3 YAs - Karma, Where She Went, Uncommon Criminals

I recently read these three books, and while they are each about a girl, that's about as far as the comparison goes. Well, I suppose there's death in all three as well, or near death at any rate.

Karma, a novel in verse set in 1984 is about teenage Maya going with her father to India with her dead mother's ashes during a tumultuous political time. This book literally made my stomach hurt to read it, it was so depressingly sad. There were some moments of light, but they were few and far between. I think the punch packed in verse as opposed to prose made this book that much more difficult for me. I did not build as much sympathy with Maya as I would have expected, and I'm still really unsure as to why. The book was well done, an those who enjoy books in verse should check it out, but it was not my favorite novel in verse.

Where She Went is the sequel to If I Stay by Gayle Forman. I was literally sobbing when I read the first book in this series, and luckily I did not get the sequel right away because I don't know if I could have taken it. The first book was SO heart-wrenching. This book, however, did not overwhelm me emotionally like the first one did. I thought it was well done, and it has a nice twining together of past and present (and possibly even future), and I thought Adam's character, in particular, was very well done, but it didn't stick with me like the first one did. Not that I should be surprised, because it is a rare second book in a series that can do that. I did like it and would recommend it, but it's not really fair to compare it with If I Stay.


Uncommom Criminals is by Ally Carter, a fab and fun author who also writes the Gallagher Girls series. Um, yeah, remember that whole thing I just wrote above about the second book thing. Yeah, just re-read that part again here. Again, a book I liked, has a good mystery, has some thrills and adventure, but it just wasn't as good as the first one. Also, I was not loving Kat. A little too bratty or something. Couldn't quite lay a finger on it, though. she seemed to be shaping up at the end of this one, though, so perhaps #3 will bring me back.