• STACKED
  • About Us
  • Categories
    • Audiobooks
    • Book Lists
      • Debut YA Novels
      • Get Genrefied
      • On The Radar
    • Cover Designs
      • Cover Doubles
      • Cover Redesigns
      • Cover Trends
    • Feminism
      • Feminism For The Real World Anthology
      • Size Acceptance
    • In The Library
      • Challenges & Censorship
      • Collection Development
      • Discussion and Resource Guides
      • Readers Advisory
    • Professional Development
      • Book Awards
      • Conferences
    • The Publishing World
      • Data & Stats
    • Reading Life and Habits
    • Romance
    • Young Adult
  • Reviews + Features
    • About The Girls Series
    • Author Interviews
    • Contemporary YA Series
      • Contemporary Week 2012
      • Contemporary Week 2013
      • Contemporary Week 2014
    • Guest Posts
    • Link Round-Ups
      • Book Riot
    • Readers Advisory Week
    • Reviews
      • Adult
      • Audiobooks
      • Graphic Novels
      • Non-Fiction
      • Picture Books
      • YA Fiction
    • So You Want to Read YA Series
  • Review Policy

STACKED

books

  • STACKED
  • About Us
  • Categories
    • Audiobooks
    • Book Lists
      • Debut YA Novels
      • Get Genrefied
      • On The Radar
    • Cover Designs
      • Cover Doubles
      • Cover Redesigns
      • Cover Trends
    • Feminism
      • Feminism For The Real World Anthology
      • Size Acceptance
    • In The Library
      • Challenges & Censorship
      • Collection Development
      • Discussion and Resource Guides
      • Readers Advisory
    • Professional Development
      • Book Awards
      • Conferences
    • The Publishing World
      • Data & Stats
    • Reading Life and Habits
    • Romance
    • Young Adult
  • Reviews + Features
    • About The Girls Series
    • Author Interviews
    • Contemporary YA Series
      • Contemporary Week 2012
      • Contemporary Week 2013
      • Contemporary Week 2014
    • Guest Posts
    • Link Round-Ups
      • Book Riot
    • Readers Advisory Week
    • Reviews
      • Adult
      • Audiobooks
      • Graphic Novels
      • Non-Fiction
      • Picture Books
      • YA Fiction
    • So You Want to Read YA Series
  • Review Policy

What I’ve Been Reading: Two Mini-Reviews

April 5, 2011 |

What Happened to Goodbye, by Sarah Dessen

Mclean’s father has just moved them to their fourth new house in as many years. After her parents’ bitter divorce, where her mother left her father for the couch of her father’s favorite college basketball team, Mclean and her dad have been constantly on the move, following her father’s job (a consultant for failing restaurants) wherever it takes him. And with each move, Mclean reinvents herself, choosing a new name and a new personality, always trying to escape the person she actually is, the person she doesn’t quite know yet. However, in this new town, Mclean mistakenly gives her own name, and finds herself being real with the friends she meets along the way, especially Dave, her child-prodigy-looking-to-actually-be-a-real-teenager neighbor, who somehow finds his way to the core of Mclean. While on the surface, this seems like a very quiet novel, it is the relationships that Mclean forms throughout the book and the strong characters that give it depth and power. I loved Deb, the timid, unconfident friend who takes charge of the town model that Mclean suddenly is roped into helping build. I loved the details of Luna Blu, the restaurant that Mclean’s father takes over. And I loved the rocky, slowly transforming relationship between Mclean and her mother. This is a book that slowly finds its way into your heart: my favorite Sarah Dessen novel yet. (Release date: May 10, 2011. Review copy borrowed from Janssen at Everyday Reading.)

Skipping a Beat, by Sarah Pekkanen
Julia and Michael were high school sweethearts, rescuing each other from their small town West Virginia life and running to Washington, D.C., where they vowed to escape the legacies of gambling addiction and unhappy marriages that they left behind them. When Michael’s hard work finally pays off and his start-up company selling flavored vitamin water takes off, the life that they had once imagined suddenly pales in comparison to the riches set out before them: a palatial estate in Washington, D.C., another house in Aspen, gardeners, servants, and endless reserves of money are all at their beck and call. Even though the love is gone from their marriage, Julia tries to be content with her life, still scarred from the lack of security in her own childhood. But then Michael’s heart stops. And he dies. Clinically dead for more than four minutes, he wakes up a transformed man, one who gives away all of his money and auctions off his possessions, now concerned with love and personal fulfillment, rather than money. Now Julia must decide whether to leave her husband, who once gave her only a loveless marriage, or stay and try to make it work with this stranger, who promises her love and adoration…but not security. Sarah Pekkannen truly creates a masterfully layered protagonist in this novel, one whom I slightly disliked at the beginning of the novel, yet eventually grew to respect and understand, if not ever love. Julia is complex, and can be both frustrating and sympathetic. Yet all of her actions are firmly rooted in her backstory, and the novel itself is well-plotted. One quibble I did have was with the ending, which seemed to rely a bit upon a deux ex machina. However, the conclusion did still work, in its own way. Recommended for fans of Jennifer Weiner and Emily Giffin.

Filed Under: Adult, Reviews, Uncategorized, Young Adult

Family by Micol Ostow

April 4, 2011 |

Melinda Jensen is 17 and has had one hell of an awful life. Her mom is worthless, she has no father, and the guy who calls himself uncle Jack does little more than take advantage of her. When she decides she’s had enough and needs to leave, she heads through the streets of San Francisco, and that’s when she meets Henry.

Henry offers to take her in, teach her what love is really like, and give her a real family. A place where she can feel safe. The set up is perfect for Mel: this is a family that shares everything. There are plenty of people who live together, love one another, and take care of each other. And every member of this family is interested in helping fulfill Henry’s lifelong dream of becoming a musician — he is, of course, helping them all out by offering such a wonderful place to live and love.

It sounds a little like a polygamous sect, but it’s more of a cult. There’s no marriage involved, and everyone’s following a religion: the religion of Henry. Mel in her story worships him, refers to him in the uppercase Him. Everyone wants to make His dreams come true.

But like any good cult story, things will fall apart. They may even become a little bloody, and everyone will become a suspect, an accomplice to crime.

Family is one creepy story. The book is written in episodic verse, meaning it’s not a standard prose novel and it’s not a standard verse novel. It walks both threads, and it follows a bit of a stream-of-conscious style. We are right inside Mel’s mind, knowing what she’s thinking as she’s thinking it, and it’s messy. As a reader, I appreciated this, but I was also a little put off by it.

If you haven’t put the pieces together or haven’t read much pre-pub buzz about this title, it’s loosely based on the Manson Family murders of the late 1960s. I knew this going in, but I was not completely familiar with the history of the crimes; I decided to begin this novel without the preconceptions of that history in order to judge the book on its own merits, but I found myself pretty lost in Mel’s thoughts because of it. They were almost too loose and fluid, and I didn’t really get an opportunity to feel anything for her as a character. I had to focus too much on the plot and as a result, couldn’t get to know her or connect with what she wanted me to connect with (that being the desire to belong).

A few chapters into the book, though, I familiarized myself with the history of the Manson Family murders and immediately felt much more connected to Mel as a character. I cared less about the story and more about her. I understood why she was so interested in Henry’s music career and why she had decided to bond with this family. I bring this point up simply to state it might be worthwhile to be familiar with this story before diving into the book. A quick read through the wikipedia article will suffice. I’m of mixed feelings about this, too: I think had I not known that this story was loosely based on a real event, I wouldn’t have focused much on that idea and I may have immediately connected with Mel. But that lingered in my mind as I began, and I felt it impacted my reading. For teen readers, I don’t think there will be a problem connecting, but I wish that the novel could stand more on its own, rather than bring up the Manson connection on the jacket copy. On the other hand, perhaps a prologue or epilogue could have cleared up a little confusion or made the connection, as well. It’s possible either of these might be in a finished version of the book.

That said, when I did finally connect with Mel, I really cared about her. It was obvious she drank the Henry koolaid, and she made me believe in why she would even want to do so. I pulled for her, and I worried about her when the “helter skelter” began. I saw it coming from miles away, but her being naive and obsessed with the idea of family, she did not. Since we’re inside her mind, we know this and we really do care about her safety and her future. Mel wanted no part of this aspect of Henry and his family, and instead, she finds herself in a strange place. A place not unlike one Lacey from Carol Lynch Williams’s Miles From Ordinary finds herself. In fact, the last few chapters reminded me greatly of Williams’s book, and I think that on some level, they make for fascinating read alikes because of their explorations of family and belonging.

The exploration of cult dynamics is well-done, and it never tries to veer into other weighty topics like polygamy. It sticks to one aspect of cult dynamics — the kind most generally not accepted anywhere — and it explores how this lifestyle almost mirrors a religious devotion. In this, the non-traditional style of the book works, as Ostow is able to use the page as a way to tell her story. That is, the story isn’t limited to just the words, but also how they look and work on a page, making Henry a God-like figure in not only what Mel thinks but also how it appears.

After finishing and letting this book settle for a while, however, I’m not convinced that the style does the book a lot of favors. There are places it certainly does, but for the most part, I found the style overwhelming to the really great substance within it. It was distracting to read words and thoughts done and also through italics, and at one point, even with a page-long double arrow (<— like this —->). As readers, we’re already inside Mel’s head throughout the story; we don’t really need to see this played out so explicitly on the page. It almost de-emphasizes the seriousness of the story and the real predicaments in which she and the other family members find themselves. Episodic verse itself was a strong medium for the story, as Mel’s thoughts are and should be disjointed, repetitive, and rambling at times. But, the additional elements brought into that verse weakened it.

Family will appeal to readers who want a good creepy story. It’ll have appeal to fans of stories that explore cult dynamics, and it might work for readers of historical fiction. Even though this story is contemporary, there’s a definite late 60s feel to this, with all of the references to Woodstock and hippie lifestyle. As I mentioned, older teen fans of Carol Lynch Williams will enjoy this one, and I think that those who enjoyed Lucy Christopher’s Stolen might enjoy this one, as well. It’d be an interesting comparison, if nothing else. Family will hit shelves April 26.

Review copy received from the publisher.

Filed Under: Contemps Challenge, Reviews, Uncategorized, Young Adult

Clarity by Kim Harrington

March 31, 2011 |

I have to preface this review with a little description of the weather in East Texas. This past weekend was a beautiful one: highs in the mid 70s to low 80s, sunny without the kind of heat that bakes your skin, a light breeze. I took Friday off from work and set up my hammock in my backyard, between two trees that provide the perfect amount of shade. And I proceeded to spend approximately three hours zipping through Kim Harrington’s debut novel Clarity in that hammock, in my shorts and tank top, blissful and happy.
I say this not only to make you people who live in the frigid north jealous (how many inches of snow did you get this week?) but also to point out Clarity was a book written for hammock-reading. It’s a mystery with a paranormal twist set in New England during the summer. There’s frequent talks of beach visits and swimsuits and vacation spots. It’s the best kind of popcorn book: well-written with an engaging plot, interesting characters, a witty first-person narrative, and nothing too depressing to darken your sunny skies (metaphorically, of course, since the sun just wouldn’t go away last weekend. Your envy sustains me.).
Our protagonist is named Clarity, and surprisingly she’s not the character in the book with the most unfortunate name. (That honor belongs to her brother, Periwinkle, or Perry for short). Clarity goes by Clare (and wouldn’t you go by Clare too?) and belongs to a family of gifted people. Clare is psychic, her brother Perry is a medium, and her mother can read minds. (Can you think of a worse ability for your mother to have?) Her father left them long ago.
As a family, they run a business where they tell tourists about their lives – they can’t tell the future, but they are able to tell the tourists things like “Your husband is sleeping with his secretary.” Of course, they only relate negative news when they don’t care about being paid. They are not particularly well-regarded by the other people in town, who view them as frauds or freaks. Clare’s particular psychic ability doesn’t mean that she is all-knowing. Instead, she can touch an item and see the events associated with that item. For example, she’d be able to touch a knife and know it was used to kill someone.
Which brings us to our murder. Clare’s town is a vacation hot spot, and one of its visitors has the misfortune to be murdered in her hotel room. This has nothing to do with Clare, until her brother tells her that he had hooked up with the murdered girl the night she was killed. This makes Perry a suspect, and suddenly the murder is very personal.
And then her ex-boyfriend, the son of the mayor, asks her to help him solve the case using her special abilities. Clare and said ex-boyfriend are exes because she touched his jacket and discovered he had cheated on her with her arch-nemesis, a girl named Tiffany (arch-nemeses are almost always named Tiffany, aren’t they?). But he convinces her to help in the name of justice…and the fact that she’d also be working with Gabriel, the hot son of the new police chief, doesn’t hurt. Love triangle: there is one. It’s cute, but it doesn’t overwhelm the story. The mystery is central, and it’s a good one.
One of the things I liked best about Clarity is Clare’s voice. She’s snarky without coming across as rude or mean, and she wisecracks constantly. She’s got such a wonderfully sarcastic sense of humor. I laughed out loud three times during the first fifty pages.
Clare is a very likable protagonist, and Harrington uses this to her advantage when she writes about Clare’s relationships with others in the story, in particular her brother. Because Clare is so likable, we want to trust the people she trusts, which makes it even more wrenching when Perry is suspected. It was really nice to read a story where brother and sister are friends with each other, but the sister doesn’t necessarily idolize the older brother. Clare recognizes her brother’s faults – he tends to love and leave women, which doesn’t put him in a good place when the girl is murdered. Clare is torn between revealing Perry’s hookup to the police and keeping it secret. She knows the police don’t always arrest the correct person, and her family is already regarded as liars and frauds by the townspeople.
I wasn’t terribly surprised by the identity of the killer, but that didn’t matter a whole lot. The book kept me guessing long enough, and even if I had known from the beginning, Clarity would have been a treat to read due to the sheer awesomeness of Clare’s narrative style. It’s been awhile since I’ve read a story where the narrative voice is so distinctive and entertaining.
Clarity is very obviously the first in a series of books, but the mystery genre has always done series best. This book, like others in its genre, neatly wraps up the murder mystery but leaves open a few threads about Clare’s family and her abilities that I anticipate will be explored in future books. It all adds up to a satisfying read that also leaves you wanting more. That, my friends, is the right way to do a series.
Copy checked out from my local library.

Filed Under: Mystery, Reviews, Uncategorized, Young Adult

Display This: Australia and New Zealand

March 30, 2011 |

I wanted to try something a little different for the next couple of months, as we head into the prime of summer reading season prep and planning for librarians. The Cooperative Summer Library Programming theme this year is about world travel, and one of the things I’ve been working on is creating book lists and ideas of stories set in countries outside the U.S. So for our next few Display This posts, we’ll treat you to books that are set in other countries. A couple of notes: these will be limited to books easily found through book jobbers or in book stores, and they are stories which actually take place in the country. I’ve also purposely chosen to include only one title per author, the first book in a series, and I’ve left off authors who may reside in a given country but do not write with a specific setting in mind.

As we travel the world in young adult books, feel free to offer any suggestions you have for additional titles. Likewise, you may replicate this book list as you’d like; just give STACKED credit for creating it.

Let’s start with one of my favorite parts of the world to read about: Australia and New Zealand.

A Little Wanting Song by Cath Crowley: This Sarah Dessen read alike is a story of friendship and a story of romance. Charlie Duskin, our main character, might also have quite a career in music ahead of her. My full review of this title is here.

Pink by Lili Wilkinson: Ava’s got a chance to reinvent herself, but as she discovers, hiding who she really is puts her in strange situations. She can’t avoid who she is. A great book for readers looking for a LGBTQ book or for readers looking for a book about being true to who you are, no matter what.

Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden (series): A story of survival set after a camping trip among a tight-knit group of friends. This thrilling adventure story will appeal to readers who like fast-paced, action stories or those who want to see the “original” Hunger Games.

A Small Free Kiss in the Dark by Glenda Millard: Australia has dystopia down with this book about a rag tag group of people who are the only survivors left in the world. They must rely on one another, but then things take a turn for the dark.

Up Over Down Under by Micol Ostow and Noah Harlan (S.A.S.S. series): One student goes to Australia and one student goes to America in this installment of the Sisters Across the Seven Seas series. Looking for a clean read for your teens that’s fun and still has romance and adventure? This is a great choice.

Cold Skin by Steven Herrick: In this novel-in-verse, Eddie finds his boring town at the center of a mystery when a girl turns up dead in the local river. Could he be a suspect or is he the one who will unravel the dark secrets lurking in town?

Stolen by Lucy Christopher: A story about a guy who takes his love for a girl a little too far. Of course, you can read my actual review right here.

The Winds of Heaven by Judith Clarke: Clementine and Fan are cousins, but they promise at the end of their summer together to become best friends. Clementine thinks Fan has it all, but the truth is, Fan is lost and searching for something to make her happy.

Beatle Meets Destiny by Gabrielle Williams: Your name happens to be John Lennon and you happen to fall head over heels with a girl named Destiny. Your only problem now is your girlfriend. . . who isn’t Destiny.

Butterfly by Sonya Hartnett: This quiet novel explores what it’s like for Plum Coyle to finally come of age and the value and importance of people and things in one’s life.

The Convicts by Iain Lawrence (series): Tom seeks revenge for his father’s unfair imprisonment in London, but as a result, he’s sent to Australia and being convicted of murder. But there’s much more to await him when he arrives down under.

The Crimes and Punishment of Miss Payne by Barry Jonsberg: Calma and Kiffo know from the second they see Miss Payne enter their classroom, they don’t like her. So they’re going to get revenge, and when they begin their stalking, they learn there’s something much more sinister about their teacher than they ever suspected.

Rose by Any Other Name by Maureen McCarthy: Rose’s life is crumbling all around her. At first, she had it all, but it takes little time for things to change. She’s ready to run away, but she is stopped before she can get too far. A snarky character and a twisting plot will resonate with readers.

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta: A little mystery, a little intrigue, and a whole lot of questions arise over the course of this novel about discovering one’s roots. Also: you might know this book because it won a Printz award.

Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah: When Amal decides to begin wearing the traditional hijab, she’s suddenly finding herself in a very different spot in school. Can she fit in at school and follow the beliefs she has?

The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty (series): Letters, diaries, and journal entries plot this story of three girls who become pen pals with three boys over the course of a school year.

Singing the Dogstar Blues by Alison Goodman: This science fiction is set in a futuristic Australia and follows a group of time-traveling students (and maybe even an alien).

Guarian of the Dead by Karen Healey: A fantasy novel set in and near a New Zealand boarding school that plays upon a number of the Maori legend, mythology, and lure.

The 10 p.m. Question by Kate de Goldi: This quirky novel follows 13-year-old Frankie who has a billion questions about the world and few answers. Most people don’t take him seriously, except his mother — and it’s his mother he has his most worrying question about. Enter a girl who has as many questions and may have an answer to the one he can’t ask the person he trusts most in the world.

Violence 101 by Denise Wright: Hamish’s anger problems land him in a home for troubled youth. But when he arrives at his new residence, a series of events cause him to divert his attitude about everything and dive head first into a rescue mission to save someone in an area where two soldiers have already lost their lives.

—

Of course, this is just a sample of what’s available. Many of these authors have additional books that fall into these settings, so those are also worth checking out. Additionally, if you’re able to purchase books outside a jobber or are looking to expand your foreign fiction for teens, there are a number of book sellers in Australia willing to send books overseas — Adele at Persnickety Snark has posted links to a number of those sellers here. If you don’t know where to begin, a few titles looking interesting to me and that have gotten some good reviews and acclaim from other readers include Kirsty Eagar’s Raw Blue, Fiona Wood’s Six Impossible Things, and Cath Crowley’s Graffiti Moon.

Filed Under: book lists, display this, foreign settings, Uncategorized, Young Adult

Enclave by Ann Aguirre

March 29, 2011 |

The tagline for Ann Aguirre’s Enclave is “Welcome to the apocalypse,” which gives you a pretty good idea of what it’s about.  Deuce, our protagonist, lives in an underground world where the living conditions are harsh, but they help keep everyone alive.  When the citizens of this world are children, they’re called by numbers.  They’re not given a name until they reach the age of maturity (fifteen) and are finally able to contribute to society by becoming either a Breeder, a Builder, or a Hunter.
On Deuce’s fifteenth birthday, she’s given her name and initiated as a Huntress, something she’s been training for all her life.  As a Huntress, it’s her responsibility to not only bring back food, but also protect her community from the Freaks (think zombies) that lurk in the tunnels.  Every hunter has a hunting partner, and Deuce’s is Fade, the enigmatic boy (there’s your love story) who showed up underground a few years ago and was adopted by the community.  Fade has some strange ideas, coming from aboveground, ideas that may get him and Deuce in trouble – such as that the elders may not always be right, and the restrictive rules that they live by might just get them all killed.
Things aren’t going so well for the underground world lately – the Freaks have taken out another community a few days away from Deuce’s, and they’re encroaching upon hers.  The elders refuse to listen.  Events eventually conspire to force Deuce and Fade aboveground, a fate worse than death.  While the community underground is far from a utopia, aboveground is worse.  Deuce does not expect to survive, but she’s got Fade with her, who lived for years there before.  By working together and trying to avoid the bands of savage humans that now populate the earth, they might just survive.
Enclave has a lot going for it.  The world-building is excellent, something I really appreciate considering this aspect is so lacking in so many other books of the same genre.  Aguirre’s really got the ability to transfer us to her post-apocalyptic world and make us shiver.  Deuce’s underground world – both its setting and its culture – is particularly well done and is unique enough to stand out from the crowd of other post-apocalyptic settings. 
Aguirre has also given us some wonderfully gray characters.  She answers the question of “What would you do to survive in a world like this?” with her characters and doesn’t pull any punches.  At least one of the characters has done some pretty awful things, but Aguirre still manages to force some sympathy for said character on the part of the reader.  Deuce is a terrific protagonist, strong but also doubting herself and in a situation that’s more than a little over her head. She’s kick-ass (how I like my heroines best) but also has believable weaknesses.
With so much going for the book, I’m sad to say that I didn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to.  This dissatisfaction can be traced directly to the plot.  While there is some promise when Deuce is still underground, that fades when she emerges into the wide world above.  From then on, the plot is typical of any other post-apocalyptic novel: a plucky band of survivors try to to find the perhaps-mythical land where things don’t suck.  It’s a road trip where nothing out of the ordinary happens (and by nothing out of the ordinary, I mean out of the ordinary for this genre – people trying to kill you isn’t exactly ordinary for most people).  I can’t say a whole lot more without spoiling things, but trust me when I tell you that if I did choose to spoil it for you and you’ve read one or two other post-apocalyptic novels, you wouldn’t be spoiled in the slightest. 
You should not be surprised to hear this is the first book in a series.  Unfortunately, it reads like even less than that – it’s more like Part One of the first book in a series.  No major revelation about the post-apocalyptic world is reached, no major character growth occurs, and the climax is so artificial and out of place I wonder if it was inserted after the book had been written.  It wouldn’t surprise me at all to discover that Aguirre intended her book to be a standalone and was convinced otherwise by an editor or publisher, forcing her to go back and make major edits, extending a story that was really fit for just one book into two or more books.  After all, this book was originally titled Razorland.  Now it’s called Enclave: Razorland #1.  Hmmmm.
It may sound like I’m bashing every YA dystopia and post-apocalyptic book to come along lately, but that’s not really the case.  When a genre has exploded as much as this one has lately, there are bound to be more duds than usual.  Most of them normally still have something to recommend them, like Enclave does.  I wouldn’t not recommend this one, but I could probably more wholeheartedly recommend it after the second (and third?) book is out so they could be read back to back.  Otherwise, it’s an all too unsatisfying and incomplete read.
Review copy received from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.  Enclave will be on shelves April 12.

Filed Under: Dystopia, Reviews, Uncategorized, Young Adult

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 183
  • 184
  • 185
  • 186
  • 187
  • …
  • 237
  • Next Page »
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Search

Archives

We dig the CYBILS

STACKED has participated in the annual CYBILS awards since 2009. Click the image to learn more.

© Copyright 2015 STACKED · All Rights Reserved · Site Designed by Designer Blogs