Catch Me If You Can

Expected Publication:  September 24th, 2013

Find Me

By: Romily Bernard

HarperTeen

ISBN-13:  9780062229038

“Find Me.”

These are the words written on Tessa Waye’s diary. The diary that ends up with Wick Tate. But Tessa’s just been found . . . dead.

Wick has the right computer-hacking skills for the job, but little interest in this perverse game of hide-and-seek. Until her sister Lily is the next target.

Then Griff, trailer-park boy next door and fellow hacker, shows up, intent on helping Wick. Is a happy ending possible with the threat of Wick’s deadbeat dad returning, the detective hunting him sniffing around Wick instead, and a killer taunting her at every step?

Foster child. Daughter of a felon. Loner hacker girl. Wick has a bad attitude and sarcasm to spare.

But she’s going to find this killer no matter what.

Because it just got personal.

Review

     Wick has been in foster care now for long enough to know that the only person who can really help her, is herself.  So she is farming out her hacking skills to make extra cash for when she and her sister Lily are inevitably (in her opinion) kicked out of their current placement.  She's just trying to keep her head down and stay unnoticed at school and at home.  So when her former friend Tessa Waye appears to have committed suicide, Wick is shocked to find her diary laying on the doorstep.  Someone wants Wick to find out what really happened to Tessa - who killed her and why.  It will take all of Wick's hacking skills, the help of Griff, the one boy she just might be able to let in (with secrets of his own) and her inner detective to find the truth,  But when Wick's explosive Dad is released from prison and her sister Lily becomes the killer's next target, just what will Wick have to sacrifice to save Lily - and give her a life worth having?

     This was definitely different from my normal reads.  Normally I don't go for thriller/suspense books, but honestly most of the time this really didn't feel like it was committed to those as its primary genres.  For the the vast majority of this book, I felt like the plot was fixated on the criminal, family drama of Wick and Lily's Dad, their Mom's suicide and the foster system they're being bounced around in.  To me, this book was a lot more about a girl who has been bashed around by life learning to trust someone and change her life with the help of others.  Not to mention the crazed, pedophiliac killer.  Can't forget that of course!  The relationship between Wick and her sister was one of my main problems with this book which I otherwise enjoyed.  I just did not believe they were as close as they both said they were.  Wick did everything for Lily, who treated her like dirt and basically turned on Wick when they got taken in by a couple that treats them like their real daughters.  I wasn't feeling the sort of togetherness that Wick waxed on about so much.  

     Wick and Griff's relationship was also kind of a bit much for me.  They didn't even ever really talk to each other and all of the sudden when he's drawn into a hacking job with Wick's Dad's "friend" they start a flirtation, which leads to Wick trusting him implicitly in regards to her entire life.  This includes her half-cocked plans to draw out the killer using Facebook and tracking I.P. addresses from his online activity.  I am glad, in a way, that the book was more character focused than story focused.  Because if the story had been the point, this would have been just like reading some cheap paperback thriller, only even more predictable if that's at all possible.  I knew pretty early in who the killer was and the "motivations" behind it.  Really the mystery was non-existent and the only real suspense was how it was all going to go down when Wick faced off with the killer.  I liked this book quite a bit, but it was definitely NOT the best YA thriller/mystery I've ever read - not even close to it.  I would recommend this for some light fluff, maybe a good pick for reluctant readers as it did go by awfully quick.  If you're in search of complexity, pass this one by cause it'll only disappoint you.

VERDICT:  3.5/5  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.  This book's expected publication is September 24th, 2013.*

Cherry, Everything Is Alright

Expected Publication:  September 10th, 2013

Cherry Money Baby

By: John M. Cusick

Candlewick Press

ISBN-13:  9780763655570

Hollywood glitz collides with workingclass aspirations in this satirical tale of an impulsive starlet and a sharp-witted small-town teen.

Cherry Kerrigan loves her simple life, her family’s tiny trailer, even working at Burrito Barn. Forget college — she’s marrying her sweetheart from next door. But here comes Ardelia Deen, a glamorous starlet who sweeps Cherry into a world of fast cars and penthouse parties. Now Cherry’s small-town life just seems so . . . small. When Ardelia drops a bomb of an offer — one involving a baby — Cherry knows her life will change forever, no matter what she decides. John M. Cusick focuses his signature wit on Hollywood royalty and the wide-eyed dreams of Small Town, U.S.A. in a novel about discovering who you are . . . and changing your mind.

Review

     Cherry Kerrigan is just a small-town girl, working in a burrito place and living in a trailer park with her Dad and little Brother.  In love with the boy next door, Cherry is loving her life just the way it is.  She doesn't even really see the appeal in leaving for the great world outside the town lines.  When Lucas, her sweetheart, asks her to marry him life is just that much sweeter.  But when Cherry saves movie star Ardelia Deen (who is in town shooting her latest movie) by giving her the Heimlich, things starts to change.  All of the sudden Cherry is on T.V. and being watched by all of America, made out as stupid trailer trash who doesn't know anything at all.  Hanging out with Ardelia begins to make Cherry wonder what she really wants in life and if staying behind while her best friend goes to college is really good enough after all.  Agreeing to help Ardelia find a surrogate to carry a baby for her, Cherry's life is consumed by her new friends, causing the gap to grow between herself and her old life.  Can she find a place to belong or will she be stuck between Hollywood, high society and the trailer park?  

     Oh my goodness!  This book was not at all what I was expecting, but that's in the best way possible.  Cherry Kerrigan is smart, but she's a sarcastic bitch who doesn't try hard enough in school.  She doesn't want to go away to college and is proud of her life just the way it is.  I love Cherry so much.  Even when she's being a pain in the neck she's still really likeable, or at the very least really funny.  The fact that Cusick avoids caricaturizing her as stupid trailer trash really endears him to me as a writer.  The romantic relationship between her and Lucas is wonderful, with a true connection between them.  Also, the depiction of an interracial relationship (Lucas is black, Cherry is white) in a small, hick town was touched upon with an episode that takes place on the street when a cop asks Cherry if Lucas is bothering her.  Cherry of course, basically tells the cop to go f*** himself and calls him Barney Fife.  But it's not the main focus of their romance which is truly awesome.  The biggest focus is on the trust between them and how it  transforms from absolute to tenuous throughout the book.  But the love is still overflowing between them and I love the graffiti art of Lucas that connects them on an even deeper level.

     The family issues were so realistic that it was amazing to me when I was reading it.  Not just for Cherry, but for Ardelia too.  Ardelia's close friendship, practically sisterhood with her friend Spanner was antagonistic but loving.  The scene closer to the end of the book when Ardelia humiliates her in front of some wealthy, 'important' guests was hard to read if simply for the fact of how easy it is to take a friend's love for granted.  The relationship between Cherry and her Dad, a struggling auto-mechanic who wants more for his kids, was full of warmth, discipline and I love that he was a major presence in her life (even though he was constantly working and not always able to be there).  There was a huge contrast between that and the pronounced lack of a Mom in her life.  When the whole surrogate selection plot pops up, Ardelia and Cherry's insecurities and gaps in parental education become painful to witness.

     Life in the fast lane with partying, movie stars and drugs is something that starts to get a hold on Cherry at times.  But just when you think she's starting to lose herself, she does something that totally brings her back to herself.  As the book goes along, especially after Cherry gets high and almost cheats on Lucas and a tragedy befalls her family (pretty much financially ruining them), she has to make some pretty hard decisions about how to make things right.  I don't agree with other reviewers that the direction of the last portion of this book turned cliche.  Yes, if it were any other book I might say it did.  But with the amount of sheer emotion packed into every moment and confrontation, it was anything but cliched to me as a reader.  To me the ending was perfect and the friendship between Ardelia and Cherry throughout this book was a high point for me.  It was about the journey of figuring out who you are when the world proves to be scarier and bigger than you ever imagined.  Movie star or girl in a trailer park, life kicks you in the ass either way.  I highly recommend this book to fans of Where the Heart Is, who also like a book with some sharp (funny) edges to go along with the warm and fuzzy emotions.

