Hold My Hand

Expected Publication:  July 1st, 2014

Copper Magic

By: Julia Mary Gibson

Starscape/Tor

ISBN-13:  9780765332110

Can an unearthed talisman found on the shores of Lake Michigan save 12-year-old Violet's fractured family?  Exploring themes of Native American culture, ecology, and conservation, this historical fiction novel comes brilliantly to life.

The year is 1906, and twelve-year-old Violet Blake unearths an ancient talisman --a copper hand-- beside the stream where her mother used to harvest medicine.  Violet's touch warms the copper hand and it begins to reveal glimpses of another time.  Violet is certain that the copper hand is magic -- and if anyone is in need of its powers, it's Violet.  Her mother and adored baby brother are gone, perhaps never to return.  Her heartbroken father can't seem to sustain the failing farm on the outskirts of Pigeon Harbor, on the shores of Lake Michigan.

Surely the magic of the copper hand can make things right for Violet and restore her fractured family.  Violet makes a wish.  But her ignorant carelessness unleashes formiddable powers -- and her attempts to control them jeopardizes not only herself, but the entire town of Pigeon Harbor.

In Copper Magic, land and waters are alive with memories, intentions, and impulses.  Magic alters Violet and brings her gifts -- but not always the kind she thinks she needs.  First-time author Julia May Gibson brings Violet and her community to life in this impressive and assured debut.

Review

     Violet Blake has been living with just her father on their farm for months now, ever since her mother took her baby brother Francis (aka Fry) and left.  Violet doesn't know why she left, when she's coming back and is actually starting to believe that both her Mom and her brother are actually dead.  Twelve year old Violet is stuck between a child and a teenager, outgrowing her shabby clothes and trying to stay a kid, but being forced into responsibility be her meddling Aunt.  The property down by the lake has been "bought" by church people, who are setting up camp for the summer.  Violet makes friends with a preacher's kid and one day by the lake she finds a copper hand, that she thinks is magical.  Maybe the hand can bring back her family and put her life back to normal.  But when the copper hand unleashes powers that Violet can't control and that could cause a lot of harm, and it is taken away by priveleged people who don't understand it, it's up to Violet to save the hand and return it to where it belongs before it's too late.

     The main draw for me was the fact that this book is set in Michigan, near Lake Michigan.  It also didn't hurt that this was a historical fiction book set in my home state.  I love me some decent historical fiction.  The tone was very reminiscent of To Kill a Mockingbird, but without the stately wisdom that seems to assert itself in that novel (even with the main characters being children).  Violet Blake is our protagonist in this one, and while I get that kids were a hell of a lot more innocent/naieve/less jaded in the early 1900s for the most part, I just did NOT feel like I was reading something from the point of view of a twelve year old.  I honestly couldn't think of Violet as any older than nine or so years old.  Especially since most of this book centers around her unwavering belief in the magical powers of a hand made out of copper!

      Probably my favorite thing in this book as I was reading, ended up being the usage of Native American mysticism and culture to bring home the power of belief to make things change.  Also, I really loved the way Gibson portrayed the Native American people in this novel (Violet is actually the product of a half N.A. mother and a white father).  She doesn't ignore the racism and demeaning cultural attitudes of the time period, but still manages to make the characters rich and very developed.  They are never just convenient stereotypes.  There is also some beautiful imagery to do with the beaches, the Hotel that draws in the tourists every summer and the general natural beauties of Michigan.  The biggest complaint on my part would probably be the lack of personal change of Violet's part.  She spends the whole summer apprenticed to a famous lady photographer, trying to make wishes on a magical artifact and trying to retrieve the hand once it's been stolen.  Not to mention her issues with her father and her Aunt, who wants to make Violet into something she's not (and doesn't want to be) - a proper young lady.  Yet for all the heartache and trouble that the hand and her naievte bring into her life, Violet never seems to change all that much during the ensuing drama and tragedy.  Even the aftermath doesn't seem to affect her all that much.  I did appreciate the unresolved nature of the situation with Violet's Mom.  I liked that things were nowhere near as simple as she had made them, and that Violet and her Dad went in search of her Mom, instead of just taking the easy out, and having her return.  Overall, it's a very well written, historical fiction novel worth reading if you like a good mystical mystery.  I just feel like it belongs more in the middle grade catergorization than in the YA pool of novels.

VERDICT:  3/5  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 date is July 1st, 2014.*

Hooked On A Feeling

Expected Publication:  January 29th, 2013

Hooked (Hooked # 1)

By: Liz Fichera

Harlequin Teen

ISBN-13:  9780373210725

Get hooked on a girl named Fred... 

HE said: Fred Oday is a girl? Why is a girl taking my best friends spot on the boy's varsity golf team?

