Damaged characters and their wonderful romance

Eleanor & Park

By: Rainbow Roswell

Genre: YA Contemproary

Content Rating: PG-13 for some language and some sexuality (warning: best first kiss scene in a YA EVER!)

Rating: 5/5

Cover: Love how it captures everything in the book

Instalove Factor: Nope, they worked hard for their love

Favorite Line: “Park turned toward the Plexiglas window and waited for a world of suck to hit the fan.” (pg 16, ebook)

Disclaimer I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for this honest review.

Publisher’s Summary

"Bono met his wife in high school," Park says.
"So did Jerry Lee Lewis," Eleanor answers.
"I’m not kidding," he says.
"You should be," she says, "we’re sixteen."
"What about Romeo and Juliet?"
"Shallow, confused, then dead."
''I love you," Park says.
"Wherefore art thou," Eleanor answers.
"I’m not kidding," he says.
"You should be."

Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.

My Take I get so wrapped up in reading genre fiction in YA (paranormal, fantasy, dystopian, etc) that I forget how much I love contemporary YA fiction. It has a way of touching you as a reader and making you experience things in a realistic and emotional way that genre fiction could never do. While at times it can be a bit sad or depressing, it’s also refreshing and beautiful.

I just finished reading Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell and this book is one of those refreshingly beautiful contemporary romances. Set in 1986, the book is told from alternating points of view written in the 3rd person, between (you guessed it) Eleanor and Park.

It opens with Eleanor starting a new school and walking on to the bus for the first time and seeing Park then flips to Park’s first impression of Eleanor. Let’s just say it’s anything but love at first sight. Life for Eleanor is hard. We aren’t given many details about her past, but we do know that she was kicked out by her stepdad for a year and is just now coming back home. She has four siblings and all of them share the same room. Her stepdad is an abusive drunk (although Rowell never goes into details about specific events) and she’s being bullied at school. But she is strong and tries to ignore everything.

Park is from a pretty functional family, although his dad wishes he were more….well, just more. Park is ridden hard by his tae-kwon-do teaching father and compared to his younger brother too much. He has friends at school, but he’s pretty quiet. And then he falls in love with the wrong girl.

This seemed like a long book when in reality it really wasn’t. I think that illusion was created by the fact that so much happens on every page; no space is wasted in telling the story and developing the characters.

I loved the snarky comments that constantly came from Eleanor and the fact that she was afraid to let Park get so close, constantly second-guessing that he could actually love her. Park had the patience of a saint in dealing with her insecurities, but he was also human, getting frustrated and making mistakes. They both do, and I think that’s one of the aspects that makes this book so real.

My Recommendation Definitely worth the read. Loved this book so much.

--Me

Code Name Verity Book Report

Code Name Verity
By: Elizabeth E. Wein
Genre: YA Historical Fiction
Pub Date: May 15^th, 2012
Rating: PG-13 for scenes of torture
Coffee Beans: 5/5
Spoilers: No way, José!
Favorite Line: "It was cozy in perhaps the way you'd be cozy in hell." (ebook, pg 62)& "It's like being in love, discovering your best friend." (ebook, pg 80) & "And that I don't believe in God but if I did, if I did, It would be the God of Moses, angry and demanding and OUT FOR REVENGE,and…"(ebook, pg 318)

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for this honest review


Publisher's Summary:
Oct. 11th, 1943—A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a chance at survival. The other has lost the game before it's barely begun.

When "Verity" is arrested by the Gestapo, she's sure she doesn't stand a chance. As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, she's living a spy's worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice: reveal her mission or face a grisly execution.

As she intricately weaves her confession, Verity uncovers her past, how she became friends with the pilot Maddie, and why she left Maddie in the wrecked fuselage of their plane. On each new scrap of paper, Verity battles for her life, confronting her views on courage and failure and her desperate hope to make it home. But will trading her secrets be enough to save her from the enemy?

Harrowing and beautifully written, Elizabeth Wein creates a visceral read of danger, resolve, and survival that shows just how far true friends will go to save each other. Code Name Verity is an outstanding novel that will stick with you long after the last page.

My Review:

I really hate Microsoft Word. It randomly "stopped responding" and erased everything I wrote about this book. I'm going through breathing techniques right now, trying to resist the impulse I have to throw this computer through the back yard and into the sprinklers right now.)Let's try this again, shall we?

There's not much I can say about this book without giving away the plot—which I don't want to do. This book is about the strength and love shared between best friends. About people banding together, risking everything to fight for strangers because they believe that they deserve more than what they have. It's about the deep, deep hollow that's created in one's soul at the pain someone they love is suffering through.

My throat tightened, my heart ached, my fingers kept turning pages. And at the very last page, I mourned the losses and I cherished the victories and I had hope for the lives of those who survived.

This is a fictional story, but the events that happened—the war, the Holocaust, the killing, the torture, the loss of so much—that is what I mourned at the last page of the book. Because in the end, what happened between these covers is only one of a million stories or possibilities of what some of our grandparents, parents, great-grandparents lived through. And like Wein's very last words: LEST WE FORGET.

