New Reads: May 20-26, 2013

Hitting Shelves this Week:

Now in Paperback:

Reviews by a Real Teen: Of Triton by Anna Banks

Meet Christina, a real teen, and her opinions on YA books!

Of Triton by Anna Banks

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! Let me start off with, oh my goodness!! This book was so AWESOME!!.

Ok, so this book basically started off from where Of Poseidon ended, where Emma’s mom is Nalia. Well, let’s just say at the beginning Emma’s mom isn’t the best person in the world. Grom finds Nalia and he doesn’t want to be mated to Paca anymore. So Grom, Galen, Toraf, and Nalia go to the boundary so Nalia can live with the Syrena again and Grom can get unsealed from Paca. Well, I can tell you that is NOT what happens. They have to have a tribunal, which is like court, only in Syrena world. Meanwhile, back to Emma, she’s stuck with Rayna and Rachel and let’s just say that is not a good pairing. Plus a lot of secrets are spilled and “gifts” are uncovered, which keeps the book twisting and turning the whole way through.

I literally loved this book. It felt so good when I finished it because I haven’t read a book in a while, actually since I finished Call of the Wild for school. I’m so happy I picked this book to read first. It was full of humor, love, loss, and pretty much everything in between. There is so much emotion it’s like you want to literally reach into the book and hug Galen or slap Toraf. I will say this one was a good sequel. You have those series that the first book is really good, but the second or third or whatever are let downs. This one was not like that. It actually was more than what I thought.

If you’re debating whether or not you should read these books, you know have a great review and opinion to go towards the “read this” list.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books Dealing With Tough Subjects

I’m participating again in Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Basically every Tuesday the peeps over at The Broke and the Bookish post their top ten lists on various topics. They even have a special Top Ten Tuesday page where they have previous topics and upcoming topics discussed as well. It’s been a LOOOOONG time since I’ve done a TTT, and I’m excited to participate again!

So, Top Ten Books Dealing with Tough Subjects. This one is sort of fitting for me because I just had a conversation with someone on GoodReads about this the other day. I had mentioned in my review of Laurie Halse Anderson’s Wintergirls that Speak was one of my all time favorite novels.

The person commented on my review that they thought it was interesting that I found it difficult to read Wintergirls but that one of my favorite books was about rape. Initially I took a defensive stance and explained that it wasn’t the subject matter that made the book my favorite. It was that the author took the initiative to bring the subject matter to light and not only that but she continued to be an advocate for victims and has changed people’s lives because of it. The commentor then explained that they had a hard time reading certain serious subjects and that is was more of just an observation rather than a negative comment.

I totally understood where they were coming from. These books aren’t easy to read, but I think that’s what makes them so important. A lot of these books are my favorite and not because of the subject matter but because of the strong emotion that they evoked in me while I read them. They’ve made me a more compassionate and caring person. They’ve made me recognize issues that I dismissed before. And that is something worth talking about.

New Reads: May 13-19, 2013

Hitting Shelves this Week:

Now in Paperback:

Also Known As by Robin Benway

Release Date: February 26, 2013
Author Info: Website | Twitter | Facebook
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Age Group: Young Adult
Shelfability: Acquire
Pages: 320
Format: eGalley
Source: NetGalley
Interest: N/A
Buy the Book: Amazon

Maggie is a spy. Well actually she’s a safecracker, her parents are the international spies. But together they’ve  taken done some bad guys. Now it’s time for Maggie’s solo assignment! The agency is sending her to high school. All she has to do is befriend the insanely cute Jesse Oliver, and get the information to bring down his dad. Oh, and not blow her cover. Easy peasy… right?

This book was adorable! It was fun, cute, quick and just what I needed after a super serious read. This was my first experience with Robin, even though I’ve heard awesome things about her previous books, and I can assure this will not be my last. I dare you to read this book and not instantly connect with Maggie. She might be a safecracker, which I have absolutely no shared experience with, but she is such a relatable character you can’t help but love her instantly. And it’s not only Maggie you’ll love. Her “mean” but endearing friend Roux, Angelo, even Jesse. I LOVED the characters in this novel.

And the story wasn’t too bad either! Sure Maggie makes a lot of mistakes, but that’s what made the story so much fun to read.

If you’re looking for something that’s fun and is going to make you feel good at the end, I definitely recommend Also Known As!