Book Review: Unthinkable by Nancy Werlin

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Book Review: Unthinkable by Nancy Werlin

In this young adult novel, faerie curses have a huge impact on the lives of a human family. But will human love triumph over faerie tricks?

Unthinkable takes place in the same world as Nancy Werlin’s previous novels Impossible and Extraordinary. Given how much I loved those two books, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised to have enjoyed Unthinkable as much as I did.

In Impossible, we meet Lucy, the latest in a long line of women in the Scarborough family, doomed by a faerie curse that’s been passed down over the generations for four hundred years. The Scarborough curse binds each daughter of the family to a cruel faerie lord, Padraig, and each generation repeats the cycle of bearing a daughter, abandoning the daughter in the human world as she is condemned to Faerie, and then witnessing the enslavement of that daughter 18 years later. The curse can be broken only by the completion of three impossible tasks. Is Lucy the one who finally stands a chance at ending her family’s curse?

In Unthinkable, the focus of the story shifts to Fenella, the first of the Scarborough women to be ensnared by the faerie curse. We learn of the curse’s origins, and how the Scarborough women first fell under Padraig’s power. Now, Fenella has yet another challenge in front of her, and in order to succeed and finally eliminate Padraig’s influence for good, she may have to destroy what she values most: her own family.

Fenella is a strong but vulnerable main character. Having lived in Faerie for 400 years, she is human but sensitive to magic, and fated to live in limbo, neither fully a part of the human world nor able to die a normal, mortal death. As Fenella finds her way back to her family, she has to decide what she is willing to do in order to accomplish her goals, and just how much of a sacrifice she’s willing to make. She’s a fascinating character: The author doesn’t portray her as perfect, and we see her struggles with fear, selfishness and doubt battling with her growing urge to protect her family and shield them from pain. The more she experiences life among her human family, the more she realizes that the bargain that she’s made may have been her biggest mistake yet.

Meanwhile, Fenella’s story intersects with Lucy and the other characters we met in Impossible. I’m trying to avoid spoilers for all three books, so I won’t say much about the how or why of Fenella’s involvement with Lucy and her family. Suffice it to say, Fenella has choices to make, and her choices may impact Lucy and the rest of her family — forever.

Short version of a review? I loved Impossible and Extraordinary (which is only obliquely related, but does influence parts of this story), and I definitely was not disappointed by Unthinkable. The plot is emotionally involving and fast-moving, and I was kept guessing throughout as Fenella faces a series of obstacles and tasks to complete. Overall, I’d say Unthinkable is a terrific addition to this loosely-connected series, as well as just a really great young adult book that’s sure to appeal to readers who like a bit of magic and other-worldliness in their family dramas and love stories.

Do you need to read Impossible and Extraordinary before reading Unthinkable? This is one of those rare occasions where I think you could jump right into the most recent book and still have it make sense… but why would you want to? Impossible always makes my lists of most recommended YA fiction, and I’m happy to say that Extraordinary and Unthinkable belong on that list too. For a haunting, compelling, and magical read, don’t miss any of these three books by Nancy Werlin.

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The details:

Title: Unthinkable
Author: Nancy Werlin
Publisher: Dial
Publication date: 2013
Genre: Young adult
Source: Purchased

13Nov2013

Book Review: Just One Year by Gayle Forman

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Book Review: Just One Year by Gayle Forman

Just One Year (Just One Day, #2) In this romantic and introspective young adult novel, we take another look at the events portrayed in the author’s previous novel Just One Day — only this time, we get the other side of the story.

In order to talk about Just One Year, I won’t be able to avoid discussing events from Just One Day (which I reviewed here in January), so consider this your spoiler alert! Look away now! Or better yet — run right out and pick up a copy of Just One Day, read it cover to cover, and then check back here to continue reading this review.

Are you back yet? Ready to go? Okay…

In Just One Day, main character Allyson takes us through the first time in her life when she went off-script — a day when she throws caution to the wind and jumps on a train to Paris with a cute boy to finally experience a day of spontaneous adventure. The cute boy is Willem, a carefree, go-where-the-wind-blows actor (who seems to have girls waiting for him across all of Europe), and he and Allyson (whom he calls Lulu) enjoy one perfect day… until the next morning, when Allyson wakes up alone and abandoned, devastated, and has to find a way to put herself back together. We then spend the rest of Just One Day witnessing Allyson’s journey toward discovering herself, what she stands for, and who she wants to be.

