Mini Review: Invisibility by David Levithan and Andrea Cremer

David Levithan's work and I have a tumultuous relationship. Although I find his style and passion both beautiful and earnest I have often found that his penchant for pushing his beliefs on the reader abrasive. This seems funny to me because 90% of the time I agree with what he's saying, it's simply his delivery that I am at odds with. As for Andrea Cremer, I am not familiar with her work so I was able to go into Invisibility without prejudice. I was excited to read this book and to see how the authors worked together to build such a unique storyline.

Unfortunately I was mostly disappointed. At first the story was great. The main character, Stephen, was pretty well-developed in the first few chapters and his relationship with spunky Elizabeth opened up a world of possibility. Throw in her adorable brother, Laurie, and I was sure I was in for a good time. Sadly the book quickly developed into a rushed supernatural plot line that seemed too convoluted for the earlier storyline. It just didn't fit. The last section of the book was a mix of insta-love dramatics and info dumps. All in all I was just disappointed. This book could have been something extraordinary but instead it was just strange and rushed.

Review: Unremembered by Jessica Brody

Author: Jessica Brody

Genre:  Sci Fi, Fantasy

Pages: 320

Published: March 5th, 2013

Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux

Rating: 3/5 Stars

Source:  I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

"The only thing worse than forgetting her past... is remembering it.
When Freedom Airlines flight 121 went down over the Pacific Ocean, no one ever expected to find survivors. Which is why the sixteen-year-old girl discovered floating among the wreckage—alive—is making headlines across the globe.
Even more strange is that her body is miraculously unharmed and she has no memories of boarding the plane. She has no memories of her life before the crash. She has no memories period. No one knows how she survived. No one knows why she wasn’t on the passenger manifest. And no one can explain why her DNA and fingerprints can’t be found in a single database in the world.
Crippled by a world she doesn’t know, plagued by abilities she doesn’t understand, and haunted by a looming threat she can’t remember, Seraphina struggles to piece together her forgotten past and discover who she really is. But with every clue only comes more questions. And she’s running out of time to answer them.
Her only hope is a strangely alluring boy who claims to know her from before the crash. Who claims they were in love. But can she really trust him? And will he be able to protect her from the people who have been making her forget?" ~Goodreads

This book surprised me in a lot of ways.  First of all, before I read the description I thought it was going to be just straight contemporary.  Girl loses memory in plane crash, boy finds girl, boy tries to convince girl they were in love, girl eventually remembers (probably after another blow to the head), everyone goes home happy.  Cut and dry, simple.  That's what I was expecting.  That is not what happened.  I started reading this book at around 2 A.M.  As I read the last words of the prologue I shot up in bed (like literally sat straight up) and said to no one in particular "What?!".  Then I was hooked.  

LIKES:

• WTF just happened:  as mentioned previously this book was full of surprises and I love it when a story can keep me guessing.  Most of the surprises were well-timed and exciting and I loved that.  Some of them could have been left out as well but overall I was happy with the level of excitement in the story.
• Great Pacing: at no point while reading this book was I bored.  The microscopic chapters probably helped with this.  There are 46 chapters in this book but they fly by at lighting speed, in a good way.  Brody obviously knows how to tell a story without unnecessary padding.
• Sera and her crazy brain: I really don't want to give anything away so you'll have to excuse me if this review is a bit vague, but let me just say that I really liked Sera's voice.  She isn't a normal amnesiac.  She's actually always been a  little different.  Therefore she has a unique world-view and when you throw in a crippling case of amnesia, trust issues and all kinds of strangers the outcome is pretty intense.  This isn't a "sit down and cry" kind of story, but it is one that makes you question what makes us who we are and Sera is a great example of that.

DISLIKES: 

• My brain hurts:  this is a problem i often have with sci fi books.  Some of it was a bit convoluted and a lot of it was hard to grasp.  Perhaps if I had more of a background in science (or even science fiction) for that matter, I would have "gotten it" more easily.  As it was, I struggle through understanding a lot of the technological stuff that was going on in the story.  I think it could have been done more simply.
• Not exactly insta-love: Okay, so Zen and Sera have known each  other for awhile and they are in love, at least until she loses her memory, but the intensity of Zen's feeling and Sera's willingness to reciprocate just didn't impress me.  I guess I just didn't see the plausibility of the extent that Zen went to to get Sera back.  That sounds heartless (and I will have you know that a certain college professor of mine used to say I was "cold" when it came to logic - I think we were talking about nuclear war at the time) but I just wasn't feeling it.
• Don't rush the ending:  I really felt like the author piled way too much information into the last several chapters, tied up loose ends and then boom, it was over.  Unfortunately, I didn't feel like there was much of a pay-off in the end and it didn't sit well with me.

There are supposed to be at least two more books in this series.  Honestly I'm not sure how I feel about that.  I think that if the ending were different this could have been a stand alone novel and that would have been fine.  However,  I will most likely pick up the next one as I did really enjoy the writing style and the story, for the most part, was entertaining.  

Blog Tour: Talented by Sophie Davis - Review

Author: Sophie Davis

Genre: dystopian, action, science fiction

Published: January 11th, 2012

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Source: I received this book from the Author in exchange for an honest review.

"Talia Lyons is Talented. She possesses the ability to read the minds of others and manipulate their thoughts. Ever since she witnessed the brutal murders of her parents, Talia has spent her life honing her abilities, with her heart set on vengeance. Now she is poised to face the man responsible, but duplicity causes Talia to doubt herself and her powers. In the wake of this betrayal, Talia turns to a boy who can mimic her Talents, a boy who truly understands her inner turmoil. But even he can’t help Talia when she’s forced to choose between saving herself or avenging the lives of her parents."

 I don't know what I was expecting when I picked up Talented by Sophie Davis, but now I know that this book can be summed up in one word: awesomesauce.  Yes, ladies and gents this story has pretty much everything, a kick-ass heroine, amazing secondary characters, an eerie dystopian setting, hot guys, oh and did I mention teenage super heroes?!  Talented truly is the entire package.  I could gush and gush, but maybe I should just get to the review huh?

LIKES:

Pretty much everything.  First of (and probably most importantly) there is Talia.  She is strong, capable and unique while still being lovable.  Her motivation (the deaths of her parents) is different than in a lot of YA books and it really makes her more believable.  Second, we have the two boys in Talia's life, Donovan (her boyfriend) and Erik (her partner).  These characters are so dynamic and their roles in Talia's story change drastically throughout the book.  I wasn't really a fan of Donovan from the get-go (even if he was her love interest) but by the end I absolutely hated him (in the best way though) and Erik is just freaking amazing and adorable and funny and awesome and I could go on and on (sigh).  Next, there's the world-building.  Davis does a great job of setting up the story and then making the reader feel like they really know the post-spill system that the characters are living in and it's super disturbing sometimes. She creates a super believable history for her world and then weaves an impressive setting for her characters.  Finally, I just loved that not one single second of this book was boring.  It was so fast paced that I flew through it and the ending just left me wanting more and more.  I can't wait for book two!

DISLIKES:

Really, I can't say I had many dislikes.  I will say that the language was a bit strong at some points for a YA book.  Sometimes it was called for but there were other times where I think some different vocabulary could have been used.  Along those same lines, the description of some of the more violent parts of the book were a little disturbing (although in fairness these were usually pretty important to the plot).  

Other than the, maybe, overly-mature content at some points this book was great!  I would definitely recommend it if you love action and suspense and especially if you want to see some great world-building and an amazing heroine.  Four stars for this one!


Disclaimer:  *Disclosure of Material Connection: I am a member of Reading Addiction Blog Tours and a copy of this book was provided to me by the author. Although payment may have been received by Reading Addiction Blog Tours, no payment was received by me in exchange for this review. There was no obligation to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are entirely my own and may not necessarily agree with those of the author, publisher, publicist, or readers of this review. This disclosure is in accordance with the Federal Trade Commision’s 16 CFR, Part 255, Guides Concerning Use of Endorcements and Testimonials in Advertising*