Wanderlove

Publisher: Random House (Delacorte Press)
Pages: 352
Publication Date: March 13, 2012
Type: ARC, won

It all begins with a stupid question:

Are you a Global Vagabond?

No, but 18-year-old Bria Sandoval wants to be. In a quest for independence, her neglected art, and no-strings-attached hookups, she signs up for a guided tour of Central America—the wrong one. Middle-aged tourists with fanny packs are hardly the key to self-rediscovery. When Bria meets Rowan, devoted backpacker and dive instructor, and his outspokenly humanitarian sister Starling, she seizes the chance to ditch her group and join them off the beaten path.

Bria's a good girl trying to go bad. Rowan's a bad boy trying to stay good. As they travel across a panorama of Mayan villages, remote Belizean islands, and hostels plagued with jungle beasties, they discover what they've got in common: both seek to leave behind the old versions of themselves. And the secret to escaping the past, Rowan’s found, is to keep moving forward.

But Bria comes to realize she can't run forever, no matter what Rowan says. If she ever wants the courage to fall for someone worthwhile, she has to start looking back.

Kirsten Hubbard lends her artistry to this ultimate backpacker novel, weaving her drawings into the text. Her career as a travel writer and her experiences as a real-life vagabond backpacking Central America are deeply seeded in this inspiring story.


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This book is lovely.

It's adorable and heart-warming without being cheesier than a goopy box of Kraft M&C.

It's deep and thoughtful, but not in a way that feels contrived, or thrust upon you.

It's funny in a wonderfully natural way, a way that feels like real teenage humor, not some adult's idea of what a witty teenager would sound like.  

It's chock-full of ridiculously beautiful drawings by the author herself.

And it fills you with an untamable longing for adventure, infects you with your own case of Wanderlove, makes you want to discover everything this world has to offer.

I adored it.

Frostbite

Publisher: Penguin (Razorbill)
Pages: 327
Publication Date: April 10, 2008
Type: Paperback, received as gift

Rose loves Dimitri, Dimitri might love Tasha, and Mason would die to be with Rose... 

It’s winter break at St. Vladimir’s, but Rose is feeling anything but festive. A massive Strigoi attack has put the school on high alert, and now the Academy’s crawling with Guardians—including Rose’s hard-hitting mother, Janine Hathaway. And if hand-to-hand combat with her mom wasn’t bad enough, Rose’s tutor Dimitri has his eye on someone else, her friend Mason’s got a huge crush on her, and Rose keeps getting stuck in Lissa’s head while she’s making out with her boyfriend, Christian! The Strigoi are closing in, and the Academy’s not taking any risks... This year, St. Vlad’s annual holiday ski trip is mandatory. 

But the glittering winter landscape and the posh Idaho resort only create the illusion of safety. When three friends run away in an offensive move against the deadly Strigoi, Rose must join forces with Christian to rescue them. But heroism rarely comes without a price...


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Some Reasons Why This Book Earned Me Glares From Nearly Every One of My Teachers in the Past Two Days, or, alternately, Some Reasons Why This Book is Absolutely Fantastic:


When the heroine acts like an asshole, people don't just brush it away!


When Rose acts stupidly, says something cruel, does something she most certainly shouldn't have, it isn't simply ignored, or excused.  People call her on it. Even better, she calls herself on it.  For once, a heroine who won't completely refuse to admit they've ever done wrong!  You can't believe how wonderful that was to see.


Also, while her words or actions are very frustrating at times, there is a reason, though it's only hinted at in this novel.  Part of it's just Rose and her fiery temper, but part of it's . . . not.


There are fascinating new characters!


Quite a few of them, actually, but the most notable being Tasha, Adrian, and Janine, Rose's mother.  I loved all of them in their own way; Tasha for her fiery independence so uncommon in Moroi, Adrian for being intriguingly assholian (as well as just plain intriguing), and Janine for being an emotionally stunted badass who still tries despite it all.  They were all wonderful additions to the cast, and I'm interested to see the roles they'll have in the rest of the series.


There are real, complex relationships!


There wasn't one relationship in this book that didn't ring true.  Not only Rose's relationships, but side relationships such as Lissa and Christian, Dimitri and Tasha, even Lissa and Adrian.  Many times, in YA fantasies or paranormals, I've seen "They're supernatural creatures!" or "It's not like our world!" used to dismiss ludicrously unrealistic relationships.  Not so with Vampire Academy.  Despite the heavy influence their supernatural world and origin has on this cast, their interactions and emotions are so brilliantly believable that I can't help but love them.

Holy character development, Batman!

Seriously.

There's our protagonist, Rose, who's come so far from the rebellious, impetuous teenager we first met at the beginning of Vampire Academy.  There was some growth in VA, but in Frostbite, it is a million times more extensive.  She emerges from this novel with a gravity and maturity that one could scarcely even glimpse in her younger self.  Yes, she's still a spirited, snarky teenager, but she is also more, and I love it.

However, Rose isn't the only one to see some fantastic character development.  There are a lot of characters that get expanded upon--in fact, I can think of very few that didn't see some development in this novel.  The most notable example, aside from our heroine, would most certainly be Mia.

Man, am I glad those VA fans were right.  Her characterization in VA was by far my biggest critique, and in Frostbite, Richelle Mead delivered, just as all the fans promised she would.  I don't want to spoil much, but I'll just say that Mia becomes far more than the flat schoolgirl antagonist, and it was a great thing to see.  I expect her character will be developed even further in the books to come.

And, perhaps best of all: The emotion.

I'm going to be frank here: it is very rarely that a non-contemporary novel makes me cry.

Even when characters die, it often just does not affect me in the same way; I may be distinctly sad, but it does not often touch me to the point of tears.

But while there was no sobbing or dramatic animal noises, at one point, I did tear up.  Because the emotion was so raw and genuine and painful that for a moment I was certain I'd lost someone, too.

That, above all else, is why I salute Mead for this novel.  

It's technically 4.5 stars, but I enjoyed this novel far too much not to round it to a 5.

Vampire Academy

Publisher: Penguin (Razorbill)
Pages: 332
Publication Date: August 16, 2007
Type: Paperback, received as gift

St. Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding school—it’s a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They’ve been on the run, but now they’re being dragged back to St. Vladimir’s—the very place where they’re most in danger...

Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy’s ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi—the world’s fiercest and most dangerous vampires—make Lissa one of them forever.


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I liked this quite a bit.


I've seen crazy hype for this one.  Vampire Academy is one of the few series that earned gushing not only from my online friends but from numerous real life friends who'd read the books and absolutely adored them.  Considering how many of these friends were also staunch supporters of "Twilight," and The Daily Beast's blurb on the back cover, I was more than a bit wary.  But eventually, the positive reviews became too much, and I caved.


I'm glad I did.

Quite simply, this book is refreshing.  From the wonderfully unique concept that makes vampires sympathetic characters without turning them into sparkling fairies, to the snarky, kick-ass heroine who embraces her good looks and sexuality, this book was different and fantastic and I really, really loved it.

Mead's plotting was excellent; not only is the base idea incredibly new and intriguing, but the plot itself is creative and addictive.  There were no lulls, no sections where I felt my interest slowly waning.  This book captured me from start to finish, and it was almost a physical pain to set it down.

Even more than the plot, though, I enjoyed the characters and their relationships with one another. As mentioned above, I absolutely adored Rose; she's strong, confident, sarcastic, imperfect.  She's gorgeous, others know it, and she fully accepts that.  She's extremely flawed, others know it, and she accepts that.  No one's trying to pretend Rose is anything close to perfect, and that makes me love her all the more.

Perhaps even better than Rose's characterization, though, were her relationships with others. First of all: her friendship with Lissa.  It was fantastic.  So often in YA nowadays, "best friends" are either included for the sake of a) encouraging the protagonist to make bad decisions, b) giving them a makeover, or c) making the reader want to beat their brains out with a blunt spoon.  This is not the case with Lissa.  Lissa is absolutely crucial to the plot, and more importantly, her relationship with Rose is entirely genuine.  Even aside from their bond, these two just had such a fantastic, believable chemistry with one another.  They felt like actual best friends.  Major kudos to Richelle Mead for handling the best friend dynamic so wonderfully.

Second of all: her relationship with Dimitri.  That, that is how you build a romantic relationship.  No instantaneous swooning.  No completely forgetting every other person in the world.  No dramatic declarations of love.  Just two people with a mutual physical attraction and mutual respect that gradually grows into something more.  I know many were troubled by the age difference, but frankly, when you compare this to most vampire-human romances, or angel-human romances, or really any supernatural-human romance, is a seven year difference really that huge a deal when many YA heroines are tackling a difference of several hundred years?

I, at least, did not think so.

I also really loved the central antagonist of this story.  He was twisted, misguided, but not entirely wrong.  I could understand him. Did I disapprove of his methods? Most certainly.  But I understood his goals, and why he might feel like this was the only course, like this would all be for the greater good.  Fucked up antagonists with legitimately good intentions have always been the most fascinating to me.

The only thing I didn't like about this novel was the characterization of Mia.  For most of the novel, she was painfully two-dimensional, an annoying high-school-level antagonist to stir up drama.  At one point, I thought Mead was going to go a bit deeper, give Mia some actual depth, but then that fell flat. (No pun intended.)  However, I have heard from several fans that Mia's character does, indeed, get fleshed out throughout the series, so I'll be interested to see how that goes as I read on.

Overall, this was a very, very enjoyable read, and I would highly recommend it, even to those who aren't typically a fan of vampires. You might be surprised.

4.5 stars.