Title: The Girl Who Owned a City
Author: O.T. Nelson / Dan Jolley
Book #: Standalone
Publisher: Graphic Universe
Publish Date: January 1st 2012
Pages: 126
Format: Paperback
Date Read: September 15th 2013
Rating: ★★★★★ / out of 5
Pick a path you believe is right, and stick to it. That's what mom and dad always said. That's all I'm trying to do. But right or wrong tonight?
I don't regret anything.
Summary:
My parents are gone, so I'm responsible for my little brother Todd. I have to make sure we stay alive. Many kids are sick or starving, and fierce gangs are stealing and destroying everything they find. Lots of people have given up, but here on Grand Avenue, some of us are surviving. Because of me.
In a world like this, someone have to take charge.
(Synopsis taken from Goodreads)
Review:
I read the novel this is based off of in middle school and I don't think I ever really appreciated it. Now, though, I really have to go back and re-read it. If it is anything like this, it will have a very strong, determined, kick-ass protagonist!
The story isn't too fleshed out in this graphic novel, so I can't go into too much depth on the story itself. What story we do get, though, is very good.
__________
Lisa is struggling with a lot. After the entire world was struck by a virus- killing everyone over the age of 13- she is alone, surviving with her younger brother. She does this very well. Right away, she takes action. While other kids clear the stores off all the candy and sugary-drinks, she takes the canned food and non-perishable items. She grabs medical supplies and water. She searches the homes further out, isolated, and targets the warehouses.
When violent gangs start becoming a major threat, she rallies together the kids on her block. As a group, they carve out their own safe place in this new, ruined world.
My favorite part of this graphic novels were the graphics themselves. Very vibrant and detailed, yet still keeping a cartoon-ish feel. I really want to check out more from this artist!
Overall, this was a great graphic novel! I just hope the story it is based on lives up to it.
Quotes:"Nothing makes stealing okay."
Pages:
To come!
On My Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/719829205
Title: The Color of Water
Author: Kim Dong-Hwa
Book #: 2nd of Trilogy
Publisher: First Second
Publish Date: June 9th 2009
Pages: 320
Format: Paperback
Date Read: September 15th 2013
Rating: ★★★★★ / out of 5
A man who becomes enchanted by the flower's fragrance stays only for a fleeting moment, but a man who comes because of love stays for a lifetime.
Summary:
When Ehwa goes to the town festival, she meets a handsome young wrestler named Duksam who’s eager to catch her eye. After he wins the festival wrestling championship, he and Ehwa begin to meet, sneaking spare moments to be together. But a shadow falls on their romance when Master Cho sends Duksam away and asks for Ehwa’s hand in marriage himself It is then that Ehwa discovers the pain of heartbreak – and that love is always complicated.
(Synopsis taken from Goodreads)
Review:
As we see Ehwa grow older in this second volume, we also see her explorations and discoveries in the world of love and sex. While slightly less innocent than the first book, Ehwa is still a very relate-able protagonist and a very remarkable young woman. Her and her mother's romances are heart-warming and fragile things, and we see them connect in a new way as they both test the waters in the possibilities of true love.
Overall, I would very much so recommend this series! I think it is a very good coming-of-age story.
Pages:
To come!
On My Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/719467752
Title: Sick
Author: Tom Leveen
Book #: Standalone
Publisher: Amulet Books
Publish Date: October 1st 2013
Pages: n/a
Format: Kindle Edition
Date Read : September 11th 2013
Rating: ★★★★★ / out of 5
I peek through one of the windows, and the other guys crowd around behind me.
"Holy...," Travis whispers.
The parking lot is a killing field.
Summary:
Brian and his friends are not part of the cool crowd. They’re the misfits and the troublemakers—the ones who jump their high school’s fence to skip class regularly. So when a deadly virus breaks out, they’re the only ones with a chance of surviving.
The virus turns Brian’s classmates and teachers into bloodthirsty attackers who don’t die easily. The whole school goes on lockdown, but Brian and his best friend, Chad, are safe (and stuck) in the theater department—far from Brian’s sister, Kenzie, and his ex-girlfriend with a panic attack problem, Laura. Brian and Chad, along with some of the theater kids Brian had never given the time of day before, decide to find the girls and bring them to the safety of the theater. But it won’t be easy, and it will test everything they thought they knew about themselves and their classmates.
(Synopsis taken from Goodreads)
Review: I received a free copy of this book for review.
Just a warning: This book contains very gory scenes, as well as heavy profanity
Technically, this is not a "zombie" book. While I will refer to the sick people as zombies, for the sake of my review, we learn that they are in fact not animated corpses. Just putting that out there!
