Review: This Song Will Save Your Life

This Song Will Save Your Life

Author: Leila Sales
Pages: 288
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Publication Date: September 17, 2013
Read: September 11-12, 2013
Source: ARC from publisher

Description from Goodreads:
Making friends has never been Elise Dembowski’s strong suit. All throughout her life, she’s been the butt of every joke and the outsider in every conversation. When a final attempt at popularity fails, Elise nearly gives up. Then she stumbles upon a warehouse party where she meets Vicky, a girl in a band who accepts her; Char, a cute, yet mysterious disc jockey; Pippa, a carefree spirit from England; and most importantly, a love for DJing.

Told in a refreshingly genuine and laugh-out-loud funny voice, THIS SONG WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE is an exuberant novel about identity, friendship, and the power of music to bring people together.

First Sentence: "You think it's so easy to change yourself."

Review:

Just the other day on Twitter, I mentioned the fact that I couldn't really think of any YA heroines whose high school experience in any way recalled my own, and along comes This Song Will Save Your Life. For this reason, This Song was a really personal read for me, one that I found immensely moving, comforting, and beautiful. As a teenager, I wish Leila Sales' book had already been out, because it would have immensely helped and comforted my teenage self.

In the opening chapter of This Song Will Save Your Life, the reader meets Elise Dembowski, an incredibly unhappy but brilliant girl. Elise does not struggle academically and has a loving family; her divorced parents have worked out a great system, and do the best they can for her. However, Elise has never fit in with the other kids at school, and she's sick of being friendless and lonely. Being a girl who generally can accomplish anything she sets her mind to, she spends the whole summer learning how to be cool and just like the other kids. However, the first day of sophomore year does not go as planned and Elise decides to skip the second half of the day and commit suicide, all hope lost. And, I promise, this really is all in the first chapter.

Now, this may seem melodramatic to you, but all of this resonated with me so incredibly strongly. I see so much of myself in Elise Dembowski: her bitterness and desperation, her thoughts that maybe it won't be better and that it would be best to end it all. In my case, I never seriously contemplated suicide, but I did think about it, imagining everyone fraught with guilt and sadness that they never appreciated me in life. Like Elise, I really didn't have friends and could not understand why everyone was either antagonistic to me or completely ignored me. In her, I see what I also later learned about myself: the fact that part of the reason people avoided me was my own attitude, one I hardly realized I had. Though I was not actively bullied like Elise (at least in high school), everything she felt and experienced was so close to my own life in that period.

From there, Elise's experience no longer mirrors my own, but continues to be emotionally resonant and touching. This Song Will Save Your Life really is a story of a girl finding herself and discovering her passions. She's learning to accept who she is and how much happier life is when you stop judging yourself by the rules of society, and do and be what makes you happy. Accepting society's definition of yourself is so easy to do; learning to reject this is a crucial life lesson. I myself learned that in college and I have been so much more satisfied with life since, because I could finally quit chasing after things I don't actually want just because society says I should want them.

Unlike so much YA fiction, This Song Will Save Your Life focuses much more on family and friendship than on romance. I love Elise's family so much. Sales depicts a healthy example of both divorce and remarriage. Both her single father and her mother, remarried with two more children, love her and take good care of her. Elise's family situation is healthy, and, even when Elise misbehaves, they support her and really do encourage her in her pursuits. Even Elise's little siblings are adorable, and her relations with her younger sister Alex broke my heart.

With regards to friendship, Sales presents a realistic portrayal of high school dynamics. There's the stereotypical mean girl and brutish jocks, as well as the outcasts. However, Sales goes beyond the stereotypes and shows the ways that people can surprise you if you let them. Again, Elise's journey highlights the way that she pushes people away without realizing she's doing so, all the time desperately wishing for someone to like her.

Finally, the romance, which me being the person I am, I can't not talk about. Elise differs so greatly from the average YA heroine. There's not an instaloving bone in her body. She clearly distinguishes between lust and love. When a guy does something questionable, she will call him on it, being the forthright person she is. For once, I understand the motivations and logic of a YA heroine in her reactions with guys. All I'll say is that the romance was handled perfectly, precisely the way I hoped, and entirely in an atypical way for young adult novels.

This Song Will Save Your Life is a book that I could see saving lives. I sincerely hope that young people who are friendless and desperate, who do not understand why no one likes them, find this book and know that they're not alone. It will get better, maybe not as soon as it did for Elise, but, out there in the world, there are kindred spirits and, if you hold on, you'll find them.

Rating: 5/5

Favorite Quote: "Sometimes people think they know you. They know a few facts about you, and they piece you together in a way that makes sense to them. And if you don't know yourself very well, you might even believe that they are right. But the truth is, that isn't you. That isn't you at all."

Don't Take My Word for It:
Birth of a New Witch's word: "took far too long for a book just 288 pages long" - 2.5 stars
The Social Potato's word: "painful (in a good way)" - 4 stars
Lili's Reflections' word: "It took me to the highest of highs and the lowest of lows." - 5 stars

Review: The (Totally Not) Guaranteed Guide to Popularity, Prettiness & Perfection

The (Totally Not) Guaranteed Guide to Popularity, Prettiness & Perfection
Jessica Darling's It List, Book 1

Author: Megan McCafferty
Pages: 240
Publisher: Poppy
Publication Date: September 3, 2013
Read: August 25, 2013
Source: ARC from BEA

Description from Goodreads:
Move over, Dork Diaries! Jessica Darling, star of Megan McCafferty's bestselling Jessica Darling series for adults, is back in a hilarious new series perfect for tween (10 to 14) girls.

I hadn't even gotten to homeroom yet and I'd already discovered five hard truths about junior high:

1. My best friend had turned pretty.
2. She didn't know it yet.
3. It wouldn't be long before she did.
4. That knowledge would change everything between us.
5. And there wasn't a thing I could do about it.

It's the first day of seventh grade. Is Jessica Darling doomed for dorkdom?

New York Times bestselling author Megan McCafferty's hilarious series opener will have you laughing, cringing, and cheering for Jessica Darling as she learns that being herself beats being popular, pretty & perfect any day.

