Looking for Alaska by John Green

From Goodreads:

Before. Miles "Pudge" Halter's whole existence has been one big nonevent, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave the "Great Perhaps" (François Rabelais, poet) even more. Then he heads off to the sometimes crazy, possibly unstable, and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed-up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young, who is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart.

After. Nothing is ever the same.

Well that was...unexpected.

Warning: here be spoilers. 

I was more than a little flabbergasted when Green killed off the title character halfway through the book. I thought she'd run away or they'd all get expelled after a crazy prank but DEATH never even crossed my mind. 

As always, Green includes wonderfully snappy and playful dialogue. His characters are likeable and relateable. He just sort of GETS teenagers, you know? I love that he introduced some deeper thinking in this book- what IS the labyrinth? How do we get out of it? What comes after life? Can we ever really know another person? Exceptionally deep thinking considering it's a novel geared toward high schoolers.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

From Goodreads:

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

Ugh, this book. 

I've been fairly submerged in nonfiction as of late. Despite the fact that my past several reviews have been of fiction books, the fact is that I'm 20 hours into a 26 hour biography of FDR, halfway through a book about how feminine traits are becoming desirable in the workplace and a few chapters into a history of Canada. I am loving my nonfiction reading but you can't really pretend that nonfiction has much feeling. It's deeply interesting without drawing out any kind of real strong emotions.

So The Fault in Our Stars kind of blind-sided me with FEELS. TOO MANY OF THEM. Even though I closed it sort of hating the world, I also recognize that it's a fantastic book. The dialog is snappy and the main characters are loveable and flawed in a very relateable sort of way.

Also, it has to be said: I hate and love that it didn't have a happy ending. I know I've written several reviews that say something like, "I would have written a different ending but this is YA so you kind of have to do sunshine and rainbows." John Green doesn't buy into that and I kind of love him for it. Life doesn't always get wrapped up in a pretty red bow. It's messy. People break up, they die, they drift apart. I feel like he's setting more realistic expectations than, say, Stephenie Meyer. I actually had a conversation with a teenaged friend about this as soon as I finished this book and she actually said how annoyed she is about all the happy endings that get shoved at her age group. Bless her. Teenagers are smart enough to know better and I think John Green gives them credit for that.

The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

From Goodreads:

Matteo Alacran was not born; he was harvested with the DNA from El Patron, lord of a country called Opium. Can a boy who was bred to guarantee another’s survival find his own purpose in life? And can he ever be free?

This one won a bunch of awards so I really expected to like it more. It's not that I didn't like it. I just felt like I'd read all of it before in varying forms. Futuristic dystopian society? Been there. Socialistic overtones? Done that. Growing people for their organs? Seen it.

Granted, I just looked it up and apparently it was published in 2004. So odds are good that it was published BEFORE all the others ones I read (except Animal Farm, which totally came to mind in the scenes with the Keepers) so it may have actually been an inspiration for a lot of the others I've read over the past 10 years. I think I just read it at the wrong time. Sorry, Nancy Farmer. I spent the whole book thinking you were derivative when in fact you are probably a pioneer. Props.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

From Goodreads:

Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.

This book was a lot heavier than I was expecting but I also think it's an important one. Yes, it's about the beauty of first love and the sweet awkwardness of navigating a new relationship and I'll get to that in a second. But it's also about the victims of abuse and poverty. Park's family situation is loving and secure enough that he has the mental energy to spend a lot of time thinking happily of Eleanor. He can admit to being in love. Then we switch to Eleanor's point of view and she may be thinking about Park OR she may be carefully navigating family politics, trying to protect her siblings from their stepfather, or walking 40 minutes in the dead of winter o the store with her mother because they don't have a car. Park becomes her escape but then she can't trust the situation or any of the feelings involved because she knows how fleeting happiness can be. When you grow up with that kind of instability you come to expect it. Even create it. At the end of the book Eleanor has all but torpedoed her relationship with Park (though it does end on a hopeful note and Rowell has hinted that she may revisit the characters in another book). I know a lot of people disliked the ending since it wasn't hearts and rainbows but I loved it. I feel like Eleanor did the best she could with her situation.

