STACKED

books

The Stormchasers by Jenna Blum

|

When I saw Jenna Blum, author of the powerful Those Who Save Us, had a new book coming out, I put my name on the holds list for it . . . months ahead of time. And am I ever glad I did. As you recall, one of my favorite books of all time is Ann Patchett’s The Magician’s Assistant, and as I read The Stormchasers, I couldn’t help but see there were many similarities and my experience in reading it was so similar. This has shot to my favorites list, without a doubt.

Karena is a divorcee living near the Twin Cities, and one morning, she receives a phone call from a Wichita mental health clinic saying that her brother had been admitted as a patient, and she had been listed as one of his contact people. Funny, she thought, since they had not seen or talked to one another in 20 years, as Charles fell further and further into the depths of a few different mental illnesses. Karena, though, had always wanted to rekindle that relationship — they were twins after all — so she drops everything and chooses to go to Wichita in order to find her brother.

She was too late. Charles had left before she arrived, but she had a feeling that by following his passion, she’d find him. His passion, as you might guess, was stormchasing. Karena signs up for a storm chasing tour, and quickly finds she and fellow chaser Kevin have a great rapport . . . and Kevin himself might hold the key to helping Karena track down her brother.

The Stormchasers is written in present tense, which at the onset is a bit jarring, but as the story progresses, it is the ideal method for telling this tale of love, family, and passion. Like Those Who Save Us, we are thrust into the depths of family life and challenges with loving and accepting who we are within our families and the ever-changing nature of family dynamics. Set amid the heartland of America, Blum lovingly depicts the people and places that are too often ignored in literature. But it’s not just a loving portrayal: it’s realistic and gritty, giving readers a true sense of life in a small town.

Obviously, the stormchasing is a metaphor for the family and for the relationship between Karena and her brother Charles. But it’s well-done, and it provides further for the setting, which is itself a character in the story.

I’m purposefully leaving out a lot of the plot because I knew very little going in. I will say that this story travels two distinct time periods: the present and 20 years before then. Something horrible happened in the lives of Charles and Karena on their 18th birthday — the time immediately before Charles went off radar. This again is where the stormchasing fits in, but it never felt forced nor too much like the author was trying just a little too hard.

Lest I not forget, there is romance here too, and at times, it gets a little hot. So while there’s drama in the story, there’s also a little love to resettle you. Maybe!

One issue I had with the book was the end: I thought the epilogue was unnecessary and almost condescending to the reader. After 350 fantastic pages of story, the epilogue was tacked on and did more telling than showing. I’m mostly pretending it didn’t exist in the book, since the last chapter ending fine enough for me.

Back to an original assertion I made: this book reminded me a lot of Patchett’s gem The Magician’s Assistant. There is travel among places and family secrets waiting to be revealed page after page. The development of setting is strong, and the characters each have their own quirks that make them evolve from page one to page 350 and beyond. Blum uses metaphor in the same manner as Patchett here, in a simultaneously obvious and brilliant manner. And as for me, I read it in the same way, falling deep into the story and staying up far too late to find out what was going to happen next.

I’m both sad and glad this is only Blum’s second book. Sad because I have to wait for her next one (which could take a few years, the time frame between this and Those Who Save Us) and glad because she spends the time to write something powerful and worthwhile. The Stormchasers will be staying with me for a long time, and I am excited to pass this one off to my adult fiction readers at work.

Finally by Wendy Mass

|

Every time I read a Wendy Mass title, I fall more and more in love with her style and her ability to get into the minds of middle schoolers so perfectly. Finally, her latest release, is no exception: Mass depicts a funny and adorable 11-year-old-turning-the-big-12 in Rory.

“When you’re 12, you can,” is a common phrase Rory’s learned to live with. But she doesn’t just live with it, she takes stock in it. You see, Rory has been keeping a list of all the things she will be able to do when she turns 12, including getting her ears pierced, getting a cell phone, riding a roller coaster, getting an instant messenger screen name, and more.

But things won’t be as easy as she thinks, when she first has to leaf through stacks of pamphlets on different cell phones and cellular plans in order to pick one out. Nor will it be easy when she finds out that the number she gets for her phone actually belongs to an out-of-business pizza place and she begins receiving phone calls for extra large sausage and pepperoni pizzas while she’s sleeping and garlic-topped pizzas in the middle of class. And let’s not get started on what happens when she gets her ears pierced.

There’s good news though! Rory’s school is the site of a movie screening, and the lead actor in the movie is the oh-so-swoon-worthy Jake Harrison. When she and her friends hear the film crew will be casting for scene extras, you better believe she’ll be there…it just might be with some interesting physical issues that have come up as a result of her birthday list.

Finally is a fast-paced, hilarious novel that will take readers back to one of the most exciting ages in their lives, and it will resonate with middle schoolers who are themselves struggling with the challenges of never being old enough or mature enough to do some of the things that their friends do. Mass captures an authentic 12-year-old here that never once feels forced, too old, or too young. This is a page turner in the sense that as a reader, you want to see Rory succeed, but you also get a kick out of the terrible things that happen to her (don’t worry — none are terrible in the sense of bad, but rather in a funny sense).

Here’s a bonus for readers: if you’ve read 11 Birthdays, Leo and Amanda make an appearance in this book, too. In fact, the line when they are introduced is something to the effect of “Something weird happened on their birthdays last year, and it brought them together but they won’t tell anyone what happened.” I was laughing quite hard at this point, and I think that other readers will get a kick out of their reappearance in Finally.

This book would be an ideal readalike to Lisa Greenwald’s My Life in Pink and Green, a title that I’ve talked to middle schoolers a few times and which they report back to me they adore. The main characters in both are driven individuals with a lot of spunk and creativity, but they both have faults. There is a good family surrounding each, which is refreshing to see.

After reading this one, I’m so eager to dive into Mass’s forthcoming The Candymakers and to go back and read through some of her titles I’ve missed. If you haven’t been reading Mass, Finally may be a great place to begin, since it is a quick read and introduces you to her humor and character style quite well. This book is appropriate for middle schoolers and older, and it is a completely clean read.

A Summer Secret by Kathleen Fuller

|

Sometimes we all need to read outside our comfort zones, and for me, that generally means picking up a fantasy book. But because I’ve been reading more and more fantasy, I decided I need to read more in the Christian/Spiritual fiction arena. This is a growing area in the publishing world, and at my library, these books fly off the shelf.

Last week, I spent a few days in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Though A Summer Secret, the first in Kathleen Fuller’s forthcoming “The Mysteries of Middlefield” series is set in an Amish area of Ohio, the setting really got me into the book.

Mary Beth, a 13-year-old Amish girl, has spent many of her days sketching out by the abandoned barn near the end of her family’s property. It doesn’t belong to her family, and she’s been told not to go in there since it wasn’t stable. But, she likes the freedom she gets in going down there and drawing, so she rationalizes that as long as she stays outside the barn, she’ll be fine.

The more time she spends down there, though, the more she notices strange things happening. First, it was a button (and the Amish do not wear buttons but instead use pins). Then, some of the juice boxes in the barn begin to disappear. Her journal, which she has left in the barn, has also been rifled through. When she runs into her twin brother down in the barn — and yes, he’s not supposed to be there either, but he has been hanging out down there at night to get away — they discover the footprint of a sneaker that definitely belongs to an outsider.

The twins soon find their uninvited guest is a boy of their age who has run away from foster care. Throughout the book, Mary Beth and her brother will forge a relationship with Sawyer, helping him survive and thinking up ways to make his life stronger. But when a strong crack of lightning strikes the barn, Mary Beth and her brother may just find themselves in heaps of trouble with their family for sneaking around and lying.

A Summer Secret is a strong middle grade novel, and while there is a very Christian bent to the story, it is never overwhelming. Because the story is set in the Amish community, it works quite well. I thought that Fuller did a good job of incorporating some of the Amish language into the book, as well. For me, this is the sort of book that is an easy sell to girls in the 11-14 year-old range since it is clean and has enough mystery and intrigue to keep the story moving.

