The Night She Disappeared - April Henry - 2012

The Night She Disappeared by April Henry


Published: Henry Holt - 2012
Age Group: Young Adult
Dated Read: July 1, 2012
4 of 5 Stars: Fast-paced, intense, with quality characters.


Reason for Reading: I read Henry's Girl, Stolen in the Fall of 2010, and I really enjoyed it. I've recently started reading a lot more mystery & thriller books, and this book by Henry fit right in.


On GoodReads: Gabie drives a Mini Cooper. She also works part time as a delivery girl at Pete’s Pizza. One night, Kayla—another delivery girl—goes missing. To her horror, Gabie learns that the supposed kidnapper had asked if the girl in the Mini Cooper was working that night. Gabie can’t move beyond the fact that Kayla’s fate was really meant for her, and she becomes obsessed with finding Kayla. She teams up with Drew, who also works at Pete’s. Together, they set out to prove that Kayla isn’t dead—and to find her before she is.


My Thoughts: April Henry seems to do a great job of putting a lot of action, emotion, and character building into a short number of pages. Both this book & Girl, Stolen were quick reads, but they both really packed a punch. I liked Gabie's determination to find Kayla and her insistence that she was still alive, and I admired Kayla's strength throughout her kidnapping. Henry writes realistic characters that I find it easy to see myself in. There are a few different POVs in The Night She Disappeared, and they all work really well, it is especially creepy from the kidnapper's perspective. Added in between the chapters are transcripts of 911 calls, police interviews, lab reports, and evidence logs. These extra pieces of information really add to the atmosphere of the book and completely sucked me in. Overall, this was a really great, quick mystery, that I think would appeal to a wide audience, teens and adults alike.


Quote From The Book: "There's something else I wanted to talk to you about before the police did."
"What?" I Wonder if he wants me to lie for him. Not tell about him and Kayla smoking weed in the cooler that one time.
"They asked for you first." Drew says, interrupting my thoughts. "The guy who called asked if the girl in the Mini Cooper was delivering." (p.12)


Recommended To: Mystery lovers. Fans of I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga, All Unquiet Things by Anna Jarzab, or Samantha Crane on the Run by Linda A Cooney.


Books Read This Year: 55


Currently Reading: Unraveling Isobel by Eileen Cook

Rules of the Road - Joan Bauer - 1998

Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer


Published: Speak (Penguin ) - 1998
Age Group: Young Adult
Date Read: June 30, 2012
4 of 5 Stars: Full of humor, fun, and strength

Reason for Reading: I had read one of Bauer's other books, and my mother had actually picked this up from the library, so I read it while visiting my parents.

On GoodReads: Jenna Boller is too tall for a sophomore and she's not much good in school. Her sister Faith got all the looks in the family, but boy, can Jenna sell shoes! She's supremely happy at her after-school job at Gladstone's, where the big white sign over the door says "We're Not Just Selling Shoes, We're Selling Quality." When elderly Mrs. Madeline Gladstone, the crusty president of the company, chooses Jenna as her driver on a business trip to visit other Gladstone's stores, Jenna goes reluctantly--with trepidation at driving the huge Cadillac, and at the prospect of leaving her alcoholic father behind. But on the road, Jenna learns "great road truths" such as "Never eat at a place called Mom's, because it's a safe bet Mom's been dead for years." She also proves to be indispensable (possessing an eagle eye for shoddy quality and sloppy service), and soon learns to admire and love the irascible Mrs. Gladstone as well as her old friend, "World's Best Shoe Salesman" Harry Bender. When Harry dies suddenly, Jenna realizes that she wishes he had been her father. Trouble looms in the form of a company takeover by Mrs. Gladstone's sleazy son, Elden, "Shoe Rodent," but Jenna summons courage from Harry's memory and saves the day for quality shoes. 


My Thoughts: This book was so funny at times, and so touching and heartfelt at others. It was very tame compared to many more recently written YA books, but it worked well. I liked seeing Jenna find her strength and confidence over the Summer she worked for Mrs. Gladstone. Bauer seems to always write good, strong female characters that have some type of work-force talent, which I find really enjoyable. Jenna's struggle with her father's alcoholism is very realistic, though a bit cheesy at times, and her final confrontation with him shows how much she has grown and changed over the course of the book. The side characters were also wonderfully written and unique. Bonus: Road trip.

Recommended To: If you liked Joan Bauer's Hope Was Here, or if you like road trip novels, like Morgan Matson's Amy & Roger's Epic Detour or Maureen Johnson's 13 Little Blue Envelopes.

Quote From The Book: "The car was pointed away from the garage door, which meant that to get the car out, I would have to back it up. I was a C-minus backer-upper.
"A Cadillac, Floyd always said, is entirely trustworthy. It has been tested in any and all conditions and will perform to the utmost to protect its driver."
Was this a car or a Seeing Eye dog?" (p. 27)

Books Read This Year: 53 of 100

Currently Reading: The Night She Disappeared by April Henry

Nothing - Janne Teller - 2010

Nothing by Janne Teller translated from Danish by Martin Aitken


Published: 2010 - Atheneum (originally published in 2000)
Age Group: Middle Grade/Young Adult
Date Read: June 28, 2012
3 out of 5 Stars: It was good/baffling/disturbing/too hard to categorize

Reason for Reading: The text on the jacket flap (see below) completely got to me. It sounded so interesting that I had to find out if the children in the book ever proved that there is meaning in life or not.

 On GoodReads: "Pierre Anthon left school the day he found out that it was not worth doing anything as nothing mattered anyhow. The rest of us stayed behind. And even though the teachers carefully cleared up after Pierre Anthon in the class room as well as in our heads, a bit of Pierre Anthon remained within us. Perhaps this is why things later happened the way they did...  
Thus begins the story of Pierre Anthon, a thirteen year old boy, who leaves school to sit in a plum tree and train for becoming part of nothing. "Everything begins just in order to end. The moment you were born you began to die, and that goes for everything else as well." Pierre Anthon shouts and continues: "The whole thing is just one immense play which is about pretending and about being best at exactly that."
Scared at the prospects that Pierre Anthon throws at them together with the ripening plums, his seventh grade classmates set out on a desperate quest for the meaning of life. Nothing they do will make him come down, not even pelting him with rocks. So to prove to Pierre Anthon that life has meaning, the children decide to give up things of importance. The pile starts with the superficial—a fishing rod, a new pair of shoes. But as the sacrifices become more extreme, the students grow increasingly desperate to get Pierre Anthon down, to justify their belief in meaning.

My Thoughts: My feelings for this book are so hard to put into words. I really enjoyed the writing, though I could often tell where the translation from Danish to English was a little off, and I liked the idea of meaning and wondering what has meaning in the world and what makes life worth living and things worth doing. As the children in this story begin to demand what each other must give up and put into the "heap of meaning," the demands became more and more disturbing. What started with some books, shoes, and a fishing rod, ends up with a coffin, Jesus on the Cross, and other, even more disturbing, items that involve criminal behavior to retrieve. I am still thinking through this book. It was so baffling and strange, but also really well done.

 Recommended To: Anyone up for a really strange, disturbing read. And someone with a strong stomach.

Quote From The Book: "How come everyone's making like everything that isn't important is very important, all the while they're so busy pretending what's really important isn't important at all?"

 Books Read This Year: 52 of 100

Currently Reading: Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer

Hold Still - Nina LaCour - 2009

Hold Still by Nina LaCour

Published: 2009 - Dutton

Age Group: Young Adult

Date Read: October 20, 2011

4.5 out of 5 Stars: Overall, really liked it

Reason for Reading: This was picked up on a giant book run last winter. I don't think I've ever bought so many books at once. I liked how it sounded, and I loved the design of the book.

On GoodReads: "Devastating, hopeful, hopeless, playful . . . in words and illustrations, Ingrid left behind a painful farewell in her journal for Caitlin. Now Caitlin is left alone, by loss and by choice, struggling to find renewed hope in the wake of her best friend's suicide. With the help of family and newfound friends, Caitlin will encounter first love, broaden her horizons, and start to realize that true friendship didn't die with Ingrid. And the journal which once seemed only to chronicle Ingrid's descent into depression, becomes the tool by which Caitlin once again reaches out to all those who loved Ingrid - and Caitlin herself."

My Thoughts: I really liked this book. It was very emotional, as you would expect from a book about a girl recovering from her best friend's suicide, and it felt very true to life. I don't know what it is about emotional realistic fiction, but it gets me every time. I am so drawn to stories about people who need to get past a major conflict or major loss. I like books where you can see the characters grow from start to finish.

