Love Story

Love Story by Jennifer Echols

Grade: 3.8 stars out of 5

Erin Blackwell wants to have a career as a romance writer. One day all that hard work will pay off and she can show those people who made fun of her passion. Her grandmother, however, wants Erin to become a business woman so she can take over the family farm in Kentucky. Her grandmother pulls the plug on Erin’s inheritance and gives it to Hunter, the son of one of the workers on the farm. 

What I love about Echols’ works is just how effortless she pulls the readers into her stories. One moment I’m shoving cereal right before class and the next I’m in a farm where a woman runs off into the night with the stable boy as her lover. And that’s just the first chapter. Love Story is a world of the rich and fabulous, and the hardworking and determined in New York City. The backdrop of the novel is impressive but what is even more impressive is the effort and whatever knowledge/research Echols put into Love Story to make it realistic. Erin grew up rich, which I am assuming that many of us did not, but somehow Echols made Erin likable, smart, funny, and someone you want on your side of a fight.

Love Story is just as sexy as Echols’ other MTV books with the same level of intensity. Erin and Hunter’s story go past than what meets the eye. Love Story shows off Echols range from writing from the female perspective and male perspective; as a contemporary writer and19th century writer; and writing things with heated tension.

Love Story is a story within a story. It is a race to see which finishes first. Erin and Hunter drew inspiration from their lives and weave it into their stories. Those narratives give readers a backdrop to their lives before New York and what created this sexual tension and angst between the two. It is a creative way to give readers what they need to fully understand dynamics between the two. As the story progressed I looked forward to those little tidbits behind Erin and Hunter and what drove them to become what they are: two strong teens fighting for what they want. It’s fun to see the face behind the masks and to read stories where they clearly poured themselves into. The battle between Hunter and Erin builds the tension until it becomes palpable and unavoidable.

And just when I thought I finished I remembered something. Going back to the character is Erin and her many layers, I wanted to mention Erin’s family history. It’s heartbreaking when a father leaves his child but the child still wants so desperately to meet him; it’s tragic when a mother dies and the child is left parentless at a young age; it’s angering when the child is forced to live a life she doesn’t want. And yet Erin doesn’t let all that hold her back. She is committed to be an author and will do all she can to reach her goal. It is an admirable trait and one I think many of us should carry; sheer determination can take us so far and what we’re willing to give up may end up being rewarded tenfold. The passion of being a romance author, a teen author, or whatever you want to be is all in the passion. Erin shows that passion in her decision to not be held done by an inheritance, by her past, and by life’s cruel humor. For that and other reasons I love Erin as a female character and Echols’ ability to write strong witty characters.

Her male characters are equally as strong: gentle without being smothering; wicked without being cruel; able to lend a shoulder without carrying the protagonist through the novels. I can’t say I hate Hunter, but I was displeased with him in certain moments on the novels. But that isn’t a bad thing. Echols, I believe, intentionally made him so to give Hunter depth and inner turmoil that he faces when it comes to Erin. Life is not black and white and novels shouldn’t be either.

However, what I found lacking in Love Story was the clean, precise ending. Echols leaves things open-ended with many possibilities and promises of what ifs. Where I would normally be content with the ending of her other books, Love Story had just too many strings left unattended. The question is could there be a sequel or at least a little novella? For me I’m greatly interested in Erin’s and Hunter’s roommates as a couple. I wanted to explore whatever possibilities that duo can have.

In all, I would recommend Love Story to readers who enjoy contemporary novels that has a bit more risk and pulls you in (until you can’t seem to stop at just one Jennifer Echols novel).

Cover B+

it fits so nicely with her other MTV books, but doesn't really show the potential of the novel

Published: 2011 July 19

Source: accepted review pitch from author

Amazon (available for preorder)

When Rose Wakes

When Rose Wakes by Christopher Golden

Grade: 3.5 stars out of 5

Ever fairy tale is told and retold through generations across the ocean and through the test of time. Rose, however, is having trouble recalling any fairy tales and just as well as she wakes from a 2 year coma. Her life, as her aunts tell, was back in France before they moved to America for better medical care. Her parents—dead. Her friends—not really talked about. Her memory—just lingering in the back of her head.

