(Never) Again

(Never) Again
by Theresa Paolo
Published by Penguin Group
209 pages
Genre: young adult
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview
3.5 / 5



We've all been there. That teenage first love, the one you obsess over during class and race to meet in the halls. The one who makes high school more bearable.

The one who breaks your heart.

The one who finds a way to show up, just as you have put yourself back together.

Liz is just that girl. She's a freshman in college, and she rejoices over having gotten over the loss of her first love. Zach left her, moving to a different state, and, worse, he stopped calling. Just like that. She has a new boyfriend, a best friend who is on her side, and a family who loves her. Who needs Zach?

Well, she gets the answer to that when he shows up on her college campus.

This is predictable YA lit, but fun predictable. Liz is a fairly faithful rendering of a college freshman who wants to think she has her life together, but who is only fooling herself. We know she's settling for the current boyfriend, and we know where her heart lies. But Zach crushed her, and surely he can't expect to show back up as if nothing happened, right?

Zach is more than a one dimensional YA love interest. He has his own struggles, although we never quite come to understand why he behaved as he did. His apparent dumping of Liz is only tacitly explained, and doesn't make much sense once we get to know him. Still, though, we do understand why he still cares for Liz, and we also understand his frustration.

The overwrought crisis that pulls the two together is almost comically hyperbolic, but by that point, you just want Liz to realize what the rest of us have known for 200 pages: she belongs with Zach, and he's there, waiting for her.

As an unrepentant lover of YA novels, I did enjoy this one. Yes, it's predictable, but it's fun. And Zach is super cute.

Review and Blog Tour: Wait for You

 Wait for You
by J. Lynn
Published by William Morrow
384 pages
Genre: Young Adult
Thanks to TLC Tours for the preview
 4 / 5


At the risk of repeating myself, yet again, I enjoy YA lit. And NA lit too, for that matter. I think both get a bad rap and that people tend to assume all YA books are Twilight all over again. We fans know how mistaken they are.

That isn't to say that YA and NA are bereft of crap; like all of literature, there is garbage out there. Poorly written, dull, uninspiring.

And then you get something like Wait for You, and you realize that all of your YA/NA praise is spot on.

I enjoyed this book so much.

The story is fairly basic: Avery has escaped her stifling, rumor-ridden Texas hometown and decamped to college in a small West Virginia town. Out of sight does not necessarily lead to out of mind, however; Avery may be attempting to run away from a catastrophic incident in her past, but she won't get very far. Before too long, she begins receiving - actually, she continues to receive, as she has been getting them for some time - threatening emails and phone calls.

Like a lot of college kids, Avery reacts by hoping she can ignore the potential danger. One very hot distraction lives right across the hall: Cam Hamilton. Even the name sounds like College Stud material, doesn't it? And Cam surely is. He is drawn to Avery, perhaps because she's the first person to dismiss and reject him. The two dance around each other, although we readers know that there is no real mystery here. Cam and Avery belong together. They even share having survived past traumas, albeit in quite different ways. As Avery begins to open herself up to Cam, though, she first needs to face what happened to her in Texas.

The characters are lovingly drawn. Avery is someone we feel we know. She makes foolish mistakes, she suffers from that sort of collegiate sense of superiority, and she is awkward and insecure. She understands herself enough to recognize when she is irrationally jealous, just as she knows when she behaves childishly. But we forgive her, and we continue to side with her, because we empathize with her. She went through something terrible, she survived, and she is desperate to regain control over her life.

Cam, too, is real to us. He's gorgeous and popular and everyone loves him, but he's also sad and somewhat tortured. He sees something in Avery, something that pulls him to her. He knows how to translate her and make sense of her. He knows she's worth the frustration ... to a point, anyway. And when that point comes, he reacts in a way we accept and support.

If the secondary characters are not as fully developed, that's okay, and it does not diminish how enjoyable the novel is. Avery's parents are straight out of Central Casting for Distant and Removed, and her friends could show up in any novel we read. Avery and Cam, though, are rich and fully realized. Their story keeps us reading and engages us.

You should know that some hot headboard rockin' goes on in this book. While not wildly explicit, sex dos occur. If it weren't for the sexy times, this would be classic YA. But those scenes - which are pretty hot, I've got to tell you - make it more NA.

For more information about J. Lynn, check out her website, Facebook page, and Twitter. Better yet, pick up a copy of this book. You will not be disappointed. 

This is W.A.R.

This is W.A.R.
by Lisa Roecker and Laura Roecker
Published by Soho Press
289 pages
Genre: young adult
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview
4 / 5


When Willa Ames-Rowan (the W.A.R. in question) dies in Hawthorne Lake and James Gregory survives, albeit soaked, Willa's friends and fellow townspeople arrive at one conclusion: James killed her.

Four of Willa's friends band together to declare war on the Gregory family and determine to seek justice for Willa. It isn't so much that James and his twin brother Trip act entitled, it's that they are entitled, and the town allows it. Their grandfather, Captain, controls everything, but the girls are undeterred. James and his family will pay, and that's all there is to it.

Except, of course, nothing is all that simple.

Each of the girls harbors her own reason for being a part of the war tribunal, and each feels she bears some of the guilt for Willa's death. As we learn their stories, we also learn what they were up to the night Willa died. The one head we don't get into is James's, but it isn't really necessary. We learn about him through others and through what we see and hear him do.

While there is a mystery surrounding Willa's death, the particulars of it soon are apparent. That's not why we enjoy this book, though. We like it because it's well written, the characters are interesting, and we want to know if justice actually happens.

More than simply a YA story, this is also a look at class consciousness. Most of the action takes place at the Club, where you're either in or you want to be. The help factors so little in the lives of the members that they don't bother to edit themselves when maids or bus boys are nearby. Some of the little people exact their own brand of revenge. (One of the workers is underwritten, which is unfortunate; her perspective would have been interesting.) Even the haves can't have enough, which renders quite a few of them rabidly jealous of the Gregorys.

This is also the story of a friendship between four very different teenage girls. There is distrust between them, but at the same time, they are on each other's sides. I liked that aspect quite a bit and appreciated that the writers didn't go for cookie cutter characters.

An enjoyable, fast-paced read.

Lovestruck in London

Lovestruck in London
by Rachel Schurig
Published by Amazon Digital
Genre: chick lit, YA
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview
3 / 5


A common fantasy for young girls (or .. ahem ... slightly older girls) is commoner-girl-meets-rich-and-successful-man. We saw it in Pride and Prejudice when two middle class Bennet sisters married wealthy men. Then there is Kate Middleton, who either did us a favor or ruined us forever when she married Prince William. See? She proved that it can work!!

