Sheltered by Debra Chapoton

Read a synopsis here!
Number of pages: 236
This was such a creepy book (but in a good way)! Sheltered is not only creepy, but it is a dark and disturbing novel that deals with many issues including schizophrenia, self-mutilation, family/home life issues, and a variety of other topics. 
Basically, five teens are put together in this house organized by the "leader" Ben. Ben is one of the five teens and he makes sure that everything gets paid for and that the other kids do their fair share around the house. The rest of the teens start off by thinking that there is a Mrs. Peterson who is in charge of the house and just stays in her room all the time but in reality, Ben has made her up so the teens will continue living there without the bother of adult figures. The house is mainly a sanctuary for these lost teens.
Each teen is going through something pretty terrible and just needs a safe haven from the homes they come from and somehow, it's never explicitly stated in the novel, Ben finds them and recruits them to live in this house with him. Cori, is a very goth/punk girl who was somehow kicked out of her house and is possibly possessed by demons, Emily cuts herself as punishment for the things she does or does not do, Megan is fighting for custody of her son who is about a year old (Megan is 17), and Chuck/Adam is dealing with schizophrenia. Ben is also living here part-time to escape his abusive father, and alcoholic mother.
Out of all the characters I think I liked Ben and Megan the best because they were the most sane, the others often just plain creeped me out.
The house they are living in causes a lot of issues with the teens and many of them believe there is unfinished business within the house and that their is demons wandering around possessing some of the girls. 
The story continues on with a bunch of different plots and there is a lot of stuff where the reader has to make conclusions on their own which was interesting at first but after awhile things just got to confusing. There was a lot of unanswered questions for me once I got to the very end. I also wished the story could be longer, because I didn't like the way it ended. More loose ends could have been tied up.
It was a good story, it could have been written a little more cohesively towards the end. I liked how the supernatural aspects were able to work so well with the real life issues these teens were having. And the characters were believable. Often I have a hard time identifying with characters who are going through SO much hardship, but this was written eloquently and flowed with the plot.
Also this is a great book to read during October or around the time of Halloween because it deals with the supernatural!
See you soon!
Paige
P.S. Huge thank you to Debra Chapoton for asking me to read and review this and for sending me a digital copy of it!

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The Ivy by Lauren Kunze with Rina Onur

Read a synopsis here!
Number of pages: 322
The Ivy was actually a good book! It wasn't great, but I was pleasantly surprised with how well the story line was written and carried out. The Ivy starts out with Callie Andrews on her first day at Harvard, and she begins to get to know her roommates, and the extremely attractive boys living just across the hall. Of course Callie continuously falls and has a few social blunders in the following weeks, and she feels as if everyone will know her as the klutz from California.
This I found a little unbelievable. Yes, it's written in 2010/2011 and there is a lot of social media so things spread, but come on, Harvard has thousands of students. Not every single person is going to know or care about her tripping in the dining hall. 
In the beginning of the novel, Callie is the perfect student, going to class and  taking notes, but as the novel progresses she starts to care a lot more about her social status. This is when I started losing respect for her because, for crying out loud, you're at Harvard. Many students pine and pine to get in there and can't, and Callie is there and I felt that she was wasting her educational opportunities. Of course she should join some clubs, and try to advance her social career as well, but come on, it's not as big of deal as she made it out to be. 
Callie also wants to keep a secret all to herself, and constantly cries about the circumstances of the situation that it has put her in (the incident occurred back when she was in California and she hopes that it does not follow her to Harvard). I started to think her too, why did she not take legal action? Sure, she might be embarrassed, but if she's going to Harvard she's got to have at least SOME brains up in that beach blonde head.
Towards the end of the book there was just one element that I could not get out of my mind. Callie has to email a paper to herself to print in a lab, because she doesn't own a flash drive. Come on, you live in 2010/2011, and you're going to HARVARD, how do you NOT own a flash drive? I found that way too unbelievable so the circumstance that was related to this handicap sort of made the conclusion feel too fake and forced. The story definitely could have taken a different route.
It was a good plot line, and I would say the writing was nice, but there was a few circumstances that just felt way too unbelievable. Hopefully, the second and third novels in this series are better!
See you soon!
Paige

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Painted Blind by Michelle A. Hansen

Read a synopsis here!
Number of pages: 331
I was thoroughly disappointed by this book. So much that I couldn't even finish it. According to my Kindle, I got about 35% through before I said enough is enough. 
Even though this is young adult fiction, I found it too unbelievable...or relatable. I thought the characters fell in love too quickly, there wasn't much of a set up for a back story (I would have loved to hear more about Eric and his mother's strained relationship and more about Psyche's life). The story was set up so quickly and in a way that just threw the reader into the next things that were happening. I felt that I read about a novels worth in one chapter and that there wasn't enough to provide for much of a background.
Many things weren't described fully enough too; for example, Eric's castle could have been given a chapters worth of descriptors, but instead was giving very few. I hardly know what Psyche herself looked like because there was few descriptors about her too. 
Eric and Psyche's love (this isn't a spoiler, it says in the synopsis that they fall in love) was extremely hard for me to believe too. Eric was always saying that the mortals' world moved so quickly and that he didn't like it, yet he talks about marrying Psyche and taking her to his kingdom. That's a little fast for either world, if you ask me.
The plot itself wasn't going anywhere either for awhile. Even when things started to get "exciting" I couldn't get into the story. It was so dry. The premise of the story sounds amazing, but it wasn't executed well enough I believe.
See you soon!
Paige

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Confessions of a Teenage Hermaphrodite by Lianne Simon

Read a synopsis here!
Number of pages: 232
Release Date: September 18, 2012
I've never read such a deep emotional book like this one. Especially in the YA genre. I've read more serious books for school that were nonfiction, but this fictional story about real life events deeply moved me in a way that few other YA books have ever before.
Confessinos of a Teenage Hermaphrodite is the story of a boy/girl who is trying to come to terms with what sex they want to live with for the rest of their life. Jamie, wants to live as a girl, but her parents want her to live as the boy, Jameson, which was who they conformed her into being for most of her life. Jamie finds that when she stands up to her parents they threaten her with drugs (such as having to take testosterone to become more man-like) so when Jamie goes off to college she starts making her own decisions and  realizes that she does not want to be a boy, and wants to live her life as a woman. Coming to terms with this realization, however, brings about a large amount of social pressure, along with pressure from Jamie's family and friends. Jamie also struggles internally over whether or not she should be able to fall in love, and have children, and if she wants to be cut off from her family so she can live the way she wants to for once.
When I read the synopsis I thought there would be a lot more focus on the medical side of Jamie's condition, but there was just the right amount to describe why she was feeling the way she was feeling about certain issues, and didn't delude from the plot at all. The medical facts and plot flowed exceptionally well together, in a way that created an emotionally deep story.
This isn't a quick read by any means, and I think it's meant to be absorbed and thought over more than a typical YA book that is more for mere pleasure. There are some sensitive subjects in here so I would recommend that teens be at least in high school when they are reading this. Otherwise, someone may not be able to appreciate the story as much and take away as many meanings and morals from the story.
I think that the synopsis sort of deceives the story, because it is so much more in depth and more meaningful than can be expressed in a vague one paragraph summary on the back of the book. I would highly recommend this book for teens and adults to read if they want to take a break from some light reading and dive into something deeper.
Overall, an excellent read and something about it will make you want to read it again and again. Also, I didn't like the cover that much at first, but after fully reading this book it completely made sense and worked excellently! 
See you soon!
Paige
P.S. Huge thank you to Lianne Simon for sending me this ARC!

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August Book Haul

Here's what I got last month!

Over You by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
(Won this in a contest)


Scary School by Derek the Ghost
(Sent to me by the author)


Confessions of a Teenage Hermaphrodite by Lianne Simon
(Sent to me by the author)


Painted Blind by Michelle Hansen
(Received through NetGalley)


Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
(Received through Paperbackswap.com)


That's all for this month!
See you soon!
Paige

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