One More Time for the Operator

Expected Publication: March 11th, 2014

Ask Again Later

By: Liz Czukas

HarperTeen

ISBN-13:  9780062272393

Despite what her name might suggest, Heart has zero interest in a complicated romance.  So when her brilliant plan to go to the prom with a group of friends is disrupted by two surprise invites, Heart knows there's only one drama-free solution: flip a coin.

Heads: The jock.  He might spend all night staring at his ex or throw up in the limo, but how bad can her brother's best friend be?

Tails: The theater geek...with a secret.  What could be better than a guy who shares all of Heart's interests -- even if he wants to share all his feelings?

Heart's simple coin flip has somehow given her the chance to live out both dates.  But where her prom ends up might be the most surprising thing of all.....

Review

     I absolutely adore anything to do with alternate realitites, two majorly different outcomes to a choice of some sort, or just anything wonky to do with the space time continuum.  I should have known better to read a book about a girl named Heart who doesn't believe in love, and has to choose between two different prom dates!  I didn't really like Heart as a main character, and felt like she was a poseur and a complete pushover.  Instead of going with her friends to the prom in their group of No Prom-a Drama (gag me at that name, ugh) she lets herself be guilt tripped and or coerced into going to the prom with a guy she doesn't really want to go with (depending on your reality).  I didn't mind Heart's friend Ryan all that much, although his secret was such a plot device that he barely existed except to cause drama between Heart and the guy who (not-so-secretly) likes her for real.  I also don't get why he told Heart his secret, because yes she accepted him and didn't tell anyone about it, but she stereotyped him at every turn and was just an inconsiderate d-bag about it.  And her brother's friend is described as a big, dumb teddy bear of a guy but spends the majority of the book drunk and ignoring Heart - when he's not kissing her against her wishes (total sexual assault, and everyone just brushes it off and justifies it - including her brother and "love" interest!).  

     Her actual love interest is a boy from her drama class named Chase, who Heart calls Schroeder (he plays the piano like the Peanuts character), who teases her by calling her other body parts instead of her name (i.e. pancreas, etc.).  He's hot and cold to the extreme, never actually coming out and telling Heart he likes her as more than a friend/frenemie.  Schroeder spends most of the book as a belligerent asshole, treating Heart like crap because he's pissed she hasn't figured out he likes her - what, is she supposed to be a mindreader or something?  How does he not notice how overall oblivious and kind of dumb Heart happens to be?  His behavior throughout the book does NOT endear him to me as a love interest.  Their relationship will NOT be a healthy one, in any way, shape or form.  Also, everytime I read Heart's full name, I was calling her Heart Heart in my head (her last name is LaCoeur - "the heart" in French)!  It was distracting, sickening in it's cutesiness and it made Heart's Mom seem like a complete and utter moron (which might have been the point, to show what a deadbeat, dumb young teen Mom she was).  Yet another stereotype.  Either than or the author was trying to be clever.  In which case, EPIC FAIL.  Overall I really disliked it, and thought it was seriously superficial development wise in character and plot.  This book was a very bad type of shallow.  I spent most of the last half skimming it rather than reading closely.  I do not recommend this unless you are obsessed with Prom and like thick-skulled protagonists.  The only reason this gets as many stars as it does is for the premise, and due to the fact that I managed to finish reading it (barely).

VERDICT:  1.5/5  Stars

**I received this book as part of Around the World ARC Tours, run by the lovely Princess Bookie.  No favors or money were exchanged for this review.  This book's expected publication date is March 11th, 2014.**

Hell Yeah, Bring It On!

 

Published:  October 16th, 2012

Hell Yeah!  Volume 1: Last Days On Earth



By: Joe Keatinge and Andre Szymanowicz (Illustrator)

Image Comics

ISBN-13:  9781607066071

 

Today is the worst day of Benjamin Day's life. He's the poster child for the first generation raised in a world where superheroes exist, but he wants nothing to do with super-anything. When versions of himself from throughout the multiverse show up dead, this one-man crisis of infinite selves tears open twenty-year-old secrets. Ben's now forced into the super-society he's long denied. Eisner award-winner and writer Joe Keatinge and illustrator Andre Szymanowicz team to bring the comic described by Third Eye Comics' Steve Anderson as "Watchmen for the Kick-Ass Generation." Features an introduction by the acclaimed creator of Madman and iZOMBIE, Michael Allred.

 

Review

 

     Benjamin Day has grown up in a world where superheroes and villains are a reality.  All he wants is to lead a normal existence as a regular guy/college student.  But when he goes out with his best friend and is hijacked by the band they saw play, things turn really weird.  One of the girls in the band has dated Ben - just in an alternate universe!  That Ben Day was murdered and someone is killing off all of Ben's alternate reality counterparts.  Can he help figure out why and stop the killer before he's next?  And is the answer closer to home than Ben ever could have imagined?

     So, this comic had lots of my favorite things in it - alternate dimensions, parallel selves and the like.  I adore things like that in a book, comic or not.  Ben Day is seemingly nothing special and while nothing was ever concretely nailed down as to why he's so special, there were some hints.  It was basically his origin story and that's a concept that I am familiar with and when done right, it's what I enjoy the most about comics in general (especially superhero ones).  The people coming through from other dimensions, all looking for Ben Day, created some hilarious situations and some rather horrifying ones too.  My favorite character besides Ben was actually one of the superheroes from another dimension, a woman who is on a mission to find and kill Ben (being away from her wife and kids to do it).  She was a bad-ass with a seemingly harsh view of things.  But there were moments, especially with her fellow superheroes, that you could see something more.  The change in Ben by the end of the comic was an interesting one and with the way things ended I'm eager to see where the author takes the story.  I did enjoy the artwork, but while it was good I did feel like it was a little too classic comic mashed together with a noir-esque graphic novel.  It was a little stylistically confused to my eyes, but what do I know?  All in all, a good origin story and I would recommend it to fans of superhero comics looking for a new mythology to deconstruct and analyze.  A good read that I don't regret spending time with, if a little incoherent at times.

 

VERDICT:  4.25/5  Stars

 

*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book was published October 16th, 2012.*

Stay On The Other Side of the Mirror

Expected Publication:  May 14th, 2013
Parallel
By: Lauren Miller
HarperTeen
ISBN-13:  9780062199799

Abby Barnes had a plan. The Plan. She'd go to Northwestern, major in journalism, and land a job at a national newspaper, all before she turned twenty-two. But one tiny choice—taking a drama class her senior year of high school—changed all that. Now, on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, Abby is stuck on a Hollywood movie set, miles from where she wants to be, wishing she could rewind her life. The next morning, she's in a dorm room at Yale, with no memory of how she got there. Overnight, it's as if her past has been rewritten.

With the help of Caitlin, her science-savvy BFF, Abby discovers that this new reality is the result of a cosmic collision of parallel universes that has Abby living an alternate version of her life. And not only that: Abby's life changes every time her parallel self makes a new choice. Meanwhile, her parallel is living out Abby's senior year of high school and falling for someone Abby's never even met.

As she struggles to navigate her ever-shifting existence, forced to live out the consequences of a path she didn't choose, Abby must let go of the Plan and learn to focus on the present, without losing sight of who she is, the boy who might just be her soul mate, and the destiny that's finally within reach.

Review

 

     Abby Barnes had a pretty great life until she was thrown a curveball - she has to take either drama or astronomy her senior year because her chosen elective was cancelled.  So she takes drama, which instead of leading her to Northwestern for journalism like she's planned on forever, threw her into the lead of the school play.  Then she was discovered and cast in an action movie.  Now Abby is feeling like her life is going in a direction that she never approved of and so she wishes for a do-over.  The next morning she wakes up in a dorm room at Yale with no idea how she got there.  Someone out there must have been listening, because Abby's wish has been granted.  But after the collision that put her in this parallel world happened, Abby is year behind in her memories.  And with her parallel making new decisions daily, every time she wakes up things are different.  With the help of her friend Caitlin and each new set of memories, Abby is able to piece together some semblance of a life.  But when the decisions of her parallel (who is still trying to live by the rules) begin to get in the way of what Abby really wants, will she find a way to forge her own path and take control of her destiny?

     The premise of this book is one of my favorites - surviving when time travel/parallel universes/alternate realities throw things out of whack.  I don't necessarily even require a well-drawn scientific explanation (although that's definitely a bonus factor).  What I do require is a coherent plot, interesting and relatable characters, and a satisfying ending that makes me feel like I didn't completely waste my time as a reader.  This book started out with the first two requirements being met, but things degraded as the plot progressed.  I'm still trying to decide if it met the last requirement in any capacity whatsoever.  Abby, the displaced and disillusioned girl who finds herself in a parallel life was like an alien lifeform to me.  She treated everything that didn't fit into her life plan with complete disdain, was a jerk to almost everyone she came into contact with and don't even get me started on the Josh/Michael debate.  The little plot twist about their connection to each other had me gagging and seeing red alternately.  Her best friend Caitlin, on the other hand, is the best kind of character.  One with faults, but who doesn't let bumps in the road completely derail her.  The evolution of her character was my favorite part of the book.  Well, besides crazy Dr. Mann's lectures and odd little mannerisms/actions.  I felt like most of the side characters were very underdeveloped, with the most cardboard ones being Ilana (the stock slut character), Tyler (the 'sensitive' jock/popular guy), and Michael (the mysterious/perfect boyfriend).  It made the interactions with the secondaries very bland and kind of annoying to me.  When the book was focusing on the disparity between realities and the affect on Abby and Caitlin, it had my attention and interest.  But when it became completely centered around 'soulmates' (Bish PLEASE!) and who was in love with who, it really took a nosedive.  By the time it ended I was completely disgusted and mad that I hadn't quit reading it earlier on.  The full circle idea for the ending was a good one, but the destiny concept pissed me off so bad I couldn't see past my anger/disdain.  Such an easy out for an author!  Overall, if you like romance and EXTREMELY light sci-fi, this might be the book for you,  Especially if you believe in using people like your own personal toys, without remorse and in predestination.

 

VERDICT:  2/5  Stars

 

*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, via Edelweiss. No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book's expected publication date is May 14th, 2013.*

Witchy Woman

Expected Publication:  November 13th, 2012
Witch World (Witch World # 1)
By: Christopher Pike
Simon Pulse
ISBN-13:  9781442430280

Heading off for a weekend in Las Vegas with her friends, Jessie Ralle has only one worry—how to make it through the road trip in the same car with her Ex, Jimmy Kelter. The guy who broke her heart five months ago when he dumped her for no reason. The guy who’s finally ready to tell her why he did it, because he wants her back.

But what Jessie doesn’t realize is that Jimmy is the least of her problems.

In Las Vegas she meets Russ, a mesmerizing stranger who shows her how to gamble, and who never seems to lose. Curious, Jessie wants to know his secret, and in response, alone in his hotel room, he teaches her a game that opens a door to another reality.

To Witch World.

Suddenly Jessie discovers that she’s stumbled into a world where some people can do the impossible, and others may not even be human. For a time she fears she’s lost her mind. Are there really witches? Is she one of them?

Review

 

   So I have read a LOT of Christopher Pike's books in the past and I am very happy that he's decided to write YA books again.  As a reader, it makes me happily nostalgic.  But this book was below par compared to his previous works.  Jessie Ralles is a solid heroine for this series and as a former library page, I loved the fact that she was one in her small town.  I didn't enjoy her pining over Jimmy, her ex-boyfriend (of all of three months), who dumped her out of the blue, cruelly and without explanation.  I also felt like he was using a tired plot device when he had the reason be that Jimmy's previous girlfriend had been pregnant with their baby.  Now Jimmy wants to get back with Jessie because the baby died and he still loves her.  After graduation the two of them and a few of their other friends go on a trip to Vegas, where Jessie meets a guy named Russ and ends up discovering that their is an alternate reality called "Witch World," where there's another version of all of them.  In that world magic exists and to merge your two selves, one of them has to "die."  In Witch World, Jessie and Jimmy have a daughter who exists in place of his son in the other reality.  An evil faction of witches have kidnapped Jessie's daughter AND Jimmy's son for nefarious purposes pertaining to the possiblity of an apocalypse.  Now it's up to Jessie and her friends to convince Jimmy of reality of magic and to get back the children before it's too late.  It sounds like there is a lot of action in this book, but the majority of it is made up of plotting and scheming.  I was kind of put off by the casual way that Jessie had sex with Jimmy and felt like a normal, small-town girl wouldn't have handled things that way.  The book moved very slowly for the first 2/3 and when it finally picked up the pace I was left feeling very ambivalent.  But the cliffhanger ending guarantees that I'll read the sequel!  It was about 200 pages too long, but overall a good start to a new series.

 

VERDICT:  3/5  Stars

 

*I received this book as part of Around the World ARC Tours, run by the lovely Princess Bookie. No favors or money were exchanged for this review. It will be available for purchase on November 13th, 2012.*



From A-List Flop to A-List Hot

Expected Publication: July 10th, 2012
Don't You Wish
By: Roxanne St. Clair
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
ISBN-13: 9780385741569


When plain and unpopular Annie Nutter gets zapped by one of her dad's whacked-out inventions, she lands in a parallel universe where her life becomes picture-perfect. Now she's Ayla Monroe, daughter of the same mother but a different father—and she's the gorgeous, rich queen bee of her high school.

In this universe, Ayla lives in glitzy Miami instead of dreary Pittsburgh and has beaucoup bucks, courtesy of her billionaire—if usually absent—father. Her friends hit the clubs, party backstage at concerts, and take risks that are exhilirating . . . and illegal. Here she's got a date to lose her V-card with the hottest guy she's ever seen.

But on the insde, Ayla is still Annie.

So when she's offered the chance to leave the dream life and head home to Pittsburgh, will she take it?

The choice isn't as simple as you think.

Review

   Annie Nutter has what she thinks is a horrible life.  Her Father works at a crappy job while trying to invent things that never work, her Mother is miserable living in their run-down, trashy house and she has an obnoxious little brother.  Then  one day the most popular boy in school makes a laughingstock of her on the schoolbus, her Mom sees the house she would've had is she's married her old boyfriend Jim Monroe, and her parents have a huge blowout over her Dad's latest crazy invention that shows your ideal face/body.  Annie is somehow transported by that messed up invention into a parallel universe where her Mom married Jim Monroe instead of Mel Nutter and she's popular, gorgeous, bitchy Ayla Monroe living in Miami instead of Pittsburgh.  Annie enjoys the designer clothes, the servants, the beautiful house and everything that goes with it.  Except for the fact that her parents are on the verge of divorce because of her Dad's infidelity, her Mom and her brother Trent hate her, plus the entire school's afraid of her because Ayla ruled with an iron fist.  Annie decides to start living the way she wants to, ditching her ass of a popular boyfriend on the night she was supposed to be de-virginized and becoming friends, more later on, with a poor scholarship student Charlie.  Him and his sister Missy are reasons why Annie wants to stay and live Ayla's life even though it's pretty superficial and miserable.  But he is working on a way to send her back to her life as Annie Nutter.  Can they change things for the better at all before she leaves?  Or will she stay and become Ayla for good.  This book was an extremely fun story and I had a wonderful time reading it.  Annie's life as an invisible, unpopular girl was relatable and she was a fairly strong character.  Also, who has honestly NEVER ONCE imagined the 'what-ifs' of their life?  I would recommend this to anyone who wants a quick, sweet read that has a lot of heart and some laughs. 

VERDICT:  4/5  Stars

*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. No money was exchanged for this review.  The expected publication of this book is July 10th, 2012.*