STACKED

books

In My Mailbox (23)

|

Welcome to another installment of In My Mailbox, hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren. It’s a weekly showcase of books received for review, purchased, or picked up at the library.

And thus, I share with you the sad news that my mailbox is completely destroyed. Gone. What started as a break from the mail man has turned into no mailbox at all. It got plowed in the blizzard. Alas, may it rest in peace.

For review:

Divergent by Veronica Roth (May, HarperCollins): A dystopian set in Chicago. I picked up a copy at ALA, this one one will be going to my teens this week.

Strings Attached by Judy Blundell (March, Scholastic): A historical fiction that I’ve read may be stronger than her NBA winning What I Saw and How I Lied.

This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel (August, Simon and Schuster): I read the news this week that this title got optioned for film, and I think I walked around all week wishing in my head I could read it. I mean, it’s a prequel to Frankenstein. And it was really played up as Oppel’s best writing to date. A really nice surprise to come!

Bitter End by Jennifer Brown (May, Little Brown): About an abusive relationship. Brown’s Hate List was good, and I’m eager to see her sophomore effort.

Bird in a Box by Andrea Davis Pinkney (April, Little Brown): A middle grade historical fiction that involves Joe Louis. Looks interesting!

I’ll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan (May, Little Brown): A debut novel about family and relationships. Sounds pretty powerful.

The Time-Traveling Fashionista by Bianca Turetsky (April, Poppy/Little Brown): Fashion and time travel. A fun, lighter hearted title.

Purchased:

One Lonely Degree by C. K. Kelly Martin: I may have read I Know It’s Over this week and cried more than I have ever cried while reading a book. The voice is so strong and compelling and the story killed me (in a good way). And immediately, I bought Martin’s second book. I’m so excited about this. You have no idea.

Fallen Grace by Mary Hooper

|

I’m a sucker for a good historical fiction, and I’ve never read one quite like Fallen Grace. Grace lives in Victorian-era London with her older, mentally handicapped sister Lily. Her father left before Grace was born and her mother died when she was a little girl. Since being orphaned, the two girls lived in an orphanage for many years before being transferred to a charity school where Grace was to learn to be a teacher and Lily to learn servant work.
Unfortunately, the person who ran the charity school was the most unscrupulous of men who was in the habit of raping the girls he housed. Grace and Lily left the school, and nine months later Grace gave birth to a stillborn child. The two manage to eke out an existence in London’s slums by selling watercresses, but when their residence arrangement falls through, they find themselves in dire straits.
Luckily (or maybe unluckily), Grace is able to secure employment as a mute at the Unwin Undertaking Establishment and Lily is employed as a maid in the owners’ home. A mute, in this instance, is someone who is hired by a mourner to hold vigil at a funeral or wake and look suitably mournful. They dress in black, wear an expression of grief on their faces, and never speak. That is their job.
The Unwins are pretty underhanded, so it’s no surprise that their reasons for employing Grace, who is a suitable mute, and Lily, who is a very unsuitable maid, are less than charitable. In fact, they intend to make Grace and Lily a part of a great fraud that they’ve concocted. Will Grace figure the scheme out and stop it before she and Lily come to harm? It doesn’t hurt that she has a handsome young clerk in a lawyer’s office to help her.
I was never bored with the story, even though I could see all plot twists and turns coming from a mile away. That’s the mark of a good writer who knows how to use language to her advantage.
But the plot wasn’t the most interesting thing about Fallen Grace. What really struck me were the details about the Victorian practices of funerals and mourning. Before reading the book, my knowledge of Victorian mourning rituals consisted of “They wore black a lot longer than we do now,” and that’s about it. Now, I can tell you all about it. For example, there were entire shops dedicated to selling only mourning apparel, and people believed that keeping this mourning apparel in between the deaths of loved ones was bad luck – meaning they would discard the old garments when the mourning session was complete and buy new ones for a new death.
Hooper is a pro at interweaving a story with its setting and making them work together. While so many authors get bogged down in historical description that really does nothing to further the plot, the funeral home and mourning practices drive the plot in Fallen Grace. The story Hooper tells could not have been told in any other location or time period. And far from being tedious or depressing, these historical details are fascinating.
Grace isn’t a terribly proactive heroine. We get an idea of her resourcefulness from the first few chapters, where we see her ability to support herself and her sister in pretty terrible circumstances. Beyond that, though, she’s mostly reactive – the reader sees things coming from way off, but Grace doesn’t. That’s a not good sign in a protagonist and makes her seem a little dull. What’s more, the romantic interest – the aforementioned clerk – is the one who really spurs her to action. I prefer my heroines with a bit more agency.
I also felt the clues about various plot points could have been dropped with a little more subtlety – the book’s target age group (pretty solidly teenagers, not middle graders) is certainly smart enough to pick up on things without being hit over the head with them. But the story is still enjoyable and has so many delightful moments, I can forgive this aspect.
This is a good readalike to Y. S. Lee’s The Agency series – both are books set in Victorian England with an air of mystery and adventure featuring a plucky young heroine. Lee’s writing is, I think, a bit more sophisticated than Hooper’s and the mysteries are more of a focus – meaning I didn’t see all the answers right from the beginning like I did with Fallen Grace. Mary Quinn is also a much more confident and capable heroine, though Grace has her moments. While Lee gives us a good sense of time and place, Hooper surpasses her in this regard, and it is a treat. Who knew learning about grief could be so much fun?
Review copy provided by Bloomsbury in exchange for my honest opinion.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

|

I picked up Delirium at BEA and was initially underwhelmed by the premise, which has been done before in many other books.  Lena, our teenage protagonist, lives in a world where love has been eradicated (oh my goodness, how many times have I used that phrase “in a world where” in the past couple of years when talking about YA books?).  When people turn 18, they are taken to have a procedure done on their brains which makes them immune to the “deliria,” their phrase for the disease of love.
I will admit I rolled my eyes more than a few times when I read the synopsis on the back of the book.  It seemed like a knockoff of The Giver, except the futuristic society in Delirium has seized one aspect of human existence to demonize, while the society in The Giver was much more complex.  The book seemed kind of like a really easy (and cheap) way to create star-crossed lovers to appease the multitudes of Twilight fans (star-crossed lovers being as much the rage as vampires).
In Delirium, the deliria is blamed for all society’s ills, and everyone – including those who have not yet had the procedure – agrees that the absence of love makes for a better world.  I could go on about why, buy buy-in is necessary for dystopias, so I’ll just say that I had no problem buying into this premise (especially since I’ve bought into similar ones many times before).  
Lena is very much looking forward to the procedure…until she meets a boy.  Of course.  You know where this is going – she realizes that love is not the culprit of our ills, it’s the reason we choose to live despite the ills, and so on and so forth.  This is nothing new.  I was anticipating this from page 1, and honestly did not expect to read beyond a few pages.
But then I read those first few pages, and I kept reading.  And kept reading.  And got lost in the story and the characters and, above all, the outstanding prose.  Lauren Oliver knows how to tell a story, even if the bare bones of that story have been told before.  She’s got a way with words.  In many other less-polished works, the language is sometimes jarring at times and awkward phrasing can bring the reader out of the story, remind her that she’s reading a book, not experiencing it.  With Delirium, that never happened.  I picked up the book and didn’t notice how far I had read until I paused and realized half the book was gone.
The fantastic writing was not the only reason I was so engrossed in the book.  Oliver managed to avoid two of the pitfalls that other writers (particularly those who have recently written dystopias to capitalize on the trend) have succumbed to: characters who behave in the stereotypical way  merely to advance the plot and a pat, too-easy ending.  The characters in Delirium constantly surprised me, in particular Lena’s friend Hana.  My predictions about Hana were proven wrong at least twice (and I am an old hat with dystopias so I know all the tricks).  By giving her characters depth and the ability to act in surprising yet believable ways, Oliver has pushed her story beyond the usual trendy fare.   
And then there’s that ending.  Obviously I can’t tell you what the ending involves, but I can tell you that it’s not what you think, and it’s also the only ending that works with the story Oliver has told.  It’s both unexpected and completely satisfying.
Dystopia fiction is such a hot sub-genre right now, and so many titles are being published that should have remained in the slush pile.  Delirium rises above these many lesser works.  It shows that a skilled author can take a topic that seems done to death and breathe new life into it.  I was so impressed with Delirium that I actually went on to read Before I Fall and was equally impressed.  (This is a big deal, guys.  I normally stay away from contemporary books and especially stay away from books about mean girls).
But now comes the bad news…this is the first in a series.  Too bad.  The ending was one of the best I’ve read in a long, long time (in any book, not just a dystopia), and it is certainly strong enough to stand on its own.  I wish it were allowed to.
Review copy picked up at BEA (duh). Sidenote: my review copy has this cover. Which one do you like better?

Audiosynced & Flash Burnout winner

|


AudioSynced is up at Abby (the) Librarian this month. Tons of great reviews! Get yourself a warm cup of coffee and prepare to have your to-listen list grow exponentially.

I’ve also pulled, via Random.org, our winner for the L. K. Madigan Flash Burnout book. Terry’s claimed his prize, and it is in the mail now.

In addition, I’ve made a $25 donation to the American Cancer Society in honor of L. K. Madigan right here.

Twitterview: Barbara Caridad Ferrer

|

Welcome to another installment of STACKED’s Twitterview series. This month, we’re welcoming Barbara Caridad Ferrer, author of the recently released When the Stars Go Blue, as well as Adios to my Old Life and It’s Not About the Accent. She’s stopped by to talk a bit about Stars and at the end, you can enter for a chance to win your own copy of the book.

Without further ado!

Pitch WHEN THE STARS GO BLUE in 140 characters or less:

A retelling of Bizet’s CARMEN about a fiery dancer, a disciplined musician, a gifted soccer player & the summer that changes their lives.

Why Carmen as your inspiration?

Because it encompasses everything that makes a great story: drama, passion, betrayal, and love.

Take any television show, past or present, and cast Soledad, Jonathan, and Taz in a role. Who would they play?

I think I’d cast them in GLEE. Soledad is Rachel, but not so neurotic, Jonathan is like Finn, but smarter, & Taz is Puck w/o the mean streak

What’s the most surprising comment you’ve heard about WHEN THE STARS GO BLUE?

The many comments on its sensuality. Surprising b/c there are many YA novels more explicit than STARS but sensuality’s different, I guess.

What’s the best advice you’ve received on writing?

You can’t fix a blank page (courtesy of Nora Roberts).

What’s the best advice you’ve given about writing?

Write the story the way it’s meant to be told. Worry about marketing later.

How do you get yourself pumped up to write?

Music. Lots and lots of music. And did I mention, music?

Name three books that have been most influential to you as a writer/reader.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond (Elizabeth George Speare); Heartbreak Hotel (Anne Rivers Siddons); A Song Begins (Mary Burchell).

Who do you think is doing some of the most exciting stuff in YA lit today?

Jennifer Echols, A.S. King, Saundra Mitchell, & Rosemary Clement-Moore. They’re all doing something a little left of center which I love.

You can’t choose between Haagen Dazs and Ben and Jerry, but you certainly can share your favorite flavor, right?

My favorite flavor is actually from Cold Stone Creamery. Sweet Cream ice cream with crush Snickers. Every. Single. Time.

What’s next for you?

I just finished a proposal for a new YA that’s very different from anything I’ve done before. I’m venturing into paranormal (EEEK!).

Want to win a finished copy of WHEN THE STARS GO BLUE? Enter here. I’ll be sending USPS, so entries are limited to US and Canada only. Winner will be picked around the 20th of the month.