Take A Peek Book Review: The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg

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. This week’s “take a peek” book:

Synopsis:

(via Goodreads)

Love is all you need… or is it? Penny’s about to find out in this wonderful debut.

Penny is sick of boys and sick of dating. So she vows: no more. It’s a personal choice. . .and, of course, soon everyone wants to know about it. And a few other girls are inspired. A movement is born: The Lonely Hearts Club (named after the band from Sgt. Pepper). Penny is suddenly known for her nondating ways . . . which is too bad, because there’s this certain boy she can’t help but like. . . .

My Thoughts:

I’ve read and completely enjoyed Elizabeth Eulberg’s two most recent books, Revenge of the Girl With the Great Personality and Better Off Friends. When I happened to stumble across her debut, The Lonely Hearts Club, at the library this week, I thought I’d give it a try.

Elizabeth Eulberg excels at portraying the ups and downs of the high school pecking order. Her female characters tend to question the norm and make their own way. Penny isn’t a revolutionary, though — she’s just a girl who’s been dumped on and duped by one too many jerky boys. She’s not looking to start a movement, but by taking a stand for herself, she sets the stage for a lot of soul-searching.

Suddenly, the girls at school begin to realize that being with a boy who treats you badly is not actually better than not having a boyfriend at all. Penny and her small circle rediscover the value of having friends to rely on, friends who put their friends first and don’t dump them the second a boy comes calling (or texting).

It isn’t preachy, though: No one here is saying that boys are bad, or that feeling pretty and popular is shallow, or that strong girls should never flirt or care about dating. It’s really about balance, and the takeaway here seems to be that girls have the right to expect to be treated with respect, to decide whether they want a relationship or to go it alone, to pursue what makes them happy and not just what makes them popular.

One great little tidbit that you don’t get from the synopsis: Penny’s parents are Beatles fanatics. Penny’s full name is Penny Lane Bloom, and her older sisters are Rita (Lovely Rita) and Lucy (in sky with diamonds…). Mom and Dad are quirky and hip, occasionally embarrassing, but also unabashedly pro-independence and nonconformity in their daughters — so, for example, it’s no surprise that they take Penny’s side against the principal who tries to crush the club. So what if they call her “Penny Lane” in public? They’re still great parents.

A teeny example — following Penny’s disclosure that she’s in a club:

“Penny started it. It’s called The Lonely Hearts Club,” Rita chimed in.

“Oh, oh, Penny Lane, that’s so, so wonderful!” Mom put her hand up to her chest, thrilled that I’d named something after the Beatles, although she had no idea what the Club stood for. I could’ve started a club called the Yellow Submariners that went out in the ocean and clubbed baby seals and they still would’ve been proud.

“Kiddo, it’s so great you’re taking an interest in your heritage. Goo goo g’joob!” Dad beamed.

The writing is cute and clever, with snappy dialogue that never feels too over-the-top or that it’s trying to hard to be hip. The story is fast-paced, and this is a quick, zippy read.

I’d happily recommend The Lonely Hearts Club to teens, parents of teens, anyone who enjoys contemporary YA, and — of course — to Beatles fans. I understand the sequel (We Can Work It Out) is coming soon, and I’ve already put in my request for it at the library.

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The details:

Title: The Lonely Hearts Club
Author: Elizabeth Eulberg
Publisher: Point
Publication date: 2010
Length: 290 pages
Genre: Young adult contemporary fiction
Source: Library

11Jan2015

Series Wrap-Up: The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede encompasses four novels set in one world — and be warned ahead of time: Your enjoyment of this series is by no means guaranteed just because you liked the first book. Each book is quite different, and that’s not necessarily a good thing.

First things first: If we were only talking about book #1, Dealing with Dragons, my enthusiasm would be much higher. In Dealing with Dragons, we meet Cimorene, a princess who doesn’t want the typical Happily Ever After with a handsome prince, fine gowns, and a kingdom to be pampered in. So Cimorene runs away and finds herself a large dragon, Kazul, who just so happens to need a princess of her own. In this world, princesses serve dragons — some willingly, some not so much — usually until they are rescued by a brave knight who comes to free them from “captivity”. Cimorene has no patience for such nonsense, and soon finds herself an indispensable assistant to Kazul, keeping house, observing dragon politics, learning about magic, and warding off dangerous wizards who want to steal the dragon’s magic. The book breaks gender roles in all sorts of interesting and unusual ways; my favorite is that the leader of the dragons is called King, which denotes a position, not a person. Kazul is a female dragon, but is still able to vie for the position of King…. and woe to anyone who mistakenly refers to her as the Queen.

Unfortunately, in my view, the focus shifts from book to book. Dealing with Dragons is the only book of the series I rated as 5 stars on Goodreads. I loved Cimorene’s courage and brains, the clever wordplay, and the way Cimorene defies expectations to become the person she wants to be. But suddenly, in book #2 (Searching for Dragons), Cimorene is a supporting player, and instead, the story is told from the point of view of Mendanbar, the reluctant king of the Enchanted Forest. Mendanbar’s story intersects with Cimorene’s as they go on a quest together to find out who is draining magic out of the Enchanted Forest and to rescue the kidnapped Kazul. Mendanbar and Cimorene have good chemistry, and Mendanbar is a fine leading man, but unfortunately, the zippiness of Cimorene’s grrrl power is a bit more subdued here.

In Book #3 (Calling on Dragons), we barely see our familiar characters at all, as the focus shifts once again, this time to the witch Morwen, a supporting player in the earlier books. I came close to abandoning the series altogether early on in this book. True confession: I have a dislike for talking animals, particularly when there’s an overabundance of them — and this book has more than enough to go around. Within the first few chapters, we meet all twelve of Morwen’s cats, each of whom has a name and a distinct personality and contributes to conversation, as well as a bewitched bunny named Killer who transforms first into a six-foot-tall bunny and eventually into a blue, winged, flying donkey. Killer is meant to be the comic relief, but is more annoying than funny most of the time. There’s a quest and an adventure that ends up involving Cimorene and Mendanbar, but they’re quite peripheral. The magical adventure aspects of the book become more enjoyable by the end, but there’s a lot of space taken up by new characters, odd magical rules, and never-ending journeying.

And then we come to the final book, Talking to Dragons, in which there’s a brand-new main character, Daystar, who must travel into the Enchanted Forest and figure out for himself what the purpose of his quest is. There he meets a temperamental young fire-witch named Shiara — clearly there as his love interest — and encounters talking lizards, elves, dragons, and dwarves before arriving at a climactic battle scene. I won’t tell you how Daystar’s story intersects with the characters from the earlier books (spoilers!), but they are all connected and come together for an exciting and satisfying conclusion.

As a series, the Enchanted Forest Chronicles feels a bit disjointed. The shift in main characters from book to book didn’t really appeal to me. I suppose the intent is to broaden the scope of the world of the Enchanted Forest, but in my opinion, Cimorene and Kazul are the most interesting characters — and once they leave center stage, the story loses some of its charm. I was never bored exactly (although I was awfully close during the talking cat chapters), but I did find my attention wandering from time to time, and I found it a challenge to get into each new book, where we readers are required to leave behind the characters we’ve become fond of and start fresh with with a whole bunch of new ones.

All that said, let me now point out that I read this series in partnership with my 12-year-old son — and from that regard, I’d say the series was a success. My kiddo is a very reluctant reader, and so to encourage him, we read these books in tandem. He enjoyed the stories quite a bit, liked the action sequences involving dragons and wizards especially, and liked that there were plenty of funny scenes, humorous dialogue, and even some hints of danger (nothing too life-threatening, but still risky business).

Bottom line: While the Enchanted Forest Chronicles doesn’t strike me as strong enough to really hold adult attention, I do think it’s a great choice for middle grade readers, either to read on their own or as a very fun parent-kiddo reading partnership. And as an alternative for those who aren’t looking for a multi-book series or don’t like the sound of the focus changing from book to book, I think Dealing with Dragons would work perfectly well as a stand-alone. As the best of the bunch, it’s certainly a great read — and maybe if I’d stopped there, I’d have avoided the frustrations I had with the subsequent books.

10Jan2015

Take A Peek Book Review: The Adventures of Superhero Girl by Faith Erin Hicks

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Synopsis:

(via Goodreads)

What if you can leap tall buildings and defeat alien monsters with your bare hands, but you buy your capes at secondhand stores and have a weakness for kittens? Cartoonist Faith Erin Hicks brings charming humor to the trials and tribulations of a young, female superhero, battling monsters both supernatural and mundane in an all-too-ordinary world.

* A lighthearted twist on the superhero genre!

My Thoughts:

Superhero Girl rocks! I giggled my way through this delightful collection of Faith Erin Hicks’s comics. Superhero Girl can jump over tall buildings, throw disgusting alien monsters into outer space, and defeat ninjas with a few well-delivered pows and bams. She also rescues kitties from trees, worries about how to pay the rent, and feels particularly out of place when her roommate drags her to parties. And then there’s her brother Kevin, a chiseled, handsome success of a superhero who has crowds of cheering fans and lots of merchandising value as well. Superhero Girl is just looking to fight crime and do good, but also suffers the challenges and humiliations of being 20-ish and looking to find her place in life.

And oh, the horror of wearing her mask on a sunny day but forgetting to put on sunscreen! Or finding herself at a job interview up against King Ninja. Or getting kicked out of college because the university’s insurance won’t cover superhero fights.

This is a quick book, but lots of fun. Highly recommended for when you need a break and just want to kick back and enjoy. The drawings are terrific, and Superhero Girl herself is a quirky, flawed, loveable main character — who is super talented when it comes to defeating evil ninjas and helping old ladies cross the street.

I’m looking forward to reading more by Faith Erin Hicks! And if you want a recommendation for another of her books, check out my review of Friends With Boys.