Key to the plot is the fact that Allyson/Lulu and Willem, so caught up in their romantic adventure, never got around to exchanging email addresses, phone numbers, last names… or even real names. Willem only knows Allyson as Lulu. Problem, right?

Allyson’s quest toward self-discovery takes up the last 2/3 of Just One Day, and as part of her process, she finally takes control of her own life and sets out to find Willem. But by the end of the book, we only know Allyson’s story, what she’s been through, and where her journey has taken her.

In Just One Year, we hear about the same events and the same time period, but this time it’s Willem’s experiences that count. We start with Willem waking up in a hospital, realizing that he’s forgotten something or someone… and soon piecing together that he was supposed to be with Lulu, but circumstances prevented him from getting to her before she disappeared from his life.

We soon get a much different picture of Willem than we had from the previous book. In Just One Day, Willem seems like a perfect golden boy, easy-natured, free-spirited, a total chick magnet, a guy who lives by his own rules. That’s not the Willem we get to know in Just One Year. Here, we discover that Willem has been wandering from place to place for three years, ever since his father died unexpectedly. Estranged from his mother and feeling rootless, Willem runs from connection and commitment, keeping everything in his life loose and at arm’s length, and it’s not until he meets Lulu that he starts to reexamine what he wants and how he wants to live his own life.

Willem’s journey takes him from Paris to Amsterdam, from Mexico to India, and back again to Amsterdam, before he manages to finally pull himself together and starts taking steps toward creating his own path. But all along his journey, he can’t shake thoughts of Lulu, the girl he lost before he could fully realize how important she might be. From reading Just One Day, we know more or less the “what” of what will happen at the end of this book. But it’s the “why” and the “how” that matter here, and finding the answers to these questions is what makes Just One Year so compelling.

I really enjoyed the mirrored storytelling here. Willem shows us key events that we only saw from Allyson’s point of view in Just One Day, and we start to realize just how narrow any one person’s perception can be. There’s so much that Allyson could not have known, but seeing events through Willem’s eyes, we finally get to see how intertwined their stories are, and how many near misses (and near collisions) they had over the course of their year apart.

I loved how skillfully the author weaves in elements from Just One Day, so that notes written in one book turn up in another; misunderstood conversations finally make sense; even a dismal family vacation takes on significance in all sorts of ways in Just One Year. It becomes clear as well how easily one person’s certainty can be wrong; something that Allyson believes she sees isn’t as it appears at all — and just may be the pivotal event that determines whether Allyson and Willem will ever manage to reconnect, no matter how close they’ve come.

It’s funny reading a book where you know the ending already. Just One Year follows the same timeline as Just One Day, so we know what the final scene must be. And still, I was on the edge of my seat on and off throughout Just One Year, wanting to stop Willem from giving up or making big mistakes, wanting to push him back a certain way or nudge him toward a different location. How many authors can keep you in suspense when you already know what’s going to happen? Now that really takes a great storyteller, and I’m happy to say that Gayle Forman succeeds.

Of course, I have a couple of minor quibbles. Certain sections of the narrative drag a bit. Willem spends a LOT of time in India, really just killing time, and maybe it’s a necessary part of his journey, but it felt long. Likewise for his Mexican quest that turns into a fiasco: I felt that these chapters just went on and on. Yes, the events ultimately move the story forward, but they could have been tightened up a bit.

On the other hand, I did love the emphasis on self-discovery. Mirroring Allyson’s year, Willem also spends the year learning more about himself and his family, figuring out what he wants, and finding out that he has much more in his life than he might have suspected. In both Allyson and Willem’s stories, the quest for the lost connection between the two is important, but isn’t the only driving factor. For both of them, there comes a realization that they may not succeed in finding the other person. One thing that I really appreciate in both of these stories is that they’re not romantic tragedies. The love story is important, but more as an impetus for growth and change than as a be-all and end-all for these characters. Yes, it will be sad if they don’t reconnect — but it won’t be the end of their lives, and they will go on, one way or the other.

