Imaginary Girls ~ Nova Ren Suma

Chloe's older sister, Ruby, is the girl everyone looks to and longs for, who can't be captured or caged. When a night with Ruby's friends goes horribly wrong and Chloe discovers the dead body of her classmate London Hayes left floating in the reservoir, Chloe is sent away from town and away from Ruby.

But Ruby will do anything to get her sister back, and when Chloe returns to town two years later, deadly surprises await. As Chloe flirts with the truth that Ruby has hidden deeply away, the fragile line between life and death is redrawn by the complex bonds of sisterhood. {from book cover}

When I first heard about this book, I couldn’t wait to read it. I mean, it has some of my favorite story elements, plus the early buzz about it was great, so I figured it would be a slam dunk for me. Then I read it and… it just wasn’t.

I feel bad saying that because, looking at the book, I can see that it is amazingly well-written, the structure is superb, the characters are extremely well-developed. In short, my problem with it was not with the technical side of the book. Instead, I lacked a strong emotional connection to the story. Okay, this could be because I read this very early in the first trimester of my pregnancy, and so it’s possible that my fatigue is mostly to blame for this. Perhaps I was just too tired to really connect with the characters. Instead of finding Ruby fascinating, I just found her to be annoying, which then made Chloe and the people of the town annoying to me just for finding her to be this magnetic personality (plus other things that I won’t mention as they are spoilery).
But – BUT! – despite my issues with the story, what I keep going back to is that the writing is spectacular. Although I clearly found the characters less than impressive, the way the story unfolds worked for me. The scenes were so vivid that I felt like I was there watching everything happen before my eyes.
I wanted to love this book, but in the end I just didn’t. Had I read it at another point in my life, I may have had an entirely different reaction to it. But the truth is that our opinions of books (and everything else) are influenced by external circumstances; I can only give my initial impression. Maybe at some point I will pick this book up again and be singing a completely different tune.

Published: 2011 by Dutton
Pages: 352
Source: Publisher

A Very Special Waiting on Wednesday

Girl Wonder ~ Alexa Martin

As if transferring senior year weren't hard enough, Charlotte Locke has been bumped to lower level classes at her new school. With no friends, a terrible math SAT score, and looming college application deadlines, the future is starting to seem like an oncoming train for which she has no ticket.
Then Amanda enters her orbit like a hot-pink meteor, offering Charlotte a ticket to something else: popularity. Amanda is fearless, beautiful, brilliant, and rich. As her new side kick, Charlotte is brought into the elite clique of the debate team—and closer to Neal, Amanda's equally brilliant friend and the most perfect boy Charlotte has ever seen.
But just when senior year is looking up, Charlotte’s life starts to crumble. The more things heat up between Charlotte and Neal, the more Neal wants to hide their relationship. Is he ashamed? Meanwhile, Amanda is starting to act strangely competitive, and she's keeping a secret Charlotte doesn't want to know. {from book cover}

I’m not sure exactly what it was about this book, but whenever I read the summary of it for some reason I pictured it as being a lower YA, light read. Whoa, was I wrong. Like, completely and totally wrong. Charlotte’s new life in Seattle is filled with drama – there’s nothing light about it.
The story started out a little slow for me, beginning with a story of a ten-year-old Charlotte and her best friend, playing pretend at school, on the day she’s informed she has a learning disability. It wasn’t the most captivating beginning. But once the present-day, "Charlotte Starts Her Senior Year In A Scary New School" story started, I started to settle into the story. From the beginning, it’s obvious that Charlotte, as one character tells her, prefers beauty over substance. She’s quick to judge people based on her impressions of them based on little more than their looks, so of course she’s immediately taken in by “Girl Wonder” Amanda. Soon she’s fully submerged in the murky waters of Amanda’s world, which includes getting face time with her crush Neal.
This was a stressful read for me, as most stories of this nature tend to be. I hate to see a relatively nice (if somewhat superficial) girl get screwed over by people she’s so desperate to impress. This is mostly because I don’t usually find those people all that worthy of trying to impress in the first place. But Charlotte’s dealing with a lot in her life, with academic issues and family issues mounting, so of course she’s going to do what she can to keep the attention of the people she worked so hard to get. It’s painful to watch her as she spirals into a girl she doesn’t even recognize.
My favorite character, by far, is Charlotte’s younger brother. He’s kind of a genius, which she hates, but he’s the perfect character to bring some lighter moments into the story. Their relationship is typical of the sibling relationship in that they both hate and love each other (maybe Charlotte shows a bit more of the hate side than James Henry).
While I won’t say this is my favorite book that deals with the idea of trying to fit in and being betrayed in the process, the emotions it evokes are very real and very powerful.

Published: 2011 by Hyperion
Pages: 304
Source: Publisher / NetGalley

Mini-reviews (2) Sequoyah Edition

Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan

I love Blake as a narrator! He’s funny, yet introspective enough to stop and really think about what’s going on. Madigan’s characters are fleshed out in such a way that, though I didn’t really like some of them in the beginning, they really grew on me. The family dynamics explored, not only in Blake’s family but also in those of his girlfriend Shannon and his friend Marissa, show the varied ways we relate to family whether outsiders agree with us or not. I closed the book wishing I could know what happened next for Blake and company, because I cared about them all.

Into the Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern

Reading a summary of this book, it could seem that it would be about how to throw off the judgments of other people and just be friends with whoever you want. And to some extent, it is. But after reading it, I think it’s mostly about feeling comfortable with who you are. Jessie struggles with becoming friends with the Dungeons and Dragons crew because she knows people see them as inferior and she doesn’t want to be put in that group with them. With a story like that, it could easily fall into the preachy camp, but it doesn’t. It’s funny, well-written, and extremely honest.

Reality Check by Peter Abrahams

This book takes three things I love and combines them into one book: football, mysteries, boarding school. With a combination like that, I expected to love it, but, alas, I did not. The mystery aspect of the book was strong – which is good since that’s kind of the focus of the story – but Cody never really captured me as a main character. Of course I wanted him to solve the mystery so he could resolve some things with Clea, but the book ends so suddenly I don’t feel that I got that. The investigation into Clea’s disappearance is well-developed, but everything else felt lacking to me.

Mini-reviews (1)

Life is crazy right now. As proof, here are some mini-reviews for books that I not only read months ago, but wrote reviews for months ago. Months. I would've loved to write full-length reviews for these, but I just couldn't squeeze in the time to write any more than this. Clearly I can barely find the time to post them.

Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins
I loved Hex Hall, so I was hoping that this book would live up to my high expectations. It was so incredible that it blasted right through my high expectations! Hawkins packed so much into this book and I think it’s even better than the first. And once again, the ending leaves me wanting so much more. There were parts of the book that I wanted to be developed just a little bit more, but those were secondary plots, so the fact that they weren’t as developed didn’t matter to the greater story. I now love Sophie even more than I did after book one. If you haven't picked up this series, you're missing out!
{Published: 2011 by Disney • Hyperion Books / Pages: 359 / Source: purchased}

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
I’ve read a lot of books that are written as journal entries, and usually I end up thinking, Wow, these people put such detail in their journals. I’m a pretty detail-oriented person, but my journals are not nearly this detailed. With Miranda’s journal, I actually felt like I was reading the journal of a sixteen-year-old girl. Sometimes the things she wrote about are boring, because her life was boring that day. And the dystopian world that occurs after the asteroid hits the moon is one that I can actually see happening. (I did question the fact that scientists hadn’t at least considered the possibility that the asteroid could have devastating effects, but I was able to put that aside.)
{Published: 2006 by Harcourt Children's Books / Pages: 337 / Source: library}

Where I Belong by Gwendolyn Heasley
You know those stories where the rich girl is so snobby in the beginning, and then something happens to knock her down, and by the end of the story she’s changed so much that she doesn’t even care that she lost everything she once cared about? This is not that story. Instead, this is more realistic. Corrinne hates that she has to move to Texas, and when she gets there it seems as though nothing changes her. But then a friend comes to visit and she realizes that she really has changed. It’s nothing drastic, like she’s willing to turn her back on her Manhattan lifestyle if given the choice, but the changes are believable and make a difference in her life. And instead of a boy being the catalyst for realizing what needs improvement in her life, it’s her family and friends who help her see her true self.
{Published: 2011 by HarperTeen / Pages: 289 / Source: publicist}

Guest Post: Holly Schindler

Holly Schindler is the author of A BLUE SO DARK, which I love, and this year's PLAYING HURT (which I also love but haven't yet reviewed). Chelsea, one of PLAYING HURT's main characters, was the star of her high school basketball team until an injury ended her season early. Although I myself am not a star athlete (in any way, shape, or form), my life revolves around basketball for about nine months out of the year. I asked Holly to share about how basketball became such a big part of Chelsea's story.

Chelsea, Sports, And Me

I’m no athlete.  At all.  It’s a little pitiful, actually, how clumsy I am. 

I chose to write about athletes in a roundabout way.  The first draft of PLAYING HURT didn’t feature the sports subplot at all.  When I drafted PLAYING HURT, I wanted to write a story about learning the difference between loving someone (how Chelsea feels about Gabe) and being truly IN love with someone (how she feels about Clint).  In the original book, Chelsea went on vacation, and found herself falling for her guide, Clint, in a way she had never fallen for her boyfriend at home…

I knew something was missing, but just wasn’t sure what…After selling A BLUE SO DARK, I re-read PLAYING HURT (which was then called SUMMER FLING).  I realized what was missing was backstory…as I read, I was really struck by how athletic Chelsea seemed…hiking, fishing, all existed in the original draft—so I started thinking, “Well, what if she IS and athlete—then I thought, “What if she WAS an athlete?” 

Even as I was realizing Chelsea was telling me she wanted to be an athlete, I still felt a little iffy about it.  I wondered—could I pull off an athletic backstory?  Would I be able to write the emotions / sensations of playing ball in a believable way?

Which is really the reason I chose to make Chelsea a basketball player.  In some ways, it’s the most natural fit in this area—at one point, the Missouri State University Lady Bears basketball team was really the most popular sports team in the area.  And I do remember with fondness when the Lady Bears made it to the Final Four when I was in grad school…

And of all the informal neighborhood driveway-sports, I did play a little basketball—pitifully, of course.  But I did have a hoop at the end of my driveway that didn’t go completely unused.  So I felt I could pull that off better than any other…

It’s amazing the places your characters will want to go, though, if you just listen to them.  PLAYING HURT was truly the first time I let my characters tell me who they were, instead of the other way around…and I’m so, so glad I did.

Be sure to check out PLAYING HURT, and don't forget about Holly's debut novel, A BLUE SO DARK.

Star basketball player Chelsea “Nitro” Keyes had the promise of a full ride to college—and everyone’s admiration in her hometown.  But everything changed senior year, when she took a horrible fall during a game. Now a metal plate holds her together and she feels like a stranger in her own family.

As a graduation present, Chelsea’s dad springs for a three-week summer “boot camp” program at a northern Minnesota lake resort.  There, she’s immediately drawn to her trainer, Clint, a nineteen-year-old ex-hockey player who’s haunted by his own traumatic past.  As they grow close, Chelsea is torn between her feelings for Clint and her loyalty to her devoted boyfriend back home.  Will an unexpected romance just end up causing Chelsea and Clint more pain—or finally heal their heartbreak?

Fifteen-year-old Aura Ambrose has been hiding a secret. Her mother, a talented artist and art teacher, is slowly being consumed by schizophrenia, and Aura has been her sole caretaker ever since Aura’s dad left them. Convinced that “creative” equals crazy, Aura shuns her own artistic talent. But as her mother sinks deeper into the darkness of mental illness, the hunger for a creative outlet draws Aura toward the depths of her imagination. Just as desperation threatens to swallow her whole, Aura discovers that art, love, and family are profoundly linked—and together may offer an escape from her fears.

Find Holly online:

website / blog / twitter / YA Outside the Lines blog / Smack Dab in the Middle blog

Waiting on Wednesday (40)

Waiting On Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

 

Don't Breathe A Word ~ Holly Cupala

Release Date: October 18, 2011

 

Joy Delamere is suffocating.
From asthma, which has nearly claimed her life. From her parents, who will do anything to keep that from happening. From delectably dangerous Asher, who is smothering her from the inside out.
Joy can take his words—tender words, cruel words—until the night they go too far.
Now, Joy will leave everything behind to find the one who has offered his help, a homeless boy called Creed. She will become someone else. She will learn to survive. She will breathe…if only she can get to Creed before it’s too late.
Set against the gritty backdrop of Seattle’s streets and a cast of characters with secrets of their own, Holly Cupala’s powerful new novel explores the subtleties of abuse, the meaning of love, and how far a girl will go to discover her own strength. {from Goodreads}
 
I ♥ Holly, so of course I had to spotlight this book after the cover was revealed yesterday.  This is one of my most anticipated reads of 2011, and I can't wait to get my hands on it.  If you haven't read Holly's debut novel, Tell Me A Secret, you should do that immediately.