Because it is My Blood by Gabrielle Zevin

My first ever Zevin was All These Things I've Done and remembered how devoured I was by it. AND NOW THE SEQUEL!!!

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The story of Anya Balanchine (daughter of notorious mafia chocolatier) moves forward in this second installment of the Birthright Trilogy.

Our heroine takes the fall. Anya goes back to Liberty (a correctional center) by the orchestration of Charles Delacroix. Although she saved his son's life, Charles coaxes her into agreeing to dance along in his music in correspondence to the on-going elections.

When Anya goes back to her old life, she finds it hard to recuperate into what used to be. With her stained reputation, it's highly doubtful Holy Trinity School would accept her.

Bertha Sinclair, Charles Delacroix's competition in the said election, pays an exorbitant amount of money to Holy Trinity in exchange of Anya's readmission.

Anya goes back to school. With Win (her ex-boyfriend) seeming to have moved on from her to Alison Wheeler, the situation only worsens when a paparazzi photo of her and Win holding hands surfaces.

Charles Delacroix sends Anya back to Liberty for disobeying their earlier agreement.

Anya escapes Liberty and heads on over to Mexico. She is welcomed their by Sophia's (cousin Mickey's wife) family. She learns a lot about cacao farming and begins to get fond of the Marquez's (especially Theo, a 19-year-old boy who is heir to the family's chocolate business).

In Mexico, someone tries to kill Anya. In New York and Japan, the same is said to have happened to her siblings.

She goes back to New York.

What happens then? Who is trying to kill her and her remaining family? Who wins the elections? Will she and Win get back together?

Well, I bet you know what to do to find out!

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I don't think I'll ever find a series as fast-paced, intriguing and has an oh-my-gosh-I-have-important-things-to-do-but-I-really-wanna-finish-this-book-today-so-"important"-can-wait effect on me like this one.

It felt like watching a movie sequel. Like going back to your hometown in summer. I can't wait for the last book to be out!

Fixing Delilah by Sarah Ockler

The title and the cover is enough to intrigue an avid YA reader like me. And it delivers to these expectations.

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Fixing Delilah is a story about a 17-year-old girl named Delilah Hannaford who has an overbearing workaholic single mom. In between high school photo scandals and meaningless late night sex in Seven Mile Creek with her so-called non-boyfriend Finn, she struggles to put her life back on track in this life-changing summer that solves all of her questions for good.

From Key, Pennsylvania (where she and her mom resides) to Red Falls Lake, Vermont (where their ancestral home is located), the remaining three Hannaford women (with Delilah's aunt, Rachel) tries to fix the broken pieces of their lives in the process of burying Delilah's grandmother Elizabeth Rose Hannaford.

With all the unsolved family mysteries beginning with the tragic death of her late Aunt Stephanie to the weird, cranky and aloof attitude her grandma was known for, it seems like Delilah's mom doesn't want her anything to do with it.

Being left in the dark with no idea whatsoever of how it all really went down eight years ago when they stopped going to Red Falls for their annual summer vacations, Delilah is coincidentally rewarded by circumstance of her late aunt's diary.

But wait, there's more!

On top of everything that's happening, more complications materialize for our protagonist. Delilah begins to have serious special feelings for her aspiring singer/songwriter-slash-heir-to-the-family-biz-which-is-a-construction-company (so you can see how hard it is for his dreams to take its course) childhood sweetheart Patrick a.k.a Little Ricky.

BUT who is this Emily who works at Luna's Cafe where Patrick does his weekly gigs and is the granddaughter of Luna herself? Is she a serious threat? Will Delilah get all the missing pieces together? Is the father she grew up knowing her real father?

See for yourself and discover how Fixing Delilah will fix Delilah!

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What a jam-packed novel! Drama. Mystery. Romance. If you're currently bored with your bland nothing-exciting-ever-happens life, you should read this and then go back to your life afterwards, grateful for its boringness.

This novel is something. It didn't go with any of my earlier predictions of how it all went down eight years ago. It sure knows how to keep the readers guessing. I am so excited to read Twenty Boy Summer!

A feel good, feel bad, feel the romance kind of novel. Here's to wishing summers would complete you like it did Delilah.

2012 Reviewed Books (book covers)

In 2012, I've reviewed around 47 books. I've never really thought I'd be doing something so cathartic if I may say so. I'm just happy with my little blogger life. These are my twenty-twelves!

                                              

Going Bovine by Libba Bray

At first, I didn't jibe well with this book but as you go along, you understand it. Maybe even love it. And I did!

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Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease otherwise known as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (mad cow disease) is what our semi-anti-social vinyl-record-lovin' protagonist Cameron John Smith mysteriously acquired.

When his health starts to deteriorate, a punk rock angel named Dulcie appears and gives Cameron a mission. She tells her about time traveling, parallel universe, dark energies and a certain Dr. X who can cure him off of mad cow disease.

Dulcie tells Cameron to bring OCD-germophobic little dude (dwarfism) Paul Ignacio "Gonzo" Gonzales along with him on the quest.

Gonzo and Cameron escapes the hospital and starts their journey of finding Dr. X!

Will they succeed? Will they save the universe? Will they get rid of the dark energies? Is Cameron going to live? Is this journey but a dream or is it for real?

Have a very intelligent and ambitious ride in every moment you read Going Bovine!

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I would like to fill this corner of my blog post with excerpts from the book so you be the judge at how awesome it truly is.

"I am Morpheus," he says, and the speakers carry his deep voice for blocks. "We all walk in a land of dreams. For what are we but atoms and hope, a handful of stardust and sinew. We are weary travelers trying to find our way home on a road that never ends. Am I part of your dream? Or are you but a part of mine? Welcome my brother, Phantasos, for this is surely a phantas-magoria, a fantasy world, and we are all players."

"I just don't think happiness is a sustainable state. You can't have it all the time. That much happiness makes people unhappy. And then they start looking for trouble. They start looking for the next thing that's going to make them happy--a happiness fix. -Library Girl at CRESSNAB (Church of Everlasting Satisfaction and Snack 'N' Bowl)

I think about dying every day, because I cant stop thinking about the living. -Cameron

"Everyone's dying Cameron. A little everyday. Make it count." -Dulcie

And when it comes, her kiss is like something not so much felt as found. -Cameron

I would describe this book with Cameron's last narrations, And there's nothing to say but wow. Wow. The same word backward and forward.

Wow! This book is totally wow. I like how it all intertwined seamlessly at the end. I love the witty/funny chapter titles. I love the comedy. I love the drama. I love the harsh realities. I love the fantasy! The dynamics! The characters! The friendship between Gonzo and Cameron. It was bittersweet like any other marvelous novel out there and it truly deserves the Printz award.

It had a subtle way of introducing ideas in your mind. It was done so flawlessly in the plot and we all know reading a book requires a lot of investment, it doesn't just give you words but asks so much in return and i'm happy I read this because I learned. 

For me and Going Bovine, it was a two-way love affair.