Reflections of a Small Town Family

Published:  September 1st, 1991

What's Eating Gilbert Grape

By: Peter Hedges

Simon & Schuster

ISBN-13:  9780671038540

Just about everything in Endora, Iowa (pop. 1, 091 and dwindling) is eating Gilbert Grape, a twenty-four-year-old grocery clerk who dreams only of leaving.  His enormous mother, once the town sweetheart, has been eating nonstop ever since her husband's suicide, and the floor beneath her T.V. chair is threatening to cave in.  Gilbert's long-suffering older sister, Amy, still mourns the death of Elvis, and his knockout younger sister has become hooked on makeup, boys, and Jesus -- in that order.

But the biggest event on the horizon for all the Grapes is the eighteenth birthday of Gilbert's younger brother, Arnie, who is a living miracle just for having survived so long.  As the Grapes gather in Endora, a mysterious beauty glides through town on a bicycle and rides circles around Gilbert, until he begins to see a new vision of his family and himself...

Review

       I did not even know this was a book until I ran across it by chance on Goodreads, on some list or another.  If you don't like personal reviews, abandon ship now because this shit's about to get real up-close-and-personal -- because this book was super-personal and self-revelatory for me as a human being.  That doesn't mean I will necessarily be gushing about it to everyone who asks for book recommendations, because I think this is a book that not everyone will understand.  Thank you Peter Hedges, you freaking bastard, for that unwanted look in the mirror.  I have a confession to make: I am Gilbert Grape.  We might not have the same name, live in exactly the same circumstances, or feel exactly the same about everything, but we are the same person where it counts the most.  We are the one who stays, the one who takes care of everyone else.  

       Gilbert Grape is someone who has gotten sucked into being the breadwinner and pretty much SOLE provider for his family, whom he both loves and hates at the same time.  He lives with his mother Bonnie Grape who is so obsese that the floor is caving in under her, his sister Amy who is selfless and good (and who deserves better than wasting her youth being mother to her siblings), his younger sister Ellen who is a pretentious brat (verging on slut at times) and his brother Arnie, who is mentally handicapped, never seeming older than five or six years old mentally.  Gilbert works at the local grocery store, that is slowly going under due to the new superstore in town.  He's worked for the owner Mr. Lamson for seven years, and believes in loyalty to the man (and the business) who has been a father figure/oasis for him in the midst of his family issues.  Also, Gilbert has been in a sexual affair with Betty Carver, the insurance man's wife, for about the same amount of time.  He feels trapped in by his family, his dumb-ass friend Tucker, his job, and Endora in general.  

       Things are building up and feelings are coming to head, as Arnie's thought-to-be-impossible eighteenth birthday draws nearer and the rest of the Grape siblings make their way home.  The Girl from Michigan also shakes things up for Gilbert, making him think of his life in new ways, even if they're not always pleasant or easy.  Can the Grapes begin to let go of past hurts and move on, or will they continue to stagnate, with Gilbert "shrinking," as Arnie puts it?  This was uncomfortable to the max.  I saw myself at the age I am now (24) working a dead end retail job, supporting my family because no one else can/will.  I am also not perfect.  In the moments Gilbert calls his brother a "retard" I see myself with my mentally ill mother, and I'm ashamed.  Not to say that I'm a monster, but I lose my temper too.  I am "shrinking," letting things go unsaid and being everything for everyone.  I also see myself in Momma & Amy, eating all of my feelings and multiplying in size.  But this novel is also hopeful, because as the ending tells us, nothing lasts forever.  Things, people and hardships cycle in and out of life.  A beautifully harsh portrait of the American Dream dying in the Midwest, only to be partially re-invented by the time the book ends.  A story that'll stay with me, but I don't see myself revisiting it often.  Highly recommended if you're brave and daring.

VERDICT:  4/5  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.*

Favorite Quotes

"I'm told women scream when they give birth because of the intense pain.  And I think about how easily life can slide away, like thawing ice.  And how it's only the living that scream."

"You can tell the idyllic nature of a family by the upkeep of its picnic table.  Ours is its own indictment.  We are splintering and peeling.  We rot."

Positively Worthwhile

Expected Publication:  March 3rd, 2015

Positively Beautiful

By: Wendy Mills

Bloomsbury USA Childrens

ISBN-13:  9781619633414

16-year-old Erin is a smart if slightly dorky teenager, her life taken up with her best friend Trina, her major crush on smoky-eyed, unattainable Michael, and fending off Faith, the vision of perfection who's somehow always had the knife in for Erin.  Her dad, a pilot, died when she was very young, but Erin and her mom are just fine on their own.

Then everything changes forever one day after school when Erin's mom announces she has breast cancer.  And then there's even worse news to come.  Horrified, Erin discovers that her grandmother's death from cancer is almost certainly linked, the common denominator a rare gene mutation that makes cancer almost inevitable.  And if two generations of women in the family had this mutation, what does that mean for Erin?  The chances she's inherited it are frighteningly high.  Would it be better to know now and have preemptive surgery or spend as much life as she has left in blissful ignorance?

As Erin grapples with her terrible dilemma, her life starts to spiral downwards, alleviated only by the flying lessons she starts taking with grumpy Stew and his little yellow plane, Tweetie Bird.  Up in the sky, following in her dad's footsteps, Erin finds freedom chasing the horizon.  Down on the ground it's a different story, and facing betrayal from Trina, humiliation from Faith, and a world of disappointment with Michael, Erin knows she must discover the truth about herself.  Sure enough, she's positive for the gene that's slowly killing her mom.

Suddenly, Erin's life has turned into a nightmare, and the only person she can truly talk to is a girl called Ashley who she meets online.  But when, in a moment of madness, Erin flies away with Tweetie Pie to find her new friend, she finds herself on a journey that will take her not only through shock and despair -- but ultimately to a new understanding of the true meaning of beauty, meaning, and love.

