Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Book Turn-Offs

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the lovely folks over at The Broke And The Bookish.  Every week, bloggers from all over are invited to share their own Top Ten lists based on the topic of the week.  You can find all Top Ten Tuesdays here.

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Top Nine Book Turn-Offs

This is such a great topic!  You know how you’re reading, and then all of a sudden, you come across something that you’re not a fan of, and there’s something about it that makes you want to throw the book at the wall or even stop reading it?  Here’s my list of things that will make want to do that!

  1. Accents.  I totally get that the author probably wants to establish how people in a place or time period speak, but it’s also the one thing that will make me put down a book and not finish it.  Reading accents are super-distracting for me, and it’s one of those things were a little goes a long way.  Hagrid is the only exception to this, and I’m sure I’ve stop reading some great books because of it, but it’s so distracting I don’t even care.
  2. Not saying a book is part of a series, and which book in the series it is.  It’s just really annoying when I’m browsing, because I don’t want to accidentally pick up the wrong book in the series.  And it makes me not want to buy the book at all.
  3. Dual-time stories.  The ones where the present story intersects with the past, usually in the form of some family secret?  I’ve read them, and I’ll probably keep reading in the hopes I’ll find a few I like.  The problem is that the past story-line is much more interesting the present.  It tends to hit-or-miss, and unfortunately, it’s mostly miss.  Which is sad, because I find the overall idea of it really interesting.
  4. Multiple narrators.  Another that’s hit-or-miss for me (and sadly, it tends to be miss).  It’s another thing that doesn’t always work for me, and I’m always nervous when I see it, because I feel like it’s just not going to work well.  A lot of times, the narrators seem really similar, which makes me wonder why there’s a few of them in the first place.
  5. Books that are longer than 350 pages.  I know this is horrible, especially because I had no problem reading big books in high school. But they seem so long now, and I think I’m really used to shorter books because of YA, so it’s hard for me to read books that are longer than 350 pages.  Actually, it’s probably good I have a Nook and an Audible account, because then I have no clue how long something really is.
  6. Books with an abrupt ending.  This is really annoying for me, because when I read a book, I expect a beginning, a middle and an end.  I don’t want to finish a book feeling like the author forgot to end it or that they decided any old ending will do.
  7. Books that have a strong resemblance to another book.  I don’t mind if books have similar elements to others books, but it’s irritating when I’m reading a book, and the plot is super-similar to another one.  I want to be thinking about how cool your book is but it’s kind of hard when it’s scary similar to something else I’ve read.
  8. Love triangles.  I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who is not a fan of the ever-popular love triangle.  Most of the time, it’s just unnecesssary and overdone and not remotely interesting.
  9. Books where world-building is either over-done or under-developed.  Books really need the right amount of details.  Too much, and I’m bored with the amount of detail.  Too little, and I wonder what on earth is going on, with some feelings of confusion.  And it’s entirely random, because too much in one book is just right for another book, which could be too little for a third book.

Book Review: Will In Scarlet

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Will In Scarlet CoverBook: Will In Scarlet by Matthew Cody

Expected Publication Is October 8, 2013 by Alfred A Knopf Books For Young Readers|Expected Number Of Pages: 198

Series: None

Genre: Middle Grade Historical Fiction/Re-telling

Will In Scarlet is an e-ARC from netgalley.com, which has not influenced my review in any way

You can find Will In Scarlet on Goodreads|You can find Matthew Cody on Twitter and Facebook

Goodreads Summary: Will Scarlet is on the run. 

Once the sheltered son of nobility, Will has become an exile. While his father, Lord Shackley, has been on the Crusades with King Richard, a treacherous plot to unseat Richard has swept across England, and Shackley House has fallen.

Will flees the only home he’s ever known into neighboring Sherwood Forest, where he joins the elusive gang of bandits known as the Merry Men. Among them are Gilbert, their cruel leader; a giant named John Little; a drunkard named Rob; and Much, an orphan girl disguised as a bandit boy.

