Book: Beta by Rachel Cohn

Published October 2012, by Disney Hyperion, 248 pages

Purchased for my Nook

Genre: YA- Dystopic/Science Fiction

Find out more: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Rachel Cohn

Goodreads.com Summary: In a world constructed to absolute perfection, imperfection is difficult to understand—and impossible to hide.

Elysia is a clone, created in a laboratory, born as a sixteen year old girl, an empty vessel with no life experience to draw from. She is a Beta, an experimental model of teenaged clone. She was replicated from another teenage girl, who had to die in order for Elysia to be created.

Elysia’s purpose is to serve the inhabitants of Demesne, an island paradise for the wealthiest people on earth. Everything about Demesne is bioengineered for perfection. Even the air there induces a strange, euphoric high that only the island’s workers—soulless clones like Elysia—are immune to.

At first, Elysia’s new life on this island paradise is idyllic and pampered. But she soon sees that Demesne’s human residents, the most privileged people in the world who should want for nothing, yearn. And, she comes to realize that beneath its flawless exterior, there is an undercurrent of discontent amongst Demesne’s worker clones. She knows she is soulless and cannot feel and should not care—so why are overpowering sensations clouding Elysia’s mind?

If anyone discovers that Elysia isn’t the unfeeling clone she must pretend to be, she will suffer a fate too terrible to imagine. When Elysia’s one chance at happiness is ripped away from her with breathtaking cruelty, emotions she’s always had but never understood are unleashed. As rage, terror, and desire threaten to overwhelm her, Elysia must find the will to survive.

I have very mixed feelings about Beta.  I’m fascinated by Demesne, which is this very idyllic island that reminds me of Hawaii.  The air and water are basically drugged, and it’s a place where people can just relax.  I’m also fascinated with the clones, who seem to be replicated from someone who’s died.  They’re definitely slaves, and if they’re defects, they are destroyed.

But I had too many unanswered questions.  Like, Cohn mentioned the Water Wars, but didn’t explain it.  Yeah, it’s people fighting over water.  Was the water supply getting low?  Was it contaminated?  What was going on with water that people felt the need to go to war over it?  I don’t need a full-on explanation, but the basics would have been nice.  And I wanted to know more about the Insurrection and the clones.  Does someone really need to die in order to make clones?  It seems possible to create clones from living people, so why are we lead to believe that someone needs to die in order to create clones?  Why does taking ‘taxia “wake up” the clones?  And honestly, what is ‘raxia?  Why does it affect the clones differently?  Unfortunately, the history and the “rules” of the world Cohn created weren’t explained.  Hopefully, we get more of a history in the next book.

It was hard to connect with the characters.  I thought Elysia was on the boring side, and it was hard to care about what happened to her.  I didn’t care for her relationship with Tahir or Alex.  I thought Xanthe was really interesting, so it’s unfortunate people realize she’s a defect, and she “dies.”

And then the ending came.  That was such a frustrating ending to read, because it’s so conflicting.  The Insurrection is all about clones being able to make their own decisions and not be treated as slaves.  Yet Elysia has to keep a child (after she was raped, mind you) because it gives people hope, even though it’s not what she wants.  So frustrating, and not one of my favorite endings.

Then, we get to the cliffhanger, which was surprising because I should have been able to figure it out.  Still, I wasn’t expecting Zhara, who is Elysia’s First, to be alive.  I wasn’t sure about continuing the series, but I just might have to, with that ending.

Final Thoughts: I definitely have some issues with Beta, and I hope they’re worked out/explained in the next book.  It is an interesting idea, and hopefully, the interesting parts will be explored in the next book.  It gets a 2 out of 5.

Book: Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon

Published by Disney Press

Borrowed from the library, read as an e-book (267 pages)

Genre: YA: Paranormal

Find out more: Goodreads~Barnes And Noble~Amazon~Yvonne Woon

Goodreads.com Summary: On the morning of her sixteenth birthday, Renée Winters was still an ordinary girl. She spent her summers at the beach, had the perfect best friend, and had just started dating the cutest guy at school. No one she’d ever known had died. But all that changes when she finds her parents dead in the Redwood Forest, in what appears to be a strange double murder.

