Chronicles of a Book Evangelist

Review: Not That Kind of Girl by Siobhan Vivian

Publisher: Scholastic

Publication Date: September 1st 2010

Goodreads Description:

Natalie Sterling wants to be in control. She wants her friends to be loyal. She wants her classmates to elect her student council president. She wants to find the right guy, not the usual jerk her school has to offer. She wants a good reputation, because she believes that will lead to good things. 

But life is messy, and it's very hard to be in control of it. Not when there are freshman girls running around in a pack, trying to get senior guys to sleep with them. Not when your friends have secrets they're no longer comfortable sharing. Not when the boy you once dismissed ends up being the boy you want to sleep with yourself - but only in secret, with nobody ever finding out.

Slut or saint? Winner or loser? Natalie is getting tired of these forced choices - and is now going to find a way to live life in the sometimes messy, sometimes wonderful in-between.

Review:

 I have been sitting here, staring at my computer screen for a very long time, watching the cursor blink and not really knowing what I want to say -- or perhaps it is that I don't know how to say everything I want to say.  I want to be writing a review of a different book.  The book I thought this was. The book I think Siobhan Vivian meant to write.  I am going to take a flying leap of faith with my assumptions and describe the book I think Vivian meant this to be:  This was supposed to be a book of messages to young girls everywhere, teaching them what feminism really is and what it really means, showing them that they are all feminists (or at least should be).  It was supposed to highlight a lot of the ways that we ladies fail ourselves and each other on our journey to equality.  It was supposed to set up common stereotypes of feminists as strawmen, then burn those stereotypes down to the truth underneath.  Not That Kind of Girl was supposed to be really amazing, which made Vivian's failure to deliver all that much harder to take.  Here are the primary ways I think Vivian failed in the execution of her ideas:

• Natalie is clueless about much of the history of the feminist movement, especially for someone who considers herself qualified to lead discussions about feminism for her classmates.  She is beyond just man-hating into people-hating in her quest for completely independent success.  She looks down on everyone around her, refuses their help as insufficient or unworthy, and demands an even higher unnatural level of perfection from herself.  She is also completely and selfishly insensitive in her interactions with Autumn, the only person who would count as a friend rather than a project or a mentor.  It feels like, in Natalie, Vivian just adds more nasty layers to the man-hating feminazi stereotype, while failing to ever adequately address them.

• Spencer was supposed to be (again, I think) an example of a sex-positive feminist that fights against slut-shaming.  And, in some ways, I guess she does.  Some of the best, most positive things said in this book come from Spencer at the lock-in.  However, there is a BIG difference between a young woman who owns her sexuality and feels positively about herself, and a young woman who uses her body to get attention and reinforcement from others.  Spencer never feels comfortable or complete by herself in this book; she always needs affirmation of her worth from someone else -- whether that is Mike, Natalie, or the guys in the hall.  And here is the kicker for me -- she is FOURTEEN years old!!!  I think the important question to ask is, HOW and WHY a girl this young learned to be this proficient at using her body to build her feelings of confidence and self worth.  Vivian does sex-positive feminist ideals no favors with her portrayal of Spencer.

• The guys.  Oh, goodness, the guys in this book!  None of them -- not even Connor -- are well written.  Feminism isn't about being elevated above men, but rather about achieving equality for all individuals -- regardless of sex or gender.  Equality would be some of the males in Natalie's life being something other than douche-bags or door-mats.  In Not That Kind of Girl, there really is no in-between.  Mike should be brought up on statutory rape charges; Connor needs some self-confidence because he deserves way better than Natalie gives him; and Principal Hurley needs, at best, to take some sensitivity training classes or, at worst, needs to be fired for being a chauvinistic ass who unfairly distributes discipline.

• So, taking the first and third points from above, let's now talk about the romance between Natalie and Connor.  Or perhaps not, because there wasn't any.  Natalie was using making out, and finally sex, with Connor as a distraction from the inflated responsibilities she put upon herself.  Connor was making out and having sex with a girl that showed him absolutely no respect, going so far as to not acknowledge him in public.  They felt awkward around each other when not kissing, and rarely talked about anything that was important to either one of them. There is nothing healthy or romantic about this relationship.  I get that Vivian was trying to say that you can have a healthy relationship while still being a strong and independent female, but there is just so much wrong with the sexual relationship portrayed that I think her message gets lost.

Despite all these issues, though, Not That Kind of Girl still managed to be a pretty decent read.  I enjoyed it, and really wanted Vivian to successfully get to where she was trying to go.  I genuinely liked Connor and Autumn, and wouldn't have minded reading more about them.  It is only upon reflection (and yet more reflection) that my concerns about her portrayal of feminist issues overrode my enjoyment of her story.

