Sadie Hawkins Sunday Review #23: All the Truth That's in Me

All the Truth That's in Me

Author: Julie Berry
Pages: 288
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Read: July 11
Source: ARC from publisher for review
Recommended by: Scott Pilgrim of Scott Reads It

Description from Goodreads:
Four years ago, Judith and her best friend disappeared from their small town of Roswell Station. Two years ago, only Judith returned, permanently mutilated, reviled and ignored by those who were once her friends and family. Unable to speak, Judith lives like a ghost in her own home, silently pouring out her thoughts to the boy who’s owned her heart as long as she can remember—even if he doesn’t know it—her childhood friend, Lucas. But when Roswell Station is attacked, long-buried secrets come to light, and Judith is forced to choose: continue to live in silence, or recover her voice, even if it means changing her world, and the lives around her, forever. This startlingly original novel will shock and disturb you; it will fill you with Judith’s passion and longing; and its mysteries will keep you feverishly turning the pages until the very last.

First Sentence: "We came here by ship, you and I."

Review:
As I endeavor never to lie to you kind folks who stop by and read my thoughts, I have to say I was really having second thoughts about reading All the Truth That's in Me when it was put into Sadie Hawkins. I'd heard rumors of dialect, and, though I've enjoyed a couple of books written in dialect, it's still not really my thing. The style of it generally scared me off. However, All the Truth That's in Me ended up being a really rewarding and unique literary experience.

I really do feel like All the Truth That's in Me is an excellent novel, well-written and perfectly atmospheric. The dialect really isn't strong at all, kept to a minimum and conveyed more with phrasing and the occasional word, like "hisself" for example. The language is kept pretty simple, which generally annoys me, but works well here. Judith isn't well-educated, and she was reticent even before her tongue was cut out.

Oh, right. Yeah, her tongue was cut out, so she's mute. Did I forget to mention that? Judith is, I think, unique among YA heroines in that her tongue has been cut out. How intense is that? She was kidnapped and mutilated. This aspect is what I liked best about All the Truth That's in Me. It's dark, hard, and not sugar coated in the least, yet there's still a sense of hope.

See, Judith had pretty much given up on herself, and was beginning to believe what others said: that she's dumb. With the outbreak of battle, though, Judith throws herself into action to rescue the boy she's loved since childhood. To do so, she has to confront her captor, and sets in motion events that will force her to learn to speak up for herself or else. Like Speak and The Girl in the Park, All the Truth That's in Me centers on the importance of finding your voice.

The mystery of who kidnapped Judith and what happened to her there, as well as who murdered Lottie, who disappeared just before Judith did, is really well done. The first fifty pages or so of the novel are really confusing, told in snippets of past and present all jumbled up, but it really does come together, and, once I got used to it, the jumps didn't feel unnatural at all. The way Berry wove everything together really did impress me.

There is some romance, but it does not overwhelm the larger arc. At first, I really didn't like it, because Judith is quite the little stalker. By the end, though, Berry had me sold on it. For one thing, I'm a real sucker for heroines who aren't gorgeous or who have disabilities finding love just like the model beautiful ones do. What Judith went through was not her doing and does not make her unlovable, though perhaps her own sense of being unlovable might if she gives into it. Lucas, her crush and love interest, is a really sweet guy, and hurrah for more of these sorts of guys cropping up in young adult fiction these days.

Still, though I liked the writing for the most part, second person narratives really don't work for me. The whole of All the Truth That's in Me is written this way. The you in question is Lucas. Unless a story is written in a diary format, epistolary, or breaking the fourth wall, I just do not comprehend the point of second person. For me, I'm thrown out of the text every single time I come across the word you in the narration, because I know it's not me. Plus, it has the disconcerting effect of putting me in two roles at once: looking through Judith's eyes, but also cast as Lucas, which was a bit dizzying. Presumably there was a reason for this, but, whatever it was, this is not a style that is effective for the sort of reader I happen to be.

The other aspect that left me a bit disappointed were the historical elements. Not much was really made of the history, and it all felt overly vague to me. I kept trying to place the novel in time and location, but never really got close.

All told, All the Truth That's in Me is a powerful, highly original novel and I recommend it highly, particularly to readers with more patience for second person narration.

Rating: 3.5/5

Favorite Quote: "I don't believe in miracles, but if the need is great, a girl might make her own miracle."

---

Up Next:

The next Sadie Hawkins Sunday book will be Dune by Frank Herbert, suggested by Robbie! I'm about halfway through right now and don't think I'll love it, but it's something I've always wanted to read but haven't because it's such a chunkster. Thanks for the motivation, Robbie!

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

Review: Dare You To

Dare You To
Pushing the Limits, Book 2

Author: Katie McGarry
Pages: 462
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Read: May 18, 2013
Source: YA Books Central for review

Description from Goodreads:
Ryan lowers his lips to my ear. "Dance with me, Beth."

"No." I whisper the reply. I hate him and I hate myself for wanting him to touch me again....

"I dare you..."

If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk's home life, they'd send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom's freedom and her own happiness. That's how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn't want her and going to a school that doesn't understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn't get her, but does....

Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can't tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn't be less interested in him.

But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all....

Previous Book in Series:
1: Pushing the Limits

First Sentence: "I'm not interested in second place."

Review:

Though I've not actually read any reviews of Dare You To, I've seen some ratings roll in and some status updates, so I'd seen enough to be wary. I was immensely impressed with McGarry's debut and very excited about her sophomore novel, but also hesitant in case my love for the first turned out to be a fluke. Thankfully, for me, Dare You To is, if anything a stronger read than Pushing the Limits, since, ultimately, I find both Beth and Ryan to be more compelling leads.

Now, I do warn you that Beth and Ryan are both rather awful people as the novel opens. Ryan starts out as that cocky jock asshole, used to always getting what he wants out of life. He's basically Freddie Prinze Jr. from She's All That, making dares with his buddies about girls. Specifically, he and his friend Chris dare each other to get girls' numbers at the beginning of the book. The way he thinks about girls made me want to smack the smirk off his face. Beth, too, is a handful. She makes horrible life choices, and is an asshole to the people trying to help her.

If you stick with them though, Beth and Ryan do really mature through the course of the book, as they realize what's important to them and face up to their demons. They're young and completely screwed up by their parents, so it's a wonder they make as much progress as they do. Both of them, though, have good hearts from the start, even if they don't apply them as well as they could. For example, though Ryan may think unflattering things about girls from time to time, he does treat them well, dares aside, even refusing to allow his friends to call his ex-girlfriend evil, despite her manipulative nature; he cared for her once and won't see her maligned.

Beth is pretty much emotionally ruined, unable to trust anyone but Isaiah and Noah. She has good reason, since most people either leave her or hit her or both. Her mother is an alcoholic and a junkie, unwilling to leave her drug dealing boyfriend, Trent, not even for her daughter's sake. Even so, Beth takes care of her, even to the degree of taking the fall and getting arrested for a crime her mother committed. Beth's determination to protect and save her mother is evidence of her good heart, but it's also tragic, keeping her from doing what's best for herself. Children really do want to love their parents, even when they shouldn't.

Speaking of bad parents, it's young adult fiction, so Ryan has them too. His mother and father live a life of social events and pretending to be the perfect family, when actually they just kicked his older brother out after Mark revealed his homosexuality. Ryan feels abandoned by Mark and stifled by his parents. What I love about Ryan's story is that he's actively making choices for the future: whether to pursue a career in major league baseball or to go for college and consider writing as a career. Not enough YA actually deals with thoughts of the life beyond high school.

As in Pushing the Limits, Katie McGarry wrote the book from the perspectives of both of the main characters. Yet again, she does a phenomenal job writing two distinct points of view, neither of which reads like Noah or Echo either. Color me impressed. McGarry even managed to sell me on their romance, though I was skeptical at first. Ryan's actually a really sweet, respectful guy under the swagger. He's very up front and good at communicating, and that's something Beth needs and isn't good at herself. This is another romance where the tropes are sort of turned on their head, with the tattooed bad girl and the more innocent guy. He embraces feelings and she just wants to keep things physical and temporary. Also, they become more social as they get closer, rather than descending into the couple cave, which is great too.

