Waiting on Wednesday (123)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that allows bloggers to share which books we are most anticipating.

This week I am waiting on Jesse’s Girl by Miranda Kenneally (07/01/15):

Description (on Goodreads):

Everyone at Hundred Oaks High knows that career mentoring day is a joke. So when Maya Henry said she wanted to be a rock star, she never imagined she’d get to shadow *the* Jesse Scott, Nashville’s teen idol.

But spending the day with Jesse is far from a dream come true. He’s as gorgeous as his music, but seeing all that he’s accomplished is just a reminder of everything Maya’s lost: her trust, her boyfriend, their band, and any chance to play the music she craves. Not to mention that Jesse’s pushy and opinionated. He made it on his own, and he thinks Maya’s playing back up to other people’s dreams. Does she have what it takes to follow her heart—and go solo?

Why I’m Waiting:

I love all of Miranda Kenneally’s books. I own every book she’s written, and I’ve never been disappointed in any of them. They make for great contemporary romances. I love how strong her girl main characters are. And I love all of the slow-building romance. I’m excited to see a different kind of girl in this one, with a musician. It’s not my favorite of her book covers, but it looks like it fits, so I’m not complaining. It does have a super cute title. It’s just a long wait until July…

What are you waiting on this week?

And also, Happy New Year!

Brown Girl Dreaming

Summary (from Goodreads):

National Book Award Winner

Jacqueline Woodson, one of today's finest writers, tells the moving story of her childhood in mesmerizing verse.

Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child’s soul as she searches for her place in the world. Woodson’s eloquent poetry also reflects the joy of finding her voice through writing stories, despite the fact that she struggled with reading as a child. Her love of stories inspired her and stayed with her, creating the first sparks of the gifted writer she was to become.

Review:

What a great reading week I have had! I have read one book of short stories, one graphic novel, and now one autobiography done in verse and I have loved each and every one of these books, particularly this one. I have read a couple other books by this author, though, none since I was a teen. Both the title and the gorgeous cover put it on my radar early on and I made sure to order it for my library right when it came out. I admit though, that I didn’t pick it up to read myself until after it won the National Book Award, by which point, I was dying to read it. It sounded so good!

The whole thing is written in poetry. But, it’s narrative poetry (like two of my all time favorite YA Books: What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones and True Believer by Virgina Euwer Wolff).  They are told poetically, but the poetry makes up one large story. I must admit I have not read a ton of books in this format, but since I have had good experience with this in the past, I wasn’t too hesitant about the style. I can see how it might turn away a few reluctant readers though.

Any way, after all that, what I wanted to say is it’s beautiful. Literally, there were passages I’d re-read several times, just to soak up the words. Some of it even demands to be read out loud. Certain poems were goose bump inducing.

A lot of the book deals with racism and civil rights. I think my favorite passages are the ones that cover these topics. But, a lot of the book is also about family and family history. I loved the differences between the north and the south, and how we got to go back and forth between them. I loved the differences among the siblings. And I loved seeing this world in such a different, unique perspective.

The passages about religion and being different from the other kids (always) just makes it impossible not to love Jacqueline. Her sense of justice and self worth (as a child) is so powerful. And I loved her family too. At the end of the book, are real-life photographs of the characters from the story. And my heart just about melted looking at her grandfather. He was my favorite character.

Also there was so much in here about writing, and dreaming about being a writer. I loved how important words were. And I loved the concepts of stories being passed along through the generations. There was one part where Jacqueline could only partially pass the stories she heard to her siblings because she wasn’t allowed to hear the rest, so she just made up her own endings. She loved making up words and stories.

One of my favorite passages, that I’ve re-read over and over comes toward the end in a chapter/poem called “Revolution.” This is the middle of the poem:

            When I hear the word
            revolution
            I think of the carousel with
            all those beautiful horses
            going around as though they’ll never stop and me
            choosing the purple one each time, climbing up and onto it
            and reaching for the golden ring, as soft music plays.

            The revolution is always going to be happening.