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The details:

Title: The Adventures of Superhero Girl
Author: Faith Erin Hicks
Publisher: Dark Horse Books
Publication date: 2013
Length: 112 pages
Genre: Graphic novel
Source: Library

10Jan2015

Book Review: I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

In this unusual and affecting young adult novel, colors explode off the page, ghosts of dead relatives give sassy advice and float off the ground, and a girl’s hair smells like “sad flowers”.

I’ll Give You the Sun is the story of twins Noah and Jude and the tumultuous, tragic events that propel their lives onto unexpected trajectories in their teen years. Noah and Jude are an inseparable, mind-melded duo up until age 13. They’re so close that they can never play Rochambeau — they always choose the same option: rocks/rocks, scissors/scissors, paper/paper. But then their lives explode into pain, jealousy, and hurt, and nothing is the same.

The story is told in two voices and in two timelines. Noah narrates the 13-year-old pieces of the story. Noah is a gifted artist, who paints in his head when he doesn’t have paper at hand. His imagination is wild and bold, and he sees the world as art constantly. He’s also a misfit, picked on and bullied by the local “surftards”, the older, cooler surfer boys who dominate the teen social life in their small Northern California town. When a new boy, Brian, moves in next door, Noah falls instantly and utterly in love, and is in a constant, euphoric torment as he spends all his time with Brian, best of friends — yet wondering if he’s interpreting Brian’s reactions correctly.

Jude, at 13, is an aspiring artist too, creating wild sand sculptures on the beach that get washed away as the tides change. But when their mother seems to home in on Noah as the gifted one, Jude turns away and focuses on becoming a hellion of a teen girl, wearing too much make-up, too short skirts, and flirting excessively with boys who are not going to treat her well.

From meeting Jude through Noah’s eyes, we jump to Jude’s piece of the story, when she is 16, enrolled in a prestigious art school for sculpture, worried that her dead mother is haunting her, and in desperate need of a way out of her misery. From a 13-year-old sex kitten, Jude has become a girl in hiding, dressed in baggy tshirts and jeans with her hair cropped short and hidden under a hat. Jude worries about Noah, who’s the epitome of normalcy, running cross-country, hanging out and drinking with the in-crowd as his public high school, and not doing a shred of art.

What happened to these two? How did their lives goes so completely off the rails? What cataclysmic event caused the 13-year-olds we knew to become 16-year-olds we can barely recognize?

To say that it’s complicated is an understatement.

As the plot moves forward, we get bits and pieces of story from both Noah and Jude, and come to understand both the terrible loss they’ve suffered and the crushing guilt each bears. Noah and Jude each feel responsible for what’s happened, but they don’t talk about it with each other. Each feels that they deserve whatever punishment comes their way; each feels the need to atone and make amends, but both feel that they’ve already screwed up and are beyond forgiveness.

I won’t give away much more of the plot. Suffice it to say that as new people enter their lives, Noah and Jude each learn more about what they did and didn’t do, what else contributed to the events in their family’s life, and start to understand why and how their lives changed so dramatically.

I’ll Give You the Sun is a celebration of the artistic impulse, the need to create and make, the innate ability to see the world in colors, shapes, and textures that the rest of us miss out on. There’s a sense of magic in the air, as Jude converses with her dead grandmother and observes her folk superstitions about love and healing. The writing is full of imagery, letting us inside the brains of two characters whose senses inform everything they see and do:

I start to run, start to turn into air, the blue careening off the sky, careening after me, as I sink into green, shades and shades of it, blending and spinning into yellow, freaking yellow, then head-on colliding into the punk-hair purple of lupine: everywhere.

The sky’s overflowing with orange clouds and each time one floats down, Brian bats is back up like a balloon. I watch him hypnotize the girls as he does the fruit in the trees, the clouds in the sky, as he did me.

Sometimes now, I swear I can see sound, the dark green howling wind, the crimson crush of rain – these sound-colors swirling around my room while I lie on my bed thinking about Brian. His name, when I say it aloud: azul.

In terms of pacing, I found myself a little impatient at first. After a relatively short Noah section to start the book, there’s next a very lengthy Jude section, and I just didn’t feel that I knew her well enough to care that much or spend that much time with her — I wanted more Noah! Eventually, by mid-book, the stories seem to reach a better balance, each one absorbing in its own way, so that I didn’t mind bouncing between the two time lines. I think it was at this point that the threads connecting the two sides of the story become clearer, so that in a way we end up in a detective role, seeking the clues to the mystery of how before turned into after for these two unique but matched people.

By the end, I was deeply moved by the story and the way Noah and Jude lost and then found each other again. With a cast of interesting and unusual supporting characters, the world of I’ll Give You the Sun feels full and well developed. It’s interesting to see the lines of connection between the different players, and how each played a part both in the earlier events and in how Jude and Noah finally find a way forward.

If you enjoy your fiction with a touch of magic and wild flights of imagination, you’ll love the writing in I’ll Give You the Sun. I know I did. With unusually lovely language and a plot full of heart-wrenching emotion, this book should be savored for its sounds and textures as well as for its plot.

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The details:

Title: I’ll Give You the Sun
Author: Jandy Nelson
Publisher: Dial
Publication date: September 16, 2013
Length: 371 pages
Genre: Young adult fiction
Source: Library

3Jan2015

Review & Reaction: Winger by Andrew Smith

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Speechless.

That was my first reaction after finishing this powerful book at 1 am last night. After a restless night’s sleep in which I couldn’t stop thinking about this book, I thought I should at least attempt to capture a few words about my reaction to Winger.

All I knew ahead of time was what the blurbs told me: Winger is the story of Ryan Dean West, a 14-year-old eleventh-grader attending a posh boarding school in the Pacific Northwest. Ryan Dean (both parts are his first name — he does not go by just Ryan) has a tendency to get into trouble, as evidenced by his placement in O-Hall (Opportunity Hall), the dorm for kids on disciplinary lockdown, for his junior year. Despite being super-smart (hence being two years ahead in school), Ryan Dean considers himself a loser, a little kid hanging with kids two years older than him, never quite grown up enough to really fit in.

Ryan Dean thinks about girls and sex constantly, when he’s not thinking about rugby. Rugby is the center of his life at PM (Pine Mountain). All students are required to play a team sport, and playing wing on the rugby team, Ryan Dean is part of a greater whole, where’s he’s valued, has mates, and is really good at what he does. His small size doesn’t matter — he’s fast, and he throws himself into it with gleeful passion.

Meanwhile, Ryan Dean is madly in love with his best friend Annie, shares an awful dorm room with a dense and menacing large rugby player named Chas, and is determined to get out of O-Hall as soon as possible so he can pick up with his normal life back in the regular dorms.

But there’s so much more to this chunky book, and before I go any further, take note!

SPOILERS: While I won’t discuss specifics, I think this book is best read without knowing too much ahead of time, so look away if you haven’t read the book! From here on out, I’ll be referencing the book’s ending, not in terms of what happens, but in terms of impact and weight, and you’re really better off not seeing this part before reading the book.

Look away now.

I mean it.

Are you gone?

Good.

Moving on…

Winger is light-hearted and funny and heart-warming and utterly charming for about 80% of the journey. I absolutely adored Ryan Dean and his messy life. He’s not the loser he thinks he is. He charms everyone around him, when he’s not pissing them off. He’s obviously smart to the point of brilliance, draws amazing comics, and has a sense of humor that’s just killer. He may be on the little side for a junior, but the girls seem to like him just fine. He’s a terrific athlete, and isn’t afraid to throw himself physically into any conflict (as evidenced by his array of bruises, cuts, stitches, and general state of injury at all times).

Ryan Dean has a big heart, and is a good friend. Even when he’s mad or not quite doing what he should, he’s a decent guy. And I so want things to work out for him.

And then there’s the end of the book, which hit me like a freight engine. I was destroyed. Seriously, utterly destroyed. I could not believe where this book went, seemingly out of nowhere, although of course, the warning signs are all there. And the sense of complete shock and out-of-the-blue tragedy are what Ryan Dean must be experiencing as well. There’s nothing in the earlier parts of this book that warned me to expect such an awful turn of events, and I was simply horrified beyond belief by the way this story ended.

Which is not to say that it’s not a wonderful and beautiful book. It is. But it also knocked me for a complete loop, and here I am, 24 hours later, unable to stop thinking about it.

The writing in this book is empathetic and full of respect for the characters. I felt that the author captured the heart of the story so well, making me see inside the world of this unusual 14-year-old — a pretty remarkable feat, considering I’m nowhere near 14 and I’ve never been a teen-age boy. Still, I could feel Ryan Dean’s joy and pain, and glory with him in the true friendships he forms along his journey. That the end of the book is devastating in no way detracts from the overall success of Winger; and there’s a certain character who is so wonderful and noble and good that he’ll remain with me for a long, long time to come.

I read and loved Andrew Smith’s Grasshopper Jungle last year, and I’ve requested a copy of 100 Sideways Miles from the library. At this point, I think I’ll read whatever he writes! I love the humor, the courage, and the heart of his characters, and have found the two books I’ve read by him to be compelling, enjoyable, and thoroughly unique reads.

Okay, final note: I just saw on Goodreads that there’s a sequel coming this year! Stand-Off will be published in September, and will focus on Ryan Dean’s senior year. To which I say… where do I sign up?

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The details:

Title: Winger
Author: Andrew Smith
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication date: May, 2013
Length: 439 pages
Genre: Young adult fiction
Source: Library

1Jan2015

Fields & Fantasies presents… Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh

Posted in Book Reviews, Fields & Fantasies by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Welcome to the December pick for the Fields & Fantasies book club! Each month or so, in collaboration with my wonderful co-host Diana of Strahbary’s Fields, we’ll pick one book to read and discuss. Today, we’re looking at Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh:

Synopsis (Goodreads):

This is a book I wrote. Because I wrote it, I had to figure out what to put on the back cover to explain what it is. I tried to write a long, third-person summary that would imply how great the book is and also sound vaguely authoritative–like maybe someone who isn’t me wrote it–but I soon discovered that I’m not sneaky enough to pull it off convincingly. So I decided to just make a list of things that are in the book:

Pictures
Words
Stories about things that happened to me
Stories about things that happened to other people because of me
Eight billion dollars*
Stories about dogs
The secret to eternal happiness*

*These are lies. Perhaps I have underestimated my sneakiness!

My two cents:

How do I even begin to describe a book like Hyperbole and a Half? Besides saying that I found myself bursting into uncontrollable giggles while reading — and you can ask my family: I’m not usually the uncontrollable giggles type.

So — Allie Brosh is well-known for her web comic/blog (also called Hyperbole and a Half). I’d never read anything by her prior to reading this book. But I understand she has quite a following, and I can see why.

Unflinchingly honest, the author splits this book between odd childhood behavior, her two dogs (the “simple” dog and the “helper” dog), and her own struggle with depression. I’ll admit it straight out — the dog stories are the ones that really cracked me up. How to even describe the glory of her test of the simple dog’s IQ? Or the helper dog’s hatred of the fact that other dogs exist anywhere at all? And then there’s the story of the mad goose that came into her house one night, like some evil spirit out of a horror movie.

If you were sitting quietly on your couch, waiting for your girlfriend to come back inside so you could finish watching your movie, and while you were waiting, someone called you up and said “I’ll give you a million dollars if you can guess what’s going to happen next,” you absolutely would not guess “I am going to be brutally and unexpectedly attacked by a goose in my own home.” Even if you had a hundred guesses, you would not guess that.

I absolutely loved the first piece in the book, about finding a letter from herself at age 10, written to her adult self. I won’t even try to describe it — but let’s just say that by page 2, my first laughing fit had kicked in.

And then there’s the cake story from when she was three years old:

I had tasted cake and there was no going back. My tiny body had morphed into a writhing mass of pure tenacity encased in a layer of desperation. I would eat all of the cake or I would evaporate from the sheer power of my desire to eat it.

Seriously, read the cake story. It’s been a long time since I’ve laughed until I cried…

Her ruminations on depression are eye-opening and informative — and somehow manage to convey all the depths of nothingness inherent in depression while still being human and even humorous. A friend who has struggled on and off with depression for years informs me that this book is one of the few she’s read where she really could see herself on the page.

Likewise, I loved the author’s honesty in a section in which she delves into identity and believing herself to be a good person –without actually having to back it up most of the time:

I like to believe that I would behave heroically in a disaster situation. I like to think this because it makes me feel good about myself. Conveniently, it is very unlikely that I will ever actually have to do anything to prove it. As long as I never encounter a disaster situation, I can keep believing I’m a hero indefinitely.

She ‘fesses up to the fact that she likes to be proud of herself for being a good person, but suspects that without seeking that internal approval for her own good deeds, she might actually be a horrible person.

I don’t just want to do the right thing. I want to WANT to do the right thing. This might seem like a noble goal to strive for, but I don’t actually care about adhering to morality. It’s more that being aware of not wanting to do the right thing ruins my ability to enjoy doing the right thing after I’m forced into doing it through shame.

Hyperbole and a Half is a very quick read. The primitive, brightly-colored drawing are hilarious, and the interplay between words and pictures is perfect.

Not many books can make you burst into giggles and at the same time force you to examine your inner self and take a hard look at your actions and motivations. Reading Hyperbole and a Half is a surprisingly thought-provoking and moving experience for something that’s just so damned funny.

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And just to show that intelligent people can disagree, I’ll point out that while I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads, Diana gave it only 2 stars — and doesn’t seem to have liked it at all. I’ll add the link to Diana’s review once it’s up!

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The details:

Title: Hyperbole and a Half
Author: Allie Brosh
Publisher: Touchstone
Publication date: 2013
Length: 369 pages
Genre: Humor
Source: Purchased

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Next for Fields & Fantasies:

Our January book will be Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel.

20Dec2014

Take A Peek Book Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Synopsis:

(via Goodreads)

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl.

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

My Thoughts:

Ever since this book came out in 2012, I’ve seen all of my blogger peeps raving about it and drooling over the sequels. I hadn’t gotten on the bandwagon, and thought that this was one YA series that I could sit out.

Color me silly. I was wrong.

I finally picked up Cinder when I was looking for a new audiobook to keep me company during my daily drives, and thought this would be a low commitment choice. And I quickly found myself completely hooked.

The idea of a Cinderella retelling didn’t really appeal to me. Most Cinderella stories I’ve read ended up feeling kind of sappy to me, and the idea of a poor girl saved from an awful life by fancy party clothes and a handsome prince doesn’t typically sit well with my inner feminist. Cinder manages to stick to the basic themes of the Cinderella story, but with a heroine who’s strong, empowered, and more likely to to be the rescuer than the one in need of rescue.

Cinder is a cyborg, which in this society means an outcast, less than human. Her wicked stepmother and stepsister are exactly as you’d expect, although the younger stepsister, Peony, is adorable and lovable. Cinder is a talented mechanic with a dry, take-no-bull-from-anyone demeanor. She wears heavy workgloves to cover up her mechanical hand, is often seen with oil stains all over her face and clothes, and dreams of freedom and escape, not of balls and princes.

Prince Kai falls for Cinder as herself, oil stains and all. He’s not just a pretty face either; as the heir to the imperial throne, it’s up to Kai to continue negotiating a peace treaty with the fearsome Lunar queen, Levana. Kai is smart and keenly aware of his responsibilities — and knows that his own personal desires must take second place to the welfare of his people and all of Earth.

The action is quick and the story is quite compelling. I found myself frustrated by the slower pace demanded by listening to the audiobook, so after listening to quite a bit of it at 1.25x speed (not recommended!), I finally switched over to a hard copy so I could devour the rest. The audiobook narrator, Rebecca Soler, is fabulous, by the way. She captures the personalities and intonations of each character and makes them all distinct. I loved the ironic humor in Cinder’s voice, Peony’s girlish good nature, and the android Iko, among others. Just to be clear that my switch to printed format was not at all caused by dissatisfaction with the audiobook — it was more about how I read and the fact that I have a hard time with audiobooks unless I’m driving or working out… and in this case, I wasn’t doing either often enough to let me advance through Cinder as quickly as I wanted to.

Summing it all up: Cinder is pretty terrific! The story is inspired by the classic fairy tale, but with generous amounts of originality shaping it into something new and different. The climactic ball scene and the aftermath caught me completely by surprise, as the author takes the familiar elements of the story and turns them on their head. If I’d read Cinder when it first came out, I might have been frustrated by the cliffhanger ending, but at this point, I know there are two more books available to me before I join the crowd of avid fans dying for the next release.

Excuse me, please, while I run to the library. Scarlet and Cress are calling my name!

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The details:

Title: Cinder
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Publication date: 2012
Length: 390 pages
Genre: Young adult/science fiction
Source: Library

19Dec2014

Book Review: Jinn and Juice by Nicole Peeler

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

With Jinn and Juice, Nicole Peeler launches a new urban fantasy series — and that’s very good news for fans of her hilarious and awesome Jane True series and for fans of paranormal fictional shenanigans in general.

In Jinn and Juice, we meet Leila — burlesque belly dancer, Pittsburgh resident… and 1,000-year-old jinni (genie). Leila was a young woman cursed by her family’s jinni, the evil Kouros, to live as a jinni for one thousand years. As a jinni, Leila has super magical powers, but she’s also subject to the will and whims of whoever happens to be her Master. Jinni can be either Bound or unBound — meaning that they can be Called and then basically owned by whatever Magi happens to find them. Once Bound to a Magi, jinni must be obedient and carry out their Magi’s orders. On the plus side, though, Bound jinni have access to all sorts of tremendous powers that they can’t access unBound, so there’s that.

For Leila, this jinni business basically sucks. She does not want to be a jinni. She’d love to be human again, and can be — so long as she is unBound when her 1,000 year curse ends. If she’s Bound at that time, then she’ll be cursed for another 1,000 years. Like I said, it sucks.

Leila lives in Pittsburgh, whose steel-soaked grounds provide a weird kind of magical current that Leila can plug into, although most supernaturals find Pittsburgh magic tainted and poisonous. Surrounding Leila are a Peeler-esque cast of unusual characters, including a psychic drag queen, an oracle, a will-o-the-wisp, and a pair of icky-creepy spider wraiths. This odd community works together in a paranormal burlesque club and forms a family of sorts — and they all band together to protect Leila when she is Called and Bound by a new Magi, the kinda-hot Ozan (known as Oz).

Together, Leila and Oz and company set out to locate a missing girl and figure out what the heck is causing all sorts of magical havoc in Pittsburgh. And meanwhile, Leila finds herself drawn to Oz more and more… but is that just the power of the Master-Jinni relationship, or is there actually a there there?

Okay, explanations aside, let me tell you about Jinn and Juice. First of all, it’s fun. If you’ve never read anything by Nicole Peeler, the main thing to know is that she’s hilarious. Her writing rocks, even when the storyline turns dangerous or tragic. Serious and often deadly things do happen, but the author gives her characters amazing lines that are eminently quote-worthy:

“While French fries on salads is pretty magical, that’s not what makes Pittsburgh special,” I said…

Nowadays magic was something for Dungeons and Dragons. In books, vampires sparkled and really wanted to marry teenagers who tripped a lot. Hollywood only dreamed about jinn. And none of these creatures or powers really existed in the same universe as chaos theory, or particle accelerators, or atomic bombs… except they did.

