Gold Star Review: Boy21

Boy21
by Matthew Quick

Book Description:

You can lose yourself in repetition--quiet your thoughts; I learned the value of this at a very young age.

Basketball has always been an escape for Finley. He lives in broken-down Bellmont, a town ruled by the Irish mob, drugs, violence, and racially charged rivalries. At home, his dad works nights, and Finley is left to take care of his disabled grandfather alone. He's always dreamed of getting out someday, but until he can, putting on that number 21 jersey makes everything seem okay.

Russ has just moved to the neighborhood, and the life of this teen basketball phenom has been turned upside down by tragedy. Cut off from everyone he knows, he won't pick up a basketball, but answers only to the name Boy21--taken from his former jersey number.

As their final year of high school brings these two boys together, a unique friendship may turn out to be the answer they both need.

Review:
This is a book that I never would have picked up without prompting. It's got a sort-of unappealing cover, it's about basketball and boys that live in a not-so-nice neighborhood. Not my normal type of book. Am I glad, however, that I was forced to pick this one up? YES!

I sat down to read this and I won't lie, I was pretty much figuring I'd hate it. Instead I found myself totally absorbed, unable to put the book down until long after my regular bedtime, even as my eyes were fighting me, wanting to close. There is something about the tone of this book that hits it just right. The story is powerful and haunting and absolutely, heartbreakingly believable. I finished this book and immediately started recommending it the next day....to think I thought I'd hate it, LOL!

Yes, there is violence, and yes, it's definitely a book for high school readers, but I don't think there's a person out there who wouldn't find something in this book relatable or compelling once they started it. Please ignore the cover. Please trust me. This is an excellent book and I am most definitely awarding it a GOLD STAR.

Review: Hallowed

Hallowed 
by Cynthia Hand
Unearthly, book two

Book Description:
For months part-angel Clara Gardner trained to face the fire from her visions, but she wasn't prepared for the choice she had to make that day. Now, torn between her love for Tucker and her complicated feelings about the roles she and Christian seem destined to play in a world that is both dangerous and beautiful, Clara struggles with a shocking revelation: Someone she loves will die in a matter of months. With her future uncertain, the only thing Clara knows for sure is that the fire was just the beginning.

Review: 

Oh, Cynthia Hand. I love and hate you. Truly. When you had Clara and Tucker have that little, "I just had to tell you I love you, but you don't have to say anything back until you're ready" moment in the first book and I got all swoony, my heart sang... And now, now... my heart is breaking epically. (*See! No official spoilers, but you KNOW that something devestating is happening!! LOL*)

I know, realistically, that in real life there are no truly happy endings. There are always shades of gray and that we have to know that you embrace the joy to balance out our saddest moments, but man, I felt like Clara just could not catch a break in this book! Her love life, her home life, and her destined life all took a big hit. It was one whammy after another!!

While not everything came as a surprise (Hand does a great job at hinting towards two big revelations without actually giving anything away), it was brilliant to see new facets of Clara's world come to light. New aspects of the life she must lead. AND it was great to see that Clara would actually be able to make her own choices. That, I think, was my favorite bit... I LOVE when a character breaks out of the "I can only do what I'm destined to do..." mold.

Let me tell you, though this book hit me in the gut emotionally, I immediately put a hold on book three. I MUST know how it all ends. Clara's story has me well and truly hooked.

Review: The Essence

The Essence
by Kimberly Derting
Pledge, book two

Book Description: (contains slight spoilers for book one)
At the luminous conclusion of The Pledge, Charlaina defeated the tyrant Sabara and took her place as Queen of Ludania. But Charlie knows that Sabara has not disappeared: The evil queen’s Essence is fused to Charlie’s psyche, ready to arise at the first sign of weakness.

Charlie is not weak, but she’s being pushed to the brink. In addition to suppressing the ever-present influence of Sabara, she’s busy being queen—and battling a growing resistance determined to return Ludania to its discriminatory caste system. Charlie wants to be the same girl Max loves, who Brook trusts, but she’s Your Majesty now, and she feels torn in two.

