028. [review] PARTY

It’s saturday night in Santa Barbara and school is done for the year. Everyone is headed to the same party. Or at least it seems that way. The place is packed. The beer is flowing. Simple, right? But for 11 different people the motives are way more complicated. As each character takes a turn and tells his or her story, the eleven individuals intersect, and reconnect, collide, and combine in ways that none of them ever saw coming

I picked up this book at Borders during one of my book hauls. Finally had a chance to read it this weekend. Reading the blurb on the back piqued my interest so I decided to give it a go. I would like to begin by saying I think I have a love/hate thing going on with this book. It is very reminiscent of teen movies about parties. The one that came to mind while reading was Can’t Hardly Wait starring Ethan Embry and Jennifer Love Hewitt. If anyone knows me, they know I absolutely adore the whole teen movie genre and pray to the alter of John Hughes. That was one of the reasons I initially picked up Party, it seemed like a fun read.

I’ll start with what I liked about it first–the good stuff. I really dig when there are several POVs revolving around one event. It is interesting to see how each person interprets what happens and how they interact with one another and the environment. It also gives the reader more insight into the event from different perspectives. Tom Leveen does an excellent job of giving each character an unique voice. I was able to tell each person apart from one another without having to flip back to the beginning of the chapter to she whose name was bolded in other to tell whose POV I was reading. It was well written and pretty funny. The story held my attention long enough for me to finish it in one setting. Since I get distracted very easily, that is most definitely a feat.

Now on to the not so good stuff. I’ll begin with the plot. It was almost like an episode of Skins. And not Skins UK but more like the watered down American version of Skins. It was drama-filled, formulaic and rather predictable. I felt there were too many life lessons the author was trying to convey to the reader and they all kind of lost their steam/power midway through the novel. While I was still pretty entertained, I wasn’t as invested in the characters as the story progressed. I felt like I was just roaming around the party, trying to find my keys and get the hell out there. But somehow I kept running to the characters and hearing them whine about problems that I no longer cared about during my search. It got kind of annoying.

I also didn’t care for the amount of characters. At least half of them really didn’t have a purpose other than to talk about the characters that were driving the plot. The story could’ve been told from the POVs of Beckett, Morrigan, Azize, Anthony, Max and Ashley and still could’ve worked. And with those characters, I only found myself attached to Beckett. She was the only one that came across as the most developed (though there were some logical flaws with her situation). The rest of the characters were stereotypes. And for the only two characters of color, pretty bad stereotypes.

Being African-American, I tend to look for how people of color are portrayed in YA Lit. So far, I have yet to come across a novel that handles them in a reasonable manner. It always seems as though there’s at least one TMF (token minority friend) that has been added to the cast to make it seem diverse and with that, it becomes fairly easy to cross the line into offensive territory. It also seems off like the TMF character is there for the soul purpose of allowing the other characters to say “It’s cool guys. I have a Black or Asian or Middle Eastern or Hispanic friend.” The characters are typically half-developed and lean more toward being stereotypes moreso than true characters. And this is the case with Anthony Lincoln. Anthony was described by what appears to be every other character as a “huge, black guy.” He plays football so he shows up at the party wearing a Oakland Raiders football jersey….lol okay. The characterization of Anthony put me in the mind of this trope.

Personally, I feel like the altercation between Anthony and Azize at the climax of novel was both unnecessary and kind of a cop-out. Anthony’s back story could have belong to any other character but I felt it was given to him because he was black. It seemed like it was there to soften the blow of the racial implications of a hate crime. Like it’s mildly better because a non-white person committed it. If that was going to be the driving force of the plot, I would’ve respected it more if an all-or-none approach was taken. If you were going to have this as a major plot point, then go all out. Don’t do it half-way because you would like to polish things over and have everything tied into neat little bow for the ending. A situation like that could not be fixed by a bros fist bump and an “I’m sorry” in real life. Not at all.

Would I recommend this book? Eh. Yes and no. While well-written and fun, I had problems with the plot, amount of characters and characterization of the characters of color. The story started off great but kind of got lost in the midst of things. Read it if you’re jonesing for a Skins US fix. Check out the book trailer below.

026. [review] MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN

 

I had the opportunity to finally finish Miss Peregrine’s Home for Pecuilar Children by Ransom Riggs this past weekend. It has taken me a while to put together a “review” of it because I don’t know what I want to say about it.  Miss Peregrine’s is about  a young man, Jacob Portman, who has grown up listening to his grandfather share stories about his childhood growing up in an orphanage on Cairholm Island.  Grandpa Portman told Jacob of his friends on the island their odd abilities such as a boy who was invisible, a girl who could levitate, a boy who could lift boulders, and a bird who smoked a pipe. He showed Jacob old  photographs of the children as he told stories about them. He also spoke of monsters with tentacles coming out of their mouths.  Jacob believed in Grandpa Portman’s tales and spent most of his youth dreaming of being an adventurer until the day when a few of his classmates told him his grandfather’s stories weren’t real.

 Jacob suspended belief until the day he got a frantic call from Grandpa Portman. He was looking for the key to his gun cabinet and wanted Jacob to tell him where it was.  Since Grandpa Portman’s health and mental stability were on a decline, Jacob refused to tell him where the key was but rushed to his grandfather’s home to check on him.  When Jacob arrived, he found his grandfather in  backyard–suffering from fatal wounds. Grandpa Portman’s dying words made no sense to Jacob at the time but over the course of the next few months would change the course of Jacob’s life.  Jacob later finds himself on Cairholm Island hoping to uncover more information about his grandfather’s past.

And that’s all I’m going to share regarding the plot. I truly do not want to spoil any of it. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is the best book I’ve read this year. It was extremely well-written and the characters were interesting.  Jacob was well-developed with his own voice and the supporting characters were unique and enjoyable. While, it wasn’t what I was expecting based on the cover, I enjoyed it immensely for some inexplicable reason.  I highly recommend it and look forward to future works by Ransom Riggs.

023. [review] BAD TASTE IN BOYS

Kate Grable is horrified to find out that the football coach has given the team steroids. Worse yet, the steroids are having an unexpected effect, turning hot gridiron hunks into mindless flesh-eating zombies. No one is safe–not her cute crush Aaron, not her dorky brother, Jonah . . . not even Kate! 

She’s got to find an antidote–before her entire high school ends up eating each other. So Kate, her best girlfriend, Rocky, and Aaron stage a frantic battle to save their town. . . and stay hormonally human.

I stumbled across this book while browsing through Good Reads in search of books to add to my ever-growing “to-read” list.  I’ll be completely honest here, what struck me about it was the cover. I’m a sucker for pretty covers.  They are responsible for at least 90% of my purchases.  Lured by the pretty cover, I decided to to scroll down and read the synopsis. Guess what? It’s about zombies!  As a horror junkie, it’s pretty much mandatory for me to love zombies.  With that key piece of information, I decided to order a copy from Amazon and give it a try.

Bad Taste in Boys is a quick read. At 201 pages, I was able to start it this morning and finish it by early afternoon (including  breaks for interneting and random dancing).  Kate Grable is a high school science geek who also serves as the student trainer for her high school football team. And of course, she harbors a crush on the team’s quarterback, Aaron.  After one of the practices, Kate stumbles upon a host of unmarked vials in the coach’s medicine cabinet.  She deduces they are steroids and Coach is doping the team in an effort to end their losing streak.  Kate soon learns there may be more to what’s going on once people start puking up black viscous liquid.  Being the only person with any clue of the pending danger, she takes it upon herself to save the day.

While the book was rife with cliches, namely the whole geek-crushing-on-the-popular-guy thing, I found it enjoyable.  Sometimes the “Queen of the Nerds” character can become grating quickly but I didn’t find Kate’s voice annoying at all–and I have a very low threshold for annoying characters. The other characters complemented Kate well especially her brother Jonah, whom may have been my favorite out of them all. I also enjoyed the setting was located in Ohio.  Being an Ohio native, I love when stories take place in my home state.

I only have a few gripes about the book.  I kind of expected more zombies.  Way more zombies and more zombie action. It didn’t have to be gory or violent but something more inline with what’s expected when the z-word is dropped.  I would have also have liked a more complex solution to the problem.  I felt that things were resolved too easily given the nature of the situation. A pending zombie epidemic shouldn’t be tied up into a neat bow (even if the ribbon has a few mildly frayed ends).

If you’re interested in a quick, fun read or love zombies like myself, I’d recommend Bad Taste in Boys to you.  Check out the book trailer below.

Check out Carrie Harris’ official website and look for Bad Hair Day, the second book in the Kate Grable series, which should be hitting shelves in 2012.

016. [review] LIVING DEAD GIRL

Last night I read “Living Dead Girl” by Elizabeth Scott and all I can say is wow.  Just wow.  It was a fairly easy read.  I was able to finish it in one setting but boy, does it pack an emotional wallop.  It reminded me of “Such a Pretty Girl” by Laura Weiss.  The two novels while different, had some similar themes.  I was up half the night thinking about it.  It’s one of those stories that will stay with you long after you’ve turned the last page.
 
The story focuses on fifteen year old “Alice” who was abducted by Ray five years ago during a field trip to a local aquarium.  I don’t want to go into too much detail about it because I don’t want to give the plot away but it’s a very powerful novel.  Though the subject matter is rather intense, it’s extremely well written.  Elizabeth Scott gives details without making the novel too graphic.  As the reader, you feel every blow Ray delivers to “Alice” and experience the sinking feeling in your stomach as you read about “Alice”‘s hopelessness. You’re concerned about her with her bruises and broken spirit and hope for the best even though there’s a underlying feeling that things may not turn out the way you would like.
 
I found this book in the YA section of my local Borders (I’m going to miss Borders something terrible) and I am torn about whether I’d recommend it for younger teens. It is a YA book but due to the subject matter, I think it’d be best for older teens..  I’m one score and four years old and it made me a bit squeamish as I read.  I don’t know how I would feel about younger teens reading it since it may be a little too mature for them. On the other hand, the protagonist is only fifteen years old and unfortunately, abductions of children–teenagers–young women– occur all of the time.  If you’re a parent, I recommend you read the book along with your daughter (or son) and have a dialogue about it.  Sometimes I think we try to shield children from certain subjects in order to protect them and we miss out on opportunities to provide information that will actually protect them. 
 
Next up: A book haul (I went a little crazy with my debit card this week) and reviews of the books I’ve recently read.

010.

The Unicorner

YA snark at its finest.

009.

Summary (from Author’s website):

Lily Sanderson has a secret, and it’s not that she has a huge crush on gorgeous swimming god Brody Bennett, who makes her heart beat flipper-fast. Unrequited love is hard enough when you’re a normal teenage girl, but when you’re half human, half mermaid, like Lily, there’s no such thing as a simple crush.

Lily’s mermaid identity is a secret that can’t get out, since she’s not just any mermaid—she’s a Thalassinian princess. When Lily found out three years ago that her mother was actually a human, she finally realized why she didn’t feel quite at home in Thalassinia, and she’s been living on land and going to Seaview High School ever since, hoping to find where she truly belongs. Sure, land has its problems—like her obnoxious biker-boy neighbor, Quince Fletcher—but it has that one major perk: Brody. The problem is, mermaids aren’t really the casual dating type—the instant they “bond,” it’s for life.

When Lily’s attempt to win Brody’s love leads to a tsunami-sized case of mistaken identity, she is in for a tidal wave of relationship drama, and she finds out, quick as a tailfin flick, that happily ever after never sails quite as smoothly as you planned.

Rating (out of 5): 1/5

Review (CONTAINS SPOILERS): Based on that brief summary Tera Lynn Childs has provided on her official website, you already have some idea as to the outcome of this story. And…you’re right.  There’s nothing extremely original or outstanding about this book.  Outside of an abundance of annoying fish puns, the story is something that has been told many times over.

Lily Sanderson is a fish out of water (literally), being a high school aged half-human half-mermaid.  She has spent the last four years at Seaview High pining away for the stereotypical jock/golden boy, Brody Bennett, who has no clue as to her true feelings.  Lily is helplessly in love with Brody despite the fact the pair has never had a meaningful conversation in all the years they have known each other.  She is determined to make Brody her mermate.  And in YA fashion, Lily has physical qualities that she believes are unattractive (mainly a head of frizzy blond hair) yet those around her adore.  Besides being in love with Brody, she’s also has been tormented by her next door neighbor, Quince Fletcher. 

Lily’s eighteenth birthday is approaching and she must find a mate to bond with in order to take her rightful place in royal succession. Oh, did I mention Lily was a princess?  She hopes to tell Brody about herself (ya know, being a mermaid and stuff) during the school’s Under the Sea themed dance (-_-).  With the unlikely help of her nemesis, Quince, she has an actual plan in place.  Things go awryand she ends up bonded to the wrong guy, Quince.  She immediately wants to go to her father, the ruler of Thalassinia, and get the bond separated.

You can pretty much guess the rest from here.  Lily and Quince travel to Thalassinia to get the bond annuled but have to go through a series of obstacles set up by her dad before the deed is done.  As they compete the tasks, Lily still holds out hope that Brody’s feelings will be reciprocated.  The bond apparently magnifies and creates feelings the two people in the bond have toward one another.  Lily has trouble distinguishing genuine feelings toward Quince or those created by the bond.  I’ll let you figure out what happens in the end.

As I’ve mentioned above, you’ve probably seen or read this story in some form or fashion.  For a brief moment during the opening scene, I thought I was reading a novelization of the movie Splash.  It’s a hodge-podge of familiar cliches and stereotypes that seem to run rampant in YA fiction.  The characters are annoying and there was little to no plot at all. 

Lily’s teenage naivete regarding her affections toward Brody are ridiculous.  Even for the suspension of belief to read fiction.  Lily has never had a real conversation with Brody and yet she’s convinced he is her mermate.  I’ve crushed on guys in a similar fashion in my youth but I was never so adamant about making them out to be my soulmate.  A crush is a crush.  When she wasn’t announcing her love for Brody, she was declaring her hatred for Quince or complaining about the bond.  After a while it became tiresome.  I was tired of hearing about how Quince was a biker-boot wearing arrogant blowfish.  I even said, “We get it. You hate him. Let’s move on.” 

And Quince was no better.  He was introduced in the during the opening scene and I gather he was supposed to be the playful, I-have-a-crush-on-you-bullying guy but it came off more like the I’m-your-creepy-neighbor guy.  His quips were often flat and for lack of a better word, lame.  And I found his characterization to be laughable.  He’s into motorcycles therefore he wears leather jackets, biker boots, and West Coast Choppers t-shirts.  Really?  It was just…weird.

Overall, I did not enjoy the book.  The characters were bland, the plot was neither exciting or grabbing, and it was generally boring.  I would only recommend it if you enjoy a whiny protagonist who uses types of fish as a replacement for swearing OR if you’re a glutton for cracky punishment like myself.

Hope you all enjoyed this review. 

Next up: Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick. Jesus, be with me.

006.

Modern Heroines

This is a book review blog run by my friend, Robyn.  She’s planning to read as many YA Paranormal Romance novels as she can.  The first book she’s reviewing is Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick.  You can read Robyn’s take on the prologue and the first chapter here.