Mini Reviews: The "I'm Just Trying to Find My Place in the World" Edition

Where I Belong

by Gillian Cross

In the hot desert of Somalia, Mahmoud is kidnapped and held for a ten thousand-dollar ransom. His older sister, Khadija, is in London, thousands of miles away; and yet Mahmoud s life is in her hands. Someone has discovered her identity, that she is Qarsoon the Hidden One the face of famous fashion designer Sandy Dexter s newest collection. Who can Khadija trust to help her? She now must appear as planned on the Fashion Week runway. Only then can she possibly earn the money to save Mahmoud s life. Also involved is Abdi, a fourteen-year-old boy coming to terms with the mysterious disappearance of his father, and Freya, the totally unfashionable daughter of Sandy Dexter, trying to find her place in her mother s world of haute couture. (description from Amazon.com)

I thought that this was an interesting way to introduce a lot of information about Somalian culture. The kids each brought a totally different viewpoint to the story and it was intriguing to read how they interacted with each other and the adults around them.  I had trouble sometimes keeping track of who was the narrator of the different chapters, though, and while this was a sometimes exciting story that was easy to read, it didn't totally enthrall me. 

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Tall Story

by Candy Gourlay

Andi is short. And she has lots of wishes. She wishes she could play on the school basketball team, she wishes for her own bedroom, but most of all she wishes that her long-lost half-brother, Bernardo, could come and live in London where he belongs.

Then Andi's biggest wish comes true and she's minutes away from becoming someone's little sister. As she waits anxiously for Bernardo to arrive from the Philippines, she hopes he'll turn out to be tall and just as crazy as she is about basketball. When he finally arrives, he's tall all right. Eight feet tall, in fact—plagued by condition called Gigantism and troubled by secrets that he believes led to his phenomenal growth. (description from Amazon.com)


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I hadn't been sure I would like this story, but it was actually a very touching, almost folk-story feeling tale. I loved both Bernardo and Andi in different ways.  He was a wonderful boy, who just happened to grow 8 feet tall, and had to deal with how that affected how all the people around him viewed him.  Andi was fiesty, loyal, and incredibly impatient to be independent...and yet, she loved her brother without reservation.  With a slight touch of "magic" and a great, loving family, this turned out to be a great read!

PS - The audio version is phenomenally done. A fun one to listen to!

Full disclosure: Audio book received to review for SLJ
*2012 Debut Author Challenge title*

The Mostly True Story of Jack

by Kelly Barnhill

Enter a world where magic bubbles just below the surface. . . .
When Jack is sent to Hazelwood, Iowa, to live with his strange aunt and uncle, he expects a summer of boredom. Little does he know that the people of Hazelwood have been waiting for him for quite a long time.

When he arrives, three astonishing things happen: First, he makes friends -- not imaginary friends but actual friends. Second, he is beaten up by the town bully; the bullies at home always ignored him. Third, the richest man in town begins to plot Jack's imminent, and hopefully painful, demise. It's up to Jack to figure out why suddenly everyone cares so much about him. Back home he was practically, well, invisible. (description from Amazon.com)

This was a magical tale. It was that side of magic that turns out to be creepy.  I felt bad for Jack as he was trying to figure out who and possibly what he was...and yet, he was good and he made new, loyal friends. I liked the style of this book a lot, and will be checking out Barnhill's next book.

 



Mini Reviews: The Dystopian Edition

Article 5

by Kristen Simmons

New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., have been abandoned.

 The Bill of Rights has been revoked, and replaced with the Moral Statutes.

 There are no more police—instead, there are soldiers. There are no more fines for bad behavior—instead, there are arrests, trials, and maybe worse. People who get arrested usually don't come back.

Seventeen-year-old Ember Miller is old enough to remember that things weren’t always this way. Living with her rebellious single mother, it’s hard for her to forget that people weren’t always arrested for reading the wrong books or staying out after dark. It’s hard to forget that life in the United States used to be different.

Ember has perfected the art of keeping a low profile. She knows how to get the things she needs, like food stamps and hand-me-down clothes, and how to pass the random home inspections by the military. Her life is as close to peaceful as circumstances allow.

That is, until her mother is arrested for noncompliance with Article 5 of the Moral Statutes. And one of the arresting officers is none other than Chase Jennings…the only boy Ember has ever loved. (description from Amazon.com)

I really liked this one a lot. I thought the whole moral code thing was a fascinating study on human culture and how we like to take things to extremes. I also thought the love story was a lot more believable because they'd known each other for YEARS before the events in the book.  I look forward to a sequel.

Full disclosure: Audio book received to review for AudioFile
*2012 Debut Author Challenge title*

 

Fever
by Lauren DeStefano
The Chemical Garden Trilogy, book two

Rhine and Gabriel have escaped the mansion, but they’re still in danger. Outside, they find a world even more disquieting than the one they left behind.

Determined to get to Manhattan and find Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan, the two press forward, amid threats of being captured again…or worse.

The road they are on is long and perilous—and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and men die at age twenty-five, time is precious. In this sequel to Lauren DeStefano’s harrowing Wither, Rhine must decide if freedom is worth the price—now that she has more to lose than ever. (description from Amazon.com)

I actually enjoyed this sequel better than the original Wither, mostly because it got Rhine out of the mansion and into the real world, where she had a chance to take charge.  DeStefano's world is beautiful and crumbling... a devestating and destructive place. I loved the setting more than the story I think, but I will definitely be reading book three. I have to find out how it ends!

Full disclosure: Audio book received to review for AudioFile

Epitaph Road

by David Patneaude

2097 is a transformed world. Thirty years earlier, a mysterious plague wiped out 97 percent of the male population, devastating every world system from governments to sports teams, and causing both universal and unimaginable grief. In the face of such massive despair, women were forced to take over control of the planet--and in doing so they eliminated all of Earth's most pressing issues. Poverty, crime, warfare, hunger . . . all gone.

But there's a price to pay for this new "utopia," which fourteen-year-old Kellen is all too familiar with. Every day, he deals with life as part of a tiny minority that is purposefully kept subservient and small in numbers. His career choices and relationship options are severely limited and controlled. He also lives under the threat of scattered recurrences of the plague, which seem to pop up wherever small pockets of men begin to regroup and grow in numbers.

And then one day, his mother's boss, an iconic political figure, shows up at his home. Kellen overhears something he shouldn't--another outbreak seems to be headed for Afterlight, the rural community where his father and a small group of men live separately from the female-dominated society. Along with a few other suspicious events, like the mysterious disappearances of Kellen's progressive teacher and his Aunt Paige, Kellen is starting to wonder whether the plague recurrences are even accidental. No matter what the truth is, Kellen cares only about one thing--he has to save his father. (description from Amazon.com)

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I thought this was interesting. There were some obvious questions that weren't really answered, but overall the story was really entertaining and thought-provoking. I can't imagine a world where there are so few men that they could be so rigorously controlled...

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Mini Reviews: The My Life Has Gone Horribly, Horribly Wrong Edition

Everneath

by Brodi Ashton

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath. Now she’s returned—to her old life, her family, her boyfriend—before she’s banished back to the underworld . . . this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can’t find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these precious months forgetting the Everneath and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance—and the one person she loves more than anything. But there’s just one problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki home. Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen. And he’ll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen.

As Nikki’s time on the Surface draws to a close and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole’s queen. (description from Amazon.com)

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the mythology of the Everneath and the idea of immortals living amongst us, but cursed to steal life from others to survive.  I thought that Nikki was really believable as someone who'd been so hurt that she'd tried to escape her emotions and then paid a terrible price. Well worth a read!

Full disclosure: Audio book received to review for Audiofile Magazine
*2012 Debut Author Challenge title*

The Fox Inheritance

by Mary Pearson

The Jenna Fox Chronicles, book two

Once there were three. Three friends who loved each other—Jenna, Locke, and Kara. And after a terrible accident destroyed their bodies, their three minds were kept alive, spinning in a digital netherworld. Even in that disembodied nightmare, they were still together. At least at first. When Jenna disappeared, Locke and Kara had to go on without her. Decades passed, and then centuries.

Two-hundred-and-sixty years later, they have been released at last. Given new, perfect bodies, Locke and Kara awaken to a world they know nothing about, where everyone they once knew and loved is long dead.

Everyone except Jenna Fox. (description from Amazon.com)

I LOVED The Adoration of Jenna Fox. I was beyond excited when I knew that this sequel was coming out. At first, I was a little hesitant because Jenna wasn't the narrator and it skipped so far into the future, but it turns out that this was a great follow-up. Not *quite* as good, but interesting and really thought provoking, nonetheless!
*2012 TBR Pile Reading Challenge Title*

Dragonswood

by Janet Lee Carey

Wilde Island is not at peace. The kingdom mourns the dead Pendragon king and awaits the return of his heir; the uneasy pact between dragons, fairies, and humans is strained; and the regent is funding a bloodthirsty witch hunt, hoping to rid the island of half-fey maidens.

