Black Satin Tour: Guest Post, Review, G!ve@way

Black Satin by Rae Hachton
SupaGurl Tour June 1-30

Hi. I'm happy to have Rae Hachton on my blog for her Black Satin tour with lovely host, Heather at SupaGurl Blog Tours. Be sure to enter the giveaway below, and visit the other stops on the tour. The schedule can be found here.

Black Satin (Pretty in Black #2)
by Rae Hachton
Published May 28, 2012 by Teen Pulse

Synopsis:

What if you weren’t who you thought you were? What if your whole life changed in an instant and you were released to a new identity? What if you were forced to kill the one you love? What if everything you knew wasn’t real, and you awaken to a new world? What if love could take you to unknown places? How beautiful is death really? Marcus Marble has disappeared from Ellie’s life, and she needs answers to questions and he’s the only one who can answer them. How is her sister back from the dead, and why is Ellie still alive?

When Ellie realizes Marcus isn’t coming back, she is forced to move on with her life the best way she can, in hopes of finding the answers herself, but when people at school begin to be viciously murdered, and Giles reveals to her a life changing secret, she decides to investigate the possible truth of it. What she discovers is more than she thought she would. The only time Ellie feels normal is when she’s around Walter, the new guy at school. And normal is how she wants to feel, now that Marcus is gone from her life. But Walter may not be all that he seems, either, and she just might spiral in to an even more dark world, she never thought possible. And when it occurs to her that Marcus has made the decision to pass on through to the afterlife, during the Risorgimento, she races against time to stop him, while knowing she has feelings for Walter, too. Will she make it in time to stop Marcus from passing through, and if she does, what will she tell Walter? Her heart will have to make the final decision. But will the choice be worth dying for?

Rae Hachton’s Top 10 Black Things:

1. Pretty in Black—One of my favorite Raveonettes Albums [Where I obtained the name for my series!]
2. Black Satin—One of my favorite songs by the Raveonettes
3. Jacob Black—Guy who should have been with Bella from Twilight
4. Men in Black—One of my most enjoyed movies as a child
5. Paint it Black—I LOVE this song!
6. Black Ice—The Name of my Car air freshener
7. Black Friday—I LOVE getting deals on my favorite items!
8. Black Ops, anyone?
9. Experiment in Black—Another fabulous Raveonettes song!
10. Black Wave—Did I ever mention how many Raveonettes Songs have the word Black in them??

Bonus: This Lyric from Sleepwalking by The Raveonettes:

"Think you look good today
Pretty in black you got it down
I can't hold my breath so long
When you pass me by without a sound
You got something more to give
To girls who never thought they'd love
Love"

My Review:

I enjoyed both Pretty in Black and Black Satin, but liked this one slightly more, despite the absence of Marcus. It just had more intensity and conflict and the ending is stunning.

I really love the character Marcus and wish he’d had a bigger presence in Black Satin. He’s almost absent in the book. I got really drawn into his POV in the beginning. What I love about this series is it has the familiar and well-worn construct of hunter in love with hunted and visa versa, but it still maintains a freshness because of the world building. The writing is overall very beautiful. And I like that Rae made the creatures in the book her own, adding her own twist to the myth. The addition of Walter in this book was great too. I liked that Ellie had complex feelings for him and it wasn’t so cut and dry.

My only issue is that each book lacks an arch. Although there are confrontations and fights at the end of each, I wouldn’t exactly call them climaxes. There’s no pivotal point that either story was really building towards. I enjoyed the mythology and depth, just wish there had been a tad more structure.

