We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach

Synopsis

Four high school seniors put their hopes, hearts, and humanity on the line as an asteroid hurtles toward Earth in this contemporary novel.

They always say that high school is the best time of your life.

Peter, the star basketball player at his school, is worried “they” might actually be right. Meanwhile Eliza can’t wait to escape Seattle—and her reputation—and perfect-on-paper Anita wonders if admission to Princeton is worth the price of abandoning her real dreams. Andy, for his part, doesn’t understand all the fuss about college and career—the future can wait.

Or can it? Because it turns out the future is hurtling through space with the potential to wipe out life on Earth. As these four seniors—along with the rest of the planet—wait to see what damage an asteroid will cause, they must abandon all thoughts of the future and decide how they’re going to spend what remains of the present.

Published Simon & Schuster Books
Released 1st April 2015
ISBN 1481418777 (ISBN13: 9781481418775)  English  We All Looked Up

Review

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review, this does not influence the contents of my review.

What if you found out the world was going you end?

We're to start.....
Beautifully writen to captured all the pain, want and uncertainty of being a teenager. Set in current moden times this tells the story  of a world on the brink of ending. From the prospective  of a  group of students, who come from a diverse mix of back grounds.

Tommy Wallach takes the traditional high school cliques and stereotypes. As the opening quote suggests, the strength of these characters is that it's easy to find little bits of ourselves in them.

I liked how the characters were complex, at times unlikable and often misunderstood in each other's eyes. We get to experience the coming "end of the world" through the eyes of both the religious and the non-believers, through the eyes of a virgin, and through the eyes of someone who sleeps around (and is proud of it), those with loving parents and those without.

Through out the story you are left considering what would happen if the world  was to end? How would you react? What would you do for the ones you love?  

The fluidity of the novel as it moved from one perspective to the next. I'm not a big fan of multiple POV. But i can not imagen this story being told from just a single procpective. Most books with multiple POVs seem to stop and start as we jump from one person's story to the next, but this feels like one continuous tale with all of these very different people's lives  entwine perfectly.

A good book will talk about the things you may  never have thought about before. They talk about things you didn't think anyone else had thought about.  We all looked up will open your eyes and  will have you looking to the sky's. 

This is definitely a book to put on your 2015 to read list.

Author

Tommy Wallach is a Brooklyn-based writer and musician. His first novel, We All Looked Up, will be published by Simon and Schuster in April 2015. His work has appeared in many nice magazines, such as McSweeney's, Tin House, and Wired. He has released an EP with Decca Records, and will be independently putting out an LP in Spring 2014. He also makes music videos, including one that was exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum. You should buy him dinner.

Official Website
http://www.tommywallach.com
Twitter 
tommywallach

Alianated by Melissa Landers

Review

If you were asked to take part in student exchange program would you?
What if it meant you would become alianated from everyone you ever new?

This is the case for Cara Sweeney . Cara is smart talented and has been picked to take an exchange student the only catch is the student is from another planet. After helping earth to cure cancer L'eihr now wants to form an  alliance with Earth.  The student exchange if formed as a way for both planets to get to know each other and become more comfortable with 3 student from each planet being selected.

Aelyx, pronounced A-licks, is Cara student exchange.  Aelyx transition to the human world is difficult,  but Cara makes an effort to help him feel

comfortable in her world.

The alien exchange program isn't supported by all. Protesters begin staking out their school and life for Cara becomes increasingly difficult. As the world she knows turns their back on her for taking part. Including Her best friend, her boyfriend at the time. There are the few L'annabe's as they call themselves that support the program (groupies).

While Cara slowly loose everything she has  known to support and tale part in the program , Aelyx and the other two exchanges students have their own agenda.  They have a plan to stop this alliance but soon Aelyx and one other exchange student start to enjoy life on earth.

Aaelyx was quite a character. When he first arrives it is hard to like him because he seems really pretentious, snooty, distant, and kind of robotic.

Cara was hesitant to accept the program but she never goes back on her word or a good opportunity.  Even as everyone turns against her she stays strong and tries her very best to make Aeylex feel at home.

The story line covers what some people may consider heavy at times I think it is a great example of why you don't have to follow the crowd. That you can stand up for what you believe.