As Charlie journeys to an annual summit to meet with leaders of nearby Queendoms—an event where her ability to understand all languages will be the utmost asset—she is faced with the ultimate betrayal. And the only person she can turn to for help is the evil soul residing within.

Review:
Book one of this series, The Pledge, was the first book that I gave a GOLD STAR review to in 2012. Now since it had been almost a year and a half since I'd read that first book, I was a little worried that I would not remember exactly what happened, and while to an extent that was true... (I'd forgotten the names of a lot of the characters, but Derting managed to reintroduce everyone extremely well) there were events and pieces of the world that were still etched so deeply into my brain that I sort of fell right back into Charlie's story without a hitch.

I was immediately creeped out again by the idea of Queen Sabara being in Charlie's head. I was fascinated by the language barriers amongst the social classes, and how some reveled in their new equality while others passionately rebelled. I was immediately drawn back into Charlie's love for Max, her best friend Brooklyn, and her baby sister.

Then Derting took it another step further and I just loved the world even more. To find someone else who has an ability that is going to throw Charlie's world into complete chaos. To have her begin to be emotionally torn as she begins to feel for Sabara. To have rival Queens...both as allies, and as women who might want to see Charlie dead...

Everything was more emotional, more dangerous, more intriguing.  I was both extremely satisfied and frustrated when the book finished.  Why? Because it was SO good and now I have to wait until sometime NEXT YEAR for book three... AHHHHHHH....so long to wait! 

For making me itch to be back in Charlie's world IMMEDIATELY. For making me hate Derting *just a little bit* for not having book three already on the bookshelves... I give this book a GOLD STAR.



*Sigh* And now, I have to sit back and wait for more... *taps foot impatiently...*

Review: The Crown of Embers

The Crown of Embers
by Rae Carson
Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy, book two

Book Description:
She does not know what awaits her at the enemy's gate.

Elisa is a hero. She led her people to victory over a terrifying, sorcerous army. Her place as the country's ruler should be secure. But it isn't.

Her enemies come at her like ghosts in a dream, from both foreign realms and within her own court. And her destiny as the chosen one has not yet been fulfilled.

To conquer the power she bears once and for all, Elisa must follow the trail of long-forgotten--and forbidden--clues from the deep, undiscovered catacombs of her own city to the treacherous seas. With her goes a one-eyed spy, a traitor, and the man who--despite everything--she is falling in love with.

If she's lucky, she will return from this journey. But there will be a cost.

Review:
I thoroughly enjoyed the second book as much as the first.

*Some mild spoilers ahead*
Elisa is no longer just a second born princess, but has been named ruler of her own kingdom. While her loyal followers embrace and celebrate her, her own council conspire to either replace her...or if that proves impossible, to at least be able to manipulate her. Still the epically smart heroine, Elisa realizes this and works to twist their own manipulations around to suit her, as well. Sassy! I love it.

One of my all-time favorite themes, and one not used often enough IMHO, comes to the forefront in this book. The best friend love!!! My heart sang. Even as Elisa is being forced to consider suitors for a marriage for which she is not emotionally ready, she comes to realize that she already has grown into strong feelings for someone very close... Watching their relationship play out was mesmerizing, and the way that the book leaves things for the trilogy's end... I need book three ASAP!!!

A great second chapter in Elisa's story.

Review: City of a Thousand Dolls

City of a Thousand Dolls
by Miriam Forster
The Bhinian Empire, book one

Book Description:
Nisha was abandoned at the gates of the City of a Thousand Dolls when she was just a little girl. Now sixteen, she lives on the grounds of the isolated estate, where orphan girls apprentice as musicians, healers, courtesans, and, if the rumors are true, assassins. She makes her way as Matron's errand girl, her closest companions the mysterious cats that trail her shadow. Only when she begins a forbidden flirtation with the city's handsome young courier does she let herself imagine a life outside the walls. Until one by one, girls around her start to die.

Before she becomes the next victim, Nisha decides to uncover the secrets that surround the girls' deaths. But by getting involved, Nisha jeopardizes not only her own future in the City of a Thousand Dolls—but also her life.

Review: 

I really enjoyed this book. Forster introduces a new world where the eastern influences of our Asian cultures are highly evident but the fact that the world is also completely cut off from anywhere else gives it its own unique presence. There also used to be magic in this world, though it has now disappeared...

Nisha is an interesting main character. While there were moments that I grew somewhat frustrated because she could not see what was happening when I had already figured things out, I have to give her credit for her reactions once she did. This is not a girl to take things lying down. She refuses to let others decide her life. She is gutsy, bold, independent, and her stubbornness and loyalty take her a long way. She also has a strict sense of right and wrong that I highly admire. I cannot wait to see where the second book in the series will take her.

Review: Under the Never Sky

Under the Never Sky 
by Veronica Rossi

Book Description:
WORLDS KEPT THEM APART.

DESTINY BROUGHT THEM TOGETHER.

Aria has lived her whole life in the protected dome of Reverie. Her entire world confined to its spaces, she's never thought to dream of what lies beyond its doors. So when her mother goes missing, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland long enough to find her are slim.

Then Aria meets an outsider named Perry. He's searching for someone too. He's also wild - a savage - but might be her best hope at staying alive.

If they can survive, they are each other's best hope for finding answers.

Review:
I wasn't sure what to expect when I started this book. We've had so many dystopias come out lately that I've kind of become leery of new ones.  A few of my friends really enjoyed this one, though, so I decided to give it a good shot. 

I'm glad I did! This one has a very cool world where the upper cast of human society has gone to live in sealed domes, protecting them from the elements...and from the less desirable portion of humanity.  These people engage in a whole virtual world to keep them from being bored.  That technology aspect was pretty cool.  

What was even cooler, though, was seeing what had happened to the humans that lived outside the domes.  Perry and his tribesmen had some neat abilities.  Watching Aria adapt to surviving amongst them was fascinating and I found her to be a surprisingly strong character in the end.  

I'm very much looking forward to seeing how things progress in the second book, Through the Ever Night. 

Review: Spark

Spark

by Amy Kathleen Ryan

Sky Chasers, book two

 

Book Description:

After a desperate escape from the enemy ship, Waverly has finally made it back to the Empyrean. The memory of home has been keeping her alive for the past months… but home is nothing like she left it. Forced to leave their captive parents behind on the New Horizon, she’s returned only to find that Kieran has become a strict leader and turned the crew against Seth. What happened to the Kieran she thought she knew? Now Waverly’s not sure whom she can trust. And the one person she wants to believe in is darkly brilliant Seth, the ship’s supposed enemy. Waverly knows that the situation will only get worse until they can rescue their parents – but how?

Before they have time to make a plan, an explosion rocks the Empyrean, and Seth and Waverly are targeted as the prime suspects. Can they find the true culprit before Kieran locks them away… or worse? Will Waverly follow her heart, even if it puts lives at risk? Now more than ever, every step could bring them closer to a new beginning – or a sudden end.

 

Review:

After my sparkling gold star review of Glow, I was beyond excited to read Spark. Unfortunately, for me, the magic was just not quite there in this sequel.

 

 

Ryan added a point of view by having chapters told from Seth's perspective. Though I absolutely saw the need for this in terms of moving the storyline forward, it was somewhat jarring to have happen at the very beginning of the book and it threw the "flow" off for me. It also vastly complicated the emotional tenor of the book and thus slowed the building of the story.

 

 

Though there was action and suspense in this book, it was much slower in the beginning... I was not immediately grabbed like I had been in the first book. By the time I was nearing the ending, it had started to get the magic back, and I will definitely be reading book three to see how things end, but I'm hoping that the author will capture the magic again! 

Review: Glow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glow

by Amy Kathleen Ryan
Sky Chasers, book one

Book Description:

If a violent battle destroyed the only world you’ve ever known, would you be brave enough to save who was left? Would love be strong enough to survive the fight? Either way, there’s no turning back.

The Empyrean is the only home 15-year-old Waverly has ever known. Part of the first generation to be successfully conceived in deep space, she and her boyfriend Kieran will be pioneers of New Earth. Waverly knows she must marry young in order to have children who can carry on the mission, and Kieran, the handsome captain-to-be, has everything Waverly could want in a husband. Everyone is sure he’s the best choice. Still, there’s a part of Waverly that wants more from life than marriage, and she is secretly intrigued by the shy, darkly brilliant Seth.

Suddenly, Waverly’s dreams are interrupted by the inconceivable – a violent betrayal by the Empyrean's sister ship, the New Horizon. The New Horizon’s leaders are desperate to populate the new planet first, and will do anything to get what they need: young girls. In one pivotal moment, Waverly and Kieran are separated, and find themselves at the helm of dangerous missions, where every move has potentially devastating consequences, and decisions of the heart may lead to disaster.

Review:

Whoa. This book got me from page one and I could NOT put it down. It was compelling, it was creepy, it was... it just was. I sat down and I read and read and read and read.

The characters were great. Kids put into the most difficult of situations...the adults they relied upon have been either killed or taken from them, and now they must take on roles that none of them are truly prepared for... Kieran steps up as "Captain," only to be overthrown by his rival, Seth. Waverly and all the other girls have been kidnapped to be used to populate the other ship that knows it will slowly die out if they cannot procreate...

Each of the teens must decide what their role will be in their new existence. Though they continuously hope to reunite with the remaining parents, they must learn to survive for themselves until that becomes a possibility. There's a little bit of a "Lord of the Flies" thing going on here...

While there is most certainly the start of a love triangle here, what I loved about this book was that there was so much development into why each character would have developed into the person that they've become that they are each strong on their own. No one person is willing to be defined by their relationship to anyone else. While the romantic feelings are a strong factor for the teens trying to reunite, it is not ultimately in any way the driving force that leads them.

With scary themes about morality, experimentation, and societal expectations, Glow was one of those books that I thought about for weeks after I read it. Things just kept rolling around in the back of my head and popping back up to the surface. It was powerful that way.

For that, I bestow an "I can't stop thinking about it" GOLD STAR!!



Review: Timepiece

Timepiece

by Myra McEntire

Hourglass, book two

Book Description:

A threat from the past could destroy the future.Kaleb Ballard was never supposed to be able to see ripples--cracks in time. Are his powers expanding, or is something very wrong? Before he can find out, Jonathan Landers, the man who tried to murder his father, reappears. Why is he back, and what, or whom, does he want?

In the wake of Landers's return, the Hourglass organization is given an ultimatum by a mysterious man. Either they find Landers and the research he has stolen on people who might carry the time gene, or time will be altered--with devastating results for the people Kaleb loves most. Now Kaleb, Emerson, Michael, and the other Hourglass recruits have no choice but to use their extraordinary powers to find Landers. But where do they even start? And when? Even if they succeed, just finding him may not be enough ...

Review:

Kaleb. Kaleb. Kaleb. Need I say more? If you've read the first book in the series, Hourglass, then I'm sure, like me, you were already half in love with Kaleb.  Such a great, broody hero. <3

 

Aside from the return of some rockin' romance, some awesome time travel and some amazing plot twists that keep readers on their toes, I cannot tell you how much I appreciated the change of narrator in this book. I loved Emerson and I still do, but Kaleb holds a special place in my heart...

 

Again, I could not put this book down! There were heartbreaking moments, there were spots where I couldn't stop grinning... there was a passage I loved so much that I tweeted it:

 

From p. 197

"Maybe." The word caught in my throat. How did she see the man that I wanted to be so clearly, instead of the ugliness that was really there?

"Why don't you believe me?"

...and it has another killer ending that is just making me want book three NOW!! Myra McEntire has found a truly devoted fan in me. :)

Review: Fever

Fever

by Lauren DeStefano

The Chemical Garden Trilogy, book two



Book Description:
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.

Review:
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 think it's super creepy having to imagine that I would already be dead in this world.  I don't always think the romance is really believable, but in book two it gets a little better.  I think Rhine becomes more of a real person in this book.  Not just a tragic heroine, though...she never really gets out of that horrible stereotype either because of her horrible situation. 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!

Review: The Fox Inheritance

The Fox Inheritance

by Mary E. Pearson

The Jenna Fox Chronicles, book two

Book Description:
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.

Review:
The Adoration of Jenna Fox is one of my FAVORITE science fiction books! It is amazing how it all unfolds as Jenna slowly regains her memory and realizes what has happened to her...what her parents have done to her...

This follow-up is another great book.  It was really interesting, because rather than being from Jenna's perspective, it is from her friend Locke's.  It is also set 260 years after the first book.  Again it deals with biomedical ethics and what truly makes us human.  This book is both entertaining and thought-provoking. 

Though not *quite* as good as the first book, I really liked seeing things through Locke's eyes. Definitely recommended for sci-fi lovers.

Crazy Cool Covers.

I don't know about you guys, but as much as I try not to, I definitely judge a book by its cover! I'm a very visual person and when I'm walking down the aisles in the Library, or a bookstore, or even am scoping out books online, the first thing I do is look for a cover that catches my eye...

Of course, I hardly ever read a book based *solely* on its cover...it has to have a great description, too. Which is why I LURVE, really, really, really LURVE the Hourglass series by Myra McEntire. 

Hourglass

by Myra McEntire

Hourglass series, book one.

For seventeen-year-old Emerson Cole, life is about seeing what isn't there: swooning Southern Belles; soldiers long forgotten; a haunting jazz trio that vanishes in an instant. Plagued by phantoms since her parents' death, she just wants the apparitions to stop so she can be normal. She's tried everything, but the visions keep coming back.So when her well-meaning brother brings in a consultant from a secretive organization called the Hourglass, Emerson's willing to try one last cure. But meeting Michael Weaver may not only change her future, it may change her past.

Who is this dark, mysterious, sympathetic guy, barely older than Emerson herself, who seems to believe every crazy word she says? Why does an electric charge seem to run through the room whenever he's around? And why is he so insistent that he needs her help to prevent a death that never should have happened?

Okay, time travel, romance, attempted murder? This book sounded super cool (I read it and trust me it was AH-MAZING!) and I had to look twice, okay maybe three times at the cover.  At first, it's just a cool looking cover...

UNTIL you realize that the chick on the cover is walking DOWN the wall.

YES, you read that right. Look again! She's walking down the wall, not on the floor.  SUPER COOL.

I thought this was my fave book cover ever (I even have a poster of it) until they released the cover for the sequel:

Timepiece

by Myra McEntire

Hourglass series, book two

...AND THIS COVER IS *ALSO* SUPER COOL!!

Do you have a favorite book cover??

Review: I'll Be There

I'll Be There

by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Book Description:



Sam Border wishes he could escape. Raised by an unstable father, he's spent his life moving from place to place. But he could never abandon his little brother, Riddle.

Riddle Border doesn't talk much. Instead, he draws pictures of the insides of things and waits for the day when the outsides of things will make sense. He worships his older brother. But how can they leave when there's nowhere to go? Then everything changes. Because Sam meets Emily.

Emily Bell believes in destiny. She sings for her church choir, though she doesn't have a particularly good voice. Nothing, she feels, is mere coincidence. And she's singing at the moment she first sees Sam.

Everyone whose path you cross in life has the power to change you--sometimes in small ways, and sometimes in ways greater than you could have ever known. 

Review:

This novel reads beautifully. It is touching and compelling. I think that almost every reader would find something here to love.

While Sam and Emily find each other, the romance is only a fraction of this book. There are great examples of familial relationships and there is also the perfect example of a horribly dysfunctional family.

There is danger, there is excitement, there are secrets, betrayals, and hidden agendas.

There is beautiful music, art, and cooking.

There are facets and hidden nooks in this book that make it wonderful and it reads very quickly. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.