Rating: 3 of 5 stars ~ I liked it! I wouldn’t reread it, but I enjoyed it. 

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Review also appears on Goodreads; I purchased my copy for Nook from Barnes and Noble.

Review: Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

Publisher: Tor Teen

Publication Date: August 7th 2012

Series: Anna

Goodreads Description: 

It's been months since the ghost of Anna Korlov opened a door to Hell in her basement and disappeared into it, but ghost-hunter Cas Lowood can't move on. 

His friends remind him that Anna sacrificed herself so that Cas could live—not walk around half dead. He knows they're right, but in Cas's eyes, no living girl he meets can compare to the dead girl he fell in love with.

Now he's seeing Anna everywhere: sometimes when he's asleep and sometimes in waking nightmares. But something is very wrong...these aren't just daydreams. Anna seems tortured, torn apart in new and ever more gruesome ways every time she appears.

Cas doesn't know what happened to Anna when she disappeared into Hell, but he knows she doesn't deserve whatever is happening to her now. Anna saved Cas more than once, and it's time for him to return the favor.

Review:

 I am so very glad that I had Girl of Nightmares on hand when I finished Anna Dressed in Blood!  I really liked Anna, but Girl of Nightmares just went above and beyond.  Blake really developed as an author, and it showed in everything from world building to character development.  The stakes were higher, the mystery went a little deeper, the answers were harder.

Blake does an excellent job of jumping right back into the thick of things while still giving a new reader (or the reader who's read Anna quite a while ago) a basic refresher on everything that went down in the first novel.  It's also been long enough since the events of Anna that the characters have had time to settle into their new identities and relationships.  The characters each had a complexity in Girl of Nightmares that wasn't necessarily allowed in Anna.  (And I was especially pleased with the struggles faced by Carmel -- they made her infinitely more human and awesome at the same time.)

Likewise, the plot jumped a number of levels in complexity; and all the odd little holes in Blake's world from Anna were skillfully explained and filled in.  Some reviewers have complained that the pace of Girl of Nightmares was substantially slower than Anna Dressed in Blood, and that it was less scary.  I, however, found these changes to be improvements.  Everything included was needed to see the plot progress.

Knowing that this was a duology, and how very much Blake had left undone at the end of Anna, I was a little concerned that she couldn't tie everything up in 332 pages.  I should have had a little more faith.  It would be a lie to say that it all came out perfectly happy for everyone, but it at least ended satisfactorily.  (With room for further books set in the world if Blake should so choose!)  I highly recommend this duo of books, and can't wait to pass this one along to the nephews! 

Quotes:

Rating: 4 of 5 stars ~ It was great! I might even re-read it.

Other Opinions:

It won Stephanie over to the series.

It left Heidi feeling a little disapointed.

Leila from bookshelves of doom shared her love at Kirkus.

Previously:

Review: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

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Review also appears on Goodreads; I purchased my copy for Nook from Barnes and Noble, with a gift card from my Dad.  Thanks Dad!.

Review: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Publisher: Tor Teen

Publication Date: August 30th 2011

Goodreads Description:

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead. 

So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn’t expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

And she, for whatever reason, spares his life.

Review:

In waiting so long to read -- and, in turn, review -- Anna Dressed in Blood, I ended up reading a lot of reviews from other people for it first.  I tried in the beginning to stay away from spoilery types (and did so for the most part), but I still got a lot of forewarning for different elements of the book that I might have not liked otherwise.  People whose opinion I trust varied widely in their opinions of Anna.  It was a very odd thing to see.  Also, throughout the reviews, three different comparisons (both favorable and unfavorable) kept cropping up: Buffy, Supernatural, and Hold Me Closer, Necromancer.  Considering the fact that I'm a pretty big fan of all three, I was cautiously intrigued.

Perhaps it was the forewarning, but many of the problems others had with the novel didn't bother me to the same extent.  I completely agree that the romance between Cas and Anna is very quick and never feels like a full-bodied experience.  I also agree that Cas is a bit of a jerk in the beginning.  And, no, I was never particularly scared while reading.  However, I was definitely entertained; and think that, in Anna, Blake shows promise of being even more amazing at writing captivating characters in the future.

