ARC Book Review: What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang

Title: What's Left of Me
Author:  Kat Zhang
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: September 18, 2012
Rating: 3/5

Cover Impressions: The cover is interesting but I do feel that it is missing something.  Perhaps it is the lack of color that is throwing me, though I do understand the purpose in washing it out in order to reflect how Eva had faded to nearly nothing.

The Gist: In the world of the Hybrid Chronicles every body is born with two souls, each with a distinct personality.  Through their younger years, these souls exchange use of the body and are treated as two separate individuals.  However, as they grow older, one soul rises and dominant and the other fades away forever.  Once in a while, there is a soul that hangs on: a Hybrid - feared and hunted.  This is Eva and Addie.  For three years Eva has hidden away, locked inside Addie's mind while she tries to pretend that they have settled, that they are normal.  But Eva sees a chance to live and be known and it will drag both of them down a dangerous path. 

Review:  I will admit, this book took me longer than normal to finish.  Admittedly, the munchkin and I were visiting my parents which does not make for the most friendly of reading environments, but I still feel like there was something missing.

The world was interesting.  The concept of two souls in one body is unique and opens the door for a lot of exploration.  I did find it difficult to piece together the history that led to this particular place and time.  A war was mentioned a time or two, but I would have liked some more details (perhaps they will be forthcoming in subsequent novels?)  The writing was fast paced and exciting and I cannot quite put my finger on what kept me from diving for this book at every free moment.

Perhaps it was the characters.  I found it difficult to connect with Addie and Eva.  They had spent so much time trying to blend in and not be noticed that they came off a little bland.  The secondary characters were not much more exciting.  I would really have liked to have been able to tell simply through dialogue and actions, which soul had taken over the bodies at which point.  Instead, I had to be told by Eva who was in control and it took something away from this unique premise.

In the end, I was a little underwhelmed.  There was some character growth and a set up for the next novel but nothing that really left me satisfied in the outcome.  The book was enjoyable enough that I will be coming back for the second in the series and hoping for some more dynamic characters to go with the roller-coaster plot.

Teaching/Parental Notes:

Age: 16 and up
Gender:  Both
Sex:  Kissing
Violence:  Physical restraint, unnecessary surgery
Inappropriate Language: None
Substance Use/Abuse: None

Waiting on Wednesday (21)

"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: Citadel by Kate Mosse which is due to be released on September 13th.

LABYRINTH took us to the walled city of Carcassonne, SEPULCHRE travelled to the mysterious town of Rennes les Bains, now CITADEL transports us right to the southern-most edge of France - and to an amazing adventure set at key points in history in this scarred land right on the Spanish border.Combining the rugged action of LABYRINTH with the haunting mystery of SEPULCHRE, CITADEL is a story of daring and courage, of lives risked for beliefs, of unlocking secrets buried by time. Through history, this 'green land washed red by blood' has seen so much - not least the bravery of the men and women who smuggled exiles out of occupied France and away from the Nazi regime over the border into Spain. In CITADEL, Kate Mosse once again sets out to captivate the reader with the people at the heart of ancient struggles, to bring alive places and times unknown to us and to keep us on the edge of our seats with an amazing story. 

Citadel is the final book in the Languedoc trilogy.  I have been waiting for this book for a LONG time.  Sepulchre was released in 2008 and I don't even think Citadel had a release year at that point.  The fact that the cover picture you see above is pretty low quality and is the only one available is not giving me high hopes for the September release date....  

ARC Book Review: Velveteen by Daniel Marks

Title: Velveteen
Author: Daniel Marks
Publisher: Random House
Release Date: Oct 9, 2012
Rating: 2/5

Cover Impressions: The cover is what first attracted me to this book.  It is deliciously dark, simple and stunning.

The Gist: Velveteen was murdered by a serial killer named Bonesaw.  She spends her days emerging from purgatory in order to chase down errant spirits and attempt to foil the plans of her killer.  When purgatory is thrown into upheaval, it is up to Velveteen and her team to hunt down the culprits and restore the balance between the living and the dead.

