Wherever Nina Lies

Wherever Nina Lies
written by Lynn Weingarten



If there's one thing I've got to say about this book, it's that it's misleading marketed. Look at the cover. Does it scream "plot-twisty horror thriller" to you? The cut-out ransom letters do look suspicious, but the color-scheme just makes the book look like another fluffy teen YA. NOT SO. (Although I actually do really love the cover, I just find it misleading.) I'm in no way saying that John Green's Paper Towns was a gender-specific book, but this really read like a version of Paper Towns (plus creepyness) written specifically for girls. You have the John Green-esque road trip combined with really great writing, throw in a spooky disappearance, and you get this fantastic book. So, you know, it's late at night and I sit down to read some fluff fiction. This story ends with me staying up far too late, scared out of my mind, but absolutely unable to put the book down. It delves right in to the story, setting everything up very quickly and in a captivating way. The suspense holds up throughout the whole novel, and makes for a really intense read. Mixed in with the intense suspense are plenty of really heartwarming moments focusing on relationships, friendships, and all kinds of connections we are capable of forming as human beings. Following the clues along with the main characters is a blast, and has the reader theorizing throughout the book. There were some minor moments that did appear to be conveniently contrived for the purposes of moving the mystery along, but even those were pretty easy to read past without getting too worked up about it. I just loved the unpredictability of everything that happened, and I can definitively say this this is one of my favorite YA mysteries.

Rating: 5/5

I got this book from...:A contest

What Happened to Cass McBride?

What Happened to Cass McBride?
written by Gail Giles



The only strength What Happened to Cass McBride? had was its writing. Everything else was utter garbage, especially the plot. Let's do the good first, before we get to my massive list of complaints, shall we? The writing style was very unique, dotted with cutesy little phrases here and there, making for a poetic read. Other than that, the only other thing I can positively remark on was my like of the fonts that allowed for easy differentiation between characters. Alright, so, the negatives. First of all, this is a murder mystery of sorts. So it's very strange that the story is set up in such a way that the reader knows pretty much all along who the culprit is, instead of finding out at the very end. Most of the plot is laid out very early on, which eliminates a lot of the drama and suspense that a good murder mystery should, in my opinion, contain. I'm sure it was done to set the book apart from others in the same genre, and it accomplishes that, but sometimes, I feel like the typical murder mystery IS a murder mystery because of its layout, and can be set apart by a particularly fantastic plot, instead of switching the general big picture order of events. The nonlinearity makes for an interesting storytelling format, but at the same time, makes the story just...boring. Throughout the whole book, I just couldn't bring myself to care about anyone I was supposed to care about or sympathize with. I didn't like the ending, I didn't care about any of the events, the story's excitement dies out within the first few pages, when all is revealed. I just don't think the order of events served the story well in this particular instance.

Rating: 2/5

I got this book from...:BookMooch

Full Tilt

Full Tilt
written by Neal Shusterman



This book starts off fast, wasting no time with detailed introductions. This does result in a bit of confusion at the beginning, but not to worry, it's all cleared up through the rest of the book. It's a real roller coaster ride (pun not really intended ;P) of a book, suspenseful and thrillingly spooky in all the right places. In terms of characters, some of them are really compelling, while others are left slightly flat. Unfortunately, one of those flat ones, in my opinion, was the main character, which made it a less interesting read. I was very glad to see two brothers so close in age as the main characters, I don't think we see enough brothers in contemporary YA fiction, and I'm glad someone out there is writing YA that is appealing to boys. Shusterman has quite the imagination, and he makes up in imagination what he sometimes lacks in the writing itself. The ending was a bit predictable and felt a bit like one of those "it was all a dream" scenarios, although it wasn't quite that drastically bad. Overall, cool premise, neat delivery, but it could have used just a little bit of tweaking here and there.

Rating: 4/5

Also by Neal Shusterman:
Everlost

I got this book from...:BookMooch

Burned

Burned
written by Ellen Hopkins



I made the mistake of reading two incredibly scary books one right after the other, so this was additionally chilling as I had just finished Endgame. But really, I have no idea how Ellen Hopkins does it. As usual, the writing is phenomenal and unique, as is the revolutionary plot, featuring a rebellious Mormon. Hopkins' writing style is just something else, and her tone is realistic, speaking to teens everywhere even though the words are spoken by a Mormon teenage girl. Ellen Hopkins gets into all these dark places, and it really makes one wonder how much effort and pain it takes for her to find them. I found some of the issues extremely predictable (pregnancy, guns), and definitely knew there was a huge climax at some point, but without a clue how it would all fit together. There were some statements of awkward foreshadowing, particularly foreboding statements regarding the future at the ends of chapters. I end my notes with this statement, and feel it is an accurate way to end this review as well: "OH SWEET AMBIGUITY!!!"

Rating: 5/5

Project 17

Project 17
written by Laurie Faria Stolarz



I thought this book started out pretty strong, had a decent middle with a good amount of action, and then just decided to fall flat on its face. It starts out with character sketches, giving the reader a good idea on the main players in the story. The characters are discussed and developed throughout the rest of the book, but for the most part, around the middle, the focus shifts drastically to plot. The plot is interesting, but the end resolution...boooooo-ring. So ridiculously boringly predictable. The characters, they're great, they're well-developed, three dimensional, realistic people, with the possible exception of Liza. I went into this under the assumption it is a psychological thriller, but it's just not. It's a thriller that happens to be set in an abandoned psych ward. No mind-twisting in this one! It's one of those books where the reader feels like the author was rushing to meet a deadline and didn't put all their effort into the story, leaving us with a lame ending. I was just completely underwhelmed by this book, it had so much potential (the idea of possession comes to mind), but blew it.

Rating: 2/5