Series Review: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2011-2014
Pages: 1,220
Source: Borrowed
Rating: 2.5 Stars

Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.
The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong colour. 
The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war – and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now. 
Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

In short: The cool X-Men-esque premise of the Shatter Me Series by Tahereh Mafi is unfortunately overshadowed by a ton of romance melodrama.

I think I may be too old for this. At least, that would explain why I had so little tolerance for all the melodramatic romance crap in this series. I had been so enthralled at the enticing premise of Shatter Me when I first heard of it in 2011 - girl who can't have physical contact with anyone without hurting them badly (basically Rogue from X-Men) - and I have wanted to read this series since then. Would I have had more tolerance for the love triangle histrionics had I read the series back when it first came out? Maybe, I'm not sure.

Of course, it didn't help matters that I was reading the Shatter Me Series at the same time as I was reading The Raven Cycle for the first time. The Raven Cycle has its fair share of romantic drama too, after all, but it's handled more subtly and it didn't annoy me nearly as much as the melodrama in Shatter Me. I would say it's because the romance drama in The Raven Cycle never consumes the entire story, unlike the romance drama in the Shatter Me Series. I mean, here we have this really cool X-Men-esque storyline set in a dystopian world ruled by a disturbing dictator - SO much promise - and still the overpowering storypoint somehow always turned to hashing out the conflicting petty feelings of the characters in the love triangle.

I probably would not have decided to continue on with the series past the first book had I not been listening to the trilogy via audio - I find it's always easier to commit to a series in audiobook form. Plus, there were enough tidbits of intrigue here and there to always keep me going - I do love a good superpower-inspired premise. I just wish the X-Men superhero aspect had been prioritized above all, with a minimum devoted towards an overdramatic love triangle.

And as for the writing: much ado has been made about the strikethroughs and people either seem to LOVE it or HATE it. For my part, I'm not sure I can make a decision as to what side of the fence I fall on because I feel like I missed a lot of the intended effect of it by listening to the books in audio instead of reading them. I would be inclined to come down on the side of liking the writing though, if only because it took risks and is unique and I appreciate that.

So in the end, I was left feeling pretty disappointed by my Shatter Me experience and more than a little annoyed by the romance melodrama. I think the series had a lot of potential and I can understand why it is well loved by readers that don't mind the love triangle as much. As for Tahereh Mafi's writing: I would like to try it again some time as I think I would like it in another - less romance-oriented - context.

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Review: Salt & Storm by Kendall Kulper

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: September 23, 2014
Pages: 416
Source: For Review from Hachette Book Group Canada
Rating: 2.5 Stars

Sixteen-year-old Avery Roe wants only to take her rightful place as the witch of Prince Island, making the charms that keep the island's whalers safe at sea, but her mother has forced her into a magic-free world of proper manners and respectability. When Avery dreams she's to be murdered, she knows time is running out to unlock her magic and save herself.

Avery finds an unexpected ally in a tattooed harpoon boy named Tane--a sailor with magic of his own, who moves Avery in ways she never expected. Becoming a witch might stop her murder and save her island from ruin, but Avery discovers her magic requires a sacrifice she never prepared for.

In short: Salt & Storm by Kendall Kulper had a cool and unique concept, but frustrating characters and slow pacing hindered my overall enjoyment.

Salt & Storm called to me the moment I heard of it. How could I resist a book that combines historical fiction and magic? I can't. And while the end product wasn't nearly as satisfying as I had hoped - in fact it was downright frustrating at times - I was at least impressed with the concept and lore developed in Salt & Storm. It's a cool idea certainly, and I love that it was based in history, but there were a few major aspects in Salt & Storm that hindered my overall enjoyment.

Protagonist Avery was probably my main source of frustration in Salt & Storm. She's been given a bad lot in life, definitely, so I would excuse some anger on her part, but this girl frequently flies into these bizarre fits and rages at the drop of a hat. She's also extraordinarily selfish at times, concerned only with wrongs done unto her, and never thinking of the hurt she causes others in turn with her fits of melodrama.

Somehow there's this guy - Tane - who sees through her rages and likes her, and they quickly - and I mean QUICKLY - declare their love for each other. There were a few times that I found their romance sweet, but for the most part it annoyed me. Their hokey professions and their whip-lash arguments were the stuff of soap operas, not a genuine romance that I could root for. I could not take them seriously and so I did not care what became of them and their romance.

Initially the writing drew me in and immersed me in the atmosphere of this small whaling island so beautifully. But at some point I began to fall out of love with it - the prose is descriptive and the sentences are lengthy, sometimes weighing the pacing down, making the reading tedious and uninteresting. And when the pacing is slow and the characters are unlikeable, the story DRAGS and is a chore to get through.

If it weren't for the frustrating characters and slow pacing, I would have totally dug Salt & Storm though. I did really love the concept behind it and I loved the historical backdrop too. It was just such a fresh idea to me and I really appreciated that because I don't get to read books with unique ideas often. I also really admired the fact that debut author Kendall Kulper decided to GO THERE with the ending and that she's left this as a standalone. So all in all, I'm 50/50 in my rating for Salt & Storm.

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Review: The Holders by Julianna Scott

Publisher: Strange Chemistry
Published: March 5, 2013
Pages: 320
Source: For Review from Strange Chemistry
Rating: 2.5 Stars

17-year-old Becca spent her whole life protecting her brother from, well, everything. The abandonment of their father, the so called 'experts' who insist that voices in his head are unnatural and must be dealt with, and the constant threat of being taken away to some hospital and studied like an animal. When two representatives appear claiming to have the answers to Ryland's perceived problem, Becca doesn't buy it for one second. That is until they seem to know things about Ryland and about Becca and Ryland's family, that forces Becca to concede that there may be more to these people than meets the eye. Though still highly skeptical, Becca agrees to do what's best for Ryland.
What they find at St. Brigid's is a world beyond their imagination. Little by little they piece together the information of their family's heritage, their estranged Father, and the legend of the Holder race that decrees Ryland is the one they've been waiting for. However, they are all--especially Becca--in for a surprise that will change what they thought they knew about themselves and their kind.
She meets Alex, a Holder who is fiercely loyal to their race, and for some reason, Becca and Ryland. There's an attraction between Becca and Alex that can't be denied, but her true nature seems destined to keep them apart. However, certain destinies may not be as clear cut as everyone has always believed them to be.
Becca is lost, but found at the same time. Can she bring herself to leave Ryland now that he's settled and can clearly see his future? Will she be able to put the the feelings she has for Alex aside and head back to the US? And can Becca and Ryland ever forgive their father for what he's done?

In short: The Holders by Julianna Scott offers nothing particularly new or intriguing to an overdone and cliched plot.

Stop me if you've heard this one before: Secret boarding school where kids with special abilities - called Holders - are brought to learn how to control them. The two most powerful Holders in the world - one bad and one good - have radically different and decisive points of view that cause great amounts of conflict. The bad guy believes Holders are a superior race and should take control of regular humans. The good guy believes Holders should live peacefully with humans. Sound like X-Men? That's because it pretty much is... with Celtic mythology thrown in. Abilities were granted to people a long time ago by the Irish gods and carried on through the generations. Only Irish people have these special abilities because apparently they are the only ones who are worthy of them for some reason.

The Holders had a ton of elements that I really love in books - namely boarding schools, superpowers, mythology - but was way too cliched and predictable, unfortunately. Had I read it in junior high, I probably would have loved it, but at this point the plot was so familiar and overdone to me that it wasn't really enough to keep my attention. The Holders offered nothing particularly original to me and I am tired of the same old tropes. Also, I found the writing and execution of the plot to be fairly young and inexperienced, but this may not be a problem for everyone as it was a pretty easy read as a result.

I do think it's the characters that save The Holders. Becca was instantly likeable to me as the hot-headed and protective older sister to Ryland. Alex, Becca's love interest was super sweet and succumbed to blushing easily, which was pretty cute. Their romance, though not particularly earth-shattering, was sweet, as well. I also had fun with the secondary characters of The Holders, who were all humourous and delightful. Though The Holders offered nothing new or intriguing to grab my attention, I would recommend it to people who find comfort in easy and predictable plots and easily likeable characters.

