YA Review: Aftermath by Kelley Armstrong

Book info:

Title:  Aftermath
Author:  Kelley Armstrong
Genre:  YA contemporary thriller
Release Date:  May 22nd, 2018
Publisher:  Crown Books for Young Readers - Random House Children's Books
Source:  Physical ARC from publisher which had no influence on my opinion
My rating:  5 stars

Synopsis:
Three years after losing her brother Luka in a school shooting, Skye Gilchrist is moving home. But there's no sympathy for Skye and her family because Luka wasn't a victim; he was a shooter. 

Jesse Mandal knows all too well that the scars of the past don't heal easily. The shooting cost Jesse his brother and his best friend--Skye. 

Ripped apart by tragedy, Jesse and Skye can't resist reopening the mysteries of their past. But old wounds hide darker secrets. And the closer Skye and Jesse get to the truth of what happened that day, the closer they get to a new killer.

My Review:
Once again Armstrong has proven to me that she is an expert at writing a page-turner in any genre.  Personally I've only read her young adult books, but I've yet to find one that wasn't a winner.  This one is another 5 star read for me.  While the main subject of the story has to do with a school shooting, that isn't what the story is.  We got parts of the story from both Skye and Jesse's viewpoints, although only Skye's chapters were told in first person, Jesses's chapters were third person, and there were not as many chapters for him.  Both of them did the usual misunderstanding of the other's signals and reactions.  But when you got the story of the night that Jesse went by Skye's house right after the shooting, you really understood what Skye had been thinking, even if it had been a misunderstanding.  

The way the author set the story up, you are definitely given lots of clues and hints, but still kept guessing the entire way.  I like that.  Even though I get pretty turned around, I like being kept on my toes as I read, and not being able to figure it out right away.  I like that even though you get the bullies like you'd expect, and the people who are still really upset, totally understandably, from losing family in the school shooting, you also get people who understand that it wasn't the sister's fault.  I like that there were some points that are similar to real-life incidents.  The boy who came out of the bathroom with the gun, but as far as anyone knew he may not have actually shot anyone. And what if they'd been able to get help to her brother before he died, maybe a lot of the information about the reasons behind the shooting would have been found out.  I like that it is pointed out how sometimes the kids who are really talked about after a shooting tend to be the sports hero, the popular kid, and maybe, just maybe, they weren't as great of people as they are made out to be. Maybe they had their own problems. But maybe even with those problems, there is a point where it is realized that in that situation, everyone is human, and scared, and you must overlook what they may or may not have done.  

Really I liked the characters, the good guys, the bad guys, the bullies, and the adults.    This book was not really on my radar until the publisher reached out to me, but just like with the last book I read by Armstrong, I know I've got to make sure it is available for the students at my high school.
 

Review: Missing by Kelley Armstrong

Book info:

Title:  Missing
Author:  Kelley Armstrong
Genre:  YA Romantic Thriller
Published:  April 18th, 2017
Publisher:  Random House Children's Books
Source:  E-galley from publisher for honest review
My rating:  5 stars

Synopsis:

The only thing Winter Crane likes about Reeve’s End is that soon she’ll leave it. Like her best friend did. Like her sister did. Like most of the teens born in town have done. There’s nothing for them there but abandoned mines and empty futures. They’re better off taking a chance elsewhere.

The only thing Winter will miss is the woods. Her only refuge. At least it was. Until the day she found Lennon left for dead, bleeding in a tree.

But now Lennon is gone too. And he has Winter questioning what she once thought was true. What if nobody left at all? What if they’re all missing?

My review:
I rarely read YA books that don't have a paranormal or dystopian type of story-line.  But there are certain authors that I will read almost any book they write, no matter what genre, and Kelley Armstrong is one of those.  This book is a perfect example of why she is on my YA author automatic read list.  The story read just like I was sitting on the edge of my seat watching a suspense movie at the theater.  It had so many twists and turns, and while I had a tiny inkling of who or what might be behind all of these threatening events, Armstrong still made it so that I really was guessing up until that final climactic scene at the end.  All of the characters were so complex, and while you felt like you really got to know them, the whole story was used to unravel just who they really were.  And I like that in a YA book, as that is how it really is for teenagers, not knowing just yet who they are.  

Winter is a character that you root for right away.  She's a bit of an underdog in the small town, she comes from a trailer park, and lives alone with her father, who is verbally and emotionally abusive, if not also physically abusive at times.  Her sister took off after high school, and Winter hasn't heard from her since.  We are given small peeks into what the reasons for her sister leaving have to do with Winter, and the blanks are filled in all the way up until the end, again, keeping you reading and very involved with the story.  Then there is Lennon, the boy she finds in a tree near her cabin in the woods.  He's a charmer, and you can't help but like him.  When he disappears though, it causes Winter even more distress, since his showing up also led her to believe that her best friend was in trouble.  And then in comes Jude, Lennon's slightly older brother.  He's different, not a charmer, but there's still something about him that you can't help but like.  With Jude comes a whole new set of suspects and scenarios for Winter to wade through in order to try to help her best friend, her new friend Lennon, and possibly past teens who disappeared after high school.

There really wasn't anything that I didn't like about this book.  It kept me reading, to the point that after lunch breaks I did not want to stop reading to go back to work.  It kept me guessing, not having completely figured it all out until the big reveal scene at the end, and even that had a twist in it.  Once again Armstrong has blown me away with a great story.  She'll continue to stay high on my list of must-read YA authors. 

 

Dualed by Elsie Chapman

     First let me thank both Netgalley and Random House for letting me read this egalley, and read it WAY before the book comes out.  I'm writing this review in July 2012, and as of now it isn't due to be published till February 2013.
     The book is kind of marketed to those who like the Hunger Games, and I can see it.  It is a dystopian novel, and in this future, at least from what I can tell, something has happened that has forced the people to live within a barrier of some sort, and outside the barrier they are fighting.  Not sure if it is other people/countries or monsters, etc.  We're not given a lot of info about that.  I do see that this is listed on Goodreads.com as the first in a series, and even though to me it ended at a good part to not have to go on, it would also be good since there are several things, such as what they're fighting against, that can be answered if we go on.
     Our main character is West Grayer, and like all other kids, she is growing up with her schooling being her training for the day she will get her assignment.  You see, this society wants the strongest fighters they can get for whatever this war is they're fighting.  So, when parents decide they want to have a kid, they must go to a center to sign up, and then with another couple, they end up with twins, or alts.  Each family raises their own kid in their own way, and has no contact with their alt.  Until the day they get the assignment.  This can happen any time between the ages of 11 and 20 I think from what I read.  Once they receive their assignment, they have 1 month to kill, or be killed by their alt, and if both are still alive after that end date, they will die because of something implanted inside of them.  Survival of the fittest, whoever is left will make the society a good fighter, or at least a more deserving citizen to be given a job and food, etc.  West lost her mother to a completion, she was in the way when someone killed their alt.  Her older brother and younger sister both lost to their alts, the horrible thing that her younger sister was only 11 at the time.  And as we begin the book, she has also lost her father, to suicide, and it is just her brother Luc and their friend Chord left for a family for her.  Chord has just gotten his assignment, so they are trying to help him figure out how to beat his alt.  They can't help him, an assisted kill or AK is not really allowed.  Another thing not allowed is revenge killing, you cannot go after the alt just because they killed your brother or sister in completing their assignment.  There are however, something called Strikers.  These are hired by wealthier people, to kill their own alts before they are killed and so they don't have to kill them or get themselves into danger.  When a tragic event takes place at Chord's completion of his assignment, one that West feels guilty of, she decides to become a Striker.  She figures it will prepare her for when she gets her own assignment.  Strikers aren't really "legal".  They just are.  This does help her get practice, and money, until she gets her own assignment.  Now she has a month, and instead of being ready to go and end it right away, West kind of puts it off.
     I think the story was very good.  It had a lot of action, and suspense, and you really wanted to know what would happen next.  I can definitely see the fans of the Hunger Games enjoying this.  It was a little difficult for me though.  If you've read other reviews I have done on either dystopian or post-apocalyptic type books,  you know that I kind of want to know WHY things are the way they are.  In this book, I don't really understand creating 2 of every person at birth.  How would that help the government save money?  Doesn't make sense to me.  And all the killing that can go on just out in the middle of the public.  I just don't see how a society could ever be okay with that.  And how in the world you could ever control the killing.  If people decide to do a revenge killing, why wouldn't they also just go kill the people in charge as a rebellion? I don't know, that's the issue I had with the book.  I'll probably have to read on, eventually, probably in 2 years, to see if that is ever explained in a way that makes better sense to me.
     But all in all, a good read if you can overlook that issue.  Once I let go of that thought, then I was able to get pulled into the story.  And I wanted to know if West would ever get the guts up to kill her alt, to confront her, or if she'd fall behind or figure another way out.