The only "zombie" related YA books I remember in detail reading are This is Not a Test and The Infects. While I absolutely loved This is Not a Test, it felt more like a contemporary set in a zombie-turned-world, than it did a zombie action novel. The Infects was definitely closer to what I would want to see in a zombie novel, but pales in comparison to how I felt while and after reading Sick.
__________
I think that both the characters and the story were done very well. While I have not seen The Breakfast Club, based off of this synopsis, I feel like the book does follow a similar (but not exact) plot line:
"The story line follows five teenagers, each a member of a different high school clique, as they spend a Saturday in detention together and come to realize that they are all more than their respective stereotypes." Taken from Wikipedia.
The story follows Brian and his group of friends as they discover themselves trapped in their high school while the majority of the student body turn into mad, flesh-eating zombies right before their eyes. They see their friends succumb to the sickness, get eaten by the zombies, and face the inevitable unknown of what is becoming of the rest of the world. Cut off from their friends, families and homes, this diverse group of stereotypical students barricade themselves in the drama department.
Brian's largest concern, after trying to not get his face eaten by his former high school-ers, is that his sister and ex-girlfriend are safe. All he knows for most of the book is that they are not with him, and are possible no longer alive.
"If there's a chance I can do something to get my sister out of here, I'm taking it. We didn't go through a year of hell together just to lose each other now. I don't know how, and I don't care, but I'm going to fin her and get her out of here. Laura too."
I really enjoyed seeing Brian battle between saving himself, or saving those he cared about. In the end, Brian always chose the latter. He decided to brave the outside and face the hordes in order to find his sister, then again to find his ex, and yet again to make sure that they get the group to safety. That last major scene where Brian puts his life in the line of danger was very heroic, and I found it a fitting way to end the story as I had overall admired his character throughout the entire book.
The other side characters are great. This is where I can image The Breakfast Club reference. While, again, I have not seen the movie, it appears to be a group of high school-ers from different parts of the food chain, who are in a situation where they are all mixed together. In Sick, we don't see too many different stereotypes, but the most obvious ones are the "gay kid", "the drama kids" and "the punk". These are portrayed by the characters Travis, Jaime and his group, and Chad.
These characters did not get along at all in the beginning, and for most of the book many insults are thrown around. It wasn't until the very end that we see a change in their personalities, as they have been through Hell together.
By far, my favorite aspect of this book is the science. Brian's mother is a scientist (doctor?) who is working very closely to with the outbreak and, since he has the only working phone, we are in contact with her a few times throughout the book. Every time she is brought into the conversation, we get bits and pieces of the whats and whys of this infection. There is a lot of explanation, actually, so here is just a snippet:
"..something strange happened in Arroyo. Several days ago, by the looks of it. Some kind of outbreak. Our preliminary findings indicate an unknown pathogen. A bacteria similar to the one found in patients with septic arthritis. Patient Zero may have been an older diabetic man suffering from gout."
Also, just the mention of the CDC is enough to make my nerd-senses tingle!
As the book ends, the story doesn't. The problem is never solved. There isn't a miracle cure found in the last few pages of the book that cures everyone. The are still sick. People are still dying. And the characters we meet are left off still trying to survive. It is because of this ending that I almost wish for a sequel. Especially after This is Not a Test left off with a very similar open ending.
Overall, this is by far one my new favorite books, zombie or not! And I hope that, even if it doesn't meet your expectations, you will still enjoy it.
Quotes:
"What's up, Kenzie?" Chad says. He tugs on a smile, disfiguring his face.
Kenzie shrugs. Chad tries not to pout.
Kenzie, the delicate flower, swears and shoves a hand into my sternum, knocking my breath out for one heartbeat. She hates it when I call her Mack.
We rarely have any weather besides freaking hot or pretty nice out.
Freaking high school, man.
"I'm in the mood for anything whose instructions include the phrase 'Until golden brown.'"
"Golden brown," I say. "That could be your rap star name."
And we all laugh like the idiots we are. Ditching kicks ass.
"I'm not ditching her," I say. "I don't ditch people. Not unless they ditch me first."
"Jack, do you hear yourself when you talk?"
"Eh. I tune in and out."
"Woah!" Jack shouts, and ducks like the helicopter is going to land on him. Then he climbs into the backseat and shuts the door. "Man, they were hauling ass. Get to the choppah! Mooove! Go!" he shouts through the window in his best Schwarzenegger voice, which doesn't amount to much.
"Sup, Jay-me?" Chad says, giving Jaime a jab to the shoulder as we walk past.
Jaime shuts his eyes, like he's counting to ten or something. "It's Hi-may, you ass factory. Hi. May."
"Well, hi may or hi may not!"
"... shit" Travis finishes.
"You're gonna need a bigger boat," Chad whispers. I'm so scared, I actually snicker.
"We don't know if anyone's comin' to get us at all," Chad points out.
"They will," Jaime says.
He stars climbing up the stairs.
"The will," he says again.
If he'd just said it once, I'd buy it. But that second time... I don't think he believes it himself.
"The one with the big-ass white peace symbol on the window?"
Damon nods.
"Is that even a little bit ironic considering you have a gun under the seat?"
"I'm a pretty complicated gentleman," Damon says with a sick grin.
Being a teenager sucks. You're not an adult, but not really a kid anymore. We spend most of our time pushing for all the adult stuff. Cars and money and all that. But when Jaime says homelike that, I swear to god I stop to six years old because I understand instantly what he means.
I just want to go home too.
"We handles the food issue first," Jaime says. "Then we talk rescue operation, recon, and escape."
"Wow," Chad says. "That kinda gives me a boner, I'm not gonna lie."
The kid leaps, arms outstretched. It looks for one moment like his teeth have grown longer; then I realize it's that his gums have eroded.
Jesus, what is this shit?
"Fuckin' zombies," he says.
"Yeah," I say.
"Do you know anything more about this infection yet? What are we dealing with?"
Mom sighs again. "The bacteria shares traits with Group A streptococcus, which leads to necrotizing fasciitis."
"I'm sorry, can we get that in American?" Cammy says.
"Flesh-eating disease," Mom says after a pause.
I did not believe any of us were going to get out of here alive. Kenzie's gaze was sharp, glinting. There are also circles under her eyes, and I imagine mine don't look much different. But you don't go through something like she did without getting something out of it. In her case, I think it's fearlessness. Strength.
Will.
"Fuck anyone who wants to give up. Not me. Not ever, not on anyone. We have to be better than them."
"Well... do you feel like killing someone?" Jaime goes.
"Just you, nutsack."
Cammy snorts. "Sounds healthy to me."
"And then when we found out you matched, you just said yes. Just said it. That made me want to fight again. I was so tired, but I wanted to fight for you because you were going to fight for me."
"It's Chad o'clock, motherfuckers!" he howls, and even though I'm about to fight for my life, I start laughing me ass off. Laughing, or shrieking.
Before I can get up, another infected kid jumps towards me, mouth open, teeth glittering, bone sticking out of his front arm. I figure he'll be the last think I see as I hear a thousand voices screaming my name into the cold winter November air.
All right, I hear myself think. This is it. This is how it ends.
A thousand and one action movies unspool in my mind, starring me as the Hero: ways I could have tried to save everyone, ways I could have done something- or everything- different.
"Who are we? I mean, who are we now?"
My sister doesn't answer for a minute. Finally, she just whispers, "I love you."
I squeeze my eyes shut and try to stop shaking.
"I love you too."
Maybe someday life will somehow get back to normal. Maybe someday they can save Hollis. Maybe me and Kenzie and Laura and Cammy... and Travis and Serena and even John, all of them, every last one of them, we'll head out together. Sit on a roof like at Chad's this morning. No- no, on the ground. We'll sit together on the ground and eat cookies and microwave pizza.
Maybe someday... I'll be human.
On My Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/712268705
Title: The Infinite Moment of Us
Author: Lauren Myracle
Book #: Standalone
Publisher: Amulet Books
Publish Date: August 27th 2013
Pages: 316
Format: Hardcover
Date Read: September 2nd 2013
Rating: ★★½ / out of 5
Summary:
For as long as she can remember, Wren Gray’s goal has been to please her parents. But as high school graduation nears, so does an uncomfortable realization: Pleasing her parents once overlapped with pleasing herself, but now... not so much. Wren needs to honor her own desires, but how can she if she doesn't even know what they are?
Charlie Parker, on the other hand, is painfully aware of his heart’s desire. A gentle boy with a troubled past, Charlie has loved Wren since the day he first saw her. But a girl like Wren would never fall for a guy like Charlie—at least not the sort of guy Charlie believes himself to be.
And yet certain things are written in the stars. And in the summer after high school, Wren and Charlie’s souls will collide. But souls are complicated, as are the bodies that house them...
(Synopsis taken from Goodreads)
Note:
Some might say that they don't mind explicit sex in YA books, and I don't either. But, I do mind when there is explicit sex in YA books. That I don't like, simply because of the age group that reads young adult books (which is normally 12/13+). I don't mind so much scenes that imply sex, but when a young adult book uses very detailed language to describe sexual actions and sex, it bothers me. I've read many young adult books and have never come across such language about sex as I have in this book. The Infinite Moment of Us should be more appropriately labelled as new adult. It includes very detailed scenes talking about sex, partaking in sexual activities and sex, as well as sending nudes. YA books do not need that. No thank you.
