Forbidden by Syrie James

Forbidden by Syrie James And Ryan James
Release Date: January 24, 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 411

Summary: Syrie joined forces with her talented son Ryan to co-write her next novel, Forbidden. The book is about a 16-year-old girl who comes into unusual powers, only to discover that she's half-angel... and her entire existence is forbidden.

Alec MacKenzie is fed up with his duties to watch and, when necessary, eliminate the descendants of his angelic forefathers. He chose Emerson Academy as the ideal hiding place where he could escape and be normal for once. He hadn't factored Claire Brennan into his plans...

Their love is forbidden, going against everything Alec has been taught to believe. But when the threat to Claire's life becomes clear, how far will Alec go to protect her?

My Thoughts: This book took me a little longer to read than I thought it would. I figured I'd race right through it, but it took me almost 5 days to read, that is a record for me!

We are introduced to Claire who is in high school and lives with her mom. Her dad left a long long long time ago and she knows nothing about him.  Claire and her mom move around a lot. When I say a lot, I mean A LOT. She never really has much time to make friends or fit in anywhere. Finally, they end up in a town where she actually makes friends. And best friends is what they are. They have been in this town for two years now.

She also attends Emerson Academy which is basically a private school.  She has had a crush on someone for 2 years now and he is just starting to notice her.

Of course it would be after she starts having psychic powers, visions. How convenient, right?

At first Claire doesn't understand any of it, what is going on with her.  She has been awakened because of puberty.

Of course, there is another guy thrown into the mix. His name is Alec and he is also special. Claire feels such a special bond with him and starts falling for him... But..... this is forbidden.

Throughout the book, it did drag a little bit and I wanted some action to start happening. Its 400 pages so about halfway through I wanted some major stuff to start happening. And it does eventually. And I was satisfied.

I really enjoyed reading Forbidden. I haven't read many books about angels, even though I want to read more. I really did like Claire and her friends. Alec had his ups and downs.

Overall: I enjoyed reading it. Would it be a 5 cupcake book to me? Probably not. It is quite long with not much really happening. I still enjoyed it a lot, but wouldn't go down as one of my very favorites that I would read over and over again. Overall, it was a fun and creative angel book. I need more angel books to compare it too!

Cover: Like it. Like the blue colors. I didn't notice the wings at first, until I really looked.

What I'd Give It:

Getting Over Garrett Delaney by Abby McDonald

Getting Over Garrett Delaney by Abby McDonald
Release Date: January 24, 2012
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 336


Summary: Can a twelve-step program help Sadie kick her unrequited crush for good? Abby McDonald serves up her trademark wit and wisdom in a hilarious new novel.

Seventeen-year-old Sadie is in love: epic, heartfelt, and utterly onesided. The object of her obsession - ahem, affection - is her best friend, Garrett Delaney, who has been oblivious to Sadie's feelings ever since he sauntered into her life and wowed her with his passion for Proust (not to mention his deep-blue eyes). For two long, painful years, Sadie has been Garrett's constant companion, sharing his taste in everything from tragic Russian literature to art films to '80s indie rock - all to no avail. But when Garrett leaves for a summer literary retreat, Sadie is sure that the absence will make his heart grow fonder - until he calls to say he's fallen in love. With some other girl! A heartbroken Sadie realizes that she's finally had enough. It's time for total Garrett detox! Aided by a barista job, an eclectic crew of new friends (including the hunky chef, Josh), and a customized selfhelp guide, Sadie embarks on a summer of personal reinvention full of laughter, mortifying meltdowns, and a double shot of love.

My Thoughts: A 12 step program to get over a guy? This is my kind of book! Oh, where was this book when I was a teen? Being in love with your best friend when he's constantly got a girlfriend? Yep, been there, done that.

We are introduced to Sadie (cool name) who is best friends with a boy named Garrett Delaney. She's been obsessed with him for 2 years waiting for him to open his eyes and finally notice she's the one for him. Of course, he always has a new girlfriend and she loyally plays the girl sidekick always giving him advice.

After not getting into a literary camp while Garrett does, after his call to reveal his love for yet another girl, Sadie is determined to get over this boy. She must. She has to find herself. How much of her personality is based solely on this guy?

She gets a job at a coffee shop, meets a bunch of new friends, takes up with her old friend Kayla, and starts putting her 12 step program into action. Even her newly found friends help her purge Garrett out of her life for good.

She ignores his calls, texts, emails, and tries to focus on everyday tasks and having fun.

There is also a cute chef who works there named Josh. Josh and Sadie are just friends. I knew from the get go, I was going to like Josh. He was a funny goofy kind of guy. He didn't put the moves on Sadie, he understood what she was going through.

With the help of her friends, she finally starts to learn who she is, and that she doesn't just love everything she thought she did, because of Garrett.

I wanted to hate Garrett but I didn't exactly hate him. But thinking about how some of the little things he did were jerky, I am kind of irritated with him. I mean, some of his actions, really stunk.  Yes, at the beginning I wanted him to open his big fat eyes and see how much she loved him and realize maybe he felt the same way, but by the time he even halfway came to his senses, I was so over Garrett and into Josh.

As for Sadie, I loved her personality. She was very spunky. Her personality was so easy to relate too. The writing just flowed and flowed, and I finished this within a few hours!

Getting Over Garrett Delaney was a great contemporary novel. This is exactly the right book for anyone who has a crush on their best friend especially when they don't feel the same way. This book is exactly what you need to read if your in the mood for a funny but full of lessons novel.

Overall: A Great novel! Abby McDonald is an author to read. I always find her books to be so cute and funny and marvelous! Loved this book! Can't wait to read whatever she writes next!

Cover: Love it! Love how she is laying down with a book over her head. She looks frustrated! I also love how her feet are up against the wall. The cover alone has the word awesome written all over it!

What I'd Give It:

Fracture by Megan Miranda

Fracture by Megan Miranda
Release Date: January 17, 2012
Publisher: Walker Childrens
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 272

Summary: Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine
-despite the scans that showed significant brain damage. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she's far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can't control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it?
Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she's reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy's motives aren't quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature-or something much more frightening?

For fans of best-sellers like Before I Fall and If I Stay, this is a fascinating and heart-rending story about love and friendship and the fine line between life and death.

My Thoughts: This is one of the best books ever! Oh my gosh, it was that good. I loved every minute of it. From the first page, it sucked me right in. I had to know more, I had to read more, I had to keep going.

We are introduced to Delaney Maxwell. Since she was a little kid, she's had a best friend/next door neighbor named Decker. Decker was one of the sweetest guys on the planet. I loved and adored him.

Delaney and Decker do everything together so its not surprising that on one winter day they go to meet up with their friends and cross the frozen lake to get there. It's not surprising they goof off as much as they do and Delaney takes an accidental fall. But, Decker is already half way across the lake. The ice breaks and Delaney falls through. Right into the ice cold water. And dies. For eleven whole minutes.

We are swept away and end up in her hospital room. Delaney is hooked up to machines and barely alive. She's been out cold, hooked on a ventalitor for 7 long days. Those 7 days, Decker barely leaves her side. Delaney wakes up and she recovers pretty well. Doctors don't understand it, how can this girl die for eleven minutes, wake up and just be okay? According to the MRIs she should have major brain damange and not be fuctional. Her family is just happy she's alive.

Delaney goes on with her life and meets a mysterious boy named Troy. Troy understands Delaney since he's been through a horrific event himself. As she gets to know him, she learns more about him and what his problem is.

What can I possibly say? About 50 pages in, we start to believe there is going to be a major love triangle going on, there really isn't. I knew the whole time whose Delaney's heart really belonged too. Troy isn't who we really think he is. He's somewhat dangerous if you really think about it.

Fracture was an intense debut. The people who died, and the people who lived, I really didn't see the deaths coming. I really didn't. I was surprised and found myself sad through most of it. Is it nature? The way things are supposed to be? The chain of events? The effects it has on us?

I also liked how it was set around wintertime. Even though I read Fracture near fall, I still felt like I was walking across the frozen pond and driving down the snowy road.

I loved all the characters. I loved her friends. I loved her relationship with Carson, her relationship with Deckor, even to an extent I liked learning about Troy and seeing her explore that relatoinship.

Fracture was a great novel. It had romance, mystery, happiness, sadness, friendship. It had everything to make a perfect novel.

Overall: Hands down one of the best novels I've read all year. This is a book you should read as soon as possible. Keep some tissues handy. I loved it. Beautifully written and a spectatulcar story.

Cover: Love it. It fits perfectly and I like the blueness of it. I even like the trees in the background.

