Sometimes, a book clicks with you, and other times, it just doesn’t. For me, Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus falls on the “does not” side of that equation.

Persephone (“Phe”) Archer lost her sister not too long ago from mysterious circumstances, and as if that weren’t bad enough, Phe has suffered from a series of horrifying dreams in a graveyard, where a mysterious man has stepped in to play a significant part. Like her sister, Phe is drawn to Devenish Prep School in Shadow Hills, Massachusetts — quite a distance away from her home in Los Angeles. But because of the recent death of her sister, Phe’s parents aren’t too argumentative when she asks to enroll in the school.

When Phe gets to Devenish Prep, weird things start happening. She’s having the dreams more and more, and in addition, she’s been called Rebeckah by a local shop owner who is convinced she is actually someone else from the 1700s. Oh, and this guy, Zach, is able to know her thoughts, feel her energy, and make weird things happen with electromagnetism. Add to that the graveyard Phe happened to stumble upon behind the school, and you have a paranormal adventure with a hefty dose of mystery to unravel about the school, Phe, and her sister’s death.

Shadow Hills is a lengthy book, but it never once felt that way. This is a fast moving book, but it suffered from too many elements that never seemed fully developed. Throughout the story, I felt like Phe had too many issues going on — the dead sister, the dreams, the utter fascination with Shadow Hill’s mysterious grave yard, friends who may or may not be friends, romance with the magnetic boy, and more. These story lines never gelled for me, and many times, I thought I was rereading Twilight, as the bulk of the story’s arc was near identical.

What I would have really wanted from this title (and note, this is something I hardly ever say) was more length. I think this was the sort of book that could have benefited from the length and description and back story that Beautiful Creatures had. I felt throughout this book, the mystery and the paranormal aspects were made up on the spot without a lot of history imbued within them; the rules kept changing and appearing without much rhyme or reason. This could have been better developed and lengthened, and in that, I could have more easily fallen into the story and the world. Likewise, there were too many characters, and their importance in the story seemed to shift too much for me to keep track of. I never sunk into their histories or their experiences, thus when someone held the key to unsolving an aspect of the mystery, I didn’t find myself questioning why or how. I skimmed it and went on without hesitation. I didn’t get to know the characters in enough depth to warrant more than the passing read. And the added aspect of the electromagnetism left me confused and could have probably been edited out. That alone may have helped the issue of too many strings and not enough puppetteers for me.

As a non-reader of this genre, I wasn’t pulled in as I was in others I’ve tried. The ability to see too many other story lines in this was a little disappointing, too, as I didn’t find enough new here. And Phe was far too male-dependent, much like Bella. Phe was kind of an irritating character throughout. I think Graham — who she meets when she first enters Devenish — was my favorite. I wish there was a little more of him. Oh, and good grief, did the librarian NEED to be described as an old lonely spinster? This isn’t making friends with the profession…

When I mentioned that this book wasn’t doing it for me, one of my friends said this sounded like something totally up her alley. Shadow Hills will have a definite audience, and I think for those who did like Twilight, this is a natural go-to. This may appeal to more mature paranormal readers, as well, who will find themselves digging the mystery aspects more than perhaps the actual paranormal moments.

Shadow Hills is Anastasia Hopcus’s debut novel, due out in July of this year. She’s an Austin based writer, and I think had this book been set there, rather than a distant place in Massachusetts, I’d have maybe eaten it up just a little more (yep, I’m sometimes that shallow a reader).

Connelly doesn’t come from a broken home, nor is she unattractive or unintelligent. She’s also not perfect, but she feels like a princess the day that Jeremy Cole — the guy anyone would be crazy about — decides to sit next to her at lunch. Not only does he want to sit by her, but he wants to get to know her.

Connelly’s been struggling a bit with physics, where Jeremy’s a pro, and he’ll offer her his insights in exchange for her SAT preparation in vocabulary … and her first-hand knowledge of what it’s like to have a close family member go through a tough disease. But what Connelly can’t do is just that. She was only 2 when her father died and she’s never been quite sure what caused his death. Her mother won’t tell her what happened.

It must just be Jeremy who is able to unearth what happened to Connelly’s father when he himself must experience something terrible.

The Beautiful Between was a surprisingly refreshing read. Although the topic’s been tread many times before, I think Scheimel offers something fresh to the story line, and she does so with two very likeable main characters.

One of the first and very shallow things I liked about this book was its length: it’s slated to be 192 pages. If you take a minute to reflect upon the length of the hundreds of teen novels coming out lately, this stands out. Sheinmel’s debut is able to contain an entire story in under 200 pages and still make it an engaging page turner with strong characters, an interesting plot, and never once did it feel like there was excess fat. This isn’t a “sparse” novel, either, in the way of writing. The writing itself is fluid and descriptive, weaving in fairy tale analogies to both Connelly and Jeremy.

This isn’t a book that is going to give you a long set up into the history or lives of these characters. No, instead you are plopped into the middle of a high school cafeteria to live alongside Connelly the moment Jeremy notices her. Oh, and don’t worry: there are no mean girls to be had, no clique drama, or other “typical” high school lunch-time scenes.

Connelly’s a strong female character and doesn’t fall victim to head-over-heels-live with Jeremy. Although there are a few scenes and few selections of dialog that hurt me to read (really – Jeremy kisses Connelly on the cheek way too many times to feel real or believable . . . those scenes felt a bit inauthentic) for the most part, it’s spot on for a pair of teens living in a wealthy part of New York City. The book’s time setting isn’t entirely clear; it is contemporary, as the characters more than once make a comment about something being “so 1990s” (another ick-inducing phrase included more times than necessary), but there wasn’t a reliance on gadgets to make the setting. I think this is a very positive aspect to the book, as it won’t date itself quickly. The cringe-worthy moments don’t kill the overall positive aspects of the novel, and I suspect with more writing, Sheinmel will avoid this more easily. I’m excited to see what she does next. Oh, and please, please, PLEASE continue writing with restraint. Two-hundred pages was the perfect length for a story like this.

The Beautiful Between will appeal to Sarah Dessen fans. There is a slow development of a very close friendship between a guy and a girl, and there is depth to both characters. Actually, this book really struck me as one that would appeal to fans of Jenny Han’s Summer I Turned Pretty or Sarah Ockler’s Twenty Boy Summer.

Sheinmel’s debut hits shelves May 11.

This last week, I was only able to get through one book. I’m a quick reader, so it was a little disappointing to get through little, given the growing pile of books I want to read right now. Although there are a number of reasons, one of them was that I picked up Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver, on account of Janssen‘s request.

Weighing in at nearly 500 pages, this is a book that asks for an investment.

Samantha Kingston is a mean girl, and on February 12, she and her clan of chicks who rule the school, will be celebrating Cupid’s Day. The school lets students purchase flowers for one another that get delivered in the classroom, and the flowers are a status symbol (does this not sound exactly like a scene in Mean Girls?). More than just that, this is the day Sam will lose her virginity to her long-time boyfriend Rob.

It just so happens that this Cupid’s Day, there’s also a big party at Kent’s house, where anyone who is anyone will be (even though Kent himself isn’t all that popular). But of course, it’ll be more than just the popular girls who’ll be there: Juliet Sykes will make an appearance, and she’s the girl who not only Sam and her clan hate, but she hates them back with just as much fire.

Everything lines up for an unforgettable night. And that’s when the accident happens.

…and Sam gets to relive February 12 yet again.

Before I Fall is what you would expect if you combined the social aspects of Mean Girls with the storyline of Groundhog Day. Mix in a little bit of the after-death and ability to interact post-death of Amy Huntley’s The Everafter, and you’d have a good idea of what this book is and attempts to do. It is a very lengthy book that asks readers to invest in long chapters that chronicle the span of one day in Sam’s life. At the end of each day, we know something is inevitably going to happen and that Sam will get to relive it again.

I didn’t find this book to move much. I thought that the pacing was quite slow, given the premise and the storyline. I never found myself believing in the mean girl aspect, as I never understood what made Sam and her friends mean girls. Juliet certainly didn’t like them, but they never gave me a real reason to believe in them. Sam never gave me anything to hold on to nor anything to make me want to either hate her or pull for her. They stole a parking spot from someone and ditched class, and they said mean things about other people amongst themselves, but that seems like what happens to high schoolers. It didn’t stand out as identifying this subset of people “mean girls.” Perhaps I’m still convinced they’re not mean girls unless they’re written like the ones in Some Girls Are.

The reliving aspect of this story didn’t push the story forward very well. It seemed to get tangled in on itself, and quite frankly, there were a number of times I got confused when reading. And the ending was completely confusing to me as a reader, as it didn’t seem to jive or make sense as to why things had to end the way they did. I think this all goes back to not having enough character development to reign in reader sympathy or understanding.

Although the premise was a construction of many others, I thought it was original enough to stand on its own. Oliver is a good writer, and I think this is a good debut that promises she’ll strengthen her writing in the future. I think that this book asks a lot of its readers — you have to buy into the premise (even the blatant rip off of the flower idea from Mean Girls) and you have to give the book nearly 500 pages to come to a conclusion. I didn’t find the conclusion satisfactory, but many might find it works. It’s quite possible along the way and the week long reading the book required I missed a detail here or there, but that in itself might be problematic.

That said, I still think on a scale of 1-5, this one lands as a 3 for me. It wasn’t a favorite, but it was just different enough to stay a little memorable. It’s a dead girl story without being a dead girl story, and the fluid writing it something that stands out. Sure, it’s slow and lengthy and the characters don’t always work, but there will be readers who absolutely eat this up. This is the kind of book you can read when you’re reading another one, too, and still know where you are when you pick it up again. Fans of The Everafter or mean girls inspired books that aren’t as gritty as Courtney Summers’s titles will enjoy this book.

Before I Fall debuts today from Harper Teen.

Sometimes, you have to admit that you just didn’t like a book and just didn’t quite understand the hype surrounding it. Jandy Nelson’s The Sky is Everywhere — her debut novel that will hit shelves in March — fell flat for me and forced me to do a lot of thinking about whether or not the publisher is missing the target audience on this one. Dial is pouring a ton of money into developing a huge buzz over this one through blogs, early and wide ARC distribution, a print and radio campaign, and banner displays galore.

The Sky is Everywhere tells Lennie’s story: Lennie’s sister Bailey died suddenly. She and Bailey were very close, in part due to the fact their mother disappeared from their lives at a young age, and they were sent to live with their grandmother and uncle.

Sharing in Lennie’s family loss is Toby, Bailey’s former boyfriend. As the story progresses, we come to learn that Toby and Bailey were not only engaged, but they were expecting a baby. At the same time, Joe steps into Lennie’s life; he’s a cute boy that Lennie’s best friend thinks that Lennie definitely needs to go for. But as Lennie and Toby spend more time together, their relationship seems to evolve from companions in grief to something more romantic.

The crux of the story is when Lennie makes mistakes between the boys in choosing which one she wants to be with while she simultaneously makes sense of her position in loss. It is slow and deliberate. Part of the story unwinds in poetry lines Lennie has written and placed in different places.

Nelson’s prose is poetic — every word is carefully chosen, and each line is constructed with great intention. For me, this book is absolutely about the writing and not at all about the story. Quite frankly, the story is way too slow and never coalesces. The entire reading experience left me wondering when something would actually happen, but unfortunately, nothing does. Although the language use in this story is incredible, that in itself further shields the story. Instead of writing the story, the story was written around. I never once felt myself caring about Bailey (she dies when the story opens, and I never learned anything about her) and I found everyone around Lennie was flat. At times, they were simply stereotypes — the girl who loves all things philosophy and the insistence on making the characters allusions to other literary works really grated on me. Lennie herself left me wanting more, too, as she seemed to be everyone else and not herself; that is, we know she likes two boys, that she misses her sister, that her best friend is Sarah, but we know almost nothing about her.

The Sky is Everywhere has been drawing comparisons to Sarah Dessen or Elizabeth Scott, but I must disagree wholeheartedly. Dessen and Scott are character-driven writers: we know so much about the main characters and secondary characters. They both have strong writing skills, but they are less on the literary side. We know their stories intimately and feel we are there. Nelson left me knowing some good writing and sparks of a story, but I never felt like I got close enough to the story or the characters. I felt very distanced. The romance between Lennie and the boys is much weaker and less developed than in either a Dessen or Scott title. I think handing this book off to a fan of Sarah Dessen or Elizabeth Scott might not be the best bet.

In the course of reading, though, I felt like fans of Justine Chen Headley’s North of Beautiful would really enjoy this book. The slow pacing, the slow unraveling of story, and the literary styles are similar, and I believe that the relationships that the main character in each develops with the boys in her respective story are similar. The difficult family situations will also resonate.

My biggest disappointment in reading this book was the target audience. I don’t believe this is a book meant for teens. I believe this is an adult book — the story feels much more mature than teen books, and the use of allusions to deep philosophical ideas and to “great literature” were far above the appreciation level of most teens. The language, while beautiful and can be appreciated at that level, left even me needing to look up words. The teen slang was stilted and wince-inducing at times. The story is very mature, and not in the appropriateness sense of the word. It’s a mature story about understanding who you are and what makes you survive. These concepts can be broken down for teens, but this was not an attempt at that. And of course, if you have a background in literature or writing, you know that books like this are also often a treatise on writing itself. I’d suspect Nelson’s education and training in the art of writing made this a total work of love to language.

Marketing decisions aren’t always in the hands of the author, and part of me wonders if that’s the case with The Sky is Everywhere. I can’t hazard any guesses, of course, but the book struck me as one that’s being published in a market where it won’t do as strongly as it could in another one. That’s not to say this isn’t a book worth reading because it should be, if for the writing and appreciation of language alone, but this is a book that young adults and adults will enjoy far more than a typical teenager.

Do you sense a theme this week? It may or may not have been intentional.

Stephen Emond’s debut Happyface is unlike many books I’ve read recently. Told through a diary format, to include email messages, pages of sketches, comics, and instant messages, this is the story of Happyface. But who is Happyface?

That’s the entire premise of the story. As readers, we gain insight into exactly who Happyface is through this journal, filled with fragmented thoughts and drawings. We know Happyface has had a rough home life, and he hasn’t always had luck with the ladies, especially Chloe. At the beginning of the book, we know Chloe will play an important role in Happyface’s life, but we don’t know how, especially when Happyface and his mother leave their home and move to a new city to get a new lease on life, away from dad. This means a new school . . . and new girls.

Happyface used to be a loner, but the move seems to have made him a little more popular. He’s making friends at the new school, and he’s found a new girl to crush on: Gretchen. But Gretchen’s got a bit of a past she’s hiding too, and Happyface will have a hard time breaking through to find out what that past entails. It makes sense that she’s the one who has given Happyface his moniker.

Although so much revolves around the obsession Happyface has with Gretchen, there’s more depth to this story. Chloe will make a reappearance, and we will discover why it is that Happyface’s mother and father divorced.

Unfortunately for me, the story took too long to develop in this book. I felt like we don’t know anything about Happyface for the length it took to get to the Big Event that gives us as readers a lot of feeling for him. His journal is real, like that of a high school boy focused on girl issues, but with the Big Event, I would expect any boy to write about that issue more. Likewise, when the Big Event is brought up, it’s at a very awkward moment, and having been given no heads up about it prior to the announcement, I felt tricked as a reader. There was ample opportunity to introduce it slyly in other spots, which would have made it felt more realistic, rather than a convenient explanation for other plot points and character issues.

As a reader, I’m never sympathetic for Happyface. I think he’s weak, and because I don’t get enough into his head, I can’t say that I’m particularly sad that he’s too scared to ask any of these girls out. In fact, I think he deserves what he gets at many moments, particularly when it comes to Trevor, the other boy in Gretchen’s life.

The ending of the book really was the icing on the cake for me, though. I felt it was far too much of a message, and it felt too much like a Full House ending, with everyone living happily ever after. All he had to do was remove his mask. That’s not a spoiler. I kind of wish we got a little more time with Happyface, to see how things panned out after his great revelation. We only get about nine months with him, and in that time, he goes through a heck of a lot.

What I thought would be such a fantastic book for boys might end up being disappointing for them with that sort of ending. Fortunately, this book has an incredible format going for it, as it reads sort of like a manga. I think the wimpy kid aspect to Happyface will appeal to older fans of Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid, though the didactic ending will leave them feeling a bit cheated.

I handed this title off to some of my 9th grade patrons, though, and the responses I got were pretty positive. They enjoyed the glimpse into the life of the kid, and they, too, drew the comparison’s to Kinney’s title. They suggested it as a good read for anyone in middle or high school, though I’d think middle school might be a bit young for some of the issues brought up here. Everyone loved the format — it is unique and stands out as memorable for that reason.

So while this wasn’t my favorite book, I have a feeling it’ll get some great teen reception because of the readalike quality to Kinney’s highly-popular titles and because of the great format.

Happyface will be available March 1, 2010 by Little Brown Books.

* The publisher sent me an ARC of this title. They also clearly paid me sums of money to give it a glowing review and ignore any and all flaws I as a reader might find because obviously, every reader will love every book. Seriously, though, I strive to point out the strengths and weaknesses of every book I read, so why I need to explain that I got an ARC is ridiculous…but I am really appreciative for the publisher’s support in letting me preview titles and offer them to kids to look at, too.