Teen/YA Review: Insurgent and Allegiant

Over the past two months, I listened to both Insurgent (book 2) and Allegiant (book 3), the sequels to Veronica Roth’s hot post-apocalyptic/dystopian trilogy that began with Divergent.  If you have somehow missed this popular trilogy (been living in a cave maybe?), then you should go back and read the review of Divergent (no spoilers there or in this review) and start there.

As Insurgent opens, Tris and her friends are still reeling from the violence and loss that ended book one.  The city of Chicago erupted into chaos as conflict arose between the five different factions. Now it seems that war is the only possible outcome. Tris and each of her friends must decide where their loyalty stands and which ideology and leader they each agree with.

This follow-up novel is all about conflicts and choices. Many secrets emerge that were not obvious in the seemingly peaceful world at the beginning of Divergent. As more and more secrets are revealed, Tris must make more choices – about who to believe, who to follow, and what is right. Making matters worse, she is haunted by both grief and guilt throughout this second novel, from events that occurred in book one. Through it all, with Tobias by her side, she must also consider what it means to be divergent.

In the final book of the trilogy, Allegiant, the action moves beyond the city’s boundaries, as Tris and her companions venture outside the fence to learn more about their society.  In this book, the chapters alternate between Tris and Tobias, so for the first time, we get a glimpse into Tobias’ perspective. Conflict continues in Chicago between those who believe in the faction-approach they know and those who believe in a factionless society, as an all-out war seems inevitable. Outside of the fence, Tris and the others learn a lot of surprising truths about their own family histories, the rest of the world, and how the faction-divided society began. The question is, what is its future?

Although I enjoyed Divergent and Insurgent, Allegiant was by far my favorite book of the series. The first two books were a bit too violent for my taste, without any real explanation of how this unusual society came to be. That explanation is finally revealed in book three, which made it far more interesting for me. My favorite aspect of dystopian novels is seeing how the author takes elements of our own society and shows how those were taken to an extreme to end up with the dystopian society. I like the thoughtfulness and thought-provoking nature of that kind of story, which I finally got in Allegiant. For me, that brought the series up closer to the level of The Hunger Games trilogy or the Unwind series.

All in all, I am glad I stuck with it and read/listened to the entire trilogy. The audio books were all very well done, with talented voice actors (including two different narrators for Tris and Tobias in the final book). I tried listening to Insurgent on audio with my family last summer, but my son and husband both lost interest because it had been too long since we’d all read Divergent. And that’s an important point with this series: because of the number of characters and the complicated plot, it is best to read each book immediately after the previous one. It’s far more enjoyable that way, and you’ll save yourself a lot of time going back and asking, “Wait a minute, who was that?” I am glad I finally had a chance to listen to the entire series…and now my husband has been inspired to go back and listen to it all, too. The movie adaptation of Divergent opens today – I can’t wait to see it on the big screen!

HarperAudio

Best of 2012 & Year-End Summary

I finally sat down and took a look back at all the books I read in 2012. It was definitely a good reading year!

I read a total of 64 books in 2012, plus 2 that I did not finish (one of which I spent a week on!). The type breakdown is:

• Adult Fiction = 26 books
• Memoir =3
• Nonfiction (not memoir) = 1
• Middle-Grade Fiction = 15
• Teen/YA Fiction = 18
• Picture Books = 1

Of those 64 books, 10 of them were audio books.

That's a few less books overall than last year, but 3 of the 64 were more than 800 pages and each of those took me more than 3 weeks to read!

Now comes the tough part - choosing my favorites! I enjoyed everything I read this year (except for one of the books that I did not finish). You might conclude that means I like everything, but really, that's just because I tend to choose what I read carefully, based on what I like and reviews from people whose tastes are similar to mine. My book groups make sure I don't get stuck in any ruts!

So, my Top Ten Kids/Teen/YA Books Read in 2012 are (not in order):

• Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick
• Dead To You by Lisa McMann
• Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt
• Everfound by Neal Schusterman
• Young Fredle by Cynthia Voight
• Looking for Bobowicz by Daniel Pinkwater (also, my family's favorite audio of all time!)
• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
• Greetings from Planet Earth by Barbara Kerley
• The Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede
• The Girls of No Return by Erin Saldin

 (you can check out my top ten list of grown-up books read in 2012 at Book By Book.)