All in all, Just One Year kept me glued and kept me emotionally invested. I wanted so badly for everyone to find happiness! Gayle Forman has created a deeply affecting and ultimately uplifting duo of books, doing a remarkable job of weaving together two parallel stories into one cohesive whole. I hated for it to end… so please, Gayle Forman, how about one more book? Allyson and Willem’s stories each end at the same point… and what I want to know is, what happens next? Even if they do find their HEA, I want to know more!

If you enjoy contemporary young adult fiction that’s smart, thoughtful, and emotionally rich — and not without moments of laughter and delight as well — check out Just One Day and Just One Year.

Oh. One last thing. It’s about the cover. In Just One Day, here’s Allyson seeing Willem for the first time:

I blink a few times. My eyes adjust, and I see that the guy is tall, maybe a full foot taller than I am, and thin. His hair is a hundred shades of blond, and his eyes so brown as to almost be black.

Hmm. Willem is blond. So who’s Allyson kissing on the cover of Just One Year???

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The details:

Title: Just One Year
Author: Gayle Forman
Publisher: Dutton
Publication date: 2013
Genre: Young adult
Source: Purchased

11Nov2013

The Monday Agenda 11/11/2013

Posted in The Monday Check-In by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Not a lofty, ambitious to-be-read list consisting of 100+ book titles. Just a simple plan for the upcoming week — what I’m reading now, what I plan to read next, and what I’m hoping to squeeze in among the nooks and crannies.

How did I do with last week’s agenda?
Palace of Spies Bellman & Black: A Ghost Story The Rosie Project

Palace of Spies by Sarah Zettel: DNF. I got about 75% through this book, and came to the sad realization that I was just forcing myself. Palace of Spies seems charming, and I’m sure plenty of young adult readers will enjoy this tale of false identities, royal intrigue, schemes and blackmail, and — oh, yes — even love. It’s well-written and lively — but it just wasn’t for me.

Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield: Done! My review is here.

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion. Finished late Sunday. What fun! Review to follow.

Hoot by Carl Hiaasen: My kiddo and I are about a third of the way into this book, and it’s a lot of fun so far! Our reading time has been pretty scattered this week, but we hope to make more progress this coming week.

Fresh Catch:

One new book this week:

S. by J. J. Abrams and Doug Dorst. I’m completely intrigued by this work of art, which is hard to look at as “just” a book. With marginalia and scraps of paper filling up the book within the slipcase, I’m not sure I’ll even know where to start when I’m finally ready to read it. Still, it is rather superb just to look at.

What’s on my reading agenda for the coming week?

Wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles, I’ve basically reached my goal of catching up on my NetGalley backlog! I swore that I wouldn’t read anything else until I’d gotten through all of my review copies for books published up through the beginning of November, and ta-da! I made it.

Okay, I did decide to omit a few that I received on the late side. Since they were already post-publication, I figured there was no rush… but overall, I’m just tickled pink to be where I wanted to be… and to finally be able to dig into the books I’ve been drooling over for the past several weeks!

My new number one goal? Get through the stack of four new YA novels that I’ve been dying to read!

My most wanted (to read) list:

Just One Year by Gayle Forman
Picture Me Gone by Meg Rosoff
Unthinkable by Nancy Werlin
Shadows by Robin McKinley

I’ll definitely be starting with Just One Year, and then will let fate (or, okay, my arbitrary whims) decide what I read next.

Yippee and hurray!

So many book, so little time…

That’s my agenda. What’s yours? Add your comments to share your bookish agenda for the week.

27Oct2013

Book Review: Reality Boy by A. S. King

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Book Review: Reality Boy by A. S. King

Reality Boy

Synopsis (Goodreads):

Gerald Faust knows exactly when he started feeling angry: the day his mother invited a reality television crew into his five-year-old life. Twelve years later, he’s still haunted by his rage-filled youth—which the entire world got to watch from every imaginable angle—and his anger issues have resulted in violent outbursts, zero friends, and clueless adults dumping him in the special education room at school.

Nothing is ever going to change. No one cares that he’s tried to learn to control himself, and the girl he likes has no idea who he really is. Everyone’s just waiting for him to snap…and he’s starting to feel dangerously close to doing just that.

In this fearless portrayal of a boy on the edge, highly acclaimed Printz Honor author A.S. King explores the desperate reality of a former child “star” who finally breaks free of his anger by creating possibilities he never knew he deserved.

