Amanda's Review: Try Not to Breathe by Jennifer Hubbard

Hardcover: 272 pages
ISBN: 978-XX
Release Date: January 19, 2012
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Author's Website: Jennifer Hubbard
Genre: Realistic YA, Contemporary



A dark and provocative novel from the author of The Secret Year 


Ryan spends most of his time alone at the local waterfall because it’s the only thing that makes him feel alive. He’s sixteen, post-suicidal, and trying to figure out what to do with himself after a stint in a mental hospital. Then Nicki barges into his world, brimming with life and energy, and asking questions about Ryan’s depression that no one else has ever been brave enough—or cared enough—to ask. Ryan isn’t sure why he trusts Nicki with his darkest secrets, but that trust turns out to be the catalyst that he desperately needs to start living again. 


Jennifer R. Hubbard has created a riveting story about a difficult but important subject.


My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars


I enjoyed Try Not to Breathe quite a bit, but I have to say the cover is misleading. It wasn’t nearly as steamy or romance driven as I was expecting. I think love plays a small role, but in my opinion there isn’t enough romance for that part of the book to even be mentioned in a blurb or for cover art.

I think this book captures depression better than a lot of novels I’ve read that address depression and suicide. It shows that sometimes there isn’t really a reason depressed teenagers feel the way they do. Sometimes the “reason” behind a teenager’s spiral into depression isn’t some huge ordeal. Sometimes it’s hardly anything at all, just the smallest series of events that may not seem like anything to someone else, but to the person who is already struggling inside their own head, it breaks them.  It also shines a light on the affect even the smallest bit of bullying can have on a person. There are subtle messages throughout the story and I think it was done well.

I do wish some aspects of the story had been more heavily addressed. There are a few things, like Ryan’s mother’s behavior, that I would have liked to have seen fleshed out. It felt grazed over, but I can’t say that it wouldn’t have taken away from the realness of the story if everything was wrapped up with a pretty bow in the end. I liked that it was so real, right up to the last sentence, even if some aspects felt incomplete.

Try Not to Breathe is an honest portrayal of depression, friendship, and the desire for acceptance. It’s a touching story with characters you can’t help rooting for until the very end.

--Amanda

Amanda's Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor

Hardcover: 420 pages
Price: $11.31
ISBN: 9780316134026
Released: September 27, 2011
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Author's Website: Laini Taylor
Buy it: Amazon
Genre: YA, fantasy, paranormal
Series: Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Book Order:
1. Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky. 
In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low. 
And 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 one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted 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?

My Rating: 2 Stars

Between the raving reviews on Goodreads and the Goodreads Choice Award nominations, I had high expectations for Daughter of Smoke and Bone. That said, I can’t imagine myself loving this story, expectations or not. There were a lot of things that just didn’t work for me.

I nearly gave up and put this in the DNF pile numerous times, but I somehow managed to keep trudging forward.  The story, while well written, just didn’t connect with me on any level. There were moments that caught my interest, the first of which was two hundred pages in. At this point, the romance comes into play, and it endeared me.  Momentarily. I thought there would be some development. Lord knows the first 200 pages of the story drug enough, why should the romance be immediate? Yet, it seemed to come out of nowhere. Like flipping a switch. Karou and Akiva didn’t really know one another. They were supposed to be enemies. Souls singing to each other? The yearning to touch one another? (I would probably have the yearning to touch Ryan Reynolds too, but that doesn’t make him the love of my life.) This doesn’t work for me.

The way Karou handled her ex-boyfriend made me think she was badass. Finally a female character with a backbone. Then comes the romance, and Karou dissolved into a puddle of hormones, like most of them do. So what was the point in all of this ex-boyfriend business? To make me think she was badass, only to strip her of that when the beautiful angel shows his face?

Sometime in the second half of the novel, the writing lost its appeal. It suddenly felt all over the place, and I was reading things I just didn’t care about. Whose story is this again? I thought it was Karou’s. Oh, wait, yes of course. Big spoiler--highlight if you would like to view it. I found Karou being Madrigal to be slightly predictable, but I held onto the hope that maybe my prediction was wrong. But it wasn’t, and that disappointed me to no end. Resurrected soul? Really? So that entire time, the first three fourths of the book, Karou was never really making her own decisions? Her recycled soul was calling the shots? She was never really Karou? Yeah, I realize they are the same person, but Karou doesn’t know this until she cracks that wishbone, at which point we get this huge dump from the past, with characters you only see a handful of times. I just didn’t feel a connection with any of these characters. I'm surprised I remember any of their names. Any connection I had started to form was severed when we found out the truth about Karou’s past.  So many pages are devoted to filling us (and Karou) in on who she is, and this disrupted the flow of the story. If I hadn’t come so far into the book already, I would have given up on it at that point.

The two stars go to the writing and the basic concept. I think there were some great ideas in this story, but unfortunately they’re overshadowed by all of the things I didn’t like.

The story ends in a massive cliffhanger (honestly, what YA book doesn’t anymore?), and I’m sure it’s leaving some dying for the next installment. I, however, will most likely pass.

--Amanda

Click here to see Tori's glowing review of the novel.

Amanda's Review: Dark Parties, by Sara Grant

ISBN: 9780316085946
Released: August 3, 2011
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Genre: YA, Dystopian

Sixteen-year-old Neva has been trapped since birth. She was born and raised under the Protectosphere, in an isolated nation ruled by fear, lies, and xenophobia. A shield "protects" them from the outside world, but also locks the citizens inside. But there's nothing left on the outside, ever since the world collapsed from violent warfare. Or so the government says...

Neva and her best friend Sanna believe the government is lying and stage a "dark party" to recruit members for their underground rebellion. But as Neva begins to uncover the truth, she realizes she must question everything she's ever known, including the people she loves the most.

**Note: This is a DNF review. Therefore, there will be no rating, and my opinion is based solely on the first few chapters of the book.

                I didn’t finish Dark Parties, so I really can’t form an opinion based on the book as a whole. I did read the first eight chapters, though, and this “review” will be based on that. 

                In the first chapter, I didn’t really see any world-building. It opens at one of the dark parties, which makes sense, given the title. However, this is a dystopian, right? I would think the first chapter would give us some sort of idea of their world. I personally saw very, very little of that. Second chapter, a few more things about this world started to trickle in, and I found them to be unbelievable. I just couldn’t buy into the Protectosphere.  The government’s control, I could see, but the literal bubble they’re living in? Not so much.

                Another issue I had is that within the first chapter, there has already been not one, but two make-out scenes. Even worse, they’re with two different guys. I haven’t read enough of the book to know where either of these “relationships” go, but I did read enough to realize that our narrator isn’t very honest, omitting some serious info from her best friend. A few chapters into the book, I still don’t care about the narrator.

                And then she makes things worse, going from not-so-great-friend to doesn’t-even-deserve-the-title-friend, and at this point, I gave up. I just can’t read a book that doesn’t catch my attention with the story, and makes me dislike the main character less than halfway through.

                As a huge fan of dystopian novels, this one failed to grab me.


--Amanda

Amanda's Review: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Hardcover: 342 pages
ISBN: 9780062085481
Released: November 15, 2011
Publisher: HarperCollins
Author's Website: Tahereh Mafi
Buy it: Amazon
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Series: Shatter Me #1
Book Order:
1. Shatter Me

Juliette hasn't touched anyone in exactly 264 days. 

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal. As long as she doesn't hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don't fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color. 

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war-- and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she's exactly what they need right now. 

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior. 


4 out of 5 Stars

Shatter Me is difficult to rate for me because one minute I’m remembering it as this amazing thing with sexytimes and interesting characters, and the next I’m remembering it as page upon page of metaphors and similes and hormones. 

Page one--I was loving Mafi’s writing style, but by the end of the first chapter I was already sick of metaphors. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely feel like metaphors have a strong place in writing, and can transform the most asinine sentence into something worth re-reading, but there are limits. It got to the point that it felt like that’s all I was reading—metaphors and similes. Luckily, this thins out quite a bit as the story progresses.

I was a fan of the characters. I loved Juliette’s voice and her growth throughout the story. I liked seeing her open up and begin trusting people who seemed trustworthy. Adam is absolutely swoonworthy (honestly, she had me at ‘tattoos’).  This is where I smile and remember this as the amazing thing with sexytimes. Ha.

That’s actually my biggest issue with Shatter Me, AND the thing I enjoyed most (how does that work?). The main thing I remember it for is the heated moments between Juliette and Adam, and while that’s all well and good and much appreciated, this is a dystopian, and I expected a little more world-building, a little less lip-locking.  

I do think there are a lot of things that need to be explained in regards to the plot, and I hope the sequel accomplishes this. While I wasn't quite as blown away by Shatter Me as I thought I would be, I will be anticipating the sequel.