This is the story of how a band of misfit outlaws become heroes of legend – thanks to one brave 13-year-old boy.

Will In Scarlet is such a cool book!  I really liked it, and it’s a great take on how Robin Hood became Robin Hood.  We all know the story of Robin Hood, and while I never thought about how Robin Hood came to be, I thought Cody did a great job at showing one such take on the Robin Hood story.

I’m super-fuzzy on the whole Robin Hood tale, and only remember the basic story, so I actually had to do a quick refresher on Robin Hood. I liked that Will In Scarlet focused on Will, and what it was like for him to go from being part of the nobility to being a bandit.  I honestly didn’t remember Will, and was interested in Will as a character.  I liked that when he fled the castle he lived in, he saw what things were really like, and Will being sheltered was pretty obvious because he seemed pretty surprised by what was out there.  I also liked that Will decided to stay in England even though he had the chance to go to France and be with his mom and her family until things got sorted out.

I liked the historical backdrop of the book, and Cody did a great job of showing what things were like while also making seem interesting and even a bit fun at times. There’s a lot of action, and I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next.  You learn things throughout the book, and all of the details make the book come to life.  I don’t know anything about the time period in which the book is set, but I loved the feel of the book, and the very vague recollection I have of this period seems accurate.

The historical details are explained really well, especially since they relate so much to what is going on with Will and at Shackley Castle.  I think this would be a great book for required reading, and I also think it’s a book a lot of teens would like.  I think it’s better suited for the younger end of the YA spectrum, since middle grade-ish, but I also think it’s something people of all ages would enjoy too, especially if you like Robin Hood re-tellings.

Final Thoughts:

I really liked Will In Scarlet!  It’s a great take on the Robin Hood story, and I like that it focuses on how Robin Hood became Robin Hood through the eyes of Will Scarlet.  Will In Scarlet gets 4 stars.

Book Review: The Cutting Room Floor

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The Cutting Room Floor CoverBook: The Cutting Room Floor by Dawn Klehr

Expected Publication Is October 8, 2013 by Flux|Expected Number Of Pages: 327

Series: None

Genre: YA Contemporary

The Cutting Room Floor is an e-ARC from netgalley.com, which has not influenced my review in any way

Goodreads|You Can Find Dawn Klehr On Goodreads

Goodreads Summary: Behind-the-scenes secrets could turn deadly for Desmond and Riley

Life in the Heights has never been easy for seventeen-year-old Riley Frost, but when she’s publicly dumped and outed at the same time, she becomes an immediate social outcast at her high school. So Riley swears off romance and throws herself into solving the shocking murder of her favorite teacher, Ms. Dunn.

Riley turns to her best friend, budding filmmaker Desmond Brandt, for help. What she doesn’t know is that Dez has been secretly directing her life, blackmailing her friends, and hoping his manipulations will make her love him. When his schemes go too far, Dez’s web of lies threatens to destroy both of their lives.

There is a lot going on in The Cutting Room Floor!  The Cutting Room Floor seemed like it would be super-creepy and mysterious, but it wasn’t as creepy as I thought.

The Cutting Room Floor turned out to be an okay read for me, and a big part of it is how much is going on.  You have Dez’s obsession with Riley, who is dealing with being outed and trying to figure out her sexuality and solving the murder of her favorite teacher.  Things just didn’t come together as well as I was expecting.  Ms. Dunn’s murder is brought up at the beginning, only to disappear for most of the book, and then reappeared at the end of the book.  Also, certain details brought up in regards to her murder were never resolved, and didn’t have anything to do with who actually killed her, so I’m not sure why they were introduced to begin with.

