YA

The Burning Page

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By Genevieve Cogman

I did not expect this book to hit me as much as it did, but wow. My hands were shaking when I finished it, and I just hugged it against my chest for a bit, trying to process the powerful ending. The Burning Page is the incredible third book in the Invisible Library series, and so far the best yet.

Summary29612879

Due to her involvement in an unfortunate set of mishaps between the dragons and the Fae, Librarian spy Irene is stuck on probation, doing what should be simple fetch-and-retrieve projects for the mysterious Library. But trouble has a tendency of finding both Irene and her apprentice, Kai—a dragon prince—and, before they know it, they are entangled in more danger than they can handle…
 
Irene’s longtime nemesis, Alberich, has once again been making waves across multiple worlds, and, this time, his goals are much larger than obtaining a single book or wreaking vengeance upon a single Librarian. He aims to destroy the entire Library—and make sure Irene goes down with it.
 
With so much at stake, Irene will need every tool at her disposal to stay alive. But even as she draws her allies close around her, the greatest danger might be lurking from somewhere close—someone she never expected to betray her…

I thought this was going to be the last in the series, so I was ready for a final showdown. Or, at least, I told myself I was ready: I didn’t want the fun to end.  But the great news is that there are at least two more books in the works, so we can keep enjoying it! It also means that while there is a brilliant showdown, it will not be the last.

Those of you who have read my reviews of The Invisible Library and The Masked City know the gist of why I love this series so much: the idea of secret-agent-book -lover-librarians is just so brilliant! I love the universe that Cogman has created, with multiple alternate realities all connected by this library, with logic and reason at one end of the spectrum, and chaos at the other. You have Order, or reality, incarnated by the Dragons, and you have Stories and Narrative, embodied by the Fae. The library maintains balance by collecting important books from these worlds, and the Librarians don’t always retrieve them legally.

Irene and Kai are brilliant characters whom I love to follow in their adventures. They’re smart and resourceful, and above all,  they love their books. But since the events of the Masked City, they’ve been getting the worst assignments: punishment for Irene leaving her post to save Kai, and stop a war. But now they’re in for an adventure they never expected: the library is under siege, by the evil traitor Alberich, and it could very well die. Not to mention someone has been trying to kill off Irene and Kai!

The pacing is so much faster in this third installment: it’s as if every book was speeding up. There’s love and betrayal, there’s magical worlds and terrifying words, huge twists and an enormous reveal at the very end. Some of our favorite characters are back, and hinting at a large secretive plot that runs through the novels so far. There’s mystery and intrigue, and magic and danger. And an ending that will leave you clutching your bookshelf and whispering promises of love and devotion to it.

All in all – this is the best book of the series so far. It’s fast paced and breathless, with lives on the line. And I seriously can’t wait for more.

Expected publication: January 10th 2017 by Roc. Thank you Roc for sending me a copy!

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Ivory and Bone

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by Julie Esbaugh

I bought this book – pre-ordered it, in fact – manths back, when I heard about how it was a YA set in the prehistoric era. Woopee! Honestly the concept alone was what got me: I don’t think I know of any books like that, not what to expect from them. I went into this book knowing only one thing: we’ve travelled back to the age of the mammoth…

Summary

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Hunting, gathering, and keeping his family safe—that’s the life seventeen-year-old Kol knows. Then bold, enigmatic Mya arrives from the south with her family, and Kol is captivated. He wants her to like and trust him, but any hopes of impressing her are ruined when he makes a careless—and nearly grave—mistake. However, there’s something more to Mya’s cool disdain…a history wrought with loss that comes to light when another clan arrives. With them is Lo, an enemy from Mya’s past who Mya swears has ulterior motives.
As Kol gets to know Lo, tensions between Mya and Lo escalate until violence erupts. Faced with shattering losses, Kol is forced to question every person he’s trusted. One thing is for sure: this was a war that Mya or Lo—Kol doesn’t know which—had been planning all along.

