Tag: YA

Review: Lola Carlyle’s 12-Step Romance by Danielle Younge-Ullman

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lola

Lola Carlyle’s 12 Step Romance by Danielle Young-Ullman
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Published By: Entangled: Teen
Pages: 304
Format: E-Book
Rating: ★★★.5
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

‘Lola Carlyle…’ sounded like a very quirky read. Unlike other novels, I couldn’t think of another book that compared to it, and this is definitely a good thing. The main premise is a girl, Lola, tries to trick her way into rehab in order to spend the summer with a guy she likes, relishing in the spa treatments and tanning opportunities.

Unfortunately, she forgot about therapy.

It turns out that rehab is not just about becoming one with nature and relaxing away the pain. I didn’t know much about rehab myself, so it was nice to get an inside look at what some people actually went through, or ‘broke through’ and the kind of exercises completed by addicts.

Something I really liked about Lola was the amount of character growth. Although it was almost imperceptible to begin with, you could tell by the end she’d really learned something about herself and the severity of her situation.

There was a lot of dramatic irony throughout this book. Obviously, after reading the blurb, we could tell Lola wasn’t an addict. But of course, if she tried to tell anyone that, she was in denial. It was comedic, but tasteful. I don’t think Lola dealt with some of the patients very well, especially Jade – she was slightly unsympathetic, but once she learned everyone’s stories, then she was more likely to be friendly. Just shows you can’t judge a book by its cover, or the addict by the drug.

Now, you can tell from the title that romance was a big theme. I didn’t really understand the ’12 Step’ thing, but I did like the romance. Wade Miller, the TV star, was kind of like a red herring for Adam, her rehab mentor. Everything was very overt and, I don’t know, lust-y.

But, if you think this book’s just going to be a fluffy contemporary romance which just happens to be set in a rehab centre, then think again. There’s so much going on under the surface. Family trauma. Abusive relationships. Therapy. Heart-to-hearts. Drug abuse. Publicity. I definitely saw the last half of this book take a more serious turn, where Lola had to come to terms with the fact that she may not be an alcoholic, but she did have problems.

I can’t say how accurate a portrayal of rehab this was, or the actually type of people in rehab, however, I think the methods used and the character’s backstories were all very believable and realistic.

It’s safe to say what I got wasn’t what I was expecting – in a good way! Lola was funny, fabulous and made for an excellent reading experience. Overall, I’d give this book 3.5 stars, because it was different and unexpected.

Review: Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer by Katie Alender

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Marie AntMASLoinette, Serial Killer by Katie Alender
Genre: Mystery, Contemporary, Romance
Published By: Scholastic
Pages: 296
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★.5
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

This was another library book that I picked up without knowing anything about it before. It’s so invigorating to just read something you know nothing of, I don’t know, there’s just more excitement. ‘Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer’ intrigued me because of the string of murders (hence the ‘serial killer’ bit) by a ghost. It all happens in Paris, France on a school trip. Yippee!

I’d say this book was a very quick read. The writing style was simple to understand and the main plot point of the story was explored immediately without any faff. Although the main character annoyed me at times, as all good main characters do, I thought she really evolved through the events of the book. She grew more of a backbone and realised what was more important to her: true friends over popularity.

The romance was sweet, and short, as it would be if the school trip was only for a week. It all just felt very…French. I’ve only been to Paris three times, once in real life, once in ‘Anna and the French Kiss’ and once in ‘You’re the One that I Want’, so I had a pretty good grasp of the setting and the main tourist attractions.

I loved the slightly historical element of the book, telling the reader about Marie Antoinette and her life, and death as it goes. I didn’t know much about the French revolution, so it was nice to get those snippets of context. I think this also aided my enjoyment of the book, since it had a ‘Ruby Red’ feel to it. Just keep in mind there’s a ‘historical note’ at the back, saying that the characters are obviously fictional, all but Marie herself.

The murders were written tastefully, with very little or no graphic detail. All very PG. I loved the suspense that they built and the sense of dread I had towards the main character, Colette’s safety.

I didn’t so much like Colette’s ‘friends’, both of whom were vapid and conceited. I much preferred Audrey and Brynn, and in the end, so did Colette.

