Book Review: Slice of Cherry by Dia Reeves

Photo taken from Goodreads

Book Info

   

Title:  Slice of Cherry

Author:  Dia Reeves
Publisher:  Simon Pulse

Language: English

Format:  Hardcover

Pages:  512 pages

ISBN - 13:  978-1416986201

Source:  Purchased, Fully Booked

Buy this book on Amazon 

Summary

From Goodreads: 

"Kit and Fancy Cordelle are sisters of the best kind: best friends, best confidantes, and best accomplices. The daughters of the infamous Bonesaw Killer, Kit and Fancy are used to feeling like outsiders, and that’s just the way they like it. But in Portero, where the weird and wild run rampant, the Cordelle sisters are hardly the oddest or most dangerous creatures around.

It’s no surprise when Kit and Fancy start to give in to their deepest desire—the desire to kill. What starts as a fascination with slicing open and stitching up quickly spirals into a gratifying murder spree. Of course, the sisters aren’t killing just anyone, only the people who truly deserve it. But the girls have learned from the mistakes of their father, and know that a shred of evidence could get them caught. So when Fancy stumbles upon a mysterious and invisible doorway to another world, she opens a door to endless possibilities…"

Review

First of all, this book is not a part of a series.  This is another Twisted novel by Dia Reeves, in which Bleeding Violet was the first Twisted book.  That's where the connection ends. Reading this book was like reading a psychotic's version of Alice in Wonderland.  It was definitely crazier than the first book.

Slice of Cherry by Dia Reeves stood out against other books with its unique premise.  You rarely see protagonists acting like the bad guys.  Most books that feature a 'villainous' main character mostly show their inner kindness, but this book, with its sticky-sweet but deadly heroes refused to strike a balance between the good and the bad, and just told the story as is, the brutal truth unsettling but fascinating.  Kit and Fancy Cordelle were sisters whose murderous tendencies they let shine through when Fancy discovers a door that will let them hide every evidence of their crimes.  However, they only kill the 'bad guys' and try to help in improving their community, as opposed to the merciless and inconceivable rampage their father, the Bonesaw Killer, enjoyed that led to his imprisonment and imminent execution.

I know that comparing this to Bleeding Violet is unfair as they are two different books.  But it is strikingly clear that what made Bleeding Violet such an awesome read was because of its characters.  On the other hand, Slice of Cherry in my opinion will be distinguished by its plot.  

Fancy and Kit were not as strong characters as Hannah from Bleeding Violet was.  Fancy was too whiny and though most of the story was seen through her point of view, I disagreed a lot with her and cannot get into her.  Usually, I absorb the points of view of characters whose thoughts are mirrored in the narration.  In her case, I had difficulty doing that and got irritated with her actions more than once.  Kit was a bit too lukewarm.  The more interesting character among them for me was Ilan.  He provided much of the humor, and this sense of wholeness that was not too felt from the other characters, especially the sisters.  Gabriel, on the other hand, was just too flat.

Character problems aside, the premise was very intriguing.  It was like reading the Dexter series by Jeffrey Lindsey, only younger, girlier, and more twisted.  The plot was what attracted me to this book in the first place and although I did not agree much with every character, I was still mesmerized by the flow of the story.  The strange occurrences, the 'door,' it made me admire Ms. Reeves more as I delved more into her imagination.  And although her main aim is to just tell a good story, I think she managed to leave a few lessons along the way without the reader consciously noticing.  

You know the best part of the book that I liked?  It's the cover.  It totally speaks to me and looks exactly as what I thought about this book.  It really spoke volumes about the ingenuity of this book and the strange, unique, but fantastic story contained within.

Rating

If you have any questions on this particular rating, please refer to my ratings system here.

Notice

All opinions expressed in this book review are my own and not influenced by any party in any way.

Please contact me for questions, comments, and suggestions.  

Book Review: These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf

Photo taken from Goodreads

Book Info

Title:  These Things Hidden

Author:  Heather Gudenkauf
Publisher:  Mira 

Language: English

Format: Paperback

Pages:  352 pages

ISBN - 13:  9780778328797

ASIN:  0778328791

Source:  Random Acts of Kindness - Ash from English Major's Junk Food

Buy this book on Amazon 

Summary

From Goodreads: 

"When teenager Allison Glenn is sent to prison for a heinous crime, she leaves behind her reputation as Linden Falls' golden girl forever. Her parents deny the existence of their once-perfect child. Her former friends exult her downfall. Her sister, Brynn, faces whispered rumors every day in the hallways of their small Iowa high school. It's Brynn—shy, quiet Brynn—who carries the burden of what really happened that night. All she wants is to forget Allison and the past that haunts her.

But then Allison is released to a halfway house, and is more determined than ever to speak with her estranged sister.

Now their legacy of secrets is focused on one little boy. And if the truth is revealed, the consequences will be unimaginable for the adoptive mother who loves him, the girl who tried to protect him and the two sisters who hold the key to all that is hidden."

Review

Have you ever read a book that had as much stories within a story than this book?  I for one, am very fascinated with how Heather Gudenkauf was able to pull off such a stunt in this book, This Things Hidden. 

The story begins with Allison as she was being released from prison and transferred to a halfway house.  She wanted to get in touch with her sister, Brynn, after years of separation.  They share a horrible secret between them that also affects the lives of two other women and one little boy:  Charm, a regular customer of Bookends - a bookstore that Claire owns - appears to be much more than a customer as it was revealed that she knows about Claire and her family a lot more than anyone thinks.  Claire, on the other hand, has adopted Joshua after she and her husband had learned that they would not be able to have any children and the first traumatic experience they had at foster care for a young girl.

A lot of story lines right there, right?  But believe me, it never gets confusing, not one bit!  Although there were some details there that would make you wonder why or how, but once everything comes full circle, you understand that in this book, everything is significant and has a purpose.  It is very methodical, the way this book was written, but at the same time, the prose is very imaginative and lyrical, and even has a sort of surreal quality the way most events were described.  The story shifts from various points of view:  Allison's and Brynn's - both told in first-person narrative, and then there are Charm's and Claire's both narrated by a third person.  This style actually gives you the idea that this story, though it revolves around four women, is mainly a story of two sisters who has years of secrets between them that would affect two other women's lives.  It was like the 'ripple effect,' although in this novel, there is not only one object that was thrown into the water to create a ripple, but two objects one at a time, creating ripples of their own, and with the first object's ripple causing another ripple from the second object's ripples that creates two other ripples.

Between the two sisters, I think I like Allison more.  No offense to Brynn - who has always resented the fact that her older sister always seemed better than her though she would not admit it - but Allison was able to hold her own in most situations and seemed genuinely to love her sister, although growing up they seemed to have a rough patch as she and her sister began to have different interests and sets of friends.  Brynn, on the other hand, seemed unable to get past the fact that Allison has already started growing up and growing out of their 'childish sisterhood.'  She seemed unable to grow up and when her sister genuinely asks for her help, she seemed to respond not out of love, but out of spite that finally, her seemingly-perfect older sister does not appear perfect at all and was also vulnerable to human intervention.  As with their book relationship, I was drawn more to Allison than Brynn.  The way their characters were created was so detailed but not over-documented that you only learn about them by reading the book.  No.  You read about them and you also form your own conclusions from what you have read as to why they act the way they do.  The same goes for the other characters who were also very passionately written, no matter how big or small a role they would play in this novel. 

I have always been curious about serious issues like teenage pregnancies, mental illness, and mother and child relationships and this book rolled all those into its pages and created an emotional, very well-thought out masterpiece that I am sure many readers would find themselves drawn into, even at times shedding tears not just for what goes on in this book, but also for how good this book turned out to be.

(Again, thank you so much Ash for sending me this book!  If any of you would like to be part of the Random Acts of Kindness event, head on over to Booksoulmates' blog to join.)

Rating

If you have any questions on this particular rating, please refer to my ratings system here.

Notice

All opinions expressed in this book review are my own and not influenced by any party in any way.

Please contact me for questions, comments, and suggestions.  

Book Review: The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Photo taken from Goodreads

Book Info

Title:  The Sky is Everywhere 

Author:  Jandy Nelson
Publisher:  Walker Books Ltd.

Language: English

Format: Hardcover

Pages:  368 pages

ISBN - 10:  1406326305

ISBN - 13:  978-1406326307

Source:  Purchased, Life is Like a Bookpage Book Shop

Buy this book on Amazon 

Summary

From Goodreads: 

"Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, bookworm and band geek, plays second clarinet and spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery older sister, Bailey. But when Bailey dies abruptly, Lennie is catapulted to center stage of her own life—and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, suddenly finds herself struggling to balance two. Toby was Bailey’s boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie’s own. Joe is the new boy in town, a transplant from Paris whose nearly magical grin is matched only by his musical talent. For Lennie, they’re the sun and the moon; one boy takes her out of her sorrow, the other comforts her in it. But just like their celestial counterparts, they can’t collide without the whole wide world exploding."

Review

The sky is everywhere 

but to her, it was gone. 
Her sister left her and went up the skies,
and with her went the world.
The Sky was poignant,
engaging,
thoughtful,
depressing at times,
inspiring,
horrifying,
and most of all,
heart-wrenching.
The Sky was about a dead sister,
the dead sister's boyfriend,
a bright, bright young man,
a missing mother,
crazy uncle,
crazier grandmother - 
but mostly The Sky was about a girl
who lost the sky
and found it again,
finding love after her sister's death.
The Sky made me laugh,
made me sad,
made me mad,
made me feel other things
- it almost made me cry.
I tried to reach for the sky,
but it was too high up out there for me.
But I found The Sky
reached it with both hands,
and kept it ever since.
I will cherish The Sky
and read it over and over
even though that girl becomes younger 
than my own daughter,
and I go crazier 
than the crazy grandmother.
The Sky reminded me of my father
who now lives in the skies.
I look up and see him looking down at me
smiling as I fumble over stuff
his ever-clumsy little girl.
The Sky made me jealous
because the girl cried and mourned,
felt empty at the loss of her sister.
While I could not even produce a single tear
over my dead father.
People do have different ways
to mourn for a person
who has left them and gone to the sky.
The sky is everywhere -
and I am proud to claim
that The Sky is mine.


(That's the best effort I could attempt at writing a poem.  Sorry if it sounds really bad, but I really did love The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson and I really think you guys should read it too.)

Rating

If you have any questions on this particular rating, please refer to my ratings system here.

Notice

All opinions expressed in this book review are my own and not influenced by any party in any way.

Please contact me for questions, comments, and suggestions.  

Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata

(Photo taken from the Goodreads website)

Title: Kira-Kira
Author: Cynthia Kadohata
Publisher: Atheneum
Language: English
ISBN - 10: 0689856393
ISBN - 13: 978-0689856396
Rating:

According to the Blurb

"Glittering. That's how Katie Takeshima's sister, Lynn, makes everything seem. The sky is kira-kira because its color is deep but see-through at the same time. The sea is kira-kira for the same reason. And so are people's eyes. When Katie and her family move from a Japanese community in Iowa to the Deep South of Georgia, it's Lynn who explains to her why people stop them on the street to stare. And it's Lynn who, with her special way of viewing the world, teaches Katie to look beyond tomorrow. But when Lynn becomes desperately ill, and the whole family begins to fall apart, it is up to Katie to find a way to remind them all that there is always something glittering—kira-kira —in the future."


Thoughts

Katie and her family's life is anything but kira-kira—the life of Japanese Americans in the 1950s was anything but glittering due to the "Anti-Japanese sentiment" across America. Katie could see reality: no one wants to make friends with her at school, not even with her sister Lynn, despite her natural charm and brilliance at schoolwork and her father had to work back-breaking hours to provide for his family. On the other hand, Lynn, despite also seeing reality, chose to be the optimist and was the one who taught Katie to see things differently, that all things are kira-kira.

The author has drawn perfectly believable characters, from the humble, hardworking father, to the sweet, adoring little brother. Their voices are clear and their words are accurate. Katie describes her world with the simplicity and practicality you would expect from her age, and a natural awe for her older sister. Added to the mix are interesting characters, Uncle Katsuhisa and his family, Amber, and Silly, who provide the necessary humor and perspective that turns the plot from an otherwise depressing narrative to a hopeful, coming of age story of a young girl and her family.

Winner of the 2005 Newbery Medal, this novel, though sad, will not disappoint. It is a story of hope at its core, convincing the readers to find the kira-kira in little things, reminding everyone to keep dreaming big, and appreciating the world for all its flaws.