Review: Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen

So many feels about this book! I will try and keep it as non-squealy and non-fangirly as possible, but it's hard because I loved this book SO, SO much. I usually fly through books, but with this one, I took it slow until the last hundred pages and I just couldn't stop reading. And I laughed and cried and everything in between. It was simply fantastic and beautifully written.

Saint Anything tells the story of Sydney Stanford, a 17-year old girl suffering through the guilt of her older brother Peyton's actions, whose fall from the popular and seemingly confident perfect guy, son and brother tears apart her family. In the aftermath of his prison sentencing, Sydney transfers to a public school from prep, meeting a new group of friends. She meets Laylah, the flighty best friend with a refined taste for French fries, and Mac, her dependable and sweet older brother in particular, who become a new family for her when her mom and dad are too preoccupied with Peyton to help and see her in the way she needs to be helped and seen.

There are no shortage of great things to say about this book, but I'll start with the characters. I LOVED all of the characters in this book. Sydney was a gorgeously voiced narrator. The way Dessen wrote it, I could feel her emotions as she struggled and those feelings came across as honest, raw and true. Sydney is the kind of character I think any reader can relate to because all of her emotions felt very human.

And then there were the Chatham's with their perfect mix of quirkiness, reliability and working class charm. The scene of the party at their house is one of my favorites because you can feel the love and sense of togetherness in that house radiate off the pages. I loved Mrs. Chatham and Rosie in particular, wishing there was just a little more of them in the book.

Mac is definitely in my top ten list of YA fiction crushes. He was just so sweet and so dependable, but also slightly flawed. You must read for this lovely, subtle and innocent romance. I don't want to give a thing away except that Dessen presents a teen romance that doesn't feel rushed or far fetched. It felt just right.

I don't give a lot of thought to likability to characters in my reviews. It's just not something I really care about when reading a book. I mean, I liked Mac and hated Mrs. Stanford and definitely felt those emotions as I was reading, but I was still able to appreciate their function within the narrative and it doesn't really affect my opinion of the story unless it's terribly distracting. I don't think an unlikable character ruins a book but I could see why some people might find Laylah a little unlikable and that interested me because I could see both sides of it. I'd be interested to see what other people think about her part in the story, so feel free to comment below.

I also really loved what Dessen did with themes of family and friendship in this novel. Dessen captures the fact that while family is still important to us as teenagers and when we are going through rough times, it is often the new friends and bonds we create during these times that carry us through. However, I also loved how the dynamics of Sydney's own family developed both with her parents and her incarcerated older brother. Very well done.

Overall, the plot felt tight. At times it was maybe a little unbelievable how much freedom Mrs. Stanford gave Sydney at some points in the middle, but overall Dessen succeeded at writing a story that flowed logically and pulled at each of my heartstrings. I cannot recommend this lovely, heartbreaking story enough. I don't give 5 out of 5 star reviews very often (only 10 or so ever) but this book certainly deserves it.

5 out of 5 stars

Review: Wildlife by Fiona Wood

Review of Wildlife by Fiona Wood

4/5 stars

Wildlife by Fiona Wood. Image from amazon.com

With the abundance of technology these days, it seems that books embracing the big outdoors and the impact of nature on the mind and body are becoming a rarity. However, every now and then, a story that embraces spending time outside and allowing drama to play out in the elements instead of within a traditional high school or a dystopian society emerges. Fiona Wood’s novel Wildlife does just that, creating a story that is simultaneously quirky, smartly written and wildly entertaining.

One of the novel’s biggest strengths, as well as one of its biggest weaknesses, were the characters. The novel is told from the alternating first person point of views of Lou, a girl trying to get over the tragic death of her boyfriend Fred, and Sibylla, a girl who is suffering the consequences of a perfume photo shoot that resulted in her face being plastered onto a giant billboard. The girls’ lives converge when they are assigned to the same cabin on the outdoor campus of their private high school, where they are required to spend a term in the great outdoors rather than the crowded city of Melbourne.

Lou and Sibylla are endearing, complex and funny characters that the reader will root for. Lou’s dry sense of humor will have readers snickering while some of Sibylla’s actions will have the reader wishing they could reach into the book and give her a shove in the right direction.

The drama and romance wasn’t overdone. Wood succeeded in creating a balance between steamy, outdoor romance and everyday teenage drama in a way that makes this book wildly enjoyable to read. Sibylla and Lou are a major piece of the puzzle leading to that success.

The secondary characters, however, felt flat and one-dimensional. Sibylla’s best friend Holly was the typical toxic best friend that you have to learn to grow away from. Her boyfriend Ben is the typical popular guy that the protagonist of teen novels often seems to end up with. Still, these characters were terrible and they certainly had their own humorous, touching or downright aggravating moments.

