Review: Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty

Title: Sloppy Firsts [Amazon|GoodReads]
Author: Megan McCafferty [Website|Twitter|Facebook]
Standing: Book one in the Jessica Darling quintet.
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Published: August 28th, 2001 by Crown Publishing Group
Format: Kindle edition; 304 pages.
Source: Borrowed from my local library.

“My parents suck ass. Banning me from the phone and restricting my computer privileges are the most tyrannical parental gestures I can think of. Don’t they realize that Hope’s the only one who keeps me sane? ... I don’t see how things could get any worse.”

When her best friend, Hope Weaver, moves away from Pineville, New Jersey, hyperobservant sixteen-year-old Jessica Darling is devastated. A fish out of water at school and a stranger at home, Jessica feels more lost than ever now that the only person with whom she could really communicate has gone. How is she supposed to deal with the boy- and shopping-crazy girls at school, her dad’s obsession with her track meets, her mother salivating over big sister Bethany’s lavish wedding, and her nonexistent love life?

A fresh, funny, utterly compelling fiction debut by first-time novelist Megan McCafferty, Sloppy Firsts is an insightful, true-to-life look at Jessica’s predicament as she embarks on another year of teenage torment—from the dark days of Hope’s departure through her months as a type-A personality turned insomniac to her completely mixed-up feelings about Marcus Flutie, the intelligent and mysterious “Dreg” who works his way into her heart. Like a John Hughes for the twenty-first century, Megan McCafferty taps into the inherent humor and drama of the teen experience. This poignant, hilarious novel is sure to appeal to readers who are still going through it, as well as those who are grateful that they don’t have to go back and grow up all over again.

So I’m just going to lay it out there.  I have never been so sexually frustrated at the end of a book.  Ever.  Now maybe that’s a bit spoilery, but I don’t think it’s so bad considering this is a five book series and we know these things get drug out in a five book series.  But I’ve never read a contemporary series before; in the world of cliffhangers, Sloppy Firsts is far from the worst, but it was enough to make me die inside just a little and keep me up all night worrying about what’s going to happen to my new BFF Jessica.  Which brings me to my basic conclusion about Sloppy Firsts--I freaking loved it.

Now, I pretty much never read contemporary before this year.  Sure, maybe, if a book was renowned enough or I was required by some form of schooling, but I never really got into the genre.  I’m totally a fantasy girl, and spent the bulk of my library time growing up on the floor of that one aisle at my library combing through the Sci-Fi/Fantasy collection and ignoring all other forms of literature.  And I’m cool with that.  But just this once, I found myself wishing with every fiber of my being that I had read Sloppy Firsts as soon as it came out.  Not only can it easily be crowned my favorite contemporary YA ever, I just know this book would have spoken to teenage me like a lifeline of sanity (or mutual morbidity).

Dude, Jessica Darling is my homegirl.  And I would totally print that on a shirt and wear it.  Yeah she has her annoying quirks, like getting all giggly when she’s awkward or embarrassed, but for the most part she’s probably the fictional character I could most see myself being friends with in high school.  We both really hate weddings and just want to elope, we both didn’t bother buying yearbooks, we’re both phone phobic, goody-goody ‘smart’ kids, and we’re both pretty hyper aware of our own ridiculousness.  That doesn’t stop us from stressing to the point of physically harming our own bodies, being dramatic about our problems, and searching for pretty much any purchase in our home towns.  I love that Jessica is holding out for a guy who can be her best friend, that she so dutifully keeps up correspondence with Hope, and that she writes us her story in her journal.  Technically, that makes Sloppy Firsts an epistolary novel.  I like that, and felt that the journal entries were believable, but at the same time, it read more like a strait up novel to me than you often get with the epistolary format.

I got such a strong feel for all of the characters in this book.  Jessica struggles with relating to her parents, caring at all about her friends (whom she hates), dealing with her mad crush on senior who doesn’t know she exists, and a period that’s completely M.I.A. Of course my favorite character besides Jessica would have to be (you guessed it) Marcus Flutie.  I loved Marcus, because even though I’d seen people mention him before I read this book, he was so completely not what I expected.  In fact, more than anything, he reminds me of my own best guy friend from high school, right down to his woodsy-smoky smell, and I honest to God had ‘why was I just platonic with that guy again?’ thoughts.  Because, dear friends, Marcus Flutie is awesome.  Okay, he’s pretty weird and kind of a dick at times, but he’s also unexpected, quixotic, and pretty perfect for Jessica even if the world doesn’t see it.  

One of my favorite things about Sloppy Firsts was that the two most important and influential characters in Jessica’s life, Hope and Marcus, were more or less absent for the bulk of it.  In fact, Hope is physically nonexistence, and Jessica has a weird curiosity about Marcus that begins to border on an obsession she just can’t drop, so while he’s mentioned often, he’s not very frequent appearance-wise.  I found myself positively pining for more contact with this enigma of a character, while simultaneously loving how drawn out the relationship was.  Sloppy Firsts was, to me, an entirely realistic representation of life in high school, and I loved every agonizing second of it.

