[Review] Losing Janice by Kathleen Lee Dodds

Title: Losing Janice
Author: Kathleen Lee Dodds
Published: June 17, 2012
Genre: Young Adult, Family Life, Drama, Mystery, Suspense.
Rating: ★★★☆
Amazon summary:

Helen an impetuous teenager and High school outcast is on summer holiday. She lives in a seemingly idyllic rural town. Her friends include Rhonda, a waitress who lives with her dope dealing brother and Dennis the dyslexic son of an accountant who has just started his own landscaping business. They are all friends of Janice who has disappeared.
It seems to Helen that she is the only one who feels that her friend is in trouble. The more she seeks the truth the more secrets Helen reveals. About her friends and about the hidden relationships that bind the town together.

*Thanks to the author for supplying me a copy of this ebook in exchange for my honest review*

Emma's thoughts:

Helen Firling has a sixth sense. She knows things that nobody else does. And that makes her different. 

Her family is constantly telling to behave 'normally', not draw attention to herself, and to simply, keep her mouth shut. Honestly, I thought parents were supposed to encourage children to strive for uniqueness, but I suppose making wild accusations from person to person isn't the greatest way to stand out. 

Helen and her friends, Rhonda and Dennis are hell-bent determined to find out what happened to their missing friend, Janice. Thing is, Janice disappears all the time and always eventually comes back in one piece, so of course, no one dares to think she might actually not come back this time. Except Helen and Rhonda. Dennis is just there as the codebreaker and muscle. 

The journey Helen, Rhonda, and Dennis is an immensely frustrating one. There's nothing I hate more than inconsiderate, insensitive and close-minded adults who just don't, and won't ever understand anything. Those adults that believe they know best for everyone without consulting first. Who see the world perfectly through their eyes but can't step out of their shoes into others and try to empathize. I just really, really despise people like that. 

Quotes like these just made me want to shoot them: 

"People around here, in order to get ahead, they want you to fit in. As far as knowing things that you really shouldn't, people will always think of you as wacky. That's not how you want other people to see you."

...and the further down the page (Heather, Helen's sister to Helen)

"At school, you're already a square peg in a round hole, don't make it that way in life." 

YOU'RE HER FAMILY YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO ACCEPT HER AS WHO SHE IS! 

*takes a deep breath.* You see a lot of those people in Losing Janice. Helen's mother, father, grandma, 'God', and pretty much every other adult in the novel. The only possible exception might be Dennis's mother. Maybe.

That being said, Helen and Rhonda are wonderfully, enlightening characters. They're unique and refreshing to read about. Rhonda's 'lingo' is easy enough to catch on with and rather entertaining to read. I wish I could say the same about Dennis though. He's your typical boy. He reminds me of my ex actually. Looks absolutely charming and funny, but once you get to know him... 

I'm damn proud of Helen. Despite everyone telling her she should shut up and stay behind the scenes, she was brave enough to stand up for herself and do exactly what she believed what she thought was right. And really, that's the moral of the story. Do what you think is right. Don't let anybody else define and shape your life. Stay true to you.

Overall rating: 3.5 stars~ A compelling and captivating mystery!

First:

She could see nothing wherever she looked. It was black. 

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Review: If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Title: If I Stay 
Author: Gayle Forman 
Published: April 6th 2010 by Speak (my copy is the Speak published one, not original Dutton books one!) 
Series: If I Stay #1
Rating: 3.5 hearts

 Goodreads summary:

In the blink of an eye everything changes. Seventeen-year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall what happened afterwards, watching her own damaged body being taken from the wreck. Little by little she struggles to put together the pieces - to figure out what she has lost, what she has left, and the very difficult choice she must make. Heart-wrenchingly beautiful, Mia's story will stay with you for a long, long time.

Racquel thinks:
Yet again, hype proves to be bad. Not that I disliked If I Stay, but it was definitely not what I expected.

What in the world is the book about?

Mia the MC along with her loving parents and adorable younger brother Teddy, get in a car accident. Mia's is injured badly while the rest of her family dies, how does she know this when she's in coma? Her 'spirit' is lingering around seeing the chaos that the people who love her are in and now she must decide if she wants to move on with her perfect family or stay for the other people and things that love her.

Racquel liked: 

-Mia's family, they really are a great loss. During the flashbacks or 'remembering' parts I just couldn't get enough of them! And it really breaks my heart to know that they died, almost as if I know these people in real life and can't believe their death.

-The concept of the book.  I have recently come to the conclusion that fantasy & paranormal is not my favorite genre but in If I Stay even though there was the obvious fantasy element, it felt like a realistic contemporary story.

What made this book not a 5 star read:

-I expected more of Adam. I did not read a SINGLE review of the book before I read it but from the talk surrounding the book on goodreads, blogs & twitter I just expected more of Adam, better yet I expected him to be better developed. To me Adam was just this person who is musician, nice and is dating Mia and he loves her. I didn't feel any depth to him beyond that.

-I, for the life of me, cannot figure out why Mia and Adam love each other and are dating. I feel zero chemistry between them. Nothing, nada.  Maybe it's because to me both Adam and Mia aren't all that developed but still cannot comprehend there relationship.

-At first I enjoyed the flashbacks, but when it got to the point where there were more flashbacks then present time of Mia in the hospital and what's going on around her, it got annoying and I just wanted to skip to the parts where it's not a flashback.

Overall:

If I Stay is an emotional book even though I did not tear up or cry at all but I did finish it in one sitting so that tells you something. It's definitely worth reading!

My rating: 3.5 hearts

First line: 

Everyone thinks it was because of the snow.

Favorite:

"Yo Mama better watch his back,"

 Teaser:

Mom once snuck me into a casino.

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Review: Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles

Title: Chain Reaction
Author: Simone Elkeles
Published: August 16th 2011 by Walker Books for Young Readers

Goodreads Summary:

Luis Fuentes has always been sheltered from the gang violence that nearly destroyed his brothers’ lives. But that didn’t stop him from taking risks—whether he’s scaling a mountain in the Rockies or dreaming of a future as an astronaut, Luis can’t stop looking for the next thrill.

Nikki Cruz lives her life by three rules—boys lie to get their way, don’t trust a boy who says “I love you,” and never date a boy from the south side of Fairfield. Her parents may be from Mexico, but as a doctor’s daughter, she has more in common with her north-side neighbors than the Latino Blood at her school. Then she meets Luis at Alex’s wedding, and suddenly, she’s tempted to break all her rules.

Getting Nikki to take a chance on a southsider is Luis’s biggest challenge, until he finds himself targeted by Chuy Soto, the new head of the Latino Blood. When Chuy reveals a disturbing secret about Luis’s family, the youngest Fuentes finds himself questioning everything he’s ever believed to be true. Will his feelings for Nikki be enough to stop Luis from entering a dark and violent world and permanently living on the edge?

Racquel's thoughts:

After the way Rules of Attraction turned out for me, I tried my best to throw all expectations and excitement out the window before starting Chain Reaction so I won’t end up feeling so disappointed I would want to kill myself and it worked!

I love the Fuentes brothers (who doesn’t?!) and Luis along with his brothers have a special place in my heart<3 At first I was wary about my feelings for Luis because what tops Alex and Carlos’s characters but if Simone Elkeles has anything down to perfection, it’s without a doubt creating THE best male characters EVER. She should win a noble prize for her male characters, seriously!

Yes, at the beginning Chain Reaction was too cliché for my liking and yes it even read a little too much like Perfect Chemistry then I would have liked but I loved the family aspect of this too much to care. My favorite scenes are all the one’s with the entire Fuentes family and their significant others and I’m so glad there are plenty of those scenes in this book♥

Nikki wasn’t as a strong voice and character as Luis is. She did get a better deal the Kiara in Rules of Attraction but I still I didn’t care for her chapters as I did for Luis’s. Another thing that Elkeles redeemed from Rules of Attraction in this one is the pacing. It was great, the book flowed as perfect as it should but the end was a little too rushed except but then again, epilogue was too good to make that little glitch in the pacing at the end a deal breaker for me.

The ‘climax’ of the book is something I never saw coming so the GASP! factor of this book was a plus but then again because of that Luis did make a couple of decisions that bothered me for the reason that he contradicted himself in an unjustifiable way (he said he will never do something and then goes ahead and does it but while doing that thing he still believes it’s wrong and he will never do it… yeah bipolar much?) << I’m not giving anything away but yeah that thing that really knocked the book down from 4 to 3 stars for me (KEEP IN MIND 3 STARS TO ME = A GOOD, ENJOYABLE READ!!!!!) otherwise Elkeles delivers her typical magic with this one: loveable (and not so loveable) characters, the best humor and wit, balanced drama and romance to tie up one of my favorite series (is the there a plural form to series? lol) I definitely cannot wait to see what Elkeles will publish next because it’s definitely going on pre-order and I HIGHLYYYYYYYYY RECOMMEND YOU READ THIS SERIES! IT’S AMAZING♥

My rating:

Some goodies:

First Line:
"Being the youngest of three boys definitely has its advantages."

Favorite: "Lorena, are you aware that you've got a cop sitting at your dinner table?"

Teaser:

"You tryin' to fight with me? Before you answer, I should warn you that I find you ridiculously sexy when you've got attitude."

How did you like the last book in the Fuentes Brothers series? Is this series one of your favorites like me? Don't hesitate to tell me:D

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Review: If I Tell by Janet Gurtler

Title: If I Tell
Author: Janet Gurtler
Published: October 1st 2011 by Sourcebooks Fire
Stand alone novel
My rating: 3.5 rounds to 4 stars

Goodreads Summary:

Jasmine Evans knows one thing for sure... people make mistakes. After all, she is one. Jaz is the result of a onenight stand between a black football player and a blonde princess. Having a young mother who didn't raise her, a father who wants nothing to do with her and living in a small-minded town where she's never fit in hasn't been easy. But she's been surviving. Until she sees her mom's new boyfriend making out with her own best friend. When do you forgive people for being human or give up on them forever?

Racquel's thoughts:
I didn't really have any opinions or expectation when going into this book. To prove to you how true that is: somehow I read the summary wrong and thought that instead of Jasmine- the MC- catching her mom's boyfriend- Simon- with her bestfriend I though that she caught her MOM with her bestfriend and so I was completely lost at the beginning and when I read the summary again I had an OHHHHH! moment.

Which leads me to, I LOVE WHEN THIS HAPPENS! When I have ZERO expectations about a book and it blows me away (because If I Tell certainly did!) it makes me so happy! It’s the best surprise ever! Sometimes I even hate reading reviews because they get me too excited about a book and excitement ONLY leads to disappointment in my experience.

Jasmine is biracial which is nothing special but if you live in a town where you're either fully black or fully white and your well, the biracial sheep you're subjected to a few not so nice remarks and those remarks definitely scarred Jasmine making her turn to her guitar and one girl as a bestfriend so what do you do when one of those sources betrays you in the worst way possible?

Race and ethnicity is big part of the book, it’s why Jasmine has many problems (even if some of them she created because she was so pitiful) and is so insecure because she believes she doesn’t fit in because she’s not fully black or fully white and no one quite understands her. The whole ethnicity insecurity plays out perfectly I think, it might be the 21st century but I have no doubt in mind people still discriminate and it’s nice to see a book that deals with this. Now I just pick up a book and assume the characters are white so this was nice refresher.

After what she witness, Jasmine basically has no one but Jackson. He comes into town and plays shining knight and along with Ashley (a girl Jasmine gets to become close friends with) they help Jasmine open her eyes about her insecurities and how to get past them and how to deal and accept her ethnicity.

I love how great the romance between Jackson and Jasmine turned out to be, it didn’t happen over the spam of a paragraph but it literally blossomed as I kept reading. All the issues Jasmine is going though are also well handled and patched up reasonably (I’m being vague but I refuse to give anything away!) and the characters are AWESOME! Ashley is blunt and hilarious, Jasmine’s grandma is the best, Jackson is so sweet and amazing I wanted to hug him and even Simon who made a mistake, redeemed himself! BUT I can’t deny how at some parts I hated Jasmine for her ignorance.

Throughout most of the book Jasmine was a pity party, frustrating and a little immature. I mean I understood she’s very insecure and hated how people judged her on how she looks how but wouldn’t you think that would make her not judge people? But she totally judged Jackson and said some very harsh things when all he ever did to her was show her kindness and compassion but she hit him where it hurts: dissed him about his race. But he forgave her, which I think was too easy!! Jasmine couldn’t forgive Lacey (her bestfriend) or Simon all the way but got Jackson forgiveness handed on a silver platter, which was very hypocritical and unfair and I can’t forget how she just assumed the worst of Simon without really trying to figure out what happened or getting his opinion! She went as far as punching him when just like Jackson, all he did was be nice to her!

Besides that, I enjoyed If I Tell. It was a surprise delight that I think everyone should pick up, it deals well with issues of getting over the crap life throws you and handling them the best way fit plus the book has a very cute romance:D

My Rating: 3.5 hearts that I will round to 4

First Line:

"My heart raced as I stumbled down the step."

Teaser:

"I don't want to wreck your diet. I know older guys like you need to watch what they eat."

He eyeballed his chicken sandwich and unwrapped it, ignoring my dig."

Favorite line:

"In line behind Jackson, an annoyingly gorgeous girl with long blond hair was eyeing his butt. I couldn't blame her. It was a butt worth staring at."

*Thank to Sourcebooks Fire for providing me a copy of this book to review*

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