Matched by Ally Condie

Another "fight against the establishment" teen dystopian novel..., January 15, 2011

3 stars

This was a fast read but a very predictable dystopian novel. Other reviewers have remarked upon the similarities between the premise in MATCHED and The Giver by Lois Lowry as well as Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (to name two). The societies in each are quite similar as the people are completely controlled and their lives dictated to include the clothes they wear, the jobs they are assigned, the food they eat, and the way their mates are assigned to them. Men, women and children are not allowed to make choices or to think for themselves for the good of the Society. They have no concerns or worries, no fear of illness or accidental death -- everything is taken care of. In return, they are to ask no questions and are to obey the Officials. They carry 3 pills to be taken exactly as directed, they work and they play according to the plan, and they don't look beyond their own lives to wonder if there is anything else out there.

The book starts out well -- Cassia is going to her Match Banquet and her world seems full of happy possibilities. During this enchanted evening she is matched to her childhood friend, Xander, which is unusual since it's rare that matches know each other. In some type of computer glitch the next day, another boy's face flashes on the screen and it's someone else she knows -- a boy named Ky, an Aberration and someone who is unsuitable for match. It's after this that the story slides into cliche -- a love triangle, secrets, festering rebellion, etc. Cassia is fascinated with the words illegal poems that were given to her by her grandfather before he dies, and since the society has eradicated everything from the past except for the 100 best of everything, she commits them to memory. The words of one poem, "Do not go gentle..." fuel her dissatisfaction and stir the seeds of restlessness that lead her to defy convention and take chances that result in calamity and big changes in her life and in the lives of those she loves.

This is the first of a planned trilogy with the next book, Crossed, due out in November, 2011. I will likely want to read the second novel to see if the author will come up with a unique approach in this dystopia or if she will continue to borrow heavily from other novels in this genre. I hope it will be refreshingly original.

Ms C.

Not That Kind of Girl by Siobhan Vivian

3 1/2 stars for this coming of age YA novel, January 7, 2011

 This novel is about choices -- the choices that a teen girl makes during her senior year of high school when she begins to make decisions that are going to affect the rest of her life. What kind of girl does Natalie want to be vs. what kind of girl do OTHERS think Natalie is? That conundrum is at the heart of this new YA novel by an author who obviously understands the pressure and tension that teenagers deal with every day at high school as well as with extracurricular activities


Natalie wants to be known as a girl who has her act together, who knows what she wants, and who gets it. She has a plan and finally during her senior year, it's all coming together. She's elected, barely, to the role of Student Council President -- only the 9th girl to have that honor in the history of the school. Though others might think so, I didn't feel the novel was about feminism or about the role of women in society. I felt it was about Natalie finding out that all those plans she had and all those high expectations -- of herself and of others -- might need to be reassessed and reevaluated as circumstances changed.

Natalie isn't very popular and she's quite controlling and bossy -- but she can't control herself where Connor is concerned and decides to begin a secret relationship with him. Why secret? Well she doesn't want to be sidetracked by having a boyfriend AND she doesn't want to be gossiped about at school. Not sure why she is too immature to understand that having a boyfriend doesn't automatically make you a slut, but that's her fear. Themes of sexuality and double standards are reiterated over and over in this novel, but the person who causes the most trouble for Natalie is Natalie. She has difficulty with insight -- into herself and into others. She doesn't seem to have the ability to do an honest self appraisal so concerned is she with outward appearances. She doesn't know what she feels about what she's doing or make much attempt to understand her best friend Autumn or the boy she's sneaking around to see only late at night. For a girl who supposedly was going places, she seemed to be running in circles around the dilemmas she created by trying to dictate to others the nature of their relationship with her. She's the kind of girl who wanted everyone to think well of her, and they did because they didn't really even know HER, just knew that she was a responsible girl who got things done. As long as she was doing that, and staying out of trouble, she received praise. Later on in the novel when things sort of fell apart for her, those same people didn't seem to be able to give her those same positive attributes. Her mistake? Being a teenage girl and having feelings and not knowing how to handle them because she'd spent so many years repressing them.


The ending seemed a little rushed and too pat with everything going nicely back into place after the shift that occurred when Natalie sort of "fell off the wagon" but I think teens will enjoy reading about Natalie's senior year and how she fixed her lapses in judgment. One thing to keep in mind is that most of the time mistakes in adolescence aren't permanently life altering, but some CAN be. The tricky part, and the one that teens find most difficult to master, is knowing which are and which aren't!


Teen girls looking for a fast-paced, thought-provoking read about social situations and high school will definitely like this.


Ms C.

Book Club

February 1, 2011 during SSR. Books still available!

