Waiting on Wednesday: Truth (XVI 2) by Julia Karr

Waiting on Wednesday recognizes that we as bookies pine for books. This post is about what I am impatiently waiting for right now. It was started by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

This week I am totally pumped for the January 19th release of Truth, the sequel to Julia Karr's smash hit XVI. Nina is such a mesmerizing character that I couldn't help but get carried away in her story. Now we get to find out what happens next.

An exciting dystopian thriller, and sequel to XVI

Nina Oberon's life has changed enormously in the last few months. When her mother was killed, Nina discovered the truth about her father, the leader of the Resistance. And now she sports the same Governing Council–ordered tattoo of XVI on her wrist that all sixteen-year-old girls have. The one that announces to the world that she is easy prey to predators. But Nina won't be anyone's stereotype. And when she joins an organization of girls working within the Resistance, she knows that they can put an end to one of the most terrifying secret programs the GC has ever conceived. Because the truth always comes out . . . and the consequences can be deadly.

From Goodreads

How awesome does that sound? I mean getting your life turned on it's head is one thing, but this is a whole new level of intense. With compelling writing, memorable characters, & seat-clenching action in the first book I have no doubt that Truth will succeed at its task of being awesome.

Waiting on Wednesday: Truth (XVI 2) by Julia Karr

The Darkest Pleasure by Gena Showalter review

This is the 2nd book in the Lords of the Underworld series. Fair warning, SPOILERS may follow.

Now that we've met Violence & Death, how about Pain? Reyes has been feeding Pain steadily over the years. He was fortunate enough to find a way to sate his demon without hurting others, but not fortunate enough to refrain from hurting himself. The easiest way to manage Pain is to give it exactly what it wants; whether that's jumping from the top of a building while his body slowly repairs itself or simply slicing away at the flesh is all dependent about the amount of stress.

Reyes has been at his threshold of tolerance ever since Danika came into his life. A torturous temptation that he could never taste without ruining, she was condemned to die by the hand of Reyes's fellow Lord Aeron. Despite this edict, handed down from the gods, Reyes chose to pursue & protect her. The best way to do that though is to keep her close by his side. But Danika's not as weak as Reyes feared & she's putting up one hell of fight, especially since only she knows who she's really working for.

This series just keeps getting more involved & more exciting with each book I read! Each time I read a book I think, "I'm not sure I really like this guy" & by the time I'm half way through the book I'm as madly in love with his as the other women. Gena Showalter does a phenomenal job of character portrayal & story building. You think you know a character based on how he or she is seen by others (and occasionally by him/herself) but then you read a chapter or book dedicated solely to them & you find that there are facets you haven't seen before.

The characters continue to play off each other very well, bantering like friends & foes. The best part of building this series is watching the new relationships form when new characters are introduced. There is a history between all the gods, titans, Lords & Hunters whether we know it or not. I find that the women are the pivotal characters because they move the story along without tying it up. They are the catalyst for change in an otherwise static world. I'm not saying without the ladies there would be no interactions or exchanges, I just think they would be flat.

A fun, steamy romance with enough sexual tension to take you right to the edge & drop you, The Darkest Pleasure continues the feast that is the Lords of the Underworld. I can't wait to get my hands on the rest of the books!

The Darkest Pleasure by Gena Showalter review

The Darkest Kiss by Gena Showalter review

This is the 2nd book in the Lords of the Underworld series. Fair warning, SPOILERS may follow.

Lucien houses the demon of Death. He is like Charon is that Lucien is the ferryman for the newly dead into their afterlife. He differs from Charon in that Lucien gets to go to heaven & hell. After centuries of ferrying souls to their final resting places, he was content to be alone so that he would never have to ferry another lover to either location. To prevent women from ever desiring him, Lucien intentionally marred his face so that no one would ever want to get close again. Unfortunately Anya isn't just anyone.

Anya, the goddess of Anarchy, is on the run. Since the Titans took over the Mount (and imprisoned the gods & goddesses) she is avoiding drawing too much attention to herself. With Lucien though, she's doing just the opposite. She's doing everything in her power to attract him & despite his constant cold shoulder routine, she is relentless in her pursuit. She's aware of his curse & doesn't mind at all, considering she has a pretty big curse of her own that she's not willing to share.

All of their bantering back and forth may be all for naught if they can't work together against the Hunters that are constantly plaguing the Lords. With little regard for themselves, these two are destined to find some measure of happiness. In this life or the next.

Gena Showalter continues the non-stop action that I'm enjoying so much. We pick up where we left off after The Darkest Night and start to move deeper into the plot of the story. I don't really mention what Lucien & Anya are working on together because there is just way too much detail to go into in order for you to understand. It would be way easier to read the books. Seriously. Basically the Hunters are the "bad guys" that want to exterminate the Lords by returning their demons to the box they came from. Unfortunately that has the nasty side effect of killing the Lords. Therefore, the Lords (and those feisty women helping them) are trying to stop the Hunters from gaining the upper hand.

These main characters were a little more extreme than the last ones. While Anarchy can sometimes facilitate the necessity for Death, the two are not mutually exclusive. Lucien is a brooding, dark, pensive kind of personality while Anya is bubbly, conniving, & jovial. She does have her Debbie-downer moments, but she tends to bounce right back from them. They are both highly developed characters that never cease to intrigue & bewitch me.

The writing continues to be strong. Again, there are sexual situations, but not as much (or as graphic) as in the first book. I find myself being more & more drawn into the story & the Lords' lives. I'll be very happy to see what's up next in their battle for survival!

The Darkest Kiss by Gena Showalter review

The Darkest Night by Gena Showalter review

Maddox is a god among mortals. More precisely, he is an immortal warrior created by the gods. As one of the most elite & powerful warriors to ever grace the mount, Maddox was a relatively content man. He & his comrades shed blood when needed & enjoyed female companionship when it suited them. All that changed when Maddox & his friends were scorned by the gods' preference for Pandora (another immortal warrior) to transport the box of oppression carrying the most atrocious demons that not even hell could contain. Their vanity cost them everything.

When they opened the box containing the demons, all hell broke loose. The demons were crazed from their captivity & entered into each of the warriors. Now each one must bear the eternal burden of carrying such demons as Promiscuity, Pain & Violence. Maddox was settled with Violence. In his thousands of years with his brotherhood of damned warriors, known as the Lords of the Underworld, Maddox has learned to contain & tame the demon as much as possible. There are definite signs of Violence in their remote fortress in Budapest, but no more than to be expected of warriors. What he doesn't expect, especially after all these years, is to find someone the demon doesn't want to kill, maim or even hurt.

That person turns out to be Ashlyn Darrow. A woman with an extra-sharp sense of hearing, so sharp she can hear any & every conversation that has ever occurred where she is currently located no matter the time, date or year, who is in Buda doing some research for a corporation she believes to be helping those with "special" abilities. Despite her boss's warning, Ashlyn treks toward the fortress hoping that the mysterious Lords can help her tame & control her hearing.

When the two meet on the snow-covered embankment there is an intense silence that neither can deny. The voices are silent for Ashlyn & the demon is silent for Maddox. What that means for them is unclear, but Ashlyn's boss is none too pleased at her disobedience & intends to prove his point against the Lords.

This was a doozy of a read! I devoured this book in less than 24 hours because I just couldn't get enough of these characters! The Lords are unlike any other possessed character I have ever read. Now it's possible that I just haven't read enough, but we can't be sure. :)

The torturous relationship of Lord & demon is so raw & incisive that I was completely drawn in to their world. Of course, since this is a romance novel, all the Lords are especially hunky in their own ways. Most of them are ridiculously muscular with a striking visage. The main female in the role is a trim, but toned woman that most men would faun over. While I can get tired of these stereotypical roles, the writing, characterization & plot development overrode any annoyances I might have perceived. Again, this is a romance novel so there are some sex scenes that vary from taught & tame to wild & a bit raunchy. If you're in the mood for that, read on; if not, feel free to skim/skip ahead as I do. ;)

The Lords of the Underworld presents a unique history & presentation of the gods. There is A LOT of back story, that is surprisingly well-handled. I didn't feel bogged down in history so much that I couldn't enjoy the action! A fabulously fun read, The Darkest Night is the first in a continuing series by Gena Showalter that I fully intend to see to the end.

Have any of you read these books? How did I miss them?! What do you think about the romance? Is it on par with the genre or a little more/less than is typical?

The Darkest Night by Gena Showalter review

Bad Moon Rising by Sherrilyn Kenyon review

SPOILER ALERT: This is the 18th book in the Dark Hunter series & while the author says that the books can be read in any order, I like to give fair warning anyway. Just FYI.

Fang Kattalakis is far from a lone wolf. He is a member of a pack, with his brother, his father & several other folks. But he has never desired a female as much as that of Aimee Peltier. Too bad she's not a wolf, she's actually the owner of Sanctuary's daughter. Oh, and a bear too.

Fang wasn't looking for a mate, heck he wasn't even looking for a date when he & some pack members wandered into Sanctuary for a meal. Of course nothing can ever be that simple & when Aimee's life is threatened by roving jackals, Fang protects & defends her, winning eternal gratification from the bears.

