The Boy Recession ~ Flynn Meaney (earc) review

The Boy Recession
Poppy
August 7, 2012
256 pages
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When they find out twelve percent of the boys in their small Wisconsin high school moved away or changed schools over the summer, the girls at Kelly's school know it's time to take action.

Kelly, who's never had a boyfriend, was going to make this the year when she finally told her crush just how she felt about him. But now, with girls who'd normally never look twice at Hunter paying him - and the other normally overlooked guys - more than an extra bit of attention, she'll have to do something to stand out.

Hunter's been fine with coasting along. Sure, he could apply himself and do all that his guidance counselor insists he's capable of, but that would take effort and playing music, skipping class and hanging with his two friends is much more fun. When he somehow gets roped into doing things that bring the spotlight on him, though, even the most popular girls take notice.

He might even make up for some of those missing boys . . . and be boyfriend material for them.

Can Kelly get him to be her boyfriend? Maybe some help from her two best friends, one boy-crazy, the other who's less into boys and more into books but has the knowledge will give her the edge she needs.


The Boy Recession has a cute premise: Kelly waited to tell her crush how she felt, now that she's ready, all the other girls are taking notice due to there being a boy shortage at their high school . . . What will Kelly do?
If you're looking for a cute, really fluffy summer read then Flynn Meaney's The Boy Recession is likely a good one. I think I was thinking too much to really enjoy it, though.

I might have gotten stuck having trouble with the setup and then wondered about that too far into the story. A lot of Julius P Heil High's boys move away over the summer (the girls figure it's fifteen boys and with about 250 students total, 125 boys, that's 12 percent). I think it was more the small class size, about sixty, that made me wonder about things. Everyone I know who's at schools with class sizes that small has at least tried dating someone from an outside school - if one's at all nearby - by junior year. (From different mentions it seemed like there were colleges and maybe private schools semi-nearby.)

Again, I think that's me over-thinking a book where you're not really supposed to be thinking much at all but it seemed more likely that the girls, instead of getting desperate for the boys that were still at their school, freshman, too, would date someone not at Julius?

This (my over-thinking, wondering why the girls didn't date outside Julius')  is probably part of why I didn't love the female characters in the book in general. I wanted them to deal with the Boy Recession a bit better. Obviously I knew they were going to all want to date the boys that were left but I guess I found their behavior more desperate than cute? (Except for one side character who may have been my favorite character, overall.)

Kelly and Hunter's characters, who alternate chapters narrating the story, are stronger. Hunter's narration - and thus character - is a bit off in the beginning, he doesn't quite sound like sixteen-year-old guy at a few points and some of his actions seemed contradictory to his persona. Later on, things felt more true, though. Kelly was a good character whose voice stayed consistent from beginning to end and it was pretty easy to identify with her - and her troubles with the Boy Recession.

The Boy Recession is a light, summertime read. It wasn't for me - I had trouble getting past and over-thinking the setup and its ramifications, younger YA readers, especially, looking for a fluffy read might enjoy it.


Rating: 6/10


Other books you might also enjoy:  The Queen of Kentucky by Alecia Whitacker and Something Like Fate by Susane Colasanti


thank you to LBYR and NetGalley for my egalley of this title

Revived ~ Cat Patrick review

Revived
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
May 1, 2012
336 pages
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Just over a decade ago, a little girl, Daisy, was one of those killed in a school bush crash.

Only, Daisy didn't stay dead. Now, almost fifteen Daisy Appleby has been revived five times - including that first one - and lives without a fear of death. If she dies, they'll just bring her back, revive her.

A government agency, unknown to almost everyone, has developed and is currently testing a drug called Revive, a drug that can bring people back from the dead.

It allows Daisy to start her life over every time she's not careful and an accident or freak occurrence ends her life. Something that's never really bothered her before - she's always looked at the end of her old lives and starts of the new ones with a kind of scientific detachment.

Daisy's latest move, to a nowhere seeming town, might just bring those attachments she's looking for, though . . . and change the course of her life forever.



Cat Patrick's debut book Forgotten came out last summer and I'm still rather hopelessly in love with it - and London and Luke. (From my review: "The concept of Forgotten is appealing enough to draw readers in – but it is its actual execution that will cause word of its brilliance to spread like wildfire.") If you've read, Forgotten or even heard about it then you have some idea of just how well Cat Patrick can take an idea that - while startlingly original - seems simple and twist it so that you're left staring in awe.

