Waiting On Wednesday || Falls the Shadow by Stefanie Gaither

Falls the Shadow by Stefanie Gaither
September 16, 2014

When Cate Benson was a kid, her sister, Violet, died. Two hours after the funeral, Cate’s family picked up Violet’s replacement. Like nothing had happened. Because Cate’s parents are among those who decided to give their children a sort of immortality—by cloning them at birth—which means this new Violet has the same smile. The same perfect face. Thanks to advancements in mind-uploading technology, she even has all of the same memories as the girl she replaced.

She also might have murdered the most popular girl in school.

At least, that’s what the paparazzi and the anti-cloning protestors want everyone to think: that clones are violent, unpredictable monsters. Cate is used to hearing all that. She’s used to defending her sister, too. But Violet has vanished, and when Cate sets out to find her, she ends up in the line of fire instead. Because Cate is getting dangerously close to secrets that will rock the foundation of everything she thought was true.

This is the month of gorgeous covers and standalone novels, I feel, because look at that. 

Also, man, I am so here for a cloning plot line. Especially when there's protest involved. As you might've guessed, I'm a sucker for the whole "things are more than they seem" plot device. I'm hoping this book delves into some tough stuff--like the idea of personhood. I can't wait!

Review || It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini ★★★☆☆

Like many ambitious New York City teenagers, Craig Gilner sees entry into Manhattan's Executive Pre-Professional High School as the ticket to his future. Determined to succeed at life--which means getting into the right high school to get into the right college to get the right job--Craig studies night and day to ace the entrance exam, and does. That's when things start to get crazy.

At his new school, Craig realizes that he isn't brilliant compared to the other kids; he's just average, and maybe not even that. He starts earning mediocre grades and sees his once-perfect future crumbling away. The stress becomes unbearable and Craig stops eating and sleeping--until, one night, he nearly kills himself.

Craig's suicidal episode gets him checked into a mental hospital, where his new roommate is an Egyptian schoolteacher who refuses to get out of bed. His neighbors include a transsexual sex addict, a girl who has scarred her own face with scissors, and the self-elected President Armelio. There, isolated from the crushing pressures of school and friends, Craig is finally able to confront the sources of his anxiety.

General spoilers for the book in this review. 

Read at your own risk!

I liked this book.

But that's about as far as it goes. Just "like". 3 stars.

What starts off as a raw and honest look at depression gets a little derailed by romantic entanglements by the end.

Craig is relateable. Overwhelmed by academic pressures and spiraling into suicidal thoughts. I understand the pressures he is experiencing, because I too was concerned about my grades--though not nearly to the same extent. I saw a bit of myself in Craig, and at times it made my gut churn.

The book offers a relatively realistic look at therapy and hospitalization. (I say this given my limited experience with both, but having seen some of the process because my mother deals with both anxiety and depression.) However, despite Craig's understanding that this is only the beginning upon his discharge, five days seemed like an unrealistic turn around time. Though, I did appreciate the open endedness.

Craig's family is another one of the high points for me in this book. Wonderfully supportive and doing the best they can to help. It was nice to see.

Still, the book is not without flaws. The treatment of a trans* character in this book was deplorable and made me very uncomfortable. What's worse was that it didn't really seem to do anything to further the story. It was just a throwaway moment for... what? Comedy? Supremely unfunny.

And I think the whole thing would've been stronger without any of the romance. Sure, including Craig getting over Nia is an important step in his recovery, but I don't think he needed to make out with her in the hospital.

Noelle seemed to be a last minute love interest thrown in for the sake of Craig having some prize to obtain at the end of his struggle. She shows a lot of potential during her few short appearances, but is generally done a disservice by the narrative.

So. 3 stars. I liked it. I'd encourage others to give it a try and see for themselves.

August Book Haul

So! It's book haul time again.

Coles
TBR Pile

I actually bought this the day it came out in July... but surprisingly it was the only book I bought in July! So I'm including it here. I haven't read this yet and I don't know why.

Hastings
Already Read

TBR Pile

I went on a roadtrip with a few friends at the beginning of August down to the US. And so naturally we checked out ever book seller we could find. I'd never been to Hastings before, but holy smokes, I was not disappointed by their selection!

I picked up the Wool omnibus because I'd read it originally on my Kobo and liked it enough to want a physical copy. (And also, everything here was super cheap!)

The other books were mostly impulse buys because I knew something about them and they were inexpensive. But BONUS, the Morgan Matson book (despite being used) was SIGNED! I think I paid $5 for it! Woo-hoo!

Barnes & Noble

Already Read

 

TBR Pile

I also had my first Barnes & Noble excursion! Yay. I picked up The Coldest Girl in Coldtown because I really enjoyed it and wanted a physical copy for my shelf. (Which--eek! I have new bookshelves! Pictures forthcoming!)

Now, Les Miserables has a bit of a story behind it. In case you didn't know, I was basically raised on the 10th Anniversary Dream Cast Recording of the Les Mis musical. And I've been meaning to read the source material for a while now. But as I got more into the fandom, I started learning a few things that the musical had left out. One of which became my love for Enjolras and Grantaire. When the barricade falls, there's a line Grantaire says to Enjolras, "Permets tu?" which translates to "Do you permit it?" Which is sort of a hallmark of the pairing in the fandom. So I've been scouring translations of "the brick" for one that has "Do you permit it?" in it. AND LO. I finally found it. 

Which is a long explanation for a single book, I know, but indulge me!

Thankfully, it's the end of the haul now, so! Have you read any of these? Bought any good books this past month? Let's chat in the comments!

Waiting On Wednesday || Winterkill by Kate A. Boorman

Winterkill by Kate A. Boorman
September 9, 2014

Emmeline knows she’s not supposed to explore the woods outside her settlement. The enemy that wiped out half her people lurks there, attacking at night and keeping them isolated in an unfamiliar land with merciless winters. Living with the shame of her grandmother’s insubordination, Emmeline has learned to keep her head down and her quick tongue silent.

When the settlement leader asks for her hand in marriage, it’s an opportunity for Emmeline to wash the family slate clean—even if she has eyes for another. But before she’s forced into an impossible decision, her dreams urge her into the woods, where she uncovers a path she can’t help but follow. The trail leads to a secret that someone in the village will kill to protect. Her grandmother followed the same path and paid the price. If Emmeline isn’t careful, she will be next.

I have to admit, this is at least 50% because of that cover. I'm a shallow person, we've established this. And that cover is gorgeous.

Also, the synopsis seems to suggest that there's more to this than it would seem. And I love a good mystery. We'll have to see how this one plays out, I suppose!

August Wrap Up & September TBR

Well. This was the worst reading month of the year by far. But that's not totally surprising, given that I had to pack up my apartment, haul it all across the city and then unpack it all. It's still a work in progress, but I have just had so much to do that reading has not been a priority, sadly. Hopefully I'll get back into my groove this month.

BOOKS READ

Ship Breaker (Ship Breaker #1) by Paolo Bacigalupi ★★☆☆☆
More Than This by Patrick Ness ★★☆☆☆

Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1) by Sarah J Maas ★★★★☆
Ruin and Rising (The Grisha #3) by Leigh Bardugo ★★★☆☆

CHALLENGE UPDATES

GOODREADS: 69/75 [+4]

ALPHABET: 20/26 [+0]

SERIES: 9 complete [+1]; 8 ongoing [+1]

NOTABLE POSTS

Monday Mix || the oteep
Top 10 Tuesday || YA Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Monday Mix || stay eighteen forever
Monday Mix || Fight the Future
Monday Mix || Trailer Heart: Marvel Edition

GUEST POSTS:
Series Marathons @ Oh, the Books!
Behind the Blogger @ The Attic

SEPTEMBER TBR

FROM THE LIBRARY:

Reality Boy by AS King
Guardian (Proxy #2) by Alex London

FROM MY BOOKSHELF:

????
All my books are still in boxes :((((((
So who knows, September will be a month of surprises!

One book I didn't include on the library list is Red Rising (Red Rising #1) by Pierce Brown because I'm about 75% finished it already. So expect to see that one as well this month.

How did your August reading go? (Better than mine, I hope!) Let's chat in the comments!

Review || The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black ★★★★☆

Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in a decadently bloody mix of predator and prey. The only problem is, once you pass through Coldtown’s gates, you can never leave.

One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of this massacre are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them the only way she knows how: by going straight to the wicked, opulent heart of Coldtown itself.

This is going to be a difficult review to write. I always seem to struggle with the books that I enjoyed.

While I liked Black's White Cat well enough when I read it last year, Coldtown is heads and shoulders above that. I really enjoyed this book. It was dark, twisted and full of compelling characters and mythology.

The set up here, for those of you who somehow don't know what this book is about already, is vampires. A fairly standard vampire mythos is accompanied by some really interesting world history. Vampires are publicly recognized--albeit as monsters. But also, in some cases, as a very twisted form of celebrity. It's not too unbelievable, given our modern penchant for reality TV.

Combine that with some really complex and diverse characters, and you have Coldtown in a very simplified nutshell.

I am very much a character person when it comes to books. Give me depth and complexity. The characters here are so beautifully flawed. They are fully of shades of grey. They have their own complicated histories. It was really fantastic. I really loved Tana as a narrator, for no reason that I can eloquently express. I just clicked with her as a character, despite us being very different.

One of the things I've seen this book praised for is its inclusion of a transgender character. Which, truthfully, brought it higher up my reading priority list than it had been before. I'm going to quibble a bit, since said character was a secondary character and did not feature as much as I would've liked. She still got a really cute side love story, which made me really happy.

Still, despite all my praise, this was not a 5 star book for me. I can't really pin down what it was about this book that made it 4 instead of 5 stars. I just never really got that "5 star" feeling, if you know what I mean. Never had that smack my hand against the cover slash want to throw the book across the room it was so good feeling.

Regardless. Highly enjoyable and definitely recommended--especially if you're looking for something new to try in the vampire realm.

Waiting On Wednesday || Salt & Storm by Kendall Kulper

Salt & Storm by Kendall Kulper
September 23, 2014

Sixteen-year-old Avery Roe wants only to take her rightful place as the witch of Prince Island, making the charms that keep the island's whalers safe at sea, but her mother has forced her into a magic-free world of proper manners and respectability. When Avery dreams she's to be murdered, she knows time is running out to unlock her magic and save herself.

Avery finds an unexpected ally in a tattooed harpoon boy named Tane--a sailor with magic of his own, who moves Avery in ways she never expected. Becoming a witch might stop her murder and save her island from ruin, but Avery discovers her magic requires a sacrifice she never prepared for.

Two witch books in a row... I promise that was unintentionally.

I really love magical tales, especially ones that skirt the edges of our reality. And clairvoyance is also definitely a thing I am super into. Plus, the whole embracing your inheritance thing is also a win.

And let's take a moment to appreciate that cover. Oh my.

Monday Mix || Trailer Heart: Marvel Edition

I'm just going to leave this one here without much explanation.

Except: I love instrumental movie scores. And I love Marvel movies. (Who doesn't?)

by amaltheias

Listen on 8tracks

Review || Timeless by Alexandra Monir

Timeless (Timeless #1) by Alexandra Monir ★☆☆☆☆

When tragedy strikes Michele Windsor’s world, she is forced to uproot her life and move across the country to New York City, to live with the wealthy, aristocratic grandparents she’s never met. In their old Fifth Avenue mansion filled with a century’s worth of family secrets, Michele discovers a diary that hurtles her back in time to the year 1910. There, in the midst of the glamorous Gilded Age, Michele meets the young man with striking blue eyes who has haunted her dreams all her life – a man she always wished was real, but never imagined could actually exist. And she finds herself falling for him, into an otherworldly, time-crossed romance.

Michele is soon leading a double life, struggling to balance her contemporary high school world with her escapes into the past. But when she stumbles upon a terrible discovery, she is propelled on a race through history to save the boy she loves – a quest that will determine the fate of both of their lives.

In my mind, there's a distinction between "bad" and "not good".

This book was not "bad" by any means. But it certainly was "not good".

Despite a promising premise, this book suffers from a very mediocre execution. The writing style is very simplistic and overly descriptive--not in a good way, but in a "telling, not showing" kind of way.

The plot is virtually non-existent, unless you want to count "impulsive teenagers make heart eyes at each other" as the plot. In which case, there you have it. Except the teenagers are separated across 100 years.

And though I appreciate cyclical time travel as a plot device, the rest of the mechanics are sort of hand-waved away. What I'm sure are supposed to be shocking twists can be seen from miles away--which doesn't necessarily detract from my enjoyment, but it just wasn't particularly original.

Everything else sort of falls under the melodrama category. The characters have very little depth and with this clocking in at under 300 pages, you don't really have enough time to see growth.

If you're looking to kill about 2 hours on something completely mindless, you could pick this up. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother.

Waiting On Wednesday || Trial By Fire by Josephine Angelini

Trial By Fire (The Worldwalker Trilogy #1) by Josephine Angelini
September 2, 2014

This world is trying to kill Lily Proctor. Her life-threatening allergies keep her from enjoying many of the experiences that other teenagers take for granted...which is why she is determined to enjoy her first (and perhaps only) high-school party. But Lily's life never goes according to plan, and after a humiliating incident in front of half her graduating class Lily wishes she could just disappear.

Suddenly Lily is in a different Salem - one overrun with horrifying creatures and ruled by powerful women called Crucibles. Strongest and cruellest of all the Crucibles is Lillian... Lily's identical other self in this alternate universe. This new version of her world is terrifyingly sensual, and Lily is soon overwhelmed by new experiences.

Lily realizes that what makes her weak at home is exactly what makes her extraordinary in New Salem. It also puts her life in danger. Thrown into a world she doesn't understand, Lily is torn between responsibilities she can't hope to shoulder alone, and a love she never expected.

But how can Lily be the saviour of this world when she is literally her own worst enemy?

Alternate universes! Witches! Evil selves!

This book has basically everything I'm into. I can't wait to see how this is all going to play out. Also, come on, Salem and witches... this is obviously going to end badly.