Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott Giveaway

At the end of last year, I had the pleasure of reading the latest release from beloved author Elizabeth Scott titled Heartbeat. I was so impressed with this title that I decided to host a giveaway of it. Per Amazon.com, this title releases today January 28. However The Book Depository is currently listing a release date of February 28. Therefore this will be a preorder for an international winner while I will go through Amazon for a US winner.

1. There will be 1 winner, who must have a mailing address in a country where Book Depository ships (or it will be through Amazon if US). So this contest is international :)
2. You must be 13 years of age or older or use parental information to enter.
3. To enter, you must merely leave your email; there are extra optional entries for following, tweeting, and commenting
4. Contest ends February 11 at midnight, EST per Rafflecopter standards
5. Winner will be contacted via email by February 13 and will have 48 hours to respond with book selection and address or else I will move on to the next person. I pledge to keep your address confidential and to delete it as soon as I have shipped your book.
6. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below or email me at bookworm1858@hotmail.com. Thanks for celebrating with me :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

ARC Review: Grandmaster

by David Klass
4/5 stars
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014
227 pages
YA Contemporary
Scheduled to release February 25

Source: Received an e-ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Whew-who would have thought the world of chess could be so traumatizing and draining? I sure didn't when I picked up this book. Last week I featured Grandmaster in my Waiting on Wednesday post highlighting its unique focus on chess, something I don't remember seeing covered in a YA title before.

The plot is very simple. Daniel is a newbie in chess club who is recruited to participate at an elite Father-Son tournament with the senior captains because his father Morris is a grandmaster, completely unbeknownst to Daniel himself. The pair attends, digging up repressed memories and regrets while making new memories and bonding with each other.

As I said, I was amazed by how stressful chess can apparently be. The members of each team play five games with their rank constantly being assessed and updated, fluctuating every time as the mighty and overconfident fall and the humble and clever prevail. Daniel, despite being a virtual newbie, manages to eke out a few wins but the stress his father pushes himself through overshadows all. This was what I found so striking. It seems as if sitting and concentrating so intently are far more dangerous than I would have assumed, leading to neurotic breaks and seriously unhappy lives. Morris got out as a child and hid that side of himself from his wife, searching for a peaceful life with a spouse, children, and a steady predictable income. Playing these games against those eager for blood pushes him almost past the breaking point.

Though the father's dark journey plays an important role, it is counterbalanced by some lighter teenage moments. Daniel is a freshman and supremely awkward yet he manages to navigate a new relationship while the two older boys have challenging relationships with their own demanding fathers contrasting with Morris' more low-key approach. I'll admit that I preferred these lighter moments needing them to make it through Morris' demons.

Overall: An intriguing psychological novel that has several unique touches setting it apart from other titles on the shelf: the strong father-son relationship, a relatively compressed time frame as we cover just a weekend, and of course the chess angle. I would probably recommend this solely to fans of contemporary titles rather than those who lean more toward fantasy.

Ramblings and the Week to Come 26JAN14

Ramblings:
Work is ramping up and I continue to be distracted and thus having difficulty reading outside of work. So this might end up being a pretty quiet week on the blog. However I did have the chance to see another Best Picture nominee, The Wolf of Wall Street. Going in to it, I was very nervous about its running time, listed as 2 hour and 59 minutes. But I thought the pacing was well-done and I was surprised by how many comedic bits there were. While Leonardo DiCaprio carries the bulk of the film and Jonah Hill has a sizable supporting role, I was most impressed by smaller roles from Matthew McConaughey and Kyle Chandler (Dillon Forever!) as well as Margot Robbie formerly of "Pan Am." It is definitely an R-rated movie with an excess of drugs, nudity, and cursing so be aware if that's not your kind of film.

I'm also really excited for the Grammys tonight. That tends to be my least favorite of the major award shows but right now it's looking like it might have some performances I'll really enjoy. There is a rumor that Beyonce and Jay-Z will open with "Drunk in Love," a song with which I'm obsessed. As for the awards themselves, I am rooting for Taylor Swift as always and am excited about the possibility that she'll be performing "All Too Well," the standout from her Red Tour.

Week to Come:
Grandmaster review
Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott giveaway
Waiting on Wednesday post-on what am I waiting this week?

And that's it! What's going on with you?

Anyone But You

by Kim Askew and Amy Helmes
4/5 stars
Merit Press, 2014
222 pages
YA Contemporary Retelling

Source: Received an e-ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Last year I had the pleasure of reviewing the first two books in the Twisted Lit series, Tempestuous and Exposure, which tackled Shakespeare's plays "The Tempest" and "Macbeth" respectively. They made me wish I was more familiar with the source material so I was pleased that this third book was inspired by "Romeo and Juliet" because that is one play I know very well and I feel like the opposing feuds can translate into a modern context well.

As I suspected, the antipathy between the two families (rendered here as the Caputos and the Montes) was strong and fairly popped off the page. However in this retelling, we get a peek at the origin of the feud in alternating flashback chapters. Personally I found those historical chapters more engaging than the contemporary love story-we get a peek at a World's Fair, Pearl Harbor, and one character manages to survive a Japanese prison camp. The origins of the feud aren't particularly engaging but the ending chapters where a participant comes to grips with his pointless anger are incredibly touching.

I found ostensible main character Gigi to be a bit dull and her romance with Roman is love at first sight with what felt like insufficient meat to justify their relationship and the drive they have to end the feud to celebrate their love openly. Maybe I would have liked it more if I hadn't been comparing it to the historical chapters, which packed more of a punch for me. The comparable Paris character is a real creep, adding a new twist to this old story and the outside confessors Gigi appeals to were incredibly appealing (I suggest Chef and Carmen are similar to Juliet's Nurse and Friar Lawrence in the original play).

What this book excelled at for me was highlighting the pointlessness of carrying a grudge. The character who does comes to regret it immensely especially the damage it has wrought on several generations. It is to be hoped that future generations can heal and bring their families together to overcome the tragic rift.

Overall: Another strong entry in the Twisted Lit series and I bet it will prove to be a popular one due to its "Romeo and Juliet" inspiration.

ARC Review: Perfect Lies

by Kiersten White
4/5 stars
HarperTeen, 2014
232 pages
YA Paranormal Sisters
Scheduled to release February 18

Source: Received an e-ARC through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

Last year Mind Games won me over with its focus on a pair of sisters, its fast pace, and unusual structure. It also left me with a ton of questions that were going to require answers in this sequel in order to keep me engaged with the characters and story.

Again the sister-sister relationship is what pulled me in. As I continue to struggle with my limited attention span, it was difficult to straighten out the crazy timeline in this book (though that got simpler as more was revealed) but that connection between Fia and Annie sucks me in every time. In fact I would say that everything I like most about this book is due to that crazy connection. I'm pretty sure I relate so strongly just because I have a sister no matter how different our relationship is. I also feel pretty confident that if this relationship doesn't ring true for you, this book will be a difficult read.

Also you should definitely read Mind Games first and what you did or did not like in that book is pretty much here too. For example, the writing captures the twitchiness (for lack of a better word) of the characters and it feels like it was written in just as much of a whirlwind as Mind Games. It feels darker than White's earlier Paranormalcy trilogy due to the dark nature of the paranormal powers and how they have been directed. Furthermore there are the extremely difficult decisions the girls must face as they grapple with their "fate."

As for me, I wished for more answers to my questions and I'm not sure they were as answered as they could have been. However that killer portrayal of sisters has me hooked! Between that and the twisty timeline jumping narrative, I don't even really need anything else.

Overall: I think you will like this book if you enjoyed the first but best to avoid if not.

Waiting on Wednesday: Grandmaster

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine

For 2014, I wanted to try posting some more memes so I'm planning to participate in at least a few WoWs a month, continuing with today's pick:

Grandmaster by David Klass

Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

Releases February 25, 2014

Goodreads | Barnes and Noble | Amazon

Freshman Daniel Pratzer gets a chance to prove himself when the chess team invites him and his father to a weekend-long parent-child tournament. Daniel, thinking that his father is a novice, can’t understand why his teammates want so badly for them to participate. Then he finds out the truth: as a teen, his father was one of the most promising young players in America, but the pressures of the game pushed him too far, and he had to give up chess to save his own life and sanity. Now, thirty years later, Mr. Pratzer returns to the game to face down an old competitor and the same dark demons that lurk in the corners of a mind stretched by the demands of the game. Daniel was looking for acceptance—but the secrets he uncovers about his father will force him to make some surprising moves himself, in Grandmaster by David Klass.

I'm a big fan of YA contemporary stories and I think chess is fascinating to read about though I don't much like playing the game myself. I have a copy downloaded through Netgalley so will post a review closer to that date. Have you heard of this one? Is it something you'd want to read?

 

ARC Review: Uninvited

by Sophie Jordan
4/5 stars
HarperTeen, 2014
384 pages
YA Dystopia
Scheduled to release January 28

Source: Received an e-ARC through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

Sophie Jordan came on to my radar through her Firelight trilogy, which gave me utterly addictive writing, a fascinating dragon premise, and a swoonworthy boy named Will. So obviously I was going to be interested when I heard she had a new YA series coming soon.

At its heart is a simple premise: a kill gene has been discovered (formally known as Homicidal Tendency Syndrome (HTS)) and a test is being implemented to identify who has it in their genes. A panicked populace encourages the using of this test and soon groups are being culled from the general population as the government struggles to maintain control in cities where outraged "killers" take over.

Davy seems to be the golden girl, destined for a beautiful life of music until she is identified as possessing the kill gene and her life is radically upturned as she is sent to a public school with other "killers." Some certainly seem to fit the profile, threatening to rape and/or kill Davy on first meeting while others seem more nebbish. The first half of the book deals with Davy and her family processing (or refusing to process) this information and adjusting to the new reality. Hints of the larger world indicate that the situation is escalating, which is further reinforced by snippets of interviews, government orders, etc. that are interspersed throughout the chapters.

In the second half Davy, love interest Sean (who has his own intimidation factor) and dweeby Gil are among a select group chosen to attend a government training facility where their presumed predilection for killing will be encouraged provided it falls in line with what the leaders want. This second half ends more with a whimper than a bang, setting us up for plenty of excitement in the second book of this two-book series but not leaving me panting with suspense in the interim.

I seem to really click with Jordan's writing so it is no surprise that I read through this pretty quickly. Her background is in romance so while I wasn't initially on board with Sean as love interest (being a reader who likes nice men and skips over the intimidating bad boy), he won me over as their romance deepened. Davy is a nice enough girl, one raised with a privileged life in the suburbs that has kept her away from the worst criminal element but also one in possession of deep reserves that give her strength when everything she has ever known is ripped away from her. I would have liked to have seen more of her brother Mitchell, the only family member who doesn't recoil upon her diagnosis and who would probably like to be a part of a resistance in the second book.

For a very thoughtful review discussing some of this book's shortcomings, check out Ivy Book Bindings. Keertana brought up some excellent points about world-building that I had completely blipped over through my connection to the writing.