Nightbird by Alice Hoffman

Twig isn't allowed to have friends.  She can't invite any over to her house.  Then they might find out the secret.  A witch placed a curse on Twig's family two hundred years ago.  The curse effects the men of Twig's family.  No one must find out about her brother.  But this summer strange things are happening.  There are rumors of a monster in Twig's town of Sidwell.  A family moves back to town with an ancient connection to Twig's.  The time has come to break the curse.

This was a lovely, strange, little fairy tail.  It's a slim book, and honestly there wasn't a whole lot of character development going on, which added to the fairy tale feel of it.  We don't really get to know any of these people very well.

Twig's older brother, James, is not suppose to leave the house.  No one in town even knows the Twig has a brother.  She isn't allowed to get close to anyone.  Accepting an invitation would eventually mean inviting someone to her home, and that is not allowed.  Twig's mother, a baker, keeps to herself as well, even though she grew up in Sidwell and at one point had many friends.  When Twig's family returned to Sidwell after both children being born and living in New York, they returned after dark and without Twig's father.  Twig doesn't know much about her father.  But she can guess the reason why he left.

Twig's isolated world is shaken when Julie and her family move into the abandoned Mourning Dove Cottage.  Julie's family is warm and welcoming and open, and Julie seems to like Twig right away.  But then Twig's mother forbids her from having any contact with the family.  They are related to Agnes Early, the Witch of Sidwell who had cursed the family two hundred years ago.

For the first time, Twig disobeys her mother.  She and Julie become friends.  James is also disobeying his mother.  He leaves the house at night.  It is during one of these evenings that he is seen by Julia's older sister Agate.  The two fall in love.

It seems that a tragic destiny is going to repeat itself.  But then Twig, Julie, James and Agate decide to try and break the curse.

We really don't know very much about James, and even less about Agate.  Just that she's beautiful and makes her own clothes.  There are a few other characters, mysterious Collie and Dr. Shelton, both who have large impacts but we really don't know much about.  Twig's father appears, with a reason for his long absence which, I just didn't buy.  Maybe he stayed away out of respect for his wife's wishes.  But you'd think he's still want to see his kids.

It's a nice, quick fairy tale.  Romance and drama and friendship and a happy ending.

Nightbird comes out February 26, 2015.

Climbing the Stairs by Padma Venkatraman

Vidya is growing up in British occupied India during 1941.  She loves school and sports and her family.  When a tragedy hits her family that Vidya blames herself for, her family must move in with her extended family, who is very traditional.  The men live upstairs, and the women live downstairs and serve the men.  Vidya is afraid that soon she'll be married off and never finish school or fulfill her dream of going to college.

This looked at a side of history we rarely see: India during WWII.  India is still under British rule, and England is involved in the war.  There were all-Indian troops under British leadership that are rarely heard about.

While WWII is going on, India is involved in their own fight for freedom against British rule.  Lead by Gandhi, this fight was largely a non-violent one.  Vidya's father strongly believes in the non-violent approach, although Vidya's brother questions whether it is the right way.

Sekret by Lindsay Smith

Yulia lives in Communist Russia in the early 1960s.  Yulia has an unusual ability, she can read the minds of people she touches, and when she touches objects can read the memories of the people who have touched them.  Yulia is captured by the KGB and forced to work as a spy, along with a handful of other psychic teenagers.  Their job is to find a traitor in the Russian space program who is passing secrets to the Americans.  Yulia quickly realizes that she is not being told everything about her powers, and that her mind is not truly her own.

I was enjoying this when it first started off.  But then things started making less and less sense and I had more and more questions. 

I liked the idea behind the story, and I liked the setting.  Russia during the Cold War in the midst of the Space Race.  Yulia has learned first hand that while everyone is supposed to be equal in Communist Russia, some people are more equal than others.  The KGB can show up at any time and take you or your family away, which is exactly what happens to Yulia.  She agrees to work for the KGB because they have her mother and brother.

