Shut Up! I'm Reading.

The Official End (And a New Beginning)

2014-06-03T15:05:00.002-07:00

Hello all!

In case you haven't noticed, this blog is pretty much dead. I went through a crazy time in my life where I barely read, and this blog also got to be way too much stress for me. I also feel like I've grown out of the blogging voice I've established here and want to reinvent it.

However! I've recently started a new blog where I'll be posting book reviews. I'm also going to post more things about my personal life, my writing, and whatever else I feel like talking about. Here's the link. Hopefully a few of you will check it out.

Thanks to everyone that ever read this thing and left comments or read a book that I recommended. I'll be leaving this blog up. (And please ignore all of the dead pictures and stuff.)

Memoirs Of A Teenage Amnesiac Review

2013-06-28T00:00:00.000-07:00

"Above all, mine is a love story.
"And, like most love stories, it involves chance, gravity, and a dash of head trauma.
"It begins with a coin toss.”

After falling down a flight of stairs, high school junior Naomi Porter loses all of her memories after seventh grade. She can’t remember her parents’ divorce. She can’t remember her boyfriend Ace. She can’t remember why her best friend Will calls her Chief. She can’t even remember why she likes Will, how they met, or why they've put so much effort and care into becoming editors of the school yearbook. She can’t remember James, the boy who rescued her from her dive down the stairs and stayed with her all the way to the hospital. But, that’s not actually out of the ordinary, since they've never met.

This is very much a book in three parts. Those parts are titled, “I was”, “I am”, and “I will”, as Naomi figures out who she was with her memories, who she is now without them, and who she will be once she’s resolved those two realities. This is a story about love, trust, self-searching, angst, broken people, and the perfect school yearbook. It is a story about the leap we all have to make, from seventh grade to adulthood. It is a story about the people we meet along the way, the ways we love them, and the ways we move on when we inevitably change.

Plot: Original but comforting, beautifully paced

Characters: Loveable and well developed. Realistically flawed, in that way that hurts a little bit.

Writing: Good. Clear and thoughtful, like Naomi.

Ending: Perfect beyond words :)

Content: Teenaged drinking, mentions of sex and stuff related to sex, but nothing explicit.

Overall: I wanna curl up on the sofa and snuggle with this book. I love it so much.

One last thing. One my favorite aspects of this book is the way the love interests change. It’s not a love triangle! Instead, it shows a very realistic evolution of several kinds of relationships. Rather than being forced to choose between two guys with contrasting merits, Naomi is presented with a different choice as each boy-man-creature enters the scope of her life. Much truer to the real world, where, let’s face it, most of us will never be pursued by even one man with that particular combination of smolder-y eyes, a dark past, and the torso of a Greek god, but all of us are going to have to live with our exes, and occasionally deal with the very real fallout of being close to damaged people. Gabrielle Zevin's writing and storytelling is thoughtful and profound, and I'm going to look for more of her books as soon as I get through the mountain of novels I already have.

~Cheers, and happy summer!

Break Review

2013-05-31T16:23:00.000-07:00

"It's been about six months since I've had something in a cast. Kids at school laugh and call me a klutz. This girl Charlotte carries my books. My parents are baffled. Will cries. Jesse keeps getting sick.
You're broken, and you're fixed.
And you're better."

Break is Moskowitz's debut, but it's the third book I've of hers I've read, so I kept comparing this one to her more recent releases and I've decided this: the writing in this one is definitely not as gripping and shockingly unique as it now is, BUT this is also one of her better ones I think.

All you really need to know about Break is that it revolves around a guy whose new found mission in life is to break every bone in his body. I can't tell you why because that would make me a bad person, but just know that main character, Jonah, does not really have the best home life. His parents are constantly distracted by their own petty fights, as well as Jonah's brother Jess's awful allergies, and his baby brother's constant screaming. So Jonah breaks his bones. Obviously.

As you may be able to tell, Jonah has his share of issues that we learn more and more about with each passing page. The way he went about dealing with his emotions never felt over-dramatic or alarming, and to me that was almost scary.

But as intense as Break can sometimes be, it's full of good side characters, a handful of good jokes, and an abundance of hope, all of which makes for a really good book.

Plot: Totally unique and dark.

Characters: Lovably screwed up.

Writing: Awesome, as usual with this author.

Ending: Fitting.

Content: Some just general dark thoughts, as well as swearing.

Overall:

Pretty dope.

Hannah Moskowitz is basically a cult leader in the YA community, if you ask me. And I'm a proud cult member. (Also, this book totally fits with this song.)

Jessica

Top Ten Books I Thought I Would Like More or Less

2013-05-28T00:30:00.000-07:00

Today's Top Ten Tuesday is a freebie and because I missed this topic a few weeks ago, I decided to do it today.

The five I thought I'd like less:

Looking For Alaska--I know that now this seems laughable, but I was not a big contemporary reader back in the dark ages. I picked this up on a random whim. And now.

Audrey, Wait!--I thought this would just be a light read but LOVE.

Grave Mercy--Me and historical fiction don't often mix well. But this. book.

The Ruby Oliver Series--I didn't realize it while I was reading this series, but I learned so many lessons from this book that I use every single day and I because of that I love it more each time. Perhaps a reread is in order?

Anna and the French Kiss--That (original) cover was such a huge turn-off. I'm so grateful for the bloggers that reviewed this and convinced me otherwise.

The five I thought I'd like more:

Other--A homeschooled protagonist and an original world with a POC love interest? Should've been
great, but fell flat.

One of Those Hideous Books Where The Mother Dies--I love verse novels! But I could not connect to this one at all.

Ultraviolet--I liked R.J. Anderson's Faery Rebels, and this one sounded really different and cool. But...it just got weird.

Like Mandarin--Since my new stance on contemporary (meaning that I love it) I expect to love all of them. But this one just wasn't for me.

This Girl Is Different--Another homeschooled protagonist! But this book just tried too hard. Why are there no cool books with homeschooled MCs?

Jessica

Just One Day Review

2013-05-23T01:00:00.000-07:00

Gayle Forman's newest is vastly different from If I Stay and Where She Went, both some of my very favorite books. While I don't think this is "as good" as those, I still loved it and am still proud to call Forman one of my favorite authors.

Alyson's story opens in Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare and the last stop in her crappy European tour/graduation present. When she takes a chance and sees an independant Shakespeare company, the next 48 hours of her life take a shocking twist. And so does she, as she says yes to things that she never would've before, because of Willem.

But what happens after?

Just One Day is a novel of love, both in the classic loving-a-boy way and in the not so classic finding-the-you-that-you-love way. Both of these story-lines were equally successful.

Alyson was a character that you found yourself rooting for no matter what, even when she was depressed and down on herself for stupid things. Dee-Dee was one of the funniest, most unique side characters I've found in a long while. And I found myself just as fascinated by Willem as she was.

Plot: At first I thought it was going to basic, but it turned out to be more complicated and I really appreciated that.

Characters: Dee-Dee is the greatest. And so was everyone else.

Writing: As great as it was in Where She Went.

Ending: WHAT ENDING. AH. I NEED JUST ONE YEAR NOW.

Overall:

Lovely.

Gayle Forman is not just a one-trick pony, guys.

Jessica

Waiting on Wednesday (5/22/13)

2013-05-22T01:00:00.000-07:00

Sophie Sophia is obsessed with music from the late eighties. She also has an eccentric physicist father who sometimes vanishes for days and sees things other people don’t see. But when he disappears for good and Sophie’s mom moves them from Brooklyn, New York, to Havencrest, Illinois, for a fresh start, things take a turn for the weird. Sophie starts seeing things, like marching band pandas, just like her dad.

Guided by Walt, her shaman panda, and her new (human) friend named Finny, Sophie is determined to find her father and figure out her visions, once and for all. So she travels back to where it began—New York City and NYU’s physics department. As she discovers more about her dad’s research on M-theory and her father himself, Sophie opens her eyes to the world’s infinite possibilities—and her heart to love.

Coming out on July 11!

My Ten Favorite Covers

2013-05-21T00:30:00.000-07:00

Today's Top Ten Tuesday is favorite covers of the books you've read. Here are mine:

Jessica

Crash Review

2013-05-17T01:00:00.000-07:00

I've been a Lisa McMann fan for a fairly long time now. There hasn't been a YA book of hers I haven't really liked. Unfortunately I think Crash is the first.

Jules keeps seeing a vision of a car crash play out on a billboard. Not just any crash--a plow crashing into her family's rival restaurant. So when she tries to tell Sawyer, the employee/son/Jules longtime love, he blows her off. But the visions just get more and more intense. Jules is beginning to think she's crazy, like her depressed hoarder dad, or her grandfather that committed suicide. But what if she's not?

Frankly I just felt like McMann went around in circles throughout the book. The first half is just Jules going, "oh no, what does it mean, why me, am I crazy," and such. Yeah, I get it. Move along please.

I would've much rather McMann focus more on the family element of this book. She created some nice characters in Trey and Rowan, and the line of depression in her family added an element of urgency to the story. I would've liked to have more of that than wondering what was going on for 150 pages and swooning over Sawyer, who didn't seem like he was that great.

Anyway, there wasn't many fantastic things about Crash, and it was all very average in the end. However, I will say that I found myself very invested at the climax of the story. So I guess it did something right that I was unaware of.

Plot: Meh. Could've been great but was just a lot of filler for book 2.

Characters: I loved her siblings.

Writing: Not bad.

Ending: After the climax, everything got very over-dramatic.

Content: Some swearing and mentions of sex.

Overall:

Meh.

People seem to be split 50/50 on this book. I am part of the 50 that was unimpressed.

I received my copy as a surprise from SimonTeen for review. Thanks!
Jessica

More Please: Quirky Characters

2013-05-16T01:00:00.000-07:00

YA is full of diverse family lives: dead parents, alive parents, divorced parents, straight parents, gay parents, adopted parents, one sibling, dead sibling...you get the idea.

But in my opinion what we need more of are crazy/quirky families that make me laugh and wonder why humans are actually so dull. Like the characters in Arrested Development.

