ARC Review: Parallel by Lauren Miller

Parallel
Lauren Miller

Pages: 432
Format: eARC
Publication date: May 14, 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Publisher via Edelweiss (thank you!)
Purchase: The Book Depository • Amazon

Abby Barnes had a plan. The Plan. She'd go to Northwestern, major in journalism, and land a job at a national newspaper, all before she turned twenty-two. But one tiny choice—taking a drama class her senior year of high school—changed all that. Now, on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, Abby is stuck on a Hollywood movie set, miles from where she wants to be, wishing she could rewind her life. The next morning, she's in a dorm room at Yale, with no memory of how she got there. Overnight, it's as if her past has been rewritten.

With the help of Caitlin, her science-savvy BFF, Abby discovers that this new reality is the result of a cosmic collision of parallel universes that has Abby living an alternate version of her life. And not only that: Abby's life changes every time her parallel self makes a new choice. Meanwhile, her parallel is living out Abby's senior year of high school and falling for someone Abby's never even met.

As she struggles to navigate her ever-shifting existence, forced to live out the consequences of a path she didn't choose, Abby must let go of the Plan and learn to focus on the present, without losing sight of who she is, the boy who might just be her soul mate, and the destiny that's finally within reach.

Parallel universes are tricky to write - they must make sense and pull the reader into both worlds at the same time, which is how so many stories go wrong. With this in mind, I went into Parallel with suppressed expectations, afraid that I might end up disappointed. And by the end, I was close to tears. I'm not one to show much emotion while reading, but Lauren Miller absolutely nailed it with her debut.

Fall For Me Blog Tour: Excerpt & Giveaway

“Do you have any weird memories from last night?” Grace asked.

I’m sure my face reflected many emotions, confusion probably the highest on the list. Why was she asking me about last night? Grace was going to think I was a nut job if I told her what I’d seen. I wasn’t sure if I should continue, but for some reason I trusted her.

“I did see something, but you’ll think I’m crazy.”

“Try me,” she said.

I took a breath, what did I have to lose? She’d either, laugh and say nice knowing you, or she’d listen.

“Bright lights making people in the cemetery. I can’t explain it any other way. There were these balls of light, and then people appeared. And there was a guy with dark creepy eyes. Then I blacked out.”

Grace closed her eyes and rubbed her temples with her fingertips. I rose from my chair and moved into the one next to her. Then I gently pulled her hands from her face, entwining my fingers into hers. The warmth from her touch flowed through me and I felt connected to her, like we were one person. Grace turned in her seat, pulling herself closer to me.

“I’m not supposed to be with you,” she said. “I’m different. I have a secret.”

“We all have secrets, Grace.”

 “It’s not the same. You’re the one who’s going to think I’m crazy,” she said, on the verge of tears.

“Try me,” I chuckled.

“What you saw last night was me and Archer orbing to the cemetery.”

“Orbing?”

“Travelling by balls of light,” she said.

“You materialised in a ball of light? Like something from the Twilight Zone?”

ARC Review: Rush by Eve Silver

Rush (The Game #1)
Eve Silver

Pages: 352
Format: eARC
Publication date: June 11, 2013
Publisher: Harper Teen
Source: Publisher via Edelweiss (thank you!)
Purchase: The Book Depository • Amazon

So what’s the game now? This, or the life I used to know?

When Miki Jones is pulled from her life, pulled through time and space into some kind of game—her carefully controlled life spirals into chaos. In the game, she and a team of other teens are sent on missions to eliminate the Drau, terrifying and beautiful alien creatures. There are no practice runs, no training, and no way out. Miki has only the guidance of secretive but maddeningly attractive team leader Jackson Tate, who says the game isn’t really a game, that what Miki and her new teammates do now determines their survival, and the survival of every other person on this planet. She laughs. He doesn’t. And then the game takes a deadly and terrifying turn.

Aliens, a game, and teenagers who are given the responsibility of saving their planet? One look at Rush's blurb and it was enough to give even me a rush (pun intended). I wish I could say that this book blew my mind, but it didn't. Rush was a combination of dull characters, one-sided romance, and an unnecessary love triangle. Not what I'd consider mind-blowing.

Blogger Panel: What Makes Poor Portrayals of Family in Books Unappealing?

Welcome to this week's Blogger Panel! Let me introduce the bloggers for today:

Sophia from The Book Basement

Trish from Between the Lines 

Katja from YA's the Word

Carrie from The Mad Reviewer

ARC Review: How My Summer Went Up in Flames by Jennifer Salvato Doktorski

How My Summer Went Up In Flames
Jennifer Salvato Doktorski

Pages: 320
Format: eARC
Publication date: May 7th, 2013
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Source: Publisher via Edelweiss (Thank you!)
Purchase: The Book Depository • Amazon

Rosie’s always been impulsive. She didn’t intend to set her cheating ex-boyfriend’s car on fire. And she never thought her attempts to make amends could be considered stalking. So when she’s served with a temporary restraining order on the first day of summer vacation, she’s heartbroken—and furious.

To put distance between Rosie and her ex, Rosie’s parents send her on a cross-country road trip with responsible, reliable neighbor Matty and his two friends. Forget freedom of the road, Rosie wants to hitchhike home and win back her ex. But her determination starts to dwindle with each passing mile. Because Rosie’s spark of anger? It may have just ignited a romance with someone new…

“I know women are supposed to stand on their own and all. I get that. But every once in a while it doesn't hurt to wish for a fairy godmother, a little magic, and a happy ending.”
I've been terribly behind on reading and reviewing all my review copies, and there's a novel that came out in April that I haven't yet reviewed yet. I've actually gotten terribly lazy when it comes to reading review copies, and I haven't written a review in weeks due to exams which is why this review's so confusing and untidy and all over the place, but then after picking up Amy and Roger's Epic Detour earlier this week (or, I suppose, by the time this review goes up it'll be last week), I had a craving for road trip novels, and How My Summer Went Up in Flames was just lying there on my kindle in all it's awesome-title-ness with it's road trip theme, and I was like "why not?"

So 320 pages later I'm sitting here, partially out of my read-review-copy slump, with proof that it doesn't take an awesome book to take you out of a reading slump - probably just an interesting one. Or a fun one. Or one that made you smile.

Weekly Smudges [#12]

Since Meg re-started school (after one week of holidays) and Chri has some internet problems, we haven't been able to update much. Thanks for being patient, though, as we knew you would. ;-) Anyway, here's all that happened on the blog, June 3 - 9!

this week in posts.

In cased you missed 'em, here are all the posts last week:

• Meg reviewed Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
• Meg reviewed Hopeless by Colleen Hoover
• Meg mini-reviewed Absent, Reboot, The Rules for Disappearing, and Stung
• Meg reviewed The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau as part of the blog tour + enter to win one of seven finished copies!