VERDICT:  5/5  Stars

*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley and 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 10th, 2013.*

Young and Beautiful, Nothing Left But My Aching Soul

Published:  April 30th, 2013
Gorgeous
By: Paul Rudnick
Scholastic Press
ISBN-13:  9780545464260

Inner beauty wants out.

When eighteen-year-old Becky Randle’s mother dies, she’s summoned from her Missouri trailer park to meet Tom Kelly, the world’s top designer. He makes her an impossible offer: He’ll create three dresses to transform Becky from a nothing special girl into the most beautiful woman who ever lived.

Becky thinks Tom is a lunatic, or that he’s producing a hidden camera show called World’s Most Gullible Poor People. But she accepts, and she’s remade as Rebecca. When Becky looks in the mirror, she sees herself – an awkward mess of split ends and cankles. But when anyone else looks at Becky, they see pure five-alarm hotness.

Soon Rebecca is on the cover of Vogue, the new Hollywood darling, and dating celebrities. Then Becky meets Prince Gregory, heir to the British throne, and everything starts to crumble. Because Rebecca aside, Becky loves him. But to love her back, Gregory would have to look past the blinding Rebecca to see the real girl inside. And Becky knows there’s not enough magic in the world.

Review

 

     All Becky Randle has ever been sure of in her eighteen years was that she loved her Mom, and that she was nothing special and out of the ordinary.  Becky definitely wasn't going to be winning any beauty contests in the future.  Then when her Mom dies, she finds a phone number for Tom Kelly.  Curious, Becky calls the number and is invited to New York where she is given a startling offer: let Tom make her into the most beautiful girl in the world with three one-of-a-kind dresses.  Becky thinks that he's using her for some sort of joke, but goes along with it anyways.  Soon enough she's a famous actress, dating a secretly gay teen idol and on the cover of Vogue - she's transformed into 'Rebecca'.  Then she meets Prince Gregory, heir to the British throne, and wants to marry him more than anything.   But is it true love, for unselfish reasons?  If Becky wants to keep her beauty it has to be, because unless she's married a year after becoming Rebecca she'll be transformed into her ordinary self again.  Can Becky keep the beauty that has been given to her through mysterious, magical means or will she become ordinary once more?   And either way, can she hang onto true love once she's found it?

     I love fairy tales in any form, retold and originals are all beautiful in my opinion.  So I went into this Cinderella story a little apprehensive, as it's written by a man and the synopsis makes it sound like a Hollywood Report on William and Kate, or something like that.  But what I got was a smart, witty, emotional novel about a young woman's journey of self-discovery - with a romance thrown in for good measure, in an entirely plausible way!  Becky Randle has lived with a morbidly obese Mom for her entire life, in an East Trawley trailer park in the backwoods of Missouri.  She's been passed over and left out her entire life, because while not horrendously ugly she is unfailingly ordinary.  But Becky has a wonderful sense of humor and I especially loved the dynamic between her best friend, fellow supermarket cashier Rocher (pronounced Ro-share and named for the chocolates) and herself.  Rocher has an especially wild and colorful personality and a fiercely loyal heart that makes for a nice contrast to Becky's, sensible and somewhat cautious nature.  The interactions with Tom Kelly were interesting and I enjoyed his no-nonsense attitude.  And unlike many other readers who were confused about the slightly murky, ambiguous nature of the magic that transforms Becky I thought it was a nice touch.  Sometimes magic can just be magic and skate by unexplained.

     The romance with Prince Gregory did fall somewhat flat to me when reading.  I feel like the start of their connection was entirely superficial on Becky's side and the marriage stipulation caused her to chase him for his title.  The main reason she seems to want to marry him at first is for all of the good and charitable things she could do as a Princess.  Becky wants to make a difference and use her beauty for the good of the world.  But does she love him?  I didn't think so.  Even after the disastrous wedding when Becky becomes herself again, I felt like her feelings weren't entirely true.  I loved the way she just falls into a job as a hotel concierge with all the celebrity and royalty info she gained while beautiful making her perfect for the job.  I did like the conclusion of the book.  My favorite thing was the scene where the Queen is sizing up Becky as a possible Granddaughter-In-Law and having full conversations with her animals about her.  There is some wonderful description in this novel, but the truly witty dialogue and one-liners are definitely the shining crown atop its head.  The revelation of Becky's Mom's past and Tom's true intentions/life experiences I did feel were a little over the top.  Also, this book is definitely older YA with it's allusions to sex, drugs, and other more mature content.  Overall this book was a surprisingly great read with a huge heart and a sharp tongue, that definitely made me both laugh and cry quite a bit.  Recommended for fans of fairy tales, who would like a little more edge in their retellings.

 

VERDICT:  4.85/5  Stars

 

**No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book is now available in stores, online, or maybe even at your local library.**

Welcome Caller, I'm Confused

Published: May 1st, 2012
Welcome Caller, This Is Chloe
By: Shelley Coriell
Amulet Books
ISBN-13: 9781419701917

Big-hearted Chloe Camden is the queen of her universe until her best friend shreds her reputation and her school counselor axes her junior independent study project. Chloe is forced to take on a meaningful project in order to pass, and so she joins her school’s struggling radio station, where the other students don’t find her too queenly. Ostracized by her former BFs and struggling with her beloved Grams’s mental deterioration, lonely Chloe ends up hosting a call-in show that gets the station much-needed publicity and, in the end, trouble. She also befriends radio techie and loner Duncan Moore, a quiet soul with a romantic heart. On and off the air, Chloe faces her loneliness and helps others find the fun and joy in everyday life. Readers will fall in love with Chloe as she falls in love with the radio station and the misfits who call it home.

Review

   Chloe Camden has a big personality and loves vintage shoes.  She has what may seem like a perfect life from the outside - at least she always thought it was.  Until her Grams and her Mom started an all out war over her Grams' mental lapses.   Until her best friends started ignoring her, spreading rumors about her and being nasty to her in public.  Also, her junior idependent study project was nixed by the new counselor, so she has to work at the school's dilapidated radio station instead.  Chloe has a hard time becoming part of the station until she starts hosting a call-in radio show.  Then she becomes popular again, by learning to listen to the problems of other people for a change.  But can Chloe find a way to help Duncan, the boy who is stealing her heart, when his life is becoming a train wreck?  Also, can she find a way to get her Mom and Grams to compromise and finally listen to each other?  This book wasn't fantastic, it wasn't horrible - it was just OK.  That disappointed me a lot.  I wanted to fall in love with it and certain parts of it let me accomplish that.  Other parts of the book were just so far removed from emotional connection it isn't funny.  The family and friend issues interested me and I liked Chloe from the start, even if she WAS self-centered.  She wasn't that way on purpose, but it did get annoying at times.  Yet, I loved the comic relief parts of the book just as much as the dramatic parts.  They just didn't mesh together that well.  This book couldn't decide whether it wanted to be a drama book a la Sarah Dessen or a comic book a la Jaclyn Moriarty.  My favorite part of the whole book was Chloe's Grams, who is just KICK-ASS.  I also loved the radio station misfits, who each have adorably quirky personalities that you can't help but love as a reader.  But the whole situation with Duncan's family felt a little too after-school specialy in the way it was handled, same with the situation of her ex-BFFs.  Duncan's romance with Chloe also left a lot to be desired.  Overall, I'm not sorry I read it but it was pretty mediocre and that makes me sad.

VERDICT:  2.75/5  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 May 1st, 2012.*