Defy the Stars
By: Stephanie Parent
Publisher: Self-published
Published: Aug 1, 2012
Genre: YA
Rating:
Goodreads
Amazon
Julia Cape: A dedicated
classical piano student just trying to get through her last semester of
high school while waiting to hear from music conservatories.
Reed MacAllister: A slacker more likely to be found by the stoners’ tree than in class.
Julia
and Reed might have graduated high school without ever speaking to each
other…until, during a class discussion of Romeo and Juliet, Julia
scoffs at the play’s theme of love at first sight, and Reed responds by
arguing that feelings don’t always have to make sense. Julia tries to
shake off Reed’s comment and forget about this boy who hangs with the
stoner crowd—and who happens to have breathtaking blue eyes—but fate
seems to bring the two together again and again. After they share an
impulsive, passionate kiss, neither one can deny the chemistry between
them. Yet as Julia gets closer to Reed, she also finds herself drawn
into his dark world of drugs and violence. Then a horrific tragedy
forces Julia’s and Reed’s families even farther apart…and Julia must
decide whether she’s willing to give up everything for love.
My thoughts...
Julia
is a straight edge kid. She's never drank, done drugs and hasn't really
even kissed a guy. It all changes when she takes notice of one of the
stoners, Reed. Reed is the total opposite of what her parents would call
an appropriate suitor. Not only is he not from the same class but her
mother is in charge of the Anti-Drug Defense for the area. But they put
their differences aside and try to make a relationship work. No matter
how many cards are stacked against them.
I honestly didn't know
what to expect going into this. Remakes of a classic story seem to be
hit or miss with me. I really liked the story of these two characters.
The verse style of writing took a while to get used to since I've never
read verse before but after a while I just read it with ease and was
sucked into the story. The only problem that I did have with the story
was there was a lot of dreaming sequences in the story that I personally
felt like they could have been left out. Other than that, I enjoyed the
story and must say that I loved the ending. Not very often does a book
surprise me and when it does, I do take notice. So kudos to the author
for not taking the easy route.
Favorite quote...
"I look behind me one last time - and see - no, feel
- Reed's eyes waking up, sparking with sudden fire like two stars in
the night, their light aimed right inside me, where they;ll linger,
waiting to ignite."
Shut Out
By: Kody Keplinger
Publisher: Poppy
Published: Sept. 5, 2011
Genre: YA
Rating:
Goodreads
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Most high school sports
teams have rivalries with other schools. At Hamilton High, it's a civil
war: the football team versus the soccer team. And for her part,Lissa
is sick of it. Her quarterback boyfriend, Randy, is always ditching her
to go pick a fight with the soccer team or to prank their locker room.
And on three separate occasions Randy's car has been egged while he and
Lissa were inside, making out. She is done competing with a bunch of
sweaty boys for her own boyfriend's attention
Then Lissa decides
to end the rivalry once and for all: She and the other players'
girlfriends go on a hookup strike. The boys won't get any action from
them until the football and soccer teams make peace. What they don't
count on is a new sort of rivalry: an impossible girls-against-boys
showdown that hinges on who will cave to their libidos first. But what
Lissa never sees coming is her own sexual tension with the leader of the
boys, Cash Sterling
My thoughts...
After
reading The DUFF and falling head over heals in love with it, I was
excited to get my hands on Shut Out. I had never heard of the Greek play
Lysistrata, where a group of wives withhold sex from their husbands in
hopes of them stopping the war. But after reading this, I think I just
might run out and grab a copy to read. Granted, I am sure it won't have
the same wittiness and humor that I have come to love from Keplinger's
books. I still love how honest she is about teenage sexuality and how
empowering her books are.
Lissa is a strong character. She takes
charge and rallies up the girls when she comes up with her plan. She
doesn't take any crap from anyone, even her boyfriend. However, she was
pretty dense when it came to Cash. From the first introduction to Cash I
knew he was in love with her but for some reason she was totally
oblivious to that fact. But I liked how Cash played it cool and then started helping out the guys.
Keplinger has pulled out another great book. If you were a fan of The Duff, you will not be disappointed with this one. The book is entertaining from start to finish.
Favorite part...
My all time favorite part is when the
guys show up at one of the girls "sleepover" meetings and they start
singing Tearin' Up My Heart by N'SYNC. Talk about blast from the past. I
remember having their posters taped on my wall one right on top of the
other one like wallpaper. Oh yeah, I so watched the music video after
reading this book.
The Breakaway
By: Michelle Davidson Argyle
Publisher: Rhemalda Publishing
Published: May 1, 2012
Genre: YA
Source: Author
Rating:
Goodreads
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
When Naomi Jensen is
kidnapped, it takes her parents two days to realize she’s missing.
Escape isn’t high on her list of priorities when all she has to return
to is an abusive boyfriend and parents who never paid much attention to
her. For the first time in her life she’s part of a family—even if it is
a family of criminals. But she’s still a captive. In a desperate
attempt to regain some control in her life, Naomi embarks on a dangerous
plan to make one of her kidnappers think she’s falling in love with
him. The plan works too well, and when faced with the chance to escape,
Naomi isn’t sure she wants to take it.
My thoughts...
I never thought it was possible to have so many confusing emotions while reading a book.
Naomi is kidnapped when she is hit by a car driven by two criminals. They take her back to their house which contains a deranged family atmosphere. Eric is the leader of the group and is the one that everyone seems to be afraid of. His sister Evelyn, her husband, Steve and Jessie all live in the house. During the day they lock Naomi in her room and head to work. After they feel they can trust her, they end up letting Naomi out to eat dinner with them and after time they leave the door unlocked and she is free to roam the house... of course Eric is always near by. Throughout her stay at the house she battles her emotions both old and new. He home life was pretty lonely with her parents job taking presidence over her and the fact that she was in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend. After staying in the house for a year she starts to view these people as friends and even finds comfort from Jessie.
A lot of people may look at Naomi and think, "oh she's too weak." but is she? If you were in her shoes, what would you do? Would you do what your captives asked acting submissive and biding your time until the perfect opportunity for escape presented itself. Or would you fight tooth and nail to the very end, which would be all of 2 minutes. Eric is a ticking time bomb, his own sister is afraid of what he would do to Naomi is she even twitched towards the front door. Which is why they broke her down emotionally locking her up in her room and rewarding her with time in the main house for good behavior. Do I think Naomi is weak? No, I do not. It takes her a long time to get comfortable around these people and she is still never 100% comfortable with Eric. But with Jessie, he is the only one that has ever shown her any kindness and at times it seems as if he is a captive in the house as well.
While all of this is going on with Naomi the book also follows her mother while she comes to terms with her daughters disappearance. At first she just assumes that her daughter just needed some space and has run off to blow some steam. However, by the time she comes to realize that something is wrong, it's far too late. She keeps herself busy while working and pretty much shuts everyone out. You find out that she really cares for her daughter and was just trying to not smother her like her mother did.
Like I said an emotional roller coaster. I can see why Naomi started to feel like part of the family while captive, hell I started to forget that they were her kidnappers. However, you never forgot for long and neither did Naomi. However, by that time the kidnappers had humanized themselves by teaching her to cook and buying her birthday presents that even though you knew they were the bad guys you didn't want Naomi to escape. Heck she herself didn't want to escape anymore. And Jessie, he was always the solid rock in the story. There's one instance where Naomi broke down and Jessie was the only one to get through to her and calm her down and then he ripped Eric a new one... well at least I hope he did with all the yelling that pursued afterwards.
Like I said the author wrote this story so well that it had me all twisted and confused and sometimes rooting for the wrong team.
Favorite quote...
"How can someone so smart and beautiful be so lonely?" -Jessie
Michelle lives and writes in Utah, surrounded by the Rocky Mountains. She loves the seasons, but late summer and early fall are her favorites. She adores chocolate, sushi, and lots of ethnic food, and loves to read and write books in whatever time she can grab between her sword-wielding husband and energetic daughter. She believes a simple life is the best life.
You can find more information about Michelle on her website.
By: Sarah Mlynowski
Publisher: Harper Teen
Published: June 7, 2011
Genre: YA
Source: Library
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 368
Rating:
2 girls + 3 guys + 1 house – parents = 10 things April and her friends did that they (definitely, maybe, probably) shouldn't have.
If given the opportunity, what sixteen-year-old wouldn't jump at the chance to move in with a friend and live parent-free? Although maybe "opportunity" isn't the right word, since April had to tell her dad a tiny little untruth to make it happen (see #1: "Lied to Our Parents"). But she and her housemate Vi are totally responsible and able to take care of themselves. How they ended up "Skipping School" (#3), "Throwing a Crazy Party" (#8), "Buying a Hot Tub" (#4), and, um, "Harboring a Fugitive" (#7) at all is kind of a mystery to them.
My thoughts...
What 16 year old wouldn't jump at the chance to live parent-less with a friend? That is exactly what happens for April when her father moves away in the middle of the school year. Although, he is under the assumption that April is staying with her friend Vi and her mom, only... her mom is actually away on Broadway. What happens in those handful of months is all cataloged in this book.
It starts off with April waking up to her phone ringing. Her and Vi just had a crazy birthday party last night and there are people passed out everywhere and the place is a mess. Oh yeah, and the person calling?... April's father who's on his way to surprise her for her birthday. Then it skips back to the beginning when it all started and sometimes skips to things that happened prior to her father moving. Then it skips back and forth a bunch of times. Just when I started to get into the story, it would jump and skip on me. The segments were never long either, it would literally be April and Vi go to the grocery store, then the story jumps to something else. I just had a hard time fully getting into the story.
However, I did enjoy the story if not for the humor aspect of it. I also liked that one of the characters who is sexually active and has unprotected sex ends up with an STD. A lot of books skip the "what if's" in sex and I like that the author included a little consequence to unprotected sex. There were parts that were so insane and out there that I had to laugh at some things. Like the fact that you can rent a hot tub for weeks on end for the base price of $800?
Pretty much from the get go I knew how everything was going to turn out and wasn't surprised by the big climatic part in the story. I would more or less give it 3 1/2 stars but I am rounding up here because it was an entertaining read in the end.
Favorite part...
April's car dies and her and Vi call Dean and Hudson for a ride to school. They are late and when the lady at the office calls them out on it April tells her about her car. Dean jumps in with
"The funeral will be after school. It would mean a lot to all of us if you could make it."
By: Kody Keplinger
Publisher: Little Brown/Poppy
Published: Sept. 7, 2010
Genre: YA
Source: Library
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 280
Rating:
Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn’t think she’s the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She’s also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her “the Duff,” she throws her Coke in his face.
But things aren’t so great at home right now, and Bianca is desperate for a distraction. She ends up kissing Wesley. Worse, she likes it. Eager for escape, Bianca throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with him.
Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out Wesley isn’t such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she’s falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.
My thoughts...
Finally a book that tells it like it is. This is a book written about teens by a teen. I cannot tell you how many times a middle aged author writes a book about teens and their view on what teens should be is the total opposite of what they actually are. I am sick of reading books that deal with teens that are 16-18 who don't swear and "OMG, HE just kissed me, like on the cheek!" I applaud the rawness and reality that is the way some teens are now a days. They are not walking around with turtleneck sweaters on, carrying the Bible. They swear, they drink, they have sex and some even do drugs. *GASP* That is the way life is now a days. I am sick of reading books where the protagonist says "I called him a big jerk although I didn't really use the word jerk but something worse."... REALLY?!?
Now of course this book has it's flaws. No book is ever 100% perfect but the awesomeness that this book is, outweighs the bad. I wished that her friends were a little bit more developed and involved and I wasn't a big fan of Bianca having sex with Wesley and then feeling disgusted with herself and then having sex with him the next day. It would have been better if she at least maybe liked him a little to start with but then again their banter would not have been as funny.
The one thing that I absolutely LOVED was the dialogue. Bianca is an outspoken girl and she doesn't take any crap. When you mix that with Wesley's cockiness, you end up with some really funny dialogue. Like the first time after they have sex
B- "I definitely hate you. I was just using you. You use people all the time, so I'm sure you understand. This was fun but if you tell anyone, I swear I'll castrate you. Clear?"
W- "Why? Your reputation could only improve if people found out you slept with me."
B- "So are you going to keep your mouth shut or do I need to find a sharp object now?"
W- "A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell."
B- "You're not a gentleman. That's why I'm worried."
Favorite quote...
"I mean, there is a reason its initials are VD. I bet you more people contract syphilis on Valentine's Day than on any other day of the year. What a cause for celebration." - Bianca
