The Off Season (CBR6 #7)

Title: The Off Season
Author: Catherine Gilbert Murdock
 
Description (from Amazon.com): “Life is looking up for D.J. Schwenk. She’s in eleventh grade, finally. After a rocky summer, she’s reconnecting in a big way with her best friend, Amber. She’s got kind of a thing going with Brian Nelson, who’s cute and popular and smart but seems to like her anyway. And then there’s the fact she’s starting for the Red Bend High School football team—the first girl linebacker in northern Wisconsin, probably. Which just shows you can’t predict the future. As autumn progresses, D.J. struggles to understand Amber, Schwenk Farm, her relationship with Brian, and most of all her family. As a whole herd of trouble comes her way, she discovers she’s a lot stronger than she—or anyone—ever thought.

This hilarious, heartbreaking and triumphant sequel to the critically acclaimed Dairy Queen takes D.J. and all the Schwenks from Labor Day to a Thanksgiving football game that you will never forget.”

Review: Obviously after my extreme love of Dairy Queen – and Natalie Moore’s amazing narration – I couldn’t wait to get The Off Season to keep me company on my commute.  And as I expected, it was WONDERFUL.  More unexpectedly, it was a departure from Dairy Queen in a lot of ways.
 
The biggest departure is that The Off Season is a lot heavier and more serious than its predecessor.  Not at the expense of DJ’s sense of humor, but definitely at the expense of some of the overall humor.  This isn’t a bad thing, but it definitely wasn’t as light and funny as Dairy Queen.

I don’t want to spoil too much, but DJ and her family go through some intense stuff in this book.  DJ starts out more mature than in Dairy Queen, and matures a lot more over the course of the book.  She has to face some really tough decisions about her sports (yes, this is important people – sports matter, a lot, to a lot of people, for a lot of reasons,) her family, and of course, Brian Nelson.  But while it was DJ’s humor and likability that made Dairy Queen so wonderful, it is DJ’s increasing maturity, grace, and strength that make The Off Season – maybe, depending on what you like, and if it’s even possible – even better.

Much like Dairy Queen, there’s not too much I can say about The Off Season without spoiling the plot, beyond the fact that DJ is what makes it or breaks it for you.  And I can’t imagine her breaking it for you.  At this point, I’m honestly a little sad that I can’t just be friends with DJ in real life.  I bet she’d make an awesome friend.  But this book is definitely more plot-driven than the first book in the series, despite DJ’s character development being even more intense than her character development in Dairy Queen.  There is a crisis halfway through that really brings DJ’s family, rather than her friendships and relationships, to the forefront.  There’s also a lot that makes DJ and her family really need to confront a dark side of sports as well as what they all love about it.  But through this all, DJ learns to stand up for herself, to fight for her family, and to be comfortable and confident with her life.  

So read Dairy Queen, but then read The Off Season – even if it’s not as light or funny as Dairy Queen, it is at least as satisfying.  And despite the bad times she faces, it is so wonderful to be back in DJ’s world for a while. 

Sex & Violence (CBR6 #6)

Title: Sex & Violence
Author: Carrie Mesrobian
 
Description (from Goodreads.com): “AT FIRST YOU DON'T SEE THE CONNECTION.

Sex has always come without consequences for seventeen-year-old Evan Carter. He has a strategy--knows the profile of The Girl Who Would Say Yes. In each new town, each new school, he can count on plenty of action before he and his father move again. Getting down is never a problem. Until he hooks up with the wrong girl and finds himself in the wrong place at very much the wrong time.

AND THEN YOU CAN'T SEE ANYTHING ELSE.

After an assault that leaves Evan bleeding and broken, his father takes him to the family cabin in rural Pearl Lake, Minnesota, so Evan's body can heal. But what about his mind?

HOW DO YOU GO ON, WHEN YOU CAN'T THINK OF ONE WITHOUT THE OTHER?

