The Testing

by Joelle Charbonneau
published: Houghton Mifflin Books, 2013
pages: 336

Cia has dreamed of being chosen for the testing since she was a young child and now that she's graduating, her chance has finally come around.  Along with three others from her hometown, Cia travels to the capitol, Tuso City to begin testing.  What she doesn't know is just how dangerous and fatal the testing might become.  She has to decide who to trust, if anyone.  Her choices will dictate what happens not only to her but to others as well.  She must decide just what she is willing to do to pass the test. 

This book had the right amount of action and mystery that any dystopian novel should have.  However, it felt familiar to other books that are in the same genre.  Most notably, it felt very similar to The Hunger Games at times, which was sad because I really wanted this book to stand out on its own.  It definitely had the potential.  I did have fun trying to figure out where the cities were and which states they traveled through in the final section of the testing.

One aspect of the book I really enjoyed were the relationships formed between the characters.  Cia and a cast of intelligent, manipulative and cunning characters fight for twenty coveted spots in University.  This premise gives characters interesting motives and has me wondering about some motives that have not yet been revealed.  I especially like the Thomas/Cia and Michal/Cia relationship dynamics.  

This book takes the idea of getting into college to a whole new level.  The best of the best are the ones who go on to have important jobs in the government and roles in revitalizing the country.  The idea that the government is looking to restore the country using the best and the brightest is an idea that is unique to this series.

Joelle Charbonneau has begun a crazy journey with this first installment.  I cannot not wait to see how Cia and the others handle the fallout from the first book.

Stars: 4/5

Praise:

"The Testing is a chilling and devious dystopian thriller that all fans of The Hunger Games will simply devour.  Joelle Charbonneau writes with guts and nerve but also great compassion and heart.  Highly recommended."
     --Jonathan Maberry, New York Times best-selling author of Rot & Ruin

"Trained  to rely on her wits, Cia must survive on her courage and trust her instincts, even when it means following her heart ever deeper into danger.  A surefire favorite for dystopian fans, The Testing crackles with suspense, passion and betrayal set against a scarred and brutal world."
     --Sophie Littlefield, author of Unforsaken

Top Ten Tuesday: Characters that would sit at my lunch table

hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

I've got my top five people today!

1.  Toby Cavanaugh (Pretty Little Liars) - Confession time: I haven't actually read any of these books but I absolutely love his character on the show.  If Toby is anything in the books like he is in the show, I think we would be friends if he were real.  He would definitely have a spot on my lunch table.

2. Luna Lovegood (Harry Potter) - She is everything that I wish I had been brave enough to be in high school, and even now sometimes.  I'd like to believe that we would be great friends because of her quirkiness but also her complete lack of caring what other people think.  I would definitely ask her to join me at my lunch table.

3. Turtle Wexler (The Westing Game) - Her intelligent snarkiness would be a perfect for lunch table conversation, especially if she had someone to bounce off.

4. Clay Jensen (13 Reasons Why) - He would be a good person to eat lunch with because he's willing to talk to those that don't often get noticed.  He's genuinely a nice guy.

5. Fred and George Wealsey (Harry Potter) - These guys would be the icing on the cake.  Everyone would laugh and it would be magical.  Plus they are truly decent people who know right from wrong.

This is my short list and I would give anything to eat lunch with these characters!

September TBR: Classics

In the spirit of the beginning of school, I thought it would be good to read some classics that I never got around to in high school and college.  These are all books that have captured my attention at some point and now I'm finally giving myself an opportunity to pick them up.

Currently Reading

• 4:50 From Paddington by Agatha Christie

Possible Candidates

• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
• The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett
• Watership Down by Richard Adams
• Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
• Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
• Atonement by Ian McEwan

September Releases

• Falls the Shadow by Stefanie Gaither (Sept 16)
• I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson (Sept 16)

Book to Movie

• The Maze Runner by James Dashner (Sept 19)

Notable Quotable: Khaled Hosseini (#43)

"One time, when I was very little, I climbed a tree and ate these green, sour apples. My stomach swelled and became hard like a drum, it hurt a lot. Mother said that if I’d just waited for the apples to ripen, I wouldn’t have become sick. So now, whenever I really want something, I try to remember what she said about the apples."
     --The Kite Runner

July/August Book Haul

Hauling My Life Away.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

by Jesse Andrews
published: Amulet Books, 2012
pages: 295

Greg Gaines is a man of little talent but his most impressive one is his ability to slide through life unnoticed and carefree.  Except that he does care quite a bit about what everyone thinks, which is why he has his life down to a science until his mom throws a wrench into it.  After finding out Rachel is diagnosed with Leukemia, he feels obligated to rekindle a friendship with her.  Along with Earl, Greg's only real friend, he makes it his mission to cheer her up but this requires him to break his previously anonymous high school lifestyle.

The cover of this book is a major reason I picked up the book; it's so colorful and the puppet strings are a really cool feature.  It's not exactly the cover you'd expect from a book about cancer, which I think is why it's so enticing.

The book we read is one that is written by Greg and we are reminded several times that he is not a writer, he is a retired film maker which is why the book sucks.  There are sections that read like a script which I like quite a bit because it reveals bits of Greg that we can't see elsewhere.

My biggest issue with this book is that I didn't really care for Greg.  I thought him annoying and much too obnoxious.  With his desire to schmooze everybody and his confessions about how he feels toward Rachel and Earl.  I wanted to like this book more than I did but I just don't.  This book became a victim of the perils of the hype.

More than anything I enjoyed this book because it made me laugh.  It had me giggling next to strangers on an airplane.  The humor is quirky and despite itself insightful.  It's the kind of humor that I would not expect in a book that deals with such a heavy topic.  That's why it comes off so well, the humor combined with Greg and Earl.

Jesse Andrews definitely has a thing going with this book.  It might not be my cup of tea but I would definitely give any of his future books a chance.

Stars: 3/5

Praise:

"Compulsively readable, inevitably bawdy, and very funny."
     --Ron Koertge, author of Stoner & Spaz

"Believable and sympathetic... [Begging] comparisons to John Green's The Fault in Our Stars, it stands on its own in inventiveness, humor and heart."
     --Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"This is one funny book... What's crazy is how moving it becomes in spite of itself."
     --Booklist, starred review

Harry Potter Moment of the Week (#6)

Harry Potter Moment of the Week hosted by Uncorked Thoughts.

Scariest Place in the Books:

Graveyards creep me out to begin with so one of the scariest places in the series is the graveyard where Voldemort's father is buried.  That grave is home to one of the most terrifying moments in the series - when Voldemort comes back in physical form.  Reading about this moment in the books makes my skin crawl every time.