Book Review: Bad Girls Don't Die by Katie Alender

Alexis’ life has always been pretty dysfunctional. She has no real friends, gets in trouble at school, keeps her parents at arm’s reach, and has a younger sister with a very unhealthy doll obsession. When strange things start happening at home, it doesn’t take long for Alexis to suspect that her house is haunted and her sister is possessed.

I have to give this novel serious props for pulling off a tone that is hilariously snarky and yet still so tantalizingly creepy. I didn’t have to turn my nightlight on to sleep or anything, but I did have goose bumps on several occasions.

Alexis starts out as just another of these tough, sarcastic, independent minded teens that have pervaded pop culture in recent years, but she develops so much through the narrative that I really had no idea what she would do next. It’s the same with most of the supporting characters – they are introduced as stereotypes and then defy all expectations.

This is such a fun, wild ride that I was able to forgive the slightly cheesy ending. Anyone see Skeleton Key with Kate Hudson? Now there’s an awesome ending to a possession story (though I did have my nightlight on for weeks after seeing that one - so beware).

Bad Girls Don’t Die comes out in hardcover on April 21st.

Penguin Prize Pack winner!

Lots of entries for this one - over 300 including all the extra entries. But sadly there can only be one winner of the 11+ YA books from Penguin and she has been confirmed. Congrats go out to Love Jessica Marie! Can't wait to see what you think of If I Stay and all the other great books.

For every one else, stay tuned, because I have an EVEN bigger Penguin contest coming up very soon!

Waiting On Wednesday (27) The Long Wait for Tomorrow by Joaquin Dorfman

I'm a sucker for these time travel stories, especially ones where characters go back to set things right that once went wrong (a la Quantum Leap). The summary for this one hooked me instantly (though the cover leaves a lot to be desired).

From the Random House catalog:

Joaquin Dorfman is back with another smart novel that pushes the envelope of literary fiction, examining identity, high school roles, and even the high-blown concept of destiny through a cool science-fiction lens. What if, in a Freaky Friday moment, a wise and humble 40-year-old man woke one morning to find himself transported back in time, into his body more than 20 years before, when he was the popular, entitled, and arrogant quarterback of the school football team? Could the man do anything to stop a tragedy initiated by the cruel actions of the boy, or is fate too strong a force? It’s the small-town football worship of Friday Night Lights with a dark and unsettling Donnie Darko twist.

And so, here begins "The Long Wait for" September 22nd when this will be released. (Sorry - I know that was dorky, but I had to do it.)

Library Thing Tuesday (48) + picture of Emmy

This week's question from Wendi: Do you have a LT widget on your blog? If so, what is your favorite thing about it? Have you had a chance to go see the all new widget building page, and if so, have you built a new widget? If so, what do you like about it?

I have the old LT widget on my blog and I enjoy looking at the all pretty covers. I don't have a lot of time right now to mess with the new, improved widget, but I have to admit that it looks pretty cool. The animation is too quick for my taste on the examples I've seen, but maybe it can be slowed down? Must investigate.

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We made Emmy a paper cape so she could feel like a superhero, but then she refused to pose. So here is Emmy, the reluctant superkitty.

Book Review: Pure by Terra Elan McVoy

Tabitha and her group of friends all wear purity rings that symbolize their pledge to remain virgins until they are married. When one of the girls, Cara, admits to having sex with her boyfriend, loyalties are tested and Tabitha must reexamine her friendships.

So, I really like that the subject of purity rings (and faith in general) is dealt with earnestly and in a balanced way that I can see resonating with many teens. It’s something that has the potential to generate a healthy discussion about values, being true to yourself, and respecting your body. But as provocative as it is sometimes (such as a scene where Tabitha discovers that Jesus never specifically forbids premarital sex - or how about that cover?), it can also be pretty bland.

Maybe part of my indifference to the “drama” of the plot is due to the fact that I’m married and the days of purity rings are far behind me. Had I read it at 17 it would have been more relevant. Church youth group was a big part of my high school social life, so the ”True Love Waits” campaign is nothing new to me. In fact, one year, everyone was "strongly encouraged" to fill out purity pledges and lay them at the altar during the church service. We all did. Not necessarily because everyone really meant it. It was just that no one dared to disappoint parents and be branded a whore by judgmental old ladies.

It was this kind of “positive” peer pressure that permeated PURE. The five friends all have different motivations for wearing the rings. Morgan seems to be the most convicted that it is God’s will for her life, but she also enjoys the attention it brings her. Naeomi states at one point that she wears it mainly as a promise to herself, not so much for God’s sake. Tabitha got one because Morgan got one. And they all found it easy to pledge chastity before boys were in the picture.

Since the book is written in first person from Tabitha’s POV, we see just how conflicted she is about the Cara/sex situation. While the other girls are quick to judge and dump Cara, Tabitha wants to be a true friend. It’s noble, and even believable. But while reading, Tabitha’s perfection started to irk me a bit. She’s sensible and kind through it all, and even her small slip-ups are quickly forgiven because she deals with them so well. I would have expected a book about “betrayals, confessions and revenge” to be a bit … messier.

PURE will be released in hardcover tomorrow.

Book Review: The Fetch by Laura Whitcomb

Calder has been a Fetch, a death escort, since his own death at 19 hundreds of years ago. Struck by the beauty of a woman present at a couple death scenes he is sent to, Calder implusively steps from Heaven back to Earth. Doing so strands him in the chaos of the Russian Revolution and tears a wound in the ghost realm where lost spirits begin a revolution of their own.

The Fetch is billed as a supernatural romance, but I would hardly describe it as such. Calder is much too restrained and detached to be a romantic hero, and though he and Ana do seem to care about each other, they never generate any real heat.

It does succeed on many other levels however. The earthly setting is a world ripped apart by World War I and Whitcomb makes Rasputin and the deposed Romanov family major characters in an globe-spanning adventure that blends fact with inventive speculation. History buffs have a lot to chew on here.

Whitcomb’s vision of the afterlife is never completely revealed since these scenes are all through Calder’s eyes and he seems to have missed the official employee memo about a lot of the specifics, such as what exactly hell is, but what we do see is certainly thought provoking.

The end verdict? I enjoyed it and admired it. But I could have used a tad more emotional investment to be truly passionate about it.

The Fetch is available in hardcover now.

13 more of my own European memories

Last weekend I shared 13 of my European memories in my review of Maureen Johnson's 13 Little Blue Envelopes. It was so popular, I decided to share 13 more:

1. Relaxed on a deserted black sand beach in Iceland and watched puffins play in the surf.

2. Went to a nude beach in Noordwijk aan Zee, Netherlands. Because of my delicate skin, I covered up after about 15 minutes. It was disconcerting to see whole families hanging around nude together.

3. Backed our rental car up and got stuck on a ledge in Ireland. Fortunately, some friendly Irish folk stopped and helped us break free. We were frightened the rest of the trip that we’d have to pay a big fee to the rental car company, but they didn’t even bat an eye when they saw it.

4. Visited a church decorated entirely with human skulls in Poland.

5. Got on the wrong train to Brasov in Romania. The train we boarded was the slow, old train that didn’t have any internal lighting. When we went through the various tunnels, the train car was pitch black!

6. Heard that the USS John F. Kennedy aircraft carrier was on a port visit in Benidorm, Spain. I was with a group of girls from Texas that flirted their way into a tour from a pilot. He showed us around and even invited us to lunch in the officer’s mess hall.

7. Got a private tour of a luxury cruise ship in Stockholm, Sweden from a friend who worked on one for a summer job.

8. Was invited by a Finnish family in Tampere, Finland to hang out in their sauna and drink wine. I’ve never seen so much wine consumed in my life!

9. Got my wallet stolen on the Greek island of Samos on my first evening there. Didn’t let it ruin my week though. We just went hiking a lot and only spent money on (incredibly delicious) evening meals.

10. Ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches while enjoying the scenery of Lysefjord from Preikestolen, Norway. We camped out in tents and played Euchre under the stars.

11. Went to a cave monastery in Moldova that was filled with churchgoers that looked straight out of the middle ages.

12. Experienced the communist mentality first hand at a post office in Riga, Latvia. None of the four employees were with customers or otherwise busy, but they wouldn’t acknowledge me until I got a number.

13. Took advantage of the free bicycles in Copenhagen to ride around town and visit The Little Mermaid statue. The cobblestones ensure that you hobble around afterwards though!

March Reading in Review

This month my reading goal was again to clear some review books from the ole TBR. 10 of the 12 books I read were sent for review - not bad. I wish I could read double that amount though.

Books

Read and reviewed 9 YA novels

Undercover by Beth Kephart
13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
Willow by Julia Hoban + Interview
In Too Deep by Jennifer Banash + Interview
The Elite by Jennifer Banash
If I Stay by Gayle Forman
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
Absolutely Maybe by Lisa Yee
Rampant by Diana Peterfreund

And 3 adult novels

First Daughter by Eric Van Lustbader
The Music Teacher by Barbara Hall
The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King

Search Terms

Didn't have any remarkable ones this month, but I did get about 10 e-mails asking for my help with book reports! I've heard of other bloggers getting these, but this was a first for me, and when it rains, it pours.

Stats

I had 8,000 visits in March - I'm on an upward trend!

Not counting my three contests, my most commented post was my book review of 13 Little Blue Envelopes where I recounted 13 of my own European adventures. Thinking about doing a part 2.

How was your March for reading?

Book Reviews: The Midnight Twins and Look Both Ways by Jacquelyn Mitchard

It's a bit ironic that we talked about our least favorite books this week for Tuesday Thingers, because I found a new book to add to that category...

Book 1 The Midnight Twins

Meredith (aka Merry) and Mallory (aka Mally) are identical, telepathic twins born on either side of midnight on New Year’s Eve. They are also mirror opposites – Merry is a cheerful cheerleader and Mally is a grumpy soccer star. When a house fire nearly kills them on their 13th birthday, the twins discover they have inherited the Brynn family “gift” – terrifying visions that could destroy them and everything they hold dear….

In a nutshell: Promising premise, terrible execution.

The whole time I read this I swear I felt like I was on a Tilt-A-Whirl. The writing was so choppy and full of non-sequiturs that I had to read many passages twice to make heads or tails of them. Incidents and characters flew by in a dizzying blur. And when I finally (mercifully) was let off this chaotic mess, I felt nauseous.

Much was made of the twins supposed differences – but I never got the feeling that they were anything more than superficially different. Ok, one had lots of gossipy, giggly friends, and one was more of a sourpuss loner, but deep down both ticked the same. They also complained a bunch that their “gift” was a big burden, but it really only came up a few times and it helped them to track down a killer so obvious and so cardboard as to be yawn inducing.

So why did I read the sequel? In the last chapter, Grandma, who was strangely tight-lipped the rest of the time, swoops in and spends a whole chapter talking about how cool the twins’ powers actually are. So I thought…ok maybe the sequel will actually be worthy of the premise?

Book 2 Look Both Ways

After the events of book 1 (explained in a succinct yet thorough summary near the start, rendering book 1 pretty much superfluous) Merry and Mally are settling back into their normal lives and concentrating on cheerleading tryouts and soccer practice. Then they start having visions of a beautiful and familiar mountain lion. What’s up with that anyway?

In a nutshell: If you must read this series, skip book 1 and start here.

While still far from perfect, the writing and character development are both much improved in this installment. Ok, the family is still one dimensional, but Merry’s cheerleading friends/rivals Kim and Neely are given authentic arcs and Mally’s friend Eden’s shaman/shapeshifter subplot is intriguing and touching. Which I guess is a good thing, since this subplot actually hijacks the novel. That’s right, the second Midnight Twins novel is mainly about Eden, meaning the tantalizing promise of the trilogy’s premise is still not fulfilled in book 2. Is the author holding out on us until book 3?

The Midnight Twins is available now in paperback and Look Both Ways comes out today in hardcover. Book 3 has no set release date yet. Find out more about the series at the author's website.

Waiting On Wednesday (26) Wonderwall by Elizabeth Hand

Remember the song Wonderwall by Oasis? The chorus is "Because maybe you're gonna be the one to save me. And after all, you're my wonderwall." And it sounds like a wonderwall is doing some saving in this upcoming novel as well.

Summary rom the Fall 2009 Penguin catalog:
Seventeen-year-old Meredith lives for her art—but after her girlfriend Lindsey commits suicide, even that can’t save her. Desperate, Mer abandons art school and makes her way home to Washington, D.C., intending to kill herself. A chance street encounter leads her to a lockhouse by the river, which leads her to craft something remarkable—a wall painting that is a doorway through art and time. Through it comes the young Arthur Rimbaud, the “child poet,” who is equally desperate. The two artists—one visual, one verbal—change each other’s lives. The brilliant Elizabeth Hand, author of Generation Loss, Waking the Moon, and the World Fantasy Award–winning Illyria, has crafted a story that will burn itself into readers’ minds.

I am very excited about the combination of art and time travel and I can't wait to see how it plays out. Release date is set for October 15.