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Review: Mind Games by Kiersten White

Publisher: HarperTeen
Published: February 19, 2013
Pages: 254
Source: For Review from HarperCollins
Rating: 2.5 Stars

Fia was born with flawless instincts. Her first impulse, her gut feeling, is always exactly right. Her sister, Annie, is blind to the world around her—except when her mind is gripped by strange visions of the future.

Trapped in a school that uses girls with extraordinary powers as tools for corporate espionage, Annie and Fia are forced to choose over and over between using their abilities in twisted, unthinkable ways… or risking each other’s lives by refusing to obey.

In short: Mind Games by Kiersten White was too underdeveloped to reach its full potential.

If the majority of the book blogging community tells me a book and author are good and well worth the read, I listen. Such is how Paranormalcy by Kiersten White came to be on my TBR. While I haven't actually had the time yet to read Paranormalcy, it was made evident to me that Kiersten White has a talent for writing fun and engaging stories. So when the opportunity arose to read Mind Games, I was very eager. And who wouldn't be? Kiersten White had shown again that she can come up with entertaining concepts with her assassinating-sisters-with-superpowers storyline. But while I found the premise of Mind Games to be very exciting, my first experience with Kiersten White's writing wasn't ideal.

Told through alternating and indistinguishable first person points of view between sisters Fia and Annie, as well as alternating past and present time periods, I found Mind Games to be pretty confusing at times. The sisters have the same random and scattered kind of voice that was difficult to differentiate. The flashbacks take up a considerable portion of the book and seemed to be largely unnecessary and lacked any real cohesion to the plot at hand. I am a bit conflicted about Kiersten White's writing. It was incredibly disjointed and while I thought that worked quite well as a reflection of Fia's deteriorating mental stability, it wasn't the nicest to read. More often than not, it was just annoying.

I was excited to read a book where the main relationship would be based on the sisterly bond between Fia and Annie. The problem was, while we were told time and time again that the sisters have such a strong bond and would do absolutely anything to protect each other, I saw little actual evidence of that in Mind Games. On the romantic side of relationships in Mind Games, there is a love triangle and it was as lacklustre and unnecessary as most love triangles are. I wasn't really a fan of the characters themselves either. Like I mentioned earlier, their narratives were pretty indistinguishable from each other and I never formed any sort of connection with either of them. If there had been more differentiation and more development in their characterization however, I think I could have come to like them as I can see potential there.

And that's the thing: I could see a lot of untapped potential in Mind Games. The plot would have been pretty awesome had it been more fleshed out and not relied on all those unnecessary flashbacks. The characters' abilities were actually really interesting, but I don't believe they were used to their full potential. At 250 pages - a good chunk of which were the aforementioned pointless flashback scenes - I believe Mind Games was too short and sorely underdeveloped. I read in an interview with Kiersten White that she wrote the first draft of Mind Games in nine days and - very sorry to say this - but it kind of showed. I'm still committed to trying out Paranormalcy at some point though and I hope I respond more positively to Kiersten White's writing then!

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Review: Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr

Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: September 4, 2012
Pages: 306
Source: Traded with Stories & Sweeties
Rating: 2.5 Stars

In a city of daimons, rigid class lines separate the powerful from the power-hungry. And at the heart of The City is the Carnival of Souls, where both murder and pleasure are offered up for sale. Once in a generation, the carnival hosts a deadly competition that allows every daimon a chance to join the ruling elite. Without the competition, Aya and Kaleb would both face bleak futures--if for different reasons. For each of them, fighting to the death is the only way to try to live.
All Mallory knows of The City is that her father--and every other witch there--fled it for a life in exile in the human world. Instead of a typical teenage life full of friends and maybe even a little romance, Mallory scans quiet streets for threats, hides herself away, and trains to be lethal. She knows it's only a matter of time until a daimon finds her and her father, so she readies herself for the inevitable. While Mallory possesses little knowledge of The City, every inhabitant of The City knows of her. There are plans for Mallory, and soon she, too, will be drawn into the decadence and danger that is the Carnival of Souls.

In short: Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr has a ton of potential, but is unfortunately bogged down with an exposition-heavy story that lacks in action and character development.

Creating dark and gritty fantasy worlds is something that Melissa Marr excels at. Her books tend to have these really sinister atmospheres that make for edgy and dangerous stories. And Carnival of Souls is no exception. Enter the world of the carnival in which cage fighting matches and masked seduction occur in equal parts. Transitioning between two different worlds - the normal human world and the parallel daimon realm - and four different characters perspectives, Carnival of Souls has a lot going on and a lot of potential.

Unfortunately, I didn't feel like the concept and premise of Carnival of Souls was used to its full potential. What should've been a dangerous and exciting read was more often slow and boring. I blame the crux of this problem on the poor world building. Melissa Marr has created a wonderfully complex world, but it is the execution of the set-up of this world that was lacking: a good majority of Carnival of Souls is exposition. The particulars of the daimon realm and the caste system are described at length and it really bogs down the story as there is very little actual action going on. The exposition-heavy story really hurts the pacing and reads more like a textbook at times as it is not integrated very well into the text.

And I can't say I particularly cared for any of the characters either. We never truly get to know any of them that well and that makes it difficult to relate to them. The romances were similarly underdeveloped and one of them was another ubiquitous case of insta-love. I spent Carnival of Souls feeling removed from the story and the superficial characters, not really caring what happens and eager to set it aside so that I could start something more engaging. And I hated the ending.

I can't help but think that most of the problems I had with Carnival of Souls could be fixed if only it was longer in page length. Very talented authors can get a lot done in very few pages, but I think even the most talented author would have had a hard time setting up such a complex world and still having time for character development and action scenes in just 300 pages. But as it is, Carnival of Souls was 300 pages of exposition - the execution of which was fairly poor and boring - and that's a shame because it really could've been a truly exciting story.

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Review: Between The Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Published: June 26, 2012

Pages: 358

Source: For Review from Simon & Schuster Canada (Thank you!)

Rating: 2.5 Stars

Delilah is a bit of a loner who prefers spending her time in the school library with her head in a book—one book in particular. Between the Lines may be a fairy tale, but it feels real. Prince Oliver is brave, adventurous, and loving. He really speaks to Delilah.
And then one day Oliver actually speaks to her. Turns out, Oliver is more than a one-dimensional storybook prince. He’s a restless teen who feels trapped by his literary existence and hates that his entire life is predetermined. He’s sure there’s more for him out there in the real world, and Delilah might just be his key to freedom.
Delilah and Oliver work together to attempt to get Oliver out of his book, a challenging task that forces them to examine their perceptions of fate, the world, and their places in it. And as their attraction to each other grows along the way, a romance blossoms that is anything but a fairy tale.

In short: Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer was a cute read, but ultimately too fluffy and lacking in substance for my taste.

Between the Lines was billed as Jodi Picoult's YA debut. And yet - except for the cover and the age of the protagonist - everything about this book read more like Middle Grade. The plot, the illustrations included in the text, the writing - all read very young. And that's fine - it's just not what I was expecting, nor is it really the type of Middle Grade fiction that I tend to enjoy. Some parts of Between the Lines were cute... but quite simply, this just wasn't the book for me.

I loved the concept of finding out that your favourite story is real and getting sucked into the pages, getting to meet the characters that you already know so well, reliving the scenes that you know by heart. And I really liked the imagery of the text of the book floating in the sky and the characters being whipped into place to act for their scene as the pages were turned. All very neat ideas that were executed well - and I credit Jodi Picoult's sixteen-year-old daughter, Samantha van Leer, for coming up with them.

