Show Me What I'm Looking For

Expected Publication: April 1st, 2014

Love Letters To The Dead

By: Ava Dellaira

Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

ISBN-13: 9780374346676

It begins as an assignment for English class: write a letter to a dead person.  Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain because her sister, May, loved him.  And he died young, just like May did.  Soon Laurel has a notebook full of letters to people like Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, Amelia Earhart, Heath Ledger and more; though she never gives a single one of them to her teacher.  She writes about starting high school, navigating new friendships, falling in love for the first time, learning to live with her splintered family.  And finally about the abuse she suffered when May was supposed to be looking out for her.  Only then, once Laurel has written down the truth about what happened to herself, can she truly begin to accept what happened to May.  And only when Laurel has begun to see her sister as the person she was; lovely and amazing and deeply flawed; can she begin to discover her own path.

Review

     This book was a bit of an odd duck for me as a reader.  I loved the premise: letters to famous dead people, to help work through her personal pain?  It was an interesting concept and I loved seeing who Laurel would choose to write to next!  Probably my largest issue with the book was the style of the narrative.  A lot of books can do well as epistolary style novels.  I have a series by Jaclyn Moriarty that I truly love and find almost perfect.  This one did something that is against one of my cardinal rules though: it did a lot of telling, in place of showing.  I found myself disconnected from the book, even though we spend most of the narrative inside Laurel's head, because it has a dreamy and odd quality to it.  The majority of my time was spent reading about Laurel's interactions with people and I didn't get to see a lot of them.  There was enough dialogue and interaction to keep me reading, but it was still kind of scarce.

     We spend this book getting to know Laurel, whose sister May has just died recently.  She is now being shuffled between her Aunt Amy and her Dad, because her Mom has gone to California and left her behind.  So Laurel spends her Mom's weeks of custody with her Aunt, who is extremely religious and really has no clue how to handle a teenager.  Starting her first year of high school, Laurel decides to go to another school, so she won't just be the girl whose sister died.  She makes a couple new friends, Hannah and Natalie, who are just as confused as she is.  They are falling in love with each other, but hiding it and Hannah is going from boy to boy in an effort to be "normal."  Also, there is the mysterious older boy Sky who seems to be interested in Laurel but has serious issues of his own.  There is a secret Laurel is keeping and it's eating her up inside.  Can she learn to let the past go and share her problems with someone who can help her move past them?  Or will she go on a downward spiral like May, unable to get back up again?

     I did enjoy the letters in and of themselves, but I agree with another read about some things that bothered them in regards to the letters.  The fact that they were all written to different people did take away from how personal the letters felt to me.  To know all that stuff about all those people and choose to write letters to all of them just felt fake.  Plus the comparisons drawn between them and Laurel didn't ring true for me either.  They turn into Laurel questioning the celebrity's choices for the majority of the letter, rather than examining her own life all that closely.  It was a little disruptive to the flow of the novel.  Overall, I can't say I really enjoyed it necessarily, but I did appreciate the things it accomplished in terms of character development.  It was really all about Laurel learning to become her own person and step out of May's shadow - also to forgive May, their parents and herself for the issues of the past.  I just don't think it was really the book for me, as it read a little too young, naieve and disconnected.

VERDICT:  3/5  Stars

*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), via NetGalley.  No money or favors were exchanged for this review.  This book's expected publication date is April 1st, 2014.*

Speak Nothing But The Truth

 

Expected Publication: September 26th, 2013

All The Truth That's In Me

By: Julie Berry

Viking Juvenile

9780670786152

 

Four years ago, Judith and her best friend disappeared from their small town of Roswell Station. Two years ago, only Judith returned, permanently mutilated, reviled and ignored by those who were once her friends and family. Unable to speak, Judith lives like a ghost in her own home, silently pouring out her thoughts to the boy who’s owned her heart as long as she can remember—even if he doesn’t know it—her childhood friend, Lucas. But when Roswell Station is attacked, long-buried secrets come to light, and Judith is forced to choose: continue to live in silence, or recover her voice, even if it means changing her world, and the lives around her, forever. This startlingly original novel will shock and disturb you; it will fill you with Judith’s passion and longing; and its mysteries will keep you feverishly turning the pages until the very last.

 

Review

 

     Judith is as outcast in Roswell Station, with most of its inhabitants thinking she's dumb and covered by sin due to tragic events from two years ago.  She can speak, learn and feel just as she did before - the only difference now is that the boy she loves is ignoring her and she is missing half of her tongue, which her captor cut out of her mouth.  No one calls her by name anymore and her brother only addresses her as 'Worm.'  But when the town comes under attack, Judith must make a decision that will change things forever: retrieve her captor (who everyone in town believes to be dead) and possibly save everyone, or stay silent and watch everyone she cares about die.  But the fallout of playing the hero may be greater than Judith ever could have imagined.  With both good and bad consequences rearing their heads, she may be forced to finally tell the truth of what happened in the two years she was gone.  Can Judith speak out against  Lottie's murderer and clear her own name of evil?  Or will Judith be convicted of things she's innocent of?  Also, can she ever have another chance with Lucas, the boy she still loves with all her heart?

     From the cover and synopsis, I expected this book to be a contemporary fiction book along the lines of Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.  What I got instead was a historical fiction novel, set in the heart of America during the time of the Puritans and their unyielding beliefs/morals.  Judith is a sixteen year old girls who was kidnapped and sent back with half of her tongue cut out.  Unable to tell everyone what happened (and not eagerly willing to either, for reasons that become evident when the truth finally comes out at the end), they all assume that her virtue is gone and shun her, much like Old Order Amish used to shun their people who broke the rules and refused repentance.  Judith is denied even her basic humanity and the book is told in her letters to Lucas, the boy she has loved since childhood who no longer notices her.  This book was heart-wrenching, told with such emotion and hesitance on Judith's part.  Yet there was a deeper observation gained from the loss of her speech that lent something truly unique to the narration. 

     The journey of Judith from the start of this book to the finish is of a girl who has lost her very identity, struggling to regain some sense of self and independence along with it.  I loved the connection that grew between Judith and her brother, Darrell, was so wonderful in its reality.  They don't all of the sudden love and respect each other.  He still calls her names and they still fight.  But when Darrell gets wounded in the battle things slowly begin to change.  I especially love when Judith starts going to school with Darrell (even if she does have to deal with the creepy schoolmaster making advances on her cause he thinks she can't tell anyone).  Her friendship with Maria and their speech therapy were well done, helping Judith to understand that it wasn't wrong or evil for her to speak up for herself again.  Maria helps her realize her own strength.  The relationship with Lucas seemed really one-sided a lot of the time, probably mostly as an after-effect of the style of the narrative.  We see, hear, feel and overall experience things as Judith does.  We don't really get any outside points of view or experience perspectives in this one.  Judith's revelations at the end of the novel regarding her virtue and the identity of Lottie's killer weren't necessarily truly shocking to me as a reader, but her decision to tell the whole truth struck me as really brave, especially when they all want to punish her for crimes they're unsure of and for just being too different.  The transformation of Judith through the novel is something to behold and even with pacing that is awkward sometimes, this book is one of the best that I've read this year.  It will destroy you in ways that only a truly good book can.  I highly recommend this to readers who like historical fiction and aren't averse to intense subject matter.  Not for the faint of heart! :)

 

VERDICT:  4.75/5  Stars

 

*I received this book as part of Around the World ARC Tours, run by the lovely Princess Bookie.  No favors or money were exchanged for this review.  This book's expected publication is September 26th, 2013.*

Let Down Your Hair...

Expected Publication: February 12th, 2013

Rapunzel Untangled

By: Cindy C. Bennett

Cedar Fort, Inc.

ISBN-13: 9781462111565

Rapunzel is not your average teenager. 

For one thing, she has a serious illness that keeps her inside the mysterious Gothel Mansion. And for another, her hair is 15 feet long. Not to mention that she’s also the key to ultimately saving the world from certain destruction. But then she meets a boy named Fane, who changes all she has ever known, and she decides to risk everything familiar to find out who she really is. 

Filled with romance, adventure, and mystery, Rapunzel Untangled is one story you won’t want to put down. Discover the true meaning of love and friendship in this modern twist to the classic fairytale.

