Sweet Madness by Trisha Leaver and Lindsay Currie // A Sad DNF For Me

Sweet Madness, by Trisha Leaver
Publication: September 15, 2015, by Merit Press
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Historical, Mystery
Pages: 223
Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher
Rating: 

Seventeen-year-old Bridget Sullivan is alone in Fall River, a city that sees Irish immigrants as nothing more than a drunken drain on society. To make matters worse, she's taken employment with the city’s most peculiar and gossip-laden family—the Bordens. But Bridget can’t afford to be picky—the pay surpasses any other job Bridget could ever secure and she desperately needs the money to buy her little sister, Cara, passage to the states. It doesn’t hurt that the job location is also close to her beau, Liam. As she enters the disturbing inner workings of the Borden household, Bridget clings to these advantages.
However, what seemed like a straightforward situation soon turns into one that is untenable. Of course Bridget has heard the gossip around town about the Bordens, but what she encounters is far more unsettling. The erratic, paranoid behavior of Mr. Borden, the fearful silence of his wife, and worse still…the nightly whisperings Bridget hears that seem to come from the walls themselves.
The unexpected bright spot of the position is that Lizzie Borden is so friendly. At first, Bridget is surprised at how Lizzie seems to look out for her, how she takes a strong interest in Bridget’s life. Over time, a friendship grows between them. But when Mr. Borden’s behavior goes from paranoid to cruel, and the eerie occurrences in the house seem to be building momentum, Bridget makes the tough decision that she must leave the house—even if it means leaving behind Lizzie, her closest friend, alone with the madness. Something she swore she would not do.
But when Bridget makes a horrifying discovery in the home, all that she thought she knew about the Bordens is called into question…including if Lizzie is dangerous. And the choice she must make about Lizzie’s character could mean Bridget’s life or death.
SWEET MADNESS is a retelling of the infamous Borden murders from the point of view of Lizzie’s Irish maid, Bridget Sullivan.

My Thoughts:

DNF @ 150 pages

I like to be a nice person when I read books. I like to read historical novels, especially those that are mixed with romance and mystery. Speaking of historical-romance, I recently read Jennifer Donnelly's These Shallow Graves, and that is actually the best book I have read (so far) this year. I had high hopes for Trisha Leaver and Lindsay Currie's new YA novel that has been constantly raved about. I sadly had to DNF it, and that kind of broke my heart because I was 100% sure that I would give this at least a 3.5 star rating. I was prepping myself to write a nice, positive review, and make the whole world happy with my review. I was so wrong. The two authors have written a nice novel, I'm sure, for some people, but this was focused on a mystery that I couldn't care less about. It seemed like I had to have had some kind of background information on the Borden murders, and I didn't know anything about it. It was extremely boring and bland, and eerie.

I get that mystery novels are supposed to have that eerie, mystic feel in them when readers are reading and are trying to figure out the secret behind all of the murders. This was just too weird. I like novels that are well-researched if the author(s) is/are exploring a subject matter that many do not know about. I can tell that Leaver and Currie certainly did do their research on Fall River and everything that occurred in it back in the day. I just wasn't interested. 

I was stuck with this book for an entire day, and it felt like a chore to read. There was no enjoyment whatsoever. This reminds me of a similar situation with Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows, another really-loved-and-admired story, but not my type. I just cannot appreciate these two authors' writing style.

I like that the story is written from the perspective of Lizzie Borden's maid, Bridget. We readers usually get to read the first-hand perspective of a victim of a family murder (someone who lost their whole family or some members). This was an unique take on that stereotypical formatting of YA historical murder mysteries. This story is very old-fashioned, and I just didn't like the time-frame that this was set in. 

I DNFed this because I was too bored. I didn't want to waste my time, you know? I feel like I'm DNFing and hating too many books lately. Meh.

You see, I could have kept reading this one until it was over, but I wouldn't enjoy it anyway, and I sadly didn't really want to know the ending. Sweet Madness wasn't really sweet, from my viewpoint, but it sure was mad.

*A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for a honest review. Thank you so much!*

What is your favourite historical novel? Have you read The Secrets We Keep by Trisha? What were your thoughts?

The Yearbook by Carol Masciola // Meh.

The Yearbook, by Carol Masciola
Publication: October 2, 2015, by Merit Press
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Historical, Time-Traveling
Pages: 224
Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher
Rating: ½

Misfit teen Lola Lundy has every right to her anger and her misery. She’s failing in school, living in a group home, and social workers keep watching her like hawks, waiting for her to show signs of the horrible mental illness that cost Lola’s mother her life. Then, one night, she falls asleep in a storage room in her high school library, where she’s seen an old yearbook—from the days when the place was an upscale academy for young scholars instead of a dump. When Lola wakes, it’s to a scene that is nothing short of impossible.
Lola quickly determines that she’s gone back to the past—eighty years in the past, to be exact. The Fall Frolic dance is going full blast in the gym, and there she makes an instant connection with the brainy and provocative Peter Hemmings, class of ’24. His face is familiar, because she’s seen his senior portrait in the yearbook. By night’s end, Lola thinks she sees hope for her disastrous present: She’ll make a new future for herself in the past. But is it real? Or has the major mental illness in Lola’s family background finally claimed her? Has she slipped through a crack in time, or into a romantic hallucination she created in her own mind, wishing on the ragged pages of a yearbook from a more graceful time long ago?

My Thoughts:

With so much insta-love that it hurts (well, there's only a case of it and I didn't like it) and the fact that the main idea that the plot is centred around, time-traveling, is not explained, as well as the absolute boredom I experienced, The Yearbook by Carol Masciola was not a good read that I could recommend to others. I received this book in return for a review a while ago, and the fact that the cover is extremely bland and how it pushes me away from reading it made me un-intrigued. To be perfectly honest, there were some good aspects of this whole story, like the fact that the protagonist, Lola, was exactly like I would want her to be, and how the whole story began.

I wanted to like this one, a lot. I have heard of many similar stories, except this is even COOLER. When I first read the summary, I was instantly intrigued because the protagonist time travels after seeing a yearbook in her high school library, of the class of 1924. Who wouldn't want to go back almost a hundred years back in time and get to see how life was back then? Knowing everything that occurred after that year, it's interesting to see what life was like for the many people who didn't see what was coming. But then, of course, there were dark, dumb moments that didn't work out for me. I swear, Lola spent almost a whole chapter searching for things that she obviously knew weren't around in the States during 1924, like pizza. I mean, she went searching for pizza. That was definitely a low for me.

So as I mentioned, the plot is basically very self-explanatory here. A girl takes a blast to the past, but she goes crazy. Carol Masciola does have a good idea by turning this into a story about mental illness as well, but it kind of didn't make sense as it occurred. I have no idea how this time-traveling idea came to be. Usually, even if the story is mostly contemporary or historical, we readers get to see the reasons why the time-traveling happens. Here? Nada. And it makes sense that we do get something, a little something. I usually don't really like science-fiction mixed in with a story that is supposed to be talking about something else, but it was needed in this novel, no doubt about it. That was my biggest complaint.

Lola Lundy is your teenage example of a rebellious girl. She undergoes this character development who makes her someone who doesn't care about anything to someone who does care and falls in love. I really liked that cutesy aspect added in. But there were too many plot holes, plot pieces of boringness that made me just want to rip my hair out. Except I didn't. I actually ended up finishing this book because I have definitely seen worse. I felt like the story moved like molasses, though.

I hate reading bad books. The Yearbook wasn't horrible at all, but there were points where I just wanted to stop reading and wasting my time. It was boring, and things didn't click together and make sense. You had to guess and see if you're correct the whole time while reading. Don't even get me started about Peter (although he was cute and made me squirm of joy). WHY DID LOLA HAVE TO GO HEAD OVER HEELS FOR HIM RIGHT AWAY. Guys—love at first sight doesn't have to occur in every YA book, okay? There are a few exceptions, but this wasn't one of them.

The Yearbook is a time-traveling, mystery kind of historical read (yes, I'm mixing all of the genres together here) that some will really enjoy, and some will not. I have read many better time-traveling stories, like Claudia Gray's A Thousand Pieces of You, which mixed in romance and a more scientific feel all together. If you enjoy those kinds of stories where you have to keep guessing and making these theories so you don't get confused in the midst of it, then this story is most definitely for you. Don't get me wrong, fellas—I enjoyed the characters!

*A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for a honest review. Thank you so much!*

What is the latest time-traveling book you have read? Do you enjoy time-traveling as a subject in YA?

An Infinite Number of Parallel Universes by Randy Ribay // Gaming and Road Trips Galore

An Infinite Number of Parallel Universes, by Randy Ribay
Publication: October 16, 2015, by Merit Press
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary, LGBTQ
Pages: 240
Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher
Rating: 

As their senior year approaches, four diverse friends joined by their weekly Dungeons and Dragons game struggle to figure out real life. Archie's trying to cope with the lingering effects of his parents' divorce, Mari's considering an opportunity to contact her biological mother, Dante's working up the courage to come out to his friends, and Sam's clinging to a failing relationship. The four eventually embark on a cross-country road trip in an attempt to solve--or to avoid--their problems.

Told in the narrative style of Akira Kurosawa's RASHOMAN, AN INFINITE NUMBER OF PARALLEL UNIVERSES is at turns geeky, funny, and lyrical as it tells a story about that time in life when friends need each other to become more than just people that hang out.

My Thoughts:

An Infinite Number of Parallel Universes is a lovely contemporary novel that embraces people that are currently being discriminated in the world today. It certainly embraces nerd culture, and how people can become social and talkative by finding something in the world that makes them want to speak, just as I have found blogging/reviewing as my voice being heard. Randy Ribay has written such an intriguing, fun, but realistic story with a gang of characters who each have their distinct personality that makes them, them. This is one of the better road trip novels I have read, definitely comparing to John Green's Paper Towns, except in this case, each of the characters who are tagging along on the trip are finding themselves, not just the protagonist. In fact, there really isn't one protagonist, every person—Archie, Mari, Dante and Sam—is a protagonist. Ribay focuses this novel on each character and how they develop into new people.

I received this one to review ages ago. I loved the cover from the first time I spotted it, and I just couldn't wait to pick it up and learn more about what Dungeons and Dragons is all really about, and why an ex-friend of mine really wanted to learn how to play it. Sci-fi related things like that are not really my type of activities to do, but I certainly enjoyed being tagged along as a reader and embrace the nerdiness coming out from each character in this case. I loved how there was a climax where each character found that inner peace; that was extremely important for me to find because I somehow knew that this would be the kind of book to showcase that exactly. 

This was about a heartbreak going on in a group of friends, but it secretly is actually about the development of each character after something goes wrong in each of their lives. Archie's father is gay, and he divorces his mother, which gets him depressed and feels like everything he has ever known is swept away from him. Mari's mother has cancer, and things get crazier when her mother gives her information about her real mother, since Mari was adopted. Dante has a personal struggle—he's gay and he doesn't know what to do because his strictly religious family does not approve. Sam's girlfriend breaks up with him after she moves across the country to Seattle. All together, they head on a road trip through all over the place to get to Seattle.

"She feels the centrifugal force pulling her into space. Her body rises from the ground, just barely at first, but then higher and higher. The grass she holds rips out of the ground, soil crumbling from the nests of tiny roots. She opens her hands. The grass clumps fall. Loose green blades flutter downward" (71).

As you can tell for that quote, this is such a poetic novel. Randy Ribay writes with such passion towards the topic, and I was so entertained because I loved the amount of diverse topics featured. We see discrimination, as Dante feels that people are looking at him differently because he is African American, and gay, at the same time. Then, Mari undergoes the struggle of her adoptive mother and how she doesn't know what to do with the current status of her life. Archie's father is gay, as mentioned before, and he struggles, too, knowing that his dad never really loved his mother in a real way. 

I loved Archie and Mari's relationship. There wasn't instant-love at all, and I loved how they relied on each other for personal help. Aw. THAT'S THE ROMANCE I'M LOOKING FOR. I find that we frequently are caught in romances that are too fake or too lovey-dovey, but Archie and Mari had this instant connection that I just saw as a real relationship. They didn't make out, they didn't go crazy at each other, it was just slow and beautiful, exactly in the way a bookworm like me (who does love slow-paced romance) would want something like this to become.

Road trip novels make me want to grab a map and run away. Not in a literal sense, but I just have this serious case of wanderlust that makes me want to go and find new cities, meet new people and have the time of my life. I loved reading about the different cities that the crew stopped in, especially Chicago (I love Chicago!) and the adventures they had there. You know, they took risks, made a change in their lives from the usual Dungeons and Dragons thing. 

