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Title: THE TESTING
Author: Joelle Charbonneau
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
Release Date: June 4, 2013
Number of Pages: 336
Source of Book: ARC from bookseller in anticipation of author visit

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.

First Thought: Oh my goodness!

SO good! An engrossing, thrilling, intriguing, suspenseful story set in a well-built future world.

I really enjoyed reading THE TESTING. I was engrossed it in from the start. At first, I was a little worried that it would be too reminiscent of THE HUNGER GAMES and DIVERGENT, but as I got into it, I realized that it was completely it’s own creation of this world, while maybe feeling like an homage to those great dystopians that have come before it.

It was so hard to put THE TESTING down. Joelle Charbonneau wrote a well-paced plot, and once I got to certain parts throughout, it was impossible not to keep reading so that I could find out what would happen and who would survive. I very much liked the main character, Cia, and was pulling for her throughout the book. She is smart, while still being young and sometimes making decisions that made me want to yell at her, but her intelligence and insights are what keep her going. In a game of who can you trust, she learns to really think through all situations, but that doesn’t mean she figures all of it out. In a contest of who can make a great leader, it is difficult to know exactly what the officials might be looking for, but staying true to oneself and one’s upbringing can always been seen as the right path. Cia’s path is not easy, her decisions are not easy, her ability to live with herself after what she has to do to survive will not be easy, but she stays true to herself which is an admirable quality.

The world-building was done well in giving the reader enough information when necessary, but also keeping us guessing about some things. The scenes of explanation are smoothly entrenched in what is happening in the story and propel the plot forward, but also give us enough insight into how things might have come to be this way. The overall idea behind The Testing is so smart, and so manipulative, and scary at the same time. I just hope all of the characters that I have come to like will make it through this series.

And, yes, there is an element of romance, but in a brutal contest that is set up to kill off candidates who are not worthy, and a system that is set up to make you question the ulterior motives of everyone around you, and in a world in which all may not be as it seems, how can one be sure of anything that happens during The Testing or trust one’s own memories? That remains to be seen.

Final Thoughts: I’m calling it now – I think this is going to be the next big dystopian series…it will at least fill that hole left behind from the end of the The Hunger Games and the upcoming end of the Divergent series.

A powerful debut novel about the gray space between truth and perception.

Quinn’s done the unthinkable: she kissed a guy who is not Carey, her boyfriend. And she got caught. Being branded a cheater would be bad enough, but Quinn is deemed a traitor, and shunned by all of her friends. Because Carey’s not just any guy—he’s serving in Afghanistan and revered by everyone in their small, military town.

Quinn could clear her name, but that would mean revealing secrets that she’s vowed to keep—secrets that aren’t hers to share. And when Carey goes MIA, Quinn must decide how far she’ll go to protect her boyfriend…and her promise.

First Thought: Wow! An amazing debut. Incredibly powerful book. I’m emotionally wrecked after the experience of reading this one.

I so feel for these characters and what they’ve gone through in trying to love and protect one another and keep each other’s secrets. I have no idea how difficult it must be to be the one left behind when a loved one goes to war, but this book creates so much empathy for what they must be going through. Add in a misunderstood situation with high school dynamics and a hero mentality with broken families and it’s an emotional roller coaster of a book. There’s a definite Scarlet Letter feel to the situation Quinn finds herself in, and with the code of military families ethics at play, she’s put in an impossible situation. But the entire time I was just feeling for her and wanting to support her.

There were some very interesting secondary characters in this book. Some of my favorite scenes were those with the veteran, George, at the hospital where Quinn volunteers. It is her safe place away from what all the town thinks of her, and he gets her and helps her survive. His scenes also provide most of the comic relief in this emotional journey, but also some of the most emotional scenes. For one to be able to see past all of the gossip, and really see the person, makes such an impact. This story highlights how one small action can affect so many others around you, and how one small kindness can make a world of difference for one who is in a time of struggle. It also touches on bullying and ostracizing, posting of inappropriate text pictures, death, divorce, cheating, war, soldiers missing in action, veterans struggles, and so much more. It’s a heavy book, but done so well that I just felt hopeful at the end. But while going through it, I was feeling so much for what she was having to deal with. I also appreciated that she had realistic ways to escape with her photography and that she had something to keep her going when she felt her world was crumbling around her.

The only bit I had a little bit of trouble following where the parts when the story was flashing back to what had happened before and back to the present, but reading carefully or rereading short passages helped me follow along.

I was struck by the powerful emotions evoked from this story and Corrine Jackson‘s writing style. It’s in your face and blunt and searing, but there are some beautiful lines of figurative language and description in this book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and absolutely recommend it to others. I’m only sorry I waited this long to get to it!

Final Thoughts: I’m inspired to hear the stories of our veterans who have fought for our freedoms and too often come home damaged. I would pair IF I LIE with SOMETHING LIKE NORMAL – if you liked one, I think you’d like the other.

I booktalked IF I LIE as I was devouring it during class and shared the synopsis with 7th & 8th graders today, and the second I finished (with tears in my eyes) it was in the hands of students with a waiting list for those who wanted it next.

Title: DUALED
Author: Elsie Chapman
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Release Date: Febrary 26, 2013
Number of Pages: 304
Source of Book: ARC from publisher at NCTE

You or your Alt? Only one will survive.

The
city of Kersh is a safe haven, but the price of safety is high.
Everyone has a genetic Alternate—a twin raised by another family—and
citizens must prove their worth by eliminating their Alts before their
twentieth birthday. Survival means advanced schooling, a good job,
marriage—life.

Fifteen-year-old West Grayer has trained as a
fighter, preparing for the day when her assignment arrives and she will
have one month to hunt down and kill her Alt. But then a tragic misstep
shakes West’s confidence. Stricken with grief and guilt, she’s no longer
certain that she’s the best version of herself, the version worthy of a
future. If she is to have any chance of winning, she must stop running
not only from her Alt, but also from love . . . though both have the
power to destroy her.

Elsie Chapman’s suspenseful YA debut weaves
unexpected romance into a novel full of fast-paced action and
thought-provoking philosophy. When the story ends, discussions will
begin about this future society where every adult is a murderer and
every child knows there is another out there who just might be better.

First Thought: So much suspense! Could not stop reading until I found out how it would end.

DUALED was an intense, kill or be killed, fight to the finish. I had to keep turning pages to know what was going to happen with West and which Alt would survive the final confrontation. The basis of this world where each is born with an Alt and gets “activated” sometime between 10 and 20, and then has only 30 days to hunt down and kill the Alt, or be killed, or both be destroyed after the time ends lends itself to a ticking clock of suspense in the background driving the momentum of the whole story.

In a world full of killers and surrounded by guns, are you the hunted or the hunter, or both at the same time? Which one will be smarter, stronger, or just luckier in the end? When 50% of the population must be killed off, can you ever feel safe with your family and friends, or know that they’ll stay around? All of these drive the plot of this story in this dystopic future, which I want to know even more about.

We’re given glimpses into the world, and how it came to be, and what might be outside, and what led to them being there, and who might be against the way they live…which makes me so glad there is a sequel coming in 2014 so we can find out what happens next. Although I figured I knew how the story would have to end, that didn’t stop my heart from pounding, my gasping out loud, or my yelling at the characters to stay safe and smart and not give up. I enjoyed spending this time with West and Chord, and although it was frightening at times, it was a well-developed world that was created down to the tiniest details of how things operate for idles vs. actives vs. completes.


Final Thoughts: So glad there’s going to be a sequel to this “HUNGER GAMES to the nth degree meets…something” world of this story.

Title: TOUCHING THE SURFACE
Author: Kimberly Sabatini
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release Date: October 30, 2012
Number of Pages: 352
Source of Book: Bought the hardcover

I’m a little torn with TOUCHING THE SURFACE. I read it because Kimberly Sabatini’s agent is Michelle Wolfson, and I love other books by her authors: Kiersten White, Daisy Whitney, Kasie West, and so Michelle recommended this debut. I loved parts of this story, but other parts drove me kind of nuts because they seemed to be tropes I’m sick of with love triangles, but it ended up being so much more than that in the end. It’s a fantasy afterlife story, told like a contemporary. Basically, I wasn’t so sure at the start, but I pushed myself to keep reading, and then once it got to a certain point with a specific event that changed my (and the main character’s) view of things, I bought into the story much more and it became very hard for me to put down at the end because I needed to know how things would end up.

Kimberly Sabatini has created a unique premise of the afterlife with reincarnation and a soul being more than just one body and one life. It deals with themes of grief and guilt and forgiveness and love in ways that connect the reader to the characters and events that are happening. The realizations the characters came to in the end, and the views they had about the afterlife and its purpose, were thoughtful and thought-provoking.

