Review: Places No One Knows

PLACES NO ONE KNOWS
Brenna Yovanoff
Contemporary-ish Young Adult
384 pages
Delacorte Press
Available Now
Source: Finished copy from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Waverly Camdenmar spends her nights running until she can’t even think. Then the sun comes up, life goes on, and Waverly goes back to her perfectly hateful best friend, her perfectly dull classes, and the tiny, nagging suspicion that there’s more to life than student council and GPAs.

Marshall Holt is a loser. He drinks on school nights and gets stoned in the park. He is at risk of not graduating, he does not care, he is no one. He is not even close to being in Waverly’s world.

But then one night Waverly falls asleep and dreams herself into Marshall’s bedroom—and when the sun comes up, nothing in her life can ever be the same. In Waverly’s dreams, the rules have changed. But in her days, she’ll have to decide if it’s worth losing everything for a boy who barely exists.

MY THOUGHTS
Places No One Knows is one of those reads that feels effortless, one about everything and nothing at the same time that flows from one page to the next with such ease that we have little choice but to lose ourselves in the quick slice of life detailed for us in black and white.

Waverly is a puppet. Perfectly maintained and beautifully flawless, dancing on her strings to a tune set by her best friend and the expectations of her peers. She's not empty-headed or oblivious, instead she's aware of her strings and wears her perfection like a suit of armor, fully capable of wielding a pair of scissors and setting herself free, but so used to having them wrapped around her that her hands have forgotten how to make a cutting motion. There's something completely absorbing about watching as a quiet but impactful earthquake named Marshall and a frenzied delight of a hurricane named Autumn rattle her foundations, introducing a little change into the monotony of her high school existence.

Marshall is wrapped up every bit as tight as Waverly, but where her strings are pristine and unbroken, his are frayed and doused in alcohol. He gets through his days by drinking himself into feeling better, his home life an absolute mess and the main reason he seeks escape at the bottom of a bottle or the end of a lit cigarette. When Waverly starts showing up inexplicably in his room late at night however, he's forced to see his world through eyes that may or may not have trouble discerning what's real from what's not, and in doing so finds a direction he would never have found otherwise. His relationship with Waverly is fragile, existing in stolen nighttime moments and then disappearing with the rise of the sun, but not without leaving a few small remnants of the two of them behind.

Overall Places No One Knows is a beautiful story, defining and then redefining relationships and friendships as they ebb and flow, and leaving us with a smile on our faces as Waverly and Marshall find a way to bring the truths shared only at night into the light of day.

Rating: 4/5

Find Brenna:

Website • Tumblr • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Waiting on Wednesday: The Flame Never Dies

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine and is a fun way to see what books other bloggers just can't wait to get their hands on!

THE FLAME NEVER DIES

The Stars Never Rise #2

Rachel Vincent

Paranormal Young Adult

Releases from Delacorte Press August 2016

From Goodreads:

ONE SPARK WILL RISE. Nina Kane was born to be an exorcist. And since uncovering the horrifying truth—that the war against demons is far from over—seventeen-year-old Nina and her pregnant younger sister, Mellie, have been on the run, incinerating the remains of the demon horde as they go.

In the badlands, Nina, Mellie, and Finn, the fugitive and rogue exorcist who saved her life, find allies in a group of freedom fighters. They also face a new threat: Pandemonia, a city full of demons. But this fresh new hell is the least of Nina’s worries. The well of souls ran dry more than a century ago, drained by the demons secretly living among humans, and without a donor soul, Mellie’s child will die within hours of its birth.

Nina isn’t about to let that happen . . . even if it means she has to make the ultimate sacrifice.

LOOK AT THAT GORGEOUS COVER! The Stars Never Rise had an equally beautiful cover, and I obsessed over the start to this series from the moment I saw it. Normally demon-related stories are not my thing as they absolutely terrify me, but Rachel Vincent never fails to suck me in with her gritty awesomeness. I'm really looking forward to seeing where things go, though I have to admit to being slightly alarmed by the last line of the synopsis. Rachel Vincent is an author who isn't afraid to emotionally eviscerate her readers, so I know this will be one of those instances where I flip immediately to the end and read it first ;-)

Amazon • Goodreads

The Trouble With Destiny: Interview + Giveaway

Today I'm excited to have author Lauren Morrill stopping by the blog as part of the promotional tour for her newest release, The Trouble With Destiny. Lauren was nice enough to answer a few questions for me about music, chocolate and her protagonist Liza, so I hope you guys enjoy the interview! Be sure and check the bottom of the post too for all the details on a fantastic giveaway:)

If Liza’s band was to accompany you on a promotional tour for The Trouble with Destiny, what song would they play as your introduction at each stop?

“Friends in Low Places” by Garth Brooks, which has a moment in Destiny. And because it makes me think of my own high school experience growing up in east Tennessee (where Liza and her friends are from as well!).

It’s midnight chocolate buffet time on the Destiny. What are the three delicious goodies you go for first?

Brownies, chocolate chip cookies, and a chocolate croissant.

Liza is an extremely organized young woman. If she were to see the bits and pieces of your current work in progress (notes, outlines, etc.), would she nod in approval or suddenly develop a nervous tic and want to show you all the ways she could help you?

