Category: Reviews 2014

• Book Review: “The Major’s Daughter” by J.P. Francis (ARC)

  Posted at 9:55 am by Laura, on July 22, 2014

  The Major’s Daughter by J.P. Francis 

  Publisher: Plume
  Publishing Date: July 29
  Genre: historical fiction
  ISBN: 9780452298699
  Goodreads: —
  Rating: ★★★.5

  April, 1944.  The quiet rural village of Stark, New Hampshire is irrevocably changed by the arrival of 150 German prisoners of war.  And one family, unexpectedly divided, must choose between love and country.

  Camp Stark is under the command of Major John Brennan, whose beautiful daughter, Collie, will serve as translator. Educated at Smith and devoted to her widowed father, Collie is immediately drawn to Private August Wahrlich, a peaceful poet jaded by war. As international conflict looms on the home front, their passion blinds them to the inevitable dangers ahead.

  Very little is known about the POW camp set up in Stark, New Hampshire, in 1944. But it was there, and one can only imagine what sort of fascinations and wonders it induced. Under Major John Brennan, the German prisoners of war are sent out to work for the logging community, treated humanely despite everyone’s mistrust. Major Brennan’s daughter, Collie, serves as his translator and assistant, which brings her close to another translator and POW, Austrian Private August Wahrlich. The attraction is instantaneous, and noticed by all at the camp, but both know that nothing could come from it, nothing could be built on unsteady ground of war. But as the months pass, as Collie watches her friends change and August’s hope for a return to his family diminishes, the lovers consider a future together despite all costs.

  This slow and quiet novel was quite beautiful. The reader follows all sorts of characters, not just Collie and August. We’re privy to Collie’s best friend Estelle’s mind and heart, the difficult decisions she makes regarding her future. We follow the rich brothers Amos and Henry, how vastly different they are from one another, with different dreams and ambitions. We track Major Brennan and his dedication to running a smooth, cooperative camp. Everyone’s story interweaves with another, ultimately colliding in the end’s momentous flight.

  Collie and August’s love is pure. He’s poetic, artistic, and very much a dreamer. He shows us that not all German soldiers are Nazis — there’s a different between fighting with the Germans (enlisted and drafted from Austria and other countries overtaken by Germany) and being a member of the political party. He is kind and open-hearted, a gentleman and a boy, with no ulterior motives. It’s sweet. Collie is an educated young woman, who fights hard to suppress her growing affection. She struggles to maintain that her feelings are simply a little crush, but when she gives in, her fall is great.

  Nothing about this book felt rushed. In fact, everything about it was smooth, enchanting, romantic, and quite authentic. For anyone in need of a deep, powerful historical romance that really does consider the weight of war, this is most certainly the book to read.

  Thank you, Penguin, for providing this book for review!

  Posted in books, Reviews 2014 | 3 Comments | Tagged advance reading copy, ARC, book review, books, genre: adult fiction, genre: historical fiction, genre: romance, goodreads, review

• Book Review: “The Book of Life” by Deborah Harkness

  Posted at 7:42 pm by Laura, on July 19, 2014

  The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness 

  Publisher: Viking
  Published: July 15, 2014
  Genre: fiction, fantasy
  ISBN: 9780670025596
  Goodreads: 4.39
  Rating: ★★★★★

  Historian and witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont return to the present to face new crises and old enemies. At Matthew’s ancestral home at Sept-Tours, they reunite with the cast of characters from A Discovery of Witches—with one significant exception. But the real threat to their future has yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on even more urgency. In the trilogy’s final volume, Harkness deepens her themes of power and passion, family and caring, past deeds and their present consequences. In ancestral homes and university laboratories, using ancient knowledge and modern science, from the hills of the Auvergne to the palaces of Venice and beyond, the couple at last learn what the witches discovered so many centuries ago.

  One of three missing pages from Ashmole 782 is in Diana and Matthew’s possession. After the news of Diana’s pregnancy takes hold on the de Clermont family, the politics of the covenant and Congregation, the secrets inside the manuscript, Diana’s growing power and purpose, and Matthew’s blood rage and past guilts become more pressing than ever. From the laboratories at Yale to the many homes of Europe, from Diana’s childhood home to a deserted concentration camp in Poland, Diana and Matthew must face the world together and fight for the love, family, and future.

