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Audiobook Review: Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

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  • Published : August 31st 2010
  • Publisher : HarperTeen
  • Genre : Paranormal/Romance
  • Audiobook Length : 8 hours 40 minutes

Synopsis:Evie’s always thought of herself as a normal teenager, even though she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she’s falling for a shape-shifter, and she’s the only person who can see through paranormals’ glamours.
But Evie’s about to realize that she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.
So much for normal.


Evie, the heroine ofParanormalcy has spent most of her life working for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, a government
organization  chasing after and  “bagging and tagging” dangerous Paranormals; using nothing but her skills to see through glamours and her Taser.  Evie is painted as your average strong who can fend for herself against some pretty scary creatures

Oh, and she likes pink.

For some reason her preference for a pink taser and pink leather boots seemed to go hand in
hand with Claudia Gray’s “I’m Not Like Other Girls post.

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Book Review: What’s Left of Me by Kat Zhang

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  • Release Date: September 18th 2012
  • Pages: 352
  • Genre: Alternate Universe
  • Publisher: HarperCollins

 

Synopsis: Eva and Addie started out the same way as everyone else—two souls woven together in one body, taking turns controlling their movements as they learned how to walk, how to sing, how to dance. But as they grew, so did the worried whispers. Why aren’t they settling? Why isn’t one of them fading? The doctors ran tests, the neighbors shied away, and their parents begged for more time. Finally Addie was pronounced healthy and Eva was declared gone. Except, she wasn’t . . .
For the past three years, Eva has clung to the remnants of her life. Only Addie knows she’s still there, trapped inside their body. Then one day, they discover there may be a way for Eva to move again. The risks are unimaginable-hybrids are considered a threat to society, so if they are caught, Addie and Eva will be locked away with the others. And yet . . . for a chance to smile, to twirl, to speak, Eva will do anything



What’s Left of Me by Kat Zhang has to be one of the most hotly anticipated YA novels of 2012. This book has been on Books and Sensibility’s radar since we featured Zhang in our 25 Under 25 feature and the young author does not disappoint with her debut YA novel.

In the world of What’s Left of Me, everyone is born with two souls and in early childhood the dominate soul takes over and the recessive one fades away. It’s completely natural, normal and expected. Only, in the case of Eva and Addie, Eva is a recessive soul that never settles. She refuses to fade away and when doctors declare only Addie to be left, Eva’s exostence becomes a secret only Addie know. Being a hybrid, having two souls is illegal and considered dangerous so the sisters work together to keep their closely guarded secret. But, when Addie meets Halley, the new girl in school the girls learn that they are not the only hiding hybrids, but this knowledge may cost them everything.

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Book Review: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

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  • Release Date: September 18th 2012
  • Pages: 408 pages
  • Publisher: Scholastic Press
  • Genre: Fantasy

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.
Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.
His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble

Opening with an Edgar Allen Poe epigraph, I immediately connect The Raven Boys with the Southern Gothic literature movement. Characterized by its broken characters, social realism and fantasy elements I’ve always felt this genre fits perfectly within the YA spectrum. In The Raven Boys, New York Times Bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater has cleverly combined the Southern Gothic tradition with vivid characterization and a modern edge to create a novel that is unlike anything I’ve read this year.

The plot develops nicely throughout novel in an observant third-person point of view. There is a level of maturity and complexity in Stiefvater’s writing. Each word is carefully crafted to form a coherent mood and image. 

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Book Review : Origin by Jessica Khoury

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  • Publication Date: September 4th 2012
  • Pages: 393
  • Genre: Science Fiction 
  • Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin

Pia has grown up in a secret laboratory hidden deep in the Amazon rain forest. She was raised by a team of scientists who have created her to be the start of a new immortal race. But on the night of her seventeenth birthday, Pia discovers a hole in the electric fence that surrounds her sterile home—and sneaks outside the compound for the first time in her life.

Going into Origin I was excited for one big reason; this is a stand-alone novel. Since I started blogging the only non-contemporary stand-alone novel I’ve read is Entwined by Heather Dixon and that was a while ago.

When we are first introduced to the Pia, the immortal girl raised and created by scientist, I couldn’t help getting anxious. I was excited to see how this girl’s unusual story could be told in a single book format. It’s a different experience reading a book knowing there is only one chance to meet and grow with the characters and Origin holds up pretty well.

