YAnnabe » 2.5 Stars

Review: Fly on the Wall

Kelly — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 03:48:33 +0000

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Title: Fly on the Wall: How One Girl Saw Everything
Author: E. Lockhart
Category: Fiction, Young Adult
Rating: 2.5/5
Why I Read It: I enjoyed the author’s other books.

Summary: 16-year-old Gretchen doesn’t fit in at The Manhattan School for Art and Music, something weird is going on between her parents, and her best friend seems to be avoiding her.

Review: This one was just okay for me.

I was liking the story until about halfway through when the action slowed way down. I’m not spoiling anything you can’t get from the Amazon description—and maybe I’m outing myself as a jaded old married lady—but in particular, I could have done without the pages of reflection on the male anatomy.

The pace picks up again in the last 30 pages or so. But after no real action for so long, it seemed like everything wrapped a little too neatly.

Here’s a taste so you can decide for yourself. Gretchen is talking to her best friend, Katya, about a guy named Titus:

Later that afternoon, Sanchez the gym teacher makes us play dodgeball, which leaves bruises all over my legs. I’m not that fast, and I get hit a lot. Titus hits me twice.

“Do you think it means something?” I ask Katya after gym, sitting on the locker room bench in a towel.

Katya is naked in the shower like that’s a normal way to have a conversation. She’s washing her hair like she’s just everyday naked in front of people.

Well, we are everyday naked in front of people. Gym is five days a week, shower required. But anyway, Katya is having a naked conversation like it doesn’t even bother her, which it obviously doesn’t—even though she’s not built like a model, just regular.

The locker room is so cramped and tiny that I can feel the warm spray of her shower water on my knee as I’m sitting on the bench.

“It would have meant something if we were sixth graders,” says Katya, scrunching her eyes as she rinses out the shampoo.

“Like what would it mean?”

“You want to hear me say it?” She’s laughing.

“Yes.”

“It would have meant that he liked you back.”

“I didn’t say I liked him,” I mutter.

Your Turn: When’s the last time you were happily trucking along in a book but then you lost interest?

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Review: The Last Exit to Normal

Kelly — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 03:00:15 +0000

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Title: The Last Exit to Normal
Author: Michael Harmon
Category: Fiction, Young Adult
Rating: 2.5/5
Why I Read It: This book was part of the Nerds Heart YA tournament in 2009, and both judges who read it enjoyed it.

Summary: After 17-year-old Ben’s dad announces that he’s gay, Ben rebels by skipping school and doing drugs. Then his dad decides they’re moving from the city to a small town in Montana. Trying to fit in while sporting a mohawk turns out to be the least of Ben’s problems.

Review: I wanted to love this book. I did love several aspects of it, and I am glad I read it. But it wasn’t one of my favorites.

What I loved:

The grit—The tough conversations between Ben and his dad were so real they were almost painful to read at times. In a good way.
The issues—Homophobia, child abuse, abandonment. The book takes on big-ticket issues with a capital I, but it didn’t feel like a thinly veiled morality play.
The funny—Here, Ben is about to go on a date with a country girl, and he’s asking his dad’s boyfriend Edward for advice. Edward starts off with what he knows about the girl’s dad:

“If I remember correctly, he’s a very harsh man, and one not to cross.” He thought for a moment. “Yes sir, no sir, thank you, please, nice to meet you, Mr. Johan, firm handshake, look him in the eye, and for God’s sake don’t eye her boobs, even accidentally, unless you’re at least a mile from the house. Men have shotguns for a reason around here.”

I nodded, soaking it all in. Fear gripped me, but love would climb any mountain. “One more thing.”

“What?”

“What is baling hay, anyway?”

He laughed. “And you thought you worked hard yesterday. Poor child.”

“Crap.”

But here are the things that got in the way of me loving this book through-and-through:

Backstory frontloading—The first chapter was s-l-o-w. I almost put the book down. I once read a tip in a writing book that you should cut your first chapter, start with the second, and sprinkle the first chapter backstory in later only if necessary. This book might have benefited from that trick.
Internal monologue—Not everywhere, but in certain spots I felt like I was getting Ben’s entire thought process.
Melodramatic tendencies—As the story started to wrap up, a few scenes came off as a bit cheesy for my taste.
Kiss offscreen—Maybe this is just because I’m a girl that this bugged me, but the first kiss between Ben and the girl he’s interested in happened…offscreen! It’s this offhand comment in the narration. Bummer!

None of these issues were huge, but they all pulled me out of the story and got in the way of me connecting on a deeper level to the book.

Your Turn: What’s the last book you wanted to love but didn’t?

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Review: 13 Little Blue Envelopes

Kelly — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 03:56:49 +0000

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Audience Pick!

Title: 13 Little Blue Envelopes
Author: Maureen Johnson
Category: Fiction, Young Adult
Rating: 2.5/5
Why I Read It: Because you told me to!

Summary: Ginny’s aunt is gone, but she left Ginny 13 mysterious letters. She is to do exactly as they say, and she can open the next one only when given permission. The first letter gets her on a plane to London, the second takes her to a complete stranger’s house, and the rest just get crazier from there.

Review: I had trouble connecting to Ginny in the first half of the book. She was just going through the motions and following the letters to the uh, letter. I know that was the crux of the plot, but her passive nature kept her flat in my mind. However, by the second half, what finally made her come alive was her grief. The ending even choked me up a bit.

This was an enjoyable read with a nice little romance. If you typically enjoy MJ’s books and especially if you’ve ever wanted to tour Europe, this one’s worth the time. (By the way, my fave-iest fave by MJ is still The Key to the Golden Firebird.)

From the Land of Writerly Musings: I liked the aunt’s letters spread throughout the book, but I wasn’t a fan of the few letters Ginny wrote to her best friend back home. They weren’t frequent, so they jarred my reading. Also unsettling was going from third-person point of view where Ginny’s emotions aren’t all that clear to a letter where she lays her heart out. I found myself wanting the emotions to be more woven into the text instead of stuck in those letters.

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Did you like this book? Try:

Looking for Alaska
An Abundance of Katherines—My rating: 4/5
Girl at Sea—My rating: 2.5/5
More Recommendations from LibraryThing

Review: Love You Hate You Miss You

Kelly — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 03:32:06 +0000

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Audience Pick!

Title: Love You Hate You Miss You
Author: Elizabeth Scott
Category: Fiction, Young Adult
Rating: 2.5/5
Why I Read It: Because you told me to!

Summary: After a tragic car crash, Amy goes to a rehab facility to get a handle on her drinking. But when she’s released, life just isn’t the same. Her best friend Julia is gone, her parents are faking a happy family routine, and her therapist wants her to start a diary.

Review: This is a heavier story than others I’ve read by Scott with not as much in the way of romance, although it does have a bit in that department.

But as with her other novels, this one didn’t speak to me. Putting on my YAnnabe hat, the internal dialogue was too much for me. I would love to see Scott write a novel in third person because I think that might be more to my taste.

Here’s an example of the internal dialogue I’m talking about. Amy has just told a potential new friend about her time in rehab:

…and then I ended up telling her about Pinewood.

I don’t know why I did. I just felt like it, I guess. I didn’t even feel weird. Well, maybe a little. But she wasn’t—she didn’t react like I thought she would. She didn’t say anything stupid, and she didn’t try to be all positive or sympathetic or anything.

The frequent hesitations in the narration (like “But she wasn’t—she didn’t”) called extra attention to the internal dialogue, and I like that technique better in actual dialogue.

Still, this was an enjoyable and quick read. If you like Scott’s other novels, I think you’ll like this one too.

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Review: Perfect You

Kelly — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 01:36:52 +0000

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Audience Pick!

Title: Perfect You
Author: Elizabeth Scott
Category: Fiction, Young Adult
Rating: 2.5/5
Why I Read It: Because you told me to!

Summary: Kate lost her best friend to popularity. Any chance Kate had at being popular herself is about to evaporate when everyone finds out she’s working for her vitamin-selling dad at the mall. Unfortunately for Kate, gorgeous, popular Will is working at the mall too.

Review: The romantic scenes are what makes Scott’s books, in my opinion. Because dang, they’re good. The tension between Kate and Will was positively yummy.

This was my third Scott book, but it was still just okay for me. As with Bloom, this one had too much internal dialogue for my taste.

But I did get into the story, and the fact that I finished it says something nowadays!

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Review: Girl at Sea

Kelly — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:24:53 +0000

Audience Pick!

Title: Girl at Sea
Author: Maureen Johnson
Category: Fiction, Young Adult
Rating: 2.5/5
Why I Read It: Because you told me to! And I wanted to get in the mood for my upcoming vacation to the beach.

Summary: 17-year-old Clio just finagled a job where her crush works. But when her mom gets an out-of-town work assignment, Clio has to put her plans on hold and hang out with her dad on a boat in the Mediterranean. Sound fun? You haven’t met Clio’s dad.

Review: Maureen Johnson cracks me up. I read her blog religiously.

That said, this wasn’t the MJ book for me. I much preferred Suite Scarlett.

I loved the romance, and the humor cracked me up as always. But the middle felt too slow. Sometimes, it felt like details were included not because they were important to the story but because they set up a good joke.

A little taste of what I’m talking about, where Clio is getting a feel for the kitchen on the boat:

There was a lot more food in the galley now than there had been the night before. The yacht was packed like a UN provision ship. Eight loaves of bread were piled in the corner. Three cardboard boxes stuffed full of vegetables sat on the floor. Another two of fruit. A paper bag revealed meat. Just meat. The refrigerator had been filled with fresh fish—heads and all—trapped in clear plastic bags. There was something murderous about it. Like the Mafia had taken these fish out. These fish slept with the fishes.

I’m not sorry I finished this book because it was entertaining. But if this is the only MJ book you’ve read and it didn’t wow you, you have to give Suite Scarlett a chance.

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Review: First Light

Kelly — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 12:03:49 +0000

Title: First Light
Author: Rebecca Stead
Category: Fiction, Middle Grade
Rating: 2.5/5
Why I Read It: Becky at Becky’s Book Reviews enjoyed this one, so I decided to check it out.

Summary: This is a story of two kids from completely different worlds: 12-year-old Peter goes to Greenland with his parents on a research expedition, but his mom is teetering on the edge of another bout of depression. 14-year-old Thea lives in an isolated settlement called Gracehope, where they’re running out of space but no one will let her explore new areas.

Review: The premise created immediate mystery in my mind and kept me reading to find out how the worlds might intersect. Here’s the opening that grabbed me:

Most boys his age had never touched paper. There was little left. Paper was reserved for fine drawing and important documents. Mattias knew even before he could skate that if he were to harm any of it, if he were to crease one corner of one sheet, the consequences would be serious. But Mattias could not resist his mother’s drawing table.

In the end, the story came together well.

But I didn’t always enjoy the writing, namely:

Too much telling—After a piece of dialogue, oftentimes a statement reiterated what we just learned in the dialogue. The quote below is an example of this.
Exclamation heavy—I know, I’m being petty. But exclamation points seem silly in most cases.
Sappy—The story got overly sentimental at times, especially near the end.

This isn’t the most compelling quote, but it’s a good example of the first issue listed above:

It was cold. At the steepest parts, they gave up walking and scooted along the tunnel floor in a sitting position, bracing themselves with their heels. This meant sitting in the icy stream that still rushed down the tunnel; their furs kept them dry, but couldn’t entirely protect them from the chill.

“Is it, uh, usually like this?” Peter asked. He was breathing hard. “With the water?”

“No,” Thea said fiercely, so that he wouldn’t ask more. She couldn’t help feeling a bit mean.

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Review: How to Be Bad

Kelly — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 04:41:22 +0000

Nerds Heart YA Update: This is the last review I’ll post before I start posting my NHYA reviews! And don’t forget to enter the giveaway to win Cracked up to Be, The Latent Powers of Dylan Fontaine, or Leftovers. If you enter now, you’ll have a 1 in 5 chance of winning!

Title: How to Be Bad
Author: E. Lockhart, Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle
Category: Fiction, Young Adult
Rating: 2.5/5
Why I Read It: I loved The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart.

Summary: Jesse’s mom has cancer. Vicks’s boyfriend went to college and hasn’t called. Mel is desperate for friends. So they all pile into the car for a road trip.

Review: First, a disclaimer. I haven’t had great luck with books that have alternating points of view. With that said:

The Bad—The narration in this book alternated between the three girls, and I didn’t ever truly connect with any of them.
The Good—I enjoyed the writing, and the plot kept me reading.

But without a connection to the main characters, plot and good writing weren’t enough for me.

Here’s a snippet of Vicks and her older brother Penn talking on the phone while he’s a the grocery store:

“I’m in the detergent aisle right now, looking for a box of—oh, there it is. You think Tide is better, or All?” [Penn says.]

“Which has a prettier box?” I ask.

“I don’t want a pretty box. I want a dude box.”

“Uh-huh,” I deadpan. “You want a dude box of laundry detergent.”

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Review: Bloom

Kelly — Fri, 29 May 2009 17:12:51 +0000

Title: Bloom
Author: Elizabeth Scott
Category: Fiction, Young Adult
Rating: 2.5/5
Why I Read It: A lot of YA readers love this author, but I didn’t love Something, Maybe. So I wanted to give another of her books a try.

Summary: Not-popular high school junior Lauren is dating uber-popular and gorgeous Dave. That’s enough to make any girl ecstatic. Only Lauren’s not.

Review: What’s wrong with me that I’m not loving Scott’s books? Like Something, Maybe, this one was just okay for me.

I did thoroughly enjoy the romantic scenes. Ahem.

But there was too much internal dialogue for my taste, and I thought the ending was a little melodramatic and bordering on cheesy.

Have I just not picked the best Scott books to start with? Am I alone in not falling in love with them?

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Review: Something, Maybe

Kelly — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 04:55:14 +0000

Audience Pick!

Title: Something, Maybe
Author: Elizabeth Scott
Category: Fiction, Young Adult
Rating: 2.5/5
Why I Read It: Because you told me to!

Summary: 17-year-old Hannah tries not to get noticed. But with a mom who makes a living wearing skimpy clothes in front of a webcam, and an estranged 70-year-old dad with a reality TV show featuring him and scantily clad “special girls,” it can be hard not to come across as a freak. When Hannah finally wants someone to notice her—namely her crush Josh—will the right things get noticed?

Review: This was a sweet story. I really wanted to fall in love with it like other YA book bloggers are doing, but I didn’t. I didn’t dislike it, but it was just okay for me.

Putting on my YA-nnabe hat, here are the reasons I think this one fell short:

Predictable—You can see the plot turns coming a mile away. I don’t mind that with middle-grade novels, but in YA I want to be surprised, at least once.
Kind of slow—The first half dragged for me. It seemed like Hannah was just shuffling between work, school, and driving around with her best friend while they deconstructed her love life.

On the other hand, it’s hard to beat a first line like this!

Everyone’s seen my mother naked.

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