Tag: Fiction

Fiction · Young Adult

The Young World

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Title: The Young World

Author: Chris Weitz

Page Count: 384

Series: The Young World, Book 1

Publishing Date/Publisher: July 29, 2014 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Format: eBook

Review:  As far as post-apocalyptic teen dramas go, this one was not the best, or even close to it.  I had a very difficult time buying into the overall premise of a disease that kills everyone, except teens.  Although it is plausible to think that a world governed by teens would quickly become a mecca for cruelty and vice, it feels like a lot of the terrible things that happen are added merely for shock value.  The author really threw just about every controversial topic he could think of into one story: violence, rape, racism, homophobia, cannibalism, animal abuse, child soldiers, gangs, you name it…it’s probably in there.  It’s hard to believe that there is anything left to address in two more books.

To the author’s credit, it is hard to be original with an overdone storyline, but I nevertheless found myself wanting more from the main characters and more from the story.

I won’t be continuing forward with this series.

Reader: Bekah

Rating:

All_Star_GoldAll_Star_Gold

Fiction · Young Adult

Little White Lies

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Title: Little White Lies

Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Page Count: 400

Series: Unknown

Publishing Date/Publisher: November 6, 2018 by Freeform

Format: eBook

Review: This book was a whole lot of fun.  For fans of Pretty Little Liars and Gossip Girl, this is going to be the next big read.

The characters in this story were a bit stereotypical (nothing terribly original), but I still enjoyed watching them navigate through a life of riches and scandal.  Although the story itself was bit formulaic (poor girl gets thrown into the deep end of high society as she is mentored by the wealthy family she never knew she had), I found it refreshing that there was no romantic subplot for the main character.  The story focused almost entirely on her personal quest to find out who her father is.

Although I very much enjoyed this book, there are a couple reasons I could not bring myself to rate it higher.

The structure of the book was not my favorite.  It starts out in the present then goes back in time to set the stage for what is happening now.  Although I generally like this type of structure, I only like it when it is done well.  The switches between the past and the present seem very unnecessary to me, and did nothing to further the suspense.  The story could have moved along equally well if the author had only done one time jump in the beginning and then caught the reader back up towards the end of the book.

The big reveal at the end of the book was entirely anticlimactic.  There are some authors that really know how to blow your mind with a big reveal, but this author has not quite mastered the art of it.  The mystery is resolved enough to make this book a standalone, but the author left enough loose ends that I suspect that she is going to try to make it into a series.  I, as the reader, feel perfectly content to leave the story where it ended in this book.

Reader: Bekah

Rating:

All_Star_GoldAll_Star_GoldAll_Star_Goldhalf star

Fiction · Romance · Young Adult

Road to Somewhere

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Title: Road to Somewhere

Author: Kelley Lynn & Jenny S. Morris

Page Count: Not Available

Series: N/A

Publishing Date/Publisher: March 11, 2014 by Bloomsbury Spark

Format: eBook

Review: This book was the definition of O.K….certainly nothing to write home about.  I did not feel any real attachment to the characters or romances.  All in all, a truly forgettable read.

Reader: Bekah

Rating:

All_Star_GoldAll_Star_Gold

Fantasy · Fiction · Young Adult

A Reaper at the Gates

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Title: A Reaper at the Gates

Author: Sabaa Tahir

Page Count: 464

Series: An Ember in the Ashes, Book 3

Publishing Date/Publisher: June 12, 2018 by Razorbill

Format: Hardcover

Review: Sabaa Tahir continues to impress me.  When I read her debut novel, An Ember in the Ashes, I thought it might be a standalone.  I was very happy to later hear that it would be part of a quartet.  The first book was good, but I did not consider it five star good.  However, each book in the series has gotten progressively better, and at this point, she is in the five star rating range for me.

This is a very unique story, and I enjoyed both the setting and the diverse array of characters.  It has elements of mysticism, rebellion, and just the right amount of romance.  I really appreciate the fact that although love is an important part of the story, the story is not built entirely around romantic love.  The relationships between all the various characters drive the plot, but sometimes not in ways you would expect.

This is one of those books series that is very difficult to predict the outcome of.  The author does a very good job of making the reader empathetic towards the harbinger of doom, and in some ways, you futilely hope for a happy ending for him too.

I am VERY excited for the final book in this series, and I eagerly await to find out when it will be released.

