Grow Up - Ben Brooks

Grow Up was my first NetGalley grant from my most recent round of requesting. I’d be lying if I said that the cover wasn’t the reason I wanted to read it, so props to the publishing company for that.

Grow Up is the story of Jasper, a teenage boy living in Britain whose daily life consists of school, his best friend, fake therapy, and more drugs than I thought was possible. His goals consist of getting laid, doing drugs, and…oh. Proving that his stepfather is a murderer, which he already knows but that everyone else doesn’t seem to understand.

To start off, if this book is supposed to be even remotely descriptive of what it’s like to be a teenager in the internet generation…well, either the British are a lot more wild and drug obsessed than American teens, or I was really out of the loop in High School. I think Jasper, or someone with him, does drugs literally once every chapter on average. That may or may not be an exaggeration.

Grow Up is supposed to be a coming-of-age novel. I honestly don’t think I knew what that meant until I read this book, but it makes a lot of sense in context. It has everything a book about teenagers should, I’ll say that much. Plenty of angst, lust, anger, smugness, frustration, desire, utter inappropriateness.. It has it all in spades. And let us not forget teenage arrogance, which Jasper absolutely reeks of.

I will say that Grow Up is one of the funniest books I’ve read in a while. This is probably because I am a teenager myself, and the inappropriateness of everything just made me giggle. Jasper wants to hook up with the perfect princess of his school, and his Holy Grail quest to get laid had me rolling quite a few times.

What’s interesting about Grow Up is that, because it’s a book about growing up and not about saving the world or something, the plot jumps around like crazy. Without spoiling the details of everything for you, included in Jasper’s drug hazed story is graverobbing, (kind of) rape, golden showers, ruined lives, and a good bit of fire. Only in a book like this can all those things go together and actually work for the story.

So if you’re into coming-of-age teenager type books, I’d recommend Grow Up for you. If you’re into a book about drugs, booze, and sex, well, Grow Up is definitely for you. And if you want all that good angst mixed in with enough humor to make it easier to swallow, pick up Grow Up when it comes out April 24, 2012.

Hanging By A Thread - Sophie Littlefield

So my apologies for the delay: this whole 'college' thing is a real time sucker.

I got Hanging by a Thread through NetGalley, as usual, after Littlefield tweeted about it's avalibility. Being a fan of her post apocalyptic zombie book, Aftertime, I've been pretty interested in getting something else by her. Lucky me, I got accepted!

Hanging by a Thread is about Clare, a young girl who recently moved back to California in time for her sophomore year in high school. Clare is a designer who enjoys taking old clothes apart and turning them into something new, and her business so far has been pretty successful for a weekly stand run with an old friend. But as someone who deals so heavily with old clothes, Clare has a pretty big secret: when she touches old clothes, she can sometimes see what happened to the people who were wearing them. It's a skill her grandmother used to have, and it's one that Clare's mother has made her promise to ignore and let die. But after Clare finds a jacket she believes belonged to the girl who went missing last year, Clare's power gives her a clue that might lead her to discovering what happened to Amanda...if she can manage to not get hurt in the process.

Maybe it's because I'm already a fan of Littlefield and I was expecting a decent book, but I liked Hanging by a Thread. It wasn't a book I'm planning on gushing about to my book minded friends, but it was an enjoyable read and I wouldn't mind reading it again one day. I enjoyed the mystery, enjoyed the complexities of Clare's power, and I enjoyed guessing at the reason for Amanda's disappearance.

That being said, Hanging by a Thread is somewhat...bland, at times. The beginning of the book was a little slow, with far too much description and not enough action. After the admission of Clare's powers, the book does pick up a lot. But maybe not as much as it could have. A lot of the relationships between the characters aren't really gone into very much, and I feel the fact that Clare was a returning resident of the town with build in friendships was something of a cop out--the relationship between Clare and her once best friend isn't really developed very much, and is kind of just taken as a given. And Clare's love interest in this book...well, there isn't really anything -wrong- with the relationship so much as it isn't all that special. I can only remember one real 'development' point in their relationship off the top of my head, and the very nature of their relationship is cliche and overdone. He's the unpopular bad boy who she's continually told isn't a good guy for her...so of course he's the guy she somehow goes for.

But don't get me wrong, I did like Hanging by a Thread. I love unique types of powers, and seeing visions from clothes isn't one that I've read a lot. I though the mystery was great, the conclusion was pretty cool, and Clare's backstory was a really good look at what having powers can do to a family. But as much as I did enjoy the book, it had some pretty glaring flaws, and if I'm going to be honest, this isn't really a book that I'd recommend to everybody.

If you like reading about teens with unique powers, then Hanging by a Thread is something you might find interesting. If you like YA mysteries with a touch of supernatural, then I would recommend this book to you. But if you're one of the many YA fans today who are looking for an amazing romance aspect, or you're looking for a book about a teen who is a heavy power user...well, this isn't the book for you.

But if you are interested in reading about Clare's story, then Hanging by a Thread comes out in September 2012. Make sure you pick your copy up!

Replication - Jill Williamson

Replication was granted to me by Zondervan through NetGalley. If the name sounds familiar, Zondervan is a christian publishing company, and granted me The Merchant's Daughter a few months ago. That being said, I was pretty happy to get Replication, because Merchant gave me hope for Zondervan books.

Replication is about J:3:3, also called Martyr. Martyr is an identical clone, one of hundreds of the Jason model that are created and raised in the secret Jason Farm base. His life is surviving until he's 18, at which time his 'purpose is realized' and he is sacrificed to help create an antidote to the poisons in the real world. Or at least, that's what he's told. But after a new scientist appears in the Farms, Martyr is given the chance to dream of new things. All Martyr wants before he realizes his purpose is to see the sky--just once. He escapes, only to meet Abby: a religious girl who was forced to move near Jason Farms to meet the desires of her scientist father. Abby attempts to teach Martyr that death isn't his purpose, and that God has given him a purpose of his own.

This book...well, it's always weird for me to read a religion heavy book, and this was definitely religion based. Much of the book consists of Abby and Martyr discovering God together, and religion and conservative views are very strongly portrayed. As a person who subscribes to neither such system, it was weird for me to read. But for someone who is a conservative christian, I'm assuming that this would be a pretty big plus for the book.

The story itself was pretty awesome. I loved the idea of a giant series of clones, and I loved Martyr's entire motivation. I loved Abby's father's moral dilemma, loved the boy that Abby meets in her new school, and I honestly don't know what to say other than I loved the story itself.

As far as characters go, my favorite was definitely Martyr himself. Marty got his nickname because of his protective nature. In Replication, cloning isn't a perfect system at all. There are mistakes, problems, and flawed creations. Martyr was a protector of those flawed creations. The disabled clones, the clones that came out mentally retarded such as Baby, Martyr sought to protect them from clones that were crueler. He reminded me of a very gentle, happy dog in much of the story, which is kind of weird to say about a human character, but is still very true. His fascination with bright colors was adorable.

I'd recommend Replication to any christian reader seeking a book about spiritual discovery. I'd also recommend Replication to fans of The House of the Scorpion, as long as they're okay with the religious aspects of the novel, as the clone issues are very well portrayed in both stories. Finally, I'd recommend Replication to anyone who would be interested in a story about a completely blank slate being introduced to the world we live in.

So if any of those describe you, pick up Replication by Jill Williamson the next time you're book hunting.

Contest Collections - Happy World Book Day!

Hey guys!
If you haven't heard, today is World Book Day!
So make sure you grab a good book today, and celebrate your favorite authors.
In honor of World Book Day, here's a few random contests and giveaways I've seen around the net that you can enter to try and win something special!

Julie Kagawa, the author of the Iron Fey books, is giving away a signed copy of one of her books, The Immortal Rules. To enter, check out the url below:
http://juliekagawa.blogspot.com/2012/03/giveaway-immortal-rules-signed.html

Dot Hutchison of the Scattered Pages book blog is hosting a special contest with four chances to win. To enter, check out this blog page:
http://dothutchison.wordpress.com/2012/02/26/double-celebration-giveaway/

If you're a fan of the Elemental Assassin series by Jennifer Estep, check out this blog, where they're giving away a copy of By a Thread:
http://www.sosaloha.blogspot.com/2012/02/aloha-to-jennifer-estep-and-by-thread.html

Today is the last day to enter the Goodreads giveaway for Slide by Jill Hathaway! Enter here:
http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/19592-slide

USAtoday is giving away Lori Foster's A Perfect Storm to commenters. Check this giveaway out at:
http://books.usatoday.com/happyeverafter/post/2012-02-27/interview-and-giveaway-lori-foster-author-of-a-perfect-storm/636125/1

And if you're an amazon prime member, the author of The Gathering is promoting the book for free. Sadly, I'm not a prime member, but if you are, check it out here:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Gathering-Aeternus-Schemata-ebook/dp/B006LDAG36/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325661771&sr=8-1

On an end note, if you're looking for more free--and legitimate--books, then make sure to check the following:
Goodreads - Goodreads almost always has some sort of giveaway going that you can enter pretty easily. The giveaway page can be found here: http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway

NetGalley - If you're a fellow blogger or reviewer, then NetGalley is kind of amazing. It's entirely based around giving out free arcs to people to get the books known and reviewed. You have to request each book individually and hope that the publishing company will accept you, but I've gotten a lot of the books I've reviewed from here, and there are always some very good ones up, if you can get accepted. For example, I got Maria Snyder's Touch of Power and Julie Kagawa's Iron Knight from NetGalley in exchange for my reviews, which I think it pretty amazing.
NetGalley can be found at http://netgalley.com/

And on a random note, I heard that Heather Brewer might be giving out an arc of Soulbound soon. No promises, but if you're a fan, follow her on twitter and stalk her page. You might get lucky.

Finally, if you want more contests, follow me on twitter (@Slytherling). I try to retweet the ones I see. And check back towards the end of month, and I'll do my own special giveaway. Nothing too big, since I'm still pretty small...but still something to reward the few readers I have--and appreciate. <3

Happy World Book Day, guys! And if you have a moment, tell if you liked this list, or if it's useful, so I know whether or not it would be worth doing more giveaway lists. And if you know if any that I don't, please feel free to share the details in the comments!

Thanks, and happy reading!

Monday Minireviews - 2/27/02

Welcome to MOATB's first Monday Minireview session! Monday Minis are a few quick hit reviews that I'll post once a week on any random new things I've tried. The subjects covered will usually be random things besides books, or will be books that are either very short or that I don't have as much to say about. That being said, welcome to the first Monday Minireviews!

Gotham City Impostors
In case you haven't heard, Call of Duty and Batman had a drunked one night stand, and CoD got pregnant. The result was Gotham City Impostors, a Batman themed first person shooter that is only available through downloading. This review is off the xBox 360 arcade copy that my boythingy downloaded last week.
I've heard this game described as a mistake, and honestly, the idea behind it is one that I wouldn't have personally touched. I love Batman, I love CoD, but the idea of them together...
Nonetheless, I gave it a try after watching him play it a few dozen times, and honestly? It's kind of great. I've never played Team Fortress, but I was told that this game kind of plays like that. But you know, with batman.
So far, I kind of love the different loadouts/setups you can use. I have a love for playing assassin sneaky bastards, although my love of support characters means that I'm trying to figure out the only support healing item. We'll see how that turns out.
Using an arbitrary rating system...I'd give GCI a 7/10.
...It would get another point if there was more than one female class.

His Robot Girlfriend - Wesley Allison
So I kind of love the idea of androids and that kind of thing. Love Neko was one of my favorite manga for a long time, despite being kind of pervey. I thought it was cute as hell, and went on a 'robot lover' phase where I would read anything like it.
That was a long time ago, but when I saw a legitimate book of that theme, FREE in the Barnes and Noble store...well, I couldn't resist.
His Robot Girlfriend is about a guy who...well, buys a robot girlfriend. And she takes care of him and...yeah. Spents a lot of money? I don't know, it wasn't a very memorable book.
The idea was interesting, but...well, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. The author has no idea how to write, in my honest opinion, and has a severe issue with 'show, don't tell'. There is literally no description in this book. Seriously, the entire book is 'he does this. she did this. she brought him something. they went to bed and she felt like a real girl'.
It was a disappointment, I'll tell you that much, and while I finished it to say that I had...yeah. I'd never read it again. Or recommend it. But I think In Her Name gave me hope for free books, because I probably shouldn't have expected anything good from a random free book as it is.

Hysteria - Eve Gale
So maybe, like I didn't, you don't know what 'treatment for Hysteria' means. Maybe, like me, you see this book as a random free offering, see a pretty cover, and download it out of curiosity.
Let me save you some time. Treatment for Hysteria means being given a orgasm by a doctor. I don't know why, and I don't understand the context, but apparently, that's what this book is about. So yeah.
I went into this expecting a book set in an asylum and got... a girl talking about how much she wants to ride some kind of 1800s sex mount or something. I..didn't get my asylum.
I guess, if you're into that kind of thing, you might like it?
This wasn't exactly my cup of tea. Don't get me wrong, I'm a paranormal romance junkie, so the fact that it's sexually charged wasn't the problem so much as the way it was sexual. ...It was kind of creepy, to be blunt, and like I said, not my thing.

Barnes and Noble's Nook Tablet - 16gb Version
So, as you may or may not know, my kindle was crushed a few months ago after someone who has yet to come forth decided to slam their girth down on it, then hide it in my room to cover their tracks. Being as I'm usually a e-book girl, this was a very painful few months, and since I'm going on a 16 hour bus ride next month, it seemed time to get myself a new e-reader so I wouldn't die on the way to meeting my future in-laws.
So last week I got myself a Nook Tablet, deciding to upgrade, and I'm kind of amazed. I'm not writing a full review, because...well, I'm good with a computer and such, but details of technology escape me. I'm not enough of an expert to go in depth about specs and such.
But here's what I have noticed so far:
The screen is crisp and responds quickly.
This machine is amazingly responsive. The browser moves faster than a lot of computers I've used.
The books are easy to read, and generally format very well.
The backlight is a big change from a kindle, and given the choice between the ink system and a backlight...the backlight wins.
There's not a lot of glare, which is something I was expecting.
However, the smudges on the screen from it being a touch screen are annoying. I'll have to invest in something to fix that.
There's some decent free books on here. Like I said, In Her Name: Empire was amazing.
The app market is...lacking, to say the least. There isn't even a free facebook app. Why the fuck is there not a free facebook app? Hell, there isn't even an official facebook app at all. The hell?
I miss android market.
I'm still trying to figure out that point of that random loop at the bottom corner of the machine.
I wish there was a physical back button.
And also, I'm still figuring some things out.
But yeah, if you're investing in an e-reader, I'd definitely recommend the nook tablet, even if the apps do kind of suck so far. It's kind of sexy.

And that concludes this edition of Monday Minireviews. Hope they were useful!