Forgotten had me at the synopsis because it sounded ever so slightly like the movie Memento; Revived had me at the first half of the synopsis because, hey, school bus crashes, secret government agency with a drug that can bring people back from the dead . . . and then later the cover!

Revived does what Forgotten did it takes your every expectation of and just blows it clear out of the water.

Cat Patrick has a true talent for writing brilliant, connectable, realistic characters. Even if her plots are just on the other side of believable when you first read about them, once you add in the characters, it somehow becomes this incredible, contemporary fiction book, even with the reviving. (Obviously characters in paranormal/supernatural books can be great and relatable as well, I'm not knocking them, this is just about this book.)


Without giving away what does happen later on in the book, I just have to say, well, it's left me rather speechless. Patrick wrote about a very painful situation - and its aftermath, especially - beautifully.  Based on my personal experience with a rather similar situation and an only slightly similar situation I thank her for having it ring so true - even if it was a bit hard to read.

On a much lighter note, Cat Patrick has a gift for some crush-worthy boys in her books. I still have one on Luke Henry from Forgotten and now I have one on Matt as well. (That and maybe some of the decorating done in this book. Stephanie Perkins/Lola and Cat Patrick/her Revived characters are now my interior designers!)

Revived is so much deeper than I expected picking it up but I wouldn't trade that for anything. This is a book that I'm going to be pushing everyone to read because I find it just that amazing.

Rating 10+/10

(and Forgotten on Goodreads & Book Depo - links in my review, too)

My Spring Break Blog interview with Cat Patrick is here if you want to read it :)


Superbly giant thank you to Faye & LBYR for my copy of this to review!!

Wanderlove ~ Kirsten Hubbard (earc) review

Kirsten Hubbard will be here next week, on Wednesday the 21st for an interview as part of my Spring Break Blog Spectacular, make sure you stop back by for that (and let her know how much you love Wanderlove if you've read it by then or how much you can't wait to if you haven't yet.)!!

Wanderlove
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
March 13, 2012
352 pages
add to Goodreads/buy on Amazon/or on Book Depository

It’s been a little while since I’ve read a book that I’ve loved so much I want to take it around everywhere with me, hold it in everyone’s face and say, “Read this!” (Whether they’re interested or not.)

Wanderlove is one of those books.

Bria’s trip all began with one simple question: Are you a Global Vagabond? She’s not but she’d like to be.
Bria Sandoval (and is that not a name you’d love to have for prospective Global Vagabond’ing? It’s perfect?) signs herself up for a guided tour of Central America – hoping to find some find some independence, maybe some cute boys for a no-strings hookup or two. The spur-of-the-moment decision comes after Bria’s break-up and its effect on her art and admission to art school.

Only, she’s signed up for the wrong tour. Instead of the group full of spontaneous, young backpacker type travelers, Bria finds herself stuck with a bunch of middle-aged fanny pack wearers. Going from Point A to Point B in a van, never noticing the scenery around them, is not what Bria had in mind. So, when she meets backpacker and dive instructor, Rowan and his sister Starling she grabs the chance to leave her group behind and explore with them.

While Bria’s trying to prove to herself she doesn’t have to follow all the rules, Rowan’s trying to get back into following them and Starling, well, she seems to make some of her own. Together they’ll travel across remote villages and islands, discover the beauty of the Caribbean Bria would not otherwise have seen, and come across creatures she might rather not have. All the while, Bria and Rowan will discover they have a lot more in common than they might think – or want to admit.

And Bria, will realize she can’t just run away from everything forever.

The fact that Kirsten Hubbard has also written some travel books and travelled so extensively may, at least partially, why Wanderlove is so absolutely brilliant. I can easily see Hubbard being like an Ernest Hemingway for young adults - or just for the present day. Her novels bring us so brilliantly to the locales they’re set (Belize, especially, and Guatemala in the case of Wanderlove) that not only are you fully there, as a reader, with the characters but it makes you want to see them in person. If you’ve already been to any of the places, reading Wanderlove feels like going back – and makes you want to plan an actual trip back ASAP.

Yet without great characters, the setting wouldn’t have meant anything. Bria (aside from her perfect traveling name) fits the book so well. I love that she’s not a fearless, jump-into-everything traveler who just goes for everything right off. It makes the story easier to relate to in some way. While Rowan and Starling do know how to do everything, Bria is just discovering it with readers (well most). It’s incredibly enjoyable to come along for the ride – or rides, walks, hikes, etc as the case may be here – as she discovers not only how to do things in terms of traveling but also discovers so much more about herself, too.

