YA

Book #13 – Beautiful Creatures, by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

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I’ve been keeping up with all my reading, honest…just not the blogging portion.  I finished Beautiful Creatures (Caster Chronicles #1), by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl, about a month ago, so really this review will be short because I should’ve probably written it right away…woe is me.

If you like supernatural, southern, high school romance, young adult, paranormal fiction (yes, really ALL those descriptors are needed) than this one is for you. Ethan Wate is a high school basketball player in a small southern town where he feels his life wasting away, even more so after the death of his mother and with his father eternally locked in his study. All of that changes when Lena Duchannes moves into town. The niece of the town recluse, she is odd, in all the wrong ways for small town life but all the right ways for Ethan. The pair quickly bonds despite the entire town fighting to keep them apart. Of course it helps that they pair have been dreaming of each other since before they ever met, and they can has each other’s thoughts.

However, Lena is not mortal. She is a Caster (basically magical/witch/spellcaster/powerful/generic supernatural being), and on her 16th birthday, she will be turned either good or evil…. Light or Dark.

From there, you can guess where the story goes: young love, lots of obstacles, a mystery, a family curse, attempting to control one’s own destiny, etc. Basically, Beautiful Creatures is your typical YA supernatural romance including some of my least favorite YA stereotypes such as the girl in need of rescuing, the mean girl, and the secretly smart jock. However, it does have a few things that make it stand apart. For instance, Ethan is the narrator. Having the male lead narrate is rare in the female driven supernatural YA world. Garcia and Stohl make him a credible voice in their universe. In fact, most of their characters, the main ones at least, are well written and believable. The story, while not entirely unique, is still interesting with a few fun twists.

Overall, I enjoyed the story, but I wasn’t overwhelmed with excitement. I also don’t have an urgent desire to read the rest of the series. I might pick them up one day….

Book #7–The Walls Around Us, by Nova Ren Suma (due out March 24, 2015)

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As you may or may not know, I had the privilege to attend the American Library Association’s Midwinter Conference last week (more on that whole trip soon). During this wonderful train-snow-book-filled adventure, I acquired a whopping 47 books. Of course, most of them were free Advanced Reading Copies, and of course, I couldn’t wait to dig into them! And honestly, I cannot recommend you pre-order this book enough:

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The Walls Around Us is a fast paced tale about  two girls: one on the outside and one on the inside. Violet is a ballerina preparing to leave for Julliard who will let nothing get in the way of the future she has planned.  Amber has spent the last 3 years inside a girl’s detention center, just trying to survive each day. A third girl, Orianna, holds the keys to unlocking mysteries for all of them.  You see, as the story begins, she’s already dead.

The prose flits between place and time deftly. Employing first person narration, Suma creates distinct voices and experiences, allowing the reader to make the switches easily.  Violet, ever independent and strong willed, speaks in first person, as an “I” never a we.  Amber, on the other hand, does not distinguish herself from the rest of the prisoners. Suma gives her a third person narration, a “we” an “us” mentality.  Right from the start, these girls are set to be apart, and yet, as you must know, they are neither what they seem.

The smoothness of the text also pulls you into the story and creates an easy way to read between the lines without using jarring neon lights.  As always, I’m a sucker for language, and though it isn’t the lilting, descriptive tone I usually wilt over, The Walls Around Us employs a lively prose which fits the tense, mysterious and slightly supernatural tone of the book and ropes you right in.

Overall, The Walls Around Us is about more than ghosts or prisons or ballerinas. It’s about decisions, motivations, friendship, fear of facing reality, and about finally facing who and what you really are on the inside.

The walls are what we make of them.

Now, I leave you with the lovely view of where I finished the book…cuddled up with my oh so graceful sleeping greyhound, Prince.

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