Welcome, Caller, This Is Chloe

Welcome, Caller, This Is Chloe
Shelley Coriell
299 pages
Publisher: Amulet Books
Source: NetGalley
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Chloe is a junior in high school, which can mean only one thing: it's time to do her junior independent study project (JISP).  After coming back from a tumultuous winter break only to find that her best friends have also ditched her, her guidance counselor nixes her project idea and forces her to do her project with the school's failing radio station.  Soon Chloe is coming up with some new marketing ideas that include her being on the air twice a week!  She makes fast friends (sort of) with the radio crew and Duncan in particular...

So let's talk about Duncan and Chloe - I love their relationship!  Duncan, despite his serious home problems, is the sweetest, most upstanding guy I've read about in contemporary YA.  He was so adorable!  I loved watching his relationship with Chloe process, waiting for them to finally get it together.  Duncan got more and more charming as the book progressed - what a swoon-worthy dude!

Chloe by herself was an amazing character.  I envied her for a few reasons, one of which obviously being her kick-ass shoes, but on a more serious note, I envied her strength.  Chloe's got a world of problems, yet she manages to stay sincerely perky and persevere.  I loved that when her best friends ditched her, she did not wallow in self-pity but instead was able to recognize it was a problem with them, not her.  That's a message all teenage girls should read about.

Four stars!  I loved this book because it had just the right mix of comedy and serious issues.  Chloe was an awesome character.  I highly recommend this one if you're a contemporary YA fan.  It is a standalone, so go check it out when it's released May first.

PS: The girl on the cover looks so familiar!  Does anyone know if she was ever on TV?

3/12 complete!

Changeless

Changeless
Gail Carriger
374 pages
Publisher: Orbit
Source: booksfree.com
★★★☆☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

A short review for you, which surely contains spoilers from the first novel: Soulless.

I read the first book in The Parasol Protectorate series earlier this year and loved it, so I was a little eager to get on to the second book, Changeless.  In this second installment, we find Alexia married to her beau and off on a new mystery - the werewolves about town are failing to change, which means something paranormally wrong is afoot.  Soon Alexia is off with her strange entourage to Scotland to try and solve the mystery.

This book held all the whimsy of the first novel with some new technological twists.  Alexia's new parasol, a gift from her husband, was my favorite gadget - a Swiss-Army-Parasol of sorts.  Of course, there was also the Dirigibles (the only way to travel ;)) and the aethographor.  Steampunk technology is fascinating.

Three stars!  The book started and ended on high notes, but the middle failed to capture my full attention.  Based on how Changeless ended, however, I'm really looking forward to continuing on with the series to the third book, Blameless.  If you like Steampunk and/or paranormal and/or a good romance, definitely check out this series.

Wintergirls

Wintergirls
Laurie Halse Anderson
278 pages
Publisher: Viking
Source: purchased
★★★★★

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Read this book.  Let me tell you why.

Lia and Cassie were best friends growing up until they were seniors in high school.  They had a falling out and a few months later Cassie is found alone, dead in a hotel room.  Lia is haunted by this as she continues to fight with her own demons- her family, her school life, and her anorexia, which is getting worse.

That description doesn't even begging to do this book justice.  You must read this book!

The first thing that struck me was the plot.  It was obvious from page one that this was going to be a powerfully emotional novel and it was.  It sucked me in so much, my heart was hurting for Lia.  I wanted to pull her from the pages and just give her a hug, but the only thing I could do for her was just keep reading.  The more into the book I got, the more I was sucked in, the more I wanted to help somehow.  Lia didn't deserve the torment she put herself through.

The second thing that struck me, almost as quickly as the plot, was the writing.  Anderson's writing is gorgeous - it creates such imagery that you can't help but fall in love with the book, no matter how heartbreaking it gets.  The images Anderson shows the reader are just awe-inspiring.  I don't know how anyone could read this book and not feel some sort of connection to it.

Five plus stars.  This book is beautiful, deep, and haunting.  I really don't know what else to say.  I know book blogs often focus on the latest release and Wintergirls was published in 2009, but it's such an important, timeless book.  I'm practically begging you to read this, can't you do me a solid and get yourself a copy?