I don’t know why, but I picked up this book expecting something a bit on the whimsical side. Maybe shades of The Truman Show, but grittier and without Jim Carrey.

But. Wow. I was wrong. No whimsy to be found in Reality Boy.

This is a hard and upsetting and disturbing book. Not to say that it’s not also powerful and compelling. But boy, did this one knock me for a loop.

For starters, the early chapters are just uncomfortable to read and left me feeling kind of squicked out.

The synopses are all a big vague, but the truth is this: Gerald had a horrific childhood, terrified by an older sister who took every opportunity to torment Gerald and his other sister, even to the point of attempted drownings and suffocations. And Gerald’s parents, instead of protecting him, were either absent or willfully ignored the facts staring them in the face. To deal with it, Gerald’s mother invited Network Nanny into their home, who set above trying to instill proper behavior in Gerald and his sisters via reward charts and 24-hour cameras. Little Gerald, five years old and simply not being heard, acts out in the only ways he can. He gets angry, he punches holes in the walls, and when he still gets no protection against his crazy sister, starts… umm… protesting in a way that earns him the indelible nickname of The Crapper.

Oh, it’s nasty.

What’s worse is that all of this is being filmed and broadcasted, and those scenes of Gerald acting out live on forever on YouTube.

So when the book opens and we first meet Gerald, he’s an angry, angry 17-year-old who has no friends, who’s still referred to by schoolmates as The Crapper, and who’s been relegated to the special ed classroom because of his violent streak. But when he meets Hannah, an equally messed up kid who works at the sports center concession stand with him, Gerald finally starts to envision a life in which he may actually get what he wants. A life in which death or jail are not the only options — and a life where he might actually find friendship and possibly even love.

This book is just painful to read. The amount of suffering Gerald endures is unimaginable, and to then have his humiliations made so public compounds all of his problems to the nth degree. I was just infuriated by Gerald’s parents, who shrugged their shoulders and allowed all of this happen, both during the filming of the TV show and in all the years since, during which the oldest sister continues to demonstrate a huge sadistic streak and still retains her parents’ support and affection.

Author A. S. King draws Gerald as a multi-layered young man. He’s much more than just his anger. Underneath his ready-to-snap facade is a boy who has been deeply wounded and who feels that he needs to wrap himself in an invisible layer of plastic and war paint just to make it through each day. And when life gets too intense, he retreats into the imaginary world inside his head, where the streets are paved with ice cream and marshmallows and he and his nice sister live without fear. The downside of having a girlfriend, Gerald finds out, is that she expects you to actually be present — and being with Hannah is what finally forces Gerald to face his present and start making the demands for himself that someone should have made for him long, long ago.

This is an intense and upsetting book. I’m a peaceful person, but I wanted to punch walls on Gerald’s behalf. The neglectful parenting here is just appalling. Gerald’s family is well-off and lives in a lovely home in a gated community — but that outward security does nothing for a small boy who is terrorized continuously whenever the adults’ backs are turned. I really hated reading parts of this book, seeing how the clueless parents failed to protect their son and then made it so much worse by allowing his most humiliating moments to be preserved forever in the media and Internet.

At the same time, over the course of the novel we see Gerald finally start to emerge from a hopeless, angry existence into a life where he just might have a future, and where happiness might actually be attainable. Watching Gerald discover the possibility of a different way of living is lovely and inspiring. This is a boy who deserves to finally have something good happen to him!

Along the way, the criticism of today’s reality TV culture is unavoidable, and as Gerald points out repeatedly, what you saw on TV isn’t what really happened. Here’s a boy who was forever scarred by, essentially, a bad edit. How many other people’s lives are recorded, edited, and twisted for the benefit of public consumption? How can people allow cameras to follow them 24/7 and then believe that it’s a good thing? How can living under a microscope, with all of one’s mistakes and embarrassing moments preserved forever, possibly be healthy for any child, much less the adults in their lives?

We don’t meet any other child “stars” of reality TV, so the message isn’t necessarily universalized as much as it might be, but the author makes clear just how much damage can be done for the sake of a moment or two in the spotlight. Adults have a choice; children don’t. I’m not a fan of reality TV in any case, but after reading Reality Boy, I don’t think I’ll be able to even think about children on TV without a shudder or two.

