Author: Stephanie Perkins

Initial Impression: Man, I really wish this had a different title.

from stephanieperkins.com

Other YA authors have been raving about this book for over a year. The YA blogosphere is nuts about it.   But I couldn’t do it.  The title just makes gives me Liz Lemon face.

And the cover doesn’t help much, though it’s only a little bit cringey.  After reading it, I just don’t think the cover or title give it enough credit. Obviously, Stephanie Perkins still sold this puppy like gangbusters, but it’s the kind of book that I had to turn over so no one would see the title.

Anyway, here’s the story: Anna’s Nicholas Sparks-esque father declares she will have to attend a boarding school in Paris for her senior year.   She’s not thrilled about this, which is something many book bloggers criticize.  They mostly focus on, “Girl! You are crazy! Paris! No adult supervision! Rich international boys!”  Really, though, Anna just seems to have pretty subtle social anxiety.  I totally get this– it’s not that she doesn’t want to have life experience, she just doggedly avoids situations that might make her feel nervous or stupid. Which would preclude life experience. And I like that she starts off avoidant– it’s part of her learning and changing over the course of the novel.

Back to the plot:  She gets there and immediately takes up with the artsy crew and develops a total weak-in-the-knees crush on her new friend Etienne St Clair.  Talk about the Holy Grail of YA love interests: a wealthy American boy with great hair and a British accent who has a French art dealer father (who is not a nice man, but whatever).  He seems to take an interest in her as well…. but he has an older and glamorous absentee girlfriend.  Plus, Anna’s got this maybe-kinda-almost thing with a boy from home, her new friend at boarding school has a long standing thing for St Clair, and  she just wants to go back to America anyway so why bother?

Here’s why she bothers: he’s charming and nice to her and they have sexual tension like WOAH.  Sure, he’s also a confused douche noodle at times, but it’s clear that the confusion part is stronger than the douche noodle part.     Before long, Anna is positively smitten with him, and he’s obviously responsive to her as well.  But he still won’t break up with that girlfriend… WTF?    And that’s sort of the point in the end. Sneaky Stephanie Perkins writes a charming, swoony light YA romance that actually has an underlying message about growing up, facing fears, and becoming self-aware.

Likes:

-  Rashmi! One of Anna’s new friends who does not immediately jump on the Good Ship Anna; our heroine has to earn her respect.   She’s awesome, grounded, sharp as a tack, and I wish there  was more of her.

-  The gradual build up of the Anna/St Clair relationship. I hate when two characters lock eyes and then start declaring soul mate status 50 pages later.  Their relationship feels earned.

- Anna has some unique physical characteristics that make her easy to imagine.

-  Some really nice romance scenes. Sure, they get hot and heavy, but they also have those starry eyed moments that make you read like crazy to get to the point where they finally touch each other.  Stephanie Perkins is the new master of walking the line between romance and smut.

Dislikes:

- I wasn’t kidding; St Clair really can be a total douche noodle. There are several points where he said or did things that made me go, “Oh, COME ON.”  And Anna too, really.  They both miss obvious signs and their eventual happiness is delayed by preventable misunderstandings.  The thing is… they are teenagers and they are immature, so it’s really just natural. As an adult, it annoyed me even though I understood it.

-  Anna has a best friend from home and they have a fight.  I won’t spoil the content of the fight, but the apology email Bridge sends Anna made me go, “Oh, Anna, ditch this girl.” It’s one part apology and two parts, “get over this fast cuz I want to move on and talk about me.”

- Her supposed best female friend in Paris, Meredith, is not mentioned enough for me to believe it’s her best female friend. There’s a few key scenes, but I would have believed their eventual falling out over St Clair more if the stakes were higher.

The Likes But Not Likes:

- I related to Anna a little too much thanks to a male friend from several years ago who was my “best friend” even though I wanted more and he was fine with me wanting that even though he didn’t feel the same.  There were things she said and moments she experienced that made me twist up a little inside. A little literary PTSD if you will.

Verdict: Yeah, totally read this. It’s a charming light  romance with well-rounded characters and plenty of layers. Plus- Paris!

Author: Suzanne Selfors

Initial Impression: Probably better than the Chris O’Donnell movie, but I can’t say for sure because I’ve never seen it.

from barnesandnoble.com

I admit it: I love Valentine’s Day. I know I shouldn’t. But I do.  For me, it’s not about romance so much as it is about showering everyone with love.  Candy hearts! Snarky cards! Wearing pink and red! Singing cheesy love songs really loud!  And, for me, allowing myself a month of reading simple love stories.

Naturally, I couldn’t pass up a book with hearts literally showering on the cover. 

Queen of Romance Belinda Amorous (subtle!) is “overseas” as far as her fans are concerned, but her daughter Alice knows the truth: she’s in a high-end mental health facility because her bipolar disorder is out of control.   Now her publishers are sending letters threatening to stop her royalty checks if she doesn’t cough up a new manuscript, and her manic spending habits before her admission make that a real problem for her daughter.   Alice resolves to write a romance novel to save her mom.  How hard could it be?

As it turns out, a little easier than you might think because a handsome stranger starts harassing her to write his love story. He says he’s Cupid- the actual Cupid- and that he wants the real story of his relationship with Psyche told before “it’s too late.”    Meanwhile, Alice has regular teen issues like her awkwardness around her crush Tony, general nastiness from her goth neighbor Realm, and concerns that she’s going to turn out just like her mother.

It’s a perfectly fine book. Though bipolar disorder is serious, it’s mostly a light read.    It’s not a perfect story and there’s some plot points that didn’t quite gel for me, but it’s generally good.   I liked reading it before bed- short chapters that don’t usually end on a cliffhanger so you can read a few chapters and turn out the light feeling satisfied.

Good Stuff:

- Archibald!  Alice has a gay neighbor who manages not to fall into stereotypes. He is perhaps the most normal of her neighbors and a calm in the storm.

- For once, a novel addresses the high cost of mental health care.  Honestly, I have a little trouble believing Belinda’s meds took over 6 weeks to kick in and she was nearly comatose that whole time. Usually meds work faster than that.  But, I was glad to see the novel address that people don’t stay at hospitals indefinitely  and that it’s way expensive– with or without insurance.

- Alice and her fears about getting bipolar.   Nicely done and basically realistic for a kid who has a parent with mental health issues.

- Tony Lee, the sweet and persistent love interest. Sure, there’s some contrivance in their interactions, but he’s a good guy and he’s nice to Alice and he’s Asian American, which is not something you see very often in YA.

- The use of clam juice as an antidote to love spells. Ha! Combat the sweet with salty!

The not so great: mostly the last chapter. Alice spends a lot of time in the novel outlining the rules of romance novels for us, and I suppose the last chapter is an attempt to follow Alice’s formula.  It’s kind of like the Harry Potter epilogue where everyone gets a happy ending (except Malfoy and his unfortunate hair).  It didn’t feel necessary to me.   It was kind of a list of outcomes and didn’t flow with the rest of the novel.

Verdict: If you’re going to read a book with hearts showering the cover, it may as well be this one.

Author: Lev Grossman

Initial Impression: Shouldn’t we have called this The Magician Queen?

from indiebound.com

The Magicians left off with Quentin and friends riding off to play Narnia in Filory.  So, now they’re there and Q is so effing bored.  Sure, it’s nice to lounge about and drink wine and eat good food and occasionally chase mythical beasts… but Filory is essentially a utopia and there’s never any real problems to be solved.  Except… suddenly there is!

Quentin takes off on a seemingly meaningless quest accompanied by Scary Damaged Julia.   As it happens, the meaningless quest turns into a Big Deal when they realize that all of magic may be zapped by the mysterious silver beings who run the universe as we know it (God? Is that you?).  Along the way, they are unceremoniously dumped in the Real World where Julia has a chance to show Q what she did all those years while he was cavorting in magic school.

Y’all, Julia is INTENSE.   Her magic is wilder but technically effective.  She had to earn her magic in a way that makes Quentin’s stint as a goose look like a quirky vacation.  And she’s super smart; to find her own version of magic school she had to be obsessive and brilliant and know the binary code.  The novel flips back and forth between the story of Quentin and Julia’s quest and flashbacks to Julia’s life pre-Filory.  Frankly, I found her story much more engaging and I would actually skim the questing chapters.

That is, I skimmed them until near the end when the significance of Julia’s history suddenly collides with the quest in Filory.  This ending is crazy good. I won’t  spoil a single drop of it because it’s well worth the journey.  Let’s just say the author really committed to the idea that heroes have to sacrifice something significant to really be heroes.

Speaking of the author, the writing is excellent again.  Tight, well paced, sprinkles of pop culture without a deluge, believable world-building,  philosophical discussion without dragging the plot, and precise language.  The depth of the story is supported by the strength of the prose.

Verdict: Maybe better than The Magicians in some ways.  Anyway, if you liked the first, you’ll want to read this one.

