The Rule of Three Eric Walters

In a world rife with Young Adult dystopic novels (The Hunger Games, Divergent etc.) this one easily sets itself apart.

Eric Walters is a former school teacher from Canada. Unlike so many teachers turned authors who turn out more of the same barf they taught in schools. I was NOT a fan of the required reading most schools use to promote literature but that's another blog post. After I finished this I read multiple other books by Walters and enjoyed every single one.

Adam Daley is an excellent example of a teenage boy thrust into a world where everything he thought was important is suddenly gone. When all computers and electricity fail his classic beater car is one of only a few that still run. His father, a pilot, was scheduled to return home the same night the power failed. With no phones and no news his family has no way of knowing if he's even still alive, but he has the ultralight they were building, and the help of Herb the neighbor of questionable morals but incredibly knowledgeable about how to handle an apocalypse.

As they turn their little area of town into a self-sustaining community in the heart of a world where the civilized veneer has been removed from everyone revealing the true animal nature of many, Adam somehow manages to stay true to the decent person he is.

Unlike so many dystopic novels that end up with people sharing memes about the rest of the world continuing as if nothing is wrong and ignoring the problems centered in the North American continent this book deals with that with one statement from Herb. If our allies knew and they were able they'd be helping. If our enemies knew and they could they'd destroy us. They aren't here. It's everywhere.

I can usually tell when I'm not the only one who will like a book if Mom, who's fairly picky about what Young Adult stuff she likes raves about something. She raved about this series. So far Books one and two are out. The Rule of Three is the first and it's followed by The Fight for Power. Both follow the same little community through the unspeakable danger of a post-apocalyptic world.

The Rule of Three: Will to Survive comes out on January 19, 2016, I'm looking forward to it.

The Darkest Part of the Forest Holly Black

Holly Black writes some of the best Young Adult "fairy" stories available. Over the years I've read a large number of her books and loved nearly all of them. So when this one showed up on the library shelves I snagged it. It more than lived up to her previous work.

Hazel and her brother are the children of artists who sometimes forget they have children leaving them to wander the forest surrounding their home town of Fairview. Unfortunately Faeries also wander those same woods. And Hazel and Ben don't necessarily get along with them.

Ben is, depending on your view, blessed or cursed by a fae as a young child to be drawn to music even if he doesn't like it. It gives him a certain power over them, to control them with music. It allows him to help Hazel save herself from a hag as a small child. And as small imaginative children are inclined to do they decide this means they were destined to fight the ones that capture and slaughter a few of the wayward tourists drawn to town by the prince asleep in a glass coffin. The bard and the knight. The fact that Hazel found an enchanted sword didn't hurt either.

Add in a changeling best friend and a quest to save a prince... Ends up being one of the best fantasy-based Young Adult books I've read in years. It took me less than four hours to finish. I've already turned it over to mom to read and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good fast paced read.

Unearthly Cynthia Hand

I let my mom read this book before I did because I was reading a few others first and really not in the mood for a young adult books that I was a tad... skeptical... about. She finished it before bed the night I got it out of the library. Then proceeded to tell me the next morning that I HAD to read it, it was just that good

So I sat down to force my way into a book I wasn't in the mood for. Took all of about 10 pages before I was hooked.

Clara is a wonderful character you can't help but like. Her younger brother is just irritating enough to be a realistic younger brother without the feeling of just stereotypical cliched book brother-itis. The same is true for all the characters. You just can't help but feel like they could have been your friends/enemies in high school.

As for the quarter angel basis for the story? It works. I've read books about teenage angels, which ranged from terrific to mediocre. (I haven't read more than 10 because it's not that popular of a entity to write about, there was a series about a half angel boy and his dog and then one about a group of girls who died and became angels that I could only ever find one of despite the fact that I desperately wanted more. I unfortunately since I now know my way around Amazon, no longer remember the titles of the books in question, I was around 15 when I read them.) This one is one of the best I've ever read.

Clara begins to have visions of a boy in a burning forest. Her mother (a half angel) tells her that this must be her purpose. So they move. From California to Wyoming. Sending her brother into the depths of teenage angst, which doesn't last long once he gets there.

Thus ensues the typical new girl issues of any YA book, done in such an enjoyable way. It's not new but it's done well enough that you enjoy it.

One of my favorite subplots was the cowboy Tucker as an "enemy". Very well done. I loved the subtle ways they got to each other..

Parts had me literally laughing out loud, which is good in a book that very easily could have come off as a little too serious.

The only thing that really could have been an issue for me was that I was sad when it ended. Not that it had a bad ending just that, well, it had to END at some point. Luckily it's got a sequel... That comes out next Tuesday.... That a certain person *me* pre-ordered.

I'm greatly looking forward to Hallowed.

The Tension of Opposites Kristina McBride

This is one of those books you grab off the shelf at the library thinking "Eh it'll keep me busy for a few hours." And then end up devouring in an hour and a half.

Right off the bat I identified with the main character Tessa. She's shy, quiet and needs her best friend to pull her into social activities. Much like I was in High School. She's a 16 year old sophomore and seriously into photography.

And her best friend has been missing for two years.

The very first chapter involves her best friend calling her younger brother to arrange a plain clothes police officer to be in a particular location in two days. To arrest the rapist who has held her for two years.

The story then follows Tessa as she tries to reconnect with her damaged friend, while dealing with her very first boyfriend and a project that requires she step totally outside her normal boundaries.

While this is a fairly difficult premise to accept, unlike so many books about missing and returned teens, it feels a little more realistic to me barring a few things that since I have lived an incredibly sheltered life I'm really in no place to judge them. I loved the book from start to finish. Typical teen drama in parts. I love where Elle tries to bring down the queen bee cheerleader. I don't think she would have returned to quasi-normalcy as speedily as she did but since she's not the lead and I'm not a shrink I ignored that part.

It's difficult to describe the reasons why I loved this book without coming across incredibly callous. The easiest is to just say it's a wonderfully well written tale with horrific crimes entangled in the plot, and since they're secondary you can sort of ignore them to an extent. A good writer can let you enjoy a book without rubbing your face in the tragedies involved in the characters lives, the desperate need of Tessa to have her best friend back and the need Elle feels to put her captivity behind her just grab you. There is no way this book could have focused on Elle and been half as good. The best parts are the portions where Tess tries to assimilate the new Elle, a damaged wild child, with her sweet but crazy best bud Noelle. The way Elle's self destructive behavior pulls Tess in made me want to smack her at times, at the same time Tess takes far too much responsibility for what her friend is going through, and at the same time her obsessive loyalty is touching.

Tessa's romance with the new boy in school adds a light hearted semi-normallicy to her rather twisted life.

All in all I found this book to be a delightful read even with the obvious tragedy of decimated innocence through out.

Daddy-Long-Legs

I love this book. It was written by Mark Twain's grandniece. It's really amazing.
It's about a young orphan who is put through college by a rich "older" gentleman. All he asks in return is one letter a month outlining her progress.
She is told by the supervisor of the orphanage she lives in that the man a) is rich, b) hates girls and c) is to be referred to only as Mr. John Smith.
As she writes her first letter she says she can't call him Mr. Smith, it has no personality. Mr. Rich Man is insulting to him, and Mr. Girl-Hater well same reason. As he left the supervisors office she saw his shadow on the wall it reminded her of a Daddy-Long-Legs spider. So that's what she calls him.
It's a wonderful story. From beginning to end. The sequel Dear Enemy isn't any where near as good. But then again I read it immediately after DDL, so it could just have been that the style was getting dull. If you don't like books written as letters you won't like these. I happen to enjoy that approach.
Obviously I'm not going to tell you how it ends. That would ruin it but I will say, it's a very sweet ending.

blood and chocolate

This book was made into a movie and just from previews don't bother with the movie they butchered it.
It's about a girl (Vivian), who is a werewolf posing as a normal teenager. Then you get the whole "Meat-boy" thing about Aidan who is a good guy but kinda wimpy.
my opinion i'm not going to see the movie because well first of all the guy playing Gabriel is in his 40's, he's supposed to be in his um maybe late twenties (it's been a couple years since i read it give me a break, okay?). That's just wrong although i will say having seen the guy in SWAT he is a pretty good actor.