If I Stay (If I Stay, #1), by Gayle Forman

If I Stay (If I Stay, #1), by Gayle Forman on Goodreads

Release Date: (Paperback) April 6th, 2010.
Age Group: Young Adult
Publisher: Speak

Overall: 3 Monkeys
Categories: Romance, Drama, Contemporary

Challenge: 100 Books in a Year, 2011 Debut Author Challenge*
Read in June 2011

Summary from Goodreads:

In the blink of an eye everything changes. Seventeen-year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall what happened afterwards, watching her own damaged body being taken from the wreck. Little by little she struggles to put together the pieces - to figure out what she has lost, what she has left, and the very difficult choice she must make. Heart-wrenchingly beautiful, Mia's story will stay with you for a long, long time.

My Opinion:

I was really hoping to super-love this book, as everyone kept saying how much they'd cried with it and how much they loved it (I love to cry when reading a good book). But, sadly for me, this book didn't quite reach me as it did others. 

I found the storyline (almost-dead girl's spirit -?- walking down the hospital's halls, trying to figure out if living is worth it or if she should just let go) to be already used. Maybe it was because I'd recently watched a 2007 film (Awake) with Hayden Christensen, where his character is almost in the same place as Mia is. Only, Mia's story is much more dramatic, as opposed to Clay's (Hayden Christensen) where he does want to live but finds that people are trying to prevent that from happening. 

Anyway, it wasn't the story that gripped me, but the flashbacks that appear throughout the book, that tore at my heart. 

Cover of my edition.

When Mia tells us about her family (Isn't it nice to read about a whole family for a change? Well, until the accident, of course.), about how she and Adam became boyfriend and girlfriend, and about her best friend Kim and her many eccentricities, that was when I loved the book. 

Because those insights were completely functional to the plot, to make us feel things for the characters. And boy, did I feel them. 

In the end, I think Mia made a good choice. But I didn't like the way the book ended, it was way too open for an ending. I would have liked to see something else. 

We'll see how I like Where She Went, book 2! Apparently, it's told from Adam's POV. Oh, how I love a boy's POV in a book... *sigh*

*This book was released a couple of months ago in Argentina, making it a Debut in my country. 

Wither (Chemical Garden, #1), by Lauren DeStefano

Wither, by Lauren DeStefano on Goodreads

Release Date: March 22nd, 2011

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing

Age Group: Young Adult

Categories: Paranormal, Dystopian, Teen Pregnancy, Kidnapping,  

Source: Simon & Schuster's Galley Grab Program

Overall: 5 Monkeys

Read on March 2011

Summary from Goodreads

What if you knew exactly when you would die?

Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb—males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.

When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape—to find her twin brother and go home.

But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limted time she has left.

My Opinion:

Wither is a great book to start off a series. I loved it!

We're first introduced to our main character, Rhine, and the world she lives in. How it's normal for her and her brother -and most kids their age- to be orphans and live alone, fending for themselves. How it's normal for them to have fences and tricks to keep robbers -kids trying to get something to eat, or Gatherers looking for brides to sell- away. How girls having babies at ages as early as 12 is okay. 

Rhine is tricked into the open arms of the Gatherers and ends up at the back of a van with a dozen other girls. What seems to her to be days later, the doors of the van open, and three girls are picked out. Rhine is one of them. The others are disposable. The gun shots can be heard even from the inside of the rich, ominous limousine the three girls are taken to. 

What I loved about Rhine was that she always knew what she wanted. She wanted to escape from that idyllic place from the moment she set foot in it, and no matter how beautiful the place, how kind the people, she could still see it for what it really was: a prison. Even when she started falling for Gabriel, a kitchen attendant, she didn't think of staying longer than she should. She missed her freedom, and her brother. 

Linden, her husband, is like a caged prince, one who's been told fairy tales to guard him from the horrors of the world. Despite herself, Rhine begins to care for him. 

Cecily and Jenna, Rhine's "sister wives", couldn't be more different from her. Cecily's incredibly happy to have been chosen to be the wife of a very wealthy man in a good position, and Jenna wishes their husband would die, like her sisters did in the back of the van that brought her there. Their relationship blossoms into one of friendship, and Rhine feels she can trust them. Well, she trusts Jenna the most.

The Mansion is surrounded by gardens: the orange grove, the rose garden, and many more places like those. All beautiful, all chemically sustained. And there's no way out. No visible way out. 

