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Book Review: Code Name Verity

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Code Name Verity CoverBook: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Published May 2013  by Disney-Hyperion|339 pages

Where I Got It/Format: paperback from Barnes & Noble

Series: Code Name Verity #1

Genre: YA Historical Fiction- World War 2

You can find Code Name Verity on goodreads & Elizabeth Wein on Twitter and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

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

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

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

A Michael L. Printz Award Honor book that was called “a fiendishly-plotted mind game of a novel” in The New York Times, Code Name Verity is a visceral read of danger, resolve, and survival that shows just how far true friends will go to save each other.

What I Thought:

I finally read Code Name Verity!  I’ve been putting it off for ages, because so many people have loved it, and I was scared that it wouldn’t live up to the hype.  I liked Code Name Verity, but for some reason, the story wasn’t what I was expecting.

To be honest, I found Verity’s story to be confusing, and the story didn’t make sense until Maddie took over the narration.  I really felt like I was missing something, and I’m not sure if it’s because I’m a total idiot or if I wasn’t paying attention, or if maybe it takes at least a couple reads for it to make sense.

Multiple narrators are very much hit-or-miss for me, and unfortunately, this was a huge miss for me. I wasn’t expecting the first half to be narrated by one person, and the second half to be narrated by another person. Part of it is that I’m very used to alternating chapters, but I also felt like Code Name Verity had two different stories that didn’t go well together.  By the end of the book, I just didn’t really care about either girl or what happened to them.  I felt disconnected from what was going on, and I didn’t really find either girl’s story to be compelling.

The way the story was told didn’t work for me- Maddie’s story is woven in through Verity’s part of the novel, alongside the information that her German captors want.  I think that is largely why Verity’s narration didn’t work for me, because the different styles didn’t work together.  Maddie’s half of the story was infinitely more interesting but at that point in the book, I was just wanted to be done with it.  I know their stories are connected, but the way the two stories were told made the book seem more confusing and jumbled than it needed to be.

I know the book is about their friendship, and what they’ll do to save each other, but I…their friendship…there’s something about it that felt a little bit forced and fake.  It just didn’t seem that believable to me, and I have no idea why.

Still, I like that the book focuses on two girls doing their part in the war effort, and that one is a spy, while the other is a pilot. I also like that Wein includes a bibliography at the end of the book, which is quite unusual for YA historical fiction (n my experience).

Let’s Rate It:

Maddie’s narration is what made Code Name Verity much more interesting.  Overall, I felt like Maddie and Verity’s stories would have worked better on their own, because their own stories didn’t come together for me.  Part of it is that I went in with too high expectations, and I’m feeling like the odd woman out for not connecting with it the way everyone else has. It’s still an interesting novel with World War 2 as a backdrop, and I like that it focuses on a different element of the War.  Code Name Verity gets 3 stars.

ARC Book Review: Goebbels: A Biography

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Goebbels A Biography CoverBook: Goebbels: A Biography by Petere Longerich, translated by Alan Bance, Jeremy Noakes & Lesley Sharpe

Expected Publication is October 14, 2014 by Random House: Expected Number Of Pages: 920

Where I Got It: netgalley.com, which hasn’t influenced my review in any way.  Promise!

Series: None

Genre: Adult Nonfiction- History/World War 2/Nazi Germany/Holocaust

You can find Goebbels: A Biography on goodreads

Goodreads Summary: 

From renowned German Holocaust historian Peter Longerich comes the definitive one-volume biography of Adolf Hitler’s malevolent minister of propaganda.

In life, and in the grisly manner of his death, Joseph Goebbels was one of Adolf Hitler’s most loyal acolytes. By the end, no one in the Berlin bunker was closer to the Führer than his devoted Reich minister for public enlightenment and propaganda. But how did this clubfooted son of a factory worker rise from obscurity to become Hitler’s most trusted lieutenant and personally anointed successor?

In this ground-breaking biography, Peter Longerich sifts through the historical record—and thirty thousand pages of Goebbels’s own diary entries—to provide the answer to that question. Longerich, the first historian to make use of the Goebbels diaries in a biographical work, engages and challenges the self-serving portrait the propaganda chief left behind. Spanning thirty years, the diaries paint a chilling picture of a man driven by a narcissistic desire for recognition who found the personal affirmation he craved within the virulently racist National Socialist movement. Delving into the mind of his subject, Longerich reveals how Goebbels’s lifelong search for a charismatic father figure inexorably led him to Hitler, to whom he ascribed almost godlike powers.