Maybe not even quirky families. Why not just quirky friends? Yes, guys, I am ready for some more comedy in my books. It's almost exclusively what I watch these days and I love it. Mostly for these weird characters I keep talking about.

Some books I can think of that have characters like these: The Raven Boys, Welcome Caller This Is Chloe, Past Perfect, Swim The Fly...and...well, that's all I can think of. What are some of your favorite books with crazy fun characters? Give me recommendations!

Jessica

Waiting on Wednesday (5/15/13)

2013-05-15T01:00:00.000-07:00

Max would follow Sadie anywhere, so when Sadie decides to ditch her problems and escape to Nebraska for the summer, it’s only natural for Max to go along. She is Sadie’s confidante, her protector, and her best friend. This summer will be all about them. This summer will be perfect.

But that’s before they meet Dylan.

Dylan is dangerous and intoxicating, and he awakens something in Max that she never knew existed. No matter how much she wants to, she can’t back away.

But Sadie has her own intensity, and has never allowed Max to become close with anyone else. And Max doesn’t know who she is without Sadie.

There are some problems you just can’t escape.

Coming out on June 4th!

Enclave Audiobook Review

2013-05-13T01:00:00.000-07:00

WELCOME TO THE APOCALYPSE

In Deuce's world, people earn the right to a name only if they survive their first fifteen years. By that point, each unnamed 'brat' has trained into one of three groups-Breeders, Builders, or Hunters, identifiable by the number of scars they bear on their arms. Deuce has wanted to be a Huntress for as long as she can remember. As a Huntress, her purpose is clear--to brave the dangerous tunnels outside the enclave and bring back meat to feed the group while evading ferocious monsters known as Freaks. She's worked toward this goal her whole life, and nothing's going to stop her, not even a beautiful, brooding Hunter named Fade. When the mysterious boy becomes her partner, Deuce's troubles are just beginning. Down below, deviation from the rules is punished swiftly and harshly, and Fade doesn't like following orders. At first she thinks he's crazy, but as death stalks their sanctuary, and it becomes clear the elders don't always know best, Deuce wonders if Fade might be telling the truth. Her partner confuses her; she's never known a boy like him before, as prone to touching her gently as using his knives with feral grace. As Deuce's perception shifts, so does the balance in the constant battle for survival. The mindless Freaks, once considered a threat only due to their sheer numbers, show signs of cunning and strategy... but the elders refuse to heed any warnings. Despite imminent disaster, the enclave puts their faith in strictures and sacrifice instead. No matter how she tries, Deuce cannot stem the dark tide that carries her far from the only world she's ever known.

OK, first let's get something out of the way. Deuce. Her name is Deuce. And it's pronounced the way a crude person may use when describing his fecal matter. I swear, every time someone said Deuce's name I chuckled.

I cannot decide if this is the best name ever thought up, or the worst. Anyways, onto the review.

After hearing some mixed things about Enclave, I went into it cautious and not quite sure what to expect. Apparently I should've listened to my instincts in this case, because this book was just not for me.

It is not that Enclave has giant horrendous flaws. It's not that I hated it. It's just that's so shockingly average that I didn't feel anything towards it. Enclave follows the basic formula of basic dystopian YA hitting the shelves today with some zombies thrown in to make up for the lackluster world that I never could picture clearly or really bought, despite some serious info-dumping.

The characters can fight, I'll give them that. I'll also say that Aguirre's fight scenes seemed to be where her writing shone. But in the end I felt no connection to this story or these characters, and I don't think I'm interested in reading the sequel.

Emily Bauer narrated the audiobook, and she's okay. She's definitely not the worst narrator I've ever heard, but her voice does get kind of squeaky sometimes, and she has a tendency to shout whenever things get physically or mentally intense for Deuce.

Plot: Average.

Characters: Average.

Writing: Average.

Ending: Interesting, actually. I'm not sure how that will play out in book two.

Content: A bit edgy, but nothing shocking.

Overall:

Not for me.

Plenty of people have loved this. But I just...didn't. Maybe it was the book, or the narrator, or maybe it was me. I guess I'll never know.

I received this for review from the publicist. Thanks! And sorry this review took forever.
Jessica

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe Review

2013-05-09T00:30:00.000-07:00

“I wanted to tell them that I'd never had a friend, not ever, not a real one. Until Dante. I wanted to tell them that I never knew that people like Dante existed in the world, people who looked at the stars, and knew the mysteries of water, and knew enough to know that birds belonged to the heavens and weren't meant to be shot down from their graceful flights by mean and stupid boys. I wanted to tell them that he had changed my life and that I would never be the same, not ever. And that somehow it felt like it was Dante who had saved my life and not the other way around. I wanted to tell them that he was the first human being aside from my mother who had ever made me want to talk about the things that scared me. I wanted to tell them so many things and yet I didn't have the words. So I just stupidly repeated myself. "Dante's my friend.”

When I first went into Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, I was hesitant. I ended up being very pleasantly surprised.

It's the late 80's. Aristotle's brother is in prison, for reasons he doesn't know. He finds himself either angry or wallowing most of the time for reasons he doesn't feel like talking about. Enter Dante, his first real friend. Together, the boys brave dangerous accidents, misadventures with girls, first jobs, and discovering the answers to secrets that have haunted them for their entire lives.

It sounds like a very simple premise, but when you're actually reading it, it feels much more complicated. Saenz's prose has way of captivating you during even the most mundane moments of these character's lives.

And oh boy, these characters. They were so sad sometimes, and they were so realistic. I ached for Dante and Aristotle, and even their parents. Especially Ari's dad, whose live was haunted more than Ari's.

There's not a lot you can really say about a book like this. It holds a certain magic and you don't really want to spoil it for anyone, you know? So I'll leave you with this: you should read this book.

Plot: A bit slow at times, but it's mainly driven by the...

Characters: Ha! See what I did there! Anyway the characters were good.

Writing: Gorgeous.

Ending: At first I thought it was a cop-out, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. So yes, great ending.

Content: Drugs, drinking, some swearing, and mentions of sex.

Overall:

A wonderful novel worthy of all the praise it's been getting. A much read for fans of Perks of Being a Wallflower, and other melancholy realistic YA.

Jessica

Will You Still See My Posts?

2013-05-07T15:51:00.000-07:00

Google Reader, if you haven't heard, is dying. According to the little thingy on the side of my blog, this is the way that most of you "follow" me. And I would love to keep you all as readers. So, what can you do to keep up with my blog?

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Follow me on Twitter

Follow my blog on Facebook

Follow the blog through Feedly

And there are links on my sidebar to subscribe via email, feedburner, Linky Followers, and NetworkedBlogs!

I'm playing around with Bloglovin right now, and so far I really like it! But of course feel free to follow whatever way. Or, you know, not. It's your life. Though I would appreciate it.

What are you planning to use now that Google Reader is extinct?

Jessica

Books I Want to Read This Year

2013-05-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

You know those books that you feel that you've wanted to read for just about forever? The ones you keep putting off for reasons you can't accurately identify? I have a long list of those. Recently I've knocked a few books off that list (more specifically, The Book Thief and The Princess Bride) and it's made me realize that I am tired of putting these books off. So in the hope that my blog readers will hold me accountable, I am posting a list here of books I want to read by the end of this year.

Fight Club
The Catcher in the Rye
Cat's Cradle
Peter Pan
Ballads of Suburbia
Into The Wild
The Sky Is Everywhere

Any others that you think should be bumped up?

Jessica

The Book Thief Review

2013-05-02T15:32:00.000-07:00

In Nazi Germany, a girl is brought to a foster home, for reasons she is only mildly sure of. Her brother was supposed to be with her, but instead she has a book that she stole from his burial. When she arrives to Himmel Street, she doesn't know what to expect. What she finds is a family in the face of global tragedy. Then a man by the name of Max shows up at her door one night, and things start to grow grim.

Really that is all I can tell you about The Book Thief without spoilers, though the book itself does give you various spoilers throughout. This is because the narrator is Death, and Death has little time for building suspense and mystery.

The unique narrator is just one of the things that makes this book memorable. Another would be the author's choice to set this book inside Germany during WWII. There's also the writing, and the fantastic characters Zusak brings to life.

All of these things take a while to culminate together and make you truly care, but once you do, man, you do. Which is what makes the ending so gut-wrenching.

In the end I just wanted to let you know that all of those things you've heard about The Book Thief over the years are 100% true. Yep, it'll make you laugh and cry (or sob). Yep, it'll have you pondering the frailty of life and the bonds we form. Yep, you should definitely ignore the thickness of it and just read it.

Plot: Gorgeously woven and intense.

Characters: Fantastic. I felt like I was living on Himmel Street myself.

Writing: See above.

Ending: Writing Marcus Zusak some hate mail.

Content warning: There are, of course, mentions of the brutality of the period. However, there aren't as many as there could have been. There's some swearing, but it's mostly in German. This one is probably better suited for an older teen, though.

Overall:

Don't you EVER interrupt me while I'm reading a book/crying.

Though I took my sweet time getting through The Book Thief, it still captured my heart fully. Days after reading it, I'm still thinking about it.

I received my copy for free from my library.

The Princess Bride Review

2013-04-30T01:30:00.000-07:00

The Princess Bride has been one of my favorite movies for my entire life. Seriously. One of my earliest memories is watching the moving, freaking out at the fire swamp scene and being terrified of that creepy old lady. Naturally, I was both excited and hesitant to read the novel. Excited because I knew I loved these characters and this story, and hesitant because I knew I wouldn't be able to separate the book from the movie. And...well...what if I didn't like it?

Hahaha.

In case you haven't seen the movie or heard of the story (WHAT) here's a brief synopsis: Buttercup falls in love with the farm boy, Wesley, just before he leaves. And when he dies, she vows to never love again. Which makes a marriage with Prince Humperdink perfect. Soon before the wedding, chaos erupts in the form of a kidnapping, and another kidnapping, and true love. Swords! Giants! Animal battling! GREAT THINGS!

Reading this book was both a nostalgic experience as well as a new and exciting one. These characters and these jokes are ones that were already a part of me, but reading them changed them into something completely different.

