Have Fun Storming the Castle: As You Wish

As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes
Touchstone, 2014

I'm pretty sure I was in junior high the first time I ever saw The Princess Bride. Flipping through the channels, I came across this movie that was so wildly unlike anything I'd ever seen before. Sword fighting pirates. A miracle wizard. An actual giant. A princess who can't catch a break. A prince who is a huge jerk. And True Love. I wasn't quite sure of what to make of it, but with its wonderful satire and incredible quotability, how could I not fall in love?

Such were the thoughts of so many others who have come to find this film over the years. The movie's star Cary Elwes (Westley the Farm Boy) takes readers behind the scenes of this beloved movie, one he and so many others in the production are still proud to have been a part of over 25 years later. But while making this movie was the job of a lifetime, it wasn't always smooth sailing. Elwes had a few injuries over the course of the production. The sword fighting training was grueling. And then there was the pesky English weather to contend with. But as anyone who has seen this movie can attest to, the results on the screen were pure magic.

The biggest problem, the reason this film was initially considered a bit of a flop was because the marketing department at Fox had the same reaction I had the first time I saw it: what kind of story is it exactly? As a result, the movie did very modestly at the box office, but it turns out it was only "mostly dead" - thanks to the rise of the VCR, the movie grew to become a beloved classic.

For fans of the movies and people who enjoy DVD extras, this book is a must-read. Elwes does a great job of including the thoughts of others who worked on the film and covers everything from his audition to the cast's reunion for the movie's 25th anniversary. This book was also a remarkable insight into Andre the Giant who unfortunately passed away in the early 90s but was an incredibly thoughtful and kind man who was often misunderstood due to his size. I read this whole book over the course of a gray winter day - the type of day usually perfect for a Princess Bride viewing. I wanted to know more about this wonderful movie, and Elwes was more than happy to oblige.

As Westley would say, "As you wish."

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!

Website for the book
Cary Elwes on Twitter

The End?: Vivian Apple at the End of the World

Vivian Apple at the End of the World by Katie Coyle (Vivian Apple #1)
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015

*ARC Provided by the publisher at ALA Midwinter 2015 - Thank you! This in no way impacted my opinions of this book.*

Ever since the evangelical Church of America announced three years ago the date of the rapture, life has gotten strange for Vivian Apple. Her parents become Believers (as do thousands of others), but Vivian just doesn't buy it. However when the day comes and her parents are gone, maybe it really is the end of the world. She eventually grows restless and sets out on a cross-country road trip with her best friend Harp and the mysterious Peter, desperate to find the truth.

A recent pick for the Tumblr Reblog Bookclub, Vivian Apple has been all over my social media feeds lately so I was glad at the opportunity to pick it up for myself. In her debut novel, Coyle keeps the pace of the story clipping along and presents a diverse cast that keep readers thinking. The story really gets interesting once Vivian and friends set out on their road trip, but it does take a while to get there.

Coyle takes on a lot of big questions that hit particularly close to home to me. Vivian sees the world, especially post-Rapture, as black and white: there are the Believers and the non-Believers. However, she her categories don't allow for nuance, for differences. While it's true that the Church of America has taken over many aspects of everyday life, it's not the only religion that exists or that people believe in anymore. This is best showed in a scene in which Vivian is critical of a former teacher whom she looks up to and her parents for being Catholic - to her, believing in God at all puts an individual in the evil Believer camp, fanatical and closed minded, never to be trusted. She firmly does not believe in any sort of higher power, which is perfectly fine. But to me, Vivian is just as closed minded as those she criticizes when she refuses to consider that faith and religion has never been so cut and dry as she imagines it to be.

So I do have some objections to Vivian and how she tries to divide the world. It also took a while for the story to gain some steam, but eventually it got there. All in all, I like that this book challenged me. I like that it made me think, that it didn't shy away from big, often taboo topics. I like that most of the characters felt fully formed and that the situations, for the most part, felt realistic. I'd even be interested in borrowing the sequel from my local library when it comes out eventually.

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!

Katie Coyle on Twitter
Katie Coyle on Tumblr

Science and Society: Dove Arising

Dove Arising by Karen Bao (Dove Chronicles #1)
Viking, Expected Release Date: February 24, 2015

*ARC Provided by the publisher at ALA Midwinter 2015 - Thank you! This in no way impacted my opinions of this book.*

Phaet (pronounced 'fate') Theta has always lived a quiet life with her family on the moon. Selectively mute since the death of her father years before, she has an aptitude for her work in the greenhouses and dreams of getting through school so she can focus on the work she loves. But when her mother is arrested, the only way to save her family from destitution is to join the Militia. If she can secure a high ranking after finishing basic training, there may be just enough money to keep her siblings alive and save her mom. But first, she needs to survive training, and she can't tell if her alliance with Wes, a fellow outsider, is a blessing or a mistake.

By all accounts, this is an impressive debut considering that the author is 19 years old. She started writing this in high school and has kept up with her craft while also studying science at an Ivy League university. The plot moves along at a good pace, and Bao has clearly put a lot of thought into the world she has built, specifically the science behind all of it. In the start, this heavy usage of scientific terms felt a bit heavy-handed and clunky, but a combination of the jargon smoothing out as well as me getting used to it as a reader made it easier to understand as the story progressed.

In libraries where science fiction and dystopians are still hard to keep on the shelves, Dove Arising is a good buy. It follows a pattern that seems to be becoming common in this genre: unassuming individual finds themselves needing to make a choice that will change the course of their life, a period of training/competing is involved, and just when it looks like they're in the clear and that the worst is over, it's a good thing all that training happened because now it becomes necessary in real life and more will come to light in book 2. I was hoping for something a bit more off the beaten path. The main reason I picked this ARC up on my last day at Midwinter was because the letter to readers on the inside declared this story "speculates about the future we may be facing if we continue to devalue art, music, and literature in our lives and willingly sacrifice our freedom and privacy in the name of security." I saw glimpses of this goal throughout reading though not as much as I would have liked, but hopefully there will be more in regards to those particular issues as the series progresses.

Over the few days it took me to read this book, I was engaged and interested in what happened next. I think Bao has a lot of potential and I'd be interested in possibly checking out future books from the library if I feel a particular craving for this kind of story.

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!

Karen Bao's Website
Karen Bao on Twitter

Anchors Away: Stern Men

Stern Men by Elizabeth Gilbert
Mariner, 2000

Ruth has spent nearly her entire life on a small, practically forgotten island in Maine, its inhabitants all quirky and resistant to joining "modern" times. They're lobster fishermen, stern men through and through. But Ruth has never quite completely fit in with them, and no one quite takes her seriously when she comes home after completing her fancy mainland education and claims she wants to work the boats too. But Ruth isn't one to give up without a fight, especially when she has something to prove. Yet it is ultimately meeting the curious Owney from the neighboring (and rival) island that pushes the girl to make a change once and for all.

When I first heard about this novel by Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat, Pray, Love fame , I thought it sounded sort of plucky. Charming. A bit Romeo and Juliet meets a Gilmore Girls/Stars Hollow-esque cast on fishing islands in Maine. And it was those things, to a degree. But the blurb inside the book jacket puts much more emphasis on a budding romance and island rivalries than the novel does. More than anything, this is a story about one island, it's history, and how the choices of Ruth's various ancestors - from her parents to generations back - have all lead up to this moment she now finds herself in. And, all in all, I didn't mind that that's what the story was, I only wish it had been more accurately advertised as such.

My biggest criticism of the book comes from its pacing. A relatively short novel, Most of the book felt like backstory. Though the pace of the plot did pick up in the second half, the conclusion felt comparatively rushed, lacking the careful attention to detail that the first 2/3rds received. It also left me with a lot of questions about the characters I'd just invested so much time in. For example, readers are introduced to the challenges regarding the marriage of Ruth's parents, but with the book's abrupt ending (the conclusion was crammed into an epilogue), there was no resolution or even mention of what became of them.

All in all, I liked Gilbert's writing style. I found the setting and premise to be interesting, but the pacing did leave something to be desired. Still, I do intend on continuing to read more of Gilbert's writing in the future. If you're in the mood for a cozy book with an intimate setting that looks at the world on a small, but not unimportant, scale, check this out from your library. I found it to be a fine one time read.

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!

Elizabeth Gilbert's Website
Elizabeth Gilbert on Twitter

Fantasy and Fight: Throne of Glass

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas (Throne of Glass #1)
Bloomsbury, 2012

The salt mines of Endovier are a death camp, a prison, the place where the King of Adarlan sends those he hates. And Celaena Sarothien is the only person ever sentinced to a fate there to leave alive. Not because she has escaped, but because she has been chosen by the Crown Prince himself to compete in a competition. If she can defeat 23 other killers, thieves, and warriors from across the continent, win the title of the King's Champion, and serve him for four years, she will finally have her freedom. She may only be 18 years old, but it's a good thing that Celaena is the most feared assassin in the land. But in a land where magic has been almost completely eradicated and something is killing off contestants, Celaena isn't just fighting for her freedom anymore, but her survival.

Now that I've finally read this book, I'm kicking myself for not having read it sooner! Of course Throne of Glass, Sarah J. Maas's debut novel is a good example of a book you need to be in the right mood to read. While high fantasy can absolutely be escapist, it also takes a bit of work on the readers part (maps, colorful names, etc). When I first tried reading this, I just wasn't feeling a strong connection to Celaena, but once I read the prequel novellas published together as The Assassin's Blade, I couldn't wait to get back into this story.

Celaena is not terribly likable. She is an incredibly flawed person, and I'm not just talking about the fact that she's a professional killer. She's vain. She's arrogant. She's got a mouth on her that gets her into trouble more often than it helps her out of it. But then again, she's an 18 year old girl, and a lot of girls that age do have a tendency to focus on boys, romance, trying to make friends, and deal with the consequences of the circumstances life has thrown at them so far. By the end, I really did like Celaena because she's a person who absolutely will not say she's sorry unless she really means it, and I think there's something admirable in that.

Once I got a handle on this sharp Celaena, I devoured this novel, reading over half of it in one day. This book has action, adventure, a dash of romance (I predict a love triangle coming as the series progresses), an evil king, killings that will make you squirm, and a magic that all thought was lost forever which comes in the most unlikely of places. While some may find the pacing to be a dash on the slow side, I think that considering this is to be a six book series, it was spot on. This novel had an arc on its own, but it's clear to see that many of the themes brought up here have staying power and will not be resolved any time soon.

Should the mood strike for some high fantasy, I'd absolutely recommend Throne of Glass. But first I say read The Assassin's Blade if you haven't already - it's like a great running start into this saga and you won't want to slow down.

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!

Sarah J. Maas's Website
Sarah J. Maas on Twitter
Sarah J. Maas on Tumblr

Say it With a Smile: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling
Crown Archetype, 2011

On the eve of my recent 26th birthday and a new school year, I found myself wanting to escape into someone else's life for a little while but not the world of fiction. I wanted something real, the story of someone who felt like someone I could actually know, who has been through a variety of the highs and lows of their mid-20s and who could laugh at themselves and the fact that "grown ups never actually feel like grownups" is pretty much the world's worst kept secret. So I went to the library and picked up Mindy Kaling's memoir.

I love it when I read a book at what feels like the exact right time in my life. A fun collection of essays by a woman best known for her role as Kelly Kapoor as well as a writer, director, and producer of NBC's The Office, Kaling looks back at her childhood in Massachusetts, life in a college town in a middle of nowhere (and how being so far from the rest of civilization can be a very good thing), her post-college life in New York and the world's smallest apartment, and eventually her move to Los Angeles when she got a writing job on a show that no one was sure would make it, but ended up taking the air waves by storm.

While I preferred the chapters at the beginning over the ones at the end, the whole book is a fun, slightly self-deprecating, totally honest read. In her conversational style, Mindy's narrative felt like reading an email from a friend. I could easily see myself giving this book as a gift to people. This is an ode to the 13 year old girls who held back for fear of doing or saying the wrong thing, but at 26 finally decided that doing the things you love, celebrating the things that make you happy, and realizing things like 'yes you can like "girly" things like makeup and shoes and still be a feminist' is a much better way to live.

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!

Mindy Kaling's Website
Mindy Kaling on Twitter

Ahead of its Time: The Princess Diaries

The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot (The Princess Diaries #1)
Turtleback Books, 2000

The year was 2000. The world at large had not, in fact, ended in the midst of Y2K concerns, however my world might as well have. Not that I'd loved elementary school, but compared to junior high... Junior high was proving to be another planet. So imagine my joy when I found Mia Thermopolis. She was struggling with her new school and the ridiculous world of algebra, too. Only I hadn't also just found out that I was a princess and heir to the throne of a small European country.

I have been a longtime fan of Cabot's work, and my summer break from school felt like a perfect time to revisit this series that I loved when I was younger, but never got around to finishing. I'm also a fan of the movies, but they are completely different from the events Cabot laid out here. In the first book, readers meet Mia, a sarcastic Manhattan teen who is a little bit oblivious to life, is failing algebra, is mortified that her mother is dating her algebra teacher, has a best friend who isn't always the fuzziest person ever, has a hopeless crush on the most popular guy in school, and on top of all of that finds out that due to her father's recent bought of cancer, the chemo has left him sterile and now she is his only heir to the throne of Genovia. Then comes Grandmere, the dowager princess and current leading royal who comes to stay at the Plaza Hotel and torture her granddaughter via "princess lessons." All Mia wants is a date to the Cultural Diversity Dance, is that so much to ask?

I flew through this book over the course of a few hours, the style of it like a conversation with a best friend, and I am excited to continue in this series. Also, it was nice to revisit my first ever book boy crush, Michael Moscovitz :)

In my opinion, contemporary fiction is where Cabot shines brightest, both in the YA and adult arenas. She has characters that feel familiar, like you really could be friends with them even though they are often in extraordinary circumstances. In Mia, I found a fictional friend who I loved growing up with, and I told Cabot as much when I met her a few years ago at my second ever signing event. And remember, back in 2000, YA wasn't really a "thing" yet. Cabot often shares the story of trying to find an agent and publisher for this book in the mid/late 90s and how it was a struggle because the story was too old for the children's section, but too young for the adult's. Thankfully, the HarperCollins family was willing to take a chance, and the rest is history.

If you're in the mood for a fun, light read to take you out of reality for a little while, pick up The Princess Diaries - you'll be glad you did.

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading.

Meg Cabot's Website
Meg Cabot on Twitter
Meg Cabot on Tumblr

Beyond Her Years: The Opposite of Loneliness

The Opposite of Loneliness by Marina Keegan
Scribner, 2014

Five days after she graduated from Yale University magna cum laude with a job lined up at The New Yorker and a promising writing career ahead of her that had already won her numerous awards and accolades in college, 22 year old Marina Keegan was killed in a car accident. At the same time that her family and friends were mourning her loss, the world was being captivated by some of her final words. Her final essay for The Yale Daily News, "The Opposite of Loneliness," was going viral online, getting over 1 million hits in a matter of days.

It is the piece which lends its title to and kicks off this collection of stories and essays compiled by Keegan's family and former teachers. Some were written for classes in high school and college, others for the newspaper, but all act as windows into this bright young woman. In many ways, she was wise beyond her years, her works venturing into avenues and topics that I am now embarrassed to admit I scarcely thought about when I was 21 (and could/should dedicate more of my time to now at 26). Yet, she always sounds 21. A smart 21, a 21 with an impeccable vocabulary and earnest desire to paint the world in an honest light, the sort of honesty that is raw and unapologetic, occasionally tinted with rose-colored hues but only when the situation deserves it. The collection as a whole stands as a testament to this woman's potential which was already flourishing under the tutelage of some of the country's greatest professors and no doubt would have grown even stronger in time had she had more of it.

Of the nine fiction selections, most of them take on characters older than the writer herself and in a variety of situations. I was intrigued by the complications and two sides of relationships in "Cold Pastoral" and moved by the notions of love and family in "Hail, Full of Grace." Of the nine essays, "The Opposite of Loneliness" had me immediately contacting a friend of mine to declare "stop whatever you're doing right now. You have to read this." "Stability in Motion," an ode to her first car, brought back loving memories of my own first set of four wheels, the freedom, the portable home I'd made for myself. I also could empathize with her struggles in "Against the Grain," not in the sense of having Celiac disease (I don't), but in how she was both impressed and embarrassed by the lengths her mother would go to to protect her.

I highly recommend this collection to those looking to deviate from their usual reading selections. While perhaps not groundbreaking material, Keegan's style and voice is refreshing and full of possibility - something those of us who are lucky to still be here could do well to keep in mind in the days we still have.

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading.

The Opposite of Loneliness Website

Wishing and Wizards: The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic

The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Barker
Viking, 2013

Reader's stumble from reality into another world full of magic (and misogyny) in Emily Croy Barker's debut novel. Nora's doctoral dissertation is going nowhere and she's just run into ex-boyfriend (who recently got engaged to someone else) at a wedding. Desperate to clear her head, she goes for a walk and ends up in another world. At first, it seems great. She's beautiful here, adored even, and has a whirlwind romance with a prince. Only problem is, it's not real. Nora has actually been put under multiple enchantments by the evil Ilissa (who is now her mother-in-law). Thanks to the help of the reluctant and ornery magician Arundiel, she escapes, becoming a fixture in his household. She's determined to learn magic herself so she can get home, or at least survive, but does she have what it takes to master it? And does she have time with Ilissa hunting her down?

Barker has clearly put a lot of thought into the world Nora finds herself in. The best word to describe it is layers: the differences between mere wizards and magicians, class distinctions, types of magic, and even gender politics. As an academic, Nora experiences culture shock in many ways, the strongest of which is not the presence of magic or lack of electricity, but the misogyny. Women are very much second class citizens, with dowries to be arranged and a woman's purity the difference between life and death. In these ways, I found the novel to be interesting. Not only is it as if Nora has traveled to a different world, but also backwards in time.

Arundiel, the magician who saves Nora and begrudgingly becomes her teacher in the magical arts, was the character I was most interested in. Is he perfect? His past and hands are blood-soaked, but I respected his intelligence. His arc and growth were subtle, but definitely present, and he's the person I was most interested in hearing from.

The biggest criticism I have about this book is the length, and subsequently, the pacing of the plot. I'm not opposed to long books, so this novel's 563 pages did not daunt me at first. However, I believe that no matter how long a book is, every scene should have a point. That was where I struggled with Thinking Woman. While fantasy and science fiction novels tend to be longer by nature due to the intricate world building that must often take place, the pacing of this novel was often slow. The second quarter of the book was especially hard for me, and I felt that exposing the falsehoods of Nora's "fairy tale" could have happened much more quickly. The plot didn't truly pick up in my eyes until literally halfway through when Nora finally starts to study magic herself. The ending was left open, which makes sense as it is indicated on the author's Goodreads profile that she is working on a sequel.

If you are a fan of fantasy novels and don't mind books that take their time, then check out The Woman's Guide to Real Magic.  I borrowed this from my library and might be willing to check out a sequel from there in the future if the description strikes my fancy and the writing seems tighter (aka shorter), but that's a big if.

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!

Emily Croy Barker's Website
Emily Croy Barker on Twitter

Going Against the Flow?: Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday
Harcourt, 2007

In an effort to expand my reading horizons, I am taking on my goal of reading more widely and taking on more books outside the world of YA. Going through my Goodreads account, I visited my to-read shelf to see what "grown up books" I had listed, was charmed by the summary of Paul Torday's debut novel Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, and decided to give it a shot.

Dr. Alfred Jones is a fisheries specialist and very much a facts and figures kind of man. So when he receives an email from Ms. Harriet Chetwode-Talbot who says her client, a wealthy Sheikh, wants his expert help to introduce the sport of salmon fishing to his home country of the Yemen, he laughs it off. It can't be done. Science says so. But the Sheikh is a visionary man of faith with deep belief in his dream. With limitless resources, could the impossible become possible? And if people could salmon fish in the Yemen, what other impossibilities can become realities?

This book had an incredibly strong start, immediately engaging me as a reader in terms of characterization, plot, and presentation. The epistolary novel is told in multiple formats: emails, office memos, reports, even diary entries. Characters are quickly established and the variety of entries allow for quick pacing. I was eager to see what would become of these skeptics - some scientists, some politicians, some bureaucrats - and if the Sheikh's extraordinary idea would succeed. However, the second half of the novel lost much of the whimsy that had captured me in the first place. Entries became longer (hearing now from mostly two or three characters, one of whom I found consistently annoying) and the political satire became much more heavy-handed. The ending, therefore, felt rather flat. This is most likely a result of my expectations - I was more focused on the aspects of this story examining people's ability to adapt and grow (and dare I say it, dream or believe), however the author's focus was the opposite, on how our survival instinct and adaptability are not always the same thing.

In short, I'm happy that I finally gave this book a chance. If you are a fan of satire, especially that which pokes fun at trying to get anything done when the government is involved, then pick this up from your local library. I will say that I have seen the 2011 film adaptation of this book and enjoyed it much better. Hollywood, as it tends to do, changed the ending, but in doing so I believe they made it stronger. I do not believe that all books or stories should have happy endings, merely ones that do the story justice, and to me the film does a better job of that than the novel it is based on.

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!

A Family and a Farm: What the Moon Said

What the Moon Said by Gayle Rosengren
Putnam, 2014

*ARC Provided by the author - Thanks, Gayle! Sorry it took me so long!*

Middle grade readers should get ready to be swept into the past in this debut novel by Gayle Rosengren. Esther is 9 - almost 10 - and growing up in 1930s Chicago when she gets the news: since Pa has lost his job, the family will be moving to a farm in Wisconsin with the hope that the future will be a bit brighter there. She is confident that living like pioneers and with animals will be an adventure, but the truth is, it's a lot of hard work. On top of all the changes is Ma and her never-ending superstitions from the Old Country about good and bad luck. Esther feels like no matter how hard she tries, she always makes Ma unhappy. When Ma demands that Esther do the unthinkable, the young girl is torn. Should she obey if it will make Esther miserable? And will Ma ever hug her and say she loves her?

Esther is a plucky, deep-feeling, and complex protagonist who I could easily throw my support behind. Rosengren does a phenominal job showing how kids back then really weren't so different from kids today. I loved the layers of this character - she doesn't always do the right thing, struggles with what the "right thing" even means, celebrates the highs, and is devistated by the lows. Seeing the world and her situation through her eyes was a treat.

Secondary characters enhance Esther's world, from her siblings, her new pet dog, her new best friend, and even her teacher. My only troubles with this book, perhaps unsurprisingly, is Ma. Esther's deepest wish is for her mother to show her even the smallest crumb of affection and to say that she loves her. Ma seems to like Esther's siblings well enough, but why not Esther? Of course the message of the story - love isn't just about words, but actions - necessitates that Ma cannot be the touchy-feely type, but her unwavering coldness did hurt. Were I a younger reader, it very well could have been a bit too much emotionally and made me put the book down, but I stuck it out and understood the effect Rosengren was aiming to achieve.

It is to be expected that a novel taking place in the Great Depression be tinged with sadness nor get a completely happy ending, but the tale in What the Moon Said is realistic and, for that reason, satisfying. If you have any Little House fans in your life, chances are, Esther's well-written story will be a hit with them.

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!

Gayle Rosengren's Website
Gayle Rosengren on Twitter

Nineties Nostalgia: Attachments

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
Dutton, 2011

I was only 12 years old when the world was obsessed with Y2K and what would happen when we rolled over from 1999 to 2000. Social media didn't really exist. Email was barely a thing. Cell phones were starting to become common, but for talking, not texting. It was in many ways a simpler time, and in her debut novel Attachments, Rainbow Rowell made me nostalgic for it in this cute office romance.

Lincoln doesn't really have much of a life. He's in his mid/late 20s, still lives with his mom, and works nights at a company doing IT. But really, his primary task at work is email surveillance, making sure employees are using their work-issued email accounts appropriately. He's supposed to send warnings, and he usually does, except for Beth and Jennifer. He can't help but get wrapped up in their conversations back and forth, their hilarious tales, their highs and lows of their personal lives. He should stop, but once he realizes he's fallen for Beth, how can he? And how could he ever introduce himself to her now?

Rowell took the YA world by storm this year with Eleanor & Park and Fangirl, but after reading so much dystopian YA, I wanted something different, but still wanted a taste of this author everyone's been talking about. Attachments was a perfect choice. Lincoln is a good guy who has found himself in a terribly awkward situation (with really no one to blame but himself), and I found myself rooting for him and cringing at the same time. Meanwhile, Beth and Jennifer's friendship is unlikely and flawed and so natural. I was as invested in their conversations as Lincoln was.

All in all, Attachments is an adult novel with definite young adult appeal that was a cute look at a time not so far past. "Adorable" is a word that comes to mind, secondary characters back up a great and quirky leading cast, and in a time where technology is so prevalent, it was refreshing to step back and see how people are still people behind the screens. If you're looking for a fast and fun story, this is the one for you. I'm even more excited to read Rowell's other works now.

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!

Rainbow Rowell's Website
Rainbow Rowell on Twitter
Rainbow Rowell on Tumblr

Fish Out of Water: Of Poseidon

Of Poseidon by Anna Banks (Of Poseidon #1)
Feiwel & Friends, 2012

Oh my sweet goodness, can you tell that Anna Banks had a fun time reimagining mermaids in her debut novel, Of Poseidon. And this was a treat for me too as it was my first positive experience listening to an audiobook!

Emma is on vacation in Florida when she runs into the incredibly handsome Galen. Literally. She smacks right into him. There's an instant physical and emotional connection, though neither of them can be sure why because Emma's just a girl from New Jersey and Galen, well, Galen is a prince of the Syrena (don't call them mermaids) and he's been sent to find a girl who can communicate with fish. Sure Emma has the violet Syrena eyes and can take on a shark, but it feels like not all the pieces are adding up. And would Emma believe it, anyway? In a story told from both points of view and filled with romance and laughs, Of Poseidon is a fun fish-out-of-water story for the summer.

While much of the paranormal genre is about taking fantastical creatures and putting a new spin on them, I was impressed with how much thought Banks clearly put into the Syrena, from how they're organized to their very bone structure. I actually really liked how she didn't necessarily make them better, such as with the mating traditions that are appropriately horrifying to Emma and even a few Syrena themselves. This was a light read in sense that while the stakes are certainly high, it's not like certain death was around every corner. A few things here and there were a bit too sweet to me, but this was a great story for a road trip and I'm very much looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of the sequel, Of Triton.

Author Emmy Laybourne (Monument 14),
me, and Anna Banks

This wasn't my first time reading Anna's work - she also wrote the romance Degrees of Wrong under the name Anna Scarlett which I was part of the blog tour for and loved - and it won't be the last. Plus I can attest to the fact that she's super nice because I got to meet her last year during the Fierce Reads tour.

If you're in the mood for something fun with a few laughs and YA that has romance but no love triangles, then pick up Of Poseidon.

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!

Anna Banks' Website
Anna Banks on Twitter

Dragons and Danger: Seraphina

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman (Seraphina #1)
Random House, 2012

In the mood for a young adult series with elements of high fantasy and a reimagining of dragons unlike anything you've ever seen before? Then look no further than Seraphina, the debut novel by Rachel Hartman.

For forty years, an unsteady peace has existed between the humans and dragons. They don't understand each other, but at least dragons can take human form and there are still ways of telling who they really are. But it actually only emphasizes that nothing is really as it appears, especially for Seraphina. An extremely gifted musician to the royal court, she works every day to literally cover up her worst secret: she is half dragon, and her very existence is illegal making it impossible for her to truly belong anywhere. When a well-liked royal is killed in a manner that looks highly draconian, Seraphina finds herself in the middle of a mystery as people search for dangerous truths.

Hartman has a strength for world building, and it is clear that she thought long and hard not just about the physical setting of the kingdom, but how all the seemingly insignificant details of this world are actually crucial to making it come together. There's a very clear culture among humans and a separate belief system among dragons. Values, appearances, manner of speaking all come into play. And this book also goes deep. While there are dragons, there are not wizards or spells or enchantments. There are, however, questions and mysteries on politics, ethics, and the nature that relationships and laws are never cut and dry, black and white. In the two days that it took me to read this 450 page tale, the blending of these elements was done in a way that made it clear to see what was important and what was on the line.

However, like I just said, at 450 pages this book is big one. There's a glossary to help readers keep track of the terminology that comes along with this world along with lists of who characters are. In that sense, the book was a bit heavy. This isn't to say I don't like to be challenged when I read - I do, I love it! - just that at times I had to stop the flow of my reading to think "wait, who are you again?" There were instances of the pacing being uneven, too, but things picked up towards the end setting readers up nicely for the adventures to come in book 2, anticipated to come out in in early 2014.

Overall, I really liked this book and will probably continue to check the series out from my library to see where it goes next. If you like traditional high fantasy with a twist, then this is a series you don't want to pass up.

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!

Rachel Hartman's Website

Secrets and Surprises: Something Strange and Deadly

Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard (Something Strange and Deadly #1)
Harper Teen, 2012

Historical fiction meets zombies.

Sounds a little out there, right? Well, you're right about that. In the wrong hands, this could go terribly, terribly wrong. Luckily, Susan Dennard knows just how to handle this in her debut novel, Something Strange and Deadly, the first book in a planned trilogy.

It's 1876 and the Dead are rising in Philadelphia, though at first that's the least of Eleanor Fitt's worries. Her brother is missing and her mother's primary goal only seems to be on marrying Eleanor off to a wealthy bachelor to solve the family's money troubles. But when the Dead deliver a message from her brother, Eleanor seeks answers from the Spirit Hunters: a creole man Joseph, a young Chinese girl Jie, and a stubborn and mysterious inventor Daniel. Together can they figure out who is behind the Dead rising and what they're after?

I'll admit that I had one false start with this book, purely because I wasn't quite in the right mood for it. However when I picked up for a second time and another chance, I zipped through this action packed steam punk story.  Eleanor is a girl who thinks and while she is ahead of her time in many ways, she doesn't completely throw the societal conventions of the day she's been raised with out the window. She's strong and caring and cautious and daring all at once. The same can be said for the Spirit Hunters, all misfits in their own way but together they make a hell of a team.

Though the pacing at times was a little off to me (things always seemed to slow down whenever Mrs. Fitt and her attempts at getting Eleanor paired off came into the picture), I was easily lost in this story. I'm not usually much of a zombie person, however that's fine here because they weren't the whole story. Neither was the romance (which was incredibly well done - charming and subtle until it wasn't because then it was witty and fantastic), neither were the family issues, neither was the mystery. All of these elements balanced each other out really well, pushing the story forward.

All in all, I'm so happy that I gave this book another chance. Thank you so much to the people who commented here on the blog telling me to read it - you were so right! I can't wait to check out the prequel novella and I'm so happy I won't have to wait long for book two,  A Darkness Strange and Lovely, due out July 23, 2013!

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!

Susan Dennard's Website
Susan Dennard on Twitter

Do You Believe?: Meant to Be

Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill
Delacorte Press, 2012

Julia is the ultimate type-A personality, straight-A student who has been dreaming of London her entire life. After all, her parents with their practically-perfect marriage went to England for their honeymoon and now she's having her turn with a school trip. What better place to daydream about her childhood crush, Mark? But this spring break, it's clear that nothing will be going along with her meticulous plans. After all, she's been paired up with class clown Jason - a guy who is her polar opposite - and chaos quickly follows. After a crazy night at a wild party, Julia starts getting flirty texts from an unknown number, and Jason promises to help figure out who it is as long as she promises to explore England his way. Despite how strongly Julia says she believes Mark is her MTB (meant-to-be), she starts to learn that when it comes to the heart, there's no predicting what comes next or who you're meant to be with.

I can easily see why this book has been marketed as something that readers of Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins will enjoy. And as someone who loved Anna so much, that was a big claim to have to live up to. I'm so happy that Morrill fulfilled my expectations and more in her debut novel. Like Julia's favorite play A Midsummer Night's Dream, this story is filled with romantic mishaps and misunderstandings, each of the characters are flawed but the ones who matter grow and evolve, and if you're an Anglophile, then this is a good choice for you, too.

Over the course of a few hours spread across two evenings, I curled up with a blanket in the cold winter and this book immediately transported me. Jason was cute and insufferable, but then again plenty of times so was Julia. I connected with her need for order and desire for a happy ending. I loved how secondary characters, even ones we rarely see or never see at all, still manage to be multi-dimensional and play into the plot. Of course a few who were also on the trip with Julia could have been more well-rounded, but this had a good balance because otherwise the story would have gotten crowded.

While I found it to be a smidge on the predictable side (which is a little bit inevitable in love stories), I still really found myself to be smitten with Morrill's writing style. Will the many and multiple ways that this story is like Anna and the French Kiss bug some people as being too similar? Perhaps, but to me it was another great travel story in Europe that I was happy to escape into.

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!

Lauren Morrill's Website
Lauren Morrill on Twitter

Pick a Path: Pivot Point

Pivot Point by Kasie West (Pivot Point #1)
Harper Teen, 2013

*ARC provided by HarperTeen via a Goodreads giveaway - Thank you!!*

This book. Where do I even start with this book? When I was younger, I used to say I wasn't huge into science fiction, but in recent years with books like these, to say that's changing puts it mildly.

Pivot Point, Kasie West's debut novel, completely blew me away. The fact that it's a debut is just staggering. The premise grabbed me the first time I heard about it: Sliding Doors meets special abilities, all in YA. But it's so much more than that.

Addie has spent her whole life living in the Compound, essentially a secret town for people who all have exceptional mind abilities. Her father is a human lie detector and her mother can persuade people to do almost anything. When they tell her that they are splitting up and Dad is moving for a life outside the Compound's walls, Addie must choose who she will live with. Using her ability as a Searcher, she looks into the future and sees both outcomes. As chapters alternate between her two possible futures, a mystery unfolds and as the summary says, she must choose between "which reality she's willing to live through...and who she can't live without."

This book takes Robert Frost's infamous "two roads" idea to epic heights, and it really does make all the difference. The tale is perfectly paced and plotted so that it genuinely took me a while before I decided which future I was rooting for. A mystery unfolds in both worlds, and Addie is incredibly strong on both paths. She's facing the things normal teens face, but in extraordinary circumstances. Plus there's romance - never overwhelming, but it's certainly a significant part of the story - and I was shipping one couple in particular so hard.

According to Goodreads, a sequel will be coming our way in 2014 and that better be true. Even if it's not, Pivot Point is a story that will keep you guessing up until the very last page (but not in a frustrating sort of way).

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!

Kasie West's Website
Kasie West on Twitter

Always Open: Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
FSG, 2012

Clay's luck hasn't exactly been great lately. In fact, things were looking pretty bleak until he was roaming the streets of San Francisco and comes across the hole in the wall that is Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. Suddenly Clay is employed as the night shift clerk and is catering to an eclectic group of people - you can't quite call them customers because at this store, books are rarely bought. Instead, people become members and borrow huge volumes from hundreds of shelves in the back of the store. Though he's given explicit rules about what he is supposed to do, curiosity is practically a job requirement for any person who works with books. Clay soon finds himself immersed in model-building, code-breaking, data curation, possible love, and the key to eternal life.

This novel was a charming slice of adult contemporary fiction, and I'm not even sure how to best describe it. It's one part mystery, one part mystical. And I'm not meaning mystical as in magical with spells and wizards (though, in one sense, perhaps...). I mean Mr. Penumbra's store and cast are all the things bibliophiles secretly love about bookstores, especially old ones. Quirky and not quite perfectly organized (at least to the naked eye), full of nooks and crannies that make you curiouser and curiouser. In that way, I found the story to be enchanting. Honestly, there was a book I read a few years back that I was expecting and hoping would be these things, but it fell so very short and Sloan's debut novel here more than made up for it.

But even with its sense of old-time charm, the novel is also taking on questions of present day and the future. One of the main characters works at Google. There are discussions about e-readers and what they're doing to the nature of bookstores. Since I'm admittedly not the most technically inclined (though I try very hard and am getting much better), these parts didn't grab me as deeply but were interesting just the same.

The writing sounds like a conversation. There's a great eclectic cast (though other than Mr. Penumbra himself, I wouldn't say they were as developed as they maybe could have been), and setting is used spectacularly. If you're a book lover, at least see if you can check this novel out from a local library. It's worth a read at least once, and I have a feeling that if I'm ever feeling disillusioned about my jobs with books, roles I love very much, I'll be revisiting Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore in the future.

Plus, the book glows in the dark. How cool is that??

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!

Robin Sloan's Website
Robin Sloan on Twitter
Penumbra on Twitter

A Reason to Say Something: Thirteen Reasons Why

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Razorbill, 2007

When a few teachers at my school approached me about the idea of a faculty book club and would I be interested in helping out, I was right on board. When they said they'd like the first book to be YA and could I come up with a few titles that everyone could then vote on, I immediately suggested this novel and was really pleased when after our very democratic vote, it had the highest tally.

When Clay gets a box of cassette tapes, the absolute last thing he expects to hear on them is the voice of Hannah Baker. The girl he had a crush on for years. The girl who, except for one night, felt so far out of reach. And the girl who committed suicide two weeks ago. But she's left behind tapes and instructions: listen, then pass them on to the next person on this list. Thirteen sides of the tapes, thirteen people, thirteen reasons why she's dead now. So over the course of one night, accompanied by Hannah's voice and a map, Clay makes his way around their town and learns her side of the story.

The first time I read this book in grad school for my YA lit class, I was truly and utterly devastated  This is a fast read, which is surprising considering the topic. But readers, like Clay, feel this compulsive need to keep going, to find out what happened next. This second time around, all of those same feelings were there, but my perspective was slightly changed, too. Because this time, I'm a teacher. I go work every morning, into a building with 2400 teenagers and I want them all to be okay. It's much more than a job to me and most of the people I work with.

This is one of those books that I really believe ought to be mandatory reading if you are going to be working in a high school or with teens. Because it is a gut -wrenching, horrible, awful tale of the underside of being a teenager that so many people refuse to talk about. Because it's not nice. It's not pretty, it's not simple, and it's not black and white. And when enough of those awful things pile up, to far too many teens, suicide seems like the only option they have left.

This was Jay Asher's debut novel, and what a start to his career it was. It's been hugely popular since it first came out about five years ago, and with good reason. If you work with teens and haven't read this yet, it really is a MUST read. It fostered great discussion among the teachers and staff at our book club meeting, and impacted each of us in a different way.

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading.

Jay Asher's Blog
Jay Asher on Twitter
Official Website for Thirteen Reasons Why

A Debut with Flash: Struck

Struck by Jennifer Bosworth
Farrar, Straus and Giorux BYR, 2012

I'll say this for the debut author class of 2012: they are absolutely blowing me out of the park again and again and again. Struck, the debut novel by Jennifer Bosworth, is one of those books. The premise is incredible, the story has intense world building that is also remarkably realistic, and I've been telling everyone I know 'you have to read this book!'

Meet Mia Price: lightning addict. She's a human lightning rod who has been struck more times than she can count, and her affliction is the whole reason she, her mom, and her brother moved to Los Angeles in the first place - it barely rains there. But then the earthquake happened not so long ago, leaving the entire city in devastation. Rance Ridely Prophet, a televangelist with a large cult called the Followers, has announced the world will end in three days. There's also the Seekers, a group of people who want to take down Prophet and the Followers at any cost. Both sides have prophecies indicating that Mia is a central player in all of it. It doesn't seem to matter to anyone that she wants nothing to do with any of them - all she wants is to keep her family alive - but she also desperately wants to trust Jeremy, a stranger who says he wants to protect her. When the end of the world is on the line, Mia must risk everything to try to save what she loves.

Not since Katniss Everdeen have I come across such a strong protagonist. Mia is willing to do whatever it takes to keep her mother (who is suffering from PTSD) and her brother safe. She has an incredible ability that she'd rather not use because she hates bringing pain to others. She is incredibly complex and a survivor in every sense of the word.

Bosworth's world building here is also impecable. I've only been to LA once, but I have very little doubt that this is what the end of the world would look like there. The situations that arise and the fears that consume people within these pages are all incredibly realistic, as are the wide range of reactions.

Readers will be kept on their toes as they make their way through this story. Primary and secondary characters are all fully flushed out, and Bosworth does an especially good job with Jeremy in my opinion. All in all, this book has action, big questions, big emotions, and the fate of the world is on the line. I was blown away by this novel, and I cannot wait to see what Bosworth comes up with next.

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!

Jennifer Bosworth's Website
JenniferBosworth on Twitter