New Girl Review

Title: New Girl
Author: Paige Harbison
Publication date: January 31, 2012

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Pages: 304
ISBN: 9780373210428

Welcome to Manderley Academy
I hadn't wanted to go, but my parents were so excited…. So here I am, the new girl at Manderley, a true fish out of water. But mine's not the name on everyone's lips. Oh, no.
It's Becca Normandy they can't stop talking about. Perfect, beautiful Becca. She went missing at the end of last year, leaving a spot open at Manderley—the spot that I got. And everyone acts like it's my fault that infallible, beloved Becca is gone and has been replaced by not perfect, completely fallible, unknown Me.
Then, there's the name on my lips—Max Holloway. Becca's ex. The one boy I should avoid, but can't. Thing is, it seems like he wants me, too. But the memory of Becca is always between us. And as much as I'm starting to like it at Manderley, I can't help but think she's out there, somewhere, watching me take her place. Waiting to take it back.

This book is a retelling of Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier which I have yet to read so I can't compare the story, we are introduced to the "New Girl" as she gets accepted to Manderley Academy, when she arrives at Manderley all drama unleashes, the New Girl realizes she was accepted just because Becca Normandy disappeared and now she is living under her shadow, nobody wants to know the New Girl, everything she does is compared to Becca and if that wasn't enough, her roommate is obsessed with Becca, this leads to some creepy chapters that I really enjoyed.

The book alternates between the New Girl and Becca's perspective. I like being able to read both points of view, this just adds to the suspense. Becca is extremely difficult to like, she always gets what she wants at any costs, using her beauty to manipulate those around her. The mystery of her disappearance was the reason I kept reading until the end. We get to see how the New Girl starts to stand strong against all the tension.

I didn't cared for the romance. Max was just annoying for me, he was attached to Becca by nothing more than pressure and had me rolling my eyes from time to time. 

I personally found some situations in the book difficult to believe starting for the reason the parents of the New Girl send her to boarding school and the end just fell flat for me, that's the reason I gave only 3 stars.This book had some sexual situations that I don't think where very descriptive.

Overall I enjoyed the writing style and the story in general was entertaining throughout the book.

Review based on an Advanced Reader's Copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley.

Getting Over Garrett Delaney Review

Title: Getting Over Garrett Delaney
Author: Abby McDonald
Publication date: January 24, 2012

Publisher: Candlewick Press

Pages: 336
ISBN: 9780763655075

Seventeen-year-old Sadie is in love: epic, heartfelt, and utterly onesided. The object of her obsession - ahem, affection - is her best friend, Garrett Delaney, who has been oblivious to Sadie's feelings ever since he sauntered into her life and wowed her with his passion for Proust (not to mention his deep-blue eyes). For two long, painful years, Sadie has been Garrett's constant companion, sharing his taste in everything from tragic Russian literature to art films to '80s indie rock all to no avail. But when Garrett leaves for a summer literary retreat, Sadie is sure that the absence will make his heart grow fonder - until he calls to say he's fallen in love. With some other girl! A heartbroken Sadie realizes that she's finally had enough. It's time for total Garrett detox! Aided by a barista job, an eclectic crew of new friends (including the hunky chef, Josh), and a customized self-help guide, Sadie embarks on a summer of personal reinvention full of laughter, mortifying meltdowns, and a double shot of love.

When I first saw this book I was expecting a romance novel but it was much more than that. Sadie has been in love with Garrett, her best friend, for two years. They have the same taste in movies, books and music the only problem is Garrett has no idea.In the summer he is going to be away for six weeks at a camp for aspiring writers, and she doesn't know what to do without him, her whole world is built around Garrett and now she's devastated.

Finally, after some thinking, she decides to get a job in Totally Wired coffee shop and starts becoming friends with her co-workers. This is the part of the book I really enjoyed, it was so much fun to know each of her friends, their personalities were so different but at the same time they complemented each other, they were essential for her to move on.

Sometimes Sadie drove me crazy mostly at the beginning of the book, but we get to see how she pulls herself together and starts a journey of self-discovery. As for Garrett, I never liked him, sometimes I though that maybe he was totally aware of Sadie's feelings for him and was just proud to have her like a trophy .

This is the first novel I've read by Abby McDonald and after reading this book it won't be my last. It was a fun read I loved the writing style and the humor in the book, but most of all, I loved the message: there's more to life than a boy.

Overall I enjoyed this light and entertaining story and I would recommend this book to contemporary YA readers.

Review based on an Advanced Reader's Copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley.

Incarnate Review

Title: Incarnate
Author: Jodi Meadows
Publication date: January 31, 2012

Publisher: HarperCollins

Pages: 384
ISBN: 9780062060754

Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.
Even Ana’s own mother thinks she’s a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she’ll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are suspicious and afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?
Sam believes Ana’s new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana’s enemies—human and creature alike—let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else’s life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?
Jodi Meadows expertly weaves soul-deep romance, fantasy, and danger into an extraordinary tale of new life.

In this book we are introduced to Ana, who has spent her whole life thinking she is a no soul, lacking confidence and self esteem thanks to her abusive mother, who reminds her that since the day she was born she's worthless. When Ana turns eighteen she packs her bags to go out on her own looking for answers, knowing the only place that possibly have them is the main city, the city of heart.

Her journey is not off to an easy start, but Ana needs to know her purpose in a community of souls that have been reincarnated for centuries. Sam her love interest, doesn't think Ana is a no soul instead he thinks she's a new soul. Sam offers Ana the friendship she never had and desperately needs, the relationship between Ana and Sam was full of chemistry.

As the story unfolds she finds herself tangled in rules and misunderstandings. Those difficulties are the ones that help her become a stronger, more confident character, and that's something I truly appreciate. Incarnate is set in an amazing world that Jodi Meadows created, however, I would have loved if the world building was more balanced with the romance. I liked the premise and enjoyed the book but was not able to love it.

Overall I loved the concept behind this book and I believe it has a lot of potential for the next installment of the trilogy.

Review based on an Advanced Reader's Copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley.

Fracture Review

Title: Fracture
Author: Megan Miranda
Publication date: January 17th 2012

Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's Books

Pages: 272
ISBN: 9780802723093

Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine despite the scans that showed significant brain damage. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she's far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can't control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it? Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she's reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy's motives aren't quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature-or something much more frightening?

Author Megan Miranda launches her debut novel with the absorbing story of Delaney Maxwell, it should be just another day in her life but instead turns out to be the day she died, for eleven minutes she was under freezing water, for 11 minutes she was considered death. That should have been the end of her story, but life gave her a second chance and now her world will never be normal again.

As she struggles to cope with the situation her relationship with her best friend Decker starts falling apart. I fell in love with him from the first chapter. The way he feels about her will evoke all kinds of emotions. Miranda's writing style flows smoothly, and keeps the reader engaged through the entire book.

I enjoyed the first person narrative, all the conflict on Delaney's thoughts, until she meets Troy and her confusion starts forming deeper questions on life and death. After she meets him I start to believe there's going to be a love triangle, but is he trust worthy?

Overall I enjoyed this book, it was different, with the perfect amount of description and a little dash of romance. The only big problem I had with this book was I couldn't put it down.

Review based on an Advanced Reader's Copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley.

Never Eighteen Review

Title: Never Eighteen
Author: Megan Bostic
Publication date: January 17th 2012

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Pages: 204
ISBN: 9780547550763

Austin Parker is on a journey to bring truth, beauty, and meaning to his life.
Austin Parker is never going to see his eighteenth birthday. At the rate he’s going, he probably won’t even see the end of the year. The doctors say his chances of surviving are slim to none even with treatment, so he’s decided it’s time to let go.
But before he goes, Austin wants to mend the broken fences in his life. So with the help of his best friend, Kaylee, Austin visits every person in his life who touched him in a special way. He journeys to places he’s loved and those he’s never seen. And what starts as a way to say goodbye turns into a personal journey that brings love, acceptance, and meaning to Austin’s life.

"Life doesn't wait. If we stand still it passes us by and by the time we understand that, it may be too late".

In this book we are introduced to Austin Parker a 17 year old boy who's never going to see his eighteenth birthday, he has leukemia. This, however, does not stop him from trying to find meaning in his life. The book is narrated in first person and we get to know all the emotions the main character is feeling.

With the help of his best friend ( and secret love) Kaylee, he visits every person around him that needs to appreciate life and not take anything for granted, Austin speaks in a voice that is honest, funny and unusually eloquent. His relationship with Kaylee is amazing, I loved how they cared for each other, you can't help but feel for them. If anything I would have loved to had more backstory to their relationship.

While Austin is burdened with his own feelings he's still trying to live the rest of his live to the fullest, he is determined to confront his fears and help all the people around him. The waterfall scene was perfect, every detail made you feel right there with them. There's some language and sexual content. I would suggest the book for a young adult 14 and up.

Overall Never eighteen is a powerful novel. I'm not going to lie, you may need a box of tissues, the ending did make me tear up and that is not an easy task for a book to make me feel so much. I found myself absorbed in his journey. Megan Bostic manages to bring all these emotions to life and makes you feel them along with the characters. This is a great debut novel and can't wait for more from this author.

Review based on an Advanced Reader's Copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley.

Addison Blakely: Confessions of a PK Review.

Addison Blakely: Confessions of a PK by Betsy St.Amant

In this book we follow Addison Blakely on her journey to find who she really is, not only who she has always been expected to be as a preacher's kid and let me tell you this journey is not going to be easy, as Addison meet Wes the typical bad guy she is comforted with some interesting decisions and has to stand strong to her beliefs. I liked Wes but sometimes I didn't agree with the way they where handling their relationship or the lack of it. 

I'm glad this story had romance and yet no explicit sexual references, this is not so normal for a young adult book these days and sometimes it's nice to have a little change. 

I can say I never got bored reading this book, the story holds some interesting dilemmas and the flow of the writing is good.

ARC provided by NetGalley

Expected Publication: January 01, 2012 by Barbour Publishing, Inc.

Bumped Review

Bumped (Bumped #1) by Megan McCafferty

When a virus makes everyone over the age of eighteen infertile, would-be parents are forced to pay teen girls to conceive and give birth to their children, making teens the most prized members of society.

Sixteen-year-old identical twins Melody and Harmony were separated at birth and had never met until the day Harmony shows up on Melody’s doorstep. Until now, the twins have followed completely opposite paths. Melody has scored an enviable conception contract with a couple called the Jaydens. While they are searching for the perfect partner for Melody to bump with, she is fighting her attraction to her best friend Zen, who is way too short for the job.

Harmony has spent her whole life in religious Goodside, preparing to be a wife and mother. She believes her calling is to bring Melody back to Goodside and convince her that “pregging” for profit is a sin. But Harmony has secrets of her own that she is running from.

When Melody is finally matched with the world-famous, genetically flawless Jondoe, both girls’ lives are changed forever. A case of mistaken identity takes them on a journey neither could have ever imagined, one that makes Melody and Harmony realize they have so much more than just DNA in common.

In this book we are introduced in the story of a society where humans loose their capacity to procreate over the age of eighteen because of a virus. In this world we follow Melody and Harmony, twin sisters living in very different worlds, while Melody lives in a liberal world where teens are encourage to have sex and get pregnant in order to surrogate, Harmony lives in a very religious restrictive one.

It's a dystopian novel set in 2035, sometimes while I was reading I felt overwhelmed for the slang and the story itself. Every chapter is written from Melody and Harmony point of view, since they are so far from each other it makes it interesting to try to understand their world.

Melody is preparing to be a professional surrogate at the age of sixteen when Harmony arrives to save her sister's soul, later on the book this may change. I believe the world Megan McCafferty made, as far as dystopian literature relates, is great, since dystopia is an often futuristic society that has degraded into a repressive and controlled state. Keep in mind the topics in the book made room for controversial point of views.

The story is a little complex for a teen audience, the sex scene is not descriptive but sex is a constant factor in this book, I believe it's up to you and your criteria whether to read or not this book. Overall I would recommend this book to dystopian lovers.

ARC provided by NetGalley

Hardcover, 336 pages

Expected publication: April 26th 2011 by Balzer + Bray

Always a Witch Review

Always a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough

The adventures of Tam and Gabriel continue with more time travel, Talents, spy work, and of course, the evil Knights.

Since the gripping conclusion of Once A Witch, Tamsin Greene discovers that her enemy, Alistair Knight, went back in time to Victorian-era New York in order to destroy her family, Tamsin is forced to follow him into the past. Stranded all alone in the nineteenth century, Tamsin soon finds herself disguised as a lady's maid in the terrifying mansion of the evil Knight family, avoiding the watchful eye of the vicious matron, La Spider, and fending off the advances of Liam Knight. As time runs out, both families square off in a thrilling display of magic. And to her horror, Tamsin finally understands the nature of her fateful choice.

I didn't read Once a Witch, but it wasn't necessary, this book stands on it's own. I understood everything and let me say it's an amazingly written book. Tamsin Greene has gone thru her life without knowing that she had a Talent like everybody else in her family, now, she is starting to get familiar with it, since she is the only person who can save her family's future she is relieved she posses a Talent and afraid at the same time about the prophecy of her grandmother that she will soon be forced to make a crucial decision—one so terrible that it could harm her family forever.

This was a nice book. I really enjoyed reading it. At the beginning it was slow for me but that was because I didn't had the reference of the first one. As I advance in the reading found out it has everything, time travel, magic, action, suspense and romance.

Overall it was a nice change from my latest readings, the characters are well developed. Tamsin is a very fun character and a strong female one so it was great.

Thank you NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the ARC.

Hardcover, 288 pages

Expected publication: August 1st 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt