Review: Being Sloane Jacobs by Lauren Morrill

Title: Being Sloane Jacobs 
Author: Lauren Morrill
Genre: young adult, contemporary
Series: N/A
Pages: 352
Published: expected January 7 2014
Source: publishers via NetGalley
Rating: 4/5

 Meet Sloane Emily Jacobs: a seriously stressed-out figure-skater from Washington, D.C., who choked during junior nationals and isn’t sure she’s ready for a comeback. What she does know is that she’d give anything to escape the mass of misery that is her life.

Now meet Sloane Devon Jacobs, a spunky ice hockey player from Philly who’s been suspended from her team for too many aggressive hip checks. Her punishment? Hockey camp, now, when she’s playing the worst she’s ever played. If she messes up? Her life will be over.

When the two Sloanes meet by chance in Montreal and decide to trade places for the summer, each girl thinks she’s the lucky one: no strangers to judge or laugh at Sloane Emily, no scouts expecting Sloane Devon to be a hero. But it didn’t occur to Sloane E. that while avoiding sequins and axels she might meet a hockey hottie—and Sloane D. never expected to run into a familiar (and very good-looking) face from home. It’s not long before the Sloanes discover that convincing people you’re someone else might be more difficult than being yourself.

This is a perfect, light, fun read. It's the best kind of fluff; there's actual substance to the story, but the book itself remains a lighthearted read for the most part, full of hijinx and pranks, switched-places and snafus. It's literary escapism; part Parent Trap and part Sarah Ockler's Bittersweet, and all charming. Being Sloane Jacobs can be funny, it can be sweet, it can be honest. With just a few hundred pages, the author manages to create a realistic and amusing novel.With this little gem, Morrill has a solid follow up to the already well-received Meant to Be.

The two Sloanes are nicely and easily distinguished. Though the POV and narration alternates between them steadily, it's easy to tell which Sloane you're reading -- the ice-skater who wants to just get away from her conniving father or the punk hockey player that is dealing with an alcoholic mom. They both have family problems and similar talents, so if you don't look too closely, the premise essentially works. These two with their similar looks and skating talents could pull off a switcheroo... for a time. Like all things essentially silly, it may not hold up too well under a prolonged examination, but the story is fun. Watching these two different girls make heads or tails of one another's life is amusing and engrossing.

The girls also both deal with two individual romantic entanglements that arise from their odd and illegal situation. Both teenage romances make for some expected drama, but it was handled realistically by the author. The two couples' various interactions are not overwrought or saccharine, but both have a sweet, and young feel to them. The love interests could have been a little more developed as individuals, but I liked what there was. Matt seemed more "alive" than Fernando, but both were at least interesting and independently motivated.

For such a simple story, Being Sloane Jacobs feels a little long at 350 pages. It reads easily, but that doesn't mean I didn't think that some parts shouldn't be more streamlined. Still, this was a really cute read. It was fun, and it was funny. I was reminded very strongly of Sarah Ockler throughout my reading this and I think this would be a big hit with readers who enjoy her brand of YA contemporary. It's enjoyable and escapist and provides a lot of entertainment.

Two Minute Review: Tumble & Fall by Alexandra Coutts

Title: Tumble & Fall
Author: Alexandra Coutts
Genre: young adult, post apocalyptic
Series: N/A
Pages: 384
Published: September 17 2013
Source: publishers via NetGalley
Rating: 1.5/5

A novel about the end of days full of surprising beginnings

The world is living in the shadow of oncoming disaster. An asteroid is set to strike the earth in just one week’s time; catastrophe is unavoidable. The question isn’t how to save the world—the question is, what to do with the time that's left? Against this stark backdrop, three island teens wrestle with intertwining stories of love, friendship and family—all with the ultimate stakes at hand.

Alexandra Coutts's TUMBLE & FALL is a powerful story of courage, love, and hope at the end of the world.

What an utter waste of premise. What a waste of time! There was so much potential to be had in Tumble & Fall, it really is a shame to watch it disappear down the mire of overwrought romance, staid and wooden characters, and less than mediocrity. When I say the ONLY TWO redeeming aspects of Tumble & Fall are the writing and the ending, I am not lying, I am not being snarky or funny; I am being perfectly honest. This is a read made of frustration, wrapped in missed chances, and covered in cliches. 

The characters are boring. They're wooden. They act in nonsensical ways. They do and say ridiculous things to one another. They may be justified because their world is about to end, but their interactions and conversations shouldn't read like a textbook. A weird textbook with dubious parental choices, but still. There's so little life to be found in Tumble & Fall that the asteroid's impact won't be much felt.

I wanted to love this book, but it's just such a mess. A big, huge, totally-not-worth-it mess. It's easy to be hard on this because it was so hyped and it could have been amazing, but those two good things made it somewhat easier to finish. Her plotting skills and characterization may need work but Alexandra Coutts can certainly write. Even when I hated what she had written, I could see the talent for wordsmithing. Let's hope it's onward and upward to better projects for this promising author.

Review: Where the Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller

Title: Where the Stars Still Shine
Author: Trish Doller
Genre: young adult, contemporary
Series: N/A
Pages: 352
Published: September 24 2013
Source: publishers via NetGalley
Rating: 3.5/5

Stolen as a child from her large and loving family, and on the run with her mom for more than ten years, Callie has only the barest idea of what normal life might be like. She's never had a home, never gone to school, and has gotten most of her meals from laundromat vending machines. Her dreams are haunted by memories she’d like to forget completely. But when Callie’s mom is finally arrested for kidnapping her, and Callie’s real dad whisks her back to what would have been her life, in a small town in Florida, Callie must find a way to leave the past behind. She must learn to be part of a family. And she must believe that love--even with someone who seems an improbable choice--is more than just a possibility.

Trish Doller writes incredibly real teens, and this searing story of love, betrayal, and how not to lose your mind will resonate with readers who want their stories gritty and utterly true.

I fully admit I am the black sheep for this book. "Black sheep?" You say, "But you gave it 3.5 stars!" Yes, yes I did. Because even while I was a bit unsatisfied, Where the Stars Still Shine is still pretty good. Even when you don't love love it, you still kinda love it.

My issues with the story can be summed up in three bullet points:

• Plot similarity to If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch
  
• The romance between Callie and Alex (aka her own stepuncle....)
• The ease of the ending

Not too long before reading this, I read Emily Murdoch's excellent and moving If You Find Me. It's the sad tale of a young girl kidnapped by her mother, kept from her legal guardian (her father), who has a new wife and kids. The girl has to learn to be a part of a new family all the while wondering what happened to her mother and waiting to hear from her.

Does that sound familiar? Yeah. As I was reading the first few chapters, I really could not get past the how similar the two novels were.

Thankfully, after a while, Doller's tale takes a somewhat different turn than Murdoch's did. It focuses a lot on Greek culture and a really weird first love, whereas Murdoch's narrator Carey is less romantically inclined and younger, both acting and sounding. Trish Doller's taciturn Callie is a difficult protagonist. She isn't unlikeable, but she is hard to connect with for the early chapters. Eventually, as Doller allows more and more of her personality to shine through her self-imposed exile, she becomes a much more rounded character.

I liked Callie, and I liked Alex, her love interest. I just did NOT like them together. Once I found out that Alex was the brother of Callie's new stepmom, well, I mentally vomited. That is just....not alright. I wouldn't go so far to call it incest, but that is clearly an inappropriate relationship. They are close to one another in age, and it's not like he raised her, but if they got married, Callie's dad would be her own brother-in-law. Tell me that's not all kinds of fucked up.

Technically, for me, the plot was too predictable, and the ending was too simple. For the whole book Callie struggles with a central conflict, and then, at the end, it pretty much resolves itself. No mess, hardly any fuss, and the novel wraps up. The writing and the characters bear the weight of the novel and make reading such easily figured out plots more enjoyable. Where the Stars Still Shine is easily readable and very enjoyable for what it does well.

I don't know that I would reread this book in particular, but it did interest me in reading more of Doller's work. There is clearly promise for her writing and I'd be interested to see how her talent matures from here.

Book Tour Review: The Sowing by K. Makansi

Title: The Sowing
Author: K. Makansi
Genre: thriller, science fiction
Series: N/A
Pages: 372
Published: August 19 2013
Source: TLC Book Tours for review
Rating: 2.5/5

The Famine may be over, but the Resistance has just begun.

When Remy Alexander is fifteen, her older sister is murdered in a cold-blooded classroom massacre. When the Okarian Sector hides the truth behind the attack, Remy's family goes underground to join the clandestine and growing Resistance movement. Now, three years later, Remy is beginning to find clues about why her sister was murdered. But at the same time, Valerian Orlean, the boy Remy once loved, is put in charge of hunting and destroying the Resistance. As Vale fights to protect his people and Remy seeks justice for her sister, the two are set on a collision course that could bring everyone together - or tear everything apart.

THE SOWING, the first book in The SEEDS Trilogy, is set in a post-apocalyptic world. In the wake of environmental destruction and a devastating population crash, the Okarian Sector was forced to fight to establish a civil society in a chaotic world. After the loss of seed biodiversity in the destruction of the Old World, genetic modification and artificial agricultural techniques are the Sector’s only choice. Science reigns supreme. The Okarian Agricultural Consortium, a corporation dedicated to perfecting these modified seeds and providing only the best food and medicine to its citizens, becomes the government’s most important arm. But even the purest gold is tarnished over time, and the Sector’s noble goals devolve into manipulation, control, and oppression.

Written by the mother-daughter writing team of Kristy, Amira, and Elena Makansi, this debut post-apocalyptic thriller features romance, enduring friendships, edge-of-your-seat action, and heart-wrenching betrayal.

A smaller novel not much heard of, The Sowing would likely appeal to fans of the popular dystopian-ish novels like the Hunger Games, or Divergent. It focuses on young adult (at the end of their teens/early twenties) struggling against a system that not everyone is aware is corrupt. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? It should, because it is. And while The Sowing is certainly readable and does a few things of its own invention, it remains reminiscent of a hundred YA novels before it and a hundred more to come after it.

Like a lot of YA that focuses on a new or different version of the world, The Sowing's version of worldbuilding is scarce. There are some details revealed about the world before; things like the "Religious Wars" and the "Famine Years" are brought up but never explained. We know there are such countries as the Russian European Federation, or the Chinese Collective or the South American Alliance, but that's all we really are told. Where is The Sector? What exactly happened that lead to such a drastic restructuring of the world? Your guess is as good as mine and I just finished the novel. 

There are mentions of a few things that seem truly creative and tech-ish -- the personal airships being one and the C-Link Valerian uses being the other. Unfortunately, the airships play a negligible part in anything that happens and the C-Link ("Demeter") isn't used for anything revelatory. There is some potential to the world and ideas that these authors have created, there's just not enough information supplied to make it seem like a viable system. The science in involved at the heart of the plot feels similarly flimsy. I was half-buying what the authors are trying to sell, but at the end of the day, it's just not enough.

Character-wise, there's not much to speak of. Remy is the main character, a girl who has essentially lost her family to the Sector and who is reasonable intelligent and able to take care of herself. There's Valerian, her former boyfriend, whose mom may be implicated in the death of Remy's older sister and a teacher who had knowledge the Sector didn't like. The supporting cast -- from Jahnu to Soren -- fill out the bare bones of personality. No one is particularly well-drawn, but they do well as a group. The lines between good guy and bad guy can get blurred and that is the highlight as far as people are concerned.

I'm not sure if I would choose to pursue this series, but that's mostly because I am over and done with dystopias. People who are less burned out on this type of thriller would find a lot to enjoy in The Sowing. It's a madcap rush of action and conspiracies, and it can be pretty smart. It's just not a book for me right now.

Book Tour Review: The Supreme Macaroni Company by Adriana Trigiani

Title: The Supreme Macaroni Company
Author: Adriana Trigiani
Genre: historical fiction, general fiction
Series: Valentine #3
Pages: 352
Published: November 5 2013
Source: TLC Book Tours for review
Rating: 5/5

For over a hundred years, the Angelini Shoe Company in Greenwich Village has relied on the leather produced by Vechiarelli & Son in Tuscany. This historic business partnership provides the twist of fate for Valentine Roncalli, the school teacher turned shoemaker, to fall in love with Gianluca Vechiarelli, a tanner with a complex past . . . and a secret.

A piece of surprising news is revealed at The Feast of the Seven Fishes when Valentine and Gianluca join her extended family on a fateful Christmas Eve. Now faced with life altering choices, Valentine remembers the wise words that inspired her in the early days of her beloved Angelini Shoe Company: "A person who can build a pair of shoes can do just about anything." The proud, passionate Valentine is going to fight for everything she wants and savor all she deserves-the bitter and the sweetness of life itself.

Romantic and poignant, told with humor and warmth, and bursting with a cast of endearing characters, The Supreme Macaroni Company is a sumptuous feast of delights: a portrait of a woman and the man she loves, her passion for craftsmanship, and the sacrifices it takes to build and sustain a family business while keeping love and laughter at the center of everything.

Adriana Trigiani has been garnering a lot of name recognition lately, which I is why I jumped on this blog tour as soon as I saw her name attached. And though The Supreme Macaroni Company is the third in a series about main character and narrator Valentina Roncalli, it's remarkably easy to figure out the lay of the land and what has come before under Trigiani's able pen. The author's many talents and abilities have not been over-exaggerated; she writes with an obvious warmth and familiarity that permeates her characters and her book.

This is a fun, heartfelt book. It's half My Big Fat Greek Wedding and half examination of a modern marriage between two determined and very different people. When the book focuses on the various Roncalli/Angelini/Vechiarelli families that make up both Valentine's and her husband Gianluca's family, the book is loud, chaotic, noisy, and friendly. When it switches to the close-up struggles of a modern American woman married to a traditional Italian man, it's a quieter, more emotional tone. The author ably switches between both tones, and cleanly marries the two different aspects into one cohesive plot.

Through Valentine's first person POV, the reader gets an up close, often messy, and very personal view of all she struggles with -- from her striving to balance work with life, ambition with family, love with marriage, Valentine feels so real. She wants it all, and even though she can't have everything, she works to succeed in both her business and in her new marriage. Her narration and voice are consistent, even if the book's pace can be abrupt and fast-moving. Though she was new to me, Valentine felt like an old friend from the beginning. The author has a remarkable ability to infuse her words with many depths of emotion -- from joy to heartfelt grief, all her character's emotions are palpable and read.

Though the story told in The Supreme Macaroni Company is wholly resolved before the end, there's still a lot of room left in Valentine's story for further exploration. And while I wait for that next book to materialize, I will take the time to read Very Valentine and Brava, Valentine. If they are anything like their most recent addition, they will be packed full of humor and heartbreak, great characters, and evocative writing.

Review: Outcast by Adrienne Kress

Title: Outcast
Author: Adrienne Kress
Genre: young adult, supernatural
Series: N/A
Pages: 324
Published: May 16 2013
Source: publishers via NetGalley
Rating: 4/5

After six years of “angels” coming out of the sky and taking people from her town, 16-year-old Riley Carver has just about had it living with the constant fear. When one decides to terrorize her in her own backyard, it’s the final straw. She takes her mother’s shotgun and shoots the thing. So it’s dead. Or … not? In place of the creature she shot, is a guy. A really hot guy. A really hot alive and breathing guy. Oh, and he’s totally naked.

Not sure what to do, she drags his unconscious body to the tool shed and ties him up. After all, he’s an angel and they have tricks. When he regains consciousness she’s all set to interrogate him about why the angels come to her town, and how to get back her best friend (and almost boyfriend) Chris, who was taken the year before. But it turns out the naked guy in her shed is just as confused about everything as she is.

He thinks it’s 1956.

Set in the deep south, OUTCAST is a story of love, trust, and coming of age. It’s also a story about the supernatural, a girl with a strange sense of humor who’s got wicked aim, a greaser from the 50’s, and an army of misfits coming together for one purpose: To kick some serious angel ass.

After reading The Friday Society earlier this year, I knew that Adrienne Kress was a fun author. Her characters shine, her dialogue pops, and her writing is strong. I knew all that going in, and yet Outcast managed to pleasantly surprise me. Despite my wild enthusiasm for a very few angel books (Laini Taylor's series, Angelfall), I don't really read books that feature angels. I am glad I broke my habit for this book because it really was very good and made for a very entertaining afternoon.

One of the things I really enjoyed about Outcast was how many hats it wore. It could be genuinely fun and funny one minute and then abruptly creepy as hell the next. It's a good switch -- Kress effectively captures how residents in a town besieged by angels might feel. The small town feel of the Southern area where Riley, Gabe, and co make their home feels quietly authentic to real-life. The background characters fit in without being caricatures, and the atmosphere element is strong. The magical realism aspect is limited but pivotal to the plot --- not much besides the angels is shown to be supernatural but it's all tied together in important ways.

Character-wise, things are strong across the board in Outcast. Riley is a pretty evolved protagonist. Kress has a knack for crafting vibrant characters and both Riley and Gabe exhibit that talent. Their relationship with one another is complex, but above all, it is a friendship. It was so refreshing to see a YA heroine get to know someone before deciding "they're in love." The way the teenage romances were handled in Outcast were really impressive and hopefully more novels will follow suit. Riley also has a family to deal with; another surprise is that this doesn't fall victim to Missing Parent Syndrome.

The smallest issues plague Outcast -- weird pacing (three chapters for ONE DATE?), and blatant dramamongering. For a novel about religion, the book doesn't preach at the reader. The narrative remains blissfully message-free in that regard. For all the small errors it makes, Outcast more than makes up for with humor, creativity, suspense, and surprise. With all that Laini Taylor and Susan Ee have done for angels I wouldn't have bet on another book with a completely new spin on them, but Adrienne Kress did it, and she did it with flair.

Planned Reads for December & Coming Attractions

It's the last month of 2013 already. That is insane. That said, the end of the year brings my favorite season.... YEARLY "BEST OF" LISTS! And Christmas. But I do love when all my blogger friends put their thinking caps on to rank the hundreds and hundreds of books they read. The angst, the tears, the fangirling. It smells like Christmas.

Ahem.

That said, I do have some fun reads coming up in December.

From MacMillan:

Cress by Marissa Meyer (Lunar Chronicles #3) 

Rapunzel’s tower is a satellite. She can’t let down her hair—or her guard.

In this third book in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army.

Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker—unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing stop her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only ones who can.

(I really should wait to read this one, but I've already had it a month and my self-control is fraying)

She Is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick

Laureth Peak's father is a writer. For years he's been trying, and failing, to write a novel about coincidence. His wife thinks he's obsessed, Laureth thinks he's on the verge of a breakdown.He's supposed to be doing research in Austria, so when his notebook shows up in New York, Laureth knows something is wrong.

On impulse she steals her mother's credit card and heads for the States, taking her strange little brother Benjamin with her. Reunited with the notebook, they begin to follow clues inside, trying to find their wayward father. Ahead lie challenges and threats, all of which are that much tougher for Laureth than they would be for any other 16-year old. Because Laureth Peak is blind.

From TLC Book Tours:

The Supreme Macaroni Company by Adriana Trigiani (Valentine #3)

For over a hundred years, the Angelini Shoe Company in Greenwich Village has relied on the leather produced by Vechiarelli & Son in Tuscany. This historic business partnership provides the twist of fate for Valentine Roncalli, the school teacher turned shoemaker, to fall in love with Gianluca Vechiarelli, a tanner with a complex past . . . and a secret.

A piece of surprising news is revealed at The Feast of the Seven Fishes when Valentine and Gianluca join her extended family on a fateful Christmas Eve. Now faced with life altering choices, Valentine remembers the wise words that inspired her in the early days of her beloved Angelini Shoe Company: "A person who can build a pair of shoes can do just about anything." The proud, passionate Valentine is going to fight for everything she wants and savor all she deserves-the bitter and the sweetness of life itself.

Romantic and poignant, told with humor and warmth, and bursting with a cast of endearing characters, The Supreme Macaroni Company is a sumptuous feast of delights: a portrait of a woman and the man she loves, her passion for craftsmanship, and the sacrifices it takes to build and sustain a family business while keeping love and laughter at the center of everything.

(Sigh. I need to research more before agreeing to tours. I wasn't aware this was 3rd in a series I'd never heard of.)

The Sowing by K. Makansi

The Famine may be over, but the Resistance has just begun.

When Remy Alexander is fifteen, her older sister is murdered in a cold-blooded classroom massacre. When the Okarian Sector hides the truth behind the attack, Remy's family goes underground to join the clandestine and growing Resistance movement. Now, three years later, Remy is beginning to find clues about why her sister was murdered. But at the same time, Valerian Orlean, the boy Remy once loved, is put in charge of hunting and destroying the Resistance. As Vale fights to protect his people and Remy seeks justice for her sister, the two are set on a collision course that could bring everyone together - or tear everything apart.

THE SOWING, the first book in The SEEDS Trilogy, is set in a post-apocalyptic world. In the wake of environmental destruction and a devastating population crash, the Okarian Sector was forced to fight to establish a civil society in a chaotic world. After the loss of seed biodiversity in the destruction of the Old World, genetic modification and artificial agricultural techniques are the Sector’s only choice. Science reigns supreme. The Okarian Agricultural Consortium, a corporation dedicated to perfecting these modified seeds and providing only the best food and medicine to its citizens, becomes the government’s most important arm. But even the purest gold is tarnished over time, and the Sector’s noble goals devolve into manipulation, control, and oppression.

Written by the mother-daughter writing team of Kristy, Amira, and Elena Makansi, this debut post-apocalyptic thriller features romance, enduring friendships, edge-of-your-seat action, and heart-wrenching betrayal.

Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker by Jennifer Chiaverini

In Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker, novelist Jennifer Chiaverini presents a stunning account of the friendship that blossomed between Mary Todd Lincoln and her seamstress, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Keckley, a former slave who gained her professional reputation in Washington, D.C. by outfitting the city’s elite. Keckley made history by sewing for First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln within the White House, a trusted witness to many private moments between the President and his wife, two of the most compelling figures in American history.

In March 1861, Mrs. Lincoln chose Keckley from among a number of applicants to be her personal “modiste,” responsible not only for creating the First Lady’s gowns, but also for dressing Mrs. Lincoln in the beautiful attire Keckley had fashioned. The relationship between the two women quickly evolved, as Keckley was drawn into the intimate life of the Lincoln family, supporting Mary Todd Lincoln in the loss of first her son, and then her husband to the assassination that stunned the nation and the world.

Keckley saved scraps from the dozens of gowns she made for Mrs. Lincoln, eventually piecing together a tribute known as the Mary Todd Lincoln Quilt. She also saved memories, which she fashioned into a book, Behind the Scenes: Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House. Upon its publication, Keckley’s memoir created a scandal that compelled Mary Todd Lincoln to sever all ties with her, but in the decades since, Keckley’s story has languished in the archives. In this impeccably researched, engrossing novel, Chiaverini brings history to life in rich, moving style.

The Spirit Keeper by K.B. Laugheed

The thirteenth child conceived of miserable Irish exiles, Katie O’Toole dreams of a different life. Little does she know that someone far away is dreaming of her.

In 1747, savages raid her family home, and seventeen-year-old Katie is taken captive. Syawa and Hector have been searching for her, guided by Syawa’s dreams. A young Holyman, Syawa believes Katie is the subject of his Vision: the Creature of Fire and Ice, destined to bring a great gift to his people. Despite her flaming hair and ice-blue eyes, Katie is certain he is mistaken, but faced with returning to her family, she agrees to join them. She soon discovers that in order to fulfill Syawa’s Vision, she must first become his Spirit Keeper, embarking on an epic journey that will change her life—and heart—forever.

From NetGalley/Edelweiss:

Sorrow's Knot by Erin Bow

In the world of Sorrow’s Knot, the dead do not rest easy. Every patch of shadow might be home to something hungry and nearly invisible, something deadly. The dead can only be repelled or destroyed with magically knotted cords and yarns. The women who tie these knots are called binders.

Otter is the daughter of Willow, a binder of great power. She’s a proud and privileged girl who takes it for granted that she will be a binder some day herself. But when Willow’s power begins to turn inward and tear her apart, Otter finds herself trapped with a responsibility she’s not ready for, and a power she no longer wants.

Being Sloane Jacobs by Lauren Morrill

Meet Sloane Emily Jacobs: a seriously stressed-out figure-skater from Washington, D.C., who choked during junior nationals and isn’t sure she’s ready for a comeback. What she does know is that she’d give anything to escape the mass of misery that is her life.

Now meet Sloane Devon Jacobs, a spunky ice hockey player from Philly who’s been suspended from her team for too many aggressive hip checks. Her punishment? Hockey camp, now, when she’s playing the worst she’s ever played. If she messes up? Her life will be over.

When the two Sloanes meet by chance in Montreal and decide to trade places for the summer, each girl thinks she’s the lucky one: no strangers to judge or laugh at Sloane Emily, no scouts expecting Sloane Devon to be a hero. But it didn’t occur to Sloane E. that while avoiding sequins and axels she might meet a hockey hottie—and Sloane D. never expected to run into a familiar (and very good-looking) face from home. It’s not long before the Sloanes discover that convincing people you’re someone else might be more difficult than being yourself.

Crash into You by Katie McGarry (Pushing the Limits #3)

The girl with straight As, designer clothes and the perfect life-that's who people expect Rachel Young to be. So the private-school junior keeps secrets from her wealthy parents and overbearing brothers...and she's just added two more to the list. One involves racing strangers down dark country roads in her Mustang GT. The other? Seventeen-year-old Isaiah Walker-a guy she has no business even talking to. But when the foster kid with the tattoos and intense gray eyes comes to her rescue, she can't get him out of her mind.

Isaiah has secrets, too. About where he lives, and how he really feels about Rachel. The last thing he needs is to get tangled up with a rich girl who wants to slum it on the south side for kicks-no matter how angelic she might look.

But when their shared love of street racing puts both their lives in jeopardy, they have six weeks to come up with a way out. Six weeks to discover just how far they'll go to save each other.

Pawn by Aimee Carter (The Blackcoart Rebellion #1)

For Kitty Doe, it seems like an easy choice. She can either spend her life as a III in misery, looked down upon by the higher ranks and forced to leave the people she loves, or she can become a VII and join the most powerful family in the country.

If she says yes, Kitty will be Masked—surgically transformed into Lila Hart, the Prime Minister's niece, who died under mysterious circumstances. As a member of the Hart family, she will be famous. She will be adored. And for the first time, she will matter.

There's only one catch. She must also stop the rebellion that Lila secretly fostered, the same one that got her killed …and one Kitty believes in. Faced with threats, conspiracies and a life that's not her own, she must decide which path to choose—and learn how to become more than a pawn in a twisted game she's only beginning to understand.

The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski

In the tradition of Kristin Cashore comes this brilliant, unputdownable, star-crossed romance about the curse of winning.

Seventeen-year-old Kestrel is an aristocratic citizen of Valoria, a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers. Here, a girl like Kestrel has two choices: join the military or get married. Despite her skills in military strategy, Kestrel’s real passion is music.Which is why she feels compelled to buy Arin, a slave with a talent for singing, at auction. It’s not long before she finds herself falling in love with Arin, and he seems to feel the same for her. But Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for Arin is much higher than she ever could have imagined.

Set in a new world, The Winner’s Curse is a story of wicked rumors, dirty secrets, and games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart.

These will be interspersed with whatever "me reads" I feel like reading, but I feel like December is looking full of good books.

If I can read 35 books in December, I will have read one book for every day of 2014. I am not sure I will make it, but I am definitely going to try!

As for my own "Best Of" lists, I plan to do these, plus a few more I am still thinking on:

• Best YA
• Best Adult
• Biggest Disappointments
• Best Covers Most Anticipated 2014
• DNF Roundup

What are you most looking forward to in December? Snow? Christmas? New Year's? A certain book?