Now, on to a more specific review. I'm not a fan of historical fiction, normally, but I decided to give this one a go (mostly because I was in an ARC requesting frenzy), and I'm so glad I did. I'm also pleased as punch that I'm reading so many good authors, as of late. Elizabeth is one of them. She is, in one word, brilliant. The story she wrote is astounding in its complexity. But you don't realize it until the last third of the book. And here's why:

The last third is told from someone else's point of view.

I'll admit, at first this really threw me for a loop. I didn't like it. I thought it was dumb. Why the heck do I want (excuse me while I obsessively save my work in Word, lest we have another melt down), why the heck do I want to read this story from another pov? I like the one I'm in (she's funny and snarky and very specifically random). And to be honest, I don't like the new voice. At first. Then I fell in love.

Both parts of the narrative are distinctly different, but neither is whole without the other. You start to pick up on clues with what the first girl had to say and how it plays into what's said in the second part. Then you start to think about the brains Wein has to construct both parts to make them independent but then a terrific mind puzzle when they're together. So brilliant.

I won't say anymore, sorry for the abrupt ending, but I don't want to risk saying anything that would ruin the story. Please, I implore you, if this book sounds even remotely interesting to you, pick it up and read it. And share it with others. It's that good.

Happy reading, my friends!


A Note on the Cover: There are two. My ARC had the two hands tied together, which is an odd cover for the type of book it is, the scene it refers to, I think was not entirely the best choice. Although it's artistically stark, I think I might slightly prefer the second cover, although, I think the girl is supposed to be Queenie on the cover, but Queenie has straw blond hair so they got it wrong. I doubt it's supposed to be Maddie. Anywho, which cover do you like better?

The Immortal Rules Book Report

Title: The Immortal Rules
Author: Julie Kagawa
Genre: YA Paranormal Dystopian
Rating: PG (Awesome violence)
Coffee Beans: 5/5
Spoilers: No major plot points
Favorite Line:The air was thick with the smell of mold, dust and vegetation, and the house seemed to hold its breath as I stepped inside. (ebook, pg 33)
Disclaimer: I received this book free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for this unbiased review.

Publisher's Summary: In a future world, vampires reign. Humans are blood cattle. And one girl will search for the key to save humanity.

Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a vampire city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten.

Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of them. The vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself is attacked—and given the ultimate choice. Die…or become one of the monsters.

Faced with her own mortality, Allie becomes what she despises most. To survive, she must learn the rules of being immortal, including the most important: go long enough without human blood, and you will go mad.

Then Allie is forced to flee into the unknown, outside her city walls. There she joins a ragged band of humans who are seeking a legend—a possible cure to the disease that killed off most of humankind and created the rabids, the mindless creatures who threaten humans and vampires alike.

But it isn't easy to pass for human. Especially not around Zeke, who might see past the monster inside her. And Allie soon must decide what—and who—is worth dying for.

 
My Review:


I hate reading a book like The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa.


Now I have to wait an entire YEAR (if I'm lucky) before the next installment comes out.


Seriously, books like this one—engaging and addicting and AMAZING from the very first word—are dangerous. Personal relationships are in danger of neglect. You're brought to the cusp of wasting away from sleep deprivation and lack of food. Your social life suffers. You've been called into the boss' office a few too many times because you've been reading when you should've be working.


But it's all worth it? Isn't it?


Julie, simply put, is one of the most talented writers I've read. This book is going on The List. They way she weaves together layers and layers of plot is just astounding. And the fact that she does it with such ease and skill—that on the surface it looks like nothing when in reality it's a very precise story and snare she's created—knocks my socks off.


The world in which Allies lives was set up so naturally and believably, I could envision what it looked like, and most importantly, what it was like to live there, by the end of page one. People, that's hard to do, and enough to make anyone stand in awe and drool at that kind of talent.


All of the characters in The Immortal Rules are deep and multi-faceted. You know their motivations and their reactions even though they might only be a secondary character. Every single one of them had a separate and convicting drive to their actions and it's plain what that is. The best character she's created is her protagonist, Allison Sekemoto. A kickass Japanese girl with a hard attitude and mad katana skills.


One thing I was completely impressed with: This book is around 500 pages, and every single one of them is jam packed with tension and risk for Allie. The struggle to stay alive, to find food, to keep from becoming a snack for a vampire, rival gangs, the rabids. Then, as the story progresses, the balancing act Allie has to maintain of keeping people from figuring out who she really is and keeping herself from being killed by the people she's with and a raider biker gang. There's no time for Allie to breathe or relax, so why should there be for the reader?


It's 100% AWE.SOME.


This book is the perfect blend between the stories 28 Weeks Later, I Am Legend, The Road, Resident Evil, and Daybreakers. Seriously, perfection between two covers (or in my case, perfection in Nook form).


It begs to be said again: Kagawa is one of the most skilled YA writers out there right now, expertly weaving a complex and layered story with ease. Grabbing her reader by the shirt and ripping them into the story yelling, "Sink or swim, baby!" on the way.


There were two things I didn't care for in the story.


Number one: That it ended. But, Julie has another series out for me to read until book two in the Blood of Eden series comes out (a New York Times best selling series, the Iron Fey. Which, I have purchased on my Nook as of…now), so at least I can fill some time with more of her amazing writing.


Number two: Sometimes I felt a little lost, like I'd missed something that just happened. I think Kagawa was going for the whole "I'm not holding your hand to tell you that they got a glass of water, I'm going to let you assume that they got off the couch and walked into the kitchen to get that water" thing. Sometimes I felt too much was left out. But that was only towards the end and a few times.


C'mon. I really had to dig to find that criticism. Give me a break.


Pick up a copy, read it, and decide for yourself. Seriously, I doubt you'll regret doing so.


Happy Reading, my friends!

Wanderlove Book Report

Wanderlove

by: Kristen Hubbard

Genre: YA Contemporary

Coffee Beans: 5/5 

Rating:

Spoilers: No way and I ruining this for you

Favorite Line: Tonight, I am the bohemian beach fairy of my fantasies. pg 277

Disclaimers: I received this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for this honest review. 

Reading a book like Wanderlove always makes me stop and sit quietly after I've finished. I think about what I've just read, what it means, what might happen next, but mainly just think, "Wow. That was really good." Books like this also make me strive to be a better writer. To see what good writing really looks like and to experience the impact a book can have on a reader. They also make it hard to pick up another book right away because nothing will be as good as this book I've just finished.

At the same time as Wanderlove being so AWESOME, it also sort of made me depressed. Depressed that I didn't do more traveling in my youth before I settled down. I wish that I would've packed a bag and left for Guatamala like Bria did. If you're young and reading this, travel. I did a bit before college (Amsterdam, Spain, France), and am glad I did. It's worth the money and the time. Be adventurous and make some amazing memories and create some great stories for yourself.

Publisher's Summary:

It all begins with a stupid question: 

Are you a Global Vagabond? 

No, but 18-year-old Bria Sandoval wants to be. In a quest for independence, her neglected art, and no-strings-attached hookups, she signs up for a guided tour of Central America--the wrong one. Middle-aged tourists with fanny packs are hardly the key to self-rediscovery. When Bria meets Rowan, devoted backpacker and dive instructor, and his outspokenly humanitarian sister Starling, she seizes the chance to ditch her group and join them off the beaten path. 

Bria's a good girl trying to go bad. Rowan's a bad boy trying to stay good. As they travel across a panorama of Mayan villages, remote Belizean islands, and hostels plagued with jungle beasties, they discover what they've got in common: both seek to leave behind the old versions of themselves. And the secret to escaping the past, Rowan's found, is to keep moving forward. 

But Bria comes to realize she can't run forever, no matter what Rowan says. If she ever wants the courage to fall for someone worthwhile, she has to start looking back. 

Kirsten Hubbard lends her artistry into this ultimate backpacker novel, weaving her drawings into the text. Her career as a travel writer and her experiences as a real-life vagabond backpacking Central America are deeply seeded in this inspiring story.

So, what are the events that lead Bria up to taking this trip by herself? Well, she and her boyfriend, Toby, broke up. We don't know a lot about Toby, except for a few scattered mentions by Bria. She was supposed to take the trip with her two best friends, Olivia and Reese, but they bailed on her, citing the fact that it was too soon after Bria's breakup for her to be a good travel partner. Great friends, right? She was going to go to art school, got accepted and everything, but for whatever reason, she doesn't go. So, Bria decides to book herself an all-inclusive, group travel session for three weeks on the Mayan Road. But things don't go as she plans. 

As readers, we're dumped right into Bria's story. Here's what we know:

•  She's 18
• She applied to art school but didn't go
• She had a boyfriend, but they broke up
• She's stopped drawing completely
• She's going to Guatamala. Alone

As the book goes on, we discover (through small flashbacks) about the things that have driven Bria to make the decision she has. Her boyfriend was royally screwed up and she's trying to escape everything she can. Hubbard is one of the most talented and brilliant writers of YA Contemporary I've come across. I'm not kidding when I say that I was with Bria every moment of her journey.I felt what she felt, experienced what she did, and wanted to be along with her, backpacking through Central America alongside Starling and Rowan. The beaches were beautiful and the experiences more so.

Hubbard's talent at EVERYTHING is spellbinding. The voice she gives to Bria is funny, snarky, and instantly likable. I wanted to hurry up and read this story to know everything that happened, but at the same time, didn't want it to end (there was actually a day my Nook didn't work and I thought I was going to die because I didn't get to read any more Wanderlove! Yes, I realize that's slightly pathetic). She didn't have to go into long descriptions or heavy scenes showing the reader what a complete jerk Toby was. She did it by dropping small comments made by Bria or quick memories. She did the same thing with the relationship between Bria's parents. In one line I knew EXACTLY what kind of home life she had and the dynamics between her mom and dad. 

The ending is complete and fits the character and story perfectly. I found myself with Bria and feeling her anxiousness and then disappointment.I felt her reluctance and joy. I smiled and sighed with contentment. I have never been more "there", both mentally and emotionally, in any book than I was in that one scene. 

Then, I thought to myself, "I'm lame! Sitting in an office all day, every day, when I could be out there--backpacking! Discovering the world! Agh. It's just a book, real life isn't like that." 

Then I looked at Kristen's blog and felt worse about myself than I did before. 

It is possible! And Kristen's living it! Seriously, though, if you get a chance, peruse through her blog and travel adventures (did you know the drawings in the book are her very own?) This girl is kick. Ass. Youth is wasted on the young, as they say. If I could do it all over again, I'd backpack around the world. Meet amazing people and make priceless memories. The travel bug has hit me hard and the more I think about it, the more possible it seems that I can still make that dream come true.

Wanderlove is a beautifully written coming of age story about a girl who's lost so much of herself in a boy who didn't deserve it, that she couldn't find who she was anymore.It takes a journey through Central America with a complete stranger for Bria to remember who she is and what she loves and to learn to trust again.

I am picking up her other book, Like Mandarin, now. As in, it's already sitting on my Nook, waiting to be read. Oh! And I read on her blog that she has two book ideas she wants to do off of Wanderlove. Wouldn't that be amazing?!?! I think so. :)

I always tell you to pick up the book and make the decision for yourself, but in this case, I strongly urge you to read Wanderlove. It really is one of the best books I've read in a long time. :)

Happy reading!

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
YA Fiction
Rating: PG-13
Coffee Beans: An entire burlap sack full
Spoiler Alert: None


I'd seen this title around, but never really had the desire to read it. The summary told me it wasn't my typical type of book. Then I read Tahere Mafi's review, and changed my mind. I consumed this book in 24 very short hours. It's hard to describe the feeling this kind of book gives you. How it changes you as a person. It sounds so cheesy, but it's true. This is a book about life. About people, and sadness and how loss can kill a person inside, how it effects everyone and the importance of family and loved ones. This isn't just a story, it's a life and that life's pain unfolding on each page.



Her words are so poetic and simple and real and oh, so powerful. The way she expresses the profound sadness and emptiness that comes with losing someone you love with all your heart was overwhelming. I felt everything Lennie did, I was riding this rollercoaster with her. I was crying with her, in the darkness of the closet amongst Bails' clothes. I understand why she did the things she did, because while reading this story, I lost Bails too, and felt the need to do those same things. Make those same decisions and say those same words.



The poems in the books, the snippets of Lennie and Bails lives together was perfect and heart-wrenching and beautiful all at the same time. Jandy has a way with words that I have never seen before and I doubt I'll see them again. There were so many times where she expressed something so complex in such a rudimentary, brilliant way. There's a poetic element to her prose and narrative that is so fluid.



Every character, and I mean every character is real enough to touch. I wait for them to come walking down the street. I want a grandma like Grams, I want to live in their town, I want a crazy uncle who's been married a bazillion times, I want to be able to play an instrument like Lennie or Joe can. I want to know them all. It's just a great story and experience that you'll have to have for yourself. Loved this book and will read it again. It definitely made it onto The List.



The toes knows.



Here are a few of my favorite lines from Jandy's book:



"It's as if someone vacuumed up the horizon while we were looking the other way." Pg 3

"My sister dies over and over again, all day long." Pg 9

"I wish my shadow would get up and walk beside me." Pg 37

"But what if music is what escapes when a heart breaks?" pg 86

"Our tongues have fallen madly in love and gotten married and moved to Paris." Pg 125

"My sister will die over and over again for the rest of my life. Grief is forever. It doesn't go away; it becomes part of you,m step for step, breath for breath. I will never stop grieving Bailey because I will never stop loving her. That's just how it is. Grief and love are conjoined, you don't get one without the other. All I can do is love her, and love the world, emulate her by living with daring and spirit and joy." Pg 257

Divergent

Divergent

By Veronica Roth

YA Dystopian

Rating: PG

Coffee Beans: 5/5

Spoiler Alert: None

This book was in one word: amazing.

And I know I'm going to have to have to give you a lot more than that in order to fully convince you that I'm right. I just hope that I can be coherent about it in this BR.

When I first made the post that this is one the best books I've ever read, I knew it was a powerful statement. I don't throw that title around willy-nilly. Very few books have made it onto my list, to date. I like to think of myself in being an eclectic and well-rounded reader. I don't stick to any one genre, but read across the board. Mystery, literary, YA, sci-fi/fantasy, humor, literary, MG, paranormal, romance (although, not very much), any every combination in between. I don't limit myself and read whatever I can get my hands on and whatever might sound remotely interesting. And I've read a fair amount of books in my short amount of time on this earth (26 years) – nearly a book a week or so since I was probably 12, so about 700 books.

Now, I'm not saying that that in any way makes me a guru or that my words are the gospel truth, but it does lend power to my statement that this is one hell of a great book.