As for who killed Ms. Dunn, it felt really random- even though I figured out who it was pretty early.  The clues became obvious to the characters at the end, and I was left wondering what these clues were, and why it was so obvious to the characters, even though I managed to correctly figure out what her killer was.  In all honesty, I was kind of hoping for more of a connection between Dez’s obsession with Riley and the murder of Ms. Dunn.  It would have made a lot more sense instead of the person who actually did it.

Also: Dez’s obsession with Riley.  Totally creepy, and he’s really manipulative.  He does his best to ruin her audition into a performing arts college because he wants them to go to school in the same area., and he does everything he can to break up her relationships.  I just couldn’t like Dez, and there were times when it seemed like we were supposed to like him and feel bad for him because Riley wasn’t interested in him.  I was also REALLY irritated that Dez kept trying to convince her that she was straight, even though she was still in the process of figuring out her sexuality.

I actually really liked seeing her struggle to figure it out, because that’s not a perspective I’ve come across in YA before, and it was refreshing to see it.  But I also felt like it wasn’t addressed as well as it could have been, especially since the possibility of Riley being bi seemed to be hinted at, but was never acknowledged or brought up.  I actually thought this story line was the most interesting one of the book, and while it was a pretty good chunk of the book, it wasn’t as interesting as it could have been.  Still, I thought Klehr did a really good job at showing what Riley was going through and some of the things she had to deal with.

I also liked that Dez and Riley are really into movies, and that film was really important to them.  It was really cool to see parts of the book written as a screenplay, and how Dez remembered things as scenes from a movie.

Dez and Riley takes turns narrating the book, and while I usually have strong thoughts on multiple narrators, I don’t have strong thoughts either way.  It wasn’t done horribly, but it wasn’t amazing either.  It was nice seeing both of their stories, but overall, it was okay.

Final Thoughts:

The Cutting Room Floor was just okay, and I wasn’t sure what kind of story Klehr was going for.  The different elements of the story didn’t come together for me.  The different elements just didn’t seem to be developed as well as they could have been. While there were a couple really interesting and refreshing things about this book, it wasn’t enough to grab my attention.  The Cutting Room Floor gets 2 stars.

Book Review: The Trial Of Dr. Kate

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The Trial Of Dr Kate CoverBook: The Trial Of Dr. Kate by Michael E. Glasscock III

Expected Publication Is October 8, 2013 by Greenleaf Book Group|Expected Number Of Pages: 238

Series: Round Rock #2

Genre: Adult Historical Fiction

The Trial Of Dr. Kate is an e-ARC from netgalley.com, which has not influenced my review in any way

Goodreads|You Can Find Michael E. Glasscock On Twitter

Goodreads Summary: In the summer of 1952, Lillian Johnson was found dead in her home, slumped in the wheelchair that had become her cage due to multiple sclerosis. An overdose of barbiturate had triggered a heart attack, but the scene was not quite right. It looked as though someone other than Lillian herself had injected the fatal dose.

Dr. Kate Marlow, Lillian’s physician and best friend, now sits in the Round Rock city jail. The only country doctor for miles, Kate cannot remember her whereabouts at the time of Lillian’s death and the small Tennessee town buzzes with judgment.

As Dr. Kate’s trial approaches, another woman is determined to uncover the truth about the night of Lillian’s death. Memphis reporter Shenandoah Coleman grew up in Round Rock on the wrong side of the tracks, but unlike the rest of her unsavory clan, escaped her destiny. Now, back in the town she grew up in, she’ll have to turn every stone to keep Kate from a guilty verdict.

The Trial of Dr. Kate is the second novel in a four-part series from Michael E. Glasscock III that explores the intricate social cloth of Round Rock, Tennessee. Though each story stands alone, readers who enjoyed Glasscock’s first Round Rock tale, Little Joe, will delight in the cameo appearances in this one.

Not only am I a fan of this series, but I’m also a fan of Michael Glasscock!  He’s created such a unique story in his Round Rock books, and I just loved The Trial Of Dr. Kate.  I liked seeing characters from Little Joe make random appearances throughout the book and catching up with them.  I also loved Shenandoah’s story and how it intersected with Kate’s story.

