Review: Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey

Tags: YA, magical realism, New Zealand

Summary

Ellie’s life seems to be going as normally as possible, until an intimidating and odd older woman begins to seduce her asexual best friend Kevin. That, plus an increasing number of unexpected encounters with Mark, an enigmatic and handsome day student, opens Ellie up to the frightening world of Maori folklore. An ambitious group of Maori faeries are conspiring for their chance at immortality, at the cost of hundreds of thousands of human lives, and Ellie, Mark, and their friends must use what little they’ve learned about the creatures to stop them before all of New Zealand is destroyed forever.

Review

While certainly different from most speculative YA fiction out there, GUARDIAN OF THE DEAD did not give me the connectivity that I always require from an enjoyable reading experience. For me, it was an ambitious debut novel that was successful in the details of YA originality but missed most of the larger essentials of storytelling.

The things I appreciated about this book were mostly, sadly, superficial, at least when it comes to my criteria for liking a book. I appreciated that Ellie did not have the physical features of a typical YA protagonist. She is instead tall, big-boned, and skilled in tae kwon do. The book’s concept is also refreshing, featuring New Zealand mythology instead of more well-known European inspirations.

Beyond these things, however, there was much that frustrated me. The book seemed to rely on an unseeming and awkward chain of events in order to present information and move the plot along. Good stories don’t feel forced: they flow from scene to scene nearly unnoticed, and readers glean information effortlessly. GUARDIAN OF THE DEAD, however, felt to me like a bunch of scenes strung together to give us the painfully slow reveal of the story’s fantastical element. Most of the things in this book just felt very disconnected from one another, like puzzle pieces that look great individually, but do not fit together.

Still, this book has received a lot of praise and even some highly coveted YA lit awards. Perhaps it is my demand for great storytelling over unique concepts that made this book miss its mark with me. Perhaps you will love it. There’s only one way to find out.

Similar Authors
Anastasia Hopcus (Shadow Hills)
Kimberly Derting (The Body Finder)

Writing: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Plot: 3/5

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5


Cover discussion: 3 out of 5 - Very creepy, and thus very appropriate for this book.

Little, Brown / April 1, 2010 / Hardcover / 345pp. / $17.99

Personal copy; read for Cybils.

Review: Other Words for Love by Lorraine Zago Rosenthal

Tags: YA, realistic fiction, family, friendship, love, limerence, NYC

Summary

Ari’s life seems to consist of being a dutiful, perfect younger sister to Evelyn, who got pregnant and dropped out of high school to start her family, and listening to her stunning best friend Summer’s various adventures. Ari longs for the kind of intimate love that Evelyn and her husband Patrick share, a love that does not seem to consist of living up to expectations, as her relationship with her mother is.

When Ari gets the chance to enroll at the same private school that Summer attends, she befriends Leigh, and through Leigh gets to know Blake, whose attention to her seems too good to be true. As Ari and Blake’s relationship progresses further, however, it feels to her like everyone is trying to tear them apart, to talk down the seriousness of their relationship. Is what Ari has with Blake the real thing, or is it just another manifestation of her desire to be loved?

Review

OTHER WORDS FOR LOVE, Lorraine Zago Rosenthal’s debut novel, is not what I expected. The jacket synopsis leads one to believe that this is a classic love story, when it is more a story about family and multiples types of love. Even with this grateful expansion of the book’s contents, however, it failed to truly impress me.

Ari’s story deserves to be read because Ari is so relatable. She is very much the everygirl: smart, dutiful, feels overlooked, feels plain next to her vibrant friends, wants to be loved just as she is. Rosenthal constructs Ari’s story in such a way as to make us feel for Ari and all her struggles, despite the fact that her desires may in fact be inherently selfish. For Ari is not perfect. She believes that romantic love can fix all her problems and chooses to obsess over her lack of it instead of focusing her attentions elsewhere more productively. This focus on attaining romantic love is not something we really like to admit to, but we’ve all done it some time or another. Perhaps we may like Ari because we recognize her flaws and yet recognize ourselves in her.

However, this book didn’t quite succeed in aweing me with its attempt at covering so many human concerns. OTHER WORDS FOR LOVE feels like it’s written from an adult hindsight perspective, which for me at least results in an emotional disconnect with the characters. I don’t really read a book to have characters tell me what is wrong with their beliefs and actions; I like to figure that out myself.

Furthermore, I felt like the book tried to focus on so many huge topics that nothing felt truly complete. My favorite subplot involved Ari’s relationship with her sister’s family. Even that, however, felt inconsistent, with a hopeful ending that felt rushed. Ari’s friendships with Summer and Leigh fell flat, like textbook portrayals of “the glamorous friend and her plain sidekick” and “the self-involved main character’s poor treatment of her new friend,” without any true weight behind either of them. And I felt so little attraction between Blake and Ari that (that emotional disconnect I mentioned earlier) that I couldn’t fully let myself believe that it was as transformative a relationship as Ari believed it was for herself.

Ultimately, it was simply a mismatch of literary priorities between this book and me. I can see appreciators of detailed, analytical biopics on high school girls’ lives such as what you find in Curtis Sittenfeld’s Prep enjoying this book. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t the book for me.

Similar Authors
Curtis Sittenfeld (Prep)
Deb Caletti
Yvonne Prinz

Writing: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Plot: 3/5

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5


Cover discussion: 3 out of 5 - It never really pulled me in, and it was only after I had read others' good reviews of the book that I became interested in it. It just lacks a certain sort of... brilliance that attracts me to covers, I suppose.

Delacorte Books / Jan. 11, 2011 / Hardcover / 368pp. / $17.99

Review copy received from publisher. Thank you, Random House!

Review: Where I Belong by Gwendolyn Heasley

Tags: middle grade, YA, contemporary, Texas

Summary

Corinne Corcoran was an NYC It girl who had it all—money, friends, connections—until she didn’t. Hit hard by the recession, Corinne’s family has to make drastic life alterations, and Corinne finds herself stuck in middle-of-nowhere Broken Spoke, Texas, her mother’s hometown, before she can even make an argument.

Corinne is certain that Cowboy Country will be hell…but then she actually starts meeting some nice people. And bonding with her family, including her long-absent grandparents. And enjoying the comfortable clothing and football games that Texas has to offer. But Corrine absolutely still wants to return to New York. That’s where she belongs…right?

Review

WHERE I BELONG is a predictable but still charming story of a girl who has everything, who then gets more, though not the way she expected. Even those who are disenchanted with derivative feel-good contemporary YA—okay, me—will still find much to enjoy about this sweet little debut novel.

Corinne starts out as your average spoiled rich girl with a selfish view of the world, so the growth that she undergoes throughout the course of this novel is really remarkable and, better yet, totally believable. Long used to getting everything she wants and having unlimited money to spend, Corinne naturally doesn’t take her family’s change of circumstances well, and her narrow-mindedness and obsession with keeping her life the same glamorous way it was will probably irritate people. However, once in Texas, she really does grow in that wonderfully subtle way that the best kind of character development gives us, still remaining herself, but just a more mature version.

Events and the overall story arc are fairly predictable, so my enjoyment of the book definitely centered around Corinne’s growth. Not that she’s even an entirely likable person: just that she develops well over the course of the story. Corinne’s romantic dilemmas are forgettably typical; the potentials of the family tensions between the various generations of Houston women are not as fleshed out as they could have been; and friendship drama is resolved much more quickly than such a situation generally warrants.

Still, WHERE I BELONG turned out to be a quick, light read that makes for a decent book break. It’s not exactly the best of its type out there, but at $8.99, how wrong can you really go with this one?

Writing: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Plot: 3/5

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5


Cover discussion: 4 out of 5 - It's fresh and colorful, the kind of cover I like. Though on second thought, I didn't think it did the story justice. The story is less a romance and more about a girl's journey of self-discovery, but this one implies that romance is a strong element in the book.

HarperTeen / Feb. 8, 2011 / Paperback / 304pp. / $8.99


ARC received from Around the World Tours.

Review: The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

Tags: YA, paranormal, suspense, serial killer

Summary

Her whole life, Violet has been able to see what she calls “echoes”: psychic residues imprinted on dead creatures and their killers. Normally she only stumbles across dead animals, but then she is drawn to the bodies of dead girls, and she realizes that there is a serial killer among their community. Teenage girls are disappearing and dying at a horrifying rate, and only Violet, also juggling strange new feelings for her best friend Jay, has the ability to find the killer…even if it means putting herself in great danger.

Review

THE BODY FINDER is a frightening and disturbing debut YA novel—and I use those adjectives in the best sense. The plot is fresh, the romance butterflies-inducing, and—despite its flaws—it’ll be hard to get this book out of your head.

THE BODY FINDER’s unique and suspenseful plot is the driving force behind this book. In between third-person narration that follows Violet around, we get flashes into the killer’s mind, which will make the hair on your arms stand on end—until you realize that the watcher (Violet) has also become the watched, and then you’ll be clutching your blanket in raw fright. The paranormal element is unobtrusive enough to still keep the setting firmly planted in our world, which only adds to the suspense.

Violet and Jay are a delightful pair of main characters. Individually they’re unfortunately not especially stellar: the narration felt curiously distant from Violet, despite her being the protagonist, and she seems like a real wallflower character (not just in her world, but also in the YA genre), not really doing much until external circumstances force her to change. Together, however, their connection is strong, well developed, and believable. It’s rather sad that a YA romance that does not involve insta-lust or a perfect boy chasing after the girl is rare enough to make me sit up and nod my head vigorously in approval, but that’s the truth of the matter. Violet and Jay have definite chemistry going on, and it was a delight to read about them discovering their growing feelings for one another.

So Violet is a little too passive, and secondary characters unfortunately too flat and unbelievable, for me to lose my heart to this book. But if, for whatever reason, you want a book that will raise goosebumps on your skin, check out THE BODY FINDER. It’s a taut thriller with a great romantic sideplot.

Similar Authors
Annette Curtis Klause
Anne Spollen
Vivian Vande Velde

Writing: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Plot: 3/5

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5


Cover discussion: 2 out of 5 - Ehh, I'm not that impressed, unfortunately. They aren't how I pictured the echoes, and if they aren't that, then they just look like moody imitations of the Twilight-esque dark paranormal cover to me.

HarperTeen / March 16, 2010 / Hardcover / 329pp. / $16.99

Out in paperback in February 2011!

Copy borrowed from library.

Review: Daughter of Xanadu by Dori Jones Yang

Tags: YA, historical fiction, Mongolian Empire, war

Summary

Emmajin is the granddaughter of Kubilai Khan, the fearsome and accomplished leader of the widespread Mongolian Empire. All she has ever dreamed of is to be able to join the Mongolian army, but her destiny as a princess is to be trapped in a political marriage. Emmajin is determined to do all she can to convince the Khan that she will serve him well in battle.

With the arrival of foreign merchants to their lands, however, Emmajin is told to gather information from one Marco Polo. This is the last thing Emmajin wants to do, but as she gets to know Marco, so unlike the Mongolian men she knows, she finds that there is something special about his talented storytelling, his peace-loving beliefs. But how can she juggle her growing feelings towards this foreigner and her determination to become a legend in the Mongolian army?

Review

If you’ve never read anything about the Mongolian empire, then pick DAUGHTER OF XANADU up. Writing in a style easily accessible to modern readers, Dori Jones Yang tells the surprisingly deep story of a girl caught between warring desires, who learns that dreams may change and that things are hardly ever what they seem.

Emmajin undergoes an incredible journey of self-growth, from a girl with a single-minded determination to be a soldier to a young woman with far more complicated feelings and desires. To tell the story of Emmajin’s self-discovery, Dori Jones Yang gives us a world full of marvelously fascinating details, first among the artificial glamour of court life, and then among the gruesome reality of mortality on the battlefield. This transition of her soldier aspirations from dream to reality truly affects Emmajin in ways that we who live many centuries after her time can still empathize with. I was in tears for the last few chapters of the book, so wrapped up in Emmajin’s development I was.

DAUGHTER OF XANADU is a great book if you’re looking for a story featuring a strong female character set in a fascinating “other world.” Expand the range of POC books you read with this one, and be swept away.

Similar Authors
Donna Jo Napoli

Writing: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Plot: 3/5

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5


Cover discussion: 3.5 out of 5 - There is a beautiful, strong Mongolian girl on the cover!

Delacorte / Jan. 11, 2011 / Hardcover / 352pp. / $17.99

ARC received from Around the World Tours.

Review: Enchanted Ivy by Sarah Beth Durst

Tags: YA, magical realism, college

Summary

Lily Carter, Princeton legacy, visits the campus with her grandfather and sick mother and falls in love with it. A secret society that her grandfather belongs to offers her guaranteed acceptance—but only if she passes the test and finds the Key. What’s the Key? Accompanied by a cute guy named Tye, who may know more than he’s letting on to, Lily traverses the campus on her quest…and makes some shocking revelations about Princeton as well as her heritage.

For there are actually two Princetons, and the university’s famous main gate is the doorway between the Princeton we all know and the other, magical Princeton. And Lily’s family is somehow involved in the heart of a conflict between the inhabitants of the two worlds, and they might stop at nothing to possess her.

Review

What an amazing idea for a story! Who doesn’t love tales about alternate worlds? I know I do. However, ENCHANTED IVY cut some storytelling corners that unfortunately made it hard for me to invest in the story as fully as I wanted to.

