Day 21 (The 100 #2)

Kass Morgan

Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: September 15, 2014
Pages: 320
Genre: Young Adult Dystopian
Source: ARC from Little Brown Books

No one has set foot on Earth in centuries -- until now.

It's been 21 days since the hundred landed on Earth. They're the only humans to set foot on the planet in centuries...or so they thought. Facing an unknown enemy, Wells attempts to keep the group together. Clarke strikes out for Mount Weather, in search of other Colonists, while Bellamy is determined to rescue his sister, no matter the cost. And back on the ship, Glass faces an unthinkable choice between the love of her life and life itself.

In this pulse-pounding sequel to Kass Morgan's The 100, secrets are revealed, beliefs are challenged, and relationships are tested. And the hundred will struggle to survive the only way they can -- together.

There's nothing I hate more than Second Book Syndrome. You know, when you wait months and months for the second book of the series and it sucks? I was terrified that this would be the case with Day 21 after The 100 was so amazing. But Day 21 was far from having Second Book Syndrome, in fact, I think I liked it even better than The 100. The 100 was so fast paced and exciting that I thought there was no way Day 21 could live up to it, but Kass Morgan strikes again. Day 21 has so many twists and turns that it will leave you guessing until the very last page.

The Appeal of Evil

Pembroke Sinclair

Publisher: Booktrope Editions
Publication Date: January 13, 2014
Pages: 275
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal Fantasy
Source: ebook from Publisher

Katie wants to invest her heart and soul in love, but she may lose both to Hell.

Katie, a senior in high school, is torn between loving the “good” guy, her childhood friend Wes who makes promises he doesn't keep and abandons her when she needs him the most, and the “bad” guy, the new kid at school Josh who is also a real demon from Hell. Katie wants someone who pays attention to her and puts her first, but what is she willing to give up to find him?

The Appeal of Evil is not for the faint of heart. From the very first page, it's a whirlwind that will suck you in until the final sentence. This is one of the fastest paced books I've ever read, and while I would have liked a few slower parts, I couldn't put this one down.

Unbreak My Heart

Melissa Walker

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children
Publication Date: May 22, 2012
Pages: 232
Genre: Contemporary Chicklit
Source: Purchased from J&R Outlet

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? 

Told in alternating chapters that chronicle the year that broke Clem’s heart and the summer that healed it, Unbreak My Heart is a wonderful dual love story that fans of Sarah Dessen, Deb Caletti, and Susane Colasanti will flock to.

This book sounded really good, but it just fell a little flat. It was a nice, quick read, but it was also really average.

Between

Jessica Warman

Publisher: Walker & Company
Publication Date: August 2, 2011
Pages: 454
Genre: Paranormal Young Adult
Source: Borrowed from library

Elizabeth Valchar-pretty, popular, and perfect-wakes up the morning after her eighteenth birthday party on her family's yacht, where she'd been celebrating with her six closest friends. A persistent thumping noise has roused her. When she goes to investigate, what she finds will change everything she thought she knew about her life, her friends, and everything in between. As Liz begins to unravel the circumstances surrounding her birthday night, she will find that no one around her, least of all Liz herself, was perfect-or innocent. Critically acclaimed author Jessica Warman brings readers along on a roller-coaster ride of a mystery, one that is also a heartbreaking character study, a touching romance, and ultimately a hopeful tale of redemption, love, and letting go.

This book will not bore you. Not a single moment of it. I think it mostly has to do with the fact that a lot of it is flashbacks to important points in her life. Either way, every page brings you closer to the jaw dropping ending. I loved that it's an ending you can piece together yourself with subtle hints starting from the very beginning.

Being Friends With Boys

Terra Elan McVoy

Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: May 1, 2012
Pages: 368
Genre: Contemporary Young Adult/Chicklit
Source: Purchased from Barnes and Noble

Charlotte and Oliver have been friends forever. She knows that he, Abe, and Trip consider her to be one of the guys, and she likes it that way. She likes being the friend who keeps them all together. Likes offering a girl's perspective on their love lives. Likes being the behind-the-scenes wordsmith who writes all the lyrics for the boys' band. Char has a house full of stepsisters and a past full of backstabbing (female) ex-best friends, so for her, being friends with boys is refreshingly drama-free...until it isn't any more. 

When a new boy enters the scene and makes Char feel like, well, a total girl...and two of her other friends have a falling out that may or may not be related to one of them deciding he possibly wants to be more than friends with Char...being friends with all these boys suddenly becomes a lot more complicated.

The blurb is so completely off from what this book is about its actually kind of funny. It's what the first third of the book is about. Then there's more to it. I liked all of the stuff not mentioned though. It was a light and fluffy book with funny scenes, but there was still enough seriousness for it to be a good book. Good books always have a perfect balance of humor and sincerity and this book has it.

The Sea of Tranquility

Katja Millay

Publisher: Atria Books
Publication Date: November 13, 2012
Pages: 434
Genre: Contemporary New Adult
Source: Borrowed from the Library

I live in a world without magic or miracles. A place where there are no clairvoyants or shapeshifters, no angels or superhuman boys to save you. A place where people die and music disintegrates and things suck. I am pressed so hard against the earth by the weight of reality that some days I wonder how I am still able to lift my feet to walk.

Former piano prodigy Nastya Kashnikov wants two things: to get through high school without anyone learning about her past and to make the boy who took everything from her—her identity, her spirit, her will to live—pay.

Josh Bennett’s story is no secret: every person he loves has been taken from his life until, at seventeen years old, there is no one left. Now all he wants is be left alone and people allow it because when your name is synonymous with death, everyone tends to give you your space.

Everyone except Nastya, the mysterious new girl at school who starts showing up and won’t go away until she’s insinuated herself into every aspect of his life. But the more he gets to know her, the more of an enigma she becomes. As their relationship intensifies and the unanswered questions begin to pile up, he starts to wonder if he will ever learn the secrets she’s been hiding—or if he even wants to.

The Sea of Tranquility is a rich, intense, and brilliantly imagined story about a lonely boy, an emotionally fragile girl, and the miracle of second chances.

As my favorite book and the namesake of this blog, it only makes sense that The Sea of Tranquility is the first book I review.