And, for a little extra fun, here are a few superlatives (thanks for the idea, Tanya!):

Best Middle-Grade Book of the Year:

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick
 

 
 Best Audio Book of the Year:

Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt

Best Teen/YA Book of the Year: 

The Fault in Our Stars by Lisa McMann 

Best Kid/Teen/YA Book by An Old Favorite Author:

Dead to You by Lisa McMann  

Best Kid/Teen/YA Book by a New Author:

  The Girls of No Return by Erin Saldin
 

What were YOUR favorite kids/teen/YA books of 2012?

Teen/YA Review: The Fault in Our Stars

After hearing rave reviews  of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars all year, I finally got a chance to read it myself, just before the end of the year. A young friend of mine lent it to me after I squealed in delight seeing her reading it! It was just as wonderful as everyone said it was and surprisingly funny and warm for such a serious subject matter.

Seventeen-year old Hazel has had terminal cancer for much of her young life. A miracle drug has given her more time, but she and her doctors know that it is only a temporary reprieve.  Her life is pretty routine and depressing until the day that a new guy shows up at the kids’ cancer support group she attends. Augustus Waters is unlike anyone Hazel has ever met before. He is honest and funny and is a big believer in metaphor. Oh, and he’s gorgeous, with a crooked smile that Hazel loves.

Life with Augustus around is much more interesting, but there are still plenty of dark clouds on the horizon. Adding to their troubles, Hazel and Augustus’ friend Isaac needs another eye surgery for his cancer that will leave him blind. Despite these enormous challenges, the three friends keep each other laughing…and support each other when the tears and anger come. Hazel also finds support from a favorite novel that she relates to and has read dozens of times:

“My favorite book, by a wide margin, was An Imperial Affliction, but I didn’t like to tell people about it. Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together again unless and until all living humans read the book. And then there are books like An Imperial Affliction, which you can’t tell people about, books so special and rare and yours that advertising your affection feels like a betrayal.”

Hazel does end up sharing her favorite book with Augustus, but I don’t want to say much more about what happens because the plot includes some surprises. The relationship between the three friends – and especially between Hazel and Augustus – is at the heart of this novel.  John Green’s talent for realistic teen dialogue shines through, and the book is filled with warmth, depth, emotion, and surprising humor. I literally did laugh and cry while reading it. A book that can make me feel such a wide range of emotions is certainly a winner.

313 pages, Dutton Books

 

Teen/YA Review: The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls

I requested a review copy of The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls by Julie Schumacher simply because the author is from Delaware and the novel is set here as well, a rarity given that I live in the second-smallest state in the US (such is the low profile of our tiny state that one reviewer on Amazon incorrectly stated that this book takes place in Maryland - we are here, guys, right next door!)  I didn’t have many expectations for the book, but I was pleasantly surprised – I ended up loving this unique, realistic novel for teens.

Sixteen-year old Adrienne Haus knows this will be the worst summer ever.  Because of a serious knee injury, she is left at home while her best friend (well, her only friend) goes off to camp without her.  To make matters worse, her mother came up with the brilliant idea to have a mother-daughter summer book club, to help Adrienne and a few of her classmates do their required reading and get ready for their AP English class in the fall.

It is a disparate group of girls thrown together in this involuntary book club; the only thing they have in common is that none of them (except Wallis) wants to be in it, as explained on the back cover:

“…But we weren’t friends.  We were not a sisterhood, and we didn’t share any pants.  We were literary prisoners, sweating and reading classics and hanging out at the pool.  But, of course, that’s not the whole story. “

The book is written as Adrienne’s summer AP English assignment, with different chapters addressing not only the books read but what happened to the girls in between.  I just loved the unique approach, and the fact that the novel is not at all what you would expect.  The girls don’t fit easily into stereotypes and they don't all become best friends or learn to love literature.  The characters feel like real people, with plenty of real problems that are not easily solved.  Their summer reading parallels the course of everything else they go through that summer, and the girls grow and learn a lot about themselves and each other.  In fact, the book inspired me; I would like to read some of the books the girls in the novel read during their unbearable summer.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel and look forward to reading more from Schumacher.

230 pages, Delacorte Press

 

Teen/YA Reviews: Linger and Forever

 Let’s be clear about this from the outset: I am not a big fan of the trendy paranormal romance genre.  I have nothing against it; it’s just not really my thing.  So, it took me a long time to finally break down and read Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater because I heard it was about werewolves, and I had no interest in it at all.  All the fabulous reviews, though, finally wore me down, and, like everyone else, I loved it.  I have just finished tearing through the last two books of the trilogy, Linger and Forever, and I thoroughly enjoyed those as well. 

This is a series that transcends its genre, with well-written prose, an engaging and creative plot, and in-depth likeable characters that captured my heart.  In case you’ve been living in a cave for the past few years and haven’t read Shiver yet (not that I’m judging – I had to be convinced, too!), the trilogy is basically a love story, with elements of suspense and adventure. 

At the start of the trilogy, Grace is an older teen living in northern Minnesota who has been obsessed with wolves since she was a child.  She watches the pack that live in the Boundary Woods behind her house with fascination and longing, and she is particularly captivated by one wolf with yellow eyes who once saved her life.  During the warmer months (which isn’t many in northern Minnesota), that wolf with the yellow eyes is actually a quiet teenage boy named Sam who works in her favorite bookstore.

I don’t want to say much more about the plot in case you haven’t read Shiver yet because it is so much fun to discover for yourself.  Linger and Forever follow the story of Grace and Sam through many ups and downs to a final tense but satisfying conclusion.  The amazing thing about this trilogy is that somehow the author makes it all so believable and so real.  I had no trouble suspending my skepticism as teens and young adults changed from wolves to humans and back again.  There is nothing stale or trite about these books, and I don’t even like calling it a werewolf story because it is so much more.  In fact, I keep wanting to say, “These books aren’t about werewolves; they’re about people who turn into wolves.”

The reader gains insight into the real lives of these characters – their pains, their joys, their hopes and their dreams – as we are pulled into the story.  Sam’s love of music and poetry help us to understand his deepest feelings.  Stiefvater is a wonderful writer; she made me care about Sam and Grace and their friends.  There is plenty of suspense and tension in all three books, as the people and wolves battle not only their uncontrollable transformations but also a town of angry parents who want to hunt the entire pack after a teen is killed by wolves.  Just take my word for it – read it and you won’t be sorry!

Linger, 362 pages and Forever, 386 pages; Scholastic 

P.S. Just a brief word about the books themselves.  I was disappointed in the production quality of my paperback copy of Linger.  The text is printed in green ink, which would have been OK except that some pages were dark and some were so light they were hard to read.   The pages of the paperback were also bound roughly so it was hard to open all the way.  In contrast, the hardcover copies I read of both Shiver and Forever were very high quality and readable, even though the ink in Forever is a dark reddish-brown.

       

Teen/YA Review: Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour

I always enjoy reading road trip books while we’re on a road trip, so I had saved Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson for our June trip through California.  I absolutely loved this warm, unique novel and even found myself reading passages aloud and showing pages to my two teen sons (who are not normally interested in a book with a picture of a girl and boy holding hands on its cover!).  In the classic tradition of all good road trip books, this one is not only about the physical journey but an emotional one as well.

Amy hasn’t been the same since her Dad died this past spring.  Her mom has decided to move them from California to Connecticut, and Amy is expected to join her on the East Coast as soon as she finishes her junior year of high school.  The problem is that Amy hasn’t driven since her dad’s death, so her mother enlists the help of the 19-year old son of a friend of hers to drive Amy to Connecticut.

Amy barely remembers Roger from when they were kids and is embarrassed by her inability to drive.  Though Roger seems like a well-adjusted guy, he is struggling with some issues of his own.  Together, they set out on their cross-country drive, following Amy’s mother’s planned route at first.  Soon, though, the pull of the open road entices them to make a detour that turns into…yes, an epic detour.  One of my favorite parts of the book was when they decided to visit Yosemite National Park, just as we were heading there ourselves, and I could follow along!

This is really two books in one – a scrapbook-style travelogue with photos, receipts, postcards, and other memorabilia interspersed with a novel describing how Amy and Roger both gradually open up to each other and face their own demons.  It could have turned out kind of gimmicky, but it’s not at all because it works so well on both levels.  It’s a well-written novel, warm and real, that is made even better by the travelogue. 

One of the highlights of the book for me was Roger’s Playlists, scattered throughout the book.  I do the same thing on our family road trips – make up custom CDs suited to wherever we are traveling – so I had a blast reading through Roger’s music choices and sharing the playlists with my sons.  In fact, now that I have the book back in my hands (we shipped a box of books back home after our trip), I can’t wait to look up some of Roger’s more obscure songs and listen to them myself.

Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour is a wonderful novel that addresses difficult topics in an accessible way.  The road trip is not merely background but an integral part of the journey.  It is described in wonderful detail that makes you feel as if you are riding along, discovering both the country and yourself along with Amy and Roger.

NOTE: for some extra fun, check out Roger's Playlist #1 on YouTube, a collection of 18 songs from Roger's first playlist in the book which someone has thoughtfully compiled

343 pages, Simon & Schuster

Teen/YA Fiction: Shiver

Let me just say upfront that I am not a big fan of that newest and hottest of YA genres, paranormal romance.  I really have no interest in reading about vampires and werewolves; I haven’t even read the Twilight books.  So, I was in no hurry to read Maggie Stiefvater’s Shiver, a novel about a teen girl who has a special relationship with one of the wolves who lives in the woods near her home and who is sometimes in the form of a teen boy.  The plot just didn’t appeal to me, but I kept reading reviews, from people whose opinions I respect, who said it was an excellent, well-written, engaging book.  So, I gave it a try (finally)…and I’m so glad that I did!

I was pleasantly surprised by Shiver.  I had no problem suspending belief in this group of teens and young adults who spend part of their lives as wolves, and I immediately liked Grace, the girl who feels such a connection to the wolves.  Grace was only eleven years old when the pack of starving wolves pulled her off the tire swing in her backyard and dragged her into the woods:

One wolf prodded his nose into my hand and against my cheek, casting a shadow across my face.  His yellow eyes looked into mine while the other wolves jerked me this way and that.

I held onto those eyes for as long as I could.  Yellow.  And, up close, flecked brilliantly with every shade of gold and hazel.  I didn’t want him to look away, and he didn’t.  I wanted to reach out and grab a hold of his ruff, but my hands stayed curled on my chest, my hands frozen to my body

I couldn’t remember what it felt like to be warm.

Then he was gone, and without him, the other wolves closed in, too close, suffocating.  Something seemed to flutter in my chest.

There was no sun; there was no light.  I was dying.  I couldn’t remember what the sky looked like.

But I didn’t die.  I was lost to a sea of cold, and then I was reborn into a world of warmth.

I remember this: his yellow eyes.

I thought I’d never see them again.

The wolf with the yellow eyes is Sam, and he feels that same undeniable connection to Grace that she feels to him.  Sam spends part of every year as a teen boy and the rest as a wolf, among a pack of similarly afflicted humans/wolves.  Sam and Grace fall in love, and Sam wants desperately to find a way to remain human so that he can be with Grace forever, but that seems impossible.  At the same time, events in their town put the entire wolf pack at risk.

Despite my initial reluctance, I was pulled into Shiver right from the first chapter and found it hard to put down.  It is a romance at its heart, but it also contains elements of suspense and adventure that kept me turning the pages. This is one of those books with such wide appeal it that transcends its genre.  I can’t wait to read the sequel, Linger, and find out what happens next in Grace and Sam’s lives.

390 pages, Scholastic Press

Where Are You Reading 2011:  Shiver takes place in the fictional town of Mercy Falls, in northern Minnesota, north of Duluth and near the Boundary Waters National Recreation Area.

If you want to learn more about the Wolves of Mercy Falls series - or just  can't get enough of it! -  check out Maggie Stiefvater's website and blog, where I just learned that the film rights have been purchased.

(You can also read my reviews of Linger and Forever, the second and third books in the trilogy.)

Teen/YA Review: Gone

I really enjoyed Wake and Fade, the first two books in Lisa McMann's unique paranormal trilogy, so I was excited to read the final book in the series, Gone.

Janie, the main character introduced in Wake, has an unusual talent that is also a curse: she gets pulled into other people's dreams.  The process is involuntary and leaves her exhausted and drained.  In the first two books, Jamie used her strange power to help the police solve two horrific crimes, all the while becoming closer to another loner, a boy named Cabel.  She also learned that her talent comes at a terrible price.

Gone is a different kind of book.  There is no crime to solve here, no suspenseful race to the finish.  The suspense here is to find out what Janie will do with the rest of her life.  She has graduated from high school with a scholarship to college, but she has also discovered that the negative effects of being a "dream catcher" are accelerating.  She loves Cabel but worries about what effect her worsening condition will have on him as time goes on.

She feels that she has two equally awful choices: continue to use her abilities and continue to deteriorate or isolate herself away from other people's dreams and live a life of solitude.  The novel focuses on this no-win choice, but the decision is further complicated by a mysterious stranger who enters Janie's life. 

If you enjoyed Wake and Fade, you'll want to read Gone to find out what happens next and what Janie decides.

214 pages, Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster)

NOTE:  This exciting series is definitely for older teens and young adults (and grown-ups!) because it deals in part with violent crimes and sexual assault.

Teen/YA Review: Ruined

I thoroughly enjoyed the teen ghost story, Ruined by Paula Morris, partly because it is set in New Orleans, one of my favorite cities (we used to live there) and partly because it’s a good mystery with plenty of unexpected twists.

Fifteen-year old Rebecca lives with her Dad in New York City and can’t imagine living anywhere else.  When her Dad has to travel to China for an extended business trip, he sends her to stay in New Orleans for six months with an old family friend who Rebecca refers to as Aunt Claudia.  Being yanked out of her familiar surroundings in the middle of the school year and sent far from her friends is bad enough, but Rebecca finds that New Orleans is like a whole different world (as anyone discovers when they travel there!).  Aunt Claudia picks her up at the airport:

“You work in the French Quarter, right?” asked Rebecca.  Her father had given her a few pieces of information, in his usual scattered way.  He’d been completely distracted for the past two weeks, ever since he announced that he was pulling her out of school and sending her to the Deep, Deep South for months on end.

“In Jackson Square.” Aunt Claudia nodded, breathless with the exertion of walking to the one baggage carousel surrounded by waiting passengers.  “I read tarot cards.  It was a quiet summer, but things are starting to pick up again.  Tourists and conventions and all that.”

“Oh,” said Rebecca.  Suddenly her aunt’s outfit was making sense: It was her office wear, in a way.  Though why her decidedly nonsuperstitious dad thought Aunt Claudia would be an ideal guardian was even more of a mystery.

That’s not the only mystery Rebecca encounters in her new city.  In the midst of adjusting to strange foods, unfamiliar customs, and a new private school filled with snooty rich kids, Rebecca finally meets a friend late one night in Lafayette Cemetery, down the street from her aunt’s house.  Her new friend, Lisette, is a ghost. 

As Rebecca’s new classmates keep her in the role of the outcast, she is drawn deeper into the secrets surrounding both them and Lisette and feels that there really is no live person that she can trust, with the possible exception of Anton Grey.  But isn’t he just another stuck-up rich kid?

The unpredictable twists and turns of this story incorporate real history into tales of ghosts and ancient curses.  Although I found some of the plot elements came together a bit too neatly, I mostly enjoyed the story and its setting.  As is often the case, New Orleans itself is like an extra character in this novel, with rich details of its customs, foods, and idiosyncrasies that made me homesick!  I was especially fascinated with the descriptions of the age-old customs surrounding the Mardi Gras balls and parades that are such a big part of Rebecca’s classmates’ lives.   Teens are sure to enjoy this unique novel that combines history, romance, suspense, and the supernatural in an exotic setting.

If you enjoyed this book as much as I did, you might want to visit the author’s blog, where she has unfortunately recently announced that she will soon be leaving New Orleans.

309 pages, Point (an imprint of Scholastic)

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

 

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This book is available in hardcover, paperback, and Kindle.

Teen/YA Review: What I Saw and How I Lied

I read What I Saw and How I Lied, a recent paperback release by Judy Blundell, while stuck for hours on a delayed flight.  It provided a welcome and worthy distraction!  This wonderful teen/YA novel won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature in 2008.  It’s an intriguing mix of historical fiction, a touching coming-of-age story, mystery, and even a bit of romance.

In 1947 New York, Evie is fifteen and feeling in that peculiar limbo between childhood and adulthood.  Here, she and her friend Margie practice smoking with chocolate cigarettes:

Margie held her candy cigarette high in the air, even though ladies don’t smoke on the street.  We couldn’t imagine being wicked enough to smoke on the street, but it was something to shoot for, something that smacked of high heels and saying “damn” if you broke a nail.  In the meantime, we were careful not to step on any cracks in the sidewalk.  Step on a crack, break your mother’s back.  We’d been saying it since we were nine years old, and it was just like Holy Communion.  We believed in it absolutely, no matter how screwball it sounded.

The author does a great job of capturing the sense of innocence and excitement of both the age and the time period.  The war has ended, and husbands, fathers, and brothers are returning home.  Evie’s stepfather has come home to her and her mother, but he seems different in some hard-to-describe way.   Peter, a young, handsome man from his company, shows up, and Evie begins to fall in love.  When tragedy strikes, Evie’s world begins to unravel and she no longer knows what – or who – to believe…and neither does the reader.

This suspenseful mystery kept me turning the pages, as I came to care about Evie and lament the loss of her little-girl innocence.  It’s a wonderful novel for both teens and grown-ups.

281 pages, Scholastic

Teen/YA Review: Wherever Nina Lies

Lynn Weingarten’s first novel, Wherever Nina Lies, is mystery, thriller, and romance all rolled into one. I really enjoyed this compelling, original story about a sixteen-year old girl on a mission to find her missing older sister.

It’s been two years since Ellie’s beautiful, creative sister Nina disappeared. Nina was a free spirit and seldom at home anymore, but this time, she didn’t return at all. Ellie and her mother have no idea what happened to her or where she is, but Ellie can’t forget her sister and “move on,” as people are always telling her to.

One afternoon, sifting through boxes of donated junk at the store where her best friend, Amanda, works, Ellie finally – after all this time – finds a clue:

A rectangular piece of cardboard with slightly rounded edges, a little smaller than an index card, has fallen out of the book and fluttered to the floor. I reach out and grab it. As soon as my skin touches it, my heart starts pounding, and I feel dizzy, like I’ve been spinning and just stopped. The room tilts. Everything around me looks wrong all of a sudden, and I think maybe I’m going to pass out. I sink to the floor; I’m vaguely aware of Amanda’s voice calling my name, but I can’t answer. She sounds far away and unfamiliar. Everything is unfamiliar, except for one thing. The piece of paper in my hand, covered in blue vines. I stare at them so hard they begin to swirl, like delicate navy thread snakes on a field of white. And in the center of these vines is a drawing of a girl: big round eyes, round face, round nose, crazy hair curling out in all directions, one dimple, a crooked smile. I know this drawing.

Ellie would recognize her sister’s drawing anywhere because she’s been drawing constantly on all sorts of surfaces ever since Ellie can remember. This particular drawing holds clues that lead Ellie off on a crazy, cross-country road trip with a gorgeous guy she barely knows because he’s the only person in her life who seems to understand and believe in her.

Ellie’s journey takes her to new and strange places, as she follows clues to her sister’s whereabouts. Along the way, she falls in love. This mystery contains more twists and turns than a mountain road, though, and Ellie doesn’t know where this trip will lead her. There's nothing I like better than a road trip book! Filled with plenty of suspense and surprises, as well as Nina’s unique drawings, this well-written novel kept me reading late into the night.

(recommended for older teens and young adults; contains some sexual situations, though nothing graphic)

316 pages, Point (an imprint of Scholastic)