One of the best parts of this book is the way in which it was written and the plot was paced to keep the reader in suspense along with the characters, but wanting to know what’s going to happen. This story is told as if in the present in the afterlife, but as it is the third time these characters are there, they don’t seem to remember what happened in their most recent life. They have to Delve to access the memories so they can remember and learn and grow. The Delving is in italics and serves sort of like a flashback and adding more information to the story. The way in which the Delves and present events are intertwined to reveal bits of information at a time and connect the characters more was done very well. The writing is also done in such a way as to make the setting always feel very real for the reader.

Throughout TOUCHING THE SURFACE, there is a lot we don’t know as the character doesn’t know it either. The reader goes along for the journey of discovery which gets very interesting. At the start, I felt it was a little bit confusing trying to keep track of how this world worked and who everyone was, but it got easier to follow. I didn’t completely connect with the main character, Elliott, from the start, but she grew on me. I just really didn’t like the instalove that seemed to happen early on in the book and the good guy vs bad guy love interest thing going on, but the way that all gets resolved and comes together in the end made it where I didn’t want to put the book down lest I miss something important to figuring it all out.

I did like where the story ended up; although, there is a wide open ending for sure, and the journey of discovery of self that was required to get there made it all the more interesting. At its heart, this is kind of a love story…all kinds of love. And kind of a story about expectations and doing what’s necessary for your own self to find your way and save your soul, both in life and in the afterlife.

Title: PIVOT POINT
Author: Kasie West
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: February 12, 2013
Number of Pages: 320
Source of Book: ARC from publisher at NCTE

Knowing the outcome doesn’t always make a choice easier . . .

Addison
Coleman’s life is one big “What if?” As a Searcher, whenever Addie is
faced with a choice, she can look into the future and see both outcomes.
It’s the ultimate insurance plan against disaster. Or so she thought.
When Addie’s parents ambush her with the news of their divorce, she has
to pick who she wants to live with—her father, who is leaving the
paranormal compound to live among the “Norms,” or her mother, who is
staying in the life Addie has always known. Addie loves her life just as
it is, so her answer should be easy. One Search six weeks into the
future proves it’s not.

In one potential future, Addie is
adjusting to life outside the Compound as the new girl in a Norm high
school where she meets Trevor, a cute, sensitive artist who understands
her. In the other path, Addie is being pursued by the hottest guy in
school—but she never wanted to be a quarterback’s girlfriend. When
Addie’s father is asked to consult on a murder in the Compound, she’s
unwittingly drawn into a dangerous game that threatens everything she
holds dear. With love and loss in both lives, it all comes down to which
reality she’s willing to live through . . . and who she can’t live
without.

I loved this book so much. It’s fresh and original and unexpected. It’s an amazing book that was entertaining and engaging. It has characters I wanted to be friends with, lines of text that I read repeatedly because I wanted to soak up and remember them, a uniquely original world built upon a science fiction/supernatural base that reads like a contemporary, a layered storyline being told of two divergent paths that are interrelated, twists that kept me on my reader toes, and a writing voice that I connected with and felt comforted by and made me want to keep spending time enveloped in this prose. PIVOT POINT is the debut novel by Kasie West (who is repped by Michelle Wolfson, the same agent as Kiersten White and Daisy Whitney, whose new books I also love), and it is one that I think teens are going to love. I know I did. This is the kind of book that left me still thinking about it the next day wondering what was happening in those character’s lives next and wanting to go back and reread it again right away.

One of the details Kasie West included that I really loved in PIVOT POINT was the way that Addie loves books so much, and all kinds of books, but real paper books. There are many times throughout the story it comes up, and it made me happy to read it each time. Addison also has the kind of personality that I love in my main characters – a little bit spunky and sassy, with an intelligence and caring behind all she does. Her attitude is great, and there were many moments throughout where I laughed out loud at something she said. In regards to gym class in a new school: “Nobody should be forced to do physical exercise on Mondays.” Him: “My bookcase is all yours.” Her: “I’ve just decided those are my five favorite words in the world.” And many, many more that I wanted to hold onto to remember on another day. *All lines quoted from an uncorrected proof.

Another element that is incredibly strong is the twistedness of the plot and the way the two directions the story goes are interwoven together. The links are there to see how it might go with either choice in the same situations, and the alternating chapters stop at just the right point every time. There is a history to this world that is intriguing and fully thought out, but that still seems to have more to discover. There is also a depth to this story that delves into the true repercussions of choices we make and the path to get to what we may want might not always be easy. It’s about figuring out who is meaningful and necessary in her life, and what she can do to keep them there. And I can’t talk about this book without mentioning the boys. Duke and Trevor both have their charms, and they were written in such a way as to make the reader adore both of them, and not be sure which way you want the story to go yourself. Which is exactly how we should be feeling because that’s how Addie would be feeling. I also claim this book has one of the best first kiss scenes ever, but everything stays clean enough that I could hand it to my middle school students without a concern. In fact, I think they’ll love it, too.

This is the kind of book that leaves you contemplating at the end because either choice has its good sides and its bad, so it’s hard to know which one you’d want the character to choose. It does end with a definite decision and ending; however, I found out there will be a sequel, so I’m very excited to get to spend more time with these characters in this world and read more of this fresh voice in YA. Please go get PIVOT POINT in February, or preorder it now, and read Kasie West’s debut novel. You won’t be sorry.

Title: ALTERED
Author: Jennifer Rush
Publisher: Little, Brown
Release Date: January 2, 2013
Number of Pages: 336
Source of Book: ARC requested from publisher

When you can’t trust yourself, who can
you believe?

Everything about Anna’s life is a secret. Her father
works for the Branch at the helm of its latest project: monitoring and
administering treatments to the four genetically altered boys in the lab below
their farmhouse. There’s Nick, Cas, Trev . . . and Sam, who’s stolen Anna’s
heart. When the Branch decides it’s time to take the boys, Sam stages an escape,
killing the agents sent to retrieve them.

Anna is torn between following
Sam or staying behind in the safety of her everyday life. But her father pushes
her to flee, making Sam promise to keep her away from the Branch, at all costs.
There’s just one problem. Sam and the boys don’t remember anything before living
in the lab—not even their true identities.

Now on the run, Anna soon
discovers that she and Sam are connected in more ways than either of them
expected. And if they’re both going to survive, they must piece together the
clues of their past before the Branch catches up to them and steals it all
away.

I had no idea what to expect when I opened ALTERED by Jennifer Rush; I just knew that the summary sounded really good. I had just finished two other incredible books, so I was hesitant to start one I hadn’t heard much about yet for fear I would be disappointed, but I had no reason to be worried with ALTERED. I was hooked on this heart-pounding story from the first page. Once I started, I didn’t want to stop reading. This was a one day read for me because it was so action-packed and surprising that I just wanted to keep going to find out what was actually happening until the very end. ALTERED has all the best of the medical alterations sci-fi intrigue, secret organization, on-the-run types of stories, with a uniquely interesting backstory of how these boys and Anna got there.

ALTERED is an addictively good, completely intriguing story. I loved the journey I was taken on from the start of learning about the lab, to the escape, to being on the run, to the mystery of their past, to the unexpected reveals, to the relationships built and broken and repaired, to the place the characters are left at the end. Jennifer Rush has given the reader an exciting blend of family drama, relationship building, hot boys, guns and weapons, action-packed fighting sequences, mystery, suspense, and outmaneuvering of the organization chasing them. There were several scenes when I literally gasped out loud. The whole group of core characters has a dynamic that is endearing, and their interactions are so engaging. Love those boys! ALTERED is a twisty novel full of gasp-worthy moments, action, loveable characters, and a little bit of a romance to tie it all together.

I’m so glad to hear that there will be another book following this one! There is a definite ending, so I wasn’t sure because it could have been that this story is complete, but it is left at a spot that had me hoping there would be more time with these characters and more to discover at this point in their story. I’ll be anxiously awaiting the follow-up book from Jennifer Rush to spend more time with Anna, Sam, and the boys!

Title: SEND
Author: Patty Blount
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Release Date: August 1, 2012
Number of Pages: 291
Source of Book: Bought the paperback

It’s been five years since I clicked Send. Four years since I got out of juvie. Three months since I changed my name. Two minutes since I met Julie. A second to change my life. To keep his secrets, all he has to do is listen to the voice in his head and just walk away…
On
his first day at his new high school, Dan stops a bully from beating up
a kid half his size. He didn’t want to get involved. All he wants out
of his senior year is to fly under the radar. But Dan knows what it’s
like to be terrorized by a bully-he used to be one. Now the whole school
thinks he’s some kind of hero, except Julie Murphy, the prettiest girl
on campus. She looks at him like she knows he has a secret. Like she
knows his name isn’t really Daniel.

