Book Addiction

Review: Undercover

Heather — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 01:54:45 +0000

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.

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Review: Beach Trip

Heather — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:09:54 +0000

Title: Beach Trip

Author: Cathy Holton

Published: May 12, 2009

Page Count: 432

Genre: Women’s Fiction

My Rating: 4.5/5

Mel, Sara, Annie, and Lola have traveled distinct and diverse paths since their years together at a small Southern liberal arts college during the early 1980s. Mel, a mystery writer living in New York, is grappling with the aftermath of two failed marriages and a stalled writing career. Sara, an Atlanta attorney, struggles with guilt over her son’s illness and her own slowly unraveling marriage. Annie, a successful Nashville businesswoman married to her childhood sweetheart, can’t seem to leave behind the regrets of her youth. And Lola, sweet-tempered and absentminded, whiles away her hours–and her husband’s money–on little pills that keep her happy.

Now the friends, all in their forties, converge on Lola’s lavish North Carolina beach house in an attempt to relive the carefree days of their college years. But as the week wears on and each woman’s hidden story is gradually revealed, these four friends learn that they must inevitably confront their shared past: a failed love affair, a discarded suitor, a betrayal, and a secret that threatens to change their bond, and their lives, forever.

When I accepted Beach Trip for review, I was expecting to get a fun and light summer read that would entertain me but probably not provide much substance. Well, I was both right and wrong about that. This novel is definitely fun and I would still classify it as a summer read, but it’s a lot more than just “light” and it definitely came with substance!

I was drawn into this story and its characters right from the start. I found the characters extremely well-drawn, they had four very distinct personalities and I both loved and hated aspects of each of them, which, to me, made them extremely realistic. Sometimes in women’s fiction, especially when there’s a group of friends, each character has a role to play and doesn’t really go outside of that role, so the characters end up being sort of cliched. Although these four women did sort of have that “role” feeling to them, they had interesting enough backstories and complex personalities so I never got that cliche feeling from any of them. Holton did such a great job crafting these four women and showing that even with how different they were, they so obviously cared about one another and were still so comfortable being with each other, even after so many years spending time apart.

I also really liked the way this story was written. Some reviewers have noted that they found the format of the book, back and forth between past and present, slightly choppy, but I actually disagree. I liked how there was clear page breaks and notations when showing scenes from back in their college days. And even though, during the “present” there were many flashbacks from college days or in between then and now, I found those transitions extremely well done, and I was never confused about who was talking and what time period they were talking about. I feel like telling the story this way allowed the reader to get a complete picture of each of the four women, I was able to see for myself what they had been through in college, what their marriages were like, and how they came to be in their current states. For me, it just worked perfectly.

Not to be spoiler-y, but I have to just say one thing about the ending: I loved it. I truly thought it was the best possible way to end the book. For those of you who’ve read this one, thoughts on the ending? (if you want to be spoiler-y, I’m totally ok with that, but just email me spoiler stuff please instead of saying it in the comments! Thanks.)

All in all, Beach Trip has everything I love about women’s fiction – an interesting and complex story, well-written characters, and great writing. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and will be keeping my eye on Cathy Holton. Perhaps I may have to look for her earlier novels next…

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Review: Yes Means Yes

Heather — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:48:12 +0000

Title: Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape

Author: various authors, edited by Jaclyn Friedman and Jessica Valenti

Published: December 1, 2008

Page Count: 256

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism, Essays

My Rating: 5/5

In this groundbreaking new look at rape edited by writer and activist Jaclyn Friedman and Full Frontal Feminism and He’s A Stud, She’s A Slut author Jessica Valenti, the way we view rape in our culture is finally dismantled and replaced with a genuine understanding and respect for female sexual pleasure. Feminist, political, and activist writers alike will present their ideas for a paradigm shift from the “No Means No” model—an approach that while necessary for where we were in 1974, needs an overhaul today.

