The Distance Between Lost and Found by Kathryn Holmes

This review is spoiler free!!

My rating: 4/5 stars

This was a good contemporary standalone that doesn't have a heavy romance plot - there is a very light romance, but it's not central to the plot. Most contemporaries seem to revolve around romance - which, admittedly, I like, but it's nice to take a break. This is more like a survival story with a bullying background.

This book worried me in the beginning because I hadn't realized it was a about a girl on a church retreat. once I read that part, I was afraid it would be too religiously themed for me. But I think it struck a good balance of exploring religious ideas without preaching too much. After being lost in the woods for days, Hallie understandably starts to question god and her new friend Rachel isn't sure she believes at all. While Hallie eventually accepts god in the end, it doesn't feel preachy - it felt honest. This is how she feels and what she believes but she doesn't judge Rachel for questioning it. 

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Sleeping Tom by E.V. Fairfall

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My rating: 4/5 stars

Guys! This is so good!!  

This book went in a slightly different direction than I thought it would. That's good. Most YA books have become a bit too predictable these days. I thought this would be more paranormal. Either way it was great.

Caden was a bit difficult for me to identify with. She just got out of an abusive relationship and is struggling to figure out who she is and where she belongs. She has nowhere to go, which is why she ends up hitchhiking and accepting a ride and a couch to stay on from Gabriel. I could always understand Caden's underlying motivations, even when I totally disagreed with her. Beyond her abusive ex-boyfriend, Caden has no friends and an awful mother. The type of mother who told her "love isn't real." Well no wonder she's a bit messed up!!

Staying with Gabriel she encounters a mystery - he's a totally different person at night. She tries to unravel the mystery of why and how this can be. Who is he really? Is he Gabriel or Tom or both? 

In trying to unravel the mystery of Gabriel/Tom, she starts to understand the different parts of her own personality. She doesn't want to be the person she was when she was with her ex. So she tries to change herself into a bad-ass. But eventually that doesn't quite fit either. It's an interesting parallel between her situation and Gabriel's.

And the end!! Omg I cannot wait for the next book to get here!!

Also, the writing is great! 

Her body reminded him of a black hole sucking in all light and happiness, conveniently located in the passenger seat of his Saab.

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My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga

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My rating: 3/5 stars

This book addresses some pretty heavy issues. I'm always a little apprehensive going into a book that deals with something as serious as depression and suicide because it's so difficult to deal with them well. I was especially worried with the blurb on this one - I was afraid that she'd fall in love with with guy and her depression would be magically lifted. But I think this book handled the issue well and I didn't get the feeling that Roman "cured" Aysel - he just unintentionally helped her to see herself in a different way. That being said, I've never been depressed or seriously considered suicide, so the author's depiction may not be realistic. But it felt realistic to me.

However, this book got 3 stars instead of 4 because it just didn't make me feel as many emotions as a book about suicide should. I'm a book emotional person (I don't feel emotions about real people or events, but I cry about fictional characters way too much!), so I feel like I should have at least teared up while reading a book about suicide, but no, nothing.

Rite of Rejection by Sarah Negovetich

This review is spoiler free!!

My rating: 4/5 stars

This was a refreshingly original dystopian. At first it seemed similar to others (in the beginning it reminded me of The Selection, Delirium, and Matched), but it quickly diverged and took its own path. I've gotten pretty good at figuring out the plots of YA novels, but this one had me guessing. Not that the plot was shocking, but it was relatively original. Rebecca is looking forward to her Acceptance ceremony and the ball that follows after she's been accepted into society. At the Acceptance ceremony, everyone goes through the Machine, which tells who will become criminals. Those people are removed from society and put in a prison camp. Of course Rebecca unexpectedly is deemed by the Machine to be a criminal. She's sent to the PIT, where the real story starts. 

There's some romance, but it's not quite the focus of the book the way I expected it would be. And the ending!! Ugh! Such a cliffhanger! I wanted to read the next book anyway, but now I can't wait!

Anomaly by Tonya Kuper

This review is spoiler free!!

My rating: 3/5 stars

This book had a unique, interesting premise. It's hard to find an original paranormal book anymore. Well, the paranormal ability is rather unique, but the plot isn't so much. It's not bad at all, but it follows the typical plot of random girl finds out she has special powers and that omg, she's like the best at the special powers and now she has to save everyone! 

Cute love interest, but nothing super swoon-worthy. This book is told mostly from Josie's POV, but also occasionally from Reid's POV. I think it would have been better if it had been all from Josie's POV. Reid is sweet, but his narrative doesn't add a whole lot.

The most annoying thing about this book for me is how Josie's nerdiness is played up so much. 

It had to be what it felt like to be zapped by Loki's specter.

My rib cage rattled as if my heard was demonstrating Newton's Law of Inertia.

My chest hurt, like the Hulk had my torso in a death squeeze.

And I latched onto that one morsel of good news like Thor's hammer, Mjolnir.

So I'd hopped in my car, my personal version of an X-wing, like when Anakin first embarked on his new life to train as a Jedi.

The weight of obligation settled on my shoulders with the force of a landing Y-wing.

All of this, only halfway through the book!! And don't even get me started on the number of times she says "thank Thor" or "by the USS Enterprise" or "dear Star Lord" or "thank the moon of Endor" or -- okay, I need to stop there before I end up rating this any lower. I get it, she's a geek. I'm a geek and I do not talk like this. I know lots and lots of geeks (it's pretty much a requirement for being my friend) and I don't know anyone who talks like this. It's just annoying. Once I was able to ignore that, this was an enjoyable book. 

 

 

 

 

 

Wild by Cheryl Strayed

This review is spoiler free!!

My rating: 4/5 stars

I liked this a lot more than I expected to - I normally don't read nonfiction for fun, but this read a lot like fiction. As a backpacker, I alternately laughed and cringed at how poorly prepared she was. 

What is hiking but walking, after all? I can walk! I'd argued when Paul had expressed his concern about my never actually having gone backpacking. I walked all the time. I walked for hours on end in my work as a waitress. I walked around the cities I lived in and visited. I walked for pleasure and purpose. All of these things were true. But after about fifteen minutes of walking on the PCT, it was clear that I had never walked into desert mountains in early June with a pack that weighed significantly more than half of what I did strapped onto my back.

As a waitress and a hiker, I can definitively say that hiking and walking at work are not the same thing! As I'm preparing for a 230 mile trip in the Spring, I keep telling myself that if this idiot could do 19 mile days, then I can too!

Lots of people don't like this book because the author did some awful things in her life - she cheated on her husband and used drugs. But I totally identified with her. I lost my mom at 29 and did some awful things as I worked through my grief. Luckily, I wasn't quite as horrible as her, but I understand how grief can make you self-destructive. But I also understand not liking a book because you don't like the main character - there's lots of books I don't like for that reason! But if you'e ever dealt with major grief, I think you'll get this book. This book is less about the trail and more about her finally working through her grief in a more productive way. 

Falling into Place by Amy Zhang

This review is spoiler free!!!

My rating: 4/5 stars

Liz Emerson is an awful person. She's a bully. She bosses her friends around. She destroys people's lives just because she can. But the thing about Liz is that she knows she's an awful person and she hates herself for it. She hates herself so much that she attempts to kill herself. At first, I had a hard time caring if she died because she's so awful. But the further we got into her story, the more I identified with her. I'm not nearly as awful as Liz, but I've done bad things to people I care about and hated myself deeply afterward. So I was able to slightly understand Liz and empathize with her. She's not the kind of main character that you'll ever like, but at the end, I was rooting for her at least.

This book is told from the viewpoint of an unconventional narrator. But this narrator can be anywhere and see everything, so it isn't all that different from 3rd person. It was unique though. There's also a lot of time jumps - the book opens moments after the car crash and then jumps back months, then forward, then back - but not at predictable intervals. It can be a little difficult to keep up with, but it kept it more interesting than if it was told in a linear fashion.