Review: 'Anew: The Archers of Avalon' by Chelsea Fine

Reviewer: Jesi                                                               

Two years ago, Scarlet awoke in the forest alone, afraid, and unable to remember anything. Lost and confused, her life was a mystery...until she met a boy with a familiar voice.

Gabriel Archer has a voice from her past, and Scarlet is determined to remember why. She immerses herself in his life only to discover he has a brother he's kept hidden from her: Tristan Archer.

Upon meeting Tristan, Scarlet's world becomes even more muddled. While she's instinctively drawn to Gabriel, she's impossibly drawn to Tristan--and confused out of her mind. But as she tries to piece together her history, Scarlet realizes her past...might just be the death of her.

Wow, it is so hard to talk about this book without giving anything away.  Anew starts as a blank slate for Scarlet.  She wakes to find herself alone in a forest with almost total amnesia.  All she knows about herself is her name and that she is fifteen years old.  From there, it is almost best to let the reader discover the mysteries of her past as she learns them, so I won’t say much more about other than it has something to do with an American legend.  Can you guess what it is?  No?  Then read this book! 

Last month, I read and reviewed Chelsea Fine’s book Sophie and Carter on my personal blog.  Fine’s ability to create strong, interesting characters truly impressed me.  Anew proves that the success of Sophie and Carter was not a fluke.  This author knows how to craft characters to a T.  Scarlet is a girl who could have gone all emo about her situation, but instead, has chosen to make the most out of her strange circumstance.  Her best friend Heather is hilarious, and provides an excellent contrast to Scarlet’s character.  It is easy to see why they are so close. 

And as for the boys....?  I think I may be in literary love again.  Unfortunately, I don’t know who I love more, Tristan or Gabriel.  Both brothers are smoking hot, but so is every guy in a YA novel.  I think what I liked best is the contrast between these brothers.  Gabriel is fun and loving and laid back.  Tristan is the brooder, but not without some serious reasons behind his angst.  There is a love triangle in the book, but it’s not your typical situation.  I think reader will find it a refreshing twist. 

Anew is a fabulous start to a fun new paranormal series.  Cliffhanger endings drive me insane, and this book is no different.  I’ll be hopping up and down with anticipation until the next book in the series, Awry, comes out. 

Overall, I give Anew...

Plot - 5 bookmarks

Character development - 5 bookmarks

Setting - 5 bookmarks (the Kissing Festival was a fun way to introduce the town of Avalon)

Dream Cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) - Skyler Samuels (Scarlet), Jean-Luc Bilodeau (Gabriel/Tristin), Alexandria Deberry (Heather), Olivia Wilde (Lauren)

Review: ‘Catspell: The Fairy Godmother Dilemma’ by Danyelle Leafty

Reviewer: Izzy

Sixteen-year-old Breena never thought anything could be worse than being forced to leave the faerie realm. Then she got stuck with a fairy godmother. But if she has to choose between the two, she’d leave the Faerie Realm over getting bossed about by a faerie with a pointed stick any day. Unfortunately, her attempt to evade her fairy godmother gives her growing pains in the form of fur, whiskers, and a tail.

Turning into a cat is the least of her worries, though. The potion wasn’t meant to bring out her inner feline, it was meant to put her to sleep. Forever. If Breena wants to make it to her Happily Ever After, she’ll have to accept that sometimes a fairy godmother really does come in handy, after all.

(Amazon product description)

 

I felt as if I was watching a Disney movie when I read this, and while it was very well written and the story was well told, I wasn’t feeling the Disney aspect and clichéd plot. I really enjoyed the view into the fairy godmother's mind, though, so there's that. I say if you enjoy stories about girls who get transformed and have to find their true love through a series of tasks while in the form of a feline—and the only way to be changed back is for him to “see through” the outer shell of her being a talking cat, well, this is definitely a story for you. Personally, I was hoping for a modern twist on older fairy tales, but I was disappointed.

The book starts out interestingly enough and had my interest up until the princess gets transformed into—and stuck as—a cat. After that, I lost most of the interest that had been piqued, but I kept on, figuring the ending wouldn't be what I suspected it would be—it really couldn't be that cut and dry, right? Wrong. I thought, oh, we're focusing on the mage. The fairy godmother is focused on getting the princess a prince, but maybe she'll fall for the mage. No, she goes for the prince, and while there is absolutely nothing wrong with storybook fairy tales, they just aren't my thing. Not the kind of fairy tale, at least, where the prince gets the girl, the mage saves the day, and things turn out peachy. ;p

Besides the fairy godmother's view, I also enjoyed seeing into the “Blossom's” POV, because she was an interesting...person to see.  I'd never heard of her particular species in a fairy tale, so there's that. The conflicts and the insights are new—obviously, when watching a Disney movie, you don't get to see how much work the fairy godmother is putting in or what the prince had to go through to get to the princess, and so on.

Otherwise, I found the friendship between the prince and the mage sweet and the dragon's servants delightfully clever, sly, and creepy, I enjoyed the mage's cynicism, and the villain, though perfectly anticipated, was also just evil enough to enjoy.

All in all, my opinion is that I wouldn't pick it up if you're looking for an unexpected twist to the story, but if you're looking for a sweet fairy tale to bring back the Disney-Days, go forth, enjoy, smile a little at the humor, squirm with impatience at the suspenseful parts, and sigh softly at the romantic parts. :)

Review: ‘Along for the Ride’ by Sarah Dessen

Reviewer: Jesi

"Ever since her parents began fighting, Auden has been unable to sleep at night. Now, spending a summer at a charming beach town with her father and his new family, she has to find new places to pass the time she spends awake. And so she meets Eli, a fellow insomniac who becomes her nighttime guide. Together, they embark on parallel quests: for Auden, to experience the carefree teenage life she has missed; for Eli, to come to terms with the death of a friend. In her trademark blockbuster-style, Sarah Dessen creates a powerful and irresistible story of two people learning how to connect."

(Amazon product description)

I really liked this book.  The characters were unique, intelligent and well-developed.  That goes for the side characters also, which is really unusual for a young adult book.  Looking at the cover, I was expecting a light, summer-type read.  But these characters have real issues, and they are all moving forward, albeit at different paces.  There is not a stereotypical character in this book.  Each have layers to them that peal back as the story progresses. 

Auden starts the story off as a bit of a snob.  Having been raised by two ultra-selfish intellectuals, she almost couldn’t help it.  I loved watching her progress to a more open-minded person throughout the course of the book.  Although I did have problems with how she treated Eli.  He was this fragile young man who was just beginning to show signs of healing after the death of his best friend, but Auden treats him a bit carelessly.  I suppose that was part of her growth process, but it still made me sad to see it. 

Speaking of Auden and Eli, the romance plotline is very understated.  Considering the cover of the book, this also took me by surprise.  The story really revolves around Auden and her progression.  Eli does play a role in her development, and he develops himself too, but I love how Dessen allows them to work their lives out on their own.  Eli doesn’t fix Auden, and Auden doesn’t fix Eli.  Not only is this refreshing, but it sends a good message. 

Overall, I give Along for the Ride...

Plot - 4 bookmarks

Character development - 5 bookmarks

Moral lessons - 4 1/2 bookmarks (not preachy and kind of understated, but the reader learns along with Auden)

Dream cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) - Rooney Mara (Auden), Jackson Rathbone (Eli), Joseph Morgan (Hollis), Mary Marguerite Keane (Maggie), Peter Sarsgaard (Dad), Jane Adams (Mom), Jessica Chastain (Heidi)

Review: 'Hush Money' by Susan Bischoff

Reviewer: Izzy

They call their abilities Talents, and that’s what they call themselves as well. Talents are people born with supernatural powers, feared by the population at large. Possession of an “unregistered ability” has become illegal, and those who are discovered are forcibly removed to government-run research facilities. They do not return.

And so the Talents try, as best they can, to keep their abilities secret–some more successfully than others. For some, keeping that secret begins to define who they are. That’s where Hush Money begins…

Be normal, invisible. Don’t get close to anyone. Those are the rules to live by for seventeen-year-old Joss. She spent years as an outsider, hoping to hide what she is, until the new girl, Kat, decides she’s friend material. Kat doesn’t realize her mistake when she stands up for Joss against Marco, a guy who’s been giving Joss a hard time since freshman year. Joss is horrified when these heroics lead to the reveal of Kat’s Talent. Now she has an unasked-for best friend, who is the victim of an extortion plot by the school bully, who used to like Joss. And if all that weren’t complicated enough, Dylan, Joss’s long-time crush, is finally starting to talk to her. But as Marco’s best friend, can Dylan be trusted at all? Can Joss keep her secret and still save her friend? And what’s more important, staying safe or doing what’s right?

(Amazon product description)

When I bought Hush Money by Susan Bischoff, I was not expecting anything, honestly—book snob that I am—but the first page really caught me. The beginning explains what's going on without giving everything away in one quick info-overload.

Joss Marshall is one of the main characters, is one of my favorite heroines from any and all books I've read. She's tough without it being a big deal, but she also has very teenage emotions and thoughts, which to me gives Susan Bischoff very major points. Too many YA characters “think” and “speak” either too maturely, or too much like an adult trying too hard to be YA and that's not what's happening here.

The book is in first person, and half of the book is in Joss's point of view, therefore, because Joss already knows what's going on, she doesn't get into overlong explanations of that don't really need to be there about things like NIAC (National Institutes for Ability Control) and Talents. She just gives enough information for readers (assuming we are smarter than the average bird and able to click into such things) to get the gist of what's going on.

From the very beginning, you can tell Joss has a repressed sense of justice that scares her—and her father. Just the way everything unfolds in chapter one—fast, but not too fast; a nice, steady pace—made me grin; this is gonna be good.

The other half of the book is in Dylan's point of view which just made me so incredibly happy; plus, as the book's hero, he gets top marks. He's easier with people than Joss, and less abrasive—which makes me happy, because usually it's the other way around in books: the heroine must be softer/sweeter/shyer than the hero, even if she's “tough”.

Right away Dylan is seen as the “bad boy”, except that he makes it clear he doesn't want to go that route anymore—he just doesn't know how to get out of the wrong crowd and that's so human to me that I loved him from his second page. Teenagers get into the wrong crowd and when they want to get out—maybe they mature a bit, or wake up—maybe they don't know how. (Though, while Dylan's methods make for a great story, it's so much better to get adult help).

Hero, heroine, and that leaves our villain, who happens to be our hero's best friend. Can things get any juicier, Bob? Yes! Our villain is a smart, sleezy, super-strong bully! Not your average bully that just makes it harder on our heroes. And that makes for a better story.

Everything ties together with an adorable dash of romance thrown in and a good plot. The adorable romance—Dylan crushes on Joss. Joss has been crushing on Dylan. (I wouldn't say it if it wasn't so obviously obvious from the beginning). I definitely recommend this book.

Review: 'The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer" by Michelle Hodkin

Mara Dyer doesn't believe life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there. It can.                                                                                                                                                 

She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her strangely unharmed. There is.                                                                                                       

She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love. She's wrong.

(Amazon description)

 

Oh. My. God.  I loved this book!!!! 

Mara Dyer is a wonderful character who is damaged and broken.  She had vivid hallucinations that she must hide from her psychologist mother for fear of getting committed to a mental institution.  The doctors have diagnosed her with post traumatic stress disorder, resulting from being the only survivor in a terrible accident which killed three of her friends.  But the whole time I was reading it, I couldn’t help but think there was more to her visions.  There was. 

After the accident, Mara’s family relocates to Florida to help her start her life over.  The students in the snooty private school aren’t exactly welcoming.  Her only friend is Jamie, a really friendly and cool boy from her algebra class.  Oh, and then there is Noah.  He’s a hot guy with a bad reputation who seems intent on getting close to her.  Of course, she think he is an ass and doesn’t hesitate to tell him so.  But Noah isn’t discouraged by her resistance and continues his quest of winning her over. 

The relationship of Mara and Noah develops slowly, but the wait is totally worth it!  I think I might be in love with Noah at this point, and that hasn’t happened in a long time.  But even though there is a beautiful love story in the book, it is definitely a sub-plot.  The real plot revolves around Mara’s mental state and her difficulty in distinguishing reality from hallucination.  It doesn’t help that people around her seem to drop dead around her. 

The book is suspenseful and romantic and disturbing and beautifully written.  My only complaint is that I have to wait until the fall of 2012 for the next book. 

Overall, I give The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer...

Plot - 5 bookmarks (I had the hardest time putting this book down. When I was at work, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.)

Character Development - 5 bookmarks (Watching these characters unfold was wonderful!)

World Building - 5 bookmarks (Mara’s world is terrifying.)

Love Story - 5 bookmarks (One of my favorites that I’ve real in a long time. It blossoms slowly.  No “insta-love” that is so common in YA novels.)

Dream Cast (Otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) - Lily Collins (Mara), a slightly younger Robert Pattinson (Noah), Chris Colfer (Jamie), Lucas Till (Daniel)

Book Trailer