Mockingbird
written by Kathryn Erskine

 

I picked this book up after hearing a lot of buzz about what a great read it is.  The added incentive of the author being from my hometown (and nobody's from my hometown) was awesome, too.  I'm actually pretty disappointed that I missed her recent visit to my public library, but I'm hoping there will be more opportunities to meet her in the future.  I really enjoyed this book.  I don't know much about Asperger's beyond reading this book and working with some kids with PDD, so it was emotionally satisfying to really get into the head of a child with Asperger's.  I found myself relating to many of the things Caitlin talked about, although I would imagine her experiences with life would be more intensified than my reflections on them.  I may have missed out on a deeper layer of the story, as I haven't read To Kill a Mockingbird, which is heavily referenced, but I can honestly say this is one of the best books I've read. 

Rating: 5/5

I got this book from...:Kindle Library Lending, Jefferson Madison Regional Library

The Name of the Star

The Name of the Star
written by Maureen Johnson



Release Date: September 29, 2011

There's an interesting story about how I came to own this book.  I've linked to it below.  I may have scared Maureen Johnson in the process.  Sorry, Maureen!  (I mean, I don't apologize for the enthusiasm, creepy as it was.  BUT.)

The book itself, though?  Definitely lives up to the hype.  I've been going off on rants lately about how annoying the stretched out YA trilogies/series tend to be, but Maureen does a great job of writing a novel that can be read on its own, but does extend onwards to more books in the future.  The Name of the Star is a book that isn't comparable to others in its genre.  Come to think of it, it's difficult to even slap a genre label on the book, it's just that good.  There's the complicated intertwining of mystery, paranormal, humor, romance, and John-Green-esque boarding school/girl-Hogwarts.  Only someone as brilliant (...crazy? =P) as Maureen would have ever been able to craft such an enthralling story.  Theorizing about all the impossible possibilities while reading is inevitable, and doesn't stop by the end of the book, either.  The plot twists and unique spins on typical tropes kept me reading this novel in a single sitting.

It's going to be personally interesting to me to see how this book gets categorized.  With the recent trend toward the 'paranormal romance' genre in YA fiction, one theoretically could label this as such.  But I think it's a matter of realizing that the romance is not constantly at the forefront of the story, distinguishing this book as more of a 'supernatural' story than a 'paranormal romance'.  I think this is an important distinction that is easily missed by those who are outside of the YA world, and it bothers me that a brilliant book like The Name of the Star could pretty easily be lumped in with the likes of Twilight, when the stories are worlds apart in content.

As far as appealing to an audience, the book markets itself as featuring 'ghost police'.  That turned me off a bit, until I read and realized they were more of a detective force.  Simple word switch that could mean a lot. (I don't know about you, but 'police' kind of makes me think of one of those cheesy predictable television crime shows.)

I mentioned before that I was glad to see a self-contained book within a series.  I do hope it won't be one of those 'book by book series', with a plot of the day kind of story.  I would love it if there was an overarching plot with continuity, rather than something out of a repetitive kids' series like the Animorphs books.  I am still very excited to see how the story develops in the coming books, and I'm pretty excited about seeing other peoples' reactions to the book as well.

One more nitpicky frustration that has nothing to do with Maureen, though?  This is one of those books where you're better off not reading the summary off the back cover.  It's not too spoilery, but the story takes time to develop and I felt like reading the summary ruined that for me a bit.

I got this book from...:LeakyCon 2011!  Here's the story :)  Probably my favorite moment of LeakyCon, if not my life overall!

Maureen Johnson on Bad Reviews

This morning, Maureen Johnson led a fascinating Twitter discussion on bad (negative and poor quality) reviews--the downfalls and merits of them. Fascinating read--you can follow along by checking out her tweets and the hashtag #badreview.

Kiss Me, Kill Me

Kiss Me, Kill Me

written by Lauren Henderson

While I am not a fan of the marketing angle taken from this book (Really? A book called "Kiss Me, Kill Me" with a trashy romance novel cover?), I will concede that it wasn't the story I expected. I thought it would be mindless trashy romance, and for that reason, it took me a while to get into the story. I was thankfully proven wrong. Kiss Me, Kill Me is much more an action/mystery novel than a romance novel, sort of Ally Carter with a regrettable little bit of Gossip Girl mixed in. Some of the storytelling was a little bit shaky, not too compelling, focusing a little more on the life of a rich socialite than anything else, but overall, I was pleasantly surprised. I was, yet again, disappointed to see that the story was stretched out to fit a series, but like Ally Carter said at LitDay, if a series is going to be stretched out, romance cannot be the driving force, and I'm glad Lauren Henderson took that route in her storytelling. I won't be looking for the sequel, but I also won't say I regret reading the book. It's not something you're going to sit down to read when you're looking for deep content, but as far as fluff reads go, not too bad.

Rating: 3.5/5

Nancy Werlin

I have a large backlog of reviews that need to be written, so I'm knocking out a bunch by featuring a specific author today. :)

Nancy Werlin!

Are You Alone on Purpose?

This was Nancy Werlin's first book, which is glaringly obvious in some ways, as her writing has drastically improved since this book's publication. Instead of the supernatural books she's recently been putting out, this squarely fits into the realistic YA box. The book itself pushes the envelope, even looking at the title, with more provocative language than you'd see in many books. It all serves an important purpose (no pointless swearing or anything like that), and in the end, emphasizes the importance of certain scenes with that content, making it far more realistic than many YA books on the market. I spent a great deal of time while reading this book thinking about how drama-starved we are as readers. Werlin's book moves along at a slow pace, I will say that, but it depicts the average life of an average teen, making it a book readers can truly relate to. The main character, Alison, has her own set of challenges, as does everyone else, but they're not overdone for the sake of gratuitous drama, and for that, I have to thank Werlin. Some of the story gets buried beneath the many messages this book tries to send, and the middle seemed to drag on endlessly, but the end result is really worth it. Some of the plot points end on ambiguous, unresolved notes, but the ending of the story was breathtaking.

Rating: 3.5/5

The Killer's Cousin

I don't have very much to say about this book. I think it was probably the weakest of Werlin's books that I've read so far. The story moved along slowly, annoyingly so, with more filler than necessary. The writing was choppy, in contrast to the beautiful, evocative writing Werlin was so incredibly capable of in Impossible and Extraordinary. On one hand, it almost seems like it was written by an entirely different author, but on the other hand, it truly goes to show how much an author's writing develops as time passes. The book picked up in speed and interest toward the end, and did come to a satisfying conclusion, but by that point, I was honestly sick of reading the book and didn't care.

Rating: 2/5

The Rules of Survival

Oh, the amount of adoration I have for this book. It's an intense story about an incredibly intense topic, but at this point, Werlin's writing had really developed into something worth reading. The characters all seem to come to life in a way her previous books had failed to capture. Much of the story in this book is a mystery, and Werlin does a fantastic job at writing suspense between the lines. I could easily see this being written as a horrid cliche attempt at suspense, but it wasn't! I've rarely encountered such fresh stories and storytelling. The survivor angle is inspirational and brings everything full circle at the story's emotional conclusion. I would have liked to have heard more on the reasons behind his mother's issues, but that is the only complaint I have about the book, and as far as complaints go, that one's pretty nitpicky.

Rating: 5/5

Extraordinary

Extraordinary is Werlin's newest book, and delves into, if such a thing were to exist, a realistic fantasy. I've heard tell that one of the new Things in YA literature has been faeries, but this has been one of the only ones I've bothered to read, and I'm very glad I did. It's rare to find a book, particularly in this day and age where every other YA book published is a "Paranormal Romance", that brings back memories of those old bedtime fairy tales, but this book captures that very essence. It was an immersive, enthralling reading experience, and refreshing to read, similar to Impossible. Two things of note: I really like that the main character's Jewish faith is important to her, and that importance is portrayed in the book without being preachy at all. (The same can be said of Alison in Are You Alone on Purpose?) The other thing that I really found meaningful was the importance of Mallory and Phoebe's friendship. While there is a romance story present, the fact that Mallory and Phoebe's story is the one that holds more importance is telling--again, it's hard to find good YA fiction nowadays, where romance is not the driving factor. Kudos to Werlin, for those things and for once again writing a fantastic novel.

Rating: 5/5

Also by Nancy Werlin:
Impossible

Matched

Matched

written by Ally Condie

Seriously, if I read one more YA dystopian novel where a significant plot rotates around a love triangle... This felt like reading The Hunger Games all over again, except where Suzanne Collins made the vital distinction of making it a survival story first, romance second, Condie did not. This book certainly focuses on a fascinating premise--what would living in a utopian society where each citizen's life was meticulously planned out be like, and what would its eventual downfall be? The book capitalizes on the "matching" phenomenon of the society intensely, this idea that a government would determine an individual's perfect romantic match. Most other aspects unfortunately fall to the wayside. There are hints of a brewing revolution, cracks in the system, but nothing comes to fruition until the last few chapters. Matched would have been a much more interesting book if the main story focused on the societal flaws and brewing revolution rather than Cassia and her dramatic triangular love life. It's Peeta vs. Gale all over again, except where Collins emphasized the fact that her books were not romance novels, Condie shoves the romance down the reader's throats. I'm incredibly excited to see where the sequels go with the story, because it does seem like the major plot is going to go from being the romance to the revolution, but I do still wish that had been the case in this book.

Rating: 4/5

I got this book from...:Amazon

The Last Little Blue Envelope

The Last Little Blue Envelope

written by Maureen Johnson

I always thought the prequel was awkward and over-romanticized. I felt like I was reading a travel guide rather than a YA novel. Even from the start of this book, though, I could tell that Maureen has had time to develop her voice as a writer, and I found the sequel to be much more enjoyable than its predecessor. I loved the little added twist known as Oliver who was added to the story of the 13^th envelope. He was a great addition to the quirky little cast of characters Maureen had previously set up. This book managed to pick up plot details that were left unsolved in the previous book, which made for a thoroughly satisfying conclusion. I ended up completely loving the sequel, and I’m incredibly glad Maureen decided to give it another shot. Totally worth it.

Rating: 5/5

I got this book from...:Amazon