Young Adult

Review: The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson

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20140120-071025.jpgLaurie Halse Anderson is a master at speaking the language of teenage angst and turmoil. She gave us Speak, a story about a teenage girl traumatized to the point of becoming mute. In Wintergirls, she addresses the self-destructive behaviors of eating disorders and cutting. And then there’s her latest endeavor…

Seventeen-year-old Hayley and her dad, Andy, have relied on just each other for years. A veteran of wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan, Andy suffers from debilitating PTSD while Hayley does her best to hold their fragile lives together. As is the case in many of these situations, she becomes the parent while her dad struggles to simply survive each day. She can’t separate the happy memories from the bad ones, so she represses them all. They’ve traveled across the country as he attempted to escape his demons. When that doesn’t work, they settle back in their hometown where Hayley enrolls in school for the first time after being homeschooled for so many years. Enter Finn, a quirky, lovable soul who takes her as she is, secrets and all. There’s also Gracie, Hayley’s one remaining friend from her childhood. Hayley’s reluctant to allow anyone access to her private world even as it crumbles around her. Andy sinks deeper and deeper into his own private hell as each day passes. He drowns himself in alcohol and drugs in an attempt to silence the battle going on in his head. The rare moments of lucidity and normalcy are just enough to keep Hayley from reaching out for help. She, meanwhile, is facing her own struggles outside of home. A bright student who loves to get lost in her books, she’s also extremely unmotivated and spends much of her school days in either the counselor’s office or detention. The story follows Hayley as she tries to save her dad and, as a result, herself as well. Along the way, she realizes that her friends’ picture perfect lives aren’t as happy as they seem; every family has its secrets. Hers are just a little more dangerous.

Laurie Halse Anderson has once again written a story that plunges you deep into the hearts and souls of her characters. Hayley is a flawed teenager who could be any of us. She has a dry, witty sense of humor and a strong sense of survival for both she and her dad. She is wise beyond her years and is loyal to a fault. Hayley isn’t one of the pretty, popular girls but she’s the one I’d most like to be friends with. I enjoyed this book tremendously and finished it in a day. It’s another great young adult book from an amazing author.

~ Thalia

Buy it Now: The Impossible Knife of Memory

Review: Crazy by Han Nolan

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20131230-191409.jpgYoung adult book about teen drama-check. Mental illness as the main focus-check. Been there, done that, right? Except this one is insanely (bad choice of words, I know) different. In this refreshingly unique novel the tables are turned and this time it’s a child who has to cope with his parent’s mental illness.

Jason can’t remember a time when his life wasn’t overshadowed by his dad’s odd behavior. Going as far back as age six when his dad tried to bury him alive “to protect him”, it’s always been a part of their lives. However, when Jason’s mom dies unexpectedly things begin to rapidly deteriorate. She was the one who always held things together, and without her their lives start to spin out of control. Money is tight, food is scarce, and their house is falling apart. Despite his best efforts to hold things together and keep their way of life a secret, his grades and behavior at school are being affected. When he’s sent to group therapy, he finds comfort in an unlikely group of friends who are living with family issues of their own. In a short span of time he’s forced to confront his own feelings of grief at his mother’s death, guilt at not being able to protect his dad, and fear that he, too, is losing his mind. He has to learn to accept help from others and to be a kid again after being the adult in his family for so long. There’s a hospitalization and a confrontation with social services before everything is finally resolved. Along the way, Jason is kept company by running commentary from a cast of characters he has created in his mind to help him cope with his dysfunctional life.

This was an amazing story from beginning to end. It could have been another run-of-the-mill story of teen angst and drama but Han Nolan inserts humor and emotion into every page. The ever-present conversation going on in Jason’s head has the potential to be annoying and distracting but instead is entirely believable, and you can see how that’s his one little lifeline to sanity. He’s never really confronted his grief at losing his mother, and he eventually realizes he harbors a lot of anger as well for being forced into the position he’s in. The author skillfully captures the voice of a young teenage boy in the reversed role of being the parent. It’s also a safe read for teenagers without speaking down to them, which is hard to come by these days. Five stars for me!

~Thalia

Buy it Now: Crazy

Review – Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein.

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11925514My fellow muses are probably going to banish me to the stables for this, but I have to begin this review by stating that YA fiction is not a genre that I read or enjoy…. Yes, I can feel the death stares permeating through my skin as I type! However, I like a challenge, and so I decided to read a YA, yes you read correctly, a YA novel called Code Name Verity. Actually, truth be told, I listened to it on audio, rather than read, but same difference!
Frustratingly, this is one of those novels where you can’t give too much of a synopsis due to spoilers, so this will be brief: WWII, two young women, one of whom is captured in Nazi occupied France. The novel begins with “Verity” writing a confession in a prison cell, and thus begins the tale. Through this epistolary novel, Verity tells a story of Queenie and her friend, Maddie, and their experiences being stationed together during the war. The story is split between 1st person narrations (Verity’s experience in the prison), 3rd person narration (the story of Queenie and Maddie’s friendship) and the narration is primarily shared between Verity and Maddie.
Listening on audio, you get the added advantage of hearing different voices for different characters. This helped a lot, and was appropriate due to the style in which the novel is written. As I mentioned above, I don’t usually read YA, but this one was so different. It had the usual components of a YA novel – very little swearing, not really any sexual situations, and no gratuitous violence. However, this one presented certain situations in an extremely frank and honest manner, without sensationalising and gratuitousness: E.G., the interrogation scenes were very frightening and horrific, but they were honest, and didn’t feel like they were exploiting it. It’s hard to explain, but I felt like it read as an adult book, but at the same time, it would still be appropriate for an older teenager.
If you do decide to pick this story up, which I highly recommend that you do, be prepared to find yourself laughing, possibly crying, gasping, cringing, and recoiling. It will hit on most of your emotions and it will leave you asking yourself what if? What if you were captured by an enemy agent? Would you divulge crucial secrets? Would you do anything to survive? Would you break? Elizabeth Wein has written a fresh, unique and interesting WWII story that is brutal, honest, emotive, and effective. Do yourself a favour and read this gem of a novel before some big film studio ‘effs it up and makes a piss poor adaptation.
Enjoy ~ Pegasus
Code Name Verity (Edgar Allen Poe Awards. Best Young Adult (Awards))

Review: Defy by Sarah B. Larson

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17406847 This book is labeled as a YA fantasy book which had me excited as soon as I read the blurb about it. But the blurb also had me conflicted from the get go because it mentioned a a love triangle which is a tricky thing in any genre but is particularly tricky for me in a YA genre right now because it’s been done to death. On top of that is that while I love the cover because it’s just very pretty but it reminded me right away of another YA fantasy book I loved – Graceling. I just don’t love that books in a similar genre have such similar covers. 3236307

Alexa was forced to disguise herself as a boy as a child and was trained to become part of the Royal Guard defending Prince Damian. She doesn’t have almost anyone to confide in and is pretty miserable keeping her secrets. Meanwhile, the Royal Guard is busy trying to keep magic and sorcery out of their realm. When Alexa is assigned to protect Damian personally she discovers some of his own secrets and she comes to realize that the Prince she took as a lazy, snobby boy has a completely different side. At the same time her steady friend, Rylan, revelas that her secret may not be so secret after all and things become even more complicated for Alexa.

I was drawn into this world pretty easily and thought the author did a good job of building the world. I was horrified at the parts of the world that were meant to be horrifying. However the love triangle was a little forced. There was definitely some insta-love that seems to plague YA books and the part of the triangle that would have been the more natural part is of course the person that is not actually fallen for.

There was a lot of potential in the book and it’s possible that other people don’t have the same irritations I do with these kind of books. Try it out for yourself and see. It is well written and I liked both the premise and the main character.

3 stars.