Nina LaCour's writing was wonderful. She did a great job of getting me inside Caitlin's head and making me feel like I was experiencing the pain and loneliness that she felt. I really just enjoyed this book all around, even the journal entries of Ingrid's that were included.

Recommended To: If you liked Love You Hate You Miss You by Elizabeth Scott or Cracked Up To Be by Courtney Summers

Quote From The Book: "I sort through the letters and pull out what I need for the beginning. They snap easily into place. And even though I thought I would need every letter, I finish the first sentence and realize that it’s all I have left to say.

I MISS YOU."

Books Read This Year: 87 of 100

Currently Reading: The Iron Knight (Iron Fey #4) by Julie Kagawa

The Name of the Star - Maureen Johnson - 2011

The Name of the Star (Shades of London #1) by Maureen Johnson

Published: 2011 - Putnam Juvenile

Age Group: Young Adult

Date Read: October 27, 2011

5 out of 5 Stars: Loved it

Reason for Reading: I have been a fan of Maureen Johnson since I read The Bermudez Triangle a few years ago, and then proceeded to read every book she's written. I highly recommend Devilish as a fun read.

On GoodReads: "The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it's the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper events of more than a century ago.

Soon "Rippermania" takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him. Even her roommate, who was walking with her at the time, didn't notice the mysterious man. So why can only Rory see him? And more urgently, why has Rory become his next target? In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humor, and romance, Rory will learn the truth about the secret ghost police of London and discover her own shocking abilities."

My Thoughts: I wasn't quite sure I was going to like this book as much as Johnson's other books, mostly because I tend to dislike books with ghosts. However, this book also has Jack the Ripper, and I really like serial killer, creepy books. So this worked out really well for me. This book was super creepy, in the best way possible, and I could not stop reading. I just wanted to find out how it was going to all go down.

Johnson's writing is intelligent and funny, and her characters always remind me of real people. Rory was such a fun protagonist, this Southern girl transplanted to a London boarding school. She was was witty and smart and Johnson had me laughing out loud one minute and then gripping the book with anticipation the next. There is nothing like a good boarding school setting for a thriller, and this was done fantastically.

Maureen Johnson just announced the second title in the series will be The Madness Underneath.

Recommended To: Fans of the supernatural genre, Maureen Johnson fans, those in the mood for a good, creepy Halloween read.

Quote From The Book: "I was terrified for a few minutes that they would all be like this, but reassured myself that it probably took a certain type to become head girl. I decided to deflect her attitude by giving a long, Southern answer. I come from people who know how to draw things out. Annoy a Southerner, and we will drain away the moments of your life with our slow, detailed replies until you are nothing but a husk of your former self and that much closer to death." (page 23-24)

Books Read This Year: 87 of 100

Currently Reading: The Iron Knight (Iron Fey #4) by Julie Kagawa

Catching Up, Part Six: Harrington, Scott, Culbertson

Finally, we have reached the final installment of "Catching Up," where I review a few books at once to finally get caught up on my blog posts! Today we have Clarity by Kim Harrington, He's So Not Worth It by Kieran Scott, and Instructions for a Broken Heart by Kim Culbertson. These are three very different YA books, but all three were fun to read and two were by authors I hadn't read before.

Clarity - Kim Harrington

2011 - Scholastic Point

Read: May 30, 2011

Review: As I wrote in my hand-written journal, "I do love a good YA murder mystery. Like All Unquiet Things, but with psychics!" I really liked almost all of this book, it was fun, it kept me guessing and I genuinely liked the characters and their interactions felt fun, genuine, and not forced or contrived. I could have done without the term "psychometry," as in the Touch novels by Stolarz, but that is just me being overly critical. The dialog had me cracking up, particularly the conversations with Clarity, Perry and their mother. I am really excited to look for more of Harrington's books in the future.

He's So Not Worth It - Kieran Scott

2011 - Simon & Schuster

Read: June 11, 2011

Review: This is the sequel to She's So Dead to Us, and was very fun to read, like the first book. I was really intrigued with how Ally would deal with her father being back in town and the relationship with her parents, especially since her mother started getting serious with the doctor. There were some parts of this book, mostly the highly emotional and intense parts, that felt very really and were actually plausible. However, I'm not really sure how necessary the story is. I couldn't really find a main point to the book, and I know there are going to be more books in the series, and I just can't see if there is one main story line or if these are just going to be books about whiny rich kids. While they are fun to read, I don't feel like I get anything out of reading them, at least not yet.