After the funeral Renée’s wealthy grandfather sends her to Gottfried Academy, a remote and mysterious boarding school in Maine, where she finds herself studying subjects like Philosophy, Latin, and the “Crude Sciences.”

It’s there that she meets Dante Berlin, a handsome and elusive boy to whom she feels inexplicably drawn. As they grow closer, unexplainable things begin to happen, but Renée can’t stop herself from falling in love. It’s only when she discovers a dark tragedy in Gottfried’s past that she begins to wonder if the Academy is everything it seems.

Little does she know, Dante is the one hiding a dangerous secret, one that has him fearing for her life.

Dead Beautiful is both a compelling romance and thought-provoking read, bringing shocking new meaning to life, death, love, and the nature of the soul.

Dead Beautiful is one of the more interesting paranormal books I’ve read.  I really like her twist on the Undead, and the creepiness of Gottfried Academy and what they teach adds to that.

So, I though that teaching things like philosophy and Latin was really strange, even for a boarding school.  I mean, I get some high schools may teach some random stuff, depending on where you are, and which school you go to, but focusing on things like Latin, Crude Sciences and philosophy was just too random.  Of course, it all makes sense at the end, and there is a reason for why they focus on what they do.

There are a lot of little mysteries throughout the book, and they actually get wrapped up (for the most part).  I liked that I didn’t know what was going on for a lot of the book, but at the same time, we learn so much about what’s going on towards the end, which was a little annoying, because it did feel like it came out of nowhere.

The characters were okay, but Renee living with her grandfather didn’t seem right.  I mean, he hasn’t seen her or talked to her in years, and all of a sudden, he shows up to take care of her because he’s her legal guardian?  If her parents didn’t get along with him, to the point that they had a fight, and he all but disappeared, why wouldn’t they change their will?  Of course, this makes sense later in the novel, but it’s still a little strange.  It is a shame we don’t meet Renee’s parents, or what her life with them was like before they died.  The characters were on the boring side, and didn’t really stand out.  They were pretty predictable.

I loved the setting of Gottfried Academy, though, and it seems like such a pretty yet creepy place.  It works really well for the plot, and just makes everything going on so much more creepy.

Dead Beautiful is okay, and yet is intriguing- I’m just interested enough to read the sequel, but not so interested that I need to read it immediately.  It gets a 2 out of 5.

Book: The Enemy by Charlie Higson

Published by Hyperion

Borrowed from the library, read as an e-book (296 pages)

Genre: YA: Post-apocalyptic

Find out more: Goodreads~Barnes And Noble~Amazon~Charlie Higson

Goodreads.com Summary: As the days pass, the situation has gone from frightening to terrifying. Kids are being picked off the streets; the barricaded teens are surrounded by flesh-eating zombie adults. When a mysterious traveler arrives with an offer of refuge in London’s Buckingham Palace, they realize that they have no other option. What they can not yet understand is that their intense challenges will not end with their harrowing trip…

The Enemy is intriguing.  The idea that adults have this mysterious disease that turns them into zombie-like creatures before killing them is really interesting.  And it’s equally as interesting to see the kids try to take care of themselves in a world that’s gone to hell.

There’s a lot of suspense, and you see how hard it is for these kids, and if they’ll get the disease that’s completely changed the adults if they make it to adulthood.  We learn there are other groups of kids, and you hope they can work together instead of fighting amongst themselves.

It is hard to get attached to any of the characters when they could die in the next scene.  There’s certainly more violence than I expected, but considering that the adults are zombies, and the animals close by have gone completely wild, and they have to fend for themselves, it’s not totally a surprise.  At the same time, though, Higson really doesn’t have a problem with killing off his characters if he needs to.  There’s a lot of action, which made it really easy to read, but you also don’t really get to know the characters very well.

I thought the zombie royals were a little entertaining, and I love that it’s set in London.  Kids taking shelter in places like Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London made The Enemy interesting.  I did like seeing historic and important places being used as places where kids took shelter.  I do wonder if it just affects London, or if it’s all over.  The kids don’t seem to know anything, which makes sense, and is realistic, but at the same time, we just know what the kids know.  And that’s not much of anything.  A little more explanation would have been nice.

Overall, I thought it was just okay.  I already mentioned that there were a lot of characters, and it was hard to get attached to them.  But The Enemy, while interesting, just didn’t work for me.  It felt like there was too much going on, and I just couldn’t connect it with it.  It’s just…I can’t completely figure out what it is about The Enemy that didn’t work.

The Enemy gets a 2 out of 5.

Book: 1984 by George Orwell

Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Borrowed from the library, as an e-book (271 pages)

Genre: Fiction- Dystopic

Find out more: Goodreads~Barnes And Noble~Amazon

Goodreads.com Summary: In 1984, London is a grim city where Big Brother is always watching you and the Thought Police can practically read your mind. Winston is a man in grave danger for the simple reason that his memory still functions. Drawn into a forbidden love affair, Winston finds the courage to join a secret revolutionary organization called The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party. Together with his beloved Julia, he hazards his life in a deadly match against the powers that be.

I finally read 1984, and I thought it was just okay.

1984 felt more like an essay than a novel at times, and while I thought a lot of the ideas were interesting, it was hard to get into.  Honestly, I was really bored when reading it, especially when Winston starting reading the book.  Parts of were easier to get through than others, but overall, it wasn’t as interesting as I expected.  1984 is certainly an important book, and a government that rewrites history and watches your every move is not only creepy but something that I could see happening.  The references to Big Brother make a lot more sense now, and I certainly get why the book in general is referred to a lot.

There’s certainly a lot of describing going on, and I think that contributed to a lot of my boredom while reading it.  I will admit that it’s not for me, and I get why people like it.  I’m still glad I read it, and I can certainly appreciate how relevant it still is, as well as the influence it has on the dystopic genre as a whole.  It’s a book that I never had to read in high school, and while I am glad I picked it up on my own, I’m also glad I never had to read it in high school, because I’m pretty sure I would have HATED it if I did.

1984- not my cup of tea, but I get why it’s considered a classic.  It gets a 2 out of 5.

Book: My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

Published by Penguin Group

Purchased for my Nook (304 pages)

Genre: YA: Contemporary

Find out more: Goodreads~Barnes And Noble~Amazon~Huntley Fitzpatrick

Goodreads.com Summary: The Garretts are everything the Reeds are not. Loud, numerous, messy, affectionate. And every day from her balcony perch, seventeen-year-old Samantha Reed wishes she was one of them . . . until one summer evening, Jase Garrett climbs her terrace and changes everything. As the two fall fiercely in love, Jase’s family makes Samantha one of their own. Then in an instant, the bottom drops out of her world and she is suddenly faced with an impossible decision. Which perfect family will save her? Or is it time she saved herself? 

A dreamy summer read, full of characters who stay with you long after the story is over.

I loved, loved, loved My Life Next Door.  It is not funny how much I loved this book!

I loved the Garrett family, to the point that I would love to be a part of their family.  Or least really good friends with one of the Garrett kids so I could hang out with them, at their house, all the time.  The Garretts reminded me of the Weasleys, with how fun and warm and open they are.  They might not have a lot of money, but there’s a lot of love.

Maybe it’s not too late to find a family like this.

Just kidding.  I loved the Garretts and how different they are from the Reed family.  I didn’t care for Samantha’s mom, or her sister, but I did like Samantha.  While Samantha comes from a wealthy family, Jace doesn’t.  I really liked that Fitzpatrick didn’t hit you over the head with how different they were, but sometimes it felt like it was there just to highlight how different Jace and Samantha are.

