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New Adult Fiction

The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda

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Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

One of my favorite book settings is small New England beach town (bonus points if it’s an island) brimming with secrets, class anxiety, community, and melancholic unease. Littleport, Massachusetts fits this to a tee. Littleport is a tourist town run by the hard-working residents but it’s the wealthy Lowman family–and their real estate empire–that truly runs things. When The Lowman’s daughter, Sadie, is found dead on the bluffs it’s up to her best friend Avery to unravel the Lowman family’s darkest secrets.

Through flashbacks, we learn how Avery, the former town screw-up, was pulled into the Lowman’s orbit. The way this book moved through time and played with class reminded me of one of my favorite procedural TV shows Cold Case–which handles the subject of class quite often. This book was filled with cliffhangers and thrilling moments but the mystery is rather predictable for avid mystery/thriller readers.

I feel like this book could easily be categorized as New Adult. The main characters are all under 25 and are just starting out in their careers while figuring out adulthood and relationships. I think Miranda nailed writing from this point-of-view.

I listened to a portion of this on audio and narrator Rebekkah Ross is a good fit for Avery and did a great job crafting voices for all the townsfolk.

The Last House Guest was my introduction to Megan Miranda and I can’t wait to check out more of her work.

Side Note

There is sort of an “I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE” moment when you realize why this book is called this. Very clever.

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

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Rating: 4 out of 5.

I did the thing. I saw a fantasy written by a female author and assumed it was YA. I am not proud of how long it took me to realize this wasn’t YA. I t convinced I was calculating the character ages wrong.  *sigh*. Anyway…

Black Sun is an immersive pre-Columbian-inspired fantasy with intrigue, danger, and magic. The countdown is on as we follow an ensemble of characters to the day of a prophetic solar eclipse, where a vengeful god is set to claim his rightful place from the Sun Priest. The characters and plot completely pulled me into the story and left me wanting more.

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Book Review : Suddenly Royal by Nichole Chase

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  • Release Date: April 23rd 2013
  • Genre: New Adult/ Women’s Fiction
  • Pages : 464
  • Publisher: Avon

The story of an American woman who discovers she is a duchess  sounded a lot more interesting when I started this book than when I finished. This concept of normal women finding themselves mixed up with royalty is nothing new with movies like The Princess Diaries and The Prince and Me but I couldn’t find the same  charm in Suddenly Royal.

 

Samantha Rousseau is a graduate student working towards her PhD and taking care of her cancer stricken stepfather. Her life is turned upside down when it’s discovered she is a long lost duchess from the France-expy country Lilaria. Suddenly this American girl is plucked from obscurity and into the world of royalty, paparazzi and fame all while  keeping her eyes out for Prince Alex aka Prince Yummy.

Chase executed the premise well, explaining how the families are being brought together but there wasn’t much of a follow through as far as plot was concerned.

 I don’t know if it was the cookie cutterhero or the low ball conflict but the more I thought about it the more I realized this wasn’t the kind of story I expected. We get a lot of Sam going to Lilaria and about her responsibilities,  but honestly it wasn’t that interesting. . . just a lot of people telling her things.  I wanted something more akin to the  first season of Downton Abbey. I wanted more awkward dinner parties, culture shock,  witty banter and actual tension between the leads.

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Mini Reviews : New Adult Novels

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New Adult or NA novels seem to be taking over! Every week it seems like more and more are being released and this week I take a peek at two NA novels.

The Space Between by Victoria H. Smith

This New Adult novel follows the relationship of a pair of 19-year-olds from two different sides of Chicago; Derek, the privileged adopted son of a Senator and Lacey, a struggling opera prodigy from the wrong side of the tracks with a mother dying of cancer. When these to meet in a blaze of passion, they have to overcome racism, class and their own family to be together. Seeing a romance that focuses on a biracial girl and Korean guy was definitely a first for me and I liked that Victoria wrote about this type of relationship. The plot relies a lot on insta-lust and I was kind of annoyed of how Lacey is constantly described as desert with chocolate eyes and caramel skin. Falling on the steamier side of NA, so there are quite a few scandalous scenes. This is the first in a series, so I’ll be interested to get the other ones if I stumble across them. Also how great is this cover !-  ★★★



If You Stay by Courtney Cole

Pax Tate is a selfish, trust fund baby with an addictive personality and Mila Hill is an orphaned artist living a quiet life with her sister. Their first encounter is anything but romantic when Mila discovers Pax overdosing in his car. This gruesome meeting unravels into a NA story that is the rather standard good girl meets broken bad boy with a fair share of steamy moments. The story packs on the melodrama and angst with everyone having dark secrets. After about the third revelation it started to feel a bit… soap-operatic ? This book also has healthy a bit of slut-shaming, which I think I’m just getting used to in YA/NA fiction at this point. I don’t know if this is done to create foils for the main female characters, but if you are an openly sexually active female, chances are bad things will happen to you. If you want an angsty, steamy romance this may be your kind of book. I think this story had  a lot of potential in the beginning, but if you’ve read any kind of NA before this story will seem generic. Also,a  month after reading it, I barely remember anything about it. –  ★★ + .5

 

Strictly Indie: The Coincedence of Callie and Kayden

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A month long dedication to  indie/self-published YA novels

Synopsis: There are those who don’t get luck handed to them on a shiny platter, who end up in the wrong place at the wrong time, who don’t get saved.
Luck was not on Callie’s side the day of her twelfth birthday when everything was stolen from her. After it’s all over, she locks up her feelings and vows never to tell anyone what happened. Six years later her painful past consumes her life and most days it’s a struggle just to breathe.
For as long as Kayden can remember, suffering in silence was the only way to survive life. As long as he did what he was told, everything was okay. One night, after making a terrible mistake, it seems like his life might be over. Luck was on his side, though, when Callie coincidentally is in the right place at the right time and saves him.

Hiding from a traumatic childhood secret, Callie Lawrence was always known as “Anorexic, Devil Worshiping Callie” in high school. But for her freshman year at the University of Wyoming, Callie plans to make a fresh start.  Until she bumps into Kayden Owens, the rich golden boy from high school who  is hiding the daily physical abuse he faces at the fists of his  father. Guided by Callie’s college version of bucket list, they learn together how to heal and love again.

I’m not one for GIFs and don’t usually use GIFs in reviews, but if there is one that sums up this book it is probably this one:

It seems like everybody in this book is hiding, running or suffering from a traumatic past.

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Strictly Indie : The Crimson Hunt by Victoria H Smith

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 Books and Sensibility’s month long dedication to indie 

It’s hard to be in the YA book blogging world without noticing all the upcoming indie novels and novelists. So, to open myself up to  more independent and self published authors, I am   going Strictly Indie for the month of May. I will be focusing on reviewing, discussing and posting about indie novels and even have a few guest posts along the way. 

  • Release Date: November 12th 2012
  • Pages: 340 pages
  • Genre: Science Fiction Romance
  • Price: $3.99 ebook; 13.99 paperback

Synopsis: Ariel
Richmond’s everyday life consists of wrangling in her crazy best
friend, Piper avoiding her enemy Lila Hicks and finding salvation in her art, and the peanut butter brownie at her favorite cafe Demitasse.
But, the day Ariel makes eyes with Luca Grinaldi, murder and death begin to surround her. Ariel soon learns that people aren’t just dying–they are being hunted. And she and Luca’s meeting is a not just a coincidence, but destiny.

I’ve been following the publication of this novel since I happened upon Victoria’s blog for a contest. At the time she was being repped by Curiosity Quills, but deferred to self publish. It’s been interesting reading her blog and seeing the journey she has taken to self publication.

The Crimson Hunt is my first voyage into the New Adult category and I can definitely see the appeal. Being in their early 20’s New Adult characters are slightly more mature than YA characters, but still in the “I’m invincible” stage common to YA. While some Big Six publishers are dipping their toes in to the NA water, indie authors are heading in full force.


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