Marie August's Blog, page 27

Book Review: Once in a Full Moon (Full Moon #1) by Ellen Schreiber

Werewolf romance for preteens and young teens

Once in a Full Moon (Full Moon #1) by Ellen Schreiber
Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: September 14, 2010
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Pages: 256
Source: Amazon Vine
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

Celeste Parker has it all. She's a pretty girl who's dating the most popular boy at her high school, a handsome jock whose favorite hobby is playing scary pranks. She also has two wealthy best girlfriends who, like Celeste, live in the prosperous East Side of her town. She and her friends have nothing to do with the lowly Westsiders. They are social untouchables at school because their side of town still has the flavor of the rural community Celeste's town used to be, before the development of the East Side as the suburban bedroom community of a nearby city.

Unfortunately, Celeste isn't in love with her great-catch boyfriend. Instead, she's magnetically drawn to gorgeous, mysterious Brandon, the new boy at school. She's afraid to act on that attraction though, because Brandon is a Westsider. No boy is worth giving up everything she has--especially her two Westsider-hating BFF's--in order to be with him. But when Brandon braves a blizzard to save Celeste from a pack of wolves in the woods near her town and is bitten in the process, Celeste can't resist getting romantically involved with her valiant rescuer. And her solution to her difficult social dilemma is to avoid it entirely by insisting that she and Brandon keep their relationship a secret. Brandon is so taken with her, that he agrees to this humiliating proposition with virtually no protest.

The heroine of this story lives basically four separate lives: Celeste Number One is a "go along to get along" girl who never makes waves and does whatever her stronger-willed, classist best friends propose. Keeping their approval is paramount in her life. Celeste Number Two is a kind, socially conscious person who loves working with old people and is very fulfilled volunteering at a local rest home. Celeste Number Three is in a romance of convenience with a rich, Eastsider boyfriend. Celeste Number Four has a secret Westsider boyfriend, a kind, sensitive boy whose whole life has been turned upside-down as a result of selflessly coming to Celeste's rescue.

I believe that if it there were no werewolf romance in this book, it would be classified as a "social drama," given the strong theme of the evils of class prejudice that dominates so much of this story. Ultimately, though, the the author puts the bulk of her focus on the paranormal romance.

That romance doesn't seem to be fully resolved in this book--no doubt because this is the beginning of a series. There is much more character development and growth that Celeste and Brandon need to achieve before this series comes to a triumphant close.

As for the paranormal portion of the story, I personally found the author's explanations of how werewolves are made to be somewhat confusing, and the appearance she has assigned to her werewolf is a bit odd. However, the author deserves praise for attempting to be original in her werewolf mythology, and it may well be that neither of these things will be an issue for the intended audience, which I believe is the younger end of the YA scale, preteens and teens between 11-14.

Heroine: 3

Subcharacters: 4

Fantasy World-Building: 3

Writing: 5

Paranormal Romance Plot: 4


Overall: 4

Book Review: The Clearing by Heather Davis

Poignant YA romance

The Clearing by Heather Davis
Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: April 12, 2010
Publisher: Graphia
Pages: 228
Source: Amazon Vine
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

Escaping from the aftermath of a bad relationship in which her boyfriend Matt verbally and physically abused her, teenager Amy chooses to start her senior year at a country school and live with her great aunt in a single-wide trailer. Even though it is Amy's idea to move there, she is hurt that her mother and stepfather don't put up much of a fuss about it, and she's depressed that she's left behind all her friends. In her new town, she feels alienated and unwilling to be open enough to make new friends. Until the day she discovers an eerie mist enshrouding a clearing in the forest edging her aunt's property. She passes through it and encounters Henry, an attractive 18-year-old boy who is nothing like any boy she's ever known before. He speaks and dresses in an old-fashioned way and treats her with a gallantry that is balm to her emotional wounds. Amy finds herself having feelings for Henry that she never imagined she could after what she went through with Matt. But not only is Henry a very unusual guy, his situation has a fantastical element to it that may keep the two of them from being together long term.

The blurb on the back of this book is full of spoilers. It basically gives away the main surprise of the book, which involves the fantasy element of the story surrounding Henry's situation. I will leave it up to the publisher to post that spoiler information from that blurb here as it chooses. I will only say that I agree with the blurb's statement that this is a "bittersweet romance." Other than the heroine's angst over her terrible relationship with her ex-boyfriend, and her struggles to have anything to do with the kids at her new school, three-fourths of the book is her relationship with Henry. If you like romance as I do, that will be a plus for you.

Some people who like a very clear, obvious, happily ever after in the romances they read may have a problem with the ending of the book because, in my opinion, it is a bit too ambiguous. I couldn't tell from the way it is written if this is intended to be a stand-alone book or if there will be a sequel.

Overall, the author's writing is excellent, and she employed a writing strategy that I find particularly enjoyable of alternating points of view of Amy and Henry. Amy's is in first person ("I") and Henry's is in third person ("he"). The story is also written in past tense, which I very much appreciate since I find present tense draws annoying attention to itself, distracting from the story.

Finally, for parents who like to be careful about what their teens read, there is one scene involving teen drinking, though the heroine doesn't participate. And there is one scene involving sex with no details described.

Heroine: 4

Hero: 4

Subcharacters: 4

Writing: 4

Paranormal Romance Plot: 3

Mystery Sub-Plot: 3.5


Overall: 4

Book Review: The Mermaid's Mirror by L. K. Madigan

A fun paranormal adventure for preteens and young teenagers

The Mermaid's Mirror by L. K. Madigan
Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: October 4, 2010
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
Pages: 320
Source: Amazon Vine
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

Lena lives in a coastal town south of San Francisco. She has always loved the ocean, the smell of the salty air, the feel of the cold water, and especially the waves. But her father refuses to let her fulfill her fondest wish, to learn to surf. She secretly has her friends teach her to surf, but in the process, she discovers something far more fascinating than surfing. She catches sight of a beautiful mermaid, and her life will never be the same.

This is a lovely book with an interesting heroine, a fascinating magical premise, and a strong contrast between Lena's life on land and her life in a mermaid world. I read in an interview with the author that she originally intended this to be a middle-grade novel. Some traces of that aim at a younger audience remain in the book, for example the characters eat and drink soup and other liquid foods down under the ocean. This is the kind of quirky touch that is most often found in books for young children. However, other than that, this G-rated book can be enjoyed by teens of all ages. Girls will especially enjoy that there is a significant romance subplot. There are also fascinating relationships between Lena and her mother and grandparents in the undersea world of the mer-people.

The author of this book (whose real name is Lisa Wolfson) died of cancer on February 23, 2011. She announced on her website in January, 2011 that she had pancreatic cancer and that she had made peace with her impending death. The Mermaid's Mirror was her second book for young adults. Her first book, Flash Burnout , won the William C. Morris Award, a national honor given by the American Library Association to the best book for young adults by a first-time author. It was also a finalist for the Leslie Bradshaw Award for Young Adult Literature. If this author had been granted more time among us, I am positive she would have had a very successful career writing for young people.
May she rest in peace.

Heroine: 4

Subcharacters: 4

Fantasy World-Building: 4

Writing: 4

Paranormal Romance Plot: 4


Overall: 4

Book Review: Past Midnight (Past Midnight #1) by Mara Purnhagen

Light, ghost-story mystery for young teens

Past Midnight (Past Midnight #1) by Mara Purnhagen
Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: September 1, 2010
Publisher: Harlequin
Pages: 224
Source: Amazon Vine
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

Charlotte Silver and her older sister Annalise have spent their entire childhood traveling around with their parents who are ghost hunters. But not the kind who actually believe in ghosts. Rather, they are professors who have dedicated their careers to proving that what various people claim are visitations from ghosts are simply predictable forms of electrical energy which Charlotte's parents track and record with sophisticated equipment. Unfortunately, in the midst of her parents' paranormal quest, Charlotte suddenly finds herself haunted by what appear to be actual ghosts, and everyone in the family is totally freaked out--but most especially Charlotte. Weird dreams, telekinesis and messages from the great beyond have Charlotte afraid to live in her own house and her parents scrambling to explain, and end, the weird paranormal activities surrounding their daughter.

There are two different plots in this novel. The main plot involves solving the mystery of the ghosts haunting Charlotte--what do they want, and how can she get rid of them? The secondary plot consists of Charlotte trying to fit in at a new school where her parents--at the insistence of her college-sophomore sister--have promised to allow Charlotte to finish out her senior year. In Charlotte's painful past experience, as soon as kids at her school find out who her parents are, her social life is ruined, so this time around she's determined to keep her parents' identities secret so she can have a chance to actually make and keep friends. Inevitably, of course, the secret gets out and she has to deal with the fallout.

