Review: A Curious Tale of the In-Between by Lauren DeStefano (ARC)

A Curious Tale of the In-Between (Pram #1) by Lauren DeStefano
Bloomsbury, 240 Pages
Expected US Release Date: September 1, 2015
Format/Source: ARC via Around the World Tours - thank you!

Pram Bellamy is special—she can talk to ghosts. She doesn’t have too many friends amongst the living, but that’s all right. She has her books, she has her aunts, and she has her best friend, the ghostly Felix.

Then Pram meets Clarence, a boy from school who has also lost a parent and is looking for answers. Together they arrive at the door of the mysterious Lady Savant, who promises to help. But this spiritualist knows the true nature of Pram’s power, and what she has planned is more terrifying than any ghost.

Lauren DeStefano is beloved by critics and readers alike, and her middle grade debut is lyrical, evocative and not to be missed.
-------------------Goodreads Summary

Notable Quote

Saying it aloud was an admission as well. No wonder she'd grown up in a house where nobody said they loved anyone; what a terrible pain that word caused.

If someone asked me to describe the perfect Middle Grade book, I would probably reference A Curious Tale of the In-Between now. I’m not sure what I would have said before (this is excluding Harry Potter of course, because that’s just all ages), but I can certainly tell you now that everything you’re looking for is probably found in this little book.

I’m not even a big “spooky” story lover. And it’s not like A Curious Tale was terrifying or nightmare inducing – it was just the right amount of spooky and creepy with adolescent curiosity and innocence. I thought DeStefano handled that weird middle-time of being a kid and learning there are bigger, sometimes better and definitely sometimes worse, things in life. It’s a very strange transitional stage, and she did fantastically well not only representing it, but also maneuvering through the Big Life Things and cutesy childhood moments.

Lauren DeStefano’s YA books always have this fantastic storytelling creativity to them. They’re original and unique but entirely relatable and human – and she’s carried this into her MG story as well. I never went through seeing ghosts as a kid, but I still felt like I could have been Pram in so many parts of this story. Her curiosity, her strangeness, her sadness and big heart and emotions…they were all so real to me and felt like it was a part of me, too.

I absolutely love love loved Clarence and Felix. If I were in High School English classes, I would have had so much fun analyzing them and who they represent to Pram and her stages in life – but this is a review, not a report, and I won’t. But trust that they are enjoyable from a literary analytics view, and just as characters from a reader. Both were unique and loveable in their own ways, and I wish I had them as friends when I was younger, too.

A Curious Tale of the In-Between was an adorable read, but also one I feel like is important to the Middle Grade book roster. It represents that time in life where you’re growing from a kid into a teenager and struggling to find your identity within your family, within your friends, and within yourself – and it represents it entirely well. The story is evocative and enjoyable, strong and so, so original. I highly recommend reading it.

4.5 stars

Review: Emmy & Oliver by Robin Benway (ARC)

Emmy & Oliver by Robin Benway
Harper Teen, 352 pages
US Release Date: Today! June 23, 2015
Format/Source: ARC via Around the World Tours - thank you!

Emmy’s best friend, Oliver, reappears after being kidnapped by his father ten years ago. Emmy hopes to pick up their relationship right where it left off. Are they destined to be together? Or has fate irreparably driven them apart?

Emmy just wants to be in charge of her own life.

She wants to stay out late, surf her favorite beach—go anywhere without her parents’ relentless worrying. But Emmy’s parents can’t seem to let her grow up—not since the day Oliver disappeared.

Oliver needs a moment to figure out his heart.

He’d thought, all these years, that his dad was the good guy. He never knew that it was his father who kidnapped him and kept him on the run. Discovering it, and finding himself returned to his old hometown, all at once, has his heart racing and his thoughts swirling.

Emmy and Oliver were going to be best friends forever, or maybe even more, before their futures were ripped apart. In Emmy’s soul, despite the space and time between them, their connection has never been severed. But is their story still written in the stars? Or are their hearts like the pieces of two different puzzles—impossible to fit together?

Readers who love Sarah Dessen will tear through these pages with hearts in throats as Emmy and Oliver struggle to face the messy, confusing consequences of Oliver’s father’s crime. Full of romance, coming-of-age emotion, and heartache, these two equally compelling characters create an unforgettable story.
--------------------------Goodreads Summary

Notable Quote

"Sometimes love isn't something you say, it's something you do," he finally said. "Or, I don't know, at least that's what it seems like."

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Robin Benway on a multitude of occasions and getting to hear her speak at events. She’s warm and friendly, hilariously endearing and so real and cheerful to be around. I look forward to any event I can make with her.

And I have to say, Emmy & Oliver possesses all the same charm that Robin herself does. Sure, it’s a bit depressing—and actually, pretty scary to think about, at its premise—but there’s such heart and humor in this that I couldn’t help but fall in love with the story.

I can’t imagine what it would be like to be Emmy. Or Oliver. Oliver broke my heart over and over again, simply because what he’s gone through is unfathomable. It is terrible and horrible and no child should ever go through that—except once you read more about it, and understand the motives, why it happened…it shatters you all over again to realise you can kind of understand the father’s way of thought. I’m in no way endorsing kidnapping your child of course (seriously.), but…I mean. Love makes you do crazy things, you know?

Oliver is so fantastic, by the way. His personality, who he has developed into in his circumstance…he’s just crafted so well. He’s not perfect, but he’s beautifully broken and wonderfully written. His friendship with Emmy is adorable at the beginning and tenuous in the middle, but it is always something precious and on the verge. I can’t think of a friendship-that’s-almost-more that I’ve loved as much in any of my recent reads.

Emmy is wonderful as well, in her own little hopeful way. She’s sweet how she’s hung onto Ollie and helps him regain who he was; but at the same time, lets him become whoever he was in the 10 years it had been. The way she and Oliver left each was just cruel (in the best way possible, of course), and it made me yearn for her and them that much more. I loved her humor and fierce friendship with all of the characters, and I’d be pretty happy to have someone like her in my life.

Honestly, I don’t have much to complain with in Emmy & Oliver! I loved the two best friends and would love to have more of them (spin offs, maybe? Maybe!), and I liked the family elements in this. Sometimes I thought it was a bit extreme how the parents each acted, but within the circumstances they are given…it actually makes sense. I can’t say I’d act differently, really.

Emmy & Oliver represents heartfelt characters and what it means to be able to love someone no matter what has happened. It’s an exhibit of the heart and the capacity it can allow others to have within it, and I find it a privilege to have these characters and this writing in my life.

4.5 stars

Review: Rites of Passage by Joy Hensley (ARC)

Rites of Passage by Joy Hensley
HarperTeen, 416 Pages
US Release Date: September 9, 2014
Format/Source: ARC via Around the World Tours - thank you!

Sam McKenna’s never turned down a dare. And she's not going to start with the last one her brother gave her before he died.

So Sam joins the first-ever class of girls at the prestigious Denmark Military Academy. She’s expecting push-ups and long runs, rope climbing and mud-crawling. As a military brat, she can handle an obstacle course just as well as the boys. She's even expecting the hostility she gets from some of the cadets who don’t think girls belong there. What she’s not expecting is her fiery attraction to her drill sergeant. But dating is strictly forbidden and Sam won't risk her future, or the dare, on something so petty...no matter how much she wants him.

As Sam struggles to prove herself, she discovers that some of the boys don’t just want her gone—they will stop at nothing to drive her out. When their petty threats turn to brutal hazing, bleeding into every corner of her life, she realizes they are not acting alone. A decades-old secret society is alive and active… and determined to force her out.
At any cost.

Now time's running short. Sam must decide who she can trust...and choosing the wrong person could have deadly consequences. 
----------------Goodreads Summary

Notable Quote

"You are not a drop in the ocean. You are an ocean in a drop."

This isn’t the end, right? RIGHT?! RIGHT?!?!?

Not that it isn’t a fantastically full book now, you know. I’m just saying, I’d like to know what happens…after. What happens to him, and to her, and them, and…yeah.

Rites of Passage was a surprise read for me, in a lot of ways. If you’ve been a longtime reader of my blog, you know my military stuff—and I was a little scared it would trigger something. But it was an entire other facet to military life, and I found it so interesting and eye-opening. I’ve heard stories and known people who went to military academies or schools, but this is the first I’ve ever taken the time to let details sink in.

I was also surprised at the depth and complication in this story. There’s more to it than an Army BRAT feeling the need to prove herself in a military family and military world. That’s there, of course-but add in family things, romance things, friends things, facing the academy as one of the first girls admitted, the hazing and bruises and behind-closed-doors smokes (not quite what you’re thinking, I swear)…there’s a lot going on, and it all intertwines masterfully.

The romance. Drill. Oh BOY. I liked that Sam’s feelings for Drill were actually…not that big of a deal in the book. I mean, it’s a big deal since that’s strictly forbidden, but this story wasn’t just their hidden feelings. It was just a small part to the larger plot, and it worked so well. And that’s a big deal for me to say: I’d take romance over everything else any day! But in Rites of Passage, it was a great element that enhanced an already full and compelling story. A great little part of the whole.

This is one of the few books I’ve read this year that really captivated me, that really made me clutch at the pages and wonder what was going to happen. I read pretty fast in general, but I couldn’t read fast enough to know what was going to happen and who would do what and would Sam be ok?! There were so many moments of fear, of hope, of pride, of feelings and emotions as I went with Sam through her first year and watched her fight and struggle for her place at the Academy. There were bright spots, like Drill and her Alpha friends; and there were dark spots, like the Society and just how cruel and far they went. But all of it together was phenomenal.

Rites of Passage is a compelling, brilliant story of a Strong Girl fighting for her place, of a girl out to prove her worth and so much more. Following Sam and her story was heart-wrenching and breathtaking and a little bit terrifying—but I’m so glad I did.

But seriously. SECOND BOOK!!

4.5 stars

Review: 99 Days by Katie Cotugno (ARC)

99 Days by Katie Cotugno
Balzer + Bray (an imprint of Harper), 384 Pages
Expected US Release Date: April 21, 2015
Format/Source: ARC via Around the World Tours - thank you!

Day 1: Julia Donnelly eggs my house my first night back in Star Lake, and that’s how I know everyone still remembers everything—how I destroyed my relationship with Patrick the night everything happened with his brother, Gabe. How I wrecked their whole family. Now I’m serving out my summer like a jail sentence: Just ninety-nine days till I can leave for college, and be done.

Day 4: A nasty note on my windshield makes it clear Julia isn’t finished. I’m expecting a fight when someone taps me on the shoulder, but it’s just Gabe, home from college and actually happy to see me. “For what it’s worth, Molly Barlow,” he says, “I’m really glad you’re back.”

Day 12: Gabe got me to come to this party, and I’m actually having fun. I think he’s about to kiss me—and that’s when I see Patrick. My Patrick, who’s supposed to be clear across the country. My Patrick, who’s never going to forgive me. 
----------------------Goodreads Summary

Notable Quote

It occurs to me, not for the first time, that you can never really know what anybody's got hidden in the back of her secret heart.

I really adore Katie Cotugno’s writing. I mean, I know that only means 2 of her books, but if you’ve read them…you get it. (And if you haven’t read them, you need to. NEED TO.)

99 Days probably tops How To Love with me, but that’s really only because I could relate better to this novel. I’m not a teen mother, I don’t care for a child…there were things that I could sympathise with…but 99 Days is a book I can empathise with. Not that I’ve cheated on someone with his brother (!), but the idea of being torn, of temptation and avoidance and being stuck in an uncomfortable place while you wait for life to continue one.

For my fellow Friends fans: WE WERE ON A BREAK!! That is seriously what I wanted to yell so many times I was reading haha.

So, I’m not sure where you stand in terms of a love triangle and cheating and all that nonsense (not that I think anyone should be on the positive side of that…), but there are some people who really can’t stomach reading it. If that’s you, well…go into this book forewarned, ok? I’m of the tribe that’s delightfully sickened by situations like that. Not that I think a girl should hook up with brothers, or cheat, or what have you, but it’s one of those things that I’m horrified and riveted all at once. This is definitely an extreme triangle, but the amazing (and slightly disturbing) thing about it is that a reader can completely understand Molly’s indecision between Patrick and Gabe. I was always leaning towards one, but then things would happen, and serious doubt would creep in. It freaked me out a little, but really speaks to how skilled and amazing Katie Cotugno’s writing and storytelling is.

The slut shaming. Yes, it’s there. Yes, it’s horrible. Yes, it’s terrible to read about and think about and I kind of wanted to break a lot of the girls’ knees in this book. But the way Katie Cotugno wrote the slut shaming into the story was so brilliant. It was almost like a device, like it was a form of the literature to make you feel a certain way towards the characters. And it’s not that I accepted the slut-shaming, but…I was into it, in terms of the story.

I think my only issue was somewhere around the middle or beginning of the end – it felt like it was getting a little slow. I’m not sure if that was just my impatience at wanting to know what was going to happen, but I felt like Molly had flip flopped and exhausted her guilt and jezebel feelings at some points.

But honestly, that was a small issue in the grand scheme of things. The pacing and development of this story was top notch, and I found myself flipping pages almost faster than I could read I was so into knowing what would or could happen.  I found qualities in almost every single character that I could either relate to, happily hate, or want to be—and sometimes a mix of all!

99 Days is a wonderfully stomach clenching story of a girl and her choices. What led to them, what justifies them, why they may or may not have been for the best in the end. It’s about a summer that can change you and everyone around you, but still remind you of what was originally there.

4.5 stars

Review: A Cold Legacy by Megan Shepherd (ARC)

A Cold Legacy (The Madman's Daughter #3) by Megan Shepherd
Balzar + Bray (an imprint of Harper), 400 Pages
US Release Date: January 27, 2015
Format/Source: ARC via Around the World Tours - thank you!

After killing the men who tried to steal her father’s research, Juliet—along with Montgomery, Lucy, Balthazar, and a deathly ill Edward—has escaped to a remote estate on the Scottish moors. Owned by the enigmatic Elizabeth von Stein, the mansion is full of mysteries and unexplained oddities: dead bodies in the basement, secret passages, and fortune-tellers who seem to know Juliet’s secrets. Though it appears to be a safe haven, Juliet fears new dangers may be present within the manor’s own walls.

Then Juliet uncovers the truth about the manor’s long history of scientific experimentation—and her own intended role in it—forcing her to determine where the line falls between right and wrong, life and death, magic and science, and promises and secrets. And she must decide if she’ll follow her father’s dark footsteps or her mother’s tragic ones, or whether she’ll make her own.

With inspiration from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, this breathless conclusion to the Madman’s Daughter trilogy is about the things we’ll sacrifice to save those we love—even our own humanity.
-------------------Goodreads Summary

Notable Quote

“I want to know that this life is the only one that matters. When you can never die, do you ever really live?”

I’m feeling a little empty, knowing that Montgomery is no longer in my life now that this trilogy has ended. My love for him ran deep, and it was true, and I’m absolutely distraught there’s no more.

/dramatics.

I really do love him though.

Moving on. Guys, I can’t even with this series. I. Can’t. Even. It’s rare for me to find a series that I love all of it, but…this is it. I mean, sure—I had my problems with Book 2 having a bit of the Book Two Syndrome. And A Cold Legacy wasn’t perfect. But together, looking at the series as a whole, as a story arc with the twists and turns…it’s so fantastic and original. A Cold Legacy was decidedly less dark than the first two—which I was a bit sad about since you expect that from a book that takes after Frankenstein. But it actually kind of…fits. The tone of it, the overall feel flows so well with the action and story, and I enjoyed it quite a bit by the end.

One of the best parts was how much happened in this book. I’m not saying all of it was exciting and gripping and had me furiously flipping pages (some of it did!), but I felt like there was so much evolution, so much that happened overall. There were more questions, answers given, more questions raised, some bloodshed, lots of secret passages and tension…it was pretty fantastic.

I do have to admit that one of my disappointments was the traveling troupe and that character that…”reappeared” in the middle. I wanted so much more, I felt like there was so much more potential with him and his friends. The same with Edward and what happens to him…it felt very safe, very small what happens, and I kind of wish it had been at touch more dramatic and chaotic.

But the character I still love? Lucy. She’s flighty and hilarious and such a great friend. She’s also a little crazy, and actually pissed me off quite a bit at some points…but I still think she’s one of the best best friend characters in a book so far. She’s still so much more essential than Book 2 made her seem, and it was brilliant.

And of course Balthazar. Tried, true, so tender and amazing. I have no bad things to say about him, and only wish I had him in my life.

A Cold Legacy is one of the best endings to a series I’ve ever come across. It stands on it’s own as fantastic, with a plotline that moves in ways I’d never expect and still retains all the characters, confusions, and challenges I’ve loved forever. And together, all 3 of the Madman’s Daughter books create this terrifying, amazing, brilliant story about your nature versus your nurture, about discovering who you are and shaping who you want to become. It’s about your choices, what is inevitable, and what is created in between.

And it is bloody fantastic.

4.5 stars

Read my review of Book 1: The Madman's Daughter and Book 2: Her Dark Curiosity.

Review: Althea & Oliver by Cristina Moracho (ARC)

Althea & Oliver by Cristina Moracho
Viking Juvenile (an imprint of Penguin), 366 pages
US Release Date: October 9, 2014
Format/Source: ARC via Around the World Tours - thank you!

What if you live for the moment when life goes off the rails—and then one day there’s no one left to help you get it back on track?

