Review: Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer

Honestly, if the title alone isn't enough to hook you on this book, I really don't know what to say. I mean, an iconic queen of France going around offing people? What more do you need out of a novel?

Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer isn't set in revolutionary-era France, if you were wondering. Instead, it opens in present-day France, with the mysterious murder of an up-and-coming supermodel. The manner in which she was killed? Beheading.

She's not our protagonist, though. No, that would be Colette Iselin, a high schooler from Ohio who's about to embark on a class trip to France with her two best friends, Hannah and Pilar. Colette's hoping this trip will be a nice distraction from her less-than-perfect home life - she, her mother, and her brother share a tiny apartment now that her dad has left them, and they can barely afford her fancy private school's tuition, not that she'd tell her rich-girl friends. As she's packing, Colette finds an old medallion with an interesting engraving in with some family heirlooms and decides to take it along for the trip, thinking it'll be a nice touch for an outfit she's planning.

They arrive in France to some good news and some bad. Good news: their tour guide, Jules, is smokin' hot, if a little nerdy for Hannah's snobby taste. Bad news: there have been two unsolved murders this week, and it's getting everyone a little on edge.

On the day trip to Versailles, Colette feels drawn to some off-limits places in the palace, where she notices the same symbol as the one on her medallion incorporated into the wallpaper. One of her classmates also notices the symbol on an old building back in the city proper. Colette starts doing some digging, and learns that her family belonged to an organization called the Order of the Key back in Marie Antoinette's time, and that her ancestor was actually Marie's best friend. Armand, another descendant of the Order, tells Colette that she should help him and his family on their quest to reinherit their old titles, which is an intriguing prospect to her.

Less intriguing? The fact that all the people who have been murdered are also descendants of the Order, and the most likely murderer is actually Marie Antoinette's vengeful ghost. Marie has it out particularly for Colette, too, since her ancestor's betrayal hurt Marie the worst. Will Colette be able to stop Marie before she hurts one of Colette's friends? More importantly, will Colette ever be able to stand up for herself?

As formulaic as part of this novel is, it's still an enjoyable read. Colette's storyline with her friends is predictable - girl is friends with snooty rich girls, girl realizes she has no true friends, girl dumps popular friends for real ones - but even then, she's still likeable. Since Colette's desire to remain friends with Hannah and Pilar comes more from genuine naiveity than underhanded schemes, it's hard to hate her for just trying to fit in. Once she realizes that being yourself is the real way to find friends who will care about her, I couldn't help but feel happy for her, even though it's not a revolutionary idea.

The serial killing ghost plot is much more fun than the friends plot, even if it's a little bit gappy - why is Marie's ghost picking now to get her revenge? Regardless, watching Colette and her slowly-growing, ragtag band of true friends put together the pieces and rush to Versailles so she can hopefully save the day is the real meat of the story, and it makes for a great read. Sure, it's not historically accurate, but this isn't a history book. (If it gets people to research more about the French Revolution, though, I wouldn't be disappointed.)

I also appreciate how the love story is actually the C plot of this novel. First and foremost, there's Marie's ghost; second is Colette's self-discovery; and third is her budding romance with Jules. While it does tie into the other two plots, it's not the be-all, end-all of the story, which is pretty uncommon in female-centric YA novels, at least in my experience. While I do love a good romance, as anyone who read my Stephanie Perkins reviews knows, I also love that a romance wasn't just shoved into this book in order to sell more copies. Colette didn't really have the time to worry about a boyfriend, for Pete's sake - she could have gotten murdered at any moment!

Overall, this book is a fun, fluffy read that's thrilling without being terrifying. It's not a set-the-world-on-fire kind of novel, but I could see it making a great sleepover flick. Three and a half stars.

Review: Sinner

Thanks, coworker of my mom's who grabbed this ARC specifically for us! I appreciate it!

Also, I haven't read the Mercy Falls books in years, so this was a bit of an adventure. I nearly Wikipedia'ed summaries of them so I could be like "Oh, right, that happened," but I managed to do alright for myself. At least I remembered they're about werewolves, right?

So, in typical Stiefvater fashion, this novel is jointly narrated by Cole St. Clair and Isabel Culpeper, switching off every one or two chapters for a nice, comprehensive look at the story. Cole has just returned to LA, in part because of a webseries deal he landed, but also because that's where Isabel is, and he wants to be near her.

Isabel's wary, though - her family life has never been super warm and comforting, and she's learned that it's easier to develop a thick, impenetrable skin than let someone get too close. She's still relatively happy to see Cole, but she's not going to let herself fall in love with him, especially if he starts using or shifting again.

Cole's on the straight and narrow, much as it infuriates his new boss, Baby North (a name that can only remind me of the Kimye kid regardless of how much we learn about her character). She's known for finding struggling stars that want to revamp their careers and broadcasting vlogs about them on her website, sharpt33th.com, and the ratings always go up when the starts relapse into their old habits. She sets up plenty of opportunities for Cole to fail - junkie new bandmates, naked girls, mishaps in the recording studio - but Cole refuses to take the bait, creating his own TV-worthy situations instead. The stress of LA life does get to him, though, and he copes by forcing the change, though he knows making a controlled shift will only make him more likely to have an uncontrolled shift later on.

He also manages to get close with Isabel again, finding ways to talk to her without being recorded by the billions of cameras Baby North has planted in his apartment and even putting her in charge of "Virtual Cole," the phone with all of his social media apps on it - a move that forces her to talk to him more in order for her updates to sound realistic and reflect what he's actually doing. Everything's going smoothly, at least until it's not.

When Isabel catches Cole in some compromising situations, will she ever believe that he's telling the truth again? And when Cole realizes that maybe returning to his old haunts is just holding him back, will he find a way to make music without destroying his personal life? I'm not gonna spoil those answers for you.

Even though I haven't read the Mercy Falls books in ages, I still felt comfortable reading this novel. Sam and Grace, the protagonists from that series, don't really make an appearance in Sinner, so I didn't have to worry about remembering their arc too well, and it's pretty easy to pick up on Cole and Isabel's issues without needing a complete reread of the trilogy. Just remember that the shift is temperature-controlled and how Isabel's brother died, and you'll be good to go.

I love that this book was done with two narrators, too. It definitely would have been harder to understand Cole and Isabel's motivations with only one of them "speaking" for the whole story, and I probably would have found the one who wasn't narrating insufferable if I couldn't see into their head. It also allows the two growth arcs - because both Cole and Isabel need to change to make their love work - to develop properly and become really full-bodied.

I think my only critique of this book is that I would have liked to see Isabel learn to open up to other people a little bit sooner. Not at like the beginning of the novel or anything like that, but she doesn't really have her "aha" moment until the last few pages, and when I first read it, I felt pretty underwhelmed. I might have just been in a novel-finishing haze, though, because when I looked at it for a second time, I understood a little better how it fit into the broader scheme of the novel. I suppose what I really want is more of a resolution with Sofia, her cousin, a side character who got a lot of face time but never a lot of development. Isabel treats her like crap for a lot of the book without really understanding why, which I would kind of like to know.

Overall, Sinner was a good, engrossing read. The characters felt lifelike, the songs were tunes I'd like to actually have recorded, and I could believe and understand the struggles Cole and Isabel had, even if I couldn't directly relate. Four and a half stars.

Review: The Probability of Miracles

Anyone else fall into a bit of a book hangover after TFiOS? Want something similar that isn't just rereading the novel for the eleven millionth time?

Well HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU!

The Probability of Miracles by Wendy Wunder is what you're looking for.

Cam, much like Hazel Grace, is a disenchanted teenage cancer patient, but from Orlando, not Indianapolis. Her neuroblastoma has started to spread, and she knows she hasn't got much time left. She'd just kind of like to be left alone.

Her mom's got other plans.

Alicia is a firm believer in taking whatever options present themselves, and a friend of hers told her about Promise, Maine, a town where miracles happen. A miracle is what it would take to heal Cam at this point, so Alicia packs them (and her other daughter, Cam's half-sister Perry) into Cam's VW Bug and they hit the road, trading in their Disney magic lifestyle for the real deal.

Alicia and Perry are delighted by all the sights they see both on the way to Maine and once they're actually in town. Promise is full of unexpected things - a flock of flamingos, purple dandelions, and even a house for them to stay in, free of charge, thanks to a well-timed visit to the lobster pound and a boy named Asher.

Asher is no Gus Waters. He can't take Cam to Amsterdam, or make pretentious metaphors. He can, however, help Cam with whatever crazy schemes she comes up with in the hopes of delighting her family. And Cam's got the traveling covered after her best friend uses Cam's Make-A-Wish to send her and her new Maine-ite friends back to Disney World.

Things begin to look hopeless when Asher falls back into old habits and Cam's cancer - which has lain dormant ever since she got to Promise - comes roaring back just as the biggest storm of the season rolls in. What will happen? That's not for me to say.

I really, really love this novel. Even though I paralleled to to TFiOS in my summary, it's not the exact same format; it's firmly its own story. The biggest similarity they share is also the most important one, thankfully - neither of these novels is a Sappy Cancer Love Story, though cancer is always present.

TPoM is also a fun read, with colorful (sometimes literally) characters. Perry's obsession with unicorns is adorable, Cam is cynical but never cold, and Nana is someone I'll always need in my life. Sure, they all have their flaws, but a lot of their issues stem from the desire to help a loved one in whatever way they think best. 

The weaving together of Disney magic, Polynesian culture, and magical realism makes for a truly unique read, too. Alicia and Cam both work at EPCOT, and Cam's Polynesian heritage - particularly her ability to hula dance and juggle fire knives - comes up throughout the novel as she learns to use it in different ways. Promise is a counterbalance to the "fake" magic of Disney, yet it never feels cartoonish or too silly. A lot of the story focuses on accepting Promise for what it is, which becomes important for Cam later on.

I honestly cannot recommend this book enough. It feels both fantastic and fantastically real, and you might cry at the ending. The Probability of Miracles should be the next blockbuster YA film, in my opinion. Five stars.

Review: Along for the Ride

I got on a bit of a Sarah Dessen kick after rereading The Moon and More, what can I say? I think I might like this one even more, though. I just like its plot better.

(Yay, I found my cover and not the redo they just released! Not that the redo's ugly, but this cover is mine.)

So in this novel, we meet insomniac Auden, who's about to go off to Defriese University in the fall. She lives with her academic mother, who likes hosting parties for her grad students that usually end up with her sleeping with one of them. Her author father now lives in Colby with his younger new wife, Heidi, and their newborn daughter, Thisbe. (Her father likes pretentious names like that, if you couldn't tell.)

In order to get away from her mother's proclivities for a little while, Auden decides to stay with her father and Heidi for the summer. She figures she might study up for her classes and maybe spend a little time at the beach - nothing too crazy or out of her comfort zone.

That's not what ends up happening.

First of all, Thisbe demands constant attention because, you know, she's a newborn, but Auden's father is too busy working on his highly-anticipated second novel to ever help Heidi, so Auden ends up falling into the role of sometime-caregiver. Second, Heidi's boutique is a mess when it comes to accounting, so Auden also ends up becoming the bookkeeper for Clementine's. Most importantly, though, is third: Eli Stock. Eli's also an insomniac and a native of Colby who used to be hot in the BMX biking circuit until a car accident that he believes was his fault killed his best friend. Eli and Auden end up hanging out most nights as he shows her around Colby's "nightlife," and they help each other realize that maybe they don't have to act like everyone expects them to.

Auden's new personality becomes more and more evident throughout the novel, especially when her pretentious, professorial mother shows up on a surprise vacation and her father and Heidi's relationship starts getting rocky. Will she default to her old, loner ways, or will she realize that it's possible to strike a balance between being responsible and being alive?

I really, really love this novel. Auden is a character I can understand (minus the angry, divorced parents), and it's entertaining to watch her have these revelations that are earth-shattering to her but totally normal for me: I can be smart but also enjoy wearing pink? Failing at things is okay?

I also appreciate Maggie's character so much. Maggie is one of Heidi's employees at the boutique, and at first glance, she's a typical girly-girl - pink clothing, boy drama, etc. But as Auden gets to know her, she learns that Maggie's also going to Defriese in the fall and she's pretty good at BMX biking herself. Maggie helps Auden break out of her internalized misogyny, and it's kind of the best thing ever.

The only characters I really didn't like were Auden's parents, but even that changes over the course of the novel. Her mom starts out as a woman who forces her world to orbit to her whims, but slowly realizes that talking about your emotions isn't weak or problematically girly, while her dad begins as a selfish man who wants the world to focus on him more but starts realizing that he's going to need to compromise if he wants both a family and a career by the end of the book. Seeing both of these ostensible "grown-ups" learn how childish they really are is truly satisfying.

One minor complaint is all I have: the action always cuts out right when the storyline starts working itself out. Auden and Eli juuuuuust work out their final issues when bam! It's suddenly a couple weeks later, when Auden's in college. That epilogue-y segue does inform the reader that the characters are continuing their implied development, but it just feels a little abrupt, at least in my opinion. It doesn't ruin the novel, but it throws off my groove.

Overall, Along for the Ride is captivating and pleasant, with characters that feel real and friendly. The character development is rich, worthwhile, and fun to watch. 4.5 stars for the slapdash ending.

Review: Clockwork Princess

I know I said I probably wouldn't get this novel until November, but then my mom read my review of Clockwork Prince and said I could get the hardcover.

This is why it pays to have your mom read your blog, folks.

I also finished this like a week ago but got backlogged with other books to review, so sorry if this is a little shoddy on the plot points.

So in this final installment of the Infernal Devices series, everyone and their brother has or will literally come live in the Institute. Cecily Herondale, Will's little sister, showed up at the end of book two, and so far, he hasn't been able to send her back home. Why?

Cecily thinks the Shadowhunters are actually the bad guys who have "stolen" her brother from her and her family, especially after her mother's less than pleased reaction after Will left. She's hoping to convince him to come back to Wales with her, or at least write their parents and tell them why he left.

Before she can get too far into that plan, though, Gabriel Lightwood shows up at the Institute saying that his father's gone into the final stages of demon pox and turned into a large worm. Since Gideon lives there now (and since killing demons is kind of what Shadowhunters do), Gabriel came to get some assistance. The 'Hunters at the Institute all end up going with Gabriel to try to restrain or kill the demon (minus Charlotte, who's pregnant), and in the end, Gabriel is the one to kill his dad. He comes back to the Institute to live, too, thus fulfilling my "literally everyone's there now" statement in the intro.

Now the Shadowhunters are in a pickle. Benedict Lightwood's final, mad ravings imply that the Magister is about to attack London with his clockwork drones, but when Jessie returns from the Silent City, she's still adamant that the Magister is in Idris, even though mundanes can't get in the sacred Shadowhunter country. The Consul, the head of the Shadowhunters, is also trying to keep Charlotte from getting appointed to replace him when his term ends, since she's not subservient enough to him for his own power-hungry ways.

Making matters worse? Jem's out of the drug that keeps him alive, because he's been taking more of it than usual to make him appear healthier, and there's none left in the country for him to resupply his stores with. The Magister makes a deal - send Tessa to him, and he'll give Jem all of the stores of the drug that he had originally bought up. The Shadowhunters refuse, but they can't stop her from being taken when the Magister's automatons attack the Institute.

Cecily helps Will understand where the Magister is - Cadair Idris, in their homeland of Wales. He sneaks out one night to go after Tessa, partly because he himself is in love with her, partly because she's Jem's fiance, and partly so Charlotte can get information that might prod the Enclave into giving her some assistance.

The Magister has also launched an attack on the Enclave, though, making them a little preoccupied. In the end, Charlotte, Henry, Sophie, Gideon, Gabriel, Cecily, Magnus, and three Silent Brothers are all the fighters available to go to the Magister's stronghold. Will they be enough? And what secrets exactly has Tessa's clockwork angel pendant been hiding? The last battle will be a big surprise in more ways than one.

Personal thoughts: I think I'm a fan of all the "endgame" couples, not gonna lie. Sophie finally got to become a Shadowhunter and Gabriel became less of a douchebag, which I would like to credit partially to their respective other halves (as well as their own determination and growth, of course). Will and Tessa also became a thing, which I honestly wasn't expecting, but was pleasantly surprised by - I always liked their chemistry.

Jem's not dead, either! Now that I know that, I understand the ending of City of Heavenly Fire a lot better, too. The epilogue made me wonder whether he and Tessa are going to renew their relationship, though. I can't say I'd be too upset by that, although it also smells vaguely of deus ex machina.

I was also super excited to see the invention of Portals in this book! It felt like another cool tie-in to the Mortal Instruments books, especially since Magnus played a big role in their conception. I kind of want to go reread all those novels now just to see how much the backstory has changed in my mind, honestly.

Overall, Clockwork Princess was just as much of a thrill as the first two novels in this series, and an incredibly satisfying end to Tessa's story. I wasn't disappointed in the least. Five stars.

Authors Who Need More Love: Ally Carter

Let's see if I can actually make this a ~feature~, shall we?

I recently reread all of the Gallagher Girls books, and instead of reviewing them all separately, I decided to make another AWNML post to save time. I never said I wasn't lazy.

(I'm not going to talk about the Heist Society books in this post, since I haven't reread those as recently, but they're good too, so if you're more into thieves than spies, those are worth a shot.)

As you can see, there are six books in the Gallagher Girls series, each of them taking place over about a semester's worth of time. They follow Cammie Morgan from her sophomore to her senior year at the Gallagher Academy, a school that has far more to it than meets the eye. It takes a little while for the overarching connection between the books to kick in, but when it does, everything makes sense.

The first book, I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have to Kill You, is probably the least obviously related book in this series. It lays a lot of the background, though - Cammie and her friends Liz and Bex are students at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, a school for rich young ladies from important families. At least, that's what the cover is.

It's really a school for spies.

Cammie, Bex, and Liz have been training since seventh grade for futures with some kind of government agency, though they know it's not without risk - after all, Cammie's dad never did come home from his last mission. They're also super excited to finally begin their Covert Operations class, where they learn the ins and outs of actually, properly spying on people. However, they never expect two new people to come into their lives and shake up a lot of what they'd taken for granted.

The first person to arrive is Macey McHenry, a senator's daughter. Normally she'd never be accepted into the Gallagher Academy, but being a descendant of the school's founder has its perks. She's definitely not up to date on the latest surveillance techniques, but she does know how to deal with boys, something the girls didn't know they'd need until Josh Abrams starts flirting with Cammie when she's on assignment in CoveOps.

Josh Abrams, new person number two. A resident of Roseville, the town that hosts the Gallagher Academy, he sees Cammie fishing through the trash as part of her task. Thing is, people don't see Cammie when she doesn't want to be seen - there's a reason she's a spy. She feeds him a lie about her life, and it slowly builds into them forming a relationship.

Cammie likes feeling like a "normal" girl when she's out with Josh, but she ultimately has to choose between him and her school, and we all know how that pans out. Josh becomes a relic of her past and the subject of a mock CoveOps report the girls wrote for practice - they may as well get something out of it, right?

The series changes gears rapidly when book two (Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy) begins. The sort of typical "teenage girl falls in love with the wrong boy" narrative gives way to a tightly woven plot that makes Cammie and her friends uncertain who they can trust.  In CMHaHtS, the Gallagher Academy hosts a brother school, the Blackthorne Institute, for a semester. One of the students staying with them is a boy named Zach, who seems to be one step ahead of Cammie no matter what she does. His skills and mannerisms make her and her friends nervous - can they really trust boys from a school they didn't even know existed until they appeared on the doorstep, especially when it looks like their headmaster is trying to make off with a list of alumni from the Gallagher Academy? In the end, they decide to trust Zach, hoping that decision won't screw them over in the future.

To save myself from recapping the entire series, I think I'll cut it off here, with just a basic run-down of what comes next: Macey's father runs for Vice President, and she nearly gets kidnapped on the tour, putting everyone into panic mode - but there were two Gallagher girls on that roof, and after some of the clues come into place, it doesn't look like Macey's the one in danger. Cammie, however, might need to watch her back, especially when the kidnappers decide they don't need her alive after all.

Combine that with Liz's plans for World War Three and Zach's screwed-up family history, and there's suddenly a lot riding on four teenage girls who aren't technically qualified to save the world just yet.

Personal opinion time: I love this series. It's got a great mix of lighthearted humor and serious, well-developed intrigue. It even takes a minor, minor detail from the first book and makes it absolutely crucial to book five, even though book one as a whole doesn't have a whole lot to do with the series overall, as I stated before. They're also relatively short, so it's pretty easy to just whip through the series in a couple of days.

The characters are also incredibly well-written. They all feel like real teenage girls, with all the angst, uncertainty, and confusion about boys that entails. My favorite thing, though, is that they're not Strong Female Characters. They all love getting glammed up for a date or for a dance just as much as they love learning how to incapacitate 300 pound men with two moves. They're tough, but they're not cold, and a lot of their emotional growth involves them learning to trust each other enough to let their guards down and cry. They're also incredibly resourceful, but I think that comes from the spy training. And Macey's family having enough money to buy a small island.

The only complaint I have is relatively tiny, though not invalid by any means, and it's that I wish there were more (read: any) LGBT+ characters. Seriously, a whole school full of girls and not one of them is dating another? A lot of the series is devoted to Cammie and her friends trying to figure out boys, which I understand, but for people who either A) aren't interested in boys or B) just want to get to the spy stuff already, the focus could be off-putting. I can also understand that maybe to sell the novel, Cammie herself would have to be straight (or at least end up with a boy), but there are so many other characters who could have been LGBT without it affecting the plot of the series whatsoever.

Overall, I definitely recommend the Gallagher Girls series for anyone who needs something quick, interesting, and with a solid mixture of action and romance. They're not necessarily world-shattering, but they're good, and the characters are girls just like me - if I could speak fourteen languages, at least.

(Bonus: the relationships aren't creepy or based on that misogynistic "Let me, the man, protect you, the girl, because you're mine" vibe!)

Book Blogger Tag!

So Saruuh tagged me in this answer meme, whoo yay fun~

If I knew any other bloggers outside of her and Stasia, I'd tag them, but as it stands, this ends with me.

Here goes!

What are your top three book pet hates?

Anything that sounds pretentious simply to be "artsy" or "serious."

Love triangles that just feel formulaic.