  

  Once again, I’m stunned by Harkness’s brilliance. She somehow managed to write a stunning, scholarly, thrilling ending to this trilogy — all while continuing to career as a professor and academic. Wow. I bow to her. I am Fernando to her Diana.

  Like A Discovery of Witches and Shadow of Night, The Book of Life is filled with academic jargon across all disciplines and fields, making this reviewer long once more to be locked in a library and researching just for the sake of researching (and the hot beverages and tweed and autumn leaves and cozy warmth…I digress). Everything from modern science and DNA coding to history and art helps piece together the giant puzzle that is the connection between vampires, witches, daemons, and humans. This book could also be described as one giant family reunion, one crisis after another around every page turn. Characters from the previous books crop up and play their role, some of them more crucial than before. My heart swelled for Gallowglass, to name just one character in many.

  What’s fantastic about these characters and their secrets are how all their stories are truly interwoven, without many of them realizing it. It makes the world feel more authentic. Even more so, it humanizes these creatures — many of whom (particularly one of Matthew’s disowned offspring who is the main villain of this book) remind us that the horrors we read in books do, in fact, happen to people every day.

  Book One focused on discoveries, particularly on an all-consuming love. Book Two focused on accepting one’s identity, and the growing love between Matthew and Diana, and how the boundaries changed in that relationship. This book particularly tested them — as partners, as lovers, as mates, as parents, as creatures — and while all was not rosy, it was never without love. So beautiful. I thoroughly enjoyed watching them grow together. I’m sad to see the trilogy end, as I’d love to know what happens (to every character), but that’s the joy of imagination: I can think of their futures in my head and believe it to be true.

  Intelligent and exciting, the All Souls trilogy is not one to be missed.

  Posted in books, Reviews 2014 | 4 Comments | Tagged book review, books, genre: adult fiction, genre: fantasy, genre: fiction, genre: history, genre: romance, goodreads, review

• Book Review: “The Fortune Hunter” by Daisy Goodwin (ARC)

  Posted at 9:15 am by Laura, on July 15, 2014

  The Fortune Hunter by Daisy Goodwin 

  Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
  Publishing Date: July 29
  Genre: historical fiction
  ISBN: 9781250043894
  Goodreads: —
  Rating: ★★★★

  In 1875, Sisi, the Empress of Austria, is the woman that every man desires and every woman envies.

  Beautiful, athletic and intelligent, Sisi has everything – except happiness. Bored with the stultifying etiquette of the Hapsburg Court and her dutiful but unexciting husband, Franz Joseph, Sisi comes to England to hunt. She comes looking for excitement and she finds it in the dashing form of Captain Bay Middleton, the only man in Europe who can outride her. Ten years younger than her and engaged to the rich and devoted Charlotte, Bay has everything to lose by falling for a woman who can never be his. But Bay and the Empress are as reckless as each other, and their mutual attraction is a force that cannot be denied.

  Meet Charlotte Baird, a young heiress with a dislike of snobbery and a passion for photography. Enter Bay Middleton, a calvary captain who notices and flatters Charlotte and her family, while still stubbornly maintaining his “lower” position as a pilot during hunting season. Chaos ensues not when Charlotte hears of Bay’s past philandering ways, but when Sisi, the Empress of Austria, visits England to experience the English hunt. Rumored to be the most beautiful woman of Europe, Sisi captures every man’s attention and feeds the fire of gossip among the women. Charlotte is eager to take a photo of the Empress for her portfolio, but after one glance at the finished result, her trust in Bay begins to waver.

  Though the book comes across as a character study on Sisi, there’s an equal balance of attention given to Sisi, Bay, and Charlotte, whose lives were indeed intertwined in history. Charlotte is wealthy but leans toward the liberal, modern woman. She’s quirky and fun, focused on artistry rather than class distinctions and the upcoming season — to her future sister-in-law’s dismay. Bay is a womanizer, but there’s something about his character that switches and softens with Charlotte, leaving you wondering if he’s truly loyal to her up to the very end. Finally there’s Sisi, who truly was a beautiful woman with very strange habits in maintaining beauty. She led an interesting life, and much of what happened to her — or, in this case in the book, will happen to her — is reflected and hinted toward in Goodwin’s novel. Absolutely fascinating. If you ever get the chance to research her or the Hapsburg history, you’ll understand what I mean. She’s a poster girl for the future standard of female beauty and the media.

