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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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Hostage Three by Nick Lake

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  • U.S Release Date: November 12, 2013
  • Genre: Thriller
  • Pages: 384
  • Publisher: Bloomsbury

At Book Expo America last summer,  Hostage Three was all the buzz at the Bloomsbury booth, so when I saw it on NetGalley I decided to give it a try. 

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Audiobook Reviews: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. and The Raven Boys By Maggie Stiefvater

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The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

I’ve reviewed a few sequels this year and though I usually have a pretty good idea of what to expect but Maggie Stiefvater really surprised me with her approach to The Raven Boys sequel.

The Dream Thieves is the sequel that’s not trying to be a sequel (and I guess it’s not since it’s the second book in a four book series.)  It wasn’t trying to set up for an overarching plot or wrap up loose ends from book one, it just told a story. The complicated and dark story of The Raven Boys resident bad boy  Ronan Lynch.

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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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Romance Review: Exclusively, Yours by Shannon Stacey

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  • Publication Date: May 26th 2010 (ebook)
  • Pages: 322
  • Publisher: Carina Press (Harlequin)
  • Series: The Kowalskis #1

Well, I have really been genre-hopping this year. I’m finally taking the time to read more than YA and checking out book categories I’ve wanted to know more about like literary and narrative nonfiction. Now I’m finally jumping into the adult romance genre. 

The romance novel has always fascinated me. I mean they have to be some of the most lucrative and consistently popular genre novels over the past 50 years. Every time I go to a used book sale or used bookstore there is always a woman or two with a rolling basket in hand carefully scanning the Harlequins and stocking up. I’ve always picked up one or two because I figure they are cheap and not a big commitment, but I just never actually read them. At one point I’d read a few pages into a Regency romance, but couldn’t get into it. When I stumbled across this book for .50 cents at a library book sale I got it on a whim, it was about a journalist and a novelist so I figured I could relate. Plus, it was in third person which is my favorite POV….

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