Guest Review: Pure

Pure (Pure #1)
By Julianna Baggott
Guest Reviewer: Meg Adams
****

“We each have a story. They did this to us. There was no outside aggressor. They wanted an Apocalypse. They wanted the end. And they made it happen. It was orchestrated - who got in, who didn't. There was a master list. We weren't on it. We were left here to die. They want to erase us, the past, but we can't let them.” 

Meg's Review:

I LOVED this book! I know dystopian is very popular right now, and it's a bit overdone. But if you liked the Hunger Games, and you want a great story about a strong female, survival, a great twist and a thriller....please take a stab at this book.  

Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost: how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers...to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as soldiers or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run. 

Burn a Pure and breathe the ash. 
Take his guts and make a sash. 
Twist his hair and make a rope. 
And use his bones to make Pure soup. 

There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked. Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely. Different. He thinks about loss: maybe just because his family is broken, his father is emotionally distant, his brother killed himself, and his mother never make it inside their shelter. Or maybe it's his claustrophobia: his feeling that this Dome has become a swaddling of intensely rigid order. So when a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her.

Meg-A-Rae Episode 21: A Very Special New Adult Episode

In this week's episode, Meg and I discuss a "new" genre that's been getting some press lately: New Adult. The idea behind this genre is that its intended audience is the 18-25 age range and the content is more mature. Meg discusses the dystopian novel, Pure, by Julianna Baggot - a book that MPL has in both the Adult and Teen collections. I discuss the awesomely titled Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, by Lish McBride - a book that is in our Teen collection and is a Rosie Nominee this year. 

Be sure to check out our next episode: A Very Special Librarian Episode!

Top Ten Settings I'd like to see more of in YA Lit

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature / weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week we make a top ten list from a given topic.

This week's topic is: 

Top Ten Settings I would you like to see more of in YA Lit

10. Colleges/Universities: I guess this may fit in the poorly named "new adult" genre, but I'd like to see what happens to some of these teens when they leave the familiar warmth of home and venture off to college. I'd like to see what it's like for the characters to juggle fun with responsibility and how they deal with the consequences when they drop the ball. 

9. Alternate Realities: Where everything is familiar, but nothing is the same. Take anything by Jasper Fforde, for example. The Eyre Affair takes place in 1985 England where there's time travel, dodos, characters being yanked out of books and threatened with permanent story changes. Or The Last Dragonslayer which takes place in the Un-united Kingdoms, where wizards will use their magic to rewire a house and a dragon lives outside of town. 

8. On a bus, plane, or train: The whole story, told in the space of a single voyage. One where characters are forced to spend time in a small space with a number of people for a set amount of time. A lot of people don't interact in these settings in real life, but it could make for a very interesting story if they did.

7. Egypt in the late 1800s, early 1900s: I have always found archaeology fascinating. Rediscovering stories that had long since been forgotten, finding the personal elements that get lost in history books, being the first to touch something that belonged to someone centuries ago: it's all completely fascinating. History is full of stories waiting to be told, and archaeologists drag those stories out of history and allow the world to hear them again. 

6. Libraries: Yes, I'm a bibliophile, and yes, I'm a librarian, so yes, I'm a little biased on this setting. But seriously, there are some truly spectacular libraries in the world that would make for a wonderful setting! Gorgeous historical libraries, modern high-tech libraries, quaint small town libraries - the opportunities are endless! Plus, any character needing to do research who doesn't do it at a library is unlikely to get the best results. Just sayin'.

5. Belgium: I've wanted to visit Belgium ever since a friend told me that they have waffle cart vendors (rather than our more familiar hot dog cart vendors). I find that completely brilliant. Plus, Belgium is home to some pretty spectacular architecture and the European Union. I'm thinking either a travel-romance or an international spy novel would work perfectly with this setting.

4. New Zealand: Anyone who has watched the Lord of the Rings or Hobbit movies know that New Zealand is one of the most beautiful places on earth. A story set in that setting would be pretty magnificent.

3. Wales: I fell in love with Wales after spending a couple of hours in Cardiff way back in 2005. They have the most beautiful language and the most wackadoodle words. For example, "hello" in Welsh is "shwmae" and it's pronounced "SHOO mai." Isn't that fantastic?! Plus, Doctor Who is filmed there, which makes it even MORE awesome.

2. Indiana: I live in the Hoosier state, and besides the lovely John Green, a fellow Hoosier, there aren't many authors that choose to write about Indiana. A story that takes place somewhere you know well connects you to it like little else. Oh, the hero is walking the canal and is going to pass the Indiana Historical Society on his way to Military Park? I can see it!