First Sentence: "What happens when EVERYTHING you know about ANYTHING is ALL WRONG?"

Review:

As a huge fan of the original Jessica Darling series, or, at least, as huge of a fan as one can be while intentionally deciding not to finish said series, I was super curious about Megan McCafferty's prequel. I mean, more Jessica Darling is pretty much always acceptable, except for the fact that I had my reasons in stopping after two books, but that's an issue from another time. Anyway, now we can see Jessica tackle junior high, and McCafferty brings Jessica's trademark wit, observational skills and honesty to middle school.

Middle school Jessica does have a lot in common with high school Jessica, which is probably not all that surprising given that they are the same person separated by some timey-wimey stuff known as life. McCafferty does a good job making the narration similar but a bit different than that of the original series. This Jessica does come across a good deal younger. She's not got as impressive of a vocabulary, though she's starting to build it because she's discovered that her English teacher will really raise her essay grades for each thesaurus phrase substituted for a normal term. Plus, middle school Jessica is a lot more naive and less confident than high school Jessica.

By high school, Jessica Darling has pretty much comes to terms with her role in the social hierarchy and that she will never be the most popular girl in school. In middle school, Jessica's still trying to be what she's not. The series title, Jessica Darling's It List, is actually a bit misleading. In fact, this is Bethany's It List. Jessica's much older sister Bethany, in a rare instance of sisterly feeling, has decided to help Jessica avoid the curse of dorkdom by passing down the patented method for achieving popularity. Unsurprisingly, the It List does not work so well for Jessica.

See, Jessica, intelligent though she is, does not excel at pretending to be something she is not. Her half-hearted attempts end up fooling no one. Jessica's a bit of a dork and a teacher's pet, and there's no changing that. If she doesn't care about boys, she won't pretend to and she has trouble caring about her friends' woes over such things either. In fact, her biggest seventh grade fails occur when she stops being Jessica, like when she signs up for CHEER TEAM!!!, which she does not have the spirit for.

Megan McCafferty totally captures all the awkwardness of middle school. The romantic awkwardness, like how the boys chant at Bridget on the bus, like hooting like a pack of monkeys is really endearing. Or how Aleck (aka young Marcus Flutie) flirts with a "wear her down" annoyance tactic. The friendship awkwardness, which is pretty much encapsulated by Bridget becoming gorgeous just in time for seventh grade, leaving Jessica to be a normal. The middle school years especially are a time of transition where friendships come and go, and many BFFs are actually trying to climb on top of one another up the social ladder. Then there's the budding friendship between Hope and Jessica, who any readers of the original series know will be besties eventually, bonded by their judgment of everyone else's stupidity and ridiculous social rituals.

The (Totally Not) Guaranteed Guide to Popularity, Prettiness & Perfection is the middle school version of Mean Girls, I swear. I can even cast them for you. Bridget would be the obvious choice for Regina George since she's the prettiest and most popular seventh grader, but she's actually more of a Karen Smith, because she doesn't really know what's going on a lot of the time and is very easily led. Manda is the Regina. She even makes up slang (mondo) and decides when it's over. Sara, though she wants to be a queen bee, is Gretchen Wieners, a born follower, who does everything Manda says and always will, even though she resents Regina's treatment of her. Jessica's the Cady and Hope is Janis/Damian, only they could never care enough to make Jessica into the evil popular girl, and Jessica would never want Burke Roy, the Aaron Samuels figure. Also, I'm sure you all didn't need to know all of that, but, whatever, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION.

Though it's been too long for me to say with any assurance how well the occurrences here mesh with those of Sloppy Firsts, The (Totally Not) Guaranteed Guide to Popularity, Prettiness & Perfection does stand very nicely on its own. McCafferty's depiction of middle school cliques, awkwardness and romance shines with her trademark humor.

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote: "I really hate awkward silences. The only thing I hate even more than awkward silences is my unstoppable urge to fill them."

Review: Second Helpings

Second Helpings
Jessica Darling, Book 2

Author: Megan McCafferty
Pages: 357
Publisher: Broadway
Source: Library

Description from Goodreads:
“Knowing that I’ve just done something that will take decades off my parents’ lives with worry, you’ll excuse me for not getting into the fa-la-la-la-la Yuletide spirit this year. . . . The only difference between Christmas 2001 and Christmas 2000 is that I don’t have a visit from Hope to look forward to. And Bethany has already packed on some major fetal flab. Oh, and now Gladdie doesn’t need to ask a bizillion questions about my boyfriend, because she’s already gotten the dirt from you know who.”

Jessica Darling is up in arms again in this much-anticipated, hilarious sequel to Sloppy Firsts. This time, the hyperobservant, angst-ridden teenager is going through the social and emotional ordeal of her senior year at Pineville High. Not only does the mysterious and oh-so-compelling Marcus Flutie continue to distract Jessica, but her best friend, Hope, still lives in another state, and she can’t seem to escape the clutches of the Clueless Crew, her annoying so-called friends. To top it off, Jessica’s parents won’t get off her butt about choosing a college, and her sister Bethany’s pregnancy is causing a big stir in the Darling household.

With keen intelligence, sardonic wit, and ingenious comedic timing, Megan McCafferty again re-creates the tumultuous world of today’s fast-moving and sophisticated teens. Fans of Sloppy Firsts will be reunited with their favorite characters and also introduced to the fresh new faces that have entered Jess’s life, including the hot creative writing teacher at her summer college prep program and her feisty, tell-it-like-it-is grandmother Gladdie. But most of all, readers will finally have the answers to all of their burgeoning questions, and then some: Will Jessica crack under the pressure of senioritis? Will her unresolved feelings for Marcus wreak havoc on her love life? Will Hope ever come back to Pineville? Fall in love with saucy, irreverent Jessica all over again in this wonderful sequel to a book that critics and readers alike hailed as the best high school novel in years.

Prior Books in Series:
1: Sloppy Firsts (Review|Goodreads)

First Sentence: "Hope, by the time you get this, I will already be attending the Summer Pre-College Enrichment Curriculum in Artistic Learning."

