Waiting on Wednesday: The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Waiting on Wednesday recognizes that we as bookies pine for books. This post is about what I am impatiently waiting for right now. It was started by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

This week I'm very intrigued by the November 5 release of The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. I've read the first book in her Raised by Wolves series & liked it. Her writing style works for my reading preference; but that's not what interests me with regard to this book. The cover is awesome, but the content is riveting. I've been on a reading path recently of these types of books & this one sounds perfect for my current reading mood.

Seventeen-year-old Cassie is a natural at reading people. Piecing together the tiniest details, she can tell you who you are and what you want. But it’s not a skill that she’s ever taken seriously. That is, until the FBI come knocking: they’ve begun a classified program that uses exceptional teenagers to crack infamous cold cases, and they need Cassie.

What Cassie doesn’t realize is that there’s more at risk than a few unsolved homicides— especially when she’s sent to live with a group of teens whose gifts are as unusual as her own.

Sarcastic, privileged Michael has a knack for reading emotions, which he uses to get inside Cassie’s head—and under her skin. Brooding Dean shares Cassie’s gift for profiling, but keeps her at arm’s length.

Soon, it becomes clear that no one in the Naturals program is what they seem. And when a new killer strikes, danger looms closer than Cassie could ever have imagined. Caught in a lethal game of cat and mouse with a killer, the Naturals are going to have to use all of their gifts just to survive.

From Goodreads

This book has so many touches of several subgenres, predominately from science fiction, that I can't exactly pinpoint where it falls on the spectrum. What I do know is that I can't wait for November to hurry up & get here. Would it be wrong to ask for this as an anniversary present? :)

What are you waiting on this week?

Review: The Raven Boys by Maggie Steifvater

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

From Goodreads

As many of you know, I am a pretty big fan of Maggie Stiefvater. Her Mercy Falls trilogy was amazing & while I was disappointed with The Scorpio Races, I naturally had to try The Raven Boys. With all the hype surrounding this book, I was surprised to find myself underwhelmed. That's not to say I didn't like the book because I definitely did, I just didn't quite realize what kind of a book I was going to be reading.

To say that this is a puzzling book would be imprecise. It's not that the book is too complicated, it's really just a very busy book. There is constantly something going on, so much so that I felt like I was constantly being pulled in first one direction, and then another. Add in the changing points of view, which really added to the story, and the supernatural element, and you've got yourself one heck of a story. What it all boiled down to though were the character interactions & overlap. There were so many layers of connectivity that at times I felt like I could anticipate who was going to say something next or at the very least predict their reactions.

I will say this, Maggie does an incredible job handling the amount of information she throws at you. Since this is obviously going to be a series, there was some ground information that had to be laid out in order for us to move forward. These basic rules & guiding principles allow us to follow along the constantly twisting plot line. They become fundamental when dealing with the supernatural elements. While we're rooted in the real world, when you start messing with these elements, there need to be predetermined rules for how our world interacts with the "other". Maggie is able to break things apart & disperse them at pivotal intervals rather than dumping everything on you at once and expecting you to remember it all. This allowed me to progress through the book at a more leisurely pace while I processed just what all had taken place.

Unfortunately I had trouble really identifying with any of the characters. While I felt like I could predict their actions & reactions at times, I didn't feel any emotional connection to any of them. They actually seemed kind of flat to me; rather than being the multi-faceted characters I've come to expect, they felt kind of calculable. That may just be my perception & it didn't really effect my feelings about the book, it just made it a bit difficult to get through at times because there wasn't any "need to know" driving force.

Overall I'd say it was just okay. I'm not dying to read the next installment, but I figure I'll pick it up at some point in time. Am I alone in my assessment or does anyone else feel the same way?

Waiting on Wednesday: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Waiting on Wednesday recognizes that we as bookies pine for books. This post is about what I am impatiently waiting for right now. It was started by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

So if you've read this blog for any length of time (or even if you're newish around here) I'm pretty sure you know that I love Maggie Stiefvater's work. Her Wolves of Mercy Falls series swept my heart away & while I wasn't a fan of The Scorpio Races I still appreciated the writing & style. The Raven Boys set for a September 18th debut promises to fulfill my hopes for her new series. Check out the blurb.

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

From Goodreads

This just sounds amazing! It reminds me of the Gothic nature that  drew me in to Beautiful Creatures. I really hope that this is as rich a story as I'm envisioning in my head. There are so many possibilities left wide open by that blurb that I absolutely cannot wait until September!

What are you waiting on this week?

Waiting on Wednesday: Infamous (Chronicles of Nick #3) by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Waiting on Wednesday recognizes that we as bookies pine for books. This post is about what I am impatiently waiting for right now. It was started by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

While I am still growing to like her style of writing for adults, Sherrilyn Kenyon has definitely won me over with her YA series the Chronicles of Nick. It all started with Infinity & continued in Invincible. Now we're on to Infamous (obviously the 3rd installment) to be released March 13th. I love when I can say that a blurb ISN'T spoilery at all!! This one gives a glimpse into what Nick has learned in the first two novels without telling you much, just enough to leave you wanting to know more! Check it out.

Go to school. Get good grades. Stay out of trouble. That’s the mandate for most kids. But Nick Gautier isn’t the average teenager. He’s a boy with a destiny not even he fully understands. And his first mandate is to stay alive while everyone, even his own father, tries to kill him.

He’s learned to annihilate zombies and raise the dead, divination and clairvoyance, so why is learning to drive such a difficulty? But that isn’t the primary skill he has to master. Survival is.

And in order to survive, his next lesson makes all the others pale in comparison. He is on the brink of becoming either the greatest hero mankind has ever known.

Or he’ll be the one who ends the world. With enemies new and old gathering forces, he will have to call on every part of himself to fight or he’ll lose everyone he cares about.

Even himself.

From Goodreads

Getting rather excited over here! These are such breezy reads that I can enjoy in a weekend. Her writing style is mostly upbeat with some quirky characters adding hilarity to the story. All in all I'm ready to see what our boy is up to now.

What are you waiting on this week?

The Mark by Jen Nadol

If you have the ability to know someone is going to die within 24 hours, do you have to help? When sixteen-year-old Cassie finally pieces together that the fuzzy, light glow around people is the mark of death, she doesn't really know what to do about it. She lives in fear of it because she feels powerless to stop it. Orphaned as a toddler, she has lived in rural Pennsylvania her whole life with Nan, her maternal grandmother. While Cassie's had a fairly normal childhood, her easy going time is cut short when one day she sees the mark on Nan. Nan has always believed Cassie about the mark and decides to accept her fate.

After Nan's death, Cassie learns that in order to obtain the large sum that Nan has stored for her, she must go back to Bering, Kansas (where she was born and her parents died) and live with her estranged aunt for 90 days. This is obviously a total shock to Cassie. She's got her friend Tasha and the ever-present and gorgeous Jack to keep her company, why should she go somewhere she's never been, to live with a woman she's never met, just to satisfy some legal mumbo-jumbo? Either way, Cassie decides to look at it as an opportunity and goes ahead.

Bering, Kansas is a college town and Cassie quickly finds things to occupy her time. She obtains a job at the local coffee nook Cuppa, takes a Philosophy 101 class as an audit student, and fills her extra hours with Lucas, the TA from her class. As the summer continues on, Cassie starts to see more and more marks. At Lucas's prodding she tries to warm some of them, with varying results. Confused, hurt, and very lost, Cassie stumbles upon a bit of truth that changes her whole outlook and her future.

This was an interesting book. It reminded me of Numbers by Rachel Ward, only Cassie didn't have to see everyone's death date. Cassie just had to know that there was only one chance to let them know that they wouldn't survive the day. It posed an fascinating dilemma that I found myself debating, about the responsibility of this power. In general I found Cassie to be a mostly likable character, although she seemed a bit childish at times. I really found that she grew on me as her character developed and she stood on her own in Kansas.

The guys in the novel were a little too pushy for my tastes and very obviously macho, but you never really get to know them. I kind of would have liked to see more of the personal side of Lucas and Cassie's relationship. We kind of just got to know them as almost anyone who ever saw them would have. It would have been preferable to see them in a more intimate manner (growing up stories, family stories, really describing a daily scene, etc).

The story really didn't seem to be going much of anywhere, at least no where visible, until Cassie went to Kansas. I really think her time spent there was what made up my mind to like the book as a whole. She was so out of her element and on her own that it really made me appreciate what was going on more. It's not too fast and not too slow, really a short read. Take a chance on it!

Beautiful Dead: Jonas by Eden Maguire

Darina is seeing ghosts. Literally. Her recently deceased boyfriend Phoenix is following her around. The doctors say it's normal to see someone you love, who has recently died, in places that you associate with them. So why does she see him where he has no business being?

Darina stumbled upon the old farmhouse while out for a drive to clear her head. Not only does she find Phoenix there, but she also finds the three other kids form their high school who have died this year and a few others. They are the "Beautiful Dead." These people have unresolved issues and have been chosen to come back, with phenomenal powers, for one year to clear any misgivings they have with the human world.

Unfortunately, the "Beautiful Dead" cannot do their work on their own. They have chosen to have Darina as their contact with the human world. She will be their eyes and ears and search out the wrong-doings keeping them on Earth. First up is Jonas. He died in a motorcycle accident that they town has labeled as his fault. Jonas knows better and so does the other person who was on the bike at the time. Can Darina unlock the clues in the little amount of time she's allotted? What does it mean if she succeeds? And what will it cost should she fail?

This fast-paced novel was a roller coaster ride from beginning to end. Honestly, a girl who can see and talk to those beyond the land of the living sounds very mundane, but the powers that they have and the fact that she is still influenced by them is unique. The "Beautiful Dead" don't want to intentionally harm anyone, they simply want to conceal their existence so that they can get on with their work and move on with their deaths.

Darina is quite fascinating to me because of her unique position. Her deceased boyfriend is "living" still, at least for another year, but yet she has to function in the land of the living with someone tugging her heart strings. She may appear weak at times, but I can't imagine the strain that she is under dealing with her reality. Most of the other characters remind the reader of the small town mentality that is prevalent when dealing with supernatural elements. Yet some can still surprise you.

I am looking forward to the continuation of this series and the next mystery that Darina must solve.

Numbers by Rachel Ward

12152010. This is just one of a myriad of numbers that haunts 15 year old Jem. She has seen them since she was a child, but never put it together what those numbers meant until her mother died of an overdose and she watched the coroner put her death date down as the number she has seen her whole life in her mother's eyes. Since that time Jem has bounced from foster home to foster home, avoiding any kind of contact with anyone.

Until she met Spider. Just as his name suggests, this gangly and lanky guy is all arms and pure energy. She had seen him in class and around town, but a chance run-in gives them the opportunity to become better acquainted. Both of them have survived difficult upbringings, but their fortunes seem to stop there when both are suspended from school on related charges. As a result, these two find themselves with a day of togetherness. They decide to take a tour of London; lunch, minor shopping, and then a ride on the famous London Eye. Unfortunately it wasn't meant to be because Jem sees that everyone is line to ride has the same number, today's date. She instinctively knows that something's going to go horribly wrong. In the nick of time, she manages to convince Spider to run with her and then they never stop running.

They leave London that night because the police are looking for them. They are wanted for questioning in the terrorist attack on the Eye. Their escape is ill-fated as well, although they do manage to find each other along the way. Where they end up is nothing like either of them expected.

This books was absolutely riveting! I honestly couldn't put it down. Jem and Spider both have this magnetism that just drew me in right away. Jem was a really well-defined character. Her history and her "gift" explain a lot about her without the author having to spend too much time explaining the workings of her. Spider on the other hand is kind of a mystery; I'm guessing that's part of his allure. He's not nearly as defined, and pardon me if I read too much into this, but I think that is really displayed in the fact that he is almost always a physical blur from how much he moves. As the reader, we don't really need to know all that much about him, just the basics.

The plotline was very interesting. I could actually see a lot of it happening in real-life to these types of kids. There is a lot of cynicism from kids who have been in the system and I could totally see the desire to run from the police because there's no way that they would believe the young trouble-makers. Also, the fact that they never really thought much further ahead than the next few hours is a classic indicator of runaways. These bouts of reality grounded the story when it started going astray with more far-fetched ideas. It wasn't like anything in the story was hard to believe, it was just kind of obvious what was going to happen in certain points because it was the only way the story could go.

Overall I must say that I really enjoyed this book and was very intrigued by Jem's "gift" which is never really explained. I think it's better that way, because then there's no way to be "wrong" about explaining it. If you liked Graceling for the adventure, romance, and small amount of magic, then this book would be a great next step. After reading this review, what book comes to your mind?