Review: Hold Still by Nina LaCour

October 31, 2009 By 4 Comments

Title: Hold Still
Author: Nina LaCour
Reading Level: Young Adult
IBSN: 9780525421559
Blurb:
An arresting story about starting over after a friend’s suicide, from a breakthrough new voice in YA fiction. dear caitlin, there are so many things that i want so badly to tell you but i just can’t.
Devastating, hopeful, hopeless, playful . . . in words and illustrations, Ingrid left behind a painful farewell in her journal for Caitlin. Now Caitlin is left alone, by loss and by choice, struggling to find renewed hope in the wake of her best friend’s suicide. With the help of family and newfound friends, Caitlin will encounter first love, broaden her horizons, and start to realize that true friendship didn’t die with Ingrid. And the journal which once seemed only to chronicle Ingrid’s descent into depression, becomes the tool by which Caitlin once again reaches out to all those who loved Ingrid—and Caitlin herself.

My Thoughts:

Caitlin’s best friend was happy. Caitlin and her best friend had fun times. Caitlin knew her best friend. At least that’s what she thought. Until the morning her parents wake her to tell her Ingrid has committed suicide. Now Caitlin has to learn to live after her friends suicide. To overcome the grief and the guilt. To learn to love again.

This isn’t my usual type of read. I usually just stick to fantasy or supernatural of some sort but sometimes I just like a sad read. A read that makes me think or a read that puts my own life in prospective. Hold Still is one of those reads.
I was expecting a story of a girl whose best friend commits suicide. What I got was a story of a girl healing after her best friend commits suicide. Caitlin’s emotions are believable. All the characters in the book are perfectly written. Nina LaCour did a amazing job of making you feel something for these characters. They weren’t just made up people. There story seemed real to me while I was reading it. It was one of those books that sneaks up on up too. Today while I was at work I found myself thinking about it.

Overall this is a book about loss and healing from that loss. Learning to love again and forgiving yourself. LaCour captured all things things seamlessly. I’m impressed that she could write a novel about such a hard topic and still include bursts of humor here and there and characters that shine. I thoroughly enjoyed it. 4 Stars!

Here’s the book trailer again because I absolutely love it! It’s one of the best book trailers I have ever seen.
And don’t forget I’m having a giveaway for a finished copy of Hold Still through 11/9!


Filed Under: Nina LaCour, Review, Young Adult

Reviewers Roundup!(1)

October 30, 2009 By 9 Comments

This is a new weekly feature on Pure Imagination inspired by The Story Siren’s YAC but I’m going to do something a little different and just post the reviews of the books I loved or reviews that made me want to read a book, made me laugh or maybe sometimes made me shake my head in disagreement. Here are the reviews for the week of October 26, 2009.

Yan at Book by Their Cover reviewed Defining Twilight. 
“This book is innovation, clever, and fun at times. Pick up your copy of Twilight and correspond the word to the sentence and there is your context clue. It makes the person read and help them learn at the same time. Don’t be too judgmental that it had the words “TWILIGHT” on it…..”

Fantasy Dreamer’s Ramblings reviewed Queen of Song and Souls by C.L. Wilson
“I experienced such a wide range of emotions reading this book that by the time I was finished with it, I was emotional exhausted, in a good way. While I was reading my emotions ranged from being anxious, angry, happy, a deep sadness, surprised, thoughtful, and worried…..”

Natalie at Mindful Musings reviewed Wicked by Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie
“First of all, Wicked was a lot darker than I expected it to be. However, that same darkness is what made me enjoy it. I’ve read a decent amount of books concerning the wicca, warlock, and witch traditions, but few authors dared to delve into the darker part of them. I was amazed by how much research and time had to go into writing this book–from all the quotes to rituals to history. Being a bit of a history nerd myself, I was really able to appreciate it…..”

Katie at Sophistikatied Reviews reviewed Gone by Michael Grant
“I loved absolutely everything about it. The plot, where everybody aged fifteen years and older unexplainably disappears, the mutated creatures, the angst and forming of wars between the remaining children .. everything…..”

Carla at The Crooked Shelf reviewed The Demon’s Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan 
“The characters in this book are the reason why I loved this so much. Even though the story is told in third person narrative, each person’s views and feelings shine out of the pages. Nick was the perfect character to lead this amazing tale. Through his eyes we can see this world full of love and of feelings and of connections, and know what he is missing. Understand why he gets puzzled around people who care for others, appreciate how truly special love can be and how much of a role it plays in normal every day existence…..” 

Vania at Reverie Book Reviews reviewed The Van Alen Legacy by Melissa De La Cruz
“While “Revelations” had a hard hitting impactful end and climax, “Van Alen Legacy” left me with an anticlimactic story. That is not to say that is boring, or slow- on the contrary it is quite entertaining but I did feel some things were forced and lacking real emotion ( I won’t quite say what so I don’t spoil anything) or left me expecting more drama (again, sorry, avoiding spoilers). There was just a lack of a truly gripping climax….”

Jenn at Book Crazy reviewed Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

“In Shiver, I laughed, out loud, I cried like no one was watching (even though they were, sometimes), I felt my heart break with the characters, as well as leap out of my chest. Shiver, is a book that will be with me for quite sometime, a story that did my heart good to read, because even though it’s just a book, it reminded me that true love can exist…if your willing to look hard enough, if your willing to work hard enough!….”

**Thanks to everyone that helped me on Twitter for names of this post. I kinda combined some of your ideas! Thanks!

Filed Under: Reviewers Roundup

Review: Lips Touch by Laini Taylor

October 29, 2009 By 3 Comments

Title: Lips Touch: Three Times
Author: Laini Taylor
IBSN: 9780545055857
Blurb: 
Three tales of supernatural love, each pivoting on a kiss that is no mere kiss, but an action with profound consequences for the kissers’ souls:

Goblin Fruit: In Victorian times, goblin men had only to offer young girls sumptuous fruits to tempt them to sell their souls. But what does it take to tempt today’s savvy girls?

Spicy Little Curses: A demon and the ambassador to Hell tussle over the soul of a beautiful English girl in India. Matters become complicated when she falls in love and decides to test her curse.

Hatchling: Six days before Esme’s fourteenth birthday, her left eye turns from brown to blue. She little suspects what the change heralds, but her small safe life begins to unravel at once. What does the beautiful, fanged man want with her, and how is her fate connected to a mysterious race of demons?

My Thoughts:

I’m not going to write a summay for this book since it was three different stories. I am going to tell you that if you don’t run out and get this book right away you are missing out on something wonderful.
I don’t usually like short stories. I have a hard time connecting with the characters. With Lips Touch I was sucked right in with the first story and I stayed that way until the very last page.

Every story in Lips Touch is beautifully unique and unlike anything I have ever read before. Laini Taylor has a way with words. She makes them sound lyical and fantastic. I was left wanting more! The world she created in the last story Hatchling is amazing. There is so much potential there to create endless novels in that world.
The characters were all very well written and I felt connected to their stories and hardships. Which in my opinion is something hard to capture in a short story. As an added bonus we get to see these characters and stories brought to life with the beautiful illustrations of Jim Di Bartolo. Everything about this book is beautiful!

Lips Touch is a finalist for the National Book Award and after reading it I am not surprised. This is going to be a book that people will talk about for a long time to come. 5 Stars!

Filed Under: Fantasy, Laini Taylor, Short stories

Review: Fallen by Lauren Kate

October 29, 2009 By 16 Comments
Title: Fallen 
Author: Lauren Kate
Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: December 8, 2009
Blurb:

There’s something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.

Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price’s attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia. He’s the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.

Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce–and goes out of his way to make that very clear–she can’t let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret . . . even if it kills her.

Dangerously exciting and darkly romantic, Fallen is a page turning thriller and the ultimate love story.

My Thoughts:

It’s Luce’s first day at a new school, she has already been striped of her cell phone, flipped off by a cute boy and attacked by a girl and her meatloaf can it get any worse? It can.


I was very excited to get this book. You can ask my husband, when I opened the package there was even some squeeing involved. So I honestly wanted to like it, hell I wanted to love it. It just didn’t happen though.
The premise was great. The setting was good. I can relate to the sweltering southern heat. It was the characters and the pace of the story  that ruined it for me.

Luce was annoying and for lack of a better word term, dumb. Sure she has some problems but her actions were totally unbelievable to me. She was stocking the male in the book. They were supposed to have this amazing bond that drew them together but I never saw it! There were times I felt like I was missing something because it wasn’t explained and wasn’t there at all. I felt totally unconnected with these characters.

On top of all that the pace was slooow. The story didn’t pick up until about 250 pages into it. We could do without a lot of those pages in the beginning. I will stop here. I don’t like doing negative reviews. I honestly wanted to love this but Kate has a long way to go before I could love her work. I will probably still give the squeal a chance. And I think you all should still give Fallen a chance. This is only my opinion and I seem to be the only person so far that hasn’t loved it. 2 Stars

Filed Under: ARC, Laura Kate, Young Adult

Waiting On Wednesday(20)

October 28, 2009 By 6 Comments

February 10, 2009 
Veronica Severance feels cut off from the world. Forced to move from
the city to rural Oregon with her
parents, she is haunted by loneliness and by the chilling sounds of the
Santiam, the river that runs through her backyard

Through the fog of isolation, Ronnie finds herself becoming close with Karen, a young girl who she babysits. But when she discovers Karen’s body on the banks of the Santiam, the victim of a supposed accident, Ronnie feels compelled to uncover the truth.

As she becomes increasingly obsessed with solving Karen’s death, Ronnie is led deeper and deeper into the woods surrounding the river and to the dark secret hidden within its midst.

The River is a darkly atmospheric story of murder, isolation, obsession and dark secrets that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page.

 

January 4, 2010
The Blakes are rather different to your usual neighbours. They are vampires and some of the members of the family date back to the twelfth century. One of the children, Solange, is the only born female vampire known and, as such, she poses a direct threat to the vampire queen. Her best friend Lucy is human, and when Solange is kidnapped Lucy and Solange’s brother, Nicholas, set out to save her. Lucy soon discovers that she would like to be more than just friends with Nicholas. But how does one go about dating a vampire? Meanwhile, Solange finds an unlikely ally in Kieran, a vampire slayer on the hunt for his father’s killer.

Filed Under: Waiting on Wednesday

Review: The Adoration of Jenna Fox

October 27, 2009 By 3 Comments
Title: The Adoration of Jenna Fox
Author: Mary E. Pearson 
Reading Level: Young Adult 
IBSN: 9780312594411 
Blurb:
Seventeen-year-old Jenna Fox has just awoken from a year-long coma—so she’s been told—and she is still recovering from the terrible accident that caused it. But what happened before that? She’s been given home movies chronicling her entire life, which spark memories to surface. But are the memories really hers? And why won’t anyone in her family talk about the accident? Jenna is becoming more curious. But she is also afraid of what she might find out if she ever gets up the courage to ask her questions. What happened to Jenna Fox? And who is she really?

My Thoughts:

Jenna Fox doesn’t know her parents. She doesn’t know if she has friends. When she wakes up after a year long coma she has to relearn everything. But some things come back to her quickly like words and walking but her memories come slowly. And everyday it is revealed that she doesn’t know who Jenna Fox is.

I have heard so many great things about this book. They were all true. I’m surprised it took me so long to read this. When I finally did pick it up and start reading I was done with it in 11 hours. There is no other way to read it except in one sitting.

Jenna’s story grips you from the very first page. You learn about her as she learns about herself. The story is horrifying and beautiful. How far would a person go? Where do you draw they line between saving someone and completely recreating someone? These are all questions this book makes you ask. It makes you think.

This is a sad story. Sometimes I was even disgusted at the actions of Jenna’s parents but other times I could sympathize with them. It’s also full of hope and betrayal and love. How can it be all these things at once? Mary E. Pearson has written a novel that our children will be reading. Our children’s children will be reading. It’s a classic. Read it please! 5 Stars!

Filed Under: Mary E. Pearson, Young Adult

Win Hold Still by Nina LaCour!

October 26, 2009 By 60 Comments

I’m holding a contest for Peguin and we are giving away a finished copy of Hold Still by Nina LaCour. Isn’t that awesome! Here’s some info about the book:

An arresting story about starting over after a friend’s suicide, from a breakthrough new voice in YA fiction. dear caitlin, there are so many things that i want so badly to tell you but i just can’t.
Devastating, hopeful, hopeless, playful . . . in words and illustrations, Ingrid left behind a painful farewell in her journal for Caitlin. Now Caitlin is left alone, by loss and by choice, struggling to find renewed hope in the wake of her best friend’s suicide. With the help of family and newfound friends, Caitlin will encounter first love, broaden her horizons, and start to realize that true friendship didn’t die with Ingrid. And the journal which once seemed only to chronicle Ingrid’s descent into depression, becomes the tool by which Caitlin once again reaches out to all those who loved Ingrid—and Caitlin herself.

Here’s a book trailer that is simply amazing! Watch it!

And also Nina will be doing a event at Borders in San Francisco on October 28th which will be streaming live here. It will be just like being there!
Okay so now on to the giveaway!


One entry for commenting. Leave your e-mail address!


Extra Entries:
+3 For Followers
+2 For anywhere you post about this giveaway(leave links!)

Contest will be open to US and Canada residents only it will run through 11/9.That’s it! Aren’t you excited to read this? I am! Good luck to you all!

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