Rebellion by J. A. Souders

Series: The Elysium Chronicles (bk. 3)

Genera: Dystopian Sci-fi/Romance

Subjects: underwater colonies, Florida, love, memory, brain-washing, psychological, nanotechnology

Setting: Florida and a sea colony called Elysium

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, present tense, rotating between Evie and Gavin

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 333 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $18.99

Publisher: MacMillan: TorTeen

Summary/ product description: “The thrilling conclusion to J. A. Souders’s riveting SF psychological thriller series for teens

In this conclusion to J. A. Souders’s thrilling, twist-filled Elysium Chronicles series, Evie Winters and Gavin Hunter return to the isolated, dangerous underwater city that they fought so hard to escape.

Back in Elysium at last, Evie has finally found her true-self hidden under layers and layers of false memories implanted by the woman she knew as Mother. Thanks to the intervention of her father, she knows the horrible truth about Mother and her insidious plans for her city. With the help of the love of her life, Gavin, and her best friend, Asher St. James, she’s determined to free her people from the cruel dictatorship of Mother’s laws. But how do you free people who don’t know they need rescuing?

Working with the growing Underground rebellion, Evie tries to remove Mother from her position by force—with disastrous results. As the body count rises, Evie must find a way to save Elysium before Mother destroys them all.”

My Review: Rebellion is the finale to the Elysium trilogy. If you are unfamiliar with the series, it’s set in an under water sea colony that used to be a resort, but then a woman who calls herself mother killed her father, the owner and took over. Evie is her daughter, but not by birth. Evie keeps getting her memories erased. There’s a boy named Gavin who comes from the surface and romance happens. I recommend it if you like dystopians or the idea of sea colonies. If you have not read the series, then spoilers ahead because this is a review of the final book.

This book, like the previous book, is told from 2 point-of views: Evie and Gavin. I don’t recall the first book having Gavin’s POV. Evie knows that she used to be an Enforcer and she met her birthmother. She meets a woman named Nadia and discovers the Underground, the people living in a place called the Caverns in an underdeveloped hidden section of Elysium. They are planning a rebellion against mother. Also Gavin has to go to the surface because the other have nanites in them that could wipe their memories it the leave.

Gavin goes to his mother, who thought he was dead. Apparently his little brother angered the mayor of their village and now they’re not allowed to trade or be full citizens. Gavin gets pissed about this and the mayor tries to bribe Gavin for information on his son Asher and Evie’s whereabouts. Meanwhile Evie and the Underground come up with a plan that involves wearing mask with her face on them and gaining the trust of the citizens and help to take down mother.

I was a bit disappointed with this finale. I loved the first two books, but this one felt lacking and also the ending left a lot of questions, as crazy as it was. There was not as much romance or action or adventure. Having to wait and extra year to read this book that was not worth the wait. I still like the character and love the setting, but this felt like it was trying to imitate other dystopian finales at least until the very end. I just wish things went differently.

Cover Art Review: I like the cover. Evie is wearing an Enforcer cloak here. I’m not sure if the dress is what they wear too.

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Nothing Bad is Going to Happen by Kathleen Hale

Series: No One Else Can Have You (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Realistic Fiction/Mystery

Subjects: humor, comedy, murder, mystery, small towns, winter

Setting: Friendship, Wisconsin (which is north of the Wisconsin Dells) before Halloween

POV/Tense: 1st person present tense. Kippy’s POV.

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 260 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/ product description: “Geeze Louise, for such a small town, there sure are a lot of murders in Friendship, Wisconsin.

After helping to catch the man who murdered her best friend, Kippy Bushman was looking forward to life returning to normal. Well, at least as normal as it could get in a town like hers. But then the unthinkable happens: Kippy finds her boyfriend, Davey, in his house, barely breathing and surrounded by pills and empty beer bottles.

The sheriff is quick to rule the incident an attempted suicide, but Kippy refuses to believe it. She and Davey are completely in love; there’s no way he’d ever hurt himself. Right?

Kippy swears she saw someone else at Davey’s house that night and is convinced that person tried to murder him. Without any real evidence, though, no one—not even Kippy’s own father—believes her. So she has no choice but to team up with her former nemesis, Bible-thumping Libby, to try to catch this new killer. But in a town where everyone has their own secrets and a next-door neighbor could be a serial killer, who’s left to trust?”

My Review: Nothing Bad is Going to Happen is the hilarious sequel to No One Else Can Have You. I don’t think there will be a 3^rd book, but ya never know. Anyways, despite what other reviewers think, this book was pretty awesome. Maybe they were just being jerks, don’tcha know?

Kippy Bushman was almost murdered and has a leg cast to prove it. She caught her best friend’s killer, but the Sheriff took the credit for it, and made her look like a crazy person. The killer was a friend named Ralph who’s totally a sociopath and now locked up in Green Bay Correctional Facility. He keeps sending her creepy letters and calling her.

When Kippy find her boyfriend passed out on the night they planned to have sex, she calls 911. She think she saw a shadow figure and that no way could Davey commit suicide, but they rule it as attempted suicide because the bottles of alcohol and empty pill bottle. Kippy enlists Libby, a girl who used to be mean to her, but who’s now her only ally, to help her find evidence of Davey’s attempted murder. Filled with mystery, crazy twists and hilarious laughs, it’s the perfect sequel.

This book series is set in (Wisconsin) the hat of the state I live in (Illinois), I place I love dearly and the state that I visited the most. I’ve seen more of Wisconsin than Illinois. And I’m familiar with Wisconsinisms and their love of the Packers and cheese and all that. Friendship, Wisconsin is a real town near Baraboo, which I camped at Devil’s Lake State Park last year. The real Friendship, of course, is nothing like the one in the books.

The humor in this book is my favorite part. Sometimes it’s very dirty and full of swearing and things that make me cringe just thinking of because it sound erotic, but I cracked up reading this so many times that I sure that if I had read this in public, people would be staring at me. I think the characters came along better in this sequel. Kippy seems less strange and more smart than she did in the first book. Libby’s nice to her now and really helpful. Rose, the anger management counselor, is now dating Kippy’s dad Dom. Rosa is so hilarious. She’s Polish and speaks in broken English and calls Kippy by the most hilarious pet names, like Mud Dumpling, and says things like “Soup is on.” I’m like 20% Polish myself and I find her hilarious.

I recommend this series to people who love watching comedies, or reading books by Heather Keeble or Gretchen McNeil.

Cover Art Review: I love the donuts! They’re so cute….until you read the book and realize why they’re on the cover.

No One Else Can Have You by Kathleen Hale

Series: No One Else Can Have You (bk. 1)

Genera(s): Realistic Fiction/Murder Mystery

Subjects: humor, comedy, murder, mystery, friendship, death 

Setting: Friendship, Wisconsin (which is north of the Wisconsin Dells) before Halloween 

POV/Tense: 1^st person present tense. Kippy’s POV.

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 380 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/product description: “Small towns are nothing if not friendly. Friendship, Wisconsin (population: 689 688) is no different. Around here, everyone wears a smile. And no one ever locks their doors. Until, that is, high school sweetheart Ruth Fried is found murdered. Strung up like a scarecrow in the middle of a cornfield.

Unfortunately, Friendship’s police are more adept at looking for lost pets than catching killers. So Ruth’s best friend, Kippy Bushman, armed with only her tenacious Midwestern spirit and Ruth’s secret diary (which Ruth’s mother had asked her to read in order to redact any, you know, sex parts), sets out to find the murderer. But in a quiet town like Friendship—where no one is a suspect—anyone could be the killer.”

My Review: No One Else Can Have You was a hilarious book. It was chomp full of ridiculousness and completely un-put-downable. It felt like I was reading a comedy movie, like one of those parodies? Like Scary Movie? Maybe this could be Murder Mystery Movie? This book was a comical teen murder mystery set in the small town of Friendship, Wisconsin. 

Friendship is an actual town in Wisconsin, and it’s north of the Wisconsin Dells. I never actually visited Friendship, but I’ve been through some of the nearby towns. I have family in Wisconsin, near Madison, Milwaukee and even in the north woods near Park Falls, where my grandma grew up. I’m very familiar with the state and have been there like a hundred times. This book makes fun of the state’s stereotypes, but not in an overly offensive way. Not many people there actually say “Don’t-cha know” or “You betcha” all the time. Some people there do have an accent, but some sound just like the people here in Illinois and Chicagoland or just the general Midwest. There are a lot of deer, but not many moose unless you’re way up north. 

The characters are all pretty interesting and have their unique quirks. Kippy has some very odd obsessions. She always watches reports by Diane Sawyer, her idol. It’s constantly mentioned.  She thinks some pretty random things and we get a lot of background and phases she’s gone though. Kippy seems very smart, but does some very dumb things. She completely messes up her eulogy speech at Ruth’s funeral. Ruth was her only friend, and she receives her diary. Ruth has said some very mean things about Kippy in her diary. Ruth’s brother, Davey, who came home from Afghanistan with a missing finger, also freaks out at the funeral/memorial service. The popular guy who was dating Ruth, Colt Witacomb, is charged with murder, but Davey doesn’t think Colt did it. 

When Kippy is finally convinced that Davey is right, she helps him by looking into Ruth diary for clues. She goes into investigation modes and lists suspects. She also compiles a list of attributes for people to qualify suspects. I a small town where everyone’s friendly, anybody can be a suspect, but only few have motive. The books turns into a crazy thrill/laugh ride full of twist and improbable turns. 

Most of the book does read as a comedy and it isn’t until the end that it becomes more like psychological horror, but still funny. There’s even some romance! It’s a really fun and bizarre book. It maybe be “realistic fiction” but it’s so random that it didn’t feel like the real world. It was never boring or dull. It’s light and fun and really easy to read really fast. The characters are relatable in an awkward way. Small-town America is strange, and truth is stranger than fiction sometimes. Anyways, so I can relate to Kippy in some ways. This book can make you feel good about your self. It’s worth reading. I recommend it to people who love watching comedies, or reading books by Heather Keeble or Gretchen McNeil.

Cover Art Review: I love this cover. It’s funny and quirky like the story. It’s like a knit sweater and there’s a deer that hanging. It’s pure genius.