I am not ashamed to read YA, but I do admit that I am ashamed to read YA books that have covers featuring, for example, a girl and a guy with their lips glued together, or covers that look like they are meant to appeal to four-year-olds.
In general, when I'm reading a book with an embarrassing book cover like that, I just don't take it out in public. I'll read it at home, and when I want to bring a book with me somewhere, I just grab another one.
However, some people I know aren't afraid to walk around with their books, no matter how odd or embarrassing the covers are. I admire the bravery but unfortunately, I lack the courage to do so.
So what do you do with embarrassing book covers?
Some Girls Are: Review
Title: Some Girls Are
Author: Courtney Summers
Release Date: January 2010
Published By: St. Martin's Griffin
Pages: 246
Goodreads Rating: 4.07 stars
Review: Regina used to be part of the all-girl clique that ruled the school until rumors about her and the queen bee's boyfriend started spreading around. Now she's fallen to the bottom of the social ladder with only fellow misfit Michael Hayden as a friend - except he doesn't think of her as even that while she feels something more for him. But can anything even happen between them before her ex-best friends break them both?
Be honest: that summary doesn't sound really appealing, does it? It seems like a regurgitated plot formula spat out of every chick lit book ever and almost overflowing with cliches and unoriginality. A clique? The "Fearsome Fivesome"? Fallen queen bee? Romance with an outcast? Check, check, check, and check. And yet, even though this sounds like it's shaping up to be a stale book with a terrible plot and boring characters, we're forgetting one thing: SOME GIRLS ARE was written by Courtney Summers.
And everything she writes is a masterpiece. This book is no exception. I don't know how she does it, but each word that comes from her fingers is beautiful and lovely and sad. I found myself fully empathizing with Regina's situation, and Summers' words weaved a net around me that kept me completely entranced in the story. Every time I put the book down, I still felt a hollow ache in my chest for the characters and couldn't wait to pick the book back up again.
The plot sounds almost superficial, yet this book was anything but. The bullying going on was horrifying and raw, because while everything going on was so bad as to almost be unbelievable, there was an air of reality about it. You know as you read it that things like this can and do happen in real life.
SOME GIRLS ARE is a paragon of raw, painful, and beautiful contemporary YA. It's pretty much impossible to pick up this book without getting completely sucked in for as long as it takes to finish, because even though it hurts to read, you just can't put it down. The ending was a bit on the weak side, but the strength of the rest of the book more than makes up for it. If you're a fan of Courtney Summers or just never got started on her books, this is for you.
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Harry Potter Puns
Recently, I've been seeing a lot of Harry Potter puns that are both hilarious and painful... or I guess you could say, Harry-iously painful! Okay, sorry, that was really bad. But here are the top five HP puns I've seen!
Which of these are your favorites? Do you know any great ones?
Partials: Review
Title: Partials
Author: Dan Wells
Release Date: February 2012
Published By: HarperTeen
Pages: 472
Goodreads Rating: 4.14 stars
Review: After a war with Partials - engineered beings that look just like humans - the human race is nearly extinct with only vestiges of previous technology left. And the worst part? Every child born dies within days from RM, a virus strain released by the Partials. Sixteen-year-old Kira, a medic at the front lines of the battle, makes a desperate decision, and in the process, discovers a connection between humans and Partials that has been forgotten - or perhaps never known about at all.
Like many dystopian novels, PARTIALS is part (pun not intended) thrilling adventure, part budding romance, part societal issues, and of course, part of a series. Some people mentioned similarities between Hunger Games and this novel, and while I do agree that this book includes many elements of other dystopians, that doesn't mean it lacks originality. This is a solidly developed novel with excellent writing and a vivid cast of characters.
Although this book explored ideas like the Hope Act, a law passed that requires women sixteen years old and up to be pretty much constantly pregnant in order to increase the chances of a RM-immune baby, much of it was packed with heart-racing action. There were bombs, battles, and nerve-wracking missions, and all of it was executed very well. In multiple places, I found myself unable to even put the book down because I had to know what would happen next.
If there was one aspect that I didn't like, though, it would probably be the extent of the development of Kira's relationships with people, especially with her boyfriend Marcus. It sounded like they were deeply in love in the past but there was no explanation as to why she was so ambivalent towards them now. To me, this seems like an important plot point and I wish it was explored to more depth.
All in all, PARTIALS is a well-written dystopian novel that, while borrowing some elements from other dystopians, has some original plot points to it. The intercharacter relationships could have been developed a lot more, but the ending wrapped up the story nicely while still leaving room open for future novels to come. I look forward to reading the next book in the series!
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I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. This in no way affected my review.