A. S. King’s previous works include Ask The Passengers (which I reviewed here) and several other highly acclaimed books for young adults. Her gift for getting inside the heads of troubled, complex teens is remarkable, and her stories flow and demand every bit of your attention. I’ll be looking forward to whatever she writes next.

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The details:

Title: Reality Boy
Author: A. S. King
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date: 2013
Genre: Young Adult
Source: Review copy courtesy of Little, Brown via NetGalley

23Oct2013

Wishing & Waiting on Wednesday

Posted in Wishlist Wednesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Nothing like a Wednesday for thinking about the books we want to read! My Wishing & Waiting on Wednesday post is linking up with two fabulous book memes, Wishlist Wednesday (hosted by Pen to Paper) and Waiting on Wednesday (hosted by Breaking the Spine).

This week, I’m excited about an upcoming YA release:

Roomies by Sara Zarr & Tara Altebrando
(release date December 24, 2013)

Synopsis:

The countdown to college has begun.

When Elizabeth receives her freshman-year roommate assignment at the beginning of summer, she shoots off an email to coordinate the basics: TV, microwave, mini-fridge. She can’t wait to escape her New Jersey beach town, and her mom, and start life over in California.

The first note to Lauren in San Francisco comes as a surprise; she had requested a single. But if Lauren’s learned anything from being the oldest of six, it’s that you can’t always get what you want, especially when what you want is privacy.

Soon the girls are emailing back and forth, sharing secrets even though they’ve never met. With family relationships and childhood friendships strained by change, it suddenly seems that the only people Elizabeth and Lauren can rely on are the complicated new boys in their lives…and each other.

With humor and heart, Sara Zarr, National Book Award finalist for Story of a Girl, and Tara Altebrando, acclaimed author of The Pursuit of Happiness, join forces for a novel about that time after high school, when everything feels like it’s ending just as it’s beginning.

This sounds like a lot of fun, doesn’t it?

Freshman year of college is such a major transitional time, and it’s always interesting to me to see how it’s portrayed in fiction. (Recent great examples include Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell and Just One Day by Gayle Forman).

True confession time: My freshman roommate experience was NOT a good one — so maybe it’s time to read about one that starts off on a more positive note!

What are you wishing for this Wednesday?

So what are you doing on Thursdays and Fridays? Come join me for my regular weekly features, Thursday Quotables and Flashback Friday! You can find out more here — come share the book love!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Do you host a book blog meme? Do you participate in a meme that you really, really love? I’m building a Book Blog Meme Directory, and need your help! If you know of a great meme to include — or if you host one yourself — please drop me a note on my Contact page and I’ll be sure to add your info!

24Sep2013

Wishing & Waiting on Wednesday

Posted in Wishlist Wednesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Wednesday is a perfect day for a good book meme, and I thought I’d branch out a bit! I’ve been participating in Wishlist Wednesday, hosted by Pen to Paper, for over a year — and I’ve been wanting to jump into Waiting on Wednesday (hosted by Breaking the Spine) for a while now too. So why not do both?

Wishlist Wednesday is a place to highlight any book from our wish lists — old, new, not yet released — that we’re dying to read. Waiting on Wednesday focuses on upcoming new releases.

Some weeks, I’ll probably have two different books to wish and wait for… but this week, here’s one that works for both!

My wishlist book this week is:

Lair of Dreams (The Diviners, #2) by Libba Bray
(release date April 22, 2014)

From Goodreads:

After a supernatural showdown with a serial killer, Evie O’Neill has outed herself as a Diviner. Now that the world knows of her ability to “read” objects, and therefore, read the past, she has become a media darling, earning the title, “America’s Sweetheart Seer.” But not everyone is so accepting of the Diviners’ abilities…

Meanwhile, mysterious deaths have been turning up in the city, victims of an unknown sleeping sickness. Can the Diviners descend into the dreamworld and catch a killer?

Why do I want to read this?

Because I absolutely loved The Diviners, and can’t wait to see what happens next! Evie is a fabulous main character, and I love the 1920s New York setting. The Diviners was a perfect mix of creepy and absolutely snazzy — and I was just so excited to find out this week that book #2 has a title, a cover, and a release date!

Who else is excited about Lair of Dreams?

So what are you doing on Thursdays and Fridays? Come join me for my regular weekly features, Thursday Quotables and Flashback Friday! You can find out more here — come share the book love!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

17Sep2013

Wishlist Wednesday: All The Truth That’s In Me

Posted in Wishlist Wednesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Welcome to Wishlist Wednesday!

The concept is to post about one book from our wish lists that we can’t wait to read. Want to play? Here’s how:

Follow Pen to Paper as host of the meme.
Do a post about one book from your wishlist and why you want to read it.
Add your blog to the linky at the bottom of the post at Pen to Paper.
Put a link back to Pen to Paper somewhere in your post.
Visit the other blogs and enjoy!

My wishlist book this week is:

All the Truth That’s In Me by Julie Berry
(release date September 26, 2013)

From Goodreads:

Four years ago, Judith and her best friend disappeared from their small town of Roswell Station. Two years ago, only Judith returned, permanently mutilated, reviled and ignored by those who were once her friends and family. Unable to speak, Judith lives like a ghost in her own home, silently pouring out her thoughts to the boy who’s owned her heart as long as she can remember—even if he doesn’t know it—her childhood friend, Lucas. But when Roswell Station is attacked, long-buried secrets come to light, and Judith is forced to choose: continue to live in silence, or recover her voice, even if it means changing her world, and the lives around her, forever. This startlingly original novel will shock and disturb you; it will fill you with Judith’s passion and longing; and its mysteries will keep you feverishly turning the pages until the very last.

Why do I want to read this?

I just recently stumbled across a preview for this book, and haven’t been able to stop thinking of it since. It sounds incredibly disturbing, and yet I found the little excerpts I’ve read so far to be beautifully written, with quite a unique style. The synopsis makes me want to know more: What happened to Judith? Why is she being shunned? What really happened to her friend, and what are the secrets of the town? I’m hoping to get my hands on a copy before too long — I want answers!

What’s on your wishlist this week?

So what are you doing on Thursdays and Fridays? Come join me for my regular weekly features, Thursday Quotables and Flashback Friday! You can find out more here — come share the book love!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

15Sep2013

Book Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Book Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Fangirl Fangirl is so adorable, I didn’t know whether to read it or hug it.

This sweet, funny, charming novel tells the story of Cath Avery, a college freshman who just isn’t quite ready to leave her childhood comforts and touchstones behind. Cath is a twin, and she and sister Wren have been inseparable their entire lives… until Wren abruptly informs Cath that she wants them to live apart in college, try something new and meet new people. Cath is devastated. She has no interest in making friends and meeting new people; she and Wren have lived together for eighteen years — why stop now?

On top of that, their dad is not the most stable of guys, tending toward the manic end of the bipolar spectrum without someone around to make sure he’s eating, sleeping, and generally keeping it together. Ever since their mother left, just after 9/11 when the girls were eight years old, Cath and Wren have kept their dad on an even keel, and Cath is terrified that he’ll lose it without them around every day.

Now that she’s lost Wren as a roommate and built-in best friend, one of the unwelcome adjustments required in Cath’s new college life is her brash and irritable roommate Reagan, who seems to be constantly shadowed by her best friend Levi, a sunny older boy who is just always around… and who somehow manages to work his way into Cath’s reluctant heart.

The biggest change of all is the impact of college life on the twins’ obsession with Simon Snow. In the world of Fangirl, Simon Snow is the fictional main character of a series of books set in a magical world. Think Harry Potter, with a few twists. Simon Snow is simply the biggest thing ever, with a huge fanbase that’s getting crazier and crazier as the publication of the 8th and final book in the series approaches. Cath and Wren have always loved Simon Snow and are immersed in the world of fanfiction — or at least they were. Wren seems to have left it all behind in her quest to grow up and be a “normal” college girl, with all the drinking, partying, and boyfriends that entails, while Cath wants nothing more than to live in her Simon Snow “fic” world for as long as she can.

Cath isn’t just a regular old fan, though — she’s the incredibly popular author of Carry On, Simon, which has become the hottest fanfic in the Snow-verse. Each new installment by “Magicath” gets tens of thousands of hits, and Cath can think of nothing better than spending hours writing about Simon and the boy-on-boy romance she’s created for him with his archnemesis Baz.

