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Realistic YA Review Round-Up: This Side of Home by Renee Watson, I’ll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios, and Read Between the Lines by Jo Knowles

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I’ve been reading a lot lately and I’ve been really enjoying what I’ve been reading lately. It’s been interesting though, as the more I’ve enjoyed books, the less I’ve wanted to sit down and write lengthy reviews of them. Instead, I’m eager to pick up the next book and cross my fingers it’ll be as good as the one before. Which isn’t to say I don’t want to review anymore nor do I want to quit talking loudly about really great books. Instead, it’s easier to talk about a pile of recent reads at once and make sure I talk about something relating to them before forgetting to mention them at all. More about this later in the week.  

Here’s a look at 3 recent contemporary/realistic YA titles I’ve read and what makes them solid and worthwhile.

Renee Watson’s This Side of Home is about twins Maya and Nikki — both named after the poets — and what it’s like to be living in their Portland neighborhood which has seen significant gentrification over the last few years. The story picks up when Maya’s best friend, who had lived across the street from her, moves to the other side of Portland, and in move a family that’s much different than she’s used to. They represent the changes going on in her community, and she doesn’t want anything to do with it. 

Maya is very reluctant to embrace her community’s changes, where her sister Nikki is more willing to try out new places to eat and shop, and she’s much more accommodating about educational and relationship changes going on around her. There isn’t a message here about whether gentrification is good or bad, and neither Maya nor Nikki are made out to be correct in their attitudes. Instead, this is a story about degrees of change and about sociopolitical and economic changes and how the impact individuals so differently. 

But it’s not all heavy. There’s also a story here about Maya, Nikki, and best friend Essences’s changing dreams. Maya, as readers won’t be surprised to discover, is frustrated when the dreams she and her best friend had to attend the same historically black college together aren’t shared forever. Where she thinks she knows the right thing for everyone, Maya learns that she can only ever control her own future and destiny, and that understanding she can’t push her dreams and expectations on those around her is how she grows her relationships even stronger. 

Maya is stubborn, hard headed, and it’s those things that drive her to be ambitious. This is an outstanding — and fairly quick — read about embracing one’s heritage while being open to change and new experiences. Readers who are seeking stories about race and class issues, especially in an urban setting, will want to pick This Side of Home up.

One side note: while I LOVE the cover, it’s not representative of either Maya nor Nikki. Watson is fairly explicit in how the girls wear their hair on numerous occasions in the story, and neither of them fit the image above. It’s a great cover, but this isn’t either girl in the story. 

This Side of Home is available now. Review copy received from the publisher.

I like a good military-themed YA book, in part because I don’t think there are a whole lot of them out there. Heather Demetrios offers up a fresh story in I’ll Meet You There, which follows Skylar Evans as she begins a relationship with a veteran named Josh who comes back from the Marines. 

This is a romance, which usually isn’t a thing I care about in a story, but it works really well here. Set in a lower class town in California, Skylar works to help keep a roof over the head of her and her mother. When Sky’s mom loses her job, the responsibility put upon her gets even heavier. It’s so heavy, in fact, that Skylar’s wondering if her dreams of getting out of town and going to college will be squashed. 

While working at Paradise, a local motel, Sky “meets” Josh — she knew him before, but it wasn’t until he was working at the same motel where she got to know more of who he is and why it is he’s back in town. His injuries from Afghanistan put him on leave, but as readers learn through the diary entries included in between Sky’s chapters, there’s much more going on with Josh internally. He’s suffering from PTSD and being back home is making him rethink what his future might look like on numerous levels. This isn’t romanticized at all, despite the fact there’s respect for his service. 

Sky isn’t exceptionally defined in this book, but that isn’t a huge mark against this book because there’s so much else going on that is really well fleshed out. The look at class and status here is rarely seen in YA — and interestingly, I read this book immediately after reading My Best Everything by Sarah Tomp which also features a lower socioeconomic class girl who might have to skip her college dreams because of a parent’s job loss — but more, the writing is smooth, breezy, and enjoyable. It could have done without some of the too-modern references, as it might date the book quickly, but readers who enjoyed Trish Doller’s Something Like Normal will enjoy this. 

