Review: Normal by Danielle Pearl

It's the kind of situation most people would dread. Starting at a new high school, in the middle of my senior year, in a new town, in a new state. I know no one. No one knows me. That's what I'm counting on.

A year ago, Aurora "Rory" Pine was just a normal teenage girl - just as sweet and naive as the fairy tale princess she was named after.

But this isn't a year ago.

Rory is broken, and now suffering from a debilitating anxiety disorder, wrought with precarious triggers, she moves across the country to escape the source of her troubles. Her plan is anonymity, but that's easier said than achieved for the new girl having a panic episode outside of calculus. The worst part? There's a witness - and a gorgeous one at that.

Sam is a walking trigger for Rory. Incredibly handsome, built like the star athlete he obviously is, and undoubtedly popular, Sam outwardly represents everything Rory despises about high school. But as the fates keep throwing them together, a connection sparks that neither ever expected, and certainly couldn't ignore.

But Sam has issues too, and Rory's past won't just stay in the damned past. When friendship evolves into something deeper, can a girl utterly destroyed by the worst kind of betrayal and a boy battling demons of his own ever have a normal relationship? Is that even what they want? Find out in NORMAL, a gritty story of trust and abuse, heartbreak and salvation, and if they're lucky - love. This is not a flowery romance - not for the faint of heart.

I'm a sucker for having my heart broken. Let's just start there. This book does that a thousand times over, but as it shatters you into a million infinitesimal pieces, it rebuilds your hope one small section at a time. 

Normal dives into a subject matter that I usually try to avoid at any and all costs, as I'm sure most people do when it comes to rape. But while the author gives us what I can only assume is a realistic representation of what it's like to be a victim of emotional and physical abuse, she also gives us something to see beyond the horror. 

Hope. Surviving. Friendship. Support. Love. Determination. 

Rory is no doubt lacking in self-confidence, but she does cling to all the above mentioned, whether she always realizes it or not. But she doesn't have these things on her own - she has them because of the people around her. 

I'm not going to lie... Rory frustrated me beyond measure sometimes. She kept seeing herself as the victim rather than the survivor that she most definitely was, and she constantly puts the blame on herself for the actions of others, drawing conclusions that are so completely blind to the reality that people make their own choices. On the other hand, I could also empathize with what she had been through. Who's to say I wouldn't make the same decisions as she did if I had been through a trauma like she experienced? She'd been through a world of shit, and not just at the hands of her attacker. 

I love how this book focuses on the relationships that Rory forges. The forced ones, the real ones, and obvious differences between the two.  I feel like a lot of books focus on the romance between two people, but Normal extends to the friendships, emphasizing the importance of those relationships as well, and it's amazingly refreshing. Up until the freakish cliffhanger, I felt like every character was significant to Rory's story of survival; not only that, but vital to the story's development. 

This is a long, long read - one that had me up way to late and up way to early to finish. I will admit, I felt that some of it repeated the same sentiments, making some of the reading long-winded, but I can honestly say that it doesn't take away from the emotional upheaval that you will, without a single doubt, experience. 

Like I said, there's a cliffhanger and an annoying one at that. But LUCKY YOU, the second book was just released, so you don't have to go through the agony of waiting. 

Beware: This book, at its core, is about a survivor of emotional and physical abuse. I didn't know that when I started it, but once I did, I was in it with no way of escaping. I was slammed in the face with Rory's trauma, but while this book brought what are very real and abhorrent circumstances out in the open, it gave me hope, "like a fucking cliche." 

How could I not recommend this book? Please read it, but know that you're entire life outside the book will be put on hold as you do. 

4.5/5 STARS

Cheers!

Review: Altered by Jennifer Rush

When you can’t trust yourself, who can you believe?

Everything about Anna’s life is a secret. Her father works for the Branch at the helm of its latest project: monitoring and administering treatments to the four genetically altered boys in the lab below their farmhouse. There’s Nick, Cas, Trev . . . and Sam, who’s stolen Anna’s heart. When the Branch decides it’s time to take the boys, Sam stages an escape, killing the agents sent to retrieve them. 