The artwork that is part of the book, Bria’s in the novel but Kirsten Hubbard’s in reality, is beautiful and such a great accompaniment to the story. Bria’s art is so much a part of the story that it’s fantastic to be able to see it as well as read about it. (And it’s great, great art, too.)

As previously stated I love, love Wanderlove and can’t say that enough. I really hope you will buy it, get it from your library (and realize how much you love it and need to buy it), borrow it from a friend, read it!!

Rating: 10/10

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my digital galley.


*Photos in my buttons are from Belize

The Disenchantments ~ Nina LaCour (ARC) review

The Disenchanments
Dutton Children's Books
February 16, 2012
307 pages
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While everyone else has been deciding scouring college brochures, taking college tours, filling out applications and finally deciding where to attend, Colby has been planning a much different post-high school experience. After high school he has long planned to spend a week touring Northern California with his best friend Bev and her all-girl band before the two jet off to Europe for a year. He's spent his high school life looking over European public transport maps, planning their adventures deciding where they need to go.

It's all set.

Until Bev announces, just after they start the tour, that she plans to start college right after the tour.

What does this mean for Colby? For his future?


As a huge fan of LaCour's first novel Hold Still I was absolutely thrilled to see this book up for offer on Early Reviewers - even more so to win it. While it is so incredibly different from Hold Still, it also has a friendship that is strained - albeit for a different reason - and features LaCour's great writing.

The tour that The Disenchantments (and really, Th Disenchantments themselves) take is so far from ordinary or boring that it's absolutely fantastic. They each have their own little quirks and unique traits - the obvious Bev's awesome art; Colby's gifted drawing; Meg's pink hair or Alexa's feathers - to the one's that we discover along the way, all things that make them not only more interesting, but also characters we really care about.

Even The Disenchanments being horrible (as in they are not a good band, not all that musically gifted) makes them incredibly endearing.

I love the places that they go to on their tour. It says not only something about their tour planner, but also about why they are in this band - and why they've really gone on this tour in the first place. This isn't a tour for the glitz, glamour and fame, it's for them and that's beautiful.

Oh, and the people they encounter, especially Jasper! Each of them could have their own story; they are such strong side characters. They aren't throw-away, extra characters that are just there to be there. All of the characters, no matter how minor really add something to the story.

I was thrilled with the ending - I had been hoping for it, it was a bit different than I expected but I think it's even better than I hoped.

Probably my only issue with The Disenchantments at all, and it's a minor one, is, a few times, Colby seemed more feminine. Possibly an effect of being around as many girls or LaCour writing a male character in with so many female ones . . . or just my interpretation of things. But that's about it.


Rating: 9/10


(review copy provided by LibraryThing Early Reviewers' and Penguin)

New Girl ~ Paige Harbison (eARC) review

New Girl
HarlequinTeen
January 31, 2012
304 pages
add to Goodreads/buy on Amazon

Fascinated by the Harry Potter books and thinking that boarding school would open up a whole new - amazing - world to her, she'd applied for the first time before even starting high school, to Manderlay Academy. Only to be rejected.

At first she hated the the local public high school, Saint Augustine High School, finding it plain in comparison the the possibility of the esteemed Manderlay. But she's grown to like, if not love, her life - 'walks' with her dog consist of throwing a tennis ball into the waves, she has a best friend, the ocean air blows in her bedroom window every night - when her parents present their surprise.

Over the years - it's the summer before her senior year - they have been secretly submitting applications on her behalf to Manderlay. And she has been accepted. Not wanting to disappoint her parents, she feigns enthusiasm and has one last blowout summer with her friends before heading off to soon-to-snow New Hampshire to find what awaits her.

Far different from what she imagined when she first applied, she finds the is a place for her because the schools new girl of the year before, the girl everyone wanted to know Rebecca (Becca) Normandy has been missing since the end of the last school year.

Everyone seems to see her as replacing Becca - or trying to as it's obvious she never could. Becca's name and face are everywhere. Becca's photos have been left pinned to the wall on the side of the room that was Becca's but is now hers. Everyone has a story about Becca . . . Becca this . . . Becca that. The only one who doesn't seem to be as all about Becca is Max.

It's obvious to her that Becca's life was much, much beter . . . what's not obvious to any of them, though, is if she's really still out there just waiting to come take it all back.


New Girl is a retelling of Daphne DuMaurier's Rebecca, one of my favorite, if not favorite-favorite books ever. So, perhaps I had higher hopes than most starting this? I definitely liked that it did keep a lot of the Rebecca story elements. Some of the things that were in New Girl were just little things - characters names that transferred over, if slightly changed, or locations that were used - but it was nice to recognize the similarities and how they connected Rebecca to New Girl.

While I do think that knowing Rebecca allows a reader to get more out of - or at least catch on to some things faster with - New Girl, I don't think it's a case of needing to. In fact, I plan on rereading Rebecca because New Girl brought the story up in my head enough (and reminded me how much I love it enough) that I want to revisit it!

It was hard while reading New Girl and the New Girl (we don't get her name until very late in the story) was having such a hard time at Manderlay to understand her desire to stick it out only to not disappoint her parents. (Or even, really, to go in the first place.) I wish some of that had been played up a little bit because it never seemed like she had a bad relationship with her parents but then she's having such a hard time and still doesn't want them to think she's anything other than cool. It just felt odd.

While it was interesting to see chapters from Becca's perspective as opposed to solely hearing everyone else rave about her or say how much the missed her, there were a couple of things that didn't quite follow through. One of them, I felt was going to explain her behavior some, (it's about half way through the book and would be spoilery or I'd quote it to make sure I'm not mistaken) but then nothing else came of it.

She does get deeper at a few points, but it wasn't quite enough to make me care about her or sympathize with her.

There's also more sex (or maybe the way it's a part of the novel, not necessarily how frequently?) and swearing than seems necessary - at least for a YA book.


Rating: 6/10

read thanks to HarlequinTeen & NetGalley

Soundtrack: Sexy and I Know It - LMFAO and The One That Got Away - Katy Perry

Other Books You Might Like: Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier and Unraveling Isobel by Eileen Cook

Don't Breathe a Word ~ Holly Cupala review

Don't Breathe a Word
HarperTeen
January 3, 2012
320 pages
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Joy Delamore's asthma is suffocating her. Her parents barely let her go anywhere, if they do they want her supervised by one of them. Her older brother has been charged with her care. They'll do anything to keep anything from happening to her. All this after Joy's asthma almost claimed her life.

Her new boyfriend promises them to he will take care of her. Soon, he's smothering Joy just as much - or more.

She can only take their 'caring' and Asher's intensity for so long before she has to get away. Joy leaves it all behind to seek out Creed, the one person who has offered her help; a homeless boy.

Leaving her old life behind Joy finds a new life on the streets of Seattle and learns more about her self in a short time than she ever did in her years in with her parents.


After reading Holly Cupala's first book Tell Me a Secret and finding it incredibly emotional, I very, very much wanted to read Don't Breathe a Word; I was thrilled when Harper sent me a copy to review. About a seemingly completely different subject matter - yet also a difficult one to approach - than Tell Me a Secret, Don't Breathe a Word is also about a young girl finding her own strength in the midst of a very difficult situation. One where a lot of people (of any age) could easily lose themselves.

Holly Cupala writes great novels of girl-power that are also just about you-power, whether you're female or male. I do think that Don't Breathe a Word will work better with male audiences (given the subject matter) than her first book.

Cupala's sophomore novel is much stronger and more consistent, if maybe less emotional, than her first book.

I had more of a personal connection with the story in Tell Me a Secret so it's possible that's why I found that tale to have more of an emotional impact. This one does have more of a subtle emotional kick all of the way through.

I'm thrilled the publisher gave me the chance to read and review this title and am already looking forward to Holly Cupala's next title (and recommending this one!).

Rating: 9/10


Thank you to HarperTeen for my copy for review

Hallowed ~ Cynthia Hand (ARC) review

Hallowed (Unearthly #2)
Harper Teen
January 17, 2012
416 pages
add to Goodreads/buy on Amazon


*Spoilers for Unearthly (Unearthly #1) below*

Four months since the day of the fires - the day that taught Clara that her purpose was much more confusing than it would seem. Now, torn between her love for her boyfriend Tucker and the baffling feelings she has for the angel-blood Christian -both a part of that day she trained for, the one that was supposed to fulfill her purpose - Clara doesn't know what to do.

