Two Mini Reviews of Two Very Different Books: Alex, Approximately by Jen Bennett & King’s Captive by Amber Bardan

Alex, Approximately by Jen Bennett

Classic movie fan Bailey “Mink” Rydell has spent months crushing on a witty film geek she only knows online as Alex. Two coasts separate the teens until Bailey moves in with her dad, who lives in the same California surfing town as her online crush.
 

Faced with doubts (what if he’s a creep in real life—or worse?), Bailey doesn’t tell Alex she’s moved to his hometown. Or that she’s landed a job at the local tourist-trap museum. Or that she’s being heckled daily by the irritatingly hot museum security guard, Porter Roth—a.k.a. her new archnemesis. But life is whole lot messier than the movies, especially when Bailey discovers that tricky fine line between hate, love, and whatever it is she’s starting to feel for Porter.
 
And as the summer months go by, Bailey must choose whether to cling to a dreamy online fantasy in Alex or take a risk on an imperfect reality with Porter. The choice is both simpler and more complicated than she realizes, because Porter Roth is hiding a secret of his own: Porter is Alex…Approximately.

I haven’t written about Bennett’s books on the blog, but over a year ago I binged the whole Arcadia Bell series in one week (it’s only four books, so it’s a manageable binge that I highly recommend) and it was one of the most glorious weeks ever. I have many happy book moments in my life, and that week is on my top ten. I just loved those books and I wish I could read them again for the first time. Anyway, she’s an auto-buy author for me, and I’m impressed by what an eclectic and flexible writer she is. Alex, Approximately is YA, and that maybe isn’t your thing, but her adult books are great as well, so I hope you take a look at those.

Review: Black Dog by Rachel Neumeier

Note: I received an e-ARC through NetGalley, but I also purchased my own copy to verify, so the quotes in this review are from the finished copy not the e-ARC. Also, the review ended up being really long, so you're welcome to go TL;DR on it. 

There are four reasons why this book appealed to me: I’m going through a Romance burnout (I know!) so I wanted something different (because werewolves are about as rare as unicorns, right? Right?); the main characters were Mexican; I’ve heard great things about Ms. Neumeier’s books; and the cover was pretty.

The werewolves in this story have a magic shadow that allows them to change at will. They are born that way and are known as black dogs. Regular werewolves, or shifters, are the product of a bite, and unlike black dogs, they can only change during the full moon. Then we have magic humans known as the Pure. Because their shadows hold a lot of power over them, the black dogs are in a constant struggle to control their natures, but the Pure have a calming effect over them (a bit like the Omega wolves in Patricia Briggs’ books), so they are considered valuable by some and useful by others whose intentions aren’t that good.

Angry Heroines and End-of-Life Decisions: Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott

Source: a review copy was provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

I never met an Elizabeth Scott book I didn’t like. She writes the type of YA I enjoy--books with complex female characters and deep parent-child relationships. I adore her heroine-centric stories filled with characters that would rather be interesting than likeable or relatable. So when I saw this book available on NetGalley over six months ago, I didn’t hesitate to request it. It’s taken me all that time to put my thoughts into what I hope is a coherent take on a deeply flawed book that I think is worth reading even if for its wonderful heroine alone.

Emma’s father died when she was little and since then, she and her mother were a team. They had a wonderful relationship that did nothing but grow the moment her mother met and married Dan.

Heroine Week, Day 5 – Katsa, Fire and Bitterblue: Feminism in Kristin Cashore’s YA Trilogy

To anyone familiar with the Graceling books, this post will feel like nothing new, because I’m sure there’s been a lot of discussion surrounding them. But when I think of heroines, these three characters immediately come to mind, and I thought that a celebration of female characters would be a fitting place to talk about the themes and messages of their stories.

In Graceling we meet Katsa. A girl in the cusp of womanhood who’s been trapped by her powerful gift and an uncle who uses her to commit murder and torture. She doesn’t own her body. She doesn’t own her life.

And then she meets a boy who offers her an out. But that out doesn’t come in the shape of love. What he does is show her that what she sees as the curse that enslaved her, is actually the gift that will free her. She takes that knowledge and uses it to her advance. And when love comes, she refuses to give in to it, because to her, love and marriage go together, and she doesn’t want to belong to anyone but herself.

Heroine Week, Day 5 – The Other Brave Girls of YA by Sarah from Clear Eyes, Full Shelves

I discovered Sarah’s blog last year and immediately became one of my go-to places to find book recommendations, insightful discussions and more recently, a must-listen podcast. Also, her mom is one of her co-bloggers!

