Action Pick: Boy X

Boy X
by Dan Smith
Chicken House
2017
288 pages
ISBN: 9781338065640

Available February 28, 2017

Kdnapped, drugged, and transported to a remote location, Ash wakes up in a bed surrounded by stark white walls. He remembers bits and pieces of being kidnapped along with his mother, and he begins searching this hospital (prison?) for her. The place is deserted and Ash cannot find any clues about where he is until he sees the view from the front doors. It looks like he is stuck in the middle of a jungle somewhere. Ash exits the doors, goes into the forest and sees a girl about his age. She tells him he is on Isla Negra, Black Island, and that her father works inside the BioSphere (the building he woke up in). Ash and Isobel go inside to search for her father and Ash's mother.

 Gunshots ring out, a helicopter crashes, the building is sealed, and their  parents are locked inside of a lab.  There they were exposed to Kronos, a poison that will kill them in 24 hours unless they get the antidote. Ash feels strange and disoriented. He has a heightened sense of smell and hearing. Ash is changing, and he's not the only one.

Ash is determined to save his mother's life but he'll need the help of Isobel to cross the island, find the thieves, steal the poison back along with the antidote, and stay alive long enough to deliver it to BioSphere and save his mother and Isobel's father.

What is BioSphere and why is Ash's mother involved? What happened to Ash when he was unconscious? And who wants to change him?

Fast pacing and non-stop action make this a must read for reluctant readers. Each chapter shows a clock showing hours and minutes left that the kids have to get the poison and cure. Readers will feel on edge as Ash races to save the world and his mother.

Highly recommended for action and adventure junkies. Anyone who loves a medical mystery/government cover up story will love Boy X.

Grades 4-8.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received the ARC from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Summer Beach Pick: Antonia Lively Breaks the Silence

Antonia Lively Breaks the Silence
by David Samuel Levinson
Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
2013
320 pages

Available June 4, 2013

Wondering what to pack in your beach tote? Sunglasses, sunscreen, a cold drink and this tasty and tempting new adult fiction novel.


Antonia Lively Breaks the Silence has everything you could want in a novel: a twisty, turn-y plot with several torrid secrets about to be exposed, three writers and a few others whose lives and loves are intertwined, secret passions and simmering jealousy, latent contempt, and a career fall from grace, a secret affair, a suicide? or possible murder? and it's written with such finesse, the reader is immediately taken into the tale and completely surrenders to it.

Catherine Strayed is a lonely widow living in a sleepy college town. Her husband Wyatt--a talented writer who enjoyed great acclaim until a scathing review nearly ruined him--died recently  in a car accident. Catherine works at a small bookstore and wonders how she will be able to keep her home on her meager income.

When the critic arrives in town and accepts a teaching position at the local college, Catherine's world is rocked. She never told Wyatt, but before their marriage, she had an affair with Henry--the man who  ruined her husband with his poison pen review. Catherine knows it never was about Wyatt's talent; the review was meant to hurt her. And it did, and it continues to rip her life apart. Not only that, Henry has brought exotic, eccentric, talented, and much younger Antonia Lively with him as his latest protege and romantic conquest.

Antonia appears everywhere. She shows up at the book store and on Catherine's porch. She continues to push her way  into Catherine's life. Catherine fights her friendship at first, but then accepts Antonia just enough for Antonia to gain foothold. There is nothing she won't do to find "pay" dirt that will become her next bestseller. Antonia has tasted success and the good life; she yearns for the attention of the posh New York glitterati and the pompous literati.

Antonia also carries a secret. Her famous book is based on a story her uncle told her, and now he's in town for revenge. Catherine feels drawn to Antonia, and she seems almost a mother figure to her. She takes care of Antonia and keeps her safe.

 The lives of all the characters are twisted through the plot and the narrator finally comes forward in the last pages--that is the beauty of this novel. As readers, we see all the main characters and their actions, yet the narrator is never revealed. The narrator seems a part of the action, yet apart from the action. In the end, we see the narrator has been there all along and it's sublime storytelling.

Levinson portrays the world of writers and publishing through his characters. Antonia says about fiction, "There is no right or wrong when you're writing fiction. There is no truth. It's all lies." Henry is sick of the publishing industry and he lets them have a piece of his mind at Antonia's party, "You used to buy good books...Literature is art. Remember? Literature exists in spite of us...You find 'beauty' in cheap stories told by opportunists, given legitimacy through your complicity. You pay ridiculous sums of money to celebrities and politicians who don't need it. Yet you're stingy with the real writers who can't make ends meet."

Highly, highly recommended for book clubs and lovers of fiction. This is real storytelling and a compelling plot.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received the book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.


This review has been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)

YA Pick: Revived

Revived
by Cat Patrick
Hachette Book Group
2012
336 pages

Daisy remembers very little of the crash…one minute she was on the bus with her classmates; the next minute she is living a new life. Twenty-two of the children died but were “revived” through secret technology and a program designed to keep them safe and study them. Every time Daisy “dies,” she and her “parents” have to find a new city to live in with new identities. If they stay, they compromise the program. Too many people asking too many questions would blow the cover of one of the most outrageous medical and ethical scandals.

Daisy’s real parents are told that their daughter died. Her new parents are actual handlers in the program and unrelated to Daisy. She likes Mason who has a kind heart and seems to genuinely care about her; she is less thrilled about mother Cassie who is cold and distant.

The overseer of the program is known only as God –the all-powerful and all-seeing. He determines the fate of all his subjects and their handlers. When someone gets out of line, God decides if they will be “revived.” No one has ever met him in person; they obey his commands on the phone.

When Daisy moves to Omaha, she makes friends with siblings Audrey and Matt. For the first time she finally has friends and she wants to put down roots and never have to move away again. Life is never perfect, and it’s not long before she finds out her new friend Audrey is dying of cancer; if only Daisy could use the revive medicine to save her. Daisy decides to risk it all to help save her friend’s life.

Can Daisy trust her secret with her new friends? What will happen to the program if the public finds out about it? What will happen to Daisy?
Revived is an interesting ya novel and will resonate with teens who loved The Adoration of Jenna Fox and Genesis Alpha. Readers may want to know the character of Audrey a bit better; she is barely introduced before she is sick. The relationship between Matt and Daisy is sweet and tender; Matt needs a shoulder when his sister is sick.

Recommended grades 7-up. No language. No sex.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.