While there is heavier stuff here, there's also a wonderfully sweet romance. It brought back some long buried memories and left me grinning like an idiot. Rowell obviously remembers what it was like to be a teenager and she captures it really well. Although, I do call shenanigans on Park's thoughts. No 16-year-old boy is that poetically romantic.

Wonder by RJ Palacio

From Goodreads:

August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school—until now. He's about to start 5th grade at Beecher Prep, and if you've ever been the new kid then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie's just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, despite appearances?

R. J. Palacio has written a spare, warm, uplifting story that will have readers laughing one minute and wiping away tears the next. With wonderfully realistic family interactions (flawed, but loving), lively school scenes, and short chapters, Wonder is accessible to readers of all levels.

Oh this book. I laughed. I cried. I googled mandibulofacial dysostosis.

This is one I'll absolutely be having my boys read. I think the multiple viewpoints help the reader understand that everyone has things they're going through and we shouldn't judge just from what we can see. Miranda seemed like she was just turning into a stuck-up popular teenage girl but then we switch to her viewpoint and...that's not the case. 

Auggie's English teacher talks about precepts and has a new one each month for his students to think about. I feel like the precept for the book is "Be kind; everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." A valuable lesson no matter what your age is!

Opal by Jennifer L. Armentrout

From Goodreads:

After everything, I’m no longer the same Katy. I’m different... And I’m not sure what that will mean in the end. When each step we take in discovering the truth puts us in the path of the secret organization responsible for torturing and testing hybrids, the more I realize there is no end to what I’m capable of. The death of someone close still lingers, help comes from the most unlikely source, and friends will become the deadliest of enemies, but we won’t turn back. Even if the outcome will shatter our worlds forever.

Ok this is still far FAR from highbrow literature. But! I really really enjoyed this one. The teenagey angst! The hilarious faux-swears! The twists that made me gasp "NO!" in my empty kitchen. I dunno, I was just really responding to this, the third book in the series. It helps that I'm 20 hours into a 27 hour nonfiction audio book so something fluffy and fun was perfect.

I totally thought this was the last in a trilogy but, judging by that ending, the adventure isn't over yet! Onward!

Fire and Thorns Novellas by Rae Carson

While I was waiting for The Bitter Kingdom to become available I realized that Rae Carson wrote 3 novellas about secondary and tertiary characters from the series. It speaks volumes about her characterization that I found then every bit as good as her full length books with Elisa at the center. Mara's story (The Shattered Mountain) in particular was fantastic, but I really enjoyed all 3. It really helped to explain why these characters became the people they are by the time The Girl of Fire and Thorns happens. If you're mildly obsessed with these books (I aaaaam) then these novellas are well worth your time.

On Goodreads:
The Shadow Cats
The Shattered Mountain
The King's Guard

The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan

From Goodreads:

There are many things that Annah would like to forget: the look on her sister's face when she and Elias left her behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, her first glimpse of the horde as they found their way to the Dark City, the sear of the barbed wire that would scar her for life. But most of all, Annah would like to forget the morning Elias left her for the Recruiters.

Annah's world stopped that day and she's been waiting for him to come home ever since. Without him, her life doesn't feel much different from that of the dead that roam the wasted city around her. Then she meets Catcher and everything feels alive again.

Except, Catcher has his own secrets -- dark, terrifying truths that link him to a past Annah's longed to forget, and to a future too deadly to consider. And now it's up to Annah -- can she continue to live in a world drenched in the blood of the living? Or is death the only escape from the Return's destruction?

About halfway through this book I thought, "WHY am I doing this to myself??" The spark of hope I felt during The Dead Tossed Waves when I thought maaaybe they'd be able to use Catcher's immunity to save people flickered out as Carrie Ryan just sort of ran roughshod all over the remainder of humanity. 

This is why I can't watch The Walking Dead and why I am Legend scarred me for life. I just can't handle how bleak zombie stuff tends to be. And this one was BLEAK. Sure, it ends on a very small note of hope but it's not what I was hoping for.

Also, something that keeps bothering me- why are they not BURNING the zombies? Like they knew there was this huge valley full of downed zombies that could all awake and overtake the ONE big city left in the entire world...and they chose not to just start dropping all kinds of burning things down there from the bridge above? That seems short-sighted. 

Anyway, I loved the characters but I'm still a little annoyed at myself that I finished the series. I feel kind of depressed now.

The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

From Goodreads:

Gabry lives a quiet life. As safe a life as is possible in a town trapped between a forest and the ocean, in a world teeming with the dead, who constantly hunger for those still living. She’s content on her side of the Barrier, happy to let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. But there are threats the Barrier cannot hold back. Threats like the secrets Gabry’s mother thought she left behind when she escaped from the Sisterhood and the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Like the cult of religious zealots who worship the dead. Like the stranger from the forest who seems to know Gabry. And suddenly, everything is changing. One reckless moment, and half of Gabry’s generation is dead, the other half imprisoned. Now Gabry only knows one thing: she must face the forest of her mother’s past in order to save herself and the one she loves.

It's been a good long while since I read The Forest of Hands and Teeth so I struggled a bit getting back into the story. It IS a sequel but you could read it independently of the first book. I half wonder if the first book was meant to stand alone but then did so well that she decided to continue the story. However, I remember The Forest of Hands and Teeth being beautiful, almost hauntingly written. The sequel lacks some of the poetry I found in the first. 

However, The Dead Tossed Waves offers something that was seriously lacking in the first book: hope. I closed the first book feeling so dark. Everyone died except Mary, who would then have to find her way in a different town surrounded by different walls, still never escaping the Unconsecrated. The end. Things go a bit differently in the sequel. There are still devastating deaths and dark realities but that tiny spark of hope makes such a big difference in the overall feel of the book. What it lacked in poetry it made up for with faith that eventually there might be happy endings in a terribly bleak world. 

It still gave me nightmares but I think I enjoyed it a bit more than the first.

Bomb: The Race to Build- and Steal- the World's Most Dangerous Weapon

From Goodreads:

In December of 1938, a chemist in a German laboratory made a shocking discovery: When placed next to radioactive material, a Uranium atom split in two. That simple discovery launched a scientific race that spanned 3 continents. In Great Britain and the United States, Soviet spies worked their way into the scientific community; in Norway, a commando force slipped behind enemy lines to attack German heavy-water manufacturing; and deep in the desert, one brilliant group of scientists was hidden away at a remote site at Los Alamos. This is the story of the plotting, the risk-taking, the deceit, and genius that created the world's most formidable weapon. This is the story of the atomic bomb.

The timing of this book becoming available was kind of funny since I'm also in the middle of American Prometheus, a biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer. 

This book is so fantastically well researched and written. It makes the subject matter a bit more palatable but I still found myself fairly emotional when Sheinkin got to the bombing of Hiroshima. It's a horrifying period in our national history and the epilogue, which discusses the consequences of using today's significantly more powerful atomic weapons, was quite sobering. 

That being said, it's one of the best nonfiction books I've read in a long time.

The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson

From Goodreads:

The epic conclusion to Rae Carson's Fire and Thorns trilogy. The seventeen-year-old sorcerer-queen will travel into the unknown realm of the enemy to win back her true love, save her country, and uncover the final secrets of her destiny.

Elisa is a fugitive in her own country. Her enemies have stolen the man she loves in order to lure her to the gate of darkness. As she and her daring companions take one last quest into unknown enemy territory to save Hector, Elisa will face hardships she's never imagined. And she will discover secrets about herself and her world that could change the course of history. She must rise up as champion-a champion to those who have hated her most.

I'm in the middle of like 4 other books right now but when I got the notification that my hold for The Bitter Kingdom had become available I pushed the others to the side and got cracking.

Yet again Rae Carson weaves a fantastic adventure tale. Each time I read one of her books I think to myself, "Now THIS is writing! And plot! And structure!" So much YA stuff is fluffy to the extreme. This is not. Girl power abounds though at one point she admits that sometimes she DOES need saving and she allows someone to come to her rescue. I think that's a powerful message to the YA crowd...you should do your own saving as much as possible but sometimes it's ok to admit defeat and accept help.

I've loved this trilogy so much I'm a little sad it's over. BUT! The end was perfect. Elisa finally comes to the conclusion that her power has always come from within. That she is beautiful to herself and that is all that matters. The guy does get the girl in the end (yay!) but it's her own realizations about herself and her ability to lead 3 nations that makes the ending so satisfying.

Also, I know I make this sound like a crazy feminist series but it's not. That's just the stuff I pick up on after reading novels like Twilight and the Lux series. It's just nice to have a book I know I can recommend to my young women without worried their takeaway will be that they need to find a boyfriend.

The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen

From Goodreads:

Jessica thinks her life is over when she loses a leg in a car accident. She's not comforted by the news that she'll be able to walk with the help of a prosthetic leg. Who cares about walking when you live to run?

As she struggles to cope with crutches and a first cyborg-like prosthetic, Jessica feels oddly both in the spotlight and invisible. People who don't know what to say, act like she's not there. Which she could handle better if she weren't now keenly aware that she'd done the same thing herself to a girl with CP named Rosa. A girl who is going to tutor her through all the math she's missed. A girl who sees right into the heart of her.

With the support of family, friends, a coach, and her track teammates, Jessica may actually be able to run again. But that's not enough for her now. She doesn't just want to cross finish lines herself—she wants to take Rosa with her.

I read Wendelin Van Draanen's Flipped last year at the recommendation of one of my young women. It was cute, fluffy and fairly quick so when Janssen recommended The Running Dream I added it to my list as well. It's another quick, snappy kind of read but it's not nearly as fluffy. This one deals with some hard things. One of Jessica's teammates dies in the accident that takes her leg. Jessica is angry and depressed at first and adjusting to life without a leg isn't easy. She pulls herself together though and quickly learns to walk and then run again. There were times when I thought that her character arc from angry amputee to inspirational story was a little too easy but then I remembered that this is a YA book and I just rolled with it. I cried more times than I care to admit. One I'd absolutely recommend.

The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson

From Goodreads:

In the sequel to the acclaimed The Girl of Fire and Thorns, a seventeen-year-old princess turned war queen faces sorcery, adventure, untold power, and romance as she fulfills her epic destiny.

Elisa is the hero of her country. She led her people to victory against a terrifying enemy, and now she is their queen. But she is only seventeen years old. Her rivals may have simply retreated, choosing stealth over battle. And no one within her court trusts her-except Hector, the commander of the royal guard, and her companions. As the country begins to crumble beneath her and her enemies emerge from the shadows, Elisa will take another journey. With a one-eyed warrior, a loyal friend, an enemy defector, and the man she is falling in love with, Elisa crosses the ocean in search of the perilous, uncharted, and mythical source of the Godstone's power. That is not all she finds. A breathtaking, romantic, and dangerous second volume in the Fire and Thorns trilogy.

So often the second book in a trilogy is the weakest link, a filler book that barely advances the story. Crown of Embers escaped that fate and, if possible, I enjoyed it even more than I did The Girl of Fire and Thorns. Elisa continues to grow, to find her own power, to take charge of her own life in the midst of her crumbling kingdom. 

While reading both books I find myself thinking, "This author is so good." The characters and conflicts are complex, with no obvious or easy out. There are sacrifices and betrayals and people who think what they are doing is for the best but is really not helping at all. This is the kind of fiction that sucks you in, beats you up and spits you out wanting more. 

I'm #5 on the list for book 3. BRING IT ON.

The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

From Goodreads:

Percy is confused. When he awoke from his long sleep, he didn't know much more than his name. His brain fuzz is lingering, even after the wolf Lupa told him he is a demigod and trained him to fight with the pen/sword in his pocket. Somehow Percy manages to make it to a camp for half-bloods, despite the fact that he has to keep killing monsters along the way. But the camp doesn't ring any bells with him. The only thing he can recall from his past is another name: Annabeth

Hazel is supposed to be dead. When she lived before, she didn't do a very good job of it. Sure, she was an obedient daughter, even when her mother was possessed by greed. But that was the problem — when the Voice took over her mother and commanded Hazel to use her "gift" for an evil purpose, Hazel couldn't say no. Now because of her mistake, the future of the world is at risk. Hazel wished she could ride away from it all on the stallion that appears in her dreams.

Frank is a klutz. His grandmother says he is descended from heroes and can be anything he wants to be, but he doesn't see it. He doesn't even know who his father is. He keeps hoping Apollo will claim him, because the only thing he is good at is archery — although not good enough to win camp war games. His bulky physique makes him feel like an ox, especially infront of Hazel, his closest friend at camp. He trusts her completely — enough to share the secret he holds close to his heart.

Beginning at the "other" camp for half-bloods and extending as far as the land beyond the gods, this breathtaking second installment of the Heroes of Olympus series introduces new demigods, revives fearsome monsters, and features other remarkable creatures, all destined to play a part in the Prophesy of Seven.

We found Percy! Something about having Percy at the center of the story brings out Riordan's sense of humor because I found myself cackling quite frequently, much more than I did in the previous book. Such a great mix of humor, history, action and adventure. The new characters that have been introduced in this series are all fantastic. They have a lot on the line and they're often the underdogs but they always come through, willing to sacrifice in order to defeat evil.

Also, I mentioned this in my last post, but the narrator is SO fantastic. He does great voices and he's so gleeful about everything that you can't help getting swept along.

Onyx (Lux #2) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

From Goodreads:

Being connected to Daemon Black sucks…

Thanks to his alien mojo, Daemon’s determined to prove what he feels for me is more than a product of our bizarro connection. So I’ve sworn him off, even though he’s running more hot than cold these days. But we’ve got bigger problems.

Something worse than the Arum has come to town…

The Department of Defense are here. If they ever find out what Daemon can do and that we're linked, I’m a goner. So is he. And there's this new boy in school who’s got a secret of his own. He knows what’s happened to me and he can help, but to do so, I have to lie to Daemon and stay away from him. Like that's possible. Against all common sense, I'm falling for Daemon. Hard.

But then everything changes…

I’ve seen someone who shouldn’t be alive. And I have to tell Daemon, even though I know he’s never going to stop searching until he gets the truth. What happened to his brother? Who betrayed him? And what does the DOD want from them—from me?
No one is who they seem. And not everyone will survive the lies…

This is the second book in the Lux series, after Obsidian, which I read last week. It still wouldn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of passing the Bechdel test BUT I found the government conspiracy angle markedly more interesting and enjoyed this book more than the first. It helps that it pulled a Twilight move by making the girl LESS of a helpless wimp via power transference. I'll take what I can get. Also, I will admit that I love that Katy is a book blogger. Bless her heart.

I think that I will like the 3rd book even more. I suspect they'll be breaking into government buildings trying to bust people out next and that sounds like something I can get behind. I'm sticking with it.

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

From Goodreads:

Jason has a problem.
He doesn't remember anything before waking up on a school bus holding hands with a girl. Apparently he has a girlfriend named Piper. His best friend is a kid named Leo, and they're all students in the Wilderness School, a boarding school for "bad kids", as Leo puts it. What he did to end up here, Jason has no idea—except that everything seems very wrong.

Piper has a secret.
Her father, a famous actor, has been missing for three days, and her vivid nightmares reveal that he's in terrible danger. Now her boyfriend doesn't recognize her, and when a freak storm and strange creatures attack during a school field trip, she, Jason, and Leo are whisked away to someplace called Camp Half-Blood. What is going on?

Leo has a way with tools.
His new cabin at Camp Half-Blood is filled with them. Seriously, the place beats Wilderness School hands down, with its weapons training, monsters, and fine-looking girls. What's troubling is the curse everyone keeps talking about, and that a camper's gone missing. Weirdest of all, his bunkmates insist they are all—including Leo—related to a god.

Oh how I love Rick Riordan and his fantastic adventure filled books! Erica recommended The Lost Hero to me as a good audiobook option and she was, as usual, giving me a good suggestion. The narrator can make or break a book and this one was fantastic. Which is funny because I feel like the first time I ever felt really attached to a narrator was the guy who narrated the Percy Jackson books (another Riordan series). So whoever is in charge of picking Riordan narrators is doing an excellent job and deserves a good pat on the head.

The formula here is familiar- demigods unaware of their origins finding out who their divine parents are and getting introduce to Camp Half Blood. It's a continuation of the Percy Jackson universe (except Percy has gone missing! Gasp!) and a fine addition at that. I always start by thinking, "I can't WAIT for my boys to be old enough to read these!" and then I forget about my boys and continue onward because I'M enjoying the story so thoroughly. I do have a minor complaint with The Lost Hero- I got kind of confused about their quest. They were all over the place geographically often with only a wisp of a plan and I kind of felt like maybe Riordan didn't know the end when he started and sort of stumbled upon it halfway through and just made it work. The book feels a bit more cobbled than its predecessors. It doesn't make it significantly less enjoyable though, and I've already put a hold on book 2.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

From GoodReads:

Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness.
Elisa is the chosen one.

But she is also the younger of two princesses, the one who has never done anything remarkable. She can't see how she ever will.

Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.

And he's not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies seething with dark magic are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people's savior. And he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.

Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young.

Most of the chosen do.

I read this directly on the heels of Obsidian which made it difficult not to compare the two. Both are YA novels with female protagonists and some elements of the supernatural. However, while Obsidian was much like a shallow play pool, The Girl of Fire and Thorns is more like a great lake complete with character growth, strong female characters and depth of plot.

Elisa, the heroine, goes from a soft, naive princess to a queenly, confident leader of her country. And she does it by saving herself and others time and again, not by relying on the arm of a flawless love interest to save her. There ARE love interests, of course (3 of them!) but they are imperfect, human and more of a side note to Elisa's story rather than the focus of it. I realized halfway through that I didn't particularly care who she does or doesn't end up with. I'm just on Team Elisa and that's what matters.

Also, I appreciated that this book didn't end on a cliffhanger. Series authors so often feel the need to leave readers hanging on the edge of their seats by their fingernails but this one wrapped up nicely so that you could easily read just the one and feel happy with the story. If, however, you fell in love with the characters and the world that Rae Carson created, you may continue onward.

I'm third in line at the library for Book 2. READ FASTER PEOPLE.

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Lux #1)

From GoodReads:

Starting over sucks.

When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I'd pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring.... until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.

And then he opened his mouth.

Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something...unexpected happens.

The hot alien living next door marks me.

You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon's touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I'm getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades.

If I don't kill him first, that is.

My sister has mentioned this one to me several times but we both ended up confused because I thought she was talking about the LUXE series and had never heard of the LUX series. They are quite different, as it turns out.

As far as YA novels go this one fits right in. Superhuman super-hot boy in love with a normal oh-gee-what-does-he-see-in-me girl. Despite the fact that I've read some version of this book approximately 18 million times already that didn't stop me from devouring it in one day. This is a sad commentary on the triteness of my brain, I'm sure.

The story is fine, the alien element is new, the protagonist mercifully has a brain of her own despite the fact that she is in CONSTANT need of saving.

Here's my big beef: the author wrote in a fantastic extraterrestrial female friend for the protagonist but then made her weak and borderline useless while her brother is almost godlike in his strength and abilities. I would have LOVED this book to be about two girl friends working together to overcome their individual weaknesses and prejudices to fight evil. The romance could have been a delicious little footnote (because I do need SOME romance). Instead we have yet another YA novel teaching girls that they are nothing (possibly even RAPED AND DEAD) without a guy to love and protect them. My inner feminist is shaking her head in sad disappointment. This book would not pass the Bechdel test even though the author laid a kind of groundwork that should have gotten it there. 

Feminist annoyance aside, I will probably finish out the series. Because of my trite, sappy, unfeministy brain. Curse you, Brain.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

From Goodreads:

Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss's family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans -- except Katniss.

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss's willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels' Mockingjay -- no matter what the personal cost.

*just a smidge spoilerish. Stay away if you want to come to the book knowing nothing.


About 10 pages in to Mockingjay I was very worried. It was weak, almost painfully so. Katniss's self-pitying navel gazing was not what I had come to expect from the Hunger Games series and I found myself slogging. I had expected to sit down and devour this in a day while neglecting my children and personal hygiene so I was really disappointed when the first chapter, only 15 pages, took me a full day to get through.

Fortunately, after a slow start in the first few chapters, Collins brings the action, which is where she really shines. Unfortunately, Mockingjay is definitely the weakest in the series. It's a fine end to the journey and with any other author I would likely be satisfied but since I know what Collins in capable of I found myself disappointed. I remember sobbing over deaths in the previous books but found myself completely dry eyed this time around and thinking, "I should be devastated over this!" but I wasn't.

Although it doesn't stand up to the previous two, there is plenty to love here. Katniss finally pulls herself together and once again becomes the reluctant hero we know and love. Finnick and many of the other supporting characters are fabulous. I really loved the ending. I kind of expected Collins to go a bit darker but I will never argue with a happily-ever-after.

The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller

When Janssen came to visit last weekend she brought me an extra ARC she had of The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller (coming out in August). I haven't read anything in like a month so I was excited to have some nice fluffy YA reading to plow through and hopefully get me back into the swing of things.

(I get a bit spoilerish at the end so I marked that paragraph with **. If you don't want me to spoil any of the book for you just skip that part)


From Goodreads:

What if love refused to die?

Haven Moore can’t control her visions of a past with a boy called Ethan, and a life in New York that ended in fiery tragedy. In our present, she designs beautiful dresses for her classmates with her best friend Beau. Dressmaking keeps her sane, since she lives with her widowed and heartbroken mother in her tyrannical grandmother’s house in Snope City, a tiny town in Tennessee. Then an impossible group of coincidences conspire to force her to flee to New York, to discover who she is, and who she was.

In New York, Haven meets Iain Morrow and is swept into an epic love affair that feels both deeply fated and terribly dangerous. Iain is suspected of murdering a rock star and Haven wonders, could he have murdered her in a past life? She visits the Ouroboros Society and discovers a murky world of reincarnation that stretches across millennia. Haven must discover the secrets hidden in her past lives, and loves¸ before all is lost and the cycle begins again. 

 ARCs are kind of funny to read because there are always typos and it always kills me and then I remember that they will likely be fixed by the time the book is actually released. So I always end up having issues with ARCs that are kind of irrelevant. So yes, there were typos. A lot of them, actually. But most if not all will be gone by August and I need to get over it.

 The story itself was just what I was looking for. A fairly easy and light read with a nice little love story that didn't feel completely recycled from ten thousand love stories before it. I thought the reincarnation stuff was kind of fun and I loved that I was still rather unsure about who to trust until close to the end (although some of it was obvious and I was like WHY ARE YOU TALKING TO HIM?? and then I'd smack myself in the forehead).

**One thing I really didn't care for was the element of evil. I loved that Snope City was one of those crazy religious bible belt places and of course there needed to be an element of opposition, but the bad guy didn't need to actually be Satan himself. It felt a bit off kilter with the rest of the book when any number of bad guys or even the grandmother would have served just fine. Also, I didn't love the ending but I think that particular resolution was necessary just because it's a YA book. Had it been an adult book or, you know, real life, it probably wouldn't have turned out quite so neat and happy.