Likelihood that I'll be back for more:  Okay, let me tell you, if I had had Second Helpings on hand, or if I hadn’t had to put myself on a wait list for the Kindle edition from Overdrive, I would have started it immediately.  And it was 2:00 am.  And I had to work in the morning.  I call that a sure thing.

Recommended for:  Absolutely anyone and everyone who enjoys contemporary YA.  I have to thank Forever YA for picking this as the March book club pick, or I never would have read it.

Real life repercussions of reading this book:  I have totally and irrevocably changed my opinion of contemporary YA.  It’s not that I haven't enjoyed contemporary since I’ve been pushing myself to read more this year, but this is the first time I’ve ever been completely riveted and dying for more.

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Audio Review: An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

  Title: An Abundance of Katherines [Amazon|GoodReads] 
  Author: John Green [Website|Twitter|Facebook]
  Standing: Stand alone novel.
  Genre: Young/New Adult, Contemporary
  Published: September 21st, 2006 by Brilliance Audio (in print by Dutton Juvenile)
  Format: Audiobook; 6 hrs. 47 min. Read by Jeff Woodman
  Source: Borrowed from my local library.

When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton's type happens to be girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact. He's also a washed-up child prodigy with ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a passion for anagrams, and an overweight, Judge Judy-obsessed best friend. Colin's on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which will predict the future of all relationships, transform him from a fading prodigy into a true genius, and finally win him the girl. Letting expectations go and allowing love in are at the heart of Colin's hilarious quest to find his missing piece and avenge dumpees everywhere.

I’m not sure why this didn’t occur to me until long after I’d finished An Abundance of Katherines that of course I was going to thoroughly enjoy it.  The whole ‘being attracted to someone with a particular name’ thing has The Importance of Being Earnest written all over it, and I don’t think it’s any secret that I am a fan.  And enjoy it I did.  Thoroughly.  An Abundance of Katherines was the book I chose to give my John Green V-Card to, and I really don’t think I could have made a better decision.  This book, to me, was hilarious, but not over-the-top-trying-too-hard ridiculous hilarious, completely-plausible-real-life hilarious.  The kind of hilarious that means you probably shouldn’t listen to this audiobook while working out if you have asthma, because you will inevitably have a laughing fit while already low on breath and have an asthma attack somewhere far from home and your inhaler that you left sitting by the sink.  Quite possibly when Hassan is having a fat kid asthma attack of his own.  So, so worth it.

Jeff Woodman, the narrator, has a pretty sweet backlog of audio goodness behind him.  I’ve listened to his narration of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and Life of Pi, but he also narrates books I’d love to listen to including The Westing Game, The Queen’s Thief series, and other John Green books.  Those are some legit credentials people, and he’s earned them.  His narration of An Abundance of Katherines was spot-on—not the kind of narration that makes a good book better, but the kind of narration that brings a great book to life and lets you consume it in an ideal format.

One of my favorite aspects of An Abundance of Katherines was that I did not like the protagonist, Colin Singleton.  Quite frankly, the kid was a tool, and I love well-written characters that are the types of people I would never hang out with enough to observe in real life.  I mean, I’m all for nerdome and smarty pants and what not, but Colin Singleton just takes it too far.  He’s the kind of kid who’s socially awkward, and knows he’s socially awkward, but only because he has a friend like Hassan to give him clues as to what is and is not interesting for other people to hear.  I was less shocked by the idea that Colin had been dumped by nineteen Katherines than I was by the notion that this dweeb could get nineteen girls to go out with him in the first place.  His social awkwardome doesn’t shut him up or turn him into an introvert, and I kind of love that.  Colin is who he is, and even though I wouldn’t be caught dead with the kid, more power to him for not compromising and for finding friends who do enjoy him for who he is.

Even though Colin is a quirky mega-brain character with many life experiences the rest of us will never have, I feel like he’s incredibly relatable.  He grew up labeled as a child prodigy, and now that he’s finished high school and is ready to move out into the world, he has to decide what it is he’s going to do that will mark his future.  Colin wants to matter.  I think most of us go through a similar experience at one point or another.  We all grew up with certain labels, and we all have to decide whether or not those labels will continue on with us, and what we’re going to do with our lives.  But, as the character Lindsey so poignantly puts it: “What matters to you defines your mattering.”  To Lindsey, her mom, and many people in Guttshot (the town Colin and Hassan end up in on their quarter-life-existential-crisis road trip), it’s stories that make us matter.  For Colin, it’s the idea that he could be a genius—he could figure out what it is that makes someone either a dumper or a dumpee. 

An Abundance of Katherines is full of profound eureka moments about what it means to be an average person living life and what impact that might have, not on the world but on you.  It was hilarious, fun, and full of insight about becoming who you are supposed to be.  My one complaint about the audio version of this book is that you don’t get to see the equations and graphs that Colin writes for his theorem.  For someone very visual, like me, it was kind of hard to picture.  Luckily, other people have posted pics of them, like Chachic, whose review I’ve linked below!

Likelihood that I'll be back for more:  Of course!  I’m reading The Fault in Our Stars for book club, and I plan to listen to Paper Towns and Looking for Alaska on audio.

Recommended for:  Any contemporary fan, people who enjoy road trips, existential crises, eureka moments, and nerds. 

Real life repercussions of reading this book: Um, remember that somewhat vague allusion to this book making you have an asthma attack it’s so funny.  Yuuup.  That was me.

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Review: Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom by Brendan Halpin and Emily Franklin

  Title: Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom[Amazon|GoodReads]
  Author: Brendan Halpin [Website|Twitter] and Emily Franklin [Website]
  Standing: Stand alone novel.
  Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
  Published: March 27th, 2012 by Walker Childrens
  Format: Kindle edition; 257 pages.
  Source: ARC copy from publisher via NetGalley
  Challenge: Completely Contemp Challenge

Lucas and Tessa’s friendship is the stuff of legend in their small Midwestern town. So it’s no surprise when Lucas finally realizes his feelings for Tessa are more than friendship and he asks her to prom. What no one expected, especially Lucas, was for Tessa to come out as a lesbian instead of accepting his heartfelt invitation. Humiliated and confused, Lucas also feels betrayed that his best friend kept such an important secret from him.

What’s worse is Tessa’s decision to wear a tastefully tailored tuxedo to escort her female crush, sparking a firestorm of controversy. Lucas must decide if he should stand on the sidelines or if he should stand by his friend to make sure that Tessa Masterson will go to prom.

Emily Franklin and Brendan Halpin tackle both sides of a ripped-from-the headlines story to show that true friendship will triumph after all.

So…this one’s getting filed under ‘book guilt’ because I honestly had that mental/emotional debate with myself where I wasn’t sure I could be honest about my mediocre feelings for this book.  Why?  Because while I do want to be respected as an honest reviewer, I also don’t want people to get the impression that I harbor views or beliefs that I most adamantly do not.  On the flip side, I can’t pretend to be gung-ho about a book that I didn’t entirely enjoy reading, that wouldn’t be fair to me or that book.  So I just want to say here and now that I am 100% pro gay-rights, and my thoughts on Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom aren’t some anti-gay statement.  I don’t feel guilty for giving the book a ‘meh’ review, but I do feel guilty that I even considered fudging things to make myself feel better about it.

I have to confess—there are few things I was more ambivalent about as a teen (and still am) than prom.  So maybe that should have been a clue right there that a book starring the word ‘prom’ wouldn’t really be the perfectly fitting glass slipper I’ve been waiting on.  And then when right at the beginning, Luke (one of our two protagonists) asks Tessa (the other) to prom with a grand gesture the whole town can see, I really should have just stopped.  Because I’m that girl.  The one who hates grand gestures and public displays of love of a giant scale.  I hate it when people propose on billboards at sports events, heck, I hate it when people propose in public period.  Something about it just makes me so uncomfortable and awkward.  These were the clues I should have taken and just not read this book, but I didn’t want to let something like the P word intimidate me out of a read, so I powered forward.

Here’s the lowdown.  I’ve determined that I’m not really a fan of the ‘let’s get together and write a book from two characters’ points of view…we can each write a character and go back in forth in first person perspective!’ books.  I read Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares which was also a miss for me, and even though I really liked The Future of Us, I can acknowledge that this is not a style I enjoy.  And then there was the fact that this book had “ABC Family Special” written all over it.  You know, if ABC Family were the type of channel to support “the gay agenda” (I’m assuming they’re not, but I could be wrong.  Modern Family is on ABC).  It was very agenda-driven.  A ‘we have a message!’ type book, that’s so steeped in warm fuzzies and fond sentiments by the end I kind of felt like I was drowning in it.  Sure, it makes you feel good inside to see the things you believe about friendship, love, family, and being who you really are regurgitated so blatantly on a page, but it doesn’t challenge you or make you think.  Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom is a great book for teens who may need to see a happy ending come out of a ‘gay in small-town middle America’ story, but I don’t think that it’s going to change anyone’s mind in regards to their stance on sexuality.  And that’s okay!  Not every book needs to be the book that challenges the way people think, and sometimes people really need the support and to feel good at the end of the day, but it was all a bit too hug-it-out for me.

The “ripped-from-the-headlines” story that Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom was based on concerned a Mississippi student, Constance, whose high school prom was cancelled after the school informed her she could not attend prom with a girl, or wearing a tux.  You can read a short ACLU summary here.  Now, admittedly, I don’t know the gritty details of this story, but I had a hard time swallowing a lot of the events in Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom.  For example, the school does nothing when Tessa’s locker is repeatedly vandalized, to the point that her school work (and presumably) textbooks are destroyed.  In fact, they seem to support the vandalism, and even the custodian will do nothing to help clean the locker indicating that she deserved it.  The school suspends students who openly support Tessa, and indicate that they will attempt to negatively affect students’ acceptance and scholarships into colleges as a result.  I find it pretty tough to believe that professionals in this situation, regardless of personal beliefs, would openly support and participate in this type of bullying of any student for any reason.  I find it particularly hard to believe that not a single adult in this school seems to have stood up for this student.   Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom was so busy highlighting the negative to make it all that much bigger of a turnaround by the end that they diminished the positive to an unrealistic level.  

My final nitpick is that they used fake brand names close to but not quite the same as the real thing—I hate when books do this.  Can someone explain this to me?  Is this a result of not wanting/having to pay some sort of fee for mentioning Twilight and Good Morning America?  Because honestly?  It just makes the whole book feel like a knock-off brand to me too.  And I don’t care what people try to tell you, knock-offs are pretty much never as good as the name brand.

I will close in saying that there were some great, positive aspects to this book, and I think a lot of readers will love it.  I’d even recommend it if I met the right person for it.  Tessa’s family was wonderful, and my favorite character in the book was Luke’s mom who was downright awesome.  Luke was a bit of a douchenozzle, but as I’ve gone on long enough I suppose I shouldn’t go off on him too, especially since he spends so much time trying to make up for himself.  At any rate, don’t take my review as the end-all-be-all of Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom.  I’ve included links to some more positive reviews to give you some rounding.

Likelihood that I'll be back for more:  I think I’ve pretty well determined that not only was this book not really my thing, this type of book isn’t really my thing.  To the point that I’ve considered crossing books like Will Grayson, Will Grayson off my list, because I’m pretty sure it just won’t click because of the narrative style.

Recommended for: LGBT teeens, contemporary fans, people who don’t physically cringe or gag over things like grand gestures and prom.

Real life repercussions of reading this book:  I just want to share this response to “I’m Christian, Unless You’re Gay” that came out last week.  I feel like it brought up a lot of the same issues as Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom, but in a way that made me think and feel more than this book was able to.

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Review: The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth

Title: The Miseducation of Cameron Post [Amazon|GoodReads]
Author: Emily M. Danforth [Website|Twitter|Facebook]
Standing: Stand alone novel.
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, LGBT
Published: February 7th, 2012 by Balzer & Bray
Format: Hardcover; 480 pages.
Source: Borrowed from my local library.
Challenge: Completely Contemp Challenge/Debut Author Challenge

When Cameron Post’s parents die suddenly in a car crash, her shocking first thought is relief. Relief she’ll never have to tell them that, hours earlier, she had been kissing a girl.

But that relief soon turns to heartbreak, as Cam is forced to move in with her conservative aunt Ruth. She knows that from this point on, her life will forever be different. Survival in Miles City, Montana, means blending in and not making waves, and Cam becomes an expert at this—especially at avoiding any questions about her sexuality.

Then Coley Taylor moves to town. Beautiful pickup-driving Coley is a perfect cowgirl with the perfect boyfriend to match. To Cam’s surprise, she and Coley become best friends—while Cam secretly dreams of something more. Just as that starts to seem like a real possibility, her secret is exposed. Ultrareligious Aunt Ruth takes drastic action to “fix” her niece, bringing Cam face-to-face with the cost of denying her true self—even if she’s not quite sure who that is.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a stunning and unforgettable literary debut about discovering who you are and finding the courage to live life according to your own rules.

As young adult readers, it’s somewhat rare for us to run into a book that’s more than 400 pages long, and when we do, I feel like those books fall into one of three categories.  There are those lengthy YA books that are so engrossing and quick paced that you just gobble them up without ever noticing the length (see Grave Mercy), there are those that you feel could have had 100+ pages cut and have been better for it (see Partials), and then, there are those that are worth consuming slowly, taking in each word and phrase as it comes because every one of them has been carefully considered and placed to enrich the story.  The Miseducation of Cameron Post is this third kind of book.  I’ll admit I was intimidated by its girth, but I found every moment that I spent reading filling me up in a way that hearty wheat bread can fill your belly--with nourishment and substance.  

Now, I’ll admit, a lot of my attachment to The Miseducation of Cameron Post arose from the fact that this book, more than any other I have ever read, exemplifies my childhood.  If you want to know what it was like growing up in small town Wyoming in the 90s, not too far from Billings, Montana--it’s not all that different from growing up in small town Miles City, not too far from Billings, Montana.  Cameron and I went to the same mall to do school shopping, we stop at the same airport, and more importantly, our towns share the same businesses, people, and atmosphere.  I cannot tell you how badly I was craving Taco Johns every time it was mentioned, and I am so sad for all of you that don’t live in the mountain states and know its glory (you know, as glorious as a Mexican fast food chain can be).  When Emily M. Danforth wrote of thunderheads gathering on the horizon, I could smell it, and feel the hot, dry summer air.  We played with firecrackers, bought gas at Conoco, bought crafts at Ben Franklin’s, we had kids wearing those blue FFA jackets at school; to this day I miss Schwan’s single-serve pizzas and push pops.  I further bonded with Cameron because we were both swimmers who hung out largely with boys, and had lost parents at twelve (thankfully, in my case, not both).  Despite what I felt was a very personal attachment to this book, I don’t think you need to have one to enjoy it.  Danforth creates such a strong image of Miles City, and God’s Promise, that any reader will feel immersed.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a coming of age story in the truest sense of the term.  We follow Cameron from the time that she is twelve, until she is seventeen (or near enough).  I loved seeing Cameron come into her own as a person, realize who she was, and fumble with her sense of self in the same way that every teen experiences.  For Cameron, much of this is focused on the fact that she is a lesbian, but it didn’t have to be--this story would have been just as compelling if she’d been strait.  Certainly, this book will speak to any teens who feel trapped in a situation, their family, their town, and need to find themselves to decide how best to manage their future.  I am not meaning to diminish the importance of The Miseducation of Cameron Post as a work of LGBT literature, merely stating that I think this is a work that could influence anyone, the LGBT aspect is not the only way readers will relate to this book.

