Book Review: Don't You Forget About Me by Kate Karyus Quinn

Title: Don't You Forget About Me
Author: Kate Karyus Quinn
Publisher: Harper Teen
Release Date: June 10, 2014
Rating: 4/5

Cover Impressions:  So pretty, though I don't quite connect the tree with the story.  I would have loved to see something around the Rehabilitation Center or the Forget-Me-Nots.

The Gist: At first glance, Gardnerville is a magical place where the dying experience a miracle cure and no one ever gets sick.  However, no great magic comes without a price and Gardnerville is no exception.  In cycles of four years, the teens in town undergo a transformation.  Some might walk off never to return, others might set a building on fire.  In fourth years, things get even more dangerous and lives are often lost.  Skyler struggles to forget the fourth year when her sister, Piper, led the town's teens on a parade that ended in a plunge off a bridge.  Popping pills and avoiding people, she tries to numb the pain but she cannot escape the fact that a fourth year is coming, and her own inner demons are calling from the depths. 

Review:
I loved Another Little Piece and was very excited to see what Kate Karyus Quinn had in store for this novel.  Again, I adore her world building.  The town of Gardnerville is like nothing I have encountered before.  Magic simmers just below the surface and erupts with volcanic power and devastating consequences.  I am a huge fan of the premise that great magic requires great sacrifice and the way KKQ has created an idyllic small town with a very dark secret was whimsical, but with a serious bite. 

Each inhabitant of Gardnerville seemed more interesting than the last.  Each had their own story and I loved seeing them play out through Skyler's story.  I found it hard to sympathize with Skyler as she numbed her pain with pills but I could see how she struggled to maintain a grip on a reality she had spent so long altering.  I was not a fan of the love interest and could really have done without it or him.  Likewise, the "Bad Guy" (whose name I have forgotten).  Perhaps I could have enjoyed his character a little more, had it not been for the fact that he was a teacher who was (at one point) involved with a student.  The ick factor on that one is just too high for me and I cannot deal with it nor get past it. 

KKQ's manner of storytelling continues to be unique and intriguing.  We chase Skyler's memories through the rabbit hole and end up in a place that is even more dark and disturbing than the Gardnerville we had thought we had known.  I will say, though the twists were interesting and well-planned, I did figure them out far in advance of the plot.  This is certainly not meant to be a deterrent for another reader, I just was so hoping for a shocking surprise and didn't get it. 

I love Kate Karyus Quinn's writing and will be signing on for anything else that she writes. 

Teaching/Parental Notes:

Age:  15 and up
Sex: Alluded to
Violence: A number of violent deaths: drowning, suicide, etc Sexual Abuse of a Child
Inappropriate Language: Bastard, Asshole, Fucking, Pissed, Shit, Bloody
Substance Use/Abuse: Drug use

Stacking the Shelves - May 3, 2014

 

Stacking The Shelves hosted by Tynga's Reviews.  It is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

EBOOKS I GOT THIS WEEK:

ARC Book Review: Flights and Chimes and Mysterious Times by Emma Trevayne

Title: Flights and Chimes and Mysterious Times
Author: Emma Trevayne
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Release Date: May 13th, 2014
Rating: 4/5

Cover Impressions:  One of the most beautiful middle grade covers that I have ever seen.  I love the colors and the detail in the city.  There is so much to look at, my eye keeps moving across the image to discover new details.  I can't wait to see this one in person.

The Gist: When a mysterious magic man visits Jack Foster's mother, he is only slightly curious.  When this same man offers to take Jack away and teach him, he becomes more so.  When the man disappears through a mysterious doorway - Jack finds that he must follow him.  On the other side, he discovers a world that mirrors his own, but with strange and wondrous differences.  Metal seems to have permeated peoples' very bones and clockwork creatures roam the land.  It is ruled by a Lady that never ages and whose outrageous demands must be met or the world will face dire consequences.  Her newest desire is for Jack to act as her perfect, unaltered son.  Jack soon discovers that this mysterious world has a dark side and that he is not as safe as he might have thought.  With the doorway closed, he must find a new way to return home to London, and all his hopes rest in a fairy tale creature that may not even exist. 

Review:
Just one page in, this novel's narration style had won me over.  It was beautiful to the ear and I could almost hear Geoffrey Holder (the beautiful narrator from Charlie and the Chocolate factory) telling me the story in his deep tones.  The premise behind this story is really interesting and I love the idea of an alternative London, once that is much more dark and mysterious.  In the second half, we got to see a really fun twist on the phoenix myth and I appreciated the author's skill in making such an ancient and powerful story fit within the world that she had created.

I did find the main character a little difficult to like.  Jack wasn't particularly interesting and, for much of the book, merely allowed himself to be pulled along by the actions of the other characters rather than to be an active component in the plot.  This did get better in the second half of the book, once Jack falls from favor and learns about the darkness that really lurks in Londinium. I also didn't really connect with the two adults characters, Dr. Snailwater and Xeno, but I loved Beth.  It is strange, that, despite being the only character who is not quite human, she is the most fun and caring individual.  
 
I did have some issues with the ending, but only in that I wanted a little more information.  I would have loved to discover where the Lady came from and why she never ages, but I understand that this was not necessarily important to THIS story.  Perhaps a prequel or novella would satiate my curiosity.  

Flights and Chimes and Mysterious times features really lovely writing and a fun story.  I am still not a convert to the whole steampunk genre, but this is a much more enjoyable example than many of the others that I have read.

Teaching/Parental Notes:

Age:  10 and up
Sex: None
Violence: Hangings, Loss of a hand,
Inappropriate Language: None
Substance Use/Abuse: None

First Lines: April 2014

The first words you read can often set the tone for the entire story.  I thought it would be fun to keep track of the first lines of the books I read each month and share them with you.  Below are the first lines for all the books I read in April.

Nature Girl by Carl Hiaasen

"On the second day of January, windswept and bright, a half-blood Seminole named Sammy Tigertail dumped a dead body in the Lostmans River."

 

 The Break Up Artist by Philip Siegel

"Couples are made to be broken."

A Creature of Moonlight by Rebecca Hahn
"All summer long the villagers have been talking of the woods."

Feather Bound by Sarah Raughley
"At precisely seven in the morning, my oldest sister, Ericka, arrived at our Brooklyn shack and was horrified to find out dad sprawled out on the couch basting in a sea of beer cans."

Flights and Chimes and Mysterious Times by Emma Trevayne
"There are doorways and there are doorways."

Life by Committee by Corey Ann Haydu

"Hey, Tabitha? I have a secret, Joe types."

I Kill The Mockingbird by Paul Acampora
"My mother's wheelchair does not fit through the bathroom door, and I don't know what to do about it."

Some great lines this month! I wasn't the biggest fan of Nature Girl but I did enjoy the detail and the picture that its first line painted.  I also really enjoyed both A Creature of Moonlight and Flight's and Chimes and Mysterious Times for their fantastical lines 

 

My least favorite was from Life by Committee.  It was a pretty standard and boring line and set us up for a lackluster teenage romance. 

Waiting on Wednesday: Flights and Chimes and Mysterious Times

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is: Flights and Chimes and Mysterious Times by Emma Trevayne which is due to be released on May 13th.

Ten-year-old Jack Foster has stepped through a doorway and into quite a different London.

Londinium is a smoky, dark, and dangerous place, home to mischievous metal fairies and fearsome clockwork dragons that breathe scalding steam. The people wear goggles to protect their eyes, brass grill insets in their nostrils to filter air, or mechanical limbs to replace missing ones.

Over it all rules the Lady, and the Lady has demanded a new son—a perfect flesh-and-blood child. She has chosen Jack.

Jack’s wonder at the magic and steam-powered marvels in Londinium lasts until he learns he is the pawn in a very dangerous game. The consequences are deadly, and his only hope of escape, of returning home, lies with a legendary clockwork bird.

The Gearwing grants wishes. Or it did, before it was broken. Before it was killed.

But some things don’t stay dead forever.

OK, what is NOT perfect about this book?  First of all, the cover.  OMG SQUEEEE!!! The steampunk, the detail, the whispy ghost?  It is fantastic.  Then there is the title.  It begs you to open up and see what is inside AND IT RHYMES!  Even the author's name sounds like a J.K Rowling character.  I have never been a fan of Steampunk, but this book may just be the one that I finally love.  

In Anticipation: May 2014

Time to leave the rainy April behind and get the lounge chair ready for those warm spring mornings reading on the deck.  There are lots of great titles being released this month.  Here are just a few of the ones that I am highly anticipating.

A Creature of Moonlight - Rebecca Hahn
 
A stunning debut novel about a girl who is half dragon, half human, and wholly herself.

As the only heir to the throne, Marni should have been surrounded by wealth and privilege, not living in exile-but now the time has come when she must choose between claiming her birthright as princess of a realm whose king wants her dead, and life with the father she has never known: a wild dragon who is sending his magical woods to capture her.

Fans of Bitterblue and Seraphina will be captured by A Creature of Moonlight, with its richly layered storytelling and the powerful choices its strong heroine must make.

Flights and Chimes and Mysterious Times - Emma Trevayne
 
Ten-year-old Jack Foster has stepped through a doorway and into quite a different London.

Londinium is a smoky, dark, and dangerous place, home to mischievous metal fairies and fearsome clockwork dragons that breathe scalding steam. The people wear goggles to protect their eyes, brass grill insets in their nostrils to filter air, or mechanical limbs to replace missing ones.

Over it all rules the Lady, and the Lady has demanded a new son—a perfect flesh-and-blood child. She has chosen Jack.

Jack’s wonder at the magic and steam-powered marvels in Londinium lasts until he learns he is the pawn in a very dangerous game. The consequences are deadly, and his only hope of escape, of returning home, lies with a legendary clockwork bird.

The Gearwing grants wishes. Or it did, before it was broken. Before it was killed.

But some things don’t stay dead forever.

I Kill the Mockingbird - Paul Acampora
  
When Lucy, Elena, and Michael receive their summer reading list, they are excited to see To Kill A Mockingbird included. But not everyone in their class shares the same enthusiasm. So they hatch a plot to get the entire town talking about the well-known Harper Lee classic. They plan controversial ways to get people to read the book, including re-shelving copies of the book in bookstores so that people think they are missing and starting a website committed to “destroying the mockingbird.” Their efforts are successful when all of the hullabaloo starts to direct more people to the book. But soon, their exploits start to spin out of control and they unwittingly start a mini revolution in the name of books.

Oblivion - Sasha Dawn
 
Lisa McMann's Dead to You meets Kate Ellison's The Butterfly Clues in a psychological thriller full of romance, intrigue, and mystery.

One year ago, Callie was found in an abandoned apartment, scrawling words on the wall: "I KILLED HIM. His blood is on my hands. His heart is in my soul. I KILLED HIM." But she remembers nothing of that night or of the previous thirty-six hours. All she knows is that her father, the reverend at the Church of the Holy Promise, is missing, as is Hannah, a young girl from the parish. Their disappearances have to be connected and Callie knows that her father was not a righteous man.

Since that fateful night, she's been plagued by graphomania -- an unending and debilitating compulsion to write. The words that flow from Callie's mind and through her pen don't seem to make sense -- until now.

As the anniversary of Hannah's vanishing approaches, more words and memories bubble to the surface and a new guy in school might be the key to Callie putting together the puzzle. But digging up the secrets she's buried for so long might be her biggest mistake.

New Releases: April 29, 2014

It's Release Day!!  Here are some of the new books that I am excited about this week!

SLEEP NO MORE - Aprilynne Pike
 
My Review
 
The blockbuster film Inception meets Lisa McMann's Wake trilogy in this dark paranormal thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Aprilynne Pike. This novel is also perfect for fans of Kelley Armstrong, Alyson Noel, and Kimberly Derting.

Charlotte Westing has a gift. She is an Oracle and has the ability to tell the future. But it doesn't do her much good. Instead of using their miraculous power, modern-day Oracles are told to fight their visions—to refrain from interfering. And Charlotte knows the price of breaking the rules. She sees it every day in her wheelchair-bound mother and the absence of her father. But when a premonition of a classmate's death is too strong for her to ignore, Charlotte is forced to make an impossible decision: continue following the rules or risk everything—even her sanity—to stop the serial killer who is stalking her town.
  
A TIME TO DANCE - Padma Venkatraman
 

 Padma Venkatraman’s inspiring story of a young girl’s struggle to regain her passion and find a new peace is told lyrically through verse that captures the beauty and mystery of India and the ancient bharatanatyam dance form. This is a stunning novel about spiritual awakening, the power of art, and above all, the courage and resilience of the human spirit.

Veda, a classical dance prodigy in India, lives and breathes dance—so when an accident leaves her a below-knee amputee, her dreams are shattered. For a girl who’s grown used to receiving applause for her dance prowess and flexibility, adjusting to a prosthetic leg is painful and humbling. But Veda refuses to let her disability rob her of her dreams, and she starts all over again, taking beginner classes with the youngest dancers. Then Veda meets Govinda, a young man who approaches dance as a spiritual pursuit. As their relationship deepens, Veda reconnects with the world around her, and begins to discover who she is and what dance truly means to her.
 

THE TAKING - Kimberly Derting
  
When sixteen-year-old Kyra Agnew wakes up behind a Dumpster at the Gas ’n’ Sip, she has no memory of how she got there. With a terrible headache and a major case of déjà vu, she heads home only to discover that five years have passed . . . yet she hasn’t aged a day.

Everything else about Kyra’s old life is different. Her parents are divorced, her boyfriend, Austin, is in college and dating her best friend, and her dad has changed from an uptight neat-freak to a drunken conspiracy theorist who blames her five-year disappearance on little green men.

Confused and lost, Kyra isn’t sure how to move forward unless she uncovers the truth. With Austin gone, she turns to Tyler, Austin’s annoying kid brother, who is now seventeen and who she has a sudden undeniable attraction to. As Tyler and Kyra retrace her steps from the fateful night of her disappearance, they discover strange phenomena that no one can explain, and they begin to wonder if Kyra’s father is not as crazy as he seems. There are others like her who have been taken . . . and returned. Kyra races to find an explanation and reclaim the life she once had, but what if the life she wants back is not her own?