Musings

My first thought while reading this book was: wait, this is a little like Pride and Prejudice! And it turns out that’s what the author intended, I just avoided reading any blurb so as to avoid any spoilers, and didn’t see that until I was done. So I have to give cuddos for the author for having made that subtle enough to not be super evident,  but enough for the reader to catch.

However, this version of Pride and Prejudice is told with the genders reversed, and entirely in second person. The main character, Kol, is telling this story to you, Mya, for reasons that become apparent in the last third of the book. As of such, Kol is un unreliable narrator, because he just jumps to conclusions so quickly. Remind you of anyone?

Set in the Neolithic era (10,000-4,500 BC), we follow the lives of a hunter gatherer society. Kol’s clan is small, but they act as a unit, a family. They hunt mammoth and seal together, one of his brothers is a musician, they have art,  basic medicine, and lead rather happy lives. Their interaction with other clans is limited, so when they meet their neighbors to the south, they’re desperate to get along. But their past is not easily put behind them.

One of the main things people fault with this novel is just how this all revolves around misunderstandings. Why don’t people just come out and say what they mean? Honestly that’s something that bothered me in the original P&P, so i think it’s an excusable plot point here.

While the pacing is slow until the last third, I quite liked the world building, and it didn’t stop the novel from being a fast read. It felt incredibly immersive, and the author has a style that’s really evocative. It played on the senses, making me see and feel the things that were there.

Now there was a bit more romance than I was into, but it was really well done. Kol and Mya’s relationship mirrors that of Darcy and Elizabeth, only with the genders reversed. Mya is a mystery, and we’re excited to learn more about her. And this is far from being a traditional take on a love story – I mean, we’re 12,000 years before the regency period, so life is a little different: a little more equal, a little less homophobic, and with a whole lot more hunting.

All in all, a very good read. I enjoyed being brought into the story, and will very likely read it again, knowing what I know now. A great piece of YA fiction.

You in Five Acts

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By Una LaMarche
Reviewed by SA

Gosh, why is it that October becomes insanely hectic? I barely had time to read this week, but when I picked up this book, I realized I could not put it down. It was only when I finished it that I realized it was now midnight, and that there were tears streaming down my eyes. Gosh, I had no idea what to expect from this book, and I certainly didn’t expect it to stomp on my heart so painfully. Of course I loved it.

Summary28588461

In the high-pressure months leading up to the performance that will determine their futures, a group of friends at a performing arts school look back on when an unexpected event upended everything. The moment that changed their relationships, their friendships, and their lives forever.

At a prestigious New York City performing arts school, five friends connect over one dream of stardom. But for Joy, Diego, Liv, Ethan and Dave, that dream falters under the pressure of second-semester, Senior year. Ambitions shift and change, new emotions rush to the surface, and a sense of urgency pulses between them: Their time together is running out.

Diego hopes to get out of the friend zone. Liv wants to escape, losing herself in fantasies of the new guy. Ethan conspires to turn his muse into his girlfriend. Dave pines for the drama queen. And if Joy doesn’t open her eyes, she could lose the love that’s been in front of her all along.

In a prestigious, and very demanding, New York performing arts school, five teens are getting ready for the summer showcase, where they will perform in front of an audience made up of all the bigwigs of the industry. It’s a do or die moment. The pressure is on, and it’s up full force. Probably not the best time to deal with feelings.

Joy is a ballerina. Joy is also black. She knows the odds: she calculated them herself, and being a black ballerina with a national company is not going to be easy. She’ll do anything to perform her best at the summer showcase, even if it means dancing on an injured ankle. Diego is also a dancer of color, who’s been crushing hard on Joy ever since day one. He’s in the friendzone, and is madly in love with her.

Liv is an actor, who deals with the stress by mixing some prescriptions… pain killers that were never meant for her. Ethan Is a playwright, who writes his obsession over Liv into a script he wants her to perform. And then there’s Dave, a successful child actor who’s grown and has a lot on his plate. Their five lives are linked, for better or for worse.

The characters al have their own portion of the story, their own POV. But what’s interesting, is that it’s always addressed to You: you as in the person they have been pining over, you as in the one they love. All this under the ominous countdown to the summer showcase – unless it’s counting down to something else entirely.

