Title: Unraveling (Unraveling #1)
Author: Elizabeth Norris
Published: April, 2012 by Balzer & Bray
Pages: 445
Rating:  
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pSixteen-year-old Janelle Tenner is used to having a lot of responsibility. She balances working as a lifeguard in San Diego with an intense academic schedule. Janelle’s mother is bipolar, and her dad is a workaholic FBI agent, which means Janelle also has to look out for her younger brother, Jared.

And that was before she died… and is brought back to life by Ben Michaels, a mysterious, alluring loner from her high school. When she discovers a strange clock that seems to be counting down to the earth’s destruction, Janelle learns she has twenty-four days to figure out how to stop the clock and save the planet.

Final Thoughts:
Coming off the back of a not-so-riveting read, I jumped right into this and got hooked. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line things soured a bit for me and all of the promise I had seen in the earlier chapters started to fade away. Plus, certain things irritated me like the instaluv, and main character, Janelle’s constant use of the saying ‘because I’m like that’. Yes, I got that she was like that, but I got to a point where enough was enough and I just couldn’t go on agreeing with her blindly simply because she was the main character.

Title: Pivot Point (Pivot Point #1)
Author: Kasie West
Published: February, 2013 by HarperTeen
Pages: 352
Rating:  
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Knowing the outcome doesn’t always make a choice easier . . .

Addison Coleman’s life is one big “What if?” As a Searcher, whenever Addie is faced with a choice, she can look into the future and see both outcomes. It’s the ultimate insurance plan against disaster. Or so she thought. When Addie’s parents ambush her with the news of their divorce, she has to pick who she wants to live with—her father, who is leaving the paranormal compound to live among the “Norms,” or her mother, who is staying in the life Addie has always known. Addie loves her life just as it is, so her answer should be easy. One Search six weeks into the future proves it’s not.

In one potential future, Addie is adjusting to life outside the Compound as the new girl in a Norm high school where she meets Trevor, a cute, sensitive artist who understands her. In the other path, Addie is being pursued by the hottest guy in school—but she never wanted to be a quarterback’s girlfriend. When Addie’s father is asked to consult on a murder in the Compound, she’s unwittingly drawn into a dangerous game that threatens everything she holds dear. With love and loss in both lives, it all comes down to which reality she’s willing to live through . . . and who she can’t live without.

Final Thoughts:
I have wanted to read this one for a while now. I’m a fan of time travel and stories with alternate timelines so I thought this would be just the thing for me. While it may not have lived up to the self-imposed hype I’d given it, Pivot Point was still enjoyable in its own contemporary romance kind of way. It has a mystery and a bit of suspense, but for the most part, it plays out very much like a lot of other YA romances. I guess the real point of difference comes from the fact that there were two stories running parallel to each other that we switched back and forth between every second chapter.

Title: Unmade (The Lynburn Legacy #3)
Author: Sarah Rees Brennan
Published: September, 2014 by Random House
Pages: 370
Rating:  
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Powerful love comes with a price. Who will be the sacrifice?

Kami has lost the boy she loves, is tied to a boy she does not, and faces an enemy more powerful than ever before. With Jared missing for months and presumed dead, Kami must rely on her new magical link with Ash for the strength to face the evil spreading through her town.

Rob Lynburn is now the master of Sorry-in-the-Vale, and he demands a death. Kami will use every tool at her disposal to stop him. Together with Rusty, Angela, and Holly, she uncovers a secret that might be the key to saving the town. But with knowledge comes responsibility—and a painful choice. A choice that will risk not only Kami’s life, but also the lives of those she loves most.

Final Thoughts:
I don’t quite know how I feel about this series. It’s had its ups and downs, but has never quite managed to capture that same excitement I felt while reading Sarah’s previous series, The Demon’s Lexicon. Perhaps that was my problem going in. My expectations. I know that I took a lot longer to connect with these guys, but it did seem to happen somewhere during the second book. Kami was a thinker, she was funny, and she had a hero complex—all the makings of a good main character, but whether she lived or died, got the guy, or didn’t, it didn’t mean that much to me.

Title: Witches of the East (The Beauchamp Family #1)
Author: Melissa de la Cruz
Published: June, 2011 by Little, Brown Book
Pages: 273
Rating:  
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Freya, Ingrid and Joanna Beauchamp love their sleepy life in the East Hamptons. A new engagement, promotion at work, a happy home – its all going perfectly. And, to top it off, no one’s come close to discovering the secret of what they can really do in hundreds of years. But throw a few accidental love potions in the mix the Beauchamp girls are going to need more than a broomstick to clean up this mess…

Final Thoughts: This review is arriving a bit late to the party – I finished the book in early August just so I could watch the TV series without the risk of spoilers. Now season one of the series has ended in Australia and I still have yet to write about the book itself. Witches of the East (or Witches of East End depending on the edition), would you believe it or not, was the first book I’ve read about witches – WHAT?! – but I think it was an excellent intro to the genre. Part of my liking it had to do with the fact that the main characters are not teenagers, nor are they whiny or self-obsessed. Rather they are a mother and two daughters, each with secure jobs, stable friendships, and positive attitudes, and who’re in complete knowledge and command of their supernatural powers.

Title: This Song Will Save Your Life
Author: Leila Sales
Published: September, 2013 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Pages: 279
Rating:  
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Making friends has never been Elise Dembowski’s strong suit. All throughout her life, she’s been the butt of every joke and the outsider in every conversation. When a final attempt at popularity fails, Elise nearly gives up. Then she stumbles upon a warehouse party where she meets Vicky, a girl in a band who accepts her; Char, a cute, yet mysterious disc jockey; Pippa, a carefree spirit from England; and most importantly, a love for DJing.

Told in a refreshingly genuine and laugh-out-loud funny voice, THIS SONG WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE is an exuberant novel about identity, friendship, and the power of music to bring people together.

Final Thoughts:
Desperate for someone to like her, Elise is a character that stands out in all the wrong ways. Nobody knows her, or even cares to get to know her, but everybody hates her—or at least thinks they should. I don’t think I’ve felt so bad for a character before, really felt what they were feeling, the real, everyday struggles they were going through. There is so much emotional bullying going on at this school, more than your average mean girl insult thrown about here and there. This school felt unbearable. Without a single friend, I don’t know how anyone could cope in that environment. I truly wanted to jump through the pages and hang out with Elise before she went over the edge.

Title: Oh Yeah, Audrey!
Author: Tucker Shaw
Published: October, 2014 by Amulet Books
Thanks: Amulet Books via NetGalley
Pages: 256
Rating:  
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It’s 5:00 a.m. on Fifth Avenue, and 16-year-old Gemma Beasley is standing in front of Tiffany & Co. wearing the perfect black dress with her coffee in hand—just like Holly Golightly. As the cofounder of a successful Tumblr blog—Oh Yeah Audrey!—devoted to all things Audrey Hepburn, Gemma has traveled to New York in order to meet up with her fellow bloggers for the first time. She has meticulously planned out a 24-hour adventure in homage to Breakfast at Tiffany’s; however, her plans are derailed when a glamorous boy sweeps in and offers her the New York experience she’s always dreamed of. Gemma soon learns who her true friends are and that, sometimes, no matter where you go, you just end up finding yourself.

Final Thoughts:

I must confess that, as an Audrey fan, I may have jumped into this book expecting too much. The idea of following Gemma and her friends on a Breakfast at Tiffany’s inspired tour of New York City sounded great; I expected a lot to come from this group of teens that share no more than one fan-base in common, and who are meeting in person for the first time. It took me longer to finish reading than it should have, however, and while Oh Yeah, Audrey! seemed to end on an emotional high note, the beginning and the middle could’ve been better.

Title: Sinner (Wolves Of Mercy Falls #4)
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Published: July, 2014 by Scholastic
Pages: 357
Rating:  
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A standalone companion book to the internationally bestselling Shiver Trilogy.

Sinner follows Cole St. Clair, a pivotal character from the #1 New York Times bestselling Shiver Trilogy. Everybody thinks they know Cole’s story. Stardom. Addiction. Downfall. Disappearance. But only a few people know Cole’s darkest secret — his ability to shift into a wolf. One of these people is Isabel. At one point, they may have even loved each other. But that feels like a lifetime ago. Now Cole is back. Back in the spotlight. Back in the danger zone. Back in Isabel’s life. Can this sinner be saved?

Final Thoughts:
Given how sparsely the werewolf aspect came into play, this book was basically a contemporary. Don’t get me wrong, I love contemporaries, but stepping back into the series after the events of Forever, it took a moment to adjust to the change in pace. While I didn’t fall in love with the book, I still enjoyed it for what it gave us: Cole and Isabel as semi-adults—the in-between stage. I wasn’t entirely sure whether I agreed with them as a couple, they clearly cared about each other, but it was hard when there were just so many angsty interruptions. I wanted something I could root for, the moments that make you love what you’re reading, but Sinner just didn’t get there for me.