1. Ireland: Really, anywhere in Ireland. It's the land I long to see, and if I can't afford a ticket, at least I can read about it. However, I haven't found many books in the YA-verse that take place on the Emerald Isle. That needs to change - right now.

A Christmas Story

This Christmas, our library took part in a very special community event: Victorian Christmas. The YAZ (Young Adult Zone) participated by hosting a Festive Photo Booth and our Teen Council members volunteered as camera operators and guest decorators (and by that I mean they helped decorate our guests). The event was hoppin' and we had dozens of patrons stop by to get their photos taken.

Meg and I got in on the action.



But then things got a little quiet toward the end of the afternoon, and our imaginative TC members got a bit creative.

Here is a story, lovingly told in photos, by Margaret, Olivia, Keegan, and Evan:

Once upon a time, there was a Christmas reindeer.

There was also a Christmas elf.

The reindeer and elf were the best of friends.

One day, Santa had a very special task, but needed only one person to accomplish it.

Both the reindeer and the elf wanted to be Santa's helper...

So they ran off separately to see who could complete the task first.

But they didn't anticipate the senior reindeer. Nobody anticipates the senior reindeer.

The senior reindeer got the job done lickety-split, before either the reindeer and her former elven friend could get started.

The reindeer and elf were displeased and decided to get even with the senior reindeer.

The two caught the senior reindeer and tied him up in tinsel. The senior reindeer really didn't care.

The senior reindeer was not deterred by the tinsel and he left without any trouble. Still, the Christmas reindeer and elf were happy and they became friends once more.

The end.

Meg-A-Rae Episode 20: A Very Special Classic & Gothic Novel Episode

This week, Meg and I discuss how awesome and not-boring classics can be. We focus mainly on the gothics and anti-gothics of the early 1800s. Did you know that Jane Austen wrote a gothic parody the way some comic authors write vampire parodies today? Yeah, she's that cool. And if you're in the mood for angst, there's no need to look further than the gothic classics!

I have seen my future: I will be a crazy attic lady! Though, I wonder if that's anything like a crazy cat lady, because my dog really hates cats.

Join us for our next episode where we discuss the New Adult genre. Yup, there's another genre out there, and we're going to tell you all about it!

Book Review: Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick

Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick (Perry & Gobi #1)
By Joe Schreiber
****

"'You shot me,' I said. I was lying on my stomach, wondering if I was going to pass out from the pain. Twenty feet away, she stood with the machine pistol in one hand and the sawed-off shotgun in the other, wiping the blood out of her eyes...She walked over, knelt down, and wrapped her arms around me. She pressed her lips to my ear, close enough that I could make out the words. 'Perry,' she said, 'I had a very nice time tonight.'"
 

Au Revoir is an action-packed thrill-ride. I'm sure that's what the movie byline would say, at least. And it's true. It's the night of Perry's senior prom, but he hadn't planned on going. Instead, he and the other members of Inchworm had gotten a gig in NYC and they were hoping to score a record deal. But then his parents forced him to take their awkward foreign exchange student to prom. Perry figured it would be a disaster...he had no idea how right he was.

Gobi, if that is her real name, isn't really a foreign exchange student. She isn't really geeky or awkward. She isn't even a teenager. What she is, though, is out for blood. Gobi has five marks and they're all going to be in NYC on prom night, and since she can't drive, Perry becomes her unwilling chauffeur.

Except for a few pages at the beginning and the end of this book, approximately 98% of this story takes place over the course of 12 hours. The story is fast-paced as Perry and Gobi go from one hit to the next (Perry trying valiantly to escape his crazy kidnapper...until she informs him that she planted a bomb and will blow up his house with his family inside if he doesn't cooperate). As the story goes on, you wonder if Gobi is just a hired assassin, or if there's more to this grisly quest than meets the eye.

I really enjoyed this book - I could have finished it in a day if I had more free time; as it was, it only took me two days. It was an intense, but quick read. There's a significant amount of violence (though it doesn't get as graphic as it could have), some language (if there's ever been a book where the language has been justifiable, it's this one), and some talk of sex (just talk, no action), so I would recommend this book for older teens. That being said, it was a great read and I can't wait to start Perry's Killer Playlist, the sequel to Au Revoir, which takes Perry on a dangerous trip through Europe.

Book Trailer for Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick

Book Review: Libriomancer

Libriomancer (Magic Ex Libris #1)
By Jim Hines
***

“Every libromancer had a first book. Etched more sharply into my memory than my first kiss, this book had been my magical awakening.”

I went into this book ready to geek out. I mean, seriously, seriously, geek out. The story opens on Isaac Vainio, a cataloger at a library in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. But he's not just a librarian, he's a libriomancer. Isaac could perform a very specific kind of magic: he could reach into books and pull out anything that appeared within the pages (restricted only by the size of the page). He got into a bit of trouble in his job as a libriomancer, so he's been benched; his only connection to magic now is cataloging books for his library, but also for the magical organization he used to work for.

Then he gets attached by Meyerii vampires (also known as sparklers) and finds himself in a magical war between Libriomancers and vampires, a mysterious enemy, and the disapperance of Johann Gutenberg (inventor of the printing press and founder of the Libriomancer organization), with only a sexy dryad and a fire spider there to help him.

In theory, this book should have been an uber-awesome, bibliophile geekfest. I wanted to love it. It referenced some of my favorite things, like Narnia, Doctor Who, and the very idea of reaching inside of books. And while the book wasn't "bad," it wasn't as good as I wanted it to be. I just couldn't get engaged in the story. It did pick up toward the climax, and some really cool things happened during that part of the book, but it was a bit of an effort to get there.

This is an adult title, and there are some adult themes (though it stays PG / PG-13), but it's worth a look if you're a geeky bibliophile like myself. However, The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde is similar in theme, but superior in...well, everything.

Meg-A-Rae Episode 19: A Very Special New Year's Episode

In this episode of Meg-A-Rae, Meg and talk about all the amazing, stupendous, mega-awesome books that are coming out in 2013. We are super-excited about these great new titles. Seriously, 2013 is going to be a fantastic year for reading and we can't wait to get started!!!

Join us next time as we discuss the classics and how non-boring they can be!

2012 Reading Retrospective

2012 was a big reading year for me and the majority of the books I read were awesome YA novels. So here's a look back at some of my favorites! Note: these are books I read in 2012, not necessarily books published in 2012, though there are some of those, too!

We'll start with the characters:

My favorite female character comes from Sarah Rees Brennans Unspoken. Kami Glass is spunky, clever, and fearless. Her dialogue is a cross between Gilmore Girls and Easy A. I wish I had been like her when I was in high school!

Runner Up: Jennifer Strange from Jasper Fforde's The Last Dragonslayer. She's another fearless female who is a sense of normalicy when surrounded by the absurd.


My favorite male character is Uncle Mort from Gina Damico's Croak series. He's not the main character from the book, but he's the cool guy who show's Lex a world she didn't know existed. He's a brilliant inventor, knows much more than he's telling, and he drives a motorcycle. He's the cool uncle we all kinda wish we had.



















I'm going to go a bit outside the box on this one and select Mori and Hunny from the manga Ouran High School Host Club by Bisco Hatori. Mori and Hunny are cousins. Mori is the tall, strong, silent type. Hunny is teeny, loves sweets and his teddy bear, and loves his cousin like a little boy loves a big brother. However, both boys are seventeen and ninjas. Hunny is considered one of the most dangerous weapons in the world and Mori is right behind him. The dichotomy is what makes them so fun and utterly lovable.

The steamiest romance I read was found in the pages of Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Karou and Akiva are irresistibly drawn to each other, even though Akiva has been sent to destroy Karou's family and is a threat to her life. It's very much a Romeo and Juliet type of love story, but the ending for this couple is less sure. There may be hope for them, but we're unsure of that hope by the end of the first book. Luckily, this story is part of a series!

Runners Up: Lex and Driggs from Croak. They may be Grim Reapers, but these two teens still make make-out time a priority!

 

The Best Romance of 2012 for me was that of Kami and Jared in Unspoken. While they're not exactly having a romance, they certainly have very strong feelings for one another. It's hard not to when they've grown up in each other's heads. They've been speaking telepathically to each other since they were born; however, they didn't know that the other actually existed until the opening of the story. Now that they've met in real life, they have to separate and define the feelings they have for each other while fighting against an evil that's attacking their town.

 

Runners Up: Lex and Driggs from Croak. Sure, they make out a lot, but they also have each other's backs, and that's what's really important.



 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Katniss is kind of impossible to beat as Toughest Heroine. The Hunger Games' tribute fights to survive in a disturbing vision of the future. But she does more than that, her care for other tributes and her disgust for the Capital's policies make her more than a warrior, she becomes a revolutionary.

This award has to go to Gatlin, the small Southern town where Beautiful Creatures takes place. Gatlin takes on a life of it's own as the living residence of Lena and her uncle, the suffocating prison for Ethan, a place where outsiders are unwelcome, and a living embodiment of the South in the Civil War.

 

Now, to move on to my favorites in genre offings and plots!

 

Rot & Ruin beats out The Hunger Games by a very narrow divide. Both are rather terrifying but Rot & Ruin also has zombies - and they're not even the worst threat to our heroes. The future is grim indeed, and let's just be glad it's only a brilliant figment of Jonathan Maberry's very vivid imagination!

