Breathless (Jessica Warman)

**

         Katie Kitrell can't help but be a little relieved when her parents send her away to boarding school; after all, her family situation isn't exactly ideal.  Katie's brother Will is schizophrenic, and getting more aggressive every day.  Boarding school is a chance for Katie to get a fresh start and pursue her swimming dreams.  In an effort to move past her difficult relationship with Will, Katie tells her new classmates that her brother is dead.  She then falls into a rhythm of studying, swimming, and hanging out with the in-crowd.  A secret as big as Katie's can't stay buried for long, though.  As Will continues to get worse, the truth about Katie threatens to surface.

         I wasn't a huge fan of the characters in Breathless.  Katie's family problems were pushed aside for a good part of the story, eclipsed by issues with boys and catty girls.  This made her seem more immature than troubled, and therefore much less likable.  Also, it didn't feel right that Katie's family was so rarely present, seeing as they were a big part of the conflict in the story.  Katie and her peers spent a lot of time drinking and smoking as well - I understand that this does happen, but it seemed overdone.  I tend not to like characters who make bad decisions, so I had a hard time with Katie and her friends.  Since I didn't connect well with the characters, I didn't particularly enjoy this book.

Rating: 2/5
Completed: June 29, 2012

The Watch that Ends the Night (Allan Wolf)

***

         Written in verse from the perspective of two dozen or so people, animals, and inanimate objects, The Watch that Ends the Night tells the story of those involved in the Titanic's maiden voyage.

         This was a really neat way of reading about the Titanic - it blended fact and fiction nicely.  Some of the characters were created by the author, but many were real people who were on the ship when it sank.  In the back of the book, there is a whole section that tells you about the characters' lives and whether they survived or not.  This would be a good read for those who are interested in the Titanic.

Rating: 3/5
Completed: June 26, 2012

        Sorry for the super-short description and review today.  I've decided I should probably get started on my summer assignments for school.  So far I haven't been able to shrink the workload by putting it off . . . go figure.  Native Americans, here I come!

Change of Heart (Shari Maurer)

***

         High school soccer star Emmi Miller is not the type of girl who can be stopped by a virus.  So when she gets sick right before a big match, Emmi doesn't tell anyone how terrible she feels.  After all, she can't risk being pulled out of the game because of a cold.  It turns out that Emmi doesn't have a normal bug, though.  After collapsing on the field, Emmi goes to the doctor and finds out that the virus weakened her heart so much that if she doesn't get a heart transplant soon, she'll die.
         No longer is Emmi a popular, athletic teenager.  She is too tired to show up at school, let alone play soccer and hang out with her friends.  Though she's looking and feeling terrible, Emmi isn't all alone.  Her closest friends are still there for her, and a super-cute baseball player named Sam is texting her all the time.  lThen there's Abe, who's already had a heart transplant and gives Emmi the support that nobody else can.  Emmi doesn't know which boy is more important in her life, and she doesn't know if she will have enough time to figure it out.  After all, she's learned that life is not a guarantee.

         So for a few days now, I've been completely stuck trying to decide what I thought about this book.  Normally it's not an issue if it's been a while since I've read a book because the things I liked most and least stick with me.  That hasn't really been the case this time.  Change of Heart was a quick read, but not because I had to keep going back to it.  I didn't instantly connect to the characters or feel compelled to find out what happened next.  That's not to say that it was bad, because it wasn't. It just didn't have me hooked the way some of the books I've read recently have.  On the whole, Change of Heart was good but not a stand-out.

Rating: 3/5
Completed: June 24, 2012

Getting Over Garrett Delaney (Abby McDonald)

****

         Sadie is one hundred percent sure that she is in love with Garrett Delaney.  They spend all of their  time together, share the same interests, and have the same views about their unenlightened small town.  The only problem with their perfect relationship?  Garrett thinks of Sadie as his best friend, not his girlfriend.  In fact, Sadie has supported Garrett through countless relationships and break-ups with other girls.  When Garrett goes to camp for the summer, Sadie can't help but hope that he will miss her and conclude that she is the perfect girl for him.  Instead, Garrett falls for somebody else and Sadie realizes that he is never going to love her.  She decides that it's time to kick her Garrett addiction once and for all using a special self-help plan.  With a job at the local coffee shop and a group of new friends who are determined to help her, Sadie hopes to find a way to build an identity that isn't centered around Garrett.  

         This is a really good summer read: it's light and sweet, and there's a happy ending.  I liked Sadie's personality even when she was going a little too crazy about Garrett.  I was relieved when she decided to become independent from Garrett, because it was pretty obvious even after the first few pages that Garrett didn't have romantic feelings for Sadie.  It was a nice change of pace to read about a girl who recognizes that she has problems with a guy and then actually does something about it.  Sadie's plan was bold - each (somewhat drastic) step was designed to knock Garrett off of his pedestal and help her realize that there were other guys out there.  Sadie's success in getting over Garrett and making herself into a new person made me like her even better.  The main pitfall of this book was that it was super predictable.  It's not too difficult to guess the entire plot line based on a quick summary.  Sometimes that can be a good thing, though, and I think that's the case with Getting Over Garrett Delaney.  This would be a great read if you're really craving some chick-lit (and what girl doesn't crave that every now and then?).  

Rating: 4/5

Completed: June 22, 2012

The Iron Knight (Julie Kagawa)

***

         Meghan Chase managed to stop the Iron Fey from destroying all of Faery, but it came at a cost.  Now she is a queen, ruling over the Iron Realm.  This wouldn't be such a problem if Ash, the former prince of Winter and Meghan's lover, weren't poisoned by the very essence of Meghan's land.  Ash swore that he would find a way to be with Meghan in the Iron Realm.  With the help of his enemy, Puck, and an irritating cait sith, Ash sets out on a journey to the end of the world.  It has been rumored that there he can win both mortality and a soul - if he can pass the tests that no one has ever passed before.  The trip is nothing like Ash expected.  Whether he succeeds or fails, it will change the way he sees himself forever.

         Though I did like this book, it didn't hold up to the standard of the rest of the series.  The Iron Knight didn't draw me in at first, but it improved quite a bit after the first hundred pages or so.  One thing that bothered me was that Ash was acting way out of character.  He has a very distinct personality in all the books leading up to this one, and the change in behavior wasn't as smooth as it could have been.  However, the concept of earning a soul was pretty cool, and was executed reasonably well.  This wasn't my favorite book by Julie Kagawa, but that won't stop me from reading any of her future books (I hear she's planning a spin-off series about Meghan's brother).

Rating: 3/5
Completed: June 18, 2012

City of Lost Souls (Cassandra Clare)

****

Disclaimer: this summary will almost definitely be confusing unless you have read the other books in the Mortal Instruments series.  Which I recommend that you do.

         Less than half an hour after the demon Lilith was banished, Jace disappears.  Also missing is the corpse of Sebastian, Clary Fray's hated brother.  The Clave has searched for both boys, but they have given up to focus their energy on other problems.  Clary is sick with worry for Jace, but soon he shows up at her house - with Sebastian, who is alive - and asks her to come and live with them.  Jace reveals that he and Sebastian were bound together both physically and mentally by Lilith.  Despite the fact that he is in on Sebastian's twisted new plan, Clary can't bear to abandon Jace.  Clary risks everything to go with Jace and try to save him from Sebastian and from himself.  Meanwhile, Jace's closest friends are trying to find a way to sever the bond and separate him from Sebastian.  The Clave will stop at nothing to kill Sebastian, even if it means hurting one of their own.  If Clary, Simon, Isabelle, Alec, and Magnus don't succeed, the Clave will take Sebastian out - despite the fact that Jace will die in the process.

         I always enjoy reading Cassandra Clare's books, and City of Lost Souls was no exception.  Though the concept behind the Mortal Instruments series seemed strange to me at first, it's really easy to get sucked into the New York City that is crawling with warlocks, Shadowhunters, vampires and demons.  All of the books in this series (and its companion series, the Infernal Devices) are full of evil plots by power-hungry psychopaths and epic plans to stop them from taking over.  Cassandra Clare usually achieves the perfect balance between romance and bone-chilling encounters with creepy demon things.  I definitely recommend this series - start with the first book, City of Bones.

Rating: 4/5
Completed: June 15, 2012