Historic Saturday: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Code Name Verity

Elizabeth Wein

Hyperion Books for Children

[May 15, 2012]

Oct. 11th, 1943—A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a chance at survival. The other has lost the game before it's barely begun.

When “Verity” is arrested by the Gestapo, she's sure she doesn’t stand a chance. As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, she’s living a spy’s worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice: reveal her mission or face a grisly execution.

As she intricately weaves her confession, Verity uncovers her past, how she became friends with the pilot Maddie, and why she left Maddie in the wrecked fuselage of their plane. On each new scrap of paper, Verity battles for her life, confronting her views on courage and failure and her desperate hope to make it home. But will trading her secrets be enough to save her from the enemy?

Harrowing and beautifully written, Elizabeth Wein creates a visceral read of danger, resolve, and survival that shows just how far true friends will go to save each other. Code Name Verity is an outstanding novel that will stick with you long after the last page.

Code Name Verity was one of those books where I wasn't sure it was for me. World War II fascinates me as something that happened in history, but I tend to avoid books that take place during it because they just don't interest me. They tend to tackle the same topics/ideas over and overs with slight variations. But everyone was raving about this one and it sounded different, so I thought I'd try it. And while I'm not going to sing its praises from the rooftops, I did really enjoy it.

I have to put in a bit of a disclaimer. I read this as an egalley on my Kindle and I'm not sure what it was, but the formatting was really wonky. And that did effect my experience reading it, I know that. I almost feel like I can't judge it until I read a finished copy, so I can read it properly. So...yeah.

I really liked reading about Maddie and Verity's story. I liked how Verity told it and how there were always these little surprises. Sometimes I could guess it, but not always. I really, really liked the twist that comes a little more than half way through the book. That was wholly unexpected.

Code Name Verity is an emotional story. Everyone I've heard from has talked about the tears, oh the tears! I never cried, but I was pretty freaking close. It wasn't what I expected to be teary about either. I certainly felt emotionally drained by the end of the book, though. Very much like I did after Mockingjay.

If anything, I would say I want more. I want to know what goes on after the book ends. I want to know how things turn out for our characters as the war wraps up and even beyond then. I have some suspicions, but I just wanna know if I'm right.

Elizabeth Wein knows how to tell a damned good story. She knows how to make things tense and high stress and mess with your head. She knows how to make your heart break and she knows how to make you smile.

Overall, Code Name Verity was unexpectedly amazing. I really wish I could've loved it the way everyone else did, and maybe if I reread it as a physical book with all the proper formatting, I would. I strongly encourage you to go and pick up a copy of this book and read this book.

--Julie

From What I Remember... by Stacy Kramer and Valerie Thomas

From What I Remember...

Stacy Kramer and Valerie Thomas

Hyperion

[May 15, 2012]

KYLIE: Tijuana WHAT? I should be putting the finishing touches on my valedictorian speech. Graduation is TODAY, and is this a wedding band on my finger.

MAX: It all started with Kylie's laptop and a truck full of stolen electronics Okay, it was kind of hot, the way she broke us out like some chick in an action movie. But now we're stranded in TIjuana. WIth less than twenty-four hours before graduation. Awesome.

WILL: Saving Kylie Flores from herself is kind of a full-time occupation. Luckily, I, Will Bixby, was born for the job. And when I found out she was stuck in Mexico with dreamy Max Langston, sure, I agreed to bring thier passports across the border--but there's no reason to rush back home right away. This party is just getting started.

LILY: I just walked in on my boyfriend, Max Langston, canoodling with Kylie Flores, freak of the century. Still, I can't completely hold it against him. He NEEDS me. It's even clearer now. And I'm not giving him up without a fight.

I kind of loved this book? I think?

Let's talk about our characters. I was really worried that so many points of view would make the story disjointed or weird, but it didn't really. Yes the story would've been perfectly fine with just Kylie and Max's perspective, but I liked hearing from Will and even Lily was interesting to read about. I really loved Kylie and Will and Max definitely grew on me. I understood Lily, but I still didn't particularly like her. I don't think we were supposed to. All four of these characters grew a lot from their experiences in the book and I loved seeing that.

The story itself had a lot of layers. Every single character had personal issues going on and the this happened to add to it. Their personal issues affected how each one of them acted and decided on things. Everything was necessary and tight and they were all interesting. Two of them were pretty different from the norm, one was kind of different, and one was fairly common but important. I really liked all the stories and it affected the main story. Nothing was simple, but nothing was unimportant either.

One aspect that would usually bother me is that Max technically cheated with Kylie. And to some extent, it did. But it also bothered Max and Kylie a lot. They weren't being totally thoughtless and when they were, it was usually because there was a lot of alcohol involved. I'm not saying that makes it right, but it didn't seem as horrible as it would've if they didn't feel bad and they weren't drinking. This also added to Lily's character. It gave me some more sympathy for her.

This story was also really well written. Each narrator had their own style so they weren't easy to mix up. They were subtle differences, but they were definitely there. And I was engaged from beginning to end. I didn't want to put it down whenever I was forced to for silly reasons like sleep.

But honestly guys, I really, really enjoyed this book. Maybe I loved it? It might be too soon to tell. I do know that this is a book I want to buy for my shelves and it's one you should all read.

--Julie

The Right and the Real by Joelle Anthony

The Right and the Real

Joelle Anthony

Putnam Juvenile

[April 26, 2012]

Kicked out for refusing to join a cult, seventeen-year-old Jamie must find a way to survive on her own.

Jamie should have known something was off about the church of the Right and the Real from the start, especially when the Teacher claimed he wasn’t just an ordinary spiritual leader, but Jesus Christ, himself. But she was too taken by Josh, the eldest son of one of the church’s disciples, and his all-American good looks. Josh is the most popular boy at school too, and the first boy outside the drama geeks to give Jamie a second look. But getting her Dad involved in a cult was not part of the plan when she started dating Josh. Neither was her dad’s marriage to the fanatic Mira, or getting kicked out, or seeing Josh in secret because the church has deemed her persona non grata.

Jamie’s life has completely fallen apart. Finding her way back won’t be easy, but when her Dad gets himself into serious trouble, will Jamie be ready to rescue him, and maybe even forgive him?

So, cults right? Religious cults. Creepy and weird and make me feel icky. But I also find them fascinating. I was intrigued by the premise of the story and remember hearing a lot of good things about Restoring Harmony, so I decided to try this one.

I really liked it while I was reading, but there was no major wow factor for me. It might just be me because as much as I've been enjoying what I read lately, most of them lack that special something that makes me fall head over heels, obsessively in love with them. I read it like a week ago, and already it's pretty vague and the main character's just another character in my head. I can't tell you what makes her unique.

I can tell you I liked some of the side characters, the people that help Jamie out. I loved watching her relationships and interactions with them. For me, that was the more interesting aspect of the book. The fact that one of those relationships was a romantic one is not the only thing that made me feel this way, promise.

It was also well written. I'd definitely be open to reading more by Joelle, I just don't think this was the right book for me.

--Julie

Discussion: E-books/readers - A Change of Opinion

This probably won't be an interesting discussion at all, I was just curious to see if anyone else has had a change of heart about the whole e-books/e-readers thing and to see if anyone agrees with me about the sense of ownership thing when it comes to ebooks - so yeah, if you don't want to read the post, you could just skip down to the questions.

Okay, back when the whole e-reader thing started becoming a big deal and there was the whole e-books vs. "real" books debate going on, I was very firmly anti-ebook.

I mean, it didn't bother me if other people chose to have an e-reader and read e-books, but it was something I personally didn't want to do. But my opinion has changed since then and so have the opinions of some people I know (like my two best friends who both bought Kindles).

I still prefer physical books to ebooks, but I'd totally be open to having an e-reader now and I love sites like Netgalley (although I don't review many books on there -- mainly because I don't have an e-reader so to read the books, I have to read them on my laptop which is just full of distractions and a pain on the eyes).

My attachment to physical books is mostly down to nostalgic/sentimental reasons - it feels more like...reading, when it's done with a book that you can hold in your hands and feel the pages and feel the weight of it and really see the progress you're making than it does with an ebook.

My only real issue with ebooks now is that they seem to often be more expensive than physical books (or the same price - at least the ones I've looked at have been)...which wouldn't be so bad, except that when I have an ebook, it doesn't feel like I OWN the book. Books on my shelves, I look at those and feel like they're mine but with ebooks I don't...it always feels like I'm just borrowing them, that they're temporary.

I never include ebooks in book hauls and all of the ebooks that I own never get added to the books I own on Goodreads or Shelfari. Basically, I just wanted to see if anyone else has had a change of heart about ebooks that were against them before.

Discussion questions: 

1. Ebooks and ereaders: yay or nay? (And why?)
2. Has your opinion on them changed at all?
3. When you have an ebook, does it feel like you own it?

And I'll stop rambling now.

Later.

Gilt by Katherine Longshore Releases Today!

Just a reminder that Gilt by Katherine Longshore, which I ADORED, releases today!

My Review

Goodreads

Barnes and Noble

Amazon

Don't forget to grab this one today!

--Julie