Be Still My Fluttering Heart

Expected Publication: October 23rd, 2012
Flutter
By: Gina Linko
Random House Books for Young Readers
ISBN-13: 9780375869969

All Emery Land wants is to be like any other 17-year-old—to go to school, hang out with her friends, and just be normal. But for as long as she can remember, she’s suffered from seizures. And in recent years they’ve consumed her life. To Emery they’re much more than seizures, she calls them loops—moments when she travels through wormholes back and forth in time and to a mysterious town. The loops are taking their toll on her physically. So she practically lives in the hospital where her scientist father and an ever-growing team of doctors monitor her every move. They’re extremely interested in the data they collect when Emery seizes. It appears that she’s tapping into parts of the brain typically left untouched by normal human beings.

Escaping from the hospital, Emery travels to Esperanza, the town from her loops on the upper peninsula of Michigan, where she meets Asher Clarke. Ash’s life is governed by his single-minded pursuit of performing good Samaritan acts to atone for the death of a loved one. His journey is very much entwined with Emery’s loops.

Drawn together they must unravel their complicated connection before it’s too late.

Review

   Emery Land is sick of being treated like a walking, talking, laboratory experiment by her Dad and the government.  Ever since she was little Em has been 'looping' back and forth through time, while having seizures that have nearly destroyed her body's functions.  Practically living in the hospital, all Em wants is to be a normal high school girl.  When her visions of the mysterious little boy and his town become more vivid, Emery enlists the help of her best friend Gia to run away to Esperanza, Michigan to find him.  While there she makes a connection with another wandering teen named Asher Clarke.  His life is consumed by acts of kindness, to make up for the death of a family member he blames himself for.  He is familiar to Em and she's determined to figure out their connection.  But can they solve the mystery before Em is caught by her Dad, and the NSA/FBI/CIA agents he's working with?  Also, will they be able to reconcile their feelings for each other with their messed up situation?  This book just about broke my heart.  It really did deserve the comparison to The Time Traveler's Wife, with it's extremely complicated and winding narrative.  Even though it was far more linear that the aforesaid novel by Audrey Niffenger, it was still very similar.  However, a plot twist near the very end sets it apart on a plane of existence all its own.  Emery is a compelling main character.  Her seizures are becoming more frequent and effectively killing her, bit by bit.  She is a constant hospital patient and it makes so much sense to me that she would fixate so heavily on something in one of her loops, because what else does she really have other than a really crappy, probably short-lived existence?  I loved that the book was set in Michigan - how often does that happen in YA books that are published by major publishing houses?  The representation of the home state was seriously awesome! :)  Other readers complain about the slow build of the plot, but in this case it really worked for me.  I liked having the focus set on Em trying to figure out the mystery behind the little boy and the town in her loops.  I also loved seeing her build a slice of real life in Esperanza while she searched.  Ash was an interesting character and I enjoyed that fact that he didn't follow the current trend of YA love interests by being a self-righteous prick.  He was kind, caring and had his own shit to deal with.  But he still had time to make Emery feel special and become someone important in her life.  I could have used more resolution at the end with the Dad/government subplot and the choice that Emery and Ash ultimately made was beautiful on a tragic level but also majorly disappointing.  They could have done so many other things, so why choose that road?  Overall, not for the faint of heart and not for hardcore sci-fi fans, because it was really more of a romance/fantasy novel.  I myself would have liked a larger dose of sci-fi.

VERDICT:  4/5  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's expected publication date is October 23rd, 2012.*

We're Running These Streets...

Expected Publication: March 15th, 2012

Dark Eyes

By: William Richter

Razorbill

ISBN-13: 9781595144577

Wally was adopted from a Russian orphanage as a child and grew up in a wealthy New York City family. At fifteen, her obsessive need to rebel led her to life on the streets.

Now the sixteen-year-old is beautiful and hardened, and she's just stumbled across the possibility of discovering who she really is. She'll stop at nothing to find her birth mother before Klesko - her darkeyed father - finds her. Because Klesko will stop at nothing to reclaim the fortune Wally's mother stole from him long ago. Even if that means murdering his own blood. But Wally's had her own killer training, and she's hungry for justice.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for teens, this debut thriller introduces our next big series heroine!

Review

   Wally (Valentina) was born in Russia and lived in an orphanage for the first five years of her life.  Then she was adopted by a rich American couple and grew up in comfort, but with huge attitude problems that led her to live on the streets when she turned fifteen and her parents divorced.  Wally has been on the streets for almost three years and has a group of friends that she crashes with, who have each other's backs.  But she stumbles onto something big when one of her former friends is killed while carrying Wally's fake Driver's License.  It leads her on a quest to find her birth mother, who it turns out is in America watching over her under an assumed identity.  She has never contacted Wally because she ripped off Klesko, a Russian mafioso and Wally's Father, to finance her escape.  Will Wally be able to find her birth mother and get answers before Klesko does?  And who will die before it's all over?  I honestly enjoyed this book quite a bit.  I liked how tough and collected Wally was, even when her day-to-day was fairly uncertain.  I also loved the 3-Dimensionality of all the side characters and the double plotline that was working its way to the ending.  You can tell Richter is a screenwriter and it worked out in a good way.  That said, I always felt that Wally was kind of a brat for not appreciating what she had until it was really gone and not just waiting for her to come back.  How many homeless people have a home that they just refuse to live in, but occasionally do laundry at?  She came across as a fake on quite a few levels, pretending that she had it as tough as her friends kind of rubbed me the wrong way.  But I loved the mystery and the ending was so shocking, I NEVER saw it coming!  If you're into action and crime, this is the book for you (as long as you can suspend your disbelief).

VERDICT:  3.75/5  Stars

*I received an Advanced Reading Copy from the publisher, via LibraryThing. No money was exchanged for this review. The expected publication date is March 15th, 2012.*