The Falconer by Elizabeth May (DNF)

This book is fine.  It just also didn't speak to me, so I gave it up after the first 80 pages.

You by Caroline Kepnes (DNF)

I'd picked this book up because a lot of people seemed to find it intriguing.  I've seen many a booktuber say that they liked Joe at the beginning and were kind of rooting for him, but then he turned really dark.  I didn't like Joe.  He seemed like a creepy stalker from the start.  I also didn't much care for the bit of Beck I saw before I gave it up. 

For those who don't know, this is a stalker novel about Joe stalking Beck, a woman who walks into the bookstore where he works one day.  I don't know much more than that because I stopped so shortly into the book.  It was just too much creep for me. 

You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day

I came across this book in the Lucky Day section of my library last week and picked it up because I recognized Felicia Day from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.  That puts me a little in the nerd category, but only a tiny bit, really, as Felicia (known to some as "queen of the geeks") has a lot more going on that I was only vaguely aware of.  Even with my small bit of name/face recognition, though, I really, really liked her book.  I started it prior to finishing Vampire Academy because I felt a bit embarrassed about reading Vampire Academy in front of high schoolers.  You see, I tutor math at my local high school on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.  I always take a book because sometimes I'm busy the whole time I'm there, sometimes no one comes to me for help and most of the time it's somewhere in between.  I read in my off times.  On Tuesday, I had no one for the entire two hours, so I got a fair way through You're Never Weird on the Internet, which is a fairly slim novel.

This is Felicia's memoir.  She was a homeschooled kid, went to college as a 16 year old, majoring in both math and violin and, upon graduating, went to Hollywood to try to make it as an actor.  Along the way, she was a gamer (very early adopter), found social connections online, made her own web show and became, as I mentioned above, "queen of the geeks."

I hadn't known that Felicia was homeschooled (for hippy reasons, not religious reasons), but that was another draw for me, as Davan was also homeschooled (for hippy reasons, not religious reasons).  What I loved about the book, though, was the sense of humor and quirkiness that came across throughout the book, even when it was seriously dark humor.  Felicia was honest and fun, even when times were the worst for her. 

I'm not a super user of the internet, so, at first, some of the picture memes didn't really speak to me and I thought they'd be a distraction, but I ended up even loving them.  It's a little disturbing to admit, but the one of her dog asking not to be murdered has been making me chuckle ever sense I got to it yesterday evening.  It just goes to show that Felicia can make anything funny.  (Spoiler:  The dog is fine.)

I really enjoyed You're Never Weird on the Internet.  It had me laughing out loud multiple times.  And this all with only a vague knowledge of who she was when I went into it.  So, yeah, check it out.

Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella

I got Finding Audrey after seeing it on a book vloggers top ten funny books list.  I was needing an audio book and so got it in that format.  While I'm not sure I'd put it on my top ten funny books list, I'm really glad I did pick it up because it was quite good.

Our point of view is Audrey's.  Something happened to her at school.  Prior to the something, she was already kind of shy and anxious.  After the something, she has a breakdown and is a couple of months into her recovery period at the time of our story.  Because her life mostly revolves around her family and her therapist, so does our book.  While Audrey is having a very difficult time of it and her family dynamic has changed in part due to that, it seems from the start, that the bigger issue is her brother, Frank.  Their mother becomes convinced that Frank is addicted to video games and a huge bru-ha-ha ensues.  Meanwhile, Frank's friend, Linus, who comes over to play video games with Frank, develops an interest in Audrey which is reciprocated.

I really liked this book.  I thought Sophie Kinsella did a good job of showing a confluence of events (time, therapy, meds, developing of an interest in someone outside the home, a supportive (if sort of crazy) family) all contributed to Audrey's not straight forward recovery.  There was a lot of humor.  And I saw a little of myself in their mother.  I hope, though, that I'm not as crazy as she is.  But, I do tend to go on these, "We are all addicted to screens," or "What are we eating?!?!" bents.  The mom (and, okay, me, too) clearly has anxiety issues, as well.  That doesn't mean I liked her character best.  If anything, she made me a little uneasy, but I did relate.

I've seen some criticisms that center around this not being a realistic portrayal of social anxiety, but that being an issue that we deal with here in my house, I thought it was pretty okay.  I do know that these sorts of books don't hit everyone the same way and I respect that.  Everyone is entitled to their opinion.  The other critic was the instalove between Audrey and Linus.  I can see that and did feel it was a little bit of an issue myself, but I also think it's not all that uncommon for the age.  Crushes hit quick.  Sometimes they develop into something more and sometimes not.

I really liked Finding Audrey and I will be checking out more of Sophie Kinsella's books.  

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

I missed Vampire Academy when it first came out in 2009.  While I had read Twilight, I generally decided to take a pass on the whole vampire thing.  (Oh!  Major exception - Fledgling by Octavia Butter.  So good.)  Recently, though, I've seen a couple different book vloggers comment favorably on Vampire Academy.  So, I decided to give it a go.  After I'd gotten the book and before I'd gotten around to reading it, I came across Vampire Academy the movie at the library.  I'd not noticed the movie when it came out, either.  Without knowing anything else about it, I picked it up and Anthony, Franziska and I watched it Friday evening.

So, first, about the movie.  I later saw that it had horrible reviews with a Rotten Tomato rating of 13%.  Now, I'm usually quite picky about movies, so you'd think I'd have hated it.  But, I didn't.  I mean, it wasn't awesome or anything, but it was entertaining and humorous.  Anthony and Franziska thought the same.  So...why all the hate?  It wasn't that bad.  Anyway.

The next day I watched a video from a book blogger that mentioned that the movie had been a flop, but people should still read the books because they were good.  Funny.  For a book I hadn't even really known existed, suddenly I was seeing it everywhere.  Anyway, I decided to read it next.

The story.  Well, as I'm the last to this party, it seems, probably most people already know.  A brief summary of the world, though:  We enter the world through the first person narrative of Rose who is a Dhampir.  Dhampirs are hybrid human/Morois.  Morois are, indeed, vampires, but not bad ones.  There are bad ones, the Strigoi who are Morois who've killed a person by drinking them to death.  They are evil and the stereotypical vampire.  Dhampirs aren't vampires at all, but are stronger than humans and act as protectors to the Moroi.  Strigoi particularly like to prey on Moroi.  Dhampirs and Moroi attend school together.  The Vampire Academy.  Rose is not officially a guardian yet, but her best friend is Lissa, a Morois.  They have a bond and Rose is all about protecting Lissa to the extent that when the Academy itself becomes a threat to Lissa, Rose and Lissa run away and manage to stay away for a couple of years.  We join the story just as they're brought back to the Academy.

I found it to be a decent read.  I wouldn't necessarily tell anyone, "You have to read this book!" However, I did like it well enough.  I'm not on pins and needles wanting to read the next one, but I probably will eventually.  The book grew on me the more I read it, so I'm more inclined toward reading the sequel than I was about half way through.  So, not exactly a ringing endorsement, but this is a fine book. 

On Dublin Street by Samantha Young

I think I must have known this book was a romance when I first put a hold on it, but when I actually downloaded it and started listening, I was fairly convinced it was a thriller.  It didn't take me long to realize that it is, indeed, a romance, as that was blatantly obvious from the first page.  I have mixed feelings about romances in general.  If they're good, I can get pretty into them.  I think many are not, though.  And On Dublin Street...well, if you don't like romances, don't read it.  This isn't the one to win you over.  It seems to be very popular with romance readers in general.  I...well, I finished it, which is as good as I can say, I think.

On Dublin Street is Joss and Braden's story, told in first person from Joss's point of view.  Joss has been living in Scotland since fleeing the US after high school, desperate to get away from memories of her family who died when she was 14 and from her choices after their deaths.  She has just finished college studies and, because of that, her college roommate who has moved to London for a job.  So, she sets out to find herself a new roommate and new flat to live in.  In the process, she meets new people who start challenging her choice to remain emotionally disconnected.

At first, I kind of liked Joss.  Later, I thought she was making stupid choices for reasons I didn't really understand.  That is the Joss that has mostly stuck with me.  And is, I think, a general problem with romance as a genre:  the stupid choice method of moving the plot along.  Braden is overbearing and absolutely ignores boundaries.  I think that's a dangerous type to put forward as a romantic lead.  Come on, ladies, assholes aren't hot.  It's not that he doesn't have any redeeming qualities, but this aspect of him bugged the hell out of me.

I don't really recommend On Dublin Street, but I did finish it, so it wasn't unbearable.  That's about as good as I can say.

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

The Darkest Minds is a dystopian novel where an illness strikes kids as they are entering puberty.  Either the kids die or they survive, but with abilities.  The abilities range from relatively benign (knowing what is on a card facing away) to dangerous (mind control and fire starting, for example).  The disease strikes mostly in the US with some more isolated outbreaks elsewhere.  The US government, scared by the powers, intern the survivors in what they call rehabilitation camps, but which are really more like concentration camps where, eventually, the more dangerous kids are taken away never to be seen again.

Ruby was 10 when she got sick and accidentally erased herself from her parents' memories, resulting in internment.  She convinces the doctor doing her intake that she is a relatively safe green and spends the next 6 years at camp hiding the fact that she's really a mind reader/controller (orange).  She's broken out of her camp by the Children's League, a group that is working against the government ostensibly in favor of the children.  However, she doesn't trust them and escapes from them in the company of three escapees from another camp.

I was very intrigued at the beginning of The Darkest Minds.  The story, the situations, Ruby, the other kids - I found them all intriguing.  By the end, I wasn't as enraptured.  Eventually, I felt the story line just didn't move in that interesting a direction. There was a whole section toward the end that just felt bogged down and then I wasn't happy with the ending, where some new things were introduced just to be addressed in a future book.  There were other elements that will naturally lead to other books, so a couple of the new things bothered me.  It felt a little forced overall in the last quarter or so of the book. I really liked it up until there, though.

I'm sure there will be a sequel.  I'm not sure if I'll read it.  All-in-all, I'm left feeling a little ambivalent about The Darkest Minds.