Review: Born of Illusion by Teri Brown (ARC)

Born of Illusion (Born of Illusion #1) by Teri Brown
Harper Teen, 384 Pages
Expected US Release Date: June 11, 2013
Format/Source: Print ARC, from Around the World Tours - thank you!

Anna Van Housen is thirteen the first time she breaks her mother out of jail. By sixteen she’s street smart and savvy, assisting her mother, the renowned medium Marguerite Van Housen, in her stage show and séances, and easily navigating the underground world of magicians, mediums and mentalists in 1920’s New York City. Handcuffs and sleight of hand illusions have never been much of a challenge for Anna. The real trick is keeping her true gifts secret from her opportunistic mother, who will stop at nothing to gain her ambition of becoming the most famous medium who ever lived. But when a strange, serious young man moves into the flat downstairs, introducing her to a secret society that studies people with gifts like hers, he threatens to reveal the secrets Anna has fought so hard to keep, forcing her to face the truth about her past. Could the stories her mother has told her really be true? Could she really be the illegitimate daughter of the greatest magician of all?
----------------------Goodreads summary

Notable Quote

The audience oohs and ahhs in all the right places and my movements get more dramatic as I warm up. Enthralling the audience is the best part, the part I love. I hate when people call magic trickery. What my mother does is trickery. What I do is entertainment.

I was a little weird going into Born Of Illusion simply because it’s things I know absolutely nothing about. Flapper era New York? Nothing. Magic? Nothing. Illusionism, Houdini? Nada. So I was simultaneously excited and nervous, since I had expectation without any sort of basis to it. But I’m really glad I pushed myself to read this! It was fascinating and a little fun, and even though sometimes it was a little frustrating, I found it fancy and overall, fulfilling.

(Why did I alliterate all those Fs? No idea. But I typed it, and I’m sticking with it!)

Like I said, I know absolutely nothing about this era, so I was really fascinated by it all! I mean, I’ve read a few books (Gatsby, mostly), seen a few movies or TV shows, but nothing concrete, so I loved everything I could garner from the descriptions. I know The Diviners by Libba Bray supposedly does it better, but for now? I’m happy with this. I was so swept up in the parties and gatherings and any sort of Society that Anna would find herself in.  Sometimes I craved a little more variety or dimension to the time, but I was happy with this.

So, onto the actual story (I guess that’s probably important…): Even though I had problems with some of it, overall I really enjoyed Born of Illusion. I really liked how Houdini played a part and we were kept guessing right along with Anna about how much he’s really a part of her. All their interactions were pretty great. I absolutely loved Mr. Darby and wish he’d had a slightly bigger part, though what he did was fantastic anyway. Anytime Anna could go to his place for tea and pastries I cheered in my head. I also loved all the magic and illusionism that went on, and how it even started getting into the séances and spiritual worlds – though I have to admit, I felt they trivialized those parts a little too much by making it a game and pawn in Anna and her mother’s tension. Still, there were some scenes I could absolutely see the show in my head and I wanted to be a part of the crowd!

Speaking of her mom, oh my goodness I did not like her! I get the resentment there, I even can kind of understand how much she feels threatened by Anna and her talents – but sometimes it was just a bit too far, y’know? I wanted to her just love her daughter for what she was, not hate her for it.

Which leads into some of my problems. Sometimes the tension was just a little too much, a little too drawn out and overdramatic. Sure, it does actually kind of fit the era and overall showman feel of the novel, but there were definitely pages I just shook my head at or rolled my eyes. I didn’t need the constant reminder of the struggle and bad relationships. Plus, I think my general annoyance at that took me away from the story a bit and I didn’t end up connecting to any of them. Sure, there were characters I generally liked, but I never really felt real emotions toward them or wanted to jump into the pages to squeeze them or kick them. Each was written well with real personalities, but they still felt a little lackluster.

And of course, I have to talk about the boys. It was another sorta-triangle situation – and I only say sorta because I swear it is super obvious which one will end up being the good boy and who will be bad. I did like that they were more to the story than just love interests, and I definitely rooted for one over the other. But one is so obvious, and the other was a bit too stereotypical. Still, I’ve read worse, and I wouldn’t mind a little Colin myself.

Born of Illusion wasn’t quite as magical as I’d hoped it would be, but I definitely found parts to love. I want more of this era, I want more of this type of illusion and trickery – though maybe with a different cast of characters.

(Small note though: I still love the cover to pieces. So gorgeous!)

3.5 Stars

Happy Book Birthday WHEN YOU WERE HERE by Daisy Whitney!

Happy Release Day to When You Were Here by Daisy Whitney!!

About WHEN YOU WERE HERE.
Filled with humor, raw emotion, a strong voice, and a brilliant dog named Sandy Koufax, When You Were Here explores the two most powerful forces known to man-death and love. Daisy Whitney brings her characters to life with a deft touch and resonating authenticity.

Danny's mother lost her five-year battle with cancer three weeks before his graduation-the one day that she was hanging on to see.

Now Danny is left alone, with only his memories, his dog, and his heart-breaking ex-girlfriend for company. He doesn't know how to figure out what to do with her estate, what to say for his Valedictorian speech, let alone how to live or be happy anymore.

When he gets a letter from his mom's property manager in Tokyo, where she had been going for treatment, it shows a side of his mother he never knew. So, with no other sense of direction, Danny travels to Tokyo to connect with his mother's memory and make sense of her final months, which seemed filled with more joy than Danny ever knew. There, among the cherry blossoms, temples, and crowds, and with the help of an almost-but-definitely-not Harajuku girl, he begins to see how it may not have been ancient magic or mystical treatment that kept his mother going. Perhaps, the secret of how to live lies in how she died.

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

About DAISY WHITNEY.

By day, Daisy Whitney is a reporter and ghostwriter. At night, she writes novels for teens and is the author of THE MOCKINGBIRDS and its sequel THE RIVALS (Little, Brown). Her third novel WHEN YOU WERE HERE releases in June 2013 (Little, Brown), and her fourth novel STARRY NIGHTS (Bloomsbury) hits shelves in September 2013. When Daisy's not inventing fictional high school worlds, she can be found somewhere north of San Francisco walking her adorable dog, watching online TV with her fabulous husband or playing with her fantastic kids. A graduate of Brown University, she believes in shoes, chocolate chip cookies and karma. You can follow her writing blog and new media adventures at DaisyWhitney.com.

Visit Daisy:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

You guys, I'm about halfway through this and I can't even...you want to read this. You need to read it. My review will be up early next week, but I sincerely hope by then you already have it on your shelves or sitting on your nightstand by then. If that summary above didn't convince you, check out the excerpt below!

EXCERPT.

