Review of Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta

Title: Saving Francesca
Author: Melina Marchetta
Published by: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Pages: 243
Source: Borrowed from the library
Rating: 5/5

From Goodreads:  Francesca is stuck at St. Sebastian's, a boys' school that pretends it's coed by giving the girls their own bathroom.  Her only female companions are an ultra-feminist, a rumored slut, and an an impossibly dorky accordion player.  The boys are no better, from Thomas who specializes in musical burping to Will, the perpetually frowning, smug moron that Francesca can't seem to stop thinking about. Then there's Francesca's mother, who always thinks she knows what's best for Francesca—until she is suddenly stricken with acute depression, leaving Francesca lost, alone, and without an inkling who she really is.  Simultaneously humorous, poignant, and impossible to put down, this is the story of a girl who must summon the strength to save her family, her social life and—hardest of all—herself.

Melina Marchetta does it again...her novels just blow me away.  This book was so amazing I'm not sure I have the words to describen just how good it was.  Let's just say I stayed up until 2:45am to finish this novel even though I had to be up 6am.  That is how good it was.

Marchetta tends to write about characters who are flawed.  They are not perfect, and thing don't always go right for them, but they are real.  So real in fact, that you're pulled right into their lives and start to develop feelings for them.  Francesca was that way for me.  I often found myself in tears as I read what she was going through.  I felt her anger and helplessness at her mother's disease and I wanted to be there for her, but I didn't have to be because she has the greatest group of friends in the world.  

While the novel starts out with Francesca not having any real friends, by the end she has this amazing group of such ecelctic people who really care about her.  They are so unique and wonderful that you'll definitely be a little jealous by the end.  Like Francesca, each one of her friends is a little "flawed" but together they make this brilliant group of people. 

The characters are really what make this story.  They are so well written that you'd never know they didn't truely exist.  I keep expecting to get on a bus and see these friends in the back all chatting away. 

This novel was heart-breaking on one page, and laugh-out-loud hilarious on the next.  Seriously give this book and try and you won't be sorry. 

Follow My Blog Friday

Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee's View.

           My answer to this week's Follow Friday question:

 

Q. Genre Wars! What's your favorite genre and which book in that genre made it your favorite?

Wow this is a hard question this week.  I like all genres so instead of going with a favorite genre per say, I'm going to pick my favorite book and then they will be my favorite genre for the day.  My favorite Young Adult book would have to Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta so therefore I guess my favorite genre would be contemporary fiction. 

Feast of Fools by Rachel Caine

Title: Feast of Fools (The Morganville Vampires #4)
Author: Rachel Caine
Published by: Allison & Busby
Pages: 352
Source: Won in a contest
Rating: 4/5

From Goodreads: In the town of Morganville, vampires and humans live in relative peace. Student Claire Danvers has never been convinced, though especially with the arrival of Mr. Bishop, an ancient, old-school vampire who cares nothing about harmony. What he wants from the town's living and its dead is unthinkably sinister. It's only at a formal ball, attended by vampires and their human dates, that Claire realizes the elaborately evil trap he's set for Morganville.

Rachel Caine is the queen of the cliffhangers.  I feel like every novel in this series ends with a cliffhanger.  Instead of the conflict being resolved nicely, it is almost as if we're left in the middle of the book.  It's impossible to stop reading this series because you never feel satisfied by the ending...you're always left wanting to know what happens next.  It really is a brilliant way to hook readers, but at the same time I kind of want a ending and not have to wait until the next book to get it.

The one thing that really continues in this book and is possibly the main reason I am so addicted to this series is the tension between Shane and Claire.  I understand that Claire is 16 and Shane is 18, but Rachel Caine gives them so much sexual tension without any real action that it keeps you wondering when Shane is going to drop his morals or Claire is going to finally win and seduce him.

I personally hope they do hold out a little longer just to keep with the story line.  Of course I want them to finally hook up eventually, but the tension is almost just as good.

As for the book itself, it is slow at parts and then at the end it explodes.  The unexpected happens and you are thrown for quite a loop.  I'm not sure I understood everything that happened and I hope it is explained a little more later in the series. 

Be prepared to stay up late just to finish this novel, and make sure you have the next in the series on hand too so you can dive right in.

Review of Midnight Alley by Rachel Caine

Title: Midnight Alley (The Morganville Vampires #3)

Author: Rachel Caine
Published by: Allison & Busby
Pages: 384
Source: Won in a contest
Rating: 4/5

From Goodreads: Claire Danvers's college town may be run by vampires but a truce between the living and the dead made things relatively safe. For a while. Now people are turning up dead, a psycho is stalking her, and an ancient bloodsucker has proposed private mentoring. To what end, Claire will find out. And it's giving night school a whole new meaning.

Wow...Rachel Caine does it again.  Even with all the vampire books out their The Morganville Vampires stand out as some of the scariest and deadliest out there. 

This is a fast paced, page turning, heart pounding novel that will keep you on the edge of your seat, all packed in with outstanding relationships between the characters.  Some of my favorite characters such as Sam, Michael, Shane, Eve and Amelie all return as well as some of the characters I'm not to fond of.  We meet a new character Myrnin, who is the deadliest of them all, but definitly has a mind like no other.  I'd love to study under him (well as long as he is caged and I have many, many body guards with very sharp stakes).

Claire sometimes annoys me with her decisions though.  I have to constantly remind myself that she is only sixteen and not an adult yet even though she is taking college classes.  I feel that she often acts emotionally without examining all of her choices and seeing which one is the best.   

This is a great addition to an already outstanding series.  If you haven't started this series yet add it to the TBR pile.

Blogger Vacation

Hey all!  I'm going out a town for a couple of days and have no internet access.  I hope you all have a great next couple of days and I'll be back on Wednesday.  Happy reading. 

Here is a look at some of my vacation reading material:
Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

Midnight Alley by Rachel Caine

Feast of Fools by Rachel Caine

Take a Chance on Me by Jill Mansell

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Follow My Blog Friday

 

Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee's View.

           My answer to this week's Follow Friday question

Q. The magic book fairy pops out of your cereal box and says "you and your favorite character (from a book of course) can switch places!" Who are you going to switch with?

For me it is a toss up between Sookie Stackhouse from the Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampires Series and Rose Hathaway from the vampire Academy series.  Both of these ladies a completely hard-core and kick-butt.  They are strong women who believe in themselves and aren't afraid to get a little dirty (both inside and outside of the bedroom).  But the number one reason I'd want to switch places with either Sookie or Rose would definitely be their men.  Eric is a Nordic god and Dimitri is a Russian god.  Could life get any better?

Review of Sisterhood Everlasting: A Novel by Ann Brashares

Title: Sisterhood Everlasting: A Novel
Author: Ann Brashares
Published by: Random House
Pages: 224
Source: ARC borrowed from a friend
Available: June 14, 2011
Rating: 4/5

From Goodreads: Tibby, Lena, Carmen, and Bridget have grown up, starting their lives on their own. And though the jeans they shared are long gone, the sisterhood is everlasting. Despite having jobs and men that they love, each knows that something is missing: the closeness that once sustained them. Carmen is a successful actress in New York, engaged to be married, but misses her friends. Lena finds solace in her art, teaching in Rhode Island, but still thinks of Kostos and the road she didn’t take. Bridget lives with her longtime boyfriend, Eric, in San Francisco, and though a part of her wants to settle down, a bigger part can’t seem to shed her old restlessness. Then Tibby reaches out to bridge the distance, sending the others plane tickets for a reunion that they all breathlessly await. And indeed, it will change their lives forever—but in ways that none of them could ever have expected. As moving and life-changing as an encounter with long-lost best friends, Sisterhood Everlasting is a powerful story about growing up, losing your way, and finding the courage to create a new one.

This novel took me by surprise.  I was expecting fun and laughs just like the original Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants novels, but instead I got a more serious and heart wrenching novel.  These ladies really did grow up and are not dealing with little issues anymore, instead they are adults with serious problems and the consequenses of their decisions and life choices haunt them at times.

This novel focuses on the girls separation from each other and how they've grown apart.  They are so much a part of one another that their lives all tend to go astray when they don't have daily involvment with each other. 

Something big happens and each person has their own way of dealing with the aftermath.  This novel was truthful, heart-breaking, joyous and enlightening.  It was quite an emotional rollercoaster, but was definitely worth taking.

I'd recommend this to anyone who loved the original Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, or for people who didn't like it or never read it because while it does feature the same characters, the style and tone of this novel are quite different.