The Blood Lie

The Blood Lie
Shirley Reva Vernick
141 pages
Publisher: Cinco Puntos Press
Source: Goodreads win!
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

In 1928 a four-year-old girl in the small town of Massena goes missing and soon the blame is placed on sixteen-year-old Jack Pool, his family, and other Jewish community members.  Several of the local citizens on Massena believe the local Jewish population has killed the young girl as a blood sacrifice for their upcoming holy day, Yom Kippur.

A short review for a short book: What a heartbreaking novel.  There was a lot of prejudice early on in the twentieth century and this book really shows that off.  The book as a whole was really well written and a great glimpse into a few days of the life of a small town in Upstate New York.  I liked the added plot line of Jack's crush on Emaline, I thought that added an extra depth to the story.

In the author's afterword she mentions specific examples of how this kind of prejudice still exists in our world.  A lot of us don't see that on a daily basis and I think this book is a good reminder that we still have leaps to make as a society to overcome prejudices of all kinds.

Four stars to this really well-written historical YA novel.  It's short and can be read in a couple hours so I do suggest you take the time and read it.

PS: Even though I won this book and it was provided to me for free, that did not affect my review.

Imaginary Girls

Imaginary Girls
Nova Ren Suma
348 pages
Publisher: Dutton
Source: library
★★★★★

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Warning: I am about to gush over this novel.

I was blown away by this novel.  I was first struck by the sheer beauty of Suma's writing.  I don't know how she does it, but the writing was gorgeous and at times almost poetic.  Her ability to use her words to create scenes was superb and the descriptions were fantastic.  Imaginary Girls is definitely one of the best written novels I've read in 2011.

The next thing I was blown away by was the plot.  The longer the book went on, the creepier the plot got and the more I wondered about what was really going on with Ruby behind the scenes.  The book started off normally enough, or as normal as any book where the main character accidentally finds a dead body in a reservoir during a party.  Because of all the questions surrounding those circumstances, Ruby's younger sister Chloe leaves her small New York town to live with her father in Pennsylvania.  Then suddenly Ruby appears out of the blue and takes Chloe back to New York.

That's when things start getting really creepy.  Like when Chloe sees that the dead girl, London, is somehow back to life and no one seems concerned about that, at all...

Imaginary Girls was a creepy mystery with a creepy ending.  And I don't mean creepy as in it will scare you and keep you up at night, I mean creepy as in you're left wondering throughout the whole book, "What is really going on here?"  It's hard to describe, but the eerie aspects of this book were part of what made it so beautiful.  I really cannot encourage you to read it enough.

On a side note, I did read some reviews where the reviewer stated they were confused over the plot.  I would just like to say that I found nothing confusing about this book at all.  You cannot skim this book, you have to savor every word.

FIVE STARS!  Read it!

Upcoming Blood Drive Tour!

Just wanted to let you all know the I will be participating in the upcoming Blood Drive tour hosted by Once Upon a Twilight.  There will be ten chances for you to win the book if you'd like and you can find all the information about tour stops by clicking on the awesome banner below!  Stay tuned for my review and giveaway!

Banned Books Week WINNER!

Congratulations to...  Mera of Mera's YA Book List.

The winner has been notified.

The Last Little Blue Envelope

The Last Little Blue Envelope
Maureen Johnson
280 pages
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: library
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Last summer Ginny went on an European vacation orchestrated by her deceased aunt, following thirteen little blue envelopes on a mission.  Sadly, her backpack was stolen before she could read the last envelope. Then, out of the blue, she gets an e-mail from a stranger who has the last blue envelope... and he's going to go on this final journey with her.

This was a great follow-up to Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes.  Ginny was the same person, and so was Keith - but we were also introduced to a couple new characters - Ellis and Oliver.  They were both pretty distinct and the four of them together made an interesting group as they travelled from London to Paris and Ireland.  The tension between Oliver and Keith was pretty amusing.

As usual, it was great to read about the European places Ginny visited as well as the tasks her aunt provided her.  The plot had the same basic premise as the first novel, but with a greater sense of urgency.    All the while I sort of knew Ginny was going to have to make a decision at the end of the novel and her decision didn't surprise me, but that's not a bad thing.  It was classic Ginny.

I thought the final blue envelope was pretty awesome.  Ginny's aunt had some great things to say and overall the book was very touching.  It was definitely bittersweet because Ginny's aunt was such a great lady and said some profound things, but then at the end you realize she really is gone.

Four stars!  Definitely a must read if you read Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes.

In My Mailbox (3)

Well kiddos, I'm on vacation and I thought I would be skipping this week's IMM and doing double duty next week, but I have a little downtime here, so without further ado may I present my third...

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.

For review, sent by the author:
Haunted on Bourbon Street by Deanna Chase

Happy Birthday to Me and Happy Birthday to Me Again by Brian Rowe (love the covers!)

A Slot Machine Ate My Midlife Crisis by Irene Woodbury (actually got this last week, but didn't post it!)

Purchased:
Firelight by Sophie Jordan

Die Buying (Mall Cop #1) by Laura DiSilverio (Mall cops! Haha! But hopefully the heroine won't be much like Paul Blart.)

 

Mind Over Murder (A Raven's Nest Mystery #1) by Allison Kingsley

The Trouble With Magic (A Bewitching Mystery #1) by Madelyn Alt

More in than out again... oops, but it looks like a good haul.  Lots of cozy mysteries, one of my favorite genres, and lots of great sounding ebooks from authors!

September Recap

Ouch, September was a slow reading month for me.  I only read sixteen books!  Sixteen books out of the queue, an untold massive number into the queue.  I think my TBR pile must have doubled this month.  Anyway, without further ado, The List:

A Catered Halloween by Isis Crawford
Hereafter by Tara Hudson
Die For Me by Amy Plum
The Heavenstone Secrets by V.C. Andrews
Unlimited by Jillian Michaels
Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce
Spells by Aprilynne Pike
Sweetly by Jackson Pearce
Voyager by Diana Gabaldon
A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard
Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick
The Confession by Beverly Lewis
That Summer by Sarah Dessen
Twilight: The Graphic Novel
The Radleys by Matt Haig
Elixir by Hilary Duff

YTD books: 195
YTD pages: 64,701