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Book Review : Tokyo Heist by Diana Renn

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  • Release Date: June 14th 2012
  • Publisher: Viking Juvenile
  • Genre: Contemporary/Mystery
  • Pages: 384

Synopsis:
When sixteen-year-old Violet agrees to spend the summer with her father, an up-and-coming artist in Seattle, she has no idea what she’s walking into. Her father’s newest clients, the Yamada family, are the victims of a high-profile art robbery: van Gogh sketches have been stolen from their home, and, until they can produce the corresponding painting, everyone’s lives are in danger–including Violet’s and her father’s.                                                                                                                                                                                   

Diana Renn’s debut novel , Tokyo Heist, is a van Gogh heist mystery crossing the Pacific Ocean; from the Seattle art scene to Tokyo, Japan. The mystery element is a fun twist on the contemporary genre. It will leave you on the the edge of your seat trying to figure out this whodunit.

Our protagonist, Violet Rossi is an American teenager who is a bit of an otaku–a fan of Japanese pop culture. For whatever reason, I went through an anime phase in college so it was fun to see her narrative sprinkled with references to real manga and otaku culture. The life and blood of most manga fandoms are teenage girls, so, I’m surprised it isn’t present in a lot of YA fiction. 

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Summer Of Sarah Dessen : Dreamland

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  • Release Date : September 1 2000
  • Publisher : Viking Children’s/Penguin
  • Genre : Contemporary
  • Pages : 256

Synopsis: Ever since she started going out with Rogerson Biscoe, Caitlin seems to have fallen into a semiconscious dreamland where nothing is quite real. Rogerson is different from anyone Caitlin has ever known. He’s magnetic. He’s compelling. He’s dangerous. Being with him makes Caitlin forget about everything else-her missing sister, her withdrawn mother, her lackluster life. But what happens when being with Rogerson becomes a larger problem than being without him.

Cassandra “Cass” O’Koren was the perfect high school student; she was homecoming queen, a star soccer player and Yale bound in the fall. That is until she decides to runawway to New York City with her boyfriend; leaving her friends and family behind.

Dreamland isn’t Cass’ story though; It is the story of her younger sister Caitlin.

After Cass’s hasty departure, her little sister Caitlin is  left to pick up the pieces. Her attempts at finding life after Cass come tumbling down the night she meet Rogerson Biscoe. He’s a dark brooding drug-dealer whose life is constantly in motion and Caitlin wants nothing more than to be in motion with him. Caitlin entwines her life in his moving  farther away from the person everyone wants her to be.

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Book Review: I Hunt Killers

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“You won’t even know you’ve crossed the line until it’s way back in your rear view mirror.” ― Barry Lyga, I Hunt Killers

  • Release Date: April 3, 2012
  • Genre: Contemporary/Horror
  • Publisher: Little Brown for Young Readers
  • Pages: 359

Synopsis: What if the world’s worst serial killer…was your dad?Jasper (Jazz) Dent is a likable teenager. A charmer, one might say.But he’s also the son of the world’s most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, Take Your Son to Work Day was year-round. …In an effort to clear his name, Jazz joins the police in a hunt for a new serial killer. But Jazz has a secret–could he be more like his father than anyone knows? 

The tagline on the front of this book pretty much tells you everything you need to know.What if the world’s worst serial killer was your dad ? This is the situation for Jasper “Jazz” Dent and guess what ? Bodies are piling up up again. I Hunt Killers is a grotesquely humorous novel that will leave you screaming to the end and then begging for more.

The set up for the novel reminded me a lot of Criminal Minds, so if you are a fan of that show, you will enjoy this novel. As for me ? I stopped watching that show so I could sleep at night. I Hunt Killers is pretty much run on And I Must Scream andHigh Octane Nightmare Fuel. This is especially evident seeing as most serial killer victims are young women and the people who read YA are well….yeah. To soften the impact there is a healthy dose of black comedy thrown in, but the humor peters out towards the end.

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Summer of Sarah Dessen : Someone Like You

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“There are some things in this world you rely on, like a sure bet. And when they let you down, shifting from where you’ve carefully placed them, it shakes your faith, right where you stand.”

                                                                      – Sarah Dessen, Someone Like You

Synopsis: When Scarlett learns that her boyfriend has been killed in a motorcycle accident, and that she’s carrying his baby, she’s devastated. For the first time ever, Scarlett really needs Halley. Their friendship may bend under the weight, but it’ll never break–because a true friendship is a promise you keep forever. 

Someone Like You is Dessen’s sophomore novel after That Summer. From the accounts of Dessen herself and many of her fans, this is one of her most popular books. It delves into “tough stuff”,  is a frank portrayal and discussion of abortion , (arguably) emotionally abusive relationships, teen sex and teen pregnancy long before Teen Mom made it “cool”.

Halley and her best friend, Scarlett’s, lives are changed the summer after Scarlett’s boyfriend dies in a motorcycle accident. Michael’s death sets of a chain of events that bond Scarlett and Halley stronger than ever; while a new boyfriend encourages Halley’s independence and break from her usually tight knit family.

Much like That Summer, Someone Like You also deals with missed perceptions. Halley thinks she knows how Elizabeth Gunderson the popular cheerleader is, she thinks she know what she is getting into with Macon Faulkner, even more so she thinks she knows who her mother is.


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Summer of Sarah Dessen : That Summer

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Today kicks off  day 1 of the Summer of Sarah Dessen at Books and Sensibility. Join us every Wednesday as we make our way through Sarah Dessen’s complete collection of novels !

 “It’s funny how one summer can change everything. It must be something about the heat and the smell of chlorine, fresh-cut grass and honeysuckle, asphalt sizzling after late-day thunderstorms, the steam rising while everything drips around it. Something about long, lazy days and whirring air conditioners and bright plastic flip-flops from the drugstore thwacking down the street. Something about fall being so close, another year, another Christmas, another beginning. So much in one summer, stirring up like the storms that crest at the end of each day, blowing out all the heat and dirt to leave everything gasping and cool. Everyone can reach back to one summer and lay a finger to it, finding the exact point when everything changed. That summer was mine.”                                                                                  – That Summer, Sarah Dessen

Synopsis :For Haven, life is changing too quickly. She’s nearly six feet tall, her father is getting remarried, and her sister—the always perfect Ashley—is planning a wedding of her own. Haven wishes things could just go back to the way they were. Then an old boyfriend of Ashley’s reenters the picture, and through him, Haven sees the past for what it really was, and comes to grips with the future.

This summer, Haven’s father remarries to a younger woman, this summer, Haven’s sister marries and will leave, this summer Sumner comes back into her life. Not matter how much Haven wants it to be, this summer is not like that summer. When everything was perfect.

That Summer is a quintessential coming of age story, through Haven’s narration readers become a fly on the wall in  Lakeview and all of it’s small town happenings. Everything from Haven’s father’s wedding to a local teen celebrity’s mental break down work together as a backdrop to Haven’s struggle with trying to find hope in an illusion. 

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Book Review : Deadly Cool by Gemma Halliday

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Synopsis: Hartley Grace Featherstone is having a very bad day. First she finds out that her boyfriend is cheating on her with the president of the Herbert Hoover High School Chastity Club. Then he’s pegged as the #1 suspect in a murder. And if that weren’t enough, now he’s depending on Hartley to clear his name. 

I purchased the Kindle version of Deadly Cool on a whim when Amazon had it on sale for 2.99. This is the second book I’ve gotten from the Harper Steals and Deals sale (the first being Unearthly) and  I have to say,these steals have yet to disappoint.

The book opens right into the plot and instantly took me into the world. When Hartley finds the corpse of a popular girl in her ex-boyfriend’s house, she finds herself trying to solve the murder and clear her ex’s name.

Deadly Cool is similar to a cozy mystery, but with a  modern high school face lift and pop culture sprinkled narrative. Having a murder mystery driven plot was an interesting take on the contemporary genre.

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