Instructions for a Broken Heart - Kim Culbertson

2011 - Sourcebooks

Read: June 25, 2011

Review: The plot of this story was very sweet. Jessa walks in on her boyfriend cheating on her and the next day has to go on a school trip to Italy with him, the other girl, and some of their classmates. To cheer her up, Jessa's best friend sends her off with 20 envelopes (very Maureen Johnson) to help her get over the cheater. I really liked the story line, and a lot of the dialog was really fun, but Jessa was a bit whiny, and she kept making awkward scenes in Italy. Other than that, I liked most of the characters and there would be moments of comedic genius scattered throughout the story. I also really liked when Jessa finally understood that she sees the world differently as an artist/writer, and the description of how she feels more than other people really struck home with me.

To learn more or purchase these titles:

Clarity

He's So Not Worth It

Instructions for a Broken Heart

You can also check all of these books out on http://www.goodreads.com/

Books Read in 2011: 58 (of 100)

Currently Reading: Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have) by Sarah Mlynowski

Catching Up, Part Five: Scott, Ryan, Kirby

For part five of six, we have Between Here and Forever by Elizabeth Scott, The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan, and Moonglass by Jessi Kirby.

Between Here and Forever - Elizabeth Scott

2011 - Simon Pulse

Read: May 26, 2011

Review: Though I enjoyed the story, I couldn't stand the editing problems. There were about five instances of "Tess's" instead of "Tess is," which annoyed me so much and I felt like for such a big name YA author it was just sloppy editing. Much of the story was predictable, but I really loved seeing Abby how she saw herself and then how other people saw her as she met more people or opened up to more people.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth - Carrie Ryan

2009 - Gollanzc

Read: May 29, 2011

Review: This story was basically the zombie apocalypse through a teenagers eyes, which isn't a bad thing, but it was sometimes predictable. I liked how Mary grew as a person over the course of the story and how we learn more and more about her world as she learns it too. I was worried that it was going to be too much like The Village, which would have been really awful, but luckily it didn't go that way. I am excited to read the other books in the series and find out more about the "zombies."

Moonglass - Jessi Kirby

2011 - Simon & Schuster

Read: May 30, 2011

Review: Moonglass was lovely. Though it started slowly, once it picked up and I could figure out where the story was going, I really got into it and I thoroughly enjoyed the characters. Growing up on the water myself really helped to put myself in Anna's shoes. I really liked how the people and their stories all came together in the end to help Anna understand what happened with her mother. I would love to see what else Kirby comes up with, as this was her debut.

To learn more or purchase these titles:

Between Here and Forever

The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Moonglass

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares - Cohn & Levithan - 2010

Title: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares

Author(s): Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

Year: 2010

Publisher: Alfred A Knopf

Date Read: 03-19-2011

Overall: * * * * * (5/5)

GoodReads Blurb: “I’ve left some clues for you.

If you want them, turn the page.
If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.”

So begins the latest whirlwind romance from the New York Timesbestselling authors of Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. But is Dash that right guy? Or are Dash and Lily only destined to trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations across New York? Could their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions? Or will they be a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions?

Plot: * * * * *

Characters: * * * *

Style: * * * * *

My Review: I've had my ups and downs with authors pairing up together, even with this same duo, but Cohn & Levithan did such a great job with this one. I was pulled in from the very beginning, wondering where Dash and Lily's dares would lead them and if they would ever meet.

Lily was so fun, innocent, and kind of weird (in a good way) that I just had to love her. Her relationship and friendship with her brother and her extended family as well was really enjoyable to read. Dash seemed a bit moody and broody, but in a lovable way, and I pictured him as smiling on the inside a lot. Dash's best friend, Boomer, was one of my favorite characters that I've read recently, he was so full of life and excitement just for existing.

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares is up there with Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist for these two authors. I didn't enjoy Naomi & Ely's No Kiss List quite as much, and it took me a long time to get through, so Dash & Lily really redeemed this pair in my eyes. The writing didn't seem scrambled or too hard to transition between, which sometimes bothers me with multiple points of view and multiple authors. I do love these two authors on their own as well, Cohn's Gingerbread and Levithan's Love is the Higher Law are books I really recommend.

To Purchase: Amazon, B&N

Also by these authors: As a duo: Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (2006), Naomi & Ely's No Kiss List (2007)

Rachel Cohn: Gingerbread (2004), You Know Where to Find Me (2008)

David Levithan: Boy Meets Boy (2003), Love is the Higher Law (2009), Willy Grayson, Will Grayson (with John Green) (2010)

Currently Reading: Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

Books Read in 2011: 26

After the Kiss - McVoy - 2010

Title: After the Kiss

Author: Terra Elan McVoy

Year: 2010

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Date Read: 03-18-2011

Overall: * * * (3/5)

GoodReads Blurb: Becca has been head-over-heels for Alec from the instant they met. He's a brainy jock with a poet's heart—in other words, perfect for her.

Camille is careful with her words and protective of her heart, especially since Chicago. Then a new boy in her new town catches her off guard with a surprise kiss.

Too bad that new boy is Becca's boyfriend, Alec.

Camille and Becca have never met, but their lives will unravel and intertwine in surprising ways as they deal with what happens after the kiss.

Plot: * * * *

Characters: * * *

Style: * * *

My Review: I have to say it: I am not a big fan of novels written in verse. I just don't get it. I absolutely adore poetry, a lot of poetry in fact, but I do not like a story made up of many different poems. Partly I think it is because the writers still sound like they aren't sure what they are trying to do, because they still have to include some semblance of a novel in their verses.

I really liked the idea of the plot though, and I really liked Becca. She was sweet and at times vulnerable and weak, but she grew over the course of the story and I was really happy that she held onto being a good person, even when there were so many tempting opportunities to confront and hurt Camille.

Alec and Camille were just... meh. Camille and her love of run-on sentences and lack of capitalization bothered me. I get that McVoy was trying to sound like a teenager writing some stream of consciousness... but it didn't sound general, it just sounded bratty and pretentious. Boys like Alec really just don't exist in the world... the jock who writes poetry and has lots of feelings... nope. Sorry, but if this exists, I'd like to meet him.

To Purchase: Amazon, B&N

Also by this author: Pure (2009), The Summer of Firsts and Lasts (coming in 2011)

Delirium - Oliver - 2011

Title: Delirium

Author: Lauren Oliver

Year: 2011

Publisher: HarperCollins

Date Read: 3-13-2011

Overall: * * * * * (5/5)

GoodReads Blurb: Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that once love -- the deliria -- blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the governments demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holoway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.

But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: She falls in love.

Plot: * * * * *

Characters: * * * * *

Style: * * * *

My Review: I have very few complaints about Delirium. I really, really enjoyed reading it and was very sad when it was time to put it down. I didn't even know it was going to be part of a trilogy, and now I am very excited. I am digging all these new takes on dystopias, it is my new book obsession. Getting rid of love is such a good twist though, it's like Matched, but taking it one step further.

I thought Lena was a great protagonist; she's kind, conflicted, secretly rebellious. Her relationship with her best friend, Hana, because they were so very different but understood each other so well. Alex was a bit typical in his "mysterious outsider" ways, but he was very sweet and I believed in his relationship with Lena completely.

I didn't like the ending. For a book in a series, it was very much a "wide open" type of ending, where you knew something could happen in the future, but there was no urgency for something to happen right then. I think a book in a series should end in more of a cliff-hanger and should leave me absolutely needing the next book. I also didn't like the similarities to the Uglies series, with the outcasts living off the grid in nature somewhere, but I can get over that.

This is a great follow up to Oliver's previous book, Before I Fall, which I thought was amazing and gut-wrenching and really just wonderful.

To Purchase: Amazon, B&N

Also by this author: Before I Fall (2010)

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks - Lockhart - 2008

Title: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

Author: E. Lockhart

Year: 2008

Publisher: Hyperion

Date Read: 3-10-2011

Overall: * * * * 1/2 (4.5/5)

GoodReads Blurb: Frankie Landau-Banks at age 14:

Debate Club.
Her father’s “bunny rabbit.”
A mildly geeky girl attending a highly competitive boarding school.

Frankie Landau-Banks at age 15:
A knockout figure.
A sharp tongue.
A chip on her shoulder.
And a gorgeous new senior boyfriend: the supremely goofy, word-obsessed Matthew Livingston.

Frankie Laundau-Banks.
No longer the kind of girl to take “no” for an answer.
Especially when “no” means she’s excluded from her boyfriend’s all-male secret society.
Not when her ex boyfriend shows up in the strangest of places.
Not when she knows she’s smarter than any of them.
When she knows Matthew’s lying to her.
And when there are so many, many pranks to be done.

Frankie Landau-Banks, at age 16:
Possibly a criminal mastermind.

This is the story of how she got that way.

Plot: * * * * *

Characters: * * * * * (I loved Frankie!)

Style: * * * *

My Review: I had been wanting to read this book for a long time, so I finally borrowed it from the library I volunteer at. I was laughing out loud at some points. Frankie just cracked me up and I loved the way her mind worked and how she could go from insecure to wonder woman in 3 seconds.

This book really made me wish I had gone to a private high school just for the opportunity to prank people. I feel like more pranking chances exist at private schools. I like to think I would have taken advantage of those chances!

I liked Lockhart's writing more in this book than in some of her other books I have read, though I might go back and read those again and look for more similarities. I like that I have found this group of YA authors (Green, Johnson, Lockhart...) that can really make me laugh.

To Purchase: Amazon

Also by this author: The Boyfriend List (2005), How To Be Bad (with Myracle & Mlynowski) (2009), Fly On the Wall: How One Girl Saw Everything (2006)

Currently Reading: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

XVI - Julia Karr - 2011

2011 Debut Author Challenge: Book # 2 (of 12)

Title: XVI

Author: Julia Karr

Year: 2011

Publisher: Speak

Date Read: 1-30-2011

Overall: * * * * * (5/5)

GoodReads Blurb: Nina Oberon's life is pretty normal: she hangs out with her best friend, Sandy, and their crew, goes to school, plays with her little sister, Dee. But Nina is 15. And like all girls she'll receive a Governing Council-ordered tattoo on her 16th birthday. XVI. Those three letters will be branded on her wrist, announcing to all the world—even the most predatory of men—that she is ready for sex. Considered easy prey by some, portrayed by the Media as sluts who ask for attacks, becoming a "sex-teen" is Nina's worst fear. That is, until right before her birthday, when Nina's mom is brutally attacked. With her dying breaths, she reveals to Nina a shocking truth about her past—one that destroys everything Nina thought she knew. Now, alone but for her sister, Nina must try to discover who she really is, all the while staying one step ahead of her mother's killer.

Plot: * * * * *

Characters: * * * * *

Style: * * * *

My Review: This book only furthered my love for dystopian novels. Nina is such a fiercely independent character, refusing to give in to the "sex-teen" ways that are constantly pushed upon teenage girls in the society she lives in. She is forced into becoming like a parent to her little sister, Dee, and though she loves Dee, she is also frustrated that this has happened to her family.

There was such a great contrast of characters in this book. Nina's best friend, Sandy, is nothing like Nina and cannot wait to turn 16 and caves to all of the advertisements that tell 16 year old girls how they "should" act. Nina doesn't want her life to belong to anyone else, and though the two disagree on a lot of things, their friendship still feels genuine.

I really enjoyed reading about Nina's base group of friends. Mike and Derek were great supporting roles, and their love and friendship for Nina and Sandy, and, later on, Wei was so evident. Wei was a great role model for Nina, a like-mind for her to find comfort in. Nina's budding relationship with Sal felt strange at first, because it seemed like I could feel Nina's confusion and discomfort with it.

I really liked reading about the way our future could turn out. It's one of my favorite things about dystopias, because sometimes it feels so real and so possible. Hopefully people read these books and are then determined not to let our world end up like this. I really liked that there is still a "Creative" designation, because at least it meant people could use their talents. In Matched it made me sad that people weren't allowed creative thought in any way. The ideas about what sex could mean in the future were strange, and rather disheartening, since 16 year old girls are sort of forced into thinking sex is great and can only improve your life, when in reality the girls could end up in what turns out to be a sex-trafficking scheme run by the government. Fun.

Another thing I liked about this book was the "chase" feeling. I loved that Ed could be anywhere and that there was this constant unsettled feeling and anxiety. This book really kept up the pace and it felt like it went by really fast. I didn't want the last pages to come. I am wondering if it will be a series or a stand alone story. There is some definite series potential.

To Buy: Amazon

Currently Reading: Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris

Currently Listening To: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (read by Carolyn McCormick)

Books Read in 2011: 12