Review: Pretty Girl-13

Pretty Girl-13

Author: Liz Coley
Pages: 352
Publisher: Katherine Tegen
Publication Date:March 19, 2013
Source: For review from YA Books Central

Description from Goodreads:
Reminiscent of the Elizabeth Smart case, Pretty Girl-13 is a disturbing and powerful psychological mystery about a girl who must piece together the story of her kidnapping and captivity.

Angie Chapman was thirteen years old when she ventured into the woods alone on a Girl Scouts camping trip. Now she's returned home…only to find that it's three years later and she's sixteen-or at least that's what everyone tells her.

What happened to the past three years of her life?

Angie doesn't know.

But there are people who do-people who could tell Angie every detail of her forgotten time, if only they weren't locked inside her mind. With a tremendous amount of courage, Angie embarks on a journey to discover the fragments of her personality, otherwise known as her "alters." As she unearths more and more about her past, she discovers a terrifying secret and must decide: When you remember things you wish you could forget, do you destroy the parts of yourself that are responsible?

Liz Coley's alarming and fascinating psychological mystery is a disturbing-and ultimately empowering-page-turner about accepting our whole selves, and the healing power of courage, hope, and love.

First Sentence: "You had forgotten how early the sun rises on summer campouts—and how loud the birds sing in the morning."

Review:

Holy shit. I knew from the cover that this book would be creepy, but I was not emotionally prepared for this experience. Pretty Girl-13 is one of those books that I'm going to remember for a while, not something that will quickly dissipate from my limited memory banks for story lines. Liz Coley's debut will no doubt shock and offend readers, one of those reads that will be deemed inappropriate for any but the most mature teens, due to the many triggers, most especially rape. If you can handle it, though, Pretty Girl-13 is a riveting tale of recovery from intense psychological and physical trauma.

If you put me in front of a horror movie, I collapse into a shrieking ball of fear. Even though I know what's going to happen, I can't handle it one bit. Horror books, though, really don't scare me. Pretty Girl-13 managed it, however. The horror of Coley's novel is not one of outright violence or things jumping out at you; it's one of the mind. This book messes with your head, makes you imagine situations you've never considered. Angie suddenly appears after three years missing. She has no memory of that period, none at all. That is the most terrifying thing for me: all that time she can't remember, the idea that anything at all could have happened to her and she wouldn't know.

Throughout Pretty Girl-13, I was on the edge of my seat, filled with tension as Angie's story unravels. At no point did my interest wane or did I find the book boring. The revelations come fast and thick, keeping the reader at rapt attention. This is one of those books that I got so into, I disappeared at times, sucked completely into the book, flipping pages without conscious effort.

A couple of the secondary characters in Pretty Girl-13 really shine, and I want to give them a shout out, because the supporting cast generally doesn't get enough love. Kate, Angie's friend, is marvelous. She's totally at one with herself, accepting of her role as a social pariah and determined to make the best of it. Then there are the twins, Ali and Abraim, who date Kate and Angie. Oh my goodness, but they are so cute. Abraim is such a non-standard YA hero in pretty much every way, and I am so thrilled about the way their little romance is handled, though it is probably less than five percent of the story.

Angie herself is a bit trickier. For reasons that will become obvious when you read the book, or if you read the blurb, which I think is a bit spoilery, Angie's character is a bit inconsistent. The narrative style of Pretty Girl-13 does not help with connection to Angie's character. Coley uses third person, which is naturally distancing, and I felt it especially so here. On the other hand, the italicized sections were a well done device. Though I pity Angie and want the best for her, I never got a solid handle on her character, which is understandable, but kept me from engaging that last little bit.

I also feel like some aspects were oversimplified or made more dramatic for plot purposes. Though I can't speak about these directly because I don't want to spoil the story for you, I can say that Angie's recovery takes place to quickly. Her psychologist suggests that full recovery will take years and she's pretty close by the end of a few months. That seems highly unlikely to me, even given some of the extraneous circumstances.

Pretty Girl-13 is a knuckle-biting psychological thriller. I recommend it for mature readers who want a novel that pushes the boundaries of what YA novels can discuss. Readers who prefer lighter fare will want to look elsewhere. This one's intense. Like camping.

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote:

"'You don't mince words, do you?' Angie said, a small piece of her innocence in tatters. She didn't want to give him up. He was a link, a bridge across the lost time.
     'I don't have to,' Kate replied. 'I'm already a leper. Gives me the freedom to be honest.'"

Review: Everneath

Everneath
Everneath, Book 1

Author: Brodi Ashton
Pages: 370
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Source: Own

Description from Goodreads:
Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath. Now she's returned--to her old life, her family, her boyfriend--before she's banished back to the underworld . . . this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these precious months forgetting the Everneath and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance--and the one person she loves more than anything. But there's just one problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki home. Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen.

As Nikki's time on the Surface draws to a close and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's queen.

"Everneath" is a captivating story of love, loss, and immortality from debut author Brodi Ashton.

First Sentence: "History books call it the Underworld."

Review:

Obviously, I have been wanting to read Everneath for most of this year. I say obviously, because who could resist this cover? Certainly not me. However, I feared Everneath might turn out to be a crushing disappointment, since pretty dress covers have lured me into many traps in the past. In case you had similar concerns, lay them to rest. Everneath has incredible world building, compelling characters, and solid writing.

The Persephone myth has inspired numerous authors, but those attempts at a young adult retelling which I have read have been ill-considered to say the least. Both of the other two YA adaptions I've read, Abandon by Meg Cabot and The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter, involved an intense immediate attraction for the Hades figure. A big part of why these attempts failed is this perversion of the myth, trying to forge an immediate romantic connection between Persephone and a misunderstood version of Hades. Well, sorry, but that just does not fly. One of the main elements of the Persephone myth is that she is taken and that she is kept. If right from the beginning she kind of wants to hang out in the Underworld, the author's kind of missing the point.

All of that lead up is to say that I think Brodi Ashton hit the nail on the head with the Persephone myth. Of course, she put a lot of twists on things, but a lot more of the core of the myth remained. Though Nikki doesn't hate Cole, who is not Hades but one of the Everliving who lives in the Everneath, she does not trust him either. He did take her there and he did keep her through the months, with her having no say once she let him in a little bit. Cole has a proper amount of darkness to fill this role, and Nikki begins with a sort of weakness I identify with Persephone.