I found it interesting and unusual to read a YA novel in which the parents play as large a part as they do in this book. Usually parents are either totally absent or cast to the irrelevant sidelines in modern teen fiction. The book also offers a unique take on ghosts by having them be something all the characters strongly don't want to believe in and keep trying to ignore or disprove.

This book can be safely read by young teens and might possibly not be exciting enough for older teens. Because of the muted way the author presents the ghosts, even when Charlotte gets scared herself, the ghosts aren't particularly frightening to read about. There is no romance, no swearing, no drugs or alcohol, and only very mild rebellion on Charlotte's part--and an ironic kind of rebellion at that. It is the parents who are the true rebels, living an unconventional lifestyle, and in rebelling against them, Charlotte is merely trying to live a settled and normal life.

Overall, this is a well-written novel, without any huge, gut-wrenching conflict. Charlotte is a pleasant character, and this is a fast, easy, pleasant read.

Heroine: 4

Subcharacters: 4

Fantasy World-Building: 4

Writing: 4

Paranormal Drama Plot: 4


Overall: 4

Book Review: The Between by LJ Cohen

Exciting adventures in the magical world of the Fae

The Between by LJ Cohen
Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: January 5, 2012
Publisher: Interrobang Books
Pages: 296
Source: Digital Copy From Author For Review
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

Seventeen-year-old Lydia is a quiet, studious girl living a perfectly normal life with her pleasant parents and adorable younger siblings until the day a handsome but strange young man begins stalking her at her school. Lydia is at her wits end as to what to do about him when one day, on her school bus, he saves her from a terrifying, black cloud of menacing beings called Darklings. Clive, a Fae of the Bright Court, has dragged Lydia to the Between, a world between the land of Faerie and the mortal world, and nothing will ever be the same again for Lydia, who discovers she is anything but a normal girl.

I enjoyed the author's use of alternating points of view of Clive and Lydia. For those who enjoy stories of the Fae, this will be an exciting journey into the world of King Oberon and Queen Titania of the Bright and Dark Courts respectively. Clive and Lydia are more friends and allies than romantic partners, which is an unusual and interesting treatment of a male/female relationship in young adult (YA) fiction. I enjoyed the psychological journey of these two main protagonists every bit as much as the action and adventure of the plot.

This story is well-written, and the Kindle edition of this book, which is what I read, is excellently edited and formatted.

People who enjoyed Kersten Hamilton's YA series about the Fae, Goblin Wars, will especially appreciate this book.

Heroine: 5

Hero: 5

Subcharacters: 5

Fantasy World-Building: 5

Writing: 5

Action-Adventure Plot: 4

Friendship Sub-Plot: 5


Overall: 5

Book Review: Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris

Young adult science-fiction thriller with star-crossed lovers

Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris
Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: April 24, 2012
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Pages: 464
Source: Amazon Vine
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

When Janelle Tenner is brought back from the dead by a guy named Ben from her school, whom she's never talked to and previously viewed as an alienated stoner, no one believes her when she says she died. The doctors at the hospital talk about how weird it is that she isn't paralyzed and how they can't figure out how her spine healed from an obvious injury. But they don't believe in miracles and neither her best friend nor her FBI-agent father assume she was anything but lucky.

Janelle has practically raised her brother, who is three years younger than her 17 years, since her mother became bipolar around the time of Janelle's third birthday. Even as a preschooler, Janelle's innate sense of responsibility pushed her to take over the care of her brother. Janelle loves her father, but he is rarely around because of the demands of his job. Naturally curious, Janelle has frequently spied on her father's notes in his home office about his cases, and the one he is working on currently is almost as weird as Janelle's miraculous healing. People are turning up dead, burned unrecognizably from radiation, but no one can figure out what has happened to them. Even more terrifying is the fact that an unknown improvised explosive devise (UIED) is counting down to some horrible destruction, but no one can figure out how to disarm it.

The structure of this book is a series of chapters ranging from short to very short, each headed by countdown numbers, starting from 24 days, 14 minutes and 32 seconds until, presumably, the end of the world. Janelle is a strong, compelling, very active protagonist. The fact that she just keeps on going and never gives up and is utterly loyal and devoted to those she loves makes her a very sympathetic heroine. Ben is also a strong character and a very appealing love interest. I particularly enjoyed that there is no love triangle!