Narratives that get too bogged down in side plots or details that don't advance the storyline - usually this is just uninteresting rather than "fun" or "exquisitely detailed."

Describe your perfect reading spot. 

Somewhere where I can kind of roll around as I read - I tend to shift positions a lot.

Tell us three book confessions.

I'll dogear my pages once my books start getting a bit older and rattier. I think it gives them character.

I highlighted my copy of Eclipse with a pink heart on the page where Edward proposes.

I kind of hate when genres get popular. Not because I'm some kind of purist book hipster, but because suddenly I'm being overinundated with choices and I can't find anything good anymore.

When was the last time you cried during a book?

I think when I read Struck by Lightning. I don't cry very often at books.

(My biggest shame? I knew what the ending was and I still sobbed my eyes out.)

How many books are on your bedside table?

Three: my copy of Clockwork Princess (because I haven't cleared a shelf space for it yet), my Nook, and a notebook.

What is your favourite snack whilst you're reading?

Something finger food-y, so I can eat and read easily. Chocolate chips and/or a Coke, maybe?

Name three books you would recommend to everyone.

Harry Potter series
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
Princess Academy by Shannon Hale (also her Books of Bayern)

Show us a picture of your favourite bookshelf on your bookcase.

It's not really a "shelf," per se, but the top of my bookcases looks pretty neat to me!

Write how much books mean to you in just three words.

The absolute most.

What is your biggest reading secret?

I sometimes pick novels that look more impressive if I know I'll be reading in public, but I'm trying to break myself of it. What should I care if people think my reading isn't fancy enough?

Was that interesting enough for you, Internet?

Review: The Moon and More

You know how some authors manage to just sound like teenagers, even though they're technically grown-ups and may even have young children of their own?

Sarah Dessen is one of those authors.

(Shoot, she's even more hip than me at some points. I didn't know what a "roach" was the first time I read Lock & Key. You can stop laughing at me any time now.)

I'm also so sad that as far as I know, there's no news about a new Dessen novel coming out any time soon. Can anyone confirm or deny this, Internet?

The Moon and More revolves around Emaline and the summer between her senior year of high school and freshman year of college. She lives in a small tourist town called Colby with her mom, stepdad, and stepsisters, and works at Colby Realty along with her boyfriend, Luke. Luke and Emaline have been dating for most of high school, and they're at a pretty comfortable stage in their relationship.

That all changes when the summer crowd arrives.

One of the new arrivals to Colby is Emaline's estranged father, Joel, who brings along her half-brother Benji. Joel tells Emaline that he's getting divorced from her stepmother, Leah, and that he and Benji are in Colby to sell a deceased relative's old house before finalizing the divorce at the end of the summer. Emaline's not exactly overwhelmed with joy to see her father. They didn't even talk until she was ten, and ever since then they've really only corresponded about school and college. Joel knows Emaline's smart, so he promised to pay her tuition for Columbia if she got in, which she did. He had to rescind that offer, however, leaving Emaline "stuck" going to the local school, East U, on a full ride.

The other new arrival is a relatively famous documentarian, Ivy, and her assistant, Theo. They're in Colby to make a film about Clyde Conaway, a local man who used to be a promising artist a couple of decades ago until he quit it all and came back to Colby. This news shocks Emaline, who simply knows Clyde as the man who runs the Washroom, a combination Laundromat and diner.

Theo is exciting and excitable, a boy who loves planning Grand Gestures and hopes to use his connections with Ivy and Clyde to spur him onto his own greatness one day. Both he and Emaline's father try to encourage her to shoot higher than she's aiming, but she doesn't think she wants the kind of acclaim they're insisting is the only true marker of success.

The Moon and More shows how one summer, with all its twists and turns, can really change your future.

Personally, I really loved this novel. Dessen sets all of her stories in and around the area of Colby, so there are always little references to or appearances from the characters in her former novels, which gives them a sense of community, in my mind. It's nice to sort of catch up with the other characters and see how they've been since their stories ended.

I also found this story incredibly believable. Emaline's doubts and sense of uncertainty over the future probably resonate with every high schooler out there, and every other character is just as well-crafted as she is. The adults sound like adults, the kids sound like kids, and they all have their own little personality quirks that make them memorable. I feel like if it were possible to drive down the coast and find Colby, I'd meet all of these people and instantly be comfortable with them. 

SPOILER ALERT for something a little more in-depth than the overview I gave above: One of the best parts of this novel, at least to me, is that Emaline is single when it finishes. She doesn't go back to Luke or Theo and thus kind of to their respective values. Instead, she goes off to East U and makes new friends, just like she would have had to at Columbia, but she also takes on an internship with Ivy and gets to hang out with Clyde and Morris (her childhood bestie) in New York when they have events. She's struck a balance between Colby and the rest of the world, something everyone was telling her she couldn't do. She's starting to stand on her own two feet, too, and not go along with her father's or Luke's plans. For a novel that's ostensibly about summer romances, this is some pretty bold character development.

Overall, The Moon and More is the kind of novel that you can read in one fell swoop. The humor balances out the sadness, and you can't help but root for Emaline to find her own path by the end of the story. Five stars and a deep craving for shrimpburgers.

Review: Lola and the Boy Next Door

Real talk: I actually procrastinated reading this because I thought it couldn't live up to Anna and the French Kiss. Silly me, I forgot how compelling Cricket Bell is (and also how much I live for the little Anna/Etienne moments sprinkled throughout Lola. I have my loyalties.).

Reading this got me even more excited for Isla and the Happily Ever After, too. I NEED IT.

So in this companion novel to AatFK, we meet sixteen year old Lola Nolan of San Francisco. Lola expresses herself in a manner that almost seems costume-y - wearing a red gingham ex-tablecloth as a dress to go on a picnic, for example. It's fantastic.

Lola's boyfriend at the start of this novel is a twenty-two year old named Max. Lola's dads don't like Max for pretty much that exact reason, so they make him come over for Sunday brunch every week as well as make Lola call every hour on the hour when they're on dates. Lola's willing to deal with these inconveniences, though, because she'll graduate soon enough and then she and Max can go on the road with his band while she designs costumes for a living. She has it all planned out.

And then Cricket Bell moves back to town.

Cricket Bell is Lola's childhood next door neighbor who has always been overshadowed by his figure skating star twin sister Calliope. (Yes, by the way, they're those Bells. As in the phone company.) Cricket and Lola were becoming pretty intense a couple years ago until miscommunications happen and each of them feels betrayed by the other.

Cut to now, when Cricket tells Lola that Calliope played them both out of jealousy and fear that Cricket was picking someone else over her. Oh, and he's still in love with Lola. Hasn't stopped for a second.

Bad time for Max to walk in, isn't it?

Cricket's reappearance into Lola's life makes her rethink a lot of her desires: is Max really the one? Do her costumes hide her or reveal her? And most importantly, can she go to the winter dance in the coolest Marie Antoinette dress possible?

Maybe the moon can help guide her to the answers.

If you're worried, Lola and the Boy Next Door doesn't suffer from the sophomore slump. Though it follows the same sort of will-they-or-won't-they pattern as AatFK, it's not an exact retelling with all the character names find-and-replaced. Lola and Anna are two distinctly different people, which is made apparent when they interact as coworkers at the local movie theater. Etienne and Cricket are also not carbon copies of each other - Cricket's far too tall, for one. (Kidding. They're very much dissimilar.)

Lola's story is also much less ethereal than Anna's can be. While Anna falls in love in Paris, widely regarded as the most romantic city in the world, Lola's story is messier and more colorful, much like San Francisco itself. Her costume-y style also shapes the events that unfold - much of the story wouldn't be possible, for example, without the Marie Antoinette dress Lola wants to make.

Overall, Lola and the French Kiss lives up to the standards Anna and the French Kiss set. It's a whirl of colors and emotions and plans that's centered around creating - both Lola's love of sewing and Cricket's engineering skills form the backbone of this novel. If Anna's the sweet, nerdy older sister, Lola's the wild yet loving middle child who might try to go off the rails sometimes but will ultimately always find her way back home. Four stars and a great desire to up my game clothing-wise.

Review: Clockwork Prince

Book 2/5 that I managed to finish this weekend! (Although I'm considering just reviewing the series I'm rereading as a whole rather than separately now....)

Also, if you are like me and end up waiting for paperbacks of novels to come out, Clockwork Princess will be out November 11th in softcover! I think I know what to ask for for my mother's birthday. ;)

So in this second installment to the Infernal Devices trilogy, Tessa and the Shadowhunters at the London Institute are given an ultimatum: find the Magister (or at least solid evidence of where exactly he is) within two weeks, or Benedict Lightwood will take over as head of the Institute from Charlotte and Henry. Seeing as nobody wants that, the gang put their heads together and get to work.

After a bit of investigating., the residents of the Institute learn that Mortmain - better known as the Magister - was the adopted child of a couple of warlocks who he believes were killed unfairly by Shadowhunters. These warlocks also built automatons much like the ones Mortmain uses now in his attacks, and Mortmain's father told him as a child that one day he would be a little clockwork prince - I see you there, title shoutout!

The only Shadowhunter still alive who was present for the killing of Mortmain's parents is Aloysius Starkweather, the cranky old head of the York Institute who holds a grudge against Charlotte's family. As a last resort, Tessa, Jem, and Will travel to York in the hopes that Starkweather will tell them anything they can use to stop Mortmain. When they arrive, they learn that Mortmain's family home is nearby, so they decide to go poke around there, too.

What do they discover, you ask?

Will's long-lost ex-Shadowhunter family.

Before he can go barging in and try to save them, though, they are stopped by an automaton-servant of Mortmain's, warning them that if Will tries to speak to his family, they will be killed. This puts Will in a funk for the trip home, and once the three of them arrive back in London, he dashes off to Magnus Bane's house - not that Jem and Tessa know that, however.

Will's backstory was a big unsolved mystery from book one, and it's in the scenes at Magnus' place where we finally learn why Will is so abrasive. I won't type it out - I don't want to give away a spoiler that important - but it definitely makes sense with what we know of Will.

Back to the main plot: Sophie, the maid at the Institute, has discovered that Jessamine has been sneaking out at night recently to meet Tessa's brother Nate - a servant of the Magister. She incapacitates Jessie and gets Tessa, who uses her ability to Change into other people to take Jessamine's shape and sneak into the ball at the Lightwoods that Jessie was planning on attending in order to get info from Nate. Will goes with her as backup.

At the ball, Tessamine (as I demand we call her whenever she takes Jessie's shape) learns that Jessie's been feeding all of the discoveries the Institute has made to Nate in an act of double agent-ry. She also learns that Nate and Jessie got married in secret, much to her chagrin. Once Tessa informs Charlotte of this, Charlotte has Jessie arrested, and they end up convincing her to write a fake letter to Nate so they can try to pump him for more information on Mortmain.

Nate catches on to what they are doing, however, and he ends up forcing the Shadowhunters into a fight, losing his life in the process. The Shadowhunters still have enough information to blackmail Benedict Lightwood into giving up his challenge for the Institute, though, so everything comes to an uneasy end for now.

In happier news, Jem proposes to Tessa, who decides to accept, even though she also has feelings for Will. Will's rejected her in the past, however, so she believes they can never be together.

What she doesn't know is that Will has been harboring feelings for her, but he hasn't acted on them for fear of provoking something from his past - this is explained in that backstory I alluded to earlier. He gets a bit of news that shakes his self-conception, though, and makes him believe he can afford to love Tessa after all - but is it too late?

(First and foremost, I'm sorry if that summary's as disjointed as I think it is. So much happens in these novels!)

Clockwork Prince was definitely a worthy follow-up to Clockwork Angel. It continued the action and didn't contradict any character development from the previous novel - in fact, I grew to like a lot of these characters more in this one. I couldn't draw as many neat parallels to the characters from The Mortal Instruments as I did in the first book, which makes me happy.

I also sympathize with almost all of these characters, which is unusual for me. The villains aren't all morally black, obviously terrible people; heck, many of them start as characters we're meant to love. While I can't say I agree with everyone's choices, I can understand why they've made them - except maybe Mortmain. He's gone a bit overboard, hasn't he?

My favorite minor reveal from this book? The demon pox thing oh my God are you kidding me

The only element of this novel I didn't particularly love was the Jem/Tessa relationship. It's not even that I don't like it - I just don't care very much. I realize that a lot of their formality comes from Victorian standards, but c'mon, bro, you make out with a girl once and suddenly you want to marry her? I don't care that you're dying young, that seems a little extreme. It's not a bad relationship by any means, though, so maybe it'll grow on me in book three.

(I doubt it, though. I think I'm rooting more for Will/Tessa, even though I'm pretty sure from City of Heavenly Fire that that's not gonna happen.)

Book three wishlist: more Sophie and Charlotte being awesome, please! They might be my favorite characters in this series.

Overall, Clockwork Prince was a great sequel that avoided the sophomore slump, remaining engaging, funny, and engrossing as ever. 4.5/5 stars, only because I'm really not feeling the Jem/Tessa thing.

Review: The Scorpio Races

Not gonna lie, it had been so long since my first read of this book that it was basically like I'd never read it before. Can't say that's a bad feeling to have.

Also, I read five whole books this weekend because of the amount of traveling I did, so it looks like I'm set for reviews for a while. :)

Kate "Puck" Connolly is an orphan on the island of Thisby, along with her brothers Gabe and Finn. They have managed to do alright for themselves after their parents died in an accident a few years back, but now Gabe wants to move to the mainland (leaving Kate and Finn behind) and Benjamin Malvern, the richest man on the island, is about to repossess their house.

Uh oh.

Sean Kendrick is another resident of Thisby and also an orphan. (Who needs parents, man?) He works at Malvern's stables, training horses and competing in the annual Scorpio Race. He's won the past four years, meaning he's got a decent purse of money saved up and Malvern has a lot of bragging rights. The rules are the same as any other horse race: first one to the finish line wins.

What's not so typical?

The horses are bloodthirsty killing machines.

Riders in the Scorpio Races capture capaill uisce - water horses - when they rise from the sea each fall. They use all sorts of charms and tricks to settle the horses (I won't say tame), and they either ride the horses themselves or sell them to people who are willing to ride but couldn't get their own horses. Not every rider makes it out of this race alive, but the prize at the end is a good incentive for participants.

Kate decides she's going to ride in the races this year, in order to keep her brother around longer and also get enough money to keep their house. However, she's going to do it on her own normal horse, Dove, and not a capall uisce, seeing as those horses are what killed her parents. Sean strikes up a deal with Malvern that will let him buy Corr, the capall he's been riding for years, if he wins the race one last time.

Kate and Sean become a somewhat unlikely team as they prep for the races, with Sean sharing what he knows about the races and Kate giving some outsider perspective that affects Sean's decisions. Only one of them can win the race in the end, though, and Kate's already facing a lot of criticism as the first woman to ever enter the races. Whatever happens will likely affect them - and maybe all of Thisby - for good.

I have to say, I'd forgotten how enjoyable I find Stiefvater's writing. Her language is rich and a bit old-fashioned, making this story feel very fairy tale-esque at moments. She also gives a satisfying, complete story without answering every question that comes to mind - we never learn how Kate came to be called "Puck," for instance, yet I never felt irked by that unexplained detail like I probably would have if another author had written this novel. The story captured all it needed to capture without wasting any time on irrelevant side plots.

I also really liked the inclusion of the capaill uisce. (God that's hard to spell.) I'd never heard of them before reading this novel, and it was a nice change from the standard vampire-werewolf-fairy-mermaid mythologies that tend to dominate in YA. I love reading those, too, don't get me wrong, but it's nice to read something entirely fresh for once. Can we start a More Lesser-Known Mythological Creatures in Novels 2014 campaign or something?

Finally, I loved how Kate and Sean's romance was done, too. It was a slow burn, but I never felt impatient with how long it took them to get together, since they spent a lot of their time working out each other's feelings and building a solid foundation. I can easily see them spending their lives together because of how intensely they can relate to each other and how neatly their interests align. They're both willing to make sacrifices for the other, too, but never in an "Okay, now you owe me" way.

Overall, The Scorpio Races is a gripping and emotional novel with equal parts action and romance that never gets sappy or clings too hard to old tropes. It also feels so nicely wrapped up that I can't even demand a sequel. Five stars.

Review: Anna and the French Kiss

I always forget how much I love this book in between reads, you guys. Stephanie Perkins really has a way with words, and I'm counting down the days until Isla and the Happily Ever After.

(August 14th!!!!!)

Let's get right down to business, shall we?

Now that he's a famous Nicholas Sparks-esque romance novel writer, Anna Oliphant's father has decided that she needs to go to school in Paris for her senior year. It's probably not the worst thing to ever happen, but Anna thinks it would have been nice to have been given the choice to go, rather than being told. Especially since she's so close to having a relationship with her cute coworker Toph.

Anna manages to settle in nicely at SOAP, though, striking up an easy friendship with her next-door neighbor Meredith and her group of buddies: Rashmi, Josh, and St. Clair (more formally known as Etienne). St. Clair is the most intriguing of these new friends by far in Anna's opinion, and it doesn't hurt that he's gorgeous and funny.

What does hurt? He has a steady girlfriend, Ellie, who's in college.

*sad trombone noises*

Anna and St. Clair become best friends despite their growing chemistry, helping each other out in the best ways they know how. St. Clair shows Anna around Paris to make her feel more at home, and Anna supports St. Clair however she can after his mom is diagnosed with cancer. Their interactions are always tinged with romantic undertones, though, especially after Anna finds out Toph started dating her best friend from home behind her back and St. Clair's relationship with Ellie starts to crash and burn.

Things begin to look hopeless for Anna and St. Clair after an accidental kiss has a lot of unexpected consequences, but the City of Love has its ways of drawing people together.

First things first, I am so glad that this novel got recovered to the design above. I first read it with the original cover, and it just doesn't do the story justice.

Seriously. That's just not good. It looks like some subpar Judy Blume ripoff where the girl's going through puberty and wants to learn what ~kissing with tongue~ is like.

The new cover looks like it's intended for slightly older YA readers, and the design makes me feel like the story will be romantic, fun, and a little serious, which is all true. While Anna and the French Kiss isn't deep literary fiction by anyone's standards, it still has its moments of real thoughtfulness and tenderness, and the original cover doesn't make it look that way at all. Sure, the cover shouldn't be the be-all, end-all of someone's decision to read a story, but it will still have some influence.

Content-wise, the story lives up to its new cover. Anna definitely feels like a real person, and I rooted for her and St. Clair to get together from the moment they met. They have a good foundation, and the will-they-or-won't-they tension they develop soon turns into more of an "okay, when will they?" feeling. The gratification isn't instant, but it's completely satisfying, since both Anna and Etienne experience character growth along the way.

Overall, Anna and the French Kiss is funny, poignant, and romantic. It's a light read, sure, but not mindless or lifelessly formulaic. I'm in love with its story of love, and I've already begun fan-casting the movie version in my head. (SOMEONE OPTION THIS BOOK. HOLLYWOOD, I'M TALKING TO YOU.) Five stars and a wistful smile.

(Also, my movie cast: Anna - Katie Stevens, Etienne - Darren Criss, Meredith - Evanna Lynch, and Bridgette [Anna's friend from back home] - Becca Tobin. I'm still working on the rest.)

Review: Clockwork Angel

I'm a pretty late convert to the Shadowhunter world, I know. I tried reading City of Bones at least twice back in high school, but then the Clary/Jace bombshell in the earlier books turned me right off. (I'm trying to be a little vague in case anyone else here wants to remain unspoiled, but you guys ought to know what I mean.)

Cut to last fall, after I've 1) read A Song of Ice and Fire and thus become desensitized to anything ever seeming weird after the relationships in that series and 2) transferred to Michigan and need something to distract me from my anxiety. I decide to give City of Bones another go because of the movie, and wham bam thank you ma'am, I'm hooked.

I've finished all of the Mortal Instruments books now, so I figure now is as good a time as ever to start the Infernal Devices, right? Good decision, me.

Clockwork Angel is set over a hundred years before the Mortal Instruments series begins and centers on Tessa Gray, who makes the journey from New York to London to meet up with her brother, Nathaniel. Their aunt has just died, and Nate is all the family Tessa has left. When she arrives in Southampton, she's met by Mrs. Black and Mrs. Dark, a pair of sisters who say Nate sent them in his stead to pick up Tessa.

Wrong. The Dark Sisters actually imprison Tessa in their home, forcing her to use magic she never knew she was capable of and preparing her for marriage to "the Magister," whoever that may be. They say they have Nate locked up somewhere, and that the Magister will release him once she's married to him, if that's what she wants.

Fortunately for Tessa, she's rescued by Will Herondale in a Shadowhunter raid on the Dark Sisters' home. He takes her back to the Institute, where she's offered sanctuary until they figure out how to stop the Magister and find her brother. Tessa accepts, although she's wary that the Shadowhunters will want to use her powers for their own gain, just as the Dark Sisters did.

Tessa and the Shadowhunters - Will, Jem Carstairs, and Henry and Charlotte Branwell - work with the vampire Camille Belcourt and the warlock Magnus Bane to take down Alexei de Quincey, the alleged Magister. They even manage to rescue Nate in the process, much to the delight of both Tessa and Jessamine Lovelace, a Shadowhunter who'd much rather be a lady of society.

De Quincey isn't the man they're looking for, however, and a few twists of betrayal leave Tessa still in danger at the end of the novel. Will's backstory is also still unsolved, much to my frustration. (I'd also like to learn a bit more about Jessamine, if I had my druthers.)

Clockwork Angel is a great example of a spin-off series that still does the original justice. The storyline is fresh and engaging, and the characters aren't carbon copies of their predecessors (postdecessors?), though they do share some quirks. I also love seeing Magnus and Camille appear in this series - it feels like a nice unifier.

I know from City of Heavenly Fire that some of the characters from this series will survive to see that series end, too, so a lot of my brainpower is devoted to figuring out exactly how that's going to work. I think I have one of the character's trajectories traced already....

Overall, Clockwork Angel is definitely worth the read. It's interesting and unique while still incorporating well-loved elements from the Mortal Instruments. My only complaint is that some of the characters feel too reminiscent of characters Cassandra Clare already created at times, but it's not like different people can't have similar habits. 4/5 stars.