I loved this novel. Joy and Diego’s pieces were by far my favorite, and I loved the evolution of their relationship. Their love is special, and beautiful, and everything you want out of young love. Even though I know nothing about ballet, watching it performed through their characters transported me, and gave me a deeper appreciation for the art. There were also cute little hints about Hamilton or fame that made me chuckle.

But it was the ending that had me in tears. I could not believe it. At all. And I think that was the point. I will not say it here, as I do not want to spoil it for anyone, but it is incredible relevant for today. It made me sad. It made me angry. It hit me like a bullet train.

Definitely a book to put on your TBR pile… A fantastic read that will hook you from page one. Expected publication: November 1st 2016 by Razorbill. Thank you Penguin First to Read for giving me a copy.

Iron Cast

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by Destiny Soria
Reviewed by SA

One look. That’s all it took. One look at the cover, and it was love at first sight. I picked up this book and devoured it excitedly. Oh, my gosh. It’s so good. Not only is it diverse, but it has an iron tight female friendship, beautiful prose, and it combines all the best genres. It’s at the same time YA, Historical Fiction, and Fantasy, with mad scientists, secret clubs, gangs, and superpowers. All of that on the eve of prohibition. What’s not to love?

Summary28818313

It’s Boston, 1919, and the Cast Iron club is packed. On stage, hemopaths—whose “afflicted” blood gives them the ability to create illusions through art—captivate their audience. Corinne and Ada have been best friends ever since infamous gangster Johnny Dervish recruited them into his circle. By night they perform for Johnny’s crowds, and by day they con Boston’s elite. When a job goes wrong and Ada is imprisoned, they realize how precarious their position is. After she escapes, two of the Cast Iron’s hires are shot, and Johnny disappears. With the law closing in, Corinne and Ada are forced to hunt for answers, even as betrayal faces them at every turn.

Ada and Corinne are hemopaths, able to manipulate people with their dangerous abilities. Ada charms your emotions to her will through her violin. Corinne can weave illusions with poetry. Together, they work for the Cast Iron, a nightclub which secretly holds illegal hemopath performances… and is the front for Jonny Dervish to run his hemopath cons from. After one con gets too big and goes bad, Ada is imprisoned in Haversham Asylum, a place designed to ‘rehabilitate’ hemopaths, and it’s up to Corinne to get her out.

I feel like the summary doesn’t do this book justice, because that’s where we actually start the novel: with a daring escape in the dead of night. Ada and Corinne make it back to the Cast Iron, their safe haven, only to learn that everything is now falling apart. More heists going wrong, fears of a mole, and now Jonny’s missing  and Ada’s still a wanted prisoner. And, to make matters worse, Corinne’s rich brother is marrying the daughter of the man who owns the hemopath institution she just broke Ada out of.

I absolutely loves Ada and Corinne. Their friendship was #ladygoals. They’re so close, able to tell each other everything and push each other to be better. They love each other in a way that makes you love them even more. And it’s not just them: all the secondary characters, the hemopaths and bodyguards working in the Cast Iron, all seem to form their own little family. They support each other through thick and thin, and it’s cool to see these complex characters working together.

Not only that, but the description of their abilities in use is just… lyrical. It’s beautiful. The author weaves together beautiful prose to tell just how the two women grip their audience. And they grip us, too, in the process. At the same time, we feel their fear of Iron. Hemopaths basically are allergic to it, repulsed by it: it burns their skin, and just being near it can make them feel ill. As a reader, we get both ends of hemopathy: the beautiful illusions and the awful pain.

The pacing of the novel is a little off. It starts out strong, with the break out, but then is a lot more easy going for a while. There’s a lot of mystery going on: there’s this feeling of cold, as everyone is trying to keep on running their own lives as things go south around them. But I almost, almost put this book down halfway through. I’m so glad I stuck through, because that’s when things really hit the fan and it’s gets crazy fast and exciting. So if you’re thinking of putting this book down, don’t! It has one of the most brilliant endings I have ever read!

You’re definitely going to want to read this book, when it comes out on October 11th. Thank you NetGalley and Amulet books for letting me read this amazing novel.

Looking for some Urban Fantasy? My novel Inside Out is available for free – no signup or anything required – for a limited time only. If you like the X-files, you’re going to like this! While supplies last. 

Spontaneous

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by Aaron Starmer
Reviewed by SA

When I started this book, I was laughing every five seconds. When I finished it, I was in tears. There’s just so much to say about Spontaneous, so much that makes me want to shove it at friends and tell them to read it now. It’s a brilliant, touching book which I can’t believe affected me so much.

Summary

23587115Mara Carlyle’s senior year is going as normally as could be expected, until—wa-bam!—fellow senior Katelyn Ogden explodes during third period pre-calc.

Katelyn is the first, but she won’t be the last teenager to blow up without warning or explanation. As the seniors continue to pop like balloons and the national eye turns to Mara’s suburban New Jersey hometown, the FBI rolls in and the search for a reason is on.

Whip-smart and blunt, Mara narrates the end of their world as she knows it while trying to make it to graduation in one piece. It’s an explosive year punctuated by romance, quarantine, lifelong friendship, hallucinogenic mushrooms, bloggers, ice cream trucks, “Snooze Button™,” Bon Jovi, and the filthiest language you’ve ever heard from the President of the United States.

When seniors at Covington high start spontaneously combusting – more like, spontaneously exploding – life starts falling apart. No one knows what’s setting people off, what’s safe and who’s next. It’s a little hard to keep things together when you could be a pile of goop one second later.

Mara takes it all in stride. A witty, intelligent young woman, her perspective on the disaster is incredibly refreshing. She’s not a moper, instead she tells the story as it is, infusing the horror with funny moments and sharing a memory worth having of the person who just departed. She’s incredibly relatable, one of the most human YA women I have ever read, and I found myself reading thoughts of hers and wondering if the author somehow saw into my brain. So many of my fears and anxieties ring true through Mara’s point of view.

She’s not perfect, she’s incredibly human, and I think that’s why she’s so much fun to read. She’s also snarky and crass. She swears a lot and lives a very healthy sex life. She deals with this dark subject in her own way, mourns without tears, and suddenly you’re wondering why it’s so funny. How can it be so entertaining?

You begin to really care about the people in the novel. Mara and Tess have such a fantastic friendship, and I’m a sucker for well written girl friendships. Dylan, the romantic interest, is such a fascinating and complex character. Their relationship is far from perfect, and I think we need more imperfect couples in our lit.

But here’s the thing: two thirds of the way into the book, there’s a twist that made me actually scream out in anger. And then everything just falls apart. I was going to talk about great adults for the seniors to look up to and trust, but no, they’re all assholes. I was going to talk about growth, but growing up also means growing apart. The author is constantly reminding us that life can change spontaneously, and that it doesn’t care at all.

Spoiler alert: you won’t get any catharsis from this novel.

The blurb says: Aaron Starmer rewrites the rulebook with Spontaneous. But beneath the outrageous is a ridiculously funny, super honest, and truly moving exemplar of the absurd and raw truths of being a teenager in the 21st century . . . and the heartache of saying goodbye. I Think it’s also the heartache of not being able to say goodbye. Of not being able to do what you think you’re supposed to. One of the hardest parts of growing up is learned that you can do everything right and still fail: that life owes you nothing. This book is a powerful reminded of that.

Spontaneous is the most human novel I’ve read in a long time. A book where I have so many questions left unanswered, and I’m going to have to live with that. A book that broke my heart and has me constantly looking over my shoulder in fear of the unexpected happening and taking everything away.

It’s also a book with characters that don’t fall into single categories. A book where everything is unpredictable. A book where you’re laughing out loud at moments that are grim and morose because Mara’s reaction scares even herself.

Yes, I absolutely loved it.

Thank you Penguin Teen for sending me a copy to review. You’re the best.

Labyrinth Lost

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By Zoraida Córdova
Reviewed by SA

I just finished reading what must be the best YA novel I have read in ages – possibly, ever, but I know I say that I lot and I don’t want to diminish the amazingness of this novel – and I just could not wait another second to tell you about it. Mark your calendars for September 6th, because Labyrinth Lost is coming out and you have to read it right away.

Summary27969081

Nothing says Happy Birthday like summoning the spirits of your dead relatives.

Alex is a bruja, the most powerful witch in a generation…and she hates magic. At her Deathday celebration, Alex performs a spell to rid herself of her power. But it backfires. Her whole family vanishes into thin air, leaving her alone with Nova, a brujo boy she can’t trust. A boy whose intentions are as dark as the strange marks on his skin.

The only way to get her family back is to travel with Nova to Los Lagos, a land in-between, as dark as Limbo and as strange as Wonderland…

Where to start with this novel? Alex is a young woman from Brooklyn who harbors incredible magic. But not only does she hate magic, she’s afraid of her own power, keeping it locked away for years until it bursts out in dangerous ways. While the rest of her family has incredible gifts which stem from love, Alex’s power seems raw and dangerous, and she knows she has to get rid of it. When she accidentally banishes her entire family to another dimension, her power might be the only thing that can get them back.

It’s a novel about family, about growth, about love. About how you don’t know how much you truly love something or someone until it’s gone. It’s a quest, an adventure, a modern day take on a story you would hear while sitting next to the fire, as your grandmother tells you about powerful young women and magic. It’s an instant classic.

The worldbuilding here is exquisite. The author does an incredible job of creating this universe and feeding us information without lugging us down with exposition. It’s a masterful example of “show, don’t tell” at work. She crafts a beautiful world of magic and a rich culture based on latin witch magic, with brujas and brujos, Deos and demons.

The characters themselves have such depth and complexity to them. Alex is not some whiny girl who doesn’t want her powers: she’s got valid reason to fear what she can do, and is able to grow into someone not to be trifled with. Nova is mysterious and intriguing, hiding secrets which slowly trickle out. And Rishi is just incredible, she’s a person I would love to have in my life. Not to mention Rose and Lula, Alex’s sisters, who are banished to Los Lagos: we learn so much about them int he first chapters that we feel attached, and we urge Alex to hurry up and rescue them already.

One of the best parts is something which might spoil a bit of the novel, so if you don’t want that, skip this paragraph. But something I noticed early on is how everyone was into Nova, and I realized that Alex wasn’t saying anything about his attractiveness or anything. It seemed logical for him to be the love interest, but I felt no chemistry and was getting worried about where we were headed. And then Rishi returns to the plot, and I start thinking just how great there are together. One thing leads to another, and now I’m sitting here gleefully giggling and happy. Heck yes!

All in all, I just want to say how great this novel is. I thought it was a standalone, the way the story wraps up nicely and felt so perfect, but I’m excited to see it’s marked as Book 1 on goodreads, which means there’s more to come! So if you want magic and adventure, make sure you read Labyrinth lost.

Our September 6th by Sourcebooks Fire.

LabyrinthLost

Angel in Training

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by C.L. Coffey
Reviewed by SA

Oops, I’m late for self published Saturday! Life has been hectic around here, but never too much for a good book. And this week, I’m proud to present a fantastic debut novel by Indie author C.L. Coffey: Angel in Training, the first of the Lousiangel series. If you like angels, badass heroines, dashingly handsome men and clever twists on classic tropes, you’re going to want this book.

Summary23515866

After a night out turns fatal, a misunderstanding with the Archangel Michael presents Angel with a chance at Eternal Life: the opportunity to earn her wings and one day become an archangel herself.

Angel is given the task of protecting her charge, trainee detective, Joshua Walsh. There’s no denying the attraction between Angel and Joshua, only Michael has pretty strict rules: no drinking, no drugs, and certainly no relationships with humans. Thankfully, she’s got other things to deal with, like trying to convince Joshua New Orleans has a serial killer who is preying on other angel potentials like herself.

Angel must quickly learn that when keeping someone safe, doing the right thing is not always the easiest, especially when you’ve got an archangel looking over your shoulder.

It’s not easy waking up to discover you’re dead. Not only that, but you’re now an angel – well, an angel potential – names Angel, which makes things a little complicated. Top it off with a celestial war you’ve been thrown into, and, oh, did I forget to mention it’s no sex or alcohol? Angel seems to have gotten the short end of the straw, and she’s not too happy about it.

That’s probably what makes her such a great character. She doesn’t fall into Mary Sue-vil and doesn’t suffer from special snowflake-itis, she’s just a real girl facing a really weird situation and reacting probably just like you or I would. She slowly grains her powers and grows into them, which adds to the plot while only making us like her more.

However, the stand out I think were the background characters. Cupid is hilarious. He’s funny, he’s sassy at times, not afraid to speak his mind while also being a great friend to a recently angelified Angel. Plus, Joshua, the cop who’s now under Angel’s watch, is a man full of mystery and questions. He humanizes the novel and makes a perfect foil to Angel.

Plus, the location was fascinating: we’re in New Orleans, which is still recovering from Katrina, and the writing makes you feel like you’re actually there. You get to go bar hopping, you get to learn about the local culture and cuisine, and the place itself is such an interesting place for the plot. It’s perfect.

For fans of romance, there’s a hint of some relationships growing in Angel’s life, even with her spontaneous vow of chastity. Michael, the attractive archangel who gave Angel eternal life, might be hiding some feelings of his own. And Joshua, Angel’s charge? He’s not hiding anything.

The ending felt a little weird to me: an exciting climax to be sure, but a lot of exposition at the same time. Still, it made me desperately want to read the next book! I’m left with so many questions I want answers to, and I’m mostly hooked on Angel! I love her perspective and it makes the book a blast to read.

All in all: definitely a series to put on your to read list.  If you’re a fan of Supernatural, you’ll love this book.

A World Without You

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By Beth Revis
Reviewed by SA

I’m a huge fan of Beth Revis – If you don’t know Across the Universe, check it out now – so when I saw there was a new novel of hers coming out, I pounced on it. Then I had to wait until I actually got home to read it, which is why this review is coming so much later than I had anticipated. In any case, I’m actually quite tired because I was up all night last night finishing it, and just could not put it down. So you’ve been warned!

Summary27272505

Seventeen-year-old Bo has always had delusions that he can travel through time. When he was ten, Bo claimed to have witnessed the Titanic hit an iceberg, and at fifteen, he found himself on a Civil War battlefield, horrified by the bodies surrounding him. So when his worried parents send him to a school for troubled youth, Bo assumes he knows the truth: that he’s actually attending Berkshire Academy, a school for kids who, like Bo, have “superpowers.”

At Berkshire, Bo falls in love with Sofía, a quiet girl with a tragic past and the superpower of invisibility. Soíia helps Bo open up in a way he never has before. In turn, Bo provides comfort to Sofía, who lost her mother and two sisters at a very young age.

But even the strength of their love isn’t enough to help Sofia escape her deep depression. After she commits suicide, Bo is convinced that she’s not actually dead. He believes that she’s stuck somewhere in time—that he somehow left her in the past, and that now it’s his job to save her. And as Bo becomes more and more determined to save Sofía, he must decide whether to face his demons head-on or succumb to a psychosis that will let him be with the girl he loves.

I absolutely love having this unreliable narrator. When I first read the premise, I believed the novel would be about trying to find reality: does Bo really have powers, or is he deluding himself? Is he right, or is everyone else? But the author makes it very clear where we stand… which means Bo’s perspective cannot be trusted: even though he’s the one telling us the story.

As the novel goes on, due to Bo’s growing psychosis, the story becomes more and more confusing: there’s missing time, jumping backwards and forwards, paranoia, two alternate versions of reality being told at once. Towards the climax of the novel, everything becomes erratic and all over the place, making it difficult to see what’s going on but masterfully growing the tension and the twists. Only a skilled author like Revis could pull off showing this loss of control (even as Bo struggles for just that) without turning it into a jumbled mess.

Bo believes his girlfriend, Sofía, is trapped in 1692 and that it is only through controlling his powers that she will be saved. He refuses to let go. It’s odd to think that for the entire novel, we never truly know Sofía: we get hints of what she struggles with through Bo (as he tells the parts he’s aware of, and what he believes he remembers) or through what the families are told. But her depression is just something Bo cannot grasp.

Every once and a while, Phoebe, Bo’s sister, gets a chapter of her own, from her point of view. It’s so weird to switch to such clarity of mind, and yet, we see she has struggles and confusion of her own to deal with. At first I didn’t get the point of having them, but then I started to see how important it was to see her view.  Kinda her in a nutshell: everyone’s always worrying about Bo, who has much bigger problems, that they fail to see her problems too.

As I said, I could not put this book down. The end was just so exciting, life and death, Bo on the edge, that I needed to keep reading. This book was fantastic. Such a great, brutal look at mental illness, at love and family and psychosis. To read NOW.

Kids of Appetite

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by David Arnold
Reviewed by SA

When I saw a new book out by David Arnold, I pounced on it. Mosquitoland was an amazing novel and I knew his new book would not disappoint. No, Kids of Appetite was just as fantastic, maybe even more so. It’s a fantastic example of young adult fiction at its very best. This review is going to be rather long: I have so much to say about it. You’ve been warned!

Summary22466429

Victor Benucci and Madeline Falco have a story to tell.
It begins with the death of Vic’s father.
It ends with the murder of Mad’s uncle.
The Hackensack Police Department would very much like to hear it.
But in order to tell their story, Vic and Mad must focus on all the chapters in between.

This is a story about:

1. A coded mission to scatter ashes across New Jersey.
2. The momentous nature of the Palisades in winter.
3. One dormant submarine.
4. Two songs about flowers.
5. Being cool in the traditional sense.
6. Sunsets & ice cream & orchards & graveyards.
7. Simultaneous extreme opposites.
8. A narrow escape from a war-torn country.
9. A story collector.
10. How to listen to someone who does not talk.
11. Falling in love with a painting.
12. Falling in love with a song.
13. Falling in love.

Vic is was born with Moebius syndrome, an his face is paralyzed. But that’s not who he is, it’s just the first thing people see about him. Since he never gives off facial cues when he speaks, it gives off the impression he might not be listening. But he is: he might also be the smartest kid you will ever meet.

It’s been two years since his father passed away, and he’s not ready to let go yet. When his mother gets proposed to, he flees into the night with his father’s ashes. In his urn he finds a beautiful letter from his father to his mother, and discovers a secret message telling him what to do with the ashes. Aided by Mad, a young woman he falls hopelessly in love with, and her friends Coco, Baz and Nzutzi, who all live in a greenhouse together, they decide to fulfill his father’s dying wishes.

So why are they in a police station being interviewed about a murder?

There is just so much to love about this book. It’s just not *about* one thing, it’s a novel that covers just so much, with a scope so wide it captures the complexity of life itself. It’s a murder mystery. It’s a scavenger hunt. It’s a love story. Make that two love stories. It’s a book about abuse and violence. A book about following dreams and letting go of the past. It is, for all intents and purposes, the perfect storm of a novel.

When I first started reading it, I groaned internally. Sigh. Vic is one of those kids who’s ‘got a rare genetic condition but he’s so smart and loves really niche things! woopee!’ – so I assumed it would be like all the other YAs that fall into formula land and bore me to tears… and then, then, I started to love him. I started to relate to him. I saw he was not just a character or a plot point, but a person. I started to care. And then I cared about everyone. My gosh, how can these character have so much backstory and heart in such a small space?

Yes, there is a love story here: but the one that stood out to me was not Vic and Mad, but Vic’s parents. Oh my gosh, when we say #relationship goals, it’s them we’re thinking about. They really loved each other, and it brought me to tears knowing she losses him. Seeing Vic follow the clues his father left behind, going to places that meant something to his parents, and the love they had for each other, now that love was so amazing and pure that it made me want to know them.

Mad’s favorite book is the outsiders – a novel I loved in middle school, though not as much as she does – and it draws a lot of parallels with the story, both outspoken and unsaid. For example, the reminder that we all see the same sunset rang true, and was especially poignant when Baz recounted his escape from the Congo. However, it did remind me when I studied the book, and the message about “staying golden,” making me feel bad for the Kids of Appetite, especially Coco. Their childhood was taken away. Maybe living in a fairytale like greenhouse was a way to recapture it*.

The only fault I can find is that the message might be shoved down our throats. The author frequently repeats things (there’s a great quote I loved a lot the first time, might not as much the next two) and especially his message. He’s not very subtle. Actually when I found subtle things, a few lines or pages later he’d actually say them out loud. At times, it made me feel like the author was sitting next to me saying “you got that, right?”

I’m certain this will be required reading in high schools from now on. If a teacher were to tell me to write an essay about it, I could probably come up with seven different directions to go with it. I could talk about the Super Racehorse. I could talk about Love. I could talk about youth, innocence, and family, and so many more. Honestly, I cannot shut up about this book.

Thank you Penguin First to Read for the opportunity to get an advance copy of this novel. it comes out September 20th and you all know you need to read it, STAT.

*Now I want to study the symbology of the color green in this book. Dang.

Ghost in the Machine

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By Kayla Hoyet
Reviewed by SA

You all know this by now, I assume: I love science fiction novels. I devour them by the barrelfulls. It takes a rare, fantastic novel to really stick out: Ghost in the Machine is one of them. It’s clever, it’s captivating, and it’ll keep you guessing until the very end.

Summary31184044

Eighteen-year-old Tyler Gaines has always followed the rules–in part because it’s too much trouble to break them, but mostly because her father’s bedtime stories about the Sphere’s elite red-coat Enforcers scared her senseless as a child. She does what she’s told, just like everyone else, so when she goes to see the Broker–a woman whose sole purpose is to assign a match to everyone in the Sphere–and gets paired with a red-coat Enforcer named Aidan, she tries her best to put her father’s stories to rest and adapt to her new family. When Tyler’s best friend is killed and both fingers and technology point to Tyler as the main suspect, Tyler begins to think that her nightmares are coming to life.

Aidan knows Tyler is innocent, but there’s one big problem: Proving Tyler’s innocence rests on proving that the government’s high-tech system, the system on which the entire population depends, has a problem the likes of which it has never had before. Aidan doesn’t have a lot of time to make his case. If he can’t figure out what’s wrong with the system soon, Tyler may end up paying the ultimate price for a crime she didn’t commit.

In the future Tyler calls her own, automated systems take care of everything. It’s supposed to be infallible… but is it really? When Tyler is accused of a crime she didn’t commit – the murder of her best friend, no less – people are more likely to believe a machine’s version of the events than a humans. But can the machine be wrong?

What I loved about this novel was just how complex Tyler’s character is. She’s young, she’s smart, but she’s also fiercely loyal and can be quite bold if she wants to. She has to put up with so much, and in such a short period of time, it’s enough to break anyone, but not Tyler. It’s impressive how Hoyet ties Tyler’s dancing into the plot, using analogies through dance to show how Tyler is really feeling.

The one thing a computer can’t control in this world is relationships, so they have the Broker for that: an incredible matchmaker that somehow gets it right every time. So it does come off as weird… and kind of creepy… when Tyler gets matched with a man who’s a smidgen older than her and not really her type. But the way the family deals with this is fantastic. They take her in as if she’s one of their own and give her the space she needs to grow. Honestly, I was kind of enamored with Aiden’s family.

The novel is part dystopia, part murder mystery. Who is responsible for that young girl’s death? Could it really be Tyler, since the computer says she checked into her building around the time of death? And if it isn’t her, who is really responsible? The book will keep you guessing until the very end, and you won’t believe who’s responsible!

What’s great? How the ending opens up so many possibilities for the sequel. I’m excited to see what this means for their system, for their world. I can’t wait for book number two!