In Fade, Janie is learning how to control her ability to fall into other peoples dreams but her body is taking a toll because of it.  She can’t seem to get enough calories, her black out episodes are becoming longer and longer and her hands are becoming arthritic.  Her unwanted ability is literally killing her.  How long does she really have?   Janie and her boyfriend Cabel are working for the police department undercover at the high school where they suspect one of the teachers is a sexual predator.  Janie uses her powers to get inside other people’s heads to get close to the teacher and then ultimately draw him in.  The work is dangerous and Fade is darker than Wake because of it.  Janie and Cabel are on again and off again so lots of great romance as well.

I can’t wait for the sequel to see how being a dream catcher plays on Janie’s body and what her and Cabel are up to next.  A fun, intense series.

Lisa McMann website and blog.  Don’t forget my book review of Wake and my interview with Lisa McMann.

Life, for seventeen-year-old Janie is one where she must never let her guard down.  Ever since she was little, she has always been sucked into other people’s dreams.  And now that she’s in high school, where more kids sleep in class, it’s harder to make things appear normal.  Every time she’s a witness to somebody else’s dreams she herself goes into a dreamlike state, and if it’s a nightmare, she’s thrown into seizures.  She learns a lot about people through their dreams, who has a fear of being naked in front of a group, who’s dreaming about having sex with somebody else.  Sometimes it’s amusing, other times, it’s anything but.

One day, Janie is a witness to one the worst nightmare she’s ever seen.  It’s horrifying.  The thing is she doesn’t know who’s dream it is, so when she finds out it’s her new found crush, Cabel, she’s confused.  Especially, when he begins dreaming about her.  Does she trust him enough to tell him her secret?  And will she be able to gain control of her gift (or is it a curse?).

Wake is written in short episode like chunks and makes for the perfect quick read to curl up on the couch with.  I thought it was fun and I think it definitly has teen appeal.  I thought some of the premise regarding Cabel’s job seemed a bit unreal and forced.  I had a hard time swallowing it, but it’s this job that I suspect will take center stage in the sequal Fade which comes out this February.  I will definitly be continuing on with this series to see where Janie takes us.

The book trailer:

Lisa McMann’s website, blog, and follow Lisa on Twitter.

Fifteen year old Ava has just helped bury her boyfriend Jackson.  As if that isn’t hard enough, she thinks that his death is her fault.  She has a hard time letting go.  Her parents encourage her to get out of the house and hang out with her friends.  But she doesn’t want to.  Why would she when she realizes that Jackson has never really left?  He’s back from the dead and Jackson makes his presence known.  Ava can feel him, the room is cold (think Sixth Sense here), she can see him in the mirror sometimes.  She can’t wait to get home each day so she can spend time with him.  But as time goes on, she meets somebody new and  Jackson becomes possessive.  I Heart You, You Haunt Me explores what we all want.  Love.  And how to move on when the one we love won’t let us go.

I Heart You, You Haunt Me is told in free verse, making it raw, stark, and very poetic.  I’ve enjoyed many free verse novels this year, and while this one wasn’t one of the most memorable, it was well done.  A very simple, easy read.  I believe many teenagers will like it.

The book trailer:

Lisa Schroeder’s website and blog.

Capote in Kansas is about two friends, both literary and literally. One is Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird (read my book review), the other is Truman Capote, author of In Cold Blood. Both lived next to each other as children learning about creativity, imagination, and writing. Twenty five years later they would work together in Kansas to research Capote’s In Cold Blood. With the publication of both In Cold Blood and To Kill a Mockingbird, both authors become estranged. What has made them stop talking? Do they ever reunite? Who really wrote To Kill a Mockingbird? Kim Powers recreates a novel of ghosts, deathbed confessions, friendship, jealousy, and “what might have beens.” Capote in Kansas draws you in and is a story you cannot easily put down.

And it’s a story that even if you aren’t familiar with Harper Lee, Truman Capote or their books you aren’t lost. But I do admit that I’m sure I would have found a second, deeper level of enjoyment if I were. Having just read To Kill a Mockingbird I appreciated the references to the book and its characters. But I know little of Harper Lee’s life. I know basically nothing about Truman Capote and now wish that I knew more about this eccentric little man. I loved getting inside their heads and enjoyed this ghost of a story.

Kim Powers gives an author’s note at the end that clarifies what is real, what is based on true events, who was really where, and what he has made up. He also has taken the blogosphere by storm and has graciously given us a lot of great interviews and guest posts. They are so good in fact that if I were to interview him I don’t know what questions are left to ask! Visit TLC Book Tours for book reviews, Anna at Diary of an Eccentric for a guest post about writing, Julie at Booking Mama for a guest post, Carrie at Books and Movies for a great interview, Bibliolatry for photos of the snake boxes that Kim Powers has shared, Ready When You Are C.B. has a very comprehensive author interview, Chris at Book-a-Rama shares an interview, Andi at Tripping Toward Lucidity: Estella’s Revenge has a fabolous guest post, and Lisa at Bibliobuffet also hosts an awesome interview.  And that’s just what’s in my reader!  Lots to learn and share about Capote in Kansas.

Also visit Kim Power’s website.  I now want to read The History of Swimming, Power’s memoir.

Let me state this:  I’m a almost thirty something mom of two boys and I stay at home.  I think that this influences what I thought of Breaking Dawn.  Of course, I’ve read the first three books (but haven’t reviewed them here).  While I didn’t LOVE them, I didn’t HATE them either.  I think of the series as nice escapism literature.  They weren’t exactly the best written thing I’ve ever come across, but the story certainly holds you and has you invested in the characters.  I think they are entertaining.  I am really pleased with the popularity that Stephenie Meyer has gained.  It’s nice to see an author reach celebrity status.  Anything to get kids reading is a plus in my book.  I think the excitement around a popular author is well, for a lack of a better word, exciting.  I’m not ashamed to say that I am caught up in this excitement.

While beginning Breaking Dawn, I had no preconceived notions about where the story was going to go.  I read no book reviews about it before I began.  After finishing, my husband asked me how I liked it and I said it was different then the other three, had a story that moved along, and I thought she was pretty creative but there were things that I definitely thought were weird.

After I finished I hopped on the net to see what others thought about Breaking Dawn.  I was really surprised.  This is what I found out, people either LOVED it such loyalty or HATED it with such a fury that they cried, stomped, and have lost all faith in Stephenie Meyer.  Right now Amazon has 469 customer reviews, of those 145 are five star reviews and 155 are one star reviews.  So you can see how evenly split it is.  And the message boards.  Wow, I don’t even want to go there.  People are saying some crazy things.

So what did I think?  Well, like I told my husband, I thought it had it’s flaws but in general I enjoyed reading it.  I don’t LOVE it but I don’t HATE it either.  How’s that for taking the middle road?

Breaking Dawn felt so different from the first three books.  It is broken up into three books.  The first one is Bella’s, the second Jacob’s, the third Bella’s again.  Each one even had it’s own preface and table of contents.  I’ve never seen this before, to have a new book and table of contents 500 pages in.  But what really threw me for a loop was that the second book was told from Jacob’s point of view.  Can she do this?  After three books told from Bella’s view, throw in a good three hundred pages or so told from Jacob’s point of view?  It didn’t seem to match, but honestly, I didn’t mind.

People seem to think that the Twilight series is exclusively about Edwards and Bella’s love.  Where did they get that idea?  Jacob has been there since day one and Stephenie has written him in just as much as the other characters.  So guess what?  Breaking Dawn is just as much Jacob’s and Bella’s story as it is Edward’s and Bella’s story.  Things did get weird in a weird love triangle sort of way though.

I do think that the characters lost their voice and personality.  I wish that Stephenie Meyer would have taken another six months to really work out the details on this one.  I do think that she was quite brave for taking the story where she did.  I know a lot of people didn’t like it but I think it did move the story from one of infatuated love (well, Bella is still infatuated) to a story of family love.  I think this was the right direction to go (more on this in the spoilers).

I think the Twilight series was so successful because of the sexual tension between Edward and Bella.  People loved this tension.   It got them all hot and steamy.  While Breaking Dawn has it’s fill of sex, it does not have that tension like before.  Kind of like the forbidden fruit.  Now that sex is not forbidden, it’s not as fun anymore.  Although I think that Stephenie Meyer could still get you all hot and steamy.  If your thirteen year old is reading it, you might want to read it first to see if you think it’s appropriate.  And well, if your older, like me, remember what I said about escapism literature?  Enough said.

Here is something else for you.  I recently read somewhere about these really weird contractions that are popping up in new books.  I had never seen one.  But there it was on page 287:  I’d've.  Is this a word?  Yeah, pretty trivial in the whole scheme of things, but really?  I was really bothered.

Okay, so before I get on to the spoilers, let me wrap up for you non-spoiler people.  If you like the Twilight series for simply being what they are:  a nice story with interesting characters but you don’t live and breath Twilight and think about Edward every second of the day, then you’ll find yourself sitting back and enjoying the story line because that’s what it is:  a story.  If you do live and breathe Twilight, I think you’ll probably sit down and cry when you realize where the story is going because you can’t stand to think of your beloved characters in their new situations.  That’s why I said earlier that I’m an almost thirty something stay at home mom.  I think my opinion will be very different from that of a sixteen year old.  This is the type of book that will be viewed differently depending upon who you are and what your attitude about the series is in the first place.

If you don’t want SPOILERS then you should STOP right now.

Seriously.

****SPOILERS****

Okay, here’s where I can really talk.  I seriously can’t talk about the book without the storyline involved.

• The book immediately begins with Bella’s and Edward’s fairy tale wedding.  I really thought that Stephenie Meyer would drag this one on a bit, but was surprised that she got right down to business. I was disappointed that Bella never looked in a mirror, so we never got a good description of what she looked like, her wedding dress, etc. I like that type of stuff, but guess we had to imagine it.  Which maybe was the point.
• Edward and Bella take off on a private island getaway honeymoon.  I know Bella doesn’t really care about money, but not once is she happy that she just married into a very wealthy family. If I were her, I would have been a bit more excited about my private island honeymoon.

• Yep, vampires and humans can have sex pretty easily, with a few broken headboards along the way.

• And then we find out, not only can vampires and humans have sex but apparently it’s pretty easy to impregnate a human because Bella soon discovers that she’s going to be having a honeymoon BABY! Woaah! Having a baby actually never crossed my mind and I was really surprised that she’d take it in that direction. I know a lot of people got really, really upset when a baby came into the picture.  From the reviews I’ve read, people think that the story should only be about Edward’s and Bella’s love for each other.  There is no way that their love should be divided.  Many people were also upset with how maternal Bella is and can’t believe that she actually wants a baby.  Wasn’t she was willing to give that up to become a vampire?  So why would it be so important to her now?Now this is the thirty something mom in me talking.  I was married for five years before I conceived my first child.  Honestly, looking back, life didn’t even seem to have begun before my first child was brought into this world.  Sure, my husband and I loved each other, but that love feels more complete and unified now that we have created another extension of ourselves.

  Having a baby together is the natural and ultimate expression of two people’s love for each other.  This is something that I think Stephenie Meyer believes and I applaud her for being brave enough to go with such a natural storyline.  Life throws you for loopholes, pregnancy may be something you don’t plan on, but once it’s there you immediately fall in love with the unborn child.   And in today’s society, where getting pregnant so young and so early in marriage is not only frowned upon but discouraged I think Stephenie Meyer was quite daring.

  The having a baby storyline certainly is different from the other books and gives a whole new depth not found in the other books.  I think it also carried the book into a more adult realm, almost like how Harry Potter, got more adult-ish with each book.

• Like I stated before, Bella is really excited about the baby and is determined to carry it although it might kill her. Her new family, gives Bella everything that she wants and has resorted to watching her die.  I do think she was a bit immature though about her attitude in her ability to carry the baby.  I would have been a bit more scared and concerned about what I was doing.  Edward immediately wants to abort the baby, but once he’s able to hear the baby’s thoughts, he falls in love as well.

• But not only is she going to have the baby she’s going to have one really, really soon. The baby is growing at an unprecedented rate and about a month later we find Edward using his vampire teeth ripping his way through the uterus in an attempt to perform a emergency c-section. Ewwww! I was totally grossed out. And this is coming from somebody who has actually had two c-sections.  And the sheer amount of blood didn’t seem to bother the vampires either.

• Bella is about to die on the operating table so Edward has no choice but to insert his venom into her and hope that by turning her into a vampire, he will save her life. I wasn’t surprised that she’d become a vampire in a  life-saving heroic. It was hinted at so many times earlier throughout the book as many other members of the Cullen clan became vampires that way.

• Having built up what the first year of a newborns life would be like, I was disappointed that Bella takes to vampire life like a fish takes to water.  It was way to easy.  All that build up about the first year acting crazy as a “newborn?”  We basically skip all of that because it simply doesn’t happen.  I would have liked to see not only an internal struggle but a physical one as well.  Losing one’s humanity was much to easy.  Becoming a vampire was one of no regrets.  But Bella loves it.  She was born to be a vampire.  Plus, Edward doesn’t feel all cold and hard as a stone anymore.  That would make for a more pleasurable experience all around.
• The wolves are not very happy about the new baby and are determined that it needs to be destroyed.  Sam and his gang are all set out to kill the baby and any of the vampires who get in their way.  Jacob, who’s returned from his “time alone” doesn’t want to go along with their plan.  He breaks off from their group and warns the Cullen’s of the imminent attack.  Seth and his sister also follow him.  From here on out, Jacob pretty much lives at the Cullen’s house for the rest of the story.
• Why is Jacob living at their house?  He IMPRINTS on the baby.  You would think that I would have saw this one coming from a mile away, but I didn’t.  Now that Jacob is completely in love with Renesmee, he pretty much is a member of the Cullen family.  Yep, he used to hate vampires, now he’s going to marry one (when she’s older of course).  Jacob and Edward get along really well in this book. Too well, actually.  I missed their anamosity.  In fact, at one point Edward calls Jacob “his son.”  Scary.
• Renesmee or Nessie for short (yes, like the Loch Ness monster),  is a very unusual baby.  She grows super fast.  She says her first words at just a week old and is walking not long after.  By the time she is seven years old she’ll be full grown and immortal.  She has the gift of being able to “speak” to people simply by showing them the images that she’s thinking of.  She also prefers blood in her bottle than formula.  There is a lot of blood drinking (apparently you can buy human blood at the blood bank) in this book.
• Since Jacob has thwarted the wolves plan to kill the baby, Bella and Edward are happy in every way.  Perfect bliss.  But we don’t stay trouble free for very long and they soon find out that the Volturi are going to mount a full scale attack on the clan because they think that the baby is a baby turned vampire (which they can’t control) rather than a half-breed.
• All of the Cullen’s vampire friends from around the world gather at their home to stand as a witness to the Volturi and to help them fight if needs be.  Bella makes arrangements for Bella and Jacob to run away together if they all end of being killed.  There were some times that I got irked with Bella’s foolish notion that if Edward died she would die as well.  She couldn’t live without him.  Now that she had a child, I thought she was pretty immature to think this way.  Sometimes I think she forgot that she had a bigger responsibility in life than to just love Edward.
• Bella’s special gift is that not only can she can stay in control of her emotions but she’s able to use a special force field to protect her loved ones.  I was really hoping that Stephenie Meyer would end the series with a nice big fight.  But everything works out well with some peace talks and everybody goes home to live happily ever after.
• Oh, and Charlie finds out that Jacob is a wolf and Bella is part of some supernatural world.  But he takes it all in stride and is on a need to know basis.  So Bella doesn’t lose him as well.  Basically, she loses nothing and gains everything by becoming a vampire.

Did I forget anything major?  So basically in just a sentence or two, Bella and Eward get married, have a baby, thwart those who want to kill them, Jacob imprints on the baby, and everybody’s happy.  Whew!

****END SPOILERS****

The writing is just as sappy as the other three books, so if you don’t like hearing how perfect Edward is or how perfect he kisses a million times, then this might not be the book for you.  But if that’s why you liked it in the first place, well, now you’ve got more.  I think that Stephenie Meyer is a creative author with some brilliant ideas but not extraordinary in her writing.

So did I hate it?  No.  Did I like it?  Sure.  Why?  Because I didn’t have any preconceived notions about how the story should end up, I wasn’t completely invested in the characters to begin with (meaning I’m not a die hard twilighter), I didn’t mind where the storyline took me, I was taken by surprise in some parts, and I didn’t really get bored in the day that it took me to read it.  Yes, it had it’s flaws, but apparently I wasn’t as bothered by this as some other passionate readers out there.  It’s not going to be one of my all time favorite books, but then again, neither were any of her other books.  But I own them all and tell everybody who will listen that they should definitely read them.  All in all, a very enjoyable series.  Way to go Stephenie!

Have you finished Breaking Dawn yet?  If you have, what did you think?  If you haven’t read it yet, are you going to?

Let’s hear what you think!  Feel free to express yourself as much as you want.

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