Chime in Mock Newbery 2026

Jul 15, 2011 Sheila Welch rated it liked it

What an amazing book! I definitely appreciate and enjoy the author's use of language and the quirky humor in both the thoughts of the main character and the dialog. Sometimes the descriptive passages are, for me, lovely and a pleasure to read. But there are some that go over the top, feel over written, and remind me of a rich dessert -- too much!

The plot is fairly straight forward but some of the elements bothered me and felt too weird for my taste. The sexual awakening in this repressed girl c ...more

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Oct 18, 2011 Pamela rated it really liked it

This is a good summer read, and for all those readers who love a little fantasy with their romance. Briony has a lot of guilt about what happened to her sister, who now has special needs. Because she can talk with the Old Ones in the swamp, she knows she deserves to be put to death, as her village does to all such, and almost welcomes such an outcome, until she meets a new boy who changes everything. Though I think the title is a bit vague, as well as the time period (they mention new trains in ...more

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Mar 13, 2016 Dolores rated it really liked it

Audio book. I listened to this one, and cannot imagine reading it. The real star of this book is the language. Absolutely stunning and lyrical. And the audiobook is performed by a true artist. She has a beautiful voice and makes each character unique and easily recognizable. But, I found myself becoming accustomed--even enured to the language around disc 4 or 5. And, frankly nothing much happened in the book until around disc 6, so it was slow going for a while. Could have used a bit more action ...more

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Oct 30, 2011 Dolores rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I listened to this one, and cannot imagine reading it. The real star of this book is the language. Absolutely stunning and lyrical. And the audiobook is performed by a true artist. She has a beautiful voice and makes each character unique and easily recognizable. But, I found myself becoming accustomed--even enured to the language around disc 4 or 5. And, frankly nothing much happened in the book until around disc 6, so it was slow going for a while. Could have used a bit more action to go with ...more

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Nov 14, 2011 Beth rated it liked it

Shelves: audio, ya-lit, fantasy

Originally reviewed here.

Okay, so for the record, I did not care for this book in the slightest but bear with me and you'll see why I still gave it 3 stars.

My main dislike for this book was that I could not picture myself in Briony's world and to be honest, I had a very hard telling what world she lived in. She talked of London on occasion, but then she also referred to this otherworldly place known as Swampsea and at first I had a difficult time envisioning the world Briony created for her rea Originally reviewed here.

Okay, so for the record, I did not care for this book in the slightest but bear with me and you'll see why I still gave it 3 stars.

My main dislike for this book was that I could not picture myself in Briony's world and to be honest, I had a very hard telling what world she lived in. She talked of London on occasion, but then she also referred to this otherworldly place known as Swampsea and at first I had a difficult time envisioning the world Briony created for her readers. I eventually had to do a little research and discover that the book takes place in England around the turn of the twentieth century. For a while there, however, I was almost questioning whether it took place on this earth, that's how confused I was.

So despite my dislike for this book, much of that I truly feel had to do with my lack of understanding of what was going on. For this reason, I think it would be a great selection to assign for a high school English class because of the challenge some will inevitably experience while trying to follow the story. The entire time I listened to the audiobook all I kept thinking to myself was how much I really wanted to read this for a book club because I needed to talk about and work through what was going on with other people.

When it came to this story, I knew very little and lacked any sort of expertise as a reader so I would love to sit down and talk to other teachers, librarians, and teenagers who connected with the story, or maybe even had trouble with it like me, to gain a greater understanding for what was going on that I was somehow missing. I'm starting to realize this front teachers put up for their students that they're supposed to be expert readers, but what if we allowed them to see our confusion on occasion? What might that do to their confidence as readers? It might show them that it's okay for reading to cause you confusion and that "right answers" (or even answers period) don't just always come to you; sometimes they take work.

There are so many people who mistakenly believe that YA lit today is all fluff and no substance, but this book (along with so many others, I could make a list of them - maybe I will!) proves the naysayers wrong. So despite my frustrating reading (listening) experience, I longed to discuss my confusion with some group, any group of readers, be it students or teachers. ...more

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Apr 12, 2011 Alyson rated it liked it

Shelves: teen-books, teen-books-for-adults, fantasy

I have very mixed feelings about this. I liked the writing, the characters and the plot, but the setting/time period totally did not work for me. Did people in England at the turn of the century, who were discussing Darwin, Freud, industry, railroads, technology still hang witches???? If the story had been set in the 1600s, I would have bought it. Paranormal books set in the present day assume most people don't believe in vampires, witches, fairies... This falls in between and lost me some. ...more

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Aug 27, 2011 Sarah Abercrombie rated it really liked it

I couldn't get into the book, which a friend highly recommended. So I listened to the audio, which I highly enjoyed. Briony was not a likable charachter in text, but the reader brought her to life beautifully. Witches, old ones, victorian romance, and psychological thriller. Doesn't get much better than that. ...more

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Feb 06, 2012 Eliza rated it it was amazing

Gorgeously written and expertly woven. This book is a dream - dark, scary, strange, beautiful. I didn't want to wake up. ...more

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Apr 23, 2011 Dana Duffy Backs rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult

Plot did n't seem to go anywhere for much of the middle of the book, I got bored. ...more

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Sep 27, 2011 Kim rated it it was ok

Shelves: fantasy, historical, teen-ya

This book got rave reviews - but it was not my cup of tea. I think it's because historical fiction and fantasy combined (the same reason I don't like steampunk too) ...more

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Aug 16, 2011 Sandy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: supernatural, teen, romance, interesting-narration, steampunk

The narration in this book is stands out in an excentric, unusual, yet lovely sort of way. I enjoyed slowly reading through Briony's guilt and figuring out the truth behind her story. ...more

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