Review: All These Things I've Done

All These Things I've Done
Gabrielle Zevin
2011; Farrar, Straus & Giroux; ISBN 978-0-374-30210-8 (hardcover)

Summary:  In 2083, chocolate and caffeine are illegal, water is rationed, and Anya Balanchine is trying to hold her family together.  Her grandmother is dying, her older brother Leo is mentally disabled due to a childhood accident, and Anya has two years before she turns eighteen and can be legal guardian to her little sister Natty.  To make matters worse, her family is well-known as chocolate smugglers, yet Anya is beginning to fall for Win, the assistant DA's son.  All Anya wants is to stay out of the family business, yet it seems that she's destined for it.  Will she choose to be a bystander or a participant?

Set in a realistic future, All These Things I've Done is a character-driven novel, one that is different from other YA novels.  It's not as plot-focused as you'd expect from Gabrielle Zevin, the author of the intriguing Elsewhere and Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac.  Some things don't work in this novel, like Anya's occasional asides to the reader and a few contrived coincidences.  What does work is the character study of Anya.  With her tough-as-nails exterior, Anya tries to conceal her fears and worries.  Her relationship with Win gives her a momentary respite, but Anya is too practical to let romance interfere with her duty to protect her family.  Fans who liked Wither will like All These Things I've Done even more.

Other Reviews
Mostly Reading YA:  http://mostlyreadingya.blogspot.com/2011/09/review-all-these-things-ive-done.html
Letters Inside Out: http://www.lettersinsideout.net/posts/review-all-these-things-ive-done-by-gabrielle-zevin/
The Reading Housewives of Indiana:  http://www.thereadinghousewives.com/2011/09/review-all-these-things-ive-done-by.html
Miss Print:  http://missprint.wordpress.com/2011/09/07/all-these-things-ive-done-a-chick-lit-wednesday-review/

Review: The Rites & Wrongs of Janice Wills

The Rites & Wrongs of Janice Wills
Joanna Pearson
2011; Scholastic; ISBN 978-0-545-19773-1 (hardcover)

Summary:  In the small town of Melva, North Carolina, Janice Wills knows what group she belongs to: Socially Unimportant Intelligent Girl.  As a budding anthropologist, Janice has made it her goal to have her research on Melva's adolescents published in Current Anthropology before she graduates from high school.  She's the kind of girl to take notes and remain detached in order to observe everything; she's not the kind of girl who'd enter Melva's Miss Livermush Pageant, in spite of her mother's encouragement.  Yet slowly, Janice begins to see the flaws in her research methods.  She's not clever and smart and observant--she's mean and closed-off and scared.  With the help of old friends and new challenges, Janice looks at her world with a new set of eyes.

A coming-of-age story with a different slant, The Rites & Wrongs of Janice Wills combines a realistic protagonist with some engaging thoughts on teenage culture.  Janice has a lot of growing to do over the course of the novel, and her growth comes believably, with a few missteps along the way.  The focus of the novel is Janice's development, set against the backdrop of her small town.  A quick read that includes a dash of romance and some good friendship issues, this first novel occasionally descends into stereotypes and cliches.  Yet there's still an engaging sweetness to this novel, like taking a few bites of pecan pie.  The Rites & Wrongs of Janice Wills will be enjoyed by fans of novels like The Sweetheart of Prosper County.

Other Reviews
Christina Reads YA:  http://christinareadsya.blogspot.com/2011/06/book-review-rites-and-wrongs-of-janice.html
Dear Author: http://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/overall-c-reviews/c-plus-reviews/review-the-rites-and-wrongs-of-janice-wills-by-joanna-pearson/
Letters Inside Out: http://www.lettersinsideout.net/posts/review-the-rites-and-wrongs-of-janice-wills-by-joanna-pearson/
I Like These Books: http://www.ilikethesebooks.com/2011/08/rites-and-wrongs-of-janice-wills-by.html

Review: Lola and the Boy Next Door

Lola and the Boy Next Door
Stephanie Perkins
2011; Dutton (Penguin); ISBN 978-0-525-42328-7

Summary:  Lola's life couldn't be better.  She lives in the fantastic Castro District of San Francisco, she loves her parents Nathan and Andy, she's always got a unique costume to wear, and best of all is her boyfriend Max.  The only fly in the ointment is that Max is five years older than Lola, and her parents don't like him.  At least, that's the only problem until the Bell twins move back into their house next door to Lola's.  Calliope Bell is just self-centered, focused on her figure skating career.  But her brother Cricket . . . he's the boy that Lola loved once.  Now that he's back, Lola finds that perhaps her feelings haven't changed.  But what about Max?  And does Cricket actually like her?  Lola will have to search her soul to discover whether her costumes hide or reflect her true self.

Another insightful romance from Stephanie Perkins, author of Anna and the French Kiss, one that mixes Lola's journey of discovery with an epic teenage romance.  Although the novel is a bit slow to start, with some muddled interplay between the present and the past, it picks up speed when Cricket returns to Lola's life.  Cricket is perhaps the perfect teenage boy: sweet, smart, and totally in love with Lola.  The reader can't help rooting for Lola and Cricket to figure things out, although it takes some time.  Lola begins the novel lying to her parents about Max and refusing to see that Max is too old for her.  Slowly, she realizes that he's not the boy for her, a process that helps her learn how to be honest to herself and others.  This maturing process is handled well, leading to a satisfying ending not just for Lola, but for Cricket and Lola, too.  Fans of Perkins' first novel will be happy to see Anna and St. Clair as supporting characters in this one.  Lola's gay parents--one of whom is biologically her uncle--are not there for shock value or controversy, but to reflect the novel's setting and to give Lola two happy, caring parents.  Fans of Anna and the French Kiss will keep Lola and the Boy Next Door circulating.

Other Reviews
A Million Words: http://ggpreviews.blogspot.com/2011/06/review-of-lola-and-boy-next-door.html
Write Meg: http://writemeg.com/2011/08/01/book-review-lola-and-the-boy-next-door-by-stephanie-perkins/
The Readventurer:  http://www.thereadventurer.com/1/post/2011/8/book-review-lola-and-the-boy-next-door-by-stephanie-perkins.html
Bibliopunkk:  http://www.bibliopunkk.net/2011/07/review-lola-and-boy-next-door.html
 

Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Laini Taylor
2011; Little, Brown; ISBN 978-0-316-13402-6 (hardcover)

Summary: Karou is a very unique young woman.  She has blue hair, speaks multiple languages, and has vivid tattoos on the palms of her hands.  For the other students at her Prague art school, they're used to Karou's mysterious life, with her unusual sketchbooks full of fantasy creatures.  The truth is stranger than fiction: the creatures in Karou's art are real, and they are the ones who raised her.  What Karou doesn't know is that there is a civil war between seraphs and chimaera, between angels and monsters--a war of which she's in the middle.  The seraphs are lead by Akiva, a beautiful warrior angel.  There seems to be some kind of connection between Akiva and Karou . . . one that changes both of them.

With rich atmospheric details and memorable characters, Daughter of Smoke and Bone is an unusual fantasy. While the story loses steam at the three-quarters mark after a major plot revelation, there is much to like in this novel.  The setting of Prague is vividly portrayed, infusing a sense of history into the story.  Karou is a fascinating yet believable protagonist, grounding the fantasy even as she performs amazing acts.  Laini Taylor's talents for word and description is obvious in Daughter of Smoke and Bone.  Pass this novel to fans of Holly Black.

Other Reviews
Good Books and Good Wine:  http://www.goodbooksandgoodwine.com/2011/07/daughter-of-smoke-and-bone-by-laini-taylor-book-review.html
Bookanista:  http://scott-tracey.com/2011/08/11/bookanista-review-the-daughter-of-smoke-and-bone-by-laini-taylor/
Reading Rants:  http://www.readingrants.org/2011/05/15/daughter-of-smoke-and-bone-by-laini-taylor/
The Allure of Books:  http://theallureofbooks.com/2011/08/review-the-daughter-of-smoke-and-bone-by-laini-taylor.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=review-the-daughter-of-smoke-and-bone-by-laini-taylor

Review: Blood Wounds

Blood Wounds
Susan Beth Pfeffer
2011; Harcourt; ISBN 978-0-547-49638-2 (hardcover)

Summary:  In Willa's blended family, there's Willa and her mom Terri, and Jack, Terri's second husband.  Most of the time, Jack's two daughters from his first marriage, Brooke and Alyssa, live with them.  Jack's ex-wife, Val, is rich and gives Brooke and Alyssa anything they could want, from horses and tennis coaches to trips to Europe.  Willa, by contrast, can't even have the voice lessons she wants since her mother can't pay for them.  To cope with the pressure of feeling unloved and unvalued, Willa cuts herself in secret, spilling her own blood.  But then Willa's estranged father commits an unspeakable act towards his new family.  In grappling with this horrible legacy, Willa tries to learn more about her parents' past.  Her new knowledge leads her to confront the assumptions and unspoken tensions that lie at the heart of her family relationships.  Willa discovers that Tolstoy had it wrong: every family, whether happy or unhappy, is different.

Never shying away from uncomfortable topics, Susan Beth Pfeffer explores the complex world of modern family dynamics in Blood Wounds.  When her father kills his wife and three daughters, it sets Willa on a journey to learn who she is within her different families.  Her father's acts are only the trigger for the story, belying the summary printed on the ARC I read; the heart of the novel is Willa's relationships and how they affect her.  Willa is difficult to like, but she is easy to understand, with the coil of tension growing ever-tighter until she finally breaks free of the role she thinks she has to play.  The character interactions are messy and complicated and real, heightened by direct prose and brisk pacing.  By the close of the novel, years of resentment and unhappiness are finally revealed, and Willa can create her own place within her family.  Pair Blood Wounds with novels like A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life by Dana Reinhardt.

Other Reviews
Practically Paradise: http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/practicallyparadise/2011/07/17/blood-wounds-by-susan-beth-pfeiffer/
One Book at a Time: http://onebooktime.blogspot.com/2011/07/review-blood-wounds-by-susan-beth.html
Squeaky Books: http://www.squeakybooks.com/2011/06/blood-wounds-susan-beth-pfeffer.html
Bibliosaurus Text:  http://www.bibliosaurustext.com/?p=870

Review: A Monster Calls

A Monster Calls
Patrick Ness, inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd
2011; Candlewick; ISBN 978-0-7636-5559-4 (hardcover)

Summary:  Late one night, Conor sees a nearby yew tree transform itself into a monster.  It's huge, with scratchy bark and pointy leaves.  But Conor's not afraid of the monster, because he's been expecting a much worse one.  His mother has cancer, and she seems to be sicker as each day passes.  Everyone at school knows about his mum's illness, making him invisible--except to his old friend Lily and Harry the bully.  So Conor's not that scared of the monster, and the monster sees that.  The monster has come because Conor called for him, and he will tell Conor four stories.  Then, Conor will have to tell the monster his own story, a story that's true.  Finding the truth will be a struggle for Conor, though.

Examining issues of love, loss and truth, A Monster Calls is a collaboration between Patrick Ness and the late Siobhan Dowd.  Taking the characters and premise created by Dowd, Ness has crafted a moving, honest story about a boy learning the first lessons of manhood.  The monster is capricious, logical and cold, contrasted with Conor's emotional, passionate nature.  As Conor hears the monster's stories and watches his mother's condition deteriorate, the tension slowly increases to the heartbreaking yet hopeful conclusion.  The story is made even richer by vivid black and white illustrations by Jim Kay.  It's a shame that Siobhan Dowd could not write this story, but how fortunate we are that Patrick Ness was willing to take on this task and create a fitting memorial in A Monster Calls.

Other Reviews
Bart's Bookshelf:  http://www.bartsbookshelf.co.uk/2011/05/16/review-a-monster-calls-by-patrick-ness-from-an-idea-by-siobhan-dowd/
Phoebe North:  http://www.phoebenorth.com/2011/07/07/review-a-monster-calls-by-patrick-ness/
Chicklish:  http://keris.typepad.com/chicklet/2011/04/review-a-monster-calls-by-patrick-ness.html

Review: Shut Out

Shut Out
Kody Keplinger
2011; Poppy (Little, Brown); ISBN 978-0-316-17556-2 (hardcover)

Summary:  For ten years, the football and soccer players at Hamilton High have been locked in a tense rivalry.  It's been getting worse--people are getting hurt now.  Lissa, the girlfriend of quarterback Randy, is sick of being left behind and coming second to the battle.  Then she gets an inspired idea: the girlfriends will hold a sex strike until the rivalry is over.  If the guys aren't getting any, they're bound to bury the hatchet.  It all seems to be going to plan . . . but Lissa didn't count on falling for Cash, who is Mr. Unattainable and the leader of the guys.  Lissa will have to figure out if the strike is about sex, the rivalry, or her desire to control everything to prevent getting hurt.

Once again mining the intersection of teenage love and sex, Kody Keplinger has crafted an opinionated, thought-provoking follow-up to her debut novel The D.U.F.F.  Like in the ancient Greek play Lysistrata, Lissa choose to end a war by withholding physical affection.  This makes sense to Lissa, a secret romantic with a powerful need for control.  These two elements of her personality clash throughout the novel, and it's thanks to people like Cash, her father and brother, and her friends that Lissa is able to balance the two sides of nature.  Through it all, the dialogue snaps with truth and the characters act like realistic teens.  Pass Shut Out along to fans of Carolyn Mackler or anyone looking for an insightful look into teen relationships.

Other Reviews
What's on the Bookshelf: http://whatsonthebookshelf-jen.blogspot.com/2011/08/review-shut-out-by-kody-keplinger.html
Parenthetical:  http://www.parenthetical.net/2011/05/30/review-shut-out-kody-keplinger-sept-2011/
Janicu's Book Review:  http://janicu.wordpress.com/2011/07/15/shut-out-by-kody-keplinger/
Good Choice Reading:  http://www.goodchoicereading.com/2011/06/review-shut-out-by-kody-keplinger.html