This Golden State by Marit Weisenberg (thoughts)

 

Summary from Goodreads:

"The Winslow family lives by five principles:

1. No one can know your real name.
2. Don’t stay in one place too long.
3. If you sense anything is wrong, go immediately to the meeting spot.
4. Keeping our family together is everything.
5. We wish we could tell you who we are, but we can’t. Please—do not ask.

Poppy doesn’t know why her family has been running her whole life, but she does know that there are dire consequences if they’re ever caught. Still, her curiosity grows each year, as does her desire for real friends and the chance to build on something, instead of leaving behind school projects, teams, and crushes at a moment’s notice."

My Thoughts:

Aren't you just intrigued by that premise?  As soon as I read those five principles included in the summary, I knew that this was a book that I wanted to read.  And I jumped at the chance to read this one not even realizing that this book was young adult which I don't usually read.  Books like this could definitely change that though!  I started this one on a Friday night only expecting to read a chapter or two.  Before I knew it though, I was almost 35% in.  This book was such a page turner (well I was swiping pages since I was reading on my e-reader).  From the very beginning, I found myself completely intrigued by the premise.  I kept trying to guess what her parents were running from and why.  It just made for such a compelling read.  I'm going to be honest that the budding romance was an element of the book that I could take or leave.  I don't mean that in a bad way - it just wasn't what kept me reading and pulled me into the story.  I'm also not the intended audience for this book - and I can guarantee that my daughter would be completely behind the romance that was developing.  I'm actually planning on handing my copy of this book off to her because I'm absolutely sure that she would enjoy it.  The one that I loved most about this book was that even with all of the unknowns and questions - the love that Poppy's family had for one another was strong and present throughout the pages of this book.  It was so nice to see the love that they had for one another.  I just really enjoyed this book and definitely plan on reading more by this author in the future.  

Readers who enjoy young adult mysteries, suspenseful and page turning reads, or those who just want a plain good read should pick this book up!

Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher.  Honest thoughts are my own.

Blythewood by Carol Goodman (thoughts)

Blythewood was my final read of 2014 and ended up being a great way to end the year!  I went into this book not knowing a lot about it (other than I have enjoyed both adult books by this author that I have read) and it worked out really well for me.  This was a book filled with questions, where I never knew quite what was going on, and the suspense/questions carried me through the pages with ease.  I loved it!

In this book Avaline Hall is taken in by her maternal grandmother after a few horrifying turn of events including the death of her mother, a fire, and a stay in a mental asylum.  Staying with her grandmother means getting the chance to go to her mother's old boarding school, Blythewood.  Despite never explaining the fallout that happened between her and her own mother, Ava's mother always spoke fondly of her time at Blythewood and her memories from there.  Ava realizes that to learn her mother's secrets she will need to go to that school to look for the answers.  Maybe now she will be able to finally find out who her real father is and what happened to make her mother leave Blythewood forever.  Ava is about to learn though that the world that she is stepping into is one that she could never have imagined.

I really, really enjoyed reading this book!  There are certain authors that you just trust as a reader and Goodman has become one of them for me.  For good reason too as she writes these books that just suck you in as the reader.  That is exactly what this one did to me!  Ava is about to step into this new world that she could never have dreamed of.  She's learning more about herself but she is also learning more about her mother's past.  All of these things led to questions for me as the reader.  This was mainly because I never quite knew what was going on for sure with this book.  The author took her time giving us pieces here and there.  It made the book so much more suspenseful for me!  I feel like I say this a lot in my reviews but this was yet another book that I just could not put down.  The author has set up such a unique storyline that feels different from a lot of what is out there.  It has a historical fantasy feel to it but there was just so much more.  I can't even explain without giving things away that I don't want to.  Suffice it to say that this book is exactly why I will read anything/everything that this author writes!

Other things I enjoyed about this book were the secondary characters.  Neither of Ava's roommates were what I expected and that was a good thing.  I'm eager to see how their characters grow and develop in the next book as this is part of a series or trilogy (not sure which).  There is a hint of possible love triangle that might bother others but what really left me excited at the end of this book was Ava's learning something new and completely unexpected about herself.  I am sure that this is going to play a huge role in the next book and I can't wait to see how!  The ending of this book was done well with things left open for the next book but not in a cliff hanger kind of way.  It just left me super excited to see what will happen next!  I can't wait to get my hands on book two!

Overall, this was a really great way to end my reading year in 2014!  There were so many reasons to love it but what really made this book stand out for me was the unique storyline.  I just cannot wait to see what this author does with the storyline in the next book.  I won't be waiting long to find out as my library has a copy that I can check out for me kindle!  I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book and am hoping that more readers find it as it was a really great read.  Recommended!

Bottom Line:  A delight to read as this book just sucked me in!  I love this author!

Disclosure:  I checked this one out from my local library for my kindle.  Thoughts are my own!

This book counts as book 1 for the Winter COYER challenge that I am participating in.  Woohoo!

The Waking Dark by Robin Wasserman (thoughts)

The Waking Dark was one of the creepiest, darkest books that I have read in a long time!  Wasserman creates a thriller that not only gives the reader chills but also makes you think about the society that we live in.  This is one of those books that sticks with you, and I've been thinking about it every since I finished.  Wow!  This was a really good read but quite disturbing!

I don't want to give too much away so I'm going to use the Goodread's summary for this book:

"They called it the killing day. Twelve people dead, all in the space of a few hours. Five murderers: neighbors, relatives, friends. All of them so normal. All of them seemingly harmless. All of them now dead by their own hand . . . except one. And that one has no answers to offer the shattered town. She doesn't even know why she killed—or whether she'll do it again."

How eerie and dark does that sound?  Oh my goodness, it was all of those things and so much more!  The tension and suspense begin from the very beginning in this novel and continue to build the further it goes on.  Before I knew it, I was so wrapped up in this book that I just couldn't put it down.  I had to see what was happening and even more importantly why it was happening.  The author creates this menacing atmosphere that just creeps up on you, and it doesn't let up until the last page.  I couldn't help but imagine if this could really possibly happen.  And scarily enough I suppose that it could.  I know that I'm not giving you a lot of details but I just don't want to spoil this book for anyone.  This is a book where it is best to be experienced without knowing much about it.  I think that it makes the reading experience that much more unnerving.  I really appreciated the ending of this book as well because it didn't just tie everything up in a bow.  I liked this book that much more because of it!

Overall, this book was spine-chilling and one of the best young adult books that I have read recently.  It is books like this that make me glad that I'm planning on reading more YA this year.  I will definitely be reading more by this author because wow!  Just wow!  She managed to really blow me away with this book so of course I want to read more.  And I will!  I'm just curious to see what she comes up with next and if it will be as scary as this book was!  I could see this one being made into a movie (which I would definitely want to see).  Highly recommended to fans of horror and dark thrillers!

Bottom Line:  A chilling read that is both dark and terrifying!  Read it!

Disclosure:  Checked out from my local library!  What a great choice!

P.S.- I saw that this author has been compared to Stephen King and what a compliment!  I have to agree on the fact that they both used horror in a way that makes you think about society as a whole.  Nicely done!

Divergent by Veronica Roth (thoughts)

Summary from Goodreads:

"In a future Chicago, 16-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomaly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all."

My Thoughts:

Divergent is one of those books that is SO engrossing and SO amazingly good that when I closed the last page I wanted to start immediately back at the beginning. And I expected everyone else that had read it to have loved it just as much as I did because it was just that good. I've seen some criticism of the book but I can't honestly think of a thing that I would want differently when it comes to a book like this. It sucked me into the world that Beatrice (or Tris as she was also known) lived in, and I didn't want to leave. I didn't think about how realistic this book was or if it could happen....instead I just lived and breathed this world for a few short days. This is a book that I can't wait to recommend (I'm sending my copy to my sister for sure) and talk about with others. I loved it. And now I NEED to read Insurgent.....how am I supposed to wait until May??? Aack! I'm keeping my thoughts on this one short and sweet so I don't give anything about the book away. Just take my word for it...it is that good!

Enough gushing. Obviously, I just loved this book and I can't think of a bad thing to say. Highly, highly, highly recommended to just about everyone. Enough said :)

Bottom Line: 99.9% sure that this will be on my top 10 reads list for 2012. AMAZING.

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book from the publisher for review from a Shelf Awareness offer (I think). Embarrassingly enough, it was last year and this book has languished on my shelves this entire time. Thank goodness I finally picked it up.

Chime by Franny Billingsley (thoughts)

Chime is Briony's story, a self-proclaimed witch with many hidden secrets. Briony has been taught many different things growing up as a pastor's daughter but the one thing that really has stuck with her is that witches are evil, and the reality in the swamp where she lives is that anyone found to be a witch is hung. This is where her story begins...

This book instantly swept me into its' pages from the first page. At the very beginning of the book, Briony tells us that she is a witch and that because she is a witch her anger causes her to hurt the ones that she loves. This is her secret that she carries with her and that plays a huge role in this book. Even though Briony shares her "horrible" secret with the reader, well...I couldn't help but like her. She was one of those characters that I instantly connected with and the relationship that she had with Eldric just felt real to me. Both the characters and the storyline were well developed in this novel. The author's writing had a magical quality to it that spoke of fairy tales while being both haunting and captivating at the same time. It was a book that I couldn't get enough of and found myself wrapped up in throughout. The ending was satisfying and unexpected which made the book all the better in my opinion. I really enjoyed reading this book and would highly recommend it!

Bottom Line: A wonderful read that swept me away in its' pages!

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book for review from the publisher. My thanks!

**In other news, I'm back and hopefully ready to catch up on reviews. So expect all reviews until I catch up except for when I share about my August reads. And maybe I'll post a review of my latest library finds for the RIP challenge (with more to come of course). Or I could post pictures from the first day of school like I've been meaning to for a week or two now. But I WILL catch up on reviews while I'm at it :) Sorry that I haven't been around visiting your blogs...I'll try to remedy that this week. Did I tell you that there is another readathon that I'm thinking about joining??? I'm kind of addicted to them now. Hope you are all having a wonderful week and I'll be by soon!

Wither by Lauren DeStefano (thoughts)

From the back cover:

"In the not-too-distant future, because of genetic engineering, every human is a ticking time bomb-males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. To keep the population from dying out, girls are kidnapped and sold into polygamous marriages.

When sixteen-year-old Rhine is taken, she enters a world of wealth and privilege that both entices and terrifies her. She has everything she ever wanted-except freedom. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to escape before it is too late."

My Thoughts:

Wow! So there has been a ton of hype surrounding this book and lots of love/hate reviews. I loved it myself and found that I could not put this book down. The author has created such a realistic, horrible world that Rhine is living in and trying to escape from. Rhine's character was easy to relate to and came across very realistically. She was confused at times throughout the story as she tried to deal with everything that was happening to her...the wealth and luxury that she was now living in, her scary father-in-law, and her supposed "husband" who really knew so little of what was going on. This book had me constantly on my toes waiting to see what was going to happen next. I grew attached to Rhine from the very beginning of the book and wanted to see her both safe and free. It is a dystopian novel so I knew from the very beginning that there might not be a happy ending. This thought in the back of my head kept me turning the pages as fast as I could to see what would happen next, to ensure that Rhine would be okay. I just didn't want to put this book down. And what I liked about it best is that the ending left things open but in a way that was okay to me as the reader. I'm SOO looking forward to reading the next book in this trilogy as I can't wait to see what happens next! Highly recommended to both fans of adult and young adult books!

Disclosure- I was kindly sent a copy of this book for review free from the publisher. My thoughts are my own :)

The Agency: A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee (thoughts)

My first read of 2011! I chose this book to read first as I've heard good things all over the book blogs and the synopsis sounded interesting. For instance on the back of the book it gives this very short but succinct summary:

"In the gritty world of Victorian London, in a house with many secrets, nothing is as it seems...least of all Mary Quinn."

What a perfect way to describe this book! Because Mary Quinn is a spy working undercover in her first assignment as a companion to a difficult young woman with secrets of her own. In fact, everyone in the household where Mary works seems to have secrets and hidden agendas. This was a fast paced read that hooked me into the story from the very beginning. I loved the idea of a young woman (especially during this time period) being a spy and Mary's adventures were a lot of fun to read about. Mary has a lot of spunk to her character and I liked her from the beginning. I also liked that there was a history to her...a past that even she doesn't completely know but that she began to learn about in the book. It made her background more mysterious and I'm anxious to see what else she will learn in future books. The atmosphere of the book was filled with suspense at certain moments which caused me turn the pages even faster. And I enjoyed the gritty Victorian feel that was present throughout the novel. I find that I am quite a fan of reading books set in this time period and the mystery aspect just was an added bonus. I didn't end up having any major complaints with this book although the ending wasn't quite a surprise for me. But it was a good mystery overall. All in all it ended up being a good read to begin the year with, and I will definitely be reading more in this series in the future just to see what kind of trouble Mary gets herself into next.

Disclaimer: Obtained from my local library :)

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

From Barnes and Noble website:

"Melinda Sordino busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops. Now her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't even know hate her from a distance. The safest place is to be alone, inside her own head. But even that's not safe. Because there's something that she is trying not to think about, something about the night of the party that, if she let it in, would blow her carefully constructed disguise to smithereens. And then she would have to speak the truth."

My thoughts:

Wow! This book really struck a chord with me and even though I read it a couple of months ago, I'm not having any problems remembering the reasons why. The main reason that I enjoyed this book was because of Melinda. Melinda was such a realistic character and one that I, as the reader, couldn't help but connect with. She had her reasons for not speaking and sadly there was no one around her that really picked up on the fact that she was talking less and less or really not at all. Her parents were absorbed in themselves and their own problems and with her friends not speaking to her...well, there wasn't anyone that she could really turn to. I loved that she began to find an outlet to express herself in art. I just plain loved Melinda. She reminded me of the teenager I once was and while I didn't have the issues that she did, I still was easily able to relate to what she was going through. Which is what makes Laurie Halse Anderson such an amazing author as she has created such a realistic character that the reader understands. I couldn't help but understand why Melinda was acting and reacting the way she was especially as I read further into the story. Such an amazing book!

All in all, this was an amazing read and one that I will be reading again in the future. Even though I didn't make a top ten for 2009 (too lazy), this is definitely one book that would have been on it. I'll be recommending this one to any teenager that I come across as well as to all of you book readers out there :) And I will definitely be checking out this author's backlist and reading more by Anderson.

Speak was an honor book for the Printz Award in 2000.

P.S.- I read this one last year but am working on catching up with some of the many reviews that I have left over from 2009. I'm still currently reading The House of Riverton by Kate Morton for my 1st book of 2010.