Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality by Elizabeth Eulberg
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



View all my reviews

To Read Shelf Challenge: Croak by Gina Damico

Croak by Gina Damico 
#132 of 158 on To Read Shelf 

What You Need to Know:  This title is a refreshing break from paranormal romances, but suffers from an overabundance of quirkiness and strange tonal shifts.

Summary:  Lexington (aka Lex) is pissed off.  All the time.  At everybody.  Her incessant brawling has led to numerous near suspensions and her parents have had enough.  She is being sent to her Uncle Mort's farm in upstate New York for the summer.  Far from being the dozy farmer Lex is expecting, Mort is a motorcycle riding mad scientist, with a very strange profession.  You see, Uncle Mort is a Grim, as in reaper, and says that Lex has the potential to be one too.  Lex takes to Killing quickly, but the town of Croak, with it's cobblestone streets, bad death puns and eccentric inhabitants takes more adjustment.  Adding to the stress are the slew of unexplained deaths the Grims are seeing.  Her partner Driggs wants to investigate, but Lex isn't so sure, as the dead are not the best of humanity.

What Worked:  Teenage Grim Reapers is a hell of a concept. and Damico comes very close to pulling it off.   Lex and the other teen Grims are very believable: awkward, annoying and completely stoked to be part of the world of Croak.   It's nice to see a paranormal title that is not focused on a love triangle and where the main characters are reasonably angst free.  

The inevitable romance worked well here too, not being of the love at first sight/destined forever variety.The relationship grew organically, and came across as simultaneously awkward and amazing, as teen relationships are wont to do.     I do have a caveat. (See below)

What Didn't:  The puns.  Good Lord, the puns.  The main drag in Croak is Slain Lane.  The local drink is a Yorrick.  The diner is run by Pandora, the bar by her husband, Corpp.  The butcher's is Dead Meat.  The overabundance of cutesy death references went from clever to twee in no time.

Remember my caveat about the romance?  Well, here it is.  I detest "The I've loved you from afar" trope almost as much as the "I found my soulmate before I graduated high school trope" and it pops up here.

Also, it felt like the author couldn't figure out what book she wanted to write.  Is it a lighthearted look at a death-focused society?  Is it a coming of age novel?  Is it a serious suspense/mystery?  It tries to be all three, and the disparate parts never form a cohesive narrative, leading to some weird tonal shifts, and changes in mood.

Who Would I Give this Book To:  Oddly enough, I think this book as some appeal to both girls and guys.  The cover is killer, and would attract readers.  Fans of quirky humor or someone looking for a break from fallen angels and handsome fairies might enjoy this.

The To Read Shelf Challenge: Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler

Title:  Why We Broke Up 
#150 of 158 on the Too Read Shelf
By Daniel Handler and Maria Kalman

I feel really bad about this, but I couldn't finish this book.  It's a Printz Honor!  It's illustrated!  It's an award winner teens would actually want to read!  I should be supporting it.

This is a total, "It's not you, it's me" situation.   I am not a Daniel Handler fan.  I found the Series of Unfortunate Events too precious and repetitive.  And, I found this book to be more of the same.

The book is one long letter, written by Min, a drama girl, to Ed a brainy jock, after their big split.  It tells the story of their relationship and of course, why it ended.   Problem was, I didn't like either of these people very much, so spending time with them was a chore.

When a book becomes a chore, I put it down.

This book has many passionate fans.  I can see the appeal.  Handler gives this temporary relationship all the drama and gravitas a real-live teen would.  Kalman's illustrations are charming.   But, Min is a manic pixie dream girl of the highest degree, and I didn't care about her enough to see her story to the end.

Kinda Watched Movie Review: Midnight in Paris

So, here is a new, randomly occurring feature on the MeridethSays blog, the "Sort of Watched" Review.


Often, my husband and/or child will choose a movie or show that doesn't really appeal to me, but they want me to "stay!" and watch it with them. Typically, I work on something else crochet or read while they partake of their chosen entertainment, and only watch with half an eye.

The latest movie I sort of watched was Midnight in Paris.

A short summary: Gil, a dissatisfied American writer travels back to 1920's Paris, meets his literary idols, and falls in love.

I was ambivalent about this movie from the start. Why? Well, first off, Woody Allen. I don't get his appeal. I don't think his stammering, nebbishy heroes are appealing. I sort of want to slap him (or his movie stand in) every time they start with the rambling. Also, Hemingway. Hemingway is a sexist jerk. And, Owen Wilson. He just bugs me.

However -- this movie might have well as been subtitled "American Literature Crack". My husband, who has a degree in American Lit, has been wanting to see it forever. The DVD was in at the library, so, I was a good wife.

My opinion from kind of watching it?  It was O.K. If I had been giving it my full attention, I probably would have lost it at the characterization of Zelda Fitzgerald (jealous of her husband's talent). Also, the manic pixie dream girl played by Marion Cotilliard would have rankled. But with half an eye, these things didn't bug me too much. Paris is a beautiful city, the jazz soundtrack is nice, the costumes were pretty and Kathy Bates is awesome as Gertrude Stein.

What did bother me was the relationship between Wilson and his American fiance, Inez (played by Rachel McAdams). These are two people who obviously can't stand each other, so why are they engaged? I get that Gil is a doormat, and people have a hard time ending things, but seriously? They got to engaged without noticing they have nothing in common and really don't like each other?

I could go on, noting that every character but Gil is a caricature or a stereotype. But, I'm not that invested.

Overall, I would say the movie is sentimental and does exactly what you expect it to do. If you like Woody Allen, you'll like this.

Yes, I am going to talk about the Hunger Games Movie.

Like every other teen literature professional on earth, I have be anxiously awaiting The Hunger Games film release. 


Actually, to be honest, I was looking forward to it not just because I wanted to see it, but because I planned 3 programs, helped a little with a scavenger hunt, oversaw a bulletin board, designed and created a chalkboard display, created a book list all based around the The Hunger Games series, and I was re-reading it with my 10 year old and husband.  So, I wanted the movie to come out so that I could quit thinking about The Hunger Games for a little while.  I am Panem-ed out.  I started to hate both Gale and Peeta, just a little bit.  


Overall, I did enjoy the film.  Seeing the world that Suzanne Collins created made real was really thrilling. That being said, I do have some comments.  


Now, please be aware, there are spoilers ahead.  Proceed at your own risk. 

Excuse Me While I Freak Out Quietly Over Here.... And a New Challenge

So, It's been more than 6 weeks since my last post.  That's bad.

However, I have a good excuse!  Namely, I've been quietly freaking out over the fact that I might not have a day job anymore.   My city is facing "draconian" budget cuts.  The library looks to be taking a huge hit, following the other huge hit we took 2 years ago.

I would love to tell you more, give you specifics, but I must be discreet.   My city is very sensitive, and I live in a hire-at-will state.  How much would it suck to not get laid off, but then get terminated for shooting my mouth off?

And I am really good at shooting my mouth off.  So, as much as it galls me,  I can't really say much.  So as much as I want to have a big old-fashioned-breath holding hissyfit, I can't.

So, to distract myself, I am setting a new challenge.

My GoodReads "To Read" Shelf just spiked at over 150 books.  That is a lot of books.

I will clear off this shelf by the end of 2012.  

Here are the rules:

• I will attempt to read every book marked To Read on my GoodReads shelf by December 31, 2012.  
• The 50 page rule still applies.  If any book I pick up does not work for me in the first 50 pages, I reserve the right to abandon it. 
• Audio books count. 
• To choose what I read, I will set the sort to random, and read the first thing I can get a hold of.  
• I will blog about each book.  
• Only books added before March 17, 2012 are eligible for the challenge.  I'm sure my "To Read" List will continue to grow, but I'm human, damn it. 

To start, I will read The Girl of Fire and Thorns and Why We Broke Up. 

The Fault in Our Stars

Over at the blog for my "day job" I wrote a love letter to John Green's latest The Fault In Our Stars.   A snippet:

  I don't love you, love you, because you're 17 and fictional and that would be creepy.

Hit the link to read the whole thing. 

Literary Dinner: Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Inspired by the awesome Christian and Julia of That Hapa Chick, my daughter and I have decided to start having "Literary Dinners" featuring food inspired by our favorite books.

