Number of Pgs.: 240

Publication date: May 21, 2013

Publisher: Viking Juvenile 

Genre: YA, Contemporary

How I got the copy: Won from April

Rating:  2 Stars
  

From Goodreads:

The last night of summer is only the beginning.

Skye wants to meet the boy who will change her life forever. Seth feels their instant connection the second he sees her. When Seth starts talking to Skye at the last beach party of the summer, it’s obvious to both of them that this is something real. But when Seth leaves for college before they exchange contact info, Skye wonders if he felt the same way she did—and if she will ever see him again. Even if they find their way back to each other, can they make a long-distance relationship work despite trust issues, ex drama, and some serious background differences?

Teen favorite Susane Colasanti returns to the alternating-voice style of her beloved debut When It Happens in this Serendipity-inspired story about summer, soul mates, and the moments that change our lives forever.

Plot: 3/10

Characters: 3/10

Setting: 4/10

Pacing: 3/10

Style: 1/10

Cover:  I loved this cover right away.  The beach, the way he's lifting her up, the bright green, the font, etc. It's such a beautiful cover.

14+50=64 (2 Stars)

    The cover of this book is so misleading it made me kind of mad.  Since the summary was kind of vague I was expecting an epic summer romance between two strangers based on the cover models.  What I got was something completely and unsatisfyingly different.  It was like Harry expecting a butter beer flavored Bertie Botts every flavored bean and getting earwax instead.  So what was so bleh about it?

     There is insta-love.  The kind where the characters lock eyes and declare that they will love that person as long as they both shall live.  This drives me nuts.  And while I expected a romance, I didn't want it to be that quick.  

      The characters are also whiny.  Seth is pretty emo and it was hard to find that attractive.  He's constantly in distress over a girl.  He doesn't eat, sleep, shower, etc.  Skye is passive aggressive with her friends and family.  She is constantly whining that Seth doesn't understand her, yet she's convinced he's the one.  Her friends are reallllly annoying too.  Basically, there wasn't a single character in this book that I could connect with or enjoy.  I love reading YA, but I think this may be one of those few cases where being six years older than the characters hindered my reading experience.  Their petty fights and minuscule problems were hard for me to care about.  

     Lastly, I felt like the writing was really simple and the plot was all over the place.  It was a lot of telling and hardly any showing.  Here's an example, 

"The four of us are going to Diner on the Square for dinner.  Karen, Astor, and I are all packed into our winter gear for the walk down to Center City.   Grant has on the same jacket he's worn since the fall.  He's not even wearing a hat." 

(This quote is from an ARC and may appear differently in a finished copy).  

    But you get the picture.  I wanted her to describe their walk.  What are they seeing, smelling, hearing?  Describe how they're cold instead of telling me they're wearing jackets.  And the plot skips around a lot with random scenes like this and it all felt very choppy.  I feel mean writing that last paragraph, but I don't want to lie.  The writing didn't work for me.     

Suz from A Soul Unsung: 5 Stars Gabrielle from The Young Folks: 3.5 Stars

Number of Pgs.: 354

Publication date: May 1, 2012

Publisher: Abrams
Genre: YA, Supernatural, Steampunk

How I got the copy: ARCycling

Rating:  2 stars

From Goodreads:

This dark and thrilling adventure, with an unforgettable heroine, will captivate fans of steampunk, fantasy, and romance.
On her 18th birthday, Lena Mattacascar decides to search for her father, who disappeared into the northern wilderness of Scree when Lena was young. Scree is inhabited by Peculiars, people whose unusual characteristics make them unacceptable to modern society. Lena wonders if her father is the source of her own extraordinary characteristics and if she, too, is Peculiar. On the train she meets a young librarian, Jimson Quiggley, who is traveling to a town on the edge of Scree to work in the home and library of the inventor Mr. Beasley. The train is stopped by men being chased by the handsome young marshal Thomas Saltre. When Saltre learns who Lena’s father is, he convinces her to spy on Mr. Beasley and the strange folk who disappear into his home, Zephyr House. A daring escape in an aerocopter leads Lena into the wilds of Scree to confront her deepest fears.

Plot: 3/10

Characters: 3/10

Setting: 6/10

Pacing: 2/10

Style: 5/10

Cover:  This isn't the cover on the ARC that I received.  But I like this cover.  I'm just a little confused why the main character isn't on it.  But regardless it's pretty.

19+50=69 (2 Stars)

Please don't throw stones at me, but this is my lowest rated book ever I think.  If I hadn't received it from ARCycling I  might have DNFed it.  It's not that it was bad persay, it just didn't have any of the elements that I personally enjoy in a book.  I like lots of romance in my books and while there was a little flame of love beginning in this book it was set on the back burner the entire time.  I wanted more chemistry and more flirting (although I do get that back in that time period flirting was more understated).

I also like first person narrative and find it hard to connect to characters when it's not. This was in third and I just didn't care what happened to the characters at all.  When bad things happened to Lena it didn't bother me.  And a lot of that was because she didn't think things through before she did them so I thought she kind of deserved it.  Her long fingers with extra joints creeped me out too.  Jimson was cute, but he didn't have much depth.  I thought he'd have more of a back story.  I liked Mr. Beasley and his quirks like his drawn on eyebrows.  There were a few parts in first person, but they felt random and didn't really add to the story.

This story reminded me a lot of The Madman's Daughter (which I loved) so I'm not sure why I didn't like this as much.  Maybe it was the steampunk era I wasn't digging.  I've only read a handful of Historical Fiction books so I don't have much to compare it to.  I just felt the plot didn't really go anywhere.  It was slightly predictable as well.  The flying coach seemed a little unrealistic, but I guess it's fiction so it's supposed to be unrealistic?

The things I liked?  I liked that it felt like it was back in the 1800's.  The author did a great job world building and describing Lena's surroundings. I liked the library she works in at Mr. Beasley's house and wish I could see all his inventions.

Would I recommend this book?  Probably not, but if you like steampunk you might want to check it out and decide for yourself.

“It's not your family who defines you; they're an influence, all right, but they don't have the final say. We answer for that ourselves.” 
― Maureen Doyle McQuerry, The Peculiars