This comprehensive biography documents Goebbels’s ascent through the ranks of the Nazi Party, where he became a member of the Führer’s inner circle and launched a brutal campaign of anti-Semitic propaganda. Though endowed with near-dictatorial control of the media—film, radio, press, and the fine arts—Longerich’s Goebbels is a man dogged by insecurities and beset by bureaucratic infighting. He feuds with his bitter rivals Hermann Göring and Alfred Rosenberg, unsuccessfully advocates for a more radical line of “total war,” and is thwarted in his attempt to pursue a separate peace with the Allies during the waning days of World War II. This book also reveals, as never before, Goebbels’s twisted personal life—his mawkish sentimentality, manipulative nature, and voracious sexual appetite.

A harrowing look at the life of one of history’s greatest monsters, Goebbels delivers fresh insight into how the Nazi message of hate was conceived, nurtured, and disseminated. This complete portrait of the man behind that message is sure to become a standard for historians and students of the Holocaust for decades to come.

What I Thought:

I’m definitely fascinated with World War 2, especially with Nazi Germany, so when I was intrigued by this biography of Goebbels when I saw it on netgalley.  I know the name and that he was charge of propaganda, but other than that, I didn’t know anything, so I definitely wanted to learn more about him.

This biography is definitely daunting and very, very detailed- it’s an astounding  900+ pages, and it was definitely a marathon of a book.  Nothing really jumped out at me as particularly interesting, other than Goebbels studied philosophy and that he was loyal to Hitler, to the point of murdering his children before taking his own life.  I feel like, at the end of the book, I knew as much about him as I did before I started the book.

It’s definitely dense (and on the dry side) and I had to fight the urge to skim the book (which I maybe did at certain points throughout the book).  I don’t know that it’s the best book for someone who doesn’t know much about Goebbels, and since it leans more to the scholarly end of things, it might be better suited for people who are really into World World 2 and Nazi Germany (especially those close to Hitler).

This biography really goes into depth about Goebbels and why he did the things he did, and what made him tick.  It’s also a really good look at some of what was going on during that time, because of his journals.  It’s also why it’s a slow read, because it’s very meticulous.

 Let’s Rate It:

This biography is definitely not a book for everyone, but still worth checking out for historians and students or for anyone studying the Holocaust or the Nazi’s (or World War 2).  Goebbels: A Biography gets 2 stars.

ARC Book Review: Stitching Snow

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Stitching Snow CoverBook: Stitching Snow by R.C. Lewis

Expected Publication is October 14, 2014 by Disney-Hyperion|Expected Number Of Pages: 338

Where I Got It: netgalley.com, which hasn’t influenced my review in any way.  Promise!

Series: None (as far as I can tell)

Genre: YA Re-telling/Fairy Tales/Science Fiction

You can find Stitching Snow on goodreads & R.C. Lewis on Twitter, Facebook & her website

Goodreads Summary: 

Princess Snow is missing.

Her home planet is filled with violence and corruption at the hands of King Matthias and his wife as they attempt to punish her captors. The king will stop at nothing to get his beloved daughter back—but that’s assuming she wants to return at all.

Essie has grown used to being cold. Temperatures on the planet Thanda are always sub-zero, and she fills her days with coding and repairs for the seven loyal drones that run the local mines.

When a mysterious young man named Dane crash-lands near her home, Essie agrees to help the pilot repair his ship. But soon she realizes that Dane’s arrival was far from accidental, and she’s pulled into the heart of a war she’s risked everything to avoid. With the galaxy’s future—and her own—in jeopardy, Essie must choose who to trust in a fiery fight for survival.

What I Thought:

So…I liked Stitching Snow, but not as much as I was expecting.  I felt like the story described in the summary is a different story than the story that unfolded.  And yet, there was much more to the story than I ever realized.

Stitching Snow very much reminded me of Cinder, so there may or may not be quite a few comparisons throughout my review.  Essie very much reminded me of Cinder, and Dimwit really reminded me of Iko, and Dane reminded me of Captain Thorne.  And her step-mom reminded me of Queen Lavana.

Basically, I’d describe the book as Cinder in space but with Snow White instead of Cinderella.