She would LOSE. HER. MIND. Right now I’m basically drafting by opening up the document and dropping in a paragraph in chapter 3 or a sentence in chapter 9. One of my chapters is just called “last few chapters,” while another is called “somewhere in the middle.” I’m not a linear writer!

If you could book a cruise tomorrow, where would that boat be headed?

I want to take one of those European river cruises, where you stop in different countries. As much as I enjoy reading a book on a beach, I’d love to do some awesome historical tours of castles and museums.

Let’s play Two Truths and a Lie, Destiny-style. Please share two crazy, fun, or embarrassing things that actually happened while on board and one tall tale. (We’ll just have to read to find out which is which ;-))

—One character kisses Liza, and immediately after, another character punches him in the face.
—Demi and the Athenas are performing a medley of boy-band hits when a pipe bursts overhead and douses the stage and the performers, who never stop singing.
—An accidental mixture of Dramamine and Benadryl has Liza passing out in her nemesis’s closet.

Thanks so much Lauren!

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

THE TROUBLE WITH DESTINY

It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey...

With her trusty baton and six insanely organized clipboards, drum major Liza Sanders is about to take Destiny by storm—the boat, that is. When Liza discovered that her beloved band was losing funding, she found Destiny, a luxury cruise ship complete with pools, midnight chocolate buffets, and a $25,000 spring break talent show prize.

Liza can’t imagine senior year without the band, and nothing will distract her from achieving victory. She’s therefore not interested when her old camp crush, Lenny, shows up on board, looking shockingly hipster-hot. And she’s especially not interested in Russ, the probably-as-dumb-as-he-is-cute prankster jock whose ex, Demi, happens be Liza’s ex–best friend and leader of the Athenas, a show choir that’s the band’s greatest competition.

But it’s not going to be smooth sailing. After the Destiny breaks down, all of Liza’s best-laid plans start to go awry. Liza likes to think of herself as an expert at almost everything, but when it comes to love, she’s about to find herself lost at sea.

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Indiebound | iBooks | The Book Depository

• • • • • • • • • • • • • •

LAUREN MORRILL

Lauren Elizabeth Morrill is many things, including, but not limited to, a writer, an educator, a badass roller derby skater, a former band nerd, an aggressive driver, and a die-hard Mac person. She also watches a lot of TV, eats a lot of junk food, and drinks a lot of Coke. It's a wonder her brain and teeth haven't rotted out of her head.

Lauren is the author of Meant to Be, Being Sloane Jacobs, The Trouble With Destiny, and the forthcoming My Unscripted Life (October 2016), all from Random House.

Website | Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram

• • • • • • • • • • • • • •

GIVEAWAY

One winner (US or Canada Only) will receive a Lauren Morrill prize pack of signed copies of all Lauren's books and swag!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: Seeker

SEEKER
Seeker #1
Arwen Elys Dayton
Young Adult/Fantasy
448 Pages
Delacorte BFYR
Available Now
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Amazon)
The night Quin Kincaid takes her Oath, she will become what she has trained to be her entire life. She will become a Seeker. This is her legacy, and it is an honor.
 
As a Seeker, Quin will fight beside her two closest companions, Shinobu and John, to protect the weak and the wronged. Together they will stand for light in a shadowy world.
 
And she'll be with the boy she loves--who's also her best friend.
 
But the night Quin takes her Oath, everything changes.

Being a Seeker is not what she thought. Her family is not what she thought. Even the boy she loves is not who she thought.
 
And now it's too late to walk away.

MY THOUGHTS
Seeker is one of those unusual books where we reach the final page and find ourselves unable to explain to a friend what actually happened over the course of the story. Events clearly take place and characters' lives are forever altered, but the way in which they're altered loses some of its emotional impact in the haze of confusion surrounding this world, the existence of its magic and the characters' role in wielding it. What starts out as pure fantasy set in Scotland on a medieval estate turns strangely contemporary and then futuristic as we bounce to Hong Kong and London, leaving us a bit adrift in time and place with no real connection to the story itself to help anchor us.

Perhaps the hardest aspect to come to terms with is the lack of information surrounding the Seekers themselves.The synopsis and tagline prepare us for the reveal of an enormous betrayal as to their true purpose, but in the very moment where that truth is to be illuminated in all its startling glory we fade to black and return to Quin and Shinobu only in the aftermath. We can guess as to what happened off page, but with so many other questions regarding the magic and history of the Seekers, being denied a front row seat to a pivotal emotional moment for our protagonists leaves us feeling distinctly detached from the story.

In additional to lack of explanation for a number of Seeker-related things, we also split our attention between four different characters and jump back and forth in time, further disorienting us in a world we're already struggling to make sense of. A romance is also hinted at in the synopsis, but it's so minor an element as to be largely inconsequential, the feelings between Quin and John already established when we meet them and they remain on the surface throughout even as the various relationships between all four narrators begin to shift and change. 

Overall, Seeker leaves us with far more questions than answers, something not entirely uncommon with a first installment, but the questions we're left with are not of the maddeningly brilliant variety that keep us on edge until the next book is in our hands. Instead, they're they kind that leave us on the outside looking in, waiting to be a part of something that has the potential to be spectacular.

Rating: 2.5/5

Find Arwen:

 Website • Twitter • Facebook • Amazon • B&N • Goodreads

This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Seeker Blog Tour: Interview + Giveaway

Today I'm thrilled to welcome author Arwen Elys Dayton to the blog as part of the promotional tour for her young adult fantasy novel, Seeker. For those of you who read this blog with any frequency, you'll know that YA fantasy is quickly becoming my favorite genre, so the minute I heard about this book I knew it was going on my list. A huge thank you to Arwen for taking the time to answer my questions, and don't forget to check the bottom of the post for all the details on an awesome giveaway!

If you were madly in love with your best friend, as Quin is, what's one small tell you worry would give away your feelings entirely?

In Quin's case, she doesn't much mind if John knows she's madly in love with him. She's so open with him, she wants him to know. So, lucky her. I suppose we can all envy that about her, even though I feel sorry about most of the other things going on in her life.

If it was me, at that age, I would live in constant fear of him realizing how smitten I was. In fact, I'm fairly certain I lived in that constant fear from the age of 13 to at least 16. Usually the boys I was in love with were not my best friends. Honestly, I'm not sure how aware they were of my existence.

Because I was always in a state of terror around my crushes, I would compensate by acting completely disinterested. I'm not sure what I hoped to gain by this—I probably appeared extremely nearsighted and hard of hearing as I stared fixedly at my shirtsleeves during class. Anyway, I wrecked my fake aloofness by constantly blabbing to my friends about how in love I was. These friends immediately reported this to everyone else in class.

Let's say you've been training to be a Seeker alongside Quin your entire life. In what one aspect of training would she put you to shame, and in turn, in what one aspect would you outshine her?

A lot of Seeker training is learning to fight with their strange and unique weapons. The rest of the training is learning to focus your attention and thoughts, to use your mind at its clearest, so you can see your way through any fight or sticky situation.

Even if I trained for my entire life, I think Quin would put me to shame in everything having to do with fighting. Sure, I could learn to use a sword, and I'd probably have a few working muscles after all that time practicing, but I still think I'd be a blubbering puddle of goo on the floor after trying to fight with her. In real life, my sport is running. By myself. Often on an indoor treadmill while watching a TV show. I don't think I'd last very long with someone actively trying to attack me.

I might do all right in the other training, though. My mind has been pretty unruly since grade school, when I started writing stories and my tendency to daydream really took hold. But if I'd been training since childhood, maybe I could reel in the imagination and daydreams. Maybe I could learn to concentrate and be in the present moment, and think my way quickly out of dangerous situations. Would I outshine Quin? Well . . . anything is possible in this daydream you're allowing me to have.

If you could pluck an element of Seeker's fantasy world from the realm of fiction and bring it into our reality, what's the first thing you'd wish into existence?

This is such a great question! The whipsword. That's what I'd want. At rest, the whipsword looks like a coiled whip made from a black, oily, rubbery sort of material. But when in use, the material can be cracked out into solid, straight form and then manipulated infinitely in shape—so it can become any sword or knife you can imagine, and you can change its form as you fight to suit the moment. It's also "tuned" to you as the user, so it won't harm your own flesh, even if you grab the blade. I would love to have one!

After taking her oath to become a Seeker, Quin's reality shifts, taking everything she thought she knew about friends, family and her lifelong dream with it. Is there anything in particular about the writing of Seeker that caught you off guard, changing what you thought you knew of how the story would unfold?

Maud, the Young Dread, caught me off guard. At first I saw her as a minor character, someone who would lend a sinister gravity to the chapters she was in. Very quickly, she became much more than that.

Her indeterminate age, her history—beginning centuries ago—her silent, deliberate way of moving, and her capability for intense action. All these things came together to make her, in some ways, the backbone of Seeker. This was a surprise at first, but now I can't image the world without her presence.

Quin finds herself in a bit of a love triangle between Shinobu and John. If you could make yourself the top point of a love triangle, what two characters from any piece of fiction would you most want to complete your other two points?

This is another great question. It's very hard for me to imagine myself as the top point of a love triangle, even with ordinary people as the other two points (see above question #1), but since you're allowing me to let my mind run wild . . .

I have to get these two out of the way, because I've been in love with them since I was 10 years old:

Paul Atriedes from Dune and Theseus from The King Must Die, which might be my favorite book of all time.

But now I want to select two gentlemen from more recent fiction, and say Four from Divergent and Jace from The Mortal Instruments. I'd like to have them in a room together, just to see what might happen. Feels like it would be explosive!

In Seeker, I never set out to make a love triangle exactly. I don't see Quin as the sort of person who would go back and forth between two boys, unable to make up her mind. It's more a case of three characters with conflicting and overlapping feelings for each other. All of them are experiencing dangerous, life-altering situations, trying to figure out who they are and how they can live with themselves. A lot of emotions come into the mix, including, of course, love and hate and jealously and attraction.

Thank you for these thought-provoking questions!

*Jenny dreams of being the top point of a Four/Jace love tirangle*;-)

 • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

SEEKER

(releases February 10th from Delacorte)

Their Legacy is…A calling. An Honor. A lie.

