book reviews

Book Review : Deadly Cool by Gemma Halliday

June 27, 2012 5 Comments

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 : Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

June 21, 2012 8 Comments

Synopsis : Prince Aleksander, would-be heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, is on the run. His own people have turned on him. His title is worthless. All he has is a battletorn war machine and a loyal crew of men.

Deryn Sharp is a commoner, disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She’s a brilliant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered.

With World War I brewing, Alek and Deryn’s paths cross in the most unexpected way…taking them on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure that will change both their lives forever

Deryn is a fifteen year old girl masquerading as a boy to join the airservice

Alex is a young prince who is on the run from a the threat of The Great War

The Leviathan is a living airship made from fabricated beast that brings the two together in a great adventure in this spirited re-imaging of World War I.

Leviathan is a high-flying adventure story filled with wonderment and discovery. I’m not sure why I picked this book up, I think it was because I wanted to see how the illustrations I’d glanced at related to the story. Either way from the first few pages I was sucked into this world Westerfeld has created with Darwinist, Clankers, Beasties, and Walkers.

What I really liked about this book was something very subtle about Deryn’s story. It’s hinted early in the novel that Deryn’s family (including her mother) while not supporting her scheme, have decided not to stop her. Even her own brother is helping her pretend to be a boy.

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Book Review : Daughter of Smoke and Bone

June 19, 2012 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?

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Book Review : Legend By Marie Lu

June 15, 2012 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.…

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Book Review : Under The Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

April 27, 2012 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.

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

April 24, 2012 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.

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