Top Ten Tuesday: Fall Must-Reads

A warm Whiskey Sours welcome (back) to Top Ten Tuesday! Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish,Top Ten Tuesday is a list-mania meme. This week we are happy to participate and share the books we can't wait to read for the fall. Lets grab those sweaters and pumpkin lattes and get reading! These are all already out, but so what if we are not hip! What are you looking forward to reading?

Goosie Mama:

1 and 2: The Fault in Our Stars and  Looking for Alaska by John Green (DFTBA!) Do we actually even need to explain these two?

3. The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach. A baseball story that got great buzz.

4. Cinder by Marissa Meyer- so she can be up to speed for Scarlet!

Grad Student:

5. The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta. I hear it is awesome. I am hoping for Jelicoe-Road-level greatness.
6. Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson. A retelling of Peter Pan:

"Before Peter Pan belonged to Wendy, he belonged to the girl with the crow feather in her hair. . . ."

and Crazy Camper continues to love Vampire Academy:

7 and 8: Bloodlines and The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead

Review: Timepiece by Myra McEntire

I devoured the second book in the Hourglass series by Myra McEntire, Timepiece. KALEB! Yes!  Sometimes sequels spin their wheels, but Timepiece rocked. Plot was forwarded, characters grew, and, most importantly, we got more Kaleb. He is a 110% attractive dude.

A threat from the past could destroy the future. And the clock is ticking...

Kaleb Ballard's relentless flirting is interrupted when Jack Landers, the man who tried to murder his father, timeslips in and attacks before disappearing just as quickly. But Kaleb has never before been able to see time travelers, unlike many of his friends associated with the mysterious Hourglass organization. Are Kaleb's powers expanding, or is something very wrong?

Then the Hourglass is issued an ultimatum. Either they find Jack and the research he's stolen on the time gene, or time will be altered with devastating results.  Now Kaleb, Emerson, Michael, and the other Hourglass recruits have no choice but to use their unusual powers to find Jack. But where do they even start? And when? And even if they succeed, it may not be enough...(GoodReads).

•  Originality: 4. As the back of my copy says, this is Dr. Who packaged for young adults. But why does time travel have to be so darn complicated!? This score might reflect my brain’s inability to deal with time travel pseudo-science.
• Absurdity:  7. Time travel is absurd, no matter how you slice it. If my future self ran into my past self they would agree on this. And potentially make the world implode.
• Level of Paranormal Romance: 6. Kaleb and Lily can paranormally mess with time, but most of these points go to the incredibly attractive Kaleb and the evolution of how he feels about Lily. Feelings and hotness –combined! When he wanted to tackle her for being so good looking WHILE READING I was done for. Not to mention it was a relief to get away from the gooey insta-love of Michael and Emerson from Hourglass.
• Level of Harry-Potter-ness: 3. Kaleb would make HP blush. A lot. He is a bad boy (tattoos and muscles and sexy times…wait, what was I talking about?). But I applaud McEntire for so authentically capturing a different character’s voice from Emerson’s POV in book one.

I would like to take this time to apologize to the next library patron who reads this. I took it to the beach. But the need to know what happened rivaled my need for a tan. I swear I really shook the book out before I returned it!

Review: Partials by Dan Wells

The human race is all but extinct after a war with Partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the population. Reduced to only tens of thousands by RM, a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island while the Partials have mysteriously retreated. The threat of the Partials is still imminent, but, worse, no baby has been born immune to RM in more than a decade. Our time is running out.

Kira, a sixteen-year-old medic-in-training, is on the front lines of this battle, seeing RM ravage the community while mandatory pregnancy laws have pushed what's left of humanity to the brink of civil war, and she's not content to stand by and watch. But as she makes a desperate decision to save the last of her race, she will find that the survival of humans and Partials alike rests in her attempts to uncover the connections between them—connections that humanity has forgotten, or perhaps never even knew were there. (GoodReads)

Partials by Dan Wells takes readers on a pulsepounding journey into a world where the very concept of what it means to be human is in question—one where our humanity is both our greatest liability and our only hope for survival.

First things first. When I went to Google "partials" in order to add an image of the book cover to this post, I ended up with a lot of images of teeth. No seriously. Go ahead and try it. You will likely find this gentlemen who now has a dazzling smile thanks to these partial mandible implant/dentures:

Yay for him.

Next, I'm probably going to get hammered for this, but I was not a fan of this book. It was slooooooow and it was set in Long Isssssland (East Meadow to be exact, and since my dad was born and raised there, I am allowed to act judgy in this post). Not to mention, aside from being generally ridiculous (a camel in an abandoned mansion? Huh? How is this relevant?) this story was all about saving the human race (yawn) and there was no young adult romance! Boo!

• Orginality: 7 - okay, I'll give credit where credit is due, the premise is orginal. So I guess you could say what it lacks in pace, it makes up for in the unique idea that there are No. More. Babies! Boo.
• Absurdity:  7 - Dan Wells really stuck to his science fiction/dystopian angle and never wavered. You guys. I record the Kardashians on my DVR. I cannot survive on SciFi alone! That being said, if I ever lived in a society where the government told me I had to have a baby, every year starting from age 16 (yeah, I know), hmmm, I'd quit that fast!
• Level of Paranormal Romance: -5; So it seemed like at times that Mr. Wells was setting this up to have a romantic love triangle or googly eyed love affair. But as soon as you had a glimmer of hope that there would be some innocent hand-holding, I don't know, the whole "all the babies are dying, oh man!" thing took over and put the kibosh on it.
• Level of Harry Potterness: 3 - I can sum this up briefly (unlike the book): it was verbose to a fault. 

Okay, so now I want to know: what are your thoughts on this book?
(PS Grad Student liked this book a whole lot. See her review for another POV)

Waiting on Wednesday: One Part Sci-Fi, One Part Biography

Today here at Young Adult Fiction and Whiskey Sours we are participating in Waiting on Wednesday. WoW is hosted by Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases we can't wait to read. This WoW comes in two parts that are polar opposites. Hey, we really will read anything that isn't tied down!

Part 1 is a nod to my childhood love of sci-fi. Level 2 by Lenore Appelhans has been blowing up across book blogs, and I finally got around to looking into it. I then promptly realized I heard Lenore speak this spring and remembered that THIS BOOK SOUNDS AWESOME! Someone please remind me again in January when it comes out that I totally want to read it. :-)

In this gripping exploration of a futuristic afterlife, a teen discovers that death is just the beginning. Since her untimely death the day before her eighteenth birthday, Felicia Ward has been trapped in Level 2, a stark white afterlife located between our world and the next. Along with her fellow drones, Felicia passes the endless hours reliving memories of her time on Earth and mourning what she’s lost—family, friends, and Neil, the boy she loved.

Then a girl in a neighboring chamber is found dead, and nobody but Felicia recalls that she existed in the first place. When Julian—a dangerously charming guy Felicia knew in life—comes to offer Felicia a way out, Felicia learns the truth: If she joins the rebellion to overthrow the Morati, the angel guardians of Level 2, she can be with Neil again.

Suspended between Heaven and Earth, Felicia finds herself at the center of an age-old struggle between good and evil. As memories from her life come back to haunt her, and as the Morati hunt her down, Felicia will discover it’s not just her own redemption at stake… but the salvation of all mankind (GoodReads).

Part 2 goes out to all lovers of the wild Gothic stories of the Bronte sisters! Cheers to classic lit!

I also want to read The Brontes by Juliet Barker. The Brontes is a new edition of Barker's acclaimed 1994 family biography. Thanks to my favorite book website, NPR, for pointing the way to this book! I have always been fascinated by the Bronte sisters, and with a tagline like that, this book sounds like it will not disappoint.

"Wild genius on the moors"? YES, PLEASE.

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Confessions

Happy Tuesday, book blog world! Today's Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by the truly awesome The Broke and the Bookish, is dedicated to Bookish Confessions. Our book habits include, but are not limited to:

1. Dog-eared reads. Sometimes I dog-ear my library books. FOR SHAME. I try to remember not to, I swear it is accidental. As a result I have bookmarks everywhere to keep the dog-earing at bay. Crazy Camper and I send each other lots of postcards. Hers usually have camping/rock climbing trip vistas. My fave are the free ones restaurants give with the bill. I make everyone at the table sign it, add a "Hello! Life is treating us well" type of comment, and send it her way. Sometimes they are worse for the wear due to pasta sauce/margaritas, but still better than dog-eared pages.

Oh wait, did we get out the e-reader to photo bomb vacation?Yes.
That is a Kindle and a thumbs up.
We thought it was HILARIOUS.  This is confession-worthy ridiculous.

2. E-book snobbery. Goosie Mama will only read a book if it can be delivered electronically. I, on the other hand, go to the library at least once a week to pick up a hard copy.

3. Anxiety reading. "I "anxiety read" when I know I have a book that's about to expire and I Have. To. Finish. It's a combo of skimming, nail biting, re-reading because I've skimmed and I forgot what happens, and, finally, just skipping to the end."- Goosie Mama

4. Looking for love. I am not above randomly skimming a book to find a romantic encounter. In fact I have even stooped as low as searching on my nook for romantic-encounter key words. OPPS. I actually put down Incarceron by Catherine Fisher when no kisses showed up. Please, can a girl get a good romantic side plot up in here?

5. Sandy reads. I take library books to the beach. THIS IS TERRIBLE TO DO TO THE NEXT READER. Getting a lap full of sand from a library book is the worst. But you need your book at the beach, and I can't seem to stop myself.

What are your bookish confessions?

Review: Rapture by Lauren Kate

The sky is dark with wings . . . .

 
Like sand in an hourglass, time is running out for Luce and Daniel. To stop Lucifer from erasing the past they must find the place where the angels fell to earth. Dark forces are after them, and Daniel doesn’t know if he can do this—live only to lose Luce again and again.

Yet together they will face an epic battle that will end with lifeless bodies . . . and angel dust. Great sacrifices are made. Hearts are destroyed. And suddenly Luce knows what must happen. For she was meant to be with someone other than Daniel. The curse they’ve borne has always and only been about her—and the love she cast aside. The choice she makes now will be the only one that truly matters.

In the fight for Luce, who will win? The astonishing conclusion to the FALLEN series. Heaven can’t wait any longer. (GoodReads)

FRIENDS I ALMOST DIDN’T MAKE IT through Rapture by Lauren Kate. Fallen was gothic and spooky, but since then this series jumped the rails and went to Crazy-Insipid-Love town. And if you check out our Review Criteria, Fallen partially INSPIRED this blog. GULP. I felt I had a duty to finish this series, esp. since Goosie Mama took one for the team and reviewed Torment  AND Passion (click for her hilarious reviews). In lieu of the four normal categories of analysis, I am going to focus on the two most applicable: Absurdity and Level of Paranormal Romance.

Absurdity: 100+. Did you know you don’t need to breathe under water if you snorkel with an angel? True fact. And being a girl totally dependent on a guy is totally OK (WHAAAAAATT we are not even going there).

Level of Paranormal Romance: 100+. You cannot compare with book 3 Passion’s multi-incarnation love affairs, but highlights of cray-cray love include:

• Gratuitous feather petting
• A love triangle with the devil (that is not a euphemism)
• This quote: “What does my soul look like to you?' 'I couldn't reduce it to words if I tried, but its beauty is unsurpassed.” 
• And this quote: “Was their love worth the erasure of the world and all its stories?” Luce and Daniel think yes, but if you ask me, no. But maybe this floats the boats of 17 year-old girls who have not yet realized that growing out of love can be a good thing.

I have to admit that I don’t know what happens to Cam. I literally had to skim to the end to save my sanity, and I apparently missed the resolution of his story line. I am assuming he was also in love with Luce. ‘Cause that’s the type of series this is, all Bella-Swan irresistible etc. BUT for full disclosure, I found the last chapter kinda cute. I mean, it cannot make up for the crazy that was books 2-4, but it was a cute way to end the series at least!

In Which We Share a Good Laugh (and Vaca)

Just when you have spent too much time Googling The Fault in Our Stars quotes (and sharing them with your sister via gchat) and think you might start tearing up, this comes along.....Huzzah! Laughter!

(source)


In other news, I am on VACATION. Here is evidence of this-- me, A Brief History of Montmaray by Michelle Cooper (looovvvee) and Rhode Island's beautiful beaches. Crazy Camper was here last weekend, Goosie Mama is on her way AT THIS VERY MOMENT. Huzzah encore!

Hope you have a happy late-summer weekend reading/playing somewhere awesome-thank goodness it is Friday!

Review: Unbreak My Heart by Melissa C. Walker

Sophomore year broke Clementine Williams’ heart. She fell for her best friend’s boyfriend and long story short: he’s excused, but Clem is vilified and she heads into summer with zero social life. Enter her parents’ plan to spend the summer on their sailboat. Normally the idea of being stuck on a tiny boat with her parents and little sister would make Clem break out in hives, but floating away sounds pretty good right now. Then she meets James at one of their first stops along the river. He and his dad are sailing for the summer and he’s just the distraction Clem needs. Can he break down Clem’s walls and heal her broken heart? (Good Reads)

Unbreak My Heart by Melissa C. Walker proves I am old, since the first thing that comes to mind is Toni Braxton, not YA fiction. Nonetheless, this was a VERY easy beachy read. It  seems to aim at the 14-year-old set......but hey I still read and liked it fine. The highlights include an adorable little sister Olive. I hate precocious kiddos, but Olive is wise beyond her years and cutely silly. Mom and dad are super, too! Yay for happy families in YA fiction!. 

• Originality: 6. I like the idea of sailing from port to port and running into the same characters.  But in New England we don't call them boat people.... They are sailors. I grew up sailing, so I found this weird. 
• Absurdity: 2. I 100% buy the story of Clem's bad choices and the resulting condemnation (and boys being excused). High school is hard.
• Level of Paranormal Romance: 5. Cute boy helps girl struggling with who she is become happy again. James, aka Joe-Fontaine-lite, is a charming, quick-witted redhead who is nice to old ladies and kid sisters. Adorbs!
• Level of Harry-Potter-ness: 3 for writing style. Flashbacks jogged by letters she tries to write her BFF or ex-BFF the explain the year that broke Clem's heart. As the story goes we figure out the root of Clem's self-loathing (although it is obvious from the get go). This format is nicely done.

The moral of this story: I am supremely glad that they did NOT have Facebook when I was in high school. Emo away messages via song quotes on AIM was bad enough. FB sounds truly miserable.

A cheers of our whiskey sours, as always, to Jandy Nelson and The Sky is Everywhere for creating Joe Fontaine, the leader of the dreamy YA love interests! (Goosie Mama's review and my review).

Waiting on Wednesday: Linked by Imogen Howson aka TWIN EDITION

Happy Waiting on Wednesday, folks! A big thanks to Jill at Breaking the Spine for hosting WoW, a weekly meme that showcases upcoming releases we can't wait to read.

This week's WoW here at YAF & WS is about TWINS. Since Crazy Camper and I are twins, I am always drawn to twin stories -- even, yes it is true, The Lying Game on ABC Family. (Luckily, I got out of that vortex at the end of last summer. But it was serious for a while). Linked by Imogen Howson has twins mixed with sci-fi for the win!

Elissa used to have it all: looks, popularity, and a bright future. But for the last three years, she’s been struggling with terrifying visions, phantom pains, and mysterious bruises that appear out of nowhere. Finally, she’s promised a cure: minor surgery to burn out the overactive area of her brain. But on the eve of the procedure, she discovers the shocking truth behind her hallucinations: she’s been seeing the world through another girl’s eyes.

Elissa follows her visions, and finds a battered, broken girl on the run. A girl—Lin—who looks exactly like Elissa, down to the matching bruises. The twin sister she never knew existed. Now, Elissa and Lin are on the run from a government who will stop at nothing to reclaim Lin and protect the dangerous secrets she could expose—secrets that would shake the very foundation of their world.

Riveting, thought-provoking and utterly compelling, Linked will make you question what it really means to be human (GoodReads).

Top Ten Tuesday: Fave Reads of Young Adult Fiction and Whiskey Sours

Happy Top Ten Tuesday, blog world! We love TTT (and The Broke and the Bookish for hosting it.) This week's list-mania is devoted to the Top Ten Books Read During the Lifespan of Your Blog. Now YAF & WS is still growing up, so our ultimate top ten is still in formation, but here are the books that we have spent the most time loving/discussing as a group. It is a big sign when not one of us but all of us read the same book.

1. The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson. BAT BAT. BAT. I had to buy a copy to have on hand, just in case.
2. Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta. Ditto on wanting to own a copy.
3. Strange Angels by Lili St. Crow. I just gifted Crazy Camper this book this weekend. I love it that much!
4. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. Crazy Camper peer-pressured me into buying this one -- she literally cannot stop talking about how great Rose is.
5. Divergent by Veronica Roth. Our debates on this have been epic, but Goosie Mama truly stands behind this read.
6. Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore. Crazy Camper and I enjoyed the heck out of this cowboy story. Will it stay on the ultimate top ten forever? Who knows, but it was a lot of fun.
7. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. It instantly feels timeless.

Check out our reviews for Texas Gothic, Strange Angels, The Scorpio Races, Vampire Academy, Jellicoe Road and both  Goosie Mama's Review and my review of The Sky is Everywhere and my review and Goosie Mama’s review for Divergent!