The Catastrophic History of You and Me - Jess Rothenberg.

Published: 2nd February 2012
Format: Paperback

Publisher: Puffin
Pages: 400
Age Group: Young Adult

Challenge: Debut Author Challenge 2012, 100+ Reading Challenge, Read and Review Challenge
Buy this book: Amazon UK

Synopsis [Amazon UK]

Brie's life ends at sixteen: Her boyfriend tells her he doesn't love her, and the news breaks her heart - "literally." But now that she's in heaven, Brie is about to discover that love is way more complicated than she ever imagined. Back in Half Moon Bay, her family has begun to unravel. Her best friend knows a secret about Jacob, the boy she loved and lost - and the truth behind his shattering betrayal. And then there's Patrick, Brie's mysterious new guide and resident Lost Soul who's been D&G (dead and gone) much longer than she? and who just might hold the key to her forever after. With Patrick's help, Brie will have to pass through the five stages of grief before she's ready to move on? but how do you begin again, when your heart is still in pieces?

The cover...

The cover is cute and seems perfect for the story.

How did I find out about this book?

I bought this book for the Debut Author Challenge that I am participating in.

What is this book about?

A called named Brie has died literally of a broken heart.  She ends up in another dimension that looks almost like where she came from.  She has to go through the stages of grieve, try to seek revenge and eventually accept that what has happened has happened and that she needs to make peace with it all.

My opinion...

From the beginning I was wrapped up in this book.  I think it was the joke 'What do you call a piece of cheese that's not yours? Nacho cheese.' that got me, what a perfect touch to lighten up something that could be the start of something sad.  This joke, and all of the other mentions of cheese in reference to Brie's name perked up the story and gave it that humorous edge.

The book is separated into five sections, these sections being the process of grief.  This is what Brie has to go through in order to fully move on and be at peace.  So, with the help of Patrick, a boy also in the other dimension, she sets out to score out each of these stages from her list.  In doing so, she realises what she had, what she now has and how to cope with both in the future.  I found that this way of separating the book was different, it was great to find out how she went through each stage and how she still had a lot of growing up to do even in death. Also, the chapter titles being lyrics to well known songs that related to what was happening in that particular chapter was great and a good way of hinting what was to come.

However, I was expecting a completely different story from reading the synopsis.  I was expecting someone still living to be able to see Brie and love to conquer death but the story was far from this and at parts rather confusing.  I think this was the only thing that I disliked.  As the author did go in to this but not at much as I would have hoped.  Brie was able to move things in the 'real world' and get in to the back of cars and smash things but, in my opinion, it didn't really achieve much as the reasons why she was doing these things would have come to a conclusion without them.

Brie died when she was sixteen years old, and at points I find this hard to believe in relation to her relationship with Jacob before her death.  The death of a literal broken heart does show the immature side yet I think there was a bit of conflict here in regards to age.

The twists and turns in the story were so unexpected and just made the book what it was.  This book had everything from life to death, love to heartache, even including the aspects of afterlife and reincarnation and it handled them all brilliantly.  What more could you ask for?

I loved the writing style of Jess Rothenberg and I can't wait to see what she has in store for us next!

If you enjoyed this book: what to read next...

I would recommend PS I Love You.  I think this is due to the 'there's life after death' aspect and how characters in both books are still connected to those that have moved on to a better place.

Everneath - Brodi Ashton.

Published: 2nd February 2012
Format: Paperback

Publisher: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Pages: 384
Age Group: Young Adult

Challenge: Debut Author Challenge 2012, ABC Reading Challenge, 100+ Reading Challenge, Read and Review Challenge
Buy this book: Amazon UK

Synopsis [Amazon UK]

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she's returned- to her old life, her family, her friends- before being banished back to the underworld...this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists. Nikki longs to spend these months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there's a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen. As Nikki's time grows short and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she's forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's...

The cover...

It was the absolutely gorgeous cover that drew me to this book.  Everything about the cover is astonishing.

How did I find out about this book?

I bought this book for the Debut Author Challenge that I am participating in and the cover was one in which I couldn't resist.

What is this book about?

A seventeen year old girl named Nikki Beckett has spent a decade 'feeding' Cole in the Everneath.  Once that decade is over she is given the choice to stay with Cole or be sent to the tunnels.  Nikki chose neither but to Return to reality to see Jack, the one person she could never erase from her mind.  In doing so she has six months (before she is taken to the tunnels anyway) to say goodbye and perhaps find a way to change her outcome to prove that her decision was the right one.

My opinion...

If you were giving the opportunity to have all of your pain taken away would you take it?  Even if there were consequences to these actions?  In a way it seems that Nikki is forced into this situation by Cole.  She has the reasons to want this yet she still has something inside of her telling her that she should fight it.

The prologue of this book made me think that I wouldn't enjoy it.  It seemed too far-fetched and there was something about the repetitive nature of Nikki's decade long disappearance (this being only six months in reality) that bugged me.  It appears that in that decade that Nikki spent with Cole, all they did was lie next to each other and allow Cole to Feed?  It just didn't make sense to me that this would be the case for that length of time yet at the same time you wonder what else would they do?

Cole's guitar playing is consistent and you can tell it is a significant part of Cole yet I find it extremely strange.  It's like when he's around Nikki has a soundtrack to her life, however it's mainly on the occasions when he turns up in her bedroom.  Is his guitar-playing not heard by 'normal' people?  Surely, if he was playing a guitar within a short distance from Nikki's father, her father would be more suspicious than he already is of her return, no?  From the start her father seems to be more Mayor than father but as the book goes on you find out why this is his reaction and how everything that has happened in the past year has affected him.

I was really unsure of Cole.  One minute I liked him the next I didn't.  I didn't know whether he would be a good guy or not.  It just seemed like he was the way he was and there was no changing that whether he liked it or not.  However, it would have been great to see him have a more interesting opinion on the matter.  I guess I was the same about Nikki, she just seemed so vague to begin with.

Jack was my favourite character and I was quite disappointed that he was rarely mentioned in comparison to the rest of the characters in the first half of the book.  Maybe it was the absence of him that made the heart grow fonder?  Nonetheless I wanted to know more about him and felt a deep sympathy towards his reaction to Nikki's departure.  Additionally, his connection with his brother Will was cute and just added to his many great qualities.  Will brought humour into the equation of heartache and sorrow.  Another great character was Mary, as soon as you hear of her you want to know her story and know that her role will be significant too.

I loved that the author had undertaken so much research to write this book.  Although I don't know much about mythology it seems like everything is there waiting to be discovered and it is enticing making you want to know more.  At first I felt that it was easy to put this book down but it soon came to a point where I was sucked in and couldn't wait to find out more which made this story an intriguing read!  I hated the ended but I loved it at the same time and I just want that final statement to be answered.

If you enjoyed this book: what to read next...

This book is part of a series.  I haven't really read much on Greek Mythology and this book gives you an urge to read up on it especially the story of Orpheus and Eurydice!

Fracture - Megan Miranda.

Published: 5th January 2012
Format: Paperback

Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pages: 272
Age Group: Young Adult

Challenge: Debut Author Challenge 2012, 100+ Reading Challenge, Read and Review Challenge
Buy this book: Amazon UK

Synopsis [Amazon UK]

By the time seventeen-year-old Delaney Maxwell is pulled out of the icy waters of a frozen lake, her heart has stopped beating. She is in a coma and officially dead. But Delaney pulls through. How? Doctors are mystified. Outwardly she has completely recovered. But Delaney knows something is very wrong. Pulled by sensations she can't control, she finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her brain predicting death or causing it? Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who lost his whole family in a car accident and emerged from a coma with the same powers as Delaney. At last she's found a kindred spirit who'll understand what she's going through. But Delaney soon discovers that Troy's motives aren't quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature - or something much more frightening?

The cover...

The cover is simple yet elegant.  It shows the image of Delaney, on that icy cold day wearing her red parka jacket not knowing her fate, perfectly.  It would have been great if the title was all icy or something though.

How did I find out about this book?

I bought this book for the Debut Author Challenge that I am participating in.

What is this book about?

Whilst on the way to play a game in the snow with some friends, a girl called Delaney loses her balance on an iced over lake causing the ice to crack and Delaney to fall into the icy water below.  Delaney was under the water/unconscious for eleven minutes, enough to kill her, but something keeps her alive and changes her life in a way she could never imagine.

My opinion...

The character of Delaney Maxwell is like that of any other young teenager who wants to be the best and have fun with it.  However, her life changes the day that she and her best friend Decker decide to cross the icy lake to get to their friends instead of going around it.

The fact that Delaney has experienced something terrifying and miraculous yet is still able to consider doing school work is beyond me?  She comes across as being worried for her life and yet there still has to be that mention of school and how she wishes to be Valedictorian, and get good grades, it makes no sense to me.  I get that you would want to be successful but not when it has only been a week or so since you came out of a life threatening coma!  I see that school can become a distraction for Delaney but it gets to the point where that is all she thinks about.

It seems that for the first 60 pages or so, it firstly defines what happened to Delaney and then it goes on a path of discussions of school, a will they won't they relationship between Delaney and her best friend Decker and a controlled zombie like state (this is what I imagine) every time Delaney feels the 'pull'.  Another aspect is that of people owing others - mainly that of Delaneys' debt to all of her friends for saving her life.  They all played a part in saving her and now she owes them for this privilege, all I kept thinking here was 'I'm not jealous of those friends!'.

In reference to the characters, I warmed to Delaney and Decker's relationship rather to Delaney herself.  The way in which they were able to have a conversation full of wit and humour was a main reason why I was so drawn to it. They've been best friends for years so when they start to get jealous of each others' relationships it slightly takes them by surprise but it was fun to find out what happens between the two of them and how their relationship has its positives and negatives.  I think this is the reason why I carried on reading the book, I wanted to know what would happen between them!  However, Delaney's relationship with her parents, especially her mother, was rather strange.  Her mothers actions after the accident are not entirely motherly and the reference to her own parents to somewhat explain that was weird and made it seem like this book should have some form of sequel (maybe it does?).  The character of Troy creeped me out from the beginning and made me think 'what is your purpose?' and I was quite disappointed in what I found out in regards to him.

Don't get me wrong, the book was ok, I just wanted there to be some sort of closure in regards to Delaney's 'power'.  Throughout the book she wants to save people so what now?  It doesn't really make any sense for this to be a standalone book.  It seems like there are two different stories going on in this book, both starting off with Delaney's accident.  The first is that of how Delaney's life changes through school, home and her love life and the other is the power in which Delaney obtains through the accident.

I think the message of the book however is powerful.  The question of 'If you had one day left to live, what would you do?' is a question worth finding out the answer to.

If you enjoyed this book: what to read next...

There is a short story in relation to this book highlighting Decker's side of the story title Eleven Minutes.  I think it is great that the author has taken into account what Decker was feeling the days in which Delaney was in a coma/on deaths door, however, it would be great to know his take on more of story.