Wandering Wild by Jessica Taylor (Review)

Genre:	YA, Contemporary
Publication Date:	May 3, 2016
Pages:	304
Published By:	Sky Pony Press
Series	Standalone
Review copy:	e-ARC from publisher

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Raised by Wanderers, sixteen-year-old Tal travels the roads of the southern wild in her Chevy by day and camps in her tent trailer at night. Hustling, conning, and grifting her way into just enough cash to save her fifteen-year-old brother, Wen, from bare-knuckle fighting was once enough to keep her dreams of traveling the whole world at bay. Everything changes when the Wanderers set up camp in a little town called Cedar Falls.

There, Spencer Sway, a boy Tal tried to hustle at a game of billiards, keeps popping up into her life—and worst of all—into her scams. Buttoned-up, starched-and-ironed Spencer talks of places where Tal’s truck can’t take her. His promises of traveling across oceans are almost enough to shatter her love of the Wanderer life.

When a boy shows up at camp, ready to make good on a nearly-forgotten arranged marriage to Tal, Tal and Wen make a pact: No matter the cost, they will use their limitless skills of grift to earn the bride price and buy back her future—even if Spencer Sway gets used along the way.

It could have been two years or two days after; I couldn't say.  Maybe childhood memories are that way for everyone   markies and Wanders the same.  But for Wanderers, I suppose, those memories are even more vague.  When nothing is the same from day to day, there's no anchor, only ambiguous, timeless, placeless years that flow together.

The superstitions, the lore, the magic, they're all as common to us as trees.  But the camp's explanation was wrong, and so was their belief in me. 

As the shape of his back moves away from me, I realize something horrible's happened  I let the momentum of Spencer and me build to a dangerous speed.

And we just crashed.

  Picking up a book that comes with something different and unusual, is always enjoyable.  Maybe it's just me but I get especially excited when the book features someones inside view of gypsies, wanderers, a cult, or just some less appreciated culture in general.  I think they are a chance to glance into a world that is not our own, view a life that we may never even get the chance to experience.  Maybe that is that way of all books, but I like the truth and the strength that follows with the characters in these contemporary novels that features a different way of life.  Taylor's Wandering Wild was a beautiful and exceptional example of this.  

  I have read very few books on Wanderers or Gypsies, and honestly I do not know much of their way of life beyond what I have read/heard.  This being said, I really enjoyed getting to see their world through Tal's eyes.  Taylor painted a vivid character that did not resent the situation she was in (in fact she could never imagine being tethered to one place), and she coloured a world that carries its own beliefs and traditions.  I enjoyed the flowing pace and the consistent plot, that headed towards something different.  Wandering Wild carried the kind of pace I desire with the character and world to walk along with it.

  I loved Tal and Wen.  They were a great example of two sides of the same coin.  Tal loved the movement and freedom that being a Wanderer brought her, but she questioned her peoples beliefs.  Wen didn't have a problem with their belief system, but he did wonder what it would be like to stay in one place, become what they targeted: a markie.  Though Talia was the main character, Wen was her brother, her other half.  I think he was what mostly gave her the ability to see beyond, or maybe she had always been looking and I just didn't see that.  Tal was strong, full of ideas and undeniably clever because she had to be.  What I think I quite possibly loved the most was that she was not perfect, she was not completely selfless.  Yes, she loved her brother but she wasn't willing to give in to everything because it might make things easier for him.  Loving him did not mean that she compromised what she wanted.  To some this may be a downfall, but I feel in the end it was what really set her apart.

  As for the love side of things, I would like to say that it didn't matter but it did.  Wen and his love for books and something that didn't belong in his world, and Tal and her romance with Spencer... Who most definitely did not fit in her world.  The thing was though, that he wanted something that intrigued Tal, he wanted to travel.  To Tal she couldn't imagine being in one place for her entire life, but being in one place wouldn't be so bad if she got to see everything that she wanted.  Spencer seemed to live in a world that was unimaginable to Tal but, they both learn not everything is at it seems.  It's when their worlds begin to collide more than either anticipated that they find the connection they didn't expect.  I enjoyed the chemistry and the growth this relationship made as the book progressed.  In fact I would say I enjoyed these two more than I have any other relationship in awhile.

