ARC Review: Sky Jumpers by Peggy Eddleman

Pub. Date: September 24^th, 2013

Publisher: Random House Children’s Books

Hardcover

288 pgs. 

Synopsis from Goodreads:

What happens when you can’t do the one thing that matters most?

12-year-old Hope lives in White Rock, a town struggling to recover from the green bombs of World War III. The bombs destroyed almost everything that came before, so the skill that matters most in White Rock—sometimes it feels like the only thing that matters—is the ability to invent so that the world can regain some of what it’s lost.

But Hope is terrible at inventing and would much rather sneak off to cliff dive into the Bomb’s Breath—the deadly band of air that covers the crater the town lives in—than fail at yet another invention.

When bandits discover that White Rock has invented priceless antibiotics, they invade. The town must choose whether to hand over the medicine and die from disease in the coming months or to die fighting the bandits now. Hope and her friends, Aaren and Brock, might be the only ones who can escape through the Bomb’s Breath and make the dangerous trek over the snow-covered mountain to get help.

For once, inventing isn’t the answer, but the daring and risk-taking that usually gets Hope into trouble might just save them all.

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As a result of foraying into Middle Grade less frequently than I would like, past reading experiences have left me with an unshakable impression of Middle Grade being slower paced, with fairly straightforward narratives, and readers sometimes being talked down to by adult authors. If all Middle Grade novels were like Sky Jumpers, my impression would disappear really quickly. While I would say that Sky Jumpers took it’s time introducing the characters and explaining some of the science behind the Bomb’s Breath prior to any major action occurring, the majority of the novel was fairly fast paced, the back story complex, and there was absolutely no talking down.

On My Wishlist: December 28th, 2013

On My Wishlist is a weekly event highlighting a book that I really want to read. The book may be 20 years old, or the pub date may not be until next year, but either way I'm excited about it, and hopefully you will be too!

ARC Review: The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Pub. Date: November 5, 2013

Publisher: Disney Hyperion

Hardcover

304 pages

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Seventeen-year-old Cassie is a natural at reading people. Piecing together the tiniest details, she can tell you who you are and what you want. But it’s not a skill that she’s ever taken seriously. That is, until the FBI come knocking: they’ve begun a classified program that uses exceptional teenagers to crack infamous cold cases, and they need Cassie.

What Cassie doesn’t realize is that there’s more at risk than a few unsolved homicides— especially when she’s sent to live with a group of teens whose gifts are as unusual as her own.

Sarcastic, privileged Michael has a knack for reading emotions, which he uses to get inside Cassie’s head—and under her skin. Brooding Dean shares Cassie’s gift for profiling, but keeps her at arm’s length.

Soon, it becomes clear that no one in the Naturals program is what they seem. And when a new killer strikes, danger looms closer than Cassie could ever have imagined. Caught in a lethal game of cat and mouse with a killer, the Naturals are going to have to use all of their gifts just to survive.

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I’m not someone who gravitates towards crime stories. I get creeped out easily, and I have what some may call an overactive imagination. Let’s just say it’s best when I’m not aware of the multitudes of ways people can be murdered. Yet, the premise behind The Naturals intrigued me. I found Cassie’s ‘natural’ approach to reading and profiling people so much more interesting than the scientific approach we usually see. Surprisingly for me, the girl who get’s creeped out, one of my favorite things about the novel is when ‘You’ takes over the narrative. Switching to a criminal perspective really upped the anti on how drawn into the world of The Naturals I became.

On My Wishlist: December 21st 2013

On My Wishlist is a weekly event highlighting a book that I really want to read. The book may be 20 years old, or the pub date may not be until next year, but either way I'm excited about it, and hopefully you will be too!

Because it is the holiday season (and because I had to miss last week's On My Wishlist) I though I would do a supersized edition this week. Instead of one book, I give you three. 

ARC Review: Pawn (The Blackcoat Rebellion #1) by Aimee Carter

Pub. Date: November 26^th, 2013

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Hardcover

296 pgs. 

Synopsis from Goodreads:

YOU CAN BE A VII IF YOU GIVE EVERYTHING.

For Kitty Doe, it seems like an easy choice. She can either spend her life as a III in misery, looked down upon by the higher ranks and forced to leave the people she loves, or she can become a VII and join the most powerful family in the country.

If she says yes, Kitty will be Masked - surgically transformed into Lila Hart, the Prime Minister's niece, who died under mysterious circumstances. As a member of the Hart family, she will be famous. She will be adored. And for the first time, she will matter.

