Tag: young adult

Review: Blue Lily, Lily Blue

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Blue Lily, Lily BlueMaggie Stiefvater, Blue Lily, Lily Blue

***Warning: SPOILERS for previous books in the series!***

Blue Sargent and the Raven Boys are approaching the end of their quest to find the long-lost Welsh king Owen Glendower. But as always, there are complications. First of all, Blue’s mother is missing, and the cryptic note she left behind says only that she is “underground.” Is she one step ahead of them in the search for Glendower, or has she gotten involved in something more sinister? Then there’s the fact that Colin Greenmantle, the person who hired the Gray Man to kidnap Ronan in The Dream Thieves, is in town — and he’s the boys’ new Latin teacher. Worst of all, when Blue and the boys finally locate the cave where Glendower rests, they realize that their troubles are only just beginning. For there is more than one entity dwelling in this cave, and some things are better left asleep…

As a fan of the previous books in the Raven Cycle, I pretty much devoured this installment. I think it might be my favorite book yet in the series, because it’s finally starting to pull together the various plot threads and character relationships that have been simmering since the first book. More secrets are revealed, the plot continues to twist and turn, and various characters’ motivations are slowly uncovered. I really like the fact that Blue, Gansey, Ronan, Adam, and Noah have become this inseparable unit now. In the first two books, there was a lot of tension between various members of the group, with everyone trying to figure out whom to trust. But in this book, they have finally accepted each other and decided to work together. I also love how certain characters (Blue and Adam in particular) are thinking about their futures: Even if they do manage to find Glendower, what happens then? So I’m very excited to see how things will turn out, and I can’t wait for the release of the fourth and final book next year!

Review: A Little Something Different

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Little Something Different, ASandy Hall, A Little Something Different

When Gabe and Lea meet in a creative writing class at their university, sparks begin to fly instantly. Everyone can see it, from the creative writing professor to their fellow students to the baristas at Starbucks — everyone, that is, except Gabe and Lea themselves. They’re both shy and a little awkward, and Gabe is dealing with some trauma from his past, so it’s unsurprising that they have a hard time interpreting each other’s mixed signals. Still, everyone else can see that they’re crazy about each other, and that’s why this novel is told from everyone else’s point of view. Parts of the story are variously told by Gabe’s brother, Lea’s roommate, the aforementioned baristas, a waitress at the local diner, and even a squirrel who lives on campus; in fact, the only characters who don’t address the reader directly are Lea and Gabe. Despite their mutual crush, will they ever be able to get together? And if not, how will their friends, acquaintances, and random observers cope with the disappointment?

This book is a sugary confection that I devoured in one sitting. At bottom it’s a classic boy-meets-girl story, but the various narrators provide an interesting twist on the tale. Overall, I was impressed with the author’s ability to switch between voices so skillfully. A couple characters were difficult for me to distinguish (particularly Gabe’s group of friends), but it was generally easy to keep everyone straight. (It doesn’t hurt that each new perspective is clearly marked with the character’s name and function, such as “Inga, Creative Writing Professor.”) I didn’t love every single perspective — the narratives from “squirrel” and “bench,” in particular, seemed unnecessary — but the author interview at the back of the book revealed that she had about twice as many narrators in the initial draft! So at least she cut back a little. 🙂 I also found it interesting to tell a love story in this way, giving everyone a voice except the two main characters; it seems to reflect a voyeuristic element in our culture (reality TV, social media, etc.). Ultimately, this is an adorable little romance with a cute gimmick attached, and I really enjoyed it!

Review: Isla and the Happily Ever After

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Isla and the Happily Ever AfterStephanie Perkins, Isla and the Happily Ever After

Isla Martin has had a crush on Josh Wasserstein since their first year together at the School of the Americas in Paris. But because of his relationship with another girl and her own shyness, nothing has ever happened between them, and Isla is convinced nothing ever will. But then, the summer before their senior year, she bumps into Josh in a Manhattan cafe and actually finds the courage to talk to him. It soon becomes obvious that her crush isn’t as unrequited as she thought, and the two embark on a giddy, passionate relationship. But even the intensity of first love can’t blind Isla to the pitfalls ahead of them: Josh is an artistic slacker who might get kicked out of school despite his talent, while Isla is a bright girl who works hard but doesn’t know what to do after graduation. Can Isla and Josh stay together when everything, from geography to family issues to their own future paths, seems determined to keep them apart?

