The Miles Between by Mary E. Pearson

Title: The Miles Between
Author: Mary E. Pearson

Release Date: 1st September 2009 (Not released in Australia)

My Rating: 3/5

Blurb:

Destiny Faraday makes a point of keeping her distance from her classmates at Hedgebrook Academy. Routine and predictability help her stick to her number-one rule: Don't get attached. But one day, with the crumpling of a calendar page and an odd encounter with a mysterious stranger, routine and predictability are turned on end.

Unexpectedly finding a car at their disposal, Destiny and three of her classmates embark on an unauthorised road trip, searching for one fair day - a day where the good guy wins and everything adds up to something just and right.

My Review:
I loved The Miles Between. It is such a quirky story with a fabulous assortment of characters. It is a story about hope, redemption, the hurdles of life, pain, heart-ache, fate and friendship. I laughed. I cried. I would read it again. I believe I have said before, I love road trip books, and this is no exception.

Destiny, our main character, pushes people away. Having been bounced around boarding schools by her uber-rich parents since she was seven, Destiny has her ways of coping. By making sure she doesn't get close to anyone, she avoids the inevitable hurt of leaving friends behind when she gets moved to the next school, something that always happens without fail. It is such a heart-breaking way of life and Destiny distracts herself by marvelling and constantly thinking about coincidence, probability, patterns and chance. Fate and unpredictability have no place in her life. Throughout the story we are given little hints and snippets as to why Destiny has always been in boarding school, but it isn't until the sad conclusion that we discover why Destiny is so screwed up.

With the arrival of a car and on an unexpected whim, Destiny takes off on a road trip with three of her equally odd and quirky classmates on an adventure based on fate. As unexpected events unfold, finding a lamb and later convincing a policeman it is actually a new breed of dog from France, meeting the president, getting attacked by a peacock and renting a boat, amongst other things, Destiny slowly lets some of the 'real her' leak out. She learns more about her classmates and that like herself, the way people choose to act around others, is not always how they are. As four unexpected friends come out of their shells, Destiny discovers that maybe she doesn't have to always be, and feel, so alone.

Check out The Adoration of Jenna Fox, also by Mary E. Pearson.

As a side note, after reading the book, that night I had a crazy dream which I suppose was inspired by their lambadoodle, the popular bread of dog from France. In my dream, I had a lambadoodle but it was a dog that could morph/shape-shift into a lamb (not a lamb pretending to be a dog, you'll understand once you read the book). For some bizarre reason, whenever we ended up in water (I think we were in a boat that capsized) the dog would morph into a lamb. Aside from, you know, a morphing animal, I thought it was really odd since you would think that lambs wouldn't like water and dogs do. But in my dream, even a splash of water was cause for it to shift to a lamb. I thought this was funny to have a dream like this after reading the book. Maybe I am just that bit strange...

Torment by Lauren Kate

Title: Torment
Series: Fallen Book 2
Author: Lauren Kate

Release Date: 30th September 2010

My Rating: 3/5

Blurb:

Lucinda is sure that she and Daniel are meant to be together forever. Now they are forced apart in a desperate bid to save Luce from The Outcasts, immortals who want her dead. As she discovers more about her past lives Luce starts to suspect that Daniel is hiding something. What if he has lied to her about their shared past? What if Luce is really meant to be with someone else?


My Review:
For those of you who have read my review of Fallen, you will know that I had mixed opinions about the story. Once again I am in the same frame of mind.

First off, do not read Torment until you have re-read Fallen. I read Fallen more than 6 months ago and have read at least 50 books since so I spent the first few chapters trying to remember what had happened, what the mythology was and which side different characters were on.

In Torment, Daniel sends Luce off to Shoreline, another school, to keep her safe while he focuses on keeping away those who want her dead. Shoreline is nothing like Sword and Cross and Luce manages to actually have a good time and make new friends, especially with Shelby and Miles. These characters are great and I love the time she spends away from Daniel.

I enjoyed Torment more than Fallen and I think the main reason is because I really dislike Daniel's character and he isn't in this book as much as he was the first. He is still very secretive and cryptic and it's so frustrating! I feel as if I am Luce and all the secrets are being kept from me because, as the reader, we don't know much more than Luce does. The suspense is built up a lot as we have to wait until the end to really find out any big revelations, but even then we are still left in the dark about many things!

Also, for those who pay attention to fantastic book covers, we once again have another stunning cover.

This is a frustrating series and I can't decide if I love it or hate it. As you know, I don't post spoilers, but I will give you a little something to keep building the suspense until this is released...I am totally Team Miles...

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Title: The Sky is Everywhere
Author: Jandy Nelson

Release Date: 1st June 2010 (Australia)

My Rating: 5/5

"I do not think this is how normal people mourn..."

Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, bookworm and band geek, plays second clarinet and spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery older sister, Bailey. But when Bailey dies abruptly, Lennie is catapulted to centre stage of her own life—and, despite her non-existent history with boys, suddenly finds herself struggling to balance two. Toby was Bailey's boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie's own. Joe is the new boy in town, a transplant from Paris whose nearly magical grin is matched only by his musical talent. For Lennie, they're the sun and the moon; one boy takes her out of her sorrow, the other comforts her in it. But just like their celestial counterparts, they can't collide without the whole wide world exploding.

I loved The Sky is Everywhere. After finishing it, all I wanted to do was pick it up and read it again right from the start. I don't think I have ever had the urge to reread a book straight away after finishing it. It is a fantastic story from first time author Jandy Nelson about life, love, loss and healing.

Despite it's morbid premise, this is a humorous novel about finding yourself, coping with grief, and allowing yourself to be happy again. It is about the tragedy of losing a sister and finding first love, and all the emotions that come with those experiences: the sadness, the confusion, the passion, and the feeling that your heart is going to burst into a million pieces.

Poor Lennie, she is so lost after the death of her 19-year-old sister Bailey. She copes by shutting out her friends and those around her as she doesn't think they can relate to her or understand what she is going through. What she forgets is that they also have lost Bailey. The supporting characters are crazy, eccentric and absolutely loveable; Grams and her roses and the Spotted Lennie Plant, Sarah and her animal vocabulary explosions, and Big and his dead bugs and Pyramids.

Lennie is a 'young' 17-year-old, always having hidden behind Bailey and has about zero experience with boys. When she falls for new boy Joe Fontaine, she immediately feels guilty for moving on and not spending every second of the day feeling depressed and mourning her sister. Her confusion over her feelings for Toby are also understandable. What we as the readers realise long before Lennie, is that she and Toby are drawn together over the enormous grief they share over Bailey's death, not by her having some strange attraction to her dead sisters' boyfriend.

The Sky is Everywhere is beautifully written. The words are so lyrical, they swallow you up and you get lost inside them.

We walk in silence then through the woods and it snaps me back into my senses. The stars and moon are mostly hidden over the thick tree cover, and I feel like I'm swimming through darkness, my body breaking the air as if it were water. I can hear the rush of the river getting louder with every step I take, and it reminds me of Bailey, day after day, year after year, the two of us on this path, lost in talk, the plunge into the pool, and then the endless splaying on the rocks in the sun-

"I'm left behind."

I also loved Lennie's random scattering of poems throughout the book that she leaves all over town. They helped give more insight into how she is feeling and also her relationship with Bailey.

WHEN I'M WITH HIM,
THERE IS SOMEONE WITH ME
IN MY HOUSE OF GRIEF,
SOMEONE WHO KNOWS
ITS ARCHITECTURE AS I DO,
WHO CAN WALK WITH ME,
FROM ROOM TO SORROWFUL ROOM,
MAKING THE WHOLE RAMBLING STRUCTURE
OF WIND AND EMPTINESS
NOT QUITE AS SCARY, AS LONELY
AS IT WAS BEFORE.

A must read for ages 14+.

Beautiful Monster by Kate McCaffrey

Title: Beautiful Monster
Author: Kate McCaffrey

Release Date: 1st May 2010

My Rating: 4/5

It only takes a few blood-stained seconds for Tessa's life to change forever. She wants her old life back. She wants her mum and dad the way they were. She wants her brother.

If it wasn't for Ned, she'd be all alone. He's her greatest support and staunchest ally. He's privy to her deepest secrets, comforts her at night when she cries, holds her and makes her feel loved - when it feels like everyone else has gone. And he knows how to make things okay again. If Tessa can only be perfect, things will get better. The perfect daughter, the perfect marks, the perfect body. But there is a fine line between being in control and being controlled.

Wow where do I start?

Always tackling the important topics for young adults such as cyber-bullying (Destroying Avalon) and drugs use (In Ecstasy), Kate McCaffrey has done it again with Beautiful Monster, focusing on a young girl struggling through her teenage years who has developed an eating disorder following the devastating death of her younger brother.

Beautiful Monster not only deals with the primary issue of body image and eating disorders but also the grief of losing a loved one. As her parents suffer with their own pain, Tessa manages to slip through the cracks, hiding her own pain as she strives to reach her goal weight.

Told in three parts, two years separating each, we accompany Tess as she loses her brother, endeavours to be perfect and keep control over all aspects of her life, copes with her parents, hides her illness, suffers denial and isolates herself from her friends. Then, as her her secret is discovered, we see the aftermath of her treatment and the possibility of a relapse as old foes once again come to light.

Just like her previous books, Beautiful Monster is something every teenage girl should read.

Wish by Alexandra Bullen

Title: Wish
Author: Alexandra Bullen

Release Date: 1st April 2010

My Rating: 3/5

For Olivia Larsen, nothing can change the fact that her twin sister, Violet, is gone... until a mysterious, beautiful gown arrives on her doorstep. The dress doesn't just look magical,it is magical. It has the power to grant her one wish, and the only thing Olivia wants is her sister back.

With Violet again by her side, both girls get a second chance at life. And as the sisters soon discover, they have two more dresses-and two more wishes left. But magic can't solve everything, and Olivia is forced to confront her ghosts to learn how to laugh, love, and live again.

At first I thought this would be a silly kind of fairytale book with magical dresses and wishes, but it actually turned out to be quite the opposite, as it has a good message and story line that I feel teenage girls can relate to. Olivia has to deal with moving to a new town, making new friends, and normal teenage girl problems with guys and a new school. She has to do all this while trying to move on with her life after the death of her twin sister, her best and closest friend. She is dealing with the effect Violet's death has had on her relationship with her parents as well as their relationship and the family dynamics.

Despite the sad synopsis of a tragic young death, the author has managed to probe the situation in a lighter way but still get a message of independence, pain, heartache, loss, love and family through to the reader without making the book depressing. This is an easy read, but not flippant and makes you as the reader question 'If you could wish for anything, what would you truly want?'

Ages 13+

The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta

Title: The Piper's Son
Author: Melina Marchetta

Release Date: 1st March 2010

My Rating: 4/5

In The Piper's Son, Melina Marchetta focuses on Thomas Mackee, one of the characters from Saving Francesca. Thomas's life sucks. His once happy and close family has been torn to shreds after his Uncle Joe was killed in the London bombings in 2005. Tom's dad is an alcoholic who has gone AWOL, his mother and sister have disappeared to Brisbane and his Aunt Georgie is pregnant but won't publicly acknowledge it. And Tom, well he's lost his job, his roommates have kicked him out, and he's beating himself up over losing one of his best friends after a one-and-a-half night stand 2 years ago.

As Tom pushes everyone away and spirals into a pit of depression we discover the strength, hope and love that family and friends are capable of as they attempt to get Tom's life slowly back on track. I also like that the story is told in third person, following both Tom and Georgie.

By the end you are left with a feeling of hope, and that family and true friends are always there for you, no matter how tough things get and how much you try to push them away.

Having not read Saving Francesca I was worried that The Piper's Son wouldn't make sense and that I wouldn't be able to follow the story, but that wasn't the case. While it does refer a lot to what happens in Saving Francesca, it in no way gave me any trouble. I would really like to read Saving Francesca now and while I don't feel the need to hear the story of Justine or Tara, I would really like to find out what has happened to Jimmy (the 5th member of their group), which Marchetta has given small clues to in The Piper's Son and I think has paved the way for another book focusing on him.

Fallen by Lauren Kate

Title: Fallen
Series: Fallen Book 1
Author: Lauren Kate

Published: 7th December 2009 (Australia)

My Rating: 2/5

Seventeen-Year-Old Luce is a new student at Sword & Cross, an unwelcoming boarding/reform school in Savannah, Georgia. Luce’s boyfriend died under suspicious circumstances, and now she carries the guilt over his death with her as she navigates the unfriendly halls at Sword & Cross, where every student seems to have an unpleasant, even evil, history.

It’s only when she sees Daniel, a gorgeous fellow student, that Luce feels there’s a reason to be here, though she doesn’t know what it is, nor does she understand Daniel’s frosty demeanor towards her. For Daniel is a fallen angel, doomed to fall in love with the same girl every 17 years . . . and watch her die. And Luce is a fellow immortal, cursed to be reincarnated again and again as a mortal girl who has no idea of who she really is.

I have mixed opinions of this book. I feel the first half just took too long and I just wanted something major to happen or for something to be explained. It took too long for the revelations to start. That said, the last 150 pages had me speed reading to see what would happen next.

I feel the sequel will be a lot more interesting and engaging now that the ground work has been laid, almost like this was a prequel. Keep an eye out for it in September 2010.

Essentially, not enough was explained, leaving me with many unanswered questions, and what was explained, took too long.

I really liked all of the characters except for Daniel as I just wanted him to help Luce understand what was happening. I found it frustrating!

Also, I think the cover is absolutely stunning, one of the best I have seen in a long time, and I think it will get people to pick it up in the first place, it's what made me.