I don't usually like science fiction, but the author is an excellent writer, and she does a good job making the science she uses accessible such that it doesn't overwhelm the story yet seems plausible within the story's construction.

I am relieved to learn, from visiting the author's website, that there is a sequel to this story, but this will only be a duology, not a trilogy. The author states in her FAQ page that she originally intended this to be a stand-alone book, but her publisher urged her to write a sequel. Perhaps they did that because the ending of this book is quite dark. I am happy to report there is not a cliffhanger ending. The plot arc of this book is logically and carefully resolved. I was quite relieved about that since I number among those readers who find cliffhangers quite irritating in YA series books.

Heroine: 4

Subcharacters: 4

Writing: 5

Science-Fiction Plot: 4

Romantic Sub-Plot: 4


Overall: 4

Book Review: The Selection (The Selection #1) by Kiera Cass

Book 1 in a new YA dystopian romance trilogy

The Selection (The Selection #1) by Kiera Cass
Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: April 24, 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 336
Source: Amazon Vine
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

This book has been pitched by the publisher as a cross between The Bachelor and The Hunger Games, and that certainly seems to be the case. Seventeen-year-old America Singer lives in a dystopian world with a caste system in which each level of society has a number from 1-8. America is Level 5, and the boy she is madly in love with, Aspen, is Level 6. Only the upper echelons are allowed to use any birth control other than abstinence, and this might be why sex before marriage is outlawed, though the reason for the law is not overtly explained in this book. The lower levels of the population are worked practically to death in servile, underpaid jobs, and they make so little money and have such large families (due to no birth control), that they don't have enough to eat. As a result, they often die young from the combined effects of exhaustion and malnutrition.

As I read all this at the beginning of the book, I thought this book would be about the people revolting against their horribly oppressive government. However, rather than being picked to fight to the death in a gladiator-style realty show featuring preteens and teenagers as in Hunger Games, America is selected as one of 35 attractive, young women from all levels of society to participate in a Bachelor-style reality show in which they vie to become the bride of the country's handsome, young Prince Maxon.

For readers who like romantic triangles in young adult (YA) fiction, this book definitely has one. In fact, the romantic triangle is at the core of the entire story.

For readers who are fans of reality shows like The Bachelor, this book's premise will be quite enjoyable.

For readers who like lots of violent action in YA dystopians, as occurs in Hunger Games, this book is not what you are looking for. But those who enjoyed Matched by Ally Condie will very likely greatly appreciate this story.

The writing itself is smooth and the characters convincingly drawn. Both of the heroine's romantic interests are attractive, sensitive and sexy, though neither is given a chance to be particularly heroic in the plot of this first book in the trilogy. However, the end of this book does create a setup for the next two books in the series that promises much more potential action and chances for the two male leads to shine. So there is great hope for fans of this series to have plenty of opportunities to root for either Team Aspen or Team Maxon, a pastime dear to the hearts of YA paranormal romance fans since The Twilight Saga entered the marketplace.

Heroine: 4

Subcharacters: 4

Fantasy World-Building: 3

Writing: 4

Dystopian Plot: 3

Romance Plot: 4


Overall: 4

Book Review: Hunger (Riders of the Apocalypse #1) by Jackie Morse Kessler

A somber exploration of teenage anorexia

Hunger (Riders of the Apocalypse #1) by Jackie Morse Kessler
Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: October 18, 2010
Publisher: Graphia
Pages: 180
Source: Amazon Vine
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

An anorexic teenage girl, Lisabeth Lewis, is forcibly appointed by Death himself to the role of Famine, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, on the night she attempts to commit suicide by overdosing on her mother's depression medication.

This young adult novel alternates between two realities: a gritty, detailed examination of Lisa's daily struggle with depression and anorexia (including unflinching portrayals of vomiting, constipation, and other painful bathroom experiences), and Lisa's fantastical journey as the transmitter of mass death to the world through famine. As the two sides of her existence collide, Lisa learns by direct, horrifying experience the difference between the parallel forms of starvation highlighted in this book: the externally-imposed starvation of countless, poor, powerless people, and Lisa's self-inflicted starvation, rooted in the harsh criticisms of her perfectionistic mother.

