Category Archives: Contemporary

Review: The Paradox of Vertical Flight by Emil Ostrovski

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The Paradox of Vertical Flight by Emil OstrovskiThe Paradox of Vertical Flight
Emil Ostrovski
Greenwillow Books

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

On a morning that begins with a suicide fantasy, Jack Polovsky’s ex-girlfriend calls him from the hospital. She’s having their baby and giving him up for adoption. This is Jack’s only chance to meet his son and say goodbye. At first Jack doesn’t think it matters, but the more he thinks about it, the more realizes he wants to say to his son. In a moment part panic, part impulse, and part desperation, he snatches the baby from the hospital and hits the road. He grabs the appropriate baby paraphernalia and finds himself on the run from the police, trying to buy enough time to tell his son (whom he names Socrates) all the things he’ll need to know. He teams up with his best friend Tommy and with Jess, his ex-girlfriend and the baby’s mom, on a journey to visit his grandmother, to say goodbye.

I read this book because I’d been asked to participate in a blog tour for Emil Ostrovski’s sophomore novel Away We Go later this spring, and I’d gone to his blog to find out more about him as an author. When I read the blog post about the release of The Paradox of Vertical Flight, I was completely hooked. I went immediately to Amazon, bought the book and read it that night.

I’m a huge sucker for books with witty dialogue, and this one totally delivers it. I loved the characters, from Jack to his friends, the strangers they meet along the journey and his sweet grandmother with dementia. I loved that this story features issues about teen parenthood from the often-overlooked father’s point-of-view. I loved how tender Jack was toward his son. So neat.

Some reviews and comments compare this book to books by John Green and other authors. I think in terms of the quirkiness and wit of the writing, yes, absolutely. I thought that Paradox of Vertical Flight wasn’t as dark as Green tends to be, though. I really liked it a lot. It’s a great pick for fans of contemporary teen fiction looking for books with unique storylines and great, fun writing.

Language Content
Extreme profanity used moderately.

Sexual Content
Jack’s (recently ex)-girlfriend is pregnant, so obviously they’ve had sex. There are a couple of brief references to the experience, but it’s not described in a full-on scene. Jack wants to kiss her, remembers kissing her. He flirts with his best friend Tommy. Their relationship remains just friends though.

Spiritual Content
There’s a lot of philosophical discussion—from the allegory of the cave to Schroedinger’s cat. At one point the group goes to a church, though it’s unclear what Jack’s really looking for. It’s not Jesus per se. More the idea that there are things he wants his son to be open to exploring, or wants to feel like he has imparted an openness to exploring to his son?

Violence
None.

Drug Content
Jack recalls spending time drinking alcohol with Jess. He finds a bottle of tequila and shares it with his friends during their trip.

Review: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

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Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
St. Martin’s Press

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Eleanor just wants to keep her head down and survive. To stay out of her step-dad’s notice. To preserve the tiny space in her tiny house that contains the only things that belong to her.

To Park, she’s the girl with the crazy hair and the weird clothes. When he lets her share his seat on the bus so she doesn’t fall victim to bullies behind him, he doesn’t realize he’s opened his life to a girl who will wake him up in a way he’s never been awake before. At sixteen, they both know love doesn’t always last, but sometimes you can’t help hoping it will.

I didn’t expect to fall in love with this book. I’d started reading Fangirl over the summer last summer, and just didn’t really get into it. I thought maybe I wasn’t a Rainbow Rowell fan, (possibly the only one?) but then I read the first page of Eleanor & Park.

It didn’t even take the whole page. Just the first line, and I was HOOKED. I love Park. I love his passion, his determined optimism, his complicated relationships with each of his family members. The relationship between him and his dad? So good. So complex and believable. I loved that none of the relationships felt clichéd or simplistic. Even Eleanor’s relationships with her family members and the relationships with the peripheral characters carried their own weight and had this organic feeling to them. I loved when the characters surprised me, and the ways those surprises made so much sense.

I also really liked that though there’s some romantic content between Eleanor and Park, Rowell doesn’t give us the play by play report of everything that happened. We get the setup and then maybe a summary sentence or two that kind of just lets us know things happened. We didn’t need the details. The important parts of their relationship weren’t the physical things that happened between them. I liked that Eleanor didn’t reinvent herself in the story. That it wasn’t like “oh, hey, if I dress cool and lose weight so I look like other girls, I’ll land this cute boyfriend.” She stayed herself, and that was exactly who Park loved. It wasn’t really a focal issue in the story. There are a couple of moments where she shows some insecurity about her body, but it felt natural, the way we all have those moments. Over all, I loved it. Definitely a must-read for romance lovers.

Language Content
Extreme profanity used frequently.

Sexual Content (SPOILER ALERT)
Some heavy making out. They do remove their clothes a couple of times, and there’s a moment where it looks like they’ll have sex, but they stop just shy of it. For the most part, we get a few details about the point at which the romance progresses, but I liked that Rowell sort of sets up the scene and then jumps ahead, so we don’t get the play by play between the two. Eleanor is so private, I’m sure she prefers to maintain that silence.

Eleanor finds creepy sexual notes written on her school textbook covers. She worries that the sender means her harm.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violence
Eleanor and her siblings hear arguments between her mom and step-dad that become violent. Park and another boy fight. It’s brief. Park kicks a drunk man in the face (it’s a revenge move.)

Girls in Eleanor’s gym class pick on her and at one point destroy her clothes.

Drug Content
Eleanor’s step-dad is an alcoholic. Kids from school offer Eleanor a beer. She takes a sip but spills most of it.

Mini Reviews: Never Never Part 1 and Reprieve

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Fantasy, Lists, News and Fun, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Never, Never (Part 1) by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher / Hoover Ink

I stumbled across this series of novellas on Amazon. Of the three parts, I’ve only read Part 1. It basically seems like a novel broken into three pieces. The whole series is available as a bundle for $2.99, which is a pretty great deal.

In terms of the story, it was definitely a wild ride. There’s a lot of romantic tension and some sexual content (main characters watch a video that includes a sex scene, thought it’s dark and only sounds are described) and brief violence. I was really hooked by the idea that both characters have lost their memories and are scrambling both to pretend they’ve got things under control/run their lives as if nothing’s wrong but also figure out what made them lose their memories. It’s clear something sinister happened, and we don’t know if our protags are good guys or bad guys. Will I read part 2? Possibly. I’m definitely curious about the story. Not curious enough to bump it ahead of the rest of my TBR list, though, so for now it’ll have to wait.

Inherit the Stars: Reprieve by Tessa Elwood/Running Press

After falling face-first in love with Inherit the Stars (read my review), I HAD to read this short story featuring Asa and her sister Wren (who is unconscious in Inherit the Stars.) I’ve read short stories by authors whose novels I love and been disappointed by the lack of structure (short fiction is not as easy as you think), but this was not the case with Elwood’s tale. The writing was powerful and the characters really moving. I loved having that chance to see Wren and Asa interact with one another, to have that real-time look at how their relationship worked. It only strengthened my understanding of Asa’s motives in Inherit the Stars. If you liked the novel, I recommend the short story. If you haven’t read the novel, check out the short story. It’s free, and you’ll get a really good feel for the narrative in the full-length novel. Update: I can’t seem to find a good link for the short story online. I think I got it on Amazon, but I don’t see it there now. Check out the Goodreads page and see if maybe it gets updated to show it posted somewhere else?

 

Review: This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

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

This Is Where It Ends
Marieke Nijkamp
Publisher

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

It begins with the closing of the principal’s speech at Opportunity High. Confusion rustles through the auditorium as students discover the locked doors. Then one door opens, and a boy enters. A boy with a gun.

Four alternating viewpoints, each a student with a connection to the shooter, relate this tense, heartbreaking tale about a community ripped apart by violence. The story spans fifty-four minutes.

This Is Where It Ends includes a diverse body of characters across lines of race, religion, and sexual preference. As a YA reader and reviewer, I’ve commented before that I wish there were more stories featuring Muslim characters in which they or their family members aren’t portrayed as terrorists. I think especially right now, we need those voices. We need those stories. Fareed was probably my favorite character. He was kind, smart, patient, and loyal, but he got things done, too. I loved that he wasn’t defeated by other people’s prejudices.

