Books and Sensibility

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3.5 Star

The Art of Secrets by James Klise

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  • Release Date: April 22nd 2014
  • Genre: Contemporary / Mystery
  • Pages: 272 
  • Publisher: Algonquin For Young Readers

I first heard about The Art of Secrets in January and was instantly intrigued. I really like what Algonquin For Young Readers is doing in terms of diversity and narratives in YA . I’ve also been into art books and non-traditional narratives so this was a perfect fit!

A fire, a painting and secrets are the fuel for The Art of Secrets. The novel opens with a news clipping from The Chicago Tribune about Saba Kahn and her family coming home to find their apartment burned to the ground by an arsonist. The family is quickly showered with generosity from the parents at Saba’s exclusive private school, there is even a charity auction set up. But when a piece of art at the auction is discovered to be worth half a million dollars it is stolen and now everyone is a suspect….

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Book Review: The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

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  • Release Date:  September 2009
  • Pages: 479
  • Genre: Dystopian/Science Fiction
  • Publisher: Candlewick (US)

In his debut YA series, Patrick Ness, takes us to Prentisstown; an isolated settlement where the thoughts of men, boys and animals( known as the Noise) are constantly broadcast  for everyone to hear. Women don’t give off the Noise, but that’s no matter because there are no more women. They were all killed by the virus that created the Noise. Or so 12-year-old Todd Hewitt, the youngest boy in Prentisstown, has been lead to believe. Weeks away from turning thirteen and becoming a man, Todd has to run for his life and discovers nothing is at all what he knew.

I picked up and put down this book a couple of times, I really had a to adjust to the setup. Right from the first page Todd’s dog Manchee is talking to him which was just weird, but I kept coming back because I had heard amazing things about this novel. Then it turned out the meat of this book falls into my least favorite category of YA  fiction, the “kids in the woods” variety. I just can’t get into the survivalist fiction, these stories never do it for me. But the world and questions Ness built into the story kept me so captivated that I was racing to the  the end.

 Also, that cliffhanger.

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Book Review: Through to You by Emily Hainsworth

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  • Release Date: October 2, 2012
  • Pages: 272
  • Genre: Supernatural Realism
  • Publisher: Balzer + Bray (Harper Collins)

Through to You is one of those books that is an insta-pick up for me; a contemporary realistic story with a slight unexplainable element tossed in. The main story focuses on Cameron Pike as he mourns the sudden death of his girlfriend, Viv; and what happens  when a mysterious girl and  mysterious green light show him to an alternate version of his life.

This is one of those books that is hard to talk too much about without ruining too much of the plot. Nothing in the book is every really what it seems and there are some interesting twists and turns. However, I think this book would have made a great short story or novella, because as a novel it dragged on its feet in the middle and was grasping for plots.

Cameron as a protagonist didn’t pop off the page, while there are some great moments when we see him work through some of his depression and relationships his voice didn’t come through the page. The supporting character inhabiting both the real world and the alternate world were also kind of one note as well.

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Wide Awake and Love is the Higher Law by David Levithan

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Between 2013-2014 I attempt to read a large selection of David Levithan novels. See the full list here

I’m reviewing these books together because they are both pretty short and deal with the theme of young people who become part of something bigger than themselves.

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Book Review : Tandem by Anna Jarzab

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  • Release Date : October 8th 2013
  • Genre : Sci-Fi/AU
  • Pages : 448
  • Publisher : Delacorte Books For Young Readers 

Sixteen-year-old Sasha Lawson has only ever known one small, ordinary life. When she was young, she loved her grandfather’s stories of parallel worlds inhabited by girls who looked like her but led totally different lives. Sasha never believed such worlds were real–until now, when she finds herself thrust into one against her will.
To prevent imminent war, Sasha must slip into the life of an alternate version of herself, a princess who has vanished on the eve of her arranged marriage. If Sasha succeeds in fooling everyone, she will be returned home; if she fails, she’ll be trapped in another girl’s life forever. As time runs out, Sasha finds herself torn between two worlds, two lives, and two young men vying for her love–one who knows her secret, and one who thinks she’s someone she’s not.

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These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

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  • Release Date: December 10th 2013 (US)
  • Pages: 374
  • Genre: Science Fiction
  • Publisher: Disney Hyperion

 Traveling through hyperspace the cruise ship Icarus is supposed to be invincible. Carrying some of the richest and most noble people in the galaxy, nobody expects it to be pulled out of hyperspace. The violent crash leaves two young passengers, Tarver Merendsen and Lilac LaRoux stranded on a mysterious deserted planet that tests their will to survive in a situation that feels hopeless….

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