Review: Hook’s Revenge by Heidi Schulz

Hook’s Revenge by Heidi Schulz
Series: Hook’s Revenge #1
Published: September 16th, 2014
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
300 pages (hardcover)
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Acquired this book: From the library
Warning: May contain spoilers
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Twelve-year-old Jocelyn dreams of becoming every bit as daring as her infamous father, Captain James Hook. Her grandfather, on the other hand, intends to see her starched and pressed into a fine society lady. When she's sent to Miss Eliza Crumb-Biddlecomb's Finishing School for Young Ladies, Jocelyn's hopes of following in her father's fearsome footsteps are lost in a heap of dance lessons, white gloves, and way too much pink.

So when Jocelyn receives a letter from her father challenging her to avenge his untimely demise at the jaws of the Neverland crocodile, she doesn't hesitate-here at last is the adventure she has been waiting for. But Jocelyn finds that being a pirate is a bit more difficult than she'd bargained for. As if attempting to defeat the Neverland's most fearsome beast isn't enough to deal with, she's tasked with captaining a crew of woefully untrained pirates, outwitting cannibals wild for English cuisine, and rescuing her best friend from a certain pack of lost children, not to mention that pesky Peter Pan who keeps barging in uninvited.

The crocodile's clock is always ticking in Heidi Schulz's debut novel, a story told by an irascible narrator who is both dazzlingly witty and sharp as a sword. Will Jocelyn find the courage to beat the incessant monster before time runs out?

I haven’t read many Middle Grade books, but since I love anything related to Peter Pan and Captain Hook, I was curious about Hook’s Revenge (plus, the amazing cover definitely grabbed my attention). I’m so glad I picked this one up. This unique story about the only child of Captain James Hook was fun, original, hilarious, and full of adventure.

Jocelyn was a fantastic character. She was clever and witty, and her smart mouth and antics kept me amused throughout the book. Being the daughter of a well-known and much-feared pirate, she had a lot to live up to. Having never met Captain Hook, Jocelyn only knew what she’d heard and been told, but she was eager for a life like he had, full of adventure, danger, and excitement. Her misadventures were a lot of fun to read about, and I appreciated how she learned some tough lessons along the way. I wasn’t expecting her to be so complex, so I was pleasantly surprised by her depth and her growth, and how she was relatable and easy to connect with.

Hook’s Revenge is full of vivid, memorable characters, from Jocelyn herself to the sassy narrator to Jocelyn's new-found friend Roger to her misfit band of pirates. It’s a great example of a story where the heroine doesn’t need saving because she’s more than capable of saving herself. Hook’s Revenge is highly entertaining, and I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a fun, light read that will make you laugh out loud while rooting for the characters. I’m eager to read more about Jocelyn’s adventures in the next book, The Pirate Code.

Have you read Hook's Revenge? What did you think? If you haven't read it, do you plan to? Do you have a favourite Peter Pan inspired story? Do you read Middle Grade? Let's talk here or on Twitter!

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Review: Far From You by Tess Sharpe

Far From You by Tess Sharpe
Series: Standalone
Published: March 10, 2014
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
pages (hardcover)
Genre: Contemporary young adult/mystery/LGBTQ
Acquired this book: From the library
Warning: May contain spoilers
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Sophie Winters nearly died. Twice.

The first time, she's fourteen, and escapes a near-fatal car accident with scars, a bum leg, and an addiction to Oxy that'll take years to kick.

The second time, she's seventeen, and it's no accident. Sophie and her best friend Mina are confronted by a masked man in the woods. Sophie survives, but Mina is not so lucky. When the cops deem Mina's murder a drug deal gone wrong, casting partial blame on Sophie, no one will believe the truth: Sophie has been clean for months, and it was Mina who led her into the woods that night for a meeting shrouded in mystery.

After a forced stint in rehab, Sophie returns home to a chilly new reality. Mina's brother won't speak to her, her parents fear she'll relapse, old friends have become enemies, and Sophie has to learn how to live without her other half. To make matters worse, no one is looking in the right places and Sophie must search for Mina's murderer on her own. But with every step, Sophie comes closer to revealing all: about herself, about Mina and about the secret they shared.