Author: Terra Elan McVoy

Initial Impression: A good surprise.

from terraelan.com

Full confession: the author of this book taught a creative writing class that I took last fall.  Naturally, I had to read it before the class to find out if she was the Real Deal. (Spoiler alert: She is! The class was great! Take it if you can!)  This was my spy mission.  I didn’t review it online at that time because I was deep undercover.  My thoughts are now declassified.  For the Internet’s eyes only. And now this sounds like an Ally Carter review.  Moving on.

Before taking this class, I saw this book multiple times on the shelves of my completely charming local book store, Little Shop of Stories.  Terra used to manage the store and still does all kinds of odd jobs with them, so they were obviously cheerleading for their home team.   I glanced at the back cover several times and immediately dismissed it as some kind of Christian propaganda because it’s about a clique of teen girls who wear purity rings… but then start getting boyfriends.    Side note:  the original cover was much more rad.  The cherry?  Suggestive!

from terraelan.com

Anyway, that was completely unfair of me.  The lead character is a committed Christian, but it’s definitely not a one-sided debate.  It’s actually a great discussion about a huge decision AND it’s a bittersweet portrait of the way friendships change in high school.   Since I usually default to YA with some kind of whimsical or paranormal twist, this was a refreshing foray into realism.

The Good Stuff:

- Our leading lady Tabitha.  She’s grounded, she’s thoughtful, she’s genuine, she’s got a good natured sense of humor, and she embodies a true Christian spirit of love toward others instead of being Judgey McJudgerson. We still get a solid wallop of the Judgers in the form of her supposed BFF, who is quick to cast some slut shaming stones when another buddy decides to lose her v-card.

- A love interest that does not completely suck eggs.  I am so freakin’ tired of the Brooding Loner who is actually kind of a douche noodle but can be changed by the love of a good woman (read: the surrogate for the reader).  Tabitha’s brand new boyfriend is nice, he calls when he says he will, he’s respectful, and he just wants to have fun with her and not, like, turn her into his eternal companion.   He’s a good starter boyfriend, and he’s also  a good role model for what teen girls should want.

- Representation of many perspectives.  This is not The Whores vs The Virgins.  Tabitha’s group includes young women with all kinds of values and reasons for believing what they believe. One girl is Following The Letter of The Law No Matter What, another realizes that high school boys are just lame and she wants to stay focused on her future so why bother doing it, and another really loves her boyfriend and just wants to experience something special with him. I didn’t close the book and think, “Well, obviously, Terra thinks X about teen sex.”  The message is more, “really think about it when you make decisions.”

- Present parents.  Remember how on One Tree Hill all these beautiful young teenagers had mysteriously absent parents and essentially lived alone so they could constantly climb through each other’s windows and get busy?  No, you probably don’t remember that because you have Standards and you never had a friend bring you trashy DVDs to watch that one week when you had both mono AND a cheating boyfriend (yes, that was a terrible week, but I’m saving it for my best selling memoir). Anyway, this book takes place in a world where parents and their opinions and their rules actually matter. Score one for family dinner!

Verdict:  It’s not my usual cup of tea, but it was a pretty rich little snack. And I’m not just saying that because I think Terra is fantastic and I have severe life envy when I look at her resume.  Really, Terra, I promise I’m not stalking your Twitter and blog. I mean, not that much.

Author: Lev Grossman

Initial Impression: It really IS kind of a Harry Potter for grown-ups.

frombarnesandnoble.com

People call this Harry Potter for grown-ups, and I would agree.  However, I would add that it’s also got a healthy dose of Narnia and the X-Men.

The Magicians follows Quentin, an ultra smart teen obsessed with a children’s book series about a magical land called Fillory.  Just as he’s contemplating a bleak future of Ivy League schools and playing second fiddle to his glamorous friend James, he stumbles into an entrance exam for a secret college of magic.  And wouldn’t you know it– our boy has magical aptitude.  Soon he’s knee deep in magical theory that would give Hermione Granger a headache.   This is no Hogwarts– this school is brutal, the kids drink heavily, and professors happily turn students into geese. 

One of my friends says reading this book is really like reading four books, and it’s true. Unlike Harry, Quentin experiences all of his school years in the first half of the book and then the adventure shifts to life after magic school, the discovery of alternate universes, and (SPOILER) exploring the actually real Fillory.

Some talking points:

- Remarkably, only one of the characters is actually likable. The rest are heavily flawed and selfish. Even Quentin, who has the opportunity to sway us to his point of view as he’s the lead character,  comes off as kind of a douche noodle. Even with the generally unpleasant characters, it’s a compelling read.

- There’s terrifying adversary, known as The Beast, who is really just a man with a branch in front of his face.  It’s hard to explain what that’s so scary, but you have to read his scenes to get it.

-  Though this is about magic, which is clearly fiction, this is one of the most real portrayals of young 20 somethings that I’ve read.   Lost, self-centered, feeling let down that adulthood sucks so much, kind of annoying…

-   This book is pretty tight from start to finish. Well plotted, complex universe, clean writing.  As my friend said, the author manages to hold on to the story right through the end. 

-  Oh, there’s a fund for  magicians just out of school so they can party it up in NYC without worrying about money? HOW CONVENIENT.

Verdict:  If you’re an adult still waiting for your Hogwarts letter, you’ll like this one.

Author: John Green

Initial Impression: Either this is really good, or I have been emotionally manipulated.

from barnesandnoble.com

I’m on a John Green bender, but you can’t blame me for that given all the hype recently.  He was  on  Entertainment Weekly’s Must List last week, so you know he’s hit the mainstream. Nerdfighters!

In his latest offering that has the masses salivating, he tuns the tables and writes from the perspective of a teenage girl.  Not just any teenage girl- a girl with terminal cancer who trawls around with an oxygen tank and a fatalist worldview. Hazel meets a super attractive teen boy in remission, Augustus,  and he sets out to aggressively woo her despite her protests that there is no point since she’s just going to hurt him. 

It’s a book about 2 kids with cancer who fall in love with each other. You know this is not going to end well.

I’m going to come out bold and say that this is my favorite John Green book so far.  First, we finally escape that Normal Guy Falls for Reckless Beautiful Girl trope.  Second, Hazel and Augustus have such a well paced and lovely romance.  They are just so charming and sweet. Third, it’s a book  about cancer that feels pretty authentic. The teens and their views of death and life sound natural, though they do seem hyper-intellectual as well.  Fourth, though you might predict the ending, you definitely won’t predict all the steps in between. It’s surprising in places, and it’s rare when an author can do that now.

There’s much to love here, but here are some points that stand out to me:

– John Green was once a chaplain at a children’s hospital, so it seems he really does know what he’s talking about.  As such, the book starts with an author’s note reminding us this is a work of fiction. I’m sure there are former patients of his speculating who’s who.

– Hazel loves America’s Next Top Model, and several other trashy slices of pop culture.  It’s completely great.

– Isaac! The kid with eye cancer who brings Hazel and Augustus together! In the grand tradition of great John Green sidekicks, he’s another check in the win column.  His tantrum right before his surgery is fantastic.

– Both Hazel and Augustus obsess over an obscure book by a cantankerous reclusive author.  On a recent reddit AMA, John Green says this book is loosely modeled after Infinite Jest, though the plots are clearly different. The author and the book play an important role, and supply some of the best lines- at one point the author says, “Time is a slut. It screws everyone.”

– Hazel’s parents are loving, involved, and set boundaries for her.  We rarely see this in YA fiction, and it’s refreshing to see it here.

– It’s a non-sappy view of cancer and how it impacts people. Though there are sad moments and sentimental moments, there’s a lot of the day-to-day BS involved with living with the disease. Hazel and her pals are matter of fact and even refer to themselves as “side effects” of evolution.  No Nicholas Sparks schmaltz here.

Verdict: Oh yes.  I would suggest this even to my non-YA reading friends.  I cried at my desk at work while reading, and this is no small feat.

Author: Daniel Handler

Initial Impression: Aw, man. That was both painful and good.

from barnesandnoble.com

Since I fell in love with The Basic Eight, I’ll read just about anything by Daniel Handler that he writes for adults. He really does write an excellent female protagonist.    In this one, the lady in charge is writing a very lengthy break up letter to her ex-boyfriend, complete with illustrations of the items she is returning to him. 

Min, our narrator, is a stark contrast with kooky and unreliable Flannery from Basic Eight.  Min could be any of us in high school, something she spells out near the end of the book. Though she’s obsessed with old movies and tracking down quirky parts of life, she’s pretty ordinary. Not the smartest, not the prettiest, not the lamest, not the hugest nerd, not  the dreaded Manic Pixie Dream Girl.   She’s identifiable, and that is where she shot an arrow to my heart.

You can find Ed  (the ex) in any opposites attract teen movie. Think Freddie Prinze Jr in She’s All That or that kid from A Walk to Remember.  He’s a popular jock who is intrigued by the other side of life presented by his new, indie-minded girlfriend. 

The concept is simple. Min is spelling out why they broke up, just as we are warned she will do by the title.  But here is where Daniel Handler is genius: even though you know the inevitable, you keep flipping ahead and thinking, “But… they’ll work it out, right? There was some misunderstanding? Last page, there will be a Hail Mary pass that saves them, right? He’s learned his lesson?”

