Book: Conversion by Katherine Howe

Published July 2014 by Putnam Juvenile|402 pages

Where I Got It/Format: a print copy from Barnes & Noble

Series: None

Genre: YA Contemporary Thriller with a splash of historical fiction

You can find Conversion on goodreads & Katherine Howe on Twitter, Facebook & her website

Goodreads Summary: 

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane comes a chilling mystery—Prepmeets The Crucible. 

It’s senior year at St. Joan’s Academy, and school is a pressure cooker. College applications, the battle for valedictorian, deciphering boys’ texts: Through it all, Colleen Rowley and her friends are expected to keep it together. Until they can’t.

First it’s the school’s queen bee, Clara Rutherford, who suddenly falls into uncontrollable tics in the middle of class. Her mystery illness quickly spreads to her closest clique of friends, then more students and symptoms follow: seizures, hair loss, violent coughing fits. St. Joan’s buzzes with rumor; rumor blossoms into full-blown panic.

Soon the media descends on Danvers, Massachusetts, as everyone scrambles to find something, or someone, to blame. Pollution? Stress? Or are the girls faking? Only Colleen—who’s been reading The Crucible for extra credit—comes to realize what nobody else has: Danvers was once Salem Village, where another group of girls suffered from a similarly bizarre epidemic three centuries ago…

Inspired by true events—from seventeenth-century colonial life to the halls of a modern-day high school—Conversion casts a spell. With her signature wit and passion, New York Times bestselling author Katherine Howe delivers an exciting and suspenseful novel, a chilling mystery that raises the question, what’s really happening to the girls at St. Joan’s?

What I Thought:

I really liked Conversion!  What’s really interesting about Conversion is that it’s inspired by a real-life event- one that seems vaguely familiar.

I really liked the progression of what caused the Mystery Illness- from a reaction to the HPV vaccine, to weird symptoms that pop up after having strep throat to possibly Tourette’s to environmental concerns before the actually diagnosed conversion disorder.  I liked how everything came together, but there were times I got really frustrated at the characters and some of the events!

I’m actually really curious as to how the school nurse became the spokesperson for St. Joan’s.  That’s really how it came across, and while I understand her role in things, given she’s a nurse and there’s this mysterious illness, it also got to the point where it seemed really odd.  Weren’t there other school officials who could make statements?  Then again…she also seemed to be approached to write a book about what was going on, and as the book went on, someone would come out as the one writing a tell-all book about the odd goings on at this school.

The characters and some of the events are definitely are predictable- from the school nurse to the concerned parent making appearances on local news stations threatening to take action if the school doesn’t figure it out to the parent to the upper school dean getting fired.  Actually, the dean getting fired made me angry!  I get someone had to get fired in the wake of things taking months to get figured out, and someone had to be blamed, but it’s horrible that someone had to get fired.

There was one point in the book (where the environmental factors were brought up), where I seriously stopped reading, looked at the book, and wondered this: “Seriously?  Where are we, Night Vale?”  Some of the parents reported a glow coming from the athletic fields…and I know it’s ripped from the headlines and all, but I couldn’t help but wonder if the glow cloud has a distant relative in Danvers.

I’m not trying to make light of what these students went through, and I get how concerned the parents are.  I know it’s frustrating that they didn’t get the answers they wanted in the way they wanted.  It just brings up so many questions and thoughts for me.  At what point do we stop blaming the school, and at what point do we start going to the Department of Public Health for help on figuring this out?  Why is the school nurse the one who’s appearing on t.v., and why didn’t the school seem to be the ones bringing in experts?

More importantly: what about the pressure we put on ourselves, to the point that we exhibit physical symptoms?  It makes me sad that these girls are under so much pressure and stress themselves out to the point that they lose their hair and have verbal tics and can’t walk and swallow pins but can’t remember swallowing them in the first place.

As far as the Salem Village interludes, I wasn’t sure about it at first.  It’s one of those things that become really clear by the end of the book, and I liked the parallel because two events- one several hundred years in the past, and one that happened recently. It’s strange how looking back, it seems crazy and that in the 1690’s, it really was seen as witchcraft/the devil’s work.  And how several hundred years later, mystery symptoms start appearing, and parents are sure that something is physically wrong with their daughters.  To a certain extent, it was, but in the book, the physical symptoms were a manifestation of stress.  I thought she did great at showing how time and technology can change things.