 

 

Ok, so best may not be quite the right word in terms of the future in Cinder, but despite the obvious problems in this post-apocalyptic world, it was still really cool! Come on, Cinderella is a cyborg fighting enemies from the moon!

 

 



 

This award goes to The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman. This story begins in the States and then travels to Europe, where it spends a lot of time in Prague. The book is full of intrigue and danger, and the international journey is the icing on the mystery cake!

 

 

This award is easy - it goes to Hourglass (and its sequel, Timeless) by Myra McEntire. The story starts out with a girl who thinks she's crazy because she can see dead people. But she's not seeing ghosts, she's seeing time ripples. Turns out, she has the capacity to travel through time, which is awesome. This series is so full of win, I can barely stand it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Last Dragonslayer takes place in an alternate reality UNunited Kingdom. In this world, magic is fading, but that doesn't stop Jennifer Strange, manager of a magical employment agency, from working tirelessly to get her wizards jobs. But there's a sudden surge in magic and there's a prophecy: the Last Dragon will be slayed by the Last Dragonslayer. Magic infuses this story from top to bottom and the book would be nothing without the magic, which is why this book gets the award.

 

 

 

 



 

I love books with a sense of humor. A number of the books I read this year had their funny, snarky moments, like Unspoken, Croak, and Hourglass. But the winner of this category is a straight-up comedy piece. The Last Dragonslayer is funny from the first page. From the character names (Full Price, and his brother Half Price), to the odd creatures (Jennifer's "pet" Quarkbeast that makes "quark" noises), to the character interactions, the book was funny all the time.

 

Runner Up: Ouran High School Host Club. This Rom-Com was beautifully funny. The characters are silly, yet endearing, which was a lovely combination.

 

 

Finally, this is an award for the book I loved so much that I wish it had come from my brain. Annndd...I couldn't come up with just one. So the Book I Wish I Wrote award, aka My Favorite Book, goes to Unspoken and The Last Dragonslayer.

 

Unspoken is a truly lovely book. Honestly, it has some of the best dialogue that I've come across in a long time. It's clever, quick, and fun, and a great introduction to the story. Then it takes a turn for the gothic, and these characters that you grew to love so quickly are put in danger, and you really care. I adore everything about this book, except for the wait until Book #2 is released.

 

The Last Dragonslayer is just so much fun that it makes me want to hug it to my chest and skip around with it. Maybe even snuggle it like a teddy bear when I sleep. My love for this book is strong, and I'm actually considering importing the sequel in from the UK rather than wait for a US release.

 

 

*****

 

Thank you to the wonderful authors who made this such a great year of reading! I can't wait to see what 2013 reading has to offer!

 

Book Review: Beautiful Creatures

Beautiful Creatures (Castor Chronicles #1)
By Kami Cross & Margaret Stohl
Four Stars

“So why did I think about her every second? Why was I so much happier the minute I saw her? I felt like maybe I knew the answer, but how could I be sure? I didn't know, and I didn't have any way to find out.

Guys don't talk about stuff like that. We just lie under the pile of bricks.”
 

Beautiful Creatures is lovely gothic romance, the kind that keeps you wondering what is going on with beautifully eerie elements, a historic mystery, and a heavy dose of magic. The story follows Ethan Wate, a teenage boy from a small southern town called Gatlin. It's the kind of place you never leave and anything new is suspicious. Ethan has wanted to get out for years, and now that his mom has died and his dad has been lost to grief, he's more ready to leave Gatlin than ever.

Then Lena Duchannes came to town.

Lena has come to live with family, a family that is not welcome in town due to their strange ways, and Lena isn't welcomed, either. Strange things begin to happen around Lena, and the Mean Girls go on the attack. Ethan, though, is mesmerized by Lena, and doesn't care what the small-minded bullies say. As they grow closer together, solving the mystery of Lena's family and her 16th birthday becomes increasingly urgent, because that's the day that everything will change.

Beautiful Creatures is a book you'll want to burrow into. The story is intriguing and I had to fight the urge to flip to the end to see what happens (or read the description of the next book in the series). It was unique in that it was a romance written from the male point of view - the story was Ethan's and you read it through his eyes. This is the first book in a series of at least four (#4 came out within the last few months) and will be coming to a theater near you this February. I can't wait to see how this Southern Gothic looks on the big screen. I hope it does this lovely book justice. The book is always better, but it's a crime when the movie utterly fails the book. (But Emma Thompson is in this movie, and that woman can do no wrong, so I'm not worried.)

Want more? Check out the book trailer:

Not enough? How about the movie trailer: