YA new releases: A trio of mini-reviews!

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

I read three new young adult fiction releases this past week, and thought a three-fer review post would be fun! Here’s a quick look at what I read and what I thought.

Title: Another Day
Author: David Levithan
Release date: August 25, 2015
Length: 327 pages

In 2012, David Levithan published his remarkable novel Every Day (review), about a teen named A who awakens each day in a different body. A carries A’s consciousness into each body, but experiences life as a series of “day in the life” moments belonging to whoever the body’s owner is. This is normal for A, until A meets and falls in love with Rhiannon. This seemingly impossible and complicated set-up makes for an amazing read, complete in itself.

But here we are in 2015 with Another Day, which tells the same story and presents the same set of events, but as experienced by Rhiannon. I was skeptical at first: Do we really need another version of the same tale? Short answer: Yes. Another Day is much more engrossing and moving than I would have expected. Rhiannon ponders the dynamics between body and self, questions her own motivations and feelings, her own sense of attraction and repulsion in regard to each of A’s appearances, and finds herself forced into decisions that have no right answer.

I love David Levithan’s writing, pretty much always, and Another Day is no exception. The story is wonderful, and the writing is beautiful in its rhythms and use of language, yet also feels true to teen hearts and minds. The ending seems to beg for a follow up, and I do hope that the author is planning another installment in this fascinating story.

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Title: Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between
Author: Jennifer E. Smith
Release date: September 1, 2015
Length: 256 pages

If you like your YA light and airy, then Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between might be the book for you! This is actually a fitting choice for this time of year, a quintessential back-to-school reading selection. Hello tells the story of Clare and Aidan as a “one magical night” type of tale: We spend the night, from early evening until the next morning, watching Clare and Aidan’s final night together after a two-year high school relationship, as each prepares to leave for college in the morning. Clare and Aidan live near Chicago, but Clare will attend an East Coast college and Aidan will be at UCLA.

All summer long, they’ve been debating whether to stay together or break up before leaving for school, with Aidan wanting option 1 and Clare advocating for option 2. It’s not that they don’t love each other; they do. But neither can be sure that staying together is the right thing to do. Is it better to end things now, on their own terms, than risk a slow fizzling out as they become involved in their own, separate college lives? What if they meet other people? What if they don’t, but miss out on key college experiences because their minds are too wrapped up in their long-distance romance?

Clare and Aidan spend the night visiting old hang-outs, best friends, scenes of memorable firsts, and “everything in between”, looking to both capture memories and come to an agreement before the sun rises and they go their separate ways. Even though the couple is dealing with heart-ache and sadness, there’s still an element of excitement and looking forward — plus family drama, as each character’s relationship with parents has an impact on their choices and how they feel about their chances as a couple.

I liked Hello, but thought it was a little too simplistic in presenting the options available to Clare and Aidan. They’re fun characters with good hearts, but I’m not sure the situation warrants quite as much drama as they infuse into it. This is a nice, light read, super quick and easily digestible. It didn’t make much of a deep impression on me, but it did keep me entertained all the way through.

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Title: Everything, Everything
Author: Nicola Yoon
Release date: September 1, 2015
Length: 320 pages

Wow. This book left me reeling, in ways I didn’t even imagine. Everything, Everything is the story of Maddy, a teen girl with the rare immune disease SCID who’s lived her entire life in the hyper-protected, safe environment of her completely sterilized and filtered home. She never goes out, never sees anyone in person except her mother and her nurse, spends her time attending school via Skype and reading tons of books. And then one day, Olly and his family move next door, and Maddy’s world is rocked. What if she could make a friend? What if she did want something besides what she has? From waving window to window to email and IM chats, Maddy and Olly become friends, and then more, until Maddy feels ready to risk everything, even her life, to really take a chance at living.

I thought I knew what to expect, more or less, when I started this book, but I was wrong. First of all, the narrative voice is completely charming. Told in the first person by Maddy, the narrative strikes the exactly right chord of cleverness, humor, and curiosity tinged with innocence. Maddy has literally done nothing and been nowhere, so everything she sees and experiences is a first for her. The author captures the wonder of all of Maddy’s firsts, as well as the suffocation of being alive without really living her own life. While the Maddy/Olly romance develops quickly, it’s not insta-love. They get to know each other as people first. Each has baggage and fears, but they find a way to connect that’s touching and feels real and deserved.

The ending (or, the last 20%, according to my Kindle) absolutely threw me for a loop and was not what I expected at all. It’s powerful and emotional (okay, yes, there were even tears), and went in unexpected directions. I’m sure readers will have some heated debates about how things turn out, and I have a feeling this will be a love it or hate it situation — but either way, there’s plenty to discuss!

Throughout the book, I thought the writing was terrific, and I loved the little drawings and diagrams that enliven Maddy’s story, as well as all the email exchanges, messages drawn on windows, and other whimsical visual touches. Maddy is a smart and funny character, and I loved seeing her think about her life, her family, and her future. This book pulls off the tricky task of piling on the emotional impact while keeping a sense of quirkiness and laughter. Everything, Everything is a book that should really appeal to teen readers, and adults will love it too!

6Sep2015

Book Review: A Little in Love by Susan Fletcher

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

When a book starts with the main character dying slowly and painfully in the street, you know that you’re going to be in for an emotional ride.

Then again, what do you expect from a book whose essence can be boiled down to Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables as told by Eponine?

I mean, anyone who saw the musical version of Les Miz and didn’t get at least a little misty during this number has a heart of stone:

In A Little in Love, a dying Eponine recounts her sad life story, narrating all that she’s experienced in her young life that led up to this final moment. And so we go back to Eponine’s girlhood, as she lives in a small village at the inn run by her parents, the wicked, thieving Thenardiers. Eponine’s parents raise her and her younger sister to be wonderful thieves, able to pull rings off fingers, lift coins from pockets, take the buckles off a pair of shoes, without ever being seen. To steal is to earn love.

Into their lives comes a small girl named Cosette, deposited into the Thenardier’s keeping by her desperate mother, but the kindness and shelter she’d hope to secure for Cosette is never delivered. Cosette is treated like a dog and a slave, while the money left for her upkeep is spent on food and clothes for the Thenardiers. Eponine sees Cosette as a potential friend, until she is punished for showing any kindess. Eponine’s mother makes clear that only hardness is allowed. She must be cruel. She must be hard. Eponine can only keep what passes for love from her own mother by kicking Cosette and spitting at her, calling her ugly, and making her life miserable.

And so the years pass, until a kind-eyed man comes one Christmas to take little Cosette away into a better life. Eponine realizes just how trapped she is in the misery of her own family… but she herself has no way out, no kind-eyed rescuer to save her from her sad existence. After her father commits a horrible crime, they spend years on the run, eventually landing in Paris, where Eponine’s fate is sealed. She sees a young man, Marius, and falls instantly in love. Eponine is sickened by her family’s evil ways, and determines to be good, to be kind, to make her own way in the world and try to make amends. When Eponine realizes that Marius loves none other than Cosette, Eponine finds a way to unite the lovers, and ultimately… well, if you’ve watched the clip above, you know it doesn’t end well for poor Eponine.

A Little in Love is a lovely little book, not very long and with a nice, quick pace. Eponine’s world view may be limited, but it’s enough to show us the abject poverty of the lower classes in France and the depths to which people must sink in order to survive. Despite her horrible upbringing, Eponine holds onto her own humanity, and it’s through her sense of right and grace that we see that not all people are cruel, and that even poor, downtrodden people are capable of moments of kindess which can change lives.

This was a hard world, I knew that. It was dangerous; it had its knives and lies and cruelties, and Paris felt on the edge of such trouble. but there were small wonders too — everywhere.

Eponine’s voice is simple and genuine. She loves, she aches, she regrets. She despises her parents’ and sister’s actions, but not the people themselves. She would be forgiven for resenting Cosette and standing in her way, but of course she doesn’t: By helping Cosette, she’s doing what little she can to apologize for the years of cruelty, lightening her own burden of guilt even while adding to the pain she suffers knowing Marius will never love her as she loves him.

I would imagine that most readers of A Little in Love will be at least a little familiar with the story from the movie version of Les Miserables. This book is a reimagining of Victor Hugo’s story, so some plot changes may be confusing for those expecting the story they viewed on-screen. It doesn’t matter much, really: Because neither version of the story looks through Eponine’s eyes, the narration of A Little in Love covers new ground even when going over plotlines that may be familiar. It’s a hard balancing act for a retelling to stay faithful to the original while adding enough new elements to make the story fresh and surprising, and author Susan Fletcher achieves this remarkably well in A Little in Love.

Eponine is a tragic character, a small player in the grander story of Les Miserables, and it’s lovely to see her getting the center stage billing she deserves in this new novel.

Two final thoughts:

♦ A Little in Love is being marketed as a young adult novel. I’d just add that younger teen readers (and older middle school aged readers) could easily enjoy this book, especially if they’ve seen the movie version. While the book portrays horrible living conditions, cruelty, starvation, crime, etc, it never gets graphic and there’s no sexual content.

♦ I really wish this book had a better title! It’s not bad, but it’s not memorable or particularly connected to the story itself. I found myself having to double-check the title several times in order to make sure I got it right! It just seems awfully generic, like something you’d paste on a light-hearted high school romance, and I’m afraid it doesn’t do the weightiness of the story true justice.

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The details:

Title: A Little in Love
Author: Susan Fletcher
Publisher: Chicken House Ltd
Publication date: August 25, 2015
Length: 288 pages
Genre: Young adult fiction
Source: Purchased

5Sep2015

Take A Peek Book Review: Secondhand Souls by Christopher Moore

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

“Take a Peek” book reviews are short and (possibly) sweet, keeping the commentary brief and providing a little peek at what the book’s about and what I thought.

Synopsis:

(via Goodreads)

In San Francisco, the souls of the dead are mysteriously disappearing—and you know that can’t be good—in New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore’s delightfully funny sequel to A Dirty Job.

Something really strange is happening in the City by the Bay. People are dying, but their souls are not being collected. Someone—or something—is stealing them and no one knows where they are going, or why, but it has something to do with that big orange bridge. Death Merchant Charlie Asher is just as flummoxed as everyone else. He’s trapped in the body of a fourteen-inch-tall “meat” waiting for his Buddhist nun girlfriend, Audrey, to find him a suitable new body to play host.

To get to the bottom of this abomination, a motley crew of heroes will band together: the seven-foot-tall death merchant Minty Fresh; retired policeman turned bookseller Alphonse Rivera; the Emperor of San Francisco and his dogs, Bummer and Lazarus; and Lily, the former Goth girl. Now if only they can get little Sophie to stop babbling about the coming battle for the very soul of humankind…

The author with "squirrel people". Image via wunc.org

Christopher Moore with “squirrel people”.
Image via wunc.org

My Thoughts:

Here’s a slightly edited version of what I wrote on Goodreads:

	I’ll just say it: Christopher Moore can pretty much do no wrong. Take his earlier books: Enormous lizards? Artificial whales? Stupid angels and Jesus? Shakespeare, Impressionist painters… you get the drift. For ultra-weird but extremely funny (and even touching) stories, you really can’t beat the Author Guy’s books. Secondhand Souls is a sequel to A Dirty Job, which is an awesomely hilarious, entertaining, occasionally crude, always crazy tale — and Secondhand Souls lives up to it, not quite perfectly, but awfully darn close. The characters we love are back, in different places in their lives (and even in different bodies), but still themselves. Plus, there are some memorable new characters, including a Golden Gate Bridge painter named Mike, a mysterious man dressed all in yellow, a lovesick ghost, and a banshee with a fondness for tasers, among others. San Francisco itself is a star, and seeing such a crazy adventure unfold in our beloved city is at least half the fun. Who am I kidding? It’s all fun. The logic of the story gets a little thin at times, and forget about character development: We’re plopped down into the lives of the characters from A Dirty Job, and either you remember them or you don’t. But, it doesn’t really matter. If you’re a Christopher Moore fan, you need to read this. And if you’ve never had the pleasure, I’d say put this one on hold and read (at least) A Dirty Job — and possibly a few others — before picking up Secondhand Souls.

I’ll just say it: Christopher Moore can pretty much do no wrong. Take his earlier books: Enormous lizards? Artificial whales? Stupid angels and Jesus? Shakespeare, Impressionist painters… you get the drift. For ultra-weird but extremely funny (and even touching) stories, you really can’t beat the Author Guy’s books.

Secondhand Souls is a sequel to A Dirty Job, which is an awesomely hilarious, entertaining, occasionally crude, always crazy tale — and Secondhand Souls lives up to it, not quite perfectly, but awfully darn close. The characters we love are back, in different places in their lives (and even in different bodies), but still themselves. Plus, there are some memorable new characters, including a Golden Gate Bridge painter named Mike, a mysterious man dressed all in yellow, a lovesick ghost, and a banshee with a fondness for tasers, among others.

San Francisco itself is a star, and seeing such a crazy adventure unfold in our beloved city is at least half the fun.

Who am I kidding? It’s all fun. The logic of the story gets a little thin at times, and forget about character development: We’re plopped down into the lives of the characters from A Dirty Job, and either you remember them or you don’t. But, it doesn’t really matter. If you’re a Christopher Moore fan, you need to read this. And if you’ve never had the pleasure, I’d say put this one on hold and read (at least) A Dirty Job — and possibly a few others — before picking up Secondhand Souls.

And for a more articulate review, here’s what my friend Heidi had to say about it:

	Of all Christopher Moore’s novels, which range from the adolescent and ridiculous (Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings) to the pretty much perfect (Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal), the ones that Charlie Asher lives in are my favorites. Secondhand Souls is of course the sequel to A Dirty Job, which introduced us to Charlie, beta male junk shop owner, and the hidden world of the Death Merchants. (Also: a devastatingly cool record-shop owner called Minty Fresh, a toddler who may-or-may-not be Death and her pet Hellhounds, Lily the PerkyGoth, Audrey the Buddhist nun, The Emperor of San Francisco, The Morrigan and The Squirrel People, among others.) Read that before you read this, or you’ll be really lost. In fact, you probably are already. With the whole bizarre gang back in play — plus some new additions — Secondhand Souls is not a mere cheesey sequel (though cheez plays a critical role); it’s more like visiting with batshit crazy old friends. Unfortunately for them it turns out, due in large part to the events in A Dirty Job, there’s a dangerous backlog of uncollected souls lurking around San Francisco, and Charlie and friends are once again embroiled in the danger and magical maneuvering that is dealing with the powers of darkness rising. Fortunately, they are more than weird enough to handle the crisis. I don’t want to spoil the plot, so I’ll just say it’s hilarious. Maybe I love these books because they capture San Francisco’s magic in ways that ring true in my heart. It’s like an idealized version of my hometown — in the topography of Moore’s books I basically live across the street from Minty’s shop, and nobody ever has to step over homeless people sleeping in the vestibule. Crazy people are really helpful geniuses, and even normal folks can afford the rents. (I find all this somehow reassuring, as magic is in short supply around here these days.) Also, the characters have more fun talking to each other than anybody ever has had in the history of ever. (Except maybe “The Gilmore Girls.”) For nutty-but-somehow-deep dialogue, you really can’t beat Christopher Moore. 5 whole-hearted, sunny-yet-deeply-morbid stars.

Of all Christopher Moore’s novels, which range from the adolescent and ridiculous (Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings) to the pretty much perfect (Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal), the ones that Charlie Asher lives in are my favorites. Secondhand Souls is of course the sequel to A Dirty Job, which introduced us to Charlie, beta male junk shop owner, and the hidden world of the Death Merchants. (Also: a devastatingly cool record-shop owner called Minty Fresh, a toddler who may-or-may-not be Death and her pet Hellhounds, Lily the PerkyGoth, Audrey the Buddhist nun, The Emperor of San Francisco, The Morrigan and The Squirrel People, among others.) Read that before you read this, or you’ll be really lost. In fact, you probably are already.

With the whole bizarre gang back in play — plus some new additions — Secondhand Souls is not a mere cheesey sequel (though cheez plays a critical role); it’s more like visiting with batshit crazy old friends. Unfortunately for them it turns out, due in large part to the events in A Dirty Job, there’s a dangerous backlog of uncollected souls lurking around San Francisco, and Charlie and friends are once again embroiled in the danger and magical maneuvering that is dealing with the powers of darkness rising. Fortunately, they are more than weird enough to handle the crisis. I don’t want to spoil the plot, so I’ll just say it’s hilarious.

Maybe I love these books because they capture San Francisco’s magic in ways that ring true in my heart. It’s like an idealized version of my hometown — in the topography of Moore’s books I basically live across the street from Minty’s shop, and nobody ever has to step over homeless people sleeping in the vestibule. Crazy people are really helpful geniuses, and even normal folks can afford the rents. (I find all this somehow reassuring, as magic is in short supply around here these days.) Also, the characters have more fun talking to each other than anybody ever has had in the history of ever. (Except maybe “The Gilmore Girls.”) For nutty-but-somehow-deep dialogue, you really can’t beat Christopher Moore. 5 whole-hearted, sunny-yet-deeply-morbid stars.

(With thanks to Heidi, for letting me borrow her review! For more awesome Heidi reviews, you can find her here on Goodreads.)

So hey – if you’re new to Christopher Moore, this is not the place to start! Maybe spend some time with Practical Demonkeeping or The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, or even his first novel set in San Francisco, Bloodsucking Fiends. Bask in the absurd and wacky, soak up his crazy but somehow perfect tricks of language, and just enjoy the WTFness of it all. When you’re ready for true brilliance and lots of heart, read Lamb. Or harken back to Shakespeare as you never knew it with Fool and The Serpent of Venice. Uh oh, I feel a Christopher Moore retrospective post coming on! Stay tuned… and meanwhile, get thee to a copy of A Dirty Job as soon as possible.

Going now.

Need a cheez. (Read Secondhand Souls and this will make sense.)

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The details:

Title: Secondhand Souls
Author: Christopher Moore
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication date: August 25, 2015
Length: 352 pages
Genre: Fiction/Humor/Supernatural
Source: Purchased

4Sep2015

Graphic Reaction: The Good Neighbors series by Holly Black

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Let’s talk about the terrific trilogy I just read! Presenting…

Holly Black excels at creating beautiful yet dangerous faerie worlds in her novels, and here she does so in graphic novel format.

Kin, Kith, and Kind tell the story of Rue Silver, a seemingly normal high school student whose life starts falling apart when her mother disappears. When her father, a folklore professor at the local university, is accused of murdering a student, things gets decidedly weirder.

Rue sees odd visions — people with horns or wings, a creature in the tree outside her house — and remembers all the slightly bizarre things about her mother. Like, for example, how her beautiful mother never seems to age, and how she hangs out naked in the garden, and how the flowers seem to respond to her.

The truth is slowly revealed: Rue’s mother is a faerie, making Rue only half-mortal. And it turns out there’s a plot afoot: Rue’s grandfather Aubrey is a faerie king, and wants to claim the entire city as a world for his people.

These books are such fun! There’s drama and danger, romantic love, passionate encounters, and familial love and loyalty at stake. The story builds, with Rue evolving into a force to be reckoned with, the more she claims her birthright and power.

I really liked the illustrations, which are in black and white throughout the three books. Rue and her friends are all distinct and well-drawn, and I love Rue’s depiction as a cool, funky, rebellious girl, in looks as well as in actions. The inhabitants of the faerie world are visually wonderful, with wings or fangs or talons, beautiful and menacing, and each one different and unusual. The details are terrific, and I particularly love the pages with crowd scenes, where all the various denizens of faerie (or the human world) appear as individuals, even when the page is teeming with them.

The story starts small, focusing on Rue and her personal dilemmas, and grows to a much wider scale, culminating in a fight for survival between the human and faerie worlds.

These books are a quick read, and ideally should be read right in a row for peak enjoyment. I found the Good Neighbors trilogy a really nice treat after a lot of heavier reading, and recommend them as a (dare I say it?) magical diversion when you’re looking for something a bit different to spend your time with.

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The details:

Title: Kin (book 1), Kith (book 2), Kind (book 3)
Author: Holly Black
Illustrator: Ted Naifeh
Publisher: Graphix
Publication date: 2008 – 2010
Length: 128 – 144 pages
Genre: Graphic novel
Source: Library

28Aug2015

Blog Tour & Giveaway: The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach by Pam Jenoff

Posted in Book Reviews, Giveaways by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Thank you for joining me for my stop on the blog tour for Pam Jenoff’s new historical romance, The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach! And don’t forget to check out my giveaway — scroll down to enter… and good luck!

Synopsis:

Summer 1941

Young Adelia Monteforte flees fascist Italy for America, where she is whisked away to the shore by her well-meaning aunt and uncle. Here, she meets and falls for Charlie Connally, the eldest of the four Irish-Catholic boys next door. But all hopes for a future together are soon throttled by the war and a tragedy that hits much closer to home.

Grief-stricken, Addie flees—first to Washington and then to war-torn London—and finds a position at a prestigious newspaper, as well as a chance to redeem lost time, lost family…and lost love. But the past always nips at her heels, demanding to be reckoned with. And in a final, fateful choice, Addie discovers that the way home may be a path she never suspected.

My Thoughts:

I have really mixed feelings about this book. First, the positive: I thought the author did a great job conveying the feel of Philadelphia and the Jersey beaches in the 1940s. The street scenes and depictions of life in a summer beach town were very convincing. I really enjoyed seeing Adelia’s unofficial adoption into the Connally clan. This big, noisy Irish family just opened their hearts and home to her, and it was heartwarming to see this lonely, frightened immigrant girl find a place to fit in.

Likewise, the scenes set in wartime London were stirring, especially seeing the devastation of the Blitz and the danger of simply walking down a street, as well as the sad plight of war orphans and the courage of the war correspondents and soldiers setting off on secret missions. The risks and uncertainty add a sense of breathlessness to every interaction, and I liked seeing Addie find a place amidst the chaos and confusion, seeming to discover a calling of her own.

What worked less well for me was the romance, or rather, romances, that are at the heart of the story. To put it bluntly, I just didn’t buy any of Addie’s love interests. I found her actions and decisions confusing, and even by the very end of the story, I wasn’t convinced by her supposed motivations or feelings. Part of the problem may have been the condensed time frame of the story, covering about four years starting from when Addie is sixteen. An awful lot happens in that amount of time, including romantic entanglements that spring up almost instantly and some that seem to dissolve just as quickly.

For me, The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach seemed over-plotted, and I didn’t feel that the emotional arcs built, but rather jumped from point A to point B (or even C). The romantic aspects of this book just didn’t gel, but I did enjoy the historical setting and the way the descriptions evoke a real sense of a by-gone era.

Find out more:

Purchase Links

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

About the Author:

Pam Jenoff is the Quill-nominated internationally bestselling author of The Kommadant’s Girl. She holds a bachelor’s degree in international affairs from George Washington University and a master’s degree in history from Cambridge, and she received her Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania. Jenoff’s novels are based on her experiences working at the Pentagon and also as a diplomat for the State Department handling Holocaust issues in Poland. She lives with her husband and three children near Philadelphia where, in addition to writing, she teaches law school.

Connect with Pam:

Website | Facebook | Twitter

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The details:

Title: The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach
Author: Pam Jenoff
Publisher: Mira
Publication date: July 28, 2015
Length: 384 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of TLC Book Tours

For further information, stop by TLC Book Tours to view other blog tour hosts.

GIVEAWAY!

I’m excited to be giving away a bookbag and finished copy of the book! Want to win? No fancy footwork required — just leave a comment below answering any one of these questions:

– What’s the best book you’ve read set during wartime?
– What beach holds special memories for you, and why?
– If you could live in a different period in history, what would you choose?

Extra credit: Do you follow Bookshelf Fantasies? Let me know in the comments if you follow me and how (email, Twitter, WordPress, etc), and you get an extra entry in the giveaway!

That’s it! I’ll do a random drawing on September 1st to pick a winner. Thanks for playing along!

(Sorry — US/Canada only this time around)

23Aug2015

Take A Peek Book Review: I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

“Take a Peek” book reviews are short and (possibly) sweet, keeping the commentary brief and providing a little peek at what the book’s about and what I thought.

Synopsis:

(via Goodreads)

Best friends, big fans, a mysterious webcomic, and a long-lost girl collide in this riveting novel, perfect for fans of both Cory Doctorow and Sarah Dessen; illustrated throughout with comics.

Once upon a time, two best friends created a princess together. Libby drew the pictures, May wrote the tales, and their heroine, Princess X, slayed all the dragons and scaled all the mountains their imaginations could conjure.

Once upon a few years later, Libby was in the car with her mom, driving across the Ballard Bridge on a rainy night. When the car went over the side, Libby passed away, and Princess X died with her.

Once upon a now: May is sixteen and lonely, wandering the streets of Seattle, when she sees a sticker slapped in a corner window.

Princess X?

When May looks around, she sees the Princess everywhere: Stickers. Patches. Graffiti. There’s an entire underground culture, focused around a webcomic at IAmPrincessX.com. The more May explores the webcomic, the more she sees disturbing similarities between Libby’s story and Princess X online. And that means that only one person could have started this phenomenon—her best friend, Libby, who lives.

From http://www.iamprincessx.com

My Thoughts:

What a treat! I Am Princess X is a smart, well-written, imaginative odyssey focused on girl power and the bonds of friendship. May and Libby are deeply connected, and their true devotion to one another is what drives the search for answers forward.

Fast-paced, clever, pulse-pounding, and funny, I Am Princess X is a great story of friendship and determination, with plenty of adventure and geeky clue-chasing mixed in. The web comic that becomes a piece of the puzzle is terrific, and I really enjoyed the way the comic provides a map to the secrets of the story.

It’s nice to read a young adult novel where romance, for once, is not a factor at all. There’s lots of tech talk and references to gadgets, devices, screens, and tablets (which makes me wonder if this book will feel dated in 10 years). The plot involves hacking and spyware and questionable internet conduct — but that’s about all that could even possibly raise an eyebrow about inappropriate behavior. Otherwise, it’s practically squeaky clean, so a parent could be comfortable sharing this with mature middle school readers as well as the book’s target teen audience. (I say mature, simply because there is danger and a scary bad guy, with the main characters in serious peril. The bad guy is really creepy and threatening — deadly too.)

Overall, I found I Am Princess X to be fun, memorable and exciting. It’s got a fresh and unusual feel to it, and the narrative-plus-graphics format is very engaging. Check it out!

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The details:

Title: I Am Princess X
Author: Cherie Priest
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books
Publication date: May 26, 2015
Length: 240 pages
Genre: Young adult fiction
Source: Library

22Aug2015

Audiobook Review: The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

My book group chose The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd for our August discussion book, and I was in absolute despair over how impossible it would be to find enough time to read it, when it dawned on me that I needed a new audiobook to listen to and this might be the perfect choice.

Guess what? I was right.

Almost immediately, I became totally wrapped up in this beautiful and powerful story. On top of the quality of the writing and plot, the audiobook narration seemed to suit the characters perfectly, and I was absolutely hooked.

What’s it all about? In short, The Invention of Wings is the story of two women whose lives are joined from childhood onward. One is Sarah Grimke, the daughter of a wealthy planter-class, slave-owning family in Charleston, South Carolina in the early 1800s. The other is Hetty, known as Handful, the slave girl given to Sarah as a present for her 11th birthday.

Sarah is horrified by the idea of owning a person, and her first action is to steal into her father’s library and copy a document of manumission from his law books, setting Handful free. Of course, Sarah’s parents rip up the document on the spot, but from this moment forward, Sarah and Handful’s lives are tied together.

Sarah Grimke is a historical figure, who became a famous (and infamous) public speaker and writer as an adult, as she and her sister Angelina became outspoken, ardent abolitionists and advocates for women’s rights. Handful, though, is a fictional invention, although her life and experiences could easily have been real in the American South.

In alternating voices and chapters, Sarah and Handful narrate their lives. Each presents the world around herself as she experiences it. Sarah is a prisoner of her family’s expectations and society’s beliefs and prejudices, trapped by her gender and by societal norms into a life that torments her. Handful, of course, is literally a prisoner, enslaved for life and forced to experience and witness one degradation after another, despite her mother Charlotte’s best efforts to shield her and give her strength.

The audiobook has two narrators, Jenna Lamia and Adepero Oduye, who alternately voice Sarah and Handful. It’s hard to explain how wonderful this is. Sarah speaks as a young girl at the beginning, and her voice strengthens and matures as she grows into womanhood. Sarah has a speech impediment, which we hear whenever Sarah talks, but not during the narration itself, which is as fluent as her thoughts. The narrator for the Sarah chapters also marvelously captures the upper-class Southern drawl of Sarah’s parents and siblings. Meanwhile, Handful’s chapters are told through Handful’s own speech patterns, with a deep and sorrowful musicality that is really lovely and heartbreaking to listen to.

The story itself is absolutely engrossing. The author does not shy away from the brutality of slavery, and we see the daily degradations as well as the more egregious acts of violence and cruelty. Likewise, we witness the painful journey of a girl breaking free and finding her own voice in a world where speaking out can cost you everything.

The two stories contrast nicely with each other, with themes of family and a search for freedom running through both. I didn’t always buy the idea of the parallels between the two characters’ stories. Handful says to Sarah at one point:

My body might be a slave, but not my mind. For you, it’s the other way round.

While it’s an interesting concept, there isn’t really an equivalency. Sarah may be bound by society’s strictures, but she’s still free and does not have to worry about staying alive and physically whole on a daily basis. Still, it’s worth thinking about the ways in which each woman has her life defined by forces outside her own control, and by the many small steps and defiant acts each takes to carve out her own place in a world that doesn’t value her or even deem her worthy of notice.

Both halves of the story are quite interesting, although Handful’s chapters have a much more urgent and visceral feel to them, and these are the parts of the story that affected me most deeply. Not to say that Sarah’s story isn’t compelling as well: She’s a quiet but strong presence throughout the book, with a deep moral core that propels her forward and has her constantly seeking her purpose in life.

The book ends with an afterward by the author in which she explains the origins of the novel and her research, and gives an overview of the real Sarah Grimke’s life. It’s fascinating to learn more about this historical figure, and to get a glimpse inside the novelist’s writing process, learning which parts of the story are based on real events and which are woven together from imagination and research into 19th century life.

I strongly recommend The Invention of Wings. This feels like the kind of book I’ll be pushing all of my friends and family members to read. The story itself is engrossing, but it’s the characters — deep, well-developed, and sensitively portrayed — who are the heart and soul of this important book.

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The details:

Title: The Invention of Wings
Author: Sue Monk Kidd
Publisher: Viking
Publication date: January 7, 2014
Audiobook length: 13 hours, 46 minutes
Printed book length: 384 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Purchased (Audible download)

21Aug2015

Blog Tour & Book Review: What You Left Behind by Jessica Verdi

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

With thanks to Sourcebooks Fire, I’m delighted to be participating in the blog tour celebrating the release of What You Left Behind, the new teen novel by Jessica Verdi.

About the Book

Jessica Verdi, the author of My Life After Now and The Summer I Wasn’t Me, returns with a heartbreaking and poignant novel of grief and guilt that reads like Nicholas Sparks for teens.

It’s all Ryden’s fault. If he hadn’t gotten Meg pregnant, she would have never stopped her chemo treatments and would still be alive. Instead he’s failing fatherhood one dirty diaper at a time. And it’s not like he’s had time to grieve while struggling to care for their infant daughter, start his senior year, and earn the soccer scholarship he needs to go to college.

The one person who makes Ryden feel like his old self is Joni. She’s fun and energetic—and doesn’t know he has a baby. But the more time they spend together, the harder it becomes to keep his two worlds separate. Finding one of Meg’s journals only stirs up old emotions. Ryden’s convinced Meg left other notebooks for him to find, some message to help his new life make sense. But how is he going to have a future if he can’t let go of the past?

My Thoughts:

I’ll keep this brief… because if that synopsis doesn’t grab you and make you want to read this book, like, yesterday, then I’m not sure what else I could possibly say to grab your attention!

What You Left Behind is unusual in the increasingly crowded field of contemporary young adult fiction: It’s a teen drama full of loss and hope, told not through the eyes of the tragically dying Meg or by new love interest Joni, but by Ryden himself. I don’t recall reading any other YA novels recently with a male narrator who’s experienced anything quite like Ryden. Age 17, high school senior, father. Bereaved as a teen without every really getting to start a life with the girl he loved. Work, school, soccer, trying to be a good dad, trying to be a good son, and still trying to understand what really happened with Meg.

You can’t help but love Ryden. He didn’t ask for any of this. Meg insisted on keeping the pregnancy, even though it meant going without chemo for all those months. All Ryden wanted was to love Meg and do anything in his power to keep her healthy… and here he is six months after her death, stressed out, feeling like a terrible father, having to face the reality that the life he thought he was meant for is now forever out of reach.

Jessica Verdi’s writing is beautiful in its heartfelt sorrow and frustration and bitterness. Ryden is a giant mess, and he screws up a lot — but I challenge any reader not to feel complete sympathy with him. He’s in a horrible situation, and even though he has an amazing mother who supports him wholeheartedly, his life really does suck at the moment when we first meet him. Watching him go through the process of grieving and figuring things out and finally starting to see a glimmer of hope is painful. Ryden’s emotions are raw and brutal, and he makes some big mistakes, and really doesn’t understand the world around him or what his new life really is a lot of the time. But it’s impossible to blame him for anything. He’s in a horrible situation, not of his making, and — he’s only 17! He’s bound to make mistakes, but I can’t help but admire the courage and grit he shows in just waking up and moving forward day after day.

The author knows how to get inside a teen’s head and explore all the contradictory wants and needs lurking there. The writing doesn’t condescend and doesn’t shy away from showing the good, the bad, and the ugly. The story didn’t necessarily go where I thought it would, but I was invested every step of the way and couldn’t look away.

My only complaint is that the author made me care so much about these characters that I wanted more at the end. I like the ending of the book very much, which makes it clear that a new chapter is just beginning and that Ryden finally has a path ahead of him that can lead to happiness. But (and maybe this is the mom in me speaking!), I wanted to know more. I really want to know what Ryden’s life is like in a year, in two years, and in five. What happens next? What does he decide to do with himself? How does he grow as a person and as a father? I think it’s a testament to the power of this novel that I feel invested enough to have so many questions.

Bottom line: If you enjoy contemporary YA fiction that deals with tough subjects with honesty and emotion, don’t miss What You Left Behind. And for more by Jessica Verdi, check out her excellent previous novel, The Summer I Wasn’t Me (reviewed here).

More Info:

Purchase Here:

What You Left Behind–

About the Author

Jessica Verdi lives in Brooklyn, NY and received her MFA in Writing for Children from The New School. Her favorite pastimes include singing show tunes at the top of her lungs (much to her husband’s chagrin), watching cheesy TV, and scoring awesome non-leather shoes in a size 5. She’s still trying to figure out a way to put her uncanny ability to remember both song lyrics and the intricacies of vampire lore to good use. Follow Jess on Twitter @jessverdi.

Connect with Jessica Verdi

Website – http://jessicaverdi.com/

Twitter – https://twitter.com/JessVerdi

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/authorjessicaverdi

Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6442339.Jessica_Verdi

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The details:

Title: What You Left Behind
Author: Jessica Verdi
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Publication date: August 4, 2015
Length: 320 pages
Genre: Young adult fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of Sourcebooks Fire

16Aug2015

Book Review: In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

When you think of historical fiction, if you’re like me, images of petticoats, palaces and kilts might fill your head. But how about fiction that tells a story of a more recent history? In Judy Blume’s new novel, In the Unlikely Event, the plot revolves around real events from the 1950s, and the effect is stunning.

If you didn’t grow up in New Jersey and weren’t around in the 1950s, you might be as shocked as I was to realize that the plane crashes that serve as a catalyst for the drama of this book actually happened. If these events weren’t actual documented history but rather a fictional invention, we’d all be shaking our heads and saying that’s it’s just too unbelievable.

The facts are these: In the winter of 1951 – 1952 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, three different planes crashed into the town within a span of three months. How is this even possible?

In the Unlikely Event shows us the horrifying plane crashes and the devastating effect on the residents of Elizabeth through the eyes of a large cast of characters, all of whom bear witness in one way or another.

The main character is 15-year-old Miri Ammerman, who lives with her mother Rusty, uncle Henry, and grandmother Irene. Miri’s best friend is Natalie Osner, daughter of the town’s very successful dentist. Each person is connected to other people, so that we meet the best friend of Natalie’s brother, the high school senior who assists in Dr. O’s office, the orphan boy who falls for Miri, the girlfriend of Miri’s uncle, and on and on in interlocking, expanding circles.

The time itself is exquisitely drawn in loving details, from the cashmere sweaters of the rich girls to the Lanz nightgowns that Miri’s friends all wear to sleep-overs, from 17-inch TVs to telephones with long cords — in all sorts of little ways, the author paints a picture of a particular era in American life. World War II is in the past, but not so distant as to be forgotten. American boys are serving in Korea. And air travel is new and fresh and glamorous. Airline stewardesses must be pretty, perky, flirty, and single. Traveling by air is a luxury, and going on an airplane is all part of the excitement.

And then the crashes start. As each plane crash occurs, the impact is felt more and more deeply by Miri and her circle of friends, family, and acquaintances. Boys at school claim it’s either UFOs or Commies behind the whole thing. One of Miri’s friends descends into mental illness and anorexia, consumed by thoughts of one of the dead airline passengers. People on the ground lose their lives as well as the passengers who fell from the sky, and the loss is random, tragic, and incomprehensible. Miri’s life changes in unpredictable ways, marriages disintegrate, friendships are changed forever, and indeed the entire community seems to lose its heart and its center.

In the midst of all this loss and suffering are some quintessential Judy Blume moments. The scenes of Miri and her friends bring back memories of the author’s classic books about preteen and teen girls, as they deal with their parents’ flaws, differences in economic status, pressure to fit in — and boys. Make-up and clothes, flirting and making out, worrying about going all the way and getting “in trouble”, fretting over missed periods — all of this is told in the voice we’ve trusted to portray young womanhood in so many earlier books, and it’s comforting and familiar here in her newest.

My only minor quibble with In the Unlikely Event is that we’re dropped into the world of Elizabeth and immediately introduced to just about every character in the story, and it’s a lot to track. Eventually, we get to know them all individually and it’s easier to understand who’s who and how they connect, but at the beginning, I found myself doing a lot of flipping backwards to figure out who a particular person was and where I’d seen them before.

Other than the early clutter of characters, the structure and richness of In the Unlikely Event works very, very well. The story is framed at the beginning and end by Miri traveling back to Elizabeth for a commemoration of that awful winter, 35 years later. It’s interesting and touching to see how all the people we followed in the 1950s have turned out, and how each has had his or her life changed and shaped by that one fateful year.

With detailed, evocative writing and characters whom we come to truly know and care for, In the Unlikely Event is a touching, compelling story that really holds a reader’s attention from start to finish. I’m very glad to have read it, and strongly recommend it.

End note: Way back when in my early days of blogging, I wrote a little salute to Judy Blume. Want to read it? You can find it here.

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The details:

Title: In the Unlikely Event
Author: Judy Blume
Publisher: Knopf
Publication date: June 2, 2015
Length: 397 pages
Genre: Adult fiction
Source: Library

13Aug2015

Blog Tour & Book Review: The Uninvited by Cat Winters

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

I admit, I had seen a ghost or two.

I’m delighted to be participating in the blog tour celebrating The Uninvited, a new novel by Cat Winters. This is the author’s first book for adults, following two successful YA releases. Thank you, TLC Book Tours, for inviting me to participate!

Synopsis:

Twenty-five-year-old Ivy Rowan rises from her sickbed after being struck by the great influenza epidemic of 1918, only to discover that the world has been torn apart in just a few short days.

But Ivy’s lifelong gift—or curse—remains. She sees the uninvited ones—ghosts of loved ones who appear to her, unasked for and unwelcomed, for they always herald impending death. On that October evening in 1918, Ivy sees the spirit of her grandmother, rocking in her mother’s chair. An hour later, she learns her younger brother and father have killed a young German out of retaliation for the death in the Great War of Ivy’s other brother, Billy.

Horrified, she leaves home and soon realizes that the flu has caused utter panic and the rules governing society have broken down. Ivy is drawn into this new world of jazz, passion, and freedom, where people live for today, because they could be stricken by nightfall. She even enters into a relationship with the murdered German man’s brother, Daniel Schendel. But as her “uninvited guests” begin to appear to her more often, she knows her life will be torn apart once again, and terrifying secrets will unfold.

My thoughts:

The Uninvited crept up on me, little by little, until I was completely hooked. I wouldn’t say it has a slow start, because there’s certainly nothing about the pace to criticize. What I mean, really, is that it’s subtle and quiet to start with. The author sets the story in small-town Illinois, which should give the book a quaint, peaceful feel — except for the particular place in history chosen as the setting.

It’s October of 1918. Anti-German (and more generally, anti-foreigner) sentiment couldn’t be higher. The American Protection League is busy harassing outsiders into isolation and flight, spying on “good” Americans to make sure they’re behaving correctly, and inciting anger and violence in formerly friendly neighbors. While families lose husbands and sons to the Great War overseas, the horrible and deadly influenza pandemic strikes without warning, and the death toll mounts unbelievably quickly.

Ivy, the main character, is a young woman raised on a farm, frightened by her alcoholic, violent father, in mourning for her brother Billy, killed in the war. Hatred and fear are the overriding emotions all around her, but once she flees her family home to start fresh in town, she encounters friendship, passion, and love that she never expected. Ivy is an unusual character, really well defined, who seeks independence when she realizes how intolerable her family has become. She sets out to make a difference any way she can, and ends up driving an ambulance on a rogue mission to rescue the poor and unwanted flu victims who aren’t white or American enough to merit treatment in the one good hospital in town.

I loved Ivy’s backbone. She goes where she needs to go, stands up to creepy APL members, and chooses connection and physical intimacy despite all the reasons to stay away. She’s drawn to the wild jazz music she hears every night, which represents freedom and a new kind of society to her.

From setting the stage at the beginning, the author builds the tension and stakes as the story progresses. And then, bam! By about 3/4 of the way through the book, I suddenly found myself gobbling up every word, unable to look away.

Something happens along the way which changes the meaning of everything that came earlier, but I won’t say more than that. It’s enough to say that this is one of those books that’ll make you want to start all over again from the beginning once you’ve read it, to see what you missed the first time around and look at events from a different angle.

The Uninvited is a curious mix of historical fiction and ghost story, and the combination really works! The setting and time could not be more dramatic, and I loved the cast of characters, including memorable supporting characters (such as the frightened Red Cross volunteers and Ivy’s ex-suitor) in addition to Ivy herself and her sexy but aloof love interest Daniel.

Absolutely recommended for anyone with an interest in the time period, as well as anyone who enjoys well-developed characters and a plot that informs, moves, and surprises the reader. Okay, basically, recommended for everyone! I plan to read Cat Winters’s YA books as soon as I can, and I do hope she’ll continue writing more for adults as well.

Find out more:

Purchase Links: Amazon | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble

About the Author:

Cat Winters’s debut novel, In the Shadow of Blackbirds, was released to widespread critical acclaim. The novel has been named a finalist for the 2014 Morris Award, a School Library Journal Best Book of 2013, and a Booklist 2013 Top 10 Horror Fiction for Youth. Winters lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and two children.

Find out more about Cat at her website, and follow her on tumblr, Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter.

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The details:

Title: The Uninvited
Author: Cat Winters
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Publication date: August 11, 2015
Length: 368 pages
Genre: Adult fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of TLC Book Tours

For further information, stop by TLC Book Tours to view other blog tour hosts.

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