Far From You is one of those quietly powerful books that deals with big issues and leaves you feeling a mixture of emotions. It was heartbreaking in so many ways, but also inspiring and hopeful.

Sophie has been through a lot. She’s been torn apart physically and mentally, but she’s a fighter. When her best friend is murdered and it’s covered up to look like a drug deal gone wrong, Sophie is sent to rehab, where she’s forced to bide her time until she’s free to investigate Mina’s murder herself. Despite being clean for months, no one believes Sophie when she swears she hasn’t relapsed, and they blame her for Mina’s death. I felt horrible for Sophie and the injustice of what she had to go through. I can’t imagine watching someone you love be murdered right in front of you and then being blamed for it and having no one believe you. I also appreciated that she was different, having gone through a terrible car accident and being left with physical side effects and chronic pain. I liked Sophie a lot and admired her strength. 

The story was told alternately between the past and the present. I liked this for the most part, because it was an interesting way to get to know Mina, plus Sophie’s history with her and with other side characters. Their relationship was easy to imagine. They had the type of close friendship where they depended on each other, would do anything for each other, and seemed to share everything, but they both held tightly to secrets, big and small, and sometimes dangerous. They were best friends, but they were also so much more. They loved each other and hurt each other and needed each other. Reading about the past, knowing Mina’s fate, was bittersweet. Everything in Sophie’s life was tied to Mina, and knowing everything she’d already gone through before losing Mina was just so heartbreaking.

But...because of the way the story was told, it was hard to get truly invested in their relationship. Maybe it's because we know going in that Mina dies, or maybe it's because we see a lot of the negatives of their relationship, the unhealthy parts that make it hard to imagine them figuring things out in order to be together openly. If this had been a regular contemporary, minus the murder and the subsequent mystery, I think it would have been easier to want to see them together. In theory, I appreciated it - falling for your best friend, wanting more, being unsure, wishing things could be different, loving someone so deeply - but we only see bits and pieces of it. The whole thing left me with mixed feelings. On the one hand, it was hard to look past how unhealthy their relationship was, but on the other hand it was a realistic portrayal of teenage love, and of bisexuality, which is often either glossed over, ignored, or changed into something different and often inaccurate.

Overall, I had mixed feelings about Far From You. Part of me really enjoyed it, but I did have some issues with it. The mystery was interesting, but for the most part, the book was really slow and I felt like I spent a lot of time waiting for something to happen. Despite that, the story kept me wondering, and I think I suspected just about everyone and yet still ended up mostly surprised when the mystery was resolved. Toward the end, it got really exciting, and I liked how everything was resolved.

Far From You is a story about love in its many forms, friendship, loss, and perseverance. It’s emotional and bittersweet, and deals with a lot of serious, real-life issues. While I didn’t love it, I’d recommend it to fans of contemporary, mystery, and LGBTQ books.

 

  

Have you read Far From You? What did you think? If you haven't read it, do you plan to? Let's talk here or on Twitter! 

   
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Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone

Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone
Series: Standalone
Published: June 16th, 2015
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
368 pages (eARC)
Genre: Contemporary Young Adult
Acquired this book: Via NetGalley in exchange for honest consideration
Warning: May contain spoilers
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{Read my review of Time Between Us ~ Read my review of Time After Time}

  

If you could read my mind, you wouldn't be smiling.

Samantha McAllister looks just like the rest of the popular girls in her junior class. But hidden beneath the straightened hair and expertly applied makeup is a secret that her friends would never understand: Sam has Purely-Obsessional OCD and is consumed by a stream of dark thoughts and worries that she can't turn off.

Second-guessing every move, thought, and word makes daily life a struggle, and it doesn't help that her lifelong friends will turn toxic at the first sign of a wrong outfit, wrong lunch, or wrong crush. Yet Sam knows she'd be truly crazy to leave the protection of the most popular girls in school. So when Sam meets Caroline, she has to keep her new friend with a refreshing sense of humor and no style a secret, right up there with Sam's weekly visits to her psychiatrist.

Caroline introduces Sam to Poet's Corner, a hidden room and a tight-knit group of misfits who have been ignored by the school at large. Sam is drawn to them immediately, especially a guitar-playing guy with a talent for verse, and starts to discover a whole new side of herself. Slowly, she begins to feel more "normal" than she ever has as part of the popular crowd . . . until she finds a new reason to question her sanity and all she holds dear.

I can’t remember the last time I felt compelled to stay up half the night to finish reading a book, but I did that with Every Last Word. I couldn’t put it down; I had to keep reading and find out how things would work out. When I finally finished at almost 3am, teary-eyed and smiley-faced, I had no regrets over losing a few hours of sleep. Every Last Word is incredible. It’s emotional and realistic and romantic and inspirational. I read Tamara Ireland Stone’s first two books, Time Between Us and Time After Time and while I thoroughly enjoyed them, it’s Every Last Word that has bumped her to my auto-buy list.

I connected with Sam early on and felt like I really understood her. Even though she started out kind of shallow and focused on superficial things, it was easy to understand in a way. She’d only ever known her small group of friends, all of whom were concerned with little more than makeup, clothes, boys, parties, and concerts. They were tight-knit, but it wasn’t necessarily about feeling a deep emotional connection or having a lot in common, it was the type of friendship that comes from convenience - they were thrown together at an early age and have known each other their whole lives. So because they’ve known nothing other than always being in each others’ pockets and wanting each others’ approval, Sam hasn’t ventured far outside that life. She likes what they like, does what they do, what they want, what they expect, and what they would approve of. But that’s not the real Sam. The real Sam is much deeper than that - she has interests of her own, she has a big heart, she has the capacity to be an amazing friend. It would be easy to say ‘get new friends’ or ‘leave the group’ but it’s not that simple. In high school, it can feel like you ARE who your friends are. Your friendships are part of your identity, good or bad. I completely understood her resistance to/fear of/uncertainty about leaving the group. I’m almost twice Sam’s age, but this was one way I really connected with her. For me, this has been a year of cutting toxic people from my life. A couple of those people are friends I’ve had my entire life. I wish them well and would be cordial to them if I ran into them, but I have no desire to have them in my life, spewing their negative toxicity and making me feel like I can never live up to their expectations. So this particular aspect of the plot hit close to home for me, because I could imagine how hard it was for Sam.

And then there was AJ. Oh AJ. *swoon* He was quiet and kind and gentle, a great friend, and just overall amazing. He and Sam were so good together. I loved the progression of their relationship from ‘not friends’ to friends to more. It was sweet and romantic and made me grin and swoon and even tear up. They were each exactly what the other needed, and they helped each other in so many ways, plus they had fantastic chemistry. 

I loved watching the changes in Sam and seeing her become her true self. She learned so much about life, friendship, love, and being true to yourself. She wanted so badly to be ‘normal’, to hide her OCD so people wouldn’t think differently of her. I appreciated and respected how her OCD was handled, and it was obvious the author had done her research (which she talks about at the end of the book in an Author’s Note). Sam really felt like a friend who was telling me about all the things happening in her life, and I was so, so proud of her progress and the things she learned. I enjoyed her therapy sessions, and I hope there will be people who truly need a book like this and need the encouragement to seek help. Sam shows that there’s no shame in getting professional help, and a therapist or a mentor or a doctor is there to help give you the tools to lead a fulfilling life.

Every Last Word is a beautiful, touching story. It deals with real life issues in a way that’s easy to empathize and connect with. It’s full of well-developed characters, emotion, and honesty. I’m grateful to Disney-Hyperion for granting me access to read this book early, and I’ll definitely be buying a copy for myself, because I know this is one of those rare books I’ll make time to read again. 
 

   

Have you read Every Last Word? What did you think? If you haven't read it, do you plan to? Have you read Tamara's other books? Have you ever read a book with a main character who has OCD? Let's talk here or on Twitter!

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Blog Tour Review + Giveaway: Dark Metropolis by Jaclyn Dolomore

Check out the entire line-up for the blog tour here

Dark Metropolis by Jaclyn Dolomore

Series: Dark Metropolis #1

Published: June 17th, 2014

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

304 pages (e-ARC)

Genre: Young adult paranormal/dystopia/horror

Acquired this book: From the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Warning: May contain spoilers

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Sixteen-year-old Thea Holder's mother is cursed with a spell that's driving her mad, and whenever they touch, Thea is chilled by the magic, too. With no one else to contribute, Thea must make a living for both of them in a sinister city, where danger lurks and greed rules.

Thea spends her nights waitressing at the decadent Telephone Club attending to the glitzy clientele. But when her best friend, Nan, vanishes, Thea is compelled to find her. She meets Freddy, a young, magnetic patron at the club, and he agrees to help her uncover the city's secrets-even while he hides secrets of his own.

Together, they find a whole new side of the city. Unrest is brewing behind closed doors as whispers of a gruesome magic spread. And if they're not careful, the heartless masterminds behind the growing disappearances will be after them, too.

Dark Metropolis was not what I was expecting, but in a (mostly) good way. It was original, fast-paced, and wonderfully creepy.

The synopsis makes it seem like the book is Thea’s story, but Thea was only one of three main characters, the others being Nan and Freddy. Each of them had a major role to play in Dark Metropolis, and the story was told from all three of their perspectives. I thought this would get confusing, but it never did, and I actually enjoyed getting to see things from each of their points of view. While I liked all three characters, I never really connected to any of them, which made it hard to connect to or invest emotionally in the story at times.

While parts of the story felt like they were glossed over - world building and some plot points - the plot was overall very original. It was fascinating and horrifying at the same time. I liked the different magical elements and the consequences of the magic. We were thrown into the story without much back-story or world building; it had a 1930s feel to it, and yet at times it felt futuristic. The lack of world building didn’t affect my overall enjoyment of the book because the plot was strong enough to make up for it, but I did find myself asking questions throughout the story and never really getting answers to some of them.

Dark Metropolis is full of twists, surprises, and magic. It was gruesome at times, and had an overall feeling of something sinister lurking on the next page, ready to jump out at you from the dark. I think it could have stood on its own as a standalone, but apparently it’s the first in a series. I’m curious to see what happens to Nan, Freddy, and Thea next.  

 Jaclyn Dolamore was homeschooled in a hippie sort of way and spent her childhood reading as many books as her skinny nerd-body could lug from the library and playing elaborate pretend games with her sister Kate. She skipped college and spent eight years drudging through retail jobs, developing her thrifty cooking skills and pursuing a lifelong writing dream. She has a passion for history, thrift stores, vintage dresses, David Bowie, drawing, and organic food. She lives with her partner and plot-sounding-board, Dade, and two black tabbies who have ruined her carpeting.

www.jaclyndolamore.com | TWITTER | FACEBOOK

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Blog Tour Review + Giveaway: Nantucket Red by Leila Howland

Be sure to check out all the stops on the Nantucket Red Blog Tour

Nantucket Red by Leila Howland
Series: Nantucket #2
Published: May 13th, 2014
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
288 pages (e-ARC)
Genre: Contemporary young adult
Acquired this book: From the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
Warning: May contain spoilers
{GoodReads || Buy this book: Amazon || Book Depository || Chapters/Indigo}
 

  {Read my review of Nantucket Blue}

Cricket Thompson's lifetime of overachieving has paid off: she's headed to Brown University in the fall, with a spot on the lacrosse team and a scholarship that covers almost everything. Who knew living in the dorm cost money? An Ivy League education seems to mean living at home for the next four years.

