Shine

Hey!  So I borrowed this book from a friend a while ago and have been promising to read it!  So on Monday night I picked it up, but I read practically the entire thing yesterday.  Oh, jeez, the book is

Shine by Lauren Myracle

Blurb:

When her best guy friend falls victim to a vicious hate crime, sixteen-year-old Cat sets out to discover who in her small town did it. Richly atmospheric, this daring mystery mines the secrets of a tightly knit Southern community and examines the strength of will it takes to go against everyone you know in the name of justice.

Review:

I have read a lot of work by Lauren Myracle and I have to admit that this is the most mature book that she's written in my opinion.  Mature, and also the most serious.  

The premise is defiantly daring.  *SPOILERS!*  Cat is determined to find her friend Patrick's, or should I say ex friend Patrick's attacker.  I found almost immediately that not only did Cat genuinely want to find the killer, she also wanted to prove her friendship back after almost losing it.

The setting of a rural Southern town totally set the show.  Myracle focused on the poor and lonely side of this setting and it was a backdrop that certainly fit the story.  The setting allowed a very raw, vulnerable, yet very real side of the south highlight the story, and set itself apart from other books about hate crime.

Cat is defiantly a determined person.  However, as I pointed out earlier, I kept getting the feeling that while she cared about Patrick an awful lot, she really want to rid herself of the guilt of abandoning him. As the mystery unfolded, she also tried to pin Patrick's attack on the person that violated her due to her unacknowledged feelings.  This is one of the only weak sides we see of Cat

This is such a book about Cat and her relationships, except that she doesn't have a romantic one.  She was a violated one with Tommy.  She had a broken one with Christian.  She had an abandoned one with Patrick.  And so on and so fourth.

In the end, the mystery is solved.  Cat and Patrick reunite.  But someone dies.  

I suggest that you read to find out who.

✎✎✎✎

~Remedyleaf

The Girl Who Could Fly

My entire childhood is swamped with books and games and well, dreaming about being able to fly.  I even wrote a story about it in third grade.  I was fascinated with planes and the airport, and to this day I still am in love with Peter Pan.  

Although I mostly review young adult, when a friend of mine recommended this Middle Grade book, I thought "what the heck" considering I had wanted to read it for a while.  I even got smiles from another friend who thought that I should read the book too.  So read I did.

The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester

Blurb:

You just can’t keep a good girl down . . . unless you use the proper methods.

Piper McCloud can fly. Just like that. Easy as pie.

Sure, she hasn’t mastered reverse propulsion and her turns are kind of sloppy, but she’s real good at loop-the-loops.

Problem is, the good folk of Lowland County are afraid of Piper. And her ma’s at her wit’s end. So it seems only fitting that she leave her parents’ farm to attend a top-secret, maximum-security school for kids with exceptional abilities.

School is great at first with a bunch of new friends whose skills range from super-strength to super-genius. (Plus all the homemade apple pie she can eat!) But Piper is special, even among the special. And there are consequences.

Consequences too dire to talk about. Too crazy to consider. And too dangerous to ignore.

Review:

*SPOILERS*

Funny, is that I don't remember Middle Grade books being so obvious.  This book was obvious.  But I'll get into that more a little bit later.  

Piper McCloud is a lovely protagonist because of her character and spirit.  However, she remained to be naive and was duped by Dr. Hellion and Conrad.  The only thing that made Piper a little different than any other naive protagonist was her amazing power to forgive.  She forgave Conrad in a heart beat.  After realizing what had caused Dr. Hellion to behave the way she was she pleaded with her to fly, but to no avail, because Dr. Hellion insisted to be normal, and thus she fell to her death.  

The premise is interesting enough.  A high tech school where living things, human, plant, and animal are sent to to become "normal".  The only thing that I don't understand is what the government really had to do with it.  What was I. N. S. A. N. E. funded on anyway?  Taxpayers money? 

*MAJOR PLOT SPOILERS*

The plot was where it got to be obvious.  So she starts out at home, gets shunned by her community, goes to the school, shunned there, makes "friends" with Conrad, plans to escape, refuses to go without everyone, Conrad rats them out, they get caught, Piper severely punished, Piper comes back, discover Jasper's power, revolt, Dr. Hellion is killed, Piper goes home and brings Conrad.  They all live Happily Ever After.

Exciting, yet see through.

I found that the entire time I was wishing that Piper and Conrad would kiss or something.  I guess I've been reading too many YA books these days.  : )  

Hey, a fan fic about Piper and Conrad when they got older would be fun!  I may have just gotten an idea!

Overall, this book was cute!

✎✎✎✎

~Remedyleaf

Tigers Curse

Hey!  *Spoiler*  A couple of nights ago I finished Tigers Curse by Colleen Houck.  (Well, that's not the spoiler...)  The spoiler is that the only thing I could think about for the majority of the book was OH MY GOD HER TIGER TURNED INTO A HOT INDIAN PRINCE!!!!!!!!!  That's the spoiler.  Anyway...

Blurb:

Passion. Fate. Loyalty.

Would you risk it all to change your destiny?

The last thing Kelsey Hayes thought she’d be doing this summer was trying to break a 300-year-old Indian curse. With a mysterious white tiger named Ren. Halfway around the world. But that’s exactly what happened. Face-to-face with dark forces, spellbinding magic, and mystical worlds where nothing is what it seems, Kelsey risks everything to piece together an ancient prophecy that could break the curse forever.

Tiger's Curse is the first book in The Tiger's Saga a 5 book series.  The final book, Tiger's Dream is yet to be released.

Tiger's Curse is a book that's been in my mental to-read list for years.   (Yes years.  It was published in 2011.  Okay, maybe not all that long ago!)  When I was on my AMAZING trip to Powell's it was one of the books I picked up!  Now granted, I was reading it at one of the messier times in life (the end of the school year) but somehow I was still able to enjoy this book.  

First of all, the premise.  Oh my God TIGERS!!!!  Let's take a look at a few Tigers for fun.  

THEY ARE SO CUTE!!! Sorry, I got a little side tracked there!  

Second of all, INDIA!!!!  India is one of my favorite it settings EVER!  Lets see, books that I love set in India; Small Acts of Amazing Courage, The Girl With The Borrowed Wings (That was in India, right?) A Great and Terrible Beauty (Now that book was only partly set in India, but you get my point).  The list could go on and on!  

*SPOILERS*

Third of all, PROTAGONIST!  In some ways, Kelsey Hayes was a typical protagonist.  She was amazing and didn't see it in herself.  She was pretty but thought she was normal.  However, one thing that Kelsey was that I think that a lot of protagonists these days aren't was frustrating. Kelsey will drive a reader absolutely bonkers when you know that she needs to be with Ren but that she doesn't think she's good enough for him.  Or that he will just break her heart and be with a "perfect" girl.  The fact that you may not always agree with Kelsey makes it such an interesting read.  

Fourth of all, LOVE INTEREST!  First we think Ren is just a gorgeous white tiger stuck as a circus animal.  Then we find out his an even more gorgeous 300 year old Indian Prince?  The thing about Ren is that he is not perfect.  That's what makes him perfect.  Okay, that was stupid.  My favorite time to judge Ren's character was comparing him to, wait for it, THE MYSTERIOUS OTHER LOVE INTEREST; his brother.  While both handsome and charming, their personalites were almost opposite. Reading how Kelsey reacts to both of them is facinating.

Fifth of all, 300 YEAR OLD CURSE, BABY!!  How cool is that?  Kelsey is kidnapped (kinda) to India to help a prince lift his curse!  Great right?  Well, mostly right.  I found often that I struggled believing the Magical part myself, (And granted, I believe in magic) much less that Kelsey did.  Obviously this is a fantasy(/adventure/romance/ect) book, but the part that was realistic, (Kelsey) should have reacted a little more realistically (AHHHHHHHHHHHH!  OH MY GOD CURSES ARE REAL!  AND MY TIGER JUST TURNED INTO A MAN!!!!!  AHHHHHHHH) not just, "Oh!  Mr. Kadam says it's true?  Well he's my pretend Grandpa and only family since my parents are both dead!  It must be right!" Sorry, that was only a little right, and I'm over exageratting quite a bit, (okay, only a little bit) but that was a big part of the story that affected my over all reading experience.

Needless to say, sixth of all is, OH MY GOD I NEED TO GET A COPY OF TIGER'S QUEST ASAP!!!!!

I'm rating Tiger's Curse 

✎✎✎✎ & 1/2

Happy Reading!

~Remedyleaf

Camp NaNoWrMo

Hey!  How many of you have heard of NaNoWriMo? National Novel Writing Month?

The NaNoWriMo program is an online program that tracks progress of your novel and helps you connect with other writers all with the goal of writing a novel in a month.

Considering that NaNoWrMo is in November, you may be thinking that it's a strange time to be bringing it up.  Funny thing is, it's not.  This summer, I will be participating in Camp NaNoWriMo, a summer program that offers all the amenities of the November program.  

If you are a writer who really struggles with writing I recommend these programs because they really motivate you to write!

Happy Writing!

~Remedyleaf