This book contains elements of popular fiction, whose emphasis is on vigorously entertaining the audience by means of the protagonist facing numerous, strong external obstacles, and literary fiction, whose focus is on a significant social message embedded in the protagonist's hellish psychological struggles. It is possible this mix of genres occurs within this book because the author decided to take a somber, lit fic approach to her story, but since she normally writes humorous, sexy, pop-fic urban fantasy (the Hell on Earth series, including Hell's Belles , The Road To Hell , Hotter Than Hell ), her normal voice sometimes peeked through. Personally, I would have loved to see that natural irreverent style completely overtake the book, especially in the way she uses point of view.

In the Hell series, the personality of the upbeat, witty succubus heroine, Jazebel, leaps off the page via first-person point of view. In contrast, Hunger is written in a clinically distant, omniscient-narrator point of view most of the time, with occasional more intimate dives into Lisa's unremittingly dark thoughts which are quite repetitive due to the obsessive-compulsive-disorder (OCD) component of her mental illness. Though Lisa is suffering from OCD and suicidal depression, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that a character in that position could still be capable of the "grace under fire" type of dark humor to liven up the story a bit. But there is none of that here. What little humor there is, in the form of an occasional snarky quip from Death, is actually rather jarring, because it is so out of step with the harshly hopeless tone of the rest of the book.

On the other hand, if you are a reader who does not like humor, and who enjoys stories with unrelieved misery, what I'm wishing for would probably appall you, and the actual presentation and tone of the book will be nothing but a plus for you. If you are a parent or teacher who loves books with a "message," or simply wants to inform or educate teenagers in your life about the dangers of eating disorders, then you will probably enjoy and approve of this book and urge every teen girl you know to read it, because it does a good job of showing what anorexia looks and feels like (though the handling of a potential resolution for it is rather over-optimistic and simplified).

If you are a fan of lit fic, you probably won't like the ending but might like the rest of the book, other than the fact that the language might not be lush enough for you. If you are a person who likes both lit fic and pop fic and are looking for something new and different to read and enjoy mash-ups of different genres, you might appreciate this book. If you like a long, deep read with characters fully developed and story lines carried through to the max, you might be disappointed that this book is so short--though, to be fair, this is only the beginning of a series of four books based on four different teenage girls being forced, one at a time, to take over the role of one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. We probably won't get any more of Lisa, but the fantasy world will, presumably, be increasingly fleshed out as the series progresses.

Heroine: 4

Subcharacters: 3

Fantasy World-Building: 3

Writing: 5

Plot: 3


Overall: 3.5

Book Review: A Match Made in High School by Kristin Walker

A side-splitting marriage-of-convenience comedy

A Match Made in High School by Kristin Walker
Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: February 4, 2010
Publisher: Razorbill
Pages: 288
Source: Purchased
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

Seventeen-year-old Fiona, along with all the other seniors of East Columbus High School, is outraged when the principle and guidance counselor announce that their participation in a new marriage-education class is mandatory for graduation. Each senior is paired up with a fake marriage partner not of their choosing for the entire school year. They are forced to earn money together, do a budget, participate in a social activity, figure out together how to solve randomly assigned life problems, and meet weekly for marriage counseling with the guidance counselor. Fiona's best friend Marcie doesn't come off too badly. She's paired with the music-mad Johnny Mercer who is a gentle giant and extremely funny. No such luck for Fiona. Not only didn't she get paired with the one guy that would have made this whole exercise worth doing, her long-time, unrequited crush, Gabe, but to add insult on injury, Gabe is placed with Fiona's biggest enemy. Amanda is a beautiful, arrogant cheerleader who's been calling Fiona Princess Pee Pants ever since she wet her pants in public in second grade. And to make matters as bad as possible, Fiona is matched with Amanda's jock boyfriend, Todd, who plays pranks on Fiona that make Amanda's taunts over the years look like friendly hugs. But Fiona doesn't take Todd's inciting actions lying down. She pranks him right back, and the war is on.

This book is repeatedly laugh-out-loud funny. Fiona is a strong, determined heroine, and her sparring with Todd is hilarious. In the midst of the humor, though, is a compelling coming-of-age story line as Fiona learns, through her travails with the marriage-education course, a great deal about her friends, her enemies, and herself that she never realized before.

