A New Year Means New YA

Jan3

It’s 2013! The world didn’t end! Happy days are mine as I begin my reading challenge this year (just click the ‘challenges’ link above or to the right hand side to follow along). What’s one of the best things about a new year? Why a ranges of new books being published! Here are a few titles I can’t wait to get my hands once they’re fresh of the press! Click the link below to buy your copy in advance. Happy reading everyone!

Breath by Jackie Morse Kessler

USA / UK

Please note this is book 4 – Find book 1 HERE

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

USA / UK

Please note this is Book 2 – Find Book 1 HERE

The Impossibility of Tomorrow by Avery Williams

USA / UK

Please note this is Book 2 – Find Book 1 HERE

Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff

USA / UK

Gates of Paradise by Melissa De La Cruz

USA / UK

Please note this is Book 7 – Find Book 1 HERE

Splintered by A. G. Howard

USA / UK

The Program by Suzanne Young

USA / UK

Requiem by Lauren Oliver

USA / UK

Please note this is Book 3 – Find Book 1 HERE

What books are you excited to read this year??

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Dec27

Lena Haloway is less than six months away from getting the procedure known as ‘The cure’. In a world that is surrounded by the all-knowing government, people receive the cure as soon as they are eighteen. Love is a disease that makes one crazy, dangerous and out of control. Everyone is fearful of catching ‘deliria’. Her mother committed suicide because of it; her sister nearly suffered the same fate. Lena is determined to stay in line, receive her cure with accompanying marks and be paired for immediate marriage after college graduation. It’s just as life is supposed to be.

It’s during her evaluation that something changes in Lena. Unable to vocalise her practiced answer, she nearly loses everything, but an unforeseen distraction causes her test to be invalid. It’s also when she meets Alex: a nineteen-year-old boy that bares the mark. He’s cured, providing Lena with a security blanket for their friendship. If he wasn’t, she could be hauled away to the Crypts for being seen with him. Being too busy following all the rules, there’s to more to Lena’s world that she’s never noticed. As the bubbles of her life gradually pop, she’s going to have to make a choice: To love, or to die.

I have to be honest, I much preferred Delirium to Oliver’s Before I Fall. Lena is an excellent example of how effective brainwashing can be. I see this book as a spooky foretelling of America’s future. Living in a country that’s known for its ‘Big Brother’, I found myself wondering how far is too far for a society to be looked at? I can’t imagine a world without free speech or the freedom to love whomever you want. And yet, there are many passages where this easily could have taken place in a modern day America.

This is a story about growing up, falling in love and discovering what is important in life. People are different; a large population cannot conform to one simple ideal. History has proven this and Delirium takes advantage of human nature the right way. What would the world be like if we weren’t allowed to love? What would happen to a society if they found a way to love again? A fast paced read with a love story of Romeo and Juliet, I’m really hoping my local library will have the second book available! (Just checked – it’s a disappointing no.)

Many thanks to the publisher Hodder & Stoughton for sending me two copies from their social media campaign!

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Dec18

February 12^th, also known as ‘Cupid Day’ for senior Samantha Kingston at Thomas Jefferson High School. Every American High School has a day like this. Students buy flowers, write a message and send them to whomever throughout the day. It’s a race for popularity to see who receives the most. Sam’s one of the most popular girls in school along with her best friends Lindsay, Ally and Elody. Her boyfriend Rob is the hottest guy in school and tonight she’s going to lose her virginity to him.

With popularity comes a way to act and for Sam this is no different. Cruel and cold to all the other students in her class, she doesn’t bat an eye to painful pranks pulled by Lindsay against her enemy Juliet Sykes. When the group attend a party by geeky guy Kent in school, Sam watches as her life pools at her feet. Tired and drunk from the festivities, Sam sits in the front of the car as Lindsay gets behind the wheel. They were supposed to make it home, Sam is too young to die, but the car hits something and suddenly she’s falling.

However, that isn’t the end of Sam’s story as she wakes up to a brand new February 12^th. Stuck in the ‘in between’, Sam must figure why she’s reliving her last day on Earth. A journey of self-discovery that comes too late, Samantha Kingston, this was your life.

This is the kind of book that you might not originally like whilst reading, but it’s after you finish that it creeps into your heart. Sam Kingston is your typical mean girl and I really struggled with her character throughout most of the book. Her redeeming qualities took forever to come about and I felt as if most of the novel was just an excuse for her to piss all over everyone simply because she could.

Yet, the ending gives me what I want and as each day begins anew there’s a little bit more of Sam that is less snobbish and more genuine. This isn’t a story of the Mean Girls; it’s a story behind every insecure teenager trying to get through High School in one piece. Sam does evolve and I grew to like her for learning to stand up for herself. This is the kind of book that does take you back to those four years when everyone though they were invincible, that the future was bright and open. You’ll anxiously await turning the pages, wondering what Sam is going to do or learn next.

Many thanks to Stacey of PrettyBooks for this book!

David by Mary Hoffman

Dec15

Gabriele moved to Florence in hopes of earnings funds to support a future with his beloved back home. Instead his good looks and innocence take him on a political journey he never expected. Learning the ropes of life in a big city, Gabriele and his ‘milk’ brother, budding artist Michelangelo work together to create a unexpected symbol of the republic, a marble statue of David. Passion, art and politics, Gabriele grows up to discover just what is important in one’s life.

Normally I love historical fiction and a few weeks back I praised the amazing historical YA novel Velvet by Mary Hooper. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel the same way about Hoffman’s David. I found Gabriele to be lacking in character development, boring as wood and a bit of an idiot. He told the story rather than show it and I found myself falling asleep after the first few chapters. I understand that Gabriele is meant to be an ignorant stonecutter, but he stayed that way all through the novel.

Although I didn’t personally enjoy the book, I did enjoy Hoffman’s writing style. I honestly think most of my dislike of the book is due to the subject matter. It’s not a particular historical period I care about and I know nothing about the political conflicts of the time. Regardless, Hoffman’s writing is brilliantly researched and it brings the reader back in time. For those that love this time period and Italian history, it’s a wonderful read. Just because I didn’t like doesn’t mean that others won’t. I think I’m on the odd end in my feelings of the book. It’s a perfect YA choice for guys and I praise Hoffman for tackling such a difficult (not to mention rare) readership.

Fallen by Lauren Kate

Dec11

A truly spectacular cover.

It’s rare to find a book that only has one cover around the world.

Lucinda Price is seventeen, has had her head shaved by her parents and deposited at the Sword & Cross reform school. It’s gonna be a great year. Her first day is filled with meeting the other students, following the rules and him. Daniel: the fellow teenager that can only be described as beautiful. As their eyes meet, Luce’s heart thumps madly and Daniel, he flips her off.

There’s something about that him that prevents Luce was staying away. She’s drawn to him like a former lover, but with every step she gains he pushes her further away. As she tries to adjust to this caged life, Luce’s feelings are constricted between for desire for Daniel and affection for the thoughtful and charming Cam. With tough and rebellious reform school girls making her life a living nightmare, Luce is determined to keep her secret that landed her in this place a secret. But there’s more to this world of Sword & Cross and Luce is stuck in the middle of it.

I liked the premise of Fallen. It had a good mix of mystery but for adults like me I could still make some educated guesses. I love, love, loved that this was set in a reform boarding school! This isn’t a privileged boarding school, but a dark and dismal setting that really made the world come alive. For some kids, this is their life. It’s a jail that serves as a school where the teachers try but after so many years….

It’s good versus evil mashed with a love triangle. Who does the reader want our Luce to end up with? Cam or Daniel? Daniel or Cam? This is the current YA of excellence and it made me feel like I was seventeen again. Yet, there’s so much more to the story and this first book only lightly touches on the countless secrets that the main characters are holding within. The series finished this year and I am beyond excited that I can read through the rest at my leisure. I hope Kate is able to keep the story going with more depth rather than just focusing on forbidden love.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Switched by Amanda Hocking

Dec8

Wendy Everly is trying to be a typical teenager. She lives with her aunt and older brother Matt. They travel around due to her inability to stay stationary at school. She tries to be normal, but with a mother in a mental institution for attempting to kill her when she was six, tends to cause some problems. Wendy tries yet again to settle in to a new school, but the ever-watchful Finn makes her uncomfortable.

A natural loner except for her brother, Wendy can’t shake the feelings that Finn brings out when he’s around. He’s hiding something, something that has to do with Wendy. There’s a reason she doesn’t exactly fit in, it turns out her mother isn’t as crazy she appears. Wendy isn’t just a teenager, but in fact is a troll who’s next in line for the throne of her unknown people…

I wanted to like Switched. I love Amanda Hocking’s story – self-published author that lands an enormous book deal. The premise of the story is great too. I loved the idea of making trolls beautiful and that they exist almost anonymously among humans. However, this wasn’t well executed. The troll people are horrendous despite their physical beauty and gifts blessed by nature. What had the potential to be a fresh new spin of folklore doesn’t deliver. They’re mean, they’re materialistic, and they’re not a race I’d take any further interest in learning about. I don’t like them and that causes a problem with the story.

It saddens me that this kind of writing is what people want. Loose plotlines, poorly developed characters and a love story that doesn’t have any heart. Although it’s YA, I expected more. There was so much room to explore this concept. There are two more books in the series and honestly, I think I’m going to leave them. I don’t like letting series go unread, but this was a major disappointment.