To give you all a little background, my daughter Mari is 10, and has a good amount of cooking knowledge.  Her father managed to make it all the way to his 30's without learning any cooking skills, and feeding himself something he still struggles with.  To save her this pain, we started teaching Mari cooking early.   On average, she cooks dinner for us twice a month, with some grown up help with sharp things and hot things. 

We picked Percy Jackson to start with for a few reasons.  First off, my daughter got the box set of paperbacks for the holidays, and had just re-read the entire series, so it was fresh in her head.  Second, most of the food mentioned in the books is pretty familiar, so Mari wouldn't get too freaked out by something weird.  (Case in point: We originally considered starting with His Dark Materials, which Mari was reading, but she got scared off by a mention of eating eels.)

After combing through the books for food references, we decided on a Camp Half Blood dinner featuring homemade bread, cheese, grapes and "extra lean, nymph-cut barbecue".  To drink we made "nectar" and for desert, we made blue cupcakes. 

(Note:  All of the photos here are pretty bad quality.  Sorry.  I had to use my tablet, and I'm not used to the camera in it)

Our biggest question was to ambrosia, or not to ambrosia.  For me, having grown up in a family with southern roots, ambrosia is a fruit salad with marshmallows and coconut.  Like this one.  I've always found it a little bit off putting (sorry, numerous great aunts.)   It didn't look any more appetizing to Mari.  So we skipped it.  Several of my teen volunteers told me that ambrosia could be any food yummy enough to make you go up in flames if you eat too much of it.  Mari herself thought it was "like a pop tart.  But, you know, god-esque."    Not knowing how to make divine toaster pastry, we stuck to cupcakes. 

For the bread, we used this recipe from Make and Takes for Rosemary Peasant Bread.  I had made this a few times before myself with good results, and it is definitely easy enough for a 10 year old to handle.  Bonus is that it is a no-knead recipe!  It makes a delicious rustic bread, that's better to pull apart than to slice.  We got a little carried away with the seasoning on the outside, but it was still good. 

The barbecue was really tricky for us.  We figured that the barbecue at Camp Half blood was most likely a spit roasted animal.  After convincing the kid that the owner of our rental townhouse would frown on us installing a spit and getting medieval on a goat in front of the fireplace, we thought that slow-smoked pork would be a good substitute. 

My mother makes a killer smoked pork loin on her gas grill, using a procedure similar to this one for brining and smoking the pork.   However, she has the nice big gas grill to do it.  Our little table-top jobby probably wasn't up to the job.  This recipe from Tyler Florence for Oven Roasted Pulled Pork looked like it would get us to a similar place, so we decided to try it.  However, Dad forgot to tell us we were out of tin foil until after we had applied the salt rub to the pork, so we tried to cut our losses by using a crock pot.  The resulting pork came out very tender and juicy, but a little too salty.  It wasn't nymph cut, but it was 10 year old pulled, which is just as good.

Mari and I got into an argument about the sauce.  I said we should make a vinegar based sauce for our pork, as it is more authentically southern.  Mari, who dislikes barbecue sauce, or anything that's too sour,  said that Camp Half-Blood is in Long Island, and they probably don't eat vinegar sauce there.  It was her dinner, so I let her win.  I had some K.C. Masterpiece on deck, just in case.  Turns out, the pork was plenty flavorful without any sauce, so point to the kid, I guess.

The cheese we had for this meal included Edam, Havarti, Buffalo Mozzarella and Brie.  Why so much cheese?  And why no Greek cheese? Because we sent Dad to the cheese counter to get us some haloumi, and instead, he got all the cheese he liked.  We learned a valuable lesson though: never send Dad to the cheese shop alone. The presence of all that dairy based goodness overrides his brain, and he will come home with $30 worth of the wrong kind of cheese. 

Looking around online for nectar recipes, most of what we found were for thick, smoothie drinks such as this one which uses sour cream and marshmallows.   Mari thought that nectar would be more refreshing and less sweet, so we decided to make something like a spritzer, using half 7-Up and half-fruit juice.  While I lobbied for orange juice or pineapple juice, Mari decided to use Sunny Delight, which to the best of my knowledge, doesn't actually contain any fruit juice. To make it more special we added a tablespoon or so of grenadine syrup. The resulting drink was good,but I thought it was still too sweet.  Mari disagreed, and thought it was the best thing we made.  I decided to switch to Mr. D's favorite non-alcoholic drink: Diet Coke.

To round things out, we had grapes.  Unfortunately we had no satyrs on hand to peel them.  We also added apples to the mix.  Why?  Mari really likes apples.  Very little prep here, but I did cave and bought an apple slicer/corer thing-a-bob.  Mari loves it, and is no longer asking me to cut up her apples, which is all win. 

I am not a great baker (see my love of the no-knead bread above) so we totally cheated and made the mini-cupcakes from a mix.  The twist is that Mari got a mini-cupcake maker as a holiday gift, and we used it to bake the cupcakes.  If you've never seen one of these machines before, it's sort of like a mix between a George Foreman grill and a waffle iron.  You put the batter in and 7 minutes later, you get 7 mini-cupcakes.   I am not in love with this appliance.  First off, it gets oven hot, and if the lid is open, there is no way to tell if it is on, as my burnt finger will attest.  Secondly even the small Jiffy yellow cake mix we made makes 20+ cupcakes and you can only bake them 7 at a time.  Finally, the mini-cupcake maker doesn't have a timer or an automatic off switch, so you have to time your cupcakes separately.  However, Mari thinks it is the greatest thing ever, and is one of the innovations that separates us from the animals.

 We also cheated with the frosting, using store bought that we dyed blue (the photo is making it look washed out, but it was very blue).  We tried the Alton Brown trick of using a plastic bag as a piping bag, which failed miserably and got blue frosting all over us and the kitchen.  (Note to self:  disposable piping bags are not that expensive!) We topped it off with some blue sanding sugar.   The cupcakes were good but messy, thanks to our liberal frosting application.

Over all, I would call our dinner a success, and it definitely gave Mari confidence to tackle more complex meals in the future. 

Please bask in the epicness of my library's teen volunteers!  Each gingerbread man was made by them.  

Review: Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

What You Need to Know:  This book is a little heavier than Perkins' debut, but is still a fun, unabashedly romantic read.

Summary:  Lola, just barely 17, has 3 goals in life.  1) To convince her two dads that her (much older) boyfriend is THE ONE; 2) To create and wear a full Marie Antoinette costume for the Winter Formal and 3) to never see the Bell twins again.

However, Dad and Dad are not warming up to Lola's perfect punk boyfriend Max, the costume is way more work than she thought and Cricket and Calliope Bell just moved in next door.  Cricket Bell, inventive, sweet and super tall, was Lola's best friend and first love, until he rejected her and left.  But now he's back, and Lola is going to have to learn to deal.

What Worked:  Lola acts, sounds and behaves like a precocious 17 year old.  Like most of us at 17, she thinks she has everything figured out and knows everything.  When she finds out she doesn't, it shatters her.  Perkins totally nailed Lola's voice.   So much so that  I wanted to give her a big hug, or ground her, or both.

The background characters are equally well drawn.  Lola's two dads are fantastic, sweet and supportive but not perfect.  I really hope that Lola's BFF Lindsey gets her own book one day, because a Chuck Taylor wearing Nancy Drew fanatic is the kind of girl I want to know better.    And, then, there's Cricket.

Cricket Bell, will you be my (completely platonic) YA Lit boyfriend?   I love you and your hipster clothes and weird contraptions.  You could come over and we could watch How It's Made and bake.

Seriously though, Cricket is a great character.  Sweet, thoughtful, inventive but not so perfect that he defies realism.  He's exactly the kind of guy a girl has a hard time getting over.

Overall, I would describe this book as sweet and girly.  However, Lola has to deal with some heavy issues, such as her homeless biological mom, and a not entirely healthy relationship.  This gives the story more gravitas than your typical YA romance, but not so much that it falls into misery porn territory.

What Didn't:  It's hard, as an adult, to read a Teen Romance as a teen would.  Because any adult woman would take one look at Max and say "Oh, honey, no!".  He's a douchebag.  A faux-rebellious punk-wannabe with stupid flash tattoos and a bad bleach job.   However, at 17, he probably looks pretty tasty.

Because Mac is a jerk and Cricket is adorable, it's hard to see why Lola hangs on to her relationship with Mac for so long.   Again, maybe this is one of those things that makes sense as a teen, but mystifies an adult.  

Who Would I Give This Book To:  This one's all about the girls.  Fans of Sarah Dessen and Jenny Han, would eat this up.   Teens looking for a light and fun read would also enjoy.

Review: Blood Red Road by Moira Young

What You Need to Know:  This YA Dystopian is the best contender for the "next Hunger Games" and an amazing book on its own, and one of my Best Books of 2011.

Summary: Saba lives in Silverlake, a small piece of (kind of) sustainable land carved out of the ever shifting dust that has taken over the world.  She lives with her father, broken since the death of her mother, and her baby sister.  Most importantly, she has Lugh, her twin brother and other half, who provides the hope and happiness in her life.  When strange men ride up out of a storm and steal Lugh, killing her Pa, she swears she will find him.  Saba sets off into the wastelands, and runs afoul of those who prey on travelers in the dust.  Literally forced to fight for her survival, Saba discovers her own strengths and feelings she didn't know she had.

What Worked:  Girl/Girl cage fights!  Amazon-like warrior women! Bitchy heroine!  Smug-Jackass love interest!  Quasi-western setting!  This book is practically Merideth-crack.

Young is an outstanding writer, who does an excellent job of creating a sympathetic but imperfect heroine.  Saba is a fighter, but her single-mindedness in getting Lugh back makes her not terribly likable sometimes.    Her devotion is admirable, but maddening.

Young weaves some slight touches of magic-realism into her story, with destinies being written in the stars*, and stones that will lead you to your heart's desire.  These are very subtle, and add another layer of mystery to the book.

I've said it before, the best Dystopian fiction doesn't waste a lot of time telling us how things got this bad.  Young doesn't tell us at all, choosing instead to focus on her story and characters.

And what a story it is.  In addition to the already mentioned cage fights, there's a prison break, giant killer worms, a suicidal raid... lots and lots of action.

What Didn't: This book starts very slowly, and readers may be put off by the unusual patois that Young develops.   Also, the magical elements of the book are an unusual touch for a dystopian adventure, and could be jarring.

Who would I give this book to?  Teen fans of the Hunger Games.  Adults looking for a good example of the dystopian trend.  My brother (seriously, he's very picky).

There be spoilers ahead, so quit now if that sort of thing bothers you.

Blatant Self Promotion: My Book, On Sale!

Hey Look!  I wrote a book!

And it's on sale!

Just in time for the holiday gift-giving season!

Celebrate Teen Read Week with Special Savings.  

Oooooh!  Look, a gift with purchase!  Ladies love the gift with purchase!

Review: Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick

What You Need To Know:  This is a solid entry in the post-apocalyptic/zombie genre that suffers from a last minute plot twist.

Summary:  Alex is dying.  The monster in her brain, an inoperable tumor, has stubbornly refused treatment.  Rather than continue, Alex has taken the ashes of her parents to the mountains where they used to camp.  She intends to say goodbye and face her own mortality.

However, something happens, and most die instantly.  Alex survives, as does Ellie, a bratty young girl camping with her grandpa.  Alone in the woods, Alex and Ellie soon discover that they aren't the only survivors.  Other teens live also, but they have transformed into animalistic cannibals.

It's up to Alex to protect Ellie, and she is aided in this by Tom, a young veteran who also survived.  Now, the three must decide what to do next...

What worked:  Bick does a tidy job of introducing her characters.   She establishes Alex's survivalist credentials early and without a lot of fanfare.  Tom appears in the nick of time but still believably.  Ellie feels a bit shoehorned into the story, but not overwhelmingly so.   She also gets things moving quickly, the carnage starts early, without a lot of preliminary set up.  The action sequences in this book are genuinely scary, gory without being gratuitous 

Bick also gets that the best post-apocalyptic fiction isn't really about the apocalypse, but the people who are caught in it.  Alex and Tom spend a good deal of time trying to figure out what happened, but they also are moving on, doing their best to survive.

I'm not a big wilderness survival fan, but Alex and her crew's plans and missteps were engaging and well described.

What didn't:   My biggest problem with this book is that it leaves too many questions unanswered.  Ashes takes a major left turn in its final fourth, completely abandons major characters and plot lines, leaving many questions unanswered.   A great book will leave you asking "what happens next?"  This book simply left me asking "what happened?"   This ploy might get readers to pick up the next volume, but it's incredibly frustrating.

Also, I know all sci-fi requires a suspension of disbelief, but I don't think that the science behind Bick's apocalypse stands up.   Although not an expert, I don't think that an EMP could cause the kind of carnage she describes.  I appreciated her building the latest research on the teen brain into her plot, but, again, it rang false to me.

And, as always, I resented the intrusion of a romance into the plot.  Alex has been preparing herself to die, the world as she knows it has ended, teenagers have turned into cannibals, but she's torn between two boys?  Please.

Who would I give this book to:  The post-apocalyptic trend shows no signs of slowing, and this would be a good choice for teens who enjoy those books.  The survivalist angle would appeal to many boys, and it's gory enough for the zombie fans.  

Books I Didn't Finish: Record Collecting for Girls by Courtney E. Smith.

Total Finished: 97 out of 240 pages

So, Why Didn't You Finish It?  

But how much thought have you given to what your music choices say about you to other people?  Boys who love records (and let's face it, at some point we will al date a boy who is a little too into his records) are totally obsessing on what music you like when they meet you.  They're using it to figure out how crazy you are before they get involved (so hide your Tori Amos records).

 Record Collecting for Girls, page 97

It's not often I can pinpoint the line that makes me quit a book in disgust.

I know that it can be tough to be a girl who is into music, either as a musician or a fan. So, I was hoping that this book would be a great resource for the "music nerds" among my teen patrons.

Well, this book isn't about girls, it's about boys.  More specifically, it's about finding boys to date by pretending you 1) like the same music they like and 2) hiding that you may know more about music than they do.    This is insulting and sexist.  Other commenters have pointed out that Smith is incredibly hetero-normative and focused on white rock bands.  I also see this.

(And, just in case any girls are reading this -- any boy who won't date you because you listen to Tori Amos is not worth dating. This goes for guys too -- I married my husband dispite his love of Steely Dan.  )

To be fair, Smith knows a lot about music, and has some interesting things to say about the lack of "serious" female artists in the mainstream.  But she is incredibly dismissive of anybody who doesn't share her indie-rock tastes.  It's more than a little ironic that a woman who can claim to love the Twilight books spends half a chapter dissing "Teenage" music.

Smith's obsession with cool and making sure that you like the music that will get you laid is off-putting and boring.  I have better things to read about.

Dissenting Opinions? 
Miss A
Nylon
Chicks Dig Books

Review: Blink and Caution by Tim Wynne-Jones

What You Need to Know: This intriguingly written tale of street kids and second chances takes a major left turn in its final third.

Summary:  Blink has been living on the streets for a few months now, but has figured out that well dressed kids don't get hassled.  Thus, he uses a stolen set of clothes to wander through hotels, looking for uneaten food on room service trays.  When he hears the sounds of violence from a room, but sees three unharmed men walk out, he can't resist a peak.  In the room he sees what looks like trouble, but the unattended wallet and smart phone presents too much temptation.  When the owner of the phone shows up on the news as a kidnapping victim, Blink knows it's not true, but doesn't know what to do.

 Caution, a young runaway, gets on the wrong side of her dealer/boyfriend.  She has to run, from the magic man, from her past, from knowledge she doesn't want.  But it all  keeps finding her.  She decides to run as far as she can, and sees Blink as an easy mark.   The two connect in an unexpected way, and decide to use the "kidnapping" to their advantage.

What Worked:
Wynne-Jones has a talent for language, his prose is rich, yet light.  The writing perfectly evokes a time and place, without drowning the reader in tons of exposition and description.

Wynne-Jones also successfully climbs inside the heads of his teen protagonists.  They are bundles of emotion, yes, but believably so.  Their choices feel organic and believable.   Blink and Caution both ran away from home for legitimate reasons.  They live on the streets (or with questionable adults) in a way that feels real.

What Didn't: This languished in my "to read" pile for months.  Part of it was the summer slam, and part of it was it just didn't look like my kind of book.   I only picked it up because it was a Boston-Horn Book Award Winner and a nominee for the Maricopa County Mock Printz Discussions.  

I still don't think it's my kind of book.  I will be honest -- I'm a plot reader.  Beautiful settings and well-drawn characters are great, but in the end, I want you to tell me a story.  And without getting too spoilerific, I felt like the plot of this book went off the rails in a major way in the book's final third.   The entire focus and tone of the book shifted from a character study with mystery elements to a B-grade horror flick.

Is it Printz Worthy?  Maybe.  It has the edginess that Printz voters seem to like, with a strong literary flavor.   What I see as a major misstep in plot, others may see as a bold blending of genres.

Who Would I Recommend this Book to?  I'm not sure.  The literary-ness of it would turn off teens who read genre fiction, and the genre elements would annoy my few lit fic readers. 

Review: The Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Lani Taylor.

What You Need to Know:  This urban fantasy is is an amazing, trope- twisting read, and one of my Best Books of 2011.

Summary:  Karou, a blue haired art student living in Prague, lives a double life. Most of the time, she lives like any other college kid, hanging with friends, dating and learning.  What her friends don't know is that Karou's family is a race of half-human/half-animal chimera, lead by Brimstone, a powerful wizard.  Brimstone grants wishes to humans who visit him, and receives payment in teeth.    She illustrates her family  in her sketchbook, capturing her strangely beautiful family in near lifelike detail.  Karou mostly keeps her two worlds separate, except when she is called to do errands by Brimstone. However, when strange hand-shaped burn marks appear on the portals to Brimstone's world, and angelic creatures appear all over the globe, Karou's life changes forever.

What Worked:  This book is amazing.  Beautiful descriptions of Prague, descriptions of a reasonably normal teenage life, and fantastic creatures and happenings work together beautifully to create a seamless, engaging narrative.

What amazed me most about this book is that it managed to surprise me.  Using familiar ideas -- a human raised by monsters, angels, star crossed lovers, a mystical war -- Taylor spun an unexpected and engrossing tale.  It's not my first time at the rodeo, so a fantasy book that brings something new, that keeps me guessing, gets high marks.  Also, this is one book where the romance felt organic and necessary.

Karou is a wonderful character:  funny, tough, talented.   However, she is not inhumanly perfect -- she makes mistakes, takes stupid risks, acts selfishly.   She's a refreshing change from the doormats and Mary Sues that populate teen fantasy romances.

What Didn't:  Honestly, not much.  Some of the supporting characters may be a little thin, but this book is about Karou, and that's where the focus stays.

However -- that cover is terrible -- yes, it makes sense in context, but it's generic and bland.

Who Would I Give this Book To?  Everybody.  Seriously.  There's enough rich world building here to keep fantasy fans interested, enough romance to captivate a Twihard, and the writing quality is strong enough to win over the most dedicated literary fiction fan.

Chime by Franny Billingsley

What You Need to Know:  This beautifully written steampunkish fairy tale is an antidote to cookie cutter supernatural romances, and one of my best books of 2011. 


Summary:  Briony Larkin is 17 years old and a witch.  She knows that she is evil;  responsible for her sister Rose's mental difficulties.  However, she must care for Rose and that means keeping her ability to hear the Old Ones a secret.  The Old Ones call to Briony, and beg her to tell their stories. 


But the world is changing, and engineers plan to drain the swamp.  This angers the Old Ones, and in retaliation, the children of Swampsea are stricken with a deadly cough.  When Rose takes ill, Briony knows she must do whatever it takes to save her.  Adding to Briony's troubles is Larkin, the charming son of the an engineer, who is determined to puzzle out Briony's secrets.  


What Worked:  Billingsley is one of the most engaging and skillful writers I have ever read.  This book is all about journey -- there are no real surprises here.  However, Billingsley takes familiar tropes and skews them, twisting her story so that plot is secondary to the rich world building and vibrant characterizations.  Swampsea, like Lyra's Jordan, is a world just left of our own, where magic is real and modernity bumps up uncomfortably against the old ways.  The Old Ones of the Swamp, with few exceptions, are dangerous, but not sinister, and Briony's connection to them seems organic and real.  Briony herself is one of the most fully realized characters I've come across.  Unlike many heroines, she is not inhumanly perfect, not a blank Mary Sue, but a real girl, in extraordinary circumstances, trying to do the right thing.  The supporting cast is equally well drawn, from the perplexing Rose to the engaging boy-man Larkin.  Briony and Larkin's romance is sweet and believable, not fairy tale perfect.  


The first word that pops to mind when discussing Chime is beautiful.  Beautiful language, beautiful setting, beautiful story.  


What Didn't:  It's hard for me to find a flaw here.  I do think that the cover of the book fails to do it justice, as the blandly pretty goth-child pictured here comes nowhere close to embodying Briony's spirit and passion.


P.S. -- I read this book in ARC, and then listened to the audiobook with my daughter.   In someways, the audiobook is superior to the novel, as Susan Duerden does a masterful reading, and brings Billingsley's language to life. 

I'm Back!

Wow!  It has been more than 8 weeks since I last posted here.

I apologize, but Summer kicked my butt this year.  While I had a very successful summer at the Day Job, it was very stressful.  July brought Comic-Con and presentations and the end of summer reading... it was very hectic.

It took most of August for me to recuperate.

When school started, there was a lot of drama with the kidlet, but now that things have settled, I'm back with more opinions than ever!

Coming soon, reviews of my 2 favorite books of the year, my thoughts on the Maricopa County Mock Printz Awards, a review of the upcoming Tamora Pierce book and more!

My Misadventures as a Teenage Rock Star by Joyce Raskin and Carol Chu

What You Need to Know:  Fourteen year old Alex finds herself via playing bass and skateboarding in this slight novel.

Summary:  Alexis, age 14, is miserable.  She is neither blonde, nor pretty, nor cool.  All she can do is cry and mope.  However, once her older brother suggests that she learn to play bass in a friend's band, her life turns around.  Now a "rock-chick",  she wears combat boots and revels in her new found coolness. But just being on the bass and in the band might not be enough for Alex. 

What Worked:  Alex, formerly obsessed with being like the girls in magazines, figures herself out by the end of the book.  Kind of.   Chu's doodles, while not vital to the text, add a fun and whimsical note. 

What Didn't:  The only word I can use to describe this book is lightweight.  And, that's a shame, as it glosses over some fairly heavy issues.  Sexism in music, teen gender roles, sexual assault, drugs, cheating boyfriends -- they're all here, and none are examined very deeply. 

This book is very short, only 112 pages, with some of the back matter devoted to how-tos on buying and playing a guitar and writing songs.   The slimness might work to attract reluctant readers, but it works against creating a compelling story.  Amazing things happen to Alex, but the story doesn't pause to contemplate them, as it moves on to the next chapter. 

Finally, the voice felt a little young for me, and aside from the drug use, I could see this being more appealing to a middle grade audience. 

Who would I give this book to:  Reluctant readers with an interest in music.

The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross

What You Need to Know:  The steampunk superhero conceit will draw in readers, but the excessive length, meandering plot and predictability of this book will turn off all but the most determined.

Summary:  Finley, a servant girl in "reduced circumstances" fears the angry thing inside of her.  When, upon being attacked, the thing causes her to harm the young lord of her household, she runs into the night.  As fate would have it, she runs directly into Griffin King, a young nobleman with exceptional abilities of his own.  Griffin is the head of a group of gifted young people who serve the English crown.  The energy that feeds the automatons was discovered by Griffin's parents, but now, the automatons are beginning to turn on their masters.  However, the criminal known only as the Machinist has other plans, for Griffin and his group...

What Worked:  The idea of a team of teenage, steampunk superheroes is a good one.  The Jekyll and Hyde nature of Finely's abilities is not the most original idea ever, but a Victorian girl learning to harness her darker nature is intriguing.

Emily, the genius inventor of Griffin's crew, is a great character.  Spunky, bright, brave and loyal, she is by far the most interesting thing about this book.

What Didn't:  Dear goddess, this book is long.   So very long, particularly for a book that could be described as The League of Extraordinary X-Men the First Class.

Cross switches between viewpoint characters frequently, which would be interesting if her characters had more depth.  Each of the members of the team came right out of central casting -- angry young man, confused girl, handsome rogue.  I admit to being charmed by Emily -- Spunky Girl Inventor -- but even she has been done a thousand times before.  Stock characters could be forgiven, if the plot of the book was less predictable.  Any reader with a basic understanding of superhero comics or Victorian mysteries will see where this book is headed, even as it takes its own sweet time about getting there.

Who Would I Give This Book To:   Fans of the steampunk genre will probably want to give this one a look, and it would be an interesting diversion for superhero fans.