August Genreflecting: Review: Secret Keeper by Mitali Perkins

When her father loses his job and leaves India to look for work in America, Asha Gupta, her older sister, Reet, and their mother must wait with Baba’s brother and his family, as well as their grandmother, in Calcutta. Uncle is welcoming, but in a country steeped in tradition, the three women must abide by his decisions. Asha knows this is temporary—just until Baba sends for them. But with scant savings and time passing, the tension builds: Ma, prone to spells of sadness, finds it hard to submit to her mother- and sister-in-law; Reet’s beauty attracts unwanted marriage proposals; and Asha's promise to take care of Ma and Reet leads to impulsive behavior. 

What follows is a firestorm of rebuke—and secrets revealed! Asha’s only solace is her rooftop hideaway, where she pours her heart out in her diary, and where she begins a clandestine friendship with Jay Sen, the boy next door. Asha can hardly believe that she, and not Reet, is the object of Jay’s attention. Then news arrives about Baba . . . and Asha must make a choice that will change their lives forever.

From Goodreads

Secret Keeper was unlike any other book I've read. Set in the tumultuous times of 1970's India, we follow the story Asha, her older sister Reet, and their mother as they adjust to life with their in-laws and without their father. Suffocating under the oppressive and strict rule of her Uncle, Aunt, & Grandmother, Asha escapes into her journal writing on the roof and by pushing boundaries. Not comfortable with giving up her liberty, Asha clings to the hope that the day that her father sends for his family will come soon.

Things don't go nearly as smoothly and Asha's patience begins to run out. With options dwindling by the day, she chooses to take matters into her own hands as much as possible. In a setting where her opinion is of little to no value and her place is decided for her, will she ever learn to fit in or will she have to fight for every little thing her father always wanted for her and their family?

I was completely blown away by this book! Every time I thought I knew what was going to happen next, I found myself shocked by what actually happened. It was in those moments that I realized that I had been conditioned to expect certain events to occur in my books. Which if they were set in modern day (or even historical) America, I might have been right. The cultural differences really made this book stand out to me. While some might write off Asha as weak or submissive, I think her actions in this book show great courage when viewed in context. 

There was so much more going on under the surface of this book. It was as if every action or event had a double meaning, the meaning for the story and the meaning for society. I think it was beautifully written with just enough contextual clues to give the reader an overview of the historical and cultural importance of events transpiring without bogging down the storyline. 

Most importantly, I think this book is a gateway book. I was so engrossed in it that it made me want to read more books like it. These can be the best way to meet new cultures and experience life in someone else's shoes. This book did an incredible job showcasing how teenagers in all societies are really the same because they struggle with themselves and their place no matter what situation they are in. I think I prefer this kind of book that follows someone within their own culture because I think it presents a more multi-dimensional presentation of the society without focusing on the differences between groups.

I hope you'll all take this long weekend (for those of us in the US celebrating Labor Day on Monday) to expand your reading horizons if you haven't done so recently. It's really worthwhile.

ARC Review: Dirty Little Secret by Jennifer Echols

Bailey wasn’t always a wild child and the black sheep of her family. She used to play fiddle and tour the music circuit with her sister, Julie, who sang and played guitar. That ended when country music execs swooped in and signed Julie to a solo deal. Never mind that Julie and Bailey were a duet, or that Bailey was their songwriter. The music scouts wanted only Julie, and their parents were content to sit by and let her fulfill her dreams while Bailey’s were hushed away.

Bailey has tried to numb the pain and disappointment over what could have been. And as Julie’s debut album is set to hit the charts, her parents get fed up with Bailey’s antics and ship her off to granddad’s house in Nashville. Playing fiddle in washed-up tribute groups at the mall, Bailey meets Sam, a handsome and oh-so-persuasive guitarist with his own band. He knows Bailey’s fiddle playing is just the thing his band needs to break into the industry. But this life has broken Bailey’s heart once before. She isn’t sure she’s ready to let Sam take her there again…

From Goodreads

There are a few names that will get my attention when it comes to books. Jennifer Echols is one of the fastest ways to get me to focus on what you're saying. Her books are just so real. She does contemporary romance, almost always with a theme, unlike anybody else. Such a Rush, Forget You, & Love Story are some of my favorites by her. I think part of the draw to read her work stems from the memorable situations & characters she creates. Like I said, there is always a theme in her books. Planes, writing, and music have all taken center stage in her books allowing a wonderful medium in which to create the ideal situation for her stories.

Bailey's story is unique because she's not struggling to prove herself; she is an accomplished musician. She's struggling to create her own self rather than the self that everyone is trying to thrust upon her. Her parents expect one thing, her sister another, & the new band she joined definitely has other opinions in regards to her actions. She has to decide what's best for her & it's clashing with her relationships.

Sam is a fairly typical wannabe-megastar musician except that he's almost as conflicted as Bailey. While he has a clear sight on his ultimate goal, he's conflicted about the best way to get there; not who he has to go through, or what it's going to cost him, he simply knows he has to get a recording contract. He sees an opportunity in Bailey that he didn't necessarily plan on, but the disharmony between his heart's desire & his career goal are striking all the wrong chords with everyone.

Naturally this book is set in Nashville as it is about country music. I really like the breath of fresh air with the musically style. By throwing in the curve balls with the band's musical stylings I think Jennifer has done a fabulous jobs blending classic country with modern music. I would LOVE to have actually been able to hear some of these renditions. 

The only think that I can think of that would have made this book even better would be some closer glimpses at Bailey's life between the announcement of her sister's contract & the accident that lands her in her grandfather's care for the summer. We get some big details that are pertinent to plot development, but I think there could have been some more set up just so that the reader is better able to more closely identify with the protagonist.

While there is only one actual steamy romance scene, plenty of sexual acts are alluded to between Bailey & several guys. The same can be said for Sam & his girlfriends. For what they are, I don't think they're any more risque than you might read elsewhere in YA. There is also small mentions of drugs & drinking and driving, but they are used in a cautionary way. I liked how she handled these situations because sometimes when I hear that a book is about the music scene all I can think about it sex, drugs, & rock 'n roll. This was not the case in this book and I loved it!

Dare You To by Katie McGarry review

Ryan lowers his lips to my ear. "Dance with me, Beth."

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

"I dare you..."

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

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

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

From Goodreads

All Beth wants to do is live a nice quiet life with her mom. Too bad nobody else seems to want that. After one too many run-ins with her mother's on again, off again, drug dealing, abusive boyfriend, Beth finds herself sentenced to a new life with her estranged uncle. To make matters worse, the cocky jock who tried to pick her up at the Taco Bell is to be her uncle-approved guide in her new town and high school. 

Ryan's life isn't nearly as hard as Beth's, but it's nowhere near as perfect as everyone believes. With an absent older brother and feuding, manipulative parents, baseball is Ryan's only hope for escape. A golden recommendation from Beth's uncle would clench Ryan's hopes of getting drafted into the majors, but Beth's different than any girl Ryan's ever dealt with. It's a good thing he loves a challenge.

Angst, attitude, and attention are the three big starter elements to this unlikely love story. This book is about so much more than their romantic love, it's about love in all its forms. So many relationships in this book are strained and tested because of the different kinds of love that we choose to accept. Rather fast-paced, but believable, Dare You To has continued to further my belief that Katie McGarry knows how to write a  moving and spirited book about love trying to overcome the most difficult of obstacles.

Beth doesn't really stand out to me as a unique character. She's a rebellious teenager, with a dark family secret, and an alcoholic, absentee mother. She rebels in the typical fashions, but has found companionship among similarly discarded teens. Naturally when she is given the opportunity to move to a new life and start over, she resists. What makes her different than what I expect most characters to do is that she never actually accepts her new life. She doesn't gradually forget about her former existence, it taunts her every waking moment. Beth isn't ready to let go & it causes lots of hiccups in her new town.

To me, Ryan is the stand out character in this story. There are so many things about his make-up that aren't typical, but that when put together in him, make him all the more desirable. The foundation of his moral compass is pure & strong. I didn't think there were many guys like him around in YA today. You'll have to read the book to fully appreciate & understand what I mean.

The background characters were actually quite active in the story. At least 75% of them directly contributed to the way the story progressed. Without their actions, so many things wouldn't have happened. I do wish we had seen more of Beth's uncle, but that's just my preference. I think Katie has done an exemplary job of creating some of my favorite YA contemporary romance because of its warmth and credibility. I really look forward to her next work!

ARC graciously provided by Around the World ARC Tours

March Genreflecting: Issues: The Details

Based on the Collins English Dictionary, a subgenre is "a category that is a subdivision of a larger genre." (Source) Issues is quite a broad topic for analysis because of the myriad types of issues that can be faced in any given book. What these books all agree on is the difficulty of the subject matter. That doesn't mean that the subject matter is inappropriate, on the contrary it is usually quite relevant, it's just that the books can take an emotional toll on the reader. Three broad subgenres can be defined as physical/mental/emotional concerns, social concerns, & hard life. 

As listed in Teen Genreflecting (2003), here are some of the most popular topics under these subgenres:

1. Physical/mental/emotional concerns:

• sexual identity
• (terminal) illness
• mental and behavioral problems
• pregnancy

2. Social concerns

• racism
• gangs
• crime & criminals

3. Hard life

• abuse (physical, emotional, sexual)
• "in the system"
• homelessness
• missing & exploited

One of my favorite authors that exemplifies a few of these subgenres is Laurie Halse Anderson. Her books Speak and Wintergirls are shining examples of just how powerfully these books can speak for themselves and the situations they represent. Each character in these novels had to face the reality of their situation and make a choice. Here, Laurie talks about how that happens:

HOW DO YOU THINK THROUGH MAKING A CHARACTER CHANGE OVER THE COURSE OF A NOVEL?

To be honest, I don’t think about it much. I focus on creating situations that force the character out of her comfort zone, raising the emotional stakes as I go along. If I’ve developed conflicts that are organic and in keeping with the character’s world, her response to the conflicts will naturally lead to internal growth.

From Laurie Halse Anderson's FAQs

Nancy Werlin puts her writing choice into a different light in her downloadable guide to The Rules of Survival. She has chosen to give a voice to those who otherwise might be overlooked.

While I was lucky enough to grow up with loving, responsible parents, as an adult I encountered someone like Matt’s mother, Nikki Walsh. I ended up doing a good deal of thinking about what it might be like for a child to be in the power of someone like that. 

The Rules of Survival is "told" by Matthew to his little sister Emmy. This approach was deliberate artistic choice to try to involve the reader more intensely into the story. If "you," hearing the story, are not only yourself but are also a five year old girl...a child in danger...that does things to your emotions as reader that cannot be done when you are reading as an outside observer.

This is a realistic novel. There are children and indeed, adults, who are prey to people like Nikki Walsh. Many readers have written to tell me that they grew up in circumstances like those in the book. It's not always the mother, of course. More often, frankly, it is the father. Sometimes, it is a boyfriend, a husband, or a wife. It might be a sister or brother who terrorizes the family.

Those are just a couple of the hundreds of authors that you can chose to read if you like these types of books. I personally find them arduous, but more rewarding than most of the other things I read. I have to be in a mood to be taken down and brought back up otherwise it just doesn't have the same impact.

How about you? Do you have any favorite authors in these subgenres? Which one do you prefer to read and why? Stick around for my review of Annie on my Mind next Friday!

Perfect by Ellen Hopkins review

Everyone has something, someone, somewhere else that they’d rather be. For four high-school seniors, their goals of perfection are just as different as the paths they take to get there. Cara’s parents’ unrealistic expectations have already sent her twin brother Conner spiraling toward suicide. For her, perfect means rejecting their ideals to take a chance on a new kind of love. Kendra covets the perfect face and body—no matter what surgeries and drugs she needs to get there. To score his perfect home run—on the field and off—Sean will sacrifice more than he can ever win back. And Andre realizes that to follow his heart and achieve his perfect performance, he’ll be living a life his ancestors would never have understood. Everyone wants to be perfect, but when perfection loses its meaning, how far will you go? What would you give up to be perfect? A riveting and startling companion to the bestselling Impulse, Ellen Hopkins's Perfect exposes the harsh truths about what it takes to grow up and grow into our own skins, our own selves.

From Goodreads

This is a companion novel to Impulse & while not necessary to read that one first, it might help some of the relationships presented here make more sense. Just food for thought. :)

These characters overlap all over the place. Cara is the twin sister of Conner (the gunshot suicide attemptee in Impulse) who has her own issues with her perfection-demanding parents & a desperately needy boyfriend. None of that matters to her though when she realizes that what she really needs is to accept herself & forget everyone else who has tried to mold her into their ideal.

Kendra is the girlfriend that Conner dumped & made look like a fool because he was getting it from every woman he could find. She's got it stuck in her head that had she been a perfect enough model that he wouldn't have strayed, so she's taking serious risks in multiple ways to ensure her "future happiness".

Sean is the desperately needy boyfriend of Cara who has their whole future planned out together. He's even basing his college plans on hers & trying to ensure their success by juicing himself into oblivion. Too bad it costs him way more than he bargained for.

Finally we come to Andre who is the son of Kendra's plastic surgeon & the on-again, off-again boyfriend of Kendra's substance-abusing younger sister. He's hiding what he truly desires to do because of what his parents expect of him.

All of this leads to a lot of confusion on the reader's part. As a companion novel I was hoping to see more of the original cast members than in just the final few "chapters" of the book. Worse though was the fact that I felt like I needed a graph to keep up with who was with whom & which person was related to someone else. Needless to say for as little action as seemed to take place, this book had a lot going on.

Enough of the negative though. Ellen Hopkins' poetry has yet to cease amazing me. Her word choice & placement allows the reader to really empathize with the characters in a whole new way. While there was less of an official "poetry fell" to the work this time, the essence was still there. My favorite part of her writing definitely has to be the "hidden" messages in her chapter introductory poems. I always wanted to read those first to see what the character was really trying to say.

The story could be hard to follow at times, but the ending made it worth it. Nothing was tied up in a pretty bow and I think that was the point. None of the issues presented in this book are easily solved & she doesn't sugar-coat that fact. Her books are always a nice dose of reality. There are hard things in this world that everyone is struggling with & teenagers are no exception. If you're a fan, read on. If you haven't enjoyed her work before I strongly suggest starting with Burned or Identical first. I think those are my favorite books so far of those she has written.

Fallout by Ellen Hopkins

Fallout picks up about 18 years after the end of Glass. Kristina is older and has continued her bad habits. So much so that she now has 5 children: Hunter, Autumn, Summer, Donald, and David. This book is told from the alternating point of view of her three oldest children.

Hunter was just an infant when we last saw him, but now he is a 19 year old young man. Raised by Kristina's mother and step-father, he has had a decent life and is currently a radio personality on a local radio station. He's living with his girlfriend and trying to keep his eye on the prize, but he does dabble in weed & other extra-curricular fun. His tumultuous relationship with his birth mother is actual something that gets him into trouble with his girlfriend and alters his future.

Autumn was born of Kristina's relationship with Trey and was given to his father & sister when both of Autumn's parents went to prison. Autumn is a serious teen with OCD & very little social skills. It's always just been her, her aunt, and her grandfather. She's never really branched out much, until Bryce showed up. The new guy in school takes an interest in her like no one else ever has and with her aunt moving on with her life, Autumn will take any kind of attention she can get, at any cost.

Summer was given up by Kristina to the foster system. Having bounced from home to home, she's never really gotten close to anyone. Even her boyfriend Matt is at a distance. All that changes when Matt's best friend confesses his love for her and they start dating. Despite Summer's bouncing from foster home to living with her dad and back into a foster home, they cling to one another. Kyle flirts with the monster, but is determined to keep Summer clean, but when Summer is moved into a foster home far away, this young couple decides to take matters into their own hands.

Three stories, three lives set on their course by their mother's monster addiction.

Fallout is a masterpiece, plain and simple. The format, as always, is poetry and prose, but this time (like in Tricks) it's told in the alternating viewpoints of three individuals. They all have their own tone and their own stories to tell. Each one is unique in that they all had very different experiences as a result of their mother's actions. Their lives are altered by her initial actions. They share feelings of abandonment, resentment, and anger, but each of them focuses more on one of the feelings than the other.

Hunter, Autumn, and Summer, despite their best efforts, all find themselves in a similar situation as Kristina was once in, relating to their own lives. She may not have a significant presence in their existences, but she has certainly laid the foundation for their future behavior. What I really enjoyed reading about was each child's revelation that their mother's life is not their own life. They can be themselves without comparing every action to Kristina's previous actions.

I have to say that I think this is my favorite of her books so far. Burned is a very close second, but it is a definite second. I felt like there was closure with this book and that there is hope for all those involved. A job well done. Enjoy!

Party by Tom Leveen

This was a complicated, interwoven storyline. So that I don't giveaway too much, I'm using the book jacket summary.

It's Saturday night in Santa Barbara and school is done for the year. Everyone is headed to the same party. Or at least it seems that way. The place is packed. The beer is flowing. Simple, right? But for 11 different people the motives are way more complicated. As each character takes a turn and tells his or her story, the eleven individuals intersect, and reconnect, collide, and combine in ways that none of them ever saw coming.

From Goodreads

Whew, that was so much safer than what I originally had written. Party was a fascinating novel. It is told in first person, based on the chapter narrator. There are eleven narrators all giving partial glimpses at this one night. When you piece all their stories together you obtain one cohesive time line of events. Each of these kids represents almost the whole gamut of the teenage years. The parental arguments, the sense of loss, the shyness, the awkwardness, the break-ups, the make-ups, the hook-ups, and everything in between. These eleven kids experience it all in hyperdrive at this one party.

While each character only gets one chapter, I felt like they didn't waste any time getting to the heart of their personalities and issues. You knew from the beginning what was going on in their lives and what their personal focus would be. Even better, are the vignettes we glean from earlier chapters. By the final chapter we have come full circle and see the complete night as a whole.

I think most people can find at least one character they can relate to in this book, whether it's the loner girl with a secret, the uber-responsible friend, the devoutly spiritual, or the conflicted jock. There are attributes in each of them that appeal to the reader in some manner. I personally identified with the responsible friend, although I never attended a party in high school (lame, I know). While not a light, happy read, if you're a fan of no-holds-barred, realistic fiction (along the lines of Going Too Far) then this book is perfectly suited for your tastes.

This book was graciously provided by Around the World Tours.

Waiting on Wednesday: Glimmerglass

Waiting on Wednesday recognizes that we as bookies pine for books. This post is about what I am impatiently waiting for right now. It was started by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

This week's selection is Glimmerglass by Jenna Black and it's set to hit stores May 25th.

Dana Hathaway doesn’t know it yet, but she’s in big trouble. When her alcoholic mom shows up at her voice recital drunk, Dana decides she’s had it with being her mother’s keeper, so she packs her bags and heads to stay with her mysterious father in Avalon: the only place on Earth where the regular, everyday world and the magical world of Faerie intersect. But from the moment Dana sets foot in Avalon, everything goes wrong, for it turns out she isn't just an ordinary teenage girl—she's a Faeriewalker, a rare individual who can travel between both worlds, and who can bring magic into the human world and technology into Faerie.

Soon, she finds herself tangled up in a cutthroat game of Fae politics. Someone's trying to kill her, and everyone wants something from her, even her newfound friends and family. Suddenly, life with her alcoholic mom doesn't sound half bad, and Dana would do anything to escape Avalon and get back home. Too bad both her friends and her enemies alike are determined not to let her go . . .

From Goodreads

Faerie books can be very predictable and I'm kind of excited to see how this one will turn out. It kind of sounds like 13 Treasures (which I rather liked) and I hope it can live up to that comparison. Dana has the potential to be a very strong character, maybe a little power-drunk at times, and I'm looking forward to seeing which path she chooses. So, what are you waiting on?

Extra, extra: what do you think?

An interesting event occurred on Maggie Stiefvater's blog and I am looking for some extra analyses.

Maggie received a public note on a networking site asking for homework help (asking to be reminded of the ending of Shiver for a project) that was due the next day. She posted the note on her blog as an example of the dozens of notes she receives asking for homework help and her annoyance at these shortcut-seeking actions. In the comments, lots of people chipped in about the laziness of students and the ridiculous idea that an author should help you with your homework.

Well apparently things got a little heavy-handed and it turned out that the inquirer in question was only a middle-schooler who did not realize his/her error. Maggie has since taken down the post and reassured everyone that "poking at the ignorant and innocent is not amusing like poking at the lazy and indolent." I believe that to be a very diplomatic way of saying, "play nice with those who actually try versus those who don't try."

Now it seems, some fans are revoking their fandom claiming that she is cruel for ridiculing a poor student and that she should apologize for her behavior. They also claim that she is not being a very good role model for the young adults that she writes for.

Personally, I think she has every right to do what she pleases. If it had been a confidential letter I would say otherwise, but this person made it public on their own and it ended up becoming a case of being in the "wrong place at the wrong time." This student got caught in an author's justifiable frustration and annoyance due to a constant bombardment of requests for help that is not really warranted. I believe that Maggie has done nothing to be sorry for and that she reacted accordingly. Some of the comments (which were also taken down) seemed to rant and rave a bit much on behalf of Maggie and bordered on crossing a line, but I don't think that was Maggie's intention.

So now that you have the details, what do you think? Do you think Maggie's actions were inappropriate? What about the commenters? Should they get off scot-free, while Maggie is taking some mean comments? Also, do you think that this is a wider issue of social media and networking? Let the comments/ideas roll!