Bonus points in this one for a very forthright consent scene between Josh and Skylar. What made it stand out wasn’t just that it was Josh seeking consent from Skylar. She seeks consent from him as well. This was a well-drawn look at trust, sexual exploration, and healthy conversation. 

I’ll Meet You There is available now. Review copy received from the publisher.

What is the significance of the middle finger? What does it mean when it’s thrown at you? What did you do to deserve that gesture? 

Jo Knowles explores the lives of ten characters in Read Between the Lines, tying them all together with the flipping of a middle finger. It begins when Nate, who is an unpopular kid at school, gets hurt in gym class. From there, we see that he lives in a not-so-friendly home environment with a father who is disappointed in him. He’s broken his middle finger and dad’s annoyed he has to take his son to the hospital to get it healed. 

Knowles then offers up nine more stories of people who attend this relatively small high school, ranging from the girl who feels like a complete outsider in her tight-knit group of friends, the girl who thinks she’s too fat to be a cheerleader (and experiences the small slights people toss at those who are overweight), to a gay couple who has to keep their relationship a secret from those around them, to a recent graduate of the high school who is counting down the days until he can pursue his dreams, to a teacher who encounters these students and what her experience is as a “replacement” teacher for one who killed himself. While it sounds complicated, it’s relatively straightforward; we get a snapshot into each of their lives at that moment, and in each of the stories — which are short — the character experiences a middle finger at some point, for some transgression they’ve committed. 

Like Siobhan Vivian does in The List, we’re forced to see a community from multiple sides of the story. We meet and re-meet these characters throughout the short glimpses, and because we’re given both their perspective, as well as the biased perspectives of their friends and peers, we are the ones left to make a decision on whether their actions were justified or out of line. 

All of the characters have distinct voices, though not all of their stories have the same resonance. That’s not a flaw of the book, but a feature. Different readers will connect in different ways, 
seeing bits of themselves in some places more than others. But ultimately, Read Between the Lines is about empathy and understanding the complex internal and external lives people are living beyond the setting they’re in currently. This is about how complexity itself is a complex idea. 

Readers who love connected short stories will love this, as will fans of Siobhan Vivian and Laurie Halse Anderson. Knowles sits in a sweet spot between those two voices. 

Read Between the Lines is available tomorrow, March 10. Review copy received from the publisher. 

This Week at Book Riot

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I don’t think I mentioned it here, but I’m now working full-time for Book Riot. I had been there part-time, and this week, I made the transition to going full-time. I haven’t worked a single full-time job since 2011 — I’ve been doing the freelance thing alongside part-time work and other side gigs — so the change over has been interesting. This shouldn’t impact anything here at Stacked, since there’s always plenty to write about, but it has shifted my schedule and energy a bit, so I’m working on readjusting and acclimating to a new routine.

Here’s a look at what I wrote over on Book Riot this week…

  • This week’s 3 On A YA Theme was all about mythological retellings. All three I highlighted are written by women of color. 
In the monthly Riot Round-up, where everyone can talk about their favorite read from the month, I talked about Elana K. Arnold’s fantastic Infandous. This is a little tiny book but it packs a punch. Elana will be here later this month with a knock-out guest post, too. 

Get Genrefied: Alternate/Alternative Formats

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Every month, Kimberly and I talk about genres and formats in YA in our “Get Genrefied” series. We’ve tackled everything from high fantasy to thrillers, contemporary/realistic to the graphic novel format. Each month, we love talking back and forth about what topic we want to approach, and we’ve built a nice list of what we haven’t talked about yet.

But this month, I thought I would go back and talk more about a format that I have talked about before. Not because we’re out of ideas, but instead, because it’s a format that got a lot of talk at ALA Midwinter in January from various publishers as being something they’re acquiring and publishing more and more of. That is the alternative format — books that aren’t a traditional narrative structure. Because this isn’t a traditional genre in the same way that urban fantasy or cyberpunk may be, this guide will be a little bit less traditional as well. Alternate format novels take on every genre, and there’s not necessarily an easy, straightforward way to define them. You know what it is when you see it.