Actually, I loved just about every single thing that Brodi Ashton did with her reworking of the myths. Instead of the Underworld, we have the Everneath, a land populated by the Everliving, humans who have found the secret to eternal life, and Shades, ghosty type things. The Everliving survive by feeding off of the emotions of humans on Earth, but have to bring a particular human to the Everneath every hundred years to Feed. This human is a Forfeit, and once they've completed their service, they are buried in the Tunnels to power the Everneath. It's a wee bit confusing, but mostly just creepy and awesome. Ashton puts a fascinating and unique twist on not just the myth of Persephone, but also that of Orpheus and even incorporates mythologies outside of Greek too.

Nikki, Cole and Jack are the only characters to receive any real attention, but, thankfully, Ashton does a marvelous job with them. Nikki very much has her own way of being, and feels quite real. She is not the most sympathetic heroine, quite passive and depressed much of the time, but she has a core strength, one that she's slowly finding. Seeing her slowly unfold, like a flower after a long winter beautifully matches the arc of the tale. Because of her coldness, I did have some trouble emotionally connecting with her, but I very much appreciated her as a character.

With the listing of Cole and Jack, you might be worried about yet another love triangle, and I do suspect things are heading that way. In Everneath, though, I hardly felt the romance as a main part of the plot. Much of the time, Nikki is too drained of emotion to feel anything. She doesn't trust Cole and is unsure what she wants from her ex, Jack. Their interactions are complicated, and all of the emotions are well established and believable. The closest comparison for the romantic arc in this book is definitely Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr.

My only real complaint is that I would have liked even more of the stellar world building. During the dramatic opening scene, Nikki declares her desire to go to the surface, Shades fly at her, and then she wakes up in a convenience store. Yes, this is dramatic, but it made no sense. Then, all of a sudden, she seems to know the terms of her sentence up above, but, if some of the things she knows are explained to her, I missed them. I want to know every single thing about this world, and I feel like sometimes some information was kept back from me.

If you enjoy original takes on mythology, Everneath is most definitely worth your time. From what I hear, the second book, Everbound improves on the beginning established here, so I most definitely recommend that you give this one a try.

Rating: 3.5/5

Favorite Quote: "'Remembering is easy. It's forgetting that's hard.'"

Review + Giveaway: Renegade Blog Tour

Renegade
Elysium Chronicles, Book 1

Author: J. A. Souders
Pages: 352
Publisher: Tor Teen
Publication Date: November 13, 2012
Source: ARC for Blog Tour hosted by The Book Paparazzi

Description from Goodreads:
Since the age of three, sixteen-year-old Evelyn Winters has been trained to be Daughter of the People in the underwater utopia known as Elysium. Selected from hundreds of children for her ideal genes all her life she’s thought that everything was perfect; her world. Her people. The Law.

But when Gavin Hunter, a Surface Dweller, accidentally stumbles into their secluded little world, she’s forced to come to a startling realization: everything she knows is a lie. Her memories have been altered. Her mind and body aren’t under her own control. And the person she knows as Mother is a monster.

Together with Gavin she plans her escape, only to learn that her own mind is a ticking time bomb... and Mother has one last secret that will destroy them all.

First Sentence: "My life is just about perfect."

Review:
I suspect I know what you're thinking. You're looking at that cover and imagining that this will be yet another cheesy romance disguised as dystopia, with a world built solely to keep the hero and heroine from being able to get it on. Well, let me tell you right now, this is not the case here. The cover is beautiful and has a girl in a dress and just doesn't look like the cover for a true, creepy dystopia. You know what, though? This cover fits the book perfectly AND Renegade also happens to be a true dystopia, one that is freaky and creepy as all get out, and, oh my, did I love it.

You're still skeptical, right? I mean, the first sentence is "My life is just about perfect." That's a little barf-inducing. That was my thought too, so I don't begrudge you this suspicion. I worried at first because it did seem like what I expected: a selfish, naive heroine and a cheesy setup for a romance. I mentally prepared myself for the imminent headdesk that didn't come. I promise you that there's a reason that Evelyn acts the way she does in the beginning, and that reason is dark and shiver-inducing.

What's funny is that for the first couple of chapters this book is straight-up The Little Mermaid. I could think of nothing else at first, and it still makes me laugh. Evelyn likes to spend a lot of time in her garden, the privileged favorite of Mother, the leader of the people. Evelyn, though mostly a good daughter, is a little forgetful, a little disobedient. More obviously, Evelyn gets into trouble for collecting a coin from the surface, since, you know, they live in a community under the sea and aren't supposed to be interested in those on the surface. Mother's wrath reminded me heavily of Triton's when Ariel was all obsessed with the Eric statue and saved the real Eric and everything (though his anger pales in comparison to Mother's when the surface dweller Gavin appears, though that's a topic for later). Anyway, this concludes my discussion of The Little Mermaid.

Things quickly take a turn for the much less Disney, however. Enjoy the lava-shiny happy bits while they last, because it's pretty much going to be a mindfuck for the rest of the journey. As I've mentioned Mother is one scary bitch. She reminds me a bit of Eldest from Across the Universe for those of you who are familiar with that: willing to do anything to make sure her utopia remains just that. She has some serious control issues. Perhaps, though, you need a concrete example of just how horrifyingly awful and terrifying she is to believe my assessment. Well, I'll do you one better: I'll give you two examples.

1. Mother has created her idea of the perfect society in her underwater paradise. Elysium is entirely self-sufficient, can produce all of its food, technology and materials right there, with no need to go to the violent, war-torn surface. They are safe and happy. Every single person in Elysium is also blonde-haired and blue-eyed. Yeah, if taking a page out of Hitler's book doesn't have you fetching a straitjacket to stuff Mother into, then I think you probably need to go get some more education.

2. Even more horrific, since Mother could perhaps have just collected good Aryan stock to bring down with her and not created her society of people with what she believes to be perfect genetics through genocide, are the Enforcers. Every society needs police, of course, because accidents happen and people aren't perfect. Mother's Enforcers, though, are all women, taken from their parents at the age of three to be molded into the perfect killing machines.

I picture them as Mord-Sith.

Yeah, so this one definitely is not in the camp of fluffy books packaged as dystopias as an effort to make more money. It IS a dystopia. Hurrah! I really appreciated Souders' world building and writing, which worked really well with the story she's telling. I also thought the snippets of the society's governing tenants and documents were used to great effect at the beginning of each chapter.

The only weak point for me at all was in the characterization. Of course, this is largely intentional, I think, though I cannot explain precisely why without spoiling something I want to leave completely new to you. I think she gets the narration exactly right for what she's doing, but Evelyn is a little hard to feel with as a result. I will say thought that Evelyn will probably surprise you. She grows and changes constantly as the book progresses; like the ocean, she has hidden depths. Because we get everything through Evelyn's lens, however, the other characters do not coalesce into anything tangible.

More troubling is the instalove. Yes, I know, I hear you crying. While not ideal, I do think the instalove here is less obnoxious than most because of the circumstances they're in and because the society does not exist solely to keep them apart. The romance is there, but it's not the central struggle of the book.

Renegade is jam-packed with action and will totally mess with your head. There are a lot of dissapointing dystopias out there, as happens in any absurdly popular genre, but this one rocks and is definitely worth a read for dystopian fans. I am so excited to find out what will happen in the next book, because the story could go so many places right now and that's just fabulous!

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote: "I try again, using a smile this time—a woman's best weapon is her smile, unless there's a loaded Beretta 9mm nearby."

Giveaway:

Make sure you stop by the guest post of J. A. Souders' favorite movies while you're here! Anywho, you can also enter to win this tour-wide giveaway by filling out the Rafflecopter.

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Review: The Woman Who Died a Lot

The Woman Who Died a Lot
Thursday Next, Book 7

Author: Jasper Fforde
Pages: 363
Publisher: Viking Adult
Source: Publisher for review

Description from Goodreads:
The newest tour de force starring Thursday Next in the New York Times bestselling series

The Bookworld’s leading enforcement officer, Thursday Next, has been forced into a semiretirement following an assassination attempt, returning home to Swindon and her family to recuperate.

But Thursday’s children have problems that demand she become a mother of invention: Friday’s career struggles in the Chronoguard, where he is relegated to a might-have-been; Tuesday’s trouble perfecting the Anti-Smote shield, needed in time to thwart an angry Deity’s promise to wipe Swindon off the face of the earth; and the issue of Thursday’s third child, Jenny, who doesn’t exist except as a confusing and disturbing memory.

With Goliath attempting to replace Thursday at every opportunity with synthetic Thursdays, and a call from the Bookworld to hunt down Pagerunners who have jumped into the Realworld, Thursday’s convalescence is going to be anything but restful as the week ahead promises to be one of the Next family’s oddest.

Series Up to This Book:
1: The Eyre Affair (Goodreads)
2: Lost in a Good Book (Goodreads)
3: The Well of Lost Plots (Goodreads)
4: Something Rotten (Goodreads)
5: First Among Sequels (Goodreads|Review)
6: One of Our Thursdays Is Missing (Goodreads|Review)

First Sentence: "Everything comes to an end."

Review:
Thursday Next and I have been on quite the journey in the last week or so. As I've mentioned, I have generally either not much liked or nigh loved all of the prior Thursday Next books. The Woman Who Died a Lot finally proves that I can actually like two Thursday Next books in a row, so huzzah for that. While this one did not entertain me quite so much as 1, 4, and 6, I found it a solid read without any slow spots.

This Thursday Next book starkly stands out from the rest. The entirety of this book takes place in the real world. Of course, it's Fforde's version of the real world, which reaches high levels of ridiculousness on a slow day. Seriously, there is no BookWorld in this novel, by which I mean the reader doesn't get to go to the BookWorld which does still exist. Since the BookWorld has generally been my favorite part of the series, I was really bummed when I figured that out, but, surprisingly, it worked out.

The saving grace here was that The Woman Who Died a Lot successfully weaves together a few overarching plots, something that failed to happen in First Among Sequels. Rather than feeling like a bunch of jokes welded together artificially, this felt like a story. I will say, though, that there seemed to be a bit less humor in this one overall, as well as less of the literary references, so, if that's what you loved, you will perhaps be disappointed.

Thursday Next is not her usual, gun-slinging, hardcore self. At the end of the prior book, she was discovered injured and her wounds have not yet healed. To walk, she must lean upon a cane and she's developed a Dr. House level addiction to painkillers. Our girl does not have all pistons firing. Because of her physical torments, she doesn't have the strength to read herself into the BookWorld. On the plus side, Spec Ops is reforming, so there will be plenty of work to do. Unfortunately, the job she gets offered is not head of the literary detectives but head librarian.

My favorite bits had to do with the library. Fforde certainly nails some aspects of library service, but I think the librarians of our world would love to live in his. In Swindon, librarians receive huge salaries (and get chauferred to work where a chef cooks the meals) and the libraries get huge budgets. On top of that, librarians have huge political sway and are among the most respected and intimidating people in the community. Librarians, what say you? Shall we decamp to Ffordelandia posthaste?

Another delightful plotline deals with the imminent smiting of Swindon by God, pissed off by Joffy's insistence upon a meeting. A good smiting always proves who's the boss. To prevent this, Tuesday races to complete her Anti-Smite shield, while Goliath Corporation offers a backup that is, of course, nefarious. One fun litte nugget of info to come out of this is that this is an alternate universe from our own likely, since Joffy references that in some alternate realities people are stupid enough to think homosexuality is a sin. Never have I been prouder of my home universe. (Hint: heavy sarcasm)

The final arc involves Friday, who, along with the rest of the people who would have been in ChronoGaurd, receives a letter informing him what his life would have been and what it will be. He discovers that in a few days he will murder one of his classmates, go to prison, and get out just in time to be murdered with a baseball bat. Even with ChronoGuard shut down, it still manages to mess with lives and event lines in rippingly confusing ways.

The Woman Who Died a Lot is perhaps the most mainstream and accessible of Fforde's books, though, of course, trying to pick up the series here and understand anything would be like trying to understand LOST without watching every single episode. The ending makes it clear that at least one more Thursday Next book is in the works, and I suspect there will be lots of BookWorld action. Holla!

Rating: 3.5/5

Favorite Quote:

"'My only companion from the outside world during nineteen years of isolation has been my personal hatred of Thursday Next. It's kind of like the old me suddenly taking over, and I promised myself that this was how I would act if I ever saw you.'
   'I have the same thing, but with Tom Stoppard,' I said.
   'You'd kill Tom Stoppard?'
   'Not at all. I promised myself many years ago that I would throw myself at his feet and scream "I'm not worhty!" if I ever met him, so now if we're ever at the same party or something, I have to be at pains to avoid him. It would be undignified, you see—for him and for me.'"

Giveaway:
For my US readers, I have a hardback copy of The Woman Who Died a Lot to give away, thanks to the generosity of Penguin! Just fill out THIS FORM by October 25th at 11:59 PM.

Review: First Among Sequels

First Among Sequels
Thursday Next, Book 5

Author: Jasper Fforde
Pages: 362
Publisher: Viking
Source: Library

Description from Goodreads:
Literary sleuth Thursday Next is out to save literature in the fifth installment of Jasper Fforde's wildly popular series.

Beloved for his prodigious imagination, his satirical gifts, his literate humor, and sheer silliness, Jasper Fforde has delighted book lovers since Thursday Next first appeared in The Eyre Affair, a genre send-up hailed as an instant classic. Since the no-nonsense literary detective from Swindon made her debut, literature has never been quite the same. Neither have nursery rhymes, for that matter. With two successful books of the Nursery Crime series under his belt, Fforde takes up once again the brilliant adventures of his signature creation in the highly anticipated fifth installment of the Thursday Next series. And it's better than ever.

It's been fourteen years since Thursday pegged out at the 1988 SuperHoop, and Friday is now a difficult sixteen year old. However, Thursday's got bigger problems. Sherlock Holmes is killed at the Reichenbach Falls and his series is stopped in its tracks. And before this can be corrected, Miss Marple dies suddenly in a car accident, bringing her series to a close as well. When Thursday receives a death threat clearly intended for her written self, she realizes what's going on: there is a serial killer on the loose in the Bookworld. And that's not all--The Goliath Corporation is trying to deregulate book travel. Naturally, Thursday must travel to the outer limits of acceptable narrative possibilities to triumph against increasing odds.

Packed with word play, bizarre and entertaining subplots, and old-fashioned suspense, Thursday's return is sure to be celebrated by Jasper's fanatical fans and the critics who have loved him since the beginning.

First Sentence: "The dangerously high level of the stupidity surplus was once again the lead story in The Owl that morning."

Review:
I freaking love the idea of the Thursday Next books. Conceptually, they are perhaps my favorite books out there. They are highly unique, humorous and endlessly tongue-in-cheek. The individual books vary a lot in quality, though, some of which I loved and some of which I've really not liked. First Among Sequels falls somewhere in the middle for me, amusing but still kind of meh in the end.

I love Thursday Next as a character. How often do you have a bookish heroine in her 50s who's still totally a sexy badass? Not that often. I love that. You don't want to mess with Thursday. Despite that, though, she's also loving and silly, a devoted mother and wife. She refuses to call her son, Friday, much to his chagrin, anything but Sweetpea. Thursday is just a complex and illogical as most humans, and I think she shows that you can make an older heroine work. Though Thursday's slowing down a bit, she's still not going to be stopping with her adventures any time soon.

My favorite of the Thursday Next books are The Eyre Affair and Something Rotten. What these two have that the others do not is a tie to a specific piece of literature. Of course, throughout the series, literary references abound. However, both of those focus on one work in particular: Jane Eyre and Hamlet respectively. None of the other books have done so, and I've found them much weaker as a result.

First Among Sequels, like all of Fforde's books, has a lot of humor. I snickered at many things, though I did find the jokes a bit more repetitive in this installment than in others. The stupidity deficit was hilarious at first but was wearing thin by the end. Fforde's humor tends to the absurd, so will not be for everyone, though, to me, it's a big reason to read the books.

I just felt like this book lacked a narrative push. There are a couple of overarching plot lines, but they just didn't seem to propel the story forward or, at least, to compel me to move along at a brisk pace. I spent a fair amount of time a bit bored. Rather than having one large, serious issue, there were a number of little things, which just didn't add up for as satisfactory of an experience, in much the way that the third season of Veronica Mars pales in comparison to the first two.

I will admit, however, that I did get very concerned about the falling ReadRates and the lack of books in bookstores in one of the major plot lines. At one point, Thursday goes to a book store to discover that it now vends movies and coffees (from four different shops), not books. Even though I knew it wasn't real, I was still nervous. Even more upsetting was the possibility of Pride & Prejudice forever being rewritten as a reality show. *cringes*

Also entertaining and typically Fforde-ian was the abundance of Thursdays. In First Among Sequels, there are three different Thursdays, the real Outlander one, the one from books 1-4 in the series and the one from book 5, but not this book 5 - a book 5 that doesn't exist in our world. Basically, if you think about this too hard, it will give you a headache. However, Thursday getting stuck training Thursday1-4 and Thursday5 is rife with comedic possibility. However, there is one chapter where the perspective switches, entirely without warning to Thursday1-4. This was seriously confusing and added nothing to the story. Poorly done, that.

While I am not the sort to skip around within a series, I would recommend for those of you who have that ability that this is a good one to do so in. Or, perhaps, this might be more fun read in small doses, with each chapter as its own island of sorts. Basically, this has charming moments, but I don't think it will stick with me and I was bored sometimes. I do love Pickwick and her plocking, though.

Rating: 2.5/5

Favorite Quote: "'Humans like stories. Humans need stories. Stories are good. Stories work. Story clarifies and captures the essence of the human spirit. Story, in all its forms—of life, of love, of knowledge—has traced the upward surge of mankind. And story, you mark my words, will be with the last human to draw breath.'"

Altered States - Bush

Altered
Altered, Book 1

Author: Jennifer Rush
Pages: 323
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date:  January 2, 2013
Source: Gifted by Bekka of Pretty Deadly Reviews for review & giveaway during Dystopian August

Description from Goodreads:
When you can’t trust yourself, who can you believe?

Everything about Anna’s life is a secret. Her father works for the Branch at the helm of its latest project: monitoring and administering treatments to the four genetically altered boys in the lab below their farmhouse. There’s Nick, Cas, Trev . . . and Sam, who’s stolen Anna’s heart. When the Branch decides it’s time to take the boys, Sam stages an escape, killing the agents sent to retrieve them.

Anna is torn between following Sam or staying behind in the safety of her everyday life. But her father pushes her to flee, making Sam promise to keep her away from the Branch, at all costs. There’s just one problem. Sam and the boys don’t remember anything before living in the lab—not even their true identities.

Now on the run, Anna soon discovers that she and Sam are connected in more ways than either of them expected. And if they’re both going to survive, they must piece together the clues of their past before the Branch catches up to them and steals it all away.

First Sentence: "For most of the last five years, I wasn't allowed in the lab."

Review:
Despite the slightly more boy-friendly cover (maybe? I'm guessing. It seems like it holds more boy appeal than some, but I'm not sure about the shirtless guy), Altered is definitely what we generally quantify as a girl book. The main subject of the book, it's driving force, is romance, with all of the science-fiction-y aspects coming second. If you're in the mood for a really hardcore dystopian novel, this is not the one I would recommend.

We'll start with the things that I liked. The best part was Rush's writing style. Her writing is neither overly ornate nor laughably simple. I thought it worked with the story and the intelligence/education level of the heroine, Anna, from whose perspective we see. The only downside, which I'll extrapolate on later, was the tendency towards hackneyed phrases when it came to romance.

The science stuff was definitely cool. Though much of why this is happening and precisely who is responsible for it remains unanswered, Rush has not left her readers completely in the dark like some dystopian authors like to do. I hope to learn more about the processes and any special skills the boys have in the next book. I've always been a sucker for stories about people with special powers, whether mutated or scientifically-given, so this was right up my alley. So far, the book is not especially dystopian, although I think it does qualify, since the government does know of and fund the Program. Still, it's definitely not the best example of one.

There were, however, quite a few things I did not like. First off, there's the characterization. I hardly feel any connection to any of these characters, even Anna. Since I'm looking a the world through Anna's eyes, I ought to care whether she gets Sam, the boy she's been obsessed with for years...but I don't. Other than the fact that she likes to draw and drools over Sam, I know very little about her. She's sometimes sarcastic, but otherwise she's mostly just naive and kind of boring. The boys are a bit more interesting, with Sam being the one I have the least interest in. Actually, the character I liked best was definitely Nick, who I think was supposed to be the one that I didn't like.

It will likely not come as a surprise to find that I did not ship Sam and Anna, since I wasn't invested in either one individually. The biggest problem I had with them as a ship was that there didn't seem to be any reason for them to be into one another, aside from the whole physical attraction thing. Sam seems so much cleverer than Anna, and they really don't seem to share any interests aside from living. There was never anything to explain why she crushed on him so hard or any conversations between the two about something normal to show a real connection, a possible basis for a relationship not driven by heightened we-could-die-at-any-moment emotions. As far as I can tell, their feelings are manufactured solely by the conditions in which they find themselves.

Perhaps the biggest reason that I couldn't handle them, though, was how obnoxious Anna was whenever she thought about him. She indulged in the kinds of phrases YA heroines love to bandy about that always make me want to punch everything. Here are a couple (though they're from the ARC and could be changed pre-publication):

"If I had known the night before would be our final night together, I would have spent more time with him.
     I would have told him how much he meant to me, that not a second went by when I didn't think about him."

Let's analyze this, shall we? It should be noted that this is early on in the book and Sam has expressed zero interest in her romantically at this point. Her phrasing implies a stronger connection than they had (they played chess together at night, which he always won). What really irritates me is the second half where she says that 'not a second went by' without thoughts of him. Really?! How does she manage to function? Well, she kind of doesn't. She really doze zone out a lot while thinking of him, but, still, think about the implications. When she's taking a dump, she thinks of Sam. All of her dreams? About Sam. NO.

"I fought for air but came up short, like I was drowning, like the panic had filled my mouth, my nose. I gulped. Sam tipped my head back and air trickled into my lungs. This was not happening. Those men were not dead. And Dad was not shot. And I was not so close to Sam that I could feel his breath on my face."

 This quote is worse, as the first can be dismissed as merely a poetic flight of fancy, exaggeration used to show the scale of her love (obsession). This one, though, not so much. Let me add some context: Sam has just shoved her against a rough brick wall, only to stop her from punching him but still. Her first reaction is panic. Okay, good so far. Then disbelief at all the crazy shit that went down (many men were killed so the boys could escape). Realistic response. Her final reaction? Squeeing over how close she is to Sam. *headdesk* This guy just killed a bunch of people, shot your father, and shoved you into a wall and you're STILL distracted by how sexy he is. Oh, HELL TO THE NO.

That all sounds quite harsh, I know, but Altered was a fun, if mindless read. I definitely intend to continue with the story and hope that, since Rush's writing is good, that she will develop further with her characters. Personally, I would love to see a wrench thrown into the story...like Anna starting to like Nick instead? That would be awesome. My opinion: fun book with sexy boys and action scenes but with some major issues.

Favorite Quote: "You're the only person I trust. That's not something you waste."

"Living in a cage
Washing in a birdbath
Sinking in a fish bowl
On a broken farm
I try to never lie
I really do
I wonder if my friends
Will get me through
Conscious of the was as best we can
17 ways to kill a man
States we've been through"

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.

Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart - Stone Temple Pilots

False Memory
False Memory, Book 1

Author: Dan Krokos
Pages: 327
Publisher: Hyperion
Publication Date:  August 14, 2012
Source: Disney/Hyperion via NetGalley

Description from Goodreads:
Miranda wakes up alone on a park bench with no memory. In her panic, she releases a mysterious energy that incites pure terror in everyone around her. Except Peter, a boy who isn't at all surprised by Miranda's shocking ability.

Left with no choice but to trust this stranger, Miranda discovers she was trained to be a weapon and is part of an elite force of genetically-altered teens who possess flawless combat skills and powers strong enough to destroy a city. But adjusting to her old life isn't easy--especially with Noah, the boyfriend she can't remember loving. Then Miranda uncovers a dark truth that sets her team on the run. Suddenly her past doesn't seem to matter...when there may not be a future.

Dan Krokos' debut is a tour-de-force of non-stop action that will leave readers begging for the next book in this bold and powerful new series.

First Sentence: "In the food court I find a mall cop leaning against a pillar."

Review:
As is often the case, I had no clue whatsoever what False Memory was actually about when I started. Other than possibly, if the tag line was any indication, Mufasa.

My only real expectation was lots of action, because of the male author. Honestly, I probably didn't expect there to be much more than that, but, actually False Memory deals with identity, individuality and how our memories affect our personalities. Krokos' new series brims over with action scenes, badass characters and clever world building.

For the first few chapters of False Memory, I was pretty bored. Miranda's in this mall without a memory, and weird things are happening. Enter mysterious hottie to say enigmatic things and tell her to follow him. Sigh, I thought, another one of these?, but, thankfully, Miranda, despite her initial behavior, is NOT the kind of girl to take someone else's word just because they say so.  If you struggle with the opening section, do push on, because once some of the questions were answered, I got all kinds of sucked into this book.

Miranda learns that she is a member of a group of four teens, The Roses, imbued with mind control powers. Two of the others escaped at the same time as she disappeared, memory gone. The team leader, Peter, found her and brought her back to their home. The Doctor in charge sends them to find the other two. When they do, they discover that their might be more to their powers (they can make people feel fear with their brains) than they ever expected. The world building was so cool, and I really hope to learn more about the scope of their power in the next book. Also, I would like to know why their power smells like roses...

There seems to be a new trend in dystopian fiction: male authors writing powerful heroines. I am seriously loving this; False Memory is at least the fifth book that fits that description I've read so far this month. Miranda really appealed to me. I love the logical way she focuses on what's important and practical, rather than letting the eerieness of her situation keep her from doing anything. Plus, she has crazy awesome fighting skills.

Oh yeah, those of you who love action scenes in your books will definitely want be all over False Memory. It is readily apparent that Krokos loves him some fight scenes. Honestly, I'm not that huge of a fight scene person, but his were really well done. I pretty much always had a very clear image in my head of what was going on at any given time, though not so detailed as to bore me. He kept up a quick pace throughout.

Love triangles are totally played out and awful, right? Well, not really, no. They can be THE WORST, when done incorrectly, but the reason people keep writing them is that they can be realistic and powerful. Krokos' love triangle (errr...square? pentagon? hexagon?...I can't keep track by the end) totally worked for me. Miranda, before her memory loss episode, was dating Noah, but, now, she feels much more pull towards Peter. Olive, the fourth member of the group also has a really obvious (to me from the first scene she was in) crush on Noah. What made the hackneyed and predictable relationships more interesting was the fact that Miranda was new. She was in a love triangle without any intention to be. As she is now, she would choose Peter without any difficulty, but flashes of memory and the knowledge of the others push her towards Noah. Without her memories, is she the same person? Will she recall everything and fall for Noah again? These dynamics kept me rapt.

After a skeptical start, Dan Krokos held me in his thrall. False Memory is a fast-moving book that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Also, if you like twists, get excited.

Favorite Quote:

"He stops pacing. 'I know, Miranda, I did it because I—'
   'Stop! Don't say it. I don't want to hear you say it.'
   'I have to say it,' Noah says.
   'No, you don't.' If I hear him say the word love, I don't know what I'll do. I still have my gun. Maybe one day I can forgive him, but all chance of that goes out the window if he claims he did it for love. If you love someone, the idea is respect them enough to trust them. Not to take away their freedom. Their life."

"I am I am I said I'm not myself, but I'm not dead and I'm not for sale
Hold me closer, closer let me go let me be just let me be"

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.

Before the Lobotomy - Green Day

Yesterday

Author: C. K. Kelly Martin
Pages: 352
Publisher: Random House
Publication Date: September 25, 2012
Source: Random House via NetGalley

Description from Goodreads:
THEN: The formation of the UNA, the high threat of eco-terrorism, the mammoth rates of unemployment and subsequent escape into a world of virtual reality are things any student can read about in their 21st century textbooks and part of the normal background noise to Freya Kallas’s life. Until that world starts to crumble.

NOW: It’s 1985. Freya Kallas has just moved across the world and into a new life. On the outside, she fits in at her new high school, but Freya feels nothing but removed. Her mother blames it on the grief over her father’s death, but how does that explain the headaches and why do her memories feel so foggy?

When Freya lays eyes on Garren Lowe, she can’t get him out of her head. She’s sure that she knows him, despite his insistence that they’ve never met. As Freya follows her instincts and pushes towards hidden truths, the two of them unveil a strange and dangerous world where their days may be numbered.

Unsure who to trust, Freya and Garren go on the run from powerful forces determined to tear them apart and keep them from discovering the truth about their shared pasts (and futures), her visions, and the time and place they really came from.

First Sentence: "When I've wailed for so long and so hard that my throat is in shreds and my fingernails ripped and fingertips bloody from clawing at the door, I collapse in front of it curled up like a dead cat I saw on an otherwise spotless sidewalk as a child once."

Review:
My second C. K. Kelly Martin book has me convinced that I need to write every single thing she writes. Martin has a very distinct style. Her writing is wonderful and her concepts, at least for the two books I've already read, are entirely original. Yesterday didn't remind me of any other dystopia, a very rare experience.

Yesterday is one of those stories where you'll spend most of the book confused, unsure what the heck is going on. However, rest easy with the knowledge that you WILL be given answers; Martin will explain everything. Her vision of the future is dark and complex, taking into account various ways that humans could destroy the world. Not only that, but, of course, the meddlesome government will take charge in a harsh way to try to control everything.

I really cannot say much of anything else about the world building aspect of Yesterday, because spoilers would be unavoidable. The only other things I need to point out in this regard are the reasons I rated it down a little bit. First, there was the clunky info dump when Freya realized what was going on. I'm not sure if there was a better way to do that, but that chapter read like a history text. I also felt like her memories came back too quickly and easily. Second, the time travel aspects were questionable, but, then again, I almost always have big suspension of disbelief issues with time travel.

Yesterday made a really nice change from most of my other reads, because of the unique setting. For one thing, the book is set in Canada, taking place largely in Toronto. Very few books I've read have had a Canadian setting, though I'm a bit surprised by that. Even more uncommon, Yesterday is set primarily in the 1980s. I loved all the mentions of music, like The Smiths, and other bits of pop culture from that time period. Also, picturing everyone in the horrific clothes greatly amused me.

Freya won my affections early on. She's gorgeous, in a way that could have made her completely obnoxious; literally, everyone stares at her. However, she is completely uncomfortable with that. She doesn't try to be popular; instead she befriends the goths, and even does a makeover on herself so people will pay less attention to her. I loved that, despite her beauty, she doesn't take advantage of it nor does she deny it.

Freya has premonitions, visions of the near future. These really could have felt out of place, and I am curious about them, but Martin made them work. They did not come off as an unnecessary paranormal addition to the plot, thank goodness. I love Freya for her intelligence, her forthrightness, her courage and her anger. She feels so real. It also entertained me that in this case, it wasn't a heroine falling for a vaguely creepy, gorgeous guy who stalked her; she does the stalking, although she does have her reasons.

Garren definitely was less dear to me, but I liked him because Freya did. I still question him a bit, because he had a girlfriend at the beginning. The switch of his feelings from Janette to Freya seemed rushed and unnatural. However, I can accept it, since, though they get close to one another VERY quickly, they don't instalove all over the place. In such a stressful situation, emotions developing is not a surprise, but I would have punched everything if they were declaring eternal love for one another. Thankfully, they did not. As an added bonus, Martin is a genius at writing steamy scenes, as evidenced here and in My Beating Teenage Heart.

Reading Yesterday was a pleasure from beginning to end, a refreshingly original addition to dystopian fiction. Now I need to go add her other books to my wishlist...

Favorite Quote: "'I can't stop saying it, Garren. It's the truth. I'm not going to pretend for you. The past doesn't disappear just because you don't want to hear it.'"

"Dreaming, I was only dreaming
Of another place and time
Where my family's from"

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.

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.

Les Valse des Monstres - Yann Tiersen (+ Giveaway)

Seraphina
Seraphina, Book 1

Author: Rachel Hartman
Pages: 451
Publisher: Doubleday Canada
Publication Date: July 10, 2012
Source: Random House via Random Buzzers

Description from Goodreads:
Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty's anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.

Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered—in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen's Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.

In her exquisitely written fantasy debut, Rachel Hartman creates a rich, complex, and utterly original world. Seraphina's tortuous journey to self-acceptance is one readers will remember long after they've turned the final page.

First Sentence: "I remember being born."

Review:
Hey, party people! I know I've been super behind lately! I'm so sorry about that, because it totally makes me look really lazy, but I've just been really busy with life stuff, even though, usually, this mostly is my life. This weekend, I was in Pittsburgh for my step-grandfather's hundredth birthday party. There were some open bars and excellent opportunities to hang out with family I don't see much. I also got to finish some books, although not nearly enough since the days were busy, but I finished two on the way up and two on the way down, the first of which was Seraphina.

Getting through this book took me a while, only because of the life stuff. I could have read this in one intense sitting, although I would definitely have sobbed had that been the case. I was definitely fighting off tears while I was riding on MARTA. Anyway, I totally adored this book and I am so thrilled that I was chosen to be an Ambuzzador for something I truly appreciate so much. Even better, I have a copy to give away to one of you, so that I can share the magic with others, which I really love to do.

I have to start by talking about the dragons, because, ummm, dragons are freaking cool. Seraphina is pretty much what I was dreaming the book Firelight would be...only better. This one, too, has dragon shifters, but these are so much better thought out and so much more serious than Sophie Jordan's. This isn't about dragons just because paranormal's in; Seraphina focuses more on social tensions, bigotry, and prejudice.

The dragons here remind me most of Vulcans. They live their lives based on logic and find emotions to be in bad taste. However, one of the most fascinating aspects is how shifting to human form can affect their brains, breeding improper emotions like love and hatred. There was also a scary aspect, since any dragon found guilty of undue emotion was likely to get his/her dragon brain wiped of all memories, so that the human taint could be removed.

As may be obvious, there is a lot of tension between humans and dragons (whether in human form or not), despite the treaty that has created a tentative alliance between the two species. These tensions are seriously close to erupting after the murder (possibly by a dragon) of one of the countries princes. An anti-dragon group , the Sons of Ogdo, is constantly gaining in adherents. Meanwhile, the dragons obviously view humans with some amount of contempt, both for their emotions and their brief lifespans.

In this world, humans and dragons (while in human form...there is no bestiality up in here) are forbidden from forming romantic attachments and, most especially, from procreating. Well, as with rules, this one has been broken. Seraphina discovers in her youth that she is half-dragon. Her father did not know, in fact, that his wife was a dragon until she died in childbirth, her silver blood spilling from her body. Seraphina has red blood, but she also has scales along her stomach, back and arms. She leaves her life trying to avoid notice, a lonely life with only her tutor and uncle, Orma, for a friend.

Despite her need for anonymity, she cannot keep quiet when she begins to suspect she knows the answers to some of the mystery surrounding the prince's death. She finds herself having to choose between her country's best interests and her own, between loneliness and love. Seraphina is an amazingly strong, wonderful heroine. I loved her for her faults as well as her skills and cleverness; she lies constantly, even when the truth might be better, and she has serious trust issues. She is, however, braver than just about anyone.

Seraphina was DAMN close to being a perfect five star read for me. The only aspect that I continually found jarring, even though Hartman did explain it and it did work, was Seraphina's mental garden. This won't really make sense if you haven't read the book, but you'll get it when you do. I personify things, including my brain, picturing it filled with disordered shelves covered in dust, often locked with now wayward keys. That's probably a little weird, or even a lot. Seraphina's relationship with her mind, though, makes mine pale in comparison. It was just a bit too weird for me, and the descriptions perhaps ran a bit long. It was the only part of the book that dragged at all for me.

This book seems to me like Firelight (for the dragon shifters) + Cinder (girl who has to hide what she is, affecting her relationships) + a whole lot more awesomeness that is all Rachel Hartman's. The writing and the world building are both completely exceptional. I am already salivating for the sequel and the title hasn't even been released yet. I declare myself to be, based on just this novel, a firm Hartman fan.

To enter to win a copy, fill out the rafflecopter below. US only. Also, please don't lie. I regularly pick two or three winners before I choose someone who has actually done the thing their entry claimed they did. This makes me sad inside.

Rating: 4.5/5

Favorite Quote: "‘I was just chased through St. Willibald’s, and you know why? Because I was kind to a quig. I scrupulously hide every legitimate reason for people to hate me, and then it turns out they don’t need legitimate reasons. Heaven has fashioned a knife of irony to stab me with.’"