Grave Mercy

Grave Mercy
R.L. LaFevers
564 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Source: NetGalley
★★★☆☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

I really liked the idea for this YA novel.  A young girl is saved from a sham of a disgusting marriage and sent to the safety of a convent, where she learns that she is actually the daughter of Death.  Ismae learns she has special talents passed down to her from her father and so she starts learning the art of being an assassin.  She is sent out for an assignment in Brittany where soon she must decide between her loyalty to the convent of St. Mortain and her newfound love.

Like I said, I thought the concept for this novel was great.  I was relieved for Isame when she was saved from her "marriage" and thrust into a welcoming community where she felt she could belong and thrive.  I also felt for her when she discovered that community might not be as objective as they claimed and she had to decided between them and her new love, it's obviously a hard decision to make!

Overall, however, this book was up and down for me.  I thought I was going to be hooked after the first couple chapters, but then my interest waned and it wasn't until about halfway through the novel that my interest really picked up again.  I'm not sure why this was the case, except that I can say that I felt like the writing was dry at times.  The plot throughout was wholly interesting, though.  A strange combination.

On a positive note, Grave Mercy is the first in the His Fair Assassin series, but can be read as a standalone. It seems as though the second novel, due out Spring 2013, will focus on Sybella - a secondary character in Grave Mercy.

If I did half stars, Grave Mercy would be a three and half star book for me.  I liked it, but it didn't fall into that category of "really liked" for me.  The concept was awesome, but the book was a little dry at times for me.  Check it out if you like YA paranormal historical fiction; Grave Mercy will be released April 3rd.

In My Mailbox (27)

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

FROM THE LIBRARY:
Fever by Lauren DeStefano

Queen of the Dead by Stacey Kade

Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep

SWAPPED FOR:
Confessions of a Prairie Bitch by Alison Arngrim

Total TBR: 163

Keeping the Moon

Keeping the Moon
Sarah Dessen
228 pages
Publisher: Speak
Source: mall book sale :-P
★★★☆☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

So, the mall I work in was having a book sale and while there wasn't much to choose from (I only got two fiction books and two cookbooks) I found this one and since I didn't have a copy already, I scooped it up.  Color me surprised when I got it home and found out it was also signed!

Anyway, Keeping the Moon is about fifteen-year-old Colie whose mother has left her with her aunt while she goes on a tour circuit promoting hew new workout system.  Both Colie and her mother used to be very overweight, but thanks to diligent exercise they're both at good weights.  But for Colie, she still can't get past the stigma of once being fat.

This was basically a coming of age novel, where Colie, separated from the comfort of her mother, is left to face the demons of her past (sometimes literally) and develop a sense of self-worth.  That's a great message we need to teach all our daughters and I was glad Colie started that journey, but altogether the plot seemed a little too easy.

I thought this book at a lot of potential with its subject matter, but ultimately it did not deliver for me in the way Dessen's other books have.  Only three stars for this one.

Aftertime

Aftertime
Sophie Littlefield
384 pages
Publisher: Luna (a division of Harlequin)
Source: library
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Zombies - this is the main problem everyone faces now that the gas has run out and government and communication has shut down.  But Cass has an even bigger problem: she was abducted by the zombies and now that she's back, awake, and recovering, she has to find her three-year-old daughter.

Cass's adventure in Aftertime took her to several different places and introduced us to a diverse cast of characters.  When she stumbles upon a community of survivors, she's assigned Smoke, a man who will take her to her daughter, but when her daughter isn't where she should be, Smoke continues on with her and a hint of a romance develops.  Along the way they meet several other people who are trying to survive, everything from one guy holed up in his own house still, to a stadium filled with women.

I appreciated the flashbacks of memories Cass had during the novel - I think it really added that something extra to the story line, allowing us to get a better glimpse of who Cass really is, the events in her past that shaped her and how they are affecting her today.

What I loved about this book: there was no major cliffhanger!  Sure I got the general sense that this story will continue and there's more to it, but it didn't end in that annoying fashion like, "The guard's hand clasped around her neck and... stay tuned for the next book!"  This was a relief because my library doesn't have the second book and there is a wait list at PaperBackSwap.  Rebirth is definitely on my must read as soon as I can list, though.

Four stars!  Book one blew me away and I loved it a lot more than I thought I was going to.  I highly recommend to post-apocolyptic and dystopian fans (there were elements of both in this novel) but be forewarned, this book is not YA - there are graphic sex scenes and a lot of grotesque, flesh-eating violence.  Aftertime is not for the fainthearted but still very enjoyable.