Review: The Boy Next Door by Katie Van Ark

#10 ... and stocked for a while!

I said I'd be back!

This past weekend I had the good fortune to attend the ALA Midwinter conference in Chicago, IL. My mom is a school librarian, and she has the most unfortunate book-buying budget that I've ever heard of. It was wonderful to see her so excited meeting with publishers and adding new books to her collection. She was able to contribute a significant number of books for a greatly reduced price (a majority ARCs, a few legit books that she bought, and even a few donated by understanding/awesome publishers!) to a library that has pretty much only grown over the past year out of her own pocket. It was exciting for me as well, seeing how happy she was and that made it worth lugging a few bags full of books around Chicago :)

On to this week's book:

The Boy Next Door is a novel by Katie Van Ark. This book was handed to me by a representative for Macmillan publishing, advertising for their new imprint, SwoonReads. I kind of regret not picking up a copy of each of the four books they had available! SwoonReads sounds right up my alley--sitting on the Young Adult / New Adult fence, SwoonReads was described to me as the American Idol for YA/NA writers. Authors upload their manuscript to the website, readers peruse whatever they please, and through good reader feedback/ratings, books get published! Such an awesome platform!

If this sounds like your cup of tea, check out their website! Swoonreads.com.

Maybe you have a book you have been working one, or maybe you just like reading a little romance. Either way, books are getting created through a community effort. There is something beautiful in that.

Anyway, finally on to the review.

The Boy Next Door by Katie Van Ark

The Boy Next Door

- pages: 368

- rating: 3.5/5

- personal copy: ARC

[Goodreads Info]

I don't know if any of you have seen The Cutting Edge, but if you haven't, the basic premise is that an arrogant hockey player and a prissy pairs figure skater make an unconventional pairs skating team. Sparks fly on and off the ice, and you end up with a 90s movie that is so bad it is watch-every-time-it's-on good. It has a special place in my heart.

Being so, I could not resist this book when I read the back cover. Maddy and Gabe have been best friends their whole lives. Since a very young age, they have depended on each other, not only as friends, but also as a successful pairs figure skating team. Early on, we get that Maddy has the hots for Gabe, but Gabe is your stereotypical NA man-whore and hasn't really given Maddy much serious thought. His M.O. with dating girls is "two weeks and out." This set up sounds a little bit like every cliched YA/NA book out there--but then you add the ice skating!

Maddy and Gabe, as a figure skating team, are good--exceptional, even. We follow them back and forth: practice, school, competitions, family get-togethers, and all the while they are fighting every instinct they have to be together. There is typical high school drama, but then there is also the magic of figure skating. Let's face it, if figure skating is on TV, no one in my house is changing the channel. Van Ark does a great job capturing the emotions of a competing team, as well as describing figure skating performances with beautiful detail. 

Like any YA/NA novel, there is drama, there is angst, there are misunderstandings that lead to more angst. But for some reason the added element of figure skating was fresh enough that I actually enjoyed it. Maddy and Gabe's relationship was also well-defined. It didn't feel like an insta-love, no-one-out-there-but-you trope because it seemed almost like the two should be together--they've been inseparable since elementary school.

One thing of note--this book is written in alternating point of view. I typically am very leery of books with alternating PoV because so few authors make their characters' thought process unique enough (imho) that they are believable. I feel like some times it is difficult to determine who is speaking because the male character sounds just like the female lead. Not necessarily so with The Boy Next Door. Van Ark did a nice job developing her characters' voices so that the reader understands each of them and actually cares about how he or she is seeing an interpreting things.

For her debut novel, Katie Van Ark gives us a fluffy tale that is entertaining and is also a fairly quick read. If this is a good example of the kind of product that will be released by SwoonReads on a consistent basis, then I will have to give that website a much closer look in the coming months!!

Thank you, Macmillan and SwoonReads, for giving me the chance to read this ARC! I enjoyed it!

Review: The Scorpio Races, by Maggie Stiefvater

#8 and a little bashful.

Hey! I know it has been entirely too long since my last blog post. Just want to throw out there that successfully completing grad school has been a top priority of mine recently.

But I wanted to stop by to give a quick review to The Scorpio Races, by Maggie Stiefvater. Now ya'll (yes, I just said that.)--this is my finals week. I'm taking exams for yet another quarter (I know it was finals week last time I posted, but school is hard!) and I still find myself idiotically wasting time by treating my Nook like it is my only possession.

I'm not sorry that I did it though.

The Scorpio Races, by Maggie Stiefvater

The Scorpio Races:

-pages: 416

-rating: 4.5/5

[Goodreads info]

This book is dark. It is about courage, loyalty, and how much you are willing to do for what you love.

Stiefvater has created an altogether terrifying new type of paranormal monster: the capall uisce. They are essentially Kelpies, but the folklore surrounding those creatures don't quite match. For example, the capall uisce don't lie in wait of passersby to lure into being drowned. These horse-creatures are of the sea, yet manifest on the island of Thisby only during certain situations. They might go to land when they're hungry (a predator no one wants to meet), or during a storm--but the first week of November, the time of The Scorpio Races, is when they're more commonly found. Islanders of Thisby capture these creatures in the (usually vain) hopes of taming them enough to win the tradition-laden race. While I would never want to meet one on a bad day, the capall uisce are fascinating.

Besides the wonderful paranormal aspects, the characters in this book, their situations, radiate overwhelming sense of loss and hopelessness--yet all I did while reading was hope for them. That they would all get what they wanted--what they needed.

While in dire situations, however, the characters themselves aren't depressing. The book alternates points-of-view between 19-year-old Sean Kendrick and the younger (17? maybe? can't remember) Puck [Kate] Connolly. Both characters have a strong voice and are extremely likable. They remain steadfast and true no matter what island life and ill-fortune throws at them.

The review I'm posting is what I wrote in those first moments after finishing this book.

"Amazing. Absolutely wonderful. It's like Misty of Chincoteague met Hidalgo and the two came up with at YA fantasy/paranormal hybrid between them.

While reading The Scorpio Races, I was hit with at nostalgic pang of wonder, the likes of which the Misty books brought out in me as a child. Yet the dark mystery of the horses--the capall uisce--and the tale of Sean Kendrick and the Connolly clan had me flipping through the pages for entirely different reasons."

Some of those reasons being this:

1) The book isn't predictable. You think you know what might happen, but you want so many different things to happen all at once that you don't see how any of it could be possible. I was utterly resigned to being heartbroken in one way or another and I won't say whether or not I am because I don't want to give anything away to you should you decide to read it.

2) The romance. Yes, in typical YA fashion, there is a touch of romance--but the romance doesn't consume the story. It's heartwarming, understandable. I loved it.

3) This novel is stand-alone. STAND-ALONE! You get a resolution. [This excites me because I find it oh-so-devastating when sequels ruin a good thing]

I'm done listing reasons why I devoured this book, but that doesn't mean that there aren't more. I need to get back to studying for my next exam. Have a great day everyone!

What is the last book you just absolutely couldn't put down?

Review: Supernaturally, by Kiersten White

#7 And just plain tired.

Finals week is here, and after my first finals all-nighter I completely crashed! But I am back, sending out one more review before I hit the books again!

Anyway, a few months ago I read Paranormalcy by Kiersten White.

I loved it. It was fun, had a quick, interesting plot line, and Evie (the main character) was one of the best heroines that I had read in a while. Aside from a strong penchant for anything pink, she is funny, tough, a force to be reckoned with. Simply put, she is easily one of my favorite leading ladies in literature right now. [Goodreads info]

*Sigh.* Such a beautiful cover. Long story short, it was excellent and I give it a solid 4/5 stars.

I was so excited that I had such a short amount of time to wait for the sequel (think: Divergent, or Enclave--sequels coming out in 2012....devastating). So as soon as I could, I got my hands on a copy of Supernaturally, the equally-stunning subsequent novel in this trilogy. Let's just take a look at that cover.

Supernaturally, by Kiersten White

Supernaturally:

-pages: 336

-rating: 3.5/5

[Goodreads info]

To me, reviewing sequels seems particularly tricky, because I don't want to give anything away to anyone who hasn't yet read it. So let me just try to navigate those waters.

Supernaturally picks up some time after Paranormalcy has ended. We find Evie--now known as Evie Green for legal purposes--living a normal life. Well, it's as normal as life could be for someone with...talents...such as hers. She's finally doing the thing she most desired--attending high school! However compared to the sensationalized view of high school she has eaten up from her favorite tv show, Easton Heights, real life isn't quite living up to her expectations.

Lend is away at college, and she only sees him on weekends. Her PE teacher seems to have it out for her. Someone she shouldn't ever see again has taken to visiting her in her dreams. And then on top of all that, applying to Georgetown, working in the diner, and trying to enjoy life among "normal" people, one of the last people she ever expects to see suddenly pops back into her life. And she brings company.

Suddenly, Evie is back on missions for the IPCA. Strange things keep happening to her on said missions, paranormals are acting strange whenever they see her, and Lend hasn't seen his mom for months. Then there's the ever-present reminder of what, exactly, Evie is hiding from Lend.

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Evie learns a lot about herself in this book. But besides the back story, relationship drama (needs moar Lend), and questioning her own mortality, not much else happens. White introduced a lot of potentially interesting plot twists here and there, but since none of them are resolved, those are obviously meant for Endlessly, the last book in this trilogy, to be released God-knows-when (really, 2012...).

For me, anyway, the main plot line seems like space filler--something introduced to get the readers through the second book and waiting for the third. I couldn't relate to the characters as well as I could in the first book. Perhaps it was the decidedly absent Lend, the lack of kookiness we got to see through Evie's former life with the IPCA, or even the introduction of a new character who just didn't quite evoke feelings from me. I don't know.

Maybe I'm being a little harsh, but I think Supernaturally just lacked that certain...sparkle... that just emanated from Parnormalcy. Perhaps you'll think otherwise. I hope you'll think otherwise.

All that being said, I will still definitely read Endlessly whenever it is released next year, because as previously mentioned--I'm sure we'll see resolutions for a few of the story lines introduced in this sequel.

Anyway, this study break is finished! I'm going back to hit the books, and then post-final-exam on Tuesday I'll post a review for the book that I just COULDN'T PUT DOWN while trying to study for my first test :)

What sequels are you most anxiously waiting for?

Review: Anna and the French Kiss

#6 exhausted, yet excited

Okay, so maaaaaybe it wasn't the best idea to try starting a book blog the week before my final exams begin. But I have loved every minute of it so far!

The last couple of days have been crazy, as I had a huge exam in my worst subject on Tuesday. The thing is, with so much riding on this exam, I pulled an all-nighter. Gross, right? Well, then I crashed. Hard. So it is now two-ish days later, but I am BACK!

So let's get to it.

Now, yes, I had an exam on Tuesday. But while I was sitting through the most insufferable of classes on Monday, I turned to my dear ol' iPod to help me stay awake. My iPod led me to Stanza, the BEST ebook-reading app out there, in my humble opinion. Stanza let me to Anna and the French Kiss, by Stephanie Perkins.

Since I got my nook (the reason why I link all of these books back to Barnes & Noble), my iPod book library is much smaller to save room. But Anna and the French Kiss is one of those books that I will always NEED to have with me.

So I started re-reading AatFK at 1:30pm, and then by 3:30 in the morning, I had completely finished it. It didn't matter that I knew what was going to happen. It didn't matter that I had an exam in 4.5 hours. I was once again completely sucked into this story. If you haven't read it yet, I hope that this review is enough to convince you to finally give it a chance!

Anna and the French Kiss, by Stephanie Perkins

Anna and the French Kiss:

-pages: 375

-rating: 5/5

[Goodreads info]

For this review, I'm just going to give you the Goodreads lowdown, aka summary. I just want to react.

Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris - until she meets Etienne St. Clair: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he's taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home.

As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near - misses end with the French kiss Anna - and readers - have long awaited?

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Okay. Almost everything about this book gives me one of those silly grins from ear-to-ear. Stephanie Perkins gives us characters who are not only funny, who are very well-developed, who have great chemistry, but who are most importantly real.

By the time I'm finished with this book (both times, haha), I feel like I am Anna's best friend. I want to share her experiences and chat with her all about them. I want to pick the book up all over again and read it for a third time. I want the book to pick up where it left off and just KEEP GOING.

Anna Oliphant is hysterical, a 17-year-old girl whose rapier wit is utterly enviable. I idolize her, and I'm at least 5 years her senior.

True, some of the decisions Anna makes / the actions Anna takes are questionable--because some of the consequences are cringeworthy--but she exhibits great intelligence when it counts and somehow always knows the right things to say to someone when they need to hear it the most.

Etienne St. Clair is one of the most swoon-worthy boys in YA literature. He might not be the tallest bloke around, but ladies and gentlemen--I'm short and that is the least of my issues. Almost immediately I began to fall in love with St. Clair. He and Anna just click and quickly develop one of the best rapports that I have ever read.

I honestly can't say enough about this book. Everything about it is perfect. Give it a try if you haven't already. Trust me.

