Book Thoughts: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

Title: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
Author: Michelle Hodkin
Series: Mara Dyer #1

I adore this book. It is my favorite of the books that I read over the summer, and that is not a title I bestow lightly.

The plot was fascinating. There was some sort of paranormal element, something seriously spooky going on, and Mara doesn't know what it is or why she can't remember the night her best friends died. Her family moves to get away from the trauma, but the PTSD -- because paranormal's not real, right? -- follows. And at her new school, there's Noah. Totally hot, and someone Mara's not sure she can be with.

I loved Mara as a character, and Noah and Daniel and the rest, but that wasn't the main reason I really loved the novel. I was caught up in the story -- I had to know what came next, what was going on. I loved the way the PTSD was handled: realistically. Mara feels like a much more real teenager than many paranormal novel heroines. She sees a psychiatrist (her attitude toward that was very realistic), is wary of her medication (which, by the way, is one that they would actually prescribe in a PTSD situation), falls for a new guy who she's a little wary of, tries to move on with her life but can't quite.

She doesn't accept that something paranormal is happening without question. She challenges it, tries hard to fit it to the reality she's always known. I felt like the whole situation was handled really well. And I liked that she tried to prioritize her real life over the paranormal rather than the other way around.

But yeah mostly I just loved the story and the characters and I am desperately waiting for the sequel. (October 23. Soon. I can make it that long... probably...) At any rate, I love this book and you should read it.

Book Thoughts: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Title: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Author: Ransom Riggs
Series: Miss Peregrine #1

Ahh, where to start with Miss Peregrine... Was it strange? Yes. Was it spooky? Yes. Did I love it? Most definitely yes.

Jacob grew up on his grandfather's stories of monsters and an orphanage full of peculiar children who could do strange things (like levitate or turn invisible). Eventually, he realizes that the tales have to be make-believe... until the day his grandfather dies and he sees one of the monsters his grandfather has always described.

Naturally, everyone thinks Jacob is crazy: monsters don't exist. So Jacob sets off on a crazy quest to Wales to visit the orphanage and settle his nightmares... and finds so much more than he bargained for.

I just love this book. One of my favorites that I read over the summer and one that I am eagerly awaiting the sequel to. The characters are so much fun, the writing is great and blended seamlessly with a series of strange photographs described in the novel, and the story kept me eagerly turning pages to find out what would happen next.

A bit of a spooky read (perfect for Halloween season!), definitely a strange one, but one that I absolutely and wholeheartedly recommend.

Book Thoughts: The Body Finder

Title: The Body Finder
Author: Kimberly Derting
Series: Body Finder #1

I fell in love with this book from the first chapter. I couldn't tell you what about it made me love it, but once I started reading, I just couldn't put it down. At the very beginning, I was concerned that it might not live up to my expectations (which were very high, from all of the positive reviews I've read), because I felt like it was doing more telling and less showing...but then...it was just amazing.

Violet is such a relatable character. She's got a few friends but she's not super-popular, she has a hard time coming up with clever comebacks, she's trying to hide a crush on her best friend, she's scared but she's trying to do something about it. She has her flaws, but they're just a part of her - she could be real. And Jay. Oh my goodness, Jay. He has definitely earned a place in the top few Crush-worthy Fictional Guys. I wish the side characters had been developed more (I need more Chelsea and Claire, please!) but I think their role in the story worked.

The set-up, basically, is that Violet gets these sensory stimulations when she's around a murder victim or a murderer. Mostly that means that her cat smells weird after he kills a bird and she can always find the bird, but then she finds a dead girl her age in a lake at a party. Soon other girls start disappearing, there's a serial killer on the loose, and Violet may be the only one who can find and identify him. I had worried that the premise of "I see dead things" might be too cliche, but it totally wasn't. The mystery is really well done and I just could not put the book down until I knew what had happened. It was fantastic. I also really liked that it occasionally flashed to the killer's point of view, telling us just enough to keep us sufficiently horrified by the crimes but not enough to ruin the mystery.

And the ending. No spoilers, I promise, but if you read it you'll know what I mean: the ending was very well done. It works as a stand-alone, I think, but I'm sooo glad there's going to be a sequel, because I need more Violet and Jay. And Chelsea. And Claire. And so on and so forth...you get the picture.

Anyway, long story short, definitely read this one, you guys. It was awesome.

Book Thoughts: Prophecy of the Sisters

Title: Prophecy of the Sisters
Author: Michelle Zink
Series: Prophecy of the Sisters #1

I've had a copy of Prophecy of the Sisters on my bookshelf for ages now and just hadn't picked it up. All the hype for the second book made me think that maybe I should read it, and I think on the whole, I'm glad I did.

I didn't realize when I started that this novel is actually set in the year 1890. I'd been expecting something a bit more modern, so that was kind of a surprise, but a pleasant surprise, because it worked perfectly. The novel opens with Lia and her family at her father's funeral. The circumstances of his death were strange, and the night he died, a strange circular mark appeared on Lia's wrist. Not long after, her boyfriend James shows her a book he found in her father's library: a book with all the pages missing except one. This page contains a prophecy about Lia and her twin sister Alice. Her father and the mark on her wrist have more to do with it than Lia understands, but she's determined to find out.

I love the premise of this book. The idea of the prophecy of the sisters is really awesome, and putting it in a historical setting just makes it better. I like the characters, too - I wish we had gotten to see more of James, and I love Luisa and Sonia's characters too. I wish there had been more Henry, too!

I will admit that for a lot of the book, I was really annoyed by how predictable it was. I figured out what the keys were (part of the prophecy mentions keys) within a few pages of the first mention of them, but it took Lia a good fifty or a hundred pages after that, which is never a good sign. I like reading to discover new things, and if I know what's going to happen within fifty pages, then why read past that? But there were still a few questions that I hadn't guessed the answers to, so I kept reading, and I'm so glad I did.

By the end of the novel, I was blatantly ignoring everything else I needed to be doing (such as feeding the cat. He was not pleased) so I could finish. I didn't realize until the last few chapters how much of an emotional connection I'd made with Lia! Oh, and another random thing that I really loved about this: it was not all about boys! Lia already has a boyfriend who she loves, and the focus of the story is not on that romance, it's on the plot. Hooray for plot variation!

Long story short: I do recommend this, with a warning attached: It's a little slow and predictable in places. Still, though, I did enjoy it, especially in the second half once it really got going. And definitely check it out if you like paranormal in a historical setting.

Book Thoughts: Paranormalcy

Title: Paranormalcy
Author: Kiersten White
Series: Paranormalcy #1

So much for normal, indeed. Paranormalcy is about as far from your normal paranormal romance as it gets while still being a YA paranormal romance, and I mean that in a good way.

The idea of IPCA, the International Paranormal Containment Agency, is brilliant. Because really...if paranormal creatures existed in large numbers, wouldn't the government know about it and have a department for it? It's such a creative spin on the whole thing. I love it. And the story built around it...wow. It will keep absolutely keep you turning pages wanting to know what happens next.

And the characters! Evie is a wonderful character. Her narration is funny and genuine (although I will admit that her obsessions with pink clothes and boys reeeally got on my nerves at times; that was really my only problem with the book - too much pink!). She is so much fun to read about and her voice is incredibly real. The other characters are great too, although I wish we got to see more of them. I wanted more Lish! I could feel Evie's reactions to Reth, and Lend...well, he's just awesome.

Also, I loved that the romance developed normally. Evie and Lend become friends, based first upon their personalities, and that friendship develops into a romance at a normal (if expected) pace. And there was no sex and no swearing, and Evie sticks to one boyfriend. Hooray for an awesomely written story that actually has some semblance of morals! Not that I have a problem with most paranormal romances (I love the genre), but this one was just such a nice change.

In short, Paranormalcy is a delightfully entertaining, refreshing, and all-around fun read that will leave you wanting the sequel. (*tries very hard to wait calmly for Supernaturally*) Absolutely worth your time.

Book Thoughts: Captivate

Title: Captivate
Author: Carrie Jones
Series: Need #2

I finished reading CAPTIVATE this morning, and it was just fantastic. I really want the third book - now! Not sure how much I can say without giving away too much, but in this book, there's a new pixie king in town. His name is Astley, and he wants Zara to be his queen. And there's another new pixie king as well - an evil one, who wants to take over. Zara and all of her friends are in danger, and it's Zara's responsibility to fix it. Especially since Nick might not be able to.

I cannot emphasize enough how much you should read NEED first, but once you do I won't have to tell you that you should read CAPTIVATE. The books are fantastic, the lack of vampires/addition of pixies is quite refreshing, the characters are so intricate, it's just a wonderful series.

Book Thoughts: Shade

Title: Shade
Author: Jeri Smith-Ready
Series: Shade #1

I went on the PulseIt website, saw a book that looked interesting, opened the e-book to read the inside jacket and see what it was about. I swear I never meant to get sucked into it and just keep reading...but I did.