It'll be Rhine's job to find out a way to leave, before she ends up like Rose, Linden's first wife, down in the cellar, with Linden's father, who'd do anything to find a cure to save his son. 

All in all, Wither is a great debut for author Lauren DeStefano, that set out the path for the rest of the series beautifully. I can't wait to read the sequel, and see what happens to Rhine and the others!

*Read for the 2011 Debut Author Challenge by The Story Siren*

Unearthly (Unearthly, #1), by Cynthia Hand

Unearthly (Unearthly, #1), by Cynthia Hand

Release Date: January 4th, 2011

Publisher: HarperTeen

Age Group: Young Adult

Overall: 4 Monkeys

Source:NetGalley

Interest: Series

Other Titles in the Series: Untitled (Unearthly, #2)

Summary from Goodreads:

In the beginning, there's a boy standing in the trees . . .

Clara Gardner has recently learned that she's part angel. Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and faster than humans (a word, she realizes, that no longer applies to her), but it means she has a purpose, something she was put on this earth to do. Figuring out what that is, though, isn't easy.

Her visions of a raging forest fire and an alluring stranger lead her to a new school in a new town. When she meets Christian, who turns out to be the boy of her dreams (literally), everything seems to fall into place —and out of place at the same time. Because there's another guy, Tucker, who appeals to Clara's less angelic side.

As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she'd have to make —between honesty and deceit, love and duty, good and evil. When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny?

Unearthly is a moving tale of love and fate, and the struggle between following the rules and following your heart.

My Opinion:

Really liked this book! A very good debut for Cynthia Hand!

From the beginning we know Clara's an angel-blood, so that's a plus. We didn't have to wait until the MC figured out what she/he is. But we did have to wait until the very last second to understand Clara's purpose.

All that she knows about her purpose, is that it's something inevitable, something she has to do, or face the concecuences if she doesn't.

The plot starts with, oh, what a shocker!, Clara's family moving to a new town, making her and her brother, Jeffrey, the new kids in school. I don't see why they had to move (Clara's purpose makes them move, actually). Clara could have very well had a vision about someone from her own town. I didn't like the cliché, I think it was unnecessary.

Clara will make new friends, and new enemies. Again, another cliché which I didn't like = popular girl vs. new/shy girl. Among her new friends is Wendy.

This book has a major love triangle. It's the main focus of the novel. Clara's between Christian, the boy from her visions, and Tucker, Wendy's brother. She has a pull with Christian, she faints when she sees him, etc. Cliché. (Didn't I say I liked this book? Because I did! I'm getting to the parts I loved in a little while!)

Tucker, on the other hand, was something out of the blue. Clara begins by being a little reluctant to be around him, but gets to know him better thanks to Wendy. I'm a hopeless romantic, so I liked him better than Christian, and swooned when he appeared. But that doesn't mean it wasn't a cliché either, because it was.
Super sticky-sweet romance at first, but since this is the first in a series, I'm crossing my fingers for him!

Clara's mum, whose name I can't remember, has always kept her children in the dark about the whole angel business, so it's fun learning about it all along with Clara. Plus for Hand. Clara's mum has a reason for doing this, but we only find out a little about it -and about her and a certain Black Wing- so it's obvious we'll learn more about this in the next books.

In the end, it all comes down to choices. Will Clara make the right one? (No, seriously. There's a major cliffhanger at the end!)

I give it four monkeys based on how much it entertained me and kept me intrigued, and because of the romance. As cliché as it was, I love me a good romance!

**This is my first review for the 2011 Debut Author Challenge**

2011 Debut Author Challenge

This year I failed miserably at this, so I'm making it my goal to complete it next year.

To participate you have to read 12 YA or MG books by debut authors, or more, that's up to the reader. I'm aiming to read 12, but if I can read more, I will!

On this post I'll list the books I'll be reading, and I reserve the right to change this list whenever I want, for whatever reason. 

1. Unearthly, by Cynthia Hand. Published January 4th, 2011, by HarperTeen.
2. Across the Universe, by Beth Revis. Published on January 11th, 2011, by Razorbill.
3. Angelfire, by Courtney Allison Moulton. Published on February 15th, 2011, by Katherine Tegen Books.
4. Populazzi, by Elise Allen. To be published on August 2011, by Harcourt Children's Books. 
5. Wither, by Lauren DeStefano.  Published March 22nd 2011, by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.

As I read the books I'll be linking my reviews here. 

These are all US debuts, but I might add a Latin, Spanish, UK, or Aussie debut to the list.

You can join the challenge on The Story Siren.