All These Things I've Done
by Gabrielle Zevin

All These Things I've Done is set in a fascinatingly refreshing future, where things like chocolate and coffee are banned and corruption runs deep.  The main character is a girl with a shady family history, just looking to live a normal-ish life under the circumstances.  The book maintains a fast-paced intrigue throughout the story's telling, with well-developed main characters and a complicated but clear and compelling storyline.  Simply put, this book is good.  I did think the main love interest was a little too one dimensional in his perfection, but they still made an adorable pairing.  The story's resolution happens pretty quickly, but doesn't feel rushed (or it does, but that's how it should feel, rushed and intense).  I did not see that ending coming, although there was some foreshadowing there, and the book definitely left me stunned for hours after finishing.  Fantastic writing from Zevin, as usual.

Rating: 5/5

Also by Gabrielle Zevin:
Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac
Elsewhere

I got this book from...:Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

 All Unquiet Things
written by Anna Jarzab


 

I love this book.  I just love this book.  In the hands of another writer, this easily could have turned into one of those bad trashy teen stories about drugs, murders, and girls with no inhibitions, but Anna Jarzab transformed it into a story so much deeper than meaningless teen fun.  Her characters are well-developed and complicated, rather than narrow one-sided facades.   She put the meaning and depth before the content.  Told from the authentic perspective of a dead girl's ex-boyfriend, the story automatically takes on a fresh new angle on a murder mystery--told from the perspective of a confused teen dealing with losing the same girl twice.  Most authors would have gone with telling the story from Audrey, the dead girl's friend's, point of view, but Jarzab decided to go a different route, which made for an fascinating story.  There's never a dull moment in the intricate storytelling, leading to an intense moment of closure, rather than your typical boy-girl hookup at the end of the story. 

Rating: 5/5

I got this book from...:Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh