Title: Hush, Hush

Author: Becca Fitzpatrick

Pages: 391

Summary (from http://www.beccafitzpatrick.com/):

Falling in love was never so easy . . .

or so deadly.

For Nora Grey, romance was not part of the plan. She's never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how much her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her. Not until Patch came along. With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Nora is drawn to him against her better judgment.

But after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora's not sure who to trust. Patch seems to be everywhere she is, and to know more about her than her closest friends. She can't decide whether she should fall into his arms or run and hide. And when she tries to seek some answers, she finds herself near a truth that is way more unsettling than anything Patch makes her feel.

For Nora is right in the middle of an ancient battle between the immortal and those that have fallen - and, when it comes to choosing sides, the wrong choice will cost her life.

I'm going to try to keep this post spoiler free and, seeing as every little detail winds up into the big finale, this might turn into a very short review.

It's no secret that the hype around Hush, Hush has been staggering, ranging from mild excitment to "tear-my-hair-out-I-can't-stand-it-any-longer" anticipation. Already the success in pre-order sales has been through the roof for this debut effort by Ms. Becca Fitzpatrick (who I imagine is staring at the numbers in awe as we speak). There are many questions that come to mind: why is the hype for this so huge if this author has never published anything before? Is it the KICK-ASS cover? Perhaps the hot lad on said cover? It might even be the actual story, filled with delicious romances and fallen-angels--a seemingly lost genre of literature, these days. Who knows. But I could care less about these questions. There is only one question that any self-respecting reader should ask themselves:

Can it live up to the hype?

I am happy to report, dear readers, it can. And it has.

We begin the story with a passage from Peter 2:4, an excellent forshadowing tool from Ms. Fitzpatrick:

...God spared not the angels that sinned,
but cast them down to hell,
and delivered them into chains of darkness,
to be reserved unto judgment...

Then there is the prologue; Chauncey is a boy living in the year 1565, France, the son of the Chateau de Langeais (whatever that is) when he meets another boy while walking home. The boy wants something from Chauncey; an oath of fealty. Forced to one knee, Chauncey swears his allegience to the strange boy under an influence he can't describe. Then, the boy informs him he is not, in fact, the son of the Chateau de Langeais, but a Nephilim, a biblical race consisting of half mortals, half fallen angels.

As the boy runs off with the promise that he will be back for the start of Cheshvan (the Hebrew "unholy" month), Chauncey asks the boy if he's a fallen angel. He does not respond, only dissapears with his laughter echoing through the darkness.

CHAPTER ONE: Coldwater, Maine, present day.

When Nora walks into Biology, she does not expect for her life to change forever...okay, that sounds cheesy. Whatever.

Anyway, her coach/biology teacher for completly unknown reasons decides to switch seats. I'd like to take this time to point out, for future reference, that Ms. Fitzpatrick is excellent at forshadowing. Not the obvious, you-can-see-it-coming-from-a-mile-away forshadowing. I'm talking subtle, hardly there hints that, upon reflection, were SO OBVIOUS that you feel stupider just for not getting it.

So. A boy named Patch--who has completly slipped her radar for the entire year---has taken her best friend's seat beside her, automatically winning Nora's disdain with his arrogance and rude remarks. She attempts to brush him off, even as he displays a disturbing knowledge of her past, revealing just enough to get under her skin. The chemistry leaps off the page as these two silently duke it out, both keeping something from the other. Nora denies any feelings between them--he's dangerous, after all, and she can't afford any danger in her life.

Soon, though, she starts seeing him everywhere--at the mall, at the arcade, at the store. It's almost as if he's following her. While this technique has been tried and failed in the past (I'm looking at you, Edward), Fitzpatrick manages to create a believable, even sympathetic motive (even when Patch makes sympathy a hard card to draw).

Concerning Patch, there is only one thing I can say--move the FUCK over, Eddie Cullen. Deep, dark and dangerous has a new name, and it DOESN'T SPARKLE! Becca Fitzpatrick writes a forbidden romance that hasn't even been touched before, in a way so intoxicating it should, by everything decent, be illegal. But, like booze and Red Bull, I'm so happy it's not.

Nora doesn't know whether to trust him--in fact, she thinks he's trying to kill her. But there's this animal magnitism between them that is undeniable.

