Gemini Bites by Patrick Ryan

Genre: YA contemporary/ romance/ LGBT

Pages: 240 (hardcover)

Published: March 2011 by Scholastic

Recommended for: anyone who thinks a funny coming-of-age-type romance (of both straight and gay varieties) sounds like their thing

Summary:

One of the strangest (and funniest) love triangles ever to hit YA fiction, when a pair of twins (one boy, one girl) both fall for the boy who moves in with them…who may or may not be a vampire.
Judy and Kyle Renneker are sixteen-year-old fraternal twins in a rambling family of nine. They have a prickly history with each other and are, at least from Judy's perspective, constantly in fierce competition. Kyle has recently come out of the closet to his family and feels he might never know what it's like to date a guy. Judy, who has a history of pretending to be something she isn't in order to get what she wants, is pretending to be born-again in order to land a boyfriend who heads his own bible study.

When their parents announce that the family is going to be taking in a fellow student for a month so that he can finish the school year before moving away, both Kyle and Judy can't help but sit up and take notice. Garret Johnson, who is taking temporary residence in the newly finished attic, is a young man who moved into town less than a year ago and who is a mysterious, goth loner . . . and claims to be a vampire. He's not an easy person to get to know by any means, but the twins find him (to varying degrees) both strange and alluring.

My Take:

DISCLAIMER: Gemini Bites is NOT a paranormal romance.  The token description seems to be: a teenage vampire moves in with a set of dysfunctional twins and a love triangle ensues.  In actuality, readers will find admittedly few sparkling vampires within these pages.  But the book more than makes up for its somewhat misleading synopsis with a slew of hilarious one-liners and lovable characters.  The love triangle (er, love quadrilateral) is as funny as it is somewhat bizarre, and the sheer randomness of the goings-on in Gemini Bites kept me hooked from the first page to the last.    

Garret Johnson, the alleged vampire who moves into twins Kyle and Judys' attic, is a very interesting enigmatic stranger, as we can gather immediately from his initial introduction of himself: 'The name's Garret.  As opposed to garrote, the device one might use to strangle a person.'  Yeah.  And he just gets delightfully weirder from then on out.  Though Kyle initially worries that Garret might want to suck his blood some night and Judy is very preoccupied with snagging her newest crush by pretending to be a devout Christian (it's kind of a long story), both of the twins begin to develop romantic interest in Garret, who is as charming as he is maddeningly evasive about his own past.  We're purposely left in the dark about whether Garret's gay or straight, and the twins-- who are constantly in competition-- battle it out, each vying for the attention of their eccentric new house-mate. 

The novel switches points of view every chapter, letting us into both Judy and Kyle's heads.  I have to say I liked Kyle's chapters much better, mainly because Judy is incredibly conniving and often cruel, always lying to get her way, even though she's justified in her own mind.  Kyle is the opposite: self-demeaning and hilarious and obsessed with the music of Bob Dylan. (Go figure.)  Judy's best friend Sasha, a lovable 'dumb brunette' was by far the best secondary character, but it was also impossible for me not to snort with laughter when reading about Coover, Kyle's classmate who started the rumors of Garret's vampiric nature in the first place and decides to make a step toward ridding the world of evil, Mr. Pointy-style.  (Five points to your house if you got the Buffy reference.)

This book is laugh-out-loud hilarious and I loved how it handled LGBT: Kyle's family is so okay with his being gay (with nine in the family, they could barely give his coming out the time of day), and he certainly isn't the stereotypical sassy-gay-friend who we sometimes see in YA books.  All the characters and the storylines (weird as they sound in summary) are very believable, and the happy ending ties up every possible end of this darn good yarn.  My one complaint is that hardcover Gemini Bites costs about 18 US dollars in chain stores and $14 on Amazon.  On Amazon?!  This is a skinny, 240 page book and I read it in one sitting.  Considering you can buy books three times that size for a few dollars less online, I think that is nothing short of ridiculous.  But I'm no expert on pricing (though I am an expert on book-buying ;).  What do you guys think?

Cover: 3/5

Premise: 5/5

Characters: 5/5

Plot: 4/5

Overall Rating: 4/5 
*Thanks to Good Golly Miss Holly ARC Tours for the review copy* 

April 5th... A Great Day in History for Book Releases

April 5th is circled multiple times in bold red marker on my calender.  The morning started off pretty poorly, for a pre-prophesied Day of Awesomeness, with lightning storms and tornadoes raging through North Carolina and everyone losing their power.  But I'm confident things can only improve from there, what with the release of four much-anticipated sequels which I (along with the rest of the world's YA readers in the case of the first release), have been desperate to get my hands on... 

 City of Fallen Angels... it's here(!), it's shiny(!), and it's chock-full of Isabelle, Jace, Clary, Magnus, and Church and all those other people I've missed so much(!)

Plague-- the fourth book in the Gone series and the subject of my very first Waiting on Wednesday post.  Those cliffhanger endings have made for two very painful years, and I'm sure Plague will not disappoint.

Huntress is a sort of companion novel to Malinda Lo's Ash, one of my all-time favorite fantasies and a beautiful book. Early reviews of Huntress (you lucky people with your ARCs!) sound very promising.

Red Glove is the much-acclaimed sequel to White Cat, the first book in Holly Black's Curse Workers series.  I did have the chance to read this one early on, and was definitely not disappointed!  

Happy Release-Day to all of these books and their amazing authors.

Bitter Melon by Cara Chow

Genre: YA contemporary 

Pages: 309 (hardcover)

Published: December 2010 by Egmont USA 

Frances, a Chinese-American student at an academically competitive school in San Francisco, has always had it drilled into her to be obedient to her mother and to be a straight-A student so that she can go to Med school. But is being a doctor what she wants? It has never even occurred to Frances to question her own feelings and desires until she accidentally winds up in speech class and finds herself with a hidden talent. Does she dare to challenge the mother who has sacrificed everything for her?

My Take: 

I'd call this book contemporary fiction, even though it technically takes place in the 80s.  Only occasionally was I reminded of the time period, and really Frances's situation-- being the daughter of a hard-working, yet brutally harsh, immigrant mother-- is far from unique to the 80s.  Bitter Melon is very well-written and Frances's voice was honest and pure in a way which leaves a precise impression of her-- she's not a protagonist I'll soon be forgetting.  The demeaning hardships she endures under her mother's watchful eyes and biting tongue were sometimes difficult to read, but teens' straining to meet parents' expectations, as well as the expectations of those coveted Ivy schools is a huge aspect of our lives which is underrepresented in contemp lit.  

Bitter Melon introduces readers to a lot of Chinese-American culture through Frances's eyes.  Her mother is a "Tiger Mom" twenty years before the phrase ever became popular-- she consistently pushes Frances to succeed in school, but her idea of greatness is limited at best.  When Frances has a scheduling error and ends up in speech class instead of Calculus, she discovers a knack for public speaking and writing.  Her mother has always pushed her to become a doctor-- so that she can become wealthy and one day take care of her mother, who is sick and has spent her entire life working long hours so that Frances can attend a private school.  When Frances meets Derek, a (non-Chinese) boy at a Princeton Review class, she breaks another of her mother's most confining rules when she begins to secretly date him.  As Frances's senior year winds down, she is faced with a huge dilemma: should she continue to obey her conniving and often abusive mother's wishes, or leave her mother to pursue her new-found dream and the boy she loves?  That big question is the one author Cara Chow asks us readers as well, through Frances's well-crafted speeches and questioning of her mother's strict Confucian values which she has always respected in the past. 

As an academic-achiever who often finds herself overwhelmed by the sheer amount of choices for the future, not to mention the ongoing crises and assignments of high school, I identified with Frances completely.  The way she goes on to find her own voice is inspiring and her personal transition is really just fantastic.  I loved her sorta prim best friend and cousin, Theresa, as well, but found her mother very hard to sympathize with.  The woman is bordering on tyrannical!  She may have given up everything for her daughter's future, but that doesn't give her the right to beat Frances over the head with a trophy she won!   

Bitter Melon is a unique and beautiful read, as enjoyable as it is thought-provoking.     

Cover: 5/5 (the model fits Frances's description picture-perfectly)
Premise: 5/5 
Characters: 4/5
Plot: 4/5 
Overall Rating: 4.5/5

In My Mailbox (13)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren and inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie. The idea behind IMM is not only to put new books on our radars but also to encourage blogger interaction. IMM explores the weekly contents of our mailboxes: books bought, received, won, and borrowed, along with other goodies and swag.

Not too many books this week, and I usually only post my mailbox every other week, but those books I did get I'm so psyched about!  So I absolutely had to share...

What I Got:

For Review:

 

Bought:

-- The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross 

-- Gemini Bites by Patrick Ryan

-- Hounded by Kevin Hearne

-- Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Thanks to: 

-- Good Golly Miss Holly ARC Tours

-- DelRey Books

-- NetGalley and Harlequin

I just have to blurt it out: Hounded is fantastic so far!  My review's coming soon for the hilarious Gemini Bites as well, so keep an eye out.  

Anyways, what's in your mailbox this week?

Picture Perfect: An Expired Reality Novella by David N Alderman

Novella prologue to the upcoming Expired Reality series
Genre: science fiction
Length: novella-- ebook
Published: February 2011 by David N Alderman
(Buy the Kindle editon on Amazon here)
 (Visit the author's website)

Summary: 
Jonathan Huxley, a homeless boy living on the streets of Mecca, meets a wealthy gentleman who offers to take him in as an adopted son - if he'll wed the daughter of a family friend. But all is not as it seems in the world of wealth and power, as Jonathan is soon forced to make a decision between a secure future or forbidden love. While he fights to keep hold of what little is left of his innocence, the events surrounding him are shaping him into the notorious mercenary he will soon become.

My Take:

Picture Perfect is a sort of prologue in the form of a novella to David Alderman's upcoming Expired Reality series.  The novella is set in Anaisha, a world most similar to ours in many respects, and apparently very different in several others.  I've never read any of the author's earlier books set in this world, but Picture Perfect has me most intrigued.

Jonathan is an orphan whose biggest concerns usually reside in scavenging enough food to survive on, but one night a bizarre encounter with Reginald Arthur, a mysterious and wealthy stranger, alters the course of his life forever.  Reginald gives Jonathan an unusual opportunity: he can become an honorary member of the enigmatic Arthur family and spend the rest of his life in wealth and luxury, if only he agrees to marry Christina Harbrook, an equally wealthy-- and vindictive-- family friend.  Jonathan agrees to the arranged marriage, never foreseeing that he will soon meet-- and be forced to fight for-- the true love of his life.

Jonathan's transformation from a homeless orphan to a young mercenary is well-transitioned, especially considering the short length of the novella.  As a (long-winded to a fault) aspiring writer myself, I bow to David Alderman's ability to tell such a complex story so artfully and over the course of so few pages!  It is easy to get a feel for all of the characters, even the more minor ones, and the mystery shrouding the mysterious crimelord 'The Shadow' made me wish there was more.  Jonathan's would-be bride Christina is quite the femme fatale, and I'd love to see more of her as well.  There's a huge twist near the end of the story (no, I'm not going to reveal anything!) that totally threw me off as well.  The novella leaves the reader wondering how Jonathan will appear in his guise as a 'notorious mercenary' in the upcoming Expired Reality series (which takes place long after Picture Perfect, as far as I can tell).  All in all, I give this one a firm four and a half stars, for near-perfect execution and an intriguing story. 

Cover: 3/5 (meh, it's alright)

Premise: 5/5

Characters: 5/5 

Plot: 4/5 

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

*Copy was provided to me by the author in exchange for an honest review, and this in no way affected the contents of my review*

Follow Friday+ the Book Blogger Hop (19)

Happy Friday! Hello to anyone and everyone stopping by my blog via Follow Friday (hosted by paranormal-blogging queen Parajunkee) or the Book Blog Hop (hosted weekly by Jennifer at Crazy-for-Books).  And a big hello to any of my followers dropping in to say hi. :)  Thanks so much for visiting-- leave me your links and I'll be sure to hop on over to your blogs and follow you back later.  

This week's featured blogger over at FF is: Books Ahoy!
  Be sure to hop by their blog and follow if you haven't already. 

The question is inspired by Twitter's 100 facts about me:

Give us five BOOK RELATED silly facts about you.

My answer:

1. Our featured blogger lamented that she's an ADD reader, reading several books at once.  I can totally relate: I'm reading five books right now, and am just barely able to keep their stories straight.  

2.  My favorite genres have always been fantasy and science fiction, but recently I've really gotten into historical fiction and steampunk (which is a happy, slightly mad Victorian blend of historical and science fic).

3. I own exactly 346 book, at last count, after having donating a couple dozen a few weeks ago.  I'm sure that's nothing to some of you hardcore reviewers, but hey-- for a kid with no independent income, I've really racked up on the books. (And quickly surrendered every bit of money I ever earned to Amazon.com and Borders ;)

4.  My to-read list on Goodreads is about 220 books long.  I wish I was kidding, because once again, things aren't looking so hot for my wallet!

5. I keep a notebook with a running tab of every book I've ever read, its author, and a quick rating of 1-10 on the awesome-o-meter.  I've been doing this for about five years now, and the notebook is really starting to fill up.

The question over at the Book Blogger Hop is: 

"Since today is April Fool's Day in the USA, what is the best prank you have ever played on someone OR that someone has played on you?"

My answer: Hmm... I'm really not much of a prankster, practical-joker type.  In fact, I'm usually wayyyy too serious.  Once I wrapped up a mold of my teeth (my pre-braces teeth, gaps and all, the kind they always give you at the orthodontist) and presented it to my sister as a birthday present.  But that wasn't even on April Fool's Day, so not sure if it qualifies.  I'd love to hear about you guys' pranks, because they HAVE to be funnier/ more interesting than mine!!

Wishing everyone happy hopping and a fantastic weekend!

Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler

Horsemen of the Apocalypse book #1

(see my review of Rage, the second book in the series)

Genre: YA fantasy/contemporary 

Pages: 177 (paperback)

Published: October 2010 by Harcourt Graphia

Summary: 

“Thou art the Black Rider. Go thee out unto the world.”

Lisabeth Lewis has a black steed, a set of scales, and a new job: she’s been appointed Famine. How will an anorexic seventeen-year-old girl from the suburbs fare as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?

Traveling the world on her steed gives Lisa freedom from her troubles at home: her constant battle with hunger, and her struggle to hide it from the people who care about her. But being Famine forces her to go places where hunger is a painful part of everyday life, and to face the horrifying effects of her phenomenal power. Can Lisa find a way to harness that power — and the courage to battle her own inner demons?

My Take: 

Lately I seem to have a weird fetish for reading and reviewing books about anorexia-- this is the second one in as many weeks.  (I even created a tag for it, bizarrely enough ;)  ANYWAY, this is the first book in Jackie Morse Kessler's four-book Horsemen of the Apocalypse series.  I loved Rage, the second book, so I had high expectations for the series debut.  The story and overall plot is very similar to Rage: troubled girl attempts to kill herself, but is saved by Death (ironic, much?) at the last moment and charged with being one of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse who deliver disease, starvation, war, and death unto the people of the world.  

The author went through a period during which she herself was anorexic, and her experience was definitely evident in the way she wrote Lisa's character and the twisted way Lisa sees the world.  She displays all the typical symptoms and characteristics of anorexia: pushing her friends and family away, thinking that she is disgustingly fat and inferior even though the 'obese' girl she sees in the mirror is waif-like and slowly starving.  Anorexia is a serious, horrible condition, absolutely, but I feel like I've already gone down that road as far as reviews.  (See my review of Wintergirls) 

...So let's talk about the Horsemen of the Apocalypse!  To say that Lisa being Famine is a unique spin on the contemporary anorexia tale is an understatement.  Because as somber and sad as the topic of anorexia is, Hunger is a heck of a fun book.  The Horsemen are all fantastic, though I wish we got to see more of the others besides Famine.  (Once again, this book is just too short!)  Death is our resident psychopomp horseman and my favorite character in the series by far.  When not occupied with spiriting the souls of the dead off to the next great adventure or recruiting new Horsemen in the form of troubled teenage girls who he seems to flirt with as frequently as he charges them with the ruin and destruction of mankind, he can be heard singing bits and pieces of Nirvana songs.  Lisa repeatedly tries to remember what dead rock star, exactly, he reminds her of and I just wanted to scream, 'Kurt Cobain!'  Whether he is or he isn't, Death is a character I look forward to seeing more of in future books.  Another little tidbit of awesomeness credited to Death is the way he inserts words like 'Yo' into old English.  Another great character is War, Death's handmaiden and a vicious and imposing woman who threatens Lisa from the start.  The showdown between Lisa and War near the end is positively fantastic.   

Hunger is the story of how Lisa overcomes her self-loathing and eating disorder, most ironically, through her new vocation as Famine.  The book manages to be both sad, as it reveals in excruciating and realistic detail how Lisa imposes starvation on herself and unique, exciting, even funny through the unique mythology and general epicness of the Horsemen.  A portion of all this book's proceeds goes to the National Eating Disorders Association, so check it out for the sake of that if nothing else.  

Cover: 5/5 

Premise: 5/5 

Characters: 5/5 

Plot: 3/5       

Overall Rating: 4.5/5 

Waiting on Wednesday (22)

"Waiting on" Wednesday is a weekly blogging event hosted at Breaking-The-Spine.com that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. This week I'm waiting on... 

Inheritance by Christopher Paolini
Coming: November 8th, 2011



Not so very long ago Eragon Shadeslayer, Dragon Rider, was nothing more than a poor farm boy, and his dragon, Saphira, only a blue stone in the forest. Now the fate of an entire civilization rests on their shoulders.
Long months of training and battle have brought victories and hope, but they have also brought heartbreaking loss. And still, the real battle lies ahead: they must confront Galbatorix. When they do, they will have to be strong enough to defeat him. And if they cannot, no one can. There will be no second chances.

The Rider and his dragon have come further than anyone dared to hope. But can they topple the evil king and restore justice to Alagasia? And if so, at what cost?
This is the much-anticipated, astonishing conclusion to the worldwide bestselling Inheritance cycle.

At loooong last, we have a gorgeous cover and a (rather uncreative) title!! But I'll take what I can get, and have been anxiously awaiting the last Inheritance book along with the masses for far too long!

So, what are you waiting on this Wednesday?