It’s not a horrible book- I did like it, and I like the idea of Essie fleeing to a different planet as a child, and surviving on a very different planet than the one she grew up on.  I like that she did what she needed to do to stop a huge war and take control of the crown.

It just wasn’t as compelling as I thought or hoped it would be.

Mostly, because this book seems to be a stand-alone and so the world-building and character development seemed minimal and glossed over.  We got bits and pieces of this world, but not to a level I would have liked. I think it’s because I went in expecting Stitching Snow to be a series- because, honestly, these kinds of stories usually are- so I was disappointed to see that the story was pretty much resolved by the end of the book.

I felt like nothing was really explained, and there were a few things about this world (Exiles and Transitioning, mostly) that were really confusing and made no sense whatsoever.  There are all of these different planets and the people that live on them have this history with each other, and yet, I could not tell you a single them about them.  And it’s the same with the characters, who didn’t really stand out to me.

It really is a shame, because I felt like some of the relationships could have had a lot more to them.  Like, Essie and her step-mom or Essie and her dad, and even her step-mom’s issues with her mom.

Everything felt really rushed to me, and I really do feel like Stitching Snow could have benefited from being a series, just to let everything develop over a slower pace.

Still, I like the overall story, and I’d definitely recommend to die-hard fairy tale fans and to people who haven’t read the Lunar Chronicles yet.  And if you have read the Lunar Chronicles, you may like it too, but maybe not as much.

What I Thought:

I liked Stitching Snow and the overall story, but I also wish that things didn’t feel as rushed, because I felt like the book had so much potential.  Stitching Snow gets 3 stars.

Audio Book Review: Dangerous Creatures

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Dangerous Creatures CoverBook: Dangerous Creautures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, narrated by Khristine Hvam

Published May 2014 by Hachette Audio|Run Time: 9 hours, 41 minutes

Where I Got It: audible.com

Series: Dangerous Creatures #1

Genre: YA Paranormal

You can find Dangerous Creatures on goodreads & you can find Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl on their websites

Goodreads Summary: 

Ridley Duchannes is nobody’s heroine. She’s a Dark Caster, a Siren. She can make you do things. Anything. You can’t trust her, or yourself when she s around. And she ll be the first to tell you to stay away especially if you’re going to do something as stupid as fall in love with her.

Lucky for Ridley, her wannabe rocker boyfriend, Wesley Link Lincoln, never listens to anyone. Link doesn t care if Rid’s no good for him, and he takes her along when he leaves small-town Gatlin to follow his rock-star dream. He teams up with a ragtag group of Dark Casters, and when the band scores a gig at a hot Underground club, it looks like all of Link’s dreams are about to come true.

But New York City is a dangerous place for both Casters and Mortals, and soon Ridley realizes that Link’s bandmates are keeping secrets. With bad-boy club owner Lennox Gates on her heels, Rid is determined to find out the truth. What she discovers is worse than she could have imagined: Link has a price on his head that no Caster or Mortal can ever pay. With their lives on the line, what s a Siren to do?

Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, the #1 New York Times bestselling coauthors of the Beautiful Creatures novels, are back to cast another magical spell. Their signature blend of mystery, suspense, and romance, with a healthy dose of wit and danger, will pull fans in and leave them begging for more.

What I Thought:

When I heard that there was going to be a Beautiful Creatures spin-off, I knew I had to read it.  And while spin-off series make me a little nervous, I am glad to say that I really liked Dangerous Creatures!

I was definitely curious about what would happen after the events of Dangerous Dream, the prequel novella. I kind of wish I had listened to it ahead of time for a refresher, but thankfully, you don’t need to read the prequel to know what’s going on. Although, if you haven’t read the original series, you might want to because it’s awesome, and because the world will make more sense.  (It does stand well on its own, though).

I am glad that Ridley and Link get their own story, and the world they get caught up in.  It was really weird seeing them on their own, with no Lena or Ethan or Amma or John or Liv or any of the other characters, but I feel like we’re getting a different side of the Caster world.  Of course, I do miss Gatlin and everyone there, and I didn’t quite fall in love with the new characters the way I fell in love with the characters from Beautiful Creatures, but I’m hoping that I’ll warm up to them by the end of the series.  At the same time, new characters fit with the story, and with a new series, it would be a little weird to have those familiar characters have a major role in the story.  (Still, they could pop up later on, given certain things that happen in the beginning).