Althea Carter and Oliver McKinley have been best friends since they were six; she’s the fist-fighting instigator to his peacemaker, the artist whose vision balances his scientific bent. Now, as their junior year of high school comes to a close, Althea has begun to want something more than just best-friendship. Oliver, for his part, simply wants life to go back to normal, but when he wakes up one morning with no memory of the past three weeks, he can’t deny any longer that something is seriously wrong with him. And then Althea makes the worst bad decision ever, and her relationship with Oliver is shattered. He leaves town for a clinical study in New York, resolving to repair whatever is broken in his brain, while she gets into her battered Camry and drives up the coast after him, determined to make up for what she’s done.

Their journey will take them from the rooftops, keg parties, and all-ages shows of their North Carolina hometown to the pool halls, punk houses, and hospitals of New York City before they once more stand together and face their chances. Set in the DIY, mix tape, and zine culture of the mid-1990s, Cristina Moracho’s whip-smart debut is an achingly real story about identity, illness, and love—and why bad decisions sometimes feel so good.
------------------------Goodreads Summary

Notable Quote

"I'm not running away," she says. "I'm walking away."

I didn’t know what to think going into Althea & Oliver. I’d never heard of it until it popped up on the ARC Tour site I go onto, and because I am a sucker for all things duality and all things contemporary, I went for it. I mean, it seems pretty freakin’ interesting: a disease where you sleep for weeks, months at a time? That in itself is interesting, but then to get the best friends’ viewpoint in it too, and it seems she wants more? I tried to put myself into Althea’s place, and I knew I had to read it. (Because I would not be able to handle it. I have problems going a weekend without my best guy friend.)

At the beginning of the ARC is a letter from the editor that calls this book “a work of literature with teenagers in it, rather than a ‘YA novel’” and I was at first a little offended. You can’t tell me If I Stay isn’t literature. You can’t tell me The Fault in Our Stars isn’t a thing of beauty, that Wanderlove isn’t every bit the work of words and wonder it sounds like it is.

But I get it. I so, so get it.

Althea & Oliver explores so many elements, from teenager things to new adult to young adult to adult things. The before and after, the friendship, the idea of wanting more, the knowing and needing of more and less. The family of friends, a dysfunctional family, a chosen family and a given family. Of making mistakes, horrible, terrible, absolutely shattering mistakes; to the realization and the attempt at fixing or repairing them. And then the failure, and the not-quite-a-failure-but-may-as-well-be.

I have to admit that I didn’t think Althea and Oliver were quite as opposite as they were made out to be. Althea is supposed to be the crazy artiste, the off-the-wall, on-the-cusp kinda girl; and Oliver is the steady, the rock, the grounded. But I don’t actually believe that—yes, I could see how she seems to be the revolving around his axis, but there’s a bit more to each of them, a bit more of the other in them. Althea definitely takes the more obvious route of being crazy and out of control, but Oliver has it on the internal.

Honestly, I’m finding it a bit hard to write a cohesive review for this book, because I have so many thoughts and feelings about it and for it and for them and how much I want to hug them. I’m a bit scattered—but it’s actually pretty representative of this book. There’s so much chaos and unknown and scattered thoughts and feelings throughout. I was so caught up with it, so taken along and invested in the ride I’m having a hard time pulling myself back from it.

I have to say that the plot, the movement…it’s perfect. How the story is built, you really understand who they are and who they are together. I felt like I knew their friendship so well, even though I’ve got nothing like theirs. I liked how it all fit together, how it all fell apart, how it all scrabbled and scraped to get back together, and how it all kind of floundered and figured itself in the end. It’s perfect.

And the ‘almost’ and the ‘favourite’ really got me. Oh god, did it get me.

Althea & Oliver may not be quite what it led me to believe, but I’m actually pretty happy about that because I’ve found a book that feels like it’s a little part of me, like it understood some of the hardest, more difficult aspects of my emotions and fears and feelings. It is a lesson that even in the screw-ups, even in the chaos and broken perfections, we can find enough to get us on the pathway back.

4.5 stars

Review: Ask Again Later by Liz Czukas (ARC)

Ask Again Later by Liz Czukas
Harper Teen, 336 Pages
US Release Date: March 11, 2014
Format/Source: ARC via Around the World Tours - thank you!

Despite what her name might suggest, Heart has zero interest in complicated romance. So when her brilliant plan to go to prom with a group of friends is disrupted by two surprise invites, Heart knows there's only one drama-free solution: flip a coin.

Heads: The jock. He might spend all night staring at his ex or throw up in the limo, but how bad can her brother's best friend really be?

Tails: The theater geek...with a secret. What could be better than a guy who shares all Heart's interests--even if he wants to share all his feelings?

Heart's simple coin flip has somehow given her the chance to live out both dates. But where her prom night ends up might be the most surprising thing of all…
-------------------------------Goodreads summary

Notable Quote

Fate is only a comfort if you actually believe in it.

There are few things in the world I love more than a solid contemporary YA novel, and Ask Again Later definitely fulfilled everything I wanted. I knew I’d love it from the premise alone, and then it just turned into something better than expected.

The Heads/Tails split of parallel narratives was so much fun, and I love that it read like a dual narrative (we all know I love me some of those!). It was such a fun way to flip back and forth.

The characters were definitely the best part. They’re all so much fun and funny and I loved the chemistry between every single character. They felt like natural people, like they were really any of the people I knew in high school and I just happened to be reading about them. Even Heart and her brother Phil were interesting and a pretty great representation of a sibling relationship. They kind of reminded me of my brother and I together (though I suspect he and I are close than Phil and Heart are). It was a refreshing mix to see sibling involved in each other’s lives, and that there were different type of relationships throughout the book.

Both Ryan and Troy were such great prom dates! I was completely on Heart’s side when she couldn’t decide who to say yes to, but that she knew she would say yes to both; how could you not with the stories of them both?! It was creative and funny and real and a great premise to Prom.

The No Prom-A Drama crew were probably my favourite parts to this entire story. I not only wish they were all my friends, but it definitely reminded me of my own prom experience. I made a point to go with all friends and made sure to go with a guy who was only a friend—we made it clearly established that he and I were going only as friends, to have a good time and not have the stress or obligation of friends-to-more and weird date-like jitters. And this Prom-A Crew? Totally something I would have been down for. They were all so much fun and personable and loud, and I liked that they were all still friends with Heart and supported her in both scenarios.

I have to say that some of this is predictable in that the more you read, you can figure out who is going to become important and what will happen and that Heart will finally learn to listen to her heart (see what I did there!?)…but it’s so much fun getting there that I didn’t even care I’d guessed it from 15 pages in.

Possibly related to that: I love Schroeder. The nickname and everything.

I was also so in love with all the crazy situations Heart found herself in, how many things spilled on her or went wrong or she got hurt…this entire book was filled with hilariously awesome faux pas and predicaments, and it was seriously so much fun. There was never a moment (or page) I wasn’t laughing or hoping or enjoying the scenario.

Ask Again Later really is contemporary bliss, filled with fun moments and fantastically interesting characters. There’s heart and emotion and love, and you really get to know these characters and love them. If Ask Again Later asked me to the prom, I’d definitely say yes because it was such a good time.

4.5 stars

Review: Fan Art by Sarah Tregay (ARC)

Fan Art by Sarah Tregay
Katherine Tegan Books (an imprint of Harper), 368 pages
Expected US Release Date: June 17, 2014
Format/Source: ARC via Around the World Tours - thank you!

When the picture tells the story…

Senior year is almost over, and Jamie Peterson has a big problem. Not college—that’s all set. Not prom—he’ll find a date somehow. No, it’s the worst problem of all: he’s fallen for his best friend.

As much as Jamie tries to keep it under wraps, everyone seems to know where his affections lie, and the giggling girls in art class are determined to help Jamie get together with Mason. But Jamie isn’t sure if that’s what he wants—because as much as Jamie would like to come clean to Mason, what if the truth ruins everything? What if there are no more road trips, taco dinners, or movie nights? Does he dare risk a childhood friendship for romance?

This book is about what happens when a picture reveals what we can’t say, when art is truer than life, and how falling in love is easy, except when it’s not. Fan Art explores the joys and pains of friendship, of pressing boundaries, and how facing our worst fears can sometimes lead us to what we want most.
----------------------------Goodreads Summary

Notable Quote

“Does someone not liking you back break your heart?”

I’ve tried to write the beginning of this review so many times, but I can’t decide which element to talk about first since I loved them all so much. I want to tell you all at once how much I adore Jamie and how much I adore Mason and how adorable this book is, filled with the lovely tension of crushes and loves and best friends-but-wanting-more and the complexities of being Out but not really out. I want to say all at once because I simply can’t make the decision what to say first.

I’ll start at the very beginning, because it is, indeed, a very good place to start. Jamie is just the best main character ever. He is sweet and friendly and open and confused, and I felt like he was immediately my best friend. I loved all his interactions with people, all his thoughts and considerations and doubt. I’m nowhere near Jamie or whatever he finds himself in, but I related to him on almost every level, and it was lovely.

I would never be his best friend though, but that’s because that spot belongs wholeheartedly to Mason. And I support and love them, all the jokes and touches and “I love you, man”s that are and are not said. In fact, I love most of the friendships in this book—even the ones between all the popular jocks, even if I’m not a real fan of those jocks themselves. I really liked Eden and Jamie, since it’s a friendship built on secrets and outsider understanding. I’m not quite a fan of Eden, actually—she’s a little too much for me—but I like what she and Jamie had and become.

Perhaps one of the reasons I loved this book as well is the incorporation of the Gumshoe—I am a journalism girl at heart (and by diploma!) and ran the school newspaper in high school and was Creative director of a non-profit magazine in college (I did the layouts, basically). It was wonderful reliving the memories of planning meetings, going to the printers, finding content, putting everything together…and even the hardships of debating back and forth on when you want a piece in or not. It’s a very hard thing to debate the merit of something for print, especially when it’s something that speaks to you—so I got Jamie. I definitely got him.

Though I do have to say I wasn’t really impressed by most of the poems printed in here. I did like At Night I Dream—but the others weren’t really anything special to me. I did, however, LOVE the comic that started it all, and I can’t wait to see the final version.

I found quite a bit of this story predictable as well, though not in an infuriatingly so way or anything. It was more like…once you read something, you could tell the direction it would go. And while I was more than happy with the way a lot of this works out, sometimes it would have been nice to be thrown off the trail a little bit.

Fan Art was such a fantastic story. I loved the plot and how much fun it was—I feel like it perfectly captured the end of Senior Year so well. The nostalgia of the known and loved for the last 4 years with the terrifying anticipation of what’s to come.  I loved the small road trip, the Senior Ditch Day, the prank, prom, absolutely everything. Everyone should read it, because I promise you’ll find a little bit of yourself in it as well.

4.5 stars

Review: Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy (ARC)

Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy
Balzar+Bray (an imprint if Harper Teen), 336 pages
Expected US Release Date: March 18, 2014
Format/Source: ARC via Around the World Tours - thank you!
Challenges: Debut Author Challenge, Standalone Challenge

What if you’d been living your life as if you were dying—only to find out that you had your whole future ahead of you? 

When sixteen-year-old Alice is diagnosed with leukemia, her prognosis is grim. To maximize the time she does have, she vows to spend her final months righting wrongs—however she sees fit. She convinces her friend Harvey, whom she knows has always had feelings for her, to help her with a crazy bucket list that’s as much about revenge (humiliating her ex-boyfriend and getting back at her arch nemesis) as it is about hope (doing something unexpectedly kind for a stranger and reliving some childhood memories). But just when Alice’s scores are settled, she goes into remission.

