Book Review: Survive the Night - Danielle Vega

Title: Survive the Night
Author: Danielle Vega
Pub Date: July 7th, 2015
Publisher: Razorbill
Page Count: 272

We're all gonna die down here. . . .

Julie lies dead and disemboweled in a dank, black subway tunnel, red-eyed rats nibbling at her fingers. Her friends think she’s just off with some guy—no one could hear her getting torn apart over the sound of pulsing music.

In a tunnel nearby, Casey regrets coming to Survive the Night, the all-night underground rave in the New York City subway. Her best friend Shana talked her into it, even though Casey just got out of rehab. Alone and lost in the dark, creepy tunnels, Casey doesn’t think Survive the Night could get any worse . . .
              
. . . until she comes across Julie’s body, and the party turns deadly.

Desperate for help, Casey and her friends find themselves running through the putrid subway system, searching for a way out. But every manhole is sealed shut, and every noise echoes eerily in the dark, reminding them they’re not alone.

They’re being hunted.
              
Trapped underground with someone—or something—out to get them, Casey can’t help but listen to her friend’s terrified refrain: “We’re all gonna die down here. . . .” in this bone-chilling sophmore novel by the acclaimed author of The Merciless.

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Survive the Night is like a 2000's horror movie except the movie would've scared me. The book just bored me. - Nova @ Out of Time

Unfortunately, when it comes to books being scary, it just doesn't happen. I don't have much of an imagination and there's a difference between describing gore and seeing it. One makes me roll my eyes, the other turns my face green. This book just really relied on the gore for some reason. There was never really much logic in the scare either. It's about some kind of monster in the sewers but there's no explanation. It also felt like no one else but the group in the book was affected, which doesn't make sense. Really, if there's been a monster down there, why hasn't anyone ever gotten hurt? Why is it only choosing the Survive the Night night to strike? There were descriptions - lots of them, and unfortunately, they took precedence above the actual plot.

Survive the Night is about Casey who's just come back from rehab. She goes to a birthday party from what feels like some of her straight-edge friends. In the middle, it's crashed by some other people who are Caseys druggie friends. I had such a bad feeling about this but for some reason, Casey chose to go with them. THE GIRL JUST GOT BACK FROM REHAB and now she wants to do something that could potentially get her back in?

That should've been the first warning.

Things only went down from there. It really did play out like a horror movie trope. Dark setting? Check. No escape? Check. A monster that isn't explained - we're just supposed to roll with it? Check. Oh, an old flame to raise tensions and romance? *angrily checks* I really shouldn't have found much reason to like it but I did.

It was a pretty short read and I breezed through this one. I think it's the simplicity of the reading style and how I was able to skim because a lot of it was description anyway. I found myself kind of liking parts of it. Before I knew it, it was done anyway.

What I kind of felt bad for was Shana. She's the character who works on her own agenda. She seemed very selfish in the beginning. I mean, she drugged Casey for "fun" purposes. I was pretty sickened by how awful she was. However, when things got real, she kind of smartened up and got more serious. By the ending, it almost seemed like she'd turned a new leaf. In a way, it was Shana's fault and I think she blamed herself. The ability to feel something for a character worked in my favor because it meant that I liked the book that much more.

While I found this one really flat and kind of boring, I couldn't help but read it and go through it quickly. If you're looking for a quick read with descriptions of gore that make you nostalgic for those 2000's horror movies, this would be it.

Danielle's Goodreads | Twitter | Website

Danielle Vega spent her childhood hiding under the covers while her mother retold tales from the pages of Stephen King novels. Now an adult, she can count on one hand the number of times in her life she's been truly afraid. Danielle has won numerous awards for her fiction and nonfiction, and earned a 2009 Pushcart Prize nomination for her short story “Drive.” She lives in Brooklyn.

 

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Book Review: Velvet - Temple West

Title: Velvet
Author: Temple West
Pub Date: May 15th, 2015
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Page Count: 416

First rule of dealing with hot vampire bodyguards? Don't fall in love.

After losing both her parents before age seventeen, aspiring designer Caitlin Holte feels like her whole world has been turned upside down, and that was before the terrifying encounter with a supernatural force. Then, she learns that her hot bad-boy neighbor, Adrian—who might have just saved her life—is actually a half-demon vampire.

Suddenly Caitlin is stuck with a vampire bodyguard who feels that the best way to protect her is to become her pretend boyfriend. Trouble is, Caitlin is starting to fall in love for real, while Adrian can never love a human. Caitlin trusts Adrian to keep her safe from his demon father, but will he be able to protect her heart?

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I shouldn't have liked this. But I did and I don't know what to do with myself. - Nova @ Out of Time

When I first heard of Velvet, I was like, "Okay, this sounds like it's going to be full of tropes and ick... LET ME READ IT." Call it curiosity or stupidity but I read it. And heck yeah, my first impression of it was bang on. But in my opinion, this isn't nearly the negative review that I thought I was going to write.

Let me introduce you to a concept I call Gossip Girl Syndrome. I like to tell a bunch of people that Gossip Girl is one of my favorite shows. Gossip Girl Syndrome relates to liking something for some unexplainable reason even though the thing in question is unignorably horrible and full of flaws. Haha, that's probably why The Kardashians are still current. This book gave me Gossip Girl Syndrome. For a quarter of the book, I enjoyed the pointless banter and the garbage that came out of some of the characters' mouth.

How many problems can you spot in that sentence?

First off, the main character bounces between sensible, angry and desperate. I didn't like her at all but since she pretty much sat on her butt the whole time, if this book were about a diamond heist, she would be the diamond. So my feelings towards her, even though she was the main character, were pretty irrelevant.
However, the male lead was pretty much the opposite. I liked Adrian. He wasn't as creepy as some of the summary made him sound. He just gave off a "nice guy" vibe and was less possessive than some of the characters I've seen in this kind of story. I didn't swoon hard because I'm more for bad guys than nice ones, but I can't deny that I loved his personality.

What was really fun was the writing! There were lots of great lines between Caitlin and Adrian and the dialogue really shone through this book. Temple West can write; the only reason this book isn't getting a positive rating is because of what I think was the most important part of the book: the plot.

The plot had... nothing. I didn't feel anything that sets this book apart from any other YA. I wouldn't go as far as to call it a Twilight Rip-Off, even though there were multiple scenes that had a pretty good parallel. My problem was that there was never really a point to the novel. It was about a vampire bodyguard protecting this girl from an evil entity. And for me, I predicted the final showdown upfront because it's been done. Funny enough, it was what happened in Twilight.
Most of this book was banter between Caitlin and Adrian without any real romance. I liked them better as friends. Adrian had swoony moments but with Caitlin, they were like those friendship goals you only see on TV and that worked fine with me.

Overall, this book has a really pointless plot. If you're looking for something that'll give you Gossip Girl Syndrome, you might want to check it out. If you're just into some fluff to pass the time, I would also recommend this! However, if you're looking for a badass main character and some epic proportions, you probably want to pass on this one.

Temple's Goodreads | Instagram | Twitter | Website

Temple West, debut author of the YA paranormal romance Velvet, is as nerdy in real life as she is on the Twitter. Armed with a very shiny English degree, she spent four months in Oxford holed up at the Radcliffe Camera amongst the hush of ancient books and the rich musk of academia. Returning to Los Angeles, she acquired a concurrent degree in film, mostly as an excuse to write essays about The Princess Bride and Hook. She can sew (poorly), drive stick (please fasten your seatbelt), and mostly lift her feet off the ground while stuttering into first gear on a very small motorcycle. She currently lives in Seattle and is the proud mother to a one-year-old laptop and a vintage Remington typewriter.

 

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ARC Review: The Truth About Us - Janet Gurtler

Title: The Truth About Us
Author: Janet Gurtler
Pub Date: April 7th, 2015
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Page Count: 320

A powerful and gripping contemporary YA from the author of I'm Not Her that's "Just right for fans of Sarah Dessen and Jodi Picoult."-Booklist

The truth is that Jess knows she screwed up.
She's made mistakes, betrayed her best friend, and now she's paying for it. Her dad is making her spend the whole summer volunteering at the local soup kitchen.

The truth is she wishes she was the care-free party-girl everyone thinks she is.
She pretends it's all fine. That her "perfect" family is fine. But it's not. And no one notices the lie...until she meets Flynn. He's the only one who really sees her. The only one who listens.

The truth is that Jess is falling apart – and no one seems to care.
But Flynn is the definition of "the wrong side of the tracks." When Jess's parents look at him they only see the differences-not how much they need each other. They don't get that the person who shouldn't fit in your world... might just be the one to make you feel like you belong.

