Category: Book Review

If I had to vote on a “best cover for 2012” book.. this one would be in the running.

~ Sheila

The Selection

America Singer is a young teenage girl. She lives in a country, Illea, where people are ranked by their skills, or in castes. America is a five, only three steps from the bottom. Fives are typically artists or performers; America is a singer and is skilled at a few instruments. Her family constantly struggles to get the food needed, as well as keep the house heated through the winter season. America lives with her mother, Magda, her father, Shalom, her younger sister, May, and her younger brother, Gerad. Her eldest siblings, Kota and Jenna, have moved out of the house. Aspen, a handsome nineteen year old, holds America’s heart. America cannot truly be with Aspen because he is a six; women hardly ever marry below them. Aspen can hardly provide for his family, especially after his father’s death. America, because of money issues, enters in the “Selection” a contest in which the king and queen of Illea randomly choose thirty five women between the ages of sixteen and twenty from each providence to compete for their son’s hand in marriage. America, of course, knows she has little chance of being picked, but enters the contest for the possible compensation that her family could earn if she is selected. When America is selected, her whole providence of Carolina is dumbfounded.

America goes to the palace only to escape Aspen, who has recently decided to end their relationship. It is here in the palace where she meets the kind, generous, caring, and funny Prince Maxon. America has no intentions of coming to care for Maxon, and expects to be sent home in the first week. To her surprise, she becomes very dear friends with Maxon. Despite her still nagging feelings for Aspen, she finds herself and the prince growing closer and closer together. After brutal attacks on the palace and a surprise appearance from Aspen, she knows she must chose between the two, but who will it be?

The Selection is a book that is portrayed in great detail, and lets you really feel what the characters feel. It shows you the true meaning of life, and mostly, the tangled ways of love and how it creeps up on you at unimaginable times. I personally enjoyed this book immensely.  I loved it, and read it in a matter of hours. It is extremely hard to put down once you start, and is interesting and pulls you in from the beginning. Looking forward to the next book!

Note from Sheila:  Camryn told me this is one I do not want to miss!  Also, the book cover pic is always linked to where you an purchase the book but I also heard it is excellent in audio as well.  Audio lovers, here is a link for you.  😀

Camryn is 12 years old, soon to be thirteen and enjoys reading YA books of the fantasy and romance genre. A few of her favorite books are “Hourglass” by Myra McEntire, “The Other Countess” by Eve Edwards, “Hush, Hush” by Becca Fitzpatrick, “The Immortals” series, the “Marked” series and the “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” series.  When she’s not reading she enjoys watching Gilmore Girls or going to book sales for more books to add to her ever-growing collection.

What is it about running?  It can relieve a days stress, it can clear your head…. shoot it can ease a lifetime of sorrows, and for Cassidy Christensen, it can help her escape.

Cassidy is haunted with memories of the senseless murder of her parents, and now running has taken her to a new level of “escape” that she did not realize she needed, or wanted until she started to run.

RUN.

When Cassidy starts training for a Marathon (which she didn’t want) and captures the attention of two very interesting and good-looking men (which she did want), things become interesting.  Add in a couple of dangerous guys on the side that are not exactly looking out for Cassidy’s best interest, instead they are tied into her parents murder and still look at Cassidy as a pawn they can use….  Things, as Cassidy is about to find out, are not as she had been lead to believe…

RUN.

Dead Running starts out at a warm up pace.  As I dipped into those first pages I met Cassidy, her sister-in-law, her brother, a Nana, a great friend, a petite weird red-headed girl  here forward known as “Hot Redhead”  and a couple good-looking guys.  While my mind wrapped around who was who and what was what….

I started to warm up to a slow jog…

Entering Cassidy’s world was fun.  As a protagonist, I liked her.  I liked her a lot.  She was smart, but not fake, and funny…. a moment when she screams out “Pelican Poop!” when confronted with a mystery man at the front door caused me to laugh out loud, and I would soon find out that would not be the only time laughter would escape me during this read.  Her training for that marathon was inspirational, I wish I had her determination!  When she later gags while trying to swallow a Vanilla Flavored Gu, I laughed again.. this was a girl after my own heart… I have had the same reaction.

…and then I am running…

page by page I found myself flying through this book.  The characters are real, interesting and engaging.  Yes I too want to meet Damon and Jesse… I am just saying… 😀  Tie in a big mystery and a lot of danger and I was sold.  Cassidy’s sister-in-law Rachael “El” would be the sister-in-law I had always dreamed of, a friend and confident… and her BFF Tasha cracks me up.

Bottom line is – this book gave me all the good vibes of an early Stephanie Plum (Evanovich) novel without the ditsy main character, but with the hot guys, a meatier read, and just a lot cleaner all the way around.  I really loved it. 

Not many books will keep me in the house on my day off in my pajamas past noon just because I can not put it down long enough to take a shower and get ready for the day.  This one did exactly that.  Do yourself a favor and give Cami Checketts a try,  I adored her touching book Sister Pact, and really think she has grown even more as an author in Dead Running.

**  A few days ago I posted a wonderful fitness giveaway Cami Checketts is having in honor of this books release!  Please check it out… signing up is as easy as a comment.  😀

Amazon Rating

Goodreads Review

A portion of the proceeds from Cami’s books will be donated to The Child & Family Support Center. For more information on this worthy cause, please go to www.cachecfsc.org

Thank you Cami for the advanced opportunity to read and review this book!

I am so looking forward to this read, Camryn does a wonderful

job making me want to read it now!  😀 ~Sheila

Unraveling

Unraveling is a book by Elizabeth Norris that is about high school junior Janelle Tenner. Janelle lives with her younger brother, Jared, her dad, James, and her bipolar mother. Janelle, while leaving the beach, gets hit by a truck. She could’ve sworn she died. She felt her heart stop. Before she knows it, she is looking into the eyes of Ben Michaels, a loner from her high school that she hasn’t spoken to before. She knows that Ben somehow saved her, and she is determined to find out how.

Janelle, after being let out of the hospital, goes home with her dad, just to find out he has a strange case about unidentified people dying of extremely severe radiation. Janelle’s dad works for the FBI. Ever the eavesdropper on her dad’s work, Janelle decides to dive deeper into the case. Dead ends and meaningless information push her towards Ben. She needs to find out how he saved her, but instead, she finds herself growing closer and more dependent on Ben. Can she find out Ben’s secret and solve the case without falling for Ben, or will she die trying?

I loved this book. It made me cry. In my opinion, any book that makes you cry for at least two minutes is a good book, but any book that makes you cry for more than five is amazing. This book was amazing. It had detail, and was impossible to put down after I started. I am looking forward to more from this author. I would recommend this book to anyone who wanted a fast-moving novel, who wanted a great read, or wanted to read a story of true. The ending kind of made me sad though, it ended kind of abruptly.  It was still amazing.

Camryn is 12 years old, soon to be thirteen and enjoys reading YA books of the fantasy and romance genre. A few of her favorite books are “Hourglass” by Myra McEntire, “The Other Countess” by Eve Edwards, “Hush, Hush” by Becca Fitzpatrick, “The Immortals” series, the “Marked” series and the “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” series.  When she’s not reading she enjoys watching Gilmore Girls or going to book sales for more books to add to her ever-growing collection.

Long time friends Sarah Beth and Rachel decide to go into New York to celebrate their fortieth birthdays together, kind of a girls weekend.  They had charted out plans of things to see and do together, and over a lunch in a Manhattan restaurant, Sarah Beth takes this opportunity to excuse herself to use the restroom and then…

disappears.

Well, not exactly disappears as a frantic Rachel soon finds out.  She did leave a note:

Please don’t tell Tom about this.  I really need some time alone Rachel to sort things out.  I am so sorry to do this now on our fortieth birthdays.  I know it means a lot to you and I promise you another celebration.  We go back a long way and you are the only one who will understand and let me do this.  Let me walk away from it all for a little while.  It sounds crazy I know.  Please give me these couple of days alone to try to figure it out, to figure me out.

~page 5, Whole Latte Life

Ok… who has ever wanted to run away from the life they have?  *raises hand*  I admit, I have had times in my life where I have thought “If only I could just get away from it all – no phones no communications, just me on my own”.  This is usually accompanied by some virtual vision of me either living in the woods and living off the land, or in a better scenario, alone at a beach house, far enough away from civilization that I can be at peace and alone, but not so far that I can’t drive in to a small town for groceries or a take out pizza.  😀

In Whole Latte Life, Sarah Beth takes that step that most of us have day dreamed about, and then push the thought aside as we get ready for our jobs, or cook supper.  As a character, I honestly can’t say I liked her.  Sarah Beth’s choices from the very beginning came off to me as selfish, and she never really redeemed herself in my eyes until the very end.  I understand in this book she has had a major loss in her life that contributes to much of her “fight or flight”, but I am thinking get yourself some help sister… see someone you can talk too. (Oh, and dont even get me started on her husband who goes from one extreme… to another). 😯  I am hoping I do not come off as not understanding what Sarah was going through…

I would also say, as I write this, that Sarah Beth is going through a bit of a mid-life crisis, and maybe saying “a bit” is not strong enough…. I would say it is a BIG TIME mid-life crisis.  She dwells on the path not taken, she wonders if an old flame may still be out there waiting for her… she has kids and a husband, but she seems to not think of them first, but instead herself.  (Which again makes me think get this girl a hotline to some therapy!)

Rachel on the other hand, I liked.  Widowed with a daughter, she is a good and patient friend to Sarah Beth, at least as much as she could be.  Her story line I found carried the book, even though the synopsis on the back of the book is all about Sarah Beth and Rachel’s name is not even mentioned. 

My final thoughts:  What I had hoped to get out of this book was a story of strong female friendship against all odds.  In a way that happened, but much differently than I thought.  I feel Rachel takes the leading role here not only as a true friend but as the story line I was most interested in.  I felt Sarah Beth got away with way too much for her family to endure as they did… and maybe that is just me being me.

The book is well written, and my ability to like or not like a character – is most likely, my issue. 

I recommend this book to anyone who ever felt their life was crumbling around them and survived through a supportive family or a great friend.

Amazon Rating

Goodreads review

Here are some awesome book lovers who have also reviewed this book:

Write Meg!

Bookfan

Escape with Dollycas

Kritters Rambling

Note from Sheila:  I think, unless I have a blog tour, I am going to make Tuesdays, “Tuesdays with Camryn”.  I introduced her last week, Camryn is a daughter of a good friend who ♥LOVES♥ to read and has taken on a roll of coming over, reading many of my YA books and then emailing me reviews.  Camryn can give you a great YA perspective on these books, where her reviews make me want to drop everything (like with this one!) and read it next.

One more note – this is not the cover of the book I have, however… I wish it was… I much prefer this cover I found on-line for the paperback. 

~Sheila

Birth Marked is a story written by Caragh M. O’Brien. The main character, Gaia Stone, has lived with her parents, Jasper and Bonnie Stone for her whole life. Gaia is a midwife, and very recently started helping mothers by herself. In her society, the first three babies born (for each midwife) each month, were to be taken to the Enclave, to be sold to the residents who lived inside. This is called the baby quota. For Gaia, this is a horrible part of what she does. After her first birth, she comes home to find that her parents have been taken by the Enclave, because they thought they could be traitors, by supposedly encouraging residents of their Sector, Sector Three, to rebel against the baby quota. After almost a month of waiting, Gaia decides to go in after her parents. She starts her treacherous task of breaching the Enclave Wall, the one keeping the “outsiders” from fraternizing with those who lived inside the wall. After successfully getting inside the wall, Gaia learns that both of her parents are in prison, but she does not know where. As she heads deeper into town, near the center, or the Bastion, she sees two people, a man, and a pregnant woman, being escorted to their hanging. When the mother is hanged, Gaia is frantic, trying to save the baby, who was probably about ready to be born. Masquerading herself as family, she accompanies the woman’s corpse, where she is able to save the child. But, consequently, she is unaware that this is illegal, and lands herself a potentially permanent spot in prison. Will she see her parents? Will she make it out alive? Or will she remain in prison until she meets her end?

Birth Marked was much better than I thought it was going to be. It reminds me of the Hunger Games, i.e. the “capital” or Enclave, was elitist, and the baby quota was a big sacrifice, just like each District had to send tributes. But enough of the Hunger Games. This book was amazing. I have my fingers crossed for a sequel, but I should survive without one. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoyed the Hunger Games (here I go again) or who wants a great book that isn’t a long read but still has good detail.

Update:  It has been brought to my attention that for those HUNGRY for more after Birthmarked, Barnes and Noble has a “between” book called Tortured, which falls after Birthmarked, but before book II, Prized.  Even better news?  This baby is free for the Nook! 

 

Camryn is 12 years old, soon to be thirteen and enjoys reading YA books of the fantasy and romance genre. A few of her favorite books are “Hourglass” by Myra McEntire, “The Other Countess” by Eve Edwards, “Hush, Hush” by Becca Fitzpatrick, “The Immortals” series, the “Marked” series and the “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” series.  When she’s not reading she enjoys watching Gilmore Girls or going to book sales for more books to add to her ever-growing collection.

Warning:  In the off chance that I am not the last person on the planet earth that has not read this book, know that I am sharing fully what I have read and this post is filled with spoilers to any one who has not read Jane Eyre.

Yes Jim from the Planet Zork – this means you.  Quit reading and beam up the book.

When last I left Jane Eyre it was March 9th.  Yes, I have been absent from my days with Jane, and while you may think “yup, once again she has given up on the book!” you would be mistaken… instead time crunch, book commitments… I just did not get to it.  😯

Now thanks to the readathon, I have read enough to get Jane and I back on the err…. same page, and here is what I have to say about that.  Shoot, why don’t we see what Jane has to say about that as well…. I’ll start… because it is my blog:

Sheila’s thoughts:

Now, in the book Jane has found out that Mrs. Reed has taken ill and she requests of Mr. Rochester to allow her leave (her words, not mine) for two weeks so she may go and see her.  A back and forth bidding of sorts goes on between them, regarding her time away and the money given to Jane to go as Mr. Rochester fears that Jane will go and not return. 

When Jane does go – Mrs. Reed is much the bitty she was before, even though she tries to make things sort of right between herself and Jane her loathe is too deep and she (SPOILER!) dies still feeling that Jane is this creature of awfulness.

Even though Jane had agreed to only be gone a week, a month passes before she returns to Thornfield.  Now returned, she lives in fear of the time that will soon come and Rochester takes on the snooty Imgram as his wife and Jane feels at the time she will be shown the door and has no idea what will be next for her.  However, Mr. Rochester seems in a joyful mood and does not mention the upcoming wedding to anyone and when questioned when this will take place he simply does not give an inkling either way. 

Then, when Rochester does say he is getting married he asks Jane to spend some time with him as he admits he is fond of her and suspects as the quote says above that he will hurt upon her leave, but feels she will feel nothing… which as we all know – is not true. 

And then … well, things get a bit intense between Rochester and Jane and a proposal is made where one should not have been given (my opinion) as Rochester has already played that card and has a bride waiting. And yeah, for all you romance lovers, this would probably be where you insert the “oohs and ahs” as even I have to admit liked the thought of Jane and EDWARD getting together and all things working out.

And so as I end this section of my reading with page 289, Jane has just had a series of nightmares the previous night that she shares with EDWARD (Rochester), while two are spooky and unsettling, the third is a vision of a woman who rips Jane’s wedding veil in half and in the morning, indeed the veil is torn. 

Honestly… it is a little hard to stop the reading there as we are on the cusp of the wedding, and apparently there is someone against it… you may know – but remember this is my first time reading this book.  My only guess in Ingram… P.O’d about Edward marrying Jane instead of her.  Where Jane I feel would marry for love, Ingram I feel wants to marry well and wealthy.

Jane’s thoughts:

Whilest I do admit wholeheartedly that yay, it is thine truth that I have had my eyes on Mr. Rochester (calling him Edward still makes me blush the color the color of the blooming roses along the roadside), I must also be true in stating that his mind sometimes concerns me.  At one point he calls my eyes the color of radiant hazels when it is all well-known that my eyes have always been the green of a pool filled with frogs…. and while-st my temper rises, I struggle between the respect of being his governess, and the possible brow beating he deserves once he calls me wife. 

As for the vision of my night-time, I believe in my deepest core that the woman was real… not an apparition created in thy mind, nay, this was of flesh and blood… although in my honesty… the flesh was paperish and thy blood looked thin.

What shall become of me?  Will my love for E-, errr… Rochester be enough for my plain heart?  Will I become the ruler of all things Thornfield?

A review by Camryn

Can there truly be love after death?

