Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Summary (via the author's website): "In a society where unwanted teens are salvaged for their body parts, three runaways fight the system that would "unwind" them Connor's parents want to be rid of him because he's a troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev's unwinding has been planned since his birth, as part of his family's strict religion. Brought together by chance, and kept together by desperation, these three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey, knowing their lives hang in the balance. If they can survive until their eighteenth birthday, they can't be harmed -- but when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a world gone mad, eighteen seems far, far away.

In Unwind, Boston Globe/Horn Book Award winner Neal Shusterman challenges readers' ideas about life -- not just where life begins, and where it ends, but what it truly means to be alive."

Review:

What I liked:

-He drove the "how to resolve the abortion debate" issue to it's scariest possible conclusion - which is how good dystopia is often created (The Hunger Games, for instance, does that with reality TV).
-All the people willing to help the Unwinds - even in a dark book, Shusterman still holds out hope for humanity. The future may be stormy, but at least there's a little sunshine here and there.
-It's always fun to get inside the heads of kids who are so-called "troublemakers."
-Those kids were really smart. Love it.

What I didn't like:
-Connor's transformation from "can't stay out of fights" to having amazing self control happened a little fast, for my taste.
-Lev's deprogramming/reprogramming was fast, too... especially since he's 13.

Goodreads Shelves: addictive, bechdel-test, is-this-a-kissing-book, my-kind-of-woman, thought-provoking

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Four to Score by Janet Evanovich

Summary (via the author's website): "Working for her bail bondsman cousin, Vinnie, Stephanie is hot on the trail of revenge-seeking waitress Maxine Nowicki, whose crimes include bail jumping, theft, and extortion. Someone is terrifying Maxine's friends, and those who have seen her are turning up dead. Also on the hunt for Maxine is Joyce Barnhardt, Stephanie's archenemy and rival bounty hunter. Stephanie's attitude never wavers - even when aided by Grandma Mazur, ex-hooker and wannabe bounty hunter Lula, and transvestite rock musician Sally Sweet - and even when Stephanie makes an enemy whose deadly tactics escalate from threatening messages to firebombs. All of this pales in comparison, though, with an even greater danger Stephanie faces, when, homeless and broke, she and her hamster Rex move in with vice cop Joe Morelli."

Review: Not a lot to say on this one. Pretty funny. Light, breezy read. I might pick up a few more in the series... but I'm not sure. There was a lot of language.

Goodreads Shelves: addictive, bechdel-test, fluffy, funny, is-this-a-kissing-book, my-kind-of-woman, nook-adult

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Savvy by Ingrid Law

Summary (via the author's website): "Mibs Beaumont is about to become a teenager. As if that weren’t scary enough, thirteen is when a Beaumont’s savvy strikes--and with one brother who causes hurricanes and another who creates electricity, it promises to be outrageous... and positively thrilling.

But just before her big day, Poppa is in a terrible accident. Suddenly, Mibs’s dreams of X-ray vision disappear like a flash of her brother’s lightning: All she wants now is a savvy that will save Poppa. In fact, Mibs is so sure she’ll get that powerful savvy that she sneaks a ride to the hospital on a rickety bus, with her siblings and the preacher’s kids in tow. But when the bus starts heading in the wrong direction only one thing is certain: After this extraordinary adventure, not a soul on board will ever be the same."

Review: I admit it: I cried. In fact, I was on an airplane and I cried. The guy next to me must have thought I was seriously nuts, no joke. Because I really really cried.

Have you read Walk Two Moons? This book reminded me of it a lot. Mixed with, I dunno... X-men.

Although it almost fails the First-person narrator book test of "can I remember the main character's name." It's... Mibs. But I might forget that in a week or two.

Goodreads Shelves: addictive, bechdel-test, fluffy, funny, is-this-a-kissing-book, my-kind-of-woman, thought-provoking

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Boston Jane by Jennifer Holm

Summary (via the author's website): "Sixteen-year-old Jane Peck has ventured to the unknown wilds of the Northwest to wed her childhood idol, William Baldt. But her impeccable training at Miss Hepplewhite's Young Ladies Academy in Philadelphia is hardly preparation for the colorful characters and crude life that await her in Washington Territory.

Thrown upon her wits in the wild, Jane must determine for herself whether she is truly proper Miss Jane Peck of Philadelphia, faultless young lady and fiancée, or Boston Jane, as the Chinook dub her, fearless and loyal woman of the frontier."

Review: Fer cute! Jane is all sorts of awesome - love that.

I love that Jane actually has a personality - she's crazy stubborn, but always tries to do the right thing. I got kind of annoyed with her in the beginning, like everyone around her, but I also am totally on board with her goals to change herself (is that bad?). I like that she was able to take the gumption she needed and find someone to teach her about being polite and stuff - things she would have learned if she'd had a maternal influence in her life. I think her mother would have taught her about the compromises that come with all the etiquette she learned, though -- still speaking her mind to her father, but knowing how to act in company, as it were.

Goodreads Shelves: addictive, bechdel-test, fluffy, funny, is-or-would-be-a-good-movie, is-this-a-kissing-book, my-kind-of-woman, thought-provoking

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13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson

Summary (via the author's website): "Here’s the deal: Aunt Peg, the New York artist and the person Ginny Blackstone depended on to make her life interesting, took off to Europe without a word three years ago. Aside from a few postcards, Ginny hasn’t heard much. Then she gets a horrible phone call that changes everything.

But the story is only beginning. Soon after, Ginny receives one little blue envelope from Aunt Peg containing a thousand dollars and some very strange instructions…

And with that, she is sent off to pick up a package containing twelve similar envelopes, which she can open one by one, as instructed. Each letter contains a task that Ginny must perform.

Soon, the mild-mannered and quiet Ginny (who’s barely made it out of New Jersey before) finds herself running from London to Paris to Rome, and beyond. Along the way, she collects a number of new friends, including: a manager from Harrods department store who runs errands for the rich and famous, a handsome but maddening thief-turned-playwright, a celebrity painter who tattoos the names of her dead pets on her body, and the angriest vegetable salesman in all of France.

As time goes on, Ginny realizes that her aunt has sent her on a mission, and that there is something big waiting for her in the thirteenth envelope. All she has to do is make it from place to place and complete all of the tasks that have been set before her.

As if life is that easy."

Review: So now I understand why Maureen Johnson is considered one of the Queens of YA. And now I have to read all of her books.

What I liked:
-Seeing Ginny come out of herself and learn to do new things. She stayed true to her personality, so it was still realistic, but she managed to make some pretty exciting things happen in her life. And I liked that.
-Keith. He was a pretty cool dude.
-Aunt Peg's personality really came through the letters. You could understand what she was all about, some.
-Um, that whole Amsterdam thing was just funny.
-In fact, a lot of the book made me laugh.

What I didn't like:
-I... can't really think of anything. I'm trying to even think of a plot point that was predictable, and maybe it's just the fact that I'm SUPER-oblivious when I read, but I didn't really see any of it coming. So way to go, Maureen Johnson!

Goodreads Shelves: addictive, bechdel-test, fluffy, funny, is-or-would-be-a-good-movie, is-this-a-kissing-book, my-kind-of-woman, nook-ya

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Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston

Summary (via Goodreads): "17 year-old Kelley Winslow doesn’t believe in Faeries. Not unless they’re the kind that you find in a theatre, spouting Shakespeare—the kind that Kelley so desperately wishes she could be: onstage, under lights, with a pair of sparkly wings strapped to her shoulders. But as the understudy in a two-bit, hopelessly off-off-Broadway production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, wishing is probably the closest she’s going to get to becoming a Faerie Queen. At least, that’s what she thinks... In this fun, urban fantasy, Kelley's off-stage life suddenly becomes as complicated as one of Shakespeare’s plot twists when a nighttime trip to Central Park holds more than meets the mortal eye.

Review: So there's a game I like to play, at movies. At the end of the movie, I like to announce how long the two love interests have known each other. For instance, at the end of this book, they've known each other for a week and a half.

Seriously?? And they're already, like, in LOVE? I guess that's what happens when you're 17...

Timing aside, their relationship was cute. Lesley Livingston kept him from being too Edward-ish, by pointing out his slightly creepy and stalker-like behavior -- to him, so he could change.

The plot was a little predictable, as is the nature of "Central Park is the gate to fairieland"-type books. But the only plot point that came as a genuine, "I expect the reader to be surprised about this, too" point was one I'd actually been guessing about. All the rest were hinted at to the point that the characters were surprised, but Livingston didn't necessarily expect the reader to be, too. So that was good.

Goodreads Shelves: addictive, bechdel-test, fluffy, funny, is-or-would-be-a-good-movie, is-this-a-kissing-book, my-kind-of-woman

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His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik

Summary (via Goodreads): "Aerial combat brings a thrilling new dimension to the Napoleonic Wars as valiant warriors rise to Britain’s defense by taking to the skies . . . not aboard aircraft but atop the mighty backs of fighting dragons.

When HMS Reliant captures a French frigate and seizes its precious cargo, an unhatched dragon egg, fate sweeps Capt. Will Laurence from his seafaring life into an uncertain future–and an unexpected kinship with a most extraordinary creature. Thrust into the rarified world of the Aerial Corps as master of the dragon Temeraire, he will face a crash course in the daring tactics of airborne battle. For as France’s own dragon-borne forces rally to breach British soil in Bonaparte’s boldest gambit, Laurence and Temeraire must soar into their own baptism of fire."

Review: With this one, I'm gonna go with... Horatio Hornblower With Dragons.

I really liked Laurence. AND Temeraire. And the way they were together... so cute! Um... as it were. So, y'know. Manly.

I liked the way girls were treated in the story. You can tell it was written from a modern perspective, because there were female aviators and little girls were (runners? I forget what they're called...) around too. But I liked the paradigm shift that Laurence went through, when he had to learn to respect women as capable military officers, and not just coddle them like little dolls.

Goodreads Shelves: addictive, fluffy, is-or-would-be-a-good-movie, my-kind-of-woman

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The Thin Executioner by Darren Shan

Summary (via the author's website): "Jebel Rum is a thin, scrawny boy. His father is the famed executioner in the city where they live. When Jebel is humiliated in public, he sets off on a quest to gain great strength and invincibility. If successful, he will be able to compete in a gruelling contest to prove himself and replace his father as the wielder of the axe. Failure, on the other hands, means certain death."

Review: So... not so much. I mean, it was fine. But I wasn't really INTO it. Like, ever.

It took me like a week to get through the first two thirds. And then, because I was on a deadline, I started scanning. And the story was interesting, but I don't know if it was interesting because the story was finally interesting or because I was fast-forwarding it, as it were.

Pros:
-Epic adventure story.
-Super-creepy villain.
-Morality tale.
-The pacing was what is often referred to as "deliberate."

Cons:
-The main character spent most of the book as a whiny brat.
-I was kind of bored.
-Deliberate pacing can often feel slow.
-It's a fine line between foreshadowing and the main character being dense. I think this book crossed it.

Goodreads Shelves: fluffy, is-or-would-be-a-good-movie, pretentious

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Stork by Wendy Delsol

Summary (via Goodreads): "Family secrets. Lost memories. And the arrival of an ancient magical ability that will reveal everything.

Sixteen-year-old Katla LeBlanc has just moved from Los Angeles to Minnesota. As if it weren’t enough that her trendy fashion sense draws stares, Katla soon finds out that she’s a Stork, a member of a mysterious order of women tasked with a very unique duty. But Katla’s biggest challenge may be finding her flock at a new school. Between being ignored by Wade, the arrogant jock she stupidly fooled around with, and constantly arguing with gorgeous farm boy and editor-in-chief Jack, Katla is relieved when her assignment as the school paper’s fashion columnist brings with it some much-needed friendship. But as Homecoming approaches, Katla uncovers a shocking secret about her past — a secret that binds her fate to Jack’s in a way neither could have ever anticipated. With a nod to Hans Christian Andersen and inspired by Norse lore, Wendy Delsol’s debut novel introduces a hip and witty heroine who finds herself tail-feathers deep in small-town life."

Review: What I liked about Stork:
-The way she uses her language is so awesome. Seriously, I'm in love with the writing.
-The stuff about the birds. Katla says that when she was little she was obsessed with birds, and that she studied them and learned all about them. And then, during the story, she ... like, knows about birds. Hooray for character development!
-The book is written in the first person, and I can remember the main character's name afterward. (This is an actual standard by which I judge first-person narratives, by the way.)
-Her pop culture references make me happy.

What I am iffy about:
-Love At First Sight/He's A Jerk To Me But I'm DRAWN To Him. AKA suddenly a flip is switched in a Twilightesque fashion and, OH, NOW he likes her. In her defense, there is a little bit of, "um, seriously, is he gonna drop the L-bomb after like a week?" (he didn't, by the way) and she says she's concerned that she's so obsessed with him.
-I have doubts that a real teenage boy would say the types of lovey-dovey things Jack said. But the more I think about it, the more slight they are.

What I didn't like:
-The Cover. OH, the cover. I CAN'T HANDLE IT. Seriously, I never would have read it, because of the cover.
-Penny says that Jack is usually really easygoing, but I don't feel that I saw any evidence of that in the book. He spent a lot of it brooding and/or being angry.

Goodreads Shelves: addictive, bechdel-test, fluffy, is-or-would-be-a-good-movie, is-this-a-kissing-book, my-kind-of-woman, to-own


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Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Summary (via Goodreads): "'What do you want from me?' he asks. What I want from every person in my life, I want to tell him. More.

Abandoned by her mother on Jellicoe Road when she was eleven, Taylor Markham, now seventeen, is finally being confronted with her past. But as the reluctant leader of her boarding school dorm, there isn't a lot of time for introspection. And while Hannah, the closest adult Taylor has to family, has disappeared, Jonah Griggs is back in town, moody stares and all.

In this absorbing story by Melina Marchetta, nothing is as it seems and every clue leads to more questions as Taylor tries to work out the connection between her mother dumping her, Hannah finding her then and her sudden departure now, a mysterious stranger who once whispered something in her ear, a boy in her dreams, five kids who lived on Jellicoe Road eighteen years ago, and the maddening and magnetic Jonah Griggs, who knows her better than she thinks he does. If Taylor can put together the pieces of her past, she might just be able to change her future"

Review: So I can totally understand why the Forever YA girls are in love with this book. It's kind of awesome.

Taylor, as a character, is perfect. She's vulnerable, hurt, angry, but still cares about the people around her. Jonah Griggs, the ultimate Mysterious Loner Dude, is also drawn perfectly - aloof and apart, stern and military, yet loyal and protective. Swoon.

The story was awesome - enough information to be interesting, but enough is held back to still be suspenseful.

Goodreads Shelves: addictive, bechdel-test, fluffy, is-or-would-be-a-good-movie, is-this-a-kissing-book, my-kind-of-woman, thought-provoking
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