--Amanda

Amanda's Review: Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel

Hardcover: 480 pages
ISBN: 9780345523310
Released: September 29, 2011
Publisher: Random House
Author's Website: Lia Habel
Buy it: Amazon
Genre: Dystopian, Steampunk, YA, Paranormal
Series: Dearly
Book Order:
1. Dearly, Departed
2. Dearly, Beloved

Love can never die.

Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid’s arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the dead—or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie?

The year is 2195. The place is New Victoria—a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country’s political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horrible—until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses.

But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she’s suddenly gunning down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting “The Laz,” a fatal virus that raises the dead—and hell along with them. Hardly ideal circumstances. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble . . . and dead. But as is the case with the rest of his special undead unit, luck and modern science have enabled Bram to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there’s no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire.

In Dearly, Departed, romance meets walking-dead thriller, spawning a madly imaginative novel of rip-roaring adventure, spine-tingling suspense, and macabre comedy that forever redefines the concept of undying love.

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars 

Oh, how I love the zombies. When I first read the blurb for Dearly, Departed I was eager to read it, despite the fact that the zombies are sexy-fied. It sounded great and the cover captivated me. I’m pleased to say I wasn’t disappointed.

One thing in particular that I enjoyed about Dearly, Departed was the zombies (of course). I was happy to see that there were not only sexy zombies (if you can call them sexy), but also the monster variety. The “Laz” disease reacted differently in everyone, so some zombies are nearly human, while others do nothing but run around finding arms to chew off. This was a good thing because I don’t want zombies to be sexy.  While I was actually a big fan of Bram, I wanted the zombies to be the last monster that was turned into a love interest. A little too late for that, but the fact that this story carried varying degrees of zombie definitely redeemed it for me.

The characters were great as well. Bram had a sense of humor that made me laugh on numerous occasions, and Nora has a resilience that makes you root for her until the very end. Pamela was pretty kick-ass too! I even loved Nora and Bram’s budding relationship, despite the fact that zombies as a love interest have always, and mostly likely always will, gross me out.

While I am a fan of multiple POV’s, I feel that there were too many in Dearly, Departed. I think we could have gone without Wolfe and Victor’s chapters. They really slowed down the reading momentum for me. I’d be heavily invested in the story until one of their chapters came up, and then it would feel like eternity before I was on to the characters I cared about. I don’t think we really needed their point of view, and the twists in the story may have held a bigger shock for me if they weren’t there at all. This is the only thing preventing this book from getting five stars from me.

Dearly, Departed is wonderfully plotted with characters that you can’t help becoming attached to. I’ll be anxiously awaiting the sequel, and I’d encourage everyone to give Dearly, Departed a shot!

--Amanda

Amanda's Review: Supernaturally by Kiersten White

Hardcover: 336 pages
Price: $11.25
ISBN: 9780061985867
Released: July 26, 2011
Publisher: HarperTeen
Author's Website: Kiersten White
Buy it: Amazon
Obtained: Library
Genre: Paranormal YA
Series: Paranormalcy
Book Order:
1. Paranormalcy (my review)
2. Supernaturally


Evie finally has the normal life she’s always longed for. But she’s shocked to discover that being ordinary can be . . . kind of boring. Just when Evie starts to long for her days at the International Paranormal Containment Agency, she’s given a chance to work for them again. Desperate for a break from all the normalcy, she agrees.

But as one disastrous mission leads to another, Evie starts to wonder if she made the right choice. And when Evie’s faerie ex-boyfriend Reth appears with devastating revelations about her past, she discovers that there’s a battle brewing between the faerie courts that could throw the whole supernatural world into chaos. The prize in question? Evie herself.

So much for normal.



My Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars

My Opinion: I was a big fan of Paranormalcy. Obviously I had hoped I would enjoy Supernaturally just as much, if not more. But for some reason, Supernaturally didn’t resonate with me in the same way Paranormalcy had. I found Evie extremely selfish this time around, and her inability to accept blame for anything had me quite annoyed. Also, she lies a lot. Lies that aren’t always necessary, and while I realize this is fiction, there is nothing that bothers me more than a liar. She still had that fun flair to her (sometimes), but I don’t know. It just didn’t make up for the things that annoyed me. To be honest, I can’t remember if she was this way in Paranormalcy. My issues with her character made it difficult to enjoy the story at times. Enough so that I actually had to force myself through the book. 

