Shakin' All Over - The Who

Enchanted Ivy

Author: Sarah Beth Durst
Genre: fantasy, young adult
Pages: 320 (but the print is tremendously huge)

Brief Summary:
Lily has wanted to attend Princeton all her life, since, on top of being a really good school, it is the alma mater of her beloved, a bit idol-worshipped grandfather. Although she's just a junior in high school, she is super thrilled to be invited along with him on his reunion, even though she's a bit worried that her mom is coming too. Her mom can be...embarrassing. Lily loves her mom, but she has these brain hiccups and with each one she seems to forget more of her life. Lily is a little prone to them too actually, but she hopes no one will find out about her secret. Nothing will stop her from getting into Princeton, especially not now that she has a chance at super early admission, if she passes a test from her grandfather's dining club: she has to find a key. Of course, there's no telling what secrets the key will unlock.

Review:
This review is going to be a short one, because I am quite sleepy. Just FYI.

I read Into the Wild, another of Sarah Beth Durst's books (not to be confused with Jon Krakauer's ode to being really stupid--aka cool--when hiking), in 2008. I wasn't super impressed (I didn't even read the sequel), but I still wanted to read this one and her other book, Ice. I love fantasy and fairy tales, which is her niche. Unfortunately, she still has yet to really engage me. This one was definitely preferable to Into the Wild, mostly because the protagonist is a bit older and easier for me to relate to. Also, the title is a pun, which you have to love. Enchanted Ivy, both because Princeton is an ivy league school with magic things running around and because there are some vines that are enchanted. Awesome.

There were three things that really kept me from connecting with Lily and the book:

1) Lily is too damn trusting. She never really suspects anyone until they openly admit that they are terrible people. She has a tendency to expect others to save her, which gets really frustrating. That's part of the growing she does in the progress of the novel, but it happens in such a way that I do not feel thrilled for her. Instead, I feel even more judgmental.

2) She manages to be a big flirt while claiming to be complete out of the league of the only two young males in the book. Cry moar. I mean, really.

3) Every time one of the characters touches her, she feels tingles. And it does get mentioned every single time. Except for that time where she sat behind him on a ride with her arms around him for a matter of minutes, so good consistency there. She attributes this tingly feeling not with her romantic feelings (certainly an improvement), but with the magic she senses within him. Well, that's great. Except that she has never noticed magic anywhere else through this same tingle, even in the other magical creatures she meets. What does this mean? Is Lily stupid or is all the powerful tingle of love?

Final verdict: just okay. A bit too cheesy and obvious to be particularly good, but interesting enough in spite of that to be readable.

"When you move in right up close to me
That's when I get the shakes all over me"