No One Lives Forever

Expected Publication:  March 11th, 2014

Liv, Forever

By: Amy Talkington

Soho Teen

ISBN-13:  9781616953225

When Liv Bloom lands an art scholarship at Wickham Hall, it's her ticket out of the foster system.  Liv isn't sure what to make of her new school's weird traditions and rituals, but she couldn't be happier.  For the first time ever, she has her own studio, her own supply of paints.  Everything she could want.

The she meets Malcom Astor, a legacy student, a fellow artist, and the one person who's ever been able to melt her defenses.  Liv's only friend at Wickham, fellow scholarship student Gabe Nichols, warns her not to get involved, but life is finally going Liv's way, and all she wants to do is enjoy the ride.

But Liv's bliss is doomed.  Weeks after arriving, she is viciously murdered and, in death, she discovers that she's the latest victim of a dark conspiracy that has claimed many lives.  Cursed with the ability to see the many ghosts on Wickham's campus, Gabe is now Liv's only link to the world of the living.  To Malcom.

Together, Liv, Gabe, and Malcom fight to expose the terrible truth that haunts the halls of Wickham.  But Liv must fight alone to come to grips with the ultimate star-crossed love.

Review

     Liv has been on the fringes her entire life.  A tenant of the foster care system, and someone who feels more comfortable with art than people, she is excited to get the opportunity to become a better artist.  A scholarship to the prestigious Wickham Hall is a dream come true for Liv - or so she thinks until she actually gets there.  The rich students love to humliate the scholarship kids and liv is even more outcast than ever.  But she has a connection with rich, legacy studen Malcom Astor and manages to find a friend in fellow poor kid Gabe.  Soon Liv's sneaking off to meet with Malcom and they are falling in love.  One night Liv doesn't make it back to her dorm - she is murdered and thrown down an old well.  The main question is who did it - and why?  Also, Gabe is able to communicate with her still and together they try to solve Liv's murder, which is just the newest in a string dating over 150 years back.  Can they convince Malcom to turn his back on the secret society he belongs to and do the right thing, to bring the killer to justice?  And how will Malcom and Liv say goodbye, when they'd only just begun?

     I started this book off thinking how shallow and stereotypical of a character Liv was - and it's not like any of the side characters were all that much better.  Gabe is a prickly, disenfranchised loner who sees ghosts and Malcom is a weak-spined, rich boy who is slumming it with Liv.  It's only after we see Malcom and Liv sneaking around together, get a hint at Gabe's terror of the ghosts around the school (and short POVs from the ghosts on their respective origins/murders) that we get a little more meat to the story.  Things really pick up after Liv's murder.  It's up to Liv, Gabe and Malcom to find the truth with the Wickies (rich kid, secret society students) trying to cover it up and make it look like a suicide.  It's a genuinely interesting plot, with Liv and Gabe spending much time trying to convinve Malcom she's still there.  And once they do, the annoyance factor of the go-between is still there.  However, a snarky bromance builds between Gabe and Malcom that is absolutely hilarious to watch.  Liv is discovering her limitations as a spirit, what she wants now that she's dead and what the Hell happened exactly.  It's good stuff plotwise and the pacing is excellent.

      The backstory on all the ghost girls of Wickham Hall and the mystery of Liv, which was really the mystery of them all, definitely lent some much needed detail to what could have been a very thin and schmaltzy plotline focus.  The twists and turns involving the motives, supernatural/non-supernatural origins of the killer(s) and the resolution were well executed.  Nothing truly shocking, but nothing truly cliched and overused either.  And the ending is absolutely gorgeous.  I loved that this book reads like a screenplay for a T.V. show or a film.  It made it much easier to swallow that there was a complete lack of characterization of Liv, Gabe or Malcom beyond their actions and mystery solving needs.  It didn't try to waffle between novel and screenplay in style or tone, which helped it out considerably.  It stuck to its guns and I appreciate and respect that beyond belief.  The fluffy tendencies of this book often won out, and I think what saved it for me was the ending.  It fit exactly and I loved how realistic it was (for a book with sentient, ghostly beings that is!).  Liv and Malcom didn't linger on the past.  They both moved forward with what they knew to be right for themselves and each other.  Overall, this has a very detailed and well written mystery, with multi-layered ghosts.  It has romance, comedy and action is high degree.  I recommend it if you're okay with ingesting some cotton candy and like a break from the overly serious every once in a while.

VERDICT:  3.5/5  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.*

We Think Patty Means Well...

Published:  February 27th, 2009 (First Published in 1911)

Just Patty (Patty #2)

By: Jean Webster

Project Gutenberg

ASIN:  B001U3ZCSG

Patty and her two roommates from last year are back in school. And they're upset School administration is trying to break up their dream team

"It's a shame " says Priscilla.

"It's an outrage " says Conny.

"It's an insult " says Patty.

"To separate us now after we've been together three years --"

"And it isn't as though we were "awfully" bad last year. Lots of girls had more demerits."

"Only our badness was sort of conspicuous," Patty admitted.

"But we were "very" good the last three weeks," reminded Conny.

Don't worry, they'll work around it. And raise more heck this year than ever before. . .

Review

     Patty and her two best friends Conny and Priscilla are appalled when they find out they've been separated as roommates for their senior year at Saint Ursula's boarding school.  Patty will not let it stand and the girls come up with schemes to go back to rooming with one another.  The book follows Conny, Priscilla, Patty and their schoolmates (but mostly Patty) through their senior year.  It's a series of vignettes about friendship, mischief and growing up in the early 1900s.

     When I downloaded this for my Kindle (it's free on Amazon as part of Project Gutenberg), I had already read  Daddy Long-Legs and Dear Enemy.  Jean Webster has a pretty sharp sense of humor and writes wonderfully relatable heroines, that put me in mind of L.M. Montgomery (only with some extra snarkiness, versus dreaminess) and her Anne series.  I thought about reading When Patty Goes to College first since it was written before this one, but decided to go in chronological order by the actual setting of the book.  I normally am not a huge fan of books told in short story/vignette form, but this one really was a pretty good book when it comes down to it.

     Patty is an absolute lightning rod for mischief and makes it a habit to deliberately misinterpret things that people say to her or instruct her to do - with mostly hilarious results.  The other two girls are in the mischief with her, but Patty is most definitely the ringleader!  There were some that were almost entirely humorous, like the incident where Patty and the girls strike for better/more equal treatment in Latin class, and the incident with one of the girls having a fake beau (boyfriend) to hurt another girl's feelings (Patty takes care of that one with some pretty funny antics).  But there were also stories like the one where Patty is stuck at school for Christmas and decides to help a lonely and out of place student who feels abandoned have a meaningful holiday.  Also, the incident with the prank where Patty accidentally encounters a real burglar and finds him a job when she goes trespassing on a grumpy, reclusive millionaire's property.  Patty always means well, even when she's trying to get around doing things that she should (like studying to make up an exam that she misses).

     Overall I was impressed with this book and felt like the overall tone to it avoided the malicious spirit that books centered around pranks and boarding schools tend to have on occasion (whether by accident or design, things do move in that direction quite often).  I am only sorry that Jean Webster died at such a young age, with so much potential to be a classic children's writer in the collective consciousness instead of nearly forgotten, as I feel she is in our present day.  Also interesting to note is that Jean Webster was Mark Twain's grandniece.  Who knows maybe his famous snark is some of the reason she manages mischief so admirably in her own novels!  I highly recommend this one, especially for fans of classic books along the lines of Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, or the Betsy-Tacy series.  My only real complaint is that I wish there were more to this book.  It felt far too short, especially with the story Webster chose to end on.

