Book Review: Remake by Ilima Todd

Title: Remake
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

Title: Dangerous
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

Title: Cured (Stung #2)
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: Not in the Script by Amy Finnegan

Title: Not in the Script (If Only #3)
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

Title: On the Fence
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

Title: Forbidden (Forbidden #1)
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.

Book Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Title: Fangirl
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Enjoyment Rating: *****
Source: Audible
This book would be rated: PG-13 or R for sexual themes and language

Remember back a few months ago when I fawned all over Rainbow Rowell's lovely YA novel Eleanor and Park? I was delighted to see that she was coming out with a new book, but since it same so quickly on the heels of E&P, I was a little bit worried that this one wouldn't live up to its predecessor. So I was surprised to find that I actually liked this one more.

Although Fangirl would probably be found in the teen lit section of Barnes and Noble, its protagonist, Cath, is a college freshman at University of Nebraska, straddling the bounds between childhood and womanhood. And this scares her. Lots of things scare Cath. The fact that her twin sister, Wren, didn't want to be her roommate. The idea of going to the dining hall. Her roommate, Reagan. Her roommate's boyfriend, Levi. Her fiction writing class. How her father is going to survive with both of his girls at school. In fact, the only time Cath feels absolutely unafraid is when she's Magicath, the author of Simon Snow (think Harry Potter) fanfiction. Thousands of readers are waiting with baited breath for Magicath to finish her version of the story before Gemma T. Leslie's (JK Rowling's) final novel comes out.

Cath's anxieties are something that gets in the way with her daily functioning. She has a hard time reading people. She has obsessions. She has weird things about food. She finds it hard to forgive people who have wronged her and has sort of a rigid sense of right and wrong. But she's also a person who cares deeply about her family. Her mother left the family when the girls were young (I read this at the same time I was reading The Lowland and the books were interesting to read in comparison with each other). She wants to be less fearful. She might even want to fall in love.

Fangirl is a book with so much heart that I didn't want to stop reading. The book takes place over the course of Cath's entire freshman year, and a LOT happens in the book. I think I loved it so much because Cath reminded me a lot of my son, Bryce, and it gave me hope that he might be able to thrive in the wilds of a freshman dorm. One note: the main narrative of the story is interspersed both with selections from the Simon Snow novels and selections from Cath's fan fiction. I know some readers didn't love these parts, but they didn't bother me.

Book Review: Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

Title: Rose Under Fire
Author: Elizabeth Wein
Enjoyment Rating: ****
Source: Library Copy
This book would be rated: PG or PG-13

Many of my book-reviewing friends considered Elizabeth Wein's Code Name Verity the best book of 2012. And it was a great story-- a female spy who was captured by the Nazis and forced to write a confession about her work with the Resistance. The story she wrote was one of enduring friendship, and there was a dynamic twist that surprised readers and gave them a satisfying a-ha moment. As good as that book was, I enjoyed reading Rose Under Fire more. I know that some readers will disagree with me. Rose Under Fire lacks the puzzle aspect of Code Name Verity, but once again we have a protagonist on the cusp of womanhood who is put into a very adult situation. Rose Justice is an eighteen-year-old American ATA pilot, given the task of transporting fighter planes. On a routine flight to France in the fall of 1944, she is captured by the Nazis, who escort her plane into their territory, then send her to Ravensbruck, a women's concentration camp. Rose spends the next winter and spring as part of a family of courageous women, all of whom want to live and look out for each other in a place that seems incompatible with life or compassion.

While Code Name Verity was a fascinating read where the reader tried to puzzle out what was happening, there's no question about the narrative on Rose Under Fire. But the narrative still seems almost unbelievable a times, as Rose tells her story from the postwar safety of the Paris Ritz. I'm thoroughly impressed by both of the novels, and hope that Wein continues to write stories in this vein-- I think that this one cements her reputation as the novelist of women's WWII narratives.

Book Review: Endlessly by Kiersten White (Whitney Finalist)

Title: Endlessly (Paranormalcy #3)
Author: Kiersten White
Enjoyment Rating: ***
Whitney Finalist
This book would be rated: PG, for violence, kissing, and lots creative curse substitutions

When Endlessly opens, Evie has renounced her relationship with the IPCA (the International Paranormal Containment Agency) and is trying to live normal life, going to high school and spending time with her boyfriend. But this is Evie we're talking about, and as long as there are paranormals about, Evie isn't going to be able to fade into the woodwork (as if-- her hot pink, rhinestone-studded clothes aren't exactly the kind that blend). Pretty soon, everyone wants a piece of her, the IPCA, the fairies, and everyone in between. And if the world is going to avoid utter destruction, Evie is going to have to play a role in that too.

When I read Paranormalcy two years ago, one of the things I loved best about the book was Evie's voice. I know that some will say that she is annoying, but I find her glibness and enthusiasm and over-the-top teenage talk endearing (in small bursts). Evie is also funny, which is a refreshing characteristic, especially in the YA Speculative category, where characters tend to take themselves so seriously.

There's a lot of action in Endlessly, which isn't surprising in this category. It feels that many of the books are based a lot on external conflict, which is true in Endlessly. Things happen to Evie. She's not sure who to trust, and she makes a lot of the same mistakes (which feels like inner conflict), but she's not especially reflective, and she's making the same kinds of mistakes in book three that she was making in book one. Her situation has changed by the end of the trilogy, but I'm not convinced that Evie has changed in significant ways. I'm the kind of reader that really grooves on inner conflict, and when I see lots of inner conflict in a YA Speculative book, that's a book that is a winner for me.