Review: The Returned

The Returned
The Returned, Book 1

Author: Jason Mott
Pages: 352
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Publication Date: August 27, 2013
Read: August 18-
Source: ARC from publisher

Description from Goodreads:
Jacob was time out of sync, time more perfect than it had been. He was life the way it was supposed to be all those years ago. That's what all the Returned were.

Harold and Lucille Hargrave's lives have been both joyful and sorrowful in the decades since their only son, Jacob, died tragically at his eighth birthday party in 1966. In their old age they've settled comfortably into life without him, their wounds tempered through the grace of time ... Until one day Jacob mysteriously appears on their doorstep—flesh and blood, their sweet, precocious child, still eight years old.

All over the world people's loved ones are returning from beyond. No one knows how or why this is happening, whether it's a miracle or a sign of the end. Not even Harold and Lucille can agree on whether the boy is real or a wondrous imitation, but one thing they know for sure: he's their son. As chaos erupts around the globe, the newly reunited Hargrave family finds itself at the center of a community on the brink of collapse, forced to navigate a mysterious new reality and a conflict that threatens to unravel the very meaning of what it is to be human.

With spare, elegant prose and searing emotional depth, award-winning poet Jason Mott explores timeless questions of faith and morality, love and responsibility. A spellbinding and stunning debut, The Returned is an unforgettable story that marks the arrival of an important new voice in contemporary fiction.

First Sentence: "Harold opened the door that day to find a dark-skinned man in a well-cut suit smiling at him."

Review:

At BEA, Harlequin was really pushing The Returned. The publicists were all really excited for it and recommending it highly. While a bit interested, I was also skeptical, because, hey, they're publicists and pimping the more highly marketed titles extra hard comes with the job description. Well, in this case, they were right. The Returned is slow-moving, but elegant, graceful and thought-provoking.

The Returned is not going to work for every reader, though that's not surprising since no book does. I suppose what I mean to say is that it will be a tough read for many. The pace of The Returned is slow most of the way through, though there is some serious speed right at the end. What Mott's really digging into is the concept, so it's a very philosophical read, a brainstorming of what such a strange occurrence could result in. If you need books packed with action and excitement, The Returned will not do that for you. Sure, it's people coming back from the dead, but it's not zombies and there's no mayhem or brain-chomping.

In The Returned, Mott puts forth this concept: people who died begin coming back to life. They don't all reappear, nor do they necessarily seem to appear in the location where they died. None of them remember anything between their death and returning to life, and they are all the precise age that they were at the time of their demise. All memories seem to be intact. Scientists can find no rhyme or reason in why anyone is returning and why some do or do not return.

Using a family in the small town of Arcadia as an example, Mott depicts the spiral of society into chaos and hatred as this phenomenon occurs. As one might expect, there's a lot of discussion of what it means to be human and what the Returned really are. These people died but now here they are. Is it the same person or a different one? Should they have rights? The ethical concerns are fascinating.

Mott also looks at the possible logistical issues with regards to the Returned. Since they pop up in seemingly random places, like Harold and Lucille's son Jacob who appeared in China, there's the difficulty of sorting people back to where they belong. More of an issue, though, is what to do with all of these Returned if the formerly dead begin to outnumber the true living. The government doesn't know how to handle the situation, and the public is torn between hatred and fear of them and joy and hope at having lost loved ones back.

What this does to interpersonal relationships is my favorite aspect, of course. A situation like this begs so many questions: if a person remarried after the spouse's death and the spouse Returns, what happens? What if two teenagers were deeply in love until one of them died, and, now the dead one Returns still 16 with former love so much older? If they had sex would that be statutory rape or a whole new situation? In pretty much every way, no one has any clue how to deal with the Returned. It's scary and confusing and hopeful and worrisome.

If you're wondering whether The Returned is right for you, I point you to those hypothetical questions. Do you find the consideration thereof a fascinating enterprise or do you think that such speculation on something so utterly unlikely and illogical is pointless? If the former, read away. If the latter, probably not, I'm sad to say. The Returned lives in the hypothetical, and the beautifully simple writing likely will not be enough to save the novel for you if you simply do not care for that.

However, despite the fact that I loved the intellectual exercise, the writing, and that the ending almost made this hard-hearted reader cry in a public place, I did have a couple of issues with the book. First off, I think it's a bit ridiculous that, at least towards the start, there was never any move to put The Returned to work, except for the one famous artist. I mean, come on, if there are more people then there will need to be more stuff, so there need to be more workers. Obviously. Also, I'm not a really a fan of how the book wrapped up, which, sadly, I cannot explain without spoilers. I just felt like it was sort of a weak and anticlimactic way to do it. I get why, as that ending is more poetic, but I thought it a bit too simple.

Though I have nothing against romance novels, I am really excited to see Harlequin broadening their horizons with titles like The Returned, especially since they're doing so with such great books like this one. Patient readers who adore high concept reads that will really make them think need this book.

Rating: 4.5/5

Favorite Quote: "There is a music that forms sometimes, from the pairing of two people. An inescapable cadence that continues on."

Review + Giveaway: The Archived

The Archived
The Archived, Book 1

Author: Victoria Schwab
Pages: 336
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH
Publication Date: January 22, 2013
Source: Won

Description from Goodreads:
Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books.

Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive.

Da first brought Mackenzie Bishop here four years ago, when she was twelve years old, frightened but determined to prove herself. Now Da is dead, and Mac has grown into what he once was, a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often-violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Because of her job, she lies to the people she loves, and she knows fear for what it is: a useful tool for staying alive.

Being a Keeper isn't just dangerous-it's a constant reminder of those Mac has lost. Da's death was hard enough, but now her little brother is gone too. Mac starts to wonder about the boundary between living and dying, sleeping and waking. In the Archive, the dead must never be disturbed. And yet, someone is deliberately altering Histories, erasing essential chapters. Unless Mac can piece together what remains, the Archive itself might crumble and fall.

In this haunting, richly imagined novel, Victoria Schwab reveals the thin lines between past and present, love and pain, trust and deceit, unbearable loss and hard-won redemption.

First Sentence: "The Narrows remind me of August nights in the South."

Review:

Sometimes a book can be perfectly well done, and unique, and clever, but still fail to work for a particular reader. I mean, I like The Archived, but I do not have hugely strong feelings for it. On some levels, I'm really not sure where the book lost me, but I'll try to explain as best I can. Keep in mind as you read that this is a good book, even if it's not as much of a "me" book as I expected.

The whole concept of the Archive makes me so curious. Even now I have a million questions about what's going on with that, which presumably are why there will be more books set in this universe. The Archive stores Histories, all of the memories and pasts of individuals in a container that looks like their body when they were alive. A whole organization keeps everything running smoothly. Librarians watch over the Histories and process new arrivals. Keepers return any Histories that have awakened. If a Histories do manage to get outside, the Crew catches them and returns them.

Mackenzie inherits her talent as a Keeper from her grandfather. Because of her devotion to her grandfather, she commits herself to the task wholeheartedly, even becoming the youngest Keeper ever. Being a Keeper requires Mackenzie to have fighting skills, and also means that she's not at all your average YA heroine so far as mindset goes. For one thing, she hates touching people or animals, because her powers can hear all the "noise" from their thoughts and feelings.

Cool as that is, some of the practicalities really concern me. Mackenzie spends a lot of time doing this, with seemingly no clue how long she is spending in the Narrows or the Archive at any given time. How does she deal with that during the school year? The Histories get rowdier the longer they're left untended, so she cannot just sit around and wait until school lets out to go. The book is set during summer break, but I really want to know how she will handle that in the next book.

Also, Keepers (and Crew) are not allowed to tell anyone about the Archive. In other words, her parents do not know. Despite both being there, her parents are surprisingly absent. They don't even seem like bad parents, but they never notice that their daughter is gone constantly. There role does not fit their characters and feels forced by necessity.

At times, it seems like the Archive is going to venture into a touching story of overcoming the grief of Mackenzie's brother's death. Instead, Ben is a plot point, an excuse for her to be constantly in the Archive and to make some stupid decisions. The novel would benefit from a larger focus on the issues in Mackenzie's life.

Speaking of Mackenzie's life, I would like her and the other characters a lot better if they really had lives. The characterization remains pretty static all the way through. All I know about Mackenzie is that she's a Keeper and that she misses her brother Ben. Wesley (aka Guyliner) is my favorite character, but the reader learns nothing about him aside from what a good friend and Keeper he is. The character with the most depth is actually the antagonist.

As a departure from the norm, one of the aspects of the novel I like best is the romance. First of all, romance is not front and center in the plot. There's some teasing banter between Mac and Wesley, but they're not all over each other, nor do they have a super romantic vibe. Mackenzie actually uses physical connection as an escape mechanism as she gets more stressed out, which is not something I've seen too much in YA fiction.

Schwab makes an odd narrative choice in The Archived. Interspersed throughout the current story are flashbacks to Mackenzie's Da (grandfather) training her to be a Keeper. That, in and of itself, is not weird. However, these sections are written with Mackenzie referring to Da as "you," so you read things like this: "You unbutton your cuffs and roll your sleeves up to the elbows as you speak, and I notice for the first time how many scars you have." They are also very confusing in the beginning, since it's unclear who she is referring to for a while. While this might work for some people, I was thrown out of the story every time I hit one of these snippets.

I will say, though, that the conclusion is pretty dang stunning. There's a lot of action, and I really like the way the Schwab took things there at the end. Of course, it didn't hurt that there were less flashbacks as the story went along, either, allowing the plot to really gain forward momentum. Schwab had me flipping pages with a swiftness to find out how things would go down there at the end.

Yet again, a three star review has come across really negative. Despite all of those criticisms, The  Archived held my interest and I am curious enough about the world I might even continue on in the series. All of my friends who have read this already REALLY liked it, so perhaps The Archived and I merely met at the wrong time.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote:

"'Why can't I wake up?' she whispers. Her voice hitches.
     'Some dreams,' I say, 'are harder to shake.'"

---

Giveaway:
This ARC is really making the rounds, since I won it from The Bookaholic myself. Due to my overflowing shelves, I try to not to keep books unless I'm fairly certain I'll want to reread, so I'm going to pass my ARC along to one of you guys! US only, since I'm paying for the shipping. For all other rules, refer to Rafflecopter.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: Touching the Surface

Touching the Surface

Author: Kimberly Sabatini
Pages: 352
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: October 30, 2012
Source: Publisher for review via YA Books Central

Description from Goodreads:
Experience the afterlife in this lyrical, paranormal debut novel that will send your heart soaring.

When Elliot finds herself dead for the third time, she knows she must have messed up, big-time. She doesn’t remember how she landed in the afterlife again, but she knows this is her last chance to get things right.

Elliot just wants to move on, but first she will be forced to face her past and delve into the painful memories she’d rather keep buried. Memories of people she’s hurt, people she’s betrayed…and people she’s killed.

As she pieces together the secrets and mistakes of her past, Elliot must find a way to earn the forgiveness of the person she’s hurt most, and reveal the truth about herself to the two boys she loves…even if it means losing them both forever.

First Sentence: "My body smacked the water."

Review:

One of my very favorite subgenres of fiction deals with stories about the afterlife. I spend a rather indecent amount of time considering what life after death might consist of and my only completed work of fiction dealt with that topic. Touching the Surface has been on my radar because of its subject matter, its beautiful cover (which looks like the work of my friend Annie and fits the book perfectly), and the author's participation in the Apocalypsies. As ever when embarking upon a book with high hopes, I dreaded disappointment, but instead found a beautiful, quirky, emotional, clever, sweet, dark, magical read.

Sabatini's vision of the afterlife enthralled my imagination completely. She combines familiar concepts into something fresh and compelling. The concept of reincarnation has always called to me far more than most religious ideas, so I loved that Sabatini included that. She also put her own spin on it with the idea that, on a soul's third failure to reach some sort of enlightenment and whatever next step that brings, the soul's memories are wiped. This forces delving, a slow recapturing of the previous life's memories that allows for deeper reflection and analysis, removing preconceptions and errors kept in ordinary memory. Delving is also a group experience, not just a personal one, so that others can try to help the Third Timers figure out what has kept them from moving on.

Another fascinating element of this is the bodiless nature of the characters. They are all technically embodied throughout the book, but they have not always worn that body. In her first life, Elliot and her best friend Julia were twin brothers named Arty and Jim. The souls simply continue to wear the body and use the name of their last life until they reenter the stream to a new one. The souls can idenitfy one another by their scent that remains constant from body to body. Though she occasionally comments on appearances, the personality obviously factors in much more in how others seem to her.

The other main delightful quirk about the afterlife is the ability to manifest the mind's landscape physically. Thoughts can be created, from a lake to a mountain to a book the soul wants to read. Within the Obmil, this afterlife, the body cannot be injured and seems to have so much power. Not gonna lie, I would want to stay there and would try to get my friends to stay too. Of course, when you have a bad day, you literally will be stuck in a storm cloud of your own devising, but that's a small price to pay for the perks.

Alright, now that I'm done fangirling over the world building, I should probably discuss the plot a bit, shouldn't I? At the outset, I was a bit concerned that the book was heading for a stereotypical romance plot line: a rift between two best friends, a beautiful boy she feels inextricably drawn to (Oliver), a hot, angry boy who also seems to be part of her past (Trevor), and a love square between the four. Thankfully, this got cleared up pretty quickly and the characters did what was right for them, rather than conforming to tropes. Though the emotions become intense alarmingly quickly, it helped set the scene and conveyed the confusion Elliot felt being confronted with people who remembered her that she could not yet recall.

Elliot is a great character. She doesn't kick butt. She's sometimes weak. She's selfish, and sometimes a bully. All of that makes her who she is, and, even at her worst, I still felt for her and got her motivations. She manages to feel utterly real, especially in her struggle to find a sense of self, and her blithe unawareness of how she can steamroll others. Elliot wants to move on, hates having come back as a Third Timer, but she fears delving into her memories. Obviously, death in one's teen years doesn't signify a happy story.

The book alternates between the fantasy lanscape of Obmil and flashbacks to the characters' memories of their previous lives. This allows Sabatini to confront both gritty real life issues and psychological struggles. The flashbacks also explain why the characters feel the way they do about one another in the beginning, often for reasons even they don't know. This storytelling method adds a lot of tension to the tale and kept me flipping pages.

I dearly love Trevor. Oliver may be the nice one, though he shows some darker moods too (which I like), but I always have been drawn to the moody ones. Watching Trevor open up is delightful and he definitely puts hummingbirds in my stomach, let me tell you. What I love best is the way he changes the slogan on his t-shirt to match his emotions, generally with a smartass comment.

Ending books about the afterlife is generally pretty tricky, more so than with other genres perhaps. Sabatini's ending worked perfectly, I felt. I didn't anticipate quite the direction it would go in, and I really appreciated that. Nothing's wrapped up exactly, but it feels complete.

Kimberly Sabatini's debut blew me away and I know Touching the Surface is a book that I will be rereading. For a book with similar themes that does some wholly different things, check out Level 2 by fellow Apocalypsie Lenore Appelhans.

Rating: 4.5/5

Favorite Quote:

"'Damn it, Elliot, do you ever make kissing easy?' he said, cupping his nose.
   'Maybe you should learn not to be such a tease and get to it a little quicker,' I shot back.
   'So, I've got to get to the kissing before you start thinking too hard about something else?'
   'Something like that,' I said, reaching to check his nose. He winced.
   'You'll heal in a minute,' I said with a smirk."

Review: Romeo Redeemed

Romeo Redeemed
Juliet Immortal, Book 2

Author: Stacey Jay
Pages: 364
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Source: Won ARC

Description from Goodreads:
Seductive companion to the popular Juliet Immortal, in which former lovers—Romeo and Juliet—meet, not as true lovers, but truly as enemies.

Cursed to live out eternity in his rotted corpse, Romeo, known for his ruthless, cutthroat ways, is given the chance to redeem himself by traveling back in time to save the life of Ariel Dragland. Unbeknownst to her, Ariel is important to both the evil Mercenaries and the love-promoting Ambassadors and holds the fate of the world in her hands. Romeo must win her heart and make her believe in love, turning her away from her darker potential before his work is discovered by the Mercenaries. While his seduction begins as yet another lie, it soon becomes his only truth. Romeo vows to protect Ariel from harm, and do whatever it takes to win her heart and soul. But when Ariel is led to believe his love is a deception, she becomes vulnerable to Mercenary manipulation, and her own inner darkness may ultimately rip them apart.

First Sentence: "We reach the lonely hilltop as the sun sets over Verona."

Review:
Something I love to do but don't get to all that often is read a series pretty much back to back. With a memory like mine, reading the series altogether is the only way that I can guarantee I don't miss key plot lines or internal references. Although Juliet Immortal has apparently not been especially popular with bloggers, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the book. Romeo Redeemed struck me as one of the most consistent sequels I have ever encountered. I liked and disliked the very same things about this one as the first, so, if you liked Juliet Immortal, you're in for another crazy, fun ride.

At the opening of Romeo Redeemed, Romeo wanders the earth in his specter form, more disgusting than any zombie. All he feels is pain. He hears the screams of people running away from him. Basically, he's Humperdinck if Westley followed through on his threats. The Nurse offers him a choice, though: perform a trial task for a chance to become an Ambassador or continue living in his refuse heap of a body. Unsurprisingly, he chooses to do anything other than be himself. His task: to make Ariel fall in love with him.

Ariel, the girl whose body Juliet inhabited and died in during Juliet Immortal in an alternate universe, has problems. She's got scars on her face, no self-confidence and she hears voices sometimes, and, when she does, she wets herself. Because of an episode like that, she's been a pariah at school since childhood, with only one friend, Gemma, who isn't necessarily the most supportive BFF all the time, focusing more on her own drama and needs.

Romeo has been put, again, into the body of Dylan. He takes over mid-date, after Ariel's learned Dylan was trying to sleep with her for a bet and before she tries to drive the car off the road. With foreknowledge of what she would do, he manages to prevent the accident. She gets out of the car and runs. He, with the need to woo her, talks her down and convinces her to spend the rest of the night with him.

As with Juliet Immortal, I liked the writing a lot, and the reading of the book was a pleasurable experience, but the romance plot line makes me antsy. My biggest problem is that Ariel, poor, damaged Ariel, would never trust someone so quickly, let alone a guy who bet on her and threatened rape. She has trouble trusting her mom, who loves her even if she's not great about saying so. Why would she trust Dylan/Romeo? In the course of just three days, she falls in love with him. I'm not saying he couldn't have made her fall in love with him over time, but three days? No. Issues with self-worth and trust do not go away that quickly. They just don't.

Romeo, too, inevitably falls for Ariel, which makes more sense, considering that's what he's always done. Romeo's thoughts: "Oooh, a pretty girl. I wonder if she'll sleep with me. Probably not yet. Maybe if we were in love? Oh, sweet torture to love her so but not be able to, you know, love her so." Thus, I can accept this part, and laugh at Romeo's idiocy. He manages to act all jaded for like twenty pages, but very quickly returns to his natural state: obsession with the first pretty girl to cross his path. Some people grow and change, like Juliet did in some ways, and some don't, like Romeo.

I so wanted to be able to give this book a 4, that extra bump up, but I just couldn't do it. What it came down to was the ending, which was just too cheesy. Where I wanted her to go tragedy, she went drama! Romeo and Ariel living happily forever after? I THINK NOT. Also, there's a twist that did not work for me at all.

Though by no means a perfect series, I appreciate these books for taking a fresh, completely unique look at an overdone series. For my tastes, they could have benefited from a couple dashes more cynicism, but at least I got to revel in how much Romeo and Juliet didn't work out.

Rating: 3.5/5

Favorite Quote: "'Never underestimate the allure of the Goodwill.'"

Audiobook Review: Starling

Starling
Starling Saga, Book 1

Author: Lesley Livingston
Narrator: Lesley Livingston
Duration: 8 hrs, 1 mins
Publisher: Harper Audio
Source: Publisher for Review

Description from Goodreads:
Mason Starling is a champion fencer on the Gosforth Academy team, but she's never had to fight for her life. Not until the night a ferocious, otherworldly storm rips through Manhattan, trapping Mason and her teammates inside the school. Mason is besieged by nightmarish creatures more terrifying than the thunder and lightning as the raging tempest also brings a dangerous stranger into her life: a young man who remembers nothing but his name—the Fennrys Wolf. His arrival tears Mason's world apart, even as she feels an undeniable connection to him. Together, they seek to unravel the secrets of Fenn's identity as strange and supernatural forces gather around them. When they discover Mason's family—with its dark allegiance to ancient Norse gods—is at the heart of the mystery, Fennrys and Mason are suddenly faced with a terrifying future.

Set against the gritty, shadowed back-drop of New York City, this first novel in award-winning author Lesley Livingston's epic Starling Saga is an intoxicating blend of sweeping romance and pulse-pounding action.

Review:
I'm going to put this out there and make no bones about it: I didn't care for Starling. There were a few different reasons for that, some of which are just bad timing and others which involve Starling running along classic YA tropes I personally dislike. Now, some books I don't like leave a bad taste in my mouth, make me angry, but this one didn't. I know many readers will enjoy this, and I do not begrudge them that. It just was not for me.

Starling sounded so up my aisle like you wouldn't believe. I mean, slap the mythology label on something, and I'm pretty much guaranteed to be chomping at the bit to read it. Unfortunately, while the mythology in Starling is original, it didn't resonate with me. I don't know if it's because I don't know much about Norse mythology (or some other kinds of mythology, since Livingston draws from a bunch of different ones), but I was a bit confused. I could have used more descriptions of the various attacking creatures, since very few of them were familiar to me.

Of course, I might have been more charmed by the mythology herein had I not, through unfortunate happenstance read Valkyrie Rising, another Harper YA title with an eerily similar cover, while in the process of listening to this audiobook. Both involve Norse mythology generally, and Valkyries specifically. With that little coincidence, I can't help comparing the two, and I much preferred the more straightforward tale in Valkyrie Rising, as well as the fact that the setting fit the mythology so much better than an expensive prep school. I had some suspension of disbelief issues with the plot evolving around this prep school run by families who believe in Norse mythology still.

If you like a lot of action, Starling will provide that for you in spades. It's pretty much storm-battle-family drama-flirting-battle-battle-date-battle and on like that. Not only that, but you get to watch Mason and Fennrys battle myriad creatures. I will say this for Starling. Mason does have skills, and I liked that she was a talented fencer. I liked less her tendency to choke at big moments, usually because a boy told her she wasn't good enough to win. For all her magical mojo, she's the kind of heroine who runs when told to by a protective male, even though she has fighting talent. This may be the wiser choice, but it's not generally how I like my heroines.

Up to this point in my little discussion here, I know I've sounded hypercritical, but, honestly, the book would probably still have elicited a 2.5 from me, just sort of meh. What dropped it into the 'nope, not for me' range was the romance. If you don't like the main couple and you're supposed to, it's painful, am I right?

When the story opens, Mason has a crush on Callum, her fencing partner, and has had for ages. We soon learn that he likes her too, but, due to a beauty-maiming injury at the start of the novel, he's too afraid to make a move, and never stands a chance, serving as the pathetic, bum leg of the love triangle. Well, too bad, so sad, because Mason's over it as soon as she sees another (now prettier) face. Fennrys, who falls butt-naked out of the sky like man(na) from the heavens, catches her eye immediately, both for his sexy body and his manly fighting prowess.

Like that...only less clothing.

He comes and finds her later so that he can clothing borrowed from the fencing team. They flirt and she commits to helping him find out who he is, since, conveniently he has amnesia. You may be wondering what's so convenient about amnesia. Well, it's pretty damn convenient when the only things that have been forgotten are plot points! *headdesk*

Anyway, Mason and Fennrys did not work for me at all. For one thing, they are just shy of instalove. They moon over one another from moment zero, but they at least don't declare their love during that opening battle scene. What REALLY made me rage, though, was that I'm supposed to ship them, even though Mason is like totally terrified of him at times. You know what's not a good sign? BEING AFRAID OF THE GUY YOU LIKE. And I'm not talking afraid he's going to fart on you or eat the last oreo, okay? She sometimes suspects he's dangerous and might hurt her. I'm not saying that means she can't date him ever, but you should probably hold off on going places alone all the time and pretending he's your soulmate.

Starling failed to be what I wanted it to be, but you might still like it. So far as I could tell from the audiobook version, I had no issues with the writing. I really don't have a specific recommendation. Give it a go if you're interested.

Rating: 2/5

Narration:
I think it's just so cool when authors narrate their own work. There's something so personal about that. Of course, not everyone has the voice for it, nor do they necessarily have the time, as audiobook narration is quite the length process.

Livingston has an incredibly pleasant voice. Her narration wouldn't have worked if the book were in first person, but suited a third person omniscient narrator just fine. Don't judge me when I say that my favorite part of the book was listening to Livingston's pronunciation of words in her Canadian accent. I am pretty fanatical about accents, so you can imagine me giggling with glee every time she said the word 'sorry.' Unfortunately, either because I was disengaged from the story or because of my personal reaction to Livingston's voice, I had a lot of trouble focusing on what was happening. I listened to at least two chapters twice, because I could not for the life of me remember what had happened, even though I'd only been listening.


Rating: 3/5

Audio or Print?: 
I think that depends on you. I'm not sure if I would have liked this book any more in the print version, and suspect I might have liked it less. Livingston's narration is good, but not out of this world, so I don't feel the need to urge either format on you.

Overall Rating: 2.5/5

Review: Scorch

Scorch
Croak, Book 2

Author: Gina Damico
Pages: 332
Publisher: Graphia
Source: Publisher at BEA

Description from Goodreads:
Sixteen-year-old Lex Bartleby is a teenage grim reaper with the bizarre ability to damn souls. That makes her pretty scary, even to fellow Grims. But after inadvertently transferring her ability to Zara, a murderous outlaw, Lex is a pariah in Croak, the little town she calls home.

To escape the townspeople’s wrath, she and her friends embark on a wild road trip to DeMyse. Though this sparkling desert oasis is full of luxuries and amusements, it feels like a prison to Lex. Her best chance at escape would be to stop Zara once and for all—but how can she do that from DeMyse, where the Grims seem mysteriously oblivious to Zara’s killing spree?

First Sentence: "Carl Scutner wondered, for a brief moment, what it would feel like to punt his wife off a cliff."

Series:
1: Croak (review|Goodreads)
2: Scorch

Review:
Gina Damico's Croak ranks as one of the funniest books I've ever read. She has this great, dark, absurdist sense of humor that I cannot get enough of. She has a way of making even the weirdest things sound believable. As such, Scorch was one of my most anticipated books and I was lucky enough to get an ARC at BEA. While, I didn't fall quite as in love with Scorch, though I cannot put my finger on quite why, it's still a wonderful sequel, hilarious and satisfying.

Something I had forgotten about the end of Croak was that someone died. Oh, my memory. Anyway, it surprised me all over again. Take that to heart, guys. Gina Damico's book may rank as humor first, but don't forget the dark part. She kills off and damages beloved characters when you're least expecting it and in ways you never could have anticipated. A lot of YA authors cringe away from things like that, even when turning their hands to dystopias, but not so Damico. This lends a darker, more serious feel to what, on the surface, appear to be lighthearded comedies about grim reapers.

Are you worried now about who will be killed? You should be, because Damico's characters are wonderful and just bursting with life. They're all, almost to a Grim, sarcastic, intelligent and people that I want to be friends with. All of our old favorites are back: Lex, Ferbus, Elysia, Driggs, Mort, and more, but there are also a few wonderful new characters added into the mix.

Lex, of course, is our indomitable heroine. She's clever, violent, and has a powerful sense of justice. She doesn't love easily, but, when she does, she will stop at nothing to protect the people she loves. Lex seems a bit softened by her time spent among good friends who understand her, but she definitely has not lost her hard edge just because she's happy with a boyfriend. Never will this girl stop being a powerhouse.

Driggs, her boyfriend, is just as charmingly rumpled as he was in the first book. Lex and Driggs are a bit of a disgusting couple, though that may be due to the gross-out descriptions of their make out sessions (Damico's not going for swoons here). The two of them spend pretty much all of their time together, and are surprisingly lovey-dovey and open about their feelings. I would be totally icked out by them, but they're just so weird and perfect for each other that I can't help but wish them the best. Rather than being stereotypes of perfection, they're just these two strange people who seem to be belong together.

Ferbus and Elysia continue to do their snarky banter back and forth. He grumps about completely everything. She has all of the perk and love of parties of Pinkie Pie. The new additions to the group, two new Juniors, I was initially skeptical of, but I came to love them just as much as the rest of the crew. Pip and Bang are step siblings. Pip talks constantly and drives Ferbus batty. Bang doesn't talk at all, instead communicating via arm gestures. These too seem obnoxious at first, but turn out to be every bit as capable and endearingly kooky as most Croakers.

The plot of Scorch follows Zara's reign of terror, as she Damns innocent people left and right, demanding that Lex and her gang fork over The Wrong Book, which contains the secrets to unmaking the world as they know it. Unfortunately, Lex isn't sure where or how to get the book, and most of Croak blames her for everything that's going on. Croak used to be idyllic, but not so much anymore.

The Croak series can best be compared to the television show Dead Like Me, sharing the quirky, dark humor as well as subject matter. If you, like me, love shows like Dead Like Me and Pushing Daisies, you NEED to read Gina Damico, because she wrote these for oddballs like us, and there are more coming!

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote: "'Here's the thing,' he said, his face strained. 'It's just that I've been treading really carefully around you and this whole Cordy thing all day, just like Mort told me to. And I had to make sure you saw her and were okay with it and got home safe — again, just like Mort told me to. And as much as I'd love to continue exploring the implications of Damning roadkill, the truth is' — he plunged his hands into his hair until it stuck up even more than usual — 'you've been back here in my presence for two agonizing hours now, and if we don't properly make out soon, I'm going to hurl myself off the roof.'"

Hell - Squirrel Nut Zippers

Velveteen

Author: Daniel Marks
Pages: 447
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Publication Date: October 9, 2012
Source: Won from A Good Addiction

Description from Goodreads:
Velveteen Monroe is dead. At 16, she was kidnapped and murdered by a madman named Bonesaw. But that’s not the problem.

The problem is she landed in purgatory. And while it’s not a fiery inferno, it’s certainly no heaven. It’s gray, ashen, and crumbling more and more by the day, and everyone has a job to do. Which doesn’t leave Velveteen much time to do anything about what’s really on her mind.

Bonesaw.

Velveteen aches to deliver the bloody punishment her killer deserves. And she’s figured out just how to do it. She’ll haunt him for the rest of his days.

It’ll be brutal... and awesome.

But crossing the divide between the living and the dead has devastating consequences. Velveteen’s obsessive haunting cracks the foundations of purgatory and jeopardizes her very soul. A risk she’s willing to take—except fate has just given her reason to stick around: an unreasonably hot and completely off-limits coworker.

Velveteen can’t help herself when it comes to breaking rules... or getting revenge. And she just might be angry enough to take everyone down with her.

First Sentence: "When Velveteen Monroe pictured Bonesaw's house—and she did, more often that could be considered healthy—blood striped the paint a muddy reddish-brown, internal organs floated in jars of formaldehyde, and great big taxidermy crows leered from branches that twisted from the wall like palsied arms."

Review:
Velveteen is another novel with a whole lot of hype surrounding its release. The premise sounds so insane and creepy that this should come as no surprise. A dystopia about the dead? Serial killers? Purgatory? Strong heroine? That's all kinds of awesome, right? Well, I definitely think so.

My first recommendation is not to come into Velveteen looking for a dystopia. There really isn't anything particularly dystopian here, although I do see some definite possibility for there to be a big reveal of evil government at work later in the series. This could have been a huge disappointment, because obviously I love dystopias, but the whole of the story was so delightfully fresh and funny that I wasn't particularly bothered.

On Twitter, I've seen people tweeting Daniel Marks as they read through this book. They commented how grossed out they were and how horrified. Well, I really didn't have any moments where I was overwhelmed by the ick or horror factors. Maybe I just have a strong stomach, but I doubt it, since I can't watch a horror movie without hiding through pretty much all of it. There are gross things that happen, but they're no worse than what I've encountered in all the zombie novels I've read. So, basically, if you don't often read macabre things, Velveteen might freak you out, but, otherwise, I wouldn't worry unduly.

Actually, more than anything else, I thought Velveteen was hilarious. Humor of course is very subjective. I suspect most readers will either love or hate Velveteen, depending on whether you think Daniel Marks' humor is funny or obnoxious. For me, it totally worked. If you're concerned, you might want to watch some of Marks' vlogs and see if you like his style.

The description of the novel makes a big deal about Velvet's desire for revenge against her murderer, Bonesaw. While this certainly is a plot point, it's actually a fairly minor plot arc, important to the story, but definitely not the focus of Marks' grisly tale. Still, he definitely wove this arc perfectly into the larger tale.

The focus of the novel is, instead, on the tensions within Purgatory. There is a revolution happening in Purgatory. The Departurists believe that the powers that be within Purgatory are preventing them from moving on and unfairly keeping them from the daylight (aka the world of the living). The revolutionaries are somehow causing bigger and bigger cracks to form in Purgatory, by trapping souls in daylight and causing shadowquakes. The world building on this Purgatory was crazy cool for sure.

Within Purgatory, there are jobs, ranging just as widely, although differently, from those in our world. Our heroine, Velvet, has one of the best jobs, as a salvager team leader. Scavengers enter daylight to save trapped souls, putting an end to shadowquakes and protecting Purgatory. This gives them a rare chance to travel to daylight and is also just really cool, since you need special abilities to do it. Teams consist of four: one body thief, who takes over the body of a living human temporarily, one undertaker, who takes over a dead body and becomes a zombie, and two poltergeists, who stay ghosty but have a natural power to move things in that form. Velvet and her team are the best and they love what they do. On one of their missions, they rescue Nick, aka love interest.

Now, we must talk about Velveteen. She is an amazing heroine, assuming you like them sarcastic, closed-off, and a bit violent. Thankfully, I do. If you're sick of all of the wimpy, clutsy, obedient heroines that can't do anything but moan about boys, you will love Velvet, as she is the antithesis of all things Bella. Similar heroines are Lex from Croak or Ashline from Wildefire. Velvet has a smart mouth and is quick to resort to physical violence. Just to give you an idea of the kind of girl we'll dealing with: she dressed up as Alex from A Clockwork Orange at one point. She felt real to me, and she read like a female.

Her romance with Nick also totally worked. There was definitely instalust, but Velvet is not the kind of girl to mistake that for love. She initially thinks he looks like and probably is an asshole. There's lots of kissing, because she's not the kind of girl who is against having a little fun. Though Nick and Velvet's relationship does progress fairly quickly emotionally, there's a natural flow to it. The two really do have a rapport. They have real conversations, develop little inside jokes, and have awesome witty banter. Their chemistry is fantastic.

So yeah, I thought this was a fantastic ride, entertaining and funny from beginning to end. I definitely anticipate Marks' next macabre tale!

Favorite Quote:

"'So, you're ready then, Quentin?' Velvet asked, gearing up. 'Sigmund Freud here has cured your panic attacks in one session.'
   'Aw. Come on.,' Nick wrapped his arm around Quentin's shoulder as they walked. 'Fear of rejection is the killer of many romantic teen scenarios. It's the scourge of adolescence. All I told him is to embrace the possibility that Shandie won't like him and go for it anyway. She is, after all, pretty hot.'
   'Yeah.' Quentin beamed. 'What's the worst that could happen?'
   She could tell you to eat shit and die, Velvet thought, but kept her mouth shut.
   But it was Nick who said, right after, 'She could tell him to eat shit and die, right? Words. Just words. That kind of stuff never lasts. People are fickle; they may laugh at you and stuff, but they always move on to the next tragedy as soon as it happens. In the end, it's more about Quentin than it is the girl. It's about courage. The act of talking to her. Exposing himself.'
   Logan busted up laughing.
   Nick rolled his eyes and crammed his hands into his back pockets. 'Not that way I mean, being vulnerable with her. That's what's gonna make you a man. It's going to kill that fear and bury it as deep as the bodies he thieves are kept.'"

"In the afterlife
You could be headed for the serious strife
Now you make the scene all day
But tomorrow there'll be hell to pay"

A Quiet Mind - Blue October

Level 2
The Memory Chronicles, Book 1

Author: Lenore Appelhans
Pages: 288
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: January 15, 2013
Source: Simon & Schuster at BEA

Description from Goodreads:
Since her untimely death the day before her eighteenth birthday, Felicia Ward has been trapped in Level 2, a stark white afterlife located between our world and the next. Along with her fellow prisoners, Felicia passes the endless hours downloading memories and mourning what she’s lost—family, friends, and the boy she loved, Neil.

Then a girl in a neighboring chamber disappears, and nobody but Felicia seems to recall she existed in the first place. Something is obviously very wrong. When Julian—a dangerously charming guy Felicia knew in life—comes to offer Felicia a way out, she learns the truth: a rebellion is brewing to overthrow the Morati, the guardians of Level 2.

Felicia is reluctant to trust Julian, but then he promises what she wants the most—to be with Neil again—if only she’ll join the rebels. Suspended between Heaven and Earth, Felicia finds herself in the center of an age-old struggle between good and evil. As memories from her life come back to haunt her, and as the Morati hunt her down, Felicia will discover it’s not just her own redemption at stake… but the salvation of all mankind.

First Sentence: "I'll sleep when I'm dead."

Review:
Anyone who reads my blog regularly probably already knows how much I wanted this book. It was one of my WoW posts, and has been on my wishlist from the moment I found out Lenore Appelhans, the wonderful blogger behind Presenting Lenore, had a dystopian novel coming out. I was so all over that, especially since Lenore is the creator of Dystopian August, which means she really knows her stuff. Also, oh hey, it's Dystopian August! Woo! Make sure you check out her blog as well as mine for reviews, giveaways and bookish talk!

Since Lenore is one of my favorite bloggers, and definitely the one I've been following the longest, I went into this with ALL of the expectations. ALL OF THEM. From that perspective, Level 2 wasn't quite everything I was hoping for, though, if you aren't expecting instant new favorite book of all time, I suspect this won't be an issue. Lenore's book definitely is delightful and unique, though, so do not let the fact that it didn't rise to my insanely high expectations put you off at all.

The first awesome thing about Level 2 is the world building, which is multi-faceted and complex. She reveals new layers of epic awesome as you read through the book, and I have no doubt this will continue in the next book. The world building was definitely my favorite thing, and I loved how Lenore could completely surprise me or explain something that I was at first skeptical of. She makes this work like whoa.

At the beginning of Level 2, I was a bit confused, as, indeed, you're supposed to be. You join Felicia in this weird afterlife; that's about all I knew going into it, and Felicia doesn't know any more than you do. In Level 2's version of the afterlife, you hang out in a room full of pods, spending most of your time watching the afterlife equivalent of YouTube (YouDead? lol), only you're watching your memories, pulled from your mind in high definition and with better detail than you could have done on your own. I totally wrote short story like this in college, though clearly not so detailed, and I loved seeing the idea really fleshed out. Not only can they watch all of their own memories, but they can share them with others, earning currency to buy new memories when people purchase theirs.

Why would you want to watch someone else's memories? To stave off boredom, of course! One small theme running through Level 2 which I really appreciated was the Fahrenheit 451 aspect to the printed word. In the afterlife, books only exist if someone read them closely enough that every word appears in someone's memory. Otherwise, it's gone. That is just so powerful. You'll all be glad to know that I've got Level 2 tucked away in my brain, so we're good. Also, bloggers would have so much currency in the afterlife, since we read so many things!

Of course, there are also MORE things going on, like I promised. I'm not going to go into great detail about the rest of the world building, because I think it's something best left for you to find. I will just mention that there's some awesome stuff that one can do with mind power. Also, Lenore has a wholly new take on angels. I, for one, am always skeptical of angels, because RELIGION, but no worries my agnostic and atheist friends, there's no preaching, I promise.

Felicia, our main character, is not the most likable heroine you will ever meet. I suspect some readers will have difficulties connecting with her. Partly, this is caused by what spending so long constantly replaying just one's best memories will do to someone. She's definitely not a perfect person by any means. She has made serious mistakes with painful consequences, mostly involving an unfortunate attraction to the not-so-trustworthy Julian. She's also one of those people who, if you tell them to stay in the car, will never EVER stay in the car.

Though there were some things I didn't like about Felicia, she worked for me as a heroine. Felicia has spunk and sarcasm, and she's not overly trusting. She does complain, but as soon as she finishes doing that, she throws herself bodily into a task. I don't begrudge someone a 'man, this sucks,' so long as they then do what they can, and she always does. In fact, my one complaint about the pacing of the novel is that Felicia seems to come by her defensive skills too quickly and easily. In this case, I would have liked a training montage or some way to mark time passing.

In addition to Felicia, we have two other super important people I must talk about: Neil and Julian. Yes, there's a love triangle. I know, I know. It's okay, though. This love triangle is made more interesting by the fact that we have a juxtaposition between past and present, and the fact that only Julian is actually present. Though I initially hated Julian, who is definitely too cocky and bad boy-ish for my usual tastes, I'm currently in his team, because he's complex and interesting. I want to know more about him. Neil is too perfect, too high school love, too religious, to hold much appeal for me, BUT I have yet to meet him except in Felicia's favorite memories of him. At this juncture, it's in no way clear which competitor will win fair Felicia's heart, which always helps in a love triangle.

So far as the dystopian stuff goes, Level 2 is not the most dystopian novel ever, but there's obviously some creepy stuff happening because of...whoever's in charge. There will be more dystopian goodness (errr...badness) in the coming books, I am sure.

Lenore Appelhans' Level 2 is a thought provoking read that will put you into an entirely new world. The images will stick in your brain long after you finish. In fact, rewriting this review just before it's meant to publish (since I managed to accidentally delete the original, because I'm an idiot), I find myself wishing I had time to reread Level 2, so that I could catch plot threads that I missed on my first read. I will definitely need to reread before reading the next book. You definitely don't want to miss out on Level 2.

Favorite Quote: "‘The point is to keep trying new things, meeting new people, visiting new places. Once you settle into a rut, no matter how fun that rut may seem, you stagnate. You might as well be dead.’"

"You give me a quiet mind and I...
I love you
Until the end
Until the end

Give me strength to be kind... To combine
All the good things in life that are so hard to find
But I have and I won't let them go like I do with my friends (my friends)"

Remember: Every comment on a post during Dystopian August is an entry to win one of fourteen dystopian/post-apocalyptic novels IF you've filled out the form from this post.

Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd

My Beating Teenage Heart

Author: C. K. Kelly Martin
Pages: 288
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers

Description from Goodreads:
Ashlyn Baptiste is falling. One moment she was nothing—no memories, no self—and then suddenly, she's plummeting through a sea of stars. Is she in a coma? She doesn't remember dying, and she has no memories of the life she left behind. All she knows is that she's trapped in a consciousness without a body and she's spending every moment watching a stranger.

Breckon Cody's on the edge. He's being ripped apart by grief so intense it literally hurts to breathe. On the surface, Breckon is trying to hold it together for his family and his girlfriend, but underneath he's barely hanging on.

Even though she didn't know him in life, Ashlyn sees Breckon's pain, and she's determined to find a way help him. As her own distressing memories emerge from the darkness, she struggles to communicate with the boy who can't see her, but whose life is suddenly intertwined with hers. In alternating voices of the main characters, My Beating Teenage Heart paints a devastatingly vivid picture of both the heartbreak and the promise of teenage life—a life Ashlyn would do anything to recover and Breckon seems desperate to destroy—and will appeal to fans of Sarah Dessen, John Green, and David Levithan.

First Sentence: "The first moment is utter darkness."

Review:
One of my favorite bloggers, even though she doesn't blog much anymore, is Presenting Lenore. She's helping to host a twitter book club, the aim of which is to read books that are amazing but do not have nearly enough buzz. This is the first selection. Well, it definitely isn't well known enough, since I totally thought Yesterday was going to be Martin's debut. Apparently, she's written four books before that one.

The opening of My Beating Teenage Heart is quit alarming. You're thrown into some weird dream-state type thing with the heroine whose name you don't yet know. It's odd and mystical and it's hard to tell whether anything is real or a dream or what. Actually, the book continues to be this way. Ashlyn learns a bit about herself, but what she figures out results in more questions than answers. Breckon (we also get some chapters from his perspective) is mired in depression.

For me, this is one of those books where how much I likes it depended entirely on the explanation of what's going on. The writing is decent, but didn't especially resonate with me. The characters are both so whacked out on grief or confusion that I had trouble connecting to them. The plot is so strange, requiring some serious suspension of disbelief, but, if she pulled it off with the ending, it could definitely make the book epic.

Without a doubt, I can honestly say that My Beating Teenage Heart is unlike any YA book I've read before. It picks up steam very slowly, but, by the end, I was definitely engaged. For the first hundred or so pages, the melodrama of the narration irritated me, especially given the fogginess of Ashlyn's memory. Plus, she made so many assumptions that seemed strange to me.

Anyway, having now finished the book, I'm still not sure how I feel about it. On some levels, it was definitely really cool and thought provoking, and I'm certainly glad to have read it, but there were also aspects with which I did not reconcile. My main issue with the book I can't express to clearly without risking spoilers, but, basically, I do not get why Ashlyn's memory would ever work that way. However, on the plus side again, Martin can write the heck out of a steamy scene.

Looking at those labels at the bottom of the post, you might notice that they're not super happy times themes. Nor is the book at all light and fluffy. At all. Recommended to fans of Ilsa J. Bick and Laurie Halse Anderson. Although I didn't love this, I am now definitely looking forward to reading Yesterday more than I was before.

Favorite Quote: "I'm talking to myself in two different personas now. I'm reaching for a full-throttle meltdown and why not? Why stop halfway? Why not just go for it, jump on and ride the wave?"

Rating: 3.5/5

"How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have we found? The same old fears.
Wish you were here. "

Never Say Never - The Fray

Seers
The Seers Trilogy, Book 1

Author: Heather Frost
Pages: 325
ARC Acquired from: Cedar Fort via NetGalley

Brief Summary:
Kate has been different ever since her near-death experience in the car crash that killed her parents. Of course, that experience would change anyone, but, for Kate, it had more than the usual repercussions. Now, she can see people's auras and read their emotions. Apparently, she can also see invisible (dead?) people too, because she stopped her car to avoid hitting someone no one else could see. Turns out her new power, which has its perks (like the hot new Irish guy from Ireland who seems oddly interested in her), but there are also downfalls (like bad guys who are interested in her).

Review:
From the beginning, I was quite impressed with the writing, which is rather better than a number of YA novels, especially those in the paranormal romance genre. Given the author's youth, this is doubly impressive. There were, in the ARC at least, a few grammatical errors, which have hopefully been removed from the final version, such as a "must of" (instead of "must have" on page 250.

The plot is fairly standard YA paranormal fare. You have the beautiful girl with new powers and some sadness. Add in two attractive guys who both treat her like princes. Then throw in a dash of menace in the form of some evil demons. Stir in a quirky best friend and you're ready to go! For those who enjoy this genre, Seers will definitely satisfy. I know I enjoyed it, especially since one of the guys had a delightful Irish accent! Also, props to Frost for not writing his dialogue in dialect and letting people fill that in with their imaginations.

Kate was fairly likable for most of the book, given that she was in a weird place following her parents' deaths. However, by the end, I wanted to give her a stern talking to. If you don't like your boyfriend anymore, you should probably stop dating him. Leading someone on or sticking it out because you're afraid you'll end up alone are not acceptable responses.

All in all a great beginning to a paranormal romance series from a first time author. I will definitely be checking out the rest of the trilogy, since I expect Frost to just get better from here.

"I will be your guardian
When all is crumbling
To steady your hand

You can never say never
While we don't know when
Time, time, time again
Younger now than we were before"

Going Under - Evanescence

Abandon
Abandon Trilogy, Book 1

Author: Meg Cabot
Pages: 304
Publisher: Point

Brief Summary:
Pierce Oliviera died when she was 15 years old. She is one of few people to have come back from the dead. Everyone wants to know what death was like, but she knows no one would believe her, even if she told the truth. When she died, she discovered that Greek myths about had it right. And she's the new Persephone. Only, she ran away, leaving John (the Hades figure) sad and betrayed. In her new home on Isla Huesos and her new school (for troubled teens), Pierce has met John again and knows that things will be anything but simple, especially since there might be worse things than John surrounding Pierce.

Review:
Like most Meg Cabot books, Abandon is a quick absorbing read. Having read most of her extensive ouevre, I would place this roughly in the middle of the pack so far as quality goes. The idea of Abandon was amazing; I was looking forward to this one so hard, because I was obsessed with Greek myth as a child. The myth of Persephone being tricked into the Underworld is not one of my favorites, but any Greek myth is better than none Greek myth.

Foreshadowing can be a super handy writing tool. However, it ought to be used sparingly and carefully. Meg Cabot did not follow this rule in the creation of this novel. Almost every chapter ended with a dramatic bit of foreshadowing of the "had I known what would happen next..." variety. Sigh. Just put 'to be continued' at the end of each chapter and be done with it. There just was not any need for it. If you have to try to force people to keep going with a lure of future drama, clearly your book wasn't interesting enough. Really, I think this would keep the intended audience going without these constant, hackneyed warnings.

Another weakness here was the odd subplot wherein Pierce tries to befriend the popular kids at her school (who usually ignore the D-Wing, aka truobled kids) students of the school) so that she can make them leave her cousin, Alex, and his friend Kayla alone. These sections really do not seem to fit with the rest of the plot very well. I imagine the need for this might be clear later in the series, but, for now, they were rather obnoxious, largely because Pierce's behavior seemed both out of character and completely illogical.

So far, the romance in the series has been pretty much entirely uninspired. I do not ship anyone and I actually find Pierce and John's relationship to rather creepy and Stockholm Syndrome-ish. The ending is not a resolution, so much as a stop because this novel had reached the requisite number of pages.

Mostly, Abandon was not what I was hoping for, but I will still be reading the rest of the series for sure. If you need a beach read for this summer, Abandon will likely suffice.

"I'm going under
Drowning in you
I'm falling forever
I've got to break through
I'm going under

Blurring and stirring - the truth and the lies.
So I don't know what's real and what's not
Always confusing the thoughts in my head
So I can't trust myself anymore"