Altered: Review

Author: Jennifer Rush

Age range: 13-17

Content: Moderate relationship content, no sexual content, moderate cursing, moderate violence

Genre: Teen Science Fiction / Teen Action Adventure

Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers

Pages: 323

Where to get it: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Target, Half-Price Books

Synopsis: 
Everything in Anna's life is a secret. Her father works for an undercover organization called the Branch. His latest project sits in the basement under their farmhouse; monitoring and testing treatments on genetically altered boys. There's brooding Nick, carefree Cas, intellectual Trev, and eye-catching Sam. When the Branch decides it's time to take the boys away, Sam stages an escape. Anna's father pushes for her to go with the boys making her promise to stay away from the Branch at all costs. Soon enough, Sam and Anna find out that they're connected in more ways than one. If they're both going to survive, they have to fit together the few clues of their unknown backstory before the Branch finds them. 

Opinions: 
This is just one of those books. It didn't really make an impact and it's not one of my favorites but it wasn't awful and I actually enjoyed reading it... I think. I finished it a while ago so my opinions are a bit hazy and boring.

I remember the writing being nice and pretty standard. The plot is interesting and it kept me on my toes. I liked all the twists and turns and reveals of their past. I found the characters a little repetitive. I wish that Sam was a little more interesting, like, personality wise. He was a little bland. So was Anna. I liked Cas and Nick though. They were funny.

I recommend this to fans of stuff like Maximum Ride or some of the older sci-fi books I used to really like. This is pretty mild in content (besides the few F bombs that Nick drops) so it'd be good for tweens (10-13) but actual teens could read it too. I don't know. Maybe it's just mild to me.

Yeah. I don't really have anything else to say. I think she's coming out with a sequel. It's called Erased. I'll probably read it. Sorry it was boring. The book just didn't really make a huge impact or anything. I guess, buy it? Yeah? I don't know??? (Again, sorry.) Okay. I'm going now. BYE. 

Give a Boy a Gun: Review

Author: Todd Strasser

Age range: 14 & up

Content: Mild relationship content, no sexual content, moderate cursing, high violence

Genre: Teen Tough Stuff / Documentary

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Pages: 208

Where to get it: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Target, Half-Price Books

Synopsis: 

The horrors of teen psychological and physical violence is explored through the eye-opening pea-pole of one groundbreaking event where two unstable high school students hold their terrified classmates and teachers hostage in a school gym. Facts about gun use/control are added in as counterpoints.  

Opinions: 

I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I bought this book. I thought it was going to be, like, an actual story with dialog and a narrative. But no, it's odd. It's more of a fictional documentary. 

Since the two main characters, Brennan and Gary are dead/in a coma, the whole story is told through interviews and chat logs with the other students, teachers, and parents. It's cool and kept me interested while reading. It amazed me that it was still very inside Brennan and Gary's heads and you still got a feel for their characters, opinions, and feelings even though they weren't narrating. 

The "story" starts when they're in, like, the fifth grade and goes up to the night it all happened which was, I think, their sophomore/junior year. It was definitely interesting to read how Gary's depression and Brennan's anger just kept snowballing and snowballing and how nothing could've fixed them or made them better once they got to a certain point. It was almost like it had to happen (for the story, I mean).

It did make me quite sad to read about two high school boys that were just tormented by the thought of just going to school everyday because, I don't know, is it really that bad? It blows my mind that something so simple drove them into such extreme violence and hate. It'd be my worst nightmare one of my friends started spiraling like Brennan and Gary. 

I don't know who I'd recommend this to. I guess people who enjoy reading stuff like Crash and Burn or Freaks and Revelations. All three are about the same level of content. Well, maybe they bleep out the swear words in this one but don't quote me on that because I'm not sure.

I think I'm done now. Overall, it's a good book. It's not one of my favorites and I don't think I'll be reading it again. It'll be a bookshelf book for life. Alright, that's it. I love you all and I shall be back soon. Byyyyyeeeeeeeeee. 

Sever (The Chemical Garden #3): Review

Author: Lauren DeStefano

Age range: 13-17

Content: Mild relationship content, no sexual content, no cursing, moderate violence

Genre: Teen Fantasy Adventure / Teen Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Pages: 371

Where to get it: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Target, Half-Price Books

Synopsis: 
In the last installment of Lauren Destefano's Chemical Garden series, everything Rhine knows to be true fulminates before her eyes.

Opinions: 
I have been trying to write up an introduction for the last ten minutes and I'm about ready to keyboard smash myself in the face.

Anyway.

This is so sad because Sever is the last book in this amazing series. I adore the first two books and I really liked seeing how Rhine changes throughout all three books and how her experiences tied into how everything turned out.

The writing is absolutely gorgeous and how Lauren Destefano managed to write such beautiful things about a supposed dying race amazed me. She could totally write a Nicholas Sparks style sappy rom-com and it would flourish. The plot was interesting and I wouldn't have formatted it the same way she did but it still worked.

Surprisingly, this got a lot of bad reviews on the Barnes & Noble website. (I always read the reviews because I'm nosy. Haha.) Some people were saying that the geography was wrong but hello it's a fictional book. Try to focus less on the facts and more on the story which is more about Rhine's personal growth than anything else. Also, it's a teen books and teens generally don't care about geography. Other people said that Rhine and Gabriel's relationship was odd and unclear. Personally, I thought it was great. I thought that the amount of intimacy between them was appropriate as they are both teenagers and clearly there are bigger things for them to worry about than romancing each other. I agree that Rhine's reunion with Rowan could've been a little more heartfelt but they were both in shock so I can't really complain.

