Showing posts with label YA fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label YA fiction. Show all posts

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Book Reviews 2017: More YA Book Reviews

**All reviews on Randomness With Rachel are done on a five star rating system. The reviews are solely my opinion and no one else's. Randomness With Rachel does not receive any incentives or compensations for reviews.**

Lock and Mori by Heather W. Petty


Despite only a three star rating, I felt this book was an entertaining read, it just didn't have what it needed to bump it to four stars. I believe it could have been so much more. 

The book is a modern version of Sherlock Holmes where he and James "Mori" Moriarty are teenagers and friends. I feel there are more Sherlock themed books nowadays. Probably thanks to the popularity of the TV show. Anyways, Mori is a girl in this book, by the way- she goes by Mori because she doesn't like her birth name of James. 

The writing isn't bad, but there were parts that seemed a little slow and unnecessary, but it didn't totally ruin the book for me. The mystery part was interesting, but even in a YA novel, I feel it could have gone deeper. It seemed too simple and almost an insult to any young adult reading it, they could handle more depth in their mystery. I did like the main characters though and will try out the next book in the series. I look forward to their next adventure (and most likely, mystery).

Even When You Lie To Me by Jessica Alcott


I didn't love this book, but I also didn't hate it. It was an easy read, I pretty much read it in two days. It seems the whole teacher/student taboo attraction/love/lust is a popular story line in YA fiction these days. I don't know where all these good looking teachers were when I as in high school, but they definitely were not at my school. 

I feel this story had a lot of potential, but then it got too cliche. The main character lacks self-esteem and feels she is ugly. Side note: I know teenagers can be over-dramatic and I get that when reading YA, but OMG- this girl was "woe is me" every time she opened her mouth. Her BFF is beautiful and gets all the guys (because of course). Her mother, who was the beautiful, popular Homecoming Queen when she was younger, is unsympathetic and constantly trying to change her daughter (instead of accepting her individuality). And the father just seems to be walked over by his whole family (grow a pair, dude).

As you can imagine, there are "adult themes" talked about in this book, but the descriptions don't get too graphic.

I know this is the author's first book. I feel her writing potential is there so I would try another book if she publishes a new one.

I finished these books July 10 and July 20, respectively, so they go towards my 40 by 40 challenge.

XOXO!

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Book Reviews 2017: Not In the Script

**All reviews on Randomness With Rachel are done on a five star rating system. The reviews are solely my opinion and no one else's. Randomness With Rachel does not receive any incentives or compensations for reviews.**

Not In The Script by Amy Finnegan


I'm such a sucker for teen drama (whether it be books or TV shows). It's the part of me that refuses to grow up, and I refuse to be ashamed about it. I'm not even sure what caused me to pick this book up at the library but the description of the novel had me sold and I checked it out. I read it in less than a day (well, I started it on a Saturday night and finished it Sunday afternoon).

The writing style was well done. Normally books that use the first person writing style for more than one character bothers me, but the author did it in such a way that it flowed perfectly. Yes, it's a teen drama- so ignore the comments that complain about the petty things the characters did or were bothered by. HELLO THEY ARE TEENAGERS- TEENAGERS CAN BE PETTY! But the teen angst wasn't overdone either (because that can get tiresome). It was a realistic amount of teen angst (if that makes sense).

I loved the characters of Emma and Jake. I think deep down everyone at one time wishes they were famous and lived a glamorous lifestyle. We get to see that through Emma's eyes (and we get to see how a new person to acting sees Hollywood through Jake's eyes). I liked that none of the characters were "perfect". They all had some kind of flaw.

I noticed the lack of foul language and "intimate details", which was refreshing for a teen novel. Nowadays it seems a lot of them are cluttered with sex and harsh language. It's nice to know I can recommend a romance book to a teenager that isn't full of bad words and sex. Call me a prude, I don't even care. Lol.

I kinda hope we see these characters again, perhaps older and maybe in a different setting. I would be interested to see where life takes them.

Book summary:


I finished this book on July 2, so it goes towards my 40 by 40 challenge.

XOXO!

Wednesday, July 5, 2017

Book Reviews 2017: Catching Up On Book Reviews

**All reviews on Randomness With Rachel are done on a five star rating system. The reviews are solely my opinion and no one else's. Randomness With Rachel does not receive any incentives or compensations for reviews.**


I read earlier this year but never got around to posting my reviews. These were read BEFORE I started my 40 books by 40, so they don't count against my list.

The Cursed by Heather Graham



Once again- Luke Daniels made this book so enjoyable. He makes each character come to life. I will sing his praises in each review I do on a book he has narrated. 

