REVIEW: Deep Betrayal, by Anne Greenwood Brown

Deep Betrayal

 It's been thirty days, two hours, and seventeen minutes since Calder left Lily standing on the shores of Lake Superior. Not that she's counting. And when Calder does return, it's not quite the reunion Lily hoped for. Especially after she lets her father in on a huge secret: he, like Calder, is a merman. Obsessed with his new identity, Lily's dad monopolizes Calder's time as the two of them spend every day in the water, leaving Lily behind.

     Then dead bodies start washing ashore. Calder blames his mermaid sisters, but Lily fears her father has embraced the merman's natural need to kill. As the body count grows, everyone is pointing fingers. Lily doesn't know what to believe--only that whoever's responsible is sure to strike again. . . .

Okay..first..this is the sequel to Lies Beneath. Which was an awesome book (I'll go back and review it at some point.)

I have to tell you, I'm excited to read about mermaids. If I'm going to read paranormal, I'm ready for something other than vampires, zombies, and psychics. And this..works.

Deep Betrayal is awesome as an escape book. Meaning, I got so caught up reading it, I did, in fact escape reality for a bit. I love Lily and Calder. I love that this novel focused more on Lily. She's got a lot to focus on in finding out what being a mutant (as she puts it) means for her. Oh...and there's the deaths. 

I'm not sure this book could be any better. I loved the first one, it dealt with practicalities of being a mer-person (seriously, they ARE part fish..there are some things to consider.) And this one addresses being a human, who happens to be part mermaid.

Great character deepening, as they develop in their identities. I would've liked more of Lily's dad as a central character, but it also worked that he was feeding into the inevitable "embracing his inner merman" that happens when one discovers who they really are.

Again, great read, better than the first installment, which would be tough since that one was so good. Definitely different and more based in the possibilities of the real world including the supernatural.

What do you think??

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this ebook galley from Random House Children's Books (Delacorte BFYR) through the netGalley publisher/reader connection program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.


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REVIEW: Orleans, by Sherri L. Smith

Orleans
Published in 2013

First came the storms.Then came the Fever.And the Wall.  After a string of devastating hurricanes and a severe outbreak of Delta Fever, the Gulf Coast has been quarantined. Years later, residents of the Outer States are under the assumption that life in the Delta is all but extinct…but in reality, a new primitive society has been born.  

Fen de la Guerre is living with the O-Positive blood tribe in the Delta when they are ambushed. Left with her tribe leader’s newborn, Fen is determined to get the baby to a better life over the wall before her blood becomes tainted. Fen meets Daniel, a scientist from the Outer States who has snuck into the Delta illegally. Brought together by chance, kept together by danger, Fen and Daniel navigate the wasteland of Orleans.  In the end, they are each other’s last hope for survival.

In light of the hurricanes to hit the Gulf Coast in the last several years, this book tells a possible, if hard to imagine story. Set several years, and storms in the future, Orleans is a scary possibility, as well as a story that provides hope.

Fen is the anti-heroine. She doesn't begin as particularly likable, she's not a stunning beauty or paragon of virtue, like you tend to meet in adventure stories. And this is an adventure story, wrapped in a (I hope) dystopian future.

Daniel is also a hero, though an incredibly reluctant one and not the kind he thought he was going to be. He's the nerd, who has believed every single line fed to him by the government that abandoned the Gulf Coast after massive storms and a plague.

I loved so many things about this book. Smith created simply amazing characters. I could see and hear them on every page. Rich, deep, and familiar, yet completely unlike others I've known.

Having walked the streets of New Orleans since it was rebuilt post-Katrina, I read and re-read the descriptions of the city, now a near wasteland. It fed that curiosity in me that has always wondered, what would survive?

The story itself captures you. Fen's fierce determination to do right by her friend's baby is palpable, and feeds her story. Daniel's on a quest to save, though he doesn't realize salvation doesn't look quite the way he imagines.

This is what becomes of civilized humanity when it simply wants to survive.

What do you think??

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this ebook galley from Putnam Juvenile through the netGalley publisher/reader connection program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

REVIEW: The Sin-Eater's Confession, by Ilsa J. Bick

The Sin Eater's Confession (Carolrhoda Ya)
Published 2013

People in Merit, Wisconsin, always said Jimmy was . . . you know. But people said all sorts of stupid stuff. Nobody really knew anything. Nobody really knew Jimmy. 

I guess you could say I knew Jimmy as well as anyone (which was not very well). I knew what scared him. And I knew he had dreams—even if I didn't understand them. Even if he nearly ruined my life to pursue them.

Jimmy's dead now, and I definitely know that better than anyone. I know about blood and bone and how bodies decompose. I know about shadows and stones and hatchets. I know what a last cry for help sounds like. I know what blood looks like on my own hands. 

What I don't know is if I can trust my own eyes. I don't know who threw the stone. Who swung the hatchet? Who are the shadows? What do the living owe the dead?

Wow. This book is heavy. It's tough. I'm not sure what I thought it would be, but good heavens it was tough. Like, took me a few days to get through it, because it impacted me. 

There were several teenage stresses in this book. The tamest of them is the tiger-mom--pushing her kid to be the best and work his butt off and "you can rest and play later." Ben's mom has him booked, solid, all with the intention of getting him into Yale, and then medical school. Seriously, nothing can stand in the way, and Ben, honey, you can sleep when you're dead.

Ben is also dealing with secrets. His secrets, Jimmy's secrets. And fighting rumors that have no basis in truth. It is so very tough. And dealing with them all on his own, because what he knows could end everything he's worked for, even though he is innocent.

I think Bick's work as a child psychiatrist is precisely what makes this work so well. What makes Ben's story so compelling. She truly understands the inner workings of the mind that would be Ben's. It is hard to read his pain. Because, if you're like me, you feel it.

This isn't a YA novel for the junior high set. I'd be hard-pressed to give it to my freshman or most of my sophomores, but I think my juniors and seniors could take it. It has the potential to make for some great discussion.

Be prepared, there is some gore and Bick doesn't sugarcoat it . This book does deal with homosexuality and the cruelty that can be dished out, and while it's central to the story, it's not the most important part of the story.

What do you think??

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this ebook galley from Carolrhoda Lab through the netGalley publisher/reader connection program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

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Update: March 9.

So, I've been simultaneously not good about updating AND not good about reading from the list. I've got copies of several of the titles, I just can't seem to open them. Perhaps, knitting is getting the way. 

Since the previous update...

The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green I think I may have cried even more this time through.

The Name of the Star, by Maureen Johnson Snagged this one because I'm reviewing the second book in the series. The Madness Underneath was published in February of this year.

The Raven Boys, by Maggie Stiefvater Gosh, this one is so good.


Reported to you before today

Every Day, by David Levithan. I think I loved this MORE the second time around than I did when I first reviewed it. LOVE Levithan, and LOVE this book.

Friends with Boys, by Faith Erin Hicks. Great graphic novel. Faith Erin Hicks is one of the (few) graphic novelists that I really enjoy. She's awesome.

What do you think??

REVIEW: Being Henry David, by Cal Armistead

Being Henry David

Published 2013

Seventeen-year-old "Hank" has found himself at Penn Station in New York City with no memory of anything--who he is, where he came from, why he's running away. His only possession is a worn copy of Walden by Henry David Thoreau. And so he becomes Henry David--or "Hank"--and takes first to the streets, and then to the only destination he can think of--Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts.Hank begins to piece together recollections from his past. The only way Hank can discover his present is to face up to the realities of his grievous memories. He must come to terms with the tragedy of his past, to stop running, and to find his way home.  

Really enjoyed this book, even though I can't think of a single 17-year-old at my school who would be voluntarily carrying around a copy of Thoreau. But hey, someone probably does. :)

So, we've got a male narrator. I have to admit that even though we have quite a few male narrators in YA literature, for the most part the audience is female and so even teenage boys are written to teenage girls. It is what it is. In this instance, it was nice to have a boy voice written to appeal to boys as well as girls. Pretty nice.

The writing style carries the emotion and storyline, too. There's a little choppiness in the places where Hank is very tense. It worked well enough that my shoulders crept up to my ears, just like they do when I'm tense in my real life. In a few places, the "short-ness" of the writing was too short and a particular detail or person didn't feel complete, but all in all it worked.

Places were gut-wrenching. I get emotionally attached, so I'm not ashamed to tell you I had to step away to deal with tears and calm down a few times.

The book is DEFINITELY worth your time. And take some time with it.

What do you think??

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this ebook galley from Albert Whitman Teen through the netGalley publisher/reader connection program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.