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[The Truth About Us] is a book that had a lot of potential but instead, featured a slew of cliches and an ending that personally, didn't agree with me. - Nova @ Out of Time

Everything about The Truth About Us should've agreed with me. The messed up girl who needs to fix herself with a bad boy. This screamed "Nova." And for a while, it did reach my expectations but then things only went downhill from there. Suddenly things went from my favorite topics to my ultimate pet peeves.

Firstly, this book had so many cliches. It hurt. I don't mind messed up girl and bad boy cliches. They're in a lot of books I read and I'm always surprised at how originally they can be written. Plus, I expected those ones. What I didn't expect was the bad boy gets caught with another girl and then finds a way to make it up to the main character almost instantly cliche. I've seen this on teen writing websites all the time. You hear that? It's a cliche that teen girls have adopted into most of their stories and never have I seen it in published books before. I really hoped it would stay that way.
There were a lot more cliches, but they all involve spoiler so I'll hold my tongue.

Something else was how much I hated the characters for their treatment of the main character and how, in the end, she didn't mind. It's like she's got a kick me sign on her back or maybe she's just apathetic about everything. Her father's a jerk, her boss did some pretty horrible things and even the person she claims she "loves" had serious issues with me. But no, she loves them anyway and even though her relationships are a trainwreck, there still happens to be a happy ending.

However, despite all of this, it wasn't hard at all to finish this book. There was flowing writing that made things move along without fast forwards or drags. I liked about a quarter of it before things started unraveling for me. In a strange way, I even like the main character a little. Despite her heavy ignorance and what I think is stupidity, she's very dynamic and I definitely sensed a change in her character by the end.

Overall, the reason why it's getting a low review is because this book isn't memorable for me. I didn't find it interesting or different at all. In fact, I found it similar to the book, Summer on the Short Bus and that book was written first. It's got a tired plot line and despite decent writing, it couldn't hold my attention enough to make me like it.

Janet's Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Website |

A Rita Award Finalist and Crystal Kite Award Finalist, Janet Gurtler's young adult books have been chosen for the JUNIOR LIBRARY GUILD SELECTION and as BEST BOOKS FOR TEENS from the Canadian Children’s Book Center. Janet lives in Okotoks Alberta, Canada with her husband, son, and a chubby black Chihuahua named Bruce.

 

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Book Review: Ashes to Ashes - Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian

Title: Ashes to Ashes
Author: Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian
Pub Date: September 16th, 2014
Publisher: Simon and Schuster's BFYR
Page Count: 387

New Year's Eve ended with a bang and Mary, Kat and Lillia may not be prepared for what is to come.
After Rennie's death, Kat and Lillia try to put the pieces together of what happened to her. They both blame themselves. If Lillia hadn't left with Reeve... If Kat had only stayed with Rennie... Things could have been different. Now they will never be the same.
Only Mary knows the truth about that night. About what she is. She also knows the truth about Lillia and Reeve falling in love, about Reeve being happy when all he deserves is misery, just like the misery he caused her. Now their childish attempts at revenge are a thing of the past and Mary is out for blood. Will she leave anything in her wake or will all that remain be ashes?

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Didn't get worse, but [barely] got better. The conclusion of a trilogy that makes me question if I've been robbed of my time. - Nova @ Out of Time

After the disaster that was Fire with Fire, I read Ashes to Ashes with an optimistic vibe. I so wanted it to get better. I was already 2/3 into the series so I had to finish. Unfortunately, I finished feeling like the two hours I spent reading it were completely gone to waste.

This book was terrible. It wasn't quite as bad as Fire with Fire, but it wasn't much better. While it had so much potential, it ended up falling flat on its face. In this last installment, Mary is out for revenge. The premise was so good because the other girls wouldn't expect one of their own, right?

Too right.

They didn't suspect Mary until the very end while the reader knew it was her all along. That's boring. And it was the very end. Like, there wasn't a clue-finding build up to the shocking reveal. If anything, it was rushed. The reveal had me going "No way. Really?" when they exclaimed, "Oh look! It's Mary!

My love/hatred for the characters also didn't change. I didn't feel any development in all except Mary and hers was something else completely. I kept my love for Kat because she remained pretty genuine, even though she was meant to be the one with the most exterior shell. Lillia can honestly go board a plane to Mexico because I have never and will never like her. She's a Mary Sue, questioning why everyone loves her. Yes, there's a love triangle. Yes, both boys are pretty decent. And of course, she doesn't deserve either of them.