The night Quin Kincaid takes her Oath, she will become what she has trained to be her entire life. She will become a Seeker. This is her legacy, and it is an honor.

As a Seeker, Quin will fight beside her two closest companions, Shinobu and John, to protect the weak and the wronged. Together they will stand for light in a shadowy world.

And she’ll be with the boy she loves—who is also her best friend.

But the night Quin takes her Oath, everything changes.

Being a Seeker is not what she thought. Her family is not what she thought. Even the boy she loves is not who she thought.

And now it’s too late to walk away.

Amazon • B&N • Goodreads

• • • • • • • • • • • •

ARWEN ELYS DAYTON

Arwen Elys Dayton spends months doing research for her stories. Her explorations have taken her around the world to places like the Great Pyramid (which she explored by a single fading flashlight when researching Resurrection), Hong Kong and its many islands, and lots of ruined castles in Scotland. She enjoys creating complete worlds inhabited by characters who charm, frustrate or inspire.

Arwen lives with her husband and their three children on the West Coast of the United States. You can follow her @arwenelysdayton on Twitter and Instagram.

Website • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads • Instagram

• • • • • • • • • • • •

GIVEAWAY

5 winners will receive finished copies of SEEKER, US only.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't forget to check out all the participating blogs for more interviews, reviews, guest posts and more!

2/9/2015- Spiced Latte Reads- Review

2/9/2015- Supernatural Snark- Interview

2/9/2015- The Cover Contessa- Guest Post 

 

2/10/2015- Once Upon A Twilight- Review

2/10/2015- Reading YA Rocks- Guest Post

2/10/2015- The Eater of Books!- Interview 

 

2/11/2015- WinterHaven Books - Review

2/11/2015- Paranormal Book Club- Interview

2/11/2015- Literary Meanderings- Guest Post 

 

2/12/2015- A Dream Within A Dream- Review

2/12/2015- I'd So Rather Be Reading- Guest Post

2/12/2015- Bookhounds ya- Interview

 

2/13/2015- Bookish- Review

2/13/2015- Bewitched Bookworms- Interview

2/13/2015- Nerdophiles- Guest Post 

Interview and Giveaway: Lanie Bross + Fates

It's been an interview kind of week on the blog, so in keeping with that trend I'm pleased today to welcome young adult author Lanie Bross to Supernatural Snark to answer a few questions about her debut novel, Fates. I'm huge fan of books that involve the concept of physical beings who know of and guide the fates of those around them to ensure things happen as they're "meant" to; the whole idea of it just raises such interesting questions and I'm nothing if not someone who likes to ask questions while reading, so I'm very excited for this book. I hope you all enjoy the interview!

Even though Corinthe’s time in the human world began as a punishment, what’s one thing about it she would miss if she made it back to Pyralis Terra? What’s one thing about Pyralis Terra she thinks those of us in this world might find fascinating?

I think Corinthe would miss the clothing. In Humana, she has discovered her love of color and it manifests in the clothes she wears. In Pyralis, everyone wears the same flowing dress, the same color, and everything is bathed in a muted purplish glow, its all very serene, but honestly, boring. Especially to someone who has experienced the vividness of another world.

Hmmm, maybe the most fascinating thing about Pyralis is how it is always twilight. There are no nights or days, just a constant dusk that gives the entire world a sort of hushed reverence to it.

If you were to meet someone like Corinthe who knew what fate had in store for you, how tempted would you be to ask them about your future?

Not tempted at all! I really don’t want to know! Every day in an adventure and I love not knowing what will happen next.

You suddenly find yourself in Corinthe’s shoes, forced to help the fates of many unfold as they should. What aspect of the job would you struggle with most?

It would be really hard to hurt people in order to push them toward their destiny. It’s not all gentle nudges for Executors. They are altering a life, and sometimes it takes something drastic.

Pyralis Terra is Corinthe’s ideal world and a place she wants nothing more to return to. If you could create a world suited specifically to you where you could escape on occasion, what would it look like/consist of?

It would be an infinite library. Hundreds of levels with cozy reading chairs tucked into alcoves everywhere. And a coffeemaker on every floor!

Corinthe finds herself caught up in a doomed romance with Lucas given it’s written that one of them will live and one will die. If she wanted to feel not quite so alone in her star-crossed romance, what other couple’s story might she pick up and read?

Well, she could read Romeo and Juliet but that might just depress her even more! Unfortunately, most star crossed lovers are doomed to tragic endings. 

If Lucas and Corinthe were to sit down and interview you as part of the promotion for Fates, what’s one question you fear they would ask?

Oh wow. Probably I’d be worried they would want to know why I put them through so much crap. I’m not sure that answering, “Because it made a good storyline” would be a good enough answer!

Let’s say you’re in charge of writing a prophecy regarding the events of book two as a teaser for readers. What are three words we might see in that prophecy?

So. Much. Chaos. ;P

• • • • • • • • • • •

FATES

(available now from Delacorte Press)

One moment. One foolish desire. One mistake. And Corinthe lost everything.

She fell from her tranquil life in Pyralis Terra and found herself exiled to the human world. Her punishment? To make sure people's fates unfold according to plan. Now, years later, Corinthe has one last assignment: kill Lucas Kaller. His death will be her ticket home.

But for the first time, Corinthe feels a tingle of doubt. It begins as a lump in her throat, then grows toward her heart, and suddenly she feels like she is falling all over again--this time for a boy she knows she can never have. Because it is written: one of them must live, and one of them must die. In a universe where every moment, every second, every fate has already been decided, where does love fit in?

Amazon • B&N • Goodreads

• • • • • • • • • • •

LANIE BROSS

LANIE BROSS was born in a small town in Maine, where she spent the next 18 years dreaming of bigger places. After exploring city life, she and her husband and two young sons ended up coming right back to the wilds of Maine, where they live just one house down from where she grew up. Fate, perhaps? She loves chasing around her rambunctious kids, playing tug-of-war with her 95-pound Lab, and writing for young adults. FATES is her first novel.

Website • Twitter • Goodreads

• • • • • • • • • • 

GIVEAWAY

Thanks to the fabulous people at Random House, I have one copy of Fates to give away on the blog today! To enter, please just fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Giveaway is open to US/Canada only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: Being Sloane Jacobs

BEING SLOANE JACOBS
Lauren Morrill
Contemporary Young Adult
352 pages
Delacorte
Available January 7th
Source: eARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Meet Sloane Emily Jacobs: a seriously stressed-out figure-skater from Washington, D.C., who choked during junior nationals and isn’t sure she’s ready for a comeback. What she does know is that she’d give anything to escape the mass of misery that is her life.

Now meet Sloane Devon Jacobs, a spunky ice hockey player from Philly who’s been suspended from her team for too many aggressive hip checks. Her punishment? Hockey camp, now, when she’s playing the worst she’s ever played. If she messes up? Her life will be over.

When the two Sloanes meet by chance in Montreal and decide to trade places for the summer, each girl thinks she’s the lucky one: no strangers to judge or laugh at Sloane Emily, no scouts expecting Sloane Devon to be a hero. But it didn’t occur to Sloane E. that while avoiding sequins and axels she might meet a hockey hottie—and Sloane D. never expected to run into a familiar (and very good-looking) face from home. It’s not long before the Sloanes discover that convincing people you’re someone else might be more difficult than being yourself.

MY THOUGHTS
Being Sloane Jacobs is a quick and easy read, one of those perfect in-between books that gives us a breather from darker and more emotionally challenging stories. This is a tale best approached with all skepticism and disbelief shelved in favor of allowing the more simplistic desire to simply be entertained rule, the lives of both Sloane Jacobses kept quite superficial despite difficult family situations that could have easily provided enough conflict to see their lives written into two separate books rather than detailed for us simultaneously. There are some extremely cute moments that split our cheeks with a monster grin, Ms. Morrill’s sense of humor an overall highlight, but it’s not always enough to keep the nitpicky reader in us at bay.

Both girls are likable with engaging points of view that are easy to follow, but as mentioned above, we never have the opportunity to dig deeper with either of them, left as simple observers of their lives rather than feeling like active participants. Sloane Emily’s family situation is a fairly typical representation of a perfect façade masking a crumbling interior, her family slowly falling apart even as their happy faces and pleasant family dinners indicate otherwise, but despite the familiarity we still find ourselves exceedingly curious, wanting the chance to chip away at those brittle smiles to see what the downward turn is hiding underneath. Sloane Devon’s family situation, while undeniably painful in and of itself, isn’t quite as intriguing as Sloane Emily’s, though again we still can’t help but want a closer look at that dynamic and its correlation to Sloane Devon’s issues in the beginning.

There are romances for each of the girls, but aside from providing a few sweet moments, they’re not given any depth, relegated to brief kisses and then the predictable big misunderstandings before everything is wrapped up quickly and neatly. Those like me who crave the happily ever will no doubt be satisfied with the end, though we are left wishing the means by which we got there had a bit more substance. All in all, Being Sloane Jacobs leaves a bit to be desired in terms of character development, but Ms. Morrill’s writing style flows well and keeps us turning the pages, ensuring we’re having fun reading even if we’re not committing this story to treasured memory.

Rating: 3/5

Find Lauren

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Review: Tandem

TANDEM
Many Worlds #1
Anna Jarzab
Young Adult/Parallel Worlds
428 pages
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Available now
Source: BEA

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Everything repeats.
You. Your best friend. Every person you know.
Many worlds. Many lives--infinite possibilities.
Welcome to the multiverse.

Sixteen-year-old Sasha Lawson has only ever known one small, ordinary life. When she was young, she loved her grandfather's stories of parallel worlds inhabited by girls who looked like her but led totally different lives. Sasha never believed such worlds were real--until now, when she finds herself thrust into one against her will.

To prevent imminent war, Sasha must slip into the life of an alternate version of herself, a princess who has vanished on the eve of her arranged marriage. If Sasha succeeds in fooling everyone, she will be returned home; if she fails, she'll be trapped in another girl's life forever. As time runs out, Sasha finds herself torn between two worlds, two lives, and two young men vying for her love--one who knows her secret, and one who thinks she's someone she's not.

MY THOUGHTS
Tandem is not a story that has a wholly unique premise; instead by all appearances it's but one more in a growing group to embrace the parallel universes trend in YA fiction, complete with a romance in the form of a triangle to ensure tension and drama run high. What we soon discover after the first several chapters though is that the blurb doesn't come close to doing the story justice, and Sasha's tale stands out as memorable – a bright blinding light amidst the din – leaving the familiar aspects to which the blurb allludes at the door. While the world building doesn't necessarily wow us nor does the concept of analogs (doubles) mesmerize us with its creativity, Ms. Jarzab bleeds newness into a familiar setup with her characters, Sasha and Thomas yanking us as forcefully into their story as they themselves are yanked through the tandem and into the middle of a war.

Tandem requires a slight adjustment period in the beginning, the format throwing us off ever-so-slightly as we're bounced from Sasha's first-person perspective to short chapters detailing Thomas's actions in third-person to brief snippets of the real Julianna and her current predicament. Majority of our time is spent with Sasha however, and we quickly see how valuable our brief detours with Thomas and Julianna are in deciphering the political complexities of Sasha's new world. Though we suspect certain things before they're revealed to us in truth, it's clear to us that identifying all the players complicit in both Julianna's absence and Sasha's presence in the United Commonwealth of Columbia is only a single thread of a much larger web, one we see glistening out of the corner of our eyes as we focus straight ahead only to have it disappear when we turn our heads in an effort analyze it more closely.

Though the synopsis suggests a love triangle between Sasha, Thomas, and Prince Callum (who we learn early on is betrothed to Julianna as part of an attempted peace agreement), he doesn't come into play until midway through the story, and by then Sasha's heart – a bit battered and bruised – belongs only to Thomas. She doesn't play games or waffle between the two of them, and though Callum is upfront about his desire for their marriage to be real and not a mere facade to appease their families, the only real drama created by his presence is the guilt Sasha feels about having to play her role. Her relationship with Thomas is one full of just enough hurt and betrayal to have lumps take up permanent residence in our throats, but the two of them are never frustratingly dramatic, their pain genuine and believable even as the weight of their situation starts to crush us into so much dust.

We're left with things far from concluded, the unrest in Julianna's world at an all time high just as we're forced back to our own reality, but though we have lingering questions, they're not the kind that haunt us and drag our overall enjoyment down the more we think about them. Tandem is full of twists and turns but yet is not altogether unpredictable, rather it feels as though we've traveled a highlighted portion of a maze, granted a false sense of comfort thanks to the things we're allowed to uncover seemingly on our own, but out there off the beaten path we've traveled in this first book lie all the dark offshoots we've yet to see, and I for one can't wait to discover where they lead in book two.

Rating: 4/5

Find Anna:

Website • Blog • Facebook • Twitter • Amazon • Goodreads

This book was given to me by the publisher at BEA  free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Waiting on Wednesday: Tandem

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine and is a fun way to see what books other bloggers just can't wait to get their hands on!

TANDEM

Anna Jarzab

Young Adult

Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Releases October 8th

THE STORY (from Goodreads)

Everything repeats.
You. Your best friend. Every person you know.
Many worlds. Many lives--infinite possibilities.
Welcome to the multiverse.

Sixteen-year-old Sasha Lawson has only ever known one small, ordinary life. When she was young, she loved her grandfather's stories of parallel worlds inhabited by girls who looked like her but led totally different lives. Sasha never believed such worlds were real--until now, when she finds herself thrust into one against her will.

To prevent imminent war, Sasha must slip into the life of an alternate version of herself, a princess who has vanished on the eve of her arranged marriage. If Sasha succeeds in fooling everyone, she will be returned home; if she fails, she'll be trapped in another girl's life forever. As time runs out, Sasha finds herself torn between two worlds, two lives, and two young men vying for her love--one who knows her secret, and one who thinks she's someone she's not.

The first book in the Many-Worlds Trilogy, Tandem is a riveting saga of love and betrayal set in parallel universes in which nothing--and no one--is what it seems.

Parallel lives seem to be the new trend in YA fiction, moving the classic trio of vamps, weres, and fairies out of the way, and slowly displacing dystopian and post-apocalyptic stories. I have to say this is a trend I'm a fan of. There's just something fascinating to me about the possibility of another me out there somewhere living a completely different life (a royal life!). My little brain just goes crazy pondering the nature vs. nurture implications of another me, and I'm a nerd, so I think it's easy to get why that makes me happy. Yes, it sounds like there's a love triangle in there *shudder* but I'm hoping for the best!

Review: Meant to Be

MEANT TO BE
Lauren Morrill
Contemporary Young Adult
304 pages
Delacorte BFYR
Available November 13th
Received from publisher via NetGalley for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Meant to be or not meant to be . . . that is the question.

It's one thing to fall head over heels into a puddle of hazelnut coffee, and quite another to fall for the—gasp—wrong guy. Straight-A junior Julia may be accident prone, but she's queen of following rules and being prepared. That's why she keeps a pencil sharpener in her purse and a pocket Shakespeare in her, well, pocket. And that's also why she's chosen Mark Bixford, her childhood crush, as her MTB ("meant to be").