Fangirl follows Cath through her first year of college, through the ups and downs of her relationship with Wren, her worries about her dad, her growing romance with Levi, and her struggles to define herself as a writer, both in the world of Simon Snow and in the context of her advanced fiction writing course — presided over by a professor who just doesn’t “get” fanfiction and won’t allow it in her students’ writing.

This is the third book I’ve read by Rainbow Rowell, and once again I’m just incredibly impressed by her talent. In Fangirl, she’s created not one but two fictional worlds. The story of Cath and her growth and development at college is convincing and feels authentic, and at the same time, Rainbow Rowell has created a fiction-within-fiction world for the story of Simon Snow that makes it feel like a real, well-thought out book series. Actually, I suppose you could say that there are three worlds going on in Fangirl, because I don’t see how you couldn’t count Cath’s fanfiction creation as a story all its own. By the end of Fangirl, I wanted to know not only how Cath’s life would work out, but both versions of Simon Snow’s as well!

Cath’s inner life is well-described throughout. She’s scared and reclusive, yearning for connection but afraid of it too, wanting to write but not willing to leave her fanfic behind or relegate it to 2nd place. I loved Cath’s insecurities and fears, her love for her father, her anger toward Wren even while she misses her sister desperately. Perhaps most charming of all is Cath’s friendship with Levi. Levi is the boy everyone wishes they met in college. He’s sweet and smart, caring without being controlling, always there for Cath when she needs him, and funny and positive to boot. I loved that Cath and Levi could explore their feelings, not without complications or issues, but at least without the trite contrivance of an unnecessary love triangle. In fact, I thought early on that the plot was setting up a triangle, and when that didn’t turn out to be the case, I felt like raising a banner with a big “THANK YOU RAINBOW ROWELL” on it. What a relief!

Rowell’s writing is full of sparkling humor and zippy dialogue. Even when serious matters are arise, there are plenty of funny and quirky moments to lighten the mood. I love this moment, among many, which uses a pop-culture reference point as almost a throw-away quip, yet really sets a great tone (and made me snicker):

Reagan was sitting at Cath’s desk when Cath woke up.

“Are you awake?”

“Have you been watching me sleep?”

“Yes, Bella. Are you awake?”

Probably my only quibble with Fangirl has to do with names. Cath is short for Cather, and it took me the longest time to realize that yes, Cather is in fact her name and not a nickname. The explanation for Cath’s name (and Wren’s too) was just too cutesy by far for me to believe, and felt like a forced joke that didn’t work at all in the context of an otherwise totally believable (if not terribly functional) family dynamic. This is a small complaint, however, and certainly didn’t detract from my enjoyment of Fangirl for more than a moment or two.

Overall, I loved Fangirl. It doesn’t have the emotional punch of Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor & Park, which took my breath away with the sorrow and hurt of its characters. In Fangirl, Cath goes through quite a lot, but it’s mostly a happy book about a young woman coming into her own, finding out who she is and what she wants, and learning how to be her own person. Cath’s experiences during her freshman year of college include unique elements, yet feel universal. For anyone who has suffered through meeting strange new roommates, figured out to maneuver through a dorm dining hall, or confronted a professor who just doesn’t get your work, reading Fangirl will be a nostalgic, emotional journey back to those days of excitement and confusion.

Filled with strong writing and original, well-developed characters, Fangirl is a joy to read — and it’s sure to especially delight readers who, no matter their age, still get a secret thrill from flipping back through their Harry Potter collection… again and again and again.

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The details:

Title: Fangirl
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication date: 2013
Genre: Young adult/New adult
Source: Purchased

1Sep2013

Book Review: Tumble & Fall by Alexandra Coutts

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Book Review: Tumble & Fall by Alexandra Coutts

Tumble & Fall

I was pleasantly surprised by this lovely young adult novel, given that the premise sounds like a sure recipe for a depressing, coming-of-the-apocalypse tale.

In Tumble & Fall, the world is heading toward disaster on a global scale. The mile-wide Persephone asteroid is on a collision course with planet Earth, and unless a last-ditch effort to blow it to smithereens is effective, Earth as we know it will be no more.

With a week to go until the asteroid hits, we witness events through the eyes of three teen narrators, all of whom spend what may be their final week on Earth on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. Sienna is newly released from a lengthy stay in mental-health home for teens after a desperate suicide attempt; Caden is edgy and sick of spending his life cleaning up after his alcoholic mother; Zan is mourning the loss of her boyfriend Leo in a tragic accident 10 months earlier. All three find themselves, in this final week, assessing their relationships, their families, and their own sense of purpose and self. As the clock winds down, they test themselves, test their limits, and figure out where they want to be — and by whose side — when the last moments come.

