Manga Review: Yona of the Dawn, Volume 20, by Mizuho Kusanagi

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Publisher: Shojo Beat (VIZ Media)

Release Date: October 2019

Volumes: 31+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. RightStuf.

Volume: 1. 19. 21.

Goodreads Synopsis:

A red-haired princess loses her family and her kingdom… Now she must rise and fight for her throne!

Princess Yona lives an ideal life as the only princess of her kingdom. Doted on by her father, the king, and protected by her faithful guard Hak, she cherishes the time spent with the man she loves, Su-won. But everything changes on her 16th birthday when tragedy strikes her family!

Betrayal leads to Yona and Riri being abducted by the nation of Sei! Forced to work as slaves, the two stubbornly refuse to be controlled, but their situation is dire. In order to save Yona and Riri, Hak and the Four Dragons split into two groups and sneak into enemy territory!

Review:

After that last cliffhanger, we discover that Yona and Riri haven't been taken to immediate danger, but are put to work where danger is going to come over time, whether they do or don't do what they're told.

It's interesting to see the group separate like this. Yona and Riri are apart from the rest, of course, but the dragons and Riri's guards also split up, in order to check the locations that Yona and Riri might be. And then Su-Won shows up, and we see a couple more surprise characters that might just complicate things more.

It's easy to forget that the dragons and most other characters don't know what happened to Yona, and don't know Su-Won or all the connections there. They're very separate experiences for most of the characters. But on the other hand, it's also nice to see what friendships have formed around all these events. Su-Won has made connections. But also, Hak has grown close to the dragons, despite whether he wanted to or not—they all care for each other, and it's nice to see that acknowledged, as they reassure and watch over Hak, when they're all worried about Yona.

This cliffhanger is even worse than the last. And this plot line is getting more complicated and terrible as it goes. I immediately need to read the next, because I cannot wait to find out what happens.

Novel Review: The Becoming of Noah Shaw (The Shaw Confessions, #1) by Michelle Hodkin

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance with Dark Themes

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Release Date: 2017

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

In the first book of the Shaw Confessions, the companion series to the New York Times bestselling Mara Dyer novels, old skeletons are laid bare and new promises prove deadly. This is what happens after happily ever after.

Everyone thinks seventeen-year-old Noah Shaw has the world on a string.

They’re wrong.

Mara Dyer is the only one he trusts with his secrets and his future.

He shouldn’t.

And both are scared that uncovering the truth about themselves will force them apart.

They’re right.

The Cover:

I love these covers. They're very pretty and eye-catching, dark and ominous, and I appreciate that it's not embarrassing or cliche with a girl in a dress. It also works with the previous series, and each book in the series follows the same imagery, which I love.

Review:

I was surprised to hear that this series was continuing, as I didn't really think it needed to be, originally. I also didn't really consider not picking it up—I really enjoyed the first trilogy, and had no qualms about reading more. I was intrigued, but a tiny bit wary.

Upon starting this book, I had no idea so many people disliked it. I understand some of it, though—it does play with a lot of problematic themes (suicide, drugs, sex, self-harm, to name a few), and it has a lot of really awful, unapologetic characters, including the protagonists. But... I never minded those things. I even liked the story because of those things. One of my favorite things about the first series was how violent and bad Mara could be.

Now, to confess—it has been such a long time since I originally read the series, that I remembered very little of it. I barely remember how it ended, or any of the big reveals, or much of it at all. I don't think that hindered my reading of this book too much, though. (Re-reading would have helped clear up some topics, but oh well, my copies are in a box somewhere.)

This series is in Noah's point of view. His father has just died, he's moving to New York with Mara and some of their friends, and suddenly other Gifted people are committing suicide all over the place, only he doesn't think it's by their choice.

It's interesting being in Noah's head, instead of Mara's. They're both very dark characters, and they've experienced a lot of bad things. As the story progresses, we learn more about what his father was up to, what the Professor might have been doing, and what each character knows and hasn't been honest about. And Noah starts discovering, and accepting, some things about Mara that he didn't realize before this.

There are several surprises in this book. Following Noah as he discovers things is surprising, and a little rough at times. He doesn't want to deal with things, and he has his own moral code, but he's forced to make some decisions here. A big reason for why I want to continue this series, not only to discover all of the secrets and find out who is behind all of this and what they want, is to see Noah do something about it. He understands how The Game works, but he hasn't wanted to be a part of it. He's always wanted to kind of give up, to not be the Hero everyone claims he is. But now he's being put in a position where he might have to do just that.

I do really love Noah and Mara's relationship, and I enjoy how dark and rough and gritty, and psychological, this series can be. But I might actually want to know how the plot line wraps up more than anything else. It's surprising to me, but I want to know where this is going to go next.

Novel Review: Sway by Kat Spears

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Genre:  YA Contemporary Romance

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Release Date: September 2014

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

A YALSA 2015 Best Fiction for Young Adults Pick
In Kat Spears’s hilarious and often poignant debut, high school senior Jesse Alderman, or "Sway," as he’s known, could sell hell to a bishop. He also specializes in getting things people want---term papers, a date with the prom queen, fake IDs. He has few close friends and he never EVER lets emotions get in the way. For Jesse, life is simply a series of business transactions.

But when Ken Foster, captain of the football team, leading candidate for homecoming king, and all-around jerk, hires Jesse to help him win the heart of the angelic Bridget Smalley, Jesse finds himself feeling all sorts of things. While following Bridget and learning the intimate details of her life, he falls helplessly in love for the very first time. He also finds himself in an accidental friendship with Bridget’s belligerent and self-pitying younger brother who has cerebral palsy. Suddenly, Jesse is visiting old folks at a nursing home in order to run into Bridget, and offering his time to help the less fortunate, all the while developing a bond with this young man who idolizes him. Could the tin man really have a heart after all?

A Cyrano de Bergerac story with a modern twist, Sway is told from Jesse’s point of view with unapologetic truth and biting humor, his observations about the world around him untempered by empathy or compassion---until Bridget’s presence in his life forces him to confront his quiet devastation over a life-changing event a year earlier and maybe, just maybe, feel something again.

The Cover:

I rather like this cover. I think it shows the romance, but with it being a drawing, the boy could easily be anything, including a drug dealer. And the color gives it a distance, a subtle feel, so that it's not just a happy-go-lucky book.

Quotes:

• "Nothing is good or bad, only thinking makes it so.” (Hardback, pg. 1)
• "'Because,’ I said, ‘people can be relied on to always look out for number one. People think nothing about lying, cheating, stealing—as long as they see it as something they want or need, they’re always willing to justify it.’” (Pg. 82)
• "The only […] things in this world that really matter are the people who love you—and I don’t mean your family. Sometimes the people who love you best have no blood relation to you.’” (Pg. 83)

Review:

First off, I want to compare this to Duplicity, which I recently read and really enjoyed. They both have similar concepts and main characters. While I think that the protagonist in that novel was more clearly redeemable and his sense of humor more enjoyable, I think this one did a pretty good job in comparison. The romance in both were pretty similar, and both pretty good. They both have merits to them, and while they were similar, different enough as well.

I also want to say that I don’t really like the title, or the concept behind it. I understand it, and I don’t mind the concept, but just the word chosen and its use seems weird to me.

Jesse has power, because he knows how to gets things and he knows what people want, and he uses that. He does it very well, and I liked that. Selling drugs, beating people up, getting the backing for a special Olympics event. He does it all, and he feels nothing about it. Until he does.

It took a little while, but Jesse was sympathetic, and he was understandable. He’s also crude and doesn’t feel sorry for anything, which could make this a book not for everyone. But I think it worked, and I appreciated some of it.

I liked his friendship with Joey, his best friend who is very similar to him. I liked Carter, too, even if he wasn’t around much. His growing friendship with Pete was nice, even if Pete did whine and complain a lot.

The romance between him and Bridget was very nice. It was slow, not much happened until the end. But it was obvious to both of them, and I liked how she pushed him, and how he started doing things differently. It was a slow progression, especially since he fought it, but I’m really happy with the ending. And I think since he’d already changed so much in his life, that it was realistic to see him continuing that change in the future. And I liked that. 

The ending made me really happy. A lot iffy for the other high school students that took his place, but I was happy for him.

Novel Review: Wild Awake by Hilary T. Smith

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books (HarperCollins)

Release Date: May, 2013

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Things you earnestly believe will happen while your parents are away:

1. You will remember to water the azaleas.
2. You will take detailed, accurate messages.
3. You will call your older brother, Denny, if even the slightest thing goes wrong.
4. You and your best friend/bandmate Lukas will win Battle of the Bands.
5. Amid the thrill of victory, Lukas will finally realize you are the girl of his dreams.

Things that actually happen:

1. A stranger calls who says he knew your sister.
2. He says he has her stuff.
3. What stuff? Her stuff.
4. You tell him your parents won’t be able to—
5. Sukey died five years ago; can’t he—
6. You pick up a pen.
7. You scribble down the address.
8. You get on your bike and go.
9. Things . . . get a little crazy after that.*
*also, you fall in love, but not with Lukas.

Both exhilarating and wrenching, Hilary T. Smith’s debut novel captures the messy glory of being alive, as seventeen-year-old Kiri Byrd discovers love, loss, chaos, and murder woven into a summer of music, madness, piercing heartbreak, and intoxicating joy.

The Cover:

I rather like this cover. The colors and the fact that it's artwork and the fonts all work well with the book. I think maybe the position or something bothers me, but overall I rather like it.

Quotes:

• "The Book’s cover shows a goth girl sitting against a brick wall, her kohl-rimmed eyes gazing out from beneath the edge of her tattered black hood. She’s holding—absurdly—a graphing calculator. Like she ran a few equations, found out the world is more effed than you can possibly imagine, and is just chilling by this brick wall, waiting for the zombies to arrive.” (ARC, pg. 3)
• "I hate that question. ‘Are you okay?’ It’s like asking someone if they think you look fat. You’re almost guaranteed to get a lie.” (Pg. 67)
• "'She said, “The soul has a house of its own, and I want to live in that one.”’” (Pg. 248)
• "I’d never realized how loud the world was, how filled with cold and impersonal noise. It’s a wonder we ever find each other at all in its clamoring thickets. It’s a wonder we still try.” (Pg. 248)
• "People are like cities: We all have alleys and gardens and secret rooftops and places where daisies sprout between the sidewalk cracks, but most of the time all we let each other see is a postcard glimpse of a skyline or a polished square. Love lets you find those hidden places in another person, even the ones they didn’t know were there, even the ones they wouldn’t have thought to call beautiful themselves.” (Pg. 282-283)
• "...that Sukey would have said any kind of pain is worth it if [it] makes you brave.” (Pg. 323)

Review:

This book was not quite what I expected. It took me on a journey that I was surprised by--in a good way.

I wasn’t expecting Kiri’s journey to go quite where it did. And I liked that.

I liked Kiri, and I liked watching her grow up, find out what happened with her sister, her parents, as well as learning about love a little bit. She struggled a lot, and there was some drug use, but it ended well. I liked her, and I liked Skunk a lot, too. Skunk is quiet and wary, but sweet, and really cares for Kiri. I really liked their relationship, how it started and developed.

This was a really good book. I really liked the writing, it’s thoughtful and portrays Kiri’s voice and what state of mind she’s in really well. It was easy and fun to read. It was thoughtful, it was surprising, and fun, and a little exciting, and very funny. I’m really glad that I picked it up, and am interested to see what Smith releases next.