Book Review: This Raging Light by Estelle Laure

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This Raging Light CoverBook: This Raging Light by Estelle Laure

Published December 2015 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|160 Pages

Where I Got It: I own the e-book

Series: None

Genre: YA Contemporary

Blog Graphic-What It's About

Can the best thing happen at the worst time?

Her dad went crazy. Her mom left town. She has bills to pay and a little sister to look after. Now is not the time for level-headed seventeen-year-old Lucille to fall in love. But love—messy, inconvenient love—is what she’s about to experience when she falls for Digby Jones, her best friend’s brother. With blazing longing that builds to a fever pitch, Estelle Laure’s soulful debut will keep readers hooked and hoping until the very last page.

Blog Graphic- What I Thought

I was so excited about reading This Raging Light, but I ended up not liking it.  Which makes me a little sad, because I really liked the premise of the book.

I don’t read a lot of stories where the protagonist is helping pay bills and takes care of a younger sibling to the point that they are basically like a parent to their sibling, but it wasn’t until I was reading this book that I realized how tired I am of this trope.  The parents aren’t in the picture, and Lucy is left to get a job once the money her mom left runs out, and it was just really frustrating to read.  Especially because nothing really gets resolved in terms of her mom leaving.  There really isn’t anything resolved in terms of her dad either, but given her dad is in a halfway house, it makes sense things aren’t really resolved with him.  But we never find out if her mom comes back, or even find out what’s going on with her mom while she’s gone.

And we don’t really get anything about why her parents left, and why Lucille is left to take care of her younger sister. We do get a little bit of backstory, but we’re sort of thrown into Lucy taking care of her sister with no explanation. I also didn’t understand what the point of them leaving was when their story wasn’t completely resolved.

Things are really unresolved at the end of the book, and there are so many things going on that everything is left fairly open-ended at the end of the book.  I don’t mind when things are a little unresolved, but I felt like things were going in so many different directions that I wasn’t sure where the book was going, and things felt glossed over.  I felt things weren’t dealt with very well, especially with how short the book is.

As for the romance…I didn’t feel it at all.  For one thing, Digby cheated on his girlfriend, and she wasn’t really in the book until the end (I think- but I can’t really remember, but I’m pretty sure either her or someone close to her did show up at the end).  I’m confused about why he even needed a girlfriend if she doesn’t even show up. He didn’t even seem interested in Lucille, and then they kiss and all of a sudden, he’s interested in her.  I felt like there was no chemistry between them.

I felt for Lucille, and she was in a tough position, but she also didn’t really stand out to me as a character.  She did seem to have some support from her neighbors and from Digby, and even a little from her best friend, before her best friend gave her the silent treatment for no apparent reason.  I didn’t really feel their friendship, and that too was a little lackluster for me.

I didn’t like the attitude some people seemed to have that it was perfectly okay for a 17-year-old to take care of her sister, and not call anyone about it.  It does seem like a small town, but still.  Just because Lucille’s mom and aunt were in a similar situation when they were kids doesn’t mean it’s okay for Lucille to have to take on that role, even though Lucille is 17-going-on-18.  It’s okay, because her mom went through something similar?  No, it’s not okay. It just really bothered me that people knew and just randomly filled her kitchen up with food.

Blog Graphic- My Rating

1 star.  I didn’t like This Raging Light- I thought it was going in too many different directions that were never fully resolved, and the romance was pretty lackluster.

Book Review: Gabi, A Girl In Pieces by Isabel Quintero

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Gabi, A Girl In Pieces CoverBook: Gabi, A Girl In Pieces by Isabel Quintero

Published October 2014 by Cinco Puntos Press|284 pages

Where I Got It: I borrowed the paperback from the library

Series: None

Genre: YA Contemporary

Blog Graphic-What It's About

Gabi Hernandez chronicles her last year in high school in her diary: college applications, Cindy’s pregnancy, Sebastian’s coming out, the cute boys, her father’s meth habit, and the food she craves. And best of all, the poetry that helps forge her identity.

