Review: Define Normal

Title:  Define Normal
Author:  Julie Anne Peters
Rating:  4.5/5

Summary:

Now in its fourth hardcover printing, Define "Normal" has become a word-of-mouth phenomenon. This is a thoughtful, wry story about two girls--a "punk" and a "priss"--who find themselves facing each other in a peer-counseling program, and discover that they have some surprising things in common.

Review:

I really liked this book.  Because I have read other books by this author before I spent a vast majority of the book wondering when the two main characters would get together romantically.  It took me until about halfway through to realize they weren't going to.  After I got over that I started seeing the story better.

You see the events from Antonia's point of view, when in fact it's Jazz who has all the answers that we don't see coming.  It's a story of two girls overcoming prejudices, and how each girl has different struggles in their lives and how they handle it.

It tries to teach that you should look beyond the surface and see why a person acts the way he or she does.  And I think that goal was taught throughout the book.

It was a quick read that is easy to demolish in a few hours.

Recommended to those who like realistic coming-of-age stories.

Review: Pale

Title:  Pale
Author:  Chris Wooding
Rating: 3.5/5

Summary:

The Lazarus Serum can bring you back from the dead - but when you come back you've changed - you're a Pale, an outcast. It's the last thing Jed wants, but an accident changes everything and Jed's forced to discover the true cost of living forever.


Review:

I'm not going to say this book was bad.  The premise was interesting and the size really caught my eye (it's about 70 pages long).  It was short though, too short to be it's own standalone published book.  I would have liked to see this in a collection, or continued.

There was your basic story line, a climax, a conclusion, but at the end I didn't feel satisfied.  I was mad that the author just left it where it was.

It seems like such an intriguing issue; Jed's whole life has changed.  Yet in less than 100 pages he has lost his old life, adapted a new one and seems entirely content.  It's just not enough.

Recommended to those who like sci-fi and just want a quick read that makes them think to a degree, but not too much.

Review: The Compound

Title:  The Compound
Author:  S.A. Bodeen
Series:  The Compound [1]
Rating:  1/5

Summary:

Eli and his family have lived in the underground Compound for six years. The world they knew is gone, and they've become accustomed to their new life. Accustomed, but not happy.

For Eli, no amount of luxury can stifle the dull routine of living in the same place, with only his two sisters, his father and mother, doing the same thing day after day after day. 

As problems with their carefully planned existence threaten to destroy their sanctuary—and their sanity—Eli can't help but wonder if he'd rather take his chances outside. 

Eli's father built the Compound to keep them safe. But are they safe—or sorry?

Review:

This book was TERRIBLE, at least in my opinion.  I got through the first half and couldn't stand the story anymore.  It was predictable by the third chapter.  Seriously, it was a good premise, but somewhere between the idea sparking in the author's brain and the publishing, the entirety of anything good about this book was lost.

They're underground in a bomb shelter (that sounds like it's the size of a small mall), and life has been going for years.  Only they're about to find out that someone lied!  Oh damn, not that.  You mean the world above isn't dead?  But how could that be?

Yeah, sorry, I can't take this book seriously.

Recommended to someone who doesn't care about quality of story or writing.

Review: Crossed

Title:  Crossed
Author:  Ally Condie
Series:  The Matched Trilogy [2]
Rating:  4/5

Summary:

In search of a future that may not exist and faced with the decision of who to share it with, Cassia journeys to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky - taken by the Society to his certain death - only to find that he has escaped, leaving a series of clues in his wake. Cassia's quest leads her to question much of what she holds dear, even as she finds glimmers of a different life across the border. 

But as Cassia nears resolve and certainty about her future with Ky, an invitation for rebellion, an unexpected betrayal, and a surprise visit from Xander - who may hold the key to the uprising and, still, to Cassia's heart - change the game once again. Nothing is as expected on the edge of Society, where crosses and double crosses make the path more twisted than ever.

Review:

I can't decide if I like this or the first book more.  Where this one has more action and more drama, the first one had more introspective into how the world seems.

I did enjoy, however that the characters were spread out.  This meant that when we got different chapters from different points of view it meant we were almost sure to see a completely different setting, not just a different view on the same events.

My greatest love for this series is the class poetry weaved into the story-line.  I think it's despicable to choose but 100 poems to keep, and always look forward to what poems Cassie and crew have found and how they have interpreted the words.

This book left me desperate for the third one to be released.

Recommended to anyone who has read the first book, and enjoys the dystopian teen fiction genre.

Books To Read

Ten books I'm looking forward to reading as soon as they're released and/or I get my hands on them.

10.  Unwind by Neal Shusterman

9.  The Last Girl by Kitty Thomas

8.  Escape Theory by Margaux Froley

7.  Uses for Boys by Erica Lorraine Scheidt

6.  Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks

5.  Hushed by Kelley York

4.  Wither by Lauren DeStefano

3.  Tiger Lilly by Jodi Lynn Anderson

2.  Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

1.  The Program by Suzanne Young