Now Alice is forced to face the consequences of all that she’s said and done, as well as her true feelings for Harvey. But has she done irreparable damage to the people around her, and to the one person who matters most? 

Julie Murphy’s SIDE EFFECTS MAY VARY is a fearless and moving tour de force about love, life, and facing your own mortality.
----------------------------goodreads summary

Notable Quote

"You never surprise me, Alice, which is such a disappointment"

I got a little scared when I first started reading this because I’d literally JUST finished Maybe One Day by Melissa Kantor (read my review here!). Cancer books that incorporate best friends, dance, and boys? I loved Maybe One Day, and I was terrified Side Effects May Vary wouldn’t compare.

So, even though I listed all those similarities, that is definitely where the commonalities end. Side Effects May Vary has this fantastically different tone to it, one complete unique to a “cancer” book. It’s a bit…blunt, for lack of a better word. Alice is unforgiving and a bit cavalier, and I love it. She’s funny and learning what it’s like to live with consequences after a life without them. It’s refreshing, and a wonderful difference from the typical “girl gets sick” book.

I also loved that we get Harvey’s point-of-view, as well as both a Then and Now reference. It makes the book incredibly interesting on an entirely different level. I’m wary of non-linear plots, but in this case, it works. And it works WELL. There’s so much to be learned and pieced together as we go back and forth between points of view and times, and it really engaged me that way.

It does help that Harvey is a fantastic character and sweet boy, too. I love getting his view on the situation, seeing his thoughts and how he affected Alice—both in sickness and in health. He’s a little bad and mostly good, and so human it really brings him alive. He’s got so many emotions that he feels so wholly, I really felt like he was a real person that I was talking with or watching live through these things.

I love the premise of this book. I love the idea of a girl with cancer getting her revenge on those who wronged her, who is living life without consequences. And that she gets to suffer the backlash of it too…it’s so vivid and different. So much of this book is original, and I loved every moment.

Funnily enough, I really liked Alice as a character, but wasn’t too fond of her as a personality—which really just speaks for Julie Murphy’s talent as a writer to make me not like her and like her at the same time. There are parts of Alice that I don’t quite like, that I find to be a little too rough around the edges; but that’s just my own personality. I always think of main characters in terms of if I would be friends with the person, and I’m not certain I would be with Alice. But as a reader, I love how strong she is as a character, how full her personality is. I’m really taken with her throughout her ordeal of cancer and remission.

Side Effects May Vary was a wonderfully unique novel, with strong characters and a humor-and heart-filled plot. There’s so much to learn from this novel (you should have seen how many post-its I had at the end!), so much to love and laugh with. It really made me think about living without fear but with effects.

4.5 Stars

Review: Maybe One Day by Melissa Kantor (ARC)

Maybe One Day by Melissa Kantor
Harper Teen, 304 Pages
Expected US Release Date: February 18, 2014
Format/Source: ARC via Around the World Tours - thank you!

Critically acclaimed author Melissa Kantor masterfully captures the joy of friendship, the agony of loss, and the unique experience of being a teenager in this poignant new novel about a girl grappling with her best friend's life-threatening illness.

Zoe and her best friend, Olivia, have always had big plans for the future, none of which included Olivia getting sick. Still, Zoe is determined to put on a brave face and be positive for her friend.

Even when she isn't sure what to say.

Even when Olivia misses months of school.

Even when Zoe starts falling for Calvin, Olivia's crush.

The one thing that keeps Zoe moving forward is knowing that Olivia will beat this, and everything will go back to the way it was before. It has to. Because the alternative is too terrifying for her to even imagine.

In this incandescent page-turner, which follows in the tradition of The Fault in Our Stars, Melissa Kantor artfully explores the idea that the worst thing to happen to you might not be something that is actually happening to you. Raw, irreverent, and honest, Zoe's unforgettable voice and story will stay with readers long after the last page is turned.
-----------------Goodreads summary

Notable Quote

I think it stopped being fun when I started wanting to be the best at it.

This is a weird confession, but here it goes: when I was younger, I was obsessed with cancer books. Books where characters had cancer, or were best friends with people who had cancer, or had family with cancer…whatever it was, I read it. Lurlene McDaniels was practically part of my daily diet.

I’ve since widened my reading repertoire, but I feel like I can safely say my knowledge and “experience” (this is such a weird thing to have experience in) had me going into Maybe One Day pretty prepared. I knew what to expect, I figured I could sense how it would end or progress within the first 100 pages, and I was determined to face whatever Melissa Kantor threw at me. I mean, I made it through TFiOS, I can make it through anything. As long as I have a tissue box.

And damnit, did I need that tissue box.

Maybe One Day is a strong, heart-achingly beautiful book of friendship and love. Of finding what we love, of learning that love does not always have to be forever; but it will always be for the things and people that matter.

I definitely did get a feeling what was going to happen less than 100 pages in, and I did get it right…but the entire story itself was so good I didn’t even care that I could figure it out. I loved the incorporation of dance and how it seemed to influence and echo a lot of their friendship and beliefs. I loved the families, how they struggled but were supporting, how they were just the right amount of involved.

I love Olivia and Zoe, so much. As individuals, but also together as friends. They are the epitome of everything I hope to find in a friend and hope to be in a friend. And what made this book so special is that their friendship just…was. It never felt forced or lacking, I didn’t think Melissa Kantor was trying to prove they had a friendship stronger than anything—it was fluid and beautiful, something I couldn’t see but believed in as wholeheartedly as I do air.  Even separate, each character was so strong with her own personality and distinction. There was enough in common for you to see how it works between them, but they are definitely their own people too, and that was fantastic.

I wish Calvin was in the book a little more, I felt he could have been a bigger part—but for what he was, I loved him. He had few parts, but each one was meaningful and said a lot about him. All together he probably comprised less than 50 pages of this book, but I knew him wholely.

Because I can’t talk about the entire last third of the book without giving away what happens, just trust me that it will pull you every which way you could possibly go, without anticipation and only with hope. I cried pretty solidly through a lot of it, because there are moments you just…you don’t know.  There was one line that just made me start weeping: “It is agony to thaw.” And in that one line, I feel you can see so much of this book. The emotions, the feelings, what may or may not happen, the parts that do and the ones you wish could.

Maybe One Day may not be on the same level as The Fault in Our Stars, but it definitely stands on it’s own. You are able to find yourself in their friendship and in both the characters, while feeling like you are a part of them as well. It made me want to hug my best friends harder, to tell them how much they mean to me.

4.5 stars

[Une Petite Revue] Parallel by Lauren Miller (ARC)

Parallel by Lauren Miller
Harper Teen, 432 pages
US Release Date: May 14, 2013
Format/Source: ARC via DAC ARC Tours - thank you!
Challenges: Debut Author Challenge, Stand Alone Challenge

Abby Barnes had a plan. The Plan. She'd go to Northwestern, major in journalism, and land a job at a national newspaper, all before she turned twenty-two. But one tiny choice—taking a drama class her senior year of high school—changed all that. Now, on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, Abby is stuck on a Hollywood movie set, miles from where she wants to be, wishing she could rewind her life. The next morning, she's in a dorm room at Yale, with no memory of how she got there. Overnight, it's as if her past has been rewritten.

With the help of Caitlin, her science-savvy BFF, Abby discovers that this new reality is the result of a cosmic collision of parallel universes that has Abby living an alternate version of her life. And not only that: Abby's life changes every time her parallel self makes a new choice. Meanwhile, her parallel is living out Abby's senior year of high school and falling for someone Abby's never even met.

As she struggles to navigate her ever-shifting existence, forced to live out the consequences of a path she didn't choose, Abby must let go of the Plan and learn to focus on the present, without losing sight of who she is, the boy who might just be her soul mate, and the destiny that's finally within reach.
---------------------Goodreads summary

Notable Quote

"A most likely path," Dr. Mann agrees. "Which isn't to say our fates are sealed. In fact, I believe the very opposite is true. At every moment, each person has the freedom to choose a different path, thereby changing the trajectory of his life. Nothing is set in stone."

The Goods

*The science. It’s nerdy, but I love it and it makes so much sense. I love getting to learn why things are happening, or at least the plausibility factor.
*There are certain passages that just blew me away. Some about love, some about destiny, others about finding order in chaos. They were fantastic and eye-opening and I want to have them pasted around my walls.
*Caitlin. Such a great best friend and anchor throughout all the changes and effects. I love that she offers explanation at the same time as being a casualty, too.

The Bads

The only bad thing, and it was BIG, was the ending. I seriously want to just tear out the last 2-3 pages of the entire novel. I didn’t watch Lost for the entire series run, but I watched enough of it to watch the series finale, and I think Parallel’s ending is on the same plane as that. The whole “It was all a dream” effect.

The Consensus

Save the last 3 pages, Parallel was gripping and fantastic, with brilliant characters and a great intelligence woven through all the pages. I love that it felt like it was told in dual narrative (dual time is probably a little more appropriate).

The Recommendation

READ READ READ this book! There’s great insight into our lives and how we live it, how one choice or situation can change our entire lives. Just…perhaps stop 3 pages before the end. Or if you read it, just disregard them, as I am.

4.5 stars

Review: Roomies by Tara Altebrando and Sara Zarr (ARC)

Roomies by Tara Altebrando and Sara Zarr
Little, Brown BYR, 288 pages
Expected US Release Date: December 24, 2013
Format/Source: ARC via Around the World Tours - thank you!
Challenges: New Adult Challenge, Contemporary Challenge, Stand Alone Challenge

It's time to meet your new roomie.

When East Coast native Elizabeth receives her freshman-year roommate assignment, she shoots off an e-mail to coordinate the basics: television, microwave, mini-fridge. That first note to San Franciscan Lauren sparks a series of e-mails that alters the landscape of each girl's summer -- and raises questions about how two girls who are so different will ever share a dorm room.

As the countdown to college begins, life at home becomes increasingly complex. With family relationships and childhood friendships strained by change, it suddenly seems that the only people Elizabeth and Lauren can rely on are the complicated new boys in their lives . . . and each other. Even though they've never met.

National Book Award finalist Sara Zarr and acclaimed author Tara Altebrando join forces for a novel about growing up, leaving home, and getting that one fateful e-mail that assigns your college roommate.
----------------------------Goodreads summary

Notable Quote

After a few days passed and the sting of it all started to fade, I realized something: if two or three of the most important people in your life are telling you something and you are resisting it with everything you have, there is a distinct possibility that what they are saying is true. That you are wrong and just don’t want to admit it.

When I first read the premise of this book, immediately I tried to recall how I introduced myself to my first college roommate. Did we email incessantly? Did we talk at all? First year of college seems like it was ages ago (in reality it’s only 8 for me), but I barely remember contacting my roommate before we eventually moved in together. Times were different back then, sure; this was back when Facebook was still thefacebook.com, and you still had to have a verified college email to join it and you were only in your college network. ANCIENT, I know. I know I emailed my roommate before (I’ll call her Emcee for the sake of this); and Emcee and I discussed the usual fridge/microwave situation. We may have even discussed colours (though I doubt it, since hers was every shade of purple possible whereas I was strictly blue. I don’t think we’d have coordinated to look like a bruise). But beyond that? Emcee and I remained a mystery until we shared a 10x10 cube.

After reading Roomies, I think that may have been the best idea! Sure, neither of us are as extreme as EB or Lauren (we were both from California (me from Southern California, her from NorCal), but we definitely would have meddled in each other’s lives.

The point of this ginormous walk down my memory lane is that Roomies made me reminisce like crazy. Which is hilarious, since my first roommate and I weren’t (and aren’t) particularly close…we’re Facebook acquaintances at best, and have been since second year of college. But there was such an edge of familiarity throughout all of EB’s and Lauren’s correspondence that made me miss all my college days and friends. Dormmates and roommates and friends alike.