Yes Means Yes will bring to the table a dazzling variety of perspectives and experiences focused on the theory that educating all people to value female sexuality and pleasure leads to viewing women differently, and ending rape. Yes Means Yes aims to have radical and far-reaching effects: from teaching men to treat women as collaborators and not conquests, encouraging men and women that women can enjoy sex instead of being shamed for it, and ultimately, that our children can inherit a world where rape is rare and swiftly punished. With commentary on public sex education, pornography, mass media, Yes Means Yes is a powerful and revolutionary anthology.

First let me just state that I found this anthology simply amazing. And I haven’t seen too many reviews of this book, so I’m thrilled to be able to present it to all of you today. Especially because this topic is SO very important. Way too many girls and women are sexually assaulted or raped in their lifetimes. And way too many people don’t understand the severity of this crime, the toll it takes on a woman’s psyche, how the horrific act of having your body autonomy stolen from you can wreak havoc on your soul for years afterwords. I know this because I am one of these women.

Yes, I did just share something extremely personal on this blog (shocker, right?). I was raped on multiple occasions by my now ex-boyfriend. At the time I didn’t fully understand that what was happening to me was rape. I was never beaten, I was never shoved up against a wall or woke up the next morning with bruises and black eyes. But I did find myself trapped under him, sobbing uncontrollably while things were being done to my body that I had no control over whatsoever. I did say “no” eight or nine times before comprehending that I didn’t have a choice in the matter, and because allowing it to happen was so much easier than dealing with the consequences of actually following through with my “no”. And at the time, I truly believed that what was happening to me was my fault. I thought I was a terrible girlfriend, I wasn’t “meeting his needs”, I wasn’t emotionally strong enough and I didn’t demand enough respect from him for him to believe me when I said no. I honestly did not categorize what happened to me, night after night, as rape. But it was, and that’s why a book like this is so important.

If someone had put the revolutionary idea into my head that the only thing that should allow someone else access to my body was an enthusiastic “yes”, maybe I could have seen my ex for what he was sooner. Maybe if I thought I deserved to make my own decisions regarding what happened to my body, maybe if I understood that anyone who can have sex with someone who is crying and saying “please don’t do this” is so obviously a rapist, maybe then I would have ended that relationship a lot sooner than I did. I don’t know. But I do know that we don’t talk about this stuff nearly enough in our culture. We encourage girls to avoid rape, we teach girls to not dress slutty, to not walk alone at night, to always stay in groups at parties, to be careful not to drink too much; we teach them that if they take these precautions they will not be raped. What we don’t teach them is that the only thing that is the same in all rapes is that the woman is simply in the presence of a rapist. We don’t teach girls and women that no matter how we dress, how we act, how much we drink, and how few friends we have with us it cannot possibly be our own faults we are raped. I could go on and on.

But instead I’ll just say this: Yes Means Yes is awesome. It is groundbreaking. It is courageous. It is a collection of some of the best, well-written, thorough, most intelligent essays I have ever read. It is a collection that needed to be put together, and it’s a collection that needs to be read. Instead of highly recommending it (which I obviously do) I’m just going to ask you – please read this one. You won’t regret it.

Review: Xanadu

Heather — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:06:20 +0000

Title: Xanadu

Author: various authors, edited by Jane Yolen

Published: March 1994

Page Count: 256

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories

My Rating: 2.5/5

The first in an original anthology series that will transcend the boundaries of category fiction. Here are fantasy stories by some of the best writers of our day, both mainstream and genre, including Ursula K. Le Guin, Tanith Lee, Steven Brust, Esther Friesner and more.

I enjoy fantasy, but I can’t say that I have much experience with the genre – I’ve read several books here and there, but I in no way am familiar with most of the biggest fantasy authors, nor do I typically pick up a fantasy novel unless I’ve heard really great things about it from multiple people. So it was with great trepidation that I embarked on reading Xanadu. What did I think? Well, for me, this book was a mixed bag. As is the case with many short story collections, I really liked a few of the stories in here, some I was “meh” about, and others I either didn’t like or didn’t “get”. One of my favorite stories in this collection was “Lucy Maria” by Lisa Tuttle, about a boy who makes friends with the ghost of a little girl in an abandoned house and promises to take care of her all his life – a promise that ends up having interesting consequences. Another one I quite enjoyed was “To Scale” by Nancy Kress, which was about a teenage guy who is obsessed with creating stuff for his dollhouse – so obsessed, in fact, that he finds he can transport real people and animals to live in his dollhouse.