Rose is determined for it not to get the best of her as she enrolls into a new school as a sophomore, despite being the age of a junior. She has a great group of new friends and plans to not let cliché-freaked cheerleader get the best of the new girl—“Coma Girl”. Yet her aunts’ demand of not kissing any guys, definitely NO on sex, and their nags on drinking some disgusting tea makes Rose frustrated. How can she let go and start a new life like her aunts’ want if they impose restrictions on anything but?

The life of a teenager is hard enough when you wake up from a 2 year coma, but add to that a crazy stalker and a catfight that ends with a girl turning into leaves. Rose wants answers.

Here’s the part where I smack my head because one way or another I missed the memo that When Rose Wakes is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty. Insert: “Duh”. As far as a retelling goes, Christopher Golden does a job well done incorporating his own little touches while maintaining the essence of Sleeping Beauty.

My biggest qualm with the novel was how. How does Rose know so much after being in a coma for so many years? How does Rose know French and English fluently? How old is Rose really and for how long can she look young? How did the aunts’ get the proper documentations? Where did they get their money from? Where are the “others”? How did the villain create a group of evil people? My mind is just bouncing off questions as I went through the novel. But I’d rather not talk about the negatives any longer.

When Rose Wakes drops little hints and reoccurring dreams that point the readers to the solution of the “mystery”.  In many ways I was dense because it didn’t hit me until the novel literally told me the truth. The dreams were a nice touch because it dug the backbone of the plot out and this sort of existence to the novel. The contrasting aunt’s played nicely to good cop, bad cop and their light bantering and withering glances speak volumes of comfort. I just wished that the aunts were more developed and the novel discusses how they were selected to be guard Rose.

Jared and Rose’s budding relationship was a tad more than I expected, but still very sweet and understanding. I liked how Jared know when to say, “No”, and when to say “Okay” and not become this obsessive, possessive, and ever constant presence in Rose’s mind. And say “Hell yes!” to ethnic diversity in characters.

In all, however, When Rose Wakes ended the weekend nicely for me. There was a lightness to the novel that made it pleasant.

Cover B+

Source: Gallery Books / MTV Books

Published: 2010 September 28; paperback

Amazon / Indie Bound / Book Depository

John Belushi is Dead

John Belushi is Dead by Kathy Charles

Source: MTV/Galley Books

Grade: 4 stars out of 5

Hilda and best friend Benji are obsessed with celebrity deaths. One celebrity death leads them to an apartment room of Hank, an odd old bat. Hilda becomes attached to Hank in his sad, solitary room and a level of understanding when he presents her a tile from Jayne Mansfield’s pool. One day as she stops by his apartment to share in their enjoyment of old American classic films she finds not Hank in her room, but Jake—Hank’s downstairs neighbor. Jake is a 19-year-old high school dropout, Hollywood screenwriter, whose ambition led him where he is today. Jake it seems has been taking care of Hank, but Hilda is the only who will get all of Hank’s secret: One haunting enough to try to commit suicide. 

John Belushi is Dead is so different from the YA novels I have read so far yet it is not. What makes the novel so different are the characters: Benji, Hank, Jake, and Hilda. I find them all so completely fascinated that I would not mind if my jaw hangs open.

Benji and Hilda are fascinated with death and with Benji that obsession borders on insanity. With Hilda death provides a sense of comfort that is chilling: “Death didn’t just come for me, or my parents, it came for everyone: the rich and famous, the beautiful and privileges. The though made me relax, and I imagined the relief I felt was similar to the feeling some people got when they cut themselves” (page 53).

Hank has his own secrets that won’t necessarily surprise you, but leaves you with a fulfilled answer and a deeper depth of gratitude. Whereas Jake is slightly different than your typical male hero. He is far from the perfect man or gentlemen, but there is an instant connection, a level of comfortableness, and a wholesomeness about him that doesn’t have the need to fill the void of silence. Like Hilda says, being around him brings forth a lightness you won’t find in the many other characters in the novel.

