Summer has been busy and my attention span has been that of a gnat to actually sit down and write a ton of book talk type stuff. So mini review time for some books that were released in May and June that I just really would like to talk about sooner rather than later.
Made You Up by Francesca Zappia
About In A Sentence (ish): Alex is starting a new school her senior year after an incident that got her kicked out of her last school. She wants to make it through the year with no trouble which is hard considering she has schizophrenia — something she tries to keep to herself and she’s trying to keep in check until she meets a boy who looks like someone from her hallucinations.
Thoughts: This one was really interesting as the main character is a little bit unreliable to us as readers. She has schizophrenia so as things are happening within the story you are constantly wondering if it is real or not real. I really loved Alex and how tough she was. I could feel how frustrating it must be for her to be unable to always decipher reality from delusion but I loved the ferocity in which she lived in spite of that and how she really tried to take control of it in her own way. I loved her so much and my heart broke for her in those moments where she was so confused no matter how much she tried to manage it. There’s a pretty great cast of characters in general — like Miles, the love interest — and I just couldn’t put it down because of my desire for Alex to persevere and to find out what is real/not real especially with some conspiracies. There is a moment, a thing that I guessed and ultimately turned out to be true, and the realization of that moment just broke me down. Made You Up was just a very fantastic read that I recommend. I can’t say how accurate its portrayal of schizophrenia is but, to me, I found Alex’s schizophrenia to feel so real and like while a big part of her…it didn’t at all DEFINE her.
Rating:
The Devil You Know By Trish Doller
About (in a sentence-ish): Cadie has spent a lot of her time going to school, working and taking care of her dad and sister so when she has a chance for adventure with two boys she meets at a campfire she takes it. All is fun until it’s not because one of the boys might not be what he seems.
Thoughts: This is the saddest thing — to not mark a new book by a favorite author as a new favorite book — which is not to say I didn’t like it. I loved Trish’s first two books but I didn’t LOVE this the way I loved them. I think it’s more of a “me” issue and my deal with mystery/thriller/suspense kind of books. Unless I’m shocked or the mystery is super elaborate or all sorts of mindf*ckery, it never gets like super high ratings. If I completely guess it without any wavering or found it to be obvious, no matter how objectively good the book is (which I can still enjoy those parts), I have a hard time rating it high because it kills some of the enjoyment for me. While it got super creepy and twisted at times, I didn’t find it to be all that mysterious or hard to crack what was going on. I didn’t feel the suspense or exhilaration to because I was certain what was going on even though I DID fly through this book. I just kept waiting for something to happen to make me be like WOW OKAY but in the suspense/thriller department it didn’t. But what it didn’t do for me there, there was so much GOOD. It had Trish Doller’s signature writing which is always so fantastic and a main character who is just SO complex plus she owned her sexuality and her life choices which I loved. I loved reading about her family dynamics and could feel the weight on her shoulders so I just so understood her desire to just be free and a bit reckless when she gets the chance to do something that ignites the desires of her heart that have been kind of locked away. I’m sad I can’t give this higher marks but it just didn’t make me fall in love like her other books Something Like Normal and Where The Stars Still Shine. All the things I found great about it are so typical of those books…I think it just comes down to the genre being a hard one for me.
Rating
A Sense of the Infinite by Hilary T. Smith
About In A Sentence-ish: Annabeth and Noe have been best friends for years and even have planned their future endeavors together until Noe starts dating a guy and their friendship shows signs of drifting apart at a time when Annabeth needs Noe because her personal life is complicated and doesn’t know what to do without her.
Thoughts: What a great and complicated book about friendship! I’m all about books that have really strong friendships but I also really love ones that explore that fragile nature of friendship and those friendships that slowly start to crumble as two people go in different directions life-wise but still want to hold on for whatever reasons. It was such a great portrait of a friendship breakup, especially a really like exclusively close bff duo, and Annabeth’s story was really compelling to me especially with her family dynamics and secrets. Plus Hilary T. Smith’s beautiful prose strikes again! I loved Wild Awake and I could tell she was a talented writer, and while very different kind of style compared to Wild Awake, it’s equally as stunning. I will probably write a whole post devoted to all the things this book brought up re: friendship soon!! It’s a quieter contemporary YA but it explores a lot of things very poignantly.
Rating:
Have you read any of these? What did you think?
Katherine says
I love the idea for Made You Up – it sounds really mind twisting and I always enjoy that when reading. Plus, I haven’t read any books with characters who have schizophrenia yet. The Devil You Know doesn’t appeal to me, but I haven’t looked at any of her other books yet. It sounds like they might appeal to me more. And I totally feel you on the summertime and how hard it can be to write reviews! Mini wrap ups like this have been more popular on my blog, haha 🙂
Kate @ Mom's Radius says
A Sense of the Infinite is on my TBR list, and I just added Made You Up. There seems to be a trend in YA right now to write about teens with illness and how they try to act like normal people. I have loved every one of those books that I’ve read though, so I’m not exactly complaining. 🙂
Emma @ Miss Print says
The only one of these I’ve read is The Devil You Know. Can I just say I feel you on the thrillers? I’ve recently realized I kind of intensely dislike thrillers and suspense stories and prefer my mysteries to be more traditional. I always spend so much time wondering if a plot point is obvious or if it’s just I am overly well-read in the genre. Anyway. I wasn’t sure about The Devil You Know myself. I enjoyed it but it wasn’t really a favorite just because it was a thriller. But then I started to think more about Arcadia and the book and it started to grow on me. While I still get that it’s a thriller, I loved that this one is such a subversive thriller with Cady solving the big mystery and being the hero instead of just a victim or window-dressing. At a signing Doller described the book by saying “Come for the thriller, stay for the feminism.” And the more I think about this book the more I love it because of that.
Kathy says
I bought Made You Up when it first released but haven’t read it or seen anything of it in the blogging world I follow until now. I was so excited about it but forgot about it until now. I’m happy to see it’s really good.
Erin @ Paperbackstash says
These sound great, especially the first one. I’ll have to check them out.
Alexa S. says
Of these three, I’ve only read The Devil You Know. You and I actually had very similar sentiments towards this novel! I liked Trish’s writing, as usual, but the story/plot just didn’t quite turn out to be my cup of tea 🙁