This is Kristin Walker's debut novel, and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next! For those who enjoy this book, I recommend several other YA romantic comedies, including The Oracle of Dating by Allison van Diepen and Tina Ferraro's The ABC's of Kissing Boys , How to Hook a Hottie, and Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress.

Heroine: 5

Subcharacters: 5

Writing: 5

Chick-Lit Plot: 5

Romantic Sub-Plot: 4


Overall: 5

Book Review: Mad Love by Suzanne Selfors

Is it magic or madness? A young adult contemporary fantasy about Cupid in Seattle

Mad Love by Suzanne Selfors
Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: January 4, 2011
Publisher: Walker Childrens
Pages: 336
Source: Amazon Vine
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry

Sixteen-year-old Alice Amorous is the daughter of bestselling romance author, Belinda Amorous. Due to her mother's suffering from years of untreated bipolar disorder, Alice's family life has been highly unstable, leading to the present crisis of her mother being institutionalized for catatonic depression.

Alice has no father to step in and take care of her, because she's the product of a one-night stand occurring during one of her mother's manic phases--and Alice needs help badly. Her mother earned a great deal of money over the years from her writing, but her mania caused Belinda to blow all her earnings, and Alice is now scrambling to pay their bills and keep up appearances so that Social Services doesn't take her away from her mother.

The one worthwhile manic-inspired purchase of Alice's mother is the four-unit rental house where Alice and her mother have lived for several years. They share it with a grandmotherly lady named Mrs. Bobot, an elderly minister named Reverend Ruttles, and a nurturing, gay, legal secretary named Archibald. In addition, Mrs. Bobot's anorexic granddaughter Realm, who is Alice's age, is visiting for the summer, but she's no friend to Alice. All Realm cares about is publishing the horror novel she's written, and she threatens to expose Belinda's mental illness to the world if Alice doesn't forge a letter in Belinda's name recommending Realm's novel to Belinda's editor.

The three eccentric adults in Alice's life are very concerned when, after a sudden fainting spell, she becomes obsessed with a mysterious white-haired boy named Errol and begins to hear his voice in her head. Alice is worried, too, because she isn't sure if what is happening to her is magic or madness. Is she starting to exhibit signs of the same mental illness that has destroyed her mother's life? Or could it actually be true that she's been shot by the invisible arrow of the one and only Eros, commonly known as Cupid?

Ms. Selfors is an excellent writer who particularly excels at quirky characters and situations, and that talent is very much in evidence here. I also enjoyed that all the adults in this book truly care about Alice. In a delicate, non-preachy way, Ms. Selfors uses every character in this book, even the obvious antagonists like Realm and Errol/Eros, to offer crucial insights to Alice that allow her to grow in emotional maturity in believable ways by the end of the book.

Ms. Selfors is extremely gifted at writing comedy, but in the case of this book, she has created a "dramedy," a mix of comedy and drama. Her two previous young adult novels, Coffeehouse Angel and Saving Juliet , are entirely comedic with strong fantasy elements and light subject matter that is perfectly suited to their humorous tone. In contrast, Mad Love contains less fantasy than either of these books, and it covers much more serious issues, including mental illness in multiple characters, cancer, eating disorders, illegitimacy, and child neglect and abandonment.

In this book, the laughs come as a kind of "comic relief" from Alice's ongoing painful struggles with the circumstances surrounding her mother's tragic mental illness. Some examples of this comedy include a scene where Errol shoots Alice with an invisible, magical arrow causing her to yell wild accusations that no one believes, and the first chance Alice has to actually talk with Tony Lee, the boy she's been staring at every morning for weeks from her kitchen window as he rides by her home on his skateboard.

For those wondering what ages are suitable for this book, it seems to be aimed at preteens and younger teens, that is ages 11-14, for several reasons: In spite of the hard life Alice has lived, she seems very naive for her sixteen years. Her romance with Tony, the skateboard boy, is definitely G-rated. And the inflated way in which the author portrays both Alice's and Realm's novel writing achievements is unrealistic to a degree that is usually only found in middle-grade novels.

There is only one situation in this story that is slightly questionable for this age group: Alice's magically induced obsession with Errol/Eros leads to one brief but sensual kiss, and he shamelessly confesses to Alice that he has used his magical arrows to take (presumably sexual) advantage of countless women over the past 2000 years.

Heroine: 4

Subcharacters: 4

Fantasy World-Building: 3

Writing: 5

Drama Plot: 4


Overall: 4