Review: Two Boys Kissing

Two Boys Kissing

Author: David Levithan
Pages: 208
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: August 27, 2013
Read: August 10-11, 2013
Source: ARC from publisher

Description from Goodreads:
New York Times bestselling author David Levithan tells the based-on-true-events story of Harry and Craig, two 17-year-olds who are about to take part in a 32-hour marathon of kissing to set a new Guinness World Record—all of which is narrated by a Greek Chorus of the generation of gay men lost to AIDS.

While the two increasingly dehydrated and sleep-deprived boys are locking lips, they become a focal point in the lives of other teen boys dealing with languishing long-term relationships, coming out, navigating gender identity, and falling deeper into the digital rabbit hole of gay hookup sites—all while the kissing former couple tries to figure out their own feelings for each other.

This follow-up to the bestselling Every Day showcases David's trademark sharp-witted, warm-hearted tales of teenage love, and serves as a perfect thematic bookend to David's YA debut and breakthrough, Boy Meets Boy, which celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2013.

First Sentence: "You can't know what it is like for us now—you will always be one step behind."

Review:

After several disappointments with David Levithan's works written with Rachel Cohn and Andrea Cremer, I'd built up some healthy skepticism about whether his writing really worked for me. With Two Boys Kissing, I now know that he's an author I definitely need to be reading, and am no longer concerned about the collection of his books I already own. Two Boys Kissing is beautiful, a statement about what matters and what it's like to be a gay boy or man.

David Levithan's writing is pretentious, of that I have no doubt. It certainly will not appeal to a lot of readers, who will be annoyed by that, and I don't know how it will play with teen readers, but I love it. The writing in Two Boys Kissing is complex and beautiful and simple. There were so many beautiful quotes that are heartbreaking or inspiring or funny. Plus, I'm personally not bothered by pretentious writing so long as it fits the narrative style and it's perfect for Two Boys Kissing.

The narrators of Two Boys Kissing are, in fact, none of the boys involved in the plot of the story. In fact, they are all dead. In what the blurb aptly describes as a "Greek Chorus," gay men from times before, specifically a generation dead from AIDS watches the boys live out their lives and marvels at how times have changed. At first, I was immensely skeptical of this writing style, but I actually ended up being a huge fan of the way this played out. Though a bit distancing from the actual teen characters and their issues, I found myself highly connected to this chorus of dead men, choking up in every one of their little asides, either from sadness or the inspiring beauty of their words.

By having this chorus of men narrate, Levithan was able to do two things: universalize the experience of being a gay man into more than just what the eight boys specifically focused on have experienced and indicate how much progress has already been made in the acceptance of homosexuality. Certainly total acceptance remains in the future, but the chorus marvels at the fact that two boys can kiss in front of their high school for over a day and receive largely positive feedback. Being gay is no longer as closeted as it used to be.

Another aspect of Two Boys Kissing that I loved was the diversity of the characters, both ethnically and situationally. Characters, both main and minor, come from different racial backgrounds, and that's just a fact and not a defining characteristic. Levithan also portrays with the eight gay teens eight different experiences of being a young gay in America. There are the two boys kissing, broken up and trying to figure out how to become friends. There's a couple in a healthy relationship, accepted by both sets of parents. There's a potential couple in the making, one of the boys who is partway through his gender change from female to male. There's a boy who was badly beaten for his sexual identity, determined to support his best friends in their record-breaking kiss. Finally, there's a boy who fears no one will ever love him who trolls the internet for connection, pretending to be whatever someone wants on a gay dating website. Two Boys Kissing really focuses on capturing the whole range of experience and does so well.

My complaints are very minor. First off, and this could be very serious for some, Two Boys Kissing is definitely preachy. However, I support the messages herein and didn't mind the preaching. Still, it's worth noting that Levithan isn't setting a scene before the reader and leaving them to draw conclusions; he also sets out the conclusions he wants the reader to draw. The other thing, and this is really nitpicky, is that Levithan really loves the term "screwing," and uses it a lot. It really just seemed really out of place and overused, since I feel like it's slang that I don't hear all that much anymore.

I loved Two Boys Kissing. Levithan has written a gorgeous novel with a unique perspective and really delved into the issues of being a gay male. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in GLBT fiction.

Rating: 4.5/5

Favorite Quotes:

"They should be going to sleep, but good company is the enemy of sleep. We remember this feeling so acutely—the desire to linger away the hours with someone else, talking or holding or even just watching a movie. In those moments, the clock seems arbitrary, since you are setting your understanding of time to another, more personal measure."

"'They beat the shit out of me,' he told people, soon after. 'But you know what? I didn't need that shit inside of me. I'm glad it's gone.'"

"There are millions of kisses to be seen, millions of kisses only a click away. We are not talking about sex. We are talking about seeing two boys who love one another kiss one another. That has so much more power than sex. And even as it becomes commonplace, the power is still there. Every time two boys kiss, it opens up the world a little bit more."

Review: OCD Love Story

OCD Love Story

Author: Corey Ann Haydu
Pages: 352
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: July 23, 2013
Read: July 14-20, 2013
Source: ARC for review from YA Books Central

Description from Goodreads:
In this raw and relatable romance, Bea learns that some things just can’t be controlled.

When Bea meets Beck, she knows instantly that he’s her kind of crazy. Sweet, strong, kinda-messed-up Beck understands her like no one else can. He makes her feel almost normal. He makes her feel like she could fall in love again.

But despite her feelings for Beck, Bea can’t stop thinking about someone else: a guy who is gorgeous and magnetic... and has no idea Bea even exists. But Bea knows a lot about him. She spends a lot of time watching him. She has a journal full of notes. Some might even say she’s obsessed.

Bea tells herself she’s got it all under control. But this isn’t a choice, it’s a compulsion. The truth is, she’s breaking down...and she might end up breaking her own heart.

First Sentence: "Lucky for me, I don't get panicky in small dark spaces or anything."

Review:

OCD Love Story is one of those books that I think I'm going to love in retrospect. It's a painful read, one that actually sort of grated on my brain. The description calls it "raw," which is apt, and relatable, which it wasn't really for me. In the end, I'm really impressed with Haydu's debut, but largely undecided on just how I feel about it, and I already know I'll have to sit on it for a while and reread to really process my feelings about Haydu's debut.

There is no doubt in my mind that OCD Love Story is brilliantly done. Haydu approaches OCD with honesty, and I learned a lot about OCD from this novel. I always thought I might be a little bit OCD, but, wow, I was wrong. The compulsions that Bea and the rest of her group have are nothing like my desire to listen to music at volumes that are either multiples of two or five. OCD isn't pretty. Even though the goal of these behaviors is to give the person a feeling of safety or order, the end result is not that.

Unlike the cover says so many times, Bea is not stalking a boy in OCD Love Story, though she did have a history of that. She's stalking a man, Austin, and his wife, Sylvia, who have the session before her with Dr. Pat. She overheard snippets of their session, and started a notebook about them. From there, she began to worry about their safety, felt the need to check in on them or she would be overcome with anxiety. On top of that, she's terrified of sharp objects, afraid that she'll hurt someone with them, can't drive above 30 miles an hour, because she thinks she'll hit someone, and pinches her thigh to a blue/black mess. Bea's issues are believable, but they were really hard for me to personally relate to. At the same time, this frank portrayal was great, because it really opened up my mind to different ways of thinking and being, which is one of the things I love about literature.

The romance depicted in OCD Love Story is really touching, actually. For a moment, I was afraid it would go to creepy Juno-like places with the Austin stalking, but it didn't thankfully. Right at the beginning, Bea meets a guy in a blackout and makes out with him. She meets him again in OCD group therapy, and he's just her type (huge and muscular and difficult to hurt). Beck and Bea are both incredibly messed up teens and seriously in denial about that. What I love about their romance, though, is it shows that love isn't skin deep and isn't just about perfection. In YA, the heroine and hero are generally idealized and perfect. Beck and Bea are not that, but it doesn't mean they can't find someone to love them, which is such a great message. Plus, their relationship has problems, but they work on it and stay together. It's not magically perfect or that the world wants to keep them apart.

OCD Love Story made me want to go into the book so that I could sit Bea down and give her a talking to. Beck too. Their compulsions are so hard for me to really understand. However, I loved the way that Haydu brought it all together in the end, as you find out what happened to Beck and Bea in the past. Their compulsions come from logical places, but practical concerns are taken to a level that's beyond rationality.

Perhaps I'll change my mind on this later, but, for now, the reading experience was sort of unpleasant. Worth pushing through, certainly, but reading this book almost physically hurt. This is obviously a sign that Haydu has done her work and done it well. You're meant to be uncomfortable, because that's what it's like to be Bea.

Aside from that, the writing style didn't really appeal to me. It fits Bea very well, but I didn't much care for it. That's a very personal thing, of course, and Haydu did do a great job with the voice overall, but it's just not my favorite writing style.

Lovers of honest books about hard subjects will not want to miss OCD Love Story. This is a book that will make you think and make you feel awkwardness and pain for the characters.

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote: "It's like, I'm scared and there're a lot of ugly things, but I'd rather be shipwrecked on this lovely island than safe in a sad, gray cell."

Review: The Milk of Birds

The Milk of Birds

Author: Sylvia Whitman
Pages: 384
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Read: May 5-9, 2013
Source: YA Books Central for Review

Description from Goodreads:
This timely, heartrending novel tells the moving story of a friendship between two girls: one an American teen, one a victim of the crisis in Darfur.

Know that there are many words behind the few on this paper...

Fifteen-year-old Nawra lives in Darfur, Sudan, in a camp for refugees displaced by the Janjaweed’s trail of murder and destruction. Nawra cannot read or write, but when a nonprofit organization called Save the Girls pairs her with an American donor, Nawra dictates her thank-you letters. Putting her experiences into words begins to free her from her devastating past—and to brighten the path to her future.

K. C. is an American teenager from Richmond, Virginia, who hates reading and writing—or anything that smacks of school. But as Nawra pours grief and joy into her letters, she inspires K. C. to see beyond her own struggles. And as K. C. opens her heart in her responses to Nawra, she becomes both a dedicated friend and a passionate activist for Darfur.

In this poetic tale of unlikely sisterhood, debut author Sylvia Whitman captures the friendship between two girls who teach each other compassion and share a remarkable bond that bridges two continents.

First Sentence: "The khawaja moves down the line where Adeeba and I wait for water."

Review:

In The Milk of Birds, Sylvia Whitman touches on subject matter rarely seen in YA fiction, and I want to applaud her for that. This novel deals with tough subjects (divorce, genocide, rape, learning disorders, and more), but retains an overarching sense of hope. On closing the finishing page, I was sad that this our world, but also touched by the inspiring story within. Whitman handles all of this well, keeping the focus small, on the daily lives of these two girls, Nawra in Darfur and K.C. in Richmond.

Signed up to participate in the charity Save the Girls, K.C. initially wants none of it, too busy worrying about her parents' divorce and her plummeting grades. In fact, K.C. refuses to respond to Nawra's first few letters, until Save the Girls contacts her to find out why she's not been sending letters, which has been making Nawra feel sad. K.C.'s mom offers to write the letters if need be, but K.C. finally steps up to the plate and does it herself, unable to stand the idea of her mom's terrible imitation of her going out into the world.

I give you this small summary to explain what I liked best about The Milk of Birds. The scale of it and the portrayals are so honest. K.C. is an average girl, and, like most kids, the last thing she wants to do when she gets home from school is do more "homework," which is how the pen pal thing feels to her at first. Watching K.C. slowly lose her reluctance to write the letters is so moving, especially when, by the time the year of correspondence comes to a close, K.C. keeps writing letters for her last package, unable to say goodbye.

If you're hoping to learn a lot about the big picture in Darfur, The Milk of Birds isn't the place to get it. Through Nawra, Whitman offers a view to the life of one girl. It's not a broad perspective, but a narrow one. Nawra's life has been just . . . there's not really a word sufficient to describe the horrors she's lived through. Whitman does not shy away from the harsh realities like female circumcision, rape, hunger, or murder. As expected, this is not a light read. That said, Whitman definitely doesn't add in any more than is necessary; she tells it like it is, and that is shock enough.

Nawra is so strong in the face of her life that it is simply incredible. Despite everything, her tone in the letters is so sweet and cheery and hopeful. Though K.C.'s problems are nothing compared to Nawra's, Nawra worries about K.C., and offers kind advice. The unselfishness Nawra shows is beautiful, as are the sayings she uses.

K.C. grows a lot in her correspondence with Nawra, but perhaps not as much as you would think. Her arc is rather more realistic than is traditional in fiction. At the end, K.C. is not utterly transfigured by her correspondence with Nawra, but she is a bit more confident, much more loving, and incredibly determined to do something to help Darfur. Still, K.C.'s focus all along has been on her own issues. K.C. loves Nawra and wants to help, but she doesn't ever stop worrying about her crush on the boy she likes or her issues with her parents or her issues with learning. Again, this felt very believable, because, no matter how much perspective she has, she has to live her own life. Also, I love that Whitman touched on learning disorders, because that's not something I've often seen in YA novels.

The only reason my rating isn't higher is that The Milk of Birds moved very slowly for me. Much as I am impressed by the characters of Nawra and K.C., I didn't ever connect with them on an emotional level, except, perhaps, at the very end. The more I think about The Milk of Birds, the more I like it, but it was a slow, tough read for me. At the same time, I am so very glad I read it, and I think that a lot of the difficult reads are important ones.

The Milk of Birds is a slow-moving, powerful read that's heart-breakingly honest and realistic. Whitman deftly tackles more dark subjects than can usually be handled in a single book, but The Milk of Birds never strays into melodrama. The Milk of Birds is a read to inspire the reader to want to make a difference in the world, showing how even just a monthly letter can make an appreciable difference in someone else's life.

Rating: 3.5/5

Favorite Quote: "I will let Adeeba rest her hand, but know that there are many words behind the few on this paper."

Review + Giveaway: Faking It

Faking It
Losing It, Book 2

Author: Cora Carmack
Pages: 304
Publisher: William Morrow & Company
Publication Date: June 4, 2013
Read: June 2, 2013
Source: Publisher via Edelweiss

Description from Goodreads:
Mackenzie “Max” Miller has a problem. Her parents have arrived in town for a surprise visit, and if they see her dyed hair, tattoos, and piercings, they just might disown her. Even worse, they’re expecting to meet a nice, wholesome boyfriend, not a guy named Mace who has a neck tattoo and plays in a band. All her lies are about to come crashing down around her, but then she meets Cade.

Cade moved to Philadelphia to act and to leave his problems behind in Texas. So far though, he’s kept the problems and had very little opportunity to take the stage. When Max approaches him in a coffee shop with a crazy request to pretend to be her boyfriend, he agrees to play the part. But when Cade plays the role a little too well, they’re forced to keep the ruse going. And the more they fake the relationship, the more real it begins to feel.

Previous Book in Series:
1: Losing It

First Sentence: "You would think I'd be used to it by now."

Review:

Alright, it's official. I love Cora Carmack's novels. They're such cute, fun, sexy reads, with just enough real life issues to keep them from being entirely fluffy. With Losing It, Carmack tackled virginity and deciding what to do in the real world. In Faking It, Carmack continues to focus on real life issues suffered by "new adults" everywhere: embracing yourself and deciding between money and passion.

The obvious interpretation of the title is that Max and Cade are faking a relationship in a classic romantic comedy gambit. Obviously, their feelings turn out to be something real beneath the ruse and all of that. That's not the crux of the book, and not the essence of what the title's referring to, though. In fact, both Max and Cade are faking so much more, and, no, I'm not talking about orgasms here.

Both leads are pretending to be okay with their lives as they are. Cade's pretending that he's over Bliss, and that he's not upset by her relationship with Garrick. He's pretending that he's happy in grad school, and not drowning in debt. If he pretends hard enough, his life really will be perfect, right? Max, on the other hand, fakes fearlessness to mask her emotions. She also fakes her personality around her family, pretending to be the perfect daughter, the one that died.

