The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord

Title: The Start of Me and You

 Author: Emery Lord

 Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens

 Date Published: March 31, 2015

 Genre: Contemporary, Romance

 Pages: 384 (Hardcover)

 Age Range: 14+






                                                                           Summary:

     It's been a year since it happened--when Paige Hancock's first boyfriend died in an accident. After shutting out the world for two years, Paige is finally ready for a second chance at high school . . . and she has a plan. First: Get her old crush, Ryan Chase, to date her--the perfect way to convince everyone she's back to normal. Next: Join a club--simple, it's high school after all. But when Ryan's sweet, nerdy cousin, Max, moves to town and recruits Paige for the Quiz Bowl team (of all things!) her perfect plan is thrown for a serious loop. Will Paige be able to face her fears and finally open herself up to the life she was meant to live?


                                                                           Review:

     Was this book cliched? Yep! Predictable? Absolutely! Was it cute, heart-warming, and really nice to read? Undeniably.
     A little while ago, a little book called Open Road Summer exploded all over the place. It was immensely popular, and it also just happened to be written by Emery Lord. Confession time! I still haven't read ORS- I just haven't gotten around to it yet. I will read it, but I ended up reading this one first to see what the big deal about Emery Lord was all about. This book did not influence my decision to read ORS at all, and yes, I will still ORS.
     Now that is all out of the way, to the fun stuff! I walked into the book knowing that Max was going to end up being endgame, so I don't see why the Ryan/ Max thing was such an issue... I enjoyed Ryan's character, I liked getting to know him and I liked the flirty anxiety in the beginning, but after it dragged on for three-quarters of the book, I got a little tired of it because it meant less time being flirty and awkward with Max. Potential was wasted swooning over Ryan, because Ryan obviously had the hots for someone else.
     I thoroughly enjoyed most of the characters. Sometimes, though, I wanted to shake them for making stupid decisions. Like Paige and all of her PLANNING for pursuing Ryan, and Max making Paige go on the diving board. Paige's parents were existing, but absent. Their little twist didn't really add anything to the story for me.
     Besides those things, however, I enjoyed the book. The writing was easy, and had some really sweet lines. The characters were awesome, and I really liked the whole QuizBowl shenanigans. Ms. Pepper had me in stitches, and I wish we got some more of her in this book. I especially liked the array of best friends that we get to see.
     Besides a few things here and there The Start of Me and You was a pretty solid book- not bad at all. I will read Open Road Summer, I promise. I just have to get around to it.



                                                 

Never Always Sometimes by Adi Alsaid

 Title: Never Always Sometimes

 Author: Adi Alsaid

 Publisher: Harlequin Teen

 Date Published: August 4th, 2015

 Genre: Contemporary

 Pages: 320 (Hardcover)

 Age Range: 13+








                                                                        Summary:

     Never date your best friend 
     Always be original 
     Sometimes rules are meant to be broken 

     Best friends Dave and Julia were determined to never be cliché high school kids—the ones who sit at the same lunch table every day, dissecting the drama from homeroom and plotting their campaigns for prom king and queen. They even wrote their own Never List of everything they vowed they'd never, ever do in high school. 
     Some of the rules have been easy to follow, like #5, never die your hair a color of the rainbow, or #7, never hook up with a teacher. But Dave has a secret: he's broken rule #8, never pine silently after someone for the entirety of high school. It's either that or break rule #10, never date your best friend. Dave has loved Julia for as long as he can remember. 

     Julia is beautiful, wild and impetuous. So when she suggests they do every Never on the list, Dave is happy to play along. He even dyes his hair an unfortunate shade of green. It starts as a joke, but then a funny thing happens: Dave and Julia discover that by skipping the clichés, they've actually been missing out on high school. And maybe even on love.

                                                                           Review:

     It is no secret that I loved Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid. I found that book funny, and perfect. Of course, I was expecting nothing but perfection in this book (is that too much to ask for?). Unfortunately, I was really let down. This book was nowhere near where I was hoping it would be.
     First off, the writing wasn't the light, goofy, rawness that I really liked in Let's Get Lost. I think  part of the reason that I didn't like this book as much as I hoped was because I couldn't fall in love with Julia and Dave. Julia felt pretty forced, and like her whole character was forced. Yes, I understand that part of the whole point of the book was Julia being way too busy being un-cliched to live- yes, I realize that forced-ness was part of Julia's character. However, Julia was far too unreal and forced for my liking. Dave was much more natural for me. He seemed to flow as a character, and I actually liked him. I really liked Gretchen too, surprisingly. And Brett, oh my gosh.
     Besides having a forced lead, the whole love between them felt...fake. David's love for Julia, I understood- he loved her for his whole life. But it felt like Julia started to "love" David as soon as another girl came on the scene. I think that Julia was jealous, and she didn't want to lose her friend. Because of this, half of the story seemed tedious to get through.
     Some of the things that they did were adorable. Like when Julia helped David ask someone to prom. And when they went camping together. However, most of the cute moments came with Gretchen and David. Honestly, we had an oddly-shaped love pentagon because SPOILERS: Gretchen and Julia loved David, David loved them, and Brett loved Julia. I actually totally ship Brett and Julia, and thoroughly choose to believe that they get it on later. This is one of the few books I've read where the two best friends don't get together, and it was an interesting take. END SPOILERS
      Basically, this book wasn't as good as Adi Alsaid's other book. But it is worth a read anyway.

                                                 

The Improbable Theory of Ana and Zak by Brian Katcher

 Title: The Improbable Theory of Ana and Zak

 Author: Brian Katcher

 Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

 Date Published: May 19, 2015

 Genre: Contemporary

 Pages: 336 (Hardcover)

 Age Range: 14+







                                                                     Summary:

     When Ana Watson's brother ditches a high school trip to run wild at Washingcon, type-A Ana knows that she must find him or risk her last shot at freedom from her extra-controlling parents.

In her desperation, she's forced to enlist the last person she'd ever want to spend time with—slacker Zak Duquette—to help find her brother before morning comes.

     But over the course of the night, while being chased by hordes of costumed Vikings and zombies, Ana and Zak begin to open up to each other. Soon, what starts as the most insane nerdfighter manhunt transforms into so much more. . . .

                                                                    Review:

     First off, I really love the cover. It's super cute, and I love the pixelated characters. That being said, this book doesn't have much of anything to do with math, so the equations all over the cover are a little random and unnecessary. Much like I thought it would be after reading the flap, this book was a cute, mindless read- some fluff to read between heavier books.
     Ana and Zak are our two protagonists, and the story is told through dual POVs- something that really helped this book along. Ana is your average geeky, shy girl with wacko parents, and Zak, well I guess he's an average video game nerd. I've only read one other contemporary with a nerdy video game player (Guy In Real Life by Steve Brezenoff) and those two male leads were very similar. I wish that these characters had been a little more unique, but I understand why they were so generic... Relatability. Ana's younger brother was such an un-fleshed out character that he simply felt like a plot device. The other characters that we meet at ComiCon are hilarious. I don't know if people are normally like that at those kinds of places, but I was in stitches!
     Some aspects of the book didn't feel realistic. Honestly, how much trouble can you get into at places like that? However, Ana and Zak's shenanigans had me shaking my head and chuckling. I was totally able to suspend my disbelief, and enjoy the story. Besides those wild encounters, the secrets that Ana and Zak also have some secrets that they are keeping from each other. Predictable secrets, and very average ones at that, but secrets nonetheless.
     I was pleasantly surprised by this book and its depths. Overall, the book is pretty average, but it's a good kind of average. It's more of a 3 1/2 star rating for me.


                                      

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Title: Insurgent

Series: Divergent Series #2

Author: Veronica Roth

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Date Published: May 1, 2012

Genre: YA fiction, romance, action, thriller, sci-fi, fantasy

Pages: 544 (hardback)

Age Range: 12+



Summary


One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

Review


The writing was good, but there just isn't much suspense, or feeling in this series. I can only describe it, as I had before for Divergent, as bland. Veronica Roth describes what Tris is feeling, but you don't feel emotions. At least, I didn't.

First off...I totally knew Uriah was Divergent!! I called it before I even finished the first book.
When I wasn't expecting though, was Marlene's demise. Totally wasn't expecting it. I knew the Erudite were planning something drastic that would be deadly. But I was thinking like, they were going to blow up the building, or come marching in shooting, OR they'd make the people go into simulation-mode and kill whoever they could. Wasn't expecting an unwilling suicide.

And speaking of suicide. Tris got really stupid and suicidal in this book. She didn't think about what she was doing. She just did the first thing that came to mind. When she gave herself over to the Erudite....I wanted to punch her, because I knew--I KNEW--Tobias was going to go after her! It still surprised me, but I knew it was going to happen. I didn't expect what he said to Tris though. Ya know, the whole "you die, I die" thing.

"You die, I die too." Tobias looks over his shoulder at me. "I asked you not to do this. You made your decision. These are the repercussions."

I thought he was really there to die with her, because he gave himself over pretty fast. I thought it was too fast to come up with a plan, but then I found out he made one and I was kind of disappointed cause I was expecting things to go a different way. I wasn't expecting them to die, but I expected Tobias to come up with a drastic, last second plan when Tris is about to be executed or something awesome and daring like that. Cause, it's Four/Tobias--he's known to come up with plans on the spot. Unlike Tris, who doesn't think anything through.

Caleb! I wasn't expecting Caleb to stab Tris in the back. He really chose faction before blood. Like whoa, didn't see that coming. I'm curious about what will happen with him next. Is Tris going to have to kill him? Is she going to have him thrown in prison? What's gonna happen? (No one spoil it for me! Someone already ruined the ending of Allegiant for me).

Jeanine's death....I was expecting one last evil sentence from her, but she just died. That was it. Died. She's dead now. That's all folks.

The ending was good but it wasn't one of those endings that made me go, "ohmygosh I have to read the next book right now!" It was okay. Unexpected; interesting; it made me curious, but I wasn't shocked or wowed.

I don't really know how to rate this book because I didn't get excited or totally into the story. And, like I said, I thought the writing was good but bland. I only really got surprised, maybe, three times--when we find out that Caleb is a traitor, when Marlene died and when Tobias hands himself over to the Erudite.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Title: Divergent

Series: Divergent Series #1

Author: Veronica Roth

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Date Published: February 11, 2014

Genre: YA fiction, romance, action, thriller, sci-fi, fantasy

Pages: 496 (hardback)

Age Range: 13+ (violence, mentions of sex, 1 suicide, death)



Summary

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

 Review

This book will keep you interested between the moments with Tris and Tobias, secrets, training, and fighting. It's the perfect combination of action and romance.

The characters are strong, tough, and brave, but some are cowardly. Christina is strong and sassy. Tobias (also known as Four) is strong, tough, and courageous, but also kind, though he still claims to be working on his kindness. Tris (Beatrice Prior) is hesitant, but confident and strong. I like how Tris evolves throughout the book, becoming stronger and more confident with herself. All the characters are easily lovable.

The writing is good, kind of bland in the beginning, but I think it matches the bland faction of Abnegation. The writing evolves as Tris gets used to her new faction, Dauntless. Her personality evolves to; she can let her personality flourish in Dauntless, though she must keep her Divergence a secret.

The ending was good; I liked the uncertainty in Tobia's words. I liked how unsure everything was actually--they don't know what is going to happen with the factions now, or what will happen to them, if any of the other factions will take them in, and who is dead and who is alive.
It's all uncertain.

I'm actually kinda stuck on how to rate this book, but I'd probably say it's a 3 1/2.