I was really sucked into the story and cam not wait to see that happens next.  It was great to have a lead female who was strong and stood up for what she believes is right. 

Syposis

Two years ago, the aliens made contact. Now Cara Sweeney is going to be sharing a bathroom with one of them. 

Handpicked to host the first-ever L’eihr exchange student, Cara thinks her future is set. Not only does she get a free ride to her dream college, she’ll have inside information about the mysterious L’eihrs that every journalist would kill for. Cara’s blog following is about to skyrocket.

Still, Cara isn’t sure what to think when she meets Aelyx. Humans and L’eihrs have nearly identical DNA, but cold, infuriatingly brilliant Aelyx couldn’t seem more alien. She’s certain about one thing, though: no human boy is this good-looking.

But when Cara's classmates get swept up by anti-L'eihr paranoia, Midtown High School suddenly isn't safe anymore. Threatening notes appear in Cara's locker, and a police officer has to escort her and Aelyx to class. 

Cara finds support in the last person she expected. She realizes that Aelyx isn’t just her only friend; she's fallen hard for him. But Aelyx has been hiding the truth about the purpose of his exchange, and its potentially deadly consequences. Soon Cara will be in for the fight of her life—not just for herself and the boy she loves, but for the future of her planet

Fates (Fates, #1)by Lanie Bross

Synopsis
One moment. One foolish desire. One mistake. And Corinthe lost everything.

She fell from her tranquil life in Pyralis Terra and found herself exiled to the human world. Her punishment? To make sure people's fates unfold according to plan. Now, years later, Corinthe has one last assignment: kill Lucas Kaller. His death will be her ticket home.

But for the first time, Corinthe feels a tingle of doubt. It begins as a lump in her throat, then grows toward her heart, and suddenly she feels like she is falling all over again--this time for a boy she knows she can never have. Because it is written: one of them must live, and one of them must die. In a universe where every moment, every second, every fate has already been decided, where does love fit in?

Review

This is the first time in a long time this has happened but I really didn't enjoy Fates at all.  At times I struggled to get through it.

Corinthe is a fallen Fate who was exiled in the human world and is the one that assures the fate of a person will be carried out to what is destined to them. After several years of doing this, she was told that she can go back home by executing this one job: To kill someone.

As you can imagen the story then becomes a little to predictable and at times drawn out to what was a anti climactic ending.

The cover of this book is beautiful.

I'm sorry to say that this is not a book I will be revisiting.

Aquila by Sue - Ellen Pashley

Synopsis

True love can take you higher than you ever dreamed.Eighteen-year-old Nick Larcombe is a self-confessed non-romantic. 

Until he lays eyes on Grace Carr, who has just moved to Bruny Island with her grandmother, Lillie.Already bruised and battered by life, Grace isn't looking for any sort of relationship, but when Nick, the mysterious boy next door, somehow rescues her from sure death at the bottom of a windswept cliff, Grace needs answers.

But how can Nick give her the answers she needs when he's been sworn to secrecy, ordered to keep his true nature hidden from the girl he's fallen hard for? And what will his community do when they discover he's fallen in love with a human? Intensely romantic, Aquila is a story of sacrifice and passion, and how true love can make you soar.

Review

I was sent a arc through net gallery for my honest opinion

Aquila is the story of finding your inner courage and the strength to stand up for what you believe.

Telling to story of Grace a young girl who has had to deal with the death of her parents and a manipulative and control in boyfriend.  In the hope of help her to deal with what has happened Grace and her grandmother move to a small town in Tasmainia.  Where her life is changed for ever.

The characters were complex at time  but yet they are always relatable.  You can see them as friends  and family.
The alternating of the perspective between the two main characters kept the story moving and made you more fully understand the anguish that each of them felt about the situation. Then the prospective of Henry gives you the story and emotions from every angle. Help you to complete understand how your decisions impact everyone.

It  also tries to show you that who you fall in love with is a decision that you need to make for yourself. Whether that love is based on years of gradually getting to know each other or through “love at first sight”, the decision is yours.

This also has a little magic thrown on which  helps to add a little extra dimension to the story.

I really enjoyed this and found it easy read. This is a perfect weekend read.