I thought Tim was an interesting character, and I liked seeing how he became friends-ish with Sam towards the end.  I thought Nan’s jealousy of Sam was really annoying, although Nan does just kind of disappear.  I kind of wish that had a little more resolution.  I know that Nan and Sam were best friends, but it really felt like Sam didn’t really have a lot of friends sometimes.

We have to talk about the ending- Grace is involved in a hit-and-run- and hits Jace’s dad.  It causes a lot of problems (naturally) and I thought Jace was extremely forgiving.  It happened a little too fast, but what was really frustrating was that Grace, her former campaign manager, Sam, Tim and the Garretts were the only ones who knew what happened the night of the accident.  Yeah, the happy ending was nice, but at the same time…it’s just irritating that there weren’t really any consequences for Grace’s actions.

But My Life Next Door was a wonderful read.  It was hard to put down, and I laughed and even cried at one point.  I loved the characters (for the most part) and the setting, and I especially loved seeing Sam connect with the Garretts.  There’s something very sweet, fun and heart-warming about this book.

My Life Next Door gets 5 out of 5 stars.

Book: Crash by Nicole Williams

Self-published by Nicole Williams

Purchased for my Nook (215 pages)

Genre: New Adult- Contemporary

Find out more: Goodreads~Barnes And Noble~Amazon~Nicole Williams

Goodreads.com Summary: Southpointe High is the last place Lucy wanted to wind up her senior year of school. Right up until she stumbles into Jude Ryder, a guy whose name has become its own verb, and synonymous with trouble. He’s got a rap sheet that runs longer than a senior thesis, has had his name sighed, shouted, and cursed by more women than Lucy dares to ask, and lives at the local boys home where disturbed seems to be the status quo for the residents. Lucy had a stable at best, quirky at worst, upbringing. She lives for wearing the satin down on her ballet shoes, has her sights set on Juilliard, and has been careful to keep trouble out of her life. Up until now. 

Jude’s everything she needs to stay away from if she wants to separate her past from her future. Staying away, she’s about to find out, is the only thing she’s incapable of. 

For Lucy Larson and Jude Ryder, love’s about to become the thing that tears them apart.

I really liked Crash.  I was really surprised by it, but it’s a great read.

I really liked Jude and Lucy, especially as a couple but found that Jude pushing Lucy away only change his mind was really annoying.  And Lucy deciding to ignore Jude’s warning was equally annoying.  They do have their fair share of problems, but it seems like things have worked out for them by the end of the novel.

We know that something horrible happened 5 years prior to the start of the novel, but we don’t learn what it is until the end.  And that is when we learn that Jude’s dad used to work under Lucy’s father, but is fired, and ends up murdering Lucy’s older brother.  I didn’t really care that the big revelation happened at the end, and that everything works out fine in the end, but considering how complicated their relationship seems to be, it’s not a big surprise.  We learn that Lucy’s dad knew who Jude was, and while we don’t know if her mom knew, I think she might have.  She never liked Jude, and while it could be that he’s been in jail, and is just trouble, it could also be because she knew what his dad and is holding it against him.

Still, Lucy does see who Jude could be, while everyone else (including Jude) sees him as what he’s done and what he’ll always be.  They both try to move on, and in Jude’s case, try to break away from this predetermined path he’s on.  She’s still full of optimism and hope, and yet it’s hard for her to be trusting and let people in.

There is a lot of angst, but I actually kind of liked how angsty it was.  A little over-the-top?  Maybe, but it still worked for some reason.

I thought dance would be really important, given the cover.  But it turns out that it doesn’t play a big role in the book.  It’s a shame, because I would have liked to see Lucy lose her in dance because of everything that’s going on.

And is it just me, or did the characters feel much older than their 17 years?  It really felt like the characters could have been a year or two older.

I loved The Beetles references throughout the book, and I really liked all of the issues throughout the book.  I really wanted Jude and Lucy to have a happy ending, because they both deserve to have some happiness in their lives.

Crash gets a 4 out of 5 stars.  I didn’t love it, but I still found myself drawn to Lucy’s story.

