Book Review: The Complication by Suzanne Young

Book Title & Author: The Complication (The Program #6) by Suzanne Young
Published by: Simon Pulse on April 24th, 2018
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 464
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased
Goodreads
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Synopsis: 
How do you go back to a life you can’t remember? Find out in this sixth novel in the New York Times bestselling Program series from Suzanne Young.

Every cure has a cost.

Tatum Masterson learned this after years of being monitored by The Program. She witnessed it when her boyfriend, Wes, came back changed, erased. And now, even the newest “cure” has a heavy cost—one she and Wes paid.

The Adjustment came into Tatum’s life just when she thought she needed it most, a promise for Wes to get back his forgotten memories. But when the procedure went wrong, a revelation shattered everything Tatum thought she knew.

Now, with no one left to trust, Tatum must find out what really happened last summer. And with the help of the boyfriend she lost, Tatum will have to dig into the past and future of The Program and its handlers.

And discover the true cost of a cure.

Review:
I cannot believe I have to say goodbye to this series. I never wanted it to end and now that I finished the final book in the series, it hurts. It hurts almost as badly as finishing the Harry Potter series hurt. That's how much I loved this series.

I really wish I had reread at LEAST The Adjustment before I read this book. I was having a heck of a time remembering characters and it was driving me insane. I would remember a certain character and then wrack my brain trying to remember where I knew them from. Which timeline? The before timeline with Quinlan McKee or the after timeline with Sloane Barstow. I started to wonder if my memory was still problematic after my health scare in November.

Suzanne Young is an absolute wizard at storytelling. She managed to keep all the threads from all of the books in this series together. I think all of my questions about this world were answered by the end of this book. She wrapped up all the threads of all of of the storylines. It takes a wizard to be able to do that effectively.

By now, I've come to expect bombshell after bombshell in this series and this book did not disappoint me in that way. I got my bombshells. Some of it I guessed and some of it I didn't, but that's another mark of a fantastic storyteller like Suzanne Young.

I was not a huge fan of the romance between Tatum and Weston. I'm trying to remember if I liked them together in The Adjustment, but I don't remember. I mean, they weren't horrible together and they did have chemistry together, but I felt like they were better as friends. Especially once certain things came to light. Especially about how The Program fit into everything concerning Wes & Tatum.

It was so good seeing all the familiar faces. Realm, Dallas, Sloane, James and several others. I think having all these familiar faces make cameos made the book even stronger. I actually want to reread the entire series now because I didn't realize how much I had missed these characters. Especially the ones I hadn't seen in awhile like Sloane, James and Dallas.

Final thoughts: Awesome ending to an awesome series. I am sad to see it end, but I look forward to seeing what Suzanne Young writes next.

Book Review: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Book Title & Author: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Published by: Balzer + Bray on February 28th, 2017
Genre: Contemporary
Pages: 444
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased
Goodreads
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Synopsis:
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil's name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

But what Starr does or does not say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

Review:
I will never be able to explain why it took me so long to read this book and why my own mother read it way before I did. This is a book that will sit with you for a very long time, I know it will sit with me forever. It ripped out my heart from the very beginning and despite me taking over 3 months to finish it, it still hits me. Right in the heart. This is one of those times where I know I took a long time to read this book, but I'm so glad I finished it.

I knew this book was going to be a tough read, but I definitely underestimated how tough it was. From the minute Khalil is shot and I start sobbing, I knew this book was going to hurt, and holy moly did it hurt. 

But then, there was Starr. Oh my god. I just loved her voice. She was grieving not only the fact that her friend was dead, but also that a white cop had seen him as a threat and had killed him because he felt afraid. No other reason. Just "he was afraid" It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why he was afraid. It was the simple reason that Khalil (and Starr) were black. No other reason. That just about shattered me. I know racism is still alive and well in this country, but I had never read a book that outlined it so clearly. Massive kudos to Thomas for how clearly she wrote it.

Starr is backed by her family, who I really liked. From her mom and dad to her brothers Seven & Sekani. Starr's strong family unit was really one of my favorite things about this book. Her parents were around & present in her life and in the lives of her brothers. I read too much YA where the family is completely uninvolved. Not only do we get a strong nuclear family in this book, but we also get an aunt & uncle who are also very involved in the lives of their niece & nephews. Starr having her uncle Carlos around reminded me of how I've always had my uncle around.

