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Book Review : Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

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  • Release Date : 2006
  • Publisher : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  • Pages : 337
  • Genre : Science Fiction/Survivalist/Contemporary

I picked this book up for my book club 
not knowing anything about it. I was interested in it because it was
discussed as being Dystopian and I hadn’t read a Dystopian in a while.  However, I found this less Dystopic and more of a small-scale survivalist story. This isn’t the story about how a teen is going to save the end of the world.
. . But how she is going to survive it.
Life As We Knew It will have you thinking twice about what it means to survive and the importance of family. A great read if you are looking a more realistic ‘end of the world’ YA novel.

Life As We knew It
is the gripping tale of a family’s survival in the midst of a global disaster. Told through the diary of 16-year-old 
Miranda, each day presents the challenges that come with daily survival for  her brothers and Mom after a surprise astrological
event changes the world as they knew it.

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Mini Reviews : New Adult Novels

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New Adult or NA novels seem to be taking over! Every week it seems like more and more are being released and this week I take a peek at two NA novels.

The Space Between by Victoria H. Smith

This New Adult novel follows the relationship of a pair of 19-year-olds from two different sides of Chicago; Derek, the privileged adopted son of a Senator and Lacey, a struggling opera prodigy from the wrong side of the tracks with a mother dying of cancer. When these to meet in a blaze of passion, they have to overcome racism, class and their own family to be together. Seeing a romance that focuses on a biracial girl and Korean guy was definitely a first for me and I liked that Victoria wrote about this type of relationship. The plot relies a lot on insta-lust and I was kind of annoyed of how Lacey is constantly described as desert with chocolate eyes and caramel skin. Falling on the steamier side of NA, so there are quite a few scandalous scenes. This is the first in a series, so I’ll be interested to get the other ones if I stumble across them. Also how great is this cover !-  ★★★



If You Stay by Courtney Cole

Pax Tate is a selfish, trust fund baby with an addictive personality and Mila Hill is an orphaned artist living a quiet life with her sister. Their first encounter is anything but romantic when Mila discovers Pax overdosing in his car. This gruesome meeting unravels into a NA story that is the rather standard good girl meets broken bad boy with a fair share of steamy moments. The story packs on the melodrama and angst with everyone having dark secrets. After about the third revelation it started to feel a bit… soap-operatic ? This book also has healthy a bit of slut-shaming, which I think I’m just getting used to in YA/NA fiction at this point. I don’t know if this is done to create foils for the main female characters, but if you are an openly sexually active female, chances are bad things will happen to you. If you want an angsty, steamy romance this may be your kind of book. I think this story had  a lot of potential in the beginning, but if you’ve read any kind of NA before this story will seem generic. Also,a  month after reading it, I barely remember anything about it. –  ★★ + .5

 

Book Review : Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris + Giveaway

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  • Release Date: April 24th, 2012 
  • Genre: Sci-Fiction
  •  Pages: 480
  • Publisher: Balzer + Bray (Harper Collins Children)

Synopsis: Two days before the start of her junior year, Janelle Tenner is hit by a pickup truck and killed–as in blinding light, scenes of her life flashing before her, and then nothing. Except the next thing she knows, she’s opening her eyes to find Ben Michaels, a loner from school Janelle has never talked to, leaning over her. And though it isn’t possible, she knows with every fiber of her being that Ben somehow brought her back to life.
But her revival, and Ben’s possible role in it, is only the first of the puzzles that Janelle must solve. While snooping in her FBI agent father’s files for clues about her accident, she uncovers a clock that seems to be counting down to something–but to what? . . .

Unraveling felt like reading an episode of the X-files. You start of with a seemingly normal town—in this case sunny San Diego–with normal people just living their lives when strange things begin to happen; burned bodies, a cryptic countdown, the mysterious Ben Michaels.

Instead of Mulder and Scully on the case, 17-year old Janelle Tenner (daughter of an FBI Agent) and her best (guy) friend Alex set out to put the pieces together.

Going in I had no idea what the plot twist or science fiction element of this book was and I found it to be quite creative. I haven’t read another book that uses this particular science fiction element as a plot device.

