Claire Stevens's Blog, page 20

June 28th, 2017

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme that was created by Jill at Breaking the Spine and it's a chance for us all to highlight the upcoming releases we're eagerly anticipating.  This week, my Waiting on Wednesday pick is Paintbrush by Hannah Bucchin.  Here's the blurb:

Mitchell Morrison and Josie Sedgwick have spent their whole lives at the Indian Paintbrush Community Village, a commune full of colorful characters tucked in the mountains of North Carolina, and they aren't particularly close--at least, not anymore. Josie wishes she could spend all of her time at Paintbrush planting tomatoes, hiking the trails, or throwing giant communal birthday parties, while Mitchell can’t wait to escape the bizarre spiritual sharing and noisy community dinners. Luckily for both of them, high school graduation is just around the corner.
But when Mitchell’s mother makes a scandalous announcement that rocks the close-knit Paintbrush community, and Josie’s younger sister starts to make some dangerously bad decisions, the two find themselves leaning on each other for support – and looking at each other in a whole new light. Their childhood friendship blossoms in to something more as they deal with their insane families, but as graduation approaches, so does life in the real world, forcing Josie and Mitchell to figure out what, exactly, their relationship is – and if it can survive their very different plans for the future.


What about you?  What new releases are you eagerly anticipating?

Waiting on Wednesday - The Disappearances by Emily Bain Murphy

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme that was created by Jill at Breaking the Spine and it's a chance for us all to highlight the upcoming releases we're eagerly anticipating.  This week, my Waiting on Wednesday pick is The Disappearances by Emily Bain Murphy.  Here's the blurb:

What if the ordinary things in life suddenly…disappeared?
 
Aila Quinn’s mother, Juliet, has always been a mystery: vibrant yet guarded, she keeps her secrets beyond Aila’s reach. When Juliet dies, Aila and her younger brother Miles are sent to live in Sterling, a rural town far from home--and the place where Juliet grew up.

Sterling is a place with mysteries of its own. A place where the experiences that weave life together--scents of flowers and food, reflections from mirrors and lakes, even the ability to dream--vanish every seven years.

No one knows what caused these “Disappearances,” or what will slip away next. But Sterling always suspected that Juliet Quinn was somehow responsible--and Aila must bear the brunt of their blame while she follows the chain of literary clues her mother left behind. 

As the next Disappearance nears, Aila begins to unravel the dual mystery of why the Disappearances happen and who her mother truly was. One thing is clear: Sterling isn’t going to hold on to anyone's secrets for long before it starts giving them up.

What about you?  What new releases are you eagerly anticipating?

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

Dimple Shah has it all figured out. With graduation behind her, she’s more than ready for a break from her family, from Mamma’s inexplicable obsession with her finding the “Ideal Indian Husband.” Ugh. Dimple knows they must respect her principles on some level, though. If they truly believed she needed a husband right now, they wouldn’t have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers…right?

Rishi Patel is a hopeless romantic. So when his parents tell him that his future wife will be attending the same summer program as him—wherein he’ll have to woo her—he’s totally on board. Because as silly as it sounds to most people in his life, Rishi wants to be arranged, believes in the power of tradition, stability, and being a part of something much bigger than himself.

Dimple and Rishi may think they have each other figured out. But when opposites clash, love works hard to prove itself in the most unexpected ways.
 
This was an okay book about two Indian-American teenagers who have their marriage arranged only to develop feelings for each other when they eventually meet.  I was really looking forward to reading this book and I thought it was quite a sweet read.
 
The thing I liked most about this book was the way it shone a light on Indian culture (which I find really interesting) and how tensions develop when kids grow up exposed to two different cultures.  And this book did a pretty good job of portraying that.  I felt sorry for Dimple and Rishi with the weight of their parental expectations and likedhow they tried to find their own happiness.
 
Dimple was an okay character, and it’s always good to see girls in STEM subjects doing well, but I didn’t really engage with her that much.  She seemed super proud of the fact that she never wore make up or bothered about what she wore, which is fine, her decision, but she was also incredibly judgey about other people who were invested in their appearance which felt hypocritical.
 
When we were first introduced to Rishi I thought he was a bit chloroform-and-duct-tape, but as the book wore on I warmed to him a bit.  He was really keen to please his parents, which was sweet, but I was also glad he got to follow his own dreams in the end.
 
This book borrows heavily from the Bollywood trope of two youngsters having their marriage arranged and them both protesting wildly about it until they meet each other and find that they do actually have feelings for each other.  In Bollywood, however, (and FYI, I’m definitely not a Bollywood expert, but this is something that I’ve noticed and have seen referenced) the story usually has an added tension because the parents of the couple call off the arranged marriage and re-arrange their weddings to other people instead.  And I think this added level of tension was what this book lacked for me. 
 
After a rocky start, Dimple and Rishi quickly fall in love but there’s nothing really that prevents them from being together.  We just watch them fall in love and go on dates.  And it was fine, but not exactly thrilling.
 
One scene I did find a little odd was when Dimple and Rishi were trying to decide whether to sleep with each other for the first time.  They’re talking about it and it’s all good, except then Rishi starts wondering to Dimple if their parents would be disappointed at them having sex.  Huh?!?  What eighteen-year-old guy thinks about HIS PARENTS OPINION when his girlfriend is asking him to have sex with her? 
 
And yeah, I realise that all cultures are different, but seriously, if a guy pulled out a line like that with me, I’d be all, ‘Dude, you’re killing the mood a little here.  Stop talking about my parents and sex in the same breath.’
 
So yeah.  That was a bit strange.  As was the overuse of the word tongue while Dimple and Rishi were kissing.
 
Other than that, though, this was quite a sweet book.  A nice romantic Summer read, easy on the tension.
 
3 stars

Uprooted by Naomi Novic

Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life.

Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood.

The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows—everyone knows—that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn’t, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her.

But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.

So.  This book was ... weird.  It was good-weird.  Definitely good-weird.

So when Agnieszka is taken by the Dragon instead of Kasia, she expects to live the next ten years as a servant (and possibly sex slave).  But that is so far from what happens, you'd almost laugh if you knew where the story really ends up going.  It's so imaginative and interesting and moving.  Really, really good read.

Uprooted is good old-fashioned high fantasy.  It has all the ingredients - evil kings, magical humanoids, mad wizards, witches, villagers, and evil being and a farm boy/girl with an Epic Destiny.  It reminded me a lot of Kristen Britain's excellent Green Rider series.  In fact the more I think about it, the more it reminds me.  Not that they havethe same storyline or anything, but the tone of the book was very similar (and I enjoyed Green Rider a lot as well).

I know practically nothing about Eastern European folklore or fairytales, so I couldn't say howmuch the author has borrowed, but it felt fresh and new and interesting.  Agniezska has been one of my favourite characters so far this year - I loved how confident she was without being arrogant and how passionate and wild.

And a standalone fantasy.  Hallelujah.  Give me more books that I don't have to wait a year for the second part for, please.

And that ending.  Brilliant.

I liked the understated romance vein that threaded its way through the story.  I loved the way Agniezska made her own decisions and how she and her lover were totally different but complimented each other so well.

I've only just finished it and I wanted to write my review straight away before I forgot anything.  I'm really glad I picked this book up.  I've enjoyed it immensely.

5 stars

Waiting on Wednesday - Words on Bathroom Walls by Julia Walton

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme that was created by Jill at Breaking the Spine and it's a chance for us all to highlight the upcoming releases we're eagerly anticipating.  This week, my Waiting on Wednesday pick is Words on Bathroom Walls by Julia Walton.  Here's the blurb:

Fans of More Happy Than Not, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and It’s Kind of a Funny Story will cheer for Adam as he struggles with schizophrenia in this brilliantly honest and unexpectedly funny debut.
 
Adam has just been diagnosed with schizophrenia. He sees and hears people who aren’t there: Rebecca, a beautiful girl who understands him; the Mob Boss, who harasses him; and Jason, the naked guy who’s unfailingly polite. It should be easy to separate the real from the not real, but Adam can't.
 
Still, there’s hope. As Adam starts fresh at a new school, he begins a drug trial that helps him ignore his visions. Suddenly everything seems possible, even love. When he meets Maya, a fiercely intelligent girl, he desperately wants to be the great guy that she thinks he is. But then the miracle drug begins to fail, and Adam will do anything to keep Maya from discovering his secret.

What about you?  What's your Waiting on Wednesday pick this week?

Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World by Kelly Jensen (editor)

Let’s get the feminist party started!

Here We Are is a scrapbook-style teen guide to understanding what it really means to be a feminist. It’s packed with essays, lists, poems, comics, and illustrations from a diverse range of voices, including TV, film, and pop-culture celebrities and public figures.

Here We Are is a response to lively discussions about the true meaning of feminism on social media and across popular culture and is an invitation to one of the most important, life-changing, and exciting parties around.

I've read quite a few What-Feminism-Means-In-The-Real-World type books recently and it's not really something that is going to get old any time soon for me.  There are so many different takes on feminism and so many ways it can be interpreted, I always find some new or interesting way of looking at things.  And that's why I think this book worked so well - it has like fifty contributors, so there are lots of opinions to read about.

One of the things I liked most was the range of intersectional feminist topics: we had gay and transgender contributors, contributors of many religions, races and backgrounds.  This isn't something you see that often - too many books about feminism focus on what it's like to be a white, straight feminist and while this is valid it was definitely good to get other people's experiences represented.

My favourite contributors were:

Courtney Summers (who is a joy in literally everything she writes) talking about why she writes unlikeable charaters.

I Have Always Eaten the Bread by Lily Myers - about body image

Don't Peak in High School by Mindy Kaling, who is razor-sharp

I Absolutely Consider Myself a Feminist by Laverne Cox

One thing I would say is that the tome of this book isquite different to another (excellent) book on Teen Feminism I read recently, which was Girl Up by Laura Bates (of Everyday Sexism 'fame').  I think it's because this book is mostly American contributors, whereas Bates is from the UK.  Girl Up is full of scalpel-sharp wit and humour, wheras this book is a bit more earnest in tone.  I think I identified with Girl Up a bit more than with this book, but it is still a really good read and totally thought-provoking.

4.5 stars

Bittersweet by Sarah Ockler

Once upon a time, Hudson knew exactly what her future looked like. Then a betrayal changed her life, and knocked her dreams to the ground. Now she’s a girl who doesn’t believe in second chances... a girl who stays under the radar by baking cupcakes at her mom’s diner and obsessing over what might have been. So when things start looking up and she has another shot at her dreams, Hudson is equal parts hopeful and terrified.
 
Meet Hudson Avery.  She is literally the worst friend you could possibly wish to saddle yourself with.
 
Okay, I’m exaggerating.  There are probably worse friends than Hudson around (although I’m struggling to think of any examples at the moment), but she really is quite an awful friend to have.
 
Up to the age of fourteen, Hudson was super into figure skating and was on course for a professional career.  Then in the wake of her parents’ divorce she deliberately threw it all away, and with it threw away the figure skating dreams of her best friend, Kara.  Instead of apologising to Kara with words, Hudson decides to show her remorse by snogging the boy Kara has a crush on right in front of her.
 
Skip forward three years and Hudson is now super into making cupcakes.  I know. The intersection of the Likes Making Cupcakes and Likes Figure Skating venn diagram is, I imagine, fairly small.  But not impossible, I guess, so there we are.  I really liked the cupcake-y bit of the book - the recipes sounded amazing and I liked how they tied into what was going on in Hudson’s life.
 
Hudson’s mum runs the local diner and is getting Hudson more involved in the waitressing and management.  This isn’t what Hudson wants to do with her life, so instead of saying, ‘Hey mum, I’ve taken up figure skating again and I’m coaching the local ice hockey team’ she sneaks around and ends up completely blowing her new best mate, Dani, out.
 
Also: Love Triangle Alert.  No, thank you.
 
This book was sweet (no pun intended), but it was a bit too lightweight and bland for me.
 
3 stars

Waiting on Wednesday - The Revenge by Hannah Jayne

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme that was created by Jill at Breaking the Spine and it's a chance for us all to highlight the upcoming releases we're eagerly anticipating.  This week, my Waiting on Wednesday pick is The Revenge by Hannah Jayne.  Here's the blurb:

From the author of Truly, Madly, Deadly, The Escape, and Twisted, comes another edge of your seat thriller sure to keep you guessing until the last page.

Break ups can be messy. After his ex-girlfriend Hope embarrasses him in front of the entire school, Tony wants revenge. So he signs her up for online dating sites, subscriptions, and even makes the location of her phone public. And it works. A few days later, Hope calls begging Tony to stop the prank. Then Hope screams and a car door slams. The call drops.

