Wake

Written by Abria Mattina

Goodreads Synopsis: Eighteen isn't too young to run your life into the ground, but it's not too old to fix it, either. The desire for change drives Willa Kirk from St. John's, Newfoundland back to her hometown of Smiths Falls, Ontario, away from her mistakes and the place where her sister died. She's looking for a place to settle and rebuild, but Jem Harper just wants to get out of town, back to the life he knew before cancer. By letting the tragedies in their lives define them, they are both dying a little more every day. Welcome to the wake.

My Confession: So, this is a first, Book Nookers. My first requested review. I had the privilege of meeting Abria when we roomed together (along with two other girls) during my six weeks in New York at NYU. The longest conversations we'd have, crowded around the small kitchen table (there was no living room in our dorm apartments...odd) were about the books we'd written (Abria) and the books we'd almost finished writing (me). I watched her fiddling with her Kindle all the time, and a few weeks ago, I found out why: she self-published Wake, her first novel, as an e-book through Amazon. I'm still warming up to my Nook, but wanted to read this book. From the synopsis, I wasn't really sure what the book was about. Once I started, though, I knew almost instantly where it was going to go.

Wake reminded me quite a bit of Keith, a short story written by Ron Carlson about a cancer-stricken boy who befriends the most popular girl in school, bonding with her over little stupid stuff until the two eventually fall in love. I liked Keith so much, I adapted it into a screenplay for a Screenwriting class I took in college. Wake feels like a full-length version of this short story. Jem is recovering from cancer, and Willa is running from what cancer stole from her. They're thrown together as partners in a Home Ec class, and while they, at first, can't stand each other, they realize rather quickly the important aspects the other brings to their life. I really enjoyed how the story was told from both perspectives, sometimes the same events overlapping for both Jem and Willa. I felt like I really got the chance to know both of them as characters: what they were thinking, how they really felt, what they didn't want the other person to know. It was so awesome to see the same events two different ways; their voices felt so accurate and realistic. The book isn't short, and the length really lets the reader grow more comfortable with Jem and Willa; I felt like I knew them. I grew quickly attached to their relationship and loved the little, unique quirks that made the dialogue pop. I haven't read these characters before, and for that, I give Abria lots of credit.

If I'm going to harp on one thing about this book (and since it's an e-book, I'm still not convinced myself that it matters) it would be the cover. Don't love it. And while I get it, and having read the book, I know where it comes from, I don't think it accurately portrays the story inside. I picture something with a little more color, a little something extra. I actually pictured something like a girl's hand on a boy's chest, covering a catheter (a sore spot for Jem throughout the novel). When I say I went into this book completely blind about the plotline, I mean blind. The cover, title, and synopsis didn't really clue me in. Now having read it, I can see where they work, but I'm still not totally buying it. Now, as an e-book, does the cover totally matter? Not really. But this story's quality lends me to think that I could very well see this on the shelves someday. So maybe just a little something to think about. This book needs--and deserves--every  possible chance for success.

Recommendation: For $3.99, you're not going to find a more worthwhile e-book. It's so well written, and I found myself being mesmerized by the language almost as much as I was drawn in by the story itself. Abria initially warned me that this would be "morbid" book, but I'm not convinced. Sure, the subject matter isn't always super-uplifting, but I don't know about you--books without conflict and struggle just don't ring authentic enough to bother reading. And while you won't be finished in a day, this is the kind of novel that will stick with you. I started reading it at work and had an extremely difficult time putting it down. I'm truly impressed, and I can't wait to read what she comes up with next.

Buy Wake on Amazon here!

Rating: 4.5/5

Quote of the Day

"If you care about something, you have to protect it. If you're lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it."

A Prayer for Owen Meany

Beautiful Creatures

Written by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Goodreads Synopsis: Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps, and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.
Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.
In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.


My Confession: Just a disclaimer: any YA novel that rivals the Bible in thickness WILL BE PURCHASED by yours truly. I don't know why I'm attracted to humongous books, but I am. I love how they feel in my hands, almost like they don't quite fit. Beautiful Creatures  is a monstrous book, over 500 pages. And it took me a long time to get through it. You'd be amazed how much story (and sometimes, lack thereof) you can find in almost 600 pages. It's complicated, beyond messy, and at times, really difficult to follow. Lena can't be just a witch, and Ethan can't be just a human. There can't just be two sides, good and evil, and there can't be just love. Every element in this book isn't what it initially appears. And, for the most part, I really enjoyed it.

I really thought telling this story from Ethan's perspective set this novel apart from other supernatural/paranormal romances. For one, Ethan is a human (even though he has some kind of unknown power, since he and Lena connect on a much deeper level than thought possible for a mere mortal) and it's refreshing to experience a romance with a twist from a male perspective. He's a very level character who takes everything in lighthearted stride. He doesn't seem surprised by all the mysticism, and I think that's due to the Southern setting chosen by Garcia and Stohl. A Yankee myself, I don't know much about Southern traditions or values, but this book was just riddled with them. And they were played up to the point where I wasn't surprised when the out-of-the-ordinary started occurring. There's a magical quality to the entire setting that is both inviting and fascinating. It really ends up defining the book, as well as the characters in it.

Recommendation: Do it! But just know that it's neither a light nor a quick read. Due to its sheer size, expect there to be parts that drag a bit. The entire story takes place over the course of a little less than a year, and by the time you finish, that's the amount of time you'll feel you've spent reading it. As a positive, the length allows the relationships to blossom and develop at a normal pace. I believed in Lena and Ethan's relationship because they had so much time to grow together. The downside, of course, is that in a book like this, with lots of crazy stuff going on all the time, the parts that lag are pretty frustrating. Some parts could have been cut, but then again, it wouldn't be the huge, massive text that I love. Bigger book, bigger story. And in the end, pretty worth it.

Rating: 4/5

563 pages, published by Little, Brown (Dec. 1, 2009)

Quote of the Day

"If you love someone, if someone loved you, if they taught you to write and made it so you could speak, how can you do nothing at all? You might as well take their words out of the dirt and try to snatch them from the wind. Because once you love, it is gone. You love and you cannot call it back."

Crossed

Breaking Dawn: Part One Movie Review

First off: yes, I succumbed. And no, I'm not going to apologize. I read the Twilight series back in college, before the insanity began and way before Robert Pattinson died a wizard and woke up a vampire. I gave them a shot because, hey, I'm a book freak and these were getting good reviews. Are they the best things ever written? Hell to the no. Is the story kinda catchy? Yep. It's a guilty pleasure that none of us really take seriously. The movies started off awful, with blue-tinged film and horrific acting, and slowly got better (at least cinematically). But the only thing I cared about when I slipped into my seat at the theater to watch Breaking Dawn Part 1 was how they were going to cut the massive fourth book in half. And if they were going to do it well.

And you know what? They did. They really did. I actually enjoyed this film because it paid extremely close attention to the book. I think this is the first film where I really felt like I was watching the book come alive on the screen. Everything that happened in the book happened in the movie--almost to a T. And, no matter the story, I'm always impressed by that. Pay very close attention to this next sentence because you will never see me write it again: I found Kristen Stewart tolerable as Bella. While I find Rob positively yummy (so long as he doesn't open his mouth when he goes on talk shows--boyfriend is awkward ), I have always found Kristen flat, dull, and personality-less. Which somehow makes her the perfect Bella. And yet, especially during the scenes where she's defending her life-threatening pregnancy (cue the feminists here), I found her mildly convincing. I know. An early Christmas miracle.

I found the sex scene tasteful, the wedding actually pretty moving, and the graphics intense and cool. This franchise has come a long way since the first film (which, oddly enough, is still my favorite of the four so far) and I'm a little tired of people hating on it. No, I'm not a Twi-hard, but I also know that two-plus hours of a minimal escape from reality with a face like Rob's isn't awful either. This movie was pretty decent. You don't need to have seen the first three movies or even be familiar with the plot to see the film. It's pretty self-explanatory. It's certainly not going to gain any new fans, but it's definitely going to please the ones who already exist. And the last moment? Extremely cool. Saw it coming, but I still jumped a little.

Oh, and if you want a sneak peek of Renesmee, click here. She's a cutie.

Grade: B

Photos courtesy of Google Images

Quote of the Day

"I think of how perhaps the best way to fly would be with hands full of earth, so you always remember where you came from."

Matched

Crossed

Written by Ally Condie

Goodreads Synopsis: In search of a future that may not exist and faced with the decision of who to share it with, Cassia journeys to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky--taken by the Society to his certain death--only to find that he has escaped, leaving a series of clues in his wake.
Cassia's quest leads her to question much of what she holds dear, even as she finds glimmers of a different life across the border. But as Cassia nears resolve and certainty about her future with Ky, an invitation for rebellion, an unexpected betrayal, and a surprise visit from Xander--who may hold the key to the uprising and, still, to Cassia's heart--change the game once again. Nothing is as expected on the edge of Society, where crosses and double crosses make the path more twisted than ever.


My Confession: I really enjoyed the first book in this dystopian trilogy, Matched. I was completely drawn in to this world where free will has become a fairy tale. When Cassia leaves in the first book to go after Ky, I was under the impression that she understood what she was leaving behind, and she was okay with that. Xander, her family, her friends--she cared for them, but needed Ky to feel complete. Which I was all for. Regardless of what the "Matching" pool said, it's made clear that Ky is her soulmate.

And yet, here we go again with Xander. There was so much about Crossed that I liked, from the scenes in the wilderness to the new characters introduced along the way. I loved the dual-narration of this sequel and found Ky's voice authentic and moving. Seeing inside his head was the key to making this a complete and whole story. Despite the barren landscape and occasional lags in plot, there was a lot of depth to this continuation of Cassia and Ky's story. But then a "secret" is revealed about Xander that changes the whole game. And for me, not in a good way. What makes this trilogy so good is that it's built around not a love triangle, but a choice: Cassia's choice between Xander and Ky isn't superficial; it represents a choice between the life she's expected to lead, and the life she wants to lead. Xander is the warm, comfortable, Society life; Ky is rebellion. Now, after the secret, it's back to being just a choice between two boys, not the two sides of herself. And, with that, I think this trilogy loses a little something.

Recommendation: I am not jumping off this bandwagon--not in the least. I'm still excited to see how this story ends, how Condie brings some form of resolution to a very complicated situation. However, I wish the need for a love triangle wasn't pushed so hard in this book. I like Ky, a lot. I like him and Cassia together, and despite what we discover about Xander (which, for some reason, I have a hard time believing), I still believe Ky and Cassia are meant to be together. And I don't appreciate a monkey wrench being thrown into their situation just for the sake of it. They're both such damaged and complex characters, and they have no problem getting in the way of their own relationship. There's obviously much to uncover about the two of them, much that they still hide from each other--that's the more interesting obstacle to their love. Not another person.

Rating: 4/5

367 pages, published by Dutton Juvenile (Nov. 1, 2011)

Quote of the Day

"Maybe they didn't want you to realize that every civilization has its weakness. There's always one thing we depend on. And if someone takes it away, all that's left is some story in a history class."

Uglies

What Happened to Goodbye

Written by Sarah Dessen

Goodreads Synopsis: Since her parents' bitter divorce, Mclean and her dad, a restaurant consultant, have been on the move--four towns in two years. Estranged from her mother and her mother's new family, Mclean has followed her dad in leaving the unhappy past behind. And each new places gives her a chance to try out a new persona: from cheerleader to drama diva. But now, for the first time, Mclean discovers a desire to stay in one place and just be herself, whoever that is. Perhaps Dave, the guy next door, can help her find out.


My Confession: Sarah Dessen is another one of those authors who I read incessantly as an adolescent. She certainly has a style, and many of her stories have similar themes of abandonment, loss, hesitant love, and a struggle to "fit in." I've always admired her ability to keep coming up with fresh stories of teens who didn't magically transform into vampires or discover superhuman powers on their sixteenth birthday. Her books are meant to be about real kids facing real problems in the real world. With an extra dose of drama, of course. And even though sometimes her stories feel a little too  similar, I still read everything she writes.

There was a lot about this story that I liked. I always admire how Sarah never makes the budding romance (in this case, between Mclean and Dave) the center of the story. This time, all the issues between Mclean and her mother, as well as the troubles at her father's new restaurant, stole the show. The focus was placed solely on Mclean's inner struggles as she tries to figure out who to be in this new town; being herself was never an option before, usually because her and her father leave town after a few months. But this time, she meets people she cares about, and wants to be her true self. But even that comes with baggage, and Mclean is certainly in her own head enough of the time to clue the reader in to her inner turmoil. I really enjoyed climbing inside her head, mainly because I think it's hard to write a character that readers of all backgrounds can identify with. However, does this inner voice start sounding a little too repetitive at times? Yes. Mclean comes off a little too wounded, and while I can understand--to an extent--why she feels that way, the sing-songy nature of her melodrama and self put-downs get a little old.

Recommendation: I totally get (and appreciate!) the fact that Sarah writes characters who form strong identities by the end of her books. But, I need those characters to show some semblance of identity at some point throughout the story. Dave is a great character, and I think he was under-utilized. As usual, the writing is great, and the cast of supporting characters steals the show again. In the future, I'd like to see Sarah go out on a limb and write something a little different than what she's used to. Throw out that old blueprint and create something totally off-the-wall. I'll always read her stuff, but I'd like to not be able to always predict where everything is going.

Rating: 3/5

402 pages, published by Penguin Young Readers Group

Quote of the Day

"I'm just the librarian. I can only give you the books. I can't give you the answers."

Beautiful Creatures

Between Here and Forever

Written by Elizabeth Scott

Goodreads Synopsis: Abby accepted that she can't measure up to her beautiful, magnetic sister Tess a long time ago, and knows exactly what she is: second-best. Invisible.
Until the accident.
Now Tess is in a coma, and Abby's life is on hold. It may have been hard living with Tess, but it's nothing compared to living without her.
She's got a plan to bring Tess back though, involving the gorgeous and mysterious Eli, but then Abby learns something about Tess, something that was always there, but that she'd never seen. Abby is about to find out that truth isn't always what you think it is, and that life holds more than she ever thought it could....

My Confession: I was pleasantly surprised by this story. My initial worry was that Abby would turn out painfully one-dimensional, obsessed with her sister and her own perception of inadequacy. But to Scott's credit, she paints a pretty sympathetic picture of a "golden girl," who has everyone wrapped around her finger. Tess, in the snippets we see from Abby's memory, is not a likable person--she's horribly mean and condescending to her younger sister. She's filled with rage while at home with Abby and their parents, but turns on the charm when others are around, causing a warped and false image of Tess' true personality.

Abby does more than live in her sister's shadow--she's swallowed by it. The chip on her shoulder has been earned; she's had painful reminders her entire life that she's not Tess, and never will be. She's been looked-over and picked second one too many times. When she meets Eli, she's so brainwashed into thinking he'll automatically want Tess, she sabotages her own chances at happiness without realizing it. I have to give props to Scott--she really kept the theme consistent, and Abby never wavered in her mentality. Her character was defined and steady, and as much as I wanted to shake her, I felt like she was a real person. As was Eli, a physically beautiful boy with flaws of his own.

Recommendation: The writing was really simplistic and wonderful here. When I closed the back cover, my first thought was of how well-written the entire story had been. Not once did I think Abby was too whiny, or Eli's perfection too improbable. And I never expected Tess' secret to be what it was. It took me off-guard and forced me to revisit the beginning half of the story with new eyes. And that's always a good thing. Unpredictable with growth. All in all, a pretty solid and worthwhile read.

Rating: 4/5

250 pages, published by Simon Pulse (May 24, 2011)

Quote of the Day

"It's like Brad Pitt for us. You might not like blond men with pretty features, but c'mon, it's Brad. You're not going to kick him out of bed for eating crackers."

Something Borrowed

Bumped

Written by Megan McCafferty

Goodreads Synopsis: When a virus makes everyone over the age of 18 infertile, would-be parents pay teen girls to conceive and give birth to their children, making teens the most prized members of society. Girls sport fake baby bumps and the school cafeteria stocks folic-acid-infused food. 
Sixteen-year-old identical twins Melody and Harmony were separated at birth and have never met until the day Harmony shows up on Melody's doorstep. Up to now, the twins have followed completely opposite paths. Melody has scored an enviable conception contract with a couple called the Jaydens. While they are searching for the perfect partner for Melody to bump with, she is fighting her attraction to her best friend, Zen, who is way too short for the job. Harmony has spent her whole life in Goodside, a religious community, preparing to be a wife and mother. She believes her calling is to convince Melody that pregging for profit is a sin. But Harmony has secrets of her own that she's running from.
When Melody is finally matched with the world-famous, genetically flawless Jondoe, both girls' lives are changed forever. A case of mistaken identity takes them on a journey neither could have ever imagined, and that makes Melody and Harmony realize they have so much more than just DNA in common.

My Confession: I'm going to make this short and sweet: no. Just no. And I'm so disappointed. I'm still struggling to comprehend that the woman who wrote the Jessica Darling series, a 5-book phenom that pretty much taught my angsty adolescent self everything I needed to know about life, could also write this thing. And I know I sound awful and harsh, but this story was just terribly flat. I should have known when I opened the first page and discovered the twins were named Melody and Harmony. Now, this could have been ironic and sarcastic, but it just wasn't. The story reeked of corny, and I just didn't buy that this kind of society would exist in 25 years. There was something weird and wrong in imaging teen girls getting paid to have sex and then give away their babies. Melody is wishy-washy at best; even by the end of the book, I had no idea who she was or what she really wanted. Her relationship with Zen had a lot of potential, but that too was under-utilized. His height (5'7'' which, if I'm not mistaken, doesn't make for an obscenely short man) seemed to be the only thing I knew about his character. And when [SPOILER ALERT!] he and Melody kiss at the end, I wasn't buying it. Neither of them seemed remotely attracted to the other. There's no Romeo and Juliet thing going on here, no deep attraction that's forbidden because of Melody's contract. She never even seems to contemplate what "bumping" with Zen would be like. That whole plot line just never appeared. Zen's presence ended up feeling convenient, a hook to get me to read the story. Not cool.

And Harmony? Far from some Bible-thumping freak. She too had zero personality, and her big "secret?" My Lord, it was lame. Flat, flat, flat. The twin sisters are portrayed as not being able to stand one another, and for the duration of the entire book, they're actually in the same room together once or twice. We hear both their voices, but we never actually watch them interact and grow together. By the end, I didn't see what they shared besides DNA. As far as I'm concerned, that is all they shared. And the big identity-mix-up plot twist? So predictable, I should have bet my life savings on it. I hate knowing where a book is headed before it begins, and I hate even more when that predictable plot does absolutely nothing for the story. I already knew what was going to happen. And I kept thinking how many different avenues this story could have gone down and actually portrayed a creepy-yet-possible future. But it never did.

Recommendation: If you haven't, don't. Megan McCafferty's pride and joy rests in the Jessica Darling series. Read those, I beg of you. I may have to just to wash the sour taste of this novel from my mouth.

Rating: 1/5

323 pages, published by Balzer + Bray (April 26, 2011)

Quote of the Day

"Love is one kind of abstraction. And then there are those nights when I sleep alone, when I curl into a pillow that isn't you, when I hear the tiptoe sounds that aren't yours. It's not as if I can conjure you there completely. I must embrace the idea of you instead."

The Lover's Dictionary

The Lover's Dictionary

Written by David Levithan

Goodreads Synopsis: How does one talk about love? Do we even have the right words to describe something that can be both utterly mundane and completely transcendent, pulling us out of our everyday lives and making us feel a part of something greater than ourselves? Taking a unique approach to this problem, the nameless narrator has constructed the story of his relationship as a dictionary. Through these short entries, he provides an intimate window into the great events and quotidian trifles of being within a couple, giving us an indelible and deeply moving portrait of love in our time.

My Confession: This little book packs a big punch. It accomplishes in 211 short, small pages what most hefty novels dream of capturing: the reality of a true, nitty-gritty human relationship. Want the truth? It's ugly. Relationships aren't made of rainbows, butterflies, and cotton candy. Sometimes they're slow, boring, stagnant. Levithan's narrator, whose name we never know, discovers the hard way that faithfulness in a relationship isn't a given. His girlfriend cheats on him, and throughout the novel, he grapples with this truth and how he's going to deal with it. Interspersed as he goes over and over her confession in his head, we get glimpses into this relationship. Forget chronology, forget order--we're thrown into important (and sometimes the most un-important) moments in their lives, all classified under specific words found in a dictionary.

Sometimes the entries are longer, taking up a few pages and involving back-and-forth dialogue. Others are shorter, less involved. And somehow it's those that pack the biggest emotional power. Like the entry under the word indelible:

indelible, adj.
That first night, you took your finger and pointed to the top of my head, then traced a line between my eyes, down my nose, over my lips, my chin, my neck, to the center of my chest. It was so surprising, I knew I would never mimic it. That one gesture would be yours forever.

Recommendation: Levithan does a really fantastic job of letting the little things speak for themselves. This story is heavy without becoming overwhelming. It's relatable in its simplicity and normalcy, but the undertones of passion, fear, lust, confusion and pain shine through under almost every entry. I became the narrator myself, his thoughts and emotions clouding my own as I read this. It's a short, quick read that really makes you wonder about your own definition of the word love, a word even this narrator cannot define.

Rating: 4/5

211 pages, published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux (Jan. 4, 2011)

Quote of the Day

Then she lost the battle and started to cry. All my annoyance melted. "You dumbass," I crooned, kissing her on the forehead. "You don't share me. You own me."

Where She Went

Matched

Written by Ally Condie

Goodreads Synopsis: Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate...until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.
The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to live with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

My Confession: This book was creepy cool. I was drawn in by the cover, which is both beautiful and eerie. I wasn't entirely sure what this story was about, despite the synopsis. And for a good majority of the book, you're left a little clueless about all the rules of this new-age society. There's no long-winded explanations (which is nice), and we as readers are tossed into this dystopian world and expected to fend for ourselves, not unlike the displaced citizens of said society. As a reader, I hate being hand-held through a book that breaks the rules and creates new ones; that being said, it took me a little too long to grasp the concepts that Condie was trying to make me accept as fact. Now, don't get me wrong, once you get past the beginning and actually learn what this society expects of and does to its citizens, the read can't get fascinating enough. It's positively oppressing. Think Big Brother times a million. It's brutal. And I absolutely loved it.

I loved the overarching plot that followed Cassia as she tries to figure out her feelings for her Match and lifelong best friend Xander while grappling with the mysterious and forbidden passion she feels for Ky, the boy who might have been her Match had it not been for a glitch in the system. There is no clear winner in this love triangle, and as the story progresses and the feelings grow, I started getting anxious knowing that there could be no happy ending here. Not in this society, not with those rules. There was a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach realizing that no matter what, Cassia couldn't be with who she really wanted. The lack of free will and free choice, especially when it comes to who you're allowed to love, is beyond painful. The cliffhanger of an ending, where Cassia makes a decision between Xander and Ky, is both heartbreaking and exhilarating. The next book promises plenty of action and danger as Cassia flees the Society in search of her love, who has been sent away to his death.

Recommendation: The writing here is pretty fantastic, and I was on the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading this. I could not put it down. The slow burn of desire that flickers between Ky and Cassia is just so good. And Xander? So adorable. It's hard to root against any one person in this book, probably because their environment is so absurd. Do I believe that this Society is an accurate (or at least believable) imagining of what our own society could become in the next century? I don't think so. But, just for those three-hundred-plus pages, I didn't have to believe it--I was there too.

Rating: 4.6/5

366 pages, published by Dutton (Nov. 30, 2010)

Quote of the Day

"One thing I can tell you for sure is this: we only regret what we don't do in life."

Firefly Lane

Something Blue

Written by Emily Giffin

Goodreads Synopsis: Darcy Rhone has always been able to rely on a few things: her beauty and charm. Her fiance, Dex. Her lifelong best friend, Rachel. She never needed anything else. Or so she thinks until Dex calls off their dream wedding and she uncovers the ultimate betrayal. Blaming everyone but herself, Darcy flees to London and attempts to re-create her glamorous life on a new continent. But to her dismay, she discovers that her tried-and-true tricks no longer apply--and that her luck has finally expired. It is only then that she can begin her journey toward redemption, forgiveness, and true love.

My Confession: I've said many times over that Something Borrowed  is one of my favorite books of all time. (I even have the movie on DVD now and watch it a little too often.) Because I stood so firmly behind Rachel and Dex, despite their indiscretion, I avoided reading this sequel. Frankly, I really disliked Darcy and didn't care what happened to her after the final page of Borrowed. I assumed (and was correct in doing so) that Rachel and Dex wouldn't make much of an appearance in this book, and I didn't think there was a way that Giffin could make Darcy a likable character.

I'm happy to say that I was wrong.

When I finally caved and picked this book up, and I was pleased to find the last few events of the prequel (mainly, Darcy discovering the affair between Dex and Rachel as well as how her own affair with Marcus began) told from Darcy's perspective. It made any doubts I'd had about Rachel exaggerating her best friend's personality a moot point. Darcy was, clearly and simply, a bitch. And Giffin pulls no punches making that known. Darcy is selfish, lazy, self-absorbed,, and childish. She really doesn't see her relationship with Rachel--or Dex, or Marcus!--clearly. She wants to be the center of attention at all times, no matter who she's with or what they want. It's why, ultimately, her relationship with Marcus fails and she moves to London. She lives with good-natured FOR (friend of Rachel) Ethan, who takes Darcy in despite a barely-concealed disdain.

I really enjoyed the development of their relationship and how Ethan's goodness seems to rub off on Darcy. Alone and pregnant in a foreign country, she comes as close to rock bottom as she ever has in her charmed life. And that's when she turns something of a corner. I don't know when exactly it happened, but I went from suffering through Darcy's innermost thoughts and skewed perspective to genuinely being interested in what was happening in this story. It was a subtle shift, but I can appreciate the way it happened. We're not hit over the head with some huge, momentous "change" in Darcy's behavior or attitude. The change comes through the reader, who realizes with a slow wonder that they do in fact care about what happens to Darcy. Just as our opinion about a particular person can change, so can a person.

Recommendation: I really wish there had been more Rachel/Dex action--I still found myself very interested in how their relationship progressed and evolved (even though, at the end, we do find out what has happened with them). I'm still on Team Rachel, but I don't hate Darcy anymore. The adage of "people can change" borderlines on cliche, but I really respect how Giffin managed to craft this novel without turning Darcy into a fake or unbelievable character. There was something innately genuine about Something Blue. That's why it's worth reading.

Rating: 4.5/5

338 pages, published by St. Martin's Griffin (June 1, 2005)

Quote of the Day

"Accepting all the good and  bad about someone. It's a great thing to aspire to. The hard part is actually doing it."

What Happened to Goodbye

Sucktember

Hey Book Nookers! Sorry for the month-long hiatus. Things got crazy, nasty busy. I got a job (not the one I worked 4 years in college and a summer in NY for), but one that involves selling lotions and body sprays in the local mall as I await the big break that will either transform me into the next J.K. Rowling or land me in a fancy New York office discovering the next J.K. Rowling.

Eh, well. Someday.

But things have slowed down a bit, and I'll be able to read more again. Expect reviews soon!

Quote of the Day

"Sometimes I feel like if you just watch things, just sit still and let the world exist in front of you--sometimes I swear that just for a second, time freezes and the world pauses in its tilt. Just for a second. And if you somehow found a way to live in that second, then you would live forever."

Delirium

Abandon

Written by Meg Cabot

Goodreads Synopsis: Though she tries returning to the life she knew before the accident, Pierce can't help but feel at once a part of this world, and apart from it. Yet, she's never alone...because someone is always watching her. Escape from the realm of the dead is impossible when someone there wants you back.
But now she's moved to a new town. Maybe at her new school, she can start fresh. Maybe she can stop feeling so afraid. 
Only she can't. Because even here, he finds her. That's how desperately he wants her back. She knows he's no guardian angel, and his dark world isn't exactly heaven, yet she can't stay away...especially since he always appears when she least expects it, but exactly when she needs him most.
But if she let. s herself fall any further, she may just find herself back in the one place she most fears: the Underworld.


My Confession: Once again, if Meg Cabot writes it, I'll pick it up. Especially her YA novels (which I really think are where she shines). I love the concept of this trilogy--modernizing the Greek tale of Persephone and Hades, lord of the Underworld. As the myth goes, Hades fell in love with Persephone, and after tricking her into eating six pomegranate seeds, forced her to live with him in his Underworld kingdom six months out of the year. (This was how the Greeks explained the change in seasons.) I find Greek mythology utterly fascinating, so any take on a tale like this is worth investigating. In Cabot's version, seventeen-year-old Pierce has a NDE (near-death experience) after falling into her backyard pool. While the medics desperately try to restart her heart, she's taken to the underground kingdom of the mysterious John Hayden, who tries to keep her there. However, she escapes, the medics having successfully revived her. Pierce spends the rest of the book both simultaneously avoiding and goading John, not really deciding whether she loves or hates her once-captor.

Pierce's Pomegranate: The thing is, Pierce isn't as strong a character as I would have wanted. She seems utterly wishy-washy when it comes to her relationship with John, and I kept getting the feeling that there was something more there that we weren't being told as readers. By all means, she should fear and loathe the guy; he seems to stalk her, and he once held her captive. But instead, she's drawn to him, and we're not really sure why. At school, she doesn't seem interested in making friends, but quickly falls in step with a group of popular kids who are so transparent and superficial, it's hard to like Pierce for keeping their company. A lot of questions are raised about Pierce's past, which we know is shady, but the answers are drawn out for far too long, and they're not quite as satisfying as you would expect. As a writer, I totally understand the art of keeping the reader hanging on a certain plot point, but there were too many balls in the air at one time, and I just got a little lost. A new villain is introduced at the end, and it seems to come out of left field--how long was this person a villain? There was just a lot going on here, and even though the pace was good and kept me turning each page, occasionally the information withheld ended up dragging the story down.

Recommendation: I'm happy that this is just the first book in a trilogy. Because I think the next book has the potential to be much better. Judging from how this one left off, there will be more action and more peril in the sequel. Not unlike some of Cabot's past series, this first book gets weighed down under a lot of plot and backstory set-up. I didn't feel like a lot actually happened. It feels like a really long prologue to a story that just began during the last chapter. Yes, John's kind of sexy and mysterious. Yes, he and Pierce are probably "made for each other." But I want to see more than some kind of star-crossed romance. I want action, I want danger, I want to see some obstacles. I want Cabot to get right to the meat of this story in her next book.

Rating: 3/5

304 pages, published by Point (April 26, 2011)

Quote of the Day

"And it's time you learned there's a big difference between your writing and your life. To do it right, your writing takes an incredible amount of work. Your life takes more."

Love Story

One Day Movie Review

When I reviewed One Day this past June, I was on the edge of my seat with anticipation over the film adaptation. I fell in love with the story, fell in love with Emma and Dex. It's a spell-binding, magical tale of love and friendship that slaps you in the head with its blinding ending. The pace is magnificent, and the attention to detail really makes you feel like you're experiencing all these things with Emma and Dex.

I was so pleased with the film, for a few reasons. First, David Nicholls (the author) also wrote the script, which pretty much guaranteed that the movie would honor the book, which it did. And the few places it wavered--I liked them even more. They made sense, cinematically. Not all scenes in a book translate well to the screen; sometimes the drama needs to be heightened, the senses assaulted in a different way. And this adaptation did a fantastic job staying true to the novel while taking liberties that made the film version even more engaging.

Jim Sturgess is amazing. I can't say enough good things about how wonderfully he portrayed Dexter. He was absolutely perfect in this role. Dex was the character who moved me the most in the book, perhaps because he's the character who goes through the most change. And, in the end, he's the character who has to live through numerous personal tragedies. I love Anne Hathaway, and in many ways, I think she embodied Emma very well. But her British accent is just awful. A few times, it even sounded like she slipped into an Irish or Scottish brogue. She had the face and personality for this character, but her voice was painfully distracting. But the two of them together? Pretty perfect. They played off each other so well, and the chemistry was definitely there. And since the whole story is about this deep-rooted and undeniable connection between two characters--despite how long it takes them to realize and then accept it--finding actors who could really become these two people was so important and necessary for the film's success.

In the end, the love is center-stage, as it should be. And, happily, the film producers didn't pull a My Sister's Keeper  and completely change the ending. It's a rough ending; I've said that a few times. But I love the way the film does it, and I especially loved the final scene. It sounds corny to say it was beautiful, but it was. I was moved. It was something extremely special to watch on screen, especially after reading the book. They did a wonderful, lovely, careful job with an ending that is, at the very least, extremely emotional. But it's poetic. And stunning. It's not a Disney tale of a prince or princess, but it has that true-love-never-dies quality to it. The message that real, genuine love is beyond the grasp of everything in the world. It's a story of hope. And, despite everything you watch over the course of the almost two-hour film, you'll leave the theater with a smile on your face and a slightly damp tissue in your pocket.

Photos courtesy of Google Images, and video courtesy of YouTube

Quote of the Day

"It has to be something about contrasts. Something about the perilous art of uniting extremes and forcing compromises, or perhaps about acknowledging that life is a delicate balance of great forces, and that good would lose its potency if there was no evil left to fight in the world."

Juliet

Juliet

Written by Anne Fortier

Goodreads Synopsis: When Julie Jacobs inherits a key to a safety-deposit box in Siena, Italy, she is told that it will lead her to an old family treasure. Soon she is launched on a winding and perilous journey into the history of her ancestor Giulietta, whose legendary love for a young man named Romeo rocked the foundation of medieval Siena. As Julie crosses paths with the descendants of the families immortalized in Shakespeare's unforgettable blood feud, she begins to realize that the notorious curse--"A plague on both your houses!"--is still at work, and she is the next target. It seems that the only one who can save Julie from her fate is Romeo--but Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?


My Confession: I'll admit right off the bat that I'm not Shakespeare's biggest fan. Forced to take a course in his writings my senior year in college, a common refrain that often exited my mouth went a little something like this:

Shakespeare is so overrated.

I mean, who knows if he actually wrote all the plays he's famous for? And Romeo and Juliet ? Don't even get me started. Once I had the image of Leo DiCaprio in my head as the tragic hero, I was done. I hate unhappy endings. Really, really hate them. But I'm a big fan of books that are puzzles, not unlike The DaVinci Code (which one of the critics on the back of this book actually likens Juliet  to). This story screamed mystery and intrigue, and I like when modern-day authors revisit classic stories. I was willing to give this a shot.

Standing Corrected: And, I must admit, I'm so glad I did. This book was so good. I don't know how else to describe it. The twists and turns, the depth of the plot and the characters--this has to be one of the most well-thought-out books I've read in a long time. Not only does Fortier imagine a present-day reincarnation of Romeo and Juliet, but she totally restructures their original romance as well. While paying Shakespeare some heed, she goes her own way with the two lovers' history, telling it from a new perspective and setting everything in the very first place Romeo and Juliet was ever written to have occurred--Siena, not Verona. Her new adaptation is positively mesmerizing, and not just because she hints at it; half the story takes place in the year 1340, telling this new story of Romeo and Juliet (called Giulietta) as if we're right there, in the moment. Then--poof!--back to present-day and a struggling Julie who tries to uncover a dark family secret that seems to still be plaguing the houses of three (not two!) feuding families.

Recommendation: I'm not going to go as far as saying that this story completely changed my mind about Shakespeare. I still don't love the man, but I have a new found appreciation for the longevity of his stories. These characters are absolutely timeless--they've transcended generations and centuries of other romances, and yet, Romeo and Juliet are still iconic. Theirs is still the most famous love story of all time. And it doesn't even end well. I got wrapped up in the magic of this tale once again, thanks to Fortier and her impressive imagination. And, just in case you're wondering whether present-day Julie meets the same fate as her ancestor Giulietta--I'm not going to tell you. Read it and find out. I promise you'll find a perfectly dreamy, thirty-something Romeo who proves a bit wiser than his ancestor.

Oh, and the seven-hundred-plus years of violence, mystery, murder, and secrecy adds a little something extra, too.

Rating: 4.8/5

480 pages, published by Ballantine Books (Aug. 24, 2010)

Quote of the Day

"Your lot in life? A lot is something you draw, like straws. It's chance. You didn't get this life by chance. You chose it on purpose. If you're dissatisfied with it, you can change it."

Going Too Far

The Hunger Games

Written by Suzanne Collins

Goodreads Synopsis: In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.
Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before--and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

My Confession: It took me a really long time to jump on the Hunger Games bandwagon. If I had a nickel for every time someone asked me, "Have you read The Hunger Games yet?" -- well, let's just say I'd be a very rich woman. Each time, my response was no. No, I hadn't read them. No, I didn't know what they were about. Some bookaholic. Slowly but surely, I started noticing that the series was becoming a phenomenon, with movie hype garnering extraordinary momentum every time I turned around. Everybody--and I mean everybody--has been talking about this series. I guess I was just flat-out curious. And mildly ashamed that, with my self-proclaimed bookworm status, I hadn't picked this book up before.

And....it blew me away. It absolutely blew. my. mind.

Character Power: I've never read anything quite like this. It twisted me inside out and wrung me out to dry. My immediate and intense attachment to the characters, especially Katniss, Gale, and Peeta, goes to show how powerful the story is. While the novel's overarching situation--life in a post-apocalyptic world controlled by a Big Brother-esque government that takes pleasure in killing twenty-three children a year in a nationally-televised bloodbath--it's how the main characters react  to these absurd circumstances that makes the novel so compelling. The scenes in the "arena" are so blood-curling, so unfathomable, and so incredibly written. I had a serious problem putting this book down for more than two seconds at a time. I felt like I was there, experiencing everything with Katniss--every fear-filled, survival-driven decision. She's an amazing narrator, full of strength and will. She's a rockstar in a world that's taken away every chance to feel joy.

Recommendation: READ IT. DO IT. NOW. And I mean, finish this blog and go to the bookstore. I had no idea what I was missing, but let me tell you--I was missing out. It's impressive how much this book makes you feel. There were so many times where I couldn't believe what I was reading; the story, at times, gets so painful, so absurd, so unbelievable, but it never stops feeling real. You will get sucked in. And if you're a reader, you know what a brilliant sensation that is.

Rating: 5/5

374 pages, published by Scholastic Inc (Dec. 14, 2009)

Quote of the Day

"Each of us must confront our own fears, must come face to face with them. How we handle our fears will determine where we go with the rest of our lives. To experience adventure or to be limited by the fear of it."

Tiger Eyes

Celeb Status.

I FEEL LIKE A TWITTER CELEB! A few minutes after posting my review on Forever, something popped up on my Twitter newsfeed:

[Ensue minor freak-out and admission that perhaps I was a little harsh with my disappointment. But maybe I'm not perceptive enough! Must redeem myself.]

...which I fully intend on doing. I really do love this series, and it has been a while since I read the other two books. I see a marathon Shiver-Linger-Forever weekend in my future. 

OMGOSH. SO EXCITED. I'm a big fan of Maggie's, so this was officially THECOOLESTTHINGEVER. And you know what? She's probably right. The clues are in the series. So, Book Nookers, go do some sleuthing! It's worth it.

Follow Maggie on Twitter here! (And me here!)

Quote of the Day

"You're beautiful and sad," I said finally, not looking at him when I did. "Just like your eyes. You're like a song that I heard when I was a little kid but forgot I knew until I heard it again." For a long moment, there was only the whirring sound of the tires on the road, and then Sam said softly, "Thank you."

Shiver

Forever

Written by Maggie Stiefvater

Synopsis:
then.
When Grace met Sam, he was a wolf and she was a girl. Eventually he found a way to become a boy, and their love moved from a curious distance to the intense closeness of shared lives.
now.
That should have been the end of their story. But Grace was not meant to stay human. Now she is the wolf. And the wolves of Mercy Falls are about to be killed in one final, spectacular hunt.
forever.
Sam would do anything for Grace. But can one boy and one love really change a hostile, predatory world? The past, the present, and the future are about to collide in one pure moment -- a moment of death or life, farewell or forever.


My Confession: The first book in this series, Shiver, is one of my favorite YA books. The characters are so engaging, the mystical aspect so refreshing. Linger  introduced a new character, Cole, and developed a tenuous relationship between him and the other characters, namely Sam, Grace, and Isabel. And at the end of the second book, the careful peace established among the characters shattered when Grace turned into a wolf. This sends Cole into a crazed frenzy as he tries to discover a cure that will last. With Linger  ending with such a bang, I knew a lot had to be resolved in Forever. Would Grace be cured for good? Was Sam really cured? What was going to happen to their relationship? Would Isabel's father succeed in his mission to annihilate the wolves?

Well, we can answer one of those: [SPOILER ALERT!] The plot really revolved around the massive wolf hunt instigated by Tom Culpepper, Isabel's dad. It's a problem from the moment the book opens, and remains the driving force and only real sense of urgency throughout the story. Everything revolves around when this wolf hunt is supposed to take place, and I found myself becoming bored. I wanted more information about a cure (which, in the end, still isn't resolved). I wanted to see Isabel and Cole's relationship evolve more--all I ended up feeling with them was that no matter how attracted to each other they were, their "love" still couldn't hold a flame to what Sam and Grace shared. But I kept getting the feeling that Cole and Isabel were being underestimated because they were merely second-string players to a bigger love story. I think they had something special as well, and perhaps it was so magical because it was so subtle.

I love the relationship between Sam and Grace. It's unconditional without becoming annoying or creepy. At one point, they're both wolves together -- something they've both dreamed of -- and Cole realizes that they have the same connection as animals that they have as humans; it translates. I was so invested in them and their story. Which is why I was so upset that their story was left as open-ended as it was, with Grace still a wolf, Sam still a boy, and the cure still unknown. Even though a massive crisis was averted with the wolves, we were still left in the same problem Linger  left behind. Meningitis may or may not be the cure. Grace and Sam are still beholden to the weather. What happens when Grace's summers are numbered? I didn't like how there was no resolve. It's the last book in the series; there isn't another opportunity to wrap these frayed ends up. And I needed more closure than what Forever  left me with.

Recommendation: Stiefvater is a fantastic writer, and I've loved this series. If you've read the first two books, you have to read this. It's a good book--written well, great dialogue, great romance. I really enjoy how the story is told from four different perspectives (five, if you count Shelby's voice in the prologue) and how those narrations give the story extreme depth. This story is so great, which is perhaps why it can illicit such a strong emotion of disappointment from me. I understand that not all stories get their "happy ever after," but I would have liked to know if it was even within reach. There's open-ended, and then there's just open. Too open.

Rating: 3/5

386 pages, published by Scholastic Inc (July 12, 2011)

Quote of the Day

"I hope that one day you will have the experience of doing something you do not understand for someone you love."

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Yours to Keep

Written by Shannon Stacey

Goodreads Synopsis: Sean Kowalski no sooner leaves the army than he's recruited by Emma Shaw to be her fake fiance. Emma needs to produce a husband-to-be for her grandmother's upcoming visit, and, though Sean doesn't like the deception, he could use the landscaping job Emma's offering while he decides what to do with his civilian life. And, despite his attraction to Emma, there's no chance he'll fall for a woman with deep roots in a town he's not planning to call home.
Emma's not interested in a real relationship either; not with a man whose idea of home is wherever he drops his duffel bag. No matter how amazing his "pretend" kisses are...

My Confession: Are you ready? This was my first ebook purchase. Yup, you read that correctly. I bought this book on my Nook. And as far as I can tell, this book only exists in an electronic format. Now, I've never been quiet about my disdain for the ebook technology; I'm hopelessly old-fashioned when it comes to books. I love holding them in my hands -- I love lining them up on my bookshelves. But, in the spirit of my then-upcoming publishing program, my parents bought me a Nook as a graduation present. And I couldn't just let it sit there collecting dust, right? It's not exactly a cheap piece of equipment. Yours to Keep was a perfect purchase; I'm going to be honest -- it's not a cover I'd want to be caught with on the subway. But the plot seemed cutesy and light enough for a rainy-day read.

Hardly Harlequin: And while this was, most definitely, a slightly watered-down romance novel, I have to admit that I really enjoyed it. While the plot really did revolve around sexual tension and will-they-or-won't-they questions, there were some genuinely funny and sweet moments. Like when Sean leaves Post-It notes for Emma on their bathroom mirror. Or when they're both up to their elbows in mulch while working at Emma's landscaping business. There was a lot of build up and character development throughout, and while I could tell where it was all going to end up, I was so satisfied when it finally got there. I was pretty invested in the characters and their relationship. And every time I started to get bored with the romantic song-and-dance, something new was introduced to keep the story from getting stagnant. Not bad for a fluffy read.

Recommendation: If you have an eReader, go for it. This book is relatively cheap (under $5), and it's worth the Abe Lincoln if you're looking for something mindless, sweet, and with a happy (and sappy) ending. If you don't have an eReader, you won't hear me advocating you to go out and buy one. While I've warmed up a little to my Nook, I can't imagine that technology ever becoming the primary way I read books. I'm too tactile a person, and swiping my finger across a screen doesn't come close to simulating turning a real page, not matter what the commercials promise. But this was a worthwhile ebook purchase. Have at it!

Rating: 3.5/5

published by Carina Press (June 6, 2011)

Quote of the Day

"When I was five, I learned to read. Books were a miracle to me - white pages, black ink, and new worlds and different friends in each one. To this day, I relish the feeling of cracking a binding for the first time, the anticipation of where I'll go and whom I'll meet inside."

Good in Bed

Meeting Jennifer Weiner

Bet you thought my authorial escapades ended with Meg Cabot, huh?

No no no no no.

While in New York, I fully intended to capitalize on every opportunity I had to meet famous people (did I mention I saw Captain America on the street? WOW). When I heard Jennifer Weiner was going to be at Barnes & Noble, I just had to go. She's one of my favorite authors. You probably know her best as the author of her breakout hit novel, Good in Bed, or as the writer behind the Cameron Diaz movie In Her Shoes. What I love best about Jennifer is that she pulls no punches -- her heroines are always smart, sassy, and sophisticated, and they're never ever  a size 2. I couldn't help but thank her for writing about women who look like myself, women I can relate to, who know how to laugh at themselves and still get the guy (sometimes--always by their own choice) in the end, regardless of whether society believes them conventionally "pretty" or not. She turns the romantic comedy on its head and isn't afraid to explore the true complexities that exist in real human relationships.

Jennifer herself is everything she writes about. She's extremely personable, funny, and laid-back. She has a big, contagious smile, and her dry wit (which is best showcased on her Twitter, especially when she live-tweets The Bachelor  and Bachelorette) makes her feel more like your best friend than a New York Times-Bestselling author. A Philly girl at heart (like me!), she told of her escapades in LA, where she co-produced the new ABC Family series State of Georgia. She's such an incredible success story, and one of my inspirations as a writer. Her voice is so identifiable -- and that's such an important thing for a writer. I can only hope that she too, one day, will read what I write.

Okay, so maybe I didn't embarass myself with extreme word-vomit the way I did with Meg Cabot. But I was every bit as starstruck. And as I gushed, Jennifer looked up at me with an expression that read, Oh you poor thing. Why are you making such a fuss?

Which is why she's awesome.

Her new book, Then Came You, is available now! Go get it, and then check back here soon for my review!

Quote of the Day

"Some things don't last forever, but some things do. Like a good song, or a good book, or a good memory you can take out and unfold in your darkest times, pressing down the corners and peering in close, hoping you still recognize the person you see there."

This Lullaby

Impossible

Written by Nancy Werlin

Goodreads Synopsis: Lucy has nine months to break an ancient curse in order to save both herself and her unborn daughter.
Lucy is seventeen when she discovers that the women of her family have been cursed through the generations, forced to attempt three seemingly impossible tasks or fall into madness upon their child's birth. But Lucy is the first girl who won't be alone as she tackles the list. She has her fiercely protective foster parents and her childhood friend Zach beside her. Do they have enough love and strength to overcome an age-old evil?

My Confession: This is another example of a book I picked up because the cover intrigued me. But the plot synopsis intrigued me even more--an entire novel based around a song? An old Simon and Garfunkel song, no less. Scarborough Fair's lyrics, when listened to closely, actually do tell the tale of three seemingly impossible tasks--tasks that don't seem feasible for a human to complete. Using this song as the cornerstone of this story was an extremely original and fascinating idea, one that ends up working really well. Listen to the song below and read over the lyrics--the "tasks" are italicized.

Lyrics:
Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary & thyme
Remember me to one who lives there
She once was a true love of mine
Tell her to make me a cambric shirt
(On the side of a hill in the deep forest green)
Parsely, sage, rosemary & thyme
(Tracing a sparrow on snow-crested ground)
Without no seams nor needlework
(Blankets and bedclothes a child of the mountains)
Then she'll be a true love of mine
(Sleeps unaware of the clarion call)
Tell her to find me an acre of land
(On the side of a hill, a sprinkling of leaves)
Parsely, sage, rosemary, & thyme
(Washed is the ground with so many tears)
Between the salt water and the sea strand
(A soldier cleans and polishes a gun)
Then she'll be a true love of mine
Tell her to reap it in a sickle of leather
(War bellows, blazing in scarlet battalions)
Parsely, sage, rosemary & thyme
(Generals order their soldiers to kill)
And to gather it all in a bunch of heather
(And to fight for a cause they've long ago forgotten)
Then she'll be a true love of mine
Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary & thyme
Remember me to one who lives there
She once was a true love of mine


Recommendation: This, very quickly, became one of my favorite books. It's just so interesting. And suspenseful. There's the realm of reality, where Lucy and Zach are normal teenagers stumbling through their growing feelings for each other, and then there's the fantastical element, where Lucy is raped by a demon who is hell-bent on cursing every woman in her family. Once pregnant, Lucy has nine months to solve the "riddle" in the Scarborough Fair song, or else risk falling into madness like her mother and grandmother before her. There's a real quick pacing to the story, and the way these tasks unravel, and the way Lucy attempts to solve them, is truly imaginative and remarkable. Regardless of the mystical elements, everything feels very real. You can't help but root for Lucy while also worrying that perhaps those tasks really are impossible. But the lesson Werlin weaves throughout about love, and strength in numbers, makes this a must-read.


Rating: 4/5


384 pages, published by Penguin (Sept. 18, 2008)

Quote of the Day

"Maybe who we are isn't so much about what we do, but rather what we're capable of when we least expect it."

My Sister's Keeper

Wither

Written by Lauren DeStefano

Goodreads Synopsis: What if you knew exactly when you would die? 
Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb--males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.
When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape--to find her twin brother and go home.
But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding and anecdote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limited time she has left.

My Confession: I loved this story for perhaps one main reason: its humanity. Dystopian stories oftentimes focus so strongly on the elements of darkness mixed with fantasy that they forget to mold characters that are still human. Just because people live in a post-apocalyptic world doesn't mean they're robots; in fact, it should be strictly the opposite. What's so chilling and eerie about Wither is that because the characters are crafted so well (they could be my own friends, from their personalities to their actions), you feel that this predicted world could be our future. It was downright bizarre to read about the twenty-first century as the "past world," and even though we're never told exactly when this story takes place, the technological and chemical advances that our society makes today creates a scarily possible prediction. It's the scientific obsession with curing all human ailments and the obsessive quest for perfection that manifests a genetic disorder, cursing the "perfect" first generation with terminally damaged children. Hunger Games meets 1984. And it's a startlingly awesome combination.

Sister Wives: No, not the TLC show. The element of forced polygamous marriages proved an interesting and pivotal plot point. I just loved how well-formed these characters were. Rhine's sister wives are anything but predictable, and the bond the three form as the story goes on defies the easy plot twist of love triangles and unrelenting jealousy. The husband, Linden, is extremely multi-faceted, and I enjoyed reading how his character developed. The way this story pulled away his layers leaves the reader with a character we want to hate, but somehow can't. The supporting cast, from Rhine's "makeup team" to the charming servant Gabriel, mirror the human predicament of complacency. No matter where you go, no matter who you meet, there will always be people who will never see a situation for as bad as it truly is. On the flip side, there will also always be people who refuse to give up fighting for something better. And I just love how this book puts both ideals into action and allows the true humanity of life (no matter the century) to shine through.

Recommendation: Wither is the first in a trilogy, but if I didn't already know it was a part of a series, the ending wouldn't have clued me in. I'm glad that the author didn't end this book on a supermassive cliffhanger just for the sake of doing so. Most writers, when they're setting up for a series, purposely end a book prematurely or at a really pivotal moment to ensure that readers will come back for the second book. Wither doesn't feel the need to do that. Yes, there's more to the story. Yes, most of my questions were answered, and yes, I'd be pretty satisfied if it all ended on that last page. But DeStefano left plenty of wiggle room in this story. She mastered the art of solving some problems while creating others. And that leaves the door open just enough. Series or no series, this stands on its own merit while trusting that Rhine's narrative is more than enough to bring readers back. And it is.

Rating: 4.5/5

358 pages, published by Simon & Schuster (March 22, 2011)

Quote of the Day

"Needless to say, the fact that he actually spoke to me at all practically caused me to pass out. And then the fact that he was actually saying something that sounded like it might be a prelude to asking me out--well, I nearly threw up. I mean it. I felt really sick, but in a good way." 

The Princess Diaries

Meeting Meg Cabot

Lauren, me (in the middle), and Hannah with Meg Cabot !

Can you say BEST DAY EVER? I've been a fan of Meg Cabot since I was, like, 10. No joke. I grew up on The Princess Diaries and then proceeded to spend the entirety of my adolescence reading every book she's ever written. I swear, they kept me sane. They also turned me into a writer. I credit Meg with helping me become the writer I am today. Ever since reading her books, I've been inspired to write my own. Her style helped me hone my own. It was truly beyond an honor to meet her. Our conversation went something like this:

Me (fumbling with my book as I struggle to contain my excitement): Hi!
Meg (glancing down at the book I've basically thrown at her): Hello! You must be (looks down at yellow post-it affixed to the cover of said book) Andrea!
Me (choking on my saliva): That's me!
Meg (signing book with a flourish): Thanks so much for coming out!
Me (deciding on word vomit rather than star-struck silence): Oh my gosh it's such an honor to meet you I've been reading your books forever and someday I hope to be a writer too and it's all because of you I hope you get a chance to read what I write someday because I don't know if I mentioned it but I became a writer because I read your books and I just loved them I think you're awesome

[I pause for a breath]

Meg (with a poise that only comes from encountering crazies like me all the time): That's wonderful! Thank you so much! I hope to someday read something you write!
Me (finally stunned into awed silence): Thank you so much!

Yeah, something like that. She really is awesome, though. And I swear, I'm a completely normal person. I was just SO EXCITED. Ask my friends (check out their awesome blogs here and here). I've known those two girls less than 6 weeks, and they tolerate me better than most people I've known my whole life. Totally made friends for life.

And Meg? One of the highlights of my time here in New York. I'm serious about getting published someday, and I'm completely honest about her being the reason I hope to do so. She's a rockstar. And I hope, one day, she really will read something I write.