Top Ten Tuesday is a new thing we are trying at yAdultReview, because, well why not? Plus, we know Ashley loves her some lists, and Tina just likes Ashley being happy, so ta-da! For our blog generally Ashley will be number 1-5, and Tina will be 6-10.
In the words of The Broke and the Bookish who host the feature:
Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!
- Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. I could not include this popular YA
book that features Anna traveling from the United States to her new home of Paris (and her French kiss.)
- Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares. This book series was the series of my middle school years, which included me moving myself to a new area. I related to the pants and of course the characters.
- The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. Another series that I love and adore that happens to feature traveling. Riordan’s descriptions are extremely good at making me feel like I am there with the characters.
- Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder. My childhood would not let me get away with not including this classic about prairies and childhood.
- The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan. Say what you will about Riordan, but he does travel very well. In this book there is a point where they are in Phoenix, and of course as someone who currently lives in Phoenix I couldn’t help but laugh at the descriptions, but even with that being said: they are accurate.
- The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente. I mean, there are travel words in the title, so that’s the obvious reason, but so much more happens in the book. September travels to Fairyland, then to different parts of Fairyland, then in a ship of her own
making. These novels are amazing, by the way. The sequel is just as good.
- Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta. Marchetta is a great writer, and I am a huge fan of epic fantasy and walking stories. David Eddings was my intro to stories unfolding while characters walk from place to place, but Marchetta did it even better, in my opinion. This book is lovely and harsh and it’s one of my favorites ever.
- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. From District 12 to the Capitol to the arena, this book has A TON of traveling, and some of it is really stark and crazy. Come for the dystopia, stay for the insane Capitol fashions.
- Between Two Thorns by Emma Newman. In this one, Cathy (and the rest of her ilk) travel between the mirror version of Bath and our world, called Mundanus. There is also the land of the Fae, which is beautiful and creepy, exactly how Fairyland should be.
- Greywalker by Kat Richardson. In this series, Harper can cross the threshold of death to converse with spirits. That is totally traveling! While she’s greywalking, she’s vulnerable, and the way Richardson describes the grey world of the afterlife is perfect. Really, really good urban fantasy.
Top Ten Tuesday is a new thing we are trying at yAdultReview, because, well why not? Plus, we know Ashley loves her some lists, and Tina just likes Ashley being happy, so ta-da! For our blog generally Ashley will be number 1-5, and Tina will be 6-10.
In the words of The Broke and the Bookish who host the feature:
Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!
- The Mediator Series by Meg Cabot. I have been a big fan of Meg Cabot for as long as I can remember. This YA series of her is an amazing YA series that is often overlooked by people. The story of Suze is just *sigh* it’s bittersweet, heartbreaking, but perfect all at the same time.
- Trial by Journal by Kate Klise. I love and adore this grade/middle school book. Told from the point of a
student who is forced to serve on a jury with drawings and story telling. The book made me have a strong middle grade period of reading that has been recently reignited.
- Holes by Louis Sachar. Sachar has always held a special spot of my childhood. I remember going to the library and gobbling up all the books that he had wrote. This being one that I most remember of course.
- Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. This is one of the first books I remember my mom and dad reading to me before bed, which is probably why I hold these so special to my heart.
- Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder. As a child who grew up in Wisconsin these books were part of my childhood. To say that is actually a bit of an understatement. These books were my childhood. I knew them backwards and forwards. I saw them acted out 100s of times and they are still one of my favorite series.
- Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. I love Jane Austen, but I don’t love Pride and Prejudice. It’s my least favorite of her novels. I just never liked Lizzie Bennet OR Darcy. They drove me equally crazy. Elinor Dashwood, on the other hand, was so nice to read about. Sensible, long-suffering, selfless, Elinor is just the best. She deals so well with Marianne’s flightiness, and Edward’s seeming rejection of Elinor is dealt with with a lot of grace. I was really happy for her at the end. There is, of course, a moral to the story, as there is with all Austen novels, and the way she skewers regency society is just the best.
