A Surprise from Maureen Johnson

Maureen Johnson, author of 13 Little Blue Envelopes and The Last Little Blue Envelope (to be released April 26th) has announced that she will offer a FREE download of 13 Little Blue Envelopes from April 12 to April 25. Here's the link to her blog for more information.

Here's your chance to get in on the fun! For free!

Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson
Simon & Schuster, 2010
343 pages
Book Source: Public Library

Since the death of Amy's father, her family has gone their separate ways, literally. Her mother has started a new job in Connecticut and her twin brother is in rehab in North Carolina, leaving Amy to finish her junior year of high school in California. At the end of the school year, Amy's mother hires Roger to drive Amy from CA to CT in four days and provides them with an itinerary to follow. When the new duo decide to deviate from the route, Amy's summer finally looks like it will be interesting.

Judging by the cover...: I like that there are no faces shown, but I'm not so keen on the hand holding. When I first glanced at it, I thought this story would be all about the romance. Luckily, the cover lies.

Favorite Elements:

• Road Trip! - I'm all about traveling in books, especially if the characters are going to real places. I've never been any farther West than the DFW area, so to hear about California, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado was very interesting.
• Journals - Amy's mother sends her a road trip journal before the journey begins, and Amy is faithful about filling it out. The journal includes pictures, receipts, and information about each state, and a copy of Roger's carefully picked out soundtracks for each state. I felt at times that I was right there with Amy experiencing the road trip with her and even hummed some of the songs in the soundtrack while reading.
  
• Food - For someone who's constantly hungry, all of the talk about delicious food was almost torture! At each stop, Amy and Roger make sure to taste the local fare. In and Out Burger, Chick-fil-a, and Sonic make appearances, along with loose meat hamburgers from Kansas and Derby Pie from Kentucky.

Overall (out of 5): 3.75
Amy and Roger both take multiple journeys during the book, becoming more at peace with themselves as well as others, allowing themselves to change before the reader's eyes. This change, however is so gradual that it's almost the end before you realize what has hit you. After going through this cross country journey with Amy and Roger, I almost feel as if we're best friends. We went experienced the highs and suffered the lows together and made it out in one piece, each of us growing with the experience. Matson has a style of writing that draws the reader in, making them forget that they are actually at home reading instead of in a car for hours at a time. If I hadn't just been on an exhausting road trip myself last year I might consider going on one after this story.

Recommendation: This is a great book for those who want to travel the country without really making the epic journey that it is. Those readers who would like a little romance, but not so powerful that it smacks you in the heart will find a fulfilling story here, too.

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Wither by Lauren DeStefano
Simon & Schuster, 2011
368 pages 
Note: This was an advanced reader's copy.

In the not too distant future, humans attempted to genetically alter their children to be a race of super-humans. Something went wrong in the procedure, however, and now men only live to the age of 25, women to the age of 20, everyone dying from the same horrible disease. Orphans have overrun the streets and ne'er-do-wells earn a living snatching young women off the streets to be sold into polygamous marriages (or worse).
Rhine finds herself Gathered and sold to Linden Ashby, a rich 21-year-old man with a sinister father intent on finding a cure for the disease, or so he says. She is now held captive in the mansion, with only her two sister wives and a forbidden friendship with a servant to keep her company. Her only goal is to escape by any means necessary and find her way back to her twin brother.

Judging by the cover...: OMG Mandy Moore is on the cover! Okay, not really, but that's seriously what I thought when I first saw the cover up close. Aside from Mandy's cameo, this cover is gorgeous and packs quite a bit of meaning in its simple scene. 
 
Favorite Elements: 

• Cinna-style - Remember Cinna from The Hunger Games? If you don't, you probably haven't read the book. I'll wait while you go read it... Welcome back. So remember Cinna? I know! How could anyone not love him? He obviously imparted some wisdom on the wives' personal servants at the Ashby mansion. The wedding gowns sounded down right heavenly and though would not be enough to convince me to marry the man who kidnapped me and two other girls, it would certainly be tempting.
• Rhine's Sister Wives - I often imagine wives in polygamous marriages to be catty and ruthless concerning each other, similar to living in an all girls' dorm in college (and I did that for three years!). But Jenna and Cecily aren't half bad, considering the circumstances.
• Fancy Dress Parties - Sigh, what I wouldn't give for a chance to show off my Cinna-inspired gown complete with dancing flames and butterflies (a girl can dream, can't she?) at an upscale ball with free-flowing Champagne amid endless holograms and television cameras. 

Overall (out of 5): 4.5
I almost did not read this book, and if I hadn't, I would have missed out on DeStefano's crazy, creepy, fantastically rich world. Thankfully, an ARC copy landed in my hands, and from the moment I saw that beautiful cover up close I was hooked. Rhine's life is filled with such ups and downs, you'd think you were on a roller coaster. Just when I felt like all was wrong wrong wrong, Rhine would describe an invention so awe-inspiring, I'd instantly be filled with jealousy, such as the swimming pool with underwater holograms to make it feel as though you were swimming on the ocean floor. Rhine herself doesn't want to get too comfortable, and that feeling extends to the reader with the anachronistic feel to the story. The words and mannerisms often felt as if Rhine was living in the 19th century, but then she'd slip on a pair of jeans and sneakers and join her sister wives for a game of putt-putt. When I finished, I found myself hopelessly daydreaming about the day the sequel comes out.
  
Recommendations: Readers who were looking for more depth in Bumped by Megan McCafferty will enjoy submersing themselves in Rhine's world, and readers who enjoy asking themselves, "What would I do if I were that character?" will find that they can not stop reading until its finished.

Bumped by Megan McCafferty

Bumped by Megan McCafferty
Balzer + Bray, 2011
336 pages
Note: This was an advanced reader's copy from NetGalley.com. The release date is April 26, 2011.

Let's imagine for a second that a terrible virus has rendered all adults over the age of 20 infertile, and the only demographic that can reproduce is teenagers. Scary? You bet. But for Melody and her recently discovered identical twin sister, Harmony, it's reality. In their world, condoms are illegal, preteen girls wear t-shirts with provocative sayings and fake baby bumps underneath, and prospective parents hire genetically pleasing teens to mate and sell their babies.

Melody is one of the only girls in her school to have no births to her name. Her agent continues to assure her that he's just waiting for the right guy to match her with, but life becomes almost unbearable as her classmates ridicule her. Harmony has just shown up on Melody's doorstep after running away from her sheltered life on a conservative Christian enclave. Add in Zen, Melody's long time guy friend, who is making the celibacy clause in her contract extremely difficult to uphold, and Harmony's shocking secret, and things start to get a little crazy.

Judging by the cover...: I'm not crazy about it, but I will admit that it's simplicity is appealing. That there's no model on the cover is nice, too, as I never like having my visions of characters influenced.

Favorite Elements:

• MiNets - Each author of a sci-fi novel envisions technology that we'll have in the future. They might have the same concept as one another, but individual elements differ. The member's of Melody's society relies on MiNets to keep them updated on the world around them and talk to each other by video chat. There are school enforced blinds that ensure students pay attention in classes (wouldn't it be great it schools had that now?) and varying degrees of privacy. They bear enough of a resemblance to smart phones to be a believable step in the future, and I'd be totally cool with that development.
• Avatarcades - 4D videogaming exists in the future! This is a RPG player's dream! They sound an awful lot like Second Life on a grander scale, but that's okay. If I can walk around and actually BE whoever I want, bring on the future.
• Zen - I couldn't have imagined a more sensitive, selfless, and handsome boy if I tried. Too bad guys like that didn't exist when I was in high school! It would have made for a much more pleasant experience.

Overall (out of 5): 2.5
I don't want to give this the score I did. I wanted this to be the most awesome book I read all year. The truth is, I just couldn't get into it. I found myself skimming Harmony's parts (there's only so much "Oh my grace!" I can take, and spending slightly longer periods of time on Melody's. She's much easier to relate to, and by the end I might have even been honored to call her my friend. The superficial air and relentless sexual humor can be overwhelmingly nauseating, and I was disappointed that the novel did not have same snappy cleverness as McCafferty's Jessica Darling series (which is a must read for every woman who grew up in the 1990s).

However. And this is a big one. McCafferty answers her question with an alarmingly possible theory. I can absolutely see this happening in our society should the human race be struck with the same infertility virus. With MTV's reality show about teen moms and Bristol Palin getting so much attention, it feels like we're halfway there. This all too real possibility is what kept me reading.

Recommendation: Bumped's satire is not for everyone. Though it may not have resonated with me, anyone who fits the unique reader requirements and/or enjoys delving into future possibilities will find it fascinating.