Young Adult

Review: The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay (and giveaway!)

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This is a difficult review to write because I loved the book, the storyline, the characters, the plot, pretty much everything. So it’s hard to be objective and write almost anything.

The book starts off a little slow and at first I was wondering when it would pick up. But after reading the whole book I realized that the slow start was necessary. This book packs in all the emotions and by the end I was overwhelmed with the feels.

It’s almost impossible to say anything without being spoiler-ish and I think with this book it’s important to not have spoilers.

This quote pulled me in right away.

“I live in a world without magic or miracles. A place where there are no clairvoyants or shapeshifters, no angels or superhuman boys to save you. A place where people die and music disintegrates and things suck. I am pressed so hard against the earth by the weight of reality that some days I wonder how I am still able to lift my feet to walk.”

Nastya and Josh tell the story from alternating points of views and this technique definitely worked for this book.

This was not just a romance, this is a suspense, a young adult novel but also an adult one as well. I can’t say enough good things about this book so instead I’m going to give away the book so one reader can see for themselves!

To enter the giveaway make sure you’re officially following this blog and make a comment as well. On Thursday, the 15th I’ll post the winner – which will be chosen by a random number generator.

Good luck!

5 stars

~Clio

Buy it Now The Sea of Tranquility: A Novel

Review: Pivot Point by Kasie West (and giveaway!)

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11988046 You know how you buy some books because they sound good-ish at the time and then when you finally read them months later you wonder why the heck you bought the book in the first place? (Maybe that’s just me…) Well, this book was so the opposite of that. I was expecting an average book when I began this but got an amazingly well written and captivating book instead. Yay to pleasant surprises!

Addie Coleman lives in a city where everyone has a type of paranormal power of the mind. Her power is a form of clairvoyance that allows her to take a decision she needs to make and see into the future (within limits) both paths that the choices would lead to. When her parents get a divorce she has to decide which parent to live with. Her mother is staying in the city Addie has grown up in and her father is moving out of the city into the normal world where no one has powers. Addie chooses to look into the future over the next 6 weeks to see which one she should choose.

Just the plot of this book is rather unique, with all of the YA books that I read I haven’t come across another with anything close to it. This is the author’s debut novel and I was blown away by that because of how well written and thought out the book comes across. I was surprised many times by different twists and plot points. Pivot Point has some suspense, a little bit of YA romance and while some of the characters have paranormal powers it is not heavy on that part. So if you normally stay away from the paranormal type books I would give this a chance!

Even better than the plot are the characters. Addie and her friends are all very fleshed out. Addie, in particular, was great – I understood her emotions and all of her actions made sense to me. I completely hate when I read a book and I spend most of the time wanting to smack the main character. Happily, that was not the case here.

If you’d like to win a copy of Pivot Point you need to do 2 things – follow this blog and comment on this post. I’ll post the winner next Thursday the 15th.

5 stars

~ Clio

Buy it Now Pivot Point

Review: Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock

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12985143 Hemlock is a supernatural YA book featuring werewolves…and I freaking loved it.  I really thought that was just a tired genre for me – and for many others – but Kathleen Peacock managed to pick and choose the best parts of this category.

Lupine syndrome is on the rise in the country and a few months ago Mac’s best friend Amy was killed by a white werewolf. Nothing has been the same for her or for her best friends Jason and Kyle since then.  When it seems that danger is back in the town of Hemlock Mac isn’t sure who to trust when it seems that betrayal is everywhere.

I’ve read a few other reviews that talked about a love triangle and how typical it is to have in a supernatural YA book. However during the reading of the book I wasn’t really feeling a triangle vibe.  More like an I hate Jason and he needs to get over himself vibe but that could just be me.

What I liked about this book so much was the mystery combined with the plot twist that came with every turn. That made it much more than the typical YA supernatural book.  Mac’s dead best friend Amy visits her in her dreams and I loved those chapters and the interactions between the two.

Mac is also not a damsel in distress that seems to appear in so many YA books. I appreciated how resourceful she was and while she did make a few bad decisions they weren’t the kind that made me scream in frustration and want to throw my kindle across my room – um, not that I’ve done that before with a book or anything.

This book is suspenseful, plot driven and funny.  It’s full of danger and love. I would highly recommend to anyone who loves YA books and specifically anyone who has ever remotely liked a supernatural book, this one is excellently done.

5 stars.

~Clio

Buy it Now Hemlock

Review: Gameboard of the Gods by Richelle Mead; Narration by Emily Shaffer

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13477883 In looking for a new audiobook I was surprised to find a new series by Richelle Mead that I had heard nothing about. I really enjoyed Richelle’s first series The Vampire Academy due to the strong female characters and take no crap attitude. I listened to the first few books in the spin off series of Bloodlines and really enjoyed that one because even though it continued some of the same characters it was still pretty different from the original series. I also really liked Emily Shaffer, she did a great job narrating both male and female characters. So when I saw that she was going to narrate this one too I immediately bought it.

Gameboard of the Gods is set in the future where society is pretty segregated into different classes. Mae was born into the elite upper class but is now a member of the militaristic Praetorian Guard. Justin was previously an investigator of “religious groups and supernatural claims” as a revered servitor but was exiled four years ago. He is brought back after a series of difficult to solve murders take place and Justin and Mae are teamed up to solve the crimes.

I wanted to give up on this book multiple times but I didn’t solely because I’d liked so many of her other books. At the end I was left wishing I had given it up. The audiobook was around 16 hours which was about 12 hours longer than I wanted of this world. I didn’t understand the segregation of classes or the reason for the segregation and it wasn’t really ever explained.

Much worse than that was that Justin literally talked to birds in his head. Let me repeat – he talked to birds in his head. I’m not sure when exactly we found out the reason for this but it was very, very late in the story and I saw no real understanding of why we couldn’t have been told this information much earlier.

At the end of the book I was left feeling very meh. I will definitely not be reading further in this series.

2 stars for the book. 4 for the narration.

~Clio

Buy it Now Gameboard of the Gods (Age of X)

Review: Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

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4 stars

Tell the Wolves I’m Home is about two teenage sisters navigating through their grief after their uncle’s death. A portrait he painted of them is both their preparation for his death and their therapy as they mourn.

The author did a wonderful job getting me to believe June’s life. Reading this book put me right there with her, back at 14 years old, watching drama club rehearsals and not knowing how to relate to boys. I felt like June was a girl I knew, someone I went to school with and hung out with on half-days, sketching or writing poetry in a notebook, trying to figure out how to express ourselves in a grown-up world.

I felt June’s confusion and sadness, her frustration with her sister, her search for an identity. The writing was so authentic, the emotional part of the story was very believable.

A few particulars in the story tripped me up. A 13-year old traveling from Westchester to Manhattan alone, or befriending a virtual stranger so quickly, or driving many miles in the middle of the night without a license seems too far-fetched. Maybe it’s because though I grew up in the same decades June did, I didn’t live in Westchester. I don’t know, but some actions just didn’t ring true.

It was those little implausible details that prevented me from being totally immersed in the story. As soon as I was about to lose myself in it, something unrealistic would jolt me out of the magic.

Still… I laughed and I cried – a sure sign of a good book. The sister relationship was written flawlessly. The expressions of sadness and love were perfectly conveyed. The writing flowed, and the dialogue was natural. The ending … just beautiful. I recommend!

-Calliope

Buy It Now Tell the Wolves I’m Home