Plot Summary:  Only at Manderley Academy to please her parents, if being away from home and super hard classes were not enough, the “new girl” is faced with reminders of the girl whose place she took–Becca.  She is in Becca’s room, she has feelings for Max Holloway, the love of Becca’s life and strange hints of what might have happened to Becca who just disappeared one night.  She doesn’t want Becca’s life, regardless of what roommate Dana thinks, but what will happen if Becca comes back?

Critical Analysis:  A little contrived in places, this re-telling of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier mostly works.  Most of the contrivances take place at the beginning.  I wish the author could have figured out another way to get the new girl into the story and at the boarding school…her parents remember her 8th grade wish and apply as a surprise?  And she doesn’t tell them that she doesn’t really want to go so goes anyway for her senior year?  Hard to buy, especially since she spends so much, especially at the beginning, longing for home and family and friends.  I also found some of the re-imagining/re-telling to be a little, well, literal.  A costume party where Dana Veers convinces the new girl to wear the same costume as Becca–straight out of the original.

And yet, the whole cruelty and cattiness between some of the girls really works, as does the isolation and independence of boarding school.  As with the original, the character of Becca and the mystery of what happened to her overshadows everything–the new girl can’t escape.  And still, the new girl manages to overcome, to be herself, to like her life, her situation and to realize she is more than just some girl from Florida, or some new girl who took a popular girl’s place.  I think teens girls will really like this, and if other blog reviews are any indication, they won’t have read the original but perhaps now they will seek it out–and maybe the movie too.

Readalikes: Breathless by Jessica Warman–Katie didn’t expect to like the boarding school, she didn’t want to be away from her older brother Will.  She can just be one of the girls, and focus on swimming and schoolwork.   So why then does she tell everyone he’s dead?

Looking for Alaska by John Green–Miles “Pudge” Halter is abandoning his ordinary life, leaving for boarding school where he is surrounded by friends whose lives are everything except ordinary. When tragedy strikes the close-knit group, Pudge realizes that life is to be lived and love to be given freely.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier–the inspiration for the story, which has great teen appeal in its own right.

Reviewed from publisher provided advanced e-galley.  Amazon Affiliate: If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

Bibliography: Cohn, Rachel and David Levithan. (2010). Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares.  New York: Knopf Books for Young Readers.  IBSN: 978-0375866593 (hc) 978-0375859557 (pb)

Plot Summary:  On his own in New York for the Christmas holidays, Dash finds a red moleskine notebook in the J.D. Salinger section of the Strand bookstore.  The notebook contains a challenge from the mysterious Lily.  Are Dash and Lily destined to meet in real life?  Or do they only live in the notebook they pass back and forth?

Critical Analysis:  One of my dreams is to visit New York City during the Christmas season.  With this book, I felt like I was there.  I really liked the clever collaboration, and I will need to go back and read their other  joint novels (Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Naomi & ely’s No Kiss List) to see what other fun I missed.  The dares were fun, Lily’s crazy family who assisted her and Dash’s diverse group of friends just added to the story.  Lots of humor and wit along with holiday details and a New York back drop make this an excellent holiday read for teens and adults.

Review Excerpts: “Cohn and Levithan use a familiar but fun formula for this holiday-themed collaboration–think Saint Nick & Norah–mixing an enticing premise with offbeat characters and some introspective soul searching….there are more than enough amusing turns of phrase and zigzag plot twists to keep their attention”–Publisher’s Weekly

“The spirit of the season amplifies Dash and Lily’s loneliness and heightens the connection between them, in another surefire hit from the creators of Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (2006).”–Booklist

“As they did in Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist (Knopf, 2006), the authors combine their talents to write an appealing book. It makes readers long to buy a notebook, begin filling its pages, and find a friend who might turn out to be more. This book will spend as much time off the shelf as Lily’s notebook.”–School Library Journal

Reviewed from public library e-book copy.  Amazon Affiliate: If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

]]> http://readspace.net/2011/12/holiday-reading-dash-lilys-book-of-dares-by-rachel-cohn-and-david-levithan/feed/ 0 http://readspace.net/2011/12/holiday-reading-the-christmas-clock-by-kat-martin/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=holiday-reading-the-christmas-clock-by-kat-martin http://readspace.net/2011/12/holiday-reading-the-christmas-clock-by-kat-martin/#comments Thu, 01 Dec 2011 20:27:42 +0000 Susan http://readspace.net/?p=1724 Bibliography: Martin, Kat. (2009).  The Christmas Clock. New York: Vanguard Press. ISBN: 978-1593155476

Plot Summary:  Sylvia left Dreyerville and her fiance, Joe,  8 years ago to deal with a health scare.  Joe never got over it, or her, and now that she is back, he’s angry and hurt.  Sylvia rents a room from the Culvers, an old married couple who have let the years put distance between them.  They all come together and rally around next door neighbor Lottie and her grandson Teddy when Lottie’s Alzheimer’s worsens.

Critical Analysis:  There are no miracles here, but lots of love and small town charm.  I thought this quick delightful read was just what someone might want to fill in an evening while getting in the Christmas spirit.  Martin does an excellent job of moving the story forward with vignettes and snippets of peoples’ lives that show glimpses into their hearts.  A true romance that will appeal to anyone with the holiday spirit.

Review Excerpts: “Charming and romantic….A must read….”–Library Journal

“It’s standard-issue sentimental holiday fare, peopled with wholesome and one-dimensional caricatures, though, notably, there’s no late-book miracle. It has plenty of competition with other seasonal titles, and there’s little to distinguish this from the others.”–Publisher’s Weekly

Reviewed from public library e-book copy.  Amazon Affiliate: If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

Plot Summary:  All 19 year old Hannah has ever wanted to do with her life is dance.  And she is so close to living her dream.  Dancing with the prestigious Manhattan Ballet, she and her friends, all fellow dancers, eat, drink, and sleep ballet.  When they aren’t dancing, they are getting ready for a show, attending dinners and galas to fund raise for the company, gossiping about other dancers, taking yoga and Pilates classes, and hoping to make soloist.  But when Hannah meets musician and non-dancer Jacob, everything starts to change.  What has she given up in order to be a ballerina?

Critical Analysis:  I feel in love with ballet when I saw The Nutcracker on television.  Up till that point, I had been studying clogging (which was lots of fun in its own way.)  I begged my mother to let me switch to ballet classes.  There was something so graceful, so beautiful, so perfect about the dancers I had seen.  Bunheads shows all sides of the ballet world.  The beautiful glitzy innocent perfect side of performance is exemplified through Matilda, the young daughter of a stage hand who is enthralled with ballet and adores Hannah.  The intense competitive sometimes dark side is shown through Hannah and her friends, who comfort and confide in one another but always compete and never fully trust.  There is rejoicing in compliments, getting cast in certain parts while at the same time jealousy and despair.  How did that dancer get chosen over me?  There are even horrible scenes where Hannah is told to lose weight in her breasts and a star dancer collapses.

Even when Hannah starts to question her world and her devotion to dance, there are still moments where the reader can see that she loves ballet–a dancing a combination in a quiet moment, going up into the flies to have the best view of the performance.  Flack does an excellent job of communicating Hannah’s emotions to the reader.  We see her eyes opening and her world expanding.  We feel her being pulled in many directions, her struggle to return to her dream once she realizes that there might just be more out there for her.

I loved this book for it’s realistic portrayal of the world of professional ballet, all the glitz and the glam and the dirt.  Rather like Hannah’s description of her costume for dancing Rubies in Balachine’s Jewels: “The costume is a cherry-red cropped Lyrca dress that hits just below the hip.  The bodice is adorned with glittering ruby crystals all the way down to my belly button….The costume is old and not easy to clean and has a distinctly human smell….If I look closely, I can see where the fabric has been bleached by the sweat of other dancers and places where missing jewels have been replaced with ones that don’t exactly match” (p. 273).

With the popularity of movies such as The Black Swan and television shows such as So You Think You Can Dance?, even girls who aren’t dancers will enjoy this book.

Readalikes: For more books featuring dance:  So You Think You Can (Read About) Dance

Review Excerpts: ”A multi-layered and absorbing good read by a promising debut novelist.”–Kirkus Reviews

“Exhilaration and drudgery, passion and exhaustion, exist side by side for dancers in the exalted Manhattan Ballet, a world unto itself, which Flack (a former New York City Ballet dancer) brings vividly to life in this strong debut.”–Publisher’s Weekly

“…[A]n entertaining read, shedding light on a world most readers know nothing about. After the success of the Oscar-winning Black Swan, this title will appeal to dancers and those with two left feet.”–School Library Journal

Reviewed from publisher provided advanced copy.  Amazon Affiliate: If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

Edited to add:

Bibliography: Nayeri, Daniel.  (2011). Straw House, Wood House, Brick House, Blow.  Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press. ISBN: 9780763655266

Plot Summary:  Four novellas representing four different genres.  Toy Farm is a western unlike any other–a farm that grows living toys and a ranch the grows empty people.  Our Lady of Villains is science fiction, looking at how the near future morphs into the faraway future with the help of technology.  Wish Police is a police procedural about a team that locks up wishes that can’t or shouldn’t or won’t come true.  Doom with a View is a romance, if Death were in charge of the world.  So everyone dies in the end but love conquers all.

Critical Analysis:  Nayeri has written two previous books with his sister Dina, Another Faust and Another Pan.  Both were sort of retellings, or more re imaginings of classic tales and full of action, suspense and dread.  With these novellas. Nayeri wanted to do something a little different.  He decided to write stories that would appeal to boys and girls.  That would introduce readers to different kinds of stories that they didn’t realize they would enjoy.  According to his author’s note, he wrote all of them on his iPhone.

The sampler I have included the story Doom with a View.  I have to admit, it did take me a minute to get into the right frame of mind.  (The mention of The Princess Bride in the note should have been a clue.)  Nayeri has taken several age old tropes and turned them sideways.  Two families feuding but over the interior decorating world?  Two children destined to be together but they don’t even speak the same language?  One beautiful girl who Death takes by mistake is stuck in limbo, not waiting for the kiss of a prince, but for the paperwork and bureaucracy to clear up and return her to her life.  So so so funny!  I would have to say that this is unlike anything else being published for teens these days, and I only hope it is a sign that Nayeri has more in store, whether solo or with his sister.  I for one can’t wait.

There are some great commercials for the novels that I hope you will enjoy.

Straw House, Wood House, Brick House, Blow – Our Lady of Villains Commercial from Candlewick Press on Vimeo.

Straw House, Wood House, Brick House, Blow – Wish Police Commercial from Candlewick Press on Vimeo.

Straw House, Wood House, Brick House, Blow – Doom With a View Commercial from Candlewick Press on Vimeo.

Straw House, Wood House, Brick House, Blow – Toy Farm Commercial from Candlewick Press on Vimeo.

Also, you can download Toy Farm (Straw House) for free from Amazon for your own sample of these novellas.  And last, but certainly not least, the good folks at Candlewick are providing a copy for me to giveaway.  Just leave a comment below and you’ll be entered to win!  Contest closes Saturday, October 29.

Review Excerpts: “[The] novellas riff on influences as varied as The Wizard of Oz, Mad Max, and the sardonic Death of Pratchett’s Discworld…Strong and assured, these stories seamlessly merge different styles, teasing out and playing with readers’ assumptions about how westerns, fantasy and fairy tales work…provocative and deeply satisfying.”–Kirkus Reviews

Reviewed from publisher provided advanced copy.  Amazon Affiliate: If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

Plot Summary:  Sherlockian and minor researcher Harold White is thrilled to be inducted into the Baker Street Irregulars.  And then a real-life murder mystery worthy of Holmes himself lands in his lap–a prominent Doyle scholar is dead after announcing he has found a long missing diary of Doyle.  Harold and his encyclopedic knowledge of Holmes is on the case, criss crossing the Atlantic in hopes of finding the diary and the killer.  Unless someone else gets there first…

Critical Analysis:  I liked but did not love this book.  I found the beginning at the convention to be wonderful, and the end with the solution and denouement also well done.  I liked the character of Harold, but I thought the story dragged quite a bit in the middle.   The character of Harold is quite endearing as are all the details from Holmes stories.  I felt like there was too much of Harold and the female journalist and not enough else.  The parallel story with Doyle and Bram Stoker held my interest a little more, I enjoyed the details of the Suffuragists and the writing and theater scenes of the time, but left me thinking what I really want is a mystery series featuring Stoker.  That sounds like fun to me.  I will most likely read the next in the series to see how it fares.

