Review: The Fire Horse Girl by Kay Honeyman

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The Fire Horse Girl
by Kay Honeyman
Published January 2013
Source: Borrowed
Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary from Goodreads: A fiery and romantic adventure, perfect for fans of Grace Lin, Kristen Cashore, or Lisa See!

Jade Moon is a Fire Horse -- the worst sign in the Chinese zodiac for girls, said to make them stubborn, willful, and far too imaginative. But while her family despairs of marrying her off, she has a passionate heart and powerful dreams, and wants only to find a way to make them come true.

Then a young man named Sterling Promise comes to their village to offer Jade Moon and her father a chance to go to America. While Sterling Promise's smooth manners couldn't be more different from her own impulsive nature, Jade Moon falls in love with him on the long voyage. But America in 1923 doesn't want to admit many Chinese, and when they are detained at Angel Island, the "Ellis Island of the West," she discovers a betrayal that destroys all her dreams. To get into America, much less survive there, Jade Moon will have to use all her stubbornness and will to break a new path . . . one as brave and dangerous as only a Fire Horse girl can imagine.

Historical fiction has always intrigued me. There's something almost fantastical about the way it is a story about a different version of the world we live in now. And it's a heck of a lot more fun than a textbook. Sometimes, the historical setting overwhelms the story and characters, but not in The Fire Horse Girl.

It's the 1920s, and China is decades behind the United States in terms of development. Jade Moon was born in the year of the Fire Horse, meaning that she is not the docile and obedient girl desired by her father. She longs to make her family proud, but can't control her fiery personality. When her father accepts a proposition to go to America and decides to bring Jade Moon with him and a young man named Sterling Promise, she is over the moon. Maybe in America she will finally find her place. But the journey to America is not as easy as she imagined, and her path isn't as clear as she once thought.

I adored The Fire Horse Girl. It is pretty sad  I haven't seen very much about it around the blog-o-sphere, because it deserves a lot of attention. It's rich in historical detail, characterization, and heart. I learned a lot about the Chinese culture and both China and America in the 1920s, but I didn't even realize it.

The absolute best thing about this book was the characterization. Though I didn't always agree with what Jade Moon did or said (I am probably the opposite of a Fire Horse Girl, I kept wanting to tell her to keep her mouth shut and not make trouble) I understood her motivations. She had hopes and dreams that are applicable to anyone, at any period in history, and that made her easy to connect to. Honeyman also wrote the secondary characters really well, but always through Jade Moon's eyes.

The plot of The Fire Horse Girl moved at a great pace, almost in three different parts. I enjoyed seeing Jade Moon's development while also learning some things about America's past that I hadn't known before. The pace was a bit slow in the beginning, but it wasn't long before I was fully invested in the story.

Though there is a little bit of romance, it certainly wasn't the focus of the story. It served to be just another way to show Jade Moon's development throughout the book. I loved how Honeyman included many different perspectives on love, its purpose, and its consequences throughout the novel. She had some great insights and really made me thing about things.

The Fire Horse Girl is a great novel about finding your own path in life, no matter what you think your destiny is. Honeyman paints a rich and detailed picture of life for Chinese immigrants in the 1920s, and though some parts may be a little unrealistic, the growth of Jade Moon is completely believable. I suggest anyone who is a fan of historical fiction pick it up.

Note: I also have to point out that I love love love the cover. It features an Asian girl head on, and that's just fantastic. 

Review: Gorgeous by Paul Rudnick

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Gorgeous
by Paul Rudnick
Published April 2013
Source: Borrowed
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 

Summary from Goodreads: When eighteen-year-old Becky Randle’s mother dies, she’s summoned from her Missouri trailer park to meet Tom Kelly, the world’s top designer. He makes her an impossible offer: He’ll create three dresses to transform Becky from a nothing special girl into the most beautiful woman who ever lived.

Becky thinks Tom is a lunatic, or that he’s producing a hidden camera show called World’s Most Gullible Poor People. But she accepts, and she’s remade as Rebecca. When Becky looks in the mirror, she sees herself – an awkward mess of split ends and cankles. But when anyone else looks at Becky, they see pure five-alarm hotness.

Soon Rebecca is on the cover of Vogue, the new Hollywood darling, and dating celebrities. Then Becky meets Prince Gregory, heir to the British throne, and everything starts to crumble. Because Rebecca aside, Becky loves him. But to love her back, Gregory would have to look past the blinding Rebecca to see the real girl inside. And Becky knows there’s not enough magic in the world.

A screamingly defiant, hugely naughty, and impossibly fun free fall past the cat walks, the red carpets, and even the halls of Buckingham Palace, Gorgeous does the impossible: It makes you see yourself clearly for the first time.

Gorgeous was on my radar as soon as I saw Meg Cabot's glowing endorsement. Being a long time fan of all things Meg Cabot touches, I was sure I would fall in love with this book. Unfortunately, it fell short for me.

First: what I liked. Gorgeous is a book with its heart in the right place. The underlying message is that outside beauty is never as important as inside. Even if you are the most beautiful woman in the world, it won't solve all of your problems. Rudnick delivers this age old message in a new and unique way. The magical elements were fun and the sattire was funny, but it never distracted from the message.

Satire isn't really my thing. I've found that the characters often suffer from the efforts taken to both deliver the underlying message and make a statement about our society. Gorgeous was no exception. I just couldn't connect to the characters on the level I would have liked to. Too many felt very superficial and lacked depth. Only Becky and her best friend Rocher actually felt real enough for me to like them.

I also had a problem with the way Rudnick incorporated Becky's mom. We don't get to know her very well before the whole adventure begins, only some superficial details about her celebrity obsession and how nice of a person she was. This bothered me because Becky does everything because of and for her mom. I would have like a bit more of her and Becky's relationship so I could better understand Becky's motivations. We learn more and more about her mother's past throughout the book, but I never got to a point where I felt l understood who she was.

Gorgeous is a great book for those who like satire. There were some things that I found really funny while reading, because they were so true about our celebrity obsessed society. Unfortunately, the characters weren't developed enough for me to really love this novel. If you're looking for a book with heart that will make you think about how we view beauty, and laugh along the way, then this the book for you.

Review: Perfect Scoundrels by Ally Carter

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Perfect Scoundrels
by Ally Carter
Published February 2013
Source: Borrowed
Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary from Goodreads: Katarina Bishop and W.W. Hale the fifth were born to lead completely different lives: Kat comes from a long, proud line of loveable criminal masterminds, while Hale is the scion of one of the most seemingly perfect dynasties in the world. If their families have one thing in common, it's that they both know how to stay under the radar while getting-or stealing-whatever they want. No matter the risk, the Bishops can always be counted on, but in Hale's family, all bets are off when money is on the line.

When Hale unexpectedly inherits his grandmother's billion dollar corporation, he quickly learns that there's no place for Kat and their old heists in his new role. But Kat won't let him go that easily, especially after she gets tipped off that his grandmother's will might have been altered in an elaborate con to steal the company's fortune. So instead of being the heir-this time, Hale might be the mark. Forced to keep a level head as she and her crew fight for one of their own, Kat comes up with an ambitious and far-reaching plan that only the Bishop family would dare attempt. To pull it off, Kat is prepared to do the impossible, but first, she has to decide if she's willing to save her boyfriend's company if it means losing the boy.

Ally Carter knows how to get the perfect combination of fun and heart. Her books always leave me wishing her characters would pop out of the pages and be my friends, or that I could go in and live their life. Perfect Scoundrels was no exception. Kat and the gang are so much fun to read about, and their hijinks always make me go "They're doing what?!?!" in the best way possible. 

This book, the third in the series, has a slightly more personal focus than the other two. The plot revolves around Hale and his previously mysterious family. We learn a lot (though still not as much as any Hale fan would like) about the Hale's and how our Hale came to be part of the Kat's world. Maddeningly, we still don't learn Hale's first name. 