When Cricket is offered the chance to earn enough cash to afford a real college experience, she heads back to Nantucket for the summer. But the faraway island challenges Cricket in ways she hadn't anticipated. It's hard to focus on earning money for next year, when she finds her world opening up in entirely new ways-to art, to travel, and, most unexpectedly, to a future completely different from the one she has been working toward her whole life. A friendship blossoms with Ben, the gorgeous surfer and bartender who encourages Cricket to be free, even as she smarts at the pain of seeing Zack, her first love, falling for her worst enemy.

But one night, when Cricket finally lets herself break all her own rules, she realizes she may have ruined her carefully constructed future with one impulsive decision. Cricket must dig deep to fight for her future, discovering that success isn't just about reaching goals, but also about listening to what she's been trying to ignore-her own heart.

Whenever I find out a book I truly loved is getting a sequel, I’m equal parts excited and wary. I adored Nantucket Blue, and hoped Ms Howland would write a sequel. I figured if she did write one, it would be from Jules’s perspective, since she seemed to have a story of her own to tell. When I found out my hunch about a sequel was right, but that it would continue from Cricket’s perspective, I was thrilled, but I’ll admit to being slightly worried. I was afraid Nantucket Red wouldn’t live up to Nantucket Blue, a book that broke my heart and stitched it back together again and made me swoon repeatedly.

I didn’t need to worry. Simply put, Nantucket Red was incredible. It was great to reconnect with Cricket, Jules, Zack, and Liz, and meet a variety of new, equally memorable characters. These characters were so real, I felt like I was right there with them, experiencing their triumphs, heartache, and mishaps.

There was so much to love about Nantucket Red. Besides wonderfully complex characters who experienced a lot of growth, the writing was fantastic, the setting was rich, and there was so much humour, romance, and heart. There were moments that had me laughing myself silly, moments where my heart broke, moments that made my heart soar, and moments of pure pleasure where I couldn’t stop smiling. I’ll admit to ugly crying toward the end - not because anything sad happened, but because I was so damn proud of these characters and their growth, and I was sad to say goodbye to them.

Cricket had some really tough life lessons to learn through the course of Nantucket Red - lessons about love, heartbreak, family and friends, and the sometimes-terrifying real life stuff that comes after graduating high school. I connected with her story so much because it felt so authentic. Cricket always knew what she wanted to do in life, she had goals, and she worked hard. I admired her so much for that. But when things became unclear and she had moments of doubt about a future that had always been certain, I wanted to hug her tight, and I always wanted to hug Ms Howland for creating a character like Cricket, who experienced the ups and downs, uncertainties, and fears that often come along with that time in a person's life. I kept thinking 'YES, this is real life, this is what it’s all about, it’s messy and frightening and you don’t always have the answers'.

There’s so much more I could say about Nantucket Red. I could gush for hours. It all comes down to one thing, though: read this book. This is contemporary YA/NA at its finest. It’s honest and real and funny and sweet and beautiful. These characters and their stories have a very special place in my heart, and they won’t soon be forgotten.

 

Leila Howland was born and raised in Providence, Rhode Island. A graduate of Georgetown University, Leila spent five years acting in New York where she was a company member of the award-winning Flea Theater in Tribeca.  Nantucket Blue, for which she was named a Publisher's Weekly Flying Start Author,  was her first novel. Leila now lives in Los Angeles with her husband and dogs.

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Have you read Nantucket Blue or Nantucket Red? What did you think? If you haven't read them, do you plan to?

 
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Blog Tour Review: The Unbound by Victoria Schwab

~A big thank-you to Victoria Schwab and Hyperion for allowing me to be part of the blog tour~

The Unbound by Victoria Schwab 
Series: The Archived #2
Published: January 28th, 2014
Publisher: Hyperion
368 pages (eARC)
Genre: Young adult supernatural thriller
Acquired this book: From the author via NetGalley as part of the blog tour, in exchange for an honest review
Warning: Will contain spoilers if you haven’t read The Archived 

{GoodReads || Buy this book: Amazon || Book Depository || Chapters/Indigo}

 

{Read my review of The Archived}

Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books. Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive.