     We eat in silence for a minute, then Holland breaks it. “So you’re going to Tokyo?”
     “Your mom told you?”
     “Yes.”
     “Did your mom send you to get info out of me or something?”
     “No. She mentioned it, and now I’m mentioning it. Why? Is there info to get? Are you going with a girl?”
      I scoff. “Yeah, right. I was supposed to go with some- one, but it didn’t work out,” I say, my eyes locked on her the whole time.
     “Well, I wanted to go, okay?”
     “So did I,” I say, so low it’s a whisper. But she hears me, and she inches her hand across the counter, just a little bit closer, and that hand, I want to grab it and hold on.
     “Me too,” she says, barely there, barely painting the space between us with all that has been broken. I glance at our hands, so close all it would take is one of us giving an inch.
     “I bought my ticket an hour ago.”
     “When do you leave?”
     “A couple days from now. I found a good deal.”
     She nods a few times, taps her fingers. I can feel the warmth from her hands. “Cool,” she says, and we stay like that. One stretch is all it would take to be back, so I wait. Wait for her to tell me she’ll miss me, to ask me to stay, to put her hands on my face and press her lips against mine and kiss me like it’s the thing that’s been killing her not to do for all these months. That it’s not cool for me to go. That if I go, she’ll be the one who’s sad.
     But she doesn’t. We just finish our food, and she washes the plates, and the other ones that were in the sink too, and she tosses out the cartons from Captain Wong’s and bags up the garbage, and she’s like a nurse. She’s here as a nurse. To take care of me. To make sure I eat enough food and clean the house and take my vitamins.
     I watch her take my vitals and check my temperature and adjust the tubes, and when she suggests we watch a movie, here on the couch, I just nod because my heart isn’t beating fast enough anymore, blood isn’t pumping smoothly enough anymore for me to find the will to say no like I did last night. Evidently I can buy tickets to fly out of the country, no problem, but I can’t even tell Holland to stop being so near to me all the time but not near enough.
     Because she is supposed to want to go to Tokyo with me now. She is supposed to invite herself, to ask me in that sweet and sexy, that bold and confident voice, to say that I should take her along, that we promised we’d go together, that we even talked about it last summer. As if I needed reminding. As if I were the one who’d forgotten.
     Instead she turns on the TV and finds a film where the hero survives a bridge being blown up. We stay like that through fire and bombs, through fists and blows, through a knife fight in an alley, a foot away from each other, not touching, not moving, not talking, not curled up together, just staring mutely at the screen.
     But faking it becomes too much for me, so when the hero clutches the crumbling concrete from the bridge, scrambling for purchase, I stand up and leave the living room, mumbling, “Be right back.” I walk to the bathroom at the end of the hall. I shut the door. I head straight for the window. I slide it open and pop out the screen. I stand on the toilet seat, then climb the rest of the way out of the window and hop into my front yard. I close the window, and I walk and I walk and I walk.
     When I return an hour later, my greatest hope is she’ll be gone. My most fervent wish is that I will have made my great escape from her, from her hold on me. But instead I find her sound asleep on my couch, Sandy Koufax tucked tightly into a ball at Holland’s bare feet.
     I kneel down on the tiles where the book she was reading has slipped out of her tired hands. It’s a paperback, The Big Sleep. I run a thumb across the cover, wondering when Holland developed a penchant for Raymond Chandler. There was a time when she would have told me her favorite parts. When she would have tried to tell me the ending because she just loved it so much, she had to share, and I’d have held up a hand and told her to stop. Laughing all the time. Then I’d have read it too, and we’d have walked on the beach and talked about the best parts. We’d have done that tonight with the movie too. Imitated the actors’ inflections at their most over-the-top moments, then marveled at the blown-up buildings.
     I shut the book we’re not sharing. The ending we’re not talking about. I place it on the coffee table and walk upstairs, because if I stay near her, I will wake her up, rustle a shoulder, and ask her. Ask her why she left. Ask her why she’s here. Ask her what changed for her.
     When I get into my bed, I am keenly aware of her in my house, as if the rising and falling of her breathing, the fluttering of her sleeping eyelids, can somehow be seen and heard from a floor above. I imagine her waking up, walking up the stairs, heading down the hall, standing in my doorway, a sliver of moonlight through the window sketching her in the dark. I would speak first, telling her the truth—that I’m still totally in love with her. That nothing has changed for me when it comes to her.
     Everything else is so muted, so fuzzy, so frayed around the edges. This—how I feel for Holland—is the only thing in my life that has remained the same. Everyone I have loved is gone. Except her. Holland is the before and the after, and the way I feel for her is both lethal and beautiful. It is like breathing, like a heartbeat. She would say the same words back to me, that she feels the same. Then she would say my name, like she’s been searching for something, like she’s found the thing she’s been looking for.
     Come find me, come find me, come find me.

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[Book Blast + Giveaway] The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau

With only two weeks until The Testing's release, we want to make sure everyone knows about it! Read all about The Testing and also be sure to enter to win one of two copies of the book!

The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Isn’t that what they say? But how close is too close when they may be one in the same? The Seven Stages War left much of the planet a charred wasteland. The future belongs to the next generation’s chosen few who must rebuild it. But to enter this elite group, candidates must first pass The Testing—their one chance at a college education and a rewarding career. Cia Vale is honored to be chosen as a Testing candidate; eager to prove her worthiness as a University student and future leader of the United Commonwealth. But on the eve of her departure, her father’s advice hints at a darker side to her upcoming studies – trust no one. But surely she can trust Tomas, her handsome childhood friend who offers an alliance? Tomas, who seems to care more about her with the passing of every grueling (and deadly) day of the Testing. To survive, Cia must choose: love without truth or life without trust.