Overall, I’d give this book 2.5 stars. Despite enjoying it as a whole, the beginning of the book was slow and the fact I didn’t like some of the main characters detracted from my enjoyment. I thought the mystery of the killings was too easily solved and resolved, though I did like the Lara Croft-esque bit towards the end. I’d recommend this to anyone interested in a short and fun read, who isn’t too interested in lots of plot depth. Generally, a good library find!

How To: Write a John Green Novel

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You will need:

1. a male protagonist with a quirk.
2. a manic-pixie-dream-girl love interest who is ‘damaged’ and that the protagonist can use to find/fix himself.
3. one polar-opposite best friend and, optionally, one obnoxious best friend.
4. a setting that is based in reality, but somehow feels ethereal.
5. one hella good road trip.
Optionally you can add a missing girl (see 2.) into the equation.

It’s to be expected that any author is going to have some patterns in their writing style, and it’s particularly easy to spot them when their collected works so far and just the one genre. As a disclaimer, I am in no way trying to dissuade any one to not read or not enjoy John Green’s novels! They’re pretty wonderful, and Paper Towns is even on my favourites list, but just because I like the author doesn’t mean their writing is perfect. Despite whatever I say in this post I will not stop reading and enjoying Green’s works, and I look forward to whatever he publishes in the future. So be warned.

John Green is such a prominent author on any book shelf, be it library, supermarket or personal, that it’s become hard to criticise his work. This is partly due to the fact that he is also such a prominent member of the internet community, which makes him feel like a friend, or at least someone that we know a little more than the average author, and you wouldn’t criticise a friend, would you?

There’s no disputing the fact that ‘The John Green Formula’ (I will hereby refer to it as the TJGF) is a bestselling formula. The TJGF gives readers carefully developed characters and intricate love stories, not to mention they’re fun to read – I can not stress this enough. As much as a I enjoy the TJGF (which, I guess, technically makes it The The John Green Formula, but ‘The TJGF’ sounds better, so we’ll roll with it) I also find it a little frustrating.

I’m writing about the TJGF in my EPQ project about the way in which the first love is presented in YA and how it relates to character development, and it got me thinking more about the frequently occurring tropes in YA. The Manic-Pixie-Dream-Girl being one of them, I’m not entirely sure where this came from, and it would be ignorant to say it must have started with the TJGF, but that seems to be where it’s most commonly recognised. Lauren DeStefano, author of the Chemical Garden trilogy, wrote a piece on the MPDG (I’m really going for the initialisms) and you can read it here. Her main point is that the MPDG trope objectifies women, and I can totally see where she’s coming from. (See 2.)

The MPDG trope is just as problematic as the ‘damsel in distress, need a boy to save me’ trope (the DIDNABTSM?) and this leads to questioning the representation of women in YA – and you can see how this controversy has spiralled out of just talking about the patterns in bestselling John Green novels. It brings on a whole feminist debate and issues about consent in YA literature – and let me tell you, they definitely should be discussed. I could go on and write a dissertation on the problematic tropes of the YA genre, but I’ll leave you with what I’ve got, slightly abruptly if anything, so that we can take some time to think about this stuff.

It’s almost strange to look at YA in such a critical light, as I normally think about YA as something I can read to take a break from the books on my English Literature course. But they’re so much more than that, the content and issues are just as serious as the ones in what are regarded as ‘the classics’.

Thanks for reading! It’s been a wild ride, and all I can say is ‘that escalated quickly.’

 

 

Review: Secrets, Schemes and Sewing Machines by Katy Cannon

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katy cannonSecrets, Schemes and Sewing Machines by Katy Cannon
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Published By: Stripes Publishing
Format: E-Book
Rating: ★★★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

When the chance arose to read the next book in Katy Cannon’s new YA series, I couldn’t contain my excitement. After loving the first book immensively (5 stars), I couldn’t wait to read about the same characters for a second time.

This book follows the perspective of Grace, probably the least prominent member of Bake Club during ‘Love, Lies and Lemon Pies’. She came off as a bit sour and pouty during the course of Lottie and Mac’s relationship, and because of this, I didn’t like her very much. However, after reading a book devoted to exposing what she’s really like, Grace really redeemed herself.

