My Ramblings on Shine by Lauren Myracle

So the summer of fantasy and magic isn't quite shaking out as expected. Mostly b/c my library kind of blows and the wait between books is insane. (FYI- nice people but small inventory- I spend a crazy amount of time waiting for ILL's to come in...) As is I may have to wait 6-8 weeks for the next book in a series to show up. Which leaves a lot of time without books! So of course I found some other books to read!

Shine
By: Lauren Myracle
Release Date:
Author Website

Summary:

When her best guy friend falls victim to a vicious hate crime, sixteen-year-old Cat sets out to discover who in her small town did it. Richly atmospheric, this daring mystery mines the secrets of a tightly knit Southern community and examines the strength of will it takes to go against everyone you know in the name of justice.

Against a backdrop of poverty, clannishness, drugs, and intolerance, Myracle has crafted a harrowing coming-of-age tale couched in a deeply intelligent mystery. Smart, fearless, and compassionate, this is an unforgettable work from a beloved author. (from goodreads.com)

My Ramblings:

This book was a bit of a departure for me, I've been reading a lot of Fantasy and Paranormal books lately (some veering firmly into Sci-Fi) so changing gears and going with a Realistic Fiction book was a really nice change of pace. I'll be honest in why I grabbed the book. The cover. It's beautiful. The one flower about to bloom, the desolate landscape in the background. I didn't even read the jacket before checking it out. The book definitely lived up to the cover. 

This book centers on a young girl named Cat growing up in a painfully small town where everyone is in your business and there is no room for anyone who is different. Everyone has secrets. Cat's secret has pulled her away from her friends and family and turned her into a shell of who she used to be. When her former best friend is brutally assaulted her world is shaken and she emerges with a mission. She has to find out who would hurt Patrick and why, and in doing so she takes a hard look at her town, her friends and herself. 

This book is really beautifully written. The story jumps around some. As it moves forward, we also see the events that led to Cat's withdrawal from her friends and family, and how her life changed after. We also catch glimpses of Patrick's life as well as Cat's bother and friends. In the end we get a very clear picture of not only who these people are, but how they got there. Everyone knows people like this. The big brother who struggles with protecting his siblings while still maintaining his reputation. The big man on campus who thinks he can take whatever he wants no matter the consequences. The kid who is so comfortable in his own skin that he doesn't care what others think. The one who is so ashamed of who he is that he spends his whole life fighting it. The broken girl who just needs a chance to find her way again. The small town where it's so hard to   stay, but where you can't imagine leaving either. This book is a slice of life, a specific story in a specific place and time, but it could be anywhere and that's what makes it powerful. 

Sure I had suspicions as to who had assaulted Patrick before the big reveal, but there was enough doubt that it's didn't spoil it. So, I won't give anything away here either. It's worth reading and discovering for yourself. 

My Ramblings on Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles

Dear Chain Reaction (and by extension Simone Elkeles), I love you. Not in a creepy way, but in a "I instituted a book buying ban but broke it for you because I simply couldn't wait until my notoriously slow library got you in." In other words, I love you enough to crack open the wallet and own you. (Errr... this keeps getting stranger, I think I'll move on). Although before I jump into the meat of this post I do have to give credit where credit is due and say thank you to MA from EFG who insisted I read Elkele's How to Ruin series- she was right, I loved them and now I'm hopelessly addicted to Elkeles' books. The only course of action is to ramble on about this addiction and do my best to make sure you guys read all of Elkeles books too. So here we go....

Chain Reaction

By: Simone Elkeles

Release Date: August 16, 2011

Author Website

Summary: 

Luis Fuentes has always been sheltered from the gang violence that nearly destroyed his brothers’ lives. But that didn’t stop him from taking risks—whether he’s scaling a mountain in the Rockies or dreaming of a future as an astronaut, Luis can’t stop looking for the next thrill. 

Nikki Cruz lives her life by three rules—boys lie to get their way, don’t trust a boy who says “I love you,” and never date a boy from the south side of Fairfield. Her parents may be from Mexico, but as a doctor’s daughter, she has more in common with her north-side neighbors than the Latino Blood at her school. Then she meets Luis at Alex’s wedding, and suddenly, she’s tempted to break all her rules. Getting Nikki to take a chance on a southsider is Luis’s biggest challenge, until he finds himself targeted by Chuy Soto, the new head of the Latino Blood. When Chuy reveals a disturbing secret about Luis’s family, the youngest Fuentes finds himself questioning everything he’s ever believed to be true. Will his feelings for Nikki be enough to stop Luis from entering a dark and violent world and permanently living on the edge?

My Ramblings:

As already mentioned, I loved this book. I love the other books in this series (Perfect Chemistry and Rules of Attraction). What Elkeles does is pretty amazing- meaning she writes realistic books about teens, and she writes them well. She doesn't shy away from the worst there is out there. Through the Fuentes boys, in this book specifically Luis, we see how no matter how much you want a better life, sometimes circumstances pull you back under. We see gang activity, shootings, drug deals gone wrong and a huge amount of cursing. We also see kids having sex for all the wrong reasons. Still, for every harsh reality we also see the best of humanity on display. We get to see true love blossoming (in all it's awkward and dramatic glory) and we see a family who sticks together against all odds and who would literally die for each other if it came down to it. Most importantly, we see that there is always hope. 

As always I'm going to start with the negative and end on a high note. A really minor thing made me cringe, and I hate to mention it, but I feel like I probably should. Here it is... Paco, Alex and Brittney's kiddo is two and in the book it's stated that he smiles at Luis with his four tooth grin. Now I have a two year old- and she's had a full mouth of chompers for a while now- so that was something that made me wonder. (did I miss something here?) It certainly didn't ruin the book or anything, but Elkeles is one of those authors that I feel does an insane amount of research for her books (I've seen the pictures of her riding around with cops and in an interview she talked about visiting prisons) and this little thing struck me as out of character. Anywho- minor issue in a great book, so let's commence with the good stuff!

This book is told in alternating points of view, this time Luis (the youngest Fuentes) and Nikki and much like the other books we see how they meet, how they challenge each other, fight, love and eventually come out better people. I don't want to give any of the story away (I want you to go read it- like now) so I'm going to refrain from gushing about every little plot point and story line, but lets just say there is a lot of action, some devastating heart break, some laughs and some really, really good loving. 

Not for nothing, but Elkeles is a master at a few things- accuracy, humor and love. And by love I mean everything make out sessions and sex scenes to proposals and weddings and happily ever after- she...uh... nails it. 

So, the long and the short of it is that this is a great third book in a great series from a great author. If you haven't read Elkeles' books yet, you really should get on it! Oh, and if you ever get the chance to see Elkeles in person, do that too. She is a great presenter and a lot of fun. 

I'm going to leave you with the book trailer for Chain Reaction... it's a good one (as are all her other book trailers)

My Ramblings on Why this Week is Awesome!

Some very cool stuff happened in the last few days... some book related, some not, but all worth mentioning. Don't fret (I know you aren't)- a book review is coming soon! I just finished Simone Elkeles' Chain Reaction, I need a hot (and I mean hot) second to process it all and then I'll be back to share my ramblings with all you. First though... why this week rocks. 

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1. I won TWO contests. One bookish, one not. One that I knew I was getting (based on when I entered), one I had no clue I was getting.

Contest one was from Elkeles herself as part of her Chain Reaction Release date festivities. All I had to do was post a picture of me with Chain Reaction. If I was one of the first 50 I would win an autographed picture of the Fuentes brothers. First I was bummed. I didn't have Chain Reaction. Then I got an email from BN- turns out I pre-ordered the book months ago and it was waiting patiently on the Nook to be read! So I snapped a shot, posted to Facebok and was in line for a picture.

(not sure why I look so smug here- I just do)

This means I get a picture of some sort signed by these three young men. Well worth sharing a crappy picture of myself with the internet, right? 

By the way- have you read these books? If not, you should. Like now. And while you are at it, go get all her other books, and also, if you have the chance to see her in person, get on that too. I kid you not she is the funniest person I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. I won't even blame you if you stop reading this post to go do it. (although fair warning- there's Joey Lawrence in the next section. So you know, you'd be missing out on that.)

Contest 2 has zilch to do with books- but it does have to do with shoes, and who doesn't like that. Right? Anywho- my favorite brand of shoe is Keen. These are not sexy, man killer shoes. These are I'm going to wear them everyday while I chase a toddler shoes. Also, climb some mountains and play in the mud and water shoes. There are 3 people in my house- there are 8 pairs of Keens. My love for this brand clearly overpowers the purse-strings every time they send me an email. Yesterday I captioned a picture on twitter and low and behold I won a pair of Keens. I've been coveting these boots for MONTHS. I ordered them this morning...FOR FREE. So yeah-- awesome :)

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2. And now for what is clearly the most awesome portion of this week (although free stuff is hard to top). Yesterday I got an email from twitter. It was a generic "so-and-so is now following you" blah-blah-blah. I generally check the persons profile- see if it's someone worth following back and the delete the email. This is the notice I got yesterday....

Joey Lawrence as in "WHOA" was following me on twitter. I don't know why. I don't follow him (I'm not overly sure I even like him...he'll probably unfollow me now). Still- as a child who grew up on Blossom and TeenBeat, this is inexplicably cool. I have a few theories as to where the guy even found me. One is that he has a love for reading and found me that way...this is obviously a long shot. Maybe his twitter account was hacked and for reasons only known to the person who did, I was chosen as part of some nefarious plan and thus was followed- this is also silly. My last theory, which I almost love more then the fact that he's following me is that he twitter stalks the NKOTB twitter accounts and snags up unsuspecting fans to follow that way. I tweeted several NKOTB related tweets in the last few week and suddenly former teen heart-throb Joey Lawrence is all over it. Coincidence? I think not. Although, if this theory is true, um... there's no other way to say it, but dude...lame. Maybe if Joey Lawrence is reading this post (as I will be tweeting a link) he can give me the real deal- but until then I will simply say he is following me because I am awesome (obviously). 

Furthermore- I prefer to believe that it's Blossom-era Joey Lawrence following me and not Melissa and Joey-era Joey. For obvious reasons and not just the hair. I mean come-on. Look at this vest:

(I mean really look at this vest. It's like Aladdin meets Tiger Beat and is clearly all awesome)

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So that is how this week has gone so far, and it's only Wednesday. Clearly I should be out buying a lotto ticket or something. *Sigh* Now I'm off to work on real book blogging stuff... you know, reviews and what not. Stay tuned for Chain Reaction, George RR Martin's Clash of Kings and Lisa McMann's The Unwanteds. 

Hoping everyone else's week is loaded with awesome too!