Death and the Girl He Loves

Death, and the Girl He Loves by Darynda Jones
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Not even moving to the other side of the country can stop Lorelei McAlister's visions of darkness, death, and destruction.  In fact, they have recently gotten worse.  So much for that plan to stave off the end of the world!  To add insult to injury, she's now receiving death threats.  I mean, come on!  Overkill, anyone?

When she's attacked at boarding school despite being in her own personal version of Witness Protection, Lorelei decides it's time to go back to New Mexico.  If the world is going to end, she might as well be with her friends and family, right?  Besides, Riley's Switch is where her gorgeous boyfriend Jared (a.k.a. Azrael, a.k.a. the Angel of Death) lives.

The conclusion to the Darklight trilogy is very fast-paced.  I raced through it in a couple of days, and only took that long because I (inconveniently) had to do other things like work, take care of my infant daughter, eat, sleep, wash dishes, and so on.   I thought the way Ms. Jones tied everything together at the end was both clever and satisfying, although I did have a couple of microseconds of feeling like the solution was a tiny bit too easy after three books of angst and whining.

For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary, character secondary.  No sex, but there is some heavy petting & a little bit of very mild swearing.

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Death, Doom, and Detention

Death, Doom and Detention by Darynda Jones
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lorelei McAlister, high school student and the last female descendent of the prophet Arabeth, is soon going to have to save the world from an invasion of demons. How? She has no idea. She's still struggling with the recently resurfaced memory of her parents' death when she was six--the day demons first broke through into this world, and Satan's second-in-command, Malak-Tuke, took up residence in her body.

Luckily for Lorelei, she's got some help in the form of a half-human/half-angel protector, Cameron; her best friends Brooklyn & Glitch; Jared, the super-sexy Angel of Death her grandparents won't let her date; and a network of church members who believe in the prophesies of Arabeth. Plus, she's just discovered she has the power to go inside a photograph to see what was happening in the moments just before it was taken, which is way cool, if not obviously helpful.

Even though Lorelei knows the war is coming soon, her more immediate concern is with the weird way everyone at school is starting to act. What is up with the stares? Even Jared is acting strangely. Her visions become increasingly specific and frightening, making class an ever more dangerous place to go.

I enjoyed book #2 far better than Death and the Girl Next Door. There is still a lot of whining and angst, but the story also gets fleshed out more--missing pieces filled in. The cliffhanger ending had me rushing to my computer to put book #3, Death and the Girl He Loves on hold at the library.

For readers' advisory: story doorway is primary, character secondary. Humorous, snappy dialogue. Heavy petting & teen hormones but no sex. I don't remember any swearing, but I'm writing this review a couple of months after finishing the book, so I can't be certain.

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Battle Magic

Battle Magic by Tamora Pierce
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Fans of Pierce's "Circle of Magic" and "Circle Opens" quartets will probably like the latest installment of the "Circle Reforged" series. This time, Briar, Evvy, and Rosethorn have been invited to meet the emperor of Yanjing and tour his famous gardens. Their stay is not always a comfortable one, as the emperor shows off not only his gardens but his vast armies, lightning-fast mood swings, and absolute control over his subjects. While there, the trio befriend Parahan, heir to a nearby kingdom, sold into slavery by his uncle. When Parahan escapes...with a little help...on the eve of their departure, the emperor goes ballistic, ordering a vast manhunt to recapture his prized possession. Soon Briar, Evvy, and Rosethorn are dodging Yanjingyi soldiers as they flee to the border with news of an impending invasion, joining the fray as battle mages for their friend, the Gyongxin God-King.

