Molly Fyde and the Parsona Rescue by Hugh Howey Review

Book: Molly Fyde and the Parsona Rescue

Author: Hugh Howey

Age: Young Adult

Source: Author

Summary:

When Molly gets kicked out of the Naval Academy, she loses more than just another home, she loses the only two things that truly matter: flying in space and her training partner, Cole. A dull future seems to await, until a marvelous discovery changes everything.

Her father's old starship, missing for decades, turns up halfway across the galaxy. Its retrieval launches Molly and Cole on the adventure of a lifetime, one that will have lasting consequences for themselves and billions of others.

What starts off as a simple quest to reconnect with her past, ends up forging a new future. And the forgotten family she hoped to uncover becomes one she never foresaw: a band of alien misfits and runaways--the crew of the starship Parsona.

Review: Wow. To be honest, I was hesitant with this one, but decided to give it a shot because the summary made me remember the days I used to re-read Ender's Game over and over...

At first, I was so nervous because the first chapter was filled with technical speak I didn't understand, but it was intriguing and adventurous, so I continued. I shouldn't of worried, because as the novel progressed, I grew to understand everything.

Molly is a very three-dimensional character, and I am still surprised at how well Howey depicts a seventeen-year-old girl. I felt myself connecting with Molly, and I truly loved how amazingly awesome she was. When it comes to female main characters, I really look for how strong and smart they are, and Molly was definitely both.

The adventure in this story will leave you turning the pages, breathless for more and more. I continually found myself surprised with each new chapter, wondering how everything would work out. Molly Fyde's story kept me on my toes, eager for more. Then with the revelation at the end, whoa. I'm going to try keeping plot points out of this review, so all I have to say is that this is a story I can see anyone enjoying.

Highlights: Description in the novel was spectacular. I found myself really seeing everything, clear as day. All of the different planets were amazing, and even all the species Howey introduces us to. This novel really has it all, action, adventure, love....it was truly an amazing story that I want more of.

Lowlights: The first chapter had me panicking, but it was all for nothing because as I stated earlier, the spaceship-talk was easy to follow afterwards.

Molly Fyde and the Parsona Rescue has definitely landed on my best books of '09 list, and I know I'm anxiously awaiting Molly Fyde and the Land of Light!

Rating:   

Moonstone by Marilee Brothers Review

Book: Moonstone

Author: Marilee Brothers 

Age: Young Adult

Copy From: Other Shelf Tours

Summary (from Goodreads):

A sickly mom. A tiny house trailer. High school bullies and snarky drama queens. Bad-guy dudes with charming smiles. Allie has problems. And then there's that whole thing about fulfilling a magical prophecy and saving the world from evil. Geez. Welcome to the sad, funny, sometimes-scary world of fifteen-year-old Allie Emerson, who's struggling to keep her and her mom's act together in the small-town world of Peacock Flats, Washington. An electrical zap from a TV antenna sets off Allie's weird psychic powers. The next thing she knows she's being visited by a hippy-dippy guardian angel, and then her mysterious neighbor, the town "witch," gives her an incredible moonstone pendant that has powers only a good-hearted "Star Seeker" is meant to command. "Who, me?" is Allie's first reaction. But as sinister events begin to unfold, Allie realizes she's got a destiny to live up to. If she can just survive everyday life, in the meantime.

Review: I can really go either way with this novel. I had read some great reviews, and the story just did not live up to them, in my opinion. I hate to be the one to say that I disliked this book, a lot.

Allie was an good main character, but it took me awhile to really like her. In fact, in the end I'm still not sure if I did like her as a character.

Her mother, on the hand, I despised. This is what I wanted to say to her: Get off your ****ing @$$ and get a job (use your imagination). Needless to say, her mom Faye landed on my list of characters I want to punch in the face (and I don't even have a list...).

The story was kind of blah for me, it didn't seem too original, and in the end I saw it all coming. None of the "shocking" moments shocked me.

As a whole, I was really disappointed with the story. Usually I love magic, and whatnot in stories, but this one just made me think about how much I loved all those other stories.

Highlights: Um...it was amusing at points. I liked how Allie didn't just say "Oh sweet, I have magical powers". She was more realistic about the whole scenario, and she was giving.

Lowlights: I think I've said enough. However, do not let my review keep you from reading this story, because everyone has different tastes and sometimes certain stories don't mesh well with certain readers. This story + me = not good.

Despite that, I've seen some amazing reviews about this novel on Amazon, so I would definitely recommend anyone to check out their thoughts to see if it's something you'd like to read.

Rating:    

- Lea

Invisible Lines by Mary Amato Review

Book: Invisible Lines

Author: Mary Amato

Age: Middle Grade

Copy From: Publisher

Summary:

For Trevor Musgrove, life isn't always bright and cheerful. His family has just moved to Hedley Gardens, a tough housing project it's residents call "Deadly Gardens." He goes to school with rich kids who have everything, while he has to work just to afford soccer cleats. It doesn't help that the best athlete in school, Xander Pierce, happens to have it out for him. Mistakenly enrolled in an advanced science class taught by an odd but engaging teacher, Trevor is thrown headfirst into the world of natural science. Through all this, he will learn that life can spring up in the darkest places--maybe even Deadly Gardens.

Review: When Trevor moves to Deadly Gardens, it's the last place he wants to be. But school isn't that bad, when he befriends two of the most popular boys in his class, Langly and Xander. He also befriends a few other students. Everything seems to be going Trev's way, until his soccer skills puts him on Xander's bad side.

Trevor's just like any other kid, he wants to fit in. It's a little bit harder though, because his mother is struggling to make ends meet, especially when she has three kids. Trev is loving school, though, especially his Summit Science class, with the kooky Mr. Ferguson. The characters are written perfectly (I could honestly see some resemblences to people I went to school with).

This novel makes me breathe a sigh of relief that novels with a good message are being written for kids/pre-teens. I know when I wish in the Middle Grade stage, I just read YA because I felt that I was getting more than I was from the MG novels I read back in the day.

Highlights: Invisible Lines really dives into a few topics that most MG novels would shy away from. Violence, theft, and abandonment. It was interesting to see Trevor's reaction to all of these as the story unwound. Mary Amato really captured Trevor's voice in this story, and I felt connected to him.

Also, the journal entries were fun to read and the art is beautiful. Trevor's love for art and soccer was endearing, and nice to read about.

Lowlights: Trevor's ambition to fit in. It just had me cringing throughout the story. Also, I felt I knew the end result when I was only fifty pages in (which might be due to the fact that I've read so many stories).

Rating:   

-Lea

Updates...

Hey everyone!

I know I've been saying I've got reviews to post, but I'm holding off on them until Monday. I figured I might as well just wait, because I'm sure a lot of us are spending more time with our friends and families right now.

Also, I will *possibly* announce my next contest in a week or two, so keep a look out!

Any books you might possibly want to win? I've got quite a few in mind, but I'll take some suggestions (leave them in the comments).

Happy Holiday's everyone, and Merry Christmas!

Lea

Super Awesome Contest...

In case you hadn't heard, Faye from Ramblings of A Teenage Bookworm is having a completely awesome Box of Books Contest!

Ten amazing books, all to one person! Go enter HERE!

Waiting On Wednesday (8)

WOW is presented by Jill over at Breaking the Spine!


Novel: Forget-Her-Nots
Author: Amy Brecount White
Release date: March 2, 2010
Summary (Goodreads):

When someone leaves three mystery flowers outside her dorm door, Laurel thinks that maybe the Avondale School isn't so awful after all--until her own body starts to freak out. In the middle of her English presentation on the Victorian Language of Flowers, strange words pop into her head, and her body seems to tingle and hum. Impulsively, Laurel gives the love bouquet she made to demonstrate the language to her spinster English teacher. When that teacher unexpectedly and immediately finds romance, Laurel suspects that something --something magical-- is up. With her new friend, Kate, she sets out to discover the origins and breadth of her powers by experimenting on herself and others. But she can't seem to find any living experts in the field of flower powers to guide her. And her bouquets don't always do her bidding, especially when it comes to her own crush, Justin. Rumers about Laurel and her flowers fly across campus, and she's soon besieged by requests from girls --both friends and enemies--who want their lives magically transformed--just in time for prom.


Doesn't this one sound incredible?

Lea

In My Mailbox 12

IMM is a meme hosted by Kristi of The Story Siren, and inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie.



For Review:
Murder at the Lake by Bren Gaudet

Gift from one of my best friends:
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous


Happy Holiday's everyone!


Lea