Can you trust me? Compare our taste!

Title: Fire
Author: Kristin Cashore
Category: Fiction, Young Adult
Rating: 3.5/5
Why I Read It: I loved Graceling, so this companion novel was a must-read for me.

Summary: Fire is part-human, part-monster. The monster part of her makes men wild and full-fledged monsters crave her blood. The human part has to cope with having the power to enter people’s minds and bend them to her will.

Review: I was a tad bit bummed to find out we wouldn’t be seeing the next round of steaminess from Katsa and Po in this book. But I need not have worried because parts of this story rivaled a sauna.

This book was a little slow getting off the ground, but it picked up in the second half. Part of that is that I had trouble clearly seeing Fire’s motivation in the first half.

What saved it for me and why I kept reading—aside from the yummy bits, of course—was that the world Cashore created is completely engrossing. I mean, monsters?! But I totally bought it from page one.

Also, did I mention the romance comes in the ever-so-delicious flavor of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet?

Your Turn: That Austen chick sure knew what she was doing. What other YA books use the Darcy/Elizabeth dynamic?

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Did You Like This Book? Try:

• Shiver—My rating: 3/5
• Leviathan
• Graceling—My rating: 5/5
• More Recommendations from LibraryThing

Can you trust me? Compare our taste!

Title: Shiver
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Category: Fiction, Young Adult
Rating: 3.5/5
Why I Read It: Heather’s review at Tales of a Capricious Reader was the one that snagged me.

Summary: Every winter, 17-year-old Grace watches the woods behind her house for a wolf with yellow eyes—her wolf.

Review: Love at first sight can be a pesky little thing. Especially when you happen to fall for a guy who’s missing a few key chromosomes. Poor Grace.

I devoured this story of species-crossed lovers. And unlike most stories with alternating points of view, I felt an immediate connection to both Grace and her wolf, Sam.

But it also left me wanting more. Grace’s entire existence was wrapped up in Sam, and she didn’t seem to have much of a life outside of her yearning for him. All-consuming love, I don’t mind. But for me, it’s even more powerful if a girl is her own person with her own dreams and aspirations outside of being with a certain guy/wolf/vampire.

Still, I will be reading more by this author because the writing was engaging. Here’s a taste from the opening:

I remember lying in the snow, a small red spot of warm going cold, surrounded by wolves. They were licking me, biting me, worrying at my body, pressing in. Their huddled bodies blocked what little heat the sun offered. Ice glistened on their ruffs and their breath made opaque shapes that hung in the air around us. The musky smell of their coats made me think of wet dog and burning leaves, pleasant and terrifying. Their tongues melted my skin; their careless teeth ripped at my sleeves and snagged through my hair, pushed against my collarbone, the pulse at my neck.

While we’re on the topic of romance, be sure to check out the latest list of book recommendations over at Flashlight Worthy: The Most Romantic YA Books of All Time.

Your Turn: What makes for a better romance—an eternal love that obliterates all longing save the lovers’ desire to be together? Or a big ol’ mess of two separate people with their own wants and needs who have to figure out how to make it work on top of everything else?

Or, to put it another way:

Or…

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Did You Like This Book? Try:

• Lament
• Eyes Like Stars
• Fire
• More Recommendations from LibraryThing

Can you trust me? Compare our taste!

Audience Pick!

Title: Liar
Author: Justine Larbalestier
Category: Fiction, Young Adult
Rating: 3.5/5
Why I Read It: Because you told me to!

Summary: 17-year-old Micah lies to everyone. First she said she was a boy, then a hermaphrodite, then the daughter of an arms dealer. So when her secret boyfriend Zach disappears and she says she’s innocent, why should anybody believe her?

Review: Woo boy. This story sinks its teeth into your throat and gives you a good shake every few minutes just to make sure the puncture wounds are good and deep.

I couldn’t read it fast enough.

Micah doesn’t want you to root for her, to be on her side. She keeps pushing and pushing and pushing you away. But if you stick by her, if you keep listening, you’re in for quite a story.

Want a taste?

The second day Zach isn’t at school, I wear a mask. I keep it on for three days. I forge a note from my dad to say I have a gruesome rash and the doctor told me to keep it covered. I carry the note with me from class to class. They all buy it.

My dad brought the mask back from Venice. It’s black leather painted with silver and unfurls at each corner like a fern. The silver is real.

Under it, my skin itches.

They tell us Zach is dead during third period on Thursday.

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Did you like this book? Try:

• Once Was Lost
• Girl in the Arena
• Beautiful Creatures
• More Recommendations from LibraryThing

Can you trust me? Compare our taste!

Title: The Giver
Author: Lois Lowry
Category: Fiction, Young Adult
Rating: 3.5/5
Why I Read It: It’s been on my TBR list for a while (since November 20, 2005, to be exact) but forced its way to the top after I saw it listed as a suggested title for the DystopYA Reading Challenge.

Summary: 12-year-old Jonas lives in a utopian community with no crime, no unemployment, no problems at all. But when he gets chosen as the one and only Receiver of Memories, he starts to learn the dark secrets of his small world.

Review: The world in this book reminded me a bit of the movie Pleasantville.

I loved reading about this creepy world and Jonas’s journey to uncover the truth. I think the only reason I didn’t rate this an all-time favorite is that at 12 years old, Jonas was a little young for my taste. I like my main characters to be solidly in their teens, upper if possible. Or if they’re younger, I like them to be extra sassy (like 15-year-old Daisy).

This is probably because as a teen, I was about as dynamic as a baked potato. I wish I had been cool and self-aware and sarcastic. So I like to read about characters who are all that and more—not like my boring, starchy teen self.

Still, I am glad I read The Giver. I can see now why it’s considered one of the classic YA dystopias.

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Did You Like This Book? Try:

• Number the Stars
• Walk Two Moons
• Holes—My rating: 4/5
• More Recommendations from LibraryThing

Can you trust me? Compare our taste!

Title: Ash
Author: Malinda Lo
Category: Fiction, Young Adult
Rating: 3.5/5
Why I Read It: A friend at work lent this to me, not to mention I love a good fairy tale retelling.

Summary: Ash’s mother is gone. Then after her father remarries, he dies too. Ash’s stepmother forces Ash into servitude to repay her father’s debt. When Ash meets the fairy Sidhean, she forgets her grief and her lack of freedom. But will forgetting be enough for Ash?

Review: I probably would have picked this up eventually, but I’m so glad my co-worker thought to lend this one to me.

I’ll let you in on a secret about this retelling of Cinderella: Prince Charming doesn’t come to Ash’s rescue. Thank God. I’ve been known to indulge in candy like Twilight as much as the next girl, but the world has way too many stereotypically weak characters like Bella and not nearly enough as strong as Ash.

The second chapter slowed the story down a bit, but after that Ash’s journey swept me away.

I did have a few questions about some loose threads of the story at the end, which made me think there would be a sequel. But according to the author’s site, no sequel. Could be I just wasn’t reading closely enough because I was so caught up in finding out what Ash would choose.

Your Turn: Did you get the sequel vibe at the end of this one?

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Did You Like This Book? Try:

• Hate List
• Crazy Beautiful
• Another Faust
• More Recommendations from LibraryThing