HUSH, HUSH focuses mostly on developing Nora, Patch, and their dance of a relationship. While it sometimes proves to be more of a fight for power, there is a very honest tenderness hidden beneath the surface that is so subtle, you don't even realize it's there until you put the book down and reflect on it. Nora and Patch are so well drawn out that I could imagine myself there, could picture the characters in my head, living and breathing and there. Though the story does lag a bit, and the secendary characters are rather dull and shapeless, the beauty of Patch and Nora is undeniably the factor that makes this book what it is; a dangerous romance of biblical perportions (please, excuse the pun).

While I have to say some of the subplotting, like the constant mention of Nora's dad being shot, is a bit unnecessary to the ACTUAL plot, it does add some nice angst to the picture and doesn't deter the reader to much from the story.

Like I said, the secendary characters like Vee and Dabria are pretty thinly drawn out, and I would have liked to see more from them. However, this really is Patch and Nora's story, and I have a feeling if it were more of the minor characters, I would be whining about that and this would be a completly different review. Thankfully, I have very little to rant about other then how amazing this novel is and how much I urge you--yes, you, with the face--to pick it up immediatley when it hits shelves this October. I assure you, it will not dissapoint.

For reference, here's a hilarious (at least to me) dialogue when Patch and Nora are in a movie theatre that does a lovely job of demenstrating Patch's power:

"Walk out," he repeated. "We need to talk."

"About how you need to sacrifice me to get a human body?" I asked, my tone light, my insides feeling leaden.

"That might be cute if you thought it was true."

"I do think it's true!" Sort of. But the same thouht kept returning--if Patch wanted to kill me, why hadn't he already?

"Shh!" said the guy next to me.

Patch said, "Walk out, or I'll carry you."

I flipped around. "Excuse me?"

"Shh!" the guy beside me hissed again.

"Blame him," I told the guy, pointing at Patch.

The guy crained his neck. "Listen," he said, "if you don't quiet down now, I'll get security."

"Fine, go get security, Tell them to take him away," I said, again signaling at Patch. "Tell them he wants to kill me."

"I want to kill you," hissed the guy's girlfriend, leaning around to address me.

"Who wants to kill you?" the guy asked. He was still looking over his shoulder, but his expression was puzzled.

"There's nobody there," the girlfriend told me.

"You're making them think they can't see you, aren't you?" I said to Patch, awed at his power even as I despised his use of it.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Also: Is it just me, or do Bob Dylan and Neil Gaimen look scarily alike?





Hm...?

Title: Kissing the Rain

Author: Kevin Brooks

Pages: 320

Summary (from back):

The TRUTH? I'll tell you about the truth.

Everyone thinks of Moo Nelson as a nobody. They tease him. Shove him. Call him names. There's only one place where he can escape: the bridge. High above the traffic, Moo can watch the world go by and not worry about anything else.

Until he witnesses a car chase. And a murder.

Suddenly everyone--gangsters and police officers, friends and foes--want the truth from Moo. Or some version of the truth. But Moo isn't sure what's true anymore. He must decide between fact and fiction, loyalty and lonliness, justice and retribution. And he must do it soon...

Henry "Moo" Nelson is, self-admittedly, a loser.

With no one but his only friend, Brady, to help him through a school where nearly everyone is out to get him, his only solace in life is the bridge. Everyday, almost religiously, Moo pedals his bike up towards the interstate and watch the cars pass ("the river" as he calls it), momentarily forgetting his troubles and losing himself in the traffic.

Until, one day, while hanging over the railings, he observes with brutal clarity as one car crashes into another, as one man is pitt against four, and that man falls to the floor in agony. And he watches as that man is shoved off the road, into the oncoming traffic.

And this, as he says, is the beginning of The Truth.

Kissing the Rain is a complete stream of conciousness; Moo, it seems, is talking straight at you, telling these events as he remembers them, in complete honesty, something he rarely gets to do throughout the ordeal. Unfiltered, unrestrained honesty. At times refreshing, at others just plain sad as he invites the reader into the small, lonely world he lives in. Parents who's idea of affection is food--lots and lots of food--and an education that is less about learning and more about making it through the day without too many bruises. He tells this as fact, not exactly indifferent, but not like he's whining, either. Just fact. A sort of "it happens" narrative that protrays more emotion then any adjectives could describe.

Kissing the Rain is written in a both simplistic and complicated format, words repeated and words mispelled and questions ending every sentence. It's set, almost, like Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart", with Moo seeming to speak to an undisclosed third party, like a onesided conversation. As an example, here's a bit from the first page:

You wanna know THE TRUTH? I'll tell you THE TRUTH--I'm sick of it. Sick of all that FAT stuff and Callan and Vine and the bridge and the road and the cars and the eyes and the words and the lies...

GOD.

I wished I'd never been there...never got INVOLVED...

Yeh, THAT'S what I wish. Din't see nothing, dunno nothing. Me? I shoulda kept my big mouth shut. I DIN'T SEE NOTHING, ALL RIGHT?

Yeh, now I know it.

Now I gotta fix things. Do things. Bad things.

Bad=good.

Good=bad.

TRUTH=lies.

Lies=TRUTH.

You wanna know the TRUTH?

I'll tell you the TRUTH.

Soon, Moo discovers that the alleged murderer is an already convicted felon, the man he allegedly killed a buisness rival, and he witnessed the beginning of a nation-wide scandol, himself put in the middle of two dangerous teams that both want something from him. The police--the supposed "Good Guys"--want him to lie, in favor of putting the defendant into jail in retribution of his past crimes. The defendant--the supposed "Bad Guy"--wants him to tell the truth about what he saw, that he didn't he didn't really see anything. Mr. Brooks manages to convey these two conlicting positions with a sort of scattered, thoughtful prose that practically force-feed issues most people would rather not touch to the reader. Is it right to lie in order for the "greater good", or tell the truth and allow a killer to go free?

Moo is not exactly a likable character. He's real, and that's not always very easy to get into. I think most readers want a definetive bad guy and good guy, and they always want the narrator to be the good guy. But Moo is different; he's not a hero (far from it) nor is he an anti-hero: he just simply is. He represents the middleman, the one trapped between two opposite ends, the one with no team, with no moral standing. He's almost selfish, constantly thinking of how the outcome would effect him, but also worrying about his family's well-being, his friends well-being. He doesn't know what side to take, because both can be described as right and wrong. He's such a stripped, raw character that makes it very difficult for you to like him, but you do anyway, because he seems to be the only one you can root for.

What I love most about Kissing the Rain is the realistic protrayal of school, and how mean kids really are. Now, I love teen romance novels as much as the next guy, but the 'bullying' described is, speaking as a teenager, complete bull. Do you expect me to believe a perfectly 'normal' kid with a quiet disposition will be the subject of cruel, endless bullying? For no reason? Apparently, Mr. Brooks' not buying it. Moo is an obese, socially awkward kid, daily showered by "the rain"--mocking insults shot at him everyday. Not harmlessly beat up, not stuck with 'kick me' signs on his back, not shoved into lockers; simply teased. Some adults would argue, "back in my day, we had to fight" or the classic, "sticks and stones...". But most teenagers would gladly agree that words hurt worse then any beating could. At least when your being punched at, there's a chance of getting out of it with some dignity. When insults are being thrown at you, they don't fade like bruises. Kissing the Rain is so honest (overused word, blehh) that I spent nearly twenty minutes reading the same sentence, almost crying at the subtle reality.

Another thing--there is no definete ending. In the Q and A in the back, Mr. Brooks explains that, while he did recieve harsh critism from readers, he felt that the ending was necessary for the story, and I agree with him. Ending it 'proparly' would suggest a 'proper' ending for such a hefty moral delema, that everything ends so clean and perfect in situations like these. That is not the case. In the end, Kevin Brooks leaves the decision to us, the reader.

...nothing but time.

tick....tock...

The days gonna end....

tick....tock...

Tomarrow's gonna come...

tick...tock...

Tomorrows gonna end...

tick...tock...

And what happens then?

Tick...

Tock...

GOD knows...

WHAT YOU GONNA DO?

Though I had grown to like Moo, and wanted to know what happened to him, I couldn't imagine a better ending for a better book.

Rating: 10---thrilling, honest and thought-provoking, one of my favorite books of the year.

Also: Make sure to check out Kevin Brooks other novels, including Candy, Martyn Pigand the upcoming Killing God.

