Now I Really Want To Go Surfing

Second Star, Alyssa B. Sheinmel

A retelling of Peter Pan, this one is a beautiful, haunting summer read. It will make you long for the sun and sand and have you grabbing your surf board and wetsuit to catch some waves.

Our main character, Wendy, has just graduated from high school and is the only person that believes that her missing twin brothers are still alive. Her parents and friends believe the story that the police told them, that John and Michael disappeared surfing a legendarily huge wave in January. So, Wendy decides to spend the summer finding her brothers and proving that they're out there.

Her journey brings her to Kensington, a perfect surfing cove home to a family of lost teenagers and a surfing drug dealer with a heart of gold. My favorite part of the book was probably the descriptions of her time at Kensington, with its perfect waves and the family of boys living there. While there, she also learns to surf which absolutely one hundred percent made me want to pick my board up again.

This one is a relatively quick read but it's beautiful and haunting and full of feels and a perfect way to kick off summer. It has a mystical, beautiful feel to it and lyrical, descriptive writing that will put you right there on the beach in California with Wendy, Pete and Belle.

An ideal read to get you in the summer mood and remind you that summer (and first love) are fleeting so you should appreciate them while you can.

Unlike Anything I've Read Before, And Not Just Because of the Giant Grasshoppers

Grasshopper Jungle, Andrew Smith

This book received a lot of buzz in the months leading up to its publication, and with good reason. There were heaps of shiny, complimentary advance reviews and pictures on the front of Indie list, and I must say that the novel doesn't disappoint in the slightest.

After reading Winger, Andrew Smith quickly became an author that I wanted to watch. I thought that he had written a brilliant piece that was able to transition from a light hearted, amusing tale to something meaningful and thought provoking. So, when this one came out, I was curious and excited to read it.

The premise is a bit odd: Austin and his best friend Robby accidentally bring about the end of humanity by unleashing an army of giant praying mantises upon their small town. However, the book is so much more than that and it is absolutely unlike anything else I have ever read, and not just because of the human sized grasshoppers.

The story is funny, multilayered, interesting and surprising, and the end is absolutely fantastically executed.

Some highlights from my point of view:

Austin is constantly questioning his sexuality and Smith doesn't hold back from realistically describing the horniness of a teenage boy.

Despite being about giant grasshoppers, this book feels almost more realistic than anything else I've read. It doesn't feel like sci-fi, fantasy or dystopia but like realistic fiction.

The way that it's written ties all of these little tiny pieces together into a massive web and shows the consequences and interconnections between each piece brilliantly. This aspect is slightly mind blowingly brilliant.

You will laugh out loud at moments like Austin getting in trouble for writing an essay about Catholic boys masturbating in The Chocolate War.

This is one of the most unique and entertaining novels that I've read in a long time, and Smith has created something that is incomparable in my book. The writing style, characters, and plot are incredibly written and this is a novel that has stuck in my mind and which I am constantly recommending to readers. A true delight to read.

A Messy Wonderful Heart Eating Character Study

Sinner, Maggie Stiefvater

Sinner is all of the things that I said above, messy, wonderful, heart eating and much more.

With main characters Isabel Culpeper and Cole St. Clair, this one was bound to hurt at least a little. Revisiting the Shiver universe, this novel answers the dangling question of their unresolved storyline and follows their attempts to keep going, day after day. Cole goes out to L.A. for Isabel, but nothing is ever easy with the two of them, and redemption is a long road for two sinners.

Both characters are gloriously damaged, broken and misunderstood by the world, and Stiefvater does a wonderful job conveying their brokenness as the two of them try to sort themselves out. As Cole tries not to crash and burn (again) on a reality show, and Isabel tries to lose the ability to feel, they gravitate around each other, constantly pulling back together even when logic advises otherwise. Cole obsesses over his inability to lose his past self, and Isabel can't understand why she has to feel everything when it would be so much easier to just let it all go.

At its heart, this is a novel about two broken people trying to find solace in each other, and at its heart it is a character study. Stiefvater is a master of writing complex, realistic, believable characters and this is some of her best work. All of the characters are stellar, from Cole and Isabel to some new favorites of mine, Leon (a chauffeur who becomes a project of Cole's) and Sofia (Isabel's neurotic and endearing cousin).

In addition to the characters, Stiefvater (who I understood took a trip to L.A. as "research" for this novel) makes L.A. into a neon wonderland, a place where pretty and ugly feed off of each other, pop stars have warehouses of sky blue cars and people are always looking out for disasters. The city becomes a character in itself, so vibrant and real that you feel as if you are there, with the sand under your toes and the sun beating down over the black and white cars stuck in traffic.

Fans of the Shiver trilogy will rejoice in small cameos from Grace and Sam, and revel in the return to Isabel and Cole's relationship. Truly one of the best novels Stiefvater has ever written, a masterpiece of heartache, longing and the pain of feeling things too strongly.

Warning: readers prepare yourselves because this book brings the feels. 

Sinner will be on sale on July 1, 2014.