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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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Audiobook Review:: My Soul To Take by Rachel K Vincent

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  • Release Date : July 29th 2009
  • Pages : 279
  • Audiobook Length : 8hrs 21 minutes
  • Genre : Urban Fantasy
  • Publisher : HarlequinTeen

Synopsis: She doesn’t see dead people. She senses when someone near her is about to die. And when that happens, a force beyond her control compels her to scream bloody murder. Literally.Kaylee just wants to enjoy having caught the attention of the hottest guy in school. But a normal date is hard to come by when Nash seems to know more about her need to scream than she does. And when classmates start dropping dead for no apparent reason, only Kaylee knows who’ll be next.

In Texas, beautiful teenage girls are dropping dead. No one knows why. Not even  Kaylee Cavanaugh who can predict these deaths with a deep ear-splitting scream. Kaylee thinks she is crazy, but with the help of the popular jock, Nash Hudson, secrets will be revealed and the deaths of these girls will be solved one way or the other.

I enjoyed this novel. I liked the way we see how Kaylee is dealing with her special “ability” before she knows what  it is. At first she is confused, frustrated and angry; but even more she is afraid of herself because last time she screamed it landed her in the psych unit. It doesn’t help that her father is living thousands of miles away in Ireland and has left Kaylee with her aunt, uncle and Sophie, her spoiled cousin.

The paranormal elements weave into the story nicely and I found the setup believable. There are a few twist and turns and it’s exciting to see how the story develops.

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Audiobook Reivew : Pure By Julianna Baggott

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  • Publication Date : Feburary 8th 2012
  • Genre : Post-Apocalyptic 
  • Pages : 431
  • Audiobook Length : 14 hours 9 minutes
  • Publisher : Grand Central Publishing (Imprint Hachette Book Group)

 . . . Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost-how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers . . . to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. . .There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked. Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge [feels] . . . Different. He thinks about loss . . . that this Dome has become a swaddling of intensely rigid order. . . When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again.

Pure is the ultimate survivalist story

I started reading the galley of this book a few months ago and  found its  vivid descriptions and imagery a little dark; or as Kat said on Twitter “It makes The Hunger Games look like a Disney film.” However, I’m glad I gave this book a second change.

Pure is one of the best post-apocalyptic novels I’ve read all year. It mixes what YA survivalist novels like Eve by Anna Carey and Under The Never Sky by Veronica Rossi  have done, but in such a uniquely dark and unbound way. It takes the story of the protected “insider” meets the savage “outside world” and turns it completely on its head.

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Audio Book Review : This Dark Endeavour by Kenneth Oppel

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  • Release Date: August 23, 2011
  • Page Number: 304 pages
  • Audiobook Hours: 8 hours 7 minutes
  • Genre: Historical/Fantasy
  • Publisher: Simon & Shuster for Young Readers

Synopsis: Victor and Konrad are the twin brothers Frankenstein. They are nearly inseparable. Growing up, their lives are filled with imaginary adventures… until the day their adventures turn all too real. They stumble upon The Dark Library, and secret books of alchemy and ancient remedies are discovered. Father forbids that they ever enter the room again, but this only peaks Victor’s curiosity more. When Konrad falls gravely ill, Victor is not be satisfied with the various doctors his parents have called in to help. He is drawn back to The Dark Library where he uncovers an ancient formula for the Elixir of Life. Elizabeth, Henry, and Victor immediately set out to find assistance in a man who was once known for his alchemical works to help create the formula

This Dark Endeavor is a man before the myth story of the boy who will become famous for creating the most notorious monster of all time.

 I went into this audiobook with only a fleeting knowledge of the novel Frankenstein  written by Mary Shelley. While you don’t have to read the classic novel to understand this book it may help you make some connections.

16-year-old Victor Frankenstein and his twin brother, Konrad  lead a life of privilege in their father’s estate in Geneva. But when Konrad falls ill, Victor finds himself on a dark journey to save his brother using forbidden methods he doesn’t fully understand. To me this book can be best described as steampunk meets alchemy meets Downton Abbey. Which seems totally weird, but in this book it works.

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The Sense List Vol. 15

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