2013 Reads: Fifteen {The S-Word - Chelsea Pitcher}

This was quite the book. 

I mean, any book that deals with suicide as the main topic has to be hard to handle, right?

And while I liked this book (can you really like a book about suicide?), it definitely had some faults which were hard to get past.

Also, as a side note: maybe I shouldn't have read it so close after having read Thirteen Reasons Why. Because that book was perfect. I raved about that book (and still do) to everyone I meet. Maybe having read this one so close on the heels of that one? Maybe that was a mistake.

WHAT WAS WRITTEN

Lizzie Hart was caught with her best friend's boyfriend at prom. The next day at school the world Slut appears written over and over again on her locker. The whole school seems to turn against her.

Shortly after, Lizzie commits suicide.

Shortly after that, the words Suicide Slut appear on Lizzie's locker - in Lizzie's handwriting.

But Angie, Lizzie's (former) best friend can't seem to let go. So she launches an investigation into Lizzie's life and her last days in order to form a picture of why her friend ended her life. Though she wants to punish Lizzie's tormentors, Angie is also trying to come to terms with her own actions and involvement in Lizzie's death.

Angie begins to uncover the dark and twisted side of Verity High - and herself - and she will not come out of the investigation the way she went in. 

WHAT MY BRAIN HAS TO SAY ON THE MATTER

*warning: this part may contain a huge spoiler, so read on at your own risk. okay? you've been warned*

This was a decent book. Perhaps even good.

It's another honest and gritty account of how our actions can seriously affect those around us. It also takes that a step further and shows how quickly we can come to judge a person or a situation without fully understanding the entirety of the situation. And? I think that may have been the strongest reveal of all in this book. It was a powerful message: to not judge or act towards a person without having all of the facts. That's something that I hope all readers can take away from reading this one. 

I think Angie was an interesting character. She basically destroyed her best friend's life/wasn't there for her when she needed her and is now feeling a mass amount of remorse and guilt. She has to get down to the bottom of what  happened and why Lizzie, her bright and happy-go-lucky best friend chose to end her own life. Angie was accessible and sympathetic, but she was also a little forced. Her long-winded rants on the treatment of women and other sociological/psychological issues sometimes felt like an ideological rant from the author, but it was interesting and fit into Angie's personality nonetheless.

The minor characters were a little lacking. You never got a clear picture of Lizzie, which was unfortunate for me. And the only other interesting character, Jesse, is only superficially drawn out. I like books with secondary characters that make you feel and think as much as the main character. So, I felt like we were alone with Angie for the most part. 

Now, onto my two major faults with the book.

One. I think Chelsea Pitcher may have taken on one too many big! deal! issues in this book. Suicide is a tough enough topic to deal with on its own. But then adding in more hot-button topics? It was just a lot to process and deal with. Yes, a few needed to happen to make the story make sense (rape, underage partying, etc). But some? Some came out of left field and were never really resolved (pedophilia, etc). They felt like they were thrown in just to add to the sensationalism of the novel. Had those been edited out, I think the story would have been a lot stronger. Do they take away from the novel? Not really. But they don't help it any.

Two. This is the big spoiler. Your last warning! Angie being the culprit of the writing? I just don't buy it. Really. She's the narrator, you are in her head. There is no way that she was unaware of her actions, so it doesn't make sense that she would keep that from us. And then to just have it be thrown into your face as the reader? It really, really bothered me. A lot. Feel free to debate this point with me, because I am really interested in seeing if anyone else felt this way too. 

All in all? This was a pretty good book. It could have used a little more time in the editing stages, cutting out some things and developing a few pieces, but I enjoyed it and had a lot to think about while reading it. And, again: reading it right after Thirteen Reasons Why may have been a really bacd call on my part. 

THE NITTY GRITTY

I received this galley from the publisher/NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book or swayed my review, honest! 

Title: The S-Word

Author: Chelsea Pitcher

Genre: Contemporary YA

Medium: eBook/eGalley/ARC

Date Read: 27 March 2013

Publisher: Gallery Books

Release Date: 7 May 2013

Source: Publisher/NetGalley

Recommended For: High School + (deals with tough issues and themes)

Challenges: Goodreads

First Line: Lizzie wasn't the first person to kill herself this year. 

Favorite Line: (Warning: Trips Down Memory Lane May Lead to Over-dramatizations.)

Last Line: Honestly, I could fly. [whited out, for spoiler's sake]

2013 Reads: Thirteen {Dear Cassie - Lisa Burstein}

I had no idea what I was getting into when I received the ARC for Dear Cassie by Lisa Burstein.

First I was unaware that it was even a companion novel for another set of books until I finished this book and went to rate it on Goodreads. I was never at a loss for information to progress the book (though, I was interested to learn/know more about Cassie's friends) nor did I ever feel like parts of this story didn't make sense. It's an excellent stand-alone-novel. Which, as far as I am concerned, is pretty high praise for any book in a series.

