Caitlin is an eleven year old with Asperger's who's trying to break through her Asperger's to help her dad cope with the loss of her big brother Devon. It's not at all easy for Caitlin because Devon who was the one who worked with Caitlin on Working At It. But since The Day Our World Fell Apart, Caitlin doesn't have Devon anymore and she decides that she and her dad need Closure. And to get Closure, Caitlin has decided they will finish Devon's Chest, his Eagle Scout project which is under a sheet in their living room and has been since The Day Our World Fell Apart.Whew, I requested this young adult book on Shelf Awareness solely based on the cover. When I opened it after House Rules, I still knew nothing about it. Two hours later, when I finished the book, my emotions had run the gamut. Laughter and tears, both multiple times. Caitlin isn't the only character you'll adore and connect with in this story. My advice? Pick up House Rules and Mockingbird when it's released in April and read them together while still fresh in mind. Don't miss this book though.
Jacob Hunt is shockingly smart. Offputtingly so. At eighteen, he can tell you virtually anything about dogs, dinosaurs, or forensic science that you never wanted to know. Thanks to his police scanner, Jacob's shown up at more than one crime scene and told the officers what they're doing wrong in their investigation. But Jacob will also melt down a the simplest deviation from his routine and it will take his mom singing Bob Marley to him while making herself a human blanket to calm him down. Jacob has Asperger's Syndrome and all of the characteristic traits of his disease go a long way toward making him look guilty of the murder of his social skills tutor, Jess.
I didn't love last year's Picoult so I was nervous to read House Rules because it holds all the elements of fascination for me. But what if it didn't? That worry was all for naught. Formulaically(I guess this isn't a word but I'm keeping it), this was classic Picoult. The guessing throughout, the differing narratives, the courtro0m and the twist. Well worth the read. The last sentence is still something I'm mulling over. I think that after Change of Heart, this is my favorite Picoult's since Second Glance in 2001.
One day David Small awoke from a supposedly harmless operation to discover that he had been transformed into a virtual mute. A vocal cord removed, his throat slashed and stitched together like a bloody boot, the fourteen-year-old boy had not been told that he had cancer and was expected to die.
In Stitches, Small, the award-winning children's illustrator and author, recreates this terrifying event in a life story that might have been imagined by Kafka. As the images painfully tumble out, one by one, we gain a ringside seat at a gothic family drama, where David — a highly anxious yet supremely talented child—all too often became the unwitting object of his parents' buried frustration and rage.
Believing, as most parents do, that they were trying to do the best, David's parents, in fact, did just the reverse: Edward Small, a Detroit physician, who vented his own anger by hitting a punching bag in the family's basement, was convinced that he could cure his little son by shooting him up with heavy doses of radiation, yet with near deadly results; while David's mother, Elizabeth, a tyrannically stingy and excessively scolding parent, ran the Small household under a cone of silence where emotions, especially her own, were hidden.
Depicting this coming-of-age story with dazzling, kaleidoscopic images that render nightmare in a form that becomes a fairytale in itself, Small tells us of his journey from sickly child, to cancer patient, to troubled teen, whose risky decision to run away from home at 16 — with nothing more than the dream of becoming an artist — would become the ultimate survival statement.
A silent movie masquerading as a book, Stitches is as much a memoir as a tale of redemption that informs us that things can get better, that good can emerge from evil, and that art has the power to transform. It is a both a profound gift and a remarkable achievement, a book that renders a broken world suddenly seamless and beautiful again.
The Review
I was blown away by this graphic novel. I had heard the buzz, but I never really knew what the book was all about, or how it would appeal to me. The story is powerful and deeply affecting. The author has mastered the art of graphic storytelling, I can't help but wonder if his condition has bolstered his ability. David Small lets every bit of detail from his life spill out on the page in a creative, insightful and largely reflective way. Its easy to see that he was spent a lot of time processing the events of his childhood, by the way he retells the stories.
An excellent graphic novel that will be a favorite of mine for years to come.
Five Scenes from David Small's "Stitches" from Stitches: A Memoir... on Vimeo.
This post was inspired by the memes of Alea at Pop Culture Junkie and The Story Siren
From Borders: House Rules
The Hour I First Believed
Born Bad
From Hachette: This One is Mine
The Moon Looked Down
From Shelf Awareness: Silent Scream
The Devil and Sherlock Holmes
Mockingbird
A great haul! What did y'all get?
FBI Special agent Brad Raines is facing his toughest case yet. A Denver serial killer has killed four beautiful young women, leaving a bridal veil at each crime scene, and he's picking up his pace. Unable to crack the case, Raines appeals for help from a most unusual source: residents of the Center for Wellness and Intelligence, a private psychiatric institution for mentally ill individuals whose are extraordinarily gifted.
It's there that he meets Paradise, a young woman who witnessed her father murder her family and barely escaped his hand. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, Paradise may also have an extrasensory gift: the ability to experience the final moments of a person's life when she touches the dead body.
In a desperate attempt to find the killer, Raines enlists Paradise's help. In an effort to win her trust, he befriends this strange young woman and begins to see in her qualities that most 'sane people' sorely lack. Gradually, he starts to question whether sanity resides outside the hospital walls...or inside.
As the Bride Collector picks up the pace-and volume-of his gruesome crucifixions, the case becomes even more personal to Raines when his friend and colleague, a beautiful young forensic psychologist, becomes the Bride Collector's next target.
The FBI believes that the killer plans to murder seven women. Can Paradise help before it's too late?
The Review
An absolute page turner, I tore through this book in record time dying to find out what was going to happen. The story is intricate and dynamic, leaving the reader hanging on every word. Ted Dekker allows the reader to get to know the characters on an intimate level, something that I really admire from a writer. The story has twists and turns you will never see coming. One of my favorite books so far this year, The Bride Collector is not to be missed.
Bella and Edward are both finally getting their wishes, Bella's to be with him for eternity, Edward's to make her his bride. Just a couple of the negotiations are still up in the air but they're both as stubborn as ever and so eventually, both will get their way. Bella has told Edward that he needs to be with her before she changes, something Edward adamantly refuses but eventually he gives in. And that's when the trouble starts. Because Bella is not yet immortal, she has conceived a child. A child that, while in womb, is causing her a great deal of pain. Bella loves this yet to be seen baby, while Edward loathes it for the trauma it's wreaking on Bella. Bella enlists Rosalie to help her win this fight against Edward. She will not lose this baby. Jacob has sided with Edward in trying to convince Bella nothing good will come of this. Right before birth though, Edward realizes he can read the baby's mind. And the baby adores Bella and is trying so hard not to hurt her.
In childbirth, things go wrong for Bella and Edward fights to save her life, errr bring her to her vampire life. Everyone is shocked when Bella is not the typical newborn with only a taste for blood. She's still the same Bella. Things go wrong again when the Volturi are told that Bella and Edward have created an immortal child, something that wrought much trauma to their kind centuries ago. So the Volturi head to the Cullen clan, and the Cullens are busy trying to get all of their friends to testify for them that Renesmee is not an immortal child, but a true child of Bella and Edward.
Honestly? I loved this book about twice as much as any other in the series, and toted it with me everywhere I went, sneaking in pages whenever I could. I'm sad that the series is over but I'm looking forward to it being brought to the bigscreen. Holly thinks there's potential for a satellite series here and I'm so excited about that!
When Darina’s boyfriend, Phoenix, is the fourth student to die from Ellerton High School, she feels her sanity start to slip away. Why fight when everything is bleak and gray? For Darina, there is no beauty left in the world. She is certain that she’s going crazy when she sees him, and the other high school fatalities, in an abandoned barn. But when Phoenix kisses her, she’s convinced he’s come back… to life? Jonas, Summer, Arizona and Phoenix have been guided back from death by the enigmatic and frightening Hunter, a “babysitter” for souls returned from the dead. The rules stipulate that they can remain in the world of the living for up to one year in order to set right a wrong linked to their deaths. In exchange for being allowed to see Phoenix, Darina agrees to help the undead teens find justice, starting with Jonas—whose year is nearly up! Keeping a barn full of animated, tattooed corpses a secret becomes increasingly difficult as rumors of ghosts and strange happenings rip through the small community. Grief stricken, the townspeople mobilize groups of bikers to explore the country around the town.
Darina must discover who is behind Jonas’s fatal motorcycle accident—without becoming a victim herself—and keep the secret of the Beautiful Dead. She would sacrifice anything to help her beloved Phoenix find peace, but setting him free means losing him forever…
Read the first chapter here.
The Review
It is no secret around here that I am a fan of supernatural young adult fiction. I see a book in this genre and I just have to read it! I was really excited to have the opportunity to read Beautiful Dead: Jonas as it is exactly the type of book I love! I was not let down by this one, and I cannot wait to read the next 3 books in the series.
I liked the idea that the Beautiful Dead have unfinished business and are able to come back to earth in order to settle their business. The characters in this book have all died in the last year, and they all attended the same high school. Naturally this has been a blow to the small town and not everyone is dealing with the losses in the best way.
The first book introduces us to the characters, we get to know some better than others. I am looking forward to getting to know the rest of the characters better, and finding out what their unfinished business is.
The book jumps right into the story, which can be a bit surprising. The relationships are already established so its hard to identify with the great loss our main character Darina feels over her boyfriend of 2 months death. As the book continues to unfold though, the reader is given more insight into their relationship making it all more believeable. A great start to what is sure to be an exciting series.
The Author
Eden Maguire lives in both Colorado and the UK. Her admiration for Emily Bronte's classic, Wuthering Heights, ties in with her fascination for the dark side of life and informs her portrayal of the restless, romantic souls in The Beautiful Dead.
The Publisher
This is one of the first releases of the Sourcebooks Fire young adult division of Sourcebooks. I am looking forward to seeing with this division has to offer in the future!
If you haven't already, join the Sourcebooks Fire site for exclusive content, giveaways, and information about the latest books Fire has to offer.
This post was inspired by the memes of Alea at Pop Culture Junkie and The Story Siren
From Simon & Schuster: White Cat
From Pump Up Your Book Tours: My Sister's Voice
And from Borders: A Bump in the Road
The Girl Next Door
The Weigh of Silence
Most of my shopping this week consisted of clothing, makeup and bedroom furniture. I went a little bit overboard. :)
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