*****

The Other Brave Girls of YA by Sarah from Clear Eyes, Full Shelves

In the young adult fiction universe, there’s a common association with strong characters and their physical strength. I love some of these tough female characters. Katniss’ fierce loyalty to her sister is admirable in The Hunger Games; I loved Cassie’s tenacity and unflinching willingness to do what it takes to survive in The Fifth Wave’s post-apocalyptic world. But, the YA novels that speak most to me are those featuring heroines whose journeys are fraught with internal conflict.

Being a teenage girl is hard, and sometimes the bravest choices aren’t whether to pick a faction a la Divergent’s Tris, but rather the bravest choice is that of living one’s own truth.

This is something that today’s YA authors do very, very well. They acknowledge that growing up is hard; that young people often deal with grown-up problems all alone; that secrets are kept, that lies are told; that family and friendship are often messy. The fictional teen heroines who tackle realistic challenges in YA novels aren’t often labeled as “brave” girls, like Katniss, Cassie and Tris, but in my eyes, they’re the most courageous.

I’ve highlighted twelve (I tried to limit myself to ten, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be) brave heroines from the YAverse whose personal journeys speak to the struggle of finding their path. I’ve actually omitted a few of my favorites, because I think they’re quite well-known already. The Jessica Darling series, for example, is one of my favorites in terms of the messy realism of growing up. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks is another that’s quite popular which would definitely qualify as a brave YA heroine, the same with multi-award winning author Sara Zarr’s heroines.

Review: Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Source: A review copy was provided by the publisher trough NetGalley.

As you guys know, I loved Pushing the Limits because OVER THE TOP ANGST! *ahem* Which is why I was dying to read the sequel. Unlike its predecessor, however, Dare You To is --or at least feels-- less convoluted, probably because it only focuses on one angsty character instead of two. It is still quite dramatic, but way more contained.

I was intrigued by Beth as a secondary character in Pushing the Limits, and I liked her a lot as a heroine in Dare You To. She spends the whole book being angry, something that automatically makes her refreshing and interesting. The previous book heavily hinted at a different outcome for her, meaning that it appeared that her hero would be Isaiah, the other secondary character, yet this book completely challenged all my expectations. And although Isaiah still plays an important role here, he is not the love interest.

Review: Imaginary by Jamie Sullivan

Guess what? The book world isn’t entirely made out of popular books! Surprising, right? That’s why today I’m reviewing this little Young Adult M/M novella that I accidentally discovered last week.

I can’t go into many details about the plot, because discovering what’s going on is part of the experience. All I can say is that Aaron is a five-year old orphan living with a set of foster parents who care about the money, but not about him. He’s lonely and sad until one day he meets James. They recognize a bit of themselves in each other and spend the day laughing and playing, but when Aaron goes back home and inquires about James and his family, his foster parents tell him that there’s no kid named James in town. He keeps seeing him, though, and the other boy insists that he’s real and that he remembers where he’s been and what he’s done while Aaron is at school.

Review: True by Erin McCarthy

Source: A review copy was provided by the publisher through NetGalley

New Adult has been a self-publishing phenomenon, so it’s interesting to see what the big publishers are going to do with it. In that regard, True is an interesting addition to the sub-genre (?), and it successfully portrays the themes and subjects of NA. Unfortunately, there were other aspects in which the story wasn't as successful.

Rory is a bit of a nerd, so of course she’s a virgin. Lucky for her—and inexplicably for us—her best friends (and I use the term loosely) and roommates are hot party girls who know exactly what Rory needs: to get laid. So they enlist the help of Tyler, a guy they know from, well, having sex with him.

While that happens, Tyler and Rory get to know each other and date a little. There is chemistry between them and they develop a friendship that’s framed by sexual attraction. They become a couple, get over a couple of obstacles, and overall make it work. And then life gets in the way. And by “life” I mean Tyler’s responsibilities and shitty mother.

Review: Also Known As by Robin Benway

I bought this book on an impulse after reading a couple of favorable reviews. I’m surprised I actually managed to read it, because as much as I’m a fan of impulse buys, I don’t usually read YA stories that sound, well, so juvenile. I’m even more surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

Maggie is a 16-year-old spy who, along with her parents, works for a secret organization in charge of stopping criminals. As a talented safe-cracker, her job always involves waiting until her parents are done so she can come in, open the safe and get out. But when their latest target takes them to New York, she becomes the person in charge of the latest assignment: befriending the teenage son of the magazine editor who’s about to expose the entire organization.

In order to do so, Maggie enrolls in a prestigious private Manhattan high school; something that seems quite easy at first. Yet once there, she realizes that she lacks the social skills to pass as a regular teenager and that being normal might be the most difficult assignment to date. Worse, the guy she has to befriend (and ultimately betray) is really cute, and the lonely girl she meets on the first day makes her long for friendship and normalcy.