As always, Tamora Pierce's world-building is outstanding, her stories exciting, and her characters well-developed. My main reason for the relatively low 3-star rating is the inexplicable decision to have Rosethorn cheat on Lark with Parahan. The affair comes completely out of the blue and is utterly gratuitous (albeit occurring offscreen, thankfully). It in no way moves the story along or has any other redeeming purpose. Removing it would not impact the sequence of events in the slightest. I'm sorry, Ms. Pierce, but what were you thinking?! Just because someone is bisexual does not automatically mean she's also adulterous! And if you ARE going to include infidelity, there better be a literary reason for it. I am still flabbergasted by this pointless artistic choice. Flabbergasted and disappointed. I lost so much respect for those two characters...and the author...the moment I read the first scene where Briar sees them embracing.

For readers' advisors: setting, story, and character doorways. Despite the adultery, it's a clean read, since none of that is actually described. This book is shelved with juvenile fiction in my library, but that is an error, in my opinion. Evvy is, I believe, twelve, Briar is sixteen or so, and Rosethorn is an adult, as are all the other characters, apart from the God-King. I would definitely consider this to be young adult fiction.

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The Season

The Season by Sarah MacLean
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Best friends Alexandra (Alex), Eleanor (Ella), and Vivian (Vivi) are about to experience their first Season, but none of them is terribly eager for matrimony just yet. Neither are Alex's three older brothers and their close friend Gavin, who have been pressed into service as escorts to a variety of society functions. Still, they are teenagers, and flirting is inevitable, as are misunderstandings, jealousies, hurt feelings, and, of course, True Love.

Gavin is still trying to adjust to his new role as the Earl of Blackmoor, and he is unconvinced that his father's death was really an accident. Vivi and Alex think Ella is being overly dramatic when she tells them of a clandestine conversation she overheard in a garden, but then when they learn Gavin's house has been burglarized, they start to wonder whether someone is indeed spying for the French to aid Napoleon, and whether Gavin might actually be in danger.

This YA novel was her first published book, and it's pretty good for a debut novel, although I did wish an editor had cut the excess descriptions of how someone laughed, smirked, etc. Sometimes the dialogue can really just stand on its own! "Impishly smirking" and whatnot is overkill.

For readers' advisors: story and character doorways. Lots of kissing and angst, but no actual sex. I think there might have been a couple of swear words.

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Death and the Girl Next Door

Death and the Girl Next Door by Darynda Jones
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Lorelei has had flashes of visions all her life. Some come true; others make no sense. None of that has ever bothered her two best friends, Brooklyn and Glitch. However, when the school's loner, Cameron, starts stalking Lorelei, and a new boy comes to town who has all the girls drooling, their lives are going to get much more complicated, for one of Lorelei's visions is about the new boy being tortured and another is about herself covered in blood and puking by the side of a road. All is not as it seems, and the trio suddenly find themselves part of an otherworldly battle.

I had really high hopes for this new series because I LOVE Darynda Jones' First Grave on the Right/Charley Davidson series. Unfortunately, I got the feeling that this book was rushed to print way before it was ready. The pacing felt off, there were about two dozen too many variations on the word "smirk" used, and the characters never quite gelled for me.

The heat and intensity of Charley & Reyes' relationship did not translate well to a story about teenagers--even supernatural ones. All the descriptions of Jared as "supernova hot" had me rolling my eyes and/or gagging. Not that I didn't believe Jones intended for him to be gorgeous, just that it was too full of teen angst & hormones. There wasn't enough maturity in the characters to believe anyone had fallen in anything but lust.

Similarly, the pacing seemed...wrong. It took forever for anything to happen or be explained (or discovered/uncovered). It took a bizarrely long time for anyone to figure out why Cameron hated Jared, and then even when Cameron is F I N A L L Y confronted with the truth...nothing changes. The feud continues. That was ultra-annoying. And what was up with the poltergeist scene? Shouldn't there have been some sort of follow-up scene with the two girls? The whole book ended up coming off like a really really long, scattered prologue for the rest of the series. I may still read book two to see if it improves, but it's moved WAY down my priority list. *sigh*

For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary. Character is probably supposed to be secondary, if only I could get past my annoyance with them. There is no actual sex, just a couple of kisses and a lot of supposedly steamy descriptions of Jared's hotness. It would probably make a decent book to read with a group because there could be so much to discuss, given its flaws.

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Every Day

Every Day by David Levithan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be someone else? Have you ever wished to live a different life with a different family? To be a different person?

Every morning, A wakes up inside a different body. Sometimes boys, sometimes girls, but never the same person twice. The host body is always the same age A is, and always lives within a few hours of the previous host, but everything else is random, with no explanations. It has always been this way for A, and that's OK...until the day A wakes up in Justin's body and meets Rhiannon. Suddenly, experiencing someone else's life for a day is not enough. A has fallen in love and is desperate to spend more time with Rhiannon, even to the point of making the host bodies lie to their parents and friends and sneak away to her town, heedless of the consequences. A long ago gave up the dream of having a permanent family, yet now A's untethered soul craves connection like never before. But is it possible to love someone whose outside changes every day? How can they make this complicated existence work for a long-term relationship?

The concept of this book is what first grabbed my attention. What would it be like to inhabit someone else's body? Rely on his or her memories to navigate unfamiliar surroundings? Would you use your time to observe and learn, experience new things and new ways of life, or would you take over the body and direct it to serve your own desires? I loved how Levithan addressed the ethics and moral dilemmas unique to this story's premise, and I loved the perspective A has on life, especially life as a teenager--something real-life teenagers inherently lack. Books are windows to other worlds, and this one felt fresh, new, and imaginative.

For readers' advisors: character doorway is definitely primary, story secondary. There is one scene where A and Rhiannon nearly have sex, but it isn't graphic. Not really any bad language to speak of.

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Keeping the Castle

Keeping the Castle by Patrice Kindl
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Keeping the Castle is rather like Jane Austen's Emma meets Cinderella but without any dead mothers. A beautiful but impoverished teenager makes naive, clueless attempts at matchmaking in an effort to save her family's crumbling home. Since her single-minded drive to keep poverty at bay has blinded her to the feelings and preferences of most of the parties involved, her machinations don't turn out quite as she'd planned. And thank goodness!

I enjoyed this light, frothy story. There is very little in the way of character development, but it's a quick read.

For readers' advisors: story doorway. There is no sex or language. Indeed, even a marriage proposal is accepted with a handshake!

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Dark Destiny

Dark Destiny by Mary Jo Putney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The final book in the Dark Mirror trilogy opens where book two left off: Tory's 17th birthday party. Allarde and Mrs. Rainford get a vision of Napoleon invading England, so the Lackland students return to 1804 to stop this from coming to pass. They successfully thwart one major incursion, but soon Britain's magical defenses are stretched to the breaking point, and the Irregulars realize they will need help from their twentieth century friends if they are to prevent the French from landing on British soil.

There are romantic subplots, as everyone but Elspeth has a romantic interest that grows and develops over the course of the trilogy. Putney hints that Elspeth's love will appear later--perhaps another book? However, the various romances are not the focus of the story, which means a refreshing lack of angst. All the couples will face uphill battles in their relationships: Cynthia and Jack are from different classes, Nick and Rebecca are from different faiths, and Tory and Allarde face disinheritance. Should Putney choose to continue the series, I would be very interested in reading how they all overcome their various obstacles.

The second book is still my favorite of the three, but this one is very enjoyable as well, albeit less exciting. (Things move along slightly too easily somehow.)

For readers' advisors: character, story, and setting doorways. No sex, just a fair amount of kissing and heavy petting. I don't recall any swearing.

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You Hear Me?: Poems and Writing by Teenage Boys

You Hear Me?: Poems and Writing by Teenage Boys by Betsy Franco
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I picked this poetry collection up because it was on a list of banned or challenged books, and I was curious. These boys are amazing! They blew me away with their honesty, pain, hope, and humor. They made me laugh and moved me to tears. One of the boys died of a drug overdose before the book was even published--a heartbreaking loss of potential and talent.

Yes, some of the language is rough and raw. A few of the boys use words I do not like. But it's authentic, and choosing less-graphic alternatives would not give the same impact.

For readers' advisors: language doorway. This is a book for older, mature teens and adults.

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Pop

Pop by Gordon Korman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It's tough to be the new kid in town. Marcus Jordan doesn't have anyone to practice football with, so when a middle-aged man appears in the park eager to play, Marcus doesn't ask too many questions. At first. The old guy is GOOD, after all, and he teaches Marcus how to tackle and be tackled without losing focus--a skill which comes in handy after he makes the varsity team over the strenuous objections of the star quarterback who sees him as a rival both on and off the field. Eventually, though, Marcus realizes that his new friend Charlie isn't just eccentric. Covering for Charlie's pranks has gotten Marcus in trouble with local law enforcement, and his increasingly erratic behavior strains the bonds of loyalty and sends Marcus on a quest for answers, to the dismay of Charlie's family, who are desperately trying to maintain a facade of normalcy.

Gordon Korman tackles (pardon the pun) the serious and timely subject of the long-term effects of concussions and sports-related injuries in this teen novel, and he does it brilliantly. What better way than a good story to communicate the idea of consequences and mortality to teenage boys who have always believed themselves to be immortal and invincible? I'm not what you'd call a sports fan (yes, that's the sound of my family laughing hysterically), but I loved this book. It's not preachy, doesn't try to scare kids out of playing, it just subtly raises awareness while weaving together humor and tragedy.

For readers' advisors: character and story doorways. A couple of mild kissing scenes and virtually no bad language.

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Dark Passage

Dark Passage by Mary Jo Putney

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


After successfully using their magical talents to help thousands of British soldiers escape from Dunkirk in 1940, Tory and the rest of her friends return through Merlin's mirror to 1803, ready to resume their regular lives and vowing to never make that journey again. The best laid plans oft go awry, however, and when Nick comes through the mirror seeking their help to rescue a scientist imprisoned by the Germans in a French castle, it's not long before they are dodging searchlights and bullets.

I do not know why I am finding it so difficult to write this review--it's been "in process" for 4 days now. I loved the book! I especially loved how the first half contained so much character development, and the second half was so exciting I resented having to put the book down. Even though I wasn't wild about the first in this trilogy, this one more than makes up for it.  Why do I not know what to say about it? Grrr. OK, I'll post this as-is and then come back to it if/when inspiration strikes.

For readers' advisors: character & story doorways primarily, setting was secondary. It's a young adult novel, so Putney dialed down the steaminess to just a few make-out sessions.



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Kissing Shakespeare

Kissing Shakespeare by Pamela Mingle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm really having a difficult time deciding how to rate this one. One and a half stars for the beginning of the book, three stars for the last half, for an average of two and a half stars overall? The premise was intriguing: a young William Shakespeare is being recruited to the (forbidden) Jesuit priesthood and away from his destiny as the great playwright, so a time-traveler enlists the aid of a modern teenager from a theatrical family to seduce Will and restore history. The author seems to have done a good job researching that era, both the history of Shakespeare & Catholicism as well as the habits of daily life, but the set-up of the story is rushed and full of holes.

The book begins with Miranda upset at her terrible performance as Katharine in her high school's production of The Taming of the Shrew. A cast member she barely knows kidnaps her, taking her first to the roof and then to Elizabethan England. Stephen tells her she is to pretend to be his sister while they stay at his uncle's house, and her mission is to seduce Shakespeare so he will decide not to be a priest after all. She thinks he's crazy and is insulted that he believes she's sexually experienced. But Catholicism has been outlawed in England, and after Miranda--now called Olivia--witnesses a priest being burned at the stake, she stops resisting the plan and becomes an active participant, intent on saving Will's life.

I am glad I kept reading. I almost quit after the fourth or fifth time "smirk" appeared in the text. (Oh, how I wish YA authors were forbidden from using that word!) Mercifully, she invested in a thesaurus about a third of the way into the novel, although that did not stop the incessant eye rolling--both mine and the characters'. However, I was reading an ebook galley copy from NetGalley, so perhaps Ms. Mingle's editors were able to take another run at the manuscript before it went to print.

Word choice aside, I struggled to get past the implausibility of Stephen choosing Miranda for this task. Why choose an American? Why not choose a British girl? How is it possible that her accent, vocabulary, and patterns of speech didn't give her away moments after their arrival at Hoghton Tower? Miranda is supposedly chosen for her acting ability and knowledge of Shakespeare's plays, yet she continues to speak like an American teenager, not like an actress immersing herself in a life-or-death role. It just felt...off. Fiction requires a willing suspension of disbelief, but this needed too big of a leap.

Still, I enjoyed the fast pace by the end. The spying and sneaking around held my attention, and I wanted to know how the story would unfold.

For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary, character and setting are secondary. No actual sex occurs, but it's a near thing.

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Diary of a Parent Trainer

Diary of a Parent Trainer by Jennifer Smith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Katie Sutton is a thirteen-year-old expert in parent management, so she is writing the ultimate user guide to grown-ups. She knows all the "Modes" and how to switch a grown-up from a less-desirable mode to another, more favorable one. Katie has two best friends, an older sister, a younger brother, a widowed mom, loads of other relatives, and a crush on a cute boy. Life is pretty good until her mom does the unthinkable: finds a boyfriend. Suddenly, all Katie thinks she knows about managing the behavior of her grown-ups gets called into question by the invasion of this stranger into their lives.

For some reason, this book reminded me of Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging, although I read that so long ago, I'm not sure how they are similar, other than being about British teenagers with crushes. In any case, I enjoyed reading the mock-diary-style tale of changing household dynamics told from a teen's point of view. Coincidentally, I was concurrently reading A Career Girl's Guide to Becoming a Stepmom and found these two sides of the family coin tracked well together. I think it would be a good choice for tweens, especially those who have experienced divorce or the death of a parent.

For readers' advisors: character doorway is primary, story is secondary

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Shift

Shift by Kim Curran
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Have you ever wished you could go back and make a different decision? Turn left instead of right? Answer the phone instead of letting it go to voicemail? Sixteen-year-old Scott Tyler can--he's a Shifter, with the power to change his reality by deciding to change decisions he's already made. Sometimes that saves his life. Sometimes it kills his sister. And then there are the decisions that lead to meeting a girl named Aubrey...and being hunted by a brain-eating psychopath.

I read an advance copy of Shift, courtesy of NetGalley, and I loved it! A very fast-paced read from a new British young adult author (so new, she's not even on Fantastic Fiction yet). The story is set in modern-day London, but with a few tweaks: some children are born with the ability to "shift," to change their minds and thus their realities. These children are recruited to join a special school that trains them to control their abilities, and the teenage "graduates" go on to work for a variety of departments, including mapping likely outcomes of Shifts and "fixing" timelines gone wrong. At the onset of adulthood, entropy sets in, and Shifters lose their abilities. At least, that's what everyone believes until Scott and Aubrey stumble over some evidence that reality is not what it seems.

For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary, setting secondary. There are a few swear words and some violence, but not much.  The ending could have benefited from a slightly longer explanation of what happened to Scott.

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The Juvie Three

The Juvie Three by Gordon Korman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Gordon Korman has come a long way from the days of Bruno & Boots' goofy antics at MacDonald Hall. In The Juvie Three Korman tells the story of three boys convicted of crimes ranging from driving a getaway car to theft to manslaughter. They are plucked from their various forms of jail by Douglas Healy, himself a survivor of juvenile detention, and taken to live in an experimental halfway house in New York City. It is not an easy transition for any of them, especially Terrence, the only one with the mindset of a criminal and no concept of how lucky he has been thus far. When a scuffle on the fire escape results in a bloody concussion and amnesia for Healy, the boys panic and drop him off at a hospital, convinced that the authorities would never believe it was an accident.  They succeed in pretending all is normal...until a phone call from the social worker sends them into a tailspin.

For readers' advisors: story and character doorways, likely a good choice for reluctant readers, particularly boys

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The Fault in Our Stars

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I still am not sure how I made it through this achingly funny, poignant book without sobbing. Maybe because most of it really is humorous, even the tragic parts. Dark humor sometimes, true, but witty.

Hazel Grace Lancaster is sixteen years old and slowly dying of cancer when she meets the love of her life, Augustus Waters (age 17), at a Cancer Support Group. Gus had lost a leg in his own battle with cancer a year and a half earlier but comes to the support group that night because of his friend Isaac who is about to lose his remaining eye to cancer surgery.

It sounds like this would be a total downer of a book, but John Green refuses to let that happen. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

For readers' advisors: character doorway primarily, story & language secondary, and there is one not-at-all-explicit sex scene.


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The Future of Us

The Future of Us by Jay Asher

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


It's difficult to know how to categorize this book. Is it Time Travel? Magical Realism? Paranormal? Exactly what box should I check to describe a book in which an AOL CD-ROM in 1996 opens an internet portal to Facebook 15 years in the characters' futures?

Since the characters themselves never time travel, and no one has psychic abilities of any kind, I'm electing to put it under "magical realism." Close enough, I suppose.

Josh & Emma have been best friends since they were little kids, but their friendship has been strained most of this school year due to some misread signals in November. Now it's May, and Emma's father has sent her a new computer, for which Josh's mother has given her an AOL CD-ROM. But when Emma boots it up, a strange thing happens: her computer displays this weird website called "Facebook." Is it an elaborate prank? Why are there photos of Emma looking older? And how much DO you really want to know about your future self?

For Readers' Advisors: story and character doorways. Plenty of teen angst. Some swearing. And the audiobook alternates between a male and female narrator reading chapters from Josh and Emma's perspectives.


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Cat O'Nine Tails

Cat O'Nine Tails by Julia Golding

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Cat Royal's friend Syd has disappeared, so she and her friends go to London to find out what happened to him and along the way get press-ganged into becoming part of the crew of a British naval vessel in late 1791. Turns out someone paid the press gang to ambush them specifically, and getting home will be harder than they thought.

I accidentally read this one before #3, and maybe that makes a bit of a difference? The story is enjoyable, if somewhat improbable. What makes it three stars instead of four is that I immediately figured out the mystery of who paid off the press gang, and there wasn't much in the way of character development.

There was a little more violence in this one than in the first two, although it was certainly realistic and not graphic. There was also a smidgen more teen angst.

For readers' advisors: story and setting doorways.



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Remembering Raquel

Remembering Raquel by Vivian Vande Velde

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Nine years and one day after a boy I knew was killed when he stepped off a curb and was hit by a car, I read a book about a girl who stepped off a curb and was hit by a car. Perhaps this is why this book resonated so deeply with me. The difference between real life and the book, though, is that in real life the boy was well-known and well-liked, whereas Raquel is well-known by only a few people.

Remembering Raquel is told in a series of short "chapters," each told from the point of view of a different person--everyone from the janitor who cleans out her locker, to the EMT who responded to the scene, to the driver of the car, to Raquel's friends, family, and classmates. Short, poignant, and even sometimes humorous memories and regrets that together paint a picture of a girl I wish I'd known. This book may haunt me for a while.

For readers' advisors: character doorway


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Tortall and Other Lands: A Collection of Tales

Tortall and Other Lands: A Collection of Tales by Tamora Pierce

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I love Tamora Pierce! I'm usually not a big short story fan, but these are great--perfect for reading on lunch breaks. She ranges all over, telling stories involving past characters, to a couple of modern-day real-world tales (one magical and one not). I had no idea Pierce was once a housemother at a group home for teenage girls and that she has a background in psychology. That totally explains how she gets her characters to feel so real and to grow and develop.

For readers' advisors: character doorway is primary, with setting and story secondary



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