Come one, come all!! Welcome to my review of Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles!

Gulping down the three books in the Perfect Chemistry series (Perfect Chemistry, Rules of Attraction and Chain Reaction), I still didn’t have enough. I loved Simone Elkeles, her writings style, and the way she built relationships between her characters. On my hunt for more, I learned that she had another series out called Leaving Paradise, which I was dying to get my hands on!

“Nothing has been the same since Caleb Becker left a party drunk, got behind the wheel, and hit Maggie Armstrong. Even after months of painful physical therapy, Maggie walks with a limp. Her social life is nil and a scholarship to study abroad—her chance to escape everyone and their pitying stares—has been canceled.

After a year in juvenile jail, Caleb’s free . . . if freedom means endless nagging from a transition coach and the prying eyes of the entire town. Coming home should feel good, but his family and ex-girlfriend seem like strangers.

Caleb and Maggie are outsiders, pigeon-holed as “criminal” and “freak.” Then the truth emerges about what really happened the night of the accident and, once again, everything changes. It’s a bleak and tortuous journey for Caleb and Maggie, yet they end up finding comfort and strength from a surprising source: each other.”

Leaving Paradise changes points of view in every chapter, going back and forth between the two main characters, Maggie and Caleb, which allowed the reader to really get into their heads, see what they’re thinking and learn what the truth is.

Having spent the last few months in juvenile prison, due to the accident, Caleb’s release day had finally arrived, but upon his arrival, nothing is the same. Not his sister, who has gone Goth and barely talks to him, his dad who doesn’t take the lead, nor his mom, who is doing drugs.

Just like Caleb, Maggie’s life has changed from a year ago. After months of being in the hospital and physical therapy, Maggie is finally out of her wheelchair and is able to walk again, but now with a limp.

Hearing that Caleb is back in town, Maggie starts to worry, and both try their best to avoid one another. But staying away from someone, who lives in the same small town, and goes to the same school, can be pretty hard to do.  Maggie and Caleb both start working for the same elderly lady; Maggie doing any housework that Ms Reynolds needs help with, and Caleb building her a gazebo in her backyard.

Spending so much time together, and having no one else to turn to with their pain, the two become very close, and two people who hated and blamed each, gradually come to have feelings for one another.

Simone Elkeles always has romantic twists for her characters as well as her readers. Instead of being “love at first sight”, its hate, common ground, and then finally love, which is what I really like about this series, and the Perfect Chemistry series. I feel that real love isn’t at first sight, it happens gradually over time.

Both Maggie and Caleb were easy to relate to, and down to earth. They act like normal teenagers would, especially in such a situation; they aren’t over dramatic, or too love-dovey, which is one of the biggest reasons why I enjoyed reading more and more about them.

The book does leave off with a little bit of a cliff-hanger, because Caleb has yet to confess the truth about the night of the accident, but it’s a great stepping stone into the second book, Return To Paradise!

The story was fantastic, the two main characters were perfect, and I absolutely loved the ending and the way things worked out for Maggie and Caleb! Overall the book was good, and finishing it up, I am excited to read Return To Paradise.

STARDUST: Gift Edition by Neil Gaiman

Tristran Thorn will do anything to win the cold heart of beautiful Victoria Forester—even fetch her the star they watch fall from the night sky. But to do so, he must enter the unexplored lands on the other side of the ancient wall that gives their tiny village its name. Beyond that stone barrier, Tristran learns, lies Faerie . . . and the most exhilarating adventure of the young man’s life.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman comes a tale of the dark and miraculous—a quest for true love and the utterly impossible.

Tristan, a young strong and determined man decides to win the heart of the fair, Victoria. To do that, he must cross the wall to get her a fallen star. This is a fairy tale story for adults, full of dark characters, some sexual relationships and a little cursing. The story pivots on Tristan showing his love for a girl by getting her a gift that she cannot refuse. His travels through the lands beyond the wall will not only test his true feelings for Victoria, but he will learn a truth about himself and his destiny.

Tristan Thorn, a naive and overly optimistic boy runs into the star-turned-girl, Yvaine. Yvaine has had a very rough landing. She’s in pain and kind of pissed off that she fell in the first place. Not only do several people desire her as their own, but she’s stuck with a young Tristan, a newcomer to the land. Together they have to endure many struggles before they can finally get back home.

This story is very imaginative, yet not as humorous as I suppose I was expecting. It has a darker fairy tale feel, closer to the Grimm Brothers than Disney. Although all aspects of the story work really well together, there are times when I wanted more from some characters. When the book came to a close, it certainly wasn’t with a happily ever after. It’s a very contemplative and melancholy ending, yet perfect for the characters in this tale.

William Morrow & Company has recently released the newest editions of this book both the special gift edition and the Signed Gift Edition. I received a copy of the gift edition which is has a gorgeous blue cloth cover with a gold stamped cover.

publisher: William Morrow & Company (October 30, 2012)

• Language: English
• ASIN: B00AU9CYZK

by Gregg Rosenblum Twenty years ago, the robots designed to fight our wars abandoned the battlefields. Then they turned their weapons on us.

Only a few escaped the robot revolution of 2071. Kevin, Nick, and Cass are lucky —they live with their parents in a secret human community in the woods. Then their village is detected and wiped out. Hopeful that other survivors have been captured by bots, the teens risk everything to save the only people they have left in the world—by infiltrating a city controlled by their greatest enemies.

Revolution 19 is a cinematic thriller unlike anything else. With a dynamic cast of characters, this surefire blockbuster has everything teen readers want—action, drama, mystery, and romance. Written by debut novelist Gregg Rosenblum, this gripping story shouldn’t be missed.

When Kevin, Nick and Cass were young, the adults worldwide were fighting wars using robots. The robots suddenly revolted against their commanders, and then upon all man-kind. They set up their own cities and put chips in the humans they chose to survive, re-educating them to fit into the society that the robots built. When Kevin, Nick and Cass’s guardians are taken by the robots to this city, they decide to go and rescue them.

The pacing of the novel is perfect. There is very little down time with the combination of several characters story-lines to follow. There is always something happening with each of them, giving the reader different angles to the story until they come together again. All the parts of the story are given to us as we read with no large info dumps and a good amount of dialogue. There are not many big or “wow” moments, but it’s constant and great for younger readers as well.

I haven’t read a book before where technology has completely taken over man-kind and is “retraining” them into a society that is suitable for them. I’ve seen mixtures of the two, but in this city, it’s the robots calling all the shots and handing out the punishment. I did find it interesting that the society they did build had similarities to our own, so it’s not very hard to imagine this happening.

This book is a good starter book for those that maybe nervous jumping into a futuristic, science fiction, robots world. It doesn’t contain a lot of uncomfortable events, and very little fighting. The story is pushed along by the main characters trying to outsmart the robots rather than physically overpowering them. I found it almost too easy for these kids to overpower them the way that they did. The main characters are stronger, more determined and strong willed than any of the adults and bots. It has a great storyline of personal empowerment and fighting for what’s right and not giving up.

Hardcover, 272 pages

Published January 8th 2013 by Harper Teen ISBN 0062125958 (ISBN13: 9780062125958)

Despite attending the same school, Jeane Smith and Michael Lee are worlds apart. She’s prickly, refuses to submit to or even acknowledge convention, and spends more time with her online friends than anyone at school. He’s captain of the football team and keeping on top of his grades at school while being a perfect son and older brother at home.

They have never had a proper conversation before but when Michael suspects that his girlfriend might be cheating with Jeane’s boyfriend, things change. Suddenly Jeane is meeting Michael’s family, Michael is following her online and they can’t seem to stop kissing one another.

Adorkable does not look like the kind of book that I would ever in a million years pick up, let alone buy. The picking up was not my fault; I work in a bookstore and on occasion I have to pick up all manner of odious books. The buying, however, was voluntary; and due largely to the fact that I wanted something super-fluffy for a trip to the coast.

I sort of got it; but also I sort of didn’t. Adorkable is an adorkably fluffy read with some seriously wonderful ideals underlying it. When Jeane calls herself a feminist on page ten, I realised that the novel probably wouldn’t make it down to the coast with me. And it didn’t; I read it before I went.

Though Adorkable mostly pivots around the two main characters, these characters are strong and dynamic enough to support the plot without the whole premise disintegrating around them. They are also surprisingly and refreshingly different; and chapters alternately written from both Michael and Jeane’s perspectives play up the contrast. Jeane is sarcastic, witty and used to fighting for everything she has; while Michael is even-tempered and used to things coming easily to him. Compelling back-stories make both characters easy to relate to and, when they fight, they both do and say some terrible things but it’s impossible to side with either of them.

Therein lies the magic of Manning’s writing. She doesn’t simplify things by showing only one facet of situations. She shows them as they are; messy, convoluted and complex. Where Michael and Jeane’s ex’s could have been written off as malicious plot-devices; Manning humanises them. Jeane still wants to be friends with her ex because she genuinely likes him as a person and, while Michael probably won’t be close friends with his, it’s more because they have little in common than anything else. Similarly, Jeane’s neglectful parents are humanised to a point where you feel more sympathy for them than anger towards them.

Adorkable is a larger than life and laugh out loud YA romance. What makes it stand out so superbly is that the characters push this story along; not the events around them. Don’t judge this book by its cover; the cover undersells what is actually a genuinely moving story.

Adorkable – Sarra Manning

Atom Books (May 24, 2012)

ISBN: 9781907411007

I finally got my slack behind around to reading this charming book. Actually I had to read book one, Wake, first so Lullaby would make sense. I suggest you do the same as this isn’t really a series forgiving enough to be able to pick up from anywhere. Definitely get your ducks in a row.

The story is told from 2 perspectives. Gemma is dealing with the fall out from Wake and Harper is picking up the pieces from back home (that’s as much as I can go into without massive spoilers).

There are a few things I adored about the Watersong books.

I like how Amanda Hocking approaches the idea of a family unit dealing with a loved one suffering from a brain injury. At no stage is there a truly harsh word spoken to their mother. I love how they cope in their own ways with the tragic nature of how the brain injury has affected the ‘normal’ family dynamic, and they make it work.

I found I was pleased that the character with the large tattoo on his back, Daniel, is pretty much just a regular guy. In most books I’ve read in the past, tattoos equated to a bad person. Someone who couldn’t be trusted and would sooner kick your grandmother than wish you a good morning. Daniel is a kind hearted, hard working, sweet, gentleman. Which probably more accurately represents the majority of people with tattoos.

Lastly the element of Lullaby I enjoyed the most was the road trip scene. Sure the guys were talking about Harper, but they were doing so in a respectful way. I think far too many times when two male characters are conversing about a love interest, the talk turns a tad lecherous and demeaning to the girl at the heart of their banter. Yay for women’s rights!

The one thing that had me a little ~scrunched face~ was the sudden psychic connection Harper and Gemma have for one moment in the book. I don’t recall it being there at any other stage and it was perhaps just a little too convenient to be a smooth addition to the mix. We will see how it is carried through into book 3, Tidal due out in June 2013.

This is a light read with the decent message of respecting your family, and very light on with the damsel in distress stuff. There’s romance, suspense and sirens/ evil mermaids. Sounds like the perfect summer read to me. Remember to pack it when you’re heading to the beach.

http://amandahocking.blogspot.com.au/

Paperback, 352 pages

Published December 6th 2012 by Tor (first published November 27th 2012)

ISBN 1447205731 (ISBN13: 9781447205739)