In this play on the fantasy, we have middle class Lizzie (named after the Darcy marrying Miss Bennet), a Detroit-born middle class daughter of Mexican immigrants who heads to London for a graduate degree in literature. Only a few nights into her nine month-trip pass before she meets Thomas Harper, a co-star in a wildly successful Twilight-type movie franchise. Thomas is taken with Lizzie, in part because she has no idea who he really is. He looks familiar, but she isn't a fan of his popular movies. She comes to him with no preconceived notions of what he's like or what she thinks he's like.

The two begin a courtship, and the nine month gestational period is probably not accidental. Only after the nine months, the love their birthed will either be abandoned (when Lizzie returns to Detroit) or nurtured. Of course, this relationship does not come easily to either of them. Lizzie feels beholden to her parents and five older siblings, and staying in London to date an actor is not on her family's list of Things to Do. For Thomas, acclimating Lizzie into his life requires patience, to say the least.

Will true love conquer all? Will Lizzie and Thomas find a way to stay together?

You probably already know the answer to that, but the book is fun to read anyway. If it seems a little familiar to those of us who read Tina Reber's Love Unscripted and Love Unrehearsed, then so be it. The two do share some similarities. Fortunately, Thomas and Lizzie are entirely likable and relatable. And lucky. Not many of us experience a fast-paced love affair like these two do, and their problems seem almost forced and inconsequential. We get it. Lizzie feels guilty over the London schooling and for not having the same ambitions for herself as her family does. But at the same time, she's a reader. She knows that life is unpredictable and that love is worth pursuing. Thomas is a good guy, but Lizzie occasionally gets frustrating.

What becomes more frustration, though, is a lack of tension. Yes, there is Lizzie's obligation to her family, but it almost feels forced. One of her siblings is so mean and derisive that she appears to be a caricature of an evil stepsister.

The good news is that despite her occasional "what in the world is she thinking?" moments, Lizzie is darn adorable. You become invested in her and her story, and she will make you enjoy this book, even if it is devoid of any mystery as to its outcome.

The Rules of You and Me

The Rules of You and Me
by Shana Norris
Published by Amazon Creative Services
Genre: young adult
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview
4 / 5


I am a sucker for Young Adult lit. I believe it gets short shrift from most readers, who consider themselves above it (for some reason) or that it is inferior to "literature." Well, you go ahead and read Megan McCafferty's Jessica Darling series and get back to me on your misconceptions, okay?

In The Rules of You and Me, we get to know Hannah Cohen, a seventeen-year-old whose life has been sunk to near lifelessness by the floods beset on her by her parents. Her father, a banker, is struggling to right his ship (if I may continue with the metaphor) after his coping skills turn out to be less than successful. As awful as his current predicament may be, he looks like Parent of the Year next to Mother Cohen, whose attempts to drown her troubles does nothing but forestall the inevitable. When she heads off to Paris rather than support her husband - or her only child - Hannah is forced to spend the summer with Aunt Lydia, whom Hannah used to love and revere. Aunt Lydia decamped from eastern North Carolina to Asheville, right when Hannah needed her most, and Hannah has some forgiving to do.

Of course a boy is involved. Jude Westmore. And, yes, someone does say, "Hey" to Jude. (Those of you too young to understand why this is humorous need to listen to this. And you also need to seriously revisit your lack of music history knowledge.) Jude has his own abandonment issues: his father left the family, his brother died while in the military, and his mother, much like Hannah's, chooses to self-medicate her way through her grief. Jude's way of surviving is to hang one of his brother's shirts on the tree in front of his home, as well as retreat away from his friends.

Like two fractured magnets, Jude and Hannah find each other. The two become close, quite emotionally close. But Jude doesn't fit with Hannah's rules, the strictures set forth by her parents. There are thirty of them, and their control over her life provides her with structure in which she can function. But they also control her to such a degree that she has no idea who she is.

A teenager's relationship with control is faced realistically here. Teens like rules - they really do - but yet they want them on their terms. Rules are comforting to some degree, even as teens chafe against them as they strive to exert their individuality. Hannah holds her parents' rules like a security blanket, although when she begins to look at how the rules served Mom and Dad, she begins to realize that she is her own person.

This is not a great book, but it's entertaining and interesting. It's hard not to like Hannah, whose flaws are on full display. She means well, and her earnestness is kind of sweet. She becomes focused on "fixing" Jude, perhaps because she thinks that if she can fix him, she can fix herself. It's always easier to obsess over someone else's problems than your own, and Hannah is no different.

There are some plot holes (Jude is accused of doing something, but we never know the full story), and the ending is very neat and tidy. Too neat and tidy, which is a disappointment after such a realistic approach. You hope things can turn out like that, especially for Hannah, who needs a happy ending, yet you know better.

Teens will enjoy this one, and those of us who kicked out teen years to the curb quite a while ago will too.

Reality Ends Here

Reality Ends Here
by Alison Gaylin
Published by Pocket Star
Genre: young adult lit
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview
4 / 5 


What hell hath reality television wrought?

Seriously. That is not a rhetorical question.

Do you ever ask yourself what the world would be like without Kardashians and that Honey Boo Boo person? Without dance moms and wife swapping? It might be kind of nice, right?

The thing about the oxymoron that is reality television is that the more we learn about it, the less real it becomes. That certainly is the case here, as Estella Blanchard knows only too well. She is the older sister of sextuplets, and given that multiples make for interested television audiences, Estella's mother and stepfather gladly parade their family in front of the cameras. Estella gamely goes along, knowing that the fame and money are important to her mother. She's that kind of kid.

When Christmas rolls around, Estella's carefully crafted life on camera begins to unravel. She receives a gift from her father. While this would be celebrated under normal circumstances, these are anything but normal. Estella's father died years earlier, so he can't possibly have sent this gift - which is the very thing he had with him the night he died.

Estella's mother and stepfather are convinced that she planted the gift, surmising that Estella is jealous of the attention her siblings receive. We know better, however, and we are as anxious as Estella to solve the mystery. Her parents ship her off to group therapy populated by struggling child stars. She meets Jake, a boy band member, and the two hit it off. Estella likes him and is disheartened, to say the least, to discover that he's dating a bitchy blonde star who also happens to be in the support group.Estella doesn't understand what Jake sees in his girlfriend, a confusion that only increases when the girlfriend sets up Estella to get hounded by the paparazzi.

Threaded throughout is the mystery: who sent Estella that gift? Could it be that her father is still alive?

This is one of those books where parts of it are sooo good, and parts are somewhat disappointing. Estella is a solid character. She adores her younger siblings, but not so much that she can't see their flaws, and she is loyal to her mother, even if she is desperate to spend time with the "real" woman and not the one parading on television. Estella is not a publicity hound, she is uncomfortable on camera, and she yearns for a truly real life. You can't help but like her.

