J.C. Buchanan

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Title: Listening for Lucca

Author: Suzanne LaFleur

Published By: Wendy Lamb Books (2013)

Synopsis:

Siena is not your everyday, normal 13-year-old. Ever since her two-year-old brother Lucca stopped talking for reasons no doctor can explain, she’s started a collection of old, abandoned things. Siena also has visions of the past and has been dreaming of a house by the sea—not daydreaming, but literal, when-she’s-asleep dreaming. When her family decides to move, they find an old house that strikingly resembles the one from Siena’s dream. When they get there, Siena discovers a pen marked with the initials SEA—and when she uses it to write in an old journal, the pen writes its own story, about a girl named Sarah who lived in the same house during World War II! As time goes on and Siena starts finding items from Sarah’s story, she discovers that, like Lucca, Sarah stopped talking. Did she ever talk again? Could she be the key to unlocking Lucca’s voice?

Review:

I thought it was a fantastic story and fantastic writing! It had an element of fantasy to it, yet was realistic enough to seem like real life. Siena’s story seems like it could be easily real.

I will note that it is a bit higher reading level than Love, Aubrey and Eight Keys (Suzanne LaFleur’s other books), and it has a couple of more mature concepts (the main character is closer to a teenager, after all).

The only thing at first I was unsure about was that there is some “ghost” sections in the story, in terms of, Siena, using her visions-of-the-past power, goes back in time, into Sarah’s body, to the house when it was Sarah’s, and talks to Sarah’s big brother Joshua. As I said, at first I was unsure about it—but it all merged together in the end and made the story even better, so no complaints!

Negative Content/Notes:

No negative content. Like I said, there is a ghost/spooky element (Siena goes back in time in someone else’s body) but it is not glorified in the wrong light. One or two “Oh God” or “Oh my God” which kinda bugged me but were just one or two times, so it was easy enough to skim over.

Overall:

When I was younger, I loved this book so, so, so much (in fact, I loved all of LaFleur’s books–and I still do). Coming back to this review years later has reminded me of how much I truly enjoyed the book. I haven’t read it a long time, but at the targeted age range it filled me with excitement and thrill and that is what I remember when I think of this book; and so for that reason I highly recommend this book!

Rating: 5.0

Recommended to: Anyone and everyone!

 

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Title: Reintegration (Reintegration, #1)

Author: Ashley Bogner

Published By: CreateSpace (2017)

Synopsis: 

A perfect citizen. A captured rebel. One decision could destroy them both…
As a Regulator, seventeen-year-old Katherine Holliday’s duty is to protect the people of the Federation from a group of violent rebels who have exiled themselves to the mysterious wilderness. When one of these rebels is captured within the Federation, the government leaders propose an alternative to execution, a procedure they call Reintegration. The procedure involves erasing the rebel’s memory and attempting to make him a member of society. The rebel, a young man named Matthew, is not the violent criminal Katherine expects, and she can’t help but befriend him. A few weeks after Matthew’s Reintegration, Katherine realizes the procedure failed and she is now presented with a choice no one else can help her make. Can she warn her superiors that Reintegration failed, which could mean death for Matthew? Or will she defy everything she knows to help him escape—and risk her own execution? (Taken from Goodreads.)

Review:

I really liked this book. If nothing else, it’s going on my wish list for books to own! I found this dystopian world unique, though lacking detail (for example, if kids grow up separate from their parents, where do they grow up at? On their own?), but compelling nonetheless. Katherine was a decent lead for the book. Her heart changes felt a little rushed, but not completely unrealistic. Her love for Matthew was unique, beautiful, and adorable, yet mature, too. Matthew was well rounded and full of depth. I thought the author mastered his character and the delivery of the concept through him—the concept of even loss of one’s memory but somehow still knowing morality.

I felt that it got a little cheesy with the gospel presentation and the Intolerants being Christians and all, but I’ve read worse, so I’m not complaining. Besides, I actually really liked how the author tied in Christians as a whole and the “underground”. It made for a really eerie feel, which I like, because sometimes the those books are the ones that make us think the most.

Sometimes the story felt stereotypical—with a main female lead solely dedicated to her society but suddenly turns when she sees the truth; the romantic, mysterious love interest; the shallow best friend; the evil political leader who starts out good but slowly is revealed is evil—but for the most part it felt original.

Negative Content/Notes:

Overall: I thought it was just a good book with some good themes and I’m looking forward to reading more in this series.

Rating: 4.0 

Recommended to: Ages 12+

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Title: The Journey (The Crowd, #2)

Author: Alleece Balts

Published By: CreateSpace (2017)

Synopsis: How do you keep moving forward when the path you’re on comes to an end?
At nineteen years old, Ella Parker is a star on the rise. With her vocal training at Juilliard underway, she’s more than prepared for a glittering performance career with the rock band Wicked Youth, and anticipating the prospect of becoming engaged to her billionaire boyfriend… Someday. But when she collapses on stage during a summer concert and receives a chilling diagnosis, the promise of someday suddenly slips away.
Forced to confront her darkest fears, Ella must not only find the courage to go on after her once certain future has disappeared, but also to track down her runaway friend, Lucas, before time runs out. (Taken from Goodreads.)

Review:

Are there words to describe how much love I have for this book? I’m not sure, but I’ll definitely try in this review.

Picking up where the first book left off, The Journey continues to follow Ella and (aaah!) Jack through life as new problems suddenly begin to arise. Character-driven yet strongly plotted, this book ended way too soon. I laughed and cried my way through this amazing novel.

I liked Ella better than I did in the first book, but she also stayed true to her character. Maybe she’s just grown on me. I loved Logan’s side plot and how cleverly it was worked in. Ella, while not maybe extremely likeable, was still very real and relatable. Her responses and emotional reactions to events and bad news in her life seemed round and full, relatable and realistic.

The one thing I was confused about was the whole school situaiton—like, is she in school or not? Is she graduated? It seemed a little hazy. Ultimately, it didn’t negatively impact the story, though. I thought this was perfectly paced, and in fact ended too soon for my taste, though I did squeal at the announcement at the end of a 3rd book! I really liked how different this one was from its predecessor plot-wise, yet both still flowed together and made sense. I also liked the Christian aspect that didn’t predominate, nor control, but simply slipped in, which I felt was true to many real lives and would be very powerful and relatable.

Negative Content/Notes:

Ella and Jack are very romantically involved and are indeed working toward marriage—Jack actually talks about his intention to propose. They kiss an awful lot, though not always detailed. What I wanted to note was how Jack mentioned a lot of times how “temptin” Ella was, followed by sly implications of going further, including hints at taking off clothes. When questioned, Jack boldly responds that “we aren’t harvesting the corn before it’s planted, sir”, implying that they will not sleep together before marriage. Still, the innuendos are there and did bother me to an extent, considering this is Christian fiction and I do expect a little more from such books. Still, I did not feel uncomfortable with any parts of this book and I do hold fast to my opinion that it was all presented in an overall wholesome light, not glorifying the wrong things but, in my opinion, just simply written for a more mature audience.

Overall: I LOVED IT I LOVED IT AAAAAH (very rarely do I get this excited about a book….)

Rating: 5.0

Recommended to: Due to the few sexual innuendos and content I would say probably ages 14/15+.