Book: Cutters Don’t Cry by Christine Dzidrums

Published by Creative Media Publishing

Purchased for my Nook (132 pages)

Genre: New Adult: Contemporary

Find out more: Goodreads~Barnes And Noble~Amazon~Christine Dzidrums

Goodreads.com Summary: 19-year-old Charity Graff engages in self-harm. More specifically she cuts herself to numb emotions. In a series of raw journal entries, the confused teenager writes to her estranged father, filling him in on what’s happened in her life since he left her nearly 18 years ago. Throughout the course of her letter writing, Charity chronicles her penchant for cutting, a serious struggle with depression and her inability to vocally express her feelings.

I just loved Cutters Don’t Cry!

I found Charity to be very real and very relateable, and there were a few times her own story mirrored my own.  There were times I couldn’t stop crying, and Dzidrums did a great job at capturing the range of emotions Charity felt.  I’ve never self-harmed but it’s so easy to understand why Charity does it.  And Dzidrums did a wonderful job with showing the downward spiral Charity was in.  I thought the use of a journal was such a great way for Charity to share her thoughts and express her feelings.  Sometimes, you write because speaking can be too hard and scary.  The journal entries written to her dad were so powerful, and I loved seeing her work through everything.  Her entries were very honest, and very vivid.

I also liked that Charity wrote to her dad, who she doesn’t remember.  Almost like writing to him was her way of telling someone what was going on, and to work out her feelings about her dad.  I connected very much with Charity and her experiences, and I loved that she’s 19, in college, and not sure of her future.  You really see her as someone who’s scared to speak up but who eventually realizes that she needs help and is ready to get that help.

The only thing I didn’t like was that it was really short.  I would have liked a little more closure- you see she’s taking steps in the right direction, but you don’t see her several months down the line.  You also got bits and pieces of her childhood, and I would have liked more of that as well.  But in it’s own way, it did work. because you got enough of what happened and where she was headed.

Cutters Don’t Cry gets a 5 out of 5.  It was so well done, and I really connected it.

Book: The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

Published by Little, Brown Book Group

Purchased for my Nook (503 pages)

Genre: Fiction- Contemporary

Find out more: Goodreads~Barnes And Noble~Amazon~J.K. Rowling

Goodreads.com Summary: When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock.

Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…Pagford is not what it first seems.

And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?

I really liked The Casual Vacancy.  It’s very different than Harry Potter, but I still really enjoyed it.

At first, it was a little hard to get into because of the many characters and storylines, but once I got to know them, it was easier to follow.  And once I got into it, it was hard to put down.

I really liked the characters, and they really felt like people I know or could know someday.  I think Krystal is my favorite, and I really felt bad for her.  Well, most of the time.  There’s definitely an assortment of characters, though, and JKR did a great job with bringing them to life.  Honestly, writing very real, interesting characters that you love or love to hate is a strength of hers.  Did I like all of the characters?  No.  In fact, a lot of them are very easy to dislike.  Some characters have a moment or two where you like them or feel sympathetic, and they all have their own flaws.

I can get why people would be bored reading it- because not a lot happens.  But I like that it’s just about life, where things don’t always have a happy ending and people sometimes live boring lives.  It’s what I picture a small town to be like, and I really felt like Pagford is a real place.  She did a great job with describing the town, the local politics and the people who live there.  Pagford and its residents are very distinct, and I love that we see what the characters are thinking and why they act the way they do.

There is a lot going on- kids fighting with their parents, adults fighting with each other, people gossiping.  You see poverty, sex, drug addiction, and unhappy marriages.  You see people go through horrible things, and it wasn’t until I read The Casual Vacancy that I realized how good J.K. Rowling is at writing real life.  I thought she handled all of the issues very well, and you have to wonder how much of her own experiences wound up in The Casual Vacancy.  Perhaps none did, but either way, The Casual Vacancy shows an interesting look at life.

Did I love The Casual Vacancy?  No, but I really liked it.  It’s well-written, with very flawed characters.  It gets a 4 out of 5.