Title: Inside Out
Author: Maria V. Snyder [Website] [Facebook]
Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian, Romance
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Format: e-book
Source: Provided by Publisher via NetGalley
Parental Advisory: none

“Used to curses and hostile glares, I shrugged.  The mass of people in the tight corridor jostled and pushed me along.  Life in the lower two levels teamed with scrubs at all hours of the week.  They moved from work to their barracks and back to work. We were called scrubs because rust and dust were the twin evils of Inside and must be kept at bay; however, scrubs also maintained the network of mechanical systems which kept both uppers and lowers alive.”

Summary (from the publisher):
I’m Trella. I’m a scrub. A nobody. One of thousands who work the lower levels, keeping Inside clean for the Uppers. I’ve got one friend, do my job and try to avoid the Pop Cops. So what if I occasionally use the pipes to sneak around the Upper levels? The only neck at risk is my own…until I accidentally start a rebellion and become the go-to girl to lead a revolution.

Opinion:
Inside Out is a unique view of the usual conflicts between the societal class structure of haves and have nots. The Lowers are charged with the care taking of the world in which both they and the Uppers live.  Keeping mechanics purring, maintaining the cleanliness of duct work and a variety of other custodial tasks the Lowers are thought to truly be the bottom of the barrel.

To add insult to injury they do this all as a result of living in a police state.  They are made lower not by choice or even by circumstance, they are such by being oppressed by the higher class. They are forced into labor,  made to dress a certain way and even eat according to the choices of others.  These people do not have any freedoms at all.

Main character Trella is a Lower, her responsibility is to crawl through duct work sanitizing it so that the Uppers have clean air.  She should be a relatively simple character but Snyder has created her with depth and complexity.  Sure, she knows her station in life and she knows she shouldn’t want more but she does.  She wants to know what Upper is like, she wants to experience the differences and what she perceives as the luxury and most of all she wants the freedom to do so.

This is where everything in her life (and frankly the lives of everyone) starts to change.  Trella explores the duct work, memorizes its every nook and cranny until she’s fluent in the language of her surroundings.  She’s bold and in some ways carefree enough to expand her exploration over time until she finally finds herself in Upper.  Only now she’s not entirely alone.  She’s met Riley, an Upper boy.

Their romance is certainly intriguing as it builds over their mutual desire to seek a better understanding of how the division of power both came about and can further be destroyed.  The latter is where most of the story is told.  Will there be a revolt?  Will there not?  How do they get there and stay safe if it does? All questions to ponder as you read this book.

In addition to building a convolutedly simple and sparse world — it seemed quite box-like to me — Snyder does an excellent job with character development.  From the almost rabid Pop Cops to the group of unexpected conspirators from Upper and Lower we meet a great variety of personalities.  Through them all we learn lessons on trust and loyalty, love and friendship, but above teamwork.

Inside Out is an excellent dystopian read with a strong female in the lead.  It has the potential to teach readers valuable and useful lessons all while keeping them entertained.

Title: Shadow Hills
Author: Anastasia Hopcus [Website] [Twitter]  [Facebook]
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Mystery
Publisher: Egmont USA [http://www.egmontusa.com]
Format: Paperback
Source: Provided by Publisher
Parental Advisory: allusions to sex, alcohol, drugs, criminal activity

“I opened the journal to a heavily creased page; I’d put the envelope with the Devenish Prep crest embossed on it there as a bookmark.  When I had seen that envelope addressed to Athena after she was already gone — after the police had shown up, after I’d had to pick out a dress for her funeral, after I had said good-bye at her grave — I’d thought I’d have a breakdown right there in front of my family’s mailbox.  Ant then I’d found her diary…When I read about her dreams, so like my own, it shook me to the core.  She wrote of a recurring dream about a place she’d never been before.  A place with old redbrick buildings.  A place that she finally identified as a boarding school in Shadow Hills.  When I had read that, everything became crystal clear to me.  I wanted to feel that clarity again.  I scanned to the end of the entry, to the last words my sister has written in her diary:

The nightmares are so vivid now I’m afraid to sleep.  I feel my energy dragging constantly.  I’m a walking zombie.  I have to find a way to go to Devenish Prep’ maybe there I’ll be able to figure this out.”

