Insurgent

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Rating <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Summary: One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

Review: In her follow up to Divergent,  with Insurgent Roth once again takes readers into the faction controlled world of Tris and Tobias who are fighting just to stay alive and to prevent the leader of the faction in control of the pursuit of knowledge (Jeanine) from turning the citizens of their world into mindless drones who would lose free will and the right to exist as individuals.  This book when into very great detail about Tris' emotional struggle and depression that she had to deal with after losing her parents and having to shoot a close friend in the previous book.  This combined with the interpersonal conflicts between Tris and 'Four'; and Tris and Christina and other characters throughout this story made this a very engrossing read for me especially since I have two psychology related degrees.  

The details, and scenery were wonderfully described; in addition I literally felt myself being pulled into the story I finished the book in two sittings and can honestly say I enjoyed every minute.  It seemed to show struggles that many people face both in adolescence and through adulthood.  Tris is a character that many different age groups can relate to and in this book I was literally rooting her on through every page.  

The book contained many dilemmas that everyone has to face eventually dying, losing someone you love, mortality, learning how to solve interpersonal conflicts, and learning that when you truly love someone you are willing to put their needs above your own.  Insurgent is one of my new favorites; it shows that when humanity is faced with overwhelming odds we can pull ourselves back up and come back swinging; also it has a great surprise ending ;) But you need to read it to find out!

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Rating <3 <3 <3 <3

Summary: In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the YA scene with the first book in the Divergent series—dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.

Review: I first saw Divergent in Half Price Books a few months ago and it peaked my interest; I just recently got the chance to see the movie with my significant other and that confirmed for me the need to read the series because for me when it comes down to whether a movie or the book that it was based on and which will be better the book will almost ALWAYS win.  

Divergent took me into the faction based society of Beatrice who lives in a world where at sixteen teenagers must choose one of five factions they will stay in for the rest of their lives; these factions are based on different aspects of the human character; and to choose which they should join the candidates are tested; given the results then the choice is ultimately left up to them.   Beatrice is followed through her initiation, into her chosen faction called Dauntless,  through the forming of new friendships, into learning what it is to form a life beyond her nuclear family, and most importantly Beatrice finds that she has a more complicated path to follow then most and the novel follows her path as she learns that the most important thing is not always what you are but who you are.  

I enjoyed the book because it delved into the complicated idea of what a society can turn into when humanity tries to take the best of itself and split it up into different pieces instead of using them together to work as a moving whole piece.  The characters and descriptive scenes described in the book were amazing to imagine for me as a reader; Roth has an amazing talent as a writer; it's inspiring for me to know she wrote this piece of literature so young and it's a book I can't recommend enough.  I am reading the second book in the series now.

Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult

Lone Wolf 

By: Jodi Picoult

Rating <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Summary: On an icy winter night, a terrible accident forces a family divided to come together and make a fateful decision. Cara, once protected by her father, Luke, is tormented by a secret that nobody knows. Her brother, Edward, has secrets of his own. He has kept them hidden, but now they may come to light, and if they do, Cara will be devastated. Their mother, Georgie, was never able to compete with her ex-husband’s obsessions, and now, his fate hangs in the balance and in the hands of her children. With conflicting motivations and emotions, what will this family decide? And will they be able to live with that decision, after the truth has been revealed? What happens when the hope that should sustain a family is the very thing tearing it apart?

Review: Lone Wolf tells the story of Luke and his family from their differing viewpoints.  It has five differing narrative character viewpoints that switch from one to the other at different points during the story.  The novel centers around an accident that Luke and his daughter Cara has after he picks her up from a friend's house because she is seventeen and has made the unwise choice to go to a teenage party and drink so cannot drive home on her own; on the way home a deer runs in front of their car and Luke is injured badly and sent into a coma where he is considered from then on to be brain dead by doctors and Cara also gets seriously injured.  

The storyline after this focuses on the ensuing battle of Cara who wants to keep her Father alive, and her brother Edward who is called back home after six years of living a world away in Thailand, and who comes back to a place he never wanted to return to and since he is legally his Fathers only relative who is of age he says that his Father should be allowed to die in peace and not kept alive by artificial means; The storyline is also filled in with flashbacks of Luke who was not Father of the year material but was someone who lived in the wild with wolves and felt more at home in the woods with them and tried to use their ways and lessons with his own family his narratives include many stories of his living with wild wolf packs in Canada and in captivity.  (There are also two other character narratives in the book Luke's ex wife and her new husband but to find out more I suggest reading this great book)

This novel captivated me because you could see all the research that must've gone into writing it; and the detail was amazing, I literally sat down and read it in one night; I found it fascinating partly because my aunt does love wolves herself so this is a particular animal that I have a profound respect for.  Also this is an issue that I think should be treated with respect and I think Picoult did a very good job with the topic and with how the characters developed throughout the book.  I liked the ending it was not stereotypical or like the end of a lifetime or hallmark movie at all and I appreciated that.  It kept my attention; and the characters relationships with one another were very relatable and realistic especially the brother-sister relationship shown between Cara and Luke; being a younger sister I related to moments described between her and Edward.  

This is a wonderful read; I will continue reading Picoult and would recommend this book to anyone =) Its one of my new favorites.

Liz

Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer

Between the Lines

By: Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer

<3 <3 <3 <3 

Summary: What happens when happily ever after…isn’t?

Delilah is a bit of a loner who prefers spending her time in the school library with her head in a book—one book in particular. Between the Lines may be a fairy tale, but it feels real. Prince Oliver is brave, adventurous, and loving. He really speaks to Delilah.

And then one day Oliver actually speaks to her. Turns out, Oliver is more than a one-dimensional storybook prince. He’s a restless teen who feels trapped by his literary existence and hates that his entire life is predetermined. He’s sure there’s more for him out there in the real world, and Delilah might just be his key to freedom.

Delilah and Oliver work together to attempt to get Oliver out of his book, a challenging task that forces them to examine their perceptions of fate, the world, and their places in it. And as their attraction to each other grows along the way, a romance blossoms that is anything but a fairy tale.

Review: Between the lines is a story written by Picoult and her daughter Samantha who I must admit shows wonderful writing talent if this book is an example of her imagination and ideas.  The book explores the world of Delilah a young fifteen year old girl who finds herself in a high school where she is not in the 'popular' crowd and where she finds escaping into the world of fiction is a good way to escape the sometimes painful reality of her young adolescent life.

Delilah finds herself entranced by a fairytale involving a young prince named Oliver, and it becomes a favorite as she reads it over and over, and to her surprise the young prince takes on a life all his own, and they will embark on a journey of life, love, and discovering that the reader of a book may not be the only one trying to escape their lives, although for Oliver (the young prince and main character in the book) the last thing he wants is to have his life read over again; in fact he'd like nothing more than for Delilah to be able to help him find a way to be able to escape this particular book for good.  

As the reader follows these two young people get to know each other, you read the book Between the Lines while following Delilah and Oliver's story; this book was very original.  I quite literally could not put it down and would recommend it to anyone who likes Picoult's books; this one is a little different than usual and quite honestly I loved it (and its illustrations); and the idea that Picoult wrote it in collaboration with her daughter. Great characters, scenery, and plot.

Liz

Title: The Queen's Lover: A Novel

Author: Vanora Bennett

Rating <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Summary  :Catherine de Valois, daughter of the French king Charles VI, is born into troubled times. Though she is brought up in a royal court, it is a stormy and unstable environment. Before she is out of her teens, Catherine is married off to England's Henry V as part of a treaty honoring his victory over France. She is terrified at the idea of being married to a man who is a foreigner, an enemy, and a rough soldier, and is forced to leave her home for England.

Within two years she is widowed, and mother to the future King of England and France—even though her brother has laid claim to the French crown for himself. Caught between warring factions of her own family and under threat by the powerful lords of the English court, she must find a way to keep her infant son safe. In Owain Tudor, a childhood friend for whom Catherine has long had affection and who now controls the Royal household, Catherine finds both strength and kinship. As their friendship turns to love, however, she risks not only her life and that of her son but the uneasy balance of power in England and France that will be forever changed.

History comes alive in this lyrical and moving true story of one woman's courage and the inception of one of the most famous royal lineages of all time.

Review: In the novel 'The Queen's Lover' Vanora Bennett explores the world of Catherine de Valois a young French princess born in turbulent times into a family of mistrust, murder, and mental illness, where her next meal is never a guarantee; even while she is surrounded by riches that the peasants around her cannot imagine.  The reader is absorbed into the world of a young woman making her way in a family where mental illness controls the leader of her family; and the ruler of her country; her Father the king.  And while her youngest brother is her confidant as a child time has a way of making even the closest of siblings into something she will not recognize as the years pass.

Catherine has few she can trust one being her childhood friend Owain Tudor, they explore childhood feelings for each other, but when each realizes the societal strings that will keep them tied to their stations they go their separate ways until the dance of life pulls them back together in unexpected ways throughout the next few decades of their lives.  The way in which Bennett was able to build each character profile made it seem as if you were watching each scene unfold right before your eyes; it was the most realistic and gripping historical fiction I've read recently. I could not put it down.  The characters came to life and matured from page to page. I can't wait to read more by this author.

Title: Salem Falls

Author: Jodi Picoult

Rating <3 <3 <3 <3

Summary: A handsome stranger comes to the sleepy New England town of Salem Falls in hopes of burying his past: Once a teacher at a girls' prep school, Jack St. Bride was destroyed when a student's crush sparked a powder keg of accusation. Now, washing dishes for Addie Peabody at the Do-Or-Diner, he slips quietly into his new routine, and Addie finds this unassuming man fitting easily inside her heart. But amid the rustic calm of Salem Falls, a quartet of teenage girls harbor dark secrets -- and they maliciously target Jack with a shattering allegation. Now, at the center of a modern-day witch hunt, Jack is forced once again to proclaim his innocence: to a town searching for answers, to a justice system where truth becomes a slippery concept written in shades of gray, and to the woman who has come to love him.

Review: This book by Picoult is a twist on the Salem Witch trials.  It involves four young teenage girls who are involved with wicca, and are just learning to navigate in the world of adults; and when they don't get what they want from the new stranger in town they aim to show him what 'witches' in todays age can be capable of doing to someone.  Jack has been accused of one false crime and after moving to Salem Falls, falling for the local waitress, and starting the threads of a new life he finds himself involved in a new scandal that might send him to jail for the rest of his natural life if he cannot convince the local populace or perhaps a jury to believe in his innocence.

Salem Falls explores the darker side of sexuality and lies that happen everyday in the lives of teenagers, adults and people around the world; have you ever wished someone ill and then heard they were in a car wreck and wondered just for a moment if your thought could have had some link to it? This book explores the possibilites of magic and how they are still active even in today's society.  Salem Falls, opens your mind to looking closer and listening more to the people around you.  People and events may not always be what they seem.  The book was a pretty quick read; the characters were flatter for me than other Picoult novels but the storyline kept me reading.  It was the plot of the book that I enjoyed more than anything.  I would recommend it but I have other books by this author I've enjoyed more.

Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult

Title: Sing You Home

Author: Jodi Picoult

Rating: <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Summary: In the aftermath of a series of personal tragedies, Zoe throws herself into her career as a music therapist. When an unexpected friendship slowly blossoms into love, she makes plans for a new life, but to her shock and inevitable rage, some people—even those she loves and trusts most—don’t want that to happen. 

Review: I've never read a book that made me think in the way the novel Sing You Home, by author Jodi Picoult has.  It is the story of a couple who after struggling with infertility issues for years, along with the heartbreak of a still birth breaks under the pressure.  Max Zoe's husband files for divorce.  While Max turns to alcohol and ends up turning to a conservative Christian Church; Zoe finds love in an unexpected friendship with Vanessa which blossoms into a love song that changes her life; when the two women decide to have children a storm begins that only faith, love and perhaps the right song can heal and bring some of these broken souls back together to form a family for the child they are all desperately fighting for.

As I read this book it was an eye opener to realize how others might view the Christian faith; and some of our beliefs.  I'm glad I do not attend a church like the one Pastor Clive is head of in this book.  It showed me even more that love should be the center of any faith not hate or judgement.  Each character had their own struggles and even though they choose very different ways of coping with them in the end they were all just fighting for the right to live in the way that they thought was right and was the best choice for them.  The soundtrack and different songs for different chapters was a wonderful addition to the book in my opinion. I connect with music on a very deep level so I loved that aspect and I thought the characters were very alive and easy to connect with.  I haven't read a book by Jodi Picoult yet that I haven't loved or connected with.  I'd recommend this book to anyone especially music lovers.

Cheers! Happy Reading =)

Liz