Lisa Likes Books

Reading Unremembered by Jessica Brody has brought to my attention how little I read science fiction. Honestly, why don’t I read more of it? Because if it’s anything like this book, I think I’m going to like the genre just fine. Speaking of science fiction, it was quite the surprise for me when I started getting deeper into Unremembered. I don’t know why, but I was convinced this was going to be a contemporary novel, so when they started talking about genetics and memory manipulation I was just like, “Woah, what?”.Unremembered stood out to me for one huge reason: it kept me on my toes. Every time I thought I knew everything there was a twist or some new element brought in. It sounds almost annoying, I know, but it was really very cool. It kept things exciting and the emotion flowing because Seraphina, after all, knew nothing more than the audience did. (Ah, the beauty of amnesiac characters!) Every piece of information was news to Sera and the person reading. It really makes the reader feel at one with the main character, like they’re going through an experience together.Sera was an interesting character to follow. I loved that she was an amnesiac but wasn’t portrayed as stupid even though there was a lot she didn’t know. She was still very intelligent, just uncultured. Example: If you were with her and called someone a “jackass” she would most likely assume you mean “donkey” because that’s what the dictionary says. (Then again, “a stupid person” is also in the definitions and Sera would definitely be smart enough to figure out that’s what you meant. Example fail. You get it.) Basically, Sera was something like a walking dictionary and calculator in human form—very, very intelligent but sort of out-of-the-know.This is my first time reading anything by Jessica Brody and I was thoroughly impressed with Unremembered. I don’t know how it would stand up with a science fiction buff (seeing as I don’t know much about the genre), but I thought it was wonderful and absolutely worth the read. With an interesting story and a huge cliffhanger, I’m definitely looking forward to the next installment in this series and reading more by Jessica Brody.

I went into One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies by Sonya Sones biasedly because I’ve read and liked other novels by Sonya Sones before. As far as novels-in-verse go, her books are short, sweet, to the point, and surprisingly thorough in their low page numbers. One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies is no exception. It was a wonderful book.One of the first things I noticed when I started this novel was how sarcastic and witty the main character, Ruby, was. Sarcastic characters always walk a fine line between funny and annoying. As a reader, I loved Ruby’s brand of sarcasm. The girl had just lost her mom and her home, so it was easy to forgive her even when she did say something annoying. Not to say she annoyed me. She didn’t… but I can see how people in the story might have been irritated at the least. She was your typical difficult teenager going through some tough times. I feel like her character development didn’t really go anywhere until almost the end of the book, which is a bummer because I would have liked to read a little bit more about things looking up. Oh, well. It was worth it anyway.One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies was a very character-driven novel with an interesting story to tell. The story, in fact, had the opportunity to be very dark, but with Ruby’s sense of humor and some other interesting characters everything balanced out and made this novel a wonderful blend of light and heavy. There’s a lot of misunderstandings, a lot of coming to terms with things, and a bit of snark. This book is short, so I would definitely read it again and recommend it to everyone else. In a nutshell: short, sweet, and totally worth the time.

2.5 starsSo, a lot of the time while I was reading this I wasn't even following. I like the idea of the sword (I don't want to go into detail for fear of spoiling), but I feel like the execution of the story needed a little more--or a lot more--work. I have no doubt in my mind this would be a good story if it were told aloud and spread that way too, as a folk tale is. It has that simplicity and quickness about it that would make it perfect for telling around a bonfire.While I was still in the first half of The Fifty Year Sword I was fully prepared to give the book a one star rating and say I hated it, but it pulled me back in a bit by the end. It's not my favorite story, but I don't feel like I wasted my time reading it. The book is super artistic and pretty, but I'm afraid the story just isn't enough to make me read it again. Alas.

