THE FEAR by Charlie Higson-REVIEW

THE FEAR is the third book in the Enemy series. The reading order is THE ENEMY, THE DEAD, and THE FEAR. The timeline of the novels is a little out of whack, but each novel includes a new main cast of characters so it doesn't matter too much. THE DEAD actually takes place before THE ENEMY and THE FEAR starts after THE DEAD and catches up and passes THE ENEMY.

In this horrifying world, children are battling for their lives against their mothers, fathers, and older siblings. (In THE ENEMY, the reader is introduced to the sickness that has spread through London and affected everyone 15-yrs-old and over, turning them into crazed, diseased killers that feast on the young children left behind.)

This is a frightening world where the children have to fight for survival every minute of the day. In THE FEAR we follow DogNut and Courtney as they travel across London in hopes of finding friends they were separated from a year ago. As they navigate the dangerous streets of London, DogNut and Courtney fight the Mothers and Fathers hiding around every corner.

THE FEAR is filled with death, blood, and violence. It isn't for the faint of heart. Charlie Higson writes one cringe-worthy scene after another.

This one was a tough one to read - so brutal and sad. I can't wait to read the next one, THE SACRIFICE.

DYING TO KNOW YOU by Aidan Chambers-REVIEW

Karl is dyslexic so he hates to write. He also doesn't know how to express himself very well. When Karl's girlfriend Fiorella asks him to answer some questions she has by writing out his answers Karl turns to Fiorella's favorite author for help.

Not only is this author helping Karl with searching out his inner most feelings, but Karl is helping the author by once again giving him a reason and will to write after his wife's death.

Karl and the author develop a friendship that manages to withstand many ups and downs as they both explore who they are. They relate with each other in that the author can see that he and Karl have many of the same character qualities. Karl is brooding and moody and insecure, the author can see many of the same qualities in himself. He helps Karl deal with those emotions throughout the book.

The story was written from the authors point of view.We never know what the authors name is. I enjoyed how much he helped Karl discover himself. He helped Karl through depression and other emotions by offering wise advice or just listening when Karl had something to say. In return Karl gave the author a reason to start writing again after the death of his wife. There were a few sexual situations, but nothing graphic. There was also a bit of language. I think this was a story of healing both for Karl and for the author that befriended him.

IRISES by Francisco X. Stork-REVIEW

As Mary and Kate's mother lays in a vegetative state once again the girls are faced with tragedy. Their minister father has now passed away and they are left with decisions too difficult for them to face.

Mary is an artist, but once her mother's accident happened the light has gone out of her paintings. Mary has devoted her life to taking care of her mother. Now she must give up her extra art class after school in order to be more available to care for her mother.

Kate has always dreamed of going to college at Stanford and becoming a doctor. It was her mother's dream for her, and her constant secret for the past several years. Now that dream is about to be realized but with the death of her father Kate is confused about her responsibilities.

Irises was an engaging story. Mary and Kate's struggles with what to do once their father dies kept me turning the pages because I wanted to find out how things turned out. There were so many other issues in the book though that I couldn't give it a better rating. I didn't care for the new minister(Andy) and his goal of some day being the head of a more affluent church. His willingness to allow Kate in his apartment with the idea that things may lead to a sexual encounter was just wrong. His preaching of love and faith without actual guidance of how to gain those things showed that he had no business being a preacher. The girls' father even though he had been a minister for years had led his family with rules and antiquated ideas rather than teaching them about faith. So I guess that the author's portrayal of the religious figures left a dis-satisfied taste in my mouth. Even with that I found empathy for both Mary and Kate's characters. Both struggling with what has happened in their lives, having to face giving up dreams, relationships that have turned disappointing, and the ultimate decision of what to do about their mother all were written to be very believable. Definitely not a waste of time to read this book!

UNWHOLLY by Neal Shusterman - REVIEW

KARIN'S REVIEW:


UNWHOLLY picks up where UNWIND left off. Shusterman does a great job catching up the reader so you don’t feel lost. However, I still recommend reading UNWIND before diving into this book. Since it doesn’t come out until August you have time to read it now. This review is intentional vague.  I don’t want to spoil anything for people who haven’t read either book.