Here’s what the book is NOT about: Politics. Panic. Scientific intervention. Space missions. Global destruction. Building shelters. Selection of a chosen few to survive. In other words, this is not an apocalypse book along the lines of others we’ve seen before. While the basic premise immediately made me think of the two 1990s-era movies about death-by-asteroid, Deep Impact and Armageddon, there are no space cowboys and mad, so-crazy-it-just-might-work missions to (sound the trumpets, please!) SAVE PLANET EARTH!

Instead, Tumble & Fall is a strangely moving, introspective story about people and their connections. Some parts were funny, in a wry sort of way: All three of the characters, for different reasons, spend at least one night away from home without telling anyone, and while they worry about what their parents will think, there’s still a sense of “C’mon, the world is ending in a few days — drop the curfew!” Parents are forced to accept that they can’t protect their children; children are forced to acknowledge that parental love isn’t a one-way street. The characters on this island act out their love and commitment in so many ways — small acts of caring, coming home when they might feel like staying away, letting someone else be nurturing even when they themselves don’t need to be nurtured.

It’s hard to describe the sense of quiet doom lurking in the shadows. All of the characters know that there really isn’t any hope that the asteroid will miss. No one truly expects a miracle. As the clock winds down, the community gathers together, in sorrow and in love, because there really isn’t any other option. The end will come; it’s how they choose to spend the remaining time that matters.

Filled with lovely prose and vivid descriptions of the characters’ inner lives, this book moves at a fast pace and, once started, is really difficult to stop reading before the end. People who pick up Tumble & Fall expecting a big, flashy disaster book may be disappointed. But if you’re someone who appreciates reading about honest emotions, difficult choices, and people figuring out how to be when it really counts, then I strongly recommend Tumble & Fall.

20Aug2013

Wishlist Wednesday

Posted in Wishlist Wednesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Welcome to Wishlist Wednesday!

The concept is to post about one book from our wish lists that we can’t wait to read. Want to play? Here’s how:

Follow Pen to Paper as host of the meme.
Do a post about one book from your wishlist and why you want to read it.
Add your blog to the linky at the bottom of the post at Pen to Paper.
Put a link back to Pen to Paper somewhere in your post.
Visit the other blogs and enjoy!

My wishlist book this week is:

Reality Boy by A. S. King
(release date October 22, 2013)

From Goodreads:

Gerald Faust knows exactly when he started feeling angry: the day his mother invited a reality television crew into his five-year-old life. Twelve years later, he’s still haunted by his rage-filled youth—which the entire world got to watch from every imaginable angle—and his anger issues have resulted in violent outbursts, zero friends, and clueless adults dumping him in the special education room at school.

Nothing is ever going to change. No one cares that he’s tried to learn to control himself, and the girl he likes has no idea who he really is. Everyone’s just waiting for him to snap…and he’s starting to feel dangerously close to doing just that.

In this fearless portrayal of a boy on the edge, highly acclaimed Printz Honor author A.S. King explores the desperate reality of a former child “star” who finally breaks free of his anger by creating possibilities he never knew he deserved.

Why do I want to read this?

I read Ask The Passengers by A. S. King a few months ago, and thought it was wonderful. The author has a gift for portraying young adults as real people facing hard choices and dealing with the fall-out. I’ve been wanting to read more by this author (an earlier novel, Please Ignore Vera Dietz, was a Printz Honor book in 2011) — and Reality Boy sounds like a great choice. I’m intrigued by the concept, following a boy forced into a public role via reality TV at such a young age. I’d really love to know what happens to him, and whether he finds a way to escape his past and lead a normal life.

What’s on your wishlist this week?

So what are you doing on Thursdays and Fridays? Come join me for my regular weekly features, Thursday Quotables and Flashback Friday! You can find out more here — come share the book love!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Do you host a blog hop or book blog meme? Do you participate in a meme that you really, really love? I’m building a Book Blog Meme Directory, and need your help! If you know of a great meme to include — or if you host one yourself — please drop me a note on my Contact page and I’ll be sure to add your info!