Some loose ends in the book didn’t tie together, including Mary Beth’s mother’s pregnancy. It’s easy to see coming from the start of the book, and it would have been worthwhile to tie up at the end. The characters of Mary Beth and Sawyer are pretty well developed, though the other characters do not seem as well fleshed. I think this is made up for with the quick pacing. I was a little disappointed in the end of the book, as it wraps up a little too cleanly and conveniently and in my mind, a little unrealistically.

My real disappointment with the book is the narrative style. This is told in a third person voice, and I believe that had this story been rewritten in first person, it would have been built on stronger bones. I’d love to hear Mary Beth’s inner voice since she’s such an interesting character. I think this may have been a missed opportunity to really get behind her and show us as readers why she wanted to help Sawyer and how her faith and Amish values helped her make the decisions she did.

I read A Summer Secret while waiting for my plane home and on the first half of my flight. It’s a fast read and keeps readers hooked. I was pleasantly surprised in this genre, and I plan on seeking out further books in this ilk since there are definitely good reads here. Fuller herself has penned some adult books, as well, and I’m eager to see if she can delve into the psyche of any of her main characters, as I’d love to read about the Amish lifestyle straight from that mindset.

* Review copy provided by the publisher, though the book is available now.

Field Notes: The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

|

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!).

AudioSynced: Just Listen by Sarah Dessen

|

Confession: I can no longer read Sarah Dessen. By that I mean I can no longer hold the book open and read them; I need them read to me. Dessen’s style is so strong, begging to be read aloud, and I find that I have gotten much more out of her books as a listener than as a reader.

Just Listen is on one of the Illinois book awards lists this year, along with Along for the Ride, so I decided listen to it, since I had good luck with AftR as a listen.

Annabel’s life is falling apart — one of her sisters recently developed an eating disorder, her other sister has begun changing right before her eyes, and her very other best friend has turned her back on her — making this quite the year to be beginning school up again. She’s dreading it.

But that’s when she meets a boy who will change her mind about relationships and about herself. Owen, a guy she’s never paid much attention to, has suddenly made himself a huge part of her world. And yes, music plays a huge part in this story, so immediately, there is an appeal factor here.

Annabel and her sister are models, and Annabel wants to leave that world behind, but because she knows it pleases her mother so much, she doesn’t want to do it and upset mom. Dad’s a typical Dessen father — there but also not there in the story. In other words, not memorable.

Just Listen features Jennifer Ikeda as a reader, who I thought worked particularly well for Annabel’s voice. Ikeda is a little gruff, but not too much. She made Annabel realistic in the sense that she was going through a lot of challenges and looking for a lot of changes. Unfortunately, I found that her voice changed a few times throughout the audiobook, from higher pitched to lower pitched, to at times completely flat, and it was quite distracting. I remember at one point needing to flip back a track on the audio to make sure I was listening to Annabel narrate and not another character being voiced because the shift in her reading style changed so dramatically.

The audio is semi-voiced, which was nice. I liked Owen’s voicing here, as Ikeda did a great teen boy. Clark, Annabel’s first best friend, had a fantastic nasally voice, which was done flawlessly and believably by Ikeda. I feel like she did a great job of capturing not only Clark’s voice, but Annabel’s envisioning of Clark as a young person.

While Just Listen was not my favorite Dessen title, it was just as strong as her others. Fans of Dessen have already discovered this one, but this is a title that would appeal to fans of Natasha Friend (especially her issues books), Tara Kelly’s Harmonic Feedback (I was, in fact, reading them both at the same time and loved the parallel tales of music), and those who have yet to wet their feet in Dessen world. This might be an audio version to skip if you haven’t listened to a lot of audio, as the sound quality and editing challenges might be disappointing and tough to follow. But if you are a listener, this is something you can probably let slide.

Oh, and of course, at the end of the story the loose ends all come together, and there is nothing short of a satisfactory — if not entirely predicatable — conclusion.