Divergent by Veronica Roth

I rate this YA novel 4 out of 5

All Beatrice has ever known is the simple selfless existence of her faction, Abnegation. Now at sixteen though, it is time for her to take the aptitude test that all of them must take and ultimately choose which faction she will live with forever: Abnegation (the selfless). Erudite (the intelligent), Candor (the honest), Amity (the peaceful), or Dauntless (the brave). But her life is turned dangerously upside down with the confusing results her test reveals, and the faction she chooses becomes more important that ever. She must hide herself, though no one will tell her why. This is easier said than done when she find herself thrown into a highly dangerous and competitive initiation for the faction she chose. As she figures out more and more both about herself and her new faction, the safe and controlled world she has always known and understood begins to unravel around her and a daunting threat rises over the horizon, coming down on them all.

Taking place in a futuristic dystopian Chicago, Divergent is a novel that is hard to stop reading. I read it in a 15 hours, taking a break to sleep in between. Dystopian YA novels have been a popular theme lately, and I don't think I even need to elaborate for you to know which I'm speaking of. This genre is one I have especially loved to read. For some reason though it took me a long time to finally decide to pick this one up, despite all the good things I had been hearing about it for months. Even now after reading it, I'm not sure what it was that made this one so enthralling. But there it is. The books revolves around a seemingly simple theme but one that is delved into and given a complexity I didn't expect. The world that Tris becomes a part of is a strange twilit one, where so much happens and it never seems to slow down.

Interestingly, I didn't form very strong attachments to the characters. The plot was great, and I really wanted to know what was going to happen next with everyone (hence the obsessive reading speed), but this wasn't one of those stories that has pulled my emotional heartstrings...yet. I know there are still two more books in the series, so I guess I will have to see how that progresses.

I also don't know what to make of the character Four. I don't feel like I really understand his character yet. There feels like there are some contradictions to his personality that I haven't worked out yet. Tris does seem to question it as well, calling him out on his back and forth behavior, but it isn't really gone into. Hopefully that will be explored more later.

One insignificant qualm I had was the lack of description with getting tattoos in the story. There was no end to describing the physical pain Tris went through, so I feel like leaving out how it felt to get tattoos, at the very least for the first one, is a little bit of a plot hole. Getting a tattoo is a very intense and interesting experience, one that can also be emotional. Tris gets three, and I feel like that is significant enough to give some description too

All in all though, I very much look forward to reading the next book and would definitely recommend this as a great read.

Just One Year by Gayle Forman

I rate this YA novel 4 out of 5

Willem has woken up in the hospital, his memory coming back to him in patches, his body hurt and there is only one thing that he can't get out of his head: he must find Lulu. He left her alone and now he must get back to her. But things never seem to work out as expected, and just like the accident of her appearance in his life, another accident renders her gone. Now Willem is left with nothing a name that he gave her, with no way to find her and explain. He tries to go back to his life the way it was before Lulu, but there is no going back, because that one day with her changed him in ways he is only just beginning to understand. And so Willem sets off on a quest to find her again, if only to see her one last time. But instead of finding Lulu, he might just find himself.

In Just One Year Allyson and Willem's story continues, picking up from where the two separated and showing his side of the story. As it goes for most of Forman's books I was swept away with the storytelling of it. It did not take me long to finish this book, no more than a few days at most. I was sucked in just as I was with the first. I found it interesting, and slightly agonizing at some points and overall I would definitely say it was worth reading and finishing the series.

I did not become as attached or emotional over Willem's journey as I did Allyson. Perhaps I saw more of myself in Allyson and likened my own journey to things she experienced and found in herself. Maybe I couldn't really love Willem because of his player-esque attitude, which bothered me for a lot of the book and dampened my romantic vision of life. Granted, it was a pretty realistic portrait for a guy with a personality and a lifestyle such as his, and he does get better as the book progresses. However, it still made him slightly harder for me find empathetic and get close to. This could be just me though.

*SPOILERS* PROCEED WITH CAUTION

I really liked the book overall but I was slightly disappointed in the ending. I am greedy reader and I wanted more than that. I finished Just One Day leaving Allyson walking through his door and zoomed through Just One Year to find out what happened next, only for it to get a few feet further. I get the poetic symbolism of the kiss. And I also really liked the full circle of the double happiness that stitched the whole story together. I wish there had been n epilogue, something to seal the deal. I have plenty of an imagination, and it isn't like I can't imagine for myself that everything works out between them, but sometimes it is nice reading it..

The Fiery Heart by Richelle Mead

I rate this YA novel 5 out of 5

Sydney has always been logical, practical, and a slave to her cause. But her life has changed and she experiences a life that for the first time include love and passion and freewill. Her whole life she followed the rules and now she can't seem to stop breaking them, and nothing seems to stop her. Not her the presence of her sulky and vindictive younger sister Zoe, not the the wrath of her father, not even the ever looming presence of the Alchemists, the order she used to live by but now works against. Now Sydney is putting everything on the line, but will she make it through it or will this house of cards collapse around her? There's only one way to find out and that is by reading The Fiery Heart.

All I have to say about this most recent installment of the Bloodlines series is that Richelle Mead has done it again.

There is so much I love about her writing: the amazing characterization that connects you to all her characters on such a deep level it is a bit mind blowing, her rich narration style that keeps a fast paced adventure story flowing through even the slowest bits, plot that is both complex and pulled off well. All in all every time I read one of Mead's novels I think again that she is just an exceptional writer, and it just gets better with each new book.

Those invested in the Bloodlines series will not be disappointed in this fourth book. I highly recommend this series and pretty much anything Mead writes to all readers, especially those interested in urban fantasy. I love the unique lore she uses in her stories, building a perfectly structured and enthralling world within the novels, one that feels very real and very plausible, despite the genre. It is something I feel many writers endeavor to implement and never succeed in actually pulling off.

I will warn the dedicated reader of this series however. Those not new to Mead's storytelling know better than most her wicked ways. These ways of course include not a little pain and agony over the ill fate of the characters we have come to know and love. This book is no exception. However the agony is of the exquisite kind, and in my opinion, well worth it, if only for the story that I can't get enough of. I absolutely can't wait until the next book in the series come out and I can devour that one too.

Novel Update!

I have reached 200 pages today!! A total of 69,064 words!!! I still have over a third of the story to go, but I'm getting closer to done everyday.

It feels so invigorating to write everyday and I don't know that I have ever felt this way before. After doing NaNoWriMo I learned that this is what it is really like to be a writer and that it is far from impossible to generate large amounts of writing in a very small amount of time. I have almost finished the sequel to my first novel and I am even now actively planning not only the editing of it and it's predecessor, but also planning the writing of the next three book (probably) series that I've got lined up to start writing next fall.

I know I will always have bad days where it will seem hopeless and like I will never make it in the publishing or storytelling world. I know that I spent most of my writing life struggling to produce even the most minimal of projects that never seemed to reach the level of expectation I put on myself. But somewhere along the way I learned to let go of that and just write. I found my voice again and with it all the stories I am still dying to write. I once thought my creativity had been killed, that writing was not the path I was meant for, simply because I couldn't fit myself or my writing in the perfect little pigeon holes that my university professors expected me to. I learned that being different was okay and that it won't ever come out perfect the first time. Most importantly I learned that I had to write, everything else be damned! Because it is my story and I need to let it out and share it.

Days like today remind me that I made the right decision when I decided to set out on this path. This is what I am good at, this is my calling, and it never felt more fantastic.

Blarg...

This blog won't come up in a search. I've come a long way from when I first started this blog, but I'm feeling a bit out of my depth...

Just One Day by Gayle Forman

I rate this novel 5 out of 5

Allyson has never been the adventurous type. She is content to sit back and let her parents guide her along the ride and tell her what will maker happy. But when she is given the chance to open the door, step through as someone else, Lulu, not Allyson, her whole world changes. After Lulu, Allyson isn't sure anymore who she is. Lulu? Allyson? Someone else entirely? All she does know is that the answers she seeks lay back in Paris where it all started, just one day, one year ago.

I don't know what I had expected from this novel. The inside cover intrigued me. I have read Forman's other YA series If I Stay and the sequel Where She Went, but it has been three or four years. I remember them both being enthralling, and very emotional, but somehow I forgot what it was really like reading Forman's novels.

It's like a roller coaster ride you can't get off. Her stories suck the reader in seamlessly. I was not reading about Allyson, I was her. I felt her story and her pain. I was on this journey too. I started this book and when it got going I just could not stop. I was up until 4:30 am reading it, and I was thanking God that my work was cancelled for the next day because of weather or I don't know what I would have done, because there was no stopping.

The most wonderful part about it was that the excitement and adventure weren't what kept me reading. It was Allyson. The rich feeling that came from her, the perfect way that Forman relayed her struggle without it seeming whiney or overdramatic. I was a freshman in collage again, feeling empty and left out because I didn't fit into the college experience like I was supposed to. I was feeling that deep sense of loss and humiliation that comes with being duped by someone you thought cared, or even the pure relief that comes with things working themselves out again even after it feels like you messed up beyond all return. Somehow between all those pages and inked words Forman found a conduit to the human experience and relays it with a clarity and truthfulness that leaves the reader breathless and wanting more.

Perhaps my background with travel and study abroad made a difference in how close I felt to Allyson's experience, but I feel that Forman has given the reader something we can all identify with. We have all been lost I think, we have all lost things we didn't think we could get back. And whether or not we recovered or ever righted our footing, or our world, I think we can imagine what it would be like to find ourselves and even what we thought irredeemably lost. The relief, the freedom, the joy of life: that was what I found in these pages.

I highly recommend this novel, and any of Forman's work really, to any and all readers. This novel doesn't just reveal Allyson's story, but shows that it is never ever too late to try and live.

Font Apocalypse Apologies

At the moment I'm not sure how much it matters since at this moment I'm not sure how many people even really look at my blog, but here it is!

I have been doing a bit of a revamp for this blog. Some time has gone by and I have found that in doing so I have changed along with the passing minutes, which usually happens....My theme no longer fit me and was in need of a change. In the process of this some of my fonts went off the deep end. I guess they just couldn't handle this type of change, which I guess is just one of those things you can't ever have complete control over. Things will go crazy for very little reason, I find this true in both people and happenings.

Anywho, though my fonts might be fluctuated throughout all of my old work, it's still the same old crappy content. It is readable if not the most appealing. I have been working on trying to fix it for sometime, but the font's mental health issues are deeper rooted than I am capable of handling at this time, despite all my computer experience. I still run in fright at the first mention of code. After a night and another day of struggle I found I knew how to prevent the font insanity, but not fix the currently insane. Since I have a book review to write and 1000 words of my novel today, I realized enough was enough. I'm going to concentrate now on what is important to this blog, my writing, rather than aesthetically pleasing value.

So do forgive me if the font insanity is too much for you. It is not for a lack of trying

So Much It Hurts by Monique Polak

I rate this YA novel 1.5 out of 5

Iris has everything straight and in order. Her grades, her acting, her job. She is playing Ophelia in her high school's production and she fits so well into the part she knows she can't be wrong about her destiny for the stage. But then she meets Mick and her perfectly ordered life begins to fall apart in the face of her love for him, and in the face of his anger that she can't seem to avoid. How many lies will she have to tell everyone before all is said and done? How many lies will she have to tell herself?
                SPOILER ALERT - MINOR PLOT DISCUSSION - proceed with caution

Before I really get into discussion I want to say I read the book all the way through and it was interesting. I think to a younger reader, especially female, it could be helpful in getting them to perceive that they are in a bad situation. Near the end of the book I wanted to know what would happen next, and read through it quickly. My problems lie in the telling of the story and character development primarily, and my thoughts on it are what follows. 

This novel covers the intriguingly taboo subject of romantic entanglement between a young woman, a seventeen year old minor in Iris's case, and an older man. Add to this equation Mick's propensity for violence and the book is a two in one for a bad news abusive relationship story. Most of the times this kind of gritty reality subject is arresting, upsetting, and deeply impacting for me as a reader. However I just did not feel it for this story and was rather disappointed.

Iris as a narrator bothered me. It was not just that she was weak and delusional about her own situation. Many women in this type of relationship have probably said and done the same thing she did throughout the novel. Perhaps this was the problem. This character was channeling so much of the overall voice of 'abused woman' that there was not enough room for her own voice to come through. As a character she just didn't seem very original. On top of this, whenever she made a step forward it always seemed manufactured so she could say just the right thing at the right time, a little speech about the situation, per say. I felt as if I was listening to the author preach rather than witnessing the character make any kind of development. 

Besides Iris there were plot holes that bothered me as well. The author often had the story jumping around, telling something that happened and then back tracking, or even just skipping bits that were less important. Whatever happened to Tommy after the whole 'first time'? I understood that Iris didn't care for him and that she broke things off with him, but I can't really believe he would just drop right off the earth like that. Especially considering his usage of the "L" word. There had to be some sort of awkward moment or even just some words exchanged between the two when she stopped seeing him. I sincerely doubt he would just stop calling. It seemed a bit strange that it was barely even talked about in passing within Iris's own mind. Surely it would have caused at least a little more thought.

Then there was the character of Mick, which made very little sense to me. Why in the world would he just pick up with Iris the way he did? As a high school student, albeit a pretty talented one, the risk would be too much with him in the middle of a custody battle where spousal battery was a prime concern. He was a brash, violent, conniving man. I understand that about the character. But pursuing Iris so determinedly when he knew nothing about her and had no reason to be interested other than thinking her hot just goes beyond believable stupidity for even this character. I could believe it if he had spent some more time around her, maybe saw her own attention to him for a bit and liked it. Then pursuing, no matter how stupid, would have made a bit more sense. But just out of nowhere? It didn't really fly for me. His other actions throughout the novel didn't make a lot of sense either. He could fly off the handle at the littlest thing and hurt Iris for it, and then it comes to a moment when she stands up to him and straight out accuses him well-deservedly, and he does nothing!? All his actions spoke pretty clearly that he would sooner beat her into submission than even take the slightest argument from her. I feel like the story tried to chalk it up to fear on his part, but I'm not sure that he would get that afraid of whatever prowess Iris had over him. Perhaps she had served her purpose to him, and now leaving the country she no longer mattered enough. Considering his obsessive controlling behavior over her throughout the novel though, that doesn't seem like it would be the case. 

There is mention of his affair with Iris's drama teacher, Ms. Cameron, but the time of that happening is never specified, only barely alluded to being before Iris took up with him. Did it happen before Ms. Cameron introduced him to the class? If so, was he making the moves on Iris before even closing ties with the teacher? If Ms. Cameron had already left him due to his HITTING HER, why in the world would she introduce him to a group of young impressionable teenagers, and then continue to let him be around them??? I mean she is shown to be a good teacher, but really? What kind of irresponsible idiot would do something like that?!? Then again I don't know how much stock I hold in her as a teacher since she introduced this man to her class in the first place, had suspicions of Iris's activity with him and said nothing about it save a few words to Iris, and then was supervising a party where there was obvious underage drinking as well as the smoking of weed. I mean there is the "cool teacher" and then there is the negligent adult. I don't have so much a problem with her being negligent, as I do with it being inferred that she was blameless in the situation. 

To top it all off the side story plot about the BIG SECRET that her mother was keeping was disappointing and vastly anti-climatic to me. I won't give anymore away than I already have, but I definitely don't think it was worth the suspense that was expended on it.

So all in all, I feel like the plot and characterization had a lot of potential but it didn't really reach any of my expectations of it as a story.

