Review: Crossed by Ally Condie

Title: Crossed
Author: Ally Condie
Genre: YA, Dystopian
Rating: G
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Publication Date: November 1, 2011
Pages: 384
Source: ARC provided by Publisher
My Rating: 3*

[Goodreads | Amazon]

Synopsis

In search of a future that may not exist and faced with the decision of who to share it with, Cassia journeys to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky - taken by the Society to his certain death - only to find that he has escaped, leaving a series of clues in his wake.

Cassia's quest leads her to question much of what she holds dear, even as she finds glimmers of a different life across the border. But as Cassia nears resolve and certainty about her future with Ky, an invitation for rebellion, an unexpected betrayal, and a surprise visit from Xander - who may hold the key to the uprising and, still, to Cassia's heart - change the game once again. Nothing is as expected on the edge of Society, where crosses and double crosses make the path more twisted than ever.

Quotes

     I wonder if some of that longing came through in my voice when I spoke of the painting, if Xander noticed and remembered.  Xander still plays the game in a subtle way.  This painting is one of his cards.  Now, when I see the painting or touch one of he newrose petals, I remember the way he felts so familiar and knew so much, and I ache for what I've had to let go.

My Thoughts

I really, really did not like Matched, but as a follow up Crossed was actually pretty decent.  I ended up  reading both books back to back so I was able to keep going with the story.  As a result, I really can't help but compare the two books.

I must say that I enjoyed the setting in Matched much more.  For me, having the characters leave the city for the Outer Provinces lends credibility to the whole Dystopian aspect.  I felt that it gave Crossed a sense of danger and excitement that I found was lacking in Matched.  There were so many plot twists that I found myself unable to predict what was going to happen next; something that I greatly enjoyed.

Once I got used to them, I loved the differing viewpoints.  In my opinion, it really helped keep the story from revealing itself too soon.  Plus it was really nice to get a look inside of Ky's mind.  I found his viewpoint to be very refreshing and almost pure in his feelings.  Plus, it was a bonus to have male characters, who while very different from one another, were not absolute morons.  It was so nice to just finally get some decent male love interests.  I am really tired of this whole trend in YA of girls always falling for the pining after the controlling jerk.  Kudos to Ally Condie for creating two different male characters in Xander and Ky who aren't actually jerks masquerading as the ideal choice.

I have to say, that now I am kind of bummed that I have to wait a whole year to find out just how this series ends.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About the Author

Ally Condie is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel MATCHED. She is also a former high school English teacher who lives with her husband and three sons outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. She loves reading, running, eating, and listening to her husband play guitar.

Review: Dexter in the Dark

Title: Dexter in the Dark (Dexter #3)
Author: Jeff Lindsay
Genre: Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 18A
Publisher: DoubleDay
Release Date: September 18, 2007
Pages: 368
Source: Purchased Finished Copy
My Rating: 3*

[Goodreads | Amazon]

Synopsis

In his work as a Miami crime scene investigator, Dexter Morgan is accustomed to seeing evil deeds…particularly because, on occasion, he rather enjoys committing them himself. Guided by his Dark Passenger (the reptilian voice inside him), he lives his outwardly normal life adhering to one simple rule: he kills only very bad people. Dexter slides through life undetected, working as a blood spatter analyst for the Miami Police Department, helping his fiancée raise her two adorable (if somewhat…unique) children, and always planning his next jaunt as Dexter the Dark Avenger under the light of the full moon.

But then everything changes. Dexter is called to a crime scene that seems routine: a gruesome double homicide at the university campus, which Dexter would normally investigate with gusto, before enjoying a savory lunch. And yet this scene feels terribly wrong. Dexter’s Dark Passenger senses something it recognizes, something utterly chilling, and the Passenger—mastermind of Dexter’s homicidal prowess—promptly goes into hiding.

With his Passenger on the run, Dexter is left to face this case all alone—not to mention his demanding sister (Sergeant Deborah), his frantic fiancée (Rita), and the most frightening wedding caterer ever to plan a menu. Equally unsettling, Dexter begins to realize that something very dark and very powerful has its sights set on him. Dexter is left in the dark, but he must summon his sharpest investigative instincts not only to pursue his enemy, but to locate and truly understand his Dark Passenger. To find him, Dexter has to research the questions he’s never dared ask: Who is the Dark Passenger, and where does he come from? It is nothing less than a search for Dexter’s own dark soul…fueled by a steady supply of fresh doughnuts.

