Gold Star Review: These Broken Stars

These Broken Stars
by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
Starbound, book one

It's a night like any other on board the Icarus. Then, catastrophe strikes: the massive luxury spaceliner is yanked out of hyperspace and plummets into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive. And they seem to be alone.

Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a young war hero who learned long ago that girls like Lilac are more trouble than they're worth. But with only each other to rely on, Lilac and Tarver must work together, making a tortuous journey across the eerie, deserted terrain to seek help. (Description from Amazon.com)

This book is beautifully written.

I found myself savoring the actual words and phrases used to describe characters' emotions and motivations. I would find myself repeating the final sentence in a chapter, or rolling a story that either character revealed to the other around in my brain, just enjoying the way that the words evoked certain emotions.  Each chapter brought new insight into the characters and their world. 

Lilac and Tarver were both multifaceted, intriguing characters that behaved in remarkable and yet realistically imagined ways. Reading their interactions, the way that each struggled to be independent, and yet, eventually they had no choice but to rely upon one another helped to enhance the sense tension within the story.  I felt like I was on the knife's edge from almost the first page! 

I also truly loved the science fiction aspect of this book.  Though the original premise reads as Titanic in space, each scene reveals new info about the science and technology of this world.  The space exploration reads as a wholly possible near future for our culture and each bit about the tech they used seemed viable and well researched.  I am thoroughly looking forward to seeing where the next book in this series goes.  I'd love to explore some of the other terraformed planets in their universe!

I loved this book enough that I decided to give it a GOLD STAR review.

Full disclosure: eARC received from Netgalley 

The Case of the Deadly Desperados

The Case of the Deadly Desperados
by Caroline Lawrence
Western Mysteries, book one

When twelve-year-old P.K. (Pinky) Pinkerton's foster parents are murdered by Whittlin' Walt and his gang of ruthless desperados, Pinky goes on the run and is forced into hiding with Ma's priceless last possession: the deed to a large amount of land and silver mines in the Nevada Mountains. But relying on disguises will only keep Pinky hidden for so long, and the desperados are quickly closing in . . . (Description from Amazon.com)

I loved this book SO much more than I ever thought I would.  P.K. is a spunky, interesting (maybe autistic) main character that I had no trouble rooting for... I loved all of the side characters.  There were mean desperados, and helpful townsfolk, a new "foster" parent to look up to, and even an appearance by Samuel Clemens himself! The mystery was great and the setting was way more interesting than I'd thought it would be.  I found myself smiling as I listened (I did this as an audio book) and hope to read the follow-up soon! 

Full disclosure: Borrowed from my Library

The Testing

The Testing
by Joelle Charbonneau

It’s graduation day for sixteen-year-old Malencia Vale, and the entire Five Lakes Colony (the former Great Lakes) is celebrating. All Cia can think about—hope for—is whether she’ll be chosen for The Testing, a United Commonwealth program that selects the best and brightest new graduates to become possible leaders of the slowly revitalizing post-war civilization. When Cia is chosen, her father finally tells her about his own nightmarish half-memories of The Testing. Armed with his dire warnings (”Cia, trust no one”), she bravely heads off to Tosu City, far away from friends and family, perhaps forever. Danger, romance—and sheer terror—await. (description from Amazon.com)

If you devoured The Hunger Games and having been struggling to find something with just the same bite to it, look no further. This is the book you've been waiting for... it is the closest I've come yet to the experience I had reading The Hunger Games. 

This book has the same danger, excitement, self-sacrifice, a hint of romance...and left me DESPERATE to get my hands on the second book. I highly recommend this one.

Only the Good Spy Young

Only the Good Spy Young
by Ally Carter
Gallagher Girls, book four

When Cammie Morgan enrolled at the Gallagher Academy, she knew she was preparing for the dangerous life of a spy. What she didn't know was that the serious, real-life danger would start as soon as her junior year. But that's exactly what happened two months ago when she faced off against an ancient terrorist organization dead set on kidnapping her.

Now the danger follows her everywhere, and even Cammie "The Chameleon" can't hide. When a terrifying encounter in London reveals that one of her most trusted allies is actually a rogue double agent, Cammie no longer knows if she can trust her classmates, her teachers - or even her own heart.

All I can say is WOW. I loved this book, I'm now officially hooked on the series, and when I hit the end I seriously said, "What, no, I need more!"

In this volume Cammie learns much more about the spy world around her and in doing so, begins to seriously doubt, well...everything. She does some soul searching, figures out who she can trust, and ultimately makes a decision at the end of the book that leaves readers hanging...no wait, make that literally drooling over what my happen in the next book.

If you haven't already started reading this series about awesome teen spies...go...go now and read them straight through. You won't be sorry.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner
by Stephenie Meyer
An Eclipse Novella

Bree Tanner is a newborn vampire, created by "her" and corralled into compliance by a slightly older vamp named Riley. As more and more newbies are created and subsequently keep dying in accidents, Bree begins to question what she will have to do to survive in this new second life. One day on a hunt she meets another newbie, Diego, who seems to feel as she does about keeping quiet and smart and safe...not showing off and letting the bloodlust overcome...that's how vampires die. As Bree and Diego begin to trust each other, they figure out that Riley may have been lying to them about what they are really here for...why they were created in the first place. Can they stir things up without tempting fate and facing death a second time?

I have to be honest. I am SO over Twilight now that when I heard this book was being published my first thought was that Meyer was just looking for another way to make money. I still think that to some degree, but once I broke down and read this book (because I'm a teen librarian and since it's gonna be huge I consider this to be part of my job) it surprised me.

It was better than I expected. Though I did not remember Bree at all from Eclipse, I read it such a long time ago, it was an interesting new perspective on the Twilight world. Meyer really delved into what the human-hunting vampires thought about and felt in their daily existence. Bree was interesting because she was smart and street savvy (unlike Bella! Sorry, just had to get that dig in there somehow :P) and her relationships with Diego and Fred were fun to read about.

What I didn't like was that even though it was almost 200 pages, it had no chapter breaks at all. I need a place to put the book down when I have to go to work, etc! Also, it was kind of like watching Titanic, I knew ultimately how it ended...

Overall, though, not too shabby.