I think this book is a good choice for fantasy enthusiasts. I didn’t love it, but there were definitely pieces in here I really enjoyed.

A bloggy meme

Heather — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:51:29 +0000

Want to know more about me? Okay, then. Please enjoy. I don’t know who I stole this from because I’ve seen it floating around a lot lately. But feel free to steal it from me. (And feel free to seek credit in the comments if you are the originator of this meme!) *UPDATE —> The creator of the meme was MsMazzola at State of Denmark, and thanks, Nymeth, for letting me know!

1. How long have you been blogging?
Since November 2007

2. Why did you start blogging?
Well, I thought it would be good to start writing down my thoughts of the books I was reading and typing for me is faster than writing by hand so a blog just naturally came into my brain as a good way to do that. Not too long after I started I realized that there is a HUGE book blogging community which I had no idea existed previously. Once I realized that I could actually talk about the books I’ve been reading with OTHER HUMAN BEINGS my blogging just took off.

3. What have you found to be the benefits of blogging?
Like I said above, I love talking books with people. And most of the people in my life outside of blogging aren’t big readers, so it’s great to have this huge network of friends who love reading. Also I discovered ARCs, which has been super fun and has allowed me to read tons of books I wouldn’t have otherwise picked up but definitely enjoyed. And going along with that, bloggers provide the BEST book recommendations. I don’t even want to think about how many books are on my phantom TBR list (not to mention my ACTUAL TBR bookshelves in my home).

4. How many times a week do you post an entry?
I am pretty random about it. I have tried on several different occasions to have a system, but I always fail at that and then feel guilty. So now, I post as much as I can but don’t put too much pressure on myself. I typically post 4 or 5 times a week, sometimes as few as 2 and sometimes as often as 7.

5. How many different blogs do you read on a regular basis?
There is no way I can even think about the number of blogs currently in my Google Reader. It’s too many. But I love them all, and even though I know I’m not the greatest commenter (in fact, I’m probably one of the worst) I faithfully read a LOT of blogs and enjoy every single one.

6. Do you comment on other people’s blogs?
I kinda suck at commenting. But I’m really trying to get better at it. I have been making more of a conscious effort to comment on posts when I actually have something to say. Hopefully I will get better at this because I so value the comments people leave me, so I know I should make it more of a priority to reciprocate.

7. Do you keep track of how many visitors you have? Is so, are you satisfied with your numbers? I really don’t. Sometimes I’ll look at the tracker wordpress automatically provides but I have no clue how accurate that actually is. One of these days I’ll register on one of those websites that keeps track for you. I keep meaning to, but to be honest the numbers aren’t as important to me as they are to some people – I certainly love having visitors but I’m not obsessive about my numbers or anything.

8. Do you ever regret a post that you wrote? I don’t think that I ever have. When I look back on some of my earlier reviews, I don’t too much enjoy the quality of writing that came from me at that point so sometimes I’d like to go back and rewrite them. But I also enjoy seeing my progression as a writer so I don’t believe I’ll ever touch them, even if they make me cringe.

9. Do you think your audience has a true sense of who you are based on your blog?
I think so. I certainly don’t hide anything in my reviews, and I definitely let my personality shine through. At the same time, I don’t write too much personal stuff on here so there’s a lot that my readers don’t know about me. But I’m a pretty open book – anything you want to know, just ask!

10. Do you blog under your real name?
Yep, I do. My wordpress site name is heatherlo which is actually just my first name and my middle and last initials. The username I wanted was taken so I had to settle for that. But anyone who reads the blog in detail knows my name is Heather.

11. Are there topics that you would never blog about?
I don’t ever talk about my job because I work for a huge company in a highly regulated industry and saying the wrong thing about work could definitely get me fired (not that I have anything bad to say, but you know what I mean). And I don’t really blog about too much personal stuff, but it’s not because I’m opposed to doing so it’s just that I mainly focus on book reviews and book-related stuff.

12. What is the theme/topic of your blog?
Pretty much, books n more books.

13. Do you have more than one blog? If so, why?
I actually do have a challenge blog. I don’t spend much time on it, but I started it because I was having issues trying to keep track of my challenges on this blog. There were just too many of them, and I wanted more organization than was possible on this one. I barely ever post to the challenge blog, but I do keep track of everything challenge-related there, and it just helps me stay more organized. Otherwise I’d probably just forget what challenges I’m supposed to be doing.

Review: Sunnyside Blues (with free giveaway!)

Heather — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:00:11 +0000

Title: Sunnyside Blues

Author: Mary Carter

Published: June 30, 2009

Page Count: 352

Genre: Fiction

My Rating: 4/5

Twenty-five-year-old Andes Lane has spent nine years moving restlessly from place to place as she searches for somewhere that feels right. In the little blue houseboat bobbing on a Seattle lake, she thinks she’s found it. But Andes has barely had a chance to settle in before her new life is upended by her landlord, Jay, and his ten-year-old son, Chase. Smart, secretive, and precocious, Chase touches a chord with Andes even as he plays on her last nerve. When Jay needs someone to take care of Chase temporarily, Andes agrees to accompany the boy to Sunnyside, Queens, on a quest she’s sure will prove fruitless. But in this new, strange, unexpectedly welcoming city, Andes will confront the secrets she tried to leave behind and the lies that have kept her running. And against all odds, she’ll discover a place, a man, and a newfound peace of mind that feel very much like home.

I have to admit that Sunnyside Blues was not one of those books that grab me right away. In fact, towards the beginning of the novel I found myself a little concerned that I wouldn’t like it. But once I started to get to know the characters, Andes especially, I fell in love with this charming story and I ended up really enjoying it.

I definitely felt for Andes throughout the novel. She has spent her entire adult life running from her past, from her abusive father and from one event which changed her entire life and basically forced her into hiding. And because of all this, she hasn’t had too many close relationships, too many friends she can really count on or any place where she can feel at home. So when she meets Jay and Chase in the beginning of the novel, I thought for sure it would be a story about the three of them becoming a little family (or something to that effect). What I liked about this novel is that it took a completely different turn – Andes suddenly finds herself responsible for this ten-year-old boy, on a quest to find a person who Chase believes may be very important to him. And through this journey of theirs, the reader gets to watch as Andes starts to really care about Chase, as Chase starts to trust and depend on Andes, and as they navigate the world together. Their relationship was just so fun to read about – it was sort of a love/hate relationship, but as they got to know each other better and better it just became so sweet.

Another thing I enjoyed about the novel is the fact that Ms. Carter truly had me guessing through most of the book. The plot was never predictable, at least I couldn’t predict any of it, and I definitely appreciated that element to this story. I enjoyed the idea of Andes taking Chase to New York, with no concrete plan other than they’d get there safely and try to find a place to live temporarily, and it all worked out so well for them once they got there. Maybe it wasn’t the most realistic of situations, but I certainly enjoyed reading about their adventure!

Sunnyside Blues is a sweet, charming story with several twists and turns and I truly enjoyed reading it. Mary Carter has crafted great characters and an entertaining plot that will leave you smiling and satisfied when all is said and done.

And now, for the giveaway – Mary Carter has generously offered to give away TWO copies of Sunnyside Blues. The giveaway is open to anyone, regardless of where you live. Just comment on this post to enter, and I’ll go ahead and throw in an extra entry for anyone who’d like to blog or twitter about this contest. The giveaway will close on Sunday, July 12 (just under two weeks from today) and I will choose a winner that evening or the next morning. Good luck and thanks for participating!

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Review: Sleepwalking in Daylight

Heather — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:00:23 +0000

Title: Sleepwalking in Daylight

Author: Elizabeth Flock

Published: February 24, 2009

Page Count: 368

Genre: Women’s Fiction

My Rating: 4.5/5

Once defined by her career and independence, stay-at-home mom Samantha Friedman finds that her days have been reduced to errands, car pools and suburban gossip. What was an easy decision for Sam years ago has become a nagging awareness that this life was her choice. Now she deals with a husband who shows up for dinner but is too preoccupied for conversation, and a daughter swathed in black clothing and Goth makeup who won’t talk at all.

Believing she’s an adopted mistake, seventeen-year-old Cammy has fallen into sex and drugs and pours herself into a journal filled with poetry and pain. On parallel paths, mother and daughter indulge in desperate, furtive escapism—for Sam, a heady affair with her supposed soul mate, fueled by clandestine coffee dates and the desire to feel something; for Cammy, a secretive search for her birth mother punctuated by pills, pot and the need to feel absolutely nothing.

I have had two great experiences with Elizabeth Flock novels; I read and enjoyed both Me & Emma and But Inside I’m Screaming (both pre-blogging days). Yet somehow the fact that she recently published this one completely escaped me – that is, until I saw it on the new releases shelf at the library. Obviously, I grabbed it up and read the book as soon as I returned home that afternoon.

I was not at all disappointed with Sleepwalking in Daylight. In fact, I can easily say that this is my favorite Elizabeth Flock novel so far. This is definitely more of a character-driven novel, with the plot running alongside slightly in the background. What drew me into this book so quickly was how well Flock crafted these two characters. I was blown away by how distinctive and authentic Sam and Cammy were. It was almost hard for me to believe that the same author wrote both of them. What I loved about the way they were written was how well I sympathized with both of them – especially considering they had less-than-great things to say about one another. Basically, this is what would happen while I was reading the book: Sam would talk about how difficult a time she was having with Cammy, how impossible it was to reach her daughter, and I would feel her pain and just hope for them to reconcile. But then Cammy would go on about how her mother doesn’t understand her, how depressing everything in her life is, and how she feels like nobody really cares about what happens to her, and my heart would just break for what she was going through. Even though I knew Sam was doing everything she could to reach Cammy, and from Sam’s point of view Cammy was just pulling away from her. See? I totally got both women – I think it’s amazing that Flock was able to accomplish this.

I cannot talk about the plot of this novel in too much detail because there was a huge thing at the end that I was totally unprepared for, and I want anyone who reads the book to be equally as stunned as I was. However, I will say that I think Flock did a stunning job helping the reader slowly understand and unravel where this story was going. Basically the entire book is a terrible snowball – it starts off innocently enough, and then a few issues are revealed that make you think things are not going to turn out well for this family, and you actually read on the pages everything getting worse and worse until really, it can only get better. You know it has to get better, this family has to figure it out and mke things work. But will they? I’m not telling.

I loved this book. I don’t know what else to say – I thought it was beautiful, wonderfully written, and simply heartbreaking.

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Review: The Accidental Bestseller

Heather — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:55:14 +0000

Title: The Accidental Bestseller

Author: Wendy Wax

Published: June 2, 2009

Page Count: 432

Genre: Women’s Fiction

My Rating: 3/5

Once upon a time four aspiring authors met at their very first writers’ conference. Ten years later they’re still friends, survivors of the ultra-competitive New York publishing world. Mallory St. James is a workaholic whose bestsellers support a lavish lifestyle. Tanya Mason is a single mother juggling two jobs, two kids, and too many deadlines. Faye Truett is the wife of a famous televangelist and the author of inspirational romances: no one would ever guess her explosive secret. Kendall Aims’s once-promising career is on the skids—and so is her marriage. Her sales are dismal, her new editor detests her work—and her husband is cheating. Barely able to think, let alone meet her final deadline, Kendall holes up in a mountain cabin to confront a blank page and a blanker future. But her friends won’t let her face this trial alone. Together they collaborate on a novel using their own lives as fodder, assuming no one will ever discover the truth behind their words.

No one is more surprised than they are when the book becomes a runaway bestseller. But with success comes scrutiny and scandal…as these four best friends suddenly realize how little they’ve truly known each other.

When I first started reading The Accidental Bestseller, I was concerned that I wasn’t going to enjoy the read, and I was actually contemplating abandoning it for a few pages. It just didn’t catch me right away. But since I had promised to review the book I told myself I would give it 100 pages before putting it down. I’m so glad I made that choice because about fifty pages in, I was hooked and wouldn’t have abandoned it for anything! I do have to be honest, though, because while I enjoyed the book there were definitely aspects of it I wasn’t thrilled about, so I’m going to attempt to make this review as balanced as possible.

First, the characters. I loved reading about the relationships between these four women – I’m a sucker for stories about friendships, I really am. I loved how in The Accidental Bestseller, even though all four women were dealing with a lot in their personal lives, as soon as Kendall needs them they all come together to support her and help her. At the same time, it made me so sad to see that they were keeping these HUGE secrets from one another. Not little secrets – massive, life-changing ones. It was hard for me to believe that friends who cared about one another as much as these four did would keep this kind of stuff from each other. Oh well. Another thing that I have to mention about the characters is that I found all four of them to be a bit cliche. I hate to say this, but it’s what I kept thinking as I was reading and I just can’t keep it to myself. None of the four of them surprised me. Even when I found out their secrets I still felt pretty “meh” about them – even the secrets, to me, were pretty predictable. The character I most enjoyed, in fact, was a secondary character, Lacy. Lacy was the assistant to Kendall’s editor, and she was the one who really fought to get the book published. Lacy seemed authentic to me – gutsy, fought to get this book (which she knew would be a bestseller) more publicity, yet she was still so vulnerable to her editor’s horrid ways and to her crush’s attention to her. She, out of everyone in the book, seemed the most realistic to me.

I also found it fun to read about the publishing industry and how cutthroat it can be. I don’t know how realistic some of what happened in this book is, but it was fascinating to read how some books become bestsellers and others get no publicity and languish on the shelves unpurchased for a long time. Turns out, at least according to The Accidental Bestseller, that it has next to nothing to do with how good the books actually are. I also enjoyed how the plot in the book unfolded pretty slowly (it’s a longish book). Wendy Wax really gave the reader a nice opportunity to get to know the characters before getting going with the major plot twists. While there were a lot of scenes I loved, the scene at the talk show (those who have read this will definitely know what I’m talking about) near the end was by far my favorite part of the book. I was cracking up while reading this scene – it was absolutely hysterical! And so sweet, too, the way the four of them were protecting each other.

I enjoyed The Accidental Bestseller and would recommend it for women’s fiction fans like myself. It wasn’t my favorite book ever, but I did get lost in the story and the interesting tidbits about the publishing industry were definitely an added bonus!

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Review: Beasts of No Nation

Heather — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:27:13 +0000

Title: Beasts of No Nation

Author: Uzodinma Iweala

Published: November 8, 2005

Page Count: 160

Genre: Multicultural Fiction

My Rating: 3/5

In this stunning debut novel, Agu, a young boy in an unnamed West African nation, is recruited into a unit of guerrilla fighters as civil war engulfs his country. Haunted by his father’s own death at the hands of militants, Agu is vulnerable to the dangerous yet paternal nature of his new commander. While the war rages on, Agu becomes increasingly divorced from the life he had known before the conflict started—a life of school friends, church services, and time with his family still intact.

I’ve been putting off writing this review for far too long, mainly because I kind of don’t know what to write about Beasts of No Nation. The book is heavy. Seriously, this is the most raw, violent, brutal novel I’ve read in a long time. The entire book is Agu at war. Literally, that is the premise of the book and 99% of it is details and explanations of what the guerrilla fighters are seeing, thinking, and most of all, doing. Several times while reading the book I had to put it down and just take a breather, it was that graphic and difficult to read.

But what did I think of Beasts of No Nation, really? Well I didn’t enjoy it, exactly, it’s more like I appreciated the novel. I see what Iweala was doing with this one, it’s definitely one of the most honest books I’ve read in awhile. And the book is so raw, so gritty, that it’s clear there is a real understanding by the author what is perpetually going on in some African nations. But it was so very hard to read because Agu was just a child, and the things he was experiencing were so unbelievably beyond his understanding. They are beyond MY understanding. I don’t even want to think about or rehash some of the details in this book – it was heartbreaking to read, even moreso when one realizes that actual children ARE recruited by guerrilla fighters and have to live this life.

The book would have been better if it was longer, in my opinion. There was only a tiny glimpse at Agu’s life before being recruited, and I would have liked to see more. However, I can understand why more details weren’t given – the book was written as if Agu’s life before fighting didn’t exist, because to him he was an entirely different person than he was before becoming a fighter. So I get why there wasn’t more, but I think more depth would have increased the literary quality of this novel.

Beasts of No Nation was not an easy read. But if I look at it objectively, it is a good book and it tells an important story. I would recommend this novel, but with extreme reservations for those of you/us who have a difficult time with overly violent or graphic books.

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Review: Twenty Boy Summer

Heather — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:22:17 +0000

Title: Twenty Boy Summer

Author: Sarah Ockler

Published: June 1, 2009

Page Count: 304

Genre: Young Adult Fiction

My Rating: 4.5/5

According to her best friend Frankie, twenty days in Zanzibar Bay is the perfect opportunity to have a summer fling, and if they meet one boy ever day, there’s a pretty good chance Anna will find her first summer romance. Anna lightheartedly agrees to the game, but there’s something she hasn’t told Frankie—she’s already had that kind of romance, and it was with Frankie’s older brother, Matt, just before his tragic death one year ago.

Beautifully written and emotionally honest, this is a debut novel that explores what it truly means to love someone and what it means to grieve, and ultimately, how to make the most of every single moment this world has to offer.

Twenty Boy Summer is the third and final book about which I have questions from you guys to answer. I got several questions for this one, so here goes.

Louise asked, “Can you recommend 20 boy summer? And why/why not?” I can absolutely recommend Twenty Boy Summer. The characters were very well-drawn, the plot was interesting, and I thought the book came together very well in the end. Ultimately it is a story about moving on after a tragedy, which I think so many people can relate to. And even though it’s a YA book, adults would definitely relate to the story as well.

Eva asked, “What makes Twenty Boy Summer stand out from similar YA lit? Or did it?” I think that Twenty Boy Summer stands out from other YA lit in that it’s a bit deeper than most books written for teens. Although it does seem a little shallow from the description, as it sounds like the entire book is about Frankie and Anna spending their entire summer on the hunt for boys and nothing else, there’s a huge emotional current running through the book. Someone very, very close to them has recently passed away – Frankie’s brother, Anna’s sort-of boyfriend who she was pretty much in love with – and that loss is the backstory of the entire book. How the two of them deal with that loss, and with everything Matt left behind, is the true focus of the book.

Kim asked, “Lots of YA I read makes me annoyed because of what the take home message of it is (girls need boys to be happy, etc. etc.) What sort of take home message does 20 Boy Summer have?” While the book really focuses on Matt’s death, I think that the “take home” message is more about living. The end of the book is so hopeful and I think Ockler really wanted to show how important it is to really live. Without giving too much away, Frankie and Anna have some issues towards the end of the book, and basically have to finally deal with the pain of losing Matt. The message has a lot to do with how we deal with the bad things that happen to us, how we take those things and produce hope for those around us, and how to really live a full life – including being honest at all times with those around you. This is really crucial for teens because so many teens carry a lot of emotions around with them, never really explaining or attempting to understand their own pain and anger, and Twenty Boy Summer really encourages teens to embrace those negative emotions and turn them into positive ones.

Jodie asked, “20 Boy Summer sounds light but focuses on a relationship ended by death – is it depressing?” I didn’t find the book to be depressing at all. Sure, there are some incredibly heartbreaking scenes, as the girls try to work through their pain, and those parts were pretty sad. But overall this is a hopeful, even happy, book. The girls grow up a LOT over this one summer, they become mature almost-adults who learn to understand their feelings and who learn that friendship and family are very, very important to them. Reading about their pain is hard, but the overall feeling of the book is not at all depressing.

So, can you tell I really liked this one? I found Twenty Boy Summer to be a super fast, enjoyable read. Frankie and Anna were very sympathetic characters and I really felt for both of them. I also totally believed the story, and I think Ockler did an amazing job writing such great characters for the reader to empathize with. I’ll definitely be looking for more from this author in the future.

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