Review: Insomnia by JR Johansson

  Goodreads synopsis: It’s been four years since I slept, and I suspect it is killing me.

Instead of sleeping, Parker Chipp enters the dream of the last person he’s had eye contact with. He spends his nights crushed by other people’s fear and pain, by their disturbing secrets—and Parker can never have dreams of his own. The severe exhaustion is crippling him. If nothing changes, Parker could soon be facing psychosis and even death.

Then he meets Mia. Her dreams, calm and beautifully uncomplicated, allow him blissful rest that is utterly addictive. Parker starts going to bizarre lengths to catch Mia’s eye every day. Everyone at school thinks he’s gone over the edge, even his best friend. And when Mia is threatened by a true stalker, everyone thinks it’s Parker.

Suffering blackouts, Parker begins to wonder if he is turning into someone dangerous. What if the monster stalking Mia is him after all?

Lynne's Review: I gave this one five great big, wide-eyed and sleepless stars! I LOVED it! INSOMNIA by J.R. Johansson is one of the most original/amazing story lines I've come across in YA in a very long time!

Parker hasn't slept in years. He goes to bed each night, but instead of a nice, peaceful, restful night of sleeping, he is forced to watch the dreams and/or nightmares of the last person he made eye contact with each day.

Now, stop for just a minute! can you imagine the dreams you'd be forced to watch? What would the lady at the grocery checkout dream about? Or the security guard at the mall? How about the big, burly guy next to you in gym class? or .... your parents?
yeah, pretty scary thoughts huh?
I have to admit this book has certainly given ME reason to wonder about the dreams of people I make eye contact with throughout the day. And I can honestly say, I wouldn't want to watch anyone's dreams - or nightmares, for that matter - other than my own (and mine are plenty scary enough!).

After nearly four years of not sleeping properly, Parker's health is severely deteriorating. People are noticing that he's not well, but only Parker is aware how close he is to actually dying. He sees the warning signs: He is forgetting things and he's unfocused and falling behind in his schoolwork. He's lost weight and he can't seem to control his hands from shaking and trembling. His mom and his closest friends (who are clueless to the real problem) think Parker is on some kind of serious drugs... if only his problems were that easy.

A near car accident causes Parker to make eye contact with a girl he's never seen before. Watching her peaceful dreams that night, for the first time in years, Parker finds himself capable of sleeping - inside her dreams.
And then, it's almost as bad as it would be if he WERE on drugs. When he discovers Mia is new to his school, he memorizes her schedule and starts following her around. He becomes so addicted to this girl and the power she has over him, that he's more or less stalking her ... desperately trying to catch Mia's eye by the end of each day, and (understandably so) he's scaring the ever-loving shit out of her!

And now, someone is sending Mia very threatening emails. She's terrified of what the emails contain and since Parker has started obsessing about her, she's nearly certain the emails are coming from him.
And as she becomes more creeped out by his behavior, Parker discovers not all of Mia's dreams are peaceful. He witnesses her nightmares - sad memories of her tragic past that turn into horrible dreams twisted by her personal fear of fires and paralyzing nightmares of being chased by an evil monster who is out to kill her. In her dreams and in real life.
Mia thinks the monster is Parker. Parker's friends are beginning to suspect it might be Parker. And worse still, blackouts leave his memory spotty and he's caught himself not knowing his own whereabouts throughout the last few weeks, so even Parker can't help but wonder if he really IS the monster in Mia's life.

They don't know who it is .... WE don't know who it is.... O.M.G!! WHO.IS.IT?!?!?!

The pacing in this book is fantastic. I stayed on the edge of my seat deciding WHO the monster was going to be!! turns out I was correct at least twice during the many guesses - each guess thinking I was spot-on for sure - and I was still surprised at the end!

In all, we are treated with a very realistically written male POV (yay!) - I have mad respect for any author who is capable of writing the opposite gender in such a believable way - I loved Parker from the beginning. He does some pretty awful stuff, but he's actually a really likable guy. Someone who quickly has you rooting for him, whether you like what he's doing or not, you know what he's going through and you understand why he does what he does, so you want to see him succeed.

Insomnia is the first book in The Night Walkers trilogy. So while most the stuff is pretty much wrapped up by the end of this book, there are sill some big questions left on the table. It stands to reason we will be able to follow Parker and his life - hopefully uncovering the deeper secrets his mom may be hiding about his dad, as well as discovering the many uses (and misuses?) for Parkers abilities.
I for one can't wait to read more!

I would totally recommend this book to other YA readers (ages mature teen and up) especially those who appreciate a really well written, male protagonist, as well as to young readers looking for a psychological thriller hiding out inside a great, and well-told story. Ultimately, INSOMNIA is about a boy who doesn't know if deep down he's a monster or hero, right now, he's just trying not to die.

In full disclosure, I won an autographed ARC edition of this book (along with signed bookmarks & other cool swag: shown below) from the author, J.R. Johansson, during a guest spot and giveaway hosted on Mindy McGinnis' blog at http://www.writerwriterpantsonfire.blogspot.com/

More information about the author and/or links to pre/order the book INSOMNIA (which I recommend) can be found at www.jrjohansson.com 

rating: 5 stars 

 

Review: Life After Theft by Aprilynne Pike

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Moving to a new high school sucks. Especially a rich-kid private school. With uniforms. But nothing is worse than finding out the first girl you meet is dead. And a klepto.

No one can see or hear Kimberlee except Jeff, so--in hopes of bringing an end to the snarkiest haunting in history--he agrees to help her complete her "unfinished business." But when the enmity between Kimberlee and Jeff's new crush, Sera, manages to continue posthumously, Jeff wonders if he's made the right choice.

Lynne's Review:

To begin with, this book has a really interesting and fun premise. We have Kimberlee, a kleptomaniac dead girl stuck in a limbo of remorse purgatory - she was a mean girl and bully in life and she continues to be a mean girl in her after life. She's often selfish and bratty and bitchy.
Years ago, my Mom taught me a saying: that sometimes people who need love the very most ask for it in the most unloving way.. turns out I've met a lot of people like that in real life and I believe this was ultimately the case in Kimberlee's character.

And then there is Jeff, the new guy in town and it's his first day in his new high school and he's struggling to not be all goofy and awkward or get laughed at.
He's a good guy, sweet, tends to do the right thing -even if doing the right thing means also breaking the law or taking the fall. He is also the only person alive who has been able to able to see or communicate with Kimberlee since the accident that caused her death just over a year ago.

Right now she's a ghost and using Jeff to return the stolen items may be her only chance to clear up the unfinished business that must be keeping her from moving on. from the looks of it though she has a lot to be sorry for and a lot to do to make things right so she can finally move into the light, cross over the bridge or, whatever. But being the nice guy and even knowing he probably shouldn't get involved, Jeff helps her .. often going above and beyond the call of duty, even where ghosty friends are concerned.

The plot moves along at a nice pace even if it's a little predictable, but it does delve deeper with some real life teen/high school issues and there are definitely some nice twists to figure out.
Of course, it's going to take far more than returning a few things, turns out there is SO MUCH MORE for Kimberlee and Jeff to discover and learn about each other and themselves before they make a difference. There is a sweet and surprising depth to these kids.

I loved the easy banter between the two main characters with their laugh out loud sarcasm and wit. The descriptive writing made it easy to imagine Kimberlee haunting Jeff, sinking through the seat of his car or walking eerily through walls as well as through people in the school hallways. She was always popping up, surprising him when he least expected it and sometimes at the worst possible moments.
I could easily see this book being made into an after school special sort of show. I believe it would translate well to screen and I think high schoolers would relate to it.

Overall I enjoyed reading Life After Theft and would recommend it to ages young adult on up. It was a great book that would make for fun weekend read

**I won this ARC / Uncorrected Proof edition in a GoodReads first-reads giveaway.
Thank you Goodreads and Harper Teen (at http://harperteen.com) for this opportunity to review this book.

rating: 4 stars

 

Review: The Mad Scientist's Daughter by Cassandra Rose Clarke

 synopsis from the back of the book:

"Cat, this is Finn, He's going to be your tutor."

He looks, and acts human, though he has no desire to be. He was programmed to assist his owners, and performs his duties to perfection. A billion-dollar construct, his primary task now is to tutor Cat. As she grows into a beautiful young woman, Finn is her guardian, her constant companion... and more. But when the government grants rights to the ever-increasing robot populations, however, Finn struggles to find his place in the world.

Lynne's review:

I finished reading The Mad Scientist's Daughter by Cassandra Rose Clarke last night and have since been thinking about what to say here. Honestly, I have a bit of a book hangover and I'm still a little overwhelmed with emotions from the ending. The premise is one of the most thought provoking I've read in a while and I was having a hard time trying to sum it all up without major spoilers. Fortunately, the tag line on the book truly covers it best. A Tale of Love, Loss and Robots

Ultimately, this is a love story. A beautifully rendered, heartbreakingly gorgeous story about a young girls first and truest love and how (like in real life) sometimes, you just never (ever) get over the first love of your life. -even if that person and that love is considered outside the parameters of social acceptance and you were taught it was taboo and off-limits.

The phrase 'love is blind' comes to mind with this book. In some cases it is ambiguous. Love is often blind to differences, be it race, religion, gender, species, etc. and then there is when a person is so blind to love (or in denial) that even the most obvious signs go unrecognized leaving the person loveless and lonely.. The Mad Scientist's Daughter has striking reflections of both examples.

There is definitely loss. I'm not posting spoilers, just be forewarned, there are some really, reeeally touching scenes. -have tissues handy.

And robots. *sigh* Possibly the best aspect of this book. The main robot character was phenomenal. Although at times he reminded me of Data from Star Trek, in the world of this book Finn is completely unique. He is one of a kind. Created simply to perform and please, and to serve needs beyond science. A machine created and programmed to be human, or as close as possible.

I completely loved and appreciated the futuristic world and era of this book. Robots, automatons, and high-tech electronics are portrayed in a realistic way, in a world that could very easily exist in the near future.

The world is far enough into the future that we/Earth have little natural resources left available and the nations have their sights set on colonizing space. In many ways, robotics has saved the planet and humans have benefited but it has also made many things obsolete. and when you build automatons to replace humans, they begin to have groups who demand, by law, specifications in the conscientiousness and sentience levels of a machine and what qualifies them of equal rights and recognition.

I loved the characters. Especially the main two. Caterina (aka Cat). She was relate-able, at least to me. Although with her icy exterior she made me want to shake her sometimes, well, for that and other personality flaws built into her character. And like I said before, I really loved Finn.

The entire cast of characters, from the main characters to Cat's parents, friends, love interests, to the various condescending co-workers, neighbors and well-meaning town folks were all layered and distinct personalities, complex and believable in their actions and thinking.

There were just a few things that sort of bothered me. And please remember that every book reads differently from one person to the next, so your experience may differ.

-Written in 3rd person. Such a tricky way to write. Sometimes it works for me, sometimes it doesn't. -several times throughout the book I was very aware of the 3rd person format. I also wondered how many sentences began with the MC's name, as in Cat said, Cat did, Cat went, Cat thought, Cat whatever'd, etc.,

-I felt there was a lot more <i>telling</i> about what was going on in the story and occasionally it felt awfully cold and sterile, which bothered me -but then considering this is a book about robots -who are often portrayed as unbiased, unfeeling- other times it seemed a completely perfect and logical way for the story to be told

-There were multiple instances of random words being needlessly/crazily hyphenated. Sometimes three or more of these mistakes would occur on a page and unfortunately, this one reeeally bothered me. It was like slamming into a brick wall in the story every time it happened. **This may be a formatting issue but also the edition I read was an ARC, so it's highly probable this formatting/editing issue will be fixed on finished copies (I sure hope so).

-Time flew by too fast. -as in time jumping forward months and years from the end of one chapter to the start of the next. The quick time progression was really unsettling for me (and left me wondering happened in all those years in between?!?)

-I wasn't crazy about how certain serious situations (ones *I* thought were enormously important) were glossed over completely. I feel like I still need closure on a couple of things that happened in the book.

Despite the few things that bugged me, I thought the story was amazing and overall very engaging. There were a few slow areas in the beginning, but by the end of the book, I was totally invested and my heart ached for the characters.

In the end, I really loved this book and I hope you do too.

I would recommend The Mad Scientist's Daughter for readers ages mature/late-teen and up (there are several scenes that are quite mature and/or adult in nature). Readers who love Romance, Science Fiction, Robots, Fantasy, Futuristic Lifestyles and Post-Apocalyptic Worlds. A lovely mashup of genres that will surely attract a lot of attention.

I won an ARC edition of this book from MK at http://popcornreads.com  Hers was one of the first reviews I read of this book and I thought it sounded like my kind of story. Thank you so much MK for the giveaway and opportunity to read and fall in love with this fantastic book.

rating: 4.5 stars

Review: White Lines by Jennifer Banash

Synopsis (from Goodreads): A gritty, atmospheric coming of age tale set in 1980s New York City.

Seventeen-year-old Cat is living every teenager’s dream: she has her own apartment on the Lower East Side and at night she’s club kid royalty, guarding the velvet rope at some of the hottest clubs in the city. The night with its crazy, frenetic, high-inducing energy—the pulsing beat of the music, the radiant, joyful people and those seductive white lines that can ease all pain—is when Cat truly lives. But her daytime, when real life occurs, is more nightmare than dream. Having spent years suffering her mother’s emotional and physical abuse, and abandoned by her father, Cat is terrified and alone—unable to connect to anyone or anything. But when someone comes along who makes her want to truly live, she’ll need to summon the courage to confront her demons and take control of a life already spinning dangerously out of control.

Both poignant and raw, White Lines is a gripping tale and the reader won’t want to look away.

Lynne's Review: 

Told in a brutally honest, deeply intimate way, WHITE LINES by Jennifer Banash is an edgy, dark and gritty tale that chronicles the steady decline of Cat's crazy life during the wilder side of life in the 80's.

Cat is a seventeen year old girl, a barely passing senior in high school. The product of growing up in a physical and emotionally abusive home as well as the child of a broken marriage. She is estranged and emancipated from her parents and even though her folks are well off, she ends up living by herself in a fairly rough part of town - an area called Alphabet City, in New York.

To make ends meet, Cat becomes a party promoter for one of the hottest, trendiest clubs downtown. She earns $500 a week and soon finds herself in the top echelon of the clubbing food chain. As the force behind the magical velvet rope - the person who either denies or grants VIP access to the inner sanctums of the night clubs - most nights you'll find Cat dressed up in some crazy, atrocious costume - designed by none other than her dear, close friend and partner in crime, Giovanni - but most of all ... you'll always find Cat higher than the night before.
Because hers is a world where the bass is always thumping, vibrations rippling through the air and she's not having the time of her life unless she's bouncing off the walls, rolling through life on a drug induced high and wired for sound. At the pinnacle of her 'career' Cat finds herself growing up too fast, too soon and far too many lines too deep into drugs. She's in denial and throwing caution to the wind.

quotes I marked while reading:
pg 210 It's easier to pretend that you need nothing and no one, that you're an island surrounded by miles of water, uninhabitable, than it is to let your real feelings out where they can be trampled on. Sometimes I wish I were made of something impermeable and hard like wood or metal. Something that would keep the core of me locked away, encased in a thick, glittering shell.

pg 242 I know I have become my worst self, a girl who will do anything to avoid looking at her own frightened reflection in the mirror. A girl who runs away, straight into the dark of an eclipse, just to have some place to go.

I found Cat to be a character my heart ached for. She was so broken and pitiful and almost beyond being able to save herself. We watch her spiraling out of control, falling deeper into the pit of her own self destruction. I wanted her love interest (Julian) to save her and if he couldn't do it, I hoped her best childhood friend Sara would be there to catch her before she fell.
But like watching a comet on a direct path toward the sun, you just know that Cat is going to get burnt and you wonder if she'll survive the very worst of her existence.
This is a story about a young life, lived hard and fast, that definitely gets worse before it gets better. And yet, there is so much more to this story than the drugs and club scenes. Ultimately, it's about a lost soul who is desperate to find love, yet at the same time, afraid to be loved.

Jennifer Banash has a writing style that is lyrical and realistic. In WHITE LINES, she writes about habits and secrets that usually stay hidden in dark corners - a lifestyle most people would deny even exists, let alone admit to living. A deep look that is almost too close for comfort.


While the club scenes weren't the lifestyle that I personally experienced, I grew up in the eighties and I can only imagine this type of thing must have existed in cities more advanced than where I grew up.
I found a lot of shout outs and references to that era's brand names (like Tab -the drink, Sony walkman, etc) and most of the music being mentioned or played in the club (Madonna, Depeche Mode, Duran Duran etc) brought back some of my own memories of growing up in the 80's.

Due to the realistic nature of this book, adult themes and heavy drug use (as well as the risky consequences thereof) I would recommend this book to ages mature 16-17 and up.

I received this ARC of WHITE LINES directly from the author for my honest review. Thank you again Jennifer!

 rated: 4 stars

Review: Splintered by A.G. Howard (SARC)

5 MILLION STARS!!! more or less.

I don't know why it is that the books I love ~the very most~ are always the hardest for me to review. SPLINTERED is one of those books. Pardon me because all I REALLY want to do is gush, squeeeeeeee and fangirl about this book.... however, I'll resist the urge to do so right now.

One of my all time favorite stories is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and I LOVE a great retelling almost as much. Honestly, I may have to admit that I think I might actually love SPLINTERED ~more~ than the original. *gasp* I know, right?

Seriously. Everything about this book is fantastic. EVERYTHING.

If I start with the cover, we'll be here all night. My hardback copy came with the GORGEOUS cover/dust jacket. It's like 'ZOMG uber fantastic!!!'. (personally, I'd love it in billboard sized to cover an entire wall - though my husband might not like that idea as much as I do LOL)
Once you're reading the book, you'll come back to stare at the cover and you'll realize, it's perfect. so absolutely, purely, perfect.
Every minute attention was paid to the detail within the covers as well. From the inside page designs of the book, to the ink color (which is a real dark, aubergine purple), and even the fancy scroll work and illustrations at the heading of every chapter was lovely. Everything about the construction of the book was deliberate to the story and turned out first class. everything.

This story runs a pretty good parallel to the original Lewis Carroll version - but it's so far from being a cookie-cutter wanna-be version. SPLINTERED brings with it all sorts of new twists and characters that are much darker, grittier and, more than occasionally, mutated. So much so that it actually concerns me for the well-being of the author if *this* is how her brain works!

And speaking of the characters. Holy cow I LOVED them all! there were the ghosts of the original story who were brilliantly brought back to life in this story, in addition to the new main characters. Alyssa Gardner (the great-great-great grand daughter of Alice Liddell), her kinda boyfriend-type-person, Jeb and another mysterious guy she remembers from her locked away past, Morpheus - he's all grown up now and more mentally destructive than ever.
They each had depth and reasoning, you could relate to them - some characters were despicable while most others were charming and/or full of warped imagination.
I loved the love triangle that wasn't really a triangle at all and the fact that even though this is technically a young adult book, it wasn't focused on romance -even tho there is some slight romanciness between the characters.

The Underland world the author created here was beyond amazing. Again, more twisted, and off-kiltered .... off with their heads madness and then some. Altered and adapted to become a more modern nightmare.

As crazy and unbelievable as the original AiW is, SPLINTERED manages to be even crazier and more unbelievably fantastic. a beautifully written, plausible expectation to what happened to Alice Liddell AFTER Lewis Carroll put down the pen on her story all those years ago

I am truly amazed and impressed to the high heavens with A.G. Howard's debut book. So much attention to every little detail. Thoroughly developed, edited and exquisitely presented. Such a treat!

I loved it. all of it. the cover, the book, the story, the ending. all of it, every single bit of it. seriously folks, EVERYTHING!!

I tee-totally, absolutely and positively, whole-heartedly recommend this book to anyone who loves or appreciates the original Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and anyone else who enjoys fantastical, adventurous, young adult stories that feature a strong heroine, swoon-worthy guys and a story that pushes the reader to the brink of madness -but in a good way.

rating: 5 stars and a HEART!

Review of Capital Girls by Ella Monroe

 Capital Girls by Ella Monroe

Capital Girls wasn't what I expected. Although, to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure what I expected it to be, exactly, but it read like an episode of a highly politically slanted Gossip Girl - or probably, more like several episodes. While GC was not one of my favorite TV shows, for this book, that's not a bad comparison. It worked really well actually and Capital Girls turned out to be an interesting, fast paced story and a quick and easy read.

It starts out with our main character, Jackie, visiting the grave of one of her recently deceased best friends, Taylor. She is confessing to Taylor a secret she can't share with her other friends, because she's falling for a really hot guy she shouldn't fall for and Taylor always knew exactly what to do in every situation the girls had ever found themselves in.

Jackie is an almost eighteen year old girl who is dating the Presidents son, Andrew. She is frustrated with their very non-sexual relationship and she makes a few really poor choices that lead to HUGE consequences. And when you're in a relationship with the Presidents son, you live your life in the fishbowl for the public eye to scrutinize, and any small or big indiscretion gets plastered across every tabloid nationwide.

Laurie Beth is trying to find her own path in life. She dreams of singing and dancing on the stage and plans to apply to Julliard even though it will go against everything her mother wants her to do. She has her own secrets to keep - mainly to do with the fact she's in love with someone she can't have.

Lettie is the quiet Latino girl who plans to change the world. She is a Paraguayan immigrant to the US. She is here with her family on a embassy scholarship so she works hard in a less than desirable position for the money she and her family need to survive. There is an interesting side-storyline going on with her and the real life immigration issues she is focused on fighting for and her plight for her home country. But a blossoming secret connection with an old friend may change her priorities and make her dreams that much hard to achieve.

Whitney is the California transplant and newest to the group. She is the daughter of a tabloid reporter who happens to be one of the most well-known, cut-throat  people behind the biggest celebrity scoops in California. Whitney hates everything about Washington D.C. and the only thing she wants is a ticket back to her life in California. Sadly, Whitney's only way to get home is to make her mother happy. So she is forced into the role of Mole and goes uncover to get the scandalous secrets and juiciest capital gossip about her newest a-lister friends.

And finally, back to Taylor. Taylor was the beautiful, vivacious and adventurous blond bombshell all the girls in the capital city envied and wanted to be. She was the one who took the biggest risks, always made the best times and the most memorable, she partied hard and lived harder. Living every moment of her life to the fullest.
She was also the glue that essentially held together the four girls - the 'Capital Girls' as they called themselves - who had been best friends since childhood. And they were inseparable ... until the accident.

The horrible car accident that took Taylor's life changed the lives of everyone around her.
Her tragic death sent shockwaves of grief throughout her elite circle of friends and her family. (Throughout the book are flashbacks of Taylor from the different characters' memories and points of view, which gave a great sense of Taylor as a realized character in the book even though she had died before the first word on the first page)
Everyone in the story grieves differently for their friend/sister/daughter ... all the characters are struggling to move forward in their lives. However, those holding secrets are having a harder time moving forward than others.

There are quite a few plots and story lines here, but for me, it was the mystery as well as the scandal of all these huge secrets that propelled me through this story. Wanting to know how it all was going to turn out, who was going to end up doing what and/or with whom and wanting to see if my guesses were going to be right, or if there were going to be major curveballs thrown in a the last minute.

Even though a few of those big, awful secrets are revealed before the last page, and there are several giant secrets alluded to throughout the story, so believe me, it's worth getting to the end for!. Being the first in a trilogy, Capital Girls also ends on a cliff hanger that leaves us dangling with even bigger questions about even bigger secrets.

Luckily, I have book two in the Capital Girls trilogy on the shelf ready to read. yay me! It's called Secrets and Lies, and from that title, I can only guess what's in store for these likeable and loatheable characters. I'm definitely looking forward to finding out. because I'm nosy like that.

Overall, I really liked and enjoyed the story.
I would recommend Capital Girls to anyone who loves Gossip Girl and Sex in the City type entertainment. I would probably say appropriateness level would be ages mature teen/17+ due to the fairly adult themes - underage drinking, smoking weed and talk about sex (or doing it) - not to mention the lying, cheating and political backstabbing and blackmail that goes on behind the closed doors on Capital Hill.
Of course, if you're old enough for either of those racy-ish TV shows then this book will be a breezy fun walk in the park.

Just a couple small things that bothered me. And really, it's probably *only* me, so...
There was a whole lot of name brand and designer name dropping, as well as the names of all the trendiest places in the Capital city.
Name dropping is okay when it's lightly sprinkled in to add flecks of realism to the story and the name of a famous location certainly assists in the world building ... but when overdone it's something that just annoys me.
There were times I would say to myself "okay, this paragraph was brought to you by that so-and-so top designer, or major product, or trendy restaurant or shop etc"
Having said that, while it was sometimes too much for me, it still worked for this particular story - in a "I'm so posh and rich" Sex in the City product placement sort of way.
Also, there are a LOT of characters to keep up with in this book. I only mentioned the main characters in my review, but there are more than a dozen people to keep track of here. The kids don't always have the same last name as their parents and I stayed about half confused trying to remember which character was the sibling to whom and/or which parent the kid belonged to and then you have to throw in how that other person is connected to the poliitcal foodchain, etc. Also, Jackie kept calling one of the women 'Aunt' and I still don't think any of the kids in the story were actual cousins ... so yeah, O_o ...
There were several times I wished for an appendix or a family tree sort of thing in the back of the book that explained all the different relations.





If this book sounds even slightly interesting to you then read it if you get the chance. For the folks who read one book right after another, this is a great filler book for in between those meatier books that take a long of brain power to read. :)

rated: 4

**I won this book in a GoodReads first-read giveaway. Thank you Goodreads and Sarah at http://us.macmillan.com/capitalgirls/EllaMonroe for the opportunity to read Capital Girls. They also very kindly sent along an ARC of the second book in the series, Secret and Lies, which I plan on reading soon - if not next.

Review: The Cabinet of Earths by Anne Nesbet

I won an autographed copy of The Cabinet of Earths by Anne Nesbet from the authors website during the May 2012 ‘YAmazing Race with MGnificent Prizes’ event hosted by The Apocalypsies (at http://apocalypsies.blogspot.com/ ).

This book sounded soooo interesting when I first heard about it in the January 2012 YAmazing Race, so I was very happy to win a copy. I was even happier when it lived up to my expectations of being a really great book. yay!
Also, the cover is truly amazing and one of the first things that drew me to this book, so I have to give kudos to the artist... (click here for my full review on Goodreads)

Richi read this book as well ... (click here to read his full review on Goodreads)

My husband and I each gave 4 stars to 'The Cabinet of Earths' by Anne Nesbet

Review: Just Add Magic by Cindy Callaghan

She's Reading: Just Add Magic by Cindy Callaghan

Back cover synopsis:
When Kelly Quinn and her two BFF's discover a dusty old cookbook while cleaning out an attic, the girls decide to try a few of the mysterious recipes that are inside.
But the ancient book bears on eerie warning, and it doesn't take long for the girls to realize that their dishes are linked to strange occurrences. The Keep 'Em Quiet Cobbler actually silences Kelly's pesky little brother and the Hexberry Tart brings an annoying curse to mean girl Charlotte. And there is the Love Bug Juice, which seems to have quite the effect on those cute Rusamano boys...
 Could these recipes really be magical? Who wrote them and where did they come from? And most important of all, what kind of trouble are the girls stirring up for themselves? Things are about to get just a little too hot in Kelly Quinn's kitchen...

*Goodreads First Read giveaway
*Received matching bookmarks and the book was signed by the author *squee!*

~Lynne @tworeads

 rating: 4 stars - click here to read my Goodreads review

Review: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

She's Reading: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

     I only recently discovered the writing of Neil Gaiman. He quickly sky-rocketed to being one of my favorite authors. Such an amazing way with words. *fangirl*

Started reading this yesterday and I'm halfway through the book already. The Graveyard Book is a fantastic and riveting story.

~Lynne @ tworeads