However, what heavily disturbed me was a spoiler, so I'll do two versions.
Mary does something that I found psychopathic. She was so intent on getting revenge on Reeve that it caused her to go to drastic lengths. I felt her enjoyment as I was reading it. In her sick mind, it was all in the name of justice. However, what really messed me up was how everyone knew what Mary did by the end and yet, no one brought it up.

Mary tried to get Reeve to commit suicide. She would taunt him, torture him, sabotage his life and just make it a hell. Basically, she was a bully and she was out for him. It was terrible and so hard to read as Mary took pride in her actions towards boy who made her commit suicide. But even worse, by the end, the rest of the characters were like "I hope Mary's okay, wherever she is." I know that she's a ghost and all, but she tried to get a guy to commit suicide. Did that not matter at all?

In the end, this series goes down in history as one of the biggest disappointments I've ever read. The first one was good and it was all downward from there, which is such a shame because the writing is skilled and put together. But let's just say that this series will not be getting a re-read anytime soon.

 

Jenny's Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Website |

Jenny Han (Han like Han Solo, not Han like hand)
was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia. She went to college at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Go Heels!) and she went on to graduate school at the New School in New York City, where she received her MFA in Writing for Children. She lives in Brooklyn.

 

 

Siobhan's Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Website |

Siobhan Vivian is the author of THE LIST, NOT THAT KIND OF GIRL, SAME DIFFERENCE, and A LITTLE FRIENDLY ADVICE. She also co-wrote BURN FOR BURN, the first novel in a planned trilogy, with her best friend JENNY HAN. She currently lives in Pittsburgh.

 

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Book Review: Gorgeous - Paul Rudnick

Title: Gorgeous
Author: Paul Rudnick
Pub Date: April 30th, 2013
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Page Count: 336

Inner beauty wants out.

When eighteen-year-old Becky Randle’s mother dies, she’s summoned from her Missouri trailer park to meet Tom Kelly, the world’s top designer. He makes her an impossible offer: He’ll create three dresses to transform Becky from a nothing special girl into the most beautiful woman who ever lived.

Becky thinks Tom is a lunatic, or that he’s producing a hidden camera show called World’s Most Gullible Poor People. But she accepts, and she’s remade as Rebecca. When Becky looks in the mirror, she sees herself – an awkward mess of split ends and cankles. But when anyone else looks at Becky, they see pure five-alarm hotness.

Soon Rebecca is on the cover of Vogue, the new Hollywood darling, and dating celebrities. Then Becky meets Prince Gregory, heir to the British throne, and everything starts to crumble. Because Rebecca aside, Becky loves him. But to love her back, Gregory would have to look past the blinding Rebecca to see the real girl inside. And Becky knows there’s not enough magic in the world.

A screamingly defiant, hugely naughty, and impossibly fun free fall past the cat walks, the red carpets, and even the halls of Buckingham Palace, Gorgeous does the impossible: It makes you see yourself clearly for the first time.

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Sorry man, it was too weird for me. - Nova @ Out of Time

This book was weird. When I first read the synopsis, I found it interesting. It sounded pretty realistic and contemporary about finding yourself, but then it started getting weird. The "weird" things usually we explanations to situations that didn't add up. Like Rudnick didn't have an explanation for an event, so he just had some kind of random thing thrown in the blender. For example ---> one of the people were "dead" but still living, like he was brought back to life. I don't even know the full thing.

One thing I heavily enjoyed though, was the dialogue. All of it was just so fun to read! I loved Rocher and her crazy swearing and how Tom Kelly said so much without really saying that much at all. It was crazy how many times I laughed and had to put the book down to give myself a minute! Rudnick definitely hit the bullseye with the dialogue.
So the main problem is how weird it is and how last ditch I felt it was. The writing itself is actually pretty good. Kept me captivated the entire time while giving me a laugh here and there.

The main reason the rating is so low is because I didn't "get" how Becky could just change. Apparently, she was written to be so ugly yet with all the makeup and dress, she transformed. I don't know, it just seems a little farfetched to me. Plus, how everything changed for her once she was perfect. I really don't want to read a reminder of how messed up the world is, where something like that can happen.
I was just wondering, "is this the kind of message I should be reading? Get pretty and you'll have all that you want." Even though she pretty much had it in her that she wanted to be Ghandi, it didn't really help because I felt she was such a golddigger for a while.

Wow, there's just a lot to say but I can't say it without giving the whole plot away. Just that the ending was so strange and I would've never expected it. Sorry, this just wasn't for me. Maybe next time, Rudnick, because I would totally be open to reading your next work.

Paul's Goodreads |

Paul M. Rudnick is an American playwright, screenwriter and novelist. His plays include I Hate Hamlet, Jeffrey, The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, Valhalla and The New Century. He also wrote for Premiere magazine under the pseudonym Libby Gelman-Waxner. He is openly gay.

 

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Book Review: Uninvited - Sophie Jordan

Title: Uninvited
Author: Sophie Jordan
Pub Date: January 28th 2014
Publisher: Insert
Page Count: 384

The Scarlet Letter meets Minority Report in bestselling author Sophie Jordan's chilling new novel about a teenage girl who is ostracized when her genetic test proves she's destined to become a murderer.

When Davy Hamilton's tests come back positive for Homicidal Tendency Syndrome (HTS)-aka the kill gene-she loses everything. Her boyfriend ditches her, her parents are scared of her, and she can forget about her bright future at Juilliard. Davy doesn't feel any different, but genes don't lie. One day she will kill someone.

Only Sean, a fellow HTS carrier, can relate to her new life. Davy wants to trust him; maybe he's not as dangerous as he seems. Or maybe Davy is just as deadly.

The first in a two-book series, Uninvited tackles intriguing questions about free will, identity, and human nature. Steeped in New York Times bestselling author Sophie Jordan's trademark mix of gripping action and breathless romance, this suspenseful tale is perfect for fans of James Patterson, Michelle Hodkin, and Lisa McMann.

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Is it Uninvited or Uneventful? - Nova @ Out of Time

I'd like to start this review by saying that this book should've been everything I loved. It had an action component, originality and a hot boy to match. This one pretty had "NOVA READ ME!!!" screaming from it. So why didn't I like it? That's for the rest of the review.

Davy Hamilton was pretty much ripped from her life and her characterization was okay. However, I had no connection to her. Even though she was a musician, she kept talking about how she was a prodigy yet I felt like she didn't actually give two cents about her gift. I couldn't understand her because though I know she had an okay personality and was evident, whenever I tried, I felt like I was trying to connect to cardboard. She was so focused on the idea of trying to go back to her old life that it blocked her from any real development, because that's how it was. I got close to no real development.
And to keep going, the love? It was terrible. I hated every second of it. There was supposed to be this bad boy but I got nothing out of it. He wasn't charming and bitter or what boys in YA seem to be. Instead he seemed to be an Edward Cullen, with the whole "I'm not good for you" speech. Save it, Sparkle-Pants. Davy and Sean were just there. She was instantly attracted to him. Gag me.

Okay the reason this isn't one star is because I liked the elements of how these HTS carries were treated. It really made me think of how stuff like this happens and how people should deal with it. That part spoke to me. Too bad it was the only part.

I was completely bothered by how there were these bunches of loose ends and holes. Ladies and gentlemen, might I remind you this is a book, not a chunk of swiss cheese. Because I felt like I needed a reminder. What happened to Zac and Tori? What was up with Mitchell? What happened to CoCo and the teacher? Or did this story revolve around the MC so much that the rest of the characters ceased to exist after she moved? Was having all these loose ends really the best way to go?

But the worst problem of this book is that it was NOTHING like I wanted. I got this deceiving synopsis because this book had no action. It had no romance. It was flat and boring. A bunch of things happened to move along, but nothing interesting. As well, I got close to no worldbuilding. Like this is a world where there's this kill gene. Fine. I wanted some kind of science-y term to make me believe in the story that was being spun. Instead, I got bored. I finished it because the writing moved along quickly, but the story seemed so uneventful and even when I was finished, I was like "seriously? that's it?" and not in a good way.

Sophie's Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Website |

Sophie Jordan took her adolescent daydreaming one step further and penned her first historical romance in the back of her high school Spanish class. This passion led her to pursue a degree in English and History.

A brief stint in law school taught her that case law was not nearly as interesting as literature - teaching English seemed the natural recourse. After several years teaching high school students to love Antigone, Sophie resigned with the birth of her first child and decided it was time to pursue the long-held dream of writing.

In less than three years, her first book, Once Upon A Wedding Night, a 2006 Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Nominee for Best First Historical, hit book shelves. Her second novel, Too Wicked To Tame, released in March 2007 with a bang, landing on the USA Today Bestseller's List.

 

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