The Kari AnnAlysis

Posts Tagged ‘young adult’

Ginny isn’t much of an adventure girl. That’s what her Aunt Peg was for. Peg was the wild, free spirit, artsy one of the family. One day, Peg left without a word and the next time Ginny heard from Peg, it was after her beloved aunt died. No, she didn’t hold a seance! Before Peg’s death, she knew she was dying of cancer, she made up a little scavenger hunt for Ginny, across Europe, so that Ginny could experience what Peg did before she died.

This little hunt comes in the form of 13 Little Blue Envelopes. She gives Ginny strict instructions to only open one envelope at a time and she is denied access to cell phones and internet. Yes, Ginny could have just sat on her couch in Jersey and opened the envelopes one-by-one but her aunt knew her better than that, and knew she’d have to fufill her wishes, so off Ginny is to Europe, with no idea what lies ahead. But I’ll go ahead and tell you, it involves art, a cute boy and lots of foreign land that will make you want to pack your bags and puddle jump to London in a heart beat.

I have seen this book on the shelves of the bookstores for a while now, always thought it sounded good, but never picked it up. But when I got the sequal to this book on Netgalley and my time was running out before the release, I knew it was time to finally bite the spending bullet and buy it. But, I got a little lucky. I got on the Nook Book Store and guess what the featured free book of the week was? Yes, this one! How lucky is that? So, of course, I knew it was meant to be and started reading immediately.

The book is told through Ginny’s experiences, with a snippet from her aunt thrown in when it’s time to read the letters. I am a huge fan of different characters taking the lead in the books and even though it was only for a short time, while explaining the next task, it was nice.

I immediately fell in love with Ginny and her eccentric aunt. My family is a little crazy, but I can honestly say I don’t have anyone that would send me across Europe like this. How cool would that be? And would I even be gutsy enough to do it? Ginny, however, goes right across the ocean and dives right in. She may be a bit shy, but it takes something for someone to do something like this, so my admiration for her skyrocketed.

I’m not going to lie, this book is a bit magical. Johnson paints an amazing picture, no pun intended, of the destinations that Ginny goes to. If I would ever head to any of those countries in the future, I would check out the places Ginny went. I know that sounds silly, and yes I understand Ginny is not real, but they all sounded so amazing.

I loved this book, and am old enough to know that this may not be the safest journey to take by yourself. I also understand it is fiction, but I couldn’t help but think of what Ginny’s parents were thinking about this whole trip. She never contacted them once! Mine would not be ok with that and I am married and 24-years-old, not a soon-to-be senior in high school. But, that’s the beauty of fiction. You don’t have to have an explanation.

I give 13 Little Blue Envelopes 5 bookmarks. Stay tuned in the next day or so for my review on the sequal, The Last Little Blue Envelope. I couldn’t take any time between these two books and started reading the second one within minutes of finishing the first.

ISBN: 978-0060541415
Publish Date: August 2005
Author Website
Kari got this book on Free Friday at the Nook Book Store

So Tessa Crimson may have suffered a bit of public embarrassment in The Naughty List, so she’s taking a little break from the public spotlight. This includes quitting the cheerleading team (gasp) and disbanding SOS (bigger gasp).

But an imposter starts sending out SOS letters, charging for jobs and being totally un-kitten like. So, Tessa must get back in the business to catch the scandalous scammer, and she may even have to put the skirt back on to get the job done.

As with The Naughty List, I love all the cutesy little sayings that Tessa uses. She is a very likable character and this series is very cute and fun. This was a very quick read and took a step further from the first book. Yes, there was a little mystery into who was cheating on whom, but this took the mystery factor a little further. There is an imposter and it’s time to track them down. I had a couple of ideas and was actually right about the copy-kitten (go me).

While I was reading the book, I didn’t notice it, but now that I am writing my review, I feel like not a lot happened in this book. Tessa goes through a bit of boy drama, spies on the SOS fake and hangs out at the cheerleading practice. During the book, I didn’t think anything about it, so it obviously wasn’t a problem, but trying to write a summary on the book without giving away spoilers, I had a hard time.

I did miss all the scandal of SOS in this book. Yes, there was some spying, but that was the premise of the first book and lacked a little in this book. I know you can’t keep writing the same book over and over, but that was what these girls were all about in the first book. I hope there is more of it in the next book of the series.