She's a typical teenager in that she does contradict herself. She professes to abhor people who are interested in her for her popularity, yet what turns her off most about Jake is not his devotion to the bitchy girlfriend, but rather the whole boy band thing. She also occasionally slips and lets us see that she, too, is concerned with appearances. She judges people based on their looks, whether she'll admit to it or not. Perhaps this is Alison Gaylin's understated commentary on celebrity culture, or perhaps its to show that we are all drawn to looks no matter how we may protest to the contrary. Who knows.

Aside from Estella, though, most of the characters are under developed. The lone exception is Dylan, another member of the support group. Intended to provide a sort of comic relief, he also turns out to be more multifaceted than the rest of his fellow friends.

The book's detail about the production process is interesting and likely to make you think twice the next time you want to believe that reality television really is reality. The mystery is intriguing and you want to know the story behind the gift. As a sum of its parts, this is an above average novel that could have been stronger. A weak supporting cast hurts it, and for a book about a television show, that is a mistake indeed.

Levitating Las Vegas

Levitating Las Vegas
by Jennifer Echols
Published by Pocket Star
326 pages
Genre: young adult; new adult; romance; adventure
Thanks to edelweiss for the preview
3 / 5

A few years ago, I happened upon a book written by Jennifer Echols. Going Too Far was its name, and I enjoyed it a great deal. Since then I've gobbled up Love Story, Forget You, and Such a Rush. She creates real characters, puts them in real situations, and then helps them get out with some dignity. In fact, I think that's what I like most about how she writes: her characters may be teens and college kids, but she treats them with respect and dignity.

I love her books.

But I did not love this one.

Holly and Elijah have known each other since they were kids. At one point, they tried to date, but their parents intervened, claiming that each had an illness that could cause harm to the other. They take the same medication to "cure" them, and so far it appears to have worked. The two believe their parents. After all, it can't be normal to be able to levitate things, as Holly can do, or read minds, like Elijah.

When they are twenty-one, their paths cross again. They try to avoid each other, but they can't. Elijah has a greater urgency for connecting with her because his medication - their medication - has run out. If there isn't any more for him, there won't be any more for Holly. What horrible calamities will they cause? What havoc will be wreaked upon them?

Oh, and all the while, they are being chased by some bad guys.

The story is far-fetched, but that isn't the problem with it. As I read this book, I kept asking myself why I didn't like it. Holly is interesting. Elijah is sweet and adorable. They can do nifty things (I'd sure love to be able to lift a broom just by thinking about it) and they seem like good kids. So what's the problem? The bad guys? The chase sequence that comes later in the book?

I decided that there is just too much going on here, and at times it feels as if Jennifer Echols herself couldn't decide what book she wanted to write. A young adult romance? Believe me, this one is a bit more adult than not, largely because her characters are older. Is it a spy caper? An examination of the dangerous patina of Las Vegas? The disconnect that kids feel with their parents? The struggle we face for independence when we're in our early twenties?

I'm not sure. And worse, I don't think Jennifer Echols is, either. All of those things go on in this book, and none of them very effectively. Just when it starts to get its footing and find its identify, off it heads in a different direction. Perhaps that's by design, because it mirrors Holly's and Elijah's experiences. And do not even get me started on the "ending." Clearly there will be another one, to which I want to say to Echols, "Please. No."

I gave this three stars because when it's good, it's good. I really wish I could have given it five. I certainly expected to do so, based on its author alone.

From Ashes

From Ashes
by Molly McAdams
Published by William Morrow
416 pages
Genre: young adult lit
Thanks to edelweiss for the preview
3.5 / 5

Sometimes when I read a book, I think the characters are real. Go ahead and judge. You know you do the same darn thing.

When reading this book, I found myself actually saying out loud, "You have GOT to be kidding me!" Not because of poor writing or a dull story or anything like that. More because we have two people who choose to completely ignore the obvious.

And after a while, that annoyed the hell out of me.

Cassi is one of those girls who has Issues, largely of the trust variety. Her father died when she was young, and since then she has had to rely on herself, despite having a mother who is very much alive. Cassi doesn't just distrust men; she distrusts everyone. She expects them to disappoint her. Well, everyone except her BFF Tyler, whose devotion knows no bounds.

But of course it doesn't, because Tyler so clearly wants to get in her pants. Like, DUH, Cassi.

Cassi, however, doesn't see Tyler's extremely apparent romantic interest in her. So when they move to Texas and she meets his hot cousin Gage, Cassi doesn't let a little thing like Tyler's feelings for her get in the way of some Gage action. No, she has other blockages for that. The whole trust thing causes some problems, but Gage is nothing if not doggedly determined.

The path to true love is never easy, certainly not for these two. A lot of things go awry.

A lot.

Some of them appear to stem from the same source, not that Cassi and Gage can see that. They are too wrapped up in their lust haze to pay attention to what's going on around them. More than once - more than a dozen times - I caught myself thinking, "Oh, girl, no."

The difficulty in writing a love triangle is that someone has to be the bad guy. There has to be a clear reason why a person chooses one individual over another. Writers get in trouble here when they go too far with negative characteristics, especially when the character has been presented as a pretty upstanding, loyal, decent guy. To make that person a veritable sociopath is a dangerous decision.

Such is the case here. Cassi will have to choose between Gage and Tyler, and one of them becomes extremely more palatable than the other, almost to a ridiculous degree. We know who Molly McAdams thinks her heroine ought to be with, that's for certain.

As for Cassi, her Dickensian life story is shockingly awful, and we can kind of see why she wants to believe so strongly in Tyler and then in Gage. She needs to connect with someone, needs that intimacy that two people share. Not just physical or sexual, but intellectual, emotional, and spiritual. Cassi hasn't had that since her father died, and her reluctance to pursue it and trust it is understandable.

As young adult lit goes, this is decent fare. Tyler and Gage are the stuff of teenage girl dreams, and you can hear the gnashing of jealous teeth over Cassi being in the middle of those two hot dudes. Cassi herself is a bit pathetic, a strong girl who survived an awful childhood but yet weak when it comes to the biggest trust of all: that with herself.

I can't say I loved this book, but I can say I enjoyed it.

Love Unscripted: Love Series, Book 1

Love Unscripted: Book 1 in the Love Series
by Tina Reber
Published by Atria Books
592 pages
Genre: young adult; romance; chicklit
Thanks to edelweiss for the preview
4 / 5 cupcakes


A picturesque hamlet on the Rhode Island shore provides a quaint setting for this book, perhaps because you can imagine a film crew rolling into this bucolic burb and laying waste to it.

Taryn is barely out of high school and already owns a bar. She has a nice, steady existence, but one not free from heartache. Her parents are dead, and a recent relationship ended. She has a close assortment of friends and coworkers, but she has trust issues. The ex-boyfriend left her unwilling - if not entirely unable - to trust her heart to another. The last thing she has time for is a movie set, much less a popular heartthrob whom girls chase from one end of the world to another.

Famous, good looking, and the object of many a girl's (and woman's) desire, Ryan Christensen bursts through the door of Taryn's club, in desperate need to escape a horde of fans. When Taryn provides him safe refuge, they share a few drinks and some conversation. Despite every intention to be unimpressed, Taryn finds herself drawn to Ryan, and he is as drawn to her as she is to him.

Yes, this is a romance, and yes, there will be many rocky moments. In many ways, this is a familiar story: quiet, gorgeous girl who is unlucky in love lands the popular, gorgeous boy who heals her heart. Even Taryn's friends sound familiar, as if we've read their stories before in other books.

Yet you will want to read this book because it's fun, interesting, and allows the romance to slowly unfold. Nothing feels rushed between Taryn and Ryan, almost to a fault. This is a long book, with several endings. The length isn't a problem, necessarily, because it does give Tina Reber time to tell a fairy tale that nonetheless feels realistic. Romance does not come easily for these two; there are issues on both their parts. Ryan is a famous actor and the subject of paparazzi, hungry fans, and distorted tabloid stories. Taryn has only known loss, and she lives as if she expects nothing but loss to come her way.

There are a few extremely tame sex scenes, so don't read this one thinking you're in for some hot headboard rocking. The kissing is nicely told, although you might find yourself left wanting more. Yeah, I know. "More" within the context of a book this long sounds wrong, but you might want more sexy times.

This is a sweet book that allows its story to evolve steadily and realistically. If it is occasionally predictable, and if it occasionally feels too long, we can forgive it. Tina Reber tells a good story with likable characters, and in the end, that's what matters most.

Part II in the series came out earlier this year; I have not had a chance to read it yet, but I do look forward to the continuing adventures of Ryan and Taryn.

Beautiful Disaster

Beautiful Disaster
by Jamie McGuire
Published by Atria Books
432 pages
Genre: Young Adult
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview
3 / 5 cupcakes


What we have here is a perfect example of synecdoche, in which the title tells you everything you need to know about the book itself.

Abby Abernathy wants you to think she is a Good Girl. She adorns herself with preppy cardigans, sticks close to her best friend, and avoids Bad Boys. When she winds up in an underground fight club-type place, she locks eyes with the victorious fighter, Travis Maddox. She is intrigued.

The cousin of her best friend's boyfriend (I know, I had the same eye roll), Travis is straight out of Central Casting for "Bad Boys," down to the tattoos and the penchant for one night stands. He never met an emotional attachment that he cared to make, other than with his family. And when he sees Abby, he is intrigued.

Abby's first move is brilliant: she acts completely unimpressed. And she is, to some degree. Yes, she is attracted to him, but she refuses to be another notch on his scarred belt. She dresses down, she is rude and sarcastic, and she tells him that he has no chance with her. When they spend the night together, they actually SLEEP together. No hanky panky occurs. Travis, for all of his overflowing testosterone, likes Abby; he genuinely enjoys her company and is determined to not mess up this friendship.

We know, however, that he will mess it up, and Abby will as well. It is just a matter of pages until they wind up romantically linked, especially when Abby loses a bet and has to move in with Travis for a month. What is good about their first encounter is that Abby makes the decision to be with him. Travis empowers her in that sense, and it's nice to read some YA lit that does not have the girl swooning uncontrollably over her hard-to-read love interest.

And that's where the "disaster" portion of this book comes into play. Travis! What in the world happens to you? What fresh hell does Jamie McGuire do to you?

Here is one answer: she takes a strong, interesting character and turns him into one that is veritably emasculated, dull, and insipid. Travis becomes the girl; he cries and screams and begs. He ditches his boxes of condoms along with his dignity, and we lose interest in him just as quickly. The man who oozed masculinity and dominance now simpers along, weak and uninspired. We are meant to see that Abby changed him from Bad Boy to Boy Worth Loving, but instead he comes across as utterly unappealing.

Don't even get me started on the ending. Not only does it defy all logic, it appears to defy its characters. We are led to believe certain things about Abby and Travis, yet McGuire ends in it a way that is so unfaithful to them that you wonder if there was a publishing error in which another book's ending was cut and pasted onto this one.

The first half of this book is 'beautiful.' Abby, Travis and their friends are created with care and creativity. We like them. We are interested in them. We care about them. And then comes the 'disaster,' and you will want to shout in frustration.

This could have been so good. But it just is not.

One word of warning: while this is Young Adult lit, the emphasis is on "adult." There are fairly detailed sexual situations, as well as alcohol usage.

Speechless

Speechless
by Hannah Harrington
Published by Harlequin Teen
288 pages
Available on Amazon.com
Genre: YA
Thanks to edelweiss for the preview
4 / 5 cupcakes


If there is one word that is synonymous with "high school girl," it would be "drama."

Teenage girls love them some drama, and if you doubt that, come on and hang out in my classroom. You will discover that I speak the truth. Some girls like to stir up drama, others like to be in the middle of it, and then there are those who enjoy watching it unfold. In Speechless, sophomore Chelsea Knot tends to be one of the stirrers, although she really can't help it. She speaks before she thinks, rarely - if ever - considering the consequences of her blabbing.

A New Year's Eve party changes everything when Chelsea blurts out something she witnessed between two classmates. Just as she realizes the implications of what she says, she also realizes that she is powerless to stop them. When a near tragedy results, Chelsea responds by deciding to keep quiet. Seriously quiet. As in, she decides to say nothing to anybody.

Alas, Chelsea is a high schooler, which means her peers do not respond well, either to her actions during the party or afterwards. She soon is left without her best friend, or really anyone else. Forced to go it alone - and mutely, at that - Chelsea soon discovers a new circle of friends and even gets a job as a dishwasher at a kitschy diner. A new coworker also happens to be her partner in art class: the cute, adorably dorky and charming Sam.

Much of this book speaks to the cold hard truth about high school: it sucks. It really, really sucks, whether you are part of the "in" crowd or left standing in its shadows. Chelsea's decision to staunch her voice allows the rest of her senses to be more perceptive. She begins to realize the false front of her friendships, and she comes to see the torture and reward of striking out on her own.

The thing about high school is that kids profess to want to be different. They decry homogeneity, yet they need it to survive. Be different, but be the same. Change, but be more like everyone else. Hannah Harrington understands this, and her characters and dialogue delivery a pretty realistic picture of the ugliness of the high school experience.

Harrington does take some short cuts, but given how well she crafts Chelsea, we can forgive her for too safe of a conclusion, including that regarding Chelsea's relationship with her parents. Chelsea frustrates us, perhaps all the more because we see a bit of ourselves in her. Who didn't want to be popular in high school? Be honest. You know you did, even if doing so made you a little sick to your stomach. And so it is with Chelsea, who craves being a part of something, yet comes to see its danger.

Speechless is an excellent YA novel and sure to interest teens and even those of us a few (cough) years removed from high school. Give it a try, and maybe in doing so, you will discover just how much you gain when you give up your voice.

Pushing the Limits

Pushing the Limits
by Katie McGarry
Published by Harlequin Teen
416 pages
Available on Amazon.com.
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview
4 / 5 cupcakes


Some things are best left forgotten, but in Echo Emerson's case, some things need - must - be remembered. You see, Echo believes her mother tried to kill her, but she has zero recollection of the events that landed her nearly lifeless body in the hospital and left her with a plethora of scars detailing her arms. Scars that Echo tries to hide every day, regardless of the weather, with long sleeved shirts.

Noah Hutchins, on the other hand, would like to forget some things. He'd like to forget that his parents died in a fire, he would like to forget that his two young brothers live with foster parents, and he'd really love to forget the circumstances behind his parents' deaths.

In order for each of these people to survive high school, let alone life itself, they need to remember, whether they like it or not. And both are delivered to school psychiatrist Mrs. Collins, whose job entails helping them process and moe past those events that paralyze them.

In Echo's case, that is a very difficult task to accomplish. For one thing, her father and his new wife - her former nanny - are expecting a new child, almost as if they want to replace Echo's older brother Aries, who died while serving in Afghanistan. Echo feels unloved, unappreciated and unwanted by her father, who she views as trying to create a new family. Her father knows what happened the night Echo almost died, but he refuses to tell her, and he refuses to allow anyone else to do so. She must remember on her own.

For Noah, not forgetting is a challenge, because those days he can slip his circumstances from his mind are his freest. The days he sees his brothers, happily living with people they call "Mom" and "Dad" while seeming to have forgotten their real parents, gut him.

As part of their therapy, Echo must tutor Noah, a job neither of them particularly dislikes. Echo has red hair, luscious curves, and smells like cinnamon. Noah is HOT. All the girls think so, and Echo's best friend wants pictures of his six pack abs. But Echo has an ex-boyfriend who wants to remove the "ex" part, and this being high school, some of her "friends" want her to be with someone more socially acceptable. Of course, Echo wants Noah, and vice-versa.

What makes this book so good is its story. Told from the points of view of Echo and Noah, the first pages pull you in and keep you until it's over. Part of this is due to the mystery; what happened to Echo? She remembers bits and pieces, but behind each memory is the fear that she, who has so many things in common with her mother, is just like her. What if Echo is bipolar as well? Noah's mystery is not as involving, but we like him. Here is a boy who desperately wants his family to stay together, believing that it's the best for all of them. If parts of this seem a little predictable, maybe it's because some things are just going to happen.

Some pages will break your heart, others will make you giggle, and some leave you at peace. Echo is a fantastic character: she is feisty yet frightened, sexy yet steely, innocent yet worldly. Her father and stepmother, who could be cookie cutter, static characters, are not. Owen Emerson loves his daughter, and his attempt to control her is his way of protecting her. We see it, even if Echo does not.

There are a couple of sex scenes, but parents should not be worried about their teen reading this book. In fact, these sex scenes should be celebrated by parents wishing to preserve their teens' virginity. If you know what I mean ...

I am an unabashed fan of YA literature, and this book is a great example why. The story is so good, the characters believable and accessible, and the romance realistic. This is just an all around good book, whether you're a teenager or not.

The Testament of Jessie Lamb

The Testament of Jessie Lamb
Jane Rogers
Published by Harper Perennial
256 pages
Available on Amazon.com
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview.
3 / 5 cupcakes


I am an English teacher, so if there is one thing in which I am well-versed, it is literary symbolism. Teach it, love it, know it. When done well, it's subtle enough to present a challenge but not so obvious that a third grader can spot it.

In the case of The Testament of Jessie Lamb, the symbolism is IN YOUR FACE. You can't avoid it, even if you prefer your books simple and approachable. It permeates this book like stink from a skunk.

Let's start with the first obvious symbol: Jessie Lamb. The name? Like, duh? Jessie, which could be a feminized version of Jesus, who is the Lamb of God. Add in the rest of the title, and OH MY GOD. Could it be more apparent?

Add to that some nifty water symbolism (Jesus was baptized! In water!) and a virgin birth (FOR REAL, people), and you have yourself a hot mess of symbolism. At one point, I found myself praying (no pun intended) for relief.

But let's say you're not like me (and I really hope you aren't, because one of me is enough punishment for the world). Let's say you read your books straight up, no analysis necessary. What, then, to make of this one?

Well ... the verdict is not good. Not bad, certainly, but not good, either.

The premise is strong: At some point in the not too distant future (Facebook is still around), a virus, supposedly triggered by bio terrorists, infects all human beings, killing women who get pregnant. In other words, the human population will vanish, because women die once they get pregnant. Sixteen-year-old Jessie Lamb at first merely observes the catastrophe, but when a boy she likes gets involved with a protest group, she joins him. And she begins to think about what this virus means.

Jessie's father is a research scientist trying to find a cure. He tells Jessie about the "Sleeping Beauties" - young girls Jessie's age who elect to get pregnant. Upon conception, they are put into a coma, which allows them to bear a child. Once the baby is born, the girl is literally put to sleep more permanently. The disease, called Maternal Death Syndrome (MDS - kind of the same acronym for doctors, isn't it?) causes the pregnant women to lose their minds, eventually killing them.

As Jessie's activism progresses, she comes to discover what her role could be. She believes she realizes what she should do to help with MDS, but when she shares her idea with her parents and would-be boyfriend, they are horrified. She is determined that she make a difference, even if her loved ones beg her not to do so.

There is nothing - and I do mean, NOTHING - uplifting about this book. I'm all for unhappy endings (paging Gone Girl), but Jane Rogers seems nothing less than militantly intent on depressing the hell out of us. One of Jessie's parents might be having an affair. Her best friend is subjected to a horrific act of violence. Her boyfriend apparently rejects her. Her aunt suffers heartbreak and descends into an abyss of despair. Jessie herself is subjected to poor treatment by friends and family.

Even the bleakness of the book could be excused if we accepted Jessie's reasons for doing what she does. She tries to justify it by saying that she wants to do something that she decides and controls, something her father would be proud to see her do:

To do something straightforward, where there would be no tangled argument and no compromise. Something that would make a difference to the world. Something that was within my power to do without having to rely on anyone else. Something that would make Dad proud. I pulled my pillow and duvet off the bed and wrapped myself up on the floor, so I could go on and on staring at the beech, letting that freedom unroll. The freedom to act. The freedom to do something I had decided for myself. 

