Book Reviews: Shutter by Courtney Alameda

Micheline Helsing (yes she's a descendant of that Helsing) can see the auras of the dead.  Her family and the families of Stoker and Drake run a worldwide organization that tries to keep the world safe from vampires, zombies and ghosts.  Micheline is part of a crew with three others: Oliver, their tech geek, Jude, who can predict death and Ryder, a force to be reckoned with.  Micheline is the last of the Helsing line after a horrible attack that led to death of her brothers and mother many years ago.  Then her and her crew are infected with a curse known as a soul chain.  To save herself and her crew, Micheline will have to run from the organization and her powerful father.

A friend of mine brought this book back from a conference for me. Initially I wasn't going to read it because I thought it was straight up horror, but once I actually read the description and realized that it was about the descendents of Van Helsing, Stoker and Harker running a paranormal investigations type organization I totally got behind it. 

I thought the premise and world building within the organization was very clever and I enjoyed learning about the way the mirrors and camera worked. I would like to have known a little more about how society outside of the organization was run but that was more me being nosy then feeling like something was missing. I admit to being relieved by the lack of love triangle  as well.  Everyone had their own love interest, and although the road for Micheline and Ryder will hardly be smooth at least there was no competition for affection getting in the way of the story.  

I did not see the ending coming at all.  It was sad and gut wrenching and lovely. The book stands alone but there is room for a sequel as well, which also gives me warm fuzzies.  All in all a fun and interesting read.  

Book Review: Pirate Cinema by Cory Doctorow

What an amazing and terrifying book.  Trent is a 16 year old boy obsessed with making movies be editing together clips from other films.  He downloads clips from online all the time.  Unfortunately this is a few years in the future and the internet is more heavily policed than ever and the major film companies have bought laws where people are heavily policed and punished for downloading.  Trent's downloading gets his families internet cut off for a year.  His father can no longer work, his mother can't get her benefits, and his sister can't do her homework.  He leaves home and makes a home for himself with other runaways in a squat in London.  Trent eventually makes an amazing life for himself, however not without many mistakes along the way. 

I really wasn't sure what to expect from this book. In the beginning I had trouble getting into it.  Trent seemed kind of ridiculous to me and I was so disappointed in him running away.   I couldn't imagine him getting his act together.  However as the book went on though I grew to like Trent, 26 and Jem. I loved the dynamic of the Zero Day group and the amazing creativity and smarts the group displayed.   I thought the interpersonal dynamics between Trent and 26 were pretty accurate. I loved how much more self aware Trent was by the end of the book. 

Like all Doctorow's books this book was definitely terrifying. Our society could so easily slip into the trap that Trent's society fell into.

Book Review: Hole In My Life by Jack Gantos

Jack Gantos tells the story of his high school days, living in a cheap hotel, going to high school and working in Florida while his family moved to the Virgin Islands. Upon graduation he headed down to St. Croix to meet them and arrived in the midst of a Revolution. He ended up smuggling hash up to New York, where he was caught and served several years in federal prison. Throughout this time Gantos struggled to try to become a writer and it was only while he was in prison that he really learned what was important and why he was struggling so much as a writer.

This was a great read. Gantos' narration style is first person friendly. It feels like someone is telling you their story and it works well for the message he is trying to convey. The text is never preachy or didactic even though there are clearly lessons to be learned from the author's story. 

Gantos also doesn't pull any punches. His story is very violent and terrifying at times and he could have glossed those things over but he didn't. He's honest about his mistakes and how long it really took him to figure things out.

However I don't want anyone thinking this book is all gloom and doom. It does have it's funny moments, both funny ha ha and funny awkward. All in all it feels like a well rounded book that is short (which many of the teens I know love) with a lot of great discussion points.

Book Review: The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

I love this so much. I'm not really sure that I am going to express it well. Puck lives with her brothers, Gabe and Finn. Their parents were killed by the capall uisce. Sean works and lives on Malvern's horse stables. His father was killed riding a capall uisce in the Scorpio Races. Both are competing in this years races with a lot riding on the outcome, and both of them have reason to want the other to win.

