Review: The Wrath and the Dawn (The Wrath and the Dawn #1) by Renee Ahdieh

 The Wrath and the Dawn (The Wrath and the Dawn #1) by Renee Ahdieh

 Putnam Juvenile

Expected publication: May 12th 2015

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You know those books that you start reading and then you just can’t put down? No matter what is going on in your life, all you really want to do is just go back to reading that book? How when it’s over all you can do is howl and say “no!”? That’s how I feel about this book. I am obsessed. I never wanted it to end. I need the next book now!

Full disclosure, I love a good fairy tale retelling. Going in I was aware of the One Thousand and One Nights tale, but I held no love for it. Really, what was to love? The male lead (The King) is a serial killer, and yes he pardons his wife, and yes, she’s much smarter than him, and girls rule, and all that. However, he’s still a serial killer. So I went into this book very curious to see if there was an effort to make the King more likable. It’s a very rare book where one of the male leads is largely reprehensible, and yet the story remains a good one.

Well this one totally worked for me. The King (Caliph), Khalid, is human, and there is a reason behind the killings. There is an effort to sympathize with his struggle. There are really no major villain in this story, although there are some shady minor characters who will most likely play a bigger part of being bad, bad, men in the next book. All the major characters have flaws, and that’s o.k - it makes them a bit more real.

The book is told in the third person, which both helps and hurts. It helps in that while the book mainly follows Shahrzad (Shazi), you do get to check in on what everyone else is doing, and get an inside into events the main character is unaware of. The only other way to have this happen would be to jump around to various first person accounts, and I just don’t think it would have worked for this book. Khalid, is a very reserved and stoic character, and getting inside may have revealed a bit too much as the book needs him to remain a bit of a mystery. At the same time, you don’t really get a chance to understand him or his motivations, so it’s hard to root for him. Likewise, I think not getting into Shazi’s head also helps tremendously. When you know too much about a character, and realize all the stupid things going on in their head, the tendency can be to dislike the main female character. With that bit of distance, Shazi becomes an awesome, strong and fearless female, which is a good thing. Yes, she changes her mind, and yes she has a major internal struggle, but not knowing her every thought makes it all a bit more believable.

This all leads to the love triangle portion of the book. Of course there is one, but it’s a very interesting one. Both love interests have some major flaws, and without being in Shazi’s head, it’s hard to tell which one she should be with. Is Tariq, her childhood sweetheart, and the one willing and ready to rescue her at all costs the right one? Or is Khalid, her husband, who is willing to give up everything for her the perfect choice? Is her love for Tariq based on habit and childish notions? Although, I hope it’s not is her love for Khalid the result of Stockholm Syndrome? We just don’t know, and while I usually grit my teeth at these triangles, this one has me very curious to see the outcome. I just hope she picks one, because there is NOTHING that annoys me more than introducing a triangle and leaving it unresolved.

My only slightly negative commentary would be the writing itself. There is no question that the book itself is incredibly well written. My only hesitation is in some of the vocabulary. I am all for including tough and challenging words into books for Teens. However, there were several occasions while reading this book, when I had to pause and contemplate the word choice. I almost think that the author in an attempt to toss in these high-level vocabulary words loses the purpose and pacing of the scene.

Bottom Line: This is easily one of the best books I’ve read this year. I absolutely loved it.

Review: The Boy in the Black Suit by Jason Reynolds

The Boy in the Black Suit by Jason Reynolds

 Atheneum Books for Young Readers 

Publishing Date: January 6, 2015

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In Jason Reynold’s second YA novel, The Boy in the Black Suit, he again delivers a heartfelt and honest portrayal about the life of a male teen, Matthew (Matt) Miller, living in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bed-Stuy. The novel begins with Matt dealing with the recent death of his mother. The reader follows his journey as he navigates with life without his mother, as well as his father who has returned to drinking. Along the way Matt takes an afterschool job at a funeral home, and finds love.