MY RATING

Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the Author:

Rae Hachton [pronounced H-ton] is the nom de plume of author Desirae Hennington. She is the Indie Author of the Gothic Romance series Pretty in Black. She is twenty-three years old and lives with her Muse and her Ghost. When she is not composing new novels, she is working on her cinematography studies, and devouring YA books. Her favorite band is The Raveonettes, and she is a major fan of Edgar Allan Poe and Ravens and Crows. Although she is writing Gothic Fiction at the moment, her favorite genre of all time is Contemporary YA. Favorite contemporary book: tie between Forever by Judy Blume and the Summer I turned Pretty series by Jenny Han. Favorite author: David Levithan. If Rae Hachton wasn't writing, she'd give it one last shot at being kewl, and probably start a band.

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~ Signing off and sending out cyber hugs.

Book Review: First Date

Author: Krista McGee
Publisher: Thomas Nelson (January 10, 2012)
ISBN-10: 1401684882
ISBN-13: 978-1401684884

SYNOPSIS:

The last thing Addy Davidson wants is to be on a reality TV show where the prize is a prom date with the President's son.

She's focused on her schoolwork so she can get a scholarship to an Ivy League college, uncomfortable in the spotlight, never been on a date, and didn't even audition for it.

But she got selected anyway.

So she does her best to get eliminated on the very first show. Right before she realizes that the President's son is possibly the most attractive guy she has ever seen in person, surprisingly nice, and seemingly unimpressed by the 99 other girls who are throwing themselves at him.

Addy's totally out of her comfort zone but that may be right where God can show her all that she was meant to be.

MY REVIEW:

Um, hmm ... not sure what to say about this book because I hate to be mean, but it just had nothing great. No deep characters that made me care, no compelling plot, no vibrancy or cool phraseology to tickle my ears, no sensory impressions to ground me in any scene and help me to identify with the MC. All the characters were boring, except Kara, who I wish had been the MC because she had way more personality. I know it wouldn't have worked given the story's context, but I just couldn't get behind Addy, even with her tragic past giving her a good reason for her complaining and curtness. Hank had some humor and bite and could've been given more detail. Jonathan, the love interest, was way underdeveloped and seemed unrealistic.

I thought this was going to be a button-cute, fun and sugary tale like an ABC Family movie with some Christianity thrown in or something, that's what it should have been, but it was painfully boring at times and took forever to get rolling, and it was still snail-slow once it did ... regarding the romantic element. The Reality Show does kick off a few chapters in and had some fun elements.

I did like that Addy, the MC, was able to be a witness in the end and that she stood strong in her convictions in the midst of her involuntary placement in a TV show to date the President's son, but she was so drab and colorless and excruciatingly unhappy for most of it that I was never able to warm up to her. She almost always reacted in the wimpiest, whiniest way, but also the most righteous. Though she did overcome tests, which was good, and she opened up more in the end, it wasn't enough to make her a memorable, well-rounded character. She seemed too unreal, like a poster child for Christian Teens, like the author wanted to create an exemplary example that teens should strive to emulate, minus the complaining and reluctance.

She was scared to reveal her faith, but otherwise, she was just so dedicated to all things holy, always going to prayer first, always putting God first, always thinking heavenly thoughts. Of course every Christian has their own level of spirituality and this kind of thing can be adopted, but when you have such squeaky clean characters in fiction, you can't show true struggle, overcoming temptation, repentance for failure or any sort of victory, and that's where you can SHOW a Christian walk instead of telling about it, as this book did with the nonstop reiteration about God's plan for Addy.

I just can't stand complainers, in real life or in books. It's one thing to vent about a bad day or your circumstances every now and then, but to go on and on and on for days in stubborn misery? No. Get over it. Yeah, she did realize she was being sour and acting childish, but that was what, a 1/3 of the way through?

And to compare this silly TV journey with Daniel's plight into the Lion's Den or Queen Esther's dangerous request to go before the King was laughable. It might have been more closely-aligned in scope if the stakes had been higher somehow from the beginning. I did like the interwoven aspect of her missionary parents' death in Colombia. With more development all around, this could've been a much, much better read ... much closer to the adorable story I thought it would be anyway. "The God's plan" theme seemed to overshadow everything else. I think it's an important lesson for teens, but it was just so weighty here. Subtlety can be even more powerful.

