Unremembered

Unremembered by Jessica Brody

There are a few times when I have to sit back from a book and make 'what' sound almost like a quack. WAT.

This book definitely had me saying WAT WAT WAT every few chapters.

An amazon summary, "When Freedom Airlines flight 121 went down over the Pacific Ocean, no one ever expected to find survivors. Which is why the sixteen-year-old girl discovered floating among the wreckage—alive—is making headlines across the globe.

Even more strange is that her body is miraculously unharmed and she has no memories of boarding the plane. She has no memories of her life before the crash. She has no memories period. No one knows how she survived. No one knows why she wasn’t on the passenger manifest. And no one can explain why her DNA and fingerprints can’t be found in a single database in the world.

Crippled by a world she doesn’t know, plagued by abilities she doesn’t understand, and haunted by a looming threat she can’t remember, Seraphina struggles to piece together her forgotten past and discover who she really is. But with every clue only comes more questions. And she’s running out of time to answer them.

Her only hope is a strangely alluring boy who claims to know her from before the crash. Who claims they were in love. But can she really trust him? And will he be able to protect her from the people who have been making her forget?

From popular young adult author Jessica Brody comes a compelling and suspenseful new sci-fi series, set in a world where science knows no boundaries, memories are manipulated, and true love can never be forgotten." AMAZON LINK OF WAT

This book is so full of suspense and moments that don't quite make sense until you reach the end. Then all the little moments that happened earlier in the book suddenly make more sense for the right reasons and it's like WHOA.

Before I go any further, this book is definitely a science fiction book. Somehow I managed to read a good portion of the book assuming it was just a different kind of amnesia case, but looking back on it I totally had the dumb.

All the dumb.

Moving on.

I'm not going to delve into much of a summary on this one because the amazon summary actually did a wonderful job (I am delightfully surprised!).

The book was well paced, the voice was consistent, and the new concepts were introduced slowly enough that it was easy to melt them into the main story line without a lot of questions.

I did enjoy the main character, Violet, a lot because her voice was very different than what I'm used to when encountering YA books.

As far as the science fiction elements go, it was pretty comprehensible.

Basically, a lot of the book involved connecting the different points for me and it was fun to string it all together as the book wrapped up.

I enjoyed this, and with most things that I simply enjoy, I run out of things to say.

Happy reading!

Frogged

Frogged by Vivian Vande Velde

I've long been a fan of Vivian Vande Velde's work and was happy to discover Frogged on the shelf.

An amazon summary to begin, "One should be able to say of a princess “She was as good as she was beautiful,” according to The Art of Being a Princess (third revised edition), which the almost-thirteen-year-old Princess Imogene is supposed to be reading. Not feeling particularly good, or all that beautiful, she heads for a nearby pond, where, unfortunately, a talking frog tricks her into kissing him. No prince appears, as one might expect. Instead, the princess turns into a frog herself! Thus launches a funny, wonderfully spun fractured fairy tale in which Imogene wonders if she will be forever frogified." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

The unfortunately named Prince Imogene Eustacia Wellington (Imogene being the better name of Imogene and Eustacia; named after her dear Grandmothers) has to learn to be a proper princess. It's two weeks before her thirteenth birthday and her mother, the Queen, has just given her a book; The Art of Being a Princess. She reads the prologue, tries to think of three things she learned from it to discuss with her mother, and breaks down one lesson into two to make it seem as if she learned enough.

Her mother took to bed with a headache, which let Imogene wander out to her favorite spot on the grounds; the mill pond. Imogene lays in the grass only to hear someone speaking to her.

First instinct: She's been caught and in trouble.

Then she realizes that the voice is younger, male, and one she definitely doesn't recognize. She looks around a bit before the voice asks her to look down, then she spots a frog.

The frog tells a tale of woe which Imogene is a little suspicious of but has been asked to kiss it to break the frog curse. However, when she kisses him, Imogene turns into a frog but the boy is returned to his human form.

It turns out the boy was cursed by a witch when he chucked about three rotten apples at her when she emerged from her house. He refuses to help her and so Imogene sets off to find the witch.

She goes through the terrors on the road as a frog before she finds the witch who tells her that the witch cannot break the curse and she should find someone else to pass it off on.

A very helpful witch.

Imogene hops off to find a boy who might be able to help her, and her journey begins.

This book was a delightful, fast read that was just enough ridiculous and just enough serious for me.

Imogene was a kind character who has all the makings of a 'proper princess' but just needs to be a bit refined, but she's only twelve almost thirteen so I didn't mind it at all.

It was also a little bit of a short book, the copy I read was only 198 pages in length.

Happy reading!

Zephyr: The West Wind

Zephyr: The West Wind by R. J. Tolson

....I made it to chapter 4 and could not stand this. Absolutely could not stand this.

An amazon summary to give it a few legs to stand on, "Seventeen years ago, in the island village of Dentro, lived a large and powerful demon. With just a howl, mountains were obliterated. With the help of an outsider, the chief of Dentro destroyed the demon and sealed its dark power within three powerful ancient weapons: a spear, a shield, and a sword. After leaving the unwelcoming village, the man who had helped destroy the demon took the sword in an effort to keep the village and its people safe.
 Months later, a villager bore the son of the outsider. Carrying the child of a stranger was in violation of a sacred village law, and everyone knew whose child the boy was. Born into a village filled with hateful people, Zephyr grew up not knowing why he was so hated. With no friends, and eventually no family after the passing of his mother, Zephyr was forced to survive by himself as an outcast. 

Zephyr's only wish was to make his mother proud and force the village to recognize him--while surviving in a world filled with demons, paranormal abilities, love, hate, and undiscovered lands." AMAZON LINK OF WHYYYYYY

This is a minor, petty annoyance of mine, but the table of contents look like it came out of an Excel file.

From what I encountered of the book, it was filled with summaries with hardly any details that was trying to set up a universe separate from our own. I'm going to quote the prologue, "Long ago, in a time long forgotten by history, the rulers of the universe known as gods lived among humans, even choosing to mate with some throughout the many worlds," (Tolson, page 13, Zephyr: The West Wind). Okay, so I've already learned that the main character is going to be a child of the gods, that most likely as their are gods there are going to be demons, and the next three paragraphs are all more summary like this. If I flip the page and use another quote, "Zephyr's only wish was to make his mother proud and force the village to recognize him--while surviving in a world filled with demons, paranormal abilities, love, hate, and undiscovered lands," (Tolson, page 14, Zephyr: The West Wind).

...really? I really want to know if an editor even read the story or even gave feedback.

The rest of what I read is written in the same manner where a lot of information is given immediately without it being relevant yet. I couldn't even make it past page 38 (where chapter 4 begins). I really try to give a book to the thirty percent mark at least, but the book is 450 pages.

I'm giving myself mercy on this one.

By page 38, the book had already begun the trials of adulthood which apparently the main character was going in for his fifth attempt. The chief of the village told Zephyr that he wouldn't be able to save him this time if he failed. The first trial was to let your hand wander over five different kinds of magic rock to see which one would glow. Zephyr failed this trial four times before, and he risked death from it? They're rocks. How are the rocks lethal? Alternatively, maybe if he failed again he would be voted off the island, but he wanted to leave anyways...so what's the problem with that? The chief also says this brilliance, "'I do not understand,' the Chief stated. 'Only one should shine brightly, and yet each so far has shone, but not enough to have chosen you. In the past, you could not even pass this part of the test, as they would not shine at all. This is truly unbelievable,'" (Tolson, page 30, Zephyr: The West Wind). ....SHOW, DON'T TELL. HELLO, WRITING 101?

I take issue with books that are like THIS IS TOTALLY LETHAL, DEATH, BOOGIE MONSTER NOISES, without explaining anything. If there is no explanation of why it's lethal, then it's really not lethal. Heck, even if the chief had been like, "If a stone doesn't chose, then it kills you," alright fine, I can believe that since they're full of magic powers or something. But to just be like, "Yeah you'll die if you fail the test this time"; why didn't he die the past four times? Can the chief not save him because he's getting old? Why is this dude even the chief?

The chunk of book I read spent a good deal of time summarizing why the universe was the way it was and trying to allude to crystals that are a big deal, blah blah blah, but it couldn't spend five sentences explaining the village that hates Zephyr? ....really?

As I didn't read much of the book, I'm not going to say much more about the book.

I didn't like it, the style of writing was kind of unrefined, and I don't want to even try to hit page 135 with this book. Nope, not going to do it.

...

According to the back of the book, the author is working on an English degree somewhere in California. YAY! Maybe he can write better once he's done... too soon? ....probably too soon.

Happy reading, something else.

Also Known As

Also Known As by Robin Benway

This book was fun, comedic, and had a great balance of the different aspects it encompassed. It was a breeze of sweet and simple almost.

I'll just give the amazon summary to get this shindig started, "Being a 16-year-old safecracker and active-duty daughter of international spies has its moments, good and bad. Pros: Seeing the world one crime-solving adventure at a time. Having parents with super cool jobs. Cons: Never staying in one place long enough to have friends or a boyfriend. But for Maggie Silver, the biggest perk of all has been avoiding high school and the accompanying cliques, bad lunches, and frustratingly simple locker combinations. 

Then Maggie and her parents are sent to New York for her first solo assignment, and all of that changes. She'll need to attend a private school, avoid the temptation to hack the school's security system, and befriend one aggravatingly cute Jesse Oliver to gain the essential information she needs to crack the case . . . all while trying not to blow her cover." AMAZON LINK OF THAT WILL DO

I'm having a hard time moving past how much FUN this book was. It was well balanced in it's pacing, and the narrator, Maggie, was right up my alley.

SO MUCH FUN.

Alright, I got it out of my system for the most part.

The first chapter is a perfect setup to know what exactly to expect from the book. Maggie is a safecracker for an organization that is referred to as 'the Collective' and we're taken through the end game of a mission that she's on with both of her parents. Her parents have worked for the Collective for a long time and when they had Maggie and she was cracking locks by age three, well it seemed only natural that she got involved in the business.

It's not the kind of spy story that I've typically come across either; no one is trying to shoot each other, there's not a bunch of covert phrases, not a whole lot of sleuthing. It's almost like spy light, but with the more heavier elements of always having to move for the job and such.

I am a little hopeful that this is the first book in a series.

Anyways, so the next mission is one specifically for Maggie; she needs to go to the same high school as Jesse Oliver, make nice enough with him that she can get access to his folks apartment, and then get the goods on an article that will be released regarding the Collective and many of her friends within the Collective. If the article gets published, it's basically going to be the end of them all.

No problem right?

...wrong (of course).

High School isn't exactly what Maggie was expecting and from day one she's almost in over her head. With the help of Roux, her first friend, she begins to muddle through it. With the chance meeting of Jesse Oliver and his dog Max, she really starts her mission.

There's also their long time family friend, Angelo, who is a master of forgery and also her fashion guru genie. He's more than a friend, basically like an Uncle, and has helped in the raising of Maggie when he gets to see her (the whole spy business keeps everyone moving around a bit).

Roux it turns out has basically been ostracized by the student body for hooking up with someone's boyfriend (who she was led to believe was in love with her).

Then, to really get the tension going, house party thrown by Jesse Oliver which both Roux and Maggie attend. Roux is very reluctant to go, and ends up meeting Maggie while she's quite drunk. Maggie does a rush operation of trying to get her sober and it kind of gets a little funky.

Overall, I enjoyed the book a lot probably because it didn't try to be anything more than what it presented. It was just fun, kind of serious sometimes, but mostly just fun. I found the character of Maggie to be very believable with the amount of social ineptitude that she had (seriously spy life does not mean socializing with people your own age).

...yeah, I think that's good.

Happy reading!

Time Between Us

Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone

A side note: Doesn't that look like Keira Knightly on the cover?

An amazon summary to begin, "Anna and Bennett were never supposed to meet: she lives in 1995 Chicago and he lives in 2012 San Francisco. But Bennett’s unique ability to travel through time and space brings him into Anna’s life, and with him, a new world of adventure and possibility. As their relationship deepens, they face the reality that time might knock Bennett back where he belongs, even as a devastating crisis throws everything they believe into question. Against a ticking clock, Anna and Bennett are forced to ask themselves how far they can push the bounds of fate—and what consequences they can bear in order to stay together.

Fresh, exciting, and deeply romantic, Time Between Us is a stunning and spellbinding debut from an extraordinary new talent in YA fiction.

"A beautifully written, unique love story." --Melissa Marr, New York Times best-selling author of The Wicked Lovelyseries " AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

I'm just going to ignore the summary because what the heck. What the heck.

Anna has a nice life in 1995; she likes to run, she loves music, she loves to think about traveling (although her traveling experience is very minimal), and she likes to read, about traveling. Maybe other things, but that didn't come across in the book (yes, I will nitpick about that a little bit). Anyways, the important bit is that Anna loves to run and dream about traveling.

One morning she's at the track running to keep up for cross country season when she comes around for another lap and there happens to be a guy sitting in the bleachers with a black parka on. When she finally just stares at him, she gets a tentative smile, and she quickly looks away. When she looks back, he's just gone. Bewildered, she hops up the steps to the bleachers and sees the imprints in the snow where he was sitting, but no prints leading away from his spot. Trippy.

The next day, her best friend Emma picks her up for school where she happily announces that there will be a new student. It turns out that the new student looks exactly like Anna's guy from the bleachers, but he acts like he's never met her before. Once they're introduced and he's asked about the track/bleachers incident, he gets a little cold, but after finding out her name is Anna, he gets rigidly frigid towards her.

Anna is basically all, "What the heck, moving on with my life but still slightly curious about him," and begin a romantic adventure set in 1995.

There were a lot of ups and downs with this book and a few moments where I was very skeptical of what was happening, but it pulled through for itself in the end.

Something I really liked about the book was that Anna wasn't perfect, she wasn't annoying, she seemed like a very real person: a perfect blend of flawless and faulty. There were times where she handled things well and times she freaked the heck out. All of the 'side characters' were well done and consistent with their personalities.

However, as much as I enjoyed this little romantic trip around Anna and Bennett, I don't want to see more of them. I want to let the ending be what it was, and that be that.

There were some segments that took place in far off places that I have no idea what they're like and can't really imagine where they are (geographically impaired here). How the author described them was clear enough that I didn't wonder where they were on the globe necessarily, but more of what the place was like. What the culture was like there, and how they dealt with the people they ran into.

There romance came off very believable, even with the time traveling quirkiness thrown in. There were a few times where I felt like it was slightly like The Time Traveler's Wife, but I think the book managed to pull itself away from that for the most part. The concept of a time traveler being in romantic relations is always going to be very challenging to not have it compared to anything else that is remotely similar to it.

Overall, this was still a romance story, a kind of 'finding yourself' story, and as such, it wasn't anything spectacular, but that doesn't mean it wasn't good.

The book seemed to drag slightly for me, but I would like to chalk that up to my life currently being intensely busy more than any fault of the book itself.

A minor quibble and SPOILER LAND moment: The absurdly small amount of drama created between Justin (Anna's childhood friend) and Emma (Anna's best friend) going on dates and whether Anna was okay with it or not (Justin likes Anna and asked Emma out though) seemed really rushed and poorly put together. There didn't seem to be enough emphasis on it to matter. There was one moment where it was more of a lesson to Anna and a frightening dramatic moment for Justin, but that was about it. Just kind of a healthy, 'Beware of consequences/messing with time' moment.

Happy reading!