There's only one catch. She must also stop the rebellion that Lila secretly fostered, the same one that got her killed, and one Kitty believes in. Faced with threats, conspiracies and a life that's not her own, she must decide which path to choose and learn how to become more than a pawn in a twisted game she's only beginning to understand.

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From Pawn’s synopsis alone I saw links to the classist society from The Elite series, a single test defining your fate from Divergent, and the fake identity/ impersonation from The Lying Game. I’m not saying those elements are unique to the novels I mentioned, but the number of links I could make to other stories made me worry that Pawn wouldn’t bring anything new to the table. Was I wrong. Almost instantly after starting reading, Pawn’s uniqueness and ability to captivate me as a reader decimated my worries.

On My Wishlist: December 7th, 2013

On My Wishlist is a weekly event highlighting a book that I really want to read. The book may be 20 years old, or the pub date may not be until next year, but either way I'm excited about it, and hopefully you will be too!

On My Wishlist: November 30th 2013

On My Wishlist is a weekly event highlighting a book that I really want to read. The book may be 20 years old, or the pub date may not be until next year, but either way I'm excited about it, and hopefully you will be too!

On My Wishlist: November 23, 2013

On My Wishlist is a weekly event highlighting a book that I really want to read. The book may be 20 years old, or the pub date may not be until next year, but either way I'm excited about it, and hopefully you will be too!

ARC Review: Sometimes Never, Sometimes Always by Elissa Janine Hoole

Pub. Date: November 8th, 2013
Publisher: Flux
Paperback
360 pages

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Cassandra fears rocking the family boat. Instead, she sinks it. Assigned by her English teacher to write a poem that reveals her true self, Cassandra Randall is stuck. Her family's religion is so overbearing, she can NEVER write about who she truly is. So Cass does what any self-respecting high school girl would do: she secretly begins writing a tarot-inspired advice blog. When Drew Godfrey, an awkward outcast with unwashed hair, writes to her, the situation spirals into what the school calls "a cyberbullying crisis" and what the church calls "sorcery." Cass wants to be the kind of person who sticks up for the persecuted, who protects the victims the way she tries to protect her brother from the homophobes in her church. But what if she's just another bully? What will it take for her to step up and tell the truth?

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Within the first twenty pages of the novel, Cassandra says, (and I’m going to paraphrase because I don’t know whether words or page numbers changed during final edits) she’s ‘going to find herself, even if the cliché of doing so kills her’. Unfortunately, while I didn’t find the action clichéd, I did find the attempt clichéd. Sometimes Never, Sometimes Always is really the story about a girl who doesn’t know how to stand up for herself and her beliefs. She knows who she is. She knows what she believes. She’s just afraid of vocalizing those things. I wish that I could say I connected with Cassandra’s story, but while reading I found myself wishing she would just own up to what she thinks and feels, and stop acting like jerk to everyone, because I was sure ready to move the story along.  

ARC Review: Inhuman by Kat Falls (Fetch #1)

Pub. Date: September 24th, 2013

Publisher: Scholastic

Hardcover

384 pages

Synopsis from Goodreads:

In a world ravaged by mutation, a teenage girl must travel into the forbidden Savage Zone to recover lost artifacts or her father’s life is forfeit.

America has been ravaged by a war that has left the eastern half of the country riddled with mutation. Many of the people there exhibit varying degrees of animal traits. Even the plantlife has gone feral.

Crossing from west to east is supposed to be forbidden, but sometimes it’s necessary. Some enter the Savage Zone to provide humanitarian relief. Sixteen-year-old Lane’s father goes there to retrieve lost artifacts—he is a Fetch. It’s a dangerous life, but rewarding—until he’s caught.

Desperate to save her father, Lane agrees to complete his latest job. That means leaving behind her life of comfort and risking life and limb—and her very DNA—in the Savage Zone. But she’s not alone. In order to complete her objective, Lane strikes a deal with handsome, roguish Rafe. In exchange for his help as a guide, Lane is supposed to sneak him back west. But though Rafe doesn’t exhibit any signs of “manimal” mutation, he’s hardly civilized . . . and he may not be trustworthy.

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I’ve been dystopia/ post apocalyptic storied out recently because nothing felt fresh. That was before Inhuman. From the beginning the premise really intrigued me. The twist of human error causing the apocalyptic event – and the apocalyptic event itself – is different. Avarice and vanity have lead to death and destruction, which makes it all the more horrifying. Because the apocalyptic element is so different, there’s a level of unpredictability to the story. You never know if there will be a happy ending, which characters will survive, or what’s going to happen. There’s a huge shocking reveal, and so many little twists and turns, all of which keep you on the edge of your seat while reading.