Anna is torn between following Sam or staying behind in the safety of her everyday life. But her father pushes her to flee, making Sam promise to keep her away from the Branch, at all costs. There’s just one problem. Sam and the boys don’t remember anything before living in the lab—not even their true identities.

Now on the run, Anna soon discovers that she and Sam are connected in more ways than either of them expected. And if they’re both going to survive, they must piece together the clues of their past before the Branch catches up to them and steals it all away.

If there's one thing I can say about Altered, it's that it's a joyride... A thrill... A test of the nerves... This book hits the ground running and it doesn't stop until the very end... and even then, there's still a battle to be fought.

Sam, Cas, Trev, and Nick find a way out of the lab, and when Anna gets caught in the crossfires, she is forced to go on the run with them, leaving everything she has ever known behind. She feels like this was all an accident, a grave mistake. Like she had a choice to get involved with the boy's dangerous undertaking for freedom. She questions herself about her decision, if she would have made a different one, but the lurking truth is, she's a part of them and they are a part of her.

The boys are a group of supercharged misfits. I just love them. Even Nick with his surly attitude and hatefulness towards Anna. Then there's Cas with his "innocent-but-mischievous way that only five-year-olds can pull off;" Anna's best friend, Trev, with his myriad of quotes from the books he loves to read; and then we have Sam ~ "The things that truly defined him were still a secret."

All these guys have their own personalities and distinct voices ~ it's impossible to get them mixed up. And Anna's in the middle of them all. She grows so much throughout this novel, beginning as a naive teenager just trying to finish high school at home, baking pumpkin cookies for the four boys locked up in her dad's lab, to this kick-ass, courageous female who can take care of herself and those she loves. She didn't suffer from damsel-in-distress syndrome like so many female characters tend to do. While the boys do feel the need to protect her, she soon proves that they need her just as much as she needs them. Anna takes quite a few massive hits, both physically and emotionally, and while she doesn't come out unscathed, she accepts the weighted truth and allows it to make her stronger.

Of course, there's hardly ever a good story that doesn't include a little romance. Maybe I shouldn't call it "romance," as that sounds a bit on the cheesy side for Anna and Sam, but there's no denying their feelings for each other go beyond friendship. "It wasn't just love. It was a million other things all woven together. Emotions I couldn't even name." What I loved about their relationship is that it wasn't head-over-heels from day one. There was no need to rush and force them to be together, and it felt real and believable and left you hoping.

This book just doesn't stop, and there's not a single dull moment that I can think of. Stolen identities. Secret experiments. Wiped memories. Hidden messages. And that constant motion of watching your back to make sure no one is following you. It's definitely a whiplash-worthy ride.

I highly recommend this book, guys. There's no way you'll be able to put it down once you get going.

Five stars!

*****

Visit Jennifer Rush via

Twitter ~ GoodReads ~ Website

Happy Reading Everyone :)

~ Keely ~

Teaser Tuesday Prelude

The Tuesday Prelude is a meme that was inspired by Should Be Reading's Teaser Tuesday. Since I could never just stick to two lines, I decided to expand this weekly post a bit by introducing you to more than just a little piece of the story.

This week, I'm diving into Altered by Jennifer Rush ~ I'm currently listening to this little beauty on audio, and it's incredible... Especially with the complexity of Anna and Sam...

Anna has grown up knowing Sam, Cas, Trev, and Nick, four genetically altered boys who are contained in the lab where her father is constantly working to study their every movement. But Sam has always been special.

The whole time I'd known the boys, they had suffered from amnesia, an unplanned side effect of the alterations. Despite that, I felt like the others had shown me parts of who they were, deep down. All of them but Sam. Same gave only what he thought was necessary. The things that truly defined him were still a secret.

Despite this mysteriousness, or perhaps because of it, Anna sneaks down into the basement most nights to play a game of chess with Sam. She's curious about him, and, more importantly, she feels different around him. More.

For some reason, everything I said and did around Sam felt weightier. As if merely his presence could shake my soul, make me feel. He savored every detail I gave him, as if I was his last link to the outside world. I guess in some ways I was.

Their relationship is... tense... in more ways than one. Sam acts more like a machine than a human being, doing what needs to be done to escape the basement, even if that means using Anna.

"We were never friends, Anna. I was a prisoner in your basement for five years. ... I wanted out, so I did what I needed to do to win your trust. If you had been in my position, you would have done the same thing." 

Sounds a little cold, but you have to imagine what Sam's been through, being used as a lab rat for some genetic experiment. But as their fight for their lives continues and grows more dangerous, something changes or is at least brought to the surface.

"It's written all over your face." He pushed a lock of hair out of my eyes. "I'm not going anywhere." 

What I love about their relationship is that it's believable. It's push and pull, up and down, hesitation and diving in head first. They care about each other, but it's not all googly eyes and promises of forever. It takes time to develop, overcoming obstacles, secrets, and revelations. It feels real.

I didn't know what Sam and I had, if we had anything at all, but the void opening in my chest told me that it was enough, that maybe the connection between us was real...

*heartbreaking*

Love this book SO much! Review coming soon :)


Happy Reading Everyone :)


~ Keely ~

(P.S. It was brought to my attention that I should include a linky for this post, so keep scrollin' and you'll find it (: ...)

Review: Nevermore by Keith R.A. DeCandido

Twenty-two years ago, Sam and Dean Winchester lost their mother to a mysterious and demonic supernatural force. In the years after, their father, John, taught them about the paranormal evil that lives in the dark corners and on the back roads of America...and he taught them how to kill it. Sam and Dean have hit New York City to check out a local rocker's haunted house. But before they can figure out why a lovesick banshee in an '80s heavy-metal T-shirt is wailing in the bedroom, a far more macabre crime catches their attention. Not far from the house, two university students were beaten to death by a strange assailant. A murder that's bizarre even by New York City standards, it's the latest in a line of killings that the brothers soon suspect are based on the creepy stories of legendary writer Edgar Allan Poe. Their investigation leads them to the center of one of Poe's horror classics, face-to-face with their most terrifying foe yet. And if Sam and Dean don't rewrite the ending of this chilling tale, a grisly serial killer will end their lives forevermore.

I've never read fan fiction before ~ always kinda wary of it ~ but I'm completely obsessed with the show, Supernatural, and upon discovering that there were and endless choice of books (and I DO love to read), I decided to finally give it a shot.

Verdict: It wasn't horrible but it wasn't fantastic, either.

I loved all the Edgar Allan Poe parallels, but the rock band drama? I didn't see where it fit. The Poe murders, imitating scenes in good ole Edgar's gruesome stories and poems, were pretty insane, but I felt like it didn't get the attention it deserved what with all the cheesy "rock" concerts that Dean and Sam felt they needed to attend to gather info on a crazy woman haunting their friend's friend. Honestly, it didn't sound like the boys at all ~ stopping people from dying would be first priority. It felt like the author had too much going on at once and couldn't focus on one situation, half-assing them both.

The writing wasn't bad, but the descriptions were a little over the top. "Dean turned left on [insert street], then made a right up [insert another street I don't know], then took the one-way up [okay, now I'm completely lost]." I'm all for creating a realistic scene, but it was a little much. And the endless lists of bands and songs that Dean was obsessed with filled quite a few long paragraphs. Descriptions are awesome ~ they build the world we are drawn into and allow us to know our characters ~ but I felt, in this case, they began to take attention away from the story.

As for Dean and Sam, there were some moments that I knew who they were and others where I couldn't recognize them. These guys are supposed to be overflowing with suppressed feelings and hidden angst ~ emotions that seep out throughout their story ~ but I didn't feel as if they were experiencing anything other than slight annoyance on Dean's part because an amateur rock band was slaughtering one of his favorite songs. BUT they did sound like themselves for the most part, digging into each other with sarcastic remarks and making you grin at the ridiculousness that can sometimes be brotherly love.

It sounds like I was really disappointed, but really it wasn't THAT bad. I think being a fan of the show increases the value of this book in my point of view. Will I read more fan fiction? Probably, depending on reviews, but only because I'm a huge fan of the show.


Happy Reading Everyone :)




~ Keely ~