Shatter Me (Shatter Me, #1) by Tahereh Mafi

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 color. 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.

     Shatter Me burst into my life and shattered my soul. There is just so much, too much, to love about it. Juliette is so wonderful. Extraordinary. She was relatable. She was crazy and fun and caring. She acted like a real girl. Silly and with thoughts like gibberish. Not poised and unreal. She was innocent, but she was better and stronger for it. It made her unafraid to be herself. She and Adam are the ultimate fairy tale. So in love that you can’t stop thinking about each other. Doing anything to be together. Adam is SO my new book boyfriend. He was funny and sarcastic. The first chapters are my favorites as they relearn each other and Juliette shows him her environment. He is adorably surprised about everything. They are wonderful together and made me laugh and smile the whole time. The supporting characters of Shatter Me are awesome, too. Adam’s little brother, James and his friend, Kenji are hilarious and frank about everything. The ending put a smile on my face as Juliette declared herself a superhero because all through the book, that is what I was convinced she was.

Moonglass by Jessi Kirby

From Jessi Kirby, a debut novel about confronting the past in order to move ahead.

I read once that water is a symbol for emotions. And for a while now, I've thought maybe my mother drowned in both.

Anna's life is upended when her father accepts a job transfer the summer before her junior year. It's bad enough that she has to leave her friends and her life behind, but her dad is moving them to the beach where her parents first met and fell in love- a place awash in memories that Anna would just as soon leave under the surface.

While life on the beach is pretty great, with ocean views and one adorable lifeguard in particular, there are also family secrets that were buried along the shore years ago. And the ebb and flow of the ocean's tide means that nothing- not the sea glass that she collects on the sand and not the truths behind Anna's mother's death- stays buried forever.
     Sea glass and mermaids take on a whole new meaning in this touching and heartbreaking story of the effects of suicide and what it leaves behind. Anna Ryan is a confident teenage girl who moving away from the place where her mother drowned and to a place with more stories than she knows. Moon glass was a wonderful mix of genres and emotions. It was not at all what I expected it to be and that made it all the more better. Anna keeps to herself and has a fascination with looking for sea glass, a hobby passed down from her mother. Anna is an example of smiling on the outside and crying on the inside. She is very sure of herself and makes friends easily, but her voice and inside thoughts are deep and hurt. She has flashbacks that help her to truly understand what her seven-year-old self couldn't.
     The best things and most helpful thing to Anna's growth is her friends and family. There was her Dad who hid things from her to try to protect her, but was hurting also. There was Tyler whom she liked and was there for her. Jillian, who she could relate to and Ashley, who was more than what meets the eye. All these people were awesome supporting characters who played their parts well. They built Anna up and listened, just listened when she needed to talk. All of them were there for her and will probably never understand how much they helped her.
     Moonglass which is a term made up by Anna to mean sea glass found during a full moon has come to mean many things, to me, and to Anna. The subject matter of this book is heart wrenching and tearful, but the outcome makes it greatly inspiring. A tough adversity to overcome, a determined protagonist, and the people who help her. A wonderful story.

Blood Red Road (Dustlands #1) by Moira Young

Summary from Goodreads
Saba has spent her whole life in Silverlake, a dried-up wasteland ravaged by constant sandstorms. The Wrecker civilization has long been destroyed, leaving only landfills for Saba and her family to scavenge from. That's fine by her, as long as her beloved twin brother Lugh is around. But when a monster sandstorm arrives, along with four cloaked horsemen, Saba's world is shattered. Lugh is captured, and Saba embarks on an epic quest to get him back.
Suddenly thrown into the lawless, ugly reality of the world outside of desolate Silverlake, Saba is lost without Lugh to guide her. So perhaps the most surprising thing of all is what Saba learns about herself: she's a fierce fighter, an unbeatable survivor, and a cunning opponent. And she has the power to take down a corrupt society from the inside. Teamed up with a handsome daredevil named Jack and a gang of girl revolutionaries called the Free Hawks, Saba stages a showdown that will change the course of her own civilization.
Blood Red Road has a searing pace, a poetically minimal writing style, violent action, and an epic love story. Moira Young is one of the most promising and startling new voices in teen fiction.
Blood Red Road was the most original story I've read this year. Everything about it was surprising and exciting. Saba was an understandable character and unless you got where she was coming from, she could be unlikable. She is tough and strong-willed, but believes that her brother Luge comes first all the time and she always follows behind. She blames her sister Emmi for her mom's death and the downfall of her father. When her father is killed and Luge is taken by robed Tontons, Saba doesn't hesitate to start on her journey to get him back. What made Saba so understandable was that she was an angry and sad person. She has had so many downfalls in the past and when Luge, the only stable person in her life is taken, she doesn't know what to do without him. Honestly, Saba was a despicable person in the beginning and her treatment of Emmi was unbelievable. The journey of Saba growth is incredible and to me, the overall plot of the book. How with the help of strangers turned friends, a sister, and a silver-eyed Jack, Saba learns that not every person besides Lugh is trustworthy and that it is okay to care.
     I have to admit that there were some things about Blood Red Road that made me a bit weary. The lack of punctuation and correct grammar, for one. I am a total freak about this kind of stuff and when I saw that it was blatantly absent, I almost wanted to stop on the first page. I am glad I soldiered on and read and embraced this unique dialogue. By the middle of the story, I loved the lack of punctuation and correct grammar. I feel that it made me read deeper. That I read slower to fully get an understanding of the words and of Saba. Blood Red Road was action-packed and gruesome. It had vivid descriptions of fighting and suspenseful scenes that made you want to bite off your hand, but what will forever stick with me the most is Saba. She, over the course of one book, has become a loyal friend and truly shared with me all that is her.