As is becoming a hallmark of Reynold’s writing, the characters are beautifully drawn. These are living and breathing characters that the reader can picture just closing their eyes. Take this passage as an example when describing one of the characters, a middle-aged man:

“But he still looked young. Way younger than Mr. Ray. And he was always dressed like he was looking for a date. Tight suits with his shirt always unbuttoned down to the middle of his chest like we live on some island or something. He always wore gold watches, gold chains, had a gold slug in the front of his mouth, and wore a gold nugget ring on his pinky. My mother used to always clown him, saying he was stuck somewhere between 1970 and outer space.” *

Can you picture him? Can you see him in your mind? I can. This character is actually a fairly minor character in the story, but all the characters receive the same treatment, no matter how important they are to the story. Reynold’s characterization goes a long way drawing you further into his work.

The writing as a whole is the strongest element of the book. Reynold’s has an amazing ability to say the absolute perfect thing, in just a few words. The description of something as mundane as teenagers in a school hall, combined with authentic dialog, takes you to that place.

Another highlight is the pacing of the book. There were no slow parts, which is always critical. There is nothing worse than a book that stalls out, facing you to drag through it. If anything, sometimes this book went a little too fast. I flew through it waiting to see if Matt is able to find the solace he is searching for.

While the plot is actually nothing that I can relate directly relate to, I have people close to me who have lost a parent at a young age. So while I have never experienced what Matt has, I can certainly empathize with him. His desire to find answers and comfort in other’s grief is certainly understandable. Yet, it is a small twist in the plot that actually prevents this from being a perfect book. It comes towards the end, and is just too convenient, and I think unnecessary. If anything, that little twist completely takes away from the story and almost lends inauthenticity to a story that was completely real until that point.

Bottom Line: I laughed, I cried, and it was beautiful.

Source: ARC provided by Simon & Schuster in exchange for my honest review.

 *Text comes from an ARC.  There may be changes in final copy.

Review: This Side of Jealousy (The Innocents #2) by Lili Peloquin

This Side of Jealousy (The Innocents #2) by Lili Peloquin

Think about what you love about a great soap opera, daytime or nighttime variety. Well, whatever you came up with, this book has in spades: Lies! Revenge! Secrets! Love! Sex! Betrayal! Mystery! MURDER!  You have your good guys and your bad guys. You have your good girls and your oh so bad girls.  This is soapy, campy, fun at its best.  I’ve never seen the television show Revenge, but I’d like to think it’s a lot like this book series.

The second installment picks up right where we left off in the last book.  It covers about a week in the drama-filled lives of a cast of over-privileged teens.  It is also once again told from alternating point of views between the two sisters, Alice and Charlie.  While once again, Alice is the star of the show, Charlie’s role continues to be a bit confusing.  I don’t know how her P.O.V. fits into the overall arc and mystery of the books, but her scenes are always good for some juicy drama.  As in the first book each character is pretty fleshed out, even the secondary characters.  You may not like them, but you kind of know them. 

The pacing of this book is my favorite kind: nice and quick.  There is nothing dragging this book down.  The plot flows and the wording is quick, making it easy to speed right through it.  There is no time for stopping and contemplating the deeper meaning behind the word choices, because there really doesn’t appear to be any deeper meaning.  Nobody is having an existential crisis here.  The reader certainly won’t have one either. 

I enjoyed how the overall plot moved forward in this installment in the series.  The reader gets some questions answered, and new questions are asked.  The characters all seem to grow a little. Well, as much as their natural shallowness allows them to.  The overarching mystery also seems much closer to being solved.  Is the story a bit predictable?  Well, yes.  But that’s o.k.  Ultimately, this is a book and not a TV show that relies on a major cliffhanger and needs to bring up something out of nowhere to keep the viewer interested.  There is a finite end to this series (I hope).  So while I think I know what is going to happen at the end of the series, I’m o.k. with that.  I am just enjoying the ride.

This book is what it is.  It will not change your life.  It will not make you think.  But it will provide enjoyment.  It’s ultimately the perfect summer read: fun, quick, and entertaining. 

3.5/5 footballs

Review: This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith

This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith 

From Goodreads:  

If fate sent you an email, would you answer?

When teenage movie star Graham Larkin accidentally sends small town girl Ellie O'Neill an email about his pet pig, the two seventeen-year-olds strike up a witty and unforgettable correspondence, discussing everything under the sun, except for their names or backgrounds.

Then Graham finds out that Ellie's Maine hometown is the perfect location for his latest film, and he decides to take their relationship from online to in-person. But can a star as famous as Graham really start a relationship with an ordinary girl like Ellie? And why does Ellie want to avoid the media's spotlight at all costs?