~ Clio

Buy it Now Defy

Review: Witch Finder by Ruth Warburton

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18039069 This amazing cover drew me in once again. How gorgeous is this girl? How amazing is this lighting? This book starts off very strong with Luke being initiated into a Brotherhood of witch hunters. His initiation includes killing a witch and that doesn’t bother him at all. He was only hoping it would be the witch that killed his parents. When that doesn’t happen and he’s assigned to kill 16 year old Rosa Greenwood who comes from a powerful witch family he thinks this will still be no big deal.

Luke goes undercover as a stable hand and the POV changes to Rosa’s and we get to glimpse inside her life. We discover that her life is not so rosy as her mother and family are depending on her to save their family from poverty. Rosa doesn’t agree with using her magic for anything bad but unfortunately for her she has to sit back and watch as her family goes against everything she believe in.

I really enjoyed this book, which turned out to have a good mix of magic and YA romance. It’s not super heavy on either, and has a decent amount of action in the mix as well. The last third of the book was pretty surprising to me and definitely made me do my speed reading thing where I had to finish it all at once to know what happened right then.

I received this ARC in return for an honest review.

4 stars.

~ Clio

Buy it Now Witch Finder

Review: Under Different Stars (Kricket#1), by Amy Bartol

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“You cannot thrive under the wrong stars, Kricket.”

I have loved Amy Bartol, since I first read her Premonition series. So when I found out she was writing another series, I was excited to read it. When I saw the cover, I knew it was going to be different. And I was correct. I will admit that for the first 25% I was confused with all the names and titles of things. Since this takes place on another planet, everything is different. I highlighted a ton and kept going back for reviewing. 🙂 Eventually I forgot about the names and just followed the story.

17 yr old Kricket has always wanted a home and family. After growing up in the foster care system, she decides to break out of it and find her own way. She’s been doing that for two years and she just wants to get to her 18th birthday, so she can quite looking over she shoulder.

Trey Allairis is a soldier, sent from her planet, along with his friends, Wayra and Jax, to bring her back. She doesn’t want to go, but she doesn’t have a choice. And as they make their way to her real home, he realizes that she is more than just a mission. He also discovers that she isn’t a timid little flower and can stand up for herself against big strong soldiers. Slowly she wraps them around her little finger.

Kricket learns that she has powers, with the potential for many more, and that makes her a hot commodity. She just wants to go back to Earth, but there is no escaping. She must learn how to conform to her current situation, while holding herself together. When all the five houses of Ethar start vying for her, she must make some difficult decisions and rely on Trey to help her.

Kyon knows about Kricket, and her potential powers, and wants her for himself. And he will do anything to get her. No matter what Kricket does to dissuade him, he will not back down. Either he will have her, or no one will.

Slowly, but surely Trey realizes his feelings for her and decides he would do anything to protect her, even if it means to let her go to an enemy. As long as she’s alive, he can move on.

“If I touch her, she’ll have my soul”

I can’t wait til the next book comes out. I know I have long to wait, but it’ll be worth it. I must know what happens!! Will Kricket be able to be with Trey, without fear?? What happened to Kyon?? I MUST KNOW!!!

~Melpomene

Buy it now Under Different Stars (The Kricket Series)

Review: The Program by Suzanne Young

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11366397 This book is frightening in its realistic approach to a governmental solution to teen suicide. In this reality teen suicide has become more than a sad occurrence, it’s become an outbreak of epic proportions. The government has stepped in and created The Program. The Program whisks teenagers away for weeks for a highly secretive time after which they come back and don’t remember their friends or almost anything.

Sloane is terrified of The Program. She literally watched her brother commit suicide before her eyes but she cannot show any emotion for fear she will be taken away. The only person she has left to truly be with is James. James who was best friends with her brother and is now her boyfriend. But as they watch their friends become depressed and commit suicide it becomes harder for them to keep it together.

This book felt so realistic in how it dealt with the feelings of depression, the loneliness and the despair. Suzanne Young did a wonderful job of capturing how it must feel to be young and feel completely alone. As the book progresses into the the actual program I really enjoyed the creepiness factor that set it as I wondered what was part of the program and what was reality. It was so hard to tell, which was great as that was exactly how Sloane should have felt as well.

I thought this was a haunting and very well done book. I think that teenagers as well as adults will like it but for different reasons. I can see teens liking the young adult aspect of the group dynamics and watching Sloane trying to figure things out within the program and within her friends. I can also see adults liking the partial dystopian aspects of this book.

It is part of a series and there is a bit of a cliffhanger but I don’t feel desperate to read it right this very second. Which is a good thing because I hate that so very much!! I will definitely be reading the next one when it comes out.

5 stars

~Clio

Buy it Now The Program

Review: Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis

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20131129-123657.jpgReaders of post-apocalyptic and/or dystopian stories must suspend their disbelief for the duration of most of these stories. Plague-induced flesh-eating zombies, alien or cyborg invasion…these make great stories but are a little too far “out there” for the average reader to truly believe. Scarcity of clean drinking water, however, is something that is far too believable.

Not a Drop to Drink takes us into the lives of Lynn and her mother as they try to survive in a harsh, futuristic world where safe, clean drinking water is a commodity worth killing for. Their primary focus is to protect their pond at all costs. Cut off from the rest of the world, they rely on nobody but themselves. Lynn, in fact, cannot recall ever talking to anyone besides her mother. She’s a tough survivor who knows what has to be done when faced with danger. After all, her mother has raised her that way. But when tragedy strikes, Lynn is forced to let down her guard and allow others into her life. This comes in the form of their long-standing neighbor as well as strangers Eli and young Lucy. Of course Eli becomes the love interest. Isn’t that a requirement for a young adult novel? Still, the romance is more of a sideline and doesn’t distract from the inner toughness and maturity that Lynn exhibits throughout the story. It was also nice to see her transformation from a hard-as-nails, unemotional teenager into someone who truly cares for others and puts their well being before hers.

I enjoyed this book tremendously, and in large part because it felt more plausible to me than most of the other books of this genre that I’ve read. Clean water to drink is something that most of us take for granted. But how long would we be able to survive if our supply was limited? What measures would we take to protect what little we had? And what would we be willing to sacrifice for the benefit of others? While I won’t pretend that this was a particularly deep or thought-provoking story, it did make me think “what if” a bit more than others have recently. This book has great character development and the author provides a well-described environment that helps the reader understand why certain tough decisions had to be made. This one is a well-written, strong story!

~Thalia

Buy it Now: Not a Drop to Drink

Review and Blog Tour: Elect(Eagle Elite #2), by Rachel Van Dyken

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18210033

Would you die for the one you love?

Nixon Abandonato made his choice. And now he has to pay the price. Tracey is the love of his life, but being with him has made her a target of his family’s enemies. The only way to keep Trace alive is convince the world she means nothing to him.

Trace Rooks has fallen irrevocably in love with the son of her family’s sworn rival, and she knows in her bones nothing can tear them apart. Until Nix suddenly pushes her away and into the arms of his best friend… But Trace isn’t ready to give up on a future with Nix–and if he won’t fight for them, she will.
In the end, a sacrifice must be made. A life for a life. For what better way to cover a multitude of sins than with the blood of a sinner . . .

“I feel lost”
“Let me find you.”
“I feel sick.”
“Let me heal you.” I kissed her head.
“I feel sad.”
“Let me be your happiness.”

WOW!! What a ride! This is like The Godfather for young adults. I highly recommend reading Elite first, otherwise you’re missing out on basically everything. It’s written from many different point of views. I liked seeing how Nixon and Chase, and even Phoenix handle the pressure and stress of living in a mob, and knowing that your days are numbered.

Nixon loves Tracey, and has for his entire life. But loving her has now put her in grave danger. The only way to keep her alive is to push her away. But what’s even harder, is that he pushed her towards his best friend, Chase.

