Twisted

*Edit: This book is kind of dark. Just a warning and I don't think I made that clear when I originally posted this.

I began this book just as I was writing the review for You. I was fully prepared to have similar feelings about this book. Let's get real for a minute. I'm way less comfortable with male main characters in young adult fiction than female. This discomfort can, I believe, be attributed to one main cause. It's hard for me to be completely at ease with the description of male reactions to females. How tactful do I need to be on this blog? I don't want to skirt the issue, but I also don't want to offend anybody (I save that for my personal blog). If you're confused please feel free to leave a comment and I'll clarify. I think this is mostly only a problem in realistic fiction as I've read several fantasy novels with male main characters (um, Harry Potter anyone?) and not had the same trouble.

Anyway, back to Twisted. The story is about a 17 year old high school kid named Tyler that got buff doing community service and working after he was busted for vandalizing the school. Essentially his life sucks and his dad's a real jerk. Very standard the model family on the outside isn't so perfect behind closed doors (not to say that the story felt cliche because it didn't).

I don't really want to get into all the nitty-gritty details, but I connected with this book in some strange way. That's all I'm saying on the subject.

Oh, one question. Why does it seem like YA realistic fiction with a male main character never highlights the overachiever or the jock? It's almost always the underestimated, overlooked kind of loser guy. Just food for thought.

You

This book is interesting to me for one main reason: it's written in the second person. That's right. The author tells a story about you the reader. You are Kyle Chase, a fifteen year old, under motivated, high school student and part of the group known at school as the "hoodies" (because of their signature black hoodies, go figure). At first the writing style is jarring and intriguing, but I found that the story spent too much time on the build-up and almost no time on completing the story. Brief(ish) rant: I'm starting to get bored of/irritated by the way authors spend the prologue or chapter one telling you the end of the book. If you don't know what I'm trying to describe, think Twilight. The first page is Bella reflecting on how she's going to what she believes is her certain death. You did the same type of thing and it seems that more and more books are going that way these days. I, the reader, am not an idiot. Let me discover the story for myself. No need to try and punch me in the face with some heavy handed foreshadowing and not-so-subtle hints. Ok, rant done. Overall this is not a book I'd particularly recommend and I didn't like it much.

The Unidentified

Guess what. I read another young adult dystopian novel. I can tell that you're shocked.

I really didn't find this book that refreshing. Basically advertising companies have taken over education because the government couldn't afford it anymore. Public education in this society is referred to as "the Game" and is all about who's in and who's out and who their sponsors are.

It was an ok read and caught my interest at times, but it wasn't anything that really thrilled me.

Book club book

For my book club, we just finished reading Life As We Knew It. This book is written as journal entries of a young girl who is attending high school. It starts out with her typical life a few days before "the event" occurs. "The event" is an asteroid that hits the moon and knocks it off its orbit. As a result, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, extreme weather, and panic spreads across the world. This girl and her family have to survive off of the the little food they have as people all around them are dying and fighting to survive. It is a good read. The events that occur seem so real as the author describes what these people go through in such detail, it makes you feel like you are there with them. It does go into detail about the world literally falling apart with people starving, eating as little as a can of soup among four people every other day. Gas prices rise, state borders are enforced, gangs and violence for the bare necessities. I thought it was very interesting and kept me engaged in the story.

Ever

People who know my reading preferences know that while I really enjoy fantasy I prefer it to be grounded in reality. Take Harry Potter, for example. I love the magic and the fact that it can exist in the real world too.

This was not that kind of book, but I was ok with it. It was a little weird at times and definitely different, but I liked it. It's about a girl Kezi and her adventure when she meets the 17 year old god of the winds, Olus. There's very much a Greek mythology feel to this story, but you probably won't guess where it's going even if you know those tales well. One thing that definitely interested me about this story was the idea of the little g god. I don't feel like going into that whole concept right now if you don't already know what it means, but it catches my attention none the less. It's definitely no Ella Enchanted, but Ever is a good quick read worth the small time investment.

Scumble

Before I get to the review can we address how fun this cover is? When my students saw me reading this book they immediately wanted to know what it was. The cover is just SO fun.

I had this book for about and week and a half and then got the notice that it was almost due back to the library. I'd been reading East of Eden by John Steinbeck (more on that when I finish) which understandably takes a lot longer to read than your basic middle grade or young adult book. I put East of Eden on hold to get this one done as quickly as I could.

Those that read my book reviews from the summer may remember I read the book Savvy. I liked it, but the pacing was a little off for me. This companion piece (not to be confused with sequel) was actually more well written in my personal opinion. The pacing was on and the story felt more believable to me. Once again, the plot deals with a family that has types of super powers that begin to show on their thirteenth birthdays. Ledger Kale is no exception to the family rule and his power (or savvy) leads him on a fun and dramatic summer adventure that is a pleasure to read. This book is 400 pages which may turn some readers off, but it's a quick, fun, and easy read with large print on the pages and only takes a few hours to finish. I would definitely recommend it to readers struggling to stay interested in a story, but not necessarily to people my age looking for a really unique and interesting story.

I'm considering starting to read three books at once and finish at least a chapter a day from each. If I start this (I'll decide by today) I'll be reading East of Eden, Opening the Heavens (recommended by a friend for research on a specific topic), and Ever (by the author of Ella Enchanted; just a more fun, easy read to help break up the heaviness of the other two).

Forbidden Sea

So with student teaching and everything else going on in my life, it has been hard to fit in reading. However, I have made a goal to read at least a chapter a day. Last week, I started reading a chapter a day of the book Forbidden Sea and within a few chapters, I could not put it down! I really enjoyed this book. It had an interesting take on mermaids as the town Windwaithe is haunted by an one hundred year old legend of a mermaid who lures her prey out to the sea with her music. When the main character realizes this mermaid is after her sister, she has to try everything to keep her away from the sea. From the first chapter, I was hooked to see what would happen next with the mermaid and the main character's inner struggle with her own personal problems. It is a fast read and has a great story; my only regret is that it left me wanting more, in a good way.  Sheila A. Nielson is a local author and works at the Provo Library in the children's section.