While Wood may have met difficulty in the department of secondary characters, her writing style was absolutely the strength of this novel. The way she was able to capture the inner voice of a fifteen-year-old girl, and the fifteen-year-old girl in all of us, was remarkable. First person perspective was used the way it was meant to. Readers will feel themselves experiencing everything that Lou and Sibylla are as they experience it. They will be just as surprised as the girls are at every turn in this twisting and suspenseful tale.

The setting was another fun element of this novel that simply worked well. Camp stories are common, but books that somehow manage to blend camp, the outdoors and high school together are a rarity. The setting of the outdoor campus almost feels like a character itself in this novel, one that manipulates and shapes the characters that the girls and their friends become by the end of the novel. It is also detailed, without being overdone.

Overall, Wildlife is a slightly bizarre mix of strained friendships, first loves, soul mates, the outdoors, and discovering yourself in an unfamiliar place. Yet, it works, and the result is an amazing YA contemporary novel. This book is for anyone who wants to escape to the bush of Australia for an afternoon and relive the way we fall in and out love, friendships and grief.

Review: Never Always Sometimes by Adi Alsaid

I know it's super early for this review, but hey, just spreading the word about an amazing book. I kept it spoiler free too, so enjoy! P.S. I read this book as part of Adi's arc tour, which was awesome!

Never Always Sometimes by Adi Alsaid
Image from goodreads.com

High school is more full of clichés than it is with students. A lot of contemporary YA novels avoid these clichés like the plague while others mix them in naturalistically with a cast of characters on their own spectrum of cliché. In his upcoming novel Never Always Sometimes, which comes out on August 4th, author Adi Alsaid faces the clichés that define high school head on with an unforgettably quirky cast of characters and a meticulously defined setting.

Dave and Julia, the quintessential joined-at-the-hip best friend teen duo, write a list of things never to do in high school shortly before they become freshmen. When they re-discover the list towards the end of their senior year, they decide to complete the items on the list, embracing the ordinary things teenagers do instead of their usual isolated plans.

Dave is funny, insightful and real. He isn't just the typical guy following his eccentric best friend around like a puppy dog. He is open-minded, observant and smart. The first part of the novel, telling his side of the story in the third person (as the whole novel is) felt grounded, relaxed and intriguing. There were times where I laughed with him, felt his pain and wanted to shake him and yell, "STOP THAT!" But overall, he was relatable, mostly likable and felt like someone I would be interested getting to know in person. He held my interest and I was interested in his story because his thoughts felt real and I was emotionally invested in his longing for Julia from the very first page.

Speaking of Julia, she is a whirlwind of energy, passion and bright pink hair dye. By far my favorite character in the novel, she felt like the character with the most wit and the most to lose. The story of her mother and two dads was endearing. I saw a lot of myself in her, and I think anyone who has ever rebelled against their past, their present or their future will relate to her. Her banter was funny, her actions reckless. The parts with Mr. Marroney were by far my favorite. You'll have to read to find out what happens there. I don't want to spoil that.

I can see how she might not be the novel's most likable character, but she felt the most honestly written and real. The only problem I saw with her character is that it made Gretchen, who Dave meets at a party, and one of the other more developed characters, fall a little to the background. This isn't necessarily a problem, but it would have been nice to see her come through a little more.

The humor between Dave and Julia was excellently written. Alsaid is a master of writing easy-flowing dialogue that is smart, catchy and entertaining. Even the scenes that were the hardest to read because I was doubled over laughing or cringing from the consequences I knew were in the pages to come were well done. Alsaid's relaxed, modern style makes Never Always Sometimes a fun summer read, even as it raises difficult questions about the way we judge people and the emotions we feel in high school.

But perhaps my favorite part about this book was the setting. I haven't been to California before, but Alsaid's novel and his descriptions of the place, the sunsets, Dave and Julia's room, made me feel was there. Everything felt present, immediate and real in the novel. At times, it was the setting that was the driving force in keeping me turning the pages.

My only critique of this brilliantly written novel is that some of the loose ends in the plot left me wanting more. I wanted to know more about Julia's dads, what happened to her bizarrely fun mother, more about Dave's mother and his relationship with his dad. What ever happened to some of the kids at the party they went to? My other small concern was I thought the whole not dating your best friend line on the list would have been more of an issue from the very beginning. Still, it's an amazing story.

Never Always Sometimes is the perfect summer read. Since I loved Let's Get Lost and thought that was the perfect summer read last year, I was a little worried that I'd be disappointed. I wasn't, however, and whether or not you've read Let's Get Lost, Alsaid's new book is a great book that demands to be read on a late summer night. Whether you're in high school now, just graduated, in college or beyond, read this book and laugh and cry at the end like I did.

4.5 stars

So many books, so little time! A Belated Spring Break Review Post

I never got around to posting this during Spring Break, but these books were amazing so here it is:
To me, Spring Break is not about heading down to Florida and guzzling down as much beer as I can in a short period of time. That sounds awful. Instead, it's a week where I get a short reprieve from the daily grind of college life and a chance to read some amazing books. Here's a wrap of of the books I read throughout the week and my thoughts on them. Enjoy!

1. Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver (4.5 stars)
Sigh...I really loved this one. It was beautifully descriptive and the amount of visual detail was stunning. The story-a tale of two sisters, Dara and Nick, who used to be close but grew apart after Dara started hooking up with their childhood neighbor and buddy Parker-was lovely and tragic. The characters were unlikable at times but complex and fun. I'll admit I liked seemingly balanced Nick over reckless Dara a little more, but even the secondary characters were funny and well developed. Their divorced parents were messed up, but slightly sympathetic. Their high school friends felt authentic. The quirky bunch that worked at the amusement park was slightly reminiscent of The Way, Way Back water park crew. The setting was descriptive and distinct. The twists were slightly predictable at times, but some still managed to catch me off guard. You'll have to remember to breath and slide back from the edge of your seat by the end. Overall, this book is a well-written hot mess of a story, a thrill from start to finish and one you won't want to put down until the last page.

2. Control by Lydia Kang (4 stars)
I was a little skeptical of this one at first. I'm into science, but I'm not INTO science. But the cover of this book was pretty and that's at least half of why I decided to buy it (good job cover designers!). Control is about a teenage girl named Zelia who is in a desperate race to save her sister Dylia after a tragic accident that lands the two of them in separate foster homes. Zelia is in a quirky home for peculiar genetically mutated teenagers and Dylia is in a sweatshop/prison for the genetically wrong, but potentially valuable. It's set in the future and while some of the technology and science wasn't always totally believable, it was certainly cool. Zelia was definitely a strong character as were some of her housemates, but Dylia's character fell a little flat for me and the ending felt just a little rushed. Stylistically, the novel was very well written and read seamlessly from start to finish. There were enough twists and turns to keep me flipping the pages and the ending was equally frustrating, sweet and tragic. Definite point for throwing in a reference to one of the most beautiful cantos of The Divine Comedy. Overall, a great read that left me sobbing by the end and one that you should all try too, even if science fiction isn't your first pick.

3. Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis by Rowan Jacobsen (4.5 stars)
Okay, this one doesn't really count but it kind of does. It's for school but it wasn't assigned. I read it to gain more knowledge for an interdisciplinary art and environmental studies course I'm taking. I'm doing my project on honey bees and this just seemed like a non-sciency science book I could learn a lot from. And I'll admit, it's one of the best non-fiction books I've read. Funny, informative and clearly written so that even someone who has a head for art and literature, not science, can understand it. This isn't just a list of facts about bees and Colony Collapse Disorder. No, it's a riveting narrative of how we got to this point, this crisis, and it's a call to action. Filled with useful data, first-hand accounts from beekeepers and interesting examples, this is an eye-opening read that will make you just a little more grateful for the food you eat and the little insects that fly around your garden.

4. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard (4.75 stars)
I wanted to scream, cry and curl into a ball when I finished this book. It was a heart wrenching and poignantly dramatic novel that has a little bit of everything: violence, intrigue, spies, betrayal, romance and a thrilling underdog narrative. Mare Barrow, the novel's harrowing, is a Red. She comes from nothing and has nothing, facing a dismal fate in the army, a pawn to the rich and powerful Silvers. Meanwhile, a rebellion is underfoot. When the rebellion, Mare and the secretive world of the rich and powerful collide, what ensues is a riveting and breathless tale of secret powers, secret alliances and secret enemies. You won't be able to put this book down and surprise, it's the first of the trilogy. Perfectly paced and delicately written, this tale will leave you breathless and wanting the next part of the story. You will love characters you didn't expect and hate ones you expected even less. There are turns around every corner, so this is a must read for anyone who loves drama and suspense.