Nothing seems natural to Evan anymore. Nothing seems safe. The fear--and the guilt--are inescapable. He can't sort out how he feels about anyone, least of all himself. Evan's really never known another person well, and Pearl Lake is the kind of place where people know everything about each other--where there might be other reasons to talk to a girl. It's annoying as hell. It might also be Evan's best shot to untangle sex and violence.”

Review: Sex & Violence is the second of my Morris Award YA debut reads.  In many ways, I liked Belle Epoque, the first one I read, better.   But I think Sex & Violence is more likely to win, and overall a better book – even if it didn’t appeal to me personally quite as much.  Mesrobian’s ability to bring to life the mind of a seventeen year old boy is remarkable, as is the setting of Pearl Lake.  Pearl Lake feels so much like somewhere I could go, and someplace I want to go.

But the core of this book is really one teenage boy’s reaction to some pretty severe trauma.  This is not a major spoiler, because the events I’m talking about happen really early in the book, but what Evan suffers is much more than an assault.  He is brutalized  (he has to have his spleen removed), and moreover, the “wrong girl” that he slept with is gang-raped by the boys who tore him to pieces while he lies semi-conscious and physically destroyed on the floor.  So not only does he suffer his own horrific trauma, he blames himself – and his identity as “Dirtbag Evan” – for her trauma.  So that’s the place Evan is coming from for most of this book, and I think that’s what makes it so compelling.  Not only is Evan recovering from his own brutalization, but he’s dealing with a lot of guilt.  He’s victim-blaming himself for someone else’s victimization, and he is so clearly a teenage boy while he does it.

Just because he’s been traumatized doesn’t mean Evan isn’t still Evan.  He still ogles hot women and tries to categorize them in terms of who would have sex with him and who wouldn’t.  He still has casual hook-ups in Pearl Lake, but there’s more fear and uncertainty involved.  And while he’s doing all that, he’s also developing real friendships – the first real friendships he can remember, with boys and girls.  And to me, that’s more powerful than what Evan discovers about himself in terms of romantic/sexual interests – it’s discovering that he can have friendships, can have roots, even in the midst of recovering from a horrific event that shook his entire sense of self.  

And after all that, this was also a book that kept me turning pages, despite being a book that’s not really plot-driven at all.  The long and the short of is that Carrie Mesrobian is clearly an immensely talented author, Sex & Violence is a great book, and I can’t wait to read what she writes next! 

Note: I reviewed this book on my library’s teen blog recently, so much of what I have written was also discussed there. 

Second Note: I am posting this WAY after the fact.  As of the time the award winners were announced on January 27, I had read four out of five Morris nominees.  Also, this book did not win.

Belle Epoque (CBR6 #5)

Title: Belle Epoque
Author: Elizabeth Ross

Description (from Amazon.com): “When Maude Pichon runs away from provincial Brittany to Paris, her romantic dreams vanish as quickly as her savings. Desperate for work, she answers an unusual ad. The Durandeau Agency provides its clients with a unique service—the beauty foil. Hire a plain friend and become instantly more attractive.

Monsieur Durandeau has made a fortune from wealthy socialites, and when the Countess Dubern needs a companion for her headstrong daughter, Isabelle, Maude is deemed the perfect adornment of plainness. 

Isabelle has no idea her new "friend" is the hired help, and Maude's very existence among the aristocracy hinges on her keeping the truth a secret. Yet the more she learns about Isabelle, the more her loyalty is tested. And the longer her deception continues, the more she has to lose.  

Inspired by a short story written by Emile Zola, Belle Epoque is set at the height of bohemian Paris, when the city was at the peak of decadence, men and women were at their most beautiful, and morality was at its most depraved.”

Review: So as a newly minted young adult librarian, when the “William C. Morris YA Debut Award,” honoring “a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens” (YALSA) nominees were announced and I hadn’t read any of them, I felt a little bad and started reading immediately.  And to make my decision about where to start easier, the nominee with the most intriguing description (to me) and the most beautiful cover (to me) was available in ebook form from my library – Belle Epoque by Elizabeth Ross.  I’ll be really honest – though I haven’t read any other of the nominees from this year, I have read a few nominees and winners from past years, and I don’t think this will win.  But I might change my mind once I’ve read some/all of the rest.

That said, I loved Belle Epoque.  I found the concept of hiring a repoussoir as a professional “foil” to be fascinating, and eerily realistic.  I would be so supremely unsurprised to hear about celebrities (especially the “famous for being famous/attractive” type celebrities like Paris Hilton or any Kardashian) doing exactly this.  In fact, I suspect plenty of them are already doing something along these lines.  And it certainly brought thoughts and questions about beauty, class, and culture to the forefront, which worked especially well with the Parisian setting and Bohemian side characters.

Maude was an engaging and realistically flawed main character.  She was idealistic, kind, and artistic, but also easily seduced by material things and the glamour of the high society life she was thrown in to.  Her friendships were believable and I was really invested, but the damage she did to them was also believable in light of her flaws.  To me, Maude’s friendships with Isabelle and fellow repoussoir Marie-Josée were the highlight of the book.  The romance was decidedly a sidenote, and felt unnecessary to me.  The conclusion was exciting and satisfying overall, though it felt rushed.  

Belle Epoque was delightful historical fiction, centered by a solid main character and some really fantastic side characters.  It could only have been strengthened by more focus on Maude and her friendships, and less on romance, but that’s a small complaint.  Overall, this was a great read despite some minor flaws, and I would definitely recommend it.  I hope we see more young adult books from Elizabeth Ross in the future!

Note: I reviewed this book on my library’s teen blog recently, so much of what I have written was also discussed there.  

Second Note: I am posting this WAY after the fact.  As of the time the award winners were announced on January 27, I had read four out of five Morris nominees.

Etiquette & Espionage (CBR6 #4)

Title: Etiquette & Espionage
Author: Gail Carriger

Description (from Amazon.com): “It's one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It's quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to Finishing School.

Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is a great trial to her poor mother. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners--and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. So she enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But Sophronia soon realizes the school is not quite what her mother might have hoped. At Mademoiselle Geraldine's, young ladies learn to finish...everything. Certainly, they learn the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but the also learn to deal out death, diversion, and espionage--in the politest possible ways, of course. Sophronia and her friends are in for a rousing first year's education.

Set in the same world as the Parasol Protectorate, this YA series debut is filled with all the saucy adventure and droll humor Gail's legions of fans have come to adore.”

Review: So last fall, I discovered the amazingness that is Gail Carriger.  I tore through the Parasol Protectorate series, right around the time I got a new job as a young adult librarian.  Where, thanks to some somewhat-more-explicit-than-appropriate-for-recommending-to-teens sexual content in the very first book, I don’t feel like I can recommend the series to my teens.  Fortunately, in 2013 Gail Carriger published Etiquette & Espionage, her first book for teens.  So despite having already recommended it a few times based on the author, I thought I should probably read it.

Etiquette & Espionage didn’t draw me in immediately quite the same way Soulless and the rest of the Parasol Protectorate series did.  Maybe because it skews a little younger, maybe just because Sophronia took a little longer to grow on me than Alexia did, I’m not really sure.  But grow on me it did, and how.

There are so many wonderful things about this book!  There is, of course, Carriger’s wit and comedy.  Some of her humor is smart and clever, some of it is pretty basic (seriously, the small mechanical dog “Bumbersnoot”?  Made me giggle every time I heard the name.)  But the woman has an outstanding and unique sense of humor, and it shines through.  There’s also her ability to seamlessly integrate Victorian manners and society with vampires, werewolves, dirigibles, and more.  There are the characters who – despite none of them quite living up to the wonderful Alexia Tarabotti – are each their own distinct characters, flawed, likable, and real.  I think listening to this on CD added to the side characters, for sure.  From Dimity’s understated lisp to Vieve’s perfectly adorable French accent to (of course) the exact way she said “Bumbersnoot,” Moira Quirk’s narration is spot on.

Etiquette & Espionage, much like the first Harry Potter book, is about equal parts main plot (a missing “prototype” that Sophronia’s school nemesis is somehow involved with) and introduction to boarding school (new friends, sneaking around behind the teacher’s backs, school politics.)  It’s a good mixture, and Carriger balances the two aspects of the novel well.  I suspect, again like the Harry Potter series, that later books will focus a little more on main plot since readers will already be familiar with Mademoiselle Geraldine's.  Me, I can’t wait to find out – despite a slow start, I am quite in love with the world of Etiquette & Espionage, and can’t wait to get to Curtsies & Conspiracies.  The only question is – do I read it, or wait for a library in our system to get the audio?

Dairy Queen (CBR6 Review #3)

Title: Dairy Queen
Author: Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Description (from Amazon.com): “When you don’t talk, there’s a lot of stuff that ends up not getting said.

Harsh words indeed, from Brian Nelson of all people. But, D. J. can’t help admitting, maybe he’s right.

When you don’t talk, there’s a lot of stuff that ends up not getting said.

Stuff like why her best friend, Amber, isn’t so friendly anymore. Or why her little brother, Curtis, never opens his mouth. Why her mom has two jobs and a big secret. Why her college-football-star brothers won’t even call home. Why her dad would go ballistic if she tried out for the high school football team herself. And why Brian is so, so out of her league.

When you don’t talk, there’s a lot of stuff that ends up not getting said.

Welcome to the summer that fifteen-year-old D. J. Schwenk of Red Bend, Wisconsin, learns to talk, and ends up having an awful lot of stuff to say.”

Review: You may have noticed that there is no picture included with this review.  There’s a reason for this: the original cover of Dairy Queen is terrible.  So terrible that it kept me from reading it for quite a while despite having read some rave reviews and getting recommendations from it for quite a while.  There’s a new cover, I gather, but I haven’t actually seen it anywhere.  Now, I did eventually get past my cover prejudice, and I’m so glad I did because this book was awesome, but I’d hate for anyone else to make my mistakes.  So I think it’s best to limit exposure to the cover.
 
When we first meet high school student DJ Schwenk, she is telling us about her family having to sell her favorite dairy cow to a butcher because the cow is sick.  Other facts we learn very early about DJ: she works hard, very hard, to keep her family’s dairy farm running; she loves sport, including basketball – which she had to quit to run the dairy farm – and football, the family sport; and she is funny.  There’s plenty of plot to this book, but it’s really DJ’s story, and her lovableness is what makes it so wonderful.  Also, I cannot recommend enough getting Dairy Queen on CD or audio.  Narrator Natalie Moore reads with a SPOT-ON Northern Wisconsin accent, she’s funny, she sounds 16.  With her narrating, it really is like DJ is talking to you while you listen.
 
And that’s really what my whole review comes down to, and the reason this review is so short.  DJ is amazing, lovable, and unique.  I couldn’t wait to get in my car and listen to her some more (and at the time of writing this review, I am already listening to the sequel to Dairy Queen.)  There’s plenty of supporting character goodness, especially in the form of DJ’s younger brother Curtis, and plot aplenty with school troubles, dairy farm troubles, family troubles, friend troubles, and, of course, boy troubles. 
 
But honestly, I would read (or especially listen) to a whole book of DJ telling me about boring everyday life without any of the plot, just to be hearing from her.

Across a Star-Swept Sea (CBR6 Review #2)

Title: Across a Star-Swept Sea
Author: Diana Peterfreund 

Description (from Amazon.com): “Centuries after wars nearly destroyed civilization, the two islands of New Pacifica stand alone, a terraformed paradise where even the Reduction--the devastating brain disorder that sparked the wars--is a distant memory. Yet on the isle of Galatea, an uprising against the ruling aristocrats has turned deadly. The revolutionaries' weapon is a drug that damages their enemies' brains, and the only hope is rescue by a mysterious spy known as the Wild Poppy.

On the neighboring island of Albion, no one suspects that the Wild Poppy is actually famously frivolous aristocrat Persis Blake. The teenager uses her shallow, socialite trappings to hide her true purpose: her gossipy flutternotes are encrypted plans, her pampered sea mink is genetically engineered for spying, and her well-publicized new romance with handsome Galatean medic Justen Helo... is her most dangerous mission ever.

Though Persis is falling for Justen, she can't risk showing him her true self, especially once she learns he's hiding far more than simply his disenchantment with his country's revolution and his undeniable attraction to the silly socialite he's pretending to love. His darkest secret could plunge both islands into a new dark age, and Persis realizes that when it comes to Justen Helo, she's not only risking her heart, she's risking the world she's sworn to protect.

In this thrilling adventure inspired by The Scarlet Pimpernel, Diana Peterfreund creates an exquisitely rendered world where nothing is as it seems and two teens with very different pasts fight for a future only they dare to imagine.” 

Review: I went in to Across a Star-Swept Sea expecting to love it, because I loved the previously published companion novel, For Darkness Shows the Stars.   For Darkness was based on Persuasion by Jane Austen, one of my favorite books of all time, and Peterfreund did an outstanding job re-telling it in a new sci-fi setting.  So while I expected to love Star-Swept Sea, I didn’t expect to love it on the same level as For Darkness.

How wrong I was.  Despite not being familiar with the source material (The Scarlet Pimpernel) I ended up loving Star-Swept Sea even more than the first novel.  I think there are two major reasons for this: the setting, and Persis Blake, the protagonist.

Although Star-Swept Sea is set in the same world as For Darkness, the books feature completely different and isolated communities that have developed vastly differently over the centuries of history preceding the books.  What this means is that Star-Swept Sea’s setting is really different, and (to my mind at least) way more fun to read about.  Albion and Galatea are lush Polynesian or Hawaiian type islands.  I could practically see and smell the flowers and the greenery and the clear ocean.  Persis’ alter-ego as a spoiled socialite made for some really fun descriptions of elaborate clothing, hairstyles, and parties that I really enjoyed – and even though she had higher priorities, I think Persis did too.  There was a genetically engineered sea mink who was ALWAYS fun to read about.  The politics were definitely more of a focal point and more fleshed out than the politics of For Darkness.  I’m not sure I’ve ever read anything that made me more excited about the idea of visiting a Pacific island and going to a Luau than this book.

And then of course, there’s Persis.  Elliot, protagonist of For Darkness, was wonderful , but Persis just struck my fancy more.  I loved her passion and her smarts.  I loved her sense of fun and unabashed enjoyment of flowers, clothes, and sea minks.  I loved her work as a spy, but also her incredible acting as a spoiled socialite.  I loved the complicated web of lies she spun around herself, and her conflicted feelings about it.  I loved getting inside her head a little and seeing both her supreme confidence and her doubts (rarely about herself, though.)  I loved that she is unashamedly portrayed as a woman who is smart, beautiful, confident, talented, girly, rebellious, and still flawed.  I just couldn’t get enough of her, and I am so tempted to just start re-reading this book (though I won’t actually do that until I hit my 52 book goal for Cannonball Read!) 

Across a Star-Swept Sea is a fun, exciting read.  The plot isn’t exactly action driven, but it does move along.  And the writing and the character development are incredible and addicting.  Since I read it on my Kindle, I was shocked to hear that the actual book is something like 400+ pages long.  I flew through it so fast, I would have guessed it was a pretty slim book in print.  I liked it so much, I’m thinking of picking up The Scarlet Pimpernel, for comparison’s sake.  So while I realize that maybe this book isn’t for everyone, I really really loved it, and I hope I inspire someone to pick it up (or to pick up For Darkness Shows the Stars, which was almost as good) and enjoy it with me.   

