Review: Wrecked by Elle Casey

Title: Wrecked
Author: Elle Casey
Publisher: Createspace
Publishing Date: January 1st 2012
Pages: 297
Genre: YA Adventure/Survival
Series: Stand Alone
Source: Kindle

Goodreads Summary:

If you liked The Breakfast Club and The Swiss Family Robinson, you'll love WRECKED! An ill-fated Caribbean cruise and four teenagers: a nerd, a jock, a mouse, and a beauty queen…an island, a treehouse, some nefarious interlopers…life and death…fear and loathing…love and laughter. Follow Jonathan, Kevin, Candi and Sarah as they find their typical high school lives and their worlds totally WRECKED

Review:
I discovered this book on a friends list and thought it sounded quite interesting. It’s a different story than most out there right now in the YA world so I grabbed and read it. I could not stop once I started. It was fantastic find.

The story is about 4 teenagers- a geek, a shy girl, a popular girl, and a jock. Two pairs of siblings, a brother and a sister each, one set of twins, the other just a year apart. They go on a cruise with their parents, the ship sinks, they escape on a lifeboat and end up on an island with no way to communicate they are alive or where they are located. The four make the best of it and learn many lessons and discover who they really are. The story is a little bit of a coming of age, a little bit of an adventure, and a little bit of a mystery/thriller. It’s all wrapped up into a great book.

The characters were very well developed and I loved each one! Jonathan, the geek, he is funny in a nerdy way, introverted, and has thick skin and a big brain. His younger sister, Candi, is the shy girl who just blends in, kind of invisible most of the time but really wants to be friends with the in crowd and has a huge crush on Kevin. Kevin is the jock, he can be real sweetheart but is also a user of sorts. Kevin’s twin sister, Sara, is the mean girl. She runs the school, she knows it, and she doesn’t have time for the little people. If you put all these personalities together on a deserted island, comedy is born. There is more than just comedy. The foursome learns much about themselves and others and they learn some hard lessons in self absorption, stereo types, and respect for others. They also learn the grass isn’t greener on either side of the fence. As days, go buy they become friends and even more than friends a family.

The writing pace was great for me. I kept turning the pages. There were many surprises and some obvious actions and reactions. All in all I had a lot of fun with this book. In the end I found myself smiling and tearing up. I know corny but it was a feel good book.

Rating:

Review: Entice by Carrie Jones

Title: Entice
Author: Carrie Jones
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Publishing Date: December 14, 2012
Pages: 214
Genre: YA Paranormal
Series: Need #3
Source: Hardcover

Goodreads Summary:
Zara and Nick are soul mates, meant to be together forever. But that's not quite how things have worked out. For starters, well, Nick is dead. Supposedly, he's been taken to a mythic place for warriors known as Valhalla, so Zara and her friends might be able to get him back. But it's taking time, and meanwhile a group of evil pixies is devastating Bedford, with more teens going missing every day. An all-out war seems imminent, and the good guys need all the warriors they can find. But how to get to Valhalla? And even if Zara and her friends discover the way, there's that other small problem: Zara's been pixie kissed. When she finds Nick, will he even want to go with her? Especially since she hasn't turned into just any pixie. . . She's Astley's queen.

Review:
The books just seemed to keep getting better for me. The third installment of the Need series took me on a real wild ride. I loved the direction this series has taken.

The story continues for Zara, Nick, Astley, and friends. Zara is really focused on going to Valhalla and getting Nick back. Astley is focused on making Zara the queen she needs to be and the rest of the gang just wants to stop the pixies. There are so many problems and so little time for Zara and the gang to figure things out. The mythology really came out in this book with Zara’s trip to Valhalla. I loved the world that the author created in Valhalla. Wet a few new characters and had some good battle scenes. Valhalla definitely was a great addition to the story. The plot definitely thickens more!

The gang is still great and some of the characters are edging their way to awesome. Zara struggles with her choices. She wants to save Nick from Valhalla but is concerned about being a pixie. She feels she made the right choice to be pixie but also knows it is changing her, drawing her closer to Astley and her pixies. She wants to be the queen she needs to be but how does she do that without leaving her friends behind. There are so many that she loves who exist to fight what she is. I could see Zara maturing more in these books, she thinks more and acts slower.

Astley keeps growing on me more and more. I really love Astley. As I get to know him more, I love him more. I know that Zara loves Nick and they have their story, but I really want Zara to be with Nick. I feel this is where she belongs. Astley has me believing that not all pixies have to be bad.

Of course the end comes, another cliffhanger. So again, have Endure really close by!

Rating:

Review: Girls in Pants by Ann Brashares

Title: Girls in Pants
Author: Ann Brashares
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Publishing Date: June 1st 2008
Pages: 338
Genre: YA Contemporary Chick Lit
Series: Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants #3
Source: Paperback

Goodreads Summary:

The Pants first came to us at the perfect moment. That is, when we were splitting up for the first time. It was two summers ago when they first worked their magic, and last summer when they shook up our lives once again. You see, we don’t wear the Pants year-round. We let them rest so they are extra powerful when summer comes. (There was the time this spring when Carmen wore them to her mom’s wedding, but that was a special case.)

Now we’re facing our last summer together. In September we go to college. And it’s not like one of those TV shows where all of us magically turn up at the same college. We’re going to four different colleges in four different cities (but all within four hours of one another—that was our one rule). We’re headed off to start our real lives.

Tomorrow night at Gilda’s we’ll launch the Pants on their third summer voyage. Tomorrow begins the time of our lives. It’s when we’ll need our Pants the most.

Review:
This was another awesome book in this series. I have really enjoyed watching the lives of these four girls.

Carmen’s mom is now married and Carmen has accepted this and is ready to move off to college. She is sure of where she wants to go and everything is set. That is until she finds out some pretty big news, now Carmen is not sure what she wants to do and where she fits in. She also needs some money so she takes on watching Lena’s crazy grandmother for the summer.

Lena has started an art class at the local art school and everything is going well until her father finds out and walks in on her painting a man in the nude. She now has to fight to keep her class. Her grandmother is now living with her family and causing all kinds of craziness because she is completely cranky and misses Greece. Oh and let’s not forget the boy in her heart class that she can’t stop thinking about, him or his art.

Bee signs up as a counselor at a soccer camp and finds out the boy counselor is her first love Erik, the heartbreak she has never healed from.

Tibby struggles with her summer, feeling used and forgotten by her family when all it seems they want her for is babysitting. Not to mention things are getting weird between her and Brian.

The stories keep getting more emotion for me. It seems that these girls have more growing to do with college coming up. I think the book is honest and the characters are realistic. I find that the issues each of the girls are having are truer to life than some books and I have enjoyed being a part of their lives. Each girl has something to love and something to hate about them. Each girl has family issues and relationship issues. Each girl learns that they need to fight on their but still lean on each other. Their relationships with each other start to change in a little in this book as they are learning to become individuals instead of a group.
I really love this series and will continue on..

Rating:

Teaser Tuesday #19 and Top Ten #9

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by  Should Be Reading. Bloggers choose two 

sentences out our current read to peak others' curiosity. 

Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally 

"He has your eyes, Woods"?
"And your hair." the doll is bald, "Can we name him Joe Montana?"
"Hell no, his name is Jerry Rice."

The Lost Code by Kevin Emerson

I entered the pine trees, my feet
scuffing along a wood-chip path. A steady chord of insect noises hummed in the background, but I wondered now if that was real or instead a broadcast from hidden speakers.

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.

Top Ten Most Vivid Worlds/Settings in Books

1. Destiny's Fire by Trisha Wolfe 

I love the steampunk idea but with more of a furtristic flare. The dress, the buildings, and the transportation really intrigued me in this book 

2. Empyreal Fate by Rachel Hunter

The world of elves that the author created was simply beautiful. I wanted to live those woods, even with all the creatures that already lived there. 

3. Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross

Okay so the world isn't so different but the fairytale characters that exists everywhere is just awesome. I wold have loved to exist in this world. 

4. Epic by Conor Kostick

The world as a video game. I loved the world that was in the video game as to the world where the video game existed. 

5. Monster High by Lisi Harrison 

A world of monsters, how fun would that be. Again it's what exists in the world not the world itself. 

6. Soulless by Gail Carriger

I love the steampunk victorian era filled with vampires, werewolves, and ghosts oh my!

7. Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta

I like the old fashion fantasy world, no electronics, no machines, everything done by hand but there is still magic and lots of sword fighting. I will just take it after the curse is over. 

8. Candlewax by C.Bailey Sims

Another great fantasy world with large protective talking cats! love it!

9. Cinder by Marissa Meyer 

Another steampunk that I love, especially when it includes fairytale characters. 

10. Stardust by Neil Gaiman

I love this fairytale world. Flying boats, witches, gypsies, and so many other wonderful things. 

Review: Ripper by Stefan Petrucha

Title: Ripper
Author: Stefan Petrucha
Publisher: Philomel
Publishing Date: March 1st 2012
Pages: 427
Genre: YS Mystery
Series: Stand Alone
Source: Hardcover

Goodreads Summary:
You thought you knew him. You were dead wrong.

Carver Young dreams of becoming a detective, despite growing up in an orphanage with only crime novels to encourage him. But when he is adopted by Detective Hawking of the world famous Pinkerton Agency, Carver is given not only the chance to find his biological father, he finds himself smack in the middle of a real life investigation: tracking down a vicious serial killer who has thrown New York City into utter panic. When the case begins to unfold, however, it’s worse than he could have ever imagined, and his loyalty to Mr. Hawking and the Pinkertons comes into question. As the body count rises and the investigation becomes dire, Carver must decide where his true loyalty lies.

Full of whip-smart dialogue, kid-friendly gadgets, and featuring a then New York City Police Commisioner Teddy Roosevelt, Ripper challenges everything you thought you knew about the world’s most famous serial killer.

Review:

This book really intrigued me. It sounded like something right up my alley. I love mysteries, I find serial killers interesting, and it’s a historical fiction. I had very high hopes for this book. I enjoyed the story very much but was let down just a bit.

The story is about a boy, Carver, who has lived in an orphanage all his life. He is now 14 years of age and is taken in by a wacky retired detective. Carver decides to dig around in his past a bit after finding a letter that looks to be from his father, and after digging around finds out his father is the infamous Jack the Ripper. He is now bent on finding his father to stop the murders happening around New York City.

The book has a wide arrange of characters and I thought he characters were developed very well. Carver is very clever, brave, and street smart. He is also very good hearted. He cares for his friends and he is very loyal. I found him to be an awesome hero. His friends from the orphanage are pretty cool too, also very loyal. I loved the fact that Roosevelt was the detective in this story, and he really did steel my heart. I enjoyed seeing him in action, his brains his brawn, and his bravery. I wasn’t sure at first if I would like this part of the story, but it worked very well. The retired detective that takes Carver in is loony. I went back and forth the entire story whether or not I could like him. I cannot tell you how that ended up. You will just need to decide yourself.

The story was very well done. Everything fit together perfectly like a puzzle and the mystery had me second guessing myself the entire book. The only downfall I had was the story was a little slow and there was not as much thrills as I was hoping for. Almost more like a mystery drama instead of a mystery thriller. It does make a good coming of age novel for Carver too.

The ending was kind of fast and abrupt and I feel I did not get full closure. It doesn’t look like a series but I am hoping it is because I do need to know more.

Overall I think it was a good read and I did enjoy the ride.

Rating: