Posts Categorized: Review

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Review: Slide by Jill Hathaway

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Slide
Jill Hathaway
Release date: March 27th, 2012
by Balzer + Bray

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Vee Bell is certain of one irrefutable truth—her sister’s friend Sophie didn’t kill herself. She was murdered.

Vee knows this because she was there. Everyone believes Vee is narcoleptic, but she doesn’t actually fall asleep during these episodes: When she passes out, she slides into somebody else’s mind and experiences the world through that person’s eyes. She’s slid into her sister as she cheated on a math test, into a teacher sneaking a drink before class. She learned the worst about a supposed “friend” when she slid into her during a school dance. But nothing could have prepared Vee for what happens one October night when she slides into the mind of someone holding a bloody knife, standing over Sophie’s slashed body.

Vee desperately wishes she could share her secret, but who would believe her? It sounds so crazy that she can’t bring herself to tell her best friend, Rollins, let alone the police. Even if she could confide in Rollins, he has been acting off lately, more distant, especially now that she’s been spending more time with Zane.

Enmeshed in a terrifying web of secrets, lies, and danger and with no one to turn to, Vee must find a way to unmask the killer before he or she strikes again.

*A copy was provided by HarperCollins for review purposes*
Slide is a refreshing, fast paced YA mystery that has original paranormal elements along with great character building; a very quick read that I would recommend to all fans of thrillers.

Vee is able to “slide” into someone else’s head when she gets these fainting spells. This is when she figures out there’s a murderer on the loose. I loved this sliding ability. It’s original, clever, and it can make for some serious amusement. I was a bit disappointed that it wasn’t elaborated more thoroughly, though. Curiosity gets the best of me and I want to find out why, how, and the purpose of these paranormal elements in books. Where do they come from? How did they get it? Who else is affected? When these bases aren’t touched it simply feel out of sorts in an otherwise contemporary novel. Regardless, I still found it fascinating as it took us into the minds of several characters, and essentially enforced them with personalities.

I’ve been reading murder mysteries since I was in my early teens. I have always loved them – one of my favorite series was Veronica Mars (still sad it was cancelled). Consequently, I’ve developed quite the talent of figuring out who’s guilty, so in my case I thought it was fairly predictable, but I wasn’t too put down by it. I was still kept constantly entertained, mostly by the characters’ relationships and family dynamics.

Jill’s ability to write well rendered characters and their relationships is what I enjoyed the most in Slide. We’ve got very deep, emotional issues that are touched in this story. Absentee fathers, deaths (including suicide), bullying, affairs – she was able to create serious life problems that are dramatic, but also deeply realistic. It’s incredible the way Vee deals with difficult situations she’s thrown into. I loved her relationship with her sister the most. Being basically the one raising her, she has incredible patience and maturity to stand by her, supporting her through all her rights and wrong. This is only one of the many reasons why I absolutely admired Vee’s character.

The mystery is fun, the characters are wonderful, and the pacing keeps you on your toes. Even though it didn’t blow my mind, Slide is definitely a book I’d suggest for all fans of murder mysteries – a rare gem in current YA.  


3 Hot Espressos

Someone Else’s Life Tour Stop

Posted by on 03/27/2012 • 23 Comments

Someone Else’s Life is a book I really enjoyed recently so I’m happy to have the tour stop drop by for my review and a really fun interview with Katie Dale! Enjoy! 🙂

Someone Else’s LifeKatie DaleRelease date: February 14th, 2012by Random House Children’s Books

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When 17-year-old Rosie’s mother, Trudie, dies from Huntington’s Disease, her pain is intensified by the knowledge that she has a fifty percent chance of inheriting the crippling disease herself. Only when Rosie tells her mother’s best friend, “Aunt Sarah,” that she is going to test for the disease does Sarah, a midwife, reveal that Trudie wasn’t her real mother after all. Rosie was swapped at birth with a sickly baby who was destined to die.Devastated, Rosie decides to trace her real…

Review: As the World Dies: Untold Tales Vol 1

Posted by on 03/26/2012 • 16 Comments

As the World Dies: Untold Tales Vol 1Rhiannon FraterRelease date: August 3rd, 2011

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THE FIRST DAYS: AS THE WORLD DIES introduced Jenni and Katie and their harrowing journey to the makeshift fort in the Texas Hill Country. But theirs is not the only tale to be told.

In the first volume of the AS THE WORLD DIES UNTOLD TALES experience three terrifying tales of those who are forced to face the unrelenting and hungry walking dead.

Deep in the Texas Hill Country, a man and his little dog takes refuge in a bed and breakfast located in the hills above a doomed town where an infested rescue center might unleash the hungry undead…

On a deserted highway slicing through the desolation of West Texas, a…

Review: Notes to Self by Avery Sawyer

Posted by on 03/23/2012 • 20 Comments

Notes to SelfAvery SawyerRelease date: November, 2011

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Two climbed up. Two fell down.

One woke up.

In the aftermath of a traumatic brain injury, Robin Saunders has to relearn who she is and find out what happened the night everything changed.

*A copy was provided by Avery Sawyer for review purposes*

After a brain injury, Robin is dealing with amnesia, having to learn her likes, dislikes, but most importantly: what really happened that night, the night she and her friend fell. A short book, but one dripping with emotions and filled with mystery.

From the very start, Robin is someone I understood. She took me in her head and made herself open so I could see her vulnerability, her worries and fears. She also…

Review: The List by Siobhan Vivian

Posted by on 03/22/2012 • 35 Comments

The ListSiobhan VivianRelease date: April 1st, 2012by Push

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It happens every year. A list is posted, and one girl from each grade is chosen as the prettiest, and another is chosen as the ugliest. Nobody knows who makes the list. It almost doesn’t matter. The damage is done the minute it goes up.

This is the story of eight girls, freshman to senior, “pretty” and “ugly.” And it’s also the story of how we see ourselves, and how other people see us, and the tangled connection of the two.

*A copy was provided by Scholastic Canada for review purposes* A light, quick read – The List follows eight girls who have been named ugliest or pretties on this “List” which has been posted around the school…

Review: Jenny Pox by J.L. Bryan

Posted by on 03/21/2012 • 47 Comments

Jenny PoxJ.L. BryanSeries: The Paranormals, #1Release date: July 22nd, 2010

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Eighteen-year-old Jenny Morton has a horrific secret: her touch spreads a deadly supernatural plague, the “Jenny pox.” She lives by a single rule: Never touch anyone. A lifetime of avoiding any physical contact with others has made her isolated and painfully lonely in her small rural town.

Then she meets the one boy she can touch. Jenny feels herself falling for Seth…but if she’s going to be with him, Jenny must learn to use the deadly pox inside her to confront his ruthless and manipulative girlfriend Ashleigh, who secretly wields the most dangerous power of all. * * * Not recommended for readers under eighteen.

When I first came upon this book months ago,…

Review: After the Snow by S.D. Crockett

Posted by on 03/20/2012 • 21 Comments

After the SnowS.D. CrockettRelease date: March 27th, 2012by Feiwel & Friends

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Fifteen-year-old Willo was out hunting when the trucks came and took his family away. Left alone in the snow, Willo becomes determined to find and rescue his family, and he knows just who to talk with to learn where they are. He plans to head across the mountains and make Farmer Geraint tell him where his family has gone.

But on the way across the mountain, he finds Mary, a refugee from the city, whose father is lost and who is starving to death. The smart thing to do would be to leave her alone — he doesn’t have enough supplies for two or the time to take care of a girl — but…

Review: Fighting to Survive by Rhiannon Frater

Posted by on 03/19/2012 • 26 Comments

Fighting to SurviveRhiannon FraterSeries: As The World Dies: A Zombie Trilogy #2Release date: November 8th, 2011by Tor Books

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Picking up where The First Days ends, Fighting to Survive features the further zombie-killing, civilization-saving adventures of a pair of sexy, kick butt heroines and the men who love them. A hundred or so survivors of the zombie plague have found tenuous safety in the walled off center of a small Texas town. Now the hard work of survival begins—finding enough food; creating safe, weather-resistant shelter; establishing laws; and fighting off both the undead who want to eat them and the living bandits who want to rob and kill them.

Spoiler free even for those new to the series.

Zombies. They’re freaking scary aren’t they? They…