DNF-A-Palooza

I'm feeling lazy, so let's keep it SHORT and NOT SO SWEET (kind of like me, ba dum TSHHH)

All the books were ARCs provided by the publisher and I'M SORRY, PUBLISHERS, I WILL TRY TO BE...TALLER AND SWEETER

The Good, the Bad, and the DNF

Mini review time, because I'm laaaazyyyyy and, well, I have barely been reading lately (slumps, they are the WORST), so let's catch up on some of the books this year I forgot to review.

Review: These Vicious Masks by Tarun Shanker and Kelly Zekas

These Vicious Masks by Tarun Shanker and Kelly Zekas
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Series: Yes, #1 in the These Vicious Masks series
Release date: February 9th, 2016
Publisher: Swoon Reads (Macmillan)
Length: 352 pages
Source: ARC from the publisher
Rating: FUN WITTY BANTER TIMES! Plus powers.

Jane Austen meets X-­Men in this gripping and adventure-­filled paranormal romance set in Victorian London.

England, 1882. Evelyn is bored with society and its expectations. So when her beloved sister, Rose, mysteriously vanishes, she ignores her parents and travels to London to find her, accompanied by the dashing Mr. Kent. But they’re not the only ones looking for Rose. The reclusive, young gentleman Sebastian Braddock is also searching for her, claiming that both sisters have special healing powers. Evelyn is convinced that Sebastian must be mad, until she discovers that his strange tales of extraordinary people are true—and that her sister is in graver danger than she feared.

Oh, yes, this is just what the book doctor ordered. If you read my review of The Dark Days Club, you know that this kind of book is my crack. I'm an easy customer, truth be told, when it comes to historical + genre mashups, especially if you add in some witty banter and a Ship of Dreams. So yes, you should take my review with a grain of salt, but also...well, These Vicious Masks is just plain delightful. It really is.

Double Review: Riders by Veronica Rossi and The Last Place on Earth by Carol Snow

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Series: Yes, #1 in the series
Release date: February 16th, 2016
Publisher: Tor Teen
Length: 364 pages
Source: borrowed ARC
Rating: DNF

Oh, man, this kills me to do. KILLS ME. I love Veronica Rossi's Under the Never Sky trilogy--I binged the entire thing, novellas and all, in a single weekend and walked around in a haze for days afterward. But I just could. not. get into Riders. I was intrigued by both the concept--a guy dies and comes back to life as War, one of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse--and the conceit--the novel opens with Gideon, our MC, strapped to a chair and being interrogated. The novel is the tale he spins his torturer/kidnapeprs, explaining how he got his powers and how he got tangled in this mess.

Audiobook Review: Winter by Marissa Meyer

Winter by Marissa Meyer
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Series: Yes, #4 in The Lunar Chronicles
Release date: November 10th, 2015
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends (Macmillan)
Length: 832 pages or 23 hours, 30 minutes
Source: audiobook ARC (ALC?) from the publisher
Rating: WINTER IS HERE

Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend–the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?

The book:

AHHHHHHHH WINTER!!!!!!!!!!!

This was basically my thought process for the first, like, six hours of the audiobook, which I listened to in one obsessive binge one afternoon.

BECAUSE OH. MY GOD. There’s really nothing I can say to sell you on this series; if you’ve read Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, then you’re already frothing at the mouth for Winter. It’s like me trying to explain why Christmas/Hanukkah/your birthday/WHENEVER IT IS YOU GET PRESENTS is worth anticipating. You’re already anticipating it. You already know the deal. You already want the precious. IT IS THE LONG AWAITED WINTER, AND WE ARE TIRED OF BEING SWEET SUMMER CHILDREN, AND WE WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS TO ALL OF OUR PRECIOUS SPACE BABIES. IT HAS BEEN SO LONG SINCE WE CHECKED IN ON OUR PRECIOUS SPACE BABIES, WHOM WE LEFT IN SUCH DIRE SPACE STRAITS.

A Review in Found Documents: Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
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Series: Yes, #1 in the Illuminae_01 Files
Release date: October 20th, 2015
Publisher: Knops (Random House)
Length: 608 pages
Source: ARC from BEA
Rating: This book is pure evil and you should not look it directly in the eyes

This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do.