I wasn’t surprised to learn of what happened the night of Lilian’s death, but I loved how the story unfolded and how much Kate meant to the community.  And how much distrust there was between different people in Round Rock.  They all have a history with each other, and some of it is not good.  I liked how Shenandoah was reminded of her past and her family everywhere she went in Round Rock, and how she was able to overcome it, while also reconnecting with her hometown and her family when she returned home.

I love how real the book feels, and everything seems so real and authentic.  Everything feels like it actually happened, and I love that Round Rock seems to represent the time and place and people of that time and place so well.  The characters are so memorable, and are very hard to forget.

The Trial Of Dr. Kate has so much going on, and really captures the essence of Round Rock and its inhabitants.  Really, I cannot gush enough about this book!

Back to Lilian’s death for a minute: You have so many people divided on whether or not Kate did it, and all of the different opinions are pretty well represented.  You get such a good picture of who Kate is and you’re wondering what happened the night Lilian died, and then you find out, and it’s not that surprising, but it’s also a little surprising, because you’re trying to figure out who Kate really is, and if she’s really the sort of person who would help her friend die.  I don’t necessarily think of doctor-assisted suicide as something that happened in the fifties, but I really liked how Glasscock wrote that element of the story.

And I feel like I’ve barely talked about Shenandoah, even though she’s the main character.  I thought she was interesting as a character, and how she wanted to get of Round Rock.  I think it’s something a lot of people can relate to, and I like that she realizes that Round Rock isn’t such a horrible place, and that some of her family aren’t how she remembered them.

Final Thoughts:

I really loved The Trial Of Dr. Kate!  Round Rock really comes to life in this book, and I liked catching up with some of the characters from Little Joe while meeting new characters in The Trial Of Dr. Kate.  I’m looking forward to reading the next book, which I’m sure will be as great as the first two.  The Trial Of Dr. Kate gets 5 stars.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Best Sequels Ever

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Top Ten Tuesday a weekly meme hosted by the lovely folks over at The Broke And The Bookish.  Bloggers from all over are invited to share their own top ten list based on the topic of the week.  You can find all Top Ten Tuesdays here.

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Top Ten Best Sequels Ever

I read a lot of series, so this one is up my alley!  It was harder than I expected to pick ten, because there were books I thought were great sequels but not the best sequels.  And with some of the longer series I’ve read, it was hard to pick the one that was the best, especially since they’re all great.  There are some seriously great sequels out there!

  1. Harry Potter 2-7.  I honestly can’t pick one (and don’t want to).  But HP keeps getting better, and they’re all so good!
  2. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer.  I’m always wary of 2nd books in series, but Scarlet definitely lived up to the high expectations that Cinder set.
  3. Siege And Storm by Leah Bardugo.  Such a good continuation from Shadow And Bone.
  4. Specials by Scott Westerfeld.  It’s my favorite book in the Uglies trilogy, and I liked seeing Tally change a lot between Uglies and Specials.
  5. Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore.  I actually liked Bitterblue a lot more than Fire, and I loved seeing what was going on in Bitterblue’s life after Graceling.
  6. Barely Breathing by Rebecca Donovan.  I am so glad that this series is a series, because I don’t think I could handle not knowing what happened to Emma after finishing Reason To Breathe.
  7. Where She Went by Gayle Forman.  I can’t imagine a better sequel to If I Stay.  And it’s really rare that I like sequels better than the first one, but this is totally the case for Where She Went.
  8. Rachel Caine can write some pretty awesome sequels, and I love each of her series as whole, which makes picking the best sequel from her stuff really hard!
  9. The Trial Of Dr. Kate by Michael Glasscock.  This was such a good follow-up to Little Joe, and while it’s more of a companion novel than an actual sequel, I love that you get to revisit Round Rock.
  10. Destined by Aprilynne Pike.  This series got better as it went on, and Destined is such a good wrap-up for the series.  I liked seeing more of Avalon, and the battle to save it was so action-packed and dramatic, and I couldn’t help but cry at the end of the book!

Gilmore Girls 3×3: Application Anxiety

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Application Anxiety originally aired October 8, 2002.  This episode was written by Daniel Palladino and was directed by Gail Mancuso.

Gilmore Girls Season 3 Graphic

We open this episode with Lorelei and Rory watching one of the Brady Bunch variety shows.  Rory’s application to Harvard comes in the mail, and Rory can’t believe she was watching the Brady Bunch Variety Hour when her application came.

Rory has a lot of application anxiety, and she and Lorelei spend some looking over her application and talking about it, while Lane is working on a drummer-seeks-band ad.  On the interests section, Rory has to decided to circle everything except sports and is going to do her essay on Hilary Clinton.  Paris organizes a seminar and the two people invited to speak talk about how circling everything in the interests section shows the student is trying too hard because one can’t be interested in everything.  One of the panelists is a college admissions person, and talks about how he can’t read another essay on Hilary Clinton.  They have all of these do’s and don’ts, and they pretty much describe Rory.

We also have a Friday night dinner, where we learn Emily has been collecting college-issues of magazines for Rory, and Emily’s stories are stressing out Lorelei.  Lorelei and Rory have a few moments of insanity in Richard’s study before calming down enough to be near Emily for the night.

Lorelei talks to Headmaster Charleston, who suggested a meeting with someone who went to Harvard.  Lunch gets set up, and we meet Darrin and his family.  They’re big on meal-time quizzes, and at one point, Rory excuses herself to go to the bathroom. She meets Darrin’s third child, who isn’t on the Ivy League conveyor belt.  Her parents made it seem like she was on drugs or something, instead of not going to an Ivy League school.  When Lorelei finally comes looking for Rory because she needs to get a question right, Rory thanks her for not putting her on the conveyor belt.  Darrin calls a couple days later, and leaves a message saying that Rory is made for Harvard.

Lane also finds a band and Taylor brings up the idea of a soda shop, which the town agrees to.

Thoughts:

I thought this episode was really interesting, and it’s pretty much because of Rory’s application anxiety.  Rory’s reaction during the college application seminar was interesting, because they really were describing Rory so well.  I get why Rory was upset or whatever, because she was doing everything they were talking about.  But, Rory really is the type of student to do what people want to hear.  And with so many people applying to Harvard, and the conversation about how they all have the same classes so they have the same GPA’s and they all have same extracurricular activities, so they all kind of blend together…like…I know Rory wants to go to Harvard, and she’ll do what she thinks will get her in, but at the same time, I don’t see Rory doing something interesting to separate herself from all of the other people who are also applying.

I do think that the lunch with Darrin and being able to ask him questions and talk to him helped (even though we never see it).  I do like that Lorelei is happy with whatever Rory wants to do, and that she actually talked to Headmaster Charleston to figure something out.  It’s Chilton, so you’d think a private, expensive, and fancy prep school would have more stuff in the way of college applications but we never see it.

Favorite Lines Or Scenes:

Nothing jumped out at me in this episode

Pop Culture:

All of the Brady Bunch Variety Shows, Sylvia Plath’s suicide, Charlie Rose, the Beetles, the Brat Pack, Ted Williams being frozen, the discussions the Kennedy’s had during meals, Urkel, Wu Tang Clan

Episode Rating:

I liked this episode, and Rory’s college application anxiety is very her, but I’m glad she was able to work through it.  This episode gets 3 mugs of coffee.

Mini Book Review: Broken Beauty

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Broken Beauty CoverNovella: Broken Beauty by Lizzie Ford (as Chloe Adams)

Expected Publication is September 22, 2013 by Indie Inked|Expected Number Of Pages: 78

Series: Broken Beauty Novellas #1

Genre: New Adult Contemporary

You can find Broken Beauty on Goodreads and Lizzie Ford on Facebook and Twitter

Broken Beauty is an e-ARC from netgalley.com, which hasn’t influenced my review in any way.  Promise!

Goodreads Summary: **Contains graphic content and the sensitive topic of rape and its aftermath. Not intended for teens under the age of 18.**

Sometimes bad things happen to beautiful people.

When socialite party girl Mia Abbott-Renou wakes up in a garden she has little recall of the previous night — except that she is naked…hurt…terrified. Not only has she been raped, but she knows one of her assailants: the son of a wealthy politician who happens to be her own father’s political ally.

Mia wants and needs justice. Except this privileged boy has an alibi and her father forbids her from going to the police. It’s a critical election year, one that his party might lose if his image as a doting father is soured due to Mia being labeled a lush or worse, promiscuous.

Devastated at not having the support of her family, Mia finds herself in a tug-of-war with her conscience over what to do, especially since she can’t remember exactly what happened that night. Worse, the men who attacked her have hurt several other girls, and Mia may be the key to stopping them.

Mia tries to forget, until the unthinkable happens, and she’s left reeling once again, faced with a new challenge that will force her to take more control of her life.

Broken Beauty is so heartbreaking and beautiful, all at the same time.  I couldn’t help for feel for Mia, who has been through a lot in this novella.

Her father (and several other people) were really irritating- and I think they were supposed to be.  Her father, who is against birth control and abortion, believes that women who are raped can’t get pregnant, so he won’t give his consent for Mia to have the morning-after pill. Clearly, Mia’s experience won’t change his mind.  And imagine Mia’s confusion and anger when she gets pregnant, after believing that it’s not possible.  Also irritating was the “spin” that was put on her rape.  It’s pretty much being used as a way to make her dad look good with certain segments of the voting population, and that really made me irritated with him.  it’s pretty infuriating.  It also seems like he favors her step-siblings (especially her step-sister) and you have to wonder what his reaction would be if it happened to his other daughter.

Mia’s experience felt very real, and you’re with her every step of the way.  Almost like you’re right there with Mia- and I think it’s because of Adams’ own experience.  It made it hard to read at times, because it’s very haunting, and very, very believable.  It makes you wonder how much of Mia’s story mirrors Adams.

The one thing I didn’t like about Broken Beauty is that I read it expecting a complete story.  I wasn’t expecting it to be the first of 6 installments that will be released over the next year, so it ended pretty abruptly.

And I know this is sort of nit-picky, but I found that the “arrangements” for Mia volunteering at Saint Mary’s Women’s Shelter to be irritating.  I know appearances can be everything, particularly in an election, but to me, it seemed like it was implied that a woman’s shelter would turn Mia away as a volunteer because she’s Baptist.  It’s possible that I’m reading too much into it but that’s the impression I got from that scene.

Final Thoughts:

Broken Beauty is heartbreaking and infuriating and beautiful, all at the same time.  I was so irritated with some of the people surrounding Mia, and I couldn’t help but feel for her and I found myself wishing that it had never happened to her. Unfortunately, I wasn’t expecting Broken Beauty to be the first of six installments, and I found that it was hard to give Broken Beauty the higher rating it deserves because of that.  Broken Beauty gets 4 stars.

Book Review: Sky Jumpers

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Sky Jumpers CoverBook: Sky Jumpers by Peggy Eddelman

Expected Publication is September 24, 2013 by Random House Books For Young Readers|Expected Number Of Pages: 176

Series: Sky Jumpers #1

Genre: Middle Grade Post-Apocalyptic

Sky Jumpers is an e-ARC from netgalley.com, which has not influenced my review in any way

Goodreads|You can find Peggy Eddelman on Twitter and Facebook

Goodreads Summary: 12 year old Hope lives in White Rock, a town struggling to recover from the green bombs of World War III. The bombs destroyed almost everything that came before, so the skill that matters most in White Rock—sometimes it feels like the only thing that matters—is the ability to invent so that the world can regain some of what it’s lost.

But Hope is terrible at inventing and would much rather sneak off to cliff dive into the Bomb’s Breath— the deadly band of air that covers the crater the town lives in— than fail at yet another invention.

When bandits discover that White Rock has invented priceless antibiotics, they invade. The town must choose whether to hand over the medicine and die from disease in the coming months or to die fighting the bandits now. Hope and her friends, Aaren and Brock, might be the only ones who can escape through the Bomb’s Breath and make the dangerous trek over the snow-covered mountain to get help. For once, inventing isn’t the answer, but the daring and risk-taking that usually gets Hope into trouble might just save them all.

One really cool thing about Sky Jumpers is that it’s a middle grade post-apocalyptic story!  I don’t read a lot of middle grade, and this is the first post-apocalyptic one I’ve come across, so I knew I would have to read it!

The whole of green bombs and Bomb’s Breath was really interesting, and it’s definitely different.  I also liked seeing how inventing is really important to White Rock, and how Browning, a nearby town, has a completely different focus.

I really liked Hope and how adventurous she was.  She was also willing to take a risk that no one else wanted or could take.  I felt for her, because she felt like a failure for not being good at inventing like everyone else in town.  But the one thing I LOVED about Sky Jumpers was how it took Hope going to a neighboring town for help for them (and more importantly, Hope) to realize that while inventing is important, people have other, great qualities, and that there are many ways to contribute.

Sky Jumpers is definitely world that is totally possible, even if it is a slightly scary future.  The idea that inventing is so important because a lot of technology has failed since World War III is a really cool idea, and I think it’s something that could draw in some kids.  Also: Bomb’s Breath changing the properties of the antiobiotics…I liked that it was discovered on accident, and it’s another really cool/interesting idea.

The book, which is the first in the series, is a pretty complete story, and could work so very well as a stand-alone.  At the same time, I can’t wait to see what’s in store for Hope and her friends.

Final Thoughts:

I really liked Sky Jumpers!  It’s a great middle grade book, and you can’t help but get pulled into this world and root for Hope and her friends.  Sky Jumpers gets 4 stars.

Book Review: Where The Stars Still Shine

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Where The Stars Still Shine CoverBook: Where The Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller

Expected Publication is September 24, 2013 by Bloomsbury USA Children’s|Expected Number Of Pages: 352

Series: None

Genre: YA Contemporary

Where The Stars Still Shine is an e-ARC from netgalley.com, which has not influenced my review in any way

Goodreads|You can find Trish Doller on Twitter and Facebook

Goodreads Summary: Stolen as a child from her large and loving family, and on the run with her mom for more than ten years, Callie has only the barest idea of what normal life might be like. She’s never had a home, never gone to school, and has gotten most of her meals from laundromat vending machines. Her dreams are haunted by memories she’d like to forget completely. But when Callie’s mom is finally arrested for kidnapping her, and Callie’s real dad whisks her back to what would have been her life, in a small town in Florida, Callie must find a way to leave the past behind. She must learn to be part of a family. And she must believe that love–even with someone who seems an improbable choice–is more than just a possibility.

I think my thoughts on Where The Stars Still Shine are some of the weirdest thoughts I’ve ever had about a book, but in a totally good way. I really like Where The Stars Still Shine, but I also have mixed feelings about it, and I’m not completely sure what to think.  I have no clue if that makes sense, but that’s where my thoughts are.

I liked seeing Callie go from living with a mother who didn’t seem to take her into consideration to living with a father who wanted a daughter that Callie wasn’t able to be.  She definitely struggled with feeling like she belonged and having people who get worried when she decides to wander off in the middle of the night.  I totally understand that her mom wasn’t around a lot, and Callie spent a lot of time on her own, and had to fend for herself.  And so I can totally understand that it would be hard to adjust to living with someone who is there, and actually worries when she keeps wandering around town and not telling anyone where she’s going.

Her loyalty to her mom was frustrating, especially with what happens after Callie goes back to Florida to live with her dad.  Her mom is not a likable person, and she wasn’t supposed to be likable, but it did get frustrating because her mom totally didn’t deserve it, in my opinion.  I understand why her mom acted the way she did (to some degree) and I can understand not wanting to take meds but Callie also deserved better.  I suppose I can relate to Callie’s loyalty, because it is the only thing she’s ever known, but that didn’t make it less frustrating to read.

I also liked seeing Callie re-connect with her family after being gone for so long.  Also interesting was her relationship with her step-mom and half-brothers.

Here’s the thing that I have really mixed feelings about: her relationship with Alex.  I just didn’t care for their relationship and it was hard to stay interested in them as a couple when she get ditching her family for him.  She made an effort to do things with him, but not her family, and that got a little old after a while.  I also wasn’t expecting it to be such a big part of the novel.

I was reminded of If You Find Me, which has a pretty similar plot and deals with similar issues as Where The Stars Still Shine.  I didn’t pay too much attention to Callie’s education, but she only finished kindergarten, because moving around all the time would definitely make it hard to stay in school.  I’m kind of surprised her dad didn’t push the issue, but at the same time, she only has a kindergarten education, so Callie would have a lot of catching up to do.

I do feel bad for her dad, because his daughter came back as a complete stranger that he’s not sure how to parent.  He’s doing the best he can, and Callie certainly didn’t make things easy for him.  I do think he clung to his memories of Callie as a small child and had ideas of who she was and what she was like, and I’m sure his image of her didn’t match up with who she really was.

Final Thoughts:

My mixed feelings seem to be focused on Alex and Callie, but other than that, I really enjoyed Where The Stars Still Shine.  I liked seeing Callie struggle with her place in the world.  Where The Stars Still Shine gets 4 stars.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books On My Fall TBR List

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Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely folks over at The Broke And The Bookish. Every week, bloggers from all over are invited to share their own top ten lists based on the topic of the week.  You can find all Top Ten Tuesdays here.

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Top Ten Books On My Fall TBR List

Or as I like to call it, books I promise I’m going to read soon, but probably won’t.  I haven’t been the best at actually following through on reading what I plan on reading.  But I’m pretty sure this time will be different, because there are quite a few that I really need to read!  I had a lot of trouble limiting it to ten,  so I think I’ll be having a fun-filled fall full of reading!

  1. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak: The movie trailer and glowing reviews made me want to read The Book Thief.  Part of me wants to wait until the movie comes out but part of me wants to read it now!
  2. The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare.  Now that I’ve seen the movie, I feel like I can re-read City Of Bones and then move on to reading the rest of the series.
  3. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein.  Another book I’ve heard great things about, and I think it’s time I need to know what everyone’s talking about!
  4. Daylighters by Rachel Caine.  I’ll be sad to see Morganville Vampires end, but I’m also looking forward to it because after the cliffhanger in Fall Of Night.
  5. The Hallowed Ones by Laura Bickle.  It’s a post-apocalyptic novel that focuses on the Amish.  How could I not want to read it?
  6. The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare.  If I’m going to read The Mortal Instruments, I might as read Infernal Devices.  Especially since I got them all on sale!
  7. Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi.  I keep meaning to read it, but never seem to get around to it…
  8. Beautiful Chaos/Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. Because I really need to finish the series.
  9. Allegiant by Veronica Roth.  I feel like an explanation isn’t needed for this one. Also: I need to know what’s going on!
  10. Between Shades Of Gray by Ruta Septys.  I’m starting to think needing to know what people are talking about is a trend this fall, because this is another book I want to read so I know what people are talking about.  Also, it does sound really interesting and totally up my alley.