Your Grandma Wears Army Boots...

Mare’s War by Tanita S. Davis:

Meet Mare, a World War II veteran and a grandmother like no other. She was once a willful teenager who escaped her less than perfect life in the deep South and lied about her age to join the African American Battalion of the Women's Army Corps. Now she is driving her granddaughters—two willful teenagers in their own rite—on a cross-country road trip. The girls are initially skeptical of Mare's flippy wigs and stilettos, but they soon find themselves entranced by the story she has to tell, and readers will be too.

Told in alternating chapters, half of which follow Mare through her experiences as a WAC and half of which follow Mare and her granddaughters on the road in the present day, this novel introduces readers to a larger-than-life character and a fascinating chapter in African American history.

Summary from GoodReads.

Octavia (Tavia) and her older sister Talitha (Tali) have had their summer hijacked by their parents. Instead of wiling away those hot summer days babysitting and ogling hot lifeguards, they are stuck in a car, driving across the country with their grandmother, Mare, to go to a family reunion.

Mare’s not like other grandmothers. Despite being in her 80s, she favors high heels, outrageous wigs and drives her little red sports car like a maniac.

Trapped in the confines of a small car, Tavia and Talia are a captive audience to Mare’s stories of growing up poor and joining the African-American battalion of the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) when she was just 17 years old. Though reluctant to listen at first, soon they are asking questions and learning about a part of history really covered in class. Through crazy pit stops, poor road conditions and hot weather, the girls slowly come to understand why Mare is the way she is, and learn what it means to embrace a life lived in spite of the fear of the unknown.

I picked up Mare’s War because I read a moving blog post by Tanita Davis in the wake of the horror in Oslo. This woman’s a writer, I thought to myself, and quick review of her website proved my theory to be true. Mare’s War was available at the library, so I picked it up.

Not only did I end falling in love with Mare (she can be my grandmother any day), but I got to learn something without ever feeling like someone was trying to teach me a lesson. Mare’s War may be narrated by Tavia in the present, but – as the title suggests – this is Mare’s story.

And what a story it is.

Mare’s journey to protect her little sister, and become something beyond being the house girl for the local society maven is captivating. Davis captures her journey during this time period and the politics of WWII (not to mention the irony of fighting freedom for others when you are not complete free yourself) without ever feeling heavy-handed, and the resulting story is a captivating read.

Mare’s personality and journey are so strong however, that her story overshadows that of her Tavia and Tali and their relationship with one another. The periods of time spend in the present while Tavia tries to understand her strained bond with Tali and learn her own strength of character does not have the same impact of the chapters that take place in the past. Mare is just too big of a character. While I enjoyed the present day interludes (and Tavia and Tali’s personalities), I was glued to the couch by what would happen in Mare’s life next.

Mare’s War is highly recommended for readers who are interested in a fictional account of historical events, flamboyant characters, strong women and anyone who enjoys a road trip story.

You can purchase Mare's War from these fine retailers: Powell’s, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Your Local Indie, or you can pick it up at your local library.

Book Source: the library.

Mapping out your relationship highway style...

Don’t Stop Now by Julie Halpern:

On the first day of Lillian’s summer-before-college, she gets a message on her cell from her sort-of friend, Penny. Not only has Penny faked her own kidnapping, but Lil is the only one who figures it out. She knows that Penny’s home life has been rough, and that her boyfriend may be abusive. Soon, Penny’s family, the local police, and even the FBI are grilling Lil, and she decides to head out to Oregon, where Penny has mentioned an acquaintance. And who better to road-trip across the country with than Lil’s BFF, Josh. But here’s the thing: Lil loves Josh. And Josh doesn’t want to “ruin” their amazing friendship.

Josh has a car and his dad’s credit card. Lil has her cell phone and a hunch about where Penny is hiding. There’s something else she needs to find: Are she and Josh meant to be together?

Summary from GoodReads.

Lillian wakes up the morning after her last day of high school (ever!) to a mysterious voice mail from her default friend, Penny. Although it’s just three words long – “I did it.” – the message is enough to trigger a foggy memory of Penny planning her own kidnapping. Fake kidnappings are just too much trouble to handle alone – which basically sums up Lil & Penny’s entire relationship – so Lil calls in reinforcements: her real best friend, Josh. Aka the boy who is the definition of unrequited love interest.

Lil and Josh go together like peanut butter and jelly, complete with a general “screw those people with nut allergies” attitude, so (unsurprisingly) upon learning of the adventures of one bad Penny, Josh hits upon the perfect solution.

Can we say road trip?

Armed with vague memories of Penny’s destination and a strong desire to avoid FBI interrogation, Josh and Lil leave Chicago for the open road, destination: Portland, Oregon. Along the way they’ll stop to see the more absurd of the road side attractions and explore that spark that always makes them seem more than friends. By the time they reach Portland, will they have reached a new stage in their relationship as well?

Lil and Josh are very, very clearly teenagers and entitled ones at that. With few familial or economic responsibilities , they can just take off. Armed with Josh’s Dad’s credit card and the semi-reliability of his A/C-less van, they are beholden to nothing other than their own questions. Will this road trip help them find Penny? And more importantly will it answer the questions Lil has always had regarding the possibility of upgrading Josh from best friend to boyfriend?

By sending Josh and Lil on a road trip, Halpern is able to intensely focus on their actions, interaction and reactions. Whether or not Lil will forever be stuck in the friend zone (or even if it is better for her there) is what drives the plot and our understanding of Lil and Josh together. The only outside perspective she supplies comes from Penny’s diary entries.

These diary entries both help and hurt Lil and Josh as characters. We get to experience how Penny perceives them – the ultimate couple whose coupling she doesn’t quite understand the dynamics of, but whose support of one another goes unquestioned.  This is in clear contrast to Penny’s own abusive romantic relationship and her broken family ties. Thanks to these diary entries, I as the reader could see why Penny had gone to such extremes, whereas Josh and Lil have only their impressions of Penny to go on. Still their ignorance in light of her behavior is hard to witness. Even at the very end when Lil confronts Penny about the kidnapping, she cut’s off the other girl’s explanation of why.

While I know – and the story takes great pains to point out – that Lil viewed Penny as a pity friend, I had a hard time accepting this part of Lil’s character. And the reason has to do with the fact that outside of Josh we never really hear about anyone else in Lil’s life. The reader never gets to see Lil interact with another female character (real friend-wise) because she is so wrapped up in Josh that no one else appears to matter.

Very teenager-y? Yes. And maybe Lil is just one of those girls that enjoy the company of men over women. But there was a certain level of insularity to both her and Josh’s character to kept me from loving them whole-heartedly despite the great rapid dialog, crazy landmarks, and the will they or won’t they romantic tension.

Without the Penny drama, Don’t Stop Now is a light road trip tale of best friends trying to define their relationship – whatever that is – before they pass on into full adulthood and all the requirements and restrictions that come with the title. When viewed through a teen viewfinder, we get to explore the friendship zone with two people full of charm and adventure. Whether these things will transition with them to the next stage of life is what Lil and Josh are trying to discover. In fact, had Penny not been part of this, I think I would have been unfazed by Lil and Josh’s flakier moments. Sadly, I’ve known too many Penny’s this affects my judgment of their reactions to her situation.

Despite this, I did enjoy learning about their different stops along the way. I even learned something new about Portland (I’d never been to/or heard of the Rimsky-Korsakoffee House) that I will have to check out. This does lead me to one correction in the text though. While in the Church of Elvis, Lil observes someone giving them the devil sign for talking to loud:

“Can we get out of here?” I ask Penny. “That woman is giving us the evil eye,” which she is, literally, by staring at us and pointing the devil hand sign in our direction.

-page 213 of Don’t Stop Now.

Guys, that’s not the devil sign! It’s the quiet coyote, the hand symbol used by teachers in classrooms and school assemblies to bring order and silence…as well as the occasional smart-ass howl.* (I’m told by high school teachers it doesn’t work so well for them. )

Even zoos have heard of it:

The inclusion of the quiet coyote, although it was unknowing, made my day. For that scene alone I have told three people about this book.

I picked up Don’t Stop Now because it sounded like a fun “will they or won’t they” novel with the added bonus of some Portland landmarks. In the end, I found that my reservations regarding Penny’s situation and Lil and Josh’s attitude toward that situation dimmed my overall enjoyment slightly. Maybe it’s a sign of my age that I wanted a little more from these characters. Still, this won’t keep me from picking up Halpern’s other titles if my mood and the library’s hold system are in alignment.

Recommended for fans of road trips and the best friends turned lovers trope (or at least an exploration of some of its aspects). Like movie theater popcorn Don’t Stop Now will either be the perfect accompaniment to a summer day or leave you with a hangover from the butter high.

You can purchase Don’t Stop Now from these fine retailers: Powell’s, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Your Local Indie, or you can pick it up at your local library.

*This in itself is amusing because anyone who lives in a rural area with a coyote population will tell you that they are often anything but quiet. It took me many years after I moved out of my parent’s house to get used to going to sleep without their howling.

But, Mama, he’s a magic man...

The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen:

It’s the dubious distinction of thirty-year-old Willa Jackson to hail from a fine old Southern family of means that met with financial ruin generations ago. The Blue Ridge Madam—built by Willa’s great-great-grandfather during Walls of Water’s heyday, and once the town’s grandest home—has stood for years as a lonely monument to misfortune and scandal. And Willa herself has long strived to build a life beyond the brooding Jackson family shadow. No easy task in a town shaped by years of tradition and the well-marked boundaries of the haves and have-nots.

But Willa has lately learned that an old classmate—socialite do-gooder Paxton Osgood—of the very prominent Osgood family, has restored the Blue Ridge Madam to her former glory, with plans to open a top-flight inn. Maybe, at last, the troubled past can be laid to rest while something new and wonderful rises from its ashes. But what rises instead is a skeleton, found buried beneath the property’s lone peach tree, and certain to drag up dire consequences along with it.

For the bones—those of charismatic traveling salesman Tucker Devlin, who worked his dark charms on Walls of Water seventy-five years ago—are not all that lay hidden out of sight and mind. Long-kept secrets surrounding the troubling remains have also come to light, seemingly heralded by a spate of sudden strange occurrences throughout the town.

Now, thrust together in an unlikely friendship, united by a full-blooded mystery, Willa and Paxton must confront the dangerous passions and tragic betrayals that once bound their families—and uncover truths of the long-dead that have transcended time and defied the grave to touch the hearts and souls of the living.

Summary from GoodReads.

In Walls of Water, North Carolina, the Blue Ridge Madam was just one more decrepit Southern mansion before Paxton Osgood’s family and the Women’s Society Club decided to resurrect it to its former glory. Despite being a descendent of the former owners, Willa Jackson isn’t too thrilled by the Osgoods or any of the Walls of Water society mavens, but she is happy the Madam is getting her due.

"Whenever I would get too nosy as a child, my grandmother would say, "When you learn someone else's secret, your own secrets aren't safe. Dig up one, release them all." – The Peach Keeper

The Madam’s restoration takes a dark turn, however, when the body of Tucker Devlin is uncovered. A door-to-door salesman and con artist, Devlin blew into town in the 30s and captivated its inhabitants with his face, golden promises and an odd ability to command the elements. Now seventy-five years later the man who claimed to have peach juice in his veins is discovered buried under the estate’s lone peach tree, right next to a cast iron skillet – the possible murder weapon. And the most likely suspect? Willa’s grandmother, now trapped mostly in her mind by Alzheimer’s and living in a nursing home.

Devlin’s death was the birth of the Women’s Society Club, and it will take Willa and Paxton – granddaughters of its founding members – working together to discover what happened in Walls of Water so long ago. Along the way they will have to come to terms with their lost dreams, town roles and the true meaning of friendship.

