Chronicles of a Book Evangelist

Top 10 Reads of 2012

I know I'm a little behind on this as well, but I really wanted to revisit my favorite reads of 2012 before moving on to the new year.  I already have reviews posted for most of them, but the few I don't are scheduled to appear this month.  So, without further ado, my top ten favorite reads of 2012:

Middle Grade:

Ordinary Magic by Caitlen Rubino-Bradway is the beautifully told story of Abby, a completely "ordinary" girl in a magical world.  I loved Rubino-Bradway's world building almost as much as I loved the relationships between her characters.

Young Adult:

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga is one of those books that takes hold of you and doesn't let go.  I devoured it, loved it, and still can't stop thinking about it.  Jaz is such an incredibly creepy, wonderful, complex character, and I can't wait to learn more about him.

 

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman is one of those rare novels that I would almost dare call perfect.  At least perfect for me.  It is an amazing representation of high fantasy with exceptional world building and positive representations of women!!!!  There is math! and logic! and romance! and dragons!

 

 

And All The Stars by Andrea K Höst completely took me by surprise.  Aside from the fact that it is self-published and still knocks the socks off almost everything else I read this year, it is also just an amazingly well done novel.  Höst manages to ask some really big questions while being incredibly entertaining, and I just can't get this book out of my head.

 

Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan is another one of those perfect for me books.  It is an exceptional (though cliffhangery) beginning to a gothic series in the style of Mary Stewart, only YA, and modernized.  Again, when I try to talk about this book I turn into a gushy fan-girl.  Just read it.

 

Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard is the story of Bria, a young girl who tries to leave herself behind and instead finds herself.  It was full of quotable quotes and insightful bits about travelling and had an adorably believable romance. 

 

Preloved by Shirley Marr is a ghost story.  About a modern girl and a ghost from the 80s.  It's so funny that I choked myself laughing more than once.  It's Australian -- which is the YA equivalent of saying PURE GOLD.  What is not to love?

 

 

Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross is part fairytale retelling and part fairytale reinvention.  I love that Cross brings in the dark bits of old Grimm fairytales, incorporates things the Disney generations would be familiar with, and still manages to create a wonderfully fresh world.  

 

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein is simply stunning.  It is historical fiction, but still completely true in everything that really matters.  It is gut-wrenchingly beautiful and horrible all at once.  I defy you to read it and not cry.

 

Adult Fiction:

Chasing Magic by Stacia Kane is actually just the newest in the Downside Ghosts Series, many of which were published in 2012.  Stacia Kane went from being a completely unknown-to-me author to one of my favorite urban fantasy authors with this series.  It is dark and gritty and I can't stop reading it.  

And that is the short-list for 2012.  What were some of your favorite reads last year?

Review: Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross

Publisher: Egmont

Publication Date: April 10, 2012

Goodreads Description: 

Mirabelle's past is shrouded in secrecy, from her parents' tragic deaths to her guardians' half-truths about why she can't return to her birthplace, Beau Rivage. Desperate to see the town, Mira runs away a week before her sixteenth birthday—and discovers a world she never could have imagined.

In Beau Rivage, nothing is what it seems—the strangely pale girl with a morbid interest in apples, the obnoxious playboy who's a beast to everyone he meets, and the chivalrous guy who has a thing for damsels in distress. Here, fairy tales come to life, curses are awakened, and ancient stories are played out again and again.

But fairy tales aren't pretty things, and they don't always end in happily ever after. Mira has a role to play, a fairy tale destiny to embrace or resist. As she struggles to take control of her fate, Mira is drawn into the lives of two brothers with fairy tale curses of their own . . . brothers who share a dark secret. And she'll find that love, just like fairy tales, can have sharp edges and hidden thorns.

Review:

One of the reasons I think I love retellings of fairytales so much has to do with the way I view them.  People have a tendency to think of Grimm's versions as  being the 'original' or the 'accurate' or the 'real' version--but that isn't really true at all.  Fairytales didn't start out as something that people read and wrote, but something that people listened to or were told.  Fairytales are part of our oral history.  The same tale could change in details from storyteller to storyteller, or with the same storyteller from night to night.  The stories we have written down in Grimm's collection, then, can be looked at as a sort of blueprint of essentials--the skeleton of the story remains the same, but what makes them important, vital, or intriguing is in what way the next storyteller will chose to flesh it out and bring it to life.   Sadly, in our often Disney-fied society, we get so caught up in the beauty, the romance, the magic, and the adventure that the darker parts inherent in the often cautionary tales get glossed over, downplayed, or completely removed.  That doesn't mean, however, that the Disney versions have not become part of our collective consciousness of fairytales--they are just as legitimate a contribution as the versions set down by Grimm.

Sarah Cross is one of the first authors I have read who seems to agree with that assessment.  She is definitely trying to bring the dark bits back--and she does so in horrifyingly beautiful and original ways.  (Gwen, my soul cries for you.)  However, she is just as quick to toss out references to the Disney versions of fairytales as she is the Grimm versions, treating them like different but equal parts of the same oral history.  Fairies fighting over pink and blue frosting meet stepsisters with chopped off toes.  Cross recognizes and accepts that Flora, Fauna and Merryweather are as much a part of our cultural baggage as the blood-filled glass slipper.

 The thing that fascinates me most about how Cross approaches fairytales, though, is how she chooses to let them play out for different characters.  We very rarely find versions--even the dark, old versions--where the prince and princess don't end up living happily ever after.  However, Cross shows us that just because the blueprint is followed does not mean that what comes of it will be pretty or good.  We usually try to color in it in with happy things, but the details could be ugly and still fill the requirements.

She allows this extra layer of darkness in by frankly exploring the idea of free will.  Here in the real world, the idea of everything being part of a bigger picture or plan is often comforting.  It is easier to accept loss, pain, or suffering if we think that it is all for a good cause.  However, there is never a real way for us to know what that plan may be.  We have the feeling of freely making choices to go with that comfort.  No such luck for Cross' characters.  For them, their future is there for all to see.  Everyone  knows what will happen next, and, even if they try to fight it, fate steps in and pushes them back where they are supposed to be.  Cross does an excellent job of showing how truly terrifying that would be, how helpless that could make you feel.

I also think Cross does an excellent job of subverting fairytale ideals in favor of the richer nuance of reality.  Jillian discusses this much better than I in her review, but I like that Cross often uses exaggerated tropes in order to highlight the difference between them and something better.  Yes, there is Instalove with Felix, and meant-to-be with Freddie, but no one but Mira (and poor Freddie) ever sees them as something good or right or viable--certainly not the reader!  As a reader, I always felt uncomfortable when Mira was with Felix, and felt...well, nothing when she was with Freddie.  These relationships pale when compared to Mira's relationship with Blue; they serve to show how much better is the love that grows between two characters who first get to know each other, then like each other, before finally falling in love with each other.  I also like how, through these relationships, Cross shows that tradional fairytale roles can be just as unfair to the men as women. 

Kill Me Softly is beautiful, dark, mysterious, funny, familiar, and disarming.  It is a fascinating blend of the subtle and the obvious.  I think it would be equally rewarding for the fairytale enthusiast (ticking off references like an English Major reading The Wasteland) as it would be for the Disney aficionado.

Quotes:

Then she stepped into the yard, like a thief in reverse: breaking and exiting.  Stealing herself.

 

The razor blade hanging from her neck made her feel brave. Honest. A naked blade hid nothing, feared nothing.  She wanted to be like that.  Because that was how you found yourself, created yourself.  You didn't hide.  You didn't wait for the perfect moment to settle on you like a butterfly, like magic.

You went out and made magic.  Made your own wishes come true.

 

Other Opinions:

Jillian loved it

Bonnie couldn't finish it

Review Copy Provided by Egmont and NetGalley

Review also on Goodreads

Review: Entwined by Heather Dixon

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Publication Date: March 29, 2011

Goodreads Description:

Confined to their dreary castle while mourning their mother's death, Princess Azalea and her 11 sisters join The Keeper, who is trapped in a magic passageway, in a nightly dance that soon becomes nightmarish.

Review:

(Highlight for Spoilers)

I love when fairy tales are revisited by an author that respects them, loves them, and can then build upon them. Heather Dixon seems to be such an author. Entwined is a retelling of Grimm's "The Shoes that Were Danced to Pieces," but it is also much, much more. Dixon does an excellent job of turning a story about twelve rather frivolous girls into a complex story about grief, family, and the difficult choices made in difficult times. However, I feel very mixed about this book, so I will review it in lists. 

The Good: 

•  My overall impression was of a beautiful, well crafted world. Dixon took the bare bones of the Grimm story and made it a living, breathing thing. Borrowing different elements of her Eathesburian folklore from folktales and fairy tales lent them authenticity, but she combined them in a way that felt distinct and fresh. 

• I love the relationship between the girls. Even though the story is told primarily from the point of view of the eldest, Azalea, all of the girls are given distinct personalities. The younger girls may be a bit more two dimensional than the eldest three, but the way the girls all interact with each other just works. Dixon really has a feel for large family dynamics. 

• I like that the relationships between the eldest three girls and their love interests are reciprocal and healthy. (Spoiler) Okay, Bramble and Teddie may have been a bit too love at first sight, but I just assumed there was more going on that I didn't see because the story was following Azalea. (End Spoiler) I also like that they each feel like real guys you might actually meet. None are paragons of virtue, nor are they damaged bad boys. 

• The bad guy is bad. Really creepy bad.

• It is hard not to like a King that is so quirky in his need for organization that his daughters are all named for flowers in alphabetical order. I really enjoyed watching his personality develop. 

• I really liked the way dance is woven throughout the story in a way that shows just how vital it is to the girls. Dixon takes the very element that made the princesses seem frivolous in the Grimm story and uses it to ground them.

• I also like that the girls help save themselves. The men may charge in for the rescue, but they fight alongside the princesses. 

The not as good: 

• I don't understand why the girls feel as they do about Fairweller. There is never really any justification for their negative feelings. (Spoiler) And when they object to his marriage to Clover, it just feels really classist and shallow. He is the only employee, rather than family friend, to ask to marry one of the daughters. Even in the face of Clover's justification for her affection, he is still dismissed out of hand. I really didn't like it. (End Spoiler)

• The King's relationship with his daughters. I'm sorry, but if they used to call him Papa, when did he change to "the King?" I could understand if he was originally affectionate, then became cool because their mother died. I could also understand if he were originally reserved in his affection, then thawed because their mother's death forced him to interact with the girls in a new way. However, it is just confusing that they all used to be close and he was outwardly affectionate. Then he had the middle coldness period where he became "the King" and forced them to learn all sorts of rules. When he comes back from the war he is magically caring again. That personality change in the middle is unrelated to any part of the plot to which we as the readers are privy. The set up for the familial distance just didn't make sense and felt too contrived. They were at odds because they had to be at odds for Keeper to meet the girls. They get a better relationship because they have to for the King to save the girls. That said, I liked watching him redevelop his relationship with his daughters, and it often was really touching. 

• The bad guy is bad. Really creepy bad. I know I said that was a good thing, and it is. It's just that, well, everyone else gets a real story. A human, relatable reason for participating in the fairy tale. Keeper's personality is very well developed, but his motivation - his story - is not. (Spoiler) Considering how much we are told about The High King D"Eathe, all the hits dropped about his one love and the magic he performed, I think we could have done with just a little more. WHY did he kill her? WHY did power become more important? WHAT made him change? (End Spoiler) It would be okay if all the characters were just moving mechanically through the fairy tale, but to provide the WHYs for every other character but the Keeper made the absence of his WHYs even more apparent. 

Right after I finished Entwined, my problems with it felt rather large. However, the longer I got away from it, the more positive I felt about the book. It really is beautifully written and the characters are lovely. 

I Borrowed Entwined from my Local Library

Review: A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn

Publisher: Harper Teen

Publication Date: April 28, 2009

Review:

Princess Talia of Euphrasia pricks her finger on a spindle, causing the entire kingdom to fall asleep for 300 years. They awaken when Talia is kissed by Jack, a teenager sent by his parents to tour Europe for the summer. A Kiss In Time is obviously a modern retelling of Sleeping Beauty. 

I try really hard to write balanced reviews. I try to point out the good with the bad. I'm having a hard time finding the good here. I should start by saying that I really enjoyed Flinn's Beastly, and I love fairytale retellings, so I went into A Kiss in Time with pretty high expectations. I came out really disappointed. 

First, Flinn does an excellent job in Beastly of bringing the classic elements of the fairytale as well as the magic into the modern world in a plausible way. That just didn't happen for A Kiss in Time. There are so many contradictions in the world building that it just feels lazy. How is it that the Eurphrasia is completely forgotten by all of Europe, but the insulted concierge is able to send Jack directly to it? And how are the spires of a Castle in a supposedly forgotten Kingdom visible from a plane? What teenage boy could know a girl (who is wearing a full-on ball gown) for a few hours then walk into a Gap and buy her clothes that fit? How many manufactures of fake IDs are hanging out in Gap and willing to do business with a teenager? For that matter, how many Gaps are there in rural Belgium? I don't believe Flinn's contemporary world, much less the magical elements. (ETA: It also doesn't help that I was continually thinking about how much better OSC handled all of this in Enchantment.) 

The characters are even worse. Talia is a spoiled brat, thoroughly nasty in her own time. I understand that she felt stifled, but her behavior was more that of a 6 year old than a 16 year old. The modern day Talia is irreconcilable as the same character - she has a completely different personality. Jack is shallow, selfish and self centered. He is lazy and ungrateful, completely unaware of anyone around him. Each of their parents are studies in extremes - either overbearing in their care or completely hands off. The only character for whom I felt ANY compassion was Malvolia, but that was more picking the best out of a bad lot. They were all cardboard. The HEA was forced and contrived. 

It feels like Flinn was just going through the motions with this one, and I feel frustrated that I wasted my time with it. I know this is not the best she can do, so I will continue to read her work. However, I will do it more cautiously in the future. 

I Borrowed a Copy from my Local Library

Review: New Girl by Paige Harbison

Publisher: HarlequinTeen

Publication Date: January 31, 2012

Book Description: 

They call me 'New Girl'...

Ever since I arrived at exclusive, prestigious Manderly Academy, that’s who I am. New girl. Unknown. But not unnoticed—because of her.

Becca Normandy—that’s the name on everyone’s lips. The girl whose picture I see everywhere. The girl I can’t compare to. I mean, her going missing is the only reason a spot opened up for me at the academy. And everyone stares at me like it’s my fault.

Except for Max Holloway—the boy whose name shouldn’t be spoken. At least, not by me. Everyone thinks of him as Becca’s boyfriend…but she’s gone, and here I am, replacing her. I wish it were that easy. Sometimes, when I think of Max, I can imagine how Becca’s life was so much better than mine could ever be.

And maybe she’s still out there, waiting to take it back. 

A contemporary young-adult retelling inspired by the classic 1938 romantic suspense bestseller Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.

