I Kill the Mockingbird

I Kill the Mockingbird

by Paul Acampora

This May End Badly

This May End Badly

by Samantha Markum

When Weston and Winfield announce that they will merge and become co-ed, Doe is overwhelmed with feelings of anger and denial. Weston has been her home for the past three years and merging with the boys of Winfield could destroy everything that she loved about the school.

Her nemesis at Winfield is Three. When his cousin, Wells, offers her the chance to mess with Three, while also getting him an heirloom that Three has, Doe takes the chance. 

Even as she fake dates Wells, Doe works on pulling off the most legendary pranks against Winfield. This prank war has gone on for generations and Doe has pulled off many against Three and Winfield in her time at Weston and Doe hopes that maybe the prank war can stop the merger.

But the prank war and the merger aren't the most important things that Doe needs to focus on. There is a darkness lurking within Doe and within Doe's precious school.

Final thoughts: This was a pretty well done story. It was solid and Doe has a strong point of view. My only real complaints were that everyone and everything had a person's name (even the parents were referred to by their first names, making it often difficult to keep all of the characters straight) and one of the pranks was extremely dangerous but there were no real consequences. Otherwise, the story is solid and I believed Doe's growth over the course of the book. 

Rating: 4/5

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Five Ways to Fall Out of Love

 

Five Ways to Fall Out of Love

by Emily Martin

Aubrey Chase is a pessimist who thinks of herself as a realist. Based on her parents' dying marriage, Aubrey believes that there's not much point to love since all she sees is breakups and fighting.

Across the street lives Webster. Just when Aubrey was ready to give love a try, Webster stands her up for Homecoming and then embarrasses her in front of the school. Over a year later and they still wage a daily battle to tick the other one off. 

But there's still a little something there. 

There's also Webster's cousin who might be able to show Aubrey that love can be more than the end of the relationship; it can be the beginning, too.

Now there's a triangle and Aubrey is more confused about relationships than ever.

Final Thoughts: I was not a fan of this one. The characters were pretty flat and the story just didn't flow well. I finished the book but not with the satisfaction of reading a good story. 

Rating: 2/5

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Kissing Lessons

Kissing Lessons

by Sophie Jordan

Hayden is the most notorious girl in school, even when she really hasn't done anything to deserve that distinction. Her home life is crap and her looks are too good, so she has to face each day as if she's taking on the entire world. Boys claim that they've known her. Girls slut shame her. And Hayden just tries to get through to graduation so that she can leave town and never see her mother or their tiny town again.

Unfortunately, leaving town means getting money and with Hayden basically having to pay for everything on her own, saving is hard. When Emmaline approaches her with cash in exchange for lessons on how to be so confident with guys, Hayden can't afford to say no... even when Emmaline's older brother and hot jock, Nolan, tries to push her away.

Hayden gets in deeper than she ever thought when she starts to fall for Nolan and the possibility that maybe not everyone in the world is out for themselves.

Final thoughts: I liked parts of this book and Hayden started out strong, but like Sandy at the end of Grease, she changes herself in strange ways that don't fit in with how her character behaved throughout the rest of the book. Things feel unfinished and rushed by the end. There are so many areas that were never discussed and others that were just obviously placed for the moment of the plot and then forgotten. I didn't feel the ending was organic to the rest of the story and I definitely didn't feel like things were resolved well.

Rating: 2/5

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

To All the Boys I've Loved Before

To All the Boys I've Loved Before

by Jenny Han

Lara Jean is a nervous girl. She's always been afraid to stretch and do new things. She's always allowed her older sister, Margot, to take over and run things. But when Margot leaves to go to college in Scotland, Lara Jean can't hide anymore; she's got to be the girl in charge.

When Lara Jean was younger and would fall in love, she'd write love letters to her crushes as a way to get out her feelings, but then she'd pack those letters into a hatbox given to her by her mother and hide them away. 

Somehow, the letters get out and get mailed. 

Now Lara Jean must not only take care of her younger sister, take care of the house, and start to grow into the girl she's meant to be, but she must also contend with all the boys getting their letters.

The worst may be that one of her former crushes is her older sister's boyfriend.

This could get interesting...

Final thoughts: This was a put down/pick up book that took me too long to get through. My biggest problem was at the start of the book so it tainted everything else from that point on. Lara Jean is a super nervous driver and hates driving anywhere. She's ultra paranoid in the car, so it makes absolutely no sense that she would see a stop sign and then intentionally blow through it. It's a forced plot device to make Lara Jean need other people for a bit and it's completely out of character for what the author had set up during the previous pages. That stupidity made me kind of hate the character and it never really resolved. The ending just came out of nowhere and left everything pretty much unresolved. It's not really a cliffhanger, but it's not an HEA either. Not planning to read the sequel.

Rating: 2/5

Southern Fried Wiccan

Southern Fried Wiccan

by S.P. Sipal

Priscilla is a military brat who has been bounced around from one base to another all around the world. When her father takes a one year tour at a base where family is prohibited, Cilla and her mother move to her mother's home town. As they are finding their footing, and Cilla's mother is finding her place in the business world, Cilla and her younger brother often must stay with her grandmother, who is Southern Baptist through and through.

Once moved in, Cilla starts school at The Pond, a local charter school located in the remnants of a mini-mall. There, Cilla meets all the stereotypes she's grown to know in every school she's ever attended. The one difference is that one person knows Cilla's true beliefs and is more than willing to help her find her true calling.

In all her travels, no religion has ever spoken to Cilla like Wiccan, and no person has ever truly understood that more than Val. Val leads her to Mother Faith and the rest of her coven where Cilla finally feels like she's found her place. 

Unfortunately, her very religious grandmother is sure to not take it well when she finds out her granddaughter is a witch.

Final thoughts: While not anti-Christian, this is definitely PRO-Wiccan. There is page after page of people talking about this religion, almost preaching it, to the point of boredom. There really isn't a plot at all, more like a series of events in between all the teaching and preaching. I wanted to like Cilla and wanted to care, but it just became too much. In addition, Cilla kept saying and thinking "Like", as if she was a Valley Girl in the 80's. I work with teens every day; they don't say that anymore. Most of the teen dialogue was just poorly written. I may recommend this for teens trying to figure out their own beliefs, but only for the Wiccan aspect, not for the story itself. Note: while wands and spells are discussed, there is no magic portrayed in this book.

Rating: 2/5

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

by Ransom Riggs

When Jacob was little, his grandfather would tell him fantastical tales of children who were invisible, or could light fires with their bare hands, or float, or lift large boulders with no effort, or do so many other peculiar things.  As he grew, Jake realized that his grandfather was just making things up and that the monsters he sometimes talked about were just stories designed to scare a child.

But when Jake's grandfather is murdered in his backyard, and Jake sees what he thinks is a terrible, tentacled creature, the grandson starts to believe that maybe his grandfather was telling the truth.

After months of psychotherapy and medication to convince him that was a just seeing things, Jake finally gets the chance to find out the truth.  He gets to go the island his grandfather had told him about and look to see if he can find the mysterious Miss Peregrine and her home for peculiar children.

At first, all Jake finds is a bombed out house with no living creatures nearby.  However, after a second visit to the decayed and devastated building, Jake encounters the children his grandfather had told him about, along with a portal back in time to a loop that repeated the same day in September 1940, over and over again.

Unfortunately, Jake didn't come to the island alone and now he has to make a decision: go home to a life and a world of people who think he's insane, or stay with his new family of peculiars and defend them from the monsters that only he can see.

Final thoughts: Okay.  I'm struggling here because this was so very popular and it even became a best seller.  My problem comes from the fact that this book is almost entirely exposition.  It's like Twilight in the sense that the only real plot comes near the end and only after a very long set-up.  I was often bored and put the book down for long periods of time.  The pictures are fascinating, but they're just not enough to hold my attention and, now that the plot has finally started at the end of the book, I just don't care to continue reading.  There were many things going for this, but not enough to keep me interested.

Rating: 2/5

Streetlights Like Fireworks

Streetlights Like Fireworks

by David Pandolfe

For most of his life, Jack has worked to hide his weirdness.  As the son of a prestigious lawyer from the firm of Atkinson, Atkinson and Atkinson, it wouldn't do for him to be outed as a kid with paranormal visions.

But for all his trying to hide it, his family has made it clear that he just doesn't fit in.  And it feels like his parents are always trying to push him away.  They even force him to go to summer camp, despite the fact that he's more than a little too old for it.

On a trip to the local guitar shop, Jack holds a Fender Telecaster guitar for a just a few moments, just enough time to touch the strings, when a vision of a rock singer fills his mind and tells him to bring the guitar back to her.

With his family fearing him and his friends in the dark about what he can do, Jack feels like he has no other choice than to approach the town outcast, Lauren, who has her own freaky history.  Once together, they start on a journey that will change everything.

Final thoughts:  Decent read.  It's a coming of age story for the kid who doesn't quite fit in.  The paranormal doesn't really stand out, but some of the coincidences are strange.  The final resolution was a little predictable, but the ending was kind of a let-down, though it does set the stage for a sequel.  I'm not as enraptured as other reviewers appear to be, but I can definitely recommend it.

Rating: 3/5