I'll give you the official summary that's on the back jacket flap of the book, because I don't want to give anything away that might spoil it for you, as a reader.

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

Roth is such a talented and amazing author. Most YA books are, for the most part, fairly superficial and follow pretty much the same formula (Sacrificing plot for character development, or 2D characters for a great story ARC, etc). But Divergent is much more than the typical YA book. There's a very literary quality to it without being off-putting for young readers.

All of her characters are real and deep –not one is merely a surface character created simply to take space or fill a clichéd role. Each one has their own story, their own ARC, and their own motives driving their part of the story. As a whole, the different parts come together masterfully and seamlessly to make one complete, deep and realistic setting and story.

I think what I like most, is Roth's focus on the story telling. She makes that the most important element, and as a natural result, everything else falls into place. The relationship between Tris and Four, Al, and Christina, are so dynamic and real, I found myself nodding and saying, "Yup, I've had a few of those in my life."

The descriptions were also very well done. There's one in particular that made me smile, on page 97 (for those of you with the book) when she describes Eric. It's only a couple of sentences long, but after I read that, I knew EXACTLY what kind of person (not character, because Roth turns them into people) Eric was. I didn't need anything else. And that's something else she does: she makes her words count. Word economy, people. It's a skill I wish I had on her level. There are many more examples I could give (her descriptions of heights that left me sweating), but I'll let you discover them for yourself.

I was hooked from the beginning. When Tris was looking out her school room window, watching the Dauntless rolling in on the train, jumping off as it was still moving, I was sucked into her world. I wanted to be there. I could picture it, I was there. And I said to myself, when they make this into a movie, it's going to rock.

She grips you with vivid emotions that rock your world. At the end of chapter 23 (again, no specific details because I want you to read this book for yourselves), I sat on my front porch, in stunned silence, saying out loud over and over, "Wow. Oh, wow."

I can't say enough good things about the book, except this: Go an pick it up. Or better yet, I have an extra copy. If you want it, let me know and I'll send it to you. If, by some weird freak act of nature more than one person tells me they want a copy, I'll choose the winner with Random.org and ship it out on Monday the 12^th.

Bloodfever and Faefever by Karen marie morning

So I devoured the next two books in Karen Marie Morning’s Fever series. And I’m not ashamed. On any level. #2 (Bloodfever) I read Thursday night and Friday afternoon (approximately 6 hours total) and Faefever (#3), I took a little more time with (it’s not as much of a “surface” book as the first two were, there’s A LOT more going on in the story arc and with the characters). I started it Saturday and finished the last page Sunday night before bed.


At 10pm, I fb’d my friend and BEGGED her to bring the next one in the series (Dreamfever) to work on Monday so I wouldn’t have to suffer and I would know what happened next (cliffhanger ending on #3). I’m glad I didn’t read these when Morning was writing them, because I wouldn’t have survived the wait. (Thanks, Pam!)

I’ve been tossing around what to say in my BR about Blood and Fae. The problem is, I consumed them so quickly, that I can’t remember where 2 ends and 3 begins. Scratch that, I can remember where 3 starts: With Mac in a puddle of urine and beer behind a bar in an alley.  But other than that, the details are a bit hazy. Also, so much happens, and there is so much character development, that I couldn’t talk about it without spoiling a lot, and I didn’t want to do that to you. I want you to experience this series the way I did: in a crack addicts haze to consume more and never be able to get enough.

Wow, that sounded intense. Good! I want you to get the point. But just in case you didn’t, here’s my OFFICIAL BR:

THESE ARE REALLY, REALLY, REALLY GOOD AND YOU SHOULD BUY/BORROW/RENT/PILFER THEM AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AND NOT EAT/SLEEP/SOCIALIZE/SHOWER/LIVE UNTIL YOU’VE DONE WHAT I’VE INSTRUCTED YOU TO DO.

Seriously.
They’re that good.
And that’s my book report, everybody. Thank you and goodnight.
It will probably be much of the same when I finish #4 & #5.

--Me

Darkfever by Karen Marie Morning

Darkfever

By Karen Marie Morning

Rating: a strong PG-13

Spoiler Alert: a little, but no details

Coffee Bean Rating: 4.5/5 (I really want to give it a 5!)

Finished a fun, fast, and exciting book. Darkfever by Karen Marie Morning. A friend of mine gave it to me (along with the 2nd and 3rd in the series) a LONG time ago, but I never got around to reading it until now.

I picked it up and finished it in a few days (which is impressive for me right now since it’s 350 pages and I really had to look under couch cushions and behind doors to find time to read it). I read the last page today, halfway through my lunch and was very upset to find that the remaining 10 or so pages were just flyleafs (or is it like the leaves on a tree and is ‘flyleaves’?) and other “non-Mac related” writings! I plan on zipping home and promptly grabbing the next one off my shelf and starting that one. I have a strong feeling that I’ll be starting the third one by Monday. Some books just do that to me (City of Bones series, Sookie Stackhouse, Hunger Games, and Fever series just to name a few).

