2012 in Review

2012 was a crazy year for me -- I moved from Southern California to the Chicago area for grad school at Northwestern, I got a new job, and my sister found out she's having a baby in 2013! Unfortunately, a lot of this stuff caused me to not be so productive in my blogging, but it was still a great year full of some awesome books.

Notable Changes
Both Michelle and Della joined this blog as reviewers in 2012. I can't wait to do more work with them in the upcoming year!

Top 5 books I read in 2012
1. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
2. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
3. Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
4. Bloodlines by Richelle Mead
5. A Thousand Times More Fair: What Shakespeare's Plays Teach Us about Justice by Kenji Yoshino

Longest Book 
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (1,392 pages)

Most Views for Review Posted in 2012
Beloved by Toni Morrison

I'm hoping that next year will be even better and more exciting! Here's to a new year filled with great, new books!

Book Review: Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

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Title: Vampire Academy
Author: Richelle Mead
Publisher: Razorbill
Series: Vampire Academy, Book 1
Paperback: 332 pages
Summary: (taken from Goodreads)

St. Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding school—it’s a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They’ve been on the run, but now they’re being dragged back to St. Vladimir’s—the very place where they’re most in danger... 

Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy’s ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi—the world’s fiercest and most dangerous vampires—make Lissa one of them forever.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5

I must say, “I never in a million years thought I would be writing a review about Vampires.” When a friend suggested that I read Vampire Academy I laughed at her. Having never read anything in this genre, I wasn’t in a hurry to start. She handed me her copy and said just try. I reluctantly agreed knowing that I would never be interested in it. The first chapter seemed a little weird to me, as I tried to understand what was happening between Rose and Lissa. The spirit dream confused the heck out of me and when Lissa fed off Rose I thought I was going to be nauseated. But I really liked Richelle Meade’s writing style, so I continued reading. It wasn’t until Rose and Lissa arrived back at the Academy that I found myself actually enjoying the book.

I was intrigued by the whole concept of there being two types of Vampires; Moroi, who are the good vampires, and Stigoi, who are the bad. There is also a group called Dhampirs, who protect the Moroi and they are half Moroi and half human. St Vladimir Academy is a special school for Dhampirs to learn to protect Moroi. Rose, the protagonist of the book, is a Dhampir who ran away from St Vladmir Academy to protect Lissa, a Moroi, from an unknown enemy. The guardians at St Vladmir Academy found Rose and Lissa, secretly living among humans and returned them to the Academy. While at the Academy, Rose practiced training skills with Dimitri Belikov. It was this intense training along with Rose's quick response that would ultimately make her one of the best guardians. The concept of good versus evil has always been the cornerstone of my favorite types of books, so I was hooked to learn that even vampires have a code of ethics.

All the characters were enjoyable, but I have to say Rose, was my favorite. What I found fascinating about her was although she had a lot of emotional problems that played out in her personal life, starting with her thoughts that every male wanted to be with her, she had a strong sense of duty to protect Lissa, keeping her extremely focused. Lissa, being a spirit using Moroi, had saved Rose from death and in doing so created a supernatural bond between the two of them. Rose could read Lissa's thoughts and sense when she was in danger. Because Rose and Lissa had run away from St Vladmir Academy for over a year, Rose was behind in her training. As punishment she had to train extra hours with Guardian Belikov, who I can only imagine by his description to be likened to that of a Greek god, but only Russian. Personally, one could only hope for some one-on-one training with this Russian god. This was a fantastic storyline with many twists that kept me rooting for Rose and Dimitri even though guardians could not date each other.

Richelle Mead's writing style made reading this book not only enjoyable, but one of my favorite recommendations for young adults. This book has a kick-butt storyline, great characters, great plot, but more importantly Richelle Mead constantly interjects the back story, throughout the book, so I didn't have to put much thought into remembering how each character relates.

Book Review: The Twisted Window by Lois Duncan

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Title: The Twisted Window

Author: Lois Duncan
Publisher: Open Road Young Readers
Ebook: 184 pages
Summary: (taken from Goodreads)

High school junior Tracy Lloyd is unsure about the new guy in school. Brad Johnson is attractive, smart, and polite, but Tracy can’t help but feel he watches her too closely. Then one day Brad confides in Tracy a horrible secret: His little sister Mindy has been kidnapped by his stepfather, and he needs Tracy’s help to get her back. But even as Tracy commits to a plan to help her vulnerable new friend, details emerge that suggest nothing is what it seems.  

The Twisted Window is a zigzagging thriller that keeps readers guessing up until the final page. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Lois Duncan including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author’s personal collection.

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 

The Twisted Window is a story about Brad Johnson and Tracy Lloyd. Brad has traveled to Texas from New Mexico in order to track down his baby sister Mindy, who has been kidnapped by his stepfather. Enrolling Tracy in his plan to get her back and bring her home, the two teenagers come together to help Brad's family become reunited.