*I got the book FREE from Booksneeze and that did not factor into my review.

MY RATING

~ Signing off and sending out cyber hugs.

Book Review: The Iron Witch

Author: Karen Mahoney
Publisher: Flux (February 8, 2011)
ISBN-10: 073872582x
ISBN-13: 978-0738725826

SYNOPSIS:

Freak. That's what her classmates call seventeen-year-old Donna Underwood. When she was seven, a horrific fey attack killed her father and drove her mother mad. Donna's own nearly fatal injuries from the assault were fixed by magic—the iron tattoos branding her hands and arms. The child of alchemists, Donna feels cursed by the magical heritage that destroyed her parents and any chance she had for a normal life. The only thing that keeps her sane and grounded is her relationship with her best friend, Navin Sharma.

When the darkest outcasts of Faerie—the vicious wood elves—abduct Navin, Donna finally has to accept her role in the centuries old war between the humans and the fey. Assisted by Xan, a gorgeous half-fey dropout with secrets of his own, Donna races to save her friend—even if it means betraying everything her parents and the alchemist community fought to the death to protect.

MY REVIEW:

The cover is gorgeous and it sounded like a winner, but it so wasn't. Being a writer, I hate rating books so low because I know all the hard work and love that goes into writing a novel, and I realize it's someone's baby, but this book just never won me over and the author never took me into her world or made me feel anything visceral. With Donna's parents killed in such a gruesome manner, there was so much emotion that could've been explored but never was, to the depth it could've been.

I thought Donna's insecurities were identifiable and I wanted to like her because of her tragic past and "freakishness", but the author left me in want. I found it bland and underdeveloped at every turn. Like, Donna's pain or fear could have been palpable but it remained a surface thing, and with one info dump after another, I was like come on, come on, get going already. Give me a through line in the now, a story question, a hook, something that snags my heart, soul and gut and compels me forward and makes me skip supper. But, that never happened. I had to force myself to continue as the story stumbles along plotless, chapter after chapter, where alchemy and fey are discussed, without the terror they should induce, and remembered in near-numbness, rather than seen in action, until the end where I really didn't care at that point. On the back of the cover it says Donna's best friend, Navin, gets kidnapped and I was itching for this to happen, because finally, finally, there would be a plot, maybe. This story literally has no story until then, so that's the main reason I couldn't bump my rating up to a 2. The bulk of it is exposition and backstory.

And the romance. Yeah, it was another one of those "Just Because!!!" thingies, with no reason for its existence. Show some chemistry, sparks, something.

With the hints of wood elves early on, like her hands hurting and always being bone-cold, I thought her anxiety should've been way more heightened, since her parents were killed by brutal fey. And even though he's wounded too, I would also expect her to be much more leery of Xan at first because of this, but she's soon spilling her long-held family secrets and kissing him. I didn't get it.

I was really excited to read about alchemy and a new brand of fey, but I just felt both of those to be lacking. There was so much depth and wonder to be had in both of those worlds, but it only skimmed the surface. I really don't like the trend of books lately that only serve to set me up for a sequel. I feel cheated out of money and time when this happens. And that's what I felt happened with The Iron Witch.

MY RATING:

~ Signing off and sending out cyber hugs

Book Review: Bumped

Author: Megan McCafferty
Publisher: Balzer + Bray (April 26, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0061962740
ISBN-13: 978-0061962745

SYNOPSIS:

When a virus makes everyone over the age of eighteen infertile, would-be parents pay teen girls to conceive and give birth to their children, making teens the most prized members of society. Girls sport fake baby bumps and the school cafeteria stocks folic-acid-infused food.

Sixteen-year-old identical twins Melody and Harmony were separated at birth and have never met until the day Harmony shows up on Melody’s doorstep. Up to now, the twins have followed completely opposite paths. Melody has scored an enviable conception contract with a couple called the Jaydens. While they are searching for the perfect partner for Melody to bump with, she is fighting her attraction to her best friend, Zen, who is way too short for the job.

Harmony has spent her whole life in Goodside, a religious community, preparing to be a wife and mother. She believes her calling is to convince Melody that pregging for profit is a sin. But Harmony has secrets of her own that she is running from.

When Melody is finally matched with the world-famous, genetically flawless Jondoe, both girls’ lives are changed forever. A case of mistaken identity takes them on a journey neither could have ever imagined, one that makes Melody and Harmony realize they have so much more than just DNA in common.

MY REVIEW:

My favorite thing about Bumped was the concept. In the not-too-distant future, a virus has destroyed fertility in adults, so the wombs of teen girls ignite bidding wars, getting pregnant is encouraged and glamorized, contraception of any kind is forbidden. Even though it's squeegy, I could actually see this occurring, burdoning young fertile ones to give their all for their country, for the world. Unfortunately, the concept is the only thing the story had going for it, while there are so many possibilities and nuances in that scenario that are never explored. I don't understand how books that are all concept and no substance are all the rage. As with Wake, this novel is fairly popular and well-received, but I just don't get it.

Bumped starts off very telly, with alternating, talky viewpoints that bounce between twin sisters, Melody, the sardonic, cold one, and Harmony, the hyper-religious one, as they introduce us to their dystopian world and contrasting ideologies.

Separated at birth, they're acquainting for the first time. Harmony is ecstatic about finding her sister, and Melody is beyond annoyed at her presence. After 20 or thirty pages, you finally get some scenes with dialogue, but everything is still kept sparse with very little description and hardly any sensory impressions that it makes it difficult to SEE or experience this world. The faintest strokes are drawn on every page for two unlikeable, thinly drawn characters. One can see how their different environments have shaped their dispositions, but knowing that doesn't help make them relatable. You never get to really sink into their shoes, feel what they feel and identify. At least I didn't. I didn't feel angry, hurt, sad, gleeful, just blah.

In addition to sketchy characters, Bumped also had no plot. For Seriously! It's just a window into this teen-preggo world. And the problem with a book without a plot is it has no hook, climax or stakes. It didn't go far, have a purpose or build to anything substantial. The characters did have decisions to make in the end, and they both softened up somewhat about five chapters from the end, but it was way too late to feel vested.

The most likeable character in the book is Zen. As with the story Wake, I liked the random male friend the most. If these MC's didn't have weird names, they'd be totally forgotten, like, tomorrow, and I have photographic memory.

Melody, groomed to be the prefect rental space, is under contract to "bump" with a stud, and not totally thrilled about her obligation. In contrast, Harmony is not only determined to do have a baby rightly through marriage, while enshrined in veils, gloves, long dresses, and more man-made traditions than scriptural ones, she hopes to convert her sister to do the same. Even though Harmony is the pushy one, at least she's sweet in the beginning, so I softened to her first, but they were both extremely obnoxious within their sturdy mindsets. I think if they'd been given many more layers and the story more complexity, scope and structure, it would've been a more enjoyable read. I also liked seeing a religious character in a book, but she was taken so far over the top into cultish territory that it made her passion just as flawed as her distortions.

Bumped did have a great concept, and it will definitely stir up plenty of conversation on ethics, it just never lived up to its potential.

MY RATING

~ Signing off and sending out cyber hugs.

Book Review: The Final Hour (Book 4 of The Homelanders Series)

Author: Andrew Klavan
Publisher: Thomas Nelson (July 19, 2011)
ISBN-10: 1595547150
ISBN-13: 978-1595547156

SYNOPSIS:

Charlie West's memory is finally returning---and he realizes that he somehow knows when the terrorists are going to strike next. Whatever it takes, he can't give in or give up until they're stopped. But the clock is ticking! Does he have enough time?

MY REVIEW:

The Final Hour is the last installment in the Homelanders Series. The story opens with young hero, Charlie West, in the slammer for a murder he didn’t commit. He only agreed to take momentary blame so he could infiltrate a terrorist ring, and the terrorists have mostly been rounded up, yet days, weeks, months go by, without a peep that tells him why he’s still locked up.

His cop contact Rose finally visits but delivers the bad news, that Washington wants to brush events under the rug, as the controversy could hurt their global interests, so getting him out isn't going to be as easy as Rose had thought. He promises to continue to fight for Charlie but doesn’t make any promises as to when he’ll be released, but says it will, at minimum, take weeks.

The missing year of Charlie’s life from taking a drug to erase his memory while captured by the anti-Americans is still trickling back in bits and pieces, and he begins to remember a terrorist plot that’s planned for New Year’s Eve. But with sketchy info to go on, no proof, no one to call, more than a million lives on the line, and the prison guards not only against him but abusing him too, he has no one to turn to and no way to out to stop it. Charlie doesn’t have weeks! Only days!

The Final Hour offers a gritty glimpse into prison life and contains some violence, but it never veers into the obscene. It’s in line with other thrillers of similar vein. This beginning unfolds more slowly than the previous because he's locked up, but Klavan does a good job of building suspense and keeping it taut throughout.

Even though there’s no hammering Christian message in this book, which I prefer in fiction, it still managed to feel, to me, a little preachy at times, even though it’s not talk but rather a string of moral dilemmas Charlie must wrestle through. And the current rhetoric that insists “terrorists hate America because we’re free” felt very heavy-handed as well and was clung to so mightily, it nearly topples the story. Terrorists have a blend of motivations and reasons for committing acts of terror, but with Klavan picking just this one and having the Homelanders be so blatant with their hate and anti-American speech, it made the recruitment of random, everyday Americans implausible. Even if this is the main drive of such radicals, one would think, to recruit, you'd exploit the susceptible where their hate can bloom into a desire to commit violence. You wouldn't really care if they believed the same as long as there was a willingness to act.

There were parts in the end, showing Charlie in action, which were almost laughable, but still, it does provide great escapism and this is the perfect series for teens, boys especially, who love thrillers. It’s hard to find good “boy books” and this is a wild, morally sound, action-packed ride. You don't need to be a Christian to enjoy this, just a YA thriller lover. If you enjoy books by Robinson Wells or Patrick Carman, you will love the Homelander Series.

* I received this book free through Booksneeze, but that in no way compromised or affected my review.

MY RATING

~ Signing off and sending out cyber hugs.

Book Review: Songbird

Author: Angela Fristoe
Publisher: Little Prince Publishing (June 25, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0615470491
ISBN-13: 978-0615470498

Synopsis:

There are defining moments in life when everything changes. For Dani Mays, it was the day she witnessed her father kill her brother. Now seventeen years-old, she still hasn’t put it behind her. After Jace’s death, she bounced between her alcoholic mother and foster homes, until she found a permanent place. And a reason to want to stay: Reece Tyler. He’s her best friend, yet Dani wants more from Reece. Faced with losing Reece, Dani struggles to define his place in her life and escape the influence her memories of her brother’s death have over her choices. Even as she weaves the pieces of her heart back together, the past becomes more than a memory when a former foster brother reappears and Dani begins receiving threatening phone calls.

My Take:

Songbird is a sweet story that perfectly captures the quest for love, laced with moments of pain and suspense, and you end up being sucked in from the very first words. The first chapter is so horrific and gut-wrenching and helps readers instantly sympathize with poor Dani, as the then six-year-old witnesses her brother's murder by her father from a playground tube she's hiding in.

Now, at seventeen, Dani yearns to escape her past and find love in the eyes and arms of her best friend, Reece, but right when the bonds of her friendships with him are strained, her life gets chucked into further turmoil at the resurfacing of a former foster brother in her school and threatening phone calls she begins receiving. She must make peace with her past and self-reflect to discover if her heart's desire is really her true love or just a replacement for her brother. And by the time the haze clears and the caller mystery plays out, will it be too late to follow her heart?

