Review: Where the Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller

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

Where the Stars Still Shine by Trish DollerWhere the Stars Still Shine
Trish Doller
Bloomsbury USA Children’s
Published September 24, 2013

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Callie spent most of her childhood believing her father is after her. She’s never been to school, never had any real friends. Anytime there’s a whiff of suspicion, her mother whisks them away to a new town, new trashy job, new sleazy boyfriend.

Then the truth comes in the form of an arrest warrant for her mom. In a blink, Callie finds herself living with her estranged dad, his new wife and their two small children, right smack in the middle of a large, loud, loving Greek family. For the first time, someone cares whether Callie comes or goes. She has friends, if she can crack the code on how to keep them. And she might even have her first real date!

The relationship between Callie and her dad is really moving. Here’s this man who hasn’t seen his daughter in so many years, who wants so badly to reconnect with her. Here’s this girl whose entire life has been turned upside down, who worries that accepting the father she didn’t know she had means betraying her mom, who’s sick and needs her more than anyone. That tug-of-war was so well-crafted and believable. There’s a lot of threads about reconciliation between estranged family members and the importance of family and community. Those were great themes and very well-executed.

While in the care of her mother, Callie was sexually abused by her mother’s live-in boyfriend. This leaves deep emotional scars. She starts hooking up (meeting to have sex with) guys as a young teenager, even though afterward she feels used and dirty. On one such quest, she lucks out and meets a guy who not only takes her to bed the first time they spend any time together, but also wants to build a relationship with her and cares very deeply for her, despite his playboy reputation.

This does show Callie learning to build trust and to experience sex within a safe, loving relationship, which is so healing. At the same time, I couldn’t help thinking that in real life, a girl can sleep with many, many guys hoping that the next day they’ll turn out to stick around. It’s probably not the best way to find a good guy. Conservative me couldn’t help wishing she’d found that he was a good guy first and built that trust first.

Besides that, though, I felt really connected with Callie’s emotional journey. I loved her demonstrative family, and the vividly described setting. It has more sexual content than books I’ve read by Sarah Dessen, but the strong heroine and deep emotional journey reminded me of her stories. If you’re a Dessen fan, you may want to check out this book.

Language Content
Extreme profanity, moderate frequency.

Sexual Content
Callie becomes sexually active in her early teens. She briefly recounts those experiences as well as memories of childhood sexual abuse. The abuse memories are pretty intense. A boy kisses Callie later in the story and she immediately takes off her shirt. She meets another young man and has sex with him without knowing much more than his name. The descriptions of her encounters are fairly short and not super graphic, but there are some details given. Another couple engages in a pretty heavy make-out session on the couch, but few details are given.

Much of the sexual element in the story is really about Callie’s abuse and the process she experiences to learn how to have a healthy relationship with sex.

Spiritual Content
Callie’s family attend a Greek Orthodox Church and encourage her to attend with them, but don’t pressure her. Callie really isn’t into the spiritual stuff.

Violence
Callie witnesses a man smacking his adult son.

Drug Content
Callie’s mom hangs around some pretty unsavory bars and probably drinks too much. Callie and her friends drink alcohol. They are all under 21.

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Review: Unenchanted, an Unfortunate Fairy Tale by Chanda Hahn

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

Unenchanted
Chanda Hahn
Published by Chanda Hahn

Mina Grime has the worst luck ever. Just about everywhere she goes, bizarre misfortunes follow her: a bakery harpy, a stampede of nursery rhyme animals in the street. Mina soon finds out this isn’t a simple matter of luck, however. Her family has lived under a curse for generations. Now the curse has come after her, and if she doesn’t defeat it, her younger brother will have to face it. Mina sets out to complete all the fairy tales penned by the Grimm brothers.

The best thing about this book is its clever premise. The way Hahn recreates the familiar fairy tales in a contemporary setting is smart and cute. Those made for the best parts of the story, though in this first book in the series, much of the story is devoted to setting up the premise. Later books may focus more on the fairy tales, which would be, if I judge based on those included in this first book, very entertaining.

The characters are simple, not deeply layered and a bit cliché. The boy is handsome, thoughtful and perfect. The girl is insecure and fiercely independent. Her best friend is peppy and loyal. This didn’t ruin the story for me, but it didn’t make it stand out as one I can’t wait to tell all my friends about, either.

I listened to this story as an audiobook (largely because I adore the narration by Khristine Hvam) so I can’t speak to how well the book was edited for grammar and punctuation. As I browsed other reviews, I noticed several claimed there are some errors in the e-book version. If you’re considering purchasing the e-book, I’d recommend reading the sample pages first.

Language Content
None.

Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Mina’s family lives under a terrible curse. In order to undo the curse, she has to complete each of the fairy tales penned by her ancestors, the Grimm brothers. She encounters creatures from a fairy world (a fairy and a werewolf type creature, for instance.)

Violence
Brief battle scenes.

Drug Content
None.

Fairy Enchanting: The Ever After High Series (Books 1-3)

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

As a parent with a budding reader, I’m always on the lookout for those magical stories that capture my daughter’s imagination. I count it as a huge win when she sneaks off to read a book. There have been some great stories that have captured her heart. The first time we read Charlotte’s Web together, as I finished the last page, she took the book from me, flipped back to the first page and said, “Again.”

We read the Chronicles of Narnia together. She then read them on her own. There have been other hits since then. She LOVED the book series by Jean Ferris that begins with Once Upon a Marigold, but she sort of began this quiet retreat from reading. She enjoyed me reading to her, but only read independently if I gave her no other alternatives.

So, like a totally reasonable parent with a perfectly rational, capable mind, I panicked. What if she grows up to hate reading? What if she never discovers that wonder of losing herself between the pages of a great story?

Letting Her Choose Her Own Stories

I realized I needed to back off a little bit. I love deep, meaty stories that explore these intense issues with rich narrative. But I started to think maybe that wasn’t what my girl needed at this juncture, when her real life has been full of intense changes.

I started paying more attention. Listening to her, learning what she wanted to read. I followed her around a school book fair and promised myself that I’d buy anything (within reason) that she asked to read. She picked a couple of books, one of which was the first in the Ever After High series.

We read the series books together. I’m a big fan of Shannon Hale already, so it wasn’t a tough sell.

About the Ever After High Books

These are different than the other books authored by Hale that I’ve read. Instead of the powerful narrative, the Ever After High books pack a pop-culture punch with a fairytale twist. Characters use their phones to send “hext messages” to one another. They adore music by Taylor Quick and One Reflection. You’ll either find these sorts of references cute or obnoxious, and you’ll have lots of opportunities to feel that way.

The premise of the stories is that classic fairytale characters have children after their happily ever afters, and those children must commit to relive the familiar stories, keeping their parents’ legacies alive.

One side note: Under this premise, if Cinderella and the handsome prince get married and have a family, then have Cinderella Jr. and Handsome Prince Jr., they would then grow up to live their parents’ story, get married, etc? It seems from the stories like this isn’t at all true, but how it does work exactly isn’t really specified. I think we got past this with four words: willing suspension of disbelief.

The trouble begins when Raven Queen (daughter of the Evil Queen from the Snow White story) doesn’t want to be evil. She wants to choose her own destiny and be kind to others. This throws the whole of Ever After High into uproar. If characters start choosing their own destinies, it will mean the princes and princesses are no longer guaranteed a happily ever after. They might have to (queue dramatic music) make one for themselves!

The fate vs choice theme runs through all three books, and Hale explores some interesting angles. If Raven rejects her destiny to be the next Evil Queen, does that make her good, or does that make her just like her mother, who in fact rejected her destiny and tried to rule over all fairytale kingdoms?

Content

The books are pretty clean. There are mentions of some romance concerning minor characters, but no details. There are some unexplored crushes. It’s very junior high. The books contain no profanity and very little violence. At one point in the first book, Raven (daughter of the evil queen) and Apple (Snow White’s daughter) discover bones in a cave and believe they belong to a former Ever After High student. In the third book, Maddie (Mad Hatter’s daughter) and Lizzie (Red Queen’s daughter) have to fight the fearsome Jabberwocke. There are few battle details and little gore.

There is, of course, a lot of reference to magic. Raven Queen has the ability to perform magic, and it misfires whenever she tries to use it for good. She doesn’t give up, though. Birds constantly show up to help Apple White clean a mess. Ashlynn Ella (Cinderella’s daughter) can talk to fairies. Though there are characters who will grow up to be villains in their stories, at Ever After High, everyone is largely at peace with one another, so there’s not a lot of discussion on good vs bad magic.

Other Books in the Series

The fourth book in the Ever After High world, Next Top Villain, is written by Suzanne Selfors. My daughter requested it at the most recent school book fair, but we haven’t started reading it yet.

 

When Wings Don’t Mean Freedom: Review of Nightbird by Alice Hoffman

Book Review and Content, Middle Grade 8-12, Paranormal, Romance, , ,

Nightbird
Alice Hoffman
Random House Children’s

Twig Fowler and her family return to her mother’s hometown after a childhood spent in the city. Her mother insists that she keep no friends and remains alone, holed up on an apple orchard baking pies and other goods to be sold in town. Twig’s brother James also chafes at the isolation. He only comes out at night, when no one will see the long wings sprouting from his back.

When rumors of a monster stir up the townsfolk, Twig begins to panic. If a search is called for, her brother might be discovered. It might be easy to stay hidden if it weren’t for Twig’s new neighbors, a family with two girls near her age. One late night Twig spots James and Agate, the older sister of the neighboring family, alone in the forest. But before James can be free to love and live as a normal person, they have to find a way to undo the family curse. Twig might be just the person to solve that problem.

There were a lot of great elements to this story: the mystery surrounding the curse, Twig’s mother’s sadness and her absent father, a boy with wings who falls in love. As I read, I kept comparing it to The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender, which I think is a mistake, because Nightbird isn’t trying to be that kind of story. The similarities between the two really end beyond containing an important character with wings and a small-town setting.

I’m not sure if it’s my tendency for that comparison that left me feeling a little underwhelmed with the story. Everything resolves very neatly – and maybe that’s more appropriate for a younger audience. I found myself wishing for a little more of the complexity that filled the story’s opening pages to grace the story’s end. All in all, however, it was an enjoyable read.

This is more of a middle grade story than a YA novel. Readers aged nine to twelve would probably enjoy the story most.

Language Content
None.

Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
A long time ago, a witch placed a horrible curse on the men in the Fowler family. The curse makes them grow wings.

Violence
None.

Drug Content
None.

Review: Silverwood by Betsy Streeter

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

Silverwood
Betsy Streeter
Light Messages Publishing

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To say fourteen year-old Helen Silverwood has an odd family would be an understatement. Her brother draws the future. Nightmares of rescuing strange creatures plague Helen’s dreams. Her mother works nights at a job she won’t discuss with her children, and her father is missing.

As the family picks up to move again, Helen begins to unravel the thread of mystery surrounding her mother’s work, her father’s disappearance, and her place in all of it. The shape-shifting Tromindox prey on humanity and Helen may have the key to stopping them.

Silverwood is an imaginative story with enjoyable characters. Dreaded Tromindox feed on humans to survive. Each member of the Silverwood family possesses some gift to battle the Tromindox. As the story unfolds, they figure out their places in the fight against the creatures.

There were some plot elements that didn’t really work for me. Helen and her father have identical gifts. The Tromindox want to capture Helen because of this ability, but don’t seem interested in her father, even when he’s standing right in front of them. Odd. At one point, townspeople begin walking out into a lake and disappearing beneath the surface of the water. A woman captures this event on film – she records it and then leaves the lake. Doesn’t call for help, try to save the person, call 911, etc. Just leaves. No explanation is offered. She kind of just goes home scratching her head.

The story is written in present tense from an omniscient viewpoint, so the action feels very immediate. The omniscient point-of-view did make for a few confusing moments when the author shifts without warning from one person’s thoughts to another’s. Over all, it wasn’t too hard to follow.

Fans of really offbeat stories like The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Edwards or The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster may enjoy this novel.

Language Content
Infrequent mild profanity.

Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violence
Tromindox must eat humans to survive. Brief descriptions of them shape-shifting into creatures with tentacles and a poisonous barb which they inject into a human’s neck.

Drug Content
None.

A Wow-worthy Sequel: Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman

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

Shadow Scale
Rachel Hartman
Random House Children’s
Pubished March 10, 2015

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

With war between dragons and humans exploding across Seraphina’s once-peaceful home, she vows to find the other gifted half-dragons and use their power to end the conflict. One of Seraphina’s would-be allies seems to have other loyalties. And unstoppable power.

Seraphina works to bring the isolated and fearful half-dragons out of hiding and teach them to operate as a team. Time is running out, however, as an army of dragons threatens to rain destruction down on Seraphina’s homeland. Alliances begin to unravel. A new, unpredictable saint dazzles the people, distracting them from the conflict at hand. In order to pull her own army together, Seraphina will have to understand and unleash the power she has buried inside herself.

The book begins with a clever note from a Goreddi historian summarizing the novel Seraphina, which precedes Shadow Scale. It’s a nice touch and brings readers up to speed nicely. Of course, since Seraphina is a whopping 499 pages, there are a lot of things that get left out. I read Seraphina just a few weeks ago, and I approached Shadow Scale wondering if I’d be able to enjoy it without the background of the first story. I think it could be done, but the second story is so much richer for having read both of them.

As her readers have come to expect, Hartman fills the pages of her tale with well-developed landscapes rich with history, culture and religion. I loved that the stories about the saints played a part in the grander plot. Though Seraphina is the main character, many other characters play important roles. They are well-developed and intriguing.

Readers who enjoyed Seraphina are very likely to enjoy this second book as well. Those who haven’t read Seraphina yet can still enjoy Shadow Scale, but I’d recommend reading Seraphina first. You’ll get a lot more out of the experience.

Profanity Content
none

Sexual Content
There’s a pretty intense kissing moment which seems like it could go further but the characters stop themselves, not wanting to be impulsive. There is a very brief girl-on-girl kiss. One culture uses a large number of pronouns to address its citizens, including a category for “emergent feminine.” It could be that Hartman means this as a way for transgender individuals to be more accurately addressed. It’s not deeply explored.

A dragon briefly discusses his hopes of being mated with another dragon in a conversation with Seraphina.

Spiritual Content
Citizens of Goredd worship a large collection of saints. The story often references various writings by different saints. In Porphyry, the people worship a god of chance and goddess of necessity.

Violence
Brief references to torture (no details.) In several scenes, dragons battle one another.

Drug Content
None.