My Bookanista Reviews
Bookanistas: THE LIAR SOCIETY by Lisa and Laura Roecker
THE LIAR SOCIETY by Lisa and Laura Roecker (March 1, 2011, Sourcebooks Fire)
Best friends don’t send emails once they’re dead. With her dead best friend’s pearls and skirts tiny enough to make Nancy Drew blush, Kate’s on the trail to prove once and for all that Grace’s death was more than just a tragic accident. But secrets haunt the halls of her elite private school. Secrets people will do anything to protect. Even if it means getting rid of the girl trying to solve a murder…
Next week, THE LIAR SOCIETY by Lisa and Laura Roecker hits bookstore shelves, and I was lucky enough to snag an ARC of this a few weeks back. The premise is a lot of fun, and it’s been awhile since I’ve read a sleuthy mystery like this. It’s this type of story that really got me into reading when I was a kid so I couldn’t wait to read.
THE LIAR SOCIETY is such a fun read. Spunky heroine, intriguing mystery with lots of clues twisting and turning the story and plenty of creepy sleuthing scenes. It reminded me a lot of Veronica Mars and Nancy Drew, so if you love a great teen mystery, you’ll definitely enjoy THE LIAR SOCIETY.
More Bookanistas Posts This Week
Elana Johnson is tickled pink for The Liar Society
LiLa Roecker is blown away by A Touch Mortal
Shannon Messenger can’t lie about her love for The Liar Society
Shelli Johannes-Wells burns for AngelFire
Scott Tracey is more than a touch impressed with A Touch Mortal
Myra McEntire is A Touch Mortal this week
Beth Revis tells the truth about The Liar Society
Christine Fonseca is leveled by Leverage
Carolina Valdez Miller has tons to say about One
Jessi Kirby soars for Across the Universe
Jenn Hayley adores The Liar Society
Shana Silver can’t imagine you not reading Imaginary Girls
Katie Anderson wants to be Like Mandarin
Matt Blackstone loves The Hate List
Stasia Ward Kehoe falls head over heels for Fall for Anything
Michelle Hodkin champions A Dog’s Way Home
Bookanistas: RAISED BY WOLVES by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
RAISED BY WOLVES by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Adopted by the Alpha of a werewolf pack after a rogue wolf brutally killed her parents right before her eyes, fifteen-year-old Bryn knows only pack life, and the rigid social hierarchy that controls it. That doesn’t mean that she’s averse to breaking a rule or two.
But when her curiosity gets the better of her and she discovers Chase, a new teen locked in a cage in her guardian’s basement, and witnesses him turn into a wolf before her eyes, the horrific memories of her parents’ murders return. Bryn becomes obsessed with getting her questions answered, and Chase is the only one who can provide the information she needs.
But in her drive to find the truth, will Bryn push too far beyond the constraints of the pack, forcing her to leave behind her friends, her family, and the identity that she’s shaped?
I read this book last year and have been thinking about it recently because I’m excited about the sequel, TRIAL BY FIRE, coming out later this year!
I’m a big fan of wolf stories, and I loved how this one took on the POV of a human girl raised in the midst of a werewolf pack and how she’s essentially adapted to the pack life, the pack mind. Yet, being the strong, independent heroine she is, she’s still very much herself and refuses to lose her individuality to truly become one of the pack. So, it really goes against everything inside her when she agrees to go by the pack rules in order to get something she really wants. Yet, she grudgingly does it, and the results of that decision unfold in a roller coaster of events and twists. It’s definitely a page-turner.
Bottom line: Loved this werewolf story and can’t wait until the summer so I can read the sequel!
More Bookanistas Posts This Week
LiLa Roecker hosts a sunny tour stop for POSSUM SUMMER
Christine Fonseca shares her Guestanista Post: The Lost Hero
Shannon Messenger spotlights the cover of SO SILVER BRIGHT
Scott Tracey is inspired by ANGELFIRE
Michelle Hodkin toasts DEMONGLASS
Beth Revis finds amazing MAGIC UNDER GLASS
Carolina Valdez Miller uncovers WORDS IN THE DUST
Megan Miranda leaps and shouts for THE LIAR SOCIETY
Bethany Wiggins glows for RUBY RED
Shana Silver gets psyched about WITHER
Gretchen McNeil gushes over BLOOD AND FLOWERS
Rosemary Clement-Moore revisits HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE
Sarah Frances Hardy is nuts for THE NINTH WARD
Matt Blackstone is loving THE HATE LIST
Corrine Jackson delights in DIVERGENT
Stasia Ward Kehoe celebrates THE LIAR SOCIETY
Bookanistas: ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS by Stephanie Perkins
ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS by Stephanie Perkins (December 2010, Penguin)
Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris - until she meets Etienne St. Clair: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he’s taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home.