My only qualms are these: the melodrama and Ryan's writing. Though I think it's well done, the drama of it all did seem a bit over the top at times. I let that slide in Pushing the Limits, but having both teens have terrible parents again and dealing with a lot of the same issues was a bit too much for me. Then there's the apparently amazing story that Ryan has written, which gets him nominated for a literary award and scholarship. That's all fine, except that he apparently wrote Warm Bodies, which is weird to me.

In Dare You To, Katie McGarry dares to take a risk on characters who aren't as likable on the outset. If you can keep an open mind, that gamble pays off in the end, but, of course, that's not for everyone. With this, I can confidently declare myself a McGarry fan, and will be eagerly anticipating Crash Into You, Isaiah's story.

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote: "'You're a lot like that bird in the barn. You're so scared you're going to be caged in forever that you can't see the way out. You smack yourself against the wall again and again and again. The door is open, Beth. Stop running in circles and walk out.'"

Sadie Hawkins Sunday Review #20: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
Between, Book 1

Author: April Genevieve Tucholke
Pages: 368
Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers
Read: June 23-27, 2013
Source: ARC from publisher for review
Recommended by: Ashleigh Paige of Birth of a New Witch

Description from Goodreads:
You stop fearing the devil when you’re holding his hand…

Nothing much exciting rolls through Violet White’s sleepy, seaside town…until River West comes along. River rents the guesthouse behind Violet’s crumbling estate, and as eerie, grim things start to happen, Violet begins to wonder about the boy living in her backyard. Is River just a crooked-smiling liar with pretty eyes and a mysterious past? Or could he be something more? Violet’s grandmother always warned her about the Devil, but she never said he could be a dark-haired boy who takes naps in the sun, who likes coffee, who kisses you in a cemetery...who makes you want to kiss back. Violet’s already so knee-deep in love, she can’t see straight. And that’s just how River likes it.

Blending faded decadence and the thrilling dread of gothic horror, April Genevieve Tucholke weaves a dreamy, twisting contemporary romance, as gorgeously told as it is terrifying—a debut to watch.

First Sentence: "'You stop fearing the Devil when you're holding his hand.'"

Review:
Sometimes I'm that guy. You know, the one who reads a book that trusted friends, ones I usually agree with, were super impressed by and ends up unenthused. The blurb for Devil (since I can't be bothered to type all of that out over and over) did give me pause, what with the focus on River coming to town. The whole thing suggests instalove, but early reviews were promising and an ARC arrived, so damn the blurb and full speed ahead! Well, turns out I should have listened to my first instincts, because both the romance and a plot twist bothered me. Be warned that this review contains spoilers, since that was the only way I could explain why I feel the way I do.

In no way do I think Devil is a bad book, and there was even a brief time where I thought a 3.5 rating was coming for it. Tucholke excels especially at the horror aspects. Pretty much everything that happens ranges from eerie to mindfuck to terrifying. The concept and execution of River's deal was done incredibly well. Tucholke also manages to pull off so many surprises, which upped the intensity. If you're really into horror, then I think Devil will probably be worth your time.

The other aspect that I really enjoyed was the atmosphere. As with most gothic novels, there's a sort of place out of time feel to it. Though set in the modern world, Violet's little town and her house seem caught in the past. The most popular town activity is watching old movies. Violet listens to her grandmother's music and wears her grandmother's clothing, as a way of connecting. Violet's been so alone since her grandmother Freddie died, unable to connect with her brother, who she loves but who also irritates her with the way he treats girls. Tucholke sets the scene well, with the spooky giant house, the sleepy town disconnected in some way from modernity, and the slower pace of life. Tucholke's writing fits the narrative well, though it isn't a style that especially speaks to me.

The characters all felt pretty flat to me too, though that could be due to Vi's impaired mental state. The only one I really connected to was Neely, who was for me the most likable in a flawed and strange bunch. The portrayal of Sunshine upset me especially, as she never actually DOES anything, except hook up with Luke, Violet's brother, even though she knows he's seeing another girl too. Sunshine gets called a 'whore,' beat up, terrified and all sorts of things, but the reader never gets a sense that there's anything more than that to her. She's shown as entirely vacuous and vain, living solely to hook up with any willing guy. All of the characters seem pretty similarly one note, but Sunshine was the most distressing.

One of the aspects I didn't care for, as it so often is, is the romance between River and Violet. Now, as the blurb suggests, Violet's instalove for him does have a reason behind it, so, though painful, that's legit. He can mess with her mind somehow and create these feelings in her, which speaks strongly to abusive relationships and could send a powerful message. Unfortunately, I didn't get a real sense of the change he wrought in her, since the book opens pretty much with his arrival, so I never really got a sense of Violet as a person, because I knew her so briefly before her every thought became suspect. I can see where Tucholke put in clues to the brainwashing effect, like how Vi's initial analysis of River's appearance differed greatly once her mind started clouding, but it wasn't quite enough to help me differentiate regular Vi from River's Vi.

SPOILERS BEGIN HERE
For a while there, though, once Vi realized what was going on, everything was great, in the sense that it was creepy and everyone knew that their relationship was unhealthy. I was totally on board with that. However, the kiss of death for the romance came when, mind clear, Violet still wants River. Girl, NO. She knows that he lied to her, that he messed with her mind, and that he nearly compelled her to have sex with him, but she still thinks she might be in love with him? THAT I am not okay with. At all. I mean, maybe it's going to be yet another twist of her mind being tampered with, but that would be a bit much.

During the point where I thought I was going to give Devil 3.5 stars, Vi was skeptical of River and trying to fight his affect on her. She also was learning just how much of a creep he was. River has killed people. Tons of them. I thought that was awesome, and I was looking forward to her taking him out. Well, turns out that River's innocent, at least of some of it. SURPRISE TWIST! An insane half-brother with similar powers has been stalking River and framing him for evil deeds in Vi's town! No. So much no to this. It's overly convenient for one thing and it comes across as a way to excuse River for the things he's done, which is, frankly, bullshit. Though some parts of Devil were fantastic, I just could not enjoy it personally. To me, River does not belong as a love interest but a villain, and everything felt forced in such a way as to not put him in that role.

As I said, early review of Devil have been really positive and there were things I liked, but, as a whole, I really do not see the appeal. Whatever made this magic for others was not there for me.

Rating: 1/5

Favorite Quote: "'I wish people would spread a Faustian rumor about me.' I leaned over and knocked Sunshine's hand out of Luke's hair. 'A Faustian myth,' I repeated. 'It's so much more interesting than just being that nouveau-poor blond girl who lives in a big house with nobody but her jackass brother with pecs bigger than his brain. Sunshine, if I ever disappear, please tell people that I ran after the Devil, trying to get my soul back.'"

---

Up Next:

The next Sadie Hawkins Sunday book will be Cold Steel by Kate Elliott, the final book in the Spiritwalker trilogy. Nafiza of Bibliophilic Monologues suggested I get my butt in gear and finish this series, and I'm thrilled to do so, because it has one of my favorite ships ever. Cat and Vai foreverrrrrrr.

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

Sadie Hawkins Sunday Review #16: The Summer Garden

The Summer Garden
Tatiana and Alexander, Book 3

Author: Paullina Simons
Pages: 752
Publisher: William Morrow
Read: June 3-11, 2013
Source: Gifted
Recommended by: Lisa V.

Description from Goodreads:
The Magnificent Conclusion to the Timeless Epic Saga

Through years of war and devastation, Tatiana and Alexander suffered the worst the twentieth century had to offer. Miraculously reunited in America, they now have a beautiful son, Anthony, the gift of a love strong enough to survive the most terrible upheavals. Though they are still young, the ordeals they endured have changed them--and after living apart in a world laid waste, they must now find a way to live together in postwar America.

