Review: After - Amy Efaw

Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 350 pages
Publisher: Viking Juvenile; 1 edition (August 11, 2009)

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  An infant left in the trash to die. A teenage mother who never knew she was pregnant . . .
  Before That Morning, these were the words most often used to describe straight-A student and star soccer player Devon Davenport: responsible, hardworking, mature. But all that changes when the police find Devon home sick from school as they investigate the case of an abandoned baby. Soon the connection is made—Devon has just given birth; the baby in the trash is hers. After That Morning, there’s only one way to define Devon: attempted murderer.
  And yet gifted author Amy Efaw does the impossible— she turns Devon into an empathetic character, a girl who was in such deep denial that she refused to believe she was pregnant. Through airtight writing and fast-paced, gripping storytelling, Ms. Efaw takes the reader on Devon’s unforgettable journey toward clarity, acceptance, and redemption.

  
  

  

  
  
  

  I don't know what prompted me to pick up this book, but I did.  It wasn't a happy book, or in anyway comical.  I remember when I was younger the news telling a story about two local teens who threw there newborn in a dumpster, and another newscast about "Prom Mom", at the time I didn't have any kids and couldn't understand how or why they could do something like that.  Even after becoming a mother in a not so ideal situation I still didn't understand what would drive someone to do that.  We start our story with an almost unconscious Devon, and we are quickly introduced to our story her mother comes home telling Devon that a baby was found in a garbage can behind there building, and we take off from there down the road of peacing together how Devon a star soccer player and great student  could have been pregnant and no one knew, and what lead her to the choices she made.  We go to the hospital with Devon who is in danger of bleeding to death after her delivery, then to the juvenile detention center where we watch Devon try to figure everything out and come to terms with what happened. We eventually go to trial where we learn the most about Devon as a person.  This book ends with Devon making the most adult and responsible decision possible.  I can't say that this book made me understand why some people feel that this is there only option, but I believe it has helped me be able not to judge them without knowing there story.  I'm giving this book 4 stars.  I wish I could say I liked this book but I really can't.  It was a well written and presented, but it was a tough subject.  I will say that I didn't dislike it, and I am glad I read it, but my gushy feelings of book love are sitting somewhere in the middle. 

Waiting on Wednesday (7)

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My pick this week is...

Eve by Anna Carey

The year is 2032, sixteen years after a deadly virus—and the vaccine intended to protect against it—wiped out most of the earth’s population. The night before eighteen-year-old Eve’s graduation from her all-girls school she discovers what really happens to new graduates, and the horrifying fate that awaits her.
Fleeing the only home she’s ever known, Eve sets off on a long, treacherous journey, searching for a place she can survive. Along the way she encounters Caleb, a rough, rebellious boy living in the wild. Separated from men her whole life, Eve has been taught to fear them, but Caleb slowly wins her trust...and her heart. He promises to protect her, but when soldiers begin hunting them, Eve must choose between true love and her life.

I can't wait for this book!!!! I need it like NOW!  Can't wait to see what you guys are waiting for =o)

Review: Enclave - Anne Aguirre

Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends; 1 edition (April 12, 2011)

New York City has been decimated by war and plague, and most of civilization has migrated to underground enclaves, where life expectancy is no more than the early 20's. When Deuce turns 15, she takes on her role as a Huntress, and is paired with Fade, a teenage Hunter who lived Topside as a young boy. When she and Fade discover that the neighboring enclave has been decimated by the tunnel monsters—or Freaks—who seem to be growing more organized, the elders refuse to listen to warnings. And when Deuce and Fade are exiled from the enclave, the girl born in darkness must survive in daylight, in the ruins of a city whose population has dwindled to a few dangerous gangs. As the two are guided by Fade’s long-ago memories, they face dangers, and feelings, unlike any they’ve ever known.

I've seen the trailer for this book popping up all over the blogsphere and it looked good so I said what the heck.  And I'm so glad I did.  This book was terrific!  At first I wasn't sure how much I was going to like Deuce, but quickly she grew on me.  I loved the underground world not that I would want to live there, but it was an interesting place to visit.  The freaks actually gave me the willies.  The seemed too closely related to zombies for me.  Watching Deuce and Fade work together and get to know each other was like being on a roller coaster, and it was a process that seemed to last for the entire book.  I really liked both Deuce and Fade they just seemed so real to me.  The part of the story that really got me was when Deuce had to learn about and try to adjust to life topside.  Simple things we never really think about seemed to either amaze or frighten her, I absolutely  loved it.  The journey does not end there for these two the journey they have while topside will have you on the edge of your seats.  I highly recomend this book and give it 5 stars!

Cover Crazy (7)

Cover Crazy is a weekly mem hosted by Tawni over at The Book Worms

My picks this week are...

Hourglass by :Myra McEntire

One hour to rewrite the past . . . 
 
For seventeen-year-old Emerson Cole, life is about seeing what isn’t there: swooning Southern Belles; soldiers long forgotten; a haunting jazz trio that vanishes in an instant. Plagued by phantoms since her parents’ death, she just wants the apparitions to stop so she can be normal. She’s tried everything, but the visions keep coming back.

So when her well-meaning brother brings in a consultant from a secretive organization called the Hourglass, Emerson’s willing to try one last cure. But meeting Michael Weaver may not only change her future, it may change her past.
Who is this dark, mysterious, sympathetic guy, barely older than Emerson herself, who seems to believe every crazy word she says? Why does an electric charge seem to run through the room whenever he’s around? And why is he so insistent that he needs her help to prevent a death that never should have happened?

Full of atmosphere, mystery, and romance, Hourglass merges the very best of the paranormal and science-fiction genres in a seductive, remarkable young adult debut.

In My Mailbox (7)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren

Ok so I have gathered quite a few Barnes and Nobel gift cards and went a little spree this week...In my defense it was a rough week and I needed retail therapy lol!

all links go to goodreads =o)

Review;

Spellbound - Cara Lynn Shultz

Defiance - Lilith Saintcrow

And now for the shopping spree...

Bought:

Tommy Nightmare - J.L. Bryan

Entwined - Heather Dixon

Chime - Franny Billingsley

Waterfall - Lisa Tawn Bergen

Darkness Becomes Her - Kelly Keaton

Turned at Dark - C.C. Hunter

Born at Midnight - C.C. Hunter

First Grave on the Right - Darynda Jones

Drought - Pam Bachorz

Unwind - Neal Shusterman

Bad Girls Don't Die - Katie Alender

Stolen: A Letter to my Captor - Lucy Christopher

XVI - Julia Karr

Friday Blog Hop (6) Follow Friday (5)

Friday Blog Hop is hosted by Jenn at Crazy-For-Books.   It is a weekend long Book Party giving bloggers a chance to get to know each other and access to new blogs that we all might enjoy! If you haven't stopped by to give the hop a look I highly suggest that you do! Also every week there is a new question posted for us at answer this weeks question is...

"If you find a book you love, do you hunt down other books by the same author?"

Yes, If I find an author who can tell a good story and whose writing I like I do tend to look for other books by them to at least give them a try. I'm trying to diversify my genres that I will read as well which is good for when an author I like writes more than one genre.  One of the things I have enjoyed most about blogging the past 2 months is finding new authors, or new books that I might like even if they aren't in my "typical" genre.

Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee, every week we all get together to answer a question and find new blogs that we enjoy. This weeks question is

Q. What is on your current playlist right now?

oh boy my play list is a mishmash of everything lol

Metallica

Man - O - War

Toby Keith

Kenny Chesney

Taylor Swift

Kings of Leon

just to name some of the mishmash hehe

Review: Birthmarked - Caragh M. O'Brien

Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press; 1 edition (March 30, 2010)

After climate change, on the north shore of Unlake Superior, a dystopian world is divided between those who live inside the wall, and those, like sixteen-year-old midwife Gaia Stone, who live outside. It’s Gaia’s job to “advance” a quota of infants from poverty into the walled Enclave, until the night one agonized mother objects, and Gaia’s parents are arrested.
Badly scarred since childhood, Gaia is a strong, resourceful loner who begins to question her society. As Gaia’s efforts to save her parents take her within the wall, she herself is arrested and imprisoned.
Fraught with difficult moral choices and rich with intricate layers of codes, Birthmarked explores a colorful, cruel, eerily familiar world where one girl can make all the difference, and a real hero makes her own moral code.

I've had this on my TBR pile since it was released and I never picked it up or ever really considered it,  I got pulled into books with a lot of hype or beautiful covers.  Now while I am happy I waited because the sequel is in the works and it won't seem like such a long wait to get it,  I feel like I robbed myself of this great story for way to long!  This in my opinion was a terrific book.  I really liked Gaia, from the first page you can see her uncertainty.  She knows what she should do but it still seems to feel wrong to her.  She continued on with her life after the arrest of both her parents in the hopes that they would be back home soon.  It wasn't until she gets some very shocking news that she finally strays from her path in an attempt to get them back.. From there she starts her journey into seeing that life within the walls might not have been everything she was lead to believe.  She makes some tough choices that land her in dyer straights and still she clings to the hope of being with her parents.   As the story continues to unravel she makes and unlikely friend and fights for the life of herself and her parents as she plays a delicate game with the people in charge of there world.  I stayed on the edge of my seat for most of this wild ride.  I was amazed by Gaia, once she set her mind she never really wavered.  She was strong and in my opinion amazing.  Along the way my heart broke along with Gaia's, and at times I felt her relief as if it truly were my own.  As I've said before I am rather new to dystopia genre but I am loving it.  My first taste was the Hunger Games and I have been searching for something that compares and while I have found other great books nothing was quite as good, but I think this series has the potential!  I wish I could give this book more than 5 stars but I can't so 5 stars it shall be!  I hope that all of you will give this book a chance.