“Hit it with the bench!” shouted Ozan, and I had to obey. I reached for what had been one of the picnic table’s benches, hefting it with ease in one of my hamlike hands. Raising it above my head, I brought it down with all my strength on the bugbear’s head.
“Hulk smash!” I shouted, just for the fun of it.

“Are we ready?” Charlie asked, eyeballing our ragtag bunch with a worried expression. We didn’t exactly look professional… in fact, we looked exactly as you’d imagine a gothic burlesque would look, if it decided to do a SWAT team number.

Second thing to know: Love and sex matter in Peeler’s books. Attraction is hot. Sparks fly. Knees go weak with desire. The sexy factor in Jinn and Juice is top notch. Which is not to say that it’s all easy: One really interesting aspect of this story is how the power dynamics affect the sexual and emotional relationships. Leila’s master can order her to have sex with him if he chooses (although, hilariously, jinni seem to have all sorts of work-arounds when dealing with not-terribly-precise commands for acts that don’t suit them); he could even order her to enjoy it, I suppose. The fact that Leila’s new master is too decent to indulge is noteworthy — and later, even when the attraction is mutual and Leila is very into it, he declines — because how can either of them be sure that it’s real and not just a result of the Magi-Jinni bond?

Fangirl aside: This reminded me of the sire bond issues during the last season of The Vampire Diaries. I’m a big geeky nerd, I know.

The plot of Jinn and Juice is fueled by action, but it’s the people that really make it a treat. Leila herself is pretty awesome (especially how she’s the biggest, baddest thing in the room, despite her seemingly petite human frame), and I love her gang of eccentric, magical friends. Oz is just the right combination of smart, sexy, and sensitive, and the growing emotions and desire between Leila and Oz give off sparks.

Fans of the Jane True series will absolutely want to give Jinn and Juice a whirl — and really, this is a great choice for any one who enjoys urban fantasy that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Fun, magic, snark, along with dangerous, malevolent, volatile bad guys, make for quite an enjoyable and fast-paced adventure. Here’s hoping that the next installment in the series comes along soon!

Want. More. Now.

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The details:

Title: Jinn and Juice
Author: Nicole Peeler
Publisher: Orbit
Publication date: November 25, 2014
Length: 384 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Purchased

11Dec2014

Book Review: The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

First things first: The Rosie Effect is a sequel, continuing the story begun in The Rosie Project. And really, if you haven’t read the first book, there’s no point in reading this one.

The Rosie Effect picks up soon after the end of The Rosie Project, following Rosie and Don to Manhattan as they begin their lives as a married couple, with the complications you’d expect from this unusual pair. No sooner have they started settling into their lives — Don as a visiting professor at Columbia Medical School, Rosie finishing up her PhD thesis and entering med school — than a bombshell of a surprise comes along: Rosie is pregnant. And Don is thrown for a loop.

Rosie and Don take very different approaches to pregnancy, of course. Don, ever the man of science, embarks on a plan to maximize Rosie’s health — and Rosie does not take kindly to Don’s constant input on everything from appropriate pregnancy nutrition to stress levels to exercise needs. The marriage is on the rocks, and it doesn’t seem like there’s much hope.

Meanwhile, Don finds himself in exactly the sort of absurd situations you’d expect. Upon getting advice from a friend that he should spend some time observing children in order to prepare for fatherhood, Don does exactly that… and ends up getting arrested after hanging out in a children’s playground taking videos of the kids playing.

Ultimately, the plot of The Rosie Effect boils down to a headline from a 1980s women’s magazine: Can this marriage be saved?

My reaction to this book is mixed. While there are certainly many amusing scenarios (let’s not forget the Bluefin Tuna Incident!), I’m not at all convinced that a sequel to The Rosie Project was necessary. In The Rosie Effect, it’s really just a lot of more of the same. Don is peculiar, highly intelligent, and emotionally stilted. He does some pretty amazing things, but always from a place of cluelessness. There’s a cast of supporting characters who are funny, unusual, and perfect complements to Don’s oddball nature. Rosie herself seems to be a bit absent in this book; while she’s always around and is on Don’s mind constantly, I wouldn’t have had much sense of her personality or desires without having read the first book.

Basically, everything that I found delightful and charming about the first book is repeated here in the second — and that’s the problem. The Rosie Project was new and different; The Rosie Effect is just a continuation. Without the newness, it’s treading familiar ground, and I simply wasn’t nearly as amused as I was the first time I encountered Don Tillman in all his glory.

The Rosie Effect is a quick read, but I actually think I could have done without it. It definitely picks up by the end, but there’s only so many time similar antics can play out before they become tedious. The Rosie Project was one of my favorite books of 2013, but in my opinion, should have been left as a stand-alone story. Sadly, this unnecessary sequel was mostly a disappointment to me. Still, the author is clearly quite talented, and I hope he’ll tell a new tale in whatever he publishes next.

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The details:

Title: The Rosie Effect
Author: Graeme Simsion
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication date: US publication date: December 30, 2014
Length: 352 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Review copy via NetGalley

7Dec2014

Book Review: The Last Letter From Your Lover by Jojo Moyes

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Jojo Moyes is quickly becoming one of my go-to, auto-buy authors. After reading a few of her more recent books, I decided to look into some of her previously published works, and picked up a copy of The Last Letter From Your Lover, which was originally released in 2010.

In Last Letter, we follow two timelines: a contemporary story bookending the novel and then a 1960s story, the major part of the book both in terms of length and where the heart of the tale is concentrated. Within the two timelines, we follow three different narrative arcs, all of which come together by the book’s end.

In the prologue, we meet journalist Ellie Haworth, whose career is suffering while her private life consumes her every waking thought. Ellie is one year into an ill-advised affair with a married man, and despite absolutely no evidence to support her hopes, Ellie can’t help dreaming of the day when she finally gets more from her lover. As part of a retrospective feature at work, Ellie starts going through her newspaper’s archives and comes across an old letter that knocks her socks off. Drenched in romance, the letter-writer (identified only as “B.”) declares:

I’ll be at Platform 4, Paddington, at 7:15 on Friday evening, and there is nothing in the world that would make me happier than if you found the courage to come with me… I’ll be waiting on the platform from a quarter to seven. Know that you hold my heart, my hopes, in your hands.

Ellie doesn’t know who wrote the letter or to whom it was addressed, but she’s reduced to tears by the passion and the emotion. The letter seems to awaken something in Ellie…

From there, the action switches to 1960, in which a pampered, sheltered wife of a very powerful man meets a brash and disrespectful reporter. Jennifer Stirling is beautiful but bored; Anthony O’Hare despises the spoiled society members who flit through life above and apart from the world’s real troubles. Of course, sparks fly between Jennifer and Anthony, but obstacles keep the lovers apart.

In yet a third narrative stream, we see Jennifer waking up in a hospital after a car accident, suffering from amnesia and brought back home by her husband Laurence to recover. Jennifer feels certain that she’s missing something important, but has no idea what has truly happened or what that key piece of information about her past might be.

Eventually, the story streams come together. Ellie traces the mysterious love letter to Jennifer, now in her 60s, and sets out to discover whether the lovers ever did manage to unite and start a new life together. At the same time, Ellie faces some unpleasant truths about her own love life, and must make decisions about who she is and who she wants to be.

I enjoyed Last Letter, although perhaps not quite as much as some of the author’s other novels. The mixed timelines didn’t especially work in favor of narrative tension. After meeting Ellie in the prologue, we don’t see her again until about halfway through the book. Meanwhile, the story of Jennifer and Anthony’s relationship is interwoven with Jennifer’s post-crash story, and sorting out what came first and what resulted is a bit of a challenge.

By the end of the book, I was very invested in Jennifer and Anthony’s story and in finding out what had happened between them, but given the mixed narratives and the shifting point-of-views, it was always a struggle to piece together the actual events versus the characters’ perceptions of events, which were often two different things. I didn’t quite buy the build-up of the love affair or believe how instantly and passionately they fell in love, yet as the story moved forward, it was the descriptions of their thwarted yearnings that were more convincing than their stolen moments together.

Jennifer reminded me strongly of Mad Men‘s Betty Draper, although a less childish and selfish version. Still, she’s the quintessential beautiful but useless society wife, a woman whose job is to be ornamental and a credit to her husband, with no actual skills or education and no chance of forging a life of her own. As the story progresses, it’s heartening to see Jennifer face up to her reality and try to find a way to take control and pursue a path that gives her life meaning, despite the cost.

Ellie’s story is a bit pale by comparison, and the parallels aren’t always comfortable ones. We’re meant to sympathize with and root for this young woman, but it’s hard to do so while she’s enmeshed in a very stupid affair, refusing to acknowledge the real damage she may be doing to herself and to others. An awakening eventually comes, of course, thanks in large part to Ellie’s growing fascination with Jennifer and her exposure to what real love looks like. Perhaps Ellie is meant to be the reader’s entry point into the story, but Jennifer is the far more compelling character.

One especially fun feature of this novel is the lead-in page for each chapter, each featuring an excerpt from a real break-up letter, text, or email. Some are wistful, some are harsh, and some are downright comical (like the text message “U n me finished”), but all add a touch of spice and poignancy to this sentimental and occasionally sorrowful book.

All in all, The Last Letter From Your Lover is an engaging and often moving look at how love doesn’t always work out, how life can get in the way, and how sometimes it isn’t too late to start over and find happiness. For those new to Jojo Moyes, I’d probably suggest starting elsewhere, but fans of the author shouldn’t miss this one.

Want to know more? Check out my reviews of other books by Jojo Moyes:
The Girl You Left Behind
One Plus One
The Ship of Brides
Me Before You

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The details:

Title: The Last Letter From Your Lover
Author: Jojo Moyes
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
Publication date: First published in UK in 2010
Length: 390 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Purchased