Book Review: Chopsticks

After her mother died, Glory retreated into herself and her music. Her single father raised her as a piano prodigy, with a rigid schedule and the goal of playing sold-out shows across the globe. Now, as a teenager, Glory has disappeared. As we flash back to the events leading up to her disappearance, we see a girl on the precipice of disaster. Brilliant and lonely, Glory is drawn to an artistic new boy, Frank, who moves in next door. The farther she falls, the deeper she spirals into madness. Before long, Glory is unable to play anything but the song "Chopsticks."

But nothing is what it seems, and Glory's reality is not reality at all. In this stunningly moving novel told in photographs, pictures, and words, it's up to the reader to decide what is real, what is imagined, and what has been madness all along...

When I picked Chopsticks from the library, I have to admit that I was somewhat surprised. Somehow my eyes just glossed over label "graphic novel" in the past, but I decided to give it a chance anyway.

Visually, it's a gorgeous novel, and I really liked the idea. The result, however, left something to be desired. The words were very sparse, and while I like the idea of letting the pictures speak for themselves, I think a little more text would have helped the story along.

That being said, I did enjoy the novel. I liked that there was room for the reader to interpret the story in different ways. I found myself going from being absorbed in what I thought was a love story to being thrown for a loop.

In the future, I would probably come back to this book again just to look at the lovely photography and see if the story speaks to me in a different way. Overall, I think it was a valiant effort and fresh idea, but it slightly missed the mark for me.

Book Review: Beautiful Disaster

The new Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate percentage of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance between her and the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University's Walking One-Night Stand.

Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby needs—and wants—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the ultimate college campus charmer. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his appeal, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’s apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match.

This is a book was on my radar for a while before I finally picked it up. I'd heard so many good things, so I was pretty anxious to start reading. I once read a comment where someone said this book was like crack, and I quickly understood why. It's addictive and very hard to walk away from.

The characters are often times frustrating, and the relationships are often dysfunctional. There were times I wanted to throw my Kindle across the room and tell Abby and Travis to get their crap together, but it certainly made for a roller coaster ride of good reading.

Book Review: Slide

Vee Bell is certain of one irrefutable truth—her sister’s friend Sophie didn’t kill herself. She was murdered.

Vee knows this because she was there. Everyone believes Vee is narcoleptic, but she doesn’t actually fall asleep during these episodes: When she passes out, she slides into somebody else’s mind and experiences the world through that person’s eyes. She’s slid into her sister as she cheated on a math test, into a teacher sneaking a drink before class. She learned the worst about a supposed “friend” when she slid into her during a school dance. But nothing could have prepared Vee for what happens one October night when she slides into the mind of someone holding a bloody knife, standing over Sophie’s slashed body.

Vee desperately wishes she could share her secret, but who would believe her? It sounds so crazy that she can’t bring herself to tell her best friend, Rollins, let alone the police. Even if she could confide in Rollins, he has been acting off lately, more distant, especially now that she’s been spending more time with Zane.

Enmeshed in a terrifying web of secrets, lies, and danger and with no one to turn to, Vee must find a way to unmask the killer before he or she strikes again.

When I stumbled across this book last year and read the summary, I was immediately intrigued and could not wait for this book to come out. I was thrilled when I found it at the library, but I must confess that it took me a little while to really sink my teeth into it. However, once I got through about the first 60 pages or so, I was into it and read the rest in one sitting.

Vee Bell can slide into other people's minds and body when she touches something they've "imprinted" on. Only no one knows about her ability. When she tried to explain it to her father, she sent her to a therapist. Instead, to explain her strange habit of passing out, everyone thinks she has narcolepsy. As frightening and strange as the ability is she's been able to work her way around it. Until she finds herself seeing through the eyes of a killer.

Overall, I found the story very refreshing. It's paranormal, but very much rooted in reality, which was a concept I really enjoyed recently while reading Fracture by Megan Miranda. It's actually something I would love to see more of in the genre.

I liked Vee. I found her easy to relate to. She certainly hasn't had it easy. Between her mother's death and her absentee father, she's charged with seeing to her younger sister, Mattie, and struggling with the rift that's developed between her and her best friend, Rollins. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

I enjoyed the secondary characters as well, though I would have liked to have seen them develop a little more. Because Slide is the first in a series, I hope that will be remedied in future books.

As far as the plot goes, I think I was hoping for a bit more. It was a good mystery, and seeing random aspects through Vee's sliding added some interesting angles. However, it seemed to lack some of the urgency I would have expected since there was a murderer on the loose. Of course, Vee was the only one who truly knew this fact, but even so I think I just expected her to be a little more frantic.

Overall, I enjoyed the story, and I'm certainly curious to see where the sequel leads.