The Official Website for The Testing Add on Goodreads Preorder the Book: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository

Also, don't forget to download the FREE prequel story. All the details can be found here. There are more goodies on The Testing website as well, such as a quiz to see if YOU would be selected for the Testing.

About Joelle Charbonneau :

Joelle Charbonneau began telling stories as an opera singer, but these days she finds her voice through writing. In addition to The Testing trilogy, she is the author of the Rebecca Robbins Mysteries and the Glee Club series. She lives near Chicago with her husband and son. When she is writing, she works as an acting and vocal coach. Visit Joelle on the Web at her Website, Facebook, and Twitter

Praise for The Testing:

“The Testing is a chilling and devious dystopian thriller that all fans of The Hunger Games will simply devour. Joelle Charbonneau writes with guts and nerve but also great compassion and heart. Highly recommended.” – Jonathan Maberry, New York Times best-selling author of Rot & Ruin and Flesh & Bone 

 “Trained to rely on her wits, Cia must survive on her courage and trust her instincts, even when it means following her heart ever deeper into danger. A surefire favorite for dystopian fans, The Testing crackles with suspense, passion and betrayal set against a scarred and brutal world.” –Sophie Littlefield, author of Unforsaken and Hanging By A Thread. 

 See the stunning Trailer! 

 If you are interested, signed copies can be ordered through Anderson's Bookshop before June 4. Joelle Charbonneau will be having her launch party here. See Anderson's website to order! AND even cooler, for all books pre-ordered or bought for her launch party, a donation will be made to Autism Speaks. 

TWO (2) people will win a copy of The Testing!

Open to wherever The Book Depository ships! 

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ARC Review: You Look Different in Real Life by Jennifer Castle

You Look Different In Real Life by Jennifer Castle
Harper Teen, 368 Pages
Expected US Release Date: June 4, 2013
Format/Source: ARC via Around the World ARC Tours - thank you!
Challenges: Contemporary Challenge

For the rest of the world, the movies are entertainment. For Justine, they're real life.

The premise was simple: five kids, just living their lives. There'd be a new movie about them every five years, starting in kindergarten. But no one could have predicted what the cameras would capture. And no one could have predicted that Justine would be the star.

Now sixteen, Justine doesn't feel like a star anymore. In fact, when she hears the crew has gotten the green light to film Five at Sixteen, all she feels is dread. The kids who shared the same table in kindergarten have become teenagers who hardly know one another. And Justine, who was so funny and edgy in the first two movies, feels like a disappointment.

But these teens have a bond that goes deeper than what's on film. They've all shared the painful details of their lives with countless viewers. They all know how it feels to have fans as well as friends. So when this latest movie gives them the chance to reunite, Justine and her costars are going to take it. Because sometimes, the only way to see yourself is through someone else's eyes.

Smart, fresh, and frequently funny, You Look Different in Real Life is a piercing novel about life in an age where the lines between what's personal and what's public aren't always clear.
-----------------------Goodreads summary

Notable Quote

...instead of my life shaping a film, a film would shape my life.

I read The Beginning of After by Jennifer Castle right when it came out (luck of the draw, actually – saw it propped as a new release at my library and really liked the colour tones of the cover), and though I don’t quite remember all of that book, I do remember how I felt about it when reading. I was invested. I was impressed, and even though I expected something that was delivered, there was also a little more. I remember being emotion, I remember connecting with it even though it wasn’t anything like my life.

Apparently, this is just a skill that Jennifer Castle possesses, because I felt all that and more with You Look Different In Real Life.

Have I ever told you guys how much I love documentaries? It shouldn’t surprise anyone, as I love stories and have a degree in journalism: realism and getting to know a person to the very core are things I love to do, love to discover, and love to invest in. So documentaries are perfect, and for a YA book to come along that’s all about that? Love love love.

If you’ve watched the Up series documentaries, you’ll recognize the plotline. (And if you haven’t watched them, you totally should – they’re fantastic!) Choosing varying kids from one class, all connected by a single, vaguely unimportant thread, and revisiting them every set number of years. It’s a fascinating concept, and I’m truly curious the mental and emotional toll that will take on people.

Anyway. I’ll put it out there that this story is partly predictable, in that I could tell who of the group would have what connection to each other. And I wasn’t necessarily disappointed in that, but I know some people may not like how it works out. Still, it all makes sense and I think it’s best this way. I still thoroughly enjoyed how we get to these ends, and I think that saves it.

The one fear I had is that the point of this documentary is that each of the characters are portrayed as one thing, but are so much more – and how cliché is that? Everything is like that, and I was so scared it was going to be overly done and completely stereotypical. And it wasn’t! I was pleasantly surprised how much more in depth we discover these characters, how perhaps it’s not about them being different than what they seem, but them becoming a lot like who they are thought to – just in ways we’d never quite expect.  The stereotype they are supposed to be is there, and it’s actually fun to pinpoint who they are supposed to be while simultaneously learning just how much they break the molds they’ve been shown to be.

I was also quite happy with the adventures they take in this novel; there’s an unexpected road trip, a fun little set up of a cabin retreat, times in the scary new York City…there’s a lot of intensity packed into this book, and I quite liked that. We’re treated to a lot of different scenarios with these kids, and I thought it worked beautifully to round out who they are.

I found myself drawn to Justine – perhaps not as much as some others will, but I found a lot of her in myself. Particularly how she thinks she’s uninteresting and not what the public thought she would be. These were some very real fears in my high school life (hell, they’re real fears I have now, in my adult life, too!), and I thought Justine was a great portrayal of it. There are insecurities mixed in with desires and hopes and personal beliefs, some sadness amongst her sarcasm, and she was really a character to which I could attach.

Truthfully, I liked all the characters – Felix and Rory especially, but even Nate and Keira had elements I respected and loved. They’re a diverse group, as intended – but in way more ways than you initially know. My favourite scenes were probably all the ones where the five were together, where they could interact and play off each other. Jennifer Castle really did well with this set of characters and creating a bunch I could really see together, watching and waiting to see what will happen.

You Look Different In Real Life was interesting and emotional, lending a story behind a story that reveals a little more than your typical story of being more than you seem. Jennifer Castle has created a fantastic cast of characters that shine as brightly as their Hollywood parts are intended to.

4.5 Stars / 5

Love In Bloom Giveaway Hop: Golden by Jessi Kirby! (signed!)

Welcome to the Love In Bloom Giveaway Hop!

hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer

For this hop, ONE (1) lucky winner will get

a signed hardcover of Golden by Jessi Kirby!

I love Jessi and Golden is breathtakingly amazing - read my review here!

It'll be a hardcover, the book is just in transit to me at the moment.
And it'll be signed when I see Jessi this Saturday.

Enter through the rafflecopter below, and all my usual giveaway policy rules apply.

Make sure to check out the rest of the linky list, there are some great prizes!

Good luck!

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[Blog Tour + Giveaway] The Summer I Became A Nerd by Leah Rae Miller

The Summer I Became A Nerd by Leah Rae Miller
Entangled Teen, 276 Pages
US Release Date: May
Source: e-ARC from publisher/tour host - thank you!
Challenges: DAC 2013, SARC 2013, Contemporary Challenge
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

On the outside, seventeen-year-old Madelyne Summers looks like your typical blond cheerleader—perky, popular, and dating the star quarterback. But inside, Maddie spends more time agonizing over what will happen in the next issue of her favorite comic book than planning pep rallies with her squad. That she’s a nerd hiding in a popular girl's body isn’t just unknown, it's anti-known. And she needs to keep it that way.

Summer is the only time Maddie lets her real self out to play, but when she slips up and the adorkable guy behind the local comic shop’s counter uncovers her secret, she’s busted. Before she can shake a pom-pom, Maddie’s whisked into Logan’s world of comic conventions, live-action role-playing, and first-person-shooter video games. And she loves it. But the more she denies who she really is, the deeper her lies become…and the more she risks losing Logan forever.
-------------------Summary provided

Notable Quote

It's not just high school. People are going to judge you for all kinds of reasons for the rest of yoru life. Because you vote one way or the other, because you go to one school or the other, because you look a certain way. It's a fact of life: you can't make everyone happy. But you can make you happy.

I've said over and over and over again how contemporary is my home. It is the only genre I will repeatedly come back to like a dearly missed friend, the genre that I will always find a friend and a love in. And The Summer I Became A Nerd is a perfect example of a contemporary I love and enjoy.

I'm definitely not quite on the geekdom level that Maddie is (despite my 5-year-and-still-going streak of attending Comic-Con), but I can relate to her pretty well. I used to be made fun of a lot because I was a "nerd" - I read all the time, worn glasses since I was 9 years old, cared obsessively about my grades and generally had my nose stuck in books or writing at all moments of every day. But really, I think anyone who has ever felt like they've had to hide a huge part of themselves for fear of being ridiculed will relate to this book and recognize a lot of the feelings.

I have to say, one of my only complaints about this book is that sometimes it felt a little over-dramatic or cliche. The popular girl afraid of tumbling, the amount of teasing she feared, the resolution and how it was a 3-page "revelation" of lessons -- but in the grand scheme? I will totally let it all slide since the rest of this book was SO awesome.

One of the best choices the author made was having Logan, the love interest, come in early and remain in the novel as one. So many times it's like they're introduced, but they don't play a real part in the story and you just have to believe he's right -- but we're really allowed to see Logan and just how perfect he is. I have such a huge nerdy crush on him, you guys! I wanted so badly to be in the back of the comic store with him, or sit in on his Awesome Logan show. He's sweet and not without his faults and so considerate, and I wanted to holler at Maddie every time she even began to think she shouldn't be with him.

And it's a smaller part -- one that I can't quite talk about in case of spoilers -- but I'm kind of glad Leah Rae Miller gave Eric a personality. He wasn't just some stupid jock with an anger issue. Sure, he's maybe not the brightest crayon in the box, but there was dimension to him and I found myself feeling for him. In fact, all of the secondary characters were so enjoyable and fun! They had their own quirks and personalities and each one is so distinct in my memory. I love all of them, no matter how weird or bad-mouthy or ridiculous they are.

Looking back on the novel, one of my favourite things was that each of the characters came from stable, loving families that were still present throughout the entire story. Not to say a novel always needs those, but I'm a little sick of seeing the same absentee parent, or that Disney thing (98% of Disney movies have the main characters missing one parent*). So it was nice to find characters who had supportive families, who had typical relationships and difficulties with the parents, whose parents cared enough to ground them but still hug the kid when they made it safely home. That is how I grew up, and I was very happy to see it in this book.

As for the plot...well, I can't quite detail of all of it because it'd give away some of the fun of the book, but I really enjoyed all of this! I loved all the fun elements, all the unique sets and sitations that come up. There was a lot going on without being too much, just enough to always keep me interested and wanting to read and find out what was happening. The progression is really good, and I like that Maddie is kind of a simple character - right away you get a feel for the type of person she is, and regardless whether or not I agreed with it, I immediately took a liking to her and wanted her to figure out how to really be happy with who she is. Some books focus on one bigger event and more of a personal growth; but I felt like The Summer I Became A Nerd did really well balancing a lot of events with a fun plotline with just a little - but still important - growth in the characters.

The Summer I Became A Nerd is the perfect contemporary novel: a light, sweet read about important matters with a fun, energetic cast and matching plot. I smiled within the first 3 pages and closed it with an even bigger one. I highly recommend you read this if you want to find a piece of yourself and see how it should make you happy to show it.

*observational guesstimate, though I'm positive I'm not far off from fact.

4.5 Stars / 5

About the Author: Leah Rae Miller
Mother, wife, and YA author living on a windy hill in Natchitoches, Louisiana. I love fuzzy socks, comic books, cherry coke, and brand new office supplies. THE SUMMER I BECAME A NERD coming Summer 2013 from Entangled Teen. Stay cool!
Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | Goodreads

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