The Diviners by Libba Bray

4/5 stars

I really liked this book by Libba Bray. It was much different than her last book, Beauty Queens, and I can’t say I was disappointed. I love when Libba Bray writes about magical, fantastical things! Not quite as much when she is sarcastic and humorous. Although Beauty Queens was a funny book, I got sick of it after awhile.

Anyway, The Diviners. Set in the 1920s, I just loved the setting, the way everyone talked, dressed, thought…loved it, so cool.

So the main character, Evie, gets sent to live with her Uncle in New York because of some trouble she gets into at a party. Evie is absolutely hilarious, quite a riot! So she gets to New York and loves her new life, which is filled with much more freedom. Something much more sinister is at work in New York City however, and Evie and her uncle and friends get quite caught in the middle of it. I don’t want to tell you a thing more! Half the fun of this book is guessing what the heck is going on.

The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan

2.5/5 stars

This book might have been a little too weird for me. I am not sure. I most CERTAINLY did not love it. And I was so excited to read this book because it has been getting amazing reviews.

The Brides of Rollrock Island is about a little island community, home to a young witch. This witch is not very pretty and is usually the brunt of everyone’s jokes, especially her sisters. She decides to take revenge on her fellow female islanders when she discovers that she has the ability to turn seals into beautiful women, who are irresistible to the island men.

Nothing was ever really explained and I had no idea of any folklore or whatever behind this story, so I think I was just way in over my head. At the end, I was felt like “Wait…what? What happened in this whole book?” because I was not entirely sure. I guess the story could have been nice, but I found myself bored out of my mind a lot. And I hated how the characters talked, calling mothers “mams.” Just a personal annoyance.

I also thought the idea of beautiful women coming out of fat seals was weird and gross as well. I couldn’t reconcile the two images. I don’t know. I did love the cover. I kept looking back at it to get an idea of what the characters looked like because the descriptions were too fantastical for me. Meh.

The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

4/5 stars

I have been anxiously awaiting the second book to this series!! And I don’t think I was disappointed…but I was a bit confused.

The book picked up where we left off in the first book, so I would recommend re-reading the first one before you dive into this one. If you can’t remember specifics from the first book, you are gonna be like “Wait, what?” a whole lot of the time. I know I was….

So Mara wakes up in a loony bin after seeing Jude in the police station and pretty much struggles with trying to convince everyone she is not insane. It made me feel antsy to read, because I felt like she was almost trapped in hospitals through out the book. And trying to act “normal” was super hard especially given Mara’s circumstances and the crazy things that are happening to her. Not a very nice feeling.

The ever darling Noah is still hanging around, being cuter than ever. He and Mara continue their search for Jude, Mara’s ex-boyfriend who was supposed to be dead, but somehow is not. This book is good as ever, suspenseful, scary, etc. The ending was veryyy confusing to me. I get the feeling it was supposed to be? But I still feel like…”Uh what??” I am hoping things get explained in the next book. And of course there is a huge cliffhanger ending. Of course. Gah Michelle Hodkin, you better get to writing the last book already!!!!

Ask the Passengers by A.S. King

3.75/5 stars

This was a very different book than I had expected. Love the cover.

The main character, Astrid (unfortunate name), is struggling with her sexuality. I thought A.S. King would dance around and sugar coat because it is a touchy subject. But no. This clear struggle is present from the beginning of the book. You are only sort of introduced to the entire situation and throughout specifics become more clear. Which I liked. The story truly unfolded before my eyes.

Astrid lives in a small, gossipy town and is kind of miserable. Rumors abound in Unity Valley.   Her mother doesn’t like her, her dad is a gigantic stoner, and she is trying  to figure out if she is gay or not.  I felt for poor Astrid on every page! She is a pushover and everyone takes advantage of her and tends to treat her badly. I just wanted to yell at her and her friends and family the whole time!!!

I thought King did a much better job with Ask the Passengers than with Everybody Sees the Ants. She seems to be a huge fan of having her characters interacting with imaginary characters  which can take some getting used to. It was one of Astrid’s more lovable qualities in this book though.

172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad

2.75/5 stars

Two posts in two days, wahoo!

I was really interested to read this book because it was described as Science Fiction Horror, which is a description that intrigued me, plus I love horror and scaring the heck out of myself. I had also attended a webinar with the author of this book, and the author seemed very interesting and dark.

This book was kind of interesting and I suppose it really is Science Fiction Horror, just not exactly what I was expecting. I think I was expecting more. It had awesome pictures to go along with the story, which I loved. The pictures were very neat, and I spent a lot of time just looking at them. And the idea of heading back to the moon after all these years was terrifying, especially with the hints that there is something scary going on up there. However, it was never really explained why the heck NASA would want to send three teenagers? Especially at the end when you truly realize the purpose of the trip, it just literally makes no sense as to why they would hold a contest for three teens to go up there.

The ending was not exactly what I expected, but at the same time it WAS exactly what I expected. I just mostly felt like I just had to finish this book, so I wouldn’t be leaving it unread. It had some spooky parts, but a lot of the book was the lead up to going to the moon, and all the creepy parts were on the moon. Overall feeling: Meh.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

3.75/5 stars

I was extremely excited for this book after having read Stiefvater’s The Scorpio Races. However, I must say that it was kind of disappointing in comparison! I know I should not read a book already comparing it with a previous one, but I was seriously so affected and impressed with The Scorpio Races that I couldn’t help but have high expectations.

Stiefvater tended to just jump in to scenes with no warning, and that threw me off a lot. I’d be like “Wait a minute, did I miss something?” and have to start reading that section all over again, just to realize that “No, I didn’t miss anything, there was just a gigantic switch of thinking.” The story is also a bit complicated and confusing. I don’t know much about dead kings, or ley lines(around which the story revolves), and Stiefvater doesn’t explain things until some time after they are introduced. So for awhile, you are just guessing at what things are. She eventually drops context clues so you can understand better, but I wasn’t a fan of that style of writing, and being so confused.

Maggie Stiefvater has a brilliant mind. The stories she weaves are excellent, and truly original. In The Raven Boys, she introduces Blue, the daughter of a local witch. Blue is super cool, and different, living a very unconventional life with a mother and aunts who know quite a bit about the future, including Blue’s. They have told Blue from the time she was born that she will kill the one she loves with a kiss. Needless to say, it has been advised that she not go around kissing anyone. A few other characters are introduced, Gansey, Adam, Ronan, and Noah, and you slowly learn about the connection they soon come to have with Blue.

The ending of this book threw me for like fifteen loops, I literally can’t even begin to figure out what is going on.There are a few secrets in their town of Henrietta, Virginia, and The Raven Boys, is the beginning of what should be a very good story.

Every Day by David Levithan

3.75/5 stars

This was an interesting book. It is not that I didn’t like it. But I felt like David Levithan was using the book only  to advocate for gay rights and the acceptance of gay individuals. Which is fine. You could just very obviously see where he was going with every situation.

The premise of Every Day is that there is this…entity who wakes up in a different body every day. “A”  feels no attachment to a particular gender, nor a sexual preference.  A just is. Until A meets Rhiannon, when in the body of her boyfriend. A falls in love with her and spends every day trying to see her. Including disrupting one boy’s life rather immensely  This is the story of their love, and A’s unusual life, and how he ultimately deals with it all.

Every Day was extremely well written. The teen emotions Levithan captures are beyond accurate. The story line was different and kept me interested for the most part. The characters were developed.  I just wish Levithan would have advocated a little more quietly and let the story stand out more. Every Day has a very unusual fantasy story line, and I think in this case, the focus should have been ultimately on making that story line work. Levithan should have kept in mind that he was not writing a gay rights book, he was writing a fictional story, which needed a good solid base behind it and an even better ending.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

2.75/5 stars.

Meer. This book. I dunno. I know I am late in reading this, but I just hadn’t had the effort until recently.

The Maze Runner is about a bunch of teen boys who are trapped in a huge walled in structure called the Glade, which is equipped with sunlight, electricity, farming equipment, etc. A maze is outside the Glade walls, and holds all kinds of crazy creatures. Everyone inside the Glade has had their memory wiped before arrival. The boys are convinced if they run the maze enough, they will find a way out. Then all of a sudden, Thomas arrives, and life in the Glade changes. A girl, of all things, arrives the very next day after Thomas, with a super creepy message and in a comatose state. Creepy, beautiful, coma girl appears to know Thomas as well.  And then the sun stops shining in the Glade. The boys’ time to find a way to escape has run out.

I wanted to like it because all the teens are sooo obsessed with it, and it is almost ALWAYS checked out of the library…but Thomas annoyed the heck out of me. Like come on Thomas. Quit being such a moody little baby. One second he is moping HIS FACE OFF because he doesn’t know what is going on, wahh wahh cry cry, then the next he has suddenly had one thought that has been revolutionary for him and he has decided to have a more positive life outlook. Thomas. Buck up bud. Like for real.

After by Francine Prose

3/5 stars

After takes place at a school named Central High. Central High is located fifty miles away from where a school shooting occurs in the appropriately named town of Pleasant Valley. The school decides that  because of the shooting fifty miles away, the students at Central High need a crisis and grief counselor at their school. The crisis and grief counselor, Dr. Willner, turns out to be a complete psycho who ends up outlawing things like Catcher in the Rye, wearing red, or not having enough friends!

Things start getting crazy when kids are sent away to behavioral improvement camps and never coming back or being heard of…again.

I liked the overall idea of this book, but it was entirely too unbelievable on almost all accounts and wasn’t wrapped up neatly, or even very satisfyingly.

Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott

4/5 stars

Wow, intense book. SERIOUSLY. The book itself is very easy to read grammatically, but extremely difficult to read subject wise. It was a great story though. VERY realistic and raw and sad.

It is about a girl named “Alice” who was abducted at the age of 10 by a man named Ray. Ray is violent and abusive, and even starves Alice so that she will stay small, tiny, and girl like forever. He is a disgusting human being overall.

Read the story of Alice as she describes her regular days with Ray, and the small pinprick light of hope she has for escaping Ray.