Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard - Book Review

I'm a YA fanatic.  I'll never outgrow my love for that larger-than-life romance between a boy and a girl, the first everything, when it feels like your first love will be your only.  I'll never outgrow the angsty wit and sarcasm laden in most of my favorite YA novels, or the seemingly endless wait for the next in a series.  And I'll always enjoy the nice, light reading and quick pace of most in the genre.

But I'm not typically a fan of spoiled-rich-kid dramas.  Vampire Diaries, Blue Bloods, Vampire Kisses, these were all huge MISSES for me.  Not because of the vampires, but because of those annoyingly snobby little girls whose biggest problems include not having every guy drooling over them.  If it wasn't for a friend's suggestion and the fact that it's a popular television series, I probably would have never had any interest in Pretty Little Liars, thinking it would fit right in with that group of superficial YA novels.

Somewhat to my surprise, I was wrong.

Don't get me wrong, the girls in Pretty Little Liars are pretty rich and spoiled.  But this feels more like a drama enhancer than author's fantasies.  Imagine, four girls who seemingly have everything, haunted by this huge secret that could rip their Gucci-Chanel-Prep -School lives into shreds.  They have everything to lose, and when mysterious text messages and emails pop up from someone known only as -A, they realize how real that possibility is.

Now, A.  Who is she?  The only one who knows all four of these girls' juicy secrets went missing three years ago, right before the group of friends drifted apart.  Alison.  Maybe she's not missing anymore.  Maybe she's back.

The most compelling thing about Pretty Little Liars is its juicy scandal.  It's like the really good gossip everyone likes to hear.  But hey, this is America.  Gossip is our real number one pasttime, right?  Especially when it comes to the pretty people, the wealthy, the popular.  Well, Shepard tapped into this almost perfectly.  It's a quick read, chock full of scandal and mysteries, that begs you to turn the pages.  It comes as no surprise whatsoever that this became a hit television series; it practically seems made for it.

Some of the very things that made this book so juicy, however, are the main problems I have with it.  The two "romantic interets" seem like kind of douche-y guys, preying on younger girls.  One would definitely find himself jobless and probably sitting in a jail cell if things got out, and the other...well, I'll keep it spoiler-free, but Jerry Springer would love to have him on his show.  Hanna - the former chubby girl turned sex goddess - seemed fake to me at some parts.  I know all to well what it's like to take comfort in food, but come on.  I don't know anyone, not even my 400+ pound friend, who would suddenly crave candy and pastries in a police station, suspected of theft.  After the fact, maybe.  But not while they're there.

All in all, though, this is a compulsively readable and addictive first novel to a series.  It's not literature, there is nothing profound in this book, but it's...fun.  Like satisfying a sweet tooth with your favorite candy bar.  Chock full of empty calories, but damn satisfying all the same.

Pretty Little Liars - 3.5 out of 5 stars.

The Well Of Ascension By Brandon Sanderson - Mistborn, Book 2

Oh my goodness, where to even begin?

I literally just finished the final page of this novel, after investing hours a day for the past week into this book, this world Sanderson has given us.  Time well spent.  I haven't felt this kind of zeal for epic fantasy since the better installments of The Wheel Of Time.

Warning; the rest of this review will contain minor spoilers from the first Mistborn novel.

The majority of The Well Of Ascension focuses on political intrigue and espionage.  It has been a year since Vin figured out the secrets behind the Lord Ruler's immortality and defeated him.  The city of Luthadel has tentatively been rebuilt by the young Elend Venture, new king and idealist, and the old crew of thieves.  Things are tentative indeed, as Elend's very own father, Straff Venture, is setting up an army outside of Luthadel to seize the city and Elend's crown.  What's stopping him from going right for it?  King Cett's simultaneous arrival.  Both kings want Luthadel and the atium believed to be inside, and both kings have a relatively equal army force.  Elend's own soldiers are far less numerous and experienced, but lucky for him, neither would-be King wants to risk weakening their forces by defeating Elend's, only to have the other army come in with their full might and take over.

Most of this novel takes place during this extended stand-off.

Now, I'm not a huge lover of politics in novels.  Since it's a common theme in epic fantasy, however, I know enough about them to be able to appreciate it as long as there are other things to hold my attention.  To be honest, The Well Of Ascension doesn't have as much else going on as I would have liked for most of its length.  Luckily, the sheer capability of Sanderson's talent, his incredible characterization and hints of impending doom that doesn't have anything to do with kingdoms or armies kept me entertained even with all the politics.

But where this novel really and truly shines, like its predecessor, is the ending.  I am in awe at Brandon Sanderson's ability to tie everything together with this incredibly powerful climactic end.  Nothing seems forced.  Nothing seems campy or done for the sake of convenience.  And almost every epic fantasy cliche is turned on its head.  After a plethora of Hero's Journey stories that are all essentially the same plotline just done in different settings, I can't express how refreshing this is.

Something I have to mention; Sazed.  The Terris Keeper has somehow snuck his way up and become my favorite character.  I'm very much a girl when it comes to favorite characters; I either love the romantic interest or  the fierce female lead.  Usually, the only exception will come from a witty, smart-ass character, but Sazed is none of these.  He is just so heartbreakingly sincere, so dedicated to his cause.  Some of the trials he had to endure in this one brought tears to my eyes.  I can't wait to see what Brandon Sanderson does for - or to - him in The Hero Of Ages.

The Well Of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson - 4 out of 5 stars.  And it probably deserves all 5.

The Lunatic Cafe by Laurell K. Hamilton - Anita Blake Book 4 Review

The Lunatic Cafe starts with a man contacting our Anita through her animator's job not for the usual reasons, but to help with a missing person's case.  His wife, a lycanthrope, has gone missing.  Anita, not trained in missing person's case, refers him to her friend, Ronnie Sims, only to later discover that this woman was only one in a line of missing lycanthropes.  She calls in her beau Richard for help, and we're introduced to the werewolf pack he's one step away from heading.

In the meantime, there is a lot going on in Anita's dating life.  Her relationship with Richard is strained when she learns just what being the girlfriend of an alpha werewolf truly means, and our favorite master vampire Jean-Claude swoops in and demands his share of quality time with our girl before he's willing to back down and let Richard have Anita's heart all to himself.  This promises much more face time with Jean-Claude in the next novels, and I personally couldn't be happier.  Richard is awesome, he's a sweetheart with long silky brown hair and an Abercrombie body, a teacher still trying to come to terms with his bestial side.  But he is no Jean-Claude.  Enough said.

The Lunatic Cafe is quite possibly my favorite in this series so far.  Hamilton stays true to the noir, police investigation + superntatural baddies themes that have made her series so popular, but in this installment we get more of Anita's personal life than in the previous three.  Her relationships are unusual to say the least.  She's got to deal with the domestic stuff in between her gun-ladden, life threatening adventures, and to say that the transition isn't a smooth one would be an understatement.  The rising sexual tension adds yet another reason to keep the pages turning.  This all makes for a fun, addictive, and slightly humorous read.

That said, all the things I found annoying in the other books are still present here.  Anita's badass-ness seems shoved down our throats from time to time, and her tough-as-nails attitude occasionally makes her a less sympathetic character than I would have wanted.  But these qualms are an integral part of the series, and at this point they're easier than ever to overlook.

The Lunatic Cafe by Laurell K. Hamilton - 4 out of 5 stars.

Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles - Book Review

Perfect Chemistry is a YA contempory chick-lit romance, as nearly every single element of the novel screams.  Brittany Ellis is the seemingly perfect cheerleader with the perfect blond hair and perfect body and perfect house...and not-so-perfect home life that she works her hardest to mask.  Alejandro (Alex) Fuentes is her polar opposite; Mexican gang-banger who uses his fists like they're weapons.  And carries an actual weapon, a gun, concealed in the waistband of his jeans.  Brittany is from the ritzy side of Fairfield, Alex from the other side of the tracks, two vastly different social statuses that come together in the same high school.

Brittany and Alex have only heard of each other - and formed their own biased opinions based off of what they've heard - until their shared senior-year Chemistry class pushes them together.  Forced to be lab partners, the two find themselves hating each other until they actually learn about each other.  And learn that, despite their different cliques and different ethnicities, despite Brittany's clean-as-a-whistle reputation and Alex's very not, they have so much more in common than they could ever have imagined.

Perfect Chemistry is rife with about every single teen romance cliche you can imagine, including a "watch me get in the rich white girl's panties" bet.  One that kept me tearing through the pages like a maniac caught in a thrall, torn between rolling my eyes and clutching my heart.  It's not often that a writer can so blatantly create such a generic plotline and make it work, but Elkeles surpasses my expectations and does just that.

One of my favorite things about this novel is its unwillingness to back down from the gritty aspects of life.  Most YA steers away from too much swearing, drug use, sex and violence.  Perfect Chemistry doesn't.  Some of the scenes are almost as steamy as you might find in an adult romance novel, and I will always support this.  Teenagers know what's going on, they know all about sex and drugs and violence.  Denying that in a book doesn't make the reality go away, but acknowledging it and showing characters using good judgement or showing a world of guilt over times they didn't just might help real teens make smarter decisions.

My other favorite thing is, of course, Alex Fuentes.  Since this is the Queen Of Cliches teen romance novel, it has to boast one amazingly sexy, totally swoon-worthy male romantic interest.  I'll be honest, it took me about half the book to really get into his charms, but once he had me, I was hooked.

If you're looking for some light, done-before-but-done-right romantic reading, Perfect Chemistry just may be perfect for you.

Perfect Chemistry - 3.5 out of 5 stars.