Cryer's Cross

Cryer's Cross Lisa McMann

Kendall has spent her entire life in Cryer's Cross, Montana. It's a small town of mostly potato farmers (Kendall's family included.) There are 24 people in her high school.

Last spring, Tiffany Quinn disappeared without a trace. This fall, Kendall's boyfriend Nico, is also gone.

Kendall has OCD. Everything must be just so. It also means that all the horrific possibilities of what happened to Tiffany or Nico replay in her head over. and over. and over. and over. and over. and over. and over. and over. and over.

It also means that she knows the smallest details of everything. She knows that Nico was sitting at the same desk that Tiffany sat at last year. Kendall knows that the graffiti carvings that look like they've been there forever? They're new. And they're changing. She hears the voices calling to her.

Thirty five. One hundred. Thirty five. One hundred.

Overall, I liked the first 90% of it. It was spooky and tense. I loved how Kendall's OCD was a hinderance and a help. I also love that this book wasn't a book about Kendall's OCD. It was about something else entirely. I love that it's a small town that ISN'T full of quirky characters. The interjections of the desks in between chapters at first was really weird, but at the end added to the scariness. I loved the depiction of how hard small town life can be. With Tiffany and Nico gone, when the new girl Marlena breaks her leg, the soccer season is cancelled because even though it's a co-ed, there are no longer enough people to make a full team.

I'm not sure how I felt about Kendall's relationship with new boy (Marlena's older brother Jacian). On one hand Kendall and Nico were dating because they had been best friends since they were born and it just seemed natural and Jacian makes her heart race... after Nico's disappearance (and not only as her boyfriend, but also her oldest and best friend) it seemed a bit... fast.

My big beef though, is with the end. It's rushed and totally anti-climatic. What was going on was really cool and FREAKY, but how McMann lets the readers know is a let-down. It just falls apart a bit. Which is sad because it had such promise and the majority of the book was SO GOOD.


ALSO, THE COVER. The one at the top of the review is the paperback cover. UGH. It makes it look like a KISSING BOOK. This is not a kissing book. So, it'll disappoint those looking for a kissing book and it won't get picked up by a lot of people because of it. The original hardcover with the spooky desk? SO MUCH BETTER. I think it represents the book much better and will appeal to more readers. Ah well.

Book Provided by... the publisher at a lovely dinner with McMann, at ALA Midwinter a few years ago.

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Gone

Gone Lisa McMann

THERE ARE SPOILERS FOR PREVIOUS BOOKS IN THIS SERIES! SORRY!

Read was Leila has to say. Go ahead, I'll wait.

In this final book of the Wake/Fade/Gone trilogy, Janie's stuck making her decision between isolation and the physical effects of being a dream catcher. Cabe says he'll be there for her when things get bad, but he doesn't remember his nightmares, the ones that Janie gets sucked into and shows his true fears about the future.

Then, for the first time in her life, Janie's father shows up, only he's in a coma and about to die.

This is same as the other two in the series in that it has a fast plot and moves quickly, but it's also very different. Since the trial at the end of Fade, Janie's been outed as a narc, so there isn't any undercover work or mystery to solve. Also, Janie's mother and her drinking problems play a much more prominent role in this book.

I liked it because I liked the trilogy and I wanted closure on the story, but it's not my favorite book in the series. Also, I can't argue with anything that Leila says in her review. BUT! It does win points for having the most hilarious reference to Forever that I've ever read.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Sequels are Fun!

Rainy rainy rainy. I feel bad for my poor puppy that had to suffer through the scariest thing in the world ALL BY HERSELF today. (Scariest thing in the world? Thunder.) But, every so often, I see a glimpse of sun. Huzzah!

Also, there's a new Students Across the Seven Seas book out, Great Call of China! Not only a new book, but it's about CHINA!!!! Why o why doesn't my library have this yet?!

Anyway, today we have the second book in 2 series that I think are going to be trilogies. Not that I know they are, but that's what my gut is telling me. I listen to my gut, especially when it says "I WANT PIZZA."

Dead Is a State of Mind Marlene Perez

I loved this for all the reasons I loved Dead Is the New Black. Silly and fun, this time Nightshade has some serious werewolf issues. Even worse, Ryan seems to be pulling away from Daisy and spending an awful lot of time with the absolutely stunning newcomer, Elisa. Not that Daisy doesn't have her own new guy--Duke's a gorgeous fortune-teller that just won't leave her alone. At least she doesn't have to go to cheer leading practice, right?

Also, the best part? One of snarky-waitress Flo's t-shirts says "SCROTUM IS JUST A WORD" Big props for random The Higher Power of Lucky references thrown into fun YA lit!

Dead Is So Last Year is out now! (According to Amazon) Huzzah!


Fade Lisa McMann

Wake really surprised me, by being the opposite of what I thought it would be. Fade doesn't disappoint.

The police suspect that there is a sexual predator among the teaching staff at Janie and Cable's high school. The two are on the case. This involves Janie basically using herself as bait to catch the creep, which is something Cable has very big issues with and is straining their relationship. Janie's learning how to control her catching talent to make it useful, but there are starting to be some pretty bad side-effects and when she reads through Miss Stubbins's old notes, she finds out some truly shocking and horrible things.

This is definitely darker than Wake. The mystery is more immediate for Janie and the dreams she delves into for clues are worse. Plus, Janie has to use more than her dream-catching abilities to help catch the bad guys, which may be more than she can handle.

I'm really looking forward to Gone which will come out next February.

I am Woman, Hear me ROAR!

Today I changed a flat tire in the rain. (I blew it last night, but it was too dark to see, so I didn't change it until this morning). I'm feeling pretty tough. I got the car jacked up and the old tire off ALL BY MYSELF! And then someone drove by and noticed me sitting in a puddle, and offered to help. So he put on the spare. And now I have a new tire on my car and a tasty sandwich in my belly (the repair shop is rather close to the Italian Store.)

Anyway, books.

Wake Lisa McMann

Initially, I wasn't going to read this one because the premise didn't grab me. (It sounded like it might be scary. I don't do scary. Children's scary is ok, but teen and adult scary? TOO SCARY. I am a wuss.)

But, I had to read it for work and am SO GLAD! I would have finished this in one sitting if I didn't have that pesky day job that was making me read the book in the first place.

Janie falls into other people's dreams. If you fall asleep near her, she'll be sucked into your dream while still be conscious of what her body is doing in the waking world. Nightmares are the worst--she's paralyzed and it looks like she's having a seizure.

She knows she's a freak, destined to live alone, never letting anyone too close, and being slightly afraid of some of her classmates, knowing the dark thoughts that lurk in their sleep.

McMann's writing is fast, sections are date and time stamped, with awake action alternating with other people's dreams.

See, it sounds like it would be scary horror ish. But it's not. It's hard to explain. It's part love story, part super natural-y, and part police detective! The sequel sounds much more police detective like, and I can't wait until my name comes up on the hold list. I'm also excited to see more of Janie's relationship with her mother--in the text, we get Janie's impressions of it, but you know there's more there, and that there's more to her mother than Janie allows herself to see and think about.

Oh! There's been talk here in kidlitland in the last year about class in literature. Janie is poor and white and her issues with the popular girls are class-based. It also provides a good reason as to why she hasn't seen a doctor about these issues--she doesn't have insurance and can't afford it, so it's gone uninvestigated.

Anyway, check it out, because it was very different than what I thought it would be, and I mean that in the best way possible.