Last summer, Mackenzie Bishop, a Keeper tasked with stopping violent Histories from escaping the Archive, almost lost her life to one. Now, as she starts her junior year at Hyde School, she's struggling to get her life back. But moving on isn't easy—not when her dreams are haunted by what happened. She knows the past is past, knows it cannot hurt her, but it feels so real, and when her nightmares begin to creep into her waking hours, she starts to wonder if she's really safe.

Meanwhile, people are vanishing without a trace, and the only thing they seem to have in common is Mackenzie. She's sure the Archive knows more than they are letting on, but before she can prove it, she becomes the prime suspect. And unless Mac can track down the real culprit, she'll lose everything, not only her role as Keeper, but her memories, and even her life. Can Mackenzie untangle the mystery before she herself unravels?

With stunning prose and a captivating mixture of action, romance, and horror, The Unbound delves into a richly imagined world where no choice is easy and love and loss feel like two sides of the same coin.

 

The Archived was one of the most unique books I’ve ever read. The idea of the Archive is absolutely fascinating (and kind of horrific), and I was completely enthralled by Mackenzie and Wesley’s story. The Unbound is just as captivating, but in a completely different way. The story is less emotionally driven, and we learn more about the characters and the Archive itself.

Mac is haunted by the things that happened to her this past summer. It’s a struggle just to function on a daily basis because she’s exhausted and terrified. The only thing keeping her grounded is Wesley, but even that comfort has its limits since Wesley is prone to keeping secrets and Mac has trouble really letting people in. 

The Unbound has a much more contemporary feel than The Archived. Mac has started high school, so a lot of the story is day-to-day life, and since I’m a lover of contemporary YA, I liked that aspect of the book. It never slips into pure contemporary, because the Archive or Mac’s Archive-related problems are always on her mind, but it keeps things fresh and interesting, especially since there's a big element of mystery woven throughout. My only issue with the more contemporary feel is that the pacing seemed a bit off at times, and Mac’s thoughts tend to get a bit repetitive.

In The Unbound I grew to love Mac even more than I did in The Archived. I could feel her fear and her worries, and feel her cracking under the pressure. She tries so hard to keep it together and be strong, but I loved those little moments where her armour cracks and she shows she’s human - when she starts to doubt things/herself, and when she lets Wesley in, even for a moment. And Wesley - for all the people (myself included, naturally) who fell in love with Guyliner in The Archived, you'll be happy to know we get even more of him in this book. We see a whole new side to him, and while he remains a mystery in many ways, we get little peeks into his life and who he is beyond a Keeper.

There are plenty of twists and turns in The Unbound. I was never quite sure who to trust, and I enjoyed not knowing and not being able to guess. I liked all the new characters and that they each played a role in the story and weren’t just there for the sake of being there. I don’t want to stray into spoiler territory, but there’s one character in particular I really liked but wasn’t sure if I should like; I never quite knew whether to trust him or not, but that made the story even more fun because I was constantly guessing. Also, we get to see quite a bit of Roland, which made me really happy. He’s like the calm in the storm for Mac, and I love their relationship (plus I just can't help picturing him as Ten/David Tennant from Doctor Who, so of course I adore him).

Full of mystery, romance, and action The Unbound is a wonderful sequel to The Archived. If you haven’t read The Archived yet, I highly recommend getting it right now. Victoria Schwab has a knack for drawing the reader in, squeezing their hearts, twisting their minds, and leaving an unforgettable impression.

 

Victoria is the product of a British mother, a Beverly Hills father, and a southern upbringing. Because of this, she has been known to say "tom-ah-toes," "like," and "y'all."

She also tells stories.

She loves fairy tales, and folklore, and stories that make her wonder if the world is really as it seems.

Also by Victoria Schwab:

{Read my review of The Near Witch}

 

 

Have you read The Archived or The Unbound? What did you think? Who's your favourite character? What do you think of the concept of the Archive? If you haven't read these books, are they on your TBR?

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