Instead of a baking competition, the plot revolved around the latest school play, ‘Much Ado About Nothing’, my favourite Shakespeare comedy. Unfortunately, Grace didn’t receive the star role and she was lumped with a job backstage making and organising the costumes, which of course meant the existence of another after-school club, ‘Sewing Club’.

The new boy, Connor, enhances her love life, though they may seem like chalk and cheese to begin with, they are the perfect pair. Every good relationship starts with some ‘love-hate’, right? Shakespeare backs me up on this with Beatrice and Benedick.

What I thought was really original about this story line was that Grace actually changed. She wasn’t the drama queen or the queen of Drama and she certainly wasn’t the most popular. She wanted to become a more wholesome person and recognise her passion for working as a team instead of working in the spotlight. She didn’t revert back to her old ways, which was refreshing, and all her new friends accepted her for who she became, not who she once was.

Connor and Grace’s relationship held the same circular structure as Lottie and Mac’s, however, nothing terrible happened to them as a couple because they communicated with each other. Communication is something that Lottie and Mac lacked, so it was nice to see an author focus on this important aspect of a healthy relationship.

Of course, there was some family drama for Grace, along with friendship drama between Jasper, Ella and newly introduced Izzy, yet the play was the centre of the story.

I loved that Lottie and Mac were still a part of the group, but they played cameo roles compared to Grace, Jasper and Yasmin. In fact, I was really pleased to find out more about Yasmin and for her to become a more prominent character – perhaps the next book by Katy Cannon will be from her point of view?

All in all, Katy Cannon knows how to write a perfect contemporary novel, with an excellent mixture of romance, friendship and drama. I can’t help but give this novel 5 out of 5 stars as well, which is unusual, as sequels normally never parallel the debut. I look forward to everyone getting to experience this novel and hopefully enjoying it as much as I did!

Review: The Sound by Sarah Alderson

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15740944The Sound by Sarah Alderson
Genre: Mystery, Contemporary, Romance
Published by: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 310
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

I am so glad I picked this book up, because I’d heard absolutely nothing about it and just happened to spot it in the library. However, it’s also the kind of book that my conscience said ‘you shouldn’t be enjoying this as much as you are.’ I had some definite problems, but this book had everything, which almost made up for them.

Ren is an English girl who dreams of becoming a music journalist, she decides to take a summer out to nanny for a family in Nantucket, where she falls into a group of a preppy teenagers that warn her against Jesse Miller. So what does she do? She ignores them. I liked Ren as a character by the end of the novel, because she stuck up for her true friends and was ready to fight for justice, but she also lacked some common sense. As for her relationship with Jesse, it was very reminiscent of a Becca Fitzpatrick novel – actually extremely similar to the relationship in Black Ice. If you like Fitzpatrick’s writing, or the novels by Katy McGarry (very similar to Pushing The Limits as well!) I would definitely recommend The Sound!

If you’ve read my reviews on the books mentioned you will know that I really didn’t like Black Ice, and essentially The Sound is Black Ice, but it’s so much more engaging! The murder mystery and the truth about Jesse’s past isn’t really revealed until the last portion of the novel, and I was completely blown away by how thrilling the tense scenes were. The slow build up to the mystery really helped to make this book much more enjoyable. In the beginning I forgot that there was even supposed to be a murder mystery, I wouldn’t have known at all from the first 200 pages if I hadn’t read the blurb, but it was so well laid out that I didn’t see any of the plot twists coming.

As much as enjoyed the majority of this novel, I still had some issues. Here’s a list!

Problem Number 1: Girl on girl hate. Why? The word ‘slut’ and ‘skank’ appears every other page. It might be used jovially at times, but derogatory terms should not be used in jest, in any situation. As we all know, “If you call each other sluts and whores, it makes it okay for guys to call you sluts and whores.’ There was also a lot of insensitive comments on body types and whether or not those girls deserved their relationships. No, no, don’t like that either. I probably would’ve increased the star rating had this not been completely distracting to the storyline.

Problem Number 2: The book justifies its ‘girl falls for ‘bad boy” plot line with other bad ‘girl falls for ‘bad boy” books. Twilight is referenced a bunch of times, and the characters are self-aware of their ridiculousness so justify their actions with something along the lines of ‘well, at least this isn’t Twilight.‘

Problem Number 3: Lack of common sense. There are literal murderers on an island who seem to only be targeting foreign nannies and Ren does’t immediately book the first flight back to England. What?

Problem Number 4: Kissing. All of the ‘preppy boys’ would kiss Ren on the cheek, and although it does foreshadow the reveal later on, it seemed so silly at the time. Almost every time Jeremy saw her he’d go straight for a kiss on the cheek. When you don’t know someone you don’t just kiss them on the second chance encounter, surely?

In conclusion, although I’m only giving The Sound three stars it’s also made it to my favourites shelf. It was fun and lighthearted whilst also being incredibly serious and tense. I’d recommend it to anyone who is willing to look over the problems list – but still acknowledge that there are obvious faults – and just wants to read something where they can get totally carried away with the story.

Review: Love, Lies and Lemon Pies by Katy Cannon

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Love, Lies love lies and lemon piesand Lemon Pies by Katy Cannon
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Published By: Stripes Publishing
Pages: 329
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

I haven’t found a book that I’ve been completely in love with in a while. This is that book. I LOVED everything ‘Love, Lies and Lemon Pies’ had to offer!

First of all, the setting. It all took place within a secondary school and the majority of characters were in Year 11, so not too distant from my own year group and age. I really liked how natural everything was, and the personalities of the teachers, as well as the students were so believable.

This book reminded me of books written by Cathy Cassidy, because the main character, Lottie, was dealing with something difficult at home – her dad had died and her mum had taken to hoarding junk. I feel that in a lot of young adult books now, the focus is on the character’s romantic relationship, rather than any other relationship and parents are almost non-existent. LLLP had the perfect mixture of the two.

The romance between Lottie and Mac was endearing. I loved how we got to experience them as friends before we saw them as a couple – the romantic gestures of Mac were the most adorable things ever. Although their relationship could be quite circular, as neither participant was telling the truth about their home life or reputation, everything was resolved in a way that didn’t make me want to bash my head against a wall.

The minor characters, especially Jasper and Ella, were all significant, and it turns out that Grace stars in her own novel, ‘Secrets, Schemes and Sewing Machines’, the next book in this school club series. I’m excited to get to know more about her, as she was one of the less prominent members of the Bake Club. They all had their own stories to tell, after all, and I’m glad they all got exposure.

Which brings me on to the Bake Club in general. Over the last two years, I have been completely obsessed with The Great British Bake Off, so this was the perfect book to satisfy my love of watching people bake. It was so quirky that this book also included the recipes for everything the characters made, which I hope to try out sometime soon!

There’s nothing more exciting than a competition, especially if it involves baking, cakes and romance. Yay!

Gosh, I don’t know how I could give this book any less than 5 stars. It made me feel so warm and sparkly, with its cute couples and underlying messages of truth telling and supporting your friends. This novel delivered on all levels, and I can’t wait to see what Katy Cannon writes next! – Stay tuned for a review of ‘Secrets, Schemes and Sewing Machines’ soon!

Review: The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

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The_Lost_Hero_210The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Published by: Hyperion Books for Children
Pages: 557
Format: Hardback
Rating: ★★★
Series: The Son of Neptune (#2) | The Mark of Athena (#3) | The House of Hades (#4) | The Blood of Olympus (#5)
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

As you probably all know the final book in the Heroes of Olympus series was released earlier this year. Maddie has been a fan of Riordan’s writing for a long time, and now that she’s finished the HoO I was free to read it! I’ve tried to read The Lost Hero once before, and only got bout thirty pages in before I put it down to read something else, but now that all the hype’s died down a little but, I thought it would be best to give this series a second chance.

And, of course, it was amazing. LEO. Oh my goodness, Leo. Why did no  one tell me how great Leo was? Suffice to say he was my favourite character, but I also really liked Piper. She was kick-ass at the end there. I appreciate that. Jason. Sigh. I’d head all about him. Mostly that he’s no Percy. Although I agree, I didn’t find him as annoying as Maddie made out I would. His chapters where sprinkled in the middle of Leo and Piper so I just skimmed over our main protagonist and got straight back to my faves. It was so wonderful to have heroes of different godly-heritage, because we didn’t really get to hear much about Aphrodite and Hephaestus in PJatO.

It has been a while since I finished the Percy Jackson series, but it didn’t take me long to fall back into the comfort of Riordan’s writing style. It’s so engaging and so fast paced. The action heavy sequences are perfectly woven together with dream sequences and educational passages on Greek (and now Roman!) mythology.

I love that all the characters are 15/16, it means we got a little more romance, which I loved! Of course I missed Annabeth and Percy, but Maddie reassures me that the final three books in the series are couple-centric so no complaints here!

I thoroughly enjoyed the plot and the majority of the characters and can’t wait to find out more about the Roman sides of the gods in the next book. I only gave The Lost Hero three stars, however, because there were sections that I trudged through less enthusiastically, and I want this series to get better and my star ratings need to reflect that. If you are yet to read the Heroes of Olympus series, then I would seriously recommend it!

The Reading Hierarchy

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Having accepted our places at university, Bee and I were discussing the curriculum of university English Literature courses. Shakespeare is a staple of the syllabus, appearing in every course without fail, turning up like a bad penny. One of the Bronte sisters is also there, ready to throw some 18th-19th Century context your way.

But you’ll struggle to find books like ‘Anna and the French Kiss’ appearing at university level. Now it’s becoming more common for ‘Lord of the Rings’ to make it to the set list, with ‘Harry Potter’ almost getting there, skirting on the edge of the fantasy genre, struggling to gain prestige because he’s labelled as a ‘children’s book’.

Why is it that classics like ‘Wuthering Heights’ and ‘Great Expectations’ are always given precedence over books like ‘The Raven Boys’ and ‘Under the Never Sky’?

When I told my English teacher that I primarily read ‘Young Adult’ fiction, she said I needed to ‘grow out’ of that stage before university, and start reading things like ‘The Shock of the Fall’ or ‘We’re Completely Beside Ourselves’ if I was interested in contemporary fiction, instead of ‘Lola and the Boy Next Door’. I should be moving on to ‘adult books’.

But if I told her I’d recently read ‘You’re the One that I Want’ by Giovanna Fletcher, that would probably be looked down upon too, because of its placement within the ‘Women’s Fiction’ genre, or ‘Chick Lit’.

It seems unfair that academics think more of you if you’re read the collected works of Charles Dickens over that of Rick Riordan, and there seems to be this invisible hierarchy of reading, with classics at the top of the pyramid and YA at the bottom.

YA is the one of the largest growing genres of literature. Publishers can’t publish YA books fast enough. There seems to have been a boom of teenagers that want to read something that’s more suited to their age group, like me! When I was nine, I used to worry what I would read when I grew out of Jacqueline Wilson books. Now there’s a plethora of choice and I have trouble deciding what to read next!

I think that, and be warned of the oncoming opinion, that we should all just be happy that people are reading. Just because the book was published a month ago by someone straight out of college doesn’t make it any less worth reading than if it was publish over one hundred years ago by someone in their late forties.

Let books be books, instead of instruments with which the reader’s are judged.

Review: The Night Itself by Zoe Marriott

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The NigThe Night Itselfht Itself by Zoe Marriott
Genre: Fantasy, Mythology, Contemporary
Published By: Walker Books
Pages: 368
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

This was a spontaneous read from my school library. I saw it displayed on the little plastic holders that just scream: ‘I’m new!’ and thought ‘Yep, I’ll read that’. As this was a completely unplanned read, I knew little about the plot or the author.

‘The Night Itself’ is about a girl called Mio who inherits this ancient sword. When she touches the sword, or katana to give it its proper name, she is drawn to it and finds that she can’t put it down. Some crazy stuff then happens because the sword has been unveiled, involving murder, kidnap and travelling into a different dimension. Great stuff!

The novel was really action packed – there was never a dull movement. I really enjoyed the relationship between Mio and her best friend, Jack, who was a girl and homosexual and that was not a big deal (it was lovely for this to be dealt with subtly.) When Shinobu arrived, an invisible boy who was trapped in the sword, romance is suddenly on the cards for Mio. This did feel quite rushed, but the author notes this herself, saying that Mio and Shinobu fell in love within 24 hours. Not completely unbelievable.

Basically, there were a lot of things I liked about this book. I thought that the Japanese mythology was woven in well, without alienating the audience with a lot of jargon. Things were explained in a way that was easy to understand. Excellent.

I thought that the ending was fairly rushed – I kind of lost my way a little bit, but I was speed reading, so this could have contributed to the struggle. I do love a good action scene, and I’m more than used to fight scenes because of my beloved Percy Jackson. In the end, though, I knew what was going on, which is the main thing.

I don’t know how many times I can say I enjoyed this book. One fault, however, was the borderline racist description of the main character’s eyes. Obviously, she and Shinobu were of Japanese descent but that was obvious because of their names. On the other hand, on GoodReads, the author did apologise for the description, and I’m sure has worked hard to correct herself in the sequel that came out in June this year.

Something different about this book was the female protagonist. After reading a lot of Rick Riordan, it was nice to see a girl take the lead role as a mythological descendant. I’d recommend this to anyone that does enjoy Rick’s writing, but is looking for a plot that is a lot less hard core.

Overall, I’d give ‘The Night Itself’ 3 stars. I was impressed, but it didn’t wow me. Compared to my favourite books that received 5 star reviews, this novel was exciting and kept me gripped but didn’t leave me wanting more after the final page. Perhaps if the library gets the second book in the series, I will continue to enjoy Mio’s world!

Review: Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins

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Sweet Evil

Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins
Genre: Fantasy, Contemporary, Romance
Published by: Harper Teen
Pages: 447
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

I’ve had this book on the shelf for ages. AGES. Somehow, the cover just really put me off from reading this book. (I wonder why! Heh heh!) I didn’t know if I would like the concept, or the writing style, especially since the slogan was ’embrace the forbidden’. Not really something to live by.

It turns out that I was right. This book wasn’t my cup of tea.

I think I’m going to find it really hard to describe, just because this is a 450-ish page book and I think only two significant things happened:
1.) A road trip across country with Anna, the protagonist who’s a super religious half-angel, half-demon, and a boy, Kaiden, who’s a demon womaniser. Usually the rule is if you add a road trip to something, it can only get better. Take ‘Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour’ or ‘Paper Towns’ as examples. However, this was not the case. I didn’t really understand the mission of the trip (that was never even fulfilled) and how quickly Anna was willing to get close to her father whom she hadn’t seen in sixteen years. The pacing was really rubbish throughout this whole book. Days would pass in paragraphs, and between chapters, months would go by. It meant that the time periods that were written about seemed rushed, because the relationship between these two characters blossomed (and died) very quickly.
2.) Some sort of demon training. Anna is the daughter of the demon who had to entice humans to drink excessive amounts of alcohol and/or take illegal drugs. Yippee. I felt very uncomfortable reading these scenes, especially when Anna is dancing on top of a bar, trying to please a married man twice her age. It all just seemed very wrong. 

I didn’t like Anna and I didn’t like Kaiden on principle. I hate the ‘you shouldn’t be friends with me’ storyline, Stephanie Meyer already wrote that to death. If I wanted to read about a relationship that occurred regardless of the couple’s safety, I would just read ‘Twilight’.

I didn’t like that Kopano (odd name) was introduced as a point in a love triangle. It made NO SENSE. Since when did Anna harbour feelings for this other demon spawn? Why was there tension between Kaiden and Kope? I think authors need to realise a book can be good without a love triangle present. Actually, it would be refreshing!

I know that this series is a trilogy, and I’ve heard that it just gets better as it progresses. This is odd to hear about a trilogy, especially considering the outcome of ‘Allegiant’ or ‘Mockingjay’. Still, these books are cheaper on Kindle, so I may or may not complete the series. ‘Sweet Evil’ really hasn’t done much to motivate me to continue.

I’d give this book 2 stars. It wasn’t horrific enough to only get one, but there was nothing I especially liked about it to move it up the star rating scale.