Beyond by Graham McNamee

First, thanks to Netgalley and Random House Children's Books for allowing me to read an egalley of this over the summer.  This is the first book from this author that I've read.  And it was really good.  It was a ghost story, but had a very unique take on the whole ghost thing.  A very creepy one!  The main character is Jane, and she is haunted.  Only, she doesn't know that it's a ghost, all she can tell is that her shadow seems to have it out for her.  Things keep happening to her, life threatening things, that seem like she is trying to kill herself.  Although she's not, she can kind of say her shadow made her do it, but she can't.  Because who would believe that?  Well, fortunately for Jane, she has a best friend named Lexi, and together, they call themselves the Creep sisters, because everyone thinks they're weird.  Lexi is a good friend, she believes Jane, and has even seen some evidence to help back Jane's story up.  Jane's whole life has been a series of almost near death experiences it seems.  She even almost didn't make it when she was born.  When she was about 8 she drank poison.  A little bit older she grabbed a live wire after a storm and electrocuted herself.  She almost got ran over on a train track, and what we've just joined in the story after, is she's shot herself in the head with a nail gun.  She has a nail in her head.  And Jane is wondering if this is causing her link to her shadow, or maybe a ghost as she and Lexi research online, to be stronger.  She's also started getting flashbacks of people and events that she doesn't know, or aren't her memories.  And this is when the ghost theory starts in. And if it is a ghost, why does he want to kill Jane?

The whole shadow thing was a new idea for me, and it was very creepy!  I can totally see this as a book my students would like.  The "romance" of the story was very realistic seeming to me.It was a good story, can't wait to have it at the bookstore and recommend it to teens looking for ghost stories.  It seems there aren't as many plain ghost stories for teens, without all the paranormal romance stuff.  (Don't get me wrong, I do like those too).  And this will fit that niche perfectly!

Hanging by a Thread by Sophie Littlefield

First, thanks to Netgalley and Random House Children's Book Division for letting me read the egalley of this.  I saw the author's name, and knew it from reading the Aftertime series by her.  In the Aftertime books, the main character is a really tough, kind of bad girl.  So I wasn't sure how that would translate into a teen book.  But no need to fear, Sophie Littlefield is a good writer in my opinion, because she can write different types of characters, they don't all seem the same.  While Aftertime was a zombie story, this is a little bit different.  It's still got a paranormal edge, the main character Clare can sense things about people by touching clothing.  She's moved back to the town her mother grew up in, and that she lived for awhile when she was younger.  It's a little different now, there have been 2 murders, or a murder and a disappearance in the past two years.  Both on the same day of the year.  It's now coming up on the anniversary of that day, and the town is getting nervous and hoping that another tragedy doesn't occur.  Clare has gotten back to her friend, and it seems like nothing has changed in their friendship, other than her friend seems to be a little different.  Clare's big thing is taking old pieces of clothing, and giving them new life.  Cutting them apart, putting new trim, different parts together, etc.  One of the things she finds, a denim jacket from a consignment store, gives her a very, very strong vision, and she thinks it is a clue to the death or disappearance of the second kid, Amanda, a girl who Clare's best friend used to be friends with.
This talent Clare has is one that has been passed down from generation to generation.  In fact, the reason Clare's mom moved away in the first place was because of something Clare's grandmother saw.  Clare's mom has always tried to tell her to stop doing it, and told her it wasn't a good thing.  But it seems this jacket wants Clare to solve the mystery of Amanda's disappearance.  In the mix is the town bad boy.  But is he really a bad boy?  Or does he just not conform to the small town way?  Clare feels an attraction to him, but tries to fight it.
This was a good story.  I enjoyed finding out what happened, although I began to suspect something like the actual answer.
I hope there will be a sequel, although this was a totally good stand alone novel if that is all it will be.  I will be looking up other books by this author now that I know the wide range she can write.

Unspoken (The Lynburn Legacy #1) by Sarah Rees Brennan

First off, let me say, this book was sooooo good!  Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Children's Books for letting me read an egalley of this.  I read this in April, and as I read it I was just going over and over in my head what I was going to say in the review, and then I was disappointed when I realized no one would get to see this information for about 4 months since it is going to be published in September.  So let the gushing begin!

I love, love, loved the characters in this book.  The banter between them, etc.  It reminds me a lot of Spellbound by Cara Lynn Schultz.  The way the characters talked to each other is just so much like how I talk with my friends and family.  I love the sense of humor, the snark, the sarcasm.  The story was good too, don't get me wrong, but it was the characters that pulled me in, made me laugh out loud, and keep coming back.  There was a cliffhanger ending, which I guess makes sense because this is going to be a series.  But I think it's okay if sometimes books don't have such huge cliffhangers.  My favorite series, Twilight, ends each book so that it could be the end.  At least I felt like it did.  And I don't know if I'm actually very happy about the way it ended, but because of other somewhat similar situations earlier in the book, I know I have to read on, because hopefully, it will get back to where I want it to be.  Where I loved the characters.

Our main character is Kami Glass who is part Asian, and a bit different from the other people in her small town in England.  Although, a lot of the way the book is, I would forget I was reading about England, that it wasn't just a small town in the USA.  And I think that's good too.  Anyway, there is a mysterious family, called the Lynburns, that have the huge mansion, and used to "run" the town in the way that rich families seem to do in small towns.  Yet they've been gone for a long time.  Kami also has a kind of unique quirk, she seems to hear someone talking in her head.  Someone she says is still her imaginary friend, that she's had forever, she's never outgrown him, Jared.  When the Lynburns come back to town, one of them a boy her age named Jared, it seems her imaginary friend may not be so imaginary.  She soon learns there is magic in this town.  And that there is a sordid history of the people in the town.  And there are people getting hurt, including Kami.  She forms a friendship both with Jared, and his cousin Ash, the other younger Lynburn back in town.  The adults in the Lynburn family aren't quite as friendly.  Kami thinks of herself as quite the Nancy Drew.  And as she starts a school paper with her friend Angela, she sets out to figure out the mysteries of her small town, Sorry in the Vale.

I loved the relationship between Kami and Jared mostly.  Although I don't understand why exactly he didn't want to touch her.  Maybe I missed how bad it was for them to feel each other's emotions that way.  I like Angela, she amused me to no end.  Such a great story, and I can't wait to read part two, but realized with the first book not even actually published yet, it will be awhile.  Maybe I can find book 2 on Netgalley as well next spring.

My only real complaint is the cover of the book.  And after reading the author's note/acknowledgement at the end of the egalley, I'm a bit afraid to say anything.  The cover just seems a bit childish for a teen book.  Off the top of my head I can't think of what more middle grades age book it reminds me of, but it just doesn't seem to fit in with the covers I see in the Teen sections these days.  It's not bad, just seems a bit immature.  Who knows, I could be crazy.  And it's not like I definitely want it to be one of those covers with the girls in the sweeping formal dresses, just doesn't work that great for me.

The Blood Keeper (The Blood Journals #2) by Tessa Gratton

The Blood Keeper by Tessa Gratton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

First I have to say thanks to Netgalley and Random House Children's Books for letting me read the e-galley of this. Thinking back to the book, I had to go back and upgrade my rating from 3 to 4 stars. I have to say for some reason I liked this one a lot better than the first one. Not sure why. I did like the first one, but this one had me more on the edge of my seat and wanting to pick it back up when I had to put it down. While it is the "sequel" to Blood Magic, it doesn't really include the main characters from that book, Silla and Nick. They do factor in, and are part of the background story. And actually Silla's brother Reese who turned into crows in the last book, is a big part of the book. He has become Mab Prowd's familiar. He stays with her instead of staying with Silla, and helps her with her magic. The book starts off with Nick dropping off a young boy named Lukas who has a black candle rune carved into his back by his father, who we find out has cursed him and pulls on his magic. We also start with Mab trying to find out why the roses around the house were so hard to get rid of, yet her grandmother really wanted them gone. To find out more about them, Mab's spell creates a humunculus so that she can hopefully get it to talk about what is going on. This creature is able to escape from the protective circle and takes off running. It runs into Nick, and attacks him, so Nick has to destroy it with the help of his dogs. But it turns out Nick is now connected to Mab and will need Mab to help him figure out what is going on. Nick's life is not great to start with. One of his older brothers died about a year ago, and his family has been changed ever since. Again the diary entries/letters are mixed into the story. At first you don't quite understand what they really have to do with the story, other than they talk about Arthur, who was the Deacon of magic before he was ready to go join his wife and pass on the title of Deacon to Mab. We do learn about Mab's mother also. Soon as the story goes on, I began to try to figure out on my own the roses and the relationships between all these people in the past. It all gets a lot worse, right after it seems things are getting better, and has a lot of suspense at the end.
I really liked the characters in this one. There was still a lot of blood, but it seemed less for shock, and more as a part of the story. There were sometimes at the beginning that it drug a little bit, but mostly the story kept me really involved and as I said, wanting to pick it back up when I had to put it down. Definitely a good, and pretty original story in my opinion.

Tessa Gratton, Breanna Yovanoff, and Maggie Stiefvater

It also was exciting to get to talk to Tessa Gratton, the author of this book, at BEA.

Make sure you're checking back a lot this month, as my Blogoversary comes up, I plan to spend the whole month with special posts, and there will be a really big giveaway starting on August 9th, the actual blogoversary day, and going the rest of the month, along with some smaller giveaways throughout.

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