Tag: genre: contemporary

• Book Review: “George” by Alex Gino

  Posted at 6:00 am by Laura, on September 14, 2015

  George by Alex Gino

  Publisher: Scholastic Press
  Published: August 2015
  Genre: middle grade, contemporary
  ISBN: 9780545812542
  Goodreads: 4.10
  Rating: ★★★.5

  When people look at George, they think they see a boy. But she knows she’s not a boy. She knows she’s a girl.

  George thinks she’ll have to keep this a secret forever. Then her teacher announces that their class play is going to be Charlotte’s Web. George really, really, REALLY wants to play Charlotte. But the teacher says she can’t even try out for the part . . . because she’s a boy.

  With the help of her best friend, Kelly, George comes up with a plan. Not just so she can be Charlotte — but so everyone can know who she is, once and for all.

  George would love nothing more than to play Charlotte in Charlotte’s Web for the class play. Charlotte is smart and bold and caring, but George wants to play her because it would mean showing the world who she really is. George is a girl. But it’s hard for people to understand that when, to them, George is a boy.

  I’ve seen this book compared plenty of times to Gracefully Grayson, another wonderful transgender book for middle grade and young adult readers. Whatever your take may be, you can’t deny that it’s a beautiful day and age we live in to finally have books like these on the shelves for readers. The first books will, of course, be about how to express oneself to family and friends. They are the stepping stones to what lies ahead, and I’m beyond excited to see that!

  George is the perfect book for lower middle grade readers. Or anyone, really, to better understand the mind of a child coming to terms with who they are and how they want to express their individuality. I absolutely loved the way Gino used pronouns in here, how they expressed others’ reactions to George’s confession. Kelly, George’s best friend, is a bit confused (who wouldn’t be at that age?), but completely accepting. George’s older brother Scott is your typical icky teenage boy — I laughed at a lot of the things he’d say because he reminded me so much of my own brother at that age — and when he learned that George is a girl, it was as if his world clicked into place. Bless him. Mom was a tougher nut to crack, but at the same time she wasn’t hurtful. Now, it’s not all rainbows and sunshine. There are bullies. There are accepting as well as disappointed adults. George experiences it all, and expresses her frustration and anxiety in a way any fourth-grader would.

  If you haven’t already, you should follow Gino’s projects. They’re a true human rights advocate, and I hope to one day see love like this from everyone!

  Posted in books, Reviews 2015 | 0 Comments | Tagged book review, books, genre: contemporary, genre: LGBTQ, genre: middle grade, goodreads, review

• Book Review: “Dumplin'” by Julie Murphy (ARC)

  Posted at 6:45 am by Laura, on September 2, 2015

  Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy

  Publisher: Balzer + Bray
  Publishing Date: September 15
  Genre: young adult, contemporary
  ISBN: 9780062327185
  Goodreads: —
  Rating: ★★★★★

  Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked . . . until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back.

  Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant—along with several other unlikely candidates—to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City—and maybe herself most of all.

  With starry Texas nights, red candy suckers, Dolly Parton songs, and a wildly unforgettable heroine— Dumplin’ is guaranteed to steal your heart.

  Willowdean is a fat girl and perfectly fine with that, thank you very much. She doesn’t see “fat” as a negative word, just a descriptor like “tall” and “brown-haired.” But the summer she starts working at Harpy’s makes her incredibly self-aware of her size, because now hot boy Bo has his eyes set on her. It’s obvious why she likes him, but she can’t help but wonder what he sees in her. Her confidence declines, her beautiful best friend Ellen fades away from her life, and Will misses her aunt so much it hurts. So she decides to do the one thing that would shock her beauty-queen mother most: enter the Miss Clover City beauty pageant along with several other outcast girls. Nowhere on the application does it say “fat, crippled, and buck-teeth girls need not apply,” and every girl deserves a chance at a pageant. Navigating, friendship, body talks, grief, confidence, Dolly Parton songs, and strutting with drag queens, Will’s life turns upside down and back on track as she embraces her strengths.

  Rarely do I read a book that I connect with on so many levels and yet be completely disconnected from as well. I’m not a big girl by any means. In fact, I’m a little underweight for my height and age. That doesn’t mean I don’t understand body shaming. At the same time, I couldn’t help but think of my gorgeous, talented, hilarious, intelligent, active friend…who also happens to be a big girl. She’s got the perfect fat girl figure, and I’m so jealous of that — because she owns it, she’s confident, and she very much reminds me of Willowdean. Sometimes she wonders what men see in her, and I can’t help but give her this look like, “Honey? Seriously?”

  Will’s dilemma throughout the book isn’t that she’s fat, not really. She doesn’t hate her body, and she’s not unhealthy. She’s living life like every other teen girl: she’s good in school, she’s got a job, and she’s obsessed with Dolly Parton. It’s the other factors in her life that make her wonder how to navigate being fat. It never occurred to her that a gorgeous former jock (whose jaw can cut glass) would like her, and when he does she’s both thrilled and disgusted (because if he likes her, he’ll want to kiss her, and then touch her, and hold her hand, and the thought of the two of them touching and holding hands freaks her out because look at him and then look at her and how does a guy like him get a girl like her — you see where this distructive thought process comes in?).

  It also never hit her till she signed up for the pageant that all the beauty queens were tall and thin and Western definition of beauty. But the application doesn’t say a girl of a certain height and weight and bone structure can’t join the pageant. So she signs up — and her mother, who runs the event, nearly tells her not to. Will calls her out on it, saying if her own mother and pageant judge says she can’t sign up, then she’s also saying her daughter isn’t good enough and beautiful enough.

  By fighting the stigma, Will grows more confident in her skin. Watching this blossom throughout the book is so incredibly heartwarming, it makes me want to hug her and strut a runway alongside her. It’s no wonder Bo’s in love with her, or why Ellen depends on her so much. As a reader, you can see why people like Will, even if she doesn’t see it herself. It’s never about her body to the outsider (how many times did Bo say this to her? A million? And how many times did I fall in love with him? A million and one?), but she makes it about her body. Joining her on this journey of body acceptance and body confidence was encouraging, uplifting, and so universal to every girl of every size.

  Positive. Hilarious. Sweet. Sassy. Deep.

  This book is like a cool glass of sweet tea on a hot Texas summer evening. It’s refreshing and perfect and just what you didn’t know you needed.

  Thank you, Balzer + Bray and HarperCollins, for providing this book at BEA for review!

  Posted in books, Reviews 2015 | 10 Comments | Tagged advance reading copy, ARC, book review, books, genre: contemporary, genre: romance, genre: young adult, goodreads, review

• Book Review: “This is What Happy Looks Like” by Jennifer E. Smith

  Posted at 5:15 am by Laura, on July 22, 2015

  This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith

  Publisher: Poppy
  Published: December 2013
  Genre: young adult, contemporary, romance
  ISBN: 9780316212816
  Goodreads: 3.70
  Rating: ★★.5

  When teenage movie star Graham Larkin accidentally sends small town girl Ellie O’Neill an email about his pet pig, the two seventeen-year-olds strike up a witty and unforgettable correspondence, discussing everything under the sun, except for their names or backgrounds.

  Then Graham finds out that Ellie’s Maine hometown is the perfect location for his latest film, and he decides to take their relationship from online to in-person. But can a star as famous as Graham really start a relationship with an ordinary girl like Ellie? And why does Ellie want to avoid the media’s spotlight at all costs?

  An accidental email ignites an anonymous yet close bond between two teens. Both have their secrets, and it’s not until a movie set hits Ellie’s small Maine town before she discovers Graham’s. GDL824 is rising teen movie star Graham Larkin, and he’s determined to move their relationship off the computer screen to in-person. But Ellie’s hesitant, and it’s not till Graham’s manager scoops up the story that her avoidance of the cameras comes to light.

  I fell in love with The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, then had a great experience with The Geography of You and Me. This meant I was bound to love this novel — especially one surrounding witty emails and then “meeting IRL.” Feels so current, right?

  There was enough here that I enjoyed the read for what it was. Graham is sweet, a pretty standard YA love interest whose only complication is the fact he’s famous. Ellie, too, is a rather uncomplicated individual, whose secret is really her mother’s secret. While I completely understood why she’d want to avoid the media — and I agree, with both Ellie and Graham in the spotlight, it would make something of a scandal — it didn’t feel as urgent as it was made out to be.

  And, for this to be a great love story, I felt the romance part lacked a bit. There wasn’t enough of the email exchanges to make me fall in love with Graham, or in love with their love. I had to be told about previous exchanges through Ellie or Graham’s flashbacks. It came across as an intense friendship more than anything else because of it.

  I guess what I’m saying is, if you want a good summer read around the 4th of July, complete with an ordinary small-town character dating a celebrity and all that comes with it, this is the book. It doesn’t contain the emotional impact of Stat Prob or Geography, but the bones of Smith’s writing is all there.

  Posted in books, Reviews 2015 | 2 Comments | Tagged book review, books, genre: contemporary, genre: romance, genre: young adult, goodreads, review

• Book Review: “Model Misfit” by Holly Smale (ARC)

  Posted at 7:35 am by Laura, on July 16, 2015

  Model Misfit by Holly Smale

  Publisher: HarperTeen
  Publishing Date: July 21
  Genre: young adult, contemporary
  ISBN: 9780062333605
  Goodreads: 4.19
  Rating: ★★★★

  Harriet knows that modelling won’t transform you. She knows that being as uniquely odd as a polar bear isn’t necessarily a bad thing (even in a rainforest). And that the average person eats a ton of food a year, though her pregnant stepmother is doing her best to beat this.

  What Harriet doesn’t know is where she’s going to fit in once the new baby arrives.

  With summer plans ruined, modelling in Japan seems the perfect chance to get as far away from home as possible. But nothing can prepare Harriet for the craziness of Tokyo, her competitive model flatmates and her errant grandmother’s ‘chaperoning’. Or seeing gorgeous Nick everywhere she goes.

  Because, this time, Harriet knows what a broken heart feels like.

  Can geek girl find her place on the other side of the world or is Harriet lost for good?

  Harriet’s finished her exams and is prepared — with spreadsheets! — to spend the summer epically with her best friend Nat. But Nat’s sent to France, Harriet’s stalker Toby is going away for a family vacation, which leaves Harriet alone with her pregnant stepmother and excited father. When Wilbur informs Harriet she’s going to Tokyo to shoot a new label, she jumps at the opportunity. Modeling in Japan would mean a whole new set of people, in a place she’s dreamed of for ages, and far away from humiliation and the ever-present heartache of losing Nick…right?

  I cracked up just as much as I did with Geek Girl, so you can bet I loved Smale’s second book in the series. Smale knows how to end chapters, how to place her characters in ridiculous situations one after another. She really keeps you moving through the book at top speed, which is why I’d also call this one action-packed! No swords (though there’s faux sumo wrestling), just endlessly turning the pages for more!

  Harriet’s just as geeky and clumsy, but she’s far more knowledgable in the social department. Not that she miraculously gets along with people well or understands them easily, but standing up to her bullies from the last book gave her more of a backbone and prepared her for the situations in Tokyo. She has also loved and lost, and all the complexities that come from that has opened her eyes to relationships and emotional bonds in general. While Model Misfit is still as funny and quick as Geek Girl, there’s a bit more depth in the narrative, and I truly enjoyed that.

  If you haven’t befriended Harriet Manners, do so now.

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

  Posted in books, Reviews 2015 | 3 Comments | Tagged advance reading copy, ARC, book review, books, genre: contemporary, genre: young adult, goodreads, review

• Book Review: “PS I Still Love You” by Jenny Han

  Posted at 6:13 am by Laura, on July 8, 2015

  PS I Still Love You by Jenny Han

  Publisher: Simon & Schuster BFYR
  Published: May 2015
  Genre: young adult, contemporary, romance
  ISBN: 9781442426733
  Goodreads: 4.23
  Rating: ★★★★

  Lara Jean didn’t expect to really fall for Peter.
  She and Peter were just pretending. Except suddenly they weren’t. Now Lara Jean is more confused than ever.
  When another boy from her past returns to her life, Lara Jean’s feelings for him return too. Can a girl be in love with two boys at once?

  Back when they were pretending to be in love, it was easy for Lara Jean and Peter to be a couple. But now they’re not pretending, it’s for real, and Lara Jean struggles to navigate her first relationship without comparing herself to Peter’s last. But a letter arrives in the mail from the fifth and final boy she wrote a letter to and her sister Kitty mailed off, and Lara Jean becomes more confused than ever. How is she supposed to navigate the world of love without her mother or Margot to guide her? And what exactly do all these feelings mean?

  To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before was fantastic, and I truly felt like Han must’ve been my best friend when I was in high school because Lara Jean felt hauntingly similar to me (then and, in some cases, now). The same can be said with this companion book, only instead of the hilarity, confusion, and closeness of the sisters as the focal point of the novel, this book delves into stumbling through first relationships, what it means to be in love, and finding confidence in who you are without relying on others.

  Lara Jean becomes her own person in this book. Instead of comparing herself to her older sister Margot and being a Margot to her younger sister Kitty, Lara Jean wonders what her mother would do. She wonders what her mother would say and do and talk about in various situations Lara Jean encounters with Peter and John — sex talks, jealousy, the line between just-friends and possibly-cheating. She isn’t alone in this, though. Margot has some tearful moments, wishing for their mother; Kitty, too young to remember much, just wants Dad to be happy and dating again. The lack of a mother in this book — from the perspective of having a mother once and then suddenly losing her — is so prevalent it made me wonder how I would’ve dealt with my high school friendships and relationships without my own mother. It made my heart break.

  Part of Lara Jean’s navigation in this new relationship involves sexism topics. Which I loved. Lara Jean is curious about sex — who wouldn’t be, really? — but there’s a rather shocking event that plagues her throughout the novel. When a guy’s caught expressing his sexuality, it’s considered okay; when a girl is caught, she’s considered a slut (or, on the flip side, if she doesn’t express it at all she’s a prude). The double-standard keeps cropping up in discussion with many people in Lara Jean’s life, and I enjoyed how she soaked it in and applied it to her own situation.

  And, on a slightly unrelated note, I love how much she enjoys fashion, baking, and crafting — all very feminine things — and still be one of the most feminist characters in YA. Reminds me a lot of Zooey Deschanel’s character Jess on New Girl — super girly, super feminist. You can totally be both.

  As for the relationships navigated in this story…[highlight to read, spoilers ahead!] I was very much a Lara-Jean-and-Peter-forever girl, and while he certainly does explain himself at the end, I was a little saddened to see her give up on John so easily. In hindsight, I know I would’ve gone back to Peter (I mean, I had a Peter and I did go back to him), so maybe it’s my adult perspective telling Lara Jean to forget him and actually be with John, the better fit, instead. In my head canon, Lara Jean and John will be together in college, later years, and get married shortly thereafter. Cause they can last. The end.

  If you haven’t already, you need to read this book. Although my reading funk only lasted a week, it felt like ages. Han certainly knows how to make someone sit and read and good story about love, friendship, family, and growing up into your own self.

  Posted in books, Reviews 2015 | 2 Comments | Tagged book review, books, genre: contemporary, genre: romance, genre: young adult, goodreads, review

• Mini Reviews III

  Posted at 7:00 am by Laura, on June 29, 2015

  Mini Reviews

  Quick, bite-sized reviews of fast, enjoyable reads!
  A penny for thoughts, a snappy two-cent reflection! 

  Love Likes the Movies by Victoria Van Tiem

  Publisher: Panmacmillan
  Published: February 2014
  Genre: women’s fiction
  ISBN: 9781447269731
  Rating: ★★★
  Summary: Kenzi Shaw knows the plot of her life down to the last line – the career she’s building as a marketing exec, the gorgeous fiancé she’ll marry in a fairytale wedding, the children they’ll raise in her dream home. But when ex Shane comes back into her life, life starts going off the script. Not only is her head in a spin over Shane, but now her job is on the line. With her perfect sister-in-law showing up every tiny thing Kenzi does wrong, she feels like she’s permanently in the corner. One thing’s certain: she’s not so sure who her leading man is…

  Mini Review: When Shane comes back into Kenzi’s life as a potential client with her firm, he really rocks the boat. He gives her an ultimatum (re-enacting all their favorite rom-coms) that puts her job and future life with Bradley on the line. Kenzi was an overanxious, self-conscious character around everyone except Shane, so whenever he was in the picture I liked her a lot. Her mother’s horrible, her sister-in-law sucks, and her best friend is scum. I wanted nothing but happiness for Kenzi! This read more like a blend of cutesy chick lit and Rainbow Rowell’s Attachments. I thought I’d be roaring with laughter, and while that never really happened, it was good read.

  Magnolia by Kristi Cook

  Publisher: Simon Pulse
  Published: August 2014
  Genre: young adult, contemporary, romance
  ISBN: 9781442485341
  Rating: ★★★.5
  Summary: In Magnolia Branch, Mississippi, the Cafferty and Marsden families are practically royalty. Neighbors since the Civil War, the families have shared vacations, holidays, backyard barbecues, and the overwhelming desire to unite their two clans by marriage. So when the families finally have a baby boy and girl at the same time, the perfect opportunity seems to have arrived. Except Jemma Cafferty and Ryder Marsden have no intention of giving in to their parents’ wishes. They’re only seventeen — oh, and also? They hate each other. But when a violent Mississippi storm ravages through Magnolia Branch, it unearths feelings Jemma and Ryder didn’t know they had. And the line between love and hate just might be thin enough to cross.

  Mini Review: This felt like a mix of Anna and the French Kiss (focus on a love story more than anything else) and Second Chance Summer (underlying serious issues), and just what the doctor ordered. I wouldn’t say Jemma and Ryder hate each other — “hate” is a strong word for what Jemma feels (and boy, she’s quick to temper) and Ryder is frustrated by that temper — but their tension is perfectly reasonable. It would be quite annoying to have parents planning every inch of your life together simply because you’re of the opposite sex of the BFF family. The hurricane that blows through Mississippi felt so real, and I think I enjoyed the story more in that third of the book than anything else. The writing was at its best there. And, no matter how many flaws this book had, the story was still well-told, and I’m glad this was a gradual attraction instead of instantaneous. They’ve been in each other’s lives since birth. I liked that establishment from the get-go. This is a nice, light read, a book you can breeze through on a summer afternoon.

  Posted in books, Reviews 2015 | 4 Comments | Tagged book review, books, genre: adult fiction, genre: contemporary, genre: romance, genre: young adult, goodreads, mini review

• Book Review: “Finding Audrey” by Sophie Kinsella

  Posted at 7:00 am by Laura, on June 19, 2015

  Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella

  Publisher: Delacorte BFYR
  Published: June 2015
  Genre: young adult, contemporary
  ISBN: 9780553536515
  Goodreads: 3.89
  Rating: ★★★★ 

  An anxiety disorder disrupts fourteen-year-old Audrey’s daily life. She has been making slow but steady progress with Dr. Sarah, but when Audrey meets Linus, her brother’s gaming teammate, she is energized. She connects with him. Audrey can talk through her fears with Linus in a way she’s never been able to do with anyone before. As their friendship deepens and her recovery gains momentum, a sweet romantic connection develops, one that helps not just Audrey but also her entire family.

  Audrey has a host of anxiety issues, and her mother’s helicopter nagging the entire family isn’t helping. Audrey wears sunglasses all day and watches QVC in a dark room, avoiding all aspects of The Incident that triggered her mental state. When Dr. Sarah gives her an assignment to film her life like a fly on the wall, Audrey watches the life around her through a lens and slowly ventures out to the Starbucks around the corner. With her brother Frank taking a hit with Mum’s fanatics, Audrey is able to branch out and rediscover the world on her own.

  “[Bloody] is in the Harry Potter films, OK? Harry Potter. How can it be swearing?”
  “What?” Mum sounds wrong-footed.
  “Harry Potter. I rest my case.”

  The publisher synopsis annoyingly makes it sound like Linus swoops in and saves the day and erases Audrey’s multitude of serious, severe anxiety issues. That’s not the case. He certainly helps her deal with it, come to terms with it, and tackle it. He doesn’t treat her like a science experiment or an animal in the zoo — her constant use of sunglasses and tendency to dash out of a room mid-sentence only to cower in a closet corner can make normal conversation difficult — and Audrey recognizes this and finds a way to speak to him about her issues.

  “So you’re allergic to eye contact.”
  “I’m allergic to everything contact.”
  “No you’re not,” he says at once. “You’re not allergic to brain contact. I mean you write notes. You talk. You still want to talk to people, you just can’t. So your body needs to catch up with your brain.”
  I’m silent for a while. No-one’s put it like that before.

  That being said, Linus and her family help her take steps back into the world as well as accidentally pushing her back to invisibility. She grows so much through this book on her own terms, fighting against her “lizard brain” that’s constantly on high alert, doing things that feel daring to her and normal to others. She watches Mum grow paranoid about computer games and their effects on her older brother Frank. She cuddles younger brother Felix and works on eye contact through his innocent gaze. She observes her dad grow more and more tired as the months wear on. All of this is recorded on her camera that she shares with Dr. Sarah, so she can get a better idea of Audrey’s environment, home life, and progress.

  We sip our drinks and smile at each other. Thoughts are racing through my head, crazy thoughts like I’ve made it! I’m in Starbucks! Go me! But there are other, weird, random thoughts popping up, like Everyone’s looking at me and I hate myself. And then suddenly I wish I was home right now, which is just weird. I do not wish I was at home. I’m out with Linus! In Starbucks!

  Though we never find out exactly what triggered Audrey’s severe anxiety, we do get a good idea of what happened. (I also have a theory Mum was a huge contributing factor because WOW I wanted to box her ears and shut her up on a lot of issues. This is when I’d pull out my nonexistent pom-poms and cheer on Frank’s responses to everything she said and did.) And this book is so damn funny. Her situation isn’t funny, but the events happening around her, outside of her inner world, are so hilarious I couldn’t stop laughing. It made her moments with Dr. Sarah even more meaningful. I’m so relieved to finally see a mental illness story with a therapist that’s not a stereotype or unhelpful, with a protagonist that wants to make progress.

  I’ve never read Kinsella’s adult books, but if they’re anything like her YA debut, I’m definitely going to give her a read!

  Posted in books, Reviews 2015 | 6 Comments | Tagged book review, books, genre: contemporary, genre: young adult, goodreads, review

• Book Review: “Emmy & Oliver” by Robin Benway (ARC)

  Posted at 6:35 am by Laura, on June 17, 2015

  Emmy & Oliver by Robin Benway

  Publisher: HarperTeen
  Publishing Date: June 23
  Genre: young adult, contemporary, romance
  ISBN: 9780062330598
  Goodreads: —
  Rating: ★★★★

  Emmy just wants to be in charge of her own life. She wants to stay out late, surf her favorite beach—go anywhere without her parents’ relentless worrying. But Emmy’s parents can’t seem to let her grow up—not since the day Oliver disappeared.

  Oliver needs a moment to figure out his heart. He’d thought, all these years, that his dad was the good guy. He never knew that it was his father who kidnapped him and kept him on the run. Discovering it, and finding himself returned to his old hometown, all at once, has his heart racing and his thoughts swirling.

  Emmy and Oliver were going to be best friends forever, or maybe even more, before their futures were ripped apart. In Emmy’s soul, despite the space and time between them, their connection has never been severed. But is their story still written in the stars? Or are their hearts like the pieces of two different puzzles—impossible to fit together?

  Emmy’s life has always been in relation to Oliver. It began when they were friends, and then it took a terrible turn when he was kidnapped. Emmy understands why her parents have such strict rules, but it means she has to lie to them about surfing and applying to UCSD — and she doesn’t like doing that to them. But when Oliver returns home, she realizes just how much everyone focused on wanting him back but not the after. And Oliver finds a friend in Emmy, a healer to combine his childhood, his disappearance, and his reappearance together, without judgement or stress. But how will he come to terms with understanding the man who raised him was also the man who committed a crime?

  This is unique in topic, and I think that’s why I enjoyed this so much. While there are books on Stockholm Syndrome, that’s not exactly what happened to Oliver. He was 7 when his father picked him up from school for a three-day weekend, and then he never returned. His father, a man he already loved and saw as an authority figure, then raised him and taught him everything he knew. But when Oliver discovers his mother was looking for him all this time, he decides to go back to California and live with her and new family — and that’s when it really hits him that his father is a criminal. To everyone in town, Oliver’s dad is a monster. But to Oliver, his dad is his dad. That’s a tough situation right there — toss in the fact his father said, all the way back when Oliver was 7, that his mother didn’t want him anymore, and you’ve got 10 years of resentment and longing built up.

  While the story is told in Emmy’s point of view, I couldn’t help but look forward to Oliver’s shattering facade moments. The moments when he’d break down a bit more and reveal how he felt and what happened all those years. I wanted to hear what he had to say, to try to put myself in his shoes — and let me tell you, it was an emotional wreck for such a good guy. He does the best he can to be as normal as possible, to look to the future and see the positive in everything. He’s so dimensional and really stuck with me.

  That’s not to say Emmy’s voice wasn’t memorable. She’s the first teen protagonist I’ve seen in a while that’s a good girl but not a doormat. She actually speaks her mind when she gets frustrated with her parents. They’re (understandably) protective, and all it takes is a letter from UCSD for them to see the extent of the damage panicked decisions can do.

  Emmy and her friends Caro and Drew were a riot. I loved them. They were easy-going and fun and supportive, and absolutely adored their humor and back-and-forth attitude. Even in the moments when they had rough patches, it felt genuine and true to life. Nothing is hunky-dory in their world, and they certainly have their own home lives to deal with, but they make the most of it. Oliver always belonged with them — and of all the emotional stories, it was their open arms bringing him back into the fold that made me tear up.

  If you love the friendship stories of Emery Lord, the family stories of Sarah Dessen, the psychological undertone of Lucy Christopher, and coming-of-age of Morgan Matson, you’ve got to read this book.

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

  Posted in books, Reviews 2015 | 8 Comments | Tagged advance reading copy, ARC, book review, books, genre: contemporary, genre: romance, genre: young adult, goodreads, review

• Mini Reviews II

  Posted at 7:05 am by Laura, on June 4, 2015

  Mini Reviews

  Quick, bite-sized reviews of fast, enjoyable reads!
  A penny for thoughts, a snappy two-cent reflection! 

  Emma by Alexander McCall Smith

  Publisher: Pantheon
  Published: April 7
  Genre: adult fiction, contemporary
  ISBN: 9780804197953
  Rating: ★★.5
  Summary: The summer after she graduates from university, Emma Woodhouse returns to Highbury, where she will live with her health-conscious father until she launches her interior-design business. In the meantime, she will offer guidance to those less wise than she is in the ways of the world. This summer brings new faces into the sphere of Emma’s not always perfectly felicitous council: Harriet Smith, a naïve assistant at the ESL school; Frank Churchill, the stepson of Emma’s former governess; and, of course, the perfect Jane Fairfax.

  Mini Review: While I own one of the Austen Project novels, I’d yet to read one. I also haven’t read Smith before, so my only comparison is to the original Austen (also, not my favorite Austen novel). When I read this contemporary retelling, I found it entertaining — certainly had that Austen voice — but it didn’t quite live up to my expectations. Contemporary is meant to not only be set in our time, but also have today’s mannerisms and culture and dialogue. I was expecting an English version of Clueless or Emma Approved. Smith did such a great job writing like Austen that I actually had a hard time believing this was set in the modern day (again, not sure if this is Smith’s normal writing style or if this is part of the Austen Project guidelines). This is also a very condensed version of the original, with only the major events stringing together nicely across a summer. The downside: less George. I wanted more George and Emma interaction! All that aside, I felt the characters’ backgrounds fitting for modern day — Emma as an interior designer, for one — and the satire amusing. If I loved the Austen novel more, I may have enjoyed this one more, as well.

  This qualifies as book #3 in my resolution to read 10 library books in 2015. 

  Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

  Publisher: Random House Audio
  Published: November 2011
  Genre: memoir
  ISBN: 9780307939814
  Rating: ★★★
  Summary: Mindy invites readers on a tour of her life and her unscientific observations on romance, friendship, and Hollywood, with several conveniently placed stopping points for you to run errands and make phone calls. Mindy Kaling really is just a Girl Next Door—not so much literally anywhere in the continental United States, but definitely if you live in India or Sri Lanka.

  Mini Review: I listened to this in the car on the way back from BEA, and I was genuinely surprised how much I enjoyed it. Mindy is nothing like her characters on television. She’s funny, insightful, and intelligent. Every story she told felt honest and true, and she managed to make me laugh without using vulgarity or racism. Her memoir managed to make me believe we were best friends.

  This qualifies as book #4 in my resolution to read 10 library books in 2015. 

   The Girl with the Glass Bird by Esme Kerr

  Publisher: Chicken House
  Published: March 2015
  Genre: middle grade, mystery
  ISBN: 9780545699846
  Rating: ★★
  Summary: Orphan Edie’s been sent to Knight’s Haddon, a private boarding school, by her uncle to investigate the disappearance of a precious crystal bird that belongs to his client’s daughter. Anastasia, a Russian royal, has a fragile disposition and a melodramatic bent — or so the headmistress and all the other girls say. Edie’s assignment is to find the missing glass bird, befriend the troubled blueblood, and keep a watchful eye on her. When the two girls uncover a dangerous plot, how can they stop it and who can they trust?

  Mini Review: I was expecting something a bit more adventurous and mysterious. While I really enjoyed Edie’s character — she certainly doesn’t do well as a spy, but it was fun to watch her attempt to sneak around — I found myself drawn to the adults in the story. With every turn of phrase, with every tiny scene alone in their minds, I was drawn to that aspect of the mystery more than what the girls were up to. This book also contains a lot of fears over mental illness as well, paranoia and the like, and I wasn’t sure if it worked. I’d recommend this book to light mystery readers in need of a boarding school setting.

  This qualifies as book #5 in my resolution to read 10 library books in 2015. 

  Posted in books, Reviews 2015 | 2 Comments | Tagged books, genre: adult fiction, genre: classics, genre: contemporary, genre: middle grade, genre: mystery, genre: nonfiction, mini review, review

• Book Review: “The Royal We” by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan

  Posted at 6:00 am by Laura, on June 1, 2015

  The Royal We by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan

  Publisher: Grand Central
  Published: April 2015
  Genre: fiction
  ISBN: 9781455557103
  Goodreads: 3.91
  Rating: ★★★★★

  American Rebecca Porter was never one for fairy tales. Her twin sister, Lacey, has always been the romantic who fantasized about glamour and royalty, fame and fortune. Yet it’s Bex who seeks adventure at Oxford and finds herself living down the hall from Prince Nicholas, Great Britain’s future king. And when Bex can’t resist falling for Nick, the person behind the prince, it propels her into a world she did not expect to inhabit, under a spotlight she is not prepared to face.

  Dating Nick immerses Bex in ritzy society, dazzling ski trips, and dinners at Kensington Palace with him and his charming, troublesome brother, Freddie. But the relationship also comes with unimaginable baggage: hysterical tabloids, Nick’s sparkling and far more suitable ex-girlfriends, and a royal family whose private life is much thornier and more tragic than anyone on the outside knows. The pressures are almost too much to bear, as Bex struggles to reconcile the man she loves with the monarch he’s fated to become.

  Which is how she gets into trouble.

  Now, on the eve of the wedding of the century, Bex is faced with whether everything she’s sacrificed for love-her career, her home, her family, maybe even herself-will have been for nothing.

  Rebecca would’ve thought twice about making a syphilis joke in front of Prince Nicholas if she had known Prince Nicholas was the one opening the door to her Pembroke home at Oxford University. But she didn’t meet Nicholas — she met Nick. Nick, an insomniac who pigs out on Twinkies; who runs before dawn just to find a quiet, outdoorsy place to work on crossword puzzles; the young man obsessed with Devour, a strange American TV show that blends humans, witches, vampires, and leopards in a small town. One night on the town, Nick solidifies his place in Bex’s heart, and the two can’t look back. But loving Nick also means loving Prince Nicholas and all that entails: media, family secrets, tight social circles, and keeping up appearances. On the night before their wedding, Bex wonders if giving up who she was almost a decade ago is really all worth it.

  England is the motherland, and I am their loyal [American] subject! So when The Royal We came out (perfect timing for HRH Princess Charlotte’s birth), it was an automatic buy and immediate read. This is a fictionalized — although recognizable in many respects — Will-and-Kate story. All the best characters are there, from the gorgeous sister Lacey constantly making the papers to the younger, more charming brother Prince Freddie. Prince Richard, Nick and Freddie’s father, is a distinguished figure though not loved by many, and Queen Eleanor is quite regal and humorous to boot. But what really makes The Royal We stand out are the secondary characters. I haven’t seen secondary characters this fleshed out in adult fiction in quite some time. I fell in love with Cilla and Gaz, with Bea’s posh-ness and Marj’s strict code, and even with Clive to some extent. Nick and Bex rely on their close Oxford circle, and the way they bring Bex into the fold from the very beginning is endearing and wonderful and made me miss college.

  Bex’s family is remarkable. While I was invested in the Nick-and-Bex story, I found her interactions with her family deeply compelling. She’s away from them for most of the novel, but they influence her decisions every day. Bex is close with her father, and he has a way of bringing her mind down from the clouds. Lacey, her twin sister, is competitive in every aspect of their lives without it feeling like a competition, and yet her selfish personality made her downfall somewhat inevitable. Despite all of this, she and Bex are incredibly close, and they go through their ups and downs as any adult sisters would.

  The same could be said with Nick and Freddie. The Heir and the Spare. Freddie is fun and playful, trying to make it into the papers the further Nick’s immersed in the family politics and responsibilities — something to distract the public from what’s going on underneath. He was obnoxious and fun, and soon he cracked and gave a glimpse of his character on the inside. I couldn’t help but feel deeply for him! The whole family, really. From the Queen Mum cracking jokes and whacking people with her cane, to drunken aunts and snobby cousins, to the cold father and mysterious mother. This family is full of secrets, and it was thrilling to discover each one as Bex moved deeper into the circle.

  Nick and Bex grew as characters as time moved on. Like life, I didn’t notice how much they had grown up independently and together till I re-read the first couple chapters again. It was amazing how Cocks and Morgan could immerse the reader into this story and show the progression of Nick and Bex’s relationship from college students to adults, secret to public, private to daily media, and broke to royal. Though the story may seem familiar, The Royal We can definitely stand on its own. It’s a dream come true smashing headline into the reality of modern celebrity, and it was a phenomenal ride!

  Posted in books, Reviews 2015 | 7 Comments | Tagged book review, books, genre: adult fiction, genre: contemporary, genre: fiction, genre: romance, 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 travel, tea is my drink of choice, British TV is the best, and I'm always down for chips-and-queso nights. Welcome to Scribbles & Wanderlust! Grab your favorite hot beverage and let's chat books!

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