Audiobook Review: The Mysterious Howling

The Mysterious Howling
The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, Book 1

Author: Maryrose Wood
Narrator: Katherine Kellgren
Duration: 5 hrs, 28 mins
Publisher: Harper Audio
Read: July 9-11, 2013
Source: Audiobooksync

Description from Goodreads:
Found running wild in the forest of Ashton Place, the Incorrigibles are no ordinary children: Alexander, age ten or thereabouts, keeps his siblings in line with gentle nips; Cassiopeia, perhaps four or five, has a bark that is (usually) worse than her bite; and Beowulf, age somewhere-in-the-middle, is alarmingly adept at chasing squirrels.

Luckily, Miss Penelope Lumley is no ordinary governess. Only fifteen years old and a recent graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, Penelope embraces the challenge of her new position. Though she is eager to instruct the children in Latin verbs and the proper use of globes, first she must help them overcome their canine tendencies.

But mysteries abound at Ashton Place: Who are these three wild creatures, and how did they come to live in the vast forests of the estate? Why does Old Timothy, the coachman, lurk around every corner? Will Penelope be able to teach the Incorrigibles table manners and socially useful phrases in time for Lady Constance's holiday ball? And what on earth is a schottische?

Review:

Listening to The Mysterious Howling has further gotten me thinking on the subject of what makes a book marketable for a particular age group. The Mysterious Howling has a pretty sophisticated writing style and the heroine and villain (of sorts) are both teenagers. Yet it's marketed as a middle grade. With this, I give up. Books are books and we should read them if we want to, no matter who they're supposedly for. Who's with me?

Why Did I Read This Book?
Two reasons. First, April of Good Books and Good Wine talks to me about audiobooks pretty often, and Katherine Kellgren is her favorite narrator, so, of course, I wanted to listen to a Kellgren book. However, most of them have been books that I already own in print or that just aren't my thing. Then this one showed up on Audiobooksync and I was like BOOYAH. Plus, I don't have any more review audios, and it was there all ready to go.

What's the Story Here?
Fifteen-year-old Penelope Lumley has graduated from the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females with a wonderful education and is ready to make her way in the world. She obtains her first position, caring for three children, who turn out to have been raised by wolves. Thankfully, Penelope has enough affection for and understanding of the ways of non-human animals, as well as enough whimsy, to be able to handle these strange, howling children. Basically, it's like Mary Poppins if Mary were just barely a teenager and assigned to Mowgli.

How are the Characters?
The characters of The Mysterious Howling are interesting, but they're a bit more like a tableaux of people than a full play. Most of them are pretty one note, particularly Lady Constance, who is a spoiled brat and seems younger than Penelope, though she's not. Little consideration is given to motivations or anything like that, which really fleshes out character's personalities. Still, Penelope was entertaining, especially since she has no clue how odd she really is. The children are perhaps most interesting, but they're really not the focus of this first book and more of a plot point.

Am I Going to Continue with the Series?
Certainly. Though it wasn't a hundred percent love for me, it did keep me entertained, and I do love me some short audiobooks. I'm hoping that the plot of the next one gets a bit more substantial, since not much really happened in here. I'm presuming that the reader will learn more about where the children came from as they get skilled enough in language to explain what they can remember, which could be quite interesting.

How was the Narration?
Kathereine Kellgren does a really good job, as April promised. She has a sort of high class British accent (to my ears anyway, though I admit to not being an expert with British accents, though I would totally take that class), but is also completely willing to do, and perhaps delights in doing, all the voices and sound effects. I mean, the fact that she can deliver the children's lines (most of which involve howling or barking) without laughing (yes, it's edited and all but still) is impressive. She really goes for it. NGL, the howling and stuff was pretty annoying sounding, but it was also just right for the story, so I had a love/hate relationship with that.

Sum It Up with a GIF:

Rating: 3/5

Review: The Waking Dark

The Waking Dark

Author: Robin Wasserman
Pages: 464
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: September 10, 2013
Read: September 7-8, 2013
Source: Gifted ARC by friend who went to ALA

Description from Goodreads:
They called it the killing day. Twelve people dead, all in the space of a few hours. Five murderers: neighbors, relatives, friends. All of them so normal. All of them seemingly harmless. All of them now dead by their own hand . . . except one. And that one has no answers to offer the shattered town. She doesn't even know why she killed—or whether she'll do it again.

Something is waking in the sleepy town of Oleander's, Kansas—something dark and hungry that lives in the flat earth and the open sky, in the vengeful hearts of upstanding citizens. As the town begins its descent into blood and madness, five survivors of the killing day are the only ones who can stop Oleander from destroying itself. Jule, the outsider at war with the world; West, the golden boy at war with himself; Daniel, desperate for a different life; Cass, who's not sure she deserves a life at all; and Ellie, who believes in sacrifice, fate, and in evil. Ellie, who always goes too far. They have nothing in common. They have nothing left to lose. And they have no way out. Which means they have no choice but to stand and fight, to face the darkness in their town—and in themselves.

First Sentence: "Later, after he'd trashed his bloody clothes, and stood under the cold shower long enough that the water circling the drain had gone from red to pink to clear, Daniel Ghent would wonder if some part of him had known what was to come—or should have."

Review:

I absolutely adored Robin Wasserman's The Book of Blood and Shadow, which blended horror, paranormal, historical and contemporary fiction into something dark and beautiful. As such, I had very high expectations for The Waking Dark, which were partly met but not wholly. The key thing to know about The Waking Dark is that it is a horror novel, pure and simple, though calling the novel simple is rather misleading.

The Book of Blood and Shadow began with blood and murders. The Waking Dark tops that, opening with twelve deaths in five outpourings of seemingly random violence, each witnessed by one teen who survived. For the most part, The Waking Dark follows these five teens: Daniel, Jule, Ellie, West, and Cass. Wasserman uses a third person narrative style that does occasionally drift to other characters temporarily, but 95% of the book is about these five.

The Waking Dark follows along a basic horror story arc. The murders occur, but then life settles a bit and normalcy seems to return, only not quite. Something dark lurks beneath the surface of the people of Oleander, Kansas. It's almost as if the id is taking over, people's basest and most secret desires taking control; instant gratification mattering more than social mores. Wasserman's tale is unrelentingly dark and creepy.

The large cast of characters is both a boon and a drawback. None of them quite get enough characterization for me to be wholly invested in them, a fact exacerbated by not ever getting to see them before the Killing Day, as the day of the opening comes to be known. However, the large cast is an intriguing one. Daniel's the son of a drunk, who calls himself the Preacher, and judged by the town for that. Jule, short for Juliet, is part of the infamous Prevette family, meth heads, meth makers, and meth dealers, and she's trying to figure out if she can be free of that taint. Ellie is driven by her faith in Christianity. West is a popular football player, trying to hide that he's in love with a boy. Cass is popular and smart, babysitting kids (and she hates kids) in order to save up enough money to escape Kansas for college. There aren't many YA books written about kids like these, except maybe those like Cass, so reading about them was refreshing.