Let’s Rate It:

I have so many more thoughts about Conversion, but this review is a lot longer than I ever expected it to be! My thoughts are still sort of scattered and all over the place, but I really liked Conversion.  There were times when I expected more connections between Salem and Danvers, and there were a couple things that I wish were explored more that felt a little glossed over, but overall, it’s a really interesting read.  Conversion gets 4 stars.

Book: What I Thought Was True by Huntley Fitzpatrick

Published April 2014 by Dial Books|410 pages

Where I Got It: It’s the hardcover from Barnes And Noble!

Series: None

Genre: YA Contemporary

You can find What I Thought Was True on goodreads & Huntley Fitzpatrick on Twitter, Facebook and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

From the author of My Life Next Door comes a swoony summertime romance full of expectation and regret, humor and hard questions.

Gwen Castle’s Biggest Mistake Ever, Cassidy Somers, is slumming it as a yard boy on her Nantucket-esque island this summer. He’s a rich kid from across the bridge in Stony Bay, and she hails from a family of fishermen and housecleaners who keep the island’s summer people happy. Gwen worries a life of cleaning houses will be her fate too, but just when it looks like she’ll never escape her past—or the island—Gwen’s dad gives her some shocking advice. Sparks fly and secret histories unspool as Gwen spends a gorgeous, restless summer struggling to resolve what she thought was true—about the place she lives, the people she loves, and even herself—with what really is.

A magnetic, push-me-pull-me romance with depth, this is for fans of Sarah Dessen, Jenny Han, and Deb Caletti.

What I Thought:

After loving My Life Next Door, I was really looking foward to What I Thought Was True.  I was expecting to love it, but sadly, I’m wavering being it being okay, and liking it.

Fitzpatrick does sleepy, coastal beach town really well.  She also does the class divides really well.  She does a great job at writing a novel set during the summer, by the beach.  My Life Next Door had these things, and What I Thought Was True (WITWT) had these elements.  I think it might be her thing, and she does it well.

But I thought the story was slightly confusing.  Everything between Cass and Gwen still makes no sense to me.  You know something happened between them, and she keeps thinking about the summer when they were 8.  All you get is snippets scattered throughout the book, but I honestly couldn’t tell you what on earth happened between them for her to initially have a lot of issues with him spending the summer in Seashell.  I honestly felt like I was missing something, because she kept referring to past mistakes that you saw in bits and pieces.  And so I felt really disconnected from the story, because I had no idea what she was referring to most of the time.

You do get little flashbacks, but they felt really random and out of the blue, because there was no way to differentiate the flashbacks from what was presently going on.

To further add to the confusion, I could never figure out what was going on with her family.  It seemed like her parents were married, but living in different houses.  She lives with her grandpa, her cousin, her younger brother and her mom, but I could never figure out what was going on with her parents- her dad has a house, and it’s clear they have financial issues, and have to pool their resources for when it’s not tourist season.  But it’s never clearly explained what’s going on with her parents.  And as for her cousin Nico, it’s quite a few chapters in before you learn that Nico is living with them because his parents suck.

Overall, the story felt really disjointed because things are hinted at but never explained outright.  Instead, you get things in snippets and flashbacks, and I kept waiting for a big revelation that never came.

I didn’t really get the romance.  It was not really there, and Cass and Gwen just didn’t work for me as a potential couple.  I’m not sure how I feel about Gwen as a character- she was funny at times, but she didn’t seem to learn from her mistakes.  Then again, she’s young, and maybe it’s just not clicking for her.

Let’s Rate It:

I’m really torn on my feelings about What I Thought Was True.  On the one hand, it was really disjointed and I spent a lot of the book confused about what was going on.  At the same time, I liked that class divides and sleepy, coastal touristy beach town during the summer really shone.  What I Thought Was True gets 3 stars– I did bump it a star, even if I’m hesitant to do so because Fitzpatrick does the sleepy East Coast beach town so well.