After a terrible war between the Pro-Life people and the Pro-Choice people, an agreement was made to add The Bill of Life to the Constitution. Basically, life is protected from conception until the age of 13. Once a child reaches 13 a parent then has the right to Unwind their child.  Unwinding is a process where the child officially remains alive – but in a “divided state.” Every part of the body is harvested at a Harvest Camp and preserved and later used for people that need replacement parts. For instance, if someone is suffering from heart failure – instead of have bypass surgery you just get a new heart that once belonged to a child that was Unwound. A parent or legal guardian can sign the unwinding order until the child reaches 18 (now 17 after an amendment because of developments in UNWIND). Chilling, huh? Well, just wait!!

UNWHOLLY follows the characters we connected with in the first book, Lev, Connor, and Risa. They face horrible and dangerous situations at every turn. Shusterman provides us with several new characters – some you grow to like and others you grow to hate. Together, they are forced to make ethical decisions that will determine whether they live or die (a.k.a. live in a divided state).
This book brings up questions about what it means to be alive. How far would you go to survive? Would you take a new arm, new spine, new eye knowing they came from a kid between the ages of 13 and 17? A kid that became too much trouble for the parents? A kid that didn’t want to “die” anymore than you do? It really makes you think.

Absolutely fantastic! That is all I can say. If you liked UNWIND then you’ll love UNWHOLLY.  If you haven’t read UNWIND yet, get on it NOW!

Karin's rating:

JULIE'S REVIEW:


 Unwholly is the sequel to Unwind. It has been a long time waiting for this sequel. It did not disappoint!

Unwinding is still taking place. Children between the ages of 13-17 can be unwound if their parents sign the paperwork. The age used to be to 18, but has now changed to 17 which has caused a shortage of available parts. This has given rise to black market pirates.

Characters from Unwind are also in Unwholly. Connor, Risa and Lev are still fighting the battle for the right to live. Each one has a different battle that puts them in constant peril.

There are also new characters in Unwholly. One a horrifying creation that has taken unwinding to a whole new level.

I was not disappointed in the excitement of the story. The introduction of new characters kept the story from becoming stale. I'm looking forward to the last book in the trilogy and can only hope that it doesn't take another 4 years to come out.

Julie's rating:

              

                                                                         

UNWHOLLY comes out August 28th 2012. Karin received her copy at TXLA in April.

SOULLESS by Christopher Golden-REVIEW

For the first time ever, three powerful mediums are going to join hands on a live morning TV show in order to conduct the largest ever seance. The minute they join hands, people in the live studio audience begin to hear voices and feel the bone chilling cold that is so often associated with the spirit world. Panic breaks out and rightly so….the spirits have been given the opportunity to come through an open door into the world of the living and they aren’t wasting any time.

Spirits are returning to their dead and decomposing bodies and raising up from their graves. Zombies begin to brutally attack anyone unfortunate enough to get in their path. A group of strangers are thrown together and forced to find a way to survive - even if what they have to do is very unpleasant.

Christopher Golden has delivered a genuine horror novel. Blood and gore flow free throughout the chapters. However, as weird as this may sound, the violence portrayed in SOULLESS is done tastefully and not disgusting at all. SOULLESS is a thrill ride - a thrill ride with flesh eating zombies every step of the way.

ROSEBUSH by Michele Jaffe-REVIEW

Jane goes to a party on the Jersey Short expecting to have fun with her friends and a romantic night with her boyfriend. Instead she is run down by a car and left for dead – tangled in a rosebush on the side of the road.


Waking up in the hospital, Jane realizes she has no memory of what happened at the party and that she is paralyzed. With snatches of memory coming back at random moments and accounts from her friends, Jane attempts to piece together what really happened that night and who wants her dead, because the killer isn’t finished with her. Jane receives mysterious gifts and phone calls from the person responsible for her accident. The problem is, no one believes she is in danger. They blame the paranoia on all the drugs she is taking for the pain. Will she be able to figure out who is after her before it is too late?

Michele Jaffe crafted a great mystery. She is able to make the reader continually change their minds about what happened by presenting us with several feasible suspects. So, you might ask why I didn’t give it 5 glasses. I didn’t find the final cuprit to be believable. Other suspects had better reasons for wanting Jane out of the way than the actual person. Also, I liked Jane, but she was too easily swayed by boys. Every time she met a new one she seemed to like him. But, even with these two things, the book was great. I totally couldn’t put it down.

TANTALIZE by Cynthia Leitich Smith - REVIEW

Quincie Morris leads a stressful life; playing the part of a responsible adult since the death of her parents has left her the owner of the family restaurant. Fat Lorenzo’s was a successful family business until a large Italian restaurant chain moved in down the street. The small business couldn’t compete, so in order to keep the doors open, her Uncle Davidson, now her guardian and manager of the restaurant, decided to change Fat Lorenzo’ into a vampire-themed Italian restaurant called Sanguini’s. The chef would be the center of the act, leading a midnight toast every night.

Quincie’s close friend, Vaggio, has been with the restaurant for years as its chef and is looking forward to the new challenge. Quincie works late many nights a week. She is either working with Vaggio, taste-testing for the new menu, or organizing some of the many tasks left to do before opening night. One night while she is in the office reviewing her “To Do List,” she hears a noise from the kitchen. Thinking Vaggio simply dropped something, she continues to work. She is also waiting for Kieren, a half-werewolf that has been the love of her life and best friend for years. She is startled when she hears Kieren’s frantic cry calling her name from the kitchen. Immediately going to meet him, she is horrified by the site of Vaggio dead on the kitchen floor, bloodied and mangled as if torn apart by wolves. Kieren is bloodied from attempting to help and is desperate with worry about Quincie. He quickly pulls her from the restaurant and goes down the street to call the police. Once the police arrive, they return to the scene of the crime to answer questions.


Quincie feels her world closing in on her. She has lost her parents and a dear friend within a short period of time. Her Uncle Davidson has been preoccupied with Ruby, his wannabe vampire girlfriend, so much so that he isn’t ever home and rarely spends time with Quincie anymore. Now, she learns that Kieren is planning to leave. He is going to join a werewolf pack for support while he learns the ways of his culture. Once he joins, he will never be able to come back. The thought of never seeing, touching, or talking to Kieren again leaves her shaken.


Quincie is in a vulnerable state when the new chef for Sanguini’s shows up unexpectedly. Uncle Davidson hired him without even consulting her, which irritates her since she is usually considered a partner when it comes to major decisions. Henry Johnson is the new chef and as he and Quincie work together to make him more vampire-like, they grow closer. The first thing they change is his name, and Henry Johnson becomes Bradley Sanguini. Bradley cooks for her daily, constantly trying new recipes for the possible menu. He also introduces her to wine. Never one for drinking, she quickly develops a taste for it, seeming to always have a glass of wine in her hand while she is working. She is surprised that her uncle doesn’t say anything about her drinking. She is even more shocked when Uncle Davidson allows her to drink wine at home.


Quincie’s life seems to flash before her eyes. Her mind is occupied with thoughts of the restaurant so much that her grades at school begin to fall. She loses interest in any activity that isn’t surrounding Sanguini’s. She begins to spend less time with Kieren, both because she is afraid of her feelings when he is gone for good and because Bradley and Uncle Davidson plant the seed of suspicion in her mind that Kieren might have lost control of his change and killed Vaggio himself. All of these thoughts distract her to the point that she is lured into a dangerous situation where there is no way out. Her life will be forever changed.


TANTALIZE by Cynthia Leitich Smith is a stimulating paranormal mystery mixed with romance. The relationship between Quincie and Kieren is touching and so deep that the reader feels Quincie’s pain at the thought of losing Kieren, while at the same time understanding Kieren’s reasons for keeping Quincie at arms length and never following through on the emotions he feels for her.

NOTHING by Janne Teller - REVIEW

NOTHING by Janne Teller is a dark and disturbing story of a group of Danish seventh graders who are forced to define “meaning.”  When one of their classmates leaves school one day after he announces, “Nothing matters,” they pull together to find a way to prove he is wrong.

The class decides to use an abandoned sawmill to organize their project.  At first, they add simple things to the Pile of Meaning by volunteering items, but soon the stakes are raised and people start choosing who goes next and what they have to put on top of the pile.  It is frightening how quickly things escalate.

As the school year progresses and the Pile of Meaning grows higher, Pierre Anthon, the boy who started it all, continues to taunt the class. Soon, there is no going back and the worst possible thing happens.

NOTHING is grim.  It is depressing and creepy. You definitely have to be in the right mood to read this story.  At times, the translation seems a little awkward, but it doesn’t really take away from the book.  I felt the need to read it, but not out of enjoyment.  I felt the need to read so I could see how gruesome the sacrifices would get.  At 240 pages, this is a quick read; so, if you don’t mind totally depressing stories, give it a try.

LIVING DEAD GIRL and LOVE YOU, HATE YOU, MISS YOU by Elizabeth Scott - 2 for 1 Post - REVIEW

While on a class field trip Alice is lured away from the group by Ray - a child predator. The minute she starts to walk with him, her life is over. She becomes a shell of a girl. A girl technically alive, but dead on the inside.

The story picks up after Alice has lived with Ray for five years. She knows what to expect - she can read his moods. Ray maintains control by reminding Alice that he knows where her “real” family lives. He’s even driven her there and told her that if she attempts to run away - he’ll kill everyone inside.

Ray wants Alice to remain young looking. He withholds food when he thinks she is gaining weight, he gives her medication to stop her menstrual cycle, and requires her to wax ALL the hair from her body.

When Alice reaches the age of fifteen, Ray begins to talk more and more about her death. He brings up finding a new girl, someone else that needs to be shown how lucky they are. He forces Alice to scout possible girls for him. When Alice finds a six-year-old girl that would meet Ray’s approval, she finally sees a way out for herself.

Elizabeth Scott has written a heart-wrenching account of one girl’s life as an abductee. The amount of detail used to describe her daily experiences is amazing. Many sexually graphic scenes fill the pages of this book and threaten to turn the stomach of the reader. LIVING DEAD GIRL is a story that will stick with you after you finish.

Amy is drowning in guilt. She survived the car accident that took the life of her best friend Julia and she doesn’t feel she deserves to live. Amy never should have done what she did. She never should have used alcohol as a crutch to get through her feelings of insecurity about her appearance. She never should have made Julia get in the car that night and she definitely shouldn’t have told her to drive.

LOVE YOU HATE YOU MISS YOU is a story of healing. Between Amy’s memories of past times with Julia and her therapy sessions since the accident, the reader gets a clear picture of what Amy is going through.

Elizabeth Scott has done it again. She has provided readers with a realistic view of teenage dynamics while at the same time giving a heart-wrenching story about the importance of friendship and family.

Edifying Meets Edgy Halfway - The Last Survivors Trilogy by Susan Beth Pfeffer

The moon books are great "end of the earth" kind of books. They are full of survival and peril and triumph. I can't fully put them into the Edifying category because of vivid scenes of death and the constant peril that each book has. But they are not just Edgy kind of reads either. I think that the triumph of survival and the love of family that comes through in the books can make them valid Edifying reads also. With little to no cussing or sexual situations I recommend these books all the time.
Julie's Reviews - LAWKI, TDATG, TWWLI

The Moon Series is right up my alley.  I've always been a fan of disaster books.  I enjoy putting myself in the shoes of characters struggling to survive.  LIFE AS WE KNEW IT is told from a first person point-of-view in dairy form.  It reads really fast.  THE DEAD AND THE GONE is told from a boy's point of view, but in third person.  It is also more dark and disturbing.  THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN brings the first two books together and wrap Miranda's and Alex's stories up nicely.

Karin's Reviews - LAWKI, TDATG, TWWLI

NOTE: This trilogy used to be called The Moon Series, but lately it has appeared as The Last Survivors Trilogy.

Edifying Meets Edgy Halfway - THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH by Carrie Ryan

In Mary's world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

I have never read a zombie book and so was very skeptical about picking up The Forest of Hands and Teeth. From the very beginning it captured my attention! I enjoyed it very much. Because it has so much death and peril in it I wouldn't consider it to be very edifying.The book is pretty descriptive of the zombie's(unconsecrated) as they rattle fences and you can almost hear the moaning that they emit. But it has little or no language or sexual references which makes it an easy book to recommend for the middle school age level.

Unlike Julie, I was dying to read this book the minute I started seeing the buzz about it on the Internet. THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH is an enthralling post-apocalyptic masterpiece. Carrie Ryan’s description of the unrelenting Unconsecrated comes through loud and clear to the reader. At times, the suspense will cause you to put the book down for fear of what you might read next only to pick it up again because you can’t wait to find out. You’ll be able to feel the boney fingers of each and every Unconsecrated reaching for you as you turn page after page of this amazing novel. The ending definitely leaves the reader begging for the next installment in this amazing series.

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