book review - devil's footsteps by e.e. richardson

my two cent(ence)s - this book was a chore to read. the characters had no depth, the story didn't retain my interest and i would not recommend it to anyone.

wow. pretty brutal of me, huh? but i have to be honest.
and honestly this is one of the most uninterestingly written books i've ever read. if i didn't have a rule about finishing books i begin reading, i would have put it down after three chapters.

the story is of a kid whose older brother disappeared years ago. the kid (i don't even remember the character's name, that's how unremarkable this book is) saw his brother disappear after reciting 'the devil's footsteps' rhyme. apparently this rhyme conjures the devil and he takes away the person who says it while they jump from a series of stepping stones.
this kid is totally interchangeable with two other kids introduced. these kids have one thing in common: apparently they are the only ones in town willing to admit the devil's footsteps are real.

oi, can you tell the complete lack of effort i'm putting into this review? it's because this book was a waste of my time. no kidding.

anyway, some "scary" imagery is introduced in some "did it happen or didn't it?" scenes. blah, blah, blah, i think they conquer the devil but i'm not even sure. i was just happy to have scanned the last few pages before turning my nook off.

book review - will grayson will grayson by john green and david levithan

my two cent(ence)s - well-paced, engaging story with some very memorable characters. definitely lived up to the hype!



i decided to read will grayson will grayson for two reasons:
1) i assumed it was a novel written in alternating first person pov, and
2) EVERYONE was gushing about how great a novel it is

well, my assumption was correct. like nick and norah's infinite playlist and grand & humble, this novel has alternating first person pov chapters. i was really interested to see how well it worked in this book since my wip is also an alternating first person narrative.
let me tell you that will grayson will grayson did not disappoint!

the book is written from the point of view of will grayson - both of them. i like how the authors not only gave each will grayson a distinct voice, but chose different text styles so you knew exactly which will grayson you were following at any given time.

i have to say, as a character i liked the first will grayson better, but as far as storylines go i was hooked with the second will grayson's chapters. i'm not going to reveal much about the plot because i would hate to ruin the book for anyone who's interested in reading it, but i have to say that at the halfway point of the novel i was totally sold!

each will grayson arcs beautifully, and although i thought some elements of the ending were "too convenient" and a bit contrived, it did not take away from my overall enjoyment of the book. i highly recommend it, and am quite pleased to say that it really did live up to all the hype it's generated.

book review - spanking shakespeare by jake wizner

my two cent(ence)s: fast paced, easy read that doesn't shy away from discussing bodily functions with great detail. very fun and unique voice, but lacking a clear plot.

i know spanking shakespeare has been under my "currently reading" label for weeks, but not because the book is a chore to get through. in fact, it is a really easy read, and keeps you coming back for more.

this novel is the record of a high school senior. he comes from a crazy family, he REALLY wants a girlfriend, he's a gifted writer, though tends to write about inappropriate subjects, and he is extremely self-conscious.

i'd say the best part about this book is the voice.

you know when you hear agents talking about "voice" and how it needs to be strong and unique?

well, this book certainly fits that bill! 

shakespeare's take on the world is unique and comical, and honestly i was laughing out loud during some parts.

but although i loved the voice, i felt the plot was really lacking. it felt more "stream of consciousness" as opposed to a flushed out novel. the story just kind of happens, which if the author did this intentionally to mirror how things just "seem to happen" to teenagers, well: kudos. but honestly it felt more like he had this funny character and wanted to showcase his thoughts and humor.

personally i could have done without some of the more graphic descriptions of bodily functions, but i'm sure teenage boys were cracking up during these parts. the "oh wow, i finally got a girlfriend" resolution at the end seemed a bit too convenient, but on a whole the book was pretty fun.

this was the author's debut novel, and i'm looking forward to reading his sophomore effort, castration celebration, to see if he can keep the awesome voice and add a bit more plot.

book review - the body finder by kimberly derting

my two cent(ence)s - great premise with a great prologue. loved how the main character finds the bodies, but not in love with the writing or how the plot develops.

the body finder has one of the most promising openings i've ever read. had i not already bought the book, i would definitely have slapped my money down on the counter for it after reading the prologue. there was a beauty to how the paragraphs formed, and a wonderful sense of suspense as we are introduced to the main character. i absolutely loved the opening pages, which is probably why i felt so let down by the rest of the book.

violet is a high school student who has the ability to find the bodies of dead animals if they've been hunted or killed by a predator. she senses the bodies through "echos" which she can either see, hear, smell or taste. unfortunately for violet, these echos persist until she can give these animals a "proper" burial, and only then will the echos fade. she is also able to detect these echos on the predatory animals, like her cat who loves to hunt mice and birds. the reader discovers that when an animal kills, it is imprinted with the echo of its victim.
when violet is just a child, she discovers the body of a murdered girl, which the reader knows will not be the last she discovers.

see? really good premise, right?

violet doesn't just sense echos - she senses the changes her lifelong best friend, jay, has gone through over the summer. now, for the first time, violet sees jay as more than just her partner in crime. she can't help but want more from him, though she is too scared to admit this to jay, or her other friends. now, to the reader it is GLARINGLY obvious jay wants to date violet, but still violet goes through her inner monologue of "does he? or doesn't he?" which for me got old quickly.
now, i'm sure there are a ton of readers out there who love to know all the details of every encounter. they want to know every time jay's hand brushes against violet's how her heart begins to beat faster, and how her temperature rises, or how she's positive her cheeks are flushed, yadda, yadda, yadda.
obviously, i am not one of those readers.

the "tension" between violet and jay felt so drawn out to me that i was skimming the pages to get to the "body finding" part of the story. and when the author did bring us back on track to where violet discovers a girl who'd been killed by a serial murderer, well, it still fell flat for me.

at page 40 i knew violet would find more than one victim of the killer, the killer would realize violet is responsible for his victims being unearthed, the killer would come after violet, and violet would realize it's the killer because of the imprint he carries on him. and i didn't mind that i knew this in advance (i think most people would be able to figure it out) because the premise was so good i was sure i would enjoy seeing how everything unfolded. but i didn't. though i do have to give the author credit for an interesting twist (which i won't reveal here).

i REALLY wanted this book to be good, but it didn't live up to the promise of the opening pages. in fact, i felt the book was about seventy pages too long (due to the redundancies of violet's inner monologues). obviously i am in the minority. it appears to be pretty popular, and clearly enough people believed in the author's writing ability since it did get published. i'm curious to see how kimberly derting's follow up book will be.

book review - grand & humble by brent hartinger

my two cent(ence)s - a very quick read with a good premise. the surprise ending was good, though i wasn't taken with the writing.

i had heard of brent hartinger before (because of his novel the geography club), but i've never been too interested in reading his work. when i came across grand & humble and read the paragraph synopsis, i knew i had to read it. there were just too many elements and devices in this novel that reminded me of the one i'm currently writing. so, i quickly downloaded it on my nook and read it.

the story is written in third person point of view alternating chapters. harlan is a senator's son - the popular kid with the seemingly perfect life. manny is a guy who lives below the radar - hanging out with his deaf best friend and doing lighting for the school productions. both attend the same high school and have extremely different experiences there. and both are haunted: manny by vivid dreams of dying and harlan by graphic premonitions of dying. both are trying to unravel the mystery of why they are tortured by these visions/dreams. in the end, each one finds out he's been adopted and finally learns his family history and how it relates to what haunts him.

what i like about the ending is that it was completely unexpected. basically the reader discovers that manny and harlan are the same person, the book showing how manny/harlan's life plays out if he were adopted by his aunt, or if he were raised by his birth father. it's kind of like the gwenyth paltrow movie sliding doors, but in reverse. and not done nearly as well.

after i read this book i had to read other reviews about it, because i really didn't connect with the writing at all. turns out, people LOVE this book. so i guess it really is a matter of taste, and this was not to my liking.
as i said, the premise was good and as i was reading i was really interested in how the story would unfold, but i felt myself rushing through the pages because i was not enamored with the style of writing.
now, i can be honest and say that PERHAPS i was more critical of his writing because of the similarities to my wip, but i really don't think so. especially since it became very clear, very early the similarities are too general to even compare.
bottom line - don't listen to me on this one since i seem to be in the minority when it comes to opinions on it.

book review - cracked up to be by courtney summers

my two cent(ence)s - well-paced, and well written novel with really great dialogue. enjoyed it immensely until the big "reveal", which left me feeling a bit disappointed after the anticipatory build-up.


i have to begin by saying courtney summers is a really great writer. i think her dialogue is amazing, so realistic, and very witty and smart. and she is super talented at creating characters that seem very real, and not at all like stereotypes. in fact, each of her characters were such unique individuals, just by their voices and dialogue - nothing seemed forced at all with them.

the novel is about a girl, parker, who was once the most popular girl in her private high school. she was the perfection personified and the envy of the entire female student body. for reasons unrevealed to the reader, she has removed herself from the popular crowd to the point of being anti-social. she is rude, disheveled, and in danger of not graduating.
parker is forced to meet with the student counselor regularly and is under the watchful eye of the principal. she's disruptive, having shown up to class drunk before, and is detached from everything she used to care about.

the author uses a device (quite similar to one i'm currently using in my novel) to reveal small bits of information that show us why parker has become the person she is now. the backstory begins to unfold and we see a glimpse of the parker everyone wants so desperately to come back. we learn that parker had a best friend, jessica, who has been missing for quite some time and the reader is lead to believe there might be a connection between this missing girl and parker's newfound personality.
there is a relationship that develops shakily between parker and a transfer student, jake - which is quite realistic for all its starts and stalls. although parker doesn't want to connect with jake, she can't help being drawn in by him.
when jessica's body is recovered, parker begins another downward spiral, but is unwillingly saved by her former friends. we learn jessica went missing the night parker found evan (jessica's boyfriend) and another girl making out at a party. being drunk, parker lashed out at her best friend (who was trying to actually help parker by letting her know it was ok not to be perfect and anal retentive all the time) and revealed this bit of info, causing jessica and evan to fight. parker is in and out of consciousness for the rest of the party, remembering jessica dancing with an unfamiliar guy, fighting again with evan, and then heading into the woods.
this is the part that disappointed me: the reader learns that parker, still in a drunken stupor, wants to fix the relationship between jessica and evan. she goes into the woods to keep jessica from making the mistake of hooking up with the unfamiliar college guy. she fears she is too late when she sees them having sex, but soon realizes jessica is actually being raped. she heads back to the house, presumably to tell someone jessica needs help, but she allows herself to be guided back to the party and she keeps silent about the rape. she never even tells anyone she saw jessica after she disappeared into the woods. even when jessica is missing, parker never revealed anything about that night.

it just doesn't make any sense to me at all that someone who wanted to fix the relationship between her best friend and best friend's boyfriend, wouldn't say a word when she's being raped. she didn't even scream at the guy to stop. everything else about parker's character adds up for me except this.
still, i would recommend this novel because it is so well written.

book review - before i fall by lauren oliver

my two cent(ence)s - good paced novel with an interesting storyline. i recommend it, although i must note it didn't really draw me in until about page 80.

i read this book because agent janet reid had such positive things to say about it. i was really interested in seeing what a reputable and successful agent deemed "a good read".

i have to say it was a very easy read and the premise is pretty interesting - kind of like the movie groundhog day, but with a dead teenager.
sam is part of her school's most popular foursome. she and her friends are the envy of all the other students and they live each day using this knowledge to their advantage. during a party, sam and her friends are confronted by a girl, julia, who they torment on a daily basis. sam and her friends end up humiliating julia in front of everyone at the party. on the drive home, they have a car accident and sam dies, but she wakes to find her day has started all over again and she tries to do things differently so she doesn't lose her life. but even on the night she doesn't go to the party, the next morning she is back at the beginning of the same day. sam realizes she will be stuck in this loop until she fixes something, and soon realizes that it's julia she needs to save in order to find peace.

this book didn't really hook me right off the bat like the last couple i've read, though once the premise is evident it is hard to put the book down. i really did want to know what the main character, sam, would do differently each morning her day started over again and i really enjoyed how sam developed from day to day, and how she reacted to her normal surroundings (friends, family, school) after knowing she was destined to die.
sam is a well written character, but i found her friends to be on the more generic side. i really enjoyed sam's slow dawning realization she's attracted to her elementary school buddy, and it is almost heartbreaking when she knows she has to leave him forever.

my two issues with the novel are these:
1. it doesn't really make sense to me why sam has to be the one to sacrifice herself so that julia won't commit suicide. although sam and her friends torment julia, it is revealed that sam's best friend is the reason julia is a social pariah. if anyone would have to sacrifice themselves to put things right, it seems that it would be sam's best friend and not sam. there is also a strange bit of foreshadowing between sam and julia the first time the party is written about, though it doesn't really come to fruition in a way that made perfect sense to me.
2. knowing she was going to sacrifice herself and put an end to the cycle, it seemed very odd to me that sam didn't leave her parents with something nice to remember her by. not a final hug or 'i love you', or even a 'mom, you look nice today'. i have a hard time understanding why she would sacrifice herself for someone she barely knew, yet doesn't seem to give a second thought that she'll never see her parents again.

still, i'd recommend this novel. it's well written and i like the way the author developed some of the sub-plots.

book review - stealing heaven by elizabeth scott

stealing heaven by elizabeth scott

my two cent(ence)s: fun, easy read with a simple, linear plot. rather predictable, but i'd recommend it to anyone looking for something easy and light.

stealing heaven is about a girl, danielle, who has never gone to school, never had friends, and never lived in a real home - all because she and her mother are thieves who live their lives going from one job to another.

even though danielle is a thief (because she knows nothing different) she is still a likable character. she struggles with the life her mother has chosen for them, partly because she wishes she could lead a normal life and partly because she knows what they do is wrong. when they set up shop in the town of heaven, danielle finds herself wishing she could lead the life of the person she's pretending to be. of course, she meets a guy (which ends up being very complicated because he's a cop) and their banter is cute, fun and natural.
danielle and her mother are caught after their big job in heaven, though they get off on a technicality. she has to deal with the consequences of her actions, namely losing the only friend she had and ruining her chance with the cop. she realizes she can't live as a thief anymore, especially after it is confirmed her mother has cancer. danielle ends up taking care of her mother, going to school like a normal person, and reaching out to the cop who she feels is the only person to really know the true her.

i felt the opening chapter was written quite well, and i wished the rest of the book had the same feel and energy. the cancer element was telegraphed early in the book - literally, the first time the mother coughs it's obvious she's suffering from a fatal disease. no surprises plot wise, but i really did enjoy the scenes between danielle and the cop. his character is extremely likable (almost to the point of disbelief) and the reader does root for the two of them to get together. all in all i'd recommend it as a fast, light read.

book review - north of beautiful by justina chen headley

now, i haven't written a book report since i was in the 6th grade, so forgive me if this post is unpolished and reeks of amateurism. i don't usually read book reviews, always fearing the reviewer will spoil the ending for me before i've had a chance to read the novel.

so, i've decided to always begin my book reviews with a short, two-sentence snapshot of my opinion.
that way, if you happen to be interested in reading the book, you can stop at those two sentences and the plot won't be ruined for you.

my two cent(ence)s - the book flows easily and i had a hard time putting it down. the novel is beautifully written and well-layered, and although the ending was predictable for me, i enjoyed it from beginning to end.



i don't normally read books about girls who feel sorry for themselves.
i actually hate "oh woe is me" as a genre, and thankfully north of beautiful does not fit into this category.
the main character, terra, is a high school student with a talent for art, an emotionally abusive father, and a large port-stain birthmark on her face. sure, her home life is unsatisfying (thank you, john hughes. that line will always be relevant when discussing YA), and yes, she does everything in her power to keep the world from seeing her birthmark, but she does not come off as an "oh, my life sucks because i'm ugly" whiner.

the book really takes off when she meets jacob, whom i loved instantly. even though terra has a boyfriend, she is attracted to who jacob is and how he makes her feel so at ease with herself. i found it obvious that she and jacob would end up together, but their journey is quite enjoyable: introduction by car accident, deep conversations, geocaching, vacation in china, mutual attraction, feelings of betrayal, show of contrition, all leading to the two of them as a new couple.

the book is filled with cartography references, but it's not so abstract or unexplained that the reader's mind drifts off from boredom. actually, the author does an amazing job of weaving these references in with the main, linear story. there is a subplot involving terra's parents (the father came off as a stereotype in the opening chapters, but felt more real as the book went on) that resolves itself in a way i felt a little too convenient.
also, the whole geocaching element struck me as tacked on, as if the author had finished the first draft and decided she needed to add something more. i could be totally wrong, but it didn't seem as organic as the rest of the novel.

of course, in the end, terra finds her inner strength and no longer feels the need to hide behind her make-up mask.
like i said, it was a predictable ending, but the book is incredibly well written. knowing the ending ahead of time didn't matter since each chapter is exquisitely crafted.
i highly recommend north of beautiful. it's a book worthy of a second read.