North of Beautiful

North of Beautiful
written by Justina Chen Headley



I'd heard so much about this book, all incredible, so I finally made an effort to pick it up for myself.  Even just reading the summary, I knew this book was going to be a life-changing one.  And throughout reading the beautifully combined words, it struck chord after chord in relation to my own life.  This is a must-read for every teen, I have no hesitations saying that.  From body image issues to more subtle but just as dangerous forms of abuse, this book jumps headfirst into real issues faced by real people, and true to its title, addresses them beautifully.  The ending is sweet, although I would really have loved to see more of the fallout for her family, but the slightly open ending does leave room for stimulating the reader's own thoughts beyond the words on the page.

Rating: 5/5

The Gemma Doyle Trilogy

written by Libba Bray


A Great and Terrible Beauty


I had read the first two novels in Libba Bray's Gemma Doyle trilogy in the past, although I had done so with many years between the two reads, when the books had first been released.  This is an intricately woven series and as such, unless the reader possesses a stellar memory (which I do not), should probably be read closer together, with many rereads, for best results.  This time around, I read all three novels in a row in the course of about a week, and was not disappointed with the results.  I am not a reader who enjoys pieces set in the Victorian Era.  It seems too far removed from today, and I find it difficult to care.  But Libba Bray manages to craft a world that is both removed from ours today, but still filled with the same basic humanity.  These are characters carefully crafted to be known and loved.  I don't know how Libba Bray plotted the entire detailed story out, but she must have taken the time and effort to do so, building a full world unlike our own that comes to life.  She introduces the new reader to this world alongside Gemma's introduction to the same world, easing us all into a surprisingly full universe.  The worldbuilding suggests a great translation to film, if that is ever pursued.  Minor complaint of unnecessary flowery descriptions every once in a while, but beyond that, a relatively manageable balance of story elements.

Rating: 4.5/5

Rebel Angels




In most trilogies, the second book seems to serve as an expository bridge between the introduction to the world and the massive conclusion.  And while there might be a grain of truth to this with Rebel Angels, the book does a good job of standing up for itself, which is a testament to Bray's storytelling abilities.  Parts of this book subtly set up for events to happen in the third installment, but much of it is able to stand on its own feet (although I wouldn't recommend reading the second book before reading the first).  One thing that really struck me in the reading of Rebel Angels is how easily this series could have been a female-centric Harry Potter...but how that was subverted.  Certainly, parallels can be drawn, as they can be with most great works of fiction, but the books, again, stand on their own.  And on the topic of things that were subverted, Libba Bray is a goddess for many things, but her subversion of the drawn out love triangle is one notable aspect of the story.  It's there, but it's a background element and obviously so.  It's rare that I enjoy the second book in a trilogy, but then, Libba Bray is certainly a one-of-a-kind writer.

Rating: 4.5/5

The Sweet Far Thing




This book, being the conclusion of the trilogy, was arguably the most dramatic of the three.  Each book had its emotional ups and downs, but there's an added element of urgency and confusion mixed in throughout the third, making it a highly emotional read from start to finish.  I'd just finished the book and haven't had the chance to look through interviews or other statements from the author, but I'm very curious to learn how much of the story was planned out in advance, and how much, if any, was made up as she wrote.  For such an intricate story, I would assume it had to be mostly the former.  Bray was able to balance all of the elements she had set up well, with no one plot point dominating the story, but various themes interwoven throughout, equally sharing the space that had been set up for them to coexist, all coming together in an epic finale.

Rating: 5/5

The Realm of Possibility

The Realm of Possibility
written by David Levithan



I was really excited to read The Realm of Possibility.  I'm a fan of Levithan's many other works, and thought this would be on par with his other writing.  Character development is a personal favorite feature of novels, and with 20 different characters featured, I thought we'd get to see plenty of that.  Unfortunately, 20 characters ended up leading to 20 disjointed, messy, incoherent stories, to the point where I was confused about the very purpose of the book.  It read more like an outline for a book than a finished copy.  It was a good start, and could have been executed better, perhaps in using short stories rather than poems, but there wasn't much cohesion between the 20 stories being told.  The writing itself was classic Levithan, full of Big Life Truths, and it did not disappoint.  I can't say the same for the book as a unit, though.

I got this book from...:The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

The Book of Luke

The Book of Luke
written by Jenny O'Connell



This is the kind of thing that gives YA a bad name.  There's novels out there with realistic portrayals of intelligent, mature, rational teenagers...and there's this.  Can we just have some more books out there that tell you how to be a decent person, rather than being negativistic 'this is exactly the opposite of what you should do' books?  Most, if not all, of the problems in this book could have been solved with a nice dose of communication.  Which, granted, many teenagers struggle with...so maybe we could write a book about that instead of perpetuating senseless drama that could be easily resolved otherwise.  I don't have much more to say.  I was disappointed in this book and glad to have it off my shelf.

Rating; 1/5

Soul Enchilada

Soul Enchilada
written by David Macinnis Gill



As much as I love a strong female protagonist, this story was just too convoluted for me to swallow.  Typically, when a book is able to cross genres, it produces a powerful product, but I'm not really sure how to feel about this girl-power supernatural...legal thriller?  I couldn't get past the fact that most of the plot centered around a car.  And yes, the car had deeper symbolic implications, but it was a car.  The story did move at an interesting pace, and the characters were spunky, I'll give them that.  I can honestly say I've never read anything like this story before.  While I wasn't personally too fond of the story, I do think it's pretty incredible how one story can hold different amounts and kinds of meaning to each reader.  This just wasn't it for me.

I got this book from...:LibraryThing SantaThing

How to Say Goodbye in Robot

How to Say Goodbye in Robot
written by Natalie Standiford



I didn't expect much from this book, but I think I can now safely call it one of the best, most emotionally evocative books I've gotten the chance to read.  Many young adult novels discuss the dangers of physically abusive romantic relationships, bypassing the ideas of emotionally abusive relationships as well as abusive platonic relationships, both of which, at least from my vantage point, are huge problems in many teens' lives, and many don't even have the vocabulary for it.  It's also one of the few YA books I've read featuring truly introverted protagonists.  We have our fill of socially awkward penguins, but most of them do gain their energy through social interaction with others, and that's a little more blurred in this book.  I'm grateful for Natalie Standiford's courage in writing an important story, and I hope it was able to bring some level of clarity to other readers as it was able to offer me.

Rating: 5/5

I got this book from...:gift from a friend