Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Genre: dystopia, young adult
FTC Disclosure: bought Costco
Published: 2010
Pages: 398
Content: PG-13

In a Line: Slow start then raced to the finish line.

It had been a year since I read the first two books in the series...not a good idea. I really need to wait to read series' until they are all out...there was a lot that I couldn't quite remember from the first two that would've made the reading of the last book a bit more enjoyable.

The third book started off really, really slow for me. Then the ending went up in smoke and I had to reread parts just to make sure I got them.

The descriptions of the rebel district were fascinating. It sounded very Big Brother communism. Everything's the same and everyone. Each had their own part whether you liked it or not. So it got you thinking about what kind of place the rebels would be replacing...Why were they really rebelling? Was it for the people? Or was it really for power, power for President Coin? I didn't like where that plot line was leading. They want to replace one crappy government for another???

I also felt that Katniss was just lead along and not really proactive in her life. She kept getting blown up or almost assassinated in every chapter. She was just a pawn for everyone else. But I guess that was the point. She just went along with everything until it really mattered and that's when she takes everything into her own hands. She's a survivor and that's what she does.

I think Collins does a pretty good job on talking about the horrors of war and the reasons for it. She may have hit it over our heads a bit too much in the last book, but overall I think the theme is an important one. I really just wanted more. The book was too short and short on the details. I have so many questions about the Hunger Games world. Maybe she'll come out with an encyclopedia of their world and satisfy my curiosity. But the ending really was done too fast. It took awhile for her to build up to the last battle and then it was over and done with before I even blinked. It was like she had a deadline and she rushed to keep it.

The first two books were better, but overall I was satisfied with this one.

Rating: 3.5/5

The Mark by Jen Nadol

Genre: young adult, death, supernatural
FTC Disclosure: library
Published: 2010
Pages: 228
Content: PG for dramatic themes and some violence
Reading Challenges: 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge 

I thought this was a cut above the other teen fic of late. It didn't feel too cliche and I thought it had some interesting ideas on fate, destiny, choice. I think this could be a great book for some discussion on death as well.

Cassie, 16, and knows if someone is going to die today; she sees the mark, a glowing essence around the person that marks them for death by the end of the day. Can she do anything about it? Can she tempt fate? Why does she have this power?

Cassie struggles with all of these questions after her grandmother's death and a summer in her deceased parents' home town.

It's really short, but it packs a powerful punch. It was a good read.

Rating: 4/5

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Genre: audiobook, young adult, death
FTC Disclosure: library
Published: 2009
Pages: NA, audiobook
Content: PG-13 for language
Reading Challenges: 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge

Wow! This was an amazing book. I loved it...I'd give it a 4.5 if they let me.

Gayle Forman combines wit, love, humor, anger, fun etc into her short book. Mia looks back upon her life, in an out-of-body experience, deciding whether or not to stay with her friends and family or to leave and be with her parents and her younger brother...they were all tragically killed in a car accident. She watches her own body, bruised and beaten and lifeless while her boyfriend, best friend, and grandparents talk to her and let her know how much they love her. She reflects upon her life with her parents and brother, how they have changed her life, her boyfriend Adam, her friend Kim.

Forman weaves it all together fantastically. It's an amazing story and one that will stay with me for a long time.

The audiobook was excellent. The voice of Mia was an wonderful actress. The only thing I didn't like about the setup were the long disc chapters, not conducive to remembering where you're at/bookmarking.

Rating: 4/5

Hourglass by Claudia Gray

Genre: Young adult, vampire, romance
FTC Disclosure: library
Published: 2010
Pages: 339
Content: PG-13 for violence and mayhem!
Reading Challenges: 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge

This was another great sequel in the Evernight series! And another horrifying cliffhanger!

Bianca and Lucas are on the run after the ransacking and burning of the Evernight Academy. They are stuck with Lucas's Black Cross gang. How do they hide who Bianca really is and what Lucas may be turning into?

Then there is the ever present wraiths trying to reclaim Bianca and Balthazar's insane sister Charity causing mayhem as well!

It's fast-paced with the story moving along smoothly and plenty of fighting and loving in between and a crazy cliffhanger to boot.

I really like this vampire series. I feel it's a cut above the rest and really enjoy Bianca and Lucas's relationship. The author portrays them on more equal footing and relationship that took it's time to grow instead of crazy and debilitating lust that people think is love...no reference to other vampire novels...

Can't wait for the next one!

Rating: 4/5

Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta

Genre: young adult, Australian fiction
FTC Disclosure: borrowed from library
Published: 2003
Pages: audiobook
Content: PG-13 for language and adult themes


This is the first Australian fiction I've ever read and it was wonderful! I listened to the audio book and it made the story jump out for me. The narrator did a great job and really pulled me into Australia. Since it was an audio book that I usually listened to in the car and I wasn't able to write down some things...like a lot of Australian words and phrases. So nothing specific, but it was fun to listen to!

Francesca is heading off to an all boy's school that has just allowed girls in for the first time. She's struggling with her mother's mental breakdown and struggling with trying to figure life out. It's an amazing coming of age story. Marchetta really knows how to weave a beautiful story together. I really cared about all of the characters. The language never felt forced or contrived, which was really refreshing.

The only thing I would I would say I didn't like was the light treatment of mental illness. It's still a huge stigma everywhere and it would've been nice had the author chosen to make it less of one...

But other than that I absolutely loved this book! Read it!

Rating: 5/5

North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley

Genre: young adult
FTC Disclosure: borrowed from library
Published: 2009
Pages: 373
Content: PG-13 for language and thematic elements
Reading Challenges: 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge

This was an amazing book on overcoming life's adversities! It was a touching and thought-provoking story.

Terra Rose Cooper was born with a port-wine stain birthmark along her entire cheek and spends her days trying to cover it up with heavy make-up and long hair...she also spends her time avoiding her verbally and emotionally abusive father. She thinks she's so lucky, though, to have found her boyfriend Erik, that he somehow thinks she's worth his time...though, he doesn't have a clue who she really is or what she really needs.

Taking a trip to Seattle with her mother they literally run into Jacob and his mother. And Terra and her mother's lives change forever.

Jacob was born with a cleft lip and has a scar to show for it...they soon find strength in each other's struggles. Jacob's mother also helps Terra's mother find her voice and her own strength as well.

It's a beautiful story, one that can inspire anyone who reads it and especially with the teen books out these days I feel this is a great one for young teens.

It was a little slow at the beginning and it was really hard to read about her jerk of a father and how they weren't dealing with it, but that has nothing to do with the awesome writing and the way Headley eventually wraps you up into the lives of Terra, Jacob and their mothers and how they all learn and grow and find their own beauty within.

Here are some quotes I found amazing:

"[beauty] it seeps into you. It doesn't make you forget yourself; it connects you with everything and fills you with awe that you share the same space with something that glorious...and then suddenly...you have this epiphany that there's more to the world than just you and what you want or even who you are."

"I didn't have the language to communicate...to this little girl--or to communicate that beauty--the real everlasting beauty--lives not on our faces, but in our attitude and our actions. It lives in what we do for ourselves and for others."

"Let the glossy spreads have their heart-stopping, head-turning kind of beauty. Give me the heart-filling beauty inside. Flawed, we're truly interesting, truly memorable, and yes, truly beautiful."

Rating: 5/5

Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves

Genre: young adult, paranormal, romance, mental illness
FTC Disclosure: borrowed from library
Published: 2010
Pages: 464
Content: R for language and violence
Reading Challenges: 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge

What can I say? This book is unlike any book I've ever read! It was so wacky and crazy and fun. It really can't be compared to any other book.

Hanna is mentally ill and has just run away from her Aunt's in order to escape the death of her father and to find her mother Rosalee. Hanna's hallucinations become real once she enters her mother's town of Portero where nothing is as it seems.

She falls in love with Wyatt who's part of the local "we kill all things that go bump in the night" gang. And there is plenty of that...giant blood-sucking leeches, haunted houses, possessed mothers, mysterious doors, Hanna's dead father coming back as a ghost....it's all there!

Her romance with Wyatt feels pretty real. They have their ups and downs and yet still manage to come out on top. She's also a really strong female character and those are always nice. And I really enjoyed that Hanna wasn't white; she's biracial and has a different perspective. Also Wyatt is part Latino. It's nice to find some diversity, especially in teen fiction when it's usually all about white boys and girls. And the cover is just lovely!

The only thing I have against this is that it's targeted toward a teen audience. The book says 14 and up...I'd say more like 18 and up. There's a lot of sex, language and violence in this one. Not something I would want my teenager reading if I had one. It's definitely an adult book and not one for the squeamish sort!

Rating: 4/5

The Dark Divine by Bree Despain and Giveaway!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Giveaway Now Closed

Genre: young adult, paranormal, romance
FTC Disclosure: bought from Dragons and Fairy Tales
Published: 2009
Pages: 372
Content: PG thematic elements
Reading Challenges: A to Z Challenge (Author D), 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge

One Line Summary: Girl loves boy and becomes what boy is.

I picked this one up for the cover alone! I thought it was fantastic! Does it live up to its cover?....

We join Grace Divine. She's the perfect daughter to her preacher father, goody-goody brother Jude. Their family took in Daniel a few years ago her brother's best friend and the boy she's always had a crush on. Until one night Jude comes back covered in blood and Daniel has disappeared. But nobody talks about that night. We jump ahead three years when Grace happens to run into Daniel at school and everything changes.

I really enjoyed the interesting plot line. The ending definitely had a twist, which really made the rest of the book, at least for me, a lot better. I'm really looking forward to the next in the series due out later this year.

Grace was a bit too good for me; I like my heroes a bit more on the human and edgy side. But Daniel was a bad boy without being too bad like stalking and abusing his supposed love. But overall the characters were interesting.

The author also brings a lot of Christian themes into the novel with forgiveness and redemption and the worth of souls.

Overall, I enjoyed it for a fun and fast read, but it wasn't the greatest novel ever.

Rating: 3.5/5

And now onto my giveaway!!!!!!!!! The author Bree Despain is a local of mine and she was signing books on Friday and so I decided to pick up an extra signed copy to give away! She's really friendly and had some good goodies to give away. I got some book cover stickers and bookmarks and even some nail polish in the book cover's violet! I love meeting authors! It's so exciting.

To enter:

Leave your name and email address and what have been/are your favorite book covers. Also tell me if they lived up to the hype/book cover and why or why not.

Extra entries:

+1 if you become or are a follower
+1 if you either post about it or put it in your sidebar with a link
+1 for a Tweet with a link

This giveaway ends at midnight Sunday the 21st of February MST. I will then randomly draw all entries from my son's hat! Please make sure to include your email address or no entry.

Giveaway Closed.

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

Genre: young adult, historical fiction, slavery, Revolutionary War
FTC Disclosure: bought from Dragons and Fairy Tales
Published: 2008
Pages: 300
Content: PG for violence and war
Reading Challenges: Women Unbound, A to Z Challenge (Title C), 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge, Black History Month mini reading challenge

One Line Summary: Which side to join? The patriots or loyalists when one is a slave.

I liked this book. It was a little slow to start with but picked up towards the middle. We follow slave Isabel and her little sister Ruth from the death of mother and her mistress to being illegally sold to a Loyalist family in New York.

Isabel reaches New York just a couple of months before independence is declared in July of 1776. Her goal is to survive long enough to escape with her sister back to her home of Rhode Island. But now she's caught between to wars and oppressors vieing for her loyalty. Her only friend is fellow slave Curzon whose master is a Patriot. She agrees to spy on her master in order to gain her freedom.

This was a great introduction for early teens/preteens to get into historical fiction and slavery. Things move along at a pretty fast rate and lots of information is thrown in too. But as an adult I found it a bit too simplified and not enough character development. I wanted to know more about Isabel, but Anderson just didn't share enough. I wanted more details, etc. But like I said it's a great intro for kids into this material. And it opens up plenty of discussion about the Revolutionary War and slavery so that's always a good thing.

I picked this one up for my book club; it was my turn to pick a book and thought this would be a great one for Black History month and since the main character is a woman I also felt it would go right along with my Women Unbound Challenge as well.

Rating: 3.5/5

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Genre: young adult
FTC Disclosure: Borrowed from brother in law
Published: 1993
Pages: 208
Content: PG for adult themes.
Reading Challenges: 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge, A to Z Challenge (Author L)

I really wanted to like this one too...I enjoy the dystopia type society and what could be world. I was into this about the first 50 pages or so and then the rest of the book just left me feeling bleh. It's been done before and better with A Brave New World, 1984, and Fahrenheit 451. (with the first two, so I've been told, but with Fahrenheit definitely.)

