Spells by Aprilynne Pike

Synopsis:
The heart stopping sequel to the #1 nationally bestselling WINGS,
which Stephenie Meyer lauded as “a remarkable debut.”

Six months have passed since Laurel saved the gateway to the faerie
realm of Avalon. Now she must spend her summer there, honing her
skills as a Fall faerie. But her human family and friends are still in
mortal danger--and the gateway to Avalon is more compromised than
ever.

When it comes time to protect those she loves, will she depend on
David, her human boyfriend, for help? Or will she turn to Tamani, the
electrifying faerie with whom her connection is undeniable?

My Review:
This was the type of book that just put me in a good mood and was just fun. While there was danger and relationships grew more complicated and tension ridden, I still felt at ease and enjoyed picking up the book and launching into Laurel’s world. As the story unfolded I grew to like David more and more unlike the first book where I thought he was somewhat of a push over and not that interesting. I like him just as much as Tamani now so I will be interested to see how this whole human/farie relationship plays out. I loved the farie world of Avalon and I think Pike’s writing style really showed here with all the colorful descriptions of the physical space. There are still so many questions that are left unanswered which is SO frustrating since Spells just hit the shelves and there is not even talk of another book yet (believe me, I have looked). I hope the next book explains more about what Laurel’s role is and maybe does a flashback to her past before her memory was erased. But I can’t really complain about having questions because it just means I read a great story and I am begging for more-what more can you ask of a book?

Wings by Aprilynne Pike

Synopsis:
Laurel was mesmerized, staring at the pale things with wide eyes. They were terrifyingly beautiful—too beautiful for words.


Laurel turned to the mirror again, her eyes on the hovering petals that floated beside her head. They looked almost like wings.


In this extraordinary tale of magic and intrigue, romance and danger, everything you thought you knew about faeries will be changed forever.

My Review:
Good story! The cover art is what initially had drawn me to the book but then I started reading and it just confirmed that sometimes you can judge a book by its cover. It was a light yet sensitive and engaging and I loved picking up the book and instantly feeling like I was a part of the story. Pike did a wonderful job with the pacing and creating mystery about the farie world. I like Laurel and Tamani’s character but with David it felt a little off. I wanted to like him a lot more but he never really got upset and he felt so flat next to Tamani who seemed so much more charismatic. It would have made the love triangle more interesting if David and Tamani were vastly different characters. But overall and fun read and I looked forward to the next book.

Take Me There by Susane Colasanti

Synopsis:
In one short week . . . three lives change.

Rhiannon is devastated after the breakup with her boyfriend and wants him back. Nicole’s ex is still in the picture, but she can’t help having a new crush. James and Rhiannon are just friends, though he may try to take it to the next level. Will their desire to take a mean girl down a notch bring these three friends what they want . . . and more?

Set during one life-altering week and told in three realistic perspectives, this engaging, witty novel by the author of When It Happens shows the ups and downs of love, friendship—and karma.

My Review:
It was interesting how Colasanti wrote this story from three different perspectives so we got a chance to have three different experiences. Yet again Colasanti displayed her talent at understanding how teenagers react and knowing what is important to them during this time in their lives. It’s true parts of this were about typical teenage issues but one that I did not see coming was the sexual abuse one of the characters suffers. It was almost like this was an afterthought because it was not really explained or realized until the very end of the book. I almost feel like Colasanti did a disservice to her character by just randomly throwing that part in there because I did not really sense the full impact of the abuse. Perhaps this was an attempt to approach a very serious issue but to not make the entire book just focused on that alone.

My favorite line said was “But the thing you want most to happen doesn’t stand a chance unless you give it one.” This was in reference to one of the characters talking about taking risk and how you have to put yourself out there. I think that statement is so true because risk are worth it when you consider the world of possibility and opportunity that can occur because of it. Over all it was a light, fast, and enjoyable read.

Waiting for You by Susane Colasanti

Synopsis:
Derek
Friendly and popular
Style: Cali surfer boy
Awesome at flirting
Future career: landscape architect
Boyfriend potential: high

Nash
Shy but sweet
Style: totally geeked out
Only talks to girls when absolutely necessary
Future career: robotics engineer
Boyfriend potential: none

Derek is clearly the boy Marisa's been waiting for, but there's just one problem. He has a girlfriend. Nash is wrong for Marisa, but he wants to take care of her. As if life wasn't complicated enough, Marisa's also dealing with overcoming a major problem from her past, a family that's acting totally bizarre, and a secret crush on a guy whose identity is a mystery - even to her.

Sophomore year is going to be intense

My Review:
This was a super easy read that I found very enjoyable. It was a simple enough story that was undemanding, entertaining, and quick. Colasanti has captured the voice of a teenager perfectly who struggles with typical teenage issues such as boyfriend issues, being there for your best friend, as well as finding a sense of belonging. There were also other issues the main character Marisa had to deal with that were less than typical such as divorce and figuring out her new role with her new family and depression which makes these tough years even more unbearable. While the ending was predictable I still really liked reading it and found the characters to be very realistic and they responded to every situation in a realistic way. This was my very first Colasanti book and I can’t wait to begin another!

Fire by Kristin Cashore

Synopsis:
She is the last of her kind...

It is not a peaceful time in the Dells. In King City, the young King Nash is clinging to the throne, while rebel lords in the north and south build armies to unseat him. War is coming. And the mountains and forest are filled with spies and thieves. This is where Fire lives, a girl whose beauty is impossibly irresistible and who can control the minds of everyone around her.

Exquisitely romantic, this companion to the highly praised Graceling has an entirely new cast of characters, save for one person who plays a pivotal role in both books. You don’t need to have read Graceling to love Fire. But if you haven’t, you’ll be dying to read it next.

My Review:
Another great read by Kristin Cashore! I love how she creates strong female characters that fight for themselves physically and are very intelligent and have a mind of their own. I started to listen to the audibook because “Graceling” was so well done and I thought this would be the same. I was wrong. This audiobook was done by Penguin instead of Full Cast Audio and they had one British woman do all the narration and the voices and it just felt all wrong to me. But reading the book was great and if you want a story about a woman’s adventure through life, loss, and love then this is the book for you. This book is a companion to “Graceling” but it is a story that stands on its own. While this book was entertaining to read I would not consider it light what with all the battle scenes, number of injuries, and emotionally draining situations the characters went through. I hate to compare it to “Graceling” but in terms of characters and storyline I have to say I liked “Graceling” so much more. I also think there was a bit more humor in “Graceling” which lightened the mood a bit in tense situations and there just was not much humor in “Fire.” But I love this series and I can’t wait for Cashore to write another book so I will be waiting with fingers crossed for another adventure through Seven Kingdoms soon!

White Cat by Holly Black

Synopsis:
Cassel comes from a family of curse workers -- people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they're all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn't got the magic touch, so he's an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail -- he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago.

Ever since, Cassel has carefully built up a façade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his façade starts crumbling when he starts sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He's noticing other disturbing things, too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him, caught up in a mysterious plot. As Cassel begins to suspect he's part of a huge con game, he also wonders what really happened to Lila. Could she still be alive? To find that out, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen.

My Review:
I am not sure how to feel about this book. On the one hand it was entertaining enough to keep me reading until the end. This was because I thought Holly Black had created an interesting plot that could twist and turn many different ways. I was also introduced to a world I knew nothing about so I felt I was being educated about what “workers” were, how they perceive themselves and others, and what it means to be a worker. Cassel came from a family of workers who used their powers to manipulate and con other people into what they wanted.

Like I said, this was all very fascinating but I did not feel invested in the characters which made me feel something was missing when I finished the book. I did not feel like I knew them well enough to form a relationship and that left me emotionally unattached to the story. I almost did not care in what happened to Cassel or any of the other characters because there was nothing personality or experience wise I could relate to. I had read the synopsis and knew what the book was about but for some reason I expected it to be different. I really did like the book even though I know this review has been mostly bashing but I liked it enough to want to read the sequel if there is one just to find out what happens next.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Synopsis:Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight—she’s a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king’s thug. She never expects to fall in love with beautiful Prince Po. She never expects to learn the truth behind her Grace—or the terrible secret that lies hidden far away . . . a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone. With elegant, evocative prose and a cast of unforgettable characters, debut author Kristin Cashore creates a mesmerizing world, a death-defying adventure, and a heart-racing romance that will consume you, hold you captive, and leave you wanting more.

My Review:
I loved this book! I actually listened to the audio book and thought it was spectacular. At first I did not like the fact that it was narrated by a man because in my mind if the main character is s woman than it should be a woman's voice. But I soon go over hat once I listened to the first few chapters and realized how amazing it was. All the voices were gender and age appropriate and they really brought the characters to life for me. Not that this is hard to do considering what an amazing world Kristin Cashore created. I loved that the main character Katsa was not only a strong and independent woman but that she could fight and defend herself because of her killing grace. This brought complexity to her character because she had to grapple with having such immense power to do good or evil while being an outsider and discriminated against. I just love Po and Katsa together because they did not have a traditional relationship where the guy gets all bent out of shape if his girl gets hurt. He understood her and knew she did not need protection but that she welcomed danger.

I thought it was interesting the way in which Cashore explored issues of marriage and having a family in what is considered to be a young adult book. But it makes sense because everyone has to come to a decision about this one day and it is good to explore the reasons why those things are important to a person at an early age.

I so wanted to cry toward the end because of something that happens to one of the characters. It really made me consider what it would be like if something so important was taken away from you and how to survive that loss. Overall great book and I was satisfied with the way it ended only because I know there is a third book in the “Seven Kingdoms Series” which will continue with the story.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan

Synopsis:
One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, two teens—both named Will Grayson—are about to cross paths. As their worlds collide and intertwine, the Will Graysons find their lives going in new and unexpected directions, building toward romantic turns-of-heart and the epic production of history’s most fabulous high school musical. Hilarious, poignant, and deeply insightful, John Green and David Levithan’s collaborative novel is brimming with a double helping of the heart and humor that have won both them legions of faithful fans.

My Review:
John Green co-wrote this with David Levithan where Green wrote the odd numbered chapters and Levithan wrote the even numbered chapters which is a very interesting concept. It was written from the point of view of two different guys who both had the name Will Grayson and one night their worlds intersect in Chicago leading them down the path that will change them forever.

Ok so this was not my favorite John Green book ever but in truth it was not just written by John Green. I thought Green did a great job and as always he completely understands his characters inside and out and his characters express themselves in a very honest way. I tolerated Levithan’s part because I understood it was integral to the story but in all honestly his part could have been left out and I would still understand what was going on in the story. To be fair Levithan did not have the most charismatic character to work with because he was suppose to be clinically depressed and could care less about the world. I get that and he did a very good job creating a character that was so self deprecating and pessimistic that it was making me depressed. His character also cussed up a storm using the F-bomb every other sentence. I am not opposed to or averse to using the occasional curse word here and there myself but I draw the line at the F-bomb because I do not like to say it or hear it. With literature I let that slide because for some reason reading it is not as bad so I don’t mind having an F-bomb or two worked in there. But seriously reading the F-bomb used four times or more a page is quite enough and it starts to take away from the story when used too much which is unfair to both the reader and the character. I started to get so annoyed with the character when I was suppose to empathizing with him and trying to understand the dark place he was coming from.

I also think the subject matter, meaning homosexual relationships, was not what I was expecting even though I am not sure what I thought the story would be about. But I applaud the authors for tackling what is considered to be a controversial topic not just among teenagers but people everywhere. I always try to be very open to many different types of books, issues, and characters because I always want to expand my thinking and ultimately my world. But I am not going to lie, some of it was strange for me to read just because I have not had an extensive amount of exposure to homosexuality in literature and it is going to take me some getting used to. I hope everyone can see this story for what it is: a story about friendships, relationships, and characters that are deal with real issues that are present everyday and can not and should not be ignored.

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

Synopsis:When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton's type happens to be girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact. He's also a washedup child prodigy with ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a passion for anagrams, and an overweight, Judge Judy-obsessed best friend. Colin's on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which will predict the future of all relationships, transform him from a fading prodigy into a true genius, and finally win him the girl.

Letting expectations go and allowing love in are at the heart of Colin's hilarious quest to find his missing piece and avenge dumpees everywhere.

My Review:
While this was not my favorite John Green book, it was still an entertaining read. I was really fascinated by all the footnotes which had some cool facts and trivia that I did not know which made the story both enjoyable and educational. Now I will say there was not a huge amount of math in the story but there was enough to make me cringe. To be fair I have never liked or been good at math so reading those small portions of the book was a struggle for me and took the wind out of my sails. But it was a tool with which to fuel the story and was delivered in a very clever, witty, yet accurate way (Green hired an honest to goodness math genius to create and calculate a formula about relationships). With that said I am in awe of the level or first-rate storytelling and mathematical rigor that was juxtaposed to create a tale that teaches us what it means to really matter to both ourselves and others. I am always so amazed at how John Green can make statements that are both hilarious and profound. I will continue to read his stories as long as he writes them.