Review: Overexposed by Adrianne James

Amazon

Rating: 4

Synopsis:
In the tiny town of Willowspring, just about nothing ever happens except for layoffs, hockey games, and your average melodramatic teenage angst.

But that was before.

Vi, Ashley, and Macy are just trying to make it through the school year without one more humiliation when they team up for a simple photography assignment: create a story through a series of photographs. Can't be too much trouble, right?

Wrong.

The shutterbugs happen upon Willowspring High School's darkest secret. When everything around them starts to crumble after trying to do the right thing, their only hope is to stick together.

My Review:
Going into Overexposed, I did not know entirely what to expect. I usually worry about realistic fiction novels, because they can tend to be overly cliche, or just rehash the same problems as the countless amount of other teen dramas before it.

With Overexposed, I was pleasantly surprised. Especially for realistic fiction, the novel is exciting, interesting, and had me finish the entire read in one sitting, because I just could not stop until I got to the ending.

The characters are all well-developed, and it is refreshing to have a protagonist with a passion in photography. That is not something that is really emphasized, (you would suspect more of a hidden archery talent or a secret love for poetry) and it is very cool how the story revolves around this. I liked how Vi is a realistic character. She is torn on doing the right thing, but she did like gossip and the chance to capture news on her camera, which is something that most of us can connect to. If she had a camera and did not take pictures of something that is shocking or newsworthy, her character probably would have been annoying. Her passion for her craft - even if it isn't convenient for others - makes it easier to connect to her as a character.

Don't get me wrong, I can be a huge romantic, but another refreshing thing about Overexposed is that it does not end up becoming a romance, like...well, pretty much every young adult novel out there. Focusing on the plot and the friendship really adds to the reading experience, and it is great that James realizes that not every good YA story needs a ridiculously perfect male love interest. The relationships between friends, family and peers that were displayed in the story were done so well, that it is more than enough.

The ending was a bit predictable, but the plot still did have twists and I don't recall reading any slow or unnecessary portions. Every scene carried the story with excellent transitions. The themes displayed in the novel, dealing with honesty, integrity, morality, and friendship were clearly and beautifully displayed.

Overexposed is a thoroughly enjoyable read. A definite page-turner, I was satisfied completely. Through a witty voice, an interesting and suspenseful story is spun out. A clear reminder that bad things can happen anywhere, I would definitely recommend reading Overexposed. It reminded me that realistic fiction can be pretty brilliant. 

Review: World War Z by Max Brooks

Amazon
Barnes and Noble

Rating: 4

Synopsis:
The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.

My Rating:
I am not going to lie and say that I have not been bitten by the undead in the way that I am quickly becoming a fan of everything and anything zombie. (Okay, maybe not everything.) One might ask what is so seductive about mutant beings that will heartlessly eat your flesh? Well, I can't answer that. But I can tell you to read World War Z so you will hop onto the zombie train like the rest of us.

Having read The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead, and loving the witty and realistic style that it was written in, I decided to move on to Brooks' next zombie novel. And I was even more impressed with World War Z.

Told through a series of very realistic interviews of first-hand accounts of the zombie apocalypse, in the midst of the slow recovery from the war, you will start to believe that the end of days actually happened. I know that the novel is not really nonfiction, but it was written so well that I would read and think maybe this did actually happen... Then proceed to my bedroom to sit in the corner, rocking in a fetal position as I repeat to myself over and over that the zombie virus did not yet come into existence as I planned out my survival plan and slept with the Survival Guide in my tightly clenched grasp.

I really enjoyed reading the different points of view, although - as expected - some more than others. Some of the interviews could get a little hard to get into, while others were absolutely brilliant. Altogether, the writing and the character development is done fantastically, and the way that the story is told is refreshingly different. I especially enjoyed how realistic the story was - I am not joking with what I said before.

I would highly recommend reading this for fans of history (especially alternate history) and zombies. I was definitely happy with this, and I am looking forward to see what they do with the movie adaptation.

Review: Innocent Darkness by Suzanne Lazear

Amazon
Barnes and Noble

Rating: 4

Synopsis:
Wish. Love. Desire. Live.

Sixteen-year-old Noli Braddock's hoyden ways land her in an abusive reform school far from home. On mid-summer's eve she wishes to be anyplace but that dreadful school. A mysterious man from the Realm of Faerie rescues her and brings her to the Otherworld, only to reveal that she must be sacrificed, otherwise, the entire Otherworld civilization will perish.

My Review:
Innocent Darkness was an excellent start to my summer reading. Sometimes I will read a book, and think, wow, this is exactly what I have been looking for. This is one of those cases. I devoured Innocent Darkness, and I am very excited to see more of this series in the near future.

The way that the novel is set-up, the plot is told in three different parts, all of which are connected and referenced. The first part involves the majority of the steampunk, a genre that I recently discovered and fell in love with, and it is done well. A steampunk Los Angeles and San Francisco with hoverboards, flying automobiles and something called air pilots? You had me at steampunk. A great beginning to the story. The second part is more of a Victorian asylum-style finishing school. The positive aspects of this change involve the absolutely brilliant writing of this portion, the darker style that I could not get enough of, and the fact that it is more of a Victorian asylum-style  finishing school. How awesome is that? (Not that waterboarding and torturing is awesome, but when you are reading about it...) The third plot portion brings in the faerie world, which also assured excellent writing, steamy romance, and constant page-turning events. The three separate styled plot parts worked well in the way that all three are some of my favorite styles, and the writing was excellent in all of them. The only thing that I did not enjoy as much as that certain aspects that I loved of the book were forgotten. I would have liked to see more steampunk throughout the novel, or even more of the air pilots, since I quite like that idea. Although beautiful, I think the cover can be a bit misleading in this case.

Still, I can't complain too much, since aside from that, I absolutely loved Innocent Darkness. Noli is a great protagonist, you can really see the spark in her, and that makes her all the more connectable. Kevighn is actually a great character, and Lazear does a good job in making the reader like him even when feeling they shouldn't. I did enjoy V in the beginning, and toward the end I still do, although I feel that some of the decisions that he made did not really match how he is described and shown in the start. 

I was a little disappointed at the ending, as I felt that it led to one of those of-course moments, but I was still satisfied, and I feel that upon continuing the series, good can be made out of those plot decisions. All in all, I feel that Innocent Darkness had a lot of potential from the start, and is a very enjoyable read. The novel kept my interest the entire way through, and I will definitely continue with the series. Would recommend to those who like fantasy, romance, and some steampunk.