Starr also had Hailey & Maya around at school. One of them bugged me more than the other one did and the one who bugged me the least actually ended up redeeming herself by the end of the book. They were pretty irritating about the whole thing at first though. Treating a protest day as just a "free day off from school" They didn't seem to care one little bit about why they had that protest and instead thought only of themselves.

Chris was another one I wasn't sure of at first, but he quickly grew on me and by the end I really loved him. Loved how he treated Starr, dealt with her family and generally stayed in her corner 100% He was one of those good guys who understood the reasons for the outrage & the protests and Starr's grief. 

There's so much more I could say about this book. From Iesha to DeVante to Kenya to the King Lords and everything else in between. There's a lot to talk about in regards to this book and it just gets more and more relevant to our world now.

Final thoughts: Read this book.

Book Review: Little Monsters by Kara Thomas

Book Title & Author: Little Monsters by Kara Thomas
Published by: Delacorte Press on July 25th, 2017
Genre: Contemporary
Pages: 336
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased
Goodreads
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Synopsis:

Kacey is the new girl in Broken Falls. When she moved in with her father, she stepped into a brand-new life. A life with a stepbrother, a stepmother, and strangest of all, an adoring younger half sister.
Kacey’s new life is eerily charming compared with the wild highs and lows of the old one she lived with her volatile mother. And everyone is so nice in Broken Falls—she’s even been welcomed into a tight new circle of friends. Bailey and Jade invite her to do everything with them.
Which is why it’s so odd when they start acting distant. And when they don’t invite her to the biggest party of the year, it doesn’t exactly feel like an accident.
But Kacey will never be able to ask, because Bailey never makes it home from that party. Suddenly, Broken Falls doesn’t seem so welcoming after all—especially once everyone starts looking to the new girl for answers.
Kacey is about to learn some very important lessons: Sometimes appearances can be deceiving. Sometimes when you’re the new girl, you shouldn’t trust anyone. 

Review:

I don't know why it took me so long to buy this book. Especially knowing how obsessed I was with The Darkest Corners. When I got this book at the beginning of June, I didn't wait too long before I jumped into it. I knew almost immediately that I was going to love it.I on;y intended to read a little bit of it at a time in order to savor it. Whelp, I read the entire thing in one afternoon.

I had so many questions. About Kacey, Bailey and Jade. Not to mention Kacey's siblings: Stepbrother Andrew & half sister Lauren. Add in her stepmother, Ashley & her father who she barely knows and Kacey's circle was filled with intrigue.

I had my suspicions on who was responsible for Bailey's disappearance from the beginning, but like a truly awesome thriller, my suspicions were challenged and sometimes outright disproved along the way. I loved the ride I was on. I kept coming up with crazier and crazier theories that could fit and would explain Bailey's disappearance. 

This book made it impossible for me to trust anyone. I basically accused everyone in some way or the other. Because of the hints we got about Kacey's previous life with her mom, I actually thought it was her for a long time. Certain things come to light that made me rethink my suspicions.

Plotwise, this book was PERFECT. Like I said, it kept me guessing, kept my suspicions up & nearly constantly changing.

I want so much to keep talking about this book, but I really want to avoid spoilers, so I'll keep this review short and just tell you all to read it if you haven't already.

Final thoughts: If you like thrillers that keep you guessing, pick up this book.

Book Review: People Like Us by Dana Mele

Book Title & Author: People Like Us by Dana Mele
Published by: G. P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers on February 27th, 2018
Genre: Contemporary
Pages: 384
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased
Goodreads
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Synopsis:
Kay Donovan may have skeletons in her closet, but the past is past, and she's reinvented herself entirely. Now she's a star soccer player whose group of gorgeous friends run their private school with effortless popularity and acerbic wit. But when a girl's body is found in the lake, Kay's carefully constructed life begins to topple. 
The dead girl has left Kay a computer-coded scavenger hunt, which, as it unravels, begins to implicate suspect after suspect, until Kay herself is in the crosshairs of a murder investigation. But if Kay's finally backed into a corner, she'll do what it takes to survive. Because at Bates Academy, the truth is something you make...not something that happened.

Review:
I was massively excited for this book. I mean, anytime someone says the words "boarding school murder mystery", I perk up my ears. Those are buzzwords for me. I was nervous though. I was so excited about another book recently and that one ended up disappointing me in a huge way. So, I was very apprehensive about starting this book.

I was hooked less than 50 pages into it and I couldn't have been more excited about that. Now this book was what I'd call a psychological thriller and by now, you all should know that psychological thrillers are my favorite thrillers of all time.

Oh my god, I was totally obsessed with this book and ended up reading the majority of it in one day. I love when I can do that because it means that I'm enjoying the book and that it's a compelling book. It's hard to find a compelling thriller sometimes, but oh boy, this ticked all the boxes.

And hello, I loved all the lesbian romances in this book. I wasn't expecting it, but it only made me love the book more. There were some lesbian love triangles too. Normally, I cannot stand love triangles, but I was so obsessed with the murder mystery aspect of this book that the love triangles were a minor annoyance for me.

I'm trying to remember where I read that this book was a cross between Pretty Little Liars & Mean Girls (Goodreads, maybe?) because that was a pretty accurate comparison. It had the Mean Girls aspect with Kay, Brie, Tai, Tricia & Cori and it had the Pretty Little Liars aspect with someone taunting someone else through technology, whether it was a computer or a cell phone.

Those girls were important to the story, but my obsession was with Nola. Oh my god, I was so obsessed with her. She was the "weird girl" who Kay enlisted to help her crack Jessica's website, where all the taunts began. I am a sucker for complex characters and although Kay was complex, so was Nola. Incidentally I called Nola, Nala for a good chunk of the book. I blame my longtime love of The Lion King for that.

The book was so creepy and atmospheric and that was one of it's many pluses. Mele did a great job at setting the scene. I could see myself at Bates. I could visualize all of the girls in my head.

I had no idea who the murderer was. I had my suspicions of a few people, but nothing totally concrete. The reveal was excellent though and although I know some people had some issues with the end, it was the end that boosted this book to a five star rating for me.

Final thoughts: This book was so atmospheric, set in a boarding school, with a murder mystery. It was totally an Alexia book, so YES you need to pick up a copy.

Book Review: A Line in the Dark by Malinda Lo

Book Title & Author: A Line in the Dark by Malinda Lo
Published by: Dutton Books for Young Readers on October 17th, 2017
Genre: Contemporary
Pages: 288
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased
Goodreads
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Synopsis: The line between best friend and something more is a line always crossed in the dark.
Jess Wong is Angie Redmond’s best friend. And that’s the most important thing, even if Angie can’t see how Jess truly feels. Being the girl no one quite notices is OK with Jess anyway. While nobody notices her, she’s free to watch everyone else. But when Angie begins to fall for Margot Adams, a girl from the nearby boarding school, Jess can see it coming a mile away. Suddenly her powers of observation are more curse than gift.

As Angie drags Jess further into Margot’s circle, Jess discovers more than her friend’s growing crush. Secrets and cruelty lie just beneath the carefree surface of this world of wealth and privilege, and when they come out, Jess knows Angie won’t be able to handle the consequences.

When the inevitable darkness finally descends, Angie will need her best friend.

“It doesn’t even matter that she probably doesn’t understand how much she means to me. It’s purer this way. She can take whatever she wants from me, whenever she wants it, because I’m her best friend.”

A Line in the Dark is a story of love, loyalty, and murder.

Review: 
My obsession with this book started when I first saw the cover. The cover is so eye-catching and that usually makes me even more excited for a book. I put this book on the list of books I wanted to buy and FINALLY bought it about a month or so ago.

First thing: Don't skip the prologue. I normally don't skip the prologue, but this time, I didn't see it. I skipped right over it and onto chapter one. I fully believe that reading the prologue right away would have made me enjoy the book more.

I wanted so desperately to love this book as psychological thrillers are my jam in a big way. Unfortunately, this book was only okay for me. It really didn't have that "thriller" feel to it. It wasn't fast paced like I feel psychological thrillers that are under 300 pages should be. 

Jess in particular really got on my nerves. I have a thing about needy/clingy people and to me, Jess was extremely needy/clingy, especially with Angie. Jess actually bordered on stalkerish, now that I think more about it. I actually preferred Angie's romance with Margot over Angie's friendship with Jess. I wanted more of Angie & Margot's relationship in the book.

I do have to say that I LOVED all the queerness in this book. Massive props to Lo for the awesome lesbian representation in this book. 

There were two parts to this book. A "before" and an "after" The first half is told in Jess's first person POV and the 2nd part was told in 3rd person POV along with police transcripts & interviews with the girls. I thought for sure the switch would throw me off and it did for a little bit, but I quickly adjusted to it.

Final thoughts: This book was okay, there were parts I liked and parts I wasn't a fan of. Give it a shot if it still sounds like something you'd enjoy. It just wasn't thrillery enough for me.