Wanderlove: Review

Title: Wanderlove

Author: Kirsten Hubbard

Release Date: March 2012

Published By: Delacorte

Pages: 335

Goodreads Rating: 4.36 stars

Review: 18-year-old Bria signs up for a guided tour in Central America in hopes of discovering herself, but she finds herself stuck with middle-aged people in fannypacks. Soon, though, she meets intoxicating backpacker Rowan, and joins him off the beaten path. As they travel through Mayan villages and remote islands, she realizes that both of them are seeking to escape a past, but the more she tries to look forward, the more she knows that sometimes you have to look back.

Whether you love travel or prefer to stay at home, WANDERLOVE is a lush and gorgeous novel that anyone can enjoy. Although backpacking elements are of course explored and discussed at great length, the story goes beyond that and has a certain resonation that lends a universal quality to it. Emotion is infused with the characters and plot so that every feeling is projected straight from Bria to the reader as she struggles to find herself and perhaps something more.

An intriguing aspect of this novel were the pictures, drawn by the author, that were sprinkled throughout the book. They were lovely and perfectly fit the story, complementing the beautiful prose and adding a hidden dimension to it. These, combined with the larger-than-life characters and the complex intertwining of subplots, lead to a story that is at once wild, carefree, and laden with reality.

While WANDERLOVE lacked the gripping quality of Kirsten Hubbard's debut novel, Like Mandarin, it told a story that was brimming with exotic locales, an enviable romance, and self-discovery, all with an air of authenticity stemming from the author's personal experience. This is adventure, love, and perspective, wrapped up in a small but rewarding package, and not one to be skipped over.


I received a free copy of this book for review. This is no way affected my review.

2012 Debut Author Challenge

All right, so I sort of failed the 2011 DAC, but 2012 will be different! I'm ready to give this another try, and so here's my list for the 2012 DAC:

1. Incarnate by Jodi Meadows
2. Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
3. Above by Leah Bobet
4. Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood
5. Tempest by Julie Cross
6. Love and Leftovers by Sarah Tregay
7. Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone by Kat Rosenfield
8. Slide by Jill Hathaway
9. Where It Began by Ann Stampler
10. Struck by Jennifer Bosworth
11. The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenberg
12. The Other Life by Susanne Winnacker
13. When the Sea is Rising Red by Cat Hellisen
14. The Vicious Deep by Zoraida Cordova
15. Breaking Beautiful by Jennifer Wolf
16. What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang
17. Harbringer by Sarah Etienne
18. Shooting Stars by Allison Rushby
19. Cracked by K. M. Walton
20. What She Left Behind by Tracy Bilen
21. Trafficked by Kim Purcell
22. Everything You Need to Survive the Apocalypse by Lucas Klauss
23. The International Kissing Club by Ivy Adams
24. The Stalker Chronicles by Carley Moore

Shut Out: Review

Title: Shut Out

Author: Kody Keplinger

Release Date: September 2011

Published By: Poppy

Pages: 273
Goodreads Rating: 3.79 stars

Review: Lissa is sick of the rivalry between her school's football and soccer teams, especially because Randy, the quarterback and her boyfriend, always chooses to fight and do stupid things over her. She decides to take matters into her own hands by getting all the other players' girlfriends to withhold sex until the teams make peace. But what ensues is an all out boys-vs-girls war, with one element Lissa could never have expected: the leader of the boys, Cash Sterling.

I was a big fan of the author's first novel, The DUFF, and so I built up high expectations for this one, and that may be why I was mostly disappointed with SHUT OUT. Honestly, I liked it and overall I enjoyed reading it, but it wasn't as good as I hoped it would be and there were definitely some flaws I found in it.

One of these aspects that bothered me was the character development. Lissa started off fairly relatable and likeable, but as time went on, I became irritated with her obsession with winning the war at all costs. It felt over-the-top dramatic, and her blindness towards how bad of a boyfriend Randy was made me want to shake her at points.

As for Cash, I don't have anything specific against him, and that's partly where the problem lies. He was a decent love interest despite his made-for-romance name, but I felt like I just never got to know him and what he was like. He definitely had a personality and didn't feel like a one-dimensional character, but it seemed like there were sides of him we didn't get to see.

The themes on the other hand were very fleshed out, and perhaps too much. I'm all for learning about sex in a healthy way, and I agree with the lessons Keplinger showed through the novel, but many of them felt basic and a bit repetitive, covering all the bases (e.g. it's okay to have lots of sex, it's okay to have no sex, it's okay to like it, it's okay not to, etc.). Most likely, I found these lessons a little tedious because I already know them.

I do want to emphasize again that I did like this book. There were some characterization quibbles and I felt the theme bordered on preachy, but the plot itself was engrossing and there were many parts where I had difficulty putting down the novel. I would still recommend SHUT OUT to fans of the author's first novel as well as to younger readers who have had little exposure to this sort of topic.


I received a free copy of this book from the publisher for review. This in no way affected my review.

The Locket: Review

Title: The Locket

Author: Stacey Jay

Release Date: February 2011

Published By: Razorbill

Pages: 288

Goodreads Rating: 3.73 stars

Review: When Katie's boyfriend Isaac discovers that she kissed their best friend Mitch, he dumps her and leaves her devastated. But then a miracle happens and her locket takes her back to the night she cheated on him. At first she's thrilled to be able to prevent her mistakes, but as more and more aspects of her life change for the worse, she starts to wonder if this truly was a miracle... and if it's too late to fix the new damage.

I was a little wary of starting THE LOCKET because of some less-than-favorable reviews I read, but to my surprise, this book was rather addicting and very difficult to put down. There was an easiness in the narration that made you feel like you could sit down and just read this book straight through to the end all at once.

Of course, it wasn't just the voice that kept me turning pages. The plot itself was intriguing, and I was both horrified and fascinated by the situations Katie kept finding herself in, all because of the locket. It was incredible to see how quickly and horribly everything could all go awry, and I definitely didn't anticipate some of the events that occurred.

One thing I was particularly worried about going in was how the plot idea itself is rather clichéd, and there was a lot of room for the author to potentially bash the readers on the head with Great Life Lessons about atoning for mistakes and recognizing if you have a jerk boyfriend. Luckily, in this case, the story was executed very well and uniquely and there wasn't even a hint of moral-preaching going on.

However, while I largely enjoyed the book and the ending, I was bothered quite a bit by the resolution. The way everything worked out was fine, but I hated that [mild spoiler ahead] after all that happened, Katie was able to get rid of the locket and thus all her new problems by simply hacking it off. I mean, really? Couldn't she have done that a billion times earlier in the book and saved all that trouble? It would have made more sense if there was some way to remove it that she could only do at that point in time.

All in all, though, THE LOCKET was the kind of gripping novel that you look forward to picking up all through the day. It had the potential to be predictable and unoriginal, but the author executed it in such a way that it was original and fascinating, and a variety of interesting themes were explored without coming across as too preachy. Anyone who enjoys contemporary fiction with a fantastical twist should definitely check this out!