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Strictly Indie : The Crimson Hunt by Victoria H Smith

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 Books and Sensibility’s month long dedication to indie 

It’s hard to be in the YA book blogging world without noticing all the upcoming indie novels and novelists. So, to open myself up to  more independent and self published authors, I am   going Strictly Indie for the month of May. I will be focusing on reviewing, discussing and posting about indie novels and even have a few guest posts along the way. 

  • Release Date: November 12th 2012
  • Pages: 340 pages
  • Genre: Science Fiction Romance
  • Price: $3.99 ebook; 13.99 paperback

Synopsis: Ariel
Richmond’s everyday life consists of wrangling in her crazy best
friend, Piper avoiding her enemy Lila Hicks and finding salvation in her art, and the peanut butter brownie at her favorite cafe Demitasse.
But, the day Ariel makes eyes with Luca Grinaldi, murder and death begin to surround her. Ariel soon learns that people aren’t just dying–they are being hunted. And she and Luca’s meeting is a not just a coincidence, but destiny.

I’ve been following the publication of this novel since I happened upon Victoria’s blog for a contest. At the time she was being repped by Curiosity Quills, but deferred to self publish. It’s been interesting reading her blog and seeing the journey she has taken to self publication.

The Crimson Hunt is my first voyage into the New Adult category and I can definitely see the appeal. Being in their early 20’s New Adult characters are slightly more mature than YA characters, but still in the “I’m invincible” stage common to YA. While some Big Six publishers are dipping their toes in to the NA water, indie authors are heading in full force.


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Strictly Indie: Callum and Harper by Fisher Amelie

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 Books and Sensibility’s month long dedication to indie ! 

It’s hard to be in the YA book blogging world without noticing all the upcoming indie novels and novelists. So, to open myself up to  more independent and self published authors, I am   going Strictly Indie for the month of May. I will be focusing on reviewing, discussing and posting about indie novels and even have a few guest posts along the way. 

 

  • Release Date: December 24th 2011
  • Pages: 256 pages
  • Genre: Contemporary Romance
  • Price: $2.99 ebook; 8.99 paperback

Callum and Harper is my first real look into the world of self-published novels. Now, to be honest, I am writing this review 6 months after reading this book and I don’t have many notes, so this review will focus more on my experience with the novel.

The titular Callum Tate and Harper Bailey are a pair of teens who recently aged out of the foster care system. They meet at the Social Services office and told their only option for housing is in one of New York City’s homeless shelters. The story follows the couple as they work, study and struggle to  make a better life for themselves together.

Being my first indie, the writing in this book was better than I expected. Fisher seems to really know ins and outs of New York City and the music scene the characters spend a lot of time in.

The story is told in alternating first person POVs and as I was reading them I would often forget which POV I was reading. Callum and Harper didn’t have the voice distinction. The characters were strong as a couple, but couldn’t hold their own as individuals.

One of the plots in this novel involves a boy from Harper’s past who is a a psychotic killer and starts hunting her down. This plot line felt a little melodramatic at times and  took the focus away from the main story. I wish Amelie had stuck to keeping the story based on the growth of a relationship, the plot that worked great for the first half of the book.

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Book Review : Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

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  • Release Date : August 7th 2012
  • Genre: Fantasy
  • Publisher: Bloomsbury
  • Pages: 416

Synopsis: After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

I was very excited to read Throne of Glass after learning the story originally gained a large following as Queen of Glass on fictionpress.com. I think it’s great when an author has a built-in fandom e.g. Amanda Hocking, Marissa Meyer and Cassandra Clare.  How could you go wrong with a  story and character that enthralled many before it had an official publication?

The first few pages of the novel throws readers into the salt mine prison of Endovier in the magic stripped land of Ardalan. Here Celaena Sardothien a.k.a Ardalan’s Assassin, the country’s most dangerous assassin, is being released into the custody of the crown prince to fight for her freedom in a competition to win the title of the King’s assassin.

The novel starts off strong, but overall the story feels watered down. It seemed like there was supposed to be this fierce competition but it was just really boring. I mean there was very little action involved  and  the other competitors where throwaway characters.

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