Armchair BEA Best of 2011

Welcome to Day 2 of Armchair BEA!

Here are some of my favorite books from 2011.

Favorite Books I've Read in 2011

*Not all of these were published in 2011

Hush by Eishes Chayil

Prom and Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead

The Greyfriar by Clay and Susan Griffith

Twilight Saga: Official Illustrated Guide by Stephenie Meyer

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

Die For Me by Amy Plum

Armchair BEA Introduction

Welcome to Armchair BEA!

I'm so excited to be participating in this event, even though I'm disappointed that I can't go to the real BEA this year.

Who Am I?

My name is Alison (as you might guess from the name of my blog). I've been blogging for almost a year now. My blog is mostly Young Adult, with a few Middle Grade novels and a weekly Manga feature. I read all kinds of books. Growing up, I read mostly contemporary and historical fiction. In recent years, my obsession with Twilight and Harry Potter have given rise to a love for fantasy and paranormal. I read tons of paranormal romance young adult novels. I'm starting to read adult paranormal romance novels as well, but I mostly limit my reviews on the blog to YA.

I love doing discussion posts on my blog. I usually have one every other week. Here are a few of my favorites:

I LOVE Twilight and I Am NOT ASHAMED!!!

Blogger Advice: Gaining Followers

How Do I Armchair

First off, why am I not going to BEA this year? Because I am moving from Minneapolis to Sacramento in 2 or 3 months. Moves are expensive and time consuming, so no trip to New York City. What's worse is that we need to get rid of our house, which is its own nightmare :-(

If by chance, you want to buy or rent a house in a Minneapolis suburb, I have the place for you!

While everyone is having fun at BEA this week, I will be working, going to yoga, fielding calls from prospective renters, and fitting in BEA blogging in between.

What Am I Looking Forward To

From the Armchair side, I'm looking forward to finding new bloggers and getting to know old ones better.

From the BEA side, I'm looking forward to living vicariously through the participants. I'm excited for the author discussions. I'm really excited to see what books people pick up, even though I'm afraid I'll turn permanently green from a high level of jealousy (which just might deter prospective renters or buyers, unless they're big Wicked fans)

Manga Mondays (51): Vampire Knight vol. 9 - Matsuri Hino

Vampire Knight vol. 9 - Matsuri Hino

Summary

Cross Adademy is attended by two groups of students: the Day Class and the Night Class. At twilight, when the students of the Day Class return to their dorm, they cross paths with the Night Class on their way to school. Yuki Cross and Zero Kiryu are the Guardians of the school, protecting the Day Class from the Academy's dark secret: the Night Class is full of vampires!

Zero is imprisoned as Rido begins to revive slowly, and his army of Level E vampires approach the academy. Ichiru, fatally wounded, shoots Zero, and it is revealed that Ichiru was on Zero's side all along, and that he was plotting to kill Rido, the one who made Shizuka Hio murder their parents. Ichiru tells Zero to eat him to become stronger... (courtesy of Goodreads)

Review


*Warning: Potential spoilers. My manga reviews tend to be more of a summary than a review. I find it hard to review manga in the same way I do regular books.

I'm not sure how I feel about where Vampire Knight is going. Volume 9 exemplifies my ambivalence. It is a rollicking adventure. Rido Kuran, Kaname and Yuki's uncle, has been awakened from a deep sleep. He was in love with Kaname and Yuki's mother and killed their father. He is now intent on killing Yuki.

Zero has been imprisoned. His brother Ichiru visits him and shoots him with the vampire-killing gun, but it doesn't kill Zero. It turns out that Ichiru is dying and Zero devours his twin to increase his own powers. This sounds really twisted and disgusting, but it actually makes sense with the vampire hunter mythology. Twins of vampire hunters usually devour themselves in the womb and only one child is born. Zero partially devoured Ichiru in the womb, so he was born as a sickly, weak child. Now Ichiru encourages Zero to finish what he once (unconsciously) started.

The Academy is in chaos with Rido's awakening. Evil vampires are popping up out of the woodwork and scaring the day students. The Night students are now protecting the Day students. Headmaster Cross was once a great vampire hunter. Yet he now insists that not all vampires are bad nor should they be killed. He is protecting his school.

Finally, you have the big battles: between Yuki, Zero, and Rido and between Kaname and the Senate. It's all very dramatic.

My problem with this volume and the way the series is going is that it's become so complex. There are so many characters who look so much alike that it's hard to tell what's going on. I had to read the summaries in Volume 10 and read Volume 9 twice to really understand what happened. I also still find the fact that Yuki and Kaname are both lovers and siblings rather uncomfortable. I'm curious to see where Vampire Knight goes, but I'm not enjoying it quite as much.

Weekly Blog Hops

It's time for the weekly book blogger hops again! A great opportunity to meet new bloggers and say hi to old.

Crazy For Books' Book Blogger Hop

Parajunkee's Follow My Book Blog Friday.




I'm Alison. I've been blogging for eleven months. I review mainly YA with a few MG books and a weekly manga feature.

On the blog:

Reviews

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
Instructions for a Broken Heart by Kim Culbertson
Die For Me by Amy Plum

Manga Mondays

Vampire Knight vol. 8 by Matsuri Hino

Questions of the Week:

Blog Hop: If you were given the chance to spend one day in a fictional world (from a book), which book would it be from and what would that place be?

Well, probably Twilight if I could hang out with the Cullens (and they didn't try to kill me). Otherwise, Harry Potter. I love the Anna and the French Kiss world too. I recently read Die For Me and I'd love to get to know the revenants better.

Follow Friday: It's circle time. Time for us to open up and share. Can you tell us FIVE quirky habits or things about you? We all have them...

1. For all I consider myself a hip indie rock listener, I am a huge fan of the Hannah Montana and High School Musical albums and listen to them frequently.
2. When I lived in Phoenix, I owned 5 library cards - one for each city (in Minnesota, one library card works for the entire metro).
3. I'm obsessed with the number 7. I always set my alarm clock for some interval of 7 (like 6:07 AM).
4. I am horribly behind on my book reviews. I have about 10 books that I've read but haven't yet reviewed. The worst part of being a fast reader.
5. I was scared of escalators as a kid. Sometimes, I still get nervous going down (especially when carrying luggage) and stand at the top of the escalator for 30 seconds or more before I can get on.

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
March 22, 2011; Philomel Books

Summary

Lina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they've known. Separated from her father, forced onto a crowded and dirty train car, Lina, her mother, and her young brother slowly make their way north, crossing the Arctic Circle, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here they are forced, under Stalin's orders, to dig for beets and fight for their lives under the cruelest of conditions.

Lina finds solace in her art, meticulously—and at great risk—documenting events by drawing, hoping these messages will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive. It is a long and harrowing journey, spanning years and covering 6,500 miles, but it is through incredible strength, love, and hope that Lina ultimately survives. Between Shades of Gray is a novel that will steal your breath and capture your heart. (courtesy of Goodreads)

Review

The idea of getting shipped off to Siberia is something I'd heard about most of my life. It's almost a cliche, a joke. In Between Shades of Gray, we are reminded that the horrors of the Stalin regime were no joke. They were raw, senseless, and beyond cruel.

Lina is a teenaged girl in Lithuania in 1940. She has a happy life. She's a talented artist and is close with her parents and little brother. This changes instantly when Soviets show up at their door at night and take the family away. Lina's father is taken to a prison camp and Lina, her mother, and little brother make the arduous journey from Lithuania to Siberia. Life becomes an endless struggle that seems to just get worse.

Between Shades of Gray is an exceptionally dark book. The author does not attempt to tamper the violence. Characters you grow to love become desperately ill. Some self-destruct. Some die. No one is spared. Despite the serious nature, I could not put this book down. It was extremely readable. The prose was fast and smooth. The outside world disappeared once you opened up the book. Lina's life in captivity was broken up by memories of happier times with family and friends. The flashbacks were the only thing I had an issue with. I loved how they made the book easier to take, but they also came so quickly and were not always connected to the present time. It was a bit confusing. Otherwise, the writing was close to perfect.

I loved Lina. She was strong and brave. She loved her family - she would do anything to help her mother and brother and to make sure that her father knew she was there. She is a gifted artist who sees life differently than most. She has great admiration for Edvard Munch (painter of The Scream). She loved his ability to portray raw terror with a paintbrush. Her art and view on life also shows things as they are - no sugar-coating. She has a tendency to jump to rash conclusions which sometimes has poor consequences, but she is capable of change and acceptance.

The secondary characters were all wonderful, even if some of them were awful. Lina's mother is a paragon of strength and forgiveness. She makes the best of their situation and retains her humanity and kindness towards everyone. By her example, her children and campmates try to do the same. Andrius, the young man in the camp, is a match for Lina in many ways. He is brave, devoted, and sometimes reckless. There are hints of romance, but this is definitely not that kind of book. It's more of a connection than a romance. The Bald Man was the other camper I found most intriguing. Invariably grumpy and pessimistic, he made others' lives miserable. It was fascinating to watch bits and pieces of his character fall in place as the story proceeded to understand his attitude. Even the Soviet guards were well-described. They were monsters; cruelty was a hobby. However, even they had individual personalities. I like that the author chose to humanize one guard, but also didn't make him an angel.

I hope Between Shades of Gray brings to light this horrible but forgotten time in history. This is a great book for teaching. Not only is it educational, but it is a fast, engrossing read that brings the Siberian workcamps to life.

Rating: 5 / 5

Instructions for a Broken Heart by Kim Culbertson

Instructions for a Broken Heart by Kim Culbertson
May 1, 2011; Sourcebooks Fire
*I received a free copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Summary

The perfect book for the armchair traveler. See Italy without leaving home. Jessa goes on a school trip to Italy in Instructions for a Broken Heart. What should be the trip of a lifetime is horribly marred just before Jessa leaves. She catches her boyfriend making out with another girl. Worse yet, both the ex-boyfriend and the new girl are on the trip to Italy with Jessa. To break her out of her misery, Jessa's best friend sends along twenty reasons that Jessa is better off without Sean along with twenty (often vengeful) things that Jessa needs to do to get over him.

Review

Instructions for a Broken Heart is as much a journey of break-up recovery as it is through Italy.. Jessa is lost in her anger, humiliation, and grief throughout the book. She slowly comes out of her shell either because of or in spite of her friend's instructions.

A lot of Jessa's antics were hilarious. Stuff you always wish you'd done to an ex but never had the courage. Jessa doesn't have the courage either, but a mixture of anger and obligation toward her friend make her do some crazy things. Add to Jessa's heartbreak a young and cool teacher who sympathizes with Jessa a bit too much, another school group who seems to care nothing about Italian culture, a nice guy named Dylan Thomas (like the poet), and an interesting (although not really a big part of the story) Italian guy, and you have a strong set of subplots that break up the monotony of Jessa's moping. The book also does a great job describing Italian scenery, major landmarks, and art. I was uber-jealous of Jessa.

The book isn't exactly fast-paced. It's always moving - everything that happens to Jessa is important for plot development, but it happens slowly. Perhaps because I read this book on a car trip that lasted 2 hours long than I expected (Augusta, Georgia is a long ways from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina), this book felt like the school trip that would never end. Don't let that scare you away from the book though. It's quite enjoyable - just realize going in that it's slow-paced.

Jessa's grief and anger is so consuming that she is sometimes hard to like. There's only so much time you can bear being around a jilted girlfriend. But I got enough of an idea of who she normally is to think that I'd like her. She's extremely driven, a perfectionist, kind, and very smart. I love that she appreciated Italian culture. And her passion for Broadway musicals. She also grew a great deal throughout this book - learning that while Sean was a cheating jerk, she may not have been the best girlfriend either. The side characters were all interesting. I felt they functioned more as teachers for Jessa - helping her understand an element of herself - than characters of their own right.

Instructions for a Broken Heart is a great book for anyone who loves Italy and who likes stories where characters go from rock bottom to standing tall again. It's a little slow, but consistently interesting.

Rating: 3 / 5

Die For Me by Amy Plum

Die For Me by Amy Plum
May 10, 2011; HarperTeen
*I received a free copy of this book in return for an honest review

Summary

My life had always been blissfully, wonderfully normal. But it only took one moment to change everything.

Suddenly, my sister, Georgia, and I were orphans. We put our lives into storage and moved to Paris to live with my grandparents. And I knew my shattered heart, my shattered life, would never feel normal again. Then I met Vincent.