Definition

There’s not a singular, solid definition of what a novel in an alternate — or alternative — format is. It’s hard to even say which is the right terminology, alternate or alternative, so for the purposes of this guide, the terms are used interchangeably but mean the same thing.
We’re used to a traditional narrative format when it comes to novels. That doesn’t mean that we expect the same structure with each book, but we expect the story to be composed of lines and paragraphs which flow into chapters of some sort. There’s a linear structure keeping the story together. Alternative formats do away with this linear format we’re used to and instead, they use different methods of story telling. This could be through letters, which make them epistolary novels, through diary entries, through e-mails or instant messages, through Twitter or other social media, through lists, or through mixed media, including novels that are partially traditional narrative and partially graphic novels. 
It could be easily argued that verse novels and novels told through multiple points of view fall under the alternate format umbrella. For me, I don’t know anymore if I agree with that argument. Not because they’re not different, but because there’s a specific term for verse novels (and it’s acknowledged as a format in and of itself) and because the use of multiple points of view isn’t that surprising or different anymore. Multiple points of view still tend to follow the traditional narrative structure, unless they are themselves in an alternate format (say one of the characters tells his or her side of the story through lists or illustrations). This is splitting hairs, of course, and considering either or both as alternate is perfectly reasonable. 
Another kink in defining alternate formats is that it can be tricky to figure out what an end point to the category is. Would alternate format novels also include the sorts of books that feature a digital component to them? Do transmedia works count as alternative formats? It would make sense to say yes to this, though for the purposes of defining alternate formats, as well as keeping this guide tight, I think it’s fair to leave those sorts of books out of the definition because many transmedia works or novels which feature digital components are not entirely dependent on those pieces to tell the story. Often, though not always, that’s bonus content for readers who want to continue digging deeper into the worlds they’re reading. 
So what’s an alternate format then? It’s a book in which non-traditional methods are used to tell the story and those methods are crucial to the understanding of that story. 

Resources

Because alternative formats aren’t a genre in and of themselves, these books are eligible for awards in their appropriate categories. Fiction titles — including graphic hybrids — are as eligible for the Printz, as well as the Morris awards through YALSA, and they’re eligible for the National Book Award in Young People’s Literature. Books in alternate formats are eligible for other respective awards and selection lists through YALSA, including the Best Fiction for Young Adults list and the Excellence in Non-Fiction Award, if the work in question is non-fiction (an example of an alternate format in non-fiction may include something like a graphic hybrid memoir). Depending on the genre of the book in an alternate formate, it may also be eligible for various awards, including the Edgar, the Norton Award, and so forth. 
Of course, because these books are eligible across awards and honor lists, it’s not always easy to pull out which titles are written in alternative formats. This is where reading annotations, as well as writing strong annotations, becomes useful. Making note of books featuring something different in structure makes finding them much easier. 
We’ve put together lists and resources in the past: 
  • As part of the 2012 Contemporary YA week, we put together a list of contemporary/realistic YA in alternate formats. This included novels in verse, as well as books told through multiple points of view. As proof of how much we grow as readers and thinkers, I’m not entirely sure I agree anymore that novels told through verse or in multiple points of view are necessarily alternate formats; however, I think they do offer something different, so they’re worth noting here. 
  • Verse novels as rounded up last year and in previous years. 
Around the book world, a few more resources worth having on hand to make finding alternate format YA novels easier:
  • Jennie wrote about a handful of epistolary YA novels at YA Reading List. 

Reading List 

Because this could be lengthy, this reading list is limited to books published in the last 4 to 5 years. It’s especially heavy on upcoming titles, as this is a format that’s going to be growing in the next year. Links above will lead you to many excellent backlist titles that fit the alternate format category in YA. I’ve also included forthcoming titles I’m aware of, but if there are any missing, lay them on me in the comments. Likewise, this is a contemporary/realistic heavy list, so genre novels fitting the alternate format definition are ones I’d love to know more about as well. 

These books range from being told as graphic hybrids to play scripts, from art class assignments in narrative non-fiction format (fictionalized) to more traditional diary/epistolary formats. As usual, all descriptions are from WorldCat unless otherwise noted. 

Me Being Me Is Exactly As Insane As You Being You by Todd Hasak-Lowy (March 24): Through a series of lists, a narrator reveals how fifteen-year old Darren’s world was rocked by his parents’ divorce just as his brother, Nate, was leaving for college, and a year later when his father comes out as gay, then how he begins to deal with it all after a stolen weekend with Nate and his crush, Zoey.

The Truth Commission by Susan Juby (April 14): As a project for her “creative non-fiction module” at a school for the arts, Normandy Pale chronicles the work of the Truth Commission, through which she and her two best friends ask classmates and faculty about various open secrets, while Norm’s famous sister reveals some very unsettling truths of her own.

The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley by Shaun David Hutchinson: Convinced he should have died in the accident that killed his parents and sister, sixteen-year-old Drew lives in a hospital, hiding from employees and his past, until Rusty, set on fire for being gay, turns his life around. Includes excerpts from the superhero comic Drew creates.



Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story by David Levithan (March 17): Larger-than-life Tiny Cooper finally gets to tell his story, from his fabulous birth and childhood to his quest for true love and his infamous parade of ex-boyfriends, in the form of a musical he wrote.

The Bunker Diary by Kevin Brooks: I can’t believe I fell for it. It was still dark when I woke up this morning. As soon as my eyes opened I knew where I was. A low-ceilinged rectangular building made entirely of whitewashed concrete. There are six little rooms along the main corridor. There are no windows. No doors. The lift is the only way in or out. What’s he going to do to me?

Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero: Sixteen-year-old Gabi Hernandez chronicles her senior year in high school as she copes with her friend Cindy’s pregnancy, friend Sebastian’s coming out, her father’s meth habit, her own cravings for food and cute boys, and especially, the poetry that helps forge her identity.

Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler and Maira Kalman: Sixteen-year-old Min Green writes a letter to Ed Slaterton in which she breaks up with him, documenting their relationship and how items in the accompanying box, from bottle caps to a cookbook, foretell the end.

Roomies by Tara Altebrando and Sara Zarr: While living very different lives on opposite coasts, seventeen-year-old Elizabeth and eighteen-year-old Lauren become acquainted by email the summer before they begin rooming together as freshmen at UC-Berkeley.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews: Seventeen-year-old Greg has managed to become part of every social group at his Pittsburgh high school without having any friends, but his life changes when his mother forces him to befriend Rachel, a girl he once knew in Hebrew school who has leukemia.

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaria: When Laurel starts writing letters to dead people for a school assignment, she begins to spill about her sister’s mysterious death, her mother’s departure from the family, her new friends, and her first love.

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick: A day in the life of a suicidal teen boy saying good-bye to the four people who matter most to him.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (series): A horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children who once lived here were more than just peculiar.

 

Asylum by Madeleine Roux (series): Three teens at a summer program for gifted students uncover shocking secrets in the sanatorium-turned-dorm where they’re staying–secrets that link them all to the asylum’s dark past.

Chasing Shadows by Swati Avasthi, illustrated by Craig Phillips: Chasing Shadows is a searing look at the impact of one random act of violence. Before: Corey, Holly, and Savitri are one unit– fast, strong, inseparable. Together they turn Chicago concrete and asphalt into a freerunner’s jungle gym, ricocheting off walls, scaling buildings, leaping from rooftop to rooftop. But acting like a superhero doesn’t make you bulletproof. After: Holly and Savitri are coming unglued. Holly says she’s chasing Corey’s killer, chasing revenge. Savitri fears Holly’s just running wild– and leaving her behind. Friends should stand by each other in times of crisis. But can you hold on too tight? Too long? In this intense novel, told in two voices, and incorporating comic-style art sections, Swati Avasthi creates a gripping portrait of two girls teetering on the edge of grief and insanity. Two girls who will find out just how many ways there are to lose a friend– and how many ways to be lost.

Because You’ll Never Meet Me by Leah Thomas (July 2): Ollie, who has seizures when near electricity, lives in a backwoods cabin with his mother and rarely sees other people, and Moritz, born with no eyes and a heart defect that requires a pacemaker, is bullied at his high school, but when a physician who knows both suggests they begin corresponding, they form a strong bond that may get them through dark times.

  

Bright Lights, Dark Nights by Stephen Emond (August 11): Walter Wilcox’s first love, Naomi, happens to be African American, so when Walter’s policeman father is caught in a racial profiling scandal, the teens’ bond and mutual love of the Foo Fighters may not be enough to keep them together through the pressures they face at school, at home, and online.

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon (September 1): My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world.I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black–black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster. (Description via Goodreads). 

Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo Corral: In a love story told in photographs and drawings, Glory, a brilliant piano prodigy, is drawn to Frank, an artistic new boy, and the farther she falls, the deeper she spirals into madness until the only song she is able to play is “Chopsticks.”

Bandette by Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover

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I was craving a good heist story and was recommended the comic book series Bandette by Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover. It’s a creator-owned comic published by MonkeyBrain, and the first trade is out now. It features the world’s greatest thief, a teenage girl named Bandette, who steals from the bad people to give to the good people (while keeping a little back for herself). She’s also often called upon by the local police to assist with solving various crimes, though not even the police know her real identity. She’s like Batman if Batman also stole things and didn’t have all that angst over his dead parents.

Bandette herself is supremely confident (she proclaims she is the best thief, and does so without shame for believing it), but she also delights in finding a rival who is worthy of her. She flirts with her friend Daniel, who in turn goes starry-eyed over her. She’s always hanging upside down, grinning hugely while encouraging her friends to get in trouble with her. She loves being a thief and she does it because it’s fun for her, and because she’s good at it – and isn’t that what we all want out of our careers?

The first volume collects issues 1-5 and mainly deals with Bandette and her urchins (sidekicks) going after a crime syndicate as a favor to the local police. The crime syndicate is also going after her, having decided she’s been a thorn in their side for too long. She teams up with her biggest rival, simply named Monsieur, who has himself been recruited by a mysterious woman to steal from the aforementioned crime syndicate. Each issue builds upon the prior one, though there’s a handy recap at the beginning of each, and the story never really becomes all that complex (which is part of its charm).

The book is fun and whimsical and doesn’t take itself very seriously. One of Bandette’s main weapons is a bottle simply labeled “Knockout Spray.” No need to think too hard on it. The evil organization has the acronym FINIS and its principal villain is named Absinthe. Bandette’s main sidekick rides a motorbike called Rad Thai. Her library has one bookshelf for “First Editions: Purchased” and one for “First Editions: Liberated.” There’s subtle humor like this on practically every page, both in the dialogue and the art. The art is blessedly free of scantily-clad women and is a bit simpler and more painterly than traditional comic book art. It fits the mood of the story well – light-hearted and fun.

Long-time readers of this blog may know that I have a weakness for heist stories. I want an all-female Ocean’s 11 sort of book so badly. (Ally Carter’s Heist Society books probably come closest.) Bandette helps to satisfy this itch. It encapsulates so much of what I enjoy about heist stories: how clever the capers are, that the thieves are the good guys and they always win, the overall theme of sticking it to the man and getting rich at the same time, all the witty banter, the friendship between the thieves. It’s all good fun. This particular title is perfectly suitable for a YA audience and it’s a welcome addition to the growing collection of female-led books.

Personal copy.

Romance Roundup – Sarah MacLean Edition

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I’m still super into the romance novels lately. I’ve been reading a lot of Sarah MacLean, working my way through the Smythe-Smith Julia Quinns, and bemoaning the fact that my library doesn’t have more Sherry Thomas on audio. For this installment, I’m going to stick to MacLean’s oeuvre, which I have strong feelings about.

Let’s start with the good stuff. With one notable exception, I’ve liked everything I’ve read by MacLean. Her first series is called Love By Numbers, and just to confuse everyone, it starts with number nine. Alas, there are not eight previous novels in the series. Too bad. I liked the first two, but the third is hands-down my favorite of the series. It’s called Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke’s Heart. Say that three times fast. Anyway, awkward title aside, this is a pretty great book. The heroine is an Italian woman named Juliana Fiori. She has the unfortunate luck to be the daughter of a woman who abandoned her proper English husband and went to live with an Italian man…and then abandoned him, too. Now Juliana’s father is dead and she’s moved to London to stay with her half-brothers. Through no fault of her own, London society considers her a walking scandal, which is exactly what the Duke of Leighton (our hero) wants to avoid.

Leighton appears in the previous books and he does not make a good impression. He’s called the Duke of Disdain. He’s so utterly focused on propriety and reputation, and he’s incredibly arrogant and looks down on women like Juliana. When Juliana flees a party and hides in his carriage, he thinks she’s there to trick him into marriage. I was doubtful that MacLean could make him sympathetic, but she does it. It helps that I like my romance heroes a bit on the arrogant side – you know, as long as there’s evidence for the arrogance. He also has a backstory that explains how he developed in such a way. He and Juliana are really well matched. She helps him to learn some compassion and not care so much what others think, and he in turn helps her learn how to accept who she is. It’s funny, too. Juliana gives the duke a good dressing-down multiple times. There’s really good chemistry, it feels natural and unforced. It’s also especially satisfying to see the difference in Leighton between the first two books and the end of this one. There’s a character arc for him through the whole series, which is unusual in romances.

In contrast, the first book of MacLean’s next series, A Rogue By Any Other Name (the series is called The Rules of Scoundrels), introduces us to a romance hero whom I could not sympathize with. Oh how I loathed Bourne. It begins with Bourne kidnapping the heroine (Penelope, the woman who was previously engaged to Leighton) in order to make it seem like he’s ruined her and therefore she must marry him. Wait, let me back up. It actually begins with Bourne losing all of his land gambling and then that land eventually becoming a part of Penelope’s dowry. Hence why he wants to marry her. Who cares what she wants? I have zero sympathy for rich men who lose it all gambling. Strike one. And then the kidnapping? Strikes two and three.

This is not unusual in historical romances, actually. There are way too many kidnappings. I try to avoid them. But I kept reading this one in hopes MacLean would convince me that he’s actually not such a bad sort. But he is. He is a terrible, terrible person. He uses her and has no sympathy when Penelope tells him over and over again that her whole life has consisted of men using her for their own ends and she’s tired of it. He just keeps using her. I wanted Penelope to push him in front of a cart. Alas, she never did. She fell in love with him. Unbelievable, since she is a good sort of person and he treats her terribly. Now if she were just as bad as him, I’d believe it a bit more. Alas. (At least his characterization is consistent; he’s an asshole in the next books, too.)

The next two books are good, not great. The heroes are scoundrels, but not without merit, at least. But the last book. The last book. Be still, my heart. It might be my favorite romance novel ever. It just might. It’s called Never Judge a Lady By Her Cover and I am in love with it. Since this information is revealed in the synopsis on the back of the book, I feel comfortable sharing it here. It features Georgiana, the younger sister of Leighton who became pregnant at 16 and was shunned from polite society from then on. She eventually grew tired of everyone treating her like crap and decided to get revenge on them all. She opened up the Fallen Angel, the club at which all the previous heroes in the series work. She masquerades as a man – the elusive Chase whom no one ever sees and only speaks through his emissary, the prostitute Anna (who is also Georgiana!). The first three books carefully avoided pronouns when referring to Chase so this came as a surprise to long-term readers.

Ugh, this book is so good. So many of my stories as a teenager and an early 20-something were basically thinly-veiled revenge stories wherein I wreaked vengeance on anyone who was ever cruel to me. And Georgiana does exactly that here! Membership in her club requires that the men share secrets (theirs, or their family’s, or their friends’), and she uses those secrets to hurt the ones who have hurt her, all terrible people. I LOVE THIS. She busts pre-Victorian stereotypes about women and finds a way to be powerful in this restrictive time period.

Her hero, Duncan West, is a good match for her – he’s the owner of a number of newspapers, successful but untitled. Georgiana has decided that for the sake of her daughter, she will try to repair her public reputation. She intends to find a titled husband who will be able to shield her daughter from her scandal. West agrees to help her by publishing puff pieces about her in the scandal sheet of his paper. And they fall in love. He learns early on that Georgiana is Anna, but he’s clueless about Chase until nearly the end. It’s cute seeing him try to convince Georgiana to “leave” Chase when they are one and the same. He’s dislikes her relationship with Chase because he thinks Chase mistreats her, not because she sleeps with Chase for money. And when he does find out that she is Chase, he accepts it so easily. Of course she is. She’s brilliant and devious and he loves those things about her.

If you love romance, do yourself a favor and read this book. It is spectacular. It breaks the mold of historical romance in the best way possible. Plus it’s wonderfully written, completely sigh-worthy, and has a perfect ending that is completely true to Georgiana’s character. It’s fantastic and I’ve read it twice already.

I am super excited for MacLean’s next series, Scandal and Scoundrel, which kicks off with The Rogue Not Taken (see what she did there?) later this year. Let’s hope the hero is less Bourne and more West. And that the heroine is even half as awesome as Georgiana.