The Diviners by Libba Bray

“Oh, Evie, you’re too much,” people said, and it wasn’t complimentary. Yes, she was too much. She felt like too much inside all the time. So why wasn’t she ever enough?”

After causing a scandal in her small Ohio town, Evie is sent to stay with her Uncle Will in New York City. This "punishment" actually suits her just fine, as Evie is one of those young flappers. She imagines that her stay will be nothing but parties, time with her old pal Mabel, and her name in the papers. What she didn't count on was murder.

Bodies have been found around the city. Certain body parts are missing and there are strange symbols at the crime scenes. The police enlist Will's help. Will runs a supernatural museum, known locally as the Museum of Creepy Crawlies. He is aided by Evie, who has a supernatural gift. When she touches someone's belongings, Evie gets visions. This gift got her in trouble back in Ohio, but it will help her catch the killer in New York.

There are several other characters with powers in The Diviners. Evie encounters Sam leaving the train station after first arriving in the city. He can make himself invisible at will. She holds a grudge against him because he steals twenty dollars from her, but he gets a job at Will's museum and they have a cordial animosity. Memphis used to heal people when he was a child, but he lost the power. Now he's involved with a speakeasy, running receipts. His younger brother has a powerful gift that Memphis wants to hide from his very religious aunt.

The Diviners is a very long book, but also very entertaining. Evie can be a little frivolous at times, but you can tell her heart is in the right place. The story switches between her and several different characters, including the killer. Separate storylines end up intersecting and coming together, which I always like. I look forward to reading the next books in this series to find out what happens to Evie and the rest of the Diviners.

Trouble Is a Friend of Mine by Stephanie Tromly

“You know it's going to be one of those nights when you start it with moving a body...”

Zoe and her mother moved to a small town after her parents divorced. However, she doesn't plan to stay very long. Her goal is to get into Princeton, and in order to get into Princeton, she plans to transfer to the fancy boarding school near her father's house. A complication messes everything up. The complication is in the form of a boy, though not in the way you'd expect.

Digby just shows up on Zoe's doorstep one day. He's a weird boy and Zoe dislikes him immediately. He seems to pop up wherever she goes, almost getting her into trouble at school. Digby reminded me a lot of Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock. He makes all kinds of deductions about people, all with the same lack of tact. Digby convinces Zoe to partner with him for a special independent project, but they never really do any work. Obviously, this freaks Zoe out to no end because: Princeton.

Instead, Digby wants to investigate the disappearance of a teenage girl, Marina Miller. Zoe finds out that Digby's sister, Alice, disappeared years earlier. The entire family was under suspicion, including Digby. The officer who worked on their case now works at their school. He uses his position of authority to harass Digby, and it seems really immoral and possibly illegal. When she learns his entire story, Zoe becomes more sympathetic and helpful. She sees that Digby wants to be known for something other than having a sister who was kidnapped.  

Before I read the book, it had been featured on lists that extolled its humor. I was expecting to laugh out loud, and I really did. I ended up liking Digby a lot, and Zoe was cool in her own type-A way. It was a fun mystery, and I am excited to read the next book in the series, Trouble Makes a Comeback.

I received my copy of Trouble Is a Friend of Mine from Edelweiss, courtesy of Kathy Dawson Books. It's available for purchase now.

The Leveller by Julia Durango

"I understand the temptation, I really do. But here's what happens. You get used to looking like a million bucks in the MEEP, and then...BAM! Game over. You're backslapped to reality and wake up with your same old blemishes, bedhead, and ratty sweatpants. All of a sudden you can't stand yourself. You've seen what your perfect self looks like in the MEEP, so when you look in the mirror now, all you see are your flaws.
You're just a sad, sorry replica of your pretend self.

Phoenix "Nixy" Bauer is a Leveller. Parents hire her to retrieve their children from the MEEP, a virtual reality gaming world. Gameplay is supposed to be limited, but cheats are available to play longer. When kids get too absorbed in the game, their parents sometimes need help getting them out. Nixy is just a lot cheaper than official Levellers. The job makes her unpopular with kids her age, but she has earned a good reputation among the parents. Her business motto is "Nixy Bauer, Home in an Hour."

Both of Nixy's parents work for the company that created the MEEP. The game's developer contacts Nixy in need of her skills. His son Wyn is lost in the game. Even worse, he left behind a suicide note. Many highly trained experts tried to get to him, but they all failed. Nixy is the last resort. If she doesn't get Wyn out, they will reset the system. Anybody using illegal codes could be physically affected, possibly resulting in brain damage or coma.

Nixy works her way through the maze between her and Wyn. It takes a long time and some clever strategy. Eventually, she finds Wyn only to realize that he is being held captive. To make matters worse, Nixy is now trapped as well. They have to figure out who is holding them and why in order to escape. 

The Leveller was pretty fun. It's got a lot of video game action, and there's a nice little romance between Nixy and Wyn. I liked Nixy, even though her name is kind of silly. She was funny and I like how hardcore she is. It will be interesting to see what new adventures await in the yet unnamed sequel.

I received my copy of The Leveller from Edelweiss, courtesy of Harper Collins. It's available for purchase now.

In the End by Demitria Lunetta

You can read my review of the first book in this series, In the After, here.

There are some spoilers for In the After, so proceed with caution.

The first book was about a world ravaged by aliens. The aliens have super hearing and they eat people. Amy survived in her family's hippie compound house, scavenging the neighborhood and being very quiet. During one of her trips, she found a toddler who she called Baby. They became like sister, developing a crude sign language to communicate without alerting the aliens. The pair eventually trusted the wrong person and the house was taking. They ended up at a government compound where Amy finds out that her mom is still alive, and that the aliens are actually people. They turned into giant green flesh-eating monsters as a result of an experiment with plant DNA. This is why the aliens, called Floraes, are more active in the daytime and they are green because of chlorophyll. Also, when they bite people the person is infected and turned into a florae. Amy helps when a group of floraes are let into the compound, then she leaves to be on her own because there are people in the compound who want to kill her.

Now, Amy has been living on her own again. She still has some tech from New Hope: a scanner to repel florae, lightweight bodysuit so they can't bite her, and a headset for communication. One night she receives a message that the evil doctor took Baby. Baby, real name Hannah, had been bitten as part of the experiments. She never changed, so she is an important part of finding a cure. Amy immediately leaves her safe haven for Fort Black, the prison where she will find the man with information on Baby's whereabouts.

The fun thing that isn't fun about the prison is that it's being run by guards and inmates- horrible, rapey inmates. Amy no sooner enters the prison when she is almost raped. She is saved by a nice, non-rapey guy named Jacks (Short for Jackson). The second fun thing that isn't fun is that the women are treated terribly. In order to not be raped, women need to belong to a man and get a tattoo of the man's name on their arm. Of course, Amy isn't into that, but Jacks helps her out by pretending to be with her.

Things go from terrible to even worse at Fort Black. Amy's rapey nemesis targets her, planning to rape and murder her. As usual, Amy also uncovers some bad stuff going on behind the scenes that makes her a target, and lots of people end up dead. In the end, she has to return to New Hope to save Baby, a place where half the people want her dead.

In the End definitely made me angry. Fort Black and its misogynistic, rapey culture had me enraged. I like Amy because she is a strong and self sufficient female character, and she doesn't disappoint here. Jacks was the only decent male in Fort Black, and you can't help but hope that things work out with those two. The second book really deals more with the monsters that are post-disaster people rather than the actual monsters. I liked the first one more, but In the End was a pretty good conclusion to the series.

I received my copy of In the End from Edelweiss, courtesy of HarperTeen. It's available for purchase now.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

“You can be Han Solo," he said, kissing her throat. "And I'll be Boba Fett. I'll cross the sky for you.”

Eleanor and Park first meet on the bus. Eleanor transferred late in the year, after everyone already claimed their seats. Nobody wants to give up their single seat, especially for a girl like her. She's tall and chubby, with big red hair and strange clothes. Eventually, after much hesitation, Park lets her sit next to him.

At first, they ignore each other. Park reads comic books, then he notices Eleanor reading over his shoulder. He starts to bring titles to read with her, and even lends her comics to read on her own. Eventually, they start talking about comics, music, and more. It's adorable stuff, stuff that made me laugh and feel all happy inside.

The book also deals with very unhappy subjects. As the book progresses, we find out about Eleanor's horrible stepfather. I won't get into too many details, but he was the reason that Eleanor moved away for a year. At school, she is being bullied. Her clothes are taken from her gym locker and someone writes crude things on her books. Park is hesitant to be with Eleanor because of the bullying, afraid to become a victim himself. In time, he only wants to be with her and he tries to get the other kids to back off, to varied success.

I love how Eleanor & Park is so different from a lot of YA fiction. I have seen a lot of manic pixie dream girls and Mary Sues (By which I mean Bella Swan), but not many with whom I can relate. A lot of the bullying and the trauma of the bus actually happened to me. I was, and still am, the chubby girl. Because of this, I fell in love with Eleanor & Park. It's two misfit teenagers falling in love over The Watchmen and The Cure. It's being in high school and falling in love and growing up and happy endings and sad goodbyes, all rolled up into a book, a book that you should definitely read.

I received my copy of Eleanor & Park from Edelweiss, courtesy of St. Martin's Press. It's available for purchase now.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

I initially rejected The Girl of Fire and Thorns. It was the bit about the jewel in her navel. "I used to have a Treasure Troll when I was a kid! That sounds la-ame." Later, I suddenly decided that I had to read the book. A plus-sized princess turns into a warrior? Sign me up for that!

Elisa is the younger of two princesses, and she feels that she is the lesser of the two because she is fat and less adept at politics. She is also the chosen one, the bearer of the Godstone. Her destiny is to perform a great act of service. In the past, the great act of service involved the early death of the bearer.

On her sixteenth birthday, Elisa is married off to the king of a faraway land. It's basically a political deal between her father and King Alejandro. Alejandro is kind but he doesn't take her seriously, and he doesn't love her. Not a lot of people see her worth, including Elisa herself.

I liked the concept of a plus-sized heroine. Honestly, I was a little disappointed that Elisa would stuff herself at emotional moments and constantly ate sweet foods. Then she gets a little self confidence, drops some weight, and doesn't eat anymore. It's not a very good lesson. Overall, I enjoyed the story. The Godstone was very compelling. Elisa sometimes annoyed me, but I liked having a weak character grow stronger throughout the book.

This Is a Book by Demetri Martin

I'll always remember my first taste of Demetri Martin. He was a guest on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, which you young whippersnappers might not remember. I recorded the performance with an oldy-timey doohickey called a VCR. Later, I added more guest appearances by Demetri Martin to the tape. I enjoyed his one liners and deadpan humor, both accompanied by a guitar and unaccompanied. This was my new ideal for comedy, and I took Demetri Martin and placed him in a special place in my heart where he could do no wrong (Is that weird?).

This Is a Book contains short stories, illustrations, and lists. Considering my love of Demetri Martin, I am hardly an unbiased judge. Yet, at the same time, I don't lie. This Is a Book is hilarious. I read it in the break room and disturbed my co-workers with my laughter. I read it at home and disturbed my cats with my laughter. I read it at the car dealership and attempted to keep my laughter under control so I could convince them I would make a sane car purchaser.

The only thing that would make this book better would be having Demetri Martin reading it in person.

Gossip Girl: Nobody Does It Better by Cecily von Ziegesar

Let's call this little bit of trash a palate cleanser. Who am I kidding, though? I love the "Gossip Girl" television show, and not even in the guilty pleasure way that I love "Glee." I'm kind of ashamed to watch "Glee" sometimes, but I love every second of "Gossip Girl." It's trashy, but from my first reading of the book series, I have to say that the book series is far, far worse. Everyone is horrible.

Gossip Girl is a blog that follows the lives of a bunch of high school students. On the show, GG is voiced by Kristen Bell and pretty much says catty/nonsensical things at the commercial breaks. In the books, she has her spottings of the big players and infers that she herself is involved in the world somehow, most likely a student the same age.

In this, the seventh installment of the series, we find the older kids in their senior year of high school. Blair Waldorf, my favorite character on the show and really despite all her bitchiness, the least despicable character in the book, is wait-listed at Yale. Yale is her dream school and she even named her baby sister Yale. Blair and boyfriend Nate have recently started having sex and she moves out to be able to have more sex with Nate. Unfortunately, Nate is too busy getting stoned, hijacking his parents' boat, and playing Oreos checkers for kisses with some French girl, so he and Blair break up again.

Vanessa Abrams, always my least favorite character, is looking for a roommate. She interviews some guy that she falls in love with. He wants to get to know her before committing to anything, and long story short, takes her to this house where artists have been putting on a party for months, a party involving performance art and cutting off fingers. Vanessa was this arty girl with a shaved head who instantly rejected any normal Constance Billard and upper east side stuff, but even she is weirded out.

Dan Humphrey was recruited by the Raves, this really popular band that makes me think of Vampire Weekend. He apparently got very drunk and started singing at Vanessa's 18th birthday, and they loved his horrid poetry. His plot involves shaving his neck, dressing like a little gangster rapper, and screaming, "Crack me like an egg." Oh, and throwing up onstage and getting kicked out of the band in favor of his little sister.

His sister, Jenny, has one...make that two characteristics and they are attached to her chest. Every chapter, pretty much every other paragraph, it's all about Jenny's boobs. So, Jenny is hanging out with the Raves (Underaged! Boobs!) and doing everything she can to disobey her father. Why would she be doing that? Well, Little J wants to go to boarding school to be just like Serena and to do that, she has to misbehave. It's dumb.

Serena VanDerWoodsen pretty much just exists in her immaculate perfection. She is trying to think of a way to tell Blair that she decided to go to Yale for college. (She got into Yale, Stoner Nate got into Yale, but poor straight-A Blair is wait-listed.)

Finally, the awesome Chuck Bass only showed up in a few scenes. He was wearing a jumpsuit and carrying a tote back containing a snow monkey (!) named Sweetie. And apparently, because he didn't get into college, his parents are sending him to military school. Can that actually happen? I really want to know.

The book ends with Blair and Vanessa becoming roomies and actually getting along, Vanessa dating Blair's step-brother, Blair and Nate broken up, Serena and Nate together, and Jenny on her way to boarding school.

It kind of amazed me how the lower class Brooklyn people were kind of worse than the UES people. The Humphreys are just awful people. (And I have never seen a man wear a barrette in my life, but it happened at least twice in this book.) There's brand names and designers flung around all over the place. Still, it was trashy and I liked it. This review was like when I would try to summarize the plots of "Passions," which I would only do in my head or in my online journal, but still, fun.