Review: And The Trees Crept In by Dawn Kurtagich

Title: And The Trees Crept In 

Author:  Dawn Kurtagich
Publisher:  Little Brown Books For Young Readers

Publishing Date: Sept 6th 2016

Pages: 352
Genre: YA Psychological Horror

Series:  Stand Alone
Source: ARC

 

Stay away from the woods…

When Silla and Nori arrive at their aunt’s home, it’s immediately clear that the manor is cursed. The endless creaking of the house at night and the eerie stillness of the woods surrounding them would be enough of a sign, but there are secrets too—questions that Silla can’t ignore: Why does it seem that, ever since they arrived, the trees have been creeping closer? Who is the beautiful boy who’s appeared from the woods? And who is the tall man with no eyes who Nori plays with in the basement at night… a man no one else can see?

When I read The Dead House... I fell in love with this author. I was so excited when another one came out. I read this a while ago and failed to do the review. So I did read it as soon as I received this ARC and I just couldn't put it down. It was so amazing. I actually enjoyed it more than The Dead House and I didn't expect that. I am amazed by this author and her stories and her storytelling abilities. If you love horror, twisted reads, and psychological craziness... this is for sure the book for you. 

This is the story about Silla and her sister Nori. This is the story that is told after they arrive at their aunt's house, meet a mysterious boy, and find that there is something so strange going on inside this house. This is a story about two sisters that have been through a lot, a lost boy that wants to help, and a very scary house... oh and don't forget about the trees that seem to surround the house and creep in more each day. 

There is so much to say about this book and so little I can actually say. This read is my favorite type of read. Creepy and a bit lost. A sense of I don't know what the heck is going on but I need to know and I need to know now. In the end, it's a read that makes you go wow what did I just read and man did I love it. 

I devoured this book. I was hooked from the very beginning and I just couldn't put it down. The characters are amazing, the story, the setting, the tone... all creepy as all get out. There is suspense, thrills, horror, goosebumps, a bit of romance and a whole lot of whoa...... 

The main character, Silla is a pretty strong character. Her only care in life is to protect her little sister, Nori. She would do anything for her. In this house, her aunt's house, she is put to the test when all kinds of strange and bad things happen. She is brave and devoted, loyal and honest. She is a good kid. Nori a bit odd but sweet. She has secrets and Silla needs to figure them out. Well really the entire house and everyone in it has secrets... but Nori... well she is a strange one. The relationship between the two is amazing. 

The story was told uniquely and I loved it. It was told from letters and documents and from Silla's point of view. It was told with madness and it was messy. It was dark and twisted and questionable. It was told with whimsy and with imagination. It was just CRAZY.  It was like following the rabbit down the rabbit hole. It was an adventure. 

The ending was just great. I loved it and it was very fitting for the story. I was surprised but not and I was perfectly content and happy and blissful at the end of this book. 

One of the best reads of this year for me and I can't wait for more from this author. She is amazing. 

Dawn Kurtagich is a writer of creepy, spooky and psychologically sinister YA fiction, where girls may descend into madness, boys may see monsters in men, and grown-ups may have something to hide. Her debut YA novel, The Dead House, is forthcoming from Hachette in 2015.
By the time she was eighteen, she had been to fifteen schools across two continents. The daughter of a British globe-trotter and single mother, she grew up all over the place, but her formative years were spent in Africa—on a mission, in the bush, in the city and in the desert.
She has been lucky enough to see an elephant stampede at close range, a giraffe tongue at very close range, and she once witnessed the stealing of her (and her friends’) underwear by very large, angry baboons. (This will most definitely end up in a book . . . ) While she has quite a few tales to tell about the jumping African baboon spider, she tends to save these for Halloween!
She writes over at the YA Scream Queens, a young adult blog for all things horror and thriller, and she is a member of the YA League and Author Allsorts.
Her life reads like a YA novel.