But this spring break, Julia's rules are about to get defenestrated (SAT word: to be thrown from a window) when she's partnered with her personal nemesis, class-clown Jason, on a school trip to London. After one wild party, Julia starts receiving romantic texts . . . from an unknown number! Jason promises to help discover the identity of her mysterious new suitor if she agrees to break a few rules along the way. And thus begins a wild goose chase through London, leading Julia closer and closer to the biggest surprise of all: true love.

Because sometimes the things you least expect are the most meant to be.

MY THOUGHTS
Meant to Be is a story we pick up knowing exactly how things are going to play out between the characters in the end, but it is that very predictability that draws us to it in the first place. Julia’s story is safe; one with a familiar plot arc we know is going to increase the number of laugh lines around our eyes and cause our cheeks to start twitching thanks to the permanent grin splitting them for the duration of our reading experience. It’s the perfect comfort read, with humor ever-present as a result of Julia’s various ineptitudes and Jason’s outrageous attention-garnering behavior, and while we can’t help but sit back and shake our heads at Julia’s obliviousness to the nature of Jason’s outlandish antics, we’re also able to understand that our view from the outside looking in is unimpeded by the confusion and warring emotions clouding Julia’s vision.

Julia is an adorable klutz of a heroine, her social butterfly’s wings so underused they’ve begun to atrophy, leaving her often clueless and floundering when she’s forced to interact with those around her. Her romantic idealism is endearing, the concept of a “meant to be” and her unwavering belief in a perfect relationship consisting of only love and laughter perhaps a bit naïve, however, it’s easy to get swept up in her search for a dream when it’s so glaringly apparent how desperately she wants to turn the ethereal and intangible into something she can physically wrap her arms around. Sometimes the death grip she maintains on her notion of perfection can wear on us a bit, particularly when we she remains stubbornly blind to what Jason is practically screaming at her with his body language, and she allows herself to be highly susceptible to suggestion–often believing things without much prompting and suddenly finding herself jumping to the wrong conclusions. Despite her flaws though, she’s charming and lovable, and by the end we want nothing more than for her to find that elusive happiness.

Jason is a character who based on the synopsis we think might easily get on our nerves, his over-the-top behavior something that has the potential to test our patience after only a short time, but because it’s so obvious to us what he’s trying to accomplish with Julia, we instead find ourselves encouraging his each and every move. Because Julia’s nose is almost permanently stuck in one of her many guide books to the wonders of London, we more than understand why Jason feels the need to up the ante whenever he’s dealing with her. His desire for her to actually see him rather than simply notice him is something we can practically reach out and touch, and the weight of his disappointment when she misinterprets the situation or disregards him in general is crushing, our stomachs plummeting every time he shuts down before gearing back up to try and break through her fairy tale fog in the hopes that, this time, her heart will see what her eyes so clearly do not.

Overall, Meant to Be is a joy to read, a light story full of humor and misunderstandings that leaves us with a broad smile just as we knew it would when we first cracked the spine.

Rating: 4/5

Review: Mystic City

MYSTIC CITY (Mystic City #1)
Theo Lawrence
Young Adult/Dystopian
416 pages
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Available now
Received from publisher via NetGalley for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Aria Rose, youngest scion of one of Mystic City's two ruling rival families, finds herself betrothed to Thomas Foster, the son of her parents' sworn enemies. The union of the two will end the generations-long political feud—and unite all those living in the Aeries, the privileged upper reaches of the city, against the banished mystics who dwell below in the Depths. But Aria doesn't remember falling in love with Thomas; in fact, she wakes one day with huge gaps in her memory. And she can't conceive why her parents would have agreed to unite with the Fosters in the first place. Only when Aria meets Hunter, a gorgeous rebel mystic from the Depths, does she start to have glimmers of recollection—and to understand that he holds the key to unlocking her past. The choices she makes can save or doom the city—including herself.

MY THOUGHTS
Mystic City captivates from the first page, the prologue punching us in the gut as love is ripped away and we’re plunged into darkness, blinking awake alongside Aria in chapter one with a hollow emptiness where our hearts should be, wondering how long we’ll have to wait until that emptiness is replaced with the memories that led up to our painful introduction to this world. After our nerves spark to life in the opening pages, we remain on edge, suspicions as to who is responsible for Aria’s memory loss and the reason for it bouncing around in our heads, and with each page turned our bodies suffer an anticipatory shudder, both hoping for and dreading the answers we might find. Aria’s world is a world divided; a gaping chasm between mystics and non-mystics opening ever wider through fear and intolerance, but in our young heroine we find a bridge for the gap, and we read on with a smile as her strength keeps the dangers posed by fear at bay.

Aria is someone we instantly feel a kinship with, both of us starting this journey as blank slates with nothing but a few indistinct flashes of memory to provide us clues as to what’s happened to her. Though her family and her fiancé both try to convince her of their eerily convenient and seemingly rehearsed truths, she remains her own person, constantly questioning even in the face of Thomas’s earnest declarations of love and the stories concocted by her parents. As we do, she senses everything is not what it seems, but instead of meekly submitting to her terrifyingly controlling father she continues to push, risking the wrath of a true monster on the tiny wisps of imagery her battered memory provides to discover the shocking faces villainy and innocence actually wear.

Because of Aria’s amnesia with regard to the love of her life, the romance in this first installment is imbued with an added layer of tension, our knowledge that the one who truly holds her heart has been stolen not just physically, but emotionally as well through a horrifyingly intimate invasion, keeping our blood pumping double-time as we will her to remember everything we can so easily see. Watching Aria reestablish a relationship with Hunter is both beautiful and painful, bringing a smile to our faces as her heart and mind prove to be stronger than the pretty lies she’s fed, while at the same time cutting us to our core as we see Hunter struggle with not only his loss of Aria herself but of her memories of him as well.

Overall, Mystic City is a very dark and enthralling start to this series, the various members of Aria’s family proving to be the type of people that force our lips to curl into an involuntary snarl every time they grace the page, ensuring we have no choice but to become invested and join the rebellion as invisible supporters. Their cruelty is boundless and unfathomable, but after an explosive conclusion we’re left with the confidence that their corrupt rule of the city will be challenged at every turn moving forward, and we can’t help but clap our hands in glee at the prospect of them receiving their comeuppance.

Rating: 4/5

Review: Velveteen

VELVETEEN (Velveteen #1)
Daniel Marks
Paranormal Young Adult
464 pages
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Available October 9th
Received from publisher via NetGalley for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Velveteen Monroe is dead. At 16, she was kidnapped and murdered by a madman named Bonesaw. But that’s not the problem.

The problem is she landed in purgatory. And while it’s not a fiery inferno, it’s certainly no heaven. It’s gray, ashen, and crumbling more and more by the day, and everyone has a job to do. Which doesn’t leave Velveteen much time to do anything about what’s really on her mind.

Bonesaw.

Velveteen aches to deliver the bloody punishment her killer deserves. And she’s figured out just how to do it. She’ll haunt him for the rest of his days.

It’ll be brutal... and awesome.

But crossing the divide between the living and the dead has devastating consequences. Velveteen’s obsessive haunting cracks the foundations of purgatory and jeopardizes her very soul. A risk she’s willing to take—except fate has just given her reason to stick around: an unreasonably hot and completely off-limits coworker.

Velveteen can’t help herself when it comes to breaking rules... or getting revenge. And she just might be angry enough to take everyone down with her.

MY THOUGHTS
Darkly creative, Velveteen raises the fine hairs on our arms instantly as we find ourselves witnesses to the first day of what will undoubtedly be the long and brutal torture of a young woman at the hands of a monster who also made a victim of our heroine. We read the opening chapter with breath held, a few flashes of the violence done to Velvet ratcheting up our fear for Bonesaw’s newest victim to an almost overwhelming degree, but just as we’re prepared to pull a blanket up our faces and peek nervously over the top to learn the girl’s fate, we’re whisked away to Purgatory and do not return to the scene that had us terrifyingly captivated until almost halfway through the story. While the world building and the careful crafting of Purgatory is gorgeous, it’s also extraordinarily extensive and at times slightly confusing, the simple clarity found in our fear of Bonesaw replaced with an intriguing but murky take on the afterlife to leave us floundering a bit at the change.

Velvet is a young woman who elicits from us conflicting responses, her quick wit and dry sense of humor making us snort a laugh before her demeanor shifts and a mask of cool indifference slides in place. Though Bonesaw’s many instruments of torture clearly illustrated how easily Velvet’s skin when she was alive could be bruised, sliced, and peeled away, in death her skin is much thicker and seemingly unpierceable, emotional vulnerability something she left behind with her body as Bonesaw’s final blade hit its mark. Because her armor is so impeccably cared for, it’s difficult for us as readers to find a chink to exploit to our benefit, any attempts at connecting with her sloughed off as easily as the attempts made by her friends, and we can’t help but wish to return to a flashback of her time in Bonesaw’s shed of horrors where her vulnerability was at its highest.

Nick, Velvet’s romantic interest, is her exact opposite; a young man who’s open and playful and willing to take a chance at forming attachments even though he’s struggling with his sudden transition from life to death. He laughs quickly and easily and never takes Velvet’s repeated teasing and mockery to heart, continually making her aware of his interest even as she runs hot and cold from one moment to the next. Their relationship progresses to a declaration of love shockingly quickly given Velvet’s obvious reticence to admit she is in fact in possession of feelings, detracting slightly from a romance that was amusing in its lighthearted antagonism and successful in its tension without the addition of those three little words.

Overall, Velveteen presents us with a unique and truly fantastic world, Mr. Marks earning high points for his ingenuity and imagination in his depiction of Purgatory and the souls who inhabit it, as well as his ability to write entertaining main and secondary characters. Readers should be aware however that the synopsis is a touch misleading, as Bonesaw's murder of Velvet unexpectedly and disappointingly takes a back burner to the increasing unrest brewing in Purgatory, and the story itself is often slowed down by the weight of layer after layer of detail helping to describe how this new and unfamiliar world functions. While we’re given a nice conclusion to this first installment, there is certainly plenty of room for the continuation of Velvet’s story, and I hope the next book allows us to delve a little deeper into Velvet’s psyche and come out the other side with a solid and unbreakable thread linking us to her.

Rating: 3.5/5