Hereafter is a book written by Tara Hudson that is about a young ghost named Amelia. Amelia drowned when she fell (or jumped, she doesn’t remember) from High Bridge, right off High Bridge Road. Amelia is having another one of her disturbing nightmares, where she re-experiences her death in a state of unconsciousness. When she wakes up, she is floating in the river, looking at a pair of glowing lights in the water. Panicking, she swims down to the lights, where she sees a boy around her age, probably eighteen years old. His eyes are closed, and he is unconscious. Dead set to make sure he survives, she screams with all of her might, hoping by some miracle he would swim to the surface of the water and survive. He does just that, and makes it to shore. As paramedics arrive, he tells her his name is Joshua.

Amelia is visited by Joshua the next day, and she tells him she is dead. Though a bit frazzled and shocked, he continues to ask questions about her past. Amelia and Joshua grow even closer together, so much to the point where Amelia finds herself falling for him. Joshua helps Amelia remember her distant past. Another ghost, Eli, is doing his best to keep them apart. Joshua’s grandmother, who also happens to see Amelia, is not fond of her, and is planning on exorcising her as soon as possible. Will Joshua and Amelia’s bond continue? Or will they be ripped apart as fast as they met?

I personally loved the book.I did struggle somewhat with how a ghost and a human boy could be together, but overall it was an excellent read and I greatly enjoyed reading it. 

I would recommend it to anyone who likes to read about supernatural/paranormal.  If you enjoyed Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick, you will probably enjoy Hereafter.

Camryn is 12 years old, soon to be thirteen and enjoys reading YA books of the fantasy and romance genre. A few of her favorite books are “Hourglass” by Myra McEntire, “The Other Countess” by Eve Edwards, “Hush, Hush” by Becca Fitzpatrick, “The Immortals” series, the “Marked” series and the “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” series.  When she’s not reading she enjoys watching Gilmore Girls or going to book sales for more books to add to her ever-growing collection.

It’s 2018. Jewel (or Charmskinned as fondly called by her dad) has just turned 16. 16! That means she can finally access the autopilot on her Aerokopa (think of the Jetsons cartoon and how they traveled). Life is opening new doors right and left!

But really what good is being 16 and being able to explore the countryside when you do not have a date to your BFF’s party of the century? Well, except for that one boy, Loyal who’s cute and all but he is also a HOLDOUT… and that is a can of grief Jewel is not ready to open. And of course there is the whole hush hush business of the Trollers docked at the quay , believed to be spies working with the Aliens, but Jewel’s dad is a big shot in the Government and he is on top of all of that. It’s best to avoid that area, and it would be all out treason to make friends with one of these Trollers, even if he was a really cute teenage one, who seems to be really nice and brings you gifts….

That would be the wrong thing for Jewel to do right?  Right?

I am not a big sci fi “fan girl”, yet when asked if I would take a closer look at this new book by K.L. Glanville, something caught me. It might have been the fun synopsis of a young girl about to get in a heap of potential trouble. And really if I followed my own rule of things “I will not enjoy” then I never would have experienced Hunger Games, Pandemonium, The Knife Of Never Letting Go,” so seriously… what do I know?

What I liked about 2108 is that this is what I would call a great young YA read. By young YA I mean although it is written about teenagers, and there is a mention of champagne towards the end of the book, it is a clean read, almost upper MG. (I hope I am making sense)

The people of the book are categorized:

Naturals: People like Jewel and her dad. They live as nature intended, no alterations to their DNA or bodies. Most live in New Zealand which is the only area where no Bionics or Aliens live, which is a big bonus!

Aliens: Those who invaded the globe. Untrustworthy.

Bionics: People who are in cahoots with the Aliens. Some of them even have their DNA altered to mix with the Aliens DNA.

Holdouts: People who still believe in the old ways, they have two parent families and usually a number of children (how crazy is that?)

Jewel’s character was interesting and I felt well developed. I felt the futuristic feel of this book was not over the top. It was fun, and I got into the story line, wondering what would happen next.

Fair waring: This book does leave you with unanswered questions and I see on Amazon it is marketed as Volume 1, on the bright side, that means there is more to come of this interesting and fun story!

I am connecting this review to Julie at Booking Mama’s Kid Connections.  A meme I wish I took part in more often!

I was just notified by the publishing company that I can give away one SIGNED copy of this book with 5 books marks to one lucky commenter!  Simply leave a comment on this post between April 14 – April 18th, and on the morning of the 19th I will announce the winner.  😀

Amazon Rating

Goodreads Review

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book: