Review: The Here and Now

One of my favourite series of all time is Ann Brashares' The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. Because of that, I've read her other novels. And I keep reading them even though I haven't loved them. I was pre-approved for the newly released The Here and Now on NetGalley so I thought I'd give her another shot. While I didn't love this new novel, I didn't outright dislike it either.

Here's the synopsis:

An unforgettable epic romantic thriller about a girl from the future who might be able to save the world...if she lets go of the one thing she’s found to hold on to.
Follow the rules. Remember what happened. Never fall in love.
This is the story of seventeen-year-old Prenna James, who immigrated to New York when she was twelve. Except Prenna didn’t come from a different country. She came from a different time—a future where a mosquito-borne illness has mutated into a pandemic, killing millions and leaving the world in ruins.
Prenna and the others who escaped to the present day must follow a strict set of rules: never reveal where they’re from, never interfere with history, and never, ever be intimate with anyone outside their community. Prenna does as she’s told, believing she can help prevent the plague that will one day ravage the earth.
But everything changes when Prenna falls for Ethan Jarves. 

I don't really read sci-fi and The Here and Now sort of felt sci-fi-ish to me. That might be my biggest issue with it. And since it's pretty personal issue (obviously others like sci-fi), I encourage you to look past it...but I'm still going to talk about it! When I read non-contemporary novels, I tend to go more for fantasy novels...magic, dragons, wizards, you know. Time travel is a sci-fi concept I can get behind, though. In a way, this book was actually kind of a mix of contemporary and dystopian. Prenna came from the future and her world was all but destroyed by an awful pandemic. Instead of fighting her way through that barren world, she, and many others who also escaped, went back in time for a do-over, of sorts. It was interesting to read about what the world was like in the future (they came from 2080something or 2090something, I can't remember) and how they were trying to fix things. Trying to connect the dots and figure out how to save the world was stressful, in a good way. 

To generalize, it wouldn't be YA without a love story. I have to say that I liked Ethan more than Prenna. Not really sure why. Maybe because he was more relateable...I can't imagine losing almost my entire family, going back in time, and then being constantly monitored. I did like that Prenna was rebelling as that showed that she had a spark in her. Part of that rebellion included spending a lot of time with Ethan, which was a problem as she is forbidden from being emotionally or physically intimate with anyone from the present day. Bummer! I liked that Ethan automatically accepted Prenna once he learned all the details of her past (his future..weird). Even though they're trying to save the world, they're still teenagers and it was kind of fun to read as they figured out their feelings for each other.

Random note: I actually really like this cover. It's different than the YA covers we've been seeing and I think it really conveys the feel of the story. Plus the colours are pretty. :)

I have to say that I went into reading The Here and Now with low expectations, since I hadn't seen very many good ratings or reviews. Like I said, I didn't love Ann Brashares' latest novel but I didn't dislike it. This was one of those hard reviews to write because I was so middle of the road with my feelings. I think if you find the synopsis interesting then you might enjoy the book. In the meantime, I'm going to keep hoping for another Brashares book that blows my socks off like the Sisterhood!

*An eARC of this novel was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Review: Don't Even Think About It

I have to thank whoever decided I should be sent a "read now" copy of Don't Even Think About It, Sarah Mlynowski's recently released novel. Without that auto-approval, I never would have picked this book up. And that would have been a sad, sad thing. I blew through this short novel because I couldn't stop reading it. It was so much fun!

Here's the synopsis:

We weren't always like this. We used to be average New York City high school sophomores. Until our homeroom went for flu shots. We were prepared for some side effects. Maybe a headache. Maybe a sore arm. We definitely didn't expect to get telepathic powers. But suddenly we could hear what everyone was thinking. Our friends. Our parents. Our crushes. Now we all know that Tess is in love with her best friend, Teddy. That Mackenzie cheated on Cooper. That, um, Nurse Carmichael used to be a stripper.
Since we've kept our freakish skill a secret, we can sit next to the class brainiac and ace our tests. We can dump our boyfriends right before they dump us. We know what our friends really think of our jeans, our breath, our new bangs. We always know what's coming. Some of us will thrive. Some of us will crack. None of us will ever be the same.
So stop obsessing about your ex. We're always listening.

I don't read nearly enough fantastical/magical books. I used to all the time when I was younger but now contemporary books rule my reading list. Don't Even Think About It is a book I would have adored when I was a teen and, happily, I still loved it even almost a decade out of teenagehood (is that a word? It should be.). My favourite thing about the novel was the story itself. People getting ESP because of a flu shot? I can't say that I've read a story like that before. It could have gone another way but Mlynowski made the outcome humorous instead of scary, which I loved (I don't do scary or creepy or bizarre).

The way the book was written was interesting, too. The story is told in sort of an omnipresent voice, which doesn't always work. We learn about everyone's story at the same time and the story is told as a collective we. It sounds weird but it totally makes sense and I liked that Mlynowski deals with that issue early on by having the narrator explain that the story is being told not by one person but by all of them.

I don't often like reading about young teens - it's been a long time since I was in grade ten - but I managed to get over that usual stumbling block when reading this book. Which is odd since I really was reading their every thought. Instead of being totally annoyed at the "ohmygosh, do you think he likes me?" in the beginning (since after the ESP kicks in they know if someone likes them or not), it reminded me of what my friends and I were like in high school. Makes me wonder if I would have appreciated having ESP when I was sixteen...

If you want a quick read that's all about teens and is really fun and quirky, pick up Don't Even Think About It. Sarah Mlynowski has written an awesome YA novel that's a perfect mix of the ordinary and extraordinary and I just loved it.

*A copy of this novel was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Chick Lit Plus Blog Tour: Here

Welcome to another stop on the blog tour for Here: On the Otherside Series by Denise Grover Swank! This is another tour organized by Samantha over at Chick Lit Plus Blog Tours and I'm very happy I got to be a part of this tour. I enjoyed Here even if it didn't take the path I thought it would.

Here's the synopsis, courtesy of Goodreads:

Sixteen year old Julia Phillips buries herself in guilt after killing her best friend Monica in a car accident. Julia awoke in the hospital with a broken leg, a new talent for drawing and false memories of the accident, in which she dies and Monica lives. The doctors attribute this to her head injury, but no one can explain how a bracelet engraved with her name ended up at the scene of the accident. A bracelet no one has ever seen before.

Classmate Evan Whittaker paid Julia no attention before the accident, let alone after. Now suddenly he’s volunteering to tutor her and offering to drive her home. She can't ignore that his new obsession started after his two-day disappearance last week and that he wears a pendant she’s been drawing for months. When the police show up one night looking for Evan, he begs Julia to run with him, convincing her that Monica is still alive. Julia agrees to go, never guessing where he’s really from.

I was loving the book up until the big plot twist (more on that later). Afterwards, I still really liked it. Even though the main characters were all teenagers, and therefore much younger than me, I was hooked on their story. Julia is so tortured with guilt and sadness and doesn't have anyone to turn to. I felt her pain and her delight when popular Evan starts paying attention to her.

As I mentioned earlier, this book had a crazy twist to it that I really wasn't expecting. While I knew something had to be revealed I was not at all ready for where Swank took the plot. Not that this was necessarily a bad thing, don't get me wrong. On Goodreads I only ranked this book as three stars but I think it's more of a three and a half. It would be a four if this twist wasn't so...futuristic...I think that's the way I want to describe it. It's not really the future but it has a crazy fantastical element to it. I really enjoyed the twist but it wasn't exactly a sub-genre that I enjoyed so I couldn't quite give it a full four stars. And no, I am not about to give anything away so that's all you're going to get out of me about that :)

If you like realistic novels but enjoy a good sci-fi book every once and awhile you will probably really enjoy this book. I'm not a sci-fi girl myself (I tend to lean more towards the fantasy side) so I think that's why I didn't find myself loving the book all the way through. By the way, Here is the first book in a series. Will I read the next books? Maybe. I do want to know what happens to Julia and her friends but I'm not sure if this genre is for me. I know others will love it because the story is captivating and Swank tells it well.

Stay tuned for my first ever author interview! My interview with Swank will be posted on Thursday the 22nd. And make sure you check out this link to see what other bloggers think of Here and leave a comment there - you could win a $10 Amazon.com gift card!

Happy reading :)