Review: The Smaller Evil - Stephanie Kuehn

The Smaller Evil
Stephanie Kuehn
Series: N/A
Genre: Mystery, Psychological Thriller
Publisher: Dutton Books
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Goodreads 

Thanks to Dutton Books and First to Read for the eARC!

The Smaller Evil was definitely a strange book. Almost the entire time I was reading, I had no idea what was going on; but at the same time, I wanted to keep reading to try and figure it out. In the end, I ended up liking it a lot more than I expected to.

The book starts when Arman decides to go on a week long retreat to help cure his supposed "social sickness." In the middle of nowhere in the woods, attendees are expected to pay thousands of dollars to receive treatment, including activities called "Quarantine," "Vespers," and "Inoculation." If this doesn't scream cult, I don't know what does.

At first I was really annoyed by Arman's point of view - homeboy is always confused. He's got a whole slue of mental health problems going on (anxiety, self harm, possibly ADHD, and what seemed like disassociation), and he's really reliant on affirmation from other people, particularly Beau, the head of the camp. Reading from Arman's perspective made me very uneasy; his anxiety really showed through the writing. At the beginning, I really did not like that about he writing, but as I kept going, I realized how the voice was actually brilliant - Stephanie Kuehn makes the reader feel uneasy, anxious, and confused because Arman is all those things. It wasn't an empathetic feeling in relation to the character like reading other books; it was a feeling forced by the way it was written.

There were also moments in the book that were told from unknown perspectives. I enjoyed the shift to these because they were the parts that really gave the clues for understanding what was going to happen.

I wouldn't say this is a traditional mystery, but it definitely is one. And it is seriously thrilling near the end. This is through and through a psychological thriller - throwing your mind on an adventure of ups and downs. I'm no expert on this genre, but I feel like it was done really well - I never would have expected what was going on.

I've seen a lot of reviews were people didn't understand what happened at the end of the book. While I did understand the end of the mystery, I do feel like the ending was abrupt. I would have liked a little more resolution because where Arman ends up in the end is very vague.

Overall, The Smaller Evil was a strange book that I don't think everyone will enjoy. While Arman is a teenager, I don't feel like the story is really Young Adult. Yes, Arman has a bit of a coming of age story in this book, but it's way more complicated than that. If you're looking for something that will mess with your mind and make you question everything that also has culty vibes, this is definitely the book for you.

- Kiersten

Have you read any psychological thrillers?

Let us know in the comments!

Review: Boys of Summer - Jessica Brody

Boys of Summer
Jessica Brody
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Goodreads 

SIIIIIIGHHHHHHHHH. I tried so hard to like this book because I love easy summer reads and this seemed the type. Hell, summer is even in the name.

Before I delve into the bad, the good: this book was a really quick and easy read. It flowed in a way that only books about a short time span really can, so that was cool. I also liked the attempt at each character developing in their own right -- even the love interests & family members to an extent. This was a breezy book, I can say that much.

Alright alright alright, so the book is about boys during the summertime. So we have three main characters -- Ian. Grayson, and Mike. They all had pretty complex family situations so I did appreciate that. Background which is revealed in the first like, ten seconds of the book so it's not a spoiler I swear: Ian's dad just passed away (he was a soldier) & his mom began drinking because of it, Grayson's mom just left his family without a lot of warning, and his dad is keeping the whole thing under wraps, and Mike's dad just had an accident at work and is basically out of commission in terms of working/taking care of the kids for at least a few months, so money is tight. I liked the diversity of the family issues and I liked that they were all really prevalent in the book and actually make moves to being resolved.

The boys are in the summer before what would be their freshman year of college so you might be able to guess that their hormones are raging. These guys are bffs during the summers only I think, because Mike lives there full time but Ian and Grayson only come to visit. But anyway, one of these bffs date's the other one's sister and another one dates a different bff's ex, and the third one tries to date some random girl but struggles because he still has feelings for his aforementioned ex. Basically their love lives are a shit show, which to be real is what I expect from all breezy summer reads.

So the way this book was set up was alternating PoVs of Grayson, Ian, and Mike. They each had a girl problem they were handling poorly which they kept a secret from the others. They all had a family problem which they kept from the others. They all have like an internal struggle (whether it be a secret, life changing injury, suicidal thoughts, or the desire to run away) which they keep from one another. They're kind of douchy & secretive with one another all through out, which is questionable because I'm like......are you really friends......But anyway. The whole thing just seemed really really formulaic -- here are three secrets. Here are three girl problems. Here are three family issues. Lets combine them all and write them into three PoVs which sound literally the exact same.

My most prominent issue with the book is that it seemed like one voice was telling the whole story, when there were supposed to be three distinct voices. But on top of that, nothing interesting really happened -- literally from the first chapter or two I could tell you exactly how the book would end, with the exception of a couple minor details. It felt so formulaic and generic which I'm sad about because the actual tropes could've been really interesting if it was all resolved differently. Hint: it gets resolved, romantic issue one by one, friend issue one by one, internal struggle issue one by one, and finally family issue one by one. Maybe if it was mixed up a little and had a couple plot twists????

Honestly I don't know. The book was an easy read so I'm not too worked up about it, I just think Brody could do a lot better!! I'll def. look out for other books of hers so I can see if they're any different.

- Amrutha

Does your family have a summer vacation spot?
Let us know in the comments!

Stuffed Animal Saturday: Furthermore - Tahereh Mafi

Stuffed Animal Saturday is a meme that we post here at We Live and Breathe Books to showcase the book we're currently reading with one of our favorite stuffed animals and discuss our stuffed animal's opinion (well, it's really our opinion, but that's besides the point). We hope you enjoy our quirky feature as much as we enjoy writing it!

This Saturday, me and Ralf are reading Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi!

So far: Ralf is really loving Furthermore so far! The way the story is written is really fun and whimsical - it's kind of reminiscent of The Phantom Tollbooth and Alice in Wonderland. Ralf loves how this kind of writing defies your expectation when it comes to a standard for the world or even a turn of phrase. It's very fun! Ralf also loves the whimsical chapter/section headings.

Sneak peek: Ralf thought the first page of Furthermore was particularly striking, so he insisted that be the sneak peek I included! (This is from the ARC, so it is subject to change in the finished copy.)

Once upon a time, a girl was born.     It was rather uneventful.     Her parents were happy enough, the mother glad to be done carrying it, and the father glad to be done with the mystery of it all. But then one day they realized that their baby, the one they'd named Alice, had no pigment at all. Her hair and skin were white as milk; her heart and soul as soft as silk. Her eyes alone had been spared a spot of color: only just clinging to the faintest shade of honey. It was the kind of child her world could not appreciate.     Ferenwood had been built on color. Bursts of it, swaths of it, depths and breadths of it. Its people were known to be the brightest - modeled after the planets, they'd said - and young Alice was deemed simply too dim, even though she knew she was not. Once upon a time, a girl was forgot.

We can't wait to see where this story goes!

- Kiersten

Are you and your stuffed animal reading anything interesting? 

Let us know in your own Stuffed Animal Saturday!

Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer - Michelle Hodkin

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
Michelle Hodkin
Series: Mara Dyer, #1
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Psychological Thriller
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Goodreads 

I'm not 100% sure how I feel about this book. I keep alternating between liking it and disliking it -- there were some parts that worked for me and some that didn't (like any book) but it feels so heavily split between the work/didn't work sides that my feelings are super mixed.

One of the things I found kinda not-so-great was the writing. At first I didn't really notice anything about the style -- it wasn't too detail-oriented but I liked Mara's narration and viewing the story through her lens, especially all the ends of the flashbacks and the hallucinations. Except at some point I was FaceTiming with my friend and jokingly reading a passage aloud and I realized the writing sounded super awkward when I read it aloud. That's not generally a basis for judging books for me, but I paid closer attention to the words and a lot of it felt like forced or awkward writing. The dialogue was the weirdest. It often didn't sound natural. I remember one scene where Mara is waiting for her brother and says "You've got some 'splaining to do" when she sees him and I think I genuinely cringed at how awkward and uncomfortable that piece of dialogue was.

Putting aside the parts that clearly read weird though, I definitely didn't go through the whole book thinking "wow this is written so terribly when will it end" so if you find the story interesting don't let the writing deter you, it isn't a major negative factor or anything, just something I wanted to mention. The story itself focuses on Mara Dyer, who moves away after her three friends die in a terrible accident she survives but has no memory of and ends up suffering from severe PTSD as a result.

Something I liked was that Mara wasn't a totally reliable narrator. Her hallucinations influenced a lot of what she experienced and every time I was introduced to a character I watched to see if they would interact with anyone other than her because I kept expecting the "they're actually a hallucination" trick. However, other than her severe mental instability, I felt that Mara wasn't developed enough as a character. I felt like I had no idea what her personality was beyond "always worried her mom would be on her case." Some of the other characters were more developed, like her entire family, her friend Jamie (who was so cool but for some reason Hodkin decided to cut away his page time after a certain point) and even Noah, the Love Interest.

Speaking of Noah, the love angle of the story is really the biggest negative for me. This book could have been so cool. Mara could have explored so much of what made her different and how it worked and why it was happening. And YET. The entire book was focused on this Bad Boy rescuing her from the confines of private school and it was all about the exploration of their love and I am 10000% here for cutesy love stories and romance books and love plots but like there was such potential for an exciting terrifying killer paranormal plot and it just got shoved to the side for pages of them riding in his car and her refusing to kiss him because it's gross. Yes, I do realize there are two more books and the weird stuff will probably be explored more there but 1. in this book, it felt tacked on at the end, like an afterthought 2. I wish it was built up more in this book so I knew a little more about what I was going into in the next book. I feel like I could have read the first 20 pages and the last 20 pages and been okay for the sequel honestly because everything that happened in the middle was just...for funsies.

The only reason I feel mixed is because the concept is interesting and the ending left off on such a cliffhanger that I want to see how this series continues. I feel like it deserves credit for making me want to know how the paranormal aspects work without just looking them up online. I probably will read the next two books sometime but I'll probably take them out from the library or something because I'm not invested enough to pay for them. Overall, I wish it had more creepiness and less sappiness but it still seems like it could be a promising series.

- Noor

Have you read any good paranormal books lately?
Let us know in the comments!

Review: Nevernight - Jay Kristoff

Nevernight
Jay Kristoff
Series: The Nevernight Chronicle, #1
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Goodreads 

Thanks to Thomas Dunne Books for the eARC I received via NetGalley!

After reading and absolutely loving Illuminae and Gemina, I was really excited to get approved for Nevernight. Jay Kristoff, once again, did not disappoint with this one!

Nevernight follows Mia Corvere, an orphan who wants nothing more than to avenge her family's murder. The book begins as Mia sets off for the Red Church, a school of assassins, in hopes to become a Blade of the Lady of Blessed Murder. While the acolytes navigate the brutal lessons in swordplay, poisons, seduction, and theft, someone in the Church is murdering the acolytes.

I really loved the world that Jay Kristoff built in Nevernight. The title comes from the fact that this world has three suns and almost no night time as we know it - all three suns only set about every three years. It was so interesting to read about a world like this, seeing how it changed the dynamic of the world and even the terminology. The suns are also deeply rooted in the religion of this world, and I really enjoyed how detailed all the myths were in the book. Hearing the myths in Nevernight was reminiscent of how I feel reading Greek mythology tidbits in Percy Jackson books - it felt like such a real thing that a society could be built around, especially with the main god feeling so threatened by having sons.

In terms of the style of Nevernight, it definitely gave me some Game of Thrones vibes (I've only watched the show, so I can't speak to the actual writing of the ASOIAF series). When I started reading Nevernight, I couldn't help but have Arya Stark feels towards Mia - a young girl navigating a city on her own, learning to be brutal every step of the way. Of course the story itself is completely different, but I think that it would appeal to a similar audience.

I've seen some people saying they felt like the writing of Nevernight was dense, but I really enjoyed the writing style. It had such a fantasy feeling, and I particularly loved the voice of the footnotes. The voice of the footnotes reminded me of the introduction to the Haunted Mansion ride at Disney - you're in a room filled with pleasant portraits, and as the room descends, the portraits extend into macabre portraits of death with this creepy foreboding voice signaling your doom. The other thing I really enjoyed about the footnotes was the way it made the book feel like the chronicling of a legend rather than a novel; as if Mia's adventures were so noteworthy to be worth eternalizing in print - and this was only the beginning.

As for Mia, I absolutely LOVED her! Mia is fierce, snarky, cunning, and calculating, but she is also compassionate, kind, and fiercely loyal. While this book is about Mia training to be a deadly assassin, Mia is still a damaged and unsure young woman. Mia struggles with her feelings towards other people, trying to remain brutal and ruthless even though maybe she isn't those things. With a sidekick called Mister Kindly, there's just something so charming about Mia. Finally there is a rival with Celaena Sardothien for my favorite assassin.

There has been some debate about whether or not this book is YA, so I figured I'd put my two cents in on the subject. The main character of the book is technically a young adult - Mia is 16-years-old. There is a lot of mature content in this book, which is why many people feel like it is more of an adult novel; however, I feel like there's a certain coming of age story built into this that could be meaningful for a young adult audience. I would say, in general, that if you feel comfortable watching Game of Thrones (or you feel comfortable letting your child watch Game of Thrones for parents), then this book will be ok for you in terms of content.

Honestly, I can't even believe Nevernight - it was SO GOOD! I'm so excited to see where this series goes and to read even more from Mr. Kristoff. I highly recommend this new series to all fantasy fans - especially fans of Throne of Glass, Game of Thrones, and A Girl of Fire and Thorns!

I seriously need to check out The Lotus War series now. I NEED MORE JAY KRISTOFF BOOKS IN MY LIFE.

Also, some shameless self promotion of my Nevernight bookstagram picture:

A photo posted by We Live and Breathe Books (@wlabb) on Jul 27, 2016 at 3:58pm PDT

- Kiersten

Who is your favorite fierce heroine?

Let us know in the comments!