Book: Vixen by Jillian Larkin

Book Info: Published by Listening Library, Inc.; downloaded from Overdrive Media via the public library

Genre: YA/Historical Fiction/Romance

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Goodreads.com Summary: Jazz . . . Booze . . . Boys . . . It’s a dangerous combination.
 
Every girl wants what she can’t have. Seventeen-year-old Gloria Carmody wants the flapper lifestyle—and the bobbed hair, cigarettes, and music-filled nights that go with it. Now that she’s engaged to Sebastian Grey, scion of one of Chicago’s most powerful families, Gloria’s party days are over before they’ve even begun . . . or are they?
 
Clara Knowles, Gloria’s goody-two-shoes cousin, has arrived to make sure the high-society wedding comes off without a hitch—but Clara isn’t as lily-white as she appears. Seems she has some dirty little secrets of her own that she’ll do anything to keep hidden. . . . 
 
Lorraine Dyer, Gloria’s social-climbing best friend, is tired of living in Gloria’s shadow. When Lorraine’s envy spills over into desperate spite, no one is safe. And someone’s going to be very sorry. . . . 
 
From debut author Jillian Larkin, VIXEN is the first novel in the sexy, dangerous, and ridiculously romantic new series set in the Roaring Twenties . . . when anything goes.

I liked the idea of Vixen more than I liked the actual book.  I was immediately reminded of The Luxe by Anna Godbersen..but in the 1920’s instead of the 1890’s.

I didn’t like most of the characters, because they felt very fake and very modern.  They didn’t fit into the time period, and it felt more like they were pretending to live in the 1920’s.  Lorraine was very petty, Clara couldn’t make up her mind about who she wanted to be, Gloria was (more often than not) an idiot, and Marcus kind of disappeared.  I thought Jerome, a piano player, and Vera, his sister, were the most realistic of the bunch.  Overall, the characters were really boring, cliche and super spoiled and bratty.

It also felt like there was no reason for why they acted the way they did.  Like the various romances and crushes: it felt like they were just there to move the story along.  A couple things felt out of place, like Clara’s story about donating her hair to a Locks Of Love-type charity and Marcus and Gloria’s friendship.  It just didn’t seem to fit with the 1920’s.

Speaking of the 1920’s, I just loved it as a backdrop for a YA novel.  I loved the descriptions of the clothes, the hair, the make-up and the speakeasies.  I also liked how there were 3 different narrators.  While their stories didn’t intersect as much as I thought, it still worked well for the novel,

I also liked the narrator.  While she didn’t vary her voice too much for the different characters, I still thought she did a great job narrating.

Overall, it gets a 2 out of 5.  I liked the time period, but I didn’t really care for the characters.

Book: Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson

Book Info: Published by Brilliance Corporation; downloaded from Overdrive, via the county library

Genre: YA/Contemporary

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Goodreads.com Summary: Her new summer job comes with baggage

 Scarlett Martin has grown up in a most unusual way. Her family owns the Hopewell, a small hotel in the heart of New York City, and Scarlett lives there with her three siblings – Spencer, Lola, and Marlene.

When each of the Martins turns fifteen, they are expected to take over the care of a suite in the once elegant, now shabby Art Deco hotel. For Scarlett’s fifteenth birthday, she gets both a room called the Empire Suite, and a permanent guest called Mrs. Amberson.

Scarlett doesn’t quite know what to make of this C-list starlet, world traveler, and aspiring autobiographer who wants to take over her life. And when she meets Eric, an astonishingly gorgeous actor who has just moved to the city, her summer takes a second unexpected turn.

Before the summer is over, Scarlett will have to survive a whirlwind of thievery, Broadway glamour, romantic missteps, and theatrical deceptions. But in the city where anything can happen, she just might be able to pull it off.

I thought Suite Scarlett was just okay.  High school me probably would have loved it, but unfortunately, 26 year old me did not.  There was something that made me think of The Suite Life of Zach and Cody.

The story itself was kind of interesting- a rundown hotel that’s not doing too well.  We only learn a handful of things about the hotel, none of which stuck with me.  The characters were boring, and while I thought the relationships between Lola, Scarlett and Marlene were interesting, their relationship with their brother Spencer got annoying.

By the end of the book, I was pretty annoyed with both Spencer and with Eric, who is Scarlett’s not-boyfriend.  They both acted like idiots, especially Eric.  Mrs. Amberson was over-the-top, but she probably had the most depth out of everyone.  What is a little sad is that we don’t know a lot about Scarlett, even though she is the main character.

As for the narration itself, it was okay.  The narrator did pretty well with the voices, and while her voice got really annoying by the end of it, her voice is how I would imagine Scarlett’s speaking voice.  Still, I’m glad I listened to it, because otherwise, I might have given up on it.

It gets a 2 out of 5.  It was just okay, and while I’m slightly curious as to how things work out for the Hopewell Hotel and its inhabitants, I won’t be rushing out to read the next book anytime soon.

Book: Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott

Book Info: Published by Simon Pulse; 170 pages; hardcover; borrowed from the library

Genre: YA/Contemporary

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Goodreads.com Summary: “Once upon a time, I was a little girl who disappeared.

Once upon a time, my name was not Alice.

Once upon a time, I didn’t know how lucky I was.”

When Alice was ten, Ray took her away from her family, her friends — her life. She learned to give up all power, to endure all pain. She waited for the nightmare to be over.

Now Alice is fifteen and Ray still has her, but he speaks more and more of her death. He does not know it is what she longs for. She does not know he has something more terrifying than death in mind for her.

This is Alice’s story. It is one you have never heard, and one you will never, ever forget.

I thought Living Dead Girl was amazing.  It was heartbreaking, and so hard to put down, even when I wanted to.

It was beautifully written, and Scott didn’t waste a single word in Living Dead Girl.  You know exactly what things are like for Alice and you get a clear picture of what it’s like for her in the years that she’s been kidnapped.  It’s definitely an emotional book, and you can’t help but feel sad, horrified and angry all at the same time.

I thought the really short chapters worked well for the book.  As for the ending, I liked that it ambiguous, because you get to decide for yourself what happens.  A little more closure would have been nice, especially since it’s such a short book.  But in general, I’m pretty happy with the ending because it did fit with the novel.

I’m not sure how accurate Alice’s experience is, but it did feel very real, and Scott does a great job of making it feel so real, like it could happen to anyone.

Overall, it gets a 5 out of 5.

Book: Out Of My Mind by Sharon Draper

Book Info: Published by Atheneum Books For Young Readers; 304 pages; purchased for my Nook

Genre: Children: Realistic Fiction

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Goodreads.com Summary: Eleven-year-old Melody has a photographic memory. Her head is like a video camera that is always recording. Always. And there’s no delete button. She’s the smartest kid in her whole school—but no one knows it. Most people—her teachers and doctors included—don’t think she’s capable of learning, and up until recently her school days consisted of listening to the same preschool-level alphabet lessons again and again and again. If only she could speak up, if only she could tell people what she thinks and knows . . . but she can’t, because Melody can’t talk. She can’t walk. She can’t write. Being stuck inside her head is making Melody go out of her mind—that is, until she discovers something that will allow her to speak for the first time ever. At last Melody has a voice . . . but not everyone around her is ready to hear it.From multiple Coretta Scott King Award winner Sharon M. Draper comes a story full of heartache and hope. Get ready to meet a girl whose voice you’ll never, ever forget.

I’m wavering between liking Out Of My Mind and thinking it’s just okay.

The characters are definitely cliche, and Melody is really the only one who is memorable.  I thought a lot of the characters were really irritating, from the mean girls at Melody’s school to her clueless teachers to her parents.

Melody didn’t feel like a real kid to me.  It really felt like Melody was an adult pretending to be a kid, and not an actual kid.  However, I did like that Draper tackled the issues of what it’s like to have a disability such as Melody’s.  I felt like Draper knew what it was like to go through what Melody and her family is going through, and she did a great job with that.  It’s almost like it happened to her in real life.

Overall, it gets a 3 out of 5.  Melody as a narrator is interesting, and I think it’s something kids would probably like.

Book: After by Amy Efaw

Book Info: Published by Viking Books; 350 pages; borrowed from the library (as an e-book)

Genre: YA/Realistic Fiction

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Goodreads.com Summary: An infant left in the trash to die. A teenage mother who never knew she was pregnant . . .

Before That Morning, these were the words most often used to describe straight-A student and star soccer player Devon Davenport: responsible, hardworking, mature. But all that changes when the police find Devon home sick from school as they investigate the case of an abandoned baby. Soon the connection is made  Devon has just given birth; the baby in the trash is hers. After That Morning, there’s only one way to define Devon: attempted murderer.

And yet gifted author Amy Efaw does the impossible  she turns Devon into an empathetic character, a girl who was in such deep denial that she refused to believe she was pregnant. Through airtight writing and fast-paced, gripping storytelling, Ms. Efaw takes the reader on Devon’s unforgettable journey toward clarity, acceptance, and redemption.

Holy shit.  Seriously, that’s my reaction to this book.  It’s intense in a weird, indescribable way.  The book unfolds in a very interesting way, with Devon having flashbacks as she remembers what happens the morning she has her baby.  She’s in such a deep denial that she didn’t want to admit to herself that she was pregnant- her denial was easy to believe and yet so hard to believe at the same time.  And it doesn’t seem to be just Devon who is in denial- it seems to be everyone around her who didn’t know anything was wrong.  While Efaw does a great job at conveying how deep Devon’s denial was (and that her pregnancy might not have been obvious), it is a little hard to believe that everyone around didn’t know and didn’t say anything.  No one suspected anything was wrong with her or bothered to ask?  That seems strange to me.

I absolutely HATED the ended.  Devon, after coming to terms with everything that’s happened, decides she needs to plead guilty.  It just didn’t seem to fit with the rest of the book; I also wasn’t surprised by the ending.  I think Devon didn’t think it through, but then again, it is her decision, and not mine.  Besides, who am I judge a fictional character?

As for the characters, they were pretty believable, but Devon’s mom was the most irritating character in the book.  She’s the clueless single mom who worries about money and doesn’t seem to care (or even notice) what’s going on in her daughter’s life.  And while Devon isn’t always likeable, she is still a fairly sympathetic character.

Overall, it gets 4 out of 5 stars.  I really liked it, and I haven’t read anything like it.

Book: Illuminate by Aimee  Agresti

Book Info: Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 544 pages; purchased for my Nook

Genre: YA: Paranormal/Angels

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Goodreads.com Summary: Haven Terra is a brainy, shy high school outcast. But everything begins to change when she turns sixteen. Along with her best friend Dante and their quiet and brilliant classmate Lance, she is awarded a prestigious internship in the big city— Chicago—and is sent to live and work at a swanky and stylish hotel under the watchful eyes of a group of gorgeous and shockingly young-looking strangers: powerful and alluring hotel owner Aurelia Brown; her second-in-command, the dashing Lucian Grove; and their stunning but aloof staff of glamazons called The Outfit.

As Haven begins falling for Lucian, she discovers that these beautiful people are not quite what they seem. With the help of a mysterious book, she uncovers a network of secret passageways from the hotel’s jazz-age past that leads her to the heart of the evil agenda of Aurelia and company: they’re in the business of buying souls. Will they succeed in wooing Haven to join them in their recruitment efforts, or will she be able to thwart this devilish set’s plans to take the souls of her classmates on prom night at the hotel?

Illuminate is an exciting saga of a teen’s first taste of independence, her experience in the lap of luxury, and her discovery she may possess strength greater than she ever knew.

Illuminate has an interesting plot, and there were a lot of things I liked.  Her angel/demon mythology was interesting, and I liked the tension between the “good” angels and the “bad” angels, even though that mostly happened towards the end.  I also liked Haven’s power to capture someone’s soul simply by photographing them.  It’s hinted that Dante and Lance have powers as well, so I’m curious as to what their powers are and if/how their powers will play out.

I also liked the setting, which takes place in a very posh hotel.  The details were definitely amazing, and I’d love to stay in a hotel like that.

That being said, there are some weird things with the plot.  The school just lets 3 kids go off to a hotel with very few details?  We never see them do any sort of homework, or get tutored in anyway.  While that would bog down the book, it’s strange that there’s no mention of how they’re keeping up with their classes.  The characters live in Chicago, and yet they’re required to stay in a hotel for several months in the same city they live in?  Why can’t they attend after school or on weekends?  There’s minimal contact with their families too.  I get there would be no plot otherwise, but it got irritating by the end of the book.

As far as the characters go, I thought Haven’s backstory was interesting, but the characters were boring and a bit cliche.  Agresti managed to stay away from the love triangle, but if it appeared in one of the other books, I wouldn’t be surprised.

Overall, it gets 4 stars of 5.  It was enjoyable, and even though I have a few issues with the book, I still can’t wait to read the next one.

Book: The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter

Book Info: Published by Harlequin Teen; 267 pages; purchased for my Nook

Genre: YA: Mythology

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Goodreads.com Summary: EVERY GIRL WHO HAS TAKEN THE TEST HAS DIED.

NOW IT’S KATE’S TURN. 

It’s always been just Kate and her mom–and her mother is dying. Her last wish? To move back to her childhood home. So Kate’s going to start at a new school with no friends, no other family and the fear that her mother won’t live past the fall.

Then she meets Henry. Dark. Tortured. And mesmerizing. He claims to be Hades, god of the Underworld–and if she accepts his bargain, he’ll keep her mother alive while Kate tries to pass seven tests.

Kate is sure he’s crazy–until she sees him bring a girl back from the dead. Now saving her mother seems crazily possible. If she suceeds, she’ll become Henry’s future bride and a goddess.

IF SHE FAILS…

I really liked The Goddess Test, and thought it was a refreshing take on Greek mythology.  I remember thinking at one point that the search for a new Persephone reminded me of the Dread Pirate Roberts from The Princess Bride.

But I liked that the council, composed of the Greek gods and goddesses, made the decision and that there was a series of tests that Kate had to pass.  I also liked that Henry (or Hades) would fade if he didn’t find a new queen.  I’m glad the tests were contained to one book and weren’t spread out over several books.  Plus, I would like to see how Kate adjusts to being the “new Persephone.”

I think the only thing that irritated me was the “reveal” at the ending.  Finding out that she knew most of the council was predictable and while it did make sense within the confines of the novel, I still found myself irritated.  Did Carter even try to do something else with the ending?

The character development wasn’t great, which is a shame, because they clearly are more than just gods and goddesses.  But hopefully we’ll see more of them and who they really are in the next book.  The romance was okay- a little forced, of course, but not irritating.  And the relationship between all the different characters were just okay too.

Overall, I really liked it, and it’s definitely a really interesting take on Greek mythology.  I like that it focuses on the Hades and Persephone myth and I can’t wait to read the next one!  It gets a 4 out of 5.

Book: Looking For Alaska by John Green

Book Info: Published by Dutton Juvenile; 221 pages; hardcover; borrowed from the library

Genre: YA: Contemporary

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Goodreads.com Summary: Miles “Pudge” Halter is abandoning his safe-okay, boring-life. Fascinated by the last words of famous people, Pudge leaves for boarding school to seek what a dying Rabelais called the “Great Perhaps.”

Pudge becomes encircled by friends whose lives are everything but safe and boring. Their nucleus is razor-sharp, sexy, and self-destructive Alaska, who has perfected the arts of pranking and evading school rules. Pudge falls impossibly in love. When tragedy strikes the close-knit group, it is only in coming face-to-face with death that Pudge discovers the value of living and loving unconditionally.

I LOVED Looking For Alaska!  It was sitting on my to-read list for a while, but after seeing it pop up on quite a few lists a few Top 10 Tuesdays ago and decided I needed to read immediately.

Initially, I wasn’t sure about the book, and was convinced that I wouldn’t like it.  But I kept reading, and I’m glad I gave it a chance, because it was funny and heart-breaking.

I loved the structure of it, with a countdown leading to the event, and then a countdown leading away from the event.  I liked that the event, which I’m not going to say here because I don’t want to ruin it for anyone who might want to read it, took place halfway through the book.  And that you don’t know what the event is until it happens.

And!  A male lead!  I liked Pudge and his awkwardness.  Actually, I liked all of the characters, and thought the flaws they had were pretty realistic.  I think Alaska is my least favorite character, and while I don’t get why Pudge has a crush on her, I still thought their feelings and their relationship were pretty spot-0n.  And overall, I thought it was a pretty realistic book.

I give it a 5 out of 5.  I think this book has cemented my love of John Green!