Because Min, who is telling the story, could have made Ed sound much worse. Though she frequently affirms this is a break up and that they are doomed, she also tells us why she liked Ed in the first place. Though he comes off as lovable doofus who may not be worthy of her once she goes to college, he’s not really completely dispicable. He just seems immature. And there are plenty of sweet moments she describes.  So, you kind of root for him even though you see some of his red flags.

But then we find out why they really broke up, and it’s not because they’re Just Too Different.  There’s a good reason, an irreversible reason.  I won’t spoil it, but it did make me go, “Oh. Oh no.”

The thing is… I should have seen it coming.  There were hints along the way about the deal breaker. But as the reader,  I did what Min did- I refused to see it.  I didn’t want to see it because I saw So Much Potential.   I went through something similar to Min in one of my adult relationships, and her reaction– her continued fondness for  someone she knows is all wrong for her– rings true.  He nailed her voice, nailed the conflicting emotions of that kind of break up.  Maybe I’m too close to the subject, but I thought this was well done.

And that is why Daniel Handler is really effing good.

Author: Louise Rennison

Initial Impression: (tired voice) Oh, hey there, Georgia Nicolson.

from barnesandnoble.com

I stumbled into this book thanks to a 99 cent ebook deal and a title that made me laugh out loud.

Once I started reading, I got a weird sense of deja vu.  Manic tangential narrator? Overuse of Brit slang? Obsession with developing “corkers” and snogging and such? A population of strange characters with nary a voice of reason?  Georgia Nicolson… is that you?

No, it’s not, but it is her younger cousin Tallulah Casey.  Now a new generation of girls can enjoy the hyperverbal coming of age of a Brit teen girl. 

Here’s the plot: Tallulah gets into a summer performing arts program. She goes. It’s in Yorkshire, which is apparently an in-joke for Brits.  She meets a crew of nutty gals, she has intrigue with some gents, she feels like she’s not really talented but she is secretly a comedienne, and there’s a batty stage performance of Wuthering Heights.

Look, obviously Louise Rennison has a creative gift. She is a bottomless well of quirk.  This writing voice of hers is unique, and some people seem to really effing love it. If you’re one of those people, then you will find this charming and funny.  If you’re not of those people and you accidentally read this because you didn’t realize Tallulah and Georgia are related, then you’re probably going to spend most of the book going… “Wah? I… need a drink.”

Verdict:  People usually have strong feelings about  cilantro LOVE it or think it tastes like soap. This book is like that.

Author: Rae Mariz

Initial Impression: I think maybe I need a dystopian cleanse.

from barnesandnoble.com

A glance at Rae Mariz’s blog suggests that she has very specific political beliefs-  she’s very aware of the Consumer Culture and she is an activist to combat materialism.  I support this; we do focus too much on Things and it does create moral lapses and casual disregard for people that we can’t see.  So, I can see what she’s trying to do with The Unidentified. 

It takes place in a futuristic world (another one! so many futures!) in which the education system more or less collapsed, so the generous corporations stepped in and took over. Now, schools are run by companies and the teens are constantly inundated with product placement as they attend high school.  The actual school, pandering to the short attention spans of teens, is now a giant game with the kids mostly free to roam during the school day while they complete “challenges.”  As far as I could tell, they don’t really have scheduled classes.  It seems like they can choose a specialty like Fashion or Music or Technology and then spend most of their time working on that.   In addition, the Popular Kids have the added cache of getting “branded” which means that they get a corporate sponsor.  The whole school is just one big petri dish for companies to analyze what the kids like, what sells, and how to make their products appeal to the masses.

Kid is our heroine and she doesn’t want attention, but she’s noticed a rebel movement called The Unidentified that is taking form.  They pull Anonymous style pranks on the school, and she is fascinated by their goals.  By tracking their mysterious organization, she starts to have her own realizations about the school and the sinister aims of the people who run it.

So, it’s a conceptual book. And it’s a neat idea- a good way to illustrate the impact of a consumerist culture. I just don’t think this book is going to catch on because it doesn’t go far enough. The puzzle pieces are there: the clever world building, the flawed but likeable characters, the shadowy secret society, the cool robot battles, the evil adults who have corrupted what is good.   There’s just not enough.  There’s a good structure, but it never really caught fire for me.  Maybe the stakes weren’t high enough?  I also wanted to see more of what the kids actually did to learn. There’s mention of their challenges, but Kid doesn’t seem too worried about getting them done.  I started to wonder- do they actually learn stuff? Or just indulge creative whims?  Was that the point? I respect the message here, but the story just didn’t grab me.

Verdict: Perfectly fine, but not really a page turner.