Review:

Retellings are so hit or miss for me; I LOVE them when they are done well, and nothing gets under my skin faster than one poorly executed.   Retellings have to have a certain amount of respect of and appreciation for the original work, but also the ability to bring in something new or different.  If the author of a retelling venerates the original work too much the retelling is incapable of being anything more than a mediocre copy of the original.  If the new author has too little respect for the original it often comes off as an insulting imitation.  (Parodies not included in this assessment; they are something completely different!)  I think that Paige Harbison struck just the perfect note between the two with New Girl.  In fact, I would go so far as to say this retelling is better than the original.

I was pleasantly surprised by much of what Harbison has done in New Girl.  I feel like she played the conventions of the gothic-mystery/romance/suspense genre to a tee while simultaneously subverting them.  New Girl, like Rebecca, has that sort of stiflingly closed setting, and that slightly jumpy, tightly wound, anticipatory tone.  'New Girl', like Mrs. de Winter, remains nameless and placeless to the other characters in the story except in her relationship to Rebecca.  They both, at least on the surface, are easily moved and swayed by the actions and decisions of others.  Max, like Maxim, is bullied by Becca and frustratingly silent on his true feelings for 'new girl' or Becca for entirely too long.  Dana, like Mrs. Danvers, is nutty in her devotion to Becca.  And Becca, like Rebecca, is cruel, manipulative and toxic to everyone around her.  There is a costume ball where the same dress is worn, there is infidelity, there are threats of an impending pregnancy, and there is a boat at the bottom of murky waters.  Here, though, is where the similarities end.

In her 1993 biography of Daphne du Maurier, Margaret Forster said that du Maurier was disappointed that so many people missed what Rebecca was really all about: the relationship between a man who was powerful and a woman who was not.  I guess I missed her point as well, because I never really got that from Rebecca.  Yes, Mrs. de Winter is utterly powerless, but I think she gave up a lot of her power. She tossed it away to others by refusing to communicate in any real way with her husband and by accepting at face value things she ought to have questioned.  I certainly never thought Maxim had any power - that all went to Rebecca or Mrs. Danvers.  Which leads me to what I loved so much about New Girl: the upending of the conventions.  I think that, unlike du Maurier, Harbison makes quite a few excellent points, and does so with complex, nuanced, entertaining characters.

At first New Girl comes across as incredibly passive in her decision to go to Manderly - so much so that the plot is almost unbelievable for a modern girl -  it took the gothic tone to suspend my disbelief.  However, the further I read the more it looked like unreliable narration.  She really wanted out of the rut she was in while in Florida, but was scared to leave her comfort zone.  It was easier to blame it on her parents, taking the choice out of her hands.  She concedes a lot to Dana, but it is out of compassion, not fear.  She does form a romantic attachment to Max, but it doesn't become the center of her life.  By the end of the book, she earns her name by no longer passively ceding her power to others - she is no longer a Mrs. de Winter.

Becca, likewise, is no Rebecca.  She was vile and cruel, manipulative and scary, and sick.  It is, oh, so clear that she is mentally ill and really needs some help.  After being in Becca's head, I understand why she acted the way she did, even if I could not excuse it.  I didn't like her but I believed her.  Dana is even more amazing - I both like and believe her.  The cardboard character of Mrs. Danvers is torn to pieces as Dana's story is revealed.  Max is the only character with whom I was not completely satisfied.  He let Becca just steamroll him, and he really should have done something about it.  I never really found a believable reason for why he didn't stop her.

I had a few minor problems, such as weird pop culture references (Wow, can someone please tell me why Titantic is so popular with YA writers?!?!) and an inconsistent portrayal of a residential high school - sometimes realistic and sometimes inconceivably off.  (Trust me on this, there is NO WAY the kids didn't already know how to sneak out of the building pre-Becca.  Just not possible.)  However, New Girl was just such a strong story overall that they sort of faded away while reading.  I enjoyed it as a retelling of Rebecca, but I enjoyed it even more as its own story.     

Thanks to HarlequinTeen and NetGalley for the ARC.

Review also appears on Goodreads