The books are read, the votes are in, and once again, I won't be at the Whitney Gala (I'm afraid that the candor with which I write my reviews would not make me a popular person at the dinner table-- and besides, I'm running a marathon that day and I'm not sure I could do heels that night). So here's my opportunity to wish all of the finalists well and to weigh in on what I'd like to see happen and what I think will happen in all of the categories.
General: The only book that I think actually deserves to win is Amy Harmon's The Law of Moses, which is a complex and engrossing story about a biracial boy and the farm girl who loves him, but since it features premarital sex and the characters swear, I doubt Whitney voters will get behind it. My guess is that Maria Hoagland's Still Time, about an LDS family who struggles to care for a grandmother with Alzheimer's disease, will take the prize. I was thoroughly disappointed with the category this year, and a A Song for Issy Bradley and City of Brick and Shadow were glaring omissions among the finalists.
Historical: I really enjoyed both Carla Kelly's Softly Falling, about a couple falling in love during a treacherous winter on the Wyoming frontier and Deadly Alliance by EL Sowards, about a man who goes missing during World War II and the spy who saves him.
Mystery/Suspense: Anne Perry's Death on Blackheath, a case where a missing servant leads Inspector Thomas Pitt down a rabbit hole that ends with treason, is a perfect example of why she's a master of the Victorian mystery novel. Josi Kilpack's Wedding Cake, the twelfth and final book in her Culinary Mysteries series, provides a satisfying ending to everyone who has grown to love her intrepid sleuth, Sadie Hoffmiller.
Romance: I'd love to see Melanie Jacobson's Painting Kisses, about a celebrated painter who got fed up with her career and took a job as a waitress and lets her guard down when she meets a handsome construction worker, take the Whitney this year. I think Sarah Eden's Longing for Home: Hope Springs, the second half of a story in which an Irish immigrant in a small Wyoming town must chose between two men who love her, is also a strong contender.
Speculative: While Brandon Sanderson's Words of Radiance (a story too complicated to whittle down to a single phrase) will undoubtedly win, my favorite book in the category was Mercedes M. Yardley's Pretty Little Dead Girls, about a girl who everyone thought would die, but didn't.
Middle Grade: The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry was probably the Whitney book I most enjoyed reading all year. The seven girls who try to hide their headmistress's death so they can enjoy a little freedom was thoroughly delightful. I also thought that Kimberley Griffiths Little's The Time of the Fireflies, about a girl who saves her family from a cursed doll, and Marion Jensen's Almost Super, about young superheroes who got snubbed when someone was handing out powers, were also great reads.
YA General: Chris Crowe's Death Coming Up the Hill was the most delightful surprise of the Whitney reading. The book, written entirely in haiku, with a syllable representing each American man who died in Vietnam in 1968, was moving, thoughtful, rich and not at all gimmicky, despite its spareness. If it doesn't win, I will eat my hat.
YA Speculative: Kiersten White's Illusions of Fate, the story of a girl from the Caribbean transplanted to a Victorian England where the nobles have secret magical powers, was rich in detail and setting, and the story in the category that moved me most this year.
Best novel by a new author: To be totally honest, I wasn't a huge fan of any of the five books in this category, although if pressed to choose a book, I think that Jennifer Moore's Becoming Lady Lockwood, a historical romance about a young widow who falls in love with the ship captain who wants to take away her inheritance, was probably my favorite.
Best novel of the year: While Brandon Sanderson's Words of Radiance will probably win, I would love to see Academy voters have the chutzpah to vote for Amy Harmon's The Law of Moses.
Best novel in youth fiction: Although Death Coming Up the Hill and The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place were both phenomenal books, my heart has to go with my mentor and professor Chris Crowe. His is a knockout of a novel, both in form and narrative-- the best of both worlds.
Showing posts with label Whitney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Whitney. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Book Review: Illusions of Fate by Kiersten White
Author: Kiersten White
Enjoyment Rating: ***
Source: Library Copy
Content Alert: Some violence
Jessamin is a biracial girl from the Caribbean, sent to Victorian England (the places have different names, but you get the idea) to be educated at the school where her father is a teacher. By day she studies, and by night, she works as a maid with others of her class in a London hotel. Enter Finn, a dashing and mysterious Lord who has magical powers (apparently, all of the nobles in Albion/England have magical powers, and the commoners know nothing about it). Finn and Jessamin have to fight off some bad guys, and save themselves and the country from certain doom.