Macabre, ironic, and wonderfully entertaining, Dexter in the Dark goes deeper into the psyche of one of the freshest protagonists in recent fiction. Jeff Lindsay’s glorious creativity is on full display in his most accomplished novel yet.

Quotes

     I grabbed my handy blood-spatter kit and headed out the door with Vince Masuoka, who despite his small size had somehow grabbed two of the very valuable filled doughnuts-including he Bavarian cream with the chocolate frosting.  "You have done a little too well, Mighty Hunter,"  I told him with a nod at his plundered loot.
     "The gods of the forest have been good," he said, and took a large bite.  "My people will not starve this season."
     "No, but I will," I said.
     He gave me his terrible phony smile, which looked like something he had learned to do by studying a government manual on facial expressions.  "The ways of the jungle are hard, Grasshopper," he said.
     "Yes, I know," I said.  "First you must learn to think like a doughnut."

My Thoughts


This is my least favourite book in the Dexter series.  There is something about Dexter being scared that just doesn't sit well with me.  It makes him far too human, which really takes away his whole appeal.  The reason that Dexter is so appealing to readers is that he is not like us.  He is not bound by the same moral compass that binds the vast majority of our society.  The fact that he exists on the fringes and fakes just enough to get by is what makes him so compelling.

All that makes Dexter who he is is missing in Dexter in the Dark as his Dark Passenger goes silent in the face of a truly terrifying foe.  Dexter isn't top dog in this book.  He isn't showing a mutual appreciation for another killers skill or work.  This time, he is being well and truly hunted.

While there is plenty of action that happens in this book, there is more delving into Dexter's psyche.  Dexter tries to keep one step ahead of his foe, but how can he do that when his sharpest instinct is no longer available to him.  Of course we also watch Dexter juggle his ungrateful sister Deborah, his annoying fiancée Rita, and his two protegees in training Cody and Astor all while trying to save his own life.

Review: Dearly Devoted Dexter

Title: Dearly Devoted Dexter (Dexter #2)
Author: Jeff Lindsay
Genre: Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 18A
Publisher: DoubleDay
Release Date: August 19, 2005
Pages: 292
Source: Purchased Finished Copy
My Rating: 3*

[Goodreads | Amazon]

Synopsis
He's a charming monster...A macabre hero...A serial killer who only kills bad people

Dexter Morgan has been under considerable pressure. It's just not easy being an ethical serial killer—especially while trying to avoid the unshakable suspicions of the dangerous Sergeant Doakes (who believes Dexter is a homicidal maniac...which, of course, he is). In an attempt to throw Doakes off his trail, Dexter has had to slip deep into his foolproof disguise. While not working as a blood-spatter analyst for the Miami Police Department, he now spends nearly all his time with his cheerful girlfriend, Rita, and her two children, sipping light beer and slowly becoming the world's first serial couch potato. But how long can Dexter play Kick the Can instead of Slice the Slasher? How long before his Dark Passenger forces him to drop the charade and let his inner monster run free?

In trying times, opportunity knocks. A particularly nasty psychopath is cutting a trail through Miami—a man whose twisted technique leaves even Dexter speechless. As Dexter's dark appetite is revived, his sister, Deborah (a newly minted, tough-as-nails Miami detective) is drawn headlong into the case. It quickly becomes clear that it will take a monster to catch a monster—but it isn't until his archnemies is abducted that Dex can finally throw himself into the search for a new plaything. Unless, of course, his plaything finds him first...

Quotes

"What to wear? I could think of no guidelines on what we were wearing this season to a party forced on you to celebrate an unwanted engagement that might turn into a violent confrontation with a vengeful maniac. Clearly brown shoes were out, but beyond that nothing really seemed de rigueur."

"I am not shy about admitting my modest talents.  For example, I am happy to admit that I am better than average at clever remarks, and I also have a flair for getting people to like me.  But to be perfectly fair to myself, I am ever-ready to confess my shortcomings, too, and a quick round of soul-searching forced me to admit that I have never been any good at all at breathing water.  As I hung there from the seat belt, dazed and watching the water pour in and swirl around my head, this began to seem like a very large character flaw."

My Thoughts


My favourite serial killer is back once again.  By day he is continuing to work for the Miami Police department as a blood splatter analyst and of course by night, he is slashing his way through the dregs of the Miami society.  There are just a few problems in Dexter's happily ordered life of work and murder.  Sargent Doakes is on to him and someone may or may not want to kill him!  Whatever is Dexter to do?

As Doakes' constant presence begins to put a damper on Dexter's happy slashing fun, Dexter decides to sharpen his disguise.  While spending his evenings on Rita's couch drinking beer, he notices some familiar behaviour in her children.  Could they be more like him than anyone suspects?  Dexter quickly finds himself as a mentor to Cody and Astor as he tries to steer them on the right path.

Of course it's not all playing daddy and shaping the monsters of the future for Dexter.  His sister has once again become involved in a gruesome case.  It quickly becomes clear that Dexter's archnemisis Doakes has some connection to the case and the two must reluctantly work together to solve it.  Dexter may just be able to kill two birds with one stone.

Once again, this book is quite funny and had me laughing out loud.  Jeff Lindsey continues to develop Dexter's character and with each book a little more of himself is revealed.

Review: Edge of Grace by Christa Allen

Title: The Edge of Grace
Author: Christa Allen
Genre: Christian Fiction
Rating: PG
Publisher: Abingdon Press
Release Date: August 1, 2011
Pages: 336 Pages
Source: Finished Copy Provided by Author
My Rating: 3*

[Goodreads | Amazon]

Synopsis
In a matter of seconds her entire world shifted...

An early morning call shatters Caryn Becker's world. Unable to cope with her brother's news that he is gay, Caryn rejects him and disappears into her own turbulent life as a young widow and single mom. But when David is attacked and nearly killed, Caryn is forced to make hard choices about family, faith, and her own future; choices that take her to the very edge of grace.

Quotes

     "I heard you.  I'm just not all that shocked," she said with a tender weariness - like when I tell Ben for the umpteenth time to stop digging snot out of his nose when we're in the grocery store - and patted my hand.  "Caryn, click your heels together.  It's time to leave Oz.  Your brother's gay.  He's still your brother.  The same brother you loved seconds before the phone call."

     "Seriously?  You're telling me this is okay?"  She couldn't be.  Of all people, Julie would share my outrage, not intensify it.
     "He's your brother.  Want to ignore him?  Sure.  Who's left?

My Thoughts

Let me preface this review by stating that I normally do not read and review Christian fiction, but for some reason this was a book that I kept coming back to and when I had the chance to be a part of the blog tour, I jumped at the chance.  I can honestly say, I am glad that I did.  Christa Allen tackles what is a very difficult topic with tact and sensitivity.  The book did not leave me feeling like I was being preached to, but rather left me thinking about some of my own long standing beliefs and ideals.  While this book does have religious overtones, I don’t really feel that it is limited to a Christian audience.  It really speaks to basic human understanding of themselves and those around them.  

Caryn is a single mother trying to raise her child and build up her own business.  She gets the shock of her life when she receives a phone call from her brother David to inform her that he is gay.  Struggling to reconcile her beliefs with her reality, she chooses to cut her brother out of her life due to his lifestyle.  Her world changes once again when she receives a phone call informing her that her brother has been the victim of a hate crime.  She decides to help work on the case with her brother’s lawyer and soon her  business begins to suffer as a result of her brother's lifestyle.  She ends up being forced to do some soul searching in order to make some very hard choices about her faith and her family.

While the circumstances may be different, the general idea of something happening that is at odds with who you are and what you believe in is not so far fetched.  It something that happens to people everyday.  Therein lies the appeal of The Edge of Grace.  Not only does it take a topic straight out of a news headline but it does so in a non-judgmental and meaningful way.

Review: The Twisted Thread

Title: The Twisted Thread
Author: Charlotte Bacon
Genre: Fiction
Rating: PG
Publisher: Voice
Publication Date: June 14, 2011
Pages: 352 Pages
Source: Digital ARC from NetGalley
My Rating: 3*

[Goodreads | Amazon]

When beautiful but aloof Claire Harkness is found dead in her dorm room one spring morning, prestigious Armitage Academy is shaken to its core. Everyone connected to school, and to Claire, finds their lives upended, from the local police detective who has a personal history with the academy, to the various faculty and staff whose lives are immersed in the daily rituals associated with it.


Everyone wants to know how Claire died, at whose hands, and more importantly, where the baby that she recently gave birth to is a baby that almost no one, except her small innermost circle, knew she was carrying.


At the center of the investigation is Madeline Christopher, an intern in the English department who is forced to examine the nature of the relationship between the school s students and the adults meant to guide them. As the case unravels, the dark intricacies of adolescent privilege at a powerful institution are exposed, and both teachers and students emerge as suspects as the novel rushes to its thrilling conclusion.

*Warning* May Contain Spoilers!

My Thoughts

A book about secret societies?  A book about secret societies of girls?  A book about secret societies of girls wreaking havoc on those around them?  I am so in.  Add in a murder of the girl who is rumoured to be the head of said secret society and it should be a great read.

Well, it didn't work out as well as I had hoped.

The book begins with scatter brained Madeline who now has a new job at the prestigious Armitage boarding school as a teacher, despite being little older than the student's she is in charge of.  Within the first few pages of the book, a student named Claire, is found dead in her dorm room.  It soon becomes clear that Claire was not only murdered, but that she had recently had a baby.  A baby, that none but a select few were aware she was even carrying, and a baby who is now missing.  From there is not only becomes a case of whodunnit, but it also becomes an investigation into the secret society that Claire was rumoured to run.

The story itself, at least the idea of it, was good.  It's the execution that falls a little short.  For some reason, we are introduced to 15 characters or so it seemed..  Characters, whose stories are so developed, and more often than not irrelevant to the central plot of the story.  I often found myself having to flip back and forth trying to remember what they brought to the story.  The answer: nothing!  I felt like I spent too more time trying to keep all the back stories straight than I did trying to figure out who killed Claire.  The fact that a girl was murdered and her baby was missing got lost in the back story until the last 40 pages.

I will say this, I really didn't see the ending coming and the culprit never even made it to my suspect list.


This review was done after reading an uncorrected ARC copy courtesy of Voice Publishing and NetGalley. My priority is to you, and I honour that commitment by being honest! I don’t do reviews for payment, nor do I guarantee favourable reviews for any book/galley/ARC sent to me for review.  I promise to stay truthful with you and all opinions represented here are my own. If you are uncertain what this all means, I urge you to read my Review Policy for further clarification. You can also contact me at contact@nicoleabouttown.com.

Review: The Pact

Title: The Pact
Author: Jodi Picoult
Genre: Fiction & Literature, Social Issues
Rating: PG
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication Date: September 1st 2006 (first published May 6th 1998)
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 496 pages
Source: Purchased Finished Copy
My Rating: 3*

[Goodreads | Amazon]

For eighteen years the Hartes and the Golds have lived next door to each other, sharing everything from Chinese food to chicken pox to carpool duty-- they've grown so close it seems they have always been a part of each other's lives. Parents and children alike have been best friends, so it's no surprise that in high school Chris and Emily's friendship blossoms into something more. They've been soul mates since they were born.


So when midnight calls from the hospital come in, no one is ready for the appalling truth: Emily is dead at seventeen from a gunshot wound to the head. There's a single unspent bullet in the gun that Chris took from his father's cabinet-- a bullet that Chris tells police he intended for himself. But a local detective has doubts about the suicide pact that Chris has described.

Quotes

"I love you," he whispered, and that was the moment he knew what he was going to do. When you loved someone, you put their needs before your own. No matter how inconceivable those needs were; no matter how fucked up; no matter how much it made you feel like you were ripping yourself into pieces."

"Do you know what it's like to love someone so much, that you can't see yourself without picturing her? Or what it's like to touch someone, and feel like you've come home? What we had wasn't about sex, or about being with someone just to show off what you've got, the way it was for other kids our age. We were, well, meant to be together. Some people spend their whole lives looking for that one person. I was lucky enough to have her all along."

"He began to trace a pattern on the table with the nail of his thumb. "She kept saying she wanted to keep things exactly the way they were, and that she wished she could stop everything from changing. She got really nervous, like, talking about the future. She once told me that she could see herself now, and she could also see the kind of life she wanted to have - kids, husband, suburbs, you know - but she couldn't figure out how to get from point A to point B."

"Adults, light-years away from this, rolled their eyes and smirked and said, "this too shall pass" - as if adolescence was a disease like chicken pox, something everyone recalled as a mild nuisance, completely forgetting how painful it had been at the time."

"The mind is a remarkable thing. Just because you can’t see the wound doesn’t mean it isn’t hurting"

 My Thoughts

While I did like this book, it was not one of my favourite Jodi Picoult books.

There was just something about this book, and I still can't figure out what it is exactly, that I wasn't able to connect with.  The names drove me crazy.  I wasn't able to keep track of who was who and I had to keep going back to the beginning to remind myself who was who.  It also didn't help that there were these flashbacks that didn't really add to the story, in my opinion.

What I did love is that once again Jodi made me believe in a situation that was so far-fetched.  Do I think that a suicide pact is far-fetched?  No, I don't.  But the way that the one in this book plays out is.  Even after having read the book twice, I still don't know the reason it happened in the first place.  Not to mention, that Emily, who comes up with the idea never gives a reason for her wanting to commit suicide, not even to Chris who ends up being the surviving member of the pact.  Even though he is never given a reason a reason, Chris decides to end his life simply because he can't see his life being worth living without her in it.  To me, that isn't realistic at all and that is where Jodi Picoult's talent really comes in.  While I may not have believed in the circumstances, she did have me believing in the characters.

Review: Abandon

Title: Abandon
Author: Meg Cabot
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal Romance
Rating: PG
Publisher: Point
Publication Date: April 26, 2011
My Rating: 3***

[Goodreads | Amazon]

Synopsis

Though she tries returning to the life she knew before the accident, Pierce can't help but feel at once a part of this world, and apart from it. Yet she's never alone . . . because someone is always watching her. Escape from the realm of the dead is impossible when someone there wants you back.

But now she's moved to a new town. Maybe at her new school, she can start fresh. Maybe she can stop feeling so afraid.

Only she can't. Because even here, he finds her. That's how desperately he wants her back. She knows he's no guardian angel, and his dark world isn't exactly heaven, yet she can't stay away . . . especially since he always appears when she least expects it, but exactly when she needs him most.

But if she lets herself fall any further, she may just find herself back in the one place she most fears: the Underworld.


My Thoughts

Abandon was the first book written by Meg Cabot that I have ever read. I honestly had very high expectations for this book – due in part by all the buzz it was receiving on the internet, and because of the author herself. While I did enjoy the book, it didn’t live up to my expectations at all.

The book is about a girl named Pierce and her love interest John. Her story is told in pieces and parts throughout the book as a way of not giving it all away at one time. The story is almost a re-telling of the Greek origin myth of Hades and Persephone, only Pierce is not Persephone and John is not Hades even if he does kind of have his job. Subtract Demeter, Persephone’s mom who helped her escape, and add the furies intent on making John’s existence miserable and there you have the story in a nutshell.

I like that this wasn’t just a re-telling of the same old origin myth, but with different names. It could have just been explained so much better and way earlier than the last 4 chapters of the book. The explanations of what was going on in the book were a big problem for me on a whole. Thing are referenced rather than explained in this book. Pierce refers to the incident that happened back at her old school quite often, but doesn’t get around to explaining it till the middle of the book. When it does come time to explain, it is not done very well and leaves you with more questions than answers. I found myself a bit distracted as the reader is left to infer what happened in this incident, rather than the being told outright. This is pretty much a symptom that is repeated with everything in the book. It leaves more questions than answers, but not in such a way that you find yourself satisfied at the end of the book, but the eagerly anticipating the next book in the series.

While the book does take a while to get going, it is a relatively easy read (I read it in cover to cover in 3 hours). Since this is the first book in a trilogy, I will read the remaining two books when they are released, but I didn’t like this book enough to make me run out and buy them on publication day.

Disclosure: This review was done using a hardcopy of the book purchased by me. My priority is to you, and I honour that commitment by being honest! I don’t do reviews for payment, nor do I guarantee favourable reviews. I promise to stay truthful with you and all opinions represented here are my own. If you are uncertain what this all means, I urge you to read my Review Policy for further clarification. You can also contact me at contact@nicoleabouttown.com.