Review: The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton

Title: The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender
Author: Leslye Walton
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Release Date: March 25, 2014
Source: Own
Find it Here: Amazon, Goodreads

Magical realism, lyrical prose, and the pain and passion of human love haunt this hypnotic generational saga.

Foolish love appears to be the Roux family birthright, an ominous forecast for its most recent progeny, Ava Lavender. Ava—in all other ways a normal girl—is born with the wings of a bird.

In a quest to understand her peculiar disposition and a growing desire to fit in with her peers, sixteen-year old Ava ventures into the wider world, ill-prepared for what she might discover and naïve to the twisted motives of others. Others like the pious Nathaniel Sorrows, who mistakes Ava for an angel and whose obsession with her grows until the night of the Summer Solstice celebration.

That night, the skies open up, rain and feathers fill the air, and Ava’s quest and her family’s saga build to a devastating crescendo.

First-time author Leslye Walton has constructed a layered and unforgettable mythology of what it means to be born with hearts that are tragically, exquisitely human.

My Thoughts: 

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender is a beautifully written book that captures the reader from the very first page. This book is so underrated on the blog scene and I would really like more people to know about it and to read it! Even though I just finished it at the beginning of this year, I already know it's one of my top books of 2015!

By the title of this book, The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender, you would think that it is mostly about Ava. Even though that's true in a sense and the book is narrated by Ava, the story takes the reader back all the way to Ava's great grandmother and sort of explains why the family is a little bit strange. I love that the story follows Ava's maternal line all the way back to France and tells how strange each and every one of her family members were. 

The story is beautiful and rich and jammed packed into just three hundred pages. I would imagine that for a book like this every single word is carefully picked. Each sentence creates an image for the reader and every paragraph seems necessary for the story to be complete. Every character is given somewhat of a back story to the point that there are literally no flat characters in this book. Everyone has their own unique story. 

I can't believe The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows is Leslye Walton's debut novel! I really hope she keeps writing and that she continues to dazzle readers with magical realism. She is an absolutely beautiful writer and I will definitely continue to read her work!

Series Review: The Mara Dyer Trilogy by Michelle Hodkin

Title: The Mara Dyer Trilogy
Author: Michelle Hodkin
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Published: 2011, 2012 & 2014 respectively

Mara Dyer believes life can't get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.

It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her strangely unharmed.

There is.

She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love.

She's wrong.

My thoughts: 

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer: This first book was definitely my favorite out of the three. I thought it was the perfect introduction to the series because it left me with so many questions that I couldnt' wait to get my hands on the second one in the hopes that some of those questions were answered. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer was the perfect mix of mystery and romance and craziness! At the time, three years ago, it was exactly what I was looking for. A dark and twisty character and an unreliable narrator because she has absolutely no idea what was real and what wasn't.

The Evolution of Mara Dyer: The Evolution of Mara Dyer is really when the shit hits the fan. Not only is she unwillingly placed on a mental hold in the hospital for a little while but then she is forced to go to therapy five days a week instead of going to school! And not only is she still confused on what is real and what isn't but now she starts having these dreams that are more like memories! She's separated from Noah and her whole family thinks she's crazy! I liked this book a little bit less than the first one and I had no idea what to think about her dreams/past memories. Even though it was pretty weird, a good amount of questions were answered especially in the Jude catagory.

The Retribution of Mara Dyer: The third book really starts off with a bang. Throughout the book we learn a whole lot more about that crazy doctor and why she was doing all those experiments. Honestly, though, in the end, there were still a lot of things left unexplained or not explained well enough. While I understand the concept of the story as a whole, a lot of the detailes escaped my comprehension. And what was the purpose of the necklaces? Who knows. Even though there were a lot of deaths and a ton of darkness, I was hoping that Mara would go completely bad in the end. Shake things up a little bit. Love does not conqure all, that sort of thing. Anyway, The Retribution of Mara Dyer was my least favorite book.

Overall, I give The Mara Dyer Trilogy:

Review: Asylum by Madeleine Roux

Title: Asylum
Author: Madeleine Roux
Series: Asylum #1
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: August 20, 2013
Source: Purchased
Find it Here: Amazon, Goodreads

For sixteen-year-old Dan Crawford, New Hampshire College Prep is more than a summer program—it's a lifeline. An outcast at his high school, Dan is excited to finally make some friends in his last summer before college. But when he arrives at the program, Dan learns that his dorm for the summer used to be a sanatorium, more commonly known as an asylum. And not just any asylum—a last resort for the criminally insane.

As Dan and his new friends, Abby and Jordan, explore the hidden recesses of their creepy summer home, they soon discover it's no coincidence that the three of them ended up here. Because the asylum holds the key to a terrifying past. And there are some secrets that refuse to stay buried.

Featuring found photos of unsettling history and real abandoned asylums and filled with chilling mystery and page-turning suspense, Madeleine Roux's teen debut, Asylum, is a horror story that treads the line between genius and insanity.

My thoughts: 

I remember when Asylum first came out and I thought to myself that YA had finally put out a horror novel that actually sounds like it’s going to be scary. I wanted to read it as soon as possible. So I got it from the library and I didn't get around to reading it. I even got it from the library a second time and I still didn't get around to reading it. Clearly I was busy reading other things. Then Sanctum was released and I had a Barnes & Noble coupon so I used it to buy both Asylum and Sanctum. I was putting a lot of faith into this supposedly scary series that I hadn't read yet. But I was right because I love it!

Asylum had me hooked from the first chapter. Everything about the story, the characters and the atmosphere had a really creepy feel to it. Well, it better since the characters are staying in an old mental asylum that the school is using for dorms for the summer program students. So creepy atmosphere down pat! Locked rooms, that when broken into, lead to offices filled with old paperwork and even creepier photos of previous patients. And of course the majority of these creepy patients were serial killers! And the warden was doing some kind of crazy experiments on them! Asylum is all craziness!

Asylum is definitely a scary book so if you’re not into that then don’t read it! I like scary books and I still had a hard time reading it right before bed. YA need more writers like Madeleine Roux who write legitimately scary books. The romance wasn't so bad either as far as “liking someone as soon as you meet them” goes. I wouldn't call it insta-love because it wasn't really that. It was tolerable.

