(Read 5/26/14) I’m a big fan of Oliver’s other books and her writing, but this novel felt like the least thought out of her work—like an early novel versus the most recent. I’m sure parallels to the Hunger Games will be drawn here though the setting is current (not future) and the stakes not quite as high. The basic plot of the book is this. Carp, New York is a small town in upstate New York, the type of place the economy has hit hard and […]
Many Characters in Search of Magic
This second installment in the Maggie Stiefvater’s series, The Raven Cycle, feels more diffused between all the characters searching for magic and the Welsh king, Glendower. We get some of the story from Blue Sargent’s point of view (the main character from The Raven Boys) but the boys get more say here—starting with Ronan Lynch, the angry tattooed friend of Gansey, who just happens to be able to pull objects from his dreams. Really, this is mostly Ronan’s story—as we learn more about what happened […]
No Vampires or Dystopian Futures . . . just Characters You Care About
This is another solid YA novel by Rainbow Rowell. There are no vampires here or dystopian futures but there is a young woman named Cath, who is struggling to find her way. Cath is a huge fan of Simon Snow, a Harry Potter-esque hero featured in seven books (soon to be eight) that Cath and her twin sister Wren devoured from the time they were little. The series has helped them both deal with the realities of their life—that their mother has abandoned them […]
Silver Shadows: More Vampires!
Back in March I reviewed The Fiery Heart, part of Meade’s Bloodlines series. The next book just came out, perfectly timed to me spending a week on the beach. Where better to read about vampires who can’t stand the sun than while sitting in it? This book picks up a few weeks after the last one left off. Sydney has been taken away to be reeducated after her love affair with vampire Adrian had been discovered. Adrian was losing himself in a haze of booze, […]
A Glamorous Tragedy
This YA novel, inspired in part by the life of Edie Sedgwick, follows the meteoric rise and precipitous fall of Addison Stone, an 18-year-old art phenom from Rhode Island who makes a huge splash on the NYC art scene before her untimely death. The story itself is bold and fast-paced (much like Addy) if a bit far fetched at times. Set in the current day, emails, Instagram photos of characters, and pictures of actual art works are peppered throughout the narrative, giving it a surprisingly […]
Glorious (but you already knew that)
I know. I’m arriving late to the Rainbow Rowell party. I don’t know why but there was something about her books that didn’t make me fall over myself to read them. Maybe it was the pastel covers, the cute titles, I don’t know. Maybe it’s that her first name is Rainbow, for sobbing out loud. Whatever it was, I was not actively campaigning against her books, I was just not that interested. And you all LOVE her too. Despite all this evidence that I should really […]
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