Now that that is out of the way, I’ll tell you what I did like about Supernaturally. Jack. I felt bad for Lend for the majority of the book, but Jack was a great addition to this series. For a while. It’s a shame that he was my favorite part of this story, that’s all I’m saying. I think he taught Evie more about humanity than any human she had encountered. But. Sigh.

I think my favorite part of the entire book was the acknowledgments. (Seriously, Kiersten White writes some adorable acknowledgments!) Very little happened in this story, and I’ll probably read the final installment eventually just to see where this story ends. But I have to be honest. I think Paranormalcy should have been a stand-alone. 

--Amanda

Tori's Review: Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning

MM Paperback - 384 pages
Price: $7.99
ISBN 10: 0440240980
ISBN 13: 978-0440240983
Released: August 28, 2007

Karen's Website
Buy it via the Publisher
Buy it via Amazon

Obtained: Bought 
Genre: Urban Fantasy 
Series: Fever Series
1. Darkfever
2. Bloodfever (book review)
3. Faefever (book review)
4. Dreamfever (book review)
5. Shadowfever (book review)

MacKayla Lane's life is good. She has great friends, a decent job, and a car that breaks down only every other week or so. In other words, she's your perfectly ordinary twenty-first-century woman. Or so she thinks...until something extraordinary happens.

When her sister is murdered, leaving a single clue to her death-a cryptic message on Mac's cell phone-Mac journeys to Ireland in search of answers. The quest to find her sister's killer draws her into a shadowy realm where nothing is as it seems, where good and evil wear the same treacherously seductive mask. She is soon faced with an even greater challenge: staying alive long enough to learn how to handle a power she had no idea she possessed-a gift that allows her to see beyond the world of man, into the dangerous realm of the Fae...

As Mac delves deeper into the mystery of her sister's death, her every move is shadowed by the dark, mysterious Jericho, a man with no past and only mockery for a future. As she begins to close in on the truth, the ruthless Vlane-an alpha Fae who makes sex an addiction for human women-closes in on her. And as the boundary between worlds begins to crumble, Mac's true mission becomes clear: find the elusive Sinsar Dubh before someone else claims the all-powerful Dark Book-because whoever gets to it first holds nothing less than complete control of the very fabric of both worlds in their hands...

My Rating:

My Opinion:
I'm not entirely sure how this book managed to sink its claws into me, but it did, and I almost squealed when I finished reading DARKFEVER because of that cliffhanger. Now, I finally understand why it was SUCH a good idea to wait for all five books to came out before starting this series. I have a feeling the upcoming week will be less about revising my story, and more about finally reading. It's about damn time I willingly read some books.

So many people squeal about Barrons, and I used to wonder: geez, he's just a book character (it was my first mistake). What on earth could be so damn appealing about him that he would make 99% of the female population want to fling off their panties after hearing his name alone?

I think I'm starting to understand why, and I know this understanding will only evolve with each book. First, the way he speaks is just so infuriatingly sexy. Second, while I hate alpha males in real life, this guy is like... the epitome of arrogant, alpha, sexy, cocky, omfg-if-I-saw-you-in-real-life-I'd-want-to-claw-your-eyes-out, holy-shitaki-mushrooms-I-want-to-do-you-on-the-kitchen-floor. Third, he's mysterious. Mystery totally makes him that much more alluring. Fourth, he is a walking sex on a stick. I think he totally made the book for me by the end. You know, when he was doing that thing on the rooftop with Mac? Seriously, I think that scene will be forever imprinted on my mind.

Some of the descriptions came off as rambling to me, but I enjoyed them nonetheless, for they offered a new insight into Mac's character. They offered glimpses of a more mature, intelligent young woman. Mac was an interesting character, albeit, an immature one. It will be interesting following her development throughout the next four books.

I wouldn't say that this book is my favorite, because the beginning was somewhat slow for me (and I ended up stopping early on for a few months to attend to other review books), but the ending totally... I'm not sure what it did--got me addicted?  Well, whatever it did, it did it well, and I want to read the next book NOW.

As of right now, I have no idea how this series will end. Jess Haines has been telling me she wants to cry a lot while reading SHADOWFEVER... so I'm a bit scared to continue. I will say this: if you're looking for a unique urban fantasy (that has a Buffy the Vampire Slayer feel), with a heroine who is not afraid to speak her mind and who won't piss you off, then DARKFEVER is the UF for you. While part of me wishes I'd started this series earlier, I'm glad I waited.

