Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

I can say, while trying not to be super creepy, I am totally in love with Rainbow Rowell and the characters she writes. This is the third book where I have fallen madly in love with the male lead and rooted for him the entire time, even when his actions were borderline stalker-y. With all the YA I've been reading (for enjoyment and work) I forgot how enjoyable it was to read an adult story. Rainbow is one of the few authors I've seen go back and forth from teen to adult genre without messing up and mixing prose, her talent is so extreme, I fangirl way too hard.

Lincoln O'Neill has moved back to his mother's house and has taken a overnight job where he has to read people's emails. The entire staff at The Courier press was informed their emails would start being monitored so as to deter personal use of their work computers. While most staff stop personal emails or require one or two warnings, Jennifer Scribner-Snyder an Beth Fremont just can't seem to take it seriously. They continue to send each other hilarious and very personal emails daily and Lincoln finds himself absorbed in their lives. Unable to tear his eyes away from their words, he guiltily looks forward to catching their correspondence each night and in time finds himself falling for Beth. A woman he's never met or even seen before, what could he say, "Hi, I'm the guy who reads your email, and also, I love you..." When things start getting to real and close to home Lincoln knows he needs to make a change or his life will never go where he wants it.

Filled with delicious wit and humor, this book had me smiling pretty much the entire time. Despite his actions, you can't help but fall in love with Lincoln yourself and really root for his success. Beth and Jennifer so perfectly capture adult women in their glory it had me thinking of myself and my best friend through most conversations. Sure to please, Attachments is a must read for good laughs and heartfelt moments. I have never before wanted someone to read my emails, but if it was Lincoln, I don't think I'd mind.

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The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

I've been eying this book up for ages and finally caved and bought it and I only regret not getting it sooner. I've heard many mixed reviews for this book so was on the fence for a quite a while, and I can see where both sides are coming from. This novel offers very generic usual teen fluff but has surprising twists and turns that make them entirely acceptable (in my humble opinion). From the start I wasn't much of a fun of Mara, she gets relatively annoying an extremely predictable at parts along with her love interest Noah, he's your usual bad boy with a broken past but that sucks everyone in and if you disagree, you're lying. Six feet tall with an English accent, he is the boy you wished had been in your high school but only existed in books, with his beautiful eyes and mercurial attitude. All that aside, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am itching for book two.

Mara Dyer has awoken in a hospital bed with no memory of the events that led up to it, but finds she has survived a horrible accident and that her friends weren't quite as lucky. Her loving parents, to help cope with her stress, move the entire family a few states away from Rhode Island to Miami. Mara finds out that no matter how far you run, you can escape the past. Materializing in way of nightmares and daily hallucinations Mara thinks she's going insane from PTSD. At her new school she meets local heart breaking legend Noah Shaw who can't seem to stay away from her, seemingly equally lost and broken the two find themselves inseparable almost immediately. As their relationship progresses they start to learn more and more about each other while a multitude of accidents begin to occur around them. They begin to dig deeper and see what it is that has drawn them so closely together, something much bigger than either could have ever imagined.

As you can see by my above synopsis, predictable, average teen novel that pulls you in and throws you curve ball after curve ball. Just when you think you've got the story down pat Hodkin gets you with a zinger. I avoided the series for a while due to similar information being given to me before, but I wholeheartedly can say to put that aside and read this novel because it truly delivers. I really considered for about 5 minutes throwing on my coat and shoes and flying up to my job to pick up book two, that's how much of a need I have to continue the story. I am very excited to see how this can carry forward with another two books and don't expect to be disappointed. With real life properties, fantasy and romance all mingling together in this book, it has something to offer even the pickiest YA reader.

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All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

If you enjoy teen books with real depth, emotion and pain, you need to purchase this book with the utmost of haste. When I started this book, my heart broke for Violet and Finch, your high school student main characters, their pain and sorrow make its way into your own bones and force you to feel it. If you have ever struggled with loss, darkness, fear, these two will be kindred spirits and if you have been lucky enough to avoid such tragedy, they will open your eyes to the battle others go through. I am a big encourager of teens reading books that not only make them feel and think, but also open them up to consequences. Every single day so many people throw out cruel words at another human and laugh, whether alone or with a group, we are each and every one guilty. So many people though, forget that what they do and say affect others outside themselves. This is without a doubt, going to be the book (and then film!) of the year.

First is Finch, chaotic, uncontrollable, volatile, Finch. Awake, as he calls it, for the first time in weeks we meet him up on the bell tower of his school. As he stands upon the edge, contemplating life, looking at the people milling about below, he turns and sees Violet. Violet's story is less of a mystery, a few months ago she was in a car crash that caused the death of her sister and left her lingering with a heavy dose of survival guilt. Finch climbs over and coaxes her down from the ledge, but Violet his too popular for that kind of stigma so Finch protects her by allowing everyone to believe she went up and saved him, Crazy Finch. In their shared class of US Geography, Finch makes Violet be his partner for a project of visiting and documenting the beautiful sights of Indiana. In no time at all, Finch is in love (normally in a teen book this is where I'd groan and yell ALREADY?! but from what we've seen of erratic Theodore Finch, it is the exactly correct time frame for him to fall for someone) and carting Violet all over Indiana, compelling her to get back into living her life, instead of wasting away in her room fading away. As the book goes on and fills you with bubbly happiness and joy for these love struck teens, you start to notice a shift in Finch. Small things you pass over start to sit in the back of your brain and remind you what Finch fights each day. Finch begins to live solely out of his bedroom closet and that is when you start to accept, these are not quirks but a deep issue plaguing a brilliant boy. Violet finally begins to see the red flags and begs him to seek help and tries sending help to him when he refuses. Then, just like that, Finch is gone. Violet is receiving strange text messages and finds their project isn't as complete as she thought.

Painfully beautiful this book really opens your eyes and your heart. I have bawled and screamed and begged and pleaded with this book, praying the words would change but knowing this could not have been more perfectly written. If you were a fan of The Fault in Our Stars, you will be blown away by All the Bright Places. So many people, especially teens, hide away in shame if they know they are different. People that struggle with depression, eating disorders, bipolar disorder, even OCD, hang their heads in shame because in our society if it can't show up with a thermometer, it isn't real. All the Bright Places will help people to make changes, don't call someone fat, freak, stupid, weird, see how much brighter each day is. I will be showing this book to everyone the moment it shows up at my job and I can not wait for the film adaptation so those who don't want to read 400 pages can still get the beautiful message from this masterpiece.

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Conversion by Katherine Howe

The first book I read by Katherine Howe was The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, I had been floored by this novel as I am a massive fan of Salem witches and well written fiction. When I saw that she was coming out with a teen book I knew I'd be all over it. Distractions mounted and I only just got around to reading this gem and am slightly mad at myself for taking so long. Ripped into the two worlds you go between through chapters, I found myself unable to walk away, constantly looking at my bookmark, itching to pick it back up. Based on true events, Arthur Miller's Crucible, and realistic day to day teen girl struggles Conversion is sure to please just about any reader.

Colleen Rowley is your main character in 2012, an attendee of St. Joans elite private girls high school, she is in a battle for valedictorian when things around her start to crumble. Girls are falling ill in class, seizure like spasms, hair falling out, coughing up pins, inexplicable tragedies befalling everyone Colleen knows. Jump to 1706 and follow around Ann Putnam, the character omitted from Arthur Miller's crucible, but the young woman to finger 40 witches in the sleepy town of Salem Village. Colleen's home town of Danvers turns out to be originally know as Salem Village where so many women were hanged hundreds of years before, could the town be cursed? Perhaps the strange ailments that bewitched a group of young women in the 1700's is back and grabbing a new batch of girls? Maybe it's just a group of stressed out, over worked young girls reaching out for attention, filled with so many twists and turns Conversion will keeping you second guessing what you think is right the entire way.

Weaving together two equally captivating stories Conversion is an intense book you won't be able to walk away from. With deeply developed characters, emotional plot twists and mind boggling discoveries this is definitely a great novel to pick up for any YA fan. I really think this would make an awesome holiday gift for the avid reader, it'll occupy a decent amount of time and leave the reader feeling very relieved at the end and a little bit questioning. As I said before, I definitely regret taking so long to finally pick this book up, but I am thrilled to have finally read such a great book by a renowned author with such clear skill and passion for her trade.

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You by Caroline Kepnes

Ever get tired of seeing a man stalk a woman and her taking it as a compliment and the story crafting him as a beautiful romantic? Well I know it kills me, and Caroline Kepnes' novel You put stalking, obsessive men in the right light. 

Your character Joe starts out as your average bookseller (I immediately bonded over that obviously) who sees a beautiful woman walk in, and does what every bookseller does in that scenario, watches you and judges the books you touch. Being slightly creepy myself, I see no harm in his strong desire to speak to this lass named Guinevere Beck, after their encounter at the register you think, well isn't he kinda cute. Until the next pages come along and you are very wrong. We've all done some social media stalking before, meet a cute guy, get his name, hunt his Facebook, well darling Joe takes it to a new extreme - he finds her Facebook and Twitter and home address and goes to stand outside her house, in full costume so she doesn't recognize him. If that isn't a well thought out romantic plan, I just don't know what is! The story progresses and Beck starts bumping into Joe, what a surprise to see you there!  Not really, he followed her, and stole her phone but you'll learn all about how much he needed it. Eventually, as these things tend to do, it spirals out of control - people in Beck's life go missing. As Joe becomes more and more convinced he and Beck were destined to be together and she remains a flighty social butterfly, he gets desperate to maintain his hold on her, no matter what that may take.

If you enjoy Stephen King's Misery or just want to see some light shone on what an obsessive stalker is actually like, you need to run out and get You - it has easily become one of my most favorite novels of this year.

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How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran

Everyone ought to do themselves a large favor and pick up How To Build A Girl by Caitlin Moran. I found this novel sitting on my ARC pile at work and immediately had to grab it, I finally got around to reading it in the beginning of October and it was such a great birthday gift to myself. This book took you on the roller coaster that is adolescence and reminded you of what a fuck up you were. However, it also held your hand and told you it was okay, your failures launched into being the magnificent shit you are today (there’s also a lot of swearing and as I am already prone to extreme expletives, I have really gone to a ridiculous place).

I think “How to be a Lady Sex Adventurer” should be a course available to young women so they can learn the do's and don'ts plus safety tips that takes some trial and error to figure out. It could teach tips to avoid awkward patting and peculiar arm placement, give blow-job legend tips and teach girls sex is not about pleasing a second party. Sex is not just for one person (unless done solo in which case disregard) but about two people making each other happy, if just for an hour. Self worth is easily lost by younger girls in these kinds of romps and this Caitlin really helped drive home that worth isn’t deemed with an erection or a good "review". You get to determine your own worth.

This book made me feel exponentially better about myself and helped me forgive the gangly little disaster that was 14 year old me. Your main character Johanna makes you experience her embarrassment, heartache and joy while bringing to light all the nights you’ve tried to forget. Riddled with relatable characters, this book has a little bit of something for everyone, embarrassing parents, loving little brother, loathing older brother and fair weather friends - this book will surely be popular for some time to come.

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Beautiful You by Chuck Palahniuk

I started Beautiful You by Chuck Palahniuk last night and finished it today at work, not surprisingly it was a book I could not put down. If you are easily embarrassed by things of sexual nature, read this alone in your room, under a blanket tent. I am a strikingly open minded human and my face was bright red during majority of this book, thankfully we have to remove the dust jacket to borrow at work so no one knew I was basically reading porn on my smoke break.

EXTREME TRIGGER WARNING FOR RAPE AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE

That being said, let's dive in, so right away our first page is you main character Penny (whom you will grow to like, then love, then be annoyed a bit by and then love again) being raped in a court room with tons of witnesses who do nothing to help. True to Chuck's usual form we start almost towards the end and then bounce to the beginning. Penny is a 25 year old woman working at a law firm in between intern and actual lawyer, not really sure what she wants with her life she's kind of drifting along a borrowed dream.  At this law firm she meets Cornelius Maxwell (better know as CliMaxwell chuckle chuckle) basically the world's richest man, who chooses the moment he witnesses her drop complex Starbucks drinks all over herself upon falling onto her face, out to dinner. She's skeptical but who turns down an attractive, older, rich man? Did I mention he's crazy rich? Their romance takes off...into the bedroom where he uses her as a guinea pig for a line of intense sexual products called Beautiful You, that will enable a woman to virtually never need a partner for sexual climax ever again. After 136 days of intense orgasm after orgasm he banishes her from his side. Penny decides she will not stand for watching women across the globe lose their entire lives due to achieving sexual nirvana repeatedly in their rooms. Max warns Penny from the start he has the power to kill not only her but every woman with his devices if she does not behave as a "good girl" and basically shush her mouth. Well points for Penny, she fights hard, and then loses. Finally to save countless lives she agrees to wed Maxwell whereupon she learns everything she believed his master plan to be was not at all the case and grows to replace him in her own role of villainy.

Just like pretty much all of Chuck's books, hints are placed through the entirety of this novel cluing you into the ending quickly in the beginning but still offers quite a few surprises along the way. This satirical novel about today's obsession with sex, gender inequality and the power of consumerism reveals a lot of skewed societal views with a lot of off the cuff humor to lighten up the intensely sexual scenes. Definitely an easy, fun read, but be careful not too take it too seriously and find yourself offended.

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