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Review and Giveaway: Changeling by Philippa Gregory

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So, Philippa Gregory is writing a YA series, and this is the first installment. It is not great. It is not good, either. Even “mediocre” would be an undeserved compliment, because this book failed so hard to live up to my expectations (which were not high to begin with), that I’m a little miffed. And it’s not even a so-bad-it’s-good book, which would have redeemed it in some way. It’s just pretty bad. And that is a sad thing.
Changeling is the first book in the Order of Darkness series, and both of those titles would lead you to believe that this is a much more exciting book than it is. It’s set in 15th century Italy and features teenagers Luca, a boy tasked with investigating strange goings-on at an abbey (like stigmata!), and Isolde, the Lady Abbess who may be at the center of said goings-on.
This premise could have been so good, but instead it’s boring. The solution to the mystery is telegraphed right from the beginning and will come as a surprise to no one. (It’s sad that it does come as a surprise to the characters.) The dialogue is repetitive, the sentence structure is simplistic, and the “clues” Gregory drops are more like anvils. And then after Luca wraps up the mystery at the abbey, the book goes on pointlessly for another 100 pages, featuring an investigation into a supposed werewolf in another town. This mystery, while blessedly shorter, is even more obvious, and I really don’t know why it was included, unless there was a page count goal. It felt very much like a bad monster-of-the-week episode of a bad tv show.
And then there are the characters. Luca and Isolde are bland, Luca especially. They have hopes and fears, but we’re told about them, not shown. Neither have much personality. The ancillary characters are stock: Luca’s sidekick is the fool who is wiser than he appears, and Isolde’s maid is the exoticized, dark-skinned foreigner with dangerous knowledge from afar. 
All of these factors show that Gregory feels like she needs to write down for her audience, which is a rookie mistake, and an unforgivable one. The characters have no nuance, the writing itself is lazy and unimaginative, the mystery is ridiculously thin, and the romance she tries to foist on her readers near the end is so unbelievable (seeing as her two leads have no personality to speak of), it’s insulting.
I say all this having read and greatly enjoyed The Other Boleyn Girl, which was soapy and fun and fascinating, even though I knew Anne was going to lose her head at the end of it. I compare that to this travesty, which for all its faults could have been made enjoyable if only one aspect of the book (writing or character or plot or setting or something) were engaging. None of it was.
Naturally, then, I have two paperback copies to give away, courtesy of Big Honcho Media! I encourage you to enter, even though I clearly didn’t enjoy the book, because hey, you might like it. Fill out the quick form below for a chance to win. Then you can commiserate with me or tell me just how wrong I am.

Twitterview: Amy Spalding

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This month, we’re excited to have Amy Spalding as our Twitterview guest of honor. Amy is the debut author of The Reece Malcolm List, reviewed here. She’s eager to talk about musical theater, her book, and her biggest, darkest secret about ice cream, and much more.

We’ve also got a finished copy of The Reece Malcolm List to give away to one lucky reader.

Pitch The Reece Malcolm List in 140 characters

Long-lost mom, L.A., performing arts school, boys with good hair, complicated friendships, amazing burgers.

What inspired The Reece Malcolm List?

I’m a sucker for long-lost family stories and wanted to write my own! I thought, who is least likely to be the mom. Boom. That’s the mom.

How would you describe your main character, Devan?

Always defined herself by what she didn’t have (her mom). Overflowing with doubts/observations. Never so comfortable as when onstage.

What about Reece Malcolm?

Brilliant, intimidating, bad at cooking, caffeine addict. ANY MORE MIGHT SPOIL THE BOOK.

Your book is set in Los Angeles and the setting is noteworthy. You’re an LA transplant yourself. What’s your favorite part of LA? (*Readers: this is a trick question that makes a lot more sense when you’ve read the book)

People here are part of thriving creative communities. Also the weather’s great, restaurants are amazing, and bands rarely skip our city.

The Reece Malcolm List features musical theater. What’s your favorite show?

TIE: Ragtime, Hair, Hedwig & the Angry Inch, Merrily We Roll Along.

Honorable mention: A Little Night Music, Floyd Collins, Chess, Evita

Favorite show song?

“Journey On”

“Flesh Failures”

“Opening Doors”

“Wig in a Box”

“A Weekend in the Country”

“Big Ass Rock”

“Rainbow High”

“Skid Row”

Oh, sorry, did you ask me to keep going? (*No, but keep going, Amy)

“Science Fiction Double Feature”

“Getting Married Today”

“I’m Not That Guy”

“Real Big News”

“Git Comfortable”

“I Can Hear the Bells”

“Nobody’s Side”

What about your least favorite?

People say Phantom of the Opera’s “All I Ask of You” is romantic. I believe those people to be very wrong.

If you had to give your book a “____ meets _____” pitch, what two (or three! or four!) books/films/shows would The Reece Malcolm List be a meeting of?

Dramarama + Gilmore Girls + High School Musical? THOSE THINGS ALL HAVE ME BEAT BUT STILL.

What should readers walk away with from The Reece Malcolm List?

Don’t be a wild squirrel.

This is your first book. What’s been the best/most exciting part of the publishing process so far?

1. Getting offer. 2. Getting blurbs. 3. Getting ARCs.

What’s been the scariest or most stressful part of the process so far?

My books took a long time to sell. It was depressing and upsetting and I wanted to give up constantly.

Outside of writing, what do you do with your free time? 

I do tons of longform improv, playing on indie teams. Also I love television.

Who or what do you write for?

Sometimes I write books I would have wanted to read at 14, sometimes I write books for me now. I like them all!

What was your most influential read as a teenager?

Most influential books were as a tween: Lois Lowry’s A Summer to Die, Ann M. Martin’s Babysitters Club.

Who are your top three writing influences?

People always think I’m kidding about Ann M. Martin, but it’s true! Also Lois Lowry again here. Current YA, E. Lockhart.

Who do you believe is breaking ground in YA right now?

Excited about Sarah Skilton’s, Bruised and Leila Howland’s Nantucket Blue. Think CK Kelly Martin should be more famous.

What’s the best writing advice you ever received?

Not to me personally but Jennifer Westfeldt said to write EVERY character like you had to play them. Changed how I wrote supporting “cast”.

What’s your best writing advice to give?

Write what you love. Trends change, but if it takes longer AND YOU LOVE YOUR BOOK you’ll be glad you never wrote a robot romcom.

What is your writing routine?

I’m the worst. Hunched over a coffeetable. Camped out at Starbucks. Lunchtime at work. Don’t write like me, kids.

What gets you jazzed to write?

When I have A Big Idea. When things start to gel. When I can crack myself up like an obnoxious douche.

Do you have a writing soundtrack? Care to share a bit?

I try to center it around book’s soundtrack. For Reece it was pretty much nonstop showtunes, especially cast recordings of Merrily.

What’s next for you?

Editing my next book, Ink Is Thicker Than Water (Dec 2013!).

Favorite ice cream?

Maple bacon.

Your deepest, darkest secret?

Actually I used to hate ice cream. Then I got onboard! LIKE IN MY LATE TWENTIES.

Code Name Awesome: A Supportive Community for Youth Librarians

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I mentioned in my post about how important support networks are that I’ve been a part of an incredible and tight group for a couple of years now.

This week, one of the members sent an email with the subject “HELP WITH CRAP.” She wanted to know how to make something work design-wise for a publication she was making for a program. She also asked how we felt about her program being named the “Anti-Valentine’s Day Party” or “The Broken Hearts Party.”

We all rang in our thoughts, and in the midst of it, we realized that, while we’re strong in our little group, we’d love to offer up an extension of something like this for a larger group of professional librarians who work with kids and teens (or who are invested in them). In other words, we wanted to develop a means for getting more input and more voices, without it turning into a massive listserv where the questions that were answered six years ago are still being asked and answered today.

Are you a youth services or teen librarian looking for a supportive and active group of similarly-minded people to exchange ideas or vent frustrations to? Welcome to Code Name Awesome*.

This is where we can talk about how those Printz-winning books are indeed titles that appeal to readers and how we can promote them among our teens. Where we can ask how to make something work in Publisher or where we can figure out how it is we can promote our own blog posts and creative ideas in bigger venues.

We are totally cool with blatant self-promotion, too. This is about supporting one another’s ideas.

You can join our listserv by applying here, and we are also on Facebook.

* If that reference is lost on you, be glad we didn’t go with our original idea for a group name, which was “help with crap.”

Post-awards, Post-lists, and Other Post-things

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In my ALA rundown, I shared a couple of things I learned about the Stonewall Award and about the Batchelder award. Last year, I wrote an entire blog post about how important it is to field nominate books you love and that are eligible for the selection and award lists.

Two of the books I nominated this year from the field ended up on the lists I nominated them for. That made me so happy.

All of that said, I thought as a means of sharing some of the thoughts I’m having about this year’s awards and in light of knowing that there are rules to these lists not everyone knows about, I’d make a bullet point of FYIs about the Youth Media Awards, field nominations, eligibility, and more.

On Award/Selection List Reactions

* First and foremost, the committees making these lists and choosing these awards work tirelessly to do this. They are not paid. Many pay their own way to not only attend these conferences to do their committee work, but there are times they are paying their own money to acquire the books. These committees are reading hundreds of books to get a sense of what’s out there, and they are reading with the mission of their committee at hand. That means those on the Quick Picks committee are reading books with a keen eye toward books that are of very high appeal to teen readers. Those on the Printz are not reading the books with interest in teen appeal but instead are reading with an eye toward literary merit. Committee members are reading anywhere from 200 to 400 books and many of those are rereads. This is more books than almost anyone else reads in a year.

* As such, whatever opinions people have about what’s missing and what’s been “shut out” are fine to have, but it is not okay to then share those opinions with those serving on the committees. It’s rude. Likewise, just because a book doesn’t appeal to you, it doesn’t mean the book doesn’t appeal to a reader out there. So the argument that “no one likes that book” is just ignorant. Obviously, a committee out there did, and they did so with an eye toward potential readership. And no, potential readership does not mean readership for all. Sometimes, it means highly specific readership. Which, of course, is still readership. As someone who watched the process for the Alex from the inside, I’ve been bothered by how many people have said sort of weird things to me. I watched the committee deliberate, defend, and become incredibly sad about favorite titles making or not making the lists. It’s not an easy process. And I promise that whatever title you felt like was shut out or was overlooked was most likely NOT.

* People on these committees don’t have an agenda to shut out titles. They aren’t out to get anyone. They’re out to develop the best possible award and selection lists possible.

* Popularity in the main stream and “best-seller” does not an automatic in make. Sure, John Green earned a million accolades last year for his book. But that doesn’t mean a Printz is his to have. Nor does it mean he automatically is one of the top ten best fiction titles for young adults. The reactions by those believing this to be the case are short sighting committee work.

* Additionally, there are no “onlys” here. Again, I return to the John Green point because the number of posts pointing that he “only” got an Odyssey Award are not only devaluing the Odyssey Award (which is an incredible honor!), but they’re also further devaluing the work of the committees who chose to select other titles for their lists/awards. Again, nothing is owed to anyone, despite how well they’ve done elsewhere. If that were the case, what would the point of committee work like this be?

On Field Nominations/Award Eligibility


* Anyone can field nominate titles, unless they are the author, editor, or publisher of the title. I’ve outlined this before. Didn’t see a title you loved on a selection list? Rather than say the committee overlooked it, why not nominate it and know that it was looked at? I can say that every single one of the field nominations received on the Alex was discussed in some capacity and I believe every single one of them was read by a committee member (I say I believe because there may have been a title or two that were deemed ineligible or outside the scope of the committee that were field nominated).

* Best Fiction for Young Adults includes titles published between September 1 of the previous year through December 31 of the current year. This means that the BFYA list for 2013 included titles from September 1, 2011 through December 31, 2012. What this means is that titles published between September 1, 2012 and December 31, 2012 are eligible for BFYA 2014. So titles like Anna Jarzab’s The Opposite of Hallelujah and Adele Griffin’s All You Never Wanted can be nominated for the coming year’s list as soon as nominations open. So can books like Emily Hainsworth’s Through to You and Tiffany Schmidt’s Send Me A Sign. Guess what books are on my list to nominate?

* Passionate about a book you’ve read? NOMINATE IT as soon as you think to do so. The form takes almost no time. Even if the book doesn’t end up on a list, at least you have the peace of mind knowing you did your part. Because you can complain all you want to about how things shake out, but unless you’ve also stepped up, the fault is partially yours.

* You can nominate titles for the big awards, too. Spend some time reading the eligibility requirements on YALSA’s site.

* Are you a member of YALSA and still unhappy? Then volunteer to be on a committee. Can’t get on a committee? Get your name out there to be an admin on one. See the process or be a part of it.

* Most importantly: trust the process. No one is taking shortcuts here. No one. The people on these committees want to produce the most amazing lists possible. They are just as heart broken as anyone else when titles don’t make the cut. Sometimes, they’re also not happy about what does. But it is part of the process.

Additional ALA/Division Award and Selection Lists

* ALSC, the children’s services division of ALA, also produces a list of notable books, which includes titles not only for children, but also younger teens. Here is this year’s notables list.

* RUSA, the reference/adult services division of ALA, also produces a list of books. Becky over at RA for All gives an incredible rundown of what these lists are for, and she has the links to their best titles, including lists made of genre fiction.

* There’s also the Amelia Bloomer Project — out of the Social Responsibilities Round Table and Feminist Task Force — for books that are particularly feminist. Learn about that here and see the notable 2013 titles.

* Don’t forget about the Stonewall Awards, for titles with LGBTQ at the heart of them. This project is out of ALA’s LBGT Round Table. Like the BFYA, the eligibility for titles on this one allows for prior year titles — meaning that books like AS King’s Ask the Passengers and Kirstin Cronn-Mills’s Beautiful Music for Ugly Children are eligible in 2014. So maybe it’s worth nominating them over there if you’re so inclined.

* But wait. There’s ALSO the Rainbow List out of the LGBT Round Table. You can learn all about that here, and you can check out this year’s list.

Of Final Note


* There are some committees that operate entirely closed, like Alex and the Printz. This means that discussions aren’t open to anyone at ALA. There are some committees, like BFYA, which are entirely open. But in either case, there are levels to which members can and cannot speak about the process and decision making. Asking about it can, in many ways, be rude or come across as offensive. Asking, for example, how one book made it and not another is rude. Asking what the criteria were outside of what’s listed on the YALSA website is also rude. Don’t do it. It puts committee members in an awkward position and compromises their work.

Trust the process.

I hope that’s a valuable amount of insight for anyone who is wondering why things happened as they did this year. Likewise, I hope it’s motivation for anyone who has considered nominating titles to just do so — and of course, I hope knowing about the other amazing lists produced and vetted by librarians at ALA further expands your literary horizons.

The Reece Malcolm List by Amy Spalding

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Devan’s lived with her father and stepmother Tracie, but when her dad dies, her life is in for a huge change: she’s being sent to live with her mother. The mother who she knows nothing about except that she lives in Los Angeles. The mother she knows only as the infamous, best-selling novelist Reece Malcolm.

When the plane lands and Reece is there, things get a little awkward. There’s no instantaneous mother-daughter bond. There’s little small talk, aside from their light conversation about getting a burger at the “world’s best burger place.” But it’s the tiny details Devan picks up on that help her work through not just the transition, but that help her come to figure out who her mother is and what their relationship may be. Both of them, for example, go for the diet coke. Details like this one are important in the story, but not because of what they are. The details are important because they are what define Devan and ultimately, what define the relationship between Devan and Reece.

Another surprise awaiting Devan in Los Angeles is Brad. He’s Reece’s boyfriend, who just recently moved in with her. Brad is about as opposite as you could get from Reece, too. And it’s not that he’s better than Reece or that he’s a better parental figure to Devan. He’s just different, and he is the kind of good person that Devan deserves in her life. Especially as she comes to understand her mother.

What complicates things even more for Devan is knowing the story of how she herself came to be. As Devan grew up, she heard snatches of stories, of her father cheating on Tracie with someone named Reece Malcolm. And Devan, never knowing her mother, couldn’t quite make heads or tails of things when she discovered a dedication to her inside a book authored by Reece Malcolm. Devan had never assumed it to her from her mother to her. She’d never known her. But with pieces falling into place, things almost become more uncomfortable and confusing for her.

But Amy Spalding’s debut The Reece Malcolm List isn’t just about Devan discovering the depths (or non-depths) of her mother. It’s about Devan coming to accept who she is and coming to find her place in a new environment so wildly different than the one she left in the midwest. It’s also about Devan learning how complex every person in her life is — not just her mother.

First, it’s New City School. Where Devan had always been passionate about musical theater, the places she lived in small midwestern towns didn’t always give her opportunities to perform. But now? She’s auditioning at and performing at a school in the city dedicated to the arts. She’s among the best of the best here. And while it could be intimidating, given her background, is anything but — Devan is a go getter. This is evident not only in the confidence she has when it comes to performance, but it’s evident, too, in the way she seeks out any and everything she can about her mom. Sure, some of the methods are questionable (she snoops email when it’s right there for her to do so) but it doesn’t change that driving force she has to figure things out on her own.

The other thing — maybe even a bit of a bigger thing to Devan — is the sudden attention she’s getting from the boys at her school. First, there’s Sai. He’s new to New City, too, and he’s from St. Louis, so they’ve got that in common. Then there’s Travis. He’s sweet to her, too. Both boys have their perks and their drawbacks, but what matters is not so much who she ends up with, but instead, the way that romance blooms in Devan’s life. I can think of few YA books that have approached the teen romance with such authentic awkwardness. Devan doesn’t fall head over heels. Devan doesn’t fixate on the way that a boy’s stare or hair or hands or body makes her feel. Rather, she’s much more internally focused about how it feels to actually feel something for another person. It’s not smooth, nor is it easy. It’s not cut and dry and even reading it, Devan offers us this sort of vulnerability of putting herself out there in a way that makes her feel uncomfortable and weird. But isn’t that what a first romance is? Uncomfortable and weird? Spalding nails it, and even though I’m not a big romance person, I thought the way it worked with the story and the way it worked for Devan personally had a great payoff.

The Reece Malcolm List gives us a great voice in Devan. At times, there are small cross-outs through the narrative, and each chapter begins with a list of the things Devan’s learned about her mother. Devan’s a tiny bit sarcastic, but it’s not in an unnatural or forced manner. In fact, it’s funny the way her sarcasm works when she interacts with her new peers and even more so when she interacts with Reece and Brad. Not to put her in a box, but Devan’s voice was reminiscent of a performing artist, the kind of person who likes being on stage and being seen and heard through a character. Which is to say that, we are seeing her as one thing on a whole, but it’s through these small details like the cross outs, like the lists, like her fixation on the little tiny things, where we crack this character and understand her at a deeper level. It mirrors precisely what she herself is doing to figure out who her own mother is. It takes some digging because it’s not laid out there on the surface for us to just have.

Fans of musical theater will eat this novel up, without question. There are references to tons of shows, and obviously, performance plays a role in the book itself. It’s how readers discover Devan, how Devan discovers her mother, and how both Devan and her mother discover Devan herself. More than that, though, this book is written in a way that leaves a reader feeling really satisfied. Where there are novels that tackle grief through the lens of working through grief, Spalding doesn’t do that here. In fact, despite the story appearing to be a novel of grief, Devan tells readers from the beginning that while she’s sad to have lost her dad, it wasn’t the end of her life. And indeed, it’s not — we get to see her really take control of her own future here, even though she’s forced into a world completely foreign to her. Just when it seems like Devan has a grasp on Reece Malcolm and on her life, we’re given even more depth and more surprises. Those discoveries keep this story fresh and the final one — arguably the biggest thing Devan discovers about Reece — might be the one which brings Devan the most peace with her new life, her new mother, and what the future holds for them all.

Hand The Reece Malcolm List over to readers who want a fun and charming contemporary novel that doesn’t come off as saccharine or unrealistic. Spalding has a knack for the teen voice and for capturing humor in a way that’s authentic. I don’t like to call out books as “clean reads,” since everyone’s definition is different, but this is the kind of book that has appeal to younger, as well as older, teen readers. There aren’t content issues to worry about. This book is custom made for fans of performing art, for those who always have a song stuck in their head, and for those who want a story about a non-traditional, yet still functional, family.

The Reece Malcolm List will be available February 4. Review copy received from the publisher.