Review: Hallowed by Cynthia Hand.

Rowena's review of Hallowed by Cynthia Hand.

Main Character: Clara
Love Interest: Tucker or Christian? Who knows.
Series: Unearthly, Book 2
Author: Facebook|Twitter|Goodreads

Clara Gardner knew that as a part angel she would one day have to fulfill her purpose, rescuing Christian from a forest fire…what she never considered was what might happen if she were to fail.

Now, torn between her increasingly complicated feelings for Christian and her love for her boyfriend Tucker, Clara must deal with the repercussions of what happened the day of the fire as the two boys vie for her heart. And, as she is drawn further into the world of angels and part angels and the growing conflict between White Wings and Black Wings, Clara learns of the terrifying new reality that she must face: someone close to her will die in a matter of months. With her future uncertain after a shocking revelation, the only thing Clara knows for sure is that the fire was just the beginning…

Last year, Unearthly was one of the first books that I reviewed for the blog. I absolutely adored that book. I enjoyed getting to know Clara and Tucker and I enjoyed seeing them fall in love. Hand did a fabulous job of making me feel for her characters, the way that I would feel for my friends. They became my friends and I was totally Team Tucker by the end of the book.

Now that I've finished Hallowed, I'm not sure what team I'm on. In Unearthly, I didn't think that there was a Team Christian but I was totally loving Christian in this book. A lot more than I remember loving Tucker in the last book.

In this book, Clara's back and the fire is behind her. Her purpose is something of an issue in her life because she's not sure what happens next. What happens if you don't fulfill your purpose the way that you're supposed to. Clara's in love with Tucker but she can't forget about Christian. Try as she might, she's drawn to Christian in a way that she's not drawn to anyone else. He understands what she's going through because his purpose wasn't fulfilled either since it was linked to hers and they're both stuck in this weird place where they're not sure if they're supposed to move on or stick close. Clara wants to move on but it's clear that Christian doesn't share the sentiment.

Tucker and Christian continue to battle wills in this book and in this book, I found myself annoyed with Tucker, more than Christian even though Christian does a douchey thing. For me, Christian tototally won me over in this book (not that I didn't like him in the other book) and after reading it, I found myself truly conflicted over who I wanted Clara to end up with.

Clara reminds me of Elena from the Vampire Diaries. She's that martyr that is always so wrapped up in herself and how to save her loved ones that she doesn't take the time to ask those people she's always trying to save about the issues they're facing. In this book, Clara is so wrapped up in keeping Tucker alive, in keeping her feelings for Christian under wraps that she doesn't notice that Jeffrey is pissed off. What I liked about this part of the story line is the way that Hand handled it. There are so many things that could have happened that made Jeffrey as angry as he is but when we find out the real reason he's so angry, it surprises you. Not surprised in the sense that it was unbelievable or anything but surprised, because it made sense.

There are a lot of things that pop off in this book and a lot of questions that are raised in this book. What happens next? What is going to happen next year? Where will the next book take place? What's going to happen to Jeffrey? Where did he go? All of those things wrap around themselves until you're anxious for the next book already. Kudos to Cynthia Hand for writing a book that has definitely hooked me in even more than I was before. I can't wait for more. If you read Unearthly and enjoyed it then I'm positive that you'll enjoy this book as well. So give it a go, Christian is a cutie patootie, so he's reason enough. =)

..and that's your scoop!

This book is available from Harper Teen.
Buy the book: B&N|Amazon|Book Depository
Book cover and blurb credit: http://barnesandnoble.com

In My Mailbox (53)

I forgot to mention some books that I got last week so I'll include those in this week's In My Mailbox. Check out this week's stash:




Rescue Me by Rachel Gibson|About that Night by Julie James|Tessa Masterson WILL go to Prom by Emily Franklin & Brendan Halpin|Shooting Stars by Allison Rushby|A Week to Be Wicked by Tessa Dare|Girl Meets Boy by Kelly Milner Halls
There are a lot of books that I'm looking forward to reading and I've already started. I've read and finished both About that Night by Julie James (FABULOUS) and Rescue Me by Rachel Gibson (Lovely romance) and I'm eager to keep going.

So now that you know what I got in my inbox this week, how about you share your loot? I'm nosy too! =)

...and that's your scoop!

Buy the book: B&N|Amazon|Book Depository
Book cover and blurb credit: http://barnesandnoble.com

Guest Review: The Taming by Teresa Toten and Eric Walters

Ames' review of The Taming by Teresa Toten and Eric Walters.

