Incarnate (Newsoul #1) by Jodi Meadows

Anna is unwanted, ignored,  and considered a bad omen. Just because she hasn’t had a past life. Or, if she had one, she couldn’t remember it.  Kept away from society her whole life, she leaves for the city of Heart. In Heart, she hopes to discover the meaning of her existence, and if she’ll be reincarnated or forgotten forever.
Sam is the only one who thinks good of Anna, he thinks she has value and better yet, she loves music as much as he does. When dragons and sylphs attack and Anna is blamed, Sam hopes to show her a new life, one that won’t be forgotten.

This was probably the most unique book I’ve read this year. It took forever for action to occur (action wasn't it's goal in the first place), but meanwhile some very interesting philisophical questions were posed. All of you know, I’m a critic, I’ll fry the book under my magnifying glass until all is revealed. But man, this thing is fireproof. While it wasn’t my favorite book of the year, I’m really intrigued as to the stories next move.

Instead of the reader coming up with the questions, and the author answering them, it’s more like the author is asking you the questions, and letting you come up with the answers. Will we get the author’s answers? I don’t know, I’ll have to find out. Incarnate broke out of the trends with a different style and a different plot. Good. I was getting tired of reading the same thing over and over again.. I’d recommend this book to anyone looking for something unique.

Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John

The Challenge: Piper has one month to get the rock band Dumb a paying gig.

The Deal: If she does it, Piper will become the band's manager and get her share of the profits.
The Catch: How can Piper possibly manage one egomaniacal pretty boy, one talentless piece of eye candy, one crush, one silent rocker, and one angry girl? And how can she do it when she's deaf?
Piper can't hear Dumb's music, but with growing self-confidence, a budding romance, and a new understanding of the decision her family made to buy a cochlear implant for her deaf baby sister, she discovers her own inner rock star and what it truly means to be a flavor of Dumb.

Piper is a strong independent teenager despite her deafness. (In a way, I think this is a physical way to illustrate the reader’s own flaws, and teach that we can grow, and overcome them anyway.) She has frustrating parents, a new baby in the family to get the new attention and special treatment, and boy troubles of both the brotherly and romantic variety.

I love how real Piper is, she deals with annoying parents, misunderstandings, sibling squabbles, jealousy, disappointment,  she just has well rounded problems. I also adore Ed and Finn. Ed is the boy who goes out of his way to express his affection for Piper. He’s just so genuine! Finn is Piper’s brother, and while they have intensive fights, they love each other fiercely. It was just so down to earth…
The only complaint I have is that Piper really did seem to get a large amount of leverage in the music world too quick. But you know, it IS a character driven novel, and everything has to have a flaw.

Antony John has gained a new fan!