Yulia finds that the other kids in the program have different kinds of psychic abilities.  Some can see the future, others can view remotely, one can even manipulate people's thoughts.  The head of the program, Rostov, is also a "scrubber," someone with the ability to manipulate people's minds, and Yulia beings to realize she can't trust her own thoughts.  What is her own and what's been erased or put there by someone else?  It's difficult to know who to trust.  So a good premise, but there were a lot of holes.

There will be lots of spoilers, so just be prepared.

Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick

Have you ever had the feeling that you've lived another life? Been somewhere that has felt totally familiar, even though you've never been there before, or felt that you know someone well, even though you are meeting them for the first time? It happens. In 2073 on the remote and secretive island of Blessed, where rumour has it that no one ages and no children are born, a visiting journalist, Eric Seven, and a young local woman known as Merle are ritually slain. Their deaths echo a moment ten centuries before, when, in the dark of the moon, a king was slain, tragically torn from his queen. Their souls search to be reunited, and as mother and son, artist and child, forbidden lovers, victims of a vampire they come close to finding what they've lost. In a novel comprising seven parts, each influenced by a moon - the flower moon, the harvest moon, the hunter's moon, the blood moon - this is the story of Eric and Merle whose souls have been searching for each other since their untimely parting (Goodreads).

Midwinterblood won the Printz award this year.  I can see why.  It's certainly an interesting, engaging read.  The way it was framed was intriguing, leaving you confused and guessing for most of the book.  I enjoyed it.  It was not the best thing I read all year, but then the Printz committee doesn't ask me.

The book goes backwards.  We start in 2073, with journalist Eric Seven arriving on the strange island of Blessed with a specific task in hand - find out about a mysterious flower that possibly has the power to prolong life.  However, once he arrives on the island he begins to forget why he's there, along with the rest of his life.  But he has a strange feeling that he's met a woman, Merle, before.  As Eric is about to be killed as a sacrifice, we go back in time.

At first there was a bit of consistency how far we'd go back, the first few times it was around 50 years, but then as we got father back there were bigger jumps.  In each life, there's a Merle and an Eric.  In each life (for the most part) Merle lives and Eric dies.  Their relationships are different each time, sometimes they're brother and sister, sometimes they're lovers, sometimes they're parent and child, but each relationship is one of love.  Often, but not always, Eric would sacrifice himself in some way so that Merle could live.  It all went back to the first life, when Eric was sacrificed but promised his wife, Merle that he would come back seven times and find her, and so they keep living different lives, but each time Eric dies and they don't get to be together.

I liked the story, but the little inconsistencies bothered me.  Why did Tor (a character that often served the role of parting Eric and Merle) only show up in some of the lives?  Why, if Eric died in each of the lives, sacrificing himself for Merle in some way, he didn't die, at least not that we saw, in the second to last life?  Why, in 2073, did no one seem to know that it was drinking the tea made from the flower that was keeping people from having children?  What was the whole vampire thing?  Were the people on the island in 2073 supposed to be vampires too?  What was the thing with Eric Seven's parent's religion that was alluded to?  Was I just not reading carefully enough and all these questions were answered?  I thought there were a lot of holes.

An interesting read for a thoughtful reader.  Unlikely to have mass appeal.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

Tana and her ex-boyfriend Aidan are the only survivors of a massacre carried out at a party by vampires. Aidan is infected, and Tana might be infected too, it's too soon to say.  Tana does the only thing she can think of - head for the nearest Coldtown, a quarantined location where vampires live and rule.  Traveling with them is Gavriel, a very strange vampire who Tana saved and is now assisting them on their journey, and who is hiding a dark secret.

What made this book stand apart from other vampire books, aside from the obviously better writing and the well-rounded characters, was that The Coldest Girl in Coldtown shows vampires to be vicious and blood thirsty.  They are, essentially, monsters, with no love or feelings for humans.  Humans are there to be used as vampires wish.