  Wandering Wild is a spectacular debut, that captivated me with its colourful world and developed characters.  I finished this book in less than a day, and I don't even question for a moment that others will do the same.  If you are a fan of contemporary and love to watch worlds collide in a spectacular way, don't hesitate to pick up Wandering Wild.

Dreamology by Lucy Keating (Review)

Genre:	YA, Fantasy, Contemporary
Publication Date:	April 12, 2016
Pages:	336
Published By:	Harper Teen
Series	Standalone
Review copy:	e-ARC from publisher

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For as long as Alice can remember, she has dreamed of Max. Together they have traveled the world and fallen deliriously, hopelessly in love. Max is the boy of her dreams—and only her dreams. Because he doesn’t exist.

But when Alice walks into class on her first day at a new school, there he is. It turns out, though, that Real Max is nothing like Dream Max, and getting to know each other in reality isn’t as perfect as Alice always hoped.

When their dreams start to bleed dangerously into their waking hours, the pair realize that they might have to put an end to a lifetime of dreaming about each other. But when you fall in love in your dreams, can reality ever be enough?

Don't be creepy don't be creepy don't be creepy, I repeat to myself as I make what feels like an epic journey across the well-manicured lawn.  I have a million introductions swirling around in my head .  Phrases that will make me seem witty and cool, a femme fatale of someone's dreams, which technically, I am.

  "New blood." She nods. "I'm Celeste."
  Oh god. Celeste? Names like Celeste kick dirt on names like Alice on the playground.  Names like Celeste steal names like Alice's prom dates.  Names like Celeste are apparently dating names like Alice's imaginary dream boyfriends.

Now I don't just feel noodly.  Now I'm a noodle that's been chewed up by a mother bird, regurgitated and fed back to he babies in the nest.  My brain knows it's completely idiotic, to feel rejected by someone you aren't sure you actually know... but my heart does not seem to have gotten the message yet.

  Honestly, I think I was drawn to this book by its title and cover.  There was no true expectations, because I could't have told you what it was about if I tried.  I know you should never judge a books by its cover, and probably doubly by its title, but thankfully this time it worked out just fine for me.  Debut author Lucy Keating really nailed it with this one.  This book is filled to the brim with unique awesomeness.  There is something entirely fascinating about dreaming come to reality, and this book captures all of it and more.

  When everything started, I was sure on one thing: this book was either going to go horribly right, or it was going to go horribly wrong.  Not wrong in the traditional sense (you can't really tell your own story wrong), but wrong in the way that it was going to become your typical love story, with your typical obstacles.  There's nothing wrong with that really.  I enjoy books like that every now and again when I am looking for something easy and fun.  Dreamology was not typical though.  With it's dream world crashing into reality land, I found myself fully diving in, wanting to figure out how everything went so beautifully wrong.  

  Alice herself may not have been horribly complex but she was fun as heck to read.  She said awkward things and over thought things, the way that I am sure the majority of us did as teens (some still as adults).  Basically, Alice and her behaviours were real and easy to relate to, and if they weren't they were amusing to read at the very least.  This also made it easy to sympathise for her on other levels for me.  I'm not sure how many of us have dreamed a guy into existence (probably none if we're being honest), but it would be freaky as hell and super hard to know how to handle.  Alice is developed basically perfectly and her quirk had me laughing on more than one occasion. 

  It's super hard to know how to react to Max.  There's this awkward line that is most definitely blurred due to odd circumstances.  He is basically an anomaly and because of this at times his cold attitude seems justified.  Well, I felt it was at least.  You can't just expect someone to be as cool in real life as they were in your dreams... or I don't think you can.  However, this doesn't mean that Max did not have redeeming qualities to him.  He could be kind and the person that Alice thought he was, was there it was just hiding behind some fairly big insecurities.  It was also his reactions that very much kept this book from being insta-love, which is a very enjoyable fact.  There was something awesome about not exactly knowing how the attraction between these two would end.

  Honestly I had a lot of fun reading this one.  It was light, fun, different and 100% enjoyable.  Keating really nailed her debut and I'm looking forward to more from her in the future.  It's quite simply too hard to explain all of the little things, that complimented the bigger things to make this such an amazing read.  There is no doubt that this book will give people a serious case of cover lust and the writing was beyond enjoyable.  For anyone looking for a fun and amusing summer read, don't hesitate to pick this beauty up.

The Art of Not Breathing by Sarah Alexander (Review)

Genre:	YA, Contemporay
Publication Date:	April 26, 2016
Pages:	288
Published By:	HMH Books for Young Readers
Series	Standalone
Review copy:	ARC from Raincoast for honest review

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Since her twin brother, Eddie, drowned five years ago, sixteen-year-old Elsie Main has tried to remember what really happened that fateful day on the beach. One minute Eddie was there, and the next he was gone. Seventeen-year-old Tay McKenzie is a cute and mysterious boy that Elsie meets in her favorite boathouse hangout. When Tay introduces Elsie to the world of freediving, she vows to find the answers she seeks at the bottom of the sea.

Another question spins around my mind.  Does Tay know about Eddie?  Would it be so bad if he did know? Yes, I answer myself.  Because if Tay knows about Eddie, then he will see me as only half a person.  I want to be enough for someone just on my own.

"That's the beauty of it," Tay says.
"I don't need to talk about it.  It's just something I do, like breathing."
I grin.  "You mean it's like not breathing."
He smiles slowly at me, like he's just realizing something.  "You're right.  And I'm glad I get to not breathe with you."

I picture my life in the future.  When Dillon has starved himself to death, I'll have let two brothers die.  Dad will be long gone, and that just leaves me with Mum.  Every day will be therapy day.

  The Art of Not Breathing was breathtakingly beautiful and tragic.  It' the type of contemporary that you start and lose yourself in.  You can feel the emotions and see the characters, with every chapter both of these elements changing or growing in intensity.  There is a tempo that this book set, bringing depth to the characters and a realistic feel to the entire plot.  For a book that I walked into with no real expectations, I for sure got more than I had anticipated. 

  What I think I loved so much about this book, was its inability to fall in line with other books of this sort.  I am not saying that I have a thing against the books that are about loss, and yet they find a way to have the life they wanted, and find the love of their life that moves heaven and earth to be with them.  This is what I would call realistic in the sense that everything just kept falling apart.  You don't always have that person you can go to, and even if you do sometimes it feels like you can't.  The was a tragic note throughout the book that pulled at my heart, and when it wasn't tragic it was this sad pretty thing.  There wasn't a lot of complexity to the plot, and yet somehow it managed to easily snare my attention and affection almost right from the start.

  Elsie is not the popular girl, or the unremarkable beauty that has no idea how beautiful and extraordinary she is.  Basically I loved Elise because she was ordinary and though she may not have enjoyed being on the outside, that was where she seemed to fit.  There is not a moment throughout this read though that she was not growing.  This is a girl that blames herself for losing her brother, gains weight because she believes she now eats for both her dead brother and herself and sees things the way no one else seems to.  This is her way of coping, of not moving on but merely living.  It is only when she starts to take steps in a direction that should have never been considered, that she starts to move forward and leave her life of living standing still.  There is no one moment that she "changes," but a series of moments and problems that encourage and push her to finally move, finally become more than she felt.  I cannot sign enough praises for this girl and her ordinary life that maybe I couldn't relate to, but I could feel for.

  Honestly, though there was a romantic interest it was far from what mattered in this read.  Well, it did matter but in its own way, not in the traditional way.  Elise needed Tay to grow, and realise she was more than the invisible "fat girl."  This wasn't just because he was there, but also because he wasn't.  I enjoyed the realistic nature of their relationship, as well as the complexity of it.  They weren't the couple everyone envied.  Heck, next to no one knew about them.  I want to say so much more but the problem is I really feel that this is a less is more type of situation.  So much about this relationship changed the dynamic throughout the book, so to explain it would be to ruin everything for you.  Just know that nothing was "typical," and it wasn't a love story by a long shot.

  Alexander crafted and beautiful, unique and well fleshed out novel.  It didn't lack character and I would have to say that the plot was wonderfully original.  I can't say that it was perfect or that no points were matched to others , but I loved that it felt real.  The Art of Not Breathing is the perfect read for someone that wants a contemporary read, with real feelings and real characters.