The movie did a spectacular job of keeping true to the book, but there were a few scenes that didn't make it in. Mostly backstory, and I love backstory a lot. There was also an epilogue-like chapter called Buttercup's Baby that was sogoodyouguys. Ohmygod.

Also, you know that whole story about how this is abridged and Goldman's father read this to him or whatever? All a lie. All a plot device. As is Goldman's occasional commentary. I just thought you guys should know that it is actually a part of the book, because I started to get pretty confused and was ready to skip over that stuff.

Anyway. Yes. I fell in love with this book in the way I've always been in love with the movie. And if you've experienced only one, or neither, please change that.

Characters: Uh huh.

Plot: Fast paced and fantastic.

Writing: Sharp/witty/etc.

Ending: Not enough closure.

Content: Minor swearing, violence, and mentions of sex.

Overall:

The Hunt Review

2013-04-23T13:00:00.000-07:00

The Hunt, by Andrew Fukuda, is a breath of fresh air in the YA dystopian genre. To keep a genre vibrant and alive, new books have to challenge the boundaries and institutions of that genre. The Hunt most definitely does that.

Welcome to Earth. It has been taken over by vampires. Or rather, aliens. Bear with me, I know it sounds campy, but it gets better. The origins of this situation are vague, but earth has been taken over by aliens. The long-extinct humans are known not as humans, but as hepers.

However, of course, they haven’t. Meet Gene, our main character. Gene is a seventeen year old heper who has been masquerading as a normal member of alien society for his entire life. His mother and sister died when he was very young. He had his father for a while, but then he disappeared too, and now only Gene is left. He goes to school like everyone else, but his entire survival is based around an elaborate system of deceptions. He has to cover his human scent, he can’t laugh, smile, or change the pitch of his voice, and he wears fake fangs. If he is discovered, he will be killed in a very painful instant, so his life is a bit high in stress.

The aliens are extremely similar in appearance to humans, but they have a number of behaviors and physical traits that are different. For instance, they melt when exposed to sunlight, so they are nocturnal and all their buildings are lightproof. They do not express emotion in their voices, they have fangs, and they can move extremely fast. As a race they are aloof and cocky. They invaded and took over Earth because they eat flesh. The aliens crave human flesh, and go in to a terrible bloodlust at even the slightest hint of a human presence. This is why the hepers/humans are extinct. They have all been eaten.

Now, the curveball. It is announced that there are, in fact, hepers still living in captivity, and there is to be a heper hunt. This causes uproar and madness among the people, for the hunter who succeeds in capturing the hepers will eat them. The hunters are to be picked by a lottery, and through some dumb luck, Gene is selected. He travels to the Heper Institute to be trained for the hunt, and, well, from there you’ll have to read the book yourself.

Gene's situation is very interesting. He has lived his whole life in a society he can never really be a part of, being taught that what he secretly is (a heper, what we would call a human) is lesser and weak. He is completely dissociated from humanity, yet, when he has to make a string of hard choices at the end of the book, his own human nature is inescapable. I love stories like this, because through impossible circumstances, they show us what people really are.

This book has a number of very well executed plot twists. I was able to predict a couple in the first half of the book, but the last few really got me, especially the very last one.

Characters: Gene isn't that interesting on his own, but the situations he is placed in and the decisions he makes make him fascinating. The secondary characters are also good. I like how arrogant the aliens are. This isn't a character book, though. It's definitely a plot book.

Plot: Really, really well done. I am impressed. This book is extremely well paced. A pleasure to read.

Ending: Excellent! Fukuda gives a satisfying resolution to the events in this book, while still leaving loose threads to weave in to the sequel. And, he drops a huge bomb on the last page. Wow. No spoilers, go read it!

Writing: This book was definitely written by a dude. You can tell. It's very precise and intentional. Very readable.

Mature Content: Some seriously gross melting aliens, and some fairly gory people-getting-nommed scenes. Nothing ridiculously graphic, but it sticks in your head for a while. Eew.

Overall: Shut your face hole! I, er, Gene, was just getting chased by aliens!!

This is an excellent book. Go read it now.

Waiting On Wednesday (4/17/13)

2013-04-17T07:30:00.000-07:00

This week I'm waiting on:

Stolen as a child from her large and loving family, and on the run with her mom for more than ten years, Callie has only the barest idea of what normal life might be like. She's never had a home, never gone to school, and has gotten most of her meals from laundromat vending machines. Her dreams are haunted by memories she’d like to forget completely.

But when Callie’s mom is finally arrested for kidnapping her, and Callie’s real dad whisks her back to what would have been her life, in a small town in Florida, Callie must find a way to leave the past behind. She must learn to be part of a family. And she must believe that love--even with someone who seems an improbable choice--is more than just a possibility.

Trish Doller writes incredibly real teens, and this searing story of love, betrayal, and how not to lose your mind will resonate with readers who want their stories gritty and utterly true.

I adored Trish Doller's debut, Something Like Normal, and I'm so excited to read this. I'm pretty bummed it doesn't come out until September 24.

