I know, I keep disappearing for a little while, only to come back and say “I’m still here!”
Full disclosure: I write young adult books and my first one comes out in the Spring. What usually distracts me from updating this blog is the work I do for encToday, as well as work on my books. So my reading time gets a little sparse sometimes. But I am still here and I will have a review up soon because I’ve read some great books lately.
And thanks to all of you who have left comments on my previous reviews! I love hearing other people’s opinions on the books I review, so please feel free to leave your thoughts.
July 26th, 2007
Better Than Yesterday by Robyn Schneider
Robyn Schneider’s debut young adult novel, Better Than Yesterday, is set at pretigious Hilliard Preparatory School, where students are returning for summer session. The story is told in alternating points of view: Skylar Banks, the most likely candidate for class valedictorian who is trying to live down her reputation, thanks to an embarrassing moment from freshman year; and Charley Morton, the third in a line of Charles Mortons who have attended Hilliard and who is living under the pressure of his parents’ expectations of him.
Skylar, Charley, and their roommates Blake Dorsey and Marissa Rodolf regroup during summer session and plan to reinstate the Helliard Hell Raisers, the group they had once formed to play pranks on campus.
But as they go through their days at Hilliard, it becomes clear that something isn’t right with Blake, who has returned to the boarding school after a two year absence. When Blake disappears early one morning Skylar, Charley, and Marissa head off to New York City to find him.
Better Than Yesterday is a smart and witty story of high school friends learning the truth about themselves and each other. A definite must read.
May 22nd, 2007
Total Constant Order by Crissa-Jean Chappell
Crissa-Jean Chappell’s debut novel Total Constant Order follows four months in the life of Fin, a ninth grade student who thinks about numbers constantly. “The space in my head needed filling, so I started cramming it with numbers.” She worries that her heart will stop beating if she doesn’t keep count or that something bad will happen to her parents if she doesn’t flick the light switch a certain number of times. If someone touches Fin’s shoulder, she has to touch her other one to make it even.
Fin and her mother struggle with life after her parents’ divorce, trying to figure each other out but unable to make a connection. Throughout Fin’s story of her struggle with making sense of the world and the numbers that constantly move through her head, she remembers her life before the divorce, before numbers took control of her, when she was a normal kid living with her parents in Vermont. The contrast between the Fin of the past and the Fin of the present day adds to the poignancy of her story of recognizing her obsessive compulsive disorder and learning how to live with it.
The setting of Miami comes alive in Chappell’s book. The reader can easily feel the heat and see the city in her head thanks to Chappell’s vivid writing. As a former resident of South Florida, the book reminded me of everything I knew about the area and I felt as if I were right there with Fin, watching the manatees.
Total Constant Order by Crissa-Jean Chappell will be available in October from HarperTeen. You can preorder now through the link above.
May 10th, 2007
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler
It’s perfectly acceptable for Virginia Shreves and Froggy Welsh the Fourth to makeout on Monday afternoons at her apartment, but she knows that she isn’t really his girlfriend. At school she pretends she barely knows him to keep his reputation from bottoming out, which is one of the rules of the Fat Girl Code of Conduct.
Virginia is the youngest child of a perfect family. Her parents and two older siblings are all thin and beautiful, and her brother and sister are extremely smart and talented. Everyone who knows them loves them, while Virginia, struggling with a weight problem and schoolwork, is often overlooked or ignored by people around her. Virginia’s mom is a teen psychologist, but while she has no problem dealing with the problems of other people’s children, she has no time for her own daughter’s problems–except to fuss over Virginia’s weight.
But when Virginia’s older brother is suspended from college after an accusation that everyone has trouble dealing with, the perfect life within the Shreves’ home is shattered and Virginia spirals into self-destruction.
This is a well told story about eating disorders, date rape, dealing with parents, and self-image. As we work through the story and the layers inside, we see parts of Virginia that teens everywhere struggle with and feel for her as we watch her work through the problems that follow her.
April 9th, 2007
Looking for Alaska by John Green
Miles Halter’s life so far has been one long non-event. He hasn’t had a girlfriend, real friends, excitement, adventure. Nothing. So Miles heads off to boarding school in search of his “Great Perhaps.” There Miles rooms with Chip, who is poor but is a genius on a scholarship. Chip introduces Miles to Alaska Young. Every guy who meets Alaska falls in love with her. She’s wild, intelligent, and beautiful.
The chapters of Looking for Alaska mark the days “before” and then the days “after” a tragedy that changes everything for Miles and his friends. The ending of the book leaves something left unsolved, but the story is intelligent and engaging. There are moments when the reader will laugh out loud, and others when the reader will sit quietly and absorb the words.
March 6th, 2007
Sorry about my disappearing act! As you can see from enctoday.com and our other websites, we’ve been very busy here the last couple of months! I have been reading and have several books waiting for reviews, so hopefully it won’t be months between my entries again.
March 6th, 2007
TTYL by Lauren Myracle
It’s a safe bet that most teenaged American girls know that TTYL means “Talk To You Later” in online chatspeak. Lauren Myracle’s TTYL takes chatspeak and a common form of communication among teens–instant messages, or IMs–and through them, follows the story of three best friends. The book is written entirely in IMs between the three girls, Angela (SnowAngel), Zoe (zoegirl), and Maddie (mad maddie).
Even without being there as the events happen, you get a broad view of the events in their lives. Sometimes two of the girls keep secrets from the other, so the readers knows things that one of the protagonists doesn’t yet know. Through the IMs, you see how the girls interact with each other, what they think of their families and other people at school, and how they find themselves mixed up in the situations that they struggle through in the book.
Innovative in its format, this book is a funny and truthful telling of the lives of teenage best friends. Definitely a must read.
January 2nd, 2007
Rhapsody: Child of Blood by Elizabeth Haydon
Rhapsody is the first book of Elizabeth Haydon’s Symphony of Ages series, a high fantasy story set in a world nearing the end of its time. Rhapsody is a young woman, who left her home and family, and is trained in the musical arts, able to tap into musical vibrations of things around her and with this power, rename people and change their identities. When Rhapsody accidentally renames a man she runs into on the street, she finds herself pulled underground and must crawl through the earth with her new adoptive brothers: Achmed the Snake, a professional assassin and the man Rhapsody accidentally renamed; and Grunthor, a giant who looks scary, but is actually very lovable and who soon grows protective over Rhapsody.
When Rhapsody and her companions emerge from the earth, they find the world they knew long gone and everything changed. But although Rhapsody renamed Achmed and broke his tie to his master in the process, the demons sent to chase him have not gone away in all the centuries that have passed above ground.
Elizabeth Haydon has a great mastery of words so that the descriptions and language in this book makes the story truly come alive. Her world is fully developed, along with the musical magic that Rhapsody lives with and hears in everything around her. At times, Rhapsody herself seems like a bit of a Mary Sue, but the rest of the cast of characters makes this such an engaging story, especially Achmed and Grunthor, who are my favorite characters in the book.
November 20th, 2006
Adios to My Old Life by Caridad Ferrer
I won an autographed copy of this book during the summer through a website that I frequently visit, but only just got around to reading it last month.
Ali Montero is seventeen and dreams of being a musician. Not a musician like her father is, who plays for fun and earns his living by teaching music, but a real musician who performs on stage and releases albums. To help her reach her goal, Ali auditions for a Latin version of American Idol, called Oye Mi Canto. Ali makes the cut and earns a place on the show as the youngest contestant. Her father is not happy–not happy that she auditioned behind his back and that she’s going after this dream–but he allows her to take part in the show.
Ali soon finds out that succeeding in the music business won’t be easy and succeeding in a reality show is no picnic either, with catty contestants trying to sabotage her and fans going crazy over the sight of her. Ali wants desperately to win, not only to achieve her dream, but also to prove to her father that she can do it and doesn’t have to settle for the life he has.
Fans of reality shows will enjoy this behind the scenes look at what the cameras don’t record. Behind the reality show setting, there is a real story of a girl growing up and finding her own way in life, a father trying to accept that his daughter can make her own decisions, and true love blossoming backstage. I’m not sure if I would have picked this book up from the shelf if I saw it in a store because I’m not a reality show fan. But I was pleasantly surprised at the story that takes place within the show setting and would recommend this book to anyone.
November 13th, 2006
Queen of Babble by Meg Cabot
Lizzie Nichols’s plans to have a romantic summer with her new boyfriend in England start to go wrong when she finds out that she hasn’t officially graduated college until she writes her senior thesis. Unfortunately, she learns about this at the graduation party her family has thrown for her. Lizzie naturally can’t keep her mouth shut and talks constantly, so not telling anyone about her not actually being a graduate is going to be hardwork. She vows to write the paper during her free time while enjoying her trip and her boyfriend Andy.
But when Lizzie arrives in England to see Andy–who she actually only met right before he left to go back home–he turns out to be nothing like she remembered from their one night together. Faced with being stuck in London with her lying boyfriend who has horrible fashion sense and the uncompleted senior thesis hanging over her head, Lizzie flees to France, where her best friend is working at a chateau for the summer. On the train to France, Lizzie sits down next to a cute and sympathetic guy. Figuring she’d never see him again, Lizzie spills all of her secrets and problems to him.
Except that when Lizzie reaches her destination, the cute guy gets off the train too and it turns out Lizzie will have to see a lot more of him than she expected.
Queen of Babble is a fun book, like Meg Cabot’s other works. The first section was kind of slow, but once Lizzie flees to France the book gets much better. In between the chapters are parts from Lizzie’s senior thesis on the history of fashion, which are also entertaining to read.
September 29th, 2006
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