VERDICT:  4.5/5  Stars

**No money or favors were exchanged for this review.  This book is now available mostly  in used bookstores, online, or maybe even at your local library.**

Things Are Not What They Appear

 

Published:  May 14th, 2013

The School for Good and Evil (The School for Good and Evil #1)

By: Soman Chainani

HarperCollins

ISBN-13:  9780062104892

 

“The first kidnappings happened two hundred years before. Some years it was two boys taken, some years two girls, sometimes one of each. But if at first the choices seemed random, soon the pattern became clear. One was always beautiful and good, the child every parent wanted as their own. The other was homely and odd, an outcast from birth. An opposing pair, plucked from youth and spirited away.”

This year, best friends Sophie and Agatha are about to discover where all the lost children go: the fabled School for Good & Evil, where ordinary boys and girls are trained to be fairy tale heroes and villains. As the most beautiful girl in Gavaldon, Sophie has dreamed of being kidnapped into an enchanted world her whole life. With her pink dresses, glass slippers, and devotion to good deeds, she knows she’ll earn top marks at the School for Good and graduate a storybook princess. Meanwhile Agatha, with her shapeless black frocks, wicked pet cat, and dislike of nearly everyone, seems a natural fit for the School for Evil.

But when the two girls are swept into the Endless Woods, they find their fortunes reversed—Sophie’s dumped in the School for Evil to take Uglification, Death Curses, and Henchmen Training, while Agatha finds herself in the School For Good, thrust amongst handsome princes and fair maidens for classes in Princess Etiquette and Animal Communication.. But what if the mistake is actually the first clue to discovering who Sophie and Agatha really are…?

 

Review

 

     Sophie and Agatha aren't really even friends.  Sophie has taken Agatha on as her charity case, a good deed to make herself look better.  Because Sophie is expecting to be kidnapped by the schoolmaster, for the mysterious School for Good.  Agatha doesn't believe that the schoolmaster really exists or the School for Good and it's brother, the School for Evil.  Until they both get taken away that is.  And even more shocking, Agatha is sent to Good and Sophie is sent to Evil!  Trying to figure out what went wrong, Sophie hates Agatha for betraying her and does everything she can to scheme her way into School for Good.  But Agatha begins to wonder if she doesn't really belong at Good and if things are always as easy as what they appear to be.  Can the girls figure out who they are, their places in each other's lives and manage to not entirely destroy the structure of fairy tales in the process?

     I really enjoyed the concept of this book.  Two separate schools, one for good and one for evil, that train the heroes and villains from fairy tales.  Two girls, one inherently good and one with great capacity for evil.  But which one is which?  I liked the focus on friendship, but at the same time I felt like there wasn't much of a friendship to base things on.  Sophie is using Agatha, and she knows it.  So it felt really messed up when Agatha refused to let go of Sophie and insisted on acting like her friend, even when Sophie completely blames her for them being at the "wrong" schools.  And when the Prince starts paying attention to Agatha, all Hell breaks loose.  I guess in a classic fairy tale sense, it does seem like the right plot twist to have Agatha refuse to let go of the 'friendship' (due to her goodness and purity of spirit, etc.),.  It definitely doesn't make the characters much more than one-dimensional though or give them real room to grow out of their stereotypes. 

     The respective schools are full of the normal witches, hunchbacks, princes, princesses and lackeys of both good and evil persuasions.  We get to know witches in training, Anadil and Hester, and on the other side Prince Tedros, who Sophie becomes obsessed with.  There are others, but none that really distinguished themselves.  My main complaint about this book would be that it takes a really long time for anything to actually happen.  Once stuff does start happening, I feel like the author rushes through it sloppily.  At almost five hundred pages long, it definitely could have been paced better and Sophie's complete descent into evil could have taken longer and been more realistically written.  She goes from being somewhat stupid, airheaded and obsessed with manipulating her way into Good, to an evil mastermind and the most powerful witch ever.  Even the teachers are terrified of her!  The ending was abrupt and the simplicity of the characters, holes in the plot and overall youngness of a lot of it make this an awkward splice of YA and Middle Grade.  Overall I enjoyed myself, and I'm not going to say much more because I don't want to spoil it.  There were some issues with it though and I do think it's more appropriate for middle school and early high school readers than older teens and adults. 

