The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

Humans waste words. They toss them like banana peels and leave them to rot.
Everyone knows the peels are the best part.

The cover of this book pulled me in from the moment I saw it at my bookstore. I read the description over and over, and I teared up every time. When the library acquired the ebook, I absolutely had to read it.

Ivan is a gorilla who lives in a roadside mall, and he is telling us his story. I assume that the book takes place in the 1950s or 1960s, because there don't seem to be very many rules for keeping exotic animals in malls. The whole thing is a bit depressing. There aren't very many visitors to the mall anymore, and the owner has been sad since his wife died. Ivan's closest friends are an old elephant with a bad leg, Stella, and a stray dog, Bob. Ivan loves to draw and paint, he has since he was a baby in the jungle. His paintings are sold in the gift shop, but it's not enough.

In order to drum up business, the mall buys a baby elephant named Ruby. She is cute and inquisitive and absolutely miserable living in a tiny enclosure and learning tricks. Stella's leg gets worse, and she eventually passes away. Her final wish is for Ivan to get Ruby out of the mall, to a zoo where she can be with other elephants. The only question is how one gorilla can accomplish this fairly massive feat.

I'm just a teensy bit older than the intended audience, but I really enjoyed the book. I've always had a soft spot for animals, so I am sure I would have cried as much when I was still a kid as I cried now. It's also interesting how Ivan was based on a real gorilla, also named Ivan. This is the only book I've ever read with a gorilla as the narrator. The story can be heartbreaking, but Ivan adds a lot of humor as well. Ivan's story isn't one you can soon forget.

Here is the fantastic book trailer, featuring a lot of the fantastic illustrations.

Arise by Tara Hudson

I read Hereafter last year. It wasn't awful, just a nice tale of a dead girl and the living boy with whom she falls in love (On the next Maury...sorry, couldn't help myself. Actually, I'd really like to see that show). My review from the first installment is here. I have seen a lot of sequels on Netgalley and Edelweiss, and it bums me out when they are for series that I haven't read (Though even more when I acquire them and then find out that they are part of a series I haven't read). When I saw Arise, I was just excited that I'd read the first one. Happily, I like the second book even better.

In Hereafter, Amelia was a wandering spirit, all alone until the day she saw Joshua fall into the same river in which she died. She helps save him, he can see her, they fall in love. Throughout the book, he helps her to remember who she was, and at the end they figure out the truth about her death, and who killed her. In Arise, Amelia is still spending a lot of time with Joshua, but she is starting to worry. He has been avoiding his living friends and spends all his time with her. As much as she wishes things were different, Amelia knows that they can't have a future. It becomes even more apparent when she finds out that the evil spirits of the bridge (where she died) have been looking for her. They will use Joshua and his family to get Amelia to join the dark side.

All that, plus Amelia has been dematerializing randomly. She cannot control when she leaves or where she goes. Joshua and his family are taking a vacation to New Orleans for the holidays. It looks like Amelia will be able to escape the baddies and maybe find some ghostly answers. Plus she plans on leaving Joshua forever. Let's just say that New Orleans brings some changes. It gets interesting.

I received my copy of Arise from Edelweiss, courtesy of Harper Collins. It's available now.

Legend by Marie Lu

They are practically polar opposites. June was born to a rich family and got the only perfect score ever on her test. Day is a legendary criminal, infamous for his anti-Republic actions. In reality, he is a poor young man trying to care for his family. His younger brother falls ill from the plague, so Day breaks into a hospital for the cure.

By the time the dust settles, June's brother was killed while trying to stop Day. She will do everything in her power to hunt this legend down. She leaves her privileged life and goes undercover on the streets. She soon befriends a young man, a young man who turns out to be Day.

That's when things get complicated. June is only looking to avenge her brother, but Day is only looking to help his family. And, as always, there are yet more secrets and lies hidden underneath the surface. Maybe Day isn't the villain that June should be stopping.

I was really excited to read this book, but I ended up a bit disappointed for two reasons. First, because it's part of a series. Yes, everything is, but I still don't have to like it. I want more story and I want it now. Second, I felt that the Day legend was a little over hyped. I know June is some super soldier genius, but it seemed way to easy for her to find, and then manipulate, Day. Maybe that's less a flaw and more of a statement on how Day is really just a boy and not a legend. Part of me wishes that instead of alternating June/Day narrative, we just got June's point of view. Then we would have heard of this mythic boy, and when we met him, we wouldn't know whether to trust him or not. Both sides is almost revealing too much to make a compelling story. Sorry, just a random thought. I really don't believe that I know better than the actual author. I really did like Legend and I want to continue with the series when the next books finally come out.

Getting Over Garrett Delaney by Abby McDonald

It's not really a new story. The girl falls for the guy. She hangs on his every word, supports him through good times and bad times, all of his relationships and break-ups. She knows that if she just stays by his side, one day he will wake up and see that she is the one, the one true love of his life.

So the story begins with Sadie and her best friend, the titular Garrett Delaney. They both like the same movies (Foreign, art house, Criterion stuff) and laugh at silly peppy people like Sadie's ex-best-friend Kayla. There is nothing that Sadie likes that isn't Garrett-approved.

Over the summer, Garrett is away at writing camp. Sadie hopes that this will be when he realizes that what he's been looking for has been in front of him the whole time. Sure enough, Garrett calls and tells her that he is in love...but, he's not in love with her.

What follows is a girl picking herself up after a breakup that never actually happened. Sadie has been so obsessed with Garrett for so long, that it's hard to tell where he ends and she begins. With the help of Kayla and some new friends from her summer job, Sadie starts to figure out how to be Sadie, and how to finally get over Garrett Delaney.

I wanted to read this book because the Fug Girls really liked it on Go Fug Yourself. At first, I was worried that it would be some communication gaff, that Garrett was in love with Sadie and she assumed otherwise. Then she would spend all that time "getting over" him, but they would end up together in the end. I really loved that they didn't do that. This book is fantastic, a perfect summer read in my book. I love that it combines self actualization with makeovers and teen movie fests. The dialogue is so funny that I actually laughed while reading, out in public and everything.

I received my copy of Getting Over Garrett Delaney from Netgalley, courtesy of Candlewick Press. It has been out for a long time now, but it took me a while to read it and even longer to review it. You can still pick it up before the summer ends, for all your beach reading needs :)

Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life by Bryan Lee O'Malley

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was my favorite movie of 2010. It's funny and quirky and I just love it. I always wanted to read the graphic novels that inspired the movie, so when the new full-color version of Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life was available on Netgalley, I jumped at the chance.

Basically, the graphic novel and the movie are practically identical. I felt a little disappointed because I already knew the jokes and stuff. It wasn't too bad because I like the jokes. Scott is 22 and in the band Sex Bob-omb. He is dating a 17-year-old, but then he meets Ramona Flowers, the girl of his dreams. Ramona comes with baggage in the form of seven evil exes. In order to date Ramona, Scott will have to battle them to the death.

Precious Little Life introduces the story and shows the battle with the first ex. It was a very fast read. I find graphic novels to breeze by, and they almost feel more like watching a movie than actually reading to me. So, that is my theory for why the book and movie seem so identical. I highly recommend both the Scott Pilgrim movie and the books. I plan to read further into the series myself.

I received my full-color ebook of Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life from Netgalley, courtesy of Oni Press. It will be available August 8th.

Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown

Mother may I go out to swim?
Yes, my darling daughter.
Fold your clothes up neat and trim,
But don't go near the water.

You may think you know mermaids. These are not your typical mermaids, these aren't your little mermaids or Ariels. These mermaids will hold you underwater while they devour the life force from your body. These mermaids hold a grudge and they will make you pay.

Calder White is the sole merman in his family. His three sisters call him home to Lake Superior with news that Jason Hancock has returned. Jason Hancock is the man they have been hunting for years. His father promised him as payment when their mother saved his life. Now Calder and his sisters are going to collect that debt by killing Jason Hancock.

They plan to get close to him through his daughters. Unfortunately, the older daughter, Lily, gets to Calder. Soon enough, they are bonding through Tennyson and Bronte poems (I love when characters fall in love over poetry!). Then Calder is in a real bind. He has to consider his loyalty to his mother and his family, plus he will finally be free from his sisters once they kill Jason Hancock. Yet he loves Lily and knows that she will be devastated if he kills her father.

The premise of this book was what initially intrigued me. I don't know of any other mermaid books out there yet. Killer mermaids are indeed a scary concept. The book had me from that starting point. They almost lost me at a couple points along the way, but overall I enjoyed this story. Scary mermaids, vendettas, mythology, (love) poetry, and sooo many secrets and lies, this book basically has everything. Imagine what a great beach read it would make, though it might make you a little skittish about taking a swim.

I received my copy of Lies Beneath from Netgalley, courtesy of Delacorte Books. It will be available June 12th.

Bad Hair Day by Carrie Harris

Kate's back after just defeating the zombie apocalypse through the use of SCIENCE! Now, she is taking a special program that allows students to shadow doctors and surgeons at the local hospital. Kate is assigned to work in the morgue, but soon after her mentor is arrested for murder. Dun dun dun.

Someone, or something, mauled a man to death. Soon after, a young woman is killed the same way. Then Kate's best friend's boyfriend is attacked. He lost a lot of blood, and whoever attacked him was very strong, and very hairy. The football team just turned into zombies, but could these murders be the work of werewolves? Yes, well, sort of...

It's pretty cool how these books have very scientific explanations for seemingly supernatural problems. I wanted to read this right after I read Bad Taste in Boys, just to be able to stay in the same universe. I think I like this book even better than the first one. Kate ends up having to deal with her internship, a charity event she keeps having to bail on, jealousy because Aaron (Now her boyfriend, score one for us nerdy girls!) is being pursued by his buxom classmate at his internship, and then the whole werewolf issue. Yet again, this book was short and incredibly fun and funny. Please, Carrie Harris, keep writing more books in this series.

I received my copy of Bad Hair Day from Edelweiss, courtesy of Delacorte Press. It will be available November 13th, 2012.