Finally Friday {9} This Raging Light

Finally Friday is a meme started by me (Jessica, aka @coffeelvnmom) and J from @life_love_fandoms. This week's I-finally-read-this-waiting-on-Wednesday-book is: THIS RAGING LIGHT.

4.5 stars

This Raging Light is a beautiful, heart-wrenching debut by Estelle Laure. I loved her voice and fell for both main characters, Lucille, and her little sister, Wren, hook, line, and sinker. Talk about good kids put in a horrible situation! Their dad goes crazy, their mom disappears, and Lucille is left to keep them both in school, stop everyone from finding out they're home alone, and find a way to support them.

The blurb really is the best summary without giving too much away, but I'd like to add that along with keeping "readers hooked and hoping until the very last page", Ms. Laure also gives you an intimate glimpse at young love, loss, and learning to deal with where loss leaves you. She shows how you never quite know who's going to step up to the plate and help out just when it's needed most, and that, sometimes, though the choices we're given in life aren't always ones we want to deal with, they are the choices that make us who we are.

I loved loved loved This Raging Light, and highly recommend it! Use that Christmas money and BUY it (came out three days ago)... I promise you will thank me!

Finally Friday {8}:These Shallow Graves

Finally Friday is a meme started by me (Jessica, aka @coffeelvnmom) and J from @life_love_fandoms. This week's I-finally-read-this-Waiting-on-Wednesday-book is: THESE SHALLOW GRAVES.

You, on the other hand, wish to know things. And no one can forgive a girl for that.

Ms. Donnelly has done it again. She’s found a way to tell a story, teach the history behind the setting, and pull you along for the ride whilst throwing in great measures of romance, betrayal, comedy, friendship, and of course, quite the mystery.

Josephine Montfort is a victim of the social elite in New York in the 1890s. I say “victim” because any woman or young lady living in that timeframe had little to no control of what she was able to do. Example one: the grandmother of her soon-to-be betrothed literally refers to the youngin’s as dogs, and speaks of breeding them to keep good bloodlines (and their money in the family, too), more than once. Example two: at one point, Jo recalls her mother telling her (paraphrased): “There are only three times you may be in the paper. Once when you’re born, once when you’re married, and once when you die.” Anything else, any other reason to be put in the paper, in that day and age, meant you must have done something scandalous (or why would they do a report about it?). Walking somewhere, alone? Scandalous. Meeting with someone not of the same social class in public? Scandalous. Not wearing the proper black dresses for months after a death in the family? Scandalous. Socializing after a death in the family? Scandalous. Coming up to a group at a social gathering when there is no chair left for you to sit in? Scandalous. Not accepting the proposal of THE biggest family at the time? SCAN-DAL-OUS.

And yet, the more Jo learns of what’s really been going on and starts to question everything she thought she knew about her father and his business, the more she becomes that scandalous character. Not that she openly talks about it until quite far into the book (she does have to sneak around for quite a while, first--oh the lies that lady tells!), but the fact that she is so under the wings of the way they do things (never having shown someone to the door before, because that’s what the butler usually does? UM.) shows how little was expected of women during that era, and how little they were allowed to do on their own.

Speaking of era, the entire premise of TSG is based on (and revolves around) the way it was in the late 1800s. Though Jo knows something’s not right when her father dies, the mere act of speaking this out and telling someone is a huge problem. She befriends people who, to the “normal” people of their town, aren’t that big of a deal, but in family/upper town politics would cause all hell to break loose if it was found out they were ever socializing. This creates an ongoing tension that really does make a difference as the story goes on.

One thing about TSG, however: Jo is naive. She’s quite bright, intellectually, but at the same time, due to the life she was given, incredibly clueless. She doesn’t know what many things are, because everything is considered below them, "unspeakables" for women, or too difficult for her lady mind to understand. (Not that those are a problem for Jo, but this was how things were seen during that timeframe. If you’re a woman, opinions aren’t allowed, nor expected. Neither is thinking. Women “watch and wait”. As Ms. Marino so deftly puts it in the letter to the reader at the beginning of the advanced readers copy, "Boys could be and do anything; girls had rules to follow.")

These Shallow Graves was different from A Northern Light and Revolution, but entertaining and educational to the timeframe just the same. It also has a few twists and turns that will surprise you and keep you rooting for not just Jo, but many of the characters!

If you are in the mood for historical mystery and romance, but don’t want to read about the lack of freedom women had in the latter part of the 19th century, do not read These Shallow Graves. But if learning is your forte, and you enjoy Ms. Donnelly’s YA, or if you’ve never read her work and would like to sleuth right along with Jo (and learn some cool coroner stuff and history), this book’ll be right up your alley.

Finally Friday {7}: We'll Never Be Apart by Emiko Jean

Finally Friday is a meme started by me (Jessica, aka @coffeelvnmom) and J from @life_love_fandoms. This week's I-finally-read-this-waiting-on-Wednesday-book is: WE'LL NEVER BE APART.

4.5 stars 

We'll Never Be Apart is a haunting read taking you into the lives of twins stuck in the foster system after surviving a horrific event in their young lives. It's graphic. It's disturbing. It's raw. And, though I never thought I'd use this word for WNBA, it's surprising.

We'll Never Be Apart begins with one twin (Cellie) telling her story about revenge: what she did to her sister, and how much she enjoyed it. By the end of that first chapter, you're pulled in and wanting to know more due to the sickening way Cellie's mind works. What had Alice done that was worth doing that? Why would someone want to hurt her own sister the way she did?

When the book takes off, however, it's never again in Cellie's point of view. Instead, Emiko Jean takes you through the story via the other twin, Alice's, viewpoint. Stuck in a "treatment facility" (read: mental ward), Alice is adamant that she had nothing to do with the horrible things that went down, only her sister, Cellie. Her therapist tells her it's pertinent that she get better, and offers her a journal to write things down, come to terms with what's gone on, and so on.

And... this is where some of the most haunting things come in. As Alice retells her life with Cellie from approximately four years old and on in her journal, you begin to understand why Cellie is the way she is; why Alice, though unable to understand Cellie's twisted ways, protects her regardless of the things she does; and what brought them to this horrible point where they are both being charged with murder.

Along with the stories of their past and getting to know Jason, Alice's now dead boyfriend, Emiko Jean introduces various foster parents/homes and fellow patients at the mental ward, including one Alice befriends and another who helps Alice see things in a new light.

Nothing you read is as it seems. Everything is laid out to give you little tidbits of the story, but the further in you go, the more everything connects. I don't really want to say too much more because of potential spoilers, but I will say this: by the time you reach the end of We'll Never Be Apart, you will be left completely beside yourself. Ms. Jean flips everything on its head and the true meaning of the title smacks you right in the forehead.

This may not seem like a book for everyone (and it's certainly not something I'd normally pick up), but I highly recommend stepping out of the box and checking WNBA out, even if it isn't your usual cup of tea. I believe the best books are the ones that stick with you, poke at you after you've finished them. Mess with your head. WNBA is definitely one of those, and I'm glad that I read it.

Note: I'd say this is upper YA due to language and adult situations.

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Finally Friday {6}: From a Distant Star

Finally Friday is a meme started by me (Jessica, aka @coffeelvnmom) and J from @life_love_fandoms. This week's I-finally-read-this-waiting-on-Wednesday-book is: From a Distant Star.

From a Distant Star was different than I’d expected. I guess that’s my fault… the cover made the book look more like a romance novel, and I made sure *not* to read the blurb because I didn't want anything spoiled.

However, the storyline was still interesting, with more than one turn along the way that I didn’t see coming. (Do not. Trust. Anyone.) 

I felt the storytelling was well executed by doing dual points of view, and the way Ms. McQuestion chose to do Scout’s side worked out quite well.

There were a few lines that made me laugh (which is why I bumped it up from 3 to 3.5 stars), including one where Scout finally *gets* human phraseology and uses it properly in a sentence.



Out of the many characters in From a Distant Star, I’d have to say that Lucas’ brother, Eric, was my favorite. Smart kid, and kind, and exactly what you’d want your own little brother to be like. I wouldn’t have minded if he was in it a little more, and their mom was in it a little less. (Ha.)



If you’d like to read a YA book about aliens, or, more specifically, an alien learning how to adjust to earth + a teen normally not really strong in the standing-up-to-people department well, finally standing up, this book might be for you.

#FinallyFriday {5}: Noble Warrior

Finally Friday is a meme started by me (Jessica, aka @coffeelvnmom) and J from @life_love_fandoms. This week's I-finally-read-this-waiting-on-Wednesday-book is: Noble Warrior.



Noble Warrior was a gritty, fast-paced read that kept me turning pages into the wee hours of the morning. (Fights! Bang! Boom! Mean people! Everybody fend for themselves! Jerk faces galore!!! MOAR fighting! Liars! BIG FIGHT!) I had no idea until about halfway through Noble Warrior that it was book two in a series! Nevertheless, book one wasn't really needed to read NW, as Mr. Sitomer tied everything together well with quick explanations here and there—there was never long backstory or anything.



As for the premise of Noble Warrior, the blurb pretty much explains it all. What you don’t expect, however, is 1) how graphic it’ll be and 2) how much you’re going to continually question everything. I was never completely sure who was actually on Daniels’ side up to the very end! So many characters turned out to be different people than I thought they were! The constant back and forth is one of the things that kept me turning the pages. I loved that about NW. I *had* to know what was going to happen next.

Speaking of what was going to happen, the ending surprised me. I don’t want to say anymore than that, because spoilers, but man, that one turn kinda made me sad. Was it a set up for book three? Yeah. But still. :( 

(Am I going to read the next book? Heck yes.)

If you like vivid descriptions, martial arts, frank talk between guys, and enjoy reading about gang and FBI politics, OR are looking for something different and bold, I highly recommend Noble Warrior.*

*Though the MC was of normal YA character age, due to graphic violence, crude language, and sexual references, I’d say Noble Warrior is most definitely for *mature* YA audiences only.

#FinallyFriday {4}: End of Days

Finally Friday is a meme started by me (Jessica, aka @coffeelvnmom) and J from @life_love_fandoms. This week's I-finally-read-this-waiting-on-Wednesday-book is: End of Days.

So... I enjoyed End of Days, but it was not my favorite out of the three. Without spoiling anything for anyone, I just didn't get enough of Raffe and Penryn. Were they together a lot? Yes. But was there much romance? Not enough for me! (Also, one part explained a bit *too* much for me... Anyone else who read it feel the same way? Hehehe)

As an author, I understand how hard it is to bring so many plot things together (and I've yet to even complete a series, so I know it's not easy). The hype in the first two books I think had to be pushed aside for the grand finale, and that made me sad, because yep, I'll admit it, I was in it for the romance. So while it was good, again, and did have action and such, it just wasn't my favorite. I've seen lots of readers say they loved it, though, and if you've read the first two (or even if you haven't yet), I'd still suggest checking out the entire series!

#FinallyFriday {3}: TWIST

Finally Friday is a meme started by me (Jessica, aka @coffeelvnmom) and J from @life_love_fandoms. This week's I-finally-read-this-waiting-on-Wednesday-book is: Twist.

The unbelievably thrilling sequel to the time-travel YA novel Loop.

Bree Bennis finally has it all—a non-comatose mother, an uber-hot (albeit anachronistic) boyfriend named Finn, and a new-found mission to protect the timeline from those who would skew it for their own gain. But when she leans over one day to smooch said boyfriend, her lips meet those of her arch-nemesis Wyck instead. The timeline has been altered, and Bree is caught in the crosshairs. But when she goes back to repair the damage, she is stopped by none other than her Future Self, who delivers an urgent message: Someone is kidnapping Shifters from the distant past. It’s up to Bree to stop them. But first, she has to figure out who... and why.

To follow the trail of chronocrumbs, Bree reluctantly accepts her new undercover gig as Wyck’s girlfriend. Everything goes spiffy until Finn shows up in the 23rd century on the eager arm of a gorgeous fellow Shifter, Blark. Even as Bree struggles with jealousy, she battles the nagging dread that Finn might be better off with someone less chronologically complicated. Her worst fear is confirmed when Finn becomes the kidnapper’s next victim. As Bree zeroes in on the culprit, they unravel her life one timeline-change at a time. She realizes that she alone has the power to save herself and everyone she loves. But to do that, she may lose Finn forever.

4.5 stars*

…if there was one thing I’d learned over the last six months, it’s that it takes a rare, rare person to willingly sacrifice the things he loves for the greater good. ~Bree Bennis


Diving back into the Loop world was fun with Ms. Akins’ great characters and amusing writing (I particularly love Bree’s derogatory words against people she isn’t fond of, like “crap-weasel”. Ha!). 

Everything is explained and set up well, and then… Bree finds herself in an awkward, inexplicable situation, and has to think fast. Not that she does the best job. But she *does* help herself figure it out (kind of), and that’s what carries you through the plot. (Confused? Good. Because I was.) New reality = not the same characters as before. It’s hard to imagine how disconcerting it would be to be coming and going in different time spans, how frustrating it would be for any sort of relationship at all. Bree says it well:

Our relationship is going through what you might call a challenging stage right now. And by “right now,” I mean “since the moment I met him”. 

Like LOOP, TWIST made me laugh out loud quite a few times. And the twists… yep. There’s lots. I really enjoyed seeing more of Bree, Finn (of course) and his family, and though we don't get as much of Finn as I'd liked, it *was* nice getting to see a different side of Wyck after what went down in LOOP. 

All in all, TWIST was a fun, mysterious second installment to LOOP, and I highly recommend checking it out.

*I received a book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.


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#FinallyFriday {2}: Duplicity

Finally Friday is a meme started by me (Jessica, aka @coffeelvnmom) and J from @life_love_fandoms. This week's I-finally-read-this-waiting-on-Wednesday-book is: Duplicity.

A computer-hacking teen. The girl who wants to save him. And a rogue mirror reflection that might be the death of them both.

In private, seventeen-year-old Brandon hacks bank accounts just for the thrill of it. In public, he looks like any other tattooed bad boy with a fast car and devil-may-care attitude. He should know: he’s worked hard to maintain that façade. With inattentive parents who move constantly from city to city, he’s learned not to get tangled up in things like friends and relationships. So he’ll just keep living like a machine, all gears and wires.

Then two things shatter his carefully-built image: Emma, the kind, stubborn girl who insists on looking beneath the surface – and the small matter of a mirror reflection that starts moving by itself. Not only does Brandon’s reflection have a mind of its own, but it seems to be grooming him for something—washing the dye from his hair, yanking out his piercings, swapping his black shirts for … pastels. Then it tells him: it thinks it can live his life better, and it’s preparing to trade places.

And when it pulls Brandon through the looking-glass, not only will he need all his ill-gotten hacking skills to escape, but he’s going to have to face some hard truths about who he’s become. Otherwise he’ll be stuck in a digital hell until he’s old and gray, and no one will even know he's gone.

(This review first appeared on Goodreads in March of 2015. I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.)

First off, let’s just get the blurb out of the way, shall we? Does it give somewhat of an idea of the storyline? Yes. After reading the book, however, do I think it says enough? Not really. (Not that that’s bad. I like not knowing what I’m reading about. Blurbs with spoilers make me sad!) There’s a whole lot more to the dual identity storyline than you think, and I’m sure most readers would agree that the direction it went was not expected in the slightest.

The premise of Duplicity is basically Brandon and his dissatisfaction with his parents and his life. Things are going one way, and he is at the point where he can’t handle anything good because he’s not used to being around it. Enter the plot point that makes everything you thought you knew you were going to read about disappear, because whoa the storyline totally comes right outta left field. I liked it, I enjoyed being surprised by it, and even though some of the technical stuff went completely over my head, the concept and despair of being unable to do anything about the situation and the characters IN that situation was pretty cool.

Also, I absolutely love the artistic concept of the cover, though it really doesn’t tell us much, either. (The black and white versus colored parts, however… I’m just realizing the tie-in with that. Smart!!!)

Overall, I’d say Duplicity was a great, quick read, with more than one unexpected turn along the way. It’s in Brandon’s point-of-view, and N.K.’s storytelling, in my opinion, was great. I expect to see a sequel, N.K.!

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#FinallyFriday {1}: Unlikely Warrior: A Jewish Soldier in Hitler's Army

Finally Friday is a meme started by me (Jessica, aka @coffeelvnmom) and J from @life_love_fandoms. This week's I-finally-read-this-waiting-on-Wednesday-book is: Unlikely Warrior: A Jewish Soldier in Hitler's Army. 

(This review was originally posted 2/24/15.) I'm a sucker for WWII survival stories, especially when they're YA. And yet... it's been weeks since I finished Mr. Rauch's memoir, and I'm *still* not sure what to say. You think you know what it must have been like after learning about WWII so many times in school or watching movies or doing reports or reading books about it, but you don't. Not really. Nothing can prepare you for how atrocious things got on both sides of the warfront as the war continued. Nothing can prepare you for the emotional turmoil anyone put through war has to go through. Especially when you read true recounts down to specific details (like killing a few hundred lice every night just before going to bed, for instance--and this was one of the lesser horrific ones). It breaks you. 

Most stories about WWII have to do with survivors *not* on the side of Hitler. What makes Unlikely Warrior: AJSIHA so different is that, amidst the chaos of war and death and prejudice, Georg was not a survivor of a camp, or a Jew in hiding, but a Jewish soldier, forced to fight on Hitler's side doing something he didn't even believe in. 

As you go with young Georg on his journey, reading letters his mother saved, seeing photos of family, and looking at illustrations he drew back in that day, you feel for him. You want to sit with Georg, hug his past self, and tell him everything'll be okay. And what broke me after going on that journey with him was the fact that he's no longer here to reach out to. 

I am so, so grateful for being given a chance to read this book. So glad that, even after so many decades, Mr. Rauch finally chose to tell his story. I'm also incredibly grateful for his wife, Phyllis Rauch, for translating it into English; and to Farrar, Straus, & Giroux for getting Mr. Rauch's book to more readers.

This is a good read, guys, and worth every single minute.

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