June 2015 – Down the Rabbit Hole

Review: Are You Still There by Sarah Lynn Scheerger

June 27, 2015June 27, 2015 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Every year it takes the teachers until winter break
To learn my name. That’s why I call myself Stranger.
I am a stranger. To everyone.
Because no one knows me.
Or notices me. Just wait.
They will notice me soon.

After her high school is rocked by an anonymous bomb threat, “perfect student” Gabriella Mallory is recruited to work on a secret crisis helpline that may help uncover the would-be bomber’s identity.

Gabriella Mallory, AP student and perfect-daughter-in-training, stands barefoot on a public toilet for three hours while her school is on lockdown. Someone has planted a bomb and she is hiding. The bomb is defused but the would-be-bomber is still at large. And everyone at Central High School is a suspect. The school starts a top-secret crisis help line and Gabi is invited to join. When she does, she is drawn into a suspenseful game of cat and mouse with the bomber, who has unfinished business. He leaves threatening notes on campus. He makes threatening calls to the help line. And then he begins targeting Gabi directly. Is it because her father is the lead police detective on the case? Is the bomber one of her new friends. Could it be her new boyfriend with his complicated past? As the story unfolds, Gabi knows she is somehow connected to the bomber. Even worse she is part of his plan. Can Gabi reach out and stop him? Or will she be too late?

4 Drink Me Potions

Thank you Netgalley and Albert Whitman & Company for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

**Are You Still There comes out on September 1, 2015**

Are You Still There dived into the psyche of a disturbed individual who dubbed themselves as Stranger. We get the chance to glimpse at written entries of the Stranger’s Manifesto alternating with our protagonist Gabi’s POV as the school year progressed after the initial bombing attempt at the beginning of the book.

Although I would never side with what Stranger did, I have to admit that the Manifesto entries were one of my favourite parts of this book. They were written in poetic prose that was both beautiful and haunting at the same time. Why? Because it spoke so much of hurt and pain. Going unnoticed. Being a speck of dust that forever floats. Here was a kid who had nothing left to live for, and just wanted someone to notice for only a single moment.

This book was a thriller and a mystery, but seeing Stranger’s thoughts definitely upped my rating. Maybe I’m a little weird, and I do happen to have a huge fascination for the show Criminal Minds, so that might explain why I liked seeing the “bad guy’s” perspective. Sometimes people do stupid and awful things for no reason, but Are You Still There heavily reflects the central of theme of – you guessed it – high school bullying and resulting suicides .

It’s a deep topic. Normally I shy away from books that do because I just feel so SAD after reading them. Bullying is an awful thing that happens in every day life. I wish I could do more but it’s definitely more effective when it’s a group effort. Anyway, here’s a book that touched up on suicides as well, with Gabi and group of select students in her school chosen to be part of the Helpline, a peer hotline for kids to call in and talk after the events of the almost-bombing. I loved that it definitely highlighted the seriousness of bullying and its consequences, without letting it be so consuming that I just want to punch a few kids’ self-righteous noses.

Gabi was an okay protagonist. She was initially the perfect girl who does everything her micromanaging mother makes her do. A grades, never parties or gets into trouble, extra volunteering opportunities, and amazing university prospects in sight. With becoming a part of the Helpline, she meets people from all sorts of cliques around the school and really has to learn to broaden her horizons when it comes to people. Her newfound friendships (and even a relationship with a hot Latino boy!) were the catalysts for great changes that allowed her to understand her rebellious younger sister Chloe.

Gabi wasn’t always great though. Once the “bomber” seemed to have placed her into the Plan, she seemed to have developed some kind of God complex herself. Trying to contact Stranger on her own without letting her cop dad know too many details. Not letting her boyfriend, Miguel, try to protect her. She wasn’t all that nice to him at times, honestly. I don’t know why he stuck with her in those moments.

