Book Review: Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon

Just from reading the description of this book you know that it is going to do things to your heart. Plus, it was on a list this week of "YA relationships that left us weak" or some such nonsense. So, before I started reading it, I got some nice cookies and milk and made sure my tissues were ready. 

Here's the Goodreads Description:

My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.

RIGHT!? So, like, you KNOW it's going to stab you in the heart. Even though you also know that this is yet another young girl (just post- 18th birthday) who is going to fall for the first damn boy she's ever spoken to and you suspect that someone is going to die or disappear and there goes your soul right with them. The writing is great. There were three spots where I actually closed the book and held it to my chest before I could go on. Literally. Granted, I may have worked myself up a bit.

Madeline has been home- bound since she was an infant.

She never knew her father or older brother, who were killed in a car accident. She reads, and blogs, and spends a very routinized life with her mother and her nurse. She's rarely considered what her life would be like if she weren't sick, and then Olly shows up and her nurse tells her that love won't kill her... 

The Good:

The writing: the prose, the metaphors, the way the teen characters talk to each other. 

The story and its pace, the quotables. 

The MC is a person of biracial color, half Japanese/ half African American.

The MC freaks out when there are risks.

The MC boy is not a jerk even though he's a wee broken.

The addition of the graphics and visuals. EXCELLENT. Some of them are so cute/ clever you can barely handle it. 

The Less Good:

Some of the same old girl meets boy tropey stuff.

I saw the ending coming. My 15 year old self feels differently about the end than my fhafbl-year old self.  

Nevermind. I love it all. My recommendation: start it when you have time to just read the whole thing. 

Outbox: Recap for December and the whole damn year (2015)

OK. This is my last post specifically about 2015. I had a couple of different "2015 summary" posts in mind but I've decided this is just going to be it. Last one. I'm done with 2015; It's the 10th for sobbing out loud. So this one's is really two posts in one: the December Outbox (which includes four weeks of reading) and 2015 reflection crap. Enjoy. Or whatever.

THE WHOLE DAMN YEAR -
RECAP AND SELF -PATS ON THE BACK

Outbox: January 7, 2016: Ghosts, Gardens, and Street Riots

Yay! My first real Outbox post of 2016! I did draft one earlier this week to wrap up December, but that hardly counts. In case you don't know and it's not obvious, my Outbox posts are basically summaries of books I have recently finished. You might guess that I tend to do Outbox posts instead of full reviews. If you guessed that, you are right, Dearie. However, I do plan to keep reviewing on a more regular basis.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:
 

SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM MY BOOKWEEK:
Jackaby by William Ritter (whose clever twitter name makes him a hard to find tweeter) was a surprise delight. I have never really gotten into the mystery genre, mostly because I'm too thick to pick up on any clues left behind. So, that this is a mystery and likened to Sherlocke Holmes probably set my REJECTION - mood on high alert. As such, it took me a bit to get into this story. But once I stopped being an asshat, I really liked this book. Jackaby is not Sherlocke, or an occultist, as he'll tell you. The addition of the supernatural beings (really much more my thing) is a plus. I will definitely be picking up the next one and will try to not let the fact there there is a "Mr. Wiggles" in it ruin the fun.

Spook Lights by Eden Royce is a collection of short Southern Gothic Horror stories. Did I mention that I am thick? I really liked some of these stories very much and some of them I just did not get. I was all: WHHATT?! This is why I don't read short stories as a general. I really need more words, which I'm looking forward to from Ms. Royce because I loved her style. I will be reading her Bearing Up story next. Still short, but longer. I expect that it will either make disappointed in or terrified of my own teddy bears. 

Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson: Have you seen 50 First Dates? This story is kind of like that. Or at least, that's what you think until you read it. This is now or will be a movie that I won't be seeing. That's not because I didn't like the book but because I cannot tolerate movies based on books I have read. Percy Jackson was the last straw. THE LAST STRAW!! NEVER AGAIN!!

Book Review: The Diviners by Libba Bray

This book was published in 2012 but it kind of feels like one of those "classic" books, already. Why, though? I think that it's because it has been on so many different must read lists and it gives you them sense that everyone has read this already. Maybe it's just my own fear of missing out... but, anywhooo...  

The Goodreads Summary:

Evie O’Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City—and she is pos-i-tute-ly ecstatic. It’s 1926, and New York is filled with speakeasies, Ziegfeld girls, and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is that she has to live with her uncle Will and his unhealthy obsession with the occult.

Evie worries he’ll discover her darkest secret: a supernatural power that has only brought her trouble so far. But when the police find a murdered girl branded with a cryptic symbol and Will is called to the scene, Evie realizes her gift could help catch a serial killer.

As Evie jumps headlong into a dance with a murderer, other stories unfold in the city that never sleeps. A young man named Memphis is caught between two worlds. A chorus girl named Theta is running from her past. A student named Jericho hides a shocking secret. And unknown to all, something dark and evil has awakened.

My Thoughts:
I guess my first thought was about how fricking big this beast of a book is. But I got over that because of how annoying the main character is. Evie is a flapper in the 20's. She's a member of the primary counter- culture for young women in her time and she faces it head on, drinking, smoking, showing a little too much leg, and basically sassing every adult who's responsible for her.

I'm all for that but she's inconsiderate of her friends and puts people in danger too often. I'm too old to think that's cool, I think. Her friends know she's selfish but also know that she's got a heart of gold, or she thinks she does, anyway. We know pretty quickly that Evie is able to read people's secrets from their regular every day objects. She's too reckless to learn from her mistakes and keep her trap shut about this superpower, like other people are able to.

Many of the other characters have some kind of supernatural ability and almost all of them have gotten into some kind of trouble as a result. This is a world where magic exists, but people really don't talk about it. Something big is brewing that is pulling "magical" people to New York. Or maybe it's not. Maybe it's a coincidence that all these people end up in the same city and begin to cross paths. This book is obviously the setup for a much bigger story. There are more characters than you need, more repetition than is necessary, and really about 300 pages too many for this not to be leading somewhere. There's really A LOT going on in this book: religious cults, murder, cyborgs, occultism, grave robbery, and speakeasies. There's a mystical murder mystery happening while we are introduced to and have flashbacks for almost completely unrelated characters. For example, if you take out all scenes with Theta and Memphis (and fam) who seem like main characters, you wouldn't miss any of the main story line. While my favorite characters in the story so far really have very little to do with this book, I'm looking forward to spending more time with them in the novels to come. The Diviners must be getting together for something, right? Maybe the murder mystery thing was just the "monster of the episode." 

Don't get my wrong. I enjoyed this book. It's nestled firmly between a 3.75 and a 4.25 stars out of the usual 5 point scale. The characters are diverse with interesting back-stories. I like the tone of the book and the fun '20s lingo. The pace was good, even when tangential. The emotional experience of the book is spot on and you definitely get the heebie jeebies at all the right spots. There are two potential love triangles that have utter disdain and complete anticipation for, not to mention the inter-racial relationship that is sure to cause more tension. The whole political (with both racial and sexual bits), religious, sexual, and roaring 1920's backdrop is actually a strong point of the book. Importantly, these elements are part of the story and don't feel contrived as book-selling fodder. 

The sequel, Lair of Dreams, dropped in August 2015 so I'll probably read that soon. Goodreads ratings suggest the story continues strong. But I've kind of had enough of Evie for right this minute.

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Book Review: We Are Called to Rise by Laura McBride

This was one of those Barnes and Noble Buy 2 get one free books. Is anyone else completely roped in by this BN ploy? Even if I have ZERO interest in every single book on the table, there is an almost 90% chance I am walking out with 3 - 6 books when they have this "sale" going on. I am such a sucker. There is really no reason for them to be my favorite major chain bookseller. But, alas, they are.

Here's the modified Goodreads summary:
"An immigrant boy whose family is struggling to assimilate. A middle-aged housewife coping with an imploding marriage and a troubled son. A social worker at home in the darker corners of Las Vegas. A wounded soldier recovering from an injury he can't remember getting. By the time we realize how these voices will connect, the impossible and perhaps the unbearable has already happened. "We Are Called to Rise" is a boomtown tale, in which the lives of people from different backgrounds and experiences collide in a stunning coincidence. When presented the opportunity to sink into despair, these characters rise. Through acts of remarkable charity and bravery, they rescue themselves. Emotionally powerful yet tender and intimate, "We Are Called to Rise "is a novel of redemption and unexpected love."