Unfortunately, I would've appreciated the concept a lot more if the story hadn't been so fluffy and if the writing had been a bit more sophisticated. I am also split on the illustrations - some were quite nice, clearly expertly drawn, and could only be even more beautiful in colour in the finished copy of Between the Lines, compared to my ARC copy. Other little pictures that were included among the text seemed entirely random and unnecessary, however:

An example of the illustrations in Between The Lines (ARC)

It's hard to criticize a book that just isn't your thing. Certainly, my biggest problem with Between the Lines - that it was too fluffy and young - might be the very same thing that some people would love about it. I have to say though that the ending was one of the most ridiculous things I have ever read, completely indefensible. This was my first exposure to Jodi Picoult, which is unfortunate because I know a lot of people love her books, so I would like to read something else of hers sometime to change my mind. I would recommend Between the Lines to younger MG readers who like cutesy Princess-type fluff stories.

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Review: Dark Inside by Jeyn Roberts

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Published: November 1, 2011

Pages: 336

Source: For Review from Simon & Schuster Canada (Thank you!)

Rating: 2.5 Stars

Since mankind began, civilizations have always fallen: the Romans, the Greeks, the Aztecs…Now it’s our turn. Huge earthquakes rock the world. Cities are destroyed. But something even more awful is happening. An ancient evil has been unleashed, turning everday people into hunters, killers, crazies. Mason's mother is dying after a terrible car accident. As he endures a last vigil at her hospital bed, his school is bombed and razed to the ground, and everyone he knows is killed. Aries survives an earthquake aftershock on a bus, and thinks the worst is over when a mysterious stranger pulls her out of the wreckage, but she’s about to discover a world changed forever. Clementine, the only survivor of an emergency town hall meeting that descends into murderous chaos, is on the run from savage strangers who used to be her friends and neighbors. And Michael witnesses a brutal road rage incident that is made much worse by the arrival of the police--who gun down the guilty party and then turn on the bystanding crowd. Where do you go for justice when even the lawmakers have turned bad? These four teens are on the same road in a world gone mad. Struggling to survive, clinging on to love and meaning wherever it can be found, this is a journey into the heart of darkness – but also a journey to find each other and a place of safety.

In short: Dark Inside by Jeyn Roberts is an intense post-apocalyptic read, but unfortunately lacks distinct character development for its four narrators.

An ancient evil threatens to destroy the world. Countless people are turned into mindless killers and brutally murder the leftover good people one by one. Dark Inside follows four survivors - Mason, Aries, Clementine, and Michael - in their quest to stay alive, find their families, and fight their darkness. Needless to say, Dark Inside is a pretty intense read. It was very fast paced with lots of action and lots of close-calls. Unfortunately though, it just didn't work for me.

My main problem with Dark Inside was there were too many perspectives to keep track of. The four main characters had different backgrounds but ultimately did not have as fully fleshed out personalities as I would have liked, making them difficult separate and difficult to relate to. Also, it did not make for a fun reading experience to have each character's chapter end on a cliffhanger only to return to them finally three chapters later. And often the promised action at the end of the chapter was completely skipped over by the time that character's story was returned to, making the experience even more frustrating.

If there was one interesting aspect that having four perspectives provided though, it's the differing outlooks and actions taken by each character and using this to evaluate what would be the best course of action for me should I ever find myself in a post-apocalyptic setting. You never know. It could happen. What's best: not risking it and staying hidden in a secret hideout or not being a sitting duck and never staying in the same place for more than a night? Grouping together with many people to have safety in numbers or going it alone so that it's not as easy to be tracked? These are important questions that we should ask ourselves in case the world ends tomorrow.

Overall, I can appreciate the intense plot and psychological undercurrents that debut author, Jeyn Roberts, created for Dark Inside. But ultimately, Dark Inside needed more in depth character and world building to keep me interested. I'm confused as to whether this one is a planned series or a standalone, but there were certainly a ton of unanswered questions leftover.