I had a minor problem in reading the book as it came in ebook format. Paragraphs were not indented properly, which made figuring out who was saying what in a conversation a little harder to interpret at times. Also, text messages were difficult to separate from actual words that described Gabi’s life, and they too were not indented so I had to slowly figure out the sender of each. I think this may only be a problem for those receiving an arc. Or at least, I sure hope so.

I guess I’m saying that this book was good in most aspects, minus certain Gabi moments (and the malfunction in formatting in the ebook format). However, I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery and at guessing who Stranger was. There were definitely red herring moments and culprits that I sadly fell astray with. I thought the identity of Stranger was satisfying. It was not too obvious, but it wasn’t someone that Gabi never had in contact with either. The overall change and growth in Gabi’s character, along with insights into Stranger’s goals in getting the Helpline people to understand the bullying that went on in their school each day, were icing on top of the cake. I feel like hugging the next kid I see sitting alone at school. Are You Still There definitely touched a chord in my heart.

Overall Recommendation:
Intriguing and mysterious, Stranger is playing a game with the kids in at Central High. After an almost-bombing attempt at the beginning of the school year, Gabi and a few other students from varying cliques come together as part of the new Helpline for students to talk about anything bothering them anonymously. It was a touching book about understanding others and showcases the deadly consequences of bullying. With a satisfying conclusion and identity to Stranger, Are You Still There had me guessing till the end. Plus, the poetic entries in Stranger’s Manifesto about the Game of Life were haunting words that resonates more deeply than anything else this book had to offer.

Review: Invaded by Melissa Landers

June 25, 2015June 26, 2015 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: Alienated #2

The romantic sequel to Alienated takes long-distance relationships to a new level as Cara and Aelyx long for each other from opposite ends of the universe…until a threat to both their worlds reunites them.

Cara always knew life on planet L’eihr would be an adjustment. With Aelyx, her L’eihr boyfriend, back on Earth, working to mend the broken alliance between their two planets, Cara is left to fend for herself at a new school, surrounded by hostile alien clones. Even the weird dorm pet hates her.

Things look up when Cara is appointed as human representative to a panel preparing for a human colony on L’eihr. A society melding their two cultures is a place where Cara and Aelyx could one day make a life together. But with L’eihr leaders balking at granting even the most basic freedoms, Cara begins to wonder if she could ever be happy on this planet, even with Aelyx by her side.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Aelyx, finds himself thrown into a full-scale PR campaign to improve human-L’eihr relations. Humans don’t know that their very survival depends on this alliance: only Aelyx’s people have the technology to fix the deadly contamination in the global water supply that human governments are hiding. Yet despite their upper hand, the leaders of his world suddenly seem desperate to get humans on their side, and hardly bat an eye at extremists’ multiple attempts on Aelyx’s life.

The Way clearly needs humans’ help . . . but with what? And what will they ask for in return?

4 Drink Me Potions

Alternating between the events happening in Cara and Aelyx’s life, this sequel to Alienated surprisingly held its own.

Although some fans may be saddened that Aelyx and Cara are physically apart for quite a lot of the book, I found that kind of refreshing. It’s not like they didn’t contact each other on their com-spheres (this alien world version of a cell phone I’m guessing). There’s still “romance” going on, but it’s not the main highlight this time around.

So what was Invaded about then?

In Cara’s half of the story, she was faced with learning the cultures and ways of a life over with the L’eihrs. I found it quite interesting to see how these aliens ruled and lived by. There was definitely plenty of intrigue when it came to the aliens’ obvious despise for her presence among them, escalating quickly when it became clear someone was trying to frame her for things she did not do.

Over on Aelyx’s side, Earth was not that much better for him. After the events of the previous novel, let’s just say the Earthlings do not trust him very much. Attempts were made on his life, and the motive and culprit behind these acts were not always predictable. Okay, well, it was a little predictable with one of the twists in the plot, but I was in denial through half of the book hoping it wouldn’t go there.

Sadly, I was wrong but it did make the story more interesting and unpredictable…

Either way, Aelyx and Cara both had busy plotlines and I enjoyed reading them both even though they weren’t together. My only complaint is the resolution for Cara’s problems which I felt were rushed in places that could have been prolonged in order to add suspense instead of just making me say Oh, they found out what happened already?. All in all, not a bad read and definitely entertaining. It never suffered too much drag as I think Landers is unsure of whether this book will be the last or not. It most definitely can continue with a very delicious tidbit of knowledge that was placed near the end, but I guess time will tell whether or not a third book will become a reality.

Overall Recommendation:
Invaded held intriguing plot twists for both Cara and Aelyx’s stories as they each deal with living on the others’ planet. Cara is off adventuring to the unknown of living with the L’eihrs while Aelyx is trying to – well – not be killed by the people that hate him. Although romance was not heavily pressed upon, the story still had its sweet moments but it most definitely centres on working out the differences between the two species. With an ending that can potentially spin out into a third book, Invaded was a nice sequel and laid out a foundation for hopefully another one.

musings

Let me tell you of Fairy Tales….

June 24, 2015June 24, 2015 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

I am not ashamed to admit that I harbor a strong love for fairy tales. I know, the Disney versions are the sweet and sappy counterparts of the real thing by the Grimm brothers. But there’s just something about fairy tales that dearly resonate with me, as I’m sure it still does for many other young people. I guess it’s either you-love-’em-or-hate-’em kind of thing.

And when I say “fairy tales”, I do mean just the biggest classics. So for you fans out there for the recent Disney princesses, er, sorry but you’re on the wrong musings page. This isn’t what this post is about. The ones I deem as classics are simply Cinderella, Snow White and Beauty and the Beast.

Along with this penchant for fairy tale stories comes the love for fairy tale retellings. Yes, if you look deep enough on this site, there are a number of fairy tale based books I’ve posted about. And I’m PICKY when it comes to basing stories off of fairy tales.

So, where did this love for such things come from? You may think the Disney movies, hmm?

WRONG. Yeah, I mean, they’re nice and all, but what really got me hooked?

Oddly enough, the answer is…well, a fairy tale retelling. I fell in love with a book based off of Cinderella, and then its counterpart that was based off of Snow White. From there, the love for fairy tale retellings was kindled and eventually festered into something larger. Now I have a secret love for princess books (shhh, don’t tell the world that. What would they think of a girl my age loving princesses?! Er, I might need to cover my face with a paper bag).

Oh, I didn’t really answer your question, did I? What books were these?

Ha, I will give credit where it’s due. These books were written none other than by the amazing children’s author Gail Carson Levine. Cinderella’s story was called Ella Enchanted (which was featured into a movie with Anne Hathaway! – so it’s a big deal, yo), and Snow White’s story later came out and was dubbed Fairest.

Before you think to yourself that fairy tales are just for plain little kids with no sense of reality, hold onto your hats for a second. Yes, the plots and things that happen to these types of characters don’t necessarily reflect what goes on in the real world. BUT. It’s not about being all practical and knowing that these things can actually happen word for word in our lives. What makes fairy tales thrive from generation to generation simply lies in its ideals.

Fairy tales make you feel for the protagonist. Things never quite look so good for them, which IS something we can ALL relate to in “real life”. Life’s unfair. That’s a common enough motto going around nowadays. However, these stories show that life may be unfair, but sometimes, things can look up when it’s hit absolute rock bottom. Prince Charming may not physically show up on a horse, but he can represent another chance at something great or redemption from our circumstances. He’s the idea of hope, that things can work together for good in the end.

That’s what I love about fairy tales. It may be for children, but it surely presents itself in themes that resonate with the average adult. I’m not pushing that everyone start picking up fairy tale books again, and I know even these themes or messages don’t speak to everyone. I’m only encouraging the view that it’s not necessarily just the cheesy stuff made for kids’ enjoyment. I think people are starting to see this too. For example, the hit TV show Once Upon a Time definitely dives heavily into all fairy tale characters and their stories. I hope this will give you pause the next time you reminisce of childhood and the stories that came along with it.

The great man is he who does not lose his child’s-heart. ~Mencius, Book IV