ARC Review: Kat, Incorrigible (The Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson, #1) by Stephanie Burgis

Summary: Katherine Ann Stephenson has just discovered that she's inherited her mother's magical talents, and despite Stepmama's stern objections, she's determined to learn how to use them. But with her eldest sister Elissa's intended fiancé, the sinister Sir Neville, showing a dangerous interest in Kat's magical potential; her other sister, Angeline, wreaking romantic havoc with her own witchcraft; and a highwayman lurking in the forest, even Kat's reckless heroism will be tested to the upmost. If she can learn to control her new powers, will Kat be able to rescue her family and win her sisters their true love? (Goodreads)

     I was definitely surprised by my outcome opinion of Kat, Incorrigible. It is a middle-grade fiction and I don't usually read those. Kat has certainly changed my outlook. For some reason, I didn't know from the summary that it was set in nineteenth-century England and that raised my awareness on the first page. When I began to read the first page, though, all my weariness was washed away. Kat's voice captivated me entirely. She just sounded so alive and sure of herself. The beginning sentence was hilarious and it only got better from there. If you can't already tell, I loved Kat so very much. She was funny and caring. She made a lot of mistakes and took responsibility for them and she tried to fix them as best she could. Her sisters were a big part of her and wonderful supporting characters. Their personalities were unique and they made the best addition to the story.

     Another surprising factor, to me, was the involvement of magic. Although surprising it was welcome and was the main accessory to Kat's and her sister's adventures.  Angeline, her middle sister, does a love spell on a man that made me have to stifle my giggles in the doctor's office. Katherine Ann Stephenson has turned me on to the world of middle grade books, more specifically hers. In the last sentence of the book, Kat says, "I could hardly wait to find out what would happen next." All I could think was, "I agree."

Teaser Tuesday: Ruby Red

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

• Grab your current read.

• Let the book fall open to a random page.

• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.

You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

Please avoid spoilers!

"I'll tell her," I said, rolling my eyes. "If you don't stop talking to your imaginary friend," snapped Charlotte, "you'll end up in the nuthouse." Okay then I wouldn't tell her. She was conceited enough as it was.

~Page 16, Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier

LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own “Teaser Tuesdays” post,or share your “teaser” in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!

Babe in Boyland by Jody Gehrman

Summary from Goodreads

     When high school junior Natalie--or Dr. Aphrodite, as she calls herself when writing the relationship column for her school paper--is accused of knowing nothing about guys and giving girls bad relationship advice, she decides to investigate what guys really think and want.

     But the guys in her class won't give her straight or serious answers. The only solution? Disguising herself as a guy and spending a week at Underwood Academy, the private all-boy boarding school in town. There she learns a lot about guys and girls in ways she never expected--especially when she falls for her dreamy roommate, Emilio. How can she show him she likes him without blowing her cover?

      There were many aspects of BABE IN BOYLAND that were a bit strange, but they all helped to make this book even more fantastic. The plot of Natalie going undercover at the all-boy school reminds me of the movie, She's the Man. They are both filled with funny, complex characters and kept me laughing for hours. Natalie is confident and sure of herself despite her limited dating history. She is hardly hesitant about the plan and determined and spontaneous. She loves her best friends, Chloe and Darcy, so much and they are a huge part of Natalie. They continuously help her during her time at Underwood and contribute lots of hilarious commentary. Emilio is a walking contradiction. He is suave and has confident swagger, but blushes when he receives compliments. He is cautious of friendship and feels as if he doesn't fit in anywhere, but gradually reveals important parts of himself to Natalie. I think this makes for a great start to their relationship, that he told her that with no pretenses, whereas if she where acting as a girl, he would've been less likely to reveal his feelings.
     I felt like I was experiencing the gender change with Natalie. Her descriptions were detailed and funny. Sometimes I wonder how nobody was suspect in the first place because most of the stuff she said always sounded girly to me. I realized how hard it must have been to do what she did because trying to stop being a girl would be like suddenly trying to turn into a block of cheese. She made me also realize the intense differences between guys and girls and why they go so perfectly together. She also showed me that gender isn't mostly factored around how you look on the outside, but how you act. Natalie definitely won a Grammy in my eyes after stepping into this strenuous role of boy. She deserves much kudos for her efforts and resisting insanity as she witnessed butt-flossing and sacrificed herself for my gender. Her tips and knowledge will be not be forgotten and surely put to use in my dating future.

Teaser Tuesday: Kat, Incorrigible

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

Grab your current read.

Let the book fall open to a random page.

Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.

You

also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your

“teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations

if they like the teaser you’ve given!

Please avoid spoilers!

"I'd never drunk unwatered wine before, and it made me a little nervous. I decided not to try flinging it down my throat yet, the way Mrs. Banfield had done even though I was sorely tempted."*

~Page 118, Kat, Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis

*This teaser is from an ARC and is subject to change.

LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own “Teaser Tuesdays” post,

or share your “teaser” in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog).

Thanks!