From amazon: "In a state of shock, 17-year-old Adam walks away from the scene of the car accident that has killed his parents. Stranded on a lonely road in rural Idaho, he heads east, on foot, as random snippets of memory wander in and out of his mind. Too traumatized to speak, his silence is misinterpreted by the succession of characters he meets on the odyssey home to Rhode Island. Stumbling upon a Wiccan meeting in a forest, he is taken in by one of the chatty young women and takes a job as a dishwasher in a local diner, where he is treated as deaf. Weeks later, he hitchhikes with a trucker and finds backbreaking work in Colorado fields with Mexican migrant farmers. He struggles to survive as he devours a frozen pizza found in a taxidermist's cabin, sleeps in a Dumpster, crashes a picnic, and steals a car. The adventures intertwine with thoughts about his girlfriend, locker-room antics, his parents, their bookstore, and his autistic cousin–spontaneously, as if his mind has short-circuited from the crash."

Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters by Natalie Standiford

Sins of the Sisters..., January 4, 2011

*** stars



Light, quick read with not much substance. The entire Sullivan family is informed on Christmas Day that they have been cut out of Arden Louisa Norris Sullivan Weems Maguire Hightower Beckendorf's will. Shocked and horrified, the family can't believe what they are hearing. One of them has really done it this time -- and the family knows she is serious. Even though there are 6 children in the family, the book centers on the letters written by the 3 Sullivan sisters who worry that they might have been the one who offended Almighty Lou -- their strong willed grandmother who is the matriarch of a rich and powerful family in Baltimore. She has threatened to disinherit the entire family if the guilty party doesn't appease her with a remorseful confession presented to her before the end of the year.


The three sisters, Norrie, Jane, and Sassy (OK the names got on my nerves) dutifully write their stories for their grandmother detailing the antics and mistakes that might have really been upsetting to Almighty so the book is divided into those three basic parts. I won't detail the stories so there are no spoilers but all I kept thinking was -- which girl is the one who upset her??
The family gathers again on New Year's Day to hear if they are going to get a reprieve. Who was it and what was the crime?


Teens will likely enjoy this funny family tale.

DC

Night Hoops--A Review By Bryce Foster

Night Hoops

By: Carl Deuker

*** Stars

Night Hoops, is about two teenage boys. They are both sophomores in high school. They have nothing in common with each other, except basketball. The two are majorly competitive towards each other. Although, the boys are not so different. Nick has to deal with his parents divorce. This is also on top of trying to be a star basketball player on his high school team. Throughout the novel, Nick gets better as the point guard of his team and learns how to be more mature both on and off the court.

Trent, the other boy, is facing a lot at home. He is always angry and aggressive not only on the court but everywhere. He also wants to be a star basketball player on their high school basketball team. Surprisingly, Nick becomes friends with Trent and they start playing basketball in the driveway of Nick house. They continually do this every night. They become very good pals. In my opinion, I believe the book wanted you to grasp the idea of two competitors becoming friends.

I Gave this novel 3 stars because I think highly of this author and the sport books he writes. I think this was an excellent book for someone who enjoys basketball and for anyone who feels like an outsider. This would be a great book for someone who has problems at home or just someone in high school who is looking for an awesome read. I highly recommend this novel because it never gets boring.

Fang -- A review by Ian Zig.

Fang

By James Patters0n

****

Fang is the sixth book of the Maximum Ride Series. The other five books are: The Angel Experiment, School's Out Forever, Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, The Final Warning, and Max. The Entire series was a great story, however I kind of wish that the author would've stopped at the fifth book, Max. The newest book, Fang, was a good book and it takes an odd turn with the Flock, the five human-avian kids group. Fang takes a completely different direction than the other books, because this book is mainly about the Flock breaking down and falling apart... Of course there is still the evil, mad scientists thrown into the mix, but the book doesn't put the same emphasis on them as the previous books have. But this new direction isn't neccessarily a bad thing, I enjoyed it fairly well, just not as much as the previous books. Also the series has the reputation of being an action-packed thrill read, but Fang just didn't seem to have as much energy and commotion. But don't get me wrong, there was definitely some action! I enjoyed this book thoroughly, especially the bitter sweet ending...

All in all Fang was a good read. I gave it four stars because I found the story periodically dragging for short periods. Again though, I really wish the author would have stopped at Max, mainly because it seemed like a proper ending, there's no way to tell the ending unless Patterson is a super-author. To end my spool, this book was a great read, and I recommend it to anyone... BUT, ONLY if you've read the whole series!

The Sky Inside – a review by George Morejon

The Sky Inside - Clare B Dunkle

**** stars

The Sky Inside is an interesting book set in a futuristic dystopian society. In this domed bubble of a society, everything is brought in and out through giant carts that go to the outside world. Food, supplies, people, everything. Only and handful of people know what actually happens with these carts, and in this world, you don't ask questions. The walls have ears (and eyes), something Martin learned when he saw shape-shifting little robots disappear into the building at his father's work.

But Martin is content with his life in the dome, not asking any questions and accepting of the things like wonder babies (the name for the android children advertised years before) and robot shape-shifting dogs without a second thought. His sister Cassie (who is a wonder baby) can't help asking questions though; and one day, the higher-ups decide to "recall" all the wonder babies, who are too curious for their own good.

Martin, along with his robot dog Chip, are determined to get Cassie back and find out what is really going on, in the dome and in the outside world. He eventually finds answers, and they're answers he never wanted to know were true...

I thought this book was good. It had points where things were kind of dull and slow, but this is a thinking book. You think of your own ideas, and see if they were right (more so than books usually are). It took me about 5 hours to read. I give The Sky Inside a 4 out of 5.

Angelmonster -- review by Hope Austin

Angelmonster
by Veronica Bennett
****

The year is 1814. Sixteen-year-old Mary is the daughter of radical philosophers, one of whom passed away. She blames herself for her mother's death. Her whole life changes when charming poet Frank Shelley walks into her father's bookstore. Mary is instantly smitten. Even though Shelley is already married and has one child, Mary agrees to run away to Europe with him. On their adventures, they encounter the likes of fellow poets like Byron and Keats. As the story goes on, we see that Shelley is not the amazing man he was built up to be. What ensues is a life of scandal, sex, drugs, and inevitable tragedy.

The story is a fictionalized account of Mary Shelley's life from the time she meets her husband to the time she writes Frankenstein. What I really loved about this story was that it wasn't just about Mary Shelley's life; if you knew nothing about her or Frankenstein, the story reads like a naive girl slowly discovering that her lover isn't the Prince Charming she thought he was. I'm not sure if I would recommend this book to fans of historical romance. On one hand, it is basically a historical romance, but on the other, it's so much more than that. Overall, it's a good read.

The Lying Game #1 by Sara Shepard

Who killed Sutton Mercer?, December 6, 2010

This is a fun new YA series by the author of the Pretty Little Liars books that have now been reincarnated as an ABC Family Original TV Series.

Emma Paxton sees a snuff video of what she thinks might be her long lost identical twin on YouTube. She escapes her most recent foster home and heads to Arizona and inserts herself into Sutton's home and life to try to figure out what happened to this sister whom she never got to meet.

Red herrings abound as Emma tries to find out what led to Sutton's demise and who killed her. The problem is that Sutton and her friends had invented a dangerous pranking activity they named "The Lying Game" and there are quite a few who might be mad enough to have committed murder as an act of revenge or anger because of one of those devious games.

Emma interacts with Sutton's best girlfriends, her handsome boyfriend, and her sister, Laurel. In an unusual twist, however, the ghost of Sutton is able to observe all of Emma's activities and also read her thoughts as Emma snoops and blunders around trying to figure out exactly what might have happened. Sutton cannot interfere or interact with the living and functions as a first person observer, interjecting her voice here and there in somewhat random fashion, but she is not able to direct the investigation and in fact, isn't quite sure of what happened herself!

Needless to say, because it's the first in a new series, the ending is a cliffhanger. Too bad, but the reader will have to wait until July 26, 2011 for The Lying Game #2: Never Have I Ever to find out more.

Enjoy! This book is a fun mix of mean girls, murder, and mystery. 

Ms C.

Princess of the Midnight Ball --- a review by Amy Lyon

Princess of the Midnight Ball
by Jessica Day George

****

Its the Twelve Dancing Princesses with a twist.
Rose and her sisters have a secret, and so far, no one has been able to uncover it. Every morning, all twelve girls are found collapsed on the rug in Rose's room with their brand new slippers in tatters. Rose shoulders the responsibility as eldest, but she can't help being amused by the new gardener. But things start to get out of control as each prince that has set out to find the answer is met with an untimely death. And two representatives from the Vatican take a little too much pleasure in investigating this possible witchcraft.

Galen has just returned from war, and is now living with his long lost aunt, her cynical husband, and his surprisingly optimistic cousin. Now armed with seemingly ordinary knitting needles and wool, Galen decides he's just the man for the job... the trick is to uncover the truth without the princesses knowing, while retaining Rose's almost reluctant favor.

There is almost certainly evil at work here, but in what form or forms does it take? Can Galen save the princesses and win Rose's heart? Or will something from evil depths once again reach through silver gates?

While similar to the original story, Princess of the Midnight Ball gave an interesting perspective to the evils we all face. There were so many twists and turns, I wasn't sure how it would end. So many rewrites recently have left me disappointed, but this is a definite challenger for the original. Even the romance doesn't take the usual course. I can't say more or I'll give it away.

I can't wait for the sequel Princess of Glass, a continuation of the first with a CinderEllen twist.