Cover Reveal - Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Just in case you haven't seen it yet... here is the newly announced cover for the final book in the DIVERGENT trilogy:

Allegiant
by Veronica Roth

Publication date: Oct. 22, 2013

So, what do you think? Love it? Hate it?

Review: Me, Him, Them, and It

Me, Him, Them, and It

by Caela Carter

Book Description:  

When Evelyn decided to piss off her parents with a bad reputation, she wasn't planning to ruin her valedictorian status. She also wasn't planning to fall for Todd-the guy she was just using for sex. And she definitely wasn't planning on getting pregnant. When Todd turns his back on her, Evelyn's not sure where to go. Can a distant mother, a cheating father, an angry best friend, and a (thankfully) loving aunt with adopted daughters of her own help Evelyn make the heart-wrenching decisions that follow?

 

Review:

This book was just what I needed to get me out of my mini reading funk. I think I'd read too many fantasy based book recently, so I knew I needed some good realistic fiction. Me, Him, Them, and It fit the bill perfectly!

 

Carter depicts a teenage girl who makes a mistake and then must pay the consequences for it. I really liked how Evelyn was not just some "bad" girl who accidentally winds up pregnant...she is a future valedictorian rebelling against her parents in the worst possible way. She felt like a hugely well-rounded character to me. In fact, I loved most of the characters. They were flawed and realistic and even if some might not have been fully developed, they at least represented a really varied cast of characters.

 

Seeing the confused and scared way that Evie reacts over the nine months felt "real." I couldn't imagine what I would have done in that situation and I thought Carter did an excellent job conveying all the emotional turmoil that erupted in Evie's life. This is a book that pulls no punches emotionally. I cried my way through the ending. Heartbroken, awed, and then optimistically, yet cautiously joyous.

 

I found myself comparing this book to Holly Cupala's Tell Me a Secret. They both cover an unexpected teen pregnancy in a very realistic and emotionally evocative way. If you liked that one, check this one out...and if you like this one, check out that one next!

Review: On the Day I Died: Stories from the Grave

On the Day I Died: Stories from the Grave

by Candace Fleming

 

Book Description:

Set in White Cemetery, an actual graveyard outside Chicago, each story takes place during a different time period from the 1860's to the present, and ends with the narrator's death. Some teens die heroically, others ironically, but all due to supernatural causes. Readers will meet walking corpses and witness demonic posession, all against the backdrop of Chicago's rich history—the Great Depression, the World's Fair, Al Capone and his fellow gangsters.

 

Review:

This book was interesting. I liked how it was one boy's story that interwove all the tales of the other teens' deaths. Some of the stories were far more interesting than others, but they were all fun and easy to read. I loved how each was supernatural and creepy, but not enough to induce nightmares.

 

Did you used to love Goosebumps, but don't quite want to jump into full scale horror? This would be a great book to check out.

Review: Insurgent

Insurgent

by Veronica Roth
Divergent trilogy, book two

*CAUTION - If you have not yet read Divergent... you may want to skip this review!!*

Book Description:
One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

Review:
It is no secret that I LOVED Divergent. It was amazing...and while I really enjoyed Insurgent, it just didn't have that same magical *spark* that Divergent did...

One of the things I liked the most about this book...and simultaneously cursed, was that it broadened our world-view and gave much more depth to whole story. Readers got to learn more about each faction - how it was developed, who runs it and where, what are its principles - and how they interact with each other. It was really cool to see how the entire city worked as a whole.

The world-building felt much more developed here, but in Roth's feeding us so much information, you lose the magic of living directly in Tris' head. As such, I felt that the first half of the book developed very slowly... it was not until midway through that I became really solidly invested in the characters again.

And what Tris and Four go through... I just wanted to reach through the book and hug each of them... There are betrayals, there are massive secrets revealed, there are deaths. I cannot say more without getting all spoiler-y.

Now... all that being said...the end of this book goes out with a BANG! I love where Roth took this, though I was left with some burning questions that I can only hope get answered in the final book. For a variety of reasons, book three is a must read!