Books and Sensibility

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Contemporary YA

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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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: Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

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“I was horribly bookish, to the point of coming right out and saying it, which I knew was not socially acceptable. I particularly loved the adjective bookish, which I found other people used about as often as ramrod or chum or teetotaler.” ― David Levithan, Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares

Synopsis: “I’ve left some clues for you.
If you want them, turn the page.
If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.”

. . . Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. But is Dash that right guy? Or are Dash and Lily only destined to trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations across New York? Could their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions? Or will they be a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions?

Dash and Lily are two very different New York City teenagers whose lives become entangled by a red Moleskine notebook. Together they search for the meaning of family, love and the power of words. Dash and Lily is a quirky, fun contemporary that I think would be perfect for  Christmas time.

Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares is the sophomore contemporary romance from the writing duo best known for Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. I’ve never read any of Rachel Cohn, but from the two Levithan novels I’ve read this is exactly what I expect. A great novel with an interesting premise and a few laughs along the way. …

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Book Review: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

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“I like how you’re neither here nor there. And how there’s nowhere else you’re meant to be while waiting. You’re just sort of suspended.”

                                                                                                 – Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight

 

 

This has to be one of the most unique and heartfelt contemporary YA books I have read in a while. With a title containing the words ‘love at first sight’ I was afraid it was going to run into insta-love category, but I found it far from it. It’s not so much about love at first sight, but the possibility of love at first sight and other things.

 The story follows roughly 24 hours of the life of Hadley Sullivan as she catches a plane to London to attend her father’s wedding to a woman she has never met. Along the way she meets Oliver and through the story she  is trying to learn how to reconcile her feelings with her father and his new marriage. 

Smith uses  an excellent writing style that is sparse and simple, but still tells you so much. She is an excellent storyteller–I felt sympathy with the characters and connected through the use of retrospective story telling.  

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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 : The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

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“I don’t have feelings.” 

― Michelle Hodkin, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

 

 

I wasn’t around the blogging block when buzz for this book began (holy alliteration, Batman !), but I can see why people were so excited. The cover is just beautiful, the name is wonderful and the synopsis is haunting. Unfortunately, what started as a chilling read quickly, turned into a lukewarm novel that disappointed me on one level.

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