All posts by Kasey

About Kasey

Reads things. Writes things. Fluent in sarcasm. Willful optimist. Cat companion, chocolate connoisseur, coffee drinker. There are some who call me Mom.

Review: A Single Stone by Meg McKinlay

Book Review and Content, Clean Fiction, Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , ,

A Single Stone by Meg McKinlayA Single Stone
Meg McKinlay
Candlewick Press
Published on March 14, 2017 (Orig. May 1, 2015)

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About A Single Stone
Every girl dreams of being part of the line—the chosen seven who tunnel deep into the mountain to find the harvest. No work is more important.

Jena is the leader of the line—strong, respected, reliable. And—as all girls must be—she is small; years of training have seen to that. It is not always easy but it is the way of things. And so a girl must wrap her limbs, lie still, deny herself a second bowl of stew. Or a first.

But what happens when one tiny discovery makes Jena question the world she knows? What happens when moving a single stone changes everything?

My Review
The harsh circumstances of life and Jena’s utter devotion to her people make A Single Stone a captivating story from the first page. I liked the unusual story world and Jena’s journey struggling to make sense of her community as she discovers some dark secrets about the way the leadership operates. I loved her friendships with Luka and Min, and the snippets about the mysterious outsider girl.

I loved the way the metaphor of a single stone being moved or stirred could cause a whole mountain to collapse. It created this sort of knife’s-edge feel to the whole story that’s echoed in every uncovered secret and every moment where Jena faces a difficult choice. Will she be the girl who brings down the mountain or her community in ruin or will she free them? Great tension there.

The story ended a lot differently than I expected. At one point, Jena makes an important confrontation, but I felt like her accusation gets lost in the confusion as a lot of other things happen suddenly. Her choice at the end of the book is a lot more personal rather than community oriented (though it still affects the community), and I guess I hoped for more? Maybe how it affects her other relationships or just a revisiting of the closeness she had with some of the other characters.

On the whole, I really enjoyed reading A Single Stone, and especially loved Jena’s character. This is a great pick for readers looking for dystopian stories but not yet ready for the likes of The Hunger Games or Divergent.

Recommended for Ages 9 to 12.

Cultural Elements
Characters appear to be white. The village is small and cut off from any other known cities or human populations. Women lead the village. Girls are the more highly valued children because of their size and ability to navigate small spaces.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
The village has some call and response types of rituals, but they don’t seem to be based on worship of any particular deity.

Violent Content
Female children wear tight wraps on their limbs and torsos which limit their growth in hopes that they’ll grow up to be small enough to climb through the tight crevices of the mountain. Jena learns that the mothers manipulate other elements of growth, sometimes with fatal consequences, in order to try to create a generation of smaller girls to support the village.

When one girl becomes trapped in the rock, the others pull her out, knowing this could cause her thin bones to break, possibly even cause her death.

A girl falls from the top of a rock and dies.

Jena recalls a memory of her own mother’s death following childbirth.

Drug Content
The Mothers use various drugs and medicines to cure illnesses, reduce pain, and at times alter their patients.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

 

Review: Definitions of Indefinable Things by Whitney Taylor

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , ,

The Definition of Indefinable Things
Whitney Taylor
HMH Books for Young Readers
Published April 4, 2017

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About The Definition of Indefinable Things
This heartbreaking, humorous novel is about three teens whose lives intersect in ways they never expected.

Reggie Mason is all too familiar with “the Three Stages of Depression.” She believes she’s unlocked the secret to keeping herself safe: Nobody can hurt you if you never let them in.

Reggie encounters an unexpected challenge to her misanthropy: a Twizzler-chomping, indie film-making narcissist named Snake. Snake’s presence, while reassuring, is not exactly stable—especially since his ex-girlfriend is seven months pregnant. As Reggie falls for Snake, she must decide whether it’s time to rewrite the rules that have defined her.

My Review
Reggie’s a prickly girl, so it took me a little bit to warm up to her. I tend to struggle with those kinds of narrators because I find the sort of determined negativity exhausting. What won me over with Reggie was the hints at her underlying sadness and the quirky, fun banter between her and Snake.

Snake totally seemed like the kind of character author Matthew Quick would come up with, and I really couldn’t help liking him, even though clearly he was working through some big issues and not always making the best choices. I liked that he wanted to do right by his and Carla’s baby, even when he wasn’t sure what that meant for his relationship with Carla.

The story sort of meandered in some places, lingering long on the mystery of what triggered Reggie’s depression, and her fears about a potential relationship with Snake. I loved the moment when she’s able to reach out to him using her own experience with depression. I liked that their relationship never came easily, but that they had to find their own ways to trust and be open with each other.

Books where Christianity or devout Christians are disparaged or portrayed in a negative light tend to be difficult for me as well, not because I think it can’t happen that way, but because I feel like too often that’s the narrative. I can’t help sometimes feeling like we allow a lot more latitude for negative portrayal of Christianity in modern young adult literature than we do other faiths or worldviews, but that’s a whole separate soap box. For Definitions of Indefinable Things, I think while Reggie was pretty tough on her mom and her beliefs, eventually they began to see value in each other’s perspectives and to find ways to express their love for each other without compromising what they believed, which felt real and honorable.

If you liked Every Exquisite Thing by Matthew Quick or The Paradox of Vertical Flight by Emil Ostrovski, you should check out Definitions of Indefinable Things.

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Cultural Elements
Reggie describes Snake as having olive skin and dark, curly hair. He has two moms, one of whom has brown skin. Other characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used moderately frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between a boy and girl. References to sex. One character is pregnant.

Spiritual Content
Reggie’s mom is a devoted Christian and hopes prayer will heal Reggie’s depression. Reggie internalizes this as pressure to change. Like she’s supposed to magically become the person her mom wants her to be. Reggie herself prays in a couple of desperate situations, but otherwise doesn’t embrace any spirituality. She often disparages her mom’s beliefs.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
Snake confesses that he slept with a girl at a party where both had been drinking alcohol.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

 

Review: It Looks Like This by Rafi Mittlefehldt

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,

It Looks Like This
Rafi Mittlefehldt
Candlewick Press
Published September 6, 2016

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About It Looks Like This
A new state, a new city, a new high school. Mike’s father has already found a new evangelical church for the family to attend, even if Mike and his plainspoken little sister, Toby, don’t want to go. Dad wants Mike to ditch art for sports, to toughen up, but there’s something uneasy behind his demands.

Then Mike meets Sean, the new kid, and “hey” becomes games of basketball, partnering on a French project, hanging out after school. A night at the beach. The fierce colors of sunrise. But Mike’s father is always watching. And so is Victor from school, cell phone in hand.

My Review
I devoured this book in a single sitting. The inside front flap warned me that it would be a heartbreaking read (which meant that before I started, I flipped to the back and read the last chapter, because I’m a total pansy for this stuff, and I need some warning if an author is going to make me fall head over heels for someone and then suddenly/tragically kill them off.) Spoiler: it’s a heartbreaking read. More spoiler: but it’s also got a huge amount of justice in its conclusion.

Emotionally, I feel like to call this one a roller coaster doesn’t even cover it. Someone once described my review content notes as “potential triggers” for readers, a sentiment that I really like, and reading this book made me realize I have a lot of my own triggers that don’t always make it into the list below (and don’t always need to).

I felt a connection with the kind of community where Mike lived in Virginia. It reminded me of my own small southern town, and even though my experience growing up in church felt very different than what Mike experienced, it made me revisit those days and think about the friends I had who struggled to make the same kind of spiritual connection and felt like outsiders in the midst of those services and events. I don’t think I was really sympathetic or aware of what they were experiencing, to be honest, and I hate that, but I feel like it’s important to realize it now, so I can behave differently.

Mike’s dad puts a lot of pressure on him to act in certain ways—it’s clear he’s very concerned about his son’s interests and masculinity, and Mike tries like crazy to please his dad. When his dad finds out that Mike’s been in a relationship with another boy, he sends Mike to InnerPeace, a Christian camp for teens who’ve had gay urges or experiences.

So, conversion therapy.

We see, from Mike’s point-of-view, what this is like and how much more pressure it is, how ineffective it is in terms of changing his feelings, how damaging it could be if he stayed there. Mike’s friend’s mom harshly criticizes his parents for sending Mike there and for their feelings of shame about their son.

On the one hand, the story doesn’t shy away from strong statements and some preachiness. On the other hand, it’s Mike’s internal experience which makes those moments powerful and meaningful. I also really liked the emphasis on Mike’s artistic ability and the way he used art to convey what was meaningful to him, things he struggled to put into words.

I talked about the story having a lot of justice in its conclusion. It’s not a perfect ending. Remember: heartbreak. But in other ways, things go very right. Mike’s mom, who spends much of the story being a bit of a doormat, becomes Mike’s advocate and strongly supports him. He gets good counsel from a therapist, which motivates him to challenge the people who’d been crushing him. A bully who’d been picking on Mike apologizes and seems deeply genuine.

I wish It Looks Like This didn’t have the graphic sexual content and the depiction of kids drinking alcohol that it does. I know, kids do it, even as young as Mike is (he’s fourteen for most of the story). But I find content like that narrows the audience a bit and makes it harder to recommend the story, especially to younger readers. The emotional journey is incredibly compelling, and the characters realistic and moving.

Be warned– the story doesn’t use a lot of quotation marks for dialogue. It’s a style thing, but it seemed to bother some of the other reviewers I’ve seen who posted about this book. I didn’t find it bothersome, but I know some people do.

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Cultural Elements
Sean’s mom is black and his dad is white. Mike’s other friends are white. He describes Victor as naturally tanned. Mike and Sean are both gay.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Mike is keenly aware of his proximity to Sean, and doesn’t at first recognize his feelings for attraction. In one scene, Mike draws Sean, and becomes embarrassed when Sean makes a joke about how he should have posed nude. The boys swim naked in the ocean. In a couple of scenes, they kiss and touch each other. In one scene, one of Mike’s friends confesses that he looks at porn, though he believes it’s a sin and doesn’t want to do it. Later, he shows Mike a couple pages of a magazine he’s hiding in his room, showing a man and woman having sex.

Spiritual Content
Mike’s family attends church regularly. His parents seem pretty committed and like it’s a meaningful experience, though it’s hard to say whether Mike’s dad is more concerned about himself and his family having a good appearance in the church community. Mike and his sister hate going.

When Mike’s parents realize he’s gay, they send him to a Christian camp to deal with his feelings. It’s clear the goal of the camp is for Mike to come home straight. There are a couple of preachy moments where others at camp recite information or reasons against homosexual behavior. For Mike, the experience feels much less about any sort of spirituality and more about pleasing those in authority around him, the same issue he faces at home.

Violent Content
Mike and his friends play Halo together. There are some descriptions of players killing other players. A boy at school repeatedly slams his shoulder into Mike as he walks past. A man punches a teenager and drags him away. One of Mike’s friends tells Mike he punched the boy who was bullying him.

Drug Content
Sean offers Mike beer, and they drink together at his house. Later they drink some wine together. See spoilers below for other information.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SPOILER

A local boy is killed in a drunk driving accident after he drinks eight beers and gets behind the wheel of his car.

 

 

 

Review: The Waking Land by Callie Bates

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,

The Waking Land
Callie Bates
Del Rey Books
Published June 27, 2017

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About Waking the Land
Lady Elanna Valtai is fiercely devoted to the King who raised her like a daughter. But when he dies under mysterious circumstances, Elanna is accused of his murder and must flee for her life.

Returning to the homeland of magical legends she has forsaken, Elanna is forced to reckon with her despised, estranged father, branded a traitor long ago. Feeling a strange, deep connection to the natural world, she also must face the truth about the forces she has always denied or disdained as superstition powers that suddenly stir within her.

But an all-too-human threat is drawing near, determined to exact vengeance. Now Elanna has no choice but to lead a rebellion against the kingdom to which she once gave her allegiance. Trapped between divided loyalties, she must summon the courage to confront a destiny that could tear her apart.

My Review
By far my favorite thing about this book is the rich imagery of the setting and the complex politics driving the story. The writing is excellent and the characters so easy to fall in love with.

That said, sometimes I did feel like, though the politics were really intriguing, sometimes the explanations went on a little long. It also gave the story much more of an adult fiction feel than a young adult feel, because while Elanna is caught up in finding her place among her people—adopted or biological—much of the story has to do with the political ramifications of her alliances and actions. The romantic relationship in the story also had more of an adult relationship feel to me than a teen relationship in the way the characters related to one another and how Elanna thought of her love.

Those things didn’t lessen my enjoyment of the book, though they might make it less appealing to young readers. Hard to say. If you liked Robin McKinley’s The Blue Sword or Leah Cypess’s Nightspell, you may want to snap up a copy of The Waking Land.

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Cultural Elements
Elanna and her people have kind of a Scottish feel to them. Jahan is described as having dark curly hair and olive skin.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used very infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Sensual kissing between a young man and woman in her bedroom in one scene. Explicit sex in another scene. Other scenes include brief kissing. In more than one scene, Elanna is dressed only in an undergarment (though usually not for sexual reasons.)

Spiritual Content
Elanna has a magical connection with plants and the land. Ghosts of her ancestors visit and aid her in part of her journey. She briefly reflects on the difference between the gods worshipped in her adopted country versus the gods of her true homeland. She participates in a blood ritual several times as a part of trying to find her place among her people. She learns of another ritual, a legend in which a woman was said to “wed the land.” She participates in a celebration during which she and other participants become sexually aroused (they’re clothed and dancing around a fire.) She also learns of other mystic countrymen who travel large distances by walking “folds” of the land, which enable them to sort of jump from one place to another, skipping over the terrain between the two places.

Jahan and Elanna use magic to fight their enemies and rescue allies.

Violent Content
A poisoned mushroom kills the king, and his daughter plans to execute Elanna for his death. Several scenes include bloody clashes between soldiers of two groups. In at least one scene, soldiers attack young boys, gravely wounding one. Some battles prove fatal.

Drug Content
A poisoned mushroom kills a man. Brief references to alcohol. At one point, the prince becomes drunk and embarrasses himself with rude behavior.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

 

Review: Unraveling by Sara Ella

Book Review and Content, Clean Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , ,

Unraveling (Unblemished #2)
Sara Ella
Thomas Nelson – HarperCollins
Published July 11, 2017

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About Unraveling
Eliyana Ember doesn’t believe in true love. Not anymore. After defeating her grandfather and saving the Second Reflection, El only trusts what’s right in front of her. The tangible. The real. Not some unexplained Kiss of Infinity she once shared with the ghost of a boy she’s trying to forget. She has more important things to worry about–like becoming queen of the Second Reflection, a role she is so not prepared to fill.

Now that the Verity is intertwined with her soul and Joshua’s finally by her side, El is ready to learn more about her mysterious birth land, the land she now rules. So why does she feel like something–or someone–is missing?

When the thresholds begin to drain and the Callings, those powerful magical gifts, begin to fail, El wonders if her link to Ky Rhyen may have something to do with it. For light and darkness cannot coexist. She needs answers before the Callings disappear altogether. Can El find a way to sever her connection to Ky and save the Reflections–and keep herself from falling for him in the process?

My Review
After reading Unblemished, I was super excited to get into this book. I liked the fresh story world and the spunky voice of Eliyana and all the musical references. All those great things continue in this second book. I loved the way some of the characters evolved– Ebony, especially– and enjoyed seeing Eliyana gain some confidence and independence of her own.

On the guy side… You know, in the first book, I was really rooting for Joshua and El to be together. I wasn’t a huge fan of Ky’s cockiness and attitude, and I liked Joshua’s self-sacrifice and commitment to do what was right no matter the personal cost to him. In this book, I found myself struggling to like either guy. I felt like they both had agendas, and while the story vilified one guy for his, I didn’t feel like I bought into the idea that the other guy should get off the hook because his motives were supposedly so pure.

I didn’t mind the lack of Christian worldview, but I felt like Unraveling confused some Christian concepts and warped them into a lot of gray morality. Everything seemed to come down to human strength. The good guys fight the Void and the bad guys simply aren’t strong enough to do so or flat out choose the darkness. I don’t know. It felt empty, I guess, and kind of arbitrary, if that makes any sense.

Despite my reservations about the characters, I definitely bought into the romance and want these guys to figure out some way to be happy. All of them. Some of Eliyana’s moments of comparison between how she feels about Joshua versus Ky made a lot of sense to me in terms of growing up and learning about love.

If you liked Cassandra Clare’s The Mortal Instruments series, you might like the world-jumping, star-crossed love elements of Unraveling. Definitely start the series with Unblemished, as it introduces a lot of characters gradually, and Unblemished kind of throws you right into the middle of a huge group of them without a lot of preamble. You can read my review of Unblemished here.

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Cultural Elements
Major characters appear to be white. Some minor characters have darker skin tones.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Story-centric curses, like crowe and Verity or Void.

Romance/Sexual Content
Eliyana is engaged to Joshua, but still has strong feelings for Ky. She exchanges kisses with the young man she loves. In one scene, it’s unclear how far the physical love goes. The man describes walking and kissing and ending up on his back, drawing her to him before the scene ends.

Kisses also create bonds and promises. A kiss to the heel of the palm can bind someone to a promise they’ve made, and cause their death if they break that promise. A Kiss of Infinity binds the soul of the giver to the receiver.

Spiritual Content
While the story flirts with some Christian concepts, occasionally referencing Proverbs or spiritual concepts, I wouldn’t say it holds a truly Christian worldview. The Verity represents light and good, and the Void represents darkness and sin, but each character who interacts with them makes choices based on his or her own strength to battle or join with those forces.

Many characters possess Callings, or special abilities, like healing or shape-shifting.

Violent Content
Eliyana, Joshua, and Ky’s bonds mean that when one experiences pain, the others often feel it. Battles include gunshot and arrow wounds as well as physical fights. Eliyana notices scars Ky carries and has a brief flashback about the torture he endured receiving them. She also experiences pain when she uses some of her gifts.

A young man kills a sleeping woman, justifying the death as self-defense, though it clearly isn’t. A soldier stabs a child through the heart with a sword. Another soldier dies protecting his wife.

Drug Content
Brief reference to a character who appears to be drunk.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

 

Review: The List by Patricia Forde

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Clean Fiction, Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic, Fantasy, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , ,

The List
Patricia Forde
Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Published August 1, 2017

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About The List
In the city of Ark, speech is constrained to five hundred sanctioned words. Speak outside the approved lexicon and face banishment. The exceptions are the Wordsmith and his apprentice Letta, the keepers and archivists of all language in their post-apocalyptic, neo-medieval world.

On the death of her master, Letta is suddenly promoted to Wordsmith, charged with collecting and saving words. But when she uncovers a sinister plan to suppress language and rob Ark’s citizens of their power of speech, she realizes that it’s up to her to save not only words, but culture itself.

My Review
Strong, evocative writing makes The List a story difficult to put down. I loved Letta’s care for words and her struggle to do what’s right as she begins to realize that may mean defying the leadership and rules of Ark. Something about the story reminded me very much of The Giver. I think because of the repressive environment and Letta’s growing need to escape. I liked Marlo’s character, too, and the way he protected Letta and helped her without expecting anything in return.

Letta’s world has been ravaged by what she refers to as the Melting. Sea levels have risen as a result of polar ice melting due to global warming. The story doesn’t really delve into the politics or anything else, it’s just the background premise, and I thought the pairing of a flood due to sea levels rising and the references to Noah’s Ark were kind of interesting. The story doesn’t try to retell the Biblical tale beyond those few references.

The plot moved quickly and kept me guessing at what would happen next. I think I read the whole book in two sessions—I could barely stand to put it down until the last page. The story builds to a pretty intense climax and resolves with plenty of setup for a sequel.

Other than some references to violence and brief depictions, it’s a pretty clean story, and a great read for those transitioning from middle grade to young adult literature. Fans of dystopian literature, especially stories about communities under repressive rule like Uglies by Scott Westerfeld or Divergent by Veronica Roth definitely need to put The List on their reading lists.

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Cultural Elements
Letta has red hair and pale skin. Marlo has dark hair and olive skin.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Letta mentions a local boy who wants to mate with her. In this context, it seems like he wants to marry her, or to choose her as his mate. She doesn’t have to worry about this until she’s eighteen, however. It’s clear she feels attracted to Marlo.

Spiritual Content
Letta lives in a town called Ark, founded by a man named John Noa, but that’s basically where the obvious references to the Biblical story end. Noa crafts specific rules governing the behavior of all who live in Ark and banishes anyone who defies his commands.

Marlo believes dreams have spiritual significance. At one point he comes to Letta because he dreamed she called to him. Letta doesn’t share his belief.

Her village contains a statue of a woman referred to as the Goddess, even though she’s reported to be a prophet, the last God sent. Letta briefly wonders how she came to be known as a goddess. At one point, she witnesses a woman petitioning the Goddess for help at the feet of the statue.

Violent Content
She hears rumors of prisoners tortured for information, and at one point hears screams from a prison cell. She finds a gravely injured man and tries to help him. His injuries are briefly but specifically described. A woman Letta knows gets captured and executed by soldiers.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.