I liked this book more than the most recent ones I've read from the series (I'm reading them out of order). I enjoyed the ghost story and mystery portion a lot. I like Dallas and Hannah together, although for once I would like the romance to actually take time to blossom and people not fall in love in a matter of weeks, but that's just me being nit-picky. And this isn't a spoiler. You can tell from their first meeting they will end up together, it's not that big of a surprise.

I won't ruin it by saying what happened, but I didn't like the epilogue of the book. I would have preferred another ending but it didn't ruin the book for me. As always, I look forward to reading another book by Ms. Graham.

Book summary:


Darkest Journey by Heather Graham



I'm giving this a generous 2.5 stars (and mainly because I love Heather Graham and can't bring myself to give anything she writes anything lower). I'll start with the positive: I liked the main characters of Charlie and Ethan. I like how they at least had a past together, so their romance wasn't as off the wall as some of the relationships in the other books in this series. Usually the romance part of these stories bothers me, but I was actually okay with these two as a couple. 

I'm a history nerd and I usually enjoy the historical tidbits that Heather Graham throws into her stories, but this one didn't do much for me. I couldn't get into it mainly because I think the plot didn't flow as well as it has in her other books. And the scene where everyone was giving a speech about safe sex and STDs reminded me of those horrible movies we had to watch in school. It sounded too "textbook". People don't talk like that. 

I saw in a few other reviews that people noticed grammatical errors and typos. Since I listened to the audio book, I can't comment on that. BUT, Luke Daniels did a fantastic job narrating this one (so if you are interested at all, I highly recommend listening to it). As much as I've enjoyed the Krewe of Hunters series, I'm sad to say that I think it might be time for it to come to an end if this is how they are going to be. The past few that I've read (well, listened to) just haven't been the same as the earlier ones in the series. 

Book summary:



Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver



I went back and forth wondering if I wanted to give this 3 stars or 4 so I decided on a 3.5. The ending is the one thing making me debate my star rating (no spoilers about it). This is a book that as you are reading it, you can't put it down. That happened to me. I read over half of it on a plane ride from TX to PA. 

I liked the characters, even the horrible, mean ones. The character development was fantastic. I've seen it described as Mean Girls meets Groundhog's Day, and in a way it is. It was an interesting story line. 

As far as YA fiction goes, it's a very good read. I definitely knew people like the characters in the book. I can't honestly say that I personally related to any of them (I wasn't a "mean girl" and I wasn't really picked on by mean girls). I would recommend this one.

Book summary:


Landline by Rainbow Rowell



I really enjoyed this book- so much that I read it in a day. I liked the characters because none of them were "perfect". It seems in so many books the main characters are always overly attractive and have the perfect life. These characters seemed real. Were some annoying? Yes, but annoying people exist in real life. We all have annoying people in our lives (even if we love them dearly, they may be annoying at times). 

I enjoyed the story line- I'm always fascinated with "time travel" type stories. This made me think who I would want to talk to if I had a phone that called the past. This was the first book I've read by this author but I plan to check some others out soon.

Book summary:



XOXO!

Monday, April 17, 2017

Book Reviews 2017: Thirteen Reasons Why

**All reviews on Randomness With Rachel are done on a five star rating system. The reviews are solely my opinion and no one else's. Randomness With Rachel does not receive any incentives or compensations for reviews.** 

13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher



I read this book back in March and I've been meaning to post a review of it, but I have been lazy. With the majority of my social media feeds talking about the Netflix show based on it, I felt I needed to go ahead and post my review of it.

First of all, YES, I read the book before I watched the Netflix series (because I always try and read the book before I see a movie/show based on it). And yes, I mainly picked up the book because I knew a series had been made about it, and I wanted to read it first. I'm a nerd.

I'm not going to lie- this book sucked me in. I couldn't put it down. I started reading it one Sunday afternoon and spent the rest of the day finishing it.

I've heard (meaning I've read other reviews) people complain about ALL THE DRAMA throughout the book but remember, this is a young adult book. Everything is dramatic to teenagers. What might seem like no big deal to an adult is earth-shattering to a teenager (don't you remember your teenage years?) Most teenagers feel that the world is against them.

If you have watched the series but didn't read the book, there are some pretty big differences. There are characters in the series who are not in the book. There are also plot lines in the series that are not in the book, so if you end up reading the book too, you might be surprised.

I like how the writing style went back and forth between what was going on with Clay and to Hannah speaking on the tape. Suicide (especially teen suicide) is a sensitive subject that no one seems to want to talk about, but I think the author handled it with delicacy and didn't downplay the seriousness of it at all. Even if someone leaves a suicide note (or tapes in this case) that doesn't mean that they explain every reason why they killed themselves. Some of the reasons might seem petty, but to that person, they weren't petty at all. It also stresses throughout the book that suicide is NEVER the answer. I don't feel that it glorifies suicide at all. 

MINOR SPOILER ALERTS AHEAD (but it won't ruin the book for you)
Since the book is done in first person, we really only saw how Hannah's suicide affected Clay. I would have liked for some of the other characters to have shown or expressed remorse (or at least had reactions to receiving the tapes). 

I liked the writing style and look forward to reading other works from the author.

Book summary:


XOXO!

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Book Reviews 2017: A Study In Charlotte

**All reviews on Randomness With Rachel are done on a five star rating system. The reviews are solely my opinion and no one else's. Randomness With Rachel does not receive any incentives or compensations for reviews.**

A Study In Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro


I really loved this book. I'll be honest- I haven't read any of the Sherlock Holmes novels and I've only see the Robert Downey, Jr movie versions, so I'm by no means a Sherlock expert (so I have no clues how Holmes and Watson act toward each other in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's books, but I assume they are good friends).

This book is a modern-telling of Sherlock Holmes, with the main characters as descendants of the original Holmes and Watson. The Sherlock novels in this book were written as actual accounts of the adventures of the detective and his friend.

In this story the Holmes and Watson characters are a teenage girl and a teenage boy. They both end up at the same boarding school together and ultimately cross paths on campus. This book is a journey of their friendship as well as murder and mystery (I won't go into a lot of detail because I don't want to spoil anything).

I loved the characters and the plot development- the book is just a well-written YA novel. I read the majority of it in a day because I couldn't put it down. I'm excited to see there is another book in the series, I look forward to see what lies ahead for Charlotte and Jamie. (I just saw on GoodReads that the author plans to make it a trilogy). :)

Book summary:

XOXO!

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Book Reviews 2017: More 2017 Book Reviews

**All reviews on Randomness With Rachel are done on a five star rating system. The reviews are solely my opinion and no one else's. Randomness With Rachel does not receive any incentives or compensations for reviews.**

I promised myself I would be better about posting book reviews on my blog. I've read eight books so far this year, I already posted a review of one of them (here). At some point I'll get back to doing a post per book, but not today. :)



I loved Veggie Tales so I enjoyed hearing the back story how Bob, Larry, and the whole crew were created. I enjoyed the author's humor, which he used throughout the book. I felt the middle part of the book dragged a little too much for me, but the author finished the book strong and with some great advice. 

My favorite part was when Mr. Vischer talked about how college students were responsible for making Veggie Tales popular in the mid-90s. I first heard about Veggie Tales my freshman year of college (1996) so I take that as a shout out. Lol.

Another part I liked was when he said he realized that the stars of the show "Veggie" tales were actually fruit (a tomato and cucumber). I actually came to that realization a few years ago and it made me laugh.

This was written in 2006 so I look forward to Mr. Vischer perhaps writing a follow up to his latest adventures. 

Book summary:

Deadly Fate by Heather Graham


If you have followed my blog for any length of time, you know I read a lot of Heather Graham books. And as always I put this disclaimer: this is NOT the actress Heather Graham. :)

I'm giving this a generous three stars. I love Heather Graham and the Krewe of Hunters series, but this one wasn't as captivating as the others that I've read/listened to. As the saying goes, you can't win them all. I will definitely keep reading the series and other books by Ms. Graham though, but I don't find myself re-reading this novel at any point.

I felt the romance between Thor and Clara was forced (this is not a spoiler, it's very obvious from the beginning they will get together). I know that each book in this series has a little bit of mystery, a ghost or two, and romance, but I would be okay if there wasn't romance in EVERY book. Since it's a series, it would be okay to let a relationship grow between characters instead of rushing them together before the end of the book. I liked the Thor character, but I didn't particularly like Clara. She was a supporting character in another Krewe book, but I didn't feel she was main character worthy, at least not at this point.

I listened to the audio version and once again, Luke Daniels did a fantastic job with it. I find myself specially look for books he has narrated.

I do look forward to the next book in the Krewe of Hunters series (I've read them out of order, but that doesn't take away from the series too much). 

Book summary:


Yolo by Lauren Myracle


I realize this is the 4th book of a the series, but it's the first one I've read. I actually really enjoyed this book. It's a fun and easy read. It can totally be read in one day. This book is written in text message form (so it feels like you are scrolling through a bunch of text messages). 

I'm a big texter, my BFF and I text every day. Even though we are definitely not college aged (like the girls in the novel), I could relate to being hundreds of miles from your best friend and relying on texting to stay in touch.

I laughed so much at the teen drama mainly because I could remember a time when I was going through it. There was one part (not a spoiler) where one of the girls was texting that she was at the ER and she had something sticking out of her foot (she had stepped on something metal). Her friend told her that was gross and then immediately asked for a picture of it. No lie- that is something that my BFF and I would say. Lol. I might have to check out the other books in this series. It's a VERY easy read. 

Book summary:

Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella


I seem to be on a YA (Young Adult) fiction kick lately. Yes, this book first caught my eye at the libary because the cover was "Tiffany blue" and the title had Audrey in it (I love Audrey Hepburn, what can I say). After I realized it was NOT about Audrey Hepburn, I saw it was written by Sophie Kinsella. She wrote all the Shopaholic books. I adore her. She is a fun author to read. I didn't know she had written a YA book, so I decided to check it out.

After I finished the book, I read some other reviews of it. I saw that some people felt the author was making light of those with anxiety disorders. I didn't feel that at all. I thought it was a well done story. It didn't get down to the nitty gritty of anxiety, but it's also a YA novel. There is humor throughout the book (something Ms. Kinsella is great at), but I don't feel it was making fun of anxiety disorders at all. I personally have dealt with anxiety and not once did I feel it was written in poor taste. 

This story is told from the POV of a young teenage girl. I feel the characters are described in a way that a teenage girl would describe them. Audrey's mother seems overbearing and over the top because to most teenage girls, their mother is overbearing and overreacts to little things. And the dad comes off as a dork, because let's face it, most teenagers feel their fathers are dorks. Linus seems like the perfect boy to Audrey because if you remember when you were a young teenager, you feel like you are in love every five minutes. This is a perfect read for a vacation or lazy Saturday afternoon. If you are a fan of good YA and/or Sophie Kinsella, I would recommend this one.

Book summary:


XOXO!

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Book Review 2015: My Latest Book Reviews

I've read two books in the past week (I'm still way far behind on my yearly challenge though), so I felt it was time to do post some much needed book reviews.

**All reviews published on Randomness With Rachel are done on a five-star rating system. The reviews are solely my opinion and no one else's. Randomness With Rachel does not receive any incentives or compensations for reviews.** 

Truth or Dare Trilogy by Jacqueline Green
(Truth or Dare, Secrets and Lies, Kiss and Tell)
 

This was a Young Adults series I accidentally discovered at the library. I was watching a TV show called Secrets and Lies, so the title of that book caught my eye. I noticed it was book two of a trilogy, so I checked  it out along with the first book of the series. I then went back for book three after I finished the first two.

I've never seen the TV show Pretty Little Liars, but a lot of people who wrote reviews of this series compared it to that show. The novels are based around a group of girls who receive dares from an anonymous person. If they don't play along, the darer threatens to reveal a deep dark secret about them. They are on a mission to find out who is behind the dares. It's kind of a "trust no one" situation for them. Could one of the girls receiving dares actually be the darer? Is it another close friend? Could it be a teacher? Etc.

I grew up reading Christopher Pike and R.L. Stine, and this author's writing had that kind of "feel" to it (which I enjoyed, it reminded me of the books I liked when I was younger). Some of the situations in the novel were very "teen-based", seeing that it is a YA novel. So there was some teen angst and teen melodrama. But it wasn't too distracting.

In the first book the author did a good job introducing the characters and keeping the reader interested in what was going to happen next. There seemed to be a lot of "supporting" characters, and there were times I had to stop and remember who was who. The second book in the series took me a while to get into, but halfway through I couldn't put it down and stayed up late to finish it. I was afraid that the author would just take book one and rewrite it, but she did a good job continuing the story without making it the exact same plot and story as the first one. The third book was well written and did a good job of wrapping up the story without rushing the ending (I hate when I read a series and the author rushes the ending in the last few pages). She also didn't draw it out too long. There were some plot twists and surprises, and there were some things that were predictable, but they were still an enjoyable read. Not a "must read", but worth checking out if you want something easy to read.

Heat Wave by Richard Castle


I just started watching the TV show Castle this past year. I was at the library recently and noticed a book by Richard Castle. I was like, how funny, that's Nathan Fillion's character on the TV show. Then I noticed the name of the book was the same book he wrote in the first season. Evidently SOMEONE (ABC won't say who) is writing books under the pen name Richard Castle and publishing them. I read online that whenever the character on the show writes a book, it is actually published (so there is a whole series of these books). The bio for the author is the one from the show, and Nathan Fillion's picture is on the book jacket. If you watch the TV show Castle at all, the book is very similar to the TV show (seeing that on the show he based the books on the detectives he worked with). If you don't watch Castle, the book reads like most TV detective shows. 