The Coldtowns are well wired, and the lives of the vampires are the most popular reality TV to the outside world.  Of course, you have people who dream of becoming vampires.  Who think vampires are beautiful and sexy.  Who think vampires are misunderstood.  These people deliberately go to Coldtowns and try to get a vampire to turn them.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Eleanor and Park meet on the school bus.  Park thinks Eleanor is a freak and Eleanor doesn't think much of him either.  But slowly, over shared comic books and music, they can't be apart from each other.  But not even their relationship can alleviate what's happening in Eleanor's home, and it's not something that Park can help her fix.

The way Eleanor and Park are shown falling in love was great.  It was perfectly captured how it made absolutely no sense at all.  It didn't happen immediately.  But they grew on each other.  Like fungus.  And then they couldn't remember how they could have ever not liked each other, even though they both clearly remember how they didn't.  That sentence didn't really make sense, but I think you know what I mean.

They also didn't see each other as flawless and perfect.  Park has doubts about Eleanor.  He wishes she was friendlier.  Then he feels guilt for wishing she was different.  But he does sometimes.  Eleanor is the same way.  And she never open ups to Park about what is happening in her life, not until the very last minute.

Some spoilers, in the sense that I talk about details from the book.

Bad Houses by Sara Ryan, illustrated by Carla Speed McNeil

Lewis' works with his mother, Cate, running estate sales; sorting through dead people's belongings and getting them ready to sell.  Anne lives with her mother, Danica, and a house stuffed full of all the things Danica is unable to part with.  Lewis and Anne get to know each other after meeting at an estate sale.  Anne is trying to understand why people keep things and leave things, and what makes something important.

Such an interesting story.  I liked the juxtaposition of Lewis and his mother running the estate sales, and Anne and her mother, who live in such disorder.  One family whose job it is to clean up and arrange and get rid of things, and another incapable of getting rid of things.

I found myself strongly empathizing with both Anne and Lewis, but Anne is particular.  Maybe because I like to keep thing pretty neat and clean.  I felt her shock, horror and betrayal when she found her mother and filled her room with junk in order to clear out the living room so she could invite her new boyfriend over.  Anne's room was her one safe space, where there was no clutter or mess.  Now her safe haven had been infiltrated and there wasn't any place left for her.

I was frustrated at both Lewis and Anne's parents for their selfishness, even though I knew that there was a lot more going on than selfishness.  I wanted to shake them and say, "Can't you see what this is doing to your kid?  Don't you care?!"  Of course they cared, but they had their own issues to deal with as well.

We have two stories going on.  We have the story of Lewis and Anne, who meet and start dating and fall in love, and struggle with their own personal problems, and we have the story of Cate and Danica, or in particular, their back story, and how what happened in the past is effecting what is happening to Lewis and Anne today.

Spoilers

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Twins Cather and Wren have been Simon Snow fans since the very first book came out.  More than fans, they both used to write fanfiction, and Cath still does.  In fact, her fanfic is some of the most popular in the entire world.  But now the girls are going to college, and Wren wants everything to be different (starting with not being roommates), and Cath wants everything to stay the same.  But things won't stay the same; things keep changing, and Cath isn't sure if she can make it.

Simon Snow seemed to me a mixture of Harry Potter and Twilight.  It's got the intense, crazy fandom and the massive fanfic network they both have, Harry Potter's magical wizarding world, but with the writing full of descriptions of clenched square jaws and tousled golden hair which is pure Twilight.

I didn't find Cath, our main character, especially likable.  She grew on me, but until I better understood what was going on I just found her sullen and a pain.  She was way past someone who's shy, or a little antisocial, or who's nervous about starting college.  Cath went to extremes to not talk to or interact with people.  Even when they were being nice to her.  Cath was pretty unpleasant to anyone who tried to talk to her.  She had no interest in making new friends, having new experiences or doing anything she hadn't always done before.  She hid in her online world, where she was safe and secure and didn't have to look at or talk to anyone.

Reality Boy by A. S. King

Gerald Faust was an angry little kid, but his family being part of the reality show Network Nanny, supposedly designed to help families with problem children, made things even worse.  Now Gerald is 17 and as angry as ever.  In his small town, there is no way to escape the child that everyone saw acting out on TV.  Gerald has been working to control his anger, but it doesn't matter.  Everyone is just waiting for him to do something crazy, and Gerald is becoming tempted to give it to them.

It's hard to describe this book.  It's hard to describe the level of fucked-upness that is Gerald's family.  His older sister, Tasha, who tried again and again to kill him and his other sister, Lisi.  His mother, who seems to have no real feelings for him.  His father, who has long ago given up trying to make any changes.  Gerald is trapped in this world.  And he is so, so angry.  It's easy to see why.  Who wouldn't be?  The people around him expect him to fail and to end up in jail. Gerald is clinging to the idea that if he can just get through high school he can get away like Lisi did by going to college.  Except his mother finds the idea of him going to college laughable.

The book does a good job of showing how reality TV is far, far from reality.  We only see what the producers want us to see.  Everything else, they cut or manipulate.  They can make people look a certain way.  Make people look good or bad.  And then we think we actually know something about these people we see on TV, when we know nothing at all.

Gerald meets a girl, Hannah.  I was worried at first.  I was worried Hannah was going to be Gerald's manic pixie dream girl.  The one who would lift him up and show him how to live and solve all this problems.  And then probably die in some tragic way.  And yeah, she was a little manic pixie dream girlish, but not full on.  Not in the main way, which means she didn't fix everything.  Gerald and Hannah wanted each other to be able to fix each other's problems.  But of course they couldn't.  Due in part to that they weren't being completely open about what their problems actually were.  And in part because you can't just fix people.  People aren't broken things that can be easy repaired.  Hannah and Gerald were able to help and support each other, but they had to take actual action to make their lives better.  They had to make hard choices and difficult decisions.  And sure, they did it all while on a wild and crazy road trip that involved staying with a circus family, but it was still there.  There was work involved.  Not everything was perfect.  They did stupid things to each other and had fights.  Hannah was dealing with stuff that she wanted to run away from too.  She wasn't just there to make Gerald feel better.  She wanted things from him too.

The book didn't turn away from difficult topics, like Hannah admitting to Gerald that she was afraid he might hit her.  Gerald is so angry, of course he would never hit her!  But then thinking about and realizing that he just doesn't know.

Excellent.  Probably the best YA I've read all year.

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

Lilac LaRoux is the daughter of the richest man in the galaxy.  Tarver Merendsen is a decorated war hero, but even his medals can't change the fact he's not from a rich family.  When the unthinkable happens, Lilac and Tarver are thrown together and have no one to rely on but each other.  And it's a matter of life and death.

I hate the cover.  And the title is silly.  And it's too bad because I actually quite enjoyed the book.  But if I hadn't gotten it as an ARC I probably would have never bothered to pick it up because, well, it looks like completely fluff, right?  Publishers keep hyping this as "Titanic in space," which doesn't make any sense after reading this.  OK, yes, big fancy thing (in this case, a spaceship) crashes and no one ever thought such a thing could happen.  Lots of people die.  And I guess there's the class issue.  But otherwise?  Not Titanic in space.

But anyway.  To the book itself.  I'm not sure if I can talk about this without there being spoilers.  So this is your spoiler warning.

Altered by Jennifer Rush

Anna has worked with her father for the Branch, and with her responsibilities of typing up reports and filing, she has developed relationships with their four subjects: Nick, intense and quiet; Cas, fun and flirtatious; Trev, smart and her closer friend; and Sam, who Anna loves. They have been genetically altered and their memories wiped, their abilities are exceptional and their pasts unknown. But when the Branch starts taking a greater interest in Anna herself, Anna finds herself allied to the boys that she used to monitor.

Anna and the boys find themselves on the run and they must decide who they can trust and where they can go for information. It doesn't help that one of their own is betraying them. In the end Anna must decide where her loyalties lie and how her hidden past ties in to the four boys'.

I was so excited about this book. I'll own it. Obviously I didn't expect it to be Shakespeare but I thought that it would be gripping in an emotional-sense. There were so many elements that I usually enjoy: emotionally distant love interest, enhanced boys, girls that learn that they are capable of more than they though... I loved the idea that Anna had this double-blind secret that unveils throughout the book. Her love for Sam seemed like icing on the cake!

Alas and alack. The actual follow through was not so good. There were elements that were good. Some of the mystery was well done, interesting twists and great action.

But then there's Anna. Not so great. Anna is pretty Mary Sue-ish and her love for Sam was one-dimensional. There just wasn't really any basis for her devotion nor for his feeling grow for her. Especially as the truth comes out that Sam used to be in a very serious relationship with Anna's older sister. Did I forget to mention that Sam is almost ten years older than Anna? Ick.

You know who I did like? Nick, Cas, and Trev. Much more interesting and dynamic. Who got the short end of the stick when it came to character development and plot time? Nick, Cas, and Trey. Lame.

I've read Erased as well, I hope to have that review up soon-ish, which was better but not at the same time... Ahh well.

The Clockwork Scarab by Colleen Gleason

Mina Holmes, niece of the great Sherlock Homes and Evaline Stoker, sister to Bram Stoke, have been contacted by Irene Adler herself under orders of the Princess of Wales.  Girls are disappearing and turning up dead, each with a mysterious metal scarab beside them.  Mina and Evaline will need to work together to figure out who is behind the terrible crimes - no easy task for a vampire hunter and a careful and knee observer!

This was a fun start to the series.  It establishes an arch-nemesis, leaves things hanging, introduces various characters and potential love interests and leaves you wondering how Mina and Evaline's relationship will continue to evolve, if it does at all.

We are in a Steampunk version of London in 1889.  I liked that it was actually explained why London had gone with steam rather than electricity (it was political) which is now outlawed.  Mina is much like her uncle - meticulous, logical, and with a knee sense of observation.  Mina misses nothing and always has a plan.  Evaline is her opposite.  Evaline, carrying on the destiny of her family, is a vampire hunter with supernatural strength.  Evaline doesn't like to wait to figure things out, she'd rather act.

I find Evaline incredibly tiresome.  She was constantly getting them into trouble because she couldn't just wait and listen before she felt the need to do something dramatic or punch someone.  I found Mina much more likable, even though she feels the need to cover emotion with her cool, Holmes logic.

The book was told from both Mina's and Evaline's perspective.  This worked well, as it allowed the reader to get a different perspective on the characters.  Mina thinks herself plain and awkward, but that doesn't seem to come across to other people.  Mina sees Evaline as beautiful and easily gets along with people, but Evaline sees herself as trapped in a world she doesn't belong.

There was a weird time travel aspect that didn't quite seem to fit with the rest of the book, and I'm not sure where it's going to go.  While in the British Museum, Mina discovers Dylan, who seems to have been transported back in time by the power of the statue of Sekhmet.  He helps Mina in the end, but mostly he just mopes about and their were sparks between them.  But it was a bit odd. 

Of course, both girls have potential love interests, although nothing is really for sure by the end of the book.  Evaline was helped multiple times by a mysterious man called Prix, and Mina has a bit of a rivalry going to a young detective named Grayling.  I predict some kind of love triangle between Mina, Grayling and Dylan. 

By the end of the first book, Mina and Evaline have a grudging respect for each other.  They have come to care for each other, but are they friends?  It's unclear.

The Living by Matt de la Pena

Shy is spending the summer working on a cruise ship.  It seems like a pretty great job, until, on his second trip out, he witnesses a man jump to his death.  Now he's being followed and questioned, even though Shy knows nothing about the man.  Then an enormous earthquake hits California, followed by a tsunami, destroying the ship.


This is the first book in a series.  I hadn't read anything by Matt de la Pena before, even though Mexican Whiteboy has been on my "to read" list forever.

The Living mixes two dystopia/science fiction elements together: natural disaster and virus outbreak.  Before the massive earthquake, we learn that Shy's grandmother and Carmen's (another cruise worker who Shy has a thing for) father both died of Romero disease, a new illness that's spreading over the Mexican border into California.  It kills very quickly, if you aren't diagnosed right away.  After the earthquake, which is huge, off the Richter scale, levels much of the West Coast, the disease runs rampant.  And there's a TERRIBLE SECRET behind the disease, and it's linked to that man Shy saw jump from the ship.

Aside from the dystopian aspects of the book, which yeah, is the main focus, there's a lot in there about class differences.  Shy is all too aware of the difference between him and the people who pay to be on the cruise.  Are their lives worth more than his?  It doesn't seem so, especially after the ship is gone, and Shy is on a lifeboat with a rich girl, Addie who wasn't all that friendly to him before and clearly looked down on him.  But through their shared experience of suffering, they grow closer.

Shy and Addie end up on one of the Hidden Island that are contacted with the company the man who committed suicide worked for.  Shy is reunited with the other ship survivors, only to discover the horrifying truth about Romero disease.  Addie disappears, supposedly with her father, who works with this company, but I'm sure they'll be reunited in a later book.  Shy feels like she betrayed him, even though he's sure Addie couldn't have known what was really going on.

It was a gripping story and I enjoyed it.  A good pick for science fiction fans and fans of dystopia alike.

The Living comes out November 12, 2013.

The F- It List by Julie Halpern

Best friends Alex and Becca haven't spoken all summer after Becca did something terrible on the day of Alex's father's funeral.  On the first day of school when Alex is all ready to forgive her, she learns that Becca has been diagnosed with cancer.  Now Becca wants Alex to complete her bucket list (renamed the f- it list), just in case she isn't able to do it herself.

So now I've read two books in a row about death and overcoming guilt.  This one had a much lighter touch then Ketchup Clouds.  I'd read Julie Halpern's Into the Wild Nerd Yonder, which I loved, and this had the same light wit.

Alex was already dealing with a lot, what with the death of her father, and it feels, to her, that the bad things just keep on piling up.  And that she seems to be the common denominator.  She knows she didn't cause her father to die (he was killed in a taxi accident) or cause Becca to have cancer, but that doesn't stop the guilt she keeps feeling that she alive and healthy.  Becca deals with this by not allowing herself to really feel.

She quickly runs into a problem, however, when she starts spending more time with Leo, a guy from school Alex has always kind of had a crush on but never really talked to before.  Alex wants it to just be physically relationship.  Just something that can let her feel good for a little while, but won't get in the way of all the things she has going on.  But Leo is more than just that, and when Leo has a family death of his own, Alex can't stand it, and she bails.

I thought The F-It List did a great job showing how Alex felt she had to be strong and tough all the time, and how that and her feelings of guilt (and she really didn't have anything to be guilty for) lead her to shut herself off from everyone - her brothers, her mother, the boy who actually really liked her, all in the name of having to focus on Becca or take care of her mom.  Becca is the one who finally tells Alex to stop using other people as an excuse not to deal with her feelings, which is exactly what Alex was doing.

The book also had a pretty thoughtful portrayal of sex.  Alex and Leo have sex not long into their relationship, and while it's physically very satisfying, Alex is trying to keep feelings out of it, which is hard for both of them.  After being apart for a while, they start their relationship up again, but they hold off having sex for a while, allowing themselves to truly get to know each other beyond a physical relationship.

The F- It List comes out November 12, 2013.

Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher

After a traumatic event in Zoe's life, she begins writing to Stuart Harris, a Texas Death Row inmate convicted of murdering his wife.  Zoe writes to Mr. Harris, telling him her story, knowing he'll understand, because they both were responsible for the death of someone they loved.

It was an interesting book, and I enjoyed it.  The framing devices worked well.  Zoe can't tell anyone the truth about what happened to her, and she feels safe writing to Mr. Harris.  First of all, she feels he'll understand.  Second, she doesn't use her real name or address, so no one can ever find her.  And finally, Mr. Harris is going to be executed.  Zoe is telling someone her secret, but soon there will once again be no one in the world who knows.