Chase loves Tracey, but he knows he can’t really do anything about it. He is loyal to his friend. But he will do everything he can to protect her, even if it means convincing her to choose him.

Tracey loves Nixon and doesn’t want to be left behind. She wants Nixon, but understands that he needs to do his job and protect her the only way he can. She know’s it hurts him to let her go, but he has to hold onto hope, that it will all work out.

“I’m going to apologize in advance, though.” Tracey sniffed as a tear ran down her cheek.
“Why are you apologizing”
Her eyes met mine. “Because I’m going to break your heart.”

Watching Trace with Chase and seeing how hard it was for Nix, was painful to watch. He was no longer living his life for himself. He was living, and willing to die, for her. But he needed to make some very difficult choices and watch his family deal with those choices.

Seeing the background on Phoenix, made me like him a bit more. I didn’t fully trust him, but I understood him. His days were truly numbered. 😦 In the end, he was a friend to Nixon, when he needed one.

Phoenix slapped me on the back. “If it’s any consolation, she clearly loves you.”
“How would you know?” I snapped.
…”The way she looks at you. It’s different than how she looks at Chase.”
“And how does she look at Chase?”
“Like he’s her savior,” Phoenix said softly.
“And me?”
“Like you’re her oxygen.”

I was dying for the situation to be resolved, so that Nix and Trace could be together! I was starting to get a bad feeling about have way through. But I had faith it would all work out. Trace had no choice but to go towards Chase, even though her heart wanted another.

“You have my heart, but Nixon…he owns my soul.”

*heart breaking*

When it was all said and done, hearts were broken, lives were taken, but the truth came out. None of them will be the same after this, but they know if they have family, they can get through anything. There was a bit of a twist in the end, so I’m curious as to what will happen in the next book. I’ve got a feeling, but I’m gonna keep it to myself. 😉

Make sure you enter the Rafflecopter for a chance to win!

Also, here’s a little mafia game for you.
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~Melpomene

Buy it now Elect (Eagle Elite)

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Review: Also Known As by Robin Benway

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13132661 This was recommended to me but I resisted it for some reason, I’m not sure if it was the cover or the synopsis but I just wasn’t feeling this. But when I finally picked it up I was so surprised at how much I liked this!

This is a young adult book about a family of spies in which the 16 year old daughter has to enroll in high school for the first time while she takes the lead on her very own case, again for the first time. That’s the book in a nutshell but in reality what it is is a sarcastic, funny, touching and young love – almost coming of age story. Which is a lot for one story to be but it wasn’t too much in one book. It was just right.

Maggie Silver is used to being on the run, used to traveling the world as a safecracker with her parents who are both spies and part of The Collective, a team that does good and basically fights crime. Maggie is not, however, used to being in school. But when she is assigned her first case, has to go to school and is assigned a boy to get close to she tells herself she can do this.

Things get out of hand quickly when she makes a friend (a friend !) and kind of, sort of, falls for the boy she is supposed to get close to for the job. Jesse, the boy, is just the kind of guy she would fall for normally.

Is it weird that hearing him use a polysyllabic word gave me butterflies? Yes, that’s weird. Forget I said anything.

Roux, her new best friend, is quirky, but kind of perfect and fits into her spy lifestyle without even knowing it. The sarcasm and dry with between Jesse, Roux and Maggie was cracking me up throughout the whole book.

“And now he probably thinks I’m lost in Siberia or something because I didn’t answer it!” “Lost in Siberia?” It’s a lot more possible than you think.”

“Hey, I’m making eye contact with a gargoyle!” Roux said, looking out one of the grimy windows. I shall name him George.”

I highlighted tons and tons of different parts of this book because I was laughing at different things. There was some action and high stakes, light romance, and typical YA issues. Basically, it’s super cute and any fan of young adult books should read it!

4 stars

~ Clio

Buy it Now Also Known As