Maggie Stiefvater always uses beautiful language. I can imagine what the horses look like, how the island smells and looks and it just gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. The setting itself is both beautiful and terrible and I felt like the island was it's own character. 

I love Sean and Puck and the slow development of their friendship and feelings for each other. I'll admit Sean wasn't my favorite in the beginning but as I read about his feelings for Corr, saw him fight with Mutt and his feelings for Puck develop I found him more interesting. I'm always a major fan of character development and I really enjoyed watching Puck come into her own. I love Finn, George Holly and the Bodley sisters. They are amazingly quirky, smart and likable. 

I also really liked the author's note where she describes how hard it was for her to try and write the water horse story prior to figuring out that she needed to extract the bits she wanted and forget about the things she didn't. I think it can be really helpful to other writers (particularly young ones). 

Book Review: Paper Towns by John Green

A few weeks before graduation Quentin's childhood friend Margo, that he's been in love with forever and hasn't really spoken to since middle school drops into his bedroom window. They go out on an all night revenge spree and the next day Margo disappears. At first no one is too worried, but as the weeks pass and Margo doesn't make her usual reappearance Quentin gets more and more concerned and starts following clues Margo left behind for him, culminating in a once in a life time road trip up the east coast.

So before this the only Jon Green books I had ever read were Looking for Alaska and Will Grayson Will Grayson. I was really afraid that this book was going to be just like Looking for Alaska and getting more disappointed by the minute, but then, it changed. I loved the road trip and Quentin and his friends. They were smart, funny and genuinely entertaining. I loved how Quentin was able to distinguish between the Margo's he imagined and the Margo that really existed. I was also totally intrigued by the concept of paper towns which I had never heard of before.

Book Review: Mad Love by Suzanne Selfors

Alice lives an apartment building alone. Well the neighbors check on her. Alice's mother is the world famous Belinda Amorous and what everyone doesn't know is that Belinda is currently in a psychiatric center being treated for bipolar disorder. Alice has been forging her mother's signature to pay bills, sign books and now she needs to find a way to fill the publishers demand for a new book. Then she meets Errol, a clearly crazy guy who believes he's cupid that wants her to write the true story of Cupid and Psyche. Thrown in for good mix is Alice's impending possible dateness w/ Skateboard Guy and even more going on for good measure.

This book is jam packed with characters, story lines and side plots. And that's not a bad thing. There is always something going on. I ended up staying up and reading it straight through b/c I wanted to know what happened next. It's a romance where the main characters romance takes a back seat. I thought they did a good job showing Belinda's symptoms and how family members especially children worry that they will develop them as well. 

I did think that the Reverend and company didn't pay quite enough attention to Alice. I found it strange that no one thought about the bills being paid, etc. I also was not a big fan of the crazy infatuation scenes. I also thought that they could have delved a little more into Errol thinking Alice looked like Psyche a little sooner, but overall I did enjoy it. Mad Love is a nice mix of lighthearted humor and serious issue book. 

Book Review: The Death Catchers

Lizzy has a vision of her friends death Halloween morning of her 14th birthday. Her grandmother Bizzy tells her that this is normal in her family and that these are special powers that can be seen as a curse or as a blessing. Upon further research it is discovered they are the descendants of Morgan Le Fey and they are caught in a feud between her and Vivienne. So I loved the unique take on the Arthur myth. It was creative and unexpected and I am curious as to how the other parts of the myth will come into play in future volumes. That being said I do feel that Lizzy just behaved a little bit too young most of the book and sometimes I found her a little babyish or more babyish than she needed to be.

Book Review: Fat Cat by Robin Brande

Cat is obsessed with hating Matt Mckinney. All she wants is to beat him in the science fair. Then she gets the picture and her science fair project takes on a life of it's own. She's eating the way the hominids did and kicking technology out of her life. As she changes her diet and walks everywhere, the pounds start melting off and the male population takes notice.

I really enjoyed reading this. Cat was incredibly funny and I loved the relationship she had with Amanda, Jordan and her parents. The relationship she developed with her brother was just amazing to watch and reminded me of how my relationships with my sister developed. 

I also really appreciated that the book was't preachy about the diet and technology give up. Yes Cat clearly felt this was working very well for her but it didn't feel like it was pushing it b/c it was more about Cat's internal change. I was also happy that the author stressed that even though Matt could be considered the catalyst for the change, really Cat did everything for herself.

I did have to giggle a little bit about what Cat would sometimes consider a "technology worthy emergency". They were very much teenage girl type emergencies. Also Amanda was an amazing friend and everyone should be so lucky to have a friend like that in their life

Teen Craft: Constellation Wall Art Craft

Last summer's Summer Reading Club theme was Own the Night, so when I came across How to Build a Constellation Light for a Little Astronomy in the Bedroom on the Offbeat Home blog I immediately tried to figure out how to simplify it for a Teen program.

Pre-Cut Black Foam Board (the pieces should make a rectangle that can be sealed, w/ one side shortened to feed the cord out)
Tracing Paper
A String of Clear Christmas Lights
X-Acto Knife (for the grown ups)
Hot Glue Gun
Silver Sharpie
Ruler
Blown Up Photocopies of Popular Constellations (we did the ones everyone knows and the astrological signs)
Scotch tape & Duct Tape
Extension Cord

1.  Have teens select their constellation and trace over the stars with a pencil and tracing paper.

2.  Tape the tracing paper down to the foam core and shade over each of your stars with a pencil.  Carefully remove the tracing paper.

3.  Have either the teens pop holes in the foam core at the stars using their pencils or have the librarians pop the holes in with the x-acto knife.  For some of the constellations that had fewer stars we poke a few extra holes here and there for extra stars.

4.  Using the silver sharpie and a ruler connect the lines of the constellations using the holes that were made for the stars.

5.  Then the teens threaded their lights through the holes making sure that the plug of the lights will end up coming out of the bottom of the box.  A librarian then put a little hot glue at each light for reinforcement.

6.  The teens then used duct tape to attach the sides of the box.  Then have a librarian hot glue the back cover on to the box.

We also sent each teen home with an extension cord so that they wouldn't have to have their constellation wall art right on top of an outlet.

Book Review: Troy by Adèle Geras

This book tells the story of the end of the Trojan War, focusing on two sisters, young servant girls that work for Hector's family. Xanthe and Marpessa are sisters who thanks to Aphrodite's meddling are in love with the same boy. We also follow a bunch of other minor townsfolk including three elderly serving women, Iason (in love w/ Xanthe) and Polyxena (the singers granddaughter, friends w/ the sisters, in love with Iason).

I found it very interesting to see the girls personal problems against the back drop of the larger issues of the war. The author follows the war as a whole and the reader also sees what parts don't affect the three sisters. There are many famous Greek myths interspersed in the story in a very natural way. The reader also gets to see some larger then life characters very humanized. 

I really loved the language as well. The whole story was just beautifully written.

Book Review: Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy

I had always heard amazing things about the Skulduggery Pleasant audiobooks so when I was able to to get my hands on this I listened to it right away.  Stephanie Edgely's uncle passes away and leaves Stephanie his home.  This immediately embroils her in a world she never knew existed where she meets Skulduggery and with him tries to solve the mystery surrounding her Uncle's death.   

Skulduggery and Stephanie were great characters and I loved listening to Stephanie find her way in this whole new world. The magic and world building was really interesting.  Many of the characters are incredibly memorable and even months later I still remember them. The world is dark but not so dark that everyone ends up dying (i.e. just dark enough to keep me reading)

The audiobook narrator did a great job with all of the voices.  All of the characters sounded distinct and you could get a sense of their personalties from how he voiced them.  I also loved the transitional music that they would play sporadically, especially the xylophone that sounded like bones.   I especially loved the interview with Skulduggery at the end of the disk. His personality shone through in every single one of the answers.  

Book Review: The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

Rory Deveaux, from Louisianna has the opprotunity to go to London for her senior year when her parents take a job in England. She goes to Wexter, which lies in the heart of where the Ripper murders took place a hundred years ago and her first day there is the night after an imitator has started the Ripper murders again. Then Rory chokes one night during dinner and starts seeing ghosts, one of whom appears to be committing the murders. She gets a chance to see how the Shade Police work (London's ghost police.) 

For the most part I really liked the book although occasionally Rory would strike me as much younger then she was supposed to be. I liked the friends she made and the guy was interesting. I didn't realize this was going to be the beginning of a series and I am very curious about where this is going and the development of the ghostly powers.

Book Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

This Cinderella story takes place in the future after 4 world wars have ravaged the Earth and a plague is running rampant over the Earth. Cinder is the best mechanic in New Beijing. She works at a stall in the market and brings in the only money her family (which consists of one nice step sister, one evil stepsister and an evil stepmother) lives off of. Cinder is also a cyborg. When she was younger she was in a horrible accident and she was rebuilt with machine parts. When Peony (the nice sister) gets sick, Cinder's step mother volunteers her for the cyborg draft, where each day a cyborg is sent to test plague antidotes. Then she meets Dr. Erland and her whole life changes as Cinder learns more about both her body and her past and gets to spend more time with Prince Kai.

Over all I really liked this book. Cinder is a great character and I loved Iko and her malfunctioning personality chip. Kai is also a pretty interesting prince.  He comes across as smart and interesting and not as overly vain as one would expect. There were some things I figured out fairly early (it is Cinderella after all) and there were other twists that I was never expecting.  

I listened to this as an audiobook and I really enjoyed it.  I thought the narrator did a good job getting the different personalities and feelings to shine through with her voice.  I am hoping that when the next volume in the trilogy is released it will be available on audiobook at the library and that it will have the same narrator.

Book Review: Haunting Violet by Alyxandra Harvey

Violet's mother is a fake medium and she uses Violet help have fake seances, so no one is more shocked then Violet herself when Violet actually starts seeing ghosts and spirits while on a visit to a wealthy estate for her mother's grand rising up in the world. Violet begins seeing the ghost of a girl who was murdered a year ago and starts to investigate which is difficult in a world where proper behavior and corsets rule the drawing room.

I should have read this such a long time ago as it's been sitting on my shelf for probably a year or more at this point. Harvey is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. I loved all of the details on how seances were faked and the slang of the day. Violet was definitely a kick butt heroine who knew to take help when it was needed. While I wasn't expecting the murder I do have to say that I felt Violet barked up the wrong tree for much too long. I also loved Colin. I like Harvey's romances a lot. Yes her characters fall in love but they don't get so lost in each other that the rest of the plot feels lost, which I really appreciate these days in a YA book.

Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey

Charlie is a quiet nerdy kid and one night Jasper Jones, the town trouble maker shows up at his window asking Charlie for help. This leads to more trouble and difficulty then Charlie has ever experienced.

I thought this was going to be a murder mystery, but really it's a coming of age tale. More of the book focuses on Charlie growing up and coming to terms with himself, his best friend Jeffrey, his family and the town he is growing up in. Since I definitely did not like Charlie as much in the beginning as I did by the end I enjoyed watching him grow and change. 

Listening to this book was definitely a different experience. I guess it's the first time I've heard quite so much cursing in an audiobook since I had really been listening to a lot of children's stuff. I didn't realize how different it would sound then reading it if that makes sense. The cursing didn't take anything away and it is how teenagers talk sometimes so I don't fault the author for it, it was just different hearing it.  

Matt Cowlrick was the reader and even though his voices weren't all that different, he did a great job with different ways of speaking.  I always knew who was talking.

My bigger gripe was probably the long descriptions of the cricket game since I know nothing about cricket and it just felt like long stretches I didn't understand.

I've heard a lot of good things about Australian YA fiction.  I'm glad this made it's way here as I was definitely intrigued by it.  I'm a little bit behind on my Printz reading this year but I have two more months to wrap it up.

The Sixth Gun: Book 1 -Cold Dead Fingers by Cullen Bunn & Brian Hurtt

Becky becomes the recipient of a legacy that her step father never intended for her when she picks up the Sixth Gun, a gun that allows the owner peeks of the future they are heading towards. Unfortunately there are several other people on the hunt for this gun including it's original owner General Oliander Bedford Hume, recently brought back from the grave by his former compatriots upon his wife's orders and Drake a man who was once part of the General's pack.

I had heard some amazing reviews about this graphic novel so when I was able to get my hands on it, I decided it was a must. It's a great mix of western and paranormal/horror and this volume collects the first six issues. This volume was definitely all about the chase. Drake takes Becky on the run (even though really he is following Becky's visions). I was never sure if Drake's intentions were entirely honorable much like Becky isn't sure either. Right now Drake is making a phenomenal antihero and I think it will be interesting to see if he stays on what looks like a good path or ends up becoming more of a villain.

I love the different creatures that are run into, and the different cultures they come from including the birds and the hanging tree. I found the different abilities that the guns had and the peek we get at their history interesting. I am definitely hoping that there will be a more in depth look at their history in a future volume.

The only negative thing I'll say is that right now Becky kind of feels a little bit damsel in distress. It does seem like she is trying to step up and take responsibility for herself but keeps getting into trouble. She never saves herself and i would like it if just once she could be saved by herself instead of Drake or coincidence. Since this is only the first six issues hopefully she will grow a little more.

Rage by Jackie Morse Kessler

Missy is a self injurer and whenever things are too much to handle she cuts herself with a razor. One night after a terrible party where she is exposed to the entire school, Missy cuts too deeply. In comes Death offering her the job of War the red horsemen of the Apocalypse. Missy takes the job and finds herself in an internal battle with the spirit of War and with herself.

At times Missy was very difficult to relate to. Understanding the impulse to injure yourself as a way of feeling control is difficult to understand, particularly since as a general rule people fear pain. I think that writing about a cutter is just more difficult. I did think that the author did a good job of showing the kind of alienation and the huge emotions that she was experiencing both before and after everyone knew what Missy was doing.

I absolutely loved the interactions between all of the Horsemen, it was nice to see Famine again although I wish they had let us know earlier that she retired from life b/c I was really confused trying to remember what happened. I thought Pestilence was scary in a very cool way. I am hoping that the next book is about him I really love how Missy's powers are all about passion, not just literal war and arguing; and again seeing how Missy was able to use her powers to help not just harm was pretty cool.

I think that so far this series is doing a great job. While they are obviously issue books they don't feel like issue books because of the fantasy component of the Horsemen. I also think this series works well to bring a series of issues to a group of kids that wouldn't necessarily read "issue" books.

The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross

Finley Jayne has a darker half that protects her and frightens her. As time goes on it is becoming more and more difficult for her to control and making it harder for her to keep a job. One night she is forced to run from her employers home and is hit by Griffin King a Duke who sees her as one of his own; people with abilities. He takes her in and soon learns that Finley has an interesting and unexpected connection to him. Finley joins Griff, and his friends Emily, Sam and Jasper on the hunt for The Machinist, a criminal who is managing to make machines turn against people.

I absolutely adored this book for so many reasons. Being the book geek that I am, I always love it when a book finds a way to connect with other books so I was completely amused and intrigued by the connections drawn to Jekyll and Hyde and Journey to the Center of the Earth.

I loved how the two parts of Finley become integrated over the course of the book. I liked watching her become stronger and more finely tied together. However I still loved her split parts as well, particulalry how part of her was attracted to Griff and the other part was attracted to Jack Dandy. (It's the first love triangle in a long time that has annoyed me beyond belief.) I also found Jack Dandy extremely interesting. He was a criminal beyond a doubt but he was an interesting mix of commoner and smart business man. I definitely think he is someone who makes it a point to allow others to underestimate him and I really hope that he is involved in the next book even though they will be leaving England for it. I also enjoyed watching Sam come to terms with himself and the changes that Emily made to save his life. I am hoping that in the next book he will continue to grow and become a little bit smarter. While I don't expect his temper to entirely disappear, I am hoping that he continues to think about things more. My biggest complaint about the book was the lack of information on Jasper so I am very excited to see that the next book in the series is going to focus on him and that was all resolved.

I also really liked how The Machinist tied into Griff's groups' past and I was very intrigued by how he was able to get the robots to work. While for the most part the story was anything but predictable there was one point regarding what the Machinist was planning where I found myself getting frustrated. Someone as smart as Emily is supposed to be should have figured out what was going on a few pages earlier. I did find it a little bit irritating that she had to wait for Griffin to come to the lab and figure out what was going on. I wanted her, Finley and Sam to be a little bit more independent sometimes; but I'm hoping over the course of the series the characters will continue to grow and learn to stand on their own.

The Strange Case of Finley Jayne by Kady Cross

This is a prequel to the Girl in the Steel Corset, which I have an e-galley of and will be posting a review of tomorrow. I was able to get it free for my kindle from amazon. Prior to reading this I had thought that the whole short story on amazon thing for free was frustrating, because it only gave you a taste. Now I am thinking of it as more as knowing whether the book(s) it's based on is worth spending money on.

This introduces the main character of the Girl in the Steel Corset and lets us know how she is unique and how she got the position she is working at in the beginning of the next book. It was a short story that was definitely interesting and now I can't wait to read the book. It also gave me a really clear concept of the world that Finley lives in, a mix of technology, supernatural and Victorian London. Finley was definitely an interesting character and I'm hoping that Phoebe and her mother also make an appearance in the next book.

The Abused Werewolf Rescue Group by Catherine Jinks

The Abused Werewolf Support Group is about a boy named Toby who wakes up in a Dingo pen one morning. As this isn’t typical behavior on his part, his mother takes him for all kinds of tests. Then one day a boy and a priest show up at his door telling Toby and his mother that he is a werewolf. At first Toby doesn’t believe anything they tell him and thinks the whole thing is a crazy practical joke. Then Toby is kidnapped for a werewolf fighting pit and he slowly comes to realize that maybe he is in fact a werewolf.

When I first started reading this I was super excited and quickly became very confused. I thought this was going to be Rueben’s side of the story from The Reformed Vampire Support Group. Then as I read on I kind of realized that that definitely was not the case and had to kind of reorient my expectations.

Once I wrapped my head around the fact that this was Toby’s story and not Rueben’s I was able to enjoy it. Toby is a funny and interesting kid whose creativity and sense of adventure can often get him into way too much trouble. I really liked his character (but maybe that’s cause he reminds me of my fiancé with the crazy experiments). He makes a lot of bad decisions and lets himself get talked into things by Fergus way too easily. I have to say that I loved Toby’s ingenuity. I couldn’t wait to see what he was going to come up with next. Some of the things he was able to build were just incredible and there was a part of me that was tempted to go online and see if some of the science experiments (for lack of a better term) would really work.

The story was definitely interesting and I wanted to know what was going to happen next. I also loved getting to find out what was going on with the crew from the Reformed Vampire Support Group although there was a lack of Dave I found disappointing. I also thought the ending was very creative. I always love stories that are kind of written as a “warning”. For some reason I just find it very entertaining and I like the reassurances Toby gave, that if help was needed they would find you.

My only other complaint about this book was that there was too much tell rather then show. Toby is telling the story in retrospect and because of that he would constantly tell you how he would never behave this way now and the different kinds of decisions that he would make now. I wish the author had let us see a little more clearly the life Toby was living after his adventures, so that we could see for ourselves how he was different and not have to be told that Toby no longer takes crazy risks.