Next, the book description doesn't do a lot to set you up to understand what this story is really about. But, having read it, I understand why. This book deals with some pretty tough topics and therefore any real hints at that could give a lot of the story away. Which is why I'm going to take care to try and keep this review spoiler-free.

Even though I was pretty uninformed going into this book, what I took away from it once I had turned the final page was worth it. It may not have been the best book I've ever read, and it certainly had its' flaws, Dear Cassie provides an interesting look at life through the eyes of a flawed and broken teenage girl.

WHAT WAS WRITTEN

Dear Cassie is a gritty and raw portrait of a sixteen year old girl trying to pick up the pieces of a broken life.

In the aftermath of a prom-night fiasco Cassie has been sent to Turning Pines for thirty days in order to sort out her life (and to avoid jail time). With no friends to turn to (the ones she thought she had either ratted her out or disappeared) and only a brother who cares, Cassie feels as though she is all alone in sorting out this mess of her life.

Turning Pines turns out to be a wilderness-camp-turned-rehab-facility that tests delinquent kids physically and mentally in order to reform them and their habits. She's there with two other girls - one who seems out to ruin her life and another who cannot (or will not) talk - and four boys - one of which who is interested in getting closer to Cassie than she wants.

Cassie has a lot of secrets and she is determined to keep them deeply buried over the course of her 30 day stay at Turning Pines. 

WHAT MY BRAIN HAS TO SAY ON THE MATTER 

I really enjoyed this book. I found Cassie to be honest and raw with the reader: she never shied away from speaking her mind or standing up for herself. But, at the same time she was broken and fragile for reasons the reader only slowly comes to know. She is a delicate balance of opposites: tough but weak, outspoken but reserved, a fighter but broken. All of these pieces (and so many more) make Cassie a real and approachable character that you want to learn more about. Cassie is a fragile character with a tough shell and once you're able to crack her open your heart can't help but feel for her.

Troyer was probably my other favorite character. Her ability to get to Cassie without ever saying a word? Her insistence on writing down things for Cassie to understand her and her unwavering friendship make her a dependable and lovable character. Especially as the book goes on and we are able to learn more and more about her and where she comes from.

Nex just gets on my nerves. I think she may have been a little over-written in the obnoxious and anger-inducing areas of characterization, but I get why. She grates at Cassie. She forces Cassie to examine who she is and why she acts the way she does. And most importantly, she fuses the friendship between Cassie and Troyer.

As far as the story is concerned, I found it to be lacking/unrealistic in a few areas:

one: Ben. I could not wrap my head around his instantaneous infatuation with Cassie. The meet in the opening pages of the book at the airport while waiting for their ride to Turning Pines. Cassie blows him off, Ben is intrigued. Intrigued I can understand. But Ben becomes devoted and attached to Cassie so quickly with relatively little personal interactions. I get how this can be considered sweet and why readers would love Ben. I mean, I love Ben. I just don't get where his feelings come from so fast.

two: I still have no idea why Cassie was sent to Turning Pines. Because, from what I can tell, she never tells her parents her huge secret. So, why would she be sent away? I get that she and her friends were arrested on prom night for possession of some pot that wasn't even theirs - and that Cassie's friend ratted her out (re: put the blame on her even though it was in no way her fault). So, was Turning Pines her punishment? Because I totally thought that a lot of time had elapsed since Prom night (she talks about her pizza-place job as a post-prom night job that her parents closely monitored and how her relationship with Aaron developed there) and she essentially was on some sort of probation. So, if that's the case...how/why did she end up at Turning Pines?

three: Cassie's big secret is predictable and easy to figure out in the first few pages. I'm not sure if that was intended or I'm just really perceptive, but it just kinda made Cassie's devastation over it hard for me. I wanted her to talk about it, if only to her journal, earlier. And I don't think she ever got any sort of real closure about it in the end. Rather, it felt just like she's pushing it further away and hoping that she'll never have to deal with it later.

All-in-all I enjoyed this book. Books with Tough Topics can be hard to write and even harder to write well. I think that Burstein created a world with a character that was able to paint an honest portrait of what can be a really tough topic for people to talk about. Burstein did it with an ease and care that makes this book one for YA to read and appreciated. 

THE NITTY GRITTY

I received this galley from the publisher/NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book or swayed my review, honest! 

Title: Dear Cassie

Author: Lisa Burstein

Genre: Young Adult; Contemporary; Love

Medium: eGalley/ARC

Date Read: 15 March 2013

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Release Date: 5 March 2013

Source: Publisher/NetGalley

Recommended For: Late MS+, Those who like YA Realistic Fiction; 

First Line: Are you there, Smokey Bear? It's me, Cassie.

Favorite Line: "Tough and beautiful, a lethal combination," he said. "You've got the lethal part right," I said. 

Last Line: The forgiveness will come. [whited out, for spoiler's sake]

2013 Reads: Twelve {Spellbinding - Maya Gold}

This was a tough one for me to get through, so let's get going with this, okay? 

