Where Have You Been, Rachel, and Where Are You Going?

Dear readers, fellow reviewers and loyal followers,
I have neglected Under A Star Studded Sky of late; I've been roaming across England and Europe for the past month, with a college trip to the CERN facility in Switzerland (site of the Large Hadron Collider), a summer school at the University of Cambridge and a long visit to a friend of mine who lives in the beautiful country of Norway. Not only that, but I've had a birthday and become a year older, read many, many books, and fallen in love with a boy. It's been a busy summer.
Another thing that happened to me this summer was the dreaded AS results day. And, having received AAAA (Maths, Further Maths, Physics & English Lit., in the unlikely case you're interested), I've set my sights on my a-levels, and applying to university. This year, I'm going to be working harder than ever, and that means letting something go. It's not you, it's me, right? It's amazing how much like a bad breakup this feels.
Yes, if you haven't quite guessed it yet, I'm stopping blogging. I'm a physicist at heart, and I always have been, and that just has to come first. I realise the two things aren't mutually exclusive, of course, and I hope I've shown that being "mathematically-minded" doesn't mean you can't appreciate a book as much as the next girl.
Thank you for all your support and readership. At its peak, Under A Star Studded Sky had 122 followers and over a 1000 page views a month. I could not be grateful, or happy with what I've managed to achieve, and I hope you all continue to read, enjoy and love books.
May many happy words come your way!
Rachel Star x

Book Review: Forever by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: Forever (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #3) 
Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Date Published: 12.07.11

Number of pages: 386

How acquired: Won!

Rating on cover alone (because, yes, I am that superficial occasionally): 8/10

General Rating: 9/10

Who I'd recommend it for: Fans of Shiver and Linger shouldn't be disappointed (I certainly wasn't). For anyone else, I'd definitely recommend reading Shiver and Linger first, in order to really appreciate Forever.

Summary From Goodreads:
then.
When Sam met Grace, he was a wolf and she was a girl. Eventually he found a way to become a boy, and their love moved from a curious distance to the intense closeness of shared lives. now.
That should have been the end of their story. But Grace was not meant to stay human. Now she is the wolf. And the wolves of Mercy Falls are about to be killed in one final, spectacular hunt.
forever.

Sam would do anything for Grace. But can one boy and one love really change a hostile, predatory world? The past, the present, and the future are about to collide in one pure moment - a moment of death or life, farewell or forever.

My Review:

I loved this, I really did. It was just the perfect conclusion to one of my very favourite paranormal romances. Heck, it's one of the best trilogies I've ever read, and trilogies are HARD to get right.

I don't want to say too much about what happens, or what I thought of certain aspects, for obvious and spoilery reasons, so you'll have to settle for a avalanche of positive adjectives and take my word for it. However, I will say that I admire Ms Stiefvater for being brave enough to end it the way she did. And I hope at least a majority of the absolute horde of fans would agree with me there.

Again, beautifully written, brilliantly characterized and just a pleasure to read. I marvel at Stiefvater's ability to insert rich, gorgeous imagery without a trace of bombast, or literary snobbery, and somehow interweave this with emotion and plot tension. The reason this is so good isn't just because it's so good; it's because it feels effortlessly and elegantly sublime.

Book data, summary and cover image from Goodreads; view the Goodreads entry for Forever here.

Book Review: The Babysitter Murders by Janet Ruth Young

Title: The Babysitter Murders
Author: Janet Ruth Young
Date Published: 26.7.11
Number of pages: 304
How acquired: Many thanks to S&S for providing this through their Galley Grab Program.

Rating on cover alone (because, yes, I am that superficial occasionally): 5/10 (It's nice, but not that relevant and slightly misleading)

General Rating: 8/10
Who I'd recommend it for: Feeling like a quirky, contemporary read with a genuine and interesting protagonist? Pick this up.
Summary Taken From Goodreads: Everyone has weird thoughts sometimes. But for seventeen-year-old Dani Solomon, strange thoughts have taken over her life. She loves Alex, the little boy she babysits, more than anything. But one day, she has a vision of murdering him that's so gruesome, she can't get it out of her mind. In fact, Dani's convinced that she really will kill Alex. She confesses the thoughts to keep him safe, setting off a media frenzy that makes "Dani Death" the target of an extremist vigilante group.



Through the help of a psychiatrist, Dani begins to understand her condition. But will it be too late? The people of her community want justice . . . and Dani's learning that some thoughts are better left unsaid.

My Review: The Babysitter Murders is one of the best accounts of mental illness in teenagers that I have read this year, so credit must go to the author for working so hard to accurately present the experiences of Dani; Dani's unusual (or perhaps more accurately, under-publicized) form of OCD was brilliantly captured, in my opinion, and never over-dramatised. She may be one of my favourite protagonists of the year; brave, misunderstood and honest. One of the reasons this novel works so well and I scored it so highly is because of the characters; not because they're all perfect, nice people (which they certainly aren't) but because they felt very genuine, and their voices realistic, making The Babysitter Murders feel more and more real and sucking me further into the pages the more I read.

Unfortunately, the third person narration didn't work that well for me at the start, but a couple of chapters in and I managed to get involved in the story enough not to notice it anymore. Similarly, the start is a little slow. But it gets much better, and soon I was so hooked I couldn't stop reading.

The Babysitter Murders is definitely a different read, something that stands out for being brilliantly characterized and really original. 
 

Links: Goodreads - Author's Website

An Response To A Response To A Response, a.k.a why YA is being defended and what against.

"I am so disappointed with the content of this article and the majority of the comments it has received. I cannot believe that people have chosen to label the books that I read and love now, as a teenager, as "ever more appalling offerings for adolescent readers" [Meghan Cox Gurdon] "generally so abominably written" [commentor] "shelves of darkness" [commentor] or, that my YA (yes, it is intended for me to read, the poor impressionable young person that I am) "wallows in the dark side" [commentor]. Wow. You've taken the absolute best thing about the genre that I adore, it's diversity, and refused to acknowledge it at all. How can you possibly claim that it's all "explicit abuse, violence and depravity" [Ms Gurdon, once again]? There is so much humor, and love, and goodness in YA. Ignoring all that, and merely focusing on the more issue-based contemporary YA fiction, and I have never, ever read more than a handful of YA books that do not give out a message of strength and support to their readers. Take Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, for example. The final pages read (and I wish I could quote more of this, but I don't wish to spoil the book for anyone)

" It wasn't my fault. He hurt me. It wasn't my fault. And I'm not going to let it kill me. I can grow."

How can you doubt the  power behind those words as a beacon of hope and encouragement to all teens, a clear message about acknowledging when something terrible has happened and realising that that is not the end, and that recovery is possible and that it is not your fault? How can a book like Speak, which is frequently banned, be considered to be sending a bad message to teenagers?


And as for the books that are mentioned that are not at all contemporary, that is a ridiculous argument. The sub-genre of paranormal YA cannot be claimed to be affecting my supposedly fragile mind. Please do not suggest that I will have issues with vampires; they're not actually real. An earlier commentor asks "What does The Hunger Games tell the youngsters for which they're written about the human condition, particularly young people's condition in the 21st century?" If they'd actually bothered to read The Hunger Games, they'd realise that it defines fighting back against a dictatorship and rebelling against what is wrong in order to protect those you love. They'd realise that it's about strength and courage and standing up against bullies, whether they are small, or massive, like a corrupt government. They'd also realise that it does not make the reader want to murder people. If you are claiming that, as a sixteen year old, I am unable to tell the difference between dystopian fiction, and the world I live in, you are seriously and offensively underestimating my intelligence.

YA is an ever-expanding genre that is continually inspiring generations of young people to read more. It is, fundamentally, about choice. As a YA blogger and reviewer, believe me when I say, for every one book I can think of that possibly fits into Ms Gurdon's criteria of "too dark", I can think of three that would never be viewed as such. The "trend" that Ms Gurdon so firmly describes, is only a fraction of what's available. Yes, it may be the most popular fraction, because it is so empowering and entertaining and interesting and well-written, but I refuse to accept that bland stereotype of my genre. YA literature (yes, literature) is amazingly diverse; please don't label it as something it's not."
 
I'm sorry to bring this up again, folks, but the WSJ refuses to allow me to comment on it's articles without actually becoming a member, and I got all fired up about Meghan Cox Gurdon's response to our response to her awful article, (which you can read here, should you wish) and since I wasn't able to rant in the comments section, I thought I'd share my views on here instead, because, otherwise, I may boil with frustration. 
 
P.S By the way, Speak really is an excellent book. I highly recommend it.

In My Mailbox [12]

In My Mailbox is a meme that was inspired by Alea and created by Kristi,where the aim of the game is to talk about all the books you've borrowed/ received/ bought/ eaten (okay, that last one there is a joke) during the past week. If you're on Goodreads and would like to see my IMM Goodreads Shelf, click here.
 

All cover images from Goodreads; click the title of the books below to be taken to their respective Goodreads pages.



From The Library:

The Summer That Changed Everything by Ann Brashares
I'm not sure why I picked this up. I think it's a really cool title though, and I like to branch out into authors I haven't read before; I haven't read The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants series, which Ms Brashares also wrote. Yet..
Only The Good Spy Young (Gallagher Girls #4) by Ally Carter

I love this series. It's a little bit of a guilty pleasure to sit down and read about a female spy school, and even if it's not the most realistic book you'll ever read, it's perfect for losing an hour or so in
The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen [My Sarah Dessen Addiction Reaches New Levels]
The Embarassing Truth: I borrowed this yesterday and read (devoured might be a more appropriate verb here, people, I'm not going to lie) it so quickly that I finished it last night. And it's not even the first time I've read it. I know, I know. I'm weak.
The Boy Book (Ruby Oliver #2) by E Lockhart
It's been a long time since I read The Boyfriend List (Ruby Oliver #1), but I'm hoping it will all come flooding back to me.

What delights dropped on your literal or metaphorical doorsteps this week?

Nomes' Fave Reads of 2011- Sharing All The Bookish Loveliness

I know what you're thinking- "Rachel, you always write about your favourite books. You never shut up about your favourite books!". Ok, so I'm a fan of spreading the book-love. And the button for this was just too cute for me not to participate, and I love Nomes' blog, Inkcrush- it's be a permanant fixture on my sidebar since I discovered it. So, there. I'm allowed :)

The rules were; had to be a new read for 2011 (giving me a rather small pile of only 33 books), and any book could be included more than once. I've picked out my favourite categories, but I've kept the original numbering so you can see which ones I've left out, should you wish to know.

1. Favourite book read so far in 2011

This was the hardest to choose, so I wimped out and picked four.

Forever by Maggie Stiefvater - what an ending to a great series. Truly, a landmark, in the overwhelming wealth of paranormal romances thrown at YA readers.
Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma- brilliant, beautiful and brutally poigant.
Love You, Hate You, Miss You by Elizabeth Scott- wonderfully genuine and fabulously written.
Across The Universe by Beth Revis - gripping, dark, twisty and fantastically entertaining.

2. Most powerful book

 Falling by Sharon Dogar

This is a book that really doesn't get the attention it deserves, and when I first looked at it, I thought: "Hmm, pretty cover, not heard of the author, probably going to be something light and fluffy". So. So. Wrong. Falling is hard-hitting, incredibly powerful, fast-paced and just amazing, if a little heavy.

And then, of course, Forbidden has to appear in this category too.

7. Best tense, adrenalin-fuelled, unputdownable book
Ok, bit of a skip to number 7, but hey, that's how I roll.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins.
I read this in one sitting, and it was quite incredible (although as good as the first, I think not). I won't say anymore about it, because it had all the hype and fan-love that it is possible to have (which was indeed deserved) and I would merely add to that. But I would urge you to read the whole series if you get the chance.

Across The Universe deserves a shout-out here as well.




8. The beautiful prose award

No and Me by Delphine De Vigan.
Gorgeously written, this is like bathing in beautiful prose. Not the fastest paced, but that didn't matter to me.

Forbidden was also wonderfully written, as was Falling.







11. Most original and imaginative

The Babysitter Murders by Janet Ruth Young.
This hasn't been published yet, and I haven't seen it about very much either, but it's one of the most starkly different books I've read this year. It's might not be the best written, it may not have quite the flair and elegance of the best contemporary fiction, but it is fascinatingly different, and addictively good, and it's kind of factual, crisp style actually really suits the main character's voice and somehow, makes you empathise with her all the more.





#12. Best under-appreciated, hidden gem book

Loads of choices for this, especially some of the ones I've already mentioned, like Falling or No and Me, but I think the top two picks would have to be;

The Life and Opinions of Amy Finawitz by Laura Toffler Corrie and

All We Know of Love by Nora Raleigh Baskin.

16. Series that i'm loving

This was the easiest one to choose- it had to be the Gallagher Girls series, of which I read number 3 this year; Don't Judge A Girl By Her Cover by Ally Carter. I love this series, and I especially enjoy the way I can so easily slip back into the storyline and the characters every time I pick up this series. Looking very much forward to gettting my hands on number 4!
Obviously, Forever has to get a mention here too.






And just a few other books that require a mention, but don't quite fit into those headings;

So that's my post on the best of my YA reading this year, with many thanks to Nomes for such a great list and her own fab selections, which you can view here. How's your reading in 2011 shaping up? Let me know what your selections would be, or simply whether you agree with any of mine in the comments below.

N.b- all blue titles take you to respective Goodreads pages if you click them, and all cover images are from Goodreads.

Free Shiver Audiobook: SYNC is back!

Sync Summer 2011

Ok, so I know I've gone a little Shiver/ Linger/ Forever (which is awesomely good, by the way) crazy this past week, but I had to share this;
SYNC is back and this week they're offering Shiver as their YA audiobook- completely free. Or, if Shiver isn't your thing, but you're feeling the romance, perhaps the best-known love story ever, Romeo and Juliet, is also up for grabs.
Click here for more on that, and expect a reminder every week of the titles available to download, because you've got only one week to download them or else miss out. Oh, and did I mention? They're free. What a great excuse to get listening!