A somewhat precocious manner of thinking for a sixteen-year-old, non?

Ultimately, I did not buy Jessie's rationale. She even considers another option, one that leaves her some control and the potential to have an impact, but she shrugs it off and goes with her plan. The harder she pursues it, the less sensible she becomes. What's almost worse, I stopped caring about her. In a book like this, with such a heavy premise, you must care about the characters. Too often, I found myself not liking her or her decision.

Like I said, the premise is very good. But when it comes to books about viruses that cause harm to reproduction, I recommend you go with Megan McCafferty's Bumped and Thumped, which at the very least give you characters to like.

Semi-Charmed Life

Semi-Charmed Life
Nora Zelevansky
Published by St. Martin's Griffin
336 pages
Available on Amazon.com
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview.
4 / 5 cupcakes


There are some things I just do not understand about people. For instance, why are there Kardashians? Why do we allow them to exist outside of their home? Why do we allow those Jersey Shore cretins to make more money than an entire platoon of troops? Why do people watch crap like that on television?

It isn't that Nora Zelevansky answers those questions in Semi-Charmed Life, but she does get to the essence of why we so willingly follow these idiots off cliffs: fame, fortune and free swag.

College senior Beatrice Bernstein finds herself caught up in the whirlwind known as Veruca Pfeffernoose, a blonde socialite (think Paris Hilton, another parasite whose fame is beyond all rational thought) who hires Beatrice to ghost write a blog detailing Veruca's high flying lifestyle. Of course Beatrice falls in thrall with private planes, facials and Balenciaga bags. She even finds herself copping Veruca's attitude.

To the unknowing onlooker, Beatrice might easily have been the crew's queen bee. She was now a fully indoctrinated member of Veruca's gang. In observing the media princess so closely she had unconsciously picked up some habits, including the socialite's coy crinkling of the nose whenever she was digging in her heels. She'd also perfected the blank stare, which Veruca - and now Beatrice - used to avoid communicating an actual opinion, perhaps about a given reality TV star or gossip columnist.

Yes, poor Beatrice. all of that free designer footwear and top shelf champagne is like the serpent in the Garden of Eden: nothing good can come of it. Beatrice compromises her credo, not to mention warps her moral compass. She ditches friends and family, while coveting Veruca's hot boyfriend Ben.

Can Beatrice be saved?

Well, of course she can. What might have made this a better book is if she COULDN'T. But ... just because this is predictable does not mean it is not enjoyable. There are a few zigs when you think Zelevansky will zag, and Beatrice is someone we really do want to rescue. We can't leave her with Veruca and her pals, aka the Axis of Evil.

Zelevansky take us around the world with Beatrice, Veruca and their hangers-on, and we can understand why Beatrice cannot resist the pull of Veruca's orbit. Yes, you easily an predict the outcome. But this is a fun, escapist book that might even cause you to question the popularity of real-life Verucas. If we are so stupid as to condone their fame, can we blame them? Or ourselves?

Saving June

Saving June
by Hannah Harrington
Published by Harlequin Teen
ISBN-10: 0373210248
336 pages
Available on Amazon.com
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview.


4.5 / 5 cupcakes


I will get to the bottom line, straight away: you must read this book, because if you don't, you miss something extraordinary.

The plot appears simple: Harper Scott's older sister, June, commits suicide a week before she would have graduated from high school. The girls' parents are divorced, their mother having already succumbed to grief over her marriage and their father all but evaporated from their lives. June was the "good" daughter, seemingly confident, successful and the standard to which her parents held Harper.

And then she kills herself, and Harper finds the body.

The book begins at June's wake, during which Hannah Harrington establishes the taut dynamics in the Harper home: Mom is vacant and self-focused on her own loss, Dad is on the periphery, Aunt Helen is brittle and judgmental, and Harper is unable to cry or, for that matter, appear terribly disturbed by her sister's death. We also meet Harper's best friend, Laney, as well as Jake Tolan, a mysterious boy who shows up, smokes, and irritates Harper.

Since June did not leave a note, Harper is forced to try and figure out why her sister killed herself. She pries through June's stuff and uncovers a few clues. She also discovers one last thing she can do for her sister: take June's ashes, which her parents plan to split, and scatter them in California, a place June desperately wanted to go to.

Harper, Laney and Jake hop in Jake's minivan, affectionately named Joplin (after the singer, not the Missouri town), and head west. Jake, as Joplin indicates, is a fan of classic rock and the blues, and the road trip not only gives Harper a chance to take care of her sister, it also provides a learning opportunity about music. (Hannah Harrington even provides playlists for us, so that we can create the soundtrack for the book.)

What makes Saving June so good - so phenomenal, actually - is its realism. Harper is confused and unsettled. She feels guilty. She also feels a little unburdened. She feels forgotten and abandoned. But mostly she feels lost. Why did June kill herself? What was her relationship with Jake? What will Harper do when Laney heads off to college? Can anything come of Harper's interest in photography? And most of all, who is Harper without her sister serving as the measuring stick for her life?

As Harper herself observes,

Well, my head could use some clearing. Everything is so complicated. The mess with Laney. How I feel about Jake. How I feel about my sister. I want someone to make things black-and-white. Someone to tell me, These are the people worth caring about, who won't hurt you or let you down. These are the people who will put you through the wringer and abandon you in the worst ways. When it really counts.

The one thing Harper knows to be true is that June was more than how she was categorized; she was not the person they wanted her to be.

I don't want to think about Aunt Helen. She's just like everyone else downstairs, seeing in June only what they wanted to see - a perfect daughter, perfect friend, perfect student, perfect girl. They're all grieving over artificial memories, some two-dimensional, idealized version of my sister they've built up in their heads because it's too scary to face reality. That June had something in her that was broken.

Harper realizes that Jake hold some of the answers, but she can't bring herself to ask him. And that's something I really liked about this book. Harper wants to know, but she's afraid to find out. She waits for Jake to tell her about June, even as she yearns to interrogate him. She doesn't want to know that someone saw June's death coming, that Jake knew her sister better than Harper did. But at the same time, she wishes June had a Laney - a friend to stand by her side.

This book is beautifully written. Harper makes mistakes; oy, does she make mistakes. She sometimes says the wrong thing, sometimes does the wrong thing. She will fill your heart with love for her even while she breaks it with her loss. Laney and Jake are nicely developed, too. They each have struggles, and each of them needs something from the trip to California.

I do, however, have two quibbles with this book. The first is that a resolution to on character's problem seems very convenient, almost cheapening the issue in the first place. It was an unexpected development, because nothing comes easy for Harper. The other quibble is the adults in Harper's family, who seem like cardboard, stock characters.

But those complaints are minor when seen in the scope of this book. It is just so good. It will make you laugh, it may make you cry. Read it. Right now.

Dark Kiss

Dark Kiss
Michelle Rowen
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
ISBN: 0373210477
352 pages
Available on Amazon.com.
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview.



I am not a fan of paranormal romances or paranormal mysteries or paranormal anything. I have had it up to HERE with vampires and werewolves and shapeshifters. I don't care about otherworldly critters or entities. I have enough trouble trying to exist on earth without worrying about those things.

So no one is more surprised than I am that I really, really enjoyed Dark Kiss.

Please do not judge this book by its incredibly lame cover. What the hell is that? A Chris Isaak / Elvis / Robert Pattinson mash up? And the wings? This book is so much better than that cover. Just forget about that rather odd - if nor injurious - marketing decision and crack this sucker (no pun intended - and you will know what I mean when you read it) open and start reading.

Samantha is seventeen and seemingly mired in mediocrity. She has a best friend, Carly, and she might have the teensiest crush on Carly's ex-boyfriend. But for the most part, Samantha feels like life sort of happens to her, rather than her happening to life. It is an unsatisfactory existence.

But then one night, she and Carly go to a teen club, and Samantha is kissed. Oh, boy, is she kissed. Not only that, but she's kissed by Stephen, Hottie McHot, the boy she has fantasized about kissing for a long time. And it's a good kiss. So good that Stephen's warning to her, that the kiss would be "very dangerous" and change her life forever, means nothing to her. He tells her she's delicious, and she feels dizzy. But cold. Very cold. And then he releasees her and says, "Sorry, kid. Really."

Not exactly the stuff of romance.

A few days later, she stumbles across an apparently homeless boy, and the two have an instant connection.

I felt uneasy now that he was towering over me rather than sprawled on the sidewalk, and yet I didn't turn away from him. Those eyes - they seemed to hold me in place. And he smelled so incredible - spicy and sweet - I couldn't even describe it properly. His very presence seemed to sink into my senses. 

He tells her she is beautiful. He tells her his name is Bishop and he needs help finding the others. He touches her, and she has a vision of people being sucked into a giant back vortex, with Bishop just beyond her reach to rescue her.

What in the world is happening to Samantha?

There are many zigs and zags to this story. Bishop is an angel, sent here to combat demons. Some of "the others" are angels, some are demons themselves. But Bishop and his merry band of saviors all want to ensure the same thing: that the soulless demons - the "grays" - not succeed in whatever nefarious plan they are scheming.

Samantha, meanwhile, is special. There is something about her that is different from other angels, demons and humans. She can read minds, for one thing, and she can zap people. Those particular skills didn't come to her until after Stephen's kiss. Ah, yes, the kiss. It turns out that Stephen is a "gray," and he sucks out people's souls by kissing them.

Just as Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss, so do the grays betray humans with an act of intimacy and love.

A lot goes on in this story, most of which I can't really discuss for fear of giving away too much. Suffice it to say that Samantha and Bishop sort of team up together, all the while fighting a fierce attraction to each other, not to mention all those grays. Bishop wants to find The Source, a mysterious woman who started this whole "I'm going to kiss your soul right out of you" business. The Source, Samantha discovers, has a connection to her.

Like I said, I am not typically a fan of paranormal stories, but this one is so good. The characters are interesting, the pacing is fantastic, and the story sucks you in. There I go again with the whole "sucking" thing.

Be warned, though: this book ends on a cliffhanger, which is NOT NICE. Now I have to find out what happens to Samantha. And I'm probably going to have to wait a while.

This isn't perfect - there are some easy coincidences and conveniences of plot that sort of cheapen the story at times. But it's good, and Michelle Rowen's story and characters will keep you turning those pages.

Unbreak My Heart

Unbreak My Heart
Melissa Walker
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's

ISBN 10: 1599905280
240 pages
Available on Amazon.com
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview.




I did not want this book to end. Not at all. In fact, Melissa Walker, I am not amused by your antics. You ended this book just when I really REALLY wanted to know what happened next. That is dirty play on your part, and I am going to cross my arms and pout at you for a long, long time.

Or until you tell me what you think happened next, at which point I will forgive you, because I am nothing if not easy to woo.

You will like this book too. I promise.

You will like Clementine Williams, even with her overwrought emotions and self-flagellation. She blames herself for everything that went wrong in her life, to the point that she believes she is unworthy of everything, from love to enjoying her summer. See, Clementine flirted with her best friend's boyfriend. Okay, maybe 'flirt' is the wrong word. She fell for him, and she encouraged him. When he stepped over the lines of propriety, she didn't stop him. Yes, she told him that they need to step back because Amanda would get upset, but when he said that he can have friends who are girls, she willingly grabbed at that lifeline like a passenger on the Titanic. And she never exactly tried to move his hand when it covered hers, or when it covered her thigh. You will like her even through that. Even through the three-hour instant messaging she engages in with Ethan The Cad (as I came to think of him). Even through the playlists he makes for her (and that she listens to repeatedly) and the one she creates for him. And then lies about.

You will like her.

You also will like Amanda, the best friend, who is sort of on the periphery here. Amanda reacts the way Clementine's mother says most women do: she blames the Other Woman and dumps her, not the boyfriend. But when you were sixteen, wouldn't you have done the same thing? Don't grown women do that NOW? Yes, they do. You know it's true.

As an aside: I tell my girl students all the time that I do not understand why it's always the other girl's fault. If the boy initiates the flirting - and let's be real clear here: Ethan initiates the flirting - then isn't he to blame? Is it really that girls are so desperate that they fear being alone or fear seeing the boy with another girl that they willingly forgive him and completely blame the girl? My fear is that it is as simple (and complex) as that.

But back to the story.

Clementine's family decides to spend the summer sailing down the Mississippi, and quicker than you can say, "Look, Huck! There's Jim!", Clementine meets another boy. James. He's tall, somewhat gangly, and red-headed. He also sees Clementine for who she is. He brings truth into a life that feels built on lies and deception.

Along the journey (both metaphorical and literal), Clementine reflects back on her relationships with Amanda and Ethan. She admits to jealousy over Ethan, and she cops to enjoying it when Ethan, under the cover of a blanket, puts his hand on her leg.

People know how to stop - they just stop. They stop holding their friends' boyfriends' hands under the blanket. It didn't have to happen, even if Ethan wanted it to. I could have taken my hand and moved myself around in a way that he couldn't really get to me, and he would have had to stare straight ahead at the movie even if he was upset or angry, because he shouldn't have been doing what he was doing! He shouldn't have been trying to touch my leg and hold my hand!