WHAT WAS WRITTEN

Abby Silva is sixteen and practically an outcast at her high school. Her mom died when she was younger and her father rarely notices her. Her best friend, Rachel, is also her tutor. She can't swim and is having awful nightmares and migraines. She has a huge crush on a popular football player named Travis who happens to be dating a very cruel, bullying girl named Megan.

For a class project, Abby is asked to research her family lineage. Surprise! She is able to trace her genealogy back to the Witch Trials in Salem. Interested in learning more about her background, Abby heads across the river to Salem to get a closer look at her family's past. However, after her first visit to Salem, mysterious and terrifying events begin to unfold. As a descendent of a witch, Abby soon learns that there is magic in her blood.

When a spell-book somehow appears in her possession, Abby concocts a love potion to lure Travis to her. She dabbles in spells and hexes and charms, intrigues and scared by her developing powers. She can make candles burst into flame with just a thought or move traffic cones to help her pass her driving test. Meanwhile the shy and gorgeous Rem is fighting to keep Abby away from the magic that is developing within her.

Caught between two worlds - magic and non - and two boys - Travis and Rem - Abby has a lot of decisions to make. And both her heart and her world hang in the balance. 

WHAT MY BRAIN HAS TO SAY ON THE MATTER

Okay, let's start with the good for this first, okay?

Then we can move onto the problems I had with this book. That sounds like a good plan, right?

What I really liked was how quick moving this book was. Honestly, I was never wanting for action to happen. Abby was constantly getting into something, or going somewhere, or discovering something. Which meant I was always really intrigued about what the next thing was going to be. For all the problems I had with the book, the pacing was perfect and kept me engaged with the storyline.

Also, I really liked the premise of this book as well. It wasn't executed perfectly, but the storyline that Maya Gold crafted for Abby to venture out on was fairly unique, and I was interested to see where she was going with her book.

Now, for the problems I had with this book. We'll do it in list form, because I don't want to repeat myself:

1. Every current popular literary trope was used in the writing of this novel: Dead parent. Love Triangle. "The Chosen One." Nerd/Outcast turned Popular. A gaggle of mean girls who will eventually get their comeuppance. Nerd/Outcast with super amazing powers. Makeover that suddenly makes the Nerd BEAUTIFUL. Prom. Dad dating someone new. Brother is a soccer star. Etc. Etc. Etc.

2. Characterization: there was none of it. Every single character felt flat to me. Abby was boring (and petty, and selfish, and angsty). Rem was a pretty boy who was also a witch. Megan was so much the stereotypical mean girl (with her two henchwomen) that it was almost completely unbelievable. I just felt like no character was ever developed past a superficial description. There was no growth for any characters.

3. Her Parents: Why/When/How did her mom die? All we're ever told is that mom is dead. Nothing else. What was the point of this? It doesn't even seem to affect her when she mentions it in passing. And her dad? How is she okay with the fact that her dad overlooks her constantly. There's no sadness or angst over her dad barely noticing she's alive until she gets all dressed up for prom. And then he's insanely proud of his daughter for being pretty? I just can't buy that.

4. Travis: Honestly, a love potion? Okay, I get it. She's a witch, a love potion is totally something a 16 year old girl would make if she could. But Abby never mentions/thinks about how awful it is to only have his affection because she forced it on him. Her first kiss as a result of a love potion? Why does this not seem like a really crappy situation to her? Why is she so proud that she's made Megan jealous via magic? Yes, I get it. 16 year old girl. But, really?

5. The ending: ANTICLIMACTIC. I won't go into any details, in case you start this book yourself. But, I was so let down by this ending.

I wanted to like this book. I really did. But it was so full of literary cliches and was endlessly predictable that I had a hard time taking it seriously. I can see a middle school reader really loving this book, though. They'll fall in love with Rem, be intrigued by Travis (and the love potion!), and wish that they could trace their family lineage back to Salem and wake up with magical powers one day.

However, as a self-proclaimed history geek who lives in New England? I did enjoy the peek at the Salem Witch Trials. I also enjoyed that I know/have been to a lot of the places that Abby goes to in Spellbinding. So, that was at least fun.

THE NITTY GRITTY

I received this galley from the publisher/NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book or swayed my review, honest! 

Title: Spellbinding

Author: Maya Gold

Publisher: Scolastic Point

Release Date: 1 April 2013

Genre: YA; Fantasy; 

Medium: eARC 

Date Read: 11 March 2013

Source: NetGalley

Recommended For: MS +; YA Fantasy lovers; Those looking for a quick and easy read

Challenge: Goodreads

First Line: The girls shriek and writhe on the floor of the meetinghouse, tearing their hair, their white aprons. 

Favorite Line: "It's no wonder the queen of the monkeys feels threatened." 

Last Line: "Let's go swimming." [whited out, for spoiler's sake]

GOODREADS // AMAZON // B&N