Category Archives: By Genre

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 by Eric LindstromNot 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.

Review: Magic to Memphis by Julie Starr

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

Magic to Memphis
Julie Starr

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

A box filled with postcards and mementos that once belonged to her father send seventeen year-old Jessie on a quest to Memphis to find the man who disappeared into his own dreams of musical stardom. Her faithful dog Bear protects her, and a quirky traveler named Finch talks to Jessie about the magic of making things happen. When Jessie begins to embrace this everyday magic, miraculous things begin to happen. But not everyone wishes Jessie well. A sinister man with dark power seeks artifacts in Jessie’s possession, and he’ll stop at nothing to get them back.

I’m not a dog person (go ahead and hate me) but I loved Bear, Jessie’s dog. I liked the way the author used the dog to build relationships between characters. I liked watching Jessie grow as a character. After her cold behavior causes a rift in her band, she learns to swallow her pride and admit she’s wrong sometimes. The music contest was awesome. I loved how that turned out (but I won’t spoil it.)

While I loved the added tension that the crazed killer brought to the story, I felt like he didn’t tie in with the rest of the story as well. He had some inexplicable powers that I kept waiting to be explained or to matter to the story somehow, and that never really panned out. The story isn’t really about him, though, so while it left me scratching my head a couple of times, overall, I enjoyed the tale and the way the author used a box of mementos, the music contest, and the dog to bring a community of people together.

Language Content
Strong profanity used moderately.

Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
References to “magic.” It feels more like a mystic sort of “power of positive energy” type of doctrine. At one point, Finch tells Jessie to imagine her dog well in order for him to recover. She visualizes the dog healed, and soon he is. The sinister guy pursuing Jessie is basically able to control others around him and make them forget things or do things for him, like give him their possessions.

Violence
Bad guy roughs some people up. The carnage left behind is briefly described.

Drug Content
Jessie works at a bar on Beale Street. The band celebrates a victory by drinking beer. (Jessie, at least, is underage.)

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

Review: Li Jun and the Iron Road by Anne Tait

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

Li Jun and the Iron Road
Anne Tait
Dundurn

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Working as a servant to help her family becomes unbearable when Li Jun’s lecherous master makes it clear he plans to take advantage of her. As a Chinese woman in the 1880s, Li Jun has few other options. She makes a daring escape by disguising herself as a boy and living as a street urchin. When she hears of an opportunity to travel to British Columbia to work on the railroad, she realizes this could be the chance she has longed for: to follow in her father’s footsteps and discover what has kept him from returning home.

As Little Tiger, Li Jun befriends James, the son of a railway tycoon, and promises to help him secure enough workers for the job. She proves to be an invaluable team member and a good friend to James, but the draw between them extends beyond the boundaries of work and friendship. Still, Li Jun can’t allow anything to prevent her from finding out where her father is, and what has happened to him, even if she has to confront his killer to do so.

Last fall my husband and I took a trip to Vancouver and Alaska for the first time. I’ve since fallen in love with the history of the area—places and people I had never known about before. Though this is a work of fiction, I enjoyed being able to glimpse the landscape of the 1880s and in particular, the development of the railroad in Canada. Li Jun is clever and brave, an easy heroine to admire, and the mystery of what has happened to her father pulls the story forward through the historical setting and kept me guessing all the way to the end.

At a little over two hundred pages, this novel was a quick read. I think I read it in one evening.

Language Content
Brief strong profanity.

Sexual Content
Li Jun’s master gropes her in a dark garden. It’s clear he means to do more, and she’s afraid. Li Jun and James share a moment together in his room. She removes her top, and they fall into his bed, but she stops him from removing her pants.

Spiritual Content
Some references to Chinese culture and beliefs concerning the souls of family members who’ve died. The bones or ashes of the dead must be returned home to China or else the person’s soul will wander forever.

Violence
Dangerous men try to hurt James and Li Jun. Short description of mining accidents. There’s not a lot of gore or graphic explanation.

Drug Content
None.

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

Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers: Review and Thoughts on Book Banning

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

Some Girls Are
Courtney Summers
St. Martin’s Griffin

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

Climbing to the top of the social ladder is hard—falling from it is even harder.  Regina Afton used to be a member of the Fearsome Fivesome, an all-girl clique both feared and revered by the students at Hallowell High… until vicious rumors about her—and her best friend’s boyfriend—start going around.  Now Regina’s been frozen out, and her ex-best friends are out for revenge. 

If Regina were guilty, it would be one thing, but the rumors are far from the terrifying truth, and the bullying is getting more intense by the day.  She takes solace in the company of Michael Hayden, a misfit with a tragic past whom she herself used to bully.  Friendship doesn’t come easily for these onetime enemies, and as Regina works hard to make amends for her past, she realizes Michael could be more than just a friend…if threats from the Fearsome Foursome don’t break them both first.

Tensions grow and the abuse worsens, as the final days of senior year march toward an explosive conclusion in this dark new tale from the author of CRACKED UP TO BE.

My Review

It’s hard for me not to compare this book to ALL THE RAGE, a more recently published novel by Courtney Summers which deals with some of the same issues (see content warning). I think I liked ALL THE RAGE better because it dealt more with the way the town as a whole responded to a rape allegation and some brutal high school bullying. I also connected more with Romy, the protagonist in ALL THE RAGE.

In SOME GIRLS ARE, Regina comes to regret her role in bullying other students, but in some ways, it still feels like that’s all she knows. She retaliates against her former friends in an effort to bring them down low enough that they’ll leave her alone. Instead, it continues the vicious cycle, only adding more fuel to the fires of revenge.

I think choosing to tell SOME GIRLS ARE from Regina’s perspective and bringing her passion for revenge to the forefront were really bold decisions and carried an important message. Regina isn’t the stereotypical novel victim, and I loved that. Unfortunately, I think I just didn’t really believe in her transformation at the end. I needed to see like three chapters more showing that she’d really changed and that she and Michael (whom I absolutely LOVED!!!) could work out together.

In YA, resolving an issue with any kind of adult involvement gets really tricky. Having a grown-up soar in and rescue the protagonist is a storytelling no-no. So I both appreciate and understand why that wasn’t the direction Summers took with the resolution of SOME GIRLS ARE. With a situation involving this kind of brutal bullying, it’s hard for me as a parent not to want adults involved. I believe we want kids to know they can and should bring adults into the equation when they reach a point where they can no longer attend school and feel safe.

I do want to acknowledge that sometimes kids are in situations where there isn’t a safe adult for them to go to, so I know that isn’t always a viable solution in real life, either.

SOME GIRLS ARE left me wishing for at least a nod to some adult figure who made at least some responsible call somewhere. Instead, I felt like the message was that if you can get good enough blackmail on a bully, you might just be able to stop the whole cycle.

Update: Since reading this book, I’ve discovered that I tend not to enjoy revenge stories. So probably at least part of my feelings for this one relate to that preference.

Content Notes

Content warning for mentions of rape, bullying, physical violence, mentions of suicide, death of a parent, drug use, drinking alcohol.

Language Content
Extreme and frequent use of profanity.

Sexual Content
At a party, a boy tries to rape a girl. He tears her skirt and leaves her arms bruised. Regina and her boyfriend Josh have had sex before. A boy taunts Regina about it, repeatedly asking if she only likes it in the dark. He also makes a crude comment about oral sex. Kissing between a boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violence
See sexual content. A group of girls surround Regina and repeatedly punch and kick her. A boy elbows another boy in the face, giving him a bloody nose. A dodgeball hits a boy in the face, giving him a bloody nose. A girl trips another girl, sending her tumbling down the stairs.

Girls use social media to bully Regina. They spread rumors about her and say cruel things to her and to one another. It’s not the first time this group has bullied someone. A previous target tried to commit suicide.

Brief reference to a woman killed when an overpass collapsed on her car. No real description of the accident.

Drug Content
One boy supplies students with pharmaceutical drugs. Teens gather at parties to drink alcohol. Mentions of smoking pot. Regina is the designated driver at both parties, but mentions that she drinks heavily at other times and winds up sick at the end of the night. She drinks alcohol in a couple of other scenes.

On Some Girls Are Being Removed from a Charleston Summer Reading List

I bought this book last summer (2015) when I heard about the decision by West Ashley High in Charleston to remove the book from their ninth grade summer reading list after receiving complaints from a parent about the content of the novel. The messages the books tackles are really important to us as a culture. I really admire this author’s unflinching look at some of the darker moments of high school. But, I see why it concerned this parent that a very limited required reading list included this option.

I have really mixed feelings about banning books. The short answer is I’m generally not a fan of book-banning. Largely because one vocal minority makes a decision that no one should have the option to read a particular book. I do not want to give the power to a select group to decide what we’re allowed to read.

I love that this particular parent made the choice to read the book with her daughter. Her ninth grade daughter had the choice between this book and another one and would be tested on comprehension once school started. As a parent, I’d certainly be uncomfortable with the amount of explicit content included in the book. I’d be uncomfortable that it’s on a reading list like this, where there are such limited options.

Banning a book, though, means one parent or a few make a decision for many kids beyond their own. I’m not sure that the book was banned in the school district as a whole, however. The article I read only mentions removing it from the reading list and adding another alternative selection for the class.

Courtney Summers received a ton of support from her fans and the YA community after the whole incident. Fans donated several hundred copies of the book, and public libraries in Charleston distributed them to the community. I think it’s really great that she received so much support. I do really believe in the importance of the kinds of issues she tackles in her writing.

Note: Post updated July 4, 2022. This post contains affiliate links which don’t cost anything to use but which help generate support for this blog.

Review: The Hunted by Matt de la Pena

Book Review and Content, Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , ,

The Hunted
Matt de la Peña
Delacorte Press

When Shy and his friends reach the California shoreline, they find widespread devastation and panic. What seemed at first like an easy mission – transport precious vaccines to Arizona to stop the spread of a disease destroying humanity – suddenly becomes near impossible. With the border closed and vigilantes hunting down anyone on the road, the trip seems like a hopeless cause. But with more and more people dying, Shy can’t give up. He must find a way to deliver the medicine and the evidence damning its creator.

The rise of the ugly disease and the conspiracy behind its spread will likely remind readers of James Dashner’s Maze Runner series. The Hunted packs a high dose of suspense and a fast-paced plot that keeps the pages turning. At one point the story takes a bit of a sci-fi turn. Something really unreal happens, but Shy kind of scratches his head and moves on. Nothing further develops from that moment, and readers are left hanging.

At times Shy seems a little young for seventeen, especially in his relationship with Carmen, who often reads as much older. Their relationship progresses through the course of the story, but isn’t a strong central focus. Shy wants to track down his family members and first finds his dad, with whom he carries a lot of emotional baggage. The rebuilding of that relationship borders on being too easy or perfect, but like Shy and Carmen, it’s not in the spotlight very much. Readers looking for a suspenseful, post-apocalyptic tale will find no shortage of action in this high-energy story.

Language Content
Extreme profanity used often. More than one character pretty much uses profanity to refer to any general noun. Often.

Sexual Content
Shy makes a quick comment about how he hooked up with Carmen (in the first book.) Things heat up between them. They swim in underwear and have sex (not a lot of description there.) All this while Carmen is engaged to a man who may or may not still be alive.

Spiritual Content
There are some digs at religion/faith, at Christianity/Jesus in particular as being a useless pursuit. A priest helps Shy and his friends, but there’s no mention of what state the man’s faith remains in.

Violence
There are some pretty gross moments, mostly descriptions of bodies long dead. Some seemed unrealistic – if there’s an outbreak of contagious disease, why aren’t corpses burned? Instead they’re kind of just left sitting there getting nastier and nastier.

Vigilantes with guns shoot anyone who could be sick or who gets in their way.

Drug Content
Shy and his friends carry vaccines that they hope can be replicated to stop the spread of the disease.

The story contains an idea that a large medical company has basically scammed the public by creating a devastating illness and then withholding the vaccine, hoping to use it to get rich.

Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Book Review and Content, Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Sci-Fi, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,

Ready Player One
Ernest Cline
Random House/Random House Audio

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Orphaned and left to the care of his neglectful aunt, seventeen year-old Wade spends as much time as possible in the online virtual world of the OASIS. From virtual school to online chat rooms to video games, Wade lives most of his life and maintains his closest relationships over an internet connection. When the OASIS founder James Halliday dies, he leaves a challenge behind for the most faithful of his users: find three keys, unlock three gates, and locate the Easter egg within the OASIS. The prize: his fortune and control of the OASIS empire. Of course, everyone wants to win, but Wade, a devoted student of Halliday’s interests, knows for him, it’s the only way to survive. Once Wade uncovers the first clue, a dangerous rival threatens his life, and Wade must continue his online hunt on the run. The only way he’ll ever be free is to win the prize.

After coming across rave reviews, I listened to this novel as an audiobook, narrated by Wil Wheaton. We are a pretty pro-Wil Wheaton household: a little bit Trekkie, avid Tabletop followers, and yes, we’ve watched the recorded sessions of the Acquisitions, Inc Dungeons and Dragons games. So, needless to say, both my husband and I were excited to get into this video gamer story. We listened to it on the way to and from my cousin’s out-of-town wedding.

All the way through, I loved the narration. Wheaton’s delivery was entertaining and he seemed to really enjoy the story himself, which made it easy to enjoy hearing it. As a child of the 80s, I got a kick out of a lot of the references (some I missed… must have been too busy with My Little Pony or Jem & the Holograms.) The first quarter of the story itself really had me hooked. Here’s this kid with this big dream, and suddenly the cost of pursuing it skyrockets. Suddenly finding Halliday’s Easter egg could cost Wade his life.

But once Wade went gaga over Art3mis, I felt like the tale lost some steam. Over and over I felt like there were opportunities for conflict or tension, and instead they became long passages about how awesome Wade is and how he knows everything he needs to know, and did we mention he’s awesome? To me, those parts read like a fantasy as opposed to a story. So that kind of dampened my enthusiasm a bit.

Still, the overall mechanism of the contest and the big inevitable showdown between the gunters and the black-hearted IOI guru made for an exciting climax. I liked that Wade’s friends are not who he thinks they are. A bit of that reveal may have bordered on being preachy, but the overall message – that the internet is sort of the new marketplace, and despite the fact that an avatar’s appearance bears no connection to the gamer’s real face, certain kinds of people get preferential treatment. I liked that Cline went there and respected that he took the opportunity to challenge stereotypes.

Despite the slow middle, Ready Player One was a really fun read. I highly recommend the audiobook version.

Language Content
Extreme profanity used throughout the story. More frequently in the first half than the second half.

Sexual Content
References to the main character being a virgin. There are places to visit within the Oasis in which players can purchase virtual companionship and use a doll to simulate sexual experiences. There aren’t really any details describing the process. The main character goes through a brief period in which he’s desperate enough to try this, but feels ashamed later.

Spiritual Content
Gunters sort of treat Halliday’s book as a holy text. Not in the sense of worshipping him per se, but more like the quest has that much importance.

Violence
Bad guys blow up a trailer park full of innocent people and toss a gamer off the balcony of his apartment building to his death. Virtual battles take place within the Oasis. Nothing is described in gory detail.

Drug Content
None.

Random Trivia
Spielberg (who is mentioned in the book) will be directing the film version of Ready Player One, which is set to be released in December 2017. Also, to celebrate the release of the paperback version of his book, Ernest Cline hosted a contest inspired by the story in which participants had to locate an Easter egg within the story and unlock gates to reach a final victory. The prize, a Delorean was awarded to the winner, Craig Queen.