Book Review: Jenna & Jonah's Fauxmance

Fans of romance don't need to look any further than the fauxmance brewing between teen idols Charlie Tracker and Fielding Withers-known on their hit TV show as Jenna and Jonah, next-door neighbors flush with the excitement of first love. But it's their off-screen relationship that has helped cement their fame, as passionate fans follow their every PDA. They grace the covers of magazines week after week. Their fan club has chapters all over the country. The only problem is their off-screen romance is one big publicity stunt, and Charlie and Fielding can't stand to be in the same room. Still, it's a great gig, so even when the cameras stop rolling, the show must go on, and on, and on. . . . Until the pesky paparazzi blow their cover, and Charlie and Fielding must disappear to weather the media storm. It's not until they're far off the grid of the Hollywood circuit that they realize that there's more to each of them than shiny hair and a winning smile.

When I first read the summary for this book, I thought it sounded interesting, but, to be completely honest, I wasn't expecting to enjoy it nearly as much as I did.

Charlie Tracker and Fielding Withers are stars of a hit show as Jenna and Jonah. To keep interest in them and in the show, Charlie and Fielding have been faking a relationship. Then, when Fielding's sexuality is called into question, their carefully constructed lie falls apart along with their television show.

For Charlie this is devastating because she doesn't know what to do without her career, but for Fielding, who's real name is Aaron, this comes as a relief and escape from a life of lies he finds dissatisfying.

Their agents scheme and get them cast in a production of Much Ado About Nothing at a Shakespearean festival, which forces them to stretch their acting abilities for the first time in years.

Overall, I enjoyed the plot. There were some sections toward the beginning that I felt dragged a bit, particularly after Aaron is "outed" and he and Charlie escape from the public eye. There were some good moments between those two in those sections, but I think it could have been tightened up a bit because by the time their next gig arrived I was half expecting the rest of the story to take place in Carpinteria.

As far as the characters go, I liked both Charlie and Aaron for the most part. There were times when I really didn't like the way they behaved, but I found myself sympathetic to both of them throughout.

The banter between Charlie and Aaron was some of my favorite parts, and seeing their relationship develop after they no longer have to pretend to be in a relationship was nice. Though they'd known and worked together for years, being thrown together and forced to fake a relationship hindered the friendship that was beginning to blossom before they were forced into their fauxmance.

I thought the writing was pretty good. The story switches back and forth between Charlie and Aaron's point of view, and while I thought some of those transitions could have been smoother, I did like the alternate storytelling.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book. I thought it was a pretty cute and fairly easy read.

Book Review: Fracture

Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she's far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can't control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it?

Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she's reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy's motives aren't quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature-or something much more frightening?

Fracture is one of those books I had my eye on for a while, and I was extremely pleased when I found a copy at the library. Admittedly, I've kind of been "off" paranormal novels for a while. I think perhaps I overloaded myself with too much fantasy/sci-fi last year, but Fracture proved to be a good novel to ease myself back into the genre.

By all accounts, Delaney Maxwell shouldn't be alive. When she was pulled from the icy lake, it had been eleven minutes. No one expected her to come out of the coma, and if she did, she should have had severe brain damage. Yet, somehow, Delaney survived. Despite what the brain scans said, she was fine. Or so it would seem.

Delaney quickly realizes that something has happened to her. An itch in her brain seems to pull her toward the dying. Scared and eager for answers, she meets Troy, who has also survived a coma and also seems to feel the pull.

I found Fracture to be a really fascinating read. In my mind I was expecting something a little more out there--as far as the paranormal aspect goes--so I was pleasantly surprised to see the science side of things downplayed. The doctors couldn't explain how she survived, or how Delaney continued to function as she always had. The itch in her brain is written off as being hallucinations caused by her medication and the traumatic experience.

I actually enjoyed the fact that doctors couldn't find anything, which left Delaney to try to figure things out for herself. When Delaney met Troy, who also seems to have the same ability, I was, of course, wary of him, and I'd hoped that he would have some sort of insight. However, Troy's darker side seems to emerge, and even by the end of the novel, I still couldn't decide whether he was actually a bad guy, misguided or just misunderstood.

Delaney's miraculous survival is not without it's complications, though. Her mother is terrified of losing her (even though the worst has already seemingly happened). Decker, Delaney's best friend, saved her from the icy water, but things haven't been the same between them since.

Overall, I thought the story was very intriguing. I liked that there was a mix of the mysterious and paranormal paired with every day trials of being a teenager. I felt that the ending was a little abrupt and would have liked for a bit more there, but I was satisfied with the novel as a whole.

Book Review: Deadly Cool

Hartley Grace Featherstone is having a very bad day. First she finds out that her boyfriend is cheating on her with the president of the Herbert Hoover High School Chastity Club. Then he’s pegged as the #1 suspect in a murder. And if that weren’t enough, now he’s depending on Hartley to clear his name.

But as much as Hartley wouldn’t mind seeing him squirm, she knows he’s innocent, and she’s the only one who can help him. Along with her best friend, Sam, and the school’s resident Bad Boy, Chase, Hartley starts investigating on her own. But as the dead bodies begin to pile up, the mystery deepens, the suspects multiply, and Hartley begins to fear that she may be the killer’s next victim.

A friend recommended Deadly Cool to me late last year, so it was a good I sat on for a while. I had a false start at the very beginning of the year, where I read the first chapter but then got distracted. Then, later, I picked it up again and found myself completely engrossed in the story.

First, the plot was really a lot of fun. I love a good mystery--especially in YA--and Gemma Halliday pulled this one off really well.

The premise of the story involves Hartley going to confront her allegedly cheating boyfriend, Josh, but instead finds the dead body of the girl he was supposed to be cheating on her with. While she believes Josh to be a cheater, she doesn't believe him to be a killer, and so, despite the state of their relationship, she sets out to prove Josh is not a killer.

The storytelling felt very tight and plausible. I didn't feel like the story went out to the way to create red herrings or create unnecessary mystery. It was done in such a way that you might expect of a few determined high schoolers.

Also, while I had my suspicions about the killer, I didn't know who it was immediately, and when the killer was revealed, it was a satisfying reveal. Too many mysteries involve the killer being some obscure character that was never really involved in the story. I'm glad to say that wasn't the case here.

Second, the characters were really enjoyable. I liked Hartley right off the bat. She's sassy, snarky and smart. Her voice was really what made the story so fantastic for me. She was also a sympathetic character. She's stuck in the middle of a situation that is less than desirable. There's a lot of stress to be had from it, but she keeps on trucking.

Her best friend Sam was a good supporting character. She was the kind of best friend I'd want to have with me if I were investigating a murder. She was also great for lightening up some of those more tense moments.

Chase, aside from being an apparent bad boy, was an interesting character. There's a bit of a mysterious air to him that I really liked. He also has some mad skills that proved to be quite useful. Also, he's hot.

Overall, I thought the story was a very satisfying (and quick!) read. I never felt bored or like parts of it dragged out. I was disappointed when I came to the end of the book, though, because I was ready for more. I will most definitely be checking out the next book, Social Suicide, very soon.

Book Review: Always Watching

This daughter of a rock star has it all until murder crashes her world.

The exciting and suspenseful Rayne Tour series features sixteen-year-old Shaley O'Connor, on tour with her mothers popular band. Shaley lives in a whirlwind of backstage secrets, hotels, and limos. With beauty and fame of her own, Shaley wants for nothing except the one thing she cant have.

During a concert, sixteen-year-old Shaley OConnor stumbles upon the body of a friend backstage. Is Tom Hutchens death connected to her? Frightening messages arrive. Paparazzi stalk Shaley. Her private nightmare is displayed for all to see. Where is God at a time like this?

As the clock runs out, Shaley must find Toms killerbefore he strikes again.

Always Watching begins with Shaley O'Connor traveling on tour with her mother's band, Rayne, and looking forward to a visit from her best friend, Brittany. Then everything is turned upside down. Tom, her mother's makeup artist and Shaley's closet friend on tour, has been murdered.
I really enjoyed story. The tour setting was something new and fun. It's rooted in reality, but something outside the every day norm. I also enjoyed that the story revolves around Shaley, who is the daughter of a celebrity and has become something of a celebrity by proxy, rather than a celebrity herself. Given her unusual lifestyle, I found her to be pretty grounded. There were the bratty moments that are to be expected of a teenager, both due to the amount of stress and shock she's experienced and also because of feelings of jealousy/resentment toward her mother's career.

I enjoyed the plot. It was very fast-paced, taking place over the course of only a few days. It never felt like it lagged along because there was something always happening. I also liked the switch off from Shaley's point of view to seeing through the eyes of a killer. I also thought that the reveal of the killer was pretty good too. There were a lot of players mentioned throughout the story, and I didn't feel like any one person stood out as the obvious culprit.

As this is the first book in the series, there was some set up for the next book; namely the mystery of Shaley's dad. I'm intrigued to see how that pans out since Rayne, Shaley's mother, doesn't like to talk about him while Shaley longs to know more about the man she's never met.

However, I did have a few issues with the book. The first being that Tom is killed so early in the book, and though Shaley's grief is clear, I would have liked to have learned more about him. Also, we discover some things about Tom after he's been murdered that I found to be rather creepy. At first, I wondered if it was true, or if it was a distraction tactic by the killer, but later it seems to be confirmed to be true. Considering that, I feel like there should have been a bigger reaction on, at least, Shaley's part.

I also didn't care for the shopping the day after Tom's murder. I'm sure it was meant to help take her mind off of what was happening, but it just felt really insensitive since she claimed to care so much for her friend.

I'm also somewhat confused as to why this book is considered Christian Fiction. I have no problem with the genre itself, but it feels like a bit of a stretch to label a novel Christian Fiction just because one religious character discusses her faith in God and says some prayers. Perhaps, more will come of it later, which is fine, but, instead of really adding to the story, those scenes actually seemed somewhat contrived.

Overall, though, this was a quick, enjoyable mystery, and I'm looking forward to reading more of the series very soon.

Book Review: The Fault In Our Stars

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 13, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now.

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

Occasionally I'll read one of those books that leaves my thoughts totally muddled when it comes to trying to write a review. This is one of those books, so instead I've just made a small list of the key points.

1. This is by far my favorite John Green novel. I also think it's his best writing thus far. When I found out the story was told from the point of view of a 16-year-old girl, I was somewhat nervous, I'll admit, but I had no need to worry.

2. I laughed often. If you do not laugh while reading this book, you simply have no sense of humor. Example of said humor:

Me: “I refuse to attend Support Group.”
Mom: “One of the symptoms of depression is disinterest in activities.”
Me: “Please just let me watch America’s Next Top Model. It’s an activity.”
Mom: “Television is a passivity.”
Me: “Ugh, Mom, please.”
Mom: “Hazel, you’re a teenager. You’re not a little kid anymore. You need to make friends, get out of the house, and live your life.”
Me: “If you want me to be a teenager, don’t send me to Support Group. Buy me a fake ID so I can go to clubs, drink vodka, and take pot.”
Mom: “You don’t take pot, for starters.”
Me: “See, that’s the kind of thing I’d know if you got me a fake ID.”
Mom: “You’re going to Support Group.”
Me: “UGGGGGGGGGGGGG.”
Mom: “Hazel, you deserve a life.”
- page 7

3. I cried. And you will likely cry. So have tissues handy. This books deals with death and dying. That being said, I never actually felt as if I was reading a novel filled with doom and gloom. For all the humor, I think the heavy can be found in equal measure.

4. Hazel Grace Lancaster. She is made of awesome. Often, when reading an novel from the point of view of a female character, I find myself frustrated at some point, but I never felt that frustration with Hazel. She was just so honest.

5. Augustus Waters. He's hot and he knows it, but he's also such an amazingly sweet guy. It was very hard not to fall in love with him right along with Hazel.

I know this list doesn't really say much for the plot of the story, but I think it's just one of those books that has to be read so you can see for yourself, but I cannot adequately articulate just how much I adore this novel.

Book Review: I Hunt Killers

What if the world's worst serial killer...was your dad?

Jasper (Jazz) Dent is a likable teenager. A charmer, one might say.

But he's also the son of the world's most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, Take Your Son to Work Day was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops wish they could--from the criminal's point of view.

And now bodies are piling up in Lobo's Nod.

In an effort to clear his name, Jazz joins the police in a hunt for a new serial killer. But Jazz has a secret--could he be more like his father than anyone knows?

I Hunt Killers is a wild, wild ride. I devoured this book in no time because I didn't want to put it down.

Jasper "Jazz" Dent is handsome and charming. He know hows to manipulate people to get what he wants, how to spot the weakest person in a crowd and how to blend in. After all, his father is the world's worst serial killer.

The story begins four years after Jasper's father, Billy Dent, has been caught and sent away to prison when Jasper's sleepy little town is shaken once again by a new series of murders. Intrigued by the crime scene, Jasper inserts himself in the investigation and uses the years of knowledge Billy Dent bestowed upon him throughout Jasper's childhood to help capture the killer.

I have to say I was thoroughly impressed with this novel. For as dark and gory as it was with a good mystery, it also had it's light, funny moments.

For me, the characters really made the story.

Jasper is a conflicted teenager. His father groomed him to follow in his footsteps, and Jasper is haunted by the past as well as fears for who he may become in the future. Despite his issues, Jasper is likable. I think his narrative really worked well for the story. His offhand musings and clinical remarks were both eerie and easing.

His girlfriend, Connie, and best friend, Howie, were a good counter to Jasper's sometimes dark and brooding moods. His grandmother was crazy, alternating between hilarious and horrible. The sheriff, G. William, seemed like a competent officer of the law as well as very caring and almost fatherly when it came to Jasper. Also, Jasper's father was also very present throughout the story both in Jasper's mind and memory, and he was absolutely terrifying.

The hunt for the killer was, as I said earlier, a wild ride. I had my suspicions pretty early on, but, despite guessing right, the ending had a great twist that left me longing for an immediate sequel.