Book Review- Brightly Woven

I just finished reading Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken for a 1 ARC Tour.

From Goodgreads:

Sydelle Mirabil is living proof that, with a single drop of rain, a life can be changed forever. Tucked away in the farthest reaches of the kingdom, her dusty village has suffered under the weight of a strangely persistent drought. That is, of course, until a wizard wanders into town and brings the rain with him.

In return for this gift, Wayland North is offered any reward he desires—and no one is more surprised than Sydelle when, without any explanation, he chooses her. Taken from her home, Sydelle hardly needs encouragement to find reasons to dislike North. He drinks too much and bathes too little, and if that isn’t enough to drive her to madness, North rarely even uses the magic he takes such pride in possessing. Yet, it’s not long before she realizes there’s something strange about the wizard, who is as fiercely protective of her as he is secretive about a curse that turns his limbs a sinister shade of black and leaves him breathless with agony. Unfortunately, there is never a chance for her to seek answers.

Along with the strangely powerful quakes and storms that trace their path across the kingdom, other wizards begin to take an inexplicable interest in her as well, resulting in a series of deadly duels. Against a backdrop of war and uncertainty, Sydelle is faced with the growing awareness that these events aren’t as random as she had believed—that no curse, not even that of Wayland North, is quite as terrible as the one she herself may carry.
 
This book was only okay for me.  I found myself dreading having to read it and I never really got into it.  I'm not saying that its a bad book, but it just didn't hold my attention.
 
I found that at times I got confused.  Which lands were which and which goddess they believed in and who was fighting who.  They all got mixed up in my head and I didn't really care enough to go back to try to re-read through it.  A lot of the book seemed to be about religion and politics.  Not my thing.
 
The characters were okay.  Sydelle seemed a little flat to me.  I didn't think that any of her characteristics were something that I really enjoyed.  And I went up and down with how I felt about North.  Sometimes I liked him, and sometimes I found him annoying.
 
This book is set up nicely for a series, but I'm not honestly sure that I'm interested enough to read it, if there is one.  I guess I would need to see what it is about before I would make up my mind.
 
I gave this book a rating of 2.5/5.
 
This book fulfilled an item in the following challenges:
2010 100+ Reading Challenge: 119
2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 88
2010 Debut Author Challenge: 35
ARC Reading Challenge 2010: 84
 
*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free from 1 ARC Tours for an honest review.

Book Review- Invisible Touch

I just finished reading Invisible Touch by Kelly Parra for a 1 ARC Tour.

From Goodreads:

Do you believe in fate?

Kara Martinez has been trying to be "normal" ever since the accident that took her father's life when she was eleven years old. She's buried the caliente side of her Mexican heritage with her father and tried to be the girl her rigid mother wants her to be--compliant and dressed in pink, and certainly not acting out like her older brother Jason. Not even Danielle, her best friend at Valdez High, has seen the real Kara; only those who read her anonymous blog know the deepest secrets of the sign seer.

Because Kara has a gift--one that often feels like a curse. She sees signs, visions that are clues to a person's fate, if she can put together the pieces of the puzzle in time. So far, she's been able to solve the clues and avert disaster for those she's been warned about--until she sees the flash of a gun on a fellow classmate, and the stakes are raised higher than ever before. Kara does her best to follow the signs, but it's her heart that wanders into new territory when she falls for a mysterious guy from the wrong side of town, taking her closer to answers she may not be able to handle. Will her forbidden romance help her solve the deadly puzzle before it's too late...or lead her even further into danger?
 
I enjoyed this book.  While, I don't think is really anything to gush over, I found myself wanting to get to the end to find out the answer to the puzzle.  Usually I can figure out the ending and the answer to the mystery before I get to it, but in this book, I didn't figure it out at all. 
 
The characters were all fine for me.  No one I really loved, and no one I disliked.  I do wish we had learned more about Kara's best friend, Danielle, though.  We learn her secret at the end, but I wish we had seen and learned more about her.
 
This was an easy read and one that will keep you guessing.
 
I gave this book a rating of 3.5/5.
 
This book fullfills items for the following challenges:
2010 100+ Reading Challenge: 33
2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 24
 
*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free by Harmony from 1 ARC Tours for an honest review.

Book Review- Give Up the Ghost

I finished reading Give Up the Ghost by Megan Crewe last night for a 1 ARC tour.

From Goodreads:

Cass McKenna much prefers ghosts over "breathers". Ghosts are uncomplicated and dependable, and they know the dirt on everybody... and Cass loves dirt. She's on a mission to expose the dirty secrets of the poseurs in her school.

But when the vice president of the student council discovers her secret, Cass's whole scheme hangs in the balance. Tim wants her to help him contact his recently deceased mother, and Cass reluctantly agrees.

As Cass becomes increasingly entwined in Tim's life, she's surprised to realize he's not so bad — and he needs help more desperately than anyone else suspects. Maybe it’s time to give the living another chance...
 
This was an interesting paranormal story by Megan Crewe.  I enjoyed the plot of the story in both the way that Cass interacted with the ghosts and that the way that she was up front about the gossip that she found about.
 
I'm not too sure about the characters though.  I didn't really connect with Cass at all.  I wanted to feel sympathetic for her, but I just couldn't.  I did however like Paige, Cass's sister who is a ghost, and Tim.  I thought Paige had a fun personality and I really felt Tim's pain. 
 
Overall, a great debut novel and I look forward to reading more by Megan Crewe.
 
I gave this book a rating of 3/5.
 
This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
A to Z Challenge: C
2010 100+ Reading Challenge: 15
2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 13
ARC Reading Challenge 2010: 13

*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free by Harmony from 1 ARC Tours for an honest review.

Book Review- Candor

I just finished reading Candor by Pam Bachorz for a 1 ARC Tour.

From the back cover:

Stepford makes the perfect wife, but Candor teens are changed for life.

Everything is perfect in the town of Candor, Florida.  Teens respect their elders, do their chores, and enjoy homework... because they're controlled by subliminal messages.  Only Oscar, the son of the town's founder, knows how to get the kids out--for a price.  But when Nia moves into town, Oscar is smitten.  He can't stand to see her changed.  Now he must decide to help Nia escape Candor and lose her forever, or keep her close and risk exposure...

Candor takes the classic sci-fi themes of conformity and mind control and turns them on their head.

When I first heard of Candor and what it was about, I instantly knew that I wanted to read it.  Then when I read the author blurb on the back cover and saw that Pam Bachorz came up with the idea for the story from  when she lived in Celebration, Florida,  I was even more hooked. (Side note--  I live about 10 minutes away from Celebration, which is what Disney came up with when trying to create a "perfect town".  The houses are all very similar and there is a main street and downtown area, and honestly, I love the neighborhood.  But many of my friends here think it's just too cookie-cutter).

The idea of mind control and brainwashing instantly grabbed me.  The way that the residents of the town acted just shocks me.  The idea of living a "perfect" life, according to what the founder percieves as the right thing, is astounding.  It's so creepy! (and it makes me wonder if this could truly happen in real life)

And I'm having a hard time writing my thoughts on the book because I don't want to give away too much...

When the main character, Oscar, explained why his father came up with the idea for the town, I felt so bad for his family.  I wanted to like his dad and I wanted there to be a breakthrough and for his dad to realize that no one can hide from their past. 

And I liked the relationship between Oscar and Nia.  I liked that Oscar showed Nia the real him, not the "perfect" son that he showed everyone else.  There were some tender moment between the two of them, and later in the book, I wanted Oscar to succeed in getting through to Nia.

And there were several events that shocked me.  The ending was definitely not what I expected to happen, and while it's not the ending that I wanted, it defintely works and it left me wanting to know more!

I gave this book a rating of 4/5.

*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free by Harmony from 1 ARC Tours for an honest review.

Book Review- DupliKate

I just sat down and finished reading Duplikate by Cherry Cheva--all in one sitting!

From the back cover:

Getting into Yale has been Kate Larson's dream for years--and being overworked and under-rested is the price of admission. But when she opens her eyes after falling asleep on her keyboard one night, she comes face-to-face with, well, herself.

Meet Kate's computer-generated twin. Kate doesn't know why she's here or how to put her back where she belongs, but she's real. And she's the last thing Kate has time to deal with right now. Unless...Could having a double be the answer to Kate's prayers?

I really enjoyed this book. It was definitely a new story line for me to read. It totally brought back memories of my senior year of high school and trying to cram everything in so I could get into the school of my dreams.

I really liked all of the characters. I could identify with Kate--being stressed out and trying to balance a social and academic life. And I enjoyed Rina, Kate's computer-generated twin. But I couldn't decide if I liked her or if I thought she was evil--a lot of the time I felt pity for her. I also liked the two main male characters- Paul and Jake. They both had qualities that I would have found appealing in high school.

Overall, this was a quick, fun read. It took me on a trip down memory lane, and made me laugh while doing it!

I gave this book a rating of 4/5.

This book was reviewed for 1 ARC Tours.