As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near - misses end with the French kiss Anna - and readers - have long awaited?
One word: swoon.
I absolutely adored this book. There’s not a thing I didn’t like about it. When I closed the book, my friend, Shana Silver (who had told me I NEEDED to read it in the first place) said, “Well?” My response? “Perfect.”
First, I loved the setting of Paris and how well-drawn it was. Since I’ve been so interested in travel myself lately, I gobbled up this aspect of it. And I felt like I was right there along with Anna, experiencing France for the first time, learning a different culture, feeling a little out of place, but learning to love it all the same.
Second, I loved Anna. And I loved Etienne. They’re both amazing characters who I couldn’t help but fall for, root for, want to read more about. They have faults, and they have struggles, and they seemed very real and very human. They made mistakes, but they kept picking themselves back up and trying to do the right thing. And, of course, I mean, how could you not love Etienne with his British accent and turns of phrases?
And third, of course I loved the love story because that’s what this book is about. Anna and Etienne. Their story is so relateable. And it’s spread over an entire year so you see the gradual build-up, the growth of their feelings. And while I have no problem with love stories that happen within days, the fact this takes its time made it so much more engrossing. There was “oooomph” to it. Like I said at the beginning of the review, it totally made me swoon.
More Bookanistas posts this week
- Christine Fonseca freaks for THE FAMILIARS
- Elana Johnson loves THE LOST SAINT
- Jen Hayley and Scott Tracey swoon over ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS
- LiLa Roecker dies for DESIRES OF THE DEAD with a fabulous giveaway!
- Shannon Messenger gushes some cover love for HOURGLASS
- Shelli Johannes-Wells is over the moon for ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
- Carolina Valdez Miller loves THE LIAR SOCIETY, complete with a signed ARC giveaway!
- Shana Silver has fallen for FALL FOR ANYTHING
- Kirsten Hubbard is blown away by BLOOD MAGIC
- Myra McEntire reveals her amazing cover for HOURGLASS
- Carrie Harris celebrates XVI
- Jessi Kirby is mesmerized by A BLUE SO DARK
- Rosemary Clement-Moore marvels over MATCHED
Bookanistas: DELIRIUM by Lauren Oliver
DELIRIUM by Lauren Oliver (February 1, 2011, HarperCollins)
Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that once love–the deliria–blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold.
Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the government demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Haloway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.
But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: she falls in love.
Can I gush? Okay, I’m going to gush.
I absolutely, totally, madly (see what I did there?) fell in love with this book. Seriously, I haven’t loved a book this much in ages.
First, I totally fell for the premise. I love the scientific spin on a “cure for love” and how everyone in the society is required to get said cure. And I really loved reading about what kind of world that would create. It was intriguing to me the direction the author took. In most dystopians, the world is so obviously in a terrible place, but in this one, it’s much harder to see that. The cure actually did make the world better in a lot of ways. It was really interesting to see how the author explored that, and for me, it made it even more compelling when the protagonist came to the conclusion the world wasn’t a better place without love. (That’s not a spoiler. It’s in the blurb!)
Second, I can’t do a review on this book without mentioning the stunning and gorgeous prose of Lauren Oliver. I mean, wow. Just wow. I haven’t read BEFORE I FALL yet, but it is up next in my TBR pile because I will read anything she writes now, even if it’s some odd story about alien pelicans. A lot of my enjoyment came from the actual story itself, but a large part of it was also the prose, the turns of phrases and the evocative descriptions of the world around her and of the interactions with the boy.
I mean, I loved it.
More Bookanistas Posts This Week
Bookanistas: UNEARTHLY by Cynthia Hand
UNEARTHLY by Cynthia Hand (January 2011, HarperTeen)
Clara Gardner has recently learned that she’s part angel. Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and faster than humans (a word, she realizes, that no longer applies to her), but it means she has a purpose, something she was put on this earth to do. Figuring out what that is, though, isn’t easy.
Her visions of a raging forest fire and an alluring stranger lead her to a new school in a new town. When she meets Christian, who turns out to be the boy of her dreams (literally), everything seems to fall into place—and out of place at the same time. Because there’s another guy, Tucker, who appeals to Clara’s less angelic side.
As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she’d have to make—between honesty and deceit, love and duty, good and evil. When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny?
One of the best things you can say about a book is that you can’t stop reading it. This was the case with UNEARTHLY and me. I sat down, opened it up and planned to read a few pages or the first chapter at most. A little while later, I looked up and realized I’d read half the book. And I wasn’t ready to stop.
There were a lot of things to love about this novel. The voice is thoughtful yet snappy. The prose pulls in amazing details about the characters and the setting. I love how this took place in Wyoming as I haven’t read anything set in the state, and even though I’ve never been there, now I feel like I have. Some of my favorite scenes are when Clara, the main character, is exploring her new surroundings.
Which brings us to Clara, a strong, thoughtful, determined heroine I couldn’t help but root for. And she’s not without her faults, which makes her seem all the more human even though she isn’t. It pulled me in, seeing her struggle with who she is, her future, her choices.
Because at the heart, this story is about choices and consequences and free will. No matter what choices we make, will we still follow the same path? Is it a choice then and what if we make the wrong one? I really loved the way this novel explored that, and I have to say, I am really intrigued to read the follow-up to this because I know it’s going to delve even further into these questions judging by the nail-biting, page-turning ending.
More Bookanistas Posts This Week
Bookanistas: A TOUCH MORTAL by Leah Clifford
A TOUCH MORTAL by Leah Clifford (February 22, 2011, GreenWillow/HarperCollins)
Death isn’t what Eden expected. Where the hell is her release? Her quiet ending? Not that Eden remembers the details of her final hours, but one thing is for sure–becoming a sider, trapped between life and death, was definitely not part of the plan…
For Eden, nothing seems to be coming easy. There’s no way of telling what will happen when her fingertips graze human skin. The power that builds inside her, Touch, strips away morals and logic.
Some people only feel a high; others are overcome by their darkest thoughts.
But honestly there’s not much time for her to worry about her effect on mere mortals. She’s got her own drama. Somehow, word’s gotten around that her Touch can kill her own kind. With desperate siders already camping out on her doorstep, the last thing Eden needs is the rumor to spread. Especially since it’s true…
A TOUCH MORTAL is a fantastic stand-out in the teen paranormal market. With beautifully-written prose, a unique, fresh take on angels and a main character, Eden, with attitude and wit, I was drawn in on page one. Through the twists and turns of the dark mystery, I found myself really rooting for and falling for these characters. Kristen, in particular, one of my favorite characters I’ve read in a long time. Fierce and kind of insane, I couldn’t help loving her. Not to mention Gabe. I’ll let you read to find out about him yourself.
I was also very impressed with how the very real and very hard subject of suicide was handled. It is such an intregal part of the plot, and the darkness and implications of it are delicately yet honestly explored without coming across at all heavy-handed. There’s a real depth to the story, and I’ll admit I had a few tears in my eyes at times.
This is a memorable debut that I can’t wait to hit the shelves. I am still thinking about it, and I’m dying to know what happens in Book Two.
More Bookanistas Posts This Week
Michelle Hodkin gushes about THE NEAR WITCH
Elana Johnson schools us on THE EDUCATION OF HAILEY KENDRICK
LiLa Roecker celebrates XVI’s book birthday
Christine Fonseca raves about WITHER
Shannon Messenger travels ACROSS THE UNIVERSE with a special giveaway
Shelli Johannes-Wells gets LOST IN THE RIVER OF GRASS
Scott Tracey falls in love with ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
Beth Revis is captivated by PRISONERS IN THE PALACE
Carolina Valdez Miller is mesmerized by THE HEALING SPELL
Megan Miranda takes a peek through THE MARBURY LENS
Shana Silver is digging DELIRIUM
Jamie Harrington tells the truth about THE LIAR SOCIETY
Bethany Wiggins dotes on PARANORMALCY