Review Excerpts: “Moore’s debut cleverly sets an accidental investigator on the track of an old document within the world of Sherlock Holmes buffs, though the results may please those with only a superficial knowledge of the great detective.”–Publisher’s Weekly

“The problem with Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories is that there aren’t enough of them. Fans try to fill the gap with spin-offs, some of which work better than others. This engaging riff on the familiar themes by first-novelist Moore is one of the best.”–Booklist

“…Moore does an excellent job of making his characters and settings feel real, using his thorough knowledge of the Holmes stories to good effect. Given the enduring popularity of Sherlock Holmes, this title is an excellent choice for public libraries and historical mystery fans…”–Library Journal

“While occasionally heavy-handed and coincidental, Moore’s fiction provides a shrewd take on the noted author and his legendary scion.”–Kirkus Reviews

Reviewed from public library copy.  Amazon Affiliate: If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

Plot Summary:  Teens Keri, Janna and Sione have something in common.  All had an older brother who committed suicide.  Janna tells Keri she and summer fling Sione think it might have been murder, with a pattern of deaths stretching back for years.  They try and catch the person responsible, but when they get close, strange and dangerous things start to happen.  Will they stop the killer from striking again?  Or end up victims themselves?

Critical Analysis:  I have a hard time writing about a book like this, as I don’t want to give too much away, so here goes nothing.

I hesitate to call this novel paranormal.  For me, as of late, that term invokes visions of vampires, werewolves and ghosts in a sort of other world that might look like our world but is different.  Healey instead gives the reader something real.  Real feelings both on the part of the main characters and the secondary ones.  Grief and fear and a need to do something, to take control.   Human feelings and motives that drive actions both good and bad.  This reality adds a layer of fear and suspense and emotion to the events as they unfold.  This story, the setting, and the characters as so well realized that days after finishing the book, I can see it in my mind, playing like a movie.  (It would be an excellent teen horror movie I think.)

Readalikes:  I was reminded of Shirley Jackson’s short story, The Lottery and of Margo Lanagan’s Singing My Sister Down.

Review Excerpts:  ”[A]n intense and powerful novel that explores the effect of suicide on families….skillfully keeps her characters on an emotional roller-coaster even as they deal with physical threats. The climax delivers a gut punch that only underscores the sensitivity of the subject matter (without lessening the thrill at all).”–Publisher’s Weekly

“Healey has got a whopper of a concept here, and strong main characters to make the most of it. It is easy to identify with at least one of the trio—shattered Keri, lovely Janna, soulful Sione—and get swept up in the mystery that surrounds them as they work to protect Takeshi and Aroha, who are endearing.”–VOYA

“Told in alternating chapters by the teens, the story unfolds at an even pace, with the characters developing into fully realized and distinctly different personalities. Healey merges Maori and Samoan words and cultural influences throughout the text. A good choice for teens who prefer their fantasies mixed with more realism.”–School Library Journal

“…Healey (Guardian of the Dead, 2010) seamlessly integrates noir and fantasy tropes to explore issues of suicide, trust, sexuality, race, insecurity and free will in a way that feels fresh.”–Kirkus Reviews

Reviewed from publisher provided advanced copy.  Amazon Affiliate: If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

Wow this is a busy week.  First Mystery Series Week, and now Great Books.  According to the website, “Great Books Week 2011 is honoring Great Expectations in its 150th anniversary year.”  They suggest all kinds of activities surrounding the book, including reading it online, watching the 1946 movie, and participating in their blog challenges.

I first read Great Expectations in maybe 3rd (?) grade in a paperback adaption from the Great Illustrated Classics series.  I had received a set for Christmas and felt rather grown up to read the classics.  (Nowadays I am torn–a part of me wants to say read the original!  But then, I read the adaption first and still went on to read and enjoy the full version of this and many others later.)  I remember reading the full novel in 9th grade Honors English.  It was a perfect kind of story for teenagers.  I think if I were to read it again now, I might feel differently.

Matter of fact, for anyone interested in the classics, I highly recommend finding audio versions.  I spent one summer listening to Pride and Prejudice on my mp3 player.  Austen’s writing (especially the dialogue) really came alive.  So I am off to my public library site to see if they have Great Expectations for me to download.  You can see what your library has as well.

