2014 has already come and gone and I have yet to share with you my favorite reads of the year. For those who don’t follow me on social media, the answer as to why is simple: I was dying of the plague. Okay, not really. I REALLY had the flu. And not just one. I had TWO different strands. So for my Christmas vacation, I spent 16 days in bed. Sleeping. Barely moving. Barely reading—which is the real tragedy. But now that we have enjoyed a full two weeks of 2015, let me share with you my favorite reads of 2014. First, I met my Goodreads goal of 115 books. As a matter of fact, I didn’t meet it—I spanked it. By year’s end I read 144 books (mostly YA and mysteries). I really like rounded up numbers, so I am bummed I didn’t reach 145, but hey, since I spanked my original goal, I will take it. Of those 144 boys, below I am sharing with you 15 of my favorite tween/YA reads in no particular order. Enjoy! ‘The Impossible Knife of Memory’ – Laurie Halse Anderson I did...
Title and author: Freak by E.K. Henry
Pages: 176
Release Date: 2012
ISBN: 9781477418635
Source: The author
Summary (from Goodreads):
Being a lower-class human born into a world where vampires rule sucks. No matter how hard Juniper Rayne tries to fit in, she's labeled a freak. When her dad signs the family up to take part in a reality television show, Juniper hopes that it'll give her the edge she needs to shed her freak label.
Unfortunately for Juniper, vampires aren't that accepting.
She decides to take control of her life and become a vampire hunter, instead of continuing to live in her own personal hell any longer.
She will regain control or die trying.
Unfortunately for Juniper, vampires aren't that accepting.
She decides to take control of her life and become a vampire hunter, instead of continuing to live in her own personal hell any longer.
She will regain control or die trying.
My Thoughts:
An intriguing idea that needs a bit of tweaking to make it a must-read, this novel has a lot of potential with people who enjoy Twilight.
What if you were the freak in your school (and by freak, I mean human)? You read that correctly, the human is the freak.
Juniper, our novel’s heroine, is not a vampire. She is human. This alone makes her a freak. As a matter of fact, she is so human that her dad decides the family should be a part of a reality show to help pay the bills. As freaks of society, there is only one job awaiting them: being blood donors. Allowing cameras to come into the home and film the human lifestyle is a great way for vampires to learn to tolerate them, right? WRONG!
No teenager wants to be labeled a freak, and Juniper is no different. She is dealing with the typical teenage angst, just with a camera in her face. This drives her over the edge – she is done with it all. She is so done that she decides to hunt vampires. She wants to take them down. To let them know how it feels to be a freak.
This plot idea will bring readers to the book, but the execution is a little shaky. While I enjoyed the overall idea of the plot and Juniper as a character, the pacing and development need refinement. They were too fast – it was hard to keep up because everything happened so fast that I felt as if I had whiplash.
With that said, this book – and series – has a lot of potential of becoming something quite popular among young readers, especially with the budding romance. For me, it did not work, but I know plenty of young readers who will enjoy it.
And let me not forget that cover. My students readily agree that covers matter, period. It is the cover (and sometimes the title) that draws them to pick up a book in a store/library, and Henry definitely has an advantage with this particular cover.
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