Book: Tarnish by Katherine Longshore

Published June 2913 by Penguin|334 pages

Where I Got It: the Nook store

Series: None, but it’s set in the same world as Gilt and Brazen

Genre: YA Historical Fiction- Tudor England

You can find Tarnish on goodreads and Katherine Longshore on Twitter, Facebook and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

Anne Boleyn is the odd girl out. Newly arrived to the court of King Henry VIII, everything about her seems wrong, from her clothes to her manners to her witty but sharp tongue. So when the dashing poet Thomas Wyatt offers to coach her on how to shine at court–and to convince the whole court they’re lovers–she accepts. Before long, Anne’s popularity has soared, and even the charismatic and irresistible king takes notice. More than popularity, Anne wants a voice–but she also wants love. What began as a game becomes high stakes as Anne finds herself forced to make an impossible choice between her heart’s desire and the chance to make history.

What I Thought:

After reading Gilt a couple years ago and really liking it, I knew that I would really like Tarnish.  Which I did!

Tarnish focuses on Anne Boleyn, well before she gets involved with Henry VIII.  Which was actually really refreshing, since so much out there seems to focus on her time with him.  I really liked seeing Anne as a teen, and her time at court, especially since she’s newly arrived at the English court after coming over from France. Knowing how everything ends for Anne made Tarnish so much more interesting, because I feel like it starts at such a good place for Anne, and how she became the woman she was.

I thought Longshore did such a great job at showing how Anne really was a product of her time, and how marriage really was her only choice…and that her marriage prospects grew dimmer, because of some decisions she made.  I did like how her relationship with Thomas Wyatt progressed, and that it went much deeper than anyone else seemed to realize.  I think it allowed Anne to figure out what she really wanted, and how much more confident she was by the end of the book.

The family dynamics of the Boleyn family were really interesting in Tarnish.  I don’t typically think of her family, and how her relationship with them shaped her, but through her relationships with her sister, brother and father, you that some of what Anne has done has been influenced by them.  Her sister being the mistress to the king likely had a big impact on Anne’s relationship with Henry, and you have to wonder if that’s why she held out for so long with him.  I’m still not sure how her brother or father influenced Anne as a person, but by the end of the book, you start to see hints of how manipulative Anne could be.

I loved how Henry’s court was portrayed, and how much innocent flirtation there was.  One thing that I noticed in Gilt- which also really came through in Tarnish- was that Longshore took some liberties with history while creating this world and story that seemed really accurate.  She has a way of writing about people we all know and showing how complicated they really are, while making them easy to relate to.  I felt like I was transported back to Tudor England and dropped right in the center of Anne’s world.  I also really liked the author’s note at the end of the book, explaining where she got her inspiration and why she wrote the story the way she did.

Let’s Rate It:

I didn’t fall in love with Tarnish, but I really liked that Tarnish focused on a teenage Anne Boleyn who was insecure.  I also liked that it was at the very beginnings of what would be her relationship with Henry VIII. Tarnish gets 4 stars.

Book: City Of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

Published April 2011 by Margaret K. Elderberry Books|347 pages

Where I Got It: the Nook store

Series: The Mortal Instruments #4

Genre: YA Paranormal/Angels

You can find City Of Fallen Angels on goodreads & Cassandra Clare on Twitter, Facebook and her website

Goodreads Sunmary: 

The Mortal War is over, and sixteen-year-old Clary Fray is back home in New York, excited about all the possibilities before her. She’s training to become a Shadowhunter and to use her unique power. Her mother is getting married to the love of her life. Downworlders and Shadowhunters are at peace at last. And—most importantly of all—she can finally call Jace her boyfriend.

But nothing comes without a price.

Someone is murdering Shadowhunters, provoking tensions between Downworlders and Shadowhunters that could lead to a second, bloody war. Clary’s best friend, Simon, can’t help her—his mother just found out that he’s a vampire, and now he’s homeless. When Jace begins to pull away from her without explaining why, Clary is forced to delve into the heart of a mystery whose solution reveals her worst nightmare: she herself has set in motion a terrible chain of events that could lead to her losing everything she loves. Even Jace.

The stakes are higher than ever in the #1 New York Times bestselling fourth installment of the Mortal Instruments series.

What I Thought:

After City Of Glass (CoG), I wasn’t sure what to expect with City Of Fallen Angels.  But I did like City Of Fallen Angels!

I really liked some of the world-building we get in terms of Lilith and why Jace pulls away from Clary, and that there are some very serious repurcussions to events that happened in City Of Glass.  City Of Glass seemed to wrap up everything really well, and I was worried that City Of Fallen Angels would feel like an afterthought.

So I was glad that City Of Fallen Angels (CoFA) didn’t turn out that way.  (Well, mostly).  With everything that happened in CoG, I wasn’t sure where things would go, or how Clare would keep things going, because I was expecting the Valentine stuff to go for the entire 6 book series, and it mostly didn’t.  I am curious about how the Sebastian stuff will go, and if he’ll continue Valentine’s work, or try to do something even more horrendous.

I really liked a new character we meet in the series.  Jordan (who previously mentioned by Maia) finally makes his appearance, and I liked what he added to the story.  Mostly because we learn a bit more about werewolves in this one, but I think he’ll be an interesting person to have around.

CoFA was predictable, and I should have seen the ending coming.  (Yet, I didn’t see it coming at all).  Oddly enough, though, I don’t mind because it is a fun series to read.  It’s really starting to become clear that this world is a very vivid one, and I wish we got a little bit more of the details of this world.

Let’s Rate It:

I liked City Of Fallen Angels, and in terms of the Shadowhunter world, it’s my favorite because of what we learn.  I have a love-hate relationship  with the fast pace of the books.  There’s also something going on, which makes the books go fast, but it makes me feel like some of the little details aren’t there.  Still, it’s been a fun series to read.  City Of Fallen Angels gets 3 stars.

Book: Ruin And Rising by Leigh Bardugo

Published June 2014 by Henry Holt And Co|267 pages

Where I Got It: the Nook store

Series: Grisha #3

Genre: YA Fantasy

You can find Ruin And Rising on goodreads & Leigh Bardugo on her blog, on Twitter and on Facebook

Goodreads Summary: 

The capital has fallen.

The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne.

Now the nation’s fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army.

Deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, a weakened Alina must submit to the dubious protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the elusive firebird and the hope that an outlaw prince still survives.

Alina will have to forge new alliances and put aside old rivalries as she and Mal race to find the last of Morozova’s amplifiers. But as she begins to unravel the Darkling’s secrets, she reveals a past that will forever alter her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields. The firebird is the one thing that stands between Ravka and destruction—and claiming it could cost Alina the very future she’s fighting for.

What I Thought:

I really liked Ruin And Rising!  More than I expected, but also not as much as I was hoping.  Still, I think it’s my favorite book in the series.  Which is weird, because I LOVED Siege And Storm, and only really liked Ruin And Rising, and yet, this one is still my favorite.

I think it’s because everything really comes together in this book.  There are definitely some big revelations, with the third amplifier being the main source of these revelations.  So much comes from it, and I feel like I can’t talk about the book without giving things away.

This is where things get very spoiler-ey, so if you haven’t yet finished Ruin And Rising and care about spoilers, you might want to skip ahead to the big note signalling the end of the really spoiler-y part of the review.  (Or even to the rating, which will be the very bottom of the review).

So: we learn about Morozova, and his connection to both Baghra and the Darkling…his daughter, and his grandson, respectively.  I wasn’t expecting that at all, so it was quite the surprise.  It worked, and yet I didn’t completely love it, because it felt a little too forced and random.

And as it turns out, Mal is the third amplifier!  Somehow, Mal ended up being the third amplifier, and I don’t remember why!  I don’t know if I just wasn’t paying attention during that part of the book, or if it wasn’t completely explained or what, but his ability to track things is all related to being the third amplifier.  I did wonder if there was more to his ability when I read Smoke And Bone, and I had given up all hope that it would be explained.  That explanation did come through, and I don’t know how I feel about it.

I mean, it did work, and I liked how everything came full circle, and that everything really is connected.  And this really is the best place for everything we learn about the Darkling and Morozova, because I think it being revealed in either of the previous books would really have given it away.  I think that’s why it felt a little out of the blue and a bit forced.  Or maybe I’m just really oblivious, and should have figured it out earlier.  But overall, I thought it worked and that this was the best place for it all.

And I’m not surprised that Mal and Alina ended up together, since he seems to really ground her.  But I’ve never really liked them as a couple, because they felt too much like friends to me.  It did seem like there was the possibility of Alina and the Darkling (before we realized how insane he was) and Alina and Nikolai (before he became king, which meant Alina would be his queen if they got together), and, of course, Mal.  Alina really is just an ordinary girl who was able to get rid the Unsea and take down the Darkling, and because of that, it was always going to be Mal.  I just wish I could have believed them as a couple, like I could have with both the Darkling and Nikolai.

Then, again, this series never was about the romance.  At least, I didn’t particularly care about it in this series, and I think it’s because of everything else going on.  Like how balance is really important.  And friends and not wanting all the power for yourself, and what happens when you seek too much power.

Now that the super-spoiler-y bits are done…we can get on to the really short and non-spoilerific part of the review.  

One thing I’ve really loved about this series is the overall world.  We learn things along the way, and what strikes me about this entire series is that it’s a fantasy series set in a world that reminded me of Russia!  So many fantasy books have a pseudo-Medieval Europe setting (particularly Medieval UK) that a pseudo-Russian world is really different and makes it stand out because of how unique it is.

I pictured everything so well, and I have to say that I would LOVE to see this series as movies, because the costumes and make-up and sets would be so amazing.

Also: there are some characters that I’ve really come to love, and they really have come a long way from when we first met them in Shadow And Bone.

Let’s Rate It:

I really liked Ruin & Rising!  I felt like things came full-circle, and I was definitely surprised by a lot of things. Overall, it’s my favorite book in the series because of everything we learn, even if I didn’t love it the way I loved Siege And Storm.  Ruin And Rising gets 4 stars.  

Book: Wallbanger by Alice Clayton

Published February 2013 by Gallery Books|304 pages

Where I Got It: the Nook store

Series: Cocktail #1

Genre: Adult Romance/Chick Lit

You can find Wallbanger on goodreads & Alice Clayton on Twitter, Facebook, and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

Caroline Reynolds has a fantastic new apartment in San Francisco, a KitchenAid mixer, and no O (and we’re not talking Oprah here, folks). She has a flourishing design career, an office overlooking the bay, a killer zucchini bread recipe, and no O. She has Clive (the best cat ever), great friends, a great rack, and no O. Adding insult to O-less, since her move, she has an oversexed neighbor with the loudest late-night wallbanging she’s ever heard. Each moan, spank, and—was that a meow?—punctuates the fact that not only is she losing sleep, she still has, yep, you guessed it, no O. Enter Simon Parker. (No, really, Simon, please enter.) When the wallbanging threatens to literally bounce her out of bed, Caroline, clad in sexual frustration and a pink baby-doll nightie, confronts her heard-but-never-seen neighbor. Their late-night hallway encounter has, well, mixed results. Ahem. With walls this thin, the tension’s gonna be thick… In her third novel, Alice Clayton returns to dish her trademark mix of silly and steamy. Banter, barbs, and strutting pussycats, plus the sexiest apple pie ever made, are dunked in a hot tub and set against the gorgeous San Francisco skyline in this hot and hilarious tale of exasperation at first sight.

What I Thought:

Oh.  My.  God.  Wallbanger is easily the most entertainingly hilarious book I’ve read in a long time!  I think Beauty Queens was the last time I laughed this much when reading a book.

So, there’s actually a story behind why I read Wallbanger- I’m a big fan of Book Riot, and after reading their Euphemisms For Body Parts in romance novels post…and then reading the comments…one of which had a quote from Wallbanger, and I knew I had to at least check out the book.  Which lead to me buying it pretty much immediately after reading the summary.  (Really, the comments are just as entertaining as the actual post, so take a few minutes to read through them).

Wallbanger is indeed a contemporary romance, which isn’t what I normally go for in terms of romance…at least as far as adult romance goes.  I’m much more of a paranormal romance/historical romance kind of girl, but Wallbanger was so much fun to read.

The nice thing about it is that it’s not serious at all.  I mean, how could you be serious with this quote…

“My shirt bunched up around my waist, and the feeling of his hi-there against my hoohah was indescribable.”

Which, by the way, was the quote that got me to pick up Wallbanger.  Yes, I’m 12.  What’s your point?

Anyway, I loved the banter between Caroline and Simon, and it really was hysterical!  I really needed a good laugh, and Wallbanger definitely provided a much needed laugh.

How can you not laugh at this:

“Zucchini me, woman.”

Or this:

“No way, buddy.  I’m not macchuuing your pichu now…”

Or this conversation:

“Perfect, that will give me time to frost my buns.

“Pardon me?”

“Oh, I didn’t tell you?  I also made cinamon rolls.”

I really couldn’t stop laughing, and I knew it was quote-worthy when I found myself actually highlighting different parts of the book.  I never do that for fiction, so if I’m taking the time to do it…let’s just say there is a lot to quote!

Back to Simon and Caroline.  Together, they are absolutely hilarious, and I actually liked that it took them so long to get together.  I don’t know why, but it really worked for them.

Let’s Rate It:

Wallbanger was such a hilarious read and I had a lot of fun reading it!  It’s fun and cute and a good summer read. Wallbanger gets 4 stars.

Book: The One by Kiera Cass

Published May 2014 by HarperCollins|225 pages

Where I Got It: the Nook store

Series: The Selection #3

Genre: YA Dystopic

You can find The One on goodreads & Kiera Cass on Twitter, Facebook and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

The Selection changed the lives of thirty-five girls forever. And now, the time has come for one winner to be chosen.

America never dreamed she would find herself anywhere close to the crown—or to Prince Maxon’s heart. But as the competition approaches its end and the threats outside the palace walls grow more vicious, America realizes just how much she stands to lose—and how hard she’ll have to fight for the future she wants.

From the very first page of The Selection, this #1 New York Times bestselling series has captured readers’ hearts and swept them away on a captivating journey… Now, in The One, Kiera Cass delivers a satisfying and unforgettable conclusion that will keep readers sighing over this electrifying fairy-tale long after the final page is turned.

What I Thought:

I’ve really enjoyed this series, and I’m sad to see it end, because it’s different than a lot of other dystopic series I’ve read. But I actually think that this book is my favorite series!

Like, I really love the relationship that America seemed to have with her dad.  It was something we saw a little bit of in the previous books, but after reading this one, I wish we saw more of it.  Although…given everything we learn in the book, I’m not completely sure.  There’s so much we learn in this book- at least, that’s what it seems like in comparison to the other books- and I wish the dystopic elements of the book came through more.  I don’t mind the romance (even though it was predictable, and certain things that happened didn’t surprise me) but I felt like the dystopic aspect took a backseat.

Still, I was glad Maxon and America finally got it together, because that was one of the more frustrating parts of the entire series.  We still saw bits and pieces of their indecision and not wanting to admit to their feelngs in this book, but thankfully, it wasn’t as bad as the previous book.

And…I actually warmed up to Celeste in this book!  I felt like I understand how she acted in the last two books so much better after reading this one.  Once she actually let her guard down a little, she was actually not that bad.  I get why we didn’t see it before, but I am glad she wasn’t who I thought.

Back to the break-ins and conflict with the rebel groups: after everything we’ve learned about them and how Illea got started, I was expecting more than what we get.  Don’t get me wrong, I liked what we learned, and I’m really happy with how things were resolved, but I did expect it to have more of an impact than what we saw in the book.

I did love the book, though, and I’m glad everything came together in such a great way!

Let’s Rate It:

I loved The One and thought it came together in a way that the other two books didn’t.  Still, I wish that it didn’t take the entire series for it to come together.  But I’m actually willing to overlook it, because it was hard to put down at times, and there were parts of that I was so glad we saw.  The One gets 5 stars.