7/29/2010

Sea Review

Title: Sea
Author: Heidi R. Kling
Publish Date: June 2010 by Penguin Group
Synopsis: Still haunted by nightmares of her mother's death, fifteen-year-old Sienna Jones reluctantly travels to Indonesia with her father's relief team to help tsunami orphans with their post traumatic stress disorder—something Sienna knows a lot about. Since her mother's plane went missing over the Indian Ocean three years before, Sienna doesn't do anything if it involves the ocean or planes, so this trip is a big step forward.

But the last thing she expects is to fall for Deni, a brooding Indonesian boy who lives at the orphanage, and just so happens to be HOT. When Deni hears a rumor that his father may be alive, Sienna doesn't think twice about running away with him to the epicenter of the disaster. Unfortunately, what they find there could break both their hearts.



I have nothing but good things to say about this book and Heidi's book motto, "Dare to Love," fits perfectly!

Sea is an amazing story of triumph and love.  We first meet Sianna three years after her mother's mysterious death.  She has acquired several phobias and has withdrawn from those around her because of the post traumatic stress she is suffering from.  In going on this trip she's facing one of her major fears, planes, and with taking that first step, Sianna is on her way to helping herself through helping others.

Heidi has written a book that is full of emotion and heart that totally draws you into the story.  Sianna's time in Indonesia is magical, touching and full of hope.  I enjoyed seeing a part of the world I may never visit through the eyes of Sianna.  Heidi does a great job of showing us bits of Indonesia in a way that drives the story forward.  Each trip to the village or the visit to the Buddhist Temple play a larger role in the story than to just show the reader more of Indonesia.

The characters in Sea have impacted me in ways very few literary characters have.  Reading about how Deni and Sianna and the other tsunami victims deal with their loss and fears and find their way through the haze to a place they can thrive instead of just survive was inspirational. Sianna is a girl who has gone through so much and has to go on a journey to find her way back to herself.  She's closed herself off from those around her and is just kind of treading watter.  Spider, Sianna's best friend's twin, was really close to Sianna when they were younger.  He's a cute surfer boy who gets a lot of attention from girls, but before Sianna leaves on her trip, he tries to show Sianna that he hasn't forgotten about her, that he still knows her even if she has lost herself.  And then there's Deni.  Deni has survived the tsunami that hit is town and is now dealing with the post traumatic stress that has developed because of this life changing event.  He is a resident an the orphanage that Sianna and her father have gone to work at for two weeks to help Deni and the other children who have survived the tsunami.

Deni very quickly catches Sianna's eye and their budding friendship soon develops into something more.  The time they spend together is hidden and not socially acceptable, but it's what they both need.  They are both desperately looking for some sort of hope to get them through their trauma and they provided that for each other.  And this is where the readers love dilemma lies. As the outsider looking in, the reader can see that Spiders actions before Sianna leaves are to show her that he cares, but Sianna, in her current frame of mind can't see this.  Deni doesn't know her past, he doesn't know the "old Sianna," he just knows her for who she is right now. So you know have two guys who both love her and how does she choose between these two worlds?  I was so torn on who I wanted Sianna to end up with in the end that I was reading the book jacket, looking at the cover, everything to get a hint because I was saw potential for Sianna with both Deni and Spider.

This is an amazing story that will stick with me forever.  Sea is a great book for anyone who's dealing with loss or going through a time in their life that they can't see the light at the end of the tunnel.  It truly shows that you can find hope in the most unexpected situation.  Sea is a book I would suggest to everyone, it's touching and inspirational and just a great story!






My Overall Rating:
5 large



Trailer Thursday- Black Hole Sun

This week's Trailer Thursday is...

(click to pre-order)



Learn more about Black Hole Sun by David Macinnis Gill on his web page.  You can also follow David on Twitter.   Harper Collins has provided a sneak peak at Black Hole Sun, check out the brows inside below!

7/28/2010

The Red Umbrella Review

Title: The Red Umbrella
Author: Christina Gonzalez
Publish Date: May 2010 by Random House

Synopsis: The Red Umbrella is the moving tale of a 14-year-old girl's journey from Cuba to America as part of Operation Pedro Pan—an organized exodus of more than 14,000 unaccompanied children, whose parents sent them away to escape Fidel Castro's revolution.

In 1961, two years after the Communist revolution, Lucía Álvarez still leads a carefree life, dreaming of parties and her first crush. But when the soldiers come to her sleepy Cuban town, everything begins to change. Freedoms are stripped away. Neighbors disappear. Her friends feel like strangers. And her family is being watched.

As the revolution's impact becomes more oppressive, Lucía's parents make the heart-wrenching decision to send her and her little brother to the United States—on their own.

Suddenly plunked down in Nebraska with well-meaning strangers, Lucía struggles to adapt to a new country, a new language, a new way of life. But what of her old life? Will she ever see her home or her parents again? And if she does, will she still be the same girl?



The Red Umbrella is an amazing tale of family and hope, and what makes it even better, it's based on historical facts.

The Red Umbrella shows a time that many of it's readers wont have any memory of or have any idea what it was like to live during a time when people would even consider sending their children off alone to another country.  Christina does a great job of making this very foreign situation very real and approachable.  This is also a book that is very age appropriate for a wide verity of YA readers. The Red Umbrella is content wise okay for the younger YA readers (11-13), but yet the older YA readers (14+) will find it relate-able.  The Red Umbrella also an excellent teaching tool for teachers looking to talk about the 1960s/family/Cuba and many other topics.

The reader gets to experience life after the Cuban Revolution through the eyes of Lucia.  Her family is upper-middle class, her father works at a bank, so Lucia has very few cares in life as the book opens up.  The revolution really hasn't impacted her life up to this point.  But as people she knows start disappearing and the relationship with her best friend starts to get stained because of the goals of the revolution, the impact of the new reality starts to hit Lucia.  Things continue to spiral down and her parents are left with little choice but to send Lucia and her younger brother to the US.

Christina uses this journey from life in Cuba to the US to show the length parents go to keep their children safe, how important the ties of family are, and that family is not just about blood.  This is a wonderfully written historical fiction full of emotion and heart that makes me tear up over a red umbrella.   





My Overall Rating:
4 Large



Waiting on Wednesdays - Paranormalcy




"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.


This weeks WoW....
Paranormalcy
(click to pre-order)


My name's Evie. I work for the IPCA. Yeah, the International Paranormal Containment Agency. But don't worry, I'm not a vamp or werewolf or faerie or anything. And I don't kill them, either. Just bag and tag. After all, we're not out to eliminate them--just to neuter them. Sorry, IPCA joke. We don't actually neuter them, because, well, yuck. We just help them live harmlessly among humans. Sometimes they don't want the help, but we give it to them anyway. Think of us as the UN, if the UN carried tasers and silver knives.

So you're probably wondering why a sixteen-year-old girl is the prize possession of IPCA. I'm sure you know all about glamours--most paranormals have them, meaning normal people (okay, everyone else in the world except me) can't see what they really are. But there's no fooling me; I can see through to what they are underneath. Trust me: all of this nonsense about vampires being sexy? NOT. TRUE.

So that's my life. Or, it was, until paranormals started dying and something unlike anything we'd seen before broke into the Center and changed everything...

7/27/2010

Count Down to August Contest!!

Ladies and gents, there are 5 days left until August!  We wanted to get a jump start on our giveaways - So the top commentator (according to our top commenter widget) at the end of the day (11:59CST) on Sunday August 1st will get to pick a book off of our book list.




The winner of this contest will get to pick a book from the top list of books.


 Button


Tip, the counter is a rolling counter, so you have to keep posting throughout the week!
 
To Clarify: I've set up comments to be modded after 7 days. If they are legit comments(ie- something other than great post/review) I will allow them through moderation.

Teaser Tuesday


Teaser Tuesday is weekly meme hosted by Mizb at Should be Reading
  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!  
 This week my teaser comes from...

This weeks teaser, is something my husband & MacGyver agree with!!
"What's this?"
"Duct Tape. It's the most useful stuff on earth."
I wanted to add one of my favorite quotes from the book. It comes at a very emotional time in the book, but offers great comical relief.

"That freegan almost recycled me."
 
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