Let the Storm Break (Sky Fall #2) by Shannon Messenger
Simon Teen, 400 pages
US Release Date: March 4, 2014
Format/Source: ARC via Around the World Tours - thank you!

Vane Weston is haunted. By the searing pull of his bond to Audra. By the lies he’s told to cover for her disappearance. By the treacherous winds that slip into his mind, trying to trap him in his worst nightmares. And as his enemies grow stronger, Vane doesn’t know how much longer he can last on his own.

But Audra’s still running. From her past. From the Gales. Even from Vane, who she doesn’t believe she deserves. And the farther she flees, the more danger she finds. She possesses the secret power her enemy craves, and protecting it might be more than she can handle—especially when she discovers Raiden’s newest weapon.

With the Gale Force weakened by recent attacks, and the power of four collapsing, Vane and Audra are forced to make a choice: keep trusting the failing winds, or turn to the people who’ve betrayed them before. But even if they survive the storms sent to destroy them, will they have anything left to hold on to?
-------------------------------Goodreads Summary
As I always write when reviewing some of these author’s works, I have an obligatory “disclaimer” type: I know Shannon Messenger in real life – I’ve gone to almost every one of her San Diego events, we share a set of friends, we’ve vaguely hung out after events. And I don’t mean this as an “I’m so awesome I know her I’m famous”, I mean it that I know Shannon’s tone and I’ve heard her read from her books. Whenever I read any of her novels, I hear it in her voice in my head.

That all said, I think this book would have been amazing and fun even if I didn’t know her. I’m always afraid that second books in series will just be kind of a boring bridge (I call it Book Two Syndrome), but this one was shockingly not at all! I felt like Let the Storm Break brought a lot more to the story line, and had a nice mix of teenage angst and action along with it. Let the Sky Fall definitely felt a little more of a romance to me, with the windwalking as a bit of a device—but Let the Storm Break really brought the story into itself.

I will have to say I don’t think the characters developed much more though. They’re pretty solid from book one, and they never waver much—which is fantastic since I like Audra and Vane as is. But they don’t surprise me much in this book, and they definitely follow the path we all think they will go on. One one hand, it would have been nice to get one or two more layers to these characters, but I enjoy them as they are, too.

The secondary characters that come in though more than made up for the missing development in the main ones. I adore Gus and everything he brought into the story. I liked Fang/Feng, even though…well. You know. Even the development of Audra’s mom and Raiden was pretty decent, though terrifying as well. There’s some seriously dark stuff in this book, man—some of the tortures and punishments could probably give me nightmares, if I thought about them too long.

Not to say this book is scary, not at all. Shannon does so well pulling humor into it, mixing with the negativity and humanity to make it this really fantastic mix. Vane’s signature sarcasm and teenage boyhood are there in full force, and it’s so much fun. I even liked him around Solana—whose story was sad and beautiful all at once. I feel for her, I really do.

Let the Storm Break is a great second book to the series—it brings in so much plot and action that I felt like it was just more and more intense as the pages went by. I’m eager to see where this goes, where the wind will take them and what it will say them. And with any luck, there will be plenty more Westerly-made haboobs.

Liv, Forever by Amy Talkington
SoHo Press, 280 pages
US Release Date: March 11, 2014 - Today!!
Barnes & Noble | Amazon | IndieBound | TBD

When Liv Bloom lands an art scholarship at Wickham Hall, it’s her ticket out of the foster system. Liv isn’t sure what to make of the school’s weird traditions and rituals, but she couldn’t be happier. For the first time ever, she has her own studio, her own supply of paints. Everything she could want. 

Then she meets Malcolm Astor, a legacy student, a fellow artist, and the one person who’s ever been able to melt her defenses. Liv’s only friend at Wickham, fellow scholarship kid Gabe Nichols, warns her not to get involved, but life is finally going Liv’s way, and all she wants to do is enjoy the ride. 

But Liv’s bliss is doomed. Weeks after arriving, she is viciously murdered and, in death, she discovers that she’s the latest victim of a dark conspiracy that has claimed many lives. Cursed with the ability to see the many ghosts on Wickham’s campus, Gabe is now Liv’s only link to the world of the living. To Malcolm.

Together, Liv, Gabe, and Malcolm fight to expose the terrible truth that haunts the halls of Wickham. But Liv must fight alone to come to grips with the ultimate star-crossed love.
--------------------------Goodreads Summary
My title character, Liv, is an artist. She’s obsessed with art—making it and knowing everything about it. Basically, she sees the world through art. So I thought I’d write here about the ways I tried to layer this obsession into her character and her voice.

First, and most obviously, Liv references artists and artworks. Why? Well, it’s what’s on her mind. It’s just how she thinks. These are her cultural reference points. Like, it’s not about Justin and Selena, it’s about Pablo (Picasso) and Dora (Maar). But my favorite art references are when Liv uses artworks to help explain her emotions.

Like when Malcolm does something really awesome she says:

“Impressive,” I said, downplaying the fact I was dying inside. Brain exploding like a Pollock. Heart melting like one of Dalí’s clocks.

Pollack

Dali

Or when Liv hears something potentially scary about Malcolm, she says:

Something washed over me right then, a feeling of sickness and powerlessness. I was Christina in Andrew Wyeth’s Christina’s World: stranded in a field, helpless and alone. Faceless. And Malcolm was the house: safe, secure, poised on top of the hill. I knew it had all been too good to be true, that there was something wrong with him, there had to be.

Wyeth

Or after Liv and Malcolm first connect, dancing.

Like Klimt’s famous lovers in The Kiss, we formed a single unit, as if we were wrapped in that same glistening, golden robe, protected. We were an island in a swirl of waltzing couples, a steadfast island amid a swarm of conformity.

Klimt

Another thing Liv does is references art materials and artistic styles. Among other things, it was a handy way to describe the way the other ghosts looked to her. Like:

When I turned, I suddenly came face to face with a pale girl. She was faint, as if painted in watercolor.

And, finally, Liv talks about seeing herself and her interactions from different angles, like a painter. Often, she disengages from a scene and imagines it from different vantage point. I hoped these moments would foreshadow when Liv is dead and actually is looking at herself from an invisible, “other” vantage point. All these moments lead up to this moment:

My body was cold and dull. Plump with death. My eyes were clouded, but I looked almost serene. My dark hair spread around my head, kind of like that famous painting of Ophelia floating in the river. Funny, I’d made so many self-portraits and yet I’d never really looked at myself and realized I was actually kind of pretty.

It’s bittersweet, I think. Liv was looking at herself all those years—drawing herself, painting herself—but she wasn’t really seeing herself (or loving herself) until it’s too late.

I’ve posted most of the art references on my website www.amytalkington.com (on the Liv page). If you want to know all the latest on Liv, Forever follow me on Twitter @amytalkington and Tumblr http://amytalkington.tumblr.com/

16 Things I Thought Were True by Janet Gurtler
Sourcebooks Fire, 304 pages
Expected US Release Date: March 4, 2014
Format/Source: eARC via NetGalley - thank you!

Heart attacks happen to other people #thingsIthoughtweretrue

When Morgan's mom gets sick, it's hard not to panic. Without her mother, she would have no one—until she finds out the dad who walked out on her as a baby isn't as far away as she thought...

Adam is a stuck-up, uptight jerk #thingsIthoughtweretrue

Now that they have a summer job together, Morgan's getting to know the real Adam, and he's actually pretty sweet...in a nerdy-hot kind of way. He even offers to go with her to find her dad. Road trip, anyone?

5000 Twitter followers are all the friends I need #thingsIthoughtweretrue

With Adam in the back seat, a hyper chatterbox named Amy behind the wheel, and plenty of Cheetos to fuel their trip, Morgan feels ready for anything. She's not expecting a flat tire, a missed ferry, a fake girlfriend...and that these two people she barely knew before the summer started will become the people she can't imagine living without.
-------------------------Goodreads Summary
I’ve only read one other Janet Gurtler book (review of How I Lost You here!), but I knew even then that she was a force in YA lit. She can tackle so many things, so many emotions with a bravely and raw real approach…reading her books always makes my heart constrict somehow. And 16 Things I Thought Were True was no exception.

First and foremost, I freakin’ love Amy. She comes barging into the book at nonstop and it just takes off from there. She is the perfect supporting character, the perfect new friend, the perfect secondary character that adds and takes away and enhances all the points you want. She has her own personality (does she ever!), and even though she really is loud and candid, she never overtakes Morgan.

I was kind of surprised how much I liked 16 Things I Thought Were True  I don’t really have any first hand knowledge of most of what happens in this book (thank goodness!), but there’s a great amount of emotion that you can relate to. I don’t know what it’s like to have a mother with a heart problem, but I know what it’s like to be scared for her health. While I am thankfully an outsider to the problems, I can feel it all pretty well.

At the same time, what happens…ok. I get it. I don’t want it to have not happened, but I felt like it was a lot to throw into a book so late in the game. There are so many problems and elements of YA novels tossed into this one, I felt a little bit rushed and crammed. Dying mom, absent mom, work drama, viral video, road trip, new love, cancer, lies, tweets, follower goals, ex-best friends…if you can think it, it’s probably somewhere in here. And there were definite moments where the plot was moving fast—almost too fast. Like, 3 sentences would span an entire gammet of emotions. Sometimes I just needed a moment to absorb what was happening.

However, I freakin’ loved so much of all that happens that I was kind of willing to look past it. The road trip was so much fun, and even though quick, it was a fantastically funny and real way to get to know Adam and Amy along with Morgan. I liked the twist with the father and that entire struggle—it was different and not what I expected.

And of course, I have to talk about Adam…I’m not too crazy about him, but he did seem to be pretty real. He wasn’t an immediate Prince Charming, he was kind of a dick for a lot of his parts…but that was kind of appealing. He meshed well with Morgan and the overall tone of the book (I swear I did not mean to call this entire book a dick haha)—it was a good complement to the vibe of the novel, is all. He’s normal, and that in itself is pretty refreshing.

16 Things I Thought Were True tackles a ton of issues (sometimes too many), but so much of it was fun and interesting that I sped through the novel and fell in love a hundred times. I wish to all the bits I have I could be friends with Amy in real life—and while I think the rest of the novel deserves to be read, she is the real reason I will push someone to read this book.