The Secret to Lying by Todd Mitchell

 

"The secret to lying is this: believe yourself and others will believe you, too."

James was the guy no one noticed — just another fifteen-year-old in a small town. So when he gets into an academy for gifted students, he decides to leave his boring past behind. In a boarding school full of nerds and geeks, being cool is easy. All it takes is a few harmless pranks to invent a new James: fighter, rebel, punk. Everyone’s impressed, except for the beautiful "Ice Queen" Ellie Frost and the mysterious ghost44, an IM presence who sees through his new identity.

But James is riding high, playing pranks and hooking up with luscious Jessica Keen. There’s just one thing awry: he’s starting to have vivid dreams of being a demon-hunting warrior, a thrill that is spilling over into dangerous and self-destructive acts while he’s awake. As he’s drawn deeper into his real-life lies and his dream-world conquests, James begins to wonder: What’s the price for being the coolest guy around?

Show Less

  My Rating:

I picked it up because:

I actually picked this one up by chance when browsing one of the shelves my the library; the title stuck out to me among the other books, and I love the shattered glass effect on the cover.

What I liked:

The school James attends was a great set-up for some interesting characters. I loved his friends, the school pranks, and I his conversations with ghost44, the mysterious *cough cough* very obvious who it is *cough* character who IMs James but won't reveal his/her identity. And then there's the dreams where he's fighting demons, a supposed parallel to his life, in a more direct aspect.

What I didn't like:

In a good book, I am the main character. I cry when they cry, I laugh when they laugh.  I never really felt that connection with James. I want to know everything that a main character is thinking, their reasoning behind everything they do. I wasn't in James' mind. I didn't really get why he did things a lot of the time, which is majorly important to me, especially when the main character is supposedly suffering from depression and self destructive behavior.

The Bottom Line:
I wanted to love this book, but I never really got James. Still, I'm glad I read it because I enjoyed meeting the characters in James' world. If you're expecting an accurate account of depression, this isn't your book. But if you're looking for a read that'll keep you interested, try this one out.

Read more reviews for The Secret to Lying at:
A Good Addiction and Tina Reviews
 

This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel

"There is a passion in you that scares me."

Victor and Konrad are the twin brothers Frankenstein. They are nearly inseparable. Growing up, their lives are filled with imaginary adventures...until the day their adventures turn all too real.

They stumble upon The Dark Library, and secret books of alchemy and ancient remedies are discovered. Their father forbids that they ever enter the room again, but this only peaks Victor's curiosity more. When Konrad falls gravely ill, Victor is not satisfied with the various doctors his parents have called in to help. He is drawn back to The Dark Library where he uncovers an ancient formula for the Elixir of Life. Victor, with the assistance of his friends, Elizabeth and Henry, immediately set out to find assistance in a man who was once known for his alchemical works to help create the formula.

Determination and the unthinkable outcome of losing his brother spur Victor on in the quest for the three ingredients that will save Konrad’s life. Scaling the highest trees in the Strumwald, diving into the deepest lake caves, and sacrificing one’s own body part, the three fearless friends risk their lives to save another.

 My rating:

I picked it up because:

I saw it Rick Riordan’s blog a while ago. (If you don’t know the amazing-ness that is Rick Riordan, make a beeline for the nearest library/bookstore and find the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Do not read anything else until if you have finished this amazing series. You’re welcome.) Anyway, I saw it at the library yesterday and picked it up.

What I liked:

The setting. It’s somewhere in the eighteenth century, I would guess, and I love the way the characters talk. Their words—and the author’s descriptions—have a poetic kind of sense. Every sentence made me want to keep on reading; I read the 298 pages straight through, never once bored. It’s definitely an adventure, from the very first page until the last word.

I love Victor, the main character, because he’s complex. He isn’t black and white—he’s consumed by shades of gray. He’s quick to anger. Sometimes he realizes he’s after something only for himself. When he wants something, he’s willing to put up his best fight to get it. And when he believes he’s right, he’ll be stubborn in his belief until the end of time. But despite his flaws, I rooted for Victor the whole way through.

What I didn't like:

So this is a purely personal opinion, but I don’t like sad endings. Not that every book’s last chapter must detail the main character’s happy wedding to his or her soulmate, followed by prancing through a field full of lilies and and all wrongs righted. Really, that isn’t what I like—I want endings to be real. But on the flip side, I can’t stand it when tragedy befalls my beloved character and there isn’t some kind of solution or cure or hope that the author leaves us with that things will get better. I can’t stand to think that these characters will forevermore be left how I last saw them.

Overall:

This Dark Endeavor is a prequel to Mary Shelley’s classic, Frankenstein. I haven't read it, so my review on the characters and the plot is based solely on This Dark Endeavor. If I read Frankenstein, I think my review of this book would probably change, based on what the author was thinking when he wrote the prequel for someone else’s book.

But overall, I enjoyed this book; it’s gorgeous. If you’re not one for sad endings, I don’t suggest it. But if you don’t mind it, don’t miss this one. I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time to come.

Read more reviews for This Dark Endeavor at:

The Book Smugglers and 21 Pages

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

"I'd rather be partly great than entirely useless."

The Second Civil War was fought over abortion. To end the war, a compromise is reached that ends the practice of abortion but creates an alternative called "unwinding." Between the ages of 13 and 18, parents can choose to have their children unwound, which involves having every part of their bodies transplanted to different donors so, technically, they don't really die. 

Connor is too difficult for his parents to control. Risa, a ward of the state, is not useful enough to be kept alive. And Lev is a tithe, raised by religious parents for the sole purpose of being unwound. Together, they may have a chance to escape and to survive.

My rating:

I picked it up because:

I have a confession: I am one of those horrible people that judges books by their covers. No, not in the metaphorical way of judging people by how they dress or how they look, but in the actual way of judging actual books by their actual covers. And I do it shamelessly.

Unwind was one of those books I judged; it just gives off the general creeper vibe, right? But after absolutely rave reviews from my closest reading cohort, I doubtfully gave it a read.

What I liked:

Everything. Unwind went instantly from being a creepy-looking book to the book at the very top of my list. Everything that I look for in a good book, it's there. Unique characters, an original plot line, humor, a romance that's not in your face, a story line that makes you think, places that you bookmark so you can read it again, lines that have you crying or laughing and a story that makes you forget that the world written into those pages isn't real. In dystopian-esque novels, or any books where the future is changed, you have to wonder if it's plausible that the world could get that way; you find loopholes in bits of the past or in how the world can work. Unwind isn't like that. Every part of this future world has been thought-out and accounted for, and through Connor, Risa, Lev, and other characters you get to see it all. It's gut-wrenching, it's heart-twisting, and it's so, so, real.

What I didn't like:

The only thing I could possibly think of to put here is that it ended. I can't critique perfection.

Overall:

I love, love, love this book. It's the best book on my shelves and it's the first book I recommend when people ask for a reading suggestion-I took time off from all the new books I have to read so I could re-read it and review it here. I can't promise everyone who reads it will be as enraptured with is as I am, but so far, everyone I've recommended it to has ended up loving it as much as I do. I think that record speaks for itself. Overall, read it. You won't regret it.

Read more reviews for Unwind at:

Sci-Fi Fan Letter and Five Alarm Book Reviews

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

"I always knew I was an excellent liar; I just didn't know that I had it in me to fool myself."

By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. 


Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children.

When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Will Rhine be able to escape--before her time runs out?

My rating:

I picked it up because:
There was a good amount of buzz surrounding this book, and I'd seen lots of good reviews for it, so I decided to give it a try. I hadn't even read a summary before I picked it up, which is a first for me, so I was thrown into the plot of this book all at once.

What I liked:
I love the way that Wither is written. Usually, for me, descriptions of landscapes or a room's decor get boring for me and have me skimming through paragraphs. That, or there's no description at all--a streamlined way of writing. Wither has a nice balance to it. I had such vivid images of the places described, like I explored every room with Rhine and the other characters, but I was never bored of descriptions--they were always woven into the story, never an awkward block of text trying to describe everything the author imagined.

What I loved so much about this book is that I never had to fill in the lines--when someone was in pain or excited or otherwise, it was in the book. In other books I've read, the plot is so closely tied to our main character that all we see of others is when someone else is relevant to what's happening to the main character. It was different with Rhine, though. She was, like a real person, just one of many people with many feelings and internal conflict and things happening in her life. Though it's from Rhine point of view, you see so much of other people's lives and emotions, and they're all so real--not cardboard fill-ins of what a good character should say or do, but real, opinionated, complex characters.

The last thing I want to mention is the relationships Rhine forms. They're not black and white--complex characters can only form complex relationships--and you never know quite how to characters stood, but they're genuine; relatable. It's not assumed that she cares for the people she does; you can tell her feelings are real. She cries for her friends, laughs with them, gets angry for them when someone or something wrongs them. Her feelings are complicated, like all feelings are, and you know she really feels them--you feel them along with her.

What I didn't like:

There's a small shout-out to Gabriel in the summary above. It won't spoil anything for you when I tell you he plays the part of Rhine's love interest in the book. I have to say I adored that, while playing this fundamental part, he was not shoved in our faces, nor was Rhine's every thought is not consumed by thoughts or his luscious hair and/or gorgeous eyes like some other books. *cough cough* (Pretty much any YA book on the market.) *cough cough* On the flipside, though, I wished there had been more of him in the story. I wanted to connect with him in every way that Rhine had, but I felt like I didn't get to see enough of him.

Even that wasn't that much of a bother to me, though. The only reason I didn't give Wither a full five heart review was the inconsistencies in the world of Wither. Usually I try to overlook them, but I felt like a lot of my questions should've had answers hidden somewhere in the book. I won't get into them all, but one example is that while they continually speak of the poor orphans who rob and steal and do any other desperate act to sustain themselves a life, rich men have poor girls kidnapped so they may have a bride--or brides, as the case may be. It seems to me that these desperate orphans would've been grateful to marry a perfect stranger in exchange for a home and food and the luxuries of a rich life. There was never really an explanation for why this didn't happen, and other little things like this kind of stuck in my mind. Hopefully, with the sequel, all of these kind of plot holes will be covered. 


Overall:

All in all: Read it. Even if you don't like how the plot sounds, or if more dramatic books aren't your taste, give it a try. The polygamous situation Rhine enters is something that, while I've heard of, I had never really imagined what it would be like. I'd never imagined what it would be like to be kidnapped and forced to marry and have to pretend to enjoy my life because it was the only means of escape. Read it because you'll think new thoughts, experience a world you've probably never have before, and maybe, like me, you'll find a story that enchants you.


Read more reviews for Wither at:
Electrifying Reviews and Writing from the Tub