Reading about Hale and having that personal connection was a nice change of pace. However, it took away from the fantastic dynamic between the secondary characters that I love so much. Most of this book revolved around Kat and Hale, and their worlds colliding. The beloved secondary characters were all featured, but not as much as they have been before. I hope that they will be up front and center in the next novel.

The plot, of course, involves a heist. A heist that grows continuously more complicated as the novel goes on. I will tell you, there was a scene in this book that made me gasp out loud because it was so intense, but also completely brilliant. If I ever need to rob anyone, I'm going to ask Ally Carter to plan the heist for me, because girl has some ideas. The plans Kat and her friends come up with are extremely entertaining.

Perfect Scoundrels has set up the tone for the next books in the series to possibly be a bit more serious; a bit less frivolous. By learning more about Hale, we are also investing ourselves more in these characters. Hopefully the next novels continue to work off that character development. Perfect Scoundrels is a fast, fun read that is full of so much heart yours might burst. It is a solid addition to the series, and I am looking forward to the next one immensely.

Review: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Shatter Me
By Taherah Mafi
Published 2011
Borrowed

Goodreads Summary: Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war– and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

I had no idea what to expect going into Shatter Me. To say I was pleasantly surprised would be an understatement; it blew any expectations I had out of the water. 

Juliette can hurt, or even kill, other people by simply touching them with her bare hands. Because of her unusual power she's been locked in an asylum of sorts. After 264 days without human touch, she begins to believe she's crazy. Then she is given a cell mate and everything changes. We begin to learn about the dystopian world she lives in and the power struggle Juliette is an unwilling participate in.

First and foremost, I have to address Tahereh Mafi's beautiful and poetic writing. I mean, wow. She wrote in such a way that Juliette's emotions come clearly through, but without simply stating what she was feeling. This was especially effective in the very intense scenes where that emotion was fear or desire. There were so many wonderful metaphors. Some made me laugh, some made me cringe with empathy, and some just made me think. Each helped me understand the situation a little better.

The character development of Juliette is fantastic. At the beginning, Juliette is scared, weak, and feeble. By the end of Shatter Me she is strong, brave, and more sure of herself. It happens as a natural effect of the situations she's put in, not abruptly. Her relationship with Adam, the love interest, also happens in a way that feels natural, although it does happen a little quickly. 

I'm currently in an environmental science class, and we have been discussing the way humans are overusing our resources. Well, what we have been talking about in class as the worst possible outcome of our gluttony of natural resources is Juliette's world. In Juliette's world flowers don't grow, fruit is almost nonexistent, and birds no longer fly. Nature is dying. And all of that happened within approximately five years. Five years is all it took for the world to fall apart. I really hope this book doesn't become in any way prophetic, because it sounds horrible. 

I read Shatter Me as an audiobook, so I have to mention how perfect Kate Simses is as the narrator. Oh my goodness. She was so good at expressing emotion through her voice and always had the right tone for the situation. She also had a decent male voice, though it was occasionally difficult to tell which male was speaking. Regardless, I loved her as the narrator. Unfortunately my library has yet to get Unravel Me as an audiobook, so I'll probably be reading it in print. 

I can't think of anything I didn't like about Shatter Me, and I absolutely cannot wait to sink my teeth into Unravel Me ASAP. The world and characters Tahereh Mafi created are compelling, and not knowing what comes next for Juliette and Adam is killing me. I'm also anxious to see more of Mafi's beautiful writing.

5/5 Stars!

Review: Rosebush by Michelle Jaffe

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Rosebush 
by Michell Jaffe
Published 2010
Bought

Goodreads Summary: Instead of celebrating Memorial Day weekend on the Jersey Shore, Jane is in the hospital surrounded by teddy bears, trying to piece together what happened last night. One minute she was at a party, wearing fairy wings and cuddling with her boyfriend. The next, she was lying near-dead in a rosebush after a hit-and-run. Everyone believes it was an accident, despite the phone threats Jane swears were real. But the truth is a thorny thing. As Jane's boyfriend, friends, and admirers come to visit, more memories surface-not just from the party, but from deeper in her past . . . including the night her best friend Bonnie died.

With nearly everyone in her life a suspect now, Jane must unravel the mystery before her killer attacks again. Along the way, she's forced to examine the consequences of her life choices in this compulsively readable thriller.

It's been a while since I've read a mystery. Mystery isn't my absolute favorite genre, but I do sometimes get in the mood for it. When I do, I prefer the dramatic thriller type to the fluffy comedy type. Rosebush was definitely a dramatic thriller type; twists and turns galore and an ending that surprised me, though it may be obvious to seasoned mystery-lovers.

Jane wakes up in a hospital bed with very limited memories of the night before. She is told that she was hit by a car, but this isn't a normal hit and run; Jane was kneeling in front of the car when it hit her. The book follows Jane's four days in the hospital as she attempts to piece together who tried to kill her and why. 

Jane is not a likeable character. She's a "popular" girl who works very hard to convince herself she has a perfect life. She does everything she can to make her friends happy. She ignores her boyfriend's creepy possessive tendencies to the point where she thinks all their relationship problems are her fault, even if they're not. There were quite a few times I wanted to shake her and tell her to stop being so blind and realize one of her friends tried to kill her. Despite the occasional frustration, Jane grows on me as she begins to wise up and connect the dots. 

Unfortunately, I found many of the secondary characters to be underdeveloped and distracting. I had trouble keeping them all straight. I understand that in order for a book to be an effective mystery there has to be a lot of suspects, but some of them felt excessive. It was distracting when I had to stop and try to remember who these characters were in relation to Jane and the party. 

There was a subplot of Jane's issues with her mom's fiance, which were pretty much only caused by the fact that he isn't her dad. I did not like this subplot and felt like it was only there for the purpose of showing Jane's character development. I think the guy could have been easily cut from the book all together, making things a little easier to keep straight. I also felt like Jane's issues with her mother were kind of randomly thrown in at weird times and were resolved strangely. 

Now, on to what I did like; the writing and the plot/pacing. I could clearly see many of the images in my head, and I was never bored. I always wanted to keep reading, and I really liked how the book was set over a four day in the hospital. I would have quickly lost interest if it had been set over weeks or months. 

The flashbacks revealing pieces of Jane's life before the party were well done; they flowed easily with the plot and never lasted an excessive amount of time. After each one, something new would happen in the present that kept me interested. Jane regains her memory of the party in pieces, Pieces of the party were revealed in increments small enough to advance the plot so I always wanted to keep reading, but never giving too much away at once.

The way the mystery unfolds is straightforward and not confusing, though I'm still slightly unclear as to why the killer wanted Jane dead in the first place.  The ending is a little unbelievable, but most of the book is too. It astounds me that Jane was so blind to a lot that was happening in her life.

Rosebush accomplishes what it is meant to do; be a fast paced and thrilling murder mystery that kept me reading. I really liked it, though I think there could have been fewer secondary characters and more development in the ones left. I didn't like Jane at first, but she grew on me as a character and I was rooting for her by the end. Overall, I'm satisfied with how it ended and who the killer turned out to be. It was a shock to me, but I think it could be easier to figure out for fans of the genre.

3.5/5 Stars!

Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

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Divergent
By Veronica Roth
Published 2011
Bought

Goodreads Summary: In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

I've had Divergent on my Kindle since it first came out and everyone was going on about how spectacular it is. For some reason, it took me until now, almost two years, to actually read it. The fact that I can immediately move on to the sequel if I want to is the only good thing about that decision. I should have read Divergent a long time ago. 

Tris's world is divided into five factions: Candor, Abnegation, Dauntless, Amity, Erudite. Each faction represents a different virtue. Every year, those at the age of sixteen are given the opportunity to choose the faction they will live in for the rest of their lives. First, they must take a test to determine which faction they belong in. Tris's results are inconclusive, meaning she is "Divergent," something very dangerous in her world.

I loved the world Roth created in Divergent. I've never seen anything like it, and it was compelling to read about the way it works. It also made me think. How effective would a world designed like that be? Would it work or wouldn't it? It was fun to consider these things as I read. Something that really stood out to me were the details; so many were the same as the world we live in. There is mention of eating cereal for breakfast; the school system seems to be very similar to our American school system; most of the names are common American names. These details were just little ways of connecting Tris's world to ours, and it was kind of unsettling.

The characters were complex and purposeful. Tris was both strong and weak, as any good character should be. She was very easy to connect to and root for. The villains were easy to hate, yet it was also easy to understand their motivations. Four, Tris's love interest, was swoon worthy yet flawed. 

The plot of Divergent was not what I was expecting. I was expecting action packed thriller from page one, but what I got was a slow build up to an action packed and thrilling ending. I'm conflicted about the lay out of the plot. Some parts of it were too slow for my taste, but I can't say I was ever bored. The ending was full of the action I'd been expecting, yet slightly confusing because of its rushed nature. 

The romance was done very well. It wasn't too fast or too slow, and Roth addressed a lot of the concerns readers might have with it by making them concerns Tris has and resolving them. I liked slow build up of sexual tension, and how Roth even addresses the universally feared issue of the "first time." Rest assured, this is definitely a YA book, and nothing gets that far or that detailed. The inclusion of Tris's apprehension about it was another thing that connects her world to ours and reminds us that she is a teenager not unlike ourselves at sixteen.

Divergent is pretty long, but I flew through it. I definitely enjoyed it and will be reading the sequel soon. I can't wait to see what happens to Tris next! 

4.5/5 Stars!

Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

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The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
By Michelle Hodkin
Published in 2011
Bought

Goodreads Summary: Mara Dyer doesn’t think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.

It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can’t remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed.

There is.

She doesn’t believe that after everything she’s been through, she can fall in love.

She’s wrong.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is unlike anything I've ever read. Ever. Mara can't remember the horrible night her best friend died. The stress of it is causing her to have scary hallucinations so her family decides to move to Florida for a change of scenery, but strange things are happening to Mara. Things she isn't sure are real or in her mind. 

I need to begin by saying that Michelle Hodkin's writing is beautiful. If you don't read this book for any other reason, read it for the writing. The writing is clear and purposeful, and the imagery is fantastic. 

I'm not sure how I feel about Mara as a character. She went back and forth between likeable and not while I was reading. The added element of her being sort of unreliable was also kinda confusing when I was trying to decide if I like her or not. I don't agree with some of her decisions, but I do understand why she makes them. I do feel bad for her, and I do understand that what she's gone through is hellish, but I also never fully connected with her.

On the other hand, I do know how I feel about Noah, the love interest. He is fantastically wonderful and perfect and amazing and perfect. Did I say perfect? But he's technically not perfect, because he's a bit of a womanizer and hasn't always been a good guy. Plus, he has secrets of his own. He is good for Mara, though. In case you couldn't tell, I totally have a crush on Noah. Did I mention he's British? With an accent? Which you have to imagine because you're reading, but still.

Noah's interactions with Mara are so perfect it's too perfect at times. Really, in real life no one has conversations like they do. The witty banter was slightly unrealistic, but oh so fun to read. 

What wasn't so much fun to read was when Mara was imagining things, or maybe not imagining things, or maybe imagining part of something but the rest was real. I didn't know what to believe and what not to believe. It was really strange sometimes. At first it didn't bother me, because the strange things were obviously just hallucinations. Until they weren't anymore. Then it got weird. 

It was difficult for me to put the pieces together as I was reading The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, but that's part of what kept me turning the pages. I had to know what was real, what wasn't real, how it was all connected. The end felt a little rushed, because everything comes together so quickly. The last page left me sitting there like "What?" and, well, I really need the next book. Like right now. 

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is a unique and page turning thriller with a hot romance. It was sometimes confusing, and the end was a little rushed, but I enjoyed reading it. I'm really looking forward to reading the sequels. 

4/5 Stars!