I got the feeling throughout the last half of the book that she was telling me what was good and what was bad and how I should feel. Like with The Adoration of Jenna Fox I want these types of books to lay out the questions and themes without answering them for me.

I can see why people enjoy this book; it's horrific and kind of thrusts the creepiness and icky factor upon you with a sense of relief that you're sure glad your life isn't like this...but it just answered for me instead letting me answer for myself. I guess it's an OK read if you don't try to take too many things from it, but I know Lowry was trying to teach here and thus my displeasure.

Rating: 2/5

The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

Genre: young adult
FTC Disclosure: Borrowed from library
Published: 2008
Pages: (Hardback) 266
Content: PG for adult themes.
Reading Challenges: 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge, A to Z Challenge (author P)

Summary: Who is Jenna Fox?

Seventeen-year-old Jenna has been told that is her name. She has just awoken from a year-long coma, and she's still recovering from the terrible accident that caused it. Her parents show her home movies of her life, her memories, but she has no recollection. Is she really the same girl she sees on the screen?

Little by little, Jenna begins to remember. Along with the memories come questions—questions no one wants to answer for her. What really happened after the accident?


This was loaded with lots of themes on what it is to be human, life, religion, souls, and the ethics of science and how it can add to or take away our lives.

Pearson explores the issues and ideas pretty well throughout the book with Jenna and those around her, but her ending ruined it for me. She ended up telling us what was right, what was the best choice.

Let us decide for ourselves, make us think, but don't tell us what to think or feel.

Rating: 2/5

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Reading Level: Young Adult 
Genre: paranormal, romance
Pages: audio book format
FTC Disclosure: borrowed from library
Rating: 3/5
Content: One implied sex scene, just a few swear words, no f-bombs
Reading Challenges: A to Z Challenge (author-M), 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge

Summary:

For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf--her wolf--is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human . . . until the cold makes him shift back again.

Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human--or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

My Take:  I went back and forth on this one throughout...two stars...2 and a half...then back to two. I thought it was all right, overall I enjoyed it, but it wasn't my favorite. It took awhile to get to the plot. It started off with Grace and Sam just mooning over each other without a lot of action. The series is about werewolves...so give me some action, a plot.

The action never got too exciting, though, which was really disappointing. Just when you thought it was going to get good, it ended way too fast; it was very anti-climatic.

Grace and Sam seemed a bit too obsessed with each other...but compared to Twilight they were pretty normal! So there were a few cheesy lines to each other, but the author did manage to create a feeling of coldness throughout the book so that's pretty impressive.

Also Grace didn't go catatonic after she thought she lost Sam...she still had a life with school and friends, etc...unlike another certain character I know...

But it felt like another Twilight knockoff and why do YA novels have to get rid of the parents? They are either dead, took off, or just uninvolved and/or clueless. Well, Grace's padres are both uninvolved and clueless and Sam's tried to kill him....

But it was relatively clean and pretty well-written and the ending makes me want to pick up the next in the series.

A note about the audio book version: I thought it was done pretty well, the actors were great, but the voice for Sam was too old. He sounded in his mid to late thirties when Sam is supposed to be a teenager so that was a bit annoying...just a heads up!

Sorcery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede & Caroline Stever

• Reading level: Young Adult
• Genre: Fantasy, mystery, romance
  
• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Magic Carpet Books; First Thus edition (September 1, 2004) Original publication 1988
• FTC Disclosure: I borrowed this book from my county library
  
• Rating: 4/5
• Reading Challenge: 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge
  

Summary: A great deal is happening in London and the country this season.

For starters, there's the witch who tried to poison Kate at the Royal College of Wizards. There's also the man who seems to be spying on Cecelia. (Though he's not doing a very good job of it--so just what are his intentions?) And then there's Oliver. Ever since he was turned into a tree, he hasn't bothered to tell anyone where he is.

Clearly, magic is a deadly and dangerous business. And the girls might be in fear for their lives . . . if only they weren't having so much fun!

My thoughts: This is an epistolary novel between to cousins. I've never read an epistolary novel before and I had no idea it was one when I started reading! I was a bit weary at first but then began to enjoy what Kate and Cecy had to say to one another and how the plot continued to thicken! They're both strong female heroines and I love how they subconsciously fall in love! It's pretty hilarious...I mean, you know it's going to happen and with whom, but it's all about the journey!

It's cute and romantic and there's even magic and mayhem! 

They wrote a couple of more sequels recently and am looking forward to them! 

*Part of the 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge. 

My 2010 Challenges!!!!!!

1.Women Unbound Challenge has been going since November of 2009 and runs til November of 2010. I'm loving this challenge. Basically, read anything that involves subjects relating to women.

There are three levels to choose from:

• Philogynist: read at least two books, including at least one nonfiction one.
• Bluestocking: read at least five books, including at least two nonfiction ones.
• Suffragette: read at least eight books, including at least three nonfiction ones.

I'm not sure how many I'll get to so I'm doing at least the philogynist, but I'll probably move up since I have quite a few in mind to read this year!

2. My next challenge is The 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge hosted by J. Kaye's Book Blog.

There are four levels:

--The Mini YA Reading Challenge – Read 12 Young Adult novels.
--Just My Size YA Reading Challenge – Read 25 Young Adult novels.
--Stepping It Up YA Reading Challenge – Read 50 Young Adult novels.
--Super Size Me YA Reading Challenge – Read 75 Young Adult novels.

I originally signed up for the mini one, but my list has grown since then so it'll probably be at least 25...only time will tell...

3. All About the Brontes Challenge hosted by Laura's Reviews that runs from January to July 2010.

Read, watch, listen to anything Bronte-sister related! I'm so excited about this one. I have almost all of the Jane Eyres ever produced on video...well, the good ones anyway. The others I'll just have to borrow, and this also gives me a chance to read more of Charlotte and Anne Bronte!

4. Gilmore Girls Reading Challenge hosted by Lisa of Lit and Life lasting all year long. I've never watched the Gilmore Girls, but have heard great things about this show. And I guess they talk about a lot of books! So Lisa decided to list them all in their categories and has challenged us to read what we can! It's a huge list. So part of my challenge is to actually watch the Gilmore Girls this year too while reading their books! I noticed that a few of the books I wanted to read this year coincided with a few on this list so I thought, sure, why not!

5. I'm also doing my own challenge of Read My Own Books...I went a little crazy at the local thrift store with books this year as well as Amazon, Walmart, Barnes and Noble, etc with book buying so now my stack is quite huge.

6. I'm also doing a mini challenge for myself this month and next with Martin Luther King Junior's birthday and Black History month in February. I'm reading a few books on Martin Luther King, Jr and a few books on African-American studies.

5. I know I'll be joining anything Halloween related as well and holiday related when the time comes and The Fear Itself Challenge by Donna of Bites will be coming around as well and maybe another Everything Austen Challenge! So I know I'm going to have lots to keep me busy this year, plus I'm still taking an online course and I need to be reading their huge volumes on anatomy and medical terminology so that'll keep me busy too!

Wish me luck and I wish you all luck in your challenges as well! Bring it on!!!!!!!!!!!

2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge

Yes, another challenge! But I have the whole year to start off with and get going. I've got a lot of YA books on my TBR list and I felt that this was a great way to get going on them! For the details check out J. Kaye's Book Blog.

1. There are four levels:

--The Mini YA Reading Challenge – Read 12 Young Adult novels.

--Just My Size YA Reading Challenge – Read 25 Young Adult novels.

--Stepping It Up YA Reading Challenge – Read 50 Young Adult novels.

--Super Size Me YA Reading Challenge – Read 75 Young Adult novels.

3. Audio, eBooks, paper all count.

4. No need to list your books in advance. You may select books as you go. Even if you list them now, you can change the list if needed.

5. Challenge begins January 1st thru December, 2010.

I am starting out with the mini list of 16 and will work my way up if I need to (which will most likely happen)!

My List Thus Far (with Goodreads.com links):

Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey
The Dream Quake (Dreamhunter #2) by Elizabeth Knox
Wintergirls by Laure Halse Anderson
Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
Hourglass (Evernight #3) by Claudia Gray
Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
Alanna The First Adventure (Song of the Lioness #1) by Tamora Pierce
Wings by Aprilynne Pike
Vampire Diaries the Awakening and the Struggle by L.J. Smith
Fallen by Lauren Kate
Violet Wings by Victoria Hanley
Crystal Moon #1 by Phillip E. Jones
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
Marked by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
Fire by Kristin Cashore
Shiver (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #1) by Maggie Stiefvater