Mini Reviews : A Matter of Heart by Amy Fellner Dominy, Immaculate by Katelyn Detweiler and Tracked by Jenny Martin

Summary (from Goodreads) 

Title : A Matter of Heart
Author : Amy Fellner Dominy
Publication Date : May 12th 2015
Publisher : Random House
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Readers will happily sink into this emotionally grounded, contemporary young adult novel about the sudden end of one girl's Olympic swimming dreams and the struggles she endures before realizing there are many things that define who we are.

Sixteen-year-old Abby Lipman is on track to win the state swim championships and qualify for the Olympic trials when a fainting incident at a swim meet leads to the diagnosis of a deadly heart condition. Now Abby is forced to discover who she is without the one thing that's defined her entire life.

Personal Thoughts

A Matter of Heart tells an interesting story of a young swimmer with Olympic aspirations who discovers that she has fatal heart conditions. This is the kind of book that could have the ability to punch readers in the heart with all kinds of emotions, but instead what I got out of it is a whole lot of frustration mainly because of the main character. Finding out that you have a deadly condition that destroys your career is never an easy thing. I mean I can't even imagine how devastating it can be. Abby, however, took the denial so far to the point of putting so much strain on her weak heart. I failed to understand why she didn't act like her age. Listen, I get that it's a difficult situation, but would you just dismiss what a world renowned cardiologist diagnosing you and assuming that it was all a mistake and go ahead and put yourself in a position that could literally kill you? I don't think that is logical in any way at all. Even after getting a second opinion, Abby continued to make these dumb and baffling choices that more than enraged me. And don't get me started on a father. Excuse my french, but what an asshole. I could not believe how he was willing to risk his daughter's life just so he could live vicariously through her success and bask in her glory because he missed his chance at the Olympics. When a person you look up to puts so much pressure on you, like Abby's dad did on her, it's hard to see reality clearly which is what happened with Abby. I did like some of the secondary characters in A Matter of Heart, particularly Alec and Abby's friend. However, I found the romance  to be icky with the way it developed. A Matter of Heart wound up being one of the most disappointing reads of the year for me. It was a book with immense potential, but that lost its momentum because of the characters.

Rating 

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 3/5
Characters : 1/5
Writing : 3/5

  

Thank you to Random House for the ARC of A Matter of Heart.

Summary (from Goodreads) 

Title : Immaculate
Author : Katelyn Detwieler
Publication Date : May 26th 2015
Publisher : Viking Children's
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Mina is seventeen. A virgin. And pregnant.

Mina is top of her class, girlfriend to the most ambitious guy in school, able to reason and study her way through anything. But when she suddenly finds herself pregnant—despite having never had sex—her orderly world collapses. Almost nobody believes Mina’s claims of virginity. Her father assumes that her boyfriend is responsible; her boyfriend believes she must have cheated on him. As news of Mina’s story spreads, there are those who brand her a liar. There are those who brand her a heretic. And there are those who believe that miracles are possible—and that Mina’s unborn child could be the greatest miracle of all. 

Personal Thoughts

Immaculate was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, because of the whole pregnant virgin storyline. I started out liking the book okay mostly because the writing style was very enjoyable. However, I thought the characters were a little flat overall and needed to be fleshed out a little bit more. The main character, Mina, was a decent character, but I didn't feel much of an emotional connection to her. I have to admit that she was a little too accepting of her pregnancy, but at the same time I was glad that she handled herself so gracefully throughout the book. I did really love Mina's mom and best friend. They were an incredible support system to her and Mina needed them by her side. One thing that could have made Immaculate a much stronger read is the length of the book. This book is very long for a contemporary novel at over 400 pages and sadly, a lot of the scenes were repetitive. I thought it needed more editing so as to cut off scenes and to be shorter. I'm also not sure what the overall message of the book was supposed to be. All in all, the writing makes Immaculate readable, but the story in itself was rather lackluster.

Rating 

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 3/5
Characters : 2/5
Writing : 3/5

Thank you to Penguin for the ARC of Immaculate.

 

Summary (from Goodreads) 

Title : Tracked
Author : Jenny Martin
Publication Date : May 5th 2015
Publisher : Dial Books
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The Fast and the Furious gets a futuristic twist in this action-packed debut!

On corporately controlled Castra, rally racing is a high-stakes game that seventeen-year-old Phoebe Van Zant knows all too well. Phee’s legendary racer father disappeared mysteriously, but that hasn't stopped her from speeding headlong into trouble. When she and her best friend, Bear, attract the attention of Charles Benroyal, they are blackmailed into racing for Benroyal Corp, a company that represents everything Phee detests. Worse, Phee risks losing Bear as she falls for Cash, her charming new teammate. But when she discovers that Benroyal is controlling more than a corporation, Phee realizes she has a much bigger role in Castra’s future than she could ever have imagined. It's up to Phee to take Benroyal down. But even with the help of her team, can a street-rat destroy an empire?

Personal Thoughts

Tracked initially appealed to me because of the racing element. It's a book that started out very strongly for me because I was intrigued by the racing element and the outer planet. Plus, the main character, Phoebe, was a smart, driven and kick-ass girl who thought about her choices before making any kind of decision. She wasn't the dim-witted heroine who is oblivious to everything around her which was refreshing. But somewhere along the way, Tracked morphed into a typical dystopian novel with the a tyrant corporation at the head of the world. It offered nothing that we have never seen in the genre and that was really disappointing. The world building also needed to be fleshed out a little bit more as I don't think I got a complete grasp of it. The romance in Tracked felt very much like a love triangle with Phoebe stuck in between her best friend, Bear, and Cash, her new teammate. I didn't think it was very appealing and there was just too much drama associated with it. Phoebe had more chemistry with Cash and Jenny Martin certainly knows how to write one heck of a swoony scene, but the love triangle part left a bad taste in my mouth. Regardless, Tracked was an action-packed novel and it was fun to read in certain parts. Plus, I really liked Jenny Martin's writing and I'm still going to pick up book 2.

Rating 

Cover : 3/5
Plot : 3/5
Characters : 4/5
Writing : 3/5

Thank you to Penguin for the ARC of Tracked.