Kevin Brooks about his novel, Black Rabbit Summer:

Title: Fade

Author: Robert Cormier

Pages: 320

Summary (from AllReads.com):

At the age of 13, in the summer of 1938, Paul Moreaux discovers he
can
"fade" -- that is, cause himself and his clothing to disappear from
the
sight of others at will. He lives in the small Massachusetts town of
Monument, in the working-class Canadian Catholic quarter known as
Frenchtown. At
first, he is
thrilled with the things he can do -- spy on
his beloved but
loose Aunt Rosanna, and the wealthy twins across town,
Emerson and Page Winslow
-- but there are larger problems swirling about
him: The comb factory where his
father is employed goes on strike, and
Rosanna's lover Rudolphe Toubert is a
brutal
hoodlum who controls much
of the criminal activity in town. Paul also
learns that his "gift" brings
him knowledge about others and himself that he
wishes he never had.

Paul can Fade.

One second, he's there, the next he isn't. Just like that.

At first, he's thrilled: we've all wished we had the ability to vanish from sight, spy on our friends and family (if you say you don't, your a liar). He now has the opprotunity to observe his Aunt Rosanna, attractive and proud of it. He can watch the people in his town behind closed doors, discover who they really are without risking being caught. Every teenage boy's dream, right?

But then, as time goes on and more and more dark secrets are revealed, Paul begins to wish he never had the Fade.

This novel is definetly not for the easily offended. There are some touchy subject matter such as incest, depictions of minor sexuality, murder, mental illness, and child abuse. While accesable, it is pretty disturbing at times. Okay, really disturbing at times.

This story has a total of three narrators; Paul, a young up and coming publisher (and distant cousin of Paul's) who discovers Paul's (who had become a writer) final manuscript before his death---which proves to be the rest of the novel thus far. As she reads it, she begins to wonder. Is this really an autobiography? Did all this happen?

The third narrator, I feel, will definetly spoil it for anyone who has not read it yet, so I'm not going to mention him. But, trust me, his narrative is probably the most unsettling of the three.

I think the highlight of Fade is master storyteller Robert Cormier's ability to take these dreary--often horrific--subjects and themes and make them incredably easy to read. Things like incest and adultary is described in a way that kids can understand. I first read Fade when I was eight, and I remember thinking, "wow, this is wack" while, only days earlier, I had read a book about the exact same subject matter, and having no idea what they were talking about. Cormier's ability to connect with a younger audience is astounding, and his charactors and prose just add to his status as one of the best YA authors of all time.

It's impossible to describe much of Fade because everything about is twisted together in a way that makes near everything a spoiler. I guess you'll just have to take my word for it; Fade will leave you breathless with it's surreal, eery tone and it's strong, layered characters.

Rating: 9 out of 10---an instant classic.

Also: If I were you, I'd go out right now and buy all of Cormier's books--most notably After the First Death, Tenderness, We All Fall Down, and The Rag and Bone Shop.

Title: Eyeleash

Author: Jess C. Scott

Pages (on .pdf copy): 260

Summary (from eyeleash.wordpress.com):

Jade Ashton is a sassy virgin. In her private blog, she vents about “fitting in” a world where superficiality reigns supreme.

Suddenly all logic flies out the window when she meets Novan: the former geek, who’s morphed into a delicious songwriter-musician.

They decide to be “friends-with-benefits”. But it’s Novan, with his poems and riddling passages on his own blog — which *isn’t private* — that backs out.

EyeLeash captures self-discovery in the 2000s, and showcases the colorful, intricate drama in two youths’ relentless search for themselves — and what’s really in their hearts.

I'm going to be honest. When I first heard of a "blog fiction" novel, I immediatley thought it would be another IM fluffy rom-com, like TTYL by Lauren Myracle. But, once I read the description, I was intrigued.

Jade is a virgin--much to her dismay--pining over the idea of love while still holding her 'indepednent women' ideals. She makes no secret of her self-satisfactory practices (then again, it is her private blog) and the conversations she and her friends have about sex. She's worried about her seemingly endless virginal future, listeninng with both curiousity and envy to her friend's account of their recent *ahem* activity.

But then, an old middle school fling (Noven) sends her an IM:

[novan]: hey hey
¤Jade¤: helloo
¤Jade¤: haven’t seen u online in a while =)
[novan]: oh yea
[novan]: i’ve been busy with a friend’s band, lol
[novan]: so how u doin
¤Jade¤: i’m good. how abt u?
¤Jade¤: and wow cool ur in a band??
[novan]: been listening to the same song for hours... trying to
get the tabs right
[novan]: yea!... we’re ‘the blah blah blahs’ (super creatively
thought of by myself)

And this is the cataylist that sets the rest of the plot in motion; he invites her to catch his band playing. She goes, only to find the geeky fourteen year old she remembers has transformed into a...well, he's hot. And she wants him. Bad.

After some mutual flirtation (and several nude pictures) they agree to be "friends with benefits"

They book a room at a 5-star hotel. Unexpectedly, Novan backs out at the last moment. Though he wants to explain his decision, he backs off due to Jade’s subsequent hostility.

At loveXpress.com [a fictitious site parallel to www.secondlife.com], Jade starts to chat with another guy—Hawke, a fitness trainer. His online avatar’s name is “Tyler Weed”.

Jade shifts her attention from Novan to Hawke. Still, she struggles to define her own feminine identity in today’s sex-saturated culture. (from Eyeleash synopsis)

I think the spotlight on Eyeleash should be on Ms. Scott for her representation of todays high-tech world, capturing perfectly the John Hughes-like angst every teenager goes through like any real teenager would--through the internet. Jade has a voice all her own, not like the drabble most teenage girls usually put in their blog; again, this is private, for her eyes only. She's stripped away her filter, giving an uncensored account of her journey to losing the ever-loving virginity.

I love this especially because, let's face it, we've all rambled on about our love-lives on some blog or another, we've all been in these kinds of situations before, we've all been in Jade or Novan's shoes. It's so easy to relate ot Jade's narrative. Personally, I've grown up in the technology era--I learned to type when I was seven--and this so truthfully protrays how love is these days. I've had entire relationships based around hour long chats and emails. If it sounds like I'm saying the same thing over and over, that's because it's all I can think about: how alike Jade is to me and so many of my friends. This really is a book for any teenager living in Cyber-America.

My only gripe? Even I, who will probably forget how to communicate audibley with my fellow human being by the year 2012, didn't understand some of the lingo and abbreviations. While it doesn't completely draw away from the story, it is a bit distracting and messes up the flow of the narrative. Again, not a complete deal-breaker, but still. I like to read books without having to go on the Urban Dictionary.

Overall, Eyeleash is a heartfelt, honest read that every teen can relate too--though, due to the content, I would probably only suggest it for 14 and up XD

And stick around later for...

AN INTERVIEW WITH JESS C. SCOTT ABOUT HER DEBUT NOVEL, EYELEASH: A BLOG NOVEL!


About the Author (from her site):

Hello, I’m Jess. I’m primarily a writer/novelist/poet.

I lived in Singapore for the first two decades of my life. Currently I’m in Maine, USA. Permanent location would be “in my head”.

I don’t like labels but the MBTI is fascinating; according to that, I’m an INFJ.

I’m working on my fourth book (as of May 2009). In June 2009, I decided to publish my first book myself (some stats on its history here), after realizing that my work isn’t “commercially categorizable” enough, for the current publishing industry’s standards.

Also: Here's a book trailer Ms. Scott created (pictures and all) for Eyeleash




And: I thought this was cute, a song/poem Novan posted on his blog about Jade;

[pinkstar]
pink & sweet
what a treat
if we were in high school
i’d go ‘what the hell’
and we’d be both expelled
at your mercy
when you show off like that
don't you think that hint of pink
slipping out's
so
so
so
(ohh...)
you're cosmic rocks glass
too hot to handle
too cold to touch
yea, i wanna impress
yea, this boy’s a mess
all i gotta say is…
you look fabulous.

If you like this: you might like Just Listen by Sarah Desson. Both are about two girls having issues in their love life (albeit, completely different problems) who fall for a guy in a band. Don't know why, but I thought of it as I was reading Eyeleash. Another one you might like, also music oriented, is Mosh Pit by Katilyn Dunnion, reviewed here. It's also a very raw coming of age tale, though a bit more graphic then Eyeleash.

Rating: 8 out of 10---an excellent, original novel that I suggest to anyone, whether their tech-savvy or not.

Book Title: The Knife of Never Letting Go

Author: Patrick Ness

Pages: 496

Summery (from PatrickNess.com):

Todd Hewitt is the last boy in Prentisstown.

But Prentisstown isn't like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in a constant, overwhelming, never-ending Noise. There is no privacy. There are no secrets.

Or are there?

Just one month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd unexpectedly stumbles upon a spot of complete silence.

Which is impossible.

Prentisstown has been lying to him.

And now he's going to have to run...

Can words express how much I loved The Knife of Never Letting Go? Probably not. But I'll do my best.

This book starts off with, single handedly, the best first sentence in the history of literature:

The first thing you find out when yer dog learns to talk is that dogs don't got nothing much to say. About Anything.

And so begins The Knife of Never Letting Go.

Todd lives in a world of Noise.

Constant, unfiltered, timeless Noise that wafts through his small community just as the sound of traffic does in ours. Every thought, every feeling, every tick of an emotion is broadcast for the entire world to hear--at least, as far as Todd is concerned. He's been told that Prentisstown is the only civilization in a world of nothing, desolate and empty for his entire life. Mr. Ness describes the Noise perfectly:

"The Noise is a man unfiltered, and without a filter, a man is just chaos walking"

It's not hard to believe that the entire book is just Todd's Noise. Words are misspelled, do to his lack of education. Single sentences run on for paragraphs, words are cut off before they can even be processed, every thought Todd has is completely raw. While this could have easily been a gimick, Patrick Ness pulls it off with surprising grace and fluency. Easy to understand, easy to relate to, The Knife of Never Letting Go is coming-of-age tale set in a world where coming of age is deadly, and manhood is strictly defined. It's a place where you both wish you were and thank every God you can think of your not.

As for the characters, they are very well defined. Even Manchee, Todd's talking dog, seems be a character all his own, Todd's loyal companion throughout the book, putting his little dog life on the line a handful of times in order to protect him (the ever important "awwww" factor). At first, Todd makes it very clear that he does not want, and never asked for, Manchee (he wanted a knife, as it was), which he explains quite thoroughly:

Ben’s sent me to pick him some swamp apples and he’s made me take Manchee with me, even tho we all know Cillian only bought him to stay on Mayor Prentiss’ good side and so suddenly here’s this brand-new dog as a present for my birthday last year when I never said I wanted any dog, that what I said I wanted was for Cillian to finally fix the fissionbike so I wouldn’t have to walk every forsaken place in this stupid town, but oh, no, happy birthday, Todd, here’s a brand new puppy, Todd, and even tho you don’t want him, even tho you never asked for him, guess who has to feed him and train him and wash him and take him for walks and listen to him jabber now he’s got old enough for the talking germ to set his mouth moving? Guess who?

But, as you turn the pages and get deeper into Todd's chaotic thought process, you realize he does hold a certain affection for his dog, gradually turning into love as they spend their lonely days together running from God-knows-what, which I think is one of the more poigent parts of the book.

I especially love how they keep Todd and Viola's--the girl he meets as he runs from Prentisstown--unromantic. Call me a cynic, but it's highly unlikely that everytime a guy meets a girl, they fall in love. Especially while on the run from an army. I think that it's a curse that befalls far too much young adult literature these days--no matter how desperate the situation, no matter how CHAOTIC the circumstances, SOMEONE ALWAYS FALLS IN LOVE. I'm always a sucker for romance, but sometimes, it's just like, "I already read this. Three hundred times." If The Knife of Never Letting Go teaches us one thing, it's that a boy and a girl can meet and *gasp* just be friends.

Keep in mind, dear readers, that just because it's in the YA section, does not mean it's for the faint of heart: The Knife of Never Letting go is a horrific, all-to-realistic tale of what could happen to our--and other's--world if we're not careful. Though the year is unspecified, the place (and planet) left oddly in the dark, it's in a way that just makes it all the more eery and surreal.

There's no way of describing The Knife of Never Letting Go without spoiling it, but I will say this; anyone, young or old, should pick it up. Immediately. Go, you fools. Your missing out. There are precious hours being wasted. GO!

Also: If your interested in Post-Apocolyptic/Dystopian novels, might I suggest The Hunger Games, Obernewtyn, Exodus, Gone, or Life As We Knew It, all amazing books.

Rating: 10 out of 10

Title: Mosh Pit
Author: Kristyn Dunnion
Pages: 270

Summary: (from back)

Juliet meets her Juliets in this raw look at punk, young love and the sometimes cloudy road to adulthood. Mosh Pit, a compelling story of rebel girls in the modern city, stars Simone--torn between her loyalty to her heart-throb Cherry and her feelings for Carol, streetwise and distant enough to be alluring. The edgy young adult novel takes Simone through the modern equivalent of Hades where she gradually gains a sense of who she is and more importantly who she can be.

There's a lot of things one could call Mosh Pit; traditional publishers and authors might call it terrible, might call it disgusting and vulgar and inappropriate. Luckily, I am not a traditional publisher/author. I am a teen and, as a teen, Mosh Pit was probably the most honest novel I have ever read.

Simone's voice is completely raw, stripped of worldly description, stripped of traditional 'teen angst'--she is a character all her own, completely believable in her honesty, her vulnerability, and her fears. Simone is a young lesbian, struggling through high school and thriving in the local punk scene with her self-destructive friend/love interest Cherry. This book is not for the conservative or the weak of heart; there is cursing, and lots of it. While this is one of the main reasons I'm able to relate to it so much (I have a mouth like a sailor who stubbed his toe on a rock), I know a lot of people have problems with it. There's high levels of sexuality, underage drinking, underage sex, drugs, implied rape, etc. There's also alot of slang used between quotations. If in the wrong hands, this can be either annoying or cliche, but Ms. Dunnion uses it in a way that further allows the reader to relate to Simone. How many of us have used IM lingo whle narrating our daily life?

I think the most sincere part of Mosh Pit is Cherry. From beginning to end, Cherry slowly descends into a world of drugs, sex and rock n' roll. In between sever la chapters, their are post from her Livejournal, to help catch us, the reader, and Simon, on what Cherry is up to as she and Simone gradually drift apart. You watch her descend further into her destructive relationship with her drug dealer boyfriend, slowly giving in to the drugs themselves.

Usually, I try to veer away from books self-published or published to a smaller company, just because, from my experience, they're usually not very good. But now, I might be more convinced. Many big time publishing houses tend to avoid books like Mosh Pit, not because they're not good, but because they feel as though it would cause an uproar. And it probably would. Parents don't want their kids reading books like this, completely uncensored, completely stripped of everything but the heart of the novel; the characters. This is a completely, 100% character driven novel. Once more, the characters are relatable. I know a Simone, I know a Cherry, and I know a Carol. The entire thing is a twisted, punk rock Juliet and Juliet love triangle, uplifting one moment and heartbreaking the next. The musical undertones just add to the surreal, yet readable atmosphere. I can't recommend Mosh Pit enough.

Also: Here's a poem Cherry wrote on her Livejournal (page 172)

We run, woolly pack animals
abandoned by our fathers
betrayed by our mothers
raped by our uncles
now we storm the jailer, run wild, rabid, into the night.
Diseased.
We are the night.
we bite the hand that never feeds.

Rating: 10 out of 10

Title: Beastly
Author: Alex Flinn
Tagline: Ever wonder what it was like for the beast?
Pages: 300
Summary (from back):

I AM A BEAST

A beast. Not quite a wolf or a bear, gorilla or dog but a horrible new creature who walks upright--a creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a monster.
You think I'm talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It's no deformity, no disease. And I'll stay this way forever--ruined--unless I can break the spell.
Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I'll tell you. I'll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and the perfect life. And then, I'll tell you how I became perfectly...beastly.

Kyle Kingsbury is, let's face it, a dick.

He rides through life on his TV anchorman father coattales (and wallet) while silently swooning every girl that comes within an inch of him. He never ceases to remind everyone who will listen how amazingly attractive he really is. He remains happily ignorant of the lives outside his own, including the 'ugly' peoples--those who don't meet his standards of perfection.

Until one day, when Kendra, an obese Gothic girl in his class, calls him out for what he truly is: a beast.

As a joke, he asks Kendra out to the upcoming dance, expecting to ditch her there in favor of his real date, Sloan. But when the day of the dance actually comes, and he finds Kendra not hurt but dissapointed by the public humilation he put her through, he is unsettled.

After getting back from the dance, he finds Kendra in his room. She suddenly transforms from a 'fat Goth' to an attractive young women, who turns Kyle into a 'beast'--fangs, fur, the whole package. She shows him one bit of mercy, though: he has two years to find a girl who will love him, despite his appearence, and get her to kiss him, or live as a monster forever.

Distraught, Kyle hides in his room for the entire weekend, until his neglectfull father finally forces him out. After going to the best doctors and plastic surgeons in the country---"no son of mine is going to look this way"---both he and his father all but give up, his father dumping Kyle into an abadoned, five story mansion, with only their maid, Magda, for company. After threatening his father with going public about his condition, he recieves full access to the Kingsbury bank account, plus a tutor, a blind student named Will. Soon, Kyle has become Adrian--to fit his darker persona--a solitary, desolate being who only leaves the confides of the mansion to tend to his newly created garden. He is a prisoner in his own body, with no hope of finding love--until a robber attempts to rob his home. After catching him, the robber offers Adrian his one chance at returning to how he was--his daughter, Linda.

If there is only one notable thing to say about Alex Flinn's writing, it's that she has an innane ability to make you swoon for three hundred pages straight. During the first hundred pages, it's for poor Kyle/Adrian, who is only now realizing the error of his ways, when it's too late. It's when he watches his past classmates through a mirror Kendra gave him, able to watch anyone he wants, everywhere in the world, and how he pines for his old life. It's when he sits in a corner and watches people go to and from work, wishing desperatley for the freedom of life outside his mansion. Then, it's when he tries to win Linda's--or Lindy's--heart, watching him fall for her himself. I was basically "awwww"ing throughout the entire book. You watch Kyle transform from a selfish, self-absorbed rich d-bag to a kind, gentle--I'll say it--sensitive gentleman. (Once more, with feeling--awww)

Though it is a cute, if rather chaste, romance, there is the issue of believability. I mean, yeah, it's already unlikely that a guy would suddenly become a hairy beast, but that doesn't change the fact that they are still modern teenagers, all of them, and modern teenagers do behave a certain way. I understand that living in a mansion for a year straight, reading books like Phantom of the Opera and The Hunchback of Notre Dame could change you, I doubt it would change someones complete speech pattern and convince him to change his name. (quite dramatic about it, might I add) The dialogue is a bit drifty, a bit rushed, though this might be to get the plot along. Adrian's interactions with Lindy are a bit...I don't know. I'd say awkward, but that's putting it mildly. First, he acts like a thirty year old, only in the next breath to switch back to his teenage self. I might be alone on this one, but I found it a bit distracting. No matter how beastly he may be, he's still a kid, and kids don't talk like Victorian shadow-dwellers.

I did like Lindy, though. She came off as very real, to me, with her drug addicted father and love of reading (my people!). She's not described as a traditional 'beauty'--far from it. In fact, when Kyle first meets her as a ticket taker at the dance, he describes her as plain, with Ragedy Ann red hair. But as he gets to know her, he starts...erm...I'll say fantisizing about the girl. Again, in a very PG way, but still. It's a little bit of a "woah, calm down, fella" type of feeling. I get that you've been forced into chastidy over the last year in a half, but seriously. There's a point where it's cute and a point where it's annoying.

The only other gripe I have with this book is that Lindy's reaction to finding out Adrian is her long-time secret crush Kyle Kingsbury is not what I expected. I expected it to be a big deal, seeing has he had basically lied about his entire past. As a girl, I'd be a tad pissed (assuming I had come to terms with the fact that he looks like a monster one minute and a supermodel the next--but I'm rather shallow like that), but hey, it's not my book and it's not my character.

Other then that, Beastly is a highly enjoyable book. I read it in one sitting, and just re-read it a few days ago. Again, if your into the "awww" factor, then you'll be in heaven with Kyle and Lindy.

Also: Alex Flinn has a feature on her website called "Alex's Favorite Books", where she suggest titles you might like if you liked her books. So, if your liked Beastly and looking for something similar to it, that'd be the place.

I digress: There also making a movie, with *gag* Vanessa Hudgens as Lindy and Mary-Kate Olsen as Kendra. Also, that kid from Alex Rider as Kyle my homedog Beil Patrick Harris as Will. Not sure how to feel about this, since most adaptions are botched up anyway.

Rating: 8 out of 10