The book about which I am speaking is SHADE by Jeri Smith-Ready. It's an absolutely fantastic book and you will not - repeat, will not - want to put it down. The premise is this: Almost seventeen years ago, on the night of Aura Salvatore's birth, a mysterious event called the Shift occurred. Everyone born after the Shift - "post-Shifters" can see ghosts. Ghosts can only interact with the living, and they contact post-Shifters so that they can accomplish whatever they need to do to be at peace. Most of the post-Shifters are more annoyed and/or frightened by their violet visions than interested in helping. Aura included. Until her boyfriend, Logan, dies.

While Aura is mourning Logan's death and attempting to carry on a relationship with ghost-Logan, exchange student Zachary Moore arrives and is assigned to be Aura's partner on her thesis project (another school that requires senior thesis projects! Yay for relating to the characters!), which is about megaliths. Aura wants to find out more about the Shift. Which means finding out more about Zachary as well. Throughout SHADE, Aura struggles to balance her relationships with the living and the dead, all while searching for clues to the event that has made her and all the other under-seventeens of the world able to see the dead.

I think what I really loved about this book were the characters. While the premise is blatantly fictional - people don't see ghosts, definitely not everyone under seventeen - the characters were hauntingly (haha, bad pun) real. Aura's grief, Logan's frustration, Zachary's frustration, Aura and Megan's friendship - all of it is wonderfully, painfully real. I also love that the readers aren't being hit over the head with the fact that "YES. THIS WORLD IS WEIRD. THERE ARE GHOSTS." The ghosts and the supernatural aspects of it figure in significantly to the major plot - there'd be no book without the Shift and the ghosts - but it's all just there. It's part of the world. There are no lengthy explanations of why this world is so different; it just is, and we understand that.

And then there's the fact that I am now desperate for a sequel, which considering this one just came out is not a good thing. I don't wanna have to wait!!! SHADE does wrap up a complete storyline in and of itself, but it also leaves a lot of unanswered questions about the Shift and Aura's past that could(/should) lead to a sequel. Plus I really don't want to give up Aura and Zach and Logan just yet. So - please, Jeri, can we have another one? :)

Book Thoughts: Beautiful Creatures

Title: Beautiful Creatures
Author: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Series: Caster Chronicles #1

The book I was reading today was absolutely FANTASTIC. Like, I'd put the book down, walk by a mirror, and be like "...wait a second. That's me. Oh, right, this is the real world. Becky, not Lena and Ethan." It's that well-written. You can completely forget about the real world and just get lost in the characters and their story.

BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, written by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, tells the story of Ethan Wate and Lena Duchannes. The people of Gatlin, South Carolina are pretty much stereotypical Southerners. Their families have lived in Gatlin for years and years and years, and they still have Confederate flags and talk about the War of Northern Aggression or the War for Southern Independence, and nothing ever changes. Ethan Wate is the only one who seems to want to leave. So when Lena Duchannes moves to town and things start happening, Ethan can't help but be drawn to her.

A strange song called "Sixteen Moons" keeps popping up on Ethan's iPod. The weather goes crazy around Lena. And strangest of all, they have the same dreams - about each other. As their friendship grows and changes, they discover a mystery, a curse, and things that Ethan never could have dreamed he'd encounter in Gatlin. Danger, mystery, romance, magic, and a sense of something bigger coming... this novel has it all.

I know I rant and rave a lot about great books, but when I say a book is good, I mean it. And when I say a book is great, I mean it. And when I say a book is Seriously Fantastic and you Must Go Read It Right Now, I most definitely mean it. BEAUTIFUL CREATURES falls into that last category. The conflict, the mystery, and the danger are all wonderfully developed, and the story moves quickly (so don't let the length of the book scare you off). But the action does not at all take away from the characters. Ethan and Lena are two very complex, very real characters who really can make you forget about yourself for a few hours. I completely adored this book. Not an exaggeration. Read it, you guys, it is made of awesome. BEAUTIFUL CREATURES is a beautiful book.

Book Thoughts: Wake

Title: Wake
Author: Lisa McMann
Series: Dream Catcher #1

WAKE is the first book in a trilogy, and it's been out for a couple of years. I've been meaning to read it for a while, and today I finally got around to it. It's about Janie Hannagan - a seventeen-year-old girl who gets sucked into people's dreams. Whenever someone has a dream around her, she is pulled into it as well, and there is nothing she can do to stop it. Unfortunately, people fall asleep in class all the time, so she's had more than enough of falling dreams, naked-in-public dreams, and sex dreams. But when someone in one of the scariest dreams she's ever been sucked into sees her there and recognizes in the real world that she was in his dream...that's when things start to change. There may be more to this strange power than Janie realizes.

The narrative style for WAKE was really different from what I'm used to, but it worked really well. It's told in little sections, based on what time it is at any given point in the story, and it's in present tense. In places I felt like that made the story a little distant and I wanted it to get more involved and complex, but I think that's more a personal preference thing than anything else. I did enjoy the novel, and I definitely recommend it. It's a pretty quick read - a couple of hours if you read fast - and it's good. You'll want to read it for the characters' sake, and to find out what's up with this whole dream thing.

The second and third books in the trilogy, FADE and GONE respectively, are already out, so you won't have to wait on anything. I'll definitely be looking for the second book next time I'm at the library.

Book Thoughts: City of Bones

Title: City of Bones
Author: Cassandra Clare
Series: The Mortal Instruments #1

[[I wrote this when I was 15 and am importing it for archive purposes only, but I *am* keeping it, because it accurately captures how much I loved it -- in a very 15-year-old way.]]

Okay, so I finished City of Bones by Cassandra Clare today and it was soooo amazing. I LOVED it with a capital L-O-V-E-D. It was hilarious and witty but also really serious and action-packed and adventurous and fantastical (fantasy-ish...I guess the word is fantastical anyway).

So basically it's this girl named Clary Fray and she goes to the Pandemonium Club in NYC with her best friend Simon and she witnesses a murder. Except that she's the only one who can see the murderers and the body disappears into thin air. The murderers are Shadowhunters - demon killers. They're really shocked that Clary can see them, and they want to take her back to the Institute - pretty much their home base in NY. Except then Clary's mother gets kidnapped by a Ravener demon, and Clary almost gets killed. The Shadowhunters - Jace, Alec, Isabelle, and Hodge - bring Clary and Simon to their Institute, and there's a whole lot of adventures and excitement and mystery and action and it was completely amazing.

Yes, I'm ranting. Just a little. But it was an AwEsOmE book!

And a couple of my favorite quotes...

Clary: “Those girls on the other side of the car are looking at you.”

Jace: “Of course they are. I am stunningly attractive.”

Clary: “Haven’t you ever heard that modesty is an attractive trait?”

Jace: “Only from ugly people. The meek may inherit the earth, but at the moment it belongs to the conceited. Like me.”

Jace: “I wish you’d stop desperately trying to get my attention like this. It’s become embarrassing.”

Clary: “Sarcasm is the last refuge of the imaginatively bankrupt.”

Jace: “I can’t help it. I use my rapier wit to hide my inner pain.”

Clary: “Your pain will be outer soon if you don’t get out of traffic. Are you trying to get run over by a cab?”

Jace: “Don’t be ridiculous. We could never get a cab that easily in this neighborhood.”

Jace: “My one true love remains myself.”

Dorothea: “At least you don’t have to worry about rejection, Jace Wayland.”

Jace: “Not necessarily. I turn myself down occasionally, just to keep it interesting.”

There are others, but some of them contain spoilers, and the whole novel is freaking amazing and I definitely can't post the whole novel, so...GO READ THE BOOK!!!!

Book Thoughts: Invisibility

Title: Invisibility
Author: Andrea Cremer & David Levithan

Wow. That's the first thing I have to say about this book. Wow.

Stephen has been invisible his whole life. It's part of a curse placed on his mother before he was born. No one - not even Stephen himself - has ever seen him.

And then Elizabeth moves in, and she sees him plain as day.

As they start to fall maybe-in-love, Stephen and Elizabeth (and Elizabeth's brother Laurie, who might just be the most fun character in the book because of all his snark) are plunged into a whole new world of cursecasting and spellseeking in a desperate attempt to unravel the curse on Stephen - before it kills one of them.

The emotion in this book is just incredible. Ever wished you could just be invisible? You won't anymore. It's kind of a haunting look at the downside of one of those go-to "superpowers," as well as what it means to really care about somebody.

The writing is beautiful, the characters are kick-butt, and the story - well, I couldn't put it down. Seriously, read this ASAP. This is a truly fantastic book.

Book Thoughts: Etiquette & Espionage

Title: Etiquette & Espionage
Author: Gail Carriger
Series: Finishing School #1

I have never seen steampunk, high society, espionage, and paranormalcy (vampires and werewolves, anybody) all combined before -- especially not so artfully. The writing style threw me for a loop at first and I'm still not sure how to pronounce half of the names, but the story is engaging and the world is well-crafted, if a bit strange, and what really kept me reading were the characters. They're just fun! Sophronia and her friends get up to some truly hilarious shenaniganry and I need a second book to see how all of this with the prototype turns out! Even though it's the first in a series, though, the story was pretty well-contained. I do hope book two contains more of Soap and Vieve - they're easily my favorite characters. E&E is a very quirky read that may take you some time to get into, but give it the benefit of the doubt, because once you do get into it, it's a couple hundred pages of great fun.