I’ve been waiting for this novel, the companion to Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door, for YEARS, and I was definitely not disappointed! This book really captures the feeling of being young and in love, with its dizzying highs, despairing lows, and all the accompanying drama. Isla is a sweet but spunky heroine, and I personally found her more relatable than Anna or Lola: she’s shy and has a rich interior life, but she has a little more trouble turning her dreams into reality. I like that this book highlights the differences between a crush and a real relationship; even though Isla gets to date the boy of her dreams, their relationship is far from perfect! This book is full of all the swoonworthy romantic moments you’d expect in a Perkins novel, though it’s certainly more explicit than Anna and Lola. The book is definitely geared to a teenage audience (unsurprisingly, since it’s YA), so I did occasionally feel like I was a bit too old for the story. But I still really enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone who wants a dramatic, romantic read!

Review and GIVEAWAY: Mortal Heart

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Mortal HeartRobin LaFevers, Mortal Heart

This final book in the His Fair Assassin trilogy focuses on Annith, one of the most skilled novices at the convent of St. Mortain in medieval Brittany. She has lived her entire life in the convent but yearns to be sent on her first mission to the outside world, so that she can finally use her skills to serve the god of death. But the abbess has stubbornly kept her in the convent while allowing other, less skilled novices to go out on missions. When Annith hears that the abbess intends to make her the next Seeress, effectively locking her within the convent walls forever, she decides to leave the convent and find her own way to serve Mortain. Along the way she runs into a group of hellequin, doomed souls who can only redeem themselves by ushering the spirits of the dying into the afterlife. At first the hellequin terrify Annith, but she soon grows closer to their mysterious leader, Balthazaar. Will Annith be able to overcome her past, including the secrets the abbess is keeping, and forge her own destiny?

I was a big fan of Grave Mercy and, to a lesser extent, Dark Triumph, so I jumped at the chance to grab this galley at BEA! Unfortunately, I wasn’t completely enamored with the book, although I’m having a hard time pinpointing why. For one thing, the plot doesn’t have much forward momentum; there’s a lot about Annith’s past and the secrets hidden in the convent, but her current journey is much less interesting. I also found Balthazaar underwhelming as a romantic lead. There’s just no spark between him and Annith, possibly because the book spends so much time in the past. And although his big secret makes total sense in the world of this series, it made me less enthusiastic about him and Annith as a couple. That said, I do think the book is a good resolution to the series as a whole, providing some closure on all the main characters and resolving the dangling plot threads from earlier books. So I’d certainly recommend this novel to fans of the series, but I still think the first book, Grave Mercy, is the best.

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WIN THIS BOOK

Since I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to read this book, I’d like to give someone else a  chance as well. So with that in mind, I am offering one lucky winner my advance reader copy of Mortal Heart. It’s only been read one time and is still in great shape, I promise! 🙂 Here’s how to enter:

  • Comment on this blog post between now and July 3, 2014, at 11:59 p.m. (Eastern time). Be sure to mention that you are entering the giveaway!
  • One entry per person, please!
  • This giveaway is limited to US readers only. (I know, I know, sorry!)
  • The winner will be chosen randomly, and I’ll announce the results in a new post sometime on July 4.

And…that’s it! Good luck, everyone!

Review: Since You’ve Been Gone

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Since You've Been GoneMorgan Matson, Since You’ve Been Gone

Emily and Sloane are best friends; they’ve been inseparable ever since Sloane moved to town two years ago. While Sloane is adventurous and outgoing, Emily is shy by nature and happy to be known simply as “Sloane’s friend.” But one day, Sloane and her family are simply gone, and Sloane isn’t answering any of Emily’s calls or texts. Emily is both shocked and completely overwhelmed — how will she survive the summer without her best friend? Then she finds a list from Sloane, a list of tasks designed to get Emily out of her comfort zone. Not knowing what else to do, Emily decideds to complete the list, hoping that once she does, Sloane will come back. Some of the tasks seem relatively harmless (“Apple picking at night”), while others seem impossible (“Kiss a stranger”). But with help from some surprising sources — including popular class president Frank Porter — Emily makes her way through the list and gains a new identity in the process.

This book is the perfect summer read! It’s got everything — friendship, humor, romance, ice cream, and a sense of infinite possibility. Reading it, I felt nostalgic for the summers I had growing up, playing with the neighborhood kids and feeling like the summer would never end. I found Emily a great, realistic character; she’s more of a follower than a leader, she’s a bit unsure of her own identity, and she relies on Sloane to provide the adventure and excitement in her life. I loved watching her grow as a person and have her own adventures. I also adored the sweet romance with Frank, who is the kind of guy I totally would have had a crush on in high school! But the relationship at the heart of the book is really the friendship between Emily and Sloane, who is an incredibly vivid character even though she’s barely on page. In fact, my only tiny quibble with the book is that I wasn’t satisfied with Sloane’s reason for disappearing on Emily. But I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a great beach or vacation read this summer!

Review: Jackaby

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JackabyWilliam Ritter, Jackaby

Abigail Rook has just arrived in the New England town of New Fiddleham with nowhere to go and no way to earn a living. As she sits in a tavern and ponders her next move, she encounters a strange man who turns out to be R.F. Jackaby, a private investigator with an extraordinary gift for detecting paranormal activity. Abigail’s talent for observation lands her a job as Jackaby’s assistant, and she is immediately embroiled in the investigation of a gruesome murder. Jackaby is convinced that the killer is supernatural, but the police scoff at the very idea — except for one young detective named Charlie Cane. With Cane’s help, Jackaby and Abigail pursue the investigation, encountering a banshee, a helpful madwoman, and a possible bridge troll along the way. Meanwhile, Abigail relishes the excitement of her new job, but several people warn her to stay away from Jackaby. She wants to keep her job, but will it cost her her reputation — or even her life?

Despite the fact that this book is classified as YA or even middle-grade, I really enjoyed it! The book is narrated by Abigail, a plucky protagonist who is suddenly thrown into a magical world with nothing but her wits to rely on. I like that she is basically ordinary; though smart and brave, she doesn’t have superpowers, so she is very relatable as she encounters the surprises and challenges of this world. Jackaby is a really fun character as well, with more than a few similiarities to Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock Holmes! I also loved the richly imagined world of this novel, especially the random little gags that didn’t have much to do with the main plot, such as the frog in Jackaby’s office, or what happened to his former assistant. The mystery itself was fairly easy to solve — I figured out whodunnit almost as soon as the guilty character was introduced — but the fun of the book is the characters and setting. I’d definitely recommend this book to fans of historical fantasy, and I’m looking forward to the sequels!

Review: Rose Under Fire

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Rose Under FireElizabeth Wein, Rose Under Fire

Rose Justice is an American pilot who has just come to England to help with the war effort. Though women aren’t allowed to fly planes in combat, she is able to get a job with the Women’s Air Transport Auxiliary ferrying planes back and forth within Allied territory. At first Rose sees her work as a grand adventure, a fascinating change from her sheltered upbringing. But her life is instantly, horribly changed when she is captured by the Germans in the middle of a routine flight from France to England. She is immediately arrested and transported to the women’s concentration camp at Ravensbrück. There Rose confronts the hideous realities of this war for the first time, including the brutal scientific experiments performed on a group of young women known as “rabbits.” But depsite the horrific treatment Rose endures, she forges close bonds with a small group of fellow prisoners and somehow manages to hold onto hope.

This companion novel to Code Name Verity is equally powerful and moving, although it struck me in a very different way. I loved CNV for its suspense, its elements of espionage, and its intense portrayal of friendship. This book is not as suspenseful; we know from the start of Rose’s narrative about Ravensbrück that she is remembering her experiences after she has escaped. It’s also not as personal (if that’s the word I want) because while Rose forms incredibly close bonds with her fellow prisoners, the emphasis is less on individual relationships and more on the experience of Ravensbrück as a whole. Neverthless, this book did strike me on a very deep personal level. It’s easy to become a little desensitized to the atrocities committed by the Nazis, simply because we’ve heard about them so many times, but this book certainly made them vivid for me. The most horrifying thing is that similar atrocities are still occurring in parts of the world today. So this is not an easy read, but I think it’s a very important one.

Review: Across a Star-Swept Sea

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Across a Star-Swept SeaDiana Peterfreund, Across a Star-Swept Sea

In this post-apocalyptic retelling of The Scarlet Pimpernel (!), Earth’s civilization has been all but destroyed, thanks to the horrific unintended consequence of genetic engineering known as Reduction. Now, the island of Galatea seeks vengeance through revolution: aristocrats are being captured and forcibly Reduced, their minds irreparably damaged. Meanwhile, the neighboring island of Albion seems more interested in flirtation and gossip than in Galatea’s problems — except for the Wild Poppy, who daringly rescues Galatean aristocrats out from under the noses of the rebels. No one suspects that the Wild Poppy is really Persis Blake, a seemingly idle and frivolous courtier of Albion. In order to maintain her cover, Persis must befriend Justen Helo, a Galatean scientist whose family is famous for curing the initial Reduction. Justen seems to disagree with his country’s violent policies, but can Persis trust him? And will she be able to maintain her cover as their relationship deepens?

The Scarlet Pimpernel is one of my all-time favorite books, so I was really excited to discover this retelling with a sci-fi twist! I think the novel does a good job of following the original story while not being a scene-for-scene copy. While the original novel is mostly told from Marguerite/Justen’s point of view, this version is largely from the perspective of the Pimpernel character, Persis. In fact, one of the most fun aspects of this book is that the characters are gender-flipped! I did have one large-ish problem with the book, though; most of the larger narrative of How We Got To This Point was totally lost on me. There were some wars, and some people got Reduced, and the people who didn’t became the new aristocrats, I think? To be fair, it’s not that complicated…I’m afraid I just didn’t want to pay that much attention! Still, I picked up enough to get the gist of things, so I guess it doesn’t matter that much. Overall, I didn’t love the book, but it’s still a fun read for Pimpernel fans, especially those who also like YA.

Review: The Grimm Legacy

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Grimm Legacy, ThePolly Shulman, The Grimm Legacy

High-school student Elizabeth Rew is feeling lonely: her new stepmother is taking up most of her father’s time, and she’s just transferred to a new school where she doesn’t have any friends. So when her history teacher suggests that she get a job with the New York Circulating Material Repository, she looks forward to the new experience. The Repository is a lending library for objects, including famous historical artifacts like Marie Antoinette’s wig; but Elizabeth soon discovers that there are even more important objects to be found. Specifically, the Grimm Collection houses fairytale items with magical properties, including flying carpets and seven-league boots. As Elizabeth explores the wonders of the Grimm Collection, she also befriends her fellow employees, including popular Marc, beautiful Anjali, and standoffish Aaron. When some of the magical items go missing, it’s up to Elizabeth and her newfound friends to discover who is stealing from the Grimm Collection — before they become the thief’s next victims.

A few years ago I read Polly Shulman’s other book, Enthusiasm, and really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, this book didn’t work for me quite as well. I absolutely loved the premise — what if you could actually borrow the magic mirror from Snow White or Aladdin’s lamp? — and many of the details related to this concept worked very well. I especially liked the idea that borrowers had to leave a “deposit” for the items, which could be something like their sense of direction, their singing voice, or their firstborn child. The problem with the book is that it’s geared toward a very young audience. I don’t have a problem with YA in general, and I’ve read many excellent books in the genre, but this one really felt like YA or even juvenile fiction. If I’d read the book at age 11, I probably would have loved it, but as an adult, I found it far too simplistic. There were also a few plot points that weren’t fully fleshed out, such as Elizabeth’s relationships with her dad and stepmom. Overall, the book is a decent read, but I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re really OK with juvenile or YA fiction.

Review: The Girl Is Murder

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Girl Is Murder, TheKathryn Miller Haines, The Girl Is Murder

Fifteen-year-old Iris Anderson is having a hard time. About a year ago, her Pop returned from Pearl Harbor with a missing leg, which meant he was no longer able to do the active work required by his business as a private investigator. As a result, Pop and Iris have moved from their old affluent neighborhood to a poor area on the Lower East Side, and Iris has to go to public school instead of the elite private school she formerly attended. Hoping to get closer to her only surviving parent (her mother committed suicide shortly after Pop returned from the war), Iris tries to help Pop with his cases, but he forbids her from having anything to do with the PI business. When one of the boys at Iris’ new school goes missing, however, she can’t help but do a little sleuthing. Along the way, she makes a few friends at her new school, including the unpopular Pearl and the glamorous, fast-talking Suze; but as Iris navigates her way through various cliques and social minefields, how will she know whom she can really trust?

If you enjoy Haines’ Rosie Winter mysteries, you’ll feel right at home in the world of this novel, set in the fall of 1942. The book isn’t about World War II, yet the war permeates almost every aspect of Iris’ life, from the slang used by Suze and the other cool girls at school to the disturbing racisim and anti-Semitism espoused by some of the characters. (These attitudes are definitely not condoned by the book, however; they simply mirror the atttitudes of many Americans at that time.) I liked Iris as a protagonist; her problems are specific to her era yet also universal, as she struggles with her own identity, fitting in, and building a relationship with a distant parent. Her voice is occasionally too precocious for a 15-year-old, but I found that flaw forgivable since she’s so entertaining. As a mystery, the book is very weak; Iris doesn’t spend much time investigating anything, and she’s not even the one who solves the case! So I’d recommend this to someone looking for an interesting YA book about World War II, but it’s not a great read for a mystery fan.