Enough babbling! Onto the review!

MacKayla (Mac for short) Lane just found out that her sister, while studying abroad in Ireland, has been murdered in a cruel and horrible way. Against her parents’ pleas, Mac quits college (she’s 22) and goes to Ireland and demand that the police reopen her sister’s case and solve the murder. And if they don’t, then by golly, she’s gonna do it for them (and without breaking one of her perfectly pink nails).

She ends up getting a disturbing and cryptic message from her sister via voicemail just hours before she was killed. Trying to seek answers to the clues she was given, she asks the wrong man for help about a book, Jericho Barrons. Turns out, he’s looking for it too, and thinks she's a liability.

Well, that just causes Mac to dig in her heels and try harder (like she says, ‘pride is her special little problem’). Things happen and cause Mac and Barrons to partner up, although reluctantly. There’s so much tension and unacknowledged attraction between them that neither of them sees, or at least will admit to. But I saw it!! And I was soooo hoping that something would happen between them. I knew they were destined for each other the moment they met (but I’m not going to tell you what happens. But I will say this, I am both pleased and very, very not-pleased with how Morning grants my wish).

While trying to track down her sister’s killer and find the book that will help her do it, Mac is plunged into a world she had no idea existed complete with fae, and vampires and all manner of creepers in the shadows. All with a man she knows nothing about or what his true intentions are. With her or with the book.

Morning tells the story from Mac’s pov and does it with sass and humor that made me instantly connect and fall in love with our heroine. Morning is witty and funny, created multiple forms and types of tension with masterful skill that had me turning the page under my desk at work (just kidding, of course. Or am I? Mwahaha).

A warning in advance: I looked on the spine of the book to find out what genre it was and read, Romance. Hmmm…while there are scenes not intended for the faint at heart (which may or may not include me) this was by no means a typical “romance/bodice ripper” type book. But, I’ll admit here and now, I was rooting the entire way through the book for Barrons and Mac to kiss. :)

--Me

Water for Elephants Sara Gruen

Water for Elephants

by Sara Gruen

Adult Fiction

Spoiler: None

Rating: R
Coffee Beans: 5/5 (I am able to look past the "downside" I mention below to see the story as a whole, and it is breathtaking)

I’m happy to report, that next to The Gargoyle, I’ve just finished my favorite book of all time. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. This book--from beginning to end--was amazing. The setting was perfect, the opening perfect, and the ending wonderful and memorable, and absolutely…you guessed it…perfect.

Alright! Enough with my gooey perfect-ness. Time to review! Seriously.

I remember buying this book at B&N when it first came out, back in 2006. I picked it up, glanced at the back and said, “Hmm. Looks interesting.” It sat on my bookshelf for four years, untouched and forgotten, becoming one of my many “I’ll read you next” books. It wasn’t until I saw a preview for the upcoming movie (April 22, 2011) that I remembered I owned the book. I was talking with a co-worker about the movie and told her I had the book if she wanted to read it. She did, and in a few days finished it, telling me it was amazing. I decided to read it to be prepared for the upcoming movie.

And I’m so glad I did. There are some books, that when you finish them, you sit back and relish the experience you just had. The story of someone’s life that you’ve just lived. And that’s what Water for Elephants was. The life of Jacob Jankowski. Not a work of fiction conjured up by Gruen. Water for Elephants was a living, breathing creature—well written and well told.

Set in depression-era America, the book opens with Young Jacob studying for his final exams at Cornell University to become a veterinarian, like his father. He’s ready to write his final when devastating news is delivered that his parents had been killed in a car accident, his father had been taking payment for veterinary services in beans and rice, his parents had taken out a mortgage on their house to pay for Jacob’s college, and the bank now owned the house and the vet practice.

Jacob is homeless with nothing to lose. So he hops a train to see where it takes him, only to find out it’s a circus act on the move. His story is told in first person present tense from Young Jacob’s POV, but there are chapters that we jump to the present-time, 91 (or is it 93?) –year-old Old Jacob.

I found myself wishing the entire book was written in just the circus timeframe and not with the flash forwards, but having completed the book, I see that in order to get the complete story and really obtain that “Wow” factor, Gruen had to tell us the story through Old Jacob’s eyes and failing mind.

I didn’t find myself as bothered by the present-tense story telling as much as I did when I was reading Hunger Games--this was much more natural and very smooth. The only thing I would call a “downside” to this book, were all the (what I deem) inappropriate sex and sex-type scenes. I guess I can see why Gruen put them in there (to show us how innocent and naive Jacob was), but I think she already established that in the very beginning when Jacob talked about a girl he liked at Cornell. Anyway, there were 3 or so of those scenes that probably could’ve been ommitted and the book still would've been a-ma-zing.

That was the only “downside” to the story, but I’m not much into reading scenes like that to begin with. It may be a selling point to you. There were a lot of scenes in the book that I’ll be interested to see how they handle in the movie (abuse of the animals, etc).Overall, it was a superb book. I’m planning on seeing the movie soon and I’ll let you all know how it compares to the book. I hope they don’t let me down.

I won’t tell you much more, because I don’t want to ruin it for you, you really need to consume and absorb this book for yourself. But I will tell you this much: Jacob is taken on as the circus’ vet where he makes friends and enemies, falls in love, and finally becomes a man--in more ways than one.

Oh! I should probably tell you this funny story before I go: I was in Costco the other day looking for a book. I was considering Jane Eyre, but was unsure because it was unabridged and I’m not that adventurous when it comes to that.

An older woman (50’s or 60’s) told me it was an amazing book and I should get it. Feeling I should return the favor, I told her she should pick up Water for Elephants (the cover was the movie poster with Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson), that it was really good. I left her to consider it and went to the other side of the book table to browse.

Next thing I know, there’s another older woman standing with the first lady at Water for Elephants. I hear her say, “Yes, they’ve made it into a movie and it has that young man who plays in that vampire movie.” I glance up with a smirk, just in time to see the first lady snatch up a copy of Water and scamper away. It was priceless!

Trailer 1

Trailer 2

--Me

The Internet is a Playground by David Thorne



The Internet is a Playground

by David Thorne

Humourous
Spoiler Alert: doesn't matter
Rating: PG-13
Coffee Bean Rating: an entire burlap bag full


billions of coffee beans

We've all seen it in our email, forwarded to us by a friend or co-worker. The email string is about a man who is trying to pay for a chiropractor's bill with a drawing of a spider. Then there's the Missing Missy lost cat poster. I'm always wary of the “this really happened” tag that comes along with these sorts of emails. 

But these, my friends, are real. And so is David Thorne, the perpatrator. Thorne is a native of Australia with a wicked sense of humor, which you can bear witness to via his blog, 27b/6.

The Internet is a Playground is a hysterical collection of actual emails conversations between Thorne and some poor sap (his co-workers must hate getting emails from him), complaints he gets from blog visitors and other hillarious things that will make your sides ache.

From the very first moment I picked up this book and started reading it, I was laughing. Out loud, and uncontrollably. I read it to Hubby on the car ride home the day it came in the mail, and he was laughing so hard, we almost got into an accident. Later that night, I read Hubby the email string between Thorne and his kid’s teacher. I was laughing so hard I was crying and I couldn’t get the words out. And it was that obnoxious sort of laugh that makes you talk like you’ve just sucked down a bunch of helium balloons.

I need to meet this guy. For real. I think he’s my new hero.

When I finished the book, I had to share it with someone, and since I'm not the kind of person to go up to a random stranger and hand over a book, I gave it to my mom to read when while we waited inthe airport on the way to San Fran.

She started laughing as soon as she opened it, quickly becoming my entertainment for our five-hour layover. I watched as her face contorted, eyes squinted, and then the held back laughter exploded. Seeing her react thatway only sent me into fits of laughter as I remembered a string of emails from the book.

Of course we were getting weird looks as passengers scooted to the farthest reaches of the terminal, but that only made the whole thing funnier. And you know what? I was totally okay with it.

This book instantly became one of my favorites with its laugh-out-loud-okay-to-pee-yourself humor. Read it.

READ it.

READ IT!!!

Seriously, though. Just read it. You won't be sorry.

--Me

The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

The Gargoyle

by Andrew Davidson

Spoiler: Yes

Rating: PG-13

Coffee Beans: 5/5

It's amazing.

One of my favorite books is a nontraditional love story called The Gargoyle by Canadian author Andrew Davidson. Davidson has a remarkable talent of delivering a captivating and engaging story that recounts an unnamed main character and his short, but emotionally electric, relationship with a woman named Marianne Engel. To tell you the truth, I didn’t even realize the main character didn’t have a name until a friend asked me what it was. That’s how good the book is. I didn’t need to know his name. But for purposes of my review, I’m going to call him MC.


Here’s the set up: MC is handsome, sexy, a famous porn star/producer, rich, unfulfilled, selfish, arrogant, and an alcoholic/drug addict. A perfect combination for a fall from grace, after all, a man can only take so much. One night, on a drunken binge and a bottle of liquor between his legs, he gets into a horrific, fiery car crash, landing himself in the hospital burn unit with third degree burns covering his entire body, including that pesky and oh-so-important-to-a-porn-star spot between his legs. MC’s a man who’s entire sense of self worth and life is based on his sexuality, and with the emergence of the monster he’s become, he’s devastated.

During MC’s long stint in the hospital—complete with detailed scenes of bodily skin scrubbings—he’s visited by a dark-haired beauty with tattoos covering her body, who’s escaped from the psych ward in the hospital. Marianne explains that she releases stone gargoyles as they call out to her, and that she has dozens of hearts in her chest. Each creation she unearths is gifted with one. She tells him when her last heart is given away, she will finally get to go home.