5. Mosquito Land by David Arnold (5 stars)
Mim Malone, a quirky and lovable teenager, goes on an epic road trip to find her mom, who she thinks is sick. Chaos and tragedy ensues on a cross country journey that will make readers cheer for the half-blind heroine at the center of this novel. This book was amazing and weird and I just devoured it in a few hours. The writing style was raw, yet eloquent times. I cried and laughed out loud while reading because the setting, conflict and characters all came together in a coherent way. The romance was a little odd at times, but touchingly sweet and seemingly real. The characters are well-developed, it was fun to read and beautifully written. If you're looking for a quirky but sweet and touching novel, then this is the one for you. This book touches upon all the classic themes of adolescence, taking its own spin as well: love, friendship, family, the awkwardness of still being a kid but feeling like an adult. Overall, this was my favorite of the books I read over spring break.

Review: Since You've Been Gone by Mary Jennifer Payne

I have received an advance e-edition of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review of it.

Kids get scared when they lose their moms for a minute, so your mother disappearing in London must be horrifying. This is the set-up for Mary Jennifer Payne’s suspenseful and tragic new novel Since You’ve Been Gone.

Fifteen-year-old Edie is used to being on the run with her mom, but she is especially heartbroken when she finds out that they are moving to her mother’s native hometown of London from Edie’s native Toronto. Not only must she start again at a new high school, every teen’s worst nightmare, but she must also do so in a place where no one speaks or dresses like she is used to. Then it gets worse, and when Edie’s mom doesn’t come home she is sent on a journey across London to discover the truth for better or for worse.

Payne’s depiction of London was phenomenal. My favorite kinds of settings are those that seem to come alive off the page, almost becoming their own character. Here, the reader discovers London through Edie’s eyes, from the slummy section of South London where she lives to the luxurious section north of the River Thames. Payne’s description doesn’t read like a tourist manual of the top ten sites to see in London like some other books. Instead, it reads like a chaotic mess that is intimidating and fascinating at the same time to a newcomer.

However, the same could not be said of the scenes of the book that take place in Edie’s high school, which were to be completely honest a little lackluster. The mean girls were stereotypical, the outcasts even more so.  The dynamics between the teachers and the students were the best part of those sections of the book, but only mildly so.

The best part of the book was the developing relationship between Jermaine and Edie. Payne managed to include a romantic subplot to the story that was like a prepubescent version of Sex in the City. Instead, their love for each other took time to develop, and was full of understanding and simplicity. That part was great.

The overall idea for the book is also worthy of praise. I only wish that the plot didn’t move so quickly so that it might have been even better. The timing of the book seemed to move way too quickly, and Edie’s father’s actions seemed completely unrealistic. I also didn’t really like how everything seemed to be tied up into a bow at the end of the book.  With everything that happened, I expected there to be more loose ends. I wasn’t left disappointed at the end exactly, just disappointed that this book wasn’t as excellent as it could have been. Still, it was a fun read and has several high points in addition to its lows.

3/5 stars 

Review: Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott

I won this book through a contest at Teenreads.com, so a big thank you to everyone over there! I kind of totally forgot about entering the contest and was pleasantly surprised one night to come home and find this awesome book in my mailbox. Here’s my review of Elizabeth Scott’s novel Heartbeat: :)

Mourning and sadness take many forms, but author Elizabeth Scott’s stunningly honest and emotional portrayal of her narrator Emma’s grief over the death of her mother in her novel Heartbeat is a refreshing new voice in young adult fiction.

However, Emma isn’t only suffering the loss of her mother, she’s also suffering from what she perceives to be her step-dad selfishly keeping her mother alive to potentially save her unborn half-brother. This twist in the story turns Scott’s novel from an average story about loss into an innovative and heart-wrenching tale about a girl fighting to overcome her loss while also struggling to accept the new life that will soon enter her family. Having seen similar stories on the news in the past about women being kept on life support to deliver their children, it’s awesome to see YA authors finding the teen voices in these clips of coverage we see everyday.

Emma’s narration is direct and honest, although it can feel overly simple and redundant at times. She doesn’t waste time with metaphors or indirect ways of expressing how she feels, which amplifies the raw emotion of the story. Readers will be able to feel Emma’s anger, frustration, sadness and loneliness through the pages. They will also be able to see how she progresses through the process of mourning with the help of a complicated relationship with neighborhood bad boy Caleb and her best friend Olivia. By the end, readers will feel satisfied with the outcome of the journey they have seen Emma endure.

Scott creates a cast of characters that are simultaneously relatable and quirky in their own ways. Olivia, Emma’s devoted best friend, is repulsed by modern technology, opting to write school papers on a typewriter and use encyclopedias instead of Internet research. Caleb, haunted by the death of his sister, is driven to commit dangerous crimes. However, Emma sometimes falls into the background of her own story as her life is defined by the loss of her mother, her apathy about her schoolwork, her anger towards her step-dad and little else.

Dialogue, though, is the strength of this novel. The way the characters speak to each other in Heartbeat is remarkably accurate and natural. Through Emma’s conversations with Olivia, Caleb and Dan she changes and learns about herself, her mom, life and death.

Another strong element of Heartbeat was the romance between Caleb and Emma. Scott transforms the classic bad boy stereotype to have Caleb reflect the devastation Emma feels from losing her mother. The result is an endearing romance stemming from mutual loss that readers will root for.

Heartbeat is an emotional and endearing tale about a girl’s journey from grief to hope. It provides an honest portrayal of grief at a young age, of the search for why and how to move on. This beautiful and well-written story also exceptionally demonstrates the importance of friends and family in difficult times. It also shows that, while not everyone should drop concerns about school completely like Emma, in the long run those assignments and papers aren’t worth excessively stressing over. The memories we have with the people we love are far more important.

While Heartbeat is definitely geared towards teen girls, readers of any age and gender will be able to appreciate Emma’s story and will enjoy making the journey alongside her.

4/5

Review: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

I just want to say this is the best book I’ve read in a really long time. Usually I’m able to close one book and start another but I needed to wait a while after finishing We Were Liars. It was one of those stories that hits you so suddenly and all at once, and one that I’ll definitely be rereading again and again in the future. Before I fangirl more, here is my review:

Everyone tells lies. Some lies just happen to be more treacherous than others. People can lie to others, but they can also lie to themselves. Young adult author E. Lockhart’s tragically beautiful new novel We Were Liars explores such lies, and the quest for truth, as the narrator Cadence Sinclair Eastman struggles to remember the repressed memory of an accident that occurred the summer she was fifteen.

Cadence is part of the Liars along with Gat, Mirren and Johnny. The four are the grandchildren (or in Gat’s case, a close friend of the grandchildren) of the eerily perfect Sinclair family, which summers on their island near Martha’s Vineyard called Beechwood Island. The Sinclair patriarch has three daughters, of which Cadence, Mirren and Johnny are the eldest children.

Lockhart’s depiction of this wealthy, self-destructive New England family is at once horrific and dazzling. Readers will both love and hate the family, for the Sinclairs are simultaneously repulsive and endearing. The language used to describe the setting is overwhelmingly rich and intense. At times, Readers will feel as if they are actually on the island looking at the houses or just taking in the salty, sea air. Lockhart’s skillful description makes the setting and the characters of this novel come alive.

While Lockhart’s novel is stunningly original, readers familiar with Spring Awakening will find similarities in the dynamic between the young and the old: the adults’ ignorance ultimately causes fracture and havoc for their children.

Cadence’s narration of the story is immediate, raw and emotional.  Lockhart combines her narrator’s realistic and natural voice with a twist-filled plot to create a well-paced suspense novel that will demand the reader’s attention from start to finish. The use of first person in the present tense gives the reader the sense that they are unraveling the Sinclairs’ secrets alongside her. Her selective amnesia from the accident she can’t, or refuses, to remember is exceptionally exploited to create a breathless suspense tale. Lockhart pushes unreliable narration to its best, and readers will be shocked when the truth is finally revealed. The ending of this book will leave every reader sobbing. Kleenex are strongly recommended for the last thirty pages or so of this book.

While Cadence is such a strong and dynamic character in We Were Liars, all of the other characters in the novel are as richly developed. Cadence’s mother and aunts each have a distinct personality that affects the course of the novel. The other Liars also have richly developed personalities. Gat has a strong-willed resistance to the Sinclairs’ ideals as an outsider while Mirren and Johnny’s reluctant adherence and subtle rebellion to the expectations of their family, creating an intricate network of developed characters. Each character has an impact on the course of events the novel takes and no one falls into the background.

Lockhart’s use of fairy tales to help Cadence sort through her repressed memories gives the book a fantastic, cryptic quality. We Were Liars is a modern fairy tale of loss, rediscovery, regret and endurance. It’s a story for everyone, young or old, male or female.

It is a book that discusses the desperateness of young love through the complicated relationship between Cadence and Gat. It shows the tragic consequences of family feuding and politics. It shows the closeness of bonds between friends and family and how those bonds change and twist over time. It’s a story of grief and loss as well as the search for truth and knowledge. It’s a story about the narrow-sightedness of teenagers, and of people, and how we try to control what it ultimately becomes uncontrollable.

Overall, We Were Liars will leave each and every reader feeling that they have read something simultaneously nostalgic, immediate, profound and magical. There are simply not enough words to describe how good this book is, so you’ll have to read it and see for yourself.

This is a book that lives up to the hype. All of it.

5/5