Blog tour: How I Lost You by Janet Gurtler

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Release Date: April 23rd 2013
Pages: 309
Source: Publisher
Age Range: Young Adult

Grace and Kya have been best friends ever since Grace moved in next door, and absolutely nothing can change that. Even when Kya acts out and seems to only care about herself, Grace is always there to help Kya pick up the pieces of her life. Grace knows Kya is dealing with issues from what had happened to her years before, and she knows Kya needs Grace there for support. How far, though, is Grace willing to let Kya go before finally realizing their friendship may not be as strong and unbreakable as she thought?

How I Lost You is a story about how friendships between teen girls, that seem (and they hope) to last forever, can break slowly. I speak from my own experience that when something big happens, which can be anything, the friendship can go two sides: upwards or downwards. Grace and Kya are always together, they're been friends for years, they've made plans to be together after high school and to be friends forever. But something big and secret hangs over them, weighing one of them down, and the other could be forced to make the hardest decision: to stick with her, even though it could mean being pulled down into her dark world, or to let go and live her life, continuing with her dreams.

My opinion about this book: Overall I thought it was okay, be it not the most orginal, and I found the pace of the story rather slow.It reminded me a bit of a Sarah Dessen novel, as it was somewhat in the same style. The characters  where realistic, I liked the moments when Grace realizes that the friendship between her and Kya is becoming a toxic friendship. I experienced this in my own life a few times and I must say that the author painted a realistic picture of this situation! Altough I didn't find it the most original story, I had a nice few lost hours with this book, and would recommend it to all those who have lost a dear friend of theirs.  
                                              

You Review: Life After Theft by Aprilynne Pike

My review of Life After Theft, the new YA novel by New York Times Bestselling Author Aprilynne Pike is now published on the blog of American Book Center for their You Review, program click here to go to their site to read the review!

Wild Awake by Hilary T. Smith

Publisher: HarperTeen/Katherine Tegen Books
Release Date: May 28th 2013
Pages: 400
Source: Publisher
Age Range: Young Adult

This summer, Kiri's parents are on an extended vacation, leaving her to her own devices at home. She's poised to spend it hanging out with best friend/bandmate/crush Lukas making music and competing in battle of the bands. She's also made plans to practice piano because she's quiet accomplished and only wants to get better and better. Really, not that awful a summer.

But it's a phone call from a stranger who changes everything. He says he has some of her dead sister's things :The sister who died years ago in an accident.

Kiri is finiding out who made this call, and tracks him down in the city. There she picks up all her sisters staff, and hears more from this strange guy about her sister's last day as an artist.


Altough I had the feeling during the book that I have read a similar story before, I though this book was quite good. Altough the pace wasn't very fast and the drugs use of Kiri really bothered me, I had to know how it ended.. The story itself is beautifully written and I was interested because with a blurb that included the words, love, loss, chaos, and murder in it I was intrigued.  But this book has a few odd odds and ends; I mean, which parents are leaving for a cruise vacation, leaving their only daughter behind alone, just right after their other daughter is brutally murdered?
 As the story progressed, it was clear that Kiri was acting oddly and she had no support system in place to help address her issues. Her brother wasn’t around either (what was he doing in this story anyway??) The ending felt sudden and left many questions unanswered as well. I think I would have a hard time recommending this book, but can still appreciate the writing for what it is.

Paralell by Lauren Miller

Publisher: HarperTeen
Expected Release Date: May 14 2013
Pages: 432
Source: Publisher
Age Range: Young Adult

Abby Barnes had a plan. The Plan. She'd go to Northwestern, major in journalism, and land a job at a national newspaper, all before she turned twenty-two. But one tiny choice—taking a drama class her senior year of high school—changed all that. Now, on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, Abby is stuck on a Hollywood movie set, miles from where she wants to be, wishing she could rewind her life. The next morning, she's in a dorm room at Yale, with no memory of how she got there. Overnight, it's as if her past has been rewritten.

With the help of Caitlin, her science-savvy BFF, Abby discovers that this new reality is the result of a cosmic collision of parallel universes that has Abby living an alternate version of her life. And not only that: Abby's life changes every time her parallel self makes a new choice. Meanwhile, her parallel is living out Abby's senior year of high school and falling for someone Abby's never even met.

As she struggles to navigate her ever-shifting existence, forced to live out the consequences of a path she didn't choose, Abby must let go of the Plan and learn to focus on the present, without losing sight of who she is, the boy who might just be her soul mate, and the destiny that's finally within reach.

I honestly have had it a bit with YA books (or any books at all) with a paralell universe, shifting in chapters between the real and the paralell world. I always find this very confusing. This same counts for Laura Millers Parallel. The plot had many holes and went in every direction which made it a bit hard to follow and to stay interested in the main character as a reader.the characters could have been likable, realistic, cool, but I just got lost in all the science and weirdness.  I really didn't connect to Abby at all. Also, Caitlin didn't do much for me. Basically, the characters took a backseat to the overly complex plot. Abby was the typical overachiever who made one mistake and screwed up her life. She didn't really stand out, and neither did any of the other characters in my opinion. It's hard for me to get into a book when I don't care what happens to the characters, and in this novel, I simply didn't. This book just wasn't my cup of tea.

This Journal Belongs To Ratchet by Nancy J.Cavanough

Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Release Date: April 2013
Pages: 320
Source: Publisher
Age Range: Middle Grade

Ratchet is a middle grader who is homeschooled by her somewhat eccentric and outspoken grungy father, (who is always in the garage fixing up a car or doing something else mechanic)That means nothing new. No new book bag, no new clothes, and no friends – old or new. The best she's got is her notebook. She is supposed to use it for my writing assignments, bu ther  dad never checks. Here's what she's really going to use it for:turn my old, recycled, freakish, friendless, motherless life into something shiny and new.

Ratchet's mother has died when Ratchet was just a baby, so she doesn't remember anything from her. But she knows she misses a mother in her life, and a best friend too. In the form of her personal diary, the reader gets to know more about her, and about her daily struggles. It's not cool, even if you are homeschooled and are not in a school class, to only shop at Goodwill, to name just one example of Ratchet's daily problems. Luckily she gets the chance to make some new friends, as she tries to fight her biggest struggle: her local park, Moss Tree Park, is threatened to dissappear. And Ratchet is the one who is going to save it.

I couldn't help but feeling a bit sorry for Ratchet as she seemed very lonely. Her father is really really odd, and Always in the garage working on a project, and maybe this is his way to copy and walk away from their problems. He is homeschooling Ratchet, but her barely gives her assignments a glimpse, so is she getting an education at all?But altough their problems, this wasn't a heavy kind of book, just the contrary! Nancy J. Cavanaugh gave Ratchet a sbarky and funny voice, and I liked how Ratchet tried to cope with her struggles in a funny way.There was a handful of wonderful characters( as for example the mom of her new best friend, who starts filling in the gap that her own mother left in her life, with helping her with fashion and her hair) in the book and a handful of not so great characters, villains in a sense. There was a clear line between those that were full of goodness and those out for no good. I loved that the great characters won out in the end. A reccommended read for any tween girl who wants to reads something new and different!

That Time I Joined The Circus by J.J.Howard

Publisher: Point (Scholastic)
Release Date: April 1st 2013
Pages: 272
Source: Publisher
Age Range: Young Adult

Lexi is a girl from New York City, and she has a nice life with her best friends and her dad.But suddenly everything changes on one night: on the night she starts to go on second base with her best friend (who has a girlfriend) her dad dies in a tragic accident and this changes her life forever. Her mom is out of the picture for years, and she doesnt't know the exact reason why her mom left the family. Lisa starts to track her down, and discovers that her mother has joined a traveling circus somewhere in Florida years ago.

When Lexi arrives at her new, three-ring reality, her mom isn't there . . . but her destiny might be. Surrounded by tigers, elephants, and trapeze artists, Lexi finds some surprising friends and an even more surprising chance at true love. She even lucks into a spot as the circus's fortune teller, reading tarot cards and making predictions. But then her best friend from New York City stands in front of her again..

I found this book very original as there aren't many YA novels about a teen living in a traveling circus.For the most part, I liked the book. It was fast-paced and entertaining, but sometimes the writing style of the author bothered me a little bit.The chapters alternate between what happened in the past and what was happening in the present until they eventually converge into one storyline. Maybe I would have liked it a little more if it was just in the past or in the present, oit both. Then about the characters: it felt like they were put there to move the plot along, rather than to be there to create more depth to the overall work. The music in the book, which although I like in some books, didn't really feel well integrated into the novel to make it work. All and all, I do not recommend this novel because it does not bring anything new to the table.
Iwas on my way to give this story a much deserved 5 stars, but the ending was very flat. I was waiting for a momentous ending, but felt left with what I already knew.

The Bookstore by Deborah Meyler

Publisher:  Gallery Books (Simon & Schuster)
Release Date:August 20th 2013
Pages: 352
Source: Publisher through Edelweiss

Esme Garland is a young British woman who relocated to New York City to study art history at Columbia University. She loves her boyfriend, Mitchell van Leuven who comes from old money, and her New York apartment. Everything goes well and as planned, but then she discovers she is pregnant. But, a few days before she wants to tell him the big news, he breaks up with her. Esme decides to start managing her own life, keeps her scholarship and student visa and starts to look for a part time job. She finds one in The Owl, a charming little second hand bookstore on the Upper West Side that she visits frequently. There she tries to forget Mitchell, which comes easy because her co-workers at the bookstore are a very diverse cast of characters:handsome and taciturn guitar player Luke; Chester, who hyperventilates at the mention of Lolita; George, the owner, who lives on protein shakes and idealism, and two homeless guys who work incidentally at the store.

But then Mitchell walks back into her new life, they start dating again, he even takes Esme to his family's holiday estate in The Hamptons, and..proposes to her. But when the baby is born, Esme learns again that he runs away from her and that he maybe is not the right guy for her, and they cancel the marriage. And that is where handsome Luke becomes more than just a co-worker for Esme..

What's not to love about this fantastic book about the people in a bookstore in the heart of New York City? The book focuses on Esme ofcourse, and it her personal story is highly entertaining. Throughout the book, she finds herself challenged again and again to make the right decision The second main character is absolutely beside the bookstore,  with all the eccentric people that walk in and out (like the guy who always wears a bath towel on his head..). And then about her boyfriend Mitchell: I though he wasn't worth it, and he came over to me as a wealthy, self-absorbed douchebag who dumped Esme when she needed him the most. This book is a nice crossover between fiction, but I am pretty sure chichlit fans will adore this elegant and charming book as well, and it is certainly a good book club choice! A fantastic debut novel and I am looking forward to Deborah Meyler's next novel!

The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die by April Henry

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co
Release Date: June 11th 2013
Pages: 224
Source: Publisher
Age Range: Young Adult

Cady wakes up in a on the floor of a cabin and she doesn't know how she got there or what happened before, or who she is; she lost her memory at all.Her hand are bound, she feels clearly that she is knocked down, because she tastes blood, and she sees that her fingernails are ripped of. And two shady looking man are standing next to her and discussing what they should do what her. She is quite shocked to hear one of them saying to '' Take her out back and finish her off!''. She tries to get herself free, she still doesn't remember anything, but she knows one thing: she has to RUN!!

Somehow she is able to escape from the cabin, get in a car standing outside of it and to drive away. And oh, yeah, she was able to grab the gun of some of the two dangerous man in the cabin. She drives and drives, but when she gets the bad feeling she is been followed, stops at the first McDonalds that she sees. She hides in the toilet, but as it is almost closing time she is spotted by one of the employees. His name is Ty and when she tells him her story, he decides to help her. But then some weird guys come into McDonalds the next day, asking if Ty has seen a girl that meets the looks of Cady,  and they say she has run away from a mental facility and that she shot and murdered a police officer. This is the start for Ty and Cady to get her memory back and to find out what happened to her, her parents and her little brother, why wheren't  they at the cabin? At the end of the story, Cady learns that the man who are behind her and want her dead, are part of a sinister take plan that was part of her parent's jobs as biochemicals..

This book was AMAZING! I loved April Henry's book The Night She Dissappeared but this book was even more fantastic than that one! I try not to post too many spoilers here, but believe me when I say it was a STUNNING and SCARY pageturner. Two men are after Cady because her parents where employed by a biochemical company that had was involved in the creation of a dangerous virus.  I won't say anything more if Cady will get rid of the bad guys, if her parent's are alive or her little brother, and if she will get her memory back. I won't spoil you're reading pleasure to tell how it ends! Cady was very lucky to meet Ty at the McDonalds, he truly helps her as her best friend and maybe there is starting some more than friendship between them. Anyhow, this is one of the best mystery YA novels I have read so far and I highly recommend it, can't wait till April Henry's next book!!

The Boyfriend App by Katie Sise

Publisher: Balzer & Bray (HarperCollins)
Release Date: April 30th 2013
Pages: 320
Source: Publisher
Age Range: Young Adult

In The Boyfriend App by Katie Sise, super-smart, somewhat geeky Audrey McCarthy can’t wait to get out of high school. Audrey is having a hard time with being picked on because of her mother working at the school's cafetaria as a lunch lady, and about her father dying. She use to be best friends with a girl named Blake but they stopped being friends after Audrey's dad died because he use to work for Blake's father and Audrey's father died while he was working for her dad. Well her dad said it was all Audrey's dads fault and that is why he died.Her father’s death and the transformation of her one-time BFF, Blake Dawkins, into her worst nightmare have her longing for the new start college will bring.
But college takes money. So Audrey decides she has to win the competition for the best app designed by a high schooler—and the $200,000 that comes with it. She develops something she calls the Boyfriend App, and suddenly she’s the talk of the school and getting kissed by the hottest boys around. But can the Boyfriend App bring Audrey true love?

This was such a fun read! It started a littlebit over the top and too geeky, but further on I started to like the story of Audrey who invents The Boyfriend App;
Find the perfect guy, right from the palm of your hand! Once he’s within a hundred yards, your phone will alert you and bing! love connections can be made! Audrey’s app sees almost instant popularity after a few test subjects (her cousin Lindsay, and her friend Nijit) are the first to pair up… but popularity sometimes comes at a price, as Audrey soon learns. Audrey was a fun and geeky main character, not the most smartest at a few points but I liked how in the end she worked hard to get justice for her dad. The love story was a bit cliche and I have read the same one in many other books of this type. But overall this is definately a feel good book, with fun characters and a happy end!

The Wanderer by Robyn Carr: review and giveaway

Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Release Date:March 26th 2013
Pages: 384
Source: Publicist

Robyn Carr is back with a new series set in a new town. After the Virgin River series, The Wanderer takes us to a small Oregon town; Thunder Point. Hank Cooper is a former military helicopter pilot has just arrived in Thunder Point, as his best friend Ben has passed away and has left him his large beachfront property, but a bit of a mystery surrounds Ben's death. Cooper meets a few of the locals;Mac, the Sheriff, Landon, the high school quarterback, Sarah, and Landon's sister, Gina who runs the local diner.  After her ex-husband's betrayal, Sarah doesn't trust men. And especially men like Cooper who freely admits to having commitment issues. But as Cooper helps her brother deal with a bully, with faltering steps she grows closer to him; And a romance is soon blooming up between Cooper and Sarah!

This was such a fun and entertaining new novel by Robyn Carr. I am pretty sure this is the first in a brand new series where the reader learns more about Thunder Point's people in the next books!I like how we meet the people and really follow Coop through his journey before the romance starts.What I really like about Robyn Carr's book are how she re-creates the same kind of story idea in a new town over and over again, with new people, and how every book has a few characters who have their own little storyline, works every time! I really enjoyed this first book in the series and will definitely be reading the next one. I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys cozy romances set in small town's, and I am pretty sure Robyn Carr will gain many new fans with this new series!!

MarjoleinBookBlog is giving away a copy of The Wanderer! How to win: send an email to marjoleinbookblog at gmail dot com with your name and adress. You can get an extra entry if you share this contest on your blog. (include the link) or if you become a follower of my blog. The contest is open till May 20  and US only.