What I'd Give It:

Stolen Away by Alyxandra Harvey

Stolen Away by Alyxandra Harvey

Release Date: January 17, 2012

Publisher: Walker Childrens

Age Group: Young Adult

Pages: 288

Summary: For seventeen years, Eloise Hart had no idea the world of Faery even existed. Now she has been abducted and trapped in the Rath of Lord Strahan, King of Faery. Strahan was only meant to rule for seven years, as Faery tradition dictates, and then give up his crown to another. But he won't comply, and now chaos threatens both worlds.

The only one who can break his stranglehold on the Faery court is his wife. . . Eloise's aunt Antonia. Using Eloise to lure Antonia, Strahan captures his wife, desperate to end the only threat to his reign. Now Eloise must become the rescuer. Together with her best friends Jo and Devin, she must forge alliances with other Fae, including a gorgeous protector named Lucas, and Strahan's mysterious son, Eldric—who may or may not betray them.

My Thoughts: Stolen Away is told in two different prospectives. First, we have Eloise whom the book is about. Than we have her best friend Jo who falls for the bad guy. A guy who is supposed to be against Eloise.

Eloise has spent her whole life with a glamour hosted on her to protect her from the world of fairy but over time it wears off and now she's likely to being seen.

Her aunt has been the faery queen for many years and her husband is looking for a new wife. Someone in the same family line. Her aunt is the only one who can break it.

Eloise gets kidnapped and than goes after the king, to take him down.

With the help of Lucas, who is sexy by the way and Eldric who is the king's son she goes on her way to freeing her aunt and destroying the king's reign. She must enlist other fae to help her fight a long the way.

Honestly, this one sounded really great and I enjoyed reading it a lot but it still wasn't as great as The Iron Knight. I think that is probably my favorite book based on fairies. It would be very hard to top that series though.

Stolen Away didn't have a lot of depth, half the time I wasn't sure quite what was going on and I had to sit back and think, so what just happened? It was a really good book but just not as great as other fairy books out there.

Overall: I enjoyed reading it a lot but not a 5 cupcake fairy book in my eyes. Would I recommend it to other people? Sure. Could it become a series? Sure, but I think it would be better as a stand alone and if the ending was just left alone.

Cover: The cover is gorgeous, has a lot of colors.

What I'd Give It:

Mercy Lily by Lisa Albert

Mercy Lily by Lisa Albert
Release Date: October 8, 2011
Publisher: Flux
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 240

Summary: A poetic, moving story about a teen who must make an unimaginable choice
Mom has slowly been losing herself to MS. After traditional treatment fails, she takes bee sting therapy, administered by Lily, to alleviate her pain. Lily is trained as a veterinary assistant, so she can easily handle the treatments. What she can't handle is what happens when the bee sting therapy fails and it becomes clear that Mom wants to die.
One beautiful spring day, Lily's mother asks her for the most impossible thing of all—mercy. They live in Oregon, where the Death with Dignity Act allows a patient to make the decision to end their own life.
While navigating first love, friendship, and the other normal worries faced by high school sophomores, Lily also has to choose: grant Mom's request, or cling to Mom's fading life for all it's worth.

My Thoughts: I kind of didn't want to even read this book because I knew it was going to be sad. But every once in a while, we need to read books that shed some light on subjects and really effect us. That make us feel things and make us want to cry.

That was how Mercy Lily was for me. A few friends recommended it to me so I decided I would read it.

We are introduced to Lily who is a trained veterinary. Her mom was also a veterinary. She lost her father a few years ago and it's just been her and her mom since.

Her mom has MS and Lily is only 14 years old. This is far too young to have to deal with this stuff. Her mom wants Lily to help end her life. She was also giving her mom treatment for MS by bee stinging. She would actually catch and collect the bees and sting her.

There are also a few other characters throughout the book, like Jed. Jed was the neighbor man and then there are Lily's friends. I liked most of her friends and I thought Jed was an interesting character. He actually did care about her.

I finished this book even though at times I didn't like where it was headed. It really bothered me she had to go through so much at a young age. Part of me thinks her mom was selfish for asking Lily to do this instead of getting professional care. I understood that Lily would do anything for her mom but why did Lily's feelings not get taken into account?

This book was just ok for me. Yes, it was heartbreaking and I got emotional a few times but I didn't love the story like I hoped. This is such a great story but I had trouble connecting with the characters like I wanted too.

Overall: Probably more of a 3.5 for me. It wasn't a bad book, will probably just be a hit or miss with fans of books that are based on sick characters. Yes, I felt frustrated at times for Lily but I also wanted to finish so I could read something more "happy." I usually just don't read books like these. Maybe you'll like it more than me.

Cover: I do like the cover! It's very pretty.

What I'd Give It: