What's Next? (5) Vacation Edition!

What's Next? is a weekly meme hosted by IceyBooks.  It's a chance for you to choose what I read/review next!  This week, I really need you to help me.  I'm going on vacation for two weeks (leaving Saturday, bye-bye blog, hello Alaska!) and I can't decide what books to take with me.  I'm definitely taking Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo and a cozy mystery or two, but what else should I take?

Leave me a comment and tell me what to read next... please!

Body & Soul (The Ghost and The Goth, #3)

Body & Soul
Stacey Kade
320 pages
Publisher: Hyperion
Source: library
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Body & Soul picks up right where Queen of the Dead left off - Alona is still in Lily's body trying to figure out how to get out while trying to fool Lily's family into believing she's their actual daughter.  She and Will start visiting local psychics, but when Malachi the Magnificent takes one look at Will and bolts, they know somethings up.  Furthermore, Alona's former BFF is claiming to be haunted by Alona.  and that's obviously not true.  Will they ever find a way out of this mess?

What a great end to the trilogy!  I still love Alona and Will's relationship, though in this book they really have to confront Alona's mortality, such as it is.  They both struggle with the issue - can she stay in Lily's body forever?  Is that really fair to Lily's family?  I can't really say much more without spoilers, but I thought the conclusion to the novel was spot on and it made me a little sad this trilogy is over.

Body and Soul wasn't as fast paced as Queen of the Dead, though the climax of the novel did leave me a little breathless.  So many exciting things were going on!  The only thing I will add is that I wish the book focused more on Will's father and what he was involved in.  I thought we would get to know a lot more about that in this novel, but that wasn't the case.

Four stars!  I really enjoyed this whole trilogy and I'm sad to see it end.  If you haven't started this series yet, please give it a look.  I know it looks cheese-tastic, but it's a really great storyline with more depth than you might expect just by looking at the covers.

In My Mailbox (40)

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

FOR REVIEW:
Betrayal by Gregg Olsen (I'm so excited!  If you haven't read Envy yet, you must!)

Starring Me by Krista McGee

The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke

The Possession of Cassie Quinn by Kathryn Knutson

PURCHASED:

Fated by Alyson Noel

SWAPPED FOR:

The Devil in the Shape of a Woman by Carol F. Karlsen (occasionally I need to feed my inner my history buff)

Total TBR: 186

Virtuosity

Virtuosity
Jessica Martinez
288 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Source: won ARC
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Carmen is a teenage violin virtuoso and the biggest competition of her life is rapidly approaching - the Guarneri competition, whose prize includes a priceless violin for four years, but also the start to an epic violin career.  Carmen was just trying to scope out the competition when she spied on Jeremy and she certainly didn't intend to actually meet him... or get kissed...  Meanwhile Carmen is also struggling with her anti-anxiety medication, worrying that she may be addicted.

Ah!  Why did I wait so long to read this book?  I absolutely loved it.  I was anything but a musical prodigy as a child - I played clarinet through middle school but was terrible and refused to practice - yet the story line in Virtuosity drew me in entirely.  Maybe I just wanted a glimpse of what that world was like.  Carmen really is an interesting character to read about; she's won a Grammy yet she hasn't even graduated high school yet.  As for school, she doesn't even go to school, she has a tutor so she can spend as much time as possible with her violin.

I loved that Carmen loved music so much.  Sure, everyone loves music, but it was practically in her veins.  I think because Carmen didn't attend high school like normal teenagers, she was a much more mature character and I really appreciated that about her.  She was wise beyond her years and that really came to her advantage near the end of the book.  Even when she found herself in a dating situation, she wasn't stereotypical teenage girl about it at all.  Perhaps that's what I enjoyed about Virtuosity the most - it was far from stereotypical.

That was such a fantastic part of the book, as well, her relationship with Jeremy.  It was such a forbidden thing because her mother thought she should focus on music and because spending time with Jeremy was practically like consorting with the enemy, and who doesn't love reading about a forbidden romance.  The ending of the book really surprised me though, the last chapter in general, but also the very last paragraph - it really left me thinking about what's next for Carmen.  I liked the way the author ended things.

The only thing I wish the author had expanded on more was Carmen's "addiction" to her anti-anxiety medication.  It wasn't a very heavy topic in the novel at all.

Four stars!  Virtuosity was a delight to read and I highly recommend it to YA contemporary fans.  The virtuosity theme was refreshing and very enjoyable.

What's Next? (4)

What's Next? is a weekly meme hosted by IceyBooks.  It's a chance for you to choose what I read/review next!  Here are this week's options:

Leave me a comment and tell me which you'd like me to read next!

Spirits of Glory

Spirits of Glory
Emily Devenport
113 pages
Publisher: the author
Source: the author
★★★☆☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Jigsaw is a colony on another planet that humans have inhabited.  It's there that sixteen-year-old Hawkeye lives, a child prodigy who graduated college at a young age, studying the disappearance - that is, how and why did all the people in the South suddenly up and disappear leaving no trace behind?  So when a ragtag group of "Neighbors" arrives at her front door thinking she knows more than she does, she has no choice but to go with them because the Northern gods have told her too, but also because she's curious...

So I feel a little bad about letting this ebook sit on my Nook for so long.  The author asked that I review it back in December, but it kept getting shoved aside until late last night when I couldn't sleep.  Enter Spirits of Glory, which I finished today and it did not disappoint!

Hawkeye is a massively interesting character to me.  She's still a teenager, but she's already graduated college and is considered very well versed in her field.  She may have bad hips that cause her a lot of pain, but that doesn't stop her!  I also adored her cat and dog, which she took on her journey with her.  They were a great addition to the story and had their own unique little personalities.  Very cute!

Overall, I recommend Spirits of Glory because it should appeal to a huge group of readers - dystopian, fantasy, and paranormal loves alike should really enjoy this short novella.

Take a Bow

Take a Bow
Elizabeth Eulberg
280 pages
Publisher: Point
Source: library
★★★☆☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Emme, Sophie, Carter, and Ethan all attend a performing arts school for different reasons.  For Emme, it's a chance to take her song-writing to the next level; for Sophie, it's just a step in plan to super-stardom; for Carter, former-child-star, it's a way to experience normal high school while not abandoning his craft; and for Ethan, he's in it for the music, but will his self-sabotaging ways get in the way?  Take a Bow follows the lives of these four students and their friends as they navigate life not only as teenagers, but as students of the performing arts.

Take a Bow is the first book I've read by Elizabeth Eulberg and it won't be my last!  I was immediately sucked into the performing arts high school drama and I found this book to be a great way to fill my time waiting between seasons of Glee.  While I've never attending a performing arts school, Take a Bow did seem pretty realistic overall.  The drama within its pages could be found in any high school across America - best friends betraying each other, unrequited love, substance abuse, to name a few.  I think Emme has to deal with an unfair amount of crap throughout the school year, but that was what made her character so captivating to me.  I would love to have Emme as a friend in real life.

I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to keep these characters straight, but that turned out to not be a problem at all since they each had unique goals in life and personalities.  Carter was also an interesting character because he's a former child-star and it was great to watch it grow throughout the novel to pursue his real dreams.

Three stars - I really enjoyed reading this book!  Like I said, it won't be the last book by Eulberg that I read, both her other books sound really interesting to me, too.  If your YA contemporary fan, definitely check this one out.  It's like real life Glee in book form.