It’s Monday What Are You Reading?

It's Monday What Are You Reading?
This great meme is hosted by One Persons Journey Through a World of Books. Each week will share with you the books we are reading, just finished reading and those books we are planning to read this week.
Finished:
Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz
Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz
I have seen a lot of great reviews for this book but it didn’t meet my expectations.  Review coming soon.
Shiver (Wolves of Mercy Falls Series #1) by Maggie Stiefvater: CD Audiobook Cover
Audio Book – Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
This one took me a while to listen to because it is on my phone but I really enjoyed the story not I need to get Linger. Review coming soon.
Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins
I Loved Lola but I don’t think as much as Anna.  Review Coming Soon
Currently Reading:
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater: Book Cover
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
Only about 50 pages in but hooked.
Coming Up Next:
Hex Hall (Hex Hall Series #1) by Rachel Hawkins: Book Cover
Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins
Well, It’s Monday What are You Reading?  Leave me a comment or link.
Don’t forget to enter my Summer Giveaway Hop.

Review: Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Wither by Lauren DeStefano: Book CoverDetails:  Wither by Lauren DeStefano

          • Wither
          • Pub. Date: March 2011
          • Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing
          • Format: Hardcover , 358pp
          • Sales Rank: 10,406
          • Age Range: Young Adult
          • Series: Chemical Garden Trilogy Series #1

Wither Synopsis:

By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children.

When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can’t bring herself to hate him as much as she’d like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband’s strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement. Her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next, and Rhine is desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. Will Rhine be able to escape—before her time runs out?

My Thoughts:

Admittedly, I knew nothing about this book when I picked up at the library other than there was a ton of hype about it and I loved the cover.  This cover has an incredibly strong presence but did not at all prepare me for the outstanding story that is Wither.  Lauren DeStefano creates a world that is so hard to imagine yet so real that you can’t help but think that this time is just around the corner when women will live to be twenty and men twenty-five due to humans messing with our genetics.  Rhine is one of the strongest characters I have read all year.  She is ripped from her home, already horribly broken and is sent off to become the bride of a man who can give her anything she wants, that is except her freedom.  While living in this wonderful house with Linden’s two other brides she discovers more and more strange things happening in the house and they all seem to revolve around her father-in-law.  She becomes the first wife which means she gets the opportunity to leave the property.  She says time and time again that she will get out but she has to make it in time or she will die like the others.

The terrifying premise to this story is solid throughout the book, it never waivers from the idea of getting an antidote to keep people from dying but it takes many different forms as the book moves on.  The relationship from Linden and Rhine, to the servants, and between the wives themselves really make this book incredibly strong in my opinion.  It is difficult to build as many relationships that are in this book and make them all compete and consistent but Lauren DeStefano is a master at doing just that.  I enjoyed getting to know each of the wives and how Rhine felt about each one.  Also, how she felt about each person around her.  For me, this was the strongest part of the story and the one that I enjoyed the most.

The plot is also strong and I felt that Wither was left in a great place so while there was a bit of a cliffhanger for the next book in this series, I was not left frustrated and wondering what happened.  All the way around, I felt that Witherwas a well planned and executed book.  This was the first book that I have read by Lauren DeStefano and I can tell you right now that there will be many more to come.

My Rating for Wither:

5 Penguin

An outstanding story that left me wanting to know what was going to happen next!

*All opinions are my own and I borrowed this book from my local public library, Oxford Public Library.

Review: Pink by Lili Wilkinson

PinkDetails:  Pink by Lili Wilkinson

        • Pub. Date: February 2011
        • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
        • Format: Hardcover , 310pp
        • Sales Rank: 254,939
        • Age Range: Young Adult

Pink Synopsis:

Ava has a secret. She is tired of her ultracool attitude, ultra-radical politics, and ultrablack clothing. She’s ready to try something new—she’s even ready to besomeone new. Someone who fits in, someone with a gorgeous boyfriend, someone who wears pink.

Transferring to Billy Hughes School for Academic Excellence is the perfect chance to try on a new identity. But just in case things don’t work out, Ava is hiding her new interests from her parents, and especially from her old girlfriend.

Secrets have a way of being hard to keep, though, and Ava finds that changing herself is more complicated than changing her wardrobe. Even getting involved in the school musical raises issues she never imagined. As she faces surprising choices and unforeseen consequences, Ava wonders if she will ever figure out who she really wants to be.

Humor, heart, and the joys of drama—on- and offstage—combine in Ava’s delight-fully colorful journey of self-discovery.

My Thoughts:

Ava is a young girl who is a lesbian, out to her parents who have very relaxed thoughts on this, has decided that maybe she is not who she has created for herself and decides that she is going to transfer to a new school, Billy Hughes School for Academic Excellence.  From the very first day this school is very different, it is harder than she thought it would be and she learns that she will be grading herself.  Ava goes from wearing all black in her previous school to wearing pink in her new school.  This is a huge change.  She is out to make new friends and land herself a boyfriend.  Little does she know that friends can be hiding in the strangest of places, where there are least expected.

There was just a lot going on in Pink.  At times, it was difficult for me to manage the different parts of Ava’s life.  For me, the fact that she was able to keep the two halves secret for so long seemed a bit far fetched for me.  I am sure that it is possible but I just don’t know.

I did enjoy the message of Pink the most.  I think that the book would be very easy for teens to relate to especially those who thought that they were one way and realize that maybe they aren’t or want other things out of relationship, school ect.  I also like that Ava found the “better” friends in a place she never guessed she would out of a very embarrassing situation something that I know every teen can relate to.

So overall, while Pink was not my favorite story, the message is really want made it work for me and why I would recommend this for a teen who is just trying to figure things out.  That is always a tough thing!

My Rating:

* I borrowed this book from the library and all opinions are my own.