Taken by Norah McClintock

Series:N/A

Author: Norah McClintock
Page Count: 176
Published: October 1st, 2009

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers

  4 Stars ★★★★

Girls have been going missing, and one of them was found dead. Stephanie is warned not to go out at night because she could fall victim to the criminal who is abducting these girls.

She doesn't listen.

After being abducted she awakens in an empty cabin. With no idea where she is or when her abductor will return, she needs to come up with a plan to save her life.

This book was short yet exciting. The reader is able to understand Stephanie as a person and I was cheering her on for the whole book, hoping that she'd make it home safe.

I liked the flashbacks to when Stephanie had spent time with her grandfather in the woods. This added to my understanding of who she was and I rooted for her even more.

The author had me constantly guessing who had abducted Stephanie. Had it been somebody she knew, or a complete stranger? Would she live? Would people believe her if she lived, or would they think she'd just ran away like she had before?  This was a short and relatively simple book, but it was very enjoyable.

I recommend this book to readers of suspense fiction, YA, and to those looking for a short, romance-free book.

Find Taken on Goodreads

Haven by Kristi Cook

Series: Winterhaven

Author: Kristi Cook

Page Count: 401
Published: February 22nd, 2011

 Publisher: Simon Pulse

  4 Stars ★★★★

Violet McKenna can see the future, but she keeps her ability secret for fear of being thrown into a psych ward. She enrolls at Winterhaven when she moves from her hometown, and finds herself in a school filled with students who possess abilities similar to hers.

She soon meets Aidan and finds herself drawn to him, as many others are as well. However he shows an interest in her too, and soon Violet begins to suspect that something is different with Aidan, and that his life may be in danger.

I enjoyed this book a lot. It was suspenseful. I was always wondering what the characters were hiding and what would happen next. Were they lying to each other? Did they really care about each other, or were they just getting close so that they'd be able to strike?

I liked the romance in this book. Violet and Aidan really had chemistry and they complimented each other well. Their feelings for each other were true and though they faced trials and pain, they always found their way back to each other. I also appreciated the lack of a love triangle and the development of the romance.

The only complaint I have about this book is that there were times when I felt like it was too Twilight-esque. Certain conversations were very similar to the ones found in the Twilight novel and I feel that they could have been revised or phrased differently to take away this literary deja vu, so to speak.

I recommend this novel to readers of YA paranormal romance looking for a book with a strong heroine and complex conflicts amongst characters who grow stronger through tough situations.

Find Haven on Goodreads

Beautiful Cover(s) of the Day!

The Matched Trilogy by Ally Condie has some of the simplest yet most visually appealing covers in YA dystopian fiction. The usage of simple colour schemes paired with the light background make them sure to stand out in the bookstore!

The blurb:

" In the Society, officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die.

Cassia has always trusted their choices. It’s hardly any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one…until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path no one else has ever dared follow—between perfection and passion.

Matched is a story for right now and storytelling with the resonance of a classic."

Find the Matched Trilogy on Goodreads 

Beautiful Cover(s) of the Day!

The Winter trilogy by Ruth Warburton has some of the undeniably most beautiful young adult book covers I have ever seen. The colours contrast perfectly and draw the eye to it, making it sure to stand out to readers. I haven't read the first one yet but it is on my shelf, partially thanks to the lovely cover that drew me in.

The blurb 

"The first in a taut supernatural trilogy filled with action, suspense, witchcraft, and complicated romance

Anna Winterson doesn't know she's a witch and would probably mock you for believing in magic, but after moving to the small town of Winter with her father, she learns more than she ever wanted to about power. When Anna meets Seth, she is smitten, but when she enchants him to love her, she unwittingly amplifies a deadly conflict between two witch clans and splits her own heart in two. She wants to love Seth, to let him love her—but if it is her magic that's controlling his passion, then she is as monstrous as the witch clan who are trying to use her amazing powers for their own gain. When love is tangled up in magic, how do you know what's real?"

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Crewel by Gennifer Albin

Series: Crewel World

Author: Gennifer Albin

Page Count: 368
Published: October 16th, 2012
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

5 Stars ★★★★★

Adelice lives in Arras, a world where weather, food, and everything else is monitored and controlled by Spinsters; people who manage the weave that makes up Arras.

Adelice has a secret. She can see and manipulate the weave without using a loom. Her parents have taught her all her life how to fail weaving tests so that when her testing day comes, she will not be taken to the Coventry to train as a Spinster. 

Unfortunately, she slips up during testing and is brought to the Coventry where she immediately makes enemies of Maela and Pryana and befriends Jost, the head valet. With Maela watching her every move and Pryana ready to strike at any moment, Adelice must be careful who she trusts, and she must make sure that nobody knows about her friendship with Jost.

Arras is not as it seems, the ruling Guild may have ulterior motives for every choice that they make, and for Adelice, one wrong move could cost her everything she has left.

I picked up this book because it sounded different. Imagine a world made of what is essentially fabric, controlled by a small amount of people (small in comparison to the entire population of Arras). I have to say, it was most definitely different and incredibly unique!

I loved the conspiracies that revolved around the Guild. Conspiracies are one of my favourite kinds of mysteries, and this book really nailed it. I was always wondering if the characters had secret motives for everything that they did, and about who Adelice could really trust....

The love triangle was perfect. It was balanced and obvious but it did not distract from the bigger story. If anything,  I sometimes forgot about the love triangle because I was so caught up in the mysteries surrounding Adelice's situation. 

Emotions run high in this book! The author has you feeling Adelice's every moment of happiness, fear, sorrow, and disgust as if they were your own feelings. I felt so empathetic for her and I was constantly rooting for her to outsmart the Guild. Other characters (whom I cannot name because it may be a spoiler) also go through situations where I was on the edge of my seat in fear, shock, and sadness for them. 

Adelice was a very likeable character. She had her flaws and her strengths, and I really connected with her. Her bravery and determination were admirable. The other characters were similarly likeable, or absolutely despicable. Others stood in the gray area and I couldn't decide if liked them or loathed them.

I have to mention the diversity in this book. The characters came from different backgrounds, enjoyed different things, were of all ages and had unique relationships. I am so grateful that the author included LGBTQ characters in this novel, and I loved that she used them to illustrate the idea that people are afraid of what they don't know. 

Not to point fingers, but I was looking through reviews on Barnes and Noble's website and came across one where the reviewer was upset that the author had included LGBTQ characters. She claimed that as a society we are losing our "morals". This made me admire the author of this book even more because she took a risk by including queer characters and portraying their relationship as equal to heterosexual relationships, but challenged by a bigoted government. I liked how when Adelice found out, she saw nothing wrong with their love and found the treatment of the couple unfair. Kudos to you, Gennifer Albin, from an LGBTQ person. 

This book also did a great job of reflecting the reality of harmful values, generally placed upon girls and women, often found in society. The author discusses these issues through the treatment of women in this book. Married women are expected to put their husband before everything else. Women are subjected to these ridiculous "purity standards" that they must keep up.

Overall, a great book! I loved it and I was surprised by how much it got to me. 

I recommend this books to fans of YA and dystopia especially if you're looking for a unique dystopian novel. If you want to read a book about questioning what you have been told and breaking free from society's boundaries, this book is for you.

Find Crewel on Goodreads.