Weekly Reads: Noggin

Noggin was one of my most anticipated young adult books of the spring, and I actually shrieked outloud when it came in for me at my library. It's currently my favorite book cover of the year (so far). It's fabulous right?? It's also on the list of Mock Printz books that my book club is reading in anticipation of our Mock Printz discussion in July.

This book read as a realistic fiction book (minus the whole cryogenically frozen head attached to another person's body). But seriously. It dealt with typical teen issues--relationships, family stuff, just existing as a teen. It was a really great read.

My rating: 4 stars

Summary from goodreads:

Listen — Travis Coates was alive once and then he wasn’t.

Now he’s alive again.

Simple as that.

The in between part is still a little fuzzy, but he can tell you that, at some point or another, his head got chopped off and shoved into a freezer in Denver, Colorado. Five years later, it was reattached to some other guy’s body, and well, here he is. Despite all logic, he’s still 16 and everything and everyone around him has changed. That includes his bedroom, his parents, his best friend, and his girlfriend. Or maybe she’s not his girlfriend anymore? That’s a bit fuzzy too.

Looks like if the new Travis and the old Travis are ever going to find a way to exist together, then there are going to be a few more scars.

Oh well, you only live twice.

Weekly Reads: Invisibility

Invisibility is a book I've had checked out from our library and re-renewing for far too long. I finally vowed to read it and return it. It's written by David Levithan, whom I thoroughly enjoy and Andrea Cremer, whom I'm not familiar with but who writes paranormal books.

The book started out really interesting as Stephen is invisible, and he suddenly meets someone in his building who can see him. I was super intrigued as to why, and then it got all paranormally and lost my interest a bit. For those that are into paranormal stuff, I'd imagine they'd devour this, but it ended up moving fairly slow. I did love that it was set in NYC since I was gearing up for my trip there.

My rating: 3 stars.

Summary from goodreads:

Stephen has been invisible for practically his whole life — because of a curse his grandfather, a powerful cursecaster, bestowed on Stephen’s mother before Stephen was born. So when Elizabeth moves to Stephen’s NYC apartment building from Minnesota, no one is more surprised than he is that she can see him. A budding romance ensues, and when Stephen confides in Elizabeth about his predicament, the two of them decide to dive headfirst into the secret world of cursecasters and spellseekers to figure out a way to break the curse. But things don’t go as planned, especially when Stephen’s grandfather arrives in town, taking his anger out on everyone he sees. In the end, Elizabeth and Stephen must decide how big of a sacrifice they’re willing to make for Stephen to become visible — because the answer could mean the difference between life and death. At least for Elizabeth.

Weekly Reads: The Beginning of Everything

I have had The Beginning of Everything sitting on my stack of books to read forever. I had heard some feedback from one of my book club members that made me think I had to be "prepared" to read this book. So I waited. Until I felt "prepared" or whatever.

The tragedy in the story is really from the get go, which is nice, you don't spend the whole time reading hearing "don don doooooooooooon" droning in the back of your head. It's an excellent coming of age story, love story, and an I'm 17 and have no freakin' clue who I am story, which a lot of teens (and adults) will relate to and love. There are some excellent twists along the way, as well as some parallel relations to The Great Gatsby that Ezra is reading for class, and coincidentally I just finished listening to on audiobook (the number of classic novels I've read is embarrassingly low. Everyone assumes librarians have read every classic book ever written, but nope, not this gal... I'm working on it!)

My rating: 5 stars

Summary from goodreads:

Golden boy Ezra Faulkner believes everyone has a tragedy waiting for them—a single encounter after which everything that really matters will happen. His particular tragedy waited until he was primed to lose it all: in one spectacular night, a reckless driver shatters Ezra’s knee, his athletic career, and his social life.

No longer a front-runner for Homecoming King, Ezra finds himself at the table of misfits, where he encounters new girl Cassidy Thorpe. Cassidy is unlike anyone Ezra’s ever met, achingly effortless, fiercely intelligent, and determined to bring Ezra along on her endless adventures.

But as Ezra dives into his new studies, new friendships, and new love, he learns that some people, like books, are easy to misread. And now he must consider: if one’s singular tragedy has already hit and everything after it has mattered quite a bit, what happens when more misfortune strikes? 

Robyn Schneider’s The Beginning of Everything is a lyrical, witty, and heart-wrenching novel about how difficult it is to play the part that people expect, and how new beginnings can stem from abrupt and tragic endings.

Weekly Reads: Far Far Away

Far Far Away is another book on my Mock Printz award reading list and has quite a buzz surrounding it. The cover has green smoke on it, so clearly I was drawn to it! I started reading it, and honestly was not getting in to it. I hit page 100 and I asked a co-worker when it started to get good, she responded that if I wasn't already in to it, I might not like it. Well crap.

I took a break and read a few other books. Then picked it back up. Once I got to the halfway point it was amazing. I couldn't put it down. There aren't any chapters in the book, just little page breaks in the story, and I think the disjointedness of that affected my enjoyment of the book. I would just be getting in to the story and there'd be another break. Overall it was a really great read, but not the normal "OMG MUST READ MUST READ" right from the get go, as most books I adore are. And while I don't think this will be a Printz award winning book, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a Printz honor selection.

My rating: 4 stars.


Summary from goodreads:

It says quite a lot about Jeremy Johnson Johnson that the strangest thing about him isn't even the fact his mother and father both had the same last name. Jeremy once admitted he's able to hear voices, and the townspeople of Never Better have treated him like an outsider since. 

After his mother left, his father became a recluse, and it's been up to Jeremy to support the family. But it hasn't been up to Jeremy alone. The truth is, Jeremy can hear voices. Or, specifically, one voice: the voice of the ghost of Jacob Grimm, one half of the infamous writing duo, The Brothers Grimm. 

Jacob watches over Jeremy, protecting him from an unknown dark evil whispered about in the space between this world and the next. But when the provocative local girl Ginger Boultinghouse takes an interest in Jeremy (and his unique abilities), a grim chain of events is put into motion.

And as anyone familiar with the Grimm Brothers know, not all fairy tales have happy endings...

Best Young Adult Books Read in 2013

The following are my favorite young adult books that I've read in 2013. A lot of them were published in 2013, but not all of them were. The book covers and links will take you to amazon where you can purchase the books and I'll get a few pennies for the purchase. Otherwise you can get them from your local library. :)

Young adult books

5 stars


  Fangirl


The 5th Wave


Eleanor & Park


  Pushing the Limits 


  The Disenchantments


Counting by 7s


Two Boys Kissing


More Than This


4 stars


 Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock



Far Far Away


The Coldest Girl in Coldtown


Wintergirls


Okay for Now


How Zoe Made Her Dreams (Mostly) Come True


Every Day


Requiem


Allegiant


Ruby Red


Will Grayson, Will Grayson


Anna and the French Kiss



Winger

What young adult books did I miss this year, so I can add them to my monster to be read pile????