34 Pieces of You Review

2013-04-16T08:31:00.000-07:00

Author: Carmen Rodrigues
Release date: September 4, 2012
Pages: 352
Publisher: SimonPulse
How I got it: For review from publisher

Ellie always had a way of drawing people in to her dark, dangerous world. Especially her best friend Sarah. And one night, it got a little too dangerous. Sarah survived. Ellie didn't.

Ellie's brother, Jake, is racked with guilt. Sarah is full of confusion. And Sarah's sister Jess, well...she's feeling a lot of things.

Now, each of them must come together to put the 34 scraps of paper they found shoved under Ellie's bed and their memories of her together to answer the questions they're left with. Who was Ellie? What made her so alarmingly broken? Was her overdose intentional?

34 Pieces of You was a dark, engaging story surrounding a girl with a tricky past and other characters with a confusing present. The secrets surrounding everyone made this an un-put-downable book as you race to know more about each of them.

I got to know Ellie with stories told from Jake, Sarah, and Jess. Along the way you pick up bits and pieces of each of their personalities as well, but mainly the story focuses on Ellie. I especially connected with Jess, and her story-line was by far my favorite too. It doesn't help that Sarah and Jake's circumstances made it very hard to see them as actual people that I could converse with.

I was shocked that I was as interested in Ellie and her story as much as the characters. Normally I'm not quite as into a character when they're going down a path of self-destruction fueled by cigarettes and drugs--but in this case it felt realistic and drew me in. So, props to Rodrigues. Not only for that, but for her writing style that's poetic, powerful, and surprisingly easy to read too.

I really liked 34 Pieces of You in the end. Despite a lack of connection with some of the characters (that I believe was intentional) this book proved to be a fast and engaging read. I'd recommend it to fans of Ellen Hopkins and other dark contemporary authors.

Plot: Kept me interested.

Characters: The characters were hard to love but I keep thinking about them.

Writing: Very good.

Ending: I kind of wanted more closure.

Mature content: Use of drugs, alcohol, self-harm, swearing, and mentions of rape.

Overall:

Ummm there is a book in my hand. Excuse you sir.

34 Pieces of You isn't a new favorite of mine, but it was a good book. Pick it up! It flies by.

What I've Been Up To

2013-04-09T10:04:00.001-07:00

It's obvious that I haven't been blogging lately, and I haven't been reading either. So what have I been up to?

I got a job! I'm not sure if I'm allowed to tell you where. Not because I'm a spy or anything but because big companies like this one are weird I dunno. Anyway I'm a cashier, so that's been eating up a bit of my time. Especially because it's an hour away from my house, so I've been crashing at friends' and relative's houses a lot more.
I learned how to play the ukulele! And I really love it.
I watched too much TV! Like American Horror Story and Parks and Recreation. I love them both.
Writing! I've been writing some short stories on Figment lately. Here's one, if you want to take a look at it.
Visiting friends!
Tumblring.

It's been great, but I've started to miss blogging, and I've definitely missed reading. I'm reading The Book Thief now and I'm only 30 pages in but I can already tell I'm going to love this book so much.

The Disenchantments Review

2013-03-29T00:30:00.000-07:00

I crave more YA fiction like the Disenchantments that don't say "forever" and focus more on the realistic future. More that I find my growing-up-fears in. More books that focus on when teens are suddenly thrust into the world of adulthood.

Because that's where Colby and Bev are. In a beloved van with Bev's band, planning for their European extravaganza that--after years of talking about it--is happening in only a few days.

Well, that's what was supposed to be happening in the van. What happens instead is that Bev tells Colby she's going to college and can't go to Europe with him. Despite his hurt and confusion, somehow Colby gets trapped into staying in the van for the tour while he tries to figure out why Bev's plans changed, and why she's been acting so strange and distant.

So, yeah, this book has pretty much everything you could want: post-graduation planning and stressing, a once relatively average girl turned manicpixiedreamgirl, a horrible girl band, great tattoos. All of that. And it's all tied together by fantastic writing and such longing for a million different things that will make your chest ache.

In case you can't tell, I loved this book. A lot. Partially because it came at just the right time for me, I think, and partially because it's just plain good. The characters and the setting both leap off the page only the way a truly great book can.

I will be rereading this book closer to my graduation. Maybe before, too, and maybe after. You get my point.

Plot: A better-than-average road trip plot, AKA the perfect plot.

Characters: The kind that you remember.

Writing: Awesome. Definitely need to pick up Hold Still.

Ending: Perf.

Mature content: Sexytimes, some language, and drinking.

Overall:

Shut up, I'm reading.

Definitely make time in your life to read this book.

The Gathering Review

2013-03-27T02:00:00.000-07:00

Strange things have been happening in sixteen-year-old Maya's small, isolated, Vancouver Island community. Mountain lions seem to be seeking her out, her best friend has a strange talent for sensing danger, and her other best friend died a year ago in an accident that just doesn't add up. There's also a sexy and secretive new student at her tiny, tight-knit school, and there’s something about him that just doesn't make sense. Add to that a couple more unexplained deaths, questions about Maya’s birth parents, and a growing sense of there-is-something-going-on-here-that-we-don’t-know-about, and Maya and her friends are about to land in the middle of something that they’re probably better prepared for than they realize.
            I have to say now, I am a sucker for stories involving werewolves, or any sort of animal shapeshifter (tiny spoiler alert there, but you guys are smart people, you would have figured it out. THERE ARE SHAPESHIFTERS OMG). I don’t know why I love werewolves, I just do. Probably because I always root for the underdog, and there are too many damn vampire books out there (come at me, vampire fans! Actually, not really, please. Can’t we all get along?).
            Anyway. This book reminded me quite a lot of Wildefire, by Karsten Knight (that’s going to be one of my next reviews). Maya is a badass heroine with some difficult to explain powers. She’s adopted, and her background is uncertain, but affects her greatly. She goes to a slightly unusual school in the woods, where everyone else seems to have similarly odd powers, and to be coming in to some sort of ancient birthright.
            One thing I like about Maya is that she’s always making things happen. She takes initiative, she searches for information, she thinks hard and tries to put the pieces together. She is stubborn to a fault, but she can still accept new information and change what she believes. Sometimes. I also love her connection with animals and the forest. Having grown up in a forest myself, the scenes in the woods made me really happy, and the animal characters are wonderfully loveable. Even the large dangerous predators.
            The supporting characters in this book are also excellent. Daniel, the protective best friend. Rafe, they mysterious new guy who is both oddly appealing and not to be trusted. Fitz, Kenjii, and Marv, the animal protectors. Sam, the punch-happy psycho chick who I still want to be friends with. Corey, Nicole, Brendan, and Hayley, who might be average high school students, but then again, maybe not. Maya’s parents, who might be hiding something.
            All in all, this is a very interesting, engaging, and well written book. It is funny, it is steamy, it is mysterious, and it balances plot and characters well. However, it has one flaw that is still making me mad.
            The ending.
            It is terrible.
            I mean, I understand that this is the first in a series, but the end of the book gives absolutely no satisfaction! The first 3/4 sets up all these mysteries and questions and weird things that don’t make sense, and the ending gives you no answers at all! Well, one answer, but I’d guessed that one by the middle of the book. It feels like a pretty poor consolation prize when compared to all the delicious secrets presented in the exposition and rising action. However, I would still give this book a high overall rating, because it is excellent in all other respects.

Plot: Good pacing, lots of build up, plenty of material for the next book. The only problem is the…

Ending: which, like I said, was extremely unsatisfying and makes me want to rant from the rooftops.

Characters: Terrific! Maya is complex and well written, and the supporting characters have a lot of depth too.

Writing: Very good. The descriptions are vivid and lovely. I could almost smell the forest.

Content: Lotta making out, some gore and dead people, underage drinking and a few non-graphic mentions of sex. No swearing that I can remember.

Overall:

Shut your face, I am reading this book and it’s really awesome.

Like I have said… three times now, the ending. It angers me. However, the book is very good, and after I’m done raging about imbalanced plot arcs, I’ll start looking for information about the sequel. The Gathering is an excellent book. Go read it.

Note: We were given a copy of The Gathering to review long ago, and I got mine from the library. So thank you library and HarperTeen!

Top Ten Books I Recommend The Most

2013-03-26T12:58:00.001-07:00

People are, naturally, always asking me for book recommendations. And after I find out what they've liked already, I consider myself to be pretty helpful.

To people that like The Hunger Games:

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Maximum Ride by James Patterson (Especially for younger readers.)

To people that like John Green:

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

Pink by Lili Wilkinson

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King

Hannah Moskowitz's books

To people that are looking for "guy books":

Swim the Fly by Don Calame

The Rise of Renegade X by Chelsea Campbell

I also recommend the following books quite a bit:

The Wolves of Mercy Falls series by Maggie Stiefvater
Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman

There's more...but I need to stop.

(Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.)

Meet My New Co-Blogger: Virginia!

2013-03-23T00:00:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! So over the years it's been just me running this blog, and while I've loved every second of it, it's a lot to handle. And now that I got my first job, I decided I needed some help, and I'm so so excited Virginia is the person to help me! She's not only fun to be with, but I love her passion for books, and I know she's going to be a great addition to Shut Up! I'm Reading.

Hello blog readers! I’m so excited to meet all of you. My name is Virginia, and I’ll be writing here part time.

I’m a friend of Jessica’s from the fabulous writing retreat we both went on late last year. I was totally wowed by her writing prowess, and her successful blog. This girl wrote a 40,000 word book in two weeks! She’s got mad dedication.

Anyway, a few days ago, she put out a call for a co-blogger. As I understand it, she’s starting to get busier, and the books are starting to pile up. She just doesn’t have time to read and review all of them. I have school and homework and writing and stuff of my own, but I couldn’t pass up an opportunity like this, so I jumped in and said I would write with her. So, I will be posting here anywhere from twice a week to twice a month. Depends on my schedule, but I’m really excited to be here and I want to be a good blogger, so I’ll try to post around once a week.

A little about me. I’ve been homeschooled all my life. I’m sixteen years old. I like driving, dogs, knitting, cooking, the woods, science, making zines, long walks, caffeine, skype, indie/grunge/rock music, texting, existential crises, journaling, Shakespeare, hair dye, and staying up late. I also like writing and books, of course. I learned to read when I was four. The very first book I read was the Magic Treehouse Series #1, the one with the pterodactyl. Over the last twelve years, I’ve remained faithfully nerdy. I love the classics: Harry Potter, Narnia, etcetera. Never been able to read Tolkein, though he is on my list. I was pretty hardcore about Shakespeare in 8^th grade. I was even in A Midsummer Night’s dream as Titania.
I had a long epic fantasy stage, including Stuart Hill’s Icemark Chronicles, Cinda Williams Chima’s Heir Trilogy, and all the things by Tamora Pierce. And the Inheritance Cycle. I still haven’t finished the last one, though, because it’s almost 900 freaking pages. Don’t tell Christopher Paolini. I’ve met him, and he’s a really nice guy.

I love the recent trend in dystopian fiction. I’ve read the Hunger Games, Divergent, The Eleventh Plague, Myra Grant’s Newsflesh Trilogy, and many more. This is my current obsession, so you’ll probably see me talking about the decline of society and human nature and robots and stuff a lot. I feel like I don’t read as many classics as I should, but with so many new books coming out, I feel like I have to keep up with them too! I’m a pretty tough reviewer, but I try to be fair too. I can find a redeeming quality in almost any book, but I can’t stand a two dimensional character or a poorly paced plot. Or love triangles. I’m getting really, really tired of love triangles.
My favorite author is a tossup between Barry Lyga and John Green. Lyga’s books can hit really hard. I Hunt Killers and Boy Toy were both brutal. I loved the characters. I love how tough and honest and real they are, but how caught up and twisted in their own minds they are. I am currently on a quest to get my hands on the ARC of Game, the sequel to I Hunt Killers.

                Green, though. He’s… just… amazing. How do I even say? His writing is beautiful, and profound, and, just, go read his books right now. John Green fandom is one of the first things Jessica and I bonded over. We were talking about his books, and she said she’d never read Will Grayson. I immediately started yabbering about how much I love that book and how she needed to read it, but she stopped me and said not to spoil it, because she was saving it for a rainy day when she really needed a new John Green book. I admire her willpower.
                Only four books have made me cry. Looking for Alaska, by John Green; The Fault In Our Stars, by John Green; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by our lord and savior J.K. Rowling; and The Perks Of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky. I may have also choked up at the end of the Perks movie. It was beautiful, and it really did justice to the book.
                Anyway, I just finished reading The Hunt, by Andrew Fukuda, when I was on the bus yesterday. I liked it quite a lot. I’m going to write up a review and post it soon. Until then, cheers, and DFTBA.

To celebrate this new chapter for my blog, I've decided to host a giveaway! I've got an ARC of Between Here and Forever, and a hardcover of Pushing The Limits to give to one lucky winner. US only, please. Ends on April 20.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Raw Blue Review

2013-03-19T13:51:00.001-07:00

After years of dying to get my grabby hands on Raw Blue and being unable to due to it's lack of Americanness, I was so so happy to get a copy for Christmas. So happy, in fact, that it was the next book I read. And (due to the craziness of the holiday season as well as my own reading funk) it was also the first book I finished in 2013. Personally, I cannot think of kicking the new year off with a better book, because Raw Blue rocked it.

Carly centers her life around the thing she loves most: surfing. It's not only a hobby for her, but a way to escape everything in her life that isn't so great, like her disapproving parents. But mostly she's looking to avoid a secret from her past that haunts her at every turn. Then she starts to do something unusual for her: opening up to people. And when she opens up to Ryan, things start to change.

Carly is an easy character to relate to and feel for, but not always a character to like. She's prone to doing things like running away, being too hard on herself, and making people that care about her feel a little uneasy. Still, I was rooting for her the whole way through, and not out of sympathy, either. I think part of the reason for that was the way Kirsty Eager wrote her.

That makes sense, because Kirsty Eager can write, whether it's a raw emotional scene, some light-hearted banter, a moment between scenes, or steamy scenes. Even when the book was a little slow, I knew there was no way I was going to be able to put it down. I was just too absorbed in her writing.

And there were some slow moments. Dull, even. Mostly in the beginning. By about the 140th page in, though, I was hooked and the dull moments didn't matter. Made it better, even, because I had history with Carly now.

OK, let's talk about Ryan. He was the dream guy and he was hot and sweet and if you don't love him WTF? Basically I just think he's wonderful and he was perfect for Carly. Their relationship, while definitely not as perfect as Ryan, was so great to read about.

Raw Blue is a slow burn and you don't even realize you care as much about these characters until all the sudden you do. I only wish it was more available in the states, because I can't recommend it to anyone.

Plot: Slow, but not the focus of the book, either.

Characters: Great.

Writing: So great.

Ending: Yeah girl! About time!

Content: There's swearing, smoking, mentions of rape, and sex.

Overall:

Please stop talking, I am reading and it's a very good book

After waiting forever to read Raw Blue, it definitely didn't disappoint.

Raw Blue is available in Australia (Penguin publishers) and the UK (Catnip publishers). Bummer, right? But, luckily, you can do what my awesome grandma did and order from The Book Depository!