Review: Don't Turn Around by Michelle Gagnon

Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication Date: August 28, 2012
Rating: 3 Stars

In Michelle Gagnon’s debut YA thriller, Don’t Turn Around, computer hacker Noa Torson is as smart, tough, and complex as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’s Lisbeth Salander.
 The first in a trilogy, Don’t Turn Around’s intricate plot and heart-pounding action will leave readers desperate for book two. Sixteen-year-old Noa has been a victim of the system ever since her parents died. Now living off the grid and trusting no one, she uses her hacking skills to stay anonymous and alone. But when she wakes up on a table in a warehouse with an IV in her arm and no memory of how she got there, Noa starts to wish she had someone on her side.Enter Peter Gregory. A rich kid and the leader of a hacker alliance, Peter needs people with Noa’s talents on his team. Especially after a shady corporation threatens his life in no uncertain terms. But what Noa and Peter don’t realize is that Noa holds the key to a terrible secret, and there are those who’d stop at nothing to silence her for good.(Goodreads)


So, I have to say, even though I only gave it three stars, I liked this book. Noa is a runaway foster kid that's been able to avoid bring sent back to foster care by creating a fake family with her computer knowledge. She she wakes up naked on a table, all heck breaks loose. She's lost three weeks of her life and people are after her. At the same time people are after Peter, a fellow computer hacker. The wind up running together. There's a lot more than that, but it's more interesting when you're discovering it all as you're reading it.

The reason I didn't give this book a higher rating is because I had a hard time connecting with the characters. I liked Noa, I felt for her, I really did, but something kept me from connecting with her on a more personal level. Same with Peter. They were good characters, but I needed just a little more from them.

Chatting about Three Times Lucky

The Young Adult at Heart Book Club (my friends and I) are going to be chatting about Three Times Lucky today!

Review: Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen

Publisher: Walker Children
Publication Date: February 14, 2012
Rating: 5 Stars

Will Scarlet is good at two things: stealing from the rich and keeping secrets - skills that are in high demand in Robin Hood's band of thieves, who protect the people of Nottingham from the evil sheriff. Scarlet's biggest secret of all is one only Robin and his men know...that she is posing as a thief; that the slip of a boy who is fast with sharp knives is really a girl.
The terrible events in her past that led Scarlet to hide her real identity are in danger of being exposed when the thief taker Lord Gisbourne arrives in town to rid Nottingham of the Hood and his men once and for all. As Gisbourne closes in a put innocent lives at risk, Scarlet must decide how much the people of Nottingham mean to her, especially John Little, a flirtatious fellow outlaw, and Robin, whose quick smiles have the rare power to unsettle her. There is real honor among these thieves and so much more - making this a fight worth dying for. (Goodreads)

I've suggested this book to multiple patrons and all (except for one, but I'm planning to have a chat with him) have loved it and read the entire series. Despite all of that I've only just now read it and it was awesome. I really, and truly loved this book. I've actually never read a Robing Hood adaptation, although I love fairy tale adaptations. I typically left Robin Hood along because I didn't like Maid Marian, I typically steer toward strong female characters and int he original Robin Hood, she didn't really do much. This book is totally different. Robin Hood was suppose to lead, but his position as taken from him and he's not just stealing from the rich to give to the poor, he's stealing from the rich to give to his people. His band of merry men is small, only four people, and one of them is a woman, AKA Scarlet. It doesn't take a genius to figure out who she really is.

I think the secrete of who Scarlet really was and how she was connected to Gisbourne dragged out a little bit, and I really wish she was a smidge more open with Robin and the guys, she was so withdrawn, adn ready to run at a moments notice. Then again, Robin was kin of an ass, so I guess I get it. Anyway, the book was great. The characters were great. I loved the cameos of "Friar Tuck". The ending was pretty freaking awesome! I'll read the second one as soon as I finish my book Book Club on Sunday; I should probably start that.

Oh yeah, the cover is AMAZING!!!

Waiting on Wednesday: Dreamology by Lucy Keating

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine.

For as long as Alice can remember, she has dreamed of Max. Together they have traveled the world and fallen deliriously, hopelessly in love. Max is the boy of her dreams—and only her dreams. Because he doesn’t exist.

But when Alice walks into class on her first day at a new school, there he is. It turns out, though, that Real Max is nothing like Dream Max, and getting to know each other in reality isn’t as perfect as Alice always hoped.

When their dreams start to bleed dangerously into their waking hours, the pair realize that they might have to put an end to a lifetime of dreaming about each other. But when you fall in love in your dreams, can reality ever be enough?

Whimsical, romantic and utterly original, Lucy Keating’s debut novel will win readers’ hearts. 

~*~

Release Date: April 12, 2016 

Come watch our book chat!

The Young Adult at Heart book club is at it again. This month we're going to be discussing Three Times Lucky.

Review: The Mark of Noba by GL Tomas

Publisher: Rebellious Valkyrie Press
Publication Date: August 12, 2015
Rating: 4 Stars

Sterling Wayfairer has one goal for his senior year: make his mark. He’s been slipping into the background his whole high school career—distracted by his mother’s mental health, unsettled by the vivid dreams that haunt him at night, and overshadowed by the athletic accomplishments of his popular best friends. But this year is going to be different. He’s going to break a few rules, have some fun, and maybe even work up the nerve to ask his crush out on a date.

But things don’t go exactly as planned. Students are disappearing, Sterling starts losing time, and it all seems to center around Tetra, a girl no one else seems to notice but him. When he finally tracks her down for answers, they aren’t what he expects: He and Tetra hail from a world called Noba, and they’re being hunted by a Naga, a malevolent shapeshifter that’s marked them for destruction.

Tetra and Sterling have distinct abilities that can help them fight back, but their power depends heavily on the strength of their bond, a connection that transcends friendship, transcends romance. Years apart have left their bond weak. Jumpstarting it will require Sterling to open his heart and his mind and put his full trust in the mysterious Tetra.
If he doesn’t, neither of them will survive. (Goodreads)

I was turned on to this book when I was a part of the blog tour. It's about a boy names Sterling who who meets a girl from another planet named Tetra. He learns that they are bonded and have a history that has been blocked from his memories. When they're together Sterling has abilities that only Tetra can help him control.

I liked the book. It's not normally something I'd read because Sci-Fi has a tendency to confuse me, but I'm glad I gave this a chance. I liked watching Tetra learn to adapt to this new life. Life and relationships had always been stiff and stringent for her. Her people were very formal and analytical. Sterling and his friends were basically the teens of today, they dated, went to parties, and ignored their parents.

I wish we'd had the opportunity to learn more about Grey, he seemed like a cool dude but I wanted to see more of his relationship with his parents and his siblings.

I think my favorite character was Sterling. He was very realistic, and I think that can be hard to portray sometimes. He was for lack of a better term. "a real boy". I loved the rules list he made! He has crushes and insecurities. He made mistakes and he learned from them. He was brave, but not in a ridiculous Four kind of way. He reminded me of my own bother. He'll step up when he has to, but otherwise, he's a pretty chill guy.

Review: Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray

Publisher: Little, Brown Books
Publication Date: August 25, 2015
Rating: 4 Stars
 
After a supernatural showdown with a serial killer, Evie O'Neill has outed herself as a Diviner. Now that the world knows of her ability to "read" objects, and therefore, read the past, she has become a media darling, earning the title, "America's Sweetheart Seer." But not everyone is so accepting of the Diviners' abilities...

Meanwhile, mysterious deaths have been turning up in the city, victims of an unknown sleeping sickness. Can the Diviners descend into the dreamworld and catch a killer?(Goodreads)

 Lair of Dreams is the second book in the Diviners series, and it was great! I loved it. In the past I've had an issue keeping track of books that have had a lot of characters, but Libba Bray is fantastic at writing in such a way that makes it's easy to keep all the names in order. I loved meeting the new characters, and rediscovering the old ones. I laughed, I cried, I was surprised, and at the end of the day, what else can you ask for. I must say that Evie is crazy annoying and I know she's supposed to be. All she's ever wanted was to be noticed and recognized and that's an annoying tendency regardless of weather the person is real or fictional.

Snaps to historical accuracy. There have been authors in the past who'll write historical fiction, and ignore all the parts that make them uncomfortable. Am I saddened by the issues between Memphis and Theta? Yes. Am i heartbroken that Henry has to hide who he really is? Yes. Did I almost cry in that one scene with Ling? Of course I did, but that's the way life was back in the roaring 20's, it wasn't all bootleggers, flappers, and swanky sayings. I think you only do your work a dis-service if you chose to pretend it didn't happen. Not to mention the dis-service it does to the people who lived through that time and had to fight to exist in this country. 

Side note: I really could have done without the love triangle though, it's not adding anything to the story.

Other than that, I loved this book and now I have to wait a whole year for the next one. That's just cruel and unusual.

Feature and Follow Friday- I'M THE FEATURE

Feature and Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee.

This week, I was chosen to be the feature, it's a huge honor. I hope to meet some great people this way and grow my blogging family. (It sounds cheesy but it totally true.)

Questions:
When did you start blogging?
I started blogging about three years ago. I had just started my library career and begun to follow blogs of book reviews and library programming ideas. Then suddenly I realized that I could blog just like everyone else.

What is your favorite part of book blogging?
I love "meeting" like minded people. Out here in the real world a lot of people don't understand why I love reading so much, particularly why I fell so connected to YA books, and thing they're as important as any other type of literature. I get tired of having to explain or defend myself. I don't have to do that in the blogging community.

What type of books do you mainly blog about?
Mostly YA with a dash of Middle Grade and NA thrown in for good measure.

What are your favorite books?
Ironically my favorite book series is an adult book series. It's called The Black Jewel Trilogy by Anne Bishop. I basically worship the ground she walks on. Those books are amazing.

What has been the best thing that has happened to you because of book blogging?

I had a mom contact me after reading a review I posted on Goodreads, then she went to look at my blog. She liked the way I reviewed my books and was able to find some great reads for her daughter who's a bit of a reluctant reader. it felt good to help someone who I didn't even know. These blogs and reviews reach people everywhere and that's a great concept to me. 

This weeks question is:
Name a movie that you would have loved to read as a book. (That is not a book already obviously). Suggested by Go Book Yourself.

I am in love with the TV show Firefly, and I thought they did a good job trying to wrap up the show with the movie Serenity. I would love to have read Serenity as a book. I would have cried, yelled, screamed, and quite possibly stayed up for a full 24 hours reading it, but I would have LOVED it!!!


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