Review: Dark Triumph (His Fair Assassin #2) by R.L. LaFevers

Dark Triumph (His Fair Assassin #2) by R.L. LaFevers 

From Goodreads: Sybella arrives at the convent’s doorstep half mad with grief and despair. Those that serve Death are only too happy to offer her refuge—but at a price. Naturally skilled in both the arts of death and seduction, the convent views Sybella as one of their most dangerous weapons.

But those assassin’s skills are little comfort when the convent returns her to a life that nearly drove her mad. Her father’s rage and brutality are terrifying, and her brother’s love is equally monstrous. And while Sybella is a weapon of justice wrought by the god of Death himself, He must give her a reason to live. When she discovers an unexpected ally imprisoned in the dungeons, will a daughter of Death find something other than vengeance to live for?

This heart-pounding sequel to Grave Mercy serves betrayal, treachery, and danger in equal measure, bringing readers back to fifteenth century Brittany and will keep them on the edge of their seats.

Review: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Quick confession:  I’m old y’all. Maybe too old to be reading YA, but really, I don’t care.  The reason I made this confession is that while reading Eleanor & Park I completely related.  Now, I’m not as old as Eleanor or Park would be now, in 2013, and I wasn’t in high school when this story takes place, but I remember so many references made in this book. 

The cool girl with the Swatch, who was mentioned in the book?  Absolutely.  My Swatch had a blue band, a pink face with baby blue polka dots.  Even more impressive, was my older brother’s best friend who had 3 Swatches!  He wore them all at the same time, set to different time zones.  He was super cool.  He and my brother used to listen to all this awesome music that I learned to love: The Cure, Social Distortion, New Order, Joy Division, The Smiths, The Smithereens, and so many others. Waterbeds were so cool, and I wanted one so badly, and while my telephone wasn’t a Ferrari, it was a pair of lips.  

Perfect Scoundrels (Heist Society #3) by Ally Carter

Perfect Scoundrels (Heist Society #3) by Ally Carter

There are a limited number of things that are certain. That an Ally Carter book is the perfect remedy to one of my reading slumps is one of them.  My reading slump had gotten bad.  I knew if I pushed through a few inferior books, my reward was this book, and it lived up to all my expectations.  While none of the author’s books are going to be groundbreaking or particularly cutting-edge, they are reliable, and that means a lot.  There’s much to be said about always being able to count on something, and I count on these to be fun, thrilling, and an all-around good time.  The tossing in of a fun romance is also always appreciated. 

Perfect Scoundrels follow much of the same pattern of the first two books in the series, in that there is a central heist, things are not all fun and dandy in the world of Kat and Hale, and that Gabrielle is going to be awesome.  What distinguishes this book with the rest of the series is that you get to learn so much more about the secondary characters.  The first two books focus on Kat, and while she, being the narrator, is still prominently featured, we get more of an understanding of everyone in her world.  I really enjoyed learning more about Hale through his interactions with his family.  I really think the development of Hale, Uncle Eddie, and Marcus’s characters will only help the series in the future.  They all have really been brought to life. These characters are so wonderful that I often forget how young they are. At one point Kat states her age as 15 and I was completely thrown off. She always comes off as so much older that I forget her age, and Hale’s for that matter.  As much as I want their relationship to be further along than it is, at the age of 15 it’s right where it needs to be.

I don’t know if I love the actual heist in this story as much as I did the first two, but it’s still so much fun. The villain in the story was so well written and so believable, that I was willing to go along for the whole ride. I also love the travel to various countries to accomplish the heist. I really hope at some point readers of these stories will want to travel to all these countries to see how awesome they are for themselves.  I can say, from a personal point of view, that if I had to do all that traveling, I would be comatose from sleep deprivation, even if I was on a private plane.  I guess that’s what makes them such fun fiction. 

I want to finish by talking about Gabrielle. I think she may actually be my favorite character in the whole series.  I love how even though she’s a secondary character, over the last three books she’s been such a big part of the story.  The scenes she’s in are inevitably my favorites, and I want to skip ahead to where she shows up again.  I actually wouldn’t be mad at a short story told entirely from Gabrielle’s POV. 

If you haven’t read any of the Heist Society books yet, go ahead and treat yourself to a fun read.  I can unequivocally recommend the Gallagher Girls books too.

4 footballs out of 5