Oh man. Sigh. My heart.---I love bad boys. Let’s just get that out of the way. And I really loved Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles. It has the very popular “star-crossed lovers” plotline with less of the star-crossed and a whole lot of loving. Basically it’s: bad boy meets good girl, they fall in love, and chaos ensues. Well, maybe not chaos, but unrest at the least. Either way, I loved it.Perfect Chemistry was pretty much what I expected it to be. What surprised me was how much I ended up enjoying it. The story was super corny at times, sometimes the dialogue (spoken and inner) was a little awkward, and I was constantly yelling at the characters to stop being so stupid, but I could not put the book down. I swear, I got so connected to all the characters (ahem, Alex) that I would worry about them while I wasn’t reading. I know. It’s so ridiculous. I feel like Elkeles put a lot of thought into the story in every direction and was just so thorough with her storytelling.Honestly, I thought I wouldn’t like Perfect Chemistry for one huge reason. Gangs. Not necessarily the gangs themselves, but the violence that comes along. I don’t do very well with violence. Sometimes it’s fine, but sometimes it turns my stomach and I can’t deal with it. I loved how Elkeles was able to show the violence without being too gruesome about it. It didn’t make me sick, and for that I thank her. (I don’t have a weak stomach, honestly. It’s hard to explain, I guess.)The characters in Perfect Chemistry were great. I think I liked all of them, even the mean/bad ones. (The bad ones as “bad” ones, of course. I didn’t like them as individuals.) Brittany was an interesting character to follow because outwardly she was strong and confident, but inside she was struggling to keep it together. Her story wasn’t about finding strength, but allowing herself to stop hiding the fact that she wasn’t perfect. She knew she wasn’t perfect and really just wanted to stop being fake. It was a nice twist. It was refreshing to have a character aim to be real. Period. (Rather than real plus this, this, and that.)Here’s the part where I start swooning and fangirling over Alex. Alex, oh Alex. Alejandro. I loved Alex from the very get-go. Yes, he was being kind of a jerkface for a while. No, I didn’t really care. There was a lot more to Alex than it seemed. He had secret dreams that he couldn’t act on because he was a part of a gang that would basically kill him before letting him stray. Everything he did was to protect the people he loved, and that is totally sdfkgnhttaxscd. I love Alex. I can’t stop fangirling over him long enough to form comprehensible sentences about him. Sa-woon.I also loved a million and one of the lesser characters. As always, I would love to learn more about them. Here’s to empty wishes for more companion novels! Here, here!For the most part, I think I fell in love when I read Perfect Chemistry. With who or what is completely blurred. I loved it all. I laughed, I swooned, I got a little misty, and I think I found a new favorite book. If you like bad boys at all I definitely recommend this book. The same with rocky romances, familial problems, et cetera. I basically just recommend this book. Read it and swoon, people!

3.5 or 4 stars. I can't decide.I am so over travel books. Kind of. I mean, a little bit. I don’t know, because I thought I was tired of travel/road trip books, and then I read and really liked Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson. Now I’m all confused. The only thing I know for sure is this book was totally worth the read, even if it is a road trip book.Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour is such a sweet contemporary novel. I didn’t want to use the word “sweet” because it makes it sound all sunshine and daisies when it’s not, but it’s a fitting word anyway. There was a great balance between drama and fun in this book. The story wasn’t too heavy or too light and it was always engaging.Generally as travel stories go I always feel like there’s too much happening too fast, especially people falling in love at first sight (left and right, I tell you!). I didn’t get that from Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour. Obviously it’s a road trip story, so there’s a lot happening, but it still took its time. The writing was great. Matson didn’t linger on any one place or event for longer than necessary to the plot. I do feel like sometimes Amy and Roger had it a little too easy with all the random strangers and old friends they ran into, but honestly, it’s not even an issue. I don’t feel like it swayed the plot’s integrity or my like of the story at all.Matson really put a spotlight on comparing/contrasting the difficulty of talking to a loved one and the ease of baring your heart to a complete stranger. Such was Amy’s struggle throughout the book.  Amy had a lot of guilt on her shoulders and was depressed at the beginning and during a lot of the story. I am so, so, so grateful to Matson for how she played that off. Instead of making Amy overly whiney and “Oh, I’m having fun. I need to be miserable again!” Amy realized when she was feeling better or having a good time and went with it. I feel like it made Amy so much more relatable, because we always have those times we feel like we deserve to be sad but also want to be happy again. Amy was torn in that way and it made her all the more authentic.Roger was a decent character to follow as well. I’ll be honest, he was a bit stalker-y… but I totally understand his reasoning and need for answers. In the end, he was good for Amy and helped her heal, and Amy helped him move on too. Woo hoo, everyone is happy(ish)! Okay, maybe they aren’t happy per se, but they’re definitely getting there.And, as always, I found myself missing the “lesser” characters. Amy and Roger crossed paths with a lot of people and, aside from a select few, I loved them all. Matson is really good at writing great characters. I want so many spin-off books starring the minor characters from this book it’s not even funny.All in all, Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour was a highly enjoyable read and is perfect for when you don’t want to dip too far on either side of the emotional scale. It’s a Must Read if you’re into contemporary. I am definitely looking forward to reading more by Morgan Matson.

4.5 stars

Wow. Can we just sit here for a moment so I can let this book sink in? Level 2 by Lenore Appelhans was way different from what I was expecting based on the jacket synopsis. I can’t even recall what I was expecting, but I don’t care at all, because Level 2 was pretty freaking awesome. This book has a very interesting take on the after life. It managed to be revolved around religion and mythology without being overpowering or preaching in any direction. Honestly, it’s really kind of difficult to explain without spoiling anything… but it was super cool. Trust.Level 2 is almost like two stories in one—the story of Felicia, the main character, before she died, and Felicia after she died while she’s in level 2. The main focus is Felicia while she’s in level 2, where they have memory chambers that she can access her old memories in.* It’s while she’s watching her old memories that we get to see her life before she died. Felicia got to choose what memories she watched while she was in a chamber, so her entire backstory was given to us in a jumbled mess of her favorite memories, mostly about the guy she was in love with.It was interesting to be a part of this “pick-and-choose” way of reliving the past, but man… it was confusing, to say the least. I think it was intentional to keep the readers on their toes, but I was rather bemused for most of this book. It wasn’t until nearly the end that things made sense. It could have been very annoying, but it kept me reading and wanting to know what was going to happen. Appelhans walked a very fine line, but I think she did it well.Felicia was a decent character to follow. I loved how strong of a character/person she was. She was troubled, but she didn’t allow it to make her gullible or unable to make her own decisions. For a lot of the story she had no idea what was going on, but she kept her mind the entire time. Love, love, love.There was this huge secret (from her life before death) that Felcia was apparently super guilty about. It uprooted her entire life et cetera, et cetera. I don’t know if it was just me, but I didn’t think too much of it. I thought it was going to be something way worse than it was. I mean, it was bad, but from the way she was acting I thought it was going to be horrible-times-a-million when it wasn’t. (Honestly, I’m still sort of confused as to what that was all about. Alas.)As a whole, the story was interesting and decently paced, but at the end I feel like it was a little rushed and too easy. The whole climax didn’t last very long when I wish it would have and some things could have been explained more thoroughly. Still, I’m looking forward to the next book to see what happens next, because I’m completely unsure where this is going… and I kind of like it.*There were memory chambers within level 2 that the people could go into to replay their old memories. The people got to choose what they wanted to watch when they wanted to watch it however many times they wanted to watch it. It’s sort of like a giant YouTube of memories, but with some other factors added in.

From what I can see The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight is a very well loved novel in the world of Young Adult books. Everyone talks about how amazing and adorable it is, so, of course, I checked it out from the library to see what the hullabaloo is all about. Jennifer E. Smith didn’t disappoint me with her book, but I was somewhat expecting it to be cutesier than it was, based off of what people said about it and the title. Don’t get me wrong! It was wonderful, just not exactly what I was expecting.There’s a lot more to The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight (goodness, that’s a mouthful) than can be guessed without reading it. There’s a lot less romance than I was expecting, which sort of threw me for a loop. The story focuses less on the main character, Hadley, falling in love and more on resolving her issues while also falling in love. This book is very revolved around love, but it’s more of an “understanding love of all sorts” type of book than anything. I’m very pleased about the way the story went, though. It would have been so easy to write (and read) a corny, pre-canned contemporary love story, and the fact that Hadley and Oliver’s romance wasn’t in dead center made it all the more special.I really liked Hadley’s character. She was faced with a very difficult situation and I feel like she more or less took it very well. I’m not saying she didn’t whine or pout about it, but in the end she faced her problems with maturity and I absolutely respect her for it. Her character developed a ton in a short time period (24 hours). I genuinely think in an everyday situation Hadley would be someone I’d like to be friends with. She’s not perfect, but I think she tries to be as good as she can, and that’s wonderful to read about.Oliver… sigh, guys, don’t get mad at me. I know a lot of people think he’s “totes adorbs”, but I wasn’t in love with Oliver. I liked him, sure, but I guess maybe he’s just not my type of heartthrob. He isn’t terrible, but sometimes he was sort of annoying to me. Mind you, I could be and probably am biased. Anyhow, I was still totally a cheerleader for Hadley and Oliver and wanted them to end up together the whole time I was reading.I actually really liked all the characters in the story. I felt like they were all unique of each other and very likable. I would have liked to get to know them a bit more (big surprise!), but a book that takes place in twenty-four hours isn’t very permitting of many small talk scenes.In general I completely enjoyed reading The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight. It’s so action packed you don’t even realize it’s a 200+ page novel that takes place in a timespan of twenty-four hours. On top of that it’s super interesting and will get you invested. I flew through this one and definitely recommend it. I’m excited to read more by Jennifer E. Smith.

4.5 starsDelirium and I have a complicated relationship. You see, it’s not that I didn’t like it. It’s just at the beginning I wasn’t sure if we’d make it in the long run. Delirium was interesting and well written, but it wasn’t a page-turner… until it randomly was… like half way through. I think I probably did like it all along without actually realizing it. (This seems to be a common problem with me.) I mean, after all, I finished the book and don’t have a ranty bad review to post. Woo hoo!The story of Delirium is so interesting and one I’d never heard of or read about before this book. I adore the idea of love being a “legitimate” disease or sickness. Everyone in Delirium is afraid of contracting “amor deliria nervosa” (“the deliria” for short), which is really the same as simply falling in love. How much of our present society would be cut down if love were thought of as bad? It’s scary to think about how possible something like that is. That’s one of the main things I loved about this book. It’s not so out there that it could be rendered impossible. And with strong subject matter like feeling or falling in love, it’s no wonder so many people adore this book and the rest of the series.By far my favorite part about this novel was Lauren Oliver’s writing. Oliver’s writing was so detailed and thorough that I was able to picture the events with no effort at all, which is huge for me. Oliver described the Governor, or the water, or even just the electric fence and I saw it easily, usually without realizing it.Lena, the main character, was all right. I didn’t find myself extremely connected to her or even really cheering for her. I liked her well enough, but that’s about it. Overall, though, she is a very strong character and I can appreciate that. I loved how she was so closed off to anything different from what she knew at the beginning of the book, but by the end she was testing what she [thought she] knew and showing a lot of courage considering she could have been killed many-a-time for the actions she took.A lot of what Lena did, though, wouldn’t have been possible without Alex. Now, I don’t know if I read a different book than everyone else, but Alex wasn’t as swoony as I thought he was going to be. Yes, he was swoon-worthy, but I don’t know. I feel like I can let Lena keep him, you know? *Slightly spoilery* I was totally devastated at the end of the book. Like, that can’t have happened right? Right? Sigh. *no more spoils* Let’s have a shout out to Hana and Gracie as well. They were technically lesser characters, but in the whole book I think they were my favorites.I wasn’t convinced I liked Delirium when I first started reading it, but by the middle and end it had me reeled in. It was totally worth the read and I’m super excited to start the next book in the series. If you like dystopian books (or contemporary, even. It has somewhat of a contemporary feel to it) and haven’t read this one I highly recommend it. Note: The end of Delirium totally made me cry. Oh man.

4.5 stars -- wowzaFor a long time I’ve been aware of Divergent and have been seeing the copious amounts of praise it gets. I have no idea why, but I just never felt the pull to read it. The announcement of the book being made into a movie jumpstarted my want to read it… and boy, I’m glad I did.I’m not going to lie: when I first started reading Divergent I wasn’t exactly sold on it. I even started to dislike it at one point because it was so full of fighting and… bleck. I thought it would never end. The fighting wasn’t the problem, just the amount of it. It cleared a bit eventually and I moved on. If you don’t like books with fighting/combat/war or the like then you might want to move on from this one. It doesn’t take over the book, but it does play a very important part in the overall story.With that rough patch aside, I was very impressed with the plot of Divergent. Obviously, the idea of a divided society isn’t anything new, but I don’t know that I’ve read anything where the characters are divided by mannerisms, characteristics, or personality in general. It’s interesting to think about where you would end up in that type of society. As a whole this book caused me to do a lot of critical thinking. Where would I end up? What would I do in XYZ situation? How would I react to XYZ? I honestly have no answers for any of those questions, which serves to show the strength of the characters in this book and most importantly, Beatrice (Tris), who had to make important decisions like that everyday.Tris goes through a lot in the span of Divergent. She left her family, was constantly harassed and assaulted, and tested all the time alongside all the other Dauntless initiates. She was trying to find herself, but at the same time she already knew herself and her boundaries. I really liked how even when she was doing something she normally wouldn’t have done she still knew and kept in touch with who she was and how far she was willing to go. Tris was transformed into a major risk-taker by the end of the book and I loved it. Even when she was screaming inside she managed to think clearly and just get things done. I have a lot of respect for Tris, but still… I don’t know if I quite like her. I’m more neutral.I really liked the role fear took in this book. Dauntless people are supposed to be brave and willing to go running into trouble when no one else is. They’re fearless, but not technically without fear. The Dauntless go through a ton of training to learn to control their fears, so throughout the book we get little glimpses of what certain characters were afraid of. I was impressed with Veronica Roth’s thought on the subject. There were common fears (heights, significant people in a person’s life, etc.) that totally made sense, but also random things that seem completely irrational to most people--like the fear of an insect or a totally unlikely situation happening. I loved how realistic it made the characters and give major kudos to Roth for even having the imagination to think of these things.For the most part I really enjoyed Divergent. It stood up to the hype and kept me engaged the whole way through. I have some lingering questions, but hopefully they’ll be answered in the next book. This is definitely worth the read, but of course you’ve probably read it and know that already.

I picked up Witch World on whim. I had seen it more than a couple times on my library’s “new” shelf and decided one day to give it a go. I actually didn’t even read the jacket description until I was far enough into the book to already know what was going on. I was hooked on it from the very beginning. It was interesting from page one (good for me; I don’t do well with slow starters) and continued the trend page after page. I read almost the entire first half of the book in one evening.The story isn’t like anything I’ve read before, but it did feel like it could have been done before. It’s somewhat of the typical alternate world/parallel realm where things are the same as “real life” but different, and people are "special". Nevertheless, I never felt like things were too easy or predictable. In fact, there were many things in Witch world that I didn’t foresee in the slightest. I predicted the future of one character hundreds of pages before anything happened, but the way everything unfolded was a total shocker to me, so I’m totally okay with it. In the whole story there were just a couple plot points I didn’t dig at all. They were necessary, sure, but I feel like they should have been written better. I should have felt more than I did while I was reading the scenes, and that left me thoroughly unsatisfied.As a whole I thought the characters were pretty so-so. I loved two guys named Russ and Kendor who were, unfortunately, not super apparent in the book. They were there, but they weren't more than support. I would have loved some more of both of them. The main character, Jessie, was all right. I didn’t love her and I didn’t hate her. As a main character she was decent. She was strong and smart (usually) but still had that sense of naivety that made her realistic. She was pretty stubborn too, which was annoying but totally helpful in making her character seem genuine.There are a few things in the world that I’m still confused about. More importantly though... there are a few events that were sort of explained but not really explained that left me sitting here like "Okay, how does that work again?" I don’t know if it was bad writing or me not paying attention at an earlier point in the book. Perhaps it was a mixture of the two. I don’t want to get in depth with what I’m talking about, but come shine some light on the mechanics of Witch World for me if you can, because I really need some clarity.In general I really liked this book. It took me just a couple days to read it because I always felt like I was being thrust further and further into the story. There’s going to be a second book, but honestly I don’t feel excited or really anything to read it. I can’t help feeling like I’m done with the story. Sure, I want to know what happens next, but I feel like I might be bored reading the next book. We’ll see. Like I said: sometimes the writing was hot and cold--which is why this book doesn’t get a perfect rating--and with the lackluster ending there was something to be desired, but knowing what I know now I would definitely read this book again. If you’re into paranormal or fantasy I would definitely recommend Witch World.

Meant to Be was one of those books I saw and instantly wanted to read. I love stories that take place in London, Paris, et cetera and I love contemporary, so I knew this would be right up my alley. The story itself is rather cute even if a tad typical and the characters were satisfying to read both when I liked them and when I didn’t. I’ll explain what I mean by that in a minute.Firstly, when I say the story is “typical” I don’t necessarily mean it in a bad way. Contemporary romances usually have some conflict (due to one or more misunderstandings) in the middle that is eventually ironed out in time for the end of the story. Meant to Be certainly did and that’s totally fine. The whole time I was reading this book I realized what was going on with the characters and thought I knew everything. Oh, boy, was I wrong! I don’t know how I missed it, but Morrill slipped something huge by me. You’ll have to read the book to find out what I mean. But just so you know: it was great.See above to: “…the characters were satisfying to read both when I liked them and when I didn’t.” Sometimes the characters in Meant to Be killed me with the way they acted. I really liked the way all the characters were written, but some of them were there to hate. And hate I did. I won’t specify, but you get what I mean. For the most part I liked the characters I had a lot of exposure to. I’m actually a little bummed we didn’t get to see more of a couple characters, but oh well. Can’t have everything.Julia, the main character is… difficult, to say the least. I’m not completely sure how I feel about her. As a person I think she has the potential to be cool, but for the duration of the book she wasn’t quite there. She’s a wonderful character to read about because there’s so much room for growth. For so much time before her trip to London Julia sort of locked herself in a box, so it’s not surprising she’s so stubborn and sort of difficult to deal with.Despite all the annoying things he does, I really liked Jason too. He was a complete cad a lot of the time, but I liked him from the very beginning. Everything he did was completely confusing and had a sense of playground innocence to it. It would seem weird calling Jason--the class-clown--more down to Earth than Julia, but he really is. For someone so intelligent and grounded Julia certainly has her head in the clouds a lot of the time. During the trip I feel like Jason was sort of an anchor for Julia, whether she liked it (or even realized it) or not. They balanced each other out well. Their relationship was super complicated but in retrospect it was simple as all get out, and I loved that because it’s something the reader doesn’t realize it until the end.I had a ton of fun reading Meant to Be. It’s one of those books that will have you laughing (and dying of secondhand embarrassment) from the very beginning and will get you to yell, “Don’t be an idiot!” at the characters more than you’d probably like to admit. (Just me?) If you dig contemporary YA this is a must read for you.

3.5 starsI’ve only read a couple books about an “afterlife”. Every book I’ve ever read or heard of had Heavens and Hells and in-between worlds where the main character tries to fix things or come back to life. That’s all fine and dandy, but I was excited to come across Elsewhere and see that it’s about a world that’s not too different from how things work on Earth. Well, maybe except for the fact people die on Earth, arrive at Elsewhere on a cruise ship, and start getting younger from the age they died at. Wait, what?The concept of Elsewhere is so unique. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anything else like it and I was bursting to read it from the moment I read the description. It certainly was an interesting story to read, but honestly I was a tad disappointed by it. Maybe I was expecting too much, but there was something about the overall book that sort of flopped. It was entertaining enough, but I feel like the book was so fast paced it almost felt rushed. There would have been no complaints from me had things been slower and maybe more in depth. Oh, well.As for the characters: I didn’t really like the main character, Liz, all that much. I mean, I didn’t dislike her, but she acted like a childish fifteen year old a lot of the time. And quite right too, considering she was a childish fifteen year old. I also was pretty apathetic about her love interest. Whatever. I really loved Liz’s grandmother and a guy named Curtis Jest. It’s unfortunate they were lesser characters, because I think the story would have been better with more of the both of them. In fact, there’s an even lesser known character (than Curtis and the grandmother) that I liked more than the main. Again, there wasn’t anything particularly bad about Liz… I just wasn’t exactly rooting for her.For the most part: I liked this book, but my expectations were for something better than what I eventually got. I wasn’t completely impressed by Elsewhere, but it was a good and enjoyable book and worth the read.

I’m sort of on the fence about Love and Leftovers. It was interesting from beginning to end and I think I finished it in one or two sittings, but the subject matter is a little… rocky. This may or may not be a spoiler, but there’s a lot of cheating in this book. I’m not really sensitive about much when it comes to books, but I can see other people being put off by a book that basically revolves around infidelity. It isn’t only a tale about trust and the like, though. It’s also something of a coming of age story. Marcie is, after all, still a teenager trying to make her way around life.Marcie was a decent protagonist. She was one of those characters you can’t help but shake your head at and say, “How can you not understand?” She was naïve in a lot of ways, but maturing rapidly as a result of her mother’s depression and inability to perform her duties as head of the household. In a way, taking care of her mother is one of the reasons Marcie was having trouble in her own life. Perhaps things got so cluttered that she was basically “acting out”. Either way, Marcie’s character development throughout the book was wonderful.Now, the concept of the Leftovers seemed extremely complicated to me until I sat down and read the book. Honestly, I have no idea why it seemed complicated, but it did. The Leftovers are generally the kids in school who don’t fit into any one group OR don’t fit into “the high-school sitcom caste system”, if I want to quote the book. I loved the variety of interests and talents within Marcie’s group of friends. They all have distinct interests and histories and are different from each other in many ways, but alike within every difference. (Does that make sense or am I just talking now?) It sets in stone how these people ended up together. I’m actually a bit sad we didn’t get more time with all the friends, because they seemed pretty awesome. I also loved Danny, Marcie’s father’s partner. He was so chill and friendly. He seemed like one of those people you just want to know and be associated with.All in all I enjoyed this book a lot. It’s a novel in verse, so very quick to read, but the story was complete. It wasn’t as “cute” as the title led me to believe at first, but then again it never promised to be in the first place. I definitely recommend you check this one out, but be aware that there’s more to the love aspect than just hearts and flowers.

I loved Stealing Henry. I’ll admit I wasn’t completely pulled in by the synopsis on the jacket. The story sort of seemed like a snoozefest and the book is rather short (just 200 pages), so I figured it would flop--and though the cover is pretty, I was absolutely judging it. Honestly, they tell you not to judge a book by its cover for a reason. Shout out to Rodrigo Corral, by the way. Woop woop!The book description absolutely does not live up to the book itself. The book is short and fast paced but still wonderfully thorough. Savannah’s story is chock full of hard decisions, fear, hope, and the prospect of the future. Savannah is her brother’s hero though it was never stated plainly.Savannah was a strong character, but she was also very vulnerable. I loved that Carolyn MacCullough didn’t shadow the vulnerability of Savannah’s character but also didn’t make it loud and obnoxious. We glimpsed her insecurities in the way she had trouble sleeping or habitually looked over her shoulder, surveying her surroundings. It was all very subtle and easy to pick up on without any effort. Oh, and Henry… Henry is a soft-spoken 8-year-old who will absolutely break your heart with the want to give him the world.In addition to Savannah and Henry’s story, their mom, Alice’s, story from her teenage years is explained occasionally throughout the book. The glimpses into the past give us just enough information to understand why Alice is the way she is and what caused her to make the choices she has. Honestly I would have loved to hear more about Alice’s story. I feel like there were several things that needed to be fleshed out more. Perhaps I just liked the characters on that side of things, who knows? I really wish we could have gotten to know Noah more, because from the little bits we saw of him I started to love his character.All in all I’m completely in love with Stealing Henry. Everything in this novel is so subtle. I found myself feeling embarrassingly emotional without really knowing why. I feel like the story and MacCullough’s writing were amazing at making me feel. This story will make your heart squeeze, and throb, and occasionally break… and it’s worth every minute.P.S. Do you think the library will mind if they don’t see this book again? No reason. I was just… wondering, you know? *shifty eyes*

Oh, Amelia Anne. I honestly have no idea where to start with this book. I was very on the fence about it until about half way through. It was sort of a slow starter and then I kept feeling hot and cold… and don’t make me mention how put off I was by a certain Chinese food container. (Though that part totally served its purpose.) I put the novel down for a while and picked it back up later. After I got past that initial hitch I couldn’t put the book down. I almost could have sworn it was glued to my hand for how much I was reading it (while lounging in the sun on my porch, you know).The story in Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone is highly exceptional. It switched between the perspective of Rebecca, the main character, and Amelia Anne. Both pieces of the story come together to tell us how everything went to hell and Amelia eventually met her demise. There was at least one part of the story where I was like “What exactly does this have to with anything?” while simultaneously feeling like I needed to read it. Usually when I felt that way I learned later that it was, in fact, important in a way I never would have guessed, but totally fit.Kat Rosenfield’s writing is extremely colorful and poetic. Even the smallest of details are explained in a way that makes you feel like the story would have suffered had it not been included. Her prose hooks you and pulls you in, giving no mercy. I loved how honest this book was. Rosenfield wasn’t afraid to write about sex in an intimate way or examine that some people get off on the death of other people. She never shied away from explaining the things that aren’t so pretty and I loved it and absolutely appreciate it.As for the characters, they were good, well rounded, and fleshed out, but I didn’t feel an extremely strong connection to any of them. I like Rebecca well enough, but I’m rather apathetic about her. When it comes to Rebecca versus Amelia Anne, Amelia Anne wins. Amelia Anne was more enjoyable for me to read, but to be honest (in Rebecca’s defense) it could be due to the fact that Amelia was living her normal day-to-day life and Rebecca was dealing with a murder in her town and everything else. It could have put a damper on her character. (Could have? It did. Whatever.) Both leading ladies were wonderful and made the story that much better.James’s (Rebecca’s boyfriend) story broke my heart. I wasn’t swooning over him, but I liked him a lot and was hoping things would turn out well for him. I think he’s a great character and probably a good person in general too.Aside from my apathy during the beginning of this book I was extremely impressed and engrossed in the world of Rebecca and Amelia Anne. I would never want to be in their shoes, but as a book it was great and definitely recommendable.