A Long Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan: Review Posted by Tiffany at 8:46 AM

Title: A Long, Long Sleep

Author: Anna Sheehan

Published: August 9th, 2011 by Candlewick

Pages: 352

Buy: Amazon / Book Depository

Rating: 4/5

Source: NetGalley

Synopsis: Rosalinda Fitzroy has been asleep for sixty-two years when she is woken by a kiss.

Locked away in the chemically induced slumber of a stasis tube in a forgotten sub-basement, sixteen-year-old Rose slept straight through the Dark Times that killed millions and utterly changed the world she knew. Now her parents and her first love are long dead, and Rose -- hailed upon her awakening as the long-lost heir to an interplanetary empire -- is thrust alone into a future in which she is viewed as either a freak or a threat.

Desperate to put the past behind her and adapt to her new world, Rose finds herself drawn to the boy who kissed her awake, hoping that he can help her to start fresh. But when a deadly danger jeopardizes her fragile new existance, Rose must face the ghosts of her past with open eyes -- or be left without any future at all.(Goodreads)

Review: There were a few problems with A Long, Long Sleep, but when I turned the last (digital) page, I was left with a feeling of contentment. I really enjoyed this book, in spite of a slow start and a sometimes infuriating main character. Rose is discovered in a stass tube (cryogenically frozen) in the basement of the building her parents used to own. She has been lost for over 60 years and this is the story of how she adapts to a new world that has been rebuilt after much of the population was destroyed. More than that, it's the story of why she was lost for over 60 years. The character seems a bit dull, stupid, and weak at first. However, after we learn more about her and her life, she becomes much more interesting. Things start slow, but about halfway through the book kicks it into high gear with a determined assassin and a (not so) surprising Reveal. I loved this book! It's nice to see a little sci-fi in YA that isn't aimed specifically at boys or watered down to the point of being a Love Story with robots/space/time travel. I would recommend this to anyone with a bit of patience and/or a love of retellings of Sleeping Beauty that include homicidal robots.

Those That Wake by Jesse Karp: Review Posted by Tiffany at 11:31 AM

Title: Those That Wake
Author: Jesse Karp (FB)
Published: March 21st, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Pages: 340
Price: $11.55 Amazon  $12.74 Book Depository (PRE-ORDER)
Series: N/A
Rating: 3.5/5
Synopsis: Set in the very near future, a wounded New York struggles with the aftermath of a power plant explosion that plunged the city into fourteen days of violence and darkness. Christened "Big Black" by the media, the presumed terrorist attack accomplished what 9/11 couldn't: killing the city's spirit and draining it of its life force. An enormous bug-like dome hastily constructed to keep toxic gases from escaping the site casts a gloomy pall over the city and serves as a bleak reminder of the tragedy. Deprived of all reason for optimism, New York's inhabitants slowly withdraw from human interaction and into the cold comfort of technology. 

Seventeen-year-old Mal returns to the Brooklyn home of his foster parents one night to discover that his older brother, Tommy, has vanished after leaving a strange message on his phone. Mal launches a search for his brother that leads to a foreboding, seemingly unoccupied Manhattan skyscraper; once inside, he makes a careless mistake that reveals hidden cracks in the surface of the world he knows. Meanwhile, Laura, a high school senior is shaken from her quiet suburban life when her parents inexplicably abandon her and two agents from Homeland Security armed with a hypodermic needle show up at her home. 

The two teenagers are thrown together with a cynical and bitter highschool teacher named Mike, and Jon Remak, a covert agent for a shadowy cooperative. The strangers share little in common, save for one terrifying fact: someone or something has wiped them from the memories of every single person the four have ever known. Only by working together can Mal and Laura hope to reclaim a past that was stolen from them--and start a future no one can take away.



Initial Thoughts: The cover for this one is amazing- creepy and mysterious. The blurb is even better. Two teens who are forgotten by everyone they know? Amazing! Where will they go? How will they find each other? How can you give back memories once they're taken away? How were they taken away in the first place?! I was really excited to start this one.


Review: The intro was amazing. I loved Mal from the start. I was drawn immediately into the story by the first paragraph and remained immersed until the end of Mal's POV. The only problem? The other characters weren't nearly as interesting. Laura is your typical over-achieving rich girl. I didn't like her as a person, but I could see right off that she would make an excellent candidate for Total Life Destruction. Someone who is obsessed with the details, with everything being perfect, is probably not going to handle having everyone forget her very well. The more I read, the more I enjoyed her story, but Mal remained #1 in my heart. The other characters were interesting enough, but not really engaging.

Things get going pretty quickly. We're introduced to the characters right before (or right as) their worlds start to fall apart. From there on out, it's pretty action packed. The only slow bits are the sometimes overly detailed conversations. Sometimes the story gets bogged down in the characters' thoughtful debates and somewhat preachy speeches about what they should do. The mystery of Who and Why isn't immediately obvious and the villain ends up being a lot scarier because of the Technology-Run-Amok angle. In a world where everything is done online, everyone is connected all the time, stories like this are becoming more and more possible- and more and more terrifying.

I really enjoyed the book, although I wish that we'd gotten to see more character development. Once we'd been introduced to the characters, they sort of faded to the background, letting the story take center stage. Since everything happened fairly quickly, this makes sense, but I would have liked to have seen more of the relationships' development, instead of skipping over it.


Quick Review: This was a thoroughly engrossing, creepy sci-fi thriller. The first few chapters were amazing, the middle got a bit bogged down, and then everything ended with a bang. I would have liked to have spent more time with the characters, but the fast pace made the characters take back burner to the story. I would definitely recommend this to fans of futuristic stories, but don't expect romance to be a big part of the story.

Across the Universe: A Review Posted by Tiffany at 6:22 PM

Title: Across the Universe

Author: Beth Revis

Published: January 11th 2011 by Razorbill

Pages: 398

Price: Amazon $10.48, Book Depository $9.67

Source: Bought

Rating: 4.5/5

Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

Initial Thoughts: I was very excited to read this. It sounded like a really interesting idea, and it was played up a lot around the web.

Review: I read this book within two days. It would have been faster, but I happen to be held back by my need for sleep and education. (In fact, those things tend to shove their noses in my business far too often.) From the first page, I was drawn in. It was a nice change, because lately I've been reading only books that are sub-par. Also, I heard somewhere that there would be a sequel.

At first, the characters seemed kind of average. They seemed like real people, but not exactly anything terribly interesting. When they actually met, I felt like their interaction was pretty great. Amy turned out to be pretty hilarious after she had been frozen for oh-so-many years. I felt like before she was kind of bland, but it could just be that we didn't see enough of her to really know.

I loved the way that it switched perspectives. You see this a lot in books, I know, but it really seemed to fit in this book. The summary makes it seem like it's mostly about Amy, but I think the focus was more on Elder and the community on the ship. The mysteries were really crazy - I really had no clue what happened until the last twenty pages. It might be because I have a tendency to assume the obvious.

The story itself was really interesting. It had more of a science-fiction feel than the fantasy that's popular with the kids these days, and I for one am glad. The "girl falls in love with vampire/werewolf/zombie/faerie/some other mythological creature" thing was getting kind of old. I would really love to see more science fiction young adult books out there.

Quick Review: This book was a nice change of pace from your average vampire romance young adult novel. The characters and plot were very well done. I definitely recommend it to anyone with functioning eyes or a device with which to listen to audio books. And I know this article claims to be written by Tiffany, but don't be deceived - I, Michaela, wrote this. I was just not signed in at the time.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver: Review Posted by Tiffany at 2:15 PM

Title: Delirium
Author: Lauren Oliver (site)
Will Be Published: Feb 1st, 2011 by HarperTeen 
Pages: 440
Preorder: $12.14 Amazon $13.49 Book Depository
Series: Delirium #1
Source: NetGalley
Rating: 4.5/5
Synopsis: Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that once love - the deliria - blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the governments demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holoway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy. 
But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: She falls in love. (Goodreads)



Initial Thoughts: Anyone who reads book review blogs will have heard about this one a long time ago. Everyone is cured of love once they reach adulthood- how creepy is that? I've been so excited for it to come out. I couldn't believe it when I saw it on NetGalley! I snapped it right up and devoured it in a day and a half.


Review: Delirium was a wonderful read. I've read several reviews that were critical of the premise: "There's no way that a huge section of the population would opt for a lobotomy." I would like to point out that stranger things have happened. People will go to great lengths to avoid pain and love causes a lot of people a lot of pain. If there was a way to be happy with your place in life forever, I think that it might be a very tempting course of action. You find out that your husband of 10 years has been having an affair with your sister and then you see an ad on tv for a procedure that will take all of the pain away? There are tons of people that would go for that. Once enough of them have had the procedure, taking emotion out of the equation, it's a small jump to forcing it on everyone else. I'm not saying that I think it's likely, but I can see enough of a possibility to make the book scary.

The writing was beautiful. Everything flowed so smoothly, carrying the reader effortlessly along. I read this one in about two sittings, without even realizing how long I'd been at it. I've never read anything else by Oliver, mostly because it's outside of my preferred genres, but I'll be on the lookout for it now. The story was a bit obvious. You know pretty much from the start what's going to happen, although it takes Lena a long time to break through a lifetime of programming. The family situation that she finds herself in was very interesting. Her mother has left a stain on the family that won't wipe away. Having any family member be touched by love is a major stigma in this society. At one point we're hearing about a time in Lena's childhood where she was injured and her mother was comforting her at a park. Because she was showing affection, another mom hissed, "You should be ashamed" and stomped away with her child. There was a wonderful little surprise towards the end that left me dying to know more, but the most memorable part of the book was the ending. Good lord, that ending! I had to reread it. I was completely stunned. Everything happened so fast! Saying anything more would ruin it for you, and I don't want to ruin the experience. I loved this book. There are a few flaws here and there, but I just sat back and enjoyed the ride.


Quick Review: Delirium was a scary look at where our fear of pain could lead us. The characters were believable and engaging, the writing beautiful. I would recommend this to anyone who liked Dystopian or YA in general.

World War Z by Max Brooks: Review Posted by Tiffany at 7:11 PM

Title: World War Z
Author: Max Brooks (site)
Published: October 16, 2007 by Three Rivers Press
Pages: 352 (Paperback)
Price: $9.99 Book Depository $10.17 Amazon
Rating: 5/5
Synopsis: The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years. 

Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War. 

Most of all, the book captures with haunting immediacy the human dimension of this epochal event. Facing the often raw and vivid nature of these personal accounts requires a degree of courage on the part of the reader, but the effort is invaluable because, as Mr. Brooks says in his introduction, "By excluding the human factor, aren't we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn't the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as 'the living dead'?" 

Note: Some of the numerical and factual material contained in this edition was previously published under the auspices of the United Nations Postwar Commission. (Goodreads)

Initial Thoughts: I almost didn't pick this book up, mostly because the whole zombie element is a bit played down on the cover. However, after reading the small text, I couldn't wait to get started. A first-person account of the zombie apocalypse? With witnesses from all over the world? Written as a serious 'documentary' by the son of Mel Brooks? Yes, please!


Review: The first thing that surprised me about this book was how scary it was. One of the best things about zombie movies is that there's always some comedy mixed it, mostly unintentional. (The exception being those fast ones in 28 Days Later, so freakin' scary) I generally avoid Horror novels, due to my overactive imagination. I'm one of those people who become completely immersed in what they're reading. It takes me a while to disconnect from a good book. Needless to say, there was much contemplation of my home's defensibility and my odds of making it to the car and getting out of the neighborhood if a zombie horde started smashing in. (Not great; big window in the living room near the garage door, bedroom all the way upstairs.) If I'd really thought this through, I'd have realized that my imagination wouldn't add in funny zombie hijinks, it would take the tone of the novel and amplify it. The fact that I had to run to my car and lock the doors real fast when I left the house is an indicator of how thoroughly engrossing this novel was. It's written seriously, with reports from everywhere. The cultural information is the book is amazing. He must have done a heck of a lot of research. I enjoyed reading about the different cultures as much as the zombies. It really felt like I was reading the accounts of WWZ survivors. There were snapshots of both military and civilian experiences, starting in China where the zombies originated and ending on the sea, where most of the survivors were. The stories didn't all connect together, giving it a more realistic feel. It wasn't until about halfway through the novel that you began to see the overall story come together. I loved the different ways the governments responded; this guy has spent a LOT of time contemplating the ramifications of a Zombie Apocalypse.


Quick Review: World War Z a creepy and realistic read. The civilian stories were heartbreaking, the military accounts sometimes cold and clinical, and the overall feel was very realistic and terrifying. You'll definitely think about coming up with a Zombie Emergency Plan.

Also By This Author:

On Deck: World War Z by Max Brooks Posted by Tiffany at 7:25 PM

So far, I absolutely love this book. It's not YA, but it is (so far) not anything that would be completely inappropriate for YA readers. I'm really surprised by this one. I thought it would be your typical zombie apocalypse survival story, but it feels very much like the documentary that it's supposed to be. The journalist has stayed out of the story so far, every character is different (no convenient links between each one), and the snapshots we're given of the different cultures and their different reactions feel really authentic. I can't believe how much I'm learning about other countries. This has been optioned for a movie, but it would be AMAZING as a TV series, with each episode being a different character and story. Review coming soon.

On Deck: Ruined by Paula Morris Posted by Tiffany at 6:49 PM

"Rebecca couldn't feel more out of place in New Orleans, where she comes to spend the year while her dad is traveling. She's staying in a creepy old house with her aunt. And at the snooty prep school, the filthy-rich girls treat Rebecca like she's invisible. Only gorgeous, unavailable Anton Grey seems to give Rebecca the time of day, but she wonders if he's got a hidden agenda. Then one night, in Lafayette Cemetery, Rebecca makes a friend. Sweet, mysterious Lisette is eager to talk to Rebecca, and to show her the nooks and crannies of the city. There's just one catch: Lisette is a ghost. 

A ghost with a deep, dark secret, and a serious score to settle. 

As Rebecca learns more from her ghost friend -- and as she slowly learns to trust Anton Grey -- she also uncovers startling truths about her own history. Will Rebecca be able to right the wrongs of the past, or has everything been ruined beyond repair?" (Goodreads)

I love the cover for this book! I'm excited about the setting too: I love books set in the south, and New Orleans is so romantic. The private school with snooty girls thing has been done to death, but I'm hoping the focus is more on the angry ghost. Review coming soon!

Holidays Are Hell: Review Posted by Tiffany at 6:38 PM

Title: Holidays Are Hell

Author: Kim Harrison, Lynsay Sands, Vicki Pettersson, Marjorie M. Liu

Publisher: Harper

Pages: 384

Price: $7.19 (B&N) $7.99 (Amazon) $7.99 (Borders)

Rating: 3/5

Synopsis: This holiday, spend quality time with family and loved ones—living and dead... There's no place like home for the horrordays—unless you'd prefer a romantic midnight walk through a ghost-infested graveyard... or a haunted house candlelight dinner with the sexy vampire of your dreams. The (black) magical season is here—and whether it's a solstice séance gone demonically wrong with the incomparable Kim Harrison, a grossly misshapen Christmas with the remarkable Lynsay Sands, a blood-chilling-and-spilling New Year's with the wonderful Marjorie M. Liu, or a super-powered Thanksgiving with the phenomenal Vicki Pettersson, one thing is for certain: in the able hands of these exceptional dark side explorers, the holidays are going to be deliciously hellish! (Goodreads)

Initial Thoughts: I started a similiar anthology, Never After a while ago and couldn't finish it, so I was a bit wary of Holidays are Hell, but I like Kim Harrison, so I figured I'd at least enjoy one of the stories.

Review: It was much better than the other anthology, but not great. I wouldn't say that I wasted my time reading it, but I won't be rushing out to recommend it to anyone. Since each author was different, I'll do it by story.

"Two Ghosts For Sister Rachel" by Kim Harrison was my second-favorite. A young witch wants to join the IS (like a supernatural FBI) but her brother/guardian thinks it's a bad idea due to the lasting effects of a childhood illness. They decide to summon the ghost of her father and let him decide whether or not she can join. Fans of Kim Harrison's Hollows series will enjoy this prequel. It's interesting to see what Rachel was like before she became- well, I won't spoil it. Harrison's writing is very readable and her characters are always a lot of fun. I loved the romantic part of this one, even though it was doomed from the start.  A solid 4/5

"Run, Rudolph, Run" by Lynsay Sands wasn't really supernatural romance so much as it was just romance. The characters were typical romance novel characters and the plot didn't make a lot of sense. A mad scientist uses a weapon on his ex-partner's sister in order to kidnap her and study the effects. First of all, I'd like to know why he didn't kidnap a homeless person or a runaway to experiment on? It would make more sense to find someone who wouldn't be missed. What really bothered me was the conclusion. Their solution could have been used at any point in the story, but they waited until the very last second. A fun story for fans of fluff romance, but it hit the mark for me. 2/5

"Six" by Marjorie M. Liu was by far my favorite story. A woman who has been trained/brainwashed since the age of five to be a 'counterterrorism agent' in China runs into something that she can't explain and gets pulled along on a crazy adventure. This story was darker in tone, with characters that were more kick-ass than adorable klutz, but it was still very much a romance. My favorite thing about this one was the setting, I haven't read much set in modern China, so I found it very interesting. I'd love to see this become a series. 5/6

"The Harvest" by Vicki Pettersson is a prequel to her Zodiac series, which I have not read. A woman tries to rescue her grandchild from a man that she once betrayed. The twist is that he's an evil shadow-thing and she's a superhero who recently gave up her abilities. I think I probably would have enjoyed this more if I'd read some of the other books set in this world. There was way too much background to fit into this story and it just confused the heck out of me. I like the idea of the story and the world it's set in seems interesting, but it was just a bit too much at once. I had trouble finishing it. 2/5

Quick Review: "Two Ghosts" by Kim Harrison, a prequel to her Hollows series, was fun, with a romantic side that was sweet. "Run, Rudolph" by Lynsay Sands was a light romance with some holes, but good for a quick romantic read. "Six" by Marjorie M. Liu was an exciting sci-fi romance set in modern china with strong characters and a satisfying ending. "The Harvest" by Vicki Pettersson, prequel to her Zodiac series, had an interesting premise, but the story got too muddled with all of the explanations and backstory (at least for someone new to her world). I'll have to give it 2.5/5, but it would be better if I'd understood half of what was going on. This anthology is worth a read, but I'd pick it up at the library over buying it (at least for full price).