Tess, daughter of a blacksmith, has visions of the future, but she still doesn't expect to be accused of witchcraft, forced to flee with her two best friends, or offered shelter by the handsome and enigmatic Garth Huntsman, a warden for Dragonswood. But Garth is the younger prince in disguise and Tess soon learns that her true father was fey, making them the center of an exciting, romantic adventure, and an ancient prophecy that will bring about peace between all three races - dragon, human, and fairy. (description from Amazon.com)

This book could be read alone, or as a follow up to Carey's Dragon's Keep. It is a marvelous fantasy about a world where so much magic exists and the poor main character is abused and persecuted for even the thought of her practicing... Love, adventure, heartbreak...the book encompasses it all. A new favorite fantasy!

Cinder

Cinder
by Marissa Meyer
Lunar Chronicles, book one

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .


Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future. (description from Amazon.com)

I loved this futuristic sci-fi version of the Cinderella story.  It was *this* close to being a gold star review, except it ended with a HUGE cliffhanger and the next book doesn't come out until NEXT YEAR. Ugh.

I loved Cinder's character. The fact that she is a cyborg was really cool, especially since this doesn't verge so far into sci-fi that I had trouble understanding things. There was no confusion about medical/scientific stuff. YAY! I loved the fact that not only was Cinder's body both hard and soft, but that it reflected her personality so well...

I loved the descriptions of New Beijing.  It was a fascinating dichotomy of the traditional and the futuristic. The fact that the Eastern Commonwealth was at the head of the Earthen Union also felt very possible in humanity's future...and can I mention that the whole Lunar thing was super intriguing? I want to learn more about their history and culture. I'm hoping the next book in the series gives us a more inside perspective there.

All in all, this was book was so close to what my perfect reinvisioning of a fairytale could be it was sort of eerie. I wish that we knew a little more of Cinder's story at the end, but I am SO absolutely looking forward to reading more of her journey in the following books.  I cannot wait for Scarlet to get here!!

Full disclosure: ARC received from Netgalley/Audio book won from Macmillan Audio
*2012 Debut Author Challenge title*

Check out the book trailer for Harbinger!!

OMG. It's not too often that I see a book trailer and actually confuse it for a movie trailer, but wow...they did an awesome job on this one. Harbinger by Sara Wilson Etienne, coming out on Feb. 2nd, was already on my TBR list, but this is definitely bumping it up a couple of notches...
Check it out!

2012 Debut Author Challenge!

I'm super excited to sign up again to do the Debut Author Challenge, hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren! This gives me the chance to check out all the new and hopefully upcoming authors in YA. :)

CHALLENGE OBJECTIVE:
*To read & review a minimum of twelve young adult or middle grade debut novels between the dates of January 1, 2012 – January 31, 2013.*
*The 2013 extension is so that December Debuts can be read and count toward the challenge.

*Any advance reader copies you read from 2012 BEFORE the January 1st start date DO NOT count toward the challenge!

*You can read twelve books in one month, or one book a month. It doesn’t matter as long as you have 12 read by the end of the year!

RULES & GUIDELINES:
*You must have a Blog to post your reviews or be a member of Goodreads.

*Your blog must be written in English.

*Deadline to join is May 31, 2012. You can sign up on The Story Siren.

BOOK GUIDELINES:
*Must be a young adult or middle grade title.

*Must be the author’s YA or MG debut, released in 2012.

*If an author has a previous novel published for adults or children, they can still qualify for the challenge.

*If an author has a previous YA or MG title, they do not qualify for the challenge.

BOOKS I WANT TO READ (SO FAR) FOR THE 2012 DAC:

Queen of Kentucky by Alecia Whitaker - 1/2/2012
The Cabinet of Earths by Anne Nesbet - 1/3/2012
Cinder by Marissa Meyer - 1/3/2012
Everneath by Brodi Ashton - 1/3/2012
Fracture by Megan Miranda - 1/3/2012
Incarnate by Jodi Meadows - 1/31/2012
Harbinger by Sara Wilson Etienne - 2/2/2012
Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi - 2/7/2012
Article 5 by Kristen Simmons - 2/14/2012
When the Sea is Rising Red by Cat Hellisen - 2/28/2012

Illuminate by Aimee Agresti - 3/6/2012
Katana by Cole Gibsen - 3/8/2012
A Breath of Eyre by Eve Marie Mont - 4/1/2012
The Selection by Kiera Cass - 4/24/2012
Welcome Caller, This is Chloe by Shelley Coriell - 5/1/2012
Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown - 6/12/2012
Level Two by Lenore Appelhans *Pub date not yet set*

Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger *Pub date not yet set*