Review: Second Star by Alyssa B. Sheinmel

Title: Second Star
Author: Alyssa B. Sheinmel
Series: n/a
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Publication Date: May 13, 2014
Source: from publisher via Netgalley
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

A twisty story about love, loss, and lies, this contemporary oceanside adventure is tinged with a touch of dark magic as it follows seventeen-year-old Wendy Darling on a search for her missing surfer brothers. Wendy’s journey leads her to a mysterious hidden cove inhabited by a tribe of young renegade surfers, most of them runaways like her brothers. Wendy is instantly drawn to the cove’s charismatic leader, Pete, but her search also points her toward Pete's nemesis, the drug-dealing Jas. Enigmatic, dangerous, and handsome, Jas pulls Wendy in even as she's falling hard for Pete. A radical reinvention of a classic, Second Star is an irresistible summer romance about two young men who have yet to grow up--and the troubled beauty trapped between them.

I love a good fairy-tale retelling as much as the next girl, but still I go into each one with some amount of trepidation. What if the author butchers one of my favorite characters from my childhood? What if the story is too close to the original to stand on its own? What if the story is so vastly different from the original story that it doesn't feel like a retelling at all? These questions and many others are what I find myself pondering before picking up any book based on a beloved story from my childhood.

Second Star is a Peter Pan retelling. But most of the time, I forgot that fact while I was reading. The most obvious aspect making this a retelling is the fact that neither of the boys that Wendy meets -- while in her search for her lost brothers -- wants to grow up. Pete (Peter, obvs) is the sweet and caring leader of a group of surfers, squatting in a house on the cliffs of the California coast. Jas (Hook) is the mysterious drug-dealing counterpart to Pete's rag-tag gang of surfers. Oh, and Belle (Tinkerbell, again, obvs) is there to keep Wendy from falling for Pete. (Or, rather, to keep Wendy and Pete from getting together because I don't think there's really a possibility of keeping Wendy from falling for Pete.) So, as far as characters go, it sounds pretty similar, right?

No...not really. When it says a "radical reinvention" up there in the summary, it means it. "Neverland" is a beach cove. The Jolly Roger is a seedy bar. Fairy dust is the drug Jas is peddling to his fellow surfers. Jas/Hook actually might not be the villain we've been led to believe. And Wendy's brothers, surfers themselves, may be gone for good.

I liked the idea of Pan and Hook vying for the affections of Wendy Darling. And I should have known that I'd fall for the not-so-evil Hook myself. I always fall for the guy I'm not supposed to like. Such is life, though the fact that Jas might have been the only one interested in helping Wendy find her lost brothers might have something to do with that. But never did I dare to dream that Wendy might actually waver between the two surfers herself. The thing is, though...this Wendy's not the Wendy from the original story either. She's grieving the loss of her brothers. She's making rash decisions, leading to one mistake after another. This Wendy is not the responsible mothering type. Except that this instinct does seem to kick in for her at times, like when she grilled dinner for all the Lost Boys.

There were hints of the original story, as different as this retelling was, and it was enough for me to enjoy the story overall. I wish I could say that I didn't see that ending coming, but I did...no matter how much I was hoping for a different outcome. It's one of those ambiguous, WTF did I just read kind of endings, and honestly, it left me more than a little disappointed. I probably would have rated the book higher if not for that because I was really having fun with the story up to that point, confusing as it was.

GIF it to me straight:

Confusing, wondrous & frustrating.
Felt like I was flying in circles myself for much of the book.

About the author:

I was born in Stanford, California, and even though I moved across the country to New York when I was six years old, I still think of myself as a California girl.

Like so many writers, I grew up loving books. I loved stories so much that when there was nothing to read, I wrote my own stories just to give myself something to read. And when there was no pen and paper to be had, I made up stories and acted them out by myself. I played all the parts, and I was never bored.

Find Alyssa:

Website | Twitter | Goodreads

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Labels: all the swoons, alyssa b. sheinmel, beautiful covers, fairy tales, macmillan, read-along, retellings, reviews, second star

Top Ten Tuesday: The Ones We Find Different and Unique

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the awesome ladies at The Broke and the Bookish. Apparently, they are overly fond of list-making and love to share their bookish lists with the rest of us book nerds.  =) We're game.

This week's list features the Top Ten Most Unique Books I've Read. Maybe the MC was really different, maybe it was the way it was written, a very unique spin on a genre or topic, etc.

April's picks:


The Scorpio Races is unlike any book I've ever read, or I should say listened to. Everything about it was unique. Blood Magic, I chose that one because it was so different. Dark and Lyrical. Red Rising, I just loved how he took so many genres and mixed them up into something totally awesome. Daughter of Smoke & Bone was so neat and very different. And well, Forbidden is about a bother and sister falling in love and you don't read about that everyday. lol


Jen's picks:


I don't want to say much about why I found The Kiss of Deception so unique for fear of spoilers since the book isn't out yet, but maybe my Review in a GIFfy will help explain? Blood Red Road, the first book in Moira Young's Dust Lands series, features a barren wasteland, a future with little hope for survival, and characters who speak like The Beverly Hillbillies. It's all kinds of awesome. One word as to why I consider The Beautiful and the Cursed to be different: gargoyles. Some Quiet Place follows an almost robotic-like protagonist who expresses little-to-no emotion, yet I didn't find her completely unlikable. But I think it's the culmination of so many different aspects of other stories coming together that made this one feel so unique: an amnesia plot, emotions personified, changelings, etc. And The Archived just had such a unique premise, which is what drew me to the series in the first place...plus, it has possibly one of my favorite love interests and he's also very different...he even wears guy-liner! =)

So, what are some of the most unique books you've read? :)  Share the link to you TTT post so we can visit!

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Labels: favorites, top ten tuesday, unique reads

Review: Catch a Falling Star by Kim Culbertson

Title: Catch a Falling Star
Author: Kim Culbertson
Series: n/a
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publication Date: April 29th, 2014
Source: received from publisher via NetGalley
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

A deliciously charming novel about finding true love . . . and yourself.

Nothing ever happens in Little, CA. Which is just the way Carter Moon likes it. But when Hollywood arrives to film a movie starring former child star turned PR mess Adam Jakes, everything changes. Carter's town becomes a giant glittery set and, much to her annoyance, everyone is starry-eyed for Adam. Carter seems to be the only girl not falling all over herself to get a glimpse of him. Which apparently makes her perfect for the secret offer of a lifetime: playing the role of Adam's girlfriend while he's in town, to improve his public image, in exchange for a hefty paycheck. Her family really needs the money and so Carters agrees. But it turns out Adam isn't at all who she thought he was. As they grow closer, their relationship walks a blurry line between what's real and what's fake, and Carter must open her eyes to the scariest of unexplored worlds - her future. Can Carter figure out what she wants out of life AND get the guy? Or are there no Hollywood endings in real life?

The cover for Catch a Falling Star is absolutely adorable. One of my best friends had a room that went out onto the garage roof. I remember spending many party evenings out there sitting, looking up at the stars and just talking about life. So immediately I was drawn to this book.

It was cute! It really was. I wouldn’t say it was all that realistic, but I didn’t expect it to be. Carter Moon lives in a small town and there is a moving being shot there. One of the hottest young celebrity guys out there is the star, so he breezes into town full of arrogance.

I’ll be honest, Adam Jakes, I was not a fan of him early on. Wow… what a jerk. I did warm up to him eventually as the story goes on. I understood him. If I had cameras following me everywhere I would probably be an a hole too. He’s used to being used, and girls fawning all over him. What he wasn’t used to was Carter Moon, who initially does not give a crap about him.

Adam has gotten himself into quite a pickle. Child star gone bad, I was thinking about Bieber the whole time reading this. Carter is hired to pretend to be his girlfriend for the duration of the shoot, in hopes to help improve his image. Much to her dislike, but her family needs the money for reasons I won’t mention. That was an angle I wasn’t expecting, but it was different, and I liked that. Carter and Adam don’t really like each other at first, but things change. They get to know each other.

One of my favorite characters is Carters best friend Chloe. That girl made me laugh. Over all, this was a really sweet story. Not too deep, but not to fluffy. Just right, and very coming of age. I enjoyed it.

About the author:




Kim Culbertson is the author of the teen novels CATCH A FALLING STAR (Scholastic
2014), INSTRUCTIONS FOR A BROKEN HEART (Sourcebooks 2012), and SONGS FOR A TEENAGE NOMAD (Sourcebooks 2010).

She believes books make the world a better place and likes to be on the look out for books she really connects with and loves. Any book she reviews on Goodreads is one of these finds.

Happy reading

Find Kim:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

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Labels: Catch a Falling Star, Kim Culbertson, movie star, reviews, scholastic

Stacking The Shelves #11

Stacking The Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews and is a way to share with everyone all the goodies you've received through out the week. 

Just click the covers to be taken to their goodreads pages. 

Purchased




It's a new month, so new audible credits! Woo Hoo! I have a few Dessen books in paper back, but I haven't had a chance to read them. Mainly because I'm lazy and only carry around my kindle. A couple years ago I started reading Just Listen with a friend, but we never got far and we didn't finish because our schedules were just too different.


For Review

Thank you Harper

I haven't read Not a Drop to Drink yet, but Jen got it for my birthday, so now when I read it I can just move right on to the next. That's a risky move, but since Jen loved that book so much, I'm pretty sure that I'll at least like it. :)

Freebies


Because I have a hard time resisting the freebies. :/

Well, I hope you all had a great week! I'm sorry I've not been as responsive this week, sick daughter the last half of the week. I have 0 motivation to do anything blog/reading related when my little boo isn't feeling well. *mommy mode* She's feeling much better now though. Thank goodness. That time of year I guess, its starts to warm up and everyone gets sick.

couch time with the kindle makes everything better. <3 

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Labels: stacking the shelves

The Weekend Update - 4.5.14

So, since my end-of-the-week post isn't just about what I got in my mailbox or on my Kindle each week -- though that is a big part of it, I won't lie -- I decided to change up the title and intro a bit.  I might tweak the format a bit over the next few weeks, but for the most part, it'll contain the same stuff:  stuff I got, stuff I did, and stuff that's coming up on the blog.  Plus, I get to use the awesome GIF you see here and blow kisses to all the people who sent me lovely books and bookish things.  Oh, and I've started linking up to Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga's Reviews since I'm not using a specific meme title anymore.  April's also doing her own Stacking the Shelves posts on Sundays.  Stop by and say hi!  =)

Been a rough week around these parts, what with the crazy spring storms here in North Texas and Katie getting a double ear infection, but we're managing. Just so glad it's finally the weekend! Hope you're all doing well, too!

Anyway, here's what I scored this week:

For Review:

physical ARCs:

The Island of Excess Love by Francesca Lia Block - publisher

from Netgalley & Edelweiss:

Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne - Netgalley
Catch a Falling Star by Kim Culbertson - Netgalley

Big thanks to Macmillan, Disney Hyperion & Scholastic!!!

Purchased:

Gilded Ashes by Rosamund Hodge
Things I Can't Forget by Miranda Kenneally

Library:

Moth and Spark by Anne Leonard (ebook)

Freebies:

Red at Night by Katie McGarry

So, that's my haul. How about you? What did you get this week?

The Week in Review:

Reviews:

• No Attachments (April)
• Maybe One Day (April)
• The Treatment (Jen)

Current Giveaways:  Plus One by Elizabeth Fama

Promotional/Discussion Posts:  The Ones That Started It All, Plus One Blog Tour, We Co-sign on Co-blogging

Jen's Currently Reading/Listening To:

I kept seeing Heather's updates while she was reading this one and knew I had to read it next. Sounds super cute! I foresee another contemporary kick in my future. =)

Just finished up the first book in my re-listen in preparation for Dreams of Gods & Monsters on Tuesday. It doesn't matter how many times I read these books...I am still so utterly impressed with the writing and the story and just everything. Dying to see how it all ends...

Upcoming Reviews:

Like honest reviews & giveaways?  Be sure to follow us on Bloglovin' so you never miss out!

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Labels: in my mailbox (imm), stacking the shelves, the weekend update