Roomies

by Sara Zarr & Tara Altebrando

ISBN: 9780316217491

Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date:  December 24th 2013
Number of Pages: 288

Source: Local Library

Goodreads Summary: It's time to meet your new roomie.

When East Coast native Elizabeth receives her freshman-year roommate assignment, she shoots off an e-mail to coordinate the basics: television, microwave, mini-fridge. That first note to San Franciscan Lauren sparks a series of e-mails that alters the landscape of each girl's summer -- and raises questions about how two girls who are so different will ever share a dorm room.

As the countdown to college begins, life at home becomes increasingly complex. With family relationships and childhood friendships strained by change, it suddenly seems that the only people Elizabeth and Lauren can rely on are the complicated new boys in their lives . . . and each other. Even though they've never met.

My Rating:  

This book was pretty good! Told in alternating chapters between our two characters - Elizabeth Logan (aka EB) from New Jersey & Lauren Cole (aka Lo) from San Francisco, CA.

These two girls are going to be roommates together in the fall at the University of California - Berkeley. Lauren will just be moving across the bridge, away from her big family that includes five younger siblings whereas EB is moving across the country away from her high-strung mother and closer to where her estranged father lives.

EB & Lo's lives seem to be completely different, but as teenagers, they are both making the transition from high school to college & becoming a young adult.

E-mail is the way these two communicate and the fact that there are two different authors, writing for each girl, makes this a fun book. You can tell the difference between the two personalities and viewpoints.

One difference is the way each girl reacts to the news of having a roommate. EB is super excited and emails Lauren as soon as she gets her contact email:

"Dear Lauren,You don't know me but I got an e-mail from Berkeley telling me that we're going to be roommates. I am so excited to "meet" you! I've been waiting and waiting."- Roomies, 2-3 

Lauren on the other hand:

"I frantically click over to the Berkeley messages and find the one telling me abut my roommate. So it's true. My request has been denied. 'Crap,' I mutter."- Roomies, 7 

she writes back to EB,

"I requested a single. All I've wanted for the last decade is a room of my own. Some privacy. A place to be alone with my thoughts where they are constantly interrupted by someone else making some kind of racket, or even someone else just quietly trying to exist in the same space as me." - Roomies, 9

So becomes a hesitant pen pal friendship. They share their hopes, worries, and current struggles going on their life. I won't go into detail, as reading their story and moving with the characters through everything is what makes this book great.

Spoiler & Content Warning: Characters are 18 and high school graduates. As such, there is some more mature content than you would see in books aimed at younger readers.

I really enjoyed reading about EB & Lauren and seeing their friendship grow and go through rough patches. I have hope for these two girls, even though I hated the ending being so open!!

If you like realistic fiction & coming-of-age stories - I suggest this book to you.

  

The Huaca

By Marcia Mickelson

ISBN: 9781462111909

Publisher: Cedar Fort, Inc.
Publication Date:  May 14th 2013
Number of Pages: 256

Source: Local Library
Goodreads Summary: Seventeen-year-old Ellie Cummings just wants to be a regular teenager, but after her mother’s mysterious murder, she isn't sure if she’ll ever be normal again. Her mother’s death has left Ellie and her father worlds apart. And when her best friend abandons her, Ellie has no one else to turn to—except for the strange boy who says he can help.

Gabe de la Cruz seems to know way too much about everything,

and her instincts tell Ellie to stay far away. But when he claims that he can communicate with the dead through an ancient Incan artifact, Ellie can’t resist the temptation of seeing her mother again. In the hanan pacha—the Incan afterworld—Ellie’s mother sends a message to help Ellie understand what happened the night of the murder—a message that may be better kept a secret . . .

My Rating:  

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. It is such an interesting story filled with intrigue and mystery. El's mom was murdered and her killer never caught. She has grown apart from her best friend, as they no longer prize the same things. Her father is distant and avoids discussing her mom. Enter the mysterious loner Gabe, who introduces El to his ancestral history - he descends from the Incas.  

"'No. It's not a jewelry box. It's a huaca.' He pronounced it 'wa-ka.'
'What?'
'It's a sacred object. That's what huaca means. The Incas believe in performing worshipping ceremonies. They give sacrifices to the gods through a huaca.'" - The Huaca, 45

This huaca has the power to transport you to the hanan pacha - which is the Incas' version of heaven. El is able to meet her mother there and through Gabe's sacrifice, she is able to slowly piece together what happened the night she died. 

I feel like the story was executed poorly. There are so many conversations that I felt were just repeating themselves over and over. It got really tedious.

El is an okay character. I can't fathom a person's reaction to what she went through but I do feel that she treated Gabe unfairly at times - this is probably to be expected, but his reaction? Not believable. He is always understanding and caring. He doesn't ever really fight her back and it just didn't feel right to me. Yes, they are 17 years old and should be maturing, but can you see a 17 year old guy acting like that? And how obsessed he was with her? I just found it all....kinda creepy (yes, yes he is wonderful after you get to know him but still!)

Gabe's family history and his quite absent mother held my interest and intrigued me. He suffered a lot in his life and has turned out great, but like I said above, he sounds a little too good to be true. 

The big secret (which I'm not giving away) I had guessed from the beginning. So really, I was just reading to see when they would figure it all out and how it would end. 

It is a quick read and I enjoyed the mythology discussed. It is a mystery book and it is thrilling enough to keep you reading.  Though there are some character holes, I did like the book and would recommend it!

Rags & Bones: New Twists on Timeless Tales

Edited by Melissa Marr & Tim Pratt

ISBN: 9780316212946

Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: October 22nd 2013
Number of Pages: 356
Source: Local Library
Goodreads Summary: The best writers of our generation retell the classics. Literature is filled with sexy, deadly, and downright twisted tales. In this collection, award-winning and bestselling authors reimagine their favorite classic stories, ones that have inspired, awed, and enraged them; ones that have become ingrained in modern culture; and ones that have been too long overlooked. They take these stories and boil them down to their bones, and then reassemble them for a new generation of readers.

My Rating:  

This book is anthology of different tales that have been re-worked by today's authors to bring new perspective.

There was artwork by Charles Vess, but I did not read any descriptions (not too interested); I only glanced at the pictures while turning to the next story.

There are twelve short stories; these are my reviews. 

1. That the Machine May Progress Eternally by Carrie Ryan

Inspired by E.M. Forster’s “The Machine Stops”

Rating: 4 stars

I really enjoyed this short story, though I did not read the one that inspired Ryan. We have Tavil, a boy from the surface, who wants to take a peak at "The Underneath" where a what is called just "the Machine" runs the place. 

"That tight feeling Tavil experienced the first moment he realized he was trapped underground beings to crawl along his arms. Perhaps it is the taste of the surface on the back of his tongue or the knowledge that he has finally found a way out of the labyrinthine Machine, but he is unable to hold back the sensation of being buried alive" - Rags & Bones, 13-14

He becomes trapped in this world but he slowly begins to become accustomed to the way the Machine provides for all his needs. 

"He would rather live his last moments below the surface, ensconced in the Machine, than spend eternity aboveground away from its comforting hum." - Rags & Bones, 25

A spooky tale that makes you think about our reliance on technology.

2. Losing Her Divinity by Garth Nix

Inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s “The Man Who Would Be King”

Rating: 2 stars

This short story is told both in the present by the narrator, Kipling and he is talking to two men - Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz of the past. He tells them the story of his run-in with the Goddess Pikgnil-Yuddra (the Darkness).

Interesting story but didn't quite hold my interest.

3. The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman

Inspired by “Sleeping Beauty”

Rating: 4 stars

Really liked this one! Twist on the tale of Sleeping Beauty but Snow White (not named as such, but description leads you to this conclusion) is the heroine of this story. Her kingdom becomes threatened by the sleeping curse, as it is spreading. She sets off with her loyal dwarfs.

I really liked how unique Gaiman’s take on this old tale was. To incorporate another fairy tale character we all know and then add a different ending to this story really made it a great read!


4. The Cold Corner by Tim Pratt

Inspired by Henry James’s “The Jolly Corner”

Rating: 4 stars

Really bizarre story – think twilight zone (if you can remember what that was….perhaps the younger generation doesn't know. It was a TV show that showed alternate realities, science fiction ideas that had unexpected twists and sometimes horror aspects)

 TJ, a gay man from North Carolina who moved to California and became a chef, has decided to come back to his hometown of Cold Corners for his family reunion. He feels he has nothing left in California after being dumped by his boyfriend, getting fired from his job and not winning on a reality TV cooking show.

Weird thing is, he keeps running into himself. Different versions of whom he could have been, how life could have went if he had made a different choice at certain crosswords in his life.

Liked the science fiction aspect and how TJ reflects on himself and makes you wonder what your life could look like if you had taken a different path.

“I don’t know if we’re ghosts or projections from alternate dimensions Doesn't much matter to me. What we are is family…We started comparing notes, using each other to test things out. What would happen if I dated that girl, or bought that truck.” - Rags & Bones, 107

5. Millcara by Holly Black

Inspired by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s “Carmilla”

Rating: 2 stars

This was a vampire story that tells the somewhat romantic but definitely gothic tale between two young girls.  I would be interested to read the inspiration, “Carmilla” as it predates Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” but I hadn’t heard of it. 


6. When First We Were Gods by Rick Yancey

Inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birth Mark”

Rating: 3 stars

This is a neat science fiction story that tells of a time where humans have been made immortal. You download yourself into a computer chip and just upload yourself into a new body, potentially allowing you to live forever.

"May you wake safely upon that far shoreWhen night is through May you find no everlasting sleep When breaks the Eternal Dawn!”- Rags & Bones, 143

Of course, not everyone is allowed to do this. This is for the elite and powerful – the First and Foremost Families (the 3Fs). “Normal” people – called the finitissium: the finite ones only live out a natural lifetime in their one body. If you are lucky, you are a persist, a servant to the 3Fs. They get food and shelter versus the others who live in scary cities where you need to fight to survive.

When Beneficent Page falls in love with his wife’s Persist, he decides to break the rules and give eternal life to Georgiana.

But do you really want eternal life?

“’I may be immortal, but I am still human.’‘I suppose that depends on the definition.’‘Of immortality?’‘Of what is human.’ She moved at last toward the door, away from him. ‘And what is not.’” - Rags & Bones, 155

7. Sirocco by Margaret Stohl

Inspired by Horace Walpole’s “The Castle of Otranto”

Rating: 1 star

This is a horror story, the remake of “The Castle of Otranto” set in modern times. A movie is being filmed at this castle in Italy but it is haunted. It didn't really hold my interest.

8. Awakened by Melissa Marr

Inspired by Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening”

Rating: 5 stars

Really enjoyed this story about a Selchie (a seal that can shed its' skin and turn into a human to walk on land). Eden is our heroine and she is caught off-guard by a man, Leo, who steals her skin (she also refers to it as her soul) thus gaining control over her. She can't return to her seal form and must know obey his commands. 

This was a powerful story about women and the few choices they had  (and sometimes still do) about the controlling of their own lives. I also liked the mythology and the story as a whole.

"It is not the choice I thought I would make, but like so many women before me, I cannot survive in a cage." - Rags & Bones, 259 

9. New Chicago by Kelley Armstrong

Inspired by W.W. Jacobs’s “The Monkey's Paw”

Rating: 3 stars

Interesting story set in the futuristic dystopian world of "New Chicago." Cole and Tyler are brothers just trying to survive in this city. Tyler works for what sounds like a mobster so that Cole can educate himself. They are saving money so that they can buy passes into the better part of New Chicago - Garfield Park.

Cole follows a man from Garfield Park; he watches as he meets with a peddler who gives him a gift - a monkey paw. The old peddler says that it has the power to grant three wishes. Cole steals the paw for his own. Little does he know that you have to be very careful with wishes. 

Kept me reading and the consequences of the wishes makes you think about what you would wish for and at what cost. I did not like the open-ended conclusion though :/

10. The Soul Collector by Kami Garcia

Inspired by the Brothers Grimm’s “Rumpelstiltskin” 

Rating: 4 stars

Oh this was a great story with Garcia's take on Rumpelstiltskin! He takes the form of the Soul Collector in this tale - he grants favors to a girl named Petra in return for small tokens - a kiss, a memory. Then comes the time when she makes a deal with him that when it is time to collect, she loses something very important. 

The conclusion gave me chills and the character of the soul collector is creepy and haunting. I loved the author's note:

"The crossroads demon (or Soul Collector, as I call him in this story) is the Rumpelstiltskin of the urban fantasy world. He can solve your problems and even grant you wishes - for a price. The question is always the same: What are you willing to trade?" - Rags & Bones, 313

11. Without Faith, Without Law, Without Joy by Saladin Ahmed

Inspired by Sir Edmund Spenser’s “The Faerie Queene”

Rating: No Stars

Did not read beyond the first page; was not interested.

12. Uncaged by Gene Wolfe

Inspired by William B. Seabrook’s “The Caged White Werewolf of the Saraban”

Rating: 1 star

This could have been a real thrilling story but I found it very confusing. A woman named Kay/Marthe that may or may not be a leopard and a man who travels to Africa to save her after receiving her letter. Strange tale.

Ruined

I received an ARC (advanced reader copy) of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Also, this book is currently only available in ebook format. I am awaiting a reply as to when it will be released as a hard copy book. 

By Jus Accardo

Series: Book #1 The Eternal Balance
ISBN: 97816226621848
Publisher: Entangled: Embrace
Publication Date: December 30th 2013
Number of Pages: 325
Source: ebook (ARC)
Goodreads Summary: Hell is looking for a way to break loose...Jax lost the genetic lottery. Descended from Cain, the world's first murderer, he's plagued by a curse that demands violence in exchange for his happiness. He left everything behind, including the girl he loved, but thriving on the pain of others is lonely… And it's killing him.After a series of heartbreaking losses, Samantha put rubber to pavement and headed for college as fast as her clunker could carry her. But she can't outrun her problems. When an attack at school drives her back home, she's thrown into the path of a past—and a guy—she's been trying to forget.

Sam strains Jax's control over his darkness, but running isn't an option this time. Someone—or, something—followed her home from school: a ruthless monster with a twisted plan centuries in the making. Forced together to survive, and fighting an attraction that could destroy them both, Jax and Sam must stop a killer bent on revenge.

My Rating:  

This is book #1 in a new series featuring demons. We have twin brothers, Jax and Chase who are total opposites and not very close. The problem with their relationship stems from long ago - they are the descendants of Cain & Abel (biblical brothers; Cain became jealous of Abel and killed him). Because of this, Cain's descendants that are born with a "tainted" soul have to bear the burden of sharing their body with a demon. This demon hates Jax's brother and taunts Jax with images of killing Chase. The only way Jax can deal with the hate of the demon is to stay away from Chase and "feed" the demon with violence.

I enjoyed how different and unique this story is. We have the paranormal aspect of demons and we also have sort of a twist on the old story of Cain and Abel. 

I don't want to give anything away, but I will say there are many surprises to this story. I was hooked and could not stop reading it until the end.

I did not give a higher rating to this book because I did have a problem with the relationship between Samantha & Jax. There was a good background story to them and his reasons for leaving her behind are legit. I don't like the idea or portrayal of this "all-consuming, obsessive" love between them. Doesn't feel true to life when we have that type of love. I am classifying this book in the New Adult category, as the characters are older (18) and it does have some racy scenes (as one of the emotions demons can feed off of is lust). 

I will probably pick up the next book to continue the story and see how it turns out. I do find that 3 books may be too much, as it sounds like the story could be wrapped up in just one other book.

For the Good of Mankind?: The Shameful History of Human Medical Experimentation

It's the start of a new year and I decided to post a review of a non-fiction YA book I just finished reading - I don't see a whole lot of them, so this is unique!

By Vicki O. Wittenstein

ISBN: 9781467706599
Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group
Publication Date: August 1st 2013
Number of Pages: 96
Source: Local Library
Goodreads Summary: Experiment: A child is deliberately infected with the deadly smallpox disease without his parents' informed consent. 
Result: The world's first vaccine. 
Experiment: A slave woman is forced to undergo more than thirty operations without anesthesia. 
Result: The beginnings of modern gynecology. 
Experiment: From 1946 to 1953, seventy-four boys are fed oatmeal laced with radioactive iron and calcium. 
Result: A better understanding of the effects of radioactivity on the human body. 

Experimental incidents such as these paved the way for crucial medical discoveries and lifesaving cures and procedures. But they also violated the rights of their subjects, many of whom did not give their consent to the experiments. The subjects suffered excruciating pain and humiliation. Some even died as a result of the procedures. Even in the twenty-first century—despite laws, regulations, and ethical conventions—the tension between medical experimentation and patient rights continues. 

How do doctors balance the need to test new medicines and procedures with their ethical and moral duty to protect the rights of human subjects? What price has been paid for medical knowledge? Can we learn from the broken oaths of the past? 

Take a harrowing journey through some of history's greatest medical advances—and its most horrifying medical atrocities. You'll read about orphans injected with lethal tuberculosis and concentration camp inmates tortured by Nazi doctors. You’ll also learn about radiation experimentation and present-day clinical trials that prove fatal. Through these stories, explore the human suffering that has gone hand in hand with medical advancement.

My Rating:  

Fascinating read! For lovers of history and cover-ups, this is a book written in easy-to-understand terms but keeps the reader engaged. Some of the experiments described are graphic, so a word of caution.

The author talks about some cases of human experimentation that most are familiar with - like the Nazis during WWII, but she also brings up cases even I haven't heard of (and some performed here in the US!). For example, a program called Green Run is described. From 1944 into the 1960's, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) approved the "secret intentional releases of radioactive materials into the air" (45). Officials would then go around to area schools and test the children for radiation. This is just one instance of experimentation conducted in secret and without contest.

While raising questions of how the ends justify the means, the anecdotes given really open the reader's eyes. There are resources included in the back of the book: a breakdown by chapter with critical thinking questions, source notes, selected bibliography, and a section on more resources.

I appreciated that the rise of pharmaceutical companies and medicine-for-profit is discussed. How can these companies have the public's best interests at heart when their main goal is to make money?  Informed consent is now required but there are blurred lines when it comes to interpreting exactly how much information needs to be given in order for it to be considered "informed."

"Scientific and medical discoveries of the twenty-first century offer the promise of a future without serious medical conditions. Society must continue to experiment on humans to find new treatments and cures. In balancing the rights of the individual versus the advancement of science and medicine, how will you decide between what is right and wrong?" - For the Good of Mankind?: The Shameful History of Human Medical Experimentation, 7