One thing that is both an asset and a frustration was the numerous recounts of celebrity deaths. I particularly do not care for such facts, but if you are interested then John Belushi is Dead  is full of them! But this was a big part of Hilda’s personality so I was quite happy with the research done.

What makes John Belushi is Dead  so addictive was not for the plot, but the characters. Hilda may be obsessed with celebrity deaths, but I am obsessed with her and wherever her journey took me.

Side note, a quote that made my eyes boggled: "what the hell do ya think I'm gonna do? My cock's been useless for years. I'm lucky to get any piss out of it, let alone make it stand to attention long enough to get ym rocks off" (page 73—Hank).

Cover A
I absolutely love this cover. The back cover shows the bottom half of the model and while I do not think that is what Hilda wears, it is great fashion

Order your copy: Amazon / Indie Bound / Book Depository

Forget You

Forget You by Jennifer Echols

Source: MTV Books

Grade: 3.5 stars out of 5

Zoey’s dad just got his twenty-four-year old girlfriend pregnant.

Her mom was admitted to the psych-ward.

She just lost her virginity to a friend / playboy the same night her mom tried to kill herself.

She gets in a car crash trying to avoid a deer during a rainstorm.

Zoey gets amnesia and forgets everything that happened that night.

Forget You has the skeletal structure of the book in perfection yet the muscle and tissues are missing. Forget You lacked what I found incredible in Going Too Far: the emotional impact and self-awareness. Forget You grazed those two issues that made it an “OK” read from being an “amazing” read. I’ve heard the good and the bad of Forget You. It’s spectacular! It’s raw! It’s so obnoxious and annoying that I cannot simply get past 50 pages! It’s not any of those things in my view.

I am mostly disappointed in the relationship between Doug and Zoey. There was some background clarity that Zoey and Doug has some past history (heck they almost went to Homecoming together), but I felt that the point leading up to the inevitable confession was hard to swallow. Keeping the actual time frame in mind rather than going by the length of the book (like instead of saying they had so-and-so pages to progress, I went by they had this many hours from the confession) I found it to be slightly unbelievable to warrant the “L” word.

Okay so keeping the timeframe in mind (after the accident, beginning of the book) it would make sense. There were some deep connections and lots of baggage to be laid on the table and definitely enough sweetness and tenderness (though things got raunchy).

The layout of Forget You was slow in my view. The plot went round and round that seemed to be missing a definite direction. I was a bit peeved as to why no one would utter a word especially from the close friends (whom I would assume would at least try to comfort Zoey). (I am still confused about Mike and Lila, but mostly Mike in general.)

The build-up with Forget You was well done (though the ending was a small let-down) and the hints were appropriate for a dramatic / romantic fiction novel than say it would be for a thriller / mystery novel. On a surface level Forget You was an impressive read with external and internal conflicts, a hot half-Japanese guy, and a great idea for a novel.  On a deeper level there were some chips and cracks.

Cover B-
A little too light for my liking. I wanted a bit more saturation in the colors.

Forget You is now available: Amazon / Indie Bound / Book Depository

Oh My Goth

Oh My Goth by Gena Showalter (November 20th 2006—MTV)

Grade: 1 star out of 5

Summary: “A fiercely individualist Goth girl wakes up to discover that the whole world has gone Goth and she's actually—gag—popular.

Jade Leigh is a nonconformist who values individuality above all else. She has a small group of like-minded Goth friends who wear black, dabble in the dark arts, and thrive outside the norm. They're considered the "freaks" of their high school. But when Jade's smart mouth lands her in trouble—again—her principal decides to teach her a lesson she'll never forget.

Taken to a remote location where she is strapped down and sedated, Jade wakes up in an alternate universe where she rules the school. But her best friends won't talk to her, and the people she used to hate are all Goth. Only Clarik, the mysterious new boy in town, operates outside all the cliques. And only Mercedes, the Barbie clone Jade loathes, believes that Jade's stuck in a virtual reality game—because she's stuck there, too, now living the life of a "freak." Together, they realize they might never get back to reality...and that even if they do, things might never be the same.”

Review: Oh My Goth was oh my god bad. I slammed the book—twice—on the countertop while reading. I ranted to my brother how much I disliked the book. I fumed for a good 10 minutes afterwards. My ‘dogma’ of how MTV books could never go wrong has proven to be blasphemous with this book.

When reading the summary I thought ‘hey this sounds pretty good’. When I finished I nearly—gagged—myself.

Jade needed a new sense of what it means to be an individual. She needs to understand that wearing clothes that a majority of her peers do not wear and moaning and groaning about how they all suck does not mean to be an individual. She needs to know when to stick up for yourself instead of running over people like a fortified tank half of the time and being trampled like a calf the other half. She condemns people because they all dress alike yet she and friends seem to dress very similar. Jade needs to let go of her past and stop living her life by a code—a sentence—her mother had spoken before her death. A powerful message it was, but the way Jade acts because of it makes her a mindless zombie.

This whole book could have acted as a strong message to teens but the delivery made it nothing short aside from being a kindle to a fire.

Overall: As uncouth as this may sound: Piss off.

Cover N/A

I refuse to even look at this book.

Ballads of Suburbia

Ballads of Suburbia by Stephanie Kuehnert (July 21st 2009—MTV)

Grade: 4 stars out of 5

Summary: “Kara hasn't been back to Oak Park since the end of junior year, when a heroin overdose nearly killed her and sirens heralded her exit. Four years later, she returns to face the music. Her life changed forever back in high school: her family disintegrated, she ran around with a whole new crowd of friends, she partied a little too hard, and she fell in love with gorgeous bad-boy Adrian, who left her to die that day in Scoville Park....

Amid the music, the booze, the drugs, and the drama, her friends filled a notebook with heartbreakingly honest confessions of the moments that defined and shattered their young lives. Now, finally, Kara is ready to write her own.”

Review: Ballads of Suburbia is a tale that tells about what it’s really like in the suburbs. It’s not the cakes and cookies as what Stephanie pointed out. Fans of I Wanna Be Joey Ramone will be happy to know that Stephanie’s new book is just as powerful, intense, and gripping.

This book left me depressed, anguished, and with a throat as dry as the desert. Kara goes through such a journey of emotions each leaving me a sense of sadness, hopes that are destroyed, Ballads of Suburbia is a perfect partner to Amy Winehouse’s song Rehab.

Kara goes through a roller coaster of a lifetime with friends, family, and drugs. The drugs are what calms her, they are what erases the mistakes. Kara faces two boys—one that left her to die and one that almost killed me. She makes a tough choice and in the end finally grows up.

In some ways these types of books are not for me. I mean I like them here and there, but they aren’t something I can live on.

Ballads was just too loaded with drugs. I expected the onslaught of drugs but when a good part of the book describes drugs, how to use drugs, where you get drugs, and the path away from drugs, I miss some of the more finer details. The family parts, the friendship parts, it all blurs like you’re on drugs. In some ways I think this had to be done. Everything, almost everything, revolved around this. Each one was a stepping stone until ultimately everyone comes crashing down.

Overall: Heartbreakingly true.

Cover B
This cover is beyond disturbing. It’s the cynical part of the suburbs.

---

This was a Traveling to Teens tour

What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know

What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones (December 16th 2008—Simon and Schuster)

Grade: 3.5 stars out of 5

Summary: “My name is Robin.

This book is about me.
It tells the story of what happens
when after almost 15 pathetic years of loserdom,
the girl of my dreams finally falls for me.

That seems like it would be
a good thing, right?
Only it turns out to be
a lot more complicated than that.

Because I'm not gonna lie to you
-- there are naked women involved.
Four of them, to be exact.
Though not in the way you might think.

Don't get me wrong -- my girlfriend's amazing.
But the way things have been going lately,
I'm starting to believe that the only thing worse
than not getting what you want,

is getting it.”

Review: Verse novels are rare in the teen genre. And out of those I can only think of a few that stands out as being a master at it. Sonya Sones is definitely one of the few.