Aaaaaand she's back. It's Ethan's fault. But this is what a sixteen-year-old girl would do. She would vacillate between blaming Amanda, blaming Ethan and blaming herself. She knows she went too far, she knows she betrayed Amanda, but she's also unwilling to fatally fall on the sword. She's willing to nick herself and leave a scar.

Clementine is so intent on her sadness and loneliness that she fails to see that Amanda established the pattern for their friendship much earlier in her relationship with Ethan. When Amanda displays some of Ethan's boxers for a scavenger hunt, Clementine is shocked. "I felt a pang in my chest. Ethan had been at her house. He left his boxers there. Maybe they had been naked together. And she hadn't told me."

A painful lesson. Your best friend may know all your secrets, but do you know hers?

This is an addicting, wonderful, besotting book. You will love Clementine's family, especially her ten-year-old sister Olive. And you will love James. Most of all, you will love Melissa Walker's ability to get into the head of a teenage girl and accurately, realistically create her on paper. But you may not love Ethan.

Code Name Verity

Oh, faithful readers. Are you in for a ride with Code Name Verity. Elizabeth Wein crafts a tale that sucks you in, keeps you turning the pages, makes you shudder with horror, and causes a tear (or two ... or maybe more than that) to fall.

Two young women, Maddie and her friend, given the name Verity, work for the British military during WWII. Maddie is a pilot, and Verity is in intelligence. When a plane Maddie pilots goes down, the girls suffer different fates. Verity narrates the first part of the book, and with her we begin the race for survival.

Verity is a character you will not forget any time soon. She writes with passion, fear, nostalgia, love and even humor. Captured by the Nazis, she is ordered to divulge as much intelligence as she can, from information about planes to locations to plans. She complies, knowing that she's dead whether she cooperates or not. But she is not straightforward; she gives the Nazis what they want, but she does it her way. As she parses out information, she also tells her and Maddie's stories, beginning with their first meeting, leading up to the fated crash.

The two girls are vastly different: Maddie is from a working class background, while Verity is a member of the Scottish gentry. Whereas Maddie is interested in machinery and airplanes, Verity "needed a chaneg of scene. Perhaps a few weeks on the Continent, where she could put her sangfroid and multiple languages and wireless operator's skills to much-needed use in Nazi-occupied France. It seemed like a good idea at the time."

As Verity, whom her Nazi captor refers to as "little Scheherazade," tells her tale, she also brings us very much into the present. We see her fears over her imminent execution. Swallowing kerosene? Firing squad? How will it happen? She is frightened, we definitely see that, but she's also practical, observing that "though my success at staying alive for so long would carry more weight if I'd actually managed to set up a radio before I was caught. Now I really am living on borrowed time. Not much more to tell." But she knows what's coming:

After my second escape attempt, while they were waiting for von Loewe to turn up and pronounce punishment, a couple of his stupid subordinates casually blabbed a great many administrative secrets in front of me, not realizing I understand German. So I know a lot more about their plans for me than I'm supposed to know. I fall under a sickening policy called Nacht und Nebel, Night and Fog, which allows them to do whatever the hell they feel like to people suspected to be "endangering security," and then make them disappear - really disappear. They don't execute them here; they ship them off without leaving a trace, into the "night and fog." Oh, God - I am a Night and Fog prisoner.

 The second half of the book continues Maddie and Verity's stories. We find out what happens to each girl, and it is chilling. Wein spares us nothing, not their anguish or fear or guilt. If anything, she can be accused of telling too much. Many pages are devoted to Maddie and Verity's early days together, and not all of it is necessary to the rest of the book. We know that the two are close friends. That was established effectively using far fewer pages.

Still, to complain about that is to deny us Verity's voice, which is extraordinary. She is the type of person you want as a best friend: witty, intelligent, and loyal.

Code Name Verity is for teenagers and adults alike. Wein's story is fierce and brutal, and you do yourself a disservice if you do not read it.



Published by Hyperion and available on Amazon.com.
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview.

Torn

Torn is an excellent example of a book that is excellent up until its final act, when it all falls apart.

Stella Chavis is a high school senior, seemingly content with her friends, family and future. Yes, she still suffers lingering affects of her father's behavior and abandonment of his family. And, yes, she has had the same friends since kindergarten, and she sometimes resents having to take care of her younger sister and brother. But life, for the most part, is good for Stella.

Until, in a frenzied burst, Ruby Caroline enters Stella's life.

Ruby is what we call Troubled. She dresses provocatively, smokes and drinks. She's also drawn to older boys, beginning with the Notre Dame students living in the girls' town of South Bend, Indiana. Through Ruby, Stella discovers that an occasional stiff drink helps you feel better, college boys are fun (Stella meets Mike, who becomes her boyfriend), and there is a lot more excitement to life than Stella has experienced.

But ...

There is always a but.

Ruby likes to get in a lot deeper trouble, is drawn to a much hotter flame, than Stella. Yet Stella can't stay away from her. She tells herself that Ruby needs her and her friendship, that she can't abandon her new best friend, even as she abandons the friends she's had forever. As Ruby sinks deeper and deeper, Stella is there, enabling her all the way.

What author Stephanie Guerra does well with this book is create fairly realistic characters. Ruby is a little over the top, but I've seen girls like her strolling the halls of the high school where I work. She's outlandish, but some girls are. And Stella is beautifully conceived. She does not realize she is mired in ambivalence until she meets Ruby, and her reaction to this enlightenment results in fairly typical high school behavior.

Peppered throughout Torn are gentle urgings to seek comfort in God. For example, when Stella talks to Mike about applying to Notre Dame, he tries to comfort her by saying that she will get in, if 'God wants you to, you will.'" Stella's response is one we understand:

Boy, I hated when people said that. Of course it was true, but what if God didn't want me to get in? Or what if my college career was too insignificant for God to worry about? That was a distinct possibility, too.

The story chugs along, with Stella feeling the push and pull of friendship with Ruby, as well as her relationship with Mike and her family. But then we get to the last few chapters, and this wonderful story just sort of wraps up, end of scene. It's almost as if Stephanie Guerra got tired of writing, or had a word count she couldn't exceed. The rationale behind the tidy resolution of Ruby's and Stella's problems is unsatisfactory. The weakest is the playing out of Stella and Mike's courtship. What happens make sense, but not Stella's apparent emotional distance.

The thing is, this book was really good up until the end. That's what makes it frustrating, and that's why it gets the three cupcakes it does. It's a disappointing conclusion to an otherwise engrossing novel.

Published by Amazon Children's Publishing and available on Amazon.com.

Thanks to NetGalley for the preview.