I do love that we see the Caster world outside of Gatlin and how much of an effect Lena’s actions had on the entire Caster world, and not just the one in Gatlin.

What I like about Ridley being the narrator of the book is that we see how hard on herself she is.  I really felt for Ridley, and being a Siren has a lot of downsides I didn’t really think about in Beautiful Creatures.  This is a darker world, and I like that it’s darker than its parent series.  Ridley is definitely damaged and broken in her own way, and this dark Caster world…Ridley does seem to fit into really well.

And Link…I’m not sure how I feel about him.  Honestly, Ridley and her story took center stage…and I didn’t pay that much attention to Link, even though they travel to New York together and have quite the…adventure…there.  It’s such a great book for the fans of Beautiful Creatures.  It’s definitely a whirlwind, and I’m looking forward to the next book, because I can’t wait to see what’s in store for Ridley and Link, especially with that cliffhanger of an ending!

As for the narration, I thought Khristine Hvam was a great choice as a narrator!  I also liked that Kevin Collins made a few random appearances, singing as Link, and part of me wishes we got a bit more of Link singing.

Let’s Rate It:

Dangerous Creatures definitely doesn’t disappoint!  It’s a very different series than Beautiful Creatures, but I like that it’s such a different story.  I really felt for Ridley, and I’m hoping we get more of Link and the new characters in the rest of the series.  Dangerous Creatures gets 4 stars.

Book Review: Isla And The Happily Ever After, WITH SPOILERS

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Isla And The Happily Ever AfterBook: Isla And The Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins

Published August 2014 by Penguin|258 pages

Where I Got It: Nook store

Series: Anna And The French Kiss #3

Genre: YA Contemporary

You can find Isla And The Happily Ever After on goodreads & Stephanie Perkins on twitter, tumblr and her website

 Goodreads Summary: 

From the glittering streets of Manhattan to the moonlit rooftops of Paris, falling in love is easy for hopeless dreamer Isla and introspective artist Josh. But as they begin their senior year in France, Isla and Josh are quickly forced to confront the heartbreaking reality that happily-ever-afters aren’t always forever.

Their romantic journey is skillfully intertwined with those of beloved couples Anna and Étienne and Lola and Cricket, whose paths are destined to collide in a sweeping finale certain to please fans old and new.

What I Thought:

SO: SPOILERS ARE AHEAD, BECAUSE I CAN’T TALK ABOUT THIS BOOK AND NOT MENTION SOMETHING THAT HAPPENS AT THE END.  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.  I also apologize in advance for all of the caps I may or may not end up using…

OH. MY. GOD, YOU GUYS.  THIS BOOK.

It’s amazing.  Seriously amazing.  I can’t remember the last time I loved a book this much, and I am so glad to be excited about a book again.

Isla did this.  I love it as much as I love Anna And The French Kiss, and I love that book something fierce.

I just love Isla and Josh together, and I’m so glad we got to back to SOAP and revisit some characters that we got to see a little bit of in Anna.  I’m so glad they got their own book and story, because they are perfect together.  And they’re nearly as adorable as Anna and St. Clair.  Nearly.

All I feel like doing right now is squeeing.  With lots of arm flailing.  This is that kind of book.  I’m also that kind of person, and this book just brings that out even more than normal.  Just imagine me doing a happy dance.

Especially with the ending.  Because OH MY GOD ANNA AND ST. CLAIR GOT ENGAGED AT THE END OF THE BOOK.

WHY IS THERE NOT ANOTHER BOOK?  Because I have never wanted a sequel more than I want one right now, just to see Anna and St. Clair get married.  I think, of the three books in this “series,” Anna and Isla are my favorites.  I am thankful that Cricket and Lola and Calliope are what bring St. Clair and Anna back to Paris, but I still much prefer Anna and Isla.  (And St. Clair and Josh, of course).

Isla and Josh have their issues, which were frustrating at times, but I also loved seeing how hard it was for them.  They have such an intense relationship- it’s an intensity we never saw with Anna and St. Clair or with Lola and Cricket.  And Isla is such a different person than Anna or Lola- definitely more moody, I think.  And much more unsure of herself, which I actually  really liked, because I can so relate to her being unsure of what her future holds.

This book is special.  REALLY SPECIAL.  This is a book you really need to read.  It was a long wait for Isla, but it was so worth it. So very, very worth it.

