Betwixt - Tara Bray Smith

It's pretty much a given for me that if a book is about teens and something paranormal, I'll read it, and probably love it. Bonus points to the book if it's already on sale, as this one was. This book was very intriguing even just from the dust jacket: one character seems to have a dark secret, one can make paintings come to life (what even??) and the third can see halos of light around those who will be dying soon. Immediately I started to speculate on what the plot would be about... Casters? Psychics? Something entirely new?

Well, I was partially right. This book is about fey, but the idea of what you know about fairies has been taken and twisted so much that it can hardly be called fey anymore. The book begins very promising, and the characters are introduced in a way that makes the reader want to continue discovering more about them. While some of the characters do posess powers, none of them know how to use them or why they even have them in the first place. The characters begin talking about a summer rave in the woods fairly early on in the book, and anyone can see that this is where their fates will start to be revealed.

And this is where the book began to lose me. For the first two hundred or so pages, we are given tiny teases of what lies ahead, but not much more. In fact, the first third of the book mostly revolves around the two main girls in the book planning throwing a party. This party serves as an introduction for other characters who will become more important later, but feels like a completely different book entirely. There are not many revelations made about the characters in this first part, and it feels somewhat like filler.

About 200 pages or so in, we finally make it to the secret rave in the woods. At almost 300 pages in, the main teenagers have finally left the party. Do you see where I'm going with this? The book definitely had its moments, but it seemed to drag on and on with not much direction until the very end. The climax definitely had me turning the pages to see what would happen next, but led to a very disappointing ending. Will there be a sequel? I'm not sure, and I'm not sure the author knows either. The ending feels like the ending of the first season of a television show: the writers want to make sure that all loose ends and major plot points are tied up, so that it has closure if the show is cancelled, but leave enough questions and "what ifs" so that a second season can be made if need be.

The book was confusing, and the plot could have been a lot better. Many portions of the book were very promising, and the powers that the teens had were for the most part very unique. However, the book dragged on, and felt more like a chore to read than I would have liked. Normally a book with a plot like this and of a similar length would take me about a day to read; this book took me over a week.

One last thing I'd like to mention: what's with the character names? Morgan D'Amici is normal, but the other two characters leave something to be desired. Nix Saint-Michael sounded like it was trying too hard to have a 'cool' name... I didn't like how the author shortened "Nick" to "Nix" for no reason. The one that bugged me the most, though, would have to be Ondine Mason. Ondine is a Latin name, I know, but it felt made-up to me. Who would name their daughter Ondine? There are much prettier names out there if you want to go for a mythological name that has some historical meaning to it. Really though, a parent is not going to name their daughter "Ondine" and their son Max. You either name your kids weird things, or you don't. Not to mention - the characters in the book were constantly commenting on how weird the names "Nix" and "Moth" (short for the character's last name, Motherwell) were. REALLY? Those are weird, but ONDINE isn't?

Anyways, /end rant. The book wasn't great, but it was somewhat readable if you really like the teen paranormal genre. Not recommended to the average reader, but if you're of the type who must read every book of the genre like I am, go for it. Just don't expect great things. If you go into it with lower expectations than I did, who knows... you might like it!

SCORE: 4.5/10
IF YOU LIKE: Wicked Lovely (Melissa Marr), Tithe (Holly Black)

Juliet Immortal - Stacey Jay

Have I ever mentioned how much I love getting ARCs? I get books that I would have never normally picked up, or even heard about. This novel is one of those: it came out officially in September, but I've yet to see it in a bookstore. It's a shame, because the idea of this book is so new and exciting.

Juliet Immortal takes the world's most famous love story - Romeo and Juliet - and twists it around entirely. Yes, Romeo and Juliet did the whole 'forbidden love' thing, and then got married. But soon after, Juliet awakes to find Romeo... in the middle of sacrificing her. Okay, so he didn't just flip out one day and decide to sacrifice his new wife: he was talked into it by the Mercenaries, a group dedicated to stopping true love. They convinced him to do this by promising him eternal life if he complied. Who wouldn't do that, right?

But it's all okay, because Juliet's nurse happens to be someone sent from the Ambassadors of Light, a similar immortal organization that does the opposite of the Mercenaries... that is, ensuring that soul mates remain together. They offer Juliet one last chance at life, to dedicate her existence to preserving romantic love and the lives of the innocent. Juliet, however, doesn't get to have a full life; she is brought down to earth at various points in time to protect soul mates in danger.

Now, there IS a love interest in this book. The problem is, Juliet falls for him while she is using a host body during one of her missions. He doesn't know who she really is, and Juliet has to wonder whether he is falling for her or the body she is currently using. I did like the character of Ben, but there could have been a bit more character development beyond the fact that he was good-looking and overprotective of Juliet. He wasn't all bad, though, and I looked forward to him being around.

The character of Romeo, on the other hand, was very well written. He was messed up, but not completely evil, and I spent much of the book wondering if he was going to stab Juliet in the back or if he was being somewhat truthful. I like when characters are not simply black and white. Yes, Romeo was the 'villain' of the book, but there were times where the reader felt bad for him, and times where you wanted to rip his head off.

Now, I'd just like to mention the ending. While I can't say here what exactly the twist at the end of the book was (because that would violate my unwritten 'no major spoilers' rule), I would like to say that I didn't like it, at all. After all that we went through, the twist took everything and threw it away. Essentially, the end of the book was as frustrating as if they had said everything contained in the book was a dream. It feels like the ending was rushed, and didn't really make sense with the motivations of EVERY character in the book and the rest of the plot. But whatever, I'll deal. Still, I feel that the second twist, about Ben, is probably worst of all... it just didn't need to happen.

While I do recommend this book, be cautious: it's great, until the last few chapters or so. Enjoy it, but don't feel bad if at the end you're pretending that the book finished differently.

SCORE: 7.5/10
IF YOU LIKE: Illuminated (Erica Orloff), After Obsession (Carrie Jones)

Insatiable - Meg Cabot

Meg Cabot books have always had a special place on my bookshelf. I've been reading her since I discovered her Mediator series when I was around 13 or 14, and I've pretty much bought every one of her books after that simply because they were written by her. The thing I like most about Meg Cabot books is her style of writing - they're always very stream-of-conciousness and go off on tangents sometimes, which a lot of writers since her have tried to emulate. Insatiable is no exception to this, though it's written for adults instead of her usual teen audience.

Sick of vampires? Lots of people seem to be these days. Franchises like Twilight and True Blood have taken vampires and shoved them down everyone's throats in the past few years... yet vampire still SELLS. Meena Harper (get it? Meena? Like Mina in Dracula?) works for a soap opera as a dialogue writer, and is waiting for a well-deserved promotion. Unfortunately for Meena, she doesn't get the promotion - and she hates teh woman who does. The network and sponsor decide to take the soap opera in a different direction at the same time, and since vampires are what sells (and Lust, another soap opera, already features them and is killing in the ratings) their show will just have to add vampires into the mix as well. A vampire is very quickly cast and Meena is ordered to start writing vampire dialogue.

Of course, she isn't very happy by this. But Meena's life is about to get a little more complicated, too. Her nosy, annoying neighbor invites Meena and her brother Jon (get it? Jon? Like Jon in Dracula?) over for a party to meet her husband's cousin, a supposed Prince from Romania. Meena and the Prince hit it off... but he's hiding a pretty important secret about who he really is.

Oh, and that isn't all. There's been a lot of murders lately, where young girls have been drained of all their blood. This has attracted the attention of the Palatine, a secret military group fighting for the Vatican... to vanquish evil. Vampires. The Palatine have sent hunters to find and exterminate whatever is causing these murders. Which happen to be in New York City, the same place that Meena lives.

Did I mention that Meena has a special power that lets her see how people will die?

Yes, the plot is a bit far-fetched, but I don't expect anything less from Meg Cabot. She's created an intriguing story where characters have faults and vampires aren't beautiful, sparkling creatures. The story itself begins as a sort of a parody of the genre, and points out many of the faults of the whole vampire craze.

The characters, as usual, were some of my favourite parts of this book. Meena is headstrong and resists the typical damsel in distress stereotype. She can handle herself well enough (though she does need saving on occasion) and has a bit of a hero complex. Lucien (the prince) shares this hero complex and, while he can be nice sometimes, is also a bit controlling and seductive. Alaric, the hunter sent from the Palpatine, is... well... an ass. He's ridiculous and rude but one of the best written characters.

Overall, a great book that's a fast read. It's laugh-out-loud funny, and everything Meg Cabot is known for. Highly recommended.

SCORE: 9/10
IF YOU LIKE: Overbite (Meg Cabot), Sookie Stackhouse series (Charlaine Harris)

A Sweet Disorder - Jacqueline Kolosov

A Sweet Disorder is another one of those books I picked up for cheap simply because the cover looked pretty. I've always wanted to get into historical fiction, but every time I try to pick one up I find myself not being able to get into the setting or the style of writing. Movies are a completely different thing for me - I love movies like The Other Boleyn Girl. The books, however, I struggle with, and this one was no exception.

Once I got into the book (which took a few tries, let me tell you!) I found an enjoyable story about a teenager, Miranda, whose father dies suddenly. Because of this, her and her family are left in relative poverty with no dowry and no prospective suitors for Miranda. The man she was promised to, Henry, is forced by his family to pull out of their arranged marriage. With nowhere else to go, Miranda gets sent off to live with some distant family relations who prepare her for her final destination: the Court of Queen Elizabeth. Though she is going to court, the Countess of Turbury (her distant relation) is planning on marrying her off to a rich old man. This marriage will benefit both the Countess and Miranda's family, as the man is very wealthy and will be able to support them.

At court, Miranda is singled out for her sewing talents (How do I keep reading all these books about sewing and fashion?) and quickly becomes a favourite. This angers many of the other girls there, who would also like to be the favourites of the Queen and the court. Miranda realizes that this sewing talent may be her only way out of the marriage the Countess has arranged for her, and attempts to become a royal seamstress.

During this, Henry shows up at court. All the other girls would love to marry him, and many are very catty about it, willing to do anything to beat the competition and become his wife. Miranda, however, is still in love with Henry and (though she tries to hide it) finds herself drawn to him.

The main gripe I have with this book is the characters. Aside from Miranda, many of the ones that we were supposed to care about seemed like stock characters. For example, there was a small amount of character development on Henry, but for the most part he just played the 'gorgeous unattainable guy' stereotype and was very wooden. One of the antagonists in the book, a girl who wants to marry Henry, seems to have little to no motivation aside from wanting to marry Henry. Other characters showed promise, such as Chidiock Kyd. However, after a great introduction and development, Kyd only showed up again near the end of the book.

The dialogue didn't always feel real, especially for a historical book. I imagine it must be very difficult to write using language and sentence structure that isn't what we're used to today, but sometimes the lines coming from the character's mouths didn't seem consistent with the setting and events. I found that Miranda's thinking was sometimes a little ahead of her time as well. Overall, I enjoyed the book, but I definitely would have changed the ending (which was predictable) and given other characters like Kyd and Elizabeth I their time to shine.

SCORE: 6.8/10
IF YOU LIKE: The Red Queen's Daughter (Jacqueline Kolosov), The Other Boleyn Girl (Philippa Gregory)

The File on Angelyn Stark - Catherine Atkins

It's rare that I dislike the premise of a book. This is one of those cases. It's not that the whole thing was unenjoyable - that would be unfair to the author, and to the book. My problem is... well, you'll see what my problem is.

This book is about a girl named Angelyn Stark. Angelyn is a 15 year old girl who is a troublemaker, but has potential. Unfortunately, not many people see this potential in her - in fact, her support system is limited to about 5 people, two of which she is holding a grudge against, one of which she tries to avoid on a daily basis unless she has to, and her mother, who loves her because she's her daughter but doesn't treat her well all the time due to pressure from both her boyfriend and her job. Oh, and Angelyn's got a boyfriend who pressures her to have sex and deserts her when she refuses, and two wishy-washy friends who only like her because she's a delinquent, but they don't support her unless it's convenient for them.

That's one of my main problems with this book, actually - I know that teens face social problems all the time (I was a teenager, too!) but it seems improbable that EVERYONE at her school, with the exception of Jeni (who Angelyn makes fun of despite her being basically Angelyn's only friend at points), is a total and complete jerk. The school doesn't really seem to care about all of the bad things going on in the school, either; Angelyn's two 'sometime' friends get into fights and openly pick on other kids without any teachers or principals even bothering to step in.

The other problem I had with the book lies with the sheer amount of important plotlines in this book. Any one of these would have made a decent book on their own, but Ms. Atkins took all of her ideas and crammed them in one book. Angelyn has many problems going on in her life, you see. (Now's the time when I give a short list of them, so if you REALLY don't want any plot spoilers go past this part, but all of these are touched on very early in the novel)

1. Her stepfather/Mom's boyfriend is a jerk. He's not good for her mother, or for Angelyn. He is parasitic and oversteps his boundaries with both Angelyn and her Mom often. He is, quite simply put, a jerk.
2. Her boyfriend pressures her for sex, and expects a lot more from her. He's not a bad guy necessarily, but is under the impression that a 15-year-old girl should be putting out for her boyfriend if she doesn't want him to stray.
3. Her teacher, Mr. Rossi, is one of the few people who believes in Angelyn and thinks that she can make something of herself. Angelyn's friends think that he is in love with her, and Angelyn starts to blur the lines between student and teacher relationships.
4. When Angelyn was young, her neighbor and friend Nathan witnessed something between Angelyn and her stepfather. He claims that he saw the stepfather touching her - Angelyn claims that it was simply the way they were playing around. Since then, the Starks stand by the fact that Nathan (and his grandmother, who cared a lot for Angelyn as well) were lying about what they saw. Angelyn told the police that nothing happened... but Nathan and Angelyn can't both be telling the truth.

This book reminded me, in tone, to Prey by Lurlene McDaniel. However, where Lurlene's book was focused on just one of the subjects Catherine Atkins touches on, Angelyn Stark tries to cover a very broad range of topics all at once.

Not great, but not terrible. I wouldn't buy this one when it comes out in hardcover, but rather wait for the paperback or borrow it from the library. It's an easy read in the sense that the writing style isn't very difficult to understand, but the topics it covers might not be appropriate for the younger readers. The book isn't explicit or anything but the sheer amount of 'taboo' topics is a little overwhelming at times. This is the first book I've read by this author, and while I won't be running out to get her other books I wouldn't be against reading them.

SCORE: 5.5/10
IF YOU LIKE: Prey (Lurlene McDaniel), Alt Ed (Catherine Atkins)

The Other Side of the Island - Allegra Goodman

This is another one of those books that I picked up simply because it was a teen book, and cost only $2. I've been reading a lot of dystopian books lately, and this seemed like another good one to add to my collection.

Imagine a world where everything, from weather to school, jobs, and housing, is controlled by one person. This "Earth Mother", as she is called by the characters of the book, has slowly started controlling the world, island by island, after a flood. This was not just any old flood - it was a pretty major, earth-changing flood. Earth Mother decided that real weather is too Unpredictable. Unpredictable things can be dangerous, which instilled so much fear into the human race that people started fleeing to these controlled areas, where Earth Mother is regarded as a god of sorts, and all traces of old government and old religion are abolished. Earth Mother takes everything into her own hands - songs of praise are changed to worship her, books are not allowed to be owned in homes, drawing is forbidden, and portions of books are even changed (and only found at schools and libraries, of course) to fit with the new teachings.

While some people are essentially brainwashed and follow anything and everything Earth Mother/her government tells them to do, there are of course those who rebel. Bad things happen to people who rebel and are caught - they disappear forever. Honor's parents happen to be rebels to Earth Mother's plan.

I wasn't blown away by this book or anything, but I did enjoy it and read through it in one sitting. The story was somewhat predictable, but that didn't take away from the experience at all. While I had theories on what was going to happen and where Honor's parents were, I was glued to the book waiting to figure out if I was right or wrong.

One interesting thing to note is that Honor's age changes as the book progresses. She begins at a younger age (10) which was a bit strange for me to get used to, as I normally read books with much older protagonists. However, the book spans a number of years as Honor grows and learns more about the world and forms her own opinion of Earth Mother. I thought this was a nice touch, as it isn't something I've encountered often in my readings.

An interesting read that goes beyond your typical "teen wants to fit in" plotline. If you're looking for something dystopian but fresh, I would recommend this one. It's not your typical teen book by any means, and it lags at parts, but the author has created a compelling world.

SCORE: 7/10
IF YOU LIKE: The Sky Inside (Clare Dunkle), Floodland (Marcus Sedgwick)

Breakfast At Bloomingdale's - Kristen Kemp

I picked this book up a few years ago for something ridiculous like $2 on clearance. Given my giant backlog of books, it was inevitable that this book was going to get lost in the crazy mess I call my room. I forgot about it for so long - it was only while cleaning up recently I managed to find it again. I was looking for something light to read, and this seemed like just the kind of thing I needed.

The first thing couple of pages grabbed me immediately. The opening setting is not one that is used often in books: Upstate New York. (I know, I know, saying "upstate New York" is very vague. For native New Yorkers, "upstate" is anything that's not NYC or Long Island.) Specifically, the book opens in Queensbury, NY, a small city located north of Albany and Saratoga Springs in the Adirondack mountains. This is especially significant to me as my family has a summer cottage in the Adirondacks, and I often find myself in Queensbury. It was fun to read about a place that I have actually been to for once! :)

This didn't last long, though. Very early in the book, the heroine, Cat, moves to New York City to reinvent herself as a fashion designer. She has a dream to accomplish, one that she once shared with her recently deceased grandmother: sell her Audrey Hepburn-inspired clothing line, Breakfast, in Bloomingdale's.

Of course, this doesn't go as easily as Cat would hope. She meets a group of people who redefine the word 'eclectic', including the book's love interest: a hot guy who happens to moonlight as a clown.

This was a very funny, fast read, though it did lose me at times. In a nutshell, this book is about fashion. While you don't have to necessarily be a designer to understand this book, I imagine it certainly would help. I have an appreciation for fashion but know next to nothing about sewing and how clothes are created. There were many scenes in this book describing how exactly Cat is creating the clothes; I imagine the author either researched this book a lot or has worked in fashion. Picturing some of these outfits in my head, especially those made by the people Cat is working alongside, was a chore at times.

Overall, though, I did enjoy this book. While it was not the best book I have read this year, month, or even week, it was still fun and fast. I didn't LOVE this book, but I did like it. It didn't bring anything new to the table... but that's exactly what I was expecting. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who has a passing interest in fashion.

SCORE: 7/10
IF YOU LIKE: The Daughters (Joanna Philbin), Ripped At The Seams (Nancy Krulik)