Review

       Why is it so much harder to write a review for a book you loved, than for one you hated?  All I know is that this one particularly resonated with me.  Erin is someone who just coasts through life, not wanting to take any risks.  Her Dad was a stunt pilot and died in a plane crash when she was little.  Ever since then, Erin has taken a page out of her overly cautious Mom's book, reveling in the status quo.  She thinks life is enough with her unacted-upon crush on Michael, her close friendship with the loud/unique Trina, and the good relationship with her Mom.  Then Erin finds out that her Mom has breast cancer and that because of a gene mutation, she might eventually get it (or some other cancer) as well.  On top of this, after a couple quasi-dates with Michael (courtesy of Trina), mean girl Faith has started bullying her and turning the entire junior class against her.  The only thing keeping her going is her flying lessons and the online communication with her gene-positive friend Ashley.  When Erin finds out from an online genetic test that she's postive for the mutation, it's the last straw.   Erin goes on an unsanctioned journey to meet Ashley and get away from the harsh realities of her own life.  But will Erin find what she's looking for?  And will it be in the way that she wanted?

        Let me just get this out of the way: Erin is kind of a selfish brat for most of this book.  Yes, she has a lot to deal with and maybe I'm just too far into the adult perspective to understand a teenager's angst sympathetically anymore.  But the way she just disregards the individual situations of Chad, Trina, her Mom, and even Ashley, kind of got on my nerves.  Plus, the whole 'romance' with Michael was so childish and viewed through rose-colored glasses (at first, anyhow), that I couldn't help but roll my eyes.  He was such a douchebag, pretending that he was so deep when really he was just afraid to keep living.  And that's what this whole book comes down to, really.  How do you go on living when you don't know for sure how long you have left, or if a horrible disease will take you down?  Erin's relationship with Ashley (which was something unexpected), her closeness with her Mom, the possibility of a new romance, and the flying lessons are all things that have the power to take  her away from her self-pity.  Is it better to know if you have the mutation, or to live without knowing?  I won't say anything more to avoid spoiling the book, but I was on the verge of bawling at the end and I can't remember the last book that made me cry!  Overall, a beautiful and thought-provoking read that I'd recommend to adults and teens alike.

VERDICT:  4.5/5  Stars

**I reviewed this book as part of Around the World ARC Tours, run by the lovely Princess Bookie.  No money or favors were exchanged for this review.  This book's expected publication date is March 3rd, 2015.**

Scandal, Starlets, and Attempted Murder

Expected Publication:  March 3rd, 2015

Dead To Me

By: Mary McCoy

Disney-Hyperion

ISBN-13:  9781423187127

"Don't believe anything they say."

Those were the last words that Annie spoke to Alice before turning her back on their family and vanishing without a trace.  Alice spent four years waiting and wondering when the impossibly glamorous sister she idolized would return to her -- and what their Hollywood-insider parents had done to drive her away.

When Annie does turn up, the blond, broken stranger lying in a coma has no answers for her.  But Alice isn't a kid anymore, and this time she won't let anything stand between her and the truth, no matter how ugly.  The search for those who beat Annie and left her for dead leads Alice into a treacherous world of tough-talking private eyes, psychopathic movie stars, and troubled starlets -- and onto the trail of a young runaway who is the sole witness to an unspeakable crime.  What this girl knows could shut down a criminal syndicate and put Annie's attacker behind bars -- if Alice can find her first.  And she isn't the only one looking.

Review

     A bit of a change of pace from my normal reading, what with the noir and all.  Not my usual, but I do enjoy a noir mystery film from time to time - I even took a Film Noir class in college.  Would you believe that some of it actually stuck?  That said, this is also set during what could be conceivably called the Golden Age of Hollywood, when there were so many stars and great films it's almost unreal.  Add into that particular time period an average teenaged girl, with a father who is a promoter in the film business and whose sister left home years ago without a backwards glance.  The girl, Alice, is startled to receive a call from the hospital that her sister Annie has been found almost beaten to death and they need her to come up there.  When she meets a private eye in the hospital room, who claims to be Annie's friend, things spiral completely out of control.  It becomes a game of cat and mouse, with the very real danger of death just around the corner.  Is this a mystery that Alice can survive?

     I appreciated that it's pretty clear whodunnit, and that's not where the mystery lies.  The mystery of the story is the motivations, the connections and the how of the situation!  There is a lot of action and I was always on the edge of my seat.  No character was truly safe and the psycopathic movie star described in the book summary was truly terrifying once he became a major player in the novel.  The reasons were not quite what I was expecting, but with the sleazy side of 1940s Hollywood being what it was, it wasn't entirely surprising in and of itself.  Mostly, the bits and pieces of this one - story, plotting, characters, etc. - came together to form an entirely pleasant reading experience and genuinely intriguing mystery.  This is an author I will definitely be watching in the future.  Please excuse the vagueness of this review, as I'm trying to avoid spoilers due to the March 2015 release date!!!

VERDICT:  4/5  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 March 3rd, 2015.**

Selling Hell To a Bishop

Expected Publication:  September 16th, 2014

Sway

By: Kat Spears

St. Martin's Griffin

ISBN-13:  9781250051431

In Kat Spears' hilarious and often poignant debut, high school senior Jesse Alderman, or "Sway," as he's known, could sell hell to a bishop.  He also specializes in getting things people want -- term papers, a date with the prom queen, fake IDs.  He has few close friends and he never EVER lets emotions get in the way.  For Jesse, life is simply a series of business transactions.

But when Ken Foster, captain of the football team, leading candidate for homecoming King, and all-around jerk, and hires Jesse to help him win the heart of the angelic Bridget Smalley, Jesse finds himself feeling all sorts of things.  While following Bridget and learning the intimate details of her life, he falls helplessly in love for the first time.  He also finds himself in an accidental friendship with Bridget's belligerent and self-pitying younger brother who has cerebral palsy.  Suddenly, Jesse is visiting old folks at a nursing home in order to run into Bridget, and offering his time to help the less fortunate, all the while developing a bond with this young man who idolizes him.  Could the tin man really have a heart after all?

Review

     So, this book turned around my reading slump in the best of ways.  I feel like there has been very little amazing contemporary romance/whatever in my reading so far this year.  I actually picked this up expecting absolutely nothing, and the description of this as yet another Cyrano De Bergerac knock-off did nothing to interest me.  I got this through the tour site I'm part of on a fleeting whim.  Boy am I ever glad that I did!  This one is told in first-person, by the main character Jesse, whose sense of humor and choice of language leave a lot to be desired.  Not to mention the less than legal activities he is most well known for among the other kids at his school - even the adults come to him asking for favors!  The overall tone and balance of emotion and humor reminded me of two of my favorite contemporary reads of last year, Cherry Money Baby and Firecracker.

     Jesse "Sway" Alderson is the go-to guy for anything you want: drugs, exam papers, favors of an indeterminate nature and whatever else you want - for a price.  So when Ken Foster, the moronic asshole captain of the football team, comes to Jesse asking for help with getting the saintly Bridget Smalley as his girlfriend, Jesse agrees to do it.  But following Bridget around and getting to know her causes Jesse to grow a conscience and fall in love.  How can he let Bridget be with Ken, knowing the whole thing is a lie?  And what effect will all the deceit, growing feelings and new friendships out of random circumstance have on the rest of his life?  Can Sway make things right, or will Jesse be stuck cleaning up the biggest mess he's ever made?

     Jesse doesn't care to censor himself.  He just says whatever pops into his head first, consequences be damned, and I truly admire that!  There are a lot of people in his life: his gothy and sarcastic best friend Joey, his distant alcoholic father, Carter from the football team, a drug dealer named Digger, truly scary supplier Skinhead Rob, and his ex-girlfriend Heather.  But he never really connects to anyone until he meets cranky Mr. Dunkleman at the old folk's home and uses him as his pretend grandfather.  Another nail in the coffin was the shine he takes to Bridget's kid brother Pete, always calling him on his shit and never treating him as disabled because of his condition.  He calls Pete retarded to his face!  The romance in this was sweet, but this book was more about self-realization than anything.  What can we do to fix things, when we realize that our entire life is built around a philosophy that could cause us to lose the one thing we actually want?  Another big part of this book is Jesse coming to terms with living again after his mother's death by way of pill overdose.  He doesn't know whether to feel everything or nothing at all.  I loved that the ending isn't wrapped in a neat little bow, with every loose thread tied up.  We never do see whether Pete and Jesse get close again after their blowout.  Or the fallout of Skinhead Rob's ultimatum.  The open-endedness was nice for a change though.  A lot more like real life!  I absolutely love this book and if you want to be an emotional yo-yo, you should just pick it up already!

Favorite Quotes:

"Why do you call him that?" Pete asked.  "Sway?"

"Because he is sway," Carter said simply.  Pete looked at me but I just shook my head and turned to stare out the plate glass window at the deserted main street.

"But what does it mean?" Pete asked.

"You never heard of sway?" Carter asked, baffled by Pete's question.  "No."

Carter shrugged.  "Sway ain't somethin' you can define.  A brother who's got sway is the man -- don't have to try to be cool, just ...is.  Jesse's as cool as the underside of my pillow.  He's so slick, he could convince you that I'm white, have you believin' it like it's gospel."  

Carter turned his attention to me as he said, "I thought you were ed-you-catin' this boy."

In the haze between consciousness and oblivion I mumbled crazy shit and started to shake with the cold.  Joey covered me with a blanket, then curled up on her narrow bed beside me and held me close as she stroked my hair.  Carter sat behind the bend in my legs and they warmed me with the heat from their bodies.

"I wanted to die," I said into my chest, my voice a grunt as I jerked with another shudder of cold.  "I want to die."

"I know," Joey said, and shushed me and kissed me on the forehead.  "I know.  But you can't die.  If you die, I'll be all alone."

"Shit," Carter said, and I felt him start to shake with quiet sobs as I drifted into the black.

Neutral Milk Hotel's "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" drifted through the air from Joey's iPod, and I remember thinking how appropriate it would be to die listening to that song.

VERDICT:  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 date is September 16th, 2014.*

Journey to the Past

Published:  January 1st, 2014
Timebound (The Chronos Files #1)
By: Rysa Walker
Skyscape
ISBN-13:  9781477848159

When Kate-Pierce Keller's grandmother gives her a strange blue medallion and speaks of time travel, sixteen-year-old Kate assumes the old woman is delusional.  But it all becomes horrifyingly real when a murder in the past destroys the foundation of Kate's present-day life.  Suddenly, that medallion is the only thing protecting Kate from blinking out of existence.

Kate learns that the 1893 killing is part of something much more sinister, and Kate's genetic ability to time-travel makes her the only one who can stop him.  Risking everything, she travels to the Chicago World's Fair to try to prevent the killing and the chain of events that follows.

Changing the timeline comes with a personal cost, however -- if Kate succeeds, the boy she loves will have no memory of her existence.  And regardless of her motives, does she have the right to manipulate the fate of the entire world?

Review

     I am one of those people who are kind of obsessed with the possibility of time travel and I absolutely love reading books about it!  After reading Timebound, I am still trying to figure out how to make my brain comprehend everything!  So many things can go wrong with a time travel book, but this one managed to weave all the threads of plot, the people and the action together in a way that was plausible and exciting.  Not to mention, this is the first book in a really long time that managed to capture me so much that I sat down, and basically finished it in one sitting!  Another thing that was impressive to me is that it's a debut novel.  I cannot wait to see what Rysa Walker does in her future books with this universe that she's created!
     We are introduced to Kate Pierce-Keller at the beginning of the book, who splits her time between living with her Dad and her Mom.  It's a mostly amicable divorced relationship and Kate gets along decently with both of her parents.  Introduce her estranged maternal Grandmother, also Katherine, to the situation and things start to get tense.  See, Mom thinks Grandma is a little bit crazy.  When she tells Kate that she's inherited the time travel gene and is needed to fix things that have gone wrong in the timeline, Kate thinks her Mom might be right.  Then Kate experiences a major shift in her reality, which causes her Mom to disappear from existence, her Dad to be across the country and married to someone else, and she herself doesn't exist either.  It turns out her Grandmother was born in the future, and time travelled as a historian.  But, Saul, the man she travelled with (who became Kate's Grandfather) wanted to use time for his own gains and began to change things.  Kate's Grandma is now training her to fix the timeline, back to the way it was before Saul began creating his own religion, and setting himself up to be a false prophet throughout history.  With the help of Katherine, Connor (her assistant), and Trey (a guy she meets along the way), it's up to Kate to pinpoint when exactly everything changed...and turn it back, before it's too late.
     So...yeah.  Everyone in this book has a reason for wanting the timeline to go back to the way it originally was.  Kate wants her Mom and Dad back, Katherine's assistant Connor wants his kids back because they disappeared during a timeline shift, Kate's best friend is now part of Saul's religious cult in this alternate timeline and if they don't outwit Saul her missing Aunt Prudence may never be found.  But then there are some cons to changing things back as well: Kate's newfound love Trey won't remember her or their time together, because they never would have met in the original timeline.  Kate's Dad is happily married with children in this new timeline, which also won't happen if they change things back.  Also, Aunt Prudence just happens to be working with Saul to destroy the universe as they know it - so she's a little bit beyond saving.  I loved the chunk of time that the narrative spends with Kate in the past, at the Chicago World's Fair.  It explains how she meets Kiernan (the mysterious guy another one of her selves in another timeline has a relationship with - he also happens to be Connor's ancestor), shows her interacting with her much younger, time-travelling Grandmother Katherine, and also gives us a subplot involving a historically real serial killer of the time.  It also allows us to meet Prudence, who is slightly crazy and happens to want Kiernan for herself.  Oh, the drama! :)
     Also, Walker gives some great worldbuilding in regards to the explanation for the Chronos gene, the rules of time travel and the reasons why things work or don't work.  I got a pretty clear understanding of what was possible and what wasn't.  It was also truly wonderful having a main character that didn't spend half of the book arguing that none of it was possible, she didn't want to save the world, blah, blah, blah!  I understand that it might have been more realistic, but I am so sick of the "poor me" schtick in YA books.  For once I was just happy to have a heroine kick-ass enough to willingly and easily take on the challenge.  She's not perfect and does do stupid things, like seeking out her Dad once she finds out she doesn't exist anymore.  But Kate is karate trained, willing to make a difference, has close friends and family, and doesn't mind fighting for what she wants.  Such a change - a welcome one!  The twists and turns of the plot, and how everyone was connected to each other were fresh and unique.  I enjoyed reading this and I'm not going to say anymore to avoid any really large spoilers, but some serious shit goes down at the World's Fair and it ends on a pretty big cliffhanger!  As the first series I have been truly excited for in a LONG time, I highly recommend it.  I cannot WAIT to read the next one!

VERDICT:  4.5/5 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.**

That's Amore

Expected Publication: May 6th, 2014

Wish You Were Italian (If Only...#2)

By: Kristin Rae

Bloomsbury

ISBN-13:  9781619632851

Pippa is in Italy for the summer, and despite her parents' wishes, she has no intention of just studying the local art!  She has a list of things of her own to do: from swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, to getting a makeover - and falling for an Italian boy!  As Pippa explores the dramatic ruins of Rome and Pompeii, she is swept into her own drama with two guys: an irresistible local she knows is nothing but trouble and cute American archaeology student.....Will she find her true love?

Review

     Bloomsbury has a new imprint, with teen romances, and I saw the blurb for this one and felt more than a passing interest.  I decided to give it a shot, even though the summary hints at the much dreaded young adult "love triangle," which I am entirely sick of and overall burned out on!  This book is about a girl named Pippa, whose parents want to groom her to take on the family's art gallery when she's old enough.  Pippa has no interest in art though, and really wants to take on photography (which she loves) as a career.  When her parents ship her off to Italy for the summer to be imprisoned in a boring art program, Pippa decides to take matters into her own hands.  She fakes an email from her Mom cancelling her place at the school, and uses the large amount of money her Dad sent with her to get a hotel room in Rome.  After spending the day with another American tourist (a cute boy close to her age) named Darren, she is sure she's made the right choice.  Pippa makes a new Italian friend, Chiara, and ends up going to spend the summer with her family near Cinque Terre.  While she's there, Pippa is having the time of her life.  But who should she choose to pursue romantically: Chiara's hot cousing, Bruno, or the American boy she keeps crossing paths with, Darren?

     If you're in the mood for a book that reads like a basic teen movie plot, you'll enjoy this one!  I loved the descriptions of Italy.  I could picture everything Pippa was seeing/doing in my head and since I'm a very visual person I really enjoyed that a lot.  Also, the friendship with Chiara was adorable!  Usually when a girl goes overseas, I've noticed that a lot of authors like to write in a stereotypical mean girl, who serves as competition and only causes problems for the heroine.  Instead, Kristen Rae gives us the cute and funny international friendship of Chiara and Pippa.  It was nice to see a strong girl friendship for a change!  Probably my least favorite thing about this book was the fact that it housed a love triangle.  It was just unnecessary and I am so over it in my books.  Give me one interesting, well-written love interest, rather than two that taking away from the viability of each other in the plot.  Also, the ending was really abrupt.  As pointed out by other readers, the thing with the Grandmother was not needed and served as a cruel wake-up call, in a book that is mostly sugary and of cotton candy consistency.  It didn't fit in or flow well with the rest of the plot.  Not enough resolution and not enough character development for my liking.  Although Pippa's lack of strong relationships withing her family (save for her Grandma) did make her a tad bit more sympathetic.  Overall, I enjoyed this one but it won't be a re-read and I would really say its more of a beach read than anything else.

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 May 6th, 2014.*

Beauty So Sharp It Hurts

Published:  January 28th, 2014

Cruel Beauty (Cruel Beauty Universe)

By: Rosamund Hodge

Balzar + Bray

ISBN-13:  9780062224736

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom - all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father.  And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.

With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate.  Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex.  Her plan?  Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected.  The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle - a shifting maze of magical rooms - enthralls her.

As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him.  Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him?  With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.

Review

     Nyx has spent her entire life feeling like an outsider in her family.  Since birth, she's been promised to marry the Gentle Lord, a demon who took over the kingdom of Arcadia nine-hundred years ago, in exchange for him making it so her parents could conceive her and her twin sister.  Nyx loves her sister, but resents her, their aunt and their father for not trying to save her from the deal.  Instead, Nyx is trained to kill Ignifex and free them all from a life of being sealed off from the rest of the world.  On her seventeenth birthday they marry, and Nyx goes to live in Ignifex's castle.  Nothing is as easy as it seemed though, and Nyx finds herself sympathizing with her husband and wanting to understand him better.  In a castle that is little better than a winding maze, surrounded by servants with their own agendas (especially the mysterious Shade, who is a victim of Ignifex), with demons in closed off rooms, and Gods overseeing the whole mess as it unfolds, Nyx is soon confusingly happier than she has ever been.  Can she bring herself to kill Ignifex and free her people?  Or will she choose her own happy ending instead?  And what if there is a way to subvert the entire problem?

     Wow!  This book was definitely what I look for in a fairy tale retelling.  My favorite things in such a book are superior world building, relatable and developed characters, and a detailed plot.  This book has all of those things going for it!  After all, why read the same story, retold the same way each time?  There has to be something special to set it apart, especially something as overdone as Beauty and the Beast.  This ended up having elements of Greek Mythology, in the form of demons from Tartarus, the Gods playing with mortals, the enchanted castle of Beauty and the Beast, the many murdered wives of Bluebeard, and even some of the real world tradition of more ancient times.  It was definitely an interesting mix and I enjoyed seeing it all woven together, especially the thing with the hearts of the elements in the castle.  Also, the idea of destroying the castle and the Gentle Lord, along with the way it plays into the overall fate of Arcadia was masterful!  It definitely took a turn that I was NOT expecting at all near the end of the book!

     The characters definitely drew me in to the story, made me care about them, and get pissed off at them respectively.  I loved Nyx and totally sympathized with her.  She always felt like an outsider in her family, like none of them really wanted her.  And who could blame her, as she is basically raised to be expendable?  And she believes she was chosen to die because her sister looks more like their dead Mother.  Talk about hurting on the inside!  I also loved the fact that Ignifex strikes bargains with people.  The fact that he thinks that everyone who sees him deserves what they get tells you just how bitter, and removed from humanity he initially is at the start of the story.  It's a prime example of "be careful what you wish for."  The loopholes in people's wishes are used to twist their wishes around, and destroy them.  Nyx is horrified by this, but Ignifex is unapologetic.  The dialogue between the two is full of tension and underlying chemistry, and the snark is absolutely wonderful!  I definitely had some laugh out loud moments while reading this.  It's a little slow going at first, but once the action starts, the story moves really fast.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one and I highly recommend it to fans of fairy tales, original or retold.  Probably my biggest confusion was with the magic-ish Hermetic Arts, which Nyx was supposed to use to kill Ignifex.  I won't say anymore, because I don't want to spoil the plot twists that happen near the end.  But fans of happy endings don't despair.  Rosamund Hodge gives you a decisively happy ending to this story! :D

VERDICT:  4.5/5 Stars

*I received this book from Balzar + Bray, on Edelweiss.  No favors or money were exchanged for this review.  This book was published on January 28th, 2014.*

Summoning Forces Beyond Your Control

Expected Publication:  June 24th, 2014

Summoned (Redemption's Heir #1)

By: Anne M. Pillsworth

Tor Teen

ISBN-13:  9780765335890

When the Elder Gods extend an invitation, be wary of the strings attached.

While browsing in a rare book store in Arkham, Sean finds an occult book with an ad seeking an apprentice sorcerer, from a newspaper dated March 21, 1895.  Even more intriguing, the ad specifically requests that applicants reply by email.

Sean's always been interested in magic, particularly the Lovecraftian dark mythology.  Against his best friend Edna's ("call-me-Eddy-or-else") advice, he decides to answer the ad, figuring it's a clever hoax, but hoping that it won't be.  The advertiser, Reverend Redemption Orne, claims to be a master of the occult born more than 300 years ago.  To prove his legitimacy, Orne gives Sean instructions to summon a harmless by useful familiar -- but Sean's ceremony takes a dark turn, and instead he accidentally beckons a bloodthirsty servant to the Cthulhu Mythos god Nyarlathotep.  The ritual is preemptively broken, and now Sean must find and bind the servitor, before it grows too strong to contain.  But strange things are already happening in the town of Arkham.....

Review

     I thought that the premise of this one sounded pretty cool.  A boy answers an ad for a wizard's apprentice, to find out the secret behind the authentically aged piece of newspaper containing it.  The mystery is there, because the ad mentions email which was not invented until over 100 years after the ad was taken out!  I thought to myself, okay, here we go.  A book with some humor and mostly about a modern teenage boy training to become a wizard's apprentice.  I even speculated that it involved time travel (that interesting me slightly more than just a wizard character who is centuries old), which would have been spectacular.  I was unfamiliar with the term "Cthulhu Mythos god" and was sincerely hoping that I would have it explained to my satisfaction, or be so minor to the plot that it didn't matter what it was.  None of my expectations were met in a way that I wanted them to be.

     Being that I am not really a horror aficionado, I can't really compare the mythology in this book to that in the stories of H.P. Lovecraft.  But I can tell that the author draws heavily from him, on the basis that in her book's world, Lovecraft was part of a secret society in the know and just writing the truth.  That is a cool concept and I would have loved it - had I already been a Lovecraft fan, and been in on the history.  The whole plot of this book relies on prior knowledge of terminology and ideas from a mythology that I was not the least bit familiar with (at least in my opinion and reading experience)  and it wasn't really fleshed out in the novel.  I felt like it assumed prior knowledge, and because of that the terminology was vague to me - something that I was never really able to picture all that well in my mind.  Something that might have made this book a better experience for me would have been highly developed and sound characters.  I love characters that are so real they could walk off the page and share a drink with me at the local coffee shop.  That, or a plot that surpasses my need for intimate connections with the main characters (it takes an extremely special kind of book to accomplish this feat).  Keeping that in mind, me being on the outskirts of this very plot driven novel, with characters whose whole lives seem to revolve around the plot, it never really connected.  

     Eddie was only there to scold Sean for contacting some "creep" on the Internet and to annoy the heck out of him.  To be the one-dimensional best friend (although their strong bond is showcased when later on she knows exactly where to find him when he's missing).  I believe the friendship, but it does nothing for me.  Sean's Dad is the "concerned single parent" who also restores stained glass windows.  That's about all there is to him, other than him being a widower who doesn't date and a skeptic of all things magic/supernatural.  His role is parent and skeptic: check mark.  Most of the other characters are fleeting, just there to move along the plot.  Redemption Orne, arguably the most important character other than Sean, is nothing more than an Internet presence, of someone who might be a mentally deluded weirdo just playacting.  Sean is the typical hero, just goofing off and doing things out of curiosity - until it gets him into real trouble and the shit hits the fan.  I never really got to know him as a character though, outside of his mission to bind the servitor, find out the truth about Redemption and become "serious" in regards to messing with the supernatural.  The message of this book seems to be, don't play with fire unless you're ready to be burned.  And it's not a subtle message, with the very serious consequences of Sean's actions on a pet-killing spree across the neighborhood and sucking his own blood.  The action was spotty, the plot dragged in it's odd pacing and the novel was mostly set up for a series.  The disappearing pharmacy and its quirky pharmacist felt like they belonged in a different novel altogether, the one I had initially thought I was going to read (and its not a coincidence they were my favorite part/little fantasy quirk).

     That said, a lot of people would probably adore this book beyond belief.  I am not by any means stating that this book was bad, or does not have its audience somewhere out there.  Hell, Pillsworth probably has a built in curiosity audience in all the Lovecraft fans lurking out there, waiting for a book like this.  It's modern, approachable for a younger audience and has a very dark, science fiction edge to it.  But as someone who self-proclaimedly prefers fantasy to science fiction it just wasn't the book for me.  I thought it was a fantasy book and was highly disappointed.  But I did finish the book and was interested in the resolution of the whole issue Sean caused, so Pillsworth did manage to draw me in regardless of my slight boredom.  Overall, a decent book but not my thing.  Lovecraftians take notice and add to your to-reads.

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 June 24th, 2014.*

Side Effects of a Serious Attitude

Expected Publication:  March 18th, 2014

Side Effects May Vary

By: Julie Murphy

Balzer + Bray

ISBN-13:  9780062245359

What if you'd been living your life as if you were dying - only to find out that you had your whole future ahead of you?

When sixteen-year-old Alice is diagnosed with leukemia, her prognosis is grim.  To maximize the time she does have, she vows to spend her final months righting wrongs -- however she sees fit.  She convinces her friend Harvey, who she knows has always had feelings for her, to help her with a crazy bucket list that's as much about revenge (humiliating her ex-boyfriend and getting back at her arch nemesis) as it is about hope (doing something unexpectedly kind for a stranger and reliving some childhood memories).  But just when Alice's scores are settled, she goes into remission.

Now Alice is forced to face the consequences of all that she's said and done, as well as her true feelings for Harvey.  But has she done irreparable damage to the people around her, and to the one person who matters most?

Review

     I am always reluctant to read books about kids or teens with cancer.  Just because I feel like it's very difficult subjecr matter and the author usually devolves into something overly maudlin and sappy - like a Nicholas Sparks book or something!  That said, I think the only one I've ever read that really touched me and came across realistically was The Probability of Miracles by Wendy Wunder.  I enjoyed The Fault In Our Stars the first time I read it, but it didn't hold up very well upon further re-reads.  So I was apprehensive to see what direction that Julie Murphy would decide to take.  It was already different in the fact that the main character, Alice, starts the book off by going into remission.  So when the readers are introduced to her, Alice has been told that she is going to live after all.  Except she's not happy about it as you would expect her to be.  Because she just spent what she thought were the last months of her life, doing whatever the hell she wanted and getting revenge on the people that hurt her in the past.  Now she has to deal with her feelings for her friend Harvey, the mean things she did to her ballet rival and ex-boyfriend, and the fact that she saw her Mom cheating on her Dad right before she got cancer.

     I enjoyed the alternating between the present time and the time before/during when Alice had cancer.  It gave more of an insight into her complicated friendship with Harvey and the reasons for the things she had on her bucket list.  I feel like one of the biggest problems I had with this book was that Alice was an irredeemable bitch for almost the entire thing.  We get to see her POV and Harvey's, but whereas I ended up rooting for Harvey and sympathizing with him, I just wanted Alice to get some help or something.  Harvey was her best friend all throughout their childhood (their parents were good friends) but she dropped him when they entered high school, without a second thought.  Then when Alice is diagnosed with cancer, she takes Harvey back into her life, mostly so that she can use him to help her complete her buckt list/revenge on other people.  Harvey knows that she's just using him, but the poor guy spends almost the entire book trying his hardest to find any sort of redeeming quality in her to make up for her just plain mean and awful behavior.

     Alice on the other hand, is totally unexplainable other than to say that she probably has some kind of personality disorder or something.  She acts downright evil to people, even ones who do nothing but take care of her and try to make her life pleasant.  One major example of this is when she goes into remission, pretty much after admitting to Harvey she loves him, and ditches him again.  Instead Alice starts to go after Eric, the new guy in school.  She kind of likes him, but it seems like she's mostly just doing it to make Harvey jealous and hurt him.  She wants him to be there for her when it's convenient, but Alice will do anything possible to make Harvey feel expendable and refuses to admit anything to him now that she's stuck being alive.  I was really happy that shortly before the end Harvey stopped making excuses for her and kind of just gave up on redeeming Alice in any way.  So of course, in the last 2% of the book, Alice decided to become a better person and try to win Harvey back.  That said, there were some major emotions in this book and reading Alice's POV you can tell that she really doesn't want to be this way and doesn't know why she is.  So I still managed to enjoy the what-if aspects, even if this book has somewhat of a vindictive nature for my tastes personally.  Overall, a good read that makes you really think about life and the people in it.  Not recommended for people who can't stand truly mean characters though.

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 date is March 18th, 2014.*

Patty Goes to College and All Hell Breaks Loose

Published:  1903

When Patty Went to College (Patty #1)

By: Jean Webster

Grosset and Dunlap

ISBN-13:  9781402162893

When Patty Went To College is Jean Webster's first novel, published in 1903.  It is a humourous look at life in an all girls college at the turn of the twentieth century.  Patty Wyatt, the protagonist of this story is a bright, fun loving, imperturbable girl who does not like to conform.  The book describes her many escapades on campus during her senior year at college.  Patty enjoys life on campus and uses her energies in playing pranks and for the entertainment of herself and her friends.  An intelligent girl, she uses creative methods to study only as much as she feels necessary.  Patty is, however, a believer in causes and a champion of the weak.  She goes out of her way to help a homesick freshman Olivia Copeland who believes she will be sent home when she fails four subjects in the examination.

The end of the book sees Patty reflecting on what her life after college might be like.  She plays hooky from chapel and meets a bishop.  In a chat with the Bishop, Patty realizes that being irresponsible and evasive at a young age could adversely affect her character as an adult and decides to try to be a more responsible person.

My Thoughts

     Patty Wyatt is still the same mischievous, somewhat lazy, inherently good girl and truly loyal friend in college as she was in her days at St. Ursula's boarding school.  This book was actually written before Just Patty and was Webster's first novel.  It is made up of a series of vignettes just as the other Patty book happens to be, chronicling a year in the life of Patty and her friends - with stories of all the mischief they get up to.  There are some particularly amusing stories in this one, such as the time Patty tries to put on tea for the other girls and botches the whole thing, trying to get everyone else to do everything for her clandestinely.  Or the one where Patty hosts an older English gentleman, Mr. Toddhunter, and goes out of her way to mess with his mind by acting very young for her age.  Possibly my favorite is when the head of the college receives a telegram for Patty that "Robert" is dead, thinking he's a brother or a lover possibly.  In reality, he's Patty's brother Thomas' dog whom everyone hates, as he was the terror of the family!  

     Some of the more serious stories include Patty trying to help a foreign scholarship student from Italy who's homesick, failing her classes and dreadfully lonely.  Olivia also happens to be extremely brilliant and it's up to Patty to set things right before Olivia is kicked out of school.  If only Patty can get the lonely, stern Miss Prescott to let her retake the Geometry examinations.  I guess the story at the end of the book with Patty playing hooky from church and being lectured by a Bishop that she happens upon can also be considered as serious.  To be honest though, it's the most jagged of the puzzle pieces that make up the stories in this book, as a whole.  It's too moralizing and preachy to really fit in with the others and it kind of feels like it was slapped in at the last minute to add some sort of lesson to the book and Patty's 'bad' behavior.  That said, it's like the Widow adopting Huck Finn and putting him in a suit.  There are good intentions behind it, but you can't put a wild thing in a box and expect it to stay there of it's own accord.  Overall, I did enjoy reading more about Patty and Priscilla (who ended up going to college with her friend), but it wasn't quite as good as Just Patty.  A great first novel just the same though, better than many I've read before.

VERDICT:  3.5/5  Stars

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

Eat Your Heart Out

Published: June 11th, 2013

Another Little Piece

By: Kate Kayrus Quinn

HarperTeen

ISBN-13:  9780062135957

The spine-tingling horror of Stephen King meets an eerie mystery worthy of Sara Shepard's Pretty Little Liars series in Kate Karyus Quinn's haunting debut.

On a cool autumn night, Annaliese Rose Gordon stumbled out of the woods and into a high school party. She was screaming. Drenched in blood. Then she vanished.

A year later, Annaliese is found wandering down a road hundreds of miles away. She doesn't know who she is. She doesn't know how she got there. She only knows one thing: She is not the real Annaliese Rose Gordon.

Now Annaliese is haunted by strange visions and broken memories. Memories of a reckless, desperate wish . . . a bloody razor . . . and the faces of other girls who disappeared. Piece by piece, Annaliese's fractured memories come together to reveal a violent, endless cycle that she will never escape—unless she can unlock the twisted secrets of her past.

Review

     Annaliese Rose Gordon has suddenly reappeared after being gone for a year, with everyone thinking she was dead.  The last time anyone saw her was at a party, screaming and covered in blood.  Now that she's back, Anna can't remember anything about her past or where she's been for the last year.  She begins to uncover the past with only a straight razor carved with the names of other girls, half-memories and a creepy boy following her around talking of someone called 'the Physician.'  But when she begins to truly investigate with the help of her outcast neighbor Dex, she discovers that some things are better left buried.  Anna just may have made a bargain with the devil and with a desperate, unholy hunger about to consume her she must decided whether to continue on the path to Hell or finally make the right decision.

      The book starts off with Anna in a mental ward, being assessed by Doctors after she has been missing for a year.  With a chunk of her brain missing and her memory gone with it, Anna is almost completely dissociated from reality.  She calls her parents "the Mom" and "the Dad" not really claiming them as her own.  It turns out this attitude is for good reason, as Anna is an interloper who got the real Annaliese to make a devil's bargain and give her body over for Anna's use.  Using the wishes of other girls and their desperation, Anna has been body jumping since her own life was abruptly shattered.  The whole concept of the 'deal' was completely and utterly creepy.  As someone who doesn't generally read horror, the especially graphic passage of text describing Annaliese cutting out Anna's heart and eating it could have been enough to make me stop reading - if I wasn't too damned curious for my own good!  One thing that almost did make me stop reading was the stalkerish behavior of Annaliese's previous 'boyfriend' Logan, but with the what could be called a curse working on his sensibilities, I had to cut him some slack.  But he was pretty disturbing.  

     The characters in this one are pretty abstract, although we get to know both Annaliese and the creature/lost girl Anna through flashbacks/memories as she starts to regain knowledge of her many lives and deaths.  Honestly the whole subplot with Frankie and the Physician just made things all that much more creepy.  Especially since Frankie's sick obsession is what propels his continued interest in Anna, even after she is in the bodies of other girls.  Quinn definitely captures the feeling of being an outcast in a world where you decidedly don't belong.  I thought the revelation of Dex's secret and why he's so obsessed with terrible things to be interesting, if a bit cliched.  The ending of this one was okay, but I think I would have been happier and it would have made a lot more sense if no second chances were afforded.  It just didn't sit right with me.  The connection between Anna, Gwen (Annaliese's best friend) and Annaliese was interesting and well drawn.  It was a believable way for Anna to ingratiate herself into the life of her next victim.  I give the author major props for keeping me so invested, even when my stomach was in turmoil! :)  I definitely see the parallels between this and the type of grotesque horror that Stephen King specializes in.  Even with paranormal undertones, the graphically horrific situations were enough to turn my stomach.  This may not have been the right book for me personally, but it was a really interesting debut and I'd definitely recommend it to fans of horror, who have strong stomachs for gore.

VERDICT:  3/5  Stars

*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, via Edelweiss.  No money or favors were exchanged for this review.  This book was published on June 11th, 2013.*

It's All Relative

Expected Publication:  September 10th, 2013
Relativity 
By: Cristin Bishara
Walker Children's
ISBN-13:  9780802734686

If Ruby Wright could have her way, her dad would never have met and married her stepmother Willow, her best friend George would be more than a friend, and her mom would still be alive. Ruby knows wishes can't come true; some things just can't be undone. Then she discovers a tree in the middle of an Ohio cornfield with a wormhole to nine alternative realities. 

Suddenly, Ruby can access completely different realities, each containing variations of her life—if things had gone differently at key moments. The windshield wiper missing her mother’s throat…her big brother surviving his ill-fated birth…her father never having met Willow. Her ideal world—one with everything and everyone she wants most—could be within reach. But is there such a thing as a perfect world? What is Ruby willing to give up to find out?

Review

     Ruby is un-enthused to say the least about moving to Ohio from California.  Especially when it means that she's gaining a new 'Mom' and a psychotic stepsister.  So when the aforesaid stepsister, Kandy, is terrorizing her one day Ruby comes across a tree that is famed for being haunted - killing anyone who tries to chop it down.  So when she sees a door in the tree she uses it to escape from further pain.   Once inside the tree, things get really weird.  When Ruby steps out again she's in a universe where her dead Mother is still alive, she has an older brother and she's a popular girl - an average student and purveyor of the color pink.  Desperate to find out what's going on (especially when she realizes that the money is different and history has changed), Ruby does some investigating.  She finds out that each time she goes in and out of the tree, she enters an alternate universe where everything might be different, or just a couple small things.  In one she lives in Ohio, but so does her best friend George from California and they start dating.  In another her Mom is her Math teacher, and lives in an apartment by herself, while Ruby and her brother live with their Dad.  Will she ever be able to get back to the world she belongs in?  Or will she choose to live in another universe, as a slightly altered version of herself?

     I really thought that Bishara managed to be creative and fresh in a world of growing amounts of alternate dimensions/freakish time exchange novels.  It managed to throw in some decently explained scientific stuff, while still packing in the action and keeping me glued to the edge of my seat.  That said, I feel like it could have used another 50-100 pages so that a little more explanation could be done on the tree and some specific differences in the history of each dimension.  The addition of a brother to Ruby's life in a couple of the dimensions was interesting and actually added something to it in my opinion.  I did like Willow, her stepmother, but felt like she wasn't very interested in Ruby or what Kandy was really doing when no one was watching.  Ruby's Dad seemed well-intentioned, but was more interested in his advertising campaigns than in making time for his daughter (leaving her mostly to her own devices).  The relationship she has with George is obviously a really intense and close one, but I felt like it wasn't really the focus of the novel.  

     The main question of it was this:  would you choose to live someone else's life just to have things exactly the way you always wanted them?  Even if it meant you'd no longer be yourself?  The ending (with the lightning strike) was pretty fitting, but I felt like this story was too open-ended for my liking as a reader.  I really did like that Ruby got a chance to know the Mother she lost so young to a bad car accident.  But at the same time, the action's focus did feel jerky sometimes.  I guess I'm in the minority that likes a medium to slow pace on novels that have a complicated story to tell.  My only complaint is that it gave me a lot, but not enough.  Overall, a really great read that I would recommend to fans of sci-fi and time-travel/alternate universes.  It's definitely a fresh piece of literature for someone who geeks on that stuff.  I oughta know, cause I'm one of those people! :)

VERDICT:  3.75/5  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 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.**