As it turns out, that "gratification" comes in very handy when things go sour faster than he ever thought possible. When his own father hands down the execution order for Fang & his brother, the bears are there to nurse them both back to health. Unfortunately the damage to Fang is extensive & he finds himself actually locked in a hellish purgatory with Aimee as his only way out. The unwilling couple form a bond that nothing seems to shake & she manages to save, in more way than one. Their bond, although tenuous, comes in handy sooner than they would have liked when the different lycanthrope groups decide to stage an all-out war. Will Sanctuary survive the battle or will it become a casualty of the young couple's budding romance?

Bad Moon Rising is one of the plethora of books from the wonderfully enchanting Sherrilyn Kenyon. I pick and choose which books of her's I want to read because while they are all loosely affiliated, you do not have to read the previous books to understand the main storyline of the current book you're reading. The first book I read was No Mercy , which comes after this book in sequence, so I understood certain things with more clarity after reading Bad Moon Rising, but nothing that completely altered the book for me. Any way...

Aimee & Fang are a fun couple to watch develop. They really have no intention of being attracted to one another & actively try to dissuade & distract themselves from the other, but they just have no luck. As cursed beings their lives are kind of determined by the gods & the gods have a sick sense of humor when it comes to messing with people's love lives. Aimee is a strong-willed woman who is the only female of the bear clan & is doing everything in her power to keep the family name clear & pure to continue their legacy. Fang is a little haggard, but his rough-and-tumble life is as good as he could expect it to be. Bringing these two smart-mouthed, wise-cracking, hard-headed fools together is one of the most explosive & fun things I've seen Ms. Kenyon do in her books.

The writing is spot on with some great quotes & active story building. The Dark Hunter/Were Hunter worlds are very diverse with a lot of history & details that I can't even begin to imagine trying to keep up with, so I appreciate the effort she puts in to make the story so engrossing. This one was turned turn in steamy romance compared to the first book I read, but there is still definitely some lovin' (of multiple acts) going on between these two characters. As I've continued to say, I'm not the biggest fan of misplaced romance. It has to actually add something to the story in order for me to get behind it. That was definitely the case in this book, so I didn't mind so much.

I'm looking forward to the next book I plan to read from Ms. Kenyon, although I'm not sure if it will be a Dark Hunter/Were Hunter book or if I'll wait for the next Chronicles of Nick book that's due out in February of 2012. I'm stuck. What do you think?

Bad Moon Rising by Sherrilyn Kenyon review

XVI by Julia Karr

Sixteen isn't so sweet anymore. Nina is terrified of turning sixteen because of what it means to society. She'll be branded with an XVI tattoo proclaiming her status as a sex-teen. While she'll be allowed to have her GPS removed so the government can't watch her every step, Nina is truly concerned that her best friend is obsessed with following what all the media says is the best way to act, dress & behave. Nina's mom had always been a little on the cautious side, encouraging Nina & her sister Dee to explore other alternatives to the government-supplied media.

When her mother is brutally murdered, Nina is entrusted with a very heavy secret. All that was once true in her world is now just an elaborate lie to help uncover the real truth behind the government-sponsored Female Liaison Specialist service. It is compulsory for lower-tier girls (like Nina & her friend) to apply to this program; but it is far from what it seems. With the help of several friends, including the dashingly handsome Sal, Nina discovers that, despite her mother's murder & her father's death before she was born, she has never been alone.

I absolutely loved this book! There was so much going on all the time that I couldn't put it down. The characters are very well written & have appeal for both guys & gals. Nina is such a strong person, despite her weaknesses, I really wanted her to succeed. She had such a good heart & really only wanted what was best for everyone that it was hard not to root for her. I can't imagine what I would be like if my life was turned completely on its head. She maintained her focus on protecting her little sister & fulfilling her promise to her dying mother. While some of her actions were misguided, I think it gave her a human-like quality. No one is perfect.

I also really enjoyed her friends. They were all so diverse, representing not only different ethnic groups, but also different tiers within the story. They all seemed to help put together the overall image of the setting. Let me tell you, this 2150 Chicago was so different from today that I couldn't even fathom living in a society where you are constantly bombarded with advertisements, the media controls your life, you are completely subservient to the government with absolutely no real freedoms... There was just so much to absorb.

My favorite part of this book was the writing. Julia Karr makes this book so easy to read, but you have to work to get the whole picture. She doesn't start out by telling you everything that has changed from present day to the book's setting. As the story moves forward & we learn more about our characters, we also learn more about the setting. The best example I can give you is that one of the guys plays a musical show at a club. When asked what kind of music, he responds with zydeco from New Orleans. Someone says, from where? The character explains about how New Orleans was wiped out by a series of monstrous hurricanes several decades earlier. Those kinds of nuggets made the book worth reading.

