Fashionably Late – My Debut Author Challenge Info

So, you guys may or may not know that I wasn’t very good at blogging over my first year at college. This means that I missed the signups for a LOT of things I wanted to participate in. The Debut Author Challenge was one of them! I only just found the link now, after forgetting to look for it for forever.

If you forgot to sign up for this too, here’s the link to the Hobbitsies sign up and info post. I have no shame linking up this late, because I’ve basically been hard at work on this anyways!

Here’s my list:

Top Ten Books on My Have-But-Need-To-Read List

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish!

This week’s topic is a TTT Freebie, so I decided to give you guys a taste of what’s coming up on the blog! These are the next ten books I’ll be reviewing – roughly. I’m trying to make it through the pile of ARCs I’m behind on, but there’s no telling when a book I have on my actual shelf will call me and then I’ll derail and read that one. But this should give you a general idea!

1. The Boyfriend App by Katie Sise

I’m not sure why I requested this contemporary romance, but it sounds interesting so what the heck? If my calendar goes as expected, this review will be up May 30.

2. Going Vintage by Lindsey Leavitt

I’m excited about this book for multiple reasons. I’ve been tracking it ever since I found it, and Bloomsbury was nice enough to give me and eARC. This review should be up May 31st.

3. Criminal by Terra Elan McVoy

This book seems darker than the stuff I usually read, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing! It’ll be interesting to see how my stomach takes this. This review should be up June 3rd.

4. City of a Thousand Dolls by Miriam Forster

This actually isn’t an ARC, but rather the next book my book club is doing – it’s my pick, if you couldn’t tell by the ya-ness of it all. I’m really excited for this one. Hopefully it’s going to be good! This review should be up, with the hangout video, on June 5th.

5. Reboot by Amy Tintera

I don’t know if the people who did the covers for Criminal and Reboot know each other, but I’m loving the minimalist colors on black that’s going on. Can’t wait to read this one, with the review going up June 6th.

6. Born of Illusion by Teri Brown

A book set in 1920s  New York, all about magicians and mediums? This book promises to be interesting if nothing else! Look for this review about June 7th.

7. Gameboard of the Gods by Richelle Mead

Alright, technically this isn’t a young adult, but it’s RICHELLE MEAD. When it popped up I HAD to request an ARC and then I got it and I’m so happy. Look for this review about June 10th.

8. Transparent by Natalie Whipple

This is a story about an invisible girl. I was sold before I had to read any more of the blurb. This review should be up about June 13th.

9. Dare to You by Katie McGarry

If you read my review of Pushing the Limits, then you know that I have a shameless LOVELOVELOVE for that book. I got an ARC of this one, and I’m crossing my fingers its as good as the first! Look for this review June 14th.

10. Tree of Codes by Jonathan Safran Foer

This is likely to be the craziest book I have ever read. It’s for book club, and it’s one of those post modernist texts that are just cuckoo for cocoa puffs. The pages are all cut funny and … man, this is going to be one hangout you won’t want to miss. See the review and video  June 19th.

ARC Review: “The Rogue’s Princess” by Eve Edwards

The Rogue’s Princess (The Lacey Chronicles #3) by Eve Edwards

Goodreads | Amazon

1586 – London, England. Sixteen-year-old Mercy Hart is the daughter of one of London’s richest – and strictest – cloth merchants. Kit Turner is an actor and the illegitimate son of the late Earl of Dorset. A chance encounter finds Kit falling for the beautiful Mercy’s charms, but their love is forbidden. A merchant’s daughter and a vagabond – it simply cannot be. If Mercy chooses Kit she must renounce her family name and leave her home. Will she favour duty over true love, or will she give Kit his heart’s desire?

Thanks to Random House for this ARC! This title is now available!

3 stars

When people tell me they have some YA historical fiction for me, I instantly jump for it every time. Sadly, a lot of the YA hisfic romance that I read falls into way too many romantic clichés for me to be happy. This one was no different.

The main character of this story is a young girl named Mercy Hart, who is as innocent as a child when it comes to the ways of romance. Her love interest is Kit Turner, an actor with some roguish ways, who also happens to be the illegitimate son of an earl so he isn’t entirely without money. Together, they create one of the most basic love pairings in literature. As characters, they were also pretty two-dimensional—as were many of the others. The only character I really enjoyed reading about was Mercy’s crazy grandmother, whose hilarity just made me so happy.

The treason Kit gets mixed up in was possibly the only reason I knew which time period we were looking at. Because I’m a nerd, the second the character of Babington was introduced I knew that we were dealing with the time in which people were concocting a plot to put Mary, Queen of Scots on the throne instead of Queen Elizabeth I. Aside from that, the historical setting was just used as a basic backdrop, which I’m still trying to decide if I liked or not.

The plot was fairly simple and never left me guessing. Innocent girl meets roguish guy, they fall in love despite their differences, guy gets arrested for treason and their love is tested … I bet you could finish it from here. I liked this book well enough on the basis of what it was: another hisfic romance. If you want to add another like title to your shelf, then this one is cute enough for me to recommend it. (You don’t have to buy the first two books to read it! It’s connected, but a standalone.) If you’re looking for something new and exciting in the genre, I would look elsewhere.

ARC Review: “Velvet” by Mary Hooper

Velvet by Mary Hooper

Goodreads | Amazon

Velvet is a laundress in a Victorian steam laundry. With both her mother and father dead, she is an orphan and has to rely upon her own wits to make a living. The laundry’s work is back-breaking and Velvet is desperate to create a better life for herself. Then Velvet is noticed by Madame Savoya, a famed medium, who asks Velvet to come to work for her. Velvet is dazzled at first by the young yet beautifully dressed and bejewelled Madame. But soon Velvet realises that Madame Savoya is not all that she says she is, and Velvet’s very life is in danger …A romantic and thrillingly exciting new novel from an acclaimed and much loved historical writer for teens.

2 1/2 stars

Thanks to Bloomsbury and NetGalley for this eARC! This book will be released November 13th, 2012.

The blurb calls this book “romantic” and “thrilling.” The fact is, this book is neither.

Honestly, I was expecting so much more from this book. The premise was interesting, and Mary Hooper is an established historical fiction writer. Sadly, this book plays on too many historical fiction cliches that bother the heck out of me.

The first problem is the way the book was written. I have no idea why so many historical fiction books think they need to ramble on like historical pieces of the times. Yes, I understand there is certain language you can and cannot use when writing in historical periods, but we’ve cut out the rambling in modern day books for a reason. This is certainly a personal thing as well, since I prefer all unneccesary words to be cut, but still. It bothers me, and it made me iffy about the book from the get go.

The second was the characters. Apart from Madame Savoya, they were all pretty flat and generic. Velvet annoyed me especially, since she had the potential to be such a strong main character, but then fell into the utterly gullible and naive cliche. She toyed with Charlie (a boy from her past who is inexplicably smitten with her even though she brushes him off at every turn), with whom there was NO connection of any real kind, no matter how much they protested there was, and then she was completely taken in by both Madame Savoya and George, her assistant.

The kicker came with the ending–or rather, the lack thereof. I hit the button on my Kindle for the next slide and NOPE. Nothing. I literally couldn’t believe it. Looking back on those two pages or so, I guess they do suggest an ending, but it’s NOT a finished one. Not by a long shot. The climax is a brief and abrupt thing, then all of the sudden you have TWO pages of falling action and that’s just it. Note that when I say two pages, I’m talking for the screens of my small-as-possible Kindle. I’m not sure if this would even make two pages of book. Before this I was thinking of opimistically giving the book 3 stars, but this just killed the book for me.

I will say, however, that the idea continued to impress me all throughout the story. The intrigue that Hooper worked in was basic at times, but the entire setting–mediumship, etc–was really enjoyable and interesting. I learned a lot both about the real ideas of spiritualism and about how all the hoaxers got away with what they did. This is basically the thread that kept me reading.

I don’t read a lot of historical fiction, but I LOVE the genre. Maybe my standards for what I do read is a little too high, but this book just fell way short of all of them. I wanted so much more from the book, but I found the standard writing style, flat characters and an ending-that-wasn’t. Most of my frustration comes from the fact that I believed this book could be so much more. Hooper has a fantastic idea, but the execution just didn’t fit.

ARC Review: “Who I Kissed” by Janet Gurtler

Who I Kissed by Janet Gurtler

Goodreads | Amazon

She Never Thought A Kiss Could Kill. . .