Tony tries to keep cool. It's just like Hope to get back at him with more drama. But when Hope isn't at school the next day, Tony knows the joke has gone too far-and he may have lead a predator right to his ex's door. Can Tony find Hope and save her before it's too late for both of them?

What about you?  What's your Waiting on Wednesday pick this week?

Paper Aeroplanes by Dawn o'Porter

It's the mid-1990s, and fifteen year-old Guernsey schoolgirls, Renée and Flo, are not really meant to be friends. Thoughtful, introspective and studious Flo couldn't be more different to ambitious, extroverted and sexually curious Renée. But Renée and Flo are united by loneliness and their dysfunctional families, and an intense bond is formed. Although there are obstacles to their friendship (namely Flo's jealous ex-best friend and Renée's growing infatuation with Flo's brother), fifteen is an age where anything can happen, where life stretches out before you, and when every betrayal feels like the end of the world. For Renée and Flo it is the time of their lives.
 
Do you know what we need more of in YA lit?  Positive female friendships.  And in Paper Aeroplanes, Dawn o’Porter gives it to us in spades.
 
From the very first few pages, the author had me absolutely hooked on Renee and Flo’s stories, which were told from alternating viewpoints within the chapters.  Don’t get me wrong, their friendship isn’t all skipping through a field of daisies and wildflowers, and Renee and Flo are both flawed characters, but I instantly completely shipped their friendship - I was desperate for them to get together and booed every time Flo’s horrible friend Sally came in the room.
 
There were some really frank discussions about sex and sexuality and dysfunctional relationships (which Dawn o’Porter has explored before in her TV programs) and this was really refreshing.  The book was so much grittier and true-to-life than a lot of YA contemporary fiction out there.
 
And even though I’m usually a sucker for a good romance, I loved the fact that there were no heart-swoony romances in this book.  There are a couple of boys, and a whole lot of talking about sex, but the heart of the book is the friendship between Flo and Renee.
 
The only thing that stopped this book from being five stars was that I felt the ending was all wrapped up a bit too neatly and felt a bit rushed because of it.  Other than that, it was an amazing read.  Go and buy a copy.

4.5 stars

Under Rose-Tainted Skies by Louise Gornall

At seventeen, Norah has accepted that the four walls of her house delineate her life. She knows that fearing everything from inland tsunamis to odd numbers is irrational, but her mind insists the world outside is too big, too dangerous. So she stays safe inside, watching others’ lives through her windows and social media feed.

But when Luke arrives on her doorstep, he doesn’t see a girl defined by medical terms and mental health. Instead, he sees a girl who is funny, smart, and brave. And Norah likes what he sees.

Their friendship turns deeper, but Norah knows Luke deserves a normal girl. One who can walk beneath the open sky. One who is unafraid of kissing. One who isn’t so screwed up. Can she let him go for his own good—or can Norah learn to see herself through Luke’s eyes?
 
Aw.  I enjoyed this book so much and I powered through it in less than a day (I’m on me holidays). 
 
So the premise is that Norah suffers badly from agoraphobia and OCD.  I don’t suffer from either (apart from having to eating Tic Tacs in pairs, which I don’t think is quite the same thing) but this is an own voices novel, so I’m imagining that the representation of these disorders is true-to-life.
 
I find novels about mental health really interesting, but what set this book apart from lots of others was the narrator, Norah.  You know when a narrator’s voice just grabs you and makes you listen?  Well, that was what happened here.  I loved Norah - her snarky observations, her self-deprecation and most of all her humour.  Despite living like a hermit and panicking over literally everything that could possibly happen, she still manages to keep her sense of humour and thereby her sense of self.  Obviously mental health isn’t something to laugh about, but Norah herself says that some situations - like when she literally can’t pick up a pen off the floor because of the germs and has to try and crab-pincer it up with her toes - are so awful you either have to laugh or cry.  And she chooses to laugh.
 
Some of the time, anyway.  Norah’s story is still littered with heartache and I felt so much for her.  The attitudes society has towards ‘invisible’ illnesses still needs a lot of work.  The romance with Luke was very sweet, but for a seventeen year old guy he really seemed too good to be true.
 
I’d really recommend this book.  Loved it.
 
5 stars