Review: The World Forgot by Martin Leicht and Isla Neal

The World Forgot

Martin Leicht and Isla Neal

(The Ever-Expanding Universe #3)

Publication Date: April 14, 2015

Hardcover, 304 pages, St. Martin’s Griffin

Genres: YA, Sci-Fi

Book Depository | Amazon | Goodreads

In this hilarious, action-packed conclusion to The Ever-Expanding Universe trilogy, teen mom Elvie Nara is on a quest across the universe to save her daughter (and maybe stop an alien race war in the process).

After dealing with killer whales, evil scientists, the return of her long-lost mother and, certainly not least of all, the challenges of breastfeeding, Elvie Nara has just about had it. And then the Jin'Kai (along with the aforementioned estranged mom) kidnap her baby.

And before she knows it, another Jin'Kai attack puts her on the run again, but not before discovering that Olivia was implanted with a genetic tracking device. So along with Cole, Ducky, and her dad, Elvie goes back out into space to follow the signal. There she finds evil Dr. Marsden up to some evil tricks and realizes that Mars may hold the secret to defeating her enemies once and for all. So, off to Mars she goes. Because alien race war aside, Elvie really wants to be back with her daughter. For a kid she wasn’t even sure she wanted, Olivia has come to mean the world to Elvie—and she’ll search the universe to be with her again.

My Review

Aliens, human-alien hybrids, clones, and… babies?

Maybe Elvie Nara isn’t living the traditional sci-fi adventure, what, with being a teen mom and all, but she’s still travelling Earth in hi-tech ships and battling aliens bent on taking over her home planet, she just has to deal with her infant daughter along the way. It helps that Elvie and her team—which includes one full-blooded alien, one part alien, one best friend, and one eccentric father—has a wide repertoire of sarcasm under their belts. Thus, the seriousness of being a mother to a little girl is made into a fun, adventurous comedy.

The world itself is light and fluffy, despite the heavy action scenes that make sure no scene is dull. Everything just rolls from one punch to the next. However, this heavy action in such a short-length package does have its drawbacks. One being that the answers to all the science-y questions are a little convoluted or vague at times. Elvie and her gang of misfit toys may understand the jumps in logic, but the average reader may have a hard time understanding the reasoning.

The light-hearted writing also detracts a little bit from the seriousness of the situation and could impact a reader’s connection to the main characters and their decisions. It’s just hard to get to know a character when he or she is being sarcastic all the time.

This doesn’t impede the fun behind the story though, because this trilogy is a lot of fun. Good jokes abound and goofy characters await. So, for those interested in a book that brings the smiles, you don’t have to look very far. Just start with the first book, Mothership, and work your way down to this one. The giggles this series provides are out of this world.

*Note: I borrowed a copy of this book to review via the Book Review Board of Missouri.

Stacking the Shelves: The BRB End of the Series Edition

"Stacking the Shelves" is a weekly haul meme that is hosted by Tynga's Reviews. It allows book buyers to share their accumulation of books with the online book-loving community.

I borrowed some more books from the Book Review Board of Missouri this week. Two of these are last books in series that I’ll need to buy copies of eventually, but for now I can just read them and wait until I can find them somewhere for cheap.

Charmed by Michelle Krys

The World Forgot by Martin Leicht & Isla Neal

Oblivion by Kelly Creagh

Oblivion is FINALLY out! I’ve been waiting for this puppy for over two years!

What books have you bought/received lately?

Review: Last Year's Mistake by Gina Ciocca

Last Year’s Mistake

Gina Ciocca

Publication Date: June 9, 2015

Hardcover, 320 pages, Simon Pulse

Genres: YA, Contemporary

Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Goodreads

Is there anything that electric chemistry can’t overcome? The past may be gone, but love has a way of holding on in this romantic debut novel told in alternating Before and After chapters.

The summer before freshman year, Kelsey and David became inseparable best friends—until the night a misunderstanding turned Kelsey into the school joke and everything around her crumbled, including her friendship with David. So when Kelsey’s parents decide to move away, she can’t wait to start over and leave the past behind. But David’s not quite ready to be left.

Now it’s senior year and Kelsey has a new group of friends, genuine popularity, and a hot boyfriend. Her life is perfect. That is, until David’s family moves to town. Old feelings bubble to the surface and threaten to destroy Kelsey’s second chance at happiness. The more time she spends with David, the more she realizes she never let him go. And maybe she never wants to…

My Review

Put the past behind you, unless it just so happens to strut right into your school. In that case, Kelsey’s got no advice for you. She’s still trying to figure it all out for herself. When her ex-best friend/crush from her old school comes back into town, Kelsey’s life is flipped upside down. Especially now that she’s got a bunch of new friends and a hot new boyfriend to keep her company. She doesn’t need David anymore. At least that’s what she tries to tell herself.

So maybe Kelsey isn’t the most decisive character in the world. She’s actually a little too wishy-washy and she always takes the blame for things that aren’t even her fault. But she does have a good heart and she just wants everyone to get along. Now David on the other hand, he’s the supposed-to-be nice guy who is actually kind of a jerk. Kelsey has a good life now and she’s happy, but David’s intent on inserting himself into it, despite Kelsey telling him to back off. And while David is sweet and charming sometimes, he needs to be more respectful.

Maybe having such flawed characters is a good way to say that people aren’t perfect and so they shouldn’t be written that way, but it’s hard to tell if that’s what the author intended. Although, it is true that high school is a place where everyone has flaws, so these characters definitely fit right into their setting.

Another thing to think about before you start reading this book is that the story is told in alternating Before and After chapters. If you’re not a fan of multiple points of view or other types of non-linear storytelling, I’d say this book isn’t for you. The switches from past to present are just too disruptive. However, the past scenes are fun and entertaining, they just shouldn’t be where they are. Consequently, the plot could be more developed and the romance could have really brought some umph to the story if those past chapters didn’t break everything up all the time.

All in all, Last Year’s Mistake is an interesting contemporary tale of first loves and first heartbreaks. The book definitely has some flaws, which could or could not be intentional, but its storyline will still have you weary of mistakes coming back to bite you!

*Note: I borrowed a copy of this book from the Book Review Board of Missouri to review. This in no way affected my opinion/review.

Review: The Retribution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

The Retribution of Mara Dyer

Michelle Hodkin

(Mara Dyer #3)

Publication Date: November 4, 2014

Hardcover, 470 pages, Simon & Schuster

Genres: YA, Paranormal/Sci-Fi

Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Goodreads

Mara Dyer wants to believe there's more to the lies she’s been told.

There is.

She doesn’t stop to think about where her quest for the truth might lead.

She should.

She never had to imagine how far she would go for vengeance.

She will now.

Loyalties are betrayed, guilt and innocence tangle, and fate and chance collide in this shocking conclusion to Mara Dyer’s story.

Retribution has arrived.

My Review

Mara Dyer has not been having a good past couple of months. She’s been haunted by a supposedly dead ex-boyfriend, committed to a psych ward, and even been forced to start a new high school. But now, Mara might face her greatest challenge yet, escaping from a place that no one knows about and, more importantly, finding answers about who she is.

This last book in the Mara Dyer trilogy leaves no room for quiet thought. There’s one event after another, after another, and they keep piling on and building until… Actually, the events never really come to a reasonable and thought-out conclusion. Things just happen, and the reasons for them seem a little shoddy, especially since hardly any tangible answers are given.

Mara herself is similar to the plot. She doesn’t know what’s happening to her and she’s just not sure how to go about finding this out, so she does what every teenager who has developed bizarre powers does: she goes on a quest of sorts with some new and old friends to find out who she is.

The writing of the book is the typical haunting and peculiar type of writing Michelle Hodkin has always used in this trilogy to keep readers on the edge of their seats and it most definitely works. Despite the terrifying-ness and haunting-ness of Michelle’s words, this book was too easy. What does this mean? It means that Mara had no real trouble she had to encounter to get answers. Throughout the book it was apparent that if Mara and her crew wanted to figure something out, all they had to do was wait for me to turn two or three pages. They didn’t have to dig very deep. Additionally, things are just confusing at times. Yes, there’s a lot of action in this book, but that action is somewhat overshadowed by the fact that there is no apparent logic in the decisions and revelations that were sometimes made. There needs to be more drawn-out answers.

All in all, this series-ender is an action-packed, creepy story that, while it may have some holes in it,—much like Mara’s own mind—will provide a satisfying ending to the series.

**Note: I borrowed a copy of this book to review from the Book Review Board of Missouri.

Stacking the Shelves: The Large BRB Haul Edition

"Stacking the Shelves" is a weekly haul meme that is hosted by Tynga's Reviews. It allows book buyers to share their accumulation of books with the online book-loving community.

I borrowed some books from the Book Review Board of Missouri again. Two of them I’ve already read and reviewed, but I’m going to submit my reviews into their system, so they let me take the books.

The Tale of Gwyn by Cynthia Voight

Last Year’s Mistake by Gina Ciocca

In a World Just Right by Jen Brooks

P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han

Dead of Winter by Kresley Cole

Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella

I don’t know what I was thinking trying to borrow so many books. I still have three that I borrowed and haven’t reviewed yet. *sigh* The life of a book reviewer…

What books have you bought/received lately?

Review: All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

All the Bright Places

Jennifer Niven

Publication Date: January 6, 2015

Hardcover, 388 pages, Knopf

Genres: YA, Contemporary

Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Goodreads

Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him.

Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death.

When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the “natural wonders” of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself—a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink.

This is an intense, gripping novel perfect for fans of Jay Asher, Rainbow Rowell, John Green, Gayle Forman, and Jenny Downham from a talented new voice in YA, Jennifer Niven.

Includes a PDF Help Line Resource Guide and a Note Read by the Author.

My Review

Theodore Finch isn’t a normal kid. He likes thinking about ways to die, changing his personality, and Violet Markey—not necessarily in that order. Violet Markey would be a normal kid if her older sister hadn’t just died in a car crash. Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of their school’s bell tower and save each other from themselves. But can both of them really be safe in the long run? 

Beautiful, poignant, and mesmerizing are three words that could most definitely be used to describe this book. The language is lovely, the situations are heartbreaking and real, and the whole book is a mess of soggy tissues waiting to happen. But while All the Bright Places is a beautiful read, it does come off as almost too beautiful at times. Finch and Violet are in some terrible situations, yet they’re still able to quote poetry and share dialog that seems to be way above a teenager’s level of communication (The Fault in Our Stars, anyone?). 

Despite this excessive amount of beauty, you get to read about two characters who deserve to have their story told. Finch needs someone to hear him and Violet needs someone to vent to. And while Finch’s story is perhaps the more mesmerizing of the two, Violet still manages to capture your interest as the book goes on, primarily due to her character growth. These two have to navigate their way through a town that either thinks they’re freaks, or pities them, and it’s not always a pretty picture. 

All in all, this book is perfect for fans of The Fault in Our Stars or any other deep and moving young adult novel.

*Note: I borrowed a copy of this book to review for Book Review Board of Missouri. This in no way altered my opinion/review.

Review: The Brilliant Light of Amber Sunrise by Matthew Crow

The Brilliant Light of Amber Sunrise

Matthew Crow

Publication Date: March 10, 2015

Hardcover, 304 pages, Simon Pulse

Genres: YA, Contemporary

Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Goodreads

A poignant and unexpectedly funny novel about Francis - one of the best and bravest teenage boy narrators since Adrian Mole. This is an emotionally honest story about wanting the very best from life, even when life shows you how very bad things can be.

Francis Wootton's first memory is of Kurt Cobain's death, and there have been other hardships closer to home since then. At fifteen years old he already knows all about loss and rejection - and to top it all off he has a permanently broke big brother, a grandma with selective memory (and very selective social graces) and a mum who's at best an acquired taste. Would-be poet, possible intellectual and definitely wasted in Tyne and Wear, Francis has grown used to figuring life out on his own. Lower Fifth is supposed to be his time, the start of an endless horizon towards whatever-comes-next. But when he is diagnosed with leukemia that wide-open future suddenly narrows, and a whole new world of worry presents itself. There's the horror of being held back a year at school, the threat of imminent baldness, having to locate his best shirt in case a visiting princess or pop-star fancies him for a photo-op . . . But he hadn't reckoned on meeting Amber - fierce, tough, one-of-a-kind Amber - and finding a reason to tackle it all - the good, the bad and everything in between - head on. In Bloom is a bright, funny, painful and refreshing novel about wanting the very best from life, even when life shows you how very bad it can be. It is a novel about how to live.

My Review

Francis Wootton is a normal kid. Well, as normal as a 15-year-old English boy with few friends, a love of literature, and a dastardly case of leukemia can be. He’s supposed to be strong and stoic in the face of potential death, but how can he be when his mother is seemingly going off the deep end and his big brother keeps stealing their food? In pops Amber, another teenager stuck in the chemo ward. And once Francis sees her, it’s kind of… err… not really, love at first sight. But there is chemistry.

Francis is an eclectic character. His mannerisms, jokes, views on life, and everything else about him will make you smile from ear to ear. And his interactions with his family, while sometimes sad and depressing (but that’s bound to happen with any story about sick children), are the stuff of every YA readers dreams. For once there is a family depicted in young adult literature that is so imperfect that it’s beautiful and wonderful. Instead of this book focusing on the dynamic between two love-struck teenagers, it focuses on the overall relationships a young, sick boy would have with those around him. You get to know his overbearing-ish mother, his broke brother, and his crazy grandmother all without detracting from the storyline.

While Amber is somewhat of an acquired taste, her romance with Francis is incredibly realistic. And unlike the somewhat romanticized version of love that’s in popular “sick lit” today, the characters are not only emotionally flawed, but physically flawed as well. There are facial blemishes; disappearances of hair…everywhere; and most importantly, but unfortunately for the characters, there is an abundance of sickness.

While The Brilliant Light of Amber Sunrise is a fantastic depiction of real people, both the sickly and the not so, remember that this book is written from the perspective of a boy in England, so the first few pages might be a little hard to get into, but once you get used to the dialog, the story will be well worth your time. Just don’t forget to keep a couple of tissues handy.

*Note: I borrowed a copy of this book to review for Book Review Board of Missouri. This in no way altered my opinion/review.

Stacking the Shelves: The Too-Many-Books-from-the-BRB Edition

"Stacking the Shelves" is a weekly haul meme that is hosted by Tynga's Reviews. It allows book buyers to share their accumulation of books with the online book-loving community.

I got some new books from the Book Review Board of Missouri this week. Unfortunately that meant trading in the books I already read. (I don’t get to keep them. Boo…) But here’s what I get to read during this round:

In the Time of the Dragon Moon by Janet Lee Carey

The Brilliant Light of Amber Sunrise by Matthew Crow

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

The Storyspinner by Becky Wallace

I was super excited about In the Time of the Dragon Moon, but I just learned that it’s the third book in a trilogy. Now I’ll have to return it or I’ll have no idea what’s going on. Disappointment…

What books have you bought/received lately?