 Pia’s world is confined to Little Cam, a secret research compound hidden deep in the Amazon jungle. Pia is the first of her kind, an immortal race whose origin (title drop !) is found in the secrets and stories of the elysia flower. When an Ai’oan boy, Eio, from the outside, finds a way to free her from her caged in life, Pia learns the truth about her destiny and the life she thought was hers.

The novel does a good job of crafting this stoic and rational world of the Little Cam compound and how it contrasts with the chaotic and energetic lives of the Ai’oa tribe.  Usually, claustrophobic settings don’t work for me but there was so much description and intricacy to this jungle setting that I didn’t notice how little movement there is.

I was mostly drawn to the supporting characters because they have the most stakes in the plot, even more so than Pia. They have immediate sacrifices, hopes, and aspirations that rely on Pia creating the next generation of immortals. Due to the nature of Pia’s condition (being immortal) at times hard to relate to her because there is no immediacy. This concept is explored in the novel by Pia and is one of the reasons a contrast like Eio is necessary to propel her story forward.

It’s also worth noting that this novel is based entirely on the Science Fiction genre. It is based on the question of”what if” you could live forever. It stands out because it doesn’t focus on society or a big brother like in most Speculative and Dystopians

Origin is a refreshing change to the current YA landscape and I certainly hope it starts a trend of more stand-a-lones. This novel is perfect for those suffering from series fatigue and looking for a science fiction novel with a twist of romance.

Book Trailer

 

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Audio Book Review: Something, Maybe by Elizabeth Scott

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  • Release Date: March 24th 2009
  • Pages: 217
  • Audiobook Length: 5 hours 23 minutes
  • Genre: Contemporary
  • Publisher: Simon Pulse

Synopsis: Everyone thinks their parents are embarrassing, but Hannah knows she’s got them all beat. Her dad made a fortune showcasing photos of pretty girls and his party lifestyle all over the Internet, and her mom was once one of her dad’s girlfriends and is now the star of her own website. After getting the wrong kind of attention for way too long, Hannah has mastered the art of staying under the radar…and that’s just how she likes it.

And you think you have parent issues.

Something, Maybe is the story of Hannah, a girl who wants nothing more than to go through life and high school unnoticed. Well, except by her hipster co-worker Josh. Anonymity isn’t easy for Hannah as her estranged senior citizen father is the eccentric owner of a popular softcore porn website and her mother is a former model who talks to a camera in lingerie for a living. When Hannah’s Dad tries to bring her back into his life nothing is ever the same. Hannah learns about trust and discovering what love truly is

I really enjoyed this story, it’s a  light, romantic coming of age teen story and it’s short at just over 200 pages. I love Scott’s ability to tell a complete story in only a few pages. Something about Scott’s writing is so honest and feels genuine.

The audiobook is narrated by Ellen Grafton, and I loved her voice for Hannah. It has this great youthful quality, I can’t put my finger on who she sounds like it’s kind of like Ellen Page. She does great male voices as well.

My favorite part of this story had to be Hannah’s crush on Josh because from page one I think everyone knows he is a pretentious idiot, but Hanna is so entrhalled by this crush she just can’t see it. Josh carries around thick books so people can see he reads “heavy stuff”, claims to care about the environment and the world by going to coffee shops and talking about change instead of actually doing it. I just thought Hannah’s willingness to overlook his faults in the name of a crush was so true to what high school is like.

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Summer of Sarah Dessen : Along For The Ride

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“People don’t change. If anything, you get more set in your ways as you get older, not less”

– Sarah Dessen, Along For The Ride

Synopsis : It’s been so long since Auden slept at night. Ever since her parents’ divorce—or since the fighting started. Now she has the chance to spend a carefree summer with her dad and his new family in the charming beach town where they live. 
A job in a clothes boutique introduces Auden to the world of girls: their talk, their friendship, their crushes. She missed out on all that, too busy being the perfect daughter to her demanding mother.

I’ve had this audiobook for at least 3 years, so when I started commuting this was on of the first audiobooks I  “read”.

Going into Along for the Ride I was excited to read another Dessen novel that takes place in Colby, NC. The same small beachside town town as Keeping The Moon.

Growing up in the world of academia Auden West is book smart,  motivated, intelligent; but more importantly, she is alone and she likes it that way. . . or so she thinks. The summer before college Auden takes her first big risk and spends the summer with her dad and new stepmother in  Colby, NC in search of The Best of Times, but she finds so much more.

Dessen is the queen of Manic Pixie dream guys romance,  but the romance isn’t the main story happening in Colby, NC.  What really stuck out for me in Along For The Ride were the friendships, families and characters.

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