bed and whimper a little bit, because that’s SO not fair.  

Book Review: Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

I don't think I have words for how amazing this book was, but I'll give it a sorry attempt anyway.

Forbidden is a contemporary YA novel about a brother and sister, Maya and Lochan, who must raise their four younger siblings together since their mother is a useless drunk whom I hate (seriously, she really sucks). Then they fall in love. Maya and Lochan, that is. Sounds awkward, right? Only, it's not. It happens subtly and realistically. Maya and Lochan struggle the whole book to keep their family together despite the constant new challenges threatening them. They support each other, comfort each other, worry together, and are overall the only person that each other can be vulnerable with. Somewhere along the line, a love stronger than that of a brother and sister develops. And let me just say this: It's sign you're in good hands when an author can make you root for a brother and sister's incestuous relationship to work out. And that's what I did the whole time, right up until the ending, which I could use ten paragraphs to expand upon but won't because I want you all to read it and I don't want to ruin it for you. Just trust me. It's good.

Read it. Now!

That is all.

Book Review: The Count of Monte Cristo

Rating: FIVE STARS!!!

**Disclaimer: I suck at book reviews. I just liked it, okay? What more do you need to know?**

I started reading this book by accident. I was in the mood for a classic and, as I was perusing the book store, recalled that my crit partner Ruth Lauren Steven's favorite book is The Count of Monte Cristo. So I bought it (despite the fact the thing is MASSIVE, as in, just shy of 1500 pages massive). Then I let Ruth know the next day that I'd bought it. Imagine my surprise when she wrote back to say she had no idea why I thought it was her favorite. Turns out it was Captain Corelli's Mandolin. HA! I'm such a loser! But I bought it and was now officially committed to it.

Turns out I'm glad I made that mistake. The book was AMAZING!

The plot was fast-paced, intricately woven, perfectly executed, and in one word--brilliant! It featured just enough romance to make it non-boring in my eyes--I do like there to be at least a little romance in my reads, and this book delivered--and is, in my opinion, a great read for men and women alike. There were times it seemed that characters were introduced that were irrelevant to the plot, and we'd spend a lot of time in their point of view, but in the end it became clear that not a detail was mentioned that wasn't crucial to the well thought out ending.

A great book, and I suggest you all read it if you haven't already. It's a classic for a reason, people!