If I fix You by Abigail Johnson (Review)

Genre:	YA, Contemporary
Publication Date:	January 31, 2012
Pages:	304
Published By:	Harlequin Teen
Series	Standalone
Review copy:	E-galley

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When sixteen-year-old Jill Whitaker’s mom walks out—with a sticky note as a goodbye—only Jill knows the real reason she’s gone. But how can she tell her father? Jill can hardly believe the truth herself.

Suddenly, the girl who likes to fix things—cars, relationships, romances, people—is all broken up. Used to be, her best friend, tall, blond and hot flirt Sean Addison, could make her smile in seconds. But not anymore. They don’t even talk.

With nothing making sense, Jill tries to pick up the pieces of her life. But when a new guy moves in next door, intense, seriously cute, but with scars—on the inside and out—that he thinks don’t show, Jill finds herself trying to make things better for Daniel. But over one long, hot Arizona summer, she realizes she can’t fix anyone’s life until she fixes her own. And she knows just where to start . . .

  The walk to Sean's Jetta felt like my own green mile.  The idea of being alone with him in a car with barely two feet between us brought my nausea trickling back.

Hate was such an ugly, infectious thing.  It burrowed deep inside and consumed.  My hate hadn't begun that way, not even after Sean.  It had started out as an ice cube lodged in my throat, an obstruction I couldn't move no matter how many times I swallowed.  Then it melted, and the cold had trickled through my insides, numbing me.

  It wasn't fair what he was doing to me.  Making me realize things that I really didn't want to.  Making me realize things that I really didn't want to.  He was so messed up.  His parents had done that to him and neither one cared that they'd damaged something so fragile.

  OMG!! Turning the last page page of this read I knew that I was going to have a book hang over.  Two days later and I am still struggling with what I will be picking up next, because I worry that it will suffer in the wake of this read.  This book leaves no real place for me to start and end, but there is undoubtedly words twisting and pushing to come out.  If You Fix Me is a heart ripping, stunningly beautiful read bound to call to many different readers.

  The plot and pacing flowed together in perfect harmony.  It was like Mozart and Picasso had a baby and it was Johnson's writing.  I know, I know that was a little weird...okay a lot weird, but honestly my love for everything within these pages knows no bounds, weird or not.   Reading this was quite possibly as easy as breathing, yet somehow felt like I was watching a heart wrenching movie.  Everything just flowed so flawlessly that there was no need to come up for air, it just never called for it.  Even as everything began to fall apart, it was pulling itself back together.  Each character had their own story, their own voice and yet twisting them together worked perfectly, making everything imperfectly perfect.

  Jill is everything I want in a character.  There was absolutely nothing perfect about her,  but at the same time everything about her character was flawless.  It's hard with contemporary novels for me because I'm either going to find I connect with the character and really love them, or just like them because they are written well.  As the synopsis says Jill likes to fix things but what made me love her was the reality that sometimes you can't fix others until you fix yourself.  She was not lost, but she wasn't good at voicing things...awkward to say the least.  Jill is someone that people can relate to.  Her emotions, thoughts and feelings are very easy to understand.  I have no doubt that even when I was a teen these are some things I would have experienced in her shoes.  Basically what I am trying to say is that Jill was as close to perfect as a character can get.

  Daniel and Sean are nothing alike and yet they seem to have something that is the same.  For me I didn't really want one more than the other, there was a pull from both.  I think for Jill it was the same way, but only more complicated.  Sean was who her heart had wanted for years, only to be betrayed.  Daniel had something in common with her, a past and a broken home.  There were also many boundaries with Daniel, and it's so hard to explain without ruining it all, just the same as I can't explain Sean without taking something away.  However, the entire thing with Sean always felt like it was a little sideways, like there was a missing puzzle piece that no one was willing to see even though it was just sitting in the box still.  Both boys were expertly written and brought a unique element to Jill's life.

  This book is nothing short of a must read.  It's heart breaking, heart mending beauty, rolled into one beautiful book.  I cannot even tell you all of the ways that this book was amazing.  I will make sure that everything that this author writes finds a home on my shelves.  With its lyrical writing, developed characters and beautiful story, If I Fix You is by far one of my favorite reads this year.  If you are a fan of contemporary or are looking for the perfect hangover read, this book is undoubtedly the one for you.