Samantha is new at school and just recently joined the swim team.  She’s been flirting with one of her teammates, Zee, who invites her to a party and just as quickly dumps her for another girl.  Hurt, but pretending not to care, she turns to his best friend, Alex, and gives him a kiss.  And he dies—right in her arms.  Alex was allergic to peanuts, and Samantha had eaten a peanut butter sandwich right before the party.  She didn’t know.  Overnight, Samantha turns into the school pariah and a media sensation explodes.  Consumed with guilt, abandoned by her friends, and in jeopardy of losing her swimming scholarship, she will have to find the inner-strength to forgive herself for the tragedy.

3 1/2 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for this eARC! This book was released October 1, 2012.

By the time I was approved for this on NetGalley, I had completely forgotten I’d requested it at all. I wish I remembered the reasoning behind it, but I don’t. This isn’t a typical book for me to pick up.

As it appears, this book has a very emotional story in it. Unlike some books I’ve read recently, it really does cut to the chase with Alex’s death and leaves a majority of the book to Sam dealing with her grief. (Books that don’t disperse with things they’ve already told us will happen in the blurb seem to be a trend for some reason lately.)

Sam herself is a pretty strong character. Her grief is real. That said, the way that she deals with it sometimes leaves the reader and well as her detached from the whole thing. I understand that it’s hard to write about a character being detached while keeping the reader connected, but by the end of the book I found myself connecting less and less with Sam–which is a problem when it’s her emotional story driving the entire thing.

However, the multitude of Sam’s emotional stories in this thing was even a bigger problem. This book is hardly just about Sam, Zee and Alex. It’s about her estranged relationship with her father, the fact that her mother died young and Sam never knew her and then on top of that all of the different grief storylines. There’s Sam trying to deal with the death herself (this includes her refusal to swim and a bad relationship), Sam dealing with her classmates and then Sam trying to deal with Alex’s family. Frankly, it’s all just too much. While I understand what Gurtler was trying to do and have the utmost respect for it, it didn’t come off as well as I’d have liked. Too many subplot lines are smushed into the cracks.

The rest of the characters didn’t really have the chops to back up these plot lines, either. Honestly, the character with the most pop was Sam’s crazy, amazing aunt and her dog. At times I felt closer to the characters who were dead, Alex and Sam’s mom. Several more minor characters get more face time than Zee, despite Sam’s continued affirmations that he’s important. Once again, with all the different plot lines, there were too many characters with too many good, deep ideas to all fit into one 312 page book.

I will say, though, that the story still packs an emotional punch. I felt for each character every step of the way, even if I was more connecting to my own feelings of lost than the ones being portrayed in the pages. Not one of the topics dealt with in this book is an easy one, and each one is important. It also wasn’t your typical high school drama story, even if some of the background characters did fall into cliches. They weren’t important enough for me to really care, and they constructed fast stereotypes so that Gurtler could get on with the story.

All in all, I would recommend this to lovers of YA contemporary novels who want larger themes than just romance. I think fans of authors such as Sarah Dessens would absolutely adore this one. I enjoyed this one as much as I did because of how different it was from my normal reading, and the attempt to make it about so much more then just romance.

Review: “Beautiful Disaster” by Jamie McGuire

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Goodreads | Amazon

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

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

One star

Thank you to NetGalley for this ecopy! Beautiful Disasteris already in stores.

Warning: This book contains language, sex, blood, violence and gambling.

You know, technically, there is very little wrong with this book.

It catches your emotions, it invests you into the characters and it never stops moving. In any other book, this would garner a much higher rating. But there is a problem. Actually, there are a lot of them. Let me list off a few technical things, and then get to the big problem:

#1 Travis is actually an unlikeable character. He needs a life. And depth of any kind. Not acting like he needs bipolar medication.

#2 Abby. UNLIKEABLE. Totally off kilter. Acts like a nice girl and then a bad girl back and forth like a pendulum. Her character has the attempt at depth, but the book is too much of a yoyo for it to be anything but weird.

#3 Supporting characters are also lackluster and fairly disastrous themselves.

#4 Plot twists. Too many of them. Also, too many of them are totally unbelievable and contrived to make the book work.

#5 The language. (Not the kind you think!) Any girl besides America and Abby in this book is referred to as a bimbo, slut, stupid, STD-infected, etc. These two are CLEARLY not angels, but why is EVERY other girl worse than the two girls in crazy, possessive relationships?

But now we get to the real problem…

I cannot justify championing the kind of relationship on display in this book.

Yes, yes, I understand that Abby makes Travis a better person. I understand that together they work out. But the problem is the fairytale they’re perpetrating—something girls shouldn’t be made to believe in.

Travis a violent guy. He is a drunk. HE IS A VIOLENT DRUNK. Even when he is trying to be sweet, he’s beating people up and completely controlling Abby’s life. They aren’t together, but he won’t let her date other guys. He messes up her dates. He completely blows up at her.

This is called a possessive guy, ladies. And not matter how much we want to believe they will change, Abby and Travis’s story isn’t the norm. It’s the exception. It’s the mother of all exceptions.

I have watched friends go through possessive relationships. I have seen how shattered they are when they come out. Right at this moment, I have to live watching a dear, dear friend have her life dictated to her by a boy who says he loves her and only wants what’s best for her.

All throughout this book, my stomach was twisting and churning, bringing forth all these memories. Just the things I watched happen this very evening. As much as I want to believe that this is real life, that every girl can have a happy ending, I just can’t forgive this book for trying to say it’s possible.

SPOILERS AHEAD

I mean, does Abby even get a happy ending? She has this turbulent, violent relationship, almost dies and then she marries the guy at nineteen? On top of everything else. I understand that there have been plenty of marriages that have lasted from that age, but again—they are no longer the norm. I ESPECIALLY don’t want girls in possessive relationships MARRYING the guy just because they think that will bring him inner piece, as happens with Travis.

SPOILERS END

All and all, I have too many personal opinions that killed this book for me. I have nothing against the author and totally believe the book has the best of intentions, but I can’t get past my own mental blocks. I cannot recommend this book to other girls, for fear of the example it will set. For fear of the message it would send. In the hands of my dear friend, this book would be ammunition, reason to stick it out even longer in the belief that time with tame her guy and eventually he’ll calm down and learn to trust her completely. Maybe she’ll think she has to take gigantic steps to prove it to him.

They say trust isn’t given; it’s earned. But relationships are built on trust—they DO NOT end with it. They grow with it. Possessiveness is NOT an attractive quality, and very rarely—if ever—does it have a happy ending. EVERY SINGLE PERSON deserves better, guy or girl. As someone who can’t stand to watch one more person go through this kind of thing, I’m begging you:

Trust that you deserve to be loved the right way.

Trust that you deserve the right kind of guy—you don’t have to settle.

Trust that you deserve to be trusted.

Please. Don’t wait for the fairytales that might never come. No matter how many books and movies out there that make you want to believe.

ARC Review: “The Raven Boys” by Maggie Stiefvater

The Raven Boys (Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater

Goodreads | Amazon

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”
It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.
Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.
His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.
But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.
For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.
From Maggie Stiefvater, the bestselling and acclaimed author of the Shiver trilogy and The Scorpio Races, comes a spellbinding new series where the inevitability of death and the nature of love lead us to a place we’ve never been before.

5 stars

Thank you to Scholastics and NetGalley for this ARC! You can get a copy for yourself on September 18th, 2012.

*Note from Gretchen: Before this review gets started, I would like to take a moment to welcome my first guest reviewer! As this blog gets bigger and bigger, I’ve found I can’t handle to review load on my own. Therefore, I turned to a longtime friend to help with the load, and this is her first review! So give a warm welcome to Marina, who also happens to be a HUGE DIEHARD Maggie Stiefvater fan.

I have a confession to make: I did not agree to guest-post here because I was doing a favor for Gretchen.  I agreed because she said “Raven Boys!” and I said “GIMME.”  Because I am very fond of Maggie Stiefvater’s writing.   I am not Gretchen, but I assure you I’m usually very picky, so all the gushing I’m about to do is completely out of character for me.

But with that out of the way, READ THIS BOOK.

There are complicated, damaged characters who behave like real people.  There’s magic just inaccessible and strange enough to be believed, and there are trees that speak Latin.  There are guns and helicopters and fancy cars that break down.  There’s even a raven named Chainsaw.  What’s not to love?

