Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

Title: Under the Mesquite
Author: Guadalupe Garcia McCall
Publisher: Lee and Low Books
Pub Date: 10/1/2011
Reviewed from: ARC received from the publisher
Grades 9 and up

booktalk

Oh, I'm a sucker for a good novel in verse. And this is a really good novel in verse. Lupita, the eldest of eight, is having a year full of changes. She's getting very involved in drama at her high school, her friends are telling her that the fact that she's losing her accent means she's loosing sight of who she is and where she comes from, and then Mami gets diagnosed with cancer. Papi all but moves into the cancer center and leaves Lupita in charge of her family.

Lupita is finding her voice and the free verse she shares that voice with us is evocative and beautiful.

good for

Fans of novels in verse like The House on Mango Street or Diamond Willow. Also good for fans of novels that make you cry and cry like The Fault in Our Stars.

Title: Delirium
Author: Lauren Oliver
Publisher: HarperTEEN
Pub Date: 2/1/2011
Reviewed from: So technically I recieved an ARC from publisher but then I completely forgot to read it and it expired (because eARCs do that) then I borrowed a copy from the library.
Grades 7 and up

So when I first got this I didn't read it right away because I had just read a whole bunch of distopian fiction and I was getting bored of it. But then I read it and OH EM GEE I am glad I did.

So.

Love is a disease. A plague. A scurge upon humankind. Good news, though! Scientists have fixed that little love problem! When you turn 18 the government mandates that you get the cure. Lena is only 90 days away from turning 18 and oh how she has longed for that cure! Her mother is one of the few tragic people that the cure didn't work on and Lena knows all too well how love can ruin a life. And then the unthinkable happens. Lena falls in love.

Oh mah goodness you are going to love this book. This is what distopian fiction was like before the hype - before it became formulaic and "lets just get all these out there on the shelf because that's what the people want!" The society sucks you in and tries to seduce you with it's logic and it's order all while there is a part of you screaming, "BUT LOVE! I LOVE LOVE! DON'T TAKE LENA'S LOVE AWAY!" And then as the cracks in the society begin to show and the action takes off and your pulse starts pouding ... suddenly you'll realize that it's 2 am and you were just going to read one more page but that was 400 pages ago.

This book is for fans of: Dystopian novels, Romance with a side of breaking and entering and plotting to defy the government, and tragic pasts that inform but don't define characters.

Entwined - Heather Dixon

Title: Entwined
Author: Heather Dixon
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Pub Date: April 2011
Reviewed from: copy I bought for myself

Grades 7 and up

Earlier this evening (in a review that won't be published for a few months because it was an ARC and I don't want to be too cruel in my booktalks) I created a new genre. Princesses who get dirty. You know the type. These are those sorts of princesses. And there are 12 of them. Twelve! Twelve kick-ass princesses who are not afraid to get dirty. And being royalty they get to refer to the time they all fell asleep outside while spying on their parent's royal ball and then attacked the Prime Minister with snowballs as "the Great Rosebush and Snowball scandal." I mean seriously. Don't you want to sit down and spend a few hundred pages with these princesses?

Anyway.

Their mother's pregnancy has been very hard but when she dies giving birth to princess number 12 it is a shock to all of them. More of a shock is their father's subsequent harshness. He stops eating dinner with them, stops talking to them, and even (seemingly) rushes off to war just to get away from them! Their only happiness comes from dancing but since custom dictates they must be in full morning for a year, they can't even do that!

And then they discover a secret magical room in the castle and a man named Keeper who gives them a secret spot to dance. But Keeper isn't telling them much about him. Is he to be trusted? Or is he leading the girls on a path unimaginable?

Give this book to: Fans of fairy tale retellings (the 12 dancing princesses, natch), lovers of formal dancing, readers who want their romance (there are 3 complete and satisfying romances hidden inside this book) with a side of dashing and adventure, and fans of (obvs) princesses who are not afraid to get dirty.

Saving June - Hannah Harrington

Title: Saving June
Author: Hannah Harrington
Publisher: HarlequinTEEN
Pub Date: May 2011
Reviewed from: ARC received from publisher
Grades 10 and up

June was always the perfect daughter and Harper was always the screw up. June's suicide - a week before her high school graduation - is a shock to everyone. Harper's divorced parents decide to split June's ashes but Harper, knowing June's ardent desire to go to California, takes off with her best friend Laney and Jake. Along the way they go to a protest, a concert, and, hokey as it sounds, learn a lot more about themselves. I know. I KNOW! That last line is hokey. But sometimes that's exactly what you need.

And Jake. Let me tell you about Jake. Gorgeous. Music obsessed. June was tutoring him. But they were just friends, right? But there's a lot more to his story than he's telling.

This book is perfect for: someone who needs a good cry, someone who loves reading about awesome music, fans of good road trip stories, fans of slow-burn romances, and someone who wants to read about some awesome friendships.

Also - if you've read this let me know. Because I need to talk to someone about this book. The ending. I just have to say something but I can't say it to you because you haven't read this book.

Dancergirl - Carol M. Tanzman

Title: Dancergirl
Author: Carol M. Tanzman
Publisher: Harlequin
Pub Date: 11/2011
Reviewed from: ARC received from publisher
Grades 10 and up

Ok, so this is one of those books that I started right before bed and ended up staying up way too late to finish it. And then I had to start another book before sleeping because it had freaked me out too much.

Alicia is an amazing dancer and one day her friend captures a video of her dancing at a concert and it goes viral. So they do another video. And another. And then another video goes up of her dancing along in her room that her friend didn't film. And she didn't film. And her world is thrown into a nightmarish reality where she's afraid to be alone at her dance studio, afraid to walk down the street. Is she going to have to give up her dream of being a professional dancer because of some creep? Or will she overcome?

This book is for patrons who: like pulse pounding creepiness (the creep factor is high but more realistic than ghosts), love reading about dancing (ooooh, the descriptions of dance! This book made me miss being a dancer), or are interested in the viral nature of the internet.

Wisdom's Kiss

Title: Wisdom's Kiss
Author: Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
Pub Date: 09/15/2011
Reviewed from: egalley received from publisher

Ok, so, I just realized while finding the Goodreads link that the author of this book ALSO wrote Princess Ben which I've heard of but never read. HA! That's also on the cover! That's the trouble with reading ebooks on my phone. The screen is plenty large enough to do the actual reading but apparently I miss important details on the cover. Seeing as how the dowager Queen in this book is Queen Ben I'm assuming this is a sequel to that. (insert frantic Novelisting here) Hmm - well nothing is saying sequel but same country, one character the same. WHATEVER - the point of this tangent* is that you don't have to read Princess Ben in order enjoy Wisdom's Kiss. I'm thinking that a couple of things Queen Ben alluded to would be more fleshed out and now when I read Princess Ben** I'm going to know that she ends up alive and a Queen. But knowing the Fantasy genre I don't think that was ever in doubt. So. Read Princess Ben first if you want to or go straight to Wisdom's Kiss if you want to. I don't think I am missing out on anything doing it this way.

*is it considered a tangent if this is how I begin my review? Does this make the rest of the review a tangent? WHY DOES ANYONE EVER READ THIS WEBSITE? Questions for the ages.

**The audiobook is currently waiting for me on the hold shelf when I get to work tonight but I'm wondering - I would not have been able to follow Wisdom's Kiss in an audiobook.  The formatting and different POVs would have confused me?  Whatever - I'll try it.OK! REVIEW, LP! STOP TANGENTING!

This book was, in a word, fantastic. I try not to read other people's reviews before I write mine but I accidentally read a blog's "twitter style" review of this the other day and they didn't like it. Lack of characterization, they said. What? The characters were the best part of this - and that is saying a lot since I loved the plot, the format, and the writing style as well. BUT the characters! You've got these great characters - Princess Wisdom (who is just way to exuberant and impetuous to ever be a solid ruler but oh she's wonderful), Trudy (who has the gift of foresight but is somewhat terrified of it and is desperately in love with her childhood friend Tips), and Tips (who left Trudy to "be a soldier" but he has a secret and there may be trouble in his future).  I fell in love with them all.  I loved how they grew and changed and learned to live with what new things life threw at them.  LOVE them.

I loved the format.  Letters, journal entries, a memoir, an encyclopedia, and a play.

Basically if you love fantasy and strong women (oh the strong women) and great plot lines, don't dismiss this.

On a last feminist note, I love that (super huge spoiler here so stop now) neither Trudy nor Queen Temperance end up with love interests in order to be happy.  I mean there's a follow up encyclopedia entry that mentions their later lives and a husband and children for one but the actual story ends with them finding happiness through friendship and their jobs and lives.  LOVE that.  LOVE LOVE LOVE that.

Waiting on Wednesday - All Men of Genius

Title: All Men of Genius
Author: Lev AC Rosen
Pub Date: 8/27/11
Publisher: Tor

Today I was perusing the recently ordered titles at my library for collections I am not in charge of when I found this little beauty. Listen to this description:

Inspired by two of the most beloved works by literary masters, All Men of Genius takes place in an alternate Steampunk Victorian London, where science makes the impossible possible.

Violet Adams wants to attend Illyria College, a widely renowned school for the most brilliant up-and-coming scientific minds, founded by the late Duke Illyria, the greatest scientist of the Victorian Age. The school is run by his son, Ernest, who has held to his father’s policy that the small, exclusive college remain male-only. Violet sees her opportunity when her father departs for America. She disguises herself as her twin brother, Ashton, and gains entry.

But keeping the secret of her sex won’t be easy, not with her friend Jack’s constant habit of pulling pranks, and especially not when the duke’s young ward, Cecily, starts to develop feelings for Violet’s alter ego, “Ashton.” Not to mention blackmail, mysterious killer automata, and the way Violet’s pulse quickens whenever the young duke, Ernest (who has a secret past of his own), speaks to her. She soon realizes that it’s not just keeping her secret until the end of the year faire she has to worry about: it’s surviving that long.

Steampunk Shakespeare retellings? I am SO THERE! I already have this on hold for myself and I've told the YA collection development librarian thank you thank you thank you for finding this gem!

Awaken - Katie Kacvinsky

Title: Awaken
Author: Katie Kacvinsky
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
Pub Date: 05/23/2011 (on shelves NOW!)
Reviewed from: egalley received from publisher

Awaken is a dystopian book* set in a future where school violence has let to all school being done at home on the internet. Everyone has become completely disconnected from everyone else - meeting someone face to face is rare. Ok, can we start by noting the weirdness of reading this book as an e-book?** And I read the majority of this book on my phone so every time they mentioned the ubiquity of everyone's "flipscreens" and how everyone seems glued to said flipscreens? I felt a huge pang of guilt.

*insert obligatory "all YA books nowadays are dystopian" comment
** I have a feeling that, since they gave out a lot of egalleys of this book that this has been a fairly common sentiment in the blogosphere. But I try to avoid reviews of books that I'm going to review because my opinion is easily swayed so I'm going to pretend that I'm original and brilliant here, ok?

Our hero, Maddie, is the daughter of the founder of digital school. A few years back she aided some hackers to try to take down digital school which broke her father's trust in her and she's been grounded ever since. Her father monitors everything she does online and the only bit of face-to-face socialization she gets is at soccer. Then she meets Justin online who convinces her to come to an in person study session and all heck breaks loose.

Overall this was an absolutely fun dystopian that made me want to grab a paper book*** and go read it outside in the sunshine. The romance was a bit heavy handed but I don't think a teenager would think so. I did wish I knew more what Justin DID. Everyone in the resistance keeps talking about how important Justin is to the resistance and oh mah geeze he's risking himself for some girl this will bring the whole resistance down tragedy tragedy tragedy! But what did he do for the resistance that was so special?

I very much appreciated that this book didn't try to say that technology is evil. The resistance lives a simpler life but not a completely lacking in computers/cars/lights/running water sort of life. I appreciate that! BUT! I do wish that dystopians would quit saying that in the future we're going to get all our food in convenient perfectly balanced nutritional pills/bars/crap. People absolutely love food and I don't think that we're going to let the government take that away from us any time soon. (Seriously - first they came for the pies and I didn't care because pie is evil. Then they came for the cakes and I STARTED A GOSH DARN REVOLUTION!)

Feminism quotient****: I got annoyed in the beginning because every dystopian ever***** has a girl enmeshed in the dystopia and then some enlightened man comes and enlightens her. Seriously - think about it. Have you ever read one with an enmeshed male and a female comes and enlightens him? Half a point for 1984 where Winston and Julia enlighten each other. As I read Awaken, though, her rebellion years earlier took on larger meaning. Justin was recruiting Maddie to the cause, yes, but her rebellion years ago had made her a hero to Justin and she had inspired him. Awaken is fairly heteronomative but in a book where you only get to see the inner life of two people I mostly forgive it. Overall I give it two feminist thumbs up.

***I love digital books. I am not one who thinks that ebooks are heralding the end of paper books or lamenting what was - but Awaken did give me a feeling of nostalgia for paper books and seeing my neighbors! So reading in the park it was.

****Yes, this is a new thing. FEMINISM QUOTIENT. Hush. I'm trying to get more critical because I tend to just like all things at all times.

*****Slight exaggeration

Check out Anna's much more nuanced review for a less enthusiastic opinion.

Waiting on Wednesday - Huntress by Malinda Lo

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.


Do y'all remember my love of Ask by Malinda Lo? Do you remember how I loved it so much that I forced one of my best friend to read it and she loved it too! Well if you took my advice and read it have I got exciting news for you! (If you haven't read it yet - GET ON IT! Please?) Malinda Lo has been hard at work on a prequel! Huntress by Malinda Lo will be out in April 2011 and I cannot wait. Look at that cover. LOOK AT THAT COVER! The description from Goodreads:

Nature is out of balance in the human world. The sun hasn’t shone in years, and crops are failing. Worse yet, strange and hostile creatures have begun to appear. The people’s survival hangs in the balance.

To solve the crisis, the oracle stones are cast, and Kaede and Taisin, two seventeen-year-old girls, are picked to go on a dangerous and unheard-of journey to Taninli, the city of the Fairy Queen. Taisin is a sage, thrumming with magic, and Kaede is of the earth, without a speck of the otherworldly. And yet the two girls’ destinies are drawn together during the mission. As members of their party succumb to unearthly attacks and fairy tricks, the two come to rely on each other and even begin to fall in love. But the Kingdom needs only one huntress to save it, and what it takes could tear Kaede and Taisin apart forever.

The exciting adventure prequel to Malinda Lo’s highly acclaimed novel Ash is overflowing with lush Chinese influences and details inspired by the I Ching, and is filled with action and romance.

Sounds amazing, yes? I can't wait!

Ash by Malinda Lo

Ok. I have put this off for long enough. I have important things to say*, so I am darn well going to say them! I got an ARC of Ash at ALA a few weeks ago, devoured it immediately, and am just now sitting down to tell you how fantastic it is. Don't hate! I'll regale you with tales of the kidlet's cuteness later in hopes that you will then forgive me.

*important to me, at least. Probably just me.

A word of caution - I will probably allude to how the book ends. I'm really bad about that. For me, though (especially in a book like this that is a retelling of Cinderella so you know somewhat how it turns out) it isn't about where the characters end up. It's how they get there. So read on with this review (and in general, this blog), but know that I am not afraid to let slip details from near the end.

So anyway - if you were going to write a book designed specifically for me it would be this book. Retelling of something from the 398.2s*? Check! Gorgeously seductive but ultimately terrifying faeries? Check! A world that is not heteronormative? Check!

*UGH - YES - I AM THAT NERD! I do think of them as the 398.2s (or sometimes the 398s if I'm feeling lazy) instead of as folk and faerie tales. I'm crazy.

For the most part I don't need to give you a quick summary - it's Cinderella with extra faeries and plus the awesome Huntress. Like I said - I rarely read books for the basic plot structure. my love of a book comes from the details and Ash is full of fantastic ones. The world is a growing and changing world. The old tales of faeries are completely not en vogue anymore, but Ash has grown up in a small town far outside of the capital city that still believes. Tales of the Fae are constantly being told between the characters.

It was in these tales that I began to realize that the world wasn't heteronormative. Do you have any idea how refreshing that is? Through out the tales women fall in love with men and women fall in love with women* and nobody ever says "oh my goodness lookie here that woman just fell in love with another woman and that is SO WEIRD!" When Ash starts to have a crush on the huntress, it seems impossible to her that she should have this crush because of tons of outside influences making it seem crazy (she's not good enough, she's a servant, etc.), but not one of those reasons is ever that to fall for a woman is bad. I love this. I can't tell you how much I love this. I know it's near impossible in realistic fiction for something like this to happen - we just don't live in the sort of world - but in this lush fantasy world that Lo has created, I would like to think that maybe some GLTBIQ teen who picks this up will let him/herself feel like maybe he/she isn't crazy for being the person he/she** is!

*I don't remember any men falling in love with men, but I think that is more because there are so few male characters and less because of any other reason.

**OY! ENGLISH! Can we please get ourselves a third person singular pronoun that is non gender specific for when we're talking about just some random person who could be either? Get on that, will ya?

So ... enough with my random soapboxing about my worldview. You want to know about the book, yes? Well let me tell you I loved it! Again let me remind you that I am a sucker for EXACTLY THIS KIND OF BOOK so I may be a hair biased, but please don't let that stop you from picking this up. It should be in stores September 1 and in your local library pretty soon after.