Stolen (book review)

picture courtesy of goodreads.com

There are some books that can make you laugh, explode, and maybe even cry. There are books for all sorts of occasions and of course there are ones that catch you by surprise.

This one most certainly took me by surprise.

Written by Lucy Christopher in the first person narrative of Gemma, Stolen is her letter, or rather her story, of being kidnapped and loving her kidnapper. Throughout the book you see all that happened through Gemma's eyes.

This book is not your conventional YA novel. It's realistic in the aspect of depicting something that happens not too rarely. People go missing and sometimes they come back. But it is always unsure what really happened if sometimes the victim doesn't speak.

 I love the fact that Lucy Christopher doesn't make the kidnapper, Ty, as this guy who is only looking to rape Gemma and do all sorts of other atrocities that you see in the media. Christopher makes Ty as this character who has a troubled past just like any other human being, through Gemma's lenses. I had to pause in between chapters because it was just so disturbing and yet I felt like I was there with Gemma. The idea of being kidnapped and always wondering what is going to happen to you and who in reality is this kidnapper; is scary. And interesting enough the whole book is a letter to the kidnapper which make it more interesting in the way the story is drawn. It's written in a past tense voice but yet it is descriptive in almost a present tense voice. I really don't know whether to recommend or not; this book just left me speechless....Now, that I think about it, if any of you read Speak by Anderson and liked this book: you might get deeper with this one. If you're not afraid to shed some tears or get mildly distracted by a deep story like this, I suggest you try it.


Til Next Blogpost,
Miss Bobo

P.S. sorry to confuse you on the whole to recommend or not, this book is just...wow. Still think you should try it. 

Crossing (book review)

picture courtesy of examiner.com

I always like reading books exposing or showing different cultures such as in the case of Akata Witch or The Housekeeper & The Professor. I learn something new through the characters or even the environment they are put upon.

Crossing by Andrew Xia Fukuda does that. Written in the first person narrative, the novel is told in the voice of Xing Xu who alongside his family and friend, Naomi Lee, is a Chinese immigrant. Naomi and him are the only Chinese immigrants in a usual all-white school. And as another year begins, students start to die unexpectedly, reporting before their death a man with a red jacket. As the story progresses, Xing finds out many things of people and of himself that will amount to an interesting ending of the book.

When I read the first page, I got interested. However, as I read more I got more into the book. This book has impeccable vocabulary that it took me back to Dash & Lily's Book of Dares (and that book had so much vocabulary).

The mystery part of Crossing isn't focused on the murderer but rather the after effects that affect the main character. There is a struggle to fit in with a community that has never really seen people from a different ethnicity besides Xing and Naomi. This book got me to see more of the clash between "U.S. land of the free" and the reality of immigrants here. Fukuda did a wonderful job giving a realistic tint to a YA novel. Most YA novels deal with angst and fitting in but this novel deals in a deeper angst: one of living with a constant struggle of fitting in  that is harder to fix than a makeover. After all you can't change where you come from.

I definitely recommend this book if 1. you want to learn new words like "vociferous," "visceral" or "ephemeras"; 2. you like mysteries and ...3. you don't like perfect endings because this book did not end in a happy "perfect" ending. I can write so many more reasons as to why you should read this book but in the end: I rather you just try for the sake of another adventure on the go.


Til Next Blogpost,
Miss Bobo

Things Don't Always Stay the Same: Return to Paradise (a book review)

picture courtesy of goodreads.com

Last blogpost I reviewed Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles; which dealt with the perspective of two people involved in a drunk hit-and-run accident.

I liked the book so much, I went and read the second after I returned the first book. Both books took me about 2-3 days to finish so it wasn't much of a big deal to pick up the sequel and finish it.

Return to Paradise which is the sequel to Leaving Paradise, deals with Maggie and Caleb growing up. The first book covered how they both reacted towards each other after the accident. Things got out of control after Caleb's release from juvie and soon enough Maggie and Caleb end up facing the emotions they feel towards each other.

However, Caleb makes a decision that hits a bump on both his and Maggie's life. Both continue to carry a secret which play a major role in Caleb's and Maggie's new attitude within Return to Paradise. Eight months have passed and things have changed over that course of time. Caleb and Maggie are forced to deal with the secret behind the accident and how they feel about each other.

I found this book to be more dramatic and have interesting twists besides the "big secret" Caleb and Maggie share about the accident. I found myself laughing and giggling with some of the new characters that are in the story. When it comes to some sequels, I find that they are sometimes rushed and sloppy. This one isn't sloppy or rushed. I could tell that Elkeles took her time developing the plot to be more in depth with the main characters. She didn't give a cliche ending but rather a lingering hope to all her characters. As a matter of fact, this book reminded me of other books I have read when I was in my junior high years. I definitely recommend this book, or rather this series, if you loved Judy Blume's Forever. It isn't the same, but the way Elkeles weaves these characters into this story is almost equivalent in greatness of exposing the reality of the events that happen in every teen's life that aren't just ordinary. Like Judy Blume, she weaves a story of a life lesson hard learned.

Til Next Blogpost,
Miss Bobo

You Wouldn't Want to Finish School

When passing on criminal TV shows, corpses and missing people are never a surprising theme for whoever watches it. And usually these shows show you the side of the criminal as if also telling the story from their point of view. Criminal Minds (admittedly one of my favorite TV shows) is one of those.  I would not have thought there would be an episode I wouldn’t know about until I stopped by this book in the mystery section of my library.

Published in 2008, this novel was written by Max Collins in third narrative. It involves the famous BAU most of us well know from Criminal Minds; Agent Rossi, Hotchner, Prentiss, JJ, Reid, Morgan, and of course last but not least, Penelope Garcia. In the small place of Bemidji, Minnesota; three hunters find a skeleton hand peaking from a bush and from then on the investigation ensues. The BAU team work to find out the criminal mind behind this and begin to find a link to something far worse.

Although Collins gives the traditional frame of a Criminal Minds episode, there are parts of the book where there is too much focus on the description of the setting. Thus, making it seem like Collins is trying too hard to appeal to the occasional loyal Criminal Minds fan.  Nevertheless, I love opening to the beginning of the book and finding the opening quote that is always a tradition with a Criminal Minds episode. Collins made sure to end it on that note.  If you are a Criminal Minds fan, you might just dwell in this rendition of Criminal Minds.