2015 - In Books

Well, I totally slacked on this year's challenge. But in my defense, I had a lot of textbook reading to do. On the plus side though, I reviewed a lot of the books I read this year. Then, I kind of slacked on that too. So anyway, here all the wonderful (and not so wonderful) books I read this year. You can click on the links to be taken to their reviews.

1. Saint Anything - Sarah Dessen
2. What She Left Behind - Ellen Marie Wiseman
3. 10 Days in a Madhouse - Nelly Bly
4. Thorn - Intisar Khanani
5. Edgewater - Courtney Sheinmel
6. Everything, Everything - Nicola Yoon
7. Keeping the Moon - Sarah Dessen
8. That Summer - Sarah Dessen
9. The Truth About Forever - Sarah Dessen
10. The Wrath & The Dawn - Renee Ahdieh
11. Ruby - Cynthia Bond
12. Every Day - David Levithan
13. Burned - Ellen Hopkins
14. Shatter - Michael Robotham
15. Black Moon - Kenneth Calhoun
16. The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
17. Sloppy Firsts - Megan McCafferty
18. Lucas - Kevin Brooks
19. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
20. The Vanishing Season - Jodi Lynn Anderson
21. Isla and the Happily Ever After - Stephanie Perkins
22. Tiger Lily - Jodi Lynn Anderson

Favorite: The Wrath & The Dawn 

Least Favorite: The Vanishing Season, Black Moon, Ruby

Surprising Like: The Handmaid's Tale

Surprising Hate: The Vanishing Season (I liked Tiger Lily so much!)

Beloved Re-Read: Sloppy Firsts (always!)

Would Re-Read: The Wrath & The Dawn

Wondered Why You Bothered Finishing It: Black Moon

Made You Cry: Lucas

Made You Laugh: Isla and the Happily Ever After

Want to See it Turned into a Movie: The Wrath & The Dawn

Overrated: Ruby

Underrated: Thorn

Best/Most Promising Series: The Wrath & The Dawn

Started Good But Petered Out: Black Moon

Started Slow but Stuck the Landing: The Handmaid's Tale

Author to Watch Out For: Renee Ahdieh

Best Book Cover:  The Wrath & The Dawn

Bad Cover, Good Book: Lucas

Made You Think: The Handmaid's Tale & Lucas

Guilty Pleasure: Isla and the Happily Ever After & Shatter

Best YA: The Wrath & the Dawn

Best Adult: The Night Circus

Favorite Character: Shazi & Khalid

Least Favorite Character: Susannah from Edgewater

Most Hated Antagonist: Old-school psychologists from 10 Days in a Madhouse

Most Hated Protagonist: Maggie from The Vanishing Season

Fictional Crush: Josh from Isla and the Happily Ever After

What were some of the books you read this year? Which should be on my first-to-read for 2016? Leave them in the comments!

My Love of Books

I have been a book-lover forever. My parents would read to me when I was younger and then I'd read
to them. I loved reading so much that my mum would sometimes use it as a punishment. "No, Valerie, you cannot read today! Go clean your room!"

When I was in elementary and middle school I loved reading science-y books. Anything in the 500s I would devour. Ancient Egypt. Pyramids. Space. Spiders. I read to learn and better understand all the things I couldn't comprehend.

Via Franklin County Kids Library

Then I discovered the Young Adult section at Barnes and Noble. My dad and I would go and treat it like a library, reading books and magazines while my mum went shopping. I'd pick a book from the shelf, then sit on the floor - or if I was really lucky, one of the well-worn sofa chairs and read for hours. Then the next week I'd do it again until I finished the book. As soon as I was done, I'd put it up and go straight to the next one.

In high school I became a library volunteer, shelving books and scanning incoming and outgoing books. As I scanned them I'd read their sleeves or back covers. This was the first time I remember challenging myself to read a certain amount of books within a certain amount of time.

When I got to college my love of reading didn't falter. I worked at both the school library and the bookstore. Borrowing and buying books with my discount like crazy.

A few years ago I even got a job at a local SA library. It was great because one of the perks was no due dates!

Now, I visit the library about every two weeks. I'm still in love with YA books but every so often I'll read something tougher. I like to read the classics or books they make you read in English classes. Sometimes I'll read an action or thriller and I'm always down to read one of Stephen King's newest.

I've never gotten tired of reading. I have learned so much through the words of others. I know that I did so well in school because I loved reading. I also attribute my empathy for others to the books I have read.

I believe that books can change people. The written word can alter their opinions and their outlooks. We should be encouraging everyone to read more; whether that's by buying eBooks, listening to audio books, or borrowing them from the library. And it doesn't matter if it's War and Peace, Not That Kind of Girl, or The Hunger Games. Reading teaches people of all ages how to think critically, how to empathize with others, and how to sit still in contentment.

I have tons of favorite books. I have books that I've hated but left me thinking long after I'd finished. What books have inspired, impacted, or changed you?

Literary Junkies

1. What are you reading right now?

 - Well as fun as it sounds, I've been reading "The Essentials of Abnormal Psychology" for a few months now. Obviously for school. For funsies I'm just about to start reading "Saint Anything" by my fave Sarah Dessen. 

2. What was your favorite book you had to read in school? Which was your least favorite? 

- I really liked "Lord of the Flies" when I read it my sophomore year. In senior year we read bits and pieces of Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried." I ended up reading the entire book and I was just...blown away and I loved it so much. I still reread it occasionally. 

- I absolutely hated reading "The Odyssey" and "The Magnificent Ambersons." Soooo boring. 

3. What is your favorite book that was turned into a movie? Were you happy with the movie? 

- I was sooo excited to see "The Giver" turned into a movie. Until I saw the movie. I absolutely hated it! I loved the Harry Potter movies. I think they were true to the stories. Oh and I actually loved the movie ending of "The Fault in Our Stars" more than the book ending. 

4. Which book do you wish could be turned into a movie? 

- Any of Sarah Dessen books would make a cute but not-so-cheesy romantic movie that I would squeal to see. 

5. Did you start/have any reading goals for 2015? How are you doing with them? 

- I did have a goal to read 40 books by the end of the year. With school books and their 80 page chapters taking over my life...I am currently 13 books behind schedule. I've only read 19 books this year so far. Yikes! 

If you're interested in reading any of these books or watching the movies - check them out on Amazon.com!

              


            


            

My Love of Harry Potter

I once had an interviewer ask me what my favorite book was. I answered, Harry Potter.

They did not seem impressed.

Maybe they thought that Harry Potter was too childish an answer for someone who would be scanning and filing official documents.

But Harry Potter is, to this day, one of my favorite book series ever.

I think a lot of older people find it hard to understand the fandom of Potterheads. So many semi-adults claiming their love for a children's book.

Firstly, it's not a children's book. At least, not only a children's book. It is an everyone book.

Harry Potter transcends the typical Juvenile genre. It deals with right and wrong, good and evil, choices and abilities, love and loss, friendship and family. Harry, Ron, and Hermione deal with adult themes in each book. They are thrust into situations that mature them and force them to think critically and emotionally beyond their years.

Secondly, when you grew up with them, they take on a whole new level of personal.

I remember waiting for the books to hit the shelves. My mom would go out and buy the book for me in the morning before I woke up and she'd bring it to me in bed, where I stayed until I finished reading the whole thing. They were so engrossing that I could not leave my room until I was done reading.

Not many people spend their whole lives growing up and aging right along with their favorite fictional characters. My generation had that very special, very rare experience. Every year that Harry grew up and matured, so did we. It was hard not to compare and put myself into his place. Sure there are kids who read the books now and love them and there are adults who love them. But us? We lived with them. We went to the midnight releases, saw the merchandise hit the stores, the fandom grow, and eventually the movies that did the books justice.

It may be hard for adults who never got to live that experience see Harry Potter as anything more than a children's book. But it's not. And I'm not ashamed to say that the words of J. K. Rowling have shaped me as a person. I'm grateful I got to live through that experience and I know that I'll be a Potterhead until I die.

Always.

Everything, Everything - Nicola Yoon

Everything, Everything
Author: Nicola Yoon
Published by: Delacorte Press


SCID. The four letters that describe Madeline's life. The four letters that have followed her everywhere. The four letters that dictate what she can and can't do, and who she can and can't see. Four little letters that stand for: Severe Combined Immunodeficiency.

Which is basically a fancy way of saying that Madeline can never leave her house.

Madeline has been sick since she was a baby. When a horrible car accident killed her brother and her father, Madeline was left with only her mother. And Carla - her nurse. Without being able to venture outside, Carla and her mom are the only friends Madeline knows. Madeline goes to school online, buys her clothes online, does everything online. When people want to visit, usually only her architect teacher, they have to get a physical and decontaminated before they can enter her hermetically sealed house. It may all seem like a lot to go through but Madeline has known nothing else. How can you miss what you've never experienced?

Of course everything changes when a family moves in to the house that's been unoccupied next door. From her window Madeline can see a husband, wife, and their two kids: a boy and a girl. She doesn't think much of it. She doesn't need to get involved with their lives. But when the boy and his sister ring the doorbell offering a neighborly bundt cake, Madeline starts to track their movements.

Soon, Madeline gets to know the boy, Olly, through written messages on his window. Eventually, they begin to talk online. The more Madeline gets to know Olly the more she wants to meet him, despite the serious illness she may contract.

Scared to ask her mom, Madeline asks Carla who relents. Seeing Olly in person is different than talking to him online. She starts to realize how much her heart skips and her stomach flops. She realizes just how much she's missed out by not being able to touch anyone.

Madeline wants to get to know Olly outside of her clean, white walls. She wants to live life out there. Books, online friends, and board games with her mother will no longer be enough to keep her happy. She wants to really live but with a disease, rare and terrifying, will Madeline chose her health or love?

Yoon's use of diary entries, Madeline's own meaning of words, nurse schedules, and IM messages make this story instantly more personal. We feel like we are privy to Madeline's life instead of just on the outskirts of it. We are able to see her moods change, her optimism wax and wane. We're able to fall in love with Olly the same way Madeline does. Through these various methods of writing we see her humor and goodnaturedness. It makes what would normally be a boring same-thing-every-day story line interesting and leaves you wanting more. But most importantly, it leaves you questioning your life in a good way. Are you really alive if you're not really living?

I give this book 4 out of 5 cateyes.

Thorn by Intisar Khanani

Thorn
Author: Intisar Khanani
Published by: Intisar Khanani

Side Note: I would just like to mention that if you decide to buy this book, a portion of the price will go to Heifer International which is a charity that provides livestock to families to learn self-reliance. 

When Brothers Grimm stories get retold, newer versions have a way of missing the mark when it comes to the original bleakness. In her debut novel Thorn, Khanani stays true to the darker elements of this Grimm fairy tale.

Khanani is off to a rough start with this novel; the beginning slow and uncertain. When we meet Alyrra we know nothing about her except the arranged marriage between her and Prince Kestrin. When we learn that her brother physically abuses her and her mother is indifferent to her pain, we bind to her...but at a distance. This distance between me and the main character proved harder to cross the more I continued to read.

While traveling to her new home, a sorceress switches Alyrra's body with that of Valka, a vindictive girl from her own hometown. At first Alyrra is scared of the switch but soon she realizes that this may be the answer to all her problems. As Valka she won't have to be a princess. She will be able to live a simple life in anonymity with the other people of Tarinon.

With her plan set, Alyrra arrives in Tarinon and becomes the Goose Girl, one of the lowest positions available. With her true identity secret, Alyrra lives the life of a commoner. Through hard work and a difficult language barrier, Alyrra learns about the city and the people within. She learns about the thieves and the snatchers. She learns about not walking alone at night. She learns who to turn to when you need justice for your family.

It is here where Khanani shines. She does not water down the gross mistreatment of women, the social injustices of the lower class, and the hatred that can harden ones heart in the search for vengeance. Rape and murder seem to be commonplace and the king's court does nothing to stem the numbers of these attacks. Alyrra's first hand view of these occurrences makes her question which life she truly wants to live. The one of Goose Girl, with a makeshift family, a roof over her head, and meager earnings or that of Princess with an ability to change the wrongs and reverse the plight of the people.

The plot speeds up exponentially over the course of the novel. Unfortunately when you reach the end, you find that it finishes more quickly and abruptly than you would like. The answers when it comes to the sorceress are vaguely addressed. The climax takes place within the last 50 pages and Khanani seems to think that a heart hardened over years of anger can change in three days time.

Even to the end, I felt no closer to Alyrra. On the contrary, I grew to hate her judgement the further into the novel I read. Her attitude towards the prince seemed unwarranted. To subtly distrust him in the beginning is one thing but to continuously think him trouble despite his actions are another. I also hated the way Alyrra thought of herself. No compliment, even those that were earned, were ever true in her opinion. She thought she was nothing and could do nothing. Her negative thoughts about herself left me feeling as if I shouldn't have positive emotions towards her. Even if her intentions were good, why would I want to become attached to a person who doesn't think anything of themselves?

Overall the plot of the novel was excellent. I continued reading to learn more about Prince Kestrin and what kind of man he would truly turn out to be. The topics discussed made the novel feel as if it wasn't just a YA. It can easily be considered a novel for adults as well. Khanani did a great job turning The Goose Girl into a modern fairy tale. I just couldn't learn to love Alyrra, which left me feeling like an outsider the entire novel.

I give it three out of five cateyes.

*I received this eBook free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.*

Edgewater by Courtney Sheinmel

Edgewater
Author: Courtney Sheinmel
Published by: Abrams/Amulet
Expect it in Stores and Online: Fall 2015




Edgewater is the name of the mansion where Lorrie, her sister Susannah, and their aunt Gigi live. What was once a beautiful, sprawling homestead overlooking the ocean is now so disgusting that Lorrie's best friend Lennox has never set foot in it. Filled with unwashed dishes, carpets full of cat urine, and an indescribable stench that permeates the entire house, Lorrie hopes every day that she won't be recognized as one of the girls who lives there.

When a failed tuition payment forces Lorrie to leave her summer riding camp and return to Edgewater, Lorrie is intent on emancipating herself from her aunt and gain access to the trust fund her mother left when she moved to London with her boyfriend. The only problem is the empty tank of gas. With only eight dollars to her name and an embarrassing negotiation underway over a can of Coke, Lorrie's pride is sort-of saved by Charlie Copeland. On one hand, she won't have to put a Coca Cola on credit but on the other hand, the Senator's son has just paid for her gas...and invited her to a political party at his house on Friday.

While Lorrie and Charlie are getting to know each other, things like a turned off phone, no electricity in the house, and a need for food are pushing Lorrie to get a job and sort everything out herself, with no help from Gigi or Susannah. Unfortunately things aren't going as planned and even weirder things are happening behind the scenes of the Copeland residence. What secrets are the Copeland's hiding and why does it seem that Lorrie's family is involved?

The plot is interesting but I found the characters hard to like. Undoubtedly this is the way Sheinmel intended as both Susannah and Gigi find nothing wrong with living in the squalor they have made for themselves. There may be those who may find sympathy but I could not. Susannah at 15 should have been helping Lorrie take care of the house or at the very least not add to her troubles. Gigi who was obviuosly going through a depression should have had help. Though, I can see why neither Lorrie or Susannah would have wanted to involve social services. Lennox's mothers seemed the perfect people to broach such a subject and yet, the girls were left to live in horrible conditions.

What I also didn't like was the fact that the idea of Edgewater being in such ruin was nothing but a talking point to those who lived within the neighborhood. Perhaps they didn't have a homeowner's association but what...they didn't have property taxes? I'm sure that people who live within such riches would take more interest in a house that looked like Edgewater next to their lovely, perfect homes.

Edgewater is mostly a story about the idea that money doesn't grow on trees and there are people who really have to work to earn such a living. A fast read but does not require much thought or leave you feeling changed. It's an okay book to pass the time while waiting for a flight.


I give it three out of five cateyes.

The Wrath and the Dawn - Renee Ahdieh

The Wrath and the Dawn
Author: Renee Ahdieh
Published by: Putnam Juvenile

In this beautifully written first novel, Renee Ahdieh weaves a story as complicated, colorful, and beautiful as a tapestry you might find hanging in the caliph's palace.

For weeks Khalid has been marrying girls and then hanging them the next morning at dawn. One of these girls was Shazi's best friend. Filled with hate and a need for revenge, Shazi volunteers to be his next wife. She knows that she must do whatever it takes to survive that first night. When Khalid comes to her room she tells him a story that lasts until sunrise - refusing to tell him the ending unless he spares her life for one more day. Khalid reluctantly agrees.

With her life secure one more day, Shazi must figure out the caliph's weakness so that she may be the one to end his life and avenge the suffering of everyone who's lost a daughter in the village.

Shazi knows that in order to figure him out she must get close enough to understand him, what she doesn't expect is to see a quiet, alert, troubled boy who keeps too many secrets for one soul to bear.
When her emotions toward Khalid become increasingly blurred she strives to figure out why Khalid acts as he does so that her feelings can reconcile the man or put her back on her path of vengeance.


With a real and honest look at the the confusing and conflicting nature of love, The Wrath and the Dawn does an excellent job at being both a love story and an intensely interesting tale about revenge, redemption, and the choices we make at the hands of others. With multi-dimensional, believable characters and hints of as-of-yet untold magic this novel will leave you reeling after you're finished and will make you impatient for the next installment.

I give it 5 out of 5 cateyes. (Though this book has pretty much changed my entire cateye judging standard.)

*I received an advanced copy of this book from the First to Read Penguin program. All opinions are my own.*