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books

Covers change the story

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Remember this post, a long time ago, about changing covers on Judy Blume? My coworker and I got to talking about the changing covers of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice — check out what vibes these different cover portrayals give the books:

Our main character look young. The cover’s a bit dated, but it looks classic.

This one looks like a fun ball, no? I love the blue and black with pink contrasts.

Good models on this one, for sure.
Twilight inspired? I mean, the quote at the top says “The Love That Started It All.” That wasn’t Romeo and Juliet? Alas, this one has no people and gives an edgy vibe.


This looks like a sweet read, no? I love how Austen’s name is central here.


This is a standard B&N issue. Looks a classic, and the girl on the bottom left looks angry about it.
Steamy romance inspired?


A total classic look.


Another “classic” look. Wait for the contrast with the next two:

This is my FAVORITE and one that has total appeal to a certain audience. I’m toying with buying a copy of this one for my teen department, since I think it would expose new readers to Jane Austen.

This gorgeous cover is apparently a rare find from UK’s “Book of the Month Club” copyright 1996. It took an hour to find an image of it, so it’s borrowed from Ebay (obviously, I kept the copyright on it there). This is my coworker’s favorite, and I have to say, it is beautiful. Just compare this one to my favorite — two entirely different takes on the book, no?

Do you have a favorite? Do any speak to you more? I – gulp – have NOT read this book, so I can’t give an opinion on content to cover matching. But that last one I’d pick up in a heart beat (as I would pick up the one I can’t locate an image from — think gorgeous old pink dress).

The Snowball Effect by Holly Nicole Hoxter

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The premise sounded perfect to me: a blue-collar town with a working class family struggling with a lot of tough issues. There’s romance, there’s drama, and what promised to be an intriguing road trip to turn things around. Your classic teen coming-of-age novel with a character you know will resonate with a lot of teens, The Snowball Effect is Holly Nicole Hoxter’s debut novel. But as much as 18-year-old Lainey Pike will be the person teens are drawn to, the situations in which she finds herself may ask a lot of your teen readers who are growing up reading the characters and situations of Sarah Dessen, Elizabeth Scott, Deb Caletti, and Susane Colasanti.

Lainey’s mother has killed herself, and Lainey now finds herself with her adoptive special needs brother Collin and a lot of hurt and anger. While it’s true she’s angry at her mother for what she did, she’s more angry that this is not the first thing she’s done to disappoint: Lainey’s mom had been irresponsible forever and had caused a lot of mental anguish for her teen daughter…and the daughter who has essentially left the family to find herself in other parts of the country. But it’s that death that ends up bringing Vallery back to the family.

In the midst of this, Lainey begins to feel distanced from her long time boyfriend and mega hottie Riley. Actually, never once is he referred to as mega hottie, but for all intents and purposes, that’s how I see him. He’s into cars and sports, so let’s go with it. When she’s feeling this distance, Lainey runs into a guy by accident — Eric — and as you will probably guess, they begin to find themselves liking each other a lot. There’s a metaphor in the book about different flavored snowballs that speaks to the issues within the book, but I mostly found myself really angry that Lainey was so into herself and situation to think that snowballs only existed in the Baltimore area. Actually, they began in New Orleans and are alive and well in Texas. I digress.

Hoxter’s story focuses on the importance of cultivating relationships and letting past transgressions live in the past. I think a lot of what she says in her story is important and I think it’s done in a way that will not be like hitting a reader over the head. Rather, it settles at the end of the story.

That said, I did not find myself liking any of the characters. Although I read a number of reviews that Lainey is actually a great representation of people who have dealt with a lot of tragedy in their young lives, I felt like the other characters needed a lot more development. Vallery, who was supposed to be the older, wiser, and “motherly” sister in the situation, ends up getting very childish in the story, and not just because of the situational issues. Instead, I found she was written much more like Lainey’s friend than sister, and it never worked. And Collin’s role in the story just irritated me: I wanted him to disappear since he was clutter. While this works in the context for understanding what makes Lainey’s life tough perfectly, I felt like Lainey was developed strongly enough on her own that it was really unnecessary.

Riley and Eric were kind of one and the same to me, but this is not anything totally different from most books of this ilk. Riley does sweet things to win Lainey back at the end, and I did remember what his life’s interests were, so maybe he was a little stronger than Eric, who sold magazines and ate slurpees (or snowballs, but don’t get me started).

But here’s the kicker: I felt the entire last 1/3 of the book was not well developed or as coherent as the first 2/3. I thought the beginning slogged along a bit as we got to learn Lainey’s life situation, but this pacing was very important to the story. When we get to the road trip — another point of Vallery’s status as friend rather than caretaker/older, wiser person (which she states she is when she relocates to be with Lainey) — it just felt sloppy. Collin was kind of a prop here, and it was all too convenient that the road trip was to Orlando, where Lainey could conveniently meet up with her relatives. I just wish this were longer or were done differently. I think a lot of readers will find it to be too convenient a way to wrap up the story that is so clearly about difficulty.

The Snowball Effect may not have been my favorite read, but it was done well and was one of the stronger debuts I’ve read this year. I think that Hoxter may have found an interesting niche, too, by focusing on the working class lifestyle. Think about your standard realistic fiction fare: they’re almost all middle class or wealthier characters who never have to worry about a next pay check. Sure, the family lives are unstable and that is something to take with consideration, but I can’t remember the last time I read a story where the socioeconomics were so different. Most of the time it’s actually not even brought up, so to have it come up is refreshing. I work in an very blue collar area, and I believe these are the sorts of stories my kids could really, really relate to (and what do I know – the moments I felt were moments I needed to suspend my belief may be completely real to this audience). Again, the readalikes are easy to suggest. Call it the mega hottie effect.

What I’m Reading, Twitter Style

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Gimme Shelter by Mary Elizabeth Williams: Non-Fiction story of finding the perfect house to buy, things never work out right & places are never what they seem. Totally up my alley.

Blankets by Craig Thompson: Another one of those books I’ve never read & KNOW I should. A “classic” to the graphic novel world that, too, has seen its share of critics.

Scars by C. A. Rainfield: Colleague told me to buy and read ASAP as our holds lists for this title have been growing steadily. Realistic fiction about sexual abuse.

Just Listen by Sarah Dessen: A Dessen not read yet, but falls on an awards list. As the title suggested, I’m listening to the audio of this one & hope stronger than AFtR.


Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson: Debut title follows Amy & her mother’s friend’s son Roger (her age) as they hit the road. Told in more than traditional narrative, looks fun.

AudioSynced: Thrillers!

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One of my goals this year is to read every title on our state high school awards lists, the Lincoln List and the Read for a Lifetime list. I’ve read a healthy number, but certainly not all, so I set in to listen to one on audio I thought I’d have a hard time digging into in print form: Harlan Coben’s Hold Tight. Coben is a very popular author of thriller-mysteries, which is exactly what this title was. And if you know anything about me, it’s not really my genre. But thanks to a fantastic audiobook, I quite enjoyed it and would certainly go back for more.

After the suicide of his friend, Spencer Hill, Adam Baye has become more and more distant. Rather than handle it idly and face the potential same consequences as Spencer’s parents, Mike and Tia Baye — Adam’s parents — choose to install spying software on their son’s computer. They never thought of themselves as the type to distrust their son, but they didn’t want to take any chances here, either. A suspicious message appears a few days after the software is installed that worries his parents and prompts them to take action.

Oh, and Adam has now gone missing.

As any parent trying to put together the pieces in the death of her son, Betsy begins to seek an answer through Spencer’s networks. In browsing online, she stumbles into an online memorial set up by his friends; it is here she finds a photo taken the day Spencer killed himself. Adam may be in the photo, too, but it’s a little hazy and she knows she needs to talk with Adam to find out more. It is clear he had something to do with this.

Hold Tight weaves together many family lives into a fast paced story that never once left me a bored listener. I felt for the Hill family, but at the same time, the actions of Betsy left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I was at once able to sympathize and understand the Baye family’s spying decisions, but when things really get rolling and the mystery began to unravel, I got angry with them. It was too little too late and a clear violation of privacy.

What Coben does in his book that just worked so well for me was building characters you both love and hate at the same time. As a listener, I was able to hold contradictory thoughts about these characters and even with the story was over, I still feel the same way. Not only that, but Coben’s magic is developing a large number of plot lines and keep consistently interesting characters; he manages, of course, to make them work together in the end, but throughout the experience, I kept trying to anticipate how things would merge and it was never as expected. A true thriller.

Listening to this book was the right way go to. Scott Brick narrates much like you’d imagine a 40s radio broadcaster to read — there is mystery, a little jazz lilt, and a feeling like you’re in that smoky bar getting the facts first hand. He gives a semi-voiced reading, though the semi is very true: only a couple female characters have a different sound to their narration. It never feels weird nor do the transitions ever get confusing. I quite preferred this stripped down audio production, as it let the story tell itself. Brick didn’t need to make the story; he just delivered it. The sound and editing were consistent and seamless.