  Like all great historical fiction, this book took it’s time in unfolding the plot. The drama is slow and low — it’s intriguing, layered, and watching the story come to life is the most fascinating process. Not only are the characters interesting, but the history and social class politics and trinkets at the time, too! For example: photography. The time it takes for a photo to be shot and later developed, the ways in which photography was viewed by various people across the classes, the great things people could do to manipulate their photos. So exciting! And though I’m not much of a horse person, the hunting scenes were thrilling and wonderful — and the race at the end! Phew. Even English cultural norms for the time were compared to that in Vienna when Sisi’s chapters were showcased.

  Well done. A great read for hist-fic readers interested in a particular time in English and Hapsburg history.

  Thank you, Edelweiss, for providing this book from St. Martin’s Press for review!

  Posted in books, Reviews 2014 | 8 Comments | Tagged advance reading copy, ARC, book review, books, genre: historical fiction, goodreads, review

• Book Review: “Landline” by Rainbow Rowell

  Posted at 8:33 am by Laura, on July 14, 2014

  Landline by Rainbow Rowell 

  Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
  Published: July 8, 2014
  Genre: fiction
  ISBN: 9781250049377
  Goodreads: 4.08
  Rating: ★★.5 or ★★★

  Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble. That it’s been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems besides the point now.

  Maybe that was always besides the point.

  Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn’t expect to him to pack up the kids and go home without her.

  When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything.

  That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts . . .

  Is that what she’s supposed to do?

  Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

  Georgie finally catches a big break in her TV writing — an opportunity to write the show she and her college best friend Seth have been planning for over a decade — but it’s due a few days after Christmas. Her husband, Neal, is not too thrilled she can’t join him and their daughters in Omaha for the holiday, and leaves without her. Frustrated, tired, and confused, Georgie attempts to contact him to make sure their marriage isn’t ruined, but Neal won’t answer her calls. At least, not modern day Neal. When Georgie uses her mother’s old landline phone to call Neal’s mother’s landline, she winds up speaking to the Neal she fell in love with, the Neal of 1998, shortly before he proposed to her. This is her chance to fix her marriage, or alter history.

  It breaks my heart a little inside that my rating is so low for this book. It has absolutely nothing to do with Rowell and her writing and everything to do with the characters. And that’s where the stickler comes in. I’ve spoken to other bloggers and booksellers, and there’s a difference between younger, mainly single people’s opinions of the book (rather low) and older, married people’s opinions (rather high). I genuinely think there’s a specific audience for this book because of that. The younger, mainly single group really liked Georgie’s flashbacks to college and modern day Georgie talking to 1998 Neal passages. The Neal and Georgie of not-yet-married. Young love is thrilling and exciting and wonderful, and you begin to see how hard they work to make the relationship last. The Neal and Georgie of the modern day are distant, seemingly unloving, and appear to only be together to keep their daughters happy. It’s a sad, exhausting situation, yet many long-time married readers understood it. The married readers enjoyed the whole book because it reminded them of why they fell in love with their spouse, and how hard they work to continue that partnership.

  Despite understanding that, Neal and Georgie’s characters frustrated me. Mostly Georgie. Her family means the world to her yet she does next to nothing to contribute to their happiness other than bring home paychecks. I could sympathize with Neal’s near-silence towards her. I come from a stay-at-home-Dad-and-working-Mom family, and I can tell you that my mother and father took equal share in raising us and taking care of the home. I really don’t think that’s the issue here. It’s Georgie’s promises to be better and not following through. Her anxiety is sky-high and yet she doesn’t acknowledge it or accept it, which in turn ruins her marriage. I wanted to shake her and tell her to snap out of it, wake up, and look at what’s happened before it’s too late.

  The phone was the star of the book. I dragged through all the TV script writing scenes with Seth — Seth, I really liked Seth — and the Mom-and-sister drama scenes and looked forward to the phone. The phone made everything worth it.

  Rowell did not write a poor book. She wrote a genuine book with authentic characters. Not everyone you meet will be good, likable people — and that’s not to say they’re bad, either. Not everyone’s lives, especially love lives, work out the way they hope, the way they imagine. I understand that completely. The protagonist doesn’t need to be likable and relatable, just authentic. Georgie and Neal are authentic, but I simply believe that my life experiences (and lack thereof) prevented me from liking them and sympathizing their situation. But their story of young love? And this magical phone? Loved it. I understand that. I understand thinking about the what ifs and how we might be able to change history. I understand wondering whether the person you’re deeply in love with right now is truly the one for you forever and ever. Those portions of the story I loved.

  Posted in books, Reviews 2014 | 4 Comments | Tagged book review, books, genre: adult fiction, genre: fiction, goodreads, review

• Book Review: “Blythewood” by Carol Goodman

  Posted at 8:42 am by Laura, on June 30, 2014

  Blythewood by Carol Goodman 

  Publisher: Viking
  Published: October 2013
  Genre: young adult, fantasy, historical fiction, gothic
  ISBN: 9780670784769
  Goodreads: 3.87
  Rating: ★★★★★

  At seventeen, Avaline Hall has already buried her mother, survived a horrific factory fire, and escaped from an insane asylum. Now she’s on her way to Blythewood Academy, the elite boarding school in New York’s mist-shrouded Hudson Valley that her mother attended—and was expelled from. Though she’s afraid her high society classmates won’t accept a factory girl in their midst, Ava is desperate to unravel her family’s murky past, discover the identity of the father she’s never known, and perhaps finally understand her mother’s abrupt suicide. She’s also on the hunt for the identity of the mysterious boy who rescued her from the fire. And she suspects the answers she seeks lie at Blythewood.

  But nothing could have prepared her for the dark secret of what Blythewood is, and what its students are being trained to do. Haunted by dreams of a winged boy and pursued by visions of a sinister man who breathes smoke, Ava isn’t sure if she’s losing her mind or getting closer to the truth. And the more rigorously Ava digs into the past, the more dangerous her present becomes.

  Avaline Hall struggles to make ends meet after her mother’s death by working as a seamstress in a factory. Though she gets along well with the other factory girls, she still needs to keep many things secret — like the man in the Inverness cape who appears on every corner breathing smoke, the black feather she found near her mother’s body, and the bells that toll in her head when danger occurs. They toll again when the factory catches fire and she’s rescued by a winged boy; they toll when she’s sent to an asylum; and they toll once more when she’s sent to Blythewood, the elite boarding school her wealthy grandmother attended and from which her mother was expelled. Blythewood, with all its secrets and history, enchants Ava and her friends. She’s determined to discover the source of her mother’s suicide. As she unravels one secret, many more are unearthed, and Ava learns so much more than she could ever imagine.

  It’s so hard to write a succinct summary for this book, because there’s so much to it — so many layers. Ava’s mother’s death, the factory fire, the asylum, and the rescue to her grandmother’s home all take place within the first 50-some pages. Though quick, they’re key to the rest of the story. The Inverness-caped man haunts Ava, the bells constantly toll in her head, and the winged boy appears again once in a while, and during Ava’s stay at Blythewood their meanings become clear. The three are interwoven with her mother’s death, and they reveal more about Blythewood’s history and mission than anything else.

  Blythewood, too, is beautiful and enchanting. It’s a boarding school of mysteries, founded on stories so fantastical they feel like fairy tales. These stories, told by different people with different perspectives, enlighten Ava and her friends in their search for the truth. This felt like a blend of Libba Bray’s A Great and Terrible Beauty and Harry Potter, and yet still so very unique on its own. The classes, the magic, the mysteries, the varied characters, and even the politics and discrimination enrich the story. Blythewood’s purpose is to train young women to protect our world from those of Faerie — a place where faeries of Celtic myth reside — but many are turning against the “old ways” of fighting and seeking peace and understanding. Ava learns of the Faerie hierarchy, the purpose of the Darklings and the shadows, and wonders just how much her mother became entangled in the history.

  There’s so much I want to say about this book, but I can’t without giving too much away. There are faeries and magic, cocoa parties and study sessions in the library, dungeons and labs, a forest and a magical land, a giant school and a quaint town, bells and books and letters, poetry and music, fires and archery, politics and friendship. Thank goodness the sequel, Ravencliffe, will be out in December. This series has such a romantic gothic feel to it that one must read it with a hot beverage and roaring fire nearby!

  Posted in books, Reviews 2014 | 4 Comments | Tagged book review, books, genre: fantasy, genre: gothic, genre: historical fiction, genre: young adult, goodreads, review

• Book Review: “Through to You” by Lauren Barnholdt (ARC)

  Posted at 9:07 am by Laura, on June 24, 2014

  Through to You by Lauren Barnholdt 

  Publisher: Simon Pulse
  Publishing Date: July 8
  Genre: young adult, romance
  ISBN: 9781442434639
  Goodreads: —
  Rating: ★★ 

  It starts with a scribbled note in class: I like your sparkle. Harper had casually threaded a piece of blue and silver tinsel through her ponytail in honor of school spirit day. And that carefree, corny gesture is what grabs Penn Mattingly’s eye. Penn—resident heartbreaker of the senior class. Reliably unreliable. Trouble with a capital “T.” And okay, smolderingly sexy.
  
  Harper’s surprised by Penn’s attention—and so is Penn. The last thing he needs is a girlfriend. Or even a friend-with-benefits. The note is not supposed to lead to anything.
  
  Oh, but it does. They hang out. They have fun. They talk. They make out. And after a while, it seems like they just click. But Penn and Harper have very different ideas about what relationships look like, in no small part because of their very different family backgrounds. Of course they could talk about these differences—if Penn knew how to talk about feelings.
  
  Harper and Penn understand their attraction is illogical, yet something keeps pulling them together. It’s like a crazy roller coaster—exhilarating, terrifying, and amazing all at once. And neither knows how to stop the ride…

  Penn, once-baseball star of the high school, drops a note on good girl Harper’s desk. All it says is I like your sparkle, but it sets off a flurry of excitement and second-guessing. Before she knows it, Harper finds Penn everywhere in her life, and she begins to wonder what it all means. As they circle around one another, attempting to make sense of whatever is happening between them, they discover a mutual attraction that defies logic and reasoning. Harper wishes Penn would open up more to her, but Penn isn’t sure where to begin. It all comes down to trust.

  I’d imagine if I were in the right mood, this would’ve been a far more enjoyable read. That, or if I were into this good-girl-meets-bad-boy storyline in general. I’d hoped this book would show some depth and strength, span several months rather than a few weeks. I’d thought the issues Penn and Harper encountered would be on very serious matters, rather than Harper constantly pestering Penn with questions and drilling him as to why he isn’t talking to her about stuff. A part of me — freshman-in-high-school me — completely understood her thought process, but cringed every time she voiced her questions or jumped to conclusions. Harper was clearly forcing a relationship with Penn, imagining a future with the idea of Penn rather than with who he is in reality.

  However, there were great things going for this book. Penn did have a bit of an unstable home life, and a precarious situation regarding college and baseball scholarships. I would’ve loved to dive deeper into his story. It felt like there was more for him to say. The two perspectives, immediately after one another in pivotal moments, made for an honest interpretation of events and hilariously opposite thought processes. While Harper is filled with racing thoughts, worries, concerns, and assumptions about every little detail, Penn stands there with point-blank thoughts that nowhere near match hers. Example: Harper wonders about the meaning behind his note and what he wants; Penn tells the reader he has no idea why he wrote it. An interesting look into typical girl and guy thought patterns.

  While this book was not for me, and had potential to be something more, I’m sure another reader out there would enjoy something light and fun to read this summer.

  Thank you, Edelweiss, for providing this book from Simon Pulse for review.

  Posted in books, Reviews 2014 | 2 Comments | Tagged advance reading copy, ARC, book review, books, genre: romance, genre: young adult, goodreads, review

• Book Review: “My Life Next Door” by Huntley Fitzpatrick

  Posted at 1:57 pm by Laura, on June 19, 2014

  My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick 

  Publisher: Speak
  Published: June 2013
  Genre: young adult, romance, contemporary
  ISBN: 9780142426043
  Goodreads: 4.06
  Rating: ★★★★★

  Life in Samantha Reed’s home is neat and clean and orderly — precisely planned by her local politician mother. Next door, at the Garretts’, things are loud, messy, and irresistible. And when Jase Garrett climbs the trellis outside her bedroom and enters her life, she finds herself falling passionately in love with him and everything he brings with him. The only hitch is, she’s got to hide it from her mother. Then something unthinkable happens, and Samantha is suddenly faced with an impossible decision. Which perfect family will save her? Or is it time she saved herself?

  Ten years ago, when the large Garrett family moved in next door, Mrs. Reed made her daughters promise never to interact with the Garretts. But Samantha was always intrigued by this boisterous, loving family, and would watch them through her window and wonder what it was like to have so many caring people in one’s life. One night, Jase Garrett, the third child in a line of eight, climbs up to her window and asks if she needs rescuing, like a princess locked in a tower. From that night on, Sam’s life is entwined with the Garretts’ — every meltdown, every meal, every new word for the baby. But as she embraces that loving chaos, she notices more and more her mother’s political antics and double-crossings, and begins to wonder which life she really belongs in.

  This is so much more than a summer romance. There’s a whole topic on family and familial relationships, the interactions between each child and “it takes a village” concept in the Garrett household. It’s so beautiful and chaotic and fun. There are so many children to keep track of, and yet each character is so fully developed — with their own speech, interests, life outside the Garrett house — that it’s easy to remember them. Especially George. Sweet, sweet George. There’s another topic on parental controls, when too much is too much, when habits become obsessions, when hypocrisy becomes apparent. Mrs. Reed was so frustrating, but Sam handled her and the situation so well, so authentically, so realistically.

  Sam. Sam and Jase. Jase. Their relationship was perfection. I don’t mean this in a “so picture perfect it can’t be real” kind of way — but in how relationships ought to be and the way many are. Trusting and loving, patient, open. Even when there are riffs, the two manage to communicate without drama and angst (unlike the situation with Sam’s best friend Nan, and Nan and her boyfriend Daniel). They were wise beyond their years, and it was so refreshing to read. Yes, they’re madly in love, and lust after one another, but they’re also serious and playful, they help each other at work and at home. Sam embraced the village aspect of the Garrett household so well, it’s as if she was meant for it. And she realizes this after the big blow-out towards the end between the Garretts and her mother.

  Fitzpatrick is one to watch. I’m putting her up there with Dessen (joining the ranks with Forman!). Not everything in the end works out perfectly, but there’s enough of a satisfying ending to the book that hints at a bright or better future for Sam and Jase, for the Garretts, for Nan and her brother Tim, for Mrs. Reed. There’s a road to recovery for some, a road for peace for others, and a road of happiness and trust. Ugh. Thank you, Fitzpatrick! Well done.

  Posted in books, Reviews 2014 | 2 Comments | Tagged book review, books, genre: contemporary, genre: romance, genre: young adult, goodreads, review

• Book Review: “The Vanishing Season” by Jodi Lynn Anderson (ARC)

  Posted at 8:38 am by Laura, on June 17, 2014

  The Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Anderson 

  Publisher: HarperTeen
  Publishing Date: July 1
  Genre: young adult
  ISBN: 9780062003270
  Goodreads: —
  Rating: ★★

  Girls started vanishing in the fall, and now winter’s come to lay a white sheet over the horror. Door County, it seems, is swallowing the young, right into its very dirt. From beneath the house on Water Street, I’ve watched the danger swell.

  The residents know me as the noises in the house at night, the creaking on the stairs. I’m the reflection behind them in the glass, the feeling of fear in the cellar. I’m tied—it seems—to this house, this street, this town.

  I’m tied to Maggie and Pauline, though I don’t know why. I think it’s because death is coming for one of them, or both.

  All I know is that the present and the past are piling up, and I am here to dig.I am looking for the things that are buried.

  Maggie and her family move from Chicago to a small town in northern Michigan along the lake coast. She befriends her free-spirited, beautiful neighbor Pauline and Pauline’s long-time shadow Liam. The three are inseparable, until Pauline is sent away. There’s a murderer in town, and Maggie and Liam seek comfort in one another through the long winter, in hopes that their bond with Pauline will not shatter once she discovers them.

  This is not a ghost story, although there seems to be a ghost in this story. The ghost does not do anything except observe. There are moments when the ghost’s existence and Maggie’s life collide, but they are forgettable and unimportant.

  This is not a mystery, although there is a serial killer mystery in this story. Young women are found drowned in the lake, and despite curfews and police protection, the murders continue. Maggie, Pauline, and Liam don’t pay attention to any of this, and therefore it doesn’t matter who the murderer is because our characters are apathetic to the situation.

  This is a love triangle, although it’s not a love triangle. Maggie loves Liam, Liam loves Pauline and falls for Maggie, and Pauline is the manic pixie dream girl who is part hippie, part socialite, and just as beautiful as she is strange. The triangle is the whole point of the story, the entire focus, and yet it isn’t annoying like triangles tend to be. In fact, it feels somewhat authentic to reality, even if the characters felt distant.

  What does that mean? I felt no connection to any of the characters whatsoever, and yet I wanted to know what happened to them. I’ve seen this story played out too many times in my life, my friends’ lives, in school hallways — the complications of love in friend groups. Pauline describes Maggie in such a way that I was baffled (“How in the world do you see her as this, this, and this?”), Maggie witnesses something about Pauline in such a nonchalant manner that she’s unsurprised (yet everything about Pauline didn’t seem to make sense…like she was a mash-up of personalities and actions and emotions), and Liam is described as this wonderful boy and yet, by the end, he seems like a completely different character.

  Despite all of this — not a ghost story, not a mystery, entirely plausible triangle with disconnected characters — the writing was phenomenal. Lyrical. Mesmerizing. Tiger Lily was like that, but Tiger Lily had plot, emotion, connection, and the added bonus of a retelling through another perspective. Anderson certainly has a talent for telling a story in such a way that you fall into it despite all of your protestations.

  Thank you, Edelweiss, for providing this book from HarperTeen for review.

  Posted in books, Reviews 2014 | 0 Comments | Tagged advance reading copy, ARC, book review, books, genre: young adult, review

• Book Review: “Where She Went” by Gayle Forman

  Posted at 7:00 pm by Laura, on June 14, 2014

  Where She Went by Gayle Forman 

  Publisher: Speak
  Published: April 2012
  Genre: young adult, contemporary
  ISBN: 9780142420898
  Goodreads: 4.17
  Rating: ★★★

  It’s been three years since the devastating accident . . . three years since Mia walked out of Adam’s life forever.

  Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Juilliard’s rising star and Adam is LA tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. As they explore the city that has become Mia’s home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the future – and each other.

  Adam and his band, Shooting Star, are rock stars. They’re plastered across tabloids, interviewed on shows and in magazines, sell platinum records, and win awards. Though Adam has achieved his dream, he’s not content with it one bit. Mia isn’t in his life, and he’s not sure how or why they fizzled. The night before he leaves for London to begin a second world tour, he wanders Manhattan incognito and stumbles across a poster of Mia performing in Carnegie Hall. After word reaches backstage of his appearance, Mia summons him to her dressing room — and their night of reconnections and long-awaited answers begins.

  Forman excellently writes companion books. There’s something about hers that I enjoy much more than trilogies. Two perspectives at two different periods in time — it works very well. Adam’s voice is different from Mia’s, and rightly so. Adam is overwhelmed with stardom and still devastated over Mia’s absence, so everything in his life instead becomes public knowledge — facts about the band, about the music written, about his history — and his voice is like that of the walking dead. At least, it’s deadened until Mia enters the picture once more. His emotions run high, the writing becomes lyrical like Mia’s voice from If I Stay, and his passion for music rather than the dull facts begin to shine through. Well-crafted.

  However, I was torn between enjoying this book for what it was — a glimpse into the future and aftermath of the accident — and thinking it was a bit indulgent. Like I said in my review for If I Stay, I was more invested in Mia’s journey, the music, her parents’ love, than I was in her relationship with Adam. This book entirely revolves around that. Yes, it shows the way trauma wrecks everyone involved, not just the direct victims, and yes, it explores heartbreak, rejection, and closure, but it was very much focused on Adam’s distraught feelings and angst. I’m not sure how else this book could’ve been written, though.

  The point is, I enjoyed it but it didn’t make me feel as deeply as If I Stay.

  Posted in books, Reviews 2014 | 5 Comments | Tagged book review, books, genre: contemporary, genre: romance, genre: young adult, goodreads, review

• Book Review: “If I Stay” by Gayle Forman

  Posted at 7:25 pm by Laura, on June 10, 2014

  If I Stay by Gayle Forman 

  Publisher: Speak
  Published: April 2010
  Genre: young adult, contemporary
  ISBN: 9780142415436
  Goodreads: 3.98
  Rating: ★★★★.5

  Mia had everything: a loving family, a gorgeous, admiring boyfriend, and a bright future full of music and full of choices. In an instant, almost all of that is taken from her. Caught between life and death, between a happy past and an unknowable future, Mia spends one critical day contemplating the only decision she has left. It is the most important decision she’ll ever make.

  It was supposed to be an ordinary day, a drive with her family to a friend’s house — not an extraordinarily tragic day where she  sees her family scattered and bloodied across the road, and herself among them. Mia watches the medics race her from the scene to the hospital’s ICU, witnesses the hoards of family and friends rushing to see her. Mia, the quiet and serious girl who applied to Juilliard for the cello; Mia, daughter with now-dead parents’ love for music running through her veins; Mia, the oddball girlfriend to cool soon-to-be-rockstar Adam; Mia, who must now decide to join her family or live a full life.

  

  Do you ever wonder what would happen to your friends and family when you die? Do you ever wonder how they would react, what they’d say and do? It’s so morbid a thought, but Forman runs with this idea, and the idea of choosing whether or not to live, and witnessing the procession of love while debating this difficult decision.

  My heart ached through the entire book. Mia’s loving family of musicians — the rocker parents and their community of free-spirited punks, the quiet Gramps and comfortingly chatty Gran, the adorable spitfire of a brother Teddy — was equally foreign and familiar. Their love for one another ran as deep as their love for music. Music is a big part of the makeup of my family as well, and reading this book felt like coming home. The heart of their love, of the music, felt authentic — names and songs and compositions were dropped left and right, but it never felt pretentious or assuming; it was simply a fact, a part of their conversations, a true part of their lives. To witness the collision and the subsequent aftermath was jarring and heartbreaking, and only made stronger for each seamless flashback Mia had when contemplating whether or not to pass on or fight for life.

  Though a romance is in this book, this book is not a romance. It is about death, life, and music. It is about difficult decisions, about fighting for what you love, for who you love. Her whole life, Mia felt like that odd one out in her punk rock family — the only one to enjoy classical music, to choose a classical instrument. Then she stumbles across Adam, and for the life of her she can’t figure out why he’s remotely interested in her. Adam, in her eyes, is fully realized: he knows who he is, what he wants, and his rock career is already taking flight. But his devotion to her, his complete and unconditional love, is so deep that it’s not just a “high school” relationship. Mia’s parents are right when they say they’ve fallen in love the adult way. Mia and Adam have their flaws, and they fight and struggle and work hard at their relationship, picking through the insecurities and restoring faith in one another. It’s beautiful — which makes her comatose state even more heartbreaking. Who is she without her parents and little brother? And yet, who is she without Adam, without her cello, without music?

  What would you choose?

  Posted in books, Reviews 2014 | 3 Comments | Tagged book review, books, genre: contemporary, genre: young adult, goodreads, review

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• Hello, I’m Laura!

  I'm a bookish bookworm and book hoarder. By day I'm a literary agent, and by night I'm forever rearranging my bookshelves. I could talk your ear off about Gothic literature, and in my past life people thought I'd become a professional musician. I have a fluffy black cat named Rossetti, I love to knit, tea is my drink of choice, British TV is the best, and I'm obsessed with popcorn. Welcome to Scribbles & Wanderlust! Grab your favorite hot beverage and let's chat books!

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