Book Recommendation: Choker

CHOKER by Elizabeth Woods

Published January 4th, 2011 by Simon & Schuster

240 Pages

DEBUT

Sixteen-year-old Cara Lange has been a loner ever since she moved away from her best and only friend, Zoe, years ago. She eats lunch with the other girls from the track team, but they're not really her friends. Mostly she spends her time watching Ethan Gray from a distance, wishing he would finally notice her, and avoiding the popular girls who call her "Choker" after a humiliating incident in the cafeteria. 

Then one day Cara comes home to find Zoe waiting for her. Zoe's on the run from problems at home, and Cara agrees to help her hide. With her best friend back, Cara's life changes overnight. Zoe gives her a new look and new confidence, and next thing she knows, she's getting invited to parties and flirting with Ethan. Best of all, she has her BFF there to confide in. 

But just as quickly as Cara's life came together, it starts to unravel. A girl goes missing in her town, and everyone is a suspect—including Ethan. Worse still, Zoe starts behaving strangely, and Cara begins to wonder what exactly her friend does all day when she's at school. You're supposed to trust your best friend no matter what, but what if she turns into a total stranger?

CHOKER was definitely not what I expected. I picked it up with the idea that it would be your typical high school mystery where a girl goes missing and the MC is in love with Mr. Popular. That's what the synopsis hinted at. Still, it sounded interesting enough, and I needed something to keep me company at the airport this morning.

I got more than I bargained for. In a good way.

Originally I wasn't sure where the story was going. Cara was a sympathetic character and pretty easy to relate to, and you felt terrible every time someone at school was unnecessarily cruel (which seemed quite often); Sydney and Alexis made me kind of want to rip their hair out. Cara was your standard quiet, loner type with absent parents and a big house that was usually empty. It took a while to get into the story, but things really picked up once Zoe arrived.

In all honesty, Zoe was the reason I kept reading. Even from the prologue, you get the sense something's not quite right. The more you see of her, the faster you realize your gut reaction was right. She says and does things that make your skin crawl. I saw Black Swan earlier this month, and that same creeped out, disturbed feeling you get while watching it is what I felt while reading this book. Zoe is legitimately messed up, and she truly carries the entire book.

There's a twist at the end I didn't see coming (though you will in retrospect). I like it when books mess with your head, and I think the end of this one does an excellent job. I can't say much more about it without giving everything away.

No, CHOKED isn't my new favorite book, but if you enjoy a good puzzle, I'd say pick this one up. I definitely have a few people in mind I'll be passing this off to.

Fast Forward to 2011

As 2010 comes to a close, I thought it was appropriate to compile a list of the 2011 releases I'm looking forward to! There are quite a few, so bear with me. And if you have any suggestions, leave a comment! I'm going to have way more free time this year, so load me up on books.

And now - Drum roll, please! - The List. In order of release date, because I'm anal retentive sometimes.

THE WATER WARS by Cameron Stracher

January 1st

TRAPPED by Michael Northrop

January 1st

CHOKER by Elizabeth Emma Woods

January 4th

XVI by Julia Karr

January 6th


ACROSS THE UNIVERSE by Beth Revis
January 11th

SUBJECT SEVEN by James Moore

January 11th

THROAT by R.A. Nelson

January 25th

DELIRIUM by Lauren Oliver
February 1st

SO SHELLY by Ty Roth

February 8th

CRYER'S CROSS by Lisa McMann

February 8th

THE VESPERTINE by Saundra Mitchell

March 7th

EVERCROSSED (KISSED BY AN ANGEL, #4) by Elizabeth Chandler

March 8th

WITHER by Lauren DeStefano

March 22nd
(I loved this one. You can check out my review by clicking on the link.)

LOST IN THE RIVER OF GRASS by Ginny Rorby

March 28th

BORN AT MIDNIGHT (SHADOW FALLS, #1) by C.C. Hunter

March 29th

ENTWINED by Heather Dixon

March 29th

BUT I LOVE HIM by Mandy Hubbard (writing as Amanda Grace)

May 8th

ASHES, ASHES by Jo Treggiari
June 1st

THE REVENANT by Sonia Gensler

June 14th

LOST VOICES by Sarah Porter

July 4th

STARSTRUCK by Cyn Balog

July 12th

SMALL TOWN SINNERS by Melissa C. Walker

July 19th

RIPPLE by Mandy Hubbard 

July 21st
(I've already read this one, and you should all be VERY excited. It's fantastic.)


DEARLY, DEPARTED by Lia Habel
October

Book Recommendation: Wither

WITHER (THE CHEMICAL GARDEN, BOOK 1), by Lauren DeStefano

To be published March 22nd, 2011 by Simon & Schuster

358 Pages

DEBUT

I came downstairs this morning to find a package from Simon & Schuster on my coffee table. I had absolutely no idea what to expect, but when I opened it to find an ARC of WITHER, I very nearly had a heart attack. I've been looking forward to this book ever since I first got wind of it a few months ago, and have been anxiously awaiting its release so that I could go out and purchase a copy. However, now I don't have to! My empty bank account thanks the lovely people at S&S for that.

Before I even try to put into words how much I loved this book, let's just take a moment to admire the cover, shall we? Lizzy Bromley did an INCREDIBLE job. The art nerd in me geeked out over this image. There are so many textures in the photo, the coloring is subdued but pops against the pink geometric patterns (I'm not sure if they're supposed to represent the lines architects use, which would be especially cool), and I, for one, appreciate the symbolism with the bird in the cage. The fashionista in me also just loved the dress the model's wearing. The geometric pattern continues throughout the book, so every time I turned the page, I couldn't help but smile. If you want an aesthetically pleasing book, look no further. WITHER takes the cake, hands down.

But cover aside, the story itself is fantastic. Here's a summary, taken from goodreads:

What if you knew exactly when you would die?

Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb—males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.

When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape—to find her twin brother and go home.

But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limted time she has left.

That description was initially what drew me in. As a dystopian writer/lover myself, this sounded like something right up my alley. Weird age requirements? Check. A mildly effed-up love triangle? Check. Strange, freaky science stuff? Check. Add to that one of the most gorgeous covers I've ever seen, and I knew I had to have it.

A word to the wise: pick up a copy of this book as soon as it comes out (March 22nd, 2011!). Once I started, I couldn't put it down. And that hasn't happened to me in a while.

In the past year or two, I've had a hard time suspending my disbelief while reading some YA novels. That wasn't the case with WITHER at all. In fact, I bought the story hook, line, and sinker. Though we're never given a specific date for when the story takes place, we're told it's in the very near future. I'll throw out 2100 as my guess. The world Rhine lives in operates very much the way ours does, with a few exceptions (for starters, the destruction of NYC boroughs, and Gatherers that snatch girls up to sell to the highest bidder). The idea of Gatherers freaked me out so much, in fact, I actually jumped when a gray van drove past me today. Vaughn's basement was especially terrifying. Perhaps because we see so little of it, but are left with Rhine's speculations, or because DeStefano describes it with such haunting detail. You feel trapped inside the house as much as Rhine does, and I applaud  Lauren DeStefano for that. As a reader, you feel totally submerged in this bleak, dreary world, and it leaves you stunned for a while after you're done.

The prose is absolutely phenomenal. The descriptions are spot-on and unique. I found quite a few phrases I wish I'd come up with myself. Things were described in ways you'd never think would be accurate, but were frighteningly astute observations once you actually thought about it. The description of the autumn leaves really stuck with me, and I doubt I'll ever see them the same way again. I'll be looking to experience them the same way Rhine did. The sign of a great writer is when they make you rethink things you take for granted. This book really made me appreciate some of the little things in life I never really considered important.

The characters were just as great as the cover and descriptions. The sister wives (not to be confused with that awful, yet addicting, show on TLC) were girls I constantly wanted to hug. Cecily is endearing, despite being a brat, and Jenna's fiercely loyal beneath a hard exterior. Even minor characters, like the cooks, or the bumbling servant, were charming in their own ways. Vaughn wasn't the stereotypical villain I was expecting because, underneath all the horrible things he was doing, you knew he was doing it because he loved his son. And poor Linden, who was so utterly clueless about the world and how his wives came to him. I wanted to hate him, but I just couldn't. He's almost more of a child than Cecily, and you just want to play mom and tell him everything's going to be okay. Gabriel, though we don't see him with Rhine all that often, is charming in his own way. And when he's in trouble, you understand Rhine's panic and wish you could help him, too.

But above all, I loved Rhine. She's a great heroine for a story like this. In some ways, she reminds me of Katniss from THE HUNGER GAMES. She comes from a place where family members have to constantly look out for each other, and a home without parents (Katniss had a mother, but you know what I mean). Throughout her captivity, all she wants is to get home to her brother. And while we never meet Rowan, I like him, and I like their relationship. Rhine does whatever it takes to fool those around her to get what she wants - to get back home. She's driven, and she knows what she wants, but she has doubts. The fact that she's human, that sometimes she doubts her resolve, really resonated with me. It made her relatable, and it made you want her to succeed even more. She's been forced into this terrible situation, but she manages to find pockets of light amongst the darkness. She makes friends. And when it comes down to it, maybe even love. And despite how much she wants to escape, she still wants to protect those around her. She's strong, but she's flawed, and I think a lot of readers are going to like her once they can get their hands on this book.

So, with that in mind, I hope you guys will run out and snag a copy come March! You won't regret it.

Book Recommendation: Mockingjay

Vanessa Di Gregorio and I wrote this back in August and posted it on LTWF, but I somehow forgot to post it here as well. Go figure. So! Here is a spoiler-free review of MOCKINGJAY, and just in time for your holiday shopping! In the spirit of goodwill and literacy, you should probably just get everyone this series.

~~~

MOCKINGJAY, by Suzanne Collins

Published August 24th, 2010 by Scholastic

400 pages

As you probably all know, we couldn’t wait to get our hands on the last installment of the Hunger Games trilogy. And we must say, it was worth the wait! Perhaps we didn’t love it as much as we loved The Hunger Games (though the jury’s still out on that one, in Sammy’s case); but there’s no doubt about how good a read it is. Now, in order not to spoil anything for anyone who hasn’t yet read it, we will be as vague as humanly possible.

So here’s our vague summary: Some stuff happens (some of it quite epic). Some people die. There’s a climax and a conclusion. And you will laugh, and you will cry. The end!

But in all seriousness, what is so brilliant about MOCKINGJAY is the way it resolves many of the series’ conflicts. And there are a lot of conflicts. In this novel, we find the Capitol once again at odds with the Districts, find Katniss fighting with almost everyone, and we see Katniss, Gale, and Peeta all struggling with themselves and each other. The most notable aspect of this novel is how it leaves you thinking about the horror that is war, and its consequences. Katniss and her friends aren’t spared from this cruelty, and deaths (which there are many of) occur quickly and furiously. We would find ourselves stopping to try and absorb what was happening, as the pacing during the action-heavy scenes is rather quick. However, we found that it worked really well and was far more realistic than if Collins had stopped to dwell on each and every individual death. Because in war, you lose friends, and you lose them quickly. You don’t have time to stop and think because thinking is what could get you killed, and by using that same tactic in the book it was, we felt, far more brutal and painful.

However, the book (which is spilt up into three parts) lacks the same urgency that is felt in the previous two titles of the trilogy. The story begins slowly, with Katniss absorbing everything that has happened since (and there’s a lot). And as the bits and pieces fall into place, we’re faced with a relatively slower pace for the first half of the book. Considering how CATCHING FIRE ended, we had assumed that this book would start off in medias res. But while it doesn’t start off with furious pacing, it does certainly end off with one. And if the book had started off where Katniss just hit the ground running, it probably would have been a much less effective opening. So much transpired during the first two books, especially at the end of CATCHING FIRE, so it seems fitting to give Katniss some time to think things through (and there is a lot to think about!).

Peeta was by far the greatest surprise for us. His character is wonderfully explored in ways not seen in the previous books. He changes from the sweet, optimistic son of a baker to a scarred and brooding shell of a man. In some ways, Peeta has endured even more than Katniss, and everything that he has experienced up until now has really brought out a new side in him that, at times, can be really hard to handle. Because the books are told from Katniss’s point of view, sometimes it can be challenging to really get into the heads of other characters, but we believe Peeta was really challenged and explored in this last enstallment, and really rounded out an already beloved character. We may even like him better after this book, if that was at all possible.

Another aspect of the series that is really explored is the idea of good versus evil; which side, if any, is the enemy. Up until this point in the trilogy, we were led to believe that the Capitol was the root of all evil, but what if that wasn’t the case? Corruption exists everywhere, not just within the confines of the Capitol, and the way Collins portrays both sides is wonderful; neither the Captiol nor the rebels are perfect. She also does an excellent job instilling doubt in both her characters as well as her readers. If the supposed “good guys” aren’t always so good, what does that say about the “bad guys?” It’s really left up to the reader to decide which side they ultimately believe in.

The story is shocking, thought-provoking, and original. What we would’ve loved, though, was being able to see what was happening, instead of being told. There are a lot of blackouts in this novel which, sadly, means that we are told of events after the fact. And while it’s understandable to use one or two, it happened enough that it began to take away from the urgency of the later half of the book. We felt like a lot of the tension was lost each time Katniss woke up and was told what had happened while she was unconscious. Some of it was pretty intense, and it would’ve been really nice to have seen Katniss in those situations, rather than knocked out and on the sidelines.

There is also a lot of explaining; perhaps a bit too much at times. The Hanging Tree song was explained at great length as Katniss remembers the significance of the song. It felt a bit too much; we certainly didn’t need to be told what it was about for over a page, and we’re sure younger readers would have understood it as well. But we certainly can’t say Collins doesn’t trust her readers to understand complex ideas or issues, because this trilogy is full of it; MOCKINGJAY especially. Which is one of the reasons why this series is so good.

We did love that the romance wasn’t so blaringly obvious in this book; in fact, there wasn’t really much romance at all. With everything going on, Katniss didn’t have time to think about whether or not she’d rather be making out with Gale or Peeta. Everything about the romance was very toned down and simplified, and really worked to keep the tension surrounding the revolution very immediate. The little romance that is in the book doesn’t take away from the trilogy’s overall theme and message. Some readers will definitely be disappointed by the lack of romance, but we felt that it worked incredibly well with the overall story/series arc. It would’ve ruined the book if it had been included more.

And that ending! It is bittersweet and haunting, and includes an epilogue that actually works. Though the epilogue might not be necessary, it ends the trilogy with an absolutely wonderful visual; one of hope. After everything that has happened to Katniss, the ending was perfect.

All that being said, MOCKINGJAY is a must-read, especially if you’ve read THE HUNGER GAMES and CATCHING FIRE. Collins has written a wonderful story featuring a remarkably strong heroine who suffers through heartbreak, hunger, and the horrors of war. It is gripping, edge-of-your-seat suspenseful; and not at all what you will have predicted. If you haven’t picked up this book (or this trilogy, for that matter), you are missing out! So, we definitely recommend you read this.

Actually, we insist.