I really liked that each chapter began with a timestamp. The story unfolds so rapidly, and there’s a lot of chaos and panic, and that minute-by-minute unraveling of the timeline kept things feeling critical. I feel like that high-tension plot is the real strength of the story.

In reading the different points-of-view, I often felt like I wasn’t getting as deep as I wanted to, especially early on in the story. It’s a really tough balance to strike to give enough slow insight into the characters versus keeping the narrative moving to avoid letting the tension slack off, so I think it could just be that I’m used to those slower-paced, more cerebral narratives, or prefer them.

There’s a heroic moment in which one character basically gives their life for another character. I love that gesture and how brave it was, but I felt like because of how it unfolded in the plot, it didn’t have to happen and was kind of just this little pause for, “okay, then this person we like dies, and moving on again.” I wanted it to mean more. However, the truth is, that in situations like this, there often isn’t a big moment that means something for each casualty, you know? I think because of who this character is, I expected it to mean more.

There’s never a good time to read a tragic story, but it is always the right time to be reminded of courage.

It is early December as I write this review. It’s always difficult to review a story about a situation like this in the wake of a real life event like what happened in San Bernandino. I was reading Black Helicopters, a story about a terrorist bombing, when the bombing happened in Boston in 2013. I’ve had This Is Where It Ends in my review queue for some time, but there hasn’t seemed a good time to read it.

I can only say that we need to be reminded that people of good heart, of moral courage come from every background, despite what other voices and what our own fears would have us believe. We need to hold on to the truth that we are all created equal, all worthy of love, all valuable. And Marieke Nijkamp’s brave story, though cloaked in the senseless tragedy of a school shooting, reminds us of these critically important beliefs.

Language Content
Extreme profanity used with moderate frequency.

Sexual Content
We learn that a girl was raped, but no details about the incident. Two girls have a romantic relationship. They hold hands and kiss.

Spiritual Content
Sylvia prays occasionally through the story, and remembers sharing in spiritual traditions of her Mexican family. Fareed whispers prayers as well (he is a Muslim.) At the end of the story, survivors gather at a candlelight vigil and pray according to their faiths.

Violence
A teenage boy shoots students, teachers and staff at his high school. One person is killed by asphyxiation. An abusive man beats his children, leaving them bruised. Some of these scenes are extremely violent and some of the descriptions quite graphic. I’d say this one isn’t for the faint of heart or the very sensitive.

Drug Content
Autumn and Tyler’s dad is an abusive alcoholic.

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

Review: Forever For a Year by B T Gottfred

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

Forever For a Year
B. T. Gottfred
Henry Holt and Company

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
Carolina and Trevor begin their freshman year at a new high school. Carolina is determined to make the right friends and impress her bestie’s older, more sophisticated sister. Trevor, new in town and resentful of the issues causing his family to relocate, has no expectation to enjoy his new school. Then he meets Carolina. The two fall head over heels and soar into the glory of first love.

As their feelings deepen, they spend more and more time alone, and kissing leads to touching leads to more. But their professed love and belief that they are each other’s soul mates may not be enough to bind the two together when Trevor keeps a secret and Carolina makes a mistake.

Gottfred captures the roller coaster ride of hormones and emotions. Carolina and Trevor’s relationship has its own gravity which pulls even their personalities into orbit around it. Though Carolina was almost obnoxiously perky at times, Trevor’s brooding temper and deep family issues kept the story from becoming trite. He experienced many of the story’s powerful moments, from the lesson on falling in love vs. being in love to the realization that long term relationships create their own baggage and become difficult. We watch the two believe wholeheartedly in the infallibility of their love and the power of being soul mates to cement their relationship for all time. And then life happens. Lies. Mistakes. Suddenly love isn’t so easy or so permanent. Gottfred really captured those moments and ideas well.

What fell flat for me was the ending. There’s this moment where I felt like the thread unraveled. I agreed with the plot of the ending. It needed to be that way. But after this long, powerful buildup, there was this moment where I felt like the characters kind of just dropped all the emotion and said, “The End,” and that was it. I also struggled with the story when the parents were being unfaithful. I felt like that revelation didn’t carry enough gravity and enough emotional fallout. I felt like it should have affected Carolina and Trevor more individually and as a couple.

Language Content
Extreme profanity used with moderate frequency.

Sexual Content
Explicit sexual content. The language used to describe the encounters is mild as opposed to erotic language, but the experiences are described in detail. Carolina and Trevor have little experience with the opposite sex when they begin dating. They spend a LOT of time behind a locked basement door exploring each other’s bodies and developing a sexual relationship. It’s steamy stuff, but it’s also fraught with the kind of awkwardness that one expects from inexperienced lovers.

Reading the book, I felt like it may be that the author wrote it with this level of specificity as a way to encourage teens who were active or experimenting with sex that many of the uncertainties and insecurities are common. I’m not a fan of explicit sex in teen fiction. I want to say a lot more about my thoughts on this as an approach to teen fiction, but I really think I need to save it for another post.

Trevor and Carolina also deal with feelings about their parents being unfaithful spouses.

I liked that Gottfred showed a spectrum of response to teen relationships. While Carolina and Trevor are pretty serious and heavy with each other, one of Carolina’s friends doesn’t date at all because her parents have set rules against it. One of Carolina’s other friends seems to be hooking up with random boys at parties. There are boys like Trevor, who wants to treat Carolina well in terms of not pressuring her and trying to reciprocate pleasure to her. Another boy pressures Carolina and really only cares about receiving satisfaction himself. Despite the explicitness, I did respect that this wasn’t a tale that painted everyone as getting into everyone else’s pants.

What was really weird, too, was that reading the explicit parts, I actually felt a bit like a creeper. Carolina and Trevor are so young, and they SOUND SO YOUNG. Eep. It was like walking in on a younger sibling and feeling like okay, now I need to forget I ever saw that! I don’t know if it’s because I’m not in the target age range or too old to read this stuff or what. I normally don’t weird myself out reading romantic YA, but this really felt weird to me.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violence
Trevor and another boy get into a fist fight.

Drug Content
Several scenes show teens drinking alcohol.

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

Review: Not if I See You First by Eric Lindstrom

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

Not If I See You First
Eric Lindstrom
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers/Poppy

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Parker lives by a specific set of rules. She expects to be treated like everyone else. Judgment comes swiftly for anyone who takes advantage of the fact that she’s blind. One betrayal, and you’re cut from her life. Scott, the boy who was once her best friend and became her boyfriend learns this lesson the hard way.

Only now he’s back, transferred to her school, and Parker has no choice but to make the best of it. She prides herself on the ability to know the people around them, to read them even if she can’t see them. But as she grapples with unresolved feelings about Scott in the wake of her father’s death, she learns she may not see others as clearly as she thinks. In fact she may be dead wrong about the most important people in her life.

One of the random but very cool things to me about this book is that I constantly kept forgetting that the author is a man. Parker is so believably female and complex that I honestly checked several times because I thought maybe I’d misread the author’s name. (Not that I think men can’t write believable women or vice versa, but it’s always awesome when you find someone who does a spectacular job of it.)

As far as the story, I loved the unpredictable elements. I was surprised by the revelation about facts surrounding Parker’s dad’s death. I thought even the way their relationship worked seemed very real and definitely fit in with the larger story about how Parker doesn’t always peg people close to her as accurately as she would wish to believe.

I felt like there was a good balance between attention given to her blindness without the details about her daily life overtaking the story. I didn’t feel a lack of setting details despite the fact that they were not given through visual cues.

I loved the romance and the quick, witty dialogue. Great lines like that in conversation always make me want to be a better writer myself and feel a lot of admiration for the author who created them.

Other than the use of profanity (there was quite a bit), the story is pretty clean. I enjoyed reading it.

Language Content
Extreme profanity used with moderate frequency. Also some crude language.

Sexual Content
Kissing. At one point Parker reflects on feeling starved for physical contact with people and how that makes her want to go further with a boy than she would normally feel comfortable.

Spiritual Content
Parker spends time thinking in long monologues to her dad after his death. She says she doesn’t believe he’s watching over her or seeing everything going on in her life. The conversations are her way of staying close to him.

Violence
Parker hears a scuffle when a boy tackles two other boys who have been picking on her.

Drug Content
None.

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