[Review] Once Every Never by Lesley Livingston

Once Every Never by Lesley Livingston
Never #1
Published July 14th, 2011.
Penguin Canada
Young Adult Fantasy

Premise:
Clarinet Reid is a pretty typical teenager. On the surface. She’s smart, but a bit of a slacker; outgoing, but just a little insecure; not exactly a mischief-maker … but trouble tends to find her wherever she goes. Also? She unwittingly carries a centuries-old Druid Blood Curse running through her veins. Now, with a single thoughtless act, what started off as the Summer Vacation in Dullsville suddenly spirals into a deadly race to find a stolen artifact, avert an explosive catastrophe, save a Celtic warrior princess, right a dreadful wrong that happened centuries before Clare was even born, and if there’s still time— literally—maybe even get a date.

This is the kind of adventure that happens to a girl once every … never.

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Review

My thoughts: 

This one was a really entertaining and fast read. Normally I don't really read much on time traveling because I'm not a fan of historical fiction. I just have a hard time getting into stories set in the far away past. But I had no trouble with this one, maybe because of all the magic and back-and-forth involved. 

The characters were hilarious and their banter was witty and sarcastic and just crazy good. I loved the fact that they were all nerds in their own way.  Our main character, Clare, is a normal teenager who has trouble at staying focused on a single task. She's really impulsive and that got her in a huge mess that ended up with her, in England, under house arrest, for the whole summer. Thankfully, she has her nerd best friend, Allie, who has managed to come along, so at least she won't have to be bored out of her mind by herself. 

Just when Clare expects to have a completely normal and boring summer going from museum to art gallery to museum and so on, she does something she's not supposed to do, like always. She touches some ancient object and discovers that she can time travel. She along with Allie and her suddenly super hot cousin, Milo, will try to find out why she has this abilities and what is that she's meant to do with them. 

The only problem I had with this book was that despite being a young adult novel, it read kind of like a middle grade. Not because of the writing being bad or too simple, but the concepts were a little underdeveloped and there were several times where I'd find myself rolling my eyes because of how conveniently the events took place. There were just too many coincidences for my taste and that resulted in me having a hard time suspending my disbelief in several passages. And it disappointing me that many of the protagonist actions had no real consequence whatsoever. Everything was just too good to be true.

Overall, I think this was a fun read. I enjoyed it a lot and flew through it in one sitting. I'll be checking the next books although I'm not in any particular hurry. 

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About the author

 

LESLEY LIVINGSTON is a writer and actress living in Toronto, Canada. She is the author of WONDROUS STRANGE, winner of the CLA Young Adult Book of the Year 2010, a White Pine Honour Book, and shortlisted for the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Speculative Fiction. DARKLIGHT, the second book in this series was shortlisted for the Indigo Teen Read Awards. The concluding volume in the trilogy, TEMPESTUOUS, was released in January of 2011, and was a finalist for the Monica Hughes Award. These books have sold to more than ten countries to date, and WONDROUS STRANGE has been optioned for film/TV. Captivated at a young age by stories of mythology and folk lore, past civilizations, and legendary heroes, Lesley developed into a full-fledged Celtic Mythology Geek, steeped in stories of the Otherworld, Faeries and King Arthur. She went on to earn a Master’s Degree in English from the University of Toronto specializing in Shakespeare and Arthurian literature. Lesley is an unrepentant egghead – a character-trait that somehow doesn’t interfere with a love of shoes and shiny thing

[Review] I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson

I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson
Published September 16th, 2014.
Dial Books.
Young Adult Contemporary Romance

Premise:
A brilliant, luminous story of first love, family, loss, and betrayal for fans of John Green, David Levithan, and Rainbow Rowell 

Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

This radiant novel from the acclaimed, award-winning author of The Sky Is Everywhere will leave you breathless and teary and laughing—often all at once.

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Review

My thoughts: 

This book was beautifully glorious. Full of metaphors. Full of color. Full of life. So real and heart-breaking. So full of mistakes like life itself. But also, so heart-warming, so rewarding... Like life itself can be. 

We have a set of twins as main characters. We get both of their points of view, but at different points in time. We get Noah's when he is 13 and Jude when she is 16. The story is only made whole when you put the two pieces together. 