I was intrigued by the cover and summary of SEND when I saw it on a New Releases table at the bookstore, and as I’m always on the lookout for quality books related to bullying that will possibly engage my students, I decided I definitely wanted to read it. I was unprepared for the intensity of the story I would enter and the perspective that I would be seeing. From the first page, I was drawn into the story through the voice of the main character. Patty Blount uses an interesting tactic with an internal voice battling Dan throughout the book, and it added a much-needed depth to the story that allowed for the reader to feel a better understanding of what Dan’s internal conflict is and how he grows in accepting his own circumstances.

Unfortunately, we all too often hear the stories of bullycides and hear about a final straw event or attack that happens right before. In this case, Dan caused the final straw event, and a young boy is dead. We don’t often hear from the standpoint of the bully in these cases, and it isn’t one we often sympathize with, but I think it’s imperative as we try to send messages to students about bullying, that they see the perspective of the other side. In this case, Dan is that other side, but he’s on the other side of spending time in juvie for his actions, and his life has been irrevocably changed. He thinks of himself as a murderer, even though he was a good kid before that, and his inner demons lead him to step in when he sees another kid being bullied so he can stop it. He doesn’t want others to make the mistakes he has and he doesn’t want anyone else to suffer in the way his victim did. It’s an intense story, and as Dan starts to realize how much he likes
Julie, and as he tries to befriend Brandon who is constantly being
bullied, he has to come to accept some of the choices he has made and
how to get past them so he can have a life. He made some big mistakes,
but he’s learned from them, and his focus is on not allowing those
things to happen again. He doesn’t think he deserves to be happy and
have a girlfriend, but he is alive, so what’s the use of that if he
doesn’t live? One of the strongest parts of this story for me were the interactions of Dan with his parents and grandfather. The family unit is strong in his life and it seems honest in the way that they fight for him and try to help him to be able to live a life beyond the mistakes he made.

This is a story of mistakes, honesty, survival, acceptance, and forgiveness. How can one forgive someone who led a kid to bullycide? How can the family forgive those actions? Can the person forgive himself? These are all questions that come up in this book. Dan’s story helps us to think about all of that and possibly understand it in some small way. The repercussions of these actions are something that students and teens need to see and talk about and understand and realize. I hope SEND might be the book to lead to those important discussions about perspective and choices and actions and repercussions and doing the right thing in the face of wrong. Note: This story has a couple of mature scenes and there are many uses of mature language. I definitely think SEND is a book that should be shared with high school students. It’s the first book that I’ve read that I think could be a good companion/ladder to 13 REASONS WHY, which is something I’ve been hoping to find for awhile.

Title: THRONE OF GLASS
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Release Date: August 7, 2012
Number of Pages: 416
Source of Book: ARC from publisher at IRA

After serving out a
year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes,
18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown
Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must
act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her
opponents are men—thieves and assassins and warriors from across the
empire, each sponsored by a member of the kings council. If she beats
her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for
three years and then be granted her freedom.

Celaena finds her
training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging
and exhilarating. But she’s bored stiff by court life. Things get a
little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in
her… but it’s the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her
best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead… quickly
followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she
becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads
her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

THRONE OF GLASS was a thrilling, exciting epic fantasy book with magic, action, intrigue, secrets, lies, manipulations, romance, friendships, assassins and some unexpected elements. Sarah J. Maas has written an enthralling book, which, while dense, was a page-turner. I was happily surprised by some of the twists and turns that I didn’t see coming, which made it even more interesting as I discovered truths along with the characters. It’s an interesting mix of magic within a medieval fantasy type of story. The magic is alluded to at the beginning, but doesn’t come in again until a bit later. There is a fully realized fantasy world within these pages-both with the elements of the king and his endeavors to take over the kingdom and the magical elements of the Wyrd and forests beyond. *Note: As this was an ARC, there was no artwork, but I imagine the final book may have a map of some sort that would enhance understanding of this world.

From the very start, 18 year-old Celaena is endearing and inspiring as a strong, determined, kick-butt heroine even after being locked up for slave labor for the past year. She’s so smart…and lethal within seconds. Her ability to be the renowned assassin she is at such a young age, along with her determined nature drew me into this story even more. Yet, her vulnerability and desire for acceptance in the midst of her strength and intelligence is perhaps what drew me to her the most. She is constantly thinking and analyzing escape routes, but is a teen girl who just wants to have a friend at the same time. There seems to be a little something extra to Celaena that we have yet to discover. Interestingly, the book is written in third person; although, it mostly felt as if we got to know what Celaena was thinking more than any other character, so it did at times seem as if she was narrating. As we see her struggles to regain strength and figure out how to earn her way to freedom, we also see her ability to fight any man (or beast) and win along with her cunning mind that led to her becoming the kingdom’s most feared assassin by the age of 17. Beyond just her journey, we’re also given insight into the struggles that Prince Dorian is having with his father’s style of being king, and Chaol’s struggles to remain impassive as the Captain of the Guard against his blooming trust of Celaena as he gets to know her more. These two, along with other secondary characters, add an element of humanity to this story beyond just the magic and champion’s competition. And, yes, it’s another YA book with a love triangle-ish storyline, but for some reason, it didn’t bother me in this book. Although, I was definitely pulling for one of the guys to edge the other one out in the end.

Even with the element of romance and a female main character, I think there’s enough action, fighting, political intrigue, and gruesomeness to hand this one off to guys as well (don’t let the cover deceive you). I can see the Game of Thrones for the YA set comparisons – especially with the strength of the elements of the political maneuvering with the king along with the hidden magical elements. It was a thoroughly enjoyable book, but it wasn’t necessarily a quick-read. I did feel that it was a little densely written (just requiring more attention and thinking-not a bad thing) and the unfamiliar names caused me a little trouble in the beginning until I could get comfortable with a pronunciation in my own head. *And, of course, as I was writing this post, I found this pronunciation guide on the author’s website. Overall, a definite should read for me to recommend to others and I can’t wait to see what’s coming next for these characters and this world!

While you’re waiting for THRONE OF GLASS to release on August 7th, you can read the four novellas that tell the backstory of Celaena Sardotheien: The Assassin and the Pirate Lord, The Assassin and the Desert, The Assassin and the Underworld, The Assassin and the Empire. I enjoyed reading them even after I read the whole book. They give a greater depth and insight into Celaena’s character and what has made her who she is.

Title: COLD FURY
Author: T.M. Goeglein
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons (a Penguin imprint)
Release Date: July 24, 2012
Number of Pages: 320
Source of Book: ARC from editor after IRA Convention

Jason Bourne meets The Sopranos in this breathtaking adventure

Sara
Jane Rispoli is a normal sixteen-year-old coping with school and a
budding romance–until her parents and brother are kidnapped and she
discovers her family is deeply embedded in the Chicago Outfit (aka the
mob).

Now on the run from a masked assassin, rogue cops and her
turncoat uncle, Sara Jane is chased and attacked at every turn, fighting
back with cold fury as she searches for her family. It’s a quest that
takes her through concealed doors and forgotten speakeasies–a city
hiding in plain sight. Though armed with a .45 and 96K in cash, an old
tattered notebook might be her best defense–hidden in its pages the
secret to “ultimate power.” It’s why she’s being pursued, why her family
was taken, and could be the key to saving all of their lives.

Action packed, with fresh, cinematic writing, Cold Fury is a riveting and imaginative adventure readers will devour.

COLD FURY is a non-stop action-packed thrill-ride of a novel with an intelligent heart. I wasn’t totally sure what to expect from this mob-based story, but it was more than I anticipated. At it’s heart is sixteen-year-old Sara Jane, who knows nothing about The Outfit and what her family really does at the beginning. She is just a private, introverted teenager who happens to have a talent for boxing. As we get to know her through the beginning of the book, we see a girl with some insecurities, but also a really likeable character who is highly intelligent. That is part of the strength of this book. If Sara Jane wasn’t so likeable, it wouldn’t have the appeal that it does as she finds her own strength. She’s also surrounded by a fantastic cast of secondary characters who are entertaining and loveable (sometimes) in their own right. The “Al” chapter is one of my favorites and had me laughing out loud.

I enjoyed the style in which this book is written. At the beginning, the chapters feel as if each one is a sort of vignette of something that has happened that has led to Sara Jane being the kind of person she has become. Each chapter provides a little bit of background, but is told as it’s own little story. The book then really starts to move once Sara Jane’s family goes missing and she starts to learn what her family has really been up to all this time. It moves toward more a traditional story arc at this point, but interspersed with entries and learning from “the notebook.” This is when the mobster-type of story gets going and as she is running for her life and trying to find a way to save her family, it becomes very hard to put the book down. T.M. Goeglein has created an intriguing version of the Chicago mafia’s evolving style and methods that seems well-researched and highly realistic. I found myself really enjoying some of the scenes and ways that Sara Jane uses her Outfit connections to try to put things back in order and find her place and way of keeping herself safe.

I would recommend this book to those looking for a strongly written character, mafia-type story with action-packed writing, and even though it has a female main character, I think it will have guy appeal (and especially those with ties to Chicago). With references to classic movies (especially mafia ones) and secret passages throughout Chicago, this is a book with lots of intelligence and action. Overall I enjoyed reading it; however, the ending felt a little bit abrupt to me because it seemed to leave it wide open for a sequel, which I wasn’t expecting. Going into it, I didn’t know it was the first in a trilogy-which would have been good to know so the ending wouldn’t have left me wanting a little more closure. I’ll definitely be getting the next two books to see how Sara Jane works out her balance and control of this world she’s fallen into.

*If you don’t want to wait until Tuesday to get started, you can read the first chapter for free right here from the author’s website!

Title: KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES
Author: Shannon Messenger
Publisher: Aladdin (a Simon & Schuster imprint)
Release Date: October 2, 2012
Number of Pages: 488
Source of Book: ARC from publisher at ALA

In this riveting debut,
a telepathic girl must figure out why she is the key to her brand-new
world–before the wrong person finds the answer first.

Twelve-year-old
Sophie has never quite fit into her life. She’s skipped multiple grades
and doesn’t really connect with the older kids at school, but she’s not
comfortable with her family, either. And Sophie has a secret–she’s a
Telepath, someone who can read minds. But the day Sophie meets Fitz, a
mysterious (and adorable) boy, she learns she’s not alone. He’s a
Telepath too, and it turns out the reason she has never felt at home is
that, well…she isn’t. Fitz opens Sophie’s eyes to a shocking truth,
and almost instantly she is forced to leave behind her family for a new
life in a place that is vastly different from what she has ever known.

But
Sophie still has secrets, and they’re buried deep in her memory for
good reason: The answers are dangerous and in high-demand. What is her
true identity, and why was she hidden among humans? The truth could mean
life or death–and time is running out.

*I was going to hold off on this review until a little bit closer to the release, but I’m so excited to share my love of it that I just couldn’t wait! And, since it’s my first Marvelous Middle Grade Monday post, it’s only appropriate that it’s Shannon Messenger’s book. It could have all just been gush, gush, gushing recommendation, but I tried to format it in a little bit more productive way.

A few months from now you’ll be able to get this book, and you should (especially if you live or work with middle schoolers in any capacity)! KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES blew me away. I knew I really liked Shannon Messenger from following her on twitter and on her blog, and then when I heard she had a middle grades and a young adult book coming out as her debut, I was really looking forward to reading them-especially when I read the summary of each. As a middle school teacher, I was hoping I would like KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES, and I am happy to say that I loved it! I would definitely recommend this middle grades magical fantasy to fans of HARRY POTTER and THE UNWANTEDS. It is a long book, but as it is written so well for the middle grades level, it isn’t overwhelming. There is something just so engaging and fun and entertaining in Shannon Messenger’s third person, descriptive, writing style, and I devoured this book in two days and didn’t want to stop reading until I knew what would happen to these characters and world I wanted to be a part of.

Let’s talk about Setting: Shannon Messenger has created an astoundingly creative fantasy world within KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES. I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect from the summary alone, and I never expected the “place that is vastly different form what she has ever known” to be so well-developed and thought out. As I was reading an advance reader copy, it was missing the map artwork, so I look forward to getting a finished copy to enhance the reading experience even more. The world of the elves (and not what you ever pictured elves to be) is filled with fantastical creatures (especially love Iggy!), magically evolved elements, and cities built with beyond-this-world materials. This parallel world is such a discovery, not only for Sophie, but for the reader as well. The way it is described made me want to go live there as well. Beyond the Lost Cities within the elven world themselves, there is also Foxfire, which is the school for the nobility that Sophie ends up in. It is a school where she will be trained in her special ability and where she discovers people, places, things, strength, and friendships beyond what she ever would have imagined, and what I would have imagined as well.

We have to talk about Characters: KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES is full of interesting, multidimensional characters. The only thing that threw me a little bit as I read this book was the
number of characters because their names are not ones we’re used to
hearing, so it did take awhile to keep track of who was who in the
beginning. Not only do we get Sophie who has to make some tough decisions and look for people to support her, but we also get Fitz and his family, along with a multitude of other characters throughout the elf world. We see some of the most interesting jobs as Sophie meets these characters which adds to our understanding of how this world works. As she goes to school, we also meet Dex and Keefe among other classmates, and these two become some of the most entertaining characters to interact with Sophie. I kind of adore Keefe myself. He is the snarky guy who brings the humor that Sophie so desperately needs as she adjusts to her new life, and deep down, he is a really good, caring boy. We get some hints as to deeper things going on with Keefe, and I hope we get more of him in the next book. I also really adore Sophie. She has core values that I admire and fights for what she believes and knows is the right thing, even if it means she might get into trouble. I rooted for her as she is a young girl with so much strength and determination to do the right thing and help those she cares about. She is a strong character for the audience of this book.

Talking about Family is important: Sophie has to leave her family to join this hidden world where she actually belongs, and that means she is in a new place, realizing everything she thought she knew is not the way the world actually works, and has no family to rely on and call her own. When she gets placed with guardians to take responsibility for her, she has a whole new set of relationship dynamics to work on. In the end, the storyline with Sophie searching for family and her understanding of loss, adds such depth to the character and the overall book, and adds a dimension that I think many kids will relate to. I know these elements of searching for family to love her and support her and call her own brought some of the most poignant moments of the story for me. Because what child doesn’t want a family to feel safe with and loved by? There was much more of an emotional element to this book than I expected going into it, and that’s a great thing.

Now let’s talk about Plot: While all of the subplots going on in this book add depth and interest to the story, the overall conflict at hand is a mystery as to why Sophie was living in the human world. Unfortunately, as Sophie is so young, the adults looking into things don’t want to include her in the search, but as the clues build up, Sophie has to take it upon herself to try to find out what’s happening and why and who is behind it. Messenger has written a novel with a tightly woven plot strongly balancing small elements, character development, descriptive details, world-building information, and enough action to keep things moving at an engaging pace.

I want to talk Sequel: I know a sequel is coming, and I can’t wait to read it! Although I knew there would be a book following this one, I still feel that this book wrapped up its storyline in a satisfying way. There are no major cliffhangers here, but it still sets up where the second book will go for the next school year. I appreciate this so much because I don’t feel like I’ve been left hanging, but I’m left with enough of a love for this book/world/characters that I definitely want to get my hands on the next book asap, and I hope you’ll feel that way about this one, too!

I think this book will be a big middle grades hit for those who like fantasy and mystery books. From the Preface at the very start, I was hooked on the story as I was instantly pulled into what would have happened to get Sophie to this point. As the story wound it’s way toward that time near the end, it became even more engaging. I think if you are a teacher or librarian or parent of middle school age kids, you and they will feel the same. I absolutely recommend you get KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES in October.

I first posted this review in November after I read INSIGNIA. I’m reposting now because it comes out in one week and I don’t want you to miss it!

Title: INSIGNIA

IT’S WORLD WAR III.

THE ENEMY IS WINNING.

WHAT IF THE GOVERNMENT’S SECRET WEAPON IS YOU?

More than anything, Tom Raines wants to be important, though his
shadowy life is anything but that. For years, Tom’s drifted from casino
to casino with his unlucky gambler of a dad, gaming for their survival.
Keeping a roof over their heads depends on a careful combination of
skill, luck, con artistry, and staying invisible.

Then one day, Tom stops being invisible. Someone’s been watching his
virtual-reality prowess, and he’s offered the incredible—a place at the
Pentagonal Spire, an elite military academy. There, Tom’s instincts for
combat will be put to the test, and if he passes, he’ll become a member
of the Intrasolar Forces, helping to lead his country to victory in
World War Three. Finally, he’ll be someone important: a superhuman war
machine with the tech skills that every virtual-reality warrior dreams
of. Life at the Spire holds everything that Tom’s always wanted—friends,
the possibility of a girlfriend, and a life where his every action
matters—but what will it cost him?

Gripping and provocative, S. J. Kincaid’s futuristic thrill ride of a
debut crackles with memorable characters, tremendous wit, and a vision
of the future that asks startling, timely questions about the melding of
humanity and technology.

Title: STRUCK
Author: Jennifer Bosworth
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (a Macmillan imprint)
Release Date: May 8, 2012
Number of Pages: 373
Source of Book: ARC from publisher at IRA Convention & NetGalley

Mia Price is a lightning
addict. She’s survived countless strikes, but her craving to connect to
the energy in storms endangers her life and the lives of those around
her.

Los Angeles, where lightning rarely strikes, is one of the
few places Mia feels safe from her addiction. But when an earthquake
devastates the city, her haven is transformed into a minefield of chaos
and danger. The beaches become massive tent cities. Downtown is a
crumbling wasteland, where a traveling party moves to a different empty
building each night, the revelers drawn to the destruction by a force
they cannot deny. Two warring cults rise to power, and both see Mia as
the key to their opposing doomsday prophecies. They believe she has a
connection to the freak electrical storm that caused the quake, and to
the far more devastating storm that is yet to come.

Mia wants to
trust the enigmatic and alluring Jeremy when he promises to protect her,
but she fears he isn’t who he claims to be. In the end, the passion and
power that brought them together could be their downfall. When the
final disaster strikes, Mia must risk unleashing the full horror of her
strength to save the people she loves, or lose everything.

STRUCK is one of Macmillan’s Fierce Reads for this summer and I can see why as it is a fast-paced, suspenseful novel full of action, heart, a little bit of mystical magic, and heat. It takes place over a four day period of time in a Los Angeles that has been destroyed by an earthquake. Mia is a tortured character dealing with trying to keep her little family together and the aftereffects of the multiple lightning strikes she has suffered. She is the key cog in a wheel of good vs. bad and the people who are trying to save/destroy the world, and both sides are trying to recruit/control her. So that all sounds really big, but at its heart, this is the story of a girl just trying to figure out how to keep herself together and to choose/make her own destiny.

Jennifer Bosworth has written an engaging story that takes on issues of religion, beliefs, family loyalty, and finding one’s own path…and looks at what choices one would make to keep oneself together. She has written STRUCK in a way that keeps the action moving and the pacing made me want to keep reading and turning pages to find out what would happen next. The characters were drawn in a way that made me want to help them, and I wanted things to work out for them. She has also built a world that looks at what people would do and which direction they would turn to comfort themselves after a devastating natural disaster. In the midst of all of this, Mia meets Jeremy who she’s not quite sure about in the beginning, and who is a positive male character even if he is tortured himself. Although I did predict a few of the reveals toward the end, I still really enjoyed reading my way to them. I look forward to seeing what Jennifer Bosworth will come out with next!

 

After ten-year-old
Hastin’s family borrows money to pay for his sister’s hospital bill, he
leaves his village in northern India to take a job as an elephant keeper
and work off the debt. He thinks it will be an adventure, but he isn’t
prepared for the cruel circus owner. The crowds that come to the circus
see a lively animal who plays soccer and balances on milk bottles, but
Hastin sees Nandita, a sweet elephant and his best friend, who is
chained when she’s not performing and hurt with a hook until she learns
tricks perfectly. Hastin protects Nandita as best as he can, knowing
that the only way they will both survive is if he can find a way for
them to escape.

Goldenrod Moram loves
nothing better than a good quest. Intrepid, curious, and full of a
well-honed sense of adventure, she decides to start her own exploring
team fashioned after her idols, the explorers Lewis and Clark, and to
map the forest right behind her home. This task is complicated, however,
by a series of unique events—a chance encounter with a mysterious old
lady has her searching for a legendary blue rose. Another encounter
lands her in the middle of a ragtag gang of brilliant troublemakers. And
when she stumbles upon none other than the ghost of Meriwether Lewis
himself, Goldenrod knows this will be anything but an ordinary summer . .
. or an ordinary quest. Debut author Sarvenaz Tash combines an
edge-of-your-seat adventure, a uniquely clever voice, and an
unforgettable cast of characters to prove that sometimes the best
adventures of all are waiting right in your own backyard.

Title: THE VICIOUS DEEP
Author: Zoraida Cordova
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Release Date: May 1, 2012
Number of Pages: 384
Source of Book: Hardcover from publisher at IRA Convention

For Tristan Hart, everything changes with one crashing wave.

He was gone for three days. Sucked out to sea in a tidal wave and spit back ashore at Coney Island with no memory of what happened. Now his dreams are haunted by a terrifying silver mermaid with razor-sharp teeth.

His best friend Layla is convinced something is wrong. But how can he explain he can sense emotion like never before? How can he explain he’s heir to a kingdom he never knew existed? That he’s suddenly a pawn in a battle as ancient as the gods.

Something happened to him in those three days. He was claimed by the sea…and now it wants him back.

This was a fun book that I read in a day. It was a unique take on the “I didn’t know I was a special paranormal creature” type of story what with being told from a male point-of-view and the contemporary merfolk spin to it. THE VICIOUS DEEP has aspects of a best friend romance, a war for the sea, high school drama, fights with fantastical sea creatures, family support, newfound royalty, a championship battle for control of the throne, a deadly storm, fantastical creatures, mermaid lore, Coney Island, and a wittily sarcastic main character full of guy humor.

I actually really enjoyed reading this story from Tristan’s point-of-view. There were some literal laugh-out-loud one liners for me and I found myself caught up quite often in his character and come backs. Even if his character was a bit of an, self-admitted, um, let’s say “popular with the ladies” kind of guy. I’m not sure how completely accurate a portrayal it is of what a teen boy would be thinking, but it was definitely entertaining. I will be waiting to have some boys read it and hear what they think though. There are a few mature word choices throughout, so it definitely skews a little more teen, but he’s really funny and it’s not too graphic. I also liked the secondary cast of characters quite a bit on both the high school human side and the merfolk Sea Court side. I loved Tristan’s parents, too – they’re present and understanding and caring and supportive, which I’ve come to appreciate more and more in teen books.

I just really enjoyed THE VICIOUS DEEP. It was a fairly predictable structure for this type of story, but told with an entertaining voice and creative background lore, which made it stand out in the sea of books out there (pun intended!). There were a couple of things in the writing that were a little irksome for me: one was the jumping around in time-sometimes it was hard for me to figure out what had passed, and the second was the use of “go” and “goes” in place of said. Now, I know that is what people use in casual conversation, and it doesn’t bother me there, but reading it in writing was very jarring to me and it was used quite a bit – I could do without it for sure.

I will definitely be waiting for THE SAVAGE BLUE to come out to find out if Tristan will be successful on his mission and to find out if he gets the girl in the end and to learn what ultimate decision he will make on taking over as the Sea King. THE VICIOUS DEEP almost seemed to end in the middle of the story, not in a horribly cliffhangerish way, but just that there is definitely more to the hero’s journey and it would have been too long of a book if it had been included in this one.

Title: ARTICLE 5
Author: Kristen Simmons
Publisher: Tor Teen
Release Date: Janurary 31, 2012
Number of Pages: 364
Source of Book: Finished hardcover signed at the Tor booth at the IRA Convention

New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., have been abandoned.

The Bill of Rights has been revoked, and replaced with the Moral Statutes.

There are no more police—instead, there are soldiers. There are no more fines for bad behavior—instead, there are arrests, trials, and maybe worse. People who get arrested usually don’t come back.

Seventeen-year-old Ember Miller is old enough to remember that things weren’t always this way. Living with her rebellious single mother, it’s hard for her to forget that people weren’t always arrested for reading the wrong books or staying out after dark. It’s hard to forget that life in the United States used to be different.

Ember has perfected the art of keeping a low profile. She knows how to get the things she needs, like food stamps and hand-me-down clothes, and how to pass the random home inspections by the military. Her life is as close to peaceful as circumstances allow.

That is, until her mother is arrested for noncompliance with Article 5 of the Moral Statutes. And one of the arresting officers is none other than Chase Jennings—the only boy Ember has ever loved.

So I’m a little torn with this book. One the one hand, once I got into it I couldn’t stop reading it. I was sneaking it in and staying up too late to keep reading. On the other hand, I didn’t completely connect with the characters in the beginning and the writing style felt a little stilted and obvious to me. Also, I felt it was pretty predictable. ARTICLE 5 has an intriguing premise for a dystopian, and I do love dystopian books, and I had a lot of hope for where it would go, but it felt more like a road-tripping story for much of the book, so I struggled with figuring out how I really felt.

I really liked the parts where it was more about fighting against the governmental system. The bad guys were definite baddies (including the government overall!), but sometimes I wasn’t sure if a new (or old) character would turn out to really be bad or good, which is a good thing. I did connect more with the characters after the halfway point of the book, and I was invested in them getting past their own individual demons to see what they have with each other. The relationship between Ember and Chase had me wanting to root for them, wanting to scream at them, and wanting to cry for them alternatingly throughout the book. And I really had a hard time putting it down after I got to a certain point, and then I was sneaking in every minute of reading that I could so I could find out what would happen. Both Ember and Chase have some deep emotional journeys they need to travel in this book, and by the end, I was excited to see where they would go next.

Overall, I will definitely get the next book, BREAKING POINT, to find out what will happen, especially since I was left with a bit of a feeling of this book being longer than it necessarily needed to be – by the end I felt like it was really a big book of exposition setting things up for an entire series. I really liked Ember’s strength and determination by the end of the book, and I do adore my tragic heroes and Chase definitely fits that bill, so I want to know what is going to happen in their lives next, now that I think the real action will be starting.

I’m kind of between recommending and highly recommending this book. As I write about it, I feel like my rating gets higher as I think back over all of the things I liked, but the writing style and the difficulty really connecting and the predictability makes me want to lower it a little. So, since I can’t decide, I’m putting both. I shared these thoughts with my students today and asked if someone would read it and let me know a student’s thoughts. It was snapped up right away by one as soon as I mentioned the angsty romance aspect. Can’t wait to hear what a teen thinks.

Title:  EMBRACE (The Violet Eden Chapters Book 1)
Author:  Jessica Shirvington
Publisher:  Sourcebooks Fire
Release Date: March 1, 2012
Number of Pages: 367
Source of Book:  ARC from publisher at NCTE Convention

I slowly opened my eyes. The sun speared its first bright rays of golden orange into the sky and I leapt from the cliff, with the sorrowful knowledge that no matter what the outcome, at least part of me would die that day…

Violet Eden is dreading her seventeenth birthday dinner. After all, it’s hard to get too excited about the day that marks the anniversary of your mother’s death. The one bright spot is that Lincoln will be there. Sexy, mature and aloof, he is Violet’s idea of perfection. But why does he seem so reluctant to be anything more than a friend?

After he gives her the world’s most incredible kiss – and then abandons her on her front doorstep – Violet is determined to get some answers. But nothing could have prepared her for Lincoln’s explanation: he is Grigori – part angel and part human – and Violet is his eternal partner.

Without warning, Violet’s world is turned upside down. She never believed in God, let alone angels. But there’s no denying the strange changes in her body … and her feelings for Lincoln. Suddenly, she can’t stand to be around him. Luckily, Phoenix, an exiled angel, has come into her life. He’s intense and enigmatic, but at least he never lied to her.

As Violet gets caught up in an ancient battle between dark and light, she must choose her path. The wrong choice could cost not only her life, but her eternity…

You know that kind of book…the one when you start reading that book, you’re immediately swept into the fantasy world created? The one where you’re connecting with the characters – laughing and cringing and reacting with them? The one where you stay up too late reading, no matter what you have going on the next day, because you can’t wait to find out where the story is going? The one where you find yourself frantically turning the pages, but then realizing you want to reread sections and slow yourself down so you make sure you actually process the story because you’re going to need to understand it later? The one where you finish it, but just want to read it all over again because it was so, so good and you were so engrossed in it? Yeah…all of that was EMBRACE for me. I should have known, when the Sourcebooks rep told Sarah and I at NCTE that this was her favorite book they had there and we would love it, that I really would, but I was still surprised by how much I liked it. I was completely immersed in this all-consuming read.

I’ve read quite a few angels/fallen angels stories over the last several years, and I’ve liked some of them more than others, but this one blows all the rest of them away for me. The writing of this debut book is in first person, past tense in a straight-forward style and is engaging as it propels the story forward. It’s one of those that’s almost hard to explain what it was the grabbed me because I enjoyed it so much. Let’s start with the characters though. Violet is a teenager with determination and spunk and sass and heart, I mean, this girl can kick some serious butt! She’s a really likeable, believeable character, but she’s also a little lost because she’s been kind of alone her whole life since her mother died at her birth. Her dad has never really recovered, so she relies on her only best friend (who is a trip), and her “trainer” Lincoln to keep her going. She has strength within herself that she has yet to fully realize, and once she turns seventeen and learns about the world she’s destined to be a part of without ever knowing it, everything changes for her. She is a Grigori, but she’s different than all the others. Her inner strength and will is what makes her so powerful in the end, but she has to work to get there. She’s written in a way that I just really connected with, especially her strength and determination to do things her own way on her own terms.

Then there are the boys. Girls are going to be swooning over these two. We have Lincoln, who Violet’s in love with but doesn’t show the same interest back at her, and when she find out why, it changes everything between them. Then there’s Phoenix, who shows up in her life, and has secrets that he’s not willing to reveal, but she is drawn to him and the way that he is there for her and takes care of her. Violet doesn’t know it at first, but she’s going to need both of these guys on her side to help get her through what’s coming next and the decision she has to make of whether to embrace her Grigori side or not. The choice is hers, but she needs the guidance and support from both of these important guys in her life in order to help her make the life-changing decision. And, yes, there are some steamy, heated scenes with both of the guys (but not too graphic), and yes, it’s triangle-ish, but not in the overdone, forced way that I sometimes don’t like in young adult books – it seems realistic for the situation Violet is in and for the way her feelings are swirling. I have a feeling this will definitely spark a “Team” debate among the masses once they get their hands on this book. However, each of the guys seems more layered than they originally appear, and I can only guess we’ll be discovering more and more depth about each of them throughout the rest of the series.

The storyline is fast-paced and full of action and decisions to be made and life or death situations and excitement. The world of the angels and Grigori is well-rounded and fully explained throughout the book, and it’s a fresh take on some of the same backstories that we’ve heard before. I fully enjoyed reading this book and discovering this world that Violet has been destined to be a part of. It’s detailed and complicated and we get to know and understand it just as Violet does as we take this journey to realization with her. She’s not perfect though, and there are things that happen that we, as readers, will probably think she should have realized, but we aren’t living with her demons and secrets and youthful outlook and angst and hope. There is quite a lot going on in this book, but ultimately it’s about Violet learning about this world and figuring out how she feels about being a part of it or not and what’s most important to her in her life. She has to learn to make decisions based on what she needs and wants and what’s right for her, but also how it impacts those around her. It’s about Violet’s journey to self-realization and it’s full of emotion, but also deals with the struggle between light and dark and whether or not it’s a clear line between the two. Light wouldn’t be needed if there was no dark, but are light and dark so clearly identified? This is the stage for the entire story. Because of this, everything is complicated in this book – there are no clear distinctions on what is the right thing to do, and that makes it all the more intriguing.

I’m sure there are going to be people who don’t connect with this book like I did, or who pick apart some things that I overlooked because I was so engaged in it, but that’s how it is with every book. Different ones connect with different people, and I was definitely absorbed in this one. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and I picked it up at just the right time when I needed to decompress from the last book I had read. I know I’m going to be desperately waiting to get my hands on book 2, ENTICED, and book 3, EMBLAZE, which, thankfully, Sourcebooks will be releasing in six month intervals so we won’t have to wait so long to find out what will happen with Violet’s journey next! Enjoy this read this spring!

Title: CATCHING JORDAN
Author: Miranda Kenneally
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Release Date: December 1, 2011
Number of Pages: 281
Source of Book: Requested from publisher at NCTE because I loved the cover and premise and really wanted to read it.

What girl doesn’t want to
be surrounded by gorgeous jocks day in and day out? Jordan Woods isn’t
just surrounded by hot guys, though – she leads them as the captain and
quarterback on her high school football team. They all see her as one of
the guys, and that’s just fine. As long as she gets her athletic
scholarship to a powerhouse university. But now there’s a new guy in
town who threatens her starring position on the team… and has her
suddenly wishing to be seen as more than just a teammate.

CATCHING JORDAN is a cute contemporary romance with a unique twist. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book, and Jordan is a refreshing character who tells it like it is and doesn’t put up with crap from the boys who she is surrounded by as she is the quarterback of the football team. It’s a unique setup for some high school drama, and drama definitely ensues with football and relationships and friendships and family, but it all seemed very realistic. Jordan’s relationship with her mom and brother and guys on the football team was fun to read, but there is strain with her dad, who happens to be a pro football player, but doesn’t seem to want her to play. Then there is the fact that Jordan’s only friends seem to be the guys on the team, as the cheerleaders are pretty nasty to her and she feels like she doesn’t have anything in common with other girls. The thing that was interesting about Jordan was how much she seems to be in control of everything, and is honest in her narration, but isn’t able to see what’s really in front of her. Of course, that seems to be pretty typical for teens as they are pretty much focused on themselves in their own little world. But, as Jordan grows throughout the book and starts to realize more of what’s around her, I began to like her even more. She started to realize what was really important to her and what she needed to be able to live with herself and as herself. This led her to start advocating for herself more and to her making decisions that were right for her.

As much as I enjoyed it, I had a little bit of an issue with this book because of Jordan. It’s mostly a personal preference type of thing, I think, but I had a hard time believing that this girl, who had never even kissed a boy before Ty showed up, was willing to sleep with him so quickly after they got together. I was fine with the insta-attraction (I get the crush thing) and even the love triangle element and her being clueless to part of it, but this one thing stuck with me. In her narration she gives all the guys on the team a hard time for sleeping around, and doesn’t want to get a reputation, which I completely understand, but I guess it just seemed a little bit out of character for her to go so far so quickly. It could just be me, and the fact that I’m a teacher, but I didn’t see any realistic, emotional consequences to that choice. But, they did at least use protection.

Overall, this was an enjoyable, fun, straight-forward contemporary read. I especially liked the added element of the creative writing that Jordan comes to discover she enjoys. As she starts journaling to get her feelings out since she can’t talk to anyone about them (can totally relate to that!), Miranda made the choice to include some of the poems Jordan has written in between chapters. It was a unique and interesting choice by the author to allow the reader to get more insight into Jordan’s feelings even as she was unable to tell them to use herself. I also have to add that I loved the secondary characters. The guys on the team who are her best friends are so hilarious with how they treat her, especially when she wants to talk relationships, and how protective they are of her. And I especially liked her older brother and what a great relationship they had. The ending was just perfect for this type of book with all of the elements – her dad, her choice of college, her boy situation, and her friendships – coming together as I had hoped they would.

Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine-despite the scans that showed significant brain damage. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she’s far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can’t control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it?

Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she’s reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy’s motives aren’t quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature-or something much more frightening?

For fans of best-sellers like Before I Fall and If I Stay, this is a fascinating and heart-rending story about love and friendship and the fine line between life and death.

I should have heeded the advice of the note from the editor in the beginning of the advanced copy of this book – “Do you have some free time?…you are not going to be able to stop until you’ve finished it.”  Reading this book was a roller-coaster of emotions all in one day. That’s because the way the tension was built and the suspense kept me turning pages until I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore-and then picked it right back up again the next morning-finishing it in less than 24 hours. This book made me want to laugh, cry, scream, weep, cheer, yell, cringe, and, most of all, hope. Hope for Delaney to be all right in the end. Hope for Decker to admit to what he felt. Hope for her mom to figure out how to talk to her. Hope for Troy to be a good guy in the end. Hope for lives to be saved. It was a book that dealt with death, but left me with a feeling of hope.

This debut book is written in an approachable, straight-forward style, but in a really engaging way that drew me into the story even more. There is tension and suspense and truth and honesty and realness. There is also a main character who reaches in and grabs you. Delaney’s struggles with how people see her after her traumatic brain injury gave me a sense (even if I hadn’t read it in the author bio later) that the author had close knowledge of what someone who has dealt with that would be feeling and thinking. How does one go back to being normal when the brain no longer is? How does one go back to being normal after living when she should have died?

Delaney is a smart character, and I really liked that about her. There is something really refreshing about her voice and attitude that drew me to her. She’s the type of character who isn’t always completely reliable because she’s so messed up from what happened to her, and she doesn’t know what’s going on with her own head, so she’s freaked. She’s also honest with herself, even if not always with those around her. How can she be honest though, when those around her can’t even be honest with her? And how can she act how she was before, when she doesn’t even recognize some of the things going on in her head? It wasn’t only Delaney who was affected by the accident and her unexpected recovery, but all of those who know her and were involved. And then there’s Decker. I held out hope for him throughout. Interestingly, the very last book I read also dealt with a teen girl figuring out that her lifelong friend, who is a boy, is actually in love with her. Both of them felt true to how they would react and work through these realizations.

My heart broke for Decker throughout this book, but still hoped he would get through to Delaney. But she’s broken after the accident, and it takes many realizations about life and what’s important for her to heal. “What would you do if you had one day left to live?” Don’t wait, go do it because you never know when that last day will be. It’s a hopeful message to go after what you want, do the right thing, and share your feelings with the right people. Delaney starts to come to this realization of what’s most important in the last third of the book, after witnessing another death and figuring some things out about Troy. There were some deep thoughts and ways Delaney was trying to work out what’s right and wrong when it comes to expected and unexpected death that made me think and feel deeply as I read them.

This book is full of suspense and emotion and heartache and fear and sadness and hope. However, it is a short book, and I think more development could have been done with many aspects of it and because I would have enjoyed getting more detail on some things and spending more time with these characters. There are quite a few smaller plotlines within the larger book, and some of them are not as fully realized as they could have been. It left me a little bit lost on some of them feeling like I wasn’t getting the whole story. That being said, I do think because of the brevity of it, I will be able to get many of my students to read it, which is always a good thing. I definitely recommend reading this one on January 17th!

Title:  CLARITY
Author:  Kim Harrington
Publisher:  Point (a Scholastic imprint)
Release Date:  March 1, 2011
Number of Pages:  242
Source of Book:  ARC from my bookseller friend

When you can see things others can’t, where do you look for the truth?
This paranormal murder mystery will have teens reading on the edge of their seats.
Clarity “Clare” Fern sees things. Things no one else can see. Things like stolen kisses and long-buried secrets. All she has to do is touch a certain object, and the visions come to her. It’s a gift.
And a curse.
When a teenage girl is found murdered, Clare’s ex-boyfriend wants her to help solve the case – but Clare is still furious at the cheating jerk. Then Clare’s brother – who has supernatural gifts of his own – becomes the prime suspect, and Clare can no longer look away. Teaming up with Gabriel, the smoldering son of the new detective, Clare must venture into the depths of fear, revenge, and lust in order to track the killer. But will her sight fail her just when she needs it most?

I had heard so many positive reviews of this book that I was eagerly anticipating reading it, and it didn’t let me down. Once I looked at the first page to see how it sounded – I was gone for the next two days reading it every chance I got. “You don’t want to kill me,” I said. “Of course I don’t, Clare. But I have to.” And a paragraph later, “…On my right was the crumpled body of a guy I hadn’t fully realized the depths of my feelings for until I saw a bullet rip into him.” OK – I was hooked – there was no chance I was putting this book down.

Clarity (Clare) Fern is a psychic from a family of psychics, and not the kind you normally think of as the scammers, but the real kind. She, her mother, and her older brother all have different psychic abilities, and they use them to entertain the tourists in their Cape Cod town. I loved Clare – she is full of snark and sass and wit in a Veronica Mars type way – and I totally want to be her friend. She doesn’t take any crap from anyone, and is fiercely loyal to her family. She’s been hurt, but she still has hope for finding a good guy (and there are a few to go around apparently!) Plus, she’s just really likeable the way she’s written. This book, and her character, reminded me of other favorite mystery books THE LIAR SOCIETY and DEATH BY BIKINI, all with kick butt, tell-it-like-it-is girls who are smart, but vulnerable and whose mysteries are sometimes usurped by their teen relationships with family and boys.

The secondary cast of characters in this book was fun, as many small town novels tend to be, and I enjoyed seeing Clarity struggle with the boys she was surrounded with. Although it was a little predicatble in the end (as I did guess earlier on who might be the culprit), it still kept me guessing throughout and I was never quite sure if my guess would turn out to be right or not. The mystery kept me on my toes, and Clare’s realtionships kept me turning pages to find out what would happen next.

CLARITY was a fun, light read, even though there were some serious elements with the mystery, the murder, and the people trying to figure everything out, and I would definitely recommend it to students who are looking for a mystery, and even to students who maybe need to be exposed to a mystery book. It’s got a great main character, an interesting mystery, and lots of snark and sass and laugh out loud comebacks, with a touch of vulnerability. I also appreciated the underlying story of not judging people before you know them and know the truth, and Clare’s battles to stand up for herself and be confident even when others are doubting her.

I’ll be eagerly waiting on the sequel, PERCEPTION, coming March 1st, to find out what Clare decides to do and what happens to her next.

Title: INCARNATE
Author:  Jodi Meadows
Publisher: Katharine Tegen Books (a HarperCollins imprint)
Release Date:  January 31, 2012
Number of Pages:  384
Source of Book:  Won ARC contest from the wonderful Beth @ A Foodie Bibliophile in Wanderlust

NEWSOUL
Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.


NOSOUL
Even Ana’s own mother thinks she’s a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she’ll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are suspicious and afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?


HEART
Sam believes Ana’s new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana’s enemies—human and creature alike—let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else’s life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?


Jodi Meadows expertly weaves soul-deep romance, fantasy, and danger into an extraordinary tale of new life.