Main Character: Katie
Love Interest: Evan
Series: n/a
Authors: Teresa: Website|Goodreads Eric: Website|Goodreads

Katie likes to believe she's invisible. It seems much safer than being exposed as she is--shy, poor, awkward. So getting up on stage in the school production of The Taming of the Shrew should be complete torture. But as Katie tells it, something totally unexpected happened when she stepped on stage: "My head exploded. I loved it. Acting hit me like a sucker punch and I loved, loved, loved it! . . . Invisible Katie became visible Katharina."

Evan Cooper is, as they say, another story. He knows just what it takes to get noticed, and he uses every one of the skills he's honed after years of being the new kid. Like tossing the keys to his father's high-end Audi to a kid he's never met, first day of school. "I have insurance for car theft," he explains to a shocked Danny. "And there's a full tank." An abuse of the power that comes with privilege and money? Sure.

But more dangerously, is his romance with Katie another version of the same thing? Or is it the real thing?

I went into this book thinking it was going to be light and fluffy. My goodness was I ever surprised by the turn it took! And just like the heroine, I was lulled into believing Evan was a nice guy. That was very sly of the authors. So this review is going to be a bit spoiler-ish.

Katie likes to stay invisible. She's perfected it actually. Why? Let's just say mom doesn't have the best taste in men. Katie and her mom move around quite a bit and Katie is used to not making friends, because she never knows how long she'll be in any particular place or school. But now she has friends, super supportive friends that accept her for the way she is - which is really nice but unobtrusive. So how does Katie end up the star of the school's play? She's in a drama class and to receive credit, you need to be involved in some way. And Katie's way just happens to be as the star - something she did not plan on and is surprised as everyone else that she is amazing at playing Katharina, from Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew.

And then there's Evan. He's been expelled from his very posh private school and is only going to public school as a last resort. His parents are rich and distant and he basically does whatever he wants. His father is also abusive towards his mother, something that drives Evan crazy. He hates that his father treats his mother that way. So he gets back at his dad by being a bit rebellious and letting strange kids use his car on the first day of school. He gets in with the popular crowd right away and as he is also registered in the drama class, he has to help out with the school play. And that's how he meets Katie. He didn't notice her that first day in drama class, but his new friend's point her out as the star of the play and he's intrigued. More so after he sees her perform during rehearsal. And despite all the popular girls who throw themselves at him, he wants Katie.

The Taming is told from both Katie's and Evan's point of view. It works really well because it gets us in both their head spaces and like I said, it lulls the reader into a false sense of Evan's character. At first he comes across as a great guy. He's nice to Katie, attracted to her...and then slowly little thought's start creeping into his narrative and then you're thinking to yourself, "Wow, this guy is a little bit of an a-hole." That was a very neat trick on the part of the writers. You're as flabbergasted as Katie is when Evan's dark side comes out. Because despite the fact that he hates his father, he's more like him then he realizes.

Ok, I enjoyed this book a lot! The alternating POV makes the book fly by. You're totally immersed because you're in both head spaces. And yeah, very crafty the way we're drawn in, just like Katie was. And despite the dark tone, there is some levity among the characters. It's a high school setting and I thought this was portrayed really well by the way they talked to each other:

“It’s Petruchio, not Pinocchio,” I said, correcting him.

“Not the way he plays it,” Danny said. “He’s made of wood and trying to be a real boy. But the difference is that Katie is doing a really great job.”

But this book definitely has a dark side and we're right there with Katie when things turn sour. I thought the authors handled the subject matter very well. I really liked how supportive Katie's friends were. I would definitely recommend this book - it's one that has stuck with me since I've read it.

..and that's your scoop!

This book was received through NetGalley and made available from Double Day Canada.

Buy the book: B&N|Amazon|Books on Board|Kobo
Book cover and blurb credit: http://barnesandnoble.com

Pretty Little Liars and Storylines I Hate.

A few weekends ago, I took my 12 year old daughter with me to the bookstore to spend the gift cards that I got from Christmas. This was a happy time for me as I LOVE bookstores and I don't get around to going to any very often.

Brenna, who reads when she has to and that's it, came because after the bookstore, I was taking her to her basketball practice. So, in other words, she had to come with me. While we were in the store, she wanted me to buy her a Pretty Little Liars book and I kept telling her no. So of course, she gets upset.

She gets all pouty and goes downstairs to play with the nooks, the nook colors and all of the other stuff downstairs while me and the actual readers (my nieces Chaylene and Cheridan) continue to browse the bookshelves for books. We left with a bunch of books and Brenna got a Starbucks.

On our way to her basketball practice, she says, "Mom, the only reason you don't like Pretty Little Liars is because of Aria and Ezra."

My response? "Damn straight."

If you aren't familiar with the storyline between Ezra and Aria, this is it. Ezra is Aria's English teacher and they're in love. Yeah, I get that there were extenuating circumstances and that there's a story here but I'm sorry, as a parent of a soon to be 16 year old daughter, I never ever want her to have a relationship with her teacher or someone in a position of authority at her school, on her sports team, etc...

This is a total deal breaker for me. It's why I stopped watching Pretty Little Liars (never really paid much attention to the books until the show aired) and it's why I stopped watching Life Unexpected. The minute Lux continued her relationship with her teacher, or the minute that the teacher continued the relationship with Lux, I tuned out.

My main gripe with this is that to someone like Brenna, it's not a big deal. When she said, "It's not a big deal, Mom." I wanted to bean her in the head with a tennis ball.

Of course it's a big deal. Teachers aren't sent to schools to start relationships with their students. There's a reason that it's against the rules and against the law for adults to engage in relationships with children. When you're 16, you're still a child.

I get that the teachers met these students under false pretenses but when they found out the kids true age (when they showed up in their classrooms) they should have ended the relationship. What bothers me the most is that they continued the relationship. They couldn't help themselves, you can't help who you love and blah blah blah, I'm sorry but the right thing to do is to let that one go.

Kids treat this whole thing like it's not a big deal. Brenna did. Chaylene and Cheridan didn't think it was that big of a deal. They treat the whole thing like it's something normal and I don't want this to be normal. Kids should be kids, they should be running around town with their friends, getting into trouble, not doing their homework, not tying themselves down to an adult who was entrusted with their care and their education.

I know that it probably happens more than usual and that this is all fiction, not real anyway but I don't want my kid thinking that it's normal and that it's okay. I want my kid to be out there playing basketball with her friends. I want her to laugh too loud and play kickball or dodgeball in the street. I don't want her kissing her teacher or sneaking out to be with the adult that I send her to school to learn from everyday.

Any thoughts? Are there any story lines that you hate reading? Any deal breakers for you?

Review: The Whole Story of Half a Girl by Veera Hiranandani

Rowena's review of The Whole Story of Half a Girl by Veera Hiranandani.

Main Character: Sonia
Series: None
Author: Facebook|Twitter|Goodreads

After her father loses his job, Sonia Nadhamuni, half Indian and half Jewish American, finds herself yanked out of private school and thrown into the unfamiliar world of public education. For the first time, Sonia's mixed heritage makes her classmates ask questions—questions Sonia doesn't always know how to answer—as she navigates between a group of popular girls who want her to try out for the cheerleading squad and other students who aren't part of the "in" crowd.

At the same time that Sonia is trying to make new friends, she's dealing with what it means to have an out-of-work parent—it's hard for her family to adjust to their changed circumstances. And then, one day, Sonia's father goes missing. Now Sonia wonders if she ever really knew him. As she begins to look for answers, she must decide what really matters and who her true friends are—and whether her two halves, no matter how different, can make her a whole.

I didn't know that this book was a middle grade book until I was reading and it mentioned that Sonia (the main character) was finishing up her fifth grade school year. So she's finishing up her last year of elementary school and she finds out that her father lost his job and they're going to be cutting back, financially. That means that Sonia and her younger sister will not be attending their private school next semester, but attending the public school instead.

This isn't one of those contemporary YA books where there's a love interest and the story is focused on their blossoming crushes on each other. This book is about the changes in a young girl's life and how she decides to adapt to this new life of hers. I thought the author did a pretty fabulous job of keeping the story at the age group of the main character. The conflicts in this story are centered around Sonia and they're written in a way that speaks to middle grade aged kids and I really appreciated her efforts in keeping the story authentic.

My heart went out to Sonia and her family because when her father sinks into a depression, you can see the effects this takes on the entire family. I came to love Sonia as if she was my very own daughter through out this book and my heart hurt for everything she dealt with in this book. From her father losing his job to the new school to the mean girls, all of it made me want to tuck Sonia close and protect her from everything. Her confusion was felt by me and watching everything go down brought me a lot closer to Sonia's character than I remember being to any of the other characters that I've read in the last few months.

