First off, can I just say that I’m
BUMMED the CW decided to pass on The
Selection AGAIN. What is it with YA dystopians and not making it to full show?
The pretty dresses of The Selection
would have more than made up for the Gossip
Girl withdrawals I’ve been experiencing of late. (Okay, the last couple
seasons of that show were totally lame, but for a while there, it was great!)
The Selection (basically The
Bachelor in a future setting and with a couple rebel attacks thrown into
the mix) saw thirty-five girls battle it out to win the heart of the
dash-licious (an arresting combination of dashing and delicious) Prince Maxon. In
The Elite, we find that number whittled
down to six from which Maxon must choose his bride and the future Queen of Illéa. If I were you, I’d bet on our heroine,
America Singer, winning that crown. Or maybe not. While Maxon has pretty much
lost his heart to our girl, she’s not quite so sure about him. America’s first love Aspen is back on the scene, and – LOVE TRIANGLE
ALERT- America doesn’t know who to choose.
While America
dithers, (a lot!) Maxon realizes that maybe his hearts choice isn’t the right
choice, and so he needs a back up plan. Luckily for him - but not so great for America who is now
totally losing both at the selection and in life- he has a bunch of other girls
waiting in the wings.
Has America blown it for good, or can
she re-claim Maxon’s heart in time to give this book a happy ending?
Just like its predecessor, The Elite is light, fluffy and total
froufrou fun, but unlike The Selection,
which suffered at times form a total lack of world-building, this one injects
action in the form of increased rebel-attacks and a little Illéa history into
the mix via a diary with some very dangerous-to-know secrets, promoting it from
a simple guilty-pleasure to an all-round-absorbing read.
The Elite (The Selection #2) by Kiera Cass. Publisher: Harper Collins. Released April 2013. Ages: 13+ Rating: 4 out of 5. Source: Received from publisher for review.
__________
Gaining a place at the
prestigious New York
Ballet Academy
is a dream come true for any aspiring ballet dancer. For Vanessa Adler, though,
studying at the academy means more than the pursuit of a dream. Years previously, Vanessa’s older sister
Margaret vanished without a trace from the academy, and now Vanessa wants the
truth. Did Margaret simply crack under the pressure of relentless rehearsals at
the academy? Or is there a far more sinister explanation for her disappearance?
Could it be that there are demons at play in the shadows of the dancers?
I had high hopes – high, high hopes
– for Dance of Shadows by Yelena
Black. That cover
reeled me in– there’s no doubt
about it, and along with a great concept –a ballet school with demons- a highly
effective publicity campaign and a press release that promised me I’d be hooked
from the very first page, I was really looking forward to this one. But…Yeah, there’s a but. In fact, there’s a
whole lot of buts.
Dance of Shadows just didn’t work for me. I found this one to be a
formulaic paranormal romance in every sense – the kind of book that sticks to
the rules SO MUCH that I could only enjoy it if I hadn’t ever read a YA
paranormal romance ever before.
Predictable to the point of being painful at times, this one contained
very little in the way of surprises and less in the way of plot twists. Not if
you’re Vanessa, though – to put it kindly, Vanessa is one of those heroines
that’s, uh, a little slow on the uptake. As for the rest of the characters – they didn’t
really make an impression on me. Mostly, the cast is made up ‘friends of
Vanessa’ who are not really integral to the plot at all.
And then there’s the love interest.
Zeppelin. Yeah, that’s his name – and as
his name would suggest, he’s a total douche. Oh, and then there’s Justin, who I
guess is meant to be a love interest, but who is just rude to Vanessa from the
moment he meets her, so yeah, somebody should tell him that’s not going to work
out for him.
Guys –Dance of Shadows is not awful, but it’s not very good either. It’s
an okay read at times I guess (the ballet references and the ending are well
executed), but there a lot of other books out there (maybe with not such pretty
covers!) that are a whole lot better than this.
Dance of Shadows by Yelena Black. Publisher: Bloomsbury. Released Feb. 2013. Ages: 12+ Rating: 3 out of 5. Source: Received from publisher for review.
__________
When well-meaning Indigo meets
Suzie at college registration she makes a split-second decision that will
change her life forever. Noticing that
Suzie is of no-fixed-abode Indie decides to take Suzie under her wing – with disastrous
consequences. What Indie doesn’t know is that girls like Suzie are not to be
trusted. Because girls like Suzie will
steal your life. They’ll steal your
soul.
Sinister and foreboding from the very
first page, The Day I Met Suzie by
Chris Higgins is an intricately plotted thriller that will keep you reading
late into the night with its compelling characters and perfectly paced plot. We learn of Indie’s dilemma through a
late-night phone call to The Samaritans in which she details the problems that
have entered her life since the day she met Suzie.
The character of Suzie sent
shivers down my spine. Right from the start, I just knew she was trouble, but
Indie who sees the best in everyone just doesn’t see the warning signs. Not
when Suzie morphs into her twin (complete with similar wardrobe and hairstyle)
and not when she gets a part-time job at the hair salon where Indie works. As
Indie sees it – she’s happy to help.
Indie knows she has a good life – happy home life, good friends and a
boyfriend who adores her, while Suzie has nothing – not even a place to live.
That’ll change soon though – at least if Suzie has anything to do with it.
I haven’t seen a whole lot of
reviews for this book just yet, but it’s one I’ll be recommending time at time
again. It’s and engrossing and completely absorbing read from start to finish –
and the truth about Suzie really surprised me! If you loved Beautiful Malice by Rebecca James –then
you will enjoy The Day I Met Suzie.
The storylines are completely different, but the books are similar too in that
you know that something really bad is going to happen.
Because something bad always
happens whenever girls like Suzie are around!
The Day I Met Suzie by Chris Higgins. Publisher: Hodder. Released March 2013. Ages: 12+ Rating: 4 out of 5. Source: Received from publisher for review.
_________