SHE said: Can I seriously do this? Can I join the boys' team? Everyone will hate me - especially Ryan Berenger.

HE said: Coach expects me to partner with Fred on the green? That is crazy bad. Fred's got to go - especially now that I can't get her out of my head. So not happening.

SHE said: Ryan can be nice, when he's not being a jerk. Like the time he carried my golf bag. But the girl from the rez and the spoiled rich boy from the suburbs? So not happening.

But there's no denying that things are happening as the girl with the killer swing takes on the boy with the killer smile...

Review

     Fred Oday just wants a chance to get into college and off of the reservation, where the only thing waiting for her is a harsh life and a crummy minimum wage job like the ones her parents have.  So when the Coach at the high school in town offers her a spot on the Boy's Varsity Golf team, Fred sees an opportunity to maybe win a scholarship and do what she loves at the same time.  When Ryan's best friend is kicked off of the team so Fred can have his spot, he decides to hate her instantly.  But the more he gets to know her, the more Ryan just might want to change his life for Fred, be a better person for her.  But when Ryan's friend Seth takes the pranks and cruel hazing tactics too far, will he be able to break away and do what he knows is right?  And by then will it be too late for him to win Fred back?  I thought this book was going to be a cute, fun romance about a girl who joins the boy's team and gets into a romance with a teammate.  Instead it ended up being a story about a girl dealing with racial prejudice and cruel hazing, so she could play golf and have a chance at a better life - away from her alcoholic Mother and the reservation they live on.  The one constant bright spot in Fred's life is her Father.  Her brother is gone too much to really be a shoulder to lean one.  Ryan Berenger was a spoiled, rich, selfish brat who only thought of himself.  I spent most of the book with my mouth open in disbelief as he continued to justify his  'friend' Seth's horrendous, psychotic behavior and side with him over Fred.  By the end of the book when they got together, I really couldn't care less about the supposed romance.  I was cheering for Fred, who helped the team win and finally gained a place of her own.  But I was disgusted that she still got back with Ryan after he supposedly 'changed' (just because he helped her family when they had an emergency situation) for the better.  And Seth's last minute change of heart was cliched beyond belief.  Overall, a depressing and disappointing read.  Most definitely NOT what I was expecting from a Harlequin Teen publication! The best part about it was the heroine-triumphs-at-sports angle, but I felt like the romance was superfluous (it could have made a difference if better developed). 

VERDICT:  2.5/5  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. It will be available for purchase on January 29th, 2013.**

Never Grow Up

Published: July 3rd, 2012
Tiger Lily
By: Jodi Lynn Anderson
Harper Teen
ISBN-13: 9780062003256

Before Peter Pan belonged to Wendy, he belonged to the girl with the crow feather in her hair. . . .

Fifteen-year-old Tiger Lily doesn't believe in love stories or happy endings. Then she meets the alluring teenage Peter Pan in the forbidden woods of Neverland and immediately falls under his spell.

Peter is unlike anyone she's ever known. Impetuous and brave, he both scares and enthralls her. As the leader of the Lost Boys, the most fearsome of Neverland's inhabitants, Peter is an unthinkable match for Tiger Lily. Soon, she is risking everything--her family, her future--to be with him. When she is faced with marriage to a terrible man in her own tribe, she must choose between the life she's always known and running away to an uncertain future with Peter.

With enemies threatening to tear them apart, the lovers seem doomed. But it's the arrival of Wendy Darling, an English girl who's everything Tiger Lily is not, that leads Tiger Lily to discover that the most dangerous enemies can live inside even the most loyal and loving heart.

From the "New York Times" bestselling author of "Peaches" comes a magical and bewitching story of the romance between a fearless heroine and the boy who wouldn't grow up.

Review

   Tiger Lily is just fine on her own.  She has never needed anyone except for Tik Tok (her adoptive Father and shaman of her tribe), so it's okay that most of her tribe shuns her.  Then she is told that her marriage has been arranged to Giant, a harsh and cruel man in her tibe who is more than twice her age.  Escaping into the woods by both day and night to try and avoid the reality of her situation, Tiger Lily crosses paths with both the pirates and Peter Pan.  Soon she is drawn in to world of Peter and the lost boys, visiting their burrow and developing romantic feelings for Peter, who is just as headstrong and brave as Tiger Lily herself.  But when the Englishman that Tiger Lily herself rescued begins to cause upheaval in the village and problems for Tik Tok, her only real family, she must decide if she will run away and become part of Peter's world permanently or take a position in the tribe and make things right among her people.  But the decision might not be hers anymore when another ship brings the Wendy-bird to the island and she manages to take Tiger Lily's place in Peter's heart.  Can Tiger Lily let him go once and for all or will she do something that she'll regret forever?  I was alternately amazed and ambivalent while reading this book (but mostly amazed).  I loved that Anderson told the story from Tinker Bell's point of view.  It really made for some interesting observations, especially since Tinker Bell can see the thoughts and emotions inside people's heads.  I loved that Tiger Lily's people, the Sky Eaters, accepted Tik Tok's penchant for dressing like a woman AND a man.  The fierceness of Tiger Lily's aloneness and her reluctance to even let Pine Sap (pretty much her best friend in the tribe who is shunned by the other boys for being weak) in her life.  Peter is wild, crude, obnoxious and totally dangerous - yet at the same time he's thoughtful, caring, innocent, loyal and has a wonderful sense of adventure.  I loved that Tiger Lily and Peter were on pretty equal footing and the interactions with the lost boys were pretty hilarious.  The darker undertones to the book and it's semi-not-so happy ending was what made it special beautiful to me as a reader.  Yet at the same time it helped add to the feeling of disconnect that I got from Tink's narration versus having Tiger Lily tell her own story.  It was an innovative and entirely fresh re-telling and I'm glad that I read it.  I highly recommend it for Peter Pan fans, but it's not one that I will personally be re-reading.

VERDICT:  4/5  Stars

*No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book is now available in stores and online.*

The Four Stages of Posession

Published: September 13th, 2011
After Obsession
By: Carrie Jones and Steven E. Wedel
Bloomsbury USA Children's
ISBN-13: 9781599906812


Aimee and Alan have secrets. Both teens have unusual pasts and abilities they prefer to keep hidden. But when they meet each other, in a cold Maine town, they can't stop their secrets from spilling out. Strange things have been happening lately, and they both feel that something-or someone- is haunting them. They're wrong. Despite their unusual history and powers, it's neither Aimee nor Alan who is truly haunted. It's Alan's cousin Courtney who, in a desperate plea to find her missing father, has invited a demon into her life-and into her body. Only together can Aimee and Alan exorcise the ghost. And they have to move quickly, before it devours not just Courtney but everything around her.


Filled with heart-pounding romance, paranormal activity, and rich teen characters to love-and introducing an exciting new YA voice, Steven Wedel-this novel is exactly what Carrie Jones fans have been waiting for. Meet your next obsession.

Review

   Aimee Avery just wants things to get back to normal, the way they were before her best friend Courtney's Father was lost at sea.  Alan Parsons feels the same, having been forced by his Mother to move from Oklahoma to Maine, so that his cousin Courtney and her Mom can have help keeping their house.  Aimee has noticed that things aren't right in the small town she's lived in her whole life.  People are acting angry and just plain mean spirited and Courtney is acting secretive.  Her boyfriend Blake has become jealous, cruel and overly posessive upon the arrival of Alan - almost bordering on racist regarding Alan's status as half Navajo.  It turns out that the problems in town are being caused by an entity who has plagued the area for hundreds of years intermittently, the River Man.  He is demonic presence who is tied to the river near Aimee's home where her Mom drowned when she was little.  It was always thought that her Mom's death was a suicide brought on by bi-polar disorder, but it turns out to have roots far deeper than that.  She was trying to protect the town and her family from the River Man.  Aimee is also attempting to deal with her ability to heal people and the fact that things she sees in dreams come true.  Alan is also having dark dreams, connected to his cougar spirit guide Onawa, who says he has a great destiny as a spirit warrior.  It turns out that Courtney summoned the demon in an attempt to reach her Dad and now it is posessing her.  With time running out, Aimee and Alan have to find a way to defeat the River Man and save Courtney from her own destructiveness - while dealing with their attraction to each other.  I really enjoyed this book!  I honestly liked this a lot better than Carrie's Need series which I felt stumbled after the first book's promising start.  I enjoyed the alternating points of view, which blended together so well I didn't overtly notice I was reading two different authors.  I liked the interactions and how real the characters felt.  I also wish to thank Carrie and Steven for the presence of REAL parents/parental figures and family situations.  Oftentimes in YA paranormal books the parents are non-existence.  Gramps and Aimee's brother are hilarious.  I love that they sell a cheeto looking like Marilyn Monroe on eBay.  I couldn't put this book down once I started although it was more because the plot sucked me in than the characters themselves.  That ended up being okay though, and the ending was wonderful.  Also, I liked the use of Native American legends, practices and culture to help move along the main storyling.  Very well done and a highly commendable job not being cliched or overdone.  I would recommend this to anyone who likes YA paranormal with a fresh twist and is very sick of the same old crap.  This was something welcoming and new.

VERDICT:  5/5  Stars

*No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book is now available in stores and online.*