Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi (CBR-III #48)

Cannonball Read III: Book #48/52
Published: 2011
Pages: 352 (189,097 total pages so far)
Genre: Young Adult/Dystopian

First of all, the cover for this book is terrible. I never would have picked it out if I didn't read a review without the cover picture in it. It looks like some horrible YA supernatural romance with wolves or something. It takes place in a grungy, dystopian society so I have no idea why she's wearing this sparkly white ball gown on the book cover.

The book starts with Juliette being locked in some sort of filthy jail. We find out that she was locked away by her parents after they discovered she was a "monster" because her touch can kill people. She's been in isolation for a couple of years, when suddenly she gets a new cellmate. A BOY cellmate. (possible spoilers ahead...) Turns out, he's just there to capture and deliver her to this creep in the Reestablishment military who wants to use her as a weapon. She falls in love with the boy who manipulated her (Adam) and they run away until they find a school for freaks just like her (end spoilers). Hm...where have I heard this plot before?? 

Basically, I hope they never make a movie out of this because whoever owns the rights to X-Men will sue their butts off. Juliette is pretty much Rogue. Or they could just rename the story X-Men Origins: Rogue for the movie version. It would appeal to comic geeks AND 13-year-old girls.

It was way too fluffy for me. The story was actually pretty interesting. However, the romance was front and center and in your face. You know, they're SUPER in love five minutes after they meet and I have to suffer through endless paragraphs of mush. Someone likes their metaphors a little too much, I think. It was kind of like Twilight, if Stephenie Meyer could write. I think Tahereh Mafi is a good writer if she toned down the madly in love teenager fluff a little. I don't need to read three thousand metaphors about Juliette's heart and what it feels like. The action parts of the book were really good. 

My favorite character in the whole book was Adam's 10-year-old brother. I LOVED HIM. So I know Mafi can write good characters. I just wish she put a little more effort into the main characters personalities rather than their sexual urges. 

I'm not sure if I'll continue with this series though. It was pretty good if I skimmed over the softcore teenage porn, so we'll see. 

The Future of Us by Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler (CBR-III #47)

Cannonball Read III: Book #47/52
Published: 2011
Pages: 356 (18,745 total pages so far)
Genre: Young Adult

It's 1996 and the Internet is new (remember that??). Do you also remember those AOL cds that everyone had at least 50 of? They made great coasters. Anyways, Emma gets this newfangled Internet thing at her house and pops in her free AOL cd. What does he find? Facebook. Actually, Facebook fifteen years in the future. She shows her neighbor (and former best friend -- they had a falling out after he professed his love to her and she didn't reciprocate the feelings), Josh. Together, they realize that they can find out what their future selves are up to and that they can alter the future by their current actions. Josh doesn't want things to change because he's married to the local "hot, rich girl". Emma, on the other hand, doesn't seem to have such a great future no matter how much she changes it.

This was a pretty fun read. I was eleven in 1996, so I remember most of what they were talking about. Sometimes the mid-90s referenced almost felt a little TOO forced (Really? You're wearing your Doc Martens with a floral dress? How 90s of you!). It's like they threw a bunch of stuff in there out of nowhere just to say HEY IT'S 1996, REMEMBER??? But if was fun if you remember those days. 

The names were very authentic to the time too. They even mentioned a guy who went to their school that had the exact same first and last name as a guy I was friends with in high school. I sometimes hate reading books where the main characters are in high school and have names like "Catcher" or even "Katniss" (which always made me think of catnip). I guess those "future" names...but geez. Everyone in the 90s went to school with an Emma or a Josh. BUT, Emma's last name was Nelson. If you've ever watched Degrassi, you'll know that a very main character for most of the show was named Emma Nelson. So throughout the whole book I kept picturing her as Degrassi Emma and her best friend was Manny in my head. You'd think the author would have at least Googled the character name to see if it was a fairly well-known name or not.

Overall, I liked the book though. The characters probably weren't as fleshed out as they should have been, but I'm just happy that there wasn't this huge love triangle story arc and the "romance" between Emma and Josh was kept to a minimum for a YA book. All the 90s references were fun to catch too.

Matched by Ally Condie (CBR-III #46)

Cannonball Read III: Book #46/52
Published: 2010
Pages: 384 (18,389 total pages so far)
Genre: Young Adult/Dystopian

Cassia lives in a future society where the government makes all your decision for you - what you eat, what you wear, your job assignment, and your match. Teenagers can choose to get "matched" when they turn 17 (or choose to be a "single"). Those who choose to be matched have a matching ceremony where they are shown who they will be matched to. Normally they are matched with someone from another province, but somehow Cassia ends up matched with her best friend Xander. Things start to fall apart when she loads her microchip card with her match's information and she sees another person on it besides Xander - Ky Markham, a strange, quiet boy who is also from Cassia's neighborhood.

I was kind of disappointed in this book. While the premise was intriguing, the book was somewhat boring. Nothing really happens besides Cassia whining about whether she is in love with Xander or Ky. The whole Ky thing was really out of nowhere too. She sees his face on her match card and all of sudden they're in love? They used to swim together when they were kids, but other than that they didn't really know each other. They start talking when they both join the same summer leisure activity (hiking), but it seems so forced. She's already halfway in love with him before they even speak.

It wasn't even so much a love triangle at all. Cassia decides she's in love with Ky, even though she is matched to Xander. Poor Xander is in the friend zone and can't really do much about it. While I think it's very logical that a teenager girl might fall in love with someone other than who the government matches her with, I just think they could have found something a little more convincing. It probably would have made MORE sense if Cassia was originally matched with Ky, but was in love with her best friend Xander (but then she started falling for Ky). Why am I trying to make sense out of a YA love triangle again?

Anyways, I was looking for a little less teenage angst and a little more action. I'm still debating if I want to read the sequel. It's supposed to be a trilogy, but the third book hasn't been released yet. The end did sound sort of promising that the second book might have a little more action.

Offspring by Jack Ketchum (CBR-III #45)

Cannonball Read III: Book #45/52
Published: 2006
Pages: 336 (18,005 total pages so far)
Genre: Horror

Offspring is the sequel to Off Season, which I just reviewed. It was published 26 years after the first book and you can tell that Ketchum's writing has gotten a little more polished since 1980. Other than that, it's pretty much the same book.

It follows the same classic horror novel plot as the original: A group of crazy, inbred cave dwellers hunt and torture a bunch of people in Maine. One of the cave dweller kids from the original book survived the massacre that took place at the end and ran. Over the years, she hunted up and down the coast of Maine/Canada and stole a couple of kids along the way to grow the family back. Now they're back in their original territory and pick a new family to hunt. The police also bring back retired Detective Peters who worked on the original case.

Overall, I liked this book. It was a very similar formula to the original, but it's a classic formula that works. I liked how they tied the two books together with Detective Peters coming back and the kid who we didn't know survived the massacre trying to start a new family. It's a quick read and worth it if you're into the genre.

Off Season by Jack Ketchum (CBR-III #44)

Cannonball Read III: Book #44/52
Published: 1980
Pages: 308 (17,669 total pages so far)
Genre: Horror

Carla rents a cabin up in the woods of Maine to work on her novel in peace. She decides to invite her sister and some friends up for a visit. Then things get ugly. Apparently a clan of cave-dwelling cannibals live nearby and target the cabin that our group is staying in. It's a pretty basic horror plot, but it's very effective here.

The story opens up with a bunch of kids chasing a terrified woman and hitting her with sticks while laughing. It's disturbing and really sets the tone for the rest of the novel. Not only are there crazy mountain men and women out there, these kids are vicious.

The one problem I had was that the main characters weren't very fleshed out. It found it hard to tell them apart and didn't really care about them. It's hard to root for someone to live when you barely know their name. Also, a few things really dated the novel such as one character reminiscing about fighting in Vietnam, but that's sort of expected since it was published in 1980.

Overall, this book was a good, quick read. It's a classic horror tale with plenty of blood and guts thrown in.

Cruise Confidential by Brian David Bruns (CBR-III #43)

Cannonball Read III: Book #43/52
Published: 2008
Pages: 384 (17,361 total pages so far)
Genre: Nonfiction/Memoir

I love cruises. So when I saw this Kindle book for $2.99, I figured it would be worth a read. Plus I spent Thanksgiving in Florida with family, so I wanted something light and easy to read by the pool. Well, it was definitely light reading, but not really what I was expecting.

The full title of this book is "Cruise Confidential: A Hit Below the Waterling: Where the Crew Lives, Eats, Wars, and Parties. One Crazy Year Working on Cruise Ships." Uh...yeah. Longest title ever. Basically, Brian fell in love with a gorgeous Romanian who works on a cruise ship. Naturally, he decides to follow her and get a job with Carnival Cruises. The only problem is that no American has ever lasted a full contract in the dining room of a Carnival ship. The book follows Brian's quest to become the first.

I always wondered why Americans never work on cruise shops. Now I know. It's HARD - long hours, tiny living quarters, weird roommates - just to name a few. Americans don't exactly have the highest work ethic in the world, hence mostly foreigners working on cruise ships. I found that aspect of the book interesting. I like seeing what the living quarters were like, what they thought of the passengers, and stuff like that. Unfortunately, those parts are few and far between.

Most of the book is a platform for Brian to brag about how many hot women he has to beat off with a stick and to rate every women her meets by her physical attributes. It gets annoying really fast. You know how everyone in their 20s has that one friend who constantly stories about crazy times when they're drunk and it's not really interesting unless you were there an/or also drunk? Yeah, this is that friend if they wrote a book. It's page after page of drunk exploits that you probably had to be there to enjoy. A few stories would have been okay, but most of the book was this crap.

Overall, I didn't really like it. I really wanted to read more about crazy guest stories and things like that. I also didn't like how it just abruptly ended. Brian does finish his contract with Carnival (the first American ever!) though. He starts working towards a job as an art auctioneer with Carnival, but the book just sort of ends there. We don't really find out what happens between him and his girlfriend either, with is what a good chunk of the book is about!

Church of Lies by Flora Jessop (CBR-III #42)

Cannonball Read III: Book #42/52
Published: 2009
Pages: 320 (16,977 total pages so far)
Genre: Nonfiction

This is one of several books I've read about the FLDS (a fundamentalist Mormon sect) but it's by far the most horrifying. Not only are most of these women married off at a very young age to be one of multiple wives, but apparently abuse runs rampant in these communities. Flora Jessop tells her story about how she was raped and abused as a child before she had enough and ran away as a teen.

The abuse in this book is so horrific, you almost feel like you're reading fiction. Flora was strong enough to realize that she needed to get out, but unfortunately a lot of women don't realize that there are other options. There's also not a lot of help. When she told the police about her father molesting her, they sent her back home. Realizing that the law wasn't going to help her, now Flora spends her life trying to help other girls and women to escape.

The FLDS compounds are scary. I can't even imagine being born into a community like that and it being all you've ever known. They are taught that the outside world is evil, so most women are even more afraid of leaving than staying. I think it's brave of these women to write their stories when they're losing their entire families by leaving the religion and going public. Hopefully their bravery can save more women from this lifestyle.

Overall, the book was good. It wasn't the most well written book, but Flora Jessop isn't a professional writer. She tells her story effectively and leaves an impact on the reader. I would definitely recommend this book if you're interested in polygamy and the FLDS.