The best aspect of The Waking Dark is Robin Wasserman's writing which is positively beautiful. That woman can turn a phrase. This raises The Waking Dark above the average horror offerings. She does use the horror to make commentaries on human nature, war, and faith. She manages to make the novel quite meaningful, though the plot is something straight out of a horror film, sort of like The Bible Belt Goes Bananas.

As may be obvious, what I didn't care for was the plot. The whole thing just seems way too absurd to me. I feel like this could have been a great idea, but the explanation for how this madness came to the town strikes me as utterly ridiculous. Not buying into that, it's really just violence for violence's sake, which is all very well, but horror really isn't my genre of choice.

Horror fans, get thee to a bookstore, because Robin Wasserman's The Waking Dark is a creepy thrill ride full of death and blood from the first page to the very last ones. Even if you're not much for horror, The Waking Dark may be worth it for Wasserman's beautiful prose.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote: "'I know you'd have more fun with Team Sinner. We win all the championships."

Sadie Hawkins Sunday Review #32: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
Mara Dyer, Book 1

Author: Michelle Hodkin
Pages: 452
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Read: August 28-September 2, 2013
Source: Won ARC and yeah oops
Recommended by: Aly of My Heart Hearts Books

Description from Goodreads:
Mara Dyer doesn’t think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.
It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can’t remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed.
There is.

She doesn’t believe that after everything she’s been through, she can fall in love.
She’s wrong.

First Sentence: "The ornate script on the board twisted in the candlelight, making the letters and numbers dance in my head."

Review:
Going into The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, I had some expectations but also no real idea what the book was actually about. It's an odd thing, diving into a book that pretty much everyone you know has already read. Though readers at large loved Hodkin's debut, the bulk of my friends, as evidenced by ratings on Goodreads, did not like this book at all. For much of the book, I could definitely see myself going the same way, but then the twist happened and I've got to say that I'm curious and really eager to read the next book.

Before you get mad at me, do not even try to tell me that saying there's a twist in this book is a spoiler. It's about a girl who waked up in a hospital with no memory of her friends dying and herself being trapped when a building collapsed. Obviously, that is a book that is all about surprising you with spoilers. You should expect this.

As is the case with many books that use this basic framework, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is a bit slow and awkward at the beginning. Much of the book, you're really just waiting for answers and a reason to care. Thankfully, I found one, with the seriously creepy twist about which I want to know so much more. I wish I could say more about that, but then it would be a spoiler.

Many readers were upset by the relationship dynamics between Mara and Noah, but it really wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Noah does run to the English, fantastically wealthy and overprotective stereotype, true, but I don't feel like he forces Mara into anything that truly matters. He does initially seem too interested in her, but there are reasons for that explained later. In a lot of ways, Mara's the more powerful person in the relationship and Noah's the nice one once he opens up a bit. I wouldn't say that I ship them, really, but I don't want to strangle Noah either.

The characterization in Mara Dyer is rocky. Obviously, Mara's not in a healthy mental place at any point in the novel, as she suffers from PTSD after her friends' deaths. Plus, she's hallucinating and generally not sure of anything. It's not a good place from which to get to know her true character. Pretty much the only thing I know and really like about her is that she likes to protect animals, but even that seems somewhat inconsistent. Noah, too, doesn't ever really jump off the page. He's interesting, but seems somewhat contradictory at various points throughout the book. I also, because I'm me, really loathe the fact that he smokes, which seems like an incredibly unnecessary thing to add and only romanticizes a filthy habit. Oh, also, he needs to stop attacking every guy who says anything flirty to Mara. While it can be attractive for a guy to have the strength to defend you, it's certainly not hot to assume you require that protection and starting shit over minor incidents will really only endanger the girl than protect her in the long run.

My favorite character doesn't get a whole lot of screen time, but I hope he comes back in the next two books. Jamie Roth is hilarious and one of the only people in the school not to subscribe to the social hierarchy accepted at their pretentious private school. Plus, he's bisexual AND a POC (as I believe Mara is as well, actually). He's by far the most interesting character in the book and I only wish it was more about him.

Like the characterization, I think the writing is a bit clunky. The transitions, especially, were off somehow, with inconsistent switches between memories, dreams and the present. Much of the dialog felt stilted. The writing as whole was pretty decent, but Hodkin has quite a bit of room to develop her prose. This being her debut, I don't think it's a bad showing.

I'm really all over the place with this book, but what it comes down to is that I'm captivated by the plot and have to know where it's going. I'm not sure why it worked more for me than others, except perhaps a certain weakness for particular plots.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote:

"'Your level of neuroses would only find love in a made-for-TV movie.'"

---

Up Next:

The next Sadie Hawkins Sunday book will be Across a Star-Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund! I've enjoyed all of Peterfreund's books that I've read so far, so hopefully this one will go well too!

Want to tell me what to read? Fill out the following form with a suggestion! For more details, check this post.

Review: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

Author: Holly Black
Pages: 432
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: September 3, 2013
Read: September 24, 2013
Source: ARC from BEA

Description from Goodreads:
Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in a decadently bloody mix of predator and prey. The only problem is, once you pass through Coldtown’s gates, you can never leave.

One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of this massacre are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them the only way she knows how: by going straight to the wicked, opulent heart of Coldtown itself.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a wholly original story of rage and revenge, of guilt and horror, and of love and loathing from bestselling and acclaimed author Holly Black.

First Sentence: "Tana woke lying in a bathtub."

Review:

Holly Black ranks as one of the premier young adult authors, much honored for her Black Cat series. Perhaps that's where I should have started, as it sounds much more original than The Coldest Girl in Coldtown. Now, there's nothing wrong with an author taking on less unique subject matter, but I think I may personally have reached my limit for vampires. If you're still into vampires, then The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is an entertaining, dark, gory read.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown starts off with a bloody bang. Tana, the heroine, awakens in a bathtub at a party, concerned about the pictures people likely took of her in that embarrassing position. After straightening up, she heads out of the bathroom to find a scene of gruesome carnage. All of her friends are dead, eaten by vampires, the first severe attack in quite a while. Most of the vampires are locked up in Coldtowns, so attacks like this are rare. In the bedroom of the house, Tana discovers that one other person has survived: her ex-boyfriend, Aidan, bitten and cold. In the context of this book, cold means a human ready to turn, a human who will die and become a vampire as soon as they have some human blood. Also in the room with Aidan is a hungry, half-mad vampire. Tana saves the two boys from the vampire mob that perpetrated the deaths of her friends and they're off.

The group heads for a Coldtown, which is not a spoiler since it's in the title, guys. What Black does well is the gross and gory stuff. These are not cuddly vampires. Most of them are creepy and crazy, as are the humans who seek to live in Coldtowns in hopes of becoming a vampire one day. Most of the sane people end up getting eaten, in fact, so I think you have to be a bit crazy to survive in a Coldtown.

Holly Black doesn't really add anything new to vampire mythology with The Coldest Girl in Coldtown. The ways to kill or impair a vampire are the same, they've been corralled in cities, and they've even had this overly simple method of turning humans into vampires before. I do think that The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is entertaining and capably written, but it does not stand out for me in the mass of vampire fiction, and I suspect I will not remember it for very long after I read it.

The big weakness is the characterization. Though the characters do say some witty-sounding things, they never actually have personalities. Part of this is the brevity of the time frame, all of this taking place over the course of the week and with all of that being serious business time. I have no clue what any of these people or vampires are really like on a normal day, except for Tana and Aidan, and what I do know I don't like. It's all quite hackneyed and predictable, with Tana ending up trapped in the Coldtown despite her clever plan and falling in instalove with the strongest of the vampires, who of course loves her too because she's unlike anyone else he's encountered in his hundred plus years of life. The logic that sends Tana into the Coldtown, too, is weak at best, since she wasn't even sure if she'd gone cold from the tiny bite she got escaping the house at the beginning. How about you wait just outside the Coldtown and see what happens? And if you're going into the Coldtown to protect your family like your dad asked you to, how about you also not contact them, as he also asked?

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown does the creepy horror thing well, and will no doubt have quite a bit of appeal for readers who still enjoy vampire stories. This is a read for those who care more about the action and less about the logic of the world building and character motivations.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote: "If she was going to die, she might as well die sarcastic."

Review: The 100

The 100
The Hundred, Book 1

Author: Kass Morgan
Pages: 277
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: September 3, 2013
Read: August 24, 2013
Source: ARC from YA Books Central

Description from Goodreads:
In the future, humans live in city-like spaceships orbiting far above Earth's toxic atmosphere. No one knows when, or even if, the long-abandoned planet will be habitable again. But faced with dwindling resources and a growing populace, government leaders know they must reclaim their homeland... before it's too late.

Now, one hundred juvenile delinquents are being sent on a high-stakes mission to recolonize Earth. After a brutal crash landing, the teens arrive on a savagely beautiful planet they've only seen from space. Confronting the dangers of this rugged new world, they struggle to form a tentative community. But they're haunted by their past and uncertain about the future. To survive, they must learn to trust - and even love - again.

First Sentence: "The door slid open, and Clarke knew it was time to die."

Review:

The 100 has been billed as Battlestar Galactica for teens, and, for once, I totally agree with the marketing. Of course, it's very much season 3 Battlestar where things started going a bit off the rails, with some people on planet in weird costumes and Gaius Baltar becoming some sort of religious figure on the ships. I mean, not exactly, but that's the level of quality the book has. It's not the first season of awesome, and it's not quite the ending where I didn't know what the fuck was happening anymore. What it comes down to is that The 100 is a highly entertaining drama-fest set in space, but not especially deep.

Word on the street is that The 100 is set to be a show on the CW. Now, I don't know if it's for certain yet or not, but I can see this making a really great teen show. The reason I'm starting this book review with this particular comment is to help you understand whether you'll enjoy reading the book. If you enjoy CW teen programming with a little bit of a plot and a big heaping helping of teen angst over the top, then The 100 is a good choice for a quick, entertaining read.

Morgan uses four third person limited perspectives in The 100: Clarke, Wells, Bellamy, and Glass. Just try and guess their genders based on their names alone! Hint: the first and last are females. Actually, speaking of gender, that's one of the things that I think The 100 did fairly well. Women are not entirely marginalized in this futuristic society, which is a nice change from so much science fiction and dystopian stuff out there. Clarke's actually one of the stronger characters and Glass, though I didn't like her, does make choices for herself.

Anyway, these teens live on a spaceship and things are kind of a hot mess on board. There are rules about who can have kids, and capital punishment is really popular with the government. All four of the main characters, except for Bellamy, are Confined, basically imprisoned until their eighteenth birthdays which are rapidly approaching. At that point, they're to have a retrial, but that's just a formality, because no one's being found innocent at retrials anymore. Harsh, man.

So the point is that 100 of the teens from Confinement are going to be put on a ship and sent to earth to make sure it's habitable again (more on that later). Then there are some shenanigans and Glass ends up staying on the ship, allowing the reader to find out about all of the drama happening there, and Bellamy gets himself onto the prison ship. The ship goes down to earth and the rebellious teens start in on the romantic drama and trying to set up a rudimentary society, only they're a) rebellious and b) basing their knowledge of how society works off of the ship. All of this means things get pretty serious fast and it's totally a popcorn read.

What saves The 100 from being merely a surface read and builds out a bit of depth are the flashbacks in every chapter. These flashbacks show how the teens ended up in Confinement, and slowly reveal how desperate the situation on the ship had gotten. They really raise the stakes and the intensity, as you realize how far each one of these teens is willing to go.

As much fun as The 100 is to read, I had some issues with the world building, in that I would like more of it. I mean, the reader does learn that there was some sort of nuclear something or other and Earth is now irradiated. While they're waiting for the radiation to dissipate, they're chilling on this ship. Supposedly the radiation is maybe down to livable levels. What I want to know is roughly how long they've been on the ship and how they got there. Was there a plan in place to escape before things went haywire like in Phoebe North's Starglass? There's really no inkling of that.

Also, most of the characters are pretty terrible people, which means that I really don't care if they live or die. Even the nicest of them is such a terrible judge of character that I don't really care what happens to him either. I still had fun reading about them, but there's definitely no emotional investment here.

The 100 is the bookish equivalent of a teen TV show, complete with romantic drama, shirtless boys and action scenes. It's fun and a nice choice for when you don't want to have to think too hard, and sometimes that's just the kind of book you need, you know?

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote: "Anyone who wanted to eat vegetables probably had little, mushy white brains themselves."

Review: The Fantastic Family Whipple

The Fantastic Family Whipple
The Fantastic Family Whipple, Book 1

Author: Matthew Ward
Pages: 400
Publisher: Razorbill
Publication Date: August 29, 2013
Read: August 22-24, 2013
Source: ARC from BEA

Description from Goodreads:
For every child who’s ever dreamed of being in the Guinness Book of World Records comes the story of eleven-year-old Arthur Whipple and his fantastic family of world record breakers . . .

- Most Crème Brulée Eaten in One Minute
- Highest Number of Matching Outfits Worn by a Stuffed Toy and Its Owner
- Youngest Person to Summit the Third-Highest Mountain in the World

These are just three of the 49,521 records won by Arthur’s twelve brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, unlike his siblings, Arthur hasn’t broken a single, solitary world record! But when the Whipples suffer a spate of catastrophes and a curious amount of attention from a pair of irregularly sized and unusually menacing clowns, Arthur might be the only one who can save his family from losing their collective crown . . . or worse.

First Sentence: "All the members of the Whipple family had managed to be born in the same month on the same day: March the first."

Review:

Today, we open with a rant. Now, this isn't really about this book in particular or anything the author did. This rant is about publishers and how they like to sneak series into our lives. Listen, I don't mind series, though I am getting a bit tired of everything being part of a series, but what I cannot abide by is thinking a book is a standalone and it turning out to be the first book in a series. Nothing in the blurb or on Goodreads indicates that this is part of a series, but, as the last chapter makes clear, it is. HARRUMPH to this I say. I'm left feeling annoyed with the book, as though it did something to me when this is a failure of the publisher in marketing it properly as what it is: the opening to a series. Despite this, The Fantastic Family Whipple actually was a cute middle grade novel, but do be warned that it is yet another series.

Young readers are going to love The Fantastic Family Whipple, I have little doubt. World records are so compelling to children for reasons I don't quite fathom now that I'm an adult. Even so, I remember marveling over the Guinness Book of World Records just like everyone else did back in elementary school. In library's I've worked out, the Guinness Book has always been one of the most popular check outs. Kids love this stuff, and they will love this book.

Even better for young readers, the records being set in The Fantastic Family Whipple are all ridiculous, which will no doubt have the young readers chortling. For example, one of the attempted records involves a hamster-manned rocket flight and another involves hopping up and down on one leg. Even better, the Whipples participate in an Unsafe Sports competition, which I am sure will captivate young imaginations.

The cover really captures the light-hearted humor, silliness, and bombastic nature of The Fantastic Family Whipple. In addition to the hijinks, there's also a mystery for our utterly un-illustrious young hero to solve. Arthur Whipple is the only unremarkable member of the Whipple family, but it's his turn to step up and be important. Also, thanks to their new neighbors, the Goldwins, Arthur's family may be joining him in his losing streak.

I did like The Fantastic Family Whipple, but this is one of those middle grade novels that I think loses a lot of its charm for an adult audience. The jokes and the situations are perfect humor for children, but, while entertaining, didn't drive me to the heights of glee that I think they would a child. Also, I would have liked to see a bit more progress made on the mystery plot line in this book. The ending felt arbitrary and sudden.

If you know younger readers who love humor and can't stop reading the Guinness Book of World Records, they will love The Fantastic Family Whipple. As an adult, the humor wasn't quite my speed, so I probably will not be returning for the sequel.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote:

"'So you've had enough of the crowd as well, eh?' she said.
     Arthur squinted. 'Um . . . yeah.'
     'Excellent,' smirked the girl, 'we can be unsociable together then.'"

Review: The Meme Plague

The Meme Plague
Memento Nora, Book 3

Author: Angie Smibert
Pages: Not sure - that information isn't on GR or Amazon, and I read a Kindle copy
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Publication Date: August 13, 2013
Read: August 8-10, 2013
Source: ARC via NetGalley

Description from Goodreads:
It begins with the name JONAS W. on the side of a cardboard coffin—right before the funeral procession blows up. Then it’s the whisper in the back of Micah’s head: Your father betrayed his country. You can’t always trust your own brain. Not when you have one of the mayor’s mandatory chips in your skull. Micah knows that the chip developed by TFC (the corporation that runs the Therapeutic Forgetting Clinics) does more than just erase unpleasant memories—it implants new ones. The MemeCast warns citizens to “fight the hack.”

Micah and his friends have each lost something—a parent, a relationship, a home, maybe even their own identities as they remembered them to be. But together, they can make sure some things are never forgotten.

Election Day is coming, and Mayor Mignon is set to be elected to Congress. It’s time to build a new electronic frontier, one that’s not controlled by the mayor and his cronies. It’s time to get out the vote and shake up the system. It’s time to finally say enough.

Previous Books in Series:
1: Memento Nora
2: The Forgetting Curve

First Sentence: "Okay, citizens."

Review:

As a dystopian series, The Meme Plague has enough going for it to outweigh the weaknesses. Most importantly, this series is not a romance novel masquerading as genre fiction, instead focusing on world building and issues very closely linked to the evils of the current political system in a far too close and possible future. I've enjoyed the whole of the trilogy, as quick reads that break from some of the common YA tropes.

For those who are unfamiliar with this series, here's a quick overview of the dystopian world of the Memento Nora trilogy. TFC, a corporation with strong ties to the government, runs clinics that help people forget their problems. Psychiatrists and pills are no longer needed to deal with traumatic events or emotions. PTSD no longer need affect soldiers, because these clinics can erase those memories, leaving the memory empty of the events that were disturbing the psyche. In Memento Nora, a group of kids came to suspect that TFC may not be on the up and up, instead using the clinics to control the population.

What endears this series to me most is the inclusion of both diverse and GLBT characters. In both cases, they are included without pomp and circumstance. Being a lesbian or being Asian/black/hispanic does not define these characters, but is merely one aspect about them. So rarely does this happen in young adult fiction and it thrills me any time I find that. Often, these characters end up being token or stereotypes or such a deal is made about them that it ends up stressing that they're weird when they're not. Angie Smibert does a great job making the cast of the trilogy as diverse as the world I'm used to living in.

The series has an entertaining, fast-paced plot. There are explosions, kissing, concerts of rebellion, legal battles, skateboarding, and attempts to overthrow the political system. All of the books are quite short, and I think this is an excellent series for reluctant readers interested in dystopian fiction but overwhelmed by the general offerings, which tend to be closer to 400 pages. In The Meme Plague especially, I was reminded of a less complex Little Brother, so it really could be a nice transition into the genre for younger or reluctant readers. The Meme Plague also brings the series to a satisfying conclusion, closed enough but also left open in a sort of traditional dystopian way.

Where the series has been and continues to be weak for me is in the characters. They're fun and entertaining, but there's a large cast and I have trouble telling their narrative voices apart. Told in first person from five perspectives (I think), if I didn't pay attention to the opening of each chapter which listed who the narrator was, I ended up having to flip back to do so. Still, I was able to remember each cast member and how they were all connected without too much trouble, even though I scarcely remembered the previous books, so that was nice.

All told, I recommend the Memento Nora trilogy highly to younger readers looking to transition to young adult fiction or reluctant readers in search of good, shorter dystopian novels.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote: "Still, pizza would have made me more of a believer. Or less of a cranky agnostic."

Review: The Chalice

The Chalice
Joanna Stafford, Book 2

Author: Nancy Bilyeau
Pages: 496
Publisher: Touchstone
Read: August 3-4, 2013
Source: Finished copy from publisher for TLC Book Tour

Description from Goodreads:
The Chalice is a historical thriller told from the point of view of a young woman caught in the crosswinds of time: She has pledged to become a Dominican nun in an England ruled by Henry VIII, who has ruthlessly smashed his country's allegiance to Rome. By 1538, the bloody power struggles between crown and cross threaten to tear the country apart. Joanna Stafford has seen what lies inside the king’s torture rooms and risks imprisonment again, when she is caught up in a shadowy international plot targeting the King. As the power plays turn vicious, Joanna understands she may have to assume her role in a prophecy foretold by three different seers, each more omniscient than the last. The life of Henry VIII as well as the future of Christendom are in her hands—hands that must someday hold the chalice that lays at the center of these deadly prophecies. As she struggles to forge a life for herself in a country that rejects her faith, she must also decide if her future should be shared with a man--and if so, which of the two men who love her should be chosen.

Previous Book in Series:
1: The Crown

First Sentence: "When preparing for martyrdom on the night of December 28, 1538, I did not think of those I love."

Review:

Having gone straight from The Crown into The Chalice, I'm remarkably impressed by how largely consistent the two books are in quality, and I had a very similar reaction to this installment, which is to say largely positive but lacking that spark that really makes it a me book. In The Chalice, the stakes for Joanna Stafford are raised as it becomes more about her and less about Catholicism in general. Readers who loved The Crown will likely find that they are similarly thrilled by The Chalice.

Perhaps what I enjoy most about this series is its unique perspective on a heavily documented, in both fiction and nonfiction, historical period. We are obsessed with the Tudors, most specifically with King Henry VIII's reign. The drama, the sex, the beheadings, and the betrayals make that period such ripe fodder for entertainment. As such, it's been done to death, except that clever authors can still manage to put a unique spin on well-trodden ground. Rather than focusing on the usual suspects and court life, Bilyeau looks at this turbulent period in English history from the perspective of a novice nun, and puts the shift to Protestantism into sharp, personal relief.

Though not of a religious persuasion myself, the way that Bilyeau confronts these issues is fascinating. The former nuns, friars and monks are lost in this new world, the priories and monasteries having been dissolved at the end of The Crown. Some of the former religious personages manage to establish fairly ordinary lives, marrying and finding professions. Many, though, live together on their pensions, trying to keep life as much as it was before as is possible. Others, desperate, wander the kingdom in search of God and a sign, beaten and battered by the judgmental and fearful. Their world has changed so rapidly, which is all the more upsetting for those who have been cloistered in places of routine and unchanging order.

I still really like Joanna Stafford, but she wasn't quite as level-headed in this one. She waffles back and forth between her two love interests and the possibility of being single. To distract herself from her indecision, she throws herself into absurdly idiotic schemes in the name of her faith without thinking them through. She gets arrested so many times and saved by her connections, thus embroiled into another huge scheme where she's manipulated by other forces, wresting control for herself at the last minute through her badassery. The way that all came out just felt rather contrived. In addition, I wasn't a huge fan of the mysticism angle, though it was an interesting interpretation of King Henry VIII's difficulties fathering children.

Like with The Crown, The Chalice was a bit of a slow start for me, though I did get quite absorbed at certain junctures. The slowness was not aided by the one formatting change Bilyeau made, adding a prologue and epilogue to this installment. I did not much care for these, as they, like most, are intended merely to drum up dramatic irony. The prologue hints that Joanna might die, and then jumps back two months to wind the story forward. I'm not a fan of this narrative device at the best of times, but thought it particularly weak here, since the moment therein isn't even the culmination of the main plot arc, but a minor, stupid plan. The epilogue just felt redundant and out of place, but is, likely, paving the way for book three.

All in all, I'm still quite impressed with this series and do plan to read the third book when it comes out. They're definitely good reads for those who appreciate historical fiction with less of a focus on romance and sex scandals.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote:

"'King Henry plays his part in the great game.'
     'Game?' I said.
     'The wars waged by kings for land and glory.'"

Review: How to Train Your Dragon

How to Train Your Dragon
How to Train Your Dragon, Book 1

Author: Cressida Cowell
Narrator: David Tennant
Duration: 3 hrs, 29 mins
Publisher: Hachette Childrens Books
Read: June 25-28, 2013
Source: Gifted - thanks YA Books Central!

Description from Goodreads:
Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III is a truly extraordinary Viking hero known throughout Vikingdom as "the Dragon Whisperer" ... but it wasn't always so. Travel back to the days when the mighty warrior was just a boy, the quiet and thoughtful son of the Chief of the Hairy Hooligans. Can Hiccup capture a dragon and train it without being torn limb from limb? Join the adventure as the small boy finds a better way to train his dragon and becomes a hero!

Review:

As we all know, movies often aren't much like the books they're based on, and that's incredibly true here. Now, the setting's the same: Vikings, dragons, characters and all that. However, there are a couple of major differences, based even on what I remember from the movie I saw once about three years ago. When you think of How to Train Your Dragon, I bet your first thought is something along these lines:

Certainly, I did. Awkward boy befriends adorable dragon. Cuteness abounds. Everyone learns things. Not really how it goes down, though. The actual story is definitely tailored to a little boy audience, with gross jokes, battles and such. Also, Toothless is creepy as all get out. And green.

No, seriously. Toothless is not remotely adorable. He's crude and gross, and purposely poops all over Hiccup's house. Also, he hates Hiccup for most of it, and Hiccup hates him, mostly because the Vikings actually use dragons as slaves after they DRAGONNAP them from their caves when they're babies. That's one of the tests to become a full member of the tribe. As is training the dragon to do what you say by yelling at it. Oh, AND Toothless is way smaller than in the movie. Hiccup can carry him around. If anything, Toothless reminded me of Gollum. Yeah.

Basically, I kept expecting the story to end with a realization that dragons need to be treated more equally, considering that they're smart and have their own language and everything, but that didn't really happen. Like, at the end, I think they respect dragons a little more, but still plan to make the dragons do what they say. I just didn't really feel that much sympathy with the Vikings when the HUGE dragon arrives with plans to eat them, yanno?

Also, just fyi, there was not a single female character in this story that I noticed. Not a one. Apparently the Vikings figured out a way to procreate with only men, or with dragons. Of course, I don't think that's true. Women are just so unimportant they're wholly unworthy of mention. Thanks, movie, for adding in a wholly not historically accurate female character who was in the same class as the boys. I mean, there are dragons, so are we really that big on historical accuracy?

Much as I didn't like the story, because it's just totally not for me, there is one reason I rated this three stars and did like listening to it:

THIS GUY.

WORTH IT. Oh, David Tennant. I love him as Doctor Who, of course, but now I got to hear him go full on Scottish, and I loved it. He's a delightful narrator, just as you would expect. He even did a voice that was rather reminiscent of Jeremy Irons for the giant, man-eating dragon. I just sort of tried to pay as little attention as possible to the story and to soak in the accents.

OH YEAH.

I wish I could say that I liked this enough overall to want to continue with the rest of the audiobooks he narrated (which is six or seven of the series), but I don't. As much as I love David Tennant, I would have to buy each one from Audible, and that's just too much money for books I don't like. If my library had them, well, that would be another story.

I'm sorry, but it was beautiful while it lasted.

So, there you have it. Unless you're a huge David Tennant fan (why wouldn't you be?) or totally okay with the absence of women and treatment of the dragons, you'll probably want to skip this one. However, that's sad. Let's look at David Tennant one more time, huh?

How awesome is this man?

Rating: 3/5

Review: Catching Liam

Catching Liam
Good Girls Don't, Book 1

Author: Sophia Bleu
Pages: 378
Publisher: Sophia Bleu
Read: June 12- July 11, 2013
Source: egalley for blog tour hosted by Xpresso Book Tours
Purchase Link: Amazon

Description from Goodreads:
Twenty-one year-old Jillian Nichols only has one rule when it comes to boys: catch and release. Boy-catching isn't just a game for Jillian and her friends, it's a lifestyle. After all, boys might be good for a dance or a drink and certainly a little under-cover action of the scandalous variety, but expect much else and you're bound for heart ache.

So when her best friends and fellow boy catchers start dropping like flies junior year, Jillian is determined to keep boys in her bedroom and out of her heart. Until she meets Liam McAvoy, the kind of guy that sticks around to make waffles and who can't—or perhaps won't—take a hint.

Study abroad student Liam doesn't want to be another notch on Jillian's bedpost. Actually he has much more interesting ideas for Jillian and her bedposts, but his student visa's set expiration date means he can't promise her forever. That doesn't mean he's going to walk away from the challenge of discovering why Jillian is hell-bent at keeping people at a distance.

Before long, neither is sure who is catching who—or if they're playing for keeps. Jillian knows one thing though: falling in love will not only break the only rule of boy-catching, it could also break her heart.

First Sentence: "Wednesday was boy catching night."

Review:

Yes, yes, the person who just posted a couple weeks ago about how she's still not on board with new adult just read another one. And liked it too. Though most of the plots make me shudder for humanity, Catching Liam sounded like a sex positive read that would be full of women making their own choices, and not letting men boss them around. Catching Liam didn't wow me, but it was precisely what I wanted: something funny, sexy, and embracing of sexuality.

To start with, I have to say that my rating might have been just the slightest bit higher if not for an odd coincidence. I happened to start Catching Liam right after I finished By Referral Only by Lyla Payne, which have very similar main characters, down to the accent on the hero. Since they came out within a couple of weeks of each other, it's safe to say that this is just a crazy case of happenstance, but it did take some of the oomph out of Catching Liam for me.

Jillian loves sex and hates relationships. Boys are for one night stands, to be caught and immediately released. Repeated encounters just lead to troubling things like feelings and having to let someone else inside your walls. Thus, Jillian is displeased when she wakes up one morning to find her, admittedly hot, one night stand in her kitchen making waffles. Naked. Well, she's mostly displeased. She's also a bit tempted to double dip the chip, even though that goes against her rules. Obviously, though, Liam of the Scottish brogue and six pack abs and waffle-making skills is a force to be reckoned with.

As expected, Jillian ends up taking a chance on Liam. She has some obvious issues of her own, reasons why she doesn't want a boyfriend. The pills she takes for one and her insanely controlling mother, Tara, for another. Bleu successfully adds depth to the story with these issues. Jillian's problem, especially, is well-handled.

The romance follows pretty standard lines, but is generally non-annoying. Liam and Jillian do seem to get along quite well, even if I didn't feel a special spark of OMG THEY MUST BE TOGETHER FOREVERS. Plus, Liam is legit a nice guy, even if he gives the worst nicknames (chicken) and has some bad plans for how to be in a relationship (now that we're a couple, let's not have sex anymore).

But, hey, I enjoy romances and the only reason I don't really read them much anymore is that I was so tired of the innocent female desperate for a man taming the wild rake with her weeping lady parts. I'm totally up for stories like Catching Liam where women love sex, have sex on their own terms, and are unashamed of it, even when their insanely bitchy mothers try to make them feel bad about themselves.

Jillian's relationship with Tara's probably where Catching Liam fell flattest for me. The relationship dynamics jump around suddenly and Tara just really doesn't make any sense. Mostly, she's a monster bitch from hell, but occasionally she morphs into a sweet, loving mother. The only way her character arc makes sense to me is if she's the same Tara from The United States of Tara, but I really doubt that.

What I think I actually enjoyed most was the humor of Catching Liam. There were a few jokes that actually made me chuckle out loud. They're silly and a bit naughty, and a lot of fun. I love when books can make me laugh, so that's a huge plus. Most of the attempts at inside jokes between the three best friends (Jillian, Cassie, and Jess) felt flat and forced, but the moments that actually happened in the story were great.

Catching Liam is a light, funny new adult story with a kind hero and a confident heroine who knows what she wants. The advance copy I read had some fairly serious grammatical errors, but I'm hoping the finished copy went through more editing, just like the cover was improved. I'm on the fence about reading the next book in the series, which will follow Jillian's friend Jess in a professor-student romance. I probably will read it, but only time will tell.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote:

"'I don't do relationships,' I said slowly, trying to get the words right. 'If anyone fucks this up, it's going to be me.'
     'That's the nice thing about relationships,' Liam said.
     'What?'
     'There's two people involved. If you fuck up, I'll be around to help you back on your feet.'"

Review: Moxie and the Art of Rule Breaking

Moxie and the Art of Rule Breaking

Author: Erin Dionne
Pages: 256
Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: July 11, 2013
Read: July 2-3, 2013
Source: ARC from publisher for review

Description from Goodreads:
For fans of The Westing Game and From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler comes a clever, treasure-hunt mystery based on a real-life art heist.

Moxie Fleece knows the rules and follows them--that is, until the day she opens her front door to a mysterious stranger. Suddenly Moxie is involved in Boston's biggest unsolved mystery: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art heist. Moxie has two weeks to find the art, otherwise she and the people she loves will be in big-time danger.

Her tools? Her best friend, Ollie, a geocaching addict who loves to find stuff; her Alzheimer's suffering grandfather, Grumps, who knows lots more than he lets on; and a geometry proof that she sets up to sort out the clues.

It's a race against the clock through downtown Boston as Moxie and Ollie break every rule she's ever lived by to find the art and save her family.

First Sentence: "You know that line about being 'saved by the bell'?"

Review:

Now that I've read Moxie and the Art of Rule Breaking, I can fully appreciate this adorable cover, because it fully captures this book. The only inaccurate part is that Moxie's best friend Ollie is Asian (though I guess this guy could be) and overweight, which I definitely do not think he is. However, the items in purple are part of the plot and that is exactly how Moxie dresses, crazy tights and all. If you could see her from the front, she'd be wearing a concert shirt for sure. Like the cover suggests, Moxie and the Art of Rule Breaking is a fun, action-packed middle grade novel with plenty of hijinks.

As her name suggests, Moxie has a lot of spirit, courageous and determined. The novel opens with the doorbell ringing. Though she's not supposed to open the door to strangers, she does without thinking. A redheaded woman stands on the doorstep, asking after her grandfather, who now lives in an old folks' home, as Alzheimer's slowly takes his memories. Because this woman is dressed in weather-inappropriate clothing and because of her grandpa's past, Moxie sends the woman away, nervous about the woman's declaration that Sully Cupcakes, notorious mobster wants his stuff back.

Moxie's grandfather, affectionally known as Grumps, had a bit of a shady history. He had ties with the mob and worked with the criminal underbelly of the city. His job as a carpenter gave him access to a lot of places and made him a good way to launder money. Up til now, Grumps' criminal past has been just stories, but now Moxie really has to confront who he was and the impact of his shady dealings. The relationship between Grumps and Moxie is touching, especially the way she visits him every week, even though it's painful the way he sometimes isn't there mentally.

Together with her allergy-prone friend Ollie, Moxie has to solve the mystery of an art heist that took place over 20 years ago in 1990 (wow, does that make me feel old) in two weeks. Along the way, there's some fun with geocaching, daring stunts, and parental disapproval. There are themes of family and friendship making up the backdrop, but the mystery and adventure elements take a front seat.

Though a fun read, I did have some concerns with Moxie and the Art of Rule Breaking. Mainly, the fact that it was Moxie caught up in the middle of this felt contrived. Why on earth would the redhead go to Moxie, an eighth grader, rather than her mother or grandmother, who are much more likely to know where the art is hidden? A grown woman threatening an eighth grader in this way was awkward. I could see an evildoer threatening someone so young, but more as motivation for an adult to do something, not to get the young teen to solve the decades old mystery. Plus, the redhead didn't even warn Moxie not to tell anyone, so it's not like she went to the kid because the adults would call the authorities. That just didn't make sense to me.

Those who enjoy light-hearted, action-heavy mysteries will likely enjoy Moxie and the Art of Rule Breaking, particularly if they can avoid getting caught up in some of the smaller plot details. Also of note is that there is a lot of exploration of Boston, so it'll be a great read for anyone really familiar with the city.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote: "'Good music is never out of season."

Sadie Hawkins Sunday Review #19: Death Watch

Death Watch
The Undertaken, Book 1

Author: Ari Berk
Pages: 544
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Read: June 19-23, 2013
Source: Library
Recommended by: Kara of Great Imaginations

Description from Goodreads:
They say the dead should rest in peace. Not all the dead agree.One night, Silas Umber's father Amos doesn’t come home from work. Devastated, Silas learns that his father was no mere mortician but an Undertaker, charged with bringing The Peace to the dead trapped in the Shadowlands, the states of limbo binding spirits to earth. With Amos gone, Silas and his mother have no choice but to return to Lichport, the crumbling seaside town where Silas was born, and move in with Amos’s brother, Charles.

Even as Silas eagerly explores his father’s town and its many abandoned streets and overgrown cemeteries, he grows increasingly wary of his uncle. There is something not quite right going on in Charles Umber’s ornate, museum-like house—something, Silas is sure, that is connected to his father’s disappearance. When Silas’s search leads him to his father’s old office, he comes across a powerful artifact: the Death Watch, a four hundred year old Hadean clock that allows the owner to see the dead.

Death Watch in hand, Silas begins to unearth Lichport’s secret history—and discovers that he has taken on his father’s mantle as Lichport’s Undertaker. Now, Silas must embark on a dangerous path into the Shadowlands to embrace his destiny and discover the truth about his father—no matter the cost.

First Sentence: "He should have gone home."

Review:
Ari Berk's Death Watch is, without doubt, one of the most beautifully-written books I've had the pleasure of reading. His prose is lyrical, gothic, and drenched with meaning. The discussions of life, death, and family are thought-provoking and touching. For the prose alone, this book is a hundred percent worth reading. Berk has massive talent and, though I can't say this series, is perfect for me, I will be keeping an eye on his career.

The catalyst of Death Watch is the disappearance of Amos Umber, Silas' father. Silas and his mother are turned out of their home, for it belongs to his Uncle. With little recourse available to them, they agree to move back to Lichport, the hometown of both his parents and his own birthplace, to live with his Uncle. There, he must confront his father's disappearance and his destiny, and try to help Lichport in the process.

The world depicted in Death Watch feels both real and fantastical, modern and historical. Lichport feels like a place out of time, a town where the realm of the dead is closer than anywhere else. Ghosts roam the streets, inhabit houses, and attempt murders. Berk captures the eerieness perfectly, but also the magic. Ghosts are like people; they aren't all bad, and they come in all sorts of forms. In fact, some ghosts are even corporeal, lingering almost like zombies, simply unwilling to accept that they're dead. The world building is fantastic and rich, full of ghost lore. The family dynamics are like Lemony Snicket meets Hamlet, which basically means it's dark and messed up, but a bit fanciful. Actually, much of the story recalls Shakespeare or classic literature.

Where Death Watch came up short for me was in plotting and characterization. So far as the plot goes, I would have liked more of it. Death Watch is hefty at over 500 pages, and it felt long too. There's a lot of meandering to the plot, and, despite that, I felt like most of the actual plot elements were dealt with so swiftly as to be unsatisfying. Berk focuses more on the quiet reflection than on the active moments, like Silas having to separate from his ghostly girlfriend and the takedown of the villain.

Though I like Silas, I don't feel any strong emotions towards him, and I can't be bothered about anyone else in Death Watch. I felt a definite distance from him that never diminished. He also never really does much growing through the course of the book, and certainly the others don't. His troubled relationship with his mother is never really resolved or satisfactorily confronted. His brief courtship of the ghostly girl is told in such a way that it elicited no feels from me, though it is a tragic experience for him. He's a character I feel I should have liked, but the story focuses so much more on the writing and world building than on building up characters. Also, on a side note, this novel really doesn't strike me as young adult and, if anything, would fall more under the new adult umbrella, as Silas is over 18 and deals with issues of becoming an adult, like finding a profession and moving out of his parents' home.

Anyone who enjoys ghost stories or gothic literature will be doing themselves a disservice by not reading Death Watch.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote:

"It was well past one a.m. and into that portion of evening where things went very quiet, as if the world was waiting for something to happen.
     But Silas was tired of living in a world where everyone and everything held its breath."

---

Up Next:

The next Sadie Hawkins Sunday book is Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Tucholke suggested by Ashleigh Paige of Birth of a New Witch. Thanks so much to Ashleigh for putting in a recommendation, even if I'm the black sheep on this one...

Want to tell me what to read? Fill out the following form with a suggestion! For more details, check this post.

Review: Famous Last Words

Famous Last Words

Author: Jennifer Salvato Doktorski
Pages: 288
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Publication Date: July 2, 2013
Read: June 27-29, 2013
Source: ARC from publisher for review

Description from Goodreads:
Sixteen-year-old Samantha D’Angelo has death on the brain. Her summer internship at the local newspaper has her writing obituaries instead of soaking up the sun at the beach. Between Shelby, Sam’s boy-crazy best friend; her boss Harry, a true-blue newspaper man; and AJ, her fellow “intern scum” (aka the cute drummer for a band called Love Gas), Sam has her hands full. But once she figures out what—or who—is the best part of her summer, will she mess it all up?

As Sam learns her way around both the news room and the real world, she starts to make some momentous realizations about politics, ethics, her family, romance, and most important—herself.

First Sentence: "Samantha Elisabeth D'Angelo, the Herald Tribune's youngest-ever obituary writer, died Friday."

Review:

This is my second experience with Jennifer Salvato Doktorski in as many months. In a lot of ways, her sophomore novel is much like her first, with similar strengths and weaknesses. Both novels exhibit a lot of promise, but left me vaguely irritated and unsettled at some of the themes and messages throughout. Famous Last Words is an improvement on How My Summer Went Up in Flames, with a slightly more likable heroine and the delightful focus on Sam's summer job.

The best part, and what makes Famous Last Words stand out from the bulk of YA offerings is that t he main plot deals with Sam's job. At 16 going on 17, she's got a summer job as a paid intern at the Herald Tribune. She doesn't get to do much but write obits and fetch coffee, but the excitement of the newsroom delights her. In fact, she's much happier working late nights and crazy hours at the newspaper than dealing with other teens in high school.

Sam has quite the work ethic, though that is in part due to her desire to avoid thinking about other things, like her problems with her best friend, boys, and college. Getting caught up in the mystery of the case against the mayor, who seems to be doing something illicit, Sam assists the actual reporters and does some amateur detective work. Through her job at the newspaper, she discovers a passion she didn't realize she had - for writing and for life. Writing obits makes her realize how important it is to truly live. I love that the newspaper work isn't something in the background here at all; it's in the forefront and Doktorski really delves into the process and the problems facing the newspaper industry today.

As with How My Summer Went Up in Flames, I'm also largely impressed with Doktorski's characterization and writing. Most of the characters feel very authentic and human, with the little quirks that really make them feel alive. My personal favorite is definitely Sam's sassy grandma and her touching stories about Sam's late grandfather.

However, Sam has a lot of the troublesome qualities that made Rosie such a frustrating heroine in How My Summer Went Up in Flames, though I do not think Sam's quite as hateful. Both Sam and Rosie are judgmental, jealous of any girl who talks to a boy they have any sort of interest in, and terrible friends. One of the main focuses of the book is the deteriorating friendship between Sam and Shelby. Sam has a lot of legitimate reasons to be mad at Shelby: the way Shelby wants Sam to be someone she's not, the way Shelby ignored Sam for a boyfriend, and the way that Shelby abandons Sam at parties. Instead, Sam gets mad about other things; Shelby's drinking and flirtatiousness, and the possible damage to her reputation (love that subtle slut-shaming).

Meanwhile, Sam turns into a puddle of goo at the feet of an obviously obnoxious guy just because he has a pretty face, much like Rosie did over and over again. For all her judgment of Shelby for flirting with guys, Sam tries (though she pretends to be in ignorance of what she's doing) to string two guys along during the summer. She's single and has every right to do it, but so is Shelby free to do what she wants. Since Sam doesn't respect Shelby, I don't respect Sam. The actual romance in Famous Last Words is cute, but I was so irritated by Sam I didn't feel like she deserved the nice guy she got, because she learned very little. She does determine to do some more work on her relationship with Shelby, but her sense of elitism over the drunken, popular, pretty people never dissipates in the slightest.

Running through both of Doktorski's books is an intense distaste for underage drinking, and perhaps any drinking at all. The "good" characters almost never drink in both. While I'm not saying underage drinking or perpetual drunkenness is admirable, arguing, even through fiction, for such abstinence education is silly; we all know how the prohibition turned out. Neither Rosie nor Sam has, to my knowledge, a reason to be so anti-drinking, like a family member who suffers from alcoholism or was killed by a drunk driver. It just seems very out of place and preachy.

Both Sam and Rosie seem like believable people, and they are well-characterized. At the same time, they're not likable, at least for me. Of course, unlikable characters can be pulled off admirably, but my issue here is that I do not think that either was meant to be perceived as unlikable by the reader. The other characters generally seem to find them charming, and any hate they get is because they're too cool or talented and the other person is jealous. The fact that the two are so similar also seems a weakness.

My second experience with Jennifer Salvato Doktorski leaves me still convinced that she can do great things as a writer, but that she's not there yet. The continual themes of hatred of other women, of drinking and of slut-shaming bog down otherwise incredibly fun books. If you want to try Doktorski, I would recommend Famous Last Words over How My Summer Went Up in Flames.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote: "Do I look angry? People are always doing that to me—telling me to smile, asking me what's wrong, when I'm perfectly content. I just have a pouty-shaped mouth, that's all."

Review: Zits: Chillax

Zits: Chillax

Author: Jerry Scott
Illustrator: Jim Borgman
Pages: 256
Publisher: HarperTeen
Read: May 16-17, 2013
Source: Gifted

Description from Goodreads:
Comic god Stan Lee says Zits is a "comedic masterpiece!" Fans of funny illustrated YA novels such as Drama by Raina Telgemeier and Teen Angst? Naaah... by Ned Vizzini will definitely want to read Zits: Chillax. In Zits: Chillax, Jeremy Duncan, high school sophomore and future rock god, offers up a comedic outlook on teenage life, including school, parents, chores, bands, and friends. Jeremy and his best friend, Hector Garcia, are planning to achieve a lifelong dream...going to a rock concert! Without parental supervision. But the Gingivitis concert falls on the same night their friend Tim is donating bone marrow for his mom, a cancer patient. Not a problem: Jeremy and Hector are determined to go to the show...for Tim. Written and illustrated by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman, Zits: Chillax is based on their comic strip, Zits. The book features 300 illustrations--including hilarious full-page comics.

First Sentence: "I see a bead of sweat clinging to Byczykowski's mustache hairs, and on her it doesn't look bad."

Review:

When I was a kid I loved reading the comic pages of the newspaper, or the 'funnies' as we always called them in my family. Zits, tragically accurate name aside, was always one of my favorites, perhaps even the favorite comic strip. Given that love, I was curious when I saw this book around, so when my dear friend Lenore (author of The Memory of After) offered me her ARC, I went for it. This novelization of the comic strip series was enjoyable if not quite as awesome as the strip itself.

While this is a novelization and not a collection of the Zits comics, which I thought might have been a possibility, fear not, as there are a bunch of illustrations in classic Zits style. Reading books with pictures is super refreshing, because all of a sudden I read so fast. Borgman's illustrations are hilarious, largely integrated into the story, including dialog responding to the prose text, though some are sort of commentaries on the story going on around it.

Jeremy continues to be the quintessential teenage boy. He completes his schoolwork at the last minute, recognizes the best ways to avoid getting stuck doing chores, and is completely embarrassed by his parents. This, right here, is what most teens I know experiences: present parents who care and are just sort of endlessly the bane of your existence, as though they purposefully want to harm your tenuous social status. Jeremy hates talking about his feelings and converses primarily with the word "Dude." He's a teenage boy with dreams of being a rock god, who sometimes forgets where his bed is and sleeps on the piles of stuff on his floor. Oh yeah, and he sleeps until the afternoon because that's what teens do.

Two elements combine for the plot of Zits: Chillax: a concert and cancer. Jeremy and his best friend Hector have tickets to go see their favorite band, Gingivitis, but are unsure whether they'll be able to convince their parents to let them go. At the same time, their band Chickenfist is in trouble when Tim, the bassist, announces that he'll be leaving them for a while, as his mother has cancer. The boys, unsure how to handle such an emotional moment decide that they need to go to this concert for Tim. This premise does make me a bit uncomfortable, using cancer as a device to move the plot along, rather than conveying the seriousness of it.

Aside from the cancer thing, Zits: Chillax is a series of hijinks related to getting to the concert. There are a lot of great funny moments, especially the moments where they're just hanging out with their friends being teens or when Jeremy's complaining about his parents. Oddly, the teen/parent dynamics have always been my favorite part of the comic, since they're so spot on, both to the affection and the rampant frustration involved in the relationship.

The pacing of Zits: Chillax is fast, even without the pictures. It's a light, fluffy read that can be enjoyed by boys and girls alike, as well as fans of the comic.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote: "Whatever. Detention wasn't that bad (Sara was there, too) and I don't really mind being grounded because I don't mind spending time alone in my room. Why do parents consider that punishment, anyway? Half the time they're trying to pry me out of my room, and then when I screw up and get in trouble, they turn around and send me back in there, which is where I wanted to be in the first place! If you ask me, the only real punishment in the world is anything that falls under the heading of 'Fun for the Whole Family' which, trust me, is a lie."