I read this book because I wanted a similar situation to what it actually turned out to be. It was light but complex at the same time, where I was able to not make any predictions for the ending because it could turn out any way. Randy Ribay seems to have put so much effort reading into modern teenagers today and how they act, because this is the realest thing I have read for a long time. Many authors struggle to portray or write about characters who are teenagers because some of us are so different compared to teenagers of the past that it is just ruined. The book is, I mean. In this case, the characters were relatable and I couldn't stop feeling sorry for them and all of the pain that they had to suffer, internally especially. 

An Infinite Number of Parallel Universes takes contemporary fiction, mixes it with real-life issues that many teenagers today struggle with constantly, mixes it with relatable characters and situations, and creates a great plot that I was so captivated to that I couldn't stop reading. It is a strong story that will make you want to turn your engine on and ride away, to who knows where? Most of all, it teaches us to not forget how to love.

*A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for a honest review. Thank you so much!*

What is the most relatable book you have read recently? What is your recent most favourite fictional couple?

Perdita by Faith Gardner // Death, Mystery and Imaginative

Perdita, by Faith Gardner
Publication: August 1, 2015, by Merit Press
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy, Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 224
Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher
Rating: 

Granted, Arielle has a vast, excitable imagination. But she's not imagining how strange and out of control her life becomes after the death by drowning of her older sister's best friend, Perdita. Not only does this death echo the death of Arielle's own older brother, ten years before, it leads to dreams and visions in which Perdita seems to be reaching out to Arielle, asking for her help. The only other explanation—that Arielle's high-strung emotions have finally caused her to break with reality—is even more terrifying. A story that builds to greater and greater heights of suspicion and fear, Perdita is also a multi-layered literary achievement that leaves no emotion untouched.

My Thoughts:

This book is life, honestly. I seriously could not believe that I loved it so much! You know when your expectations blow you away and you discover that a book was just so freaking amazing when your initial reaction was down the toilet? Yeah, that is what happened with Faith Gardner's Perdita. It's mesmerizing, but not full of fantasy as I expected it to be. Sure, our main character, Arielle, sees ghosts, but it is not the main point or theme of the novel. In fact, it is just a small itsy-bitsy plot addition that made readers and myself want to continue reading. It was full of racing, heart-pounding moments where I, myself, wanted to solve the mystery and help the characters deal with the grief that they have been going through, in multiple layers—like a top-tiered cake.

This was a story that had many layers, when you think about it. No, seriously. There was romance (a gorgeous one, in fact), a paranormal mystery and loss. Everything that is the worst possible situation in your life was switched and crumbled into this beautiful story. I adore this cover, the water lily making the book seem so dark with a few rays of light making me feel better. This is a special book, no doubt about it. 

"It's not easy having a shrink for a mom—she's rarely home, and when she is, she's got all sorts of theories about my behaviour. Most if not every one of those theories often leads back to what I "could do better" and ways I "could improve." Fun stuff. Anyway, I could definitely improve my being a teenage scaredy-cat, apparently." (20)

Arielle was the absolute highlight of Faith Gardner's tale. Her attitude was contrasting, different than every other protagonist's personality with a whip of her own thing going on. She was naïve, but in that interesting way that did not give the answer and solution of the issues in the book out to all readers from the fiftieth page or so. It is a quick, juicy read that made me tremble, need a blanket, and a cup of good ole hot chocolate to warm me up because MAN, that was overwhelmingly scary. I find that I am being shocked quite a bit lately with these new thrillers coming into my face. Egh.

This mystery made absolute sense. When Gardner flashed the answer to readers' eyes and when Arielle herself solved it like a good Nancy Drew, I understood why. I find that authors sometimes are not the best at keeping a secret for a long time, and hints are given out throughout the whole story. This? Nada, nothing. And I loved it. I was not here reading it so I could find the answer myself and then rant for the whole review, saying that it was given away. No sir-ee. The answers were put out, we discovered a little more insight on the side characters who seemed too suspicious for this story to go on without them, and the story moved on, sadly.

I'm not looking for a sequel, but for more by Faith Gardner. Her writing instantly flows with the mood and themes of the book. The clip at the cover of the novel, "Is a dead girl trying to reach her?" has nothing to do with the story, and although that was a horrible mistake, it did shock me to see how much I actually enjoyed the story. The romance was there, I fell in love with the characters and the way the events progressed as I flipped through the pages. More contemporary novels should be like Perdita, it is a guideline, in fact, for enjoyment.

"I could go. I can imagine it. I could hop on the back of his motorcycle and we could ride to another state. Somewhere snowy in the winter, somewhere nestled in pine trees, some small town where no one knows who the Delaneys or the Dells are. We could get jobs, GEDs. We could start a life together. We could be so happy." (219)

It is so realistic, as you could see from the quote above. It is absolutely difficult to mix a contemporary with paranormal and hope for the best... but Faith did it. And I seriously recommend this book to all, wishing for everyone to give it a chance (GIVE IT LOVE) and adore it as much as I did. It was truly magical. Wooo!

*Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a finished copy to review!*

Has a book ever tricked you into thinking that it was actually revolved around a different genre? Would you read a book that went from ghosts to reality and contemporary?

We Will Be Crashing Shortly by Hollis Gillespie // Dull and Not Too Interesting

We Will Be Crashing Shortly, by Hollis Gillespie
Publication: June 15, 2015, by Merit Press
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary, Mystery
Pages: 256
Format: Hardcover Finished Copy
Source: Publisher
Rating: 

April Mae Manning from Unaccompanied Minor is back, and back in trouble, but this time, she's run out of chances...
April Mae was raised on airplanes by her flight-attendant parents. But since her dad's death and her mom's remarriage to the nefarious pilot Ash Manning, April's been in nothing but danger: two airplane crashes; two car crashes; and now, as a student pilot, in an old plane crippled over the Caribbean. Can she survive, and save her friends, or is this the watery end to "Crash" Manning's story?

My Thoughts:

Planes? Crashes? Mystery? These rhetorical questions are actually describing my love for the genre that Hollis Gillespie's sequel is based on: Mystery, with some thrill. But I'm suggesting that you keep in mind all of the negatives that this book actually had, because I promise you that they aren't too thrilling and exciting. This book was rather more questionable than exciting and more unbelievable than real. Isn't this supposed to be contemporary, you're asking? Yeah, try believing a fifteen-year-old who promises that she's a goody-two-shoes and never has done anything wrong. I just "met" April Mae Manning in this book, and hated her from the first page.

She's a back-stabber and completely annoying. This book is rather annoying at some points, especially in the beginning slash middle. April will certainly get on your nerves as she strives to prove that she's the smartest, most intelligent fifteen-year-old "spy" who has ever walked the face of the Earth. She "completely saved everyone" from a plane destruction and has always gotten credit for everything. She notes that she hates being famous and being spied on by paparazzi and other news outlets, but readers can obviously see the enjoyment she puts in every step she takes that's described.

I see no reason for the author to make April such a star. There wasn't anything special about her character and I didn't find her relatable and/or wonderful at all, whatsoever. I found myself rolling my eyes constantly and hoping for a better jump in the plot. There were lists included in this story that just made April's character look so paranoid about everything—including planes. This doesn't make sense. She thinks about the impossible, and not in a great, positive matter. It's more like: I'm going to think of this so I know what to do and I won't get lost if it happens. How could you enjoy life if you're thinking about the possible injuries that being on an aircraft could lead to? *gags*

This is all like a karma, "Final Destination" like story that's not too satisfying. The plot's slow, but then there's those points and bursts of information that just seem to pop out of nowhere and we discover something new about the situation for a change. April keeps escaping danger and death, but then she gets this huge feeling in her guts that something bad's going to happen when she's a student pilot. Of course, for "captivation," it does and readers are supposed to wonder if she and her friends will survive. WHY WOULD THEY GO ON THIS TRIP IN THE FIRST PLACE? That's kind of the reason why I decided to keep reading this, to discover why, and the other questions answered. Meh.

Gillespie's not a bad writer. Her story is intriguing and unique, but it lacked a big part that most great novels seem to have that this doesn't: action. The main character's FIFTEEN and acts like she has so much common sense and knows exactly what to do in every situation. There was no source of family influence because she always complained about everyone: her stepfather, which she kind of killed (just saying), her mother and father. And you'll find that she's quite a gossiper: She talks bad about everyone. I'm not sure if I'm quite fit to read about a girl like that. 

I feel that some will enjoy this more than others (like myself), but there's probably something that you'll enjoy. Although this review felt more like a rant in some ways, I enjoyed the side characters and the ending. Gillespie ended up creating different kinds of writing and styles that all mixed together to create enjoyment by the end. 

*A finished copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much!*

Have you ever read a book about a plane crash/planes? That's such a captivating setting, if you ask me. I wish I enjoyed this more than it all turned out!