Starry Nights by Daisy Whitney

Starry Nights by Daisy Whitney
"Seventeen-year-old Julien is a romantic—he loves spending his free time at the museum poring over the great works of the Impressionists. But one night, a peach falls out of a Cezanne, Degas ballerinas dance across the floor, and Julien is not hallucinating.

The art is reacting to a curse that trapped a beautiful girl, Clio, in a painting forever. Julien has a chance to free Clio and he can't help but fall in love with her. But love is a curse in its own right. And soon paintings begin to bleed and disappear. Together Julien and Clio must save the world's greatest art . . . at the expense of the greatest love they've ever known."- summary from Amazon

I really enjoyed Whitney's debut and have been meaning to read more from her since then, so I was excited to read this book. I wasn't as enthralled with it as I was with her debut unfortunately. But I kept on reading because there are a few mysteries at the center of the book, and a very cute romance too. But my overall impression was that it was just an okay book, an easy way to pass the time.

I did like the focus on artwork and learning more about it through reading this book (and the author's note at the end). It's not something you see often in YA, so it was a nice departure from the usual fare. Whitney also ventures into the genre of magical realism and it's an interesting take on it.

Overall, this book was okay, but I'm not going to give up on Whitney. I definitely want to go back, read the books I've missed, and keep an eye out for her future books. She's a wonderful writer, but this book just didn't do it for me.

FTC: Received e-galley from Netgalley. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.

The S Word by Chelsea Pitcher

The S Word by Chelsea Pitcher
"Lizzie wasn't the first student at Verity High School to kill herself this year. But the difference is, she didn't go quietly.

First it was SLUT scribbled all over the school's lockers. But one week after Lizzie Hart takes her own life, SUICIDE SLUT replaces it--in Lizzie's own looping scrawl. Photocopies of her diary show up in the hands of her classmates. And her best friend, Angie, is enraged.

Angie had stopped talking to Lizzie on prom night, when she caught Lizzie in bed with her boyfriend. Too heartbroken to let Lizzie explain the hookup or to intervene when Lizzie gets branded Queen of the Sluts and is cruelly bullied by her classmates, Angie left her best friend to the mercy of the school, with tragic results.

But with this new slur, Angie's guilt transforms into anger that someone is still targeting Lizzie even after her death. Using clues from Lizzie's diary and aided by the magnetic, mysterious Jesse, Angie begins relentlessly investigating who, exactly, made Lizzie feel life was no longer worth living. And while she might claim she simply wants to punish Lizzie's tormentors, her anguish over abandoning and then losing her best friend drives Angie deeper into the dark, twisted side of Verity High--and she might not be able to pull herself back out."- summary from Amazon

I was a little bit underwhelmed with this book. I really felt like the mystery was just tacked on to keep the plot moving. It never really felt like a part of the overall story, but it was enough to keep me reading to the end which did have a very interesting twist. But still, I don't think it's enough to really recommend the book.

I honestly don't know what else to say about this book. I don't really have feelings about it in either direction, so it's hard to really talk about it in any critical way. I didn't really feel connected to the characters or the situation, nor did I feel like I got to know any of them terribly well. It was just an okay book, bordering on below average.

Overall, I feel like there are better books out there that deal with this whole slut shaming thing much better than this book did. I'm sure I've read some but I can't think of any right now. Has anyone else read this book? What did you all think about it?

FTC: Received e-galley from Netgalley. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.

Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Everneath by Brodi Ashton
"Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath. Now she’s returned—to her old life, her family, her boyfriend—before she’s banished back to the underworld . . . this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can’t find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these precious months forgetting the Everneath and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance—and the one person she loves more than anything. But there’s just one problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki home. Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen. And he’ll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen.

As Nikki’s time on the Surface draws to a close and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole’s queen."- summary from Amazon

I'm very behind on this series. I received ARCs for the first two books but couldn't find the time to fit them into my schedule (and in fact, I gave Everbound to a friend since I hadn't yet read the first book when I got the sequel ARC). Cue a couple months ago and Brodi Ashton comes to Virginia to do a signing with Jodi Meadows and Cynthia Hand. I dig up my copy of Everneath to get it signed and begin reading it on the trip back (I also haven't read Hand's trilogy either but I had grabbed the 2nd book so couldn't start with that). I don't want to say that I became enthralled with the story but it did intrigue me enough to just keep reading to the end.

I loved Ashton's spin on mythology and the Persephone myth here. It was nice too how the book was formatted, going back and forth between present day and the past. Getting more and more of the full story as the book went on. It made for a page-turning read. Nikki is a good protagonist and Ashton did a great job showing off the back-and-forth nature of her life now. Having to come back in after 6 months of being gone and going through the experience of the Everneath obviously takes a toll. She tries to get back into her old life and routine but has to constantly worry about the countdown and leaving everybody again, so it creates this dichotomy within her.

I'm honestly not sure how I feel about the romance and love triangle aspect of the book. Even though it's a big part of it (Nikki remembers herself because of thinking of Jack while in the Everneath), I just didn't feel an attachment to either guy. I don't know if that'll change with reading the sequel, but for right now, the romance aspect felt a bit tacked on and lackluster. Plus, there's the fact of the "true love" Jack and Nikki have, so it just seemed a bit much. It was nice though to get to see them interact before she's taken away as well as after so the reader really gets the full scope of their relationship.

Overall, a promising start to a trilogy and I'm excited to read the sequels!

FTC: Received ARC from publisher. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.

Guest Blog- Andrew Landis (Bold)

Julia Swift and Andrew Landis have been writing in Los Angeles about emotional underdogs for more than a decade on television shows like "Smallville" and "The Book of Daniel," and they recently published their first Young Adult novel, Bold.

I have a short little guest blog today from Andrew that I hope you all will enjoy!

On Shyness:

When I was six or seven, I took piano lessons once a week. Going to Mrs. Fossbenner’s house every Wednesday after school became a part of my life for five years. I didn’t mind going too much because I knew my teacher, and all I had to do was perform the pieces assigned the week before in front of a 70-plus-year-old Pennsylvania Dutch woman. If I played well, afterwards I would be allowed to select a piece of hard candy -- usually with an oozy fruit center -- from a bowl on the cubby by the door as I waited for my mom. No big deal.

Trauma only came once a year as Mrs. Fossbenner would organize a recital of all of her students for a showcase. I didn’t care that I fell somewhere in between the best and the worst. I didn’t mind that many of her students studied classical music while I gravitated toward theme songs from movies – think “Born Free” or “You Light Up My Life” or “Tomorrow.” What frightened me was having to play a piece in front of more than 200 people.

I suffered my worst moment of anxiety during my second year of recitals. Remembering how nervous I felt the first time around, I told my mother on the way to the concert that we needed to stop at the hospital because I was having a heart attack. Mom convinced me it was all in my head and somehow talked me into continuing on to the recital. I had no idea that my mom would share that story with Mrs. Fossbenner behind my back and that my teacher would use that anecdote as my introduction.

Everyone laughed. I died. And I distinctly remember looking around the room, pretending to search for this poor kid who didn’t want to perform, because I somehow thought if I didn’t go to the stage, we would simply move on.

When the laughter died down and my teacher stood up again and re-announced my name, I realized there was no way out. I rose from my seat and took to the stage. I sat down and adjusted the bench, refusing to look at my mother in the crowd. And I began to play – Vince Guaraldi’s theme music to “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

Linus provided me with my security blanket that night.


Here's more information on their book Bold:

"Sasha, a shy, 15-year-old girl who hides from the world, almost dies in a car crash and vows that if she survives, she will be bold and live life to the fullest. Her newfound courage is tested when she meets Will, who just moved to her Air Force desert town after his journalist father’s disappearance. Will is fascinated by Sasha’s brush with and secret knowledge of death.
Sasha and Will push each other to take chances and break out of their sheltered suburban world. But will they discover there is a difference between being bold and being stupid before they put themselves, or someone else, in danger?"- summary from Amazon

Since You Asked... by Maurene Goo

Since You Asked... by Maurene Goo
"No, no one asked, but Holly Kim will tell you what she thinks anyway.

Fifteen-year-old Holly Kim is the copyeditor for her high school's newspaper. When she accidentally submits an article that rips everyone to shreds, she gets her own column and rants her way through the school year. Can she survive homecoming, mean-girl cliques, jocks, secret admirers, Valentine's Day, and other high school embarrassments, all while struggling to balance her family's traditional Korean values?"- summary from Amazon

This book was absolutely hilarious and another wonderful contemporary read. Goo has written a great character in Holly Kim, and I kinda wouldn't mind reading more books with her! There's a distinctive voice there, and the columns that Holly writes are interspersed throughout the book as the school year goes on, all of which were done so well. I also liked that the timeline for this book took place over the course of a school year. I feel like so many of the YA books I read nowadays take place in such a short time span and it's nice to let the characters breathe here and see them evolve over the year.

Overall, a fantastic debut and I'll be keeping an eye out for more books from Goo.

FTC: Received e-galley from Netgalley. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.