Books and Sensibility

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Book Review: Beautiul Chaos by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

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“It was crazy how a hearse and a pair of sneakers could cheer a guy up.” 

― Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, Beautiful Chaos

 

Synopsis: Ethan Wate thought he was getting used to the strange, impossible events happening in Gatlin, his small Southern town. But now that Ethan and Lena have returned home, strange and impossible have taken on new meanings. Swarms of locusts, record-breaking heat, and devastating storms ravage Gatlin as Ethan and Lena struggle to understand the impact of Lena’s Claiming. Even Lena’s family of powerful Supernaturals is affected – and their abilities begin to dangerously misfire. As time passes, one question becomes clear: What – or who – will need to be sacrificed to save Gatlin?…

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Book Review : Never Enough by Denise Jaden

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Release date: July 10th 2012

Loann’s always wanted to be popular and pretty like 
her sister, Claire. So when Claire’s ex-boyfriend starts 
flirting with her, Loann is willing to do whatever it 
takes to feel special…even if that means
betraying her sister.

But as Loann slips inside Claire’s world, she discovers that everything is not as it seems. Claire’s quest for perfection is all-consuming and comes at a 
dangerous price. 

…

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Book Review : Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins

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Release Date : May 1st 2012

Synopsis: What if there were teens whose lives depended on being bad influences? This is life for sons and daughters of fallen angels in Sweet Evil. Tenderhearted Southern girl, Anna Whitt, was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She’s aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but it isn’t until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage, and her will-power is put to the test. He’s the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna. 

Sweet Evil is a provocative paranormal romance with angels, demons and a sinful twist.

The paranormal concept behind this novel is  something different than what I have encountered while reading paranormal romance. In the novel Nephilim, the children of fallen angels, live on Earth and  embody a sin. Their most important work is to pull humans into sin. Sweet Evil  explores the concepts of nature versus nurture ideas of sin. The book made me think about how we make sense of the bad things that others do.

Higgins writing is fun and addicting, and will appeal to teens and YA readers. However I did feel  like some parts of the plot were spoon fed, we are told too much instead of being shown and allowed to create our own opinions.

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Book Review: Shine by Lauren Myracle

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“I’d heard a saying about meth, that it took you down one of three roads: jail, the psych ward, or death.”

– Shine by Lauren Myracle

Shine first came on my radar with the drama over The National Book Award debacle, where Lauren Myracle was accidentally nominated and asked to back out. The synopsis intrigued me, so I finally picked this book up.

Shine is the story of Cat, a teenaged girl on the journey for answers when her former best friend, Patrick is the victim of an extremely violent hate crime. Along the way  she learns the dark secrets and hidden realities of the town she lives in.

This books starts off brilliantly, there is a certain atmospheric writing style that Myrcale uses that just brings you in to the world of the story.  You very quickly learn the life that Cat leads.The setting, Black Creek, North Carolina is a back woods town with a  lot of backwards thinking. One of the biggest problems plaguing the town is meth.

There are a lot of rich characters in the novel and you start to feel for them. This reminds me very much of To Kill a Mockingbird, where the context of the story is so much involved in learning about the people in the town. The only thing is their  is no Atticus Finch in this story. None of the characters are particularly redeeming or good, not even Cat herself. I think Robert, an eleven-year-old who was born addicted to drugs and yearns for attention from the older teenagers stood out the most for me.

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Book Review : Red Glove by Holly Black

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“Changing is what people do when they have no options left.” 

― Holly Black, Red Glove

In the second book in the Curse Workers Series, our coffee addled protagonist Cassel Sharpe is still clever as the devil and twice as pretty. Red Glove expands the world we were introduced into in White Cat, something I think every good sequel needs to do. In this novel, we meet new characters, get to see more into Wallingford and learn more about curse worker politics

The plot wasn’t as tight and concise as the first one. This novel reads less like a con job and more like a murder mystery While this series is a fantasy, White Cat felt more realistic than Red Glove. That isn’t to say it’s awful, it just doesn’t flow as well as it did in the first book.

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Book Review : Darker Still

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While Darker Still l is Leanne Hieber’s debut YA novel she is no stranger to Victorian-era historical fiction, having written a successful adult series. With that in mind, I had high hopes for this novel.

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