Asylum! Excellent! One of my favorite reads this year and I’m so glad I read it in October!

Review: Get Even by Gretchen McNeil

Title: Get Even
Author: Gretchen McNeil
Series: Don't Get Mad #1
Publisher: Balzer & Bray
Release Date: September 16, 2014
Source: ARC
Find it Here: Amazon, Goodreads

The Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars in Gretchen McNeil’s witty and suspenseful novel about four disparate girls who join forces to take revenge on high school bullies and create dangerous enemies for themselves in the process.

Bree, Olivia, Kitty, and Margot have nothing in common—at least that’s what they’d like the students and administrators of their elite private school to think. The girls have different goals, different friends, and different lives, but they share one very big secret: They’re all members of Don’t Get Mad, a secret society that anonymously takes revenge on the school’s bullies, mean girls, and tyrannical teachers.

When their latest target ends up dead with a blood-soaked “DGM” card in his hands, the girls realize that they’re not as anonymous as they thought—and that someone now wants revenge on them. Soon the clues are piling up, the police are closing in . . . and everyone has something to lose.

My thoughts: 

Let's be honest, I love a good mean girls book when it's done in the right way and Gretchen McNeil does it absolutely perfect. What's not to love about revenge, payback for those who have been bullied and a murder mystery to boot. I was on the edge of my seat and I couldn't figure out what was going to happen next or who done it. 

The four main characters Margo, Olivia, Bree and Kitty all run in different groups of friends and the school has no idea that they are the members of the DGM club that has been responsible for the "paybacks" that have been happening for the past year.  They all met out of coincidence and decided to become the school's vigilantes and righting the wrongs.  The anonymity of the group has cause the school to become restless and on top of the recent murder, the students are demanding answers. Now it seems that someone is on to them as they have all received anonymous envelops filled with threatening messages.  They start to get suspicious of each other and they all have to watch their own back because they have no idea who or what is lurking behind them.  

Gretchen McNeil is one of my favorite authors and she has done it again with another book that is sure to become a hit series. I for one am definitely looking forward to reading Get Dirty and the rest of the trilogy.  It's a fun, quick read and so much fun! I would definitely recommend it to those who love mystery and intrigue.

After Party Blog Tour-Deleted Scene

I am very excited to be a part of the blog tour for Afterparty by Ann Redisch Stampler. Although this book has been out for some time now, the creators of this blog tour wanted to give it the extra promotion that it deserves.

About the book:

Emma is tired of being good. Always the dutiful daughter to an overprotective father, she is the antithesis of her mother--whose name her dad won't even say out loud. That's why meeting Siobhan is the best thing that ever happened to her… and the most dangerous. Because Siobhan is fun and alluring and experienced and lives on the edge. In other words, she's everything Emma is not.

And it may be more than Emma can handle.

Because as intoxicating as her secret life may be, when Emma begins to make her own decisions, Siobhan starts to unravel. It's more than just Dylan, the boy who comes between them. Their high-stakes pacts are spinning out of control. Elaborate lies become second nature. Loyalties and boundaries are blurred. And it all comes to a head at the infamous Afterparty, where debauchery rages and an intense, inescapable confrontation ends in a plummet from the rooftop...

This explosive, sexy, and harrowing follow-up to Ann Redisch Stampler's spectacular teen debut, Where It Began, reveals how those who know us best can hurt us most.

About the Author

Ann Redisch Stampler is the author of young adult novels Where It Began and Afterparty, as well as several picture books, including The Rooster Prince of Breslov. Her books have been an Aesop Accolade winner, Sydney Taylor notable books and an honor book, a National Jewish Book Awards finalist and winner, and Bank Street Best Books of the Year. Ann has two adult children and lives in Los Angeles, California with her husband. Website: annstampler.com / Twitter: @annstampler / Facebook: https://facebook.com/WhereItBegan / Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15751652-afterparty

The Deleted Scene

From Ann: "This is the very earliest version of the chapter leading up to Siobhan and Emma coming up with the Afterparty List. The Afterparty List is still there, and more than slightly significant. The lead-up chapter and all the college-obsession stuff is not.

To understand this, you have to know: i.) Marty is Emma’s father, ii.) Marty’s family has a thriving manufacturing business."

We’re sitting in Siobhan’s room making lists for Miss Palmer. Lists of activities we plan to pursue in college, at least one of which should involve saving the planet (including all the lame activities we plan to drop the second we don’t need them to fill up a college application anymore). Lists of the ten adjectives that best describe our compellingly desirable selves, and ten colleges we want to find out more about.

Siobhan is only just barely cooperating because, if she doesn’t, Miss Palmer will haul her into her office for her own private, personal college chat that everyone is trying to avoid.

“We already know where we’re going,” she says. “Remind me why we’re doing this again.”

The fact that Miss Palmer has spent two full class periods forcing us to watch a power point with bar graphs and pie charts and depressing statistics and is constantly handing out stacks of hand-outs that spell out in excruciating detail just how many people -- no doubt with better lists of self-descriptive adjectives than we’re ever going to come up with -- do not get into their top-choice, single digit acceptance Ivy League college, has no effect.

“Eight people went to Columbia last year,” Siobhan says. “Eight! Can you think of eight people smarter than us in our class?”

The entire robotics team? The kids that got the silver in the National Classics Bowl and are busy learning Greek in their space time? Melinda Lee? It’s not that I’m not a good student (with the amount of time I’m trapped in my house working on it, I’d be sadly deficient if I wasn’t) but I’m getting the distinct impression that unless I quickly start making robots, learn Sandskrit, and get Marty onto the Board of someplace that looks more like a hot college and less like a button, zipper, and hook factory, my chances are quite slim.

But there’s no point trying to dissuade Siobhan, and I’m having to put too much energy into coming up with adjectives that don’t contradict each other to try.

“We could make far more useful lists than this,” Siobhan says. “If you insist on sitting here making more lists, we should at least work on a list that we can get some use out of.”

