Books and Sensibility

We're an Open Book

Book Review

Book Review: Beautiul Chaos by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

     1 Comment

“It was crazy how a hearse and a pair of sneakers could cheer a guy up.” 

― Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, Beautiful Chaos

 

Synopsis: Ethan Wate thought he was getting used to the strange, impossible events happening in Gatlin, his small Southern town. But now that Ethan and Lena have returned home, strange and impossible have taken on new meanings. Swarms of locusts, record-breaking heat, and devastating storms ravage Gatlin as Ethan and Lena struggle to understand the impact of Lena’s Claiming. Even Lena’s family of powerful Supernaturals is affected – and their abilities begin to dangerously misfire. As time passes, one question becomes clear: What – or who – will need to be sacrificed to save Gatlin?…

Read this Post

Book Review : Daughter of Smoke and Bone

     7 Comments

Synopsis :  . . . in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war. Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious “errands”; she speaks many languages–not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? 
That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.
When [a ]–beautiful, haunted [stranger] Akiva–fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

…

Read this Post

Book Review : Legend By Marie Lu

     6 Comments

Synopsis :  What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic’s wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic’s highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country’s most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem. . . in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what [has ]brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

Legend is the ultimate cat and mouse game.

15-year-old June is the government’s greatest agent. Day is the government’s number one fugitive. When a series of events leads the two to cross paths, Day becomes June’s first mission and she will do whatever it takes to find him.…

Read this Post

Book Review : Black Heart by Holly Black

     5 Comments

That’s family for you. Can’t live with them, can’t murder them.”

― Holly Black, Black Heart

 

Synopsis: Cassel Sharpe knows he’s been used as an assassin, but he’s trying to put all that behind him. He’s trying to be good, even though he grew up in a family of con artists and cheating comes as easily as breathing to him. He’s trying to do the right thing, even though the girl he loves is inextricably connected with crime. And he’s trying to convince himself that working for the Feds is smart, even though he’s been raised to believe the government is the enemy.

Our favorite coffee addicted charming anit-hero, Cassel Sharpe is back for a  Curse Worker’s finale where the stakes are higher than ever before for Cassel, his friends, and his family.…

Read this Post

Book Review : Under The Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

     3 Comments

“A world of nevers under a never sky.” 

                         – Veronica Rossi, Under The Never Sky

 

Synopsis : EXILED from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland–known as The Death Shop–are slim. If the cannibals don’t get her, the violent, electrified energy storms will. She’s been taught that the very air she breathes can kill her. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He’s wild–a savage–and her only hope of staying alive.

Under The Never Sky is a post-apocalpytic road story sprinkled with  dystopian elements. The female protagonist, Aria lives a safe and secure life in underground pods, spending her days in vitural realms. Perry lives on the outside or “The Death Shop” a world filled with tribal warfare, Aether storms and savagery.When their worlds collide they learn they may not be as different as they thought.

The novel starts out a little shaky to me, almost everything in the story is told or explained immediately, in an almost checklist like fashion. There is very little mystery and I would have liked to slide easier into the story. Once we get past the introduction the writing does get better and the story begins to take shape.

Basically, Aria and Perry each have their own plot MacGuffin that propels them to journey together in search of what they are looking for. While this jump starts the plot it isn’t my favorite set up.

…

Read this Post

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

     5 Comments

“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.  

…

Read this Post