Some YA authors use empty, bland first person narrators, but Fristoe's use of Dani's voice immediately strikes chords of confidence and surety. Aside from a couple of grammatical slip ups, there's no hesitance or clumsiness or amateurism anywhere in sight in this debut novel. It's rich in detail and characterization and is packed with plenty of showing actions.

Songbird is light on plot, but it's the perfect read if you're looking a story that will tug at your heart and stay with you long after you close the cover ... or turn off your eReader ... or whatever your word-addiction vice may be. :)

MY RATING

~ Signing off and sending out cyber hugs.

Book Review: The Queen Bee of Bridgeton

Author: Leslie DuBois
Publisher: Little Prince Publishing (May 17, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0615460534
ISBN-13: 978-0615460536

Synopsis:

When fifteen-year-old Sonya Garrison is accepted into the prestigious Bridgeton Academy, she soon discovers that rich girls are just as dangerous as the thugs in her home of Venton Heights. Maybe more so. After catching the eye of the star, white basketball player and unwittingly becoming the most popular girl in school, she earns the hatred of the three most ruthless and vindictive girls at Bridgeton. Can she defeat the reigning high school royalty? Or will they succeed in ruining her lifelong dream of becoming a world class dancer?

My Take:

Sonya, a shy, black ballerina, who's been cleaning a studio for years in exchange for dance lessons, might actually be able to escape her real life in the ghetto and fulfill her dream of becoming a world-class ballerina, thanks to her dance scholarship at the prestigious Bridgeton Academy. Her older sister, Sasha, who spent years trying to get in through academic achievement, finally made it too. So, both sisters spend their lives in glam by day and return to cockroaches, nearby gunshots and ketchup sandwiches by night.

But, with Sasha having acted like a second mom to Sonya for years, by shrouding her from the dangers surrounding them and making sure she keeps up with her studies, Sonya has been skirting through life with her head down.

So, when she attracts the attention of the star, white basketball player and unwittingly becomes the most popular girl in school, the queens who rule her school don't like it one bit and take no hesitation in letting her know it. They've literally ruined the lives of others, and Sonya has become their number one target to destroy. And this shy girl must reach inside herself to find strength and the ugly in order to beat them at their own game. But even if she can, it may be too late to save her dream and her relationship.

What stands out immediately in this novel is the voice. It's full of humor, but also laced with a little bit of pain, which is hard to pull off. I find Sonya a relatable protagonist in that she has awkward moments, a passion for something and often underestimates her own worth. Growing up with a deadbeat father in a neighborhood of crime with no guys even glancing twice at her, she's felt invisible and bumbly her whole life, except when she's dancing. That's when she comes alive. And at Bridgeton, and in everything, dance is her sole focus. So, when she catches Will's eye, she's shocked and doesn't even know who he is. She blows him off at first, but something about him intrigues her and she soon becomes as smitten with him as he is with her.

I liked several things about this novel, but the things that stand out are the romance, the dashes of humor and the emotional journey the reader can experience.

If you want a YA book that's different and fresh on the familiar fish-out-of-water theme, that is packed with surprises and little bits that will make you laugh out loud, The Queen Bee of Bridgeton is definitely one to put on your to-read wall.

MY RATING

~ Signing off and sending out cyber hugs.

Book Review: Wake

Author: Lisa McCann
Publisher: Little Prince Publishing (December 23, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0615460534
ISBN-13: 978-1416974475

Synopsis:

Not all dreams are sweet.

For seventeen-year-old Janie, getting sucked into other people's dreams is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-but-nobody- notices dreams, and the sex-crazed dreams. Janie's seen enough fantasy booty to last her a lifetime.

She can't tell anybody about what she does -- they'd never believe her, or worse, they'd think she's a freak. So Janie lives on the fringe, cursed with an ability she doesn't want and can't control.