This
book is a little bit of a struggle for me to write about because I
liked it, but I never fully connected with it as much as I wanted to, but I can’t pinpoint
exactly why. There is a dystopic feel to this fantasy book, and
it has a really intriguing premise, but there was just something about
it that was a little bit off to me. It has elements of mystery,
suspense, beliefs, finding strength, bravery, romance, religion,
political intrigue, soulmates, and battles with fantasy creatures. The
unique premise dealing with reincarnation and souls being reborn was
engaging, but I’m not sure the world was fully realized for me. The plot
pacing kept me turning pages and I wanted to keep reading to find out
what would happen next, but some of the big reveals and surprises still
left me a little bit confused. Maybe that was a piece of it-I still
wasn’t sure what exactly was going on by the end. Because I was left confused, and some of it seemed weirdly out of place, it was a difficult read for me; although, I loved the premise and the whole idea of what was going on with the reincarnated souls. 

I liked the characters
for the most part: Ana as a “newsoul” discovering things about the
world while surrounded by others who had been there before, and Sam being thousands of years old and discovering a new person
for the first time. I liked their interactions and the development of
their relationship and the reveals of their feelings for each other.
But, it was always tempered with a niggling thought in the back of my mind that
it was a little bit uncomfortable because of the emphasis on him being
so old and her being so young. I guess that was what bothered me the
most about this book because I wanted to like them together, but I felt
like I also shouldn’t, so it made it difficult to fully get lost in the story. And I really wanted more from some of the secondary characters too because I liked the little bits I got to know about them. I’m
glad I read it and I want to know what happens next because I really
liked the way that Ana and Sam supported each other and the strength of
their relationship by the end, but it’s the other elements of the story
that make me question if I’ll read the next book or not. I’ve seen other reviewers who have really liked it, so maybe I just didn’t “get” this particular book, or read it at the wrong time (too many dystopians in a row can do that to a reader!) Overall, I’d say check this one out from the library.

Title: UNDER THE NEVER SKY
Author: Veronica Rossi
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: January 3, 2012
Number of Pages: 384
Source of Book: ARC from NCTE Convention

Aria is a teenager in
the enclosed city of Reverie. Like all Dwellers, she spends her time
with friends in virtual environments, called Realms, accessed through an
eyepiece called a Smarteye. Aria enjoys the Realms and the easy life in
Reverie. When she is forced out of the pod for a crime she did not
commit, she believes her death is imminent. The outside world is known
as The Death Shop, with danger in every direction.

As an Outsider, Perry has always known hunger, vicious predators,
and violent energy storms from the swirling electrified atmosphere
called the Aether. A bit of an outcast even among his hunting tribe,
Perry withstands these daily tests with his exceptional abilities, as he
is gifted with powerful senses that enable him to scent danger, food
and even human emotions.

They come together reluctantly, for Aria must depend on Perry, whom
she considers a barbarian, to help her get back to Reverie, while Perry
needs Aria to help unravel the mystery of his beloved nephew’s abduction
by the Dwellers. Together they embark on a journey challenged as much
by their prejudices as by encounters with cannibals and wolves. But to
their surprise, Aria and Perry forge an unlikely love – one that will
forever change the fate of all who live UNDER THE NEVER SKY.

Something about this book has gotten under my skin. UNDER THE NEVER SKY is one of those books that grows on you. The more I sit here thinking about it (because I can’t stop thinking about it now that I’ve finished it) the more I keep thinking how good it really was. It has a quiet impact that builds slowly until I realized that this story really got to me. Aria and Perry are both well-drawn characters who are fighting to do what’s right, find answers, and keep themselves safe in a scary world where they often feel alone. They face fears, follow a journey, surmount obstacles, and literally fight to live while learning about each other and themselves. This book is equally both of their stories-told in third person but from alternating points of view (indicated first through the chapter headings of Aria or Perregrine). This story was so much more meaningful and layered because we got both of these perspectives.

The future world that Veronica has created is a scary place,
and it’s not survivable without friends and supporters, but who can be
trusted in the wild unknown? Certainly not the ones you’ve been taught
to be scared of your whole life…right? Aria finds out more than she
expected to when she ends up in “The Death Shop” after a tragic event in
the Pod where she has lived her whole life. In the Pod she has the newest technology and inventions that made life easy-much of it was spent in the “Realms” which are the virtual worlds in which they experience what it might be like outside, but can virtual ever be as good as real? And can one who has spent her life being scared of outsiders, come to trust them for her survival? And then there’s the differences that these “savages” have. The elements of the senses that are enhanced in certain people added a layer that I really enjoyed reading about, and added conflicts that will greatly affect these characters. It also added some of the most beautifully written parts of the book in talking about how people’s “tempers” look and smell. The conversations between Aria and Perry were engaging and drew me into their building relationship.

There are plot twists and reveals and secrets and insights that I did
not expect throughout this book, which was a really good thing.  The pacing of the plot starts off letting us get used to this world, and then steadily increases as Aria and Perry set out on their journeys to save themselves and find those they love, until I found myself holding my breath at parts hoping for the best for these characters I enjoyed spending time with. This story is about strength and change and fears and subtle bravery and honesty and doing what’s right no matter how at odds it seems with what you should be doing. There are touching moments and scary moments and heart-pounding moments and and exciting moments and tear-evoking moments and romantic moments and gasp-worthy moments and laugh out loud moments to lighten the mood (mostly provided by Roar). It’s a quiet, subtle book in the way that it captured me into the story, wrapped around my heart, and wouldn’t let me go – in the way of the Aether storms that they’re all running from which are destroying the outside world.

The ending of this first book was beautifully conceived, and although it sets things up for what will need to happen in the next book, it still provided an ending to the main character’s journeys in this first book that left me with a sense of completeness and contentedness for the journey they took in this book-and exemplified the strength they both discovered in themselves through each other. If it hadn’t provided that ending, I would have been disappointed with a cliffhanger, but, thankfully, Veronica didn’t do that to us, so I was able to end with a sense of peace and hope. I’m highly anticipating where this trilogy is going to head in the next book, and I can’t wait to spend more time with Aria and Perry (and hopefully Roar and Cinder and Talon too!).

Title: CINDER (Lunar Chronicles #1)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends (a Macmillan imprint)
Release Date: January 3, 2012
Number of Pages: 400
Source of Book: ARC from NCTE Convention
Author’s Website: marissameyer.livejournal.com

Humans and androids
crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the
population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make
their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen
with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her
stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the
handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an
intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty
and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her
past in order to protect her world’s future.

In this thrilling debut young adult novel, the first of a quartet,
Marissa Meyer introduces readers to an unforgettable heroine and a
masterfully crafted new world that’s enthralling.

I liked CINDER a lot – it was one of those books that kept me turning pages because of the well-paced plot and I didn’t want to stop reading it. It was a little predictable, but also exciting. There were parts I thought I knew what was going to happen, and they ended up a little different, but overall I felt like I knew many of the big things were going to happen before they occurred. Now, because this is a retelling so has a basic structure of familiar things sI would look for, that’s to be expected, but I wanted more of the big moments to be more a surprise to me. However, I still really enjoyed reading it, and can see that this would actually be good for my middle school students.

This book is full of political intrigue, suspense, action, and not knowing what would happen next or how things would work out. There is an intergalactic battle brewing and it adds another whole element to the tension of the story beyond just what is going to happen to Cinder. There was strong world-building as I felt as if I was there with the characters and understood what was happening and why they were dealing with the things they were, but it wasn’t overly drawn out with lengthy sections for exposition. It was worked right in and pieces were slowly revealed to the reader as the characters learned them. There are androids and cyborgs and netscreens and hovercrafts and all kinds of technological advancements which add a great science-fiction element to the story as well.

One of my favorite parts of the book was the characters. Cinder is just a warm-hearted character – I was really pulling for
her to make it through all of her difficulties. I liked her and I wanted
her to come out on top in the end. She is kind and caring even though
she has not received this same treatment from others in her life. She is
brave, but she has no idea how brave until she is faced with some
difficult choices, and realizes what she would and can do to help save
people. She is finding her strength throughout this book, and she does
it all with an integrity of character that is admirable. She may not be
physically 100% human, but that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have the
feeling and thoughts of one (contrary to what some might believe).

There were some great secondary characters (Peony,
Ito, Kai) who were endearing as well and made it possible to believe that Cinder would have the
will to get through some of the stuff she’s going through. And, there are also the requisite evil characters who I really hated (as I was supposed to). Prince Kai is actually my favorite character and he has the start of a sweet romance going on, but he has a whole lot of other issues to deal with as well. I have to say that I would have liked even more of Kai; although, the third person writing style gives us a lot of insight into his character and feelings, but mostly from Cinder’s perspective. Kai is strong and sweet and young and looking for something to help him through as he is forced to grow up really fast, and I was definitely supporting him throughout.

The ending was intense…I’m not sure where this story could go next. It was previewed a little bit in the final conversation, but I’m still not sure what to expect from the second book. I’m glad this is going to be a quartet of books, but can’t believe that means we’ll have to wait until 2015 to get the end of the story! I will definitely be picking up the rest of the books though to see what happens with Cinder and Kai next!