Read this book because it will surprise you.  I’m used to knowing vaguely what’s going to happen, because I read way too much and after a while there are patterns, but this one surprised me no less than three times (and possibly more, I wasn’t counting.)   It’s been a long time since I’ve been genuinely astonished, and it was immensely satisfying, even though I was left staring in horror at the words and saying “MAGGIE WHAT HAVE YOU DONE.”

Read this book because Blue is not a boring only-there-for-the-romance female protagonist.  She’s an actual, interesting character who is unusual and awesome in her own right.  When Gansey gets condescending, she doesn’t just get offended; she shames him and then shames him again and again until he behaves.   Love at first sight is not on Blue’s agenda.  Actually, relationships as a whole are not on Blue’s agenda, and when she does get into one it’s sweet and quiet and cautious—just like first relationships should be, particularly with the addition of Blue’s “If you kiss your true love he will die” curse.  Unlike a lot of the insta-love relationships that Gretchen’s always complaining about, this one felt real.  Because the characters are shy and careful, the relationship was too, and to me, at least, that made it all the sweeter.

Speaking of relationships, the relationship between the raven boys—Adam, Ronan, Noah, and Gansey—was brilliant.  They’re all damaged, they’re all struggling, and the group quietly makes adjustments for whoever needs it at the time.   When Ronan, who is definitely the most outwardly damaged, is discovered to be missing, the seamless way his friends come together to search for him is heartbreaking, because it’s so clear they’ve done this before.  They know where to look and how to look.   They’re not demonstrative; sometimes—often—they’re not even that much alike.  But they’re unflaggingly, ferociously loyal to each other, and it’s a beautiful thing to see.

My only objection: this is the first book in a four-book series.  While it is a self-contained story, there are plot threads that I am dying to have resolved that just really aren’t.  The part of me that is a writer (I write stuff, by the way) accepts this and understands why it works.  The part of me that is a reader is dying to read more.  The last line is…not a cliffhanger, since cliffhangers imply unresolved action, but suffice to say that several of the raven boys are hiding things, and not all of them explain those things before the book is through.   Now I have to wait another year to find out and it’s KILLING ME.

This is a book about people who desperately want something—not always the same things—and the reasons why they want it, and what they’re willing to do to get it.  It’s a book about people who are trying very hard, despite a number of different things making life difficult, from abusive parents to prophecies to awesome sad things I can’t say due to spoilers (I’M LOOKING AT YOU, NOAH AND RONAN).  The characters are gorgeous, the relationships are delightfully, painfully real, and the plot…will definitely keep you on your toes.  I’m giving this four and a half stars because as a guest reviewer I don’t feel right giving five.  I assure you I’m normally quite picky, and if this was my blog it would be five, so don’t let the missing half star fool you; read this book! [Note from Gretchen: Don't be silly, Marina. I finally got around to reading this, and we're totally going with five stars. And that is my endorsement of this review.]

* P.S.   Gretchen has given me permission to translate the untranslated Latin in Chapter 12 (as a Classics major, I can do useless things like Latin but not useful things like cooking), so here goes: Ostendes tuum et ostendam meus means I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours.  That seems out of the blue now, but it will all make sense when you meet Ronan Lynch.  And his Latin teacher.  You’re welcome.

Top Ten Posts On My Blog That Give The BEST Picture of Me!

Top Ten Tuesday is a feature hosted by The Broke and The Bookish!

Hey everybody! I’ve been missing a few TTTs lately, but I really didn’t want to miss this one! This is a really interesting topic that may verge on me being pretty egotistical, but what’s new? Let’s get this started!

1. Stacking the Shelves #5 (08/04/12)

Okay, so, vlogs are probably a really easy place to go for this, because they ARE a video representation of me, but this gives you guys an EXCELLENT view of how out of control my reading habits are.

2. Alpha Recap – So many goodies you don’t want to miss out! (7/30/12)

I made a point a long time ago to not make this blog about me, my writing and my books, but when my love of writing takes me places THIS AWESOME, I just HAVE to tell you guys. It’s like a side of me I only let the blog see every once in a while.

3. My Epic Quest to Go See Cassandra Clare, Holly Black and Sarah Rees Brennan and Why It was Worth It. (7/16/12)

In this post, I not only ruminate about books but also my family, my birthday and HOLY CREATOR OF CHOCOLATE AUTHOR LOVE! Ahem. Anyways. I lose my mind a little in this post, for good reason!

