Review: The Line

Book: The Line
Author: Teri Hall
Pages: 220
Published: March 4th 2010 by Dial
Source: Bought

An invisible, uncrossable physical barrier encloses the Unified States. The Line is the part of the border that lopped off part of the country, dooming the inhabitants to an unknown fate when the enemy used a banned weapon. It’s said that bizarre creatures and superhumans live on the other side, in Away. Nobody except tough old Ms. Moore would ever live next to the Line.

Nobody but Rachel and her mother, who went to live there after Rachel’s dad died in the last war. It’s a safe, quiet life. Until Rachel finds a mysterious recorded message that can only have come from Away. The voice is asking for help.

Who sent the message? Why is her mother so protective? And to what lengths is Rachel willing to go in order to do what she thinks is right?

The Line sounded like a great dystopian read from the moment I heard about it. This book has a great premise and I wasn't sure if it could live up to it - luckily, it did.

It took me a little while to get a good sense of the characters. For the first few chapters, there wasn't much interaction between them, because it was mostly narration. When I did understand these characters, though, I loved them. Rachel was an admirable girl, and she was so brave and I loved her curiosity and ability to think clearly in the most panicked situations. It doesn't really describe much of what she looks like, so I couldn't really picture her in my mind, but what I could picture, I liked. Even the supporting characters, like Jonathan and Pathik (even though Pathik becomes more of a main character near the end), were very well built and I'm really looking forward to seeing more of them in the next book.

The first half of this book felt really slow to me. It wasn't dull, by any means, but it takes a while to provide the full history of the dystopian world. I thought the things that happened seemed realistic (to a point, of course), and that was a little scary, but I was really impressed with the world Teri Hall had created. The action really starts to kick in only about halfway through with the introduction of Pathik, and that was when I really started getting really into the story. The action parts and suspenseful and intense, and completely absorbing. I loved how thorough Hall was with her world and her story.

The Line was a really impressive debut and it ended on a pretty major cliffhanger, so I'm really excited for the sequel, Away!

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars

Cover: I love the mystery element of this cover. It doesn't take long to figure out what the cover means, once you start reading, but I love the mystery it presents when you haven't read it yet and have no idea what it means. Really eye-catching, and I love the font used for the title!

**I'd just like you all to know that I've ended my Summer Contest early. I'd like to give the contest winner 48 hours to respond to my email, and if I end my contest on the 30th, I'd be unable to mail the prize to the winner for at least a week, and I really want to get the books to the winner as soon as possible. Therefore, I ended my contest today. The contest winner will be announced tomorrow. :)

Review: The Oracle of Dating

Book: The Oracle of Dating
Author: Allison van Diepen
Pages: 256
Published: May 1st 2010 by Harlequin Teen
Source: netGalley

No one at Kayla’s school knows she’s the famous Oracle of Dating—the anonymous queen of dating advice, given through her own Web site. Kayla doesn’t even have a boyfriend. Two relationship disasters were enough to make her focus on everyone else’s love life. But then her advice backfires on her own best friend. And Kayla starts to seriously obsess about Jared Stewart—the very cute, very mysterious new guy in school. Suddenly, the teen queen of advice needs her own oracle of dating--and she knows just where to find one...

Okay, so this book really interested me from the minute I heard about it. I was in love with the idea of this book! I wasn't sure how it would go, though I thought Allison van Diepen's other book, Raven, was amazing, because these two are completely different. Luckily, though, I enjoyed this one just as much as Raven!

I liked Kayla from the first page. Her voice was so animated and lively that she really came alive for me. I could so easily identify with her character and put myself in her shoes -- because, let's be honest, pretty much every girl has experienced what she has (minus the Oracle thing, of course), and that makes her so much more connectable. Jared was intriguing and I loved his character from the start, too. He's that classic tough-looking guy who's really a big softy on the inside (well…mostly). I was captivated by Jared and Kayla's scenes -- the tension between them was amazingly shown and when they weren't being all intense-flirty, their scenes were sweet and I loved them. I was rooting from them from the very beginning!

I thought the secondary characters were a little two-dimensional. I didn't really get a sense of their characters and honestly, I thought they were forgettable. It took me a while to keep their names straight, and that doesn't happen often with me. However, the thing I really loved about this book is how genuine the characters are. It's hard to find a book where teenagers act and think and speak like teenagers, real teenagers, not super-unrealistically-mature teenagers. I loved that van Diepen was able to do that with her characters.

So, I mentioned it up there, but I thought the concept of the Oracle of Dating was so much fun. I loved reading those parts about her being the Oracle, and they kept me entertained. The parts with the Oracle, those had the potential to be overused -- the book could have consisted mainly of her website and not nearly enough of her actual life, but the author kept a perfect balance between the two.

That being said, I thought the plot moved a bit quickly at times. Some scenes seemed a bit jumpy, and there were a few parts at the end that just wrapped up a little too nicely and neatly. I was really happy with the end, honestly, but I thought some of the parts could have gone more in depth so they didn't seem so sudden and without reason.

I still really enjoyed this book and I'll definitely be looking out for the second one, which I believe is called The Oracle Rebounds (not sure if that's the final title or not, but that's the one it has now)!

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars

Cover: Really cute, simple cover! I love the font used and I think the cover really captures the attention of the average teenage girl. I've noticed that my friends really like covers like this, so I think it will make a teenager stop and look twice. Plus, it just has such a cool title!

Review: After Ever After

Book: After Ever After
Author: Jordan Sonnenblick
Pages: 260
Published: February 1st, 2010 by Scholastic
Source: Library

Jeffrey isn't a little boy with cancer anymore. He's a teen who's in remission, but life still feels fragile. The aftereffects of treatment have left Jeffrey with an inability to be a great student or to walk without limping. His parents still worry about him. His older brother, Steven, lost it and took off to Africa to be in a drumming circle and "find himself." Jeffrey has a little soul searching to do, too, which begins with his escalating anger at Steven, an old friend who is keeping something secret, and a girl who is way out of his league but who thinks he's cute.

I haven't actually heard much about this book, but I honestly don't know why! I thought this book was going to be pretty light at first, even though it's about an ex-cancer patient, but it was so much deeper than that and I ended up enjoying this book so much more than I'd expected to.

I loved the characters in this book. They did not seem like eighth grade students, which I can say, speaking from the point of view of an actual eighth grader. But I guess they did, in a way, Jeffrey and Tad. I loved how unique and absolutely hilarious their voices were, and I felt like I could understand them just like that. It took no effort whatsoever. It was so easy to identify with both of them, as well as Lindsey, and I loved that!

So, this book is pretty predictable. Most books about sickness are like that - they almost seem to have a sort of formula for the story, but in After Ever After, I really didn't think that detracted from my enjoyment of the story at all. I still sympathized with them through everything they went through, and the way it was written, from the point of view of someone who sounds just like you and me but has been through so much more, makes it so much more realistic and a little scarier. I felt like everything counted in this book and I thought that was really amazing.

I seriously do not know why more people aren't talking about this book. After Ever After is a touching book, despite its seemingly light premise, and I absolutely loved it. I highly recommend it to anyone; it sends a great message and while it does have its funny and light parts, there are some really deep, moving scenes as well.

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars

Cover: I understood this cover from the minute I saw it. I love its simplicity, and I really like how the title is on the back of the boy's shirt. The cover is one of those that makes you think about picking up the book, but there's a 50-50 chance that you will or won't.

Review: White Cat

Book: White Cat
Author: Holly Black
Pages: 310
Published: May 4th, 2010 by Margaret K McElderry
Source: Pulse It

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.

General Overview: I was really impressed by the originality of White Cat. I had set a lot of really high expectations for it, and even though the book didn't meet all of them, it met most. I loved the concept of the entire book and I had a lot of fun reading it.

Characters: I identified with Cassel really easily. Everyone knows what it feels like to be an outsider and I think that's what makes him very easy to connect with. I hated some of the things he was forced to do and I was as eager to find out the mystery of his life as he was. I loved his big mouth and sarcasm; the way he spoke and acted completely fit the Cassel I'd created in my mind before reading the book. Most of the characters in this book are antagonists and Holly Black succeeded in making me hate their guts.

Plot: There are a lot of unbelievable things that happen to Cassel, but they seem realistic in a way because of who he is (well, more who his family is). The beginning starts off a bit slow but the story quickly picks up and captures its reader. I really liked the world that Black created, one where everyone knows about workers and how to defend themselves from bad workers. I thought the whole idea of workers was extremely unique and I can't think of another book I could compare to it.

Writing: Most YA books are written from third person or from the point of view of a girl. White Cat is narrated by Cassel Sharpe, and it was a refreshing change, reading from a guy's perspective instead. I think Holly Black definitely knows how to write from the guy's POV as well as she can write from a girl's, which is a huge shift but which Black does with certainty.

Cover: I like how this cover is one that will appeal to both boys and girls. I love the black, white and red color scheme of the novel, I love how the red is used to catch someone's eye -- it really works! The model doesn't really look like how I imagined Cassel, but he looks dangerous and intelligent and con-ny (yeah, yeah, not a word. Whatever) and overall it fits the mood and the story.

Overall: Erm…I'm struggling with this. It's either a 4.5 or a 4, but I don't like to give half-star ratings…Okay, I'm going to go with 4 out of 5 stars.

Review: Incarceron

Book: Incarceron
Author: Catherine Fisher
Pages: 464
Published: May 3rd, 2007

Incarceron -- a futuristic prison, sealed from view, where the descendants of the original prisoners live in a dark world torn by rivalry and savagery. It is a terrifying mix of high technology -- a living building which pervades the novel as an ever-watchful, ever-vengeful character, and a typical medieval torture chamber -- chains, great halls, dungeons. A young prisoner, Finn, has haunting visions of an earlier life, and cannot believe he was born here and has always been here. In the outer world, Claudia, daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, is trapped in her own form of prison -- a futuristic world constructed beautifully to look like a past era, an imminent marriage she dreads. She knows nothing of Incarceron, except that it exists. But there comes a moment when Finn, inside Incarceron, and Claudia, outside, simultaneously find a device -- a crystal key, through which they can talk to each other. And so the plan for Finn's escape is born ...

General Overview: This was an incredibly original book! Catherine Fisher definitely has some sort of twisted/brilliant imagination to create the world in which Incarceron takes place.

Characters: I thought Finn was the best character of all. The chapters from his point of view were the ones I enjoyed the most. His struggle and his courage were both commendable qualities, and I don't think I would've been able to hope like he did after living in Incarceron. I think I'd probably just break down and cry…Claudia, I didn't like her as much I would've hoped. I found her to be just a little too haughty and selfish, and I didn't care much for her. The Warden was an interesting character to read about, what with his twisted history and all, and Keiro and Attia were both interesting as well.

Plot: The adventure keeps you on the edge of your seat! I couldn't flip the pages fast enough. Even though this book is about 450 pages of text, I finished it in one day (see what I mean about reading fast?) because the stories of both the Inside and the Outside kept me enthralled and wanting more. The ending left much to the imagination, and I will definitely be picking up the sequel.

Writing: Catherine Fisher is extremely descriptive in her scenes. The world of Incarceron is described with careful detail that lets you imagine Incarceron as it is in your mind. Fisher drew me in from the first chapter with her actions scenes and smart dialogue.

Cover: The key on the cover isn't really how I imagined the Keys. I thought they'd be more…Swarovski-crystal-like, if you know what I mean. However, I do think the cover is an intriguing one and I hope that Sapphique, the sequel to Incarceron, will have just as great a cover.

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars

Review: Every Little Thing in the World

Book: Every Little Thing in the World
Author: Nina de Gramont
Pages: 288
Published: MArch 23rd, 2010

A teenager. A pregnancy. A familiar story. NOT

When sixteen-year-old Sydney Biggs’s pregnancy test shows the tell tale plus sign, she confides in only her best friend Natalia, and Natalia promptly “borrows” her mother’s car so Sydney can confront the baby’s father. But after the car is reported stolen and police bring the girls home, their parents send them away to wilderness camp as punishment. With six weeks to spend in the wilds of Canada, time is ticking for Sydney, who isn’t sure what she wants to do about the pregnancy. As she befriends her fellow adventuremates and contends with Natalia’s adamant opinions on the choices available, Sydney realizes that making the right choice can mean very different things.

General Overview: I really wasn't expecting to like this book so much! To me, the whole idea of teen pregnancy is really overplayed, and it's portrayed very unrealistically in the media. But I thought Every Little Thing in the World was a fantastic debut and it surprised me how much I liked it.

Characters: I loved Sydney's narrative. She was such a genuine character, and she spoke her mind even if sometimes she was a bit afraid to stand up for herself. She sounded and acted like a real teenager, and I found that refreshing for once. So many books have teenagers that are overly perfect or overly whiny and that is not how all teenagers are. I guess I did like all of the characters (except Natalia. She really annoyed me, though I guess I did like her to a certain extent as well. Just...not as much) even if some of them were a little stereotypical.

Plot: This is a typical pregnancy story...with a twist. I loved the idea of having this girl, who's stuck in such a terrible situation, who also has to deal with surviving in the Canadian wilderness. It was interesting to see how Sydney coped with the challenges she had to deal with, and I admired her courage and persistence. There wasn't a single time where I felt the book was dragging or moved too quickly. The ending took me by surprise, and though her choice isn't the one I would have made had I been in her position, throughout the book you sympathize with her and because most of her thoughts revolve around her pregnancy, you understand what led her to make that choice.

Writing: de Gramont is a great writer. Her descriptions of the Canadian wilderness were apt and realistic (as confirmed by my Canadian friend. Thanks Sabi!) and made me kind of wish I was there too. Nothing in the book was exaggerated or underplayed, and I really enjoyed that factor of it. Too many times the author adds too much information or too little, and that was certainly not the case with this book.

Cover: The model is pretty close to how I imagined Sydney! At first glance, you can't really tell that this is going to be a book about a pregnant teenager, but I thought the cover drew me in all the same.

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars

Review: Lament

Book: Lament
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Pages: 326
Published: October 1st, 2008

Sixteen-year-old Deirdre Monaghan is a prodigiously gifted musician. She's about to find out she's also a cloverhand - one who can see faeries.
Unexpectedly, Deirdre finds herself infatuated with a mysterious boy named Luke, who enters her ordinary life, seemingly out of thin air. But his interest in her might be something darker than summer romance. When a sinister faerie named Aodhan shows up with deadly orders from the Faerie Queen, it forces Dee right into the midst of Faerie. Caught in the crossfire with Deirdre is James, her wisecracking but loyal best friend.
Deirdre had been wishing her summer weren't so dull, but taking on a centuries-old Faerie Queen isn't exactly what she had in mind.

General Overview: I found this book to be very original! I like the idea of a supernatural gallowglass, it seems pretty cool to me. I really liked how Stiefvater incorporated musical elements into it as well! And the instruments featured are often overlooked, for example, James plays the bagpipes, and Deirdre plays the harp. How cool is that? Right?

Characters: I didn't really like Deirdre too much. I didn't like her outer demeanor, but I did enjoy seeing the inner workings of her mind. She's intelligent, really, but she acts in a totally different way than she should. I thought her to be a little too shy, if you know what I mean. I completely loved James, though! He stole the show from Deirdre, if you ask me (which, obviously you are, since you're reading this blog, right?). I thought Luke was alluring, but I wanted more explanation for why Deirdre liked him so much. It was just too sudden for me, and unrealistically portrayed, though their relationship was sweet and intense and I liked that, but I didn't really get a sense of why either of them liked one another.

Plot: The book moves at a leisurely pace until about the last few chapters, which is when the real, hardcore(er) action kicks in. I did enjoy the pacing of the book; I didn't think it moved too fast but it wasn't so slow that I wanted to go to sleep reading it. Lament is no American History textbook. There are plenty of tension-filled moments in the book that will keep the reader on the edge of their seat.

Writing: Stiefvater's writing is beautiful. I think she's a great writer! I liked the way Lament had snippets of texts and other messages, that really made it more believably contemporary, otherwise I would have guessed that the events of this book took place a couple decades ago. I think Stiefvater has a definite skill in writing to please the reader -- her words were captivating and I could not put this book down.

Cover: I like the dagger! It does fit in with the story in that Luke is a gallowglass, and I think the clovers around the edges make it look pretty too, but they are also of significance to the story. The simplicity of the cover is really what makes it appealing to me.