I’m ready to give up. I hit the wall at six adjectives, and I’m ready to do almost anything else. “Top ten burgers? You want to drive over to Golden State? Eating is one of the ten top things I’d rather be doing than this.”

“Top ten clubs,” she says.

“Top ten forgers who can get you an ID to get into the top ten clubs.”

“You want an ID? I can so get you an ID. Why didn’t you say something before?”

“Because I don’t want an ID. Who in their right mind would think I’m 21? Plus, if Marty found it, I wound’t live to 21. What I want is a burger and sweet potato wedges.”

“You need a list of things to do this year other than feed the poor,” Siobhan says. “You need to start going to parties and see what it feels like to get drunk and smoke a joint and start doing all the stuff you’re supposed to be doing with Jean-Luc with a real guy. Or you’ll be completely unprepared for college. You’re missing the ten top normal experiences of high school.”

“Make plentiful use of red plastic cups? Scam on some guy you’re never going to see again. Throw up in wastebasket. Yeah, get me some of that.”

“Do you see me throwing up in any waste baskets? Think about it: Who has better weekends, you or me?”

The Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Tour Schedule:

If you want to follow the whole blog tour you can find the full schedule @ Read Now Sleep Later!  Be sure to check out She Reads She Blogs who did an interview with Ann yesterday! This blog tour continues tomorrow at The Consummate Reader.

Review: The Whispering Skull by Jonathan Stroud

Title: The Whispering Skull
Author: Jonathan Stroud
Series: Lockwood & Co. #2
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Release Date: September 16, 2014
Source: ARC from ALA
Find it Here: Amazon, Goodreads

In the six months since Anthony, Lucy, and George survived a night in the most haunted house in England, Lockwood & Co. hasn't made much progress. Quill Kipps and his team of Fittes agents keep swooping in on Lockwood's investigations. Finally, in a fit of anger, Anthony challenges his rival to a contest: the next time the two agencies compete on a job, the losing side will have to admit defeat in the Times newspaper.
Things look up when a new client, Mr. Saunders, hires Lockwood & Co. to be present at the excavation of Edmund Bickerstaff, a Victorian doctor who reportedly tried to communicate with the dead. Saunders needs the coffin sealed with silver to prevent any supernatural trouble. All goes well-until George's curiosity attracts a horrible phantom.

Back home at Portland Row, Lockwood accuses George of making too many careless mistakes. Lucy is distracted by urgent whispers coming from the skull in the ghost jar. Then the team is summoned to DEPRAC headquarters. Kipps is there too, much to Lockwood's annoyance. Bickerstaff's coffin was raided and a strange glass object buried with the corpse has vanished. Inspector Barnes believes the relic to be highly dangerous, and he wants it found.

My Thoughts: 

100 page Evaluation: I love this series so far. Even though I really liked The Screaming Staircase, it took me a while to get involved in the world. So it has really grown on me. With the second book, it’s like stepping into a place I already know. I love the characters and the cases and the story the second time around is more interesting. I hope we get to know more and more about this world and Lockwood’s past. 

I don’t read middle grade very often and I’m so glad that Lockwood & Co. series is one of the few that I have read. I love anything that has to do with ghost stories and haunted houses so these books are right up my alley!

Lockwood, Lucy and George are all really fun characters to read and all so different. Since they’re all part of a very small ghost detective agency, they all have to have different strengths so they can balance each other out which makes this series great fun! I would have to say that I relate most to the George character not because I’m lazy and I like to eat (which I do) but because I am such a bookworm and I love history and doing research in old public records. I would love to have a job where I had to handle old records.

The thing that really appeals to me with Lockwood & Co. is all the artifacts that are used to create these ghost stories. In this series, usually the strongest ghosts are linked to an item that they had a very personal connection with. These artifacts are what tie the ghosts’ spirits to the world of the living, allowing them to wreak havoc on those that are near.

I had an ARC of The Whispering Skull from ALA and I read it fairly quickly after the event because it was so good! But now I’m kicking myself a little bit and wishing I had waited because it would be the perfect book to read this time of year! Nevertheless, it’s a great middle grade series and one that would be greatly enjoyed around Halloween time!

Review: Broken Hearts, Fences and Other Things to Mend by Katie Finn

Title: Broken Hearts, Fences and Other Things to Mend

Author: Katie Finn

Series: Broken Hearts & Revenge #1

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Release Date: May 13, 2014

Source: Purchased

Find it Here: Amazon, Goodreads

Hot sun. Blue waves. New romances. Old secrets.

Gemma had her summer all planned out, but it takes a sharp turn when she gets dumped and finds herself back in the Hamptons after a five-year absence.

Being there puts her at risk of bumping into Hallie, her former best friends (that is, before Gemma ruined her life). But people don't hold grudges forever. Do they?

Gemma intends on making amends, but a small case of mistaken identity causes the people she knew years ago—including Hallie and her dreamy brother, Josh—to believe she's someone else. As though the summer wasn't complicated enough already.

Filled with summer sun, boys, and friendships gone sour, Katie Finn's first novel in the Broken Hearts and Revenge series sizzles and delights.

My thoughts: 

Another Katie Finn/Morgan Matson book to start the summer off sounds like a pretty great way to get my summer of reading going. I was so excited when I found out that Morgan Matson was writing a series under the pseudonym Katie Finn and it just sounded like something that would be really fun to read and something that I would just fly through.

100 page evaluation: I think Hallie knows who Gemma really is and isn't falling for this Sophie act. And I think Hallie is having her revenge on her. Hallie is not stupid. This books reminds me a lot of Second Chance Summer by the same author. It’s a cute and run read so far. I know I’d love it since I love Morgan Matson so much.

It’s not a surprise that I love anything that Morgan Matson writes or in this case, Katie Finn. She always writes the perfect books to read during the summer. Broken Hearts, Fences and Other Things to Mend is about a girl named Gemma who is visiting the Hamptons for the summer after being away for about five years. She hasn't been back since then because five years ago she did some pretty abhorrent things and hurt a lot of people including her best friend at the time Hallie. But since Gemma doesn't have a choice but to spend the summer with her dad in the Hamptons, she goes but under the guise of “Sophie” and tries to make amends with Hallie. Suddenly all these bad things start happening and she just hopes Hallie will forgive her for all the hurt she caused all those years ago.

Broken Hearts, Fences and Other Things to Mend is a pretty fun read and I enjoyed all the little pranks that were being played on Gemma. It was pretty predictable and the only thing that took me for a loop was the whole thing with Gemma’s ex-boyfriend. I totally did not see that one coming.

I’m excited for the rest of the series because it seems like it’s going to be really fun and because it’s Morgan Matson…..oh wait, I mean Katie Finn. Same person, awesome books!

Review: The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud

Title: The Screaming Staircase
Author: Jonathan Stroud
Series: Lockwood & Co. #1
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Release Date: September 17, 2013
Source: Library
Find it Here: Amazon, Goodreads

When the dead come back to haunt the living, Lockwood & Co. step in . . .

For more than fifty years, the country has been affected by a horrifying epidemic of ghosts. A number of Psychic Investigations Agencies have sprung up to destroy the dangerous apparitions.

Lucy Carlyle, a talented young agent, arrives in London hoping for a notable career. Instead she finds herself joining the smallest, most ramshackle agency in the city, run by the charismatic Anthony Lockwood. When one of their cases goes horribly wrong, Lockwood & Co. have one last chance of redemption. Unfortunately this involves spending the night in one of the most haunted houses in England, and trying to escape alive.

Set in a city stalked by spectres, The Screaming Staircase is the first in a chilling new series full of suspense, humour and truly terrifying ghosts. Your nights will never be the same again . . .

My Thoughts:

My friend Katie over at The Book Yurt was so excited to get an ARC of The Whispering Skull from ALA so it really sparked my interest in this series and I decided to pick up a copy of The Screaming Staircase from the library (I also picked up The Whispering Skull from ALA). The Screaming Staircase is about Lucy who is part of a small ghost hunting agency in her little town but suddenly decides to move to London and joins another small ghost hunting agency called Lockwood & Co. The Screaming Staircase takes place in a world much like our own except that ghosts are very prominent and the only people who are able to dispatch of these, sometimes, vicious creatures are kids and teenagers because they are the most susceptible to seeing or hearing them. So these kids, who have talents for picking up ghost signatures, are employed with ghost hunting agencies and have actual jobs instead of going to school.

100 page evaluation: For some reason this book was really hard for me to get into. It’s moved a little bit slow and either it didn't specify the year in which The Screaming Staircase takes place or I missed it. It seems that the year is unknown. Before picking it up I thought this book took place sometime in the 1800s but I was completely wrong. I had to use other clues to pin down a time frame. I really like the world building so far and I’m starting to like the story more.

I’m so glad I pushed through my initial concerns of The Screaming Staircase. The story definitely gets way better from here on out. I thought one hundred pages would be enough for me to get a firm hold on the story and what was going on but it took a little longer than that. The Screaming Staircase is full of dangerous adventures and the characters are able to keep their sense of humor about them but not in an annoying way. I really love the fact that they’re glorified ghost hunters. It’s a very clever premise and Stroud pulls it off very well. I also like that it’s a book about semi-older teenager (16,17) but I has that middle grade feel but not in a cheesy way. It falls somewhere in between middle grade and YA. It has a nice even balance.

The Screaming Staircase was definitely fun and a series I want to continue (I already read The Whispering Skull). I haven’t heard much about it before now and I would definitely recommend it to those who love YA mystery.

Review: The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant by Joanna Wiebe

Title: The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant
Author: Joanna Wiebe
Series: The V Trilogy #1
Publisher: BenBella Books
Release Date: January 14, 2014
Source: E-book Purchase
Find it Here: Amazon, Goodreads

So many secrets for such a small island. From the moment Anne Merchant arrives at Cania Christy, a boarding school for the world’s wealthiest teens, the hushed truths of this strange, unfamiliar land begin calling to her—sometimes as lulling drumbeats in the night, sometimes as piercing shrieks.

One by one, unanswered questions rise. No one will tell her why a line is painted across the island or why she is forbidden to cross it. Her every move—even her performance at the school dance—is graded as part of a competition to become valedictorian, a title that brings rewards no one will talk about. And Anne discovers that the parents of her peers surrender million-dollar possessions to enroll their kids in Cania Christy, leaving her to wonder what her lowly funeral director father could have paid to get her in… and why.

As a beautiful senior struggles to help Anne make sense of this cloak-and-dagger world without breaking the rules that bind him, she must summon the courage to face the impossible truth—and change it—before she and everyone she loves is destroyed by it.

My thoughts: 

Anne Merchant lives with her dad in a rich town in California where he owns a funeral home. Sometime after Anne's mom dies, her dad sends her to a boarding school for rich kids.  Turns out the boarding school is really weird where they sign things in blood, they're all competing against each other for the "Big V" which is valedictorian and they all seem to know something that Anne doesn't.  

100 Page Evaluation: Very mysterious.  I'm not sure what's going on here. The school is very weird.  It's like everyone is in on a secret that Anne is not.  The island is constantly covered in a haze and the fog makes for a creepy setting.  And what is up with the village.  Very weird so far. 

So clearly from my 100 page evaluation, I was pretty excited to figure out this mystery. It had so much promise at just one hundred pages that I thought that getting down to what was really going on would be fun.  But I was wrong.  

When it got down to around two hundred pages I just wanted to figure it out.  It's not even that it got boring, it just that all the characters were acting weird the whole time and I just wanted Anne to figure it out or for one of her classmates to just tell her! It was getting to the point of frustration.  I definitely thought that this book could be at least seventy-five pages shorter.  I started speed reading just to get to the end.  

After a while I kind of figured it out so I was basically waiting for my hunch to be justified.  I was also just so annoyed by the characters at the end. I was so frustrated by this book that I'm not sure if I'm going to read the second one.  The ending was almost worth it all because a lot of other stuff happened but again it was all just so weird.  So I'm not sure if I will read the next one.  