The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen has been making the rounds as the perfect summer novel for book club set, which normally would make me walk in the other direction. Maybe it’s too many years in the business or too many years just hearing the phrase “book club pick” associated with what publishers consider women’s fiction, but the whole marketing process has been done so often that it strips the books of their uniqueness. Not the book’s fault, but with so many other choices out there, it makes it easy for me to pass on by. Sell me on why I would like it, not why it won’t anger the eight other ladies in the group.

And this is what Katy the Pages Worth Remembering tumblr did by posting several passages from the novel:

"Throughout marriages and children, Willa and Paxton would still call each other almost every night, sometimes just to say goodnight. Sometimes Willa would know it was Paxton without her ever having to say a word. She would be in bed, Colin asleep beside her, and the phone would ring and she would pick it up and say, ‘Good night, Paxton. I’m here if you need me.’

That, they knew, was true friendship.

And they knew, if you’re lucky enough to find it, you hold on to it.

Hold on, and never let it go."

A little sweet and sappy? Yes, but that was the mood I was in when I added The Peach Keeper to my library list. I’d had enough books with mean girls and infighting, and I wanted something soothing.

The Peach Keeper is a gentle novel whose magical realism followed in the same vein as Hoffman’s Practical Magic. Despite the magical elements, this is a novel about two women understanding who they are and how important the connections they have with others are to their wellbeing. As Paxton’s grandmother explains her current and enduring friendship with the Alzheimer ridden Georgie:

“We are friends,” Agatha snapped. “She’s still here. I’m still here. And as long as we are we’ll always be friends.”

Connections to last a life time.

This is the heart of the book: friends are there for each other, they stand up for each other and they support one another in times of need. Sweat and idealistic at times, but comforting to read none the less.

The Peach Keeper didn’t break new ground or blow me away, but it did make me smile while I sat on my porch swing enjoying the summer that just finally got here. I don’t necessarily agree with everywhere the story wandered, but its slow Southern drawl pulled me in.

Recommended for readers looking for a long drink of sweet tea on a hot afternoon and book clubs (of course) who want something less edgy, more heartwarming and not Nicholas Sparks.

You can purchase The Peach Keeper from these fine retailers: Powells, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Your Local Indie, or you can pick it up at your local library.

Book Source: The library.  

In the Vespers I see...

The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell:

It’s the summer of 1889, and Amelia van den Broek is new to Baltimore and eager to take in all the pleasures the city has to offer. But her gaiety is interrupted by disturbing, dreamlike visions she has only at sunset—visions that offer glimpses of the future. Soon, friends and strangers alike call on Amelia to hear her prophecies. However, a forbidden romance with Nathaniel, an artist, threatens the new life Amelia is building in Baltimore. This enigmatic young man is keeping secrets of his own—still, Amelia finds herself irrepressibly drawn to him.

When one of her darkest visions comes to pass, Amelia’s world is thrown into chaos. And those around her begin to wonder if she’s not the seer of dark portents, but the cause.

Summary from GoodReads.

Baltimore, 1889. Amelia van den Broek has been sent down from her small town in Maine to find a husband. In this city she’ll experience many things for the first time: balls, archery, and mysterious visions that come on at sunset. These visions – some innocent, some sinister – open doors into a high society fascinated by spiritualists and the supernatural. Equally mysterious is Nathaniel, Amelia’s unacceptable suitor, who appears and disappears from her life at will.

As the visions become more horrifyingly true and her obsession with Nathaniel grows, Amelia must take control of her future and her heart.

Saundra Mitchell has an amazing ability to set a scene. In her first book, Shadowed Summer, I sweated along with the main character as she braved the humidity and sun in a search for ghostly answers. In The Verspertine she transports her readers back in time to 1889 Baltimore capturing the feelings of change and the supernatural that captivated the upper and middle classes.

Amelia’s cousin Zora and her parents are lodged somewhere on the upper scale of the emerging middle class – able to provide for dresses and dinner parties – but pinching pennies by doing most of the housework and food prep themselves. It is through this class window that Amelia experiences what Baltimore has to offer. The balls they attend are public, and Zora’s father hires young men to round out their dinner parties. This is how Amelia meets Nathaniel – a poor portrait artist from a bad neighborhood – beginning one of the most intense relationships I have read in young adult fiction.

Amelia and Nathaniel burn for each other and it comes across in every illicit touch and clandestine meeting. Their actual physical contact is very limited – a touch of bare hands through lace gloves should not smolder this much – but with each connection their bond grows stronger and hotter.

I used the word obsession in my summary and the more I look back on the novel, the more I feel it’s an accurate descriptor of their relationship. They are equally in thrall with each other, caught up in a first love that threatens to be all consuming. It is a testament to Mitchell’s writing ability that I was able to accept this level of feeling from both of them as real and not destructive. It helps that this is not the only example of love in the book (for example, Mitchell allows Zora and Thomas’s relationship to build on their mutual respect).  In fact, it is the myriad of relationships – romantic and familial – that make the story so strong and the results of Amelia’s visions so devastating.*

When you see the future, you take the good with the bad.

After reading The Vespertine, I found myself wondering not how it would do as a YA novel (although I hope it does well…very, very well), but how it would do as a book club selection for a more adult audience. As keeping with the YA genre, Amelia is clearly a teenager attempting to find herself and understand her place in life, but the aspects of Amelia’s visions and her relationships with family, friends and Nathaniel, as well as the time period itself, would make for great discussion topics for mature readers of any age.

Very much recommended for teens looking for a historical novel with romance, drama and a touch of something more, and to all readers looking for something a little different. Fans of Franny Billingsley’s Chime should also check this out. I’m looking forward to the next book and what she plans for the companion novel.

You can purchase The Vespertine from these fine retailers: Powells, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Your Local Indie, or you can pick it up at your local library.

Book Source: The library, but I will be purchasing my own copy soon.

*Read the whole book and then read the acknowledgements. I’m with Jackson Pearce.

Feel that Heavenly fire...

Angel Burn by L.A. Weatherly:

Willow knows she’s different from other girls, and not just because she loves tinkering with cars. Willow has a gift. She can look into the future and know people’s dreams and hopes, their sorrows and regrets, just by touching them. She has no idea where this power comes from. But the assassin, Alex, does. Gorgeous, mysterious Alex knows more about Willow than Willow herself does. He knows that her powers link to dark and dangerous forces and that he’s one of the few humans left who can fight them. When Alex finds himself falling in love with his sworn enemy, he discovers that nothing is as it seems, least of all good and evil.

In the first book in an action-packed romantic trilogy, L. A. Weatherly sends readers on a thrill ride of a road trip — and depicts the human race at the brink of a future as catastrophic as it is deceptively beautiful.

Summary from GoodReads.

While reading Angel Burn by L.A. Weatherly, I was struck by how easily this could have transitioned to the adult Urban Fantasy market. Despite being teens, both main characters act older due to the situations they’ve experienced. It would be easy to just age the main characters up a few years and let them follow through on certain actions, and voila! This book could go live in a second section at the bookstore.  Really, I mean it. The characters – one of whom is a trained killer – experience end of the world making events and make decisions in accordance with these situations. While Willow certainly reads younger than Alex, one could argue that it’s due to her lack of life outside her small town, not age. The resulting story manages to overcome a few faltering steps to tell a compelling adventure.

Here’s the deal: Willow is one of those girls. You know, the ones that wear funky retro clothes and work on cars. She’s an outsider, who makes herself even more of one by acting as the living, breathing Oracle of Pawtucket , NY. Sure, her classmates value her ability to divine what college will accept their middling grade point average, but they are just not that excited to invite her to the next beer bash. The exception to this is her one and only friend Nina who accepts Willow for who she is because she doesn’t believe in all that fortune telling nonsense.

Obviously this makes it a little hard for Willow to share the burden of the darker futures she foresees. With her Mom mostly off in la la land (see: semi functional coma), and her aunt resentful of her presence, Willow has pretty much been making her own decisions for years, which is why she barely hesitates to give a reading to her popular classmate Beth. Instead of seeing SATs and college admissions, her vision shows the impossible: Beth has seen and interacted with an Angel – one who is sucking the energy from her with every meeting.

You see, in Willow’s world Angels exist. Only instead of passing on heavenly enlightenment and being guardians to all things great and small, they harvest our energy and leave their human victims with Angel Burn. The burn manifests during the feeding as euphoria, but this brain suck results in a whole spectrum of physical and mental illnesses. The drainee doesn’t realize this, of course, and its this compelling desire to once again be an Angel’s fruit smoothie that has driven the masses to build places of worship to these heavenly beings.

The Church of Angels is nationwide, mega-sized, and coming to a city near year.

Working to combat these parasitic faux saviors are the Angel Killers (the AKs for short*) - a cobbled together band of hunters started by Alex’s father after his wife became an Angel victim. The AKs recently became the jurisdiction of the CIA – despite the fact that the CIA does not operate on US soil – who now texts solo hunters the address of disguised Angels so that they can go blow some halo.

Still with me?

Good, because that was just the back story. You see, Beth – the originator of Willow’s not so heavenly visions – tips off her Angel to our psychic friend, and he realizes that Willow is an even bigger threat to Angel-kind than Miss Cleo.

Seeing as how she is actually half angel. That’s right, if biblical history has taught us nothing else, it’s that nephilim will not be tolerated.**

Next thing you know, Alex gets a text and makes his way to Pawtucket, to go hunting.

Props to Weatherly for giving Angels the soylent green spin, and creating a couple of characters who have a habit of making the right decisions. Once Willow and Alex head for the road, Willow does not give in to the need to call home, and Alex is willing to see beyond the Angelic obvious. Combine this with the author’s use of the hysterical religiosity of the Church of Angel followers with a splash of current social networking, and suddenly there’s a creepy sense of halo-ed Big Brother hunting our protagonists.

Angel Burn is a road trip story, an Urban Fantasy and a new creationist tale all rolled into one. As the only two people out to save the world, Willow and Alex have to set aside their differences and grow to love and understand one another while trying to stop a massive Angelic influx.

It is the building of this relationship where the story experiences the occasional hiccups. Due to her isolation with Alex, Willow’s feeling read a little Stockholmish, while Alex overcomes his prejudices and goes a bit flowery pretty quickly. Truthfully, I was willing to completely accept both of these things until the couple has some Garden of Eden time up in the mountains. They choose to acknowledge the physical, but not go all the way. Not because they don’t have any birth control or that it wouldn’t be the best time for Willow to get knocked up before they save the world, but because Willow isn’t ready. Sentiment appreciated? Yes. Is the behavior all sorts of gentlemanly? Of course. But truthful to the situation? Eh, I fully believe that given a chance those two would have been getting it on like the Rapture was tomorrow.

Alternating between first person (Willow) and third (Alex, the villian, and others), L.A. Weatherly creates a story of action and adventure that reads like a movie. Readers will be compelled along as Willow and Alex fight to bring down the Church of Angels, and save us all from unknowing from their touch.

Angel Burn is the first of a planned trilogy that has even this paranormal burnout interested in what will happen next.

Recommended for paranormal fiends looking for something new, YA-oholics who don’t want an Edward/Bella/Jacob love triangle and any reader who wants something to burn with over the summer break.

You can purchase Angel Burn from these fine retailers: Powells, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Your Local Indie, or you can pick it up at your local library.

Book Source: My church of choice – the library. 

*Yep, and just like the 47s, you just aim them and fire.

**and that it’s okay to get it on with a sibling in ye olden times.

Make me a bird so I can fly far, far away from here...

Lark by Tracey Porter:

When sixteen-year-old Lark Austin is kidnapped from her Virginia hometown and left to die in a snowy forest, she leaves behind two friends who are stunned by the loss. As Lark's former best friend, Eve can't shake the guilt that this tragedy was somehow her fault. Meanwhile, Nyetta is haunted each night by Lark's ghost, who comes through the bedroom window and begs Nyetta to set her soul free. Eve and Nyetta realize that Lark is trapped in limbo, and only by coming together to heal themselves will they discover why.

