Book Review: The After Girls

Title:  The After Girls
Author:  Leah Konen
Where I got it:  From NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review

Amazon Summary:

Ella, Astrid, and Sydney were planning the perfect summer after high school graduation. But when Astrid commits suicide in a lonely cabin, the other girls' worlds are shattered. How could their best friend have done this--to herself and to them? They knew everything about Astrid. Shouldn't they have seen this coming? Couldn't they have saved her?

As Ella hunts for the truth, and Sydney tries to dull the pain, a chilling message from Astrid leaves them wondering whether their beloved friend is communicating from the after life. The girls embark on a journey to uncover Astrid's dark secrets. The answers to those questions--questions they never dreamed of asking--will change their lives forever.

My Thoughts:
Ella and Sydney are left behind after Astrid’s suicide.  Both girls are dealing with not only their own losses, but also the huge guilt they feel over not having seen signs or helped Astrid to avoid such a tragedy.  Both girls are coping with their loss in their own ways – and they don’t always agree on how to deal in this situation.  Sydney starts acting out more than ever to dull the pain, while Ella becomes obsessed with finding out why Astrid killed herself, especially as weird things start happening. 

No one believes Ella when she swears that Astrid has called her, or that she’s seen her in the woods around “their” cabin…  And the reality of the situation is far scarier than they ever expected, and Astrid was hiding things that neither girl knows how to deal with.

This book is both sad and mysterious, making it actually fun to read, despite the difficult subject matter.  It’s hard to say that this type of book is “fun” – but it’s interesting, engaging, and dramatic, so the reader is sucked in to the story and the lives of the characters.  Definitely worth your time for fans of mystery and YA books dealing with tough subjects.

Book Review: Taken

Title:  Taken
Author:  Erin Bowman
Where I got it:  From Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review

Amazon Summary:

There are no men in Claysoot.

There are boys—but every one of them vanishes at midnight on his eighteenth birthday. The ground shakes, the wind howls, a blinding light descends . . . and he's gone.

They call it the Heist.

Gray Weathersby's eighteenth birthday is mere months away, and he's prepared to meet his fate—until he finds a strange note from his mother and starts to question everything he's been raised to accept: the Council leaders and their obvious secrets, the Heist itself, and what lies beyond the Wall that surrounds Claysoot—a structure that no one can cross and survive.

Climbing the Wall is suicide, but what comes after the Heist could be worse. Should he sit back and wait to be taken—or risk everything on the hope of the other side?

My Thoughts:
I’ve seen a lot of different comparisons drawn with Taken as I got ready to read it, and I just have to say that no matter what you try to compare this book to, it doesn’t do it justice.  There’s so much action and drama that I didn’t want to put it down, which is extremely trying when you’ve got a new puppy running around, let me tell you!

Grey and Blaine Weathersby were born a year and a day apart.  Grey is devastated when Blaine is taken by the Heist on his the eve of his eighteenth birthday, and he knows that his time will be just a short year away.  When he finds a mysterious note from his mother, he begins to question everything he’s ever known in Claysoot.  He’s determined to find answers, but what’s beyond the wall may be more terrifying than what’s inside.

This book strikes me as just slightly more of a “boy” book than a “girl” book, a distinction I find ridiculous in general but still occasionally feel compelled to make.  The main characters are primarily male, and there’s lots of development an action around them, which is the single reason that I say that.  There’s still awesome female characters that are hugely significant to the story…  Maybe the distinction is pointless.  Bottom line, there’s tons of action, adventure, and mayhem, with a tiny dash of romance all mixed up to make this a fantastic, compulsively readable book.  I adored it, and I am desperately waiting for more!

Recent Reads

In my quest to start liking to read for fun again, I’ve been hitting up the library and reading off TBR a bit more lately, even though it’s putting me behind.  It’s good to want to pick up my books.  Here’s a smattering of what I’ve been reading lately!

Have you read any of these?  What did you think? 

Top Ten: Books on Tough Subjects

Top Ten Tuesday is an awesome weekly event hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, that gives us all a chance to make lists!  I love making lists, so this is right up my alley.  :-)

Our topic this week is books that tackle tough subjects…  So here we go!

I know I missed a bunch of awesome books, tell me what you had on your list!

bout of books 7.0

It’s Bout of Books time!  This week-long read-a-thon is more about fun than anything else, and I’m definitely hoping to get in some good reading time.  The only goal is to read a little more than you usually would – so turn off your TV and pick up a book and join me!

My goals for this week are to get through my library books that are way too near their due dates for my comfort.  If I accomplish that, I’ll be tackling my review pile, which is also sadly running behind.  Some highlights that I know of include:

This might be wishful thinking, but a girl’s gotta have goals, right?

Book Review: The Best of Us

Title:  The Best of Us
Author:  Sarah Pekkanen
Where I got it:  From the publisher, in exchange for an honest review

Amazon Summary:

An all-expense-paid week at a luxury villa in Jamaica—it’s the invitation of a lifetime for a group of old college friends. All four women are desperate not just for a reunion, but for an escape: Tina is drowning under the demands of mothering four young children. Allie is shattered by the news that a genetic illness runs in her family. Savannah is carrying the secret of her husband’s infidelity. And, finally, there’s Pauline, who spares no expense to throw her wealthy husband an unforgettable thirty-fifth birthday celebration, hoping it will gloss over the cracks already splitting apart their new marriage.

Languid hours on a private beach, gourmet dinners, and late nights of drinking kick off an idyllic week for the women and their husbands. But as a powerful hurricane bears down on the island, turmoil swirls inside the villa, forcing each of the women to reevaluate everything she knows about her friends—and herself.

My Thoughts:
Sarah Pekkanen writes contemporary fiction like nobody’s business, and The Best of Us is no exception.  While the circumstances that surround the story are certainly a bit unusual, the emotions and relationships are spot on and completely believable, which is the best part of the story of these four college friends.

Allie, Savannah, Tina, and Dwight were all close friends in college, but have grown apart to some extent as the years have passed.  All are married, and have various family lives that consume their time.  But for Dwight’s 35th birthday, his wife arranges an all expenses paid trip to Jamaica for the college quartet and their spouses.  But the weather and the intense dynamic wreak havoc in these relationships, and as the week progresses, each woman will have to confront their lives in unique ways.

Pekkanen explores family and friendship dynamics so fantastically well, with a huge dose of realism that makes this book compulsively readable.  While I’m not personally in the same position in life that any of these women are, I absolutely could empathize with their situations and the individual stresses and challenges they experience.  This tropical vacation will end up being one they won’t soon forget, for many different reasons.

Book Review: The Sweetest Dark

Title:  The Sweetest Dark
Author:  Shana Abe
Where I got it:  From NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review

Amazon Summary:

For fans of Lauren Kate and Libba Bray, The Sweetest Dark is filled with thrilling romance, exciting adventure, and ancient magic. Shana Abé brilliantly captures the drama of post-Victorian England, while unfolding a passionate love story that defies time.

“With every fiber of my being, I yearned to be normal. To glide through my days at Iverson without incident. But I’d have to face the fact that my life was about to unfold in a very, very different way than I’d ever envisioned. Normal would become forever out of reach.”

Lora Jones has always known that she’s different. On the outside, she appears to be an ordinary sixteen-year-old girl. Yet Lora’s been keeping a heartful of secrets: She hears songs that no one else can hear, dreams vividly of smoke and flight, and lives with a mysterious voice inside her that insists she’s far more than what she seems.

England, 1915. Raised in an orphanage in a rough corner of London, Lora quickly learns to hide her unique abilities and avoid attention. Then, much to her surprise, she is selected as the new charity student at Iverson, an elite boarding school on England’s southern coast. Iverson’s eerie, gothic castle is like nothing Lora has ever seen. And the two boys she meets there will open her eyes and forever change her destiny.

Jesse is the school’s groundskeeper—a beautiful boy who recognizes Lora for who and what she truly is. Armand is a darkly handsome and arrogant aristocrat who harbors a few closely guarded secrets of his own. Both hold the answers to her past. One is the key to her future. And both will aim to win her heart. As danger descends upon Iverson, Lora must harness the powers she’s only just begun to understand, or else lose everything she dearly loves.

Filled with lush atmosphere, thrilling romance, and ancient magic, The Sweetest Dark brilliantly captures a rich historical era while unfolding an enchanting love story that defies time.

My Thoughts:
The Sweetest Dark was a great new twist on paranormal YA, and I am so excited for the sequel to come out after reading it!  Actually, to tell a secret, I have a review copy of the next book, and it’s really tempting me right now.  If I wasn’t running behind on other stuff right now, I’d probably be reading it.  This book has everything you could want – paranormal happenings, UNIQUE paranormal happenings!  And romance.  And danger and adventure.  Definitely a great mix.

Lora’s always had special abilities.  After she was institutionalized for discussing them, she learns to hide them, but at her new school, she won’t be able to continue to do that.  Jesse recognizes her for what she is, and Lora is drawn to him.  But Armand is more than he seems, and he’s inexplicably intrigued by Lora and her abilities…  As the danger increases, the three must work together to figure out what’s really going on at the school, before it’s too late.

Welcome to the Family!

Last fall, we lost our “son” to cancer, which was incredibly traumatic and horrible and I still miss him every day.  Oscar was an awesome dog, with more personality than you would ever expect to find in a compact little body.  He was a great friend and brother to our two other dogs.  This is Oscar (and Madison’s rear):

After spending many many months recovering from our loss, we started working our way around to adopting another pup to round our house back out again.  Three dogs seems like a lot to most people, but they’re like our kids and we love them, and the house seemed way too empty when we were one down.

Last weekend, hubs went camping and I “wandered” into the pet store on an adoption weekend.  There were two adorable twelve week old pups there, but I knew that there was no way I could integrate a new pup to the house without an extra set of hands, so I cuddled one of them and left.  But, they stuck in my head, so we went back on Sunday when hubs got home, and within minutes he’d agreed that this little sweetheart needed to come home with us. 

Welcome to the family Ivy! 

We’ve had some growing pains in the past week, but we are so thrilled to have this sweet little girl in our home!