Review: 'Shatter Me' by Tahereh Mafi

I have been locked up for 264 days.

I have nothing but a small notebook and a broken pen and

the numbers in my head to keep me company.  1 window. 4 walls.

144 square feet of space. 26 letters in an alphabet I haven't spoken

in 264 days of isolation.

6,336 hours since I've touched another human being.

Juliette hasn't spoken in almost a year. Hasn't interacted with another person in months. She spends her days counting cracks in the walls and peering through the small, dingy window of her cell waiting. Waiting to see a bird fly. Waiting for her life to make sense. Waiting. Then Adam is shoved into her cell. Just like that - everything changes.

As long as she can remember, Juliette has been different. A freak. A danger. The slightest brush of her skin causes overwhelming pain in the recipient and even brief full contact will kill. An accidental murder lands her in a series of juvenile detention centers and psych wards until, finally, she is placed in an asylum where she exists in total isolation and borderline mental breakdown. Juliette is fascinating. She is strong-willed and passionate, but damaged in multiple ways due to her experiences at the hands of her parents, teachers, classmates and jailers.  Every person who might have cared for or about Juliette has betrayed her, yet she remains hopeful of a better existence.  Each day she watches from her tiny window for a bird to fly past; her personal miracle.

There are no flat characters in 'Shatter Me'.  Each character is given a back story, relevance and individuality which makes for a very rich, believable dystopian read.  There are also few characters who do not have at least some redeeming value (though the 'bad guy' truly is a sociopathic monster).  Mafi puts the reader into a police state where fear is a primary motive and neighbors betray neighbors.  The levels of paranoia and desperation demonstrated by the characters of 'Shatter Me' are wonderfully illuminated by Mafi's use of language.

'Shatter Me' is one of the most beautifully written novels I've ever read.  Poignant, thought-provoking and amazingly lyrical.  This is so much more than just another dystopian novel and I highly recommend it to both teen and adult readers.

Book Source: Personal Copy
Reviewer: Rebecca

Recommended Ages: 14+ Mature themes, psychological abuse
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Review: 'Going Vintage' by Lindsey Leavitt

I’m a little bothered that my hypothesis wasn’t entirely right.

I thought The List was going to take me back to a simpler time, 

but in some ways it’s just made my life more complicated. 

“It’s not that different now, is it? Being sixteen?”

“Adolescence is the same tragedy being performed again and again. 

The only things that change are the stage props.”

After Mallory discovers that her boyfriend has been cheating on her with a girl he met online, her perfect world comes crashing down in a messy social networking confrontation. But when Mallory discovers a list of goals her Grandmother wrote for her senior year, she is inspired by the simplicity of teenage life back then. Now, Mallory is swearing off boys and modern conveniences and, with her sister’s help, checking off each item on her Grandma’s to-do list, circa 1962. Along the way, Mallory will uncover family secrets, discover her purpose, and, just maybe, find a new steady.

A lovely blend of Sarah Dessen and Stephanie Perkins, Going Vintage is the perfect contemporary romance: light and breezy on the surface, surprisingly thoughtful at its core. I was initially attracted to this novel because of the brightly colored cover with its vintage feel (even as a librarian, I still judge books by the cover!), but the plot pulled me in almost immediately. Leavitt has an easy, clean writing style that fits the light, funny feel of the book. Quirky characters, retro goals (Find a steady! Become secretary of the pep club!) and relevant themes of connectivity and unplugging make this a charming, relatable YA novel.

What really makes Going Vintage shine, however, are the characters. Mallory is a brilliant, realistic narrator. She’s quirky and funny and obsessed with lists, but she’s also confused and uncertain. For the first time, she actually wants to follow through on a plan, but she still has to move past her usual ambivalence. As it turns out, living like its 1962 while everyone around you moves in the 21^st century is difficult. I’m not adventurous enough (or crazy enough, perhaps?) to try one of these social experiments myself, so I appreciated Mallory’s uncertainty and her few setbacks more than the actual plan. It felt more true to life than if she had wholeheartedly thrown herself into it without any hesitation.

Leavitt also did a nice job writing most of the secondary characters. The boyfriend was appropriately awful, and the new boy was sweet and quirky, the perfect friend and possible love interest. The rest of Mallory’s friends were fairly one-dimensional, but their single-minded focus on social networking and texting worked for the purposes of the story. I thought Leavitt did a wonderful job with Mallory’s family members, particularly her younger sister, Ginnie, who is smart, focused and wise beyond her years. I loved seeing Mallory and Ginnie’s interactions in such a positive and supportive light. Mallory’s Grandma was the other stand-out. Her changing relationship with Mallory and her reconnection with her past added a nice dimension to the overall novel.