Tracey Porter's stunning narrative about love and loss demonstrates that forgiveness can never come too late.

Summary from Goodreads.

Lark is a slim volume that tells the story of After. After Lark Austin is kidnapped from gymnastics practice and found in the woods of her Virginian town two days later – tied to a tree and dead from exposure. It’s the story of the two people who knew her best – her former best friend Eve and Nyetta, the little girl Lark used to babysit. It’s the story of Lark, trapped in the forest and doomed to become one more lost girl unless someone will acknowledge and remember what happened to her. Alternating between point of views, Lark (the book) chronicles the livings’ attempt to move on and Lark’s attempt to escape from the in between in which she is trapped.

While never overly graphic, Lark is a disturbing tale that layers the stages of grief with Lark’s immediate afterlife. In trying to save Lark from the horror of becoming a lost girl, the story explores the often contradictory messages young women receive when one of their own is lost to violence.

I don’t remember why I added this book to my reading list – it might be that it reminded me of the Miranda Gaddis/Ashley Pond murders (which it obliquely references), or the beauty of the spare cover. Porter’s lyrical writing style is compelling, lending itself to Lark’s transformation and Nyetta’s dreamy experiences with her ghost. Occasionally the prose made it harder to differentiate between Eve, Nyetta and Lark’s first person narration. It wasn’t until Nyetta and Eve finally interact that Nyetta’s much younger age became apparent despite being referenced several times before in the text. That said, the story and the message are incredibly important and handled with a great deal of care.

A lot has been said about teen reads with dark themes* and their importance in YA literature. As many, many people (see #YASaves) have already provided eloquent and cogent defenses, I can only add this:

If you want to know what your child is reading, you have to read those books as well. Don’t forbid it, instead talk about it. Use it to be engaged in their life and discuss your feelings on the subject matter. Lark has some very strong passages in which Eve deals with her anger towards Lark’s death and her guilt over the disintegration of their friendship. It allows the reader to look at the mixed messages and abuse that girls receive from authority figures within the context of a greater story.

These are things you need to talk about, not bury your head in the sand. Bad things happen to good people, bad people and the random who are in between and it is left up to the living to deal with this.

Lark is not a perfect book, but it’s a book that deserves to be read, shared and discussed. Read it with your daughter.

Talk.

Talk about grief and guilt and the fear of letting go. Talk about what right and wrong and what truly is acceptable.

Talk, damn it.  

Yes, there are wonderful books out there that let us escape to a better place, but there are those out there that help us realize how to cope with the bad place we may already be in. Books impart knowledge, make us question, engage and look beyond ourselves to the great what if.

Why would you want to take something so wonderful away?

You can purchase Lark from these fine retailers: Powells, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Your Local Indie, or you can pick it up at your local library.

Book Source: One of those places where people go to learn – the library. 

*Ironically, the most popular “dark issues” book that I sold to teen girls? A Child Called It. That’s right, an autobiography shelved in the self help section…no where near where our YA books lived.

Hand in Glove...

Warning: This review contains spoilers for the book in the Curse Worker’s Trilogy: White Cat.

Red Glove (Curse Workers Book # 2) by Holly Black:

Curses and cons. Magic and the mob. In Cassel Sharpe's world, they go together. Cassel always thought he was an ordinary guy, until he realized his memories were being manipulated by his brothers. Now he knows the truth—he’s the most powerful curse worker around. A touch of his hand can transform anything—or anyone—into something else.

That was how Lila, the girl he loved, became a white cat. Cassel was tricked into thinking he killed her, when actually he tried to save her. Now that she's human again, he should be overjoyed. Trouble is, Lila's been cursed to love him, a little gift from his emotion worker mom. And if Lila's love is as phony as Cassel's made-up memories, then he can't believe anything she says or does.

When Cassel's oldest brother is murdered, the Feds recruit Cassel to help make sense of the only clue—crime-scene images of a woman in red gloves. But the mob is after Cassel too—they know how valuable he could be to them. Cassel is going to have to stay one step ahead of both sides just to survive. But where can he turn when he can't trust anyone—least of all, himself?

Love is a curse and the con is the only answer in a game too dangerous to lose.

Summary from GoodReads.

After the events in White Cat, Cassel Sharpe spends the summer in Atlantic City reluctantly pulling cons with his mother and actively trying to avoid his feelings for Lila. The start of school is a chance to once again escape from everyone except his friends and embrace the normal, or at least for Cassel to con himself into believing that normal is what he wants.

But with just two shots a blurry figure with red gloves rips his fabricated existence apart – bringing the FBI in to investigate the loss of an informant and upping the pressure from Zacharov to join the ranks of the family. Cassel will have to con the government, the Mob and those he loves if he’s going to survive.

Only the ultimate con just might include telling the truth.

I cannot stress how much I enjoy this series. Black has created a gritty world where the magic of the curse workers is so easily and deeply entwined with our own, and provided us with an engaging, sarcastic character to guide us through.

I can’t tell who Cassel is working harder to con: the characters around him, the mob, or both the reader and himself into believing he doesn’t care. As with the first book, we are treated to his rapid, noir narration, but Black continues to grow his struggle with his dark side and the maneuvers he is willing to make for family, friends and love. Cassel is growing*and that growth extends to his moral ambiguity. He’s no longer the only Sharpe without the touch and every move he makes forces him to deal with the death he’s dealt in the past.

Not surprising, since the lack of bodies isn’t keeping anyone from asking questions.

Black’s tight narration once again impresses by the ease at which it comes across, and builds upon the revelations of the first book’s revelations. While he may currently be the smartest guy in the room, it’s clear that Cassel won’t be able to keep conning everyone forever.

Highly recommended for adult fans of mystery and paranormal (the Dresden Files specifically) and anyone who enjoys a good con.

You can purchase Red Glove from these fine retailers: Powells, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Your Local Indie, or you can pick it up at your local library.

Book Source: I borrowed my copy from the library as soon as I finished White Cat. I’ll buy the whole series once they are out in paperback.  

*As a character in a series should, damn it. I’m looking at you, Plum.

The con it comes on little cat feet...

A little late in posting this thanks to the joy of Independence...and a day off. Hope you're having a lovely day!


White Cat (Curse Workers Book #1) by Holly Black:

Cassel comes from a family of curse workers — people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they're all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn't got the magic touch, so he's an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail — he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago.

Ever since, Cassel has carefully built up a façade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his façade starts crumbling when he starts sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He's noticing other disturbing things, too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him, caught up in a mysterious plot. As Cassel begins to suspect he's part of a huge con game, he also wonders what really happened to Lila. Could she still be alive? To find that out, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen.

Summary from GoodReads.

Imagine a world where some had dab hands – some magic ability transferred through touch. Now imagine that these Curse Workers were feared, leading to the general population to wear gloves for protection and for the workers themselves to have no other recourse but the Mob to get by. Now imagine that’s happening here. Now. How would you get if you had the touch? How would you survive if you were the only person in your family who didn’t?

As the only non-curse worker, in a family celebrated for its generations of powers, cons, and mob connections, Cassel Sharpe is anything but a made man. However he did inherit some of his family’s more peculiar mental problems – surely that’s why he killed his best friend, Lila, in his basement in a rage he doesn’t remember – which makes it hard to stay in the family home. In desperation, he cons his way into a private school and some semblance of a normal life, only to be dragged back into the family. Of course, the sleepwalking incident that resulted in him clinging to the dorm roof in his boxers didn’t help matters.

Hey, at least he had some clothing on.

With a white cat haunting his dreams and his family in full scheming mode, Cassel will have to work to stay ahead everyone else to figure out if he’s really going crazy, and what really happened to Lila.

Normal never seemed so far away.

I have a deep love for con artists, and Cassel is definitely one for the books. Not only does have to deal with the typical high school identity problems along with trying to fit in, but he’s got the mob, a possible murder and his mother to cope with as well.* He deals with it all with a hard-boiled, but wry narrative. Cassel knows he’s being conned, but he’s also trying to con us into not noticing that underneath all that sarcasm is someone who just wants to love and trust. Unfortunately love and trust are not synonymous with con men and mobsters.

I enjoyed Cassel’s adventures in this book so much that I immediately went and checked out the second book in the series, Red Glove (review coming soon). Sure in the first book, the mystery wasn’t much as a who done it as a why is it being done, but the characters and their interactions made up for it. It’s killing me that the third novel, Black Heart, will not be out until April 2012. This is one paranormal YA series that I can see myself fan-girling. Cassel’s narrative never falters, and the cast of supporting characters (especially his mother) remain just as well defined long after you’ve finished. Additionally, Cassel’s story and the plight of his friends/family have threads that are easily discernable in our own world.

Recommended for lovers of the con, smart asses, wise guys, reluctant male readers, and anyone who enjoys a good story.

You can purchase White Cat from these fine retailers: Powells, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Your Local Indie, or you can pick it up at your local library.

Book Source: I borrowed my copy from the lovely Rosey of Rosey’s Reviews, but I will be buying my own.

*Paging Joan Crawford.

Abandon all hope? Don't be so pessimistic...

Abandon by Meg Cabot:

New from #1 New York Times bestselling author Meg Cabot, a dark, fantastical story about this world . . . and the underworld.

Though she tries returning to the life she knew before the accident, Pierce can't help but feel at once a part of this world, and apart from it. Yet she's never alone . . . because someone is always watching her. Escape from the realm of the dead is impossible when someone there wants you back.

But now she's moved to a new town. Maybe at her new school, she can start fresh. Maybe she can stop feeling so afraid.

Only she can't. Because even here, he finds her. That's how desperately he wants her back. She knows he's no guardian angel, and his dark world isn't exactly heaven, yet she can't stay away . . . especially since he always appears when she least expects it, but exactly when she needs him most.

But if she lets herself fall any further, she may just find herself back in the one place she most fears: the Underworld.

Summary from Goodreads.

When Pierce Oliviera was fifteen, she died – but only for an hour. Not a very long time when compared to fifteen years of living (or 131,487.19 hours, give or take a decimal), but long enough to accidentally run into a Underworld-ly gatekeeper, John. What two ships, passing on hellish waters became something a little more since she’d previously met him when she was seven. That time she’d just shown him a little kindness, this time she maybe, kind of, sort of promised herself to him for all of eternity.

Oops.

Was there some love at first, er, second (and considerably more legal) sight going on? Possibly. Maybe even some lust, but that wasn’t reason enough for Pierce to stick with death for the rest of her afterlife. So she made for the exit. Whether it was due to her fast thinking or medical intervention in the form of epinephrine and defibrillators, she found her way back to the land of the living only to discover that dying – even if it’s only for an hour – has some serious repercussions. Within two years of her near-death experience her parents had split, her former best friend committed suicide, and Pierce has been moved to the rather morbidly named Isla Huesos (Island of the Bones) to start a new school at the bottom rung of the social ladder. Oh, and that John guy is still popping up whenever near-death comes to call.

Which is more often than you would expect from your average teenager who doesn’t have a death wish.

Meg Cabot has re-imagined the Persephone/Hades Greek myth and updated it for the modern teen. The Underworld, though still a cave beneath the earth, is staffed by biker bar-style, bad boy bouncers and the Furies who wish to torment them. Cast in the Persephone role, Pierce proves that she actually listens to the advice every girl has heard from her mother (don’t ever accept food from strangers, know your exits). This, along with some fast thinking, allows her to give only an hour of her life to John (now a gatekeeper instead of a god) instead of six months or all of eternity. Good thing too, as her own mother is too nice to call down Winter upon the land.

Thanks to Cabot’s breezy style and Pierce’s direct personality/acknowledgement of her more questionable behaviors, the author keeps her main character from verging into TSTL* territory. Still many of the plot points of the first book (in this planned trilogy) hinge on reactions that result in Pierce in life and death situations. Well this, and her inability to effectively communicate with John.

In flash backs Pierce compares herself to Snow White, the events of that hour long death creating a separation between her and the rest of the world. Her near death experience has caused her to disengage from school and her parents and friends. Because, really, how do you explain that life after death is far more complicated and a lot less beautiful than seeing a bright light at the end of tunnel? Refreshingly for paranormal YA, it’s not the infrequent visits from her otherworldly would-be lover that wakes her, but the death of her former friend. This propels her back into (destructive) action and ultimately leads to her move to Isla Huesos where the reader joins the story.

Due to Pierce’s fear, and his act first/think later attitude, John’s character appears only partially drawn in this first book. Pierce doesn’t know if she wants to get to know him, and due to the narrative being from her point of view, we are not allowed to know him either. Due to the events at the close of the story, however, I hope that both she and the reader will understand more about his character soon.

I will admit, Abandon isn’t my favorite Meg Cabot book – too many situations could have been avoided if Pierce and John had just had a straightforward conversation – but that still means its better than 50% of the other paranormal YA books out there.  I have faith that Cabot’s doing something interesting with the Hades/Persephone Myth. Despite my YA paranormal/mythological fatigue, I’ll be checking out Underworld when it comes out in 2012.

You can purchase Abandon from these fine retailers: Powells, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Your Local Indie, or you can pick it up at your local library.

Book Source: Βιβλιοθήκη (that’s library in Greek according to the Internets).

*Too Stupid To Live

Dig this.

The Restorer by Amanda Stevens:

My name is Amelia Gray. I'm a cemetery restorer who sees ghosts. In order to protect myself from the parasitic nature of the dead, I've always held fast to the rules passed down from my father. But now a haunted police detective has entered my world and everything is changing, including the rules that have always kept me safe.

It started with the discovery of a young woman's brutalized body in an old Charleston graveyard I've been hired to restore. The clues to the killer—and to his other victims—lie in the headstone symbolism that only I can interpret. Devlin needs my help, but his ghosts shadow his every move, feeding off his warmth, sustaining their presence with his energy. To warn him would be to invite them into my life. I've vowed to keep my distance, but the pull of his magnetism grows ever stronger even as the symbols lead me closer to the killer and to the gossamer veil that separates this world from the next.

Summary from GoodReads.

Amelia Gray’s childhood of caring for graveyards and dodging ghosts shaped her adult life. In her world, ghosts will siphon off your warmth and energy, feeding like psychic vampires. As a cemetery restorer she spends her days resurrecting to the resting place of the dead and carefully following the rules her father taught her:

1. Never acknowledge the dead. Not their presence or their touch.
2. Never stray too far from hallowed ground.
3. Keep your distance from those who are haunted.
4. Never, ever tempt fate.

But this lifetime of training and daily isolation is destroyed when the cemetery she is working at becomes a crime scene. Enter Detective John Devlin who needs her help identifying the grave symbolism behind the body’s burial. Although attracted to his magnetism, Amelia fights to stay away from a man haunted by the ghosts of his wife and daughter. But with the discovery of more bodies, does she risk becoming involved with a man walking with death? And is there more to the dead than her father taught her?

A serial killer, a secret society, a cemetery with possible ties to the Underground Railroad and the paranormal combine in The Restorer, the first book in The Graveyard Queen series by Amanda Stevens. As our narrator through all things ghostly, Amelia Gray is a character who embodies her name – living a half life caring for graveyards and getting most of her interaction through her blog “Digging Graves.” While she has friends (and her family) that she is close to, she maintains a distance between her life and the life of those who do not deal with the paranormal.

Everything changes when she meets Devlin, the handsome, mysterious and haunted detective. Stuck between the pull of his dead wife and child and the life going on around him, Devlin has also separated himself from long lasting connections. Able to view the dead that walk him at all times, Amelia starts to break through that barrier, only to discover that her knowledge of the dead is incomplete, and what she doesn’t know…well, yeah, it just might kill her. This also sets the reader up for the inevitable oscillations of John and Amelia’s relationship throughout the series.*

In first book tradition, there are some awkward passages and dialogue involved in the introduction to the world and the characters that inhabit it. We’re treated to the city of Charleston, SC in all its hot, southern glory, and although Amelia’s narrative occasionally verges on the lavender side, Stevens otherwise provides unique insight into the world of malevolent ghosts and the ceremony behind cemeteries. Despite being someone who has always found the idea of burying people in ground creepy, I’m intrigued enough by Amelia’s imparted knowledge that I’m considering going to one of the pioneer cemeteries in my area.

As The Graveyard Queen series continues, I believe that the issues I’ve highlighted above will fade and Amelia will join the ranks of the paranormal heroines that have come before her. Unlike other series leads however, Amelia is not out to kick ass and ask questions later. Her job and life reflect her nature as an observer (although often a covert one), and this is reflected in her quiet nature. With the dangling threads of Amelia’s origins, her mother’s health, Devlin’s ghosts and the hold Emerson’s secret society has over Charleston yet to be explored, Steven’s has plenty of fodder for future novels.

Recommended for mystery and urban fantasy readers who are looking for something a little different.

You can purchase The Restorer from these fine retailers: Powells, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Your Local Indie, or you can pick it up at your local library.

Book Source: The library, where books go to live forever (or at least until they fall apart…. And are resurrected, like zombies).

*Steven’s also introduces two side characters who will (probably) later serve as possible love interests.

Just One More Question...

The Interrogation of Gabriel James by Charlie Price:

Eyewitness to two killings, fourteen-year-old Gabriel James relates the shocking story behind the murders in a police interrogation interspersed with flashbacks. Step by step, this Montana teenager traces his discovery of a link between a troubled classmate's disturbing home life and an outbreak of local crime. In the process, however, Gabriel becomes increasingly confused about his own culpability for the explosive events that have unfolded.

Summary from Amazon.

Cults, murder, drugs, hate crimes: there’s a lot going on behind the scenes of Billings, Montana, and Gabriel James has (unintentionally) seen it all. What begins as an interest in a girl in his class leads to two dead boys and Gabriel sitting in an interrogation room. Was he involved or did the wrong choices leave him as the not-so-innocent bystander?

I picked up The Interrogation of Gabriel James because a review called indicated it was the Usual Suspects of Young Adult fiction. If by The Usual Suspects, they meant a story framed by the interactions in the interrogation room, then yes. But let’s be clear, Gabriel ain’t no Keyser Söze. As someone who likes to believe that Kevin Spacey unconsciously drags his foot whenever anyone references Keyser Söze, I can see how someone going into this story with that in mind could be disappointed. Not only is Gabriel not a criminal mastermind, he’s not even an unreliable narrator. Sure, he has his ramblings, but their the ramblings of a teenager who’s nervous. He’s distracted by the girls in his life and wanting to be better at cross country – not giving hidden meaning to picking beans in Guatemala.

Got it?

Good, now you’ll enjoy the story without that expectation. Gabriel is a rather aimless teenage boy who, in trying to do a good thing, makes everything a lot worse. He’s seen too many procedurals and this increases his nervousness with the cops (much like I imagine I would be in the same situation). This true-to-life teenage boy mentality and nervous mental state combined with the interrogation room set up make for a story that jumps back in forth from the present and the past events that led up to the deaths.

It’s a rather windy path, but worth it. Charlie Price has created a very accessible character in Gabriel, one who genuinely wants to do the right thing. His motivations, horniness, aimlessness and curiosity all ring true. This kid is the teenage everyman. To that everyman’s plot we throw in a cult who believed in share and share alike when it came to their partners, murders, and multiple personalities.

The crimes in Billings might start out with the occasional missing pet and recreational drug user, but things escalate until Gabriel and the reader are desperate to put together the clues.

The Interrogation of Gabriel James will appeal to reluctant readers who want a fast-paced story to keep them interested. While the interrogation scenes toward the end strained my sense of believe, I can see why someone not in the Keyser Söze state of mind wouldn’t question the situation. The story will leave readers with the answers they need and the ability to feel their legs. The same cannot be said for some of the characters in the book, however.

You can purchase The Interrogation of Gabriel James at these fine retailers: Powells, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Your Local Indie, or you can pick it up at your local library.

Book Source: this place down the street that lets you just take books. For free! All you need is a card. No interrogations necessary.

Nothing Rotten Here...

Spoiled by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan (aka The Fug Girls):

Sixteen year old Molly Dix loves her ordinary life in suburban Indiana, so when her single mother passes away, she is shocked to discover that her biological father is Brick Berlin, world famous movie star and red carpet regular.

Equally intrigued and terrified by her Hollywood lineage, Molly moves to Southern California and plunges head-first into the deep end of Beverly Hills celebrity life. Just as Molly thinks her new life and family couldn't get any stranger, she meets Brooke Berlin, her gorgeous and spoiled half-sister whom welcomes Molly to la-la land with a healthy dose of passive-aggressive "sisterly love."

Set against the backdrop of a sparkling and fashion-filled Los Angeles, this deliciously dysfunctional family soap opera will satisfy every reader looking for their next lifestyles-of-the-rich-and-famous beach read.

Summary from Goodreads.

Molly Dix has had a rather shocking year – not only did her mother die, but she found out that the deceased father she’d never met is actually alive, physically well* and living in Los Angeles. Oh, and he happens to be Brick Berlin, the famous action movie star turned director. Now she’s leaving her childhood sweetheart, best friend and grandparents all behind, and moving to LA to live with Brick and her half sister, Brooke.

Brooke Berlin is not amused. She can barely get her father’s attention with a temper tantrum that rivals a category five hurricane. Her newly discovered half sister getting all of Daddy’s attention, and she’s even hogging the spotlight that should be firmly focused on Brooke at her big birthday party. What’s a girl to do but sabotage the scene stealer and reveal her for the homewrecker** she actually is? Brooke’s going to have to be sneaky though if she’s going to ride this new Hollywood scandal to her inevitable stardom because her enemy is about to become Molly’s frenemy.

As parents go, Brick’s not as spacey as he seems (even if he does sound like a cross between Bruce Willis and Cocks and Morgan’s Lagerfeld impression), and soon he’s imposing his own interesting brand of parenting to this sisterly hatefest. From sharing a room to working on the school play, Brook and Molly are going to have to work out how to live with each other, their shared father’s absenteeism, and the Hollywood rumor mill at its worst.

I’m a long time reader of Go Fug Yourself, and throughout the years of columns I’ve often thought that they should tackle fiction. These two funny ladies can make you laugh out loud with just a few lines and know how to skewer bad fashion. So when I heard they were writing a YA novel, I decided that it was worth taking my hard earned gift card*** down to B&N to pick up a copy (which they had well before the release date). Spoiled is everything I expected from Heather and Jessica: over the top characters, fashion critiques, and fun times.

Through Molly we get to experience Hollywood (and the Berlins) from the outside looking in, while Brooke provides the perspective of self-focused starlet with a secret pain. Once Brooke gets over mean girl-ing Molly, and Molly stands up for herself with an added dose of vengeance, the girls realize how important it is to have family, especially a sibling, to help you deal.

With all the name dropping of designers and celebrities, I’m not sure how well it will age, but I said the same thing about 90210 back in the day. And like 90210: original flavor, Spoiled might just stand the test of denim jumpers and Tori Spelling, acting as a captured point of time worth revisiting whenever you need a pick me up. From the ending, I’m definitely going to tune in for the next episode.

This is a frothy read that will entertain you just as well on the bus commuting to work as it will beside a pool. Why limit sunny books to summer reads?

You can purchase Spoiled from these fine retailers: Powells, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Your Local Indie, or you can pick it up at your local library.

Book Source: bought it at B&N.



*Mentally Brick is a little Woo-woo. If Spoiled were made into a movie he should be played by a slightly younger Harry Hamlin.
**And closet drunk.
***A girl only turns 30 once.