Hold Tight definitely will appeal to fans of thrillers and mysteries, but I think people who aren’t connoisseurs of those genres will find a lot to like here. There’s great writing, strong and interesting characters, and a lot of ethical issues with which to grapple. I never felt this got overly dramatic or stretched on too long. Quite frankly, when I got to disc 9 of 10, I really was concerned the story wouldn’t wrap up and I’d need to quickly seek out the second book in the series. Luckily, I was proven wrong. This is a standalone, powerhouse of a story.

As far as being on the state list for teens, I think this will be a big boy hit. But it might be a hard sell to many readers. I’d find it difficult to recommend this title to a teen I didn’t know well because there is a lot of violence, a lot of adult situations, and more that wouldn’t make me too comfortable to blindly recommend. For the older teen boys, though, those might be the exact reasons this will be an easy sell (not to mention Adam and Spencer are 16 or 17) and the bonus is that Coben’s written quite a few more books in the genre. Love one, look for more, right?

The Line by Teri Hall

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Any reader or librarian can tell you that after paranormal fiction, the second most popular style of book to be published in the last few years is the dystopian novel. We can thank books like The Hunger Games for that trend.

But like any genre, there are some hits and plenty of misses. For me, The Line straddles the line there. For me as a reader, I was never once convinced and I had some other gripes, but for the upper elementary age audience, this might work quite well.

Rachel and her mother live on The Property, which is owned by Ms. Moore who runs a greenhouse in the backyard. The Property is close to The Line: a border which is meant to keep the Others in Away. That is, it protects citizens of the United States and detracts those from outside from ever venturing in. The US had been attacked from the outside before and this was its means of having total control of borders and of its citizens.

Rachel, being young — age never given — is curious and wants to explore. As she does more and more research through their version of the internet on this so-called Away place, she wants to see it for herself. But her mother Vivian will make this difficult by reminding her of her deceased father, the hierarchy of society in the US, and ultimately the story of why they are living on The Property.

But will Rachel listen to her mother or will she take her fate and curiosity into her own hands?

The Line has a premise and a conspiracy element to it that spoke well to me, but ultimately, I found that Hall’s writing relied far too heavily on telling me, rather than showing me, about this dystopia. Never once did I feel like I saw or discovered anything for myself as a reader. Instead, I was hand-held through explanations from Rachel’s mother and Ms. Vivian about this world and why things are the way they are. I was a total outsider and had to put my trust into their versions of the history, and never once was I convinced. But I had to be because there was no other way. It was a bit alienating and off-putting, so I never found myself wanting to care about Rachel, her mother, or Ms. Moore. It never mattered because it would just be explained away in a few pages.

Tension in the book never happened, again as a result of the telling-rather-than-showing writing employed. When we are introduced to a new set of characters about 2/3 of the way through the book, it was jolting, but I never found myself really wanting to know more about them. Rachel did, but since I was so removed from Rachel, well, you get the idea.

The language and writing in the book itself is simplistic, and Rachel seems to be very young. I believe this is the sort of book that would appeal to the crowds reading Lois Lowry’s The Giver, rather than the crowds reading The Hunger Games. I mean that in terms of age, not necessarily interest. This is a good thing, as this isn’t a bad book. It just doesn’t work particularly well for those expecting something akin to other well-known dystopian reads, as older and wider readers likely are. But I must also interject here that those younger readers may find themselves boggled with the political issues that arise in the story; they may not be mature enough to understand some of it.

Since The Line is the first in this series, I think that might have huge appeal for the younger readers, too. There’s a lot that’s laid out in book one that lends itself to plenty of opportunity for future volumes. I’m half wondering if this is the sort of book that requires reading all of the volumes at once to get a real appreciation for the story and style; it could be the case that Hall purposely makes the first book a tell-rather-than-show so she can pull a cord and switch the course in the next book. Time will tell.

I’m waiting on a number of loose ends, including the greater purpose and meaning of the green house on The Property in the next story. Rachel is forced to be a sort of apprentice in it, making her a god-like character. I anticipate this to play a large role in the next book, and it is certainly something I am eager to read more about.

Although certainly not my favorite book and though it has a number of faults, I do plan on picking up the second book when it pubs. I wish this volume would have been a one-off, with more depth and development that I’m anticipating in the next one, but because of what seems to be the intended audience (young readers), maybe this is a better route.