Noah, at 13, is an awkward kid, in love with color, a prodigy at everything art related. He's been struggling with his sexuality for some time and he's getting bullied because of that. That is until he meets Brian, who seems to color all of Noah's grey patches and makes everything so much better for him. There's also this super cool art school Noah has been wanting to attend since he knew it existed and his mom is fascinated with him and his ability to capture all images and make them exquisite. Everything seems to be looking up for him.

Jude, at 13, through Noah's eyes, is a super popular girl who has it all, has all the attention, all the beauty and all the friends. So why does she has to be so jealous of him all the time?. Jude, at 16, is full of regret, living one superstition at a time while hiding under oversize clothes and a whole lot of weirdness. Everything in her life is a mess, she's in the school of Noah's dream and she didn't even wanted to get in. Her mother is dead and she's haunting her to make her pay for all the wrong she's done. 

Noah, at 16, through Jude's eyes, has everything he didn't want before. Popular friends, a pretense-girlfriend, his father admiration and the right to be sad about their mother's death. But Jude knows that whoever that person is, is not her brother. 

They used to be really close, they only felt whole when they were with one another. But now, there's a bridge separating them and it won't go away until they allow themselves to be honest with each other. 

This book was truly a journey. I went from not giving a crap about the characters at page 50 or so, to not wanting to let go of them ever again at page 200. The characters are so authentically flawed. They made such horribly human mistakes.

The writing is so captivating... It's in this stream of consciousness style, where the characters can't hide anything from the reader, because you get every embarrassing thought that goes through their minds. You get to know them so well, that you get really attached to them. I didn't want the book to end and I was dreading the last few pages the whole time. 

It was a mesmerizing experience. It was one of the best books I've ever read.

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About the author

Jandy Nelson, like her characters in I’ll Give You the Sun and The Sky is Everywhere, comes from a superstitious lot. She was tutored from a young age in the art of the four-leaf clover hunt; she knocks wood, throws salt, and carries charms in her pockets. Her critically-acclaimed, New York Times bestselling second novel, I’ll Give You the Sun, received the prestigious Printz Award, Bank Street's Josette Frank Award, and is a Stonewall Book Award honor. Both Sun and her debut, The Sky Is Everywhere, have been YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults picks (Sun, a Top Ten on Both YALSA and Rainbow Lists) and on multiple best of the year lists including the New York Times, Time Magazine, NPR, have earned many starred reviews, and continue to enjoy great international success, collectively published in over 47 countries. I'll Give You the Sun has been sold to Warner Brothers and screenwriter Natalie Krinsky is currently writing the adaptation. Jandy, a literary agent for many years, received a BA from Cornell University and MFAs in Poetry and Children's Writing from Brown University and Vermont College of Fine Arts. Currently a full-time writer, she lives and writes in San Francisco, California—not far from the settings of her novels.

[Series Review] Lux Series by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Lux #1
Published May 8th, 2012.
Entangled Teen.
Young Adult Sci-Fi / Paranormal Fantasy

Premise:

Starting over sucks.

When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I’d pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring… until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.

And then he opened his mouth.

Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something… unexpected happens. 

The hot alien living next door marks me.

You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon’s touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I’m getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades. 

If I don’t kill him first, that is.

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Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Lux #2

Published August 14th, 2012.

Entangled Teen.

Young Adult Sci-Fi / Paranormal Fantasy

Premise:Being connected to Daemon Black sucks…
Thanks to his alien mojo, Daemon’s determined to prove what he feels for me is more than a product of our bizarro connection. So I’ve sworn him off, even though he’s running more hot than cold these days. But we’ve got bigger problems.
Something worse than the Arum has come to town…
The Department of Defense are here. If they ever find out what Daemon can do and that we're linked, I’m a goner. So is he. And there's this new boy in school who’s got a secret of his own. He knows what’s happened to me and he can help, but to do so, I have to lie to Daemon and stay away from him. Like that's possible. Against all common sense, I'm falling for Daemon. Hard.
But then everything changes…
I’ve seen someone who shouldn’t be alive. And I have to tell Daemon, even though I know he’s never going to stop searching until he gets the truth. What happened to his brother? Who betrayed him? And what does the DOD want from them—from me?
No one is who they seem. And not everyone will survive the lies…

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Opal by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Lux #3

Published December 11th, 2012.

Entangled Teen.