With the Cold War rising, dark forces at work in their adopted country threaten their lives, their family, and their hard-won peace. To regain the happiness they once knew, to wash away the lingering pain of the past, two lovers grown distant must somehow forge a new life . . .or watch the ghosts of their yesterdays destroy their firstborn son.

The Summer Garden . . . their odyssey is just beginning.

Previous Books in Series:
1: The Bronze Horseman
2: Tatiana and Alexander

First Sentence: "Once upon a time, in Stonington, Maine, before sunset, at the end of a hot war and the beginning of a cold one, a young woman dressed in white, outwardly calm but with trembling hands, sat on a bench by the harbor, eating ice cream."

Review:
FINALLY. I am done with this series. I can put it to bed and never think on it again. There are times where the series was quite good, but more times where it was frustrating, puzzling, and rage-inducing. Unfortunately, the latter sort of moments almost entirely comprise the final volume of the trilogy, making this a painful read. And, fuck yes, there will be spoilers and profanity all up in this review.

The Almost Good
Simons obviously knows how to write well. She's got a great command of language, and can put together nice complex sentences. Of course, being able to write masterfully is worthless if you don't write awesome things with your pretty sentences. However, I think even the writing has gotten worse in this third book. There were also several typos that hadn't been edited out, perhaps because even the editor couldn't stand this shit and started skimming. In one scene, the quotation marks completely disappear for about a page for no reason. Another obnoxious trend in the writing, one obviously intended to be clever, is the narrator's tendency to get really excited and end sentences with exclamation points for emphasis! Exclamation points are for dialog or first person narration, not freaking third person.

The Bad
By this point in the series, there is literally no plot, just the unfolding of the rest of Alexander and Tatiana's sex-filled lives, until the last two hundred pages where it becomes another book entirely. In no way do I think of myself as a prude about sex in novels. In fact, I sometimes quite enjoy it, though some sex scenes are giggle and snort-inducing, because of the absurd descriptions. Simons' are okay in that they mostly do not result in hilarity. However, they're also not sexy. A little goes a long way with sex in novels, I think. There's so much more power and tension in novels that have just one good kiss than in this series where Tatiana and Alexander have sex countless times. If you played a drinking game by the number of orgasms had in this book, you would die of alcohol poisoning before you finished. While I cannot say quite for certain, I'm convinced that those two characters don't have sex a single time that the reader doesn't know about it.

Keep in mind that they have a young child, and, for much of his toddler years, they have just one bedroom. So they have sex with their sleeping child several feet away myriad times. What fun. I get that their circumstances are difficult, but have someone take care of your kid for a couple hours or something. There will not be enough therapy in the world to take on this kid's emotional problems.

Describing sex is obviously Simons' favorite thing, but she does also enjoy describing Tatiana and Alexander, perfect specimens that they are. Here's a sample out of the hundreds of descriptions offered:

"She's got a tiny waist out of which her hips extend like to halves of a golden delicious apple. Her flat stomach glistens, her breasts are heaving. He is looking up at her. She is golden delicious." (390)

If you're going to read this trilogy, I hope you're very interested in Tatiana's breasts, because you get to hear about them A LOT. Also about her tiny waist. Alexander's described too, so tall and manly and strong, but Simons sure seems to enjoy describing Tania's nigh impossible figure more. And, in case you didn't know they were hot, both of them get hit on constantly by everyone. Alexander's boss' girlfriend greets him with kisses on the cheeks, but always tries to get him on the lips. A coworker of Alexander's breaks into their house in the middle of the night to rape Tatiana while keeping Alexander at bay with a gun, but Alexander saves the day, of course. These are just two examples of many.

The Fucking Ugly
Now, in theory, I do support the idea of showing the difficulties in Tatiana and Alexander's relationship after she rescued him from a concentration camp, now run by the Soviets, in Berlin. Alexander underwent a lot of torture, and would no doubt be fucked up as a result. He's scarred, inside and out. However, that does not make it okay for him to do whatever he wants, and I do not appreciate the way he treats Tatiana, even if she's okay with it. While a husband treating a wife this way might have been deemed normal or acceptable at the time, that does not make Alexander any less of an abusive monster.

One of the main fights Alexander and Tatiana have is about the fact that she insists on working at the hospital, even after he's earning enough money to support the family. All the other women stop working even when they just have boyfriends, so why won't she stay home, which is, after all, a woman's place. He bitches at her about her job constantly, accusing her of letting him and their son Anthony down by being away from home so much, even though Tatiana does fucking everything. She cooks all the food, and she's a great cook, from scratch, she keeps the house spotless, and she has sex with Alexander a million times a day, all while working 40-60 hours a week. Rather than thanking his lucky stars that he married a damn goddess, Alexander accuses her of not caring enough and of having an affair with a coworker.

After they have fights, about her job or about the fact that she has yet to become pregnant with a second child, even though fifteen or so years have passed from the birth of their first, Alexander seduces her into doing whatever he wants. Then there's this fight. An asshole friend of Alexander's is finally getting married, and they're having a bachelor party with strippers. Tatiana tells him she does not want him to go see the strippers, and after a heated discussion, he promises to leave before the strippers and be home by 1 AM. He stumbles in drunk and smelling like cheap perfume at 5 AM. Tatiana goes out to the hen party at some club the next night, as she threatened to do if he went to see the strippers. She comes home early, and reveals she was actually at the hospital, because, unlike her husband, she doesn't actually want to do things that will make him uncomfortable. She tells him not to touch her right now, and he does. He has sex with her, even though she didn't want him to. Sure, she got into it because that's what happens with them, but, in my mind, this is spousal rape. He forced her. After lots of sex, the fight's over. Just like that.

Then, later, things get worse. Alexander, convinced his wife is having an affair with a doctor at the hospital, because he saw the doctor make her laugh (no joke), and because she works Friday nights, he starts going out with a different asshole friend. A married woman with huge breasts hits on him, and he ends up playing with her breasts and getting a subpar blowjob in her car, then making plans to meet up for the real deal later that week. He tells Tatiana he's working and goes, but ultimately chickens out of actually sleeping with the woman, who calls his house and asks Tatiana where he is when Alexander doesn't show up to meet her. Penetration or not, this is adultery, and Alexander is a rat bastard who deserves to die alone.

For freaking the first time ever, Tatiana is finally so pissed she's considering leaving him, taking Anthony and going. When she says this, he hits her, several times in the face, leaving her bruised and bleeding. Just wait, though, it gets worse. Here's what Tatiana has to say: "'Except for this--anything you do is fine with me . . . So if you raise your voice or hand to me, I bow my head and take it'" (510). The this in that sentence is adultery. So, it's totally okay with her if he abuses her as long as he doesn't fuck anyone else. No, Tatiana. No, it's not okay.

What's even more not okay is that she DOES forgive him, of course. She lets him stay, and you know what his punishment is for cheating on his wife and then abusing her when she has the audacity to be mad at him about it? He finally gets more children (she was actually going to tell him she was pregnant again the night he went to fuck that other woman) and she quits her job at the hospital to raise them. You know what, Paullina Simons? It is in no way acceptable to romanticize an abusive, cheating husband, or to convey that men can do no wrong and should in fact be REWARDED for such horrific behavior.

The Shit Icing on This Crap Cake
Then, after 500+ pages of their unhealthy relationship, the book suddenly turns into a novel about the Vietnam war for a hundred pages. Simons did similar awkward changes of pace in The Bronze Horseman, but this one was even more out of place. Tatiana and Alexander's oldest son, Anthony, enlists to go Vietnam, and they freak out. In his fourth or fifth tour of duty, he goes missing. Setting up an incredibly lame parallel with the second book, Alexander goes to Vietnam to find and rescue him.

In Vietnam, Alexander discovers that his son has been entrapped by a one-eyed, eight-fingered North Vietnamese whore, who he married believing her pregnant with his child (she may or may not have been). Alexander convinces a family friend, and Anthony's commander in Vietnam, to stage a rescue to get his son in enemy territory, where he may not even be, even though this is completely against the commander's orders. In the process of rescuing Anthony (because of course they do), the Vietnamese girl (who is evil, obviously) is killed, as are a lot of the men who helped Alexander rescue his son. Alexander is grievously injured (but doesn't die because I hate everything). For their actions, both Anthony and Alexander are given medals of honor, even though Alexander wasn't supposed to fucking be there and Anthony got himself captured by falling in a love with a whore who was working as a spy. More men died in this operation than were rescued. But who fucking cares about that? All that matters is Alexander and Anthony!

Finally, I'm at the end of this damn book, the Coda, a prissy way name for the epilogue. In this epilogue, we learn that 1999, Alexander, age 80, and Tatiana, age 75, are still in love and have the perfect lives. All of their kids are married and successful. Every single child in the family is exceedingly attractive, and all the men are tall. Most important of all, you should note, each one of their four kids had at least one son, because, you know, men are more important than women, in case you missed that from all of the other misogyny in this disgusting book, which gives a happily ever after to a man who abused his wife.

Fuck This Shit, I'm Out
Now can anyone tell me why the FUCK this book has a 4.16 average rating on Goodreads? Only 81 people out of 6273 thought this was a one star book, as of the time of this writing. You know what? I give up. Everyone's entitled to their opinion, of course, but I really do not get how this book fit the epic love story that is purportedly going on in this series. Spousal rape, infidelity, and abuse are not romance, yet this is subtitled "A Love Story." Unlike Lady Gaga, I do not want any part of this Bad Romance.

Rating: .5/5

Favorite Quote:

"'I think it's something at first sight, but not necessarily love.'"

---

Up Next:

The next Sadie Hawkins Sunday book will be Cold Fire by Kate Elliott, recommended by Nafiza of Bibliophilic Monologues! I read the first book in the series last year, and have both, so it's time to finish this sucker out (so I can get those review copies squared away)!

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

Review: Defiance

Defiance
Defiance, Book 1

Author: Stephanie Tyler
Pages: 325
Publisher: Carina Press
Read: June 7-9, 2013
Source: Publisher for review

Description from Goodreads:
Rebelling against her legacy as the MC's princess, Tru Tennyson escaped the ruthless, male-dominated culture of the Defiance motorcycle club. Three years later, her newfound freedom is ripped away, thanks to a massive hybrid storm that killed millions. Now, in the post-Chaos world of semi-darkness and near-total anarchy where gangs rule, she discovers the dangerous world of Defiance may be the one thing that can keep her safe.

Tru is at the MC's mercy when she's dragged back to her former home … and to the only man she's ever pictured a future with. Caspar is the bastard son of the club's leader, her safe haven when life got rough — and her onetime lover the night she left. When Tru refuses to trade sex for power and be claimed by a rival club leader, she also dares to announce she wants Caspar instead, throwing the MC into turmoil.

Tru's brazen revolt could start a gang war and destroy the club from within. Now both Tru and the MC must wait for Caspar's response … and the inevitable fallout.

First Sentence: "From his perch on top of the Harley Fat Boy, Caspar waited Silas out as he looked toward the front gates of the Defiance Motorcycle Club's headquarters."

Review:

To explain why I read a romance novel with a dude on a motorcycle on the cover, I'm going to need to talk a bit about BEA. On Wednesday, I went to the Harlequin High Tea, and had a really great conversation with one of their editors. She asked me what I liked to read and ended up pitching Defiance to me, and, when she told me that her background included the Feminist Press, I was curious. Getting a review request for the same title when I got back convinced me that I should fit it into my schedule. It really surprised me how much fun I had reading Defiance, even if I do have some significant issues with the treatment of women in the novel.

Defiance falls into that subcategory of dystopian/post-apocalyptic literature where, in the event of an apocalypse the role of women reverts to that of a possession, useful for sex, cooking and cleaning. While I hate how common this basic premise is, I do think there's a reason it crops up so much. I wish I could say I didn't find that a believable vision of humanity's response to an apocalypse, that all the progress society's made in valuing women wouldn't be erased, but I can't. Plus, in Defiance, it' s set within a Motorcycle Club, which, from what little I know, isn't exactly a woman-centered place to begin with, so everything would be played up more strongly there.

Motorcycle clubs don't interest me at all, perhaps because of the sorts of gender roles and idiotic machismo that can be found within these pages in spades. Plus, the general lack of education in most of these characters - what intelligence there is is generally of the street smarts variety. There's a lot of slang, and antiquated ideas that women are to be owned and protected. The lucky women in the club are bonded to a man, belong to him, his to command, fuck and beat as he desires. She's his bitch (this phrasing is used). I'm not going to lie: I hate this shit. It's not cool at all. Being some guy's possession isn't romantic, and I don't like seeing Tru enjoying that.

However, the general trend throughout the plot is Tru and Caspar trying to improve the MC (Motorcycle Club). They want to stop the abuse of women, and make it so that women can hold more positions within the MC. Still not exactly a feminist read, but I can live with positive progress being made. It also helps that Tru and Caspar are really supportive of one another, and both very honest. Caspar doesn't hide everything from Tru, and he obviously would never hurt her or force her to do anything she wasn't comfortable with.

You might be wondering why it's set in a MC. Well, supposedly Defiance, the MC, was prepared for an apocalypse, building underground tunnels, sun lamps, means of getting water and growing food, etc. I honestly don't know enough about MCs to say whether that's realistic, so I just rolled with it. In this world, it's largely the rough who have survived: the military, cops, criminals, bikers. Soft, sweet people had more trouble surviving the Chaos, a world where killing to survive might be a necessity. Tyler doesn't hesitate to include violence, and it's definitely a sufficiently dark vision of the future.

Tyler also uses a really interesting narrative technique. One character, Mathias, has a first person perspective, where the rest is written in third person limited. Mathias isn't one of the main characters, so it's a unique choice. Mathias also happens to be unable to speak, so it's ironic that he's the only one given voice in the novel. Also, I really like Mathias, so I'm hoping he'll be a main character in one of the later books.

The reason I kept reading and am rating this so highly despite my serious concerns about the portrayal of the women, which is definitely still as beneath men at the best of times, is that it was really fun to read. I was flipping pages really quickly and curious to find out where it was going. Even with everything, I'm definitely planning to read the next book in the series. Of course, I'll be hoping to see more empowerment of women as the series continues, and if I don't the ratings may suffer. For those who are less particular about relationship dynamics in  romance, Defiance will no doubt be a fun read for you.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote: "'I don't like rules, especially the unwritten ones that say I need to let myself be controlled by my man.'"

Review: Eleanor & Park

Eleanor & Park

Author: Rainbow Rowell
Pages: 336
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: February 26, 2013
Source: For review from YA Books Central

Description from Goodreads:
"Bono met his wife in high school," Park says. "So did Jerry Lee Lewis," Eleanor answers. "I’m not kidding," he says. "You should be," she says, "we’re sixteen." "What about Romeo and Juliet?" "Shallow, confused, then dead." ''I love you," Park says. "Wherefore art thou," Eleanor answers. "I’m not kidding," he says. "You should be."

Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.

First Sentence: "He stopped trying to bring her back."

Review:
Eleanor & Park sets itself apart from they typical young adult read on just about every level: the setting, the main characters, the touching plot. These elements combine to make a read that moves the reader and warms the heart. Whatever expectations I had going into Eleanor & Park were simply blown away, and it will no doubt be on the list of my favorite reads of 2013.