As for the comparisons?  I never really got Buffy beyond the superficial level that Blake introduced herself within the text.  There's an entirely different dynamic between the characters.  Also, Cas and Buffy have come from very different places and have very different motivations.  Supernatural, though, I get.  Especially if you've ever seen the episodes with young Dean in high school.  Cas is Dean: cocky while thinking he's charismatic, ambivalent about school or friends because he knows he's moving on soon, desperately trying to live up to the spectre of who he thought his father was, it's all in there.  However, it doesn't bother me all that much because I like young Dean, and there's very little of him within the show.  I think the teenage experience of the boys was an element that was never explored as much as it could have been, so good for Blake in exploring it.  As for Hold Me Closer, Necromancer?  Well, they both are darkly humorous, have male protagonists, and would appeal in a general way to the same sort of readers.  Beyond that, I'm not seeing it.  

(High School Dean from Supernatural could definately be Cas.) 

I guess what surprised me the most about Anna Dressed in Blood was that, even with all the advance warning, I was still surprised by just how funny and smart I found it to be.  I really liked this installment, and will definitely read the next.

Rating:

4 of 5 Stars ~ It was great! I might even re-read it.

Other Opinions:

Wendy Loved It

Catie from the Readventurer thought it was Ho hum

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 Review also appears on Goodreads; I purchased my copy for Nook from Barnes and Noble.

Review: Scorch by Gina Damico

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Publication Date: September 25th 2012

Goodreads Description:

Sixteen-year-old Lex Bartleby is a teenage grim reaper with the bizarre ability to damn souls. That makes her pretty scary, even to fellow Grims. But after inadvertently transferring her ability to Zara, a murderous outlaw, Lex is a pariah in Croak, the little town she calls home.

To escape the townspeople’s wrath, she and her friends embark on a wild road trip to DeMyse. Though this sparkling desert oasis is full of luxuries and amusements, it feels like a prison to Lex. Her best chance at escape would be to stop Zara once and for all—but how can she do that from DeMyse, where the Grims seem mysteriously oblivious to Zara’s killing spree?

 

 

Review:

I'm in the really awkward position of having to go back a bit on what I have said earlier...I stand by my rating, but I think I may have been a little hard on Croak.  Part of my strategy for savoring the new books I received over the holidays (and making them last a bit longer) was to first reread the earlier books in the series.  Maybe it was that I already knew Lex at this point, but I didn't have the same feelings of disconnect from her that I did the first time I read Croak.  I also think that, in working so hard to articulate what I didn't like about the book, I lost sight of just how humorous it really was.  That humor not only carried over into Scorch, it was amplified tenfold!

Damico is progressing just as an author should -- everything positive I could or would have had to say about her debut novel holds true for Scorch; and much of what I found problematic about Croak was improved or removed this time around.  Her previous awkwardness with writing intimacy wasn't an issue this time around. Nor were the occasional lulls in action or seemingly random plot developments present.  The foreshadowing was very well done, as was the slow reveal of clues from Uncle Mort.  (And I STILL say there is was more going on there than meets the eye.  If we don't get our answers in Rogue, there had better be an Uncle Mort prequel!!) In fact, Scorch was a thoroughly enjoyable, fast, funny read from beginning to end.  

I admit, I still found a bit of Damico's world to be highly absurd (basically everything about DeMyse, Leroy, and the rest of the DeMysian people was over the top absurd), but it fits her witty writing in a way that feels comfortable now.   The Croak series is definitely shaping up to be one of my favorite new ya series for a light, funny read.

Quotes:

Rating: 4 of 5 Stars ~ It was great! I might even re-read it. 

Previously:

Croak (Croak #1) by Gina Damico

Review also appears on Goodreads; I purchased my copy for Nook from Barnes and Noble, with a gift card from my Dad.  Thanks Dad!

 

Review: The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

Publisher: Harper Collins Children's Books

Publication Date: March 16th 2010

Goodreads Description: 

Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her "power" to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes that the dead leave behind in the world... and the imprints that attach to their killers.

Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find the dead birds her cat had tired of playing with. But now that a serial killer has begun terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he's claimed haunt her daily, she realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.

Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet on her quest to find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved to find herself hoping that Jay's intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she's falling intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer... and becoming his prey herself.

Review:

(Highlight to view spoilers.)

Perhaps it was the immediate mental face palm that went with learning the protagonist was named Violet Ambrose (Violet Ambrose? really?!), or maybe it was the extreme implausability of much of the teen crime solving, but I finished The Body Finder feeling a little ho hum.  It seems that, with this particular young adult genre, suspension of disbelief has to be applied more liberally to what would otherwise be regular contemporary settings; unless very well written, teens solving crimes just involves a certain amount of implausibility in the plot.  And, though The Body Finder was at times sweet, interesting, and funny, it never really crossed over to "very well written" for me.

In all fairness, many of the crime solving aspects of the story that I found most implausible could potentially be explained away by the supernatural aspect to the story.  If you are willing to accept -- in an otherwise contemporary setting -- that a young girl can sense dead bodies, it is just a small step forward to believe that a beloved uncle, who is also a cop, would choose to believe (and by extension cover up for) his niece.  What could not be as easily dismissed are how many elements of the mystery weren't really part of the mystery at all, but rather answers dropped on the reader at the end.  (Spoiler) How are you supposed to know that there are two killers when there is absolutely no foreshadowing indicating the possibility?  It almost felt like a last-minute plot add on to extend the drama.  And how are you supposed to have suspected anyone when neither suspect is ever actually revealed?!  We are simply told this is how the story is resolved, never shown.  I don't even think we ever learn the names of the killers. (End Spoiler)

I find it really interesting that much of what I started out loving about The Body Finder turned into the most disappointing elements of the book.  Violet's parents (well, actually, her whole family) start out so unconditionally supportive and present in her life.  Whatever may or may not happen outside of her family sphere, they all always believe her and work to make sure that she is protected at all costs.  Which is why it is so odd that, when necessary to move the plot along, her parents just sort of check out.  They become incredibly neglectful, almost ignoring her and what she is choosing to do.

I was also really disappointed to never delve deeper into the identity of the killer.  When he first describes his "game" (p22), I was thrilled at the way it was written.  It was disturbing, it was awful, it was chilling and creepy, but it was really well done.  I would imagine it would be hard for any female (teen or adult) to read that passage without recognizing times, places and situations where we mark ourselves as easy victims; and it could maybe even help some teens to make some safer decisions in the future.  However, the glimpses from the killers perspective never evolve beyond that moment.  His perspective almost becomes a sock puppet.  

Finally, one of the best written parts of the entire story was the subplot between Jay and Violet.  I love that she falls for her best friend and becomes all awkward -- it is usually the other way around.  I love Jay's sweetness, protectiveness, confidence, and humor.  (Sort of Spoiler) And I absolutely adored how they eventually got together.  (End Spoiler)  However, I hated that she was such a strong, independent character until she entered into a relationship.  She becomes that girl -- you know, the sort who suffers from "devastating loneliness" after a few hours without a text (p 205), and can't seem to make any decisions on her own anymore.  (Spoiler) I also don't like that Jay ends up having to save her all the time, rather than her being resourceful enough to save herself. (End Spoiler)  

The Body Finder also occasionally had a homophobic comment here and there that was just offensive enough to jar me out of the story.  So, all in all The Body Finder had some problems that kept it from being an awesome read, but I still found it interesting enough to at least try the next book.  (Though I also think that Derting wraps this installment up well enough that The Body Finder could work as a satisfying stand alone.)

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars ~ I liked it! I wouldn’t reread it, but I enjoyed it. 

Review also appears on Goodreads; I purchased my copy for Nook from Barnes and Noble.

Review: 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson

Publisher: HarperCollins

Publication Date: October 6th 2009

Goodreads Description: 

When Ginny receives thirteen little blue envelopes and instructions to buy a plane ticket to London, she knows something exciting is going to happen. What Ginny doesn't know is that she will have the adventure of her life and it will change her in more ways than one. Life and love are waiting for her across the Atlantic, and the thirteen little blue envelopes are the key to finding them in this funny, romantic, heartbreaking novel.

Review:

It really surprised me how underwhelmed I was by 13 Little Blue Envelopes.  I really enjoyed The Name of the Star, and there have been many days where Maureen Johnson's tweets were the funniest thing I read all day.  I think I would have even given it a 2 of 5 rating if some measure of loyalty to an author I adore hadn't compelled me to add that third star.  Now, after stewing on it for almost a month (whew! so sorry for that long absence!), I think it actually deserves all three stars, though I still think there are some major flaws here.

Ginny has got to be one of the dullest main characters I have ever read.  She reminds me of the globe trotting girl in Death Cab for Cutie's I Will Possess Your Heart video -- she's going to all these amazing places and seeing all these amazing things and all I can think is "please let me get away from this wet towel so I can see these amazing things!"  I understand that grief affects us all differently, but it seems that blindly following her aunt's letters while refusing to really engage in anything isn't remaining true to anything -- herself or her aunt's intentions.  Her "romance" (if it can be called that) with Keith didn't even really require her engagement -- it was as contrived and convenient as it was lackluster and boring.  Keith was lackluster and boring.  As someone who has traveled Europe a few times and as a parent, I also find the premise that Ginny's parents -- who clearly didn't approve of her Aunt Peg's choices -- would suddenly send their teenage daughter off with virtually nothing but a pack of letters from her aunt to be completely impossible. 

I also find it interesting that the spectre of Aunt Peg ends up being the most interesting part of the entire book.  When I first finished 13 Little Blue Envelopes, I felt that Aunt Peg was an odd variation of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl.  She existed solely to come into both Ginny and Richard's lives and shake them up; make them see the world differently.  However, after further reflection I think that, though she may have been a MPDG for Ginny, there seemed to have been more awareness and development in the relationship between Richard and Peg -- hence the third star.

13 Little Blue Envelopes was a light and quick read.  Johnson's writing style covered a multitude of character and plot flaws, making the book continue to be a fairly enjoyable -- if completely improbable and forgettable -- read.  I don't think I would recommend 13 Little Blue Envelopes to young readers; however, it has done nothing to prevent me from continuing to wholeheartedly recommend Maureen Johnson. 

Rating:

3 of 5 Stars

Other Opinions:

Flannery and Katya were also underwhelmed.

Rhi found redeeming qualities.

Previously:

Name of the Star

48 Hour Book Challenge: Update 2

 

 

Review: Red Heart Tattoo by Lurlene McDaniel

Expected Publication Date: July 24, 2012

Publisher: Random House Children's Books

Description:

Lurlene McDaniel packs an emotional punch in her young adult novel, Red Heart Tattoo, which begins with a random act of violence at a high school and explores the resulting devastation and loss, as well as the ultimate healing that takes place.

At 7:45 a.m. on the day before Thanksgiving break, a bomb goes off at Edison High. Nine people die instantly. Fifteen are critically injured. Twenty-two suffer less severe injuries. And one is blinded. Those who survive, struggle to cope with the loss and destruction. All must find new meaning for their lives as a result of something they may never understand.

Lurlene McDaniel's signature expertise and finesse in dealing with issues of violence, death, and physical as well as emotional trauma in the lives of teens is immediate and heartrending.

 Review:

To me, Red Heart Tattoo was the book equivalent of that friend's mom/new teacher/random adult who was trying so hard to relate to the teens around them that they never stopped to look around and actually see who the teens were.  Lurlene McDaniel tackles some pretty hefty issues in this book, but the reality of these issues seem to just pass her by.  Since the 'issues' seem to be such a focus in the book, I will review in a list of issues that I found most problematic:

School Shootings/Bombings:

Okay, I realize that there is still some debate, BUT most scientific studies agree that playing video games does not make kids violent!  And the studies that say they do?  Most of them suffer from serious methodological deficiencies and don't provide sufficient evidence to establish a causal relationship.  If they did, I am sure Linda Sanders would have made bank after Columbine.  According to the  National Institute on Media and the Family, as of 2001, roughly 79 percent of America's youth play video games, many of them for at least eight hours a week - that a whole lot of kids not shooting or blowing up their schools.  Also, according to FBI statistics, youth violence has declined in recent years as computer and video game popularity soared.  (And, not to let the cat out of the bag here, Elvis' gyrating hips won't make your daughter promiscuous!  Who knew?!)  In Red Heart Tattoo we are given two teens who come from ostensibly upper middle class homes with no references to family strife or bullying.  All we are given is that during lunch they sit by themselves, they sneak a drink of a parent's wiskey once, and that they play video games every time they get together.  They even call each other by their avatar names.  Also, this:

The bedroom was like a cave.  The walls were painted black, with black lights in two lamps and a lava lamp on the dresser.  Gaming posters of death and destruction, of war and carnage hung on the walls, slapped up haphazardly.  The rumpled bed was wrapped in black sheets that glowed purple under the black lights.

And, as well all know, if liking video games doesn't say you're homicidal, liking black sure does!  This willful misunderstanding and oversimplification of a very serious and complex issue really frustrates me.  In order to have meaningful discourse about why kids are moved to do things like this, we have to stop looking for easy answers and actually examine the kids who are doing it!  Just because all rats are mammals does not mean all mammals are rats!

Teen Pregnancy:

I actually think this is the issue which McDaniel handled best.  I appreciate that, while the pregnant girl was a cheerleader, at least she didn't make her a slutty cheerleader, but rather a girl in a committed relationship.  It is nice that she shows it can happen to anyone who is having sex - whether it be seldom or regularly, with one guy or a lot of guys.  Getting pregnant is not a punishment for being a 'slut;' it is the natural outcome of a biological process.  We don't see that reality portrayed enough when people talk about teen pregnancies.  I don't, however, like how she 'resolves' the issue.  Having a child at a young age definitely makes life harder, but it doesn't make it stop.  You can still go to college, have a successful career, and have a happy and balanced life.  It may require more work, but it is still within the realm of possibility.  I think that McDaniel's handling of the subject within Red Heart Tattoo implies that having any sort of positive future is almost impossible without adoption or abortion (but at least she included the possibility of the latter!)

Grief:

Oh, my goodness!  I almost don't even know where to start here.  The portrayal of the town's grief, as a whole, was pretty much the only part of this that in any way felt authentic.  When it came to individual characters, though, there wasn't any!  Trying to avoid spoilers will make this a little harder, but in the simplest terms, Morgan has two rather debilitating results of her grief.  We are told this, but never really show this.  Even while suffering from these...problems...she is starting up her relationship with Roth.  Any person who so grief stricken that they had those particular issues would not be dating someone within a matter of weeks - or even months.  That allows no time for the regular grieving process - not to mention the very probable PTSD and survivor's guilt that most of the kids who were there would have been feeling!  However, at least Morgan showed some grief.  Everyone else seemed to be too caught up in how the tragedy had affected their schedule, or how it had impacted their own personal goals, to be thinking about the classmates who had died.  

Disability:

I will be brief here.  Two different characters come out of this with a disability.  Different people handle sudden disability (and lifelong disability, for that matter) in different ways.  While there are people who quickly and calmly accept it, that is rare.  It is also rare for an individual to uniformly accept disability (even disability they have been born with!) in such a way.  It offended me that McDaniel seems to censure the character who had the most realistic reaction.  Take it from a person who knows, our world is not set up to be a friendly place for individuals with disabilities.  Even the most gracious and accepting of people who are disabled will at times become intensely frustrated, and that is okay.   

Image vs. Personality:

This is the part where I really wish that McDaniel would listen to her own message.  She wants us to be outraged that Roth is the primary suspect simply because he has a bunch of tattoos and a history of being a prankster.  However, again with the vagueness to avoid spoilers, she expressly tries to shed doubt on another character by highlighting their tattoos, funky hair and slightly troubled past.  This character is redeemed after they cover the tats, grow out the hair dye, and get a job.  Also, the 'good' character only gets a discrete tattoo in a place that is very personal.  Hypocrite much?

Beauty vs. Worth:

For this issue I will start with a quote:

Why did the jocks always get the pretty girls?  And why did the pretty girls flock to the jocks?

I get so very tired of this in YA.  Let me break this down: we have a person looking at a 'pretty' girl asking 'why doesn't she want me?  She's so superficial to always go after the good looking guys.'  This goes both ways.  'Plain' girls in books often ask why the 'hot' guys only go after 'pretty' girls instead of giving them a chance.  This is JUST AS SUPERFICIAL!  They know nothing about the person they are pining for other than that they are attractive.  They are precisely what they are accusing their object of being.  They are objectifying someone.  It would be better if they asked of themselves, 'why don't I get to know that guy/girl who sits next to me every day in band/math club/chess club/whatever?'  Chances are the cheerleader and the jock are dating - not because they are superficially trying to concentrate the hotness in one place - but because they attend a lot of the same events, spend a lot of time together, and have quite a few things in common.  They know each other!

To sum it up, I think that The Red Heart Tattoo was not a frank or honest look at anything.  Every character, relationship, and interaction felt staged and contrived; puppets being pulled through the motions to get to the issues.  It felt like an out-of-date after-school special about what adults think kids are going through.  I imagine there will be some adults who find this book meaningful and insightful, but I think actual teens will be rolling their eyes.

  ARC provided by Random House Children's Books

Review also appears on Goodreads

Review: Social Suicide by Gemma Halliday

Publisher: HarperTeen

Publication Date: April 24, 2012

Goodreads Description:

Twittercide [twit-er-sahyd]: the killing of one human being by another while the victim is in the act of tweeting.

Call me crazy, but I figured writing for the Herbert Hoover High Homepage would be a pretty sweet gig. Pad the resume for college applications, get a first look at the gossip column, spend some time ogling the paper’s brooding bad-boy editor, Chase Erikson. But on my first big story, things went... a little south. What should have been a normal interview with Sydney Sanders turned into me discovering the Homecoming Queen-hopeful dead in her pool. Electrocuted while Tweeting. Now, in addition to developing a reputation as HHH’s resident body finder, I’m stuck trying to prove that Sydney’s death wasn’t suicide.

I’m starting to long for the days when my biggest worry was whether the cafeteria was serving pizza sticks or Tuesday Tacos...

Review:

I really enjoyed reading the first book in Gemma Halliday's Deadly Cool series, and couldn't wait to start this one.  Halliday's writing is fun and fast paced and her characters are smart and engaging.  There is just enough depth to her books to be taken seriously, but they are quirky and light-hearted enough to be good "junk-food" reading.  Social Suicide came through for me on all of those points. 

The mystery was just as twisty and fun this time as it was in Deadly Cool.  Hartley was just as tenacious and smart-mouthed, and Chase was even more adorable.  Sadly, though, this book didn't satisfy quite as much as the first.  Deadly Cool felt fresh, whereas Social Suicide was occasionally a little too Deadly-Cool-Take-Two.  It made sense in the context of the story for Hartley to keep secrets from Raley in Deadly Cool -- what with trying to clear Josh's name and all -- but it just made bad situations worse for absolutely no reason in Social Suicide.  It was also reasonable to keep Chase at a distance in the first book; not so much here.  I don't understand why he wasn't a little more involved.  It all too often felt like a rehashing of ground already covered; and the plot and characters both suffered by not being allowed to move forward.  Also, the references to pop culture and modern technology that were so seamlessly woven into the first book felt a bit more clumsy this go around -- more like loaded name dropping than casual references.  

Even though it didn't quite live up to my expectations, I still had a great time reading Social Suicide.  I will keep the series in mind for those times I want a light, fun read with a smart protagonist and a good who-dun-it.  (Which I actually want quite often.)

Quotes:

"Geez, Mom, you make it sound like the police are always bringing me home." Which was hardly fair considering it had been at least a good fifteen hours since it had last happened. - pg 101

Rating:

3.5 of 5 Stars

Previously:

Deadly Cool #1 - Deadly Cool

This review also appears on Goodreads; a review copy was provided by the publisher.

 

Review: Dead Time by Anne Cassidy

Publisher: Walker & Company

Expected Publication Date: May 22, 2012

Goodreads Description:

When Rose was twelve, her mother and stepfather went out for dinner and never came back. Now seventeen, she lives with her grandmother and goes to school in London. She’s always wondered about her stepbrother, Joshua, whom she only lived with briefly and who was also relocated after their parents’ disappearance. When Rose and Joshua meet again, they find they have much in common, including a desire to uncover the mystery surrounding their parents’ disappearance . . . and a mutual attraction to each other. But when Rose witnesses the murders of not one but two of her classmates, she must uncover who is behind these violent crimes. And when she and Joshua discover that a much larger conspiracy is underway, both of their lives will be in danger. From international bestseller Anne Cassidy, this first in a fastpaced and romantic new mystery series will keep readers guessing.

Review:

Anne Cassidy's Dead Time has been an odd sort of beast for me to review.  I had a lot of different problems with it -- a few were a matter of taste, some are writing-style, others are problems with plot...suffice it to say they are many and varied.  However, I read it ages ago and still occasionally think about the mystery and what is going to come next.  Obviously, it wasn't all bad.  Since I've been struggled for so long with this review, I'm going to do it in lists:

The Bad:

• I get that the book is written by a British woman, and that we are two nations divided by a common language and all that.  I know that different slang words are used, that we phrase things differently, that we have different names for the same things, and that we sometimes use the same words to mean different things.  I get that, and read quite a few British books with absolutely no problem (google is your friend).  With that in mind...nearly every single conversation in this book had me scratching my head in confusion at least once.  I straight-up didn't get what the dialog meant at times, and the conversations almost always felt awkward and forced.  I think this is an issue with the writing and not an American/British thing.

• I am so sick of step-sibling forbidden romances being set up to create tension.  It isn't biologically incest, and when the characters weren't in a true brother/sister situation (a.k.a. they did not spend most of their lives in the same household with the same parents living every day as brother and sister), it doesn't even emotionally feel like incest.  It's a fake taboo meant to manufacture drama and it is getting old.  (This trend is your fault, isn't it Forbidden?)

• How old do you have to be to become a cop in the UK?  How old is Henry?  Because every single interaction between Henry and Rose is just creepy on so many levels.  Is he really close to her age, and are they quasi-asking each other out on dates?  Or is he older and trying to be a sort of big brother/mentor and just really missing the mark with how?  What is this?!?!  I am so confused about this character.

• Why is Skeggie helping them anyway?  Especially considering he started his sleuthing before Joshua knew Rose was involved.  Another character whose behaviour just doesn't make sense to me.  (Nor is his genius particularly believable, but that is an entirely different issue.)

• I am all for teenage crime-solvers; they make for fun mysteries.  However, these kids go beyond looking for clues the grown-ups have missed into full blown willfully hiding events and clues from police who are actually doing a good job.  I know this will make me sound crotchety and all, but I can't even count how many times I said to myself while reading, "For the love of...just call the cops already, will ya, kids?"  Then, after the cops get there, they lie.  A lot.  Very big lies.  

• Just how many clues can be magically given to them anyway?  I like my amateur detectives to be smart and work for their answers, not have them handed (or emailed) to them.

• None of the characters feel fully formed -- they are all flat as paper.

The Good:

• Cassidy set up a complex system of inter-related characters with different means, motive, and opportunity to have killed Ricky.  I genuinely wondered who would pan out as the murderer.

• I like that the murder mystery from the start of the book was neatly wrapped up and solved while the overarching series mystery/conspiracy involving their parents was just set up with lots of open questions.  (I like at least a little resolution within my mysteries!)

• The unanswered questions were interesting.  I care about the answers.

Why I Will Still Read The Next Book:

• As I said, I read it a month ago and I am still occasionally thinking about it.  I want to know what happens next.

Rating:

3 of 5 Stars

This review also appears on Goodreads; a review copy was provided by the publisher.

 

Review: Preloved by Shirley Marr

Publisher: Black Dog Books

Publication Date: April 1, 2012

Goodreads Description:

If you had a second chance at love, would you do it all over again?

Amy has enough to deal with for one lifetime. A superstitious Chinese mother. A best friend whose mood changes as dramatically as her hair colour. A reputation for being strange. The last thing she needs is to be haunted by someone only she can see.

Logan is a ghost from the Eighties. He could be dangerous. He's certainly annoying.

He might also be Amy's dream boy.

 

 

 

Review:

I think the best way to sum up Shirley Marr's Preloved  is to say, whatever you are expecting?  It isn't that.  Not exactly, anyway.  I read tons of reviews that try to explain.  Marr says it herself when she describes it as "more a bad romance, less of a love story. And it's more abnormal than paranormal," but still, I went in thinking I knew what it would be.  I was wrong, and I was blown away.  I tore open my manila mailer, seated myself on the couch, and started reading.  I sort of grunted incoherently at my husband as he thrust a glass of tea and a sandwich in my hand somewhere around dinner time, only to finally surface hours later to a quietly sleeping house.

I went in expecting a book that would extol the awesomeness of the 80s -- The Cure, Labyrinth, Princess Bride, Rainbows on everything.  And they were all there; but so was the Challenger, Chernobyl and the fall of the Berlin Wall.  I expected a little gratuitous nostalgia or the 80s used as an "exotic" backdrop (Hah!  Now I know why my mom would get twitchy when we talked about how long ago the 60s were!)  Marr was able to display the 80s in all their fab-glam glory while still showing that everyday people were living out their lives -- just as they are today.  

I went in expecting a love story.  And, boy does it deliver!  Only, it's not of the teen romance variety (yep, there's a bit of bad romance there).  Instead, it is about familial love.  Amy and her mother have hands down one of the best mother/daughter relationships I have ever read.  Marr helps you feel everything between them: the push and pull, the frustration, the suffocating clingyness, and the all-encompassing, ever-abiding love.   

It was interesting as an American to explore the evolution of slang and trends not only between the 1980s and now, but also America and Australia.  I think most Americans would, unlike Amy, still recognize and use the word "spaz" (my little brother calls me this on a regular basis), but I had no clue what was going on with this Mr. Matey thing until I YouTubed it. (We had Mr. Bubble; just as creepy but at least no talking of taking off clothes!)  I also completely love the way Marr incorporated Chinese culture.  I was fascinated by all the different superstitions, traditions and rituals.  It made my day when I found out that ALL of them are true, told straight to Marr from her mother.

I also think it is incredible that in amongst all the 80s camp and ghostly shenanigans, Marr was able to write a wonderfully compelling and relatable story about a young girl coming of age and coming to terms with who those around her really are, and what they mean to her.  It will be worth the extra work to get my own copy.

Quote:

Did they have eating disorders, teen suicide and mean girls back in the 1980s?

Of course they did, I told myself.  It's the nostalgia old people have that makes them see the past with rose-coloured glasses.  When I have grandchildren, I'll probably look back and think this was the best day of my life.  p 39

Rating:

4 of 5 Stars

Other Opinions:

The only person on the Planet that I could find who didn't like it. (Really).

Flannery from The Readventurer

Wendy from The Midnight Garden

Jo from Wear the Old Coat

This review also appears on Goodreads; my review copy was part of the Preloved Book Tour 2012 hosted by Flannery of The Readventurer.