Young Adult Sci-Fi / Paranormal Fantasy

Premise:After everything, I’m no longer the same Katy. I’m different... And I’m not sure what that will mean in the end. When each step we take in discovering the truth puts us in the path of the secret organization responsible for torturing and testing hybrids, the more I realize there is no end to what I’m capable of. The death of someone close still lingers, help comes from the most unlikely source, and friends will become the deadliest of enemies, but we won’t turn back. Even if the outcome will shatter our worlds forever.
Together we’re stronger... and they know it. 

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Origin by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Lux #4

Published August 27th, 2013.

Entangled Teen.

Young Adult Sci-Fi / Paranormal Fantasy

Premise:Daemon will do anything to get Katy back.
After the successful but disastrous raid on Mount Weather, he’s facing the impossible. Katy is gone. Taken. Everything becomes about finding her. Taking out anyone who stands in his way? Done. Burning down the whole world to save her? Gladly. Exposing his alien race to the world? With pleasure.
All Katy can do is survive.
Surrounded by enemies, the only way she can come out of this is to adapt. After all, there are sides of Daedalus that don’t seem entirely crazy, but the group’s goals are frightening and the truths they speak even more disturbing. Who are the real bad guys? Daedalus? Mankind? Or the Luxen?
Together, they can face anything. 
But the most dangerous foe has been there all along, and when the truths are exposed and the lies come crumbling down, which side will Daemon and Katy be standing on? 
And will they even be together?

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Opposition by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Lux #5

Published August 5th, 2014.

Entangled Teen.

Young Adult Sci-Fi / Paranormal Fantasy

Premise:
Katy knows the world changed the night the Luxen came.
She can't believe Daemon welcomed his race or stood by as his kind threatened to obliterate every last human and hybrid on Earth. But the lines between good and bad have blurred, and love has become an emotion that could destroy her—could destroy them all.
Daemon will do anything to save those he loves, even if it means betrayal.
They must team with an unlikely enemy if there is any chance of surviving the invasion. But when it quickly becomes impossible to tell friend from foe, and the world is crumbling around them, they may lose everything— even what they cherish most—to ensure the survival of their friends…and mankind.
War has come to Earth. And no matter the outcome, the future will never be the same for those left standing.

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Review

My thoughts: 

I'm not much of an alien fan but this series was amazing! It was action-packed, sexy, funny, heart-warming and heart-breaking all at the same time. 

I loved the first installment, Obsidian. I waited a long time to start this series because, like I said, I don’t really like aliens… But a lot of people with similar taste for books had enjoyed it, so I decided to give it a chance. The books in this series are nothing flashy or wordy, they're light reads and simple. 

The main character, Katy, was very relatable to me, especially since she’s a book blogger. She goes through a lot of changes throughout the series and grows so much that it's like a whole other person comes out at the end. 

Daemon is smoking hot and he knows it. He's very snarky and comes across as rude more often than not, so I didn’t like him much at first. But along the way, we learn that he's also fiercely protective of the ones he loves and would do literally anything to keep them safe. Also, he's a freaking alien.

Deamon's sister Dee is an amazing character. She's funny, gorgeous, fashionable and really nice. She and Katy become fast friends despite her brother's worries. 

Obsidian seems to be mainly focused in the relationship growing between Katy and Daemon rather than the fact that he’s an alien. But even so, there’s a lot going on because of what he is, which adds a considerable amount of action and excitement.

We don't get to know much about the whole alien race within this first installment. We learn that there are at least two different alien races, the Luxen -the light people, like Daemon and Dee- and the Arum -the shadow and dark people. And that they hate each other. We also learn about some of the abilities the Luxen have, like healing and traveling at the speed of light. 

Onyx, the second book of the series, was my least favorite. At first, I grew so tired of Daemon and Katy being immature and not talking to each other. Also Daemon started showing a possessive side that I didn't like and I almost dropped the series. I didn't just because there still were those swoon-worthy moments and along the over-protective side of Daemon, came a sweetness to him I didn't think possible. I'm glad I didn't stop reading, because the books keep getting better and better. 

In Onyx, a midst all the drama between Katy and Daemon we find out about mutated humans, which share some of the Luxen abilities and can be really powerful. We also get to know Blake, a new guy in school who seems to have a thing for Katy. By the end of this installment, things start to go south really fast. Katy makes a lot of mistakes placing her trust on the wrong people and it all comes to bite her in the butt, leaving her and Daemon in a world of trouble.

Opal is the book of unlikely alliances, where we see a darker side of characters we thought we knew and get to know new characters. It is also the book that made me hate Blake with a burning passion. A lot of things get resolved, but new issues pop in their place. The ending left me in tears and running to get the next book. 

