July Genreflecting: Giveaway: Solid by Shelley Workinger & Review: The Program by Suzanne Young

I apologize that this is posting late. I goofed when setting the scheduler. :) Enjoy!

In Sloane’s world, true feelings are forbidden, teen suicide is an epidemic, and the only solution is The Program.

Sloane knows better than to cry in front of anyone. With suicide now an international epidemic, one outburst could land her in The Program, the only proven course of treatment. Sloane’s parents have already lost one child; Sloane knows they’ll do anything to keep her alive. She also knows that everyone who’s been through The Program returns as a blank slate. Because their depression is gone—but so are their memories.

Under constant surveillance at home and at school, Sloane puts on a brave face and keeps her feelings buried as deep as she can. The only person Sloane can be herself with is James. He’s promised to keep them both safe and out of treatment, and Sloane knows their love is strong enough to withstand anything. But despite the promises they made to each other, it’s getting harder to hide the truth. They are both growing weaker. Depression is setting in. And The Program is coming for them.

From Goodreads

Depression & suicide are very common among teenagers. The tough transitional years seem to have a magnified effect on this population in particular; so much so that a few select states are piloting The Program to combat this terrible affliction. If teens begin exhibiting signs of depression, they can be whisked off to the secluded facility that will assist in their recovery. After a few weeks they can be reintegrated into society with a totally new outlook on life.

Sloane & her group have had a tough few months. It all started when her brother Brady committed suicide. Soon after that others started to be put in The Program. Unfortunately, they person that came out on the other side was barely even a shell of the person they were before treatment. With things crumbling all around her, Sloane wonders if she & boyfriend James can really hold it together. They just have to make it to age 18 & they'll be free. But life isn't very kind and Sloane finds herself fighting her family & friends for her love & her life.

This was an incredible book! Seriously, I don't think I've enjoyed a science-fiction book this much in a while. The story was riveting because you really had no idea what to expect next. There were so many possibilities & so much potential for things to change in a heartbeat that I was constantly on the edge of my seat. 

What stood out the most for me though was the timing of this book. Normally when you enter a story it's either before or after what we consider the "rising action," being the event or person who catapults the story forward. In The Program I felt like we were walking into the middle of the story, but in a good way. We didn't have to read through the uptick in teen suicide & The Program also isn't fully operational. This book is set in the testing phase & is catching on, so this is long before anyone can really analyze the outcomes of The Program. 

Sloane & James are broken people, but in an understandable way. Since any sign of emotion can be grounds for admission for depression, there is no safe outlet. Even sports have been taken away in case the competition was too much to handle. All these things are still being sorted out, so watching teens struggle with their new existence is very moving and relateable.

As a science fiction book it held true to the science portion. We get to see the inner workings of parts of The Program that are based in the neurological control of its victims. This is chemical brainwashing for the betterment of society. I could see this being the stepping stone for a society that eventually tries to control all emotions. It could relate to any number of other books or movies where the governing entity tries to control the responses of the population "for their own safety."

Even better are the "what if" scenarios that dance around in your mind. Would we really do this to our own teenagers? How can Sloane make it out of this situation? Is there any hope of survival? The moral compass is spinning out of control in this book & there is little hope of getting it back on track. Luckily this was the first in a series, so we'll see where the story goes in the next installment.

On to the fun part! This week I'm giving away a copy of Solid by Shelley Workinger. Remember that you must be at least 13 years old & have a US mailing address in order to enter. The giveaway will close on Friday, August 2. Good luck!
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Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry review

--"I won't tell anyone, Echo. I promise." Noah tucked a curl behind my ear. It had been so long since someone touched me like he did. Why did it have to be Noah Hutchins? His dark brown eyes shifted to my covered arms. "You didn't do that-did you? It was done to you?" No one ever asked that question. They stared. They whispered. They laughed. But they never asked.--

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal.

But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.

Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.

From Goodreads

Echo used to be as vibrant as her red hair is wild, until that fateful night. Now, almost two years later, she still can't remember what happened or why she is covered in hideous scars. What scares her more though is that she knows it involves her imbalanced mother & Echo is afraid she is becoming just like the woman she fears. Add on top of that her social outcast status & you've got a recipe for a miserable senior year of high school.

That is until the new social worker/counselor at school assigns her to tutor another student struggling with personal issues. Noah is the strong & silent type for the most part. After losing his parents, he also lost his little brothers to the same system that swallowed him up. With a string of nasty foster homes in his recent past Noah is determined to put his family back together by gaining custody of his brothers. In order to do that he needs to resemble a responsible adult, so excelling in school is on his to-do list.

The pair reluctantly circle one another & through several attempts and hits & misses they finally come together, but not at all how either of them pictured it.

This book absolutely stole my breath away. I found myself tearing through page after page in this story because I couldn't get enough of the characters. Katie McGarry has created such wonderful people & such a realistic world that I truly felt like I was living out the book myself. The humor was right on & the dialogue was very engaging. This was definitely a laugh out loud & cry alongside the characters kind of book.

While the basic plot isn't much new (you can't really create much new when you strip these things down to their bare bones) the layers of story that she creates around it are what make the book well worth reading. Echo & Noah are so dynamic & multifaceted that they continued to surprise me with their actions & motivations. You don't go into this story knowing everything. You have to earn your stripes for the appropriate knowledge right alongside each character. Even more entrancing was the situations in which we find the characters. Love & loss are two intertwined emotions in this book & both Echo & Noah do a fabulous job working their way through them.

Wit, humor & humility are such wonderful components of this story that I cannot convey through words. Even better though, these two main characters (along with their supporting cast) give a face to the difficult decisions that many people face. Some of these are mega decisions & some of them are more passive decisions, but all of them affect how the character is shaped.

Easily one of the best books of 2012, I strongly recommend you read Pushing the Limits. Simone Elkeles, Jennifer Echols & even Sarah Dessen fans can totally relate to this book & I hope you all enjoy it as much as  I did. I leave you with 2 quotes from the book.

"Noah had muscles, looks and trouble stalking him. Somehow, he made jeans and a T-shirt look dangerous."

"Luke used to give me butterflies. Noah spawned mutant Pterodactyls."

-Both quotes are from the ARC which was graciously provided by Around the World Tours

Perfect by Ellen Hopkins review

Everyone has something, someone, somewhere else that they’d rather be. For four high-school seniors, their goals of perfection are just as different as the paths they take to get there. Cara’s parents’ unrealistic expectations have already sent her twin brother Conner spiraling toward suicide. For her, perfect means rejecting their ideals to take a chance on a new kind of love. Kendra covets the perfect face and body—no matter what surgeries and drugs she needs to get there. To score his perfect home run—on the field and off—Sean will sacrifice more than he can ever win back. And Andre realizes that to follow his heart and achieve his perfect performance, he’ll be living a life his ancestors would never have understood. Everyone wants to be perfect, but when perfection loses its meaning, how far will you go? What would you give up to be perfect? A riveting and startling companion to the bestselling Impulse, Ellen Hopkins's Perfect exposes the harsh truths about what it takes to grow up and grow into our own skins, our own selves.

From Goodreads

This is a companion novel to Impulse & while not necessary to read that one first, it might help some of the relationships presented here make more sense. Just food for thought. :)

These characters overlap all over the place. Cara is the twin sister of Conner (the gunshot suicide attemptee in Impulse) who has her own issues with her perfection-demanding parents & a desperately needy boyfriend. None of that matters to her though when she realizes that what she really needs is to accept herself & forget everyone else who has tried to mold her into their ideal.

Kendra is the girlfriend that Conner dumped & made look like a fool because he was getting it from every woman he could find. She's got it stuck in her head that had she been a perfect enough model that he wouldn't have strayed, so she's taking serious risks in multiple ways to ensure her "future happiness".

Sean is the desperately needy boyfriend of Cara who has their whole future planned out together. He's even basing his college plans on hers & trying to ensure their success by juicing himself into oblivion. Too bad it costs him way more than he bargained for.

Finally we come to Andre who is the son of Kendra's plastic surgeon & the on-again, off-again boyfriend of Kendra's substance-abusing younger sister. He's hiding what he truly desires to do because of what his parents expect of him.

All of this leads to a lot of confusion on the reader's part. As a companion novel I was hoping to see more of the original cast members than in just the final few "chapters" of the book. Worse though was the fact that I felt like I needed a graph to keep up with who was with whom & which person was related to someone else. Needless to say for as little action as seemed to take place, this book had a lot going on.

Enough of the negative though. Ellen Hopkins' poetry has yet to cease amazing me. Her word choice & placement allows the reader to really empathize with the characters in a whole new way. While there was less of an official "poetry fell" to the work this time, the essence was still there. My favorite part of her writing definitely has to be the "hidden" messages in her chapter introductory poems. I always wanted to read those first to see what the character was really trying to say.

The story could be hard to follow at times, but the ending made it worth it. Nothing was tied up in a pretty bow and I think that was the point. None of the issues presented in this book are easily solved & she doesn't sugar-coat that fact. Her books are always a nice dose of reality. There are hard things in this world that everyone is struggling with & teenagers are no exception. If you're a fan, read on. If you haven't enjoyed her work before I strongly suggest starting with Burned or Identical first. I think those are my favorite books so far of those she has written.

A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford

Everyone has choices to make and those surrounding your heart's desires are some of the most difficult choices of all.

Eden honestly never expected to fall for anyone like she fell for Az. He was just so much more than she ever thought possible. He's kind, understanding, soothing, firey & entrancing all at once. It's all golden until he reveals his true nature... and his wings. Az is one of the fallen angels. He constantly struggles with his punishment & Eden is just a part of that struggle.

When Eden has to face a reality without Az, she takes matters into her own hands & gives up her life to the ocean. So begins Eden's perpetual state of limbo in the centuries' old battle for angelic control between heaven & hell. Now she must navigate a new world where she's unsure who she can trust & face the dire magnitude of her decisions. To love or not... if only it were that easy.

I have to say that this was a very interesting book. While I've enjoyed other angelic fiction books that have been written of late, this one seemed to strike a cord with me. It's one thing to fall in love with a fallen angel & another thing entirely to commit suicide over him & be forced into a battle that you have no real knowledge of.

Eden was quite a compelling character. I really felt like I understood her struggles & emotions while she was tossing about in the chaos of her new "life." Intense would be the best way to describe what she was going through & I think Leah Clifford really got that through to the reader without using heavy-handed phrasing. Also, the mythology behind why Eden became what she did & what her place was in the fight was very fascinating.

While at times I felt that this book was overly dramatic (I blame the hormones that are coursing though ALL the characters), it flowed well with the story. Truly, if you're looking for a provocative angelic read, then this is your go to book. Bravo!

Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

To lighten what will surely be a heavy post, a quote a great 80's movie, "Teenage suicide, DON'T DO IT!" (Brownie points and kudos to you if you get the reference. If you don't, click here.)

Vanessa, Tony, & Conner meet in a very unlikely place for teens to be. They meet at Aspen Springs, a private psych hospital, because they all tried to off themselves. There are lots of other teens here just like them, but these three manage to form a sort of bond even with gender separation and so many regulations it makes their heads spin.

Their stories unfold in an alternating narrative that Hopkins uses a lot in her prose-written stories.

Vanessa is a stresser. She stresses out about lots of stuff, big and little. In order to help manage her anxiety level, she has become a habitual cutter who slices her self open to deal with her troubles. The release is so intense that Vanessa forgets to worry about crazy mother, MIA father, and the secret deed that haunts her to this day. Unfortunately, this last time she cut too deep and her misery and pain flowed out so much that she almost died. It was almost a peaceful and easy death, except that her little brother walked in. Now Vanessa has to face reality and find a new way to deal with what life throws at her.

Tony never had the stability that other kids complain about. His life was a revolving door of his mother's latest loser boyfriend. The last loser was the worst of all. He ruined Tony's sense of self and forced him down a dark path. Finally tired of selling himself to get his fix and wanting to sleep through the memories of a tumultuous childhood, he took a bottle of pills. Sadly, they didn't do the trick and now Tony must come to terms with his place in life and chose his path.

Conner just couldn't hack it with his family, the pressure of performance, and his failed love life. The push to do better and be better finally got to him when it was uncovered that "the love of his life" did not have the same feelings for him. As a last act of defiance, he blew a rather large hole in his chest. The physical hole was patched up by a top notch medical team, but Conner finds himself at Aspen Springs dealing with the emotional hole that is left behind.

Each has their own story to tell and each struggles through their treatment. Through it all, they share a part of themselves with each other and find the courage to take the next leap; only not everyone lands safely on their feet.

Another fast-paced novel from the master craftswoman Ellen Hopkins, Impulse is aptly named. Suicide really is like an impulse that takes control and makes people want to inflict harm on themselves. Hopkins comes through with a breath-taking way of dealing with the issue and isn't afraid to let the true grit shine through. Her characters are quite diverse and represent a pretty good range of the almost 5,000 teens who commit suicide every year.* It is almost eerie to find that you as the reader might share some common attributes with these tormented characters. Vanessa, Troy, & Conner will break your heart, but will move forward with you in tow. An agonizing and harrowing read, Impulse is not for the faint of heart.

If you or someone you know is depressed or considering suicide, please call the numbers below. Remember that there are people who love you and want to help you. You are not alone and you can move forward.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255)
Hopeline: 1-800-442-HOPE (1-800-442-4673)
There is also a listing of specific types of hotlines here. Postpartum (after a child's birth), veterans, teens and more can find specific help at those numbers.

All numbers are for the US, but the websites can point you in the right direction for international numbers as well. Be safe.

*Source