This particular story revolves around a female detective named Nikki Heat who is being "shadowed" by a writer (just like the TV show). He gets in her way and on her nerves, but she is still impressed by his witty charm and good looks (we can all see where this is going). It's not a "top-rated" mystery novel by any means, but I found that it was an entertaining read. But that might be because I like the TV show (I can't tell). I plan to check out some of the other books in the series, but they aren't at the top of my list right now. 

Trust Me, I'm Lying by Mary Elizabeth Summer


I picked up another YA novel at the library (if you shy away from YA novels because you feel they are "beneath you" or "too young for you", you really should check some out, they are usually quite good). 

Julep Dupree tells a lot of lies. She and her father are both professional con-artists (despite the fact she is only in high school). She spends a lot of time running scams for her classmates (from fake IDs to pretending to be a representative from a college, just to fool parents into thinking their kid is really applying for higher education). She's also good at getting a free coffee or latte at a Starbucks-esque type coffee shop. One day she comes home to find her apartment ransacked and her father missing. She, along with her male best friend Sam, keep it a secret that her father is missing as she goes all Veronica Mars in playing detective to find her dad. She stays by herself in her ransacked apartment and gets money to live on by running more scams for her classmates. Oh, and her friend Sam has this "mad" hacker knowledge that allows him to get into the school database and even government databases. I'm not sure how realistic that is, but who knows, kids are smart these days when it comes to computers and technology. 

The plot itself was pretty good, and had a lot of potential, but there were parts of it that just made me go "oh good grief". **Somewhat spoiler coming up, but not enough to ruin the book.** Sam is the only one she has ever trusted and ever confides in but all of a sudden when the hunky Tyler starts paying attention to her (which came out of no where I might add), she loses her cool and then breaks down and spills her deepest secrets to him. Please. Get a grip girl. I think this made me take away a half star on my review, I was originally going to give it 3.5 stars. But again, it's a YA book, I should have expected the teen angst.

The ending was better than I expected, and had a plot twist or two (that I can't go into without ruining it). I think this was the author's first book. She wrote another one in this series. I'm willing to give another book of hers a chance to see how her storytelling improves. I can tell by her writing that the talent is there, she just needs to find her "groove". 

Happy reading!!
XOXO!

Monday, January 26, 2015

Book Review 2015: Paper Towns

I mentioned recently that I joined a book club. Our first session is tomorrow and I'm super excited. Here is my review of our first book, Paper Towns by John Green.

**All reviews published on Randomness With Rachel are done on a five-star rating system. The reviews are solely my opinion and no one else's. Randomness With Rachel does not receive any incentives or compensations for reviews.**

Paper Towns by John Green


I'll admit that I didn't like this book as much as I liked The Fault In Our Stars (I went on an emotional roller coaster with that book). Paper Towns was overall a decent book, there were parts that I really liked, but there were also parts that I didn't particularly like.

The author divides the book into three parts. The first part I really enjoyed. We are introduced to Margo and Quentin, even given a little flashback to their childhood. Their night out on the town is a fun story and I like how it was written. I don't want to go too much into it because I don't want to spoil anything (and I'm too lazy to figure out how to put a spoiler code in my blog post). This is probably the only part of the story that I actually enjoyed reading about the Margo character. She got on my nerves as the story went on (I've been told I'm not the only person to feel that way).

The second part seemed to drag in some places (seriously, I don't want to read about another prom for a good while). It started out well and even a little exciting, but it kinda went downhill for a while. I did like the friendship between Quentin, Ben, and Radar. I almost wish there was more focus on them instead of Quentin and his Margo obsession. I get it, the kid thinks he loves this girl, but it almost got to be a little silly after a while with all the extremes he went to. But maybe that is just me though.

I have mixed feelings about the third part. Although the ending almost seemed a little anticlimactic, I think the right decision was made in the end (yeah, I know, that makes no sense not knowing the ending, but again, I don't know how to put a spoiler code in). I do like how John Green writes his characters (even if I didn't really care for Margo, she was well-written).

Despite not liking parts of this book, I would recommend it, especially if you are a John Green or YA fiction fan.

If you have read the book (or have no desire to read it) and want to know more of my thoughts on certain parts of the book, comment below or tweet me and I'll be happy to discuss it!

For some reason, I really liked this quote in the book...
XOXO!