I think that Illusions of Fate was probably my favorite of the YA Speculative novels this year, but that had little to do with the story. In fact, I'm not entirely sure that I completely understood where Kiersten White was going with the magical element of the story-- yes, there was magic, and people used it to manipulate space, time, and other people. I loved the setting- White did a great job creating a world that was just a notch off a world that today's readers know well. Jessamin was also a great character, working to figure out her way as a member of the underclass in a new country, while also trying to embrace her role as a muse of one of the most powerful magicians in the country. The book is worth reading for Jessamin's character and the setting, the jury's still out for me on the magic.
Book Review: Remake by Ilima Todd
Author: Ilima Todd
Enjoyment Rating: **
Source: Digital Copy
Content Alert: violence
Nine belongs to a society where children are raised in groups of ten, and when they reach the age of seventeen, they're able to choose their gender, their career path, and other aspects of their personality. However, as Nine is on the way to be assigned, the plane she's on crashes, and she washes up on the shore of a small Polynesian island where people retain the gender they're born with and live in families. Nine has to decide whether to go back to the old ways, or to embrace life as she experienced it on the island.
I'm not really sure what to say about Remake. On the one hand, I thought the mechanics of the story were pretty good. It was definitely a story that kept me reading and made me think. However, the subtext of the story seems to be that traditional families are superior to other types of families, and that the ability to choose something like gender leads to the downfall of society.
Book Review: Dangerous by Shannon Hale
Author: Shannon Hale
Enjoyment Rating: ***
Source: Library Copy
Content Alert: violence
Maisie Danger Brown (yes, Danger is her middle name) is eager for an adventure, so she turns in an application she finds on a cereal box, and is selected to attend space camp. What happens next feels right out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, with a Willy Wonka character that is every bit as creepy and dangerous as Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka. Instead of simply simulating a space visit, Maisie and her friends actually blast off into space, and return forever changed. The book is one part Roald Dahl, one part Fantastic Four, and three parts implausible, with a love triangle between Maisie, the boy next door, and a boy who is probably an evil genius. The book feels a little rushed, and a little derivative, and doesn't have the staying power of Hale's other works. I can remember the entire plot of The Goose Girl six years after I read it for the first time, but I couldn't remember much about Dangerous even a week later.
Book Review: Cured by Bethany Wiggins
Author: Bethany Wiggins
Enjoyment Rating: **
Source: Digital Copy
Content Alert: violence
I feel like I'm coming into this novel at a disadvantage, having never read Stung, which presumably sets up the dystopian premise of the series, that a bee flu turns people into beasts, and the same bees no longer pollinate crops, so everything is scarce. Sounds like a fascinating premise, right? In Cured, the protagonists of the first novel, Fiona and Jonah, hook up with some neighbors, Bowen and Jacqui (who goes as Jack and pretends to be a guy for safety's sake), to spread the cure that saved their lives and look for their mother. Along the way, they run into Kevin, who may be either their savior or the one who undoes their mission, and prevents thousands from being cured along the way.
I felt pretty lost from the beginning of the novel. In Wiggins's defense, most of the problem was mine-- I was trying to read quickly, and since I didn't have a great understanding of the world she created and wasn't willing to take the time to read between the lines to figure it out, I never felt especially compelled by the story. I did feel compelled by Jack's character, as a former fat girl who lost weight in order to pass as a boy, we get to see her come to terms with both her body and her intelligence as she decides whether or not to give herself over to love. All in all, Cured was not my favorite read, but perhaps the problems had more to do with me than with the author.
Book Review: Kiss Kill Vanish by Jessica Martinez
Author: Jessica Martinez
Enjoyment Rating: **
Source: Library Copy
Content Alert: Violence, drug use, some mild language
Valentina, a spoiled rich girl living large in Miami has no idea that the Monets and Van Goghs hanging on the walls of her home were purchased with drug money until the moment she watches her father order her boyfriend to murder someone. Despite her love for the boyfriend, Emilio, Valentina runs. Although she has never done more for herself than fix a sandwich, she's somehow able to escape to Montreal, find a job and an apartment, all while eluding the mob.
The plot of Kiss Kill Vanish feels larger than life, and the book certainly has an epic, outsize quality. The main strength of the novel is the snappy pacing-- the chapters end in a way that make you want to keep reading. The premise of the novel, that Valentina manages to escape from her father's clutches, isn't especially believable considering her lack of life experience, and although she's not as bratty as her sisters are, she's pretty bratty. She may have the savvy to hide from a mob, but she doesn't have the savvy to stay away from scary dudes while doing it. She goes from her 23-year-old hit man to a creepy artist to his even creepier brother and back again. I wanted to see Valentina free from all of the guys when the book ended. I can see that Martinez has some great writing chops (and liked other books I've read better) but Kiss Kill Vanish felt too big and implausible to be a winner for me.
Book Review: Not in the Script by Amy Finnegan
Author: Amy Finnegan
Enjoyment Rating: ***
Source: Digital Copy
Content Alert: A clean read
Emma Taylor is a teen star who's linked to different boys in the tabloids nearly every week. When she gets a new job starring on the teen drama Coyote Hills, she's shocked to find that her new costar is Jake, the model her bff has been crushing on for years. Everyone expects that Emma will fall for Brett, the resident bad boy, and she's surprised and guilt-ridden when she can't stop thinking about Jake, who's certainly more than a pretty face.
If Only is a series of YA romances, each written by a different author. Not in the Script is really sweet, and shows surprising depth in places (the romance between Emma and Jake is complicated by lots of grownup factors-- his mother's health, her mother's role in her career, her best friend's feelings, the role of the tabloids). My main complaint is that at 392 pages, this book felt really, really long, especially since there wasn't much of a driving narrative besides the relationship between Emma and Jake.
Book Review: On the Fence by Kasie West
Author: Kasie West
Enjoyment Rating: ***
Source: Digital Copy
Content Alert: A clean read
Charlie has always been treated like one of the boys. She was raised by her father, a policeman, since her mother's early death, and she has three brothers who never coddle her or give her any breaks. Then there's Braden, the boy next door who has always been just like any other brother until the summer Charlie turns sixteen, when both she and Braden confront problems in their personal lives and turn to each other, and their friendship suddenly becomes something more.
On the Fence is a cute book. Charlie is a cute character, Braden is a cute character, the boutique where she finally learns how to act around females sells cute clothes. Although the storyline is predictable (no one is really ever in any doubt that Charlie and Braden will get together) and the side story involving the death of Charlie's mother was something I called in the first chapter, it's nevertheless an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. This is a book that I think my teenage daughter would enjoy, not in the gritty, angsty way she loves a David Levithan or a John Green book, but she'd like it nonetheless.
Book Review: Forbidden by Kimberley Griffiths Little
Author: Kimberley Griffiths Little
Enjoyment Rating: ****
Source: Digital Copy
Content Alert: Some violence, death, very oblique talk about prostitution
At sixteen, Jayden, who lives in an ancient nomadic Mesopotamian tribe, has been betrothed to her cousin. It's a fortuitous match, since her cousin will soon lead the tribe, but her cousin is all the bad things-- conceited, dishonest, abusive, unfaithful. The tribe begins to move just as Jayden's mother goes into labor with twins, and the family is left behind to suffer a great tragedy. Then Kadesh appears-- he's from the land southward, and although he's injured he helps save Jayden and her family. As they spend more time together and Jayden has opportunities to see the world outside her small circle of tents, she realizes that she wants Kadesh to be part of her life, even if it means she has to leave everything she has always known.
The spunky, brave heroine of YA novels is so widespread these days, it's a bit of a shock when someone who doesn't fit that mold appears in the pages of YA fiction. Jayden is modest and shy (it's 1759 BC, for crying out loud-- would readers expect any different?), and finds enlightenment and release only in the all-female dancing circle in which the women in her tribe take part. While she encounters many obstacles that challenge her culture and her perceptions, it's hard for her to step out of her comfort zone. That doesn't mean that she doesn't do it, but don't expect Katniss Everdeen out of Jayden. I find her character refreshing, and the historical details are richly drawn. I'm interested enough in the story of Forbidden to want to keep reading the series.
Monday, May 11, 2015
Book Review: Death on Blackheath by Anne Perry
Author: Anne Perry
Enjoyment Rating: ****
Source: Audible
Content Alert: violence, Victorian discussions of extramarital affairs
When servants discover that a maid has gone missing and there's blood and hair on the steps of the London home of Victorian naval expert Dudley Kynaston, Thomas Pitt of Special Branch is called in to protect the interests of Britain. While the local police work to see if the missing maid is indeed dead, Pitt tries to uncover a traitorous conspiracy involving Kynaston.
This is the first of the 29 Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels I've read, and I was a little surprised to see Charlotte getting top billing, since she seems to be such an accessory in this novel. Apparently, early on in the series, the pair solved crimes together, but these days Charlotte raises their teenage kids. I listened to this book at the same time I listened to the newest Maisie Dobbs book, and although I was incredibly frustrated with Winspear's narrative choices, I can see why it's hard to write a historical novel in which Victorian (or later, in Winspear's case) women have the kinds of career options that modern women have.
That said, I loved Death on Blackheath. Once I understood that Pitt was never going to concern himself with whether or not the maid was actually dead and was only interested in what was going on that concerned national security, the book became downright fascinating. I was very surprised by the ending (although in retrospect, I guess I shouldn't have been), and was impressed by the way that Perry created so many complicated characters (both the suspects and the detectives) and wrote about all of them with a deftness that shows why she is one of the preeminent mystery writers of our day.
Book Review: Drop Zone by Traci Hunter Abramson
Author: Traci Hunter Abramson
Enjoyment Rating: ***
Source: Digital Copy
Content Alert: Violence
Damian is the newest member of the Saint Squad, a group of Mormon Navy SEALs. However, he's not Mormon and untested by the group, and they leave him at home with the wives when they go out on a mission. However, when the Saint Squad finds itself in trouble, Damian and Paige, a nurse who's now working as an administrative assistant to one of the SEALs wives, go undercover in Venezuela to find them. Along the way, they both have experiences that deepen their faith as well as their interest in each other as they work to uncover a mole and return the boys home safely.
I haven't been the hugest fan of Abramson's Saint Squad books in the past, primarily because they are all so similar-- one of the members of the squad finds a woman and they fall in love over the course of a harrowing mission. While I can buy one whirlwind romance, Abramson has now written eight, and at this rate, the members of the Saint Squad and their wives are more likely to belong in a PTSD therapy group than a group of Navy SEALs. That said, I think her writing is getting better, and obviously audiences want this story or she wouldn't keep writing it. I think she does a nice job with what she sets out to do in Drop Zone, but I prefer her books that aren't part of the series better.
Book Review: Tomorrow We Spy by Jordan McCollum
Author: Jordan McCollum
Enjoyment Rating: **
Source: Digital Copy
Content Alert: violence
Talia and Danny have finally tied the knot and when Tomorow We Spy opens, they're on their honeymoon in Paris, half a world away from Talia's job as a CIA operative in Ottawa. But it's not too hard for a spy to track down another spy, and before Talia and Danny can even visit the Louvre or kiss on top of the Eiffel Tower, they are sucked into a mission, this time with Danny (an aerospace engineer by day) as the operative being sent into Russia. Talia, being Talia, is jealous and nervous for her new husband, so she insists on posing as his translator so she can keep tabs on him, and then when they realize they have been double crossed, she has to work to keep them both alive.
Oh Talia, I had such high hopes for you as a character in I, Spy. I loved your voice and thought it was refreshing that you were a little neurotic. But lady, you're just as neurotic two books later (or is it five? It depends on whether or not you've read all of the prequels). In order for a series of books to satisfy me as a reader, I like to see a character grow and change, and I would especially expect to see growth when Talia marries Danny, but she's just as insecure and jealous in this book as she was in the first book. It's cute for one book, but wearing after a bunch of them.
Book Review: Wedding Cake by Josi S. Kilpack
Author: Josi S. Kilpack
Enjoyment Rating: ****
Source: Digital Copy
Content Alert: Some violence
In the cozy foodie mystery/Mormon Lit world, the marriage between Sadie and Pete has been as eagerly anticipated as that of Jim and Pam or Luke and Laura. Sadie Hoffmiller was annoying and meddlesome way back when Kilpack started it all with Lemon Tart, but she's grown on us, and we were rooting for her and her fiance, the former detective with whom she had all of those run-ins early in the series. Wedding Cake is, in many ways, a satisfying ending ending to a series that spanned more than 2,400 pages and half a decade. Kilpack nods to the key players in past mysteries (it actually reminds me a little bit of what Matthew Weiner is doing as he wraps up Mad Men right now). But the book has to be more than a retrospective of past cases, and Kilpack digs deeper into a story from Sadie's past when a stalker reappears and tries to ruin Sadie's big day.
I haven't read every book in the series, but I've read enough to be excited for Wedding Cake, and in many ways it was the perfect end to Sadie's story. The books really grew on me over the years, especially as I grew to have more of an appreciation for the cozy mystery genre, and I loved watching Sadie grow and change as a character over the course of the novels. The book was ultimately more violent than I had expected, and the wedding scene in particular was pretty shocking, but the book as a whole definitely met my expectations, and I wiped away a little tear as I read the last recipe and closed the book.
Book Review: Softly Falling by Carla Kelly
Author: Carla Kelly
Enjoyment Rating: ****
Source: Digital Copy
Content Alert: A clean read
When Jack, a Wyoming ranch foreman, is given the job of fetching Lily Carteret for her alcoholic father, the ranch clerk, he's not sure what to expect. When Lily, a beautiful biracial girl who had been raised by her uncle in England, steps off the train, all of her expectations of life in Wyoming are unmet, especially the one that her father, who has lost all of his land in a card game (to Jack), will care for her. Instead, as the worst winter in memory sets in, Lily and Jack are the ones who must care for everyone else on the ranch. As they show their true grit, they also fall in love.
One thing I love about Kelly's books is that they focus on ordinary characters, and Kelly allows a slow build up to the romance. Softly Falling reminded me a lot of Ivan Doig's wonderful Dancing at the Rascal Fair (a slow burn of a story that takes place in a similarly wintry Montana). This one is perfect for curling up with on a rainy day, but maybe not during a blizzard.
Book Review: Gone for a Soldier by Marsha Ward
Author: Marsha Ward
Enjoyment Rating: ***
Source: Digital Copy
Content Alert: Some war-related violence
Mary is only fourteen-- way too young to be married according to her parents, but she's hopelessly in love with Rulon Owen, who will be leaving their small Virginia town to enlist at the beginning of the Civil War. Mary and Rulon marry, and when he leaves, they expect that he will be back by Christmas, or at the very least before their first child arrives, but as we know the war wasn't as quick as they thought it would be.
While many novels about the Civil War focus on male characters and storylines, my favorite thing about Gone for a Soldier is that it's a story about women and relationships. While at first glance, the story is Mary and Rulon's love story, it's really more about what happens to Mary while he's gone-- going through childbirth without her husband, developing a relationship with her mother-in-law, championing the girl she hoped would become her sister-in-law, and gaining enough maturity to see her relationship with her mother from a different perspective. Gone for a Soldier is interesting and well done, and I love the point of view it shows.
Book Review: Eve: In the Beginning by H.B. Moore
Author: H.B. Moore
Enjoyment Rating: ***
Source: Digital Copy
Content Alert: A clean read
You know the story: man, woman, God, serpent, fruit. HB Moore's novel Eve: In the Beginning, fleshes out the story (get it?) of the first few chapters of Genesis. Moore does a really nice job with Eve's mindset and the relationship between Adam and Eve, especially once Lucifer enters their lives and Eve starts to think about making the choice to have more wisdom and knowledge. While I think Eve's character is pretty fantastic, because the book is from her perspective, we don't see a lot of Adam's thought process, and while this is a 'historical" novel, one of the things I value most about historical fiction is being able to learn about a bygone era or a culture I don't know much about, this book is pretty remarkable in its absence of culture-- instead Adam and Eve are the culture makers. It's still worth a read as an insight into Eve's motivations.
Book Review: Deadly Alliance by A.L. Sowards
Author: A.L. Sowards
Enjoyment Rating: ****
Source: Digital Copy
Content Alert: War-related violence
Idaho farm boy Peter and his team of Allied soldiers have only just returned from a dangerous mission behind enemy lines. One of the men is still in the hospital, and Peter has been enjoying just a few hours of time with his girlfriend Genevieve (an OSS spy), when he's sent out on another mission to destroy a bridge in Nazi-occupied territory. However, they're dropped hundreds of miles away on a suicide mission and declared missing. Genevieve is determined to find him, or at least what happens to him, and she soon becomes a target herself.
Although Deadly Alliance is the third (and final?) novel in Sowards's Espionage series, it feels and functions like a stand-alone novel. Sowards does a nice job getting new readers up to speed with complicated characters and relationships, and with the complexities of alliances during the end of WWII. There was plenty of action, just enough love, and lots of nice, detailed storytelling to keep me reading.
Book Review: The Forbidden Flats by Peggy Eddleman
Author: Peggy Eddleman
Enjoyment Rating: ***
Source: Digital Copy
Content Alert: A clean read
I usually don't have many good things to say about the second book in a dystopian action trilogy, but Peggy Eddleman's Sky Jumpers: The Forbidden Flats is an exception to my (highly prejudiced) rule. In this book, the bomb's breath that threatens White Rock is descending, and Hope, Brock, and Aaren leave their home in Kansas to travel to the Rocky Mountains in an effort to find an antidote to the poison that will soon overtake them. The book has plenty of action and adventure, but my favorite part of the story was Hope's relationship with her birth family, whom she discovered along the way. I think it's common for authors to develop characters in their first novels, but I loved seeing Hope's character change in important ways in The Forbidden Flats.
Book Review: An Ocean Atween Us by Angela Morrison
Author: Angela Morrison
Enjoyment Rating: ***
Source: Digital Copy
Content Alert: A clean read
At fourteen, Will Glover has just recognized that he's head over heels in love with Lucie, a girl from his Scottish village, when his father announces that the family is moving to Nova Scotia to work in a newly-established coal mine. Will can't believe his bad luck, and tries everything (even an attempted elopement) to get out of his move. As the years pass, Will's role changes from dependent child to responsible adult, but his love for Lucie doesn't fade, at least until he meets Jenny.
There were many admirable things about An Ocean Atween Us. Morrison, who drew on old family journals and stories to create her novel, definitely did her homework. She got the details of coal mines and transatlantic voyages down pat. She also wrote the book in a Scottish brogue, which, frankly, I found annoying after a bit because it definitely slowed my reading down and made it so that I always held the characters at a bit of a distance. I think keeping a few of the tags (dinna or lassie, for example) and ditching the rest would have been a better strategy here. Finally, I got really sick of Will mooning over Lucie in the novel, especially after he married Jenny (there's a scene of pretty stark cruelty in their relationship toward the end of the novel that made it hard for me to identify with Will any more). I also think that the setup in the final chapters may lead to a swift demise for Jenny early in the next novel.
Book Review: The Law of Moses by Amy Harmon
Author: Amy Harmon
Enjoyment Rating: ****
Source: Digital Copy
Content Alert: Language, teenage sex
The small town of LeVan, Utah is a place where white people ride horses, compete in rodeos, and go to church on Sunday. It's not an easy place for a biracial teenager who sees dead people to find a home. But Moses doesn't have anyone to care for him except his grandmother, so he ends up living in LeVan, where Georgia falls in love with him. She knows their love is doomed from the beginning, but she can't help herself, even when he pushes her away and leaves her feeling as alone as he once felt.
The Law of Moses is definitely the best example of craft among the finalists in the Whitney general fiction category. Both Georgia and Moses are complicated characters who grow and change through the course of the novel. The narrative is heart-wrenching and redemptive, and I think most readers get most of what they want by the end of the story. Harmon also knows how to spin a yarn that keeps readers reading. Some will argue that this book would be a better fit in the speculative category, which may be true. If so, this is the kind of speculative novel I could really get into reading.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)