Mysterious, sexy, and unnervingly charming, Vincent Delacroix appeared out of nowhere and swept me off my feet. Just like that, I was in danger of losing my heart all over again. But I was ready to let it happen.

Of course, nothing is ever that easy. Because Vincent is no normal human. He has a terrifying destiny, one that puts his life at risk every day. He also has enemies . . . immortal, murderous enemies who are determined to destroy him and all of his kind.

While I'm fighting to piece together the remnants of my life, can I risk putting my heart—as well as my life and my family's—in jeopardy for a chance at love? (courtesy of Goodreads)

Review

There are a million and one paranormal romances out there. What makes a particular book stand out from the crowded genre of overdone supernatural creatures and trite romances? I don't think there is one answer for this. I think it depends upon what each reader looks for in a book. What I do know is that Die For Me has now leaped to the top of my list of post-Twilight paranormal romances (excepting epic books like Vampire Academy and The Mortal Instruments). If you could write out a formula for what I look for in a paranormal romance book, Die For Me would be sitting next to the equal symbol.

What exactly does Die For Me have going for it?

1. Setting: Oooh...Paris. I've only spent 3 days in Paris, but I definitely want to spend more. The Paris in Die For Me is both mysterious and romantic. You have peaceful cafes (as long as nothing is falling from the sky), parks, the Seine, ornate architecture, dark clubs, dangerous catacombs - the contradiction of dark and light that is Paris.

2. Writing: I like books that are well-written. No surprise there. Who would say anything otherwise? As nice as it is to read books of literary quality, for paranormal romance, I'm looking for a balance. I like books that have richly described settings, characters, and mythology backgrounds, but the descriptions of which don't drag the book down. Die For Me does this perfectly. I got a strong impression of Kate and Vincent's world, but the writing was smooth and easy to read. I could lose myself in the plot instead of focusing on the intricacies of the prose.

3. Pacing: This is a subset of writing, but I thought it merited its own discussion. So often paranormals take forever to get going and then have heart-stopping action that has you flipping pages to get to the end. This isn't a bad thing, but often it feels like a chore. Like having to lick a Tootsie Pop a million times until you finally get to the candy. Die For Me had great pacing. It took awhile for the paranormal element to unfold, but the beginning plot and character development were interesting enough that I never felt like I was trudging through the novel. It got very tense toward the end, but wasn't such a page-turner that I wasn't able to slow down and enjoy myself. Well done.

4. Paranormal Element: There are only so many supernatural creatures to choose from if you're going to stick to traditional legends. Vampires, werewolves, demons, fairies, angels, shape-shifters, ghosts, zombies. Die For Me borrows from traditional paranormal elements, but manages to be unique. Revenants are not ghosts nor are they zombies. They are creatures who are immortal yet die and die again. I've never read anything like it. So refreshing to read something new.

5. Romance: Die For Me does have the other-worldly romance that I often dislike in YA novels. They don't fall instantly in love, but there is an immediate connection. I still fell in love with Kate and Vincent romance. The book occurs over a long enough time span that they actually have time to go on a few dates before being ready to die for each other. Vincent is such a good guy. A mixture of reserve, bravery, kindness, intelligence, and passion that fits my formula for a romantic hero. And good looks of course.

6. Supporting Characters: This is the big one for me. It's what really made Die For Me shine. The story isn't just about Kate and Vincent. There are numerous supporting characters all of whom have well-described, distinct personalities and play important roles in the story. Vincent's fellow revenants are not blood relatives, but they are a family for all intents and purposes. I loved funny Ambrose, boastful Jules, Alice Cullen-like Charlotte, nervous Gaspard, prickly Charles, patriarch Jean-Baptiste, and motherly Jeanne. I felt like a book could easily be written about each character. Much like the Cullens. Of course, you also have Kate's family: Georgia, Mamie, and Papy, but the revenant family was the what I most enjoyed.

Die For Me is not a perfect book. You could argue the romance is nothing new (although I liked it). I also thought it was odd that Kate was grieving her parents' deaths at the beginning of the book, but that theme practically disappeared as the book went on. Some have argued that it is too Twilight-ish. No book is flawless (and the common elements with Twilight are one of the main things I like about it). Die For Me had everything I want in a paranormal and for that reason, I can't recommend it enough.

Rating: 5 / 5