Viral Nation

Viral Nation
Shaunta Grimes
315 pages
Releases: July 2, 2013
Publisher: Berkley
Source: the publisher
★★★☆☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Sixteen years after a virus swept the nation killing most of the population, Clover, her brother, and her father still survive by taking daily injections that keep the virus from taking hold of their bodies.  Clover, who is autistic, is sixteen now and ready to continue her education.  But when she's told she cannot attend with her dog, Mango, she is instead sent to the Company where she's on the fast track to become a Time Mariner - a person who travels two year into the future on missions to gather news.  But one of Clover's missions throws her for a loop when she learns that her brother is in trouble, and now the most important thing is saving his life before it's taken away.

Clover's story struck me as unique right away, since she is autistic.  She was immediately an endearing and realistic character, and her helper dog Mango was fantastic as well.  I felt for her right away when she was denied entry into the Academy but I also admired her ability to throw herself into her new "job" and enjoy it.  Clover is probably one of the best characters in recent YA.  She alone is a reason to read Viral Nation.

Of course, what's going to keep you reading is the plot.  It's been a long time since I've read a YA novel with a plot that was so well crafted and with so many intricate layers.  That's a true testament to Shaunta Grimes' writing skills.  I loved the time traveling aspect of the novel, it really lent itself to an interesting plot and really made me think.

On the other hand, even though I loved Clover and I thought the plot was so well crafted, I did find that Viral Nation didn't hold my attention.  My mind was wandering, particularly around the halfway to three-quarters part.  Still, by the end of the novel I found myself excited to see how the story will continue in the next book in the series.

Three stars.  While Viral Nation was a well thought out novel, it failed to hold my complete attention.  However, if you're a hardcore dystopian fan I really recommend this one.  Viral Nation is the start of what appears to be a fantastic series.

The Moon and More

The Moon and More
Sarah Dessen
435 pages
Released: June 4, 2103
Publisher: Viking Juvinille
Source: purchased
★★★★☆

© Panda Reads

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

I love Sarah Dessen's writing.  I could gush about it for hours (I'll spare you) so needless so say, I was out buying this book the day after it came out.  Above is a pic of how great that day was - my signed copy and a SBUX Frappucino.  Good day, good day.  Now bear with me as I try to organize my thoughts about this one because finished reading it a week ago while I was on vacation and have since finished two other novels.  This is why I need to write reviews right away.

Emaline has lived in Colby all her life and this is her last summer there before college.  Her plans include working at her family's beach resort and hanging out with her longtime boyfriend, Luke.  But when a handsome young man moves into one of the beach houses to film a documentary, and when Emaline's biological father shows up in town with her half-brother, Emaline's life is turned upside down as she starts questioning everything she's ever known up to this point.

The Moon and More is a definite coming of age novel.  Emaline is about to head off to college, and everything she's ever known is about to change.  Not just moving away from home, but suddenly her relationship with Luke doesn't seem as perfect as it once was.  Theo is handsome and, coming from New York, somewhat exotic to Emaline.  He seems devoted to her, as well.  Enter the love triangle.

A note about the love triangle in The Moon and More: I couldn't fall for it.  Usually in a love triangle there's one guy I'm rooting for, one guy who I think has the most chemistry with the girl, one guy I think should win.  But I didn't feel much chemistry between Emaline and Luke or Emaline and Theo.  Thus, the romance wasn't the most interesting part of the novel for me.  The most interesting part of the novel to me was, hands down, the documentary subject.  It might sound silly, being interesting in the Colby resident who created a bunch of art in the nineties and now wants to hide from it, but I think there was a lesson in there, too.

Of course, love was not the only change Emaline was facing and heavier topics were handled in The Moon and More, as well.  Emaline's biological father never had a major part in her life.  When he decides to help her out with college and then has to take it back, he visits Colby and Emaline must deal with her father in person.  On the other side, Emaline's mother's husband, who Emaline calls Dad, is more of a father to Emaline than her biological father could be.  It's a tough topic to cover, but Sarah Dessen does it wonderfully.  The whole situation seemed extremely realistic.  Family was an important topic in the novel and it's was really what it was all about.

Four stars!  While The Moon and More wasn't my most favorite Sarah Dessen novel, it still had that special je ne sais quois that only Sarah Dessen can accomplish.  I love her writing style and The Moon and More made me giggle more than once.  It's definitely worth a read, especially if you're a huge fan of contemporaries and/or Dessen's other works.

Excuse my absence...

You'll have to excuse my absence, I was a little preoccupied this past week...

photo copyright 2013 Panda Reads

But, rest assured, I have a few reviews coming up for you soon, including The Moon and More and The Testing.  Stay tuned!

45 Pounds (More or Less)

45 Pounds (More or Less)
K.A. Barson
272 pages
Releases: July 11, 2013
Publisher: Viking
Source: Goodreads win!
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Ann has been overweight for as long as she can remember and even though she's tried many a fad-diet, not much has worked.  But when her aunt gets engaged and asks her to be in the wedding party, Ann knows it's time to lose that forty-five pounds once and for all.

Ann's big idea to lose weight this time around is a weight loss program from an infomercial that includes supplements and frozen meals.  But like all things advertised on TV, it turns out to be too good to be true.  Hello, when the "cheese" on your "lasagna" won't melt in the microwave, that's a bad sign.

More than the typical teenage weight loss saga, however, 45 Pounds is a story about relationships.  Ann's relationship with her mother isn't perfect, especially since her mother is a size six and complains eating will make her fat.  Meanwhile, her mother offers to try and help Ann by buying her outfits sizes too small so she has a goal to work towards.  And even though Weight Watcher's won't let her mother join because she isn't actually overweight, she tries to get Ann to do that with her as well.  As you can imagine, these things aren't great for Ann's self-esteem.  I can't imagine what it would be like to have a mother who could make you feel bad about yourself.  I'm sure Ann's mother didn't mean it like that, but that's obviously how it came off.  And how their relationship was affecting Ann's little sister was even more heartbreaking.  A six year old with a burgeoning eating disorder, so sad!

Ann also does a little bit of coming-of-age in 45 Pounds.  She finds a new job, new friends, new experiences, and dare I say, a new romance?  There are a few good life lessons in there, as well.

But, as you might be able to tell from the cover of the book, 45 Pounds isn't all serious and heart wrenching; not at all.  In fact, 45 Pounds had me literally laughing out loud at points.  Ann might have a weight problem, but she certainly has a sense of humor about it, even as she's imaging the sales girl at her favorite store calling 911 because "We have a girl here trapped in a dress!"

Four stars!  In some ways 45 Pounds was another YA novel about weight loss where the main character whines about her weight, but I found 45 Pounds to be extrememly enjoyable because it made me laugh and most, if not all, of the characters were realistic and endearing.  This is one that should probably be read by every high school girl ever, so if you know one, buy them this book when it releases July 11th.

Parallel

Parallel
Lauren Miller
419 pages
Released: May 14, 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: acquired ARC
★★★★★

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

My local used book store has a rack of books free with purchase.   That's where I found an ARC of this baby last week, which I had read something about on someone or another's blog earlier that day.  I recognized the cover, read the back, and searched the store to finds something, anything (it's not difficult,) so I could get this book.

Abby Barnes has a life plan: graduate high school, go to school for journalism, and be a famous journalist by age 22.  Her life plan changes, though, when she signs up for a Drama class as an extracurricular, is discovered, and becomes an actress in L.A.  But her life is changed again suddenly when an "earthquake" strikes and parallel universes collide.  In one world Abby is an actress in Hollywood, but in the other she's a student at Yale.  While most people are unaffected, Abby retains her memories from both parallel universes, leaving her confused and with a year plus a day gap in her memories.

My first impressions, aside from the cover which I love, were a little mixed.  The first chapter was a little bit of an info dump, but it was an interesting info dump.  I was drawn in right away by Abby's quick rise to fame - a dream several high school girls have, but Abby wanted something more.  The second chapter threw me for a loop right away.  Abby wakes up at Yale, clear on the other side of the country, with no memory of how she got there.  The chapters alternate between Abby's two worlds, each unique but with parallels (hello, that's the name of the book!) but there is a year plus a day gap between Abby's parallel worlds, which means when she's at Yale, she can't remember anything that happened for the past year.

This leads to all kinds of delightful plot twists revolving around who Abby is dating and the state of her relationship with her best friends.  I don't want to give it away, but I think Abby really learns a lot about herself as she discovers throughout the novel what happened over the past year.  In that way, Parallel isn't just a novel about alternative universes, but also a book about the journey of self-discovery.

Parallel left me with one big question: Is this possible?  Is there another me out there somewhere doing something similar, but slightly different?  Am I married to a different person like Abby was dating a different person?  Is my career different?  What if my other life is better and I don't even know it?  Regardless of the answers to these questions, they're kind of fun to think about.

Here's a fun fact about me:  I never took physics in high school, let alone college.  Never once have I ever thought to myself, "I wish I'd taken physics," though at times I have found myself relishing the fact that I was able to skip it my senior year of high school by taking Environmental instead, which was a huge joke of a class that I aced by simply breathing (this is barely an exaggeration.)

My opinion about physics all changed, however, within the first seventy or so pages of Parallel.  WAIT, don't stop reading!  Don't decide to skip Parallel simply because it involves a little physics.  The physics in Parallel (after a tiny bit of research) is fictionazlied, though based on fact, and extremely easy to follow.  Still, my interests are piqued.  Is there such a thing as Physics for Dummies?  Because I want a copy of that if there is.  Next stop: string theory.

But I digress... FIVE STARS!  Parallel is utterly enthralling and addictive.  I can't remember the last time I read a book that caused me to be so enthralled, I was reading the car while running errands; don't worry, Husband was driving.  I stayed up until three a.m. finishing this baby, and that hasn't happened since at least Fall 2012.  Can you tell I liked it?  I loved it.  You must add this book to your TBR right now.  There's a handy Amazon link below, actually, which you might find useful.  As for me, I'll be looking out for more by Lauren Miller.

3/12 complete!

In My Mailbox (71)

IMM is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren.

I haven't done an IMM since February!  Whoa.  Rather than try and sort through the disarray that is my book collection, I just gathered some of the most recent books I've acquired over the past two weeks.  Here they are (links go to Goodreads):

FOR REVIEW:
Merit Press sent Piece of My Heart

SWAPPED FOR:

Crash by Nicole Williams

School Spirits (ARC) by Rachel Hawkins 

PURCHASED:

BZRK Reloaded by Michael Grant (My used book store has ARCs free w/ purchase!  Now I just have to read BZRK.)

Gorgeous by Paul Rudnick

Shattered Souls by Mary Lindsey

Generation Dead and Kiss of Life by Daniel Waters

ALSO PURCHASED:

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (I told you I wanted to read it again!)

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Variant by Robison Wells

FROM THE LIBRARY:

The Death of Bees by Lisa O'Donnell

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer (Oops, I already owned this. But with a due date I'll be forced to read it!)

As you can see, my book acquiring habit is still going strong.  Now... what should I read first?  

April/May Recap

Ok, time to get back into the swing of things here at Panda Reads.  I'm slowly getting back into reviewing and I need to get back into IMM and monthly recaps.  So without further ado, here's everything I read in April and May.  Links go to my reviews, enjoy!

APRIL:
Sever by Lauren DeStefano
The After Girls by Leah Konen

MAY:
Fall of Night by Rachel Caine
Black City by Elizabeth Richards
Phoenix by Elizabeth Richards
A Breath of Eyre by Eve Marie Mont
The Keep by Veronica Wolff

Books read YTD: 23
Pages read YTD: 7295