Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken

Synopsis: When Wayland North brings rain to a region that's been dry for over ten years, he's promised anything he'd like as a reward. He chooses the village elder's daughter, sixteen-year-old Sydelle Mirabil, who is a skilled weaver and has an unusual knack for repairing his magical cloaks. Though Sydelle has dreamt of escaping her home, she's hurt that her parents relinquish her so freely and finds herself awed and afraid of the slightly ragtag wizard who is unlike any of the men of magic in the tales she's heard. Still, she is drawn to this mysterious man who is fiercely protective of her and so reluctant to share his own past. The pair rushes toward the capital, intent to stop an imminent war, pursued by Reuel Dorwan (a dark wizard who has taken a keen interest in Sydelle) and plagued by unusually wild weather. But the sudden earthquakes and freak snowstorms may not be a coincidence. As Sydelle discovers North's dark secret and the reason for his interest in her and learns to master her own mysterious power, it becomes increasingly clear that the fate of the kingdom rests in her fingertips. She will either be a savior, weaving together the frayed bonds between Saldorra and Auster, or the disastrous force that destroys both kingdoms forever.

My Review:
I really liked this book. It was a different story than I was expecting but I enjoyed it all the same. The author included her own map of the fantasy world in which the story takes place on the inside cover of the book which was refreshing since I feel most authors with a visual of the world they have created are male. I thought the pacing in this story was well done with spurts of action and slower more calm moments which made me feel like I was really on the journey with North and Sydelle and made what was happening in the story more realistic for me. I loved the descriptions of Sydelle weaving with all the beautiful colors and images she put together and it was interesting that her skill as a weaver was magical in and of itself. I felt North’s love for Sydelle was somewhat shallow since most of the time he referred to her looks and not very much about her character even though I do believe it was something deeper. I liked Sydelle as a character since she was brave to leave her family to save them, she was selfless putting North’s needs before her own, and forgiving of other people’s faults. I thought it was neat how the author intended for this story to be a birthday present for her friend and then it grew into a book. I will be interested to see how this story plays out in the next book so I am ready for it to come out!

Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

Synopsis:
Anna has been in love with Matt since she was ten years old. Matt happens to be her best friend Frankie's older brother. The three of them grew up next door to each other and have been inseparable since they were young. Every year when Anna blows out the candles on her birthday cake she wishes that Matt will feel the same way about her. This birthday things changed between them. They spend the few weeks leading up to Matt's departure for college hiding their budding relationship from their families, especially Frankie. Anna wants to tell her but Matt convinces her to let him tell his sister during their annual summer vacation to Zanzibar Bay. Anna agrees and promises not to tell her before he can. When Matt tragically dies before he can tell Frankie, Anna has to decide if she should keep her promise to the love of her life or tell her best friend the only secret she's ever kept from her.

It's a year after Matt's death and Anna still has not told Frankie what had happened between her and Matt. Frankie's behavior is getting more out of control and Anna feels like she's losing her. She feels a constant need to look out for her friend the way Matt did. She wants to protect her from her own destructive behavior. When Anna is invited on the summer trip to Zanzibar Bay she decides this would be the perfect time to tell Frankie. Once the trip begins it becomes apparent that it may be harder to tell Frankie than she thought. Anna is dealing with her own feelings about Matt's death that Frankie does not understand since she does not know the nature of their relationship.

Frankie is constantly bragging about her love life and teasing Anna about her lack of one. Anna feels as though she would be betraying Matt by having feelings for another boy. In spite of this she makes a pact with Frankie that this will be the twenty boy summer. They begin their quest their first day in Zanzibar Bay and Anna soon learns that it is possible to have feelings for someone else even though it comes with a tremendous amount of guilt.

My Review:
(Spoiler Alert!)
This book was heart-breaking and beautiful. It was a story about a girl named Anna who had two best friends, Frankie and her brother Matt who Anna was secretly in love with. Anna and Matt finally revealed their feelings for each other on Anna’s 15th birthday. They kept their relationship a secret from everyone especially Frankie because Matt wanted to wait tell her on their family vacation. One day while Frankie, Anna, Matt were all in the car together, Matt’s heart failed and they crashed killing Matt and he died before he could ever tell Frankie the truth about his and Anna’s relationship.

There were times when I was so sad and could feel Anna’s loss so much that I had a hard time reading it. I could not believe how hard I was cried after Matt died (especially because the guy was alive for less than 20 pages). But I fell in love with Matt and even more so as Anna reminisced about him throughout the book. I already take the feelings characters have on a personal level and the author wrote with such clarity and accuracy of the description of Anna’s feelings about losing Matt, that I could feel it in every part of me. This goes to show the honest, realistic, and deep nature of the author’s skill and gift of writing. I think the hardest books for me to read are those where someone loses the person they are in love with because you do not just lose them but the possibility of love with that person and essentially a future with them. When we lose the possibility of a future with someone that changes both us and the way we live because that forces you to imagine a different life.

I was somewhat disappointed that Anna slept with Sam which did not have to do so much with the sex part as it had to do with who she did it with. I felt Anna’s feelings for Sam paled in comparison to her feelings for Matt and the relationship she and Matt had which was so much deeper and based on so much more. This probably comes from my feelings that losing your virginity is not just something you do to get it over and done with and certainly should not be done with just anyone. I believe that is a special moment and should be reserved for someone you not only like, but love with everything that you are because you are essentially giving up a part of yourself and it should be given to someone who deserves it.

While sad books are not my favorite I have to say this was very well done and I love the author’s writing style. I can’t wait to see what this author puts out next because I am sure it will be just as good. Great book!

When It Happens by Susane Colasanti

Synopsis:
Reminiscent of the movie Say Anything , a debut novel for all those searching for "The One"! Sara and Tobey couldn’t be more different. She is focused on getting into her first-choice college; he wants to win Battle of the Bands. Sara’s other goal is to find true love, so when Dave, a popular jock, asks her out, she’s thrilled. But then there’s Tobey. His amazing blue eyes and quirky wit always creep into her thoughts. It just so happens that one of Tobey’s goals is also to make Sara fall in love with him. Told in alternating points of view, Sara and Tobey’s real connection will have everyone rooting for them from the minute they meet!

My Review:
Good book! I liked the alternating POV between Sarah and Tobey because you get to experience each of their worlds bringing the reader in the moment and ultimately a deeper connection with the characters. I found I could not put this book down because the dialogue between the characters was humorous and realistic and the way in which the author portrayed the dynamics between guys and girls engaging. The characters were relatable and honest and I found myself laughing at some of the things Tobey’s friends would say or some of the situations Sarah and her friends would get into. I loved the nod to the movie “Say Anything” during a pivotal moment for Sarah and Tobey’s relationship. I have read other books by this author and I have to say this one is the best I have read thus far. This was another fun and fast read that you will finish in no time flat just to find out if two people together against the odds.

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

Synopsis:
Welcome to Elsewhere. It is warm, with a breeze, and the beaches are marvelous. It’s quiet and peaceful. You can’t get sick or any older. Curious to see new paintings by Picasso? Swing by one of Elsewhere’s museums. Need to talk to someone about your problems? Stop by Marilyn Monroe’s psychiatric practice. Elsewhere is where fifteen-year-old Liz Hall ends up, after she has died. It is a place so like Earth, yet completely different. Here Liz will age backward from the day of her death until she becomes a baby again and returns to Earth. But Liz wants to turn sixteen, not fourteen again. She wants to get her driver’s license. She wants to graduate from high school and go to college. And now that she’s dead, Liz is being forced to live a life she doesn’t want with a grandmother she has only just met. And it is not going well. How can Liz let go of the only life she has ever known and embrace a new one? Is it possible that a life lived in reverse is no different from a life lived forward? This moving, often funny book about grief, death, and loss will stay with the reader long after the last page is turned.

My Review:
Elsewhere was a beautiful story full of meaning and wonder which kept me thinking the whole time. Elsewhere is a place where people grow younger while people on Earth grow older. While this might be a strange way to view the cycle of life and death, I find it looks at how age is just a number and it is experiences that make a person. This book makes you really consider what it means to live and die and what really matters while we are alive. It seems all those things that are so important in our world have no meaning unless we give it meaning and it is up to each individual person to create the life they want. The biggest and most important theme was love and what it means to love someone, even after they are gone.
At first I did not know what to think of this book because it is based upon the afterlife and what happens to us when we die. It was a very interesting concept for a young adult book and I applaud the author for tackling it with such grace. I enjoyed the range of characters and what each one had to offer Liz on her journey back to life. I have had this book on my “To Read” list for years and I can say it was worth reading!

Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs

Synopsis:
Lily Sanderson has a secret, and it’s not that she has a huge crush on gorgeous swimming god Brody Bennett, who makes her heart beat flipper-fast. Unrequited love is hard enough when you’re a normal teenage girl, but when you’re half human, half mermaid like Lily, there’s no such thing as a simple crush.

Lily’s mermaid identity is a secret that can’t get out, since she’s not just any mermaid – she’s a Thalassinian princess. When Lily found out three years ago that her mother was actually a human, she finally realized why she didn’t feel quite at home in Thalassinia, and she’s been living on land and going to Seaview high school ever since, hoping to find where she truly belongs. Sure, land has its problems – like her obnoxious, biker boy neighbor Quince Fletcher – but it has that one major perk – Brody. The problem is, mermaids aren’t really the casual dating type – when they “bond,” it’s for life.

When Lily’s attempt to win Brody’s love leads to a tsunami-sized case of mistaken identity, she is in for a tidal wave of relationship drama, and she finds out, quick as a tailfin flick, that happily-ever-after never sails quite as smoothly as you planned.