Going Vintage is a delightful contemporary romance perfect for a lazy day on the beach or a night in on the couch. It’s as bright, quirky and colorful as the retro cover would suggest!

Book Source: From the publisher, via NetGalley (Thank you Bloomsbury!)

Reviewer: Kimberly

Recommended Ages: 12+

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Review: 'Walls Within Walls' by Maureen Sherry

After their father strikes it rich as a video game developer, the Smithfork siblings are forced to move away from their cozy Brooklyn home to a stuffy apartment in wealthy Manhattan. CJ, Brid and Patrick are, understandably, unhappy about their new life in a strange apartment, at new private schools and surrounded by spoiled rich kids. But when they stumble across clues to a decades-old treasure hunt left by the original owner of the apartment, things start to look up. Now the kids are on a race around New York City to find clues leading to the treasure, uncover secrets long buried, and overcome their own challenges.


I approached this book, the current pick for a tween book club I co-host, hoping for something similar to The Westing Game or From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler - a good old-fashioned mystery. Unfortunately, what promised to be a fun, adventurous treasure hunt across New York City was ultimately crushed under the weight of poorly written sentences, one-dimensional characters, and an implausible mystery.

One of this book’s biggest flaws was the amateur writing style and unbelievable dialogue. First novels are always tricky (even the first Harry Potter novel is messily written), but I still found it difficult to wade through the poorly constructed sentences in order to focus on the mystery. The dialogue, in particular, was jarring and unrealistic. In the acknowledgements, I believe, Sherry references listening in on the conversations of her own children and their friends and building her dialogue stylistically from what she heard. I don’t have children of my own, but the kids I do know are far more interesting, animated and age-appropriate than the Smithfork siblings. Dialogue should be a window into each character’s personality, but the dialogue in Walls Within Walls was flat and interchangeable.

This novel also suffers from one-dimensional characters. Part of this can be attributed to the poorly utilized third person omniscient point of view, which allows readers to see bits and pieces of all the characters, but doesn't seem to give them any depth. At the end of the novel, main characters still lacked real personality, and secondary characters were merely cardboard cutouts present only to spout long informational paragraphs or further a plot point.

Children are incredibly dynamic and I think Sherry missed a real opportunity to tap into the quirky things they say and do. Instead of three siblings like those in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, who are cleverly drawn with separate behaviors and interests, the Smithfork siblings are carbon copies of each other. A more unique grouping would have given the book added personality and wider appeal.

There is always some suspension of disbelief necessary when reading a mystery novel, particularly those involving children. Why would a child with limited knowledge and life experience be able to solve a mystery that has stumped hundreds of professionals? Usually I can overlook that and accept the plot for what it is. Not so this time. In Walls Within Walls, it is specifically mentioned that people have studied the apartment many times over with infrared technology and other fancy equipment, all of which should have been more than capable of finding the clues the Smithfork kids stumbled across so easily.

Even engaging the necessary suspension of disbelief required for juvenile mysteries, I still thought the mystery was inconsistent. Tying poetry to architecture is an interesting concept, perfect for a setting as rich in history and culture as New York City, but it wasn't always exciting. I did like how Sherry eschewed some of the more well-known tourist attractions and showed readers another side of the city but, on the whole, I think the city could have been a stronger component. I also felt like some of the clues didn't logically lead to the destination the characters thought they should. Some points in the mystery just didn't make sense (including the final destination), and the credibility of the story suffered for it.

The first book in a new series, Walls Within Walls had the potential to be an exciting adventure story, but ultimately could fails to deliver on its promise. However, this opinion is not a popular one, so give this book to your kids, who will probably love it, but approach it yourself with extreme caution.

Book Source: Local library
Reviewer: Kimberly

Recommended Ages: 9+

Recommended for Readers of:

Review: 'Eighth Grade Bites: A Graphic Novel' by Heather Brewer

Vladimir Tod is just trying to get by as a normal teenager who doesn't suffer from any vampiric inclinations.  He keeps his head down, eats peanut butter and blood jelly sandwiches and hangs with his best (and only) friend, Henry.  But there's a problem - Vlad actually does have Nosferatu-like tendencies; he inherited them from his father who really was a vampire.  When a new teacher who seems more than passingly familiar with the supernatural comes to town, Vlad's very existence is threatened.

This graphic novel is based on Brewer's best selling The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod novels which spawned a companion series, The Slayer Chronicles. As with most graphic novel adaptations of full-length novels, I was disappointed by Eighth Grade Bites: A Graphic Novel; it felt shallow and rather empty and lacked the introspection and individuality of the text novel.  Tony Lee, who adapted the text to graphic novel format, has stripped the characters and story-lines down to bare bones while the illustrator, Julia Land, seems to have phoned in her drawings.

The entire graphic novel is flat and somewhat confusing since many of the characters are drawn in such a similar way.  The plot, what's left of it, is jumbled and I suspect that people who have not read the novel will be very confused at the end of the graphic novel.  While I highly recommend Heather Brewer's novels, I cannot say the same for the graphic adaptation.

Book Source: Local Library
Reviewer: Rebecca

Recommended Ages: 12+
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Review: 'Alice in Zombieland' by Gena Showalter

The moment our eyes met, the moisture in my mouth dried up and I lost focus

of my surroundings.  He was all that I could see, all that I wanted to see.

And in the span of a single second we were no longer across the hall from each other...

"-Ali. Ali!" Kat stepped in front of me.  She was frowning, waving.

"Hello? Anyone home?"

Alice, call me Ali, Bell may be going crazy.  It's hard to tell.  After her parents and younger sister are killed in an automobile accident, Ali starts to see dead people - not in a Sixth Sense kind of way, but in a zombies-only-you-can-see-are-coming-to-kill-you way.  All of her life, Ali's father insisted that the family be home and inside by dark and trained Ali to defend herself against the 'monsters'.  Ali always thought her father was crazy, but now she's not so sure.  Are grief and guilt making her see things?  Even worse, Ali has begone seeing visions when she meets the gaze of the very attractive, but certainly dangerous, school bad boy, Cole Holland.

This novel is certainly not your typical "zombie" book.  Nor is it really an Alice in Wonderland novel.  Showalter has blended bits of different zombie/revenant/ghost lore into a unique definition of "zombie".  First off, the zombies are of the more spiritual variety and do not have a physical form.  Second, instead of devouring your body (or brains), these zombies eat your soul - which I found a very interesting (and disturbing) twist.  Both Ali and Cole are wonderfully damaged individuals which makes for some memorable encounters.  Showalter does a great job of immersing the reader in the mind and emotions of a high school student dealing with a threat very few can see.  A secondary character, Kat, who becomes Ali's best friend, is feisty, smart and adds just the right amount of hilarity and snark to an otherwise serious novel.  I look forward to seeing how Showalter develops Kat as the Zombie-world grow.

My only criticism of Alice in Zombieland is that I sometimes felt as though depth was sacrificed for action.  I would have enjoyed a bit more background on Showalter's "zombies" and wonder that neither Ali's grandparents, guidance counselors, nor teachers, ever alerted the authorities to her father's odd behavior.  Requiring that all family members be in the house by dark - with no exceptions - is strange enough I figured someone would have noticed.  But the novel works and  readers looking for a quick, action-packed urban fantasy of the darker persuasion will enjoy Showalter's newest YA novel. 

Book Source: Local Library
Reviewer: Rebecca

Recommended Ages: 14+ Zombie violence, underage drinking, adult situations.

Recommended for Readers of:

Review: 'Necromancing the Stone' by Lish McBride

I didn't move -- I didn't need to.  Sean may be strong and fast, but the thing about the

 undead is that they can just keep coming.  An owl swooped down at his eyes, making

 him swerve away from me.  The raccoon jumped onto his back while the smaller birds

began to dive-bomb.  Sean stopped his forward assault, attempting to swat while he

turned around and tried to get the raccoon.  But for every bird or mole he swatted, another

 took its place.  Pretty soon he was just spinning, a ball of flailing arms and feet...

And the squirrel? I watched as it slid up Sean's pant leg.

Sam LaCroix is still adjusting to life as a necromancer and his new role as member of the local magical council.  There's some stress involved, gnomes wrapping is room while he sleeps; a minotaur fascinated with puncturing his car's tires; but, generally, things are going just fine.  And then the unthinkable happens.  The assassination of a high ranking member of the council leaves Sam on unfamiliar ground and the magical world in chaos.  Suspects abound and, somehow, Sam has been put in charge of tracking down the assassin.  Just when things can't get any worse, Sam starts to wonder if a former enemy is truly out of the picture for good.

I should probably preface this review by saying that I LOVED McBride's first novel, 'Hold Me Closer, Necromancer'.  While her humor will not appeal to everyone, her style of writing and tongue-in-cheek delivery tickle my funny bone with a consistency few writers are able to achieve.  That being said, 'Necromancing the Stone' was everything a reader could have asked for in a second novel.

Sam continues to grow as a character, slowly growing into the formidable man he will likely become (the novel ends with the promise of more adventures with Sam and the crew).  Brid's part is distanced a little bit, which allows a touch of romance without slowing down the pace of the novel.  But the most interesting character, I found, was James.  When the reader meets James, he is the magical familiar/personal assistant to Douglas, a morally bankrupt necromancer set on destroying Sam.  In 'Hold Me Closer, Necromancer', the reader got the barest glimpse of the roiling cauldron of conflicting emotions, loyalties and desires that bubble behind James's serene facade.  'Necromancing the Stone' made me LOVE James!  He's one of my new favorite fictional people.

As with McBride first novel, 'Necromancing the Stone' starts with a bang and moves at a clip from start to finish.  Humor abounds (much of it of the darker persuasion), as does action, violence and camaraderie.  Highly recommended.

Reviewer: Rebecca
Book Source: Local Library

Recommended Ages: 16+ Violence, non-graphic adult content

Recommended for Readers of:

Review: "The Peculiar" by Stefan Bachmann

Don’t get yourself noticed and you won’t get yourself hanged.

After the Smiling War, a devastating war between faeries cut off from the Old Country and humans, England developed into a society where humans and fae grudgingly co-exist and fae magic is kept at bay by iron and smoke. Part human and part fae, Bartholomew Kettle and his sister Hettie are changelings, peculiars living in hiding in the faery slums of Bath. When Bartholomew witnesses the kidnapping of the changling boy across the street, he breaks the cardinal rule of changlings: Don’t get yourself noticed. Now he, aided by Arthur Jelliby, a member of Parliament and an unexpected and reluctant human ally, must solve the mystery of the recent changling kidnappings and try to save the world from faery destruction.

A blend of steampunk, fantasy, mystery and gothic adventure, "The Peculiar" is an ambitious middle grade novel. Fortunately, Bachmann has done a superb job balancing the various elements and weaving them into a cohesive whole. The world he has created is complex, astonishingly creative, and fascinating. The background is nicely set up in a short prologue, immediately introducing readers to the unique England Bachmann has created. Beautifully written descriptions of places, people, creatures and things pepper the book and add richness to the story. The main characters, Mr. Jelliby and Bartholomew, are endearing in their reluctant quest to help each other, and the villain is appropriately devious.

My only criticism of "The Peculiar" is that I felt the action stagnated towards the end of the novel. Since this book’s climax occurs in the last few chapters, it felt like the book was driving and driving
towards a finish it just couldn’t deliver. Despite assuming that this was the first book in a series and expecting a cliffhanger, I still found the ending abrupt and unsatisfying. It was jarring enough to end my interest in seeing the series to its conclusion.

Although written for middle grade readers, this is a captivating novel with teen and adult appeal. Bachmann was sixteen when he began writing "The Peculiar" and only eighteen when he finished it, making the tense plotting, creative world building and beautiful descriptive writing even more impressive. It will be exciting to see how he develops as a writer and storyteller when this saga is completed.

Book Source: My local library
Reviewer: Kimberly

Recommended Ages: 9+

Recommended for Readers of:

Review: 'Something Strange and Deadly' by Susan Dennard

"Dead!" a woman screamed. "It's the Dead!

...I'd heard of corpses awakening --- hungry and dangerous though still quite dead.

The purpose of bells in coffins was, after all, to warn us; but if the word on the

street was true, then in the last week more than a few bodies had escaped their graves.

Eleanor Fitt, of the Philadelphia Fitts, has a lot on her mind; her brother is missing and her mother refuses to recognize the truth about the family's financial situation.  And then there are the rumors of a Necromancer leading an army of Dead.  Animated corpses are nothing new, there is a reason cemeteries are surrounded by fences, but a Necromancer has the power to raise and control the Dead.  Eleanor is determined to track down her brother even if that means facing the Dead and working with socially "unacceptable" people - the only ones who can stand against a Necromancer.

Susan Dennard has crafted a wonderfully detailed and original novel that adds a new twist to the YA zombie cannon.  Readers will relate well to both the lead female and male characters.  Eleanor is a strong heroine who is not afraid to fight for her convictions, while Daniel is a multifaceted blend reformed criminal and absentminded inventor.  Several of the secondary characters are integral to the story and add an interesting multi-cultural element to the story.  Historically accurate details add to the story - Eleanor's internal monologue includes pondering the constriction of her corset and how it inhibits movement.

Dennard handles the "zombie" element in a way that blends traditional walking dead elements with modern twists.  In Dennard's world burial doesn't always mean a body's final rest - periodically the dead become the Dead, rising from their grave, driven by a supernatural craving for human flesh.  The Dead can only be controlled by a Necromancer who can use them for his or her own nefarious purposes.

Readers looking for an original novel filled with action and suspense will enjoy Dennard's 'Something Strange and Deadly' and will look forward to the next novel in the series.

Book Source: Local Library
Reviewed by: Rebecca

Recommended Ages: 12+ Zombie violence, paranormal elements

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Review: '172 Hours on the Moon' by Johan Harstad

It’s 2019 and NASA has decided to send another manned mission to a secret space station built years earlier on the moon. To sway public opinion, a worldwide lottery is held among all eligible teens, three of whom will be sent with a crew of trained astronauts to spend 172 hours on the moon. Now Mia, a Norwegian teen looking for free
publicity for her punk band; Midori, a Japanese teen obsessed with moving away from her traditional family; and Antoine, a French teen recovering from a bad breakup, must train and complete the mission while the world watches. Unfortunately, the moon holds one secret the crew wasn’t prepared for – a secret that is bent on killing all of them.

Science fiction horror novels aren’t my usual reading fare, but this book was so hyped, that I thought I’d give it a try. Unfortunately, the hype was undeserved and the book suffered from a number of problems. First of all, this is the English translation of a book originally written in Norwegian. I have read translated books before that worked really well; this was not one of those. The translation seemed rushed, the sentences felt stilted, and the overall feel of the book was clinical. It was also obvious from the writing style that Harstad primarily writes scripts. The benefit of this was that I could practically see the second half of this novel as a movie, but I had
hard time appreciating it as prose.

Harstad also spent far too much time on set up, introducing the characters and the training program. The crew doesn’t even land on the moon until halfway through the novel. This would be fine if I actually felt like I knew and sympathized with the teens by the time the landed, but I didn’t. In fact, there is hardly any character development and none of the characters are likeable. Even though the book is told from all three teens’ points of view, Mia is arguably the main character. She is also the least likable and the least believable. It is hard to get pulled into the suspense of a horror novel when the set up takes so long and readers don’t sympathize with
the characters.

The horror and suspense elements were also lacking. It is hard to get pulled into the suspense of a horror novel when the set up takes half the book and readers don’t sympathize with the characters. The other problem is that the “bad guy” is never fully described and explanations about why or what was happening were left vague. Whether that was intentional or not, it made it difficult to understand what was actually terrorizing the crew. In the end, the book just wasn’t scary and the twist ending didn’t seem possible based on known plot events.

172 Hours on the Moon had so much potential and could have been a unique, thrilling, terrifying YA read. Instead it stumbles at every turn and, ultimately, leaves readers unsatisfied.

Book Source: my local library
Reviewer: Kimberly

Recommended Ages: 16+ for violence and horror elements

Recommended to Readers of:

Review: 'The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart' by Leanna Renee Hieber

WARNING: This review contains spoilers if you have not yet read "Darker Still", 

the first volume of Natalie Stewart's story.

But just as the witches in Macbeth proclaim:
"Something wicked this way comes,"
there's no avoiding it.
But that doesn't mean I have to submit.

Jonathan, Lord Denbury, has been freed from the painting and the demon possessing his body forced out by the combined efforts of Natalie and her friend, Mrs. North.  The painting has been destroyed.  Not everything is resolved, however,  and Jonathan is wanted by the police for actions his body committed while possessed.  Natalie hopes that the painting's destruction signaled the end of the supernatural chapter of her and Jonathan's lives.  But when Natalie and Jonathan discover that there is a new darkness brewing in the City That Never Sleeps they must muster the courage and fortitude to stop a madman from trapping the souls of the dead.

Add another well-written, suspenseful novel to the newer cannon of YA Gothic literature.  Hieber continues to weave Natalie's story while introducing new characters and new supernatural elements that  readers will hope to see in future novels.  Natalie continues to grow into her newly discovered voice, as well as into her supernatural abilities, and must learn to balance her independence and family obligations.  Her struggle makes Natalie a character that teen girls can relate to even though her adventures are anything but ordinary.  Another strength of this novel is the historical detail, the setting is as important as the characters.  Nineteenth-century New York City is beautifully depicted in all its industrial glory which makes Hieber's novels a wonderful introduction to that time period.  Romance, mystery and supernatural evil abound in Hieber's newest novel, giving readers everything they could ask for in a book.  Highly recommended.

Release Date: November 1, 2012

Book Source: Sourcebooks, courtesy of Lauren Walker - Thank you Lauren!
Reviewed by: Rebecca

Recommended Ages: 14+ for some creepy scenes

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