YA Review: Across the Universe

Before I type this, I want to tell you all something about the review. I'm going to be using the back blurb because I like it better than goodreads. But it has more details and if you want to avoid them, I'll understand and you can skip that part. So, goodreads link here. There will be more details in the one below, but I'll put a bunch of space after it before I start the review part so you can scroll. Everyone good with that?

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Published: January 11th, 2011
Genre: YA Science Fiction. (Not dystopian, in my opinion.)
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: 398
Part of a series: Yes and that is killing me inside because I don't have book 2 yet and I can't get the third one any time soon because I do not have that kind of power and 20FREAKING13 PEOPLE! *cough* I mean, yes.
Amazon link. (The paperback is only 10 bucks when I'm typing this. And, hello, 400 page book. Not a bad deal.)

Summary (from the back of the book): Amy is a cryogenically frozen passenger abord the spaceship Godspeed. She has left her boyfriend, friends - and planet - behind to join her parents as a member of Project Ark Ship. Amy and her parents believe they will wake on a new planet, Centauri-Earth, three hundred years in the future. But fifty years before Godspeed's scheduled landing, cryo chamber 42 is mysteriously uplugged, and Amy is violently woken from her frozen slumber.

Someone tried to murder her.

Now, Amy is caught inside a tiny world where nothing makes sense. Godspeed's 2312 passengars have forfeited all control to Eldest, a tyrannical and frightening leader. And Elder, Eldest's rebellious teenage-heir, is both fascinated with Amy and eager to discover whether he has what it takes to lead.

Amy desperately wants to trust Elder. But should she put her faith in a boy who has never seen life outside the ship's cold metal walls? All Amy knows is that she and Elder must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets before whoever woke her tries to kill again.




(See, I told you I was putting spaces between the summary and the review.)





Review: You guys. YOU GUYS. I have so MANY FEELINGS about this book and I'm SO glad I have a blog where I can talk about this kind of thing because if I didn't, I would explode because my bestie who just read Across the Universe and A Million Suns, too, went to be and I still have all these FEELINGS.

First of all, the darn thing sucked me in like quicksand. Honestly, I was just going to read for a little bit. For a few minutes, maybe, until my mom got home and I had to help make dinner and stuff. I didn't even have that much time. I thought. Then the next thing I knew, it was six hours later and I had read a 400 page book with barely a break for air. You know, besides tweeting and that one time where I got lost on Youtube for ten minutes. That happens to other people, right?

Beth Revis' writing is at time blunt, completely without sugar-coating in moments that I can't imagine writing about. The scene where Amy and her parents are being frozen was heartbreaking, crystal clear with details and emotions and... it was amazing. And it was the opening scene. No pulling punches in this book. Not that anything was done for shock value, mind you. It was more like, "Here are the facts. What are you going to do about them?"

Plot: I don't want to spoil anything for you guys that skipped reading the longer blurb. (Handy how that works out for me who hates writing this part of the review, huh?) So let's just say that the plot was incredible. I was shocked at almost everything in the book and I'd like to think I'm hard to surprise.

Characters: Something that is really neat about Across the Universe was that it was told from both Amy and Elder's POV, alternating every other chapter. Both are first person present tense if you're wondering. If you're like me and you forget to read the chapter headers that SAY who's narrating which chapter, it's confusing for a minute, but just realize that they do alternate and you'll be fine.

Amy was... oh, she was awesome. In the first chapter (it's not a spoiler if it's in the first chapter, okay?), she finds out that the ship's launch has been delayed a year - after she's already been cryo frozen. She thinks, when it's too late to go back, "I want my year back." And even after a heck of an opening chapter, the kind that grabs you by the heartstrings and clings tight, who can't understand that kind of pain?

What I really liked about her was that she was normal. She wasn't Supergirl. She wasn't perfect. She was scared and angry and normal. When the setting of the book is a spaceship 300 years in the future, it's a sharp contrast that is seriously cool.

Elder... well, he was not normal. (And yes, he was hot. Like whoa.) But he was interesting, too, and having him narrating made the book a lot more than just Amy's story. But I will not say another word about him because the most interesting things about him, plot-wise, are total spoilers. So I'll give you a quote instead:

pg. 38
          I bet when Eldest posed for his portrait, he was reveling in the one thing I can't stand about life aboard the ship: the perfect evenness of everything.
          And that's why I'll never be as good an Eldest as he is.
          Because I like a little chaos.

As for the rest of the characters, it was fascinating thinking about just how people would react or change in this situation and I think Beth Revis does a fantastic job with that.

Cons, complaints, bad stuff, etc.: It ended and I don't have all three. I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.

PG-13 stuff: Very little language. Some, not a ton. Many of the character use "frex" instead of... you know, but other than that, there's not a ton language-wise. For other stuff... it's for older/mature readers. I personally have no issues with anything in it.

Cover comments: I'm using the paperback cover because that's what I read but I liked the hardcover better. It's totally smexy, right? (Also, have you seen the German cover? It's very similar but not quite the same. Interesting, huh?) The paperback is fine. I was thinking my cousin might like this book and if I buy it for him, I'll probably try to buy the paperback because the hardcover is kinda pink and he is a dude, but I like the hardcover better myself.

Also, I don't think the paperback is super eye-catching. I didn't recognize it on the new book shelf at the library at first. (I'm really near-sighted, mind you, and couldn't read the title from where I was.) Like I said, it's fine, though. I like that the clothes the girl is wearing on the cover don't scream twenty-first century.

Conclusion: Did you guys ever see that Disney movie Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century or read the book This Place Has No Atmosphere by Paula Danziger (which, zomg, has a cute new cover!!!) or... heck, Wall-E, even? Did you like those? You'll like this. Never read or seen any of those? You'll like this. Did you find my blog looking for book report information (shame on you! Do your own homework!)? Read this. You'll like it. At least, I really, really hope you will because I loved it. Four and a half roses.



Other notes:

- Amy called the thing she was cryo frozen (cryofrozen? cryo-frozen?) in her Snow White coffin. I thought it was a lot like Sleeping Beauty. Which, oddly, sometimes last year I tweeted about wanting to read a Sleeping Beauty book about a girl frozen into the "23rd and a half century". Weird, huh?
- "Holy crudnuts."
- A song played while I was reading this and it seemed to fit really well. Miserabile Visu by Anberlin. (Linked to youtube.)
- "Ahh!"

That's it! Oh, also, Happy Victoria Day!!

Peace and cookies,
Laina

Trees

Okay, I have a question for you guys. Have you guys heard of a book called Angel Eyes by Shannon Dittemore? It comes out May 29th.

Something is really bothering me about the cover, though.

And it's this: I swear I've seen those trees before and I can't figure out where! It's not even that they seem familiar but I SWEAR I've seen those exact trees on another cover. I thought it might be this one:

(Dark Companion by Marta Acosta, July 2012)

But they aren't the same trees.

And I don't know why but it's kind of really bothering me that I can't think of the book that Angel Eyes' cover reminds me of XD So does anyone know if Angel Eyes' cover has a tree stock image that's been used on another book and if so, just what that book is?

Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Peace and cookies,
Laina

Fun Friday: Give Me Something to Sing About! (94)

Fun Friday: Give Me Something to Sing About! is where you guys get to see a song or two I like or that I want to talk about each week. Thanks as always goes to J.J. at Random Musings for help with the title.

You may or may not know this about me but I kinda love movies that most people would say are for kids. Disney and the like. One of my favourites that isn't Disney is Anastasia. Awesome music, great characters, romance, all those good things, you know? (And as far as I'm concerned, that's how it really happened because history can suck it.) Seriously, I've seen this movie SO many times. I once had this dream that was like a post-Apocolyptic Anastasia/Zombies.

That was probably the result of watching Anastasia after a The Walking Dead marathon but if anyone actually wants to write that book, dude, I'd read it in a heartbeat.

Anyways. Here's a song from that movie I love:



(Once Upon a December by Liz Calloway.)

Are there any songs from movies that you guys love to listen to on their own? I adore the Coraline soundtrack as well.

Peace and cookies,
Laina

Waiting on Wednesday (115)

Waiting on Wednesday is, of course, brought to us by the lovely Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter - To be release September 25th, 2012

Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real….

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies…

(Summary from goodreads.)

Why I want to read this: Well, the title to start with. I'm a big Alice in Wonderland fan. But also I've really liked everything of Gena Showalter's that I've read.

Next up:

Anything But Ordinary by Lara Avery - To be released September 2012

Bryce remembers it like it was yesterday. The scent of chlorine. The blinding crack and flash of pain. Blood in the water.

When she wakes up in the hospital, all Bryce can think of is her disastrous Olympic diving trial. But everything is different now. Bryce still feels seventeen, so how can her little sister be seventeen, too? Life went on without her while Bryce lay in a coma for five years. Her best friend and boyfriend have just graduated from college. Her parents barely speak. And everything she once dreamed of doing—winning a gold medal, traveling the world, falling in love—seems beyond her reach.

But Bryce has changed too, in seemingly impossible ways. She knows things she shouldn’t. Things that happened while she was asleep. Things that haven’t even happened yet. During one luminous summer, as she comes to understand that her dreams have changed forever, Bryce learns to see life for what it truly is: extraordinary.

(Summary from goodreads.)

Why I want to read this: I read this book once upon a time by Joan Lowery Nixon called The Other Side of Dark about a girl who woke up from a coma after five years. There wasn't a paranormal twist but the memory of it has stuck with me with ages and makes me even more interested in this one. Also, Anything But Ordinary makes this song get stuck in my head. Also, Bryce is a cool name.

So what are you guys waiting on this week?

Peace and cookies,
Laina

Things I've Read Recently (3)

If you're new here, Things I've Read Recently are basically mini-reviews. Sometimes it'll be because I didn't have that much to say about a book, or it wasn't the main focus of this blog (like the romance novels I love) or that the books are overdue from the library and I desperately need to return them.

So here are a few more books I've read recently and my thoughts:

Dumb Luck by Lesley Choyce

Published: October 15th, 2011 by Red Deer Press
Genre: YA Contemporary Fiction
Binding: Paperback
Page count: Goodreads says 214 but I forgot to check my copy before I returned it.
Part of a series: Nope, don't think so.
Amazon link.

Summary (from the publisher's website): As he approaches his 18th birthday, Brandon DeWolf knows he is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. He failed a grade in an undistinguished school career, and is contemplating spending two more years in school when most of his friends will be graduating at the end of the academic year. He tends to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, has no real ambitions, and seems to be at a dead end. Among the few happy moments of his life are the ones he spends with his good friend Kayla, a girl he's known from childhood, another misfit.

Two days before his birthday, however, everything changes for Brandon. First of all he falls out of a tree - and survives intact. On his birthday, savouring his lucky break, he picks up a lottery ticket, and discovers he's won three million dollars. Suddenly everyone's his good friend, and his parents - a discontented frequently squabbling pair - rejoice in anticipating all that this sudden bonanza will buy them. The school's hottest girl becomes Brandon's coach in this new unaccustomed life he has to adapt to. His old friend Kayla realizes their friendship is withering, and Brandon doesn't have the capacity to do much about that.

Plunged into a world that is completely new to him - and without any real moral compass to follow - Brandon flounders and eventually is brought down in disgrace, spending a night in jail after being caught drinking and driving. There is no happy ending for Brandon, just a solemn understanding that he cannot recover his old life and needs to find the integrity to map out a new one.

Thoughts: Okay, first of all, this is not the cover I read. Which I know is a small thing but it bothers me that this one doesn't match the one I read. So. Go look at amazon or the publisher's website to make me feel better. :P

I had some issues with this one. The largest one was that he won three million dollars, right? So a couple days after he claims it, he basically goes to the bank and in his bank account is three million dollars, right?

Except... that's not how it works. Lottery winnings are taxed like any income. And you pay more if you take a lump sum than if you take payments (like twenty-five grand a year or whatever it is you choose). Either way, you wouldn't get the three million. The taxes are why those dream houses people win can end up bankrupting you. And I know, suspension of disbelief and all that, but I think there's a line when suspension of disbelief doesn't apply and that line was crossed when a.) it was a contemporary book and b.) you can google this stuff!!

So I had a problem with that and... maybe it just wasn't completely my kind of book, but I found it a tad bit predictable. You guys might like this one more than me if contemporary is more your thing. It just didn't completely do it for me. But, hey, Canadian author! So check it out. But I'd probably give it a three and a half roses out of four.

Next up:

The Dead Kid Detective Agency by Evan Munday

Published: September 1st, 2011 by ECW Press
Genre: Upper middle-grade to lower-YA paranormal mystery. (Is that a genre? It should be.)
Binding: Paperback
Page count: 292 of book, 318 with extras
Part of a series: Yes, but there's not a cliffhanger or anything.
Amazon link.

Summary (from goodreads): Thirteen-year-old October Schwartz is new in town, short on friends and the child of a clinically depressed science teacher. Naturally, she spends most of her free time in the Sticksville Cemetery, which just happens to border her backyard. And that cemetary just happens to be the home of five dead teenagers who quickly become October's best friends.

When Sticksville Central High School’s beloved French teacher dies in a suspicious car accident, October enlists the aid of her dead friends to figure out why. Using October's smarts and the dead kid's abilities to walk through walls and stuff, they form the Dead Kid's Detective Agency solving Sticksville's most mysterious mysteries.

Soon October and the five dead kids find themselves in the middle of a nefarious murder plot - thick with car chases, cafeteria fights, sociopathic math teachers, and real estate appointments - and a zany adventure that could uncover the truth a forty-year-old explosion.

Thoughts: I liked this one. It wasn't perfect, but it was solid and good. How about we do the things that bothered me first just to get them out of the way? Okay? Okay.

So the book starts out in third person past tense, right? (He said, she said.) Present day and all. Then there's a first person present tense (I say, I am) diary entry from 1968 by some guy we've never heard of before, then the second chapter is first person past tense from October's POV.

Are you a little bit confused right now? So was I. It's confusing at first. And it takes FOREVER for us to find out who the heck is telling the third person chapters, plus the font changing between them was hard on my eyes. Personally I liked the first person ones better. The voice seemed better in those ones. But it wasn't a huge deal and I adjusted to it after a bit.

The other thing that bothered me a lot and I don't know why was that October was 13 and it was set in the present day, but she mentions her dad singing along to 60s songs he knew and embarrassing her. I'm 19 and my mom was born in 1965. (Don't tell her I said that or I'll die.) Buuuuut she was probably exaggerating and I'm nit-picking, which is my issue, not the book's.

Things I liked: October's voice is freaking hilarious. Here's a passage that cracked me up:

pg. 42
For the uninitiated, curling is a winter sport played on an ice surface that combines the fast-paced action of shuffleboard with the innate thrill of cleaning your house. That said, curling can occasionally be a very exciting and competitive sport to play, but spectators of curling should keep in mind that the appearance of the Zamboni machine should be regarded as the absolute height of excitement in any game.

Like, how funny is that??

October was a great character, the ghosts were really neat, the mystery was good - and I didn't guess who dun it - and I did enjoy this one quite a bit. Oh, and there were illustrations scattered throughout which is cool, plus it's Canadian. I'd read the sequel. Four roses out of five.


dancergirl by Carol M. Tanzman

Published: November 15th, 2011 by Harlequin Teen
Genre: YA Thriller (That's not one I type very often but it totally fits, right? Right.)
Binding: Paperback
Page count: 248
Part of a series: Yes, but from what I can tell from reading the sequel's summary on Goodreads, they work as standalones, too. I think it's about completely different characters.
Amazon link.

Summary (from goodreads): Ever feel like someone's watching you? Me, too. But lately it's been happening in my room.
When I'm alone.

A friend posted a video of me dancing online, and now I'm no longer Alicia Ruffino. I'm dancergirl. And suddenly it's like me against the world—everyone's got opinions.

My admirers want more, the haters hate, my best friend Jacy— - even he's acting weird. And some stalker isn't content to just watch anymore.

Ali. Dancergirl. Whatever you know me as, however you've seen me online, I've trained my whole life to be the best dancer I can be. But if someone watching has their way, I could lose way more than just my love of dancing. I could lose my life.

Thoughts: I don't know what I was expecting when I grabbed this one. Mostly it was new and I tend to steal most of the new books at the library because the whole new book thing doesn't happen that often when it comes to YA books. I was pretty much expecting your basic, did something stupid, ruined your reputation, date the popular guy, realize your best friend is in love with you and that you're better off just being yourself, plot. You know the ones, right?

Not. What. I. Got. There was a stalker!!!!! (Not that stalkers are a good thing. But it was exciting! There wasn't just a ruined reputation at stake; there was actual danger!)

Ali is not always the most likeable character. She can be a bit of an idiot, honestly. She was underage but drank and smoked pot (and you guys know how I feel about that) and made REALLY stupid choices sometimes (especially when she wasn't sober which kinda proves my point there). But she was also really, really interesting, especially the dancing stuff. I know next to nothing about dancing of any kind, mind you (I know the hokey-pokey and that's about it) but it was fascinating to read about.

The other characters were good. I adored her best friend and I only barely managed to guess who the stalker was. And honestly, I had two people I thought it might be.

One thing that bothered me isn't actually about the book. Ali's mother was born in Puerto Rico, and her father was, "a mixture of Italian, African-American, and, he claimed, a bit of Cherokee." Ali herself says she has a "mixed-salad heritage". Now do me a favour and scroll up to check out the cover again. I'll wait.

*waits*

Do you think the face on the cover looks like the girl in the book? Anyways. No judging a book by its cover, right? Right. Just by reviews, especially mine because I'm that awesome. Okay, seriously now, this one was a solid four and a half out of five roses. Recommended.

(Also, the title is supposed to have a lowercase D. It isn't a typo by me, honest!)

Okay, I have two more books to read today or I'm going to go bankrupt paying my overdue fees and I'm hoping for a mini-review of one of them and a full of the other, so... peace, tweeples!

Peace and cookies,
Laina

Fun Friday: Give Me Something to Sing About! (93)

Fun Friday: Give Me Something to Sing About! is where you guys get to see a song or two I like or that I want to talk about each week. Thanks as always goes to J.J. at Random Musings for help with the title.

So last week, I talked about a song a ton of people have heard but a lot of people probably don't care if they admit to liking. This song... I'm just putting it out there, but you know this song. If you're like me, you probably don't want to admit it.

So. Here's a compromise.



(What Makes You Beautiful covered by Boyce Avenue.)

I think his voice is absolutely gorgeous, but what do you guys think?

Peace and cookies,
Laina

Waiting on Wednesday (114)

Waiting on Wednesday is, of course, brought to us by the lovely Jill at Breaking the Spine.


Silver by Talia Vance - To be released September 8th, 2012

Beauty is pointless when no one's looking.

Brianna Paxton has been invisible to guys since the eighth grade. She’s pretty enough, it’s just that no one bothers to look. There’s almost nothing that can’t be explained with science, and Brianna has a theory: she’s missing the pheromone that attracts people to one another. Brianna’s theory is shot to hell in one frozen, silver moment, when time stops and Blake Williams not only sees her, he recognizes something inside her that she’s been hiding from even herself.

Before Brianna fully understands who and what she is, she accidentally binds her soul to Blake. Forced to find a way to reconcile forbidden love and her bloody heritage, Brianna discovers that there's nothing pointless about her, and Blake may be in the most danger of all.

(Summary from goodreads.)

Why I want to read this: I think it sounds different. And different is awesome. I like reading a book summary and thinking that I haven't read anything that sounds like it before.

Ten by Gretchen McNeil - To be released September 18th, 2012

It was supposed to be the weekend of their lives—an exclusive house party on Henry Island. Best friends Meg and Minnie each have their reasons for being there (which involve T.J., the school’s most eligible bachelor) and look forward to three glorious days of boys, booze and fun-filled luxury.

But what they expect is definitely not what they get, and what starts out as fun turns dark and twisted after the discovery of a DVD with a sinister message: Vengeance is mine.

Suddenly people are dying, and with a storm raging, the teens are cut off the from the outside world. No electricity, no phones, no internet, and a ferry that isn’t scheduled to return for two days. As the deaths become more violent and the teens turn on each other, can Meg find the killer before more people die? Or is the killer closer to her than she could ever imagine?

(Summary from goodreads.)

Why I want to read this: Once upon a time, I was a very odd child who read way too many RL Stine and Christopher Pike books. People were ALWAYS dying in those or about to be killed or being threatened by lunatics. This warped me in ways most of you will never know and thus, I have a feeling this book will be exactly my cup of tea.

So what are you guys waiting on this week?

Peace and cookies,
Laina