Review: Hunting and Gathering

January 26, 2013February 3, 20136 Comments

Anna Gavalda, Hunting and Gathering (trans. Alison Anderson)

The original French title of this novel is Ensemble, C’est Tout, which is a much more fitting name for a book about a group of lost souls who eventually find happiness with each other. Camille is literally a starving artist, wasting away to skin and bones while working a completely unfulfilling job as an office cleaner in Paris. One day she falls ill and is rescued by Philibert, a sweet-natured but socially awkward aristocrat who is living in his family’s decaying ancestral home. Philibert also has a roommate named Franck, a talented chef whose filthy language is only matched by his even filthier lifestyle. Initially, the three of them living in one house seems like a recipe for disaster; but as they learn more about one another, they slowly build an unconventional family.

I think this is a perfect cold-weather book; it just begs to be read while snuggled up in a blanket and sipping something warm. At its core, it’s a fairly simple and predictable love story, with the hero and heroine hating each other at first, then slowly changing their minds. But Gavalda’s dreamy, transparent prose helps it to rise above a stereotypical chick-lit or romance novel. There’s something very thoughtful and smart about the book as a whole; I especially loved the descriptions of Camille’s art. The only thing that bugged me about the book is that sometimes the dialogue was hard to follow — there aren’t a lot of tags to indicate who’s saying what. There’s also a lot of jumping around between different characters’ perspectives, which can be distracting. Overall, though, I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to fans of love stories or French literature.

Review: Meant to Be

January 5, 2013January 5, 20132 Comments

Lauren Morrill, Meant to Be

Julia Lichtenstein is an excellent student, a voracious reader, and a conscientious follower of rules. She’s incredibly excited about her class trip to London, eager to soak up all the history and culture that it has to offer. Her only problem is the presence of class clown Jason Lippincott on the trip. He’s loud, obnoxious, and completely immature — and because his name comes right after Julia’s in the alphabet, she’s stuck being his partner for their school assignments on the trip. However, as Julia spends more time with Jason, she slowly begins to discover that there’s more to him than meets the eye. At times it even seems like there’s a spark between them, but can Julia really fall for someone who’s the complete opposite of the “meant to be” guy she’s always imagined?

This is a very cute YA romance that hooked me almost immediately. Since Julia is the first-person narrator, we get inside her head right away, and I really enjoyed her determined, slightly neurotic voice. As for Jason, he’s just adorable; I definitely have a soft spot for goofy guys! Even though he and Julia are really different, I can definitely see how they work as a couple. Also, their clashing personalities provide a very believable conflict in the book; even after the happily-ever-after, you just know that they’ll continue to fight with and frustrate each other sometimes. Overall, while this book isn’t particularly deep or substantial, I found it a very fun and charming read.

Review: Catch of the Day

December 20, 2012Leave a comment

Kristan Higgins, Catch of the Day

Maggie Beaumont is incredibly unlucky in love. Her first serious boyfriend dumped her for another girl without even telling her about it, and for the past year or so she’s been carrying a torch for the local priest. Although Maggie has a job she loves (owning and operating the only diner in her tiny town of Gideon’s Cove, Maine) and many friends amongst the townspeople, she can’t help feeling incredibly lonely at times. In desperation, she agrees to go on several blind dates, but each one is more catastrophic than the last. Just when she’s about to give up hope, however, a surprising kiss from an unexpected source makes Maggie think that maybe she’s finally met her match.

Once again, Kristan Higgins delivers a fun and fast contemporary romance. I found Maggie instantly likeable despite her flaws — and she actually does have real flaws, not the “flaws” that chick-lit heroines often have that are actually adorable quirks in disguise. Her obsession with her priestly friend, Father Tim, is a case in point: she knows he’s off-limits, but she spends an inordinate amount of time obsessing about him anyway. On the other hand, I didn’t get to know and love the taciturn hero, Malone, in the same way. Maggie is utterly bewildered by his behavior for much of the novel, and I can’t really blame her. If Higgins had developed his backstory a bit more and given us some insight into his point of view, I would have enjoyed the romance more than I did. But even though I thought the hero was underdeveloped, I still enjoyed this book! I definitely look forward to reading more of Higgins’ work in 2013.

Review: Prom and Prejudice

November 19, 2012Leave a comment

Elizabeth Eulberg, Prom and Prejudice

At the prestigious Longbourn Academy for girls, money and status matter more than anything else, so scholarship students are constantly taunted and made to feel like outsiders. Lizzie Bennet is one of only two scholarship students in her class, and while she knows she’s lucky to be getting such a good education, she can’t help feeling miserable due to her low social status. Her only friends are the other scholarship girl, Charlotte Lucas, and her roommate, Jane. Jane has a thing for Charles Bingley, a popular student from nearby Pemberley Academy who’s been studying abroad for the past semester. When he returns, he acts really interested in Jane — but his snobby sister Caroline and moody friend Darcy don’t seem to approve of the relationship. Lizzie is happy about Jane’s romance but takes an immediate dislike to Darcy. However, as she gets to know him and his group better, she realizes that she may be letting her prejudice against rich people blind her to the truth.

As should be obvious, this is a modern-day version of Pride and Prejudice set in a young adult context. Though I’m an ardent fan of Jane Austen, I’ve found that the various Austen-inspired sequels and spinoffs are usually nowhere near as wonderful as the original novels. There are exceptions, of course, but unfortunately this book isn’t one of them. The plot sticks to the original P&P fairly closely but doesn’t add anything new or interesting to the story. None of the characters have any depth — even the protagonists — which made it hard for me to care about them. Even more importantly, I found the world of the novel unbelievable. While I accept that there are high school bullies and snobs and cliques, it seems wildly unlikely that everyone at Longbourn would be actively mean to Lizzie (stealing her stuff, throwing milkshakes on her, etc.) just because she has a scholarship. I understand that the author was trying to re-create the social hierarchy that existed in Austen’s day, but the end result just wasn’t credible. I have read YA Austen spinoffs that work very well — Polly Shulman’s Enthusiasm is a wonderful example! — but this book didn’t do anything for me.

Review: Gone Girl

October 25, 20123 Comments

Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl

Nick and Amy Dunne are attractive thirty-somethings living in a large house in Missouri, right by the Mississippi River. From the outside, they seem to have a charmed life, but in fact they’ve been having increasingly severe marital problems. Then, on their fifth wedding anniversary, Amy goes missing. Suspicion naturally falls on Nick, since in these situations it’s usually the husband who is guilty. Did Nick kill Amy, and if not, what happened to her? As the narrative slowly unfolds, the truth becomes ever more complex and more elusive.

This is the kind of book that’s really hard to discuss without major spoilers, but I’ll do my best not to give anything away! For starters, this is not my usual genre; I hardly ever read thrillers, but this one is so popular that I decided to see what all the fuss was about. Overall I think I enjoyed the book, or at any rate I found it compelling. I got sucked into the story and had to keep turning the pages to find out what would happen next. Neither Nick nor Amy is entirely likable, and they both get more unpleasant as the book goes on. But it was fun to chase all the plot twists and try to stay one step ahead of the narrators. (Nick and Amy take turns narrating, him from the time of the disappearance and her from diary entries written beforehand.) I didn’t like the ending, though obviously I can’t be more specific. Still, this is a good read for what it is, and I’d recommend it for planes or beaches (but definitely not on your honeymoon!).

Review: The Raven Boys

October 25, 2012October 25, 20128 Comments

Maggie Stiefvater, The Raven Boys

In a household full of witches, psychics, and otherwise supernaturally gifted women, Blue Sargent is the only one with no powers of her own. She does, however, possess a gift for strengthening other people’s magic; so every year on St. Mark’s Eve, she goes with her mother to a certain church to count the dead as they pass by. Blue has never seen the spirits before, so this time she is shocked to notice a boy about her age walking past the church. He’s wearing an Aglionby sweater, which marks him as a student at the local fancy prep school, a Raven boy. Blue is troubled by her vision because the boy’s presence on this path means he’ll die within the year. When she meets the Aglionby boy and his friends in person, she decides to try to prevent the boy’s death and help him on his own magical quest.

I feel like I didn’t do a very good job of explaining this book, because there are a lot of things going on. Blue is one of the main characters, but the book also spends a lot of time with each of the four Raven boys (the one Blue saw and his three best friends). So we learn a lot about the boys’ pasts, their various problems, and their quest to find the lost body of the Welsh king Owen Glendower. As a result of the scattered focus, nothing is covered in very much depth. I learned just enough about the characters to grow attached to them and become curious about their fates, but there’s a lot left to be resolved. The book’s pace is fairly slow, which fits with Stiefvater’s reflective style of writing. The romantic element of this book, though present, is very low-key; I imagine it will be more prevalent in later books in the series. Overall, this book didn’t blow me away like The Scorpio Races did, but I still really enjoyed it and look forward to reading more by Maggie Stiefvater.

Review: My One and Only

October 22, 2012Leave a comment

Kristan Higgins, My One and Only

Harper James is a ball-busting divorce attorney who firmly believes in the nobility of her calling. In her words, she helps people’s hearts to accept what their heads already know — that they and their spouses are simply no good for each other. Harper knows the truth of this saying firsthand, as she divorced her college sweetheart, Nick, several years ago. Harper has done her best to move on from Nick and is even contemplating marriage to another man. But when she learns that her younger stepsister is about to get married to Nick’s half-brother, she can’t help but get upset. She’ll have to see Nick again and confront their shared past, from the intensity of their love to the heartbreaking disintegration of their marriage. How can Harper get over Nick when the sight of him unearths feelings she thought she’d buried long ago?

Another winner from Kristan Higgins! This book is a real page-turner, especially after Harper’s past with Nick slowly starts to be revealed. I didn’t particularly like Harper at first — I found her shrill and abrasive — but it gradually becomes clear that she has good reasons for being the way she is. Nick is also a compelling hero, swoonworthy but not flawless, and certainly not blameless in the conflict between him and Harper. I really liked how the obstacles separating the hero and heroine are legitimate and not the result of a silly Big Misunderstanding. Rather, they seem like the kind of problems that many married couples fall prey to: they take each other for granted and are afraid to fully open up to each other. So I think this book has a little more emotional weight than Higgins’ other books, but that’s not a bad thing! I’d definitely recommend this to fans of contemporary romance.

Review: Mariana

October 3, 2012October 3, 20122 Comments

Susanna Kearsley, Mariana

When Julia Beckett was five years old, she saw a house while traveling with her family and instantly felt drawn to it. Years later, she sees the house again and impulsively decides to buy it. As she settles down in the country village of Exbury, she is fascinated by the history of her house and the surrounding area. She also begins to experience “flashbacks” from the perspective of Mariana Farr, an inhabitant of the house in the 17th century. The more time Julia spends as Mariana, the more she is captivated by the events of the past — especially when the handsome Richard de Mornay, lord of the neighboring manor, shows an interest in Mariana. However, Julia must eventually discover why she shares Mariana’s experiences and what the consequences will be for her own life.

I had heard a lot of wonderful things about Susanna Kearsley, but I ended up being a bit underwhelmed by my first Kearsley novel, The Winter Sea. I enjoyed this book more, probably because I had more moderate expectations going in. Julia is a likable character, and I really enjoyed her relationships with the other present-day characters, especially her brother Tom. I was actually much less interested in the historical plot line, which is unusual for me. I felt like Kearsley wanted me to care more about Mariana’s story, but I honestly cared more about Julia’s. I wasn’t totally satisfied with the present-day romance either, but I can’t explain why without spoiling the book. Overall, I found this book a pleasant read, but unfortunately it didn’t grab me the way I wanted it to.

Review: Second Chance Summer

September 23, 2012Leave a comment

Morgan Matson, Second Chance Summer

Seventeen-year-old Taylor is used to running away from her problems; after all, she’s been doing it for as long as she can remember, storming out of the house whenever she got into an argument with a parent or sibling. But when she learns that her father is dying of pancreatic cancer, she knows that this is a problem she can’t escape by running away. Instead, she and her family decide to spend one last summer at their lake house in the Poconos, where they used to spend every summer vacation when Taylor was little. At first Taylor dreads the trip, but eventually she begins to come to terms with her father’s illness. She also mends fences with her ex-best friend, her first love (who’s all grown up and cuter than ever), and her parents and siblings, learning that it’s still not too late to give or receive a second chance.

I really liked Matson’s previous novel, Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour, so I was happy to find a copy of this one at the public library. While this book is just as well-written as Amy & Roger, it deals with the tough subject of a parent’s death in a much more direct way; while Amy’s father was already dead at the beginning of Amy & Roger, in this novel we experience Taylor’s dad’s illness right alongside the characters. For this reason, the romance, while it does exist, is not really central to the book. Rather, the main focus is Taylor’s relationship with her parents and her brother and sister, which I personally loved. Taylor’s family is reasonably close — at least, they all get along most of the time — but the tragedy of her father’s sickness makes them realize how much they’ve been taking each other for granted. They grow closer to each other as a result of their shared fear and grief. This is a very sad book in some places — I cried copiously, as per usual — but ultimately it has an uplifting message. I’d definitely recommend this book to fans of YA.

You Book Me All Night Long

Tag: contemporary