Mini Reviews: December Contemporary Edition

Another installment of mini reviews, featuring three contemporary reads (but one with a twist).

Fan Art by Sarah Tregay

The rundown: Fan Art is a super fluffy LGBT romance about Jamie, who is in love with his best friend Mason. The problem? Jamie's pretty sure Mason's straight, and Mason has a strict 'no dating in high school because what's the point?' rule. Surrounding Jamie are his peers in art class, determined to help get Jamie to come out to Mason and get the two of them together, and his colleagues at the yearbook commitee, debating whether or not to publish an LGBT comic in the school yearbook.
My thoughts: Fan Art is strictly a YA contemporary romance novel, and that's what makes it so great. The fluff is everywhere, and it's adorable. I felt for Jamie the entire way through. I shipped it along with his pals in art. I could not put this adorable little hardcover down. Well, I didn't want to. I read Fan Art in two sittings, as it was very easy and light to get through, which was not a bad thing at all. If you're looking for a light read, a romance, and/or an LGBT read, I highly recommend Fan Art. It just makes you feel so warm and fuzzy. Seriously. So. Adorable.
4/5 stars. Check out Fan Art on Goodreads.


Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson

The rundown: Sloane and Emily are best friends - really, Sloane is Emily's only friend. But one day Sloane (and her family) disappears without saying where she's going or when she'll be back. All she leaves behind is a list of things she wants Emily to do while she's gone. If conservative, quiet Emily completes everything on the list, then she will find her friend, according to the only note left for her. Without Sloane, Emily is lost. But as she attempts to complete each task on the list, she discovers things about herself - and her friendship with Sloane - that she had never before realised.
My thoughts: This was a really fun read. It took me a while to get through as I was coming out of a reading slump where I hadn't been able to finish any books I'd started, but I finished this one. I questioned Sloane and Emily's friendship, because Sloane seemed like a pretty terrible friend, but not so much that I got annoyed. I really enjoyed the character development, which was really what this book was about to me. It was about Emily finding who she truly was, and that she didn't need Sloane to do that for her. Since You've Been Gone was a fun read, and I enjoyed discovering how Emily got through each number on the list, and made friends along the way. It didn't blow me out of the water, but it didn't have to.
4/5 stars. Since You've Been Gone on Goodreads.


Burn For Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian

The rundown: Three very different girls are tired of how their lives are going. Lillia was wronged by a boy and tries to protect her sister from the same fate, Kat is sick of the rumours being spread about her, aided along by her ex-best friend, and Mary is back to the island they all go to school on, ready to seek revenge on someone from her past. The three girls team up to exact their revenge, but what happens when that revenge is taken too far?
My thoughts: Let me just start off by saying this book is not what I expected. I assumed it would be Mean Girls in book form, but there are several hints in this book that this is more than a realistic YA read. I don't want to spoil it, but one of these girls is hiding something big that aids along in their revenge exacting. This book gets dark, so if you go into it expecting something trivial and light, you will be taken by surprise as I was. I really need to get my hands on books two and three to see the aftermath of their revenge. I was spoiled on one big happening (DO NOT READ THE BACK OF THE NEXT BOOKS BEFORE READING THE PREVIOUS ONES), and damn. This series does not hold anything back. If you like a little something more with your contemporary high school fiction, give this series a shot, because it might just surprise you in a good way. The feel of it reminded me loosely of Stephen King's Carrie.
4/5 stars. Check out the Burn for Burn series on Goodreads.

Mini Reviews: November Edition

Hello!

It has been far too long since I have posted on here, but sometimes I just want to read books without feeling the need or pressure to review them, hence my disappearance. However, I am currently in the mood to review some books, hence my reappearance. That's the wonder of having a no-strings book review blog. I recently posted a full-length review of a book I finished, but I have a handful of others I've read during my previously unannounced hiatus from here that I'd like to give mention to. Perhaps more reviews will come later, but I cannot allow myself to make any promises. However, here are the three I'm mini-reviewing today:

The Aftermath by Jen Alexander

The Aftermath is a game played by humans living in a futuristic world. The characters? Real human beings. I don't want to spoil too much so I won't go into why people play or how people end up as characters, but I'll say this: the characters do not realise they are that. Except somehow, miraculously, our protagonist does. Slowly, as the book begins revealing, main character Claudia realises she is not in control of her every movement, and as she eventually discovers hints at what is going on, seeks out full control of her own body and an escape.
Not to sound cliche or anything, but fans of The Hunger Games will enjoy this book. The genres are similar, though the details not. I personally loved this book. There were so many times where I felt like I was in the game with the characters. The writing helped me imagine everything perfectly. If there's one thing I love in any genre, but especially in my sci-fi and fantasy, it's great world building, and Jen Alexander did just that with The Aftermath. This one was a page turner, and the little plot twists thrown at you are great. The closer you get to the end, the more suspenseful it gets, and the ending, well. I won't spoil, but my basic reaction was WHY, CLIFF-HANGER, WHY (in a good way, of course). Do I recommend The Aftermath? The game, no. The book, heck yes. I look forward to book two.
4/5 stars.
The Aftermath on Goodreads.

Defy by Sara B. Larson

A land where sorcery is banned, a female forced to disguise herself as a male in order to survive, and a kingdom in corruption. Defy has everything I love in a fantasy debut. Protagonist Alexa is a member of the prince's elite guard, and has sworn her life to protect him (spoiler alert: the prince has the personality of a rotten basket of fruit - or does he). When Alexa and the prince are captured by the kingdom's enemy, both of their secrets risk being revealed just as a common enemy lurks closer.
This book was so great. My kind of fantasy. So many great characters and such a solid plot. There's a love triangle but I have to say, I loved it so much. It was well done and there's nothing wrong with a good love triangle, to be quite honest. I cannot wait to see what the sequel has in store for all of these characters. And just for fair warning, this book gets dark. It's a great 'females rising up from oppression' read as well (to give you an idea of that and the darkness I mentioned: female orphans are forced to be impregnated against their will by males, and their children taken from them to become guards for the kingdom. They're basically broodmares, and just what Alexa is trying to avoid by disguising herself as a male). Book two is out the end of December, and I cannot wait! Fans of Tamora Pierce and Sarah J. Maas will love Defy, guaranteed. Solid 5/5.
Check out Defy on Goodreads.

I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

A little out of my genre comfort zone is this humorous contemporary read. I've Got Your Number is about about-to-be-married Poppy, who is robbed of her phone shortly after losing her engagement ring, and is about to short circuit when she finds a phone in the trash. This phone belongs to a business man's assisstant, who chucked the phone when she up and quit. Poppy, desperate to have some sort of life line (her cell was her life, you understand, her everything!), manages to convince said  uptight and reluctant businessman (Sam Roxton) to allow her to keep the phone until she gets a new one and her ring turns up, with the promise that she will forward all of his emails to him. And she wouldn't dare pry into his personal life, nor he into hers... Full of footnotes, emails, text messages, and some humorous snooping, I've Got Your Number is a hilarious read that I honestly could not put down (I read it in a day. I was on vacation, but still). This is one of those 'chick lit' novels that would make a fantastic rom com film - seriously, I could see it all play out in my head. Although if a film could actually do Kinsella's humour justice, I am not sure. The book was great, and it's a perfect light, funny read. For me it was a break between heavier genres, but I enjoyed it just as much. This book was my introduction to Sophie Kinsella's writing (I'll admit I've seen the Confessions of a Shopaholic movie - it was all right - but have not read the books), and I've her newest, Wedding Night, sitting on my shelf ready to be picked up the next time I'm ready for a break between by fantasy and sci-fi reads. 4.5 stars.
I've Got Your Number on Goodreads.

Review: The Waiting Sky by Lara Zielin

Title: The Waiting Sky

Series: n/a

Author: Lara Zielin

Rating: 4.5/5

Blurb: 

One summer chasing tornadoes could finally change Jane's life for the better.

Seventeen-year-old Jane McAllister can't quite admit her mother's alcoholism is spiraling dangerously out of control until she drives drunk, nearly killing them and Jane's best friend.

Jane has only one place to turn: her older brother Ethan, who left the problems at home years ago for college. A summer with him and his tornado-chasing buddies may just provide the time and space Jane needs to figure out her life and whether it still includes her mother. But she struggles with her anger at Ethan for leaving home and feels guilty--is she also abandoning her mom just when she needs Jane most?

The carefree trip turned journey of self-discovery quickly becomes more than Jane bargained for, especially when the devilishly handsome Max steps into the picture.

Contemporary novels never used to be my thing, but I decided it was time for me to step back and give them another try, especially since my reader friends keep recommending them to me. The Waiting Sky is one book I came across somewhere on goodreads a month before it came out, and I decided this is it. This is the book I'm going to start with on my road to contemporary YA fiction.

It was a great place to start for me. I absolutely loved this book.

This book was a quick read for me. I finished it in two sittings, mostly because I forced myself to get some sleep so I would not be dead tired at work the following morning. And I certainly did not expect me to have to force myself to put this book down! Especially considering how for the past little while I've been struggling through a certain other book; I feared it might be the same this time.

The characters in this book were great. They felt like real people and the secondary characters weren't just there. They all had unique personalities that I was able to latch onto quickly, and even though we saw them through the main character's eyes, they were written well enough that I was able to form my own opinions about each character without being swayed by the main character's bias.

The last contemporary book I read did not feel real to me at all. The characters felt so fake and the world that was set up was too perfect; even though the ending in that one was tragic, I didn't feel anything for those characters, but the way Lara Zielin wrote her characters and made the plot realistic was really something I appreciated. Nothing felt formulaic or fake. The characters were real, and what was happening to them was real.

Even though the book is a lot shorter than what I've been reading lately, Zielin was able to give us background stories to a few characters that made sense without taking away from the plot. Everything written in this book was important for us to know; there was never a moment where I was like 'okay, I need to skip this paragraph because I don't care to know this'. The sub-plots were intruiging as well; the world did not just revolve around the main character as I've seen happen in a few first person YA novels, and not just the contemporaries I've read.

The voice of the main character, Jane, was evident right from the beginning, and the way that Lara Zielin wrote her was amazing. We were inside of  Jane's head -- everything was told from her perspective -- but we were able to see the flaws in her character without Jane  pointing them out. Everything about Jane's personality was evident through Zielin's writing without taking away from Jane's voice.

Zielin's writing really had me hooked. I'll try not to give anything away here, so I'll just say that I really was not sure how this book was going to end. I feared for certain characters and I wasn't sure what was going to happen to them until it did happen; Zielin's writing kept me guessing almost up until the very last page.

Since the premise of the tornado chases is what first drew my attention to this book, I need to talk about that really quickly. I know next to nothing about tornados but I could tell this book was well-researched. I understood the scientific stuff that was going on without feeling overwhelmed or confused or like it was dumbed-down for people like me (who were terrible at anything science-related in school) to understand. The chase scenes themselves were so well-written; I felt like I was there in the car with them. Another kudos to Zielin's writing.

What I enjoyed the most about this book would be the plot itself. We were given a look into a teen with real life troubles and saw just how they affected her and how she overcame them. I felt for Jane and for the people in her life and I think this book really taught something, whether it meant to or not. For anyone going through problems in their lives, be it something similar to the problems Jane was having with her family, or be it something entirely different, Lara Zielin taught a very clear lesson through the pages of this novel. And never once did it feel forced.

I feel like I have more to say, but I think  I've rambled on enough without giving too much away. I highly recommend this book to everyone, whether you're like me and aren't all that into contemporary or you are. This book is a great, quick read that will truly erm, no pun intended (okay, maybe it is), suck you in. (Get it? Because tornados...?)

And on that note, go read this book!

Cover Reveal: Swell by Julie Duck

So I am very excited to be participating in this cover reveal for Julie Duck's Swell. I do not regularily read contemporary fiction, but after reading this book's synopsis, I'm looking forward to making an exception! It certainly sounds to be an interesting read, and the cover... Well it's quite pretty ;)

Here is the blurb:

For 15-year-old Beck Ionesco, discovering love with the most popular guy in school is a surprise. So are the bottles and cans he hides in his room and under the car seat. Through Christian, Beck enters a world where you can never be too cool or drunk, and finds herself falling for him, the bottle… and Christian’s dangerous friend Hillman falling for her.Thank God for that bottle, though, because it’s all Beck has left when Christian abandons her, Hillman begins stalking her, and she finds herself on the wrong end of popularity in the back seat of his car. She’s left to fend for herself and her heart until she finds friendship – and possibly more - with fellow student Jesse.But Christian wants another chance with Beck, and collides with a drunken fate that becomes his last call. It’s now up to Beck to clean up and reclaim her life, and discover sober love with the one whose life secretly parallels her own.

So without further ado, readers and bloggers, here is the gorgeous cover for Swell:

Beautiful, eh?

Swell comes out this September 2012, so look out for it soon!
You can find Julie on her website and her blog: www.julieduck.com  and  www.julieduck.wordpress.com
You can also follow her on Twitter: @skodobah

So what say you, readers? What are your thoughts on the cover? Are you looking forward to reading this book?