July 24

My mother named me Gabriella, after my grandmother who, coincidentally, didn’t want to meet me when I was born because my mother was unmarried, and therefore living in sin. My mom has told me the story many, many, MANY, times of how, when she confessed to my grandmother that she was pregnant with me, her mother beat her. BEAT HER! She was twenty-five. That story is the basis of my sexual education and has reiterated why it’s important to wait until you’re married to give it up. So now, every time I go out with a guy, my mom says, “Ojos abiertos, piernas cerradas.” Eyes open, legs closed. That’s as far as the birds and the bees talk has gone. And I don’t mind it. I don’t necessarily agree with that whole wait until you’re married crap, though. I mean, this is America and the 21st century; not Mexico one hundred years ago. But, of course, I can’t tell my mom that because she will think I’m bad. Or worse: trying to be White.

Blog Graphic- What I Thought

I really liked Gabi, A Girl In Pieces!  I can’t believe it’s Quintero’s debut novel, because, for some reason, I thought that Quintero was a lot of other books out there.

I really liked Gabi’s story, and how it’s told through diary entries.  Something about this book made me think of Princess Diaries, and I think they’re a good read alike for each other.  Gabi’s honest, and she has to deal with so many things.  I really felt for her, and I really liked her and there’s something about her that made me want to hug her. She’s also really funny, and I really wish that a book like this was out when I was in high school, because I am pretty sure teenage me would have LOVED it.  I still really like it, though, and I think the thing I related to the most was how she sometimes felt insecure about how she looked (don’t we all, though?) and I can really relate to turning lobster red after being in the sun for a while.

I feel like Gabi is so aware of everything going on in her life- the diary format really gets her to reflect on things, and we really see her change over the course of a year.  There’s something very sincere about Gabi and she does have her flaws, but I love that she’s flawed, and doesn’t try to be anyone other than herself.

I did want to talk about the cover!  This is a book I’ve wanted to read for a while, and while I like that the cover is totally how Gabi sees herself, and that it’s a color version of the illustration we see in the book, that she draws for her zine.  I can see people not picking up the book because of the cover, but if you can get past the cover, this really is a great book.

Blog Graphic- My Rating

4 stars.  I didn’t love it, but Gabi definitely has a unique voice!

Book Review: Soundless by Richelle Mead

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Soundless CoverBook: Soundless by Richelle Mead

Published November 2015 by Razorbill|266 pages

Where I Got It: I borrowed the hardcover from the library

Series: None

Genre: YA Fantasy

Blog Graphic-What It's About

In a village without sound…

For as long as Fei can remember, no one in her village has been able to hear. Rocky terrain and frequent avalanches make it impossible to leave the village, so Fei and her people are at the mercy of a zipline that carries food up the treacherous cliffs from Beiguo, a mysterious faraway kingdom.

When villagers begin to lose their sight, deliveries from the zipline shrink. Many go hungry. Fei and all the people she loves are plunged into crisis, with nothing to look forward to but darkness and starvation.

One girl hears a call to action…

Until one night, Fei is awoken by a searing noise. Sound becomes her weapon.

She sets out to uncover what’s happened to her and to fight the dangers threatening her village. A handsome miner with a revolutionary spirit accompanies Fei on her quest, bringing with him new risks and the possibility of romance. They embark on a majestic journey from the peak of their jagged mountain village to the valley of Beiguo, where a startling truth will change their lives forever…

And unlocks a power that will save her people.

Blog Graphic- What I Thought

I was really intrigued by Soundless, because not only is it a fantsasy inspired by Chinese mythology, but it’s a village comprised of people who cannot hear.  Unfortunately, Soundless was really lackluster, and I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would.  Actually, I didn’t like it at all.

First of all, this book is a stand-alone, and I don’t know that fantasy works very well as a stand-alone.  It’s just, how do you give enough world-building to make the world feel real, while also keeping the story contained to one book? It seems like something that’s very hard to balance and do well, and things were really vague and pretty much happened because they needed to happen with no real explanation.

As for Fei’s village…I was intrigued by the fact that they couldn’t hear, but it didn’t work for me.  It came across as them being telepathic, rather than signing to each other, and I actually forgot that they couldn’t hear until signing was mentioned.  I don’t know if it’s something that doesn’t come across well in print, or if maybe it can be done well in print, but not with how Mead did it in this book, but it really came across as mental telepathy.  I did like how some of their signs were different than signs in a couple of near-by villages, and I wish we got more of that.  And back to the vagueness of world-building, I thought why they had issues with hearing and, for some, seeing, was interesting, but could have been a lot more interesting with more background.

And…I didn’t really get the sense that the book was steeped in Chinese mythology.  Granted, I know nothing about about Chinese mythology and folklore, so maybe that’s why I didn’t get the connection to Chinese mythology.  But at the same time, I felt like, if you changed the character names, Fei’s village could have been on any mountain on any continent.  It seemed like the names were the only part of the book that were Chinese.

Overall, I really wanted to like the story, but I couldn’t.  Which is a little disappointing, because her Vampire Academy series was a lot of fun too read, and the concept is such a cool idea.  Maybe Soundless would have worked better as a series, instead of trying to fit everything into one book.

Blog Graphic- My Rating

1 star.  Soundless fell really flat for me, and it could have been really interesting, but unfortunately, it had a lot of things working against it.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books On My Spring TBR

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Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely folks over at The Broke And The Bookish.  Every week, bloggers share their own bookish top ten lists based on the topic of the week.  You can check out Ten Tuesdays here.

Blog Graphic- Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Books On My Spring TBR

There are a lot of books I want to read this spring, and it was a little hard picking just ten.  These ten are the ones at the top of my list!

  1. The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey.  The movie trailer really made me want to read the book!  Which has been sitting on my shelf for at least 2 or 3 years.  I am very determined to read it, and soon!
  2. Among The Janeites by Deborah Yaffe.  This look at the Jane Austen fandom looks really cool!
  3. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris.  I’m pretty sure I’ve read the first two or three Sookie Stackhouse books, but that was well before I started blogging, but I did buy the e-book on sale ages ago, and when I was randomly looking through my TBR on goodreads, I thought spring might be a good time to re-read it!
  4. The Heart Of Betrayal by Mary Pearson.  Somehow, I never got around to reading it last year, and I really need to read it before the next book comes out!
  5. Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy by Karen Abbott.  I’ve heard a lot about this book, and considering I really like history, this book seems up my alley!
  6. Actually, pretty much any of the non-fiction I have on my shelves.  Why do I not read more non-fiction?
  7. Night Study by Maria V. Snyder.  I can’t wait to see what’s going on with Yelena!
  8. More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera.  This book seems like a book I’d like- even though books about characters who are dealing with the suicide of a loved one are hit-or-miss for me, I’m still intrigued with this one.
  9. Mouse Guard: Spring 1153 by David Petersen.  It’s warrior mice!  And the first two were absolutely adorable, and I just need to read this one.
  10. A Court Of Thorns And Roses by Sarah J. Maas.  I really want to read it!  I’ve heard a lot about it, and I really liked Throne Of Glass, so I definitely need to read it!

Book Review: Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone

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Every Last Word CoverBook: Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone

Published June 2015 by Disney Press|257 pages

Where I Got It: I own the e-book

Series: None

Genre: YA Contemporary

Blog Graphic- What I Thought

If you could read my mind, you wouldn’t be smiling.

Samantha McAllister looks just like the rest of the popular girls in her junior class. But hidden beneath the straightened hair and expertly applied makeup is a secret that her friends would never understand: Sam has Purely-Obsessional OCD and is consumed by a stream of dark thoughts and worries that she can’t turn off.

Second-guessing every move, thought, and word makes daily life a struggle, and it doesn’t help that her lifelong friends will turn toxic at the first sign of a wrong outfit, wrong lunch, or wrong crush. Yet Sam knows she’d be truly crazy to leave the protection of the most popular girls in school. So when Sam meets Caroline, she has to keep her new friend with a refreshing sense of humor and no style a secret, right up there with Sam’s weekly visits to her psychiatrist.