Early Review: The Cure for Dreaming by Cat Winters

Title: The Cure for Dreaming
Author: Cat Winters
Publisher: Amulet Books
Release Date: October 14, 2014
Source: ARC via ALA
Find it Here: Amazon, Goodreads

Olivia Mead is a headstrong, independent girl—a suffragist—in an age that prefers its girls to be docile. It’s 1900 in Oregon, and Olivia’s father, concerned that she’s headed for trouble, convinces a stage mesmerist to try to hypnotize the rebellion out of her. But the hypnotist, an intriguing young man named Henri Reverie, gives her a terrible gift instead: she’s able to see people’s true natures, manifesting as visions of darkness and goodness, while also unable to speak her true thoughts out loud. These supernatural challenges only make Olivia more determined to speak her mind, and so she’s drawn into a dangerous relationship with the hypnotist and his mysterious motives, all while secretly fighting for the rights of women. Winters breathes new life into history once again with an atmospheric, vividly real story, including archival photos and art from the period throughout.

My thoughts: 

Going into The Cure for Dreaming, I was super excited and really looking forward to reading something somewhat spooky! Hearing about books like this really makes me excited that fall is coming in a couple months and makes me wish it was coming much sooner.  The Cure for Dreaming takes place in the overcast city of Portland which just makes me think that creepy things can happen there all the time.  

The main character Olivia lives in a time people when women were finally voicing their concerns and really wanting to be treated as equal with men.  When she hops on board with the Women's Suffrage movement, her father becomes so concerned that she is becoming too independent that he hires a hypnotist to help "cure" her dreams of going to college and other "nonsense". 

100 page Evaluation: Really interesting so far! Set in Portland so totally dreary but in a good way. Gives the book a really creepy feel. May have a paranormal aspect? They talk about Dracula a lot which makes me was to read it. Perfect fall read for around Halloween. Interested to see where this hypnotism thing goes.  I really like the creepy pictures.  

Overall thoughts: I was really hoping for something a little scarier, maybe something that was scary enough that I couldn't read it at night for fear that it would keep me up.  But it's nothing like that. The whole tone of the book is just creepy. It ends on a fairly good note and, I don't want to spoil anything, but she definitely doesn't turn out to be the typical girl in the end.  It was a little disappointing only because I thought it was going to be absolutely amazing and the cover just makes it seem like it's going to be different than it really is.  I'm definitely glad I read it because it was one of my most anticipated reads of this fall! 

Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Title: Fangirl
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: September 10, 2013
Source: Purchased
Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads

Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan...

But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words... And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

My Thoughts:

Rainbow Rowell is definitely an author that I have loved from the very beginning! Although I have not read Attachments, Eleanor & Park was one of my favorite reads of last year and Fangirl is, so far, one of my favorite reads this year! 

Fangirl speaks to my heart especially strong because I am a huge Harry Potter fan! Although I do not write fanfiction myself, I have been known to read a little Harry Potter fanfiction from time to time! It's a very vast world with stories that I would never have imagined on my own.

I love Rowell's characters in Fangirl. As with her other novels, her characters are very real and they feel very genuine.  It's as if she is writing about something that has actually happened and based her characters off of real people.  Cath and Wren, twins, couldn't be more different.  Cath the introverted one who is super shy with a pinch of social anxiety and Wren is totally outgoing who loves to party and self-medicate.  Levi isn't the typical fictional love interest and I totally thought it was going to be Nick until he turned out to be a complete douche bag. So again, totally believable characters because not everyone ends up with the dreamy super cute guy because they're not always nice. 

I love stories like this where the main character comes out of her shell to take a risks and end up being glad that she did because good things can happen.  Fangirl is such a great novel and one that I will not forget for a long time to come! 

Review: Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott

Title: Fire & Flood
Author: Victoria Scott
Series: Fire & Flood #1
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Release Date: February 25, 2014
Source: Purchased
Find it Here: Amazon, Goodreads

Time is slipping away....

Tella Holloway is losing it. Her brother is sick, and when a dozen doctors can't determine what's wrong, her parents decide to move to Montana for the fresh air. She's lost her friends, her parents are driving her crazy, her brother is dying—and she's helpless to change anything.

Until she receives mysterious instructions on how to become a Contender in the Brimstone Bleed. It's an epic race across jungle, desert, ocean, and mountain that could win her the prize she desperately desires: the Cure for her brother's illness. But all the Contenders are after the Cure for people they love, and there's no guarantee that Tella (or any of them) will survive the race.

The jungle is terrifying, the clock is ticking, and Tella knows she can't trust the allies she makes. And one big question emerges: Why have so many fallen sick in the first place?

Victoria Scott's breathtaking novel grabs readers by the throat and doesn't let go.

My Thoughts: 

I can’t help but mention the Hunger Games while writing this review of Fire & Flood. Major aspects of these two books are very similar and I feel that’s why Fire & Flood has not been given its fair chance. Just because a book has some similarities to the Hunger Games doesn't mean it has to be a bad book. Fire & Flood is probably one of my favorite books of this year so far and I found myself more emotionally invested than I have been in a really long time!

Here are the similarities between Fire & Flood and The Hunger Games: There are contestants in a competition where there is only one winner and people die along the way. That’s it! Pretty much everything else is different. The main character Tella finds a communication device that tells her she has been invited to compete in the Brimstone Bleed and if she is the winner they will provide a cure to her brother’s fatal mysterious illness. So she follows the instructions and she chooses an egg which will eventually hatch and become her Pandora which will be her animal companion during the competition. There are four legs of the competition, one for each terrain, and they have two weeks to complete each leg which means making it to base camp without dying.

Fire & Flood is a crazy fast-paced adventure right from page one. I could not stop reading it. And I was so invested in almost all the characters, especially Maddox! There was always a new twist or turn around every corner and I had no idea what to expect next. I usually don’t like characters like Tella, who underplay dangerous situations and laugh them off after they’re over but she was quite likable to me. She wasn't annoying and she really stood up and became a leader among her little group.

If you haven’t read Fire & Flood, please, please give it a chance! Don’t let its similarities to The Hunger Games deter you! It is a very fun and exciting read and one of my favorite reads this year!

Review: Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson

Title: Since You've Been Gone
Author: Morgan Matson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date: May 06, 2014
Source: Purchased
Find it Here: Amazon, Goodreads

The Pre-Sloane Emily didn't go to parties, she barely talked to guys, she didn't do anything crazy. Enter Sloane, social tornado and the best kind of best friend—the one who yanks you out of your shell.But right before what should have been an epic summer, Sloane just... disappears. No note. No calls. No texts. No Sloane. There’s just a random to-do list. On it, thirteen Sloane-selected-definitely-bizarre-tasks that Emily would never try... unless they could lead back to her best friend. Apple Picking at Night? Ok, easy enough.Dance until Dawn? Sure. Why not? Kiss a Stranger? Wait... what?

Getting through Sloane’s list would mean a lot of firsts. But Emily has this whole unexpected summer ahead of her, and the help of Frank Porter (totally unexpected) to check things off. Who knows what she’ll find?

Go Skinny Dipping? Um...

My Thoughts: 

As I have said in previous reviews of Morgan Matson’s books, I am a huge fan of Morgan Matson. She writes the perfect summertime books that always get me in the right summertime mood. So, of course, to kick off this summer I had to read Morgan Matson’s latest summertime feel good book, Since You've Been Gone!

I love books, especially contemporary, when the main character completely comes out of her shell by the end. She goes on a journey and does things she would never have imagined doing before and realizes what she has been missing all along. And Since You’ve Been Gone is just that book! Emily’s best friend Sloane up and leaves without a note or a phone call as to her whereabouts. Until Emily finds a postcard in her mailbox with a list of things for Emily to complete during the summer. Emily is convinced this list will reveal where Sloane has moved to. But, of course, the list is compiled of things that Emily would never do. As she makes her way through the list, she makes some friends along the way and realizes she doesn’t need Sloane by her side to be happy.

As much as I loved the story and all the characters, Emily was a bit annoying in the beginning. She moped around the house because she was sad, she didn’t tell anyone about Sloane and she literally struggled to put a sentence together when conversing with a stranger. But once the story really started to delve into her life and got into how her parents acted, it turned out pretty good.

One of the reasons why I enjoy Morgan Matson’s books is because they usually make me cry but that was not the case with Since You’ve Been Gone. Nothing that was super emotionally devastating happened so it was just a nice feel good book. I’m definitely looking forward to more Morgan Matson in the future!

Review: Half Bad by Sally Green

Title: Half Bad
Author: Sally Green
Series: Half Life Trilogy #1
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Release Date: March 04, 2014
Source: Purchased
Find it Here: Amazon, Goodreads

Half Bad by Sally Green is a breathtaking debut novel about one boy's struggle for survival in a hidden society of witches.

You can't read, can't write, but you heal fast, even for a witch.

You get sick if you stay indoors after dark.

You hate White Witches but love Annalise, who is one.

You've been kept in a cage since you were fourteen.

All you've got to do is escape and find Mercury, the Black Witch who eats boys. And do that before your seventeenth birthday.

Easy.

My Thoughts: 

Half Bad is already one of the most interesting books I've read this year! I loved almost everything about it. The story itself was very good and very well executed, it has a male POV and the world building was quite excellent. It also has that very rare quality of introducing a character that I hate right off the bat but I somehow end up liking them.

I want to talk about the story of Half Bad first because it’s actually pretty good. Nathan is born of a white witch (mother) and a black witch (father) and it’s basically a story of nature versus nurture. Nathan grows up under the constant watchful eye of the counsel of white witches because they’re convinces that no matter how he is raised that he is going to turn out to be a black witch on his 17th birthday (when children become full witches). I loved that most of the story was about Nathan growing up and seeing the way he was treated just because of the way that he was born. Are the white witches turning him into a black witch by treating him differently and ostracizing him? And another thing, are the black witches only bad and trying to kill white witches because the counsel of white send hunters to kill black witches? These are all very fascinating plot and talking points going on within Half Bad.

Another reason why I loved Half Bad is because the whole book is from a male POV. I strongly believe that the YA genre is too saturated with the female perspective which after a while can make a lot of YA books feel the same. So anytime a YA book comes out that is told from a male POV I’m usually first in line to read it!

I also loved the characters in Half Bad. If you’re going into this book, just know that almost everyone hates Nathan! So the characters are very extreme. Most of his family members love him and don’t care that he’s half black and half white but most of the white witch community hates him. And then there was the woman who guarded Nathan whom I hated right off the bad but then she really grew on me!

Even though Half Bad could be slow at times, there was a lot of really great action. After just the first book, I’m really rooting for Nathan to become the witch that he is destined to be. And I really hope he kills a few particular white witches. I really recommend Half Bad to those who really enjoy witchy, magical type books!

Comic Book Review Round-Up #1

This year I have been reading a lot of comic books and graphic novels.  I've been wanting to share them with you but sometimes it's difficult to write a whole review on just one issue or one volume so I thought I would start a series where I write mini-reviews of some of the graphic novels I've been reading lately!

1. Lumberjanes by Noelle Stevenson: This is something new that I just picked up and I absolutely love it! It’s about a bunch of girls who all live in the same cabin at a summer camp and they get into the craziest adventures! There is a whole lot of action, supernatural creatures, a crazy paranoid camp counselor, a BAMF camp director and some sweet awesome girl love! Lumberjanes is just one of my new favorite things right now! The first three issues are now out so if you can find them I highly recommend you snatch them up!

2. Saga by Brian Vaughan: If you have not heard of Saga by now I’m pretty sure you must be living under a rock. I've heard about Saga here and there for the past year or so but I just recently started reading it and I’m kicking myself for waiting so long! I have never loved a graphic novel series as much as I love Saga. Even though forbidden love is a tale as old as time, the sci-fi world that it is set in is so original and very fascinating! There are so many different kinds of creatures living all over this universe and I feel like there is going to be so much more to discover!

3. Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant by Tony Cliff: I read this earlier this year and it is still one of my favorite graphic novels that I've read. It is such a cute adventure. Delilah Dirk has been arrested in the beginning because she was trying to acquire something valuable and in the process becomes friends with one of the lieutenants of the guards and craziness ensues. Delilah is this totally adventurous girl who will take any risk to find with she is looking for. The lieutenant is very realistic and isn’t into taking a lot of chances but together they make a good team. And I think they might make a cute couple somewhere down the line.

Review: Dear Killer by Katherine Ewell

Title: Dear Killer
Author: Katherine Ewell
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Release Date: April 01, 2014
Source: Library
Find it Here: Amazon, Goodreads

Rule One—Nothing is right, nothing is wrong.
Rule Two—Be careful.
Rule Three—Fight using your legs whenever possible, because they’re the strongest part of your body. Your arms are the weakest.
Rule Four—Hit to kill. The first blow should be the last, if at all possible.
Rule Five—The letters are the law.

Kit takes her role as London’s notorious “Perfect Killer” seriously. The letters and cash that come to her via a secret mailbox are not a game; choosing who to kill is not an impulse decision. Every letter she receives begins with “Dear Killer,” and every time Kit murders, she leaves a letter with the dead body. Her moral nihilism and thus her murders are a way of life—the only way of life she has ever known.

But when a letter appears in the mailbox that will have the power to topple Kit’s convictions as perfectly as she commits her murders, she must make a decision: follow the only rules she has ever known, or challenge Rule One, and go from there.

Katherine Ewell’s Dear Killer is a sinister psychological thriller that explores the thin line between good and evil, and the messiness of that inevitable moment when life contradicts everything you believe.

My thoughts: 

Dear Killer is definitely one of the most interesting books I've ever read. It’s so much more than a girl who kills and even though I somewhat predicted the ending, I thoroughly enjoyed getting to the end.

Kit, the main character, is a teenage girl and she kills people. She doesn't do it because she hates people or because she has a fetish or anything, she just kills because people ask her to. There is an anonymous drop box where people leave letters explaining why they want her to kill this specific person and usually a couple thousand dollars or so. If the letter is compelling enough, she decides to kill that person. But after she is done, she leaves the letter on the body for the police to find.

Kit was trained from a very young age to kill by her mother who was also a killer. But the difference is that her mother had a very deep need to kill, much like an addiction. Kit doesn't need to kill but she enjoys it very much. And she’s very good at what she does. She’s known in the media as the Perfect Killer because, obviously, she has not yet been caught.

The thing with Kit is that she literally has no remorse for the people she kills. She sees herself as a hired hand and since she is not the one making the decision that these people have to die, she doesn't feel guilty. She’s just the one doing the killing, just the executioner. Not the judge. I also enjoyed being in the scene when Kit killed someone. It shows how highly trained she is and that she is very intelligent. The fact that she is a teenager and goes to school is just to keep up appearance because deep down she is a killer.

Clearly people love or hate this book. I thought it was very interesting and I enjoyed being inside Kit’s head. It was definitely a memorable read for me.

Review: The Museum of Intangible Things by Wendy Wunder

Title: The Museum of Intangible Things
Author: Wendy Wunder
Publisher: Razorbill
Release Date: April 10, 2014
Source: Library
Find it Here: Amazon, Goodreads

Loyalty. Envy. Obligation. Dreams. Disappointment. Fear. Negligence. Coping. Elation. Lust. Nature. Freedom. Heartbreak. Insouciance. Audacity. Gluttony. Belief. God. Karma. Knowing what you want (there is probably a French word for it). Saying Yes. Destiny. Truth. Devotion. Forgiveness. Life. Happiness (ever after).

Hannah and Zoe haven’t had much in their lives, but they’ve always had each other. So when Zoe tells Hannah she needs to get out of their down-and-out New Jersey town, they pile into Hannah’s beat-up old Le Mans and head west, putting everything—their deadbeat parents, their disappointing love lives, their inevitable enrollment at community college—behind them.

As they chase storms and make new friends, Zoe tells Hannah she wants more for her. She wants her to live bigger, dream grander, aim higher. And so Zoe begins teaching Hannah all about life’s intangible things, concepts sadly missing from her existence—things like audacity, insouciance,karma, and even happiness.

An unforgettable read from the acclaimed author of The Probability of Miracles, The Museum of Intangible Things sparkles with the humor and heartbreak of true friendship and first love.

My thoughts: 

The Probability of Miracles by Wendy Wunder is one of my favorite books that makes me cry the big crocodile tears. When I heard she was writing another young adult novel, I knew I had to read it and I checked it out from the library as soon as it was released.

It seems to me that there have been a lot of young adult books released recently that is all about a girl who comes out of her shell and her best friend that helped her do it. The Museum of Intangible Things is about two best friends, Hannah and Zoe, who embark on a journey that changes both of their lives. Hannah is the quiet one and Zoe is the wild child.  But Zoe is also dealing with a mental illness.  She's bipolar and Hannah as worked out a system to keep her highs and lows under control and in perspective.  Their the best of friends and Zoe wants to do everything she can to help Hannah come out of her shell.  

Throughout most of the second half of the book I had a inkling of how it was going to end.  And of course, Wendy Wonder writes sad novels so I had a feeling something bad was going to happen.  I still felt a range of emotions because there were good, happy things happening and there were also a lot of sad things.  But definitely a really good book! 

Review: Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

Title: Second Chance Summer
Author: Morgan Matson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Release Date: May 08, 2012
Source: Purchased
Find it Here: Amazon, Goodreads

Taylor Edwards’ family might not be the closest-knit—everyone is a little too busy and overscheduled—but for the most part, they get along just fine. Then Taylor’s dad gets devastating news, and her parents decide that the family will spend one last summer all together at their old lake house in the Pocono Mountains.

Crammed into a place much smaller and more rustic than they are used to, they begin to get to know each other again. And Taylor discovers that the people she thought she had left behind haven’t actually gone anywhere. Her former best friend is still around, as is her first boyfriend…and he’s much cuter at seventeen than he was at twelve.

As the summer progresses and the Edwards become more of a family, they’re more aware than ever that they’re battling a ticking clock. Sometimes, though, there is just enough time to get a second chance—with family, with friends, and with love.

My Thoughts: 

There is just something about Morgan Matson’s books that warm my heart, make me happy, and make me cry all at the same time. I don’t what it is. Maybe her writing is just magic like that! I can definitely say I experienced all this and more when I read Second Chance Summer. It’s such a wonderful contemporary novel and a really great summer read!