I am glad that things worked out for Isla and Josh, who are are different than I ever imagined they would be when they first appeared in Anna.  Who knew that Josh was so talented?  I knew it was there, but I didn’t realize how much until this book. And Isla…I’ve already talked about how much I relate to her, and I just love her.  SO MUCH.

And I’m actually really glad that the covers were redesigned, because this cover?  Something about it makes me think of romance and happy endings and it’s just BEAUTIFUL.

Let’s Rate It:

So…in case you couldn’t tell, I LOVED Isla And The Happily Ever After.  LOVED.  IT.  It makes me wish I could give it many, many stars.  Okay, I might not be able to do that on goodreads, but this is my blog, and I’m giving every damn star I can possibly give it.  Officially, it gets 5+ stars!

Audio Book Review: Spook

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Spook CoverBook: Spook by Mary Roach, narrated by Bernadette Quigley

Published May 2008 by Brilliance Audio|Length: 8 hours, 34 minutes

Where I Got It: audible.com

Series: None

Genre: Adult Nonfiction- Science/Humor

You can find Spook on goodreads & Mary Roach on twitter and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

The best-selling author of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadaversnow trains her considerable wit and curiosity on the human soul.

What happens when we die? Does the light just go out and that’s that—the million-year nap? Or will some part of my personality, my me-ness persist? What will that feel like? What will I do all day? Is there a place to plug in my laptop?” In an attempt to find out, Mary Roach brings her tireless curiosity to bear on an array of contemporary and historical soul-searchers: scientists, schemers, engineers, mediums, all trying to prove (or disprove) that life goes on after we die. She begins the journey in rural India with a reincarnation researcher and ends up in a University of Virginia operating room where cardiologists have installed equipment near the ceiling to study out-of-body near-death experiences. Along the way, she enrolls in an English medium school, gets electromagnetically haunted at a university in Ontario, and visits a Duke University professor with a plan to weigh the consciousness of a leech. Her historical wanderings unearth soul-seeking philosophers who rummaged through cadavers and calves’ heads, a North Carolina lawsuit that established legal precedence for ghosts, and the last surviving sample of “ectoplasm” in a Cambridge University archive.

What I Thought: 

Of the Mary Roach books I’ve listened to (Stiff and Gulp), I thought I’d give Spook a try.  It seemed interesting and quirky enough, which seems to fit Mary Roach’s style, but it wasn’t as compelling or as interesting as I thought it would be.

I like that she took a more scientific approach to the afterlife, and the book has her trademark humor.  I definitely couldn’t help but laugh a few times.  Nothing really stood out to me as particularly interesting or memorable- other than the first chapter, where she spends time with someone in India researching reincarnation, the chapter where she spends some time at a medium school and how she felt out of place, and the bit about how people who had near-death experiences/out-of-body experiences kept seeing shoes.

I liked that each chapter was devoted to something different, and I liked that she focused on how people used to see death and the afterlife.  But I also felt like it was much more skewed to the past than the present, and I wish more of the present was included.

As for the narration, I really liked Bernadette Quigley!  I really pictured Mary Roach with Quigley narrating.  Quigley does do the occasional accent, and I can see that irritating some people, but it didn’t really bother me.

Let’s Rate It:

Overall, Stiff turned out to be just okay.  It’s interesting, but not a lot was very memorable to me, and I’m not sure if a scientific approach to the afterlife is necessarily the best approach.  Roach does bring a lot of humor to the topic, though. Spook gets 2 stars.

Audio Book Review: You Look Different In Real Life

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You Look Different In Real Life CoverBook: You Look Different In Real Life by Jennifer Castle, narrated by Samantha Quan

Published June 2013 by HarperAudio|Length: 8 hours, 29 minutes

Where I Got It: Audible.com

Series: None

Genre: YA Contemporary

You can find You Look Different In Real Life on goodreads & Jennifer Castle on Twitter, Facebook, and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

For the rest of the world, the movies are entertainment. For Justine, they’re real life.

The premise was simple: five kids, just living their lives. There’d be a new movie about them every five years, starting in kindergarten. But no one could have predicted what the cameras would capture. And no one could have predicted that Justine would be the star.

Now sixteen, Justine doesn’t feel like a star anymore. In fact, when she hears the crew has gotten the green light to film Five at Sixteen, all she feels is dread. The kids who shared the same table in kindergarten have become teenagers who hardly know one another. And Justine, who was so funny and edgy in the first two movies, feels like a disappointment.