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Keep Forgetting - The Cinematics

Memento Nora
Memento Nora, Book 1

Author: Angie Smibert
Pages: 184
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish

Brief Summary:
On a completely ordinary day, Nora goes out shopping with her mother. Terrorists attack the mall, and Nora witnesses the death of a man. This is the first time she has ever needed to go to the TFC (Therapeutic Forgetting Clinic), where she will be given a pill that will remove the trauma of the memory. While there, she meets a boy who refuses to take the pill and, upon learning a dark secret about her mother, decides to abstain as well.

Review:
The dystopian world in which Memento Nora is set is not too different from the world of today. The technology, aside from the pills and phones with even better technology, does not seem to far out of the realm of today's capabilities. This one reminds me most of Uglies, because of the slang, and Little Brother for the contemporary setting.

My favorite thing about Memento Nora was the focus on comics, and the power the written word can have. I love that the teens are creating this comic strip to help remember, to make a difference in their little community. Creating a newspaper or a pamphlet is an age-old method of rebellion. Here, it's just been moved into new methods.

The characters were pretty decent. I really liked getting to see from perspectives of Nora, Micah and Winter. However, it would have been nice to have their sections be a bit more balanced. Most of the chapters are from Nora's POV, even though she does the least from the comic-making perspective.

Given the short duration of the book and the pretty easy languages, this would be a good title for middle grade or reluctant readers, especially those into art. I am certainly looking forward to the sequel, The Forgetting Curve, which will be published by Marshall Cavendish this May.

Rating: 3/5

"The street's on fire
They'll push you down again, oh
Something I keep forgetting"

No Memory - Stone Temple Pilots

Before I Go to Sleep

Author: S. J. Watson
Pages: 356
ARC Acquired from: HarperCollins via NetGalley

Brief Summary:
Christine Lucas wakes up every morning, unsure of who she is, how she got there and who the middle-aged man sleeping next to her is. She is an amnesiac, often able to remember nothing more than her childhood, and not much of that. Every morning, her husband explains how she was involved in a hit and run, after which she lost her memory. Every night as she sleeps, the day's memories are wiped away, leaving her to do the same thing again the next day. Now though, things are changing, because she has been seeing a doctor, behind her husband Ben's back. The doctor got her to keep a journal, in an effort to help her gather her memories and have a thread running through her life. As she compares her memories to her current life and what she's being told, she starts to realize that things do not add up. But is it her memories that are wrong or is someone lying to her?

Review:
Before I Go to Sleep is not the type of novel I ordinarily read, but the reviews looked good and I wanted to try it. I am definitely glad I did, although it's one of those stories so painful that it's hard to say that I really 'liked' it. However, it was very well done and the writing was skilled. The story is told over the course of just one day. It starts out with Christine awaking in the morning, getting filled in by Ben and his leaving for work. Then, she receives a call from Dr. Nash that tells her to find her journal, which she (and the reader) then reads, filling us in on the past couple weeks. Once done with that, the focus returns to the present. This narrative style worked very well, much better than if it had been told solely through journal entries.

At first, the story reminded me a lot of the movie 50 First Dates with Adam Sandler. In that movie, this same type of memory loss is portrayed as cute, almost a good thing, because they can fall in love anew every day. Before I Go to Sleep is much more realistic. As you see the world through Christine's viewpoint, you can really imagine just how terrifying it would be to wake up and not know anything about where or who you are, how devastating it would be to look in the mirror and find yourself twenty years older, how difficult it would be to really trust anyone or anything, even your own words, when you have no memories to back them up, and how impossible it would be to do anything, by which I mean that there is no way you would really be able to hold a job. You would have to be utterly dependent on someone else, which super sucks since you don't know if you can truly trust them.

The psychological aspects of this were incredibly arresting. Putting yourself inside that character is horrifying. Even though it is hard to really bond with Christine (she has trouble bonding with herself, because she doesn't know who she is, and she has definitely, in her past, done some rather bad things), you cannot help feeling for her and hoping that things will get better. It is so sad how helpless someone is without their memory.

I will also forewarn you that this book has scary moments and is, most definitely, a thriller, although much of the book isn't like this. Again, I do not much like thrillers, but I think this one was well done; the clues were laid successfully and, even though I could mostly see it coming, it was still shocking just because it's hard to believe such awfulness happens. This is a must read for folks who love psychological thrillers or those who have an interest in the importance of memory.

Toccata and Fugue in D Minor - Johann Sebastian Bach

The Book of Laughter and Forgetting

Author: Milan Kundera
Pages: 288
Publisher: Penguin

This is not a book that really lends itself to summarization, so I'm not going to even try (Yoda would be disappointed otherwise, and you don't want to disappoint Yoda). The best explanation of the book comes from within its own pages:

"This entire book is a novel in the form of variations. The individual parts follow each other like individual stretches of a journey leading toward a theme, a thought, a single situation, the sense of which fades into the distance.
It is a novel about Tamina, and whenever Tamina is absent, it is a novel for Tamina. She is its main character and main audience, and all the other stories are variations on her story and come together in her life as a mirror.
It is a novel about laughter and forgetting, about forgetting and Prague, about Prague and angels." (165-6)

This really does convey what The Book of Laughter and Forgetting is like. The book is composed of a series of vignettes, some obviously related to one another and others, so far as I can tell, coming out of left field. The composition of the novel is similar to the one other Kundera book I have read, The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Both are told in brief snippets and focus as much (actually more) as philosophy as on characters.

The difference lies in the fact that The Unbearable Lightness of Being had a clearly defined cast, setting and plot. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting does not have any such clear cut framework. In fact, his description that the parts follow one another towards a theme, only to have sense fade into the distance, perfectly captures my experience reading this novel. Any time I started getting really interested in a particular character, journey, philosophical idea, etc, or even just started to think I knew what he was getting at, the story would inevitably leap to something else entirely, leaving me more confused and irritated than before.

He also does some weird postmodern, breaking the fourth wall stuff that really was not working for me. I have never been a huge fan of novelists including themselves as a character in their works (name and all), and this was one of those times where it did not work for me. Another thing that bothered me was the weird metaphor where death was like childhood, which also involved children raping an adult woman. That was weird and creepy, and didn't really quite work as a metaphor. And, sadly, it's not the only rape scene in the book.

Sometimes, I could tell that Kundera was getting close to something interesting here, but I don't feel like he made it. There is definitely a reason why The Unbearable Lightness of Being is the more well-known work. I would recommend reading that one first.