This afternoon, her planet was invaded.

The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet's AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it's clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she'd never speak to again.

Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.

SO.  Illuminae is a tremendously atypical read told in a hugely unique format, so I'm going to review this book atypically. It's a visual book structured as a collection of found documents: transcripts, IM chats, hacked intelligence, memos, diaries, etc, detailing the fallout after a remote mining planet is bombed to high heaven and the survivors are forced to evacuate onto three vessels, which are now being chased by the big baddies who bombed them. It's about Kady and Ezra, two teens from that bombed planet who just so happened to break up the morning off their planet's devastation, which leaves them with only a sliiiiiight amount of baggage.

And then. Shit. Starts. To. Get. Crazy.

Honestly, I don't want to tell you anything that happens in this book. Namely that there's SPACE WARCRAFT, AI, romance, pure horror, twists, sucker punches, humor, and heartbreak, and that i ACTUALLY LOST MY DAMN MIND READING THIS BOOK. As you will see momentarily. Because I'm going to review Illuminae in the best way I know how: through images of found documents (aka my liveblogging to Meg of Cuddlebuggery while I was reading Illuminae. Take pity on both her and me.) Spoilers redacted. Obscenities that reveal the true salty sailor raised by salty-mouthed wolves of the sea that I am are NOT redacted.

Mini Reviews: Lying Out Loud, Under a Painted Sky, and Lois Lane: Fallout

It's that time. That time I DESPERATELY TRY to get back on track by throwing a bunch at reviews in your face, BITE-SIZED FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE.



Lying Out Loud by Kody Kiplinger
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Release date: April 28th, 2015
Publisher: Scholastic
Length: 309 pages
Source: ARC from ALAMW15

FAVE KEPLINGER BOOK. Fave ship. Perfect and feelsy (except for the ending which is way too abrupt I WANTED MORE). It's a sort of Darcy/Lizzy meets Cyrano de Bergerac ship/book, where we have this boy (Ryder, obnoxious snobby hipster) who's in love with this girl (Amy, who is precious and Wesley Rush's little sister) who has a best friend (our heroine, Sonny,  who is HILARIOUS and snarky and great big liar liar pants on fire). One night, while chatting online, Sonny pretends to be Amy and talks to Ryder for hours. And then, of course, she starts to have feelings for Ryder...even though she's lying to both of them. About a lot of things.

I LOVE SONNY. Great big flawed ball of lying hurt, full of sass, with an absolutely wretched home life and a fierce devotion to her best friend. This book is full of friendship feels and SHIPPY GOODNESS. I read it in one day and just couldn't get enough. <333

Double Review: Kalahari and The Hidden Prince

I AM SO BEHIND ON REVIEWS OKAY HERE WE GO

Kalahari by Jessica Khoury
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Release date: February 24th, 2015
Publisher: Razorbill (Penguin)
Length: 368 pages
Source: ARC from the publisher
Rating: Pretty entertaining adventure thriller-ma-bob

Deep in the Kalahari Desert, a Corpus lab protects a dangerous secret…
But what happens when that secret takes on a life of its own?

When an educational safari goes wrong, five teens find themselves stranded in the Kalahari Desert without a guide. It’s up to Sarah, the daughter of zoologists, to keep them alive and lead them to safety, calling on survival know-how from years of growing up in remote and exotic locales. Battling dehydration, starvation and the pangs of first love, she does her best to hold it together, even as their circumstances grow increasingly desperate.

But soon a terrifying encounter makes Sarah question everything she’s ever known about the natural world. A silver lion, as though made of mercury, makes a vicious, unprovoked attack on the group. After a narrow escape, they uncover the chilling truth behind the lion’s silver sheen: a highly contagious and deadly virus that threatens to ravage the entire area—and eliminate life as they know it.

In this breathtaking new novel by the acclaimed author of Origin and Vitro, Sarah and the others must not only outrun the virus, but its creators, who will stop at nothing to wipe every trace of it.

So part of why I was really excited to read this book is twofold. One, I was actually IN Botswana last summer, so I was anxious to read about a part of the world I'm visually familiar with (Khoury def didn't disappoint in that regard). Two, I have DEEP, DEEP LOVE for stories in which people are stranded in nature and must BATTLE THE ELEMENTS and PERSEVERE against SUPREME ODDS. I've seen practically every episode of the truly gruesome I Shouldn't Be Alive, God knows why, but this shiz is my jam.

Review: The Leveller by Julia Durango

Review: The Leveller by Julia Durango
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Series: Yes, #1 in The Leveller series
Release date: June 23rd, 2015
Publisher: HarperCollins
Length: 256 pages
Source: ARC from ALAMW15/eARC via Edelweiss
Rating: Fun! Quick, fast-paced, and highly entertaining.



Nixy Bauer is a self-made Leveller. Her job? Dragging kids out of virtual reality and back to their parents in the real world. It’s normally easy cash, but Nixy’s latest mission is fraught with real danger, intrigue, and romance.

Nixy Bauer is used to her classmates being very, very unhappy to see her. After all, she’s a bounty hunter in a virtual reality gaming world. Kids in the MEEP, as they call it, play entirely with their minds, while their bodies languish in a sleeplike state on the couch. Irritated parents, looking to wrench their kids back to reality, hire Nixy to jump into the game and retrieve them.

But when the game’s billionaire developer loses track of his own son in the MEEP, Nixy is in for the biggest challenge of her bounty-hunting career. Wyn Salvador isn’t some lazy kid looking to escape his homework: Wyn does not want to be found. And he’s left behind a suicide note. Nixy takes the job but quickly discovers that Wyn’s not hiding—he’s being held inside the game against his will. But who is holding him captive, and why?

Nixy and Wyn attempt to fight their way out of a mind game unlike any they’ve encountered, and the battle brings them closer than either could have imagined. But when the whole world is virtual, how can Nixy possibly know if her feelings are real?

Gamers and action fans of all types will dive straight into the MEEP, thanks to Julia Durango’s cinematic storytelling. A touch of romance adds some heart to Nixy’s vivid, multidimensional journey through Wyn’s tricked-out virtual city, and constant twists keep readers flying through to the breathtaking end.

I'm pleased to say that I was very pleasantly surprised by The Leveller. That's not to say that I thought this book looked irretrievable terrible, or anything, just that it's a sad fact that Harper e-galleys don't alllllways pan out, quality-wise. But when I got a print ARC of The Leveller at ALA and saw  how slim a volume it is, I decided to slip it in between other reads, and I'm extremely glad I did. The ease of the writing and the pop of Nixy's voice let me fall right into the story. It's not the deepest story in the world, and to be honest, I think it could have used another hundred pages, but The Leveller is very quick, extremely readable, and pretty fun.

Because You'll Never Meet Me Blog Tour + Giveaway!

I'm so excited to be part of the blog tour for Because You'll Never Meet Me by Leah Thomas! This book came out of Tuesday from Bloomsbury, and not only is it fantastically high concept (two very isolated boys--one of whom is allergic to electricity, the other of which has a pacemaker--because friends through letters, but are destined to never meet) but it's gorgeously written. As evidenced by the sneek preview Leah herself has graciously shared for us on the blog. 

BYNMM features two wildly different boys with wildly different voices, so it only made sense for them to give us some tips on keeping in touch in their own voices. Take it away, Ollie and Moritz!

How to keep in touch even when far apart

Hey, Moritz!

So ever since we started writing these letters to each other, I’ve felt like some sort of badass wizard or something. “Oh, yes. I have friends…abroad. In the land of Deutsch. Deutschland.” I thought this was pretty damn impressive, borderline magical. I mean, that is more than four thousand miles between me and my best friend. Mailmen are basically miracle workers, like angels with cooler uniforms.

January/February DNFs

 

I've been WOEFULLY behind on reviewing this month (and, er, last month), but to say it's been busy over in Gillianville would be an understatement. But in an attempt to catch up, I'm going to partake in a revewing SPREE, knocking out as many books as I can in one fell swoop. BUCKLE UP, IT'S GOING TO BE A BUMPY POST.

ETA: So, that ended up being a pretty short spree. I GOT TIRED AND THERE WERE THIN MINTS TO BE EATEN Adult responsibilities took priority, as expected

Review: Fairest by Marissa Meyer (+ Giveaway!)

Review: Fairest by Marissa Meyer
Goodreads
Release date: January 27th, 2015
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends (Macmillan)
Length: 222 pages
Source: Purchased/finished copy from the publisher
Rating: *whimpers* Can it pleeeeease be November??



In this stunning bridge book between Cress and Winter in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles, Queen Levana’s story is finally told.Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?

Fans of the Lunar Chronicles know Queen Levana as a ruler who uses her “glamour” to gain power. But long before she crossed paths with Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, Levana lived a very different story – a story that has never been told . . . until now.

Marissa Meyer spins yet another unforgettable tale about love and war, deceit and death. This extraordinary book includes full-color art and an excerpt from Winter, the next book in the Lunar Chronicles series.

Best of 2014: Paranormal Perfection and Sci Fi Superlatives

HOW ARE WE SO CLOSE TO 2015? Je refuse. Je demande a redo. Fetch me my Time Turner and TWIST. But then, there were a lot of great reads in 2014, and I would hate to go back in time and un-read them.

My favorite paranormal reads of 2014:

Disappointments, DNFs and Try-Again-Laters

October has, so far, been a month of really excellent reads for me, but of course it can't always be smooth reading. Here are some of the books that didn't live up to my expectations, that I had to give up on, and that I had to put defer to a rainy day.

Double Review: Stitching Snow Like Ashes

There's no real logic in putting these two half-reviews together, other than the fact that I read them back to back and the titles link together ever so nicely!

"Review": Rebels: City of Indra: The Story of Lex and Livia "by" Kendall and Kylie Jenner

Review: Krap: Krappy of Krap: The Krap of Krap and Krapia by Kendall and Kylie Jenner
Goodreads 
Release date: The Apocalypse
Publisher: Satan
Series: I don't even want to answer this
Source: Hell's minions
Length: Interminable
Rating:


Kendall and Kylie Jenner, stars on the hit reality show Keeping Up with the Kardashians, present their debut novel—a thrilling dystopian story about two super-powered girls who embark on a journey together.

Two cities… Two girls… A shared destiny…

In a world of the far future, the great city of Indra has two faces: a beautiful paradise floating high in the sky, and a nightmare world of poverty carved into tunnels beneath the surface of the earth.

Kendall and Kylie Jenner, the youngest sisters in the Kardashian dynasty, have written a gripping tale of air, fire, and a bond of blood

Rebels: City of Indra: The Story of Lex and Livia: Written by Kendall and Kylie: But Not Really: But Not At All

(Kendall and Kylie Jenner, dressed in artfully tattered jeans, artfully tattered t-shirts, and artfully tattered souls, lounge in their third bedroom. Kylie thumbs though a magazine, trying to find pictures of herself. Kendall lowers her Prada sunglasses and sighs a sigh of deepest existential ennui.)

Kendall: I'm, like, soooooo bored.

Kylie: OMK, like, me too.

Kendall: We should, like, do something. You know? Like with our lives.

Review: Rebel by Amy Tintera

Review: Rebel by Amy Tintera
Goodreads 
Release date: May 13th, 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen
Series: #2 in the Reboot duology
Source: e-ARC via Edelweiss
Length: 352 pages
Rating: A pretty solid, fast-paced ending to a fun duology. Oh, and a lovely ship.



The sequel to the action-packed Reboot is a can't-miss thrill ride, perfect for fans of James Patterson, Veronica Roth, and Marie Lu.

After coming back from death as Reboots and being trained by HARC as soldiers, Wren and Callum have finally escaped north, where they hope to find a life of freedom. But when they arrive at the Reboot Reservation, it isn't what they expected. Under the rule of a bloodthirsty leader, Micah, the Reboots are about to wage an all-out war on the humans. Although Wren's instincts are telling her to set off into the wilderness on their own and leave the battle far behind, Callum is unwilling to let his human family be murdered. When Micah commits the ultimate betrayal, the choice is made for them. But Micah has also made a fatal mistake . . . he's underestimated Wren and Callum.

The explosive finale to the Reboot duology is full of riveting action and steamy love scenes as Wren and Callum become rebels against their own kind.

My review of Reboot

Spoilers for book one below

I really hate when I start a sequel, and I'm back with all these characters talking about all these things, and I look around me and realize

Review: The One by Kiera Cass

Review: The One by Kiera Cass
Goodreads 
Release date: May 6th, 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen
Series: Yes, #3 in The Selection series
Source: Purchased
Length: 323 pages
Rating: Is this a real book?

 

The Selection changed the lives of thirty-five girls forever. And now, the time has come for one winner to be chosen.

America never dreamed she would find herself anywhere close to the crown—or to Prince Maxon's heart. But as the competition approaches its end and the threats outside the palace walls grow more vicious, America realizes just how much she stands to lose—and how hard she'll have to fight for the future she wants.

From the very first page of The Selection, this #1 New York Times bestselling series has captured readers' hearts and swept them away on a captivating journey... Now, in The One, Kiera Cass delivers a satisfying and unforgettable conclusion that will keep readers sighing over this electrifying fairy-tale long after the final page is turned.

The Selection changed the lives of thirty-five girls forever. And now, the time has come for one winner to be chosen.

America never dreamed she would find herself anywhere close to the crown—or to Prince Maxon's heart. But as the competition approaches its end and the threats outside the palace walls grow more vicious, America realizes just how much she stands to lose—and how hard she'll have to fight for the future she wants.

From the very first page of The Selection, this #1 New York Times bestselling series has captured readers' hearts and swept them away on a captivating journey... Now, in The One, Kiera Cass delivers a satisfying and unforgettable conclusion that will keep readers sighing over this electrifying fairy-tale long after the final page is turned.


The Selection | The Prince (The Selection #1.5) | The Elite (The Selection #2) | The Guard (The Selection 2.5)


Gillian: Hey, Gillian. How are you doing today? You look nice.

Gillian: You don't.

Gillian: We're the same person, so you kind of just insulted yourself.

Gillian: I need to talk to you about The One. You're the only one who understands me.

Gillian: Well, yeah, that's because I am y--

Gillian: I REALLY NEED TO TALK TO YOU CAN YOU PLEASE JUST FOCUS.

Gillian: Sorry. Proceed.

Gillian: So, that was a book. A book that happened.

Review: After the End by Amy Plum

Review: After the End by Amy Plum
Goodreads 
Release date: May 6th, 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen
Series: Yes, #1 in After the End series
Source: e-ARC via Edelweiss
Length: 352 pages
Rating: I didn't like it. Then I kinda did. And then who ends a book like that I ask you????



She’s searching for answers to her past. They’re hunting her to save their future.

World War III has left the world ravaged by nuclear radiation. A lucky few escaped to the Alaskan wilderness. They've survived for the last thirty years by living off the land, being one with nature, and hiding from whoever else might still be out there.

At least, this is what Juneau has been told her entire life.

When Juneau returns from a hunting trip to discover that everyone in her clan has vanished, she sets off to find them. Leaving the boundaries of their land for the very first time, she learns something horrifying: There never was a war. Cities were never destroyed. The world is intact. Everything was a lie.

Now Juneau is adrift in a modern-day world she never knew existed. But while she's trying to find a way to rescue her friends and family, someone else is looking for her. Someone who knows the extraordinary truth about the secrets of her past.


What a bizarre reading experience that was for me. Going into this book, you should all know that this is NOT a dystopian. It's not post-apocalyptic, and it's nothing like that cover or that synopsis. Really it's kind of like a vaguely magical version of Margaret Peterson Haddix's Running Out of Time, wherein a young girl growing up in a sheltered community learns that everything she's ever been taught is a lie. And then there's a lot of camping and running from people, kind of like that one section in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows most people dislike, but way less angsty.

Review: The Taking by Kimberly Derting

Review: The Taking by Kimberly Derting
Goodreads 
Release date: April 29th, 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen
Series: Yes, #1 in The Taking series
Source: e-ARC via Edelweiss
Length: 368 pages
Rating: Eh? Not bad. Not great. Gag. INTRIGUE. Rage. Gag. Oooooh.



When sixteen-year-old Kyra Agnew wakes up behind a Dumpster at the Gas ’n’ Sip, she has no memory of how she got there. With a terrible headache and a major case of déjà vu, she heads home only to discover that five years have passed . . . yet she hasn’t aged a day.

Everything else about Kyra’s old life is different. Her parents are divorced, her boyfriend, Austin, is in college and dating her best friend, and her dad has changed from an uptight neat-freak to a drunken conspiracy theorist who blames her five-year disappearance on little green men.

Confused and lost, Kyra isn’t sure how to move forward unless she uncovers the truth. With Austin gone, she turns to Tyler, Austin’s annoying kid brother, who is now seventeen and who she has a sudden undeniable attraction to. As Tyler and Kyra retrace her steps from the fateful night of her disappearance, they discover strange phenomena that no one can explain, and they begin to wonder if Kyra’s father is not as crazy as he seems. There are others like her who have been taken . . . and returned. Kyra races to find an explanation and reclaim the life she once had, but what if the life she wants back is not her own


The best thing about this book is the set-up. After a huge fight with her father, Kyra hops out of the car, stumbles a few steps, and is blinded by a white light. She awakens, confused and alone, behind a gas station and stumbles home--only to discover fight years have gone by. And she's sill sixteen.

Talk about grabbing. And I was grabbed. I loved the beginning of this a lot, even if I was still mostly meh on Kyra's character. I figured this was going to be an action-packed, intrigues twisty plotty alien sci fi thing. And it kinda was... but also not. I really enjoyed the beginning, the actual "taking", and Kyra's confusing reappearing. Watching her figure out that something is quite, quite wrong... seeing the moment she realizes she's missed out on five years of her life, and, oh yeah, some things have changed a bit, was well done. The problems come after that inital rush of awesome when the plot stagnates and my credibility is stretched.

Oddly enough, it's not the aliens and the sci fi I didn't believe. That was pretty cool, actually, even if the final reveals are not really surprising. It's kind of exactly what you think it is. Even though I LOVED the end and especially loved the set-up for book two, which there's a good chance I'll read.

So what's the problem? This all sounds pretty positive, right? Well. Let's get started, kids.

So in the five years that Kyra has been missing, her family has fallen apart. Her parents divorced, her mother has a new husband and son, and her dad is a drunk conspiracy theorist. He witnessed Kyra's disappearance, and it has him firmly on the path of "It was the little green men!". Basically, he is this guy.



Not only that, but the boyfriend she planned on spending the rest of her life with has moved on... with her best friend. Which is a GIGANTIC plot point that is stupid. Oh, my god, Kyra, they thought you were dead. I get it's been only one day for you, and that would suck sooooo much. But I kind of wish Kyra had been more excited to talk to her best friend again and reassure her she was alive rather than get all upset about her dating her ex-boyfriend after five years and hanging UP on her the first time they chat on the phone. Give them a little credit. You VANISHED and they thought you were DEAD.

The only two people I thought I'd wanted to talk to were now the enemy, camped out together and colluding against me. Despite Cat's tearful pleas, I couldn't help picturing them together, having a good laugh over the way I'd called up and thought we'd pick up right where things left off.

 

Yes, it's reasonable to hear Cat's tearful pleas towards the friend she thought died five years ago and then assume she is probably laughing at that friend's folly. I'm sorry, I know it's only been a day or you, but that is cold. CALL YOUR GOD DAMN FRIEND. And then there was the ex-boyfriend himself, who also was not quite behaving the way one would if one's girlfriend/ex-best friend (which is what she was to Austin) reappeared from the dead. I don't know. That lengthy middle portion where she angsts around is quite turgid.It took too long for the actual sci fi mystery to start building. The stakes didn't show up until a solid 50% of the way through.

It's the parts of this book that most closely mirror a contemporary that didn't work for me. Namely this: WHERE ARE THE REPORTERS? THE FBI? THE POLICE? This girl was sixteen when she disappeared. She was underage, and a massive state-wide manhunt endured for months. But when she abruptly reappears out of freaking nowhere five years later, the only people who seem to care are her parents and a shady NSA agent who shows up on her doorstep four days after she returns. What. No. That's just not how the world reacts to missing white girls suddenly reappearing.Think of Jaycee Dugard. Elizabeth Smart. The women confined by Ariel Castro. MEDIA FREAKING CIRCUS. I didn't buy it.