But these teens have a bond that goes deeper than what’s on film. They’ve all shared the painful details of their lives with countless viewers. They all know how it feels to have fans as well as friends. So when this latest movie gives them the chance to reunite, Justine and her costars are going to take it. Because sometimes, the only way to see yourself is through someone else’s eyes.

Smart, fresh, and frequently funny, You Look Different in Real Life is a piercing novel about life in an age where the lines between what’s personal and what’s public aren’t always clear.

What I Thought:

You Look Different In Real Life (now known as You Look Different) is an interesting book, and I liked it a lot more than I thought!

I really like the premise of the book, which is really interesting!  It seems really familiar, and I think there’s an actual series of documentaries focusing on a group of people throughout their lives.  I liked seeing these kids who used to be friends deal with being friends and having to be around each other.  It really does highlight what it’s like to be in the spotlight, and to have your life out there for the world to see.

I didn’t particularly care for Justine- of the 5 kids, she was the least interesting to me, and while the story unfolded before her eyes, I just didn’t care for her story.  The other kids had some things to work through, and she’s the one who didn’t really seem to have anything to work through.  I mean, she did, because life at 16 didn’t seem to be what she hoped it would be, but in comparison to Rory, who’s on the autism spectrum, Keira, who’s mom walked out on her family, Nate, who used to be bullied, and Felix, who’s gay, but not out and the son of immigrants (well, I think that’s his family back story- I can’t remember if it was specifically stated, but at the very least, English seemed to be his parents second language)…Justine’s story seems to pale in comparison.

With such a large cast of characters, each one did have their own story, which kind of surprised me, because you’d think they wouldn’t stand out.  At the same time, though, with 5 different stories, each kid didn’t get a fully developed story.

Overall, the story of You Look Different was super predictable- the characters were what I expected, and the story also turned out how I expected.  For the most part, I didn’t mind, because I liked seeing Justine’s memories of the other kids and how they interacted with each other.  I also liked seeing how some of them worked things out by the end of the book.

The other thing that was too predictable in a fake kind of way was Felix…him being gay felt like it was in the book just for the sake of being in there.  I get he didn’t want to admit that he was gay, and that it would cause major problems with his parents- it is a story that needs to be told and I have no doubt that it’s likely a story a lot of kids could relate to, but it really did feel like it was there just to be there, and for me, that took away from it.

I do wish that we had an occasional chapter from one of the other kids- I know that Justine is narrating, and we see them through her eyes, but I think it’s a book that could have used a different perspective every once in a while.  And I would have liked to see Justine through someone else’s eyes.  Still, she does seem content to let things unfold around her and just observe.

As far as the audio goes, I thought Quan did fine with narrating the book- to be honest, her narration wasn’t something I paid a lot of attention to.  There are flashbacks and memories, but I felt like that was a little too confusing to actually listen to at times.

Let’s Rate It: 

I really did like You Look Different.  Castle has a talent for making characters compelling, even when they aren’t the main focus of the book.  There were a few things I didn’t like, which took away from the book a little, but overall, it’s an interesting read.  You Look Different In Real Life gets 4 stars.

Book Review: Crest

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Crest CoverBook: Crest by Emma Raveling

Published September 2013 by Mandorla Publishing|442 pages

Where I Got It: the nook store

Series: Ondine #3

Genre: YA Paranormal

You can find Ondine on goodreads & Emma Raveling on Twitter, Facebook & her website

Goodreads Summary: 

Illusion. Power. Identity.

Tensions are reaching a fever pitch everywhere Kendra Irisavie turns.

Darkness settles over elementals as a new threat stirs suspicions of a betrayal from within. Details of recent events spread through Haverleau, prompting doubts over Irisavie leadership. The mysterious Selkie Kingdom finally opens its doors, but the gesture only fans the flames of division. And despite the perils involved, Kendra finds it difficult to ignore the demands of her heart.

As the body count rises, pressure also grows to shift the tides of war. The sondaleur is on the hunt, but tracking the Aquidae leader is the greatest challenge she’s ever faced. With the Shadow playing a deadly game of obsession and horror, Kendra’s best chance to win is to unravel a tangled web of deception spanning back to the origins of the elemental world.

Nothing is what it seems and the closer she gets to the truth, the more dangerous her pursuit for answers becomes.

When the unthinkable happens, Kendra must decide if survival is worth the sacrifice.