Review:

I will do my best to refrain my flailing and fangirling in this review, but it's going to be really difficult, because this series gives me so many feels. SO. MANY. FEELS. Seriously, if you like contemporaries at all and are not easily offended, then you really need to read the Jessica Darling series posthaste. Second Helpings follows Jessica through her senior year of high school, and had me even more on the edge of my seat than the first one.

As I mentioned in my review for Sloppy Firsts, I love Jessica. She is so well-characterized that I feel like I know her up and down. I can tell you her strengths, her weaknesses, and how she fails to see herself properly, as most people do in high school. Jessica grows up a lot in this book, learning to go for what she really wants and to see herself more objectively. In Sloppy Firsts, Jessica did a lot of things to please others, but now she's focused on herself.

One thing (out of many) that I love about this series is that it's so obvious that Jessica doesn't know what she wants. Though, from my perspective, I can tell the right choice from the wrong one, I know Jessica so well that I understand when she missteps. She works out her difficulties in her journal, rehashing them over and over again, trying to process her feelings, particularly about boys. Relationships are confusing, and it can be really difficult to tell how you actually feel about someone, especially if they're also your friend. McCafferty shows that all teen relationships don't last forever, and that romance isn't easy or found at first sight.

In my previous review, I mentioned that I was still a bit unsure about Marcus Flutie. Let the record show that I am no longer unsure. Before I got too far into Second Helpings, I was shipping Jessica and Marcus something fierce. Basically, in book one, he didn't really overcome his sketchy past enough to be someone I could really endorse as a hero, but, by now, he's made good, now using his talents for good rather than substance abuse. He and Jessica have such a strong mental connection, and chemistry like whoa. Also, it's hilarious how, for two forthright, honest people, they have a huge amount of trouble admitting their feelings for one another.

Though I've decided not to rate down for this because I just loved this book so much, this edition had a surprising number of typos. Also, that ending was mean. Just mean. I am very afraid that I will not like the next book, mostly because I have no idea what will happen and I have nerves just thinking about all the bad, but realistic, decisions I will need to watch Jessica make. MAKE GOOD CHOICES, JESSICA.

To reiterate, you should probably be reading this series. Do it. So you can flail with me. Please?

Rating: 5/5

Favorite Quote: "I was going to say how this is easy for him to believe because he is a romantic.  was going to point out how I am a realist. Actually, how I am a defensive pessimist. I always assume the worst, so if the reality is even a wee bit better than my disaster scenario, it's a cause for celebration."

Review: Paper Valentine

Paper Valentine

Author: Brenna Yovanoff
Pages: 368
Publisher: Razorbill
Publication Date: January 8, 2013
Source: Publisher for review

Description from Goodreads:
The city of Ludlow is gripped by the hottest July on record. The asphalt is melting, the birds are dying, petty crime is on the rise, and someone in Hannah Wagnor’s peaceful suburban community is killing girls.

For Hannah, the summer is a complicated one. Her best friend Lillian died six months ago, and Hannah just wants her life to go back to normal. But how can things be normal when Lillian’s ghost is haunting her bedroom, pushing her to investigate the mysterious string of murders? Hannah’s just trying to understand why her friend self-destructed, and where she fits now that Lillian isn’t there to save her a place among the social elite. And she must stop thinking about Finny Boone, the big, enigmatic delinquent whose main hobbies seem to include petty larceny and surprising acts of kindness.

With the entire city in a panic, Hannah soon finds herself drawn into a world of ghost girls and horrifying secrets. She realizes that only by confronting the Valentine Killer will she be able move on with her life—and it’s up to her to put together the pieces before he strikes again.

Paper Valentine is a hauntingly poetic tale of love and death by the New York Times bestselling author of The Replacement and The Space Between.

First Sentence: "My sister, Ariel, is sprawled upside down on the couch, pointing with the TV remote."

Review:
When I went to ALA in 2010, one of the numerous ARCs I picked up and took home, in a haze of disbelief that people would want to give me free books just because I was in training to be a librarian, was Yovanoff's debut novel The Replacement. The Penguin publicist I spoke to hyped it big time, I think because it was part of their Breathless Reads collection. Something I've learned about myself since is that I don't tend to be a huge fan of the most-hyped books put into those collections, though they do tend to do very well, they just are not my thing. Such was the case with The Replacement, which showed promise in the gothic tone and writing, but mostly fell flat. When I was sent a review copy of Paper Valentine, I really did not get that excited, but I did resolve to give Yovanoff another try, and I am so glad that I did, because she has grown a lot as a writer since her debut novel.

Ever since Lillian's death from anorexia, Hannah has been haunted by her best friend. Not by the memory of Lillian, no, but by her ghost. Lillian follows her around, giving her advice or criticizing her behavior, or both at the same time. Only Hannah can see Lillian, and, after six months of this, Hannah's pretty resigned to it, even though it can be an inconvenience and having ghost Lillian around isn't the same as having the real Lillian there.

Paper Valentine follows a lot of different plot lines, weaving them together expertly into a powerful novel. The first arc deals with friendship, with peer pressure, and with self-acceptance. Hannah and Lillian were incredibly close, best friends forever. They were also the most popular girls in school, making their own style and setting the trends. With Lillian gone, stuck with the rest of their group, now dominated by Angelie, Hannah's coming to realize that, much as she loved her, Lillian wasn't a very nice person all the time and that she could be a bad influence on Hannah. Watching Hannah come into her own as a person, both accepting the parts of herself wholly unlike Hannah and incorporating a bit of Hannah's advice made me so glad for her. Hannah needed a bit of Lillian's gumption, enough that she could tell off Angelie for being horrible and rude, but also needed to be Hannah-enough to not get too hung up on being popular.

Family, though a more minor thread certainly, still plays a crucial role in Paper Valentine. The parents are mostly absent, though the mother does ground Hannah for sneaking out and insist on meeting a boy before Hannah can go out with him. The relationship being dissected here is that of the two sisters, Hannah and Ariel. Though Ariel annoys her, understandably so, the two clearly have so much love for one another. Hannah can see how much Ariel tries to protect her and gets what Hannah is going through more than their mother and step-father do. I found their relationship touching, and loved that there was much more focus upon it than usual.

The book gets much creepier than just Lillian's ghost, however. Girls are being murdered, left in the park, heads bashed in, surrounded by the trappings of childhood, toys and candy. Next to each body is a paper heart. Needless to say Hannah will become wrapped up in the murders. Yovanoff does suspense and eerie settings very well, and there were some scenes that straight up freaked me out. What made Paper Valentine special, though, was how Hannah reacts when she finds herself in danger: she uses her brain and does not just collapse into a weeping heap waiting to be rescued. Unlike some heroines, she doesn't spend her doom-filled moments thinking of how much she loves some boy, but of ways to escape and of her sister and her dead best friend. As with when she fought back against bossy Angelie, Hannah held her own and refused to be cowed, and that just made me respect her and root for her so much.

Admittedly, I was quite skeptical of the romance at first, because I feared it was going straight down stereotype highway. See, Hannah has a secret crush on one of the bad boys. When we first see him, he's wearing a wife beater, even. He dyes his hair white-blonde with Clorox, has tattoos, and a missing pinkie. Early on, he shoplifts. I mean, not really swoon material. He never really does become the kind of guy I would swoon over, but Yovanoff makes him work, and I totally ended up shipping Hannah and Finny, who made me think a bit of Hanna and Caleb from Pretty Little Liars. Also, their romance reminded me a bit of Pushing the Limits too, only with less focus on romance, no pet names, and a murder mystery.

Yovanoff gives the reader a little bit of everything, and, after my lackluster first experience, I now plan to read The Space Between, her second novel, as well as whatever she has coming next. What a wonderful lesson in the importance of not writing an author off based on one book, especially a debut, because they have so much room to grow.

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote: "'It doesn't matter what you say,' she whispers. The words are icy, but her voice sounds almost sad, like she knows that whatever happens next is going to hurt. 'They're not going to believe you. No one ever believes teenage girls about things like whether or not the guy they're running around with is a killer. No one ever treats us like we know what we're talking about.'"

Photograph - The Verve

Never Enough

Author: Denise Jaden
Pages: 372
ARC Acquired from: Simon Pulse in exchange for an honest review

Description from Goodreads:
From the author of Losing Faith, a novel about two sisters and the eating disorder that threatens to destroy their family.

Loann’s always wanted to be popular and pretty like her sister, Claire. So when Claire’s ex-boyfriend starts flirting with her, Loann is willing to do whatever it takes to feel special… even if that means betraying her sister.

But as Loann slips inside Claire’s world, she discovers that everything is not as it seems. Claire’s quest for perfection is all-consuming, and comes at a dangerous price. As Claire increasingly withdraws from friends and family, Loann struggles to understand her and make amends. Can she heal their relationship —and her sister—before it’s too late?

First Sentence: "They say you shouldn't try to be someone you're not."

Review:
Going into this, I had completely forgotten what it was about, and I've never read Jaden's first book, Losing Faith, so I went into Never Enough blind. I love being able to do that, and reading this book was an amazing experience. I really hope I can do the novel justice with this review, and apologize in advance in case I don't, since I'm exhausted and filled with pre-BEA jitters.

Never Enough captured me and held me rapt all the way through. The book also surprised me constantly. I wouldn't really call anything that happened a twist so much as people acting in believably unpredictable ways. Rarely have been so unsure of what was going to happen in a book. There was really only one plot point that I saw coming. Not being able to predict the ending is so rare, and Never Enough was all the more meaningful and profound for the masterful storytelling.

Loann, the main character, is a wonderful heroine. She's an average teen: she doesn't look like a model (in fact, she describes herself as looking like a potato), she is not popular, and she has middling to low grades. At first, the story is about her and her troubles with her friends. For a while, she is friendless, and I empathized with her so much. Loann lives her life in the shadow of her older sister (a senior to her junior), who she thinks has the perfect life. Claire is pretty, popular and dating Josh, the guy Loann has had a crush on for ages, before Claire even met him.

As the book moves on, the book tackles more and more serious issues, although the primary one is eating disorders. Lovely Claire is wasting away, physically and mentally. Her life is constructed around lies that keep others from noticing that she's not eating. Having pretty much no food intake, she has no energy and simply drifts through life unable to figure out what to do, even though she's capable of so much. Seen through Loann's eyes, Claire's condition is unbelievably heart-wrenching, as she watches the sister she's always envied disappear. I loved how Claire's gradual change was captured in the state of her hair, slowly losing it's shininess.

These two sisters form a sort of classic pattern, the two people who secretly envy one another, unaware of what each has to offer. They both suffer from such incredibly low self-esteem, and it was unclear precisely where this came from. Jaden does not point to a particular root cause, instead showing their lives, allowing the reader to draw conclusions. She is not at all heavy-handed or preachy.

Two other things I need to talk about before I can wrap up this review are photography and Marcus. Loann is rescued from her friendless, useless (in her eyes) life by both of those. For her birthday, she receives a camera, a fancy one. She studies and learns how to use it, and discovers a natural talent for photography. The descriptions of Loann taking pictures are so loving and totally convey her passion for the art.

Marcus is a loner who she slowly befriends. There friendship has such a slow, but real, progression. Neither one is especially social or trusting by nature, so it takes some time for them to plant roots, but their friendship is so powerful once they do. Marcus is a wonderful character. He's a great guy, dependable, hard-working, and clever. However, he also feels like a real person with his strange interests, and his difficulty letting people in. Like Loann, he stands out amongst the usual YA characters.

Jaden handles seriously dark issues honestly and beautifully. This is a must read for fans of Laurie Halse Anderson. If you like your books painfully honest, do yourself a big favor and procure a copy of Never Enough. You won't be sorry.

Rating: 5/5

Favorite Quote: "I fiddled with the buttons on my jacket, hoping the question would disappear. But it didn't. It just hung there, unavoidably stuck in midair between us like the Goodyear Blimp."

"And if you want beautiful, pitiful, have me in a picture"

Yesterday's Child - Patti Scialfa

The Girl in the Park

Author: Mariah Fredericks
Pages: 215
ARC Acquired from: Random House via NetGalley

Description from Goodreads:
When Wendy Geller's body is found in Central Park after the night of a rager, newspaper headlines scream,"Death in the Park: Party Girl Found Strangled." But shy Rain, once Wendy's best friend, knows there was more to Wendy than just "party girl." As she struggles to separate the friend she knew from the tangle of gossip and headlines, Rain becomes determined to discover the truth about the murder. Written in a voice at once immediate, riveting, and utterly convincing, Mariah Frederick's mystery brilliantly exposes the cracks in this exclusive New York City world and the teenagers that move within it.

First Sentence: "In my dream, everyone talks except me."

Review:
Main character Rain tries to stay quiet and avoid notice. She has a cleft palate that still affects her speech patterns, despite a lot of speech therapy. This definitely makes her stand out among the YA books I've read, reminding me most of Wonder by R. J. Palacio, which is amazing by the way. Both main characters are freaks because of deformities they were born with, but both are also really great people. From reading Auggie's viewpoint in Wonder and Rain's in The Girl in the Park, it's so obvious how smart they are and how much they have to offer.

Rain's a really nice person. She's the kind of girl who will help someone out just because they're in pain. Even if that person is the most popular girl in school and has never been kind to her, Rain will listen to her and comfort her when she's down, because that's what she does. This is how she befriends Wendy, a transfer student. Watching Wendy, Rain sees someone who wants so desperately to be popular that she stands no chance of achieving her goal. Rain offers her advice and tries to be friends, even though they are completely different.

One thing that did bother me was something that just was not believable, namely that the school sent out a message saying that students who did not feel up to coming the day after Wendy's death would not be marked absent. No real school would do this. Why? Because EVERY SINGLE STUDENT would suddenly feel the strange need to mourn for Wendy, whether they knew her or not, liked her or not. What schools do, and I have experienced this, is still have the exact same attendance policy, but make the guidance counselors extra available for people to talk to if they're sad. Seriously, if a school is going to make attendance optional that day, they might as well just close altogether, because that's how many kids would show up. Does this matter at all with regards to the plot? No.

Death is really awkward, especially with the advent of all of this web interconnectivity. The Girl in the Park does a pretty good job of highlighting this fact, although I don't imagine that's something all readers are going to take away from it. Wendy wasn't even very well-liked, but, in death, suddenly she's missed and fascinating and everyone's sad, even though many of them probably wished she would leave the school, if not the living world. Kids go to right on her facebook wall about their condolences and how awesome she was, though they may never have thought of it and though Wendy cannot actually read these messages. Whenever someone I know dies, which thankfully is not often, this same sort of furor erupts. There's this desire to be closest to the tragedy, to garner attention because of it, which I'm seriously creeped out by and do not approve of. Was grief always so public?

The Girl in the Park reminds me a lot of Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak, although the issues they are dealing with are not exactly the same. They do, however, share themes of popularity and being afraid to speak up. Rain's distance from others, although certainly not as extreme, is also a commonality between the two. I recommend this book to readers who enjoy the depressingly honest YA books by authors like Anderson and Bick.

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote: " 'Just for once, I want someone to want me more than anybody else. To put me first.' "

"So let’s raise the glass
to a symphony of miles
and say our last farewell
to yesterday’s child"

The Bad Beginning - Thomas Newman (from Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events)

Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things
Courtney Crumrin, Volume 1

Author: Ted Naifeh
Pages: 128
Publisher: Oni Press via NetGalley

Description from Goodreads:
Presenting the initial Courtney Crumrin miniseries in a new digest-sized format. Courtney's parents have dragged her out to a high-to-do suburb to live with her creepy Great Uncle Aloysius in his spooky old house. She's not only the new kid in school, but she also discovers strange things lurking under her bed.

First Sentence: "'Careful now.'"

Review:
The Courtney Crumrin series reminds me a lot of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. Of course, Courtney's an only child and her parents are still alive, only they're completely useless, which is why they move in with the creepy as hell old uncle. Another difference, too, is that the uncle, so far at least, does not really appear to be evil. Everyone else in the series sure does though. Oh yeah, and there are monsters, but some of them are nice.

You may be thinking 'hey! that really doesn't sound too much like the Lemony Snicket books,' which would be somewhat justified based on that description. However, there's something about the tone and even the illustrations that called it to mind constantly. From the creepy tower Uncle Aloysius lives in to the dark humor, I would definitely recommend this to fans of that series.

While I was definitely entertained by the story, I wasn't a fan of the artwork. Well, I mean, the buildings and stuff were fine, but the people. They just were not working for me. They all look like something out of a dream, perhaps one inspired by The Scream. Here's a sample image, just so you know what's I'm talking about.

Here's what bothers me about this. Let's start with Courtney, the girl in the middle, who's probably the most normal looking character in the series.  She actually doesn't inspire nightmares and is, in some scenes, almost cute looking, in a moppet sort of way. However, she doesn't have a nose, not just in this picture, but in any of them. Where did it go? Then on the left, you have a boy (I can only tell the gender by the uniform), we have a guy with empty, soulless eyes. Many of the characters have eyes like that, like she attends a school of zombies or brainwashed kids. On the right is a guy, who is supposed to be Mr. Hottie-Face, and he does somewhat resemble Spike from Buffy, but he also looks like an alien or a snake. I mean, his ears...they are pointy, even more so in some other images. I expect that if he opened his mouth, he would have sharp teeth with which he will chomp on your soul, which is probably what happened to the kid on the left.

All of that said, the art totally fits the story, since it does have a vague nightmarish quality to it, and real monsters do abound. However, it just seems odd that the monsters are so much less intimidating than the humans, which may in fact be the point. Actually, that's a message I can get behind, since so many people suck.

This was fun in a very creepy way. This appeals to the kind of people amused by children getting eaten or babies being replaced with a changeling. If you like Neil Gaiman's work for children, especially Coraline, you may want to give Courtney Crumrin a try. I think I'll be checking out volume two. Who knows, we might even find out what monster took Courtney's nose!

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote: "Courtney didn't like babies at the best of times. As far as she was concerned, anything that existed solely to emit drool, vomit, ghastly odors and loud, annoying screams was more trouble than it was worth."

There's Always Someone Cooler Than You - Ben Folds

The New Republic
Author: Lionel Shriver
Pages: 400
ARC Acquired from: HarperCollins via NetGalley

Description from NetGalley:
Fat and ostracized as a kid, Edgar Kellogg has always yearned to be popular. When he’s offered the post of foreign correspondent in a Portuguese backwater that has sprouted a homegrown terrorist movement, Edgar recognizes the disappeared larger-than-life reporter he’s been sent to replace, Barrington Saddler, as exactly the outsize character he longs to emulate. Infuriatingly, all his fellow journalists cannot stop talking about the beloved “Bear,” who is no longer lighting up their work lives.

Yet all is not as it appears. Os Soldados Ousados de Barba—“The Daring Soldiers of Barba”—have been blowing up the rest of the world for years in order to win independence for a province so dismal, backward, and windblown that you couldn’t give the rat hole away. So why, with Barrington vanished, do terrorist incidents claimed by the “SOB” suddenly dry up?

A droll, playful novel set in an alternative past on a fictional European peninsula, The New Republic is a fast-paced, plot-driven thriller. Addressing weighty issues like terrorism with a deft, tongue-in-cheek touch, Shriver presses the more intimate question: What makes charismatic people so magnetic, while the rest of us inspire a shrug? What’s their secret? And in the end, who has the better life—the admired, or the admirer?

First Sentence: "Whisking into his apartment house on West Eighty-Ninth Street, Edgar Kellogg skulked, eager to avoid eye contact with a doorman, who at least got a regular paycheck."

Review:
Lionel Shriver's The Post-Birthday World is a very clever book. I read it a couple of years ago, and, although there were things I did not like about it, the good things definitely outweighed the bad. After I read that one, Shriver got put on my list of authors to watch, which is why I requested this one, despite the disgusting cover (note: I hate smoking).

Immediately, I was once again impressed by Shriver's incredibly writing talent. I love the way she writes; there were so many stellar quotes. The writing is definitely the best part of this book. Edgar I never really attached to as a character, as he's like me but only in the worst ways (The Judgment Express is currently leaving the station).

I also really appreciated her coverage of the theme of popularity. Certainly, I have known some of those people that others just gravitate to and desperately want to be best friends with. Obviously, this gets covered a lot in YA books, but isn't something that's done too much in books for adults, even though jealousy and cliques do not exactly go away, even if the effect is often minimized just by the fact that you're not generally stuck together in big groups like in high school/college.

Unfortunately, the second half of the novel really dragged for me, as the focus switched more to satire and terrorism. Although I do think Shriver has done something very clever, it wasn't especially for me. The more politically-inclined will likely really enjoy what Shriver has done here. If politics aren't your thing, I would recommend starting with one of Shriver's other novels.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote: "At only ten a.m., Edgar found himself already eyeing the Doritos on the counter. One thing he hadn't anticipated about the 'home office' was Snack Syndrome; lately his mental energies divided evenly between his new calling (worrying about money, which substituted neatly for earning it) and not stuffing his face."

"I know that's hard to believe
But there are people you meet
They're into something that is too big to be
Expressed
Through their clothes
And they'll put up with all the poses you throw
And you won't
Even know"

Try Again - Keane

Before I Fall

Author: Lauren Oliver
Pages: 470
Publisher: Harper

Description from Goodreads:
What if you only had one day to live? What would you do? Who would you kiss? And how far would you go to save your own life?

Samantha Kingston has it all: looks, popularity, the perfect boyfriend. Friday, February 12, should be just another day in her charmed life. Instead, it turns out to be her last.

The catch: Samantha still wakes up the next morning. Living the last day of her life seven times during one miraculous week, she will untangle the mystery surrounding her death--and discover the true value of everything she is in danger of losing.

First Sentence: "They say that just before you die your whole life flashes before your eyes, but that's not how it happened for me."

Review:
Obviously, I've heard a lot about this, long before I opened it. The concept sounded fascinating and I enjoyed Delirium, so I was definitely super excited to read this one. Anyway, the opening section totally caught my attention with the cleverness of the writing and the strength of the voice. Even though I could immediately tell that I would kind of hate the main character, I was hooked.

Seriously, I spent the first half of the book wanting to do nothing so much as punch Sam and her friends in their made-up faces. Ugh. It was awful. Basically, most of this book reminded me just how much I hated high school. I'm so glad I'm through with that part of my life, and I would not go through it again, even if I could take all the knowledge I have now with me. People are so cruel and all of the emphasis put on popularity, on being this cookie cutter person who dates the right people and goes to the right parties; it's all bullshit.

What's important to know, though, is that even during the many, many pages where I wanted to punch pretty much everyone in the face, I still really enjoyed reading Before I Fall. The writing is completely captivating. Lauren Oliver very much captures Sam's voice, and manages to let Sam's character grow at a very natural pace.

Obviously, this plot is like Groundhog Day mashed up with Mean Girls. Much like the former film manages not to be boring, even though he's living the same day over and over again, Oliver's book never dragged. Even thought the events that transpired as Sam lived the same date over and over again remained pretty consistent, the smallest changes made huge differences or no difference at all. I really loved the emphasis placed on how much and how little can change in just a single day. Really makes a girl think about carpe-ing that diem.

My very favorite part of the novel, other than the really awesome concept and the writing, is Kent. He is just the cutest, so nerdy and himself. Were he not so brave, he could pretend and be as popular as anyone, but instead he embraces his weirdness, and I just love that about him. I wish I'd had a guy like him in high school, but I also know that I would have been too afraid of venturing out of the mainstream that I totally wasn't in anyway to go for it. That's the message I want to leave this post with: life's too short to pass up an amazing, cute, nerdy guy...now I just have to find one (that's not fictional).

As for the ending, I'm not entirely sure what to make of it just now. Honestly, I'm not sure what happened entirely, but I definitely want to bawl my eyes out (figuratively, because literally would be really gross).

Favorite Quote: "Chance. Stupid, dumb, blind chance. Just a part of the strange mechanism of the world, with its fits and coughs and starts and random collisions."

Rating: 4.5/5

"Baby I'll try again, try again
Baby I die every night, every time

What I was isn't what I am
I'd change back but I don't know if I can"

Ghost - Howie Day

New Girl

Author: Paige Harbison
Pages: 314
ARC Acquired from: HarlequinTEEN via NetGalley

Brief Summary:
She didn't want to be the New Girl during her senior year of high school, but she could not turn her parents down. In middle school, when she was going through her Harry Potter phase, she begged to go to a boarding school, and picked out and applied to Manderley Academy in New Hampshire. Her devastation knew no bounds when she didn't get in, but she quickly got over it, made friends and came to love her public school in St. Augustine, Florida. Much to her surprise, her parents reveal that they have been secretly applying for her ever since and she has now gotten in. She hopes to make the best of it, but soon discovers that she is the replacement for a missing student, Becca, and that no one wants the New Girl, because they were all fascinated by Becca.

Review:
So freaking cool! And not just because it was set in New Hampshire...because it's cold there. Punned! Anyway, with this book, I pronounce myself a Paige Harbison fan. Last year, I read her debut Here Lies Bridget and I liked it, but it wasn't too much out of the ordinary. This one, though, just blew me away.

Why? Well, I've always had a weakness for books based on other books. New Girl is based on Daphne DuMaurier's Rebecca, which I have not yet read. Unfortunately, I had to look up a summary on Wikipedia, because I did not want to miss any references. Hopefully, I will forget about some of the plot twists before I try to read the book.

Anywho, based on my extensive knowledge of Rebecca (aka Wikipedia article), Harbison did a really amazing job modernizing this. The transitions she made in some of the characters, like turning Mrs. Danvers into Dana, Becca's roommate who refuses to let her go, is quite clever, as is the changing of the scene with the dress.

The story is told alternatingly between the New Girl's perspective in first person and Becca's perspective in third person. You might think that sounds clunky, but it really wasn't. This makes the fact that you never learn the New Girl's actual name but are so familiar with Becca's completely natural; I didn't even notice until partway through. Of course, I wanted to punch Becca in the face the whole time, but I really liked New Girl.

For those who like clever teen lit, you'll probably quite enjoy this. It's full of drama and told in an interesting way. I also suspect that people who love Rebecca and don't ordinarily read teen lit will, at the very least, get a kick out of New Girl.

Rating: 4/5

"Lately I've been thinking,
Lately I've been dreaming with you
I'm so resistant to this type of thinking
Oh but now its shining through.
I was alone for the last time
Before my night's vacation with you
Alive from the first
Now I'm denied by the ghost of you"

Popular - Kristen Chenoweth

Populazzi

Author: Elise Allen
Pages: 390
ARC Acquired from: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt via NetGalley

Brief Summary:
Ever since an unfortunate pants-peeing incident in kindergarten, Cara and Claudia have been best friends and social outcasts. They would love to be among the populazzi, the highest social tier in high school, but know that they have no chance of overcoming the social stigma of being a pants-wetter. When Cara's family moves to another Philadelphia suburb, Claudia informs her that this is her chance to ascend the social ladder, using her as-yet unpatented method, aptly known as The Ladder. All Cara has to do is date increasingly high status boys until she reaches the ultimate position of Supreme Populazzi. There's no way this could go wrong, right?

Review:
Likely, you have discerned that there are in fact myriad ways in which this little scheme could go south, and pretty much every single one will in fact occur, except for the difficulty of not being able to find boys. This is one of those books that is just remarkably painful to read, because it is chock full of dramatic irony, perhaps moreso than a horror movie. (I hate horror movies) Pretty much everything Cara does makes me want to shake her really hard, or at least shake the book really hard and yell at it, except that I was reading it on a computer.

Here's the thing. This popularity drama is very immediate when you're a high schooler, but, generally, by the time you're out of college, you're over it and realize how ridiculous it all was. Because of this, I mostly just felt incredibly awkward and sorry for Cara, while also thinking she deserved most of what came to her. In high school, I was probably on a lower tier than the happy hopeless, but I still would never have gone to such lengths. Admittedly, Cara would not have either, had it not been for the persistent urgings of Claudia, who I hated (despite the fact that she regularly quoted Shakespeare, which is awesome).

However, this book was not all bad by any means. I thought the writing was pretty good, and, though I didn't like most of them, she did write stellar and dynamic characters. My favorite, of course, was Archer, although I also felt like shaking him occasionally. My favorite scenes were almost all within the first hundred pages; Archer and Cara have such a realistic flow to their conversation, which makes them completely charming. They also make tons of bad jokes and accidentally say inappropriate things and play ping pong like champs. I wish I could have hung out with someone like Archer in high school!

I recommend Populazzi for those interested in themes of popularity and the expected messages that follow such a topic. While not my main interest by any means, this was definitely a much better read than anticipated. I would definitely be willing to read more from Allen in the future. Let's get some more nerdy characters, like Robert and Archer!

"You're gonna be popular!
I'll teach you the proper poise,
When you talk to boys,
Little ways to flirt and flounce,
ooh!
I'll show you what shoes to wear!
How to fix your hair!
Everthing that really counts to be...

POPULAR!
I'll help you be popular!
You'll hang with the right cohorts,
You'll be good at sports,
Know the slang you've got to know.
So let's start,
'Cause you've got an awfully long way to go!"

Who I Am Hates Who I've Been - Relient K

Here Lies Bridget

Author: Paige Harbison
Pages: 219
ARC Acquired From: Harlequin Teen via NetGalley

Brief Summary:
Bridget Duke is the queen bee of her high school. She has pretty much everything she wants, except for her mother (who died), her boyfriend (who broke up with her) and her father (who's a popular sports announcer and rarely home). Still, she has friends, a nice house, throws great parties and is totally hot and idolized by everyone. Everything starts going downhill though when a new girl arrives at school. The new girl is a genuinely sweet person and everyone likes her better. And of course once one thing goes wrong, other things tend to follow until your whole life is completely ruined and maybe even over.

Review:
The opening section of Here Lies Bridget is definitely an attention grabber. Bridget is driving recklessly, thinking of how everyone might react should she die. Awful and sad those these sentiments are, they are all the more powerful for being something most high schoolers can relate to (although many probably don't act on their macabre fantasies). The second chapter goes back to explain what brought Bridget, the most notorious girl in school to the contemplation of suicide. The framework definitely sucks the reader into the plot, curious to find out what exactly she did.

About at the halfway point, the plot catches up to the opening and the real point of the story arrives. Bridget, through some aspect of the crash, ends up in some place where she is being judged for her ways in a very Christmas Carol-y way. Only, she just goes to the past and sees her behavior through the eyes of others. This part was pretty cool and did a good job of getting the point across without taking too much time or repetition. The plot is entirely straight forward, but still nifty.

The fantasy aspect of the story was definitely my favorite, but I am a bit confused/puzzled/stymied/bothered by what happened. It just doesn't make sense. What in the world transpired here? I think that perhaps some additional pages spent in the denouement might have helped. The ending was rather abrupt, at least in the galley version which I read.

This is a good, super quick read. The story is predictable, but a good message and not like many of the other books I have read recently. If you're looking for something quick, fun and a little bit quirky, give this a try!

"Stop right there.
That's exactly where I lost it.
See that line.
Well I never should have crossed it.
Stop right there.
Well I never should have said
That it's the very moment that I wish that I could take back.

I'm sorry for the person I became.
I'm sorry that it took so long for me to change.
I'm ready to be sure I never become that way again
'Cause who I am hates who I've been.
Who I am hates who I've been."

Intuition - Jewel

The Unidentified

Author: Rae Mariz
Genre: dystopia
Pages: 296
Publisher: Balzer + Bray, a HarperCollins imprint

Brief Summary:
Katey Dade, aka kidzero, is a part of the Game. Instead of a regular school, she attends the game, wherein learning is made fun and popularity contests earn class credit. Katey does not really care about most of that; she just wants to spend time with her two best friends, Mikey and Ari, and make music. She worries about Ari's need to be branded, to get a sponsor and all of the perks that come with that. Everything changes for Katey when a prank occurs in the Pit and she suddenly finds herself going from a zero to someone everyone is watching.

Review:
The dystopian vision of The Unidentified is restricted primarily to education and the impulse to materialism. While some aspects of the Game are hard for me to imagine as a realistic path a society might take, they are made more convincing by their interweaving with current technologies.

Every student in the Game carries an intouch®, on which they update their network. The network page has the functionality of Facebook: chat, information about interests and friendships. In addition to the importance of this, there are also the streams, based upon Twitter. Everyone communicates via these modes of communication and a whole culture has developed around following people's streams; for example, it is rude to comment on a conversation not directed your way and it is a big deal to be @ed by a branded person.

I found Katey to be a very likable a and realistic character. She is mostly a loner, preferring the company of a select few to popularity. Still, she can be led astray and make bad choices. Even so, I forgave her for her errors and transgressions, because they are so high school. I can remember feeling the way she does in the book, feeling like maybe it would be worth sacrificing some parts of yourself to be popular. Just because she falls into that trap does not make her any less clever, it just makes her human.

I really loved this book. It manages to make a dystopian society that really isn't terrifying or violent. It's mass consumerism, popularity contests, and connection without closeness. Very well done. I hope to see more from Rae Mariz!

"I'm just a simple girl
In a high tech digital world
I really try to understand
All the powers that rule this land
They say Miss J's big butt is boss
Kate Moss can't find a job
In a world of post modern fad
What was good now is bad"

Fat Bottomed Girls - Queen

The D.U.F.F.

Author: Kody Keplinger
Genre: young adult
Pages: 277
ARC Acquired From: Little, Brown and Company

Brief Summary:
Bianca has two best friends, Casey and Jessica, who are both blonde, peppy and gorgeous. Bianca is not those things; she is sarcastic, ginger and a wee bit chubby. This never bothered her until the hot, promiscuous guy at their high school, Wesley Rush, pointed out to her that she was the Duff, the Designated Ugly Fat Friend. Ouch. This, accompanied by some major family drama, drives her to make some rash decisions in an effort to escape her life, while also attempting to reevaluate it.

Review:
To paraphrase one of my favorite movies of all time (The Producers, the original from 1968): I never in a million years thought I'd ever love a book called The Duff (Designated Ugly Fat Friend). I was all kinds of prepared to hate this book, through an automatic, knee-jerk sympathetic reaction for the main character. Being the Duff sucks and I feared the book would mock that role.

From the beginning, I identified somewhat with Bianca. The book opens with her, and her two gorgeous, party-loving friends, out at the local teen spot, where they can dance and hook up. Bianca just sits at the 'bar,' drinking cherry coke (the best standard soda choice) and rolling her eyes at the ridiculous teen antics. She is sarcastic and super not interested in dealing with any of the people there. How can I not identify with a sarcastic, cynical main character who has a forbidding aura when in an uncomfortable social situation?

The revelation of being the Duff too, I sympathized with. There are definitely times where I have been the wingman (winglady?), there to give encouragement and be ignored by the menfolk. This can have positive side effects, such as free drinks for you (since the guy wants to show your friend how kind he is). In Ireland, I performed this function quite a bit. But, no matter how much you mostly don't mind, it does where on you. Even a girl like Bianca, who does not believe in young love or really want a relationship, still wants, perhaps needs, to feel desirable.

I imagine this book may upset some parents, given that the kids in it make some unwise sexual decisions (honestly, they have sex, which is the decision that may anger parents of a certain ilk). Still, the book advocates healthy messages, like safe sex and positive self-image. More than that, this book achieved a rare, magical thing: the characters felt like real people and I could hardly put the book down.

Highly recommended! Seriously, do not judge the title, just give it a shot!