Then she falls into a gruesome nightmare, one that chills her to the bone. For the first time, Janie is more than a witness to someone else's twisted psyche. She is a participant....

My Take:

This was a quick read for me. Finished it in about four hours. I really liked the concept. That's the best thing about it.

The characters are hard to relate to because they're so paper-thin. Janey??? (not even sure if I got that right and I just read it and have photographic memory)the MC was solely defined by her ability and there wasn't much else given. Another character Cabel in the novel had the most dimension of anyone and I found him to be the most interesting. The other characters are forgettable.

I did enjoy the MC's arc and her struggle to figure things out and turn a curse into a blessing, but I felt at times, her emotions rang flat within all that.

The fragmented style took some getting used to, and I did, but I got tired of the passive voice and seeing so many ISes abound. I just think a greater attention to wording would've made the prose much more compelling and pleasing to the ear. WAKE is described as lyrical by the New York Times and I wouldn't consider this lyrical in the least. Choppy is more like it.

The dreams were also so very linear and too perfectly drawn out, and Janey always took them at face value. Dreams in real life are often symbolic and chaotic and far more bizarre than the ones shown in this book, and in most of the dreams she gets sucked into, they were actual scenarios that took place in the past or very closely linked to them.

You may like this book if you don't mind a sparse read, one that gives just enough for readers to be entertained and no more. Some readers don't care, as they can be gripped by the hooky concept alone. If you like more depth in your reads, you'll probably be disappointed in WAKE.

Overall, I didn't find this book terrible, it just wasn't amazing, and I think it could've been.

MY RATING

~ Signing off and sending out cyber hugs.

Book Review: Thirteen Days to Midnight

Author: Patrick Carman
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Reprint edition (April 5, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0316004049
ISBN-13: 978-0316004046

Synopsis:

You are indestructible. These are the words that transfer an astonishing power to Jacob Fielding... and it changes everything. After all, there's something addictive about testing the limits of fear, experiencing the thrill of walking through fire, or saving your friend from a beating in front of the whole school.

Then Ophelia James, the beautiful and daring new girl in town, suggests that they use the power to do good, to save others at risk of death. But with every heroic act, the power grows into the specter of a curse. How to decide who lives and who dies? And why does darkness seem to be chasing them? Jacob only has thirteen days to figure out how to harness this terrifying power... and the answer is chilling: What if he has to kill the one he loves to save her?

In the context of a dark, unconventional superhero story, Patrick Carman has envisioned a high concept tale of intrigue, romance, friendship and adventure that probes deep into what teens face as they enter young adult years: navigating increasingly complex choices with greater consequences, as well as the gray areas blurring the definitions of right and wrong.

My Take:

Jacob Fielding survives a car accident, but was passed a gift from his guardian just before he died that makes Jacob indestructible. He soon discovers he can pass it to others too but only one person can have it at a time. But is this super power really a curse?

Thirteen Days To Midnight explores this question, as he and his friends survive daring feats without a scratch. But as they cheat Death time and again, they notice Ophelia, Jacob's crush, is fading into a dark shell of herself and is becoming more and more possessive of the gift. And although the become super heroes in saving people, they never stop to consider the consequences of when they succeed. The only way they can set Ophelia free from herself is to kill her. But do they have the guts to do it?

This book is lower-teen but still an interesting read.

MY RATING

~ Signing off and sending out cyber hugs.

Book Review: Some Girls Are

Author: Courtney Summers
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (Jan. 5, 2010)
ISBN-10: 0312573804
ISBN-13: 978-0312573805

Synopsis:

High-school senior Regina Afton has been what she believes is an important part of the most popular girls’ clique during middle and high school. And then she’s not. Summers spins a story in which kids are mean, abusive, and quixotic, while adults are for the most part absent or ignorant. Regina, nearly raped by her best friend’s boyfriend, pays for telling by being victimized in a hate campaign. Only her deceased psychiatrist’s teenaged son seems to really care, and when she tries to take revenge on his behalf after her former friends bully him as well, egregious behavior spins out of control. Comeuppance-seeking readers won’t mind that most of the characters are flat: Regina and her once and future crowd make up for their lack of depth with spiteful tongues and dangerous degradings of themselves and their fellow students. An additional choice for collections where Gossip Girl maintains a loyal following.

My Take:

When lies spread after Regina Afton is near-raped by her best friend's boyfriend, this member of the Fearsome Fivesome is thrust into no-man's land in the school halls she once owned. She's forced to reconcile with her past actions of tormenting others and hopefully make some kind of amends...and maybe find friends in the gutter.

Though she's hurt so many people, her regret endears her to readers and you end up aching for Regina to find a place somewhere. Her former friends don't make life easy with their horrid pranks. And when Regina decides to fight back, the war is on and there's no turning back. Every gain and setback can be felt by the reader and the tension builds to a bloody end.

While I myself found some of the pranks to be far-reaching, I'm sure someone who's been seriously bullied would beg to differ about their realism.

The novel could've been a bit longer with further exploration and depth, like with the romance in the book, I would've liked to see more growth, connection and chemistry, but overall, I enjoyed the read.

MY RATING

Here's the Some Girls Are book trailer:

~ Signing off and sending out cyber hugs.

Book Review: The Truth of the Matter (Book 3 of The Homelanders Series)

Author: Andrew Klavan
Genre: YA suspense
Publisher: Thomas Nelson (November 2, 2010)
ISBN-10: 1595547142
ISBN-13: 978-1595547149

Synopsis:

"You're not alone. You're never alone."

Charlie West has held on to that belief, but now he's starting to wonder. He went to bed one night an ordinary high-school kid. When he woke up, he was wanted for murder and hunted by a ruthless band of terrorists. He's been on the run ever since. Now he's stuck in prison, abandoned by his allies, trying desperately to stay a step ahead of vicious prison gangs and brutal guards. And a flash of returning memory tells him another terrorist strike is coming soon. A million people will die unless he does something. But what? He's stuck in a concrete cage with no way out and no one who can help. Charlie has never felt so alone-and yet he knows he can't give in or give up . . . not with the final hour ticking away.

My Take:

Charlie West is a feisty protagonist, who's missing a year of his life and running from mystery killers--a group of terrorists he just escaped from. He can't recall what's happened in the last year, so he's on a hunt to fill in the memory gap. When he tracks down the only clue he can remember, a guy named Waterman, he begins to get some answers, but the closer he gets to uncovering the truth, the more danger he finds himself in. And when Waterman dies with questions still unanswered, he's left in a sea of black all alone, trying his best to get out alive.

This book is categorized and sold as Christian, and I don't know how the others in the series are, but this one, THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER, could be enjoyed be readers of any or no faith. This novel really only refers to his belief in God but doesn't preach at readers or speak any Christianese at all. It is clean, but not to the point of being annoying, as the grit and danger keep it exciting. And even though this is YA as well, any reader who loves suspense would enjoy this. It's a good example of a cross-over type.

I got this book from Booksneeze, unaware that it was a third installment in a series, but that didn't bother me in the least.

The storyline was very easy to follow for a new reader, gripping, suspenseful and action-packed. There is a strong possibility this novel could be boring for those who've read the previous, since I as a new reader was riveted to discover the chunks of his missing past, whereas those familiar would already know them, making the reveals less impacting.

The only thing I didn't like was the narrative and dialogue were very simplistic, and I don't think you should ever dumb things down for teens. I think if the author hadn't skimped in this area, his novel would have had even more cross-over appeal. Other than that, it was most enjoyable.

So, if you're looking for a good YA suspense novel, Christian or not, check this one out.

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255

MY RATING

~ Signing off and sending out cyber hugs.