I appreciated this story because seeing Sonia deal with the different changes in her life was interesting. I've never had to deal with the things that Sonia did, not in the same way anyway and it was just really interesting to see it all go down in this book because for those few hours, I wasn't in my world but in Sonia's and I felt what it was like to be in her shoes and there were times when it was frustrating and times when I wanted to smack a monkey but through it all, I enjoyed getting to know Sonia.

I recommend this book to fans of contemporary YA books that deal with issues because this isn't one of those fun and fluffy stories. It deals with real life issues and it puts you right smack dab in the middle of it all and I enjoyed the story as a whole.

..and that's your scoop!

This book is available from Delacorte.
Buy the book: B&N|Amazon|Book Depository
Book cover and blurb credit: http://goodreads.com

Review: Fracture by Megan Miranda.

Rowena's review of Fracture by Megan Miranda.

Main Character: Delaney
Love Interest: Decker(highlight to find out)
Series: None
Author: Facebook|Twitter|Goodreads

Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine

-despite the scans that showed significant brain damage. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she's far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can't control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it?

Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she's reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy's motives aren't quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature-or something much more frightening?

For fans of best-sellers like Before I Fall and If I Stay, this is a fascinating and heart-rending story about love and friendship and the fine line between life and death.

I've been looking forward to reading this book and was happy when I finally picked it up. Delaney Maxwell fell into the lake and was under for eleven minutes before her best friend Decker was able to save her life.

Eleven minutes.

She should be dead but by some miracle, she didn't die. She's alive but she's not exactly the same person that she was before the accident. She's got a sixth sense for when people are going to die and her doctors and parents are starting to think that she's crazy. She's starting to think that she's crazy.

Just like the lake fractured under her feet when she was trying to cross it, her life is fractured because everything is different for her now. She knows things, she sees things and she has no idea what to do about these things and the introduction of a new guy on the scene doesn't really help matters.

He knows about her and he knows things that she knows and he's got secrets but because she can't really talk about anything with anyone else, she leans on Troy.

Lots of things pop off in this book that had me reading and reading and reading. The sexual (or teenage sexual tension I should say) between Decker and Delaney. All of the drama between Troy and Delaney. The stuff she was going through after the accident. Her parents thinking she was looney. Her doctor's thinking the same thing. It all made for an interesting story and I was glad that I read this one but there were parts of the story that was hard for me to read.

Most of that was the back and forth between her and Decker. I'm all about the love interest. Romance between characters always gets me excited about reading a book. I don't even mind love triangles as long as they're written in a way that is believable and..right. So the romance between Decker and Delaney (if you could call it that) is very immature but still interesting. They're best friends, you kind of know that he's got a thing for her but you can't be entirely sure because he's very close mouthed about it.

The same goes for Delaney. She swears nothing is going on with her and Decker but the minute he moves on, she flips the eff out. So that's what I mean about the whole back and forth stuff with those two. It goes on like that throughout the entire book and toward the end, I was getting fed up with it. I wanted the both of them to just come out and deal with it. Saying that, the ending left me perplexed. Perplexed in the sense that I didn't quite know how to feel about the way that the book ended. I wasn't disappointed but I wasn't exactly thrilled either. You'll have to read it to find out what I'm talking about but the ending and the frustrating relationship between Decker and Delaney then the whole Troy thing tainted my enjoyment some and that's why I'm giving this book the grade that I'm giving it.

I did enjoy the book, I did enjoy getting to know all of the characters in this book but there were times that I wished that Delaney would have let Decker be there for her. There were times when I wished that Decker would come out and say what was on his mind about his feelings for Delaney and I never fully warmed up to Troy for him to be considered a third part to a love triangle for Delaney. Despite all of that, I thought the story was told in a way that kept me interested in what came next so I didn't feel like this was a waste of time reading. I just wanted more from some things and less from others.

..and that's your scoop!

This book is available from Walkers Children.

Buy the book: B&N|Amazon|Book Depository
Book cover and blurb credit: http://barnesandnoble.com

In My Mailbox (52)

I purged my bookshelves this weekend and got rid of some books but also picked up a few as well. Check out this week's stash:




Kiss Me, I'm Irish by Roxanne St. Claire, Jill Shalvis and Maureen Child|I've Got Your Number by Sophia Kinsella



Dukes to the Left of Me, Princes to the Right by Kieran Kramer|Someone Like You by Susan Mallery|The Next Always by Nora Roberts|Blame it on Paris by Jennifer Greene

I'm super excited to get these books read. What did you get in your mailboxes this week? Share your stash with me!

...and that's your scoop!

Buy the book: B&N|Amazon|Book Depository
Book cover and blurb credit: http://barnesandnoble.com