Origin was the book of jaw-dropping revelations and heartbreaks. A lot of deaths, mourning, true faces and action. If you think you got a big battle at the end of Opal, you're in for a freaking explosion -quite literally, in fact. This is like the battle of battles when all the proverbial shit hits the proverbial fan. And the ending was ridiculous. I was screaming at the book, cursing J.L.A. for doing this to me and running again to my shelf for the next book. 

Opposition was the well-deserved closure our loved characters needed. The romance is really turned up a few notches and Daemon is more sexy than ever. The beginning of the book was really painful to read because of things that had happened to some of my favorite characters, but at the end it is all worth the struggle and the pain. I would've like that the final battle to be more epic, but it was over much too quickly and I thought the Origin's one was the best. Even then, this book was pretty awesome, the twists and turns of the plot were all over the place and you never knew what to expect, you didn't know who was going to make it and it was freaking terrifying to see all of you beloved character go and risk their lives one final time. 

Overall, this series delivered. It was full of amazing characters, action, plot twists, romance, sexiness, friendship, and heartbreak. It wasn't perfect but it was amazing anyway. I'll be checking out other series by the same author, because: Holy crap! That woman can write! She has like a gazillion other books out and more coming out soon, so I'll see you there!

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About the author

 

# 1 New York Times and International Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing. she spends her time reading, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki.

Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her book Obsidian has been optioned for a major motion picture and her Covenant Series has been optioned for TV. Her young adult romantic suspense novel DON’T LOOK BACK was a 2014 nominated Best in Young Adult Fiction by YALSA.

She also writes Adult and New Adult contemporary and paranormal romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.

[Review] What Happened To Goodbye by Sarah Dessen

What Happened To Goodbye by Sarah Dessen
Published May 1st, 2011.
Viking Juvenile.
Young Adult Contemporary Romance

Premise:

Who is the real McLean? 

Since her parents' bitter divorce, McLean and her dad, a restaurant consultant, have been on the move-four towns in two years. Estranged from her mother and her mother's new family, McLean has followed her dad in leaving the unhappy past behind. And each new place gives her a chance to try out a new persona: from cheerleader to drama diva. But now, for the first time, McLean discovers a desire to stay in one place and just be herself, whoever that is. Perhaps Dave, the guy next door, can help her find out. 

Combining Sarah Dessen's trademark graceful writing, great characters, and compelling storytelling, What Happened to Goodbye is irresistible reading.

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Review

My thoughts: 

This is my favorite Sarah Dessen book so far. It was fun and heart-warming, with a cutesy slow-building romance, and overall adorable. I loved it. The thing with Sarah Dessen books is that even if they're fluffy and unpretentious summer reads, I find that there's always something lacking in her books, but for the life of me I could't find a reason to take away one of the stars this time. It was just the perfect summer read.

McClean is in her senior year of high school and has being moving from town to town with her father after an ugly divorce that left her life in unrecognizable pieces. The whole divorce theme was really well done, being a kid of divorced parents myself, I found that all the feelings, emotions and reactions were accurate and felt real to me. I could relate so much to McClean, she was such authentic character. It felt like I knew her ever when she didn't even knew herself all that well. I was able to see a lot of what went down in my parent divorce throughout the story and that really surprised me. 

Obviously my dad is not a brilliant chef and my mother didn't leave him for a superstar basketball coach or anything like that. But my dad was a basketball player and fan too, which made it so easy for me to relate to the whole theme. Also, I know a lot about how you feel like you need to put the blame on someone after a divorce and how everything is so complicated and how it feels like it'll never be the same again. I felt so enraged at the way McClean's mom was behaving and screamed at the book what a bitch she was a few times. I felt so hard for McClean and what she was going through because my relationship with my mother went down exactly like that and I couldn't believe how everything in the book was so close to reality for me.

The whole identity crisis McClean is going through as a way to cope, felt authentic and not just something to try and make the character more interesting which I really appreciate. I just loved how imperfect she was and how hard she tried to be better. She was an amazing character.

Most of the characters were amazing, actually. I loved Gus (McClean's dad) because he was so childlike, really whimsical and funny and pulling through as best as he could. I loved Dave and his weird ways. I even enjoyed Deb and Heather, and for most people they would fall in the "acquired taste" category. 

Overall, I just really loved this book. It inspired me to keep on reading more of Sarah Dessen despite some disappointments I've had with some of her books in the past.

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About the author

 

Sarah Dessen grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and attended UNC-Chapel Hill, graduating with highest honors in Creative Writing. She is the author of several novels, including Someone Like You, Just Listen and Along for the Ride. A motion picture based on her first two books, entitled How to Deal, was released in 2003. Her eleventh novel,The Moon and More, will be published in June 2013. She lives in North Carolina.

[Review] Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Wither by Lauren DeStefano
The Chemical Garden #1
Published March 22nd, 2011.
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Young Adult Sci-Fi Dystopia

Premise:
By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children. 

When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can't bring herself to hate him as much as she'd like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband's strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement. Her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next, and Rhine is desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. Will Rhine be able to escape--before her time runs out?

Together with one of Linden's servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom?

 Get your copy!

Review

My thoughts: 

It was a good story and I enjoyed it. It's some kind of dark dystopia that I hadn't read before, somehow. 

Human race has been corrupted by scientific experiments shortening the life span to 20 years for women and 25 for men. Brides are kidnapped off the streets filled with orphans and sold to the highest bidder. Sixteen-year-old Rhine is an orphan too, but she doesn't wander the streets because she has a twin brother who mostly takes care of them both in the old family house once owned by their dead parents. 

When Rhine is taken on her way to work, she's brought to this important Governor who chooses her as his wife along with two other girls. The world is so messed up that one of them is only thirteen and is expected to bear children and be a wife as well as the oldest wife, who's eighteen. But the horrors of this dystopian world are not the worst, because inside this mansion that's Rhine new home, things even more horrible are happening, and our protagonist has just scratched the surface. 

I didn't fall in love with Rhine, because I didn't really believe her tough act. She was always saying how much she hated everything that had brought her to that awful place, but she didn't do much about it until the very end, she let herself fall for the whole illusion as she called it, more often than not, even when she kept saying that she wasn't buying into it. I really liked Jenna, the oldest wife, she was a really good friend to Rhine and she seemed to me like the strongest of the bunch. Cecily got in my nerves all the time, I just couldn't stand her. She was so stupidly naive and bratty that I just rolled my eyes every time she appeared in a scene. 

I didn't like Linden much either. He was so mild, like he couldn't formulate a whole idea by himself. He took everything as it was presented to him, without questioning anything and it made furious to witness his obliviousness. He's definitely not my type of love interest and besides that, the whole polygamy thing didn't cut it for me. There's no real romance like that. So, for me, he wasn't considered as a love interest even when Rhine let herself slip up.

Gabriel wasn't much better. I mean, he wasn't as bad at being fooled by shiny things as Linden, but he was also pretty meh. Always afraid and it just felt like he let himself be dragged around by Rhine. 

The villain in the story was kind of terrifying, this powerful man who would do anything to find a cure for the virus that's shortening the life span of his son. But sometimes, even if we're made to believe that his motives have to do with saving his son, he was just evil for the sake of being evil. 

The character that intrigued me the most, surprisingly was Rowan. I'd like to see him as a love interest, I bet he would be the bad-ass male character I kept on waiting throughout this story. 

That said, the characters weren't the best in this book. They were difficult to relate to for me. But I still enjoyed the world-building and the writing. I wish the plot would've moved faster and really developed throughout this first book, but it didn't feel like it. This one is not one of those dystopias with lots of action and big battles, and I kind of missed that, but it made it original somehow.

Overall Wither is a decent read. It's not for everyone since it contains darker topics like underage sex and kidnapping. The writing is really good but it's a slow-paced story with a lot of sitting around doing virtually nothing and few moments of real action. But it's still a good story, although I'm still not sure if I'll be reading the next two books in this trilogy

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About the author

Lauren DeStefano was born in New Haven, Connecticut and has never traveled far from the east coast. She received a BA in English from Albertus Magnus College, and has been writing since childhood. She made her authorial debut by writing on the back of children's menus at restaurants and filling up the notepads in her mom's purse. Her very first manuscript was written on a yellow legal pad with red pen, and it was about a haunted shed that ate small children.

Now that she is all grown up (for the most part), she writes fiction for young adults. Her failed career aspirations include: world's worst receptionist, coffee house barista, sympathetic tax collector, and English tutor. When she isn't writing, she's screaming obscenities at her Nintendo DS, freaking her cats out with the laser pen, or rescuing thrift store finds and reconstructing them into killer new outfits.