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Lauren Morril broke into the scene with her first book, Meant to Be, and she joined the ranks of Stephanie Perkins and Sarah Dessen in the world of contemporary romance. With her next book, Being Sloane Jacobs, she proves her success with Meant to Be was not beginners luck!
Sloane Emily Jacobs has been out of the figure skating circuit for a while, but her mother insists this intensive camp in Canada is the perfect place for her to get back in the game. While Sloane E wants nothing to do with skating anymore, at least not competitively, she is willing to go to the camp just to get away from her politician father and the tension between him and the family. Always the obediant daughter, Sloane E is having trouble these days being the perfect girl his political career demands. Especially when their family is anything but perfect.
Sloane Devon Jacobs has the yips. Everyone thinks she is just one seriously tough hockey player, but all the checking and aggression is just hiding the fact that she can't make a shot. She can get the puck lined up for the perfect shot, but every time she gets there, she chokes. When she takes it out on a deserving loud-mouthed player, her coach decides she needs to spend a little time a hockey boot camp in Canada. When her father supports the idea, Sloane D feels like she is damaged goods being shipped off and out of the way, just like her mother. Since the camp is Sloane D's only way to keep playing hockey and hopefully get the scholarship that will be her only one-way ticket out of Philly and into a better life, she will do it. But she isn't happy about it.
Then something happens. Sloane E and Sloane D crash into one another. Literally. When the bellhops bring their luggage up to their rooms at the hotel the night before camp starts, they realize the luggage was switched. Their names are the same, but their lives are vastly different. Both girls are running away from something, and finally they have an opportunity to forget who they are and all their responsibilities. They decide to switch. Sloane E goes to hockey camp and Sloane D becomes a figure skater. What the girls don't stop to think about is that you can ignore your life briefly, but it won't go away permanently!
Oh I so enjoyed this story. It was a really cute "chick flick" of a book that gave me the warm fuzzies. While there is a little romance going on for both girls, the focus of the story really was on the girls and what they were both going through. I did, at a couple of points, think to myself it was a little unrealistic that a hockey player could become a figure skater and vice versa in a week or two, or even do it well enough to fool the people at their respective camps, but if you suspend that belief enough to enjoy the story, it is a really fabulous coming of age story. Both these girls have a lot of baggage and have situations back home they are running from, but by escaping that for only a few short weeks, they have a chance to really find out who THEY are. It was a really fabulous story about two really great young ladies!
I am really growing to love Lauren Morrill. I was lucky enough to have a chance to meet her at our local bookstore a few months ago, and I hope she keeps turning out stories like this one. She has an unabashed love for romantic comedies that even the most jaded of ladies out there has to appreciate. And it really shows in her stories that she is a Dessen and Perkins fan. She pays homage to the greats of the genre while still paving her own unique path, and I can't wait to see what she comes out with next!
Carter Kane has battled and won against Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. Percy Jackson has done the same with Greek Gods and Goddesses. If the Greek and Roman mythological figures and beasts can come together in The Heroes of Olympus, why can't Greek and Egyptian mythology come together? Well, speculate no further! In The Son of Sobek, Carter and Percy have to do the hardest thing two heroes can do- work together.
Carter is confident (somewhat) that he can handle the giant bedazzled crocodile that is terrorizing Long Island. That is, before it eats him. being squished inside the gullet of a giant crocodile isn't exactly his idea of a good time, but at least the croc was big enough to eat him in one gulp instead of biting him in half. While Carter is still trying to figure out what to do next, the croc spits him up, right in front of some strange kid. When it is clear the kid can see the croc, not some watered down version mortals would see, he realizes this is no normal boy. Together, Carter Kane and Percy Jackson must get rid of a crocodile that likes to munch on cars and can flatten a house. But there is something more disturbing going on. Something that would send an Egyptian monster right into the heart of Camp Half-Blood, thus bringing together Carter and Percy.
OK, I hate to speculate, but this felt like Riordan was setting up a massive new series that brought together Eyptian, Roman, and Greek mythology. *insert loony squeal here* I hope this really is the case and this wasn't just one lone short story, because nothing would be better than seeing everyone come together for a final series (because honestly, a world where there are no more Kane and Jackson novels to come out is just a world not worth living in!). This was a fabulous little story that gives you just enough of a tease to keep you sated until House of Hades comes out! So fingers crossed. Mr. Riordan, we want a series where they all come together and throw the world for a loop! Puh LEASE?!
Fear is an ugly thing, but when it causes humanity to turn its back on its own children, ugly is no longer the word. In The Darkest Mind by Alexandra Bracken, the world has long surpassed ugly. It is broken, and there may be no way to come back from where it has gone.
Ruby has spent most of her life at Thurmond, what was supposed to be a "rehabilitation camp" for kids but turned into a prison, a detention camp. When she first arrived all those years ago, something was happening to her that she couldn't explain. Unfortunately, it only took a short time in the camps to understand how the adult world now felt about kids like Ruby. When a plague swept the US, many kids died, but it was the ones who survived the virus that scared the adults. They were the ones who developed powers. Classified in levels where Blues and Greens were the least powerful, and Yellows, Oranges, and Reds were the most dangerous, the kids are sorted in the camp and separated according to their power. While Ruby is an Orange, even at 10 years old she could see it was dangerous to be labeled as one of the more powerful kids. She uses her power of mind control to get classified a Green, and when they start emptying the camps of Yellows, Oranges, and Reds, she knows she made the right decision.