 

VERDICT:  3.5/5  Stars

 



**No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book is now available in stores, online, or maybe even at your local library.**

I Don't Wanna Go To This Crazy, Messed Up School

Expected Publication:  May 21st, 2013
Night School (Night School # 1)
By: C.J. Daugherty
Katherine Tegen Books
ISBN-13: 9780062193858

Allie's world is falling apart...

She hates her school. Her brother has run away. And she's just been arrested.

Again.

Now her parents are sending her away to a boarding school where she doesn't know a soul.

But instead of hating her new school, Allie finds she's happy there. She's making friends. And then there's Sylvain, a suave French student who openly flirts with her. And Carter, the brooding loner who seems to have her back.

Soon, though, Allie discovers Cimmeria Academy is no ordinary school. Nothing there is as it seems. And her new friends are hiding dangerous secrets.

Review (BEWARE OF SPOILERS)

 

     Mysterious boarding school, dangerously hot boys, good girl gone bad - what's not to love?  Unfortunately, a lot of things in this particular book.  First issue being the inconsistencies in Allie's character.  She goes from acting out and being arrested repeatedly, to doing what everyone tells her to and believing anything they say, even when things aren't adding up.  The synopsis pegs this as a book with a major mystery.  That mystery being what exactly Night School is, who is in it, why and what they are trying to gain in life from it.  Instead of being answered slowly bit-by-bit, this is jumbled and shoved together in answer format in the last 10 percent or so of the book.  Most of this book is spent on Allie's decision between mysterious, charming, hot French boy Sylvain and not-so-bad boy, 'womanizer' Carter.    A lot of time is also spent on Allie's friendship with unstable, but fun and sweet Jo who I found myself more interested in than Allie herself.  That is, until Jo was turned into a complete moron by her treatment of others (namely Allie and Carter) and becomes a complete cliché in the last third of the book.  The whole book spends its time having mysterious animal attacks, students not being allowed outside after dark and the separation of the Night School kids being waved in the reader's face like a big, fat paranormal clue.  It is a tease and a liar peoples!  In the big revelation at the end, we find out that the secret is a Skulls type of secret society (like the movie from 2000 with Joshua Jackson) that is made up of rich douchebags who indoctrinate their children and basically rule the powerful positions of the world!  WTF??? 

     Also, at the Summer Ball that Allie and friends become obsessed over at the halfway mark of the book, she is practically date-raped by Sylvain (who is supposed to be a nice guy) and we're made to think he's trying to mind control her through supernatural means.  This is never explained to my satisfaction (or probably anyone else's, really).  Also, there is a horrific fire and another student in murdered - which everyone then pretends was a suicide and no one calls the police.  At this point Jo goes completely off the rails, does stupid shit and then blames everything on Allie!  Things only devolve from there till the ending.  The romance between Allie and Carter is set up from the beginning of the book, but when it actually happens it felt very staged to me.  He's a sweet guy, but she spent most of the book hating him and going for Sylvain (which doesn't say much for her taste).  And Allie's long-lost brother Christopher who disappeared and is the reason for her bad behavior/sadness, is suddenly spotted in bad-guy Nathaniel's army and thrown into the ending like loose change no one knows what to do with, cause there's not quite enough for a candy bar.  Again, WTF???  All in all, not what I was expecting and very deceptive in the way it was marketed and tried to court me as a reader.  But for all that, I still managed to finish it and really liked/enjoyed the slow burn and funny dialogue of the first 2/3 of this book.  Which made it all the more heartbreaking when it crashed and burned.  It was a world of no at the end and that made me very sad.

 

 

Some memorable quotes:

 

(From when Jo teaches Allie to play chess)

 

'Allie held it up and made a neighing sound.  Jo gave her a withering look.

     "Pony," said Allie weakly.

     "Get serious Allie," Jo said.  "This isn't a game.  Not really.  Because chess is really war.".........

Trying to look serious, Allie placed her knight where she was told, but shooting Jo a rebellious glance, she murmured, "Good horsie" under her breath.

 

(About going back to school and leaving the chapel open behind her and Carter)

 

"We'll get in trouble if it's left open," she reasoned.  "And I really don't think it would be great for Jo to be quizzed by Zelazny right now.  Besides, what if a fox gets in and eats Jesus?"

 

(Worst passage in the book, during the fire at the dance, starts with Jo speaking about her boyfriend Gabe just leaving her when the fire starts)

 

"Eloise says everyone's fine, so he's fine.  It's just...he just left me there.  In a fire." 

     "Oh, babe."  Allie reached out to squeeze her arm..."He made sure you were safe first, right?...And you know what?  He has faith that you're tough, and can take care of yourself.  And that's kind of cool."

 

 

VERDICT:  2.5/5  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 May 21st, 2013.*



Last Night I Dreamt I Was At Manderley Again......

Expected Publication: January 31st, 2012
New Girl
By: Paige Harbison
HarlequinTeen
ISBN-13: 9780373210428


They call me 'New Girl'...

Ever since I arrived at exclusive, prestigious Manderly Academy, that’s who I am. New girl. Unknown. But not unnoticed—because of her.

Becca Normandy—that’s the name on everyone’s lips. The girl whose picture I see everywhere. The girl
I can’t compare to. I mean, her going missing is the only reason a spot opened up for me at the academy.
And everyone stares at me like it’s my fault.

Except for Max Holloway—the boy whose name shouldn’t be spoken. At least, not by me. Everyone thinks of him as Becca’s boyfriend…but she’s gone, and here I am, replacing her. I wish it were that easy. Sometimes, when I think of Max, I can imagine how Becca’s life was so much better than mine could ever be.

And maybe she’s still out there, waiting to take it back.

Review

   When the New Girl gets accepted into Manderley Academy for her Senior year of high school she's less than thrilled.  When she was younger it was all she ever wanted - to go to boarding school.  Now, she has long since lost that dream and become blissfully happy, content in her own skin at last.  But her parents are so excited and they've already paid the tuition, so she goes anyways.  It turns out that a spot opened up at Manderley because Rebecca 'Becca' Normandy disappeared at the end of the previous year - when she was the new girl.  Of course New Girl is the new roommate filling Becca's empty of her room with Dana, who is extremely resentful that Becca's place is being filled.  Also, New Girl attracts the attention of Max Holloway, Becca's former boyfriend.  Their love was supposedley forever.  Johnny, the ex-best friend of Max, also takes an interest.  New Girl has to fight to be accepted as herself and not Becca's second-best replacement.  She doesn't want Becca's life, just her own.  But no one will let her have it that easily.  I really enjoyed Paige Harbison's modernization/retelling of Rebecca  by Daphne Du Maurier in a high school setting.  There was a shift between present events with the New Girl's perspective and the events of the previous year with Becca's.  It turns out that Becca was really unhappy, craved attention and nothing was ever enough.  She had distant parents and was always faking everyone out about the way her life really was.  Becca played a lot of games with Max and his best friend Johnny, when she never even felt anything for Max.  She only used him to gain notoriety and popularity in school.  Becca did really care for Johnny, but neither of the boys truly liked her.  They were really just using her too.  The whole book is spent in a shift between Becca's downward spiral of destruction and New Girl's odyssey for answers  about a girl who disappeared but is managing to make her miserable nonetheless.  It flowed really well and kept to the original premise that you never find out the main characters name, until the end when she was leaving.  In Rebecca you never find out at all, which is kind of the point.  It was really easy to become immersed in the over emotional rollercoaster that was New Girl.  The characters gripped me and the plot was scarily believable in a high school setting.  It sent chills up and down my spine.  That said, quite a bit of the time, New Girl's insecurity and self justification got hard to swallow.  It definitely took away from the overall enjoyment.  I highly recommend reading the original Rebecca first if you never have, otherwise you may be unable to appreciate this book for the truly difficult reshaping task it must have been. 

VERDICT: 3/5  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 January 31st, 2012.*