Review:
The first hundred or so pages were pretty rough for me. Just read my statuses for this book. I wasn't liking the insta-love, main character, her parents, her best friend, or her best friend's love interest. I thought they were all stereotypical and boring. The only person I didn't have complaints about in the beginning was Charlie, because I could tell he had a very good heart considering all he's been through.
While with Wren, the struggle is definitely real. I feel very much so the same way she feels, only it has nothing to do with my parents.
"But I want to do something now, not in eight years. I kind of feel like I have to, or I never will."
This is exactly how I feel right now in my life, and it's the basis on which I connected to Wren. Unfortunately, that was as far as it got for me.
Wren, to me, was cliche, winy and (sadly) very realistic. She frets over everything in her relationship with Charlie and never considers things from his point of view. Why can't he spend every second of the day with me? Why can't he not be busy with his work and life so that he can constantly pay me attention? Why can't he leave his family, including his handicap brother, and leave the country to be with me? Why is he choosing his family over me?!
I actually liked Charlie, the love interest. He's very much a young man, and I didn't have a problem with the way he acted or thought, besides the way the author used very explicit vocabulary when doing so. He had a very rough life, and I found it amazing how he came out of it in the end a good person. While Wren complains that he never told her the things he told Starrla, I didn't see why. He knew Starrla for years, and he only just started to get to know Wren the past two months.
The story was probably, if anything, the best part. While it was not the best ever, I felt it had direction. I wanted to see if Wren was going to be her own person, or back down and be the person her parents want her to be. It was the story that eventually grew on me and that ending that almost made it all feel worth it in the end.
Overall, I enjoyed the story, with it's sweet romance and open ending, despite all the problems I had with the characters. However, I am disturbed that this book is labelled as a young adult when it would more appropriately be new adult.
Quotes:
She yearned to be her own person, not an extension of her mom and dad, and she longed to do something brave, something that mattered, something that helped others in an immediate and tangible way.
"I guess I think the world is more connected than people realize. I think... sometimes... that scientists... some scientists... want to package things up into neat little boxes. Explain, explain, explain, until there aren't any mysteries left. Well... I like the mysteries. I want to understand them, or try to, but I don't want to put them away in boxes. And if there doesn't seem to be an explanation for something, I don't want that to scare me away. I don't want to force an explanation to fit or to throw my hands in the air and give up."
On My Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/648576677
Title: Along for the Ride
Author: Sarah Dessen
Book #: Standalone
Publisher: Speak
Publish Date: June 2012
Pages: 383
Format: Paperback, Reissue
Date Read: August 22nd 2013
Rating: ★★★ / out of 5
There were endless ways to spend your days, I knew that, none of them right or wrong. But given the chance for a real do-over, another way around, who would say no? Not me. Not then. Call it crazy, or just chicken salad. But within reason, or even without it, I was in, too.
Summary:
Up all night.
Nights have always been Auden's time, her chance to escape everything that's going on around her.
Then she meets Eli, a fellow insomniac, and he becomes her nocturnal tour guide.
Now, with an endless supply of summer nights between them, almost anything can happen...
(Synopsis taken from Goodreads)
Review:
This is my first Sarah Dessen book. There, I said it. Honestly, contemporary romance just isn't my thing. I did, however, need lighter read to have with me while I was on vacation at the beach because the book I was currently reading was a 500+ page long horror story. So, yes. I needed a contemporary romance for the time being.
While the first page of this book boasts that you will "Read her once. Fall in love." This was sadly not the case for me.
__________
I liked most of the characters, to a degree. The only character I really managed to connect with was Auden, though I did have problems with her character. I did like the love interest, Eli, but honestly there was nothing overly swoon worthy about him to me, especially compared to some other love interests I am still in love with. The friends that Auden makes are pretty cool. Her parents, though... Those people were a trip. I just could not.
The only characters I am going to go into detail about are Auden, her mother and her father. They were the ones I had the most thoughts built up on by the end of the story. All the other characters were enjoyable to read about, but not extremely memorable in my opinion.
-----
Auden's main goal has always been to gain her parent's praise. She works hard in school to achieve the highest grades. Unfortunately, all her focus on school work has left her with a lacking (or nonexistent) social life. While I am not a brainiac like she is, I was able to connect to Auden for this reason because I, too, didn't really have much of a social life. While I do love hanging out with friends and going places, I mostly like to keep to myself. I never went to any of the school dances, including my senior prom, and spent most of my time nerding it up in the library (a.k.a. "media center").
However, I found her to be a bit of a hypocrite and, despite the fact that later on in the book we definitely see a split between who her mother is and who Auden is, it is apparent that her mother has rubbed her fudgemental ways off onto her. I say she seemed to be a hypocrite because multiple times she complains that Heidi talks way to much, going on and on and on. Yet, she does the same thing. At least two times in this book, when she is talking to Eli, she starts running her mouth off so much that you just want to yell at her to shut up.
As far as being like her mother, Auden makes this comment about Maggie which I found to be totally shallow and inappropriate:
Here you had the capability to know so much about so many things, and you chose shoes and clothes. Leah at least seemed smart, while Esther, who clearly followed her own beat, was an individual. But Maggie was just... well, she was just like Heidi. A girl's girl, all the way, all pink and fluff and frivolity. Even worse, she was happy about it.
Bitch, please. Who do you think you are?
But then, she also pulls a moment like this were she comes off as being strong and agreeable:
"Says who? Society. The same society, I might add, that dictates that little girls should always be sugar and spice and everything nice, which encourages them to not be assertive. And that, in turn, then leads to low self-esteem, which can lead to eating disorders and increased tolerance and acceptance of domestic, sexual and substance abuse."
My final verdict on her is that she is still very judgmental and I didn't like the comments she made about certain people. However, I still did like some of her opinions and enjoyed watching her change some opinions she had over the course of the novel.
Her father is a egotistical, sexist pig head who is just so obviously self-centered that is is laughable. He has a newborn baby and contributes absolutely nothing to helping with the care-giving. He assumes that his wife is happily taking care of the baby, cleaning the house and making dinner for him. He also has no problem dumping all his baby duties off to his daughter who is supposed to be spending her time there vacationing and not babysitting. He makes this statement which was really the final straw for me so much that, despite how much he might have "changed" by the end, I am glad I don't have to ever deal with him again:
"If you were an Ashley or a Lisa, not an Auden, do you think you'd be so special?"
Excuse me?
I'm not even really sure what to label her mother. She is just a piece of work. She gives her daughter the bitchiest pieces of advice, such as things like: "Oh, darling, don't be bitter. It's the first instinct of the weak" and "A smart woman knows a fling is always best."... She, too, is a big fat hypocrite who openly shows her distaste for women who are "feminine" and not "assertive" "enough" or "smart" "enough", but then complains about her son's fiance being too smart and serious for him. She raises Auden to be smart and sensible, but hates the idea of her son settling down and becoming a bank teller when she would rather him go back to partying around Europe and living off her money. No. Just no.
-----
The story just didn't wow me. Maybe there is not supposed to be a major, main plot line in these sorts of books, but I found myself reading without any idea what I was supposed to be looking forward to in the end.
Was the story supposed to revolving around Auden learning how to ride a bike? Or learning to give second chances? Or discovering herself? Or learning to like Heidi? Finding a name for the bike shop? Learning to balance school and a social life? Completing her quest? Getting a second chance at prom? It is mostly a mix of all of these things and I don't know why this bothered me, but it did. A major plot with a beginning, middle and end felt non-existent to me.
Overall, for something I was expecting to be a light, summer read, a lot more thought and analysis came out of this book than I really hoped for. It was okay, but nothing as wonderful as I heard all Sarah Dessen's books were supposed to be. I may or may not read more of them, but I would still recommend.
Quotes:
But I still kind of wondered, that night and so many others, what I was missing.
"People don't change. If anything, you get more set in your ways as you get older, not less."
So I took the checkbook, nodded, and walked out the door, leaving them- as I had so many other groups- to say whatever they would about me once I was gone.
"That first love. And the first one who breaks your heart. For me, they just happen to be the same person. At least I'm efficient, right?"
"Who says there has to be a point? Or a reason. Maybe it's just something you have to do."
"Who says you have to be either smart or pretty, or into girly stuff or sports? Life shouldn't be about the either/or. We're capable of more than that."
"Failing sucks. But it's better than the alternative."
"Which is?"
"Not even trying." Now he looked at me, straight on. "Life's short, you know?"
"People change."
"Or they don't. Sometimes, they don't."
When something's difficult to come by, you'll do that much more to make sure it's even harder- if not impossible- to lose.
I had these experiences, these tales, more of this life. So maybe it wasn't the fairy tale. But those stories weren't real anyway. Mine were.
"So you don't want me to take you," he said.
"No," I replied. "But I'll meet you there."
On My Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/701288123