Ruby lives life knowing how to keep her head down, but she has no control of her power. And while it saved her life once, getting into minds has severe consequences, like erasing all memory of herself from the minds of the people she loves. When the camp uses a special frequency to weed out any higher level students hiding amongst the Blues and Greens, Ruby is found out. But luckily, there were people ready to help her- squirreled out of the camp with another hidden Orange, Ruby is rescued by Children's League- an organization that aims to fight the government's treatment of the children. The Children's League sounds like it is too good to be true, and it is. Because the only way to fight fire is with fire. Already on edge, Ruby is skeptical of the Children's League and when the opportunity to escape presents itself, she runs. And she runs right into three kids who are also on the run: Chubs, Liam, and a little girl named Suzume. Since erasing her parents' memories of herself, Ruby has never truly let herself care for anyone, until now. And there is nothing more dangerous in this scary new world than caring about people who could so easily get hurt. The kids are in search of a fabled place where kids can live in peace, but can such a place exist in a world so full of darkness?
Darkest Minds was a really good book! It was action-packed, and the back story is so twisted and dark, you felt like you had to know more. The idea of rounding kids up and eliminating the ones that are too powerful to control is terrifying. But is it wrong? Incorrect? I sadly believe people's fear can drive them to do things that are so heinous and unforgivable, it is hard to imagine how they go to that place. Fear is a funny thing that will bring us places we never thought we would go to. And this novel really gets to the heart of this fact. And it is scary! By the end of the book, you have a completely different idea as to who the "Darkest Minds" were.
Another interesting aspect of the story is how the Oranges really can be unstable and violent. When Ruby first came to the camp, she watched one kill a guard without remorse, or even a second thought. When you start the story, you want to think of the adults as the bad guys and the kids as the ones who need saving, but the instability of the Oranges (and you never really see any Reds) brings a whole new level to the story. It is an interesting twist that will keep you enthralled form cover to cover.
The story is a great, action-packed story with multiple layers to be peeled back like an onion. It is great for any kid (or adult) who likes dystopias, supernatural stories, action, etc. Some situations, especially the camp, are violent and difficult to internalize at times. This is a great gender neutral novel that can keep anyone addicted!
We live our lives not really knowing what our legacy is. Who were our ancestors? What features have we inherited from them? What kind of lives did they live? C.J. Hill's book Slayers illustrates those questions as they are asked by a group of teenagers who find out their legacy is that they were born as dragon slayers and must save the world from an ancient menace that is about to be returned to the world.
Tori is a senator's daughter, which is about all the attention she can handle. But what she can't get out of her mind is this attraction to everything dragon she can find. Unfortunately, it isn't a fondness for dragons, but rather a deep-seeded need to kill them. When she finds Dragon Camp, she is sure it will be some silly camp where they run around with foam swords and learn about the dragon mythology she has read for years. What she isn't prepared for is a secret part of the camp reserved for the few kids just like her- the slayers.
Tori learns she is a descendent of the ancient slayers and while her mother was pregnant, she came within miles of a dragon egg. That triggered something in Tori's, and the other slayers', DNA and gave them powers. Those powers only activate when in the vicinity of a dragon, so at the camp they have a simulator to practice with and train for the inevitable battle. With the descendent of an ancient Dragon Lord nearby, they know the dragon eggs are being cared for until they hatch. When they finally hatch, the Dragon Lord will use them to take over the country. Dragon Lords have a mental connection to their dragons and can control one at a time. With a dragon in their control, and the EMP burst dragon roar's emit, they can easily convince the world to obey them by taking out a few key cities. When the slayers find the place the eggs have been stored, they decide to take a chance on destroying the eggs and ending the threat forever. What they aren't prepared for is the live dragons... or the fact that someone has been telling the Dragon Lord about the slayers and their training. With a mole in their midst, the slayers must find a way to save the world... but can they do it without paying with the biggest cost- their lives?
I like dragon stories; I am not going to lie. I don't obsess over dragon mythology. but it is fun when you come across a dragon centered book. I was wasting time in Oblong when I found this gem and was excited to start it. The story is a different take on most dragon mythology, especially with the difference between the dragon slayers and and lords. The most interesting part was how the dragons can incubate their eggs for either 20 years or 150 years, depending on what they foresee in their future. If they are threatened by something, their eggs can go into hibernation for 150 years until times are safe for them to be born. Overall, this was a really interesting twist on the old dragon myths we are used to. It seems like this is a start of a series, so I am looking forward to the rest of the slayer's adventures.
C.J. Hill is apparently the pseudonym of YA romance novelist who wanted a new name for the new genre. Her publicist suggested it might get her more of a chance of breaking out into a new genre, but it didn't take a very long internet search to find out who C.J. Hill really was (*cough* Janette Rallison *cough*). Personally, I think the story of the book will appeal to whoever it appeals to, regardless of what the author has written before. It seems like a silly publicity stunt when the book really can handle itself. Young Adult readers (and those of us who shamelessly still read young adult lit even though we are so far from being young adults it makes us hang our heads in shame!) don't need to be tricked. Just write a good book and if they are interested in the topic, they will read it! This book is great for any middle reader through middle aged dragon lover! It is a fun story everyone will enjoy... especially when you spot something peculiar flying over your house one night!