- The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier. Back before I discovered YA (or before it became a thing, I guess), I read mostly fantasy and historical fiction. Tracy Chevalier has never let me down once, but this one is definitely my favorite of her offerings. She weaves the history and the story so well, it’s hard to believe it didn’t actually happen that way. The fact that the artist is called “des Innocents” when he is really anything but was hilarious to me. And the way she described the weaver’s craft was fascinating. This is the only book by Chevalier that I don’t own. I should get on that.
- Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop. Really, the whole Black Jewels trilogy (there are something like 10
books in the series now, but the original trilogy is the best). I realize now that it’s basically a paranormal romance novel, but back when I first read this as a sophomore in high school, it was racy and erotic and almost real. The sexism in Terreille, the broken down matriarchal society, rang true to me in a big way. There are also rapes and horrible maiming, and Anne Bishop does such a good job giving those two horrible things their due. Her worldbuilding is fantastic. There’s more to this trilogy than romance.
- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Really, what can I say about this that hasn’t already been said (or that I myself haven’t already said)? Suzanne Collins does such a good job mixing different elements of society and morals in this tale, and her worldbuilding is also great. Katniss is one of my favorite heroines. Collins can write such good doubtful heroine, and the horror that I felt reading about Katniss’s first turn in the area is something that I don’t think I’ll ever forget. I remember leaving this novel shipping Katniss and Gale. Oh, how things change!
- Wake by Lisa McMann. I don’t think a list of books can go by on this blog without the mention of Lisa McMann. This was the first book I ever read by her, and I loved it to death. Janie Hannagan is badass, capable, and heartbreaking all at once. She is one of the strongest YA heroines I have ever read about. And Cabel’s life is just as hard, and he is just as emotionally bruised. I loved their interactions, how they navigated this unknown world of friendship and attraction, and how the backdrop of their lower-class status lent itself to their characters and impressions. Still my favorite Lisa McMann novel to date.
Top Ten Tuesday is a new thing we are trying at yAdultReview, because, well why not? Plus, we know Ashley loves her some lists, and Tina just likes Ashley being happy, so ta-da! For our blog generally Ashley will be number 1-5, and Tina will be 6-10.
In the words of The Broke and the Bookish who host the feature:
Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists.
- Roarke. I can picture the face Tina will make when she reads that I listed the lead guy from the in Death series. But his fierce love of Eve (the woman who becomes his wife) and his willing to protect her no matter what makes it so easy to love him. Of course he gives Eve a hard time a lot, which also makes it easy to love him.
- Calvin Morrisey. When I was younger, I read massive amounts of romance paperbacks. Then I found out about Jennifer Cruise and inhaled all of her books at once. Not that I still don’t read massive amounts of romance novels, because I do. Cal, although he has his faults. He loves Min with all of his
life and the two of them play such a game of cat and mouse that by the end you just want to smish them together. Yes. Smish. - Trevor. From my review here, I made it quite clear I was team Trevor. There was a strong point in the novel that my heart turned and my love for Trevor only grew. While he is a sensitive soul he also has his moments of snark and slowly worked his way into my heart.
- Vane Weston. It is not remotely a secret for anyone that I love and adore Shannon Messenger’s Let the Sky Fall But Vane? Oh Vane is my YA dream boy. He’s snarky, he takes no shit, and he tries his hardest. Plus he loves and adores his parents, which is pretty awesome.
- James Compton. When you first meet James Compton you don’t love him. Hate comes to mind, but slowly he becomes more human and with him becoming more human he becomes someone that not only does Maisie fall in love with, but the reader, too. Plus he has a bit of snark. What can I say, I love snarky boys.
- Ethan Wate. I’ve loved Ethan since the very first chapter in the very first book of the Caster Chronicles. He is who all other male narrators are compared to, and usually found wanting. I don’t think it has so much to do with looks, but I love a boy who reads, first of all. And a boy who doesn’t believe everything he’s told (I specifically remember his mocking of being taught about the War of Northern Aggression). I also really loved how he stuck by Lena, how he described her powers, and how just devoted to her he was. He was my first male narrator. You never forget your first!
- Peeta Mellark. The Boy with the Bread. Steadfast, worthy, charismatic, horribly brainwashed and tortured. I loved Peeta from the beginning (even if I didn’t love him with Katniss right away), because he was never the showy bad boy, or the pretty one. He was just Peeta, the baker’s son with a good heart, the one who saved Katniss and Prim’s lives once. That he’d loved Katniss since she was a little girl only makes it better, really. And the movie has only made me love him more, because while I had my doubts at first, Josh Hutcherson is perfect for the role and is really good at looking vulnerable. I just want to hug him!
- Christian Prescott. I started the Unearthly series a Tucker fangirl, but Hallowed made me change my mind
(plus I’m not exactly into the whole cowboy/rodeo thing). I don’t know any other Christian fans, but I really loved the connection he had with Clara, and how he knew when not to say anything and just be there. People don’t like him for what he did in the cemetery with Clara, but honestly, that was the turning point for me. He knew what she needed. He was there for her. - Cricket Bell. I have a weird relationship with Stephanie Perkins’ novels. I’ll be the first to tell you that I really should not read contemporary romance; it only makes me rage. I raged during Anna and the French Kiss, and I raged even harder during Lola and the Boy Next Door. Just thinking about it makes me mad, remembering Lola and all her stupid moves. Cricket saved the book. He was so sweet and quiet, and he saved the day over and over. He does have an unfortunate name, yes, but when he tells Lola she looked incredible? I swooned. I maintain that he deserves better than what he got. *ducks*
- Adrian Ivashkov. I’ll just come right out and say it: I prefer Adrian to Dimitri. Dimitri always seemed like such a cardboard cutout. When I read the Vampire Academy series, it was for Rose, not Dimitri, though I admit I liked their romance. For awhile. Until Blood Promise. Which ruined everything. I haven’t read Last Sacrifice, but I started Bloodlines, because I care more about what happens to Adrian and Sydney than Dimitri and Rose. Adrian is a classic sarcastic bad boy who’s hurting on the inside, but he doesn’t seem like a cliche to me. His circumstances make him more interesting than that.
- Honorable Mention from Tina: Cas Lowood. Cas, who kept himself friends-less, who fell in love with a ghost, who crossed the Atlantic Ocean to help her, who in the end had to let her go. Watching his evolution in Anna Dressed in Blood from outsider to close friend, and watching his love grow over the course of the novel, was so lovely. And what happened at the end of Girl of Nightmares was heartbreaking, but Cas pulled through and was mature enough to do what had to be done. And besides, Kendare Blake basically endorsed my crush on Twitter the other day.
Mockingjay (Hunger Games #3) by Suzanne Collins
Release Date: August 24, 2010
Publisher: Scholastic
Source: Personal Copy
Rating: 
Buy It: Amazon | IndieBound
Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she’s made it out of the bloody arena alive, she’s still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what’s worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss’s family, not her friends, not the people of District 12. Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne Collins’s groundbreaking The Hunger Games trilogy promises to be one of the most talked about books of the year.
Review:
And here we are, not even a week later, at the end of our Hunger Games journey. What is there to even say aboutMockingjay? Half the people I know loved it and half hated it, everyone cried at one particular death at the end, and everyone was outraged by the told-not-shown trial of Katniss. I noticed a lot of things about this book that I didn’t when I was rushing through it the first time around. I noticed how often people wondered if the odds were in someone’s favor. I noticed how often Katniss compared Plutarch’s machinations in the rebellion to his schemes as a Gamemaker. I noticed that, no matter how much the fandom made of him, we never really got to know Finnick. And finally, I noticed how much this book is about Peeta. Sure, Katniss is the narrator and she remains the same brave, oblivious, lovable moron she has always been, but this book is about rescuing Peeta and his recovery. The infiltration of the Capitol goes on for like thirty pages. That’s nothing. This book is almost 400 pages long, and the majority of it is spent with Katniss suffering from PTSD and wondering how to get Peeta back from Snow.
Peeta has long been my favorite character of the series, so reading about his torture and the propos aired by the Capitol was really painful the second time around. I mean, I knew what was coming, but that almost makes it worse. I am willingly going back to read about the torture and brainwashing of my favorite character, you know? But it was worth it, because it made me see the journey that Katniss and Peeta took a little more clearly. And this reread made me like Gale a whole lot more than I did before. I just told Lauren the other day that I disliked Gale to the point of never being able to reconcile his good with his bad, but… I don’t hate Gale anymore. I like how self-aware Gale is, I like how he understood Katniss better than she did during his late-night conversation with Peeta, I like that Gale can put aside his feelings and work for the cause, and I like how he knew that Katniss would never be able to forgive him for Prim’s death. He didn’t cry or beg or insult her, he just knew and he accepted it with more grace than Jacob “Nice Guy” Black ever did. So I respect Gale and, in another universe, under different circumstances, I would be okay if he and Katniss were together.
This book is also real, which follows considering the first two were so realistic as well. When they’re in the Capitol and some rebels kill that little girl’s mother and then the little girl, I had to put the book down. I forgot about that part, the rule that says there will be casualties of the greater cause. Some will die to save many, and some that die will be young. Is there any way to prevent that? Is there really such a thing as a Glorious Revolution when the Capitol has been reaping and killing children for seventy-five years? While I don’t agree with Coin’s (or Katniss’) judgment that Snow’s granddaughter should be a tribute, sometimes there’s just nothing that can be done. All is fair in war, even if we can’t stand it, even if it offends us, or breaks down our morals. What this book teaches us is that if we win, and we did in this novel, then we have to rise above. What’s the point of wresting power from Snow if he’s just going to be replaced with a female version of himself? Can we really abolish the Hunger Games, except for just one more, using children who were unfortunate enough to be born to the wrong people? Sound familiar? It’s outrageous.
So I know that for some people this book was a huge disappointment because of the ship and the epilogue, but I got so much more out of it than just ship fulfillment. This book is about war, plain and simple, and Collins does such a good job of getting that across, and making us see things in a critical way through Katniss’ eyes. The only reason I dropped a star is because of the missing trial. I wanted to see that trial, and it would have been awesome, I’m sure. So that’s that, my very own Hunger Games reread. I’m so psyched for the movie now that I can hardly contain myself!
Catching Fire (Hunger Games #2) by Suzanne Collins
Release Date: September 1, 2009
Publisher: Scholastic
Source: Personal Copy
Rating:
Buy It: Amazon | IndieBound
Sparks are igniting, flames are spreading and the Capitol wants revenge.
Against all odds, Katniss has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol – a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.
Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest she’s afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she’s not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol’s cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can’t prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.
Review:
Okay, remember how we talked about there being very little romance in THG? This one is different. There’s a lot of talk about choices and love and time, the last of which Katniss doesn’t have enough of. She’s confused about where she stands with almost everyone when she returns from the Games. Prim has grown up, her mother is better, and Gale is off to the mines, not allowing Katniss to help his family with her wealth. Peeta lives in the Victors Village, but he and Katniss have a cool relationship at best after the revelations at the end of THG. When Gale is caught bringing in poached game by the new Head Peacekeeper, he’s whipped and Katniss makes her first decision. She chooses Gale, and in a less messed up world, she would have had him. I fully supported her decision to choose Gale when I read the first time, because what she says is true. Her romance with Peeta is Capitol-created, and she can’t trust anything tainted by the Capitol. Sadly, her circumstances change, and her chances with Gale diminish if not completely fade away. By the end of this book, Katniss realizes something that doesn’t change: “I realize only one person will be damaged beyond repair if Peeta dies. Me.”
This book is so bittersweet because we get to meet other victors, real people with real lives and children and homes and dreams. Finnick is a particularly hard one to stomach, because he is awesome and hilarious and broken like the rest of them, and his life is not a happy one. Katniss has to make alliances with people she will eventually have to kill, and that is something that really struck me. Katniss is introverted, more likely to consider the scenarios most likely to win than to consider the feelings of others. Haymitch gave up on her in THG during the first round of interviews, calling her sullen and hostile. She still is, of course, and has even more reason to be now, but she finds she can care for people and want to help them while still being trapped in the hell that is the arena.
