Across a Star-Swept Sea

Across a Star-Swept Sea 
by Diana Peterfreund
Companion to For Darkness Shows the Stars

Publication Date: October 15, 2013

Centuries after wars nearly destroyed civilization, the two islands of New Pacifica stand alone, a paradise where even the Reduction—the devastating brain disorder that sparked the wars—is a distant memory. Yet on the island of Galatea, an uprising against the aristocracy has turned deadly. The revolutionaries' weapon is a drug that damages their enemies' brains, and the only hope is rescue by a mysterious spy known as the Wild Poppy.

On neighboring Albion, no one suspects that the Wild Poppy is actually famously frivolous teenage aristocrat Persis Blake. Her gossipy flutternotes are encrypted plans, her pampered sea mink is genetically engineered for spying, and her well-publicized new romance with handsome Galatean medic Justen Helo . . . is her most dangerous mission ever.

Justen is hiding things, too—his disenchantment with his country's revolution, his undeniable attraction to the silly socialite he's pretending to love. Persis is also falling for Justen, but when she discovers his greatest secret—one that could plunge New Pacifica into another dark age—she realizes she's not just risking her heart, she's risking the world she's sworn to protect. (Description from Amazon.com)

I *LOVE* Diana Peterfreund. There, I said it.  I love all of her books, I think she's a great person and having met her more than once now, I have officially fallen into "crazy fan-girl" status... For example, I saw DP at BEA this year from across an aisle as I was standing in line to get a signed ARC from Holly Black.  Thankfully, I was standing in line with Evie from Bookish, who very sweetly held my place in line as I ran across the aisle to harass gush at DP.  I was so gushy, in fact, that the super-sweet DP pulled out her *last* ARC of Across and signed it for me on the spot. I almost died! 

Anyway...This book is just another reason why I love DP.  Like For Darkness Shows the Stars (see my gold star review here), this book is based on a classic.  This companion book is actually inspired by The Scarlet Pimpernel, which I've never read, but having read the description I can very much see how the Scarlet Pimpernel inspired Persis' Wild Poppy.  

I found Persis herself to be a fascinating character.  Uber-intelligent, Persis realizes that in order to do the best thing for her country, while it's on the brink of war, she must actually play dumb.  Persis becomes the epitome of a superficial socialite in order to defray any suspicion...in order to let the Wild Poppy remain undiscovered.  She is SO good at her scheme that even her parents have no idea what she's really up to... Experiencing the dichotomy of Persis' two worlds, the whirlwind of the posh Lady-in-Waiting and the dangerous rescue missions as the Poppy... it was so exciting, I felt like I could drop right into her world.  

I loved watching the relationship develop between Persis and Justen.  I like that DP does not do "insta-love."  These relationships have major ups and downs, and often the characters really have to work at it for things to work out. That makes them feel SO much more real to me. I like the added depth and the gratification I feel when they finally head in the direction I'm dying for them to go, LOL.  [And, yes, for those who are wondering, we do get a connection back to FDStS in this book...]

Can I but hope for a third book in this world???

Full disclosure: Signed ARC received (from DP herself!!) at BEA 2013. 

Forget You

Forget You
by Jennifer Echols

WHY CAN’T YOU CHOOSE WHAT YOU FORGET . . . AND WHAT YOU REMEMBER?

There’s a lot Zoey would like to forget. Like how her father has knocked up his twenty-four- year old girlfriend. Like Zoey’s fear that the whole town will find out about her mom’s nervous breakdown. Like darkly handsome bad boy Doug taunting her at school. Feeling like her life is about to become a complete mess, Zoey fights back the only way she knows how, using her famous attention to detail to make sure she’s the perfect daughter, the perfect student, and the perfect girlfriend to ultra-popular football player Brandon. But then Zoey is in a car crash, and the next day there’s one thing she can’t remember at all—the entire night before. Did she go parking with Brandon, like she planned? And if so, why does it seem like Brandon is avoiding her? And why is Doug—of all people— suddenly acting as if something significant happened between the two of them? Zoey dimly remembers Doug pulling her from the wreck, but he keeps referring to what happened that night as if it was more, and it terrifies Zoey to admit how much is a blank to her. Controlled, meticulous Zoey is quickly losing her grip on the all-important details of her life—a life that seems strangely empty of Brandon, and strangely full of Doug. (description from Amazon.com)

This book was compelling. Really. The plot hooked me right in from the first sentence and did not let go. It's funny because it's really not the best written book ever...there were parts in the first half where I caught myself saying, "Oh, that sounds awkward," but man, once started reading I could not stop. Two nights in a row, I stayed up TOO late and had to force myself to put in the bookmark and place. the. book. down.

Zoey's life just, well...sucks. Dealing with two messed up parents and the fact that neither one really seems to care at all about how she's doing...ugh. No wonder she bonds (or should I say re-bonds) with Doug...his Dad is seriously F*ed Up! I loved Doug. He was what really kept drawing me back in. He smoldered right off the page. *sigh*

I really liked how Echols gave readers solid hints about occurrences during Zoey's lost time. Just enough so that I constantly tried to convince myself that I knew, but really knew that I had only an inkling. There were some good little twists that got thrown in...

As an adult reader, this book also had just the right amount of heat. It was somewhat graphic without becoming "erotica" and still managed to leave some things to the reader's imagination, but was totally realistic about what types of sexual activity teenagers actually engage in today. I thought that was very well done. I don't think I'd recommend this book to anyone too young, though.

All in all, though not my favorite book ever, I did really enjoy it and would recommend it.