Curtsies and Conspiracies by Gail Carriger

I rate this YA novel 4.5 out of 5

Sophronia is back at Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Qual-i-tay and there certainly isn't a dull moment. Sophronia and her fellow levels are up for evaluation and the results are bittersweet for Sophronia and her friends. Luckily there isn't much time to worry because the school is having visitors and some are actually going to a ball! Not to mention the continued subterfuge and plot intrigues carried over from Sophronia's first adventure, which if anything have become even more mysterious. Vampires, werewolves, ladies, sooties, a gadget toting cross dressing ten year, and even a few young gentlemen come together to make Sophronia's life very interesting in the steampunk story with a supernatural twist.

As the second novel in the Finishing School series, Carriger does it again, delivering a witty and amusing adventure that's sure to keep the reader glued to the pager. As an enormous fan of the Parasol Protectorate adult fiction series, I thought Carriger's first attempt at YA with Etiquette and Espionage a very good attempt indeed. However, as stated in a previous review, I felt the book a little too forced. As if the author was overly aware of the audience she was aiming for. However these complaints were smoothed over in the face of her second in the series. This one I feel even surpassed the first in the story telling and deliverance. It was obvious that Carriger was more comfortable and settled into the genre, making for an even more enjoyable reading experience. 

I highly encourage any readers interested in Steampunk or fans of Carriger's previous work to pick up this series. It is so much fun and well worth the read. Carriger seems to only get better with each published book and I sincerely hope this is a trend that continues. It is great to see her continue to work with the same world and history as she created in her first series, only with different characters and unique stories each time, and still remain fresh and interesting. So many times authors become set in a formulaic path and the resulting stories become worn out and boring, the same story rehashed over and over with slightly varied characters and plot. With Carriger however I never find this the case and I hope it stays that way!

Son by Lois Lowry

I rate this YA novel 4.5 out of 5

Clare is a vessel and she makes the product. She doesn't ask questions. Life is easy this way. She is content. But then something goes wrong and the product is cut from her. She is left with a scar and dismissed from her place as Birthmother. But what's more, she is left with a gaping hole that only the product seemed to feel. No, not the product, her son. Clare can't fit back into the perfectly constructed life of the community and as she grows closer to her child she realizes she might not want to. 

Written in the same world of The Giver, Gathering Blue, and The Messenger, this novel is the final installment of the series. Lowry writes with the same simple gravity and arresting detail as her previous books. It took the first two sentences of this novel to get me hooked. It would be hard to speak too much about this novel without giving things away, but I will say it is highly worth the read and that you run into old characters as well as meet new ones. 
                                            Spoiler Alert - Proceed With Caution

The only thing about Son that I didn't like was the choppiness of the narration. In her previous novels she stays from one point of view and tells the story from there and it works for her. There were multiple points of narration in this end-cap novel and it just didn't flow for me. I felt Lowry was trying to tell more story creatively, but I was left with more questions instead. The sectioning off of the story was also something that further made the story choppy feeling. 

I still highly recommend reading it, but I have to say that I was most attached to the story in the beginning section. Overall, though still good, it did not reach the esteem of The Giver or Gathering Blue, at least in my mind. 

Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman

I rate this non-fiction book 3.5 out of 5

This memoir account is the true story of Kerman's 15 months spent in a women's prison. The novel starts with the events that played out in her early twenties that led to the situation and then details her stay in prison from beginning to end. 

I read this book after watching the Netflix series loosely based off Kerman's life. However it is a very loose account, only the very barest of circumstance and character carrying over from book to show. I definitely did not feel like I was reading the script of something I had already watched. The book is interesting to be sure, but it is not half as dramatic as the show. The novel, though written form Kerman's point of view, relies largely on her family and the people she went to prison with. They form the backbone of this story and provide most of the self-revelation that Kerman discovers throughout the story. This novel is largely about strength and struggle and working through a tough situation. It also is very revealing as to the circumstances concerning living and dealing with federal prison. However, this is not the place to look for the risqué romance that the show was fraught with. This story is about strength, struggle, and overcoming the roadblocks we create in our own lives. 

It was a good book, but not quite as arresting as I first thought it would be.