Second Chance Summer is about a girl, Taylor, who realizes that during her upcoming summer she is going to have to face a lot of people that she hurt five years ago; her best friend who has hasn’t seen or spoken to since that summer and her ex-boyfriend whom she ran away from. Even though there are so other really tough things going on in her life, this becomes her summer of second chances.

I really like Taylor. There’s nothing extraordinary about her and she believes that she doesn’t do any one thing well. She’s the middle child and the middle of everything else; average. She’s also the type of person who always tries to take the easy way out. Throughout the novel she begins to understand that if you do things the hard way, it’s probably going to be worth it and you’re going to learn so much more.

So of my favorite parts of the book were the meals with just Taylor and her dad. As a reader, I really got a feel for her dad’s character and became really attached to him. So naturally it was really hard and sad letting go when the inevitable happened at the end.

I really enjoyed the notion of getting second chances and being able to right something that you know you wronged in the past. It’s a really great message that it’s never too late to say you’re sorry and ask for forgiveness.

If you’re a contemporary lover and enjoy books that make you sad (like me) then I highly recommend Second Chance Summer!

Review: Where the Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller

Title: Where the Stars Still Shine
Author: Trish Doller
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Release Date: September 24, 2013
Source: Purchased
Find it Here: Amazon, Goodreads

Stolen as a child from her large and loving family, and on the run with her mom for more than ten years, Callie has only the barest idea of what normal life might be like. She's never had a home, never gone to school, and has gotten most of her meals from laundromat vending machines. Her dreams are haunted by memories she’d like to forget completely. But when Callie’s mom is finally arrested for kidnapping her, and Callie’s real dad whisks her back to what would have been her life, in a small town in Florida, Callie must find a way to leave the past behind. She must learn to be part of a family. And she must believe that love--even with someone who seems an improbable choice--is more than just a possibility.

Trish Doller writes incredibly real teens, and this searing story of love, betrayal, and how not to lose your mind will resonate with readers who want their stories gritty and utterly true.

My Thoughts: 

Where the Stars Still Shine is Trish Doller’s second book and I’m telling you, she hit it out of the park yet again! I had read an ARC of Something Like Normal and absolutely loved it! You can read that review here. So you know I was super excited when I found out she had written another novel. But for some reason it took me so long to get my greedy little hands on a copy!

Where the Stars Still Shine follows a girl named Callie who has lived all over the Unites States, never in one spot too long, because her mom kidnapped her when she was about five years old. Not only has she lived most of her life on the run but she has been hurt over and over again by the people closest to her.

Trish Doller delves into some really deep and hard to talk about subjects: kidnapping, abandonment, mental illness and sexual abuse are all major themes throughout Where the Stars Still Shine. Callie is a really complex and layered character. She grew up with her mom who suffers from a mental illness causing her to make poor decisions and act impulsively. It’s part of the reason why they were always on the run because her mom was paranoid. Her mom also told Callie bad things about her dad and she always believed that he didn't really want her. Which is completely untrue but she has some very ingrained trust issues that make it difficult for her to form normal, healthy relationships. Callie is definitely working on some pretty tough issues throughout the whole novel.

I know I didn't really talk much about the plot of Where the Stars Still Shine but it’s basically about Callie and how her and her mom get caught by the police so she goes back to live with her dad who had been searching for her for twelve years. And then she’s learning how to trust people and form healthy relationships with not only her family but with a Hottie McTottie that she meets. Side note: for a young adult novel, it has a few sex scenes that I normally have not seen in other young adult novels.

Overall, Where the Stars Still Shine is a really great read! It deals with some really deep subjects but not to the points where you feel like you’re drowning. I’d say it’s a pretty good second novel and I’m definitely looking forward to anything else that she writes!

Review: Golden by Jessi Kirby

Title: Golden
Author: Jessi Kirby
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Release Date: May 13, 2014
Source: Purchased
Find it Here: Amazon, Goodreads

Seventeen-year-old Parker Frost has never taken the road less traveled. Valedictorian and quintessential good girl, she’s about to graduate high school without ever having kissed her crush or broken the rules. So when fate drops a clue in her lap—one that might be the key to unraveling a town mystery—she decides to take a chance.

Julianna Farnetti and Shane Cruz are remembered as the golden couple of Summit Lakes High—perfect in every way, meant to be together forever. But Julianna’s journal tells a different story—one of doubts about Shane and a forbidden romance with an older, artistic guy. These are the secrets that were swept away with her the night that Shane’s jeep plunged into an icy river, leaving behind a grieving town and no bodies to bury.

Reading Julianna’s journal gives Parker the courage to start to really live—and it also gives her reasons to question what really happened the night of the accident. Armed with clues from the past, Parker enlists the help of her best friend, Kat, and Trevor, her longtime crush, to track down some leads. The mystery ends up taking Parker places that she never could have imagined. And she soon finds that taking the road less traveled makes all the difference.

My Thoughts:

I have not been disappointed by any of the books that I have read by Jessi Kirby.  So I knew that it was about time that I finally read Golden because it was going to be a real treat! 

Golden is about Parker Frost and how she has done everything right and everything planned out for her future.  She's gotten good grades, never missed any school and accepted to all the right colleges.  Everything is going just as her parents have always planned until she is tasked with mailing alumni their senior journals and she finds the journal of the town tragedy, Julianna, she wrote before she died.  Even though she knows she should do the right thing and put it in the mail, she just can't help but take it for herself and read it.  

Julianna's story is so sad but it resembles Parker's very closely.  Parker and Julianna do what their parents expect and want them to do instead of doing what makes them happy.  In Julianna's case, it led her to unhappiness and a very young death.  Parker sees that she is also trapped by feeling that she must do what is expected of her but realizes that it might not be to late her to listen to her heart. I love stories that might encourage teenagers to think outside the box because there are other options than going to college or just doing what your parents think is best.  

I definitely loved Golden and the mystery surrounding the accident what Julianna and Shane.  I thought this was a different turn for Jessi Kirby and she did is very well.  I can't wait to see what she's going to write next!