Cameron Post herself is one of my new literary best friends.  I love this girl.  She’s a bit of a klepto, which I never understood, but other than that we bonded hard core.  I love that to her, her sexuality isn’t a choice, a political statement, or a counter-culture movement--it’s just who she is.  So many adults in her life reacted to her as if she were acting out, when in reality she was just being a kid, and being who she was.  The sad fact that those she loved most had no idea how to love those parts of Cameron they didn’t agree with or understand broke my heart.

I think it is easy for those many people who live in very liberal areas to look unkindly and with harsh judgement at evangelical Christians such as much of Cameron’s town.  When you only experience these people through the bubble that is media, and not through personal experience, it becomes so easy to write them off as horrible people because of their judgements on homosexuals.  This has always been a tough position for me.  Much of my hometown, and many people that I love dearly share these views.  Their adamant belief that homosexuality equates to damnation doesn’t change the fact that they are often wonderful, caring, heartfelt people.  What Cameron’s family does to her, they do because they are trying to help, and because they love her.  I can respect that, and so can Cameron.  That doesn’t make it right, but I appreciate so much that Emily M. Danforth did strive to show these people as caring, and helpless to understand because of their beliefs.  There was no outspoken rebellion against Christianity in general, only an acknowledgement that the methods used in this particular case were flawed, and doomed from the start--you can’t cure something that isn’t a sickness.  Because of this treatment, I hope that those who avoid books with religious themes are not put off by The Misedcuation of Cameron Post.  It is not preachy either for or against the nature/nurture arguments of homosexuality, it is the story of a girl finding and accepting herself in a time and place where so many obstacles stand in her way.

Likelihood that I'll be back for more: This is one of the strongest debuts I’ve read in 2012, definitely the strongest contemporary debut.  I am so glad that Emily M. Danforth told this story.  I know it was not strictly autobiographical, but I also know it was deeply personal, and I have the utmost respect for her because of this.  I will without question read her next work.

Recommended for:  People who enjoyed The Girls of No Return, or movies like Saved! and But I’m a Cheerleader.  I would recommend this book as an amazing coming of age story, and not just for the LGBT crowd, for anyone.

Real life repercussions of reading this book: I’m kind of making it a meteorological goal to experience thundersnow sometime in my lifetime.  I love thunderstorms, and I love snow, so I’m not sure I can imagine a cooler weather phenomenon (no terrible pun intended).

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Review: The Girls of No Return by Erin Saldin

Title: The Girls of No Return [Amazon|GoodReads]
Author: Erin Saldin
Standing: Stand alone novel.
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Published: February 1st, 2012 by Scholastic Inc.
Format: Hardcover; 348 pages.  
Source: Borrowed from my local library.
Challenge: Debut Author Challenge

I know I need to tell my story--our story--but I don’t know how.  Because the truth, see--it’s a messy thing.  Sometimes the only way to clean it up is to hurtle through each decision you made, trying to find the one that changed everything.  Maybe then you can start to fix it.

The Girls of No Return, Erin Saldin’s debut, was not what I expected.  I expected my heart to be pounding, my adrenaline to be rushing, and to be affected by it on a visceral level.  It didn’t happen that way.  Instead, Lida’s story drew me in slowly (very slowly...we’re talking you better have some perseverance and patience because the first half of this book is extremely subdued), chewed me up, and spit me back out again reflecting on women and our relationships to one another in ways that I had not expected.  

Our story begins at the end--with an epilogue.  Lida is determined to tell her story, reveal her Thing.  There are two mysteries, two events to uncover.  The Thing that brought her to Alice Marshall School, deep in the River of No Return Wilderness Area of Idaho, and the Thing that sent her home.  The school is Lida’s chance at redemption.  Alice Marshall is not quite reform school, maybe more reform school-lite, where troubled girls are given a chance to make peace with their past and form a brighter future.  Lida is determined to skate by, tucked away in her own solitude, but the surprising allure of the glamorous Gia, and the persistence of Lida’s bunk mates Boone and Jules work to draw her out.  Soon Lida finds herself pulled in various directions, unsure of her loyalties and feelings--she never realized she could cause so much damage to anyone besides herself.

Like The Girls of No Return in general, I really had to ease in to liking Lida.  She was soooooo convinced that everyone but her was beautiful, and she felt that her problems were bigger than theirs, like she was some unique butterfly who’d had such a harder go of things than every other girl that ended up at Alice Marshall.  And I really don’t think she ever moved beyond this point of view.  Luckily, I did, and so did the story.  I spent the last half of the book with my guts twisting in horror for this girl.  Lida is so vulnerable, so easily manipulated, and so unaware of her own feelings that it hurts to read.

Lida finds herself in the middle of a battle of wills between two girls, Boone and Gia.  Boone is rough around the edges and quick to bite.  She’s renowned at Alice Marshall for ‘welcoming’ the girls as they arrive, and is the only one among them without a safety net out in the real world.  Gia is beautiful, mysterious, and quick to rule to roost.  She wraps Lida around her fingers, understanding the way Lida feels about her even though Lida herself doesn’t really seem to get that her desires for Gia’s attention are more than platonic.  She does so much to draw Lida out of her shell, but when Lida tries to dig under Gia’s surface, Gia balks.  Gia accuses Lida of so many behaviors she herself is guilty of, claiming Lida knows everything about her, when in reality Lida knows nothing.

The Girls of No Return was a very powerful reflection of the relationships girls have with one another.  Initially, I kept thinking that these problems weren’t big enough, or exciting enough, and then I realized that they were more real.  These are the horrible things teen girls really do to one another.  I think the thing that saddened me the most was this--there was next to no male presence in this book, and still, a man almost entirely defines what goes down in the wilderness.  I hate this reality, that women can be so cruel, manipulative, and horrible to one another for such simple reasons.

In the end, I appreciate how The Girls of No Return affected me.  It was a slow, but powerful story that unfolded in a way that jerked at my emotional core.  There may have been no tears, but I certainly had some nice long thoughts about why I’ve never had many close female friends.

Likelihood that I'll be back for more: I would love to check out whatever Saldin writes next.  The Girls of No Return has been compared to Speak and Cut.  While I didn’t think it was as strong as Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak, I am interested in checking out Patricia McCormick's Cut.

Recommended for:  Girls (or women) who are going through a rough time, those who enjoy outdoorsy stories (though it wasn’t as outdoorsy as I was expecting), fans of Speak.

Real life repercussions of reading this book:  One of the sites in this book is a fire watch tower up in the wilderness.  In the Big Horns, where I grew up, we have our own fire watch tower that you can hike to for an amazing view. I thought it might be fun to share something from my own experience that would be similar to what Lida saw:

Looking up at the fire tower pre-climb.

View of Meadowlark lake from the fire tower.

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Review: The Probability of Miracles by Wendy Wunder

Title: The Probability of Miracles [Amazon|GoodReads]
Author: Wendy Wunder[Website|Twitter|Facebook]
Standing: Stand alone novel.
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Magical Realism
Published: December 8th, 2011 by Razorbill
Format: Hardcover; 357 pages.  
Source: Borrowed from my local library.
Challenge: Completely Contemp Challenge.

Cam is running out of time, and running out of options.  She’s spent the past seven years in and out of hospitals, undergoing treatments and tests, and finally the medical world has declared there’s nothing more to be done.  Her mother refuses to believe this and begins pushing Cam to try all sorts of treatments--herbs, acupuncture, and most ridiculous of all, moving to Promise, Maine.  Promise is apparently known for miracles, so Cam, her mom, and her sister Perry pack up and head out, hoping for a miracle of their own.  Perry and their mother seem to see the miraculous in all things, whereas Cam can only see the coincidence.  Though maybe, it’s the coincidences that matter.  With one summer to complete her flamingo list, Cam learns to reach out, love, and live with Promise and hope.

This book took its sweet time worming its way into my heart.  In the beginning, I found myself as cynical as Cam, though not identifying with her.  She annoyed me a bit at times, as she’s fairly judgey, and while I am equally judgey, it’s not about the same things and thus I judged her.  Does that even make sense?  Meh.  Cam has closed off her heart to possibilities and hope, knowing that she has a finite amount of time left to live.  As the town of Promise and its inhabitants slowly pried open Cam’s cynical heart and infused her with life, The Probability of Miracles did the same for me.  I was so resistant to this book, I’m not sure why, but it completely won me over by the end and left me feeling oddly comforted.

I loved the multicultural aspects of this book, and found they made Cam more accessible.  Her family is an array of culture; her mother is Italian, her father was Somoan, her little sister’s father was Norwegian, and her mother’s boyfriend is Japanese.  At one point Asher (yes, of course there’s a boy *wink*) comments that Cam doesn’t live her culture, she performs it, and I found this to be one of the most beautiful sentiments of the book.  It seems incredibly cheesy but fitting that Cam and her sister essentially grew up at Disney World.  How sweet is that?  Can you imagine?  Childhood me is fuming with jealousy.  Adult me still hates Florida and thinks it is a 90’s time-warp, but still...  

Physically, Cam describes herself as ‘cancerexic’ and speaks negatively towards super skinny body types.  I know, some girls can’t help being skinny, but some starve themselves to be that way and I love seeing a positive image towards feeding oneself!  She was formerly heavier, and now keeps her hair cut short ignoring stereotypes that come with her chosen style.  Finally, Cam’s relationships with the other women in her family, her mother, her grandma, and her sister are enviable and strong whether she knows it or not, and the connections she makes in Promise show her to have a warm and welcoming heart she thought she’d closed long ago.

What initially seemed like it was going to be the next screenplay for a Hallmark Movie Channel special (okay, yes, I do watch a lot of those at Christmas and enjoy them), turned out to be a deeply moving book that blurred the lines between optimism and cynicism.  It’s about having something be about something other than a sickness when that sickness is all you have, and that is everything.

Likelihood that I'll be back for more:  This was a lovely debut, and I would certainly read more from Wendy Wunder...preferably if it’s not about cancer.

Recommended for:  Cynics, optimists, hula dancers.  You can read the first 5 chapters of The Probability of Miracles here!

Real life repercussions of reading this book: Riptide Rush really is the best flavor of Gatorade!  Gotta get me some of that...

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Review: Midnight in Austenland by Shannon Hale

Title: Midnight in Austenland [Amazon|GoodReads]
Author: Shannon Hale [Website|Twitter|Facebook] 
Standing: Stand alone, companion novel to Austenland.
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Romance
Published: January 31st, 2012 by Bloomsbury USA
Format: Kindle edition.
Source: ARC from publisher via NetGalley.

It turns out that it’s not always safe to think things alone to oneself, even at midnight.

Charlotte is an overbearing mother of two, a divorcee, and hopelessly in need of a getaway.  When she is reminded of a goal to read Austen, she picks up the books, and finds herself yearning to escape into the Regency world.  After too many blind dates, she determines she owes herself a break.  Charlotte sets up a vacation at Pembrook Park, leaves her kids with their unfaithful father, and heads to England to immerse herself in Austenland.  Pembrook Park offers more than she expected, however, when mysteries begin rippling to the surface.  What is a part of the game, and what is real?  Who is real?

If you pick up Midnight in Austenland because you read and loved Austenland, and are hoping for another taste, you’re picking it up for the wrong reason.  And you’re probably going to be disappointed.  Luckily, I am here to prepare you (as this review at Janicu’s Book Blog prepared me) so that you can get through Midnight in Austenland with a smile on your face and a song in your heart (or something marginally less cheesy that equates to actual enjoyment of this book).

If Pride and Prejudice was the main inspiration for Austenland, Midnight in Austenland was inspired by darker Gothic tales like Rebecca, The Haunting of Hill House, Jane Eyre, Agatha Christie, and of course, Northanger Abbey.  I actually appreciate that Hale decided to highlight one of Austen’s works that gets far less attention.  Sure, Northanger Abbey isn’t everyone’s favorite, it certainly isn’t mine, but Midnight in Austenland helps to remind us that there are very different women out there, with different interests, personalities, and life experiences that mold them.

I had a difficult time identifying with Charlotte, but I do believe many women out there will feel a bond with her.  Charlotte is in her mid-30s, and while she is a successful and savvy business woman, her personal life is a wreck.  Her husband, the father of her two children, has left her for some trollup named ‘Justice’ (seriously people, if you don’t want your kids to be a self-fulfilling prophecy/hypocrisy, don’t give them a quality as a name), and she can’t help but butt into her children’s lives inappropriately for worry of them.  Her confidence is crushed.  Like too many women who get treated poorly by the men they love, Charlotte blames herself, certain she is defective in some way and afraid to open up to anyone.  Where Jane, our heroine in Austenland, knew the etiquette and was able to present herself with an earnest wit and ease, Charlotte is constantly self-conscious and stumbling, screaming at her inner self to be better in some way.  Let’s put it this way: Charlotte is so sensitive and self conscious that she made it a point to never go to the same gynecologist twice.  If that doesn’t tell you something about this woman, I don’t know what will.

Like its predecessor, Midnight in Austenland is more about the growth of the main character than about the plot.  While Austenland was primarily a romance, this new offering holds more mystery and intrigue (but yes, there is some romance too!).  Like any good mystery, there are multiple questions and story lines that must be tied up and answered.  Due to the setting, it becomes necessary to try to separate the fiction from the reality, and as such I found Midnight in Austenland to be much less predictable than I would have surmised.

All in all, I thought Midnight in Austenland was a charming and true coming of middle-age story.  After all:

Jane Austen had created six heroines, each quite different, and that gave Charlotte courage.  There wasn’t just one kind of woman to be.

Likelihood that I'll be back for more:  I’ve started in on Hale’s works for younger readers now (listening to The Princess Academy), but I would love suggestions of good modernized Austen retellings or Austen-esque books!  

Recommended for:  Northanger Abbey fans, those who enjoy Agatha Christie, or a little mystery with their romance.

Real life repercussions of reading this book: I totally read like Eddie!  I literally will cover a page with my hands to avoid reading ahead at critical moments.  What about you?

“What about you, Eddie?” Charlotte asked.  “Do you take a peek to the last page?”  

“Never.  I cover the right page while I read the left, lest I accidentally read ahead.  I am a slave to the story.  So long as a book is not trying to be useful or pontificate at me tirelessly, I am its willing servant.”

Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Title: Anna and the French Kiss [Amazon|GoodReads]
Author: Stephanie Perkins [Website|Twitter|Facebook]
Standing: Stand alone novel, but there are/will be two companions!
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Published: December 2nd, 2010 by Listening Library/Dutton
Format: Audiobook/Kindle edition.
Source: Borrowed from my local library.
Challenge: Completely Contemp Challenge.

Anna's father, who seems to basically be Nickolas Sparks, decides to ship her off to boarding school in Paris for her senior year to get herself some culture.  She doesn't want to go, and is bitter at her lack of choice, but she finds herself not entirely hating the place once she makes some new friends--particularly Etienne St. Claire.  St. Claire is American born, English raised, and French sired.  And if you don't find that hot, well I don't know what's wrong with you.  Too bad he's taken; not only does he have a girlfriend, but her new friend Meredith's totally in love with him.  Besides, Anna still has feelings about Toph from back home, right?  Ha!  Prepare for a year of awkward.

Let’s take a moment to discuss the importance of choosing the right format.  I initially picked up Anna and the French Kiss as an audiobook, and after suffering through 5 chapters I was ready to give up.  I couldn’t stand the narrator, Kim Mai Guest.  To me, the narration came across as very whiney, snobby, made the whole story seem very vapid, and I did not want to hear it.  Needless to say, I won’t be listening to other works like How I Live Now or Wildwood Dancing that are also narrated by Kim Mai Guest.  Now, I do want to emphasize that this audiobook was recommended by multiple people, so don’t let my bad experience make up your mind--just know that if you don’t like it, you can always change formats!  Since pretty much everyone loves this book, I decided I’d switch over to the Kindle edition and push through to see if I could like it better.  This made all the difference!

My judgements and emotions went back and forth a lot throughout this book.  I love boarding school (living vicariously), but I hate Paris (maybe hate is extreme, but I don't like it).  I loved St. Clair (awesome friend), but he was kind of a douche (crappy boyfriend).  Anna was annoyingly naive (come on, no one watches that much film and doesn’t know ‘pissed’ means drunk in Britain), but totally identifiable (more on this later).  There were some teeth grinding cliches (like bending down to pick things up and bumping heads), but the story was very true to life and the crappy decisions many people make in relationships.  In the end, I decided I really liked it, and appreciate Perkins’s honesty and ability to wrangle uncomfortable situations into text in a way that made me scream “WHY AM I SO AWKWARD?”

So...since this is a romance, let’s discuss the leads!  I identified with Anna a lot, in ways that actually made me uncomfortable to remember some of the past decisions I made that hurt my personal relationships.  She’s a film buff, and wants to be a critic, which is awesome.  She’s totally awkward about her Americaness upon moving to Paris, which I can 100% identify with.  I spent my junior year in Europe, and had similar feelings upon moving to New York.  Being from Wyoming, my impression of NYC was largely formed watching episodes of Sex and the City.  I was so nervous to even set foot in the city at first, as Anna was in Paris--filled with complete misconceptions and self-consciousness.  Anna was also awesome in that she didn't turn into a bumbling idiot around the guys she liked. She was still her intelligent, funny, silly self. Finally, I completely loved Anna’s outlook on sex.  She basically states that she wouldn’t have sex with anyone unless, if she were to get knocked up, she wouldn’t be embarrassed to tell said kid who her father was.  YES!  I will totally preach this to my daughters someday.  

And then there’s Etienne St. Claire.  First the good: he’s shorter than Anna (as a 6’ tall woman, I love seeing this sort of thing), he’s totally sweet, funny, and thoughtful, he goes out of his way to make sure Anna feels comfortable and explores Paris.  Then...the bad: he’s so needy that he continues to date his gf, even after he obviously has feelings for Anna because he’s not 100% sure of her feelings, while at the same time actively working to keep any other guy from getting near Anna.  He crosses all the lines.  But then he totally calls Anna on her shit, and there’s totally (at least) two people in this boat, so I guess I can’t funnel all my angsty glares toward him.  Also, yeah, he's going through some crap, and I guess that can make people make stupid decisions. So I forgive the guy.

In the end, I appreciated that this wasn’t a fluffy happy love story, even though it was full of some great humor.  There were a lot of very realistic bumps in the road, and I found myself thinking ‘oh thank goodness I’m not the only one who’s been this stupid’.  

Likelihood that I'll be back for more:  I may have been waffling for the first portion of this book, but by the end I was sold, and will be reading both Lola and the Boy Next Door and Isla and the Happily Ever After.  Does anyone know if Isla will feature the Isla that appeared as a minor character in Anna?  I hope so!

Recommended for:  Girls who need to grow a spine already, Paris lovers, pretty much anyone who likes YA romance. OH WAIT I'M THE LAST PERSON TO READ THIS BOOK.

Real life repercussions of reading this book:  Your vocab word of the day is callipygian.  Meaning having well shaped buttocks.