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars

Review: The Unwritten Rule

Book: The Unwritten Rule
Author: Elizabeth Scott
Published: March 16, 2010

Everyone knows the unwritten rule. You don't like your best friend's boyfriend.
Sarah has had a crush on Ryan for years. He's easy to talk to, supersmart, and totally gets her.Lately it even seems like he's paying extra attention to her. Everything would be perfect except for two things: Ryan is Brianna's boyfriend, and Brianna is Sarah's best friend. Sarah forces herself to avoid Ryan and tries to convince herself not to like him. She feels so guilty for wanting him, and the last thing she wants is to hurt her best friend. But when she's thrown together with Ryan one night, something happens. It's wonderful...and awful. Sarah is torn apart by guilt, but what she feels is nothing short of addiction, and she can't stop herself from wanting more...

General Overview: I love Elizabeth Scott! She's such a talented writer, and her books, to me, are very realistic and she is unafraid to tell the truth, no matter how ugly.

Characters: Wow. Scott really brought these characters to life. I could identify with Sarah, and I thought Ryan seemed sweet (if not a little short on words). Honestly, I wish Sarah had been a little more gutsy, and Ryan too. If only they'd just stood up for themselves from the beginning, they wouldn't have all the drama they found themselves faced with. And oh my god, I hated Brianna with a fiery passion. She annoyed me so.so.so.much. But it takes a talented writer to create a character that a reader can both hate and sympathize with, and that's exactly what happened to me with Brianna.

Plot: The plot wasn't the best part of the novel for me. It seemed a little repetitive at times. Sarah and Ryan's relationship seemed to move in some sort of cycle, until they finally found it in themselves to get together. Don't get me wrong, I didn't not like the plot; I just thought that it could've been tweaked a little from that typical sort of story and could've kept me guessing a bit more than it actually did. The ending, however, very much took me by surprise. I thought that it was sad, yes, but sometimes things in life really do end that way, and even though Sarah didn't think so, I think she did get a happy ending -- she just didn't see it that way.

Writing: Scott's writing is absorbing and neat. I loved how she didn't shy away from the uglier side of people and relationships, but instead embraced it completely and brought it to full attention. I hate it when, in books, the author sugarcoats the less appealing aspects. Elizabeth Scott, however, is most definitely not one of those writers.

Cover: I like it! I think it's cute, and it suits the book perfectly. I've noticed a sort of pattern in Scott's books' covers -- you never see the models' faces, and I think that fits for the type of book she writes.

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars

Review: To Kill A Mockingbird

Book title: To Kill A Mockingbird
Author: Harper Lee
Pages: 374
Published: October 11th, 1988

The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960.
Compassionate, dramatic, and deepyly moving, To Kill A Mockingbird takes readers to the roots of human behavior - to innocence and experience, kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, humor and pathos...This regional story by a young Alabama woman claims universal appeal. Harper Lee always considered her book to be a simple love story. Today it is regarded as a masterpiece of American literature.

General Overview: This book took me a week to read. A week. Books hardly ever take me that long to finish. I did, however, very much enjoy it.

Characters: Although I enjoyed Scout's narrative, I thought she seemed too mature and insightful for her age -- she's supposed to be eight, yet she sounds like she's at least sixteen. I did think that she was extremely perceptive and wise, and I really enjoyed that for a change, instead of girls who are somewhat ditzy and clueless. It was also interesting to read from the POV of such a young character, at an age where not much of the world is yet seen or understood. My favorite character by far, however, was Atticus. I loved his shrewdness and his intelligence, and I liked how he was so very capable of standing up for himself and for his family. He seemed, to me, to have the personality and mannerisms that most men should aspire to also possess.

Plot: Okay, this book is a classic, and I can understand why. The book addresses serious issues such as racial discrimination, though also moral values such as family and trust. Though this book has its light moments, it is, for the most part, a somber book, and I don't think it is to be taken lightly. Half of this book revolves around introducing the children, Jem and Scout, and their obsession with a reclusive man named Boo Radley. The second is about a case their father, a lawyer, has taken on about a man named Tom Robinson. The majority of this book is not centered around Tom Robinson's case -- it's centered around how the children grow and how they act, and their family and the environment they grew up in.

Writing: It might be a little hard to understand, as are all classics. But once you do, you jump right in. Lee's writing is absorbing and clear, and I very much enjoyed her style of writing.

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars