The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

Title: The Shining Girls
Author: Lauren Beukes (website)(Twitter)
Pages: 368
Publication Date: June 4, 2013
Publisher: Mulholland Books (Little, Brown & Company's suspense imprint) (website)(Twitter)
Rating: amazing and disturbing
Source/Format: library, hardcover

Time traveling serial killer. I could really end the review here. Just sayin'.

I'm not sure where to even start with this book. It's one of the most unique books I've read. Megan from Book Brats talked about this one on Twitter and I was so intrigued that I immediately requested it. I usually agree with all of her thoughts on books and this one sounded so amazing.

Harper is the serial killer that has a special house that allows him to skip through time. His victims "shine" out to him and he always meets them when they are younger and then kills them when they are grown. He often leaves something with them that he collects later or he tells them that they will see him again.

Creepy as h-e-double-hockey-sticks. 

Kirby is his victim that lived. Only he doesn't know it right away. The story is told in flash-backs, flash-forwards and by the different characters. At first it confused me because I kept thinking that Harper should be a girl and Kirby should be a boy and I couldn't keep the dates straight but after a while, I just let go and went with it without worrying about all that.

Kirby's attempted murder is alluded to and we know that something happens to her dog but the actual scene of her attempted murder and hearing what actually happens to her dog was almost more than I could take. Had to put the book down for a while after this scene. So if you, like me, can't take animals hurting, be warned. It's brutal and heartbreaking.

She begins a huge investigation into all the murders that have the same or similar MO and begins to think that something really weird is going on. Things are not like they should be but she begins to doubt herself.

A huge cast of interesting characters is both overwhelming but well developed. Dan, one of the main characters, is one of my favorites. He's an older, sarcastic man who barely keeps up with Kirby. Their relationship is sweet and complicated. He gives her a bit of balance when she's going off the rails trying to find the man who did this to her.

I was a bit put off with the reoccurring language but I am sure it could be argued that it was necessary. If you are being murdered, you probably aren't going to burst out with "well, shoot!" The Shining Girls is both scary and literary. The writing was almost lyrical and Beukes has a way of phrasing things that made me re-read whole passages just for the way it was written.

This is my first experience reading Beukes, but it will not be the last. If you enjoy murder and mystery and want something different, The Shining Girls might be a really great fit. Time traveling serial killer. Again...what else is there to say? Awesomeness. 

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

Title: The Shining Girls
Author: Lauren Beukes (website)(Twitter)
Pages: 368
Publication Date: June 4, 2013
Publisher: Mulholland Books (Little, Brown & Company's suspense imprint) (website)(Twitter)
Rating: amazing and disturbing
Source/Format: library, hardcover

Time traveling serial killer. I could really end the review here. Just sayin'.

I'm not sure where to even start with this book. It's one of the most unique books I've read. Megan from Book Brats talked about this one on Twitter and I was so intrigued that I immediately requested it. I usually agree with all of her thoughts on books and this one sounded so amazing.

Harper is the serial killer that has a special house that allows him to skip through time. His victims "shine" out to him and he always meets them when they are younger and then kills them when they are grown. He often leaves something with them that he collects later or he tells them that they will see him again.

Creepy as h-e-double-hockey-sticks. 

Kirby is his victim that lived. Only he doesn't know it right away. The story is told in flash-backs, flash-forwards and by the different characters. At first it confused me because I kept thinking that Harper should be a girl and Kirby should be a boy and I couldn't keep the dates straight but after a while, I just let go and went with it without worrying about all that.

Kirby's attempted murder is alluded to and we know that something happens to her dog but the actual scene of her attempted murder and hearing what actually happens to her dog was almost more than I could take. Had to put the book down for a while after this scene. So if you, like me, can't take animals hurting, be warned. It's brutal and heartbreaking.

She begins a huge investigation into all the murders that have the same or similar MO and begins to think that something really weird is going on. Things are not like they should be but she begins to doubt herself.

A huge cast of interesting characters is both overwhelming but well developed. Dan, one of the main characters, is one of my favorites. He's an older, sarcastic man who barely keeps up with Kirby. Their relationship is sweet and complicated. He gives her a bit of balance when she's going off the rails trying to find the man who did this to her.

I was a bit put off with the reoccurring language but I am sure it could be argued that it was necessary. If you are being murdered, you probably aren't going to burst out with "well, shoot!" The Shining Girls is both scary and literary. The writing was almost lyrical and Beukes has a way of phrasing things that made me re-read whole passages just for the way it was written.

This is my first experience reading Beukes, but it will not be the last. If you enjoy murder and mystery and want something different, The Shining Girls might be a really great fit. Time traveling serial killer. Again...what else is there to say? Awesomeness. 

ARC Envy (6)

Every week several of my favorite bloggers post vlogs or whatever of all the great book hauls they've received for the week. Since I'm a tiny little fish in the huge book blogging pond, my mailbox isn't stuffed with all the great ARCs that they get. Dana's ARC Envy is my way of highlighting an ARC that I *wish* had been sent to me too. 

Title: The Paradox of Vertical Flight
Author: Emil Ostrovski (website)
Publisher: Harper Teen 
Expected Publication Date: September 24, 2013

Judging a book by its cover:  Quirky. Seems to match the book well.

Know anything about the author?  This is a a debut.

Why do I want it?  The title rocks. I love different titles. Sounds like one of the quirkiest, most original books I've ever heard of. Haven't read many books about teenage parents - especially dads. 

Summary from Goodreads:

What happens when you put a suicidal eighteen-year-old philosophy student, his ex-girlfriend, his best friend, and his newborn baby in a truck and send them to Grandma's house? This debut novel by Emil Ostrovski will appeal to fans of John Green, Chris Crutcher, and Jay Asher.

On the morning of his eighteenth birthday, philosophy student and high school senior Jack Polovsky is somewhat seriously thinking of suicide when his cell phone rings. Jack's ex-girlfriend, Jess, has given birth, and Jack is the father. Jack hasn't spoken with Jess in about nine months—and she wants him to see the baby before he is adopted. The new teenage father kidnaps the baby, names him Socrates, stocks up on baby supplies at Wal-Mart, and hits the road with his best friend, Tommy, and the ex-girlfriend. As they head to Grandma's house (eluding the police at every turn), Jack tells baby Socrates about Homer, Troy, Aristotle, the real Socrates, and the Greek myths—because all stories spring from those stories, really. Even this one. Funny, heart-wrenching, and wholly original, this debut novel by Emil Ostrovski explores the nature of family, love, friendship, fate, fatherhood, and myth.

What ARC are you envying this week?

ARC Envy (6)

Every week several of my favorite bloggers post vlogs or whatever of all the great book hauls they've received for the week. Since I'm a tiny little fish in the huge book blogging pond, my mailbox isn't stuffed with all the great ARCs that they get. Dana's ARC Envy is my way of highlighting an ARC that I *wish* had been sent to me too. 

Title: The Paradox of Vertical Flight
Author: Emil Ostrovski (website)
Publisher: Harper Teen 
Expected Publication Date: September 24, 2013

Judging a book by its cover:  Quirky. Seems to match the book well.

Know anything about the author?  This is a a debut.

Why do I want it?  The title rocks. I love different titles. Sounds like one of the quirkiest, most original books I've ever heard of. Haven't read many books about teenage parents - especially dads. 

Summary from Goodreads:

What happens when you put a suicidal eighteen-year-old philosophy student, his ex-girlfriend, his best friend, and his newborn baby in a truck and send them to Grandma's house? This debut novel by Emil Ostrovski will appeal to fans of John Green, Chris Crutcher, and Jay Asher.

On the morning of his eighteenth birthday, philosophy student and high school senior Jack Polovsky is somewhat seriously thinking of suicide when his cell phone rings. Jack's ex-girlfriend, Jess, has given birth, and Jack is the father. Jack hasn't spoken with Jess in about nine months—and she wants him to see the baby before he is adopted. The new teenage father kidnaps the baby, names him Socrates, stocks up on baby supplies at Wal-Mart, and hits the road with his best friend, Tommy, and the ex-girlfriend. As they head to Grandma's house (eluding the police at every turn), Jack tells baby Socrates about Homer, Troy, Aristotle, the real Socrates, and the Greek myths—because all stories spring from those stories, really. Even this one. Funny, heart-wrenching, and wholly original, this debut novel by Emil Ostrovski explores the nature of family, love, friendship, fate, fatherhood, and myth.

What ARC are you envying this week?

Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Title: Dare You To (Pushing the Limits #2)
Author: Katie McGarry (website)(Twitter)
Pages: 392
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication Date: May 28, 2013
Source: Library
Rating: Wowsers, I loved this one too!

Summary from Goodreads:

Ryan lowers his lips to my ear. "Dance with me, Beth."

"No." I whisper the reply. I hate him and I hate myself for wanting him to touch me again....

"I dare you..."

If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk's home life, they'd send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom's freedom and her own happiness. That's how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn't want her and going to a school that doesn't understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn't get her, but does....

Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can't tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn't be less interested in him.

But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all....

After reading and loving Pushing the Limits, I immediately began reading Dare You To. I don't usually read books by the same author back to back but Pushing the Limits gave me all.the.feels.

This one centers around Beth and Ryan. Beth's home life is miserable, sad and dangerous. Ryan's life is almost perfect. When she is forced to move in with her uncle, she meets Ryan. He and his baseball player friends have a series of dares and that night's dare is to get the phone number of different girls. Beth is Ryan's dare.

When we meet them they are both unlikeable. Beth is brash and rude. Ryan is hitting on her for a dare. They are both flawed in their own ways. I enjoyed how they grew up over the course of the book.

Although I actually liked Noah and Echo better as characters, I thought that Ryan and Beth's story was deeper. Her tell it like it is attitude and his always have to win attitude made for great banter. 

Once again, McGarry touches on hard issues but she does it with a matter of factness and a grace that makes the toughness of the issues easier to process. I love how raw and emotional her books are. Teenage life isn't always easy and she speaks to that with a great amount of hope.

Dare You To has sealed McGarry as one of my very favorite authors. I won't even look at the summary to know that I'll pick it up and read it. Although I was a bit worried that Dare You To would not live up to how much I loved Pushing the Limits, in some ways it even surpassed it. If you're looking for a heart pounding, emotionally compelling raw romance, Dare You To will not disappoint.

Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Title: Dare You To (Pushing the Limits #2)
Author: Katie McGarry (website)(Twitter)
Pages: 392
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication Date: May 28, 2013
Source: Library
Rating: Wowsers, I loved this one too!

Summary from Goodreads:

Ryan lowers his lips to my ear. "Dance with me, Beth."

"No." I whisper the reply. I hate him and I hate myself for wanting him to touch me again....

"I dare you..."

If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk's home life, they'd send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom's freedom and her own happiness. That's how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn't want her and going to a school that doesn't understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn't get her, but does....

Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can't tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn't be less interested in him.

But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all....

After reading and loving Pushing the Limits, I immediately began reading Dare You To. I don't usually read books by the same author back to back but Pushing the Limits gave me all.the.feels.

This one centers around Beth and Ryan. Beth's home life is miserable, sad and dangerous. Ryan's life is almost perfect. When she is forced to move in with her uncle, she meets Ryan. He and his baseball player friends have a series of dares and that night's dare is to get the phone number of different girls. Beth is Ryan's dare.

When we meet them they are both unlikeable. Beth is brash and rude. Ryan is hitting on her for a dare. They are both flawed in their own ways. I enjoyed how they grew up over the course of the book.

Although I actually liked Noah and Echo better as characters, I thought that Ryan and Beth's story was deeper. Her tell it like it is attitude and his always have to win attitude made for great banter. 

Once again, McGarry touches on hard issues but she does it with a matter of factness and a grace that makes the toughness of the issues easier to process. I love how raw and emotional her books are. Teenage life isn't always easy and she speaks to that with a great amount of hope.

Dare You To has sealed McGarry as one of my very favorite authors. I won't even look at the summary to know that I'll pick it up and read it. Although I was a bit worried that Dare You To would not live up to how much I loved Pushing the Limits, in some ways it even surpassed it. If you're looking for a heart pounding, emotionally compelling raw romance, Dare You To will not disappoint.

Lifting the NetGalley Ban

I have been on a self imposed NetGalley ban for months now. I would request them, be approved and then dread reading them on my computer or phone. So I made myself stop requesting them.

Then I received my Kindle and the ban has been lifted! Still trying to keep the requests to a minimum and only request those that I really, really want to read and review but I am really excited about being about to request again.

Isn't it fun to get that email saying that you've been approved?

What's on your NetGalley reading list?

Lifting the NetGalley Ban

I have been on a self imposed NetGalley ban for months now. I would request them, be approved and then dread reading them on my computer or phone. So I made myself stop requesting them.

Then I received my Kindle and the ban has been lifted! Still trying to keep the requests to a minimum and only request those that I really, really want to read and review but I am really excited about being about to request again.

Isn't it fun to get that email saying that you've been approved?

What's on your NetGalley reading list?

Genres and Reading What We Want

I am in my early 30s. Fine...I'm in my LATE 30s and I read a ton of YA. Sometimes I get flack for it but you know what? I don't care. At all. As a matter of fact, I think that if more people gave it a chance, they'd enjoy it. There no age limit to a well written story. I don't care if the characters are 12 or 18 or 38 or 68. I just care that I like them and that I am interested in what happens to them.

I think that it is a shame that we have reading "guilty pleasures"...sounds like we SHOULDN'T like something. Whether you enjoy Christian fiction or go to the opposite end of the spectrum and erotica does it for you, does it really matter what you read or does it matter that you ARE reading?

I wish more of us cared less what other people thought of our reading choices, and spent that time finding really great books to read instead.

Talk back to me. Do you ever get grief for the type of books you read? That you DON'T read?

Genres and Reading What We Want

I am in my early 30s. Fine...I'm in my LATE 30s and I read a ton of YA. Sometimes I get flack for it but you know what? I don't care. At all. As a matter of fact, I think that if more people gave it a chance, they'd enjoy it. There no age limit to a well written story. I don't care if the characters are 12 or 18 or 38 or 68. I just care that I like them and that I am interested in what happens to them.

I think that it is a shame that we have reading "guilty pleasures"...sounds like we SHOULDN'T like something. Whether you enjoy Christian fiction or go to the opposite end of the spectrum and erotica does it for you, does it really matter what you read or does it matter that you ARE reading?

I wish more of us cared less what other people thought of our reading choices, and spent that time finding really great books to read instead.

Talk back to me. Do you ever get grief for the type of books you read? That you DON'T read?