Suzanne Young has definitely become one my favorite YA authors. I love her writing and love the plot for this series. I need more Tessa Crimson now!

I give So Many Boys 4 bookmarks.

ISBN: 978-1595142672
Published: June 10, 2010
Author Website
Kari got this book for Christmas from her loving brother

Others in the series:
The Naughty List

Forget menapause, once you are 18, you are infertile, thanks a to a virus that has spread across the country. Or at least that’s the case in Megan McCafferty’s first “young adult” novel Bumped. McCafferty introduces us to two 16-year-old twins, Harmony and Melody.

Melody is your typical teen, waiting for that perfect contract match to bring in 6 figures and finally get her bumped. But she is getting to the point where although she was a great prospect, and one of the first “professionals” to sign, she is now the last to be bumped.

Her twin Harmony lives in a completely different world. Well, not really, but she’s married at 16 and lives in Goodside, a very religious community. She shows up on Melody’s doorstep, with hopes to turn her sister to the “Goodside” and take her back to find a husband and get married, not pimp out her babies for money.

Melody knows this won’t be easy, but decides to take Harmony’s sins in her own hands. I mean, t

That’s not really how it happens though. Both girls learn quite a bit about themselves and leave us hanging on the edge to find out what happens next.

In real life, our world has gone through so many cultural changes about when it’s appropriate to have kids. My grandma was 17 when she first got pregnant and popped out 8 of them. My mom was 25 when she had me and my husband and I plan on waiting a couple more years, which will put me in my mid-to-late 20s. In the meantime, one of by best friends is pregnant at 24 (Yay Baby Pugh).

We all have different ages when we are ready, and apparently I’m not the only one noticing all the high school kids that are getting “bumped”. Sixteen and Pregnant, Teen Mom, The Pregnancy Pact, they are all prime examples of teenagers getting pregnant and our country accepting it. Yes, I have had friends get pregnant when they were young, and I’m not bashing or anythng of the like. But I am traditional and conservative and those shows drive  me nuts, not to mention the headlines in the magazines, “I want my life back”, “Having a baby ruined my life”.  Well, you should have thought about that before having unprotected sex. I mean seriously, do you not know what caused that?

And don’t get me started on Britney Spears sister and Bristol Palin.

All of these were contributing factors in McCafferty’s idea for this book. She recently posted this picture on Twitter; notes for the book:

At first, I wasn’t sure how much I was going to like this book. I’ve been reading a lot of dystopian lately and absolutely admire authors who write this genre. A lot of us can write fiction and incorporate things that could potentially really happen and use the past to write. But it takes a great mind to make up something completely out of the present.

Within the first few pages, I was thinking “I get enough teen baby drama on tv, I don’t know if I can handle it in this book.” Yes, I knew what I was getting myself into when I started reading it, but kept with it because I love Megan McCafferty. And I’m glad I did. I ended up really loving it.

McCafferty did a great job of unfolding this new world throughout the book, even throwing in some great new slang, although I’m too old to use it. I also loved all the little plot nuggets that were revealed in the book. Of course I am not going to share them. Go out and buy the book yourself I felt really close to the characters and for the first time in a long time was into a book enough that I started planning actors and actresses to play the roles in the movie.

I give Bumped 5 bookmarks.

ISBN: 978-0061962745
Released: April 26, 2011
Author Website
Kari got this book from NetGalley

I’ve been a writer for as long as I can remember. My cousin and I used to write short fictional stories when we were little after reading RL Stein books. I was the little weird kid who asked for things like a typewriter and a reading chair for presents. And now, I’m the big weird kid who is obsessed with reading and writing.

I write from the time I get up until the time I go to bed, with some snacking in the middle of course. I write news stories for a living, I write blogs about the books I read, I write tweets about work and books and anything else that comes into my little head and recently I’ve also started writing books.

I started my fiction writing endeavor last summer, which I’m sure I’ve mentioned a few times in the past few months. It was an idea that came to me in a dream, seriously, and wouldn’t leave me alone until I started typing it out. And now, that idea has turned into a 43,000 word young adult murder mystery.

I have shared tidbits of info to bloggy and Twitter friends, but here’s the gist: Laney Gilmore is a sophomore at Redwoods Heights. She has been doing grunt-work articles on the school’s newspaper, but is finally getting her break. But it comes at the expense of the murder of the school’s beloved head cheerleader, suffocated by her pom-pom of all things. So Laney teams up with her uncle, a local detective, a nerdy freshman who has an in with the family, and of course a cute boy to find out who killed the teen prom queen. How creepy is it that someone you’ve walked through the halls with for years is dead? And isn’t it even creepier that someone else in those same halls could be a killer?

So, there you have it. I started the book around June of last year and was going strong until November. That’s when I started NaNo and couldn’t think of anything better to write about, than a sequel to my first unfinished WIP. This one deals with a kidnapping.

I spent about three months on the sequel and decided a couple of weeks ago when I had a vacation day that I would go back and see if things started flowing again. And they did. In just three days, I had finished my first book. And I am happy with it! I keep thinking of little tid bits that I need to add, but for the most part, it’s done, finito.

As soon as I finished, I felt great about myself, so I started searching for agents. I was on a roll and didn’t want to get out of the groove. I found five or six online I thought I could work with, but one stood out above the others. One thing that I looked for was an agency that represented authors that I have read and liked. I feel if they can back a work that I like, then it may be a good fit for me too.

I started writing up a query within the next few days, but didn’t love it so I stashed it away. I kept thinking to myself about how I could change it and make it better. It wasn’t until more than a week later (last week) that I sat down with it and tweeked it for hours before finally pushing send. I am not going to lie, it was a high like I never felt. Less than 12 hours later, I heard back and they didn’t agree that we were a fit. No biggie. I knew that this wasn’t going to be easy peasy. I guess I didn’t expect it so soon. I imagined not to hear back for a week or so. But I did and now it’s back to the drawing board.

I have actually learned a lot about the publishing world from the past few weeks and know I have a lot more to learn, and I’m excited for this new journey. But for those who are wanting to jump into the booky world, I will tell you that so far, the writing has been the easiest part.

Now, I’m not writing this for everyone to feel bad for me because I got a rejection. I know it happens to thousands of people a day who want to be authors. I am writing this, because I have briefly discussesd this with a number of my online friends and want to keep my bloggy support group in the know!

So, fingers crossed as I embark on this trip and of course I will keep everyone updated!

Cara has had one true friend in her entire life, Zoe. But when Cara’s parents move her to another town, Cara is friendless. The next few years, she goes through school minding her own business and hanging on the edge of the track crowd. She’s gliding by inconspicuously until the day she chokes on a carrot and the school heart throb saves her.

After that everything changes. The popular girls start calling her “Choker” and her best friend suddenly returns to save the day. And just like that, everything starts changing again. Cara becomes popular, just as the popular girls start disappearing. She wants to care, but doesn’t because they were so mean. Things are finally going right for her and her only concern now is keeping Zoe a secret from her parents and dividing up her time between her new friends and Zoe.

But Zoe starts getting weird and possessive, just like she did when they were kids. And Cara gets a sneaking suspicion that her BFF may actually be dangerous and behind the disappearance of these two girls.

Let me preface this review by WHOAH! What a thriller. From the time Zoe showed up in this book, I couldn’t put it down. I had to know who was behind all of the craziness happening in this town. I had my suspicions, but was baffled when it all came out. Let me tell you, the last 15-20 pages in this book will blow your mind! I finished it right before going to bed one night and actually had to start another book to get the crazy taste out of my mouth.

I’ve only read a handful of books so far this year, but this is by far my favorite. It’s full of suspense and a twist so crazy your draw drops.

Now, I felt bad for Cara throughout a lot of the book. First it was because of her classmates bullying her. Then it went to feeling bad for Zoe being a burden. Yes, Cara was happy to have her friend, her only friend, back in her life, but Zoe is a bad friend. She is possessive and filthy and disrespectful, but always steps up when she needs to be. I found a lot of Cara in myself. She always had plans to say something, but could never get it out. I’m 24 and still run into this a lot.

I give Choker 5 bookmarks and highly suggest it to any reader. Yes, it’s YA, but I think it’s just creepy enough to suck in any reader.

I will definitely keep my eye and ear out for more books by Elizabeth Woods, but I can’t find anything about her. I know she is from Ohio, thanks to the back cover of the book, but I can’t find her online anywhere. If anyone finds a website, please let me know!

ISBN: 9781442412330
Released: January 4, 2011
Kari got this book from Around the World Tours