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The Summer of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells

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A lot of books and authors get compared to Sarah Dessen, and it’s for good reason: she’s a well-respected author who develops characters with dimension, insight, distinct voices, and she can sweep a reader into her world. She has a bit of a magical touch.

I’m pretty pleased to say that debut author Amanda Howells may have just tread onto this territory, too, with her The Summer of Skinny Dipping. This will have mega Dessen appeal and beyond that comparison, it is a title that will appeal to fans of Sarah Ockler’s Twenty Boy Summer and Jenny Han’s The Summer I Turned Pretty and It’s Not Summer without You. We have the summer romance here, but there’s more depth and weight to the story, making it one that will stand out longer than just the three short months of summer.

Mia and her family are spending the summer with their cousins in Southampton, on the beach. It’s been a few years since Mia’s been there, but in the past, she and her cousin Corinne had been close. When Mia and her family arrive, though, they’re met with snobbery and pretentiousness. Corinne is now too good for Mia, and when Mia’s best friend, Gen, she charms everyone but Mia.

Mia’s worried about the summer now: it would be a show of who can outdo who and who can out drink and out party who. She wasn’t into the scene like Corinne or Gen, both of whom boasted of the best clothes, best friends, and best parties. But when Mia is tricked by them at one of the parties, she falls into the path of Simon, a boy who would help her fully come into herself over the course of the summer.

While this may sound like your typical summer romance, it’s not. There’s depth to the story: Mia struggles to accept who she is and struggles with whether or not she should act a different way to fit into the ideal mold her cousin wants her to be. In the event of each, she does things she might regret, and those things will inevitably come back to hurt her.

And Simon — the geeky guy next door — is the light that helps guide her. There’s a lot of play on The Great Gatsby here, and the use of light in the story is well-woven. He’s a fully-fleshed character, though at times I felt his entire history wasn’t as strong as Mia’s. We know his father is controlling, but some of the events that happened didn’t quite convince me.

At the end of the summer, something awful happens. I won’t spoil it, obviously, but it took me a bit by surprise as a reader. I wasn’t expecting it, and I am not sure how I felt about it. It seemed like a plot device to end the story, but at the same time, it fit the character and was entirely reasonable. I’m going to be thinking this one over for a bit.

My biggest disappointment in the book surfaces from a trend in all of these books: why is it that the guy is always what makes the girl figure out who she is? I’m a fan of a sweet romance story, but I’ve seen over and over that the girl — who was otherwise a strong, smart, and interesting character prior to meeting the boy — always seems to feel better about herself or smarter or stronger after she’s been with this guy. He’s the transforming agent, not her, even though it really could be her as the transforming agent. But rather than attribute her strength to herself, in the end, it always goes back to the guy.

The Summer of Skinny Dipping didn’t leave me wanting more at the end. This is a solid standalone novel that will hook readers any time of year. Hand this one over to your Dessen, Han, and Ockler fans without hesistation — though it’s mostly clean, beware there is drinking and drug use (though Mia is adament in her disapproval of this).

* Review copy picked up at PLA, where I got to meet Amanda Howells.

Field Notes: The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

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Megan Chase’s brother Ethan has disappeared. But this isn’t the first strange thing to happen in her life. When her father disappears from the family — and we’re not talking about “leaving” in the sense as we understand it, it’s a real disappearance into thin air here — her mother moves them to a remote part of Louisiana, where she begins seeing strange things. Of course, she’s also a misfit in school, though she has a strong friendship with Robbie.

And it’ll be Robbie who introduces her to the idea that Megan isn’t who she thinks she is: she’s a member of the fairy world. Her father sired her with her mother, he being half-fairy and her mother being a mortal. So, now that that bomb’s been dropped in Megan’s life, she gets the news that Robbie, too, is a member of this world. In fact, he’s Robin Goodfellow; that’s right, he is who we lovably know as Puck from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. And Megan’s dad? Oberon.

Through a series of discoveries and battles in the fairy world, Megan traces down her family’s roots, her place in this half world, and aims to track down and save Ethan from this world in which he doesn’t belong.

The Iron King was a fast-paced fantasy that appealed to all of my senses, despite my hesitation to fall into a fantasy book. This one just worked for me. Megan is a strong female character who begged me to escape into her reality, and the use of Shakespeare’s fairy world kept this book pulsing forward. Kagawa develops her own world and does a fantastic job world building, but I can’t help saying that she has a lot to work with in the original story, as well. In short: I really liked this book and think it has wide appeal.

Kagawa’s story will appeal to fantasy fans, as well as non-fantasy fans who may want to try a book in that genre. Teens who are drawn to Shakespeare’s original tale will enjoy this one, and I believe that those who are seeking to be writers will love what Kagawa has done here. The entire time while reading the book, it felt to me like it could have began has a writing exercise: taking a well-known story or set of characters and shaking up their worlds. I think this is one of those books that could be quite inspiring for young and new writers.

The Iron King encompasses the fairy world, making it a true fantasy (rather than a paranormal book). This is refreshing in a world of paranormal thematics. An additional and interesting theme is technology. Kagawa’s world dives into how technology has changed humans — err, fairies — and what impact that has had on societies as a whole. So, while we’re swept into a created world, it is very much grounded in many of the issues and challenges present in our own world.

Kagawa has convinced me enough to check out her forthcoming sequel, The Iron Daughter, as the title alone has me intrigued after the conclusion of this book.

Don’t forget, too, you have a week to enter our contest to win this title. You can find the details right here. This is one title worth devoting a up-too-late-reading excuse to (or in my case, it made a wonderful plane read!).

The DUFF by Kody Keplinger

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One of the things that BEA is known for is buzzing titles. That is, there are a few books that get immense press and word-of-mouth marketing throughout the convention, and this year, 18-year-old Kody Keplinger’s The DUFF was one of those titles. It was one I was very interested in snagging a copy of, and . . . I was quite impressed.

Bianca and her friends Casey and Jessica have been hanging out at a local under-21 club for a long time, but on one particular winter day, Wesley, a male classmate, calls Bianca the Duff. Never having heard the word before, Bianca gets an explanation: she’s the designated ugly fat friend, and more than that, she’s the reason her friends fall for guys like him — if the cute guy is nice to the ugly girl, well, how could the cute girls not fall for him? He’s clearly sensitive, right?

Bianca’s hurt, and she takes this word on herself. But rather than letting it eat away at her, Bianca pushes against it. She doesn’t believe her best friends would simply keep her around because she’s a Duff. Sure, she doesn’t always feel as pretty or thin as they are, but she can snag a guy for herself, can’t she? But a tough relationship from the past may just come back to haunt her into believing that she is, indeed, little more than the Duff.

Oh, but did I mention that Bianca may just begin using Wesley, the certified jerk, as her own personal pawn? Or maybe, just maybe, they will be falling madly in like with one another, despite their inhibitions and Bianca’s interest in the sweet and sensitive Toby?

The DUFF was a fast-moving, engaging, and at times hilarious story about fitting in and not fitting in. There were moments that made me laugh and some that made me sad, but there was no stopping the pace. Keplinger wrote some sexy scenes, as well, that were straight out of a Simone Elkeles novel.

The dialog and situations within the novel were realistic and unbelieavbly true to an authentic 17-year-old experience. Because Keplinger’s age is brought up over and over again in other reviews, I can’t leave it out: I think her being 17 at the time of writing this is not only a heck of an accomplishment but a true asset in delineating such realistic dialog and characters. None of the characters here felt flat, though at times I felt the adults were nothing but figures to move the plot (but isn’t that the case in many ya novels anyway?). Likewise, I think the message in this book that everyone feels like the Duff is an important one, and it is one I think will stick with readers for a long time.

If I had to plot Keplinger’s writing on a map, I would call it the perfect melding of Elizabeth Scott and Simone Elkeles. We have a real teen situation with a gripping girl as a lead character (a la Scott’s romances) and some sexy situations written in a way that makes the reader blush at times (a la Elkeles). Pass this book off without hesitation to fans of either writer, as well as fans of Lauren Oliver. It might be a little more issue-driven than most of Sarah Dessen’s work, but I still think there’s an obvious audience there. This is definitely a title that will resonate with teen girls (and even adults!) but will probably have little appeal for boys. A couple of other important issues raised in the book include alcoholism and divorce, so this may be a good pick for readers interested in either of those.

Keep your eyes on Kody Keplinger. She has earned the buzz status with this title, and she has a heck of a long and exciting career in the field ahead of her. The DUFF won’t hit stores until September, but keep your eyes peeled for what will certainly be tons of opportunities to snag advanced copies of this little gem.

(I want to step back here a second, too, and say that though I was never initially a fan of the cover, I think it works now. I think including a fat girl on the final cover for this title would be belittling to the cover and to the greater message presented in the book. I stand corrected).

Harmonic Feedback by Tara Kelly

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I’ve read a number of books that deal with mental disabilities, and while I can’t say any have felt inauthentic per se, I haven’t read one that has made the character a completely normal person. But I am excited to say I found that experience no longer true after reading Tara Kelly’s debut Harmonic Feedback.

Drea and her mother move from California to the Seattle suburbs after her mother can no longer afford to support them both. They’re moving in with her mother’s mom, who has agreed to take them in — for a while, at least. Drea’s mom is not the most stable as we discover, but she’s not central to the plot. Drea is.

Drea is ADHD and has Asperger’s disease, but those challenges aren’t what will hold her back from trying to make friends at her new school. As soon as she steps foot at her grandmother’s, she is greated by Naomi, the neighbor who happens to her age, and she is immediately making a friendship. This helps get her settled into school just a little easier, even though Naomi has a list of issues herself. She’s a little too into drugs for Drea’s liking.

Music and sound design are Drea’s passions, and those two things are what lead her to meeting — and falling for — Justin. Well, really, they meet the first day of school since they are both the new kids. They don’t hit it off immediately, but when they start talking music, the sparks fly. Without much time, Justin, Naomi, and Drea are mixing their own jams. But then things go south for Naomi when she spends a little too much time with the wrong guy…and the wrong drugs.

Harmonic Feedback was a fast-moving and well-written book that portrayed Drea is a completely normal light. Although she mentions a few times that she has a couple of mental challenges, the book is not dominated by THE ISSUE. Drea wants to keep it under wraps from her new friends and the potential boyfriend, and when eventually the diagnoses come out, it’s refreshing to see that no one makes it a big deal. They make Drea different, but that is neither a good thing or a bad thing. It just is.

Drugs, sex, and rough language abound in the book, but I didn’t think they were too distracting. In fact, I thought that Tara Kelly provided one of the most convincing portrayals of real teenagers I’ve read in a long time. I didn’t feel they were forced or set up to provide essential issues. The obsession with music in the teens’ lives were well developed and weaved into the fibers of the characters, and I think readers will connect with someone here quite easily. Likewise, it was a relief that Drea’s mother wasn’t as deadbeat as she could have been, and it was sort of interesting to see grandmother as the powerhouse in the family. I definitely saw Drea in her grandmother.

Harmonic Feedback will appeal to teens who love music, stories about those with mental challenges, or stories about fitting in and forging new relationships. It sort of reminded me of Robin Benway’s Audrey, Wait, despite all of the major differences. Perhaps it’s the music element and the enjoyable writing style. Those who like realistic fiction will eat this one up. Because of how well written Drea is, I think her story will appeal to both males and females pretty easily — music is clearly a uniter.

Kelly’s debut will hit shelves in June. This was one of the top 5 of the debuts I read for the challenge . . . and the one that wrapped up my goal to read 20!

* Review copy provided by the publisher, who was so kind as to send it to me after chatting with me at PLA. Thanks!

Field Notes: Dark Life by Kat Falls

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What combines adventure, science fiction, homesteading, and evil gangs all within an undersea water setting? I didn’t think it could be done, but Kat Falls has created a fantastically creepy and exciting world in her dystopian debut, Dark Life.

Ty and his family are among the first to stake a claim to land under the sea, as the above-water world has become far too crowded (not to mention expensive and lacking in resources). But it’s not that easy: the Seablight Gang, a band of powerful outlaws, wants to destroy the settlement. Because of this, the government calls for all citizens to work toward capturing the rebels, and until that happens, no one new can seek land claims. Ty, almost 18 and able to stake his own claim, is NOT happy.

Add to that Gemma, a Topsider looking for her brother who came down as a prospector, and the unsettling feeling that there is something strange about Gemma’s story, and you have a story ripe for all of your adventure, intrigue, dystopian, and science fiction fans.

Dark Falls is richly written, so much so it begs you to slow down and read each word. The world building is strung together through the vivid language. Although the sea scape and concepts here are strong, the characters were a little on the weaker side, and a number of plot holes glared for me. Perhaps it was less plot holes and more that there were a number of instances of deus ex machina I couldn’t swallow as a reader. Gemma’s prospecting brother became something too convenient for me far too deep into the story, as one example. In terms of character, I never connected enough to any to care much about their situations.

But this is a book that has appeal written all over it. Fans of The Hunger Games, The Line, or faster, more action-packed adventures will eat this title up. HG fans will find the fighting scenes a little slower, but the government conspiracy factor will appeal hugely for HG and The Line fans. The dystopian aspect is not played up too heavily, though it is certainly the thrust behind why settlers came to the sea to homestead.

I can see our middle school and high school boys that love Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game series devouring this one, as well, for the pioneering aspect and the science fiction flair. For the adventure aspect, it’ll likely appeal to fans of Ben Mikaelson (of Touching Spirit Bear and more). I believe that this would be a fantastic book to listen to on audio, with the language playing such a key role in the story development. The fact this has been optioned for film, too, delights me — the entirety of the story reminded me of a film, so I cannot wait to see how that would play out.