Both girls had endlessly dramatic summers, and I was so swept up trying to keep up with both of them. I wanted to be able to give each of them advice at the same time as listening to what the other was saying with everything I had. I love that both girls are different – but going through such similarly opposite things. Family, but one has an endless amount while the other lacks it. Boys, the problems and fresh starts. Leaving, which could mean growing up or just moving (or perhaps a bit of both). I sincerely wish I’d had this book when I was going through college, because I think I could have found a few sorely needed friends within it.

So, here’s something I’m a bit ashamed to say: I’ve never read any books by either Sara Zarr or Tara Altebrando. I own several by both-but never actually read. So it might not mean much when I say I can’t tell who wrote what parts, but that’s the truth of it – both girls are distinct from each other, but the style is so flawless throughout the entire book I would never have thought two people wrote this book. I still have no idea if one took the character of the other, or if they worked on both together…there’s a fluidity in each that makes you fly through the pages.

And I do have to say, having read Roomies, I definitely want to read those books by Sara and Tara now – I’ve heard how amazing they both are, and this just reinforces what I’ve heard, for sure.

While I was reading this book, I know it’s a solid 4.5 star – though I can’t quite pinpoint why it’s not 5. Perhaps because it is quite serious; there are some funny parts, but it’s so dramatic and insular upon itself that I think I would have liked a few more parts to lighten it up. For them to really become friends through good, rather than through their problems. I know that’s how a lot of us bond together, but sometimes I just wanted them to discover they both like to rock climb, you know?

I did love their little Yes/No/Maybe to what they were bringing to college in most of their emails. Such a fantastic little touch that really gave a great movement to the story in such little bites.

Roomies was spectacularly done, with that new friendship to keep you riveted and the same raw familiarity of struggling to connect and understand a person in your life. There’s emotion and connection, both on the pages and when you read, and I can’t help but think this is one of the better reads of 2013…and perhaps ever.

4.5 Stars

Review: The Theory of Everything by Kari Luna (ARC)

The Theory of Everything by Kari Luna
Philomel (an imprint of Penguin), 320 Pages
US Release Date: July 11, 2013
Format/Source: ARC, via Around the World ARC Tours - thank you!
Challenges: SARC 2013, Contemporary Challenge

Sophie Sophia is obsessed with music from the late eighties. She also has an eccentric physicist father who sometimes vanishes for days and sees things other people don’t see. But when he disappears for good and Sophie’s mom moves them from Brooklyn, New York, to Havencrest, Illinois, for a fresh start, things take a turn for the weird. Sophie starts seeing things, like marching band pandas, just like her dad.

Guided by Walt, her shaman panda, and her new (human) friend named Finny, Sophie is determined to find her father and figure out her visions, once and for all. So she travels back to where it began—New York City and NYU’s physics department. As she discovers more about her dad’s research on M-theory and her father himself, Sophie opens her eyes to the world’s infinite possibilities—and her heart to love.
-------------------------Goodreads summary

Notable Quote

But Finny stayed right where he was. He didn't bundle me up and put me in the car in the middle of the night or pretend he didn't hear me. He held on and didn't let go. All so that I could.

I feel like there’s been a trend of “smart” books in YA, of books that really delve into the science behind certain phenomena. Some I’ve read I really love; others, it doesn’t quite fit. The Theory of Everything is one that definitely fits into one I absolutely LOVED.

One of my main notes I wrote down was: Chaotic. There is a certain amount of chaos that permeates this entire book, and sometimes it was a little odd or hard to track; but at the same time, it really works and reflects the content well. This is about String Theory and parallel worlds and traveling across time and dimensions – I’d be a little more worried if it were straightforward and clear! Still I should warn that there are some moments where I definitely had to re-read a few paragraphs to reorient myself to what was going on. It was mostly when Sophie was shifting into another world, but a few other times as well.

The entire plot of this novel was so funny and creative, I couldn’t help but fall in love with it. I mean, how could you not want to visit a panda-verse and have a panda shaman?! I want a panda guide! Even if he was so frustrating with his riddles and letting her figure things out for herself (guides, man – so unhelpful until you realize how helpful they are). All the dimensions Sophie finds herself in are so much fun, and I love that they’re unique and adventuresome without being terrifying or too old for the novel. It creates this awesome playful vibe as you read, and I loved being in it. Even though at it’s core it’s about her missing father and her search for his love, there’s still a nice happiness and anticipation that moves through all the words.

A lot of that is probably thanks to Finny, Sophie’s new physics-obsessed friend. I LOVE FINNY. Oh my goodness. I have never wanted to snatch a friend out of a novel so badly and keep him as my own. He’s such a loyal, brilliantly funny friend, and he is perfect for Sophie. If I could hug him forever, I would.

One of the only things I had to keep doing was remind myself Sophie is only 14. I can’t figure out if I thought some of the things she was going through were a bit older, or if I thought she should be older to fully understand some of the things going on—but I definitely had to take a few steps back and say “she’s 14. She’ll get there.” It was most obvious when she was just getting to know Drew, since it’s her first real crush and possible-relationship. It was like she was just discovering what it meant to be the object of someone’s affection, and somehow it seemed a bit odd fitting into this whole story about love and how love is possible and cures all.

Can I just say though, there was a quote that I Instagram’d from this book because I LOVE IT SO MUCH:

There were so many things I loved about this book. The weird family and how they fit together even when they were kind of breaking apart. All the lists that Sophie made to get through situations. Even how we kind of know what may happen in the end was satisfying, and I wouldn’t want it to work any other way.

The Theory of Everything has a little of everything in it for everyone: friendship, romance, family, and the overarching lessons of love and how it can literally push things beyond what we know.  You’ll love the people you meet, the places you go, the musical numbers that surprise you, and the panda that guides you.

4.5 Stars