ARC Review: What Goes Up

Title: What Goes Up

Author: Katie Kennedy

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Publication Date: July 18, 2017

Source: Bloomsbury for Review Consideration

Action-packed and wildly funny, this near-future sci-fi features three teens on an inter-dimensional mission to save the world.

Rosa and Eddie are among hundreds of teens applying to NASA’s mysterious Multi-World Agency. After rounds of crazy-competitive testing they are appointed to Team 3, along with an alternate, just in case Eddie screws up (as everyone expects he will). What they don’t expect is that aliens will arrive from another dimension, and look just like us. And no one could even imagine that Team 3 would be the only hope of saving our world from their Earth-destroying plans. The teens steal the spacecraft (it would be great if they knew how to fly it) and head to Earth2, where the aliens’ world and people are just like ours. With a few notable exceptions.

There, the teens will find more than their alternate selves: they'll face existential questions and high-stakes adventure, with comedy that's out of this world.

DNF Review: Good in Bed

Title: Good in Bed (Fifteen Anniversary Edition)

Series: Cannie Shapiro

Author: Jennifer Weiner

Publisher: Atria Books

Publication Date: April 2, 2002 (first published in 2001)

Source: Atria Books via NetGalley for Review

#1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Weiner brings to life an irresistibly funny and relatable heroine in the novel The Boston Globe called “funny, fanciful, extremely poignant, and rich with insight.”

For twenty-eight years, things have been tripping along nicely for Cannie Shapiro. Sure, her mother has come charging out of the closet, and her father has long since dropped out of her world. But she loves her friends, her rat terrier, Nifkin, and her job as pop culture reporter for The Philadelphia Examiner. She’s even made a tenuous peace with her plus-size body.

But the day she opens up a national women’s magazine and sees the words “Loving a Larger Woman” above her ex-boyfriend’s byline, Cannie is plunged into misery…and the most amazing year of her life. From Philadelphia to Hollywood and back home again, she charts a new course for herself: mourning her losses, facing her past, and figuring out who she is and who she can become.

ARC Review: The Loose Ends List

Title: The Loose Ends List

Author: Carrie Firestone

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Publication Date: June 7, 2016
Source: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for Review Consideration

Add it to Goodreads

Seventeen-year-old Maddie O'Neill Levine lives a charmed life, and is primed to spend the perfect pre-college summer with her best friends and young-at-heart socialite grandmother (also Maddie's closest confidante), tying up high school loose ends. Maddie's plans change the instant Gram announces that she is terminally ill and has booked the family on a secret "death with dignity" cruise ship so that she can leave the world in her own unconventional way - and give the O'Neill clan an unforgettable summer of dreams-come-true in the process.

Soon, Maddie is on the trip of a lifetime with her over-the-top family. As they travel the globe, Maddie bonds with other passengers and falls for Enzo, who is processing his own grief. But despite the laughter, headiness of first love, and excitement of glamorous destinations, Maddie knows she is on the brink of losing Gram. She struggles to find the strength to say good-bye in a whirlwind summer shaped by love, loss, and the power of forgiveness.

DNF Review: Return Once More

Title: Return Once More (The Historians #1)

Series: The Historians

Author: Trisha Leigh

Publisher: Bloomsbury Spark

Publication Date: October 20, 2015

Source: Publisher for Review
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If you could learn the identity of your one true love—even though you will never meet— would you?

Years have passed since refugees from a ruined earth took to space, eventually settling a new system of planets. Science has not only made the leaps necessary to allow time travel, but the process engineered a strange side effect—predicting your one true love.

If you could save your one true love from an untimely death, would you be able to resist?

Sixteen-year-old Kaia Vespasian is an apprentice to the Historians—a group charged with using time travel to document the triumphs and failures of the past—and she can’t resist a peek at her long-dead soul mate in Ancient Egypt. Before she knows it, she’s broken every rule in the book, and the consequences of getting caught could destroy more than just her new romance.

Or would you have the strength to watch him die?

But when Kaia notices a fellow classmate snooping around in a time where he doesn’t belong, she suspects he has a secret of his own—and the conspiracy she uncovers could threaten the entire universe. If her experience has taught her anything, to changing history means facing the consequences. The Historians trained her to observe and record the past, but Kaia never guessed she might have to protect it— in a race across time to save her only chance at a future. 

ARC Review: Inherit the Stars

Title: Inherit the Stars
Original Title: Hunger, Heart, Fuel, Nation

Series: Inherit the Stars

Author: Tessa Elwood

Publisher: Running Press Kids

Publication Date: December 8, 2015

Source: Publisher for Review

Add it to Goodreads 

Three royal houses ruling three interplanetary systems are on the brink of collapse, and they must either ally together or tear each other apart in order for their people to survive.

Asa is the youngest daughter of the house of Fane, which has been fighting a devastating food and energy crisis for far too long. She thinks she can save her family’s livelihood by posing as her oldest sister in an arranged marriage with Eagle, the heir to the throne of the house of Westlet. The appearance of her mother, a traitor who defected to the house of Galton, adds fuel to the fire, while Asa also tries to save her sister Wren's life . . . possibly from the hands of their own father.

But as Asa and Eagle forge a genuine bond, will secrets from the past and the urgent needs of their people in the present keep them divided?

ARC Review: Twisted Fate

Title: Twisted Fate

Author: Norah Olson

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Publication Date: January 20, 2015

Source: ARC gifted from Sarah

When Alyson meets Graham Copeland, the new boy next door, she instantly feels like he’s a kindred spirit—shy and awkward like her, someone who has trouble making friends. It’s impossible to resist having a crush on him.

As usual, her sister, Sydney, sees things differently. In Sydney's mind, Graham's odd personality and secretive past scream psychopath, not sweetheart. Her gut is telling her to stay away from him, and to protect a love-struck Alyson from her own naïveté. But despite her instincts, Sydney is surprised to realize that a part of her is drawn to Graham, too.

And the more Sydney gets to know him, the more she realizes just how right—and wrong—she is about everything.

Perfect for fans of Michelle Hodkin, and E. Lockhart’s We Were Liars, Twisted Fate is an unputdownable novel, teeming with suspense.

ARC Review: Boo

Title: Boo

Author: Neil Smith

Publisher: Vintage

Publication Date: May 19, 2015

Source: Goodreads First Reads Program

Goodreads | Amazon

From Neil Smith, author of the award-winning, internationally acclaimed story collection Bang Crunch, comes a dark but whimsical debut novel about starting over in the afterlife in the vein of Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones.

When Oliver 'Boo' Dalrymple wakes up in heaven, the eighth-grade science geek thinks he died of a heart defect at his school. But soon after arriving in this hereafter reserved for dead thirteen-year-olds, Boo discovers he’s a 'gommer', a kid who was murdered. What’s more, his killer may also be in heaven. With help from the volatile Johnny, a classmate killed at the same school, Boo sets out to track down the mysterious Gunboy who cut short both their lives.

In a heartrending story written to his beloved parents, the odd but endearing Boo relates his astonishing heavenly adventures as he tests the limits of friendship, learns about forgiveness and, finally, makes peace with the boy he once was and the boy he can now be.

My Review

When I saw that I had won a galley of Boo by Neil Smith, I was excited. I haven't read his collection of short stories, but I love discovering new authors. I was excited to be introduced to a new-to-me-author. Plus the plot seemed original and intriguing. Wouldn't it be cool to imagine what your afterlife would be like? Unfortunately, Boo did not work out for me, and I sadly had to DNF it for my sanity.

Boo definitely isn't your average thirteen-year-old. He's extremely smart, but he lacks friends at school. I felt like I could have connected with him as I was very smart, but I just didn't feel that connection. The other characters didn't stand out to me either, and by the time that I got about 25% in, I knew it would be best for me to call it a day with this book.

The concept of being conscious in an afterlife is certainly interesting, and I thought that I'd really be able to get a four star review out of this one, but the writing ruined it for me. Oliver 'Boo' Dalrymple is writing to his still alive parents about his experiences in Town, a place in heaven for all of the thirteen-year-olds who have passed on. I just didn't connect with Boo or the writing style. It's just boring. I kid you not... I almost fell asleep while reading this one.

I might hold on to this one and try to read it again in the near future, but for now, I wouldn't recommend this book.

ARC Review: A Tale of Two Besties

Title: A Tale of Two Besties

Author: Sophia Rossi

Publisher: Razorbill

Publication Date: May 12, 2015

Source: Unsolicited ARC from Penguin

Goodreads | Amazon

“If there’s one thing Sophia Rossi understands completely–it’s besties. Only an ultimate BFF like Sophia could create the super-special bond that Harper and Lily have in A TALE OF TWO BESTIES .” —Lauren Conrad

“Plumbing the depths of friendship and cliques, this debut novel will speak to fans of Rossi’s popular website, HelloGiggles, as well as all girls trying to discover their own identity while learning what it means to really be friends.” — Booklist

*Featuring a foreword by 'New Girl' star Zooey Deschanel*

Perfect for fans of Kody Keplinger's  The DUFF  by and Morgan Matson's  Since You've Been Gone,  the delightfully funny debut novel A TALE OF TWO BESTIES is full of giggles and surprises.   

Best friends. BFFs. Soul twinsies. Whatever you want to call them, Harper and Lily were born to be besties. With high school just around the corner, casual-cool Cali girl Harper and awkward, always-costumed Lily make sure to text each other every day about their bond:

Harper: I love you so much that I am going to sneak out of detention to pay that guy from Craigslist $100 to cut off all your hair for my secret collection.
Lily: I love you so much I’m going destroy everyone in your life that matters and force you to depend and love only me.
Harper: That sounds beautiful. I love you.

Not even the threat of different high schools could throw this BFFship off-course, even if Lily begs her parents not to send her to the “dreaded Pathways," a special school for creative types, while effortlessly-popular Harper attends Beverly High with the rest of their class.

But in a city where fitting in means standing out and there’s nothing more uncool than being cool, it’s the naturally charismatic Harper--with her blond hair and perfect bone structure--who finds herself fighting the tide of American Apparel’d teens who rule the school. Meanwhile, it’s the perpetually “gawkward” Lily--who accessories every ensemble with a pair of tattered fairy wings--who finds herself flying alongside the queen bees of Pathways. Can BFF-ship survive the tidal wave of HS drama, or does growing up mean leaving some friends behind?

“It's like my twins stepped out of the eighties and dropped down into today. Deliciously funny with heart.” – Francine Pascal, bestselling author and creator of the Sweet Valley High series

My Review

They were the best of friends, they were the worst of friends. "It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness." (Come on... it called for it!) But I didn't care enough about besties Harper and Lily and their coming-of-age story to see this book through to the end and get a resolution. 

So... what exactly went wrong with this book for me? If you are my friend or follow me on Goodreads, you would have seen a positive status update about how cute I thought the book was in the beginning. The girls were a great pair and funny, and I was loving their friendship. Unfortunately, it went way downhill from there. I had to call it quits on this debut novel by Sophia Rossi at 59% because it was annoying and a tad too immature. Also, some of the language made infuriated me.

What could possibly be wrong with the language, you say? Well for starters, it's full of a lot of Internet lingo. Okay... not necessarily the worst thing in the world, especially in a YA because kids do speak like that in real life. I kind of expected that, but it's a bit overdone. But then it gets offensive with some body shaming and slut shaming. Say what? Like really? I was not expecting that, but in Harper's narrative, she shames a girl for hanging on a guy like a "slutty poncho." I kid you not. There are also lines about the same girls "impressive thigh gap" that come off as sarcastic and rude. Yeah... not my cup of tea.

The two main characters, Harper and Lily, are the most basic girls I've ever come across in YA literature, and it's funny because they make fun of basic girls throughout their narratives. Yes, they live in Los Angeles, California, but that doesn't mean they have to be airheads about a lot of things. Both lose their sense of self so early on in the book, and it becomes cringe-worthy watching these two feed on all the drama in their freshman year of school. Harper lies one night to fit in while Lily's naïveté causes her to befriend the cliché mean girl and transform her into someone who she's really not. It's been done before.

I couldn't deal with the immaturity and the "problems" that these two privileged girls had in the book. Some of the problems were real, like feeling lost when your best friend is no longer a physical presence in your every day life, but some of them were brought on by incredibly foolish behavior that they know is wrong. 

It definitely felt a little young and immature for YA if you ask me. I'm sure younger readers (ones moving from Middle Grade to YA) will eat this up and really enjoy it, especially if they like reading about drama-ridden lives. But if you aren't a fan of drama filled books, steer clear of this one.

DNF Review: Seeker

Title: Seeker (Seeker #1)
Series: Seeker
Author: Arwen Elys Dayton
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: February 10, 2015
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Rating: ☆ - DNF

Add it to Goodreads | Buy it on Amazon

Quin Kincaid has been put through years of brutal training for what she thinks is the noble purpose of becoming a revered ‘Seeker’.

Only when it’s too late does she discover she will be using her new-found knowledge and training to become an assassin. Quin's new role will take her around the globe, from a remote estate in Scotland to a bustling, futuristic Hong Kong where the past she thought she had escaped will finally catch up with her.

My Review

When opening my emails one day, I noticed that NetGalley was offering a digital galley of Seeker as a read it now feature for the first 500 members. I read the synopsis, thought about it, and finally decided that I wanted to read it. I logged in to NetGalley hours after initially receiving the email to see if it was still available as a read it now feature. I was still in the first 500 people who clicked, so I was able to download and read the book. I was happy about it. I thought that this would be the book that would get me back in to fantasy, but I was very, very wrong.

I struggled with what I read of Seeker. I found that I wasn't able to connect with the characters in the book, especially the main character Quin. It's so hard to like a book when the characters are flat, and I felt that the three main characters in this book were as flat as a board. I also had trouble with the plot as there is no world building. The reader is just immediately thrown into the action, and that's not how I like my fantasy. There needs to be some sort of a build so readers are able to understand and navigate the new world.

The other thing that really bothered me about Seeker is the incestuous love triangle. I'm not one to knock a book for having a love triangle, but this one was just wrong on so many levels. It made me very uncomfortable, and I had only gotten to Quin's initial attraction to her second love interest. I just couldn't get over the fact that she was starting to consider romantic feelings for her cousin. As I was reading, I understood that the two were not first cousins, but it is stated that they are cousins and were raised alongside one another and ultimately, I made my decision to stop reading.

I do want to point out one more thing for readers in this review. I noticed that a few readers were mentioning in reviews that the story was told from three different POVs. I want to clear this up and tell you that this is not the case. The book is told from the point of view of an omniscient narrator. That means that one being is narrating the whole thing, but tells the stories of different people during different chapters. Each chapter is labeled so the reader knows who it is about, but those characters are not narrating the story.

ARC Review: Elixir

Title: Elixir

Author: Ted Galdi

Kindle Publication Date: August 2, 2014

Paperback Publication: September 2014

Source: eARC from Author

Meet 14-year-old Sean Malone. He has an IQ above 200, a full-ride scholarship to one of the country’s top universities, and more than one million dollars from his winning streak on Jeopardy. However, Sean wishes he could just be normal.

But his life is anything but normal. The US government manipulates him, using him as a codebreaker in pursuit of a drug lord and killing innocent people along the way.

For reasons related to his personal security, Sean finds himself in Rome, building a new life under a new name, abandoning academics, and hiding his genius from everyone. When he’s 18 he falls in love. The thrills begin again when he learns that his girlfriend is critically ill and it’s up to him to use his intellect to find a cure, a battle pitting him against a multi-billion-dollar pharmaceutical company and the demons of his past.

Elixir is a story about identity, secrets, and above all, love.

My Review

At just fourteen years old, Sean Malone is the known as the smartest person on the planet. He's competed on Jeopardy, he is enrolled as a student at one of America's best colleges, and he's able to figure out one of the toughest algorithms that even adults can't solve. As luck would have it, figuring out the algorithm can get him in a lot trouble, and thus, the tale of Sean Malone starts...

Like any smart kid, Sean just craves to be normal. He has a tough time dealing with his emotions, and that leads him to make some bad choices. I was not shocked that the author included parts of this in his story line, and I admire Ted Galdi for it. It's difficult to be the smart kid in a traditional school setting, and I can't even imagine how it would feel to be a fourteen year old in college. I think it's great to see an author take a risk like that to show kids that they are not alone. (It really gives you insight as to how the kids who competed on Child Genius feel.)
 

Honestly, I gave this book a try, but I could not finish it. It just wasn't the book for me as I could not find myself enjoying it. I usually never put a book down until I've read all of it, but this is just one that I need to put away and move on from. It's not a terrible book, but it's not the book for me.

As I was reading, I felt very disconnected from the text and the story. When you read a book, you want to feel like you are in the world in which it is set, but that is not the case for Elixir. I felt like a third-party observer - like I was floating way above the characters but still couldn't find a way to relate to them or understand their stories. If I were able to connect with Sean and his friends and family, I'm sure I would have had a much better experience with it.

I only finished about thirty percent of the novel, but there were just way too many different things going on for me to keep everything straight. Events and plot twists were just happening too quickly. The characters are hastily introduced; I couldn't even keep up with them to remember who they were. The whole thing just jumps around too much so it gets incredibly confusing. It's almost like Mr. Galdi took enough ideas to complete a three or four book series and put them all in one book.

Personally, I would not recommend this book to anyone as I did not enjoy or finish it.