*SPOILER ALERT!*

Review

     Rapunzel is just a normal teenage girl.  If you ignore the fact that she's never left her house, lives locked in a tower, has hair fifteen feet long and her Mother thinks she will save the world someday.  But Gothel has also told Rapunzel that she has SCID - Severe Combined Immunodeficiency disorder which means that she will probably die if she goes outside the house.  Only supposed to use the computer for schoolwork, Rapunzel follows the rules to the letter until one day she stumbles onto Facebook and befriends a boy from the local high school.  When Fane begins to communicate with her, Rapunzel starts to realize just how much she's really been missing from the world outside.  As she questions the real reasons for why she's locked up and what the truth about her family is, Rapunzel gathers strength in realizing that she can have everything she's ever  wanted - if she can only break free!   Will Rapunzel be able to survive when the chilling truth is revealed?  This was an interesting concept - a modern retelling of Rapunzel, using Facebook as the outlet into the real world that introduces her to her 'prince' and liberates her.  I really enjoyed the fact that Rapunzel is not written as a stupid character, in an attempt to portray innocence.  The author showcases instead the naivness that her isolation has ingrained into her whole personality.  Fane was a fun, class clown type of guy and I was glad that he and Rapunzel's relationship was done so sweetly.  If he had been the least bit 'mature' about the situation in the typical ways, it would have turned creepy pretty fast.  Romantic moments between them were innocent, which was a a refreshing change, with how fast a lot of the YA book romances move nowadays.  The idea that Gothel is a deranged occultist was definitely not something I'd ever seen before (the immortality obsession in Tangled probably comes the closest).  The eventual showdown between Rapnuzel, Gothel and the cult leader felt more than a little over-dramatic and bordering on fantasy (which was a stark, obvious change from the rest of the book's realism).  Other than that hiccup in the inherent genre and pacing of the book, it was extremely well written.  My only other complaint would be the complete lack of resolution over the kidnapping with Rapunzel's real parents.  I was smiling almost the entire time I was reading and it was finished in almost one sitting.  I couldn't put it down.  Overall, this book was worth reading and fresh in the re-telling side of the fairy tale genre that keeps getting beaten like a dead horse.  At least this corpse was a horse of a different color.  I would recommend it to people like me who are huge fairy tale fans, but don't mind the modern age colliding with the classic tales.

VERDICT:  4.5/5  Stars

*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book's expected publication date is February 12th, 2013.*

Dear Book, You Smashed My Heart to Pieces

Expected Publication: March 5th, 2013
Eleanor & Park
By: Rainbow Rowell
St. Martin's Press
ISBN-13: 9781250012579

"Bono met his wife in high school," Park says.
"So did Jerry Lee Lewis," Eleanor answers.
"I’m not kidding," he says.
"You should be," she says, "we’re sixteen."
"What about Romeo and Juliet?"
"Shallow, confused, then dead."
''I love you," Park says.
"Wherefore art thou," Eleanor answers.
"I’m not kidding," he says.
"You should be."

Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.

Review

     Eleanor has just moved back in with her Mom and siblings after being kicked out by her Step-Dad a year ago for refusing to bow down to his authority - or his abuse and volatile moods.  She's got crazy red, curly hair, wears ill-fitting thrift store clothes and is overweight.  Park is just trying to stay unnoticed, which he's managing although it's not easy when you're half Korean and half White.  When Eleanor starts riding the same bus as Park and the other kids immediately begin to bully and reject her, he reluctantly lets her sit next to him.  At first they don't talk or even acknowledge each other.  Then she begins to read his comic books over his shoulder and he waits for her to turn the pages.  Park starts talking about music with her and making her mix tapes, giving her batteries for her un-used walkman at home.  It isn't long before they're defying the odds and starting to have romantic feelings for each other.  But with Eleanor's abusive Step-Dad always in the background waiting to strike and Park's disapproving Mom, will they be able to make things work?  And when Eleanor is forced to leave hom yet again and go live with her Uncle out of state, will they be torn apart for good? 

     I absolutely loved this book.  Those are the only words that I have for it, even if they aren't quite the right ones.  Eleanor's home situation was something that hit really close to home for me.  I grew up as the poor kid in class, rejected and bullied by my classmates for being different.  Luckily, while my Dad was a verbally abusive alcoholic, he wasn't physically abusive.  But I do know what it feels like to be afraid to go home and to have no one at school to turn to.  Park's life is normal and happy for the most part, but he's struggling with identity issues and the idea that his Dad doesn't understand him, or love him as much as his brother, Josh. 

     I felt like the gradual build-up of the relationship was very believeable.  Eleanor's prickly personality and relctance to accept help or 'charity' was very real to me.  It's all about pride, when you really have nothing else left.  Whereas in most books I read gushy romance rubs me the wrong way, I felt like Eleanor and Park were both so innocent and sheltered, that it rang true to me.  She was old in other ways, but romance was strange and new to her.  There was always a hint of cynicism that kept the "I-can't-live-without-yous" from getting to sickly sweet and unpalatable.  The ending and the way their relationship sort of dies and gets pushed away because of the distance really smashed me to pieces as a reader.  But it was so true that I couldn't help but nod my head and sigh in understanding.  I think this might be one of the best books I've read this year and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes a good, realistic teen romance, but doesn't mind some heartbreak along with it.

VERDICT:  5/5  Stars

*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book's expected publication date is March 5th, 2013.*

You're Not MY Snow White...

Published: December 11th, 2012
Snow Whyte and the Queen of Mayhem
By: Melissa Lemon
Cedar Fort, Inc.
ISBN-13: 9781462111459

Stuck in her family's apple orchards, Kat's got plenty of work to do and only pesky Jeremy to help. But when Jeremy convinces her to run away, Kat will discover that nothing---and no one---in her life is quite what it seems. Wonderfully reimagined, this is the magical tale of Snow White as you've never read it before!

Review

     One thing that I hate more than ANYTHING is a misleading synopsis.  It's a good thing that I didn't read this one before I read the book, because it is totally misleading!  Katiyana is the Princess of Mayhem, but she has grown up in hiding at her Great-Uncle Barney's apple orchard, with no knowledge of her identity, or the fact that her Mother tried to have her killed before her Father saved her (and died in the process).  But Barney went blind when Kat became a teenager and with that blindness came anger, alcohol and violence.  Now the only person that Kat can rely on is the hired hand, Jeremy Simkins, who is rejected by everyone but her because of his family name.  When he convinces her to run away until he can marry her, Kat is taken in by seven dwarves, who come to love her.  But the Queen's magic mirror (which has a real person trapped inside) slips up and the Queen learns Kat is alive.  Will he be able to find a way to warn Kat of the Queen's evil plan to get rid of her once and for all?  And is the assassin sent by the Queen really all that he seems?  This was definitely different from any other Snow White re-telling that I've personally read!  I did like that the story was told from the magic mirror's point of view, and his connection to Kat was an interesting turn.  But Lemon didn't use that device to the fullest.  The mirror never really describes anything for us, but just gives us the barest insights into Kat's feelings and actions.  It's annoying and somewhat boring to read basics.  One of my favorite characters was Pokole, the dwarf, but really even he was two-dimensional as a character.  The romance with Jeremy was flat and the almost romance with the assassin (who has a secret identity) was so barely there, it isn't even really worth acknowledging.  The ending has a few great plot twists and reveals, but I felt like the so-called 'battle' with the Queen was too anti-climactic and very disappointing.  Overall, the twists at the end are the only thing saving this book for me as a reader, at all.  One thing I will say, is that for such a mediocre book the cover is beautiful.

VERDICT:  2.25/5  Stars

*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book was published on December 11th, 2012.*

Accidentally In Love

Published: February 1st, 2012
Secrets of an Accidental Duchess (Donovan Sisters # 2)
By: Jennifer Haymore
Forever
ISBN-13: 9780446573153

With her pale hair and slim figure, Olivia Donovan looks as fragile as fine china, and has been treated as such by her sisters ever since a childhood bout with malaria. But beneath her delicate facade, Olivia guards a bold, independent spirit and the kind of passionate desires proper young ladies must never confess...

It was a reckless wager, and one Max couldn't resist: seduce the alluring Olivia or forfeit part of his fortune. Yet the wild, soon-to-be Duke never imagined he'd fall in love with this innocent beauty. Nor could he have guessed that a dangerously unpredictable rival would set out to destroy them both. Now, Max must beat a Madman at his own twisted game-or forever lose the only woman to have ever won his heart.

Review

   Olivia Donovan has always been treated with caution by her family, due to an illness (malaria) that has plagued her since her childhood days in Antigua.  Olivia is kind, gentle and an obedient daughter - but she also has a passion for life and wishes should could be treated like everyone else.  Men want wives who are strong and can give them heirs, so Olivia expectes to never marry and as such makes no effort towards men at all.  Until Max, the Marquis of Halsey, comes into her life and turns her vows of celibacy upside down.  What she isn't aware of is that Max has signed a wager that he can seduce her with a rival noble, Fenwicke, who is angry that his own attempts to seduce Olivia failed (not to mention that he's married and a total rake).  Can Olivia and Max have a meaningful relationship, despite her illness and his somewhat less than pure foundation?  Will Fenwicke have his revenge for being spurned?  This was a fun book, that dealt with some serious issues.  Serena (the oldest, going by their dead sister Meg's name) is happily married and expecting, but suffers a miscarriage.  Jessica Donovan befriends a reclusive neighbor, only to learn that she is Fenwicke's wife and he abuses/rapes her on a regular basis.  The love story between Olivia and Max is mostly light-hearted with a little bit of a wrench thrown in the works when respectively her malaria flares up, and she finds out that it all started because of a bet.  Fenwicke was a truly sinister and love-to-hate villain - the best kind!  The book went fairly fast and the plot never really stalled in my opinion, except in how fast Olivia and Max become sexually intimate.  I feel like it was rushed and Olivia was far more blase than a woman of her times would have been, especially one as sheltered and ill as her.  Overall, a good read and one that carries the series along past the sophmore curse.

VERDICT:  3.75/5  Stars

* I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book was published February 1st, 2012.*

Love As Cold As Ice

Published: August 15th, 2012
The Ice Princess (The Princes Trilogy # 4)
By: Elizabeth Hoyt
Forever Yours
ASIN: B003VYBP8I

SEVEN NIGHTS OF SIN

As the madam of Aphrodite’s Grotto, the most infamous brothel in London, Coral Smythe knows everything possible about men’s needs and desires. Yet she’s never experienced the love of a single man—not even that of Captain Isaac Wargate whose hawk-like eyes stare at her with both condemnation…and lust.

SEVEN NIGHTS OF ECSTASY

Captain Wargate heartily disapproves of the sensuous madam who always wears a golden mask. She lures his officers from both his ship and their duty. But when Coral herself is offered up as the prize in a game of chance, Wargate impulsively enters…and wins.

SEVEN NIGHTS OF LOVE

Now the puritanical navy captain has just seven nights to learn everything he can about the mysterious madam and what she knows of a man’s desires. But when Coral is threatened by the new owner of Aphrodite’s Grotto, will Wargate take a chance on the woman beneath the mask…and on love?

Review

   This is the story of Coral Smythe, a madam of the most famous brothel in London, Aphrodite's Grotto.  She has spent her entire adulthood pleasing men and being left feeling cold.  She's never been in love or felt any true pleasure for herself.  It amuses her that the upright Captain Wargate, who comes to collect his men occasionally, seems to disparage and lust after her at the same time.  However, when the new top shareholder of the brothel, a cruel man, offers Coral as the prize in a high stakes game of chance Captain Wargate enters on impulse.  After winning the rights to Coral, he is determined to spend their seven nights getting to know what's underneath the mask she wears.  In such a short amount of time, Issac manages to raise her opinion of men and treat her like a woman instead of a prostitue unlike all the others.  But can they build a lasting relationship on their time together?  I felt cheated at the end of this story.  Yes, I kept in mind the fact that it is a novella and not a full book.  But if she was going to attempt to give Coral a happy ending, it should have occured that it was going to take an entire book to be believable.  I did not believe in the romance pretty much at all.  Issac was practically Puritanical, not interested in lowering himself into the bed of a prostitute.  I also had a really hard time believeing that there was anything like real love between them.  And could Coral really resolve all her issues in only seven days?  No freaking way!  As much as I was interested by the plot, the premise and the execution it just didn't work for me on the same level as the rest of the series did.  I honestly don't approve of novellas as a way to establish complicated plots and resolve them as beautifully as the ideas deserve.  If you're going to tell a story that is slightly complicated but doesn't ride on a intricate completion, that's what a novella is for in my opinion.  Disappointing, but still not a complete waste of time.

VERDICT:  2/5  Stars

*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This novella was published for the Kindle on June 1st, 2012.*