Honestly, no one can mess someone up like their parents, am I right? Max's parents put a lot of pressure on her, and express their disappointment at her died hair and dreams of being a musician. They help her pay her bills and loans (left over from her two years of college before she dropped out), but they hold that aid over her head. Could they ever really accept Max's tattoos and piercings or her bad boy boyfriends? Though she's a badass elsewhere, in front of her parents, she reverts back to the scared little girl, unable to talk back or step out of line.

Cade and Max are a case of opposites attracting in a lot of respects. He's all prep and she's a rock girl. Though there relationship does proceed on a much faster timeline than I prefer, they do have chemistry and it sizzles. Actually, as a couple, I like them much better than I did Bliss and Garrick. Their bond just comes off as more real, with more confronting of the other person's baggage and acceptance thereof. They're really making one another better and stronger. Also, Carmack reverses the traditional romance tropes, with Cade being the sweeter, more emotional one in the relationship, the one most desirous of a lasting connection. I wish Carmack didn't go quite as heavily for the happily ever after again at the end, but, still, Faking It was an awesome read for me.

The interesting change from Losing It is in the narrative style. Losing It was written entirely in Bliss' first person perspective, but Faking It alternates between Cade and Max. Though initially skeptical of this decision, Carmack does a nice job with it. I never had any difficulty discerning which POV I was reading at any given time. Plus, this really highlights how much edgier Max is compared to Cade, which I like. She's got emotions, but he's definitely the more emotional of the two, which is great to see this way.

Carmack's sophomore novel proves that she's not a one hit wonder. If you enjoyed Losing It, Faking It is a must read, even if you were on the fence about whether you wanted Cade's story. Now to wait impatiently for book three about Bliss' college roommate, Kelsey.

Rating: 4.5/5

Favorite Quote:

"'Because you've got balls of steel.'
     I hated when people said that, like it assumed strength and being a male were synonymous. There was strength in being a woman. 'Spence, I don't have balls. Good thing, too, because they'd look terrible in the lingerie I'm wearing.'"

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Review + Giveaway: The Boyfriend App

The Boyfriend App

Author: Katie Sise
Pages: 320
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Read: May 1-3, 2013
Source: YA Books Central for review

Description from Goodreads:
In The Boyfriend App by Katie Sise, super-smart, somewhat geeky Audrey McCarthy can’t wait to get out of high school. Her father’s death and the transformation of her one-time BFF, Blake Dawkins, into her worst nightmare have her longing for the new start college will bring.

But college takes money. So Audrey decides she has to win the competition for the best app designed by a high schooler—and the $200,000 that comes with it. She develops something she calls the Boyfriend App, and suddenly she’s the talk of the school and getting kissed by the hottest boys around. But can the Boyfriend App bring Audrey true love?

First Sentence: "It was lunchtime in the social battleground better known as Harrison's upperclassmen cafeteria, and I was staring at Aidan Bailey."

Review:

Guys, I am writing this as a zombie blogger, because I died of cute. Seriously, this book is so fun and sweet and humorous and delightful. I picked The Boyfriend App at just the right time, when I was in the mood for a lighter read, for a contemporary novel, and this hit the spot so perfectly. To me, the best books are the ones that can make me feel, and The Boyfriend App delivered, making me actually laugh aloud and grin like an idiot pretty much the whole way through. As I sit here writing this, I still have the foolish grin on my face, because this book is that adorable.

For those who don't know, my day job involves working at a software company, so I hear a lot of talk about programming and apps and all of this stuff. I feel so brilliant when I understand those conversations, and that was a fun aspect of The Boyfriend App. It doesn't get super technical, but one of my best friends is super into app design and hearing all of the ideas and seeing the passion these kids have is so uplifting. Also, it's awesome that there's such a focus on technology in The Boyfriend App, because fiction tends to lag behind on the technological curve, but everything in here is very timely.

Audrey McCarthy loves hacking and programming, taught by her father, who perished in a mysterious accident, for which he was, likely, wrongfully blamed. Audrey and her mother, who is a lunch lady at her school, struggle to make ends meet. Unable to keep herself in the latest fashions, Audrey's not popular at school, but she's totally okay with that, because she has some of the best friends ever, insultingly referred to as "trogs" by her ex-best friend Blake and her cronies.

The characters in The Boyfriend App really shine. Of course, I've got a weak spot for geeky bands of misfits. I love how diverse the kids in this group and in the school as a whole are; this felt a lot more like my high school than most of the ones depicted in YA fiction. Going off on a slight tangent, Sise not only includes characters of various diversities, but she's also not hetero-normative, referencing both lesbian and gay couples.

Anyway, back to Audrey's little group. Nigit and Aidan are programmers like Audrey, and she's crushing on Aidan hard secretly. Mindy, though lovely, is teased mercilessly for her speech impediment. Lindsay, Audrey's cousin, is a fashionista who runs an enormously popular fashion blog. The dialog between all of them is so realistic and engaging. They all feel so real to me. Plus, they're so supportive of one another, and I love seeing a young adult novel with such a strong depiction of friendship, and one where it's a group and not a singular best friend is even rarer.

Okay, so the plot of The Boyfriend App is that Public, a technology company that's totally a parody of Apple runs a contest for high school students to design an app. The two winners will receive $200,000, and Audrey wants to win badly, because this is her only chance to go to a good school and not leave seriously in debt, since she and her mother have a total of $2000 dollars saved. Audrey designs this app intended to help girls find boyfriends, and hijinks totally ensue. There's this one scene in the cafeteria that just killed me, thus why I'm now a zombie. It's over the top in just the right way. Just don't take this book too seriously, because this is comedy and it is good.

At the very end, the book does go in a slightly weird direction. Yes, Sise makes it work, but the plot felt a bit more meandering once the app contest ended. Though a bit more trite of an ending, closing shortly after the announcement might have been more effective, since things got a trifle too serious for the tone thereafter. I also have a few questions about how the Boyfriend App gets information on boys, and a few other niggling questions like that about the app, but that's totally not the point, so I'm going to try to tell my nit-picky self to shut the hell up.

With a sweet romance, laugh out loud humor, and lots and lots of kissing, Katie Sise's The Boyfriend App is a must read for fans of light contemporary fiction. With such a strong debut, you can bet I'll be reading whatever Sise writes next!

Rating: 4.5/5

Favorite Quote: "I wished I could be meaner. Because there were so many options."

Giveaway:
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Review + Giveaway: Losing It

Losing It
Losing It, Book 1

Author: Cora Carmack
Pages: 288
Publisher: William Morrow
Source: YA Books Central for review

Description from Goodreads:
Virginity.

Bliss Edwards is about to graduate from college and still has hers. Sick of being the only virgin among her friends, she decides the best way to deal with the problem is to lose it as quickly and simply as possible-- a one-night stand. But her plan turns out to be anything but simple when she freaks out and leaves a gorgeous guy alone and naked in her bed with an excuse that no one with half-a-brain would ever believe. And as if that weren’t embarrassing enough, when she arrives for her first class of her last college semester, she recognizes her new theatre professor. She’d left him naked in her bed about 8 hours earlier.

First Sentence: "I took a deep breath."

Review:

Of all of the New Adult-labeled books I've read, Losing It is the one that comes closest to being what I ideally want. Though the focus remains on romance, Losing It does actually deal with normal, everyday college stresses. Bliss goes to class and thinks about her future. She has fights with friends and doesn't go through anything incredibly melodramatic. Only the relationship with her professor isn't something an average college student might experience, but even that does happen. Losing It is humorous, romantic, and largely realistic.

The term slut-shaming gets tossed around a lot in book reviews, and it's certainly a big problem in fiction, which tends to really uphold virgins as the ideal. For those who object to the word 'slut,' I'm warning you that you will likely be offended by a handful of moments in Losing It. However, something that I've not really seen in fiction before and that Carmack handled perfectly is virgin-shaming, which is just as real.

Bliss Edwards is in her senior year of college, age 22, and a virgin. The book opens with Bliss' confession to her best female friend, Kelsey, that she's never had sex. Bliss feels embarrassed and stunted for not having had this experience that most people her age have had. Now, as much as slut-shaming is a serious issue in our culture, Americans are just as uncomfortable with virgins. At a certain point, admitting you've not had sex marks you out as a freak. Around the end of college, somewhere from 20-22, being a virgin begins to feel like an onus one bears. People start making assumptions that you've incorrectly identified your sexuality (perhaps you're gay and afraid to admit it or asexual) or that you must have something terribly wrong with you. I know I feel this stigma in my own life.

Carmack completely captures the feeling of being behind the curve on this, and how an attractive, social girl with a sex drive could put sex off. The way Bliss thinks about things and explains her lack of sex life are completely accurate to my own experience. In theory, sex is great, but the idea of actually having to have it is terrifying, because she likes to be in control of everything she does. She worries, too, about her lack of experience compared to others her age. Surely if she has sex now she'll be terrible at it, a thought horrible to contemplate. She also references being able to shut down her analytical, judgmental brain, which has always thrown her out of the mood. All of this is exactly how my own brain works, and I've spoken with friends who think the exact same way.

At the beginning of Losing It, Bliss has decided she's sick of feeling a freak for being a virgin and that she just wants to get rid of her virginity. This impulse, as well, is one that I completely understand. Sometimes it feels like life would be much easier if you could just get that over with, like it's an ordeal to be got through, which really doesn't seem like the ideal motivation for having sex. Still, that's a realistic thought for Bliss to have.

When you're a virgin over twenty for reasons that don't involve waiting for marriage, people like to tell you that "it will happen for you when you meet the right guy." Find him and your brain will shut up, and you'll be motivated enough to work through your issues and eventually have sex. This is the basic premise that Losing It is working from. I do take some issue with the fact that she goes out to a bar once and immediately picks up a hot, British guy, because life is never that easy, at least mine isn't, in which case I would like to upgrade my life now please. However, this is fiction, and such conveniences are what move a plot forward, so I'll accept it.

What I'm so, so grateful for is that, even though Bliss has found the perfect guy who makes her brain shut off, that doesn't immediately make her ready. Garrick may be more than she ever dreamed of, and she feels more comfortable with him than with anyone who has come before, but she still freezes at the prospect of sex. Her issues don't just magically dissipate, like generally happens in fiction. Though she had every intention of having a one-night stand, her brain really isn't wired that way to let her do that, thus why she was still a virgin in the first place.

Of course, for drama's sake, Garrick turns out to be a temporary professor for one of her theater classes. This serves to raise the stakes and create many awkward moments. For a teacher/student relationship, Carmack's done a good job, and I was still able to root for them, since they established a relationship of sorts before he started teaching, but I still would have preferred they wait to really get together until after the semester was over. Teacher/student romances are not my favorite, because the teacher has power over the student and favoritism comes into question. Carmack avoids the grading favoritism question, but Garrick does seem to be largely fair in his treatment of her as a teacher.

I liked, too, the short-lived love triangle that emerges when Bliss realizes that one of her best friends has a crush on her. I've been in this situation before too (well, the friend with a crush, not the sexy British part that makes the triangle), and it is seriously awkward. There are so many feelings in the way that it can be hard to tell precisely how you feel about you're friend. You love them already, but is it the right sort of love? And they're so wonderful that you feel bad turning them down. Plus, what will happen to your friendship if you do or don't? Bliss handles this about as well as can be expected, which is to say that it's messy and uncomfortable.

Garrick and Bliss do seem to fall for one another a bit too quickly, but that's college as well. Every emotion seems heightened, because you have so much free time to spend with people. Friendships and relationships come on quickly in those circumstances. The novel takes place over the course of a semester, so their relationship does take months to grow, even if it feels shorter because of the novel's brief duration.

I do wish, however, that Carmack has skipped the epilogue. Though I was willing to accept the speed and seriousness of their relationship, I feel like the events in the epilogue were over the top. Plus, I'm really unsure as to why it had to be from Garrick's POV. That felt really out of place, and didn't really add anything to the scene.

I have to reward Losing It high points for covering subject matter I've rarely seen touched in fiction and for giving me many feels. Carmack's debut is funny, awkward, sexy, and romantic. If you've been disappointed in the New Adult offerings thus far for not having anything actually to do with the experience of being in college, then you really might want to try Losing It.

Rating: 4.5/5

Favorite Quote: "How can people decide who they want to spend the rest of their life with at this age? I can't even decide what to have for dinner! I couldn't decide if I wanted to be an actor, even though I already had $35,000 in student loans telling me I sure as hell better want to be an actor."

Giveaway:
My new giveaway philosophy is to give away only my very favorite reads, so I'm offering up a paperback of Losing It to one of my readers. This contest is open internationally, so long as The Book Depository ships to your country.

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Review: One Plus One Equals Blue

One Plus One Equals Blue

Author: MJ Auch
Pages: 272
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co. (BYR)
Publication Date: April 30, 2012
Source: Publisher for review

Description from Goodreads:
Twelve year-old Basil knows he’s special—he’s been associating numbers with colors since he was a kid. His gift (or curse) has turned him into somewhat of a loner, but his world begins to change when he meets Tenzie, the new girl in school who has similar freakisms. She, too, has synesthesia (a condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another). At first, Basil is somewhat annoyed with Tenzie’s pushiness, but after Basil’s estranged mother returns, his life is turned upside down . . . and Tenzie may be the only person to help him put it back together again.

Once again, MJ Auch has written a thoughtful coming-of-age novel that explores friendship, family, and fitting in.

First Sentence: "I'm the biggest loser in the seventh-grade class at Calvin Marshall Middle School."

Review:

What lured me to One Plus One Equals Blue was the fact that the two main characters both have synesthesia, which I find fascinating and magical. Though One Plus One Equals Blue did not turn out to focus heavily on synesthesia itself, this novel is still a great read, and one sure to please middle grade readers. Auch's novel focuses primarily on accepting oneself and learning to appreciate the good things in life.

Since I read so much young adult fiction, it's always nice to read middle grade, which generally focuses more on family dynamics and friendship than on romance. Basil Feeney is an outcast. Having been homsechooled up until the seventh grade, he had little chance of popularity. However, what sealed his fate as the biggest loser in school was when he told his friend why he was so bad at math: the numbers appear to him as colors, and some of the colors are repeated. Ever since, he's been a freak, isolated from everyone else.

When a weird new girl, Tenzie, arrives, she throws his world for a loop. She sits at his lunch table (errr, desk), joins him on the bus, and invites herself over after school. Tenzie is just about the biggest pest he could ever imagine, and the cover captures his early attitude perfectly. He doesn't want her to get him noticed, and doesn't want to get close to her only to have her make fun of him later for being a freak. Plus, she takes his grandmother's attention away from him where it belongs.

When he realizes that she also sees numbers as colors, though, they really begin to develop a friendship. With some research, he realizes that they are not alone, and that what they are is synesthetic. I loved that, though they had somewhat similar synesthesia, it functioned quite differently for both of them, giving me a better idea of how varied synesthesia can be. The story shifts then from his friendship with Tenzie, though they do continue to grow closer throughout, with little setbacks along the way. Their friendship is very well-handled.

The rest of the book focuses on Basil's, and to a lesser degree Tenzie's, familial relationships. Basil never knew his father, was abandoned by his mother who went to Hollywood to pursue her dreams of being a star, and was raised by his Gram. Shortly after his life was changed by the introduction of the indefatigable Tenzie, he's thrown for a loop once again, when his mother makes her first appearance in seven years.

Carly Feeney is every bit the unreliable, neglectful mother so common in fiction. She has itchy feet, and likes the idea of being a caring mother much better than the reality of a sulky kid, which, even at the best of times, Basil rather is. Carly sweeps everyone else off their feet, though, helping out with the school play. Tenzie, especially, looks up to Carly, desperate for affection and affection, since her parents ignore her. Basil is torn between hope that his mom will finally love him and wishing she would just leave. All the poor parenting is a bit trite, but at least Basil's grandmother is loving and supportive, and also a totally awesome hippie, who listens to The Beatles and makes stained glass.

With well-drawn characters and realistic emotional arcs, One Plus One Equals Blue is a touching story of teenage outcasts finding one another and coming to terms with their family situations.

Rating: 3.5/5

Favorite Quote:

"'You got pretty popular for a while there.'
     'For about forty-eight hours,' I said. 'Just long enough to figure out that I don't want to be popular.'"

Review: How Zoe Made Her Dreams (Mostly) Come True

How Zoe Made Her Dreams (Mostly) Come True

Author: Sarah Strohmeyer
Pages: 320
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Publication Date: April 23, 2013
Source: YA Books Central for Review

Description from Goodreads:
From Sarah Strohmeyer, author of Smart Girls Get What They Want, comes this romantic comedy about one girl's summer job from hell. Think The Devil Wears Prada set in Disney World.

When cousins Zoe and Jess land summer internships at the Fairyland Kingdom theme park, they are sure they've hit the jackpot. With perks like hot Abercrombie-like Prince Charmings and a chance to win the coveted $25,000 Dream & Do grant, what more could a girl want?

Once Zoe arrives, however, she's assigned to serve "The Queen"-Fairyland's boss from hell. From spoon-feeding her evil lapdog caviar, to fetching midnight sleeping tonics, Zoe fears she might not have what it takes to survive the summer, much less win the money.

Soon backstabbing interns, a runaway Cinderella, and cutthroat competition make Zoe's job more like a nightmare than a fairy tale. What will happen when Zoe is forced to choose between serving The Queen and saving the prince of her dreams?

First Sentence: "There was no getting around the fact that Tinker Bell was a little bitch."

Review:

Y'all, I freaking adored Sarah Strohmeyer's YA debut Smart Girls Get What They Want, and I was very excited to get my hands on  her next YA effort, also given a super long title. What I wanted from How Zoe Made Her Dreams (Mostly) Come True (henceforth to be called How Zoe because my fingers are tired) was a light, funny read to combat all the science fiction and dystopian books I've been reading. How Zoe was the perfect little palate cleanser, and just what I needed to read at this moment.

How Zoe is super cutesy. Like, cutesy to the power of kittens dressed up like princesses, okay? It is not, however, set in the 80s and does not involve cotton candy, as the cover seems to suggest. The mood is light-hearted and Strohmeyer's goal is to make the reader laugh and smile. At this point in my reading, I really wanted something sweet and funny, and How Zoe fit the bill perfectly.

How Zoe takes place at a fairy tale-themed theme park, Fairyland. Zoe and her cousin (and best friend), Jess, have gotten coveted internships to work in the park over the summer with 38 other teens. Two of the interns, one male and one female, will win $25,000 dollar scholarships at the end of the summer for being the best of the best and showing that Wow! spirit. Both Jess and Zoe could really use that money, since Jess' parents lost their jobs and have already used up her college fund, and Zoe's family is strapped for money due to her late mother's medical fees.

Fairyland serves as the perfect set up for romantic drama, because it's 40 attractive kids away from home for the summer. Plus, there's mystery and backstabbing and general rule-breaking. Yes, it's a bit silly, but that's totally the point. How Zoe is a great readalike for Strohm's Pilgrims Don't Wear Pink or Sales' Past Perfect, both of which take place at historical reenactment towns, and, personally, it's my favorite of the three.

What I like best about Strohmeyer's YA novels is that, though romance is a big part of them, she doesn't spend all of her time on that. She really highlights the importance of female friendships and of reconsidering first impressions. Though Jess and Zoe don't get to spend too much time together through the course of the book, because Zoe's role keeps her so busy, Zoe always keeps Jess' well-being in her thoughts. Never at any point does Zoe resent Jess for being the princess-type, while she's not. Jess and Zoe are totally supportive of one another at every turn, and it's so great to see healthy female friendships in YA.

My only real complain with How Zoe is the ending. The last chapter feels rushed and infodumps a ton of information on the reader. What could have been a cool twist ends up feeling way too neat and rushed. Plus, the whole resolution seems a bit unlikely, even in the context of the story. Why would Zoe have specifically been chosen for this? How could it have been in play the whole time and what if it fell through? Both the conclusion and the romance, while decent, would have been much more satisfying with a bit more time put into them.

Even more than in Smart Girls, How Zoe is a fluff book. If you're looking for something with a dark center or deep themes, How Zoe is not going to be your book. However, if you're looking for a fast-paced read full of heart and humor, you can't go wrong with Sarah Strohmeyer's YA novels. I know all of her future YA efforts will continue to end up on my to-read list!

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote: "'Really, whoever you are, your puns are pun-ishment enough.'"

Review: The Sea of Tranquility

The Sea of Tranquility

Author: Katja Millay
Pages: 448
Publisher: Atria Books
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Description from Goodreads:
I live in a world without magic or miracles. A place where there are no clairvoyants or shapeshifters, no angels or superhuman boys to save you. A place where people die and music disintegrates and things suck. I am pressed so hard against the earth by the weight of reality that some days I wonder how I am still able to lift my feet to walk.

Former piano prodigy Nastya Kashnikov wants two things: to get through high school without anyone learning about her past and to make the boy who took everything from her—her identity, her spirit, her will to live—pay.

Josh Bennett’s story is no secret: every person he loves has been taken from his life until, at seventeen years old, there is no one left. Now all he wants is be left alone and people allow it because when your name is synonymous with death, everyone tends to give you your space.

Everyone except Nastya, the mysterious new girl at school who starts showing up and won’t go away until she’s insinuated herself into every aspect of his life. But the more he gets to know her, the more of an enigma she becomes. As their relationship intensifies and the unanswered questions begin to pile up, he starts to wonder if he will ever learn the secrets she’s been hiding—or if he even wants to. The Sea of Tranquility is a rich, intense, and brilliantly imagined story about a lonely boy, an emotionally fragile girl, and the miracle of second chances.

First Sentence: "I hate my left hand."

Review:

The Sea of Tranquility is a book I have strong feelings about, both good and bad. In some ways, I positively loved it, and, in others, I'm rolling my eyes so hard it feels like they're about to fall out of my head. I'm going to do my best to explain what worked for me and what didn't, and I'm planning to employ more quotes than usual, so get ready.

Millay does a great job setting up the mystery of Emilia/Nastya's past (and I'm just going to call her Nastya from now on, since that's what she goes by for the bulk of the book). From the very beginning, Millay hooked me into the story, and I had no choice but to finish the book. The first paragraph is incredibly dramatic, lighting a fire to discover who did this to her and whether she will succeed in killing him, the light of vengeance flashing in her eyes. Millay also does a great job of sustaining the forward motion through the book. I read it slowly, because it was my Nook book, for whenever I had downtime but no print books with me, but I was always excited to get to read a little bit more and to watch the story unravel.

I also think that, largely, Millay's writing is quite skilled. I highlighted several quotes throughout that spoke to me in their beauty or their wisdom. Though I make a habit of this, there aren't too many authors who get me to make note of that number of sentences. I applaud her for this, and on the wit and intelligence of the writing alone, I know I'll be reading whatever Millay's next book is.

However, much as I loved the writing on a basic level, I do feel like it has a couple of major weaknesses. First of all, Nastya and Josh's perspectives read exactly the same to me. Their narrations are the exact same amount of bitter and the same flavor too. They use the same sorts of derogatory terms to think of others and have a similar cadence to their thoughts, as well as matching desires to avoid emotional attachments and to respond sarcastically to things. Were it not for the helpful chapter headings, I would have been reliant on the narrator seeing the other character to figure out whose mind I was in. Though I did largely like the narrative voice, they were much too similar.

The second drawback to the writing, and the main reason I was rolling my eyes, is how damn angsty it is. Josh and Nastya could win an Olympics of angst. It's ridiculous. Honestly, I didn't have a good handle on what angst was before this book, and even asked Renae of Respiring Thoughts about it. NOW I get it, because they WOULD. NOT. STOP. Don't believe me?

"Maybe what he says should floor me, but it doesn't even make me blink. Maybe I should jump in immediately and tell him that he shouldn't think that way. That, of course, God doesn't hate him. That it's a ridiculous thing to believe. Except, it's not. Nothing about it is ridiculous. When you watch every person you love systematically removed from your life until at seventeen years old there is no one left, how can you think anything else? It makes such perfect sense that the only thing that surprises me is that I didn't think of it myself." (195-6)

"People like Josh Bennett and I don't get perfect. Most of the time, we don't even get remotely tolerable." (289)

"Everything is hell now and I deserve it, but I can handle pain if it's pain of my own choosing." (336)

"'I figure the next time I want to completely destroy all chance of happiness, at least I'll remember doing it.' It'll make the self-loathing that much easier." (345)

"'The worst part is that I'm not even allowed to be angry about it, because it's my fault. Is that what you need me to say? That I know it's all my fault? That none of this would have happened in the first place if I wasn't determined to destroy myself and everyone around me? Fine. It's all my fault! Everything is my fault, and no one knows it more than me. We're all in hell and I'm the one who put us here." (368)

Keep in mind that that is merely a sampling. Like, I completely get that their lives have been largely terrible, what with Nastya's tragic past and Josh having lost all of his family (to death, not at the mall). Still, constantly telling me that they're NOT being over the top with their thoughts about how much their lives suck is precisely the way to make me think they are being over the top, because it makes me look closer. I mean, yeah, they had shitty hands dealt to them, but, goddamn, they are still children of privilege, and intelligent besides. Plus, for all their talk of being alone, they have friends (Josh) and family (Nastya) who care deeply about them; they're not as alone as they pretend to be. They don't begin to have it as hard as so many other people in this world that their constant moaning about how they weren't overreacting got seriously old.

Speaking of that angsting, if we cut that out, the book would be a way more manageable length. This book weighs in at 450 pages, and that definitely felt too long. I'm all for long books, but they shouldn't feel long; they should feel right. While I appreciate that she took time to set up the emotions, there's definitely space to cut things out and leave the emotional arc as is, though I would also cut out a few of the cheesier lines between Josh and Nastya that made me throw up in my mouth a little bit. I also thought the end dragged, the last fifty pages or so.

All of those things aside, I really enjoyed reading The Sea of Tranquility, and did root for Nastya and Josh most of the time, pretty much up until they actually got together (wah wah). More than them, though, I liked Drew's family, who invites everyone over for Sunday dinner. Drew's parents are some of the best parents I've seen in young adult fiction, not just to their own kids, but to their friends as well. Millay took the time to develop the secondary characters, like Drew, his family, and Clay, which rounded out the book nicely.

Despite some reservations, The Sea of Tranquility was an engaging read, one I was generally loath to put down. Millay has earned her way onto my list of authors to watch, though I hope to see a bit less angst in her next book.

Rating: 3.5/5

Favorite Quote:

"'Audrey Lake?'
     This time he glares at me like I've just suggested he date the Antichrist.
     'She says supposably.'"

Review: Adorkable

Adorkable

Author: Sarra Manning
Pages: 387
Publisher: Atom
Source: Own Kindle copy

Description from Goodreads:
Welcome to the dorkside. It's going to be a bumpy ride.

Jeane Smith's a blogger, a dreamer, a jumble sale queen, CEO of her own lifestyle brand, and has half a million followers on Twitter. Michael Lee's a star of school, stage, and playing field. A golden boy in a Jack Wills hoodie. They have nothing in common but a pair of cheating exes. So why can't they stop making out? This novel is about an unlikely relationship, but it's also about roller derby, dogs on skateboards, dogs on surfboards, dogs doing any form of extreme sport, old skool hip hop, riding your bike downhill really fast, riot grrrl, those boys you want to kiss but punch in the face at the same time, dyeing your hair ridiculous colors just because you can, stitch 'n' bitch, the songs that make you dance, the songs that make you cry, being a bad ass, cake, love, death, and everything in between.

First Sentence: "'We need to talk,' Michael Lee told me firmly when I stepped out of the makeshift changing room at the St. Jude's jumble sale, which was actually four curtained rails arranged in a square, to have a good preen in front of a clouded mirror."

Review:

Here's a fact about me: if a title has the word dork in it, I'm going to read it. The same goes for nerd, geek, and librarian. I see these words and I just assume that the people within those pages will be my people, because, hello, I know what I am. Well, actually, it turns out I'm not so much a dork, according to this definition anyway, but, hey, the book was still totally fun, so I'm not really regretting my interest. Holla for all the dorks, geeks and nerds out there!

I think of myself as a fairly sarcastic, judgmental, bossy, intractable, and difficult to deal with person, but Jeane Smith is eight billion times more so. This girl does not ever go along with other people. She's making her own way all of the time, marching to the beat of her own crazily dressed drummer and convinced that there's no other drumbeat, so the rest of the people in the world look like assholes moving along out of tempo. Jeane is really hard to like, or she was for me. I empathized with her on some things: the difficulty of finding kindred spirits and the fact that many such spirits live on Twitter. On the whole, though, Jeane's biting personality proved a bit much even for me.

Thankfully, I got used to Jeane's way of being, so that, even if I don't like her especially, I am super entertained by her, which I think she would be totally okay with. I sort of think of Jeane as a combination of The Bloggess and Dorothy Parker. She blogs all the time, and has made herself into a lifestyle brand, tweeting pictures of things she enjoys and her daily crazy outfits. Being on her blog can make a brand or a band. Plus, she is totes brilliant at coming up with cutting comebacks, and she's rather snarly.

The overarching plot line deals with Jeane's romance, which conflicts with her values because she somehow finds herself kissing a *gasp* normal boy. In fact, the king of the normals, Michael Lee, sporty and wearing clothes from Hollister. Bleh, right? But he also happens to be a good kisser and fighting with him is really fun, and no one has to know, so why not? Honestly, I was super into this relationship, because you know how I love a good hate to love relationship and fangirl over good banter.

Michael and Jeane are also awesome because they don't act like teens in every other book ever. They actually agree to have no strings attached, or at least all of the strings are totally voluntary strings. Jeane encourages Michael to move their relationship to a sexual level, even though they're not in a relationship, because she's totally okay with herself and her sexuality. Even better, there's some awkwardness involved in their first couple of sexual encounters, and it's not all expert sex immediately, even though neither one was a virgin their first time. Their romantic arc is super cute and believable, and I rooted for those crazy kids, even if I'm not entirely convinced they could be a forever couple, but, honestly, who cares when they're so great right now.

For those who are like, ugh, romance, there are also some other plots involving Jeane's home situation. Her parents are the standard neglectful variety, both living in other countries, as is her older sister. Jeane has an apartment where she lives alone and eats nothing but Haribo, and lives in an utter mess that makes my house look perfectly pristine. To be entirely frank, though, I was super not in the book for these parts and I got a bit bored. Plus, I don't feel like her family life had any sort of plot resolution, other than that she sort of ended up adopting Michael's family, so I don't think this was what Manning super cared about in the long run.

Though Adorkable took a bit of time to grow on me, we totally ended up being friends, and I was really excited all week to read this in bits of free time, since I was reading this on my iPod touches Kindle app whenever I had downtime and no book. Adorkable is really funny and has some great romance. I've not really heard anything about Sarra Manning's other books, but I will definitely be looking into them. Peace out, dorkfaces!

Rating: 3.5/5

Favorite Quote: "He didn't say anything and I thought I'd shocked him, because I tend to do that. Not just with Michael but with pretty much anyone who can't deal with being honest and admitting that you have wants and needs and desires and all those other fun things."

Review: Dear Cassie

Dear Cassie
Pretty Amy, Book 1

Author: Lisa Burstein
Pages: 352
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Source: YA Books Central for Review

Description from Goodreads:
What if the last place you should fall in love is the first place that you do?

You’d think getting sent to Turning Pines Wilderness Camp for a month-long rehabilitation “retreat” and being forced to re-live it in this journal would be the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.

You’d be wrong.

There’s the reason I was sent to Turning Pines in the first place: I got arrested. On prom night. With my two best friends, who I haven’t talked to since and probably never will again. And then there’s the real reason I was sent here. The thing I can’t talk about with the guy I can’t even think about.

What if the moment you’ve closed yourself off is the moment you start to break open?

But there’s this guy here. Ben. And the more I swear he won’t—he can’t—the deeper under my skin he’s getting. After the thing that happened, I promised I’d never fall for another boy’s lies.

And yet I can’t help but wonder…what if?

First Sentence: "Are you there, Smokey Bear?"

Review:

Dear Cassie is, initially, a very hard book to like. Where Amy in Burstein's debut Pretty Amy is weak and sympathetic, Cassie is brash, vulgar and completely uninterested in anyone's pity. At times, Dear Cassie hurts to read, and I had a pretty visceral reaction to some of the hatred that Cassie spews at everyone. However, Dear Cassie is also the kind of book that slowly changes over time to become something else entirely, depicting an impressive character arc through the alteration in the writing style.

For approximately the first half of the book, Cassie insults everyone, both out loud and in her head, and she swears like a sailor. She slut shames, she makes nasty assumptions, and she generally hates on every single person in the world. While it's fairly obvious Cassie uses this hate as a coping mechanism, as a way of avoiding her own problems, it's not pleasant to read. What Burstein does quite effectively, though, is reflect Cassie's progress in rehab through her writing. As the book progresses, Cassie talks less about others, and sticks much more to the basic facts. She swears less, mostly only in her dialog. Over the course of the novel, her outlook becomes healthier, and that's reflected so well in the narration.

What I am perhaps most glad of is that Cassie had a deeper issue than the arrest that was so central to Pretty Amy. Yes, it was the catalyst that sent Cassie's life spinning off the rails, but she had much bigger problems come after. Burstein deals with a larger, darker subject than that, and does so well. Burstein does not try to fully heal Cassie over the course of the book, and she doesn't oversimplify her experiences. In fact, I think Cassie's still trying to bury her past, to forget what she's done at the novel's closing, which is more realistic than being over what she's been through.

I almost DNFed Dear Cassie, but pushed on in hopes of the change that I did eventually find within its pages. Like with Cassie herself, the other characters come off as stereotypes of the different kinds of rebellious teens: the slutty one, the tortured one, the hot one, the tattooed one, the jock,  etc. It's a regular breakfast club of teen lawbreakers. Burstein does eventually give a bit more depth to the others, but the story really isn't about them. I get that the focus is on Cassie's mental progress, and that this wasn't the kind of camp where they all sit around and talk about their feelings. They're there because they're sort of beyond the point where ordinary behavior, like talking with others, can shock them out of their ways. Still, a bit more development into some of them might have been nice.

What left a bad taste in my mouth, though, is the romance. I do understand the purpose the flirtation served in helping Cassie overcome her issues with boys, but I think they got too serious too fast. I never felt a real connection between them, and I really don't think she's mentally stable enough for a relationship right now, not to mention a long distance one. On top of that, I'm not entirely convinced Ben is on the level. The romance sort of overpowers the plot towards the end, and that is unfortunate.

Much darker than its counterpart Pretty Amy, Dear Cassie tackles rough subject matter in an honest, harsh way. Though not for everyone, Dear Cassie will appeal to those looking to see more grit in YA writing, those sick of wimpy heroines. Burstein's sophomore novel is daring, and sure to be a hit with the right readers.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote: "'You need to live this life,' she whispered. 'You can live it with regret, or you can let it go.'"

Review: Anatomy of a Boyfriend

Anatomy of a Boyfriend
Anatomy, Book 1

Author: Daria Snadowsky
Pages: 272
Publisher: Ember
Source: For review from YA Books Central

Description from Goodreads:
Before this all happened, the closest I'd ever come to getting physical with a guy was playing the board game Operation. Okay, so maybe that sounds pathetic, but it's not like there were any guys at my high school who I cared to share more than three words with, let alone my body.

Then I met Wes, a track star senior from across town. Maybe it was his soulful blue eyes, or maybe my hormones just started raging. Either way, I was hooked. And after a while, he was too. I couldn't believe how intense my feelings became, or the fact that I was seeing—and touching—parts of the body I'd only read about in my Gray's Anatomy textbook. You could say Wes and I experienced a lot of firsts together that spring. It was scary. It was fun. It was love.

And then came the fall.

First Sentence: "My best friend, Amy, wants to wait until college to 'do it,' but until then she'll do 'everything but' with boys she thinks are cute and have good bodies."

Review:

I debated what to label Anatomy of a Boyfriend. I'm sure most people would not stick it under the New Adult heading, because of the rather graphic nature of the sex involved and the fact that Dom is in college for roughly the last third of it. Honestly, though, it reads like a young adult novel to me, and it's not like teens wouldn't be having some or all of these experiences. However, I'm mentioning the detailed descriptions of sex up front, so that readers who are not comfortable with that are full informed. Personally, I really like Snadowsky's take on teenage sexual relationships and first love.

Dominique, more commonly known as Dom, has always been the studious type to her best friend Amy's boy crazy type. Dom doesn't really understand why Amy is willing to hook up with random guys, but she's also not particularly judgmental about it either. Dom and Amy really care about one another and maintain a strong friendship throughout, even if they're not the focal point of the story.

Dom's never really even been strongly interested in someone until she meets Wes. Something about him sets her teenage hormones ablaze, and they quickly strike up a friendship, emailing and IMing. Much to her frustration, though, the relationship doesn't go anywhere. She spends a lot of time talking with Amy on the phone, unpacking the latest messages for deeper meaning.This Snadowsky got just right, as I know I've been there and so have all of my female friends.

Once they do strike up a romantic relationship, things accelerate swiftly physically. Both virgins, they move through the bases at a fairly fast clip. What I really love about Snadowsky's take on this is that she doesn't spare them any awkwardness or pain. Unlike most fiction, there's not a simultaneous orgasm to be found within these pages; the sex is not romanticized. The depiction of sex is very realistic and descriptive about most basic sexual behaviors, and while it's perhaps more detailed than some parents might want their teens reading, I think it's much more honest and likely to make a teen think things through than the fade to black scenes that suggest perfection. Plus, Dom is always very careful about using protection, which is a very good message to send, and one often left out of fictional sex scenes. Snadowsky also does an admirable job depicting the emotional arc of their relationship. 

Unfortunately, I often found the writing awkward, like Snadowsky hasn't quite manage to simulate teen speech patterns. For one thing, their AIM messages are all fully written out in paragraphs with punctuation and capitalization. Every single one. Some teens do write everything out, as I know I tended to, and Wes and Dom are likely to have done that. However, I don't think anyone consistently sent everything in a big paragraph. Generally IMs were no longer than a sentence or two, so that struck me as very strange. Also, at one point, during a breakup, someone says "'I'm going to have to change my status to "single" on MySpace now'" (233). This book was published in 2007, and, by then, it definitely would have been Facebook. That reference might not have been outdated when the book was written, but certainly was by publication, and is laughable now.

In part because of the occasionally awkward writing, I never really bonded with Dom. She's smart and all, but the amount of time she spent focused on Wes seemed a bit excessive, though I've never been the most romantic girl, so maybe that's realistic for people who aren't me. The biggest thing that distanced me from Dom was her jealousy...of Wes' dog, Jessica. She thinks some seriously mean thoughts about that dog, and, as an animal lover, I could not deal with that. I mean, they're heat of the moment thoughts, but they kept me from loving Dom. She also was generally overeager about things. The first time she's invited to Wes' house, for example, she asks to see his family photo albums, and they weren't romantically involved at this point. That seemed highly odd to me.

Though imperfect, I devoured Anatomy of a Boyfriend, and I really appreciate its frank depiction of sexual exploration and coming of age. I'm very excited to see where Snadowsky goes in the sequel, Anatomy of a Single Girl, which I'm starting next.

Rating: 3.5/5

Favorite Quote: "'Well, it's more than that. I've never . . . done it, or done anything. Heh, maybe that's my Achilles heel,' Wes mutters, his voice drenched in vulnerability. Then he turns around and leans against my windowsill. 'And the fact I've never done anything stops me from every trying anything.'"

Review: The Tragedy Paper

The Tragedy Paper

Author: Elizabeth LaBan
Pages: 312
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Source: YA Books Central for Review

Description from Goodreads:
Tim Macbeth is a 17-year-old albino and a recent transfer to the prestigious Irving School, where the motto is, “Enter here to be and find a friend.” Tim does not expect to find a friend; all he really wants to do is escape his senior year unnoticed. Despite his efforts to blend into the background, he finds himself falling for the quintessential “it” girl, Vanessa Sheller, girlfriend of Irving’s most popular boy. To Tim’s surprise, Vanessa is into him, too, and she can kiss her social status goodbye if anyone finds out. Tim and Vanessa enter into a clandestine relationship, but looming over them is the Tragedy Paper, Irving’s version of a senior year thesis, assigned by the school’s least forgiving teacher.

The story unfolds from two alternating viewpoints: Tim, the tragic, love-struck figure, and Duncan, a current senior, who uncovers the truth behind Tim and Vanessa’s story and will consequently produce the greatest Tragedy Paper in Irving’s history.

First Sentence: "As Duncan walked through the stone archway leading into the senior dorm, he had two things on his mind: what 'treasure' had been left behind for him and his Tragedy Paper."

Review:

LaBan's The Tragedy Paper is contemplative and academic, sure to appeal to readers looking for a meatier, slower-paced read. It's a strange sort of book, though one that certainly has some good company. Though I didn't exactly fly through The Tragedy Paper or become caught up in the characters, I really enjoyed reading it, curious to find out what had happened during the previous year at the Irving School.

There's a whole subset of young adult fiction about boarding schools. Something about them calls to the imagination, I guess: the freedom or how elite they seem, perhaps. The Irving School has an illustrious history, complex traditions, and the requisite quirky professor needed to help guide the main character to enlightenment in the style of Dead Poets' Society. The Irving School holds more appeal for me than many of the boarding school settings I've read (that don't have magic), from the archway to the custom of departing seniors leaving treasure behind for the student next to receive their dorm room.

Duncan, ostensibly the main character of the piece, really only serves as a frame story, which is rather daring. The treasure left for Duncan is a stack of CDs, upon which Tim Macbeth has recorded the story of his tragic semester at Irving School. We really actually learn very little about Duncan throughout The Tragedy Paper, since he spends most of his time either listening to Tim's story or thinking about Tim's story. While ordinarily, I might find this framing device frustrating and unnecessary, I like it here because the way that Duncan becomes caught up in Tim's tale the same way I become entangled in a wonderful novel. I thought it was a wonderful sort of metaphor for the process of reading, becoming caught up in the journey of someone else and growing as a result of it, though you have actually been a passive observer.

Tim Macbeth, like all tragic heroes, suffers from a fatal flaw: being too uncomfortable with himself as a result of his albinism. All his life, Tim has been stared at, feared, or pitied because he was born without the pigmentation most people have. He has never been particularly close to anyone outside of his family and resists connection with anyone new, sure that they will only ever see him as an albino, not as a deeper person. Of course, the person most obsessed with his albinism is Tim himself.

From the beginning, it's clear that something awful happened during Tim's one semester (the second semester of his senior year) at Irving School. There's a girl, of course, beautiful and perfect and maybe even interested in him, but, unfortunately, she also has a boyfriend, the most popular guy in school. There were some echoes of Looking for Alaska in this, I think. The mystery of the harrowing event at the end of the year kept me rapt, but was a bit of a letdown when I finally got there, mostly because of the allusion to a literary work I didn't much care for in the first place.

The Tragedy Paper will appear to a certain niche of reader, those who prefer high concept to action. At no point did I feel bored and LaBan sustained my curiosity about the mystery all the way through. LaBan's debut is impressive, and I will likely be reading more of her work in the future.

Rating: 3.5/5

Favorite Quote: "'I'm not going to give up,' she said. 'If you don't come, I guess I'll just go alone. You know that book If You Give a Moose a Muffin? Well, in this case, If You Give a Girl a Pancake in a Snowstorm . . . I am unstoppable.'"

Review: The Trouble with Flirting

The Trouble with Flirting

Author: Claire LaZebnik
Pages: 288
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Borrowed from YA Litwit

Description from Goodreads:
Franny's supposed to be working this summer, not flirting. But you can't blame her when guys like Alex and Harry are around. . . .

Franny Pearson never dreamed she'd be attending the prestigious Mansfield Summer Theater Program. And she's not, exactly. She's working for her aunt, the resident costume designer. But sewing her fingers to the bone does give her an opportunity to spend time with her crush, Alex Braverman. If only he were as taken with the girl hemming his trousers as he is with his new leading lady.

When Harry Cartwright, a notorious flirt, shows more than a friendly interest in Franny, she figures it can't hurt to have a little fun. But as their breezy romance grows more complicated, can Franny keep pretending that Harry is just a carefree fling? And why is Alex suddenly giving her those deep, meaningful looks? In this charming tale of mixed messages and romantic near-misses, one thing is clear: Flirting might be more trouble than Franny ever expected.

First Sentence: "When Jasper Snowden's parents divorced, Jasper got to stay in his bedroom in the big house he'd always lived in, while his parents took turns living there with him."

Review:

Awwww, you guys, this is one of those times where I had super low expectations, because of ideas in my head. I expected this to be super silly, more of a guilty pleasure than anything else. Well, you know what, there is zero guilt in the pleasure I found in The Trouble with Flirting. LaZebnik's loose Mansfield Park adaptation achieves a real teen feel, and is sweet and funny on top of that.

First, I have to talk about the adaptation, being the Jane Austen fangirl that I am. Now, for all that I love Dear Jane, Mansfield Park is a hot mess. Fanny Price is one of the most boring, passive heroines in fiction, the plot line is way too melodramatic with all of the couple-swapping and infidelity, and, in the end, Fanny marries her cousin. So, as you may imagine, I was a bit hesitant to buy into an adaptation for teens. However, I was totally game, because, if LaZebnik botched it, I wasn't going to be offended like I would be with Austen's other novels.

LaZebnik not only does Mansfield Park justice; she greatly improves on it. Now, I'm not going to argue that LaZebnik's writing is more likely to withstand the test of time, but her characters have so much more life and more appeal. I'm really impressed with the way LaZebnik has arranged Mansfield Park into such a different setting, a summer camp for theater students at Mansfield College. She stays true to the romantic entanglements that are at the heart of Mansfield Park, the petty jealousies, the rampant flirting, and the betrayals.

Now, I don't want to spoil anything, so I won't, but I do have to make vague reference to my very favorite aspect of her modern retelling. LaZebnik starts out with all of the characters very true to their Austenite predecessors, but, as the novel progresses, she brings out the real people underneath the facades. I find this doubly delightful, both because it adds depths to the cast of Mansfield Park and because it's a reference to Jane Austen's most popular novel, originally titled First Impressions. The Trouble with Flirting is very much a study in not judging people too harshly off of first impressions, of the importance of looking more deeply into someone's behavior.

As the cover suggests, The Trouble with Flirting does focus almost entirely on romance. There are some sweet friendships, but not much time is spent on those. If you're not all about the romance, this will probably not be your thing. LaZebnik does a great job with the romance, though, creating real bonds between characters, staying away from instalove, and looking into the motivations for characters' behavior.

Also wonderful is how sex-positive The Trouble with Flirting is. Now, it's not graphic, and, actually, I'm not sure if any of them did have sex, but they might have. Franny could easily have been judgmental of Marie, a girl cheating on her boyfriend, or at least trying to, but there's no condemnation in her. Is she thrilled about it? No, but she isn't rude either. She has nothing bad to say about the switching from relationship to relationship that the kids are doing at camp. In fact, she thinks it's very natural, and has no problem with people hooking up, even if it's just for fun. Even better, despite the competition for the small crop of straight guys at the theater camp, the girls remain minimally catty throughout.

The one thing that left me a bit disappointed is the lack of theater. Yes, there are some scenes devoted to theater, but it receives minimal screen time. I would have liked the importance of acting in their lives to be a little more obvious. The acting serves solely as a backdrop to the flirting and as yet another reference to Mansfield Park, in which the play performed did serve as an excuse for flagrant flirting.

LaZebnik's retelling of The Trouble with Flirting charmed me utterly, and does a brilliant job retelling Jane Austen's stodgiest novel for a young adult audience. This is a wonderful read if you're looking for something light-hearted, funny, and uplifting.

Rating: 4.5/5

Favorite Quote: "Harry says, 'I'll carry that.' In kind of a proprietary way. Like even though Alex bought the books, Harry is the one who should carry them. Because they're mine. Which you'd think would mean I should carry them . . . but apparently not if you factor in stupid sexist male posturing."