Funny enough, I finished this book well before Christmas.  I guess with everything else I've blogged about, I forgot to blog a finish post of the book.  I am rectifying that now.

In the end, I liked it.  It was something a little different.  As stated before, a dystopian society mixed in with the real world.  I've always liked the strong female character and oddly enough, they are popular: Katniss in The Hunger Games, Cassia in Matched and now Lyn.  She's a good addition to the list.

My only feedback, I was expecting the fight to the death to be sooner in the book.  It literally was like the last two chapters of the book.  As much as the back of the book hypes this match up, I was expecting almost half the book to be about it.  I think by the time the match was announced, then the training for the match and then the match itself, the plot line only took up 4 chapters of the book. That's fine, but my expectation was different. 

Other than that, I enjoyed it.  No word yet on a meeting, but I'll keep you posted to see what the other girls think.

I'm liking this book so far.  It's kind of like a dystopia story mixed in with reality.  You have this gladiator lifestyle that's intertwined with the rest of the world and the rest of the world doesn't fully understand this lifestyle and sometimes mocks it and berates it. 

Within this "Glad" life, as those in it call it, you have your dictatorship ruler, in this case a company known as Caesar's Inc and the rules the society must abide by.  Should anyone go against the rules, consequences happen, be it lose of life, lose of home or lose of money.  And Caesar's Inc doesn't make it easy to abide by the rules, either, as they tend to announce new ones or change existing ones to benefit them or the games.  One minute a Gladiator could be a honorable fighter abiding by all the rules and the next they are dishonorable because they broke a rule that came out just 5 minutes prior.  And as with most dystopian dictatorships, Caesar's Inc. spins circumstances to obtain better dramatic effects, such as forcing a 17 year-old girl to marry her father's murderer just so her mother and brother can keep their home.

I have yet to get to the part where our girl gets into the arena, but I am getting close.  I am curious to see how Caesar's Inc. handles this one or the games they'll play to push the outcome to their advantage.  After all, isn't that what all dystopian dictatorships try to do?

I'll keep you posted.

So I started our next book club book.  Actually, I started it awhile ago and just haven't finished it yet.  Thankfully the club doesn't meet until next Wednesday, so I have time.

It's different. It's kind of like Diary of a Wimpy Kid for teenage boys.  I get the appeal of it and it's been a fun read thus far, but I'm having a hard time picturing it in the YA category.  The main character is 14 which makes it the lower end of Young Adult, but I almost feel like it should be classified on the higher end of Middle Grade.  Not my call I guess.

The good thing is it's a quick read, so I will definitely have it read by our meeting next week.  Stay tuned to see what the other girls had to say about it.

I'm not sure if I have much to say at this point.  I'm liking the story and am moving along it quickly, I'm just having a bit of the "I've read this kind of story" feeling.  I feel like dystopian stories are getting to the point where vampires and werewolves are already at, over done.  I'm reading this story going "Ok, we have another dictatorship society where rules are governed to the populaces and now one teen is about to break the rules and possibly bring the society back to where the people can run their own lives."  Sounds familiar, right?  I can almost picture what the end of the series is going to bring.

I don't know.  Like I said, I'm liking the story and I can relate to the characters and what they feel and want.  I'm just hoping something new is presented.

Ok, this time it wasn't my fault.  I started reading this book on a 2 hour train ride to visit a friend and on the second 2 hour train ride to go home, I finished it.  It wasn't a thick book and it was an easy read.  Maybe the next book will be longer and therefore give me time to tell you about it half way.

While I did like this book, I didn't have a "wow this was awesome" kind of feeling.  I'm not sure if the book was meant to have one.  It was a basic story about a girl who embarks on her first relationship and looses her virginity in the process.  Nothing all too remarkable about it.  I did think that Kristen Tracey did a good job in describing the moment.  After reading it, I thought "Yup, that sounds about right."  I also did get that nostalgic feeling I get whenever I read about teenage romances always remembering what it was like for me when I was that age.  What I didn't understand was the whole diabetic thing.

The male in the story recovered from Leukemia and then had a friend who had diabetes.  When he meets our protagonist, she had a clumsy moment and drops a box of apple juice.  Rather than feeling embarrassed, she explains it's for her diabetes.  Then in the end, the hamster she buys for him also has diabetes.  I get the purpose of the last one, the boy needed to find the truth out some how, but what I don't get was the overall purpose.  He gets mad at her for lying about the diabetes, saying she doesn't understand what it's like to have an illness (he does because of the Leukemia).  And maybe that's why.  I just didn't get it.

With books as good as this one, I never get the chance to write a half-way point blog.  I finish it so quickly, that by the time I have a moment to blog about it, I'm already done.  Needless to say, I really liked this book.

At first, when the book jumped from the first Will to the second Will, I didn't know what was happening.  One minute the chapter was grammatically written and the next it was in all lowercase.  I hadn't done any prior research on the book, so I didn't know that the two authors wrote each of the different Wills in alternating chapters: one writing the odd chapters and the other the even chapters.  Once I caught on, though, I was totally into it.

I loved the distinct voices of the two Wills especially when they were interacting with each other.  I loved how they were both assholes in their own way, one because of his rules and the other because of his depression.  I loved the truthfulness of the story despite the rudeness of it (though that makes it even more truthful).  But, most of all, I loved Tiny. 

I just loved the idea of this bigger than life character called Tiny.  He was the heart of the story and the heart of both Wills.  If it wasn't for him, I don't think either Will's plotline would have been the same.  He was definitely my favorite character.

No date yet as to when the book club is meeting, but as always, I will keep you informed.

This books is definitely one to read.  At least that's what I think.  Reading this book had me going through a plethora of emotions, which is usually my sign it's a good book.  Beside the emotions I stated in my earlier blog post, I finished this book having felt sad, angry and happy.

     - Sad: I was sad to see what happened to the girls and the teachers (I won't give details for fear of a spoiling).  I was sad that Liza started questioning herself due to the events that happened. 

     - Angry: I was angry at the reaction of the school when they found out about Liza, saying that she had a disease and needed to be fixed.  It makes me angry to think that there are people in the world that still think this even today.

     - Happy: I was happy about the ending (again, I won't give details).  I was happy to see Liza figure out who she was and what she wanted.

I'm not an emotional person to begin with, but I love the books that can get that kind of rise our of me.  I was literally fuming on the train as I was reading the scene with the school hearing.  In the end, I hated Mrs. Poindexter and Ms. Baxter.  I hated their ignorance and the ignorance they spread to the students including Liza's friend Sally.  What makes it real is that these portrays are accurate.  And society today isn't as bad as it was a decade ago, two decades ago, five decades ago.  I can't even imagine it.  I commend Nancy Garden for writing this story and I am glad it got the acclaim it so deserved.

We'll see what the book club thinks.  We meet June 22st.  Till then.