Finnikin of the Rock (CBR6 Review #1)

Title: Finnikin of the Rock
Author: Melina Marchetta
 
Description (from Amazon.com): Finnikin was only a child during the five days of the unspeakable, when the royal family of Lumatere were brutally murdered, and an imposter seized the throne. Now a curse binds all who remain inside Lumatere’s walls, and those who escaped roam the surrounding lands as exiles, persecuted and despairing, dying by the thousands in fever camps. In a narrative crackling with the tension of an imminent storm, Finnikin, now on the cusp of manhood, is compelled to join forces with an arrogant and enigmatic young novice named Evanjalin, who claims that her dark dreams will lead the exiles to a surviving royal child and a way to pierce the cursed barrier and regain the land of Lumatere. But Evanjalin’s unpredictable behavior suggests that she is not what she seems — and the startling truth will test Finnikin’s faith not only in her, but in all he knows to be true about himself and his destiny.

Review: Finnikin of the Rock, by Melina Marchetta, filtered into my consciousness over the course of several months (maybe even years.)  I’d see a picture of the cover, hear a comment about it, find it referenced in a review of the author’s other books.  Finally, I realized I could get it on CD (for my drive to my brand new work library!) so I went for it.

I have a hard time talking about Finnikin of the Rock.  I liked it.  A lot.  But I didn’t love it the way I have some YA high fantasy I’ve read over the last couple of years (see: anything by Kristin Cashore or Rae Carson).  But I don’t think that’s a fault of the book, despite being – I think, as nearly as I can explain it – a fault of the world it was set in.  The world of Finnikin is somewhat bleak, but not in the George R.R. Martin sense.  It’s extremely well-realized, but in a way that doesn’t always translate into the text.  It’s clear Marchetta knows ever freaking detail about the world she has created.  But because she is subtle about it, I felt I didn’t know enough about the world.  I also felt a little disappointed that even the many strong women characters were still so bound by – and in some ways defined by – traditional gender roles in the world we saw.  Again, this isn’t necessarily a flaw – Skuldenore is its own world, but it’s one that didn’t resonate me as much as some others.  I also think that Finnikin, as a main character, didn’t quite draw me in the way Evanjalin, Lady Beatriss, or Froi (main character of the sequel!) might have.  I don’t have any idea why.  I just didn’t connect with him.  Lastly, I listened to the book on CD, and I think the narrator may have been a little too steady for me.  I didn’t quite feel the character or the excitement I might have reading this on my own.

But after saying all that, I want to add that Finnikin was objectively an outstanding book, and I really did enjoy it quite a lot.  It is extremely complex in terms of character, world-building, and plot.  All the characters are well-developed and go through realistic and compelling character arcs.  The love builds well.  There is action and excitement.  The side characters are all extremely interesting, enough so that I almost wish all of them could have their own books.  It has a truly epic feel that even a lot of high fantasy lacks.  In fact, I think Finnikin is closer to Lord of the Rings than almost anything I’ve read recently.  I was intrigued by the mythology, politics, and magic of Skuldenore.  I was invested in the fate of Lumatere.  And Evanjalin is awesome in so, SO many ways (even when she’s infuriating.)

And that’s why Finnikin is hard to describe.  I loved it and I didn’t.  It’s fantastic but I didn’t always invest the way I wanted to.  But overall, I’d give this four stars out of five, recommend it to a lot of people, and am definitely planning on reading the sequel.  But I think with Froi of the Exiles, I’ll try reading, not listening.

Take Two!

Well hello again everyone!  Thanks to a brand new - and awesome - job as a teen librarian, and the work and blogging I've been doing there (you can read my work-related blogs here), this poor blog has been neglected.

Well, in an effort to re-vitalize my personal blogging, I have signed up for Cannonball Read, and will be trying to read and review 52 books this year.  Now, the reading part is easy (I'm five books in for 2014 so far) but the reviewing part will be harder.  Hopefully having a goal, a competition, and a challenge will inspire me to keep updating this blog.

So, first CBR6 review coming up in a few minutes, and we'll see how it goes from there!  Wish me luck!