Set in the 1980s, Eleanor & Park is the story of two misfit teens in Omaha. Many YA novels purport to be about teenagers who simply do not fit in, and, truly, almost every teen feels that way inside. However, Eleanor, and to a lesser degree Park, really do stand out from the rest of the teens at their high school. Park is Asian, the only Asian kid in school, except for his brother who takes after their white father in appearance. Eleanor, well, she doesn't dress normal or look normal or act normal.

Eleanor & Park opens on Eleanor's first day at school, having been away from her family for a year. She gets on the bus that first morning and everyone eyes her thrift store men's clothing over her chubby frame. They immediately recognize her as a target of mockery, dubbing her "raghead" and "Big Red." As she searches for a seat, every available space is suddenly filled with a backpack or saved for someone. Finally, Park, just to make it stop, allows her to sit with him, regretting his kindness even as he does so, fearing that he'll earn the attention of the popular, bullying kids. I love that their first encounter is so awful, and how unflattering Park's first thoughts are. So much of high school is about avoiding embarrassment, and the awkward new girl is just that. This portrayal is so honest.

Of course, as time goes by, Eleanor and Park slowly bond, not even speaking at first. He reads comics everyday on the bus, and he begins to notice her reading along. He starts flipping pages more slowly, giving her time to read the whole thing. Then he starts loaning them to her over night. From there, they enter into conversations, whispered quietly on the bus. Their thoughts on the X-Men (feminist or not?), Batman (boring or cool?), the pirate storyline in Watchmen (to be skipped or crucial to the comic?) shift gradually into conversations on music. Park brings new life into Eleanor's drab existence with the best of 1980s pop culture.

Eleanor and her four siblings live with her mother and their drunken, abusive step-father, Richie. Her home life has no charms. The kids wear odd clothing grabbed by theit mother with any extra money. They fight over toys, like boxes that fruit come in, because that's the best they ever really hope to get. All five sleep in a single room, often hiding in there from the shouts of Richie. Eleanor, especially, knows how terrible Richie can be, and she never ever feels safe.

Park becomes Eleanor's safe haven. Their relationship unfolds slowly, growing at a steady pace into a strong burn. I loved watching them learn to know one another's insecurities, and to accept them. This acceptance doesn't make the insecurities disappear entirely, but it does help. Neither Eleanor nor Park ever felt right in their own skins, and their burgeoning love comes as close to making them feel whole as anything could. I don't usually believe to much in young love, but I really hope these two crazy kids can make it, despite or because of all of the real world difficulties they have to face. Rowell doesn't overly romanticize their relationship, but she also doesn't attempt to diminish their feelings.

Eleanor & Park is, without a doubt, one of the best books of 2013, though much of it remains. Rowell has written an incredibly moving story about first love, and about the importance of having a support network, even if it's not your family. This book is brilliant, and I will most certainly be reading any more Rowell novels I can get my hands on.

Rating: 5/5

Favorite Quote:

"'I love you,' he said.
     She looked up at him, her eyes shiny and black, then looked away. 'I know,' she said.
     He pulled one of his arms out from under her and traced her outline against the couch. He could spend all day like this, running his hand down her ribs, into her waist, out to her hips and back again. . . . If he had all day, he would. If she weren't made of so many other miracles.
     'You know?' he repeated. She smiled, so he kissed her. 'You're not the Han Solo in this relationship, you know.'
     'I'm totally the Han Solo,' she whispered. It was good to hear her. I was good to remember it was Eleanor under all this new flesh.
     'Well, I'm not the Princess Leia,' he said.
     'Don't get so hung up on gender roles,' Eleanor said."

Review: Falling for You

Falling for You

Author: Lisa Schroeder
Pages: 355
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Source: From publisher for review via YA Books Central

Description from Goodreads:
Rae's always dreamed of dating a guy like Nathan. He’s nothing like her abusive stepfather—in other words, he’s sweet. But the closer they get, the more Nathan wants of her time, of her love, of her...and the less she wants to give.

As Rae’s affection for Nathan turns to fear, she leans on her friend Leo for support. With Leo, she feels lighter, happier. And possessive Nathan becomes jealous.

Then a tragedy lands Rae in the ICU. Now, hovering between life and death, Rae must find the light amid the darkness…and the strength to fight for life and the love she deserves.

First Sentence: "At last I can breathe."

Review:

Going into Falling for You, I knew I was in for an emotional ride. I'd glanced at enough reviews to know that Falling for You deals with an abusive relationship. What I didn't know was how much deeper this book is, how many wonderful ways that Schroeder's novel sets itself apart. Though this book is sad and deals with painful subjects honestly, Falling for You is ultimately a tale of hope and inspiration.

Poetry has never really been my thing, which is why I am glad I started with this Schroeder novel, written predominantly in prose. I'm starting to open up my mind to poetry, but I'm easing into it. There are a number of poems woven throughout the novel, in the form of submissions to the school's newspaper. I actually really love the poems, which are simple, beautiful and truthful, and fit Rae perfectly. My favorite poem is Cherish, which deals with comparing books to life and going for your happy ending, an excerpt of which you can see as my favorite quote down below. Her prose works really well too, and the poems add texture to the novel.

The story opens with foreshadowing. Rae is in the hospital, and the reader has no idea why. Month by month, the narration moves steadily forward towards some type of unknown danger. Schroeder makes good use of the device, luring the reader in, but not hitting the reader over the head with the foreshadowing hammer.

I just adore Rae as a main character. This girl has so many terrible things going on in her life, but she is just so strong and kind-hearted. Rarely do I encounter heroines with such adversity but such strong spirit. Rae does not come off as some sort of Pollyanna type either. She suffers a lot, and sometimes wants to give up, but she doesn't; she powers through, and I admire her so much for that. She makes decisions, both good and bad, and takes ownership of all of them, never passing the blame for her own choices.

While I thought the main thrust of the book would be her abusive relationship with a boyfriend, the main focus is more on family, both the one you're born into and the you build around you out of kindred spirits. Dean, her step-father, is the scum of the earth, but Rae's mother can't or won't leave him. He orders Rae around, steals the money she earns from her part-time job, and hits her if she doesn't please him. While he might be irredeemable, Schroeder shows the shades of gray in such a situation with the character of Rae's mother, who, while not a bad person, is unable to resist the sway of this man, even though she knows what he is.

Rae gets involved with a new boy at school, handsome and intriguing. Rae has always kept people at arm's length because she does not want anyone to know about the mess her family life is, and she never wants to end up like her mother. Something about Nathan calls to her, though. Schroeder depicts a very different kind of unhealthy relationship than those more often found in YA, one where he messes with her emotionally. Nathan pushes for sex and makes everything about his needs and wishes. He clings to her, jealous and needy. I love that Rae is very self-aware, not blind to what's going on, but struggles to make the right decisions anyway. This shows, far better than blithe unawareness of his manipulation, how strong the impact and pull of such a boy can be.

What really makes Falling for You such a strong novel, though, is that, despite the hospital and the abuse and the money issues, it's not an endlessly depressing book. There are a lot of sweet moments. Rae has friends she can depend on, and they have real conversations, good moments outside of everything else in her life. She loves her job and her coworkers. She finds fulfillment in submitting poems to her impassioned English teacher, Ms. Bloodsaw. Falling for You has a lovely message about paying it forward, doing your best to make this world a little bit better for someone, to brighten their day. This message is a wonderful one for teens and adults alike, and is shown, rather than merely lectured.

When I reached the halfway point in Falling for You, I went to Goodreads and added all of Schroeder's other books to my to-read list, because I had read enough to know that I want to read everything this woman writes. Her beautiful writing, truthful depictions of real life situations, and well-drawn main character make Falling for You a book you cannot help falling in love with.

Rating: 4.5/5

Favorite Quote:

"In books
we watch
as characters
go through
hard times.

We pull
for them
as they
struggle
to survive.

In our hearts
they deserve
the happy ending.

I haven't always
rooted for myself.
Haven't always
believed in my heart
that I deserve
the happy ending."

Review: The Dust of 100 Dogs

The Dust of 100 Dogs

Author: A.S. King
Pages: 336
Publisher: Flux
Source: Gifted by Kara of Great Imaginations

Description from Goodreads:
In the late seventeenth century, famed teenage pirate Emer Morrisey was on the cusp of escaping the pirate life with her one true love and unfathomable riches when she was slain and cursed with "the dust of one hundred dogs," dooming her to one hundred lives as a dog before returning to a human body-with her memories intact.

Now she's a contemporary American teenager and all she needs is a shovel and a ride to Jamaica.

First Sentence: "With one last, almighty roar, the Frenchman fell to his knees and died."

Review:

What can I say about this book? I really do not know how I feel about the book I've just completed, and might not know until I reread it a couple of times in years to come. All I know entirely for sure is that my author-crush on A.S. King has gotten larger, and that I have never in my life encountered a book remotely like The Dust of 100 Dogs.

I've read two other novels by A.S. King, Everybody Sees the Ants and Ask the Passengers. As much as they differed from one another, The Dust of 100 Dogs is even further removed. Her other novels are contemporaries, but this one takes place in the seventeenth century and the 1990s. Her storytelling methods, the mature subject matter, and the settings highlight King's daring as an author.

Her love of history can also be felt in Everybody Sees the Ants, in which the main character's grandfather was a World War II veteran. Here, King goes all the way back to seventeeth century Ireland, in the era of Oliver Cromwell and English subjugation (well, one of many eras of that anyway). She unflinchingly depicts the brutality of the English through the eyes of eight-year-old Emer, who witnesses her mother's brave battle and her brother's death firsthand. Where she was once a weak, whiny creature with dreams of being admired for her beauty, Emer learns from this hard lessons about power and how to live.

Taken in by her abusive Uncle and his family, she loses herself in her grief for a while, retreating into herself and going mute by choice, since there is nothing worth talking about in her new life. This changes when she meets the love of her life, a boy similarly mute, Seanie Carroll. When she takes a stand against her cruel Uncle Martin, he ships her off to France to marry a wealthy, disgusting old man. Emer escapes and begins her wanderings around the world, eventually becoming the captain of a pirate vessel.

That's right! Thar be pirates here! These are the kinds of pirates one cannot help but root for, coming across almost as Robin Hoods, when compared to the slavers and the plundering Spanish. Emer, an honest, upright girl at heart, justifies her actions, her violence, with the knowledge that these colonizers do horrible things to the people whose land they are stealing. The comparisons drawn between the English in Ireland, the Spanish on the Atlantic Isles, and the manifest destiny of the Americans are brilliant.

King focuses on power and on colonization. Her tale is not a happy one. Lovers die, heroines are raped and stalked by the worst of men, and many people are held subjective to the whims of assholes with more will and more power. Even in Emer's modern life (as Saffron), this plays out through the abuses of her brother, a druggie, who steals and destroys everything her parents have, but whom they cannot begin to resist; they are willing victims. Emer, after her childhood experience, never allows anyone to make her into an easy victim; her suffering makes her strong.

The concept and execution completely awe me. King tells the story through shifting perspectives: Emer in third person, Saffron in first person, Fred Livingstone in third person, and notes about dogs. Emer's third person narration, with the exception of the prologue, follows her life chronologically. Saffron, blessed or cursed with Emer's memories still has her own distinct personality. She is a fascinating figure, a child with hundreds of years of memories, both human and hound. Fred may be one of the most creepy characters I have ever encountered, and I do not think I'll be forgetting him any time soon; he's like a rapist stalker combined with Gollum, which is just nightmarish. The notes about life as a dog and how best to raise them are typically King in their oddness. These include sharp insights into human nature, but do occasionally come across as a message from the humane society.

Much as I love the plot of this book and am wowed by King's bravery as an author to venture into such untrespassed lands of YA fiction, I do wish there had been more focus on characterization. My first priority for a book is characters I really connect with, and I did not really find that in Emer or Saffron. I like both of them, worry about both of them, and wish the best for both of them, but they did not capture my heart. With all that King had to accomplish narratively, this is not surprising, because the book would have had to be a good bit longer. If you do not read for character foremost, as I do, then this will likely not be a huge drawback.

If you are looking for a book unlike anything else in YA fiction, you cannot go wrong with A.S. King's The Dust of 100 Dogs. King writes beautifully and does not romanticize anything. Her books are honest and thought-provoking.

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote: "If dogs ran the world, there would be endless food, water, walks, and humping, but not much conquering. Humans want to conquer everyone they can, and buy everything they see. I think this is because humans have forgotten how to be happy."

Review: Dreamland

Dreamland

Author: Sarah Dessen
Pages: 250
Publisher: Speak
Source: Own

Description from Goodreads:
Wake up, Caitlin

Ever since she started going out with Rogerson Biscoe, Caitlin seems to have fallen into a semiconscious dreamland where nothing is quite real. Rogerson is different from anyone Caitlin has ever known. He's magnetic. He's compelling. He's dangerous. Being with him makes Caitlin forget about everything else--her missing sister, her withdrawn mother, her lackluster life. But what happens when being with Rogerson becomes a larger problem than being without him?

First Sentence: "My sister Cass ran away the morning of my sixteenth birthday."

Review:

Whoa. This was different. I've read two Dessen books prior to this one, Just Listen and This Lullaby. I very much enjoyed both of them, and, based on my experiences with them, I cataloged Sarah Dessen's fiction as intermediate contemporaries, balancing dark issues with optimism and sweet romance. Thus, I found the fact that they repackaged all of her books to look like shiny, happy summer reads odd. Well, it's odder still, since Dreamland is dark all the way through, depressing almost in its entirety.

As in The Sky Is Everwhere by Jandy Nelson, we begin with a girl living in the shadow of her perfect older sister. In this case, however, the older sister isn't dead, merely gone, run away to who knows where. Caitlin has always used her sister as a bit of an excuse not to excel or be special, knowing she could not measure up, and, without Cass around, Caitlin doesn't have any clue who to be.

In the absence of Cass, Caitlin's overprotective mother switches her focus to the remaining daughter. When Cass makes the cheerleading team, having been pressed to audition by her steamrolling best friend, Rina, her mother gets involved the same way she always did for Rina. Nothing cheers Caitlin, though. She both misses Cass and relishes the idea that now maybe she will shine for a change, but has no idea how to do that. The reader can feel Caitlin's lack of direction and disconnection from the world.

In her continuing search to be her own person and do things Cass never did, Caitlin begins dating a bad boy. Now, you know all those popular books these days about heroines dating bad boys with hearts of gold, who make their girlfriends into better people? This is NOT one of those. Rogerson Biscoe most definitely is a bad boy. He deals drugs, bosses Caitlin around, and completely monopolizes her life. Dessen shows the attraction such a boy possesses, while also conveying a definite message. The portrayal of their relationship is realistic and utterly horrifying. Rather than helping her become her own person, Rogerson lets her live for him instead; Caitlin remains a shell of a person.

Much as I love Dessen's writing, I do not feel this is one of her best novels. For one thing, I think the messages might have gone down better with a little bit more breadth of emotion. Pretty much the only feelings I got from this were sadness and hopelessness. Dark fiction works best with some other emotions juxtaposed to really set off the tragedy of the situation and to make everything feel more real.

Also, I had a really hard time accepting that her family, her neighbors, and Rina all failed to notice her downward spiral. The girl was stoned all of the time, constantly at the beck and call of her boyfriend, lost weight, and was doing perpetually worse in class, among other things. Her mother may have been busy trying to get Cass back, but I think she would still have noticed something. Rina seemed mostly to forget about Caitlin for much of the novel. These reactions just did not seem true to the characters.

Sarah Dessen's Dreamland is an unrelentingly dark story of a girl struggling to find her own identity. If you are tired of all of the romanticized bad boys, this story will appease.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote: "When you left it was like there was this huge gap to fill, but instead of spreading wide enough to do it I just fell right in, and I'm still falling. Like I'm half-asleep, and I can't wake up, can't wake up. . . ."

Review: Nobody But Us

Nobody But Us

Author: Kristin Halbrook
Pages: 272
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: January 29, 2013
Source: For review from YA Books Central

Description from Goodreads:
Bonnie and Clyde meets IF I STAY in this addictively heart-wrenching story of two desperate teenagers on the run from their pasts.

They’re young. They’re in love. They’re on the run.

Zoe wants to save Will as much as Will wants to save Zoe. When Will turns eighteen, they decide to run away together. But they never expected their escape to be so fraught with danger....

When the whole world is after you, sometimes it seems like you can’t run fast enough.

Nobody But Us, told in alternating perspectives from Will and Zoe, is an unflinching novel, in turns heartbreaking and hopeful, about survival, choices, and love...and how having love doesn’t always mean that you get a happy ending. Described as “beautiful, heartbreaking, and exhilarating” by Kody Keplinger, author of The DUFF, Nobody But Us will prove irresistible to fans of Nina Lacour, Jenny Han, and Sara Zarr.

First Sentence: "He comes down the road in his Camaro sliding left to right on the freshly oiled gravel and skidding to a stop in front of my house."

Review:
*Warning: This review will contain pretty monstrous spoilers for Nobody But Us, though will not spoil quite everything. To read the spoiler-free version, head over to YA Books Central.*

To be entirely fair, I was not sure if this book would be my thing. The teens on the run aspect didn't really appeal to me, but Nobody But Us was blurbed by two of my favorite authors (Courtney Summers and Kody Keplinger), as well as being compared to If I Stay by Gayle Forman, which I loved. I thought perhaps instead of being melodramatic, Nobody But Us might have the contemplative, deep, emotionally fraught style of If I Stay. Well, I've been wrong before. I really need to stop buying into this marketing that sells you one book by comparing it to another.

Starting with the good, Halbrook writes well, creating two different voices for Zoe and Will. They think differently and have wholly different vocabulary. Multiple points of view in first person are tricky, so I applaud her for doing that this well. The writing's a bit simpler than I personally tend to prefer, and includes the occasional odd word choice, like "vessel" to refer to a car, though that seems like something that my be caught before publication.

I would like to propose changing the tagline to "They're young. They're stupid. They're on the run." That pretty much sums up this book for me. Will, eighteen and finally free of the system where he's bounced from home to home and school to school, decides to take his girlfriend Zoe with him away from their shit-hole hometown and her abusive father. Fifteen-year-old Zoe needs a change, no doubt about that. Her father is a drunken monster, and should be in jail, but that does not mean that running away with Will is an awesome plan. In fact, it's pretty much the opposite of an awesome plan.

Still, teens don't necessarily have much wisdom about the way of the world and everything can seem very immediate. They're young and this seems like the best road open to them, so that's what they do. Fine. I will accept that. However, what I have trouble handling is how incredibly stupid they are about everything once they're on the road. How can neither of them ever have seen a crime drama, which would have kept them from doing a lot of the idiotic things they do?

Zoe's choices can be put down to a youthful naivete, I suppose, and a weakness of character that causes her to cling to the first person to offer to take care of her. Will, however, has a better idea of the law, having come up against it before. He knows enough to get her a fake ID that lists her age as eighteen, though they never actually use this once, and to expect that the cops will be looking for them. Yet, somehow, he expects that they will simply be able to disappear in Las Vegas with just her fake ID, where she can enroll in school and they can live together. Really? You KNOW they'll be looking for you, Will, but it doesn't occur to you that you would need a fake identity too? Or that an IDENTITY is more than a doctored license? How are you going to enroll her in school or do anything without records? What about your social security numbers? Birth certificates? Disappearing is not so easy in the modern age, especially when people know your car.

"Christina, stop being so judgmental of them for not knowing all of this stuff; I mean, they're just teens!" Maybe so, imaginary devil's advocate. Some teens might not know those things, so let's give them a pass on that, okay? Shouldn't they at least be bright enough not to draw attention to themselves as they make their escape? Will, especially, since Zoe seems to have no clue what's going on? Yet, every time they stop, they do something incredibly, mind-blowingly stupid. Being a teenager does not necessitate a complete lack of survival skills or self-awareness.

Here are some examples of how Zoe and Will continually do precisely the worst possible thing in every situation:

1. While eating at a diner, some cops come in for food. The teens freak out and basically make it very obvious that they're hiding something as they leave as quickly as they can. At least they don't skip out on the check, making this the high point in their intelligence.
2. Will spots a vehicle behind them on the highway that he believes might be a cop car, so he starts driving as fast as he can. Because the best thing to do when guilty and near cops is to make yourself guilty of something else so that they'll be sure to notice you. Yup. Great idea.
3. They stop at a gas station. Zoe goes in to get food while Will pumps gas. Some assholes start talking to Zoe and one touches her on the ass. Will punches him.
4. Zoe gets her period and, worried about Will's limited finances, decides they cannot afford the $12 box of tampons (Seriously, why are tampons so expensive? I have wondered this before myself.) and decides the best plan is to steal some from the box.
5. When Zoe gets caught stealing tampons and shaken by the irate store owner, Will hits him over the head with a bottle of wine.
6. When Will sees a news broadcast reporting the incident, he and Zoe run out of the dining establishment so fast they leave his wallet behind, causing the waitress and everyone else to look closely enough at them to put two and two together.
7. The list really does go on, but I think you've got the point.

Will and Zoe's relationship also made me seriously uncomfortable. Yet again, we have a girl in love with a guy she's afraid of a good deal of the time, and we're meant to see them as tragic, romantic figures. No, I don't think so. Zoe, physically abused by her father, is terrified every time Will gets into a fight on her behalf. The formula repeated over and over in this book: someone threatens or hits on Zoe, he punches the person, Zoe cries and shrinks away from him, he promises he'll never hurt her and that he'll keep his rage checked, repeat.

Worse, I have no doubt that, given time, he would end up hitting Zoe. Their interactions had warning bells chiming in my head all the way through. He thinks constantly about how much he wants to make her happy, but snaps at her any time she annoys him. He swears at her, even though he knows how much that upsets her. After some guys hit on her, he accuses her of flirting with them, blaming her, though she was only a victim of their rude behavior. When he does things like this, she accuses herself for his unhappiness, for their bad situation, even though she's clearly not at fault for any of it. Their relationship is incredibly unhealthy and I don't feel like Halbrook made her stance on that as a bad thing clear at all.

What I wanted and expected was an emotionally hard-hitting novel about the horrors of abuse, but instead I found a melodramatic mess that romanticizes what I see as an abusive relationship. The whole thing read like a Lifetime original movie. I imagine many people will enjoy this, given how popular books with similar themes have been recently, but I did not.

Rating: 1.5/5

Favorite Quote: "I've never actually owned a swimsuit. I've never set foot in a pool, and I don't know how to swim. I'd probably run screaming if I saw an ocean wave, but that doesn't mean I don't want to go and see what happens. It might be nice to discover something scary in a way I'd never known before. The heart-racing, in-love-with-the-risk kind of scary. Not the hide-away kind."

Review: Catalyst

Catalyst

Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
Pages: 232
Publisher: Speak
Source: Own

Description from Goodreads:
Meet Kate Malone-straight-A science and math geek, minister's daughter, ace long-distance runner, new girlfriend (to Mitchell "Early Decision Harvard" Pangborn III), unwilling family caretaker, and emotional avoidance champion. Kate manages her life by organizing it as logically as the periodic table. She can handle it all-or so she thinks. Then, things change as suddenly as a string of chemical reactions; first, the Malones' neighbors get burned out of their own home and move in. Kate has to share her room with her nemesis, Teri Litch, and Teri's little brother. The days are ticking down and she's still waiting to hear from the only college she applied to: MIT. Kate feels that her life is spinning out of her control-and then, something happens that truly blows it all apart. Set in the same community as the remarkable Speak, Catalyst is a novel that will change the way you look at the world.

First Sentence: "I like to run at night."

Review:

After my last read, not to be confused with my last review, I needed something powerful and beautiful and character-driven. Catalyst turned out to be a perfect choice. Until now, my experience with Laurie Halse Anderson consisted solely of Speak. At that time, I didn't really read much realistic fiction, and I mostly steered away from unhappy books. As such, I really was not sure what to make of it, and could not appreciate it as much as I know I could now. Having read and super liked Catalyst, I'm pretty sure I need to reread Speak soon.

Speaking of Speak (which is published by Speak), Catalyst actually takes place in the very same high school, and Melinda makes a brief appearance. The Melinda here seems pretty happy and is still doing her art. Yay! Of course, she was only in for a page, but, hey, it was nice to see her and to get the sense that she's actually recovered. I really love when authors reference previous works.

Laurie Halse Anderson's writing makes me want to spin around Julie Andrews style because of how freaking wonderful it is. Seriously, if I had to quantify my favorite writing style, it would be one that is dark, funny, and dripping with wit. Her writing here fits in perfectly with John Green's and A.S. King's, in the category of writing so good that it kind of makes me never want to write anything, since I can never be that good at putting things into words.

Of course, Anderson does not merely excel at writing. She backs it up with characterization. Kate Malone bursts with personality. She has both teenage hubris and insecurity in spades. Her voice is powerful and acerbic. A pastor's daughter, she has developed a dichotomy within herself of how she's supposed to act and all the things she wants to say: Good Kate and Bad Kate. While this technique can be awful when done wrong, Anderson used it effectively. It just fit Kate and her rigorous need to be perfect warring with her judgmental personality.

Kate loves math and science, dreams of attending MIT, her late mother's alma mater. She's done everything she can: earned the grades, taken the tests, filled her life with extracurriculars, excelled at a sport, volunteered at her father's church, and worked part-time at a pharmacy. She's a shoe-in, right? Well, she told herself that anyway when she decided to apply only to MIT and nowhere else...even when she wasn't accepted early decision.

With the letter, hopefully the fat one, from MIT due any day, Kate cannot sleep, spending most of every night running or performing household chores. The own stresses in her life are put into perspective by a larger tragedy that forces her into a relationship with her childhood tormenter, Teri Litch. The main detractor in the novel was that I felt like Kate forgave Teri much too easily and let her get away with too much. The whole time I kept yelling at her to get the watch and necklace (both with sentimental value) Teri stole from her back.

Another wonderful thing about this book: the romance. Unlike most YA, it's not about Kate's relationship, nor does it include a new love interest. She already has a boy, Mitchell, her former rival, who she argues with a lot less now that they spend quite a bit of time kissing. Also setting this book apart, Mitchell is not the kind of guy most girls would find attractive, but Kate still thinks he's hot, which was so cute and refreshing. Their relationship definitely reads like one that will not last long once they go to college, and it was so much more authentic than all of these soulmates confessing their love on a first date.

While I do think some of the plotting elements were a bit rushed, I loved this book for the characterization, the writing and for completely surprising me. Seriously, there was a twist I did not see coming at all. Anyway, Anderson is brilliant, in case you didn't know that already.

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote: "One girl I recognize. She's half-famous around here: Melinda Something. A Senior tried to rape her in a janitor's closet last year. She fought him off and pressed charges, which was cool. It made the papers when he was found guilty. He didn't go to jail, of course. White, upper-middle-class criminals go to the state college, not the state penitentiary. Then they join fraternities."

Review: Lucky Bunny

Lucky Bunny

Author: Jill Dawson
Pages: 384
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Source: Publisher via TLC Book Tours

Description from Goodreads:
'Crime's a man's business. So they say. Who was that small figure then, slender enough to trot along the moonlit track, swift and low, virtually invisible? Who was it that covered the green signal with a glove to stop the train, while the two others took care of the driver and his mate? Could it have been one Queenie Dove, survivor of the Depression and the Blitz, not to mention any number of scrapes with the law?'

Queenie Dove is a self-proclaimed genius when it comes to thieving and escape. Daring, clever and sexy, she ducked and dived through the streets of London from the East End through Soho to Mayfair, graduating from childhood shop-lifting to more glamorous crimes in the post-war decades. So was she wicked through and through, or more sinned against than sinning? Here she tells a vivacious tale of trickery and adventure, but one with more pain and heartbreak than its heroine cares to admit. Yes, luck often favoured her, but that is only part of the story.

First Sentence: "Queenie's not my real name, of course."

Review:
I went into this novel with such high hopes. Audra of Unabridged Chick loved it, and I typically find that I agree with her on books. Unfortunately, my experience of this one was quite different, partly, I think, because of my prior reading history and because of the way the book was billed. For me, this book was slow and torturous, the characters utterly loathsome.

Your enjoyment of this book will likely hinge on how you feel about Queenie Dove. If you find her clever, cool and alluring, then everything will be copacetic. If, like me, you find her obnoxious and really don't care what happens to her, the book will drag on seemingly endlessly. In part, my distaste stemmed from her name, as I read another book with a Queenie at the lead earlier this year: Code Name Verity. That Queenie has so much personality, strength, intelligence and charisma that this one paled in comparison.

My other problem with regards to expectation was that I thought this was a novel about World War II. It's mentioned in the blurb and on the back of the book it's described as "a world war II-era narrative," which may technically be true, but is quite misleading. World War II doesn't matter too much in Queenie's life, though she lives through it. She was evacuated briefly toe the country and survived one tragic bombing, but that's pretty much the extent of it.

Of course, had I read the synopsis more closely, I would have noted what the book is actually about: hoisting, theft, in so much as it is about anything. You see, this book doesn't have a plot. AT ALL. I have liked plotless books in the past, because if the writing and ideas and characters are marvelous than I don't need a plot to pull me through to the end of the book. Without it in this instance, it was a struggle to get to the last page. I had similar difficulties with David Copperfield, another fictional biography. Perhaps that subset of fiction is not for me.

I will say that the book improved when Queenie got older. The first 150 pages or so, though, were so entirely boring to me. A large portion of the book is devoted to Queenie's tragic childhood, I guess to promote sympathy in me and make me care about her. Well, that didn't work. Yes, her life sucked (gambler dad, insane mother, etc.), but I still found Queenie off-putting.

Precisely why I disliked Queenie so much, aside from expecting her to be like that other literary Queenie, is a bit hard to place my finger on. I suspect that lies in her narrative style. The book is written in a style that simply didn't work for me, filled with odd slang and long sentences. I read a little selection of it to my parents, who found it pompous and said it sounded like she was 'trying too hard.' The cadence of the sentences just didn't come off particularly naturally. With a really good narrator, though, I imagine this could be a marvelous audiobook.

As much as there was one, the main conflict of the book regarded domestic abuse. Like her mother before her, Queenie settles down with a man who beats her. He first hits her in public and not just once, yet she stays. In the narrative, she considers how much other people blame the abused woman for allowing the abuse, for staying; she calls this victim blaming. She has a point, of course, but I still feel wholeheartedly that she should have kicked him to the curb the first time he slapped her.

Undoubtedly this book will work for others and I urge you to check out Audra's review, which I linked to up above, for another viewpoint. The whole book just rubbed me the wrong way.

Rating: 2/5

Favorite Quote: "I've never been one of those women who looks at herself in the mirror and takes everything apart, critical, you know. What a waste of time that attitude is! Young girls today make me sorry for them, always dissecting their own bodies, like they're one of those maps of a cow in a butchers' shop. Me, I take my lead from Gloria. I look in the mirror, slap my lovely fat behind and say to myself: yep, Queenie, looking good!"