I will caution sensitive readers, that there is a lot of sexual discussion & innuendo (including porn) & some serious violence. Obviously if you've read my review & the blurb, you knew that this was a possibility, but I just wanted to make very clear that, in my personal opinion, this book is truly intended for older teens. I hope you enjoy it anyway.

What are your thoughts about this subject? How much is too much when it comes to sexual content in YA?

XVI by Julia Karr

Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz

Life can be lived a thousand different ways over the course of a summer. No one knows the truth of that more than Chase McGill. His family has spent every summer of his childhood at their beach house. We meet the family during Chase’s 14th summer and his family is as such: Noah, the eldest son, is constantly on the run from everything he never wants to face. Chase really should have been the eldest son as he takes primary responsibility for the care of the younger siblings. Claudia is a young girl dying to be a grown woman who spends a predominant amount of time signing for Gideon, the rambunctious deaf fourth child. Mom & Dad are constantly bickering, despite the soon arrival of Newbaby.

Over the course of four summers spanning Chase’s 15-18th birthdays, we watch this family change, grow, break apart, reform & interact with their next-door neighbors the Hathaways. The three children in the Hathaway household actually interject depth to this family. Melinda brings Camus, Shannon brings the hope of the future, & Bella is sweet innocence. What becomes of these summers is something unexpected & raw that you must read to believe.

That was one roller coaster ride of a book. I ran the gamut of emotions while reading Invincible Summer. There were so many things going on, especially in regards to relationships, that I am truly amazed that I didn’t need a flow chart to follow it all. This book is very complicated, but in a good way. The actions & events of this book really challenge your perception of time. They allow you to view the progression of relationships (marital, romantic, friendships, etc) as they evolve over time based on the participants’ maturity level & what is going on in their lives.

Chase is the narrator of this story & we see everyone through his eyes. In a way this can cause some bias in how the other characters are viewed because we never really get to hear their side of the story; but at the same time, Chase’s point of view about these characters changes as he discovers more about them over time. I believe that each of the McGill children represents a certain characteristic or pattern of behavior that we all experience at some point in our lives. They embodied those different entities in their entirety.

I must say that this book is not for the faint of heart. There is A LOT of cussing in this book. I was amused when I realized how annoying a habit it is to use a curse word every other sentence in real life. Also, while not usually a fan of books with a strong literary basis (meaning the heavy use of a piece of literature inside the novel itself) I really enjoyed the Camus quotes throughout the book. There was a quote for most difficult situations & even for some of the lighter ones & I found that to be really refreshing. I strongly recommend this for those who enjoy time-centric books & a plethora of intense, but gratifying interactions.

Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz

So Shelly by Ty Roth

Gordon & Keats would never have been acquaintances, let alone friends, if it weren't for Shelly. So when she turns up dead in an apparent sailing accident, the two boys are thrust upon one another to piece together the story of her life & her demise.

After stealing her ashes from the wake at the their high school, the boys embark on an adventure to fulfill her final wishes. Together they share their memories of her: from Gordon & Shelly's childhood skinny dipping to Keats & Shelly's encounter at the Planned Parenthood, & what Shelly was really all about.

Needless to say none of this can be done without copious amounts of self-reflection & analyzing how their actions affected Shelly. Only, there are some people who don't want to see the boys complete Shelly's mission. Time is running out for them to solve her jigsaw puzzle of an existence & fulfill her final wishes.

I wish I could say that I liked this book. Honestly I would compare it more to a car accident: you're horrified, but you can't seem to look away. I know that this book was supposed to be a play on the lives of the famous Romantic (as in Romanticism, not necessary hearts & flowers love) poets John Keats, Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) & an amalgamation of husband & wife pair Percy & Mary Shelley, but it was just weird. Had the characters been a little older, around college-age, I think I would have been more okay with most of the extreme sexual content (pedophile nanny, incest, rape, statutory rape, etc) & overall plot. While I know this was not supposed to be exactly "realistic fiction", I found it so unbelievable I was baffled. Not to mention the fact that, while I believe the author to be using common-to-the-era vocabulary for the characters, there were words even I didn't know that I had to look up. While that can be an occasionally cool thing, this happened about every 6 or 7 pages.

Now, with all that said, I do have to say the characters were very well built. By the end of the book I felt like I really had a firm grasp on who they were & what they were doing with themselves. It was a coming-of-age tale the really allowed the reader to follow the growth & development of the characters. Each of them were well-shaped & behaved as one would expect of their character.

While I think this is an interesting way to spin the lives of historical figures into modern times, this one's execution just didn't work for me. I look forward to hearing other people's thoughts on this novel.

So Shelly by Ty Roth

No Mercy by Sherrilyn Kenyon

SPOILER ALERT: This is the 19th book in the Dark Hunter series & while the author says that the books can be read in any order, the beginning of this one leads me to believe it would give away the ending of a previous novel. Just FYI.

Devereaux Peltier (Dev) has always stayed close to his family's New Orleans-based paranormal night club, Sanctuary, to help his mother & keep a watchful eye on his younger sister. After the gigantic battle to defend their nightclub & the loss of both his parents during that fight, Dev is a shapeshifting bear adrift. As the night bouncer for the club, he sees all sorts of characters. Unfortunately the one who took his breath away is off-limits.

Samia (Sam) is an Amazonian dark-hunter. She is an immortal who sold her soul to Artemis in order to avenge the murder of her family. Eons later she is still roaming the Earth by night to protect the human race from all manner of foul creatures. The night that she returns to Sanctuary for business is a night that will change everything she has taken as fact for the last 5,000 years.

When Sam & Dev have to join together to keep Sam alive & out of the hands of the bad guys, the two find that they have a lot more in common than they originally thought & that their mutual attraction is something they really can't seem to fight.

Let me just preface this review with a personal note. I am not a prude when it comes to sexual situations. I consider myself to be very liberal in my acceptance of all manner & expression of all relationships. That being said, I am not a fan of gratuitous sex scenes in film or print. Honestly, if there is no real plot point behind the deed, then I don't need a play-by-play, let alone several.

Overall I must say I really liked this book. Sherrilyn Kenyon has an amazing ability to capture not only the action, but the essence of a situation, without getting too bogged down in the details or word count. I could picture almost every action & sequence as I read the book, including some that were just a bit too much for my reading tastes.

As I just stated, I don't enjoy reading gratuitous sex scenes, and I feel like this was one of those books where every 75 pages someone was getting it on, or had just finished getting it on. It irked me, but I decided to ignore that and focus on the story. When I did that, I found I enjoyed the story in general.

The characters were certainly engaging & had some depth to them, while still managing to be accessible to someone who has never read the series. The dialogue was witty & amusing & really helped move the story along. My favorite part of her writing though, was her inclusion of the Greek dieties. The mythology added another layer of intrigue to the story that I think bound it together well. While by the end of the book I felt I needed a character index, I was still able to grasp the whole story.

All in all, I would highly recommend this book for more mature young adults. If you enjoy urban fantasy novels, and can get past or even enjoy the extra sex scenes, then I would recommend this book & series. I think I may go back & pick through the series since it doesn't have to necessarily be read in order. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

No Mercy by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Sticky Fingers by Niki Burnham

I'm using the book's cover flap summary for a specific reason. Read on to find out why.

Bulletproof, that's how Jenna Kassarian sees herself. It's all about control: As long as she works hard, nothing can hurt her. So Jenna constantly pushes — for perfect grades, the ideal boyfriend, the best, best friend.

The only problem is, she doesn't know if she can stop. If she relaxes even for a second, she's afraid she'll lose control completely.

Then Jenna decides it's now or never. She goes to a party and has one drink. But one drink is all it takes for her perfect facade to shatter. Suddenly she realizes straight A's can't protect you in the real world.

From Goodreads

Does it say in there anywhere that the whole book will be about Jenna's debate over whether or not to have sex with her boyfriend? Honestly that's what the whole book was about. While Jenna's debate over her virgin status was wrapped up in a larger struggle to do things more for herself than others, the dominant subject was sex. While I think it can be a basic COMPONENT of a storyline, I think, in this case, it was taken a bit too far.

While I felt that the subject matter didn't correspond to the description, I will say that I was intrigued by the diversity represented by the characters. They were also fairly well-developed characters. I feel I would like to have known more about their backgrounds. I got the basic gist of who was what (brain, jock, edgy, hip, etc) but I think given some of the very serious activities taking place that a little perspective would be in order.

Finally, I just have one thing that really irked me. While I completely support an author's right to voice their opinion, I think the manner used in this book was so obvious that its purpose was defeated. Next time try to make the advice more helpful than detrimental & less obvious. I'm sure there are plenty of teens who could benefit from parts of the advice, but they'd never get to read it if the advice is written like a manual on circumventing parents & consequences. Subtly is almost never overrated.

While this was a decent book in the end, I struggled with it. I'm sure it's just my personal feelings, but it just sat funny with me. Give it a go, but don't say I didn't warn you.

Sticky Fingers by Niki Burnham

Forget You by Jennifer Echols

Zoey wishes she had done a lot of things differently. Had she spoken up about her father's affair before his mistress got pregnant, maybe her parents wouldn't have gotten divorced. If Zoey had gotten home a few minutes earlier from her duties as swim team captain, maybe her mom wouldn't have been able to overdose on her sleeping pills. So it comes as no surprise that she really wishes she didn't suffer from amnesia about the night she had a horrific car accident.

Enter Brandon and Doug. Brandon is Zoey's boyfriend, well sort of. They've had a close friendship all summer long while working at her dad's sleazy water park. When it comes time for school to be back in session, Zoey and Brandon get together. But ever since her accident he's been acting funny. He's avoiding her calls and dodging their few chances at hanging out, while Doug, the devastating handsome boy with a record, keeps popping up in unexpected places.

As the days go on and Zoey still can't remember what happened that night, or with whom, she starts to question everything she has ever presumed about every one. Most of all, herself.

Jennifer Echols has done it again! In another magnetic read about a boy and a girl, Echols manages to spin a new tale about truth, facades, and connecting with others. Zoey is an exceptionally bright girl, with many things going for her. She's trusting, academically gifted, and a leader. Unfortunately, these are also the things that flaw her. All of these attributes contribute to her inability to see the truth that's right in front of her the entire novel. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as I'm sure we all know people in our lives who are either, as I like to say, "book smart" or "street smart."

Undoubtedly, Zoey is the "book smart" kind of gal, while Doug is definitely a "street smart" kind of guy. He knows the truth, not only because he experiences it with Zoey, but because he's not blind. He doesn't ignore signals and obvious hints. His facade is what allows him to peacefully exist in a world full of people to afraid to admit the truth.

My favorite part about the whole novel are the connections that all the characters make with one another. There are quite a few subplots and Echols's ability to intertwine all those into one cohesive storyline is incredible. I have to hand it to the woman, she really knows how to create a wonderfully enticing story about real people with real problems and how they deal with the ramifications of their actions and choices. A must read, Forget You is, in a word, stunning.

Forget You by Jennifer Echols

This is What I Want to Tell You by Heather Duffy-Stone

Twins Nadio & Noelle has lived in the gatehouse on the professor's property all their lives. As children, they befriended Keeley, the daughter of the professor, and have been inseparable ever since. Keeley and Noelle have always been like two halves of the same person with matching mannerisms and behavior. Nadio was always along for the ride, but never up front and center stage.

After spending a summer all separated, the trio come back together to find that nothing is as is was when they left. Nadio spent his summer running alone and writing imaginary letters to his absentee father. Noelle found a new friend into new things and managed to fall hard for tattoo-covered fry cook Parker. Keeley is still reeling from her summer at Oxford and has an awful burden from that experience.

Each of these three are hiding the truth from one of the others and everything culminates when Nadio and Keeley admit that their feelings for one another are no longer strictly platonic. What will they do to persevere, what will they have to sacrifice to be happy, and can they all be happy together?

Heather Duffy-Stone has done an incredible job with this novel. Told in the alternating view points of the twins, This is What I Want to Tell You is unparalleled. I can't think of another book that handles this common and yet complex a situation. There are at least three different stories told in the narrative, but if you include the smaller characters, there are a few more. Each story has its own attributes and complexities and at the same time they're all standard issues that teens face every day. There's drugs, issues at school, peer pressure, sex, and heart ache at every corner.

I really felt as though I related to each of the characters on some level and that they were all meant to be recognizable. I'm sure you could place someone from your high school in each of these roles and better understand their situation. The writing style really lent itself to an omnipotent presence because when one chapter left off, the next picked up from a different point of view. I know that many books can accomplish this, but (for lack of a better explanation) this was just different.

The situations were believable, the characters superb, & the writing was, in a work, magical. I truly hope to see more from this writer. She knows her stuff well and if she can pull it off again, I'd place her in the same AMAZING category as Simone Elkeles & Jennifer Echols. While my library didn't own this one, I was able to InterLibrary Loan it from another institution. Let me reiterate, it was well worth it. Find out if your local library can do the same for you!

I leave you with a fabulous teaser quote from the book:

Why don't people ever see the way other kinds of love can wreck you? What about the way being left out of love can wreck you? p.148

This is What I Want to Tell You by Heather Duffy-Stone

Waiting on Wednesday: Not That Kind of Girl

Waiting on Wednesday recognizes that we as bookies pine for books. This post is about what I am impatiently waiting for right now. It was started by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

This week's release seems far off, but really September is just around the corner. Not That Kind of Girl by Siobhan Vivian is set to be released one week shy of my birthday, so I'm taking it as an early birthday present. This just sounds so familiar (in a good way):

Natalie Sterling wants to be in control. She wants her friends to be loyal. She wants her classmates to elect her student council president. She wants to find the right guy, not the usual jerk her school has to offer. She wants a good reputation, because she believes that will lead to good things.

But life is messy, and it's very hard to be in control of it. Not when there are freshman girls running around in a pack, trying to get senior guys to sleep with them. Not when your friends have secrets they're no longer comfortable sharing. Not when the boy you once dismissed ends up being the boy you want to sleep with yourself - but only in secret, with nobody ever finding out.

Slut or saint? Winner or loser? Natalie is getting tired of these forced choices - and is now going to find a way to live life in the sometimes messy, sometimes wonderful in-between.

From Goodreads

I think many gals, and even some guys, can relate to this issue. I'm a big fan of books who talk about the harder stuff and make it accessible. This one reminds me of Pure in content, but I think it will feel more like The Secret Year in delivery. Either way, I'm sure it'll be a fun ride! What are you waiting on this week?

Waiting on Wednesday: Not That Kind of Girl

Party by Tom Leveen

This was a complicated, interwoven storyline. So that I don't giveaway too much, I'm using the book jacket summary.

It's Saturday night in Santa Barbara and school is done for the year. Everyone is headed to the same party. Or at least it seems that way. The place is packed. The beer is flowing. Simple, right? But for 11 different people the motives are way more complicated. As each character takes a turn and tells his or her story, the eleven individuals intersect, and reconnect, collide, and combine in ways that none of them ever saw coming.

From Goodreads

Whew, that was so much safer than what I originally had written. Party was a fascinating novel. It is told in first person, based on the chapter narrator. There are eleven narrators all giving partial glimpses at this one night. When you piece all their stories together you obtain one cohesive time line of events. Each of these kids represents almost the whole gamut of the teenage years. The parental arguments, the sense of loss, the shyness, the awkwardness, the break-ups, the make-ups, the hook-ups, and everything in between. These eleven kids experience it all in hyperdrive at this one party.

While each character only gets one chapter, I felt like they didn't waste any time getting to the heart of their personalities and issues. You knew from the beginning what was going on in their lives and what their personal focus would be. Even better, are the vignettes we glean from earlier chapters. By the final chapter we have come full circle and see the complete night as a whole.

I think most people can find at least one character they can relate to in this book, whether it's the loner girl with a secret, the uber-responsible friend, the devoutly spiritual, or the conflicted jock. There are attributes in each of them that appeal to the reader in some manner. I personally identified with the responsible friend, although I never attended a party in high school (lame, I know). While not a light, happy read, if you're a fan of no-holds-barred, realistic fiction (along the lines of Going Too Far) then this book is perfectly suited for your tastes.

This book was graciously provided by Around the World Tours.

Party by Tom Leveen

Nostalgic Friday: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Welcome back to Nostalgic Friday! Since I love all things historical (culturally, physically, and personally) I do a post on Fridays honoring some awesome book that is a bit older. Many of them are books I enjoyed in my teens and others are books that I discovered as an adult that I think are relevant to YA readers.

This week I am featuring The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. It's a dystopian read that I discovered through my sister. She had to read it in high school and when my school never assigned it I got curious.

After a military coup creating the Republic of Gilead from the once powerful United States of America, inhabitants find themselves in a strict, domineering caste system based on the hell, fire, & brimstone from the Old Testament of the Bible. They believe that all their problems (rampant infertility, land deterioration, and an amoral society) can all be solved by returning to their close-minded roots.

What this means in practice for the men and women of Gilead is a complete overhaul of their social hierarchy as they know it. Now, your place in society is determined by your rank within the new infrastructure and the power you wield. Women are even lower in this caste system, as dictated by the ruling body and their twisted sense of ideology, and are subservient to the male figure in their life. While this isn't necessarily awful for most women, for those who belong to the "handmaid" class it is a nightmare. They are used for breeding purposes only, as if they were an animal.

This story is told from the point of view of Offred, a handmaid in Commander Fred's home. As a first generation handmaid, Offred knows what the world used to be like. She used to have a family, consisting of her, her husband, and their child. Now all she is solely cogniscent that it is her "duty and obligation" is to bear a child for the Commander and his barren wife Serena Joy. A mating ritual, involving all three participants, takes place monthly in the hopes of conception.

Offred moves about her daily routine often catching glimpses of things hinting at the existence of a resistance. She is shocked to discover who all is involved. And when the times comes for her to make a decision, she moves with fluidity in her chosen direction.

A shocking and scandalizing tale, this book was a bewitching read. I found myself imagining what it would be like to be in Offred's shoes more often than I wanted to. Her life was quite a miserable existence, but she maintained hope. She clung to memories in her darkest hours and pushed on with life.

It's truly a book about feminism in that the main character is a female fighting in a patriarchal and orthodox society. Her strength and courage is a testament to the power that resides in all of us. We just have to call on it. A mesmerizing read that most will find haunting and captivating, The Handmaid's Tale is a classic.

Nostalgic Friday: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Nostalgic Friday: Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Chon and David Levithan

Welcome back to Nostalgic Friday! Since I love all things historical (culturally, physically, and personally) I do a post on Fridays honoring some awesome book that is a bit older. Many of them are books I enjoyed in my teens and others are books that I discovered as an adult that I think are relevant to YA readers.

This week's pick is Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. I found this book not long before the movie came out. The movie, starring Michael Cera and Kat Dennings, came out in late 2008. As soon as I heard that it was based on a book, I ran to work (remember I work at a library) to snatch up a copy before they were all gone. I was not disappointed at all!

When you are coming off the heels of a painful break-up, your first reaction is probably not going out to hit the club. At least, not in this sense. Nick and Norah are both lively, energetic, passionate people who LOVE music. After their personal realtionship tragedies, they head out on the town (seperately) with friends to try enjoying company.

A chance meeting at a particular club lands these two together on a whirlwind adventure all over the city. They learn a lot about themselves, each other, and what their futures hold for them. Little do they know that they will find exactly what they were running from in each other.

A witty, fast-paced read, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist is told in alternating voices giving wonderful perspective and depth on two different viewpoints of the same situation. While Norah is notorious for her foul mouth and in-your-face attitude, Nick is her counter-part as he is rather quiet and observant. All of the characters are dynamic and likeable to the point that I kind of wish they were my friends. Not to mention the fact that these teens actually seem like real teens. The authors did a fantastic job capturing the essence of these personalities. Just an all around fun read that will leave you wanting more. Give it a shot!

Nostalgic Friday: Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Chon and David Levithan

The Secret Year by Jennifer Hubbard

What do you do when someone you love dies, but no one ever knew you were together? That's where Colt finds himself when Black Mountain debutante Julia winds up dead after a Labor Day party.

Words don't begin to describe how he feels, until Julia's brother gives Colt her journal. It is filled with entries written as letters to Colt throughout their secret affair because for the last year that's what they had. Even though they had lived in the same small town all their lives, Julia belonged to the elite Black Mountain group who never really had to worry about much. Colt lives in the Flats where blue collar workers struggle to make it by while living next to the river. They met by chance one night and started visiting with one another every Friday night that they could get away: from family, from friends, from obligations.

Those night meant everything to Colt as he waited all week to spend Friday nights with Julia. Now that she is gone, and he is left with her journal, Colt tries to reconcile his past with his future. Moving on is hard, especially when your center-of-the-universe brother keeps causing family disturbances, your best female friend suddenly wants to be more, and you just got a job busing tables at the same diner as your mother.

A truly honest story about what happens in the wake of tragedy, The Secret Year really analyzes what happens to those of us left behind when a loved one dies. It is especially hard to imagine someone so young dying so tragically and yet it happens all the time. Colt is a very typical guy that I can actually imagine being someone I know. He doesn't talk a lot, but he thinks deeply, he's full to the brim with testosterone (so much so that his and Julia's relationship is primarily physical), and he just kind of glides by in school like a ghost. I found Julia's letters/journal entries a unique tool to get her side of the story, without her being present. While the ending was underwhelming, I think it was fitting for the overall story arch. Look for it in January 2010!

The Secret Year by Jennifer Hubbard

Pure by Terra Elan McVoy

Pure is full of love, betrayal, and friendship. The story follows a small group of girls who, at the age of 12, individually made vows to keep themselves pure until marriage. Now that a few years have gone by, the girls are 15 and the world is different. Where boys were once just an annoyance and it was easy to say that they would be pure for their wedding night, the girls find things a bit more complicated.

Tabitha, Morgan, Priah, and Naeomi are going strong in their pledge to stay pure, but another friend falls off the wagon. When Cara discloses that she and her boyfriend have gone "all the way" everyone has an opinion. From freaking-out parents, to friends dropping Cara like she's a hot potato, life has suddenly become very interesting.

As the story is told from Tabitha's point-of-view, we gain her insight on the situation. Her friends' choices, along with her own, create the chaos and fallout that ensues. Friendships are fragmented, new bonds are formed, and everyone emerges changed.
A magnetic read that you can't help but get sucked in to, Terra McVoy has taken a very serious and popular current topic and turned it in to an applicable and relatable story for today's teens. The writing is witty, amusing and accessible to all who enjoy a true-to-life story.

Pure by Terra Elan McVoy