The beginning was strange for me, with Brad looking over girls in a high school to find "the right one" for his plan. However, after all that was over, I was automatically interested in his story. The main theme of the book is about relationships between families, and I quickly got sucked into the characters' lives and their family troubles. Tracy, especially, has an interesting background and her relationship with her relatives play quite a big role in framing what happens throughout the story.

The main characters' stories were what got me through this book -- much of the plot was over-the-top. I was more frustrated with the side characters than anything. I can't say much at risk of revealing the big twist, but I'm not sure how Brad actually gets the opportunity to kidnap his sister. A lot of the major plot points had issues in believability for me, which kind of turned me off the whole story. I do recommend The Twisted Window more for middle-grade readers than for older people. It is too undeveloped to be a very satisfying read to most adults and even older teenagers. There are a lot of unresolved issues at the end, especially in regards to Tracy and her relationship with her aunt, uncle, and father.

This particular edition has some edits made to help it fit in with the newer generation (the use of cell phones and other updated technology). Overall, these worked great, but there was one time where the CD player suddenly became a cassette player.

However, the twist at the end is very good. I didn't start suspecting that something like that was coming until quite late in the book, so it was a nice surprise. Overall, it's a fast read and great if you're looking for a quick suspenseful story.

*I was provided a free copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.*

Book Review: Giving up the Ghost by Eric Nuzum

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Title: Giving up the Ghost: A Story About Friendship, 80s Rock, a Lost Scrap of Paper, and What It Means to Be Haunted
Author: Eric Nuzum
Publisher: Dial Press
Paperback: 320 pages
Summary: (taken from Goodreads)

Eric Nuzum is afraid of the supernatural, and for good reason: As a high school oddball in Canton, Ohio, during the early 1980s, he became convinced that he was being haunted by the ghost of a little girl in a blue dress who lived in his parents’ attic. It began as a weird premonition during his dreams, something that his quickly diminishing circle of friends chalked up as a way to get attention. It ended with Eric in a mental ward, having apparently destroyed his life before it truly began. The only thing that kept him from the brink: his friendship with a girl named Laura, a classmate who was equal parts devoted friend and enigmatic crush. With the kind of strange connection you can only forge when you’re young, Laura walked Eric back to “normal”—only to become a ghost herself in a tragic twist of fate. 

Years later, a fully functioning member of society with a great job and family, Eric still can’t stand to have any shut doors in his house for fear of what’s on the other side. In order to finally confront his phobia, he enlists some friends on a journey to America’s most haunted places. But deep down he knows it’s only when he digs up the ghosts of his past, especially Laura, that he’ll find the peace he’s looking for.

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Ten pages into this book, I was surprised to find that it was non-fiction. Seriously. I don't know if it was just me, but I definitely thought this was going to be a kind of literary paranormal/horror novel. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was a memoir though, and I was hooked right from the beginning.

Giving up the Ghost is about Eric Nuzum's search for answers. Since he was a boy, he'd been haunted by a ghost he called The Little Girl, and as he grew older, he became increasingly haunted by his friends and acquaintances that have died far too early in life, especially Laura -- a girl who was his best friend and whom he was in love with at one point. Nuzum explores the past by switching from past events and to the present, where he is actively searching for haunted places in order to find answers about The Little Girl, and possibly Laura.

The beginning hooked me and I found myself thoroughly enjoying this book. It's interesting, funny, and has some truly moving moments. I'm also a fan of dysfunctional stuff, and Nuzum certainly had a lot of that going on in his life. It's also very open and honest -- I almost felt like I was listening to a friend's confessional or something. Nuzum leaves everything on the page, which makes for a raw, emotional experience.

Though I think there could have been more organization in terms of letting the reader know when everything was taking place (dates at the beginning of chapters would have been helpful), I loved the back-and-forth between the past and present. Seeing the parallels and changes that have happened from Nuzum as a teenager to Nuzum as an adult was interesting, and it really helped move the story along.

I would have liked there to be more of a focus throughout the book. The beginning was really strong, I think, but it started to lag in the middle because of all the issues that Nuzum tried to tackle. And near the end, I wasn't sure what message I was supposed to be taking from his stories. Like I said before, Giving up the Ghost is about a search for answers, a search for the meaning behind past events. However, this sometimes gets lost in all Nuzum's stories about drugs, fits of rage, and dysfunctional relationships. Don't get me wrong -- they're good stories. And I think that they should definitely be told, but not necessarily in this book. It would have been much stronger and much more satisfying if the focus stayed on The Little Girl, his relationship with Laura, and his search for haunted places.

With that said, I still enjoyed it and I think it's a worthwhile read. I'm also very interested in reading more of Nuzum's work.

*I was provided a free copy from the publisher through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program in exchange for an honest review.*