Book Review: Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma

Chloe and her sister Ruby have an undeniably close relationship. Ruby is loved and obeyed by all and Chloe is along for the ride. Ruby gets her way and does whatever she wants whenever she wants. But one unforgettable night had Chloe leaving town and the sister she can’t let go of. On that horrible night Chloe discovered the dead body of her classmate London Hayes floating in the town’s reservoir. Now that two years have passed and the pain fading away, Chloe escapes the life she never wanted with her father to be back with her sister Ruby. Unfortunately things will not be the same that they once were. Trying to find the truth that was a fading memory, Chloe deciphers what her sister has been hiding for two years. What will Ruby do to save her sister and they bond that they cherish? The bond of sisterhood was pushed to the limits in this novel by Nova Ren Suma. Her first YA novel does not disappoint. The dark undertones of secrets mixed with the unconditional love of sisters gives for one exceptional book. I couldn’t put it down. Ruby was such a strong character throughout the book; she demanded the attention even when she wasn’t part of the scene. I don’t have a sister, but if I had a bond like Chloe and Ruby did, I would feel invincible. What Ruby did to protect Chloe goes beyond the duty of sisters.

Book Review: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Pushing the Limits is about Echo, (I know, so different but awesome name) a girl who had some pretty large curve balls thrown her way. Echo went from popular girl with the hot jock boyfriend to social outcast in the matter of a summer. Echo’s older brother was killed in Afghanistan while on duty which is heartbreaking itself, but a night she can’t remember is what caused Echo’s life to go from normal to rejected in the blink of an eye. She hid from everyone so she could bury the horrible scars that were left on her after that night. Echo ate lunch in the library, gave up painting, and avoided anything that was once normal to her. After a year of trying to escape the stares and rumors, Echo attempts to resurface to a life she once known. Noah Hutchins, the hot bad boy with a list of one night stands, is anything but normal for Echo. Total opposites of each other, Noah and Echo can’t help but find their attraction tempting. Are they really right for each other? Will Echo find what she has been searching for since her brother’s death? Pushing the Limits is a great book by Katie McGarry. She has written something that is truly enlightening to the world of scars and healing. Loving someone for who they are is something you can easily do with the right person, and you unquestionably saw that with Noah and Echo. Their relationship wasn’t easy but it showed true love at its finest. I loved how I was able to read the book from both Noah’s and Echo’s POV. They were such polar opposites of each other and it was definitely portrayed in each of their chapters.

Book Review: Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Insurgent is the second book of the Divergent trilogy and it certainly does not disappoint at all. It picks up right after the first book ended, just after the simulation attacks. Tris is left with so many burdens that it is hard to believe that any of what had happened was real. Only forced into moving forward is Tris able to do what she has set out for, to protect the ones she loves. With war consuming the entire city, choices have to be made as well as self-sacrifices. But how much will Tris go through to prove herself to everyone? To herself? Being Divergent has been a lonely ride until now. Many more Divergents surface as the war heats up between the factions. Who will survive and who will conquer it all? Insurgent was such a dark and heavy book, the weight of it just drives into you while you try and maneuver your way through it. My heart ached so much with each of Tris’s decisions and deceits, I thought it was going to shatter into a million pieces. There was so much hurt, betrayal, loss, failure, blame I didn’t know which way to foresee the ending. It is definitely full of erratic love, doubts, treachery and pure passion. A great read that must be re-read many many more times. Now I must wait the long period before the unnamed third book is released. Shucks.

Book Review: Karme by Richard Mitchell

The title character is anything but normal; Karme is magical and very gifted. Living a very sheltered life, her mother had told her that she is a non-human and that her life should be kept sacred and secretive. Life became very lonesome once her mother died, but Karme kept her distance from town in Big Cypress Swamp. The rest of the story takes place in Moonyville, Florida following the lives of Boog (Brant), Sara Lou, and Het, along with a few others that stir the pot of what is to be Moonyville. Early on in the book, Brant meets Karme after a complication between him, Sara Lou and Het that caused him to skip out on town. Instant sparks fly between the two, but reality kicks in once he realizes what must be done back home. He leaves Karme after a fairy-tale night full of insight to come home and continue his life. Months have passed once he decides to visit Karme again. A lot has changed since their first encounter and Karme is not pleased with it. Her longing for interaction and intellect as well as Brant’s encouragement, Karme decides that it is time to emerge from the Glades. As she explores this new world, curiosity has put her into situations that will make your head do summersaults. Richard Mitchell wrote a unique and fascinating story. Not knowing which parts are real and which are fairytale pieces made the story compelling. It was a little difficult to follow some of the stories that were set in Moonyville, but most of it was very entertaining. The story is said to be a series so it will be interesting to see what may come about the tale of Karme.

Book Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Living in a dystopian Chicago, Beatrice Prior knew she didn't fit in like her family always had. At the young age of sixteen she is faced with a decision that will not only change her life, but could hurt the people she loves the most. Chicago is split into five factions, Abnegation (the selfless), Amity (The peaceful),Candor (the honest), Erudite (the intelligent) and Dauntless (the brave). The teens of Chicago are evaluated and then they give themselves to their chosen faction. During the init...moreLiving in a dystopian Chicago, Beatrice Prior knew she didn't fit in like her family always had. At the young age of sixteen she is faced with a decision that will not only change her life, but could hurt the people she loves the most. Chicago is split into five factions, Abnegation (the selfless), Amity (The peaceful),Candor (the honest), Erudite (the intelligent) and Dauntless (the brave). The teens of Chicago are evaluated and then they give themselves to their chosen faction. During the initations, Beatrice renames herself Tris and tries to figure out who she is in all of this. Keeping a secret that can kill her from the ones that mean most to her is hard but its what sets her apart in the end. After a ruthless initiation, Tris must apply what she has learned to help the ones she loves. Self-discovery, determination, bravery and love is what propells this story through its fast paced adventure. Tris is such a dark and unique heroine, I wish I had the courage she had throughout the book. I couldn't put this book down. It had me wanting to be a part of initiation just to experience it all. Its the sort of book you think about over and over in your head only becuase it makes so much sense.

Book Review: Easy by Tammara Webber

This was such a great read! After the recent breakup from her 3 yr relationship, Jacqueline Wallace was so close to being Buck's rape victim the night of a big Fraternity Halloween party. Counting on her lucky stars though that night she was saved by Lucas, a boy she's never met. She is haunted by the event but is willing to try and shrug is off. With her ex-boyfriend Kennedy and his rival-friend Buck always lurking around, when will she have enought? Who does she turn to?
Tammara Webber wrote an unbelieveable book about knowing your personal strength and standing up for yourself.  Not only is this an entertaining book, but I gathered a lot of knowledge about sticking up for yourself as well as your body. It really makes you aware of the bad things that happen in life to good people. This book makes you think on how to handle undesirable situaitions and learn from them. This should be a must-read for any girl in high school or college.

This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers Book Review

A group of High school students are the ones that have to fend for themselves after their town (and many more) are attacked by the zombie apocalypse. They were lucky to have found the now abandoned Cortege High school that is stocked with food, water and space needed to survive. For Sloane Price she wants nothing to do with survival. After her sister abandons her six months prior to the attack, Sloane didn't want to fend for her life anymore. She is keeping her life a secret from all the other s...moreA group of High school students are the ones that have to fend for themselves after their town (and much much more) are attacked by the zombie apocalypse. They were lucky to have found the now abandoned Cortege High school that is stocked with food, water and space needed to survive. For Sloane Price she wants nothing to do with survival. After her sister abandons her six months prior to the attack, Sloane didn't want to fend for her life anymore. She is keeping her newly abandoned life a secret from all the other students and feels the pressure to just give up while the rest feel the pressure to live. Courtney Summers wrote an unbelievable book. Its about the emotional and physical survival of a young girl with a paranormal twist. I fell in love with this book! My heart was torn to pieces, and when I didn't think I could take anymore the end just put it back together and melted. This book will have you aching, gasping, and rejoicing by the end. A definite page turner that I read well past my bedtime and had me wishing I had a dooms-day pack ready to survive the night. A must-read for any YA reader.

Dream Country: A Nashville Psychic Mystery Book Review

Dream Country is about a woman, Dilly Renfro, who has these precognitive dreams about the future. This is the result of a gunshot wound she encountered from a store robbery the year before. With a new found point of view on life, Dilly doesn’t have any reserves. She even comes out about her lesbian lifestyle and precognitive dreams to her family, which might add to the chaos to her already notorious life.

Staying out of the spotlight isn’t a choice for her since her father, a popular country singer; Doyle Renfro is in the middle of a painful lawsuit between his other two children, Dilly’s twin sister Loretta and older brother Porter. If that wasn’t enough for the Renfro family, Pearl Emery, the recently acclaimed love child of Doyle was murdered. Dilly had a precognitive dream that Pearl was murdered so she decides that she will use her dreams to help solve the case. Believing in her dreams is the one thing Dilly knows she can do, but how will she get the skeptical authorities to believe them too? Her dreams lead her in the right direction every time. She will find the murderer even if her life is at stake.

                 Dan Jewell wrote a great novel. It is a definite page turner with twists that keep you guessing the entire book.  His characters were unique and multidimensional. Not only did they complete the story, they had backstories that gave the novel depth. Jewell had a lengthy list of characters to fill the team that solved the murder of Pearl Emery. The way Jewell displayed them throughout the book allowed for ample support for Dilly and her dreams. Jewell didn’t write the novel in first person POV but allowed you to see through the eyes of most of the characters. Tyrell Jefferson, Lester “Cowboy” Cooper, Georgia Emery, and Harry Hardin were the ones that told the story. From this writing style the reader is able to see how the story pans out from multiple angles. The chapters were separated into each of the character’s POV to maximize how the murder case’s evidence and facts were discovered.

                Dilly had a few dreams throughout the novel that allowed for reader interpretation. They were cryptic enough to allow the reader to imagine how to novel would continue. Even though the dreams gave details of how the chapter would develop, they always ended differently than one thought.

                Jewell had constructed this book into eight sections, each to depict the following days of the murder. This makes the reading easy to follow and allows the reader to focus on the time frame as well. One setback from Jewell was the way he managed to introduce each character at the beginning of the sections. It was unnecessary to re-introduce characters that the readers already know. This is just a minor drawback, but an easy fix if wanted. Other than that, this book was a great read that many people will enjoy.

ARC Entry for Michelle Hodkin's "The Evolution of Mara Dyer"

The Preservation of Mara Dyer Shaw

By Taylor Mitchell

                Most of us know how Mara Dyer and Noah Shaw met, but how does their story end? Well I don’t have an answer for that exactly; but I can give you a glimpse into the life of Noah and Mara Shaw.

“Happy 50th Anniversary Love.”

I looked up towards that soothing voice to see the face, a face I’ve known for decades now, and shook my head. Where did the time go? I had thought. I still replay our first encounter in my head like a movie clip.

It was first day at Croyden Academy, since my stomach was protesting anymore search to find my classroom I had stopped at the vending machines to curb my appetite some until lunch. I had dug around my bag for change for what seemed to be long agonizing minutes, to find the exact change for a bag of M & M’s. I punched in the golden numbers for the candy I pined for, but low and behold they didn’t come out. Those suckers were stuck! So I did what any other teenager would do in desperation, I started to kick the damn thing.

“You have an anger-management problem” The familiar voice said.

At that moment I realized the huge grin on my face and looked up at the man that had changed my life.

“Happy Anniversary Noah. What sort of over-the-top charade do you have planned for today?” I said in hopes of hiding my trailed off thoughts.

“Well if I told you, it would ruin the surprise” He said as he glanced toward the porch.

After I rolled my eyes, I met his gaze and followed as he went out the front door. “It’s not like you have to do this grand gesture or anything. You got the girl remember.” I said as I paused just outside the door with my hands on my hips to emphasize my point.  “I’m happy just being with you.”

He sat in his favorite rocker and took in the salty air that came off the coast of Miami before he answered. “But I love the look on your face when I do those things for you.”
I noticed how sincere he was and sat beside him in my matching rocker.

As the years went on I never got tired of his wonderful surprises. Each year he would always one-up himself with these surprises. Noah always kept me guessing. One year he took me to New York for a special art showing a friend of his was in. I hadn’t realized that his “one friend” he mentioned was me.  It was really something to see my artwork on display being viewed by the public. Noah reassured me, as he always did, that they loved it but I felt differently. Selling a piece of my artwork was the cherry on top of the evening. Another year he had made a few connections and we were able to meet Death Cab for Cutie. Between that and the art show, this man had no limits.

Thinking about the possibilities of my surprise I hadn’t realized he had asked me a question.

“Are you listening to me?” He asked already knowing the answer. “Or are you trying to figure out what your surprise is?”

Damn.

He knows me all too well. But what do you expect with the man that knows your darkest secrets? I smiled and surrendered to him.
“Yeah, you caught me.” I said. “But I’m just coming up blank on anything you could do.”

“Oh babe, you just underestimate my abilities.” Noah said with his all-knowing expression.

“Oh no….. I do not underestimate your abilities. You never gave me the chance after what happened to Joseph.”  Which was true, how else could I dispute his abilities after he found and rescued Joseph.

“And you never second guessed me since.” He added with that crooked grin and easy tone.

“Well you could say that….” I trailed off as I saw the familiar car pull into our driveway.

Wait.

Two familiar cars pulled into the driveway. I was filled with such excitement I was practically jumping up and down. You know, as much as a 74 year old could. I sprang up from my rocker to meet our wonderful children. We were all together which hasn’t happened since, geeze, I can’t remember when.

Our eldest daughter Renee got out of the passenger side of the first car. Her red hair collided with her angular face as she pulled Jeremiah out his car seat in the Jeep. She looked just like her father; her face was strong but had gentle clear blue eyes of a mother. Her husband Zach got out of the SUV to meet their daughter Clara who was already bolting towards Noah and me. Zach, who was the epitome of tall, dark and handsome, had no problem keeping up with their oldest child.

Jeremiah and Clara were so special to me. With an eight year difference between the two, Noah and I weren’t sure if we were going to have another grandchild after Clara. I was lucky to find someone who understood my problem ability; I never would have thought I would be able to coach my own children and grandchildren with abilities. We didn’t spot Clara’s ability until she was a little older than Jeremiah now. We were at her second birthday at a local Major Magic’s. She was playing in the ball pit with one of the neighborhood kids and all of a sudden heard this scream and saw that his arm was stuck in the netting. She was able to help him out of the knot but when he came out of the pit had no signs of harm. We realized then that she had to the power to heal similar to Noah. Clara’s ability had shocked us especially since she was able to learn its capacity so quickly.

Jeremiah’s ability is taking us some time to learn.

It actually started when Renee was pregnant. She would get these overwhelming emotions but suddenly would feel a wave of tranquility. They happened as fast as the original emotion came. It wasn’t until recently Renee and Zach were able to link that to Jeremiah. Zach’s mother had just past away from breast cancer and he was devastated. He was putting Jeremiah to bed and felt so happy to be with his son, considering the circumstances. Renee and Zach had put the pieces together and were amazed. Both their children had special abilities similar with Noah and me.

Renee had felt left out since her younger sister, Tabatha had also been gifted with an ability.

As that final thought slipped through my conscious I saw Tabatha and her partner, Quinn get out of her red convertible smart car.

Tabatha has chestnut hair like her father’s and keeps it short, says it’s less fussy that way. I locked eyes with her as she jogged up the porch stairs to meet my embrace. She always had gorgeous eyes that demanded attention. Her girlfriend, Quinn was just a few steps behind her shaking hands with Noah. As long as I’ve known Quinn, she shows very little emotion but could talk your ear off any day. This always frustrated Tabatha because of her ability, she never wanted anyone to know of it and hated risking that secret to Quinn. Tabatha never wanted to share it either, but she couldn’t explain the mishap any other way.

They were walking home one late night after a movie and were interrupted when a man had jumped Tabatha. He wrapped his arms around her neck and attempted to grab her purse. One minute he had a death grip on her and the next he was on the ground dead.

Her girlfriend has kept the secret and proven her loyalty numerous times.

It was much easier to help Tabatha with her ability once I had perfected mine with Noah. I especially didn’t want my own daughter to feel the unwanted emotions I had when I discovered my ability. I felt so isolated and withdrawn when I was so young, I couldn’t bear my own child those same feelings.

“Having the family back together like this really makes for a great anniversary.” I said as I glanced over my wonderful gifted family.