The reason why I abhor verse stories is because they are slightly ambiguous, detached, and well, not fun. School has left a scar when it comes to loving poetry. Endless symbolism—what does this mean, what does that mean? Unforgiving teachers—try again kids. And Shakespeare that left an entire classroom frustrated beyond belief. So you can imagine why I avoid these type of books like a plague.

In this case, What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know is personal and profound—well as profound as a 14 and three-quarters year old guy can be. We witness Sophie’s and Robin’s relationship jump from the high and the bottomless pit and back up along the rough edges. We read as we see the negative response to their closeness affect the one and the other. But most of all we come to love Robin as the loving boyfriend who fears that he might bet he downfall to his girlfriend, Sophie.

Personal. Engrossing. Powerful. And. Traumatizing. What do you expect from a teenage boy's mind?

I completely adore this book. The way it was set-up, the style of writing she uses, the format of some of the sentences she did. It came together like glue and paper. If I could I would kiss Sonya Sones’s brain, not head, brain.

I have some issues with the ending though. It did not seem complete.

Overall: *fawns over book*

Cover C+
Doesn’t understand the purpose as to why Sophie is on cover…

Shrinking Violet

Shrinking Violet by Danielle Joseph (May 5th 2009--MTV)

Grade: 3.5 stars out of 5

Summary:“High school senior Teresa Adams is so painfully shy that she dreads speaking to anyone in the hallways or getting called on in class. But in the privacy of her bedroom with her iPod in hand, she rocks out -- doing mock broadcasts for Miami's hottest FM radio station, which happens to be owned by her stepfather. When a slot opens up at The SLAM, Tere surprises herself by blossoming behind the mike into confident, sexy Sweet T -- and to everyone's shock, she's a hit! Even Gavin, the only guy in school who she dares to talk to, raves about the mysterious DJ's awesome taste in music. But when The SLAM announces a songwriting contest -- and a prom date with Sweet T is the grand prize -- Sweet T's dream could turn into Tere's worst nightmare...”

Review: Another MTV book. Another amazing read. What I figure out why I happened to love MTV’s books were the fact that they tell a story that almost everyone—girl, boy, teen, or adult—can relate to. Teresa Adams is a shy girl when you first meet her but later blossoms into someone who takes action and can speak her mind. I can definitely, 100 percent, relate to this! I know some of you may be laughing at this but this is quite true.

As many of you may have figured this out but English is my second language. I grew up speaking a Chinese dialect that impaired my speech when I learned English at an early age (stupid tones!). Later in the years, my accent completely disappeared but my speech still has some issues. To be frank, I stuttered. My parents would always yell and scold at me, telling me to stop it. I was embarrassed of myself. In school, at home, even with my closet friends, I try to say as little as possible to prevent this issue of mine when I was younger. Nowadays my stuttering has almost fully disappeared (like around 98%) but it tends to pop up if I am too excited or nervous. (This is why I am always so stressed about oral presentations Laura). Conveying my thoughts through words I can deal with, with a simple click I can erase my errors. Vlogging, however, is something that terrifies me.

So not only is Shrinking Violet a cute and fun read, but it is something that I can connect with on a whole new level. Granted it was predictable (I figured out almost everything from the beginning) but reading it unfold is heart-pounding. So what if you know who’s who, it is the person executes the sequences that make the scenes stand out. Danielle still delivered for me.

I loved the premise of the book because I, too, am a huge of music. I am always scurrying around trying to find some unseen artists because they tend to hold the true beauty. After every chapter there are parts where Sweet T comes to the surface and talks as if on the radio. At first it was a bit disjointed but later on I felt it fell into place. It showcased a bit more of Tere’s sassier side, her more outspoken side.

The tone was smooth and soothing, heck I almost took a nap when I first read it! And that is not a bad thing (ask Sharon or Laura as to why napping is not my favorite thing to do in the world)! The writing style was simplistic but still carried a deeper undertone once you finished reading. You know what they say—simplicity is key. Just write what is needed and the rest will fall in place.

Overall: I need to get a finished copy of this book (read an ARC). Danielle Joseph delivered a wonderful debut book that I have no doubt that she will get far in this business.

Cover: N/A
Stupid MTV ARCs with their lime green covers

Going Too Far

Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols (March 17th 2009—MTV)

Grade: 4.5 stars out of 5

Summary: “All Meg wants is to escape her excruciatingly small town after graduation. In the meantime, her above-the-law boyfriend and her wild class trip to Florida coming up over Spring Break are the only things keeping her from imploding. But before she leaves on her trip, one of her boyfriend’s pranks goes too far and turns Southern Gothic nightmare. She finds herself in jail. The only way to avoid prosecution is to spend Spring Break on night patrol with the by-the-book cop who arrested her.

Fine. She did the crime, she’ll do the time. If the cop gets hot under the collar cruising the night with a punky blue-haired girl-felon, that’s his problem, not hers. But her own personal boy in blue is younger, less experienced, and so much sexier than she imagined at first. As she falls for him, she explores why he’s as determined to stay in this town as she is to leave. She pushes him to the edge by questioning every rule in his police academy manual. And when he hits back, demanding to know why she can’t stand this straight-laced Alabama town, he will push her to the edge, and over...”

Review: Going Too Far was definitely not going too far me. I am thinking about joining the MTV book cult. So far every book that I read published under them have amazed me.

It was the dynamics and the emotional appeal that sold me. I love her brutal honestly and yet her hidden fear that drove her to such high ends. I love John’s innocence and his reason to being a stand offish cop. But also his reluctance to leave the small town.

I found…okay I got nothing.

Writing this review was hardly than expected…Point blank, this book was great! I loved it! Cannot explain why, but I did. Some might call it cliché (coughcoughCarol) and predictable but I happened to have found it fun and entertaining despite it all.

Overall: Read it. Period.

Cover C+
I hate these MTV ARC covers, it’s just lime green. I miss the actual cover…

This has got to be one of the worst reviews I have ever written as of yet. I am so sad about that.

Shelter Me

Shelter Me by Alex McAulay (January 6th 2009—MTV Books)

Grade: 4 stars out 5

Summary: “Maggie Leigh just wants to be a normal teenager, but when German bombs tear apart London during World War II, her ultra-religious mother sees the destruction as divine punishment. She sends Maggie to a remote boarding school in coastal Wales, supposedly to keep her safe, but also to keep her in line. The school is creepy, the headmistress is a lunatic, and the students range from spoiled rich girls to speechless trauma victims. But when a tragic accident happens on the beach, Maggie and three friends are forced to flee the school, plunging into the nightmarish world of Europe during wartime. Now every decision Maggie makes is fraught with danger, and living to see another day depends on how quickly she can think and act...and how far she's willing to go.”

Review: I have to say, when I first started reading Shelter Me, I had a vague reminiscence of The School for Dangerous Girls except it was for religion rather than violent girls. It completely baffled me and shocked me once I got into it. Underneath it all, there’s a diabolical plan that you would have never figured it out until the ending. It was so intricate, so completely well done that it took me a few minutes to wrap my head around it. The ending itself, however, was dull but it didn’t take away from the overall greatness of the book.

The beginning was amazing though! It pulled the reader right in—background, plot, and action, all in short amount of time.

I love the complexity of the character. Eileen and Kate were people that have so much depth to them. They each have their moments, their faults, whether that I want to hug them or smash their heads to the ground. Yes, that’s what I call dynamic there (the characters, not me).

What I found the most enjoyable was Maggie’s voice. It had the child like innocence but also brutally honest. There’s neither sugarcoating nor obsessively amounts of descriptions to the story. I’ve read books that had about half of the entire novel covered in pretty little words that does not do anything except dragging it on longer than necessary.

Overall: This small book packs a whole of action, adventure, and entertainment. Trust me, I had my doubts about this book since it was set during a war-time but really, it barely contained anything about it. So pick this book up! You’ll either love it or hate it, but you have to at least try it!

Cover B-