Best YA Books of 2012

Okay, so I know this post is kind of late. Originally, it was due before Christmas, but because of the holidays, it was pushed back to until now. And I know me and Sarah haven't been posting a lot lately, but we'll be back in 2013 with awesome new posts! For now, posts will come about once or twice a week until we adjust to the new schedule in January...2013 (can you believe the year's almost over?)! 

This illustration belongs to chibird of chibird.tumblr.com.

But anyways, I'm here to list my top favorite books of 2012! And trust me, a lot of good books have shown up this year. YA book covers just keep getting better and better...

 Everneath by Brodi Ashton

I know Sarah has reviewed this one recently, but I read this one way back in January 2012 and I literally fell in love with it. The cover is absolutely gorgeous (though in Sarah's BATCH, she has mentioned the legs look weird & I cannot see it in the same way again), the plot is heartbreakingly beautiful and Jack/Cole. Plus, it's fast paced and keeps your attention. It's perfect for a rainy day read. I've re-read Everneath over and over, but I never get tired of it. If only the sequel, Everbound, will come out earlier....(counting down: about 23 more days!)



Insurgent by Veronica Roth

I admit, though Insurgent isn't as good as Divergent, I have a soft spot for it. And standing alone, it is a fantastic book, which is why I thought it deserved a spot on the list. Tris was still an entertaining character to read about, even if she grew slightly weaker. Tobias started to show more of his personality, which I enjoyed. The ending -- that cliffhanger-- really killed me though. I need the last book in the trilogy now!

Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris

Yup, you've all seen my review on this book and you probably saw my WoW post for its sequel, Unbreakable, AND OHMYGOSH YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK NOW AND BUY IT AT THE BOOKSTORE AND LOOK AT ITS BEAUTIFUL COVER. That is how awesome it is; it deserves to be read! Janelle is such a strong main character who isn't weak at all; Ben may be in the running for "Best YA Boyfriend" against Jack of Everneath. And even though in my review, it is a four 1/2 stars, it is 5 stars in my heart. And if the sequel won't come out any sooner, I might go crazy. Plus, the cover of Unraveling doesn't hurt either.(:

What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang

Okay, so I know my review for this never appeared on Umbrella Dreams, but it will..sometime in January. I know I'm kind of behind schedule, but I've read the whole book from cover to cover so can I just put it on this list because it's so wonderfully amazingly beautiful? In one sentence to describe this book: What's Left of Me is a story with an amazing cover and an even better story that involves two souls in one body and it is the story of Eva, a girl I'd like to have as my best friend if she came to life outside of the book.

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Technically, this was released in November 2011, but I read it in early January, so I'll put this on here. Shatter Me is one of those really good books that you make you feel like you're living in them. There's a lot of good action and Warner (the villain) is a really 3-D creepy antagonist. Shatter Me is up there with Divergent and Insurgent for best dystopian book of the year. 

Yup! So that's it! There's my list of best 2012 reads. Hopefully in 2013, there will be even more great YA books!

Happy Holidays + Merry Christmas!

So, like the title says, Merry Christmas! I know this post is kind of late, considering Christmas is almost over, but I felt like I needed to say that.

It's been a great two months and Umbrella Dreams would be nowhere without you guys! Thanks for reading my and Sarah's blog. With all the template changes, our blog will probably have some technical issues so thank you for not complaining.

We're also very apologetic for the lack of posts this month. We have had some reviews here and there, along with some BATCH posts, but we haven't gotten to share much about books. Our goal for the new 2013 year will be to consistently post more.

With the holiday season ending, me and Sarah are happy to present you with more YA books!

Stay tuned for more books! And have a happy holiday!

BATCH (4)

Recap: BATCH is a meme created by Sarah. It is about anything cover-related. This week, we would like to introduce:

Books That We Read Because of Their Covers + the Results

Nicole's Thoughts:

Okay, so looking back, I realized that this cover wasn't as amazing as I remembered it to be. However, it has that simple look to it which I still like.

But anyways, the story is that I picked North of Beautiful up at Barnes & Noble. The reason why I did that was because it looked like the cover of Evermore by Alyson Noel (which I used to really like, but recently realized I hate it)

Of course, I didn't buy the book at Barnes & Noble. I have this weird habit of buying books I've read and liked. That's why my bookshelf is full of my most absolute favorites. But I couldn't help but check out North of Beautiful at the library, expecting to like it as much as I (used) to like Evermore, its cover twin.

I was wrong to expect that. Firstly, the book wasn't bad, but it didn't interest me at all. I thought I'd really love it, but it turned out to be quite boring. I started skimming the last half and flipping ahead for more captivating parts. The interesting part never came.

Nowadays, I don't remember much of the book, so I might give it a second try later on. But for now, I remember it as the book I read because of its cover.

So, that's the cover we wanted to introduce this week! What books have you read because of their covers? Let us know in the comments!

REVIEW: Second Chance Summer

Book: Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

Release Date: Published May 8th, 2012 by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Pages:  468 Pages
Source: Library Copy

Taylor Edwards’ family might not be the closest-knit—everyone is a little too busy and overscheduled—but for the most part, they get along just fine. Then Taylor’s dad gets devastating news, and her parents decide that the family will spend one last summer all together at their old lake house in the Pocono Mountains.

Crammed into a place much smaller and more rustic than they are used to, they begin to get to know each other again. And Taylor discovers that the people she thought she had left behind haven’t actually gone anywhere. Her former best friend is still around, as is her first boyfriend…and he’s much cuter at seventeen than he was at twelve.

As the summer progresses and the Edwards become more of a family, they’re more aware than ever that they’re battling a ticking clock. Sometimes, though, there is just enough time to get a second chance—with family, with friends, and with love.

  The Romance:

1     2     3     4     5

This scale is different than most. 1 means that there is no romance at all. 5 means this book was a very, very romantic based book. A 3 will be the most common, as YA books surround another plot while dealing with romance too. Below are my thoughts on the romance.

Like most aspects of this book, the romance was average. It could be bordering between fantastic or a little above average, depending on who you are. However, for me, it was okay. I didn't hate on the romance; Henry was actually okay. It was just we didn't really get to know him. He was a slightly undeveloped character who seemed really bitter in the beginning.

But in the end, he was understanding and grew to be a more likeable person. His chemistry with Taylor didn't actually seem like anything special to me, but it did work out between them.

In other words, the romance was average but okay.

The Action/ The Adventure:

1     2     3     4     5

The action scale is pretty obvious and it is just like the romance scale. 1 means there was no action. 5 means there was a lot of action. Whether or not the action was good, I'll tell you below.

There wasn't a lot of action/adventure. For a contemporary book, this could be normal, but the speed of this book was also really slow (see the speed section underneath).

Some things in this book was entertaining; however, there was a lot of unneccesary stuff. Most of it interested me though. I enjoyed the parts about Taylor and her dad spending time together. I also liked the way Taylor's friendship with Lucy healed.

But in a way, there wasn't really that intense-omg-what-will-happen-next action. If you're someone who really likes slow, background information providing and calm books, I think you'll like Second Chance Summer though. But to warn you: there are some increasingly sad parts in this book. So don't expect it to be too calm.

The Speed:

1     2     3     4     5

The speed scale tells how fast the story goes. For example, if the introduction is boring and the whole book is going at snail pace, it'll probably be a ranking of 1.

This book was slow. But not neccesarily in a bad way. For people who have a short attention span, then yes, this book will be slightly boring. But for me, the most part, I could tell it was slow, yet I thought it was okay at the same time.

Things happened in a pretty neat tidy order and I could see Taylor's character developement as the story progresses.

The Plot/ The Perspective/ The Storytelling:

1     2     3    3.5     4     5

This isn't based on how much action shows up as the book progresses. It is based on the quality of the plot. Sometimes the plot is just unentertaining while others are the on-the-end-of-your-seat suspenseful. This is probably the scale that you should pay the most attention to.

Taylor takes some time to get used to. In the beginning, she was this girl who always ran away from her troubles. In the end, she was a stronger person who grew from her experiences. So before you read this book and complain about how she is in the beginning, she gets a lot better, I promise.

I liked her a lot, even though there were some parts of the storytelling that fell flat just a bit. I didn't think it was a big problem, because overall, the plot was great. There was something so serene and beautiful this book that made me want to hug Taylor's family.

The End:

1     2     3     4     5

This is going to be a limited scale as I don't want to spoil the ending. I promise I won't reveal any secrets, but if you want it to be a complete surprise,  STOP READING.

To be honest, the ending killed me. I'll try not to spoil much but it did get tears in my eyes. It was the type of ending that you get in real life, but that didn't stop my sympathy.

This ending will move your heart.

The Summary:

The Good Points:

Second Chance Summer has a bittersweet tone to the writing. It fits in perfectly with Taylor and her family, which was the main focus of this story. I loved how Taylor's personality grew as the story progresses. Her relationship with her dad was very realistic and I could tell how much his cancer affected their family.

Taylor's family is by far, not the most perfect family there is. Yet there's that warm feeling to them that allows everyone to connect with each other. Warren and his obsession with weird historical facts. Gelsey and her love for ballet.

I really enjoyed this family story.

The Bad Points:

Henry was slightly undeveloped and there was no chemistry in his relationship with Taylor. I know they dated when they were twelve though, but they just seem more of "good friends" than anything else.

However, like I mentioned before, it wasn't like bad or anything. It was just average. And ordinary.

The second problem for some people could be the speed. It was slow, though it turned out okay for me. It just depends on who you are.

Overall Thoughts:

Pros ---

- Taylor's family
- Taylor's character development
-  The realistic ending that will produce lots of tears and kill you through sadness

Cons ---

- Speed (for some people)
- Taylor's personality in the beginning
- Henry (for some people)

Final Rank: 

1     2     3   3.5     4     5

This book was a little above average (an average for me is a three). There were good things about it, yet there could be some flaws that stick out to you. It's one of those books where you either love it so so so much, or find it to be a little under average. Everyone's opinions on this might differ, but I liked the ending the most. It really got to the depths of my heart and even though it was sad, I understood why it happened. However, if you hate slow books, you might not like this one.

 



BATCH (3)

This week's BATCH is going to be about:

COVER FAILS

Since I have a minor case of OCD, I find cover problems very annoying. Once you notice that one thing thats wrong on the cover, it just bothers you forever. You glimpse at it, stare at it, wishing it would go away but it stays there, forever. To relieve me of some frustration I'm going to share a couple that I found with you and hopefully make you paranoid about covers for the rest of your life. Enjoy!

CASE OF COVER FAIL #1:

If you look carefully at the legs, you will see that instead of it being flowy like a dress that has smoke should be it has legs crossing over. Now I guess that shouldn't bother me that much but it just doesn't fit with the rest of the cover. Red dress with smoke flowing out, yeah it should be a bit more flowy. But it just doesn't go away. The more you look at it, the more it stands out and soon (if you have some OCD in you) you'll be screaming like a maniac and go crazy whenever you see this cover ever again. Now, is it just me or does this remind of Jasmine's outfit from Aladdin?

CASE OF COVER FAIL #2:

Looks pretty normal right? The dramatic windblown hair and the "symbolic" branches/roots. And then the completely random glowing blue ground (maybe its symbolic as well?). But look again. 

 

What on Earth is she doing with her face?! Its like she's making a weird duck face. Seriously. Her lips are on PUFFED OUT mode. Its not a normal face and I don't know how her facial expression got published into the final copy of the book. The girl herself is actually pretty (though I think its photoshopped) but that face is just wrong. Try not noticing that from now on. >:D

CASE OF COVER FAIL #3:

Now this book is actually technically a cover fail. To be honest, its a pretty obvious one. The cover is intentionally dark with a white dress and inhumanly black skin. Now the cover actually is pretty and gorgeous but after I looked at it for a while, it just kinds of look cheap to me. Like one of those fake color changing things that people do on Instagram.  In the book it even SAYS in the book that she is the exact opposite of black. "But you'll still look albino when you let me back..." (page 15, Anna Banks). For a person who is white (skin color, not race) you would kind of expect her to not have charcoal black skin? Is it just me, or is the random dramatic cover just TOO random?

CASE OF COVER FAIL #4:

Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment cover is actually pretty good. It has angel wings so not random, New York which means they probably go there, and she has freakishly white skin that makes you think she's an experiment. The thing is, you can't tell she's a girl. At least to me I couldn't. I thought she was a guy because 1). The cover shows a multi-gender looking person and 2). The book doesn't say ANYTHING about her being a girl until later. I mean the name Max even sounds like a guy. This also isn't technically a cover fail but next time there will hopefully be someone who can be more recognized as a girl.

Yep! So thats it.

That's all I can think of for now. In case you wanted to know, I just got all of these books from the library and it just happened to be that a lot of them had Cover Fails in them. I enjoy doing Cover Fails and there are already some more books that I find suspicious right now. Hopefully you are now paranoid forever about book covers. :) Hahaha, just kidding. I hope you enjoyed this post!

Super cheesy line coming up...

Are you Being A Thursday Cover Hoard?

Some Quick Stuff We Want To Say

Okay, so me and Nicole haven't been working that hard on our blog lately but it is because we have suddenly been flooded with homework from our evil teachers (and also because Winter Break is coming soon). We've also been in a bad mood because our template is frustrating. The fonts won't work, the pictures are weird and it just gives makes us annoyed whenever we look at it. Expect some template changing and weird fonts. In order to get more organized, we WILL find a template that is perfect and Nicole and I WILL work hard to make our blog better and perfected. Thanks for your patience with us amateur bloggers!