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Review: Rex Riders by J.P. Carlson

Publisher: Monstrosities Books

Published: June 21, 2011

Pages: 440

Source: For Review from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers Program

Rating: 2.5 Stars

When 14-year-old Zeke Calhoun goes to live at his Uncle Jesse’s broken-down ranch in Texas, he discovers that he has a natural way with horses and loves to ride. But this is nothing compared to what he finds in a riverbed near the ranch: a mysterious stranger, riddled with bullets, lying face down in the dirt, and a juvenile T-Rex keeping a pack of hungry wolves at bay. Where did the stranger come from? Who shot him and why? While Zeke saves the stranger and sets out to answer these questions, he finds something much more interesting—a bridle in the dinosaur’s mouth. From that moment on he knows he is destined to ride the T-Rex. What he does not know, however, is that his actions will set off a chain of events plunging him into an incredible adventure, one that will lead to the discovery of a deadly alliance between Earth and a prehistoric world that could threaten the very fabric of both.

In short: Though it is by no means a triumph in writing, characterization, or editing, Rex Riders by J.P. Carlson is a great adventure for any major dinosaur geek.

I was so excited to receive Rex Riders through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers Program. As a paleo nerd, my reaction upon seeing the cover and reading the blurb for Rex Riders was pure, unadulterated joy. A story about a boy who gets to ride a tame, teenaged T-Rex, in the style of Dinotopia? Cool Factor 10! (Erm, or should this be Nerd Factor 10?). In Rex Riders, aliens transport dinosaurs from Cretaceous Era Earth to their own planet using a special-transport-device-thing. The dinosaurs thrive on their new planet and coevolve with other alien life forms. Later, they are brought back to Earth through the same special-transport-device-thing. Rex Riders definitely gets points for being the most original and strange book I've read this year.

The major problem with Rex Riders however, is that it is simply no great piece of literature, to put it lightly. The writing and characterization is amateurish, reverting to the easy way out of "telling instead of showing" the reader. At 440 pages, Rex Riders is also in dire need of some serious editing. At various points, there were large sections of extraneous and boring information that I felt the urge to just skim over to get to the actual action. This all being said, did I expect Rex Riders to be excellently written when I saw it? No. I wanted to read it purely because it had dinosaurs in it, I'm not going to lie.

And as a dinosaur fan, Rex Riders delivers on the Cool Factor scenes, featuring triceratops stampedes, baryonyx chases, and tyrannosaur hunts. J.P. Carlson excels in staging intense action scenes that were great fun to read. Anytime there was a dinosaur on the page, it thrilled me, even if they weren't doing anything particularly interesting. This story is for anyone who has ever dreamed of living in a time when dinosaurs were alive (with the added bonus that juvenile T-Rexes can be "domesticated" and ridden and are less likely to, you know, kill you). I know I've dreamt of it.

To put it bluntly, if you are not as much of a dinosaur geek as I am, I would skip this one.

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Review: Possession by Elana Johnson

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: June 7, 2011

Pages: 416

Source: For Review from Simon and Schuster Canada (Thank you!)

Rating: 2.5 Stars

Vi knows the Rule: Girls don't walk with boys, and they never even thinkabout kissing them. But no one makes Vi want to break the Rules more than Zenn...and since the Thinkers have chosen him as Vi's future match, how much trouble can one kiss cause? The Thinkers may have brainwashed the rest of the population, but Vi is determined to think for herself. 
But the Thinkers are unusually persuasive, and they're set on convincing Vi to become one of them...starting by brainwashing Zenn. Vi can't leave Zenn in the Thinkers' hands, but she's wary of joining the rebellion, especially since that means teaming up with Jag. Jag is egotistical, charismatic, and dangerous--everything Zenn's not. Vi can't quite trust Jag and can't quite resist him, but she also can't give up on Zenn. 
This is a game of control or be controlled. And Vi has no choice but to play.

In short: Possession by Elana Johnson has an interesting concept and a likeable heroine, but ultimately, the novel's downfall is its extremely fast pacing.

If there is one thing I noticed about Possession by Elana Johnson, it's the novel's extremely fast pace, which can be seen as both a blessing and a curse. Sure, it means non stop action and never a dull moment, but at the same time, things moved too fast for me to truly absorb the events that occurred in the novel and to get a feel for most of the characters. It also means that how the dystopian world in Possession originated was summarized in one paragraph, which is not nearly enough to suffice my curiosity.

The relationships between main character Vi and her two love interests in the love triangle fell flat for me, also because of the fast pacing in the novel. With Zenn, we get to see so little of him that I never got invested in his character. With bad boy Jag, things progress so unnaturally quickly that it seemed unrealistic and silly. I mean, they declared their love for each other only a few days after they met!

The world building was okay for a dystopian (world building is the number one must that I expect to be done well in dystopians). There were some interesting concepts but again, they were not given time to fully develop due to the fast pace of the novel. One thing that I thought Johnson did do very well was all the terminology that the reader has to understand to grasp the concept of the world: this could have easily been confusing with the fast pacing, but I thought Johnson handled it well and I found I could follow it fairly easily.

My favourite part of Possession would have to be the heroine, Vi, who was instantly likeable. A thief and a liar, Vi speaks and thinks in a very typical "teenage" way, with a very sarcastic tone that was enjoyable to read. Unlike some of the other characters, the reader will instantly get a feel for her personality and her rebellious nature as a "Free Thinker".

Overall, for me, the fast pace was really Possession's downfall. That said, just because this novel wasn't for me, doesn't mean I don't think someone else couldn't (and hasn't, from reviews I've read) enjoyed it a lot more. If you are someone who gets annoyed by very slow pacing in books, then I would recommend Possession to you; you would probably enjoy it more than I did!

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Review: 13 To Life by Shannon Delany

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Publication Date: June 22, 2010
Pages: 308
Source: Won from YA Book Reads
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Stars - I Liked It
Description (from Goodreads): Everything about Jessie Gillmansen's life changed when her mother died. Now even her hometown of Junction is changing. Mysterious dark things are happening. All Jessie wants is to avoid more change. But showing a hot new guy around Junction High, she's about to discover a whole new type of change. Pietr Rusakova is more than good looks and a fascinating accent—he's a guy with a dangerous secret. And his very existence is sure to bring big trouble to Jessie's small town. It seems change is the one thing Jessie can't avoid...

In short: 13 To Life by Shannon Delany was lacking in action throughout much of the novel but still managed to be an entertaining read with fun characters and writing.

So, not a whole lot happens in this book. I was waiting for the action to kick in for the greater part of the novel. A big portion of the book was spent on the teen romance drama between the main character Jessie, her two love interests, new guy Pietr and old crush Derek, and best friend Sarah. The other portion was the mystery behind Pietr and his family. As is common in many of these types of paranormal stories, it is told in such a way that is so obvious to the reader that Pietr is a werewolf (I lost count of all the canine references) that it was frustrating that Jessie couldn't figure it out sooner, especially seeing as how she is supposed to be a crack reporter for her school. I should probably just learn to accept that this is going to be the case in most books of this genre that I read.

When the book starts out, Delany introduces the reader to seemingly every student at Junction High and it's a little hard to keep track of who is who. Or if it is even really important to remember the names of every single one of Jessie's class members. Turns out it's not. But I really did enjoy the characters of Jessie and Pietr and their friends. Jessie was easy to love (despite her daftness on Pietr's true identity). She loves YA vampire novels and is smart and feisty. Her inner dialogue was hilarious. Also, it seemed more real to how a teenager would speak and think than in many other YA novels where the characters seem to speak at a level too mature for their age. Pietr was cool and sensitive, a great male lead.

The writing was so fun and witty. Despite the lack of action, I still found myself being entertained by laugh-out-loud moments. Especially the self-referential excerpts. A taste:

"I was so stupid. As a writer, I know if I'd been a character in a novel a good editor would have scrawled TSTL (Too Stupid To Live) on the manuscript pages."

"Now I just wanted to read a book. A good, quick-to-read vampire book. Something that defied the very definition of proper literature. Something simply fun."


As a debut author, Delany has a lot to improve on. But I'm definitely interested in seeing her growth in the sequel, Secrets and Shadows. I've become invested in the characters and the book left off with quite a few questions and an annoying cliffhanger, so I'm committed to seeing it through.

Other Reviews:
Read Between The Lines
For What It's Worth
Lupines And Lunatics

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