Caroline introduces Sam to Poet’s Corner, a hidden room and a tight-knit group of misfits who have been ignored by the school at large. Sam is drawn to them immediately, especially a guitar-playing guy with a talent for verse, and starts to discover a whole new side of herself. Slowly, she begins to feel more “normal” than she ever has as part of the popular crowd…until she finds a new reason to question her sanity and all she holds dear.

Blog Graphic- What I Thought

This book is so, so special!  It’s my favorite book of the year so far, and I love it for so many reasons!

Like, I love that there’s a book about a character who’s OCD.  It’s nice to see a book about someone who’s not depressed/suicidal.  Don’t get me wrong, there are some fantastic books that deal with depression/suicide, but it’s really nice to see a book that deal with mental illness- and something that’s not depression.  Reading this book really makes me want to read more books that deal with mental illness that’s not depression.

I also love that she sees a psychiatrist, and that we actually see her sessions- and that while she worries about her friends finding out, she does work hard to not let it take over her life.  I loved that she had swimming and that she had the Poet’s Corner, and that poetry became such a great outlet for her.  The poetry throughout the book was beautiful, and she has such good friends in the Poet’s Corner.

The ending had me crying, and it was one I didn’t see coming, but at the same time, it somehow fit with what was going on in Sam’s life.

I also really liked the aspect of Sam’s friendships with the popular girls.  It was interesting to see her have such toxic relationships, and how hard it was for her to let them go because they had such a shared history.  But she really did become a lot stronger than she already was, and she really become someone completely amazing.

The note that Stone had at the end of the book was also really nice to read because it felt like Stone put a lot of care into the book, and into making sure that her portrayal of Sam was authentic and accurate as possible. Something about Sam’s story rang true, and while it isn’t representative of every single experience of OCD,  I also thought it was a really great representation of one person’s story.

Blog Graphic- My Rating

5 stars.  I think this book is really special and amazing, and words cannot express how much I loved this book!

Book Review: Ten Things I Hate About Me by Randa Abdel-Fattah

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0-545-05055-3Book #1: Ten Things I Hate About Me by Randa Abdel-Fattah

Published January 2009 by Orchard Books|304 pages

Where I Got It: I borrowed the hardcover from the library

Series: None

Genre: YA Contemporary

What It’s About: Randa Abdel-Fattah’s new novel about about finding your place in life…and learning to accept yourself and your culture.

“At school I’m Aussie-blonde Jamie- one of the crowd. At home I’m Muslim Jamilah- driven mad by my Stone Age dad. I should win an Oscar for my acting skills. But I can’t keep it up for much longer…”

Jamie just wants to fit in. She doesn’t want to be seen as a stereotypical Muslim girl, so she does everything possible to hide that part of herself. Even if it means pushing her friends away because she’s afraid to let them know her dad forbids her from hanging out with boys or that she secretly loves to play the darabuka (Arabic drums).

What I Thought: I really liked it!  After reading Does My Head Look Big In This? last year (and really liking it- it was in the running for one of my favorite books), I knew I wanted to read Abdel-Fattah’s other books!  I really liked Jamie, and I feel like she’s someone we can all relate to because I think we all have parts of ourselves that we want to hide from others.  And with how some of her classmates treat people from other ethnic backgrounds, I don’t blame her for wanting to hide that part of herself, especially with how people see Muslims and people from Middle East. Abdel-Fattah did such a great job at showing how she struggles with her identity within two cultures.  I did like that she became more open at the end of the book, and that she revealed Jamilah to her classmates- and it really made me wish we saw a little bit more of that in the book!

My Rating: 4 stars.  I really liked it, and it’s definitely worth reading!

Rebels By Accident CoverBook #2: Rebels By Accident by Patricia Dunn

Published December 2014 by Sourcebooks|223 pages

Where I Got It: I own the e-book

Series: None

Genre: YA Contemporary

What It’s About: Mariam Just Wants to Fit In.

That’s not easy when she’s the only Egyptian at her high school and her parents are super traditional. So when she sneaks into a party that gets busted, Mariam knows she’s in trouble…big trouble.