Summary (from the publisher):
Since her sister’s mysterious death, Persephone “Phe” Archer has been plagued by disturbing dreams.  Determined to find out what happened to her sister, Phe enrolls at Devenish Prep in Shadow Hills, Massachusetts — the subject of her sister’s final diary entry.

Phe immediately realizes that there’s something different about this place — an unexplained epidemic that decimated the town in the 1700′s, an ancient and creepy cemetery, weird “townies” — and somehow she’s connected to it all.

But the deeper she digs, the more entangled Phe becomes in the haunting past of Shadow Hills.  Finding what links her to this town….might be a deadly mistake.

Opinion:
What did I enjoy most about Shadow Hills?  The fact that it was an interesting step outside the normal paranormal fare.  It didn’t center around vampires or werewolves but rather a relatively normal set of teens.  I say relatively because several main characters do actually have some sort of ability that is outside the realm of normal human capability.

Despite that fact I was appreciative of the opportunity to spend more time getting a glimpse into their lives at school and with their families and friends. The focus wasn’t always on them coming into their paranormal strengths, it was on how those traits influenced other more important aspects of their lives.  This isn’t to say we don’t see any paranormalcy, because we do.  It’s just not the whole point of the story.

The plot of this story uses the history of mysterious Shadow Hills and it’s lifelong inhabitants as the center point.  There is something about them that Phe just can’t put her finger on.  This, of course, gets her into investigation mode, where we see the bulk of the story playing out. This was the best most enjoyable aspect of the story.

The rest of the story revolves around the relationships she maintains with her family, friends at Devenish, and various other inhabitants of Shadow Hills.  As part of that, there were a whole bunch of characters to keep track of but because of their relationships with each other it was much easier to do so.  Hopcus did a good job of compartmentalizing the different groups — school, home, townsfolk.  Crossover between them was held to a minimum thus making the impact more significant and meaningful when they did meet up.

I wouldn’t say that the characters were super unique.  For example at Devenish we saw the usual stereo-typical teens — the rich overbearing princess, a computer geek, and the heart-throb.  Despite that fact, their interactions were entertaining and at times humorous.  It brought a much needed light spot in to an otherwise darkly focused story.

Additionally there was the burgeoning romance between Phe and Zach.  I can’t say I was all “O.M.G. they have to be together forever” about them as a couple, but their relationship added an urgency that benefited the story.  I’m interested to see where it goes in the follow-up.  I imagine we’ll get a bit more depth related to some of the larger connections between the two.

Overall, I enjoyed Shadow Hills and I’ll definitely be picking up the next in the series to see where everything goes next.  It’s certainly worth a read if you’re into paranormal but it’s not so heavy on that element that it’s not interesting to those who aren’t huge fans.

Title: The Sky is Everywhere
Author: Jandy Nelson [Website] [Twitter]  [Facebook]
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers
Format: Paperback
Source: Provided by Publisher
Parental Advisory: allusions to sex, alcohol, drugs

“She picks up one of her sticks and dramatically feigns stabbing it into her stomach with both hands.  I know behind the hara-kari is a hurt that’s growing, but I don’t know  what to do about it.  For the first time in our lives, I’m somewhere she can’t find, and I don’t have the map to give her that leads to me.”

Summary (from the publisher):
When her fiery older sister Bailey dies abruptly, seventeen-year-old Lennie, bookworm and band geek, is catapulted to center stage of her own life — and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, suddenly finds herself struggling to balance two.  Toby was Bailey’s boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie’s own.  Joe is the new boy in town, a transplant from Paris whose nearly magical grin is matched only by his musical talent.  For Lennie, they’re the sun and the moon; one boy takes her out of her sorrow, the other comforts her in it.  But just like their celestial counterparts, they can’t collide without the whole wide world exploding.

Opinion:
The Sky is Everywhere is a bittersweet view of how love and loss come together to shape one girl’s life and how profoundly it affects the people around her.

Nelson’s prose is beyond outstanding, I truly struggle how best to describe it’s strength and beauty.  Having rarely read a book so poetically written it was surprising to feel the emotion dripping off the page into my consciousness.  I’m even more rarely moved by a book, I mean genuinely moved but The Sky is Everywhere touched me, it made me cry and gasp and thrum with anticipation.  It was, in no small way a phenomenal read.

I could tell you all about this book — about the beautiful poems and anecdotes Lennie writes and leaves behind everywhere she goes.  About how she wrapped herself up in the memory of her sister through the boy that loved her as much as Lennie did.  About how she came alive again with Joe, her soulmate in the making, through their shared love of music.  About how her family had dysfunction galore even before Bailey left them behind. But really, my explaining it all would not only not do the story justice but would take something away from your experiencing it; and let me tell you this book was an experience, one to be felt and endured.  You feel the highest of highs and the lowest of lows with Lennie as she journeys through one of the most difficult periods of her life.

To say I recommend this book would be an understatement.  It is a book that everyone must read, lover of young adult literature or not.  Everyone.

Title: Infinite Days
Author: Rebecca Maizel [Website] [Twitter]  [Facebook Fan Page]
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Format: Paperback
Source: Provided by Publisher
Parental Advisory: sex, violence, drugs, alcohol

“I gasped, though my throat was so dry I made an unearthly animal sound.  Three heaving breaths, then a thump-thump, thump-thump — a heartbeat.  My heartbeat?  It could have been ten thousand fluttering wings.  I tried to open my eyes, but with each blink there was a flash of blinding light.  Then another.  And another.”

Summary (from the publisher):
After centuries of terrorizing Europe, Lenah Beaudonte, with the help of the handsome Rhode, has been able to realize the dream of all vampires — to be human again.  Now, as a raven-haired, sixteen-year-old, Lenah believes her greatest challenge is fitting in at her new school.  But the challenges have only begun. The vicious coven Lenah once ruled is threatening the new found pleasures of her human life, including the one guy who makes her feel most alive, Justin.  Can this ex-vamp survive in an alien time and place or will her past come back to haunt her….forever?

Opinion:
First.page.WOW!

Yup, this was one of those rare books where I read the very first page and I was hooked.  So very very hooked.

In a market flooded with paranormal and vampire novels Maizel has created a stunningly original story in Infinite Days.  Sure, she’s got vampires, vampires galore in fact, but what is amazing is that instead of watching a beloved character turn into a creature of the night we get to watch this amazing transformation as Lenah Beaudonte transforms back into a human.

Bravo! Kudos!  Awesome! Cheers!

Maizel did a spectacular job of writing sixteen-year-old Lenah as a girl who was really a woman wise beyond her years.  Having already “lived” at least a hundred years, she struggled to reign in everything she already knew about life so she could experience it anew as a wider-eyed sixteen year old. Though she hid it well, the impossibility of previous experience was not insurmountable.  It naturally separated her from her peers while still making her all the more appealing to potential romantic entanglements.

The love affair between Lenah and Justin wasn’t any big surprise.  You knew from the first time they met that the lion’s share of the romantic angst would come from them.  Having said that ,Lenah was not without a past.  She’d loved and lost before.  Those elements brought a wonderful complexity to the burgeoning attraction between she and her new suitor.

Character development is definitely Maizel’s forte.  Outside of the fact that Lenah is amazingly intricate there is a series of secondary characters exhibiting equal complexity.  Case in point, Tony the artsy BFF.  He’s Lenah’s main support structure and just an all around good guy.  Oh, but wait, there’s more.  Lenah’s coven.  BAD ass!  A group built with such awesome diversity.  Seriously, they were like the musketeers of vampirism.  Too cool for words.  Each member had their own strength and weakness yet they were all drawn together in their quest to serve and protect Lenah.  Even after her transition from vampire back into human their number one goal was to bring her back.  Oh, and that was the crux of the conflict too.

Conflict there was!  A plenty.  Well conceived and written conflict.  I wouldn’t say it’s the most original aspect of the book but dang did it work for me.  Truly, liked it a lot.  This as definitely some adversity I wanted to see Lenah overcome.  I won’t speak to whether that actually happened since I don’t want to spoil you but I will say the ending was a risk-taking and phenomenal experience that opened the door for the second in the series.  A book I’m eagerly awaiting.

Title: You Wish
Author: Many Hubbard [Website] [Twitter]  [Facebook]
Genre: Young Adult, Middle-Grade, Contemporary
Publisher: Razorbill
Format: Paperback
Source: Provided by Publisher
Parental Advisory: none

“I take the stairs two by two, tripping over the last one and landing hard on my knees.  I scramble to my feet and then make it down the hall and ling my door open.  I head straight into my closet.  I want to find everything from my childhood.  Every stupid, cursed thing and destroy it, before it comes to life too.  I stand on my tippy toes to find the boxes that have been occupying one corner of my closet for years.”

Summary (from the publisher):
Kayla McHenry is having the worst sweet sixteenth!  Just before she blows out her candles, she thinks: I wish all my birthday wishes actually came true.

The next day, Kayla wakes up to a life-sized, bright pink My Little Pony outside her window.  Then, a year’s supply of gumballs arrives.  An oddly plastic-looking boy named Ken shows up in a convertible and starts following her around!  Each day, another childhood wish comes true.  But they MUST STOP.

Because when she was fifteen?  She wished Ben Mackenzie would kiss her.  And Ben is her best friend’s boyfriend.

Opinion:
I really enjoyed this book.  It was a super duper fast read (I finished it in just about two hours which is pretty much unheard of for me) filled with the cutest scenarios.  A fabulous read for tweens and teens this book spans ages all the way up to adults longing to relive some of their fondest childhood memories.

Now, let me tell you, most of the plot of the book is given away in the jacket flap.  There isn’t a whole lot to the plot outside of the wish scenario and there isn’t super in depth character development and analysis.  But you know what?  It doesn’t need it.  It works perfectly just the way it is.

You Wish is seriously just a nice dose of good old fashioned fun.  Don’t get me wrong, there is a fair share of angst — Kayla’s got some pretty heavy family issues and her life-long best friend is starting to move in a different direction socially.  How these are dealt with is where the power of the story resides.  How Kayla works through these issues are focused on through this unique idea where Kayla is suddenly granted all of her birthday wishes.  Every day something new happens — a real life My Little Pony wagging it’s blue and pink tail in the yard, a room full of gumballs, a real life Ken doll to date, and worst of all great big giant knockers that grow from A to D cup over night!  All of these different childhood hopes and dreams just magically appear to her and start wreaking havoc and changing the direction of her life.

Tremendously witty and filled with humor and fun You Wish also has the requisite cute boy crush going on.  Of course said cute boy is the aforementioned distance creating best friend’s boyfriend.  This could be a problem but the way Hubbard has handled it is respectful and mature.  I appreciated that Kayla had respect for her friend’s feelings.  She wasn’t some scheming trampy girl manipulating Ben away at the expense of her relationship with Nicole.  She genuinely wanted to maintain her friendship at all costs.  Watching her struggle with her own desire in an attempt to maintain that proprietary was an excellent part of the story.  One that I think could teach teen girls a thing or two.

This is the perfect book to escape with, it’s not heavy lifting but it’s not without depth.  It’s got a wonderfully quirky and interesting main character and a fun concept.  The best part, by far, was trying to guess what each new day would bring with it.  What wish would be granted and how would it affect Kayla’s life.  It was so much fun and written in a way that a person could actually believe it was happening.  Was it a joke?  Was it a dream?  Was it really happening?  Well you’ll have to read it to find out!