Amazon Affiliate: If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

Bibliography: Pearce, Jackson. (2011). Sweetly. New York: Little Brown Young Readers. ISBN: 978-0316068659

Plot Summary:  As a child, Gretchen all but watched as her twin sister was taken by a witch in the woods.  Brother Ansel could do nothing either.  They kept waiting for the witch to return for them.  Many years later,  their stepmother kicked them out and they got in their car and drove, and drove and drove until it died outside of Live Oak, South Carolina.  Young and beautiful, candy maker Sophia invites them to stay, then keeps finding tasks for Ansel to do to keep them around.  The witch won’t find them here, or will she?  Local Samuel tells Gretchen of something that lurks in the woods and makes young girls disappear after the chocolate festival.  Could it be after her?  But this time, Gretchen is not going to run, but stand and fight.  The more Gretchen learns, the more afraid she becomes of discovering who the real monster is.

Critical Analysis:  I actually liked this much more than Sisters Red.  The problem I had with Sisters Red was that the book focused on the three characters and really no one else.  This made it hard for the characters to grow or change, and in places was to be honest a bit slow and boring.  Characters need other characters to interact with, they need to be out in the world.  I think Sweetly expands the picture, adding more primary and secondary players to the mix.  It feels more real, like a time and place and people that you might meet in the South.  I also find this loss and fear to be more primal.  The idea that something is lurking in the woods and the only reason it doesn’t have you yet is because it hasn’t caught you feels very much like an underlying theme from any number of traditional fairy tales.  And while I see many call this a reconstruction of the original tale (Hansel and Gretel) for me it is actually much closer to a retelling or re imagining and that works for me.

Review Excerpts: “The story revisits several themes…including sibling bonds and betrayals, the loss of childhood innocence, and the sharp teeth of the big, bad world. Gretchen is a more nuanced character …and her relationship with Ansel doesn’t suffer quite as much from the trials they face together.”–Publisher’s Weekly

“This is more of a mash-up of the fairy tale and some recent best sellers than a reframing of the story in a deep Southern setting, and Pearce’s writing is too long on breathlessness and suppressed anguish and too short on actual plot. Will any of this pull readers in? Make them want to read 300 pages? Highly unlikely.”–School Library Journal

Reviewed from publisher provided advanced copy.  Amazon Affiliate: If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

Plot Summary: Basketball star Brenda Slaughter is as beautiful as she is tough.  Twenty years ago, Brenda’s mother disappeared, and just as she is set to join the women’s pro basketball scene, her father disappears too. She reluctantly agrees to accept sports agent Myron Bolitar’s protection and help.  Despite Myron’s long time girl friend, they discover their mutual interest might be more than professional.  But nothing comes easy, and there are secrets and lies some people will kill to keep hidden.

Critical Analysis:  I can’t remember which librarian friend recommended the Myron books to me, but I am glad she did.  The mystery or problem at the center of the story is always complicated and suspenseful.  Each book focuses on a different client and often a different sport.  But what makes me return is the characters–Myron, Win, Esperanza, Big Cindy, Myron’s parents.  These people love each other, would do anything for each other and often crack wise and make jokes to cut the tension of high stress situations.

The BEST books of the series so far have been the personal ones, the ones that feature Myron directly in some way.  Fade Away had Myron returning to the professional basketball world as an undercover investigator and revealed what really happened to end his professional sports career, but this one is even more intimate.  With Brenda, he gets a glimpse of the life he longs for.  I recommend this series not only for sports lovers, but for fans of buddy mysteries and humor.  I think the series is also very teen friendly.

Review Excerpts:  ”Standard plotting, then, but authentic conversation, colorful characters, and exciting New York and New Jersey surrounds more than compensate. Strongly recommended.”–Library Journal

“Undaunted, Myron and his Spenser-inspired entourage…take on every soul in New Jersey with a gun, a bank account, and a bad attitude, and uncover a satisfyingly complex tangle of skullduggery. Could Myron, who pushes his wisecracking charm hard, be any more tough and adorable? “–Kirkus Reviews

“[R]ealistic portrayal of the contemporary sports world while dishing up a bit of murder and mayhem. Bolitar is a solid protagonist who is plenty tough but also smart enough to accept his shortcomings.”–Booklist

Reviewed from public library audio book.  Amazon Affiliate: If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.