            I want to write this down, that the revolution is like
            a merry-go-round, history always being made
            somewhere. And maybe for a short time,
            we’re a part of that history. And then the ride stops
            and our turn is over. (pg 308-309)

I keep making comparisons in my head between this book and Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street. They are very different stories, but they both so strongly deal with the topics of home and family from a very young and powerful perspective. And I can see this book growing to the popularity level of Cisneros’ work.

I slowly devoured this one. You will read it and just want to soak up the words. But, it also moves rather quickly. You want to see how things go for Jacqueline and her siblings. I loved it. I give it a 10/10.

In Real Life by Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang

Summary (from Goodreads):

Anda loves Coarsegold Online, the massively-multiplayer role-playing game where she spends most of her free time. It's a place where she can be a leader, a fighter, a hero. It's a place where she can meet people from all over the world, and make friends.

But things become a lot more complicated when Anda befriends a gold farmer--a poor Chinese kid whose avatar in the game illegally collects valuable objects and then sells them to players from developed countries with money to burn. This behavior is strictly against the rules in Coarsegold, but Anda soon comes to realize that questions of right and wrong are a lot less straightforward when a real person's real livelihood is at stake.

From acclaimed teen author (Little Brother, For the Win) and Boing Boing editor Cory Doctorow and Koko Be Good creator Jen Wang, In Real Life is a perceptive and high-stakes look at adolescence, gaming, poverty, and culture clash.

Review:

I loved this book! There are so many good things going for this book that I was a little worried that there would be too many things all at once (jammed down my throat). But, somehow, all these fantastic ideas/concepts worked fantastic all together. What are some of these great things? There are girl gamers (!), there’s politics, there’s economics, there’s strategy, and there’s so much reality.

By reality, I mean there was just so much about this book that spoke true and that seemed genuinely authentic. I loved that the main character wasn’t skinny (though her created avatar was). She wore normal person clothes (like jeans and sweaters). She had to explain to her mother the world of gaming and her mother had to work hard to understand it, or even believe that it was more that a sick place for perverts to meet teenage girls.

I love how Anda learns and grows through this game. She first sees gold farming for what it is: a way to the cheat the game to make a profit. But when she becomes friends with a gold farmer who works all day in China, and then works all night for someone else as a gold farmer, just so he can have an hour of the game for his own personal use (it’s a different story). Her friend is being paid to cheat the game, and it’s his only way of getting to play. It’s a way of survival for him. Right and wrong become less clear to Anda.

And when Anda finally thinks she’s doing something “right,” she ends up inadvertently hurting her new friend. There’s culture clashing, language learning, politics, and so much involved in this game. I loved how seriously the authors took this. I loved how they made the game both fun, but also serious and real.

In other words, for a book that only takes about an hour to read, infinite amounts of important topics were covered. And never did I feel like I was being preached to about what was right and what wasn’t. A lot of was in a grey area where I could decide what I thought was good. I give this one a 10/10.  

My True Love Gave to Me by Stephanie Perkins

Summary (from Goodreads):

If you love holiday stories, holiday movies, made-for-TV-holiday specials, holiday episodes of your favorite sitcoms and, especially, if you love holiday anthologies, you’re going to fall in love with MY TRUE LOVE GAVE TO ME: TWELVE HOLIDAY STORIES by twelve bestselling young adult writers, edited by international bestselling author Stephanie Perkins.

Review:

This was one of those books I had to get immediately, the day it was published. I love YA short story anthologies. I also love so many of the YA authors who contributed to this, not to mention Stephanie Perkins put it together!  However, I’m not always the biggest holiday story person. It’s hard growing up and not seeing special Chanukah episodes of your favorite shows. That, and the whole Santa/elf thing always seemed so silly to me (and I’m a Children’s librarian –big advocate of the silly). I just find it weird that there are so many adult holiday stories that involve Santa…I was super excited the day after Christmas because I could turn on the radio and have normal music back. All that aside, I had a feeling I’d love this book.

I think what I loved the most about this particular anthology was that it was unconventional. It wasn’t all about Christmas. There even was one Chanukah story! There was one story about a girl who celebrated Winter Solstice. Another story was all about New Year’s Eve. And yes, there was still a lot of Christmas. But even the Christmas stories themselves tended be more modern and unconventional. So, I was pleased overall!

Since each story was so different, and written by a different author, I thought (like most other reviewers) I’d review and rate each story (maybe just a few sentences about each because there are a lot).

Midnights by Rainbow Rowell

So, more often then not in these types of collections, I’m surprised by not liking the ones I think I’ll like the most and then loving the stories I had no idea I’d love. And while this did happen in this book, it did not happen with this story. I thought I’d love it, and I did! I think it may have been my favorite story in the whole thing. Rowell just is so good at capturing first love, crushes, awkward moments, and dialog. And just Wow, this started the whole book with a Bang. (10/10)

The Lady and the Fox by Kelly Link

I’ve only really read this author in these kinds of collections before. And she’s always hit or miss with me. This one started off good. But then it got weird, and then the ending was rushed. It’s like she was given a page limit and had to somehow end things in a limited amount of time. It was a little confusing and while I loved the beginning, overall I was disappointed. (7/10)

Angels in the Snow by Matt De La Pena

I don’t believe I’ve read this author before (the only one I can say this about), and I wasn’t expecting to love it. But, I did! What a surprise. I loved that the two characters were so different.  I’m not sure I ever read anything YA where the main character was struggling so much economically that they were physically hungry. I loved the NYC setting. The girl wasn’t quite as believable/likeable for me as the guy, but I still loved it. (9/10).

Polaris is Where You’ll Find Me by Jenny Han

This one wasn’t my favorite. Besides the whole “why are adults/teens supposed to go for the Santa thing” concept that I kind of mentioned not liking before, I feel like this had really good potential for being awesome. It was the only story to involve elves. I liked the idea of the girl being different amongst a world of elves. There was just so much I wasn’t feeling/believing about the guy, about her “friends,” and about her family situation. (6/10)

It’s a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown by Stephanie Perkins

This probably makes a close second place for the Rainbow Rowell one. And I was afraid the authors I loved the most would have meh stories. This one was adorable. I liked having a character who celebrated the Winter Solstice and science. I liked the long-lasting crush, the interest in animation, and all the awkward conversation. Also, I’m still swooning over the guy. Don’t ever stop writing, Stephanie Perkins.  (10/10)

Your Temporary Santa by David Levithan

Yay for an LGBT story! I really enjoyed this one too. I thought the concept of doing anything for the person you’re starting to date is so spot-on. This story captures that moment when you’re in a relationship and you realize you might actually being falling harder than you thought. But, more than that, it was also about family and doing something nice for someone who needed nice. (9/10)

Krampuslauf by Holly Black

This was a weird one. I either love Holly Black’s stuff or I don’t. And I guess I loved this one. There were some definite magic/fantasy elements going on here. And I loved the combination of contemporary with the magic. I thought the party, the economic divide, the boyfriend drama with the main character’s friend, were all so believable. So, when the magic happens, it was a surprise, and just well executed. (9/10)

What the Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth? By Gayle Forman

I also either love or hate this author’s work. And I ended up loving her story. Yay for a Jewish story! Also, yay for an interracial love story! I super connected to the main character’s rural adaptations. I also went from a big city to a rural college, and understood a lot of her melancholy.  I loved the diner scene. Though, the one thing I didn’t love was the resolution. I felt like the main character accomplished a little too much in one night/one story to be believable. Short stories don’t always have to have such an ending. (8/10)

Beer Buckets and Baby Jesus by Myra McEntire

This was my least favorite story. I love this author’s books, but I just wasn’t feeling this one. This one also tried to accomplish too much. Short stories don’t have to have such strong conclusions. Also, I don’t like how much the main character had to be explained. His rash behavior was analyzed and talked about. And I guess I’d rather see his behavior and then make up my own mind for why he was acting the way he was, no explanations needed. (6/10)

Welcome to Christmas, CA by Kiersten White

This was a fun one! I loved the magical realism in here. Also, loved the food elements. I liked that this one was as much about family as it as about love. And I liked all the twists the main character went through in discovering the love of her family. (9/10)

Star of Bethlehem by Ally Carter

I read this one super fast. It wasn’t my favorite. I guess it was more what I was expecting all the stories to be. It was super adorable and a little bit ABC Family Christmas movie cheesy, but in a good way. The situation just seemed so unbelievable. However, I loved loved loved the relationship that grew in this story. (9/10)

The Girl who Woke the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

I was expecting to like this one a little bit more. All the other reviewers have raved about it. While, I got lost in Taylor’s wonderful writing style (and it was nice to see her writing style with a totally different story/world), I never really felt the romance. I liked that it was dark. The world and customs of this world were super interesting. I just never got a chance to fall for the dreamer, let alone really understand him. His explanation didn’t make sense to me and there was a lot of vague stuff going on. It just felt like the author needed more time/more pages to say what she really wanted to. (8/10).

Overall, I give the anthology a 9/10. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed being surprised by the unconventional holiday stories. And I’m glad only one story involved Santa.

A Good Week in Books (94)

I had a nice little book week. I received two new books for review. Thank you Macmillan and Hachette. I’m extremely excited to read both of them. I also got some NaNoWriMo swag in the mail this weekend! I donated a little money to the organization that helped me and inspired me to write a novel in a the month of November. And in return, I got a bracelet that reads: NaNoWriMo Wizard, a bookmark that says “In Honor of Your Wizardly Beneficence”, and some really cool stickers that say things like: “My Own Personal Plot Bunny” with a picture of a bunny and “In Case of Troubling Characters” with a picture of a shovel).

The Books:

The Ghosts of Heaven by Marcus Sedgwick
This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

How was your week in books?

Eon by Alison Goodman

Summary (from Goodreads):

Sixteen-year-old Eon has a dream, and a mission. For years, he's been studying sword-work and magic, toward one end. He and his master hope that he will be chosen as a Dragoneye-an apprentice to one of the twelve energy dragons of good fortune.

But Eon has a dangerous secret. He is actually Eona, a sixteen-year-old girl who has been masquerading as a twelve-year-old boy. Females are forbidden to use Dragon Magic; if anyone discovers she has been hiding in plain sight, her death is assured.

When Eon's secret threatens to come to light, she and her allies are plunged into grave danger and a deadly struggle for the Imperial throne. Eon must find the strength and inner power to battle those who want to take her magic...and her life.

Review:

I’m a little late on the Eon parade. It looks like it came out in 2010. It is on my 2014 challenge list. Actually, it’s the last book in my challenge (so yay mission complete!). But the question I find myself asking right now is why aren’t more people obsessed with this one? It was magical. Really, I haven’t read such a fun, epic fantasy in way too long.

It was this kind of hodgepodge story made up of Japanese and Chinese mythology and dragons. It was an adventure about a girl pretending to be a boy to become a dragon warrior. Between the sword fighting, the dragon magic, the political back-stabbing, the children fighting each other to become the next apprentice, the poverty to riches element, the masterful world-building, and the high stakes battles at the end, seriously, this book was amazing.

There were some extremely interesting characters too. Between the man who was known for dressing as a woman, the master who knowingly trained a girl for a man’s job, the evil political figures, the other dragon eyes, the eunuchs, the revolutionary servants, and the crippled friend, there really wasn’t anyone just normal.

Also the main character was a bit crippled herself. How can you not immediately love a crippled girl fighting to be a warrior in a world where if she were discovered, shed’ be killed? Seriously, Eon was one brave human being. It’s such a story about an underdog, it’s almost like an epic fantasy version of a Glee episode. But, there’s no music or high school, or anything remotely similar now that I’m thinking about it.

I found the whole concept of the dragons to be so unique. Only certain people could work to see the dragons (though Eon could see all of them when most could just see their own). And each dragon represented a different year of the Chinese zodiac. There’s this whole idea of these kids training to be able to share power with the dragons. And the form of government that developed from this was really unlike anything I’ve ever read about.

One of the things mentioned in other reviews is a somewhat slow beginning, heavy on the world-building. I never really found the book to be slow. I was intrigued from page 1. Though, I do happen to really like a well-developed fantasy world. And if you don’t like world-building, this is not the book for you. There was also a lot of fighting/sword-fighting. There were definite Samurai elements. And I loved that Eon could compete with the boys in this brutal world.

The one thing that was lacking was romance. There just wasn’t any. I kind of get how this would have been hard to impossible, considering how Eon was mostly dressed as a boy and not many people knew that she was in fact a girl. I can see where something might start in book 2, and I really hope it does start. Though,  I guess this was a good example of a book that actually didn’t really need romance.

While I got to see so much of this incredibly interesting world and the fascinating characters who lived in it, I do wish I got to see a little more of the dragons. There is still so much I don’t know about them. Book two better come with more information!

Also, that was one epic ending! Seriously, I was shocked by how things went down. And I cannot wait to see what some of the results are in book 2. All in all, I absolutely loved and devoured this book. I loved the main character. I loved the whole cast of underdogs. I loved the politics and the fighting. I loved the dragons (though I want to know more about them). I loved the creative, unique world. And I can’t really come up with much I didn’t love. It so gets a 10/10 from me.

A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray

Every Day meets Cloud Atlas in this heart-racing, space- and time-bending, epic new trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray.

Marguerite Caine’s physicist parents are known for their radical scientific achievements. Their most astonishing invention: the Firebird, which allows users to jump into parallel universes, some vastly altered from our own. But when Marguerite’s father is murdered, the killer—her parent’s handsome and enigmatic assistant Paul—escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.

Marguerite can’t let the man who destroyed her family go free, and she races after Paul through different universes, where their lives entangle in increasingly familiar ways. With each encounter she begins to question Paul’s guilt—and her own heart. Soon she discovers the truth behind her father’s death is more sinister than she ever could have imagined.

A Thousand Pieces of You explores a reality where we witness the countless other lives we might lead in an amazingly intricate multiverse, and ask whether, amid infinite possibilities, one love can endure.

Review:

Like apparently the rest of the planet, this book has been on my radar since its initial cover release. I mean just look at it. I also happen to be a real sucker for alternate universe stories. After watching a Gwnyth Paltrow movie as a kid, called Sliding Doors, I could never really get enough of these kind of stories. Also, back in the day, I remember enjoying Gray’s vampire series too. Though, I don’t believe I ever finished it.

Any way, I had high hopes for this one. And for the most part, it delivered. Between the murder of the main character’s father, the traveling between universes, the love triangle to end all love triangles, the art, the science, the technology, and the action, there was never really a good point to put the book down.

The notion that there are worlds so similar to this one, but not quite the same because of something as simple as one differently made decision, was just mind-blowingly cool.  Also, was I the only one imagining the time piece from the third Harry Potter novel? The firebird was an almost steam punk/mechanical necklace the travelers would wear. And the functions of the necklace were a little scary. For instance, they were set to give the wearers “reminders” so they wouldn’t revert to the person they were taking the place of. And these reminders were painful electric shocks.

Also, I’m a girl, and I can’t not comment on the crazy romantic notion that some people are just meant to be together in all versions of the world, in all universes. This is such a crazy notion. And it makes the idea of the main character falling in love with one version of her soul mate, but not another version a little bit confusing. But, also so so cool. Also cool was getting to see different countries in different worlds. Some worlds were decades past ours in technology and advances, and one world seemed centuries behind. My favorite worlds were of course the romantic/backwards Russia and the crazy dystopia-esque water world. I kind of wish we got to see more worlds. But, a huge chunk of time was spent in futuristic London and backwards Russia.

The one thing that nagged at me about the romance was that I wish I got to see more of the build up. There were only a few brief flashbacks to the more normal life Marguerite used to lead before her father was killed. But, I wanted more. I wanted to see her relationship with the boys develop more. And then I might have believed where it went a little bit better. I get that one of her relationships built at a slow pace, but I don’t see when it really started…I wanted more.

And then came the loopholes. It can be really tricky writing these kinds of stories with so many rules about other worlds. But, there were a few things I really wished the editor had caught on to. Like, there’s this one time in Russia when Marguerite’s tsar of a father gets news of his other children way too quickly for sleigh ride mail…Or how likely is one character, who’s never done anything with firebirds and other world travel really, really going to be able to fix a traveling device?

Despite these loop holes, and lack of a history (shown) for the romance, I did love this book. I read it very quickly. I gushed over the soul mate concept taken to a new level. I got sucked into the action and drama. And I got lost in the world building of each of the alternate universes. I give this one a 9/10.