Something about her intrigues MC and he uses that interest as a source of strength during his painful rehabilitation hours, looking forward to her visits. During his months of recuperation, Marianne paints vivid stories about the depth and strength of love, spanning eras and cultures, as well as their own love story that has lasted through hundreds of years and dozens of past lives. MC knows that she is crazy, but her moments of lucidity are what he falls in love with.

When he’s strong enough to leave the hospital, Marianne takes him to live with her, where she spins more tales of love and gives more of her hearts away to her stone creations. As the MC’s addiction to painkillers is revealed, Marianne does her best to wean him off the painkillers, but it is not an easy journey for him. In a feverish fit of sleep, MC goes to a place much like Dante’s Inferno, where he meets the characters of Marianne’s stories, all very real. Through this feverish journey, MC fights the demons of his addiction, his past, who he really is, and the very real possibility Marianne’s stories could their past. At the end of his journey, at the gates of hell, he must make a choice that will define the rest of his life; to go back or die.

He chooses Marianne and their love, but when he finally comes to, it’s to the realization that she has given away all of her hearts to more gargoyles. All but one, and that one she says, is for MC. At last, Marianne can go home. And at last, MC has found the love that he lost, so long ago.

Once I started it, I couldn’t put it down. It’s an incredibly visual and sensational story of pain, growth, love and acceptance. The ending wasn’t warm and fuzzy, but it was satisfying and fulfilling. After I finished, sitting on my couch, I thought to myself, it couldn’t have ended in a more perfect way. In fact, to try and imagine any ending other than the Davidson gave it, is impossible. It fits the voice and the characters in a way that I haven’t seen from a book in a long time. Even though The Gargoyle is an international bestseller, in my opinion, it is still grossly unknown. I do my part trying to change that by suggesting it to everyone I know and screaming about it from the rooftops. I even have an extra copy to lend out. So do your part, read this book and suggest it to others.

--Me

Vixen by Jillian Larkin

Vixen (Book 1 of 3 in the Flapper Series)
Jillian Larkin
YA Historical Fiction


Spoiler Alert: A little
Coffee Bean Rating: 5/5

  

First of all, let me start out by saying, I LOVED this book, and have since passed it on to many friends. I was giddy when I saw it in hardcover on the shelves of my local book store. I wanted to grab someone and say, "I read that before it even came out and it's REALLY good, so you should buy it." But I didn't.

Set in 1920's Chicago, Jillian Larkin’s, Vixen, tells a story of love, jealousy, secrets, and revenge stitched together masterfully. The novel starts with a short prologue at only 169 words. I was left thinking, “Ooh, this is going to be good” The two sentences that got me?

And then, before snapping her bag closed, she added the small black handgun. Now she was ready.

Who’s she gonna kill? I don’t care! She’s gonna look HOT doing it.

Vixen is the first in The Flapper series and follows the life of Gloria Carmody. A rich white socialite engaged to the very eligible bachelor, Sebastian Grey, she thinks she’s in love. But that’s before she meets a black jazz piano player from the local speakeasy named Jerome Johnson.

Larkin tells the story from the alternating points of view of Gloria, her cousin Clara Knowles, and her best friend Lorraine Dyer. Through the book, it’s revealed that each girl has a secret to they’d kill to keep quiet.

Lorraine is hiding her midnight tryst with Gloria’s fiancé. Country Clara is hiding her Flapper past and scandalous ties in New York City. And Gloria is in love with a black man.

Each girl is tied to the other in her secrets, new friendships are formed, and old ones lost, as each has to deal with the decisions they make and their repercussions those decisions create.

Everything Larkin gave me is real and tangible. I could taste the descriptions of the clothes, hair, and atmosphere—from the dark and smoke-filled Speakeasies to the cheap liquor during Prohibition.

I felt the jealousy Lorraine had every moment she was with Gloria, the love she held for her best friend, and her unreturned feelings of love towards a boy who would never look at her the same way.

One downfall in the book was that I felt I could connect more with Lorraine rather than Gloria because everything about her was real. I felt that Gloria’s situation and problems were a little cliché and typical of this sort of book, but that in no way means I didn’t enjoy her character or her story.

I enjoyed the fact that Marcus and Gloria are best friends. That’s it. End of story. There isn’t a secret crush or love triangle involved—and it’s not because Marcus is gay. It’s because Larkin has seen that’s been overdone.

Despite the lack of romance between those two characters, there is A LOT of PG-rated sexual tension throughout the story and for each of the characters—from unreturned, reluctant, forbidden, to false love—it’s all there, and I found myself rooting for each of the characters.

This is a great debut novel. So many times, I see superficial writing and simple stories, especially in YA—it’s almost as if new authors are scared of going ‘too deep’. But not so with Larkin. Her novel is intricate and detailed, exciting and interesting.

When people say a book is character driven this is what they mean. The story is there and it’s strong, but it comes secondary to the characters and their arcs—their story. They are what move the plot. And it moves so smoothly.

I can’t say enough about how much I loved this book. It was a little over 300 pages, but it felt like a walk in the park. I can’t wait to get my hands on the second in the series.

--Me