Convinced she needs more discipline and to reconnect with her roots, Mariam’s parents send her to Cairo to stay with her grandmother, her sittu.

But Marian’s strict sittu and the country of her heritage are nothing like she imagined, challenging everything Mariam once believed.

As Mariam searches for the courage to be true to herself, a teen named Asmaa calls on the people of Egypt to protest their president. The country is on the brink of revolution—and now, in her own way, so is Mariam.

What I Thought: I thought Rebels By Accident was just okay- overall, I’m feeling sort of ambivalent about it. There were some things about the book I thought were odd.  Like, Mariam’s parents, who are really strict, are somehow okay with sending her to Egypt to stay with her grandmother…with the best friend who she went to the party with. Really?  You think her BFF is a bad influence, and you’re really strict, and yet you’re completely okay with the two of them flying to Egypt by themselves?  I really don’t get it, but I’m hoping there’s a cultural aspect I’m missing.

I also thought there would be more about the dissent in Egypt, and yet we don’t get a lot of it.  I get that it’s before things really got going, but for some reason, I thought it would have a bigger role in the story.  I also felt like it was more of a fun outing that staying with her grandmother as a form of punishment.  I didn’t care for Mariam- we all have insecurities, but it seemed over the top with her, and a bit too stereotypical.  Also stereotypical was her best friend, who seemed to be trying a little too hard to learn everything possible about Egyptian culture (it could have been nice, but it was just annoying).

My Rating: 2 stars.  It’s okay, but her parents sending her to Egypt made zero sense, I really wanted more of the dissent/political issues going on, and Mariam and her best friend fell flat.

Proxy CoverBook #3: Proxy by Alex London

Published June 2013 by Philomel Books|384 pages

Where I Got It: I borrowed the hardcover from the library

Series: Proxy #1

Genre: YA Dystopic

What It’s About: Knox was born into one of the City’s wealthiest families. A Patron, he has everything a boy could possibly want—the latest tech, the coolest clothes, and a Proxy to take all his punishments. When Knox breaks a vase, Syd is beaten. When Knox plays a practical joke, Syd is forced to haul rocks. And when Knox crashes a car, killing one of his friends, Syd is branded and sentenced to death.

Syd is a Proxy. His life is not his own.

Then again, neither is Knox’s. Knox and Syd have more in common than either would guess. So when Knox and Syd realize that the only way to beat the system is to save each other, they flee. Yet Knox’s father is no ordinary Patron, and Syd is no ordinary Proxy. The ensuing cross-country chase will uncover a secret society of rebels, test both boys’ resolve, and shine a blinding light onto a world of those who owe and those who pay. Some debts, it turns out, cannot be repaid.

What I Thought: Proxy was a book I was really intrigued by, but I end up thinking it was okay.  While the actual concept of a proxy is interesting, I didn’t really like it as much as I thought.  For some reason, I thought we see more from that part of it, but we only see Syd get one punishment.  I guess it makes sense, because you need to focus on one thing, but honestly, something about it didn’t work for me.  It was a lot more boring/uninteresting than I thought, and it’s a pretty forgettable book.  I did like that Proxy’s are named after literary figures.  And that Syd is gay added something to the book, though I can’t explain why.  It did seem like there might have more to that story line, and it fizzled and got lost in everything else going on.  Knox was obnoxious, and Syd is a little sympathetic, but overall, I wasn’t terribly invested in what happened to Syd.

My Rating: 2 stars.  It’s an interesting idea, but overall, pretty forgettable.  Even though the ending was interesting, it wasn’t enough to make me want to pick up the next book.

Currently Obsessed With: February 2016

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Currently Obsessed With is a once-a-month (but sometimes more) feature where I talk about my favorite things from the last month!

Currently Obsessed With

February was pretty uneventful…except for finding out that the script for Harry Potter And The Cursed Child was going to be released as a book.  Other than that, not much happened in February.

Crochet:

I started out doing a granny square a week…only to pretty much abandon it last month.  I do want to get back on track with it, though.  And I’ve been working on a granny square blanket for myself, which seems to be going a lot faster than the other blanket I’ve been working on.  I know there’s going to be green (once I’m done with the blue), and I have a multi-colored yarn that has purple, pink, green and blue that I want to use, but I’m not sure if I want to add any other colors.  I think I definitely want to see how big it is once I’m done with the green- I sort of want to use the variegated yarn for a border, so the size of the blanket will probably determine if I keep going with the blanket.

I’m doing a color-blocked thing with the blanket, mostly because I don’t want to change yarn every couple of rows and weave in all of those ends, but I think it’ll look a lot cooler doing one color at a time.  Come to think of it, I’ve always wanted to do a rainbow blanket, so if I keep going, I might do that.  And I’ll definitely have to soften it once I’m done, because I’m using Red Heart Super Saver, and it’s a bit scratchy, so softening it is definitely in order.

Books:

I bought a few books last month!  On my Nook, I got Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Adichie (which I read last year and LOVED), This Raging Light by Estelle Laure, A Court Of Thorns And Roses by Sarah J. Maas, The Governess Affair by Courtney Milan, Six Gun Snow White by Catherynne Valente, and The Boy In The Black Suit by Jason Reynolds.

Books- Feb 2016

I also pre-ordered Harry Potter And The Cursed Child, and I bought Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick, Aristotle And Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz and the Oh She Glows cookbook on a recent trip into Barnes And Noble.  And Night Study by Maria V. Snyder from Audible.  So it quite a month for book buying, but I’ve been pretty good about not buying a lot of books, so, somehow, it felt okay to buy a few. Plus, a lot of them were on sale, so that helped!

T.V./Movies:

Movies: I saw Deadpool, which was an awesome movie!  It was a lot of fun, and there were a lot of funny moments.

T.V.: I’ve been catching up on stuff on Hulu!  I forgot that I had a few random episodes from last year that I never got around to watching, and I didn’t realize that some of my shows had started, so I haven’t watched anything on Netflix lately.

Around The Internet:

I love this post about fiction being unrealistic.

This article about fruits and vegetables and how they taste better in Europe was really interesting.

This blog post defending romance is pretty awesome.

I really liked this post about the damaged girl narrative.

Another blog post I liked was this one about religion in YA.

This article about surrogacy was really interesting.

This book, this one, and also this one aren’t books I would normally go for, but I randomly came across them, and they seem interesting.

I can relate to this post about being proud of being a Hufflepuff.

There is definitely a stigma to doing things alone.  There shouldn’t be.

Diversity In Books: YA needs more diversity, We Need Diverse Books has a post about ways to describe hair, YALSA talks about asexuality in YA, Respiring Thoughts has a great post about diversifying the literary canon, this post about calling a disabled person inspirational was interesting and eye-opening, Reading Brightly talks about why we need more diversity in YA, and Ellen Oh has an awesome post on tumblr.

You can find more cool things I came across over on Pinterest!

Music:

1- Renegades by X Ambassadors.  I love this song right now.

2- Stressed Out by twenty one pilots.  I didn’t like this song at first, but it’s grown on me.

3- Cups from Pitch Perfect.  I don’t know why, but lately, I can’t stop listening to this song.

I think that’s all for today.  Hope you have a great day!

Book Review: All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely

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All American Boys CoverBook: All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely

Published September 2015 by Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books|196 pages

Where I Got It: I own the e-book

Series: None

Genre: YA Contemporary

Blog Graphic-What It's About

In an unforgettable new novel from award-winning authors Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely, two teens—one black, one white—grapple with the repercussions of a single violent act that leaves their school, their community, and, ultimately, the country bitterly divided by racial tension.

A bag of chips. That’s all sixteen-year-old Rashad is looking for at the corner bodega. What he finds instead is a fist-happy cop, Paul Galluzzo, who mistakes Rashad for a shoplifter, mistakes Rashad’s pleadings that he’s stolen nothing for belligerence, mistakes Rashad’s resistance to leave the bodega as resisting arrest, mistakes Rashad’s every flinch at every punch the cop throws as further resistance and refusal to STAY STILL as ordered. But how can you stay still when someone is pounding your face into the concrete pavement?

But there were witnesses: Quinn Collins—a varsity basketball player and Rashad’s classmate who has been raised by Paul since his own father died in Afghanistan—and a video camera. Soon the beating is all over the news and Paul is getting threatened with accusations of prejudice and racial brutality. Quinn refuses to believe that the man who has basically been his savior could possibly be guilty. But then Rashad is absent. And absent again. And again. And the basketball team—half of whom are Rashad’s best friends—start to take sides. As does the school. And the town. Simmering tensions threaten to explode as Rashad and Quinn are forced to face decisions and consequences they had never considered before.

Written in tandem by two award-winning authors, this tour de force shares the alternating perspectives of Rashad and Quinn as the complications from that single violent moment, the type taken from the headlines, unfold and reverberate to highlight an unwelcome truth.

Blog Graphic- What I Thought

This is a book everyone needs to read!  This book is so, so important, because it’s a story that is all too familiar because of the different news stories we’ve seen recently.

What I really liked about this book was that we see Rashad and Quinn narrate the book, and how they both have to deal with what happened.  I loved seeing the friendships and family and decisions that both boys had to face, and the consequences of those decisions.  Kiely and Reynolds, overall, do a wonderful job of telling this story. It’s so realistic that there were times where I forgot I was reading fiction, because it really felt like I was reading something right out of the news.

We have a moment where we learn something about Rashad’s dad that made me seem more real somehow, and I sort of wish we had that for Paul, the police officer involved.  There were points where I was so angry with what he said, especially when he was talking to Quinn about what happened.  It totally contradicted what we see happen earlier in the book, and he really comes across as a horrible person- and as much as I want to believe that he’s a good person, it was really hard to see that after what he did to Rashad.

I really wish the book were longer- even though we see such a violent incident, and the week after, I really wish we saw more of what happened after the protest.  There were a few loose ends that I wish were resolved or tied up somehow, but all things considered, the book is very powerful as is.

Blog Graphic- My Rating

4 stars.  All-American Boys is such a powerful, important book that everyone needs to read.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Recent Books I Enjoyed That Weren’t My Typical Reads

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Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely folks over at The Broke And The Bookish.  Every week, bloggers share their own bookish top ten lists based on the topic of the week.  You can check out Ten Tuesdays here.

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Top Ten Recent Books I Enjoyed That Weren’t My Typical Reads

Over the last year, I’ve made it a goal to read more books that aren’t in my usual comfort zone of YA (and reading more diversely in general, but particularly within YA).  It actually made hard and easy- easy, because I had a lot of books to choose from, but hard because of narrowing down the choices!  These were the ten that stood out the most!

  1. The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith.  Mysteries aren’t normally a genre I read, but since it’s written by J.K. Rowling herself, I figured I’d give it a try…and I really liked it!  She is really good with mysteries, which wasn’t a surprise, for some reason, but I definitely want to read her other ones.
  2. The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.  I tend to stick to history when I read non-fiction, but I’m glad I heard about this one!  It is sort of historical, but it focuses more on science, which is something I don’t read a lot, but this book was worth it!
  3. Fledgling by Octavia Butler.  I’ve wanted to read Octavia Butler for a while, and last year, I was really glad I listened to this one!  I know she’s big in sci-fi, and I can see why with this one!
  4. The Martian by Andy Weir.  Again, I don’t read a lot of sci-fi, particularly adult sci-fi, but this was a book I heard a lot about last year, so I knew I had to pick it up.  It’s funny, and I kept rooting for Mark Watney.  I still need to see the movie (I sort of wish I had seen it in theaters, but that’s not going to stop me from watching it anyway), but it really was a great listen.
  5. Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor.  I really liked this post-apocalyptic book set in Africa!  It’s also inspired by African myths, and I really liked that, because it’s nice reading something not inspired by Greek myths.
  6. Sorcerer’s & Secretaries by Amy Kim Kibushi.  Manga is something I want to read more, and Sorcerer’s & Secretaries is one of my favorites that I read last year.  I related a lot to Nicole (and I still like that we share a name), and it’s magical and whimsical, and we all need more magic and whimsy in our lives.
  7. Taking Flight by Michaela DePrince.  I was really taken with this memoir, and how Michaela worked so hard to reach her dream of being a ballerina.  She never felt sorry for herself, and I really admire her determination.
  8. Mouse Guard: Winter 1152 by David Petersen.  Mouse Guard is completely awesome, and so far, it’s the only graphic novel I’ve finished and really liked.  Plus, it’s adorable warrior mice, and you can’t go wrong with that.
  9. Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.  This book made me realize how lucky I am and how much I take for granted.  She told a completely brilliant story, and I have no idea why it’s taking me so long to read her other books.
  10. Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor.  I know this is the second book from Okorafor that I’ve mentioned, but she really deserves it!  I love how she uses African myths in her books, and it makes me want to keep reading because I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next.

Book Review: Pivot Point by Kasie West

Posted in Books by

Pivot Point CoverBook: Pivot Point by Kasie West

Published February 2013 by HarperCollins|248 pages

Where I Got It: I own the e-book

Series: Pivot Point #1

Genre: YA Paranormal

Blog Graphic-What It's AboutKnowing the outcome doesn’t always make a choice easier…

Addison Coleman’s life is one big “What if?” As a Searcher, whenever Addie is faced with a choice, she can look into the future and see both outcomes. It’s the ultimate insurance plan against disaster. Or so she thought. When Addie’s parents ambush her with the news of their divorce, she has to pick who she wants to live with—her father, who is leaving the paranormal compound to live among the “Norms,” or her mother, who is staying in the life Addie has always known. Addie loves her life just as it is, so her answer should be easy. One Search six weeks into the future proves it’s not.

In one potential future, Addie is adjusting to life outside the Compound as the new girl in a Norm high school where she meets Trevor, a cute, sensitive artist who understands her. In the other path, Addie is being pursued by the hottest guy in school—but she never wanted to be a quarterback’s girlfriend. When Addie’s father is asked to consult on a murder in the Compound, she’s unwittingly drawn into a dangerous game that threatens everything she holds dear. With love and loss in both lives, it all comes down to which reality she’s willing to live through…and who she can’t live without.

Blog Graphic- What I Thought

I’ve wanted to read Pivot Point for a while, but now that I have, I’m not sure how I feel about it.

On the one hand, I love the idea of a girl who can Search her future.  It’s an interesting concept, and the idea of a paranormal compound full of people who have paranormal abilities is a pretty cool idea.

I also like that we see both futures side-by-side-, and how they’re different from each other…but also how they mirror each other.  The book alternates between her life in the Compound and her life outside the Compound, and we’re basically getting two sides of the same story, which is really unique, and it’s pretty well-plotted.

That’s also where the book lost me.  At first, I didn’t realize that we got two different stories, and I was confused by the random jumps between inside the Compound and outside the Compound.  Especially because we had nothing in terms of chapter headings and where we were.  I did go back to the beginning and started over just to figure out what was going on because I was really confused, and that was when I figured out we got the two different futures.

Once I got my bearings (which is sort of a weird way to put it, but it also describes how I feel about the book), I really enjoyed the book and the story and the two different paths the story took.  It did lose me a little at the end too, because I thought the ending was a little too weird.  It took me off-guard, and it was definitely unexpected, because I had no idea where it was going or how it was going to end.  But that last chapter was sort of confusing because I wasn’t expecting a time jump and it was a little disorienting.  While I want to re-read that chapter to see maybe a re-read will sort things out, I also feel done with the book.

Still, I am curious about the sequel, and what’s in store for Addison.  I’m not in any hurry to read the next one, but I will get to it eventually, because I am pretty intrigued by this world.

Blog Graphic- My Rating

3 stars.  I’m on the fence with this one- I liked the dual futures we see alternating, and I like that they’re just different enough from each other to be distinct, but also have similar enough stories to see that some things don’t change no matter what path you take.  There were times when the dual paths lost me, notably at the beginning and the end, but overall, all of the things I really like outweigh everything else, which is why it’s not getting a lower rating from me.