Zoe begins telling her story three months after the event happened, and writes throughout that year until the first anniversary on May 1, also the date that Mr. Harris is to get his lethal injection.  Zoe tells, in great detail, meeting two brothers, Aaron and Max at a party (although she doesn't know they're brothers at the time).  Zoe feels drawn to Aaron, but Max goes to her high school, is very popular and seems interested in Zoe.  Zoe and Max start hooking up, although Zoe keeps an eye out for Aaron (who is older and in college).

Cold Spell by Jackson Pearce

Kai and Ginny have grown up together, and they knew when they were were 11 they'd spend their lives together.  Ginny knows Kai loves her, so when Kai disappears with a strange girl named Mora, Ginny knows he hasn't just left her.  Ginny sets out to find Kai, discovering along the way a world of darkness and monsters she never knew existed.

This was a retelling of The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen.  Sort of.  I mean, that was the intention, and it did certainly have call-backs to the story.  But it was pretty different, which is true of the other books in Jackson Pearce's Fairy Tale Retellings series.  They're not retellings exactly, maybe "inspired by The Snow Queen" would be more accurate.

I haven't loved most of the Jackson Pearce I've read.  I read Sweetly and Purity.  Maybe I should read Sister Red.  I'd heard good things about that one.  Anyway, I enjoyed this more than the others, although I found it choppy and the world building was weak.  Although perhaps if I read all the books in the series I would understand the world better.  I recall now there were evil, girl-eating wolves in Sweetly.  The probably build on each other.

The core of both the original fairy tale and Cold Spell is there, which is that love can be incredibly powerful.  Cold Spell puts a twist on this by questioning whether love is enough.  I liked that Ginny, who doesn't really have an identity of her own at the beginning, she just sees herself as part of Kai, learns her own strength and starts to realize that while she loves Kai and never falters in her determination to find him, she doesn't need him to be her life the way she did before. 

Spoilers

The Princess in the Opal Mask by Jenny Lundquist

Elara has spent her life as a servant, longing for the family she's never known and wondering why they gave her up as an infant.  Princess Wilhamina, of the kingdom of Galandria, has worn a mask since she was a baby, and no one will tell why.  A peace treaty is being broken between Galandria and the neighboring kingdom of Kyrenicia, which involves Wilha marrying the crown prince.  Wilha and Elara are brought together under the strangest of circumstances, and must learn to trust and rely on each other.

This involves a lot of spoilers.  Stop reading now if you don't want them.

All the Truth That's In Me by Julie Berry

Judith returns to her village two years after her friend Lottie was found dead and Judith disappeared.  She returns mutilated, and her mother forbids her to try speaking.  The village treats her like she's been cursed, and Judith sees no future for herself.  In her head, Judith speaks to the boy she's always loved, but who no longer speaks to her.  When her village is attacked, Judith is forced to take action and make decision.  Perhaps she will finally be able to reclaim her voice and speak the truth.

I blazed through this.  I wanted to know what really happened to Judith and hope she would finally get the courage to defend herself from all the people who looked down on her, took advantage of her, and generally treated her like crap.  It did remind me of Speak, a bit, in that something traumatic has happened to a girl and she is unable to tell anyone what happened (although for very different reasons) but eventually finds it in herself to reclaim her voice.

Judith's life is sad, and made harder because of the happy family she remembered.  She returns home after being held captive for two years to find her beloved father has died and her mother seems to be a different person after dealing with the disappearance of her child and the death of her husband.  At first she is joyful at Judith's return, but it quickly turns to fear when she sees what has happened to Judith.  Judith obeys her mother's command to not speak, and when questioned by the village council cannot say what happened to her or defend herself when accusations are made against her. 

For two years Judith has lived in the village in silence.  And object of ridicule and disgust to everyone, including her own family.  Judith keeps watch on the boy she loves but knows she can never be with, Lucas, who while not cruel to her, pays her no attention.

Things begin to change when the village is under attack.  Judith knows someone who can help, if she dares to return.  Her actions set in motion a series of events with both positive and negative consequences.  Lucas starts to be looked on with suspicion, Judith makes a friend who encourages her to speak, and Judith slowly begins to piece together everything that happened and understands who is behind the murder of her friend Lottie.

There are some truly cruel characters that live in Judith's village, but most of them are just indifferent, which hurts just as much.  Lucas' and Judith's relationship evolve, but Lucas is far from perfect and Judith learns to see his flaws and that he's not the perfect boy she made him into.  The story is dark and sad, but Judith is strong and triumphant by the end.

All the Truth That's In Me comes out September 26, 2013.

All Our Yesterdays by Christin Terrill

Em has tried everything to stop the creation of Cassandra, a time machine that will destroy the world.  Each time she goes back ends in failure and lands her in the same military prison.  Em has one last chance, and one last thing to try.  She can't fail.

I enjoyed this.  And I appreciated how Christin Terrill got around the tricky situations that time travel causes.  In this version of time travel, traveling in time creates "paradoxes," things that won't change even if other events are altered.  For example, you shouldn't be able to go back in time and shoot your own grandfather.  But in this kind of time travel, you could.  You would cease to be with the death of your grandfather, but a remnant of you would always be there to shoot him.  Time travel can get super confusing, and many writers don't take the time to work out the rules of their time-traveling world.  It's science fiction, and if the rules of the world are established, I am willing to suspended my disbelief.  So well done there.

The book goes back and forth between Em and Finn, who have gone back in time to stop the creation of the time machine, and Mariana, James and Finn (yes, same Finn, just different version) who are living in the time Em and Finn go back to.  Mariana and Em are our two main characters, although both Finns and James play a large part.  Mariana has been in love with James for a while now, but James, who is a genius and at 19 is already working on a Ph.D. thinks of her as a friend and is far too focused on his work.  Mariana will do anything for James.  She finds Finn, James' friend annoying and doesn't like James' focus taken from her.  Em is tough.  She and Finn have been through hell, and they are fiercely determined to fulfill their mission, even though that once they achieve their goal they will cease to be. 

I don't really want to say much more about this one.  I would hate to give anything away.

 I was surprised to realize that All Our Yesterdays is the beginning of a series.  I was surprised because the ending didn't seem to leave much to continue.  I'm sorry that it is a series, actually.  It does well as a stand-alone.

All Our Yesterdays comes out September 3, 2013.

Starry Nights by Daisy Whitney

Julien loves art and giving tours at the Musee d'Orsay in France.  He wishes he was a better artist, but his drawings are exact and sterile with no feeling behind them.  Then one night while Julien is alone at the museum, the paintings begin to come to life.  And when Clio steps out of her painting, she and Julien begin to fall in love.  As Julien and Clio become closer, the art seems to sicken.  To save the art of the world, they might have to make the greatest sacrifice.

This was a sweet love story set against the backdrop of Paris and famous romantic paintings.  Julien loves art so much, but can't seem to make his drawings have any feeling, so he can't understand why the art in museums starts becoming alive for him and no one else.  I liked that Julien found that his exact art was exactly what he needed when saving the art of the world.

The first paintings to come alive are the ones by Renoir, and the Musee d'Orsay is about to get a Renoir that had been thought lost for centuries.  The Girl in Garden is the only painting mentioned in the book that is not an actual painting.  Supposedly the both Renoir and Monet were in love with the girl in the painting.  Clio, the girl in the garden, steps out of the painting and Julien can tell she isn't like the other paintings come to life, who rarely speak.  Clio seems real.  But as the their love grows the art starts to fade away, and Clio won't tell Julien who she was before.

It was a nice story, with great supporting characters.  Julien's friends were delightful and colorful.  It was fun to read with a happy ending.

Starry Nights comes out September 3, 2013.