Two final thoughts:

I wish I had been able to enjoy this book in audiobook format (the library system I work for had the hard copy available before the eAudiobook format) because the three readers chosen for this series are all UH-MAZE-ING.  I listened to the second book, A Torch Against the Night, in audiobook format and was completely mesmerized.  I almost wish I had held out a little longer to listen to this third book as an eAudiobook, but alas my impatience to get my hands on it won out.

There has been some controversy surrounding the change in cover art that occurred when the third book was published.  I have very little to say about this, aside from the fact that I admire that the author wanted to have her ethnically diverse characters featured on the front.  My only disappointment is that the character of Laia depicted on the cover does not match her physical description in the book.  The woman chosen to illustrate her is beautiful, but I was under the impression that Laia’s character is biracial.  She is described as having dark hair, golden eyes, and golden skin.  Some of her immediate family members, specifically her mother, are described as being blonde haired and blue eyed.  I was hoping to see a biracial character represented on the cover, but we can’t all have what we want.  Oh well!

Reader: Bekah

Rating:

All_Star_GoldAll_Star_GoldAll_Star_GoldAll_Star_GoldAll_Star_Gold

Fiction · Romance · Young Adult

Leah on the Offbeat

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Title: Leah on the Offbeat

Author: Becky Albertalli

Performer: Shannon Purser

Length: 7 hr, 11 min, 21 sec

Series: Creekwood, Book 2

Publishing Date/Publisher: 2018 by Harper Audio

Format: eAudiobook

Review: I thoroughly enjoyed Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, so I was thrilled when I found out the author was publishing a book highlighting another character introduced in the first of the Creekwood series.

Leah was a character I enjoyed very much in Simon’s book, and I was excited to get to know her better.  Leah’s character is self-assured and opinionated, and she loves her appearance, despite the fact that her body type does not adhere to traditional standards of beauty.  She is confident in just about every aspect of herself, except her sexuality and her art.  Leah is a very talented artist, but she is reluctant to show her deeply personal work to the people in her life.  Perhaps she is worried that it will be revealing of the secret she has been harboring from her friends…her bisexuality.

Based on the description above, I should love Leah, but once inside her head, I actually found her to be a bit obnoxious.  To make matters worse, many situations in the book made me cringe, because Leah was outright rude or inconsiderate to the people around her.  By the end of the book, I was not her biggest fan.

The romance between Leah and another character was also very problematic.  Her love interest came off extremely flat and the chemistry just wasn’t there.  The story also does not address any blowback that would have undoubtedly occurred if the romance progressed the way it did in the book.  It was extremely unrealistic and disappointing when the author jumped over any inevitable falling out and just included a “happy ending” epilogue to gloss it all over.

Despite my disdain for this book, the performer did a great job with her narration.  I would give her a higher star rating than the book itself if I could.

Reader: Bekah

Rating:

All_Star_GoldAll_Star_Gold

Fiction · Romance · Young Adult

Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda

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Title: Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda

Author: Becky Albertalli

Performer: Michael Crouch

Length: 6 hr, 45 min, 6 sec

Series: Creekwood, Book 1

Publishing Date/Publisher: 2015 by Harper Audio

Format: eAudiobook

Review: This love story is adorable.  Simon is adorable.  Everything about this book is adorable.

In all seriousness though, this is an excellent coming-of-age/teen romance.  It’s angsty and endearing and you just want to reach through the pages and give Simon a big hug.  It is hard for me to relate directly to his experiences coming out to his family and friends, but many of Simon’s struggles to accept himself are universal.  The supporting characters in this story are, for the most part, also very likable.  Simon’s friends and family are so accepting of who he is, that at first it seemed silly to me that he is so reluctant to come out to them. As the story progresses, however, I really got a better grasp of how scary this step is to a teen, regardless of whether or not they have a strong support network.

I enjoyed this story in audiobook format.  I have listened to other audiobooks performed by Michael Crouch, and his voice is very well suited to books told from the perspective of a teenage boy.  It’s a very generic “young man” voice, and his even cadence makes his performances very easy to listen to.

After reading this book, I was very excited to rent the movie adaptation Love, Simon.  My expectations for book-turned-movie adaptations are always low, but the movie was extremely well cast, and they captured the feel of the book very well.  This can be difficult to do, especially when so much of the book is introspective.

Both the book and the film were very heart-warming, and I highly recommend both to fans of this genre.

Reader: Bekah

Rating:

All_Star_GoldAll_Star_GoldAll_Star_GoldAll_Star_Gold

Fiction · Romance

At Any Price

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Title: At Any Price

Author: Brenna Aubrey

Page Count: 391

Series: Gaming the System

Publishing Date/Publisher: 2013, Silver Griffon Associates

Format: eBook

Review: I read this on the plane to Boston after my trip home for the holidays earlier this year, and let me just say that that was an awkward experience. Ever tried reading a romance novel on a plane, where people can see your screen? I don’t recommend it. But I do recommend this book/series. I continued the rest of them while holed up in my hotel room (Boston is super cold in January- who knew?) and it was the perfect break from all the research I was doing during the day. It let me relax my mind and not think about anything but the life of the two lovebirds.

I have to admit one more thing before I go onto the rest of the review: I bought the book because I read the synopsis and thought it would be hilariously bad. I was very pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t! I think that while the synopsis was accurate, it really lets the book down. I can’t be the only one that laughed at it, and not everyone enjoys reading hilariously bad books like I do and wouldn’t give it a chance.

I found it really hard to put down, and therefore read through it very quickly. One plane ride across the country was plenty of time to slip into the world of Mia Strong and Adam Drake and the auction for her virginity (I told you sounds absurd). Both characters are strong and independent and very lovable, despite their flaws. I also loved the nerdy sub-plot of video game quests and the friendships formed from online gaming.

I would recommend this to anyone who wants to get tied up in someone else’s problems for a little bit. The series follows Mia and Adam for a few books, then moves onto their friends. I have only read the Mia and Adam ones so far, but if I have time in the future, I would like to read the rest.

Reader: Kymberly

Rating: 

All_Star_GoldAll_Star_GoldAll_Star_Goldhalf star

Fiction · Historical · Romance

Cowboy Pride

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Title: Cowboy Pride

Author: Lacy Williams

Page Count: 252

Series: Wild Wyoming Hearts, Book 3

Publishing Date/Publisher: July 28, 2017 by Lacy Williams Book LLC

Format: eBook

Review: This book was terrible.  The only reason it was not a DNF for me was because it was selected as the Big Library Read by my library.  I finished it through pure will and determination.

Although a Pride & Prejudice fan, this book did not translate well as a Western. I don’t know if this is because of the author’s writing style, or because the setting just didn’t work.

I really do not have much to say about this one, except I would never recommend it to anyone, especially not a diehard Jane Austen fan.

Reader: Bekah

Rating:

All_Star_Gold

Fantasy · Fiction · Historical · Romance · Young Adult

The Bird and the Blade

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Title: The Bird and the Blade

Author: Megan Bannen

Performer: Emily Woo Zeller

Length: 10 hr, 17 min, 3 sec

Series: N/A

Publishing Date/Publisher: 2018 by Harper Audio

Format: eAudiobook

Review: This book surprised me.  I checked it out on my OverDrive app on a whim because it was available.  I gave the brief synopsis attached to it only a cursory glance, so I knew very little diving into it.  Very quickly into the reading, I knew that the story sounded vaguely familiar.  As I listened a bit longer, I realized that it was an adaptation of a story I had heard before.  Although I had some inkling of how it would end, I was intrigued to hear the story from the point of view of a slave girl.

What immediately drew me into the story was how cleverly the author organized it.  Each part of the tale peeled back a new layer, and details that had at first seemed minor carried greater significance as more back story was revealed.  By the end my heart was pounding and although I knew the outcome, I was still eager to see exactly how it played out.

My favorite part about the novel was how carefully the relationships were developed.  The story is told from the point of view of Jinghua, a slave girl with a mysterious past.  Jinghua is plain in appearance, but others value her for her intellect and spirit.  She is beautiful on the inside, if not on the outside, and her actions throughout the story reflect that.

If I were to read this book again, I would probably read it in a different format.  The performer had a tendency to exaggerate the waviness of her voice during dramatic scenes.  I found this distracting, so I think I would have enjoyed the story even more if I had been reading it in a physical format.

I was so impressed with this book.  It is a story of loss and love and sacrifice.   It contained all the elements of a great story, and it was beautifully written.  It is hard for me to believe that this was a debut novel.  I look forward to whatever else the author has in store.

Reader: Bekah

Rating:

All_Star_GoldAll_Star_GoldAll_Star_GoldAll_Star_GoldAll_Star_Gold