A Blue So Dark by Holly Schindler

A Blue So Dark

Terrified that her mother, a schizophrenic and an artist, is a mirror that reflects her own future, sixteen-year-old Aura struggles with her overwhelming desires to both chase artistic pursuits and keep madness at bay.

As her mother sinks deeper into the darkness of mental illness, the hunger for a creative outlet keeps drawing Aura toward the depths of her own imagination—the shadows of make-believe that she finds frighteningly similar to her mother’s hallucinations.

Convinced that creative equals crazy, Aura shuns her art, and her life unravels in the process.

First off, I want to thank Holly Schindler who has been extremely awesome with me and sent me a signed copy of A Blue So Dark, so thank you.

Aura Ambrose shuns her art because she's afraid of becoming a schizo like her mother. But maybe running away from such a big part of herself will make everything worse.

A Blue So Dark is one of those books I've been waiting for all year. The cover is amazing and the story is mindblowing.

I devoured  this book like you don't know how. It is beautifully written and a visual delight, really.

Aura is a likable character whose problems are too big for her age. Her father isn't really there and she's basically on her own. I would have liked her to act sooner and take wiser decisions but I still understood why she did the things she did.

Overall, it was a great story and beautifully written. I give this two thumbs up.

Plot: 5
Characters: 4
Writing: 5
Cover: 5
Overall: 5
Average: 4.8

In My Mailbox (19)

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren and features the contents of my weekly mailbox.

For Review:

• The Turning by Helen Ellis

Bought:

• Geektastic: Stories From The Nerd Herd edited by Cecil Castellucci and Holly Black

What did you get?

Waiting For You by Susane Colasanti

Waiting For You

At the beginning of her sophomore year, Marisa is ready for a fresh start and, more importantly, a boyfriend. So when the handsome and popular Derek asks her out, Marisa thinks her long wait for happiness is over. But several bumps in the road—including her parents’ unexpected separation, a fight with her best friend, and a shocking disappointment in her relationship with Derek—test Marisa’s ability to maintain her new outlook. Only the anonymous DJ, whose underground podcasts have the school’s ear, seems to understand what Marisa is going through. But she has no idea who he is—or does she?
In this third romantic novel from Susane Colasanti, Marisa learns how to “be in the Now” and realizes that the love she’s been waiting for has been right in front of her all along.

What a great book! I fell in love with Susane Colasanti's stle in Take Me There but Waiting For You was amazing.

I loved Nash. He was geektastic and just so sweet. I could hate Derek but surprisingly, I kind of don't. If you read this book, maybe you know what I mean. Marisa was such a well-rounded character, I loved her too.

The story was a wee bit predictable but sometimes, this works for me. In stories like these I prefer to know where the things are going and not have twists in the end because I already feel comfortable with it.

This book had it all, emotion, sarcasm, humor, and everything else that I find intriguing in a book. I can't wait to read Susane Colasanti's other books. I'm adding this one to my favorites!

In one sentence:
"You have to read anything by Susane Colasanti...NOW!"

Plot: 4
Characters: 5
Writing: 5
Cover: 5
Overall Feeling: 5
Average: 4.8

Write In Life (1)

Write In Life (WIL) is a biweekly meme hosted and created by Patty at Yay! Reads and features the ramblings of writers in the blogosphere. To be featured in a future meme, please email me at yayreads at hotmail dot com.

This week's topic is: Where To Write

I have found out that I'm a very mood writer. I don't like to write when I'm especially uncomfortable emotionally because it just creates blockage. So definitely, when I'm at the perfect place in the perfect time, my creative juices flow better.

Take for example this past weekend. I went to my beach house and I just had the urge to WRITE every single second. It was all so relaxing and care free. I love the ambiance of my beach house and it's a great writing spot. When I came home I didn't want to write as much. Maybe it's the stress of the back-to-reality feeling that creates these protests on my brain saying "Later, write later." And then I never do. I think I benefit from the no-TV and the no-Internet at my beach house.

Where do you write?

For those of you interested in participating in WIL, send me an email and I will send you a topic related to writing or 3 writing-related questions (your choice, just let me know which one you want) and you can write a paragraph or two on the topic or answer the questions.

The Summer Of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells

The Summer Of Skinny Dipping

"Sometimes I still wake up shivering in the early hours of the morning, drowning in dreams of being out there in the ocean that summer, of looking up at the moon and feeling as invisible and free as a fish. But I'm jumping ahead, and to tell the story right I have to go back to the very beginning. To a place called Indigo Beach. To a boy with pale skin that glowed against the dark waves. To the start of something neither of us could have predicted, and which would mark us forever, making everything that came after and before seem like it belonged to another life.
My name is Mia Gordon: I was sixteen years old, and I remember everything...."

After getting dumped by her boyfriend, Mia is looking forward to spending a relaxing summer in the Hamptons with her glamorous cousins. But when she arrives she find her cousins distant, moody, and caught up with a fast crowd. Mia finds herself lonelier than ever, until she meets her next-door-neighbor, Simon Ross. And from the very first time he encourages her to go skinny dipping, she's caught in a current impossible to resist.

Timeless in feel, The Summer of Skinny-Dipping is a poignant, literary coming-of-age romance that will live on long after summer has ended.

The Summer Of Skinny Dipping is such a good beach read. At first, I found it hard to connect with Mia's wanting to fit in but then I looked closely and remember that this character is being honest, I'm the same way. After I got over that fact, I was able to thoroughly enjoy the novel.

And Simon <3 I imagined him Heath Ledger-type with the ruffled artistic kind of look but I'm going to leave my imagining up to you, kay? 'Kay.

What I was most surprised/impacted/omigosh-i-can't-believe-this was the end. I mean, wow. What an ending! It's so unexpected and fast paced, I couldn't get a hold of myself.

Amanda Howells was able to create two unique characters in a sea or contemporary YA fiction. Overall, it was a great story.

In one sentence:
"The best summer read you won't forget."

Plot: 4
Characters: 4
Writing: 4
Cover: 4
Overall Feeling: 4
Average: 4

ARC copy provided by publisher