And, if you HAVE read this book, and LOVE IT like I do,

are you ready for Stephanie Perkins' next novel?

Lola and the Boy Next Door, by Stephanie Perkins

Lola and the Boy Next Door:

-pages: 338

-rating: TBA

[Goodreads info]

Here's the summary:

Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion . . . she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit -- more sparkly, more fun, more wild -- the better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood.

When Cricket -- a gifted inventor -- steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

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I honestly CAN'T. WAIT. for this book to be released. I know a few people who were lucky enough to get an ARC of Lola, and I am insanely jealous of them. I have such high expectations, haha.

So who out there is as eager for Lola as I am? What other books are you desperately waiting for?

Have a good night!

Recommendation: Author Richelle Mead

#5 Sunday, why you here so soon?

Today I'm going to be doing a more general recommendation.

A year-or-so ago, when I officially came down from my Twilight high (I'm a self-proclaimed recovering Twilight addict), I started scouring the internet for reviews/recommendations of books that would be sure to catch my interest.

Among those that captivated me were The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins and The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. However, among those YA books, an adult series also captivated my attention.

Georgina Kincaid series, by Richelle Mead

book 1: Succubus Blues

book 2: Succubus on Top

book 3: Succubus Dreams

book 4: Succubus Heat

book 5: Succubus Shadows

I'm not going to list off the entire series, so here's the breakdown for book 1, Succubus Blues

-pages: 343

-series rating: 4/5

[Goodreads info]

And here's the Goodreads summary for Succubus Blues

Succubus. An alluring, shape-shifting demon who seduces and pleasures mortal men. Pathetic. A succubus with great shoes and no social life. See: Georgina Kincaid.

When it comes to jobs in hell, being a succubus seems pretty glamorous. A girl can be anything she wants, the wardrobe is killer, and mortal men will do anything just for a touch. Granted, they often pay with their souls, but why get technical?

But Seattle succubus Georgina Kincaid's life is far less exotic. Her boss is a middle-management demon with a thing for John Cusack movies. Her immortal best friends haven't stopped teasing her about the time she shape-shifted into the Demon Goddess getup complete with whip and wings. And she can't have a decent date without sucking away part of the guy's life. At least there's her day job at a local bookstore--free books; all the white chocolate mochas she can drink; and easy access to bestselling, sexy writer, Seth Mortensen, aka He Whom She Would Give Anything to Touch but Can't.

But dreaming about Seth will have to wait. Something wicked is at work in Seattle's demon underground. And for once, all of her hot charms and drop-dead one-liners won't help because Georgina's about to discover there are some creatures out there that both heaven and hell want to deny...

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This Urban Fantasy series is a great fun, quick read. I blew through all of the available books, and am looking forward to book #6, Succubus Revealed, which will be released in September. Mead's leading lady Georgina Kincaid is a spunky, intelligent paranormal who is conflicted about the consequences of her existence. Add a dash of intrigue and a bit of mystery, and hopefully you'll be blazing through these books as quickly as I was!

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Mead has also received a lot of notice for her Vampire Academy series. I'll admit, I avoided reading these books for a long time because I'd had enough of the whole vampire thing, but I finally caved. I read them ALL last week. Like my life depended on it, I couldn't stop reading.

The Vampire Academy series, by Richelle Mead

book 1: Vampire Academy

book 2: Frostbite

book 3: Shadow Kiss

book 4: Blood Promise

book 5: Spirit Bound

book 6: Last Sacrifice

Vampire Academy

-pages: 332

-series rating: 4.5/5

[Goodreads info]

Summary for Vampire Academy, from Goodreads:

St. Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding school—it’s a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They’ve been on the run, but now they’re being dragged back to St. Vladimir’s—the very place where they’re most in danger. . . .

Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy’s ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi—the world’s fiercest and most dangerous vampires—make Lissa one of them forever.

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Please just trust me when I say "Read this." This as a fast-paced, high-action plot line and isn't your stereotypical Vampire romance novel. Rose is a kick-ass young woman, funny and all kinds of awesome. Besides her amazing dynamic with her best friend Lissa, there's heaps of UST with a not-yet-mentioned-in-the-summary Dhampir named Dimitri.

I LOVE Dimitri. Beyond reason. Almost right off the bat, Dimitri and Rose gave me shivers. I heard whispers of a movie suggested, and almost fell over from the excitement.

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One more thing before I wrap up this insanely long post.

A SPIN-OFF SERIES

Richelle Mead is working on another YA series, spun off of the Vampire Academy books. Bloodlines follows Sydney, one of the ~minor characters from the VA series. I'm not going to include the summary for this book because it contains some major spoilers for the Vampire Academy books. But when this book is fresh off the presses next month (August 23!), I guarantee you I will do whatever possible to get my hands on it! Here's the [Goodreads info].

So to wrap up, you can rest assured that Richelle Mead is one of those authors that I will be following for quite some time. I have high hopes for the books she will be releasing soon, and feel confident that they will be great additions to her already quite impressive bibliography.

Which authors seem to resonate with you? Whose career will you be watching closely?

Have a great week, everyone :)

Review: Divergent, by Veronica Roth

#3 It's Friday, I'm in love

The book I'm reviewing right now is one of my favorite books of the year all time.

Last month my twitter was abuzz with mentions of some book that was apparently "like The Hunger Games, but better!"

Now, I'm a huge fan of The Hunger Games books (and I will likely review them after I have read them again), so I had to track it down. This book was Divergent, by Veronica Roth.

Divergent, by Veronica Roth

Divergent:

- pages: 487

- rating: 5/5

[Goodreads info]

Set in dystopian Chicago, this book reveals little of the Chicago as I currently know it. The city is no longer a playground, home to millions of the most interesting of people, places, and events. Instead it is a strict system of factions, each separate and contributing to society in different ways. There are five such factions: Abnegation, Amity, Candor, Dauntless, and Erudite.

I'm sure you can guess which characteristics each faction values above all others. Abnegation are a selfless people. Amity are kind, Candor value truth in all things, Erudite are scholars. Dauntless are the fearless, the guardians of this society.

During the year following each member of society's 16th birthday, each young male and female takes an exam of sorts which identifies for which Chicago faction his or her personality is most suited. Each individual mulls over what his or her exam revealed, and then at a special ceremony he or she must choose in which faction he or she will belong. It all boils down to this: will you remain with everything you've ever known or will you follow your destiny?

Such is the choice for Beatrice Prior. She knows that as a member of Abnegation, she should put all others' needs and well-being above her own. Yet there are parts of her that struggle with this way of life. Her entire family is in Abnegation, and to choose an alternate faction is to leave everything she knows and loves behind. If she abandons the way of the Abnegates then she abandons her family.

Beatrice's decision will not be easy. The results of her exam are "inconclusive," for reasons which I will not divulge. ;) This makes everything all the more difficult for her as she struggles to figure out what type of person she is, and where in society she is destined to be.

The ceremony arrives, and Beatrice, having thought over the strange information resulting from her exam, makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself. She is whisked away to deal with the consequences and we follow her through every single trial and tribulation that comes as a result of her decision. The going is rough, with more challenges than most people can deal with.

As I followed Beatrice Prior on this journey, I fell in love. With everything. Beatrice, later known as Tris, is one of the most well-developed, likable female teens that I have ever had the good fortune of encountering in fiction. She wasn't annoying, I never wanted to yell at her. Tris's personality and voice resonated in me--she is such a strong, intelligently developed character that it was only with reluctance that I moved onto another book; to a new set of characters.

Tris wasn't the only great thing about this book. Roth created a plethora of multi-dimensional characters that each contributed in varying, yet integral ways to the relation of this story. From Tris's family to the friends she makes in her "Faction class" (for lack of a better descriptor), each person contributes to the type of person Tris is turning out to be.

I can't say too much more without giving too much away. So I will only elaborate on a few more things.

1) Roth gives us Four. You have to read to figure out what I mean by that, but let me just say this. Four is another reason why I never wanted to stop reading. *sigh* Four.

2) Chicago. As a resident of this great city, it was fascinating for me to see the future state of this area. Dilapidated buildings, rusted over monuments and landmarks--my imagination went wild the entire time. If you've ever been to Chicago, you'll know exactly what I mean.

3) It's a trilogy. Book number 2, Insurgent is currently being written by Roth. It is the sweetest form of torture, knowing that there is going to be two more books in this series, but also having to stand idly by while Roth tweets notices like "2.5k words today" and similar notices like that. I want it nowww.

4) I has me inspired. I mess around with the GIMP and photoshop CS5 a LOT, but during school I don't really create anything huge/notice-worthy because I'm too busy and don't have the hours to allot to experimentation. For Divergent, however, I was willing to throw away a bit of my "free" time.

For Veronica Roth,

I'm wrapping this up. It's long and babbling.