Review: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Source: a review copy was provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

Ever since I finished Attachments, I've been thinking about the reason why it made such a lasting impression. There is a lot about it that’s unique and special, but as a whole, it’s nothing but a simple story of love and friendship. Now that I've read Eleanor and Park, I think that the reason why Ms. Rowell’s stories resonate with me is because she writes about people we know and can identify with. Her books walk the fine line between deep emotion and downright cheesiness, but the one thing they always maintain is their honesty. The emotions her stories elicit come from the true connection that develops organically between the reader and the characters, and never feel forced or fabricated. Her stories are certainly emotional, but they are never emotionally manipulative.

Because sometimes clichés are the best way to describe something, I will say that Eleanor and Park is a story about two outsiders who find a place to belong when they meet each other. And yes, it sounds like every other story out there, especially if said story happens to be a YA novel, but that doesn’t make it less true.

Review: The Reece Malcolm List by Amy Spalding

Source: A review copy was provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

I decided to read this book because it seemed to center around a mother-daughter relationship, a premise I found compelling. It certainly delivered more than I expected, and although there are plenty of clichés in the story, it was actually quite refreshing.

Devan has lived in the Midwest with her father and her stepmother her whole life. She’s never met her mother, and until recently she didn’t even know who her mother was. But one serendipitous day she came across a book by famous author Reece Malcolm, a book that was dedicated to her. So after some digging, she finally knew who her mother was, and she even managed to make a short list of all the things she was able to find out about Reece, minor things like where she went to college or how she likes her coffee. But when Devan’s dad dies she has to go live with her mystery of a mother in L.A. and her life suddenly becomes a huge question mark.

Review: Hopeless by Colleen Hoover

Warning: Minor spoilers ahead.

I enjoyed Slammed, Ms. Hoover's first novel, but I thought the sequel, Point of Retreat was a fan service mess. Yet she has an engaging voice, and I wanted to give her a second chance, because I figured that a new, original book wouldn’t be as bad.

I was wrong. 

Sky was adopted when she was five and has lived sheltered her whole life (this means home-schooled and without access to television, internet or phone). Her only link to the world outside her house is her best friend and neighbor, Six. They visit each other, have sleepovers and sneak boys into their rooms. But sky is immune to boys, and when they kiss and touch her she becomes detached and disconnected with her body and what’s going on. Other than that, she is fairly happy and has a good relationship with her adoptive mother.

Review: Fire by Kristin Cashore

Fire is the next installment in the Graceling books, a fantasy series where some people called gracelings develop a power-like ability that depending on what it is, can be helpful, useless or very dangerous. This book is a prequel, so it takes place years before the first book and features a whole different set of characters that in no way relate to those in Graceling. You could read them out of order, but my advice is to read them all, and to do it in the order they were published. Once you read them all, you will see how three books that stand alone well, are actually quite cohesive. 

The story takes place in the Dells, a land geographically separated from the original kingdoms by a set of mountains. As a result, the people from the Dells don’t know about the kingdoms and there are no gracelings. Instead, they have monsters. These creatures resemble regular animals, but have colorful appearances and are unnaturally appealing, in fact, they use that appeal to enthrall and lure their victims. Monsters crave other monsters and become ravenous in their presence, especially if they can smell blood. Worse, animals are not the only creatures that have a monster equivalent, humans also come in that form --albeit rarely-- and Fire, our heroine, is the last one of them.

Review: Uses for Boys by Erica Lorraine Scheidt

Source: a review copy was provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

The rise of the New Adult category has created an interesting debate about including sex in fiction marketed to young readers, and whether there is room for sex in these stories, or if it’s even appropriate. As in everything in life, the answer to that is that it depends on the context.

Personally, I think that in a world where female sexuality is often seen and portrayed with negative connotations in and by male-dominated environments, having positive representations of sex in stories that are mostly read by young women and teenage girls is a good, and necessary, thing. 

But of course, with the popularity of New Adult stories it becomes obvious that there’s a huge (or hugely vocal) audience claiming for the hypersexualization of stories that mostly have no business being sexualized in the first place. Because as many “adult content” warnings these books include, the truth remains that these are stories marketed to YA readers, that may not all be that young, but most of them are. So even though I think that sex in YA is necessary and can be a positive addition to the story, I’m not sure I agree with stories written with the excuse to add sex in them*.

Review: Graceling by Kristin Cashore

This series flew under my radar and I only discovered it this year after I read Janine’s review of Bitterblue, the third book in the series. It seemed to be a favorite of many, so I decided to read the first book. It was exactly what I was hoping it would be.

Katsa lives in a world where some people have an enhanced ability, or grace. They are known as gracelings, and in Katsa’s kingdom these people are treated like tools. She’s graced with killing, so her uncle, who happens to be the king, uses her as his personal enforcer and executioner. People fear and avoid her, and she hates herself for the things she’s done. 

As a way to atone and even revel against her uncle, Katsa created the Council, a secret organization in charge of helping people. During one of their missions they rescue an old man from his kidnappers, but by doing so they uncover a mystery that will lead her directly to danger, but also freedom. That night she also meets a man named Po who’s graced with fighting. He helps her break free and see herself under a different light.

Review: Knights of the Hill Country by Tim Tharp

Have you seen the United States of YA list? It’s a map with a book representing each state, and Knights of the Hill Country was Oklahoma. I liked what I saw, so I decided to read it. I enjoyed it, although it’s far from a perfect book.

The story is very simple: Hampton lives and breathes football. Everyone, including himself, thinks that being a football player is all there is to him.  No one bothers to see the boy behind the talent because he wins games and that’s all that matters. He’s rapidly becoming the star of the team, even outshining his best friend and quarterback, Blaine. But his new status also forces him to see beyond the football field. It gives him some insight into what he wants and the tools to stop being so passive.  

Review: Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama

When I was a kid I wanted to be a mermaid. The tail, the red hair, the cute prince… Obviously Disney knew how to sell its movies. Then I read the original story and my underwater dreams died, but I remained intrigued by these creatures. I’m surprised that mermaids aren’t more common in PNR and YA, but I’m happy to see a book that’s not about vampires or angels.

Hester comes from a line of women who died soon after giving birth. Her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother died within days of having their first child, all of which also happened to be girls. Hester knows that there’s something very wrong with her and has decided never to fall in love. She’s aloof, angsty and tormented, but she’s also a teenager so it’s hard to tell whether she’s like that because of a curse, or because of her age. Things get complicated when her relationship with her best friend begins to change, but her unwillingness to fall in love makes her push him away. And when a mysterious guy saves her from an attack everything changes. She feels mysteriously attracted to him and to the answers he brings. Smells like love triangle, right? Not quite, more like creepy teenage obsession mixed with disappointing unfulfilled promise of a sweet romance. I’ll explain later.

Review: The Waiting Sky by Lara Zielin

This book caught my attention because it sounded similar to the movie Twister. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but I’m glad I read it.

Jane McAllister’s mother is an alcoholic. Her brother left home as soon as he could, leaving Jane to fend for herself. She handles the situation as best as she can, or at least as best as she thinks she should. She pays the bills, covers for her mother and is basically the adult responsible to take care of their crumbling home. Her brother asks her to move with him, but she can’t leave their mom.

Things get complicated when Jane’s mother causes an accident that almost kills them and her best friend, Cat. When Cat tells her that it’s time so seek help because covering for her mother is not helping anyone, Jane realizes that she can’t keep denying what’s going on. So she decides to join her brother Ethan and his team of tornado-chasing friends. Spending time away from her mother helps her put things in perspective, but is that enough to make the right decision? She’s very conflicted so it’ won’t be easy.

Review: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Source: we received an e-ARC of the book through NetGalley for review purposes.

Have I mentioned how much I’m enjoying all these New Adult books? With some exceptions, I’ve loved everything I’ve read. Pushing the Limits is in part to blame for it because it was one of the first NA --or adult-ish YA’s-- I read.

Our leads are Echo and Noah. The book is told alternating between them and their stories are equally important. 

First we have Echo. Something happened to her, something involving her mother. But she can’t remember and no one wants to tell her what happened. All she knows is that there’s a restraining order and that she isn’t allowed any contact with her mother; that she has some terrible scars on her arms; and that months ago something triggered an attack that left her in the hospital for days. She’s desperate to put all the pieces together to find out what happened.

Review: What I Didn’t Say by Keary Taylor

In case you didn't notice, I’ve been reading a lot of YA/New Adult books and Amazon keeps recommending new titles to me. That’s how I came across What I Didn’t Say. It had an original premise and it was told from the hero’s POV, so I decided to get it.

Jake Hayes dreams of three things: leaving the small island he calls home, flying planes and Samantha Shay. The first two dreams are related, he yearns to fly and see the world and and to do so, he plans to join the Air Force once he graduates from High School. His other passion is Samantha, the girl he’s been in love with since he first met her. The problem is that she doesn’t know it, he’s not even sure she knows him, and he’s too afraid to do anything about it. So life goes by and Jake keeps counting the days until the Air Force.