MICHELLE'S REVIEW: The Brokenhearted by Amelia Kahaney

Title: The Brokenhearted
Author: Amelia Kahaney
Format Acquired: Hardcover

Publication Date: October 8, 2013

Publishing House: Harper Teen

ISBN: 9780062230928
Source of Copy: Purchased from Fully Booked

Summary:

Prima ballerina Anthem Fleet is closely guarded by her parents in their penthouse apartment. But when she meets the handsome Gavin at a party on the wrong side of town, she is immediately drawn into his dangerous world. Then, in a tragic accident, Anthem falls to her death. She awakens in an underground lab, with a bionic heart ticking in her chest. As she navigates her new life, she uncovers the sinister truth behind those she trusted the most, and the chilling secret of her family lineage... and her duty to uphold it.

(Image, summary and information courtesy of Goodreads)

Review:

Daughter of the elite of the elite, Anthem Fleet is tired of the same old routine. There's got to be more to X, the land her parents own but go to lengths to protect her from, than just school, ballet, and the prison she calls a home. When she goes to a rave with her best friend, she meets the mysterious and charming Gavin, who soon makes her detest her predictable life. When Gavin is abducted right before her very eyes, Anthem is more than panicked. She's angry, she's hurt, and she's got a bionic heart that makes her impossibly better in all aspects than regular human beings. Anthem wants Gavin back, and she's not going to back down until she saves him.

How many people with bionic hearts do you actually know? Yeah, that's what I thought - which is why I snagged a copy of Amelia Kahaney's The Brokenhearted just as soon as I spotted it on bookshelves here (after making an obnoxious gasp and a muffled squealing and dancing combo, of course). I had high expectations for this one, only to go through it with a mild interest. 

Anthem is bored. She's been a good girl for far too long, doing ballet and only ballet that her deceased sister was good at, and trying to pretend that her family life is perfect, empty-eyed pill-popping mother and super busy land god father and all. This all changes when she meets Gavin, who makes her feel like somebody important, someone worth getting to know, someone not measured by her family's immense wealth, and most of all, someone not boring. But Gavin gets taken hostage, and on her way home, Anthem dies... Only to live again with a bionic heart that makes her some sort of enhanced human being. With the help of Ford (who is just adorable), Anthem begins to learn how to combat, and to be a vigilante. (Yes, a ballerina vigilante. Don't judge.)

My interest wasn't really piqued when she met Gavin. He sounds like a dream, sure, but he just didn't really do anything for me. It wasn't until the book was almost ending that made me sit up and pay attention, because - Okay. I can't say it because that would be giving the whole thing away, and you would probably stone me if you were actually interested in reading this book. 

Was The Brokenhearted boring? At times, sure, but you can get by. If you're in the mood. While The Brokenhearted does have a story, albeit a bit half-baked, it just makes me wish that I could take Anthem a bit more seriously. Anthem's not afraid to get dirt under her nails, and she grows to know how to stand up for herself as time goes by. It's just that her making this decision to be a lovelorn vigilante that really threw me off. 

Rating:

               

MICHELLE'S REVIEW: Nantucket Blue by Leila Howland

Title: Nantucket Blue
Author: Leila Howland
Format Acquired: Hardcover

Publication Date: May 7, 2013

Publishing House: Disney Hyperion

ISBN: 9781423160519
Source of Copy: Purchased from Fully Booked

Summary:
For Cricket Thompson, a summer like this one will change everything. A summer spent on Nantucket with her best friend, Jules Clayton, and the indomitable Clayton family. A summer when she'll make the almost unattainable Jay Logan hers. A summer to surpass all dreams.

Some of this turns out to be true. Some of it doesn't.

When Jules and her family suffer a devastating tragedy that forces the girls apart, Jules becomes a stranger whom Cricket wonders whether she ever really knew. And instead of lying on the beach working on her caramel-colored tan, Cricket is making beds and cleaning bathrooms to support herself in paradise for the summer.

But it's the things Cricket hadn't counted on - most of all, falling hard for someone who should be completely off-limits - that turn her dreams into an exhilarating, bittersweet reality.

A beautiful future is within her grasp, and Cricket must find the grace to embrace it. If she does, her life could be the perfect shade of Nantucket blue.

(Image, summary and information courtesy of Goodreads)

Review:

Cricket knows that this summer is going to rock. She's invited to stay with her best friend Jules' family in their Nantucket house, where a. she can hang out with her bff all day long, b. she can finally get together with the gorgeous Jay Logan, and c. hel-lo, she can just have fun without worrying about the looming prospect of college. But this perfect dream turns to ashes when Nina, Jules' mother who Cricket positively adores, suddenly passes away. Her best friend starts pulling away from her, and her invitation to stay at the Clayton house in Nantucket is rescinded. Cricket thinks that this isn't something that anyone should go through alone, so she finds another way to stay on Nantucket - whether Jules welcomes her with open arms or not. 

There are a lot of reasons why Nantucket Blue was such a pleasure for me to read, including but not limited to the pseudo-mini vacation Howland all invites us to as we join Cricket in her quest for the best summer ever in her high school life. I loved that I could very well imagine myself in beautiful Nantucket without leaving my favorite reading spot (and getting a much unwanted tan). Initially, Cricket and Jules' friendship is made of the strong stuff that could put any super glue to shame. But when the rug is pulled out of Jules' feet, Cricket can't help but stumble as well. Nina, Jules' mom, is everything that Cricket's mom is not. She's stylish, vivacious, a bit eccentric, and she doesn't care about what strangers might think of her. This death is basically the catalyst of what changes Cricket and Jules' friendship. And while Jules is drifting further and further apart from her and surrounding herself with her Nantucket friends - friends that Jules obviously does not have in common with Cricket - Jules' younger brother, Zack, is becoming more than just a friend to her.

Cricket is immensely likable, even if she does come off as thinking of herself too highly at times. No matter how many times it seems that the universe is conspiring against her to not make her stay at Nantucket, she finds a way to be there. Scrubbing toilets and changing sheets might not be the ideal scenario, but hey, she's on Nantucket! I also like how Cricket doesn't seem to let Jules' shabby treatment of her make her go back running home; in fact, it even makes her determined to make things good again between them. Cricket's flaws can only be perceived as endearing because no matter how much I look at it, she's just looking out for her best friend, and making sure she's alright - which makes Cricket just so real to me.

The ending had some loose ends, but I am very sure that I don't want to take off any rainbows for that reason because I immensely enjoyed reading this one. Although Nantucket Blue sometimes came across as having too many things going on at the same time, I still get a nice feeling whenever I see this one on bookshelves. I'd recommend Nantucket Blue to anyone who's looking for a beach read. People who are too busy for a vacation, or find themselves hampered by work or school work can also pick this up to be transported to a magical Nantucket.


Edit: AHHH!!! There's going to be a Nantucket Red, out May 2014. Heaps excited!

Rating:

              

NICOLE'S REVIEW: False Sight by Dan Krokos

Title: False Sight
Author: Dan Krokos
Format Acquired: Hardcover

Publication Date: August 13 2013

Publishing House: Hypersion

ISBN: 9781423149859
Source of Copy: Purchased from Fully Booked

Summary:

All Miranda wants is a normal life.

She's deterined to move past the horrible truth of her origin as a clone so she can enjoy time with her boyfriend, Peter, ad the rest of her friends at school. But Miranda quickly learns that there's no such thing as normal - not for a girl who was raised to be a weapon. When one of Miranda's teammates turns rogue, it begins a war that puts the world in jeopardy. Now Miranda must follow her instincts - not her heart - in order to save everything she's fought so hard to keep. With the image of a terrible future seared in her mind, what will she have to sacrifice to protect the people she loves?

Dan Krokos' sequel to the tour-de-force False Memory is a mind-blowing thriller that pulls no punches as Miranda searches for the truth - and discovers the deadly consequences that come with it.

(Image and information courtesy of Goodreads; Summary lifted from actual book)

Review:

False Sight is the sequel to False Memory. I'll try to keep this spoiler free.

Despite their play at being normal, Miranda knows that that's just not possible. Especially when one of her team turns rogue and she loses someone close to her heart. As they chase this rogue, Miranda and her team realize that the trouble they're in is even more far-reaching than they thought. Think inter-dimensional disaster.

False Sight is an interesting sequel to False Memory. There's never a dull moment in False Sight and Miranda is thrown into one mess after the other all for the sake of saving the world she loves. 

There's no such thing as normal when you're a clone and Miranda's trying to move past that so she can work on her relationship with Peter. Not exactly easy when her teammate goes rogue against her will and she might too. Talk about highly dangerous. 

While Miranda is an interesting narrator and Peter seems like a stable guy I just found it harder to connect with the characters this time around. I'm not sure if it's because I'd forgotten parts of False Memory or something else entirely. It's hard to keep track of things that happen in books when I read so much in a week, unless it's truly something worth remembering. And you know, I did have to wait a whole year for this book. So.

One thing that threw me for a loop was the introduction of a plot twist that was so....out of this world. Something bigger and larger than what I initially imagined that I got a little bit confused. It took some time for me to adjust, because it was a surprise, but once I did I had to admit that it was all kinds of interesting. Those flesh-eating monsters were nothing to scoff at. 

And that ending! That ending makes me so ready for the next book. I'm definitely interested to find out in which direction the next book will take me. 

Rating: