Book Sale Manager site

I just received an email letting me know about the existence of this fabulous website, and of course I HAD to share it with all of you!

I am a huge fan of library book sales.  Of course, I’m TRYING to stop acquiring so many books, but I still frequent these sales when I know of their existence – who can resist books for $1 or even $.50?  Seriously?  However, I have always had a hard time remembering which libraries had sales when.  I live in a large suburban area, there’s TONS of libraries around, and I can never keep track.  Enter Book Sale Manager.

This is a seriously awesome website where you can search by your zip code or even your entire state to see which libraries are having book sales and when.  You can even choose what dates you’re interested in – say, search only within a certain weekend or throughout an entire month.

The website is still in the early stages so there’s no guarantee at this point that the libraries you frequent will be on here, but the site is growing very quickly.  I heard about the site from another blogger a few weeks ago, searched and found nothing in my area.  Then the other day I received an email from a representative of the site, decided to go back and look at the site more carefully, and lo and behold, three libraries from around me were added that weren’t there before!  In just a few weeks!  Of course, it is up to the individual libraries to register and post about their own sales, but I’m sure that as more libraries hear about the site, more will be interested in getting their information on it.  What library wouldn’t want to drive more traffic to their book sales?

So.  Go check out Book Sale Manager and let me know what you think.  And if it doesn’t have your areas of interest right away, keep checking back.  I think this is a fantastic idea and I’m sure it will take off more than it already has in the very near future.  So hop on over there and of course, have fun book sale-ing!

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

Title:  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Author:  J.K. Rowling

Published:  January 1, 2003

Page Count:  870

Genres:  Fiction, Children’s Books/YA, Fantasy

My Rating:  5 out of 5

I say to you all, once again–in the light of
Lord Voldemort’s return, we are only as strong
as we are united, as weak as we are divided.
Lord Voldemort’s gift for spreading discord and
enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing
an equally strong bond of friendship and trust.

So spoke Albus Dumbledore at the end of Harry Potter’s fourth year at Hogwarts. But as Harry enters his fifth year at wizard school, it seems those bonds have never been more sorely tested. Lord Voldemort’s rise has opened a rift in the wizarding world between those who believe the truth about his return, and those who prefer to believe it’s all madness and lies–just more trouble from Harry Potter.

Add to this a host of other worries for Harry…
• A Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher with a personality like poisoned honey
• A venomous, disgruntled house-elf
• Ron as keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team
• And of course, what every student dreads: end-of-term Ordinary Wizarding Level exams

…and you’d know what Harry faces during the day. But at night it’s even worse, because then he dreams of a single door in a silent corridor. And this door is somehow more terrifying than every other nightmare combined.

The fifth installment of the Harry Potter series is absolutely my favorite book in the series – which is funny, because it’s a lot of people’s LEAST favorite.  But I just love it.  There are several reasons why I love the book so much, but none of them really do justice to the comfort that the book brought me when I was recently suffering from a lapse in my reading (I’m still suffering, sort of, sad to say).

I love how much information we are given in this book.  At the end, when Harry and Dumbledore are having their yearly talk – after all the action has occurred, of course – Dumbledore tells Harry, and the reader, SO MUCH.  And it is at this point where the reader starts to understand just how much in the dark they’ve been all along, and also it made me wonder (the first time I read it) what else J.K. Rowling could possibly be hiding from me because obviously there had to be more (don’t worry, there’s more, but I’ll get to that when I review books 6 and 7).

I enjoy the action in this book.  There’s just so much suspense, so much drama – like WTF is going on with Harry’s dreams?  And WHY OH WHY can’t the Ministry figure out that Voldemort is really back?  And WHEN will this confrontation between the Order and Voldemort or the Death Eaters take place?  Because the entire book builds up to the fact that it will.  And I was totally satisfied with the scenes in the end of the book – with the craziness at the Ministry.  I remember the first time I read this one, I was reading so fast because I was so involved in the action that I had to go back and reread chunks because I was speed-reading in such a way as to miss crucial parts of the story.  I loved that!

I also don’t mind the teenage angsty-ness we see in Harry, Ron, and Hermione.  It actually made the book feel more authentic… they are fifteen years old, of course they are going to act like stupid teenagers half the time.  If they didn’t it just wouldn’t seem true to me.  I also appreciated how much more we got to see of Fred and George in this one, they are awesome characters and I love that Rowling developed them a little more here.

Okay, I’m done.  Too much gushing for one day.  I’m currently reading the sixth book so I should be reviewing that one soon.  I’m TRYING to get my review books read, and challenge books too, but I’m having trouble focusing, so these are a nice distraction from my responsibilities.

More reviews -

• Hannah at Wordlily
• Sam’s Book Blog
• Tanabata at In Spring it is the Dawn

The Screwed-Up Life of Charlie the Second by Drew Ferguson

Title:  The Screwed-Up Life of Charlie the Second

Author:  Drew Ferguson

Published:  September 1, 2008

Page Count:  320

Genres:  Fiction, YA, GLBT

My Rating:  4/5

Being Charles James Stewart, Jr. AKA Charlie the Second means never “fitting in.” Tall, gangly and big-eared, he could be the poster boy for teenage geeks. An embarrassment to his parents (he’s not to crazy about them, either), Charlie is a virtual untouchable at his school, where humiliation is practically an extra curricular activity. Charlie has tried to fit in, but all of his efforts fall on a glorious, monumental scale. He plays soccer–mainly to escape his home life–but isn’t accepted by his teammates who basically ignore him on the field. He still confuses the accelerator with the brake pedal and has failed his driving exam six times. He can’t work on his college application essay without writing a searing tell-all. But what’s freaking Charlie out the most is that while his hormones are raging and his peers are pairing off, he remains alone with his fantasies.

But all of this is about to change when a new guy at school begins to liven things up on the soccer team–and in Charlie’s life. For the first time in his seventeen years, Charlie will learn how it feels to be a star, at least off the field. But Charlie discovers that even cool guys have problems as he embarks on an unforgettable, risk-filled journey from which there is no turning back….

First of all, let me just be honest when I tell you that I wouldn’t have even heard of this book if it weren’t for Trish’s review.  Her review sums up my feelings pretty exactly, plus she had some great personal insight on why she liked the book so much, so trust me – you need to read her review before reading the rest of mine.  What are you waiting for?  Go now!

I agree with Trish that there was waaaay lots of sex in the book.  Way more than I’m used to.  But as I like to think of myself as pretty open-minded, and not too squeamish, it didn’t really bother me when I thought about why it was so necessary to the story.  It was necessary to the story – the book is in diary format, and what seventeen-year-old boy doesn’t think about sex 90% of the time?  I don’t know of any.  So, it makes perfect sense that there’s a reference to Charlie’s penis on almost every page and I get why it was there.  And, like Trish so eloquently explained, the book is exactly what a gay teenager would need most – to know that he’s not alone, that there are other people going through the same stuff he is, and that what he’s experiencing is completely normal.  Because it is.

Besides that, there really is a sweet teen romance in these pages.  When Charlie first meets Rob, he goes through the same stuff we all went through in our first relationship – constantly questioning, obsessing, thinking about everything that person says or does, constantly thinking about that person and hoping that they feel the same way.  Charlie went through all of that – and I personally found it so endearing to read about.

One more thing… I loved the setting of the book!  I actually live pretty close to the Chicago suburb where Charlie lives, and it was fun to see references to places I know well and streets I’ve traveled, every few pages.  Just an added bonus for me.

Great book – highly recommended for teens and fans of YA lit/GLBT lit.  The book IS pretty graphic, though, and if I were a parent I probably would only want my kids reading it if they were at least fifteen or sixteen.  But other than that, I truly appreciated The Screwed-Up Life of Charlie the Second and I’m so glad it was brought to my attention.

More reviews -

• Becky at Becky’s Book Reviews
• Lauren at Shooting Stars Mag

Rape: A Love Story by Joyce Carol Oates

Title:  Rape: A Love Story

Author:  Joyce Carol Oates

Published:  December 14, 2003

Page Count:  128

Genre:  Fiction

My Rating:  4 out of 5

Teena Maguire should not have tried to shortcut her way home that Fourth of July. Not after midnight, not through Rocky Point Park. Not the way she was dressed: tank top, denim cut-offs, high-heeled sandals. Not with her twelve-year-old daughter, Bethie. Not with packs of local guys running loose on hormones, rage, and alcohol. A victim of gang rape, left for dead in the park boathouse, the once vital and sexy Teena Maguire can now only regret that she has survived. And Bethie can barely remember a childhood uncolored by fear. For they’re not even a neighborhood away, the men that she identified for the Niagara Falls Police Department: the wide-browed, sandy-haired Pick brothers; the sneering Jimmy DeLucca; Fritz Haaber with his moustache and stubbled jaw. They’ve killed her grandmother’s longhaired orange cat. At a relentless, compelling pace punctuated by lonely cries in the night and the whisper of terror in the afternoon, National Book Award-winner Joyce Carol Oates unfolds the story of Teena and Bethie, their assailants, and their unexpected, silent champion, a man who knows the meaning of justice. And love.

I’ve been meaning to give Joyce Carol Oates another chance for years.  I say “another chance” because I absolutely detested We Were the Mulvaneys which I sadly read more than half of (and it’s a long book!) before deciding it was a complete waste of my time and being so angry with myself for reading as much of it as I did.  I don’t know what it was about that book, but it just did not work for me in such a huge way that I figured I couldn’t possibly like anything else Oates had done.  But knowing how prolific of an author she is, I always assumed eventually I’d give her another chance.  With Rape: A Love Story, I finally did, and I’m so glad I made that decision because this book definitely worked for me.

There were a few reasons I chose this book.  I’ve always been intrigued by it – the juxtaposition of the words “rape” and “love” in the same title always confused and interested me – the two words should never be put in the same sentence.  Yet as I’ve recently disclosed on this blog, I was raped several years ago on more than one occasion by someone I thought I loved.  So, although rape and love should never be put together, and logically they don’t belong in the same book much less the same title, I figured I would sort of get it, in a weird and maybe sad kind of way.

Well, the book wasn’t exactly what I was expecting.  First of all, Teena was NOT in love with her rapists.  She was not even in like with them – what Teena went through was a brutal beating, rape, and attempted murder, nothing like the experiences I had.  What Teena went through is the stereotype of rape – strangers jumping out of bushes, shoving you down and brutally raping you while using violence and/or threatening you with weapons.  What’s more, what she dealt with in the aftermath is the stereotype of how rape victims get treated – everyone said she “deserved it” for being dressed the way she was, several of the guys said she’d slept with them before so of course she “wanted it” this time too, she was “into it” at first and then changed her mind and of course a guy cannot just stop in the middle, etc.

And something about Rape: A Love Story just worked for me.  I can’t say what it is, I believe a huge part of it is thanks to Oates’ fantastic writing.  The way the book unfolded in such a mesmerizing, perfect way – I felt like I was there.  I felt like Bethie was talking to me, telling me the story from her point of view, and it was one of those things that just clicked.  You know what I mean – when a book just speaks to you, and you can’t understand or explain why?  That’s what happened for me with this one.

This book, for me, was not perfect – there were some plot points I didn’t enjoy, some aspects of what happened to the characters I didn’t agree with – but overall I truly appreciated Rape: A Love Story.  I would recommend it for fans of great writing, and quiet but powerful novels.  The rape scene, however, was not the easiest thing for me to read, and although it was not really a trigger for me I can see how it would be difficult for many people.  So just a warning on that.  That being said, I still think it’s a worthwhile read even with the uncomfortability factor.

More reviews -

• Trish at Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’?
• Joanne at The Book Zombie

The Girl She Used to Be by David Cristofano

Title:  The Girl She Used to Be

Author:  David Cristofano

Published:  March 19, 2009

Page Count:  256

Genre:  Fiction

My Rating:  3/5

When Melody Grace McCartney was six years old, she and her parents witnessed an act of violence so brutal that it changed their lives forever. The federal government lured them into the Witness Protection Program with the promise of safety, and they went gratefully. But the program took Melody’s name, her home, her innocence, and, ultimately, her family. She’s been May Adams, Karen Smith, Anne Johnson, and countless others–everyone but the one person she longs to be: herself. So when the feds spirit her off to begin yet another new life in another town, she’s stunned when a man confronts her and calls her by her real name. Jonathan Bovaro, the mafioso sent to hunt her down, knows her, the real her, and it’s a dangerous thrill that Melody can’t resist. He’s insistent that she’s just a pawn in the government’s war against the Bovaro family. But can she trust her life and her identity to this vicious stranger whose acts of violence are legendary?

I have really mixed feelings about The Girl She Used to Be.  Generally speaking, I did enjoy the book.  I found it fast-paced and interesting, I had a difficult time putting it down, and I thought the writing was pretty good.  However, the story itself was so completely implausible that it made it very hard to actually enjoy or get involved with the story at all.  Let me try to explain further.

First, the good.  Cristofano has created an intriguing premise and carried that premise through with many plot twists and interesting situations for the characters to explore.  He also created an extremely believable main character with Melody – despite the fact that she seems to not “know who she really is” I felt like the reader got a clear impression of her from the very beginning of the book, and that only solidified throughout.  She was interesting, complex, very realistic, and totally believable.  I definitely empathized with her and hoped for things to work out for her in the end.  I didn’t love all the decisions she made, but that only made her more realistic to me – in real life, we all make stupid decisions and then have to deal with the repercussions of those decisions.

Now here’s the bad part.  The premise of the story itself is so difficult for me to believe that I could never get fully invested in the story.  I mean, okay, she’s part of the Witness Protection Program but can never keep it quiet long enough to stay put, I get that, but WHY OH WHY does she keep messing stuff up for herself?!  One of the US Marshalls told her himself that they have thousands of people in the program who live perfectly normal lives, yet Melody just couldn’t handle keeping her secret, so she never fell in love, never made friends, never had a career, just because she kept having to screw herself over by blabbing about who she really was.  So that annoyed me.  And then the Jonathan thing – no WAY this could happen in real life.  She is being guarded by a U.S. Marshall, who just happened to take a walk so Jonathan could go into her motel room and kidnap her – WHAT?  Obviously, if this were real life, someone would be guarding her at all times.  And then so much of what happened between the two of them, well I just didn’t get it.  It was just way too convenient, too many coincidences, and I was mostly annoyed by it all.  Also, there was one aspect of her story that Jonathan had questioned, as in, something is going on here, deeper than what it looks, and yet that question was never answered.  This totally irritated me – it was important, in my opinion, and I wanted to know the details.

So, overall, not a bad read, but I can’t wholeheartedly recommend it with the issues I had.  However, there are several other bloggers who read and enjoy this one, so check out their reviews if you’d like another opinion!

• Christina at Jackets & Covers
• Ashley at Bellas Novella
• Jen at Devourer of Books
• Marie at The Burton Review
• Thoughts of Joy
• Ali at Worducopia
• Alyce at At Home With Books
• Kathy at Bermudaonion
• Julie at Booking Mama
• Melissa at Shh I’m Reading

The Good Women of China by Xinran

Title:  The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices

Author:  Xinran

Published:  October 8, 2002

Page Count:  256

Genre:  Nonfiction

My Rating:  4/5

For eight groundbreaking years, Xinran hosted a radio program in China during which she invited women to call in and talk about themselves. Broadcast every evening, Words on the Night Breeze became famous throughout the country for its unflinching portrayal of what it meant to be a woman in modern China. Centuries of obedience to their fathers, husbands and sons, followed by years of fear under Communism, had made women terrified of talking openly about their feelings. Xinran won their trust and, through her compassion and ability to listen, became the first woman to hear their true stories.

This unforgettable book is the story of how Xinran negotiated the minefield of restrictions imposed on Chinese journalists to reach out to women across the country. Through the vivid intimacy of her writing, these women confide in the reader, sharing their deepest secrets. Whether they are the privileged wives of party leaders or peasants in a forgotten corner of the countryside, they tell of almost inconceivable suffering: forced marriages, sexual abuse, separation of parents from their children, extreme poverty. But they also talk about love — about how, despite cruelty, despite politics, the urge to nurture and cherish remains. Their stories changed Xinran’s understanding of China forever. Her book will reveal the lives of Chinese women to the West as never before.

The Good Women of China is truly a remarkable book.  What Xinran has done is given a voice to so many women who were unable to use their own voices to tell their stories.  The women Xinran heard from had so many differing experiences, but they all shared the common theme of being oppressed, of having no say in their own lives, and of suffering throughout so much of their lives.  This was an incredibly difficult book for me to read, knowing that what I was reading had actually happened to somebody.  Yet, although it was a difficult read, this book is an important one.  These women experienced more suffering and heartache in their lives than most of us will ever experience (and many of them experienced it in their childhoods or teen years!), and their stories deserve to be heard.

So, I’m glad I read The Good Women of China.  There’s not much else I want to say about this book, honestly, just because I truly appreciated reading it but would rather refrain from any more summaries.  I’d really recommend reading this one – Xinran has done something very important with this book, and it deserves to be noticed.

The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren

Title:  The Purpose Driven Life

Author:  Rick Warren

Published:  October 1, 2002

Page Count:  334

Genres:  Nonfiction, Inspirational

My Rating:  2.5 out of 5

You are not an accident. Even before the universe was created, God had you in mind, and he planned you for his purposes. These purposes will extend far beyond the few years you will spend on earth. You were made to last forever!

Self-help books often suggest that you try to discover the meaning and purpose of your life by looking within yourself, but Rick Warren says that is the wrong place to start. You must begin with God, your Creator, and his reasons for creating you. You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense.

This book will help you understand why you are alive and God’s amazing plan for you—both here and now, and for eternity. Rick Warren will guide you through a personal 40-day spiritual journey that will transform your answer to life’s most important question: What on earth am I here for? Knowing God’s purpose for creating you will reduce your stress, focus your energy, simplify your decisions, give meaning to your life, and, most importantly, prepare you for eternity.

The Purpose-Driven™ Life is a blueprint for Christian living in the 21st century—a lifestyle based on God’s eternal purposes, not cultural values. Using over 1,200 scriptural quotes and references, it challenges the conventional definitions of worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and evangelism. In the tradition of Oswald Chambers, Rick Warren offers distilled wisdom on the essence of what life is all about.

This is a book of hope and challenge that you will read and re-read, and it will be a classic treasured by generations to come.

These are the kinds of reviews I really hate writing.  I am trying to come up with the correct words to describe how the book made me feel and I am literally coming up empty.  It is sort of like a completely neutral feeling – didn’t really like it, didn’t hate it either (hence the 2.5 rating).  I think the issue for me is that I really didn’t get anything new out of The Purpose Driven Life. I am here for God’s purpose, not my own, okay I get it.  No need to devote forty chapters to that same idea.  Not to sound harsh, I just didn’t get what the big deal was about this one.  I don’t see what made it such an international sensation.  To me, the book was an incredibly simple message which was spelled out very clearly in the introduction and then repeated a zillion times throughout the book.  So, I just don’t know what all the hype is about.

That said, I can see how Warren’s message would be welcome and necessary in many lives.  So many people, Christians included, go through life striving for power, or for money, or wander through life striving for nothing at all.  I can see the appeal of changing ones’ thinking to live life only for God’s glory – this would be a welcome change for many people.  As for me, well, I get it.  No need to beat me over the head with it for forty chapters.

So, yeah, this one was pretty eh for me.  Anybody have thoughts on this one?  Did it change your life?  Do you even agree with Warren’s proclaimed purpose for all of our lives?  I’d love to hear your input.

Winners of Sunnyside Blues

My apologies, I had planned to draw for the winners of Sunnyside Blues on Sunday night and unfortunately it sort of slipped my mind until now.  The winners are:

Belinda and Jason!

I have emailed both winners and am expecting to forward their info onto Ms. Carter asap so that I can get the books out.  If for some reason I do not hear from either of them in a week, I will pick a replacement.

Sunday thoughts… (TSS)

I have been having issues with my reading and blogging lately.  I don’t know what it is, I suppose I’m just in a funk.  I’ve only finished two books this week (not nearly what I normally do) and haven’t gotten up the gumption to review either of them.  Part of it is definitely just the way summer makes me feel – lazy, like all I want to do is sit outside and drink a cocktail.  And I’ve been doing my share of outside-enjoying, cocktail-drinking, fun-having in the past few weeks.  Last weekend was a busy one, with the holiday and all – we went out for dinner and fireworks with friends on Friday night, then spent most of the day and night on Saturday at a friend’s Fourth of July party.  Then this weekend, I had my best friend’s birthday extravaganza on Friday night, was out all day yesterday running errands and then at a graduation party, and my husband and I went out for dinner last night.  I was so exhausted from lack of sleep on Friday that I went to bed early last night, after reading a measly 20 pages of a book.  And today I had lunch with friends and just returned home about an hour ago.  It’s been a fun couple of weekends (normally I don’t have nearly that much activity; I’m really a homebody at heart) but it’s definitely wiped me out.  And I WANT to read, but none of the books I’m currently reading are excellent so far – they’re all okay – which is not helping.  When I pick them up to read at night, if I’m already tired, I can’t stay up and read books that aren’t page turners.  It just doesn’t work.

So needless to say, I’m trying to snap out of it.  I did finish a book this morning, and I actually picked up Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix the other day in the hopes of kick-starting my reading pace.  I know I’ll fly through that one, and it’s such a comfort read that it makes me want to read other equally satisfying books.  So we’ll see how the rest of this month works.  Lately if I have the choice of reading or lounging by the pool with friends, I’ve been choosing outside stuff.  I can read outside too, but it takes more concentration for me because of the sun and I also read a lot more slowly outside – I get distracted by everything around me.

The Booking Through Thursday question this week was to show pictures of our TBR piles.  Mine is out of control, to say the least, but I braved it and took a few pictures to share.  I have one TBR bookcase (I refuse to buy a second) but it’s double-stacked and crammed as full as possible.  My TBR review books are completely separate.  Here are some pictures of my TBR situation…

Here’s the bookcase.  This is the front stack of books…

… and here are the books behind those books.  As you can see, I really need to work on both a) reading books I already own (there are some great titles in there!) and b) not acquiring new books.  I’ve been great about not buying books, but not so great about avoiding giveaways and bookmooch.  What can I say?  I love books.

And here are my review books.  The stack on the left contains the books I have accepted for review, and I need to read these in the next 1-3 months (well, according to my review policy I do give myself six months but I try to get them done quickly when I can).  The stack on the right contains unsolicited review copies that were all surprises from publishers.  I may or may not ever get to these ones.  In fact, I plan in the near future to whittle down this pile to the ones I am really interested in and give away the rest.  So keep your eyes peeled for that.  Note that the stack on the left does not include the 5+ books I’ve recently accepted and am expecting to arrive in the mail shortly.

So.  Do you ever have a reading funk?  Any particular time of year you have more difficulty reading than other times?  What do you do to jump-start your reading again?  What about a blogging funk – what do you do when you just don’t feel like writing reviews, or writing anything for that matter?

I’m going to watch a movie, and hope that later tonight I’ll be more in the reading mood.  Happy Sunday everyone!

Review: Undercover

Title:  Undercover

Author:  Beth Kephart

Published:  September 18, 2007

Page Count:  288

Genre:  Young Adult Fiction

My Rating:  3/5

Like a modern-day Cyrano de Bergerac, Elisa ghostwrites love notes for the boys in her school. But when Elisa falls for Theo Moses, things change fast. Theo asks for verses to court the lovely Lila—a girl known for her beauty, her popularity, and a cutting ability to remind Elisa that she has none of these. At home, Elisa’s father, the one person she feels understands her, has left on an extended business trip. As the days grow shorter, Elisa worries that the increasingly urgent letters she sends her father won’t bring him home. Like the undercover agent she feels she has become, Elisa retreats to a pond in the woods, where her talent for ice-skating gives her the confidence to come out from under cover and take center stage. But when Lila becomes jealous of Theo’s friendship with Elisa, her revenge nearly destroys Elisa’s ice-skating dreams and her plan to reunite her family.

Undercover was my first Kephart novel; I’d heard great things about her books and I’d been anxious to read this one for some time.  I’m definitely glad that I read it and I think Kephart has a wonderful talent for writing YA, but I’m sort of disappointed to say that I didn’t love the book like I wanted to.

I think the issue I’m having is that I’ve read SO much great YA fiction this past year that it’s getting difficult for a YA book to impress me these days.  Undercover was definitely good, it just wasn’t my favorite.  Let’s start with what I did like.  I enjoyed the character of Elisa – I really felt for her, especially in relation to her family situation.  All she wanted was for her family to be “perfect” again (at least, how she perceived the way they used to be, before her dad started taking super long business trips and her mom started feeling sad and missing him all the time).  She was determined, through the entire book, to find a way to bring her dad back into their lives again.  And top that off with the fact that she didn’t feel like she had anything in common with her mom and her sister – well, this girl was definitely hurting.  I also liked where the plot went in the last third of the book.  In my opinion, the novel drastically improved after about page 180 or so.  I really got invested in the story at that point and HAD to find out how everything would turn out.

What didn’t I like?  Well, the Theo situation sort of confused me.  I guess I didn’t get what Elisa liked about him, and I didn’t feel like I got enough details to understand their “relationship”.  To me, it just seemed like he used her to write these poems for his girlfriend, and I couldn’t figure out what was so great about this guy.  The other thing that wasn’t too great for me about this novel was that I just didn’t feel invested in the book until near the end.  I could have put it down at any point and not minded never finding out what happened next (until the end, like I said above).  I like my novels to suck me in and take me to another place, I need to be completely wrapped up in the story, and this one just didn’t do that for me.

I did, however, really enjoy Kephart’s writing – I think she writes teens very well, and I will definitely be reading more from her.  Although Undercover was not my favorite YA book, it was a solid novel that I’d still be able to recommend.

More reviews -

• Staci at Life in the Thumb
• Lenore at Presenting Lenore
• Amy at My Friend Amy