Review: Willful Machines by Tim Floreen

First, thanks to Simon Pulse and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an e-galley of this title.  I really enjoyed it, and feel like it was a very unique type of story, with some themes that I'm beginning to see more and more of in YA.  It was also a good science fiction story, and I really liked what we learned about how the robots worked. 

The main character is Lee.  Lee's father is the President of the United States.  So he's got that to deal with.  And he is going to a prestigious school that his father went to, as well as his grandfather.  His grandfather is the headmaster of the school, and is a military veteran who is well-known for having had to kill his best friend in the enemy's prison and use his synthetic leg to get away and save himself.  This is a future story, maybe not too far ahead.  They have begun working and actually created a sentient computer.  Only that computer, named Charlotte, went a little crazy and killed someone, Lee's mother.  But somehow she escaped, into the World Wide Web possibly. And since that, Lee's father has been trying to get all kinds of laws put in place, defining what is a machine and what is human, but some of his laws are even taking back human rights, like women being discriminated against even. 

Lee is having to deal with all of this, along with being a teenage boy, and being gay.  But he has to keep it a secret, as it would probably cause problems for his father.  He's always under surveillance, at least one member of the Secret Service guarding him every minute.  And then, where we begin the story, a new student has arrived at the school.  His name is Nico, and he seems to be interested in Lee.  He seems to know Lee's secret, and flirts with him.  Lee finds that he really likes Nico, and so takes many chances to be with him.  But there are still dangers.  Charlotte has threatened more terrorism, as bad or worse than her last one that destroyed the Statue of Liberty.  And while Lee has always enjoyed working with robotics, like his mother, his creations have started to turn against him.  So it seems someone, maybe Charlotte, has found a way to take them over and use them against Lee.  And all along Nico also has a secret, one that could also cause Lee even more problems.

I really liked the story. While I kind of figured out Nico's secret pretty quickly, you probably will too, there were other things that were still surprises, and kept me reading to find out what exactly was going on.  I loved all the little gadgets and robots that Lee had created.  I really liked the relationship between Nico and Lee.  It was playful and fun like any relationship between a boy and girl in a book, and I felt that was very realistic and wonderful to be able to read.  I will definitely be ordering this book for my school library, and recommend it at the bookstore where I work.  I look forward to reading more from this author.

Review: Far From You by Tess Sharpe

Thanks to the Disney Summer of Chills for sending me an ARC of this title.  I can say for sure that Disney's books they're promoting with this are so far all winners from what I've read, and I actually haven't even read the one I was most excited about!

I believe this is the author's first book, and wow, what a great book!  Once again I'm learning that I really can enjoy a mystery.  This book kept me guessing all along on who it might be.  But never really gave false clues, and I only knew what the main character knew.  I think the relationship in the book was one I somewhat guessed at by little things, and was pleased when it turned out to be the way I thought it was.

The main character is Sophie Winters.  Her life has been hard.  When she was fourteen, she was in a car with her best friend Mina, being driven by Mina's brother Trev.  Unfortunately there is a car accident, and while Trev and Mina make it out with just a few scratches, Mina, who did not have her seat belt on wasn't so lucky.  Her leg was messed up very badly, and she had scars all over her body.  Thanks to the wreck she had to have years of physical therapy, and of course there were pain pills involved, leading Sophie to an Oxy addiction.  Mina and Sophie are so close, and Mina is very worried and notices how much Sophie is really using the drugs.  When her parents find out, they send Sophie to stay with her Aunt Macy to get clean.  She comes back after about 6 months, clean, and ready to stay clean.  But then, she and Mina stop in the woods because Mina wants to get some information about a case she is investigating, and they are attacked by a masked man.  This time Sophie is the lucky one, in that she is just knocked on the head, while Mina is shot and killed.  When Sophie is finally found by a girl who lives somewhat nearby, the police find drugs in her jacket, and so it is assumed that it was a drug deal gone bad, even though Sophie swears that she is still clean.  She begs and pleads to be believed, but her parents don't.  So she is shipped off to rehab.  When she gets out of rehab, she comes back, and the one thing she plans to do is find out who killed Mina.  It is a rough road ahead of Sophie, as she has many enemies now, people who believe the drug story, and blame her for Mina's death.

Such a great story, loved it.  The characters were all really well written, and had a lot of depth.  You felt for them, and some you hated.  But it was in a way that just made the story even better.  I hope you get a chance to read this, as I'll be definitely promoting it, and probably buying it for my high school library where I work.

Review: Resistance (Replica Trilogy #2) by Jenna Black

Of course I have to thank Tor Teen again, as well as Edelweiss for allowing me to read an e-galley of this in November.  And as I mentioned on Goodreads.com, this is one of those few times that I like the sequel better than the first book.  And I really liked the first book, you can read my review of Replica, HERE.  Okay, so if you haven't read the first one, there may be some, probably will be some spoilers here.
At the end of the last book, Nadia and Nate had stopped the Chairman, Nate's father, from continuing his evil testing of the people from The Basement, in other words, the poor people.  But in order to stop him, they'd had to hide away a recording of him giving away his plans.  Nadia had her sister Gerri hide it, but told her not to ever listen to it.  Nadia got arrested, and now is an embarrassment to her Executive family, so they send her to an Executive retreat to get her out of the press's eyes.  Unfortunately while she is there, the Chairman has a new plan, one that will insure that Nadia will probably be sent away forever by her parents.  He decides that he needs to boost the economy by making a match with another Chairman's heir.  Knowing that doing this will completely disgrace Nadia, no longer meant to be the wife of the future Chairman.  Nate tries to fight it, while also taking his anger out on the girl he is now meant to marry, Agnes.  Agnes is a plain girl, and very socially awkward.  Even when Nate tries to get her to say she won't marry him, she explains that while she may not be happy about the match either, she knows it is best for her father and her country.  About this same time, Nate's mother, who has been in a more private retreat for executives, passes away.  Nadia has been all by herself, her only communication has been Dante.  Who gets a secure phone to her so that Nate can make sure to let her know if she is in trouble.  But it becomes more than that.  He begins visiting her every night, seeing how lonely and stressed she is.  Things of course go from bad to worse, but I like that unlike many 2nd books in a trilogy, there is still a big face off at the end.  I will say that I kind of guessed who a certain person we meet when Nate's mother dies really is.  I was glad to see that I was correct!  I won't give any more of the story away.
Again, the love story isn't just Nadia and Dante, it is also Nate and Kurt.  I have tried reading another book with a gay main character, and it was harder to read.  This is just so normal, and really what seems to be a realistic relationship, that it is not something I even notice really as I read.  So great to be getting more stories like this out for teens.  Now this isn't a future where that is okay, in fact this whole relationship between Nate and Kurt is what started the whole series from the very first book.  I will definitely be getting these books for my school library.