Review: The blurb for this novel led me to believe that it was the story of a ghost seeking revenge on the serial killer that murdered her.  That story excited me and I imagined a dark and disturbing show-down between killer and victim.  This was not what I got.  Instead, Velveteen centers around a group of souls that are attempting to escape purgatory and return to the "daylight".  This story is not nearly as exciting.

A major problem exists with the world building in Velveteen.  It presents a unique representation of purgatory, however, there is little to no explanation of anything that is going on.  We are left to stumble after Velvet in the hopes that she will drop some tidbit of information that will help bring this world into being in our minds.  Alas, these tidbits are few and far between.  For example, purgatory seems plagued by Shadowquakes.  I never got a clear picture of what this looks like, nor what it means for the souls that are left in it's wake (one girl appeared to be captured by the first quake but was later mentioned as being shaken up - but fine).  We are led to believe that all of purgatory is mashed together from items that can stolen from the living and smuggled in through the cracks, yet there is a train and it is never explained how this came to be.  Every time I encountered one of these issues (and there were many) I was left flicking back pages, convinced that I had missed something.  It ruined the flow of the story and left me annoyed.

The characters themselves are bland and boring.  Velvet is a terrible leader and the souls that make up her team seem interchangeable.  They evoked no sympathy or emotion whatsoever and were not the least bit clever or witty.  It is never explained what makes these particular teenagers special enough to be members of the ________ team.  ________ was such a boring character that I just had to go back and look up his name.  There was zero chemistry between him and Velvet and her half-assed attempt to stay away was annoying and wasted time that could have been spent on developing the plot or explaining what the heck was going on.

When Velvet interacted with her killer there was a real sense of urgency and excitement.  These scenes gave a titillating glimpse into the book that could have been.  Unfortunately, there were only a few of these moments and, in order to reach them, I had to wade through page after page of grey dullness in purgatory.  

In the end, Velveteen left me unsatisfied.  I realize that this is the first in a series, but that doesn't mean that it shouldn't provide SOME answers to the motivation of the villain, or the secrets hidden by those in charge.  Velveteen gave me no closure on this story and no desire to continue with the next.

A final note on appropriateness:  As a teacher, I would NOT recommend this book to my students for fear of being fired.  There is A LOT of casual swearing (see below), some pretty nasty violence and description of torture. 

Teaching/Parental Notes:

Age: 17 and up
Gender: Female
Sex: Allusion to sexual acts
Violence: Knifeplay, Gunplay, Kidnapping, Torture
Inappropriate Language: A LOT AND OFTEN! Piss, Shit, Blue Balls, Bitch, Slut, Ass, Tripping Balls, Dumpster Baby (just wrong), Whores, Fucking, Douche-Baggy, Dick, Pussy
Substance Abuse: Use of Gas?

ARC Book Review: The Dead Girls Detective Agency by Suzy Cox

Title: The Dead Girls Detective Agency
Author: Suzy Cox
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: September 18, 2012
Rating:  1/5 

Cover Impressions: This cover feels very contemporary fiction to me.  There is nothing about the cover image that feels supernatural and only the title hints at the paranormal elements that are crucial to the story.  I do not feel this one would stand out on a shelf.

The Gist: Having been pushed in front of a subway, Charlotte wakes to find herself in a swanky hotel and in the company of the Dead Girls Detective Agency.  Together they must find Charlotte's murderer in order to give her a chance to move on.   

Review: This was a very tough read for me and I am surprised that I managed to make it to the end.  The Dead Girls Detective Agency had a fun and interesting premise, but the writing, characters and plot were lackluster at best.

From the very first chapter, this novel featured A LOT of dialogue.  I get it, Charlotte had to be introduced into this new world and some groundwork had to be laid.  However, there had to be a way to accomplish this that did not involve pages and pages of info-dumping with very little in the way of comic relief and no action whatsoever.  For the first half of the book, we are forced to endure endless explanations of the rules.  What the rules are, who made the rules, how to bend the rules, what happens when you break the rules.  This is interrupted occasionally while Charlotte moons over the boyfriend that she left behind, realizes that he is a selfish twit, and then is informed by her ghost-mates that she gets 9 chances to break the rules - so let's go have some fun!  Seriously?  All that time spent building the world around these rules and then we frivilously toss them out the window so that we can drop in on Beyonce and Jay-Z?  That feels cheap to me and makes me angry that I had to sit through Ghost 101 when none of it actually mattered.

The writing featured a great deal of teen-speak that did not feel genuine.  In all my years of teaching, I have never heard an actual, honest-to-goodness teenager use an acronym in a sentence.  Yet, these teens drop OMG's like a middle-aged parent trying to be "cool" with their kid's friends.  The author also chose to engage in one of my serious pet peeves in YA: name-dropping.  I know it is tempting.  You want your book to be relevant, you want your readers to be able to relate to the characters: "She likes Simple Plan? OMG! I love Simple Plan - we could be BFF's!!"  In reality, in stinks of desperation. 

The plot of The Dead Girls Detective Agency crawled.  I found myself skimming pages, just waiting to get to some action.  There were some higher points, like when the girls possessed the cheerleaders (aptly named the Tornahos) but even those did not live up the the potential for hilarity.  There was very little in the way of action.  We had a few tense moments where the killer is revealed and a few more when Tess and Edison's connection is revealed.  I was pretty disappointed at the choice of murderer.  I am never a fan when the killer is revealed as being someone to whom we are barely introduced and, in this case, doesn't even warrant a name.

Despite my obvious issues with plot and writing, Cox could have pulled me back in with some kick-ass characters.  Alas, this was not the case.  The characters felt very cookie-cutter to me: the sweet one, the nerdy one, the fashionista, the bitch, the slutty cheerleaders, the sleazy ex-boyfriend, the new love interest.  All of them acted as expected.  They didn't do anything exciting and they didn't have any clever, funny or interesting dialogue.  Charlotte was incredibly boring, naive and gullible.  I was also bothered by the fact that she described herself as a prolific reader - yet she didn't speak like one.  At one point she even says "And one time, she helped me with a Shakespeare assignment, because I'd just finished reading Harry Potter and kept getting confused between Halmet and Hagrid and it was completely messing up my essay on why he had issues."  Seriously?  You claim to read a vast and varied array of books and yet you have trouble distinguishing between two characters?  I just couldn't relate to a girl that 1) dumped her best friend the minute she found a boyfriend 2) talked about the boyfriend non-stop for the majority of the book and 3) didn't use her special new ghostly powers to do some serious damage to the slutty cheerleaders and the boyfriend who hooked up with three of them within a few days of her funeral.

The Dead Girls Detective Agency just didn't work for me.  I was expecting a fluffy and humorous read, but this one just didn't have enough substance to hold it together.   

Teaching/Parental Notes:

Age: 16 and up
Gender:  Female
Sex:  Kissing, talk of "hooking up"
Violence:  Murder - pushed in front of a subway
Inappropriate Language: Bitch, Pissed, Ho, Asshole, Slut, Whore
Substance Use/Abuse: None

Waiting on Wednesday (20)

"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: Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter which is due to be released on September 25th.
 
She won’t rest until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.

Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real….

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies…


This book had me the minute the cover was revealed.  To be completely honest, I didn't even read the synopsis.  The title was simply too intriguing to pass up and the cover those details that draw you in and demand to be examined over and over.  I am not a huge fan of the zombification of classic novels, but I am willing to go into this one with an open mind and I am really hoping to be rewarded.

Book Review: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

 
Title: Pushing the Limits
Author: Katie McGarry
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: July 31, 2012
Rating: 5/5

Cover Impressions: The cover is ok.  It doesn't even come close to showing what a great book this really is.  I am happy to see that Noah and Echo are pictured as described (even down to the long sleeves - though I would like to have seen her in gloves).  The lighting is well done, but I'm not sure this one would stand out very well on a shelf.

The Gist: Overnight, Echo Emerson went from Miss Popularity to the High School Freak and no one knows why.  The horrible scars on her arms prove to Echo that something awful happened that night, but she can't remember.  Under the guidance of a new therapist, she meets Noah Hutchins, a boy who is not only dark and dangerous, but just as damaged as she is.  Fighting their undeniable attraction, they set out to reveal each other's secrets.  In order to do so, they must each let their guard down and let the other in.

Review: Jumping on the Awesome Book Band Wagon in 3...2...1... WEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

Confession time: were it not for the amazing reviews from other bloggers, I never would have picked up this book.  I don't read a lot of contemporary fiction and I tend to steer clear of books that appear to focus mainly on a romance ESPECIALLY if they throw out the words "soul mates" or "destiny" (which the UK version does - right on the cover).  But Pushing the Limits, is not one of those books.  Yes, the romance is a big factor, but it loses center stage to some wonderful character development with a smattering of mystery.

McGarry has a remarkable skill in writing broken characters.  Echo and Noah both had moments that forcibly grabbed me and threw me into their world.  It is not often that a book can evoke such a strong emotional response in me, but this one succeeded.  There were several instances where I blinked back tears or fought the urge to shake somebody (usually Echo's parents).  The two main characters felt so real that I could easily picture them sitting in my classroom, trying to be invisible, while I sit behind my desk trying to think of a way to reach them.  Those are the type of students that break your heart - when you can see so much potential being smothered by so much pain.  As characters, Echo and Noah are always compelling, often raw and never boring.  They carry the story and have the kind of chemistry that makes the reader's heart race right along with them.

I was impressed by the manner in which McGarry tackled the relationships not only between Echo and Noah but between all of the characters on the periphery, especially Noah and his brothers and Echo and her parents.  It was heartbreaking to watch Echo interact with her "friends" and family as she struggled to meet their demands and win their love and to stand by while Noah spent supervised visits trying to maintain his connection to the two little boys who were his whole world.  Throughout the novel, I was pleased to see a great deal of growth in both characters, but a realistic journey to it.  There were struggles, there were setbacks, and, in the end, there were issues that weren't exactly solved, but where steps had been taken down the right path.

The writing in Pushing the Limits is clean (though I wish Noah would have laid off the siren and nymph comparisons) and the plot moves at a steady pace.  In character driven novels such as this it is easy to let action and excitement fall by the wayside, but the truth behind Echo's scars is revealed in such as way as to keep the reader engaged.  As Echo's memory returns in snatches, we begin to see the true horror and sadness behind what happened to her and how broken her family truly was.  In splitting the narration between Echo and Noah, McGarry ensures that each chapter leaves the reader wanting to turn one more page, read one more line until, if you are like me, you have finished the entire book in just a few short hours.


The only mark against Pushing the Limits is that the sexual nature and vulgar language would prohibit me from recommending it to my Junior High students, though I highly recommend it for teens over 16 and adult lovers of YA novels.

Katie McGarry has earned a fan for life.  I have already listed Dare You To (Beth's Story) as to-read and will count down the days until it's eventual release sometime in 2013.

Teaching/Parental Notes:

Age: 16 and up
Gender:  Female
Sex:  Kissing, Sexual Acts, Vulgar Sexual Language.
Violence:  Fist Fight, Drugging, Attempted murder
Inappropriate Language: Varied and Often: Fuck, Tits, Dick, Ass, Shit, Bitch, Jesus Christ, Pussy, Slut, Bastard, Whore
Substance Use/Abuse: Underage drinking, Marijuana use,


Notable Quotables:

"She'd come home with me to act as my barrier for Family Firday - or as I liked to refer to it, Dinner for the Damned."

"No.  I like my brian cells.  I find they come in handy when I ... oh, I don't know ... think."


"Luke used to give me butterflies.  Noah spawned mutant pterodactyls."

Stacking the Shelves (9)

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!

This week is going to look particularly large but that is just because I have returned from a couple weeks vacation to a bunch of books in my mailbox. 

ARCS I Got This Week:

EARCS I Got This Week:

Books Bought This Week:

Oh Lordy, I am in a total reading slump because I am prepping to go back to school after a year off and am trying to eek every last moment of enjoyment out of my summer.  I just can't seem to pick up a book and now I have this huge addition to my TBR pile.  Well, I guess if there is one problem in life I can live with, it is having TOO MANY books to read!