Guest Review with Binah the Bold: Decadent by Shayla Black

Hey everyone!  Today we have a hilarious guest review courtesy of Binah the Bold (click here to follow her on Twitter).  I highly suggest reading what she has to say--it had me in tears when I first read it... especially the Justin Beiber part ;)

Please also note that this review is Not Suited For Work.  Read at your own risk.

---

Paperback - 352 pages
Price: $15.00
ISBN 10: 0425217213
ISBN 13: 978-0425217214
Released: October 2, 2007

Buy it via Amazon

How can a virgin seeking happily-ever-after with a hot pop star who has a penchant for threesomes win her fantasy man? Kimber Edgington desperately needs a plan to convince Jesse McCall, who's been her friend and secret crush since they spent a summer together as teenagers, that they are meant for each other. But all the tabloid stories about his sexual escapades make her feel oh so inadequate.

"Determined to prove that she's woman enough for Jesse, Kimber turns to bodyguard Deke Trenton for sexual education. Bold and brash, Deke warns Kimber that playing with him is playing with fire. But he can't bear to imagine the innocent beauty in someone else's arms. So Deke and his super-sexy cousin, Luc, take Kimber under their wings and dangerously close to the edge of ecstasy. Though she's saved herself for Jesse, Kimber soon learns he's not the man adept at stoking her aching, endless need. That's Deke, and he can't resist when Kimber begs for more - and more...

Binah's Rating:
For writing, plot, dialogue and anything else that matters? Half a lonely, ragged wing. But as a drinking game and for entertainment value, I'd give it a 3.5.

Binah's Opinion:
This book... hurts. There really isn't another way to describe it. Either I was in pain from OH GOD THIS WRITING or I was in pain from laughing too hard. For those of you who want MORE DESCRIPTION than that spectacular back-cover trainwreck (not that I blame whoever had to write it - they had so little to work with), here's the gist of it:

Kimber is HOT. She is also VIRGINAL and INNOCENT but TOTALLY PASSIONATE and PERFECT IN BED despite NEVER EVER HAVING DONE ANYTHING EVER.

Jesse doesn't even show up until like 1/2 way through the book and really he's basically just a 20-YEAR-OLD JUSTIN BIEBER. He also turns out to be TOTALLY NEEDY and WHINY and they don't even get it on.

Deke is BUTCH and MANLY and TOTALLY NOT GAY. He also can't maintain an erection unless his cousin is in the room. I am NOT JOKING. Deke has ISSUES. 

Luc is Deke's cousin. He is a SUPERHOT SUPERCHEF who is SWEET and SENSITIVE and GOOD AT INTERIOR DECORATING. (No, I'm serious. The author makes sure to point this out.) He is also FULLY 100% STRAIGHT and he has fuckfests that last for FIVE HOURS. Oh, and Deke and Luc regard each other as BROTHERS. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Dr. Freud.

There are HUGE QUANTITIES OF SEXY SEX. Unfortunately, just when things start to get good, the purple prose yanks your attention out of the action and onto "his erection now so damn hard it could drill holes in metal". Um, owch. Please keep your drill-press junk away from my ladyparts.

Or let's say you're reading this ten-page sex scene, lots of foreplay, sounds great, right? And then, "She wasn't talking to Luc, who was treating her nipples like a cross between a lollipop and something his Hoover would attack." I gotta get me one o' them attack Hoovers! Also, he compared her nipples to dust bunnies. Also also, DOUBLE OWCH. Any guys who read this book: most ladies are not into purple nurples via suction. Just sayin'. (If you want to link purple nurple to it's definition, here's the url: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=purple+nurple)

I could, obviously, go on. But I won't, because you get the idea.

The other thing about this book One of the numerous other things about this book is that until around page 175, there is essentially no plot (other than that of a very low-budget porno), and then all of a sudden the plot rounds a corner and bangs into you like that old Reese's Peanut Butter Cups commercial. Like so:

[A man and a woman walk along, reading books. They turn the corner and bump into one another. The books go flying and the pages get mixed up.]
Man: (angrily) You got plot in my porn!
Woman: (also angrily) You got porn in my plot!
Both: (reading) Euuugh. (Making disgusted faces.)

So... if you have a penchant for bad books that approaches suicidal levels of stupidity (like I do), or if you have a group of friends to take turns reading this book aloud with, go ahead and get it. Otherwise, skip it and save yourself the brain cells.

Love, Binah the Bold