I would recommend this series to people who enjoyed The Hunger Games or people who aren't ticked off by flawed geography. Also, this book is very much a teen book. Sometimes with teen books you get super heavy tough stuff content. This one has content in it but it's all implied without being hazy or childish so you still are very "in the know" while reading.

I have to go now. I have an essay to write that's due next week but I put it off because I prioritize you lovely people. Gosh, you all are so lucky. ;) I think I'll be reviewing quite a controversial book next month. Or maybe I won't. I don't know. Oooo, what's it going to be? Have fun guessing and I bid you farewell for now. Byeeee. 

Pulse: Review

Author: Patrick Carman

Age range: 12-17

Content: Mild relationship content, no sexual content, mild cursing, moderate violence

Genre: Teen Science Fiction / Teen Adventure

Publisher: HarperCollins Publisher

Where to get it: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Half-Price Books

Synopsis: 

In the year 2051, who has a pulse. Faith Daniels discovers that she can move things with her mind. This telekinetic ability is called a "pulse" and she also finds out that a few of her classmates have the same ability including a mysterious boy named Dylan. Everyone has a heartbeat but only a few have a pulse.

Opinions: 

Howdy hey, small portion of followers. Lookie, format's different. Like it? I like to keep you lot on your toes by spontaneously changing formats and fonts. Exciting, I know. Since I sort of failed at giving you variations of posts, I decided I should change something else. So whoop dee doo.

I have never heard of Patrick Carman before but apparently he's written a lot of books before this. I've never seen them or maybe I've just ignored them. I don't know. The cover on this intrigued me because it's very reminiscent of the cover of Insurgent (the second book in the Divergent series). Well, maybe they're not that similar but they both have floating trees.

I really like this book. It's a nice quick read. It's nothing special or groundbreaking. The plot is interesting and the concept is different. I kind of wish the whole "pulse" thing meant they had a more interesting or original superpower. The characters are okay. Sometimes it felt like the same voice was just talking through them. I don't really know how to explain it very well but I'm sure you get what I'm saying. I finished this relatively fast. I didn't feel like it was dragging on for too long or anything. The ending was the tiniest bit cheesy. I didn't like how Dylan went from being all hardcore to being a complete softie; it was weird. Overall, if Patrick Carman decides to write a sequel, I will most likely read it. 

This is another book that I just picked up without properly reading a synopsis or anything and I had absolutely no troubles keeping up. Everything is explained and the world it's placed in is very well thought out and believable.

I don't like the character names. I mean, it's not that big of a deal. I can clearly overlook it. But it does bother me when names don't match the characters. Especially since they're in the future, they wouldn't have such mediocre names. I really wanted Dylan to have like a super cool, super sharp, super original name. 

I recommend this to people who like books like Divergent and The Hunger Games. It's a very cool book and it's not super girly or heavy on romance. So I think some boy bookworms would enjoy reading this as well. Wait. Do boys like reading romance? 

I just asked my brother and he said no, they don't. What does he know? He doesn't read books. 

But, seriously, do they? I'm actually really curious. I should look up statistics on that. Whoa, did I just type that? Holy nerd alert.

Okay. I have to go now. My sister keeps whining because she wants me to go swimming with her. (Summer is here!) I hope you appreciate the new layout and have an awesome day. BYE YA LITTLE RASCALS. 

Thirteen Reasons Why: Review

Author: Jay Asher
Age range: 14-18
Content: Moderate relationship content, mild sexual content, mild cursing, no violence
Genre: Teen Tough Stuff / Teen Mystery
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Where to get it: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Target, Half-Price Books

Synopsis: One day, there is a package left on Clay Jensen's front door. Inside there are cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker who killed herself two weeks earlier. The tapes tell Clay thirteen reasons why Hannah did it. And Clay is one of them.

Opinions: I know I'd said last month that I'd be switching it up and doing things other than reviews. I sort of failed. I did one at the beginning of the month but I don't know if I like it. Eh. Conflicted. Maybe I'll do different stuff here and there but the majority of my blog, I think, will be reviews.

My brain hasn't been cooperating with me lately. Like, I'll try to do math homework and end up doodling cartoon bunnies. So focusing on and finishing this will be the most work I've done all week. I don't know how well this will go but try to keep up.

Anyway I really liked reading this book. It's heavy and dramatic but not in a way that made me uncomfortable or annoyed while reading it. Clay and Hannah's narratives still manage to be youthful and humorous even in the midst of what was happening. I found that interesting, that the author was able to achieve that. This is book is kind of perceived as not a very happy book but it's really not. The teenagers still act like teenagers and have fun and smile and laugh whilst still being deep and meaningful.

So clearly the writing is amazing. The plot is really twisty turny. I mean obviously we already know the ending to Hannah's story but everything leading up to it is very suspenseful.

The author interview bit at the end was cool, too. Jay Asher took a lot of inspiration for his writing from his regular everyday life. Like the story of Hannah's first kiss is reminiscent of his own. I thought that was quite cute.

I can't really relate to Hannah or really anyone in this book. I'm homeschooled so I don't have to deal with people judging me everyday or starting rumors like she did. But I don't think I have to experience something firsthand to be able to understand it and feel sympathetic for her character. So I can say "I understood and enjoyed the book" but I can't say "I could relate to it." Which is odd because usually I can.

I would recommend this to anyone who is in high school or has a child in high school or deals with high schoolers on a regular basis. This book delves very deep into several high schoolers heads and I think it could help a whole lot of people to understand what they think about and how it could affect them.

Well, wow. I actually managed to finish. YAY. I'm going to go now because I think I have something else to get done.... but I don't know. I'll be back twice more and it'll probably just be to review because apparently this month is the month where I do the bare minimum. OKAY BYE.