Books By Their Cover

Friday, January 28, 2011

So Much Closer by Susane Colasanti

So Much Closer by Susane Colasanti

Grade: 2.8 stars out of 5

Colasanti works has a way that fills me up with great expectations and jittery happy feelings and then just pops that balloon. Sometimes it deflates slowly, other time it’s a sudden pop. So Much Closer was a deflated slowly. The first book I read by Colasanti, I enjoyed it, but didn’t love it. The second okay was cringe-worthy. The third, So Much Closer, was eh. Ehs are the worst because there is hardly much you can say. Book by book, I am starting to believe Colasanti’s novel are not for me.

Brooke just “Knows” that Scott is the “one” for her, but she’s scared to tell him. When she finally builds enough courage she discovers that he’s moving to New York City. Coincidentally Brooke’s father is living in New York; suddenly Brooke wants to spend more time with daddy dearest and the better schools in New York than New Jersey. So Much Closer follows Brooke to the Big Apple where it’s not the view that changed.

Brooke is a genius with an IQ higher than most but Brooke doesn’t have common sense. Coming from a girl who has been told she lacks common sense, this is huge. Brooke hauls herself to New York to follow a guy she barely knows and he barely knows her. Her wild choice to chase after him may to some be romantic, but it’s a decision I find unrealistic. If someone had told me that they followed me to a new state because they think they “love” me I would creeped out—flattered of course, but I would think they were crazy. If Brooke and Scott were, say, best friends it would be better. Yet they weren’t; they were acquaintances if barely.

I found the little outbursts by Brooke random. There is some build-up, but not enough to make sense of the emotional, dramatic talks between Brooke and her dad, Brooke and her mom, Brooke and her friends back in New Jersey. Her decision for a career path and to take school seriously was so quickly determined that it’s just a flip of the page.

When Brooke accepts a tutoring gig in a school program to help John who has dysgraphia, Colasanti introduced a character that was likable, energetic, and charismatic. I was infatuated with John because of his bubbly attitude and optimistic views. John was definitely one of very few shining points to the novel.

So Much Closer needed to be more developed. Why is Brooke both cynical and romantic? The ending leaves many unanswered questions. Where will Brooke go to college? What about her family issues? Is Candice still really pissed because Brooke chased after Scott? What happened with Scott!? Was the guy at the coffee shop just part of the growing process because if so I found it unneeded…?

Source: ARC from Viking from LibraryThing

Cover C

it fits Colasanti's other works, but something about that one shoulder sweater--those colors!--and the guy makes me twitch

Published: 3 May 2010; hardcover

Amazon

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Vampire Crush

Vampire Crush by A.M. Robinson

Grade: 2.8 stars out of 5

Sophie wants to be editor in chief on her school’s newspaper. Her next assignment to prove that she’s capable involves interviewing the group of new kids to the school; a topic that strays off from her normal articles. But these teenagers are different from the rest of the school including her old childhood friend, James, who came back after his parents’ death.

Vampire Crush is what the title sounds like: it involves vampires, involves crushes; fun and flirty and not series. That being said Vampire Crush was not for me. I laughed a lot while reading the novel, but in the end I found the world building and the explanations not up to per.

Sophie doesn’t exactly have that many friends (1 and that’s a maybe) with enough acquaintances. After reading the novel you can kind of understand why. She’s not the friendliest of the bunch with enough sass, sarcasm, and underhandedness that it makes me, the reader, a bit ticked off by her.

James was hot. Well as hot as someone could be without going crazy over the description of his physical appearance. Hot as in personality wise. The baddies were odd. Most of them weren’t exactly baddies but more loners and followers. They had whimsical personalities that were a hoot to read. The family was equally weird to an extent, but just as fun to read.

Now that’s said and done, everything else was a miss. The fantastical elements were lacking definition. The whole with Sophie and Vlad and the pointy star thingy did not work for me. What happened after? How did it affect Sophie? Did Sophie really change!?

Vampire Crush does not bring anything new to the table. Aside from the funny remarks, the novel is unimpressive and lacks the fine tuning.

Cover D-

Would pass by it in a heartbeat if I saw this in a bookstore.

Source: Eleni from @lafemmereaders

Published: 1 January 2011; paperback

Amazon

Monday, January 24, 2011

CSN $65 Giftcard Giveaway

Okay we've all probably heard of CSN before. If not, then you live in a cave and don't have internet access or you're pretty new to the blogosphere. If you have heard of CSN then you know how great the site is. Either way, you're in for a treat.

CSN has a wide arrange of products you can order including but not excluding modern bar stools (which if you're planning on redecorating your dining room/kitchen you should look into that). I have had the opportunity to review 2 CSN products (loved both products) before, but I'm going to spice things up a bit and instead of me getting to use a super awesome CSN gift certificate, one of my readers can.

So the details are below. Any questions/concerns leave a comment or email me :)

Friday, January 21, 2011

You Are Not Here

You Are Not Here by Samantha Schutz

Grade: 3.8 stars out of 5

Annaleah and Brian:
one as the sun,
the other, the planet.
Annaleah revolves around
Brian, but he
has other planets.
His sudden death forced
Annaleah out of orbit;
out of kilter.

You Are Not Here.
Good, well-formatted, but
far from comprehensible.
A girl dealing with grief
that affects many moons:
friends, family, strangers.
The boy seemed nice...
at first.

Brian is a jerk
and I couldn't get past that.
Once it was in my mind,
I couldn't get Annaleah.
I wanted anger from her not
sorrow or depression.
Pure hatred.
But her dealt with grief was
raw and passionate.

I love her many friendships:
strong, caring, and understandable
(except for her relationship with Brian,
which I completely agree with.)

I love her dreams of what could have been
if her father hadn't left,
if Brian had told his friends,
if...
if...
if.

And I love her
getting out of that black hole,
with a pizza pie no less.

Cover C+

It's a personal taste; I'm just sick of symbolic flowers. I do like old cover a bit more and am sad that they changed it because they felt it was too similar Before I Fall. For whatever reason when I see this cover, it reminds me of Laura Weiss's books: Such A Pretty Girl / How It Ends / Leftovers. Especially with Such a Pretty Girl, the covers have some type of object (typically organic) with a solid color background.

Published: 1 October 2010; hardback

Amazon

old cover

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

The Running Dream

The Running Dream by Wenderlin Van Drannen

Grade: 4 stars out of 5

The Running Dream is less about the end and more about the journey to the end. Only through a great change in her life does Jessica realize something. Her story affects more than just her and her family, but the entire community.

Jessica has always been running for as long as she’s remembered. She had just set a new record when her school bus carrying her team has an accident. A freshman named Lucy died, but Jessica wishes she was dead. The accident took away her right leg; she is now a below-the-knee amputee. Her dreams of running ran straight out the door leaving Jessica behind.

The Running Dream is a heart-breaking novel that left me teary eyed before I reached the halfway point. As a novel that focuses on a drastic change in a life, it is amazing. On a technical scale and how much research the author poured into the novel, it shows. The Running Dream is an all-around winner.

Jessica is a fierce competitor but that doesn’t stop her from being a good friend, part of the team, and caring about others. The accident took more than a limb as Jessica deals with depression and her family trying to pay medical bills as fingers point the blame to another. The frustration of being unable to get up the stairs, across the room, and even showering is palpable. Jessica’s moods constantly drive up and down from optimism to depression is understandable as each new bump in the road its ups and downs. Despite her mood swings I found Jessica likeable, relatable, and grounded to the situation.

What helped Jessica are her family members, friends, and newfound friends. They push her to become a better person and are openly accepting of her new condition. They joke and treat her the same as she were before the accident. Her new life forces her to sit in the back of the class with Rosa, a freshman math genius who has cerebral palsy who’s been stuck in a wheelhouse for her entire life. Rosa is an upbeat person and has only dreamed on running.

The romantic aspect on the novel was definitely lackluster. As a character, he’s nice and respectable. He and Jessica are sweet together, but the relationship is a side-side story. There’s no ommpf or pow factor.

P.S. Who was the anonymous donator?

Cover B

I like it because it's a blank slate and something different from the YA covers I've been seeing.

Source: unsolicited review copy from Knopf Books for Young Readers

Published: 11 January 2011

Amazon

Monday, January 17, 2011

Manga Monday: Love So Life

Love So Life by Kouchi Kaede

Genre: Comedy, Romance, Slice of Life
Art: 4 stars
Plot: 3.5 stars
Characters: 3.5 stars
Similar to: Aishiteruze Baby

Shiharu is a high school student who loves kids, lives in an orphanage, and works at a daycare... Until the handsome uncle of two-year-old twins offers her a raise if she'll be their babysitter. Often relying on memories of her mother's actions for guidance, Shiharu quickly finds herself falling in love with her new makeshift family.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings + Interview

Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings by Helene Boudreau

Grade: 3.5 stars out of 5

What’s more embarrassing: pimple of day; bathing suit with nothing flattering the body; getting your first period while bathing suit shopping; running into a hot boy on your way to buy pads; run into your dad literally and buys you pads. Well, that’s not as bad compared to finding yourself having fins instead of feet. Some girls have all the luck.

Real Mermaids Don’t Wear Toe Rings is like no other coming-of-age story that I have read yet. It’s charming yet exciting with an adventure of lives at stake. The battle to save her family was impressive for a middle grade novel with such a cute cover.

Jade is a well-spoken narrator with enough spunk to keep the readers’ interest. Jade has a lot of her plate, but she is far from being that whiny tween a reader would hate to read about. I love Jade because even when she’s down, she’s not down for the count. Her best friend, Cori, helped with the character development of Jade as well as being a relatively, how do you say, a good friend! With so many things going wrong, Jade has at least one good positive thing in her life.

My only problem was with the male interest Luke. I found the ending to be too pitched perfect and a bit hard to swallow in terms of believable. It’s the happily ever after many of the readers’ want, but if were hinted more and his past clarified I would have bought the situation.

Cover B+

Source: Sourcebook Fire

Published: 1 December 2010; paperback

Amazon

1. Was Real Mermaids Don’t Wear Toe Rings based on a life experience?

Well, I’ve never spotted a real mermaid in the wild (yet!) but the backdrop for the story was definitely inspired by childhood boat trips from when I was a girl. My dad is a lobster fisherman and he’d take us from our little island off the coast of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia to the mainland where we’d sail through a canal and a boat lock to get to a fresh-water lake. I was always amazed by the purple jellyfish I saw on the ocean side, compared to the white jellyfish on the lake side of the boat lock. I often wondered; did the purple jellyfish know about the white ones and vice versa? That was the inspiration from my mer-world in Real Mermaids Don’t Wear Toe Rings.

2. I noticed that the synopsis included Jade's father Googling on his Blackberry, do you think the advancement of technology only give more options to humiliate kids? Or does technology make things more private rather that say, his father asking a sales assistant in the store?

Moms and dads have been embarrassing teens since the beginning of time. Jade’s dad, however, ramps up ‘mortification’ to a whole new level, one Google-search at a time. But Dad is just trying his best to navigate his young daughter through the hormone-charged trials of puberty so it’s all with the best of intentions; making it (almost) forgivable.

Many people have negative opinions on technology; how the twitter/ facebook/ texting culture seems to alienate people in their own little multi-media bubbles. I, on the other hand, think technology has helped bring people together in really neat ways. Sure, some people take it too far—believing everything they read on Wikipedia, texting at the dinner table or talking loudly on cell phones in public places—but for the most part, I love having so much information and connections at my fingertips.

3. Why mermaids? Why not vampires, angels, demons, werewolves?

I have two daughters and one day we were talking about phobias. I have a fear of heights so we were laughing about how funny an acrophobic bird would be, or an arachnophobic spider, or an aquaphobic fish…which led to a silly discussion about aquaphobic mermaids. That was it! The idea stuck. Hemaphobic vampires just didn’t seem as funny.

You can find more about Helene at her website.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

You Killed Wesley Payne

You Killed Wesley Payne by Sean Beaudoin

Grade: 2.8 stars out of 5

You Killed Wesley Payne was just too much for me. While in the midst of being surrounded by Beaudoin’s originality and creativity I was lost more than once, and bored a good third of the book. After finishing the book I was a little ticked off. There’s a thin line between a great plot twist and some random bloshite* and Beaudoin tip toes his way back and forth on that line.

You Killed Wesley Payne offers readers some extras: a clique chart and index, a glossary because readers will really need this, and a few original Dalton stories. On screen this is a brilliant idea. On paper the chart is complicated, difficult to follow, with bolded text, bigger bolded text, and lines crisscrossing whichever way. The index was massive blocks of text that after two full paragraphs I gave up entirely. The glossary and extra stories I had no qualms with. Those I enjoyed immensely especially with the continuation of Dalton’s side notes and remarks.

With the actual body work of the novel the language is the first thing I picked up on. Some reviewers called it neo-noir. I have no idea what that means and will not pretend otherwise, but as I stated previously, the glossary will help out immensely. Secondly I noticed the lack of authority figures and the amount of violence and corruption there is in the book. Dystopia, anyone, within a high school setting? That’s a new one for me. Continuing through, readers find scenes dealing with relationship issues—parental, siblings, and opposite sex wise. Realistic, almost contemporary fiction? I’m a fan of contemporary. So You Killed Wesley Payne was imaginative, definitely something I haven’t particularly read, with two possible genres that I’ve enjoyed before, with a murder mystery at the forefront; what’s not to love? The answer to that question is the pace. The heavy text, the random dialogue that does not fit, and the slow crawl with no action set the book back so far.

In the end I did not enjoy You Killed Wesley Payne. There is a big audience for the creativity that You Killed Wesley Payne demonstrated, but I am not part of that audience.

*a term originated by Beaudoin

Cover C-/D+

Source: Hip Scout / Little, Brown and Company

Published: 01 February 2011

Amazon