My Review:
I really liked this book! This was a cute mermaid love story that I did not expect to be so taken with and it was a fun and fast read. It was the typical “you don’t always realize what is right in front of you until you have to fight for it” plot but I found it highly enjoyable and laughed out loud many times. I have always loved “The Little Mermaid” so this did not in any way take away from that story or distort my image of mermaids. I love the banter between Quince and Lily and was rooting for them to be together from the beginning. I thought Lily was a little annoying at times and some-what selfish. Even when she was supposedly making an unselfish choice by letting Quince go, she did so out of not wanting to feel guilty herself. I loved the author’s description of Lily’s underwater kingdom with all the colors and merpeople. Read it for a sweet story about finding love in the most unexpected ways.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

Synopsis: It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger.

"Wild nights are my glory," the unearthly stranger told them. "I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me sit down for a moment, and then I'll be on my way. Speaking of ways, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract."

A tesseract (in case the reader doesn't know) is a wrinkle in time. To tell more would rob the reader of the enjoyment of Miss L'Engle's unusual book. A Wrinkle in Time, winner of the Newbery Medal in 1963, is the story of the adventures in space and time of Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin O'Keefe (athlete, student, and one of the most popular boys in high school). They are in search of Meg's father, a scientist who disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government on the tesseract problem.

My Review:
I liked this book but I did not love it. The characters, while intelligent and interesting were not what I would call relate-able. I also felt like they were not fleshed out enough and I was somehow expected to have an immediate relationship to them. They story was pretty good in the since that it took place in a world that was not ours but eerily familiar at the same time. This book seems like it was trying to accomplish the same type of symbolism with all the themes of love and acceptance embedded in the story as C.S. Lewis’ “Chronicles of Narnia”. I did love how many famous quotes were spoken by one of the characters and how other importance principles were worked into the dialogue seamlessly. This book has been said to be a modern classic so I am glad I read it. However I know this book is a part of a series and I can’t say I am interested enough to go on a read the other books in the series, especially if this one was the best by far and wide. But a great story for people of all ages that reminds us of the importance of being human and having free will, something we so often take for granted.

Green by Ted Dekker

Synopsis:
The Circle Reborn The story of how Thomas Hunter first entered the Black Forest and forever changed our history began at a time when armies were gathered for a final battle in the valley of Migdon. Green is a story of love, betrayal, and sweeping reversals set within the apocalypse. It is the beginning: the truth behind a saga that has captured the imagination of more than a million readers with the Books of History Chronicles. But even more, Green brings full meaning to the Circle Series as a whole, reading as both prequel to Black and sequel to White , completing a full circle. This is Book Zero, the Circle Reborn, both the beginning and the end. The preferred starting point for new readers . . . and the perfect climax for the countless fans who've experienced Black , Red , and White.

My Review:
Ok, lots to say about this book. I read the other books “BLACK”, “WHITE”, and “RED” first and I thought they were pretty good. The story of Thomas Hunter alternating between two worlds through his dreams made for an interesting concept and this idea along with the colorful cast of characters made for and really great series. I was interested to see how Dekker could add to the series and see where the story might go. I guess the only way to sum up my feelings about this book is disappointment. I had such high expectations but this book fell short of the mark and I believe this is for a couple of reasons. One, I already read the others so unlike a new reader I know what happens and I do not need explanation about what happens in the other books. Two, I simply did not think the story was as interesting as the others and I felt like Dekker was trying to link this story to the other three without enough to go on. I understand the story of Christ and our journey with God is a mix of good and evil and Dekker drove that point home. I mean really drove that point home with all the mention of blood and the really weird stuff these characters did and believed with the devil. Dekker also mentioned the word blood way to much and just seemed to write it in whenever he can and I don’t think blood so this was an issue. I read vampire books so it is not like I can’t handle it. But seriously I think the fact that I don’t like blood in the first place and yet had to read it mentioned over 100 times really turned me off. I am not kidding about how many times it was mentioned.

I listened to this book on CD instead of reading it like I did the others so that affected my opinion a little. The narrator did a great job and read with enthusiasm and brought the characters to life but I already had in my head what these characters were suppose to sound like. All in all I let my expectations get the better of me and just wanted something more.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella by Stephenie Meyer

Synopsis:
Fans of The Twilight Saga will be enthralled by this riveting story of Bree Tanner, a character first introduced in Eclipse, and the darker side of the newborn vampire world she inhabits. In another irresistible combination of danger, mystery, and romance, Stephenie Meyer tells the devastating story of Bree and the newborn army as they prepare to close in on Bella Swan and the Cullens, following their encounter to its unforgettable conclusion.

My Review:
You know, I actually enjoyed this book. I knew that it was not going to be at the level of the other Twilight books and I feel you have to go into this book with no expectations otherwise you could be disappointed. With that said, I liked getting a look at the other side of the action of the Eclipse story from Bree, the newborn’s perspective. I did not think I would learn anything new that would change the way in which I read Eclipse but learning about the Volturi and their hopes that the new born army would wipe out the Cullen clan, minus Alice and Edward, was new for me. This book also made Victoria that much more of an evil to me because now I understand to what extent she lied and manipulated all the newborns and Riley who would have died for her. It was also a short book which is good because I don’t think this is a story line that should be dragged out into a 300 pager. This just makes me long even more for the release of “Midnight Sun” and more Twilight-related material!