Review: Spellbound

Details:
Title: Spellbound
Author: Cara Lynn Shultz
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Pub Date: July, 2011
Genre: Paranormal Romance

What's a girl to do when meeting The One means she's cursed to die a horrible death?
Life hasn't been easy on sixteen-year-old Emma Connor, so a new start in New York may be just the change she needs. But the posh Upper East Side prep school she has to attend? Not so much. Friendly faces are few and far between, except for one that she's irresistibly drawn to—Brendan Salinger, the guy with the rock-star good looks and the richest kid in school, who might just be her very own white knight.
But even when Brendan inexplicably turns cold, Emma can't stop staring. Ever since she laid eyes on him, strange things have been happening. Streetlamps go out wherever she walks, and Emma's been having the oddest dreams: visions of herself in past lives—visions that warn her to stay away from Brendan. Or else. -- Goodreads

My Thoughts:
I'm not really sure what drew me to this book; the summary confused me and cover is beautiful, but odd. Nonetheless, something drew me and I ended up liking the book more than I expected to.

I have nothing bad to say about Spellbound, it was well written, the characters were likable and interesting, and the plot and background story were great. The only reason I didn't love the book was that I'm not a huge fan of romance; I like most of the paranormal YA romance I read, but I just don't love it. But I think I liked this one more than most. Shultz writing style and voice were wonderful. Every element of the story came together in the end to create a beautiful and tragic love story.

I wasn't too sure how the whole "when meeting The One means she's cursed to die a horrible death" thing would pan out or what that even meant for the story, but I loved it. I don't want to say too much since it totally gives away the story, but this theme is crafted beautifully.

Emma was an excellent narrator; I liked her right away. Even though she's the main character in a crazy romance, she didn't seem over-the-top or fake like other female romance characters. Emma was a "real girl;" she struggles with her past, figuring out what's going on with Brendan, has trouble fitting in, and in the end becomes an even stronger character and girl than she already was.

Rating:

Review: Misfit

Details:
Title: Misfit
Author: Jon Skovron
Publisher: Amulet
Pub Date: August 2011
Genre: Paranormal

Jael Thompson has never really fit in. She’s changed schools too many times to count. The only family she’s ever known is her father, a bitter ex-priest who never lets her date and insists she attend the strictest Catholic school in Seattle. And her mother—well, she was a five thousand year old demon. That doesn’t exactly help.
But on her sixteenth birthday, her father gives her a present that brings about some unexpected changes. Some of the changes, like strange and wonderful powers and the cute skater boy with a knack for science, are awesome. But others, like the homicidal demon seeking revenge on her family? Not so much.
Steeped in mythology, this is an epic tale of a heroine who balances old world with new, science with magic, and the terrifying depths of the underworld with the ordinary halls of high school. -- Goodreads

My Thoughts:
I'd heard a bit about Misfit from a few other bloggers before I can across the galley on NetGalley (if you don't know about NetGalley, check it out), but I haven't read much paranormal in the past few weeks and the whole demons and mythology aspect sounded really interesting.

Misfit wasn't what I was expecting and I'm having a difficult time deciding if I liked it or not. The story and the characters were interesting and exciting, but the writing style was really difficult for me. The point of view and tense changed throughout the novel, which confused me and drove me crazy. I probably would have stopped reading after about three chapters if I weren't so interested in the mythology setup in the novel.

So the story and mythology of the book, pretty awesome. The whole world of demons and myth came together really nicely and was clearly well researched. I was impressed by how well the religious stories and the myths came together and created a very complete history and background for the demon world. It wasn't like anything else I've read (although I haven't read very demon/religious/mythology centered books). There's a lot going on; many cultural and religious stories are mixed.

I liked the characters, but some of them were a bit over-the-top for me. I liked Jael for the most part; her character growth was excellent and I liked her relationship with boy. Jael's father and some of the other religious figure characters just didn't seem believable to me. They were too much; I don't know very many priests, but I can't picture these guys in a church in the real world.

If you can get passed the strange writing style, the story's pretty good.

Rating: 
I'm giving two ratings because the story was:

but the writing style was:

Review: Girl Wonder

Details:
Title: Girl Wonder
Author: Alexa Martin
Publisher: Disney/Hyperion
Pub Date: May 2011
Genre: Realistic Fiction

As if transferring senior year weren't hard enough, Charlotte Locke has been bumped to lower level classes at her new school. With no friends, a terrible math SAT score, and looming college application deadlines, the future is starting to seem like an oncoming train for which she has no ticket.

Then Amanda enters her orbit like a hot-pink meteor, offering Charlotte a ticket to something else: popularity. Amanda is fearless, beautiful, brilliant, and rich. As her new side kick, Charlotte is brought into the elite clique of the debate team—and closer to Neal, Amanda's equally brilliant friend and the most perfect boy Charlotte has ever seen.

But just when senior year is looking up, Charlotte’s life starts to crumble. The more things heat up between Charlotte and Neal, the more Neal wants to hide their relationship. Is he ashamed? Meanwhile, Amanda is starting to act strangely competitive, and she's keeping a secret Charlotte doesn't want to know.

Talented newcomer Alexa Martin delivers a poignant story of first love, jealousy and friendship, where the ups and downs of senior year have never been so complicated. What else can Charlotte do but throw her hands up and ride?
-- Goodreads

My Thoughts:
I've been trying to read more realistic contemporary fiction. I think I need a break from paranormal and dystopian novels. Girl Wonder was an excellent change from apocalyptic things I've been reading lately. 

I really liked Charlotte; she seemed totally real to me. Her struggle to fit in with her supper smart family is what really made her likable and really realistic. Charlotte's father's responses and reactions to Charlotte's academic choices and issues totally reminded me of some of friend's parents. Charlotte's need to fit in with Amanda and Neal and the downward spiral her life goes into because of this need may seem a bit over the top to some readers, but I thought it was pretty realistic. A lot of teens really struggle to fit in and go to extremes to do so. I had several friends in high school who went through very similar situations. Charlotte's not obsessed with popularity; she just wants to fit in somewhere and the super smart kids' clique is the sort of place her highly academic parents would (in her mind) like her to fit in. I also loved her little brother and his friend Milton. They're both super smart, but not in the same show-off-y way that Amanda and Neal are.

My only issue with the novel is the romance aspect. Charlotte's relationship with Neal wasn't all that interesting and (I thought) pretty predictable. He wants to hide her and doesn't really act all that interested in her, and she's just dying to fit in and have someone actually like her. It's so clear right from the beginning that this isn't going to work out. But even with my dislike of the romance between Charlotte and Neal, I still felt that Charlotte's struggle to fit in and her downward spiral were true-to-life and interesting.

Rating:

Giveaway: Unrequired Summer Reading

Don't forget to enter the Unrequired Summer Reading Giveaway to win a copy of Putting Makeup on Dead People and a deck of YA theme playing cards. Contests ends Monday, July 11, so enter now!

For full details and to enter, go here.

Review: Bumped

Details:
Title: Bumped (Bumped #1)
Author: Megan McCafferty
Publisher: Balzer + Bray (HarperCollins)
Date: April 2011
Genre: Dystopia

When a virus makes everyone over the age of eighteen infertile, would-be parents are forced to pay teen girls to conceive and give birth to their children, making teens the most prized members of society.

Sixteen-year-old identical twins Melody and Harmony were separated at birth and had never met until the day Harmony shows up on Melody’s doorstep. Until now, the twins have followed completely opposite paths. Melody has scored an enviable conception contract with a couple called the Jaydens. While they are searching for the perfect partner for Melody to bump with, she is fighting her attraction to her best friend Zen, who is way too short for the job.

Harmony has spent her whole life in religious Goodside, preparing to be a wife and mother. She believes her calling is to bring Melody back to Goodside and convince her that “pregging” for profit is a sin. But Harmony has secrets of her own that she is running from.

When Melody is finally matched with the world-famous, genetically flawless Jondoe, both girls’ lives are changed forever. A case of mistaken identity takes them on a journey neither could have ever imagined, one that makes Melody and Harmony realize they have so much more than just DNA in common. -- Goodreads

My Thoughts:
I'm a huge, huge fan of Megan McCafferty's Jessica Darling series, so I was trilled to hear she was working on a new series. Bumped is so different from McCafferty's first series, but still has her wonderful writing style and awesome characters.

I'll start with my few issues with the book. I found the beginning to be very confusing; the story just suddenly starts and there's a lot going on and the language is a bit strange. But after a couple chapters I'd figured out what was going on. I did go back a re-read the first few pages because the opening scene totally confused me. It didn't take long for me to get into the story, so a confusing beginning wasn't really that big of an issue. Beyond that my only other issue was with the language. It reminded me of Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series; there's a lot of strange slang and technology that isn't explained. It didn't really bother me, but it was a little confusing. Spending time explaining what everything meant would have slowed things down and really taken you out of the story. So I guess the language wasn't really an issue, but it might be for some readers.

Ok, onto the good stuff. The story: how on earth did Megan come up with this?! The whole situation of the world and technology is just amazing and although not completely original, a nice unique spin on a dystopian topic that's been around for a while (infertility). Megan was able to take a topic that usually would equal a depressing tale of teen girls/women forced into marriages or pregnancies and turn it into a sometimes funny and light, meaningful story about teens and sex.

I liked both Melody and Harmony, but I didn't connect with them in the way I was hoping to. I felt so connected to Jessica in Megan's other series, and I guess I expected the same sort of connection with Bumped. I didn't dislike the characters, I just didn't fall in love with them. The story felt more story and plot driven, than character driven. Maybe in the next books I'll connect more to the twins as their characters' grow now that the world is created and established.

Although the book was not at all what I was expecting, I loved it and am excited to see where the series goes.

Rating: