My Ramblings on Wanted! by Caroline B. Cooney

Wanted!
By: Caroline B. Cooney
Release Date: Jan 22, 2013 (re-release)
Book Provided By: NetGalley
Author Website

Summary:

Alice Robie's father has been murdered, and the police have an e-mail message in which Alice confesses to the crime. When her own mother suspects her, Alice has no choice but to flee in the hope of proving her innocence. (from goodreads)

My Ramblings:

I don't know about anyone else, but my love for Cooney goes back to my middle school days when I devoured The Face on the Milk Carton and it's sequels and then slowly worked my way through the rest of Cooney's books. They were really my introduction to mystery novels and I could not have been more excited to pick up Wanted! and give it a shot. 

To be honest I wavered on how to rate this book and how to review it. It was very good. The characters and the story were great. The story follows a girl named Alice who finds herself at the middle of a murder investigation. She is framed for her own father's murder and goes on the run while she tries to figure out what happened and how to fix it. The thing that I loved most was that just as I thought I had it figured out, something would twist or turn and I'd be scratching my head again. I figured out who the real killer was only a few pages before Alice did, so that was really great. Also, the way that some of the oddities were explained in the end really tied up nicely. So some of the things that I was questioning as I read really made sense once the story wrapped up. 

What bugged me were some of the technical issues that were scattered throughout. There weren't a lot, but some were glaring and really threw me off. For instance, early in the book Alice needs to change her clothes and the sentence says: "She yanked off her jeans and let them lie on the floor, ripped off her t-shirt, which fell half on top of the jeans, kicked off her sneakers, which banged into the wall and fell back onto the carpet." Now there are a few things wrong with this section and I actually read it once, then read it again, then a few pages later turned BACK to it to make sure I had really read that, then I posted it on Facebook. Little things like that drive me bonkers, but when it came down to reviewing the book I needed to remember that this was an ARC. Chances are these little mistakes were fixed by the time the book went out to readers. So I can't really count it against the book (so I didn't). It's funny though how small things like that can cloud your entire view of an otherwise great book. 

All in all this was a great story. I would have liked a little more character development on Alice, but considering the timeline of the story I thought that Cooney did an excellent job showing the reader who Alice was and made me, at least, really care for this kid who was literally running for her life. I certainly wouldn't say no to seeing more of Alice some day in another book!

My Ramblings on Dance of Shadows by Yelena Black

Dance of Shadows 
By: Yelena Black
Release Date: February 12, 2013
Author Twitter
Book Provided By: NetGalley

Summary:
Dancing with someone is an act of trust. Elegant and intimate; you're close enough to kiss, close enough to feel your partner's heartbeat. But for Vanessa, dance is deadly – and she must be very careful who she trusts . . .

Vanessa Adler attends an elite ballet school – the same one her older sister, Margaret, attended before she disappeared. Vanessa feels she can never live up to her sister's shining reputation. But Vanessa, with her glorious red hair and fair skin, has a kind of power when she dances – she loses herself in the music, breathes different air, and the world around her turns to flames . . .

Soon she attracts the attention of three men: gorgeous Zep, mysterious Justin, and the great, enigmatic choreographer Josef Zhalkovsky. When Josef asks Vanessa to dance the lead in the Firebird, she has little idea of the danger that lies ahead – and the burning forces about to be unleashed. (from goodreads)

My Ramblings:
This was such an interesting and intriguing book. I thought I knew what to expect when I started reading the book, but it took some crazy and awesome turns along the way that made the book exceed my expectation. First let me say that this book was a pretty easy sell for me in terms of picking it up. I started dancing at age 3 (I learned to be a flower!) and continued dancing, teaching and choreographing all the way through college. I still lace up my toe shoes or tap shoes as the mood strikes and dance away all my stress. I love reading books about dance so I was very excited to pick this one up. 

I was not expecting there to be so much depth and mystery in this story and I loved it. From the summary I knew that there would be something about the missing sister, but I didn't at all expect how that would play out. 

***Minor Spoilers Ahead***

My Ramblings on Also Known As by Robin Benway

Also Known As
By: Robin Benway
Release Date: February 28, 2013
Author Website
Book Provided by NetGalley

Summary:

Being a 16-year-old safecracker and active-duty daughter of international spies has its moments, good and bad. Pros: Seeing the world one crime-solving adventure at a time. Having parents with super cool jobs. Cons: Never staying in one place long enough to have friends or a boyfriend. But for Maggie Silver, the biggest perk of all has been avoiding high school and the accompanying cliques, bad lunches, and frustratingly simple locker combinations.

Then Maggie and her parents are sent to New York for her first solo assignment, and all of that changes. She'll need to attend a private school, avoid the temptation to hack the school's security system, and befriend one aggravatingly cute Jesse Oliver to gain the essential information she needs to crack the case . . . all while trying not to blow her cover. (from goodreads)

My Ramblings: 

This was a good book that could have been so much better. When I read the synopsis I got really excited. The plot, about a teenage spy, isn't one that I've seen a million times, so I was really looking forward to diving in. And it was good. Very good as a matter of fact. I liked the plot, I liked (most of) the characters and I loved how it all ended. However, there were a few things that irked me and I found I couldn't over look them. 

***Spoilers Ahead ***