4. Stacking the Shelves #3 (7/14/12)

I … attempt humor in this vlog. It doesn’t go well. But it gives you a window into my personality! …which you probably wish you could unsee, but whatever! I make no apologies for who I am.

5. The Book Reviews I Couldn’t Give My Teacher (5/31/12)

This one has a disclaimer for those people who enjoy classic books because, well, I’m not one of them and I unleash the snark! There is 7 mini book reviews in this post and it’s STILL not overly long, which impresses me still to this day.

6. ARC Review: “Wilde’s Fire” by Kystal Wade

Anyone who reads my blog regularly knows that I HATE cliché YA romance. HATE IT. And when it happens, I mention it. In this book, though, I was absolutely losing my mind over the weirdness of it all, and for that it kind of recaps the way I feel about YA romance in general.

7. On YA books that make abusive, stalkerish, horrible relationships seem like they’re okay–HERE ME ROAR (2/27/12)

Few books have ever made me outright angry. Actually, it was just this one. This post began as my review of Shattered Souls by Mary Lindsey, the only book I have ever rated 1 star on this blog in its entire existence, despite having DNFed it. Usually I don’t write reviews of those, just a few lines on Goodreads as to why I personally stopped reading. This book made me SO ANGRY that I just HAD to say something or I would explode.

8. Review: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi (12/11/11)

When I lose my mind about a book, I LOSE MY MIND about a book. Despite having waited to calm down to write this review, I STILL couldn’t get my thoughts in order when I wrote the post. Very few times do I write reviews were I’m just flailing for words, and this is one of them.

9. Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (11/26/11)

This was the very first 5 star review I ever gave on my blog, and OH BOY is there a lot of CAPS and general book love. I mean, it still rather frightens me to read it over because I was SO enthusiastic about the book.

10. Review: Mastiff by Tamora Pierce (11/11/11)

I like to think of myself as someone who can give truthful reviews, not just flail all over the place because it’s something my favorite author wrote. This is my favorite example of this. I tried so hard for WEEKS to forgive Tammy for this book–I mean, but this point I’d MET the woman and found out how fantastic she was when she taught a writing workshop I went to–but I just couldn’t do it. I generally think everything that comes out of Tammy’s fingers is gold, but even I have my limits.

ARC Review: “Confessions of an Angry Girl” by Louise Rozett

Confessions of an Angry Girl (Confessions #1) by Louise Rozett

Goodreads | Amazon

Rose Zarelli, self-proclaimed word geek and angry girl, has some CONFESSIONS to make… #1: I’m livid all the time. Why? My dad died. My mom barely talks. My brother abandoned us. I think I’m allowed to be irate, don’t you?
#2: I make people furious regularly. Want an example? I kissed Jamie Forta, a badass guy who “might” be dating a cheerleader. She is now enraged and out for blood. Mine.
#3: High school might as well be Mars. My best friend has been replaced by an alien, and I see red all the time. (Mars is red and “seeing red” means being angry-get it?)
Here are some other vocab words that describe my life: Inadequate. Insufferable. Intolerable.
(Don’t know what they mean? Look them up yourself.) (Sorry. That was rude.)

3 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and HarlequinTeen for allowing me to read this ARC! You guys can grab a copy August 28th, 2012!

When this book popped up on NetGalley, I had my reservations. I don’t usually read contemporary because I’m very cynical about them. Still, I read that synopsis right there and just HAD to request it, because the narrator felt like she had SO MUCH INTENSITY coming off of her words.

So imagine my surprise when Rose ended up being nothing like I thought she would be. In the beginning, Rose is HARDLY very angry. She’s very quiet and submissive, content to let her friends and others walk all over her. That annoyed me in itself, because I just hate when characters bow their heads and let everybody use them as punching bags. She comes off more whiny and know-it-all-ish than anything.

As the book went on, Rose’s character got better. However, for the most part the huge supporting cast was a whole bunch of clichés. I wasn’t even sure why some of those characters, like Robert, even existed. You had your cheerleaders and you had your cliché high school jocks and jerks. Not much uniqueness in that scenario.

I think my biggest problem with this book was that I was never sure what the plot of the book was. Usually there is some sort of goal laid out or something, but the book just keeps rolling on and on with no real endgame in mind. Sure, that meant I had no idea what was going to happen, but I also never felt like I knew what the point was of anything going on.

So why all the way up with 3 stars, then? Because of Rose. No, she was never what I thought she was going to be, but she was…something else. Honestly, Rose could have been me at fourteen. The things she said, the way she said them–I literally remembered saying and thinking those things at that age. (Hey, it was only four years ago, I’m not that old yet!) I really, deeply connected with her, and that made the whole book for me.

Still, I also take issue with that ending. Just when things are really revving up to be good and Rose is coming into her own like whoa (and things are getting interesting with Jamie, for real!), Rozett goes and ENDS IT ON THAT CLIFFHANGER. I died a little bit inside. There are cliffhangers, and then there are cliffhangers. I really wanted to see Regina–the “cheer-witch” who was making Rose’s life horrible–get what was coming to her. Next book, maybe?

Overall, I liked Confessions of an Angry Girl. I didn’t desperately love it, but it was a fun way to pass a few hours, remembering my own freshman years. I know contemporaries are touted for their romance elements, but I’d call this one more of a coming of age than anything else. Personally, that was where the writing really shone for me.

The next book in this series, Confessions of an Almost Girlfriend, is scheduled to be released in 2013.

Review: “Wrecked” by Anna Davies + GIVEAWAY

Wrecked by Anna Davies

Goodreads | Amazon

Ever since the death of her parents, Miranda has lived on Whym Island, taking comfort in the local folklore, which claims a mysterious sea witch controls the fate of all on the island and in its surrounding waters. Sometimes it’s just easier to believe things are out of your control.    
But then a terrible boating accident takes the lives of several of her friends, and Miranda is rescued by a mysterious boy who haunts her dreams. Consumed by guilt from the accident, she finds refuge in late-night swims—and meets Christian, a boy who seems eerily familiar, but who is full of mystery: He won’t tell her where he is from, or why they can only meet at the beach. But Miranda falls for him anyway…and discovers that Christian’s secrets, though meant to protect her, may bring her nothing but harm.

3 stars

Wrecked was one of those books that left me with a twisted gut, and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing.

It was, certainly, not what I expected. If you’re looking for a novel with a distinct focus on mermaids, look elsewhere. This one was more of a contemporary drama that happened to have mermaids in it. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but it was not what I’d thought I’d signed up for.

Personally, the pace of the plot was much slower than I like to read. I prefer novels that GOGOGO. The whole first couple of chapters, especially, are full of clunky back story that I don’t really think had much bearing on the story. After all, the synopsis TELLS you that her friends die, so why drag it out? I don’t want to sound like a horrible person, but still: if they’re going to die, KILL THEM. Don’t tell me what they all were like in kindergarten. There’s time for that later, when I feel like I care.

Miranda as a main character infuriated me. The way that her pain was written was gut wrenching and almost made me cry, but her actions didn’t DO anything. Her grandmother just told her to do things and she bowed her head and backed down. My gut twisted further with outrage and annoyance at these times. I kept bashing my head against the cover, begging her to snap out of it. But she didn’t. Ever. To this moment, I’m not sure if it was in character with all the pain she was feeling or out of it.

The romance in this book wasn’t as prevalent as I thought it would be. Of course it’s insta-love and all that, but it was really more of a short blip in the book rather than a focus. I’ll cap my rant on insta-love because you guys don’t want to hear it for the umpteenth time, but still. I do not like insta-love. I do have to say, though, that I adored Miranda’s honest ruminations about her relationship with her boyfriend Fletch, who was left in a coma after tha accident. That, at least, was real teenager thoughts that I connected with.

All in all, this was one of those books that I didn’t love or hate, mostly because it wasn’t my taste. It moves slowly and focuses a lot on Miranda’s emotions. That’s beautiful done, for sure, but … what can I say, I’m an action girl. I would certainly recommend this book to those people who like emotional books, but–again–the mermaid factor in this one is very small. If you’re a contemporary YA lover who’s looking to dip their toes into the latest mermaid fad, then this is for you!

AND I’M HERE TO HELP YOU.

I actually have TWO copies of Wrecked to giveaway. You excited? You should be. Click HERE to enter! This giveaway is US only and goes til 11:59 PM of July 31st.