Still working to figure out what it was she was supposed to have done that day, in the fires, Clara's life becomes even more complex. Now a part of the battle between White Wings and Black Wings (Samjeeza, specifically) Clara has to watch her back all the time.

All of this on top of a new dream . . .vision letting her know that someone close to her will die very soon.


It's hard to remember at times just what happened in Unearthly while you're reading Hallowed but enough little hints are given by the characters that while you still won't remember quite a few things, it's never enough to make things confusing. If you do have time and it's something you want to do, rereading Unearthly (or parts of it) might be a good idea.

Hallowed delves into the lives of the angel-bloods much more than Unearthly did. We don't get as much interaction between the other characters (like we did in the first book) because the ins and outs of what it means to be part angel are examined more this go-round.

It'd definitely necessary - both for the plot of this individual installment as well as the series as whole - for the characters and readers, alike to know more about the mythology around around angel-bloods. It does, however, take a little bit away from the character interactions and relationships that made the first novel so, so great.

The human characters are less prevalent in Hallowed and I did miss them - and their contributions. There were new characters that were added and the angel-blood characters from the first book had somewhat expanded roles and I hope that both are even more expanded in third book.

As with the first book, the originality (even with the number of angel themed books that have come out since Unearthly) does not fail to impress. Hand's world of angels and angel-bloods is complex and very well thought out and has new things for both the readers and the characters to discover. What's even better is that they're new things that don't seem to contradict any of the story thus far; new developments flow into the story lie and plot, even when they're startling or completely surprising - they fit.

This is a great series! Just like with the first book, once you get going in he book, you won't want to put it down!


Rating: 8/10



Thank you to Harper for my review copy!

2012 Reading Challenges

I'm signing up (and planning on completing) three reading challenges this year - which is probably insane since I don't think I did any last year . . . They seem like great challenges, though:

(co-hosted by IceyBooks and I Like These Books)

My Goodreads shelf dedicated to the Challenge*
Books:
(lists are going to be filled in as I read them - tentative books are on my Goodreads shelves)
1) The Queen of Kentucky by Alecia Whitaker ^
2) Everything You Need to Survive the Apocalypse by Lucas Klauss ^
3) Unraveling Isobel by Eileen Cook
4) The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E Smith
5) Fracture by Megan Miranda ^
6) Stolen Away by Alyxandra Harvey
7) Don't Breathe a Word by Holly Cupala ^
8) New Girl by Paige Harbison ^
9) Never Eighteen by Megan Bostic
10) I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga
11) Belles by Jen Calonita
12) Purity by Jackson Pearce
13) The Night She Disappeared by April Henry
14)
15)
1b)
2b)
5b)
7b)
8b)
9b)

(hosted by Chick Loves Lit)

My Goodreads shelf dedicated to the Challenge*
Books:
1) Hallowed by Cynthia Hand
2) Don't Breathe a Word by Holly Cupala^
3) New Girl by Paige Harbison
4) Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin
5) The Right & The Real by Joelle Anthony
6) Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard
7) The Rivals by Daisy Whitney
8)
9)
10)
2b)

(hosted by The Story Siren)

My Goodreads shelf dedicated to the Challenge*
Books:
1) The Queen of Kentucky by Alecia Whitaker (started in December)
2) Cinder by Marissa Meyere
3) Everything You Need to Survive the Apocalypse by Lucas Klauss
4) Fracture by Megan Miranda
5) Everneath by Brodi Ashton
6) Article 5 by Kristen Simmons
7) Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris
8) Embrace by Jessica Shirvington
9) The Last Princess by Galaxy Craze
10) Harbinger by Sara Wilson Etienne
11) Slide by Jill Hathaway
12) Love & Leftovers by Sarah Tregay








(hosted by Patricia's Particularity)

My Goodreads shelf dedicated to the Challenge*

Books:

1) Don't Breathe a Word by Holly Cupala

2) Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally

3)

4)

5)

6)

7)

8)

9)

10)

There are a few challenges I'm still debating - signing up for - I'll add them to this post if (and when) I do sign up and join them :-)

^ These books are obviously still reviewed and will still have these tags in their posts, but I'd like my lists to not overlap so I'm trying not to count them for my total :)

Are you doing any fun/interesting/exciting challenges? I'd love it if you'd link me to them!

*books all subject to change :-)