Conflicting loyalties, fierce passions, and irrevocable choices ignite in the electrifying third installment of the Ondine Quartet.

What I Thought:

I can’t believe the direction that Crest took!  I wasn’t expecting anything that happened in this book, and this series keeps getting better with every book that comes out.  I’m really looking forward to the next book, but at the same time, I don’t want it to end.

I was hoping for more time at the Ondine community that Kendra is staying at when the book starts, and to see what it’s really like.  I know there are a few novellas, so it’s possible that we see more of that community in at least one of them.  But I still wish we got to see an Ondine community besides Haverleau.  And I also liked seeing the Selkie kingdom, even though I didn’t really get a good sense of what it looked like.

There were so many twists and turns, and there’s a lot I didn’t see coming.

This is where it gets spoiler-y, because I have to talk about the end of the book- so this may be a good time to jump down to my rating for a general idea of what I thought.

So…the Shadow is clearly someone we know.  I have no clue who it could be, and it really could be anyone.  I wasn’t expecting the Shadow to have infiltrated Haverleau so well, but it’s honestly not that surprising. Julian, Gabe, Nexa and Jeeves were the first people who came to mind.  Julian, because he’s so damn mysterious (and also sort of an ass).  Gabe, because of everything that’s happened in Billow and Crest.  Nexa, because she’s Kendra’s mentor .  And Jeeves, because of his position in Haverleau’s government.  And for some reason, Rhian comes to mind, but I have no idea why. But I feel like they’re the obvious choices, which means it could be someone else.

Crest ended on such a cliffhanger, with Kendra and her friends realizing that the eyes of the Shadow were really familiar- and that’s all we get, so we’ll definitely learn who the Shadow is in Breaker.  I was definitely staring at my Nook, in disbelief over how it ended.  And I’m going to feel so stupid when we do learn who the Shadow is: it’s definitely going to make sense when we do get that piece of information.

Let’s Rate It:

I didn’t love Crest, but it’s such a great addition to the series, and I think it’s my favorite book in the series.  I’m so curious about how things are going to turn out, and I really like how much Kendra has changed since we first met her in Whirl.  Crest gets 4 stars.  

Book Review: Billow

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Billow CoverBook: Billow by Emma Raveling

Published July 2012 by Mandorla Publishing|308 pages

Where I Got It: Nook store

Series: Ondine Quartet #2

Genre: YA Paranormal

You can find Billow on goodreads & Emma Raveling on Twitter, Facebook & her website

Goodreads Summary: 

It has been six months since ondine Kendra Irisavie arrived in Haverleau, the hidden capital of the water elemental world.

Six months since she discovered her destiny as the sondaleur.

Six months since a series of devastating events left behind their mark. 

Now, as she enters the chevalier elite program in her final year at Lumiere Academy, Kendra continues forward on her prophesied journey against the Shadow. Obsessed with what she must do to keep those around her safe, she struggles to balance her powerful magic and the demands of her fate with the challenges of friendship, the complications of romance, and the bonds of family. 

Meanwhile, the threat of the Shadow looms larger. Kendra and her friends investigate a series of puzzling human and elemental disappearances in the city of Lyondale and uncover a horrifying tactic used by the Aquidae in the war.

When danger strikes close to home, Kendra must separate the truths from the lies and choose who and what to believe. 

Even if it means facing what she fears the most.

What I Thought:

I really liked Billow!  It’s such a great sequel to Whirl, and I just love this world.

As far as paranormal books go, this series is definitely different.  I love that it focuses on elementals- and water ones, which is really cool to me!  I liked seeing Kendra finally accept and make peace with being the sondaleur (or at least, make some good progress with accepting it) and she really struggled with everything that’s happened so far.

I thought she was still a bit too independent and willing to run off into danger by herself, but I liked that she finally started to realize that she needed help from others.  I really don’t blame her for being hellbent on revenge, with everything going on, and surprisingly, it wasn’t as irritating or annoying as I was expecting.  I think it’s because she finally realized that she needed help, and couldn’t do it on her own.  She did struggle, and that made her feel much more real to me than she did in Whirl, so it’s nice to see that change in her.

There were times when I was trying not to cry, because it’s a much more emotional book than I was expecting.  All of the characters had to go through so much and I feel like I understand them so much better after reading Billow.  I felt like there’s so much more to the characters than we see, and it was particularly noticeable with Tristan and Julian- but with Julian especially.  There were quite a few things that surprised me with Julian, but also with some of the other characters too, so I’m glad that they really came to life in Billow.

As for the romance, I think Julian is slowly edging out Tristan.  Mostly because Tristan is a selkie prince, and I have no clue how that would work out for both of them.  I do think Tristan understands what Kendra is going through, to a certain extent, but after this book, I think Kendra and Julian are a much better fit for each other.

Oh, and we get our first true glimpse of the Shadow!  I’m nervous for Kendra, but I want her to take down the Shadow so very much.  And I’d actually love to see the other elemental communities!  You hear about them, so I’m hoping I’m not disappointed when we get to visit them in the next book.

Let’s Rate It:

I’m really looking forward to reading Crest, the next book in the series!  Billow is a great sequel (much better than a lot of sequels/second books) and I’m really looking forward to seeing Kendra’s journey continue. Billow gets 4 stars.

ARC Book Review: Lies We Tell Ourselves

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Lies We Tell Ourselves CoverBook: Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley

Expected Publication is September 30, 2014 by Harlequin Teen|Expected Number Of Pages: 376

Where I Got It: I got a digital advanced copy from netgalley.com, which hasn’t influenced my review in any way.  Promise!

Series: None

Genre: YA Historical Fiction- Civils Rights/GLBT

You can find Lies We Tell Ourselves on goodreads & Robin Talley on Twitter, Facebook, and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

In 1959 Virginia, the lives of two girls on opposite sides of the battle for civil rights will be changed forever.

Sarah Dunbar is one of the first black students to attend the previously all-white Jefferson High School. An honors student at her old school, she is put into remedial classes, spit on and tormented daily.

Linda Hairston is the daughter of one of the town’s most vocal opponents of school integration. She has been taught all her life that the races should be kept “separate but equal.”

Forced to work together on a school project, Sarah and Linda must confront harsh truths about race, power and how they really feel about one another.

Boldly realistic and emotionally compelling, Lies We Tell Ourselves is a brave and stunning novel about finding truth amid the lies, and finding your voice even when others are determined to silence it.

What I Thought:

Lies We Tells Ourselves is such a great book!  I definitely recommend, and I’m so glad I read it!

It’s so realistic, and even though the book is fiction, it’s something I can picture happening.  I really liked the changes that Linda had to deal with, and I liked that she did change her mind as she spent more time with Sarah, and after a few events that she witnessed since her school had to integrate. As for Sarah, I felt like her story and personal growth didn’t happen to the degree that it happened with Linda, and that she didn’t really seem to get why integration was so hard for her classmates.

I love that both girls narrated the story, because you got to see both sides of the story, and that it’s not focused on side. Anytime I read a book that focuses on desegregating schools, I’m really struck by the fact that it really wasn’t that long ago that it happened- and that it’s a story that’s still relevant today.  There’s no doubt that some schools still get so much less than others, and that there is still a lot of tension in terms of race.  We’ve come a long way since than, but we still have a ways to go.

It really was hard to read at times, knowing that the things that happened in the book were things that happened, and it made me so angry at people.  But I also found myself rooting for Sarah and Linda because I wanted Sarah to be who she was.  It’s the same with Linda, and I was glad to see her change her mind.  It really is a good reminder that things were bad, and that they were a lot worse in some parts of the country.

I also liked seeing Linda and Sarah deal with their feelings for each other.  It worked so well with everything else going on, and it made the story much more interesting.  It’s not something I normally think of when it comes to integrating schools, but it did add something that I can’t place my finger on or even begin to describe.  Still, I think one of the big reasons why it worked so well is that you really see how far we’ve come on for so many things.

Each chapter started off with a lie, and I thought that brought everything together so well, because you got such a good picture of the different challenges that the characters faced throughout the book.  I also liked that Ruth, Sarah’s younger sister, narrated a chapter at the end of the book.  It would have been interesting to see her narrate part of the book, but I liked that she narrated a chapter because you really get the sense that it’s all going to be worth it in the end, and that everything they went through that year meant something.

Let’s Rate It:

I really liked Lies We Tell Ourselves!  It was predictable but I didn’t mind because the characters are memorable, and a lot of what happened was so horrifying because it’s so recent and vivid.  I didn’t fall in love with it, but it’s such an important read. Lies We Tell Ourselves gets 4 stars.