This book loses a star only because I wanted more horror in the arena. It’s not really the same when a bunch of adults are trying to kill each other. Part of the shock was that there were kids as young as twelve fighting and killing for entertainment. Sure, Katniss’ allies are killed and she kills in return, but there’s none of the uncertainty, none of the overwhelming fear, none of the dread. It’s not quite the same. And the cliffhanger this books ends on should be illegal, which is why I’m zipping right on to Mockingjay next. You’ll see it here soon!
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Release Date: October 31, 2008
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Source: Personal Copy
Rating:
Buy It: Amazon | IndieBound
Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with everyone out to make sure you don’t live to see the morning? In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love.
Review:
Okay, you’ve all read this one before. Some of you are Team Gale and some (like me) are Team Peeta, some of you hated it, some of you (like me) loved it. Have you seen the official trailer? I have to admit, I was leery of three people: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and Lenny Kravitz. Lawrence sold me on her Katniss when she starts screaming for Prim during the reaping. Hutcherson sold me on his Peeta during that scene on the roof. Lenny Kravitz…I didn’t hate it as much as I thought I would. When Katniss salutes the people, I started to cry. When they all run from their platforms at the end, I sobbed so loud I scared my boyfriend. In fact, the trailer whipped me into such a frenzy that I just had to reread the series. I’m working on Catching Fire right now, and I forgot what glorious angst that book contains. The first in the series is no better on the angst front, but that’s why I loved it. This stuff is real. There’s no sparkly vampire showing up to whisk away a silly girl and be in love, this is death, destruction, manipulation, terror. There is a love story, sure, but it’s not even close to typical. I loved that the trailer didn’t even give you a hint of a love triangle. You wouldn’t even know there’s romance if you’d never read the books.
I’m not going to recap, I’m just going to give you a feel for how this book affected me, and the parts I think about the most. In Panem, there was once an uprising, and it was crushed by the Capitol. For revenge, and to keep the Districts in check, the Capitol invents The Hunger Games. Two children from each District are chosen in the reaping, and the results are heavily skewed toward the poor. The children are shipped to the Capitol and their parents are forced to watch as they’re waxed, plucked, changed, and then killed in the arena. And I mean forced. It is mandatory to watch the Games. If you survive, you’re given a nice house, but you’re also forced to mentor the new children from your District, train them, and then watch them die. That is also mandatory. That is so gloriously messed up, there isn’t even anything I can add. Did I mention that even if you’re a victor, your children are still eligible for the Games? And Katniss even mentions that the victor’s children are chosen too often for it to be a coincidence. So, to recap, you get chosen in the reaping, you go to the arena, you win, you come home, mentor doomed children until you die, and quite possibly watch your own get killed as well. Awesome.
In my boyfriend’s words, “That’s considered YA?” Yes! The very best kind of YA, the kind that makes you think, the kind that shows you the economic factors of being poor in the poorest District in Panem, instead of just focusing on some love story. I didn’t even back a ship until Mockingjay, because how can you, really? Katniss is in the arena, forced to pretend she’s in love with Peeta, and then she’s in Twelve, forced to face her feelings for Gale. This is no time for romance! People are dying because of the decisions Katniss made, and she knows it. Her feelings for Peeta are complex and a world away from her feelings for Gale, but those feelings are no less important. The post-traumatic stress that Katniss probably feels is so apparent to me here. Does she understand now why Haymitch drinks himself into oblivion? I do.
I had forgotten about the end, about the scene with Cato and how utterly horrifying that scene was to read. I’m not sure I can stomach watching it on the big screen. This book tears me apart. It’s got almost no happy moments, but that doesn’t matter, because it’s not full of banal platitudes about romance and love and forever. There is no forever in Panem. There is only now.
yAdult Review 