 

Review: Twelve Days of Dash and Lily by Rachel Cohn, David Levithan

Title: Twelve Days of Dash and Lily

Author:  Rachel Cohn, David Levithan
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers

Publishing Date: 

Pages: October 18th, 2016
Genre: YA Contemporary Romance/Holiday

Series:  
Source: 

 

Dash and Lily have had a tough year since they first fell in love among the shelves of their favorite bookstore. Lily’s beloved grandfather suffered a heart attack, and his difficult road to recovery has taken a major toll on her typically sunny disposition.

With only twelve days left until Christmas—Lily’s favorite time of the year—Dash, Lily’s brother Langston, and their closest friends must take Manhattan by storm to help Lily recapture the unique holiday magic of a glittering, snow-covered New York City in December.

I was really excited to read this book. I did get the arc back at BEA but wanted to read it closer to the holidays and then it came out on audio and I decided to go that route. I am really glad I did. I really enjoyed this book. I felt the romance, the drama, and the holidays. It was full of fun Christmas antics, sweet romance, friends and family drama, and just feelings. 

It's been a year since Dash and Lily met and started dating. The year has been crazy and all was good at first. Then tragedy hit and things started to fall apart. This is the story about family tragedy, hopeless feelings, finding your way back, and learning what love really is as Dash and Lily figure things out together. 

This was a  very cute book. I liked the first one better because it was lighter. This one is a bit deeper and has some serious issues and some sad parts. The beginning was pretty much a downer for a bit but a bit about half way  the Dash and Lily from the first book came into play. The Christmas shenanigans and gifts were just too cute. I loved seeing what Dash and Lily were doing for each other. It was fun. 

Like I said, this book is a bit deeper than the first. The story was more about troubles and how to get through them with those you love without losing those you love. The moments when you realize your future, relationship, and present life doesn't seem to be where you want them to be. Life changes, things happen, and sometimes it takes a bit to get through the mess. This book definitely explores the family dynamics a bit more. Which I liked but I think I would have loved it more if I had been prepared. I was looking for a light fluffy read and this was not that. It did. however, have lots of cuteness and fun, though. It just had a bit of both. 

Dash and Lily relationship had changed, morphed, grown, all the above and then some. They each are at a new stage in the relationship and they are not sure where to go from here. They weren't expecting the relationship to change and as they both try to get back to where they were, they discover something new and exciting. They were still sweet but a bit more serious. I did enjoy how this book showed how a relationship changes over a year. 

I did find Lily a bit more annoying and whiny this time. I think she was acting like most teenage girls who lives are rapidly changing in a direction they don't like. In the first book.she was cute and quirky and I loved her. This time I still liked her but the love wasn't the same. 

Dash I still love. I love his snarkiness and his thoughts and perception. I did want to slap him a few times because he is quite clueless, but he still managed to be quite endearing. 

There was so much more on the family side and I loved it. Dash's family was so dysfunctional and Lily's was loveable and close. I liked how the authors showed both sides and how different they were and how the differences affected Dash and Lily. 

I wish I would have re-read the first book before going into this one but I didn't. 

All in all, I loved it, even if it didn't strike me like the first one. I still loved it and hope to see more from the two authors. 

I wasn't a bit surprised when this turned out to be a great holiday read. 

Rachel grew up in the D.C. area and graduated from Barnard College with a B.A. in Political Science. She has written many YA novels, including three that she cowrote with her friend and colleague David Levithan. She lives and writes (when she's not reading other people's books, organizing her music library or looking for the best cappuccino) in New York City.

David Levithan (born 1972) is an American children's book editor and award-winning author. He published his first YA book, Boy Meets Boy, in 2003. Levithan is also the founding editor of PUSH, a Young Adult imprint of Scholastic Press.

Top Ten Tuesday: Can't Wait to Get My Hands on You!

Top Ten is an original feature/weekly meme created here at

The Broke and the Bookish that features a great bookish top ten every week.

I love a good mystery, thriller, adventure, sci-fi, fantasy..ect. I really love all books. These are the ones I just can't wait to get my hands on in 2017 or earlier if I can get my hands on the ARC. 



What are you super excited for in 2017.

 

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme to share our reads. Just in case you are curious about what book is in our hands and waiting on our shelves.

Last week I read:



Currently reading/listening 

This I will be reading next. 

     

     

Delightful Discoveries

Delightful Discoveries are books that I have discovered recently... old, new, just released... from blogs, Goodreads, libraries, friends, or bookstores. 

Optimists Die First by Susin Nielsen

Beware: Life ahead.

Sixteen-year-old Petula de Wilde is anything but wild. A former crafting fiend with a happy life, Petula shut herself off from the world after a family tragedy. She sees danger in all the ordinary things, like crossing the street, a bug bite, or a germy handshake. She knows: life is out to get you.

The worst part of her week is her comically lame mandatory art therapy class with a small group of fellow misfits. Then a new boy, Jacob, appears at school and in her therapy group. He seems so normal and confident, though he has a prosthetic arm; and soon he teams up with Petula on a hilarious project, gradually inspiring her to let go of some of her fears. But as the two grow closer, a hidden truth behind why he’s in the group could derail them, unless Petula takes a huge risk. . .

Nemsis by Brendan Reichs

It’s been happening since Min was eight. Every two years, on her birthday, a strange man finds her and murders her in cold blood. But hours later, she wakes up in a clearing just outside her tiny Idaho hometown—alone, unhurt, and with all evidence of the horrifying crime erased.

Across the valley, Noah just wants to be like everyone else. But he’s not. Nightmares of murder and death plague him, though he does his best to hide the signs. But when the world around him begins to spiral toward panic and destruction, Noah discovers that people have been lying to him his whole life. Everything changes in an eye blink.

For the planet has a bigger problem. The Anvil, an enormous asteroid threatening all life on Earth, leaves little room for two troubled teens. Yet on her sixteenth birthday, as she cowers in her bedroom, hoping not to die for the fifth time, Min has had enough. She vows to discover what is happening in Fire Lake and uncovers a lifetime of lies: a vast conspiracy involving the sixty-four students of her sophomore class, one that may be even more sinister than the murders.

Dead Little Mean Girl by Eva Darrows 

A proud geek girl, Emma loves her quiet life on the outskirts, playing video games and staying off the radar. When her nightmare of a new stepsister moves into the bedroom next door, her world is turned upside down. Quinn is a queen bee with a nasty streak who destroys anyone who gets in her way. Teachers, football players, her fellow cheerleaders—no one is safe. 

Emma wants nothing more than to get this girl out of her life, but when Quinn dies suddenly, Emma realizes there was more to her stepsister than anyone ever realized. 

A meaningful and humorous exploration of teen stereotypes and grief, Dead Little Mean Girl examines the labels we put on people and what lies beyond if we're only willing to look closer.

Overturned by Lamar Giles 

Nikki Tate is infamous, even by Las Vegas standards. Her dad is sitting on death row, convicted of killing his best friend in a gambling dispute turned ugly. And for five years, he’s maintained his innocence. But Nikki wants no part of that. She’s been working on Operation Escape Vegas: playing in illegal card games so she can save up enough money to get out come graduation day.

Then her dad’s murder conviction is overturned. The new evidence seems to come out of nowhere and Nikki’s life becomes a mess when he’s released from prison. Because the dad who comes home is not the dad she remembers. And he’s desperately obsessed with finding out who framed him—and why.

As her dad digs into the seedy underbelly of Vegas, the past threatens everything and Nikki is drawn into his deadly hunt for the truth. But in the city of sin, some sinners will do anything to keep their secrets, and Nikki soon finds herself playing for the biggest gamble ever—her life.

Hellworld by Tom Leveen

Five years ago, Abby Booth’s mom, co-host of a ghost hunting reality show, went missing while filming in a ‘haunted’ cave in Arizona.

Since then, Abby’s life has all but fallen to pieces, most notably because of her dad’s deep depression and how they’ve drifted further and further apart.

But now, at seventeen, Abby has decided that things will change. She plans to go to the same cave where her mom and the crew went missing and to find out, once and for all, what happened there.

With the help of the co-host’s son Charlie and two of his friends, Abby sets off on a quest for answers…but what the group ends up finding, what they stumble across in that dark, primordial cave in Arizona, is nothing they could have ever imaged.

Abby was investigating a possible haunting… she never expected that there could be something worse.