Unspoken (Sarah Rees Brennan)

Title: Unspoken

Author: Sarah Rees Brennan

Publisher: Random House

Length: 375 pages

Rating: 3/5

Kami is best friends with the imaginary voice in her head. His name is Jared, and when he turns out to be real, the sleepy town of Sorry-in-the-Vale gets quite the wake-up. Because their connection isn’t the only magic that’s been awakened when the Lynburns return to town.

This book was great, but in such a messy way that I couldn’t fully enjoy it. Let’s start with the great. Kami is awesome and quirky, and can take care of herself. She’s not even close to being a helpless heroine. Many of the other characters are quirky, weird, and awesome in their own way too. I was a huge fan of Kami’s best girl friend, Angela, whose main traits include beauty and laziness. The dialogue between characters is quick and funny, and you want to be friends with these people. Plus, the idea of being able to speak to someone else in your mind has always fascinated me, and I loved the way it was brought to the page.

But there were so many things that confused me and kept me from being swept into the story. Maybe this is because I read this book in ARC form (although it seems unlikely) but there were never page breaks when switching scenes or narrators, and it was a headache to keep up. I also didn’t fully understand the motives of the characters, especially Kami and Jared, when they fought both to be together and to be apart. Both of these characters were all over the place, literally and figuratively.

While I was not pleased with the cliff-hanger ending, it did make me want to read more. Maybe things get neatened up in future books?

WIN an ARC of Gorgeous

Welcome to this stop on the Children's Book Week Giveaway Hop where you can win an ARC of Gorgeous by Paul Rudnick.

Title: Gorgeous

Author: Paul Rudnick

Publisher: Scholastic

Length: 305

Rating: 3.5/5

When Becky Randle’s mother dies on her eighteenth birthday, she is devastated. But in her mother’s things she discovers a phone number that changes everything. Tom Kelly, the world’s top designer, offers to make Becky three dresses, guaranteed to turn her from trailer park girl to world’s most beautiful woman. Remade as Rebecca, she flawless in everyone’s eyes except her own. But it’s Becky, not Rebecca that falls in love with the prince of England, and Becky isn’t sure Tom Kelly’s magic is enough to make the prince see the read girl inside the beauty.

This book was a fun and snarky, with something important to say about popular culture and how we see beauty. Also, the cover is, well…gorgeous!

I liked the conception of the fairy-tale magic of this book. Becky is only Rebecca when she’s with other people. Alone, she looks in the mirror and sees her normal self. There’s no makeover and the magic is really in perception. This makes the book more relatable, because everyone sees themselves differently than other people see them.

Becky’s story goes to all extremes. She stars in a movie with Hollywood it-boy Jate Mallow, is on the cover of Vogue, and of course, dates the prince of England. My favorite part about all these crazy adventures is that she brings her best friend Rocher (named after the chocolate of course) along with her. Rocher keeps Becky sane, and keeps the reader sane with her witty voice of reason through all the crazy adventures.

This book is unlike any other YA book I’ve read. While at times a bit long-winded in its lavish descriptions of the culture, this book will make you reevaluate the power beauty, both inside and out. 

Sound like the perfect fit for you? Enter to win below (US and Canada entries only please):

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Hex Hall (Rachel Hawkins)

Title: Hex Hall

Author: Rachel Hawkins

Publisher: Hyperion Books

Length: 323 pages

Rating: 3.5/5

Sophie recently discovered she’s a witch. Unfortunately, her spells never go right, and after one goes particularly wrong, she’s sent to Hex Hall, a reform school for naughty magical creatures. There, she becomes roommates with a hated vampire, pisses off three popular, pretty witches, and almost gets eaten by a werewolf, only to be saved by the (unavailable) hottest guy in school. Then people start getting attacked on school property, and Sophie learns that it might have something to do with her murky magical past. Surviving high school has nothing on surviving Hex Hall.

(what does this cute cover have to do with anything?)

The typical new school, crush on the hot boy who is dating the mean, popular girl, story but with Magical Twists (I capitalize these because I’m hungry and it would make a great name for a pretzel). So I’d heard parts of this story before. I still couldn’t put this book down. Who is attacking students? Will Sophie’s futile crush on the hottie ever amount to anything? Who is good and who is evil? Nothing is black and white as Sophie tries to keep an ancient society from destroying the magical world. Naturally, there are more books in the series to come. I will read on, with pretzels. 

Clockwork Angel (Cassandra Clare)

Title: Clockwork Angel

Author: Cassandra Clare

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books (Simon & Schuster)

Length: 478 pages

Rating: 4.5/5

This is the most exciting/tense/keep you reading/eyes keep jumping to the bottom of the page to find out what happens next book I’ve read since The Hunger Games. And it’s just the prequel to Cassandra Clare’s famous Mortal Instruments series. You know a series is great when its prequel get a series! Although I have yet to read The Mortal Instruments series (the line for the first one, City of Bones, at the library is rather long, but after loving this book and learning the next one in the prequel series isn’t out yet, I requested the City of Bones audio book because its line was shorter. I don’t really like audio books, but that’s how much I liked this book).

Now to focus on the book at hand: Clockwork Angel, the first in The Infernal Devices series. Tessa Gray travels to London to find her brother, the only family she has left. But he’s gone missing and she’s kidnapped by the Dark Sisters, who teach her that she has the power to transform into another person. Because in this Victorian London, magic is real, populated by Downworlders like vampires and warlocks. The Dark Sisters work for the Magister, the shadowy leader of a nefarious The Pandemonium Club, who wants Tessa as his bride. Tessa escapes and takes refuge with a group of Shadowhunters whose duty is to rid the world of demons and protect humans. Among these Shadowhunters are the fearless and volatile Will, and his best friend, the calm yet hiding a deadly secret Jem. Naturally, Tessa would much rather marry one of them than the creepy Magister. Now Tessa’s on a mission to find her brother and take down the Pandemonium Club.

I thought I was over paranormal series for a bit. Turns out, I’m not. Tessa’s got the characteristics I like in a heroine: determination, hidden talent, small amount of wide-eyed innocence, spunk, and a great character arc through the book. The boys Jem and Will are the perfect compliments/foils to each other and to Tessa, and while there was a little romance, it was refreshing that the story didn’t revolve around it. While some of the plot twists were expected, Clare’s suspenseful writing kept me turning page after page, and I was still surprised quite often. And I was left with many questions and an overwhelming desire to read the next book!

If you’re looking for a new series, this is your book.