And then... then, ladies and gentlemen, there is the romance.

Which is equal parts adorable, eye-rolly, and... GROSS. So before Kyra disappeared, her bf's littler brother, Tyler, was twelve years old, aka four years younger than Kyra and her bf. When Kyra returns, Tyler is seventeen... and smoking hot. And Kyra thinks and talks about this... constantly. And. I... I just...



I mean, Tyler is adorable. Unrealistically sincere, but cute. Don't get me wrong. But it takes so long to reveal that Kyra actually is still sixteen, but they're being all flirty even thought they think she's twenty-one and he' seventeen and aaaargh, she last knew him when he was twelve! Arrrgh! Also, he is a wee bit creepily persistent, considering that, to Kyra, she was dating his older brother a week ago. Plus, the Tyler infatuation comes MIGHTY fast. Literally the moment she sees this person who was twelve years old yesterday to her, she's lusting all over him. Ewwwwwwwl

This book feels a bit like untapped potential. The beginning is kind of amazing, but then it never quite kicks into overdrive. For a bit there it is mostly just "Man, is my boyfriend's little brother super hot now!" and "Tyler's eyes are green just like Austin's, but it's a slightly different shade of green. Let me explain the shades of green to you in great detail". I'm good, Kyra. Honestly, I am. Let's worry a bit more about WHERE YOU'VE BEEN FOR THE LAST FIVE YEARS AND WHY YOU CAN'T REMEMBER, HUH?



Yeah, then there's Kyra herself, whom I liked, but whom I wanted more from. I wanted to feel more of her pain and loneliness and the side effects of her ordeal. I do like how she becomes obsessed with knowing the date and the time all the time. But beyond that, there's not enough depth of feeling and memory and grief. The bits that Derting does throw in hurt my heart so much, but there should have been more. Kyra's whole life and softball-playing future evaporated. She remembers it like it was yesterday, but she doesn't mourn it quite as much as I would if I woke up tomorrow and I was a stranger in a life that no longer fit me. If I was tossed out of time. The moments Kyra dwells on the ways her friends have matured and changed compared to her, the milestones she missed, are the ones that hit me most. When she's heartbroken about the desperate, splintered man her dad's become and the stranger her mom's become with her replacement family

But none of that mattered, standing there in the last place where everything had been normal. Where I'd been Kyra Agnew, superstar pitcher, only child, teammate, and unquestionably sixteen.

That's what I wanted more of from the emotional parts from Kyra.

"If I hadn't vanished that night, then I wouldn't have had the chance to know you now. Not like this."

And that is not what I wanted more of. No. I get Tyler's the best thing happening to you now, but don't be grateful your whole life was put through the crapper because it helped you bond with your new love interest. No. That's the silver lining, but it can't outweigh the fact that your old life is over, you missed five years of history and pop culture and personal milestones and your brother being born, and your family has fallen apart and your friends have moved on, all of which are things you should be a teeeensy bit sadder about.

So, yeah. The very beginning is great, and then comes the contemporary-like stretch which is... less successful. But as the mystery and the intrigue start to build, so did my interest. Then things happen! Yay things! Sciencey plotty conspiracy theory things!STRANGE THINGS. Like people dying. Like her suddenly being a lot... stronger than she remembered. And mysterious people following her. And then we get a story. 50% of the way in. It becomes a whole different book after that, but I sadly can't say much, because spoilers. Spoilers you'll figure out quickly, but still. Spoilers.

I did chuckle when the mysterious out of state area code on the phone was... 310. Aka MY area code. Lolll we West Los Angelenos are RIGHT DANGEROUS. BE AFRAID



It's a pretty engaging read, and at no point was I bored with it, despite the parts that are, objectively, probably a little boring. I wanted to know what was going on, damn it! And that kept me turning the pages very quickly. I liked her love of softball and the way she knows she's sixteen because of the muscle memory and how fit her body is (but oh my god, Kyra, metropolis is not a big word, do not be impressed that a boy pulled out all four mighty syllables).

So, yeah, very mixed bag on that one. And Tyler is adorable. I just wish... well, I wish I didn't gag whenever they kissed, to be honest. Oh well.