As far as the premise goes, it’s extensive, but Sarah Beth Durst does an admirable job of condensing it to a magnitude appropriate for a YA novel. She creatively reimagines Princeton’s campus as one containing magical secrets in the most obvious of places. For anyone who’s acquainted with the university’s campus, as I am, or anyone who has felt the awe-inspiring austerity of an old and regal college campus, it’s not much of a stretch to imagine the gargoyles as “hibernating” magical professors and gateways existing everywhere.

Oh, how I wish this book had gone on for another 200 or so pages! And not exactly because I didn’t want it to end, but because I think that had the book been longer, elements of the story could have been explored more thoroughly, and the book wouldn’t have given me a harried, rushed feeling as I read it. There is just so much packed into 320 pages that I don’t think many elements were allowed breathing room to grow into fully realized beings. Many of the characters seemed like flat projections of people, from the villain of the story to the boys who help Lily on her quest. In particular, when Tye proclaims to Lily within hours of them meeting each other that, due to their similarities, which I won’t divulge here because of spoilers, they are obviously soulmates, I wanted to howl, “Noooooo! How could you resort to such a paranormal romance cliché?!?!” At that point, I still felt so lost with the story that I couldn’t fully invest in Tye as a love interest yet. Likewise with the “purposes” of many other characters.

That was the danger of having the pacing of this book be all snap-snap-snap, one dramatic event/revelation after the other after the other. No sooner was one crucial key to the plot revealed, and I was still digesting it, when another piled on top, and so on. The rushed pacing unfortunately made this book read almost like a parody of its intent: I knew this book could’ve been extremely awe-inducing and breath-stealing in the best way, but I couldn’t help but feel like it attempted to do too much in too little space—oh, here’s a big bad villain! Here’s a love triangle! Here’s a heretofore unknown magical heritage! And then here’s the big bad villain’s deserved horrible ending!—that little was allowed to reach its potential.

Still, ENCHANTED IVY had the power to surprise and delight me with its twists, turns, and revelations. I particularly loved Lily’s bittersweet relationship with her fragile mother, a woman whose sanity is questionable but all the more endearing as a result of her tremulous hold on reality. If you’re the kind of reader who is often ensnared by an incredible premise, action, and a magical gothic-like setting, do give this book a try.

Writing: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Plot: 3/5

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5


Cover discussion: 3.5 out of 5 - Whoa! I find it wonderfully unique and alluring. The model's pose is a little awkward, but I do love the stone gargoyle she's posing with.

Margaret K. McElderry / Oct. 12, 2010 / Hardcover / 310pp. / $16.99

Accepted review pitch from author, review copy sent by publisher.

Review: Battle Dress by Amy Efaw

Tags: YA, college, West Point, military, army, feminism, sexism, family

Summary

For Andi and 1000 other incoming freshmen at West Point Academy, the first six weeks of the summer are the Beast, an intense training regime designed to break them all down, weed the weak from the rest, and reshape them into the best future members of the US Army. Andi battles taunts from squad leaders, classmate prejudices and problems, and her ongoing issues with her messed up family, and finds out what being a cadet truly means.

Review

Most of you do not know this about me, but I have always been fascinated by military protocol. For a nation that champions individuality and creativity, its military seems to be one of the last bastions of enforced conformity and groupthink. Coming from both a collectivist and individualistic culture, I can see the pros and cons of this military protocol. BATTLE DRESS was a solid glimpse into the mysterious world of West Point, although Andi’s internal conflicts were a little roughly drawn.

Creative insults and capital letters flood the pages of BATTLE DRESS, appropriate for the strict discipline surrounding West Point. I enjoyed how the book so thoroughly created the terrifyingly intimidating environment of the Beast: small details such as the different uniforms required for different activities, the time (these cadets have to get up unbelievably early), and the language really contribute to making you feel as if you were experiencing Beast too—without the ridiculously early wake-up calls and five-mile runs, that is.

So I appreciated the details that made Beast come to life for me, but felt much less connected to all the characters, including Andi. There is a sort of running conflict between Andi and her unsupportive, mentally abusive family, and Andi’s feminist side. What exactly a kind of space does a female occupy in the still male-dominated military world? Andi’s feminine roommate, Gabrielle, and a handful of stereotypical sexist squad members contribute to the theme of women’s rights in the military, but in a way that always felt very glossed over and underdeveloped.

Interestingly enough, I think this book might’ve worked better for me if it had just stuck with a straightforward presentation of Beast and not tried so hard to make Andi have complicated emotional issues. I felt like Andi’s struggles to overcome her family’s disappointment, contributing to and combined with her obsession with proving herself in Beast, lent a forced feel to the story. No, I’m not questioning the fact that she has family issues—but issues as delicate as that one need to be carefully and thoroughly developed, and I think that BATTLE DRESS may have relied a bit too much on Andi’s family’s inarguable meanness to carry that part of the plot along.

Overall, however, BATTLE DRESS will make a great read for anyone interested in West Point or the military training culture. Amy Efaw’s personal experience translates well onto the page, and the book does not disappoint in that aspect.

Writing: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Plot: 3/5

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5


Cover discussion: 3 out of 5 - This is actually a reprint of a book that came out a decade ago, and I think that the redesigned cover will make it much more appealing to the modern YA reader. It keeps things short and straight to the point, and the title fonts are cool, even if the title itself is a rather bizarre attempt to touch upon both the book's military and feminism issues.

Penguin / Dec. 2, 2010 (reprint) / Paperback / 304pp. / $8.99

Personal copy bought.

Review: Extraordinary by Nancy Werlin

Tags: YA, magical realism, fairies

Summary

Phoebe Rothschild, the latest descendent of a powerful Jewish family, befriends Mallory, the strange new girl, in seventh grade. For years the two girls are inseparable, but Mallory is hiding a terrible secret from Phoebe. As Mallory plays with Phoebe’s emotions, Phoebe struggles with her own self-worth, already flimsy due to her beautiful best friend and the accomplishments of her family. Then Ryland, Mallory’s older brother, enters the picture. Phoebe finds herself almost irresistibly attracted to him, and it seems as if he reciprocates her feelings, but why is Ryland really here? Unable to trust the people closest to her and manipulated by powers beyond her comprehension, Phoebe must learn for herself what it truly means to be an extraordinary person.

Review

With its beautiful cover, I really wanted to like EXTRAORDINARY. But it didn’t turn out as I had hoped. Choppy writing and distance from the characters marred my reading experience of EXTRAORDINARY.

If Nancy Werlin was going for a fairy tale-like narrative style, then she succeeds. The narration feels distant from the characters: oftentimes, the characters’ thoughts and peculiarities are told rather than shown us. Fine for a fairy tale (have you ever read the Grimm brothers’ works?), but I couldn’t be sure if that was what the author intended. It is a book featuring fairies, but whether the narration was supposed to match the ethereal quality of its fantasy aspect, or it was simply clunky and emotionally ineffectual writing, I couldn’t tell.

There was definitely a forced quality to both the writing and the story. I understand that Mallory and Ryland manipulate Phoebe—but I remained unconvinced that Phoebe was so easily convinced by their machinations. Phoebe falling in love with Ryland, who is so vague in the performance of his supposed attentions toward her? I didn’t necessarily have to like Ryland—I don’t think that’s the intent—but I at least had to believe that Phoebe would really like him. Which I didn’t.

EXTRAORDINARY was an interesting attempt to meld together the formalities of fairie court life with the concerns of contemporary human beings. However, it was missing the connection between story and reader that I desire in the books I read. As a result, this is a hard one for me to recommend.

Similar Authors
Cyn Balog

Writing: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Plot: 3/5

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5


Cover discussion: 4 out of 5 - So pretty. That color green is just so vibrant.

Penguin / Sept. 7, 2010 / Hardcover / 400pp. / $17.99

ARC received from the LibraryThing Early Reviewer Program.

Blog Tour Review: The House of Dead Maids by Clare B. Dunkle

Tags: middle grade, YA, historical paranormal, horror, ghosts, Victorian

Summary

Tammy Aykroyd is only a young girl when she is brought to Seldom House to be maid to the young boy who grows up to be the famous Heathcliff. Seldom House has some chilling secrets, however, Tammy realizes, when she is haunted by the ghost of the maid before her. As Tammy and her young charge explore the house, they uncover some truly gruesome discoveries and realize that they may be in mortal danger.

Review

Gothic and gruesome, THE HOUSE OF DEAD MAIDS is not exactly my usual type of book, but is an excellent example of what “creepy Gothic literature” should be like.

Dunkle certainly knows her Victorian—or more particularly, Brontean—language. THE HOUSE OF DEAD MAIDS reads like it was written by someone who lived during that time and wanted to tell children a scary bedtime story. The historical fiction aspect is authentic and believable.

Accordingly, there is little character development—Victorian lit was never that big on character growth—but in keeping with the tone of the book, that’s okay. The ghost element is creepy enough if you like the gothic. The illustrations at the beginning of each chapter are indispensable to the creep factor.

THE HOUSE OF DEAD MAIDS ends on a slightly far-fetched note that segues interestingly into the book that it is a mini-prequel for, Wuthering Heights. That being said, one does not need to know Emily Bronte’s romance in order to enjoy this book. THE HOUSE OF DEAD MAIDS stands on its own as a creepy, albeit a bit slow, portrayal of the Victorian gothic. Don’t read this on a dark night with the wind rattling tree branches right outside your window.

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

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5


Cover discussion: 2.5 out of 5 - I am that total chicken who needs to cover this cover before I can read the book. Soooo creepy! Not my thing, but hey, if it works for you...

Henry Holt & Co. / Sept. 14, 2010 / Hardcover / 160pp. / $15.99

Sent by Blue Slip Media for blog tour review.

Author interview and giveaway opportunity coming soon!

Review: Into the Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern

Tags: middle grade, YA, friendship, nerds

Summary

Jessie’s sophomore year of high school is not going so well. Her two best friends have turned into wannabe punks, and her beloved older brother is leaving for college soon. Lost and in need of new friends, Jessie stumbles across the Dungeons & Dragons-playing crowd—truly the nerdiest of the nerdy, even by her standards. But as she gets to know the people in the group—and maybe even finds a cute guy to crush on—Jessie realizes that nerds can make really good friends…

Review

INTO THE WILD NERD YONDER is a cute and heartfelt look into the treacherous waters that is high school friendships. While it didn’t make me fall in love with it as it did with many others, INTO THE WILD NERD YONDER was still a charming read with excellent characters.

Jessie is a likable protagonist, with her sewing tendencies, warm-hearted worries, and self-proclaimed nerdiness. She’s nerdy, but not in a way that will put off readers/potential friends. She has such a healthy relationship with her family—her relationship with her brother is particularly touching—that the focus of the book can be off the stereotypical teen family angst and more about worries regarding friendships.

While the characters (and, indeed, the whole storyline) are not exceptionally deep or memorable, everything has the pleasant feel-good entertainment value of, say, a Disney Channel original movie: the “villains” are not irredeemably bad, the problems inconvenient but not devastating. The plot moved along at a leisurely pace so that the second half of the book, in which Jessie finds new friends, feels a bit rushed.

However, these are not failings but simply characteristics of the genre that INTO THE WILD NERD YONDER falls into: an easy and light read with characters who make us smile and a moral that makes us nod in recognition. If this is the type of read you’re reading for, look no further than this one.

Similar Authors
Carolyn Mackler

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

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5


Cover discussion: 3 out of 5 - I like how the dress hints at one of the later scenes in the book, as well as Jessie's sewing passion. The cartoonish feel adds to the lightheartedness of the book. I just wish it weren't so PINK!

Feiwel & Friends / Sept. 29, 2009 / Hardcover / 256pp. / $16.99

Review copy sent by publisher upon request. Sorry for the delay!

Review: Nevermore by Kelly Creagh

Tags: YA, paranormal, romance

Summary

The day Isobel’s life starts unraveling is the day she gets paired with Varen Nethers for an English project. Imagine: she, a pretty, popular cheerleader having to spend time with the most sullen, mysterious, and depressing freak in school!

The more time Isobel spends with Varen, however, the more intriguing she finds him. He is a talented writer who hides himself behind a thick wall all the time. Isobel knows there is more to him than his cold exterior, but her old friends and possessive boyfriend do NOT like her spending time with Varen. As things head towards a tense climax, Isobel has to figure out how to save Varen before he is lost completely to a dark world that Isobel has never known before.

Review

I’m not sure what to think about this ambitious debut novel. On the one hand, NEVERMORE is a chillingly intriguing exploration of the psychological changes undergone when two opposites cross paths. On the other, it is all too often plodding, frustrating, and melodramatic.

Good things first: the characters in NEVERMORE are quite unlike most YA characters I’ve read, particularly Varen. He is aloof without being arrogant, reserved without seeming hopelessly depressed. His appeal lies in these things: in a sense, he has all the appeal of a stereotypical bad boy, but his “badness” is in being so-called freakish and socially distant. And that made for a very nice combination. I always looked forward to Isobel and Varen’s interactions, because they were full of the bittersweet subtleties that real relationships are about, and not the usual insta-attraction wish fulfillment that usually abounds in YA lit.

Unfortunately, NEVERMORE felt a bit shaky for me for several reasons. I found it difficult to place Isobel: she’s not technically a nice person (as evidenced by her initial interactions with Varen), and yet she’s not convincingly mean, either. YA novelists such as Courtney Summers and Lauren Oliver have successfully proven that even mean girls can be sympathetic protagonists. And while most of the other characters are convincingly rich enough in their roles, whether major or minor, I would have liked to see more definition from Isobel. As of now she just feels like a fairly generic protagonist to me.

Likewise, I felt that the paranormal elements of NEVERMORE were not as strong as the contemporary, psychological aspects. It seems like a bit of a stretch right now to believe Isobel and Varen’s involvement with a whole other world. Nevertheless, NEVERMORE is definitely the first book in a series, and I’d be interested to see what the promising author Kelly Creagh does in the sequel. I would definitely love to see more development of the other world and integration with “our” world.

Similar Authors
Lois Duncan
Cyn Balog
Nina Malkin
Kirsten Miller
Kimberly Derting

Writing: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Plot: 3/5

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5


Cover discussion: 3.5 out of 5 - The more I look at that cover, the more I like it. The models look exactly like how I pictured the characters in my mind, and Isobel's pink dress plays a key role in the story.

Atheneum / Aug. 31, 2010 / Hardcover / 560pp. / $17.99

ARC sent by author/S&S for review.

Review: 13 to Life by Shannon Delany

Tags: YA, paranormal, werewolves

Summary

Budding journalist Jess Gillmansen gets assigned to be the tour guide for the new boy at Junction High, the mysterious and hot Pietr Rusakova. Pietr infuriates Jess, but she finds that she cannot stay away from him, even though she knows he’s hiding something from her. The closer Jess gets to Pietr, however, the more she will begin to be involved in a world that she can hardly even imagine.

Review

Shannon Delany’s 13 TO LIFE introduces nothing new to the heavily saturated paranormal romance YA department, but fans of this genre will find in it a likably strong protagonist and a mystery that’s worth reading more about.

The main character, Jess, is a respectably strong character with a healthy dose of common sense and independence, traits that are, sadly, sorely lacking in numerous other books in this genre. I could understand her martyr-like behavior, her attempt to stay away from Pietr for her friend’s sake even though neither of them can deny their attraction to each other. Jess puts on a tough front to hide old hurts, which I could sympathize with. It made me side with her through frustrating decisions or bad attitudes.

Backstory, however, was shaky at best. Jess’ journalist interest in wolf attacks in a nearby town felt forced: I wanted to know more about her interest in the matter, because I never like when something feels placed into the story simply to clue us, the reader, into something the protagonist hasn’t figured out yet. (For the record, this is a werewolf book. There. I’m not ruining anything by telling you that.) There was also an enigmatic tension between Jess and a friend of hers that, once again, felt rather unnatural. It has a lot of potential to explode into an emotional scenario, and so I hope that in the future Shannon Delany will build on that.

For the most part, 13 TO LIFE felt like a long setup for a series. Very little happens until the last 15 or so pages, and once again it felt very contrived. If you’re looking for a quick paranormal romance that doesn’t require too much thought, 13 TO LIFE might intrigue you. Otherwise, you’ll just catch yourself borderline rolling your eyes at the amateur writing tropes used throughout this debut.

Similar Authors
Christine Johnson (Claire de Lune)
Andrea Cremer (Nightshade)
Maggie Stiefvater
Kimberly Derting (The Body Finder)

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

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5


Cover discussion: 3 out of 5 - I like the blue tones, and the design running down the left side, but otherwise the eye and the model's silhouette tell me nothing.

St. Martin's Press / June 22, 2010 / Paperback / 320pp. / $9.99

Offered by publisher for review.

Review: Gringolandia by Lyn Miller-Lachmann

Tags: YA, POC, historical fiction, Chile, father-son relationships, alcoholism, political activism

Summary

In 1980, the terrifying Chilean military government throws Daniel’s activist father in jail, sending Dan, his mother, and his younger sister fleeing to the United States. Five years later, Dan is a high school senior when Papa is released from jail and returns to them, broken, angry, and alcoholic. Dan wants to reestablish a relationship with his father, but all Papa seems to care about is going back to Chile and continuing his dangerous revolutionary work. Meanwhile, Dan’s girlfriend Courtney seems to be ignoring Dan in favor of his father, whose stories she is passionate about. With the push-pull of different passions all around them, will Dan be able to have the relationship with his father that he’s always wanted?

Review

GRINGOLANDIA is an important tale of the emotional trauma that resulted from the unstable Chilean government of the 1980s, but it will be hard-pressed to find the right audience for itself. This book is an important but not necessarily easy or sympathetic read.

I know little about Chilean 20th-century history, and GRINGOLANDIA was a different but effective way of introducing me to it. Instead of in-the-moment scenes of horror, we mostly see its emotional aftermath, the way it both physically and mentally scars its victims and tears apart families. Daniel’s father is hard to like—as most political prisoners are and probably should be. Lyn Miller-Lachmann touchingly portrays the strains of Papa’s ghosts on the family in a painful and real way.

However, I also felt that, despite the emotions within the story, this book was, in a ways, difficult for readers to reach emotionally. I never really connected with Dan’s struggles to get to re-know his father. Courtney I thought was even annoying, this white girl trying too hard to ingratiate herself into her Latino boyfriend’s family because of her fixation on his father’s political experiences. It was as if, in trying to work out the tensions between themselves, the characters in this book don’t allow us to sympathize with them.

Overall, GRINGOLANDIA will make a good read for readers interested in this period of South American history, even though it’s missing a few key elements of characterization that would’ve made it exceptional.

Writing: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Plot: 3/5

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5


Cover discussion: 2 out of 5 - It's symbolic, especially for the end of the book, but otherwise it's not something that would've caught my eye, or made me pick up the book even if it was thrust upon me by a semi-crazy high school English/history teacher or librarian.

Curbstone Press / May 1, 2009 / Hardcover / 250pp. / $16.95

Sent by author for review.

Review: Leaving Gee's Bend by Irene Latham

Tags: juvenile fiction, middle grade, historical fiction, South, racism

Summary

10-year-old Ludelphia Bennett wears an eye patch over her dead eye, loves quilting, and has never gone beyond her loving community of Gee’s Bend, Alabama—until her mother is dying, and then Lu decides to make the 40-mile journey to the larger town of Camden to get medical help. But life outside Gee’s Bend is not as simple, as Ludelphia must confront obstacles not only in the form of physical impediments but also cold-hearted people if she wants to save her mother.

Review

A great main character unfortunately doesn’t make up for the contrived plot in this lukewarm debut novel that attempts to be a moving journey of familial resilience in the face of racism and other elements.

At the beginning, I thought this book was almost magical. Ludelphia is a fantastic narrator, her voice so genuine, earnest, and warm. She’s ten years old but will be loved by readers of all ages, a classic protagonist going on a seemingly straightforward journey for someone else and discovering something about herself in the process.

Unfortunately, the plot felt slow and forced all the way through. The moment Lu leaves Gee’s Bend, I had trouble that the world was ours, that this is historical fiction. The world outside Gee’s Bend was disconcertingly black-and-white: things and people were either blessed angels helping Lu, or else they were sinister, malicious, inhumane beings. Lu’s greatest human antagonist comes in the form of Mrs. Cobb, whose late husband is Lu’s family’s employer of sorts. It’s hard to get a read on Mrs. Cobb. One minute she’s almost saccharinely kind—the next, she’s one step away from joining the KKK.

I understand that, to a young girl like Ludelphia, the unknown world might seem like it consists of simple binaries, but I was really hoping for more, events and people that we can actually claim as our own history, ugly as it may be. The story plods along until we can’t see Lu’s natural charms for the eyeroll-inducing melodrama.

LEAVING GEE’S BEND has a great protagonist but is sadly lacking in plot strength. It’s no standout addition to African American historical fiction, but perhaps there may be young readers who are interested in the concept enough to lose themselves in Ludelphia’s mesmerizing narration and not notice the story’s flaws.

Similar Authors
Lois Lowry

Writing: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Plot: 3/5

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5


Cover discussion: 3.5 out of 5 - I think it's a gorgeous picture and layout, although it doesn't seem like exactly the right cover to attract its target (younger) audience.

Putnam Juvenile / Jan. 7, 2010 / Hardcover / 240pp. / $16.99

Received from Blue Slip Media for review.

Review: Claire de Lune by Christine Johnson

Tags: YA, paranormal, werewolves, killer, romance

Summary

Claire’s sixteenth year was supposed to be her best yet, as her long-time crush Matthew finally starts talking to her. But then her photographer mother drops the horrifying news: Claire is going to turn into a werewolf and join the local all-female werewolf group.

The last thing Claire wants to be right now is a werewolf, especially with Matthew’s internationally known anti-werewolf father and a lone werewolf, a seule, terrorizing the community by ruthlessly killing people. Does Claire’s romance with Matthew stand a chance?

Review

CLAIRE DE LUNE, Christine Johnson’s debut novel, is a good but not standout addition to werewolf lit. The simple way that this twist on werewolf lore is presented will make it a quick and satisfying read to ardent werewolf lovers, though it will have a tougher time winning the hearts of others.

In CLAIRE DE LUNE, Christine Johnson introduces us to a different type of paranormal world, in which only females can be werewolves. It’s not a feminist book, per se, but the dynamic that this sets up allows Claire to grow into a strong and self-reliant girl/werewolf. Here, it’s the girl protecting the boy, not the usual way around.

Having a girl be the strength in a relationship would be a great story, but the book unfortunately never fully lives up to its potential. Outside of Claire, I found the characters difficult to get to know, most of them only fitting “roles” expected to appear in a paranormal romance: the tensions among the werewolf group members, the love interest’s villainous father, the head-butting mother, etc. I never found myself fully immersed in Claire’s family dynamics, with her mother’s Type A “bad parent” personality and their rather inconsequential au pair (who’s more a red herring than a useful character, perhaps?). And all of Matthew’s father’s supposedly malevolent machinations and campaign against werewolves remained in the distant background and never fully took on immediacy.

I guess I’m just sort of extra cynical when it comes to paranormal romances nowadays: it’s going to take a lot to make something stand out for me. CLAIRE DE LUNE never reaches that point for me, but I have no doubt that it will find its audience as scores of werewolf lovers prowl the shelves for something equally supernatural and romantic after watching Twilight for the twenty-eighth time.

Similar Authors
Kimberly Derting
Bree Despain

Writing: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Plot: 3/5

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5


Cover discussion: 3 out of 5 - I wasn't initially a fan--everything just felt too...bland for a werewolf story, but it's growing on me. It's a little whimsical, which I'm not sure how well it fits the story, but I like.

Simon Pulse / May 18, 2010 / Hardcover /336pp. / $16.99

ARC received from publisher.

Review: Three Rivers Rising by Jame Richards

Tags: middle grade, YA, historical fiction, floods, environmental disasters, classism

Summary

The year is 1889. Celestia, youngest daughter of a businessman, falls in love with Peter, a hired hand from the valley who works at the rich folks’ club up by Lake Conemaugh, a dammed-up lake high in the mountains, despite the impropriety of their relationship. Her family’s disapproval sends Celestia into the valley to pursue a new life with her true love. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the valley, Maura, a teenage mother, cares for her children while waiting for her train conductor husband to come home, while Kate trains obsessively to be a nurse after a devastating loss.

Celestia, Peter, Maura, Kate, and others…they have little in common with one another, until the day heavy rains destroy the dam and send an unimaginably horrifying flood rushing through the valley. Houses are swept away, families torn apart, and their lives entwine and change in ways that none of them foresaw.

Review

THREE RIVERS RISING, Jame Richards’ debut novel, is a moving work of historical fiction, its verse format making it all the more accessible to a wider audience. The story and character development feel a little forced, however, but in spite of these problems I still found it a good read, worthy of sharing.

I had never heard of the Johnstown flood before, but it was a great backdrop for a variety of characters’ stories, and it added a deeper layer of complexity and suspense to the historical fiction. Celestia and Peter’s improper romance, in particular, was well developed, and presents to readers a moving portrait of class divisions in the late nineteenth century. The historical aspects of the book are unique, but not all-encompassing: you could probably consider this “historical fiction lite.”

Jame Richards’ verses are easy on the eyes and mind. It is happily devoid of the stiltedness that sometimes occurs in historical fiction; instead, the lines are straightforward, always more for plot and characterization than for building the setting. The sense of mounting tension we get as the moment of the flood draws nearer is spectacular. Richards’ writing and her sense of pace at crucial moments drove me forward in my reading, unwilling to put the book down.

Unfortunately, I felt that the multiple points of view contributed to the lack of thorough character development and connection. Celestia and Peter’s stories were the most developed; Maura’s and Kate’s felt sadly rushed, incomplete, and force, due to the less amount of space they are given in the novel. Switching narrators contributed to the rising suspense at the novel’s climax, but did not help me fully understand and sympathize with any of them. Dedicating the book to exploring the nuances of Celestia and Peter’s relationship would’ve probably made this a more emotionally satisfying story for me.

Additionally, the ending of the book felt unnaturally neat, which jars with our sense of the flood’s destructive power. The “perfection” of the ending brought me uncomfortably close to rolling my eyes and lowering the age range of readers I’d recommend this book to.

Despite these issues, I still overall enjoyed THREE RIVERS RISING for its unique way of approaching historical fiction. The verse was lovely, and the actual section where the flood occurs—which is what’s most important—will tug at your heartstrings. THREE RIVERS RISING is an easy historical read that can be enjoyed by a wide range of readers, from the middle school history buff to the grandparent looking for a light read on a fascinating moment in time.

Similar Authors
Sonya Sones
Jennifer Donnelly (A Northern Light)
Ann Rinaldi

Writing: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Plot: 3/5

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5


Cover discussion: 4 out of 5 - I think it's so pretty! It's so unique, and that color blue is bright and eye-catching.

Alfred A. Knopf / April 13, 2010 / Hardcover / 304pp. / $16.99

ARC picked up at NCTE, other review copy sent by publisher.

Review: Gimme a Call by Sarah Mlynowski

Tags: middle grade, YA, speculative

Summary

Newly single and long-time friendless high school senior Devi is sure her life can’t get worse—until she accidentally drops her phone in the fountain at the mall. For some odd reason, now the only person she can call is herself: her freshman year self.

Once senior Devi gets over the shock and believes that this is actually happening, she realizes that it can be an excellent way to right her mistakes. This time around, she’ll tell her younger self to be a better friend, help out her (their) parents’ floundering marriage, and, above all, avoid Bryan, the boy who will break her (their) heart(s) in three years. At first freshman Devi is on board, but things soon start to spiral out of control. Will telling her younger self how to “do it right” actually make senior Devi happy?

Review

GIMME A CALL is a fast and fun chick-lit read reminiscent of Meg Cabot and Lauren Myracle. For a rather outrageous premise, the story is actually well done, and, given to the right audience, will be gleefully devoured.

The greatest thing about this book is that it never loses its momentum. GIMME A CALL starts out a tad bumpily for the first couple of chapters, but before you know it, you’ll be over halfway through the book and definitely enjoying the ridiculous ride. For a book that consists mostly of mistakes, poor judgments, and shocking consequences within every chapter, it surprisingly does not get dull. The voices of the two Devis are light and relatable, never forced.

I did find it rather off-putting that freshman Devi sounded much more intelligent and likable than senior Devi, yet took everything senior Devi did at face value. Indeed, senior Devi’s borderline hyperventilating exaggerations and freakouts got irritating quickly, and if it weren’t for the book’s unique and well-written plot, I would’ve liked the book a lot less.

GIMME A CALL will probably not leave a lasting impression on you, or win any awards, or move any mountains, but it’s definitely a great light choice for the days when you just need to switch your brain to off mode. You will be intrigued by the development of the speculative aspect, and find it well-grounded in the familiar contemporary success-obsessed high school world.

Similar Authors
Meg Cabot
Alexandra Bullen (Wish)
Kristina Springer (The Espressologist)
Lauren Myracle (TTYL)

Writing: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Plot: 3/5

Rating: 3 out of 5


Cover discussion: 1.5 out of 5 - Ehh. I like the font, and the careful and sparse use of colors, and even the blankness in the middle, but I'm not too much a fan of the iPhone. Somehow I didn't imagine Devi owning an iPhone, and I guess I'm opposed to the idea in general that the iPhone should represent our generation.

Delacorte / April 27, 2010 / Hardcover / 320pp. / $17.99

Review copy received from publisher.

Review: She's So Dead to Us by Kieran Scott

Tags: YA, suburbia, friendship, money, drama

Summary

Nearly two years ago, Ally Ryan’s family slunk out of town one night after her father lost lots of his and his friends’ money in a poor investment. Now, Ally is back in her old, moneyed town of Orchard Hill, but things are very different. Her father has disappeared, her old friends still hate her for what her father did, and she’s no longer accepted by the Cresties, the people who live in the rich part of town.

Ally is determined not to let them walk all over her, however. She befriends a couple of nice “Norms”—unmoneyed kids at their school—but also continues to cross paths with the Cresties, including Jake, the hottie who lives in her old house and is friends with her old friends. As assumptions clash and attitudes fly between the two of them, can these friends, enemies, and lovers of Orchard Hill set aside their financial differences and get along? Or will drama and vengeance ultimately prevail?

Review

SHE’S SO DEAD TO US is a perfect addition to the YA subgenre that consists of friendship drama, red-hot romance, and money troubles. Kieran Scott (who writes the Private series under her pen name) has introduced to us a new set of characters whom you’ll want to know every sordid detail about.

For a book in a genre with the potential for characters to fall unconvincingly flat and stereotypical, SHE’S SO DEAD TO US is, like Kieran’s other books, remarkable with its character development. Ally is rightfully the star of the show: she’s an appealing protagonist who refuses to let others walk over her. Whereas many MCs in other books like to brood endlessly about wrongs done to them, Ally will simply confront the person and let them know what she thinks. This kind of assertiveness is HOT, and it’s easy to see why the other characters either can’t help liking her or love to hate her.

SHE’S SO DEAD TO US is presented in Ally and Jake’s alternating first-person POVs. Normally male POVs written by female authors leave me unconvinced, but I found myself actually very much liking Jake here. Yes, he can be an arrogant hottie, but as we follow him and see how he gets to know Ally, we perfectly comprehend his mindset.

Plot-wise, the novel feels as though it’s been done before, but what makes this worth reading is how effortlessly we get sucked into these privileged suburban teens’ shenanigans. The book ends in such a way that I most definitely am going to pick up the next in the series. This is a must-read if you love these types of books, and for the rest of us, it’s also a easy and delicious read, perfect for those mindless days where we want to sink ourselves into other people’s petty problems.

Similar Authors
Melissa de la Cruz
Simone Elkeles
Zoey Dean

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

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5


Cover discussion: 1 out of 5 - I was EXTREMELY turned off by this cover. The broken pearls on a bland light blue background just don't do it for me. This book is actually really good for its type, and I think the cover should've better reflected the dark, addictive, and subversive underpinnings of this novel.

Simon & Schuster / May 25, 2010 / Hardcover / 288pp. / $16.99

ARC received from publisher.

Review: Jekel Loves Hyde by Beth Fantaskey

Tags: YA, paranormal, romance, family, curse

Summary

After her father’s murder, good-girl Jill Jekel fears for her academic future when she discovers that her father had drained all her college savings. She opens the forbidden box in his office with the hopes that whatever’s inside might help her win a prestigious chemistry scholarship.

It turns out that the box contains chemistry formulas that seem to link Jill’s family to the old Robert Louis Stevenson novel of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. To unravel the formulas and win the scholarship, Jill pairs up with Tristen Hyde, a brooding British transfer student whose family has lived with a dark secret for a while. Shocking discoveries about the families’ connection and an unlikely romance abound, but Jill and Tristen must unravel their families’ mysteries before they are destroyed…from the inside out.

Review

JEKEL LOVES HYDE has a fascinating premise, but Beth Fantaskey’s sophomore novel unfortunately doesn’t live up to her debut, the compelling, funny, and smoldering Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side. The pace is slow, the writing stilted, and the characters lack believability and, well, chemistry.

Jill and Tristen’s romance will appeal best to fans of those often inexplicable paranormal matchups in the style of Twilight and Shiver. Jill is a timid character whose passivity and inability to get anything done get extremely frustrating extremely fast. I suppose the point of the book is to illustrate how her love for Tristen and the formula they create from her father’s papers change Jill, bring out the “bad” side of her (the side that we all have)—but when the change came about, it happened so abruptly, with such an uneven buildup beforehand, that I couldn’t really believe it actually happened.

Tristen’s character was more attractively complex: Fantaskey does a good job of illustrating his conflict of familial demands vs. individual agency. However, his thought processes and dialogue were quite obviously conceived of and executed by a female. The lack of distinction between Tristen’s and Jill’s voices, coupled with their alternating narrative POVs throughout the book, made for an almost uncomfortable read, in that the characters never stood out and achieved credibility.

JEKEL LOVES HYDE takes an intriguing look at the complex influences of family over individual agency, but that interesting concept was for the most part sadly mired in the mundanities of a less-than-fully-realized high school adolescent setting. The teachers and classmates were stock characters, and the chemistry experiments that Jill and Tristen performed lacked a richness of detail that would make us believe they are actually doing what the words on the page vaguely tell us they’re doing. Similarly, Jill’s interest in art and Tristen’s passion for music were characteristics that never fully coalesced with their characters for me.

There is no denying that JEKEL LOVES HYDE is an ambitious book. Fantaskey’s writing “tics” of flat supporting characters, love-conquers-all theme, and colloquial diction are once again prevalent here, but unlike in Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side, there is no gratifying humor or steamy romance to excuse its weaker points. JEKEL LOVES HYDE will appeal most to readers who like their paranormal romances swoony and won’t mind a slow and perhaps not quite cohesive plot. Despite the lukewarm effect this book had on me, however, I still admire Fantaskey for coming up with the most original and compelling premises ever, and will not hesitate to pick up her future books.

Similar Authors
Lauren Baratz-Logsted
Simone Elkeles (Perfect Chemistry)
Maggie Stiefvater (Shiver)
Bree Despain (The Dark Divine)
Stephenie Meyer

Writing: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Plot: 3/5

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5


Cover discussion: 4 out of 5 - Beth always gets the most wonderfully "broody" covers. They're different and beautiful and definitely movie poster-esque.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt / May 3, 2010 / Hardcover / 282pp. / $17.00

ARC received from author.

Review: Read, Remember, Recommend for Teens by Rachelle Rogers Knight (T2T)

Tags: nonfiction, guide, YA lit, literature, lists, recommendations

This guide-slash-journal to middle grade and young adult literature is an admirable compilation of recommendations and reader interaction. Writing a guidebook for a field that literally changes by the day is no easy feat, and while I had some issues with some parts of the journal, I still commend Rachelle for taking on this monumental task, and would recommend RRR as a great gift to give a bookworm.

Because this is not the usual type of book I review (i.e. er, it's not fiction), I will organize my review slightly differently, in a section each for Pros, Cons, and Concluding Thoughts.

Pros

The first half of the journal contains hundreds, if not thousands, of different lists of recommended reads: awards that range from the local to the national level, for pretty much every genre imaginable. The lists towards the end of this section are even divided up by genre and similar bestsellers (i.e. one of those “What do I read after Twilight?” things). And what’s especially happy-making for list-obsessed bookworms like me is that beside each title are spaces to mark if you’ve read it, want to read it, want to own it, and/or would recommend it to others. The organization of this section is, I think, ideal for book industry professionals in a role of recommending books to others: librarians, teachers, etc.

Following the lists is a good-sized space for creating your own lists: of books you read, your thoughts on books, books you’d recommend to others, and books you’ve lent out and would love to keep track of. The format can be a bit awkward, as the lines are narrow and the spaces fairly small, but I love the concept of this section and would’ve gone completely ga-ga over it as a tween, when I was obsessed with organization but, instead of preferring to make my own formatted lists, would’ve preferred to use something neat and premade.

And finally, in the back are lists of resources: websites to libraries, blogs, and author pages. There’s also a great appendix of basic-to-intermediate-level literary terms—handy for upcoming English tests!

Cons

As far as I can gather, all the lists in this book were taken from lists that other organizations had written—so, essentially, this book is like a well-organized compilation of other people’s works. This works if it’s what you’re looking for, but I couldn’t help but feel that this format creates a certain lack of connection for me. I would’ve loved to see some original lists written by the author herself, or perhaps somehow put a “face” to all the organizations whose lists are included in this compilation. Quotes from contributors, original lists created specifically for this journal by book lovers…that would’ve made the journal feel more personal to me, as I think a good journal should do.

Also, there are no descriptions for each book’s title, which for a fairly well-read YA reader is no problem, as many of the titles are either bestselling or destined to YA canonization, but for someone hoping to enter the wide world of YA lit may be a bit more frustrating and more work to find out more about the titles. Though I understand that including descriptions would’ve made this journal close to about a thousand pages, compilations like these are always a careful balancing of breadth vs. depth, with things being forced to be sacrificed somewhere down the line.

And finally, I would’ve loved to see a section explaining Rachelle’s “credentials” for and investment in taking on this enormous task of compressing the whole of YA lit into a manageable journal. I guess that being a blogger for over a year now has made me think more about the concept of objective authority, and whether it can exist for an industry that’s constantly changing. Anyone who takes on this challenge can obviously not make everyone happy: all they can do is to clearly define the place from which they’re coming. And I wanted to see where Rachelle stood, where she was coming from. To paint an example, I especially wanted to know how Rachelle created the Resources pages in the back, as those were the most original of the content in the book. But how, may I ask, is a list of YA book blogs complete without Lenore?? Alright, I’ll stop there before I continue to nitpick more.

Concluding Thoughts

Rating this kind of book is extremely difficult, as recommendation lists are always so subjective. I’m not fully convinced that this is the most exemplary and reader-friendly compilation regarding YA lit out there, but if you’re in that in-between stage, where you’ve read a handful of YA novels and have interest in reading more, or if you’re simply a lover of lists about books, this is definitely something need to check out.

Physical design